Welcome to the next chapter. I thought that this would be a smaller chapter since Zuko's story takes up a good chunk of the episode but then I started writing and noticed that I got to ten pages in Microsoft Word. Looks like I was wrong. I don't own Avatar the Last Airbender. Anyway, enjoy!
The Southern Air Temple
The sun was rising over the lake as Celina helped Katara load their supplies back onto Appa along with some of the food that she had gathered. Celina had been the first one to wake up thanks to her insomnia and had gone out to gather supplies. They were early on in their journey but she didn't know when they'd be able to stop and restock so she thought that it was better to be prepared. Sokka was still in his sleeping bag while Aang was sat up at Appa's reins chatting excitedly to the girls.
"Wait til' you see it. The Air Temple is one of the most beautiful places in the world," Aang expressed to them. Katara looked back to Celina, nervousness apparent on her face.
"Aang, I know you're excited, but it's been a hundred years since you've been home," Katara told him.
"That's why I'm so excited!" Aang grinned.
"A lot can change in all that time," Celina warned him.
"I know, but I need to see it for myself," Aang explained. Katara shot Celina another nervous look. It was understandable; no one seemed to know how to tell Aang what really had happened to his people but they had to do it eventually. Aang had jumped down from Appa and walked over to the still sleeping Sokka.
"Wake up, Sokka! Air Temple, here we come!" Aang said excited.
"Sleep now…temple later…," Sokka groaned groggy, refusing to move from his comfortable position. Aang was clearly unpleased by Sokka's response and Celina couldn't help but sigh herself. Her brother never got up on time…well unless she told him.
"Sokka, it's time to get up!" Celina called out from on top of Appa. The water tribe boy let out another groan but sat up.
He looked up at Celina. "You okay? Sleep well?" he asked her.
"Just a bit insomnia," Celina answered. Sokka nodded. Katara looked at her siblings confused while Aang bounced eagerly having not noticed the interaction between Celina and Sokka.
"Great! Let's go," Aang said happily. Sokka sighed, clearly wanting more sleep but accepted to what was going on. Celina helped her brother up on to Appa after he packed up his sleeping bag. Aang hoped back onto Appa's head and soon they took off.
The group had been flying for a little while. Celina watched as clouds passed by, still amazed that they were flying. It was calming. Or it was until Sokka's stomach growled, breaking the silence. Celina looked over to see Sokka searching through one of the food bags. He had opened one up and went to dump the contents of the bag into his hand, only to have nothing come out.
"Hey! Who ate all my blubbered seal jerky?" Sokka asked annoyed.
"Oh, that was food? I used it to start the campfire last night. Sorry," Aang apologized, answering Sokka's question.
"You WHAT?! Awww, no wonder the flames smelled so good," Sokka somewhat mourned over his treats. Celina grabbed hold of another one of their food bags and threw it over to him.
"Here. It's just some nuts I collected this morning but it should hold you over for a while," Celina told him. Sokka opened the bag of nuts and looked at them a little disappointed that it wasn't the meat he wanted but accepted the food from her anyway. It was moments like this that reminded Celina that she was the oldest. The war had forced the Water Tribe siblings to grow up faster than they should have but things like Sokka complaining about being hungry reminded her that they were still kids. Well, Sokka and Katara were. Celina had been sixteen for a while now, marrying age. She almost scoffed at the thought. Her getting married? Never.
"The Batola mountain range! We're almost there!" Aang announced excited, bringing Celina out of her thoughts.
"Katara, now may be a good time to tell him," Celina whispered to her sister. Katara paused, before turning to the airbender nervous.
"Aang, before we get to the temple I want to talk to you about the airbenders," Katara said to him uneasy.
"What about 'em?" Aang asked.
"Well, I just want you to be prepared for what you might see. The Fire Nation is ruthless. They killed our mother and they could have done the same to your people," Katara tried to explain to him.
"Just because no one has seen an airbender doesn't mean the Fire Nation killed them all. They probably escaped," Aang told her optimistic.
"I know it's hard to accept," Katara went to console him.
"You don't understand, Katara. The only way to get to an airbender temple is on a flying bison, and I doubt the Fire Nation has any flying bison," Aang tried to tell her. Celina and Sokka looked up towards the airbender.
"He must be in denial," Sokka said to Celina.
