The Golden Wolf Warrior
By: Agent-Ayu
Chapter 4: The Southern Air Temple
Note: This chapter does a lot of quoting from the episode but also has some changes to fit with the fact Azula is with them. More chapters will be like this to fit the story.
Disclaimer: Disclaimer from Prologue still applies.
She felt a hand placed on her shoulder to wake her up. Azula being barely awake looked to see who was waking her up.
"Mom?"
"Azula, sweetie, wake up." Ursa urged her daughter.
"Mom, what's going on?"
"Sweetie, I don't have time to explain. We need to get out of here." Ursa lifted her daughter out of bed. There was smoke starting to seep into the bedroom.
"Mom."
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"Mom. Mom." Azula mumbled as she tossed and turned in her sleep. "Mom, what's happening? Mom!" Azula woke with a start.
The firebender slowly breathed in and out trying to control her breathing. It took her a while to realize that there was weight on her chest. Heat rose to her cheeks as Katara snuggled even more onto Azula.
"Out of all the days, why did one of the worst dreams I ever had to happen while she was doing this?" Azula quietly asked herself as she slowly peeled the waterbender off of her.
The sun was starting to rise as Azula walked over to the small lakeshore. She took a deep breath before producing a small fireball. Azula concentrated on her firebending as she started through the waterbending form Kanna taught her. As she stepped out to raise her arms slightly above her head and back down a small firewall was made.
Azula heard water splashed unnaturally and was being bended at the corner of her eye. The firebender smirked when Katara began following the steps Azula was doing.
Katara lost control of the water a few times before she began to lose her temper. "Oh, shoot. Argh, why can't I bend the water properly?"
"You need to bend your wrists more." Azula walked up behind Katara and placed her hands over the waterbender's. "You've been watching me firebend too much and are trying to force the water to move. Keep in mind how water moves, it flows wherever it wants. Feel the water Katara. Water is part of you just like fire is part of me, I would never be able to control it if I didn't feel the fire."
Both benders shifted their weights back and forth. Moving in a push and pull motion. At some point Katara had bended water out of the lake and bent it to the push and pull motion.
"You're a good teacher Azula." Katara commented. "I could never be as good as you. You're a prodigy."
"Just wait until we get to the North Pole and find you a master. I'm sure you'll be the best student there is. You never had a teacher. My uncle taught me a few basic lessons before I lived in the Southern Water Tribe." Azula let go of Katara's hands and backed away.
"See you got it Katara! We'll slowly work through that form Gran Gran taught me. We might also need to work at night." Azula suggested.
"That would be great! Thanks Azula!" Katara dropped the water and hugged the firebender tightly.
"Morning!" Aang shouted as he jumped off of Appa!
Azula and Katara separated to greet Aang. "Today is the day will reach the Southern Air Temple! Can we please pack quickly? I really want to see my home as soon as possible!"
The three of them began packing their campsite for their trip to the Southern Air Temple.
"Wait 'till you see it, Katara. The Air Temple is one of the most beautiful places in the world." Aang said excitedly while adjusting the reins on Appa's horns.
"Aang, I know you're excited, but it's been a hundred years you've been home." Katara told the airbender cautiously.
"That's why I'm so excited!"
"What Katara is trying to say is that a lot can change during the last hundred years." Azula explained.
"I know, but I need to see it for myself."
Katara and Azula looked at each other afraid of what Aang would do when he found out.
"Well, better wake up Sokka!" Aang hopped off of Appa. "Wake up, Sokka! Air Temple here we come!"
Sokka woke up just long enough to make groggy sounds towards Aang before rolling back over. "Sleep now… temple later…" he mumbled. The warrior rolled back over and began snoring again.
"Watch and learn Aang. The key to waking Sokka up that does not involve bending." Azula picked up a stick.
She took a deep breath before shouting, "Sokka! Wake up! There's a prickle snake in your sleeping bag!" She ran the stick up and down Sokka's sleeping bag.
