Book One: Fire
Chapter 3: The Western Air Temple
By: Storychan
A/N: Special thanks to all my awesome followers, favoriters, and reviewers! I'm amazed how popular this fic has gotten - I hope you enjoy this new installment!
"Wait 'til you see the Western Air Temple, Azula!" Aang chattered happily as he packed up the blankets the trio had slept on the night before. "From the outside, it looks like it's hanging upside down on the edge of a cliff – it's really cool!"
"I thought you were born in the Southern Air Temple," Azula replied with a raised eyebrow.
"I was," Aang confirmed, "but that temple is soooo far away from the Fire Nation, and I want to get you to the capital as quickly as possible! Plus – this is a little known fact – the Elders moved me to the Western Air Temple a hundred years ago to hide with the nuns, 'cuz they said it was safer there. So, that's technically the Temple I've been to most recently! It'll be really nice to see it again!"
It made sense, Azula considered, that Aang's guardians had moved him then. They probably saw that war was brewing, and knew that keeping the Avatar in a temple so close to the South Pole was unwise. This relocation would explain a lot – like how Aang had wound up on Mount Ryu, so far from his birthplace. Stilll…..
"It might not be the same as you remembered," Azula warned.
"Well, I guess I'll find out for myself," Aang responded optimistically before stepping over to the corner where Zuko still lay wrapped in his Fire Nation flag blanket. "Come on, Zuko, wake up!" Aang laughed. "I can't put away the last blanket until you get out of it!"
"How can any person be so energetic so early in the morning?" Zuko grumbled. "It's unnatural."
"Come on, Zuzu," Azula teased from her perch on Appa. "I thought Firebenders were supposed to rise with the sun!"
"The sun gives me strength," Zuko conceded, "but some of the caffeine in Uncle's tea would give me far more."
Azula rolled her eyes. "We don't have any tea," she smirked, "but I think that lighting your silly blanket on fire would get you up just as fast." She winked at Aang, who immediately decided to go along with it.
"Oh, no, Zuko, she's seriously going to do it!" Aang lied. "I can totally see her summoning some flames right now! You better get up quick if you don't want to get burned!"
"What? Are you crazy?!" Zuko lept up, dropping the blanket to the ground and getting ready to run for cover. Then, he heard Azula and Aang laughing hysterically.
"No, you're crazy, Zuko, if you think I'd actually set my big brother on fire," Azula laughed. "You're so gullible!"
Zuko looked highly unamused.
"Hey, it got you up," Aang shrugged. "Now, we can go!"
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Prince Sokka looked up at the carvings of Tui and La that his men had carved into the bow of their new ship. "I hope the spirits will bring us better luck than last time," he sighed. "We're lucky that the Water Tribe has such fast shipbuilders."
"Indeed," Bato nodded. "Soon, we'll be able to resume our search for the Avatar."
"Sssh!" Sokka hissed. "Ix-nay on the vatar-Ay! Do you want the word to get out, and everybody in the Water Tribe to be looking for…"
"Looking for what?" boomed a familiar voice, and a balding man with long, white whiskers in a regal blue parka stepped towards them.
"Captain Pakku," Sokka recognized.
"It's Commander Pakku now," the old man corrected, before bowing to Bato. "General Bato," he greeted.
"Bato is fine," the younger man smiled.
Pakku nodded. "As you wish," he said politely, "you and the Water Lord's son are always welcome here. What brings you to our colony?"
"This area is known for its fine wood," Bato explained. "We need it for our new ship."
"What happened to your old ship?" Pakku asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Something unbelievable occurred," Sokka replied. "Bato! Tell the commander what occurred!"
"Uh….right," Bato struggled to come up with a lie. "We….crashed….or something."
"Yeah, yeah!" Sokka picked up the falsehood immediately. "We, uh, crashed right into an Earth Kingdom ship!"
"Really?" Pakku gasped. "Well, then, you'll have to tell me all the details so I can file an official report. I'm sure your father will want to hear about the new enemy vessels in the area," he smirked. "Join me for a smoke of ceremonial pipe?"
"We're busy," Sokka declined.
"Prince Sokka," Bato scolded. "It is against the way of the tribe to refuse to participate in the pipe ritual with an elder."
