Dancing with water flowing like twin ribbons on the makeshift stage that had been set up especially for me with two barrels of water set either side, I smiled as I heard the near constant clink of coins as they fell into my collection bowl, satisfied that it was going to be another successful night. I'd moved spots in order to attract different people and to vary locations so that I didn't become too much of a bore. Sometimes people actually came looking for me to watch, and I'd started giving myself nights off so that it would amp up the anticipation when I did appear. It was strategic and it worked. I was loaded with money.

Wearing my usual facial covering, my outfit shimmered under the light from the silver threats I'd run through the light green fabric, the embroidered flowers and birds catching the light whenever I moved. After my first set I bowed in order to take a break, the water spiralling around me like a snaking cyclone before I moved it back into the water barrels. Just as I finished, I felt a gust of wind suddenly rise as something dropped out of the sky almost directly in front of me, forcing me to shield my eyes from the wind, surprised by the strange occurrence until I heard a familiar voice which caused me to freeze.

"Wow I can't believe I'm meeting another water bender! Katara is going to freak out, this is amazing!" No freaking way. It can't be. It's just impossible. Slowly lowering my arm I opened my eyes and sure enough, I saw the little bald kid with the blue air bender tattoos, a winged glider in his hand which he twirled and closed up, making it into an ordinary staff again. "Sorry, did I scare you? My bad, I just got so excited when I saw you dancing whilst I was flying over."

"Uh oh." Looking up over the Avatar's head, I saw everybody starting to whisper and point, the words 'the Avatar' being shared among them. This isn't good, I better get this kid out of here. Sure enough within moments, people were yelling and pushing at each other, desperate to get close to the Avatar in order to ask him questions, interrogate him about the war, touch him, maybe try steal a souvenir, who knows? All I knew was that the little kid yelped in surprise as the masses started to flood towards him and he rather timidly jumped to stand behind me. "Follow me!"

Whirling my hands in a rapid series of movements, the two barrels of water burst with a rush of water and formed a thick swirling mass in front of us around the stage, forcing people to stop as I quickly gathered my money, grabbed the Avatar's hand then ran for it down the back alley, leading him to safety away from people's sight. Wow, I can't believe it. I'm actually holding the Avatar's hand, it took me all of two seconds to capture this kid who even followed me willingly whilst Zuko struggled for months. Such rich irony, I wish I could tell him.

Once we were far enough away from people I stopped, checking to make sure we weren't followed before I exhaled. "I think we're good. You should be more careful you know. The lower ring isn't exactly the kind of place you should come alone." I said to the kid finally, beginning to move my money from the collection bowl into a coin purse. "People are desperate around here, and the Avatar is like a beacon of hope for a lot of people, but other people blame him for everything that's happened, including their lives being ruined. They'd have probably ripped you apart back there." I warned him bluntly, hoping that if I put it in such a way it would persuade him to not come back any time soon.

"Wow, thanks for saving me, but how did you know I'm the Avatar?" Well that was an easy question to answer without messing up. Unable to help it, I laughed, placing a hand on my hip.

"You're pretty hard to miss, you know. Air bender tattoos, the nomad get up, the fact you dropped down in front of me from the sky with that glider thing?" Flicking his head lightly upon his arrowhead tattoo, I smiled at him with my eyes as he yelped and rubbed his head where I'd flicked him. "If you're not the Avatar, then I'll be a hog-monkey's uncle." The Avatar laughed lightly, a sweet smile on his face before suddenly it vanished, lowering his head sadly as he then spoke.

"Those people did look rather desperate when they came at me, I guess it is my fault they lost everything." Feeling a twinge of guilt when I saw the sad look on his cute little face, I sighed before placing my hand on his shoulder.

"It's not your fault. You weren't the one who forced them to leave their homes and everything they knew to run here for safety. You're here now, and you're trying your best, so that's more than enough." Brightening a little, the Avatar smiled up at me as I touched my headscarf, making sure that it still covered my face properly.

