I know many of you have been waiting for me to continue where I left off at the last chapter. So, after far too many months, I bring you part two of three. "Return to the Western Air Temple" will be the final portion of my Avatar: After the War collection. Fear not, audience, as I have other things in the works. "The Reunion" is the first of a new collection of higher-quality oneshots that I feel show a vast improvement over where I started. Be warned: updates will not be frequent, but it will be better than what I've put out lately, I promise.
"Return to the Western Air Temple" will be continued in a style similar to that of my previous works—yes, a bit short and simple. But I feel it fits here with everything else in this collection.
I do not own AtLA.
"Momo, what are you doing here? I told you to stay at camp!"
Katara opened her eyes to find Aang's pet lemur sitting patiently on the ground a few yards away. Apparently, he had been waiting for his friends.
"Don't scare me like that, Aang," the Waterbender said, clutching her rapidly pounding heart. "I thought you'd seen…" But she trailed off, not wanting to upset him. We haven't seen the bodies yet. Maybe we won't see them at all. Spirits, I hope not…
"Sorry," the young Airbender giggled. He beckoned for Momo to come to him, and the lemur scurried up to his master's shoulder with a happy chirp.
The trio made their way down a cobblestone path for a couple of minutes before arriving at a tall wooden gate, beyond which Katara could see dozens of headstones. Why on Earth had Aang wanted to come here? "Are you sure you want to walk through this place?" she asked, turning to her friend. "It's even creepier than that room with the statue."
"You're not scared, are you?" Aang challenged with a playful smirk. "These people have been dead for centuries. It's not like they're going to rise from their graves and attack us or something."
"Well, I am a little scared…" the girl admitted, feeling a chill run down her spine when a raindrop put out Aang's candle. "But not for the reason you think."
He opened the gate and walked inside. "Katara, the courtyard is just up the stairs at the other side. The cemetery isn't that big."
"But it didn't take very long to get here the other way," she reasoned. Her eyes widened—this wasn't a shortcut. "Aang, what's the real reason you wanted to come here?"
He stiffened. "There's no reason. I…like this way."
If looks could kill, he'd be dead where he stood. She wasn't buying his story. "You're a terrible liar, you know." He couldn't possibly want to find the skeletons…could he?
Sighing, he turned to her. "All right, listen. You and I both know that the Fire Nation was here."
"Yeah…" she replied, cocking an eyebrow. He wasn't seriously…?
His expression turned to one of anger. "I want to know where they put the nuns."
"You what?" Katara couldn't believe it. She wouldn't believe it. "Aang, why would you put yourself through that? Don't you remember what happened last time, at the Southern Air Temple…when you saw Monk Gyatso?" Because she sure remembered. He was so upset that he went into the Avatar State, nearly sending her and Sokka flying off the mountain.
But the danger wasn't what worried her—it was seeing the pain and grief in his eyes. It was holding him as he cried in her arms at the realization that he really was the last Airbender. It was the empathy she felt for that frightened little boy who had lost everything and everyone he'd ever known and loved. He didn't see it, but she cried in her tent that night in sympathy, long after he had fallen asleep. She never wanted to see him that upset again…she didn't know if she could take it—if he could take it. It had been about a year since, but she still heard him cry at night sometimes.
"I remember," Aang said darkly. "But I'm in better control of myself than I was then."
She shook her head. "I still don't think that it's a good idea."
"Katara, this is important to me," he insisted. "I need to know where they are. When we were here after the invasion, we were busy planning our next move and training. But now that we're not so busy anymore, I don't know that I can sleep here at night without gaining some closure."
The rain was coming down steadily now. It was just a light shower, but it was enough to dampen Katara's clothes and hair. Fitting, really, given the matter at hand. "Then what did you need me for?" she questioned, trying to read his facial expression but failing.
"I had a feeling this would be a little difficult for me," he replied sadly. "I know I won't go into the Avatar State because I can control it now, but…that doesn't mean I won't still be upset. I just needed some support, I guess. I'm sorry for using you like that."
"Why didn't you just tell me in the first place?" She supposed she could be angry at him for lying to her, but she understood that this was not an easy thing for him to handle. He was dealing with the loss of his entire nation; to be upset with him over a rather trivial lie was rather unfair when he was counting on her for emotional support.
He frowned, looking away from her. "I-I didn't think you'd want to come with me. It was wrong of me to trick you." He turned his back to her and started to walk into the graveyard. "I'm sorry I brought you here, Katara. You can go back if you want."
"No, Aang, you can't do this," she declared without hesitation. She walked right up behind him and put her hands on his shoulders. "Not by yourself."
He looked up at her with a small smile. "Thank you. This will be easier for me, knowing you're here."
"I won't let you suffer alone," she replied, smiling sadly in return. "I'm always here for you."
Aang took a deep breath. "You have no idea what that means to me," he said gratefully as he began to walk again.
Katara followed nervously, glancing at the headstones as they passed. "Aang, did you know any of these people?"
He shook his head. "No. I knew a few of the nuns, but none of them seemed very old. Most of them were my age. They wouldn't be in here…but they may as well be now."
She couldn't see his face, as he walked ahead of her, but the sadness in his voice was clear. "You still miss them," she inferred, "even if you didn't know them."
"Yeah," he said mournfully. "This temple used to be so full of life and energy. Now it's all quiet and dead…the whole place feels like this graveyard."
Her heart swelled with empathy for the boy. "I'm sorry, Aang."
In a way, she thought to herself, the whole place is a graveyard. She shivered at the quasi-revelation. The cemetery hadn't always been a microcosm of the temple, of Air Nomad nation—this place had always been full of silence and death—but it was now.
"It's odd that we haven't found anything yet," Aang mentioned after a brief silence. "This cemetery seems like the perfect place for the Fire Nation to put all the nuns…it only makes sense that—oh."
"What?"
"Up ahead. That…that must be where they are."
They had come to the end of the graveyard. Upon exiting the gate, they were met with a narrow path that led to a large wooden building a couple hundred feet away.
The bison stables.
