Notes: Updated 6/29/21
Appa landed with a light fwoomp. Although Gyatso had landed Appa in the forest, both monks could hear noises emanating from the village. Their arrival had seemed to cause quite a stir among the locals. For a moment Aang panicked, he thought they knew somehow who he was, but a quick look towards Gyatso showed that-that wasn't the case.
His mentor explained the noises; "Sadly, it is not often that many people see us these days. When people meet monks and nuns though, it is commonly believed that if they treat us with kindness they will be blessed by the spirits."
Aang raised an eyebrow at that and questioned "What started that Gyatso?"
"In the time of Avatar Yangchen, chaos dominated large swaths of the Earth Kingdom, but she was able to solve conflict in many regions. She ended the fifth nation; one ruled by pirates who plundered the south and south east Earth Kingdom. This region was one of the first places Avatar Yangchen liberated. She brought an end to poverty and hunger for lots of people. From then on, the belief that treating nomads with kindness began and rapidly spread throughout the world during the time of Avatar Kuruk."
Both monks hopped off Appa, Aang airbended the saddle off his best friend. He turned to Gyatso and waited for his mentor to start walking into the village. After a few moments Gyatso put down the scroll he was reading and gestured for Aang to follow him.
"Gyatso am I still allowed to go and ride the giant koi fish?" Aang asked his mentor
Gyatso turned to him and nodded. "Aang, you will have a few hours to explore the island more since the last time we were here. I have to go talk to some friends, they found some scrolls I was hoping to find." Gyatso said, his words filled with energy and eagerness. Aang could tell his mentor was very excited about the scrolls his friends found.
"What did they find Gyatso?" Aang decided to ask; curious as to what got his teacher so excited.
"Ohh, nothing much, just some airbending scrolls that have been lost for a long time. One day I'll show you what's in them, some of them later, and others I will teach you sooner." Gyatso answered, a large smile on his face when he looked down at this student.
"Cool!" Aang exclaimed, he couldn't wait to see what Gyatso's friends found. Even if he couldn't learn what might be in them sometime soon, it was something to look forward to. Patience was a virtue instilled in him since he could first meditate. The monks valued patience and made sure all children could wait until the sun rose to when it fell.
The forest path opened up and gave way to a village. It by no means was small, but Aang had seen much larger villages. The buildings here were simple at a glance, most looked like they were only one room, but the woodwork was phenomenal from what Aang could tell with his limited carpentry experience. He had paid just enough attention in class to learn how to make a staff. Learning how to craft chairs and tables was something that didn't interest him in the slightest. Monk Alu would have to earthbend him into the ground if he wanted to teach him any advanced woodworking.
Gyatso and Aang were greeted quickly by a large woman who looked to be in her fifties. Her face was coated in red and white face paint. She wore green robes with armor plating and had golden fans attached at the hip. It all looked familiar to Aang, like he had seen it in the mirror every day for an entire lifetime, but he had no idea what to make of the feeling, so Aang just wrote it off. The large woman looked at Gyatso, analyzing him head to toe, but his mentor didn't squirm one bit, his face steady and sporting a disarming smile. Aang couldn't say the same for himself when the large woman's gaze moved to him. He couldn't help but squirm and fidget in place under her analysing look.
After a few more moments the woman's hard look broke and a laugh sprouted from her. "Good to see you Gyatso, it's always a joy to see you around here." The woman said. "It's also nice to finally meet your pupil."
Gyatso, who by now was coming down from his own laugh when he saw Aang squirm, spoke. "Aang I would like to introduce one of my old friends, Sumin. Sumin, this is my pupil Aang. He just recently mastered airbending and has received his arrows. I am very proud of him."
Aang blushed a bit at the compliment and rubbed the back of his neck, the latter a nervous habit he had started early on in life. "It's an honor to meet you, Sumin of Kyoshi," Aang said. He made sure to give a traditional Earth Kingdom bow, clasping his hands together and bending at the waist.
Sumin looked at Aang with a smile and said "Likewise young airbender. Please, just call me Sumin. I am the captain of the Kyoshi Warriors. We protect our island against any threat. Be it invaders or pirates."
Aang rose from his bow and exclaimed. "That's really cool!" Sumin gave a smile, it seemed almost impossible not to when around the boy, he radiated charisma.
Gyatso turned to Aang, smiling as well, and said "Well Aang, you are free to explore. Sumin has some things to show me."
