Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar or anything associated with it except my fanfictions.
One thing I want to say. There is one writer that I truly worship. DJNS. His writing is so amazing it makes me feel tiny and insignificant. If you guys want a really great story to read, go to him. I'm not sure why I'm saying this. Maybe I want to point out the disparity between my writing and his. Sigh. I really try though.
They sat over a flickering flame, wondering what they were doing here.
Sure, this was one of their last pit stops, but why of all the things did they come to this campsite, listening to stories of strange people? It was wasting their time; they had a world to save!
But Aang was completely captivated by the stories. "So, travelers. 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!" The storyteller finished with a flourish. Aang leaned in, enraptured by every word that came out of the short man's mouth.
"Aren't airbender stories the greatest?" he said with a wondrous look in his eyes.
"Was that really how it was back then?" Zuko asked in curiosity.
"I laugh at gravity all the time," said Aang. He rolled his eyes and snorted. "Heh-heh. Gravity."
The storyteller came around, holding out his hat. It was obvious by the jangling what he expected of them.
Sokka fished in his pockets, and procured two copper pieces. "Here you go. Thanks for the stories."
Zuko took out two copper pieces, and said, "Thank you."
Aang rushed up to the man and gave him three gold pieces. "Hey! Thanks for the story." Zuko and Sokka facepalmed themselves. Just because they had money, didn't mean they could squander it all on some stories.
"It means a lot to hear airbender stories. It must have been a hundred years ago your great grandpa met them," Aang said excitedly.
The man looked at Aang strangely. "What are you prattling about, child? Great Grandpappy saw the air walkers last week." The trio's eyes grew wide. They looked at the old man in front of the storyteller, who made a sound as if he was laughing.
The boys stared at each other, eyes wide in shock.
It was raining.
At least, it looked that way, what with the dark clouds gathered below them. The sun shined on their backs as they anxiously kept a lookout for any signs of life above the mountain tops.
"Hey, we're almost at the Northern Air Temple. This is where they had the championships for Sky Bison polo." Aang looked to see bored expressions on the others' faces. "Oh. Sorry."
Sokka was shaking his bag upside down to extract the last bits of his snack he brought. Zuko simply lay facedown on the saddle, taking up most of the space.
"Do you really think we'll find airbenders?" Zuko asked, head tilted up in boredom and tiredness.
Sokka snorted. "You want me to be like you, or totally honest?"
"What do you mean? They're the same thing."
Sokka opened his mouth, then closed it. "You know, you're so much like my sister that sometimes I forget that you're a realist like me."
"You mean pessimist," said Aang dryly.
"Same thing," Zuko said dismissively.
"Um, as your elder by almost a century, I say that with my long years of life, I have more experience with the world than you two. As such, pessimist and realist are different types of people."
"Um, as your hundred years were spent in an iceberg, I daresay you have about as much experience with the world as the snow in the North Pole."
"I mean, after everything we've seen... it does make sense to be pessimistic. So where does that leave me?"
"The Frozen Avatar."
They chuckled, and then they saw it.
People gliding through the air, above a temple that was reminiscent of its sister structure in the South. Sokka and Zuko gaped at the spectacle. "Airbenders!" they shouted. Then they turned to Aang.
He was shaking his head. "No, they're not."
"What do you mean 'they're not'? Those guys are flying! Aren't you supposed to be the optimist of the group?"
Aang nodded. "But even optimists have to face facts. Those guys might be gliding maybe, but they're not flying. You can tell by the way they move, they're not airbending. Those people have no spirit."
One of the gliders came out of nowhere, and the boys were jerked roughly to the side as a boy laughed joyfully at seeing his victim's reactions. "Woo-hoo!" the boy shouted. He was riding in a strange contraption: It looked like a wooden seat extended to encompass the boy's lower body, his legs resting straight out. On the arms of the chair, there were two sticks, presumably for changing the direction of the flyer. On top of the strange chair was a glider wing. And the boy using it grinned almost like an airbender.
