Disclaimer: I do not own A:TLA or any of it's characters. The only thing I own is my OC.

The Six Rules:

Rule Number One: Alec won't warn the Gaang about things in advance or solve their problems for them, with a few rare exceptions.

Rule Number Two: Only Alec has the right to tell people his true origins, and he will mostly limit this to group members. He will tell new group members his secret as soon as they join the Gaang.

Rule Number Three: There are some changes Alec wants to make, and he will use his knowledge of the future to make those changes.

Rule Number Four: Sometimes, to make a change, Alec will act in a way that doesn't make sense. If that's necessary, he'll tell the Gaang "I need you to absolutely trust me." After he says that, the Gaang has to either do whatever he asks or leave him to do what he needs to do.

Rule Number Five: After a change happens, Alec will tell the Gaang what happened in the original story, in the interest of transparency.

Rule Number Six: If a major change happens that Alec doesn't expect, the Gaang will have a meeting ASAP. In this meeting, Alec will break Rule One and tell them all relevant information that will help them figure out how to respond to the change.

Chapter 14:

Training and Temples

Alec POV

I woke up at dawn, with a big smile. Today was the day! I could finally figure out some techniques without blowing myself up like an idiot. Everyone else was still asleep. We camped out on a small island in the middle of a lake. On top of that, the lake was surrounded by tall cliffs. This was the perfect spot. I set up the campfire and started cooking some of the fish Sokka caught yesterday. Once the fish started sizzling, my brother stirred from his slumber.

"Meat." He murmured. His eyes fluttered open. He noticed me and stretched his limbs, getting out of his sleeping bag. "I thought you'd already be hard at work."

"I need all of you awake." I answered, still cooking the fish.

He raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

"I'll tell you when they wake up." I said.

He gave me a flat look. "You're not gonna use me as a target, are you?"

I shook my head firmly. "Don't even joke about that. Everything I do, I'll aim away from you guys. The only one here that'll get hurt is me."

"I hope you don't get hurt." Katara's voice spoke from her sleeping bag. I turned around and saw my sister get up. Aang started to stir, too.

"Trust me, I don't plan on it." I replied, pulling a skewered fish out of the fire and handing it to Sokka. "I just need to be careful. If you mess up a waterbending move, you get wet. If I mess up a firebending move, I get burned." Katara and Aang joined us by the fire. I handed my sister a fish. Aang pulled out his bag of nuts and berries and chowed down.

"So, what are you gonna do first?" Aang questioned.

I swallowed a bite of fish before speaking. "I'm gonna do some breathing exercises, and then a few stretches. Once I'm warmed up and limber, I'll start on the first scroll."

"Okay, what should we do? Can I watch?" Aang asked eagerly.

I nodded. "Yes, I actually need your help. I need you to look at the scrolls with me, and correct me if I do something wrong."

"No offense to Aang, but how could he correct you when he knows even less about firebending than you?" Sokka questioned.

"Aang's a martial artist, and he's already mastered one element." I explained. "He has a good eye for this stuff. He mastered the water whip on his first try." Aang blushed under the praise. Katara even patted him on the back with a smile. I was happy to see that my sister didn't resent Aang's talents anymore.

"Now, Aang, I said you can look at the scrolls, not practice the moves." I warned. "If I see even a spark come out of your hands, I'm throwing you in the lake." I said half-jokingly.

Everyone laughed. Once the laughter died down, Katara gave me a questioning look. "What do you want me to do?"

"If you're not too busy, I'd appreciate it if you watched, along with Aang." I requested. "If something goes wrong or I burn myself, I'll need you to help put out the fire or heal me."

She nodded. "Okay."

"Well, what about me?" Sokka asked. "You said you needed all three of us."

I turned to my brother. "I need you to catch fish."

He tilted his head to the side. "What does catching fish have to do with firebending?"

"Firebending takes a lot of energy." I explained. "I'll be hungry enough to eat a whole tiger seal by lunchtime."

"Something I've always wondered, why is that?" Aang asked. "I don't notice myself getting that hungry and tired, even if I practice airbending and waterbending all day."

"Me neither." Katara added.

I looked her in the eye. "You two bend air and water. I make fire."

Aang's brow furrowed. "Huh?"

"Power in firebending comes from the breath." I quoted Iroh and Jeong Jeong. "The breath becomes energy in your body. The energy extends past your limbs and becomes fire." I took a breath. "Because of this, firebending burns up the energy in your body. Until I get used to it, I'll be tired and hungrier than Sokka by the end of the day."

Aang's eyes widened. "Is that even possible?"

"Hey!" Sokka yelled indignantly. The rest of us chuckled. "Just wait until you hit your teens." I told Aang. "You'll be hungry enough to eat a custard tart as big as Appa."

We laughed and joked until we finished our breakfast.


I went to the shore and began my breathing exercises. It was kind of funny how the most basic technique of firebending could be so relaxing. Once I finished breathing, I started stretching. I did several basic arm and leg stretches. Aang and Katara sat and watched me, while Sokka fished on the other side of the small island. Aang had Jeong Jeong's box in his lap.

I began a very particular stretch. I figured I needed to get good at this technique, and I knew it wasn't in Jeong Jeong's scrolls. I extended my left arm, and the index and middle fingers of my left hand. I took my right hand, and extended the index and middle fingers on it. I ran my right hand down my left arm. Once I got to my torso, I ran my right hand down to my stomach, before extending my right arm out my right side. I repeated the process in reverse. I hoped I never had to use this technique, but I'd rather be safe than sorry.