Aang nodded and waved goodbye to his mentor and Sumin. As soon as they were out of sight Aang took off with his glider, flying to the beach where he could ride the giant koi fish. Soaring through the skies, Aang had a birds eye view of the village. He could see how the village looked, it was focused along a single road, there was a path that led into the forest, and a dojo that was separated from the rest of the village. Aang's focus slowly turned to a pillar that was located towards the central part of town. It had a statue on top that demanded his attention, something inside was pushing him to acknowledge it. Aang turned his attention back toward the beach, he made a mental note to check out why that statue entrapped his attention so much.
Nearing the beach, Aang spun, pulling his arm in and closing his glider, landing with elegance and grace only seen from master airbenders. Once landed Aang sat down on the beach, waiting for the giant koi fish to begin breaching. For the next few minutes Aang sat in silence, waiting patiently for the large fish to begin their display. Those minutes turned into an hour, but Aang simply sat patiently for the koi fish to appear.
When he first saw the splash, he thought it might just have been a smaller fish native to the island, scuttling along the surface, but then a large flash of orange appeared and Aang knew it was time for fun. Discarding his kavi, Aang leapt into the water, using the recently learned cloud stepping to get him across the water faster. He came to a stop and dropped into the water. Aang looked around the water for the giant koi. Finally seeing one coming directly towards him, a wave of joyful anticipation swept over Aang. When the koi neared, Aang latched on to its dorsal fin. Immediately the giant koi sprung into action, hundreds of pounds of water battered against Aang's form as the fish raced on. The sting of hammering water did nothing to hem in his lopsided jubilant grin or the dangerous thrill echoing through Aang's body as the fish plowed on at a high velocity. Without a moment's notice, Aang's newly mounted koi breached the deep blue surface, a cascade of white following their accent into the sky. The young airbender could only howl with excitement as the koi rapidly descended towards the blue gulf, hitting the crishendow of the it's jump.
The blissful excitement overtook Aang, troubles from the previous week forgotten as laughs overtook him. Minutes passed, and before he knew it the sun was getting low in the sky and Aang could tell his stay on the giant koi's dorsal was becoming unwanted. Not one to overstay his welcome, Aang took one last leap off the koi and swam for shore. Laying on the sand, exhausted and in a state of euphoria, Aang could only anticipate the moment he could bring Bumi and Kuzon to Kyoshi.
Bringing his fists together, Aang gave off a large spherical blast of air that instantly dried him off. Aang stood up and redressed in his kavi. He turned back to the village and took off once more with his glider.
Gyatso looked down at the scroll in his hands. He couldn't believe that they found it, ever since he heard the myths he knew that he had to find something to confirm them. After decades of searching on his part, and the many years others put into searching for it they found it. If Gyatso cared for wealth, he would have described the parchment as priceless.
Gyatso placed the scroll back onto the table and turned to the window where he could see Aang approaching, his cheery mood radiating through the sky like a heavenly body. He would show his pupil the scroll when he was ready, and well, when Gyatso himself could actually perform the technique. Maybe Aang might grasp the technique before him, Gyatso mused. His pupil held such raw power only matched by what he saw in Roku. Techniques and forms coming so easily that it would make the greatest bending prodigies jealous. Raw power that magnified the strength behind every attack ten fold. Early on Gyatso had seen how much Aang held himself back, his student held a fear of injuring others. Aang's pure heart wouldn't allow himself to inflict great and lasting harm on others, a noble quality for an Avatar, but Gyatso feared that one day he would be forced to make a difficult decision. Fire Lord Sozin's aggressive stance in the Western Earth Kingdom made that all the more obvious. Moving to the door, Gyatso stepped outside and waved at Aang. Drawing his attention, Aang descended to him and landed.
"I can see you had a wonderful time at the beach Aang." Gyatso said, face dominated by a cheerful smile. He could see his student avatar had lots of fun riding the giant koi.
Aang jumped and whooped "It was so fun Gyatso!" Aang made an animated motion with his hand, arching it as he said "-And there was this one jump that was really exciting. The fish went into the air and I could feel the wind rushing at my face. Then we landed with a bwoosh!" Aang made an explosion gesture with his hands.
Gyatso could only chuckle at his pupil's antics. "Well that is great to hear Aang. We must prepare for dinner, Sumin is hosting us for the day. You can tell us all about your day then!" Gyatso said. He waited for Aang to nod before he continued, once Aang provided his acknowledgement Gyatso moved on. "Bring Appa into the village, they have stables prepared for him now. And be quick Aang, Sumin has rice with steamed vegetables ready for us." Gyatso saw Aang's jaw adjust. It was a sign of mouth watering that became an unconscious behavior for his pupil. Once Gyatso finished, he watched as Aang took an air enhanced leap then began running off. A smile, like always, on his ageing face.