"We would be happy to join you," Bato smiled at Pakku. "I hope the leaves of the sea plum are included in the smoking herbs. It makes the lodge smell just like stewed sea prunes – my favorite."
Sokka scowled, and resisted the urge to hurl his boomerang at Pakku's shiny head.
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Zuko was still scowling as he, Aang, and Azula soared through the air on Appa.
"What is the matter?" Azula asked her brother. "Are you still tired?"
"No," Zuko shook his head. "I couldn't find the hair tie for my topknot when I got dressed this morning."
"Oh, that scrap of rag was for your hair?" Aang blinked. "I used it to start the campfire last night."
"You what?" Zuko glared. "A proper topknot is a symbol of Fire Nation royalty! If I can't put my hair up right, I' m not honoring my ancestors!"
"But you said the other day that we are not like our ancestors," Azula shrugged. "We are no longer royalty. We're just like any other member of the Fire Nation. So, why is wearing the hairstyle of the deposed royal family so important to you?"
"It's a symbol of my honor!" Zuko huffed. "Hmph….no wonder the flames looked so majestic last night…."
"Hey!" Aang called, looking at the cliffs that rose in the distance. "It's the Northern Fire Nation mountain range! We're almost to the Temple!"
"Aang…." Azula said seriously. "When we arrive at the Air Temple, I need you to be prepared for what you might see. The Water Tribe is merciless. They forced my mother to flee, to abandon her family in order to spare herself a painful death. Your people…may not be there anymore."
"Even if they had to leave the Temple," Aang insisted, "that doesn't mean they died. If I don't find them at the Western Air Temple, I'll look somewhere else."
"You don't understand," Azula protested.
"No, you don't understand," Aang argued. "The Western Air Temple is built to look it sprouted out of the ceiling, like gravity would make it unapproachable. That optical illusion has kept it safe for centuries. Why should the one century I was gone for be any different?"
Azula held on tight as he decelerated rapidly into the valley beneath, revealing a series of inverted towers like stalactites jutting from the underside of a cliff. The stone structure, which seemed to defy the laws of physics, was huge.
"It's beautiful," Azula gasped.
"It was my home," Aang smiled, "for the last year before I fell into that volcano."
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"Soon, we will capture Ba Sing Se," Pakku announced, taking a long drag on the ceremonial pipe before exhaling and passing it reluctantly to Sokka. "Then, the rest of the world will fall like dominoes into Water Tribe hands."
"If my dad thinks the whole world is just going to flop into his hands like a fish," Sokka snapped, tearing the pipe roughly from Pakku's grip, "he's been smoking something far more full of crazy than ceremonial pipe."
"Two years has done little to improve your sarcastic tone, I see," Pakku tutted. "So, how goes your search for the Avatar?"
Bato dropped the pipe in shock when Sokka passed it to him. "My bad," he muttered, stooping to pick it up off the lodge floor.
"We haven't found him yet," Sokka told Pakku.
"I can't say I'm surprised," Pakku shrugged. "Even a fool would realize that he must have died by now, along with all the other Airbenders. Unless you have evidence to the contrary?"
"Nope," Sokka lied. "Diddlysquat. Sorry."
"The Avatar is the only threat left to Water Tribe rule," Pakku reminded. "If you still count yourself as a loyal warrior of the Water Tribe, you would tell me any evidence you had of the Avatar's survival, right?"
"Well, there ain't no evidence to tell you about," Sokka shrugged. "Like you said, the Avatar probably died a bazillion years ago."
So informal, Pakku thought, scandalized. The young prince continues to show such rebellion.
"Whatever," Sokka shrugged, standing. "Come on, Bato, let's go."
Two braves in war paint pointed boomerangs at the prince's chest when he tried to leave the lodge.
"Commander!" a third brave announced, coughing from the thick smoke in the air as he entered the room. "We interrogated the crew, as you requested. They confirmed that Prince Sokka had the Avatar in custody, but allowed him to escape."
Sokka scowled deeply.
"Do tell me again, Your Highness," Pakku smirked, "how you lost your ship."