"What's that?" Katara asked.

I kept going. "It's a firebending technique."

"Are you sure?" Aang asked. "Because it almost looks like waterbending." I had to hand it to Aang, he was pretty observant.

"A firebender invented this technique by studying waterbenders." I explained, finishing my stretches. "So, let's take a look at those scrolls."

I walked over to them. Aang and I opened the box and pulled out the first scroll. I opened it. It was the scroll for basic fireballs. It showed diagrams for various punches and kicks. There was a note written in the margin.

"The first six scrolls form the foundation of almost all firebending techniques. If you master them, you can master anything. Practice these moves daily, even after you've mastered them."

I looked in the box. "What are the first six techniques?" I asked Aang.

Aang rifled through the box. "Fireball, blocking fire, fire stream, fire dagger, jet step, and fire shield." He answered.

I thought about it for a few seconds. It made sense. Fireball was the first step for fire bombs, and fire stream was the building block for fire whips. Fire dagger was pretty useful as a cutting tool. Jet step was the foundation of jet propulsion. Fire shield was the basic form of wall of flames.

I turned my attention back to the open fireball scroll. "So, looking at these moves, what do you think?" I inquired.

Aang and Katara looked at the scroll. "Well, it looks kind of…aggressive." Aang said after a minute.

"Definitely more rigid than waterbending." Katara observed.

I nodded. "Yeah, I can see that."

Aang turned to me. "How do you want to do this?"

"I'll try to get the moves down without fire, first. Then I'll add the fire." I answered. "You correct me if anything looks wrong."

I looked at the first form. It seemed like a basic punch with a strong stance. I copied the stance. "Angle your right foot a little." Aang corrected. I adjusted. The stance didn't feel awkward. It felt comfortable and sturdy. I threw the jab, making sure not to firebend. I held my fist out after I finished. "Does that look right?" I asked.

Aang looked at the scroll, then back to me. "Looks okay to me." He replied. I repeated the motion, slowly burning it into my muscle memory. I took a deep breath. "Okay, I'm gonna add fire now."

I thrust my fist forward, and a fireball shot out. I looked at Aang. He nodded. I continued for several repetitions. "Okay, what's next?"

Next turned out to be several kicks. Clearly firebenders didn't skip leg day. Those took some time for me to get. I nearly lost my balance several times while kicking, but I eventually got the hang of it. "Next?"

"That's it for this scroll." Katara stated. "Do you want to move on?"

I nodded.


The next scroll was blocking fire. That one was just movements, with no firebending in it. "That's weird." Aang said, looking at the scroll.

"What's weird?" I asked, stopping the jabs and kicks I was practicing.

"Blocking fire sounds like a defensive move, but you're not dodging, you're doing punches and kicks and sweeping limb motions." He answered.

I nodded. "Yeah, I remember from the story that firebending was very focused on offense. I looked at all the scrolls and I only saw two defensive moves."

I kept practicing the punches and kicks under Aang's watchful eye. Katara practiced her waterbending nearby, making sure to keep an eye on me. "I think you've got it!" Aang praised.

I smiled. "We should probably break for lunch, and then move on to the next one."


We sat around the campfire. Sure enough, I was hungry. I ate two whole fish on my own.

"So, how's it coming? Blow anything up yet?" Sokka asked me between bites of roasted fish.

"Not yet, but I got through the first two scrolls." I replied.

"Wow, you'll be a master in no time!" He praised.

I shook my head. "It's not that simple. I already kind of knew how to make fireballs and block fire. This was just teaching me the proper movements. The next scrolls will be teaching me stuff I don't know yet, so that'll be a bit harder. It'll take longer to learn the more advanced techniques, too."

Aang gave me a questioning look. "Will you be my firebending teacher when I'm ready?"

I shook my head. "Sorry, Aang, but I don't think that's a good idea."

Aang looked slightly disappointed. Katara narrowed her eyes at me. "Why not?" She challenged.

"Two reasons." I answered. I raised up a finger. "I'm inexperienced, so I might end up teaching him wrong, and unlike Katara, I'm not a prodigy. It's very likely that I'll still be working on the scrolls by the time we meet up with your original firebending teacher." "I need to find a way to recruit him early." I thought to myself. I put up another finger. "Also, I have a very…aggressive teaching style. Aang wouldn't do well under it, just trust me."

Aang gulped. "What do you mean by 'aggressive'?"

I gave him a look. "Me teaching you how to block fire would probably involve me shooting fireballs at you and screaming 'BLOCK!'. Is that how you want to learn?"

He shook his head and rapidly waved his arms in front of his face. "I'm good." He insisted.

I nodded. "That's what I thought." I stood up and stretched. "Let's get back to practice."


The next scroll was fire stream. Unlike the fireball, which was a short burst of energy, the fire stream was a continuous flamethrower. This was going to be interesting. Aang and I studied the scroll, and I practiced the stance.

I took a deep breath. "All right, here goes."

I shot out my hand, and a flamethrower shot out about ten feet in front of me. It only lasted a second before it sputtered and faded. I got down on one knee, out of breath. "How long does the scroll say I have to hold it?" I inquired.

Aang looked down at the scroll. "Ten seconds."

"And how long was that?" I asked, dreading the answer.

"About one." Katara answered.

"Fuck." I muttered.

"Language." Katara chided.

"Whatever. I'll catch my breath, and do it again."