The warrior's eyes shot open jumped around his sleeping bag screaming. "Aaahh! Get it off! Get it off! Aaahhh! Oof!" Sokka tripped and fell on his face.
When he looked up he saw Aang and Katara laughing at him, and Azula had a mischievous look on her face as she tossed the stick that was in her hand. He growled at the firebender.
"Great! You're awake. Let's go." Azula grabbed Sokka from his sleeping bag and easily lifted him up.
"Why do you have the need to wake me up that way?" he asked as he tossed his sleeping bag up to his sister.
"It's the only way to wake you up. Unless you want Katara to splash you with more water, I'm sure she'll happily oblige."
Sokka just grumbled and climbed on top of Appa.
"Okay, everybody ready?" Aang asked while looking back onto the saddle. Once he saw Azula take her seat in the saddle he turned back facing the horizon. "Alright Appa, yip yip!"
Appa grunted and lifted off the ground flying north.
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About a few hours later, Sokka began looking in his stuff for food. It was quiet until everyone heard Sokka's stomach growl loudly.
"Hey, stomach, be quiet, all right? I'm trying to find us some food." He said annoyingly to his stomach. He found his food bag feeling how light it was he dumped all the contents out only to have a few crumbs come out. "Hey! Who ate all my blubbered seal jearky?"
"Don't look at me. I learned quickly when we were younger not to touch your food." Azula defended as she held her hands up.
"That was food? I used it to start the campfire last night. Sorry." Aang apologized.
"You WHAT?" Sokka screamed.
"Oh, no wonder the flames smelled so good." Azula thought out loud.
"Hey, you guys look! There's the Patola Mountain Range! We're almost there!" Aang shouted excitedly.
"Aang?" Katara said uneasily. "Before we get to the temple, I want to talk to you about the airbenders."
"Katara, I know you and Azula keep telling me the Fire Nation wiped them out a hundred years ago. But I seriously think they escaped, stayed in hiding for a while, and returned when they knew they were safe from the Fire Nation. Besides they 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?"
Appa grunted in agreement as Aang rubbed his head.
"We're almost there! Appa, yip yip!"
The sky bison began to fly them higher and higher. Azula, Katara, and Sokka grabbed hold of the saddle to be prevented from being blown off from the wind. Appa flew over a rocky outcropping and treetops to reveal the amazing sighting of the Southern Air Temple.
"There it is! The Southern Air Temple."
"Whoa!" Sokka and Azula awed.
"Aang, it's amazing!" Katara complimented.
Aang smiled widely. "We're home, buddy. We're home." He said, loud enough for just Appa to hear.
Appa landed on a large landing platform that had a path leading up to the temple. Before any of the Water Tribe teens could get down, Aang jumped off of Appa's head and started running up the path.
Azula, Sokka, and Katara kept walking behind Aang as they looked around the temple. Azula observed seeing a lot of burn marks and scratches on some of the temple's stone. She didn't know why but she had a twisted feeling of sadness and pride seeing the damages on the temple.
"So where do I get something to eat?" Sokka asked while he clutched his stomach illustrating his hunger.
"You're lucky enough to be one of the first outsiders to ever visit an airbender temple and all you can think about is food?"
"Hey, I'm just a simple guy with simple needs." Sokka brushed off.
By the time the caught up to Aang, the airbender was standing at the edge of the path looking below.
"That's where my friends and I would play airball. And… over there would be where the bison would sleep… and…" Aang trailed off on his tour.
"What's wrong?" Azula asked.
"This place used to be full of monks and lemurs and bison. Now there's just a bunch of weeds. I can't believe how much things have changed." Aang looked lost as he stared out of what used to be a lively home.
The three Water Tribe teens looked at each other.
Sokka stepped forward closer to Aang. "So, uh, this airball game? How do you play?"
Aang gave a big smile.
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"OOF!"
Azula winced when Sokka hit the ground hard for the seventh time.
"Hahaha! Aang seven, Sokka zero! Alright, Azula your turn!"
