On to chapter three! Thank you guys so much for reviewing, it means the world to me! 3 Hope you enjoy the new chapter! I'm finally putting some of the more Avatar aspects of the story into play now, and I promise it will really start picking up soon.

The next day was just as the first day was. When Sakarya told Amara about everything late at night, Amara had freaked out. She started coming up with different plans for Sakarya to get out of it early, or to at least participate the least possible in the first competition. Sakarya just said she was pretty okay with it all. It was a sport know to give lifetime injuries, but what sport didn't do that?

Amara reluctantly backed off but said Sakarya's father Tazek was going to get an earful of it from her. Sakarya sighed after reading that text. Shebhadnt talked to her father about it yet, but her father have her knowing looks when he caught her lost in her own thoughts. Her mother was acting like she was walked on thin ice whenever she came around, which was only after the first day of school. Her parents separated not long after her youngest brother, Enzei, had been born. They just didn't love each other anymore, and it was civil, so the three kids at least got to be with both of their parents year round.

Now, it was the fifth day of school, and Sakarya only had to go do everything school related once more and she had an entire weekend off. Her aching muscles had started complaining only a few days in, and now they were practically screaming. Not to mention that Amara was bringing her to the Remembrance Day Festival, something as a firebender she didn't like to participate in. It remembered the war when the Fire Nation attacked the rest of the world under Fire Lord Sozin, and all the lives lost and the soldiers that fought against the oppression. Firebenders often got attacked on the holiday due to drunk, bitter people.

Sakarya shook her mind of these thoughts as she walked into the school and headed towards her locker. As long as she stayed with Amara tonight, she'd be safe and alive.

When she got to her locker, she was surprised to see her usual neighbors werent there, but instead it was Ezuka and her eaterbending brother, who Sakarya now knew as Rokun. His long hair was no linger in a ponytail, like it had been the first day, but he still wore his stoic expression. Ezuka, however, greeted Sakarya with a smile.

"Hey Sakarya! We were going to stay late after school today and then head to the festival. Wanna join us?" The firebender asked.

Sakarya thought for a moment, before getting a notebook out and writing on it since neither of them knew sign language. Ezuka was trying to learn it, since they were teammates, but she wasn't very good at it yet. 'Sorry, I already made plans to go with someone tonight, but I'd be happy to go there with you guys and just meet my friend there.'

"Okay, sounds good! See ya later Sakarya!" Ezuka said enthusiastically, or as much as the intimidating girl could get. Her brother gave a nod to the mute and followed his sister when she headed down the hall.

At first, Sakarya had been surprised that Ezuka became so open to her, unlike her brother Eroh. Eroh still refused to really talk to the girl, except for critiquing her. Rokun didn't talk much, but when he did his low voice always had neutral things to say. Nothing rude, nothing polite. Just in the middle.

The only class worth mentioning was Mr. Ayumi's class, National History. For the entire week, other than the syllabus, they'd recapped a few of the more noteworthy Avatars. Today was the day they were finally going to start discussing the missing Avatar before getting into the textbook and following that curriculum.

"So, everyone knows about the missing avatar, yeah?" Mr. Ayumi asked the class a few minutes after the bell rang and class started. Heads nodded in answer. "And I'm sure you all know the Avatar should be about your age now. What we know of the current Avatar, if there is one and they have yet to die, is what? Can anyone tell me?" He questioned the class.

A girl raised her hand, and was called on. "They should be an earthbender." Mr. Ayumi nodded.

Another hand. "Their gender is not set, since it is random." Another nod from the teacher.

A few more hands went into the air. More answers, some wrong, most correct. The Avatar was being hunted down, but also searched for. Then it branched out from that. There were groups who wanted the Avatar to no longer exist, some who did. Where the world needed the Avatar the most, the least. Possible places the Avatar could be.

Sakarya thought this was all redundant. The likelihood that someone in this class would find the Avatar was slim at best. Sakarya personally believed the Avatar to be in hiding, nothing more. Avatar Aang had hidden for a hundred years, even if it wasn't on purpose. He had still been gone.

"Sakarya," The teacher called on her, making her eyes snap to him because she had been dozing off. "Where do you think the Avatar is?" He asked.

She signed, gone. Mr. Ayumi's eyes seemed to flash a light grey in those few milliseconds after her reply, and she had to rub her eyes to check if his green eyes really had changed. But when she looked at him again, they were back to their earthy color. She brushed it off, thinking nothing of it. But whenever her mind floated back to it, she got chills along her back.

Otherwise, the day flew by, and fortunately her terrible locker neighbor and partner in elemental studies, Emi, didn't try to kill her. During eighth period, it was more sparring but now they were two vs two. Mr. Hideaki would be with whoever didn't have a partner, so Sakarya had fought alongside him since, but against him twice. Surprisingly, Eroh wasn't bad at fighting with Sakarya. They even almost managed to win, since the teacher was slamming them down with a lot of power, and adding Ezuka in with it made it extremely hard to leave the fight unscathed.

The other benders were going through similar processes. Two vs two, mostly losing against the teacher. They were not going easy on any of them. They were already good fighters, but they had to get much better if they didn't want to get pummeled at the first competition in a month.

