After everyone cooling off for a couple hours, lessons resumed with Meelo overseeing with Ikki, having the air benders learn balance on the ground first by just standing on one leg as I had suggested that he should start small and build up from there. Things were going well until Bumi and Bum-Ju came rushing towards us with urgency, making me stand up as my uncle called out. "Jinora's in trouble! We have to go get her." Jinora?!

"How do you know?"

"Bum-Ju's friend told me." Bumi answered, gesturing to his bluish green dragonfly-bunny spirit that hovered around him.

"You are able to communicate with the spirits?" We were all a little surprised, but Bumi just waved it off as nothing special.

"More or less, I get the gist. Let's go!" We all followed him, Bumi-Ju leading the way in order to find Jinora and find out what was happening, though one of the first air benders we found rubbed his now bald head nervously as we all followed.

"Shouldn't Master Tenzin be dealing with this? I don't want to get into trouble."

"Master Tenzin isn't here. It's up to us. Ikki and Meelo, grab some bison. Air benders, move out!" More than happy to follow Bumi, I kept close to him as the kids sped off to grab some bison so that we could fly to where Bum-Ju was showing us the way. Having experience handling large bison by myself, I took the lead on one of them, having everyone climb up before I followed Bum-Ju down towards the valley before we landed on a cliff, allowing me to slide off and take a look around. Retrieving a telescope out of nowhere, Bumi looked down into the valley where we could see a group of vehicles in the distance.

"Bison rustlers." He announced, making me start in alarm. No way! Bison rustlers here? That's terrible, our bison were mostly wild here but they were still an endangered species. Ugh! People made me so mad sometimes! "They've got Kai and Jinora locked in crates. Looks like they're getting ready to leave. We'll have to move fast." Okay, that finalises it. Those guys messed with my little cousin, so there's no way I'm letting them off easy.

"I don't know if I'm ready to get in a fight with some bison rustlers. I can tell without the telescope that they're mean-looking." One of the air benders said so I turned around.

"That's my baby cousin and her friend down there, along with a load of baby bison who may one day very well be your bison companions. I know the Air Nation abstain from the practice of attacking first, but grow a little backbone! You're all air benders, the first generation of a newly reborn nation. Have some pride in your heritage!" I scolded them all fiercely, not wanting to wait around whilst Jinora and Kai were in danger.

"Listen, this is what we've been training for." Bumi encouraged confidently, though the same guy as before pointed out that they hadn't been training all that long. "That's not important now. Remember how we persevered together on the obstacle course?"

"You actually quit."

"Well, I'm not quitting now! I know we've had a tough time, me more than anyone, but we're air benders, and there aren't many of us, so we've got to stick together. They've got two of our own in cages out there, and we're not leaving until we bring them home!" Standing up, Meelo raised his fist in the air in a gesture to emphasise his words.

"Leave no air bender behind!" With everybody now on board, we got ourselves down into the valley and undercover, closing in on the bison rustlers just as Kai managed to get himself out, picking the lock but was quickly caught by one of the thieves. Kai used his air bending to get himself down on the ground and threw them man over his head, sending him flying into one of his fellow bison rustlers but now, all their attention was on Kai.

"Now's our chance!" I instructed everyone, knowing that this was probably the only time we'd have the element of surprise. The fight that followed had the bison rustlers, who seemed to be earth benders, fighting against the air benders but whenever a column of rock or a boulder came at us, I sliced it in half or shattered it with a powerful water strike, taking control of my element as I turned in a circle, leading my hand forwards to create a water ring before I then sliced and threw ice shuriken at the thieves.

Kai was fighting the leader but it didn't seem to be going to well for him, so I quickly lashed out all the water I had in order to grab the man by his head, making him yell before gurgling as the water wrapped itself around his entire face and head before I dragged him back away from Kai, focusing clearly as I then made to hit him again but an earth wall rose up and blocked me, making me grit my teeth. "Meelo!" Arcing the water around to take out one of the other rustlers at an angle, I held my finishing stance with my arms levelled out and one hand pointing upwards, allowing Meelo to use me as a ramp with his air ball as he then flew over the wall, several other air benders coming around to flank the bison thieves.

