Water:
The Last Avatar
"So what was he like?" Katara asked, leaning over the front of the saddle, face resting on her palms.
"Who?" Aang asked, glancing back over his shoulder. They had just lifted off the ground, and the children below ran after them, laughing and shouting, as Appa flew a full circle around the village before setting off to the north.
"The last Avatar." Katara's stomach dropped as they sailed over a ridge, and she clamped her hands on the saddle. "You said you knew him."
"Oh." Aang looked forward again, and she saw his grip tighten on the reins. "He was a kid. I guess he was just—normal."
"Hold on a second," Sokka said, sliding forward a little. "You knew the last Avatar when he was a kid?"
Aang nodded. "Yeah."
Sokka narrowed his eyes. "Are you sure he wasn't actually a short old man or something?"
"I'm sure," Aang answered, twisting himself completely sideways. "He was my age."
Sokka looked at Katara, and she raised her eyebrows back at him. Leaning back, he folded his arms. "Well, I hate to break it to you, Aang, but you were frozen a lot longer than fourteen years."
"What do you mean?" Aang asked.
"Aang, the Avatar's been missing for a hundred years," Katara answered. "He would have been an old man by the time he died. So if you knew him as a kid—"
"Then I must have been frozen for a hundred years," Aang finished for her, staring out over the frozen landscape. "Wow. I don't feel like I'm a hundred and twelve years old."
There was a minute of silence as Appa sailed higher. The village was still visible behind them, but the individual tents were growing less distinct by the second. Though she was certain that Gran-Gran was still there, watching them disappear into the sky, Katara could no longer see her, or even pick out which tent was theirs. Sokka stared back at the village for a while too, then turned to the side.
"Whoa," Sokka blurted, his attention caught by a plume of blackish smoke. He leaned over the side of the saddle, staring toward the wrecked Fire Nation ship. "Did you do that?"
Katara followed his gaze to where the firebenders swarmed over the deck of the ship, working furiously to clear the mounds of snow and ice. She had driven the ship farther from the village than she thought, and from this angle, it was apparent that part of the metal hull was crumpled beyond recognition. She nodded.
"Nice work," Sokka commented, watching for a few more seconds before settling back against the rear of the saddle. "That jerk deserved it for attacking me."
Katara turned toward him, raising an eyebrow. "You attacked him first."
"He was trying to kidnap Aang!" Sokka's voice slid higher, and he folded his arms over his chest. "Besides, you did that weird Avatar-y thing."
She scowled. "Are you really sure you want to complain about the way I saved your life?"
Sokka raised his hands in submission. "All I'm saying is if that guy shows up again, he's going to be angrier about his boat than a little bump on his head."
Katara turned around again. She hated to admit it, but Sokka had a point. Intentional or otherwise, she had practically destroyed a warship. And though she knew next to nothing about Zuko, she knew that it took a lot of dedication to make it to the South Pole. If he had already come this far, he would think nothing of chasing her to the North Pole and back again simply because she was the Avatar. Now that she had wrecked his ship too—Katara leaned on the front rim of the saddle, trying not to think about it.
"So, were you friends with the Avatar?" From the corner of her eye, she saw the fields of ice below them growing less familiar. In a matter of minutes, they would be farther from home than either she or Sokka had ever ventured.
Sokka groaned. "Give it a rest, Katara. The kid just found out that he's a hundred years older than he thought he was."
"And I just found out that I have hunreds of past lives," Katara retorted, but her voice softened when she addressed Aang again. "If you don't want to talk about it right now, that's okay."
"No, it's fine," Aang answered, turning himself all the way around to meet Katara's gaze.
"Shouldn't you be watching where we're going?"
Aang grinned and patted the wooly white neck beneath him. "Appa knows the way."
"To what?" Sokka asked, practically lying on his back now. He stretched his legs out as far as they would go, kicking Katara in the process. She kicked back.
"The Southern Air Temple," Aang answered. "There's no better place in the world to learn about the last Avatar." He turned forward and added, a little quieter, "And I haven't been home in a hundred years."
"Isn't that a little out of the way?" Sokka grumbled, pulling his legs out of his sister's reach.