Zuko grimaced, rubbing his arm. "I don't know, Aang. That kid seemed pretty spirited."
"A little too spirited," grumbled Sokka. "I almost lost my lunch! And my shipmade... uh... ignore that last word... seal jerky!"
They still hadn't fully recovered from the explosive ordeal from several days back. Sometimes they could hear each other sniffling in their sleeping bags. But that was gone. They were shells empty of full emotion. They had nothing inside of them.
Much like those nonbending gliders.
"Meh, he's okay-ish. Not exactly nonbender-like, but he's definitely not your average airbender," Aang said with a glint in his eye. He snapped out his glider-staff and dove from Appa's back, reemerging to confront his newfound rival.
"Hey! I resent that remark!" Sokka shouted angrily. He sagged his shoulders. "Just my luck."
"What is luck?" asked Zuko.
Sokka opened his mouth, and then reconsidered all the events that had happened to them until this point. "Fair point, Hotman."
"Don't call me that! Wait, did I say that out loud? It doesn't matter... you guys don't listen to me..."
"Nah, we do, we just choose to ignore certain parts of what you say, Hotman."
"Ugh... my luck... wait. I don't know what that means."
Aang was ready to show this nonbender his place in the cosmos. Or at least, in the skies that served as their battleground.
He saw some gliders almost colliding with his sky bison, the furry beast dodging the animated projectiles with rather creative moves. He hoped none of their stuff had fell to the ground, although he didn't think Sokka and Zuko stopped screaming for long enough to hold onto their stuff while Appa did some fancy upside-down maneuvers. Focus, Aang thought. You have a nonbender to compete with. Might as well put some effort into it.
They matched each other, move for move, twist for twist, turn for turn, loop for loop. Finally, they spiraled downwards, circling each other much like two benders would in a bending duel. "Hey there, you're pretty good!" the boy called out, breaking the tense detente that existed between them.
Aang snorted in derision. "Yeah, I know," he said cheekily. "But I can do more than fancy gliding."
He flew down towards the closest wall, making sure the other boy's eyes were fixated on him. He cockily brought his feet on the wall, threw his glider-staff forward, and then sprinted sideways, deciding to form an Air Scooter as a final flourish before jumping off the wall and aligning himself under his glider again.
"Wow, I don't think I can do that," the boy said, impressed. But then the boy smirked. "But here's a good one."
He popped open a cork to a small canister attached to the side of his chair. Smoke began to shoot out from the opening in the cannister, and the boy began to do a bunch of fancy maneuvers. Slowly, yet surely, a shape became defined in the sky -
"Yeah, Teo! Show that bald kid how it's done!" shouted one of the kids who was there to spectate an enlarged, ethereal version of Aang's pouting face.
Aang rolled his eyes and grinned. "Not bad," he announced. He landed on the ground, relentlessly teased by Sokka and Zuko about losing an aerial contest to a nonbender. The other boy flew to the ground, and a team of assistants took the accessories and the glider off the chair, and the grounded boy rolled his chair towards the quintet.
"Pretty good flying out there man. And that trick you did..." his eyes widened. "Hey... you're a real airbender. You must be the Avatar! That's amazing! I-I've heard stories about you!" he said excitedly, pointing his finger at Aang in wide-eyed fascination.
"Uh... thanks, I guess," Aang said, rubbing the back of his neck. He didn't know how to respond to this boy. What was he doing here? Then he remembered his people were gone. Other people were bound to arrive here somehow.
"My name's Teo. What's yours?" the boy asked.
"I'm Sokka, this is Zuko, and the Avatar's Aang," Sokka said, wide-eyed. "By the way, those were some cool contraptions. Your glider chair is incredible!"
Teo smiled in childlike, airbender-reminiscent joy. "You think this is good, wait until you see the other stuff my dad designed." His smile disappeared once he saw the face of the Avatar. "Oh. I'm sorry. You won't like this. He kinda destroyed your people's art and culture in the process of his inventing."