A Few Hours Later

"Seven, eight, nine, ten!" I thought victoriously, letting the fire stream disperse. It was now pretty late in the afternoon, and I was exhausted and hungry. I fell down on one knee. Aang and Katara ran over and helped me to my feet.

"You did it!" Katara praised with a smile.

"Good work!" Aang added.

I smiled weakly. "Thanks. Can we get something to eat? I'm starving."

We joined Sokka at dinner. "You look terrible." He joked. He was right. I was sweaty, tired, and you could probably hear my stomach growling from the South Pole.

"Thanks, asshole." I replied without malice.

Katara gave me a look. "Language."

I returned her look. "Too hungry, don't care." I picked up a fish and dug in. I ended up eating four whole fish that night. After I finished, I noticed everyone staring at me. "What?"

"You just ate more than Sokka." Katara whispered in shock. "I didn't think it was possible."

Sokka didn't even give an indignant response. He just stared at me in awe. I laughed. "I told you so." I turned to Aang once my laughter died down. "I think we should move North tomorrow. We still need to get to the North Pole soon."

Aang gave me a questioning look. "What about your firebending? You've only learned three scrolls."

"We can find a place for me to practice the next time we stop." I replied. "I looked at the next scroll, the one for fire daggers. I need a metal chain to practice on. We need to get that from a village."

Sokka nodded. "There's a small village to the northeast, maybe they have one."


Luckily for us, the village had a metal chain that we bartered for. Thankfully, some of the pelts that Sokka skinned from his hunts were worth a decent amount of coin. We got the chain, and plenty of dry food to keep us fed for weeks. Once we left, we made our way further northwest, to the mountain ranges of the northern Earth Kingdom.

We camped out on a mountainside for a day to give Appa time to rest. The next morning, Aang, Katara and I looked at the scroll. This one was harder to get. "What does it say again?" I asked after my tenth try.

"You have to keep the intensity of a fire stream, but shorten the length and shoot it out the bottom of your fist." Aang read from the scroll. "You're doing it right when you can cut through the chain in two seconds."

I looked down at the chain. Part of it was melted from my first attempt. I was able to cut it, instead of melting it by the third attempt. Now I was just trying to shorten the length of time it took to cut through it.

"Why did firebenders even make a move like this?" Katara wondered out loud.

I shrugged. "Maybe so they could fight indoors without burning down everything." I speculated. I went back to my task. It took me several hours, but I eventually got it. The chain cut through cleanly, but the ends of the cut were red hot, and slightly melted. I smirked. I pretty much had a dagger-sized lightsaber now.


The next night, we came across a travel station in the mountains, with a Storyteller. At night, we sat around the fire, and regaled us and some other travelers with stories of airbenders that his great-grandfather had seen at the Northern Air Temple.

"So, travelers," He said dramatically at the end of one of his stories. "The next time you think you hear a strange, large bird talking, take a closer look. It might not be a giant parrot, but a flying man. A member of a secret group of air walkers, who laugh at gravity, and laugh at those bound to the earth by it!"

Aang smiled fondly at the memories of his people. "Aren't airbender stories the best?"

Katara turned to him. "Was it realistic? Is that how it was back then?" She asked excitedly.

Aang nodded brightly. "I laugh at gravity all the time!" He chuckled to himself. "Ha ha. Gravity."

The Storyteller came around holding his hat out, asking for donations. "Sorry, we're out of money." I admitted with a guilty smile.

The Storyteller turned around, upset and downcast. "Aww, cheapskates!" He whined to himself.

Aang got up and followed the man. "Hey! Thanks for the story!" He said happily.

The Storyteller didn't even turn around, and just held out his hat. "Tell it to the cap, boy."

The Storyteller shook his cap behind him as he knelt in front of an old man. The shaking caused a coin to come loose and fall from the cap. While Aang searched his clothes for some money, Momo picked up the coin and put it in the cap as the Storyteller turned around.

He smiled fondly at Momo and gave him a pat on the head. "Aww, much obliged, little bat-thing."

"It means a lot to hear airbender stories." Aang told the Storyteller, having given up looking for a coin. "It must have been a hundred years ago your great-grandpa met them."

The Storyteller cocked his head to the side. "What are you prattling about, child?" He threw his thumb over his shoulder, pointing it at an old man sitting behind him. "Great-Grandpappy saw the air walkers last week." He explained.

Aang's eyes went wide with shock. He walked back to us. "We have to check out the Northern Air Temple tomorrow." He whispered.


The next morning, we flew high in the sky, with many mountain peaks poking through the clouds just below us. Aang steered, while my siblings, Momo and I sat in the saddle. Sokka was whittling something with his knife. Katara watched the horizon. I studied the next scroll, jet step. I would save this one for when we got to the North Pole.

Aang spoke up from Appa's head. "Hey, we're almost at the Northern Air Temple! This is where they had the championships for Sky Bison polo."

Katara walked back and sat next to Sokka. "Do you think we'll really find airbenders?" She asked.

"You want me to be like you, or totally honest?" Sokka deadpanned, not taking his eyes of his whittling.

Katara folded her arms and frowned. "Are you saying I'm a liar?"

"I'm saying you're an optimist. Same thing, basically." He responded.

She crawled over to me. "Do you think we'll find airbenders?" She asked.

I looked her in the eye and shook my head sadly, but didn't say anything.

"Hey, guys, look at this!" Aang exclaimed.

We turned and saw the Northern Air Temple on top of a steep mountain. It was similar to the Southern Air Temple, but more developed, with more towers. Also, the roofs were green, instead of the blue roofs of the Southern Air Temple. Did the Air Nomads give this temple green roofs because it was in the Earth Kingdom?

