We were at a lake. We had set up our tents and were trying to take a rest for a bit.
"Look!" Katara said excitedly as she pointed over to the water.
We all looked and saw a large se tu. The last time it jumped, it looked at us with a smug.
"He's taunting us!" he said, watching the fish jump in and out of the water. "You are so going to be dinner!"
He then went to the tent, grabbed his fishing pole, and came back to cast a line, but it seemed like his pole didn't even have a line.
"Hey, where's the fishing line?" Sokka said as he examined his pole.
"Oh, I didn't think you would need it, Sokka." Aang said sheepishly as he held up an intricately woven necklace decorated with a red flower.
"Aw, it's all tangled!" Sokka groaned as he saw the necklace.
"Not tangled, woven." Aang said as he got to his feet. He then looked at Katara and smiled. "I made you a necklace, Katara. I thought since you lost the other one…"
"Thanks, Aang." Katara said as she smiled, went over to him, and took the necklace. "I love it."
"Great, Aang. Maybe instead of saving the world, you can go into the jewelry-making business!" Sokka said, sarcastically.
"I don't see why I can't do both." Aang said as Katara tried on the necklace.
While she did, we watched as Sokka tried to catch the fish. He tried to spear it with the pole, but missed.
"Stop taunting me!" Sokka said out of frustration.
He then ran into the water, holding his jawbone dagger.
"So, how do I look?" Katara asked as we all turned to her.
She had her right hand behind her back and her left hand on her necklace as she stood in a pose. It didn't really affect me much, but it sure affected Aang. I looked to him to see him blushing as he pulled his collar with an awkward smile. We looked to him as he spoke.
"You mean all of you or just your neck?" Aang said, nervously. He then put his right hand behind his head in embarrassment. "I mean, because both of you look great."
"Little hot under the collar there, Aang?" I said as me and the guys began to laugh.
"Smoochie, smoochie, someone's in love!" Sokka said as he held the fish and made kissing noises at it.
It then broke out of his grasp, slapped him, and escaped into the water.
"Yeah, and you cut off the middle man with the flower." Tadaaki said as he continued laughing.
"I…well, uh…" Aang said, embarrassed.
"Stop teasing him. Aang's just a good friend." Katara said, annoyed. She then smiled gently and patted the left side of his head. "A sweet, little guy! Like Momo."
She then began petting Momo after he jumped onto Aang's shoulder.
"Thanks." Aang said, discouraged.
We instantly stopped laughing and I was now feeling a little sorry for Aang. Though the guys didn't stop making fun of him.
"Hey, you should take that as a compliment." Yosuke said to him. "Maybe she considers you as a pet!"
The three then started laughing again, making Aang feel embarrassed again.
"Okay, that's enough!" I said, annoyed by them.
They instantly stopped laughing. We all then looked as Sokka came out of the lake, soaked and arms crossed. I then heard something and went out to find out what was making the commotion. I looked to see a man in blue in front of an angry platypus bear.
"Someone's being attacked by a platypus bear." I said, urgently.
We all watched as the man began dodging the platypus bear's attacks. As Aang went to a rock behind the creature, I looked to see the man was smiling like that thing wasn't attacking him.
"Well, hello there!" the man said as he saw Aang, dodging the bear's attack. "Nice day, isn't it?"
"Make noise! He'll run off!" Aang yelled to the man.
"No, play dead! He'll lose interest!" I yelled.
"Whoa, close one!" the man said happily as he dodged the bear's attack again. He even laughed.
"Run downhill, then climb a tree!" Katara said, applying her right hand and gesturing with her left.
"No, punch him in the bill!" Tadaaki said, swinging his fist upward.
"And then run in zig-zags!" Kioko said.
"No need, it's going to be fine!" the man said to us.
The platypus bear attempted another blow, but the calm man dodged it, making it scrape a large chunk of a tree behind him. There was definitely something wrong with this man. I then went over and stood in between them. When it roared at me, I roared back. I managed to scare it off as I watched it swam down a river and leave an egg behind.