Aang looked back one more time. "We're going to the other end of the world, Sokka. Nothing is out of our way."
From the dock, Zuko glowered at the crushed stern of his ship. The repairs would take more time than he could afford to spare. It had already taken his men most of a day to dig themselves free. The ship was still mostly operable, though several of the crew's chambers had been destroyed, and two nights of hard sailing had finally brought them to a port where repairs could be made. His fists clenched. By the time they were able to leave again, the Avatar and that ridiculous flying beast would be days ahead of him.
"Prince Zuko!" His uncle called from the shore. "This fine gentleman tells me that there's a tea shop in this town! Why don't we pay it a visit while we wait?"
Zuko whirled to face his uncle. The "gentleman" was a shabbily-dressed, crooked-nosed Earth Kingdom peasant. At best, he was a dock worker or a fisherman. Zuko sneered. "I'm not leaving unless it's on my ship."
The old man's eyes went stern. "Patience, Prince Zuko." He turned toward one of the crew. "Lieutenant Jee, when did these fine men say our repairs would be finished?"
The lieutenant looked up. "Midmorning tomorrow, at the soonest, General Iroh."
Iroh smiled at his nephew again. "I believe we have a little time to spare, Prince Zuko. A walk would do you good."
Zuko knew that tone too well—there would be no arguing with Iroh. He turned to the lieutenant. "Tell these ignorant peasants that I want the repairs finished by nightfall," he ordered, then stalked off toward the village.
The path was narrow and rutted, cutting through a tangled, stunted meadow. At some points, the ruts turned to holes, almost knee-deep, and filled to the brim with slimy, greenish-brown water. Zuko sidestepped one of the puddles, and the thorns at the side of the path snagged on his pants. Grumbling, he stopped to disentangle himself, and some of the mud gave way under his feet. He slid up to his ankles into the foul-smelling slime.
Iroh hopped lightly over the puddle, and stopped to wait for his nephew, smiling. "It is a lovely morning, isn't it, Prince Zuko?"
Zuko didn't so much as look in the general's direction. Pulling his feet out of the mud, he stomped on ahead, leaving a trail of murky footprints behind him.
Iroh kept pace with his nephew easily. "Have you heard the crew's latest gossip?" the old man asked.
Zuko stared straight ahead, jaw tightening. "They know better than to speak out of turn around me."
"What a pity," his uncle continued, his voice perfectly languid. "Then you have missed some very interesting conversation, Prince Zuko."
"I don't care, Uncle."
"Really? I thought that information about the Avatar would catch your interest." Still, the old man's voice was maddeningly calm.
"I was humiliated by a girl!" Zuko snapped. "There's nothing more to say about it."
"Ah, but if you had heard the men this morning, you might think differently, Prince Zuko." There was something like amusement in Iroh's voice. "At breakfast this morning, Private Chu told me that he was surprised that such a small boy could do so much damage to the ship."
It took an instant, but when he caught his uncle's meaning, Zuko stopped walking. "What?" he asked, voice low.
Iroh didn't quite smile, but there was a look of satisfaction in his eyes. "It seems," he said, facing his nephew, hands folded across his large stomach, "that your entire crew believes that the airbending boy was responsible for the damage."
He turned a glare on his uncle. "How is that supposed to help me?" Zuko snarled, and turned toward the town again.
Iroh caught up with him in a few strides. "Knowledge is a powerful thing, Prince Zuko. You must use every advantage wisely."
"We're home, buddy!" Aang announced, leaping to the ground almost before Appa landed. The bison roared in response.
Katara hopped over the edge of the saddle, landing lightly on the ground. Sokka, muttering incoherently, tumbled out after her.
"It's beautiful," Katara said.
Sokka scowled blearily up the mountain. "It's great. Really. But you know what would've made it better? If you two hadn't decided to wake me up at the buttcrack of dawn."
Aang turned brightly to the older boy. "We had to get here early. If you're going to see everything, we need the whole day."
"There'd better be food here somewhere, that's all I'm saying," Sokka answered as they began up the winding path. "Getting up early is bad enough. But skipping breakfast—"
Katara raised an eyebrow at her brother. "We have the chance to explore an Air Temple, and you're complaining about breakfast?"
