There was no one else around, no one to come running to the rescue. Katara and Sokka sat motionless in the car, shocked and horrified. Katara whispered, "Did we … just …?" In a panicked explosion of energy, Katara flung open the car door and ran to the limp body on the road.

Sokka soon followed her example only while screaming horrified gibberish mixed with guilty apologies and excuses. "Asdfgh, I didn't see! Asrdtfyugoihtyuj, he was right in the middle of the road! Qwertyujnm, oh my God it's my fault! Piuoytdfghjblknlm I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"

Katara, with a shaking hand, pinched the boy's neck and felt the slightest pulse. She sighed in relief. "He's alive! Sokka he's alive!"

"What!" Sokka got on his knees next to Katara and felt for a pulse on his wrist. He let out his own sigh of relief and silent prayers of thanks.

Katara looked at this boy carefully. His eyelids began to stir and a small sound came from his mouth. He opened his eyes and gasped. The boy whispered to Katara, "I need to ask you something."

"What?"

"Please, come closer."

Katara leaned in closer to the boy. "What is it?"

The boy's eyes suddenly lit up and he talked normally. "Will you go ice skating with me?"

Katara straightened up a bit. "Uh, sure, I-I guess."

The air around the boy stirred and put him on his feet. "What's going on here?"

Sokka pointed his finger in the boy's face. "You tell us! Why were you in the crosswalk when there was a green light? And why aren't you injured?"

The boy brushed Sokka's hand away. "I'm not sure." Suddenly he started looking around and he circled the car. "Appa! Appa, where are you!"

Katara got up and followed him. She looked a bit closer at this strange boy. His head was bald and a light blue stripe went over it, actually, that stripe was on his hands too. No, it wasn't a stripe, they were arrows. Why would someone this young have tattoos? "Um, what are you doing?"

"I can't find Appa."

Sokka ran after them. "Appa? What's Appa?"

"Appa's my flying bison."

Sokka commented sarcastically. "Right, and this is Katara, my flying sister." Katara gave him an annoyed look.

Aang faced Katara, "So, do you guys live around here?"

Sokka swung his arms out as if to protect Katara. "Don't answer that. He could be a spy for the fire nation!"

Katara pushed her brother out of the way. "Oh yeah, I'm sure he's a spy for the fire nation. You can tell by that evil look in his eye." Aang winked humorously. "The paranoid one is my brother, Sokka. You never told us your name."

"I'm A-a-a …" The boy sneezed and flew off the pavement into the air. Katara and Sokka gaped as he landed in front of them, wiping his nose. "I'm Aang."

"You just sneezed, and flew ten feet in the air!"

Aang looked up at the sky for a moment. "Really? It felt higher than that."

It all started fitting together in Katara's mind. She gasped, "You're an airbender!"

"Sure am."

"Flying bison, airbending, … I think I have a case of midnight sun madness. I'm going home to where something makes sense." Sokka climbed into the front seat only to find Aang had already had already jumped in the back. "Can I have a ride?"

"What? No, get out!"

Katara opened the passenger door to yell at her brother. "You just ran this poor kid over! Give him a ride if he wants it!"

"But! Oh fine." Sokka took the car out of park and started driving. "So where are we taking you kid?"

Aang suddenly felt blank. "I-I don't know."

Sokka pulled over to the side walk. "I can't drive you if you don't know where you're going so make up your mind."

Aang stared blankly at Sokka. "I know I have somewhere to go, I just can't remember where."

Katara turned around in her seat. "Aang, how many fingers am I holding up?"

Aang squinted at Katara's hand. "Three?"

Katara sighed, "You have a concussion."

Sokka face palmed. "Seriously? No wonder the guy was talking about flying bisons."

"That's okay, you can come home with us."

Aang smiled. "Really?"

Sokka had the opposite reaction. "Katara what are you doing? We can't have this crazy kid at our house! Where would he sleep, we've only got three beds!"

"He can have your bed, you're the one who ran him over and gave him a concussion."

"What?!"

"It'll just be one night, I'm sure Gran Gran won't mind."

"Thanks! You guys are both so nice!"

Sokka mumbled to himself. "Yeah, you're so nice, Katara. Let's invite the weird kid to spend the night and take my bed away from me. Cause that's such a great idea." Sokka put the car in drive and headed for South Pole Suburbs.

Zuko inhaled slowly and exhaled slowly. He jumped in the air, launching fire at his opponents. They blocked and fire came hurling at Zuko from his right. He jumped out of the way and returned the attack.

Iroh's yells stopped Zuko halfway through the attack. "No! Power in firebending comes from the breath! Not the muscle! The breath becomes energy in the body, the energy extends past your limbs and becomes fire." Iroh demonstrated for his nephew. "Get it right this time."

Zuko stepped forward. "Enough, I've been doing this sequence all afternoon. Teach me the next set. I'm more than ready."

"No, you're impatient. You have yet to master your basics. Drill it again."

Zuko angrily kicked one of the opponents down with fire. "The sages tell us that the avatar is the last airbender. I'll need more than basic firebending to defeat him! You will teach me the advanced set!"

Iroh frowned. "Very well, but first, I must finish my roast duck." The old man grabbed the takeout carton from under his chair and began to chow down. Zuko rolled his eyes, his uncle was such a glutton.

Later that night, Zuko sat in the dark on his computer. It was a habit of his to check every website and add that came up containing the words "avatar", "airbender", "airbending", "monk", and "nomad". He usually came up with only old information he had read a thousand times but he continued looking.

It was an obsession really, and it was the reason his old friends had dropped him, not to mention no one wants to hang out with the kid whose father banished and disowned him. No one wants to be around the royal failure with the hideous scar and unhealthy obsession. Who would want to hang out with him when his sister was beautiful, powerful, respected, and a natural prodigy, nothing like Zuko.

Zuko looked at the clock, 1:20 AM. He still had to do his homework in Bending Fundamentals. He turned on a light and took out his workbook.

What is the origin of earthbending? Zuko uncapped his pen and began to write. Earthbending originates from badgermole behavior discovered in …..

Iroh knocked gently on his nephew's door. "Zuko?" He opened the door to look through.

Zuko's head rested inside the pages of his textbook on the desk. Sometime in the night, he had accidentally pushed his folder for history off the desk and now papers scattered the floor. Iroh bended down on his knee to pick up the papers. He placed the folder next to Zuko's head and headed out of the room.

He came back five minutes later with a bowl of cereal and a cup of coffee. "Prince Zuko, it's time to wake up. You have to go to school today."

Zuko didn't really hear his uncle as he woke up, it was really the smell of coffee that got his attention. He opened his eyes, feeling groggy and uncomfortable. He mumbled "Coffee?"

Iroh placed the coffee and cereal down gently and left the prince alone with his breakfast.