They ate in the main room, with bowls in their laps. The food was spinach-lettuce and grape-berries.
"So how did your family escape?" Aang asked Forskka.
"We didn't have to, our family was nomadic, unlike those at the temple," Forskka answered, before throwing a grape-berry in his mouth. "My father settled down here, with my mother. They decided they would stop being nomads until airbending was safe again. I was born to them. When I was twenty-six, I met Duron, Calon, and Tane's mother."
Forskka gave out a little chuckle.
"We had triplets. Triplets! Can you believe it? Sadly though, the delivery of three children was too much for her body to bear. She passed away a few months later from the strain it had put on her body."
Forskka bit his lip.
"We live off of our garden we keep in the back. We grow everything you could think of. We grow grape-berries, spinach-lettuce, apples, bananna-oranges, and even lemon-pears."
"I thought the monks forbid fathers to teach their sons," Aang frowned.
"My family didn't live in the temples because of that rule," Foskka replied. "Love is not an earthly attachment, but a spiritual one. If I am desecrating my spirituality by doing so, I will keep loving my sons."
Aang looked to the ground.
"You never knew your father did you?" Forskka softly asked.
"Nor my mother," Aang replied.
"I'm sorry to hear that," Forskka replied.
Meanwhile, another conversation was underway between Sokka and Duron.
"Why did you save Aang before me?" Sokka asked, before throwing in a handful of grape-berries into his mouth.
"Because he was closer. Why do you care?" Duron asked, smirking.
"Because I almost died!" Sokka replied, sending chunks of food from his mouth.
Duron's smirk disappeared as a piece hit him in his left eyebrow. He wiped it off and replied, "I promise you, it wasn't because I disliked you."
Sokka grimaced, "sure it wasn't!"
Duron looked to his front, and placed his bowl on the floor. His face showed no emotion. He proceeded to get up, and walked to the wall. He began to violently bash his head into it.
While Duron tried to knock himself out, Katara, Calon, and Tane discussed Appa and Momo.
"So you got an air bison?" Tane asked, curious.
"Yeah, he's really friendly too," Katara smiled.
"Who decided to name the flying lemur Momo?" Calon asked.
"Umm... That was Aang."
"Remind me to slap him later, will you?" Calon sighed.
Forskka's yelling stopped all of the talking between them.
"Stop Duron! You'll dent the wood!" he yelled.
Aang's mind wandered that night. The thought of airbenders being alive sparked hope inside him. He couldn't stop thinking of the possibilities. Once he had beaten the fire lord, they could return to the temples, and start over. He wasn't the last airbender anymore.
He could hear Appa making noises. Wondering what was going on, he got up, and looked down ahead of Appa's head.
It was Duron, stroking Appa's forehead. Appa seemed to be enjoying it.
"You two seem to be getting along," Aang smiled.
Duron looked up at Aang.
"I'm starting to see why you didn't take my father's offer to sleep inside," Duron smirked.
"Yeah... I didn't want to leave Appa all alone out here," Aang confessed, scratching the back of his head.
"He would of had Momo," Duron pointed out.
Appa licked Duron, who was now covered in bison saliva.
"Excuse me for a moment!" Duron exclaimed, laughing at the top of his lungs.
He walked away ten feet, then used airbending to blow all the saliva from his clothes. Duron walked back to Appa and looked the bison with a funny face.
"I thought I told you to stop doing that," Duron stated.
"He seems to like you," Aang declared, laughing as well.
"He better, because I don't know of an animal that licks people into submission!" Duron replied.
Aang grimaced, "I do, actually."
"What?!" Duron exclaimed, "what was that?"
"It was a wierd mole... wolf... thing..." Aang didn't know the specific animal species, as it must have emerged in the hundred years he was trapped in the iceberg.
Aang's happiness died as he spotted a glowing light in the distance.
Firebenders.
"Duron! Look!" he yelled, pointing.
Duron spun around and grimaced.
"I'll go get the others," he stated.
Aang jumped off of Appa to join him. As he descended, he used airbending to soften the landing for his feet. He sprinted after Duron.
"We can't go with you, young Avatar," Forskka stated.
"But maybe Appa can give you a lift!" Aang offered, trying to get Forskka and his family to come.
"Aang, we're staying, hopefully they won't know we're airbenders," Tane replied.
"They're not after you! They're after us! And this is Earth Kingdom territory! They won't take too kindly to you!" Sokka pointed out.
"I know they won't take kindly to us," Forskka sighed. "But I'm not forcing my sons to take part in your running."
Everyone stopped fighting, and silence followed as Forskka left the room. He came back with a bag.
"This is filled with food for your journey," Forskka stated.
Aang slowly took the bag, when Forskka held it out for him to take.
"My sons will run into the forest if things go badly, they will go to the nearest town, and remain hidden there."
"And what are you going to do?" Katara asked.
"I will stand my ground, and give them time," Forskka answered. "You need to hurry if you are to avoid the fire nation."
Slowly, Aang and his friends left through the door. Duron watched through a window as they left on Appa.
"You know, he would of been a great help if we have to fight," Calon said.
"True, but I won't endanger both you, and the avatar," Forskka replied, getting his staff out of a wooden box. "Now, lets go outside and greet our visitors."