Last of Our Kind
I don't own Avatar the Last Airbender or the following quote.
"A friend is one that knows you as you are, understands where you have been, accepts what you have become, and still, gently allows you to grow."
― William Shakespeare
They're All Crazy Except For Me, or Why I Hate Birthdays
"Hey, Nona." Sokka whispered to the girl who was still half asleep.
"Go away." Wenona grumbled.
Her siblings and the young Avatar all gathered around her sleeping bag, grinning conspiratorially. Then, with one breath, they all shouted.
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY, NONA!"
"GAHHH!" Wenona shrieked as she leapt up in shock, reflexively punching Sokka in the face.
"Ow!" Sokka declared as he rubbed his jaw.
"Sorry." Wenona apologized. "But, let that be a lesson to you all. You should never wake up someone like me in such a way. Ever. My natural reflexes kick in and I instinctively attack anyone who gets too close."
"Well, we just wanted to wish you a happy birthday." Aang stated.
"Oh yeah, great." She said sarcastically. "I'm another year older. Whoop-de-flippin'-do."
"I knew this was a bad idea." Katara whispered to the others. "Nona's never really liked birthdays."
"She doesn't have to be such a grouch about it though." Sokka replied.
"We need to do something special to make this her best birthday ever." Aang concluded.
"You do realize I can hear everything you guys are saying, right?" Wenona said.
"Come on, Nona, let us make this birthday awesome."
She sighed in defeat.
"You idiots are just gonna do it anyway, aren't you?"
The next few hours were like slow torture for the now seventeen-year-old Waterbender. Her siblings and Aang tried to throw a little makeshift party in the forest clearing where they were camped. They played some games and the others sang, which made Nona become very annoyed. Then came the birthday presents, and Nona just wanted to die at that point.
"Nona, my dear older sister, on this your Seventeenth birthday, I made you this." Sokka said as he handed his big sister a painting.
"What in the Naraka Avici is that?" She asked.
"It's a painting of you doing your Waterbending."
"Sokka, that is the stupidest thing you have ever made. And you've made some pretty stupid things."
At Sokka's crestfallen and rather hurt expression, Wenona sighed and rolled her eyes.
"Sorry." She mumbled. "I guess it's the thought that counts."
Sokka didn't look appeased.
"Stop your moping; it's my stupid birthday after all. Only I have the right to be upset."
"Uh, moving on." Katara said, trying to change the subject. "Nona, I fixed up that old dress of yours that you liked that got ruined a while back." She held up the long purple tunic, it was probably the fanciest outfit that any of them owned and that wasn't saying much, Katara had added a few new decorations to it and it looked better than it had in a long time.
"Thanks, Kit-Kat." Wenona sighed unenthusiastically.
"I made you this bracelet out of woven flowers." Keng said as he tied the gift around her wrist.
"Thanks, Squirt." She still didn't smile.
"Come on, Nona, why are you so down?"
"I think I know what's wrong." Katara stated. She turned to her brothers. "Remember what happened the last time she celebrated her birthday?"
Sokka and Keng looked like they were ready to slap themselves on the forehead.
"Am I missing something?" Aang inquired.
"It's just that, Nona's fifteenth birthday was the last day we had with our father before he and the warriors left. He managed to postpone the voyage long enough so that he could be there to celebrate. But, the next morning, he left."
Wenona had been staring sadly into the fire.
"Oh." Aang responded. "I'm sorry, Nona. If it makes you feel better, at least you still have family that's alive. Mine got wiped out about a hundred years ago."
"It's okay." She replied.
"And, I have a totally amazing present for you. I don't have it with me right now, but you'll see."
"You're up to something, aren't you, Air-head?"
"That's for me to know and you to find out tomorrow."
Wenona gave Aang a quizzical look as they all settled down for the evening. However, they weren't able to get much sleep before a certain angry Fire Nation prince showed up and ambushed them accompanied by his soldiers.