"I don't know. He really seemed to believe what he's saying," Celina responded. "It's not going to be good when he finds out." Appa flew them up higher and higher, quickly turning around a mountain. Celina, Sokka, and Katara hung tightly to the saddle, straining against the wind. As they flew over some treetops the Southern Air Temple was revealed. Everyone gasped at the spiraled buildings sat into the mountain. It was truly a beautiful sight.
"There it is…the Southern Air Temple," Aang told them.
"Aang, it's amazing," Katara said, expressing what the others thought.
"We're home, buddy. We're home," Aang said fondly to Appa.
o
Once there Appa landed on a platform, dropping the four of them off to head up the curving path. Aang was racing ahead of them, ecstatic to be back home and was hyped to show the Water Tribe siblings were he grew up. Celina tried to take in all the sights, amazed that she was one of the first outsiders to visit an airbender temple, and a beautiful one at that. Aang waited for them up ahead at the edge of the path.
"So that's where my friends and I would play airball!" Aang explained pointing towards a thicket of densely packed sticks stuck in the ground of varying heights. Goals were set at either end of the field. "And over there would be where the bison would sleep…and…."
Aang's voiced trailed off and he sighed. "What's wrong?" Katara asked, noticing the change in the young airbender.
"This place used to be full of monks and lemurs and bison. Now there's just a bunch of weeds," Aang answered sadly. "I can't believe how much things have changed." Celina, Sokka, and Katara looked at each other, worried about Aang.
"So, uh, this airball game? How do you play?" Sokka asked changing the subject. Aang smiled.
Celina and Katara watched as Sokka and Aang stood upon the varying sticks getting ready to play. Sokka seemed confident but Celina and Katara knew that Aang was going to kick his butt. The game began as Aang used his bending to rapidly spin a ball before throwing it up into the air. Sokka tried to keep his eyes on the ball but Aang was quick and as soon as the ball came back down he sent it bouncing through the field with his airbending. It caught Sokka in the stomach, sending him flying through the goal and landing on the ground. Celina and Katara cheered for Aang scoring.
"Aang seven, Sokka zero!" he laughed. Celina walked over to Sokka and helped him up to his feet.
"Making him feel better is putting me in a world of hurt," he complained to her causing Celina to giggle.
"You tried your best but you did challenge an airbender to a game of airball. Your loss was inevitable," Celina smiled. Sokka nodded, understanding her point before something caught his eye. His focus caught Celina's attention as she looked over to what he saw. Her brows furrowed when she saw a Fire Nation soldier helmet lying on the ground.
"Katara, check this out," he called out to her. Their sister jogged over to them and saw the helmet that they wanted her to see.
"Fire Nation," she noted.
"We need to tell him," Celina said.
Katara nodded. "Aang, there's something you need to see," she called out to him.
"Okay!" he responded happily and began to make his way over. As Aang was making his way over to them Celina noticed Katara looked back and forth between Aang and the helmet before waterbending snow down onto the helmet and Sokka.
"What is it?" Aang asked.
"Just a new waterbending move Celina showed me," Katara made up.
"Nice one. But enough practicing. We have a whole temple to see!" Aang congratulated and then walked off further into the temple. Celina bended the snow off of Sokka before looking back at Katara, disappointed by her actions.
"You know, you can't protect him forever," Sokka pointed out. Katara brushed passed them, avoiding the subject and trying to catch up with Aang. Sokka and Celina shared a knowing look before moving towards the Air Temple entrance and Katara. "Katara, firebenders were here. You can't pretend they weren't.
"I can for Aang's sake," Katara responded. "If he finds out that the Fire Nation invaded his home, he'll be devastated."
"He's going to find out eventually, Katara. Would you rather him find out by himself or from a friend?" Celina asked her. Celina saw Katara think about what she had said; troubled by what she had to do. They were brought out of their thoughts as Aang called them over to a statue of an airbender monk.
"I want you to meet somebody," Aang said to them.
"Who's that?" Sokka asked.
"Monk Gyatso," Aang explained. "The greatest airbender in the world. He taught me everything I know." Aang bowed at the statue, wanting to be respectful towards his old master even in statue form.
"You must miss him," Celina noticed.
"Yeah," Aang answered and moved forwards into the temple, walking up its steps.
"Where are you going?" Katara asked.
"The Air Temple Sanctuary. There's someone I'm ready to meet," Aang replied causing the siblings to look at each other confused. The three of them followed Aang towards a large intricate wooden door. Three air symbols were arranged in a triangle, attached by tubes.
"But Aang…no one could have survived in there for a hundred years," Katara tried to reason with him.