The towers weren't the only thing we noticed. There were two small pillars of smoke coming from the temple, indicating someone was living there. Also, we saw multiple people flying around on gliders.

"They really are airbenders!" Katara gasped.

Aang leaned back. "No, they're not." He replied sullenly.

"What do you mean, 'they're not'?" Sokka asked. He pointed at the flying people. "Those guys are flying!"

"Gliding maybe, but not flying." Aang corrected bitterly. "You can tell by the way they move, they're not airbending. Those people have no spirit."

I looked at the fliers. I think I could see what Aang was talking about. When Aang flew, his movements reminded me of a bird. These fliers, by contrast, reminded me of paper airplanes. Not bending the air, just following it.

Suddenly, a glider flew just over our heads, barely missing us. I heard a teenage boy's voice laughing happily. We watched him glide around us. He seemed to be in a wheelchair, with a glider attached to it. He had brown hair, and wore goggles over his eyes. He also wore a green shirt.

"I don't know, Aang." Katara challenged, pointing at the boy. "That kid seemed pretty spirited."

Aang grinned, and jumped off Appa, taking to the air on his glider. Aang was not about to be shown up in the flying department, especially not in front of Katara. We noticed several more flyers forming up on us. Two of them dove just in front of Appa, barely missing the bison and making him rear back, almost knocking us out of the saddle.

"We'd better find some solid ground before it finds us." Sokka declared urgently.

I nodded and put my scroll back in the box. I climbed on Appa's head, and grabbed the reins. Sokka and Katara had steered Appa a few times before, but this was my first time. I knew Appa was smart, so I wasn't afraid.

"Hey boy," I said. "Do you know where the landing zone for this temple is?"

Appa groaned, which, based on my experience, meant yes. It was weird how I could understand him almost as well as he understood me. "Well then, take us down there. Yip yip!"

Appa descended towards the temple and landed on a large platform where the other gliders were. We got off the bison. I walked up to his face and gave his snout a pat. "Good work, boy." I praised. Appa huffed lightly and gave me a small lick. Well, by small, I meant that he only covered half my body in bison slobber. I didn't really mind. Appa was like a big, loyal, affectionate, flying dog. Who wouldn't love that?

I heard the crowd cheer. I looked up. Apparently, the wheelchair-bound kid used some kind of smoke to draw a picture of Aang making an annoyed face in the sky. I chuckled. That was pretty funny.

Aang landed a few seconds later next to Sokka and Katara. The other kid landed and pulled the brakes on his wheelchair, skidding to a stop. Three other kids came up and removed the glider from his chair while I joined Aang and my siblings. The kid rolled over to us.

"Hey, you're a real airbender!" He realized. "You must be the Avatar! That's amazing! I…I've heard stories about you!"

Aang rubbed the back of his head bashfully. "Thanks."

Sokka ignored all formalities and walked up to the chair to examine it closer. "Wow! This glider chair is incredible!"

"If you think this is good, wait until you see the other stuff my dad designed." The kid replied.

"How about we introduce ourselves, first." I suggested. "My name's Alec. These are my siblings, Sokka and Katara." I indicated each of them. "And, you know who Aang is." I said.

The boy smiled. "My name's Teo. It's nice to meet you. Let me show you around."


We followed Teo down a long hallway, and entered an atrium. It looked a little like the Southern Air Temple, but with one big difference. The atrium was full of metal pipes and machinery. There was even an elevator that ran on steam power. I would've been impressed if the machinery wasn't defacing the temple.

Aang looked around worriedly. This had to be hard for him to see. Sokka, on the other hand, was delighted. "Wow!" He exclaimed, running up to the machines.

"Yeah, my dad is the mastermind behind this whole place." Teo said proudly. "Everything's powered by hot air." A woman walked up and used the elevator to get to the second floor. "It even pumps hot air currents outside to give us a lift when we're gliding."

I turned to Teo. "So, most of these pipes are so you and your people can fly?" I asked lowly.

He nodded. "Yeah, that's what most of the pipes are for. The elevator pipes are smaller."

"This place is unbelievable." Aang stated monotonously.

Teo smiled. "Yeah, it's great, isn't it?"

"No, just unbelievable." Aang answered before walking away.

Teo seemed disappointed by Aang's reaction. "Aang used to come here a long time ago." Katara explained to him. "I think he's a little shocked it's so…different." She said diplomatically.

Sokka spread his arms wide. "So better!" He exclaimed.

I glared at him. "So defiled." I corrected, moving to follow Aang. Aang and Katara stopped in front of a mural depicting Air Nomads and sky bison. Multiple pipes ran through the wall, defacing the mural. One even ran through the head of an Air Nomad.

"Really?" I thought. "You couldn't have routed that pipe anywhere else?"

Aang looked at the mural with sadness. "This is supposed to be the history of my people." He said sadly. Katara put her hand on his shoulder, trying to comfort him. Aang walked over to a fountain with sky bison statue on it. The fountain water was green and filthy. Apparently, the new tenants were dumping refuse into the fountain. That pissed me off. The sky bison statue suddenly belched black smoke out of its mouth.

Katara grabbed Aang's shoulder. "I'm sure some parts of the temple are still the same." She assured him.

We left the room and continued the tour with Teo.


We made our way to a courtyard that didn't have steampunk violating it, at least not yet.