He shrugged. "I don't ask for much. Just three meals a day and plenty of sleep."
She turned, hands on her hips, to tell him off, but from farther up the path Aang called, "Come on, guys! You have to see everything!"
The siblings caught up, and they continued up the mountain together, Aang pointing out and explaining every new sight. The farther they walked, though, the more uneasy Katara felt. It was quiet. Aang spoke of activity and excitement and monks gathering on every terrace, but there was no sign of life anywhere that she could see. She and Sokka had grown up on stories of the war, and every story agreed—the Fire Nation had wiped out the airbenders in less than a month. Whatever Aang was expecting to find here had been gone for a century.
"And we used to play airball down there," Aang said, pointing down to a grid of vertical wooden posts. He paused for a moment, looking sad.
Katara glanced at her brother. Sokka's jaw was clenched tight. For an instant, their eyes met, then Sokka noticed something over her shoulder, and he nudged her. She followed his gaze to a scorch mark on one of the walls.
"It's exactly the same," Aang continued, still facing the airball court. "Except for the weeds. It's like everybody just left."
Katara stared at the blackened stones, unable to respond. The mark was only as high as her waist, and it was oddly-shaped, as though a firebender's attack had found its mark and left behind a shadow of what it struck. Taking a step closer to the wall, she crouched to examine the shape from a different angle. Her stomach turned over, and she covered her mouth with her hand. Though it was distorted, the silhouette unmistakably belonged to a child.
Sokka joined Aang at the opposite side of the path. "You know, it's been a hundred years and the war's been going on ever since you left. The Fire Nation probably made it here a long time ago."
Aang shook his head. "I don't think so. The Air Temples are the safest places in the world." He looked up at Sokka. "Something else must have happed." He turned his back on the airball court, and Katara instinctively stepped in front of the burnt wall and forced a smile.
"So where am I supposed to learn about the last Avatar?"
Brightening a bit, Aang pointed to the temple's highest spire. "Up there."
"Can we see it?"
Sokka frowned at her, but she pretended not to notice.
Aang broke into a full grin. "Follow me!" He took off up the path.
Sokka stared after Aang for a second, then elbowed Katara in the ribs. "What are you trying to do?"
Katara shook her head. "I don't know."
"How long do you think you can keep him from figuring it out?" Sokka hissed.
She didn't respond. Instead, she ran up the path after the airbender. "Aang, wait up!"
With an audible groan, Sokka followed.
"Just pick one!" Zuko snapped as his uncle weighed a bag of tea leaves in his hand for what seemed like the tenth time.
"It's so difficult to decide." Iroh picked up a second bag and weighed it against the first. "I don't want my tea to go stale, but I certainly don't want to run out before we reach the next harbor." He switched the bags to opposite hands and stared intently at them.
Zuko clenched his jaw. This was a waste of time. He should be back on his ship already—even if the repairs weren't complete, he should be poring over maps, planning their next move. The Avatar had a head start, but that was nothing that a few days of hard sailing couldn't make up for. If they could just get out of this wretched tea shop.
"Hmmmm…" The old man seemed to be pondering a third bag of tea now.
With a growl of frustration, Zuko grabbed the largest bag he could reach. "Here. Just take this one and let's go."
Iroh looked at the bag in his nephew's arms, and his eyes went wide with horror. "Never!"
"Why not? It's tea, and you won't run out for the next six months."
"That is nothing more than glorified grass clippings." Before Zuko could respond, Iroh added, "And a potent remedy for constipation."
At that, Zuko went a little red and replaced the bag on the shelf.
It seemed like another hour passed before Iroh finally settled on a bag of tea—the first one he had examined—and paid the unwashed merchant at the counter. The pair had scarcely left the shop when a deep voice greeted them by name.
"General Iroh. Prince Zuko." The man, dressed in a Fire Navy uniform, bowed to them both. Zuko grudgingly returned the gesture.
"Captain Zhao. It is an honor to meet you again." Iroh replied.
"Commander," Zhao corrected. "And the honor is all mine." He turned his attention to the prince. "What brings such important guests to my humble base?"