For a short moment, Zuko and Sokka expected to see glowing tattoos. But they were surprised to see Aang smile and say, "It's alright. My people have been dead for one hundred years. A lot can change in that time. Besides, if there's anyone to blame it's the Fire Nation. They're the reason people have to take refuge in places like this." Aang surveyed the temple, noticing that at least from a distance most of it appeared intact. "C'mon. It's about time this empty shell's been filled up. Let's see what your people have been up to."
Aang and Teo went into a building, side-by-side. Zuko and Sokka looked at each other. "Uh... is it me, or is Aang acting a lot perkier than he should be?"
Zuko shrugged. "Hey, I'm not the one who said that Aang was supposed to be an optimist."
It was a disaster.
Aang had expected this much, but still... seeing it was different from envisioning it in his head. It all just became... so much more real.
Pipes crisscrossed the wide expanse within, placed haphazardly with no regard to the past written on the walls. He winced at seeing the head of a monk - Jahlee - disrespectfully punched out by a metal pipe jutting through the stone wall. And that was the least of it.
"Wow!" Sokka said, racing to the machines.
"Yeah, my dad is the mastermind behind this whole place," Teo said, casting a guilty look at the Avatar. "Everything's powered by hot air."
Off to the side, a woman entered a cage, pulled a long lever, and was shot up to the levels above, which further blocked the view of his people's history. "It even pumps hot air currents outside to give us a lift while we're gliding."
"This place is unbelievable," Aang said.
Teo looked at Aang with hopeful eyes. "Do you really? -" then the significance of what Aang said hit him. "Oh. You're just saying it's unbelievable. Not that it's good... we destroyed your culture, didn't we?" Teo said sadly.
"This is supposed to be the history of my people. Now it's all cracked and destroyed. Even I can barely tell what it's supposed to represent," Aang said. But enough on dwelling in the past. He was living in the now.
So why couldn't he let go of Katara? Love... he sighed inwardly, feeling the weight of her necklace on his neck.
He turned to Teo. "Are any parts of the temple still the same?"
Teo grinned. "Thought you'd never ask."
"It's nice to see one part of the temple that isn't ruined," Aang commented.
The multi-storied meditation room did not have a roof, and sunlight beamed down on the calm, reflective statues around the perimeter of the chamber. Aang looked appreciatively at the large, imposing statue that was Guru Laghima, the first and only airbender to have achieved the supposed power of flight by severing all earthly attachments.
Suddenly, he heard voices coming from the other side. "Aim..."
Aang did not waste a second. He jumped over the walls of the room - sacrilege as it was to his people's culture - and landed in the middle of a small party of people with a contraption that consisted of a heavy ball and a strand of twine. It was obvious what was going to happen.
"What the doodle? Don't you know enough to stay away from construction sites? We have to make room for the bathhouse!"
Aang raised an eyebrow. "Do you know what you were about to do? You almost destroyed yet another of my people's sacred places. All for a stupid bathhouse?" the quiet in his voice was offset by the intensity in which he spoke.
The man who had spoken - a crazy-looking man with unruly hair, singed-off eyebrows, and an imprint on one eye that looked like a monocle - simply said, "Well, people around here are starting to stink. Ugh!" he waved his hand in front of him, as if dispelling any undesirable stenches that might have accumulated in his presence.
Aang flared. "This whole place stinks!" But then he calmed down. This wasn't their fault. What would Katara say to him if she saw him blaming innocents for something out of their control. He took a deep breath. "What brought you guys here in the first place?" he asked, but his voice wasn't as biting as it was before.
"Pardon me, but what makes you think you have authority over us? You can't be older than twelve!"
"Hey, Aang! What's happening?" Teo came rolling up in his chair, Zuko and Sokka right behind him. Teo saw the scene before him, and he grimly nodded. "Ah. So, uh. Dad. This is the Avatar. Avatar Aang, meet my Dad. We just call him the Mechanist."