The firebender climbed her way to the top of the pillars to the airball field. She got in a ready position as Aang dropped kick the airball sending it high into the air. When the ball dropped to where Aang wanted he kicked the ball with a roundhouse kick sending if soaring towards Azula faster than the previous kick. Azula's eyes were flying left to right quickly following the balls movements. She jumped and turning three hundred and sixty degrees and made contact with the ball. Her footing was off when she landed on one of the pillars and began falling to the ground.
She just barely caught hold of two of the pillars and landed in a down push-up position.
"Wow, good job Azula. You're the first non-airebender to score a goal!" Aang cheered.
"Great." Azula mumbled as she slowly climbed her way down.
"Aang, there's something you need to see." Katara called out.
"Okay!" Aang easily jumped off the airball field and went running to Katara and Sokka.
By the time Azula got down, Sokka was covered in a heap of snow that Katara had waterbender on him. Before the snow covered her she saw the Fire Nation helmet. Katara came up with a quick mediocre lie. Azula wasn't too surprised that Aang was gullible enough to fall for the lie.
"You know you can't protect him forever." Azula warned Katara as she pulled her anorak back on.
"Katara, firebenders were here. You can't pretend they weren't." Sokka argued.
"I can for Aang's sake." Katara retorted as she walked away from them.
Azula quickly grabbed her swords and ran to catch up with the waterbender. "Katara, he's in denial. I flat out told him they wiped out the Air Nomads, but he just won't accept it. He needs to get it through his head that he is the last airbender. The other airbenders did not survive."
"Hey guys!" Aang broke up Azula and Katara's argument. "I want you to meet somebody."
"Who's that?" Sokka asked.
"Monk Gyatso, the greatest airbender in the world. He taught me everything I know." Aang introduced the statue of his mentor to his friends before bowing.
After a while Katara walked up to Aang and placed a hand on his shoulder. "You must miss him."
"Yeah." He said dryly. "Um, what's wrong with Azula?"
Azula had a puzzling look on her face as she stared at Monk Gyatso's statue. She couldn't explain it but she felt some sort of bond with the statue.
"Azula?" Katara slightly shook the firebender.
"Huh? Oh, sorry." Azula shook her head a little.
"Is something wrong?" Katara asked.
"No. But this is going to sound a little strange. I know I wasn't born over a hundred years ago like Aang, yet I feel something very familiar about Monk Gyatso."
"May be you have some spiritual connection with him!" Aang assumed proudly.
The firebender just shrugged. "And where are you going?" She asked noticing Aang was walking deeper into the temple.
Aang continued climbing the steps. "The Air Temple Sanctuary. There's someone I'm ready to meet."
Azula, Sokka, and Katara followed Aang deeper into the temple until they came across a huge wooden door. The door contained three enormous woodcut air symbols arranged in a triangular pattern with horns at the bottom. There were several tubes attached to the woodcut.
"But Aang… no one could have survived in there for a hundred years." Katara objected.
"It's not impossible. I survived in the iceberg for that long."
"Good point."
"Frozen in an iceberg is different than staying in one room for a hundred years." Azula whispered to Sokka.
"… Whoever's in there might help me figure out this Avatar thing!"
Sokka suddenly rushed over to Aang. "And whoever's in there might have a medley of delicious, cured meats!" He rushed up to the door and slammed into it. The warrior strained against the door hoping for it to budge to no avail and slid down in defeat. "I don't suppose you have a key?"
"The key, Sokka, is airbending."
Aang took a deep breath as he raised both of his arms. He forcefully pushed forward with his arms and stepped forward airbending two jets of air into the horns at the bottom of the woodcut. Air ran through the tubes flipping the air symbols one by one. Once all the locks had turned over the doors opened to reveal the darkness of the Air Temple Sanctuary.
"Hello? Anyone home?" Aang called.
Everyone walked into the sanctuary to come into the presence of many statures arranged in a specific pattern. The pattern of the statures her formed in a swirling line wrapping around the room rising higher and higher.
"Statues!" That's it? Where's the meat?"