"Mmm, lunch!" Sokka joyfully said as he came over and picked up the egg.
The others came over as he sniffed it.
"You're lucky we came along." I said to the man.
"Thanks, but everything was already under control." The man said as he stood up. "Not to worry. Aunt Wu predicted I'd have a safe journey." He then folded his hands together and slightly bowed.
"Aunt who?" Aang asked.
"No, Aunt Wu." The man said. "She's the fortuneteller from my village. Awful nice knowing your future."
"Wow, it must be." Katara said as she looked off to the side and pondered on it. She then looked at the man with a bright expression. "That explains why you were so calm!"
"But the fortuneteller was wrong!" Sokka said.
"Yeah." I said, agreeing with him. "You didn't have a safe journey, you were almost killed!"
"But I wasn't. All right, have a good one!" he said cheerfully as he bid us farewell. He began walking away, but gave us something before he left. "Oh, and Aunt Wu said if I met any travelers to give them this."
He then gave Aang a wrapped parcel that looked like to contain something long and thin. That was pretty strange.
"Maybe we should go see Aunt Wu and learn and learn our fortunes." Katara excitedly said as Aang examined the parcel. "It must be fun."
"Don't tell me you believe that stuff." I said to her.
"Yeah. Fortune telling is nonsense!" Sokka said, agreeing with me.
"What do you know? An umbrella!" Aang said as he opened it and held it over his head.
"This is exactly what we're talking about." I said. "Why would we need an umbrella? It's not even raining."
Then in an instant, it started raining. Me and the Waterbenders then made some shields to shelter us from the rain.
"This proves it." Katara said as she ducked under the umbrella.
"This is not proof! It's just a coincidence!" I said.
"Yeah! You can't really tell the future!" Sokka said as he held the egg over his head to shield him from the rain.
"I guess you're not really getting wet then." Katara said to her brother, smugly.
We then watched as Sokka lost his grip on the egg and it flew off into the air. He tried to catch it, but he missed and the egg smashed on his head. As the rain continued, we all traveled on with Tadaaki and Hiriko sheltered under my shield, Kioko sheltered under Seiichi's shield, Aang and Katara sheltered under the umbrella, and Sokka getting soaked in the rain.
"Of course she predicted it was going to rain." Sokka said, crossly. "The sky's been gray all day!"
"Just admit you might be wrong and you can come under the umbrella with us." Katara said to him.
"I can already tell you he'll admit to nothing because fortunetelling is completely ridiculous!" I said to her.
"Says the guy who haves future vision." Tadaaki said.
"Oh, you're on their side?" I said to him.
"You can see into the future?" Katara asked, surprised.
"Yes, but only when it concerns mine and the Element Gang's fate." I answered.
"Then why do you think fortunetelling is ridiculous?" she asked.
"Because it's different." I said. "Future visions have been studied and proven to be useful. Fortunetelling has been proven incorrect multiple times. My visions are accurate, fortune-telling isn't." I then looked to Sokka. "Sokka, help me out here."
"Look, I'm going to predict the future now." Sokka said as we stopped walking and watched as he started hopping from one foot to the other exaggeratedly. "It's going to keep drizzling." The rain continued. "See?"
Then, in an instant, the rain stopped and the sky cleared.
"Not everyone has the gift, Sokka." Aang said as he and Katara looked up at the sky.
"That wasn't the point of it, Aang." I said with a grim look.
We then continued walking with me, Yosuke, and Seiichi getting rid of our shields.
"Agh!" Sokka yelled in disgust as I looked to him to see that Appa shook water onto him.
We made it to the village and I saw a pair of turkey ducks as we went through the entrance. When we got to a building with a round door, a white hair man wearing a black robe told us that Aunt Wu was expecting us. Even though Katara was amazed, me and Sokka were just annoyed by it. When we got in, there were pillows set on the floor, one for each of us to sit on. After we got inside and the man closed the door, a young girl with black hair and brown eyes dressed in a pink robe with a violet dashed, magenta dōura came up to us.