We stood in front of a statue depicting an old Air Nomad. "It's nice to see at least one part of the temple that isn't ruined." Aang remarked, tempting fate.

"LOOK OUT!" A voice yelled.

The statue was knocked down by a wrecking ball. The five of us covered our heads, coughing from the dust. We looked and saw five men standing where the statue used to be, in front of a wooden crane. Their leader was a horseshoe bald man with a beard and a monocle, wearing a white apron over his green tunic. I noticed that three of the fingers on his left hand were made of wood and attached to a prosthetic.

"The Mechanist." I thought. "A genius with no common sense."

The Mechanist approached us looking more surprised than upset. "What the doodle? Don't you know enough to stay away from construction sites? We have to make room for the bathhouse!"

I bristled. "You didn't mark this off as a construction site, you idiot!"

Aang marched up to the Mechanist, even angrier than I was. "Do you know what you did!? You just destroyed something sacred! For a stupid bathhouse!"

"Well, people around here are starting to stink." The Mechanist argued, waving his hand in front of his face.

"This whole place stinks!" Aang shouted. He shot a massive gust of air out of his hand, blasting the crane off the mountain. He turned back to address the Mechanist. "This is a sacred temple! You can't treat it this way!" He marched over and got right in the Mechanist's face. "I've seen it when the monks were here. I know what it's supposed to be like."

The Mechanist raised his singed eyebrows and stroked his beard in confusion. "The monks? But, you're twelve."

Teo rolled up next to the Mechanist. "Dad, he's the Avatar. He used to come here a hundred years ago." Teo explained.

"What are you doing? Who said you could be here?" Aang demanded.

The Mechanist turned away from Aang. "Hmm, doing here… A long time ago, but not a hundred years," He clarified, raising a finger, "My people became refugees after a terrible flood." He walked behind Teo. "My infant son, Teo was badly hurt and lost his mother." He sniffled sadly. He looked up. "I needed somewhere to rebuild, and I stumbled across this place." His voice changed from sadness to wonder. "Couldn't believe it! Everywhere! Pictures of flying people!" He looked around. "But empty, nobody home. Then, I came across these fan-like contraptions!" He stuck his arms out like an airplane and ran over to Aang.

Aang folded his arms in front of his chest and frowned. "Our gliders." He said lowly.

I frowned, too. Taking things from the dead just seemed wrong.

"Yes! Little, light flying machines!" The Mechanist exclaimed, flapping his hands up and down. They gave me an idea. Build a new life for my son, in the air!" He held his hands up to the sky. "Then, everyone would be on equal ground, so to speak." He put his hands down. "We're just in the process of improving upon what's already here." Katara wiped tears on Aang's shirt, and Sokka looked like he was about to cry. Aang and I weren't impressed. "After all, isn't that what nature does?" The Mechanist finished.

"Nature knows where to stop." Aang retorted.

"I suppose that's true." The Mechanist conceded. "Unfortunately, progress has a way of getting away from us." His head perked up. "Look at the time!" He pointed to an arrangement of candles with several notches in them. He turned to his construction crew. "Come, the pulley system must be oiled before dark."

Sokka walked up to the candle. "Wait, how can you tell time from that thing?" He asked. "The notches all look the same."

The Mechanist joined him by the candle. "The candle will tell us. Watch."

A few seconds later, the candle popped four times. "You put spark powder in the candle!" Sokka realized.

The Mechanist nodded. "Four flashes. So it's exactly four hours past mid-day. Or, as I call it: four o'candle." Sokka laughed at the lame joke. I groaned. "If you like that, wait till you see my finger-safe knife sharpener." He held up his left hand, revealing his fake fingers. "Only took me three tries to get it right." He pulled off the three fake fingers and tossed them to Sokka. Sokka recoiled in horror.

The Mechanist poked Sokka with his one remaining finger and gestured for him to come. "Follow me!" Sokka ran after him.

"Hey, Aang. I want to show you something." Teo said.

Aang, Katara, and I followed Teo.


We made our way down a hallway. We saw more pipes routed throughout the place. My scowl never left my face. I wasn't much of a fan of the Mechanist before, and everything new I learned pissed me off. Sure, he and his people were refugees looking for a place to live. I didn't mind the fact that they chose to live here. I minded that he defaced the temple and put those pipes everywhere. I don't care how desperate I was, I wasn't gonna roll up on the Taj Mahal and put in shitty HVAC.

Katara noticed my facial expression. "What's wrong?"

I shook my head. "I'll tell you later."

"I just can't get over it." Aang despaired. "There's not a single thing that's the same."

"I don't know about that." Teo replied, picking up a hermit crab from the ground. "The temple might be different, but the creatures that live here are probably direct descendants of the ones who lived here a long time ago." He handed the crab to Katara.

Katara held the crab for a few seconds. "You're right. They're kind of keepers of the temple's origins." She handed the crab to Aang. It moved around in his hands, making him smile.

"Besides," Teo added, "There's one part of the temple that hasn't changed at all."


Teo led us down another hallway to a door with an airbending lock on it.

"Hey, it's just like the one in the other temple!" Katara noted.

"Only an airbender can open it, so inside it's completely untouched. Just the way the monks left it." Teo stated confidently.

"That's what you think." I thought bitterly.

"I've always wondered what it's like in there…" Teo said wistfully.

Katara looked at the last airbender. "Aang?" She asked in a gentle, understanding tone.

Aang turned away from the door. "I'm sorry, this is the last part of the temple that's the same as it was. I want it to stay that way." He answered.