"Who are all these people?" Katara asked looking at many of the statues.
"You're joking right?" Azula asked in disbelief.
"Should I be?" Katara asked back to the firebender.
"All these statues are obviously Aang's past lives. They're past Avatars." Azula looked up seeing the spiral going higher than she originally thought. She took a deep breath and shot a fire stream up towards the ceiling making sure not to hit any of the statues.
They all hung their mouths. There didn't seem to be an end to the spiral of Avatar statues and Azula's fire was nowhere near the ceiling. "Wow! There's so many!" Aang awed.
"Agni! There are easily over fifty thousand of years worth of Avatars lives." Azula responded in amazement as she distinguished her stream of fire.
"C'mon you guys can't be serious about all these past lives right?" Sokka asked skeptically.
Azula and Aang walked up to the most recent installed Avatar statue, as Katara was busy arguing with Sokka. The Avatar they were staring at was a firebender. They stared at his eyes being hypnotized by them as if he was trying to tell them something. Azula raised her eyebrows slightly when she saw a glint of light pass the Avatar's eyes.
Katara walked up behind them and placed a hand on their shoulder. "Aang, Azula, snap out of it!"
"Huh?" They both snapped out of their daze.
"Who's that?" Katara asked.
The firebender responded first. "That's Avatar Roku."
"The Avatar before me." Aang continued off of Azula.
Both Sokka and Katara looked at the two awkwardly. "You were a firebender? No wonder I didn't trust you when we first met."
Azula glared at Sokka and smacked Sokka's stomach with the back of her fist hard enough that he doubled over.
"YOU KNOW WHAT I MEANT!" Sokka screamed as Azula rolled her eyes at him.
"There's no writing. How do you two know his name?" Katara wondered.
Aang and Azula quickly looked at each other to see if they had the answer. "I don't think even we know." Aang responded.
Sokka growled, "You two couldn't get any weirder."
Suddenly all three of them sensed a presence of another living being at the entrance. They quickly hid behind two of the statues closets to the doors. Aang and Sokka were behind one while Azula and Katara hid behind the other.
"Firebender. Nobody make a sound." Sokka whispered.
"You're making a so-mmpf!" Azula placed her hand over Katara's mouth to silence the waterbender quickly. With her other hand Azula put a finger up to her lips telling Katara to stay quiet.
Azula looked over at Sokka making sure she had his attention. The nodded at each other understanding they were on the same page. Azula held three fingers out and counted down to one. When she got to zero both Sokka and Azula jumped out from their hiding places ready to strike the Firebender. They both froze. Instead of seeing a Fire Nation soldier they saw a small creature.
Aang looked out from his hiding spot when he didn't see the two warriors attack.
"Lemur!" the airbender shouted.
"Dinner…" Sokka drooled.
"Don't listen to him! You're going to be my new pet." Aang leaped out from the statue and began running towards the lemur.
"Not if I get him first!" Sokka challenged also running towards the lemur.
The lemur screeched and ran out of the sanctuary with the two boys after it. Katara and Azula could both hear they shouting down the hall.
"Wait! Come back!" Aang called out.
Just when they thought they heard the last of them they heard Sokka shout, "I wanna eat you!"
"I hope Aang gets a hold of that lemur. It'd be a waste if Sokka ate that small fluffy animal, that animal was kind of cute."
Azula blushed when she heard Katara laugh. "The fluffiness strikes again. Careful Azula it just might be the end of you." The waterbender playfully warned.
"That will be a terrible way to die. Death by Overdose of Fluffiness." Azula responded also playfully.
Katara giggled. "All jokes aside. How did you know Avatar Roku's name?"
"I really don't know. I had the same feeling I did with Monk Gyatso's statue, but Avatar Roku the feeling is stronger. I feel a closer connection to Avatar Roku than I do with Monk Gyatso." Azula stared up into Avatar Roku's statue's eyes again.
"I can't help but feel as if Avatar Roku has something to do with my past. Instead of answers, I'm getting more questions." Azula felt Katara squeeze her hand. They stayed silent trying to feel the presence of the past Avatars.
