Aang and I had successfully found our places as Air Nomads. Aang had been called a prodigy when she started his first lessons at the age of six. There was something entertaining about seeing my little brother, his shaven head looking like a little egg, poking out amongst the older monks learning advanced techniques. Despite his advanced schooling, he was humble when laying with the other young Air Acolytes. At age ten, he was given a grand ceremony showing his mastery of Airbending. Per tradition, his skin was tattooed with the pale blue arrows symbolising his status. Monk Gyatso, myself, and Sister Wei had been smiling the brightest that day.

As for me, my skills had improved as well. While I lacked the wind that came with Airbending, I could disguise my forms as different dances. One minute, I would be circling my partner and then the next minute, when his back was turned, I could pull out my staff and stun him; at least, Sister Wei said that was the strategy of the motion. She had nodded in approval during one sparring session in which, after learning a dance from the Fire Nation, I used on an unsuspecting monk during practice.

One chilly day, when Aang was twelve and I was sixteen, Sister Wei and I were both sweeping the kitchens. The monks had left in a hurry, saying rushedly that they needed to talk to Aang. When Monk Tashi asked me if I knew where my brother was, I guessed that he was at the courtyard. He loved showing off his air scooter, a technique he crafted himself, to the younger acolytes. I was thanked and they had run off, leaving behind bowls and tea cups.

"The nerve," Sister Wei muttered as she swept faster. "to leave in a rush and leave us with the work."

I stole a glance over to te monks' retreating backs. "Apparently it has to do with my brother. Why else would they ask me where he was?"

Sister Wei stopped sweeping. A dark cloud passed over her face. The grip on her broom was tightening. I paused my sweeping and walked over.

"Sister Wei? What is it?"

She exhaled and looked down. "It's too early," she muttered. "Four years too early."

"Too early for what?" I demanded. Just as I asked this, regret immediately crossed Sister Wei's face. I looked at her with an imploring expression. "Sister Wei, please, what's going on?"

Sister Wei massaged her temples. "It's not for me to tell you, but I suppose you're old enough to understand." She set the broom down and walked over to the stove. An iron teapot was sitting close by. "What is the first step to making tea, Gitan?"

I blinked. "Uh…water?"

"Yes, and where does the tea come from?" She picked up a handful of dried leaves.

"The…leaves…are…from trees?"

"But where do the trees come from?"

"The…ground?"

"Not just the ground. From earth." Sister Wei threw a landleful of water followed by the tea leaves into a kettle. She held it out. "What helps heat the water?"

That was when I realized what she was doing. "Fire. And as the tea is brewed it produces steam, which then becomes part of air…" I put the kettle on the stove and watched the flame dance under the metal. "Sister Wei, are you saying that my brother is…"

"Yes, Gitan. Aang is the Avatar."

She said it casually, like she was just telling me how I did something right. However, the look in her eyes told me that the severity of the situation was no joke. My brother was the master of all four elements The chosen savior of the entire world. I looked from the tea kettle to my mentor. "And that's why I was kept around?"

"When you were a child, you promised to protect him. Do you remember playing with him as you grew up? Perhaps with a series of toys?"

I started picking up the abandoned dishes and spoons. Anything to keep my hands and mind busy to avoid overthinking the news. "Vaguely. I remember this one time where we had a bunch of toys in a room, and…"

Sister Wei stood on the other side of the table, collecting plates as well. "Aang chose the four Avatar relics in that room. Normally, the Avatar is told of their identity at age sixteen." So that was what she meant by it being too early. Aang wasn't sixteen. A feeling like heavy riverstones began to settle in my stomach. Of Aang was being told of his destiny early, it meant that the monks knew something was happening that needed the Avatar's help. "But word is spreading of a war…" Sister Wei said solemnly.

My heart began to pound in my ears. War. The Avatar would be needed in a time of war. That was why Aang was being summoned. If war came to the Air Temples, it would mean trouble for the entire world. I half stumbled, half ran to the washing basin and dumped the dishes in. How would my brother react to such a big message? He was only a child! A well-traveled child, but still a child! I picked up a scrub brush and began taking out my anxieties on a trapped piece of food. Sister Wei knew all of this, too, and was telling me. It was why I didn't have to go to the Eastern or Western Air Temples. The monks needed me to watch over Aang because as a young Avatar, he needed more guidance. My staff training wasn't because of some way to be accepted into the cultures of the Air Nomads, it was to train me to be the Avatar's second hand should he fall.