It took all his effort to keep from scowling outright, but Zuko met the commander's gaze. "My ship needed a few repairs."
"I believe I saw that," Zhao said, smiling a little too smugly. "I understand you had a run-in with the Avatar."
Zuko's temper flared. "Where did you get an idea like that?"
Zhao's smile didn't falter. "It's remarkable how three years serving a disgraced prince can make a man recognize real authority when he sees it. Your crew were more than happy to explain the damages to me." He fixed Zuko with a more intense stare. "Unless, of course, you would have me believe that thirty honorable men were mistaken about what they saw." He turned to Iroh before the prince had a chance to respond. "Would you gentlemen join me for a drink?"
"We need to get back to my ship," Zuko answered sharply.
"Manners, Prince Zuko," Iroh said in an undertone. "We would be honored," he added, bowing to the Commander.
Zhao bowed in return and turned to lead them away.
"Why did you agree to this, Uncle?" Zuko growled at the old man.
Iroh smiled, his usual placid expression back in place. "Where better to gain information?"
The uppermost sanctuary was impressive, to say the least. Its spire rose too high to see from the path, and its massive wooden door was ornate—and locked. When Sokka caught up with the other two, looked skeptically at the door.
"So a door is supposed to teach Katara all about the last Avatar, huh?" He grabbed his sister's shoulders and pretended to hide behind her. "Oh, mighty Avatar, teach us the secrets of the door!"
Katara shook him off. "What's inside, Aang?"
The younger boy turned back with a smile. "I don't know. But the monks used to tell me that it held the history of all the past Avatars." Looking at Katara, he asked, "Are you ready?"
A little nervous, she nodded. Aang turned on the spot, sending two blasts of air into the openings on the door. With a low whistle, the locks turned, and the doors swung open.
It was dark inside, and it took a moment before Katara could make out the interior of the sanctuary. There were statues. Hundreds of them. She and Aang glanced at one another and slowly made their way inside.
Katara followed the spiraling aisle between the statues, staring in awe at the stoic faces. Water Tribe, Earth Kingdom, Fire Nation, Air Nomad. The pattern repeated over and over until, at last, she reached the last statue in the center of the spiral. She stopped, studying the likeness of the firebender—a tall, bearded old man with a stern expression.
"Avatar Roku," Aang said, coming to stand beside Katara. "He was the Avatar before m—" He stopped for a second, then continued, "My friend."
"You were a firebender?" Sokka asked, stopping at Katara's other side. "That explains a lot."
Katara turned to glare at him. "What does that mean?"
Sokka shrugged. "You have a knack for destroying things."
"Sokka, he died years before the war started. And didn't it ever occur to you that the only things I ever broke were things that you made?"
He ignored the last bit, and wandered back a few statues to the last waterbending Avatar. "Who was this guy? He looks a little bit like Dad."
Katara and Aang joined him.
"That's Avatar Kuruk," Aang answered without hesitation.
"Did the monks teach you about the Avatars?" Katara asked.
Aang shrugged. "I guess so. I don't remember learning about them, but I remember their names." He stepped to the side to face the previous airbender in the cycle. "But I know a lot about her. We celebrated Yangchen's Festival every year when I still lived here."
Katara smiled and moved back to the center of the spiral. The blank space where the last Avatar should have stood bothered her. "What about your friend?" she called back to Aang. "Where's his statue?"
It was dim, but she thought she saw Aang redden a little. "I don't know. You said that the war started around the time he disappeared. Maybe there just wasn't time to make one."
Unconvinced, she stared at the empty space. There was a circular mark where the next statue should have stood, a polished disc of a stone in a slightly darker color than the rest of the floor. She crouched to feel the edges of the disc, but it was perfectly smooth.
"What are you doing, Sokka?"
Katara turned back in time to see her brother sheepishly stepping away from the statue of Avatar Kuruk. "I just wanted to see if it would move."
"Why would you do that?" Aang demanded. "This place is sacred."
"I don't know. It just seemed like a room full of statues wasn't telling us much." When Aang continued glaring, Sokka turned to his sister for support. "Right, Katara? I mean, it's neat, but it doesn't really tell us anything about the last Avatar."