"Ah, you're the Avatar. No wonder you're so upset; you must have lived in the golden days of the glorious time of peace and Air Nomads! So... hmm, back to doing here ... A long time ago, my people became refugees after a terrible flood." The man walked behind Teo. "My infant son, Teo, was badly hurt and lost his mother." The man started pacing up and down. "I needed somewhere to rebuild and I stumbled across this place. Couldn't believe it! Everywhere! Pictures of flying people! But empty, nobody home. Then, I came across these fan-like contraptions!" he spread his arms in an imitation of the wings of a glider, and started soaring on the ground.
"The gliders..." Aang said.
"Yes! Little, light flying machines! They gave me an idea. Build a new life for my son, in the air! Then everyone will be on equal ground! So to speak. We're just in the process of improving upon what's already here." Sokka loudly sniffled and wiped his eyes on Aang's shawl; Zuko was shamelessly crying, touched by the tragedy and hope of the story the Mechanist had told them. Aang just stood there with narrowed eyes. "And, after all, isn't that what nature does?"
"Nature knows when to stop. I don't think I can blame you for what you've done, but -" he gestured to the thick smoke arising from the buildings of the temple. "- I think this is a little too far."
"Hmm. I guess you're right. But progress has a way of getting away with us. Case in point: Look at the time!" the Mechanist pointed to the trio of candles set on the contraption.
At first, nothing happened. Then, suddenly, four pops! sounded in quick succession, drawing the wonder of all those present. "You put spark powder in the candle!" Sokka shouted with glee.
The Mechanist nodded proudly. "Four flashes. So it's exactly four hours past mid-day. Or, as I call it: four o'candle."
"Ha ha! Ha ha! That was a good one!" Sokka said, wiping his eyes.
The Mechanist scrutinized the Watertribe boy before him, both bemused and amused. "If you like that, wait till you see my finger-safe knife sharpener. Only took me three tries to get it right." He grabbed his last three fingers on his left hand, which came off and showed themselves to be prosthetics of wood. He tossed these to Sokka, who backed in his shock. "Gah!" he shouted.
The Mechanist poked Sokka. "Now come! The pulley system must be oiled before dark." Sokka nearly tripped over himself trying to catch up to the Mechanist.
He's like Bumi... but a mad genius in a different way... Aang thought. He sighed. At least something of his culture was left untouched.
He cringed, almost expecting his thoughts to jinx the happy moment, but no strange machine broke down the sacred walls. Teo spoke up. "Aang... you know this isn't the only place left untouched, right?"
Aang turned to the wheelchair-bound boy in excitement. There was more? "Lead the way, Teo," Aang said, hope shining on his face.
The Air Temple Sanctuary. Of course. Although Aang thought only the Southern Air Temple had one. This one was most likely different inside, for if there were Avatar statues inside, the spire of the temple would glow and capture the eyes of the... Colonists. That's what they were. Colonists. Not native to the area.
But they moved into it and made it their home when no one else did.
Aang sighed. "So much is different about the temple... almost nothing remains."
"Don't be too sure about that, Aang," Teo reassured him. "The temple might be different, but look -" he reached over the arm of his chair to pick up a hermit crab. "- these creatures that live here are likely descendants of the ones that lived here a hundred years ago."
Aang studied the hermit crab, and then his eyes lit up! "That's it!" he shouted.
"What's what?" asked Zuko, who reluctantly tagged along with two boys who were his juniors.
"That's what I've been thinking about. This temple is like a shell, and your people are like this hermit crab. You might not have belonged here in the first place, but you found an empty shell and made it your home."
They finally reached the door to the Sanctuary. "Well, here it is," said Teo.
"It's kind of like the door from the other temple..." pondered Zuko.
"Only an airbender can open it, so inside it's completely untouched. Just the way the monks left it. I've always wondered what it's like in there ..." They glanced at Aang.
For a moment, Aang hesitated. Letting these people into one of the last areas left untouched by Firebenders and Colonists? But this was their home, he justified. They deserve to know about the place they live in. "Stand back," he finally said, and Teo wore a grateful grin.