The soapy water in my vision turned into a swirling torrent of dark clouds. In it, Aang and I were standing on a cliff side by side. Suddenly, a huge wave rushed from the water below us. A rockslide began tumbling from somewhere above. Finally, a rushing torrent of fire came from nowhere in our direction. Aang exhaled, creating a large air blast. But in that haste, the cliffside split in two. I tried to regain my fighting stance, but the rocks were rushing towards me. All I had to defend me was my staff that I started swinging hastily.

The kettle screeched loudly as the steam burst through the spout, shattering the image. I was back in the Air Temple's kitchen. A wet bowl was in one hand, a scrub brush in the other. Sister Wei ran over to remove the kettle. I took several heavy, shallow breaths that shook.

"It is a lot of absorb at one time," she said sympathetically. "I thought that by me coming here and teaching you what you have learned at the Eastern Air Temple, it would be less of a burden for you."

I choked back on a sob. Tears fell into the wash basin. I stood up and rubbed my eyes with the back of my hand. I wasn't a bender. Aang was the chosen savior of the world. I was simply someone that was going to stand in the way. I was a fighter yes, but not in the same way an Earthbender like Bumi could be. I threw the scrub brush into the basin as the tears grew hotter, spraying suds and water.

"Gitan!" Sister Wei scolded. "I understand that you are upset, but you cannot take out your anger on…"

"On what?!" I snapped, throwing my arms out. "On the people who lied to me, saying that I was the perfect protector for Aang? Oh wait, now that he's the Avatar, I don't have to do anything anymore because he can do it all on his own! You said it yourself; it's not fair."

I ran out of the kitchen in tears. I ran with one destionation in mind; our bedroom. I slammed te door open and flumped into a pillow on the bed. The door shut behind me, silencing my sobs. I heard a knock on the door and turned away. "Go away, Sister Wei."

"Actually, it's me, Gitan."

Aang.

I dropped the pillow and ran to the door. I opened it to find my brother looking up at me. His eyes were wide and ready to shatter. We just looked at each other. Finally, Aang threw his arms around me and I could feel his tears soaking into the front of my chupa. I pulled him in closer and murmured whatever comforting things I could think of to say.

"I'm scared, Gitan," Aang confessed through a hiccupy sob.

I sighed. "Let's be scared together, then."

"But the true secret is in the gooey center," Monk Gyatso said.

Aang and I both sighed in response. He was perched on the railing of the bakery's railing. I was leaning in a corner, playing with a leaf that had fallen from a nearby tree. It had been days since Aang was given news of his destiny, but that didn't make the weight any less heavy. He would have to find teachers of the other elements. As for me? My destiny had yet to be determined. Gyatso's lessons for both of us – he said that my time would be better spent training with him as opposed to Sister Wei, which did make me feel better – were much more lighthearted. Yesterday after training, we made snowmen with our tsempa. This training had required using Airbending – and for me working on staff strikes – to aim these different sized cakes at targets. I'd be lying if I didn't say that hearing the splat of the cakes wasn't a form of relief.

Gyatso had made four fruit cakes back-to-back. I had brought him the ingredients, and he had used Airbending to craft the fillings into thick, colorful swirls. He carried them with a long, wooden paddle. The steam from the fresh cakes curled, along with the heavenly scents of ube, peach, lemon, and cherry.

"This whole Avatar thing," Aang spoke up, "maybe the monks made a mistake."

"The only mistake they made," Gyatso replied, "was telling you before you turned sixteen."

A part of me felt better hearing a monk say that the timing was wrong. Sister Wei had also been adamant that Aang be told when he turned sixteen, but she wasn't a high-ranking member of the Air Temple councils. I was sixteen, but the truth of knowing the entire world relied on a child...well, children...was overbearing. I twirled the leaf again and let it flutter in graceful swoops towards the ground, where I saw one of the sky bison grazing. Aang and Gyatso were discussing something about the Air Temple Sanctuary, but I turned a deaf ear. That knowledge was for the Avatar alone. When the time was right, I would learn it.

"Gitan."

Gyatso was looking over at me. Aang was by his side. Both of them had glimmers in their eyes. I straightened up when I saw the light. I shouldn't be slumping and pouting about my uselessness when they looked ready for trouble.

"You can help us with these cakes as well."