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Aang, Azula, and Zuko walked down the steps that made entering the seemingly unbreachable Western Air Temple possible. Aang bowed reverently to a statue of Avatar Yangchen (who had been born at this Temple centuries ago) as he passed it, but Zuko continued to scowl.
"We're some of the first outsiders to ever be graced with the privilege of entering an Airbender temple," Azula sighed, "and you're still pouting about how you couldn't do your hair the traditional way?"
"Tradition is a part of a Firebender's honor," Zuko insisted, "and honor is very important to me."
"Hey!" Aang called. "Look, this is where my sister Airbenders taught me to do sky bison races! And inside there's a giant Pai Sho table! And an all-day echo chamber! And…."
Azula noticed Aang pause and frown. "What is it?" she asked.
"This place used to be crawling with Airbender nuns," Aang explained. "I had never seen so many girls before. Well, technically I hadn't seen any girls before, because the Southern Temple is monks-only, just like this place was nuns-only, at least until I showed up. The point is, now there's…nobody. It's so quiet. It doesn't feel right." He stared into the distance contemplatively, unable to believe how much things had changed.
"So," Zuko said, trying to change the subject – and make up for how his babble about the importance of tradition must have stung to Aang, whose entire culture's traditions had been wiped out-, "how do bison races work?"
"Well, I can't really show you," Aang frowned, "because to have a race, you have to have two bison."
"Oh."
"But," Aang said, brightening, "I can show you how to play Giant Pai Sho!"
"Ok," Zuko agreed, the ghost of a smile on his face. "Uncle and I used to play Pai Sho all the time, so I'd love to see how the giant version is different."
The giant version wound up being far more physically taxing. Zuko had to push bison-sized tiles across the board, which was the size of a ball court. Aang explained that traditionally, the tiles were blown across the board using Airbending- which meant he, of course, had no problem playing a few rounds without getting tired.
"Making him feel better is making me feel exhausted," Zuko sighed as he pushed the tiles back into their enormous storage container. At the edge of the container, his golden eyes alighted on something hidden under a bit of rubble, and he gasped. "Azula!" he hissed, showing her discreetly.
It was a navy-colored scrap of parka – the kind that was regulation for the Water Tribe Armada.
"Aang!" Azula called. "I have something you must see."
"Ok," Aang smiled brightly, skipping across the giant game board. Azula felt a twinge somewhere in her chest when she saw the bright innocence in his eyes. He was just starting to feel happier again.
Impulsively, she snatched the blue uniform scrap from Zuko and burned it to ash with her Firebending before Aang could see. Zuko shot her a disapproving look.
"What did you want to show me?" Aang asked, reaching the other end of the board where they stood.
"Just how big of a fire I can make," Azula lied. "I really think I'm a natural, don't you?"
"Yeah, your bending skills are awesome," Aang agreed, "but come on, we have a lot of temple to see."
"R-right," Azula said shakily.
As Aang wandered off, Azula turned back to Zuko and whispered, "Don't you dare tell him."
"Azula, you can't always lie," Zuko chided. "He'll find out the truth eventually."
"Shut up," Azula snapped. "I'm a good liar. I can stop him from finding out."
"The Water Tribe was here," Zuko shook his head. "Hiding it won't make that go away."
"If Aang finds out the Water Tribe invaded the Temple he ran to for safety," Azula argued, "the truth could kill him. Imagine how guilty he'll feel when he finds out that the Water Tribe only came here because he was here, instead of at home."
"Hey!" Aang cried, interrupting the Firebenders' argument. "I want to show you guys my old quarters! The nuns had to build a separate room just for me and my mentor, Monk Gyatso. He came here with me when I left the Southern Air Temple and went into hiding. He was super great – he taught me everything I know."
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A memory surfaced in Aang's mind.
"Aang, Mother Superior has taught me a great and ancient secret!" Gyatso smiled. "The secret to her famous cake recipe!"
"Great," Aang said, but his monotone voice made it obvious that he didn't mean it.
"Is something heavier than cake on your mind?" Gyatso asked.
"I guess I'm just homesick," Aang sighed. "I mean, the nuns are nice, but I miss the monks. I miss the Southern Air Temple. Did we really have to leave? Could this whole Avatar thing have been just a mistake?"