"Thanks so much, Avatar. It means so much to me... I feel honored to be introduced to your peoples' traditions."
Aang waved his hand. "Please. Just call me Aang." he took his stance, extended his arms, and bent a concentrated stream of air from both of his arms. The mechanics of the door twisted and turned, and finally, they were confronted by...
"Wait a minute..." the trio said simultaneously.
Sokka and the Mechanist were wandering down a winding stairway, firefly lanterns in their hands. Although the walls were roughed and jagged, their regular pattern showed that they were the manual work of men. It was apparent the monks did their own work by themselves, as the walls were made of stone, and were unrefined, something sure to not be overlooked by earthbenders.
"Jeez, these give such a terrible light. Why do you even bother to use these?" Sokka peered into the lantern, barely able to discern the glowing bugs fluttering within.
"Well, they're nonflammable. You'll see why it's so important in a few seconds..."
Finally, after reaching the end of the dank, dark hallway, they reached a wooden door. "Cover your nose and hold your breath." Once the two men had done so, the Mechanist slid a rectangular eye slot, and Sokka good a good eyeful of a dark room.
The Mechanist shut the small opening. "So we traveled all the way here... just to see a dark room?" Sokka asked, wondering at the level of the Mechanist's sanity.
The Mechanist nodded. "But it's filled to the brim with natural gas. Came across it my first time here. Unfortunately, I was carrying a torch at the time. Nearly blew my self and the whole place even more sky high! Thought my eyebrows would never grow back." he lovingly patted his broken fragments of hair above his eyes. "Anyway, there's a vital problem that needs solving. From time to time, we have gas leaks. And they're nearly impossible to find."
Sokka paled. "So, this place is an explosion waiting to happen," he said nervously.
The Mechanist nodded once more. "Yes, until I figure out how to locate something I can't see, hear, smell, or touch."
They walked out from the passageway, silently wondering at the dangers hiding below the crags that held the Northern Air temple.
Suddenly, they heard a bell ringing from a distance. They turned to look at each other, one in curiosity, the other in fear. "Something's wrong. We've got to go!" The Mechanist started to run, and Sokka followed close on his heels.
The Fire Nation emblem.
That was the first thing that confronted their eyes upon the disturbance of the supposedly untouched chamber. Weapons and tools littered the floor, but trumping it all was the red, inflated contraption before them bearing its affiliation with the nation they all hated.
"What..." Zuko stuttered.
"Is this?" Teo finished in utter shock and denial. He rubbed his eyes. "Please tell me this is just a really bad and horrifying nightmare."
Suddenly, the Mechanist appeared, Sokka panting behind him. "What are you kids doing here?" The Mechanist said, eyes bulging in fear.
"This is an utter nightmare," Aang said, disbelieving of the irony. To think that the most sacred place of the sacred temple would be utilized by the people who had defiled it!
"You don't understand," the Mechanist said weakly, his legs trembling.
Sokka's eyes widened. "Wait a minute..." he scanned the room, then turned on the Mechanist angrily. "You're making weapons for the Fire Nation! I knew something wasn't to be trusted about you."
"Why would you do such a thing?" Aang wanted to scream, but he was completely shattered on the inside. His people were wiped out by one side, then their culture was wiped by the other, then it turned out the sides were working together? He was done with all of this.
The Mechanist sighed in resignation. He reluctantly offered his explanation. "It... it was about a year after we moved here. Fire Nation soldiers found our settlement. You were too young to remember this, Teo. They... 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... I offered ... my services." He hung his head, looking pleadingly at Teo. "You must understand. I did this for you!" His eyes shimmered in his grief.
Teo only looked ashamedly at his father, and turned his wheels to roll away from the scene before him.
The Mechanist sadly put two smiley-faced eggs on his miniature hot balloon and gloomily watched as they floated ever upward until it reached the ceiling.
He sighed in defeat and sadness. To think only that afternoon, his only concerns were of his people's hygiene, a gas leak, and this hot-air balloon issue! Now... he had the wrath of the Avatar upon himself. Along with his son. His son... his pride and joy in life... now looking down upon his own flesh and blood as if it were no more than Fire Nation scum.