"My name is Meng," the girl said, introducing herself, "and I'm Aunt Wu's assistant."
"A pleasure to meet you, Meng." I said. "My name is Roku. These are my friends: Katara, my cousin Hiriko, Kioko, Sokka, Tadaaki, Seiichi, and Aang."
As she looked at my slumped and bored Airbender friend, Meng's smile widen. I recognized that look in an instant. It was the same look that Aang gave Katara. Looked like Aang had a girl crushing on him, just not the one he wanted.
"Well, hello there." Meng said to Aang with a pleased look on her face.
"Hello." Aang said to her, rubbing his nose in disinterest.
Me, Aang, and Katara took our seats on the left side of the room while the others took the right side.
"Can I get you come tea or some of Aunt Wu's special bean curd puffs?" she offered Aang.
"I'll try a curd puff." Sokka said with a smile.
"Just a second." Meng said as she held her index finger up, not taking her eyes off Aang. "So your name's Aang?"
"Yeah." Aang said, flatly.
"That rhymes with Meng!" Meng said, delightedly. "And you've got some pretty big ears, don't you?"
From there, I got to say she was pretty weird. Who becomes interested in somebody's ears? Aang seemed pretty confused by that.
"I guess." Aang said, awkwardly.
"Don't be modest! They're huge!" Sokka joked, using his hands in dismissal and his arms to emphasis.
Aang covered his ears in embarrassment and glared at Sokka.
"Sokka!" I said as I glared at him.
"What? What I say?" Sokka asked, confused.
"Well, Aang, it was nice to meet you." Meng said as she began to walk away. I then watched as she gave him a sly smile. "Very nice."
"Likewise." Aang said as she then left.
"I can't believe we're in this house of nonsense." I said with a grim look.
"Try to keep an open mind, Roku." Katara said to me. "There are things in this world that just can't be explained. Wouldn't it be nice to have some insight into your future?"
"Okay. One, my future vision takes care of that. Two, fortunetelling has been explained to be inaccurate. And three, I'll keep an open mind on this when the Earth elementals fly."
A while later, Meng came back as a door opened up behind her and a woman in a green robe came out with an excited look on her face.
"Oh, Meng! Aunt Wu says I'm going to meet my true love." The woman said to her. "He's going to give me a rare panda lily."
"That's so romantic!" Meng said. She then looked to Aang flirtatiously and used a dreamy tone. "I wonder if my true love will give me a rare flower."
"Good luck with that." Aang said breezily.
Thanks to my advanced senses, I was able to hear what the woman said as she tried to hold in her laughter.
"Is that the big-eared guy Aunt Wu predicted you marry?" the woman quietly asked, causing Meng to flinch.
That's why she was so interested in Aang. It was because of that fortuneteller. I then watched as Meng then pushed the woman aside and came in with a tray of curd puffs. As she walked over to us, Meng hopefully walked over to Aang, who was thinking to himself and looked somewhere else. She then nearly tripped, saved by Aang, who helped her recover. He didn't even noticed, but he touched Meng's hands and the two stared at each other for a moment. I saw Meng blush as she put the tray on the floor.
"Enjoy your snack!" she said nervously as she left in a hurry.
I thought I was gonna be sick there. Anyone would agree that this was just plain wrong.
"Welcome, young travelers. Which one of you will be first?" an elderly woman in a yellow robe said as we looked to her, no doubt to be Aunt Wu. She then looked at me and smiled. "What about you, young Fire Dragon?"
"How do you know that word?" I asked, surprised she knew that. Many people didn't know that unless they were old allies.
"Oh, I predicted a Fire Dragon would come here." Wu said. "Now, come along. We shall see what fate has in store for you."
"If you're gonna read my palm or something like that, I'll pass." I said.
"Oh, but this will be a method that you'll find you interested in." Wu said as I raised an eyebrow at her. "One that hasn't been done in over a hundred years."