"The only mistake," Gyatso frowned, "was telling you the truth at such a young age. Most Avatars are not informed of their destiny until the age of sixteen."
"If I didn't know," Aang disagreed, "Then I wouldn't understand why we had to move. Well, actually I still don't totally understand. The abbot said we had to come here to keep me safe. But, who would want to hurt me, Gyatso? What's going on?"
"Don't you worry about that," Gyatso shook his head. "You are a child. You deserve to focus on having fun. You will be told all you need to know when the time comes."
"But what if when the time does come," Aang protested, "I'm not ready?"
"You will be," Gyatso assured him. "When you are old enough, you will learn everything you need to know in the Air Temple Sanctuary. Ideally, we would do this at the Southern Temple, but worry not. This temple has a sanctuary, too. Inside, you will meet someone who will help you on your journey."
"Who is it?" Aang asked eagerly.
"When you are ready," Gyatso promised, "he will reveal himself to you."
"He?" Aang blinked. "I thought we were the only monks at this temple."
"You'll see when it's time," Gyatso laughed. "Now, are you going to help me with these cakes, or not?"
"Alright," Aang smiled.
Together, they Airbended the cakes on to the veiled head of the stuck-up Mother Superior, who was meditating beneath the balcony where they stood. "Ugh…men!" they heard her shout disapprovingly. "I should have never let them in to this convent!" They laughed uproariously, ignoring her.
"Your aim has improved, my young pupil," Gyatso chuckled merrily, his smile as big as the sun above.
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"You must miss him," Azula said sympathetically.
"I do," Aang agreed, before turning suddenly and heading down a corridor, deeper into the bowels of the Temple.
"Where are you going?" Azula asked.
"The Sanctuary," Aang decided. "There's someone I'm ready to meet."
Azula glanced back at Zuko, who simply shrugged, and the Firebender siblings followed the Avatar down the Temple's winding stone halls.
"But, Aang," Azula warned, as they filed into a chamber which an ornately carved door at its end, "No person could have survived in there for a hundred years."
"It's possible," Aang contended. "I mean, I survived in a ball of volcanic rock for a hundred years."
"True," Azula admitted, but her skepticism was still evident in her golden eyes.
"Maybe whoever's in there can help me figure out this whole Avatar thing," Aang said optimistically.
"And maybe they have some cloth I could use to tie up my topknot with and restore honor to my hair," Zuko added eagerly.
"You're a little obsessed with this honor thing, aren't you?" Aang said, raising an eyebrow.
"Shut up," Zuko flushed, before attempting to open the door. It refused to unlock for him. "Do you have a key?" he asked.
"The key, Zuko," Aang smiled, "is Airbending." He bended air into two funnels on either side of the door, which blew open the locks with a whistling tune. The door swung open.
"Hello?" Aang called into the darkness before stepping into the Sanctuary.
Azula and Zuko followed him cautiously into the unknown.
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"So," Pakku sneered, "a 12-year-old boy bested you and every Waterbender and warrior under your command?"
"Look, I underestimated him once, okay?" Sokka protested. "It won't happen again."
"I won't give you another chance for it to happen again," Pakku snapped. "Capturing the Avatar is a duty that should never have been given to a non-bender in the first place."
"The Water Lord himself is a non-bender!" Sokka argued.
"And he has proven himself," Pakku countered. "You have not. I say this Southern dynasty is growing weak. Perhaps a Northerner should rule next."
"You know as well as I do," Sokka growled, "that prior to the start of the Hundred Year War, my ancestor, the last Chief of the Southern Water Tribe, conquered his sister tribe to the North and created the Unified Water Tribe. He took the title Lord to show how his power was greater than the former Chiefs of the South and North. He claimed undisputed rule of both poles for himself and his descendants. To dispute the sovereignty of his great dynasty, I'll remind you, is treason."
"And is it treason, too," Pakku asked, glaring, "to point out that, regardless of bending status, you are still a mere child, without the wisdom necessary to complete such an important mission?"
"Well, you're just a grumpy old man, without the common sense necessary to realize talking like that is going to get you a boomerang to the FREAKING HEAD!" Sokka cried, lashing out with his weapon exactly as he had said, but two braves held him back, denying him the chance to strike.
