I'm a pretty atypical guy.
No, really. Think about it. I'm the Avatar, for one thing. I've got hundreds of other lives stuck inside of me, and the memories they carried with them. Hundreds of memories, hundreds of personalities and opinions and minds.
And even as Avatars go, I'm not normal. I've got to master all the elements by the end of the summer when I'm supposed to have years. I've got to single-handedly stop a world war, and I'm only twelve years old.
The other Avatars had to keep peace, I guess, but they didn't have to stop any wars. They didn't have to hold off the Fire Nation from invading. They didn't have the same pressures I do.
Don't get me wrong, I'm glad to have my friends. I couldn't ask for a better animal guide than Appa. Sokka is one of the best friends a guy could ever ask for; he can make anybody laugh, and he's always there when I need a little support. Katara is the most amazing girl I've ever met; she's nice, and driven, and pretty, and she really cares about me for me, not for my Avatar spirit.
But they can't understand everything I've been through, and everything I have to go through still. It's true, Sokka and Katara lost their mother to the Firebenders, and Appa lost the Air Nomads the same way I did. But Sokka and Katara don't have to master three different elements in only a few short months, and Appa doesn't even have to learn any Bending at all.
It's true that Sokka has to learn how to be a warrior, and Katara has to completely master Waterbending…and Appa has to carry us all around the entire world…
But it's not the same! No one has to deal with the things I do, and no one can possibly understand. I thought that maybe Avatar Roku would be able to help me, but all he did was give me a bigger challenge. How am I supposed to seek his advice when I can't get back to his temple? If the answers are all inside of me, why would I have the questions in the first place? He can't know what it's like to be me.
No one can know what it's like to be me. I'm atypical, after all. Right?
I think so.
I have to master the Bending arts.
But Katara has to become a master Waterbender.
I have to save the world.
But Sokka will always have my back.
I have to be the Avatar.
But my friends will risk their lives to help me.
Maybe I'm not so abnormal after all.