Teo looked down with a sad smile. "I completely understand. I just wanted you to know it was here."

"Thanks." Aang replied.


Teo took Aang and Katara gliding. I opted to stay on the ground. I sat in Appa's saddle and read more of my firebending scrolls. I was interested to learn jet step. This used a controlled burst of fire to either jump moderate distances, or dash forward in a flash of speed. That would be interesting. I wasn't about to practice that here, though. One wrong step, and I'd fall off a very steep mountain.

After a while, Aang, Katara, and Teo landed. "I've been thinking," Aang said to Teo, "If you want to see what's in that room, I'd be happy to open the door for you."

Teo smiled. "Great!"

I put the scrolls away and joined them.


We stood in front of the door. Teo had a big smile on his face. "I can't believe I'm finally going to see what's inside!"

"Be careful what you wish for." I thought sadly.

Aang airbended into the locking mechanism. A few seconds later, the door opened, revealing a horrific sight. There were weapons and tools everywhere. A spiked wheel sat on a table. In the back of the room, a hot air ballon with the fire nation insignia on it sat covered by a tarp. Everyone's faces twisted in dread and horror.

"This is a nightmare." Aang whispered.

"You don't understand." A voice said behind us. I turned around and saw the Mechanist, along with Sokka.

Aang turned around and pointed accusingly at the Mechanist. "You're making weapons for the Fire Nation!"

Sokka looked at the Mechanist with an angry expression. "You make weapons for the Fire Nation?"

Teo looked at his father with outrage. "Explain all this! Now!"

The Mechanist looked down with a sad and resigned face. "It was about a year after we moved here. Fire Nation soldiers found our settlement. You were too young to remember this, Teo. They were going to destroy everything! Burn it to the ground! I pleaded with them, I begged them to spare us! They asked what I had to offer. I offered…my services. You must understand. I did this for you!"

Teo turned his chair away from the Mechanist, shutting his eyes in anger. I was curious about something else, though. "How did they find your settlement?" I asked the Mechanist in a low voice. "This place has no strategic value, because it's so far away from everything else. Why did they come here?"

The Mechanist looked down in shame. "Someone saw us gliding in the air. Rumors reached the Fire Nation. They thought we might have been airbenders."

I snapped. I ran over to the Mechanist and grabbed him by the collar. "So, let me get this straight," I began angrily, "The only reason they found you is because you weren't satisfied with just living here, and you couldn't resist flying?"

He nodded, his eyes wide with slight fear. "And because they found you," I continued, my voice getting angrier, "They now have even more advanced weapons that they use to kill and oppress even more people?"

Another nod.

"YOU FUCKING IDIOT!" I screamed in his face. "Do you ever think about the consequences of your actions?! Of course the Fire Nation would investigate potential airbender sightings! You're lucky they chose to investigate this place instead of killing you all, first!"

My hands were hot, and small billows of smoke shot out of my nostrils. The Mechanist backed away, slowly. "You're a firebender?" He asked with alarm.

I narrowed my eyes at him. "You have no right to judge me." I said lowly. "You've hurt more innocent people than I ever could."

I stormed off.


I paced around the landing pad, fuming. How many innocent people had been hurt because the Mechanist didn't think things through?

Sokka walked up to me. "You wanna talk about it?" He asked, displaying more tact than normal.

I took several deep breaths and tried to calm down. "The Mechanist is probably one of the people I dislike the most, outside the Fire Nation." I admitted.

Sokka raised an eyebrow. "Because of the weapons?"

I snorted. "That's actually the part I mind the least." I said. "Look around the temple, and everything he destroyed. And for what?" I spat. "Most of those pipes pump hot air out here so that his people could fly."

"Some of that stuff is for the elevators and other things." He countered.

"Yeah, but he had to destroy parts of the temple to do it." I argued. "Aang is the last Air Nomad, and even he doesn't know everything about his culture. Anything the Mechanist destroyed in here that Aang doesn't remember is gone for good. Even if the Air Nomads do eventually return, the Mechanist may have taken away valuable pieces of their culture."

"That's not the only thing bothering you, though, is it?" I heard Katara ask from behind me. I turned around and saw that my sister had joined us.

"No," I confessed. "The Mechanist is a genius, I admit. But he has no common sense. He's the kind of scientist who only asks 'Can I do this?' and doesn't ask himself 'Should I do this?'. We had a few of those in my world."

Sokka looked confused. "What do you mean?"

"You mean, besides flying around on a glider, basically announcing that he's here to the Fire Nation?" I snarked. "He invented a 'finger-safe' knife sharpener and tested it on his own fingers, losing three of them in the process." I pointed out. "Anyone with an ounce of common sense would test it on a stick or a piece of meat."

"Point taken." Sokka admitted.

Suddenly, Aang and Teo joined us. "We have a problem." Aang said grimly. "The Fire Nation is going to attack."

"This is bad." Teo announced.

"Very bad!" Sokka added.

"Aang, what are we gonna do?" Katara asked frantically. "How can we possibly keep them all away?"

"I'll tell you how." Aang answered with determination in his voice. "We have something they don't." He pointed to the sky. "Air power. We control the sky. That's something the Fire Nation can't do. We can win!"

The Mechanist appeared. "I want to help."

Aang nodded. "Good. We'll need it."


We reconvened with most of the refugees in the Mechanist's workshop. He and Sokka stood behind a table with a model air balloon, a few schematics, and a candle. Aang, Katara, Teo, and I stood on the other side of the table.