They both jumped when they saw Avatar Roku's eyes light up followed by all the other Avatar's eyes in order from Avatar Roku in succession. Both girls stared at the eyes until they realized what was happening.
"Aang!"
The two benders ran out of the sanctuary towards the courtyard. Katara was blown back by the gust of wind. Azula caught the waterbender and helped push forward.
"Over there!" Azula pointed towards the courtyard that used to have decayed tents set up.
Both girls quickly, but carefully worked their way down to the courtyard. When they made it to the courtyard Aang was in a wind sphere that was getting stronger and stronger. Katara was knocked back only to be caught by Azula until the got behind some rubble. A windblast into their faces causing them to shield their faces.
"What happened?" Katara asked.
"He found out firebenders killed Gyatso." Sokka shouted back.
"I knew this was going to happen. He got wrapped up in his denial that when reality hit him is Avatar spirit was triggered. We need to calm him down!" Azula shouted over the wind.
"Well, do it before he blows us off the mountain!" Sokka shouted as he was thrown back into the rubble where Katara and Azula were.
Azula looked up towards Aang. She closed her eyes remembering how she felt when she lost her family, when Lu Ten was murdered in front of her.
"Aang, I know you're upset… and I know how painful and lonely it is to lose the people you love. I felt the same thing when I lost my family. When I lost my cousin." Azula grabbed hold of the rubble so she wasn't blown away.
"Monk Gyatso and the other airbender may be gone, but you still have a family." Katara shouted, continuing for Azula. "Sokka, Azula, and I, we're your family now."
As Katara finished the statement Aang began to descend to the ground again with the winds blowing lighter and lighter. When Aang's feet finally touched the ground the wind died completely. He's tattoos and eyes were still glowing when his new family walked up to him.
"We aren't going to let anything happen to you. Promise." Sokka said softly.
Katara took one of Aang's hands into her own. The glowing of his tattoos and eyes instantly faded. The Water Tribe teens' hearts dropped when they saw how grief-stricken and exhausted Aang was as he collapsed into Katara's arms.
"I'm sorry." Aang apologized tiredly.
"It's okay. It wasn't your fault."
"Azula was right. If the firebenders found this temple that means they found the other ones, too. I really am the last airbender."
The waterbender hugged him tightly as Sokka place a hand on Aang's shoulder and Azula gently squeezed his arm.
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They all walked back to the Air Sanctuary Temple so Aang could figure out a way to talk to Avatar Roku. He stood in front of the statue for about an hour until Azula placed a hand on his shoulder.
"How is Roku supposed to help me if I can't talk to him?" Aang asked.
"You'll find a way. Remember you've done this many times before." Azula looked back up at the other statues that couldn't be seen from where they were. Aang also looked up to feel his past lives.
"Okay, everything is packed." Katara announced. "Ready to go?"
The three of them turned to see the familiar flying lemur in the doorway of the sanctuary. The lemur had an arm full of fruits. He hopped over to Sokka and deposited them at his feet before dashing away from the boy.
"Looks like you made a new friend, Sokka." Aang said happily.
"Can't talk. Must eat." Sokka kept stuffing food into his mouth.
The lemur scurried up Aang and perched himself on the airbender's shoulder. "Hey little guy."
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Azula was up in the saddle grabbing the stuff Katara was handing to her. She looked over at Aang to see him talk to Appa and the lemur.
"It must be hard for them." Observed Katara. "They're the last of their kind."
"Yeah…"
"Katara, Azula, Sokka, say hello to the newest member of our family." Aang approached them with the lemur on his arm.
"What are you going to name him?" Azula asked as she jumped off of Appa.
The lemur jumped off of Aang's arm and grabbed the peach Sokka was about to bite into. Instead of returning to Aang's arm, the lemur perched himself on Azula's shoulder.
Aang smiled. "Momo. His name is Momo. Uh, Azula are you alright?"
"I'm fine. Just enjoying Momo's fluffiness."