A century old method? Even though I wasn't into this, I would have to see what these nut jobs came up with.
I then sighed and said "Fine. I'll try it."
She then led me to a room with a fire in the middle with a hook above it along with two small cups, a pole, a stone grinder, and some water beside it.
"Okay. What kind of method are you—Ow!" I said as I felt a pinch on my tail. As I rubbed my tail, I looked to Wu and saw she had five of my scales in her hand. I was shocked by this. "What? Did you take some of my scales?"
"Yes, I need them in order to see your future." Wu said as she began walking over toward the fire. "Now come and let us see what it holds."
We both took seat around the fire with Wu sitting opposite to me. She then took one of the cups, placed my scales into it, and began using the grinder on them.
"What are you doing?" I asked, confused by what she was doing with my scales.
"I am grinding your scales." She answered. "It is the only way I can be able to use them to make the tea."
"Tea?" I asked, knowing she was gonna use tea grindings to predict my future. "You're gonna use tea to predict my future? Couldn't you have used tea leaves to do that?"
"This is a very special tea." Wu answered as she stopped grinding. "With both water and fire, the scales can reveal the future."
I then watched as she poured the grindings of my scales into the teapot, the dust shining like stars. She then added the water to it and, after she put the lid on the pot, I saw steam slowly coming out of the spout. She then used the pole to hang the pot on the hook. It was only a few moments later that the steam began bursting out of the spout. She then took the pot off the hook and poured a cup of the tea, which instantly turned into steam. After the steam cleared, I took a look and was shocked that the grindings had changed into five markings: a black tigerdillo, a yellow hawk, a blue wolf, the Fire Nation symbol in pink, and a red yin-yang in the center.
"What happened to my scales?" I asked.
"Your scales have transformed to reveal your fate." She said as she took the cup and examined its contents. "Oh, my! You will be involved in a great battle, an awesome conflict between the forces of good and evil. A battle whose outcome will determine the fate of the world!"
"Yeah, tell me something I don't know."
"I've only told you what the red mark represents." She said. "The wolf tells that loyalty of those around you will be tested, the hawk tells that you will meet great allies on your journey, the tigerdillo tells your strength will be forced to its limits, and the symbol of your nation tells your true love will be one of the Fire Nation."
"You mean a girl?"
"Yes. It will be one closest to you, one you give absolute trust, and haves a joyous life."
I knew who she was talking about. There was only on other person I trusted the most besides my team, the one I trust with the secret of my journey: Ty Lee. I haven't seen her in years. What Wu had showed me gave me a reason to consider it a possibility of a life with Ty Lee. When we came back, I thank Wu for showing me my fortune and returned to my seat.
"Okay. Who's next?" Wu asked as she looked around. "Don't be shy."
Sokka looked away in disinterest while me and Aang looked over to Katara.
"I guess that's me." Katara said as she rose in anticipation.
After the two left, I took it upon myself to try a curd puff.
"Mmm. Not bad." I said.
I smiled as I thought about my fortune. Well, the last part. The guys seemed to notice it.
"What are you smiling about?" Sokka asked as I looked to him.
"Oh, just thinking about my future." I said.
"What was your prediction?" Aang asked.
"Most of it was obvious, but the last part was something I didn't expect: my true love." I answered.
"Really?" Aang asked.
"Yeah. She said I'll marry a girl from the Fire Nation."
"Let me guess," Tadaaki asked, "this girl's name is Ty Lee?"
"Maybe." I said. I then lifted the bowl to Aang to try and change the subject. "Want a puff, Aang?"
"I'm good on puffs." Aang said as I put the bowl down. "So, what do you think they're talking about in there?"
"Not sure. Fortunes are always random." I said to him. "But I guess it might be her love life. Like who's she going to marry, how many kids she'll have. Or something like that."
"Yeah, stuff like that." Aang said as he acted like it was nothing.
I then watched as he tensed up a bit ad began to bite his nails nervously.
"Well, I've got to find a bathroom." Aang said as he got up and walked off into the halls.