"Thanks, that's really nice of you to say. So tell me about yourself, how come there's a water bender so far away from the North Pole? I'm guessing you're not from the south since Katara was the only water bender that lived there before she and her brother Sokka came travelling with me." Eagerly waiting for my answer, I folded my arms and quirked an eyebrow. He's an inquisitive little tyke, isn't he? I can't believe this kid is the Avatar, and that I'm actually talking to him. I can't let him know who I am, otherwise he'd know that Zuko and Iroh would be nearby. Even if I lied and told him I'd parted ways, he'd still be suspicious, and I actually didn't want that. I liked this kid, he seemed rather…different than I expected an Avatar to be.

"Well, it's a long story, and if it's okay with you I'd rather keep it to myself for the time being, but if we ever meet again then I promise I'll tell you everything, okay?" Thinking for a moment, the Avatar nodded and accepted my request just as his flying lemur monkey thing appeared, chittering excitedly as he landed on the Avatar's shoulder then ran all around his waist and head, making him laugh.

"Cut it out Momo! That tickles!"

"Aw, he's so cute. So his name is Momo? Can I see?"

"Sure, he's really friendly. By the way, I'm Aang, what's your name?" Damn.

"Um…you can call me Kay." I quickly answered, wanting to avoid giving him my real name but when I tried to think of another, I drew a total blank. Kay was the best I got, even though it was only a shortened version of my real name. The Avatar, Aang, smiled as he held up Momo towards me so I leaned closer, looking into his large eyes before gingerly reaching up to stroke back his ears. "Oh! He's so soft." Stroking a little more, the lemur started to purr and nuzzle into my hand before he flapped on over to my shoulder, chittering again as he climbed all over me. "Haha! That really does tickle."

"I guess that means he likes you." Aang said to me as I caught hold of Momo as he scampered around my waist then settled him in the crook of my arm, using my finger to rub the sweet spot at the base of his neck which immediately settled him down, purring once more and flicking his tail happily before going to sleep. "Wow, you're really good with animals."

"It's a special skill of mine, I like animals a lot." Looking up suddenly, Aang dug into the satchel he'd been wearing in order to pull out a poster, holding it up to me.

"You wouldn't happen to have seen my flying bison around here would you? He was stolen from me when I was in the desert by sand benders, and we've tracked him all the way here to Ba Sing Se but we lost him when we got to the city. We've been searching for weeks but there's still no sign of him." My eyes widened.

"Appa's missing?!" Shoot, bad move Kayo. Aang blinked at me before frowning in slight confusion as well as suspicion, tilting his head at me.

"How do you know his name is Appa?"

"Well…because you're the Avatar, and everybody knows that the Avatar flies around the world solving problems on his flying bison Appa, as well as with Katara the water bender, Sokka the…Sokka, and I'm pretty sure you've recently started travelling with someone else? An earth bender? Yeah, I hear stories about you guys all the time, actually, I'm a huge fan." I beamed at him from behind my scarf, glad that I had covered my tracks quickly. "I've always wanted to meet you, so I can't believe I'm talking to you right now. I also really wanted to meet your bison, he looks so fluffy." Reaching out to take the poster, I read over the details before I looked back at Aang. "I'm so sorry he was stolen, you must be really devastated. Tell you what, you hear a lot of rumours on the streets around here in the lower ring, so if I hear anything about your friend, I'll be sure to contact you."

"Thank you, that really means a lot. When Appa was first taken, I didn't know what to do. I felt like I'd lost something invaluable to me, a part of myself. I got angry and I didn't want to deal with the fact that he was gone. Appa is all that I have left of my old life with the monks before the war, he's my closest friend." Aang started to tell me, as if it was the most natural thing in the world to tell all your problems to a stranger. I really wish I had some tea right now, the kid looked like he could do with some. "I'm scared, scared that I'll never see him again. I miss him so much, what if I never find him?"

"You'll find him. I know it." I responded confidently, making Aang lift his head as I leaned in a little, kneeling slightly so that we were of a similar height and I could look him straight in the eye. "It sounds like to me you two share a very close and special bond. Bonds like that don't break so easily, but rather they pull back towards the other when they're pulled apart. It's like with yin and yang, the push and pull, balancing forces that always return back to each other. Whether you know it or not, you and Appa are going to be drawn back to one another, and when that happens, you'll be together again." Hope started to sparkle within his winsome eyes, warming my heart as Aang looked up at me gratefully.

