A. N. : More Aang ! I now realize that this is the second time I've had a character grow through meeting an old person but uh. To be fair, "reconnecting with one's past" and "learning murder isn't always the answer" are pretty different in terms of character growth. Just wait for the third act of "you know what's better than a parent-figure ? A grandparent figure", coming to you when I get back to the Gal Pals. Maybe. We're staying with Aang for a while still, though.

Aang can't help but stare.

Ukon's dad had a complicated knot on his chest, and when he'd caught Aang looking at it and trying to figure out its meaning, he'd said that's from my wedding and laughed that loud, infectious laughter of his.

He was a man who loved his wife with all his heart.

And still the ink on his heart was allowed to age and change, fading in places and becoming illegible in others. When a tattoo is made, it's rarely modified.

It's even more rarely redrawn identically, over and over, on the same skin.

Did this change too ? Or is it just this one, just Grandmother Shami, just –

Just the Comet.

Grandmother Shami raises her right hand, palm turned toward them, asks Aang and Jet to come close with a soft, rumbly voice and a wave of the hand. The ink swirl on her wrist, just under the palm of her hand, follows the two other spirals Aang saw earlier on the other side of her arm and hand and oh –

That's why it looked familiar.

Aang walks to Grandmother Shami, presents his empty hands as he sits in front of her, in the traditional way Gyatso showed him and the others the first time they met the Grandparent of the Sky Stern. Jet copies him hesitantly after a few seconds.

Tell me child, who are you ? – Grandmother Shami asks, and Aang responds – I am Aang, friend of Ukon of the Sky Stern – he breathes, then – I bring with me the southern winds.

She nods, the children by her side gasp, their eyes going repeatedly from Grandmother Shami to Aang, before following her gaze and turning to Jet as well.

Jet just stares back.

And stares. And stares. And – uh… I'm Jet.

Aang can't help himself. He laughs, earning a hey ! and a shove from Jet. The children are giggling too, and Aang hears Ichirou attempt to stifle a laugh. Even Grandmother Shami has a smile on her face and a twinkle in her eyes.

What's southern wind mean anyway, Jet huffs, rolling his eyes and leaning on Aang's shoulder as if to push him down. He's not really putting his full weight into it though, just playing the annoying brother like Sokka sometimes does to Katara. Aang breathes out another laugh.

It just means Aang comes from the Southern Air Temple, that's all. Really old, really formal greeting, barely ever used outside of ceremonies and the like.

There's a long hum as Jet processes the answer, and then – what am I bringing then ? Dust ? – and hah ! Wouldn't that be funny ? Aang giggles, head touching his knees as Jet just flicks his head with a snort. Real formal, huh, he says, sending Aang into another giggling fit.

Spirits, his stomach hurts. His cheeks, too.

It feels great.

Once he manages to look up again without losing it immediately – no thanks to Jet, who kept adding to it and whispering mud or a pile of rocks every time Aang thought he'd finally get to recover – he sees Grandmother Shami smiling at them. She's back to drinking her tea. Ichirou is now sitting a little to the side, with one of the children handing him what looks to be a bowl of hot water ? Ew.

He really is Ukon's grandson, huh.

Aang scratches the back of his head, apologizes to Grandmother Shami for the uh, interruption – Jet snorts, Aang elbows him. Jet retaliates and ok, alright, violence begets violence, Aang will be the bigger person then. Geez.

Grandmother Shami simply shakes her head, smiles, and says that she is happy to see the spirit of the Air Nomads still alive in him. She had heard tales of the joy their arrival brought, and to witness it herself… it is truly a blessing. She thanks him for that.

And Aang… Aang doesn't know what to say. There is so much he wants to tell her – sorry, sorry that I wasn't her to stop everything that happened, thank you for remembering who we were, who we really were and not what the schools teach now, thank you for looking at me as Aang the Air Nomad and not – so much he wants to ask – about the Comet on her heart and the triple spiral on her forearm, about the houses that aren't ships and the suspicion and the fear and…

He realizes he's heard Katara and Sokka talk about the war, about what the Fire Nation did to the Southern Water Tribe. Seen first hand the colonies in the Earth Kingdom, the people living there and the ones who cannot, the people fleeing and the ones who fight. He's sees what the Fire Nation is like, now, after a hundred years. He's seen… Gyatso, and death, and the broken command not to take a life, clad in red and black around the man who taught Aang that very same principle.

If Grandmother Shami remembers the Air Nomads, the maybe she knows about – about how and why the Fire Nation became so misled. About the not-ships and the lies taught in class and the process of… of… of erasing the past.

If she bears the triple spiral on her arm, then maybe she knows what became of the people who escaped the Temples, because there has to be some, and surely they would have found him during his journey.

He asks Grandmother Shami what happened, during there hundred years.