She stood. "He's right, Aang. This was a great idea, but I don't know much more than I did yesterday." He looked crestfallen, and she smiled, wrapping an arm around his shoulders. "Why don't you show us a little more of the temple? We can come back here later."
Aang grinned at the suggestion and led them outside again. There was a courtyard a short distance below the sanctuary, and Katara listened to Aang's stories about all the monks whose statues stood there while Sokka poked his head into every door and window he could find, searching for food. Aang was telling her about one of his old teachers, a man named Gyatso, when Sokka joined them again, and a loud chittering noise caught their attention.
Sokka drew out his boomerang. "What was that?"
Aang darted around the older boy and started to laugh. "It's a lemur!" he said, a little too loudly, and the small white creature fled. "Come here, little guy!" Aang shouted, running after it.
"Aang!" Katara broke into a sprint, following a few paces behind Sokka. She raced down the winding path between the deserted huts, in close pursuit of the boys until she lost sight of them around a corner. She slowed when the lemur bounded out of a hut. Neither Sokka nor Aang followed. Cautiously, Katara went the open doorway and peered in.
Death. There was no other word for what waited in the ruined hut—a mound of skeletons, still in Fire Nation armor, lay piled across the first half of the room. Then there was a patch of bare, cracked and overgrown stone floor, and a single skeleton, propped partially upright, clothed in oranges and browns. One of the monks.
"Gyatso," Aang said quietly, a tremor running through his voice. He stood over the fallen monk, motionless.
Sokka stepped toward the younger boy and was about to rest a hand on his shoulder when Aang's head snapped around, his eyes huge and glowing, like they had been at the iceberg, only brighter. There was rage written all over his face as his eyes turned downward, fixing on the remains of the firebenders.
Slowly, Sokka retreated toward the door as Aang's hands came together, forming an orb of swirling air that lifted him off the ground. The rest of the air in the ruined hut began to swirl too, and Sokka bolted out, grabbing his sister by the arm and dragging her behind the sturdiest-looking wall just before a blast of air blew away what remained of the roof.
Over the roar of the air, Katara had to yell to make herself heard. "Sokka, what's going on?" But before the words had fully left her mouth, Aang hovered through the hut's now-open roof. She, along with her brother, crouched as with a powerful sweep of his arms, Aang brought the walls of the hut crashing inward.
Katara threw her arms over her head as a hail of pebbles rained down on them, then rose just enough to see Aang over the pile of rubble. The tattoos on his hands and his head were glowing as fiercely as his eyes, and he remained hovering in a sphere of air, which had grown so large that it was beginning to tear bits of the nearby huts apart. She could feel his rage in the pit of her stomach.
Sokka grabbed her wrist. "Oh, no you don't. You don't get to go glowy too, just because he is!"
She turned to look at her brother. She could still feel the wind, but there was also an almost palpable clarity to her thoughts. Her heart was no longer racing, and she could see perfectly, even though her hair was coming loose from its braid and whipping across her face.
"I'm going to calm him down."
Dimly, she heard Sokka protesting as she stood, but she didn't bother to glance back. It was as if something entirely foreign had taken control of her, and she approached Aang. A portion of a nearby stone wall broke loose, and without so much turning her head, she raised an arm and thrust it away.
"Aang," she said firmly, but without raising her voice. There was no possible way that he could have heard her over the wind, but he turned anyway, glaring down at her, his eyes bright and empty. The wind slowed a little. "You need to stop." His eyes narrowed. "You can't change what happened to them." At that, his scowl deepened, and Aang began to rise higher as the wind intensified again.
There was a yell from behind her, and a little of the calm that had taken hold of her mind faded as she turned back toward her brother. Sokka was clinging to what little remained of the wall, trying to shield his face with one arm. "If you're gonna calm him down, now would be great!" he shouted.
Zhao's tent was red and regal—presumptuous, Zuko thought, for a man who had only recently been promoted to Commander.
Iroh breathed in the steam from the teacup in his hands. "Ginseng. You have good taste, Commander Zhao."
Zhao nodded and shot a look at Zuko. "And how do you like it, Prince Zuko?"