But then again... that was exactly who he was... a weak-willed man tinkering with inventions that worked half the time, selling out his own nation - his own family - to the evil machinations of the Fire Nation.
The trapdoor to his office opened. Aang and Zuko climbed up, Teo behind them both. "When are they coming?" Aang asked. He needed to say no more.
The Mechanist squared his shoulders. "Very soon." The candle in his study popped. "And I'm done with this."
The three boys froze. "Say what?" Aang asked.
"I'm not helping a Nation that put us in this situation in the first place," the Mechanist said determinedly. "I'm done with being a pawn in a game I don't have control over. I'm going to stop helping the Fire Nation. No matter the cost."
Zuko said, "Good. It's about time someone finally stood up to my nation."
Teo and the Mechanist balked at the scarred teenager. "Your nation...?"
"I am Zuko, the banished former Crown Prince of the Fire Nation. My father showed me just how honorable my nation was by giving me this scar," he jerked a finger to the brutal mark on his face. "It's my destiny to help the Avatar restore my Nation's honor. Despite all my time supporting the Avatar, I haven't done one thing to strike back at my Father's soldiers. Now... now is the time to strike."
Aang stood there quietly. "I don't know... you said they'd destroy this place..."
"Then we'll fight," the others announced at the same time. They looked at each other.
Aang and Zuko shared a look. This was their opportunity to sate their grief at the loss of their crew. It was time to strike back at a nation who put down peaceful protesters. It was time to take a stand for what was right. Revenge might have been a part of their enthusiasm, but the key reason to their determination was their unwavering will to protect the innocent and give them the justice they deserved
"Then it's settled. Today, we prepare for war."
They looked at each other, shocked with their sudden concurrence. Apparently war created stronger bonds that wouldn't have happened otherwise.
The trapdoor suddenly burst open. A wizened old man stepped out. "What are you doing, taking so long with your useless gadgets? Do you know how long you've been keeping me waiting for your quota?" the War Minister sneered.
"Actually, the deal's off, Qin. Go back to your headquarters and cry over the ending war there." Zuko stepped forward boldly, knowing he was already branded an exile and a traitor.
The War Minister narrowed his eyes. "Ah. Prince Zuko. The Firelord knows of your betrayal."
Zuko snorted. "Bet Zhao only told him after his failed attempt to kill me. Mark my words, Qin. I will help the Avatar to restore balance and peace to the world, whether you like it or not, and I will not tolerate any opposition."
Qin bared his teeth. "Mark my words, boy. The destruction of this temple -" he pointed his arms at each person in the room - "will be on your heads."
Suddenly, he was slapped brutally. He whirled around disoriented.
Aang towered over the cowering man. "This destruction, this defilement, this devastation you threaten, is on your head, Qin," he spat. "These people are innocent victims of a war you started, a war you relish in, and yet you try to blame your own actions on them? All of this suffering - my people's destruction, these people's destruction - stains your hands forever. You have disrupted the balance of the world in the name of your nation. You are so dishonorable that you don't even deserve to look at my shoes." He whipped his arms, and sent Qin sailing back into the opening in the floor. "Now get out!" Aang shouted, slamming the door to the floor.
But instead of seeing himself perform the actions, he saw Katara, fiercely defending the people she loved and cared, defending people she hardly knew, because of her passion and compassion. The love he had for the watertribe girl spilled over and emanated from him, as if she was a part of his being.
Or maybe she was. She'd never leave Aang's heart, no matter what.
Teo and his father stared at Aang, wondering at the power and will of the Avatar that held sway over their lives.
Zuko stood there in silence, wondering where the innocent, cheerful boy that he had come to know - had went.
After War Minister Qin was impolitely shown the way out - as in, airbending-smacked off the mountain - Sokka came into the Mechanist's study.
After a long moment of awkward silence, Sokka said, "I'm glad you're on our side now..."