"Aw, for the love of Setna." Wenona muttered angrily as she and the others leapt into action. She immediately charged at Zuko in order to keep him from getting to Aang. "Okay, this is officially the worst birthday ever." She muttered as she dodged a flame. "You do realize I hate you and will have to kill you now, right?!"
"Quiet, you peasant!" Zuko shouted.
"Your people are the reason I hate today!" She ducked another blast. "You're the ones who made my father leave!"
Zuko froze for a moment at the word 'father', but quickly resumed his attack. They continued a one-on-one attack until Zuko backhanded her. As she fell, she had another flashback.
She and the Fire Nation girl from her other visions were sitting side-by-side.
"I lost my father today." The Fire Nation girl said sadly.
"I am sorry." Wenona replied. "My father has been gone for many years now. He taught me everything I know."
"Promise me that we'll always be there for each other."
"I'm not going anywhere, Akari. I'm not that easy to get rid of."
The two chuckled.
"Friends forever?" Akari inquired.
"And longer still."
"Hey, you two!" A friendly voice called out behind them. "We have a schedule to keep! So get your backsides in gear!"
She turned her head and, as she began to fade back to reality, she saw a girl in green robes with black hair. The figure wasn't very clear, but she felt that same familiarity with her that she did with the Firebender.
"Nona? Nona? Are you alright?"
Wenona shook herself awake and saw that her little sister was leaning over her looking concerned.
"Hey, Kit-Kat, what happened?"
"Zuko knocked you out. After that, he went after Aang. The rest of us got you while Aang distracted Zuko and his soldiers. Don't worry, we're safe now."
"Katara, there's just one thing I have to say about this."
"Yeah?"
"If anyone so much as mentions the word 'birthday' again, I may have to get violent."
Katara gave a sigh, but was happy that her sister wasn't too out of it.
"You know something, Kit-Kat? I'm pretty certain that everyone's crazy except for me."
"The Earth Kingdom city of Omashu! I used to always come here to visit me friend Bumi." Aang declared proudly. "Happy birthday, Nona."
"What did I say about mentioning birthdays?" She sighed in annoyance.
"Come on, cheer up. I thought this would be the best place to go to celebrate."
"Wow." Katara gasped. "We don't have cities like this in the South Pole."
"They have buildings here that don't melt." Sokka stated.
"So did Kyoshi." Wenona pointed out.
"Or burn."
"Okay, I'll grant you that."
"Well, let's go, slow pokes." Aang stated. "The real fun is inside the city."
"Wait, Aang." Katara stopped him. "It could be dangerous if people find out you're the Avatar."
"You need a disguise." Sokka added.
"So, what am I supposed to do?" Aang inquired. "Grow a moustache?"
That was, in fact, more or less the plan. The four siblings all collected some of Appa's loose fur and made it into a fake moustache and wig that they made Aang wear, much to the Airbender's discomfort. Soon, they were on their way to the city gates.
"You guys are gonna love Omashu." Aang stated as they drew nearer. "The people here are the friendliest in the world."
"Rotten cabbages?!" They heard a voice shout and saw a guard yelling at a cabbage merchant. "What kinda slum do you think this is?!" The guard then Earthbended the merchant's cart of the bridge and into the chasm below.
"Oh, my cabbages!" The merchant exclaimed.
"Yeah, they seem real nice." Wenona said sarcastically.
"Just keep smiling." Aang whispered nervously.
Aang managed to get them inside, Wenona wanted to laugh at the sheer ridiculousness of how he did it though. Aang certainly knew how to oversell an act. But, they got inside, and that's all that matters.
"This is the Omashu delivery system." Aang explained. "Miles and miles of tubes and chutes. Earthbending brings the packages up, and gravity brings them down."
"Great, so they get their mail on time." Sokka responded.
"They do get their mail on time, but my friend Bumi found a better use for these chutes."
Wenona did not like the devious look on Aang's face.
"You see what your little schemes cause?" Wenona snapped at Aang as the guards led them towards the royal palace. "Now I really hate today."
"I'm sorry, Nona." Aang replied. "At least that ride was fun, right?"