Zuko glared back. "I don't like tea." He felt his uncle's gaze turn his direction, but he ignored it. "What do you want, Commander?"
Zhao gave a cold laugh. "Isn't the honor of sharing tea with a prince and a general enough?"
The only answer Zuko offered was an angry stare.
"Very well." Zhao set his tea down and stood to face a map hanging from the tent wall. "You found the Avatar." He clasped his hands behind his back and paused a moment, seeming to half-expect an answer. "But you failed to capture him." With that, he faced the prince again.
Zuko remembered the suddenness of the girl's attack, the overwhelming power of the gust that had blown him back into his own ship. "The Avatar was more powerful than I expected."
Zhao leaned forward, resting his hands on the table. "A child." The contempt was evident in his voice. "A twelve-year-old boy bested the Crown Prince of the Fire Nation."
Zuko's anger was bubbling, barely within his control. "The Avatar took me by surprise," Zuko said, voice dangerously even. "It won't happen again."
"I should think not." Zhao straightened, folding his arms. "Because from now on, I will handling the hunt for the Avatar."
Zuko leapt up. "Finding the Avatar is my mission."
"Prince Zuko," Iroh said warningly,
"Clearly it's too difficult for you to manage," Zhao snapped.
"My father told me—"
"Your father sent you on an impossible mission. If he had thought that there was any chance the Avatar was still alive, he never would have entrusted you with that responsibility."
"You don't know what you're talking about!"
Iroh stood and placed a hand on his nephew's shoulder. "Perhaps we should see how the repairs are going, Prince Zuko." Zuko turned on him, eyes wild, but Iroh didn't waver. The old man faced Zhao and gave a bow, ignoring the glares from both directions. "Thank you for the tea, Commander. Your hospitality is much appreciated."
Zuko was still fuming as his uncle led him out of the tent. They were scarcely out of earshot before the words burst out. "I won't let Zhao get away with this."
Iroh stepped in front of his nephew and stopped dead in his tracks. "What are you planning to do about it, Prince Zuko? Challenge him to a duel?"
Zuko began to respond, but his uncle cut him off.
"Think, Prince Zuko. Remember what happened the last time you dueled with a master."
The prince's scowl deepened. "I won't lose this time." He tried to shoulder past his uncle, but the old man refused to budge.
"Zhao can't stop you from looking for the Avatar. But if you choose to fight, you may lose the only advantage you have."
Zuko's jaw remained tight, but he met his uncle's gaze. The girl had beaten him easily, had wrecked his ship without a thought, but there was the airbending boy to worry about too. Zuko remembered the way that the boy had stepped forward, without denial, without fighting, when he had asked for the Avatar to show himself. It was too easy. The boy hadn't been surprised at the demand—even days later, something about that seemed wrong. Letting out a slow breath, he tried to unclench his fists.
"I need to capture both of them."
Iroh gave a single, grave nod. "Plan you next moves wisely, Prince Zuko."
Katara turned back to Aang again, suddenly less sure of herself. The odd clarity had abandoned her, and she could think of nothing to say. She remembered seeing her own mother's lifeless body as clear as day—no words could fill that kind of emptiness. Instead, she reached out toward him. His eerily wide eyes turned her direction, and Katara tried not to let her fear show on her face.
"You're not alone, Aang."
Slowly, very slowly, the wind began to subside, and the boy drifted downward. The instant his feet touched the ground, Aang went limp, and Katara scrambled over the rubble to reach him. She threw her arms around him, and Aang sagged into her side. Sokka hesitated until it was clear that Aang was back to normal, but in a matter of seconds, he was sliding over mounds of crumbled wall to join them.
"So, this is just a guess," Sokka said, brushing bits of stone and dirt from his coat. "But glowing isn't normal for airbenders either, is it?"
Aang shook his head and pulled away from Katara. He wiped his eyes.
"You were the Avatar," she said quietly. "Well, I guess you still are. Why didn't you say anything?"
He shrugged. "I don't know. I never wanted to be the Avatar. I guess when I found out that you were the new one, I thought that the monks were wrong about me. Or maybe they were right, but it somehow passed on to you." Letting out a slow breath, he looked at the destruction around him. "I'm really sorry, guys."