"Keep him here," Pakku ordered, exiting the lodge.
Sokka glared at Pakku's men , filled with rage.
"You could at least," Bato sighed, "bring us a new pipe."
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In the Sanctuary, Aang found a thousand eerie statues hewn from stone.
"That's it?" Zuko grumbled. "Nothing here can help me honor my ancestors."
"Nobody cares about your honor, Zuko," Azula snapped before turning her attention to Aang. "Who are these people depicted in the statues?"
"I'm not sure," Aang confessed. "But, I feel like I know them somehow."
Azula noticed a pattern in the statues' placement. "They start with an Airbender statue, and then go Water, then Earth, then Fire," she noticed. "Except for these last four on the end – they break the pattern and go Air, Fire, Earth, Water."
"Like the Avatar Cycle," Aang realized. "Gyatso told me that for reasons nobody really understands, a miracle occurred after the death of Avatar Yangchen and the cycle changed. Instead of a Waterbender being born next, it was a Firebender, like you, Azula! And then an Earthbender, and a Waterbender."
"These statues," Azula realized, "must be Avatars. They are your past lives, Aang."
"Wow," Aang gasped in wonder. "There's so many of them…."
"Wait," Zuko realized. "If the Cycle really changed, then doesn't that mean that the Avatar directly before Aang was a Waterbender?"
Aang stared at the statue at the end of the row. It depicted a bearded man in the traditional garb of the Northern Water Tribe, with the skin of a polar bear (surely the spoil of a hunt) on his head. As he stared into the statue's eyes, he seemed to go into a trance.
"Aang!" Azula called, and the Airbender snapped out of it immediately. "Who is he?" she asked, looking at the statue warily.
"Avatar Kuruk," Aang recognized. "Zuko's right – he was the Avatar before me."
"No wonder I didn't trust you when we first met," Zuko scowled. For a moment, Azula, too, suddenly felt suspicious. Waterbenders were evil. She had thought for so long that every last one of them should be burned out of this world, lest they destroy it completely. How could innocent little Aang have been one of them? No, she shook her head. Whoever his past life was, Aang is completely different.
"There's no label on the statue," Azula noticed once her unsettling feelings had past, raising an eyebrow. "How did you know his name, Aang?" Had his teachers glorified a member of that loathsome Tribe? How much did she know, really, about this strange boy's beliefs?
"I don't know how I know," Aang admitted. "I just….do."
"Strange," Zuko said, arms crossed. Then, he heard a noise, and shoved Azula and Aang behind a pair of statues before hiding himself. From his vantage point, he could see a shadow looming closer and closer to them.
"A Waterbender?" he guessed, igniting a ball of fire in his palm. "Stay hidden," he warned.
"I don't want to stay hidden!" Azula whispered back. "If a Waterbender is here, I want to fight him!"
The shadow grew even closer and Aang felt his heart pounding – he didn't want either of the Fire Nation siblings to be forced to defend him. Taking a deep breath, his hands shaking, he peered over the top of one of the statues and saw…..
…..A flying lemur, with a scrap of cloth – who knows where he had come by that? – stuck on one of his ears.
"LEMUR!" Aang cried delightedly.
"Cloth!" Zuko cried with more subdued glee.
"I wanna catch it!" Aang suggested.
"I just want to get the cloth off of it and put it in my hair," Zuko disagreed.
Both leapt at the beast, which scurried away hastily. The two boys gave chase.
"If I can catch a fire ferret," Aang laughed, "I can catch one of these!"
"Not if I catch it first!" Zuko said competitively.
The lemur soared out of the temple halls into the courtyard, then down the side of the cliff. Aang got on his glider and soared after it. As the lemur flew, the bit of cloth fell off its ear into the abyss.
"Now I'll never be able to fix my hair the traditional way," Zuko sighed from the plateau where the temple stood.
"That's alright, brother," Azula laughed, catching up to him. "I think your hair looks better down anyway."
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Pakku strode back into the lodge where he'd imprisoned Sokka and Bato. "I will be resuming the search for the Avatar," he announced. "Once I have left on my ship and begun the mission, my braves will let you go."