Wenona sighed. Keng had been the only one of the four siblings to actually have fun on their mail-chute ride; the other three had all been terrified. The guards took them into a room that was illuminated in weird green light, at the far end of the room there was an old man in fancy robes sitting on a throne. The man gave Aang a curious look.
"Your Majesty," one guard said, "these juveniles were arrested for vandalism, traveling under false pretenses, and malicious destruction of cabbages."
"Off with their heads!" Shouted the cabbage merchant from earlier. "One for each head of cabbage."
"Silence! Only the king can pass down judgment. What is your judgment, sire?"
The old king thought for a moment while the five kids all gave hopeful looks, except for Aang who just whistled nonchalantly.
"Throw them…a feast." The king said, causing everyone to gasp in confusion.
It soon became clear that the king might not have been in his right mind. But who were they to complain when they seemed to have been acquitted from the charges against them, and got a big fancy meal to boot.
"Hey," Wenona whispered to the others, "maybe this birthday isn't so awful after all."
"It's not your birthday anymore, Nona." Sokka whispered.
"I was born at around midnight last night, so today still counts."
Wenona began to eat ravenously at the little feast the king had ordered, while her siblings and Aang just looked a bit out of place. The king stood up from his seat and walked over to them.
"The people in my city have gotten fat from too many feasts, so I hope you like your chicken with no skin." He said as he held up a drumstick.
"Thanks, but I don't eat meat." Aang replied.
"How 'bout you?" The king said to Sokka. "I bet you like meat." He shoved the drumstick into Sokka's mouth and then returned to his seat.
"Is it just me, or is this guy's crown a little crooked?" Katara whispered to the others.
"Who cares?" Wenona replied quietly. "Free food."
"So tell me, young bald one, where are you from?" The king asked.
"I'm from…Kangaroo Island." Aang replied.
"Ahh, Kangaroo Island, huh? I hear that place is really hopping."
There was an awkward silence for a moment before Sokka and Wenona started chuckling, causing the others to look at them curiously.
"What?" Sokka asked.
"It was pretty funny." Wenona added.
The king then gave a yawn.
"Well, all these good jokes are making me tired, guess it's time to hit-the-hay." He said. Then, without warning, he threw another chicken drumstick at Aang, who caught it with a ball of air. "There's an Airbender in our presence, and not just any Airbender. The Avatar."
"I knew this place was going to be trouble." Wenona complained after they were shown to the newly-refurbished-chamber-that-was-once-bad.
"Maybe this is all some big test or something." Keng suggested. "I mean, we're in the Earth Kingdom. Why would they do anything to harm the Avatar?"
"I wonder what these challenges are gonna be." Aang thought aloud, remembering that the king told him he would have to face some deadly challenges.
"We're not sticking around to find out." Katara stated. "There's gotta be some way out of here."
"The air vents!"
Everyone gave Aang weird looks.
"If you think we're gonna fit through there, you're crazier than that king." Sokka said.
"We can't. But Momo can."
Aang then proceeded to try and shove the lemur through one of the air vents, with little to no success.
"How is Appa gonna help us anyway?" Wenona inquired.
"Appa is a ten ton flying-bison. I think he could figure something out."
Katara told them not to argue about it now and instructed them to get some sleep. Katara and Wenona had to share one of the three beds and Keng slept next to Sokka. As they all drifted off, Wenona had just one thing on her mind.
"I hate birthdays."
Wenona was shaken from her sleep by one of the guards. She was about to yell and wake up Aang but a hand was slammed over her mouth. The guards led the four siblings away. They stood waiting by an earthen wall for about an hour before the wall finally lowered and they saw Aang and the crazy king. When Aang once again refused to participate in the challenges, the guards slipped weird rings onto the siblings' fingers. Instantly, the rings, called Jennamite, began to grow. Seeing his friends in danger, Aang agreed to participate in the challenges.
Aang faced three challenges, and once they were completed the king asked Aang one question. Aang had to figure out the king's name.