The Mechanist spoke. "We finally got the war balloon working, thanks to Sokka. This boy's a genius!"

"Thank you. You're a genius!" Sokka praised.

"Thank you!" The Mechanist replied. I rolled my eyes. Aang and Katara exchanged an unamused glance.

Sokka lit the candle. "See, the problem with the old war balloon was, you could get it airborne," He placed the candle in the balloon. "But once you did, it just kept going." The model kept ascending until Sokka grabbed it and pulled it back down to the table. "You could put a hole in the top, but then all the hot air would escape." He raised a finger dramatically. "So the question became 'how do you keep a lid on hot air?'."

"Ugh, if only we knew." Katara snarked. Aang, Katara, Teo, and I laughed at that.

Sokka pulled a string attached to the top of the balloon, opening and shutting a lid on it. "A lid is actually the answer." He explained. "If you control the hot air, you control the war balloon."

"Huh, that's actually pretty smart." Katara admitted.

"Okay," Sokka continued. "We've got four kinds of bombs." He began listing them off on his fingers. "Smoke, slime, fire, and…"

"Stink." The Mechanist interrupted. "Never underestimate the power of stink."

"We need all our best flyers to grab glider and a payload of bombs." Sokka instructed, before looking at me and Katara. "I'm going to need you two up there on Appa to reload the flyers when they run out of bombs."

"Actually, I need to be on the ground." I said.

Sokka raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

"I can't firebend while holding onto a glider." I admitted. The rest of the refugees gasped. I rolled my eyes and turned to face them. "Yes, I'm a firebender. Yes, I'm on your side. No, I will not hurt you. Any questions?"

"We can trust him." Aang said. The refugees remained tense for a few seconds, but Aang's words seemed to calm them down. They left the room to get ready for war.

I turned to the Mechanist. "Are there any of your weapons that they might use during this attack?"

He furrowed his brow and stroked his beard. "They might use the tundra tanks. They would be able to climb the mountain."

I nodded. "Could we take a quick look at the schematics?"

The Mechanist nodded and ran over to one of the bookshelves, rifling through the numerous scrolls. He eventually found what he was looking for and handed it to me. I unrolled it. I gave a low whistle. I had to admit, the Mechanist was brilliant. An all-terrain vehicle, capable of climbing up vertical cliffs using the two grappling hooks on the front end. The cabin could even rotate if the tank got flipped over. The tanks in my world couldn't even do that.

I turned to my brother. "Sokka, what do you think?"

He looked at it and shook his head. "The plating around the engine is too thick, so we can't destroy it. The only openings on the tank are the holes in the cabin that they firebend out of. Well, the chains on the grappling hooks look like standard chains, so they might be breakable."

I got an idea. "Well, if they try to grapple up the cliff, try to dislodge the hook or break the chain."

"But what if they get up here?" Sokka asked worriedly. "Who's crazy enough to stand in front of a firebending tank?"

I swallowed nervously.


This was easily the craziest thing I'd ever done in my life. I stood on the ground outside the temple walls, alone, waiting for any sign of troops or tanks. This was gonna be rough. I did my breathing exercises to calm myself down and prepare.

I suddenly heard a little girl's voice from the temple. "They're coming!"

I got out of my horse stance and got ready. I saw shadows on the snow-covered ground. I looked up, and saw Aang and the flyers in the sky, with Appa following behind. I walked closer to the edge of the cliff, but not too close. I heard the unmistakeable sound of soldiers marching to a beat. Our air force dove down. I heard explosions. The battle had begun. I waited for any sign of the tanks. So far, nothing. Then, I saw Aang drop down from his glider and create an air scooter. He scooted across the edge of the cliff in front of me, creating an avalanche and raining snow down on the Fire Nation soldiers.

Then, I heard it. It sounded a bit like a rivet gun going off. Multiple metal grappling hooks attached themselves to the top of the cliff, in front of me. Appa dodged the chains to avoid getting skewered. It was my time to act. I ran to the closest one, created a fire dagger, and cut through the chain in two seconds. I did the same thing to the next chain a few feet away. I kept going along the cliff's edge in a straight line, cutting through every single chain I could. After I cut the last one, I turned around. Every chain I'd cut through had been replaced by another grappling hook.

"Fuck, that's right!" I thought. "They have two each!"

I ran back the way I came, cutting through every chain I could along the way, but it wasn't enough. At least six tanks made it to the cliff. I ran back towards the temple. Thankfully, the tanks were too focused on shooting at the flyers to attack me. I got right in front of a tank, praying to whatever spirit would listen that my idea would work. I took a stance, and made a fireball the size of a beach ball, then I compressed it down to the size of a baseball. I aimed directly at the open hatch in front of the tank. I threw the fire bomb.

There was an orange flash from inside the tank, accompanied by a loud, metallic clang. The cabin blew open, and the tank stopped moving. The inside of the cabin was on fire, and I saw chunks of a red-stained substance rain down around the tank, staining the snow. Smoke billowed from the destroyed machine.

And the smell. Oh great spirits, the fucking smell! It was a sickly-sweet stench with a hint of pork, beef, and copper, with horrible sulfurous tones that stung my eyes and nose. It was so pungent I could almost taste it!*

I shook it off. I ran to get in front of the next tank. This one noticed me, and shot a fireball. I blocked it. I made a fireball and shot it at the tank. Once again, the tank was destroyed and the snow stained with blood. I moved on and blew up another tank, and then another. The stench became almost overpowering.

