~ I felt the need to address this, but didn't want it cluttering up the other storyline bits. Also, I'm looking for a beta reader, if anyone is interested. ~
"Hey, we're almost at the Northern Air Temple. This is where they had the championships for Sky Bison polo," Aang shouted from further up on Appa's saddle.
"Do you think we'll really find airbenders?" Katara asked her brother, moving to sit beside him in the back of the saddle.
Sokka continued to mangle the piece of wood with his knife. He didn't have the patience for any real shape. "You want me to be like you, or totally honest?"
Katara turned to Sokka, crossing her arms, "Are you saying I'm a liar?"
Shrugging, he kept whittling, "I'm saying you're an optimist. Same thing, basically."
The water tribe siblings almost got into a fight right there when Aang called out. "Hey guys? Look at this."
Aang guided Appa to land on the edge of the Air Temple platform. It looked like an entire village threw all their garbage on the common area of the temple.
Sokka hopped down and started to sweep the debris away when he saw human remains and shrieked like a terrified child. "B-b-bodies! Aang... they're... they're all dead!"
The last airbender gently used his bending abilities to sweep away the top layer of dirt, ash and garbage. The three teens looked in horror at the skeleton with the broken neck.
"It's not an air nomad," Aang said at last.
Sokka examined the corpse's clothes, the green and brown rags that hung on the bones. "Looks like Earth Kingdom, but why?"
The trio silently moved through the debris pile, finding more than a hundred bodies in various states of decomposition.
"But... why? This doesn't answer any questions. It just makes more!" Aang shouted into the empty temple, but no answers shouted back.