"What's the matter, old man?" Sokka smirked. "Afraid I'm going to catch the Avatar before you?"
"Impossible," Pakku dismissed.
"You don't know who you're dealing with, Gramp-Gramp," Sokka challenged.
"Gramp-Gramp?" Pakku repeated. "How dare you! You are just a banished prince, with no home, not even the blessing of Bending! I have studied the art of Waterbending for longer than you have been alive! My skills are at least double that of a warrior like you, who can only shake a stick! I am infinitely more qualified to capture the Avatar than a whippersnapper such as yourself! Even your father knows it to be true – your standing in the tribe shall never equal my own!"
"You're wrong!" Sokka snapped. "When I capture the Avatar, my dad will welcome me back into the tribe, with all the standing his heir deserves!"
"You will never be his heir," Pakku mocked. "If your father really intended to trust you with the leadership of the tribe, he would have let you come home by now – Avatar or no Avatar. But he sees that you are weak, and that the tribe needs a real man to be his successor. Someone more like me."
"I am a real man!" Sokka argued.
"You are a boy," Pakku snorted derisively. "You can wear war paint like a man of the tribe, but underneath it will always be the scars that prove you are a coward."
"Keep it up," Sokka seethed, "and I won't be the only one with scars!"
"Is that a challenge?" Pakku asked.
"A Varuna Kai," Sokka said officially. "At moonrise."
"My power will only grow when the moon rises," Pakku reminded. "Varuna Kai are typically between two Waterbenders, or two braves armed with cermemonial daggers made of whale bone. A Varuna Kai between a Waterbender and a non-bender is unheard of."
"You're the one who said that being a Bender makes you better than me," Sokka recalled. "So why are you too scared to accept my challenge? Who's the coward now?"
"I am no coward," Pakku replied. "And therefore, I will accept your challenge. But, I warn you I will not go easy on you just because you can't Bend back."
"Good," Sokka said, his eyes narrowed. "I won't go easy on you either, just because you're an old fart."
"Such cheek!" Pakku scolded. "You'll learn to stop being so sarcastic to your elders once I destroy you in the ring. I wish your father could see me show you how weak you truly are – but I suppose your mentor will do." He stormed out of the lodge, certain of his victory.
"Prince Sokka," Bato breathed. "Have you forgotten what happened last time you challenged a tribal elder?"
"I will never forget," Sokka whispered, the pain of memory in his eyes.
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Back at the Western Air Temple, the lemur still evaded Aang's grasp. He'd chased it halfway down the cliff side by now, and gotten off the glider, resorting to climbing in order to continue his pursuit.
"Come back, buddy," he laughed, scaling a rock face, "I won't hurt you – let's be friends!"
The lemur dashed into a hidden cave, and Aang crawled in after it. The tunnel ended in a wide cavern, where Aang stood. When he looked into the cavern, his eyes widened in shock and horror and he fell to his knees.
Before him were a dozen rotted corpses clad in blue and white, boomerangs and spears still in their skeletal hands. And in the middle of the circle of fallen braves was the bleached-white bones of a man in the garb of an Airbender monk. The only monks to ever visit the Western Air Temple were Aang and…..
"Gyatso," Aang gasped with sick realization, tears stinging his grey eyes. "No….You….You were supposed to be safe from the Water Tribe here…."
Zuko crawled into the cave just as Aang began to sob with grief. "Hey, you don't have to feel bad for losing the cloth," Zuko said softly, misunderstanding the source of Aang's pain. "Azula fixed my hair so it looks better down, and – Oh man." His eyes at last fell upon Gyato's withered corpse. He drew back in horror, and then his horror only increased and he gasped when he saw Aang's eyes and tattooes suddenly glow the eeriest shade of blue.
Back in the hall of statues, where she had returned to look for tools to further style her brother's hair, Azula, too, gasped as she saw the eyes of the statue of Avatar Kuruk glow blindingly blue, as well. Suddenly, the eyes of every statue in the Sanctuary were glowing!
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Far away at the North Pole, a Water Tribe shamaness stared reflectively into the sacred pool where Tui and La swam. Suddenly, the waters began to bubble and glow. The shamaness gasped.