The boy was trying to make peace. The older man stared at the boy with hope. "Really?"
Sokka nodded. "You know, it's really nice to talk to someone who has an appreciation for science and not element magic shish-kebab. I'm glad I finally met someone who sympathized with me." Suddenly, he tripped, and sent the hot-air balloon on the Mechanist's desk tumbling to the ground, the eggs rolling out of sight.
"Hey, don't touch anything!" The Mechanist rushed over to help Sokka pick up the stuff. " Oh... don't worry too much. This particular experiment was old - I couldn't ever figure out how to make it come back down! - and that egg was just part of last week's lunch."
Sokka sniffed the air and almost puked. "Ugh! Week old egg smell!"
"Quick, find that egg! Before we succumb to its horrible stench!" Quickly, they got on their knees, trying to sniff out the exact location of the rotten egg.
Sniff out...
They turned towards each other. "This... this is the solution to our problem!" The Mechanist cried excitedly.
"Yeah ..." Sokka said slowly, understanding dawning in his eyes. "if we put a whole mess of rotten eggs in the cellar where the gas seeps up ..."
"... The gas will mix with the smell of rotten eggs!"
"Then, if there's a leak ..."
"... You smell rotten eggs! Then, you just follow your nose to the place where the smell is coming from ..."
"And plug up the hole where the gas is escaping!"
They threw their arms up into the air. "You're a genius!" they shouted at each other. After a minute of silence, they rolled onto the ground, laughing until their sides ached.
Sokka recovered and got up. "See what I mean? It's nice to have someone to talk to."
The Mechanist got up, smiling all the while. "I'm really glad I'm on your side too."
"Oh, and about your air balloon? It seems to keep traveling upwards. I might have a solution for that..."
"We finally got the war balloon working, thanks to Sokka. This boy's a genius!"
"Thank you. You're a genius!"
"Thank you!" Teo and Aang shared amused glances, while Zuko slapped his forehead.
They were all gathered in the Mechanist's spacious study. Aang, Zuko, Teo, Sokka, the Colonists... all were there to review their strategies and technologies they were about to utilize for their defense. Despite the many peculiarities surrounding them, courtesy of the Mechanists eccentricities and whimsies, they only had eyes for the two men in front of them and the balloon between them.
"See, the problem with the old war balloon was you could get it air-borne, but once it did, it just kept going. You could put a hole in the top, but then all the hot air would escape. So the question became, how do you keep a lid on hot air?" he smirked at his pun.
Zuko glared down at Sokka, and the watertribe boy squeaked in fear. The others chuckled, and Sokka blushed.
"Anyways... a lid is actually the answer. If you control the hot air, you control the war balloon." He pulled up and down on a lever, opening and closing the hole at the top of the balloon. The balloon rose and fell with the closing and opening of the lid.
Teo nodded. "That's impressive dad. I'm proud of you."
The Mechanist shared a familial glance with his son. In it, he saw the shattered trust placed in the Mechanist slowly repaired once more. He sighed in happiness. At least he had redeemed himself in his son's eyes. His life had been looking brighter since the Avatar came into it.
Aang's life had been looking duller and darker since Katara left it.
He sighed, looking up into the stars, wondering if Katara was staring up at the cosmos as well. If she was thinking about him.
Not likely. At least, not about him. She'd probably be worried over her brother, wondering what stupidity Sokka had brought onto himself. He chuckled ruefully, at the times past.
"Hey Aang."
He turned towards Teo, also looking into the sky. "Looking at the stars... it makes you feel small. It makes you wonder at... all the wonders of the world."
Teo nodded. "It makes you want to experience everything, to show no fear, to have a burning something that drives you from one thing to the next." Teo looked thoughtfully at a particularly bright star. "And that something takes over when I fly."
"Spirit."
"Huh?"
"Spirit. That's the something you're talking about."
"Oh. I... I guess you're right."