I had a suspicion of what he was really doing and went off to find out where he was going. I found him with his ear to the door, no doubt that Wu and Katara were on the other side.
"Aang, what are you doing?" I said quietly, spooking him. "You're know you're not supposed to eavesdrop."
"Come on." Aang said. "I just want to know what Katara's future was."
I then said to him "I know you like her, but this is no way to win her heart."
"Come on, Roku. You found out who you end up with, at least let me see if I can do the same."
With that sad look he gave me, I sighed and said "Fine. But you'll owe me for keeping this a secret."
We then listened in on what was being said. Wu asked if Katara moisturized due to her having smooth palms, but Katara said she used seaweed lotion, which I had to find disgusting. But we both began listening up when Katara asked about her love line.
"I feel a great romance for you." Wu said, somewhat dramatically. "The man you are going to marry."
"Tell me more!" Katara said, eagerly.
"I can see that he's a very powerful bender." Wu said, making me and Aang look at each other with shock.
"Aang, that's definitely you." I said to him, making him smile out of joy.
We then went back and took our seats.
"Looks like someone had a pretty good bathroom break." Sokka said, looking at Aang.
"Yeah, when I was in there…" Aang said.
"I don't want to know!" Sokka disgustedly said, motioning for Aang to stop.
"Who's next?" Wu asked as she came in with Katara.
"Okay, let's get this over with." Sokka said as he stood up and stretched.
"Wait, me next." Yosuke said as he stood up eagerly.
"Your future is full of struggle and anguish. Most of it, self-inflicted." Wu dryly said to Sokka. She then looked to Yosuke. "Same goes for you."
"You didn't even read our palms or anything!" Yosuke protested.
"I didn't need to." Wu said to them in the same tone. "It's written all over your faces."
Both Sokka and Yosuke glared at her in annoyance. It was funny to see that. Those two being rejected by a fortuneteller.
"You there, come with me." Wu said as she looked to Aang.
Aang then got up and followed her. I got to be honest, I got a little curious and listened in on the fortunetelling. Wu told Aang the same thing she told me, that he would be part of an awesome battle between good and evil, but that was the only part she told. When Aang asked about his love life, she said she didn't see it. But then told him that if he followed his heart, he would be with the one he loved. That certainly got his spirit up. After everybody had their fortunes read, we then began our walk out of the building and through the village.
"Well, now you got to see for yourselves how fortunetelling is a big, stupid hoax." Sokka said.
"Yeah, total waste of time." Yosuke said.
"Well, Roku doesn't think so anymore." Katara said. "Did you see that smile he had?"
"Actually, I still think fortunetelling as nonsense, but considering what she told me to be an option." I said.
Katara was a little surprised by that, but recovered and looked to Yosuke.
"Besides, you're just saying that because both you and Sokka are going to make yourselves unhappy your whole lives." Katara said to him.
"That woman is crazy!" Yosuke yelled in anger. "My life will be calm and happy and joyful!"
He then kicked a rock on the ground and it ricocheted off a nearby sign and hit him in the head as he stood smugly with his arms crossed. This caused him to fall to the ground in pain.
"You sure about that?" I said to him. "That fortune seems accurate to me."
"That doesn't prove anything!" Yosuke said as he raised a finger in protest, hunched over on the ground.
"Well, I liked my predictions." Katara said, satisfied before she clasped her hands together anxiously. "Certain things are going to turn out very well."
"They sure are." Aang slyly said as he crossed his arms and leaned on his back toward Katara.
"Why? What did she tell you?" Katara asked him.
"Some stuff." Aang said, ambiguously. "You'll find out."
We got to the village courtyard and we saw some people gathered there and looking up at the sky, which didn't look suspicious at all. We all looked up at the sky as we joined.
"What's with the sky?" Katara asked.
"We are waiting for Aunt Wu to come and read the clouds to predict the fate of the whole village." A man answered.
This was the same man we met earlier. Should've known this was a daily thing.