"For what?" Sokka turned in a full circle, surveying the damage. "You only destroyed what, six houses? That's completely normal." He gave Aang a crooked smile.
Aang managed to return the smile, but only for a moment. "I just can't believe that they're all gone. I never thought that anything bad could happen at the Air Temples. But if the Fire Nation made it here—" He broke off, turning toward the plunging valley. "I'm the only one left."
Sokka rested a hand on the younger boy's shoulder. "You have us."
Aang looked between the two siblings. Katara smiled. "Exactly. You're part of our family now."
"Wait a second," Sokka interrupted, pointing at them both. "This means that you two are sort of like the same person, right?" Aang and Katara glanced at one another, and he continued, "So that means that I'm kind of Aang's brother too."
"Sokka, that's what I just said," Katara replied, exasperated.
"But seriously, though! Does this make me related to all the Avatars? Because if this whole reincarnation thing works the way I think it does, then I'm the Avatar's older brother twice."
Katara folded her arms. "Technically, Aang's older than you."
"Yeah, well, technically he's been dead for fourteen years too, but you don't see that stopping him." Sokka seemed to realize what he'd said a second too late, and he reddened. "Sorry, Aang. But it's true."
Aang smiled. "That's okay. I figured that part out a while ago. But you can be the older brother if you want."
They began the trek back down the mountainside as the sun was beginning to sink toward the west.
"You guys realize," Sokka said as they walked, "That we've been up here all day, and we haven't stopped to eat once."
Katara rolled her eyes. "Maybe if you hadn't complained so much about having to wake up this morning, you would have had time to eat breakfast."
"Maybe if you two weren't in such a huge hurry, I wouldn't have had to complain so much! Really guys, if you're going to make me skip meals, we're going to have a problem."
They rounded a corner and stopped short. The lemur was waiting in the middle of the path for them. The siblings fell silent as Aang took a small step forward.
"Hey, little guy," Aang said, crouching and holding out a hand.
The lemur looked from Aang's outstretched hand to his face. It chattered at him, then dashed to the side of the path and up a tree. Katara stepped forward, watching in curiosity as the lemur rustled around in the leaves. She saw its tiny, delicate fingers wrap around a peach, and then without warning, the peach went flying straight at Sokka. He yelped but managed to catch the fruit as the lemur leapt down from the branch and onto Aang's head. The lemur chattered and shrieked at Sokka from its new perch, and Aang grinned.
"He heard you complaining, Sokka. He's trying to make friends with you," Aang said, and reached up to pet the lemur.
Sokka looked suspiciously from the peach to the lemur and back again, then took a bite. At the same instant, the lemur let out a screech and leapt at Sokka, taking a large bite from the opposite side of the peach while it was still in Sokka's mouth. Sokka screamed in surprise and batted at the lemur, but it had already retreated behind Aang's legs.
Katara laughed, and Aang bent down to scoop up the lemur. "You're coming with us too, Momo," the airbender said with a smile.
Author's Note:
Well, this was by far the most I've pushed my self-imposed deadlines so far, and I really hope that the work I put into this chapter paid off. Not only was this the longest chapter I've written so far, it was also generally a beast to edit. Pacing two separate storylines against each other is a pain, but I hope you all like it! Writing Zuko and Iroh is a ton of fun, so I'm glad they're finally getting their own time in the story. More of that is coming in future chapters!
I'm still on track to keep up with weekly updates for a little while longer, so please come back if you enjoy what you've been reading so far! And please feel free to leave reviews—getting feedback really does make it easier to motivate myself to keep writing and editing. I appreciate the support I've gotten so far, and I hope you all keep visiting!
Thanks for reading,
SooperSara
PS: For anyone who's been here since the beginning, I'm changing my chapter numbering a little. Since there wasn't a good way to include the prologue and still call the first real chapter "Chapter 1", I've decided to stop giving myself headaches over it and just go with the site's automatic numbering. I'm probably the only person that this will really matter to, but I figured I'd give an explanation in case there is any confusion. Thanks again!
