I just stood there, arms outstretched to the gates. I thrust them forward again. No air came out. I inhaled, exhaled, and thrust again. Nothing.

"Um, isn't there supposed to be air coming out?" a boy behind me asked.

"Maybe it's because she's a girl," another boy said with a nasty tone of voice.

"I bet her brother could start the gates!"

Hot tears pinpricked in the corners of my eyes. I kept trying the movement over and over. With each attempt, there was no air. I grunted and tried to push repeatedly. Despite every attempt, no air came out. The boys continued to snicker and point. Their teasing and laughter only spurned me on. I continued pushing. Come on, I thought, just one little gust, that's all I'm asking. Yet despite my pleas, there was nothing. The laughter was silenced when Monk Gyatso cleared his throat, frowning at them.

"Perhaps our next…"

"No!" I shouted. I stood up and dried my eyes. I continued to thrust forward until my arms burned from exertion. Yet nothing came. Finally, I just caved I crouched to the ground, burying my head in my knees and sobbed into the yellow pants. Teardrops stained the fabric. I scrubbed at my eyes and stumbled away from the gates, unsure where I was running to. The only sounds I heard were the sky bison lowing, lemurs chittering as they flew from treetop to treetop, greedily munching on fruit from the orchards, and wind chimes being blown by natural winds.

I failed. I wasn't an Airbender. Would they exile me? Force me to never see Aang again? The thought of not being near him made my heart rush. Everything began to spin. My whole body began to feel numb. I stood still where I was, hot water rushing to my eyes. Tears came again, and my sobs were mixed with loud screams that I only heard in my head.

I wasn't sure how long I cried after I failed the Airbending test. A snot bubble was threatening to burst as I exhaled from a wave of sobs. I touched the ground, feeling the coolness of the grout in the clay tiles. The ground below me was soaking wet. I rubbed my face with the back of my hand and sighed as water ran along my face, mingling with my tear-stained cheeks.

"Gitan?"

I looked up. There was no monk standing over me. Instead, I saw an Airbender sister that was carrying a tray laden with a tea set. Her dark hair was held in place by a small hairband that blended in perfectly to the locks. Her gray eyes were soft.

"I know you didn't pass your test, but that doesn't mean that you aren't a part of our people."

"But…but…"

"No buts about it. Just because you are not an Airbender doesn't mean you can't be an Air Nomad still." She set the tray down next to me. The cups were clean, meaning that she hadn't been picking up after the monks. "Take this tea. This camelia blend came from the Earth Kingdom. It's different from the butter tea that you normally drink down here in the south." She picked up the pot and with little to no effort poured out a dark yellow blend that smelled of sweet flowers. I went to pick up the cup and was immediately met by hot clay. I made a noise of pain and immediately withdrew my hand. The sister shook her head and made a shooing motion over the cup. Normally, Airbenders cooled their tea with their craft, but she didn't even bother. Seeing me look at her, she shrugged. "If I cooled it with Airbending, you'd lose the lovely flower scent."

I watched the steam curl once before asking, "Do you know how to Airbend?"

"Well, yes, but every good bender knows that using their skills to help is more important than showing off."

I took a sip of the tea she offered me. The taste was sweet, but not sugary. The scent of the flowers blossomed in my mouth. It was an odd sensation to say the least, but be tasting flowers as opposed to smelling them. I looked at the older sister. What was she doing here, besides serving camellia tea to sad little girls? Usually, sisters didn't come here unless they were to meet husbands at Air Temples to produce more Airbenders. Some found husbands outside the monasteries should they chose. There was no rule saying an Airbender had to marry within the temples. Yet this woman seemed content living without a husband, or so I took her stride as.

"How do you know my name?" I finally asked.

The sister tapped her lip before answering. "I was supposed to be your caretaker at the Eastern Air Temple. But the other monks told me that you had another path. Something about taking care of your brother." She picked up her teacup and took a sip. "Forgive me, I realize I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Sister Wei."

I stiffened, looking at Sister Wei anxiously. If she was from the Eastern Air Temple, she was here to take me away. Or worse, take Aang away. Sister Wei arched her eyebrow at my face and she reached one hand to rest over my own. Her hands were soft and comforting. The tension I felt seemed to melt away. "Gitan, you don't have to be afraid. You are safe here. You are living in the Southern Air Temple. But as Air Nomads, we must find a way to live as the wind does."

"But what if the wind doesn't listen to me!" I cried out.

Sister Wei shook her head gently. "That's where you're wrong, Gitan. It's not about controlling the element. It's letting the element control you." She set down her teacup. With gentle, coaxing motions, she adjusted my posture until I was sitting tall. Saying nothing, she put something on my head. From the folds of her billow sleeves, she handed me something that made my jaw drop.

The monks had carved many staffs. Most were designed to hold gliders, which advanced Airbenders used to ride along the currents, flying like birds. The thought of being so high up without support, such as in a sky bison's saddle, always made my stomach drop. Even riding a sky bison made me fearful. Yet the staff that Sister Wei presented to me might as well have been a bamboo rod that was varnished and painted brown. There were no hidden compartments tucking in glider parts. It was a simple staff. Nothing more. Nothing less.