"Oh, more fortunetelling." I groaned.
"That cloud kind of looks like a fluffy bunny." Aang said as he pointed to a cloud.
"You better hope that's not a bunny!" the calm man said with some worry. "The fluffy bunny cloud forecasts doom and destruction."
"Do you even hear yourself?" Sokka asked in annoyance.
"The cloud reading will tell us if Mt. Makapu will remain dormant for another year or if it will erupt." A woman said.
"We used to have a tradition once a year of going up the mountain to check the volcano ourselves." The man said before he started smiling. "But ever since Aunt Wu moved to the village twenty years ago, we have a tradition of not doing that."
"I can't believe you would trust your lives to that crazy, old hag's superstition!" Yosuke said to the man.
"Uh, Yosuke?" I said to him. "Might want to keep that to yourself. She's coming this way."
We watched as Wu came up a stairwell with the man that showed us through the door, no doubt a guard. Everyone moved out of the way to form an aisle to the pagoda at the center of the courtyard. Everyone cheered as she and her guard went by, all except me, Sokka, and Yosuke.
"Hey, Aang." Meng said as I looked to see her pointing to the sky while standing next to Aang, who was standing next to Katara. "Don't you think that cloud looks like a flower?"
"Huh? Sure, I guess." Aang said in confusion before he pushed Meng into me and looked to Katara. "Hey, Katara, don't you think that cloud looks like a flower?"
"Shhh!" Katara shushed him, making Aang look disappointed.
"Nice try with impressing him." I said to Meng. "But I think you're out of luck there."
"What are you talking about?" she said, nervously. "I wasn't… I was just…"
"I heard your little talk with that panda lily woman." I told her as she looked at me with shock. "I got good ears. There isn't much anything that I can't hear." She then looked down and blushed in embarrassment. I then spoke to her quietly. "Listen, I know Wu told you that, but it's just a suggestion. Some predictions don't happen the way they're supposed to. They get corrected. You might not get Aang, but you'll find love someday. Besides, I think I know somebody who might be a good suitor for you."
I then whispered into her and told her about Yato, a friend of my cousin's who haves big ears himself. She then hugged me and told me, if she didn't get Aang, then she'd wait for Yato. We then looked to Wu as she looked to the sky. She held a book as she did so.
"Bending arrow cloud…" Wu said, thoughtfully. "Good crops this year. Nice big harvest."
"Darn good news!" an old farmer happily said as he hugged an elderly woman.
"Wavy, moon-shaped cloud, let's see." Wu said before she smiled. "Gonna be a great year for twins."
"Yes!" a pair of twin boys said as they high-fived each other happily.
"And a cumulus cloud with a twisted nob coming off the end of it…" Wu said, thoughtfully. She then spread her arms out and said "The village will not be destroyed by the volcano this year!"
Though the crowd cheered, I was not convinced. I then decided to leave the village and do their old tradition, the one they should've kept 20 years ago. While I did that, Hiriko and Tadaaki tried to help Aang win over Katara. Unfortunately Hiriko's fashion advice and Tadaaki's cool guy advice didn't really go so well especially with Sokka's advice for Aang not to act so nice. Back with me, I made it to the mountain peak and got to the rim of the volcano. I looked into it and saw it was full of lava, ready to erupt. I checked it and saw once the volcano blew, it would destroy the village in an instant.
"There! On the rim!" Aang said as I turned to see him and Sokka.
I watched as Aang came over, picked a panda lily, and sniffed it.
"Hey, Roku." Aang said as he saw my worried expression. "What's wrong?"
"That." I said as I pointed to the lava and Aang looked at it in shock.
"Oh, no." Aang said as Sokka came over and gave the same look. "Aunt Wu was wrong."
He then dropped the flower into the lava, where it turned to ash. Both Aang and Sokka looked at this in shock.
"Those people all think they're safe!" Sokka said. "We got to warn them!"
"Yeah, but there's no time to walk!" I said as I got a tail spike out to him. "Grab on!"
