Last Time…

I jumped up onto Appa and, a minute later, we were in the air once more heading toward the Southern Air Temple.

When I woke up, it was dark out and the group had already made camp and fallen asleep. I tried to go back to sleep, but my mind had already woken up. I wandered around the small island we were on. Seriously, it was tiny. It took me about 3 minutes to walk from one end to the other. I sat on the beach and watched the waves slowly come in and out. Luckily, it was only about a half hour until the sun came up. Birds started singing their happy little songs and I heard Appa growl lowly. If Appa was up, Aang and Katara probably were too. I walked back swiftly. Just like yesterday, Aang and Katara were packing up and Sokka was still asleep in his sleeping bag. Aang jumped off Appa and walked toward the lazy lump.

"Wake up, Sokka. Air Temple, here we come!"

Sokka turned over and muttered something. I was still too far away to hear what he said. Probably something along the lines of 'Shut up. I'm sleeping.' Aang pondered for a moment, then a massive smirk worthy of the Weasley Twins crept onto his face. He reached down and grabbed a stick. I finally was within range to speak without yelling and greeted, "Hey Aang."

"Hey Rei. Shhh," He whispered.

He ran the stick all around the top of the sleeping bag and shouted, "Sokka! Wake up! There's a prickle snake in your sleeping bag!"

The water tribe teen opened his eyes lazily, then started jumping all around and screaming, "Get it off! Get it off!"

I was laughing hysterically and then Sokka fell down on his face. I literally fell to the ground as well due to my inability to control my laughter.

"Great. You're awake. Let's go," Aang said.

I quickly sobered up, stuffed all my items into my sleeping bag and rolled it up. I lept onto Appa and Sokka shambled up as well. Then we were off.

I looked over the edge and watched the island disappear. Katara and Aang shared the front seat and talked about some waterbending stuff and some old stories about the air temple from a hundred years ago. I closed my eyes and just felt the wind fly past me, whipping my hair around everywhere. Everything was quiet in the saddle until Sokka' stomach growled loudly. I lazily opened one eye at him.

"Hey, stomach, be quiet, all right? I'm trying to find us some food," He grumbled. I shut my eyes again. It wasn't really worth the effort. He reached into his bag and pulled out a bag. He turned it over and a few crumbs fell out. He whined, "Hey! Who ate all my blubbered seal jerky?"

Aang looked back from the front seat and confessed, "Oh. That was food? I used it to start the campfire last night. Sorry."

He turned back round. Sokka gasped, "You what? Aww. No wonder the flames smelled so good."

I consoled, " It's ok Sokka. We'll find some food at the Air Temple Sokka. Don't worry. Relax. Enjoy the quiet while it lasts."

I shifted into a more comfortable position. The wind slowed a bit. It was quite soothing. If everyone could just be quiet, it would be the most peaceful place I've ever been.

"Ok Rei."

I heard him move around and plop down on the opposite side of the saddle. And everything was quiet. Ahhh.

"The Potola Mountain Range! We're almost there!" Aang yelled. I rose out of my laid-down position. Oh well. Guess I couldn't nap right then. Best to have a completely awake mind while we were at the temple.

"Aang, before we get to the temple, I want to talk to you about the airbenders," Katara said carefully.

"What about them?"

"Well…"

Katara hesitated, so I butted in with, "No one's seen or heard from an airbender in a thousand years."

"Just because no one has seen an airbender doesn't mean the Fire Nation killed them all. They probably escaped," Aang insisted.

Katara jumped back in and laid a comforting hand on Aang's shoulder.

"I know it's hard to accept. But the Fire Nation is ruthless. They killed my mother. They could've done the same to your people."

"You don't understand. The only way to get to an airbender temple is on a flying bison, and I doubt the Fire Nation has any flying bison. Right, Appa?"

He stroked Appa's head. Appa growled in response.

"Hold on tight everybody. We're going up. Yip yip!"

I grabbed my bag and held onto the side of the saddle. Sokka did the same. We went nearly vertical as we raced up the mountain side. We finally cleared the top of the mountain and saw the temple. The temple was covered in snow, but the beautiful white towers and the bright blue roofs stood out. The fact that all the trees were dead and there seemed to be no life didn't really bother me. It just made the whole thing look more serene.

"There it is, the Southern Air Temple."

Katara and Sokka were also looking at the structure with awe. Katara said, "Aang, it's amazing!"

Aang leaned down next to Appa and smiled, "We're home, buddy. We're home."

Once we landed, I slid off Appa quickly.

"I'm gonna go search for some food. See ya," I rushed and I sped off not giving them any time to argue. I did not want to be in the same vicinity as Aang when he went into the Avatar State. That stuff was scary as all heck.

I wandered through the temple. Intricate designs were scattered across the walls. The whole temple felt like a labyrinth. There were inside parts and outside parts. There were lots of staircases and even some ladders. It actually reminded me of Hyrule Castle in Breath of the Wild. The carvings on all the walls showed people with airbenders tattoos. Some were flying on gliders. Some were meditating. But it was all beautiful. Even the vines that had grown over the intricate stonework made it all the more perfect. I resisted the urge to eat the berries off of some of the vines. Hunger games had taught me well. Don't eat berries if you don't know for absolute sure that they're not poisonous.

Huge courtyards of stone were empty. The entire place felt empty. The fountains were dry and the only things that moved were the leaves in the wind. Pity crept up on me and my eyes shined with unshed tears.

I eventually found a massive dining hall. The sight turned my stomach. The ground was littered with death. Monk and firebender skeletons gleamed white against the stone that was completely stained brown. I gagged again. If I had had a full stomach, I probably would have thrown up. I took one more look and started dry-heaving and I fell to my knees.