"Grip it, but not too tight," Sister Wei's friendly conversational tone turned into a teacher's tone that I recognized from Monk Gyatso. I held onto the staff with one hand. "Now, put your other hand on it. Palm down." I placed my hand as she said. She came up and adjusted the distance between my hands. A section of wood resembling an eye was looking at me. Wei nodded with a smile. "You have a good stance. Gyatso taught you well."

I grinned. Sister Wei came back around and gently tapped my shoulder. I turned and swung left. She tapped the other shoulder. I swung right. She created a swirling motion with her hands. I followed the movements and tried to block, but the object on my head fell with a shatter. Sitting in a puddle of tea was the broken remains of a cup.

"Oh! I'm so sorry! I…"

Sister Wei waved a hand dismissively. "That was part of the lesson, Gitan. Besides, that cup wasn't the first that have been broken in this exercise."

I lowered the staff. "Lesson?"

Sister Wei folded her arms. "Like I said, I was supposed to take care of you when you were to come to the Eastern Air Temple. I was to teach you all the ways of acting like a proper lady. Yet your stubbornness and dedication to protecting your brother brought me here instead. Monk Gyatso and I came to a compromise. We will teach you. His time will be spent mostly with Aang. However, we both agreed neglecting your training would be a disservice. You have skills with a staff, Gitan, and while you may not have Airbending, you can still serve Aang."

Her words let a warmth flutter in my heart. Hopelessness was falling away. I met her gentle eyes, and I smiled up at her. Her smile didn't fade, and her next words didn't hurt as much as if any other monk would say. "Aang will of course go to the Eastern Air Temple on Bonding Day to pick his sky bison, but you won't be parted long. Besides, his sky bison will also be yours, so it will be extra special."

After that day, I lived two lives. On one side was Monk Gyatso, and on the other was Sister Wei. Gyatso made sure that I was able to hold my staff, Sister Wei made sure that I was able to scrub even the most stubborn of rice grains out of the metal woks…after I made sure I could knock them out of the air cleanly. The young boys around the Southern Air Temple still refused to acknowledge me. When I complained about it to Sister Wei, she gave me a smug smile and said, "That's because they're jealous of what you can do as a girl. You can do things that they can't." What she said made me feel better slightly.

As for Aang, when he was old enough to take the Airbending test he had passed it with flying colors. He took to Airbending with such stride that my happiness outweighed my envy...for a time. Yet Sister Wei reminded me that to be angry at a bender simply for doing what they were capable of was wrong. When he was six and I was eight, he and the other boys made the pilgrimage to the Eastern Air Temple for Bonding Day. He returned a sky bison with brown eyes so wide and gentle. I had approached him with Aang's coaxing, and after a few tentative steps with his large six feet, he pressed his muzzle into my waiting hand. I stroked his white fur, and he gave a low of contentment. Aang grinned his classic wide eyed smile over at me.

"Appa likes you, Gitan!" He cheered. "I knew he would!"

I giggled. "Glad to know someone in the temples likes me. Sister Wei doesn't count, neither does Monk Gyatso."

Aang's face fell. He squeezed my hand with reassurance that flowed through my veins. I glanced over at him. "Don't say that. It makes me sad hearing you say that stuff."

"But Aang," I said, "I can't Airbend! I can't play games with the other boys in the temple."

"That doesn't mean you have to be friends with just Airbenders, though. Now that we have Appa, we can go anywhere we want to! We can travel the world now!"

He said something that made me think of a conversation I had with Sister Wei. She showed me different styles of dumplings in the kitchen. There were different fillings in each dumpling from different nations. While the Air Nomads had stuck to vegetarian dumplings, other nations filled theirs with things like fish, or seasoned chicken and beef. While Aang stuck true to the Airbender style of sticking to a vegetarian diet, I found myself enjoying the chicken flavor.

"When you begin visiting the rest of the nations with Aang," she had said, "you must find a way to resolve any fights with peaceful mannerisms."

"And I'm supposed to do that by pouring tea and making food look pretty?" I had sassed.

Sister Wei choked on a laugh. "For us, the arts is just a disguise. You and I could be sipping tea and talking, but I see you reaching for your staff, and then," In a movement so quick that I missed it, the tablecloth, and teacups with it, were blown to one side. Sister Wei lowered her arms and straightened her billowy sleeves. She gave me a knowing smile. "Always be poised." Her gray eyes twinkled as she recited the very first thing she taught me. "You never know when the wind will change."

As I looked at Aang, I nodded firmly. Right. We were going to start traveling the world. Air Nomads didn't stay in one area for too long. Besides, we had to learn new skills by experiencing life. It wasn't just going to come to us. We had to take our chances.

More years went by. Aang and I took Appa whenever we had a free day and we flew across the world. Aang's favorite things to do on his travels was interact with the animals. Whenever we would take Appa and he witnessed a large animal, he would land wherever just to play with it. Some encounters led to joy such as sledding on otter penguins in the South Pole, and others were a bit more extreme such as the time he and a mutual friend from Omashu, a well meaning boy named Bumi, had turned the iconic mail system into a superslide. There was also an incident involving the Omasu sewer system, in which the three of us exited covered in sludge and water.

Sister Wei had scolded me when she saw the sewage on my chupta. "Aang and you have a strong bond, but remember, you are not just his friend. You must find the balance between guardian and friend. Playing in the sewers was dangerous. You three could have been injured!"

Her guidance, while well meaning, had often left me annoyed and insecure. Yet deep down, I knew I needed her words.