Aang whipped out his glider as Sokka grabbed onto my spike. We then took off and Sokka screamed as we did. When we got to the village at rapid flying speed, we saw an irritated Katara standing on front of the door of Aunt Wu's building. After we landed, we walked up to her and the others came over as they saw us.
"Hi, Katara." Aang shyly said as he put up his hand.
"Can you believe she won't let me in?" Katara said, annoyed. "And after all the business I've given her?"
I had to bet that her constantly asking Wu to give her predictions finally made the fortuneteller snap.
"But she doesn't even charge." Aang said, confused by what she said.
"I know, but still…" she said before I interrupted her.
"Never mind that. We have other things to worry about." I said to her and the others.
"What are you talking about?" Tadaaki asked, confused by what I said.
"Aunt Wu was wrong about the volcano." I answered. "I went up there and it's ready to erupt any second."
"Roku, you've tried to convince me she was wrong before." Katara said as she accusingly raised a finger at me, slightly irked. "It's going to take an awful lot to change my mi…"
She was interrupted by a sudden earthquake. After it stopped, we all looked to see the volcano emitting smoke from its peak.
"Now you believe me?" I said to her.
"Oh, no." she said, worriedly.
We tried to warn everyone about the volcano, but they wouldn't listen to us. They asked us many things that science has explained. After many failed attempts to convince them, we stopped.
"They won't listen to us." I said in dismay. "They rely on Wu's predictions so much, they won't listen to reason."
"But they will listen to Aunt Wu." Aang said with a brightened expression.
"Yeah, but she already made her prediction." I said to him. "How are we supposed to get her to warn everyone?"
"By taking fate into our own hands." Aang said as he began to explain a plan of his. "First, I need to borrow Aunt Wu's cloud reading book."
After he explained, I then went into her building while Katara and Sokka made a distraction. It was simple. By using the book, we would make a cloud that would show the danger coming towards them. I was looking through the shelf when I looked to the mirror and saw someone's reflection. After being scared, I turned around to see Meng.
"Oh, Meng." I said to her. "I didn't see you there."
"Aang doesn't like me, does he?" Meng sadly said as her ears drooped down.
"Meng, of course he likes you." I said to her with a gentle smile.
"But not the way I like him." She said, down casted.
"Oh. No." I said. "But that doesn't mean there isn't someone out there who does. Look, it's hard to like someone when they don't feel the same way. That's kind of like how life works. The point is that, even though you don't get the person you love, you shouldn't give up on it. Aang's not giving up on his quest for love and you shouldn't either."
She then smiled and looked aside.
"She is beautiful." She said as I gave her a questioning look. "The Water Tribe girl. I can see why he likes her so much." She then clasped her hands together and counts on her fingers. "She's sweet, she's a bender, and her hair seems so manageable."
With that last part, she tried to smooth her braids just for them to stick up again.
"Don't worry. You're going to meet your true love one day. I know it." I said as I placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.
"Thanks." She said as I turned to leave. "Wait! Don't you want this?"
I turned around and was surprised she had the book I was looking for.
"How'd you know?" I asked as I took it.
"I've kind of been stalking you and Aang." She said as she nervously played with her fingers and gave me a sheepish smile. "Heh…"
I laughed a little before saying "Thanks anyway."
After getting to the others, we then took Appa up to the clouds as I searched for the symbol of volcanic eruption.
"Clouds are made of water and air, so between the two of us, we ought to be able to bend them into any shape we want." Aang said to Katara.
"Found it." I said as I shown them a symbol of a skull. "The symbol for volcanic doom."
"How ironic." Yosuke said as he saw the symbol.
We then went over to a passing cloud and me and the gang watched as Aang and Katara prepared to shape the cloud in synchronization. I steered Appa as they did so, making it possible to bend the cloud completely. While we did this, Sokka did his part on the ground by bringing Wu to see our new cloud. We got down without being seen and went back to the village to see the new skull-shaped cloud. I went over to the pagoda and began addressing to the villagers.