"It's not impossible. I survived in the iceberg for that long," Aang pointed out.
"That was a special occasion," Celina responded.
"But guys, whoever's in there might help me figure out this Avatar thing!" Aang tried to explain to them.
"And whoever's in there might have a medley of delicious cured meats!" Sokka said eagerly and clearly still hungry.
"What happened to those nuts I gave you?" Celina questioned crossing her arms across her chest.
"Sorry, Celina, but nuts can't help my growing warrior body like meat can," Sokka replied before turning towards the door. He rushed forwards and ended up hitting it with a thud. Sokka strained to open the door to no avail before turning back to Aang. "I don't suppose you have a key?"
"The key, Sokka, is airbending," Aang smiled.
Celina, Sokka, and Katara stood aside as they watched Aang prepare to open the door. He took a deep composing breath and raised both of his arms. He pushed his arms forward airbending two jets of air, one from each arm, into the tubes. As the air filled the tubes that air symbols turned around one by one, unlocking the door. The door opened revealing the dark interior of the Air Temple Sanctuary.
"Hello? Anyone home?" Aang asked, calling into the room. Celina watched as Aang walked into the room with Sokka and Katara following behind him. Celina stood outside, a feeling of uneasiness settling in before decided to enter the room. In the sanctuary, Celina gasped seeing the many statues that not only covered the floor but spiraled around the walls. Sokka, Katara, and Aang walked further into the room while Celina stalled. The uneasiness increased as she felt as if all the eyes were on her.
"Who are all these people?" Katara asked.
"I'm not sure but it feels like I know them somehow," Aang admitted.
"That's probably because you do. These must be all your past lives, Aang," Celina said a bit on edge. It was the only explanation she could think of. The statues were of people from all the different nations and had a powerful presence to them.
"Of course! It's the avatar cycle," Katara agreed.
"Wow! There's so many!" Aang looked around amazed.
"Past lives?" Sokka asked walking over to Celina causing her to jump. "Celina, you really believe in that stuff?"
"It's true. When the Avatar dies he's reincarnated into the next nation in the cycle. When Aang dies he's going to be reborn into a waterbender," Celina told him. "You really should have paid more attention to Gran Gran's stories."
"Aang, snap out of it!" Katara cried out, drawing Celina and Sokka's attention. They ran over to Katara and Aang who was stood in front of the statue of a firebender.
"Huh?" Aang asked dazed.
"Who is that?" Katara asked.
"That's Avatar Roku, the Avatar before me," Aang told them. Celina looked up at the statue. There wasn't as much uneasiness around this statue compared to the others but she still remained uncomfortable.
"You were a firebender? No wonder I didn't trust you when we first met," Sokka said.
"Yeah, that's the reason. It's not like you were paranoid or anything," Celina sassed him. Sokka shot his sister a glare.
"There's no writing," Katara noticed. "How do you know his name?"
"I'm not sure…I just know it somehow," Aang answered.
"You just couldn't get any weirder," Sokka growled out in frustration. Footsteps coming from behind them sent the group hiding behind several statues, trying to remain silent. Sokka brought out his club, preparing for a fight. A shadow crept further and further towards them and once it got to a certain point Sokka jumped out to attack. Celina, Katara, and Aang also jumped out only to see a lemur standing in front of them with wide eyes.
"Lemur!" Aang shouted excited.
"Dinner…" Sokka drooled.
"Don't listen to him! You're going to be my new pet," Aang said to the animal.
"Not if I get him first," Sokka said. Both of the boys lunged towards the lemur, causing him to dart out of the temple. Aang and Sokka chased after it.
"Boys, leave the lemur alone," Celina tried to call out to them. Celina frowned before following them out making sure they didn't hurt the poor thing, it was scared enough as it is. Plus it meant getting away from the statues and their ever staring eyes.
o
Traversing through the temple was hard as Celina tried to find Sokka and Aang and try to save the lemur they were chasing. The Air Temple was a big place and it was only after a good while of walking that Celina located the grotto that they were in. She gasped when she walked in and saw that Aang was glowing like he had during their fight on the Fire Nation ship, only this time he looked angrier. Celina ran over to pull Sokka out of the way as harsh winds started to form around the airbender, sending him floating above the ground within a whirlwind. She pulled him behind some rubble and looked over him to see if he had any injuries.
"Are you hurt?" Celina asked him worried.