After coughing up some bile, I managed to steel my stomach and explored the hall. I did my best to not look at the skeletons. I found an entrance to a kitchen. Inside, I found some moldy bread and a little fruit scattered across the table. I looked in disgust at the bread, but the fruit still looked relatively good. Maybe Momo had picked it and put it there for safe keeping. I ate one myself, gathered them up into an old flour bag and started the long trek back to Appa.

About halfway there, I felt the wind pick up drastically. I hurriedly hid in an alcove on the side of the road until it died down. I guess Aang found Gyatso. I walked back and ran into the group who was walking back from the other side. I gave the bag to Sokka.

"Here's some fruit."

He gratefully stuffed one in his mouth and muttered through the food in his mouth, "Oh thanks Rei."

"Where'd you get that?" Katara asked

"There's a kitchen down that way." I said, pointing to where I'd come from.

"Was there anything else?"

"A little, but I only had one bag."

"Here."

She reached up onto the saddle and grabbed Sokka's empty blubbered seal bag.

"Let's go. We'll need all the food we can get."

"Ok."

I led her back. I paused at the last turn. Katara looked at me with concern. I grabbed her shoulder and warned, "You may want to prepare yourself. It's a graveyard in there." She nodded solemnly. We walked into the kitchen. Katara gasped and halted. I kept my gaze on the ground. I skirted the room and hurried into the kitchen. I was bagging a bunch of moon peaches when Katara stumbled into the room. Her hand was clutching her stomach. With a swift well-placed kick, I pushed a pot over to her in time for her to get sick in it. I put down the bag and I held her hair back. When she was done, she wiped her mouth and groaned. I pushed the pot full of sick as far away as I could and embraced her. We just sat there tightly wrapped around each other. My shoulder was getting progressively wetter with how much Katara was sobbing. I tried to pull away and she just held on tighter.

"Katara, I know it's horrible, but we need to get these supplies back to the boys," I muttered softly. I patted her head and tried to pull back again.

Katara sobbed, clinging on tighter. She cried, "I couldn't protect him. He saw his old mentor dead and he lost control. Everyone he knew is dead."

Aang' avatar state must've taken a bigger toll on her than I thought. I squeezed hard.

"I know it's horrible, but we can't dwell on the past. Yes, the air nomads were killed, and it looks like very brutally. But we have to focus on everyone we can still save. The Earth Kingdom and the two water tribes. They need us."

"They need Aang."

I pulled my head back and looked her right in the eye.

"No. They need all of us. One person does not have the strength to carry the weight of the world alone. Even the Avatar. We all have to share the load and keep each other hopeful."

Her grip loosened.

"Ok," she murmured.

"And don't ever let me hear you even imply that you are less than Aang. We all have our own strengths and weaknesses."

"Ok! I get it. Sheesh, and Sokka calls me motherly," Katara teased. A grin broke out on both of our faces and I gave her one last quick hug.

I stood and declared, "Well, Sokka's gotta be wondering where we are with his food." Katara barked out a laugh and stood up as well.

"Well, let's not keep him waiting," she giggled. We both grabbed a bag and started stuffing whatever we could find. It was mostly moon peaches and apples. After coming to a realization, I halted. Katara ran into me and almost dropped her bag.

"What is it?"

"Well, these are still ripe. They can't have been stored here for that long. How are they here? I didn't even think about that."

"Maybe it was that lemur we saw. He may have picked the fruit and kept extra here."

I shrugged and said, "Actually, you know, I don't think I care. It's still food. Who cares where it came from?" I slung my bag up onto the center counter. Katara did the same. We had a nice, albeit small, pile of bags of fruit.

"I guess. Alright, that's the last bag. I'll take three and you take three?"

I nodded and grabbed my share. Katara followed my lead as we carefully made our way through the decimated dining hall.

"So, do you think Aang's alright? I heard the wind pick up on my way back. Was that him?" I gently asked. I just needed her to let me in on the loop so I didn't look psychic if I let slip that I knew what happened. Katara nodded.

"He went into the Avatar state. I was able to calm him down though."

I hummed my understanding. The rest of the walk back was in silence. Though I was behind her, I knew that Katara's head was spinning. Aang's Avatar state was a lot to handle at times. She'd be fine.

"Hey you're back! And you brought more food!" Sokka cheered. His enthusiasm was heartwarming, but I didn't like the next thing he added. "Good cause I already ate the last bag."

I gasped and tore the bag he had just taken from me out of his hands. "Sokka! We have to conserve. Who knows the next time we'll get the chance to gather supplies?" He had the decency to look sheepish and muttered something along the lines of an apology. Though, as soon as my back was turned, he grabbed another peach.

"Say hello to the newest member of our family," Aang called from his place next to Appa. He walked over to us with the lemur on his arm.

"What are you gonna name him?" Katara asked.

The lemur swiftly leapt over to Sokka and took the peach he was about to bite into.

"Momo," Aang answered.

We all laughed and giggled at Sokka's face. His mouth was hanging open and he just looked so shocked. The sky turned dark as the siblings and I tucked all our newly acquired food bags into our tied-down bags. Aang was still standing on the ground and sorrowfully surveying his surroundings.

"Aang, it'll be ok. We can come back here later and put the monks to rest properly. For now, we have to go."

A second passed, but he gave me a slow nod. A gust of wind later and Aang had already called out, "Yip yip." Appa took to the skies and I had to quickly grab on to the front edge of the saddle.

The sun set in the west, coloring the skies in a beautiful rainbow of color, and Aang glanced back at the temple. The light of the sun was reflected in his eyes and, for a moment, it looked as if he was in the Avatar state. But that didn't stop me from seeing the tears welling up in his eyes before he swiftly turned his back to the temple.