"The Avatar has returned!" she announced to the shaman beside her. "Inform the Water Lord at once!"
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Whirling winds howled around Aang, who seemed not to hear Zuko's pleas for him to calm down, to stop this. A sphere of wind lifted him out of the cave and into the sky. Zuko ran to the cave's mouth, staring slack-jawed at the Airbender and wondering what had come over him.
Azula rushed over suddenly. "What has happened?" she cried, her raven hair dancing wildly in the gale the Avatar had created.
"I told you he'd find out the truth!" Zuko shouted over the roaring winds. "He saw that the Water Tribe killed Gyatso!"
Azula frowned. Surely, she thought, this ferocious bending Aang was displaying was the power of the Avatar spirit. If he could use such power against the Water Tribe….she thought. They would be unstoppable.
"You have to do something!" Zuko cried. "Whatever this is, I think it's hurting him!"
Azula felt ashamed for even thinking about the military applications of Aang's power. Her friend was grieving, and angry, and as useful as the state he was now in could be, it was wrong to leave him like this. She had to help him. "I'm going in!" she warned Zuko. "If I fail, use your Firebending to make him stop!"
"Don't you dare fail, Azula!" Zuko responded, stricken.
"Trust me," Azula vowed, "I won't let it come to that."
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As the crescent moon shone in the sky, Pakku stripped off his parka, revealing a sleeveless blue tunic and a surprising amount of muscle for a man of his age. He uncapped the gourd full of water on his belt, certain that his Waterbending would finish that no-good non-bender prince in an instant.
As Sokka, too, removed his parka, baring his toned arms and shoulders, he took the ceremonial whale-bone dagger Bato handed him. He would have preferred his boomerang, but tradition was tradition.
"Fight with wisdom," Bato advised. "Not merely with strength. Do not let your impulsiveness get the best of you, Prince Sokka."
"I won't," Sokka promised. "There's no way I'll let that geezer win."
"Let's do this!" he shouted to Pakku. A horn made of shell sounded, and the Varuna Kai began.
Sokka launched at the elder man, slashing with his blade. Pakku dodged effortlessly and Sokka dashed towards him, aiming another strike at his body. Again, Pakku twisted out of his grasp.
Sokka breathed deeply and then launched a flying kick at Pakku's bald head. Pakku evaded him once more, and Bended a wave of water at Sokka's face. Sokka dodged the wave, which splashed uselessly to the ground.
"Wisdom, Prince Sokka, wisdom!" Bato reminded. "Break his flow!"
Pakku Waterbended another stream at Sokka, and another, and another. Sokka jumped back, avoiding each wave. But then Pakku sent another jet of water streaming towards Sokka's middle. Sokka dodged, but not well enough, and the water puddled at his feet, causing him to slip and fall to the ground.
Taking advantage of the opening, Pakku summoned a wicked sharp shard of ice and leapt toward Sokka with stabbing intent. Heart pounding, Sokka deflected the ice with his dagger, leaping to his feet and challenging Pakku, ice-blade to bone-blade. He smirked as his dagger connected with the ice, causing it to crack and break. He'd gotten the upper hand.
He slashed at Pakku's hand, which the old man was still staring at, dumb-founded that his ice had shattered, and the elder had to dodge quickly to avoid the drawing of his blood. Sokka advanced again, relentless, and once again Pakku dodged just in time. Sokka sent another kick in Pakku's direction, and the man nearly tripped and fell trying to avoid the hit. Sokka kicked again, and this time his foot struck true, slamming right into Pakku's nose and making blood drip from it as he fell to the ground.
He pointed the tip of his dagger at the old man's neck.
"Do it," Pakku hissed.
Sokka raised his dagger and brought it down with all his strength, stabbing….the ground beside Pakku's head.
"Tch," Pakku scowled. "You are a coward."
"Next time you get in my way," Sokka swore, "I won't be so merciful, old man." He turned away, refusing to acknowledge the Waterbender any longer.
As soon as the prince's back was turned, the tribal elder shot another shard of ice at Sokka's back.
Bato leapt between them, knocking the ice way with his boomerang and throwing it back into the face of Pakku, who skittered out of the way pathetically on the ground. Sokka raised his dagger furiously.