Aang found Appa munching a blossom berry bush. As the sky bison looked up to acknowledge his friend's presence, he pulled the entire push out of the ground, never stopping his chewing. Aang in response, bursted out laughing, clutching his stomach. He had never seen his best friend even do that, but he would imagine it. And now here Appa was, staring at him with an entire bush in his mouth, continuously munching.
"Ohh Appa, that's not how you're supposed to do that!" Aang yelled in between recovering breaths. Spitting out the bush, Appa gave a roar that simply stated the tastiness of the bushes' leaves. "Well Appa, we're going back into the village, they prepared the stables for you. All the bushels of hay any sky bison could ever want…" Aang said. Appa roared again, which Aang understood. "Thanks Appa, let's get going!"
Aang airbender Appa's saddle back on; he waited for his best friend to give a roar before they would leave. Once Appa felt ready to depart he gave a roar and they began the walk back into the village.
Emerging from the forest with Appa, both Airbenders were greeted by what Aang could only assume to be another Kyoshi Warrior, but she was much younger, probably around eighteen Aang guessed.
"Young airbender," the Kyoshi warrior began, bowing to him right after, before continuing, "My name is Nami, I'll show you to the stables where your sky bison can rest." Nami gestured for Aang to follow her.
Aang had to shake his head and focus, it wasn't often he interacted with women, much less girls near his own age. He followed after her and so did Appa. "I'm Aang, nice to meet you!" Aang spoke, another potential friend thought Aang.
"Nice to meet you too, Aang." Nami turned and gave him a smile. Their walk through the village brought them by that statue, it captured Aang's eyes and attention. The statue looked just like the Kyoshi Warrior garb, though it had a much larger headdress. A single name floated into Aang's mind.
"Kyoshi," something inside of him whispered. Aang recognized it as that same femenine voice he heard only a few days ago, again in that weird language he could understand. He had given it some thought; it wasn't the language of his people, nor was it the common universal language. Truly something perplexing…
Aang was completely unaware that he had stopped walking, all attention the monk had was transfixed onto the statue. He didn't notice Nami had turned around and was calling for him to follow. A few moments later, an annoyed Kyoshi Warrior was right next to him.
"Umm... Hello? Aang,...you gonna follow me?" Nami said, annoyance clear when she spoke.
Aang slowly turned his head, eyes moving off the statue at the last second and snapping to Nami. "Who…, Who is that?" Aang offered somewhat distractedly, pointing up at the statue. Once again his gaze found its way to the statue.
Nami turned to the statue and gestured to it, somewhat confused. Aang nodded, understanding the silent question. Nami began "That is Avatar Kyoshi, she was the Avatar two elements ago. She created our island when she splitted it from the mainland during Chin's conquest. She was our first governor and created our island's guard which bears her name." Aang could hear the fondness and reverence in her voice. "She's my role model, well… everyone's role model really."
Quite the legacy to live up to, Aang thought. It built up on his already large amount of anxiety about being the Avatar. Thankfully Nami didn't notice the way his body tensed and his spine went rigid. "Cool," was simply the only thing Aang could squeak out. He looked up at the face of the statue of his past life. Pressure built up on his chest, his breaths became more ragged, more strained. Aang's vision began to darken, gray overtaking his sense of vision. Nami's voice blurred into the background, simply fading into white noise. Panic that he would be a horrible Avatar claiming his mind, visions of the world falling to the darkness Gyatso warned of. A few more breathless moments and he would fall. Reaching for his head Aang tried to shake that guilt, that darkness, and the clouds of insecurity.
Aang brought to mind a meditation technique taught early in life, Aang closed his eyes hard, eyebrows squinting to shut out the mist. Taking a deep breath in, Aang counted to five, then exhaled slowly. For the next minute Aang continued like this. Finally opening his eyes Aang could see Nami looking at him, concern written across her face.
"You okay Aang? You zoned out there for a moment. Is everything okay up in that airhead?" Nami questioned.
Aang reached out for Appa's head to steady himself. His hand met white fur and a wave of clam swept over Aang. The mist was gone, at least for now. Even at his early age, Aang knew stuff like this didn't go away that easily. He did not, in any way, want to tell Gyatso about this. Adding another burden to his mentor's shoulders wasn't something Aang was greatly keen on. Keeping the pain to himself would only become a habit that Aang would begin doing more and more as the years passed. Selflessness to a point of self destruction would become something increasingly common with the Air Nomad Avatar.
Turning to Nami, Aang spoke up, voice stronger than how he felt, "I-, I'm okay sorry. I just felt exhausted for a moment. Riding the giant koi must have taken a lot out of me."
Nami raised an eyebrow, something was off with this small airbending boy, but questions for another time she thought. There also was that statement about riding giant koi which she found impossible and a far out excuse. "Really, riding giant koi fish?"
