Chapter 29: Aang

A/N Sorry for the long wait! It's difficult to switch from a pov like Mai or Azula to Aang or Katara! It takes a while to get the Aang chapters right!

Shout out to my guest reviewer: whytho! I'm glad you like the Mai chapters! I wasn't sure if I was going to keep them after the first one, but then things started to change and they are definitely going to stay! For the page break thing: Unfortunately, it is intentional. I haven't found a better way to separate time jumps or in chapter pov changes. Everything that I've tried so far gets erased, leaving no transition point between time or scenery skips. Thank you so much for your review!

If anyone has a way of getting the little divider line to show up, please tell me! :)

"You just have to make sure to keep your upper body towards the center of your circle." Aang demonstrates, and as he slowly circles with his hand and upper body angled toward the center, his feet moving with practiced ease, air seems to flow like water around him, dancing and sighing, soft and happy.

The boy tries again and manages to stay balanced and do the movement correctly this time. No air is moved, but he looks relaxed and focused, which is the real point of the exercise.

"Good job!" Aang congratulates. "It takes a lot of practice. It helps to have someone watch you for a while, at first, and point out when your shoulders start to point towards where you're going or your feet start pointing inward."

The boy nods seriously and continues practicing.

"Don't overdo it though." Aang cautions. "I think that's enough for today."

Katara wanders over as the boy runs off to join his friends.

"Ready for lunch? Oyaji wanted to meet with us." She says.

"Sure!"

They reach a new picnic pavilion, on a hill overlooking the trade docks. Far off, near the horizon, the Unagi can be seen swimming.

"You wanted to see us, sir?" Aang asks, plopping down in a rather undignified fashion and taking a big bite of salad.

"Yes. I know you're searching for people who may be interested in seeing if they can Airbend. All throughout the Earth Kingdom, there are nomads who dress similarly to the way you do, and call themselves Air Acolytes. None of them have been seen to Airbend, but it could be for lack of a teacher or knowledge of the forms." Oyaji passes meat to Katara and Sokka.

Toph is already wolfing down mouthfuls of meat and veggies mixed together.

"Have any passed by here recently?" Aang asks, reaching up to give Momo a piece of tomato. The lemur is perched on his shoulder watching the food getting passed around with big, hungry eyes.

"As a matter of fact, no. Not for some time. But there are some caves around that are known to have stashes of Air Nomad artifacts. There are some scrolls in there, old letters that were in the process of being delivered when the Fire Nation attacked, some old clothes and trinkets. You should have a look. We've tried to keep an eye on them over the years. We let the Air Acolytes have the clothing, but other than that, everything should still be as it was left."

"Thank you. We'll be sure to look before we leave." Aang says. He rubs Momo's head. The lemur is no longer focused on him though. Aang follows his line of sight to a man dressed all in green and carrying a cabbage.

Momo screeches and flies off in the other direction, even though the man isn't looking his way.

Everyone at the table laughs at the little lemur's antics.

Within a moment, however, the atmosphere gets serious again.

"Do you know if any Air Nomads survived at all?" Aang asks, staring at his plate.

"There is a good chance that they did. Even in the Fire Nation. But once the news of what happened at the Temples spread, they probably went into hiding and suppressed their Bending. They may even have stopped teaching their children how to Bend. There are some people who we think may be descended from Air Nomads. I see that you've spoken to Ty Lee." He sends a warm smile in her direction.

"The other that I knew of was a man up in a village in the mountains. Nobody really goes by that trail anymore. But if you decide to go up that way, the man you're looking for is named Gansu. He has two sons, Sensu and Lee. They used to come by twice a year to trade in the village on their way back from their journey to Chin Village for Sensu's schooling. I think they were planning to move there at some point. I'm not sure if they ended up moving or if they're still in the mountains."

"We'll look for him when we go up that way. Thanks." Aang says.

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The cave has an aged, but sturdy feel. Sort of peaceful. A breeze carrying fresh fall air blows in through the opening, the air going through a small crevice in the back wall, presumably leading back outside eventually.

It is small, but not at all a cramped space, even with many chests and small knapsacks lying about.

It almost seems like it's belongings owners' had simply stepped away for a moment, to return again at any second. There is no dust or signs of decay on any of the chest are the artifacts within.

"Look! Some of these are Airbending scrolls!" Aang shouts from across the cave.

"Really? Let me see!" Ty Lee races over and grabs one from the box.

"Careful! They're at least a hundred years old!" Aang protests her rough handling of the paper.

"Sorry!" She opens it delicately, and looks over the forms contained inside.

"Here's an old letter. It's addressed to someone named Kala, in the Southern Water Tribe. Aang, it was written by someone named Kuzon. Wasn't he a friend of yours?" Katara asks.

"Yeah! Let me see!" Aang looks over the paper. "Yep, that's his handwriting all right!" He frowns as he takes the paper away from Katara to read it.

"What is it, Aang?"

"Kuzon knew what the Fire Nation was planning to do. It looks like he tried to warn the Southern Water Tribe. Kala was..." His eyes filled with tears.

"What?"

"He really liked her. I teased him for it. I think everyone did. She was a Waterbender girl too. She probably died in the first raids."

"I'm sorry, Aang." Katara hugs him.

"Hey! Look what I found!" Sokka calls out, not noticing what was happening on the opposite side of the cave from him.

Aang sniffles a little and gets back to business. He walks over to Sokka.

"This shouldn't be here. It's supposed to be a recent folk tale, right? The one we found at the Air Temple was basically new. This one is definitely not." He hands it to Aang to examine.

"Yeah, you're right, Sokka! The story must be older than the scroll at the Air Temple. This was written by another Fire Nation friend of mine. His name was Riku. He had a twin brother that disappeared right after I met them. Nobody ever found him. I don't remember his name now. But right after that, he started to have weird dreams. He used to tell everyone about them. But a lot of people picked on him for it, so he stopped doing it. He started to write them down instead. I never saw this one before. I guess there may be some others that I haven't seen. I only knew him for a year or so."

"It would be kind of cool if some of your other old friends would just "King Bumi" their way to us. I mean, there has to be someone else around, right?" Sokka says, using his hands for quotation marks.

"Sokka!" Katara shouts, appalled.

"It's ok, Katara. There's no harm in hoping, right?" Aang hugs her.

A/N Hey all! I know this chapter may need some work. Feel free to tell me anything you find wrong with it. I know I will be editing it at some point in the near future. I just wanted to get something written and set up for y'all, since it's been awhile. It's hard to switch from Mai and Azula to Aang and Katara. Should be slightly more regular updates for the next few chapters. I just wasn't sure where to go with this one. Let me know what you think and sorry for the long wait!

Also: What would you all think if I were to rewrite this chapter in Ty Lee's pov? And who might be in favor of a Ty Lee pov throughout the story as well?