"You're right, we will find each other again, I just have to keep searching and not give up. Thank you Kay, you're amazing at giving advice." Well, I guess I have Iroh to thank for that. It's impossible not to learn a thing or two from the guy. "You know, you seem kind of familiar. Have we met before? And why do you keep your face covered like that?" I guess the thing about the Avatar being a kid was that he was just that. A kid. So many questions and so much curiousness, I really need to tread carefully here.

"Well, I'm pretty sure I'd remember seeing you before now, being a huge fan and all." I answered ambiguously as I touched my scarf, making sure that only my eyes were visible. "The scarf is part of my costume. It's easier for me to perform and earn money like this when people don't know what I look like, otherwise it would make it impossible to move around during the day. I also get approached by a lot of people who I don't want to work for but they keep hassling me, so it's easier to keep my face a secret."

"That makes sense, but you're safe here and there's no one but me around. I'm the Avatar, so I'm the person you can trust most in the world." He grinned at me so I quickly tried to think up an excuse

"This is true, but if you don't mind, I'd like to keep my scarf on. For personal reasons. I'm sorry, maybe if there's a next time, I can introduce myself to you properly, but right now isn't a good time and…"

"It's okay, I understand. Everybody has a past and their own secrets, it wouldn't be right for me to pry or try to force you to tell me something you feel uncomfortable sharing." I blinked at the kid. Where the heck did that come from? Smiling, I reached out with one hand, the other still holding a sleeping Momo as I let my hand come to rest on Aang's head, rubbing it lightly before brushing my thumb at his cheek.

"For a little kid like you to be so mature and wise, you must have gone through so much. It's not fair that so much should be put on your shoulders, you must feel suffocated sometimes, am I right?" His eyes widened at me, seemingly surprised that I would recognise just how difficult it must be for a young kid like him to have so much responsibility to the entire world. "It's okay, you're doing a great job." His eyes started to water, and before I knew it he'd darted forwards and hugged me. Now, he was that much smaller than I was that his head nestled neatly against my torso as I just stood there, momentarily stunned before I let my arms go around him. "It's okay."

"I didn't know how much I needed to hear that. How did you know what to say?" Aang asked me tearfully, trying to hold it in as I rubbed his back tenderly. How did this happen? Jeez, if Zuko saw us now he'd totally freak out then get angry, seeing as I'm currently comforting his number one enemy. Maybe it was because I grew up around so many kids that were younger than me in the troupe, I just naturally go to comfort one when I see a kid upset about something. Ugh…way to go Kayo.

"It's another one of my special skills." I answered weakly, letting the Avatar hug me for a while until he stepped back, sniffing and wiping snot and tears off his face with his sleeve. Gross, but okay. Momo had been woken up by Aang's sudden hug, making him circle over our heads before he landed on the Avatar's shoulder. "Listen, I have to go now. It was an honour to meet you, Avatar Aang." Momo chittered at me so I laughed. "Of course, it was an honour to meet you too, Momo." Lifting my hands I bowed to the Avatar who returned the gesture.

"It was great to meet you too, I'm glad I happened to fly over when I did. I'm not sure why, but I get the feeling we'll meet again soon, so you'll have to remember your promise to tell me all about yourself next time." Aang said to me as he opened up his glider and prepared to take off, giving me a grin. "You seem nice, I hope we meet again, and I know Katara would love to meet you too."

"I'll look forward to it." I promised, lifting my hand to wave him off. With a powerful leap into the air, the Avatar soared up into the sky with a consequential blast of air which slammed against me, forcing me to grab hold of my headscarf and hold it in place as I pressed my eyes tightly shut against it until the wind settled once more. The Avatar circled overhead a few times, followed by his flying lemur before he set off due east, back towards the upper rings. Exhaling in exhaustion, I finally pulled the scarf off my head and face, exposing it to the cooling night air.

I can't believe it. The Avatar was in Ba Sing Se looking for his bison. What if Zuko finds out? Should I tell him? No, definitely not. He'd go crazy and start looking for the Avatar and we'd be right back to where we started. Poor Appa, he must be so lonely and scared without Aang. I hope they find each other soon.