By the end of the after school session, Sakarya was sweating and her bones ached. When she went to the locker room, she and Ezuka just sat on the benches, panting and waiting for the world to stop spinning. They and Rokun were the only ones to stay after school, even though Eroh usually stayed after as well. The teachers really stepped it up a notch, which the three hadn't been expecting and they were hit with a lot. Sakarya knew she was going to have bruises form by the end of the night.

Pulling up the festival in Ezuka's car, Sakarya felt her heartbeat speed up. She already knew where she was supposed to meet up with Amara at, so that wasn't her biggest worry. She'd only been to one other festival when she was about nine, and she got to see a bunch of people gang up on a firebender before her dad picked her up and ran back to the car. Her brothers, one being a nonbender and the other an earthbender, often went to these with their mother. It was something she was never really interested in after that incident.

She waved goodbye to two of the triplets and started walking towards the festival. It was getting dark out now, and the bright lights gave her plenty of vision. There were games, small competitions, and even a Ferris wheel to go on. For such a depressing idea behind the holiday, people took advantage of it to have fun to honor those who couldn't during the was also common at these things, as were after-parties. So only half of it was really child friendly.

Sakarya wasted no time in getting to where she needed to be and a breath of relief left her when she saw Amara waiting for her. "Sakarya!" The loud girl greeted her friend, bringing her into a big hug. "I'm so so glad you decided to come. Come on, we have to do as much as we can before the lanterns!" She continued, Sakarya nodding in response as her friend grabbed her hand and started dragging her everywhere. It wasn't a good idea to stay out too long after the lanterns, since that's when the adults started to drink and have a good time.

Together through the next two hours, they hit the water shooting game, basketball, the rope ladder, the Ferris wheel, and the fun houses. All in all, it was a good time. Sakarya occasionally saw Ezuka and Rokun, whom Eroh had now joined. The firebender wandered if he just didn't want to be around her more than he had to be. She shrugged the thought off, just glad that the firebending boy wasn't alone today. She would wave to them as they passed each other and that was that. No time to dwell on dark thoughts when she could do that later.

Finally, the girls' end of the night was coming up. They each bought a lantern, thanking the man who created them for this night, and headed to the small lake right next to the festival. It was custom to write a name on the inside of the lantern of someone you wished luck to or wanted to apologize to. It was a nice touch to the holiday, Sakarya thought. Most people wrote down anyone they knew from the war, or perhaps the Avatar. Maybe even world leaders of that time. Otherwise little kids wrote their best friend's name, or even their family.

The two benders stood at the edge of the small body of water in silence. Not many people were speaking now, and the festival seemed to just go quiet as people wrote inside their lanterns. When Amara finished with the pen, she handed it to Sakarya. It took a moment for the firebender to think of someone. In the end, she decided to write 'To those who felt pain for those they love, may your lantern never lose its light'.

Soon, lanterns started to fill the sky as people let them go, their fire bringing each name and wish up towards the stars. Amara let hers go, and then Sakarya took her grip on her own lantern off. The sky was a mix of soft orange lanterns, the black night sky, and the bright stars. It made Sakarya happy that she had come.

Amara started to leave the edge of the lake, and Sakarya followed. The walk back home was quiet, but not an awkward one. Rather, it was contemplative, and full of emotion. Amara hugged her when Sakarya arrived to her house, and waved goodnight to her when the firebender closed the door.

Sakarya's father was in the living room, watching television and greeted her warmly, though with a bit of caution. "How'd it go?" He asked from the living room. Sakarya sat on the chair next to her dad and signed Pretty good, got to send a lantern out.

"Good, good. That's always a nice time," He said, obviously happy nothing had happened to the teen. Sakarya smiled in response. For the next bit of time the two just watched the screen until Sakarya decided she wanted to go to sleep. It had been a long day.

As she climbed into bed, she couldn't help but have a feeling of peace.

She was at the edge of a lake, although it was a different one from a festival. There was a lantern in her hands as well, but even her hands looked different. Paler, much more nimble than her own. She looked around and saw a beautiful girl standing beside her, and she was looking at her with a loving smile. Who was she? And why did Sakarya get such a great feeling of love when she saw the girl's blue eyes?

"Aang, you don't have to write in the lantern if you don't want to," The girl said, making Sakarya even more confused. Wind blew around the two of them, and she realized they were alone. The girl's dark brown hair moved with the wind, but the firebender could not feel any of her own hair do such a thing.

Sakarya sighed without her willing it so. She began to feel like this was no longer her in control, but someone else. "I know, Katara. But there are so many people I want to write down. I have hurt so many people, but at the same time I know I've helped more. I want to write down everyone's names," She said, her voice seemed more male.

Katara nodded sadly. "They know you didn't want to hurt them, Aang. You're more than making up for it, and you didn't do it on purpose unless they deserved it. All the people you've met in your life know how amazing a person you are," She said.

The body Sakarya was in, Aang, stopped speaking, staring at the lantern. A few minutes later, the graceful hand picked up the pen and began writing. What the hand wrote made Sakarya feel a sharp pang in her heart. 'To those who I've met in my life, may your lantern never lose its light.'

And then her dreams faded into black.

So what'd you guys think of my little Aang/Katara scene? I hope it was good. Leave a review if ya want!