"We can still save the village if we act fast." I said before gesturing to Sokka, who was standing next me.
"Lava is gonna flow downhill to this spot." Sokka said, motioning with his arms. "If we can dig a deep enough trench, we can channel all the lava away from the village to the river."
"Okay, if any of you are Earthbenders, come with me." Tadaaki said to the crowd.
"I'm an Earthbender!" one of the twins from earlier said, raising his hand cheerfully.
"I'm not!" the other twin said, doing the same.
"Everybody else, grab a shovel!" Sokka said before the volcano erupted again. "Come on! We've gotta hurry!"
With that, we got to work on the trench with Tadaaki and the Earthbenders using earthbending to dig while the rest of us used shovels to do so. And to make sure it wasn't blocked, we had Appa use a net attacked to him to carry out any boulders we found.
"Dig faster! Dig faster!" Sokka said as he resumed working after another eruption with lava beginning to flow out of the volcano.
From there, I saw as the earthbending twin moved some boulders out of the way, creating a channel to the river. We then told the villagers to evacuate and that we would come for them once it was safe. We then watched as the lava flowed to the trench, destroying the village gate and cemetery. The trench worked, but the lava kept coming and was starting to rise.
"It's too much!" I said as me and the gang stood on the safe side of the trench. "It'll overflow!"
Another eruption happened and ash and burning rocks began to rain down on us. Though we ran for safety, Aang just stood there as a rock came down and caused a wave of lava to come toward us. Then Aang pushed the lava back with his airbending and, using the biggest breath of air I've ever seen, he turned all the lava to stone. All of us were amazed to see such powerful airbending, even Hiriko's jaw dropped as Aang relaxed and took a meditation pose.
"Man, sometimes I forget what a powerful bender that kid is." Tadaaki said.
"Wait, what did you say?" Katara asked him.
"Nothing." Tadaaki said, casually. "Just that Aang is one powerful bender."
I knew that Katara had realized that the bender Wu said she would marry was Aang as her eyes widen.
"I suppose he is." Katara said as if she had an epiphany.
After the volcano began to ease, we went back to the village to return the book to Aunt Wu.
"By the way, we kind of borrowed your book." I sheepishly said as I offered her the book.
"So you messed with the clouds, did you?" she asked as she took the book in anger.
Katara looked with guilt and Sokka just smiled and pointed at her, showing she had part of it.
Wu then laughed in amusement and said "Very clever."
"No offense, but I hope this taught everyone a lesson about not relying too much on fortunetelling." Sokka said.
"But Aunt Wu predicted the village wouldn't be destroyed and it wasn't." the calm man said, cheerfully. "She was right after all."
"I hate you." Sokka said as he got near the man's face and gritted his teeth.
"Settle down, Sokka." I said as I pulled him away. I then looked to the crowd. "The reason her prediction came true is because we made it come true. Like many things in this world, we can't leave fate to decide. To make a dream come true, you need to make it happen. It might seem hard, many things are. But, as long as you've got hope and courage, there's nothing you can't do."
I managed to listen in as Aang spoke to Aunt Wu.
"Can I ask you something?" Aang said.
"Of course, honey." Wu said.
"You didn't really see love in my future, did you?" Aang said, disappointedly. "You just told me what I wanted to hear."
"I'll tell you a little secret, young Airbender." Wu said as she gestured to the sky. "Just as you reshaped those clouds, you have the power to shape your own destiny."
Aang then smiled at her kind piece of advice. He then went over to join us on Appa's saddle as Katara spoke to Meng and sat at the reins and waved goodbye.
"Goodbye, everyone! It was nice to meet you!" Katara said brightly. She then turned to Meng. "Take care, Meng."
"Take care!" Meng said, waving to her with a smile.
As we began to leave, I could've sworn that I heard Meng called Katara a floozy. Even though it was proven wrong, I was still gonna keep my fortune about me and Ty Lee as a suggestion, one I was proud to have.