"Mind if I confess to you something, Teo?" the crippled boy looked at Aang curiously. "When I first saw you guys... I saw you were nonbenders taking over my home. You guys were gliding all over the place... but without airbending.. it made me bitter. I accused you guys of having no spirit to my friends. But now..." Aang finally looked at Teo. "Now.. I can see you have the spirit of a true airbender. You might be physically tethered to the ground, like all the monks were, but your spirit is truly free, soaring in the sky."
Teo smiled. "Thanks, Aang. That means a lot to me."
They sat there in peaceful silence before something horrendous happened. They sniffed the air and their eyes twitched.
"Is... is that... rotten egg?"
They came.
They came and came and came in hordes and swarms and droves. The Colonists and company tried desperately to fend them off, but they kept coming.
At long last, they stood there, gliders dropped in exhaustion, bags empty of bombs, shoulders sagging in defeat as the Fire Nation troops began to cross the last few ravines to the temple.
"Well, this is it..." Aang said sadly. "I'm sorry."
"No, don't be. We did our best. There was nothing else we could've done. At least we fought to the end. Besides, look on the bright side. At least we won't reek anymore! And at least we won't have to bear the smell of rotten egg!"
The Mechanist and Sokka looked towards the boys, having given up on their attempts to complete the War Balloon. "Did you say rotten eggs?" They asked.
Teo nodded. "Yup. Just at the ravine the Fire Nation troops have to cross to get to us."
Their eyes widened as they looked at each other. "Sokka... you know what this means."
Sokka nodded excitedly. "Zuko, think you could fireblast into that chasm?"
Zuko looked at him like he was crazy.
Sokka rolled his eyes. "Can you, or can you not?" he said, goading the boy into performing the explosive task that would save them all.
Zuko smirked. "A baby could do that." He took a deep breath in, and firebent into the chasm.
It wasn't an extremely large flame, but it did the trick. A rumbling shook the earth before Zuko was tossed backwards by a massive explosion that had occurred.
When the dust settled, the Northern Air temple was surrounded by nothing but inclines too steep and smooth for the Fire Nation to climb on. Those of the enemy that remained beat a hasty retreat down the mountain.
As they surveyed their victory, Sokka said, "Who knew forgotten lunches were so powerful?"
Zuko winced. "And who knew that even my friends wouldn't warn me of the danger of firebending into that cliff bomb."
Aang and his friends finally said their goodbyes to the Colonists.
"Thank you for living in this temple," Aang said with a smile. "I'm happy to see some life filling it up."
Sokka rubbed his chin. "You know... if we ever conduct an invasion of the Fire Nation... we could use your help, Mechanist. Your knowledge and companionship would be much appreciated."
Aang grinned. "Yeah. We can even use the War Balloons. As we've proven today, so long as we have the skies, we can beat back the Fire Nation!" The Colonist's cheered at Aang's declaration.
The Mechanist smiled. "You can count me in! We are forever indebted to you Avatar... for giving us our home back.. and for giving me my life back."
"Yeah. Thanks for everything, guys," Teo said, rolling up to his father. The Mechanist put both his arms on his son's chair, and they smiled at each other.
After saying their final farewells, the ragtag group of boys took off for the North Pole, Momo flying beside them.
In his sleeping bag, Zuko could not sleep.
It was the last leg of their journey before they would only see ocean until the North Pole - although admittedly the North Pole was just frozen ocean to begin with. Aang and Sokka were sleeping beside him, Sokka snoring loudly. Momo was perched on Appa's head, and their breathing was in sync as they were locked in the worlds of their dreams.
But all these disturbances and commotions weren't what was keeping Zuko awake. He was puzzling over the strange event that had occurred at the Northern Air Temple. He had firebent into the chasm, doing a move that all novice firebenders knew. He had taken a powerful stance, had poured all his heart and energy and anger into his firebending... and yet...
He barely shot a flame out of his palms. Sure, they won the battle, but that didn't get rid of the fact that something was very, very wrong about the burned prince.
As he tossed and turned, trying to find respite from the waking world, he looked at his friends and wondered.
Why is my firebending getting weaker?
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