We were winning, which was really great but then I heard the sound of the truck starting up and before we could stop it, the leader of the group starting driving off with the baby bison and Jinora still trapped in the cage. "No! Jinora!" I made to run after her but an earth bender stopped me, bending an earth spike in front of me and I flipped backwards as it appeared to avoid getting hit, arching over my head and landing before cleanly swiping him aside before bending several balls of ice that could fit into my hands, about a dozen of them floating around me before I set them flying at all the remaining bison rustlers and knocking them over the head to stun them or knock them out completely as Kai went after Jinora.

I thought we were going to lose them both as after Kai flew into the truck and didn't reappear again, I worried that something had happened but then three adult bison including Oogie and Tenzin arrived, catching up with the truck. Oogie slammed the side of the truck with his horns in order to shake it and Kai flew out, landing on Oogie as the mother bison of the babies being stolen growled. She was so loud we could hear her clearly all the way over here, and could feel the force of the wind blast she made with a swing of her tail against the truck.

Now that was some air bending. Smiling to myself, I was satisfied that Jinora and the bison were going to be alright, stepping forwards in order to go to them but then someone grabbed hold of my ankle. I looked down, seeing one of the earth benders groaning so I gathered up the water from my pouch and smacked him on the back of the head, knocking him out properly this time so that he grunted then dropped, allowing me to rush over towards Jinora and the baby bison who were still stuck in their cages.

Just as I got there, I saw Kai raging at the leader, striking him with blasts of air by swinging his staff at him. "You think you can kidnap Jinora and all these baby bisons?!" Lifting him up only to slam him back down again, Kai was about to attack again before Tenzin quickly grabbed hold of the staff in order to stop him.

"Kai! That's enough. An air bender never attacks a defenceless opponent." He instructed, making the kid calm down as my uncle paused before he then smiled slightly. "But that was very good technique."

"Well I'm not an air bender." I announced my arrival, dragging water from all sources available. The air, my pouch, even from the moist soil underneath my feet as I turned quickly then fired it all at the leader in one full blast as he groaned, starting to get up. The water hit him without restraint and he slammed against his own truck where I froze his entire body against it, save for his head but I made sure to pin him down in the most uncomfortable position possible. "You're gonna regret trying to kidnap my little cousin." I said before going over to Jinora and the bison, reaching for her. "You okay Jinora?"

"Yeah, just a little cramped."

"Hold on." Using what water I had left, I used it to make a swift slice at the padlocks, cleaving right through the metal with enough pressurised force so that they fell open and I could open the door. Jinora instantly reached forwards and let me help her down as the bison climbed out as well. I held her tight, giving her a hug before I then let her go, seeing to the other padlocks until all the bison were free, allowing us to stuff the thieves in the cages instead.

"Maybe you boys haven't heard, but there's some new air benders around these parts, and you never mess with an airbender's bison." Bumi crowed with satisfaction, all of us dusting off her hands and celebrating our victory. Even Tenzin seemed to have come to some realisations today, reassured by how we'd all worked together and the air benders had used their training to defend the bison.

"I'm proud of you." He said to Bumi as I fused over Jinora and Kai, scolding them for getting themselves caught and for making us all so worried. "Your connection with the spirits and natural leadership…you remind me of dad."

"I'm sorry I've been causing you so much trouble. I guess I was just scared of not being able to measure up as an air bender. You know, even though I'm Aang's son, I never really felt like I was part of the Air Nation before." I was glad to see the two of them getting along so well and opening up to each other. It seems like our family was finally starting to get somewhere in cleaning the air between us all.

The bison calves all showed their thanks at being freed by being affectionate and playful, which made my cousins and Kai very happy. "They're so friendly now." He said, observing as the bison played together.

"The bison are the original air benders. They recognize their own kind." Well, I think today has been rather educational. "Kanna, you were right earlier. Thank you for showing me that I was going about things the wrong way." He said to me, making me smile at him.

"Well somebody had to. A minute longer and you might have killed someone with exhaustion." I said to him and he took it with good humour. "I know how much rebuilding the Air Nation means to you, believe me I do. After all, I'm Aang's grandkid too and I want to help make his dream become a reality just as much as the rest of us, but we can only do that together, Uncle Tenzin. You're not the only one carrying on Aang's legacy, we're here as well and you have four great kids who will go on to be wonderful air benders and masters. Really, you worry too much."

"You're right. I am a very lucky man." He agreed before Jinora rushed over to hug him and apologise for running off. Everybody cleared the air and tension from the previous arguments of the day and Tenzin even promised to think about giving Jinora her tattoos, which was a huge thing. All in all, today was a very good day, which made a nice change, and I found myself oddly looking forward to what tomorrow might bring.