I pulled out my staff. My mouth, while stiff, also curved into a smile. Aang gestured for me to stand behind him. Once I was in the right place, Gyatso began to count. We took a beginning stance, and then stepped back. Aang and Gyatso swirled their hands. Perfectly round orbs of air appeared in between their palms. I guided my staff between my hand until it was lined up with their hands. On three, the balls of air were released and I grabbed my staff with a free hand to swing it forward. While no air came out from my strike, I was able to feel the satisfying give in the fine wood as it struck my target.

The four cakes rocketed into the air. After they sailed a few feet, they all arced downward. Four meditating monks below were none the wiser to the cakes that went from pastry to very warm, gooey centered hats in a matter of seconds. As they reeled in pastry crumbs and creams, lemurs scrambled around and began devouring on the cakes.

Aang, Gyatso, and I laughed. We had made jokes of hitting the monks who meditated in that area every time we saw them. This was the first time we had hit them perfectly. Usually, we were lucky to get close. A perfect hit released whatever sadness and anger I had been feeling. In its place was a joy I had forgotten about.

Months went by. Gyatso, Aang, and I became a small unit. His method of training was similar to Sister Wei's, in which lessons were disguised as games. One time, Monk Tashi, an old monk who always looked like he had smelled something rotting, accused Gyatso of not taking our training seriously. He was dismissed briskly.

Speaking of games, one day I found Aang down by the Airball courts, looking downcast.

"What's wrong?" I asked. "You look like Appa ate your last egg custard tart."

Aang looked away. "Nothing."

I furrowed my brow. "That's not nothing. You're usually playing with the other kids. They look up to you, Aang."

He snapped his head at me. Fury and sadness blurred in his wide gray eyes. "Yeah, well not letting me play because I'm the Avatar is a great sign they're looking up to me!" As he shouted, tiny gusts of wind rippled around us. They died down as quick as they came, and he looked up at the me, the anger subsiding to guilt. "I'm sorry, Gitan. I didn't mean to get mad."

I sat down next to him. "Hey, you have every right to be upset." I smirked. "Do I need to go whack them with my staff? Because I will."

Aang laughed heartily. His laughter was infectious. The happiness in his eyes was tiny, but it was slowly growing like a blooming plant. I laughed with him The warmth of our shared joy coming from a sense of sadness made the chilly base of the mountainside seem warmer. I looked from the poles of the airball court back over to Aang. "So, what game did they keep you from playing?" I asked.

"They made up a game with the air scooter," he answered.

"I know I'm not a bender, but..." I went over to the airball courts, hiking up the skirt of my chupa and jumping from a rocky crag to the edge of one of the poles. I staggered slightly as my center of gravity was slightly off, before finding my footing once again. "I'll play with you. You may be the Avatar, but you're still my little brother."

Aang smiled widely. Lithely, he floated with no effort onto the opposite side of the field. He swirled his hand to bring the Airball over to my side. Smiling, I swung my staff a few times before following through with a strike. The ball pinged off of the wood and began a series of knocks down the posts. Aang leapt after it, using his feet and well timed blasts of Airbending to keep the ball from hitting the ground. With a wide arc, he formed gusts into a ball of wind, and with precise timing, he jumped on top of it; his signature move, the Air Scooter. He rode it with little to no effort, zipping across the field. I adjusted my offense and defense quickly, but with the air scooter, it was much more difficult to catch Aang. Yet despite the advantage it gave him, I couldn't help the swell of pride and joy that bubbled in my chest, Even when the ball soared past me into the spinning wood goal, I couldn't be mad. That wasn't to say that Aang's cockiness played unfairly. He adjusted his moves so that I was able to get in several goals and scores myself. A proud moment especially was when I caught the ball with my staff and bounced it twice before sending it soaring past his outstretched hand into the goal behind him.

Little did we know that would be our last game of airball for a time.

I was patching up one of Aang's ponchos when I heard someone clear their throat. When I looked up from my sewing, I saw Sister Wei standing in the doorway. Her eyes were downcast.

"Gitan," she spoke slowly. "I just finished talking to Monk Tashi. There have been…concerns about Gyatso raising both you and Aang."

The needle poked my thumb. A pearl of blood formed before I smeared it away with a cloth. "Is it so bad that he's looking after both of us?"

Sister Wei walked over and sat next to me. "The concern is that the three of you are…becoming distractions to each others' destinies."

I furrowed my brow. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Sister Wei hesitated. "It means that while you are Aang's sister, he has a duty to other people besides you. You have done so well learning how to fight with your staff. I'm proