Chapter 4:
THE LAST MIGRATION
YiLin silently watches the young man from the Earth Kingdom.
For years, the man would travel from his village all the way to the small Airbending temple where she trained. He came every three days, always coming to give offerings and to ask for blessings from the elder Priestesses.
Ever since YiLin was a little girl, she would follow that green-clad young man as quietly as possible, tiptoeing around the temple hallways. She did not care that he had been nineteen and she was merely seven.
Each time he saw her, he would always smile, and give her a folded paper crane.
And each time she had received one from him, she feels as if she could fly.
Ten years have passed and many things have not changed.
She continues to watch him now. He still smiles at her as if she were only a friend and a child.
She is too afraid to bid him farewell, or to tell him of how her heart longs for him.
Not only because he has already has eyes for another,
Or because she is an Airbender priestess, sworn only to the strict order of the Eastern Air Temple.
But also because she is the Avatar.
Born to bear the sacred burden of duty as many others have before her.
She knows she must forget her own personal feelings if she is to live up to that role.
Especially now that she and thousands of other Air Nomads are to make their exodus from one temple to the next.
She must force herself to forget this man.
"We are to leave soon." YiLin's elderly teacher, Eunhee says to her suddenly from behind.
"Master Eunhee!" YiLin turns around, startled. "I was just…taking one last walk around the gardens."
The stern old priestess narrows her eyes at her student. But she gives out a sigh. "You may bid him farewell."
YiLin looks up, not quite sure what her teacher means.
"It is alright. I will allow you say goodbye to Genshu." Eunhee says
YiLin's eyes begin to sparkle. She bows humbly to her superior, and knows what she must do now. She quickly runs up to her Temple quarters.
A few moments later, in the gardens, Genshu feels a gentle gust of wind blow on him from above. He looks up.
Something unusual seems to be happening. He sees that there is what looks like a large flock of silent, colorful birds riding on that breeze.
One of these strange 'birds' lands at his feet. He picks it up.
It is actually a paper crane.
Genshu, his mouth gaping open, looks up above again. Hundreds more are 'flying' in a beautiful formation, as though they are being guided by the wind itself. As though they are alive.
He sees that they are coming from the upper northern tower from the temple. From the tower's window, he sees that it is YiLin, his young friend, who is actually doing this.
She kept all of the cranes I had given her all this time? Genshu thinks to himself, astounded. How many of these did she actually keep?
YiLin continues to bend and blow gusts of air around the paper creations as they fly out of her window. Then, in the sky, the now thousands of paper cranes slowly begin to form the characters;
"I will not forget you"
Genshu sees the message. He smiles up to YiLin, and waves to her.
"Good Luck, YiLin!" Genshu shouts in a cheerful voice.
From high up in her window, she solemnly bows back to him in respect.
He will always think of me as child, nothing more. YiLin thinks to herself with a heavy heart.
The delicate cranes continue travel off far to the foggy mountains, away from the temple, until they are too far to be seen. They ride on the breeze, moving less like flying birds and more like fallen, dead leaves.
The next day at sunrise, Master Eunhee approaches YiLin in her quarters. The superior looks at the young airbender. YiLin now has dark circles under her now reddish eyes, as though she had been crying all night up to now.
"Listen to me, I understand that you are also a young woman with your own human feelings." Her superior explains. "But if you expect to maintain your oath to our order AS WELL as being the avatar, you must not give in so easily to your personal attachments. It is naïve and selfish."
YiLin lowers her head in shame and wipes her eyes.
"People you love may come and go." Eunhee continues "But the actions and decisions a person makes can have lasting consequences. More than that, you already know that you are no ordinary person. You cannot afford to think about unimportant things."
YiLin cannot help feeling that this has come off as more of an order, rather than comforting advice. But deep inside she knows Eunhee is right. She positions herself on the floor and bows low to her Master.
"I understand all of that. I apologize for carrying on like this and wallowing in such petty emotions. It will make sure it doesn't happen anymore."
"Good." The elder woman turns away abruptly. "Now hurry and pack your things. We are to reach the Grand Eastern AirTemple by the next full moon to complete your training."
The young priestess waits for the woman to walk away before she whispers under her breath;
"I know it might be naïve and selfish but…those I care about mean more to me than my duty as the Avatar. I cannot lie about that to myself."
YiLin then takes something out from her cabinet. It is the first paper crane that Genshu had given her when they first met. It is the only one that YiLin wishes to keep, and cannot bear to let go.
She quietly puts it in her pocket.
"Aang? Are you awake?" Katara nudges Aang's shoulder
"Yeah, I've been awake for a while now" He yawns sleepily
"Are you okay?" She asks him.
"Don't worry, Aang." Sokka says confidently, holding Appa's reins. "I'm pretty sure we'll get to the North Pole in only about a week. See that island down there? According to the map, that's the checkpoint saying that it's coming close."
Katara takes the map and looks at it closer.
"Sokka, are you talking about this "checkpoint" right here?" Katara gives Sokka a tired look and points to a tiny green splat on the parchment.
"Yup! That's the checkpoint." Sokka grins.
"This ISN'T a checkpoint! It's not even land!" Katara shouts in exasperation. "It's a piece of FOOD that you probably dripped on the map!" She flicks it off with her fingernail.
"Oh…um…ok. I guess that makes it about two weeks away from the North Pole instead. My fault. " Sokka says, scratching the back of his head in embarrassment.
"How about I try reading the map from now on?" Katara suggests "That way we won't get lost because of your bits of fruit or crumbs of chewed-up bread."
"Jeez, it was just a mistake, OKAY?" Sokka yells back at his sister, rolling his eyes. He tugs at the reins so hard it makes Appa growl and jerk sideways, Momo wakes up and screeches in irritation.
Aang cannot help but giggle at the lively scene. Despite their usual quarrelling, their steadfast company makes him feel the comfort of … not being alone.
Katara, Sokka, Momo and good old Appa. My only friends right now. Are they always going to be with me like this?
He tries not to think about the impending danger from the future, or of what could happen if he were to lose them someday. Or worse, if they were to ever leave him for any other reason.
Aang suddenly gets a familiar but sick feeling deep within his stomach. A feeling that seems more and more vivid. As if he's remembered losing people he cared about from not just 100 years ago, but dear souls from even older times…such a distant yet vivid feeling.
I feel like I remember people I haven't thought of in such a long time…was I dreaming about them? How many people have I already lost…?
"Hmph, well thanks to our master navigator over there, it'll take even longer to get back in the right direction." Katara heaves out a tired sigh and settles down next to Aang. He smiles at her.
"Well, anyway, don't worry. We haven't gone too far off track." Katara says in a more concerned tone "I know you're getting worried about mastering all the elements in time. "
"It's okay, even if that does also make me worried. " Aang says as he looks at the moon "You guys are the ones who are here with me now, and that's enough for me."
"Don't you guys worry…" the boy in the red robe smiles.
"I'll make you proud!" The little girl says with determination.
"I will not waste your friendship." The man had promised.
The priestess whispers under her breath "I know it might be naïve and selfish but…those I care about mean more to me than my duty as the Avatar."
The End.