The rest of the tanks changed direction, heading towards me now, instead of the temple. I got so busy blocking that I couldn't blow them up. I was feeling the heat, barely keeping up. Suddenly, Aang landed right in front of me, and used his staff to deflect the fireballs and flip over the tanks with huge gusts of wind. The gusts blew away the smell for a few seconds, letting me catch my breath. I stood back up and got into my stance before the tanks could right themselves.

"Man, I know the Mechanist likes stink bombs, but you'd think he'd make his tanks smell better." Aang quipped, flipping over another tank.

"It's not the tanks." I replied grimly.

"Then what is it?" Aang asked.

I blew up a tank that was only about ten feet away from us. This time, we were in the splash zone, and got hit with a few drops of red blood. Aang's eyes widened in horror when he realized what the source of the smell was. Before he could say anything, Katara landed next to Aang. She had tears in her eyes, but not from the smell. Her face wasn't a mask of horror, but rather grim determination. She put her hands out in front of her, and let out a breath. A trail of ice spikes shot out from the ground in front of her, capturing a tank. She pulled up her hands above her head, and the tank's wheels fell off, disabling it.

We looked and saw even more tanks, along with the infantry, coming towards us. Aang and I deflected numerous fireballs, but we couldn't get an opening to attack. Suddenly, Appa landed in front of us and flipped over two tanks with his head. Aang, Katara, and I climbed aboard and took off, retreating to the temple.

We regrouped at the launch site. "We're out of bombs!" Teo reported.

"Come on, Sokka. Where's that war balloon?" Katara asked desperately.

Right on cue, the war balloon ascended from the temple, with Sokka and the Mechanist steering. I'd never been so happy to see a Fire Nation insignia. The balloon carried a payload of four gigantic slime bombs. When the balloon got in position over the enemy, it dropped the payload, covering every soldier and tank in slime. Unfortunately, more tanks were coming in to take the place of their disabled comrades.

The balloon flew over the cliff, and I could see Sokka fiddling with the engine, detaching it and dropping it down the cliff. I knew what that meant.

"Take cover!" I yelled, kneeling down and covering my head with my hands.

Aang and Katara looked at me. "Why?" Aang asked.

"This temple sits on a huge supply of natural gas. Sokka is gonna blow it up!" I explained.

Everyone's eyes went wide and they ducked down. A few seconds later…

BOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

When the rumbling stopped, we took a look over the edge of the landing platform. The army and tanks were gone, likely blown off the mountain by the explosion. The only thing I saw was a group of enemy soldiers far below turn around and run for it.

"Look! They're retreating!" Aang yelled. The rest of us cheered in victory, for a few seconds.

The balloon flew past, sinking quickly. "We're going down!" Sokka screamed.

Aang didn't hesitate, and immediately flew after them on his glider. Several minutes later, Aang returned with Sokka and the Mechanist in tow.


A few hours later, we gathered all our supplies on Appa, ready to move on. "You know what?" Aang said to Teo and the Mechanist. "I'm really glad you guys all live here now." He picked up a hermit crab. "I realized, it's like the hermit crab. Maybe you weren't born here, but you found this empty shell and made it your home. And now you protect each other."

Teo smiled. "That means a lot, coming from you."

Aang, Katara, and Sokka resumed packing. I stepped forward and looked the Mechanist in the eye. "I'm sorry I got so angry at you." I apologized. "I would like to ask you for a favor."

The Mechanist nodded. "I'm sorry I didn't think about things and got us into this mess. Please, name your request."

I swallowed. "Could you please do everything you can to preserve as much of this temple's history as you can?" I asked. "Aang may be the last airbender now, but as long as he lives, the Air Nomads have a chance to repopulate. It would mean the world to him if you preserved as much of their culture and memory as possible."

The Mechanist nodded and smiled warmly. "I understand. From now on, I'll try to make sure my inventions don't destroy the temple."

I smiled, stepped forward and shook his hand. "Thank you, sir."

"Aang, you were right about air power." Sokka declared, pointing at the sky. "As long as we've got the skies, we'll have the Fire Nation on the run."

Everyone cheered. I couldn't shake the feeling that I'd forgotten something important.


Third Person POV

In the forest below the mountain, a group of Fire Nation soldiers, led by a thin man with gray hair, surrounded the crashed war balloon, examining it.

The thin man spoke. "This defeat is the gateway to many victories."


Alec POV

We were high up in the sky. Sokka took the reins while Aang, Katara, and I sat in the saddle. I noticed that Aang and Katara looked sullen. "What's wrong?" I inquired.

Aang swallowed. "I keep remembering that battle." He said in a soft voice. "I remember what you did to the tanks. The smell. Is that what war is like?"

"I really don't know." I admitted quietly. "I've never been involved in a war before."

Katara looked at me. "I remember that smell." She whispered. "I smelled it six years ago, when…"

I wrapped her tightly in a hug. "It's okay, you don't have to say anything." I said. "I'm sorry I reminded you of that. It was the only way I could take down those tanks. I'm really proud of you."

"What do you mean?" She asked.

"You faced that smell, and even though it made you remember the worst moment of your life, you did what you had to do." I explained. "You're strong. Don't ever forget that."

She smiled.

Sokka cleared his throat. "So, where to next?"

"The Northern Water Tribe." Aang replied.

"Finally" I thought. "Maybe now I can figure out why I'm here."

AN: That's it for the Northern Air Temple. Next time: the Northern Water Tribe.

*I have a friend who's a firefighter. That's how he described the smell of burning flesh.