"Think about the challenges, maybe it's some kind of riddle." Katara suggested.
"No, really, what was your first clue?" Wenona muttered sarcastically.
"I got it!" Sokka exclaimed.
"Yeah?" Aang inquired.
"He's an Earthbender, right? Rocky." There was a silent pause. "You know, because of all the rocks."
"Okay, Sokka, that was probably your weakest joke ever." Wenona snarked.
"Okay, so back to the challenges." Aang said. "I got a key from a waterfall, I saved his pet, and I had a duel."
"And what did you learn?" Katara inquired.
"Well, everything was different than I expected."
"And…?" Wenona asked, cringing as the crystals grew a little more.
"Well…they weren't straightforward. To solve each test I had to think differently than I usually would." A look of epiphany crossed his face. "I know his name."
Five more minutes found them back in the throne room.
"I solved the question the same way I solved the challenges. As you said a long time ago, I had to open my brain to the possibilities. Bumi, you're a mad genius." Aang declared as he ran over to hug his old friend.
"Oh, Aang, it's so good to see you. You haven't changed a bit. Literally." Bumi stated.
"Uh, over here!" Katara yelled frantically.
"A little help please!" Wenona added.
Bumi Earthbended the Jennamite off of the four. Keng gave everyone a smug smile.
"See, I told you guys it was all just a test." He said. "I knew we weren't in any real danger."
"You call getting encased in a quick-growing crystal that would have suffocated us if it had had another minute to expand 'not dangerous'?" Wenona asked.
"Well, we're alive, aren't we?"
"So, this crazy king is your old friend Bumi?" Katara asked Aang.
"Who you calling 'old'?" Bumi retorted. There was another awkward pause. "Okay, I'm old."
"Why did you do all this instead of just telling Aang who you were?" Sokka asked.
"First of all, it's pretty fun messing with people."
"He does have a point." Wenona stated.
"But, I do have a reason." He turned to Aang. "Aang, you have a difficult task ahead. The world has changed in the hundred years you've been gone. It's the duty of the Avatar to restore balance to the world by defeating Fire Lord Ozai. You have much to learn. You must master the four elements and confront the Fire Lord. And when you do, I hope you will think like a mad genius." Aang smiled and bowed to his old friend. "And it looks like you're in good hands. You'll need your friends to help you defeat the Fire Nation." Suddenly, Momo flew onto Aang's shoulder. "And, you'll need Momo too."
"Thank you for your wisdom." Aang said. "But, before we leave, I have a challenge for you."
And so, Aang and King Bumi caused a great deal of destruction on their mail-chute ride. When they got back, Bumi threw them a farewell feast. At Aang's request, there was a little surprise.
Wenona didn't know what to do when a giant cake with green icing that spelled out the words 'Happy Un-Birthday, Nona' was rolled out into the party.
"Well that's…different." She said. Suddenly, a smile broke across her face. "Who came up with the 'un-birthday' thing?" Aang gave a sheepish smile."Thanks, Air-head." She gave him a mock-punch on the arm. "This has certainly been a memorable experience."
And so, once again, Disney crept into my writing. (Okay, I know the 'un-birthday' is from Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll and Disney doesn't own it, but you all know what I mean.) Anyway, I should be working on my King Lear presentation, but I'm doing this instead. You know, I kinda feel like Wenona on my birthday. I get kinda depressed. It's been even worse at Christmas when I get sad and…wait, why am I sharing this? Anyway, when Wenona says "Naraka Avici" it is a reference to Hell in Hinduism and Buddhism; Naraka is a multi-leveled Hell, and Avici is the lowest level of Naraka. I chose those names because I thought the Spirit World must have a Hell of sorts, so why couldn't this be its name. Oh, and Wenona's reflex thing at the beginning is something my dad had after he left the military; my aunt Susan tried to wake him up from a deep sleep and he naturally reacted by grabbing her in a headlock. I'm not even kidding, and she's hated him ever since even though it was her own fault. Well, see ya soon.