Aang perked up at that, she didn't know about riding giant koi fish. Resuming their walk back towards the stables, Aang answered Nami, "Yeah! You've never ridden them?" He sounded like she had spoken something incredibly absurd.
"You're going to tell me that you actually rode one of those incredibly sized fishes?" Nami asked, astounded that this twelve year old airbender was capable of that.
Nodding eagerly, Aang answered "Yep! It's really really fun!" He gave Nami the same dramatic retelling about earlier that day, complete with hand gestures and sound effects. By the end of said dramatic story, Aang had Nami laughing her heart out, himself along with her. Nami's previous polite warrior demeanor swapped with that of an older sister having fun with a brother. "Maybe you can come out and try riding them with me next time?" Aang offered
"That sounds really fun and really dangerous." Nami said. She raised her hand up to her chin, faux contemplating. "I'm in!" She announced bringing up a hand and grasping, Nami gave him a hard handshake and the promise was set. Aang could feel himself blush at the contant, but it only made his utter lack of same age female interaction all the more obvious.
Arriving at the stables, Nami pulled the gate open and Appa plotted in. Aang removed the saddle and exited the stable. When Nami moved to close the gate, Aang quickly stopped her and said "Appa doesn't like closed spaces, it makes him nervous." He received a nod in return and both began walking back to Sumin's house.
Nami looked at Aang and asked "So how does your mentor know my mom?"
"Sumin is your mom?" Nami nodded and Aang gave a shrug "I'm not sure, all I know is that some of Gyatso's friends found something he was looking for."
Nami nodded again "So that's what got my mom all excited. She said some of her Earth Kingdom mappers found a few scrolls in a desert." She gave a shrug as well, raising her arms up a bit before lowering them with the shrug. "Probably something for old people. They like their long lost scrolls that have some 'long lost knowledge and wisdom that will lead us.'" Nami finished, bringing her hands up and making an air quotes gesture. Aang released a grand guffaw, some people turned to look at them for a moment or two before returning to their previous occupation.
"I think we'll be great friends!" stated Aang with confidence. Nami was very fun and even if she was older than him, he just knew lots of mischief was waiting for them.
Nami looked down at him and smiled, sweeping an arm at her side, giving a thumbs up, and a wink. "You're righty, Aang!"
Approaching Sumin's house, their conversation died down and a comfortable silence took over. Time for that promised rice and steamed vegetables thought Aang, mouth watering in excitement.
Aang followed Nami into her mother's house, setting his staff near the doorway. He could see Gyatso already sitting down at the table reading a scroll. Aang made his way to the table and sat down next to his mentor.
Gyatso looked up to him. "Good to see you Aang. If you would, I would like you to read this scroll. Something my friends found; I thought it would find it interesting."
Aang took the scroll Gyatso handed him, curious at what it might read. When he opened the scroll he read the title, 'Manipulation of sound through airbending, beginner forms to begin.'Aang was very surprised; this entailed that there was more to airbending than just the 36 forms. He looked up at Gyatso in askance. "Wh-wow, is this what I think it is?"
"Indeed Aang, this is a scroll describing early soundbending forms. I learned a bit of it and even created a few forms during my world travels. This is but one of many scrolls my friends found. I want to begin your soundbening training soon, most likely after we complete your complete mastery of normal airbending." Gyatso informed Aang.
Aang's eyes bloomed wide, eyebrows shooting up. He never thought about the limits of airbending and how much they could be stretched. A pandora's box had been opened inside Aang's mind and he couldn't wait to learn more.
Maybe it would help him live up to his past lives, a thought spoke; the anxiety lessened, only a bit.
Dinner came and went, rice and steamed vegetables appeasing Aang's appetite. After calling in for the night, Aang said his goodbyes. And as he drifted off to sleep, Aang mused on the day. So much fun and so much surprise. Spending nearly the entire day riding the giant koi fish was exhausting. Holding for as long as he had turned his muscles to mush.
The statue of his previous life was concerning. It drew him in and demanded his attention. Nami's words came to mind; the anxiety, the fog, the panic that he felt nearly crushed him. The pain was manageable now, but it was compressed; stowed deep inside because he didn't want to worry anybody, least of all Gyatso. A legacy to uphold and a duty to fulfill.
Then there was soundbending. It was so interesting, so new. Aang had never heard about it, even when he listened in on the Council of Elders meetings. Maybe there was writing about it in Gyatso's room, but that was one place Aang dared not enter uninvited and snoop. Gyatso was too important to Aang. Sleep encroached on him far easier than he would have thought, it claimed the Avatar and his thoughts were put on pause.