Chapter Three

" Where did you learn how to sky skate anyway, Aang?" Aoi asked, gazing at her friend from the corner of her eye. Aang sneezed suddenly, apparently he was allergic to the dandelions that were overflowing on the beautiful hilly plain. Although, it was common to see an airbender allergic to dandelions and other pollinated flowers. You didn't see many of the lower ground plants in the mountains; so most airbenders were allergic. This doesn't explain why Aangwas allergic, seeing as he traveled quite often. None the less, Aoi laughed heartily at his sneezing.

" You're so funny." She smirked. Aangs' brow furrowed in confusion.

" Because I sneezed?" He asked. Aoi punched his arm playfully. Aang rubbed his bicep.

" No, no, silly. You are just a funny person." She put her hands behind her head and lifted off the ground slightly, so it looked similar to the trick that magicians call the 'levitation'. Aoi had a maniacal glint in her eyes as she flipped upside down in midair and placed her hands over Aangs' eyes. He shuffled his knees up.

" Funny, eh? I'll show you how funny I am!" Aang slid from beneath Aois' hands and grabbed the light brown staff that sat beside him. He threw it inthe air in front of him and jumped up to grasp it. He titled sideways to see Aoi scrambling on the ground to grab her own identical staff. "Hurry up, Aoi. You get a ten second head start before I chase you!" Aang called to her. She looked up briefly, then bent down and clutched her staff.

" What are you planning on doing?" She shouted.

" You'll see!" Aang shouted back, in a singsong voice.

" Oh my. When Aang says 'You'll see', it usually ends up with me having to explain to some poor farmer or fisherman that we didn't mean to wreck his boat, or we didn't mean to bend his crops down the river." Aoi thought, sweating at the mere thought of thesituation that was probably going to happen.

Aang was gliding over to her at an incredible speed; she hardly had time to flip open her staff and glide straight up to avoid the nosedive Aang was attempting. " Alright, Aoi. Here are the rules; we race to Olibo and whoever gets their first wins! The loser has to make lunch! What do you say?" They were flying next to each other now towards the small Earth Kingdom town of Olibo. Aoi was hesitant, this would probably end badly seeing as it almost always did, but she nodded anyway.

" I guess you've got a deal." She smiled sweetly. " Remember, I like my avocados fried!" Aoi then sped off into the endless blue abyss before her. The wind whipped at her face, but being an airbender she was used to it. Of course she was still learning to bend, because every so often a wind current would casually blow by sending her tilting sharply to the side. Aoi had a bad habit of screaming a very squeaky scream every time this happened. Aang had no problem gliding through the sky; he had always been a natural. Even for an airbender.

Hewas at her side in a minute, grinning and closing his eyes. " This is fun!" He announced, eyes remaining closed. Aoi stared at him, giving him an odd look.

" Aang?" She asked, hoping he would open his eyes once she called his name.

" Yeah?" He called back, eyes still shut.

" How can you fly without being able to see?"

Aang finally opened one eye and looked around for Aoi. " It's a gift." He said with a sly grin.

" Oh, come on. What's up? How come you're not bumping into things?" She persisted. Aoi knew he was good, but flying with your eyes closed? No one can do that.

" I'll tell you a secret," The bald monk whispered, yet was still heard over the streams of air flying past them. " Mediate." He laughed and in the process, took his right hand off his glider, making him off balance, so in turn he was sent sprawling down towards the ground. Aoi screamed in terror, a sort of gut reflex for anyone concerned in this situation.

" AANG!" Aoi hit into gear, pulling her glider down practically over her eyes. This motion made her faster and she got down close enough to watch Aang land rather safely in a tree. Actually he plummeted through its canopy, staff and all. Aoi didn't slow her pace until she was at least five feet away from the ground. She skidded onto the dirt next to the bunch of trees that she saw Aang fall in. She didn't bother to put her staff up; but threw it to the side and ran to the enormous trunk.

Aoi peered through its leaves and branches, not being able to see anything; she called out his name. He didn't answer at first but then as Aoi was about to hop up into the tree, he fell down, staff in tow. Aoi squealed for joy as he slid off the trunk and stood upright.

" Well," He paused looking at his now torn staff. " I guess I need to meditate more."

Aoi took her staff and smashed it on the back on Aangs' head. He fell flat on the ground, twitching. " That's for worrying me." She pulled him up by the collar. He rubbed his head and laughed sheepishly. Suddenly Aoi wrapped her arms around his shoulders and pulled him into a hug. She let him go a second later and took a step back.

" What was that for?"

" For not dying."

" I wasn't going to die." Aang eyed his staff that lay near Aois'. She noticed and picked it up, examining the significant holes in it.

" You're going to need a new one." She said, deadly calm.

" Uh, yeah," Aang gulped. " G-guess so…" He knew what was coming.

" Shunyei spends all of his time crafting these and you go and break them!" Aoi erupted, stomping back and forth while waving Aangs' limp staff back and forth. " That's the fourth one this month!" Aang stared at the bushes.

" Sorry."

Aoi sighed. " Sometimes I feel like your mother."

Aang didn't know what to say to this so he stayed silent. " It's going to take us a while to walk back, isn't it?" Aoi put her hands on her hips and exhaled.

" To the Southern Temple? Yes." She grinned. " To the Eastern one, that's only a couple of miles away." Aang looked like he didn't understand was she was saying because his expression didn't change.

" Well…" He started to protest.

" If you want to walk forty miles west then go ahead, I'm going home." Aoi walked to the side of Aang and picked up her own staff, dropping his at his feet. She positionedher gliderin front of her and glanced back at Aang one last time before taking off. Aang watched hersoar farther and farther away.

" AOI! Wait, come back!" He managed to yell as hard as he could without damaging his vocal cords. Aoi seemed to hear him because she came back down. She landed and put up her glider.

They looked almost identical, for male or female if you were an airbender, you wore the same regulation-training outfit. With the exception of Aoi being a little taller then Aang and she had light brown hair that sat just below her shoulder blades.

" Come on, Aang." Aoi waved her hand. They had to walk two miles, which would take about forty-five minutes if they didn't stop.

The Eastern Temple was Aois' home. She grew up there like a normal airbender, but her temple was for female Air Nomads who were training to be airbenders. The temple consisted of two hundred or so novices and five elders. All four temples operated like this, with the Eastern and Western being for woman and the Southern and Northern for men.

Generally the boys interacted with the boys and the girls with the girls. This was a rule made to avoid any unwanteddrama between the two genders, but occasionally you would see a few girls at the male temples. Aoi was one of these girls. She preferred to be around the males anyway. They were simpler then the girls and could train for long periods of time without getting upset like the females did.

Aoi was at the Eastern Temple half the time she spent at the Southern one. She enjoyed Aangs' company and he was fun. Although, even if Aang loved to spend time with Aoi, he didn't like the Eastern Temple much. Being raised in an all male environment; he was uncomfortable around girls other then Aoi. Needless to say, the other girls quite liked when a boy came.

Aang and Aoi had took to walking through the forests instead of in the fields because it was rather hot outside and they liked the shade given off by the tall trees. Living in the mountains, they were used to calm, cool temperatures.

Aang didn't like walking, Aoi didn't particularly like it either but she didn't complain about it as much as he did. She watched him drag his feet and pull his staff behind him. " Just be glad that you're not walking forty-five miles." Aoi laughed.

" Yeah, of course." Aang agreed, rubbing the back of his neck.

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