"No, Prince Sokka," Bato held him back. "Don't taint your victory by giving in to the impulse to get back at him. Water is the element of calm."
"So," Bato glared, turning to Pakku, "you call my student a coward, and then this is how you act when defeated? Aim a craven blow at the back of a man so that he cannot defend himself?" He spat disdainfully. "If you were as strong as you say, you would not fear an opponent who could strike back. Disgraceful. Even in exile, my prince deserves far greater a place in the tribe than you."
"Thanks again for the pipe," Bato added graciously as he turned with Sokka to leave. "The sea plum leaves smelled wonderful."
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"Did you really mean that?" Sokka asked, shrugging his parka back on as they walked back to their brand-new ship in the pale moonlight.
"Yes it's true," Bato smiled, "I do love sea plums."
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"Aang," Azula called out over the raging gust swirling around them, "I know losing your family is devastating. I know because I lost my mother, and my cousin. When the Water Tribe took them from me, I wanted revenge. I still do. But I know I can't have that if I lose myself in my emotion. To avenge my loved ones, I have to be calm. It's only when you're calm that you'll have the wisdom to strike and win, Aang! If you lose yourself to your rage, you won't be able to destroy the Water Tribe – you'll only destroy yourself!"
"You're not alone, Aang!" Azula continued. "We're united in our quest to fight the Water Tribe and win! You don't have to carry this burden by yourself! Zuko and I, we'll carry it with you! We're a team – a family!"
Somehow, her words seemed to begin to reach Aang, and the winds slowed as he slowly came back down to solid ground. Azula and Zuko ran to him.
"I'll protect you until you can finish the Water Tribe and avenge Gyatso," Zuko vowed. "I'll make sure you and Azula reach your goal. After all, it's my goal, too."
The strange blue light disappeared from Aang's eyes, and when he opened them again, they were grey and tired. He stumbled, but Azula caught him in her arms. "I'm sorry," Aang whispered weakly.
"It's alright," Azula told him. "I understand why you reacted the way you did."
"But you were right," Aang said sadly. "If the Water Tribe managed to get here, then they could have gotten to all the Air Temples. They could have gotten to the Southern Air Temple, where I was born, and to everyone in it. I really am…..the last Airbender….."
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Hours later, Aang stared contemplatively into the eyes of the statue of Avatar Kuruk.
"We've packed," Azula told him, laying a hand on his shoulder. "Are you ready to leave?"
"How," Aang wondered, "is Kuruk supposed to help me if I can't talk to him?"
"You will find a way," Azula said determinedly. Aang nodded.
Suddenly, they heard a skittering sound behind them, and the lemur from before appeared, dropping a bit of cloth at Zuko's feet.
"Where did you find that?" Zuko asked the small creature, smiling.
"Need me to help you put it in your hair?" Azula asked.
"No," Zuko decided. "I don't need it. I realized… honor isn't about how you look. It's how you act."
"You're right," Azula agreed, "besides…our ancestors lost the throne. We shouldn't try to be like them. I think the best way to honor them is to forge a new path. Somehow, I feel like a new age is about to dawn."
"I think you're right," Zuko agreed.
The lemur jumped onto Aang's back. "Hey, little guy," Aang greeted. "Y'know, I think he does want to be my friend after all."
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"You, Appa, and I," Aang whispered to the lemur as he put the last pack on Appa's saddle, "are all that's left of the Air Nomads. We've got to stick together, ok?" He smiled with a determined look in his eye. "Azula! Zuko! Are you ready to go?"
"Yeah," the pair called, trotting over. Zuko held a bag of (normal-sized) Pai Sho tiles he'd found under one arm. The lemur leapt over and stole a tile bearing the symbol of a peach blossom. Zuko faked a pout.
"What do you intend to name him?" Azula asked, indicating the lemur, who flew back to Aang's shoulder.
"Momo," Aang decided. The trio laughed.
Later, as they sailed above the cliffs, leaving the inverted towers of the Western Air Temple behind them, Aang looked back thoughtfully. He tried to tell himself that Azula was right – that the past did indeed belong in the past.