"No, I think you pulled me out of there just in time," Sokka answered. They looked back at the airbender. The whirlwind surrounding him was getting worse, causing more damage to their surroundings then there had been. Katara ran up to her siblings and looked out at Aang.
"What happened?" she asked them.
"He found out firebenders killed Gyatso," Sokka explained to his sisters.
"It must have triggered his Avatar spirit," Celina said referring to the blue glow.
"I'm gonna try and calm him down," Katara told them before getting out from behind the rubble and moving towards Aang.
"Well, do it before he blows us off the mountain!" Sokka called out. As Katara got closer the winds got harsher, picking up some debris and throwing it towards the young girl.
"Katara!" Celina shouted out and then ran towards her sister. She swiftly grabbed Katara and pulled her back behind the wall of rubble. The wind speeds picked up, causing the Water Tribe siblings to cling to the wall so they wouldn't be blown away.
"Aang," Katara called out to him. "I know you're upset and I know how hard it is to lose the people you love. I went through the same thing when I lost my mom. Monk Gyatso and the other airbenders may be gone, but you still have a family. Celina, Sokka, and I, we're your family now." After hearing what Katara had to say the winds slowed and Aang began to descend. As his feet touched the ground the wind died away completely. Aang was still glowing but Celina, Sokka, and Katara felt it was safe enough for them to walk up to him.
"We aren't going to let anything happen to you," Sokka said gently.
"Promise," Celina assured. The glowing faded and Aang collapsed from exhaustion. Katara caught him before he could hurt himself and lowered Aang to the floor.
"I'm sorry," Aang apologized tired.
"It's okay. It wasn't your fault," Katara assured him.
"But you were right. If the firebenders found this temple that means they found the other ones, too. I really am the last airbender," Aang mourned. The sadness in the atmosphere was overwhelming. Celina got on her knees and embraced the poor airbender in a hug. The others joined in, embracing one another for a while.
o
Celina waited outside the Air Temple Sanctuary as Aang and Katara went to go see the statue of Roku again before they left. She didn't want to feel their eyes staring at her again. As Celina waited for them to exit the Sanctuary the lemur from beforehand walked up to her curious.
"Hello there, little guy. I hope the boys didn't scare you that much," Celina smiled at the lemur and bent down. She held out her hand for the lemur to smell which he slowly did. After a good sniff, the lemur climbed up her arm and onto her shoulder, nuzzling against her face. Celina giggled at the affection she was receiving. "You sure are cute." The lemur looked inside the Sanctuary and spotted Sokka hanging around. This caused the lemur to scurry off but Celina saw it return moments later carrying fruit in its arms. Celina watched entertained as the lemur walked up to Sokka and drop the fruit at his feet. Her brother stared at the fruit before shoving it into his mouth hungrily.
"Looks like you made a new friend, Sokka," Celina said.
"Can't talk. Must eat," Sokka replied with his mouth full. Celina rolled her eyes and saw the lemur run up Aang only to perch on top of his head.
"Hey, little guy," Aang greeted. Sokka, Aang, and Katara left the Air Temple Sanctuary and the group began to head back to Appa.
Once they got there Aang looked back at the abandoned air temple. "You, me, and Appa. We're all that's left of this place. We have to stick together." Aang turned around to address Celina, Katara, and Sokka who still carried the fruit from earlier. "Guys, say hello to the newest member of our family." Celina smiled hearing Aang call them a family. She found the statement to be true as she had begun to look at Aang as a little brother a while ago.
"What are you going to name him?" Katara asked. Seeing Sokka carrying all the fruit the lemur leaped off Aang and stole the peach that Sokka was about to eat. The lemur hurried up onto Celina's shoulder as it began to munch on the stolen peach.
"How 'bout Momo?" Celina offered up.
"Sounds perfect," Aang laughed. Celina, Katara, and Aang laughed at Sokka as he went to eat the peach that was no longer in his hand. After they got the giggles out the group boarded Appa and took off. Celina caught Aang take one last sad look back at the Air Temple before clouds blocked off his view. She sent a sympathetic smile his way before looking out at the twilight fallen sky wondering where they would end up next.
Thanks for reading. Be sure to leave me a review and a crazy "So Tell Me About Yourself" answer.
"So Tell Me About Yourself" is an inside joke between me and my friends which started from my one friend's hatred for the typical getting-to-know-you question "So tell me about yourself". She, being so annoyed with the phrase, gave a silly answer that she murdered people in their sleep. When she brought it back to me and my other friend we both gave a silly answer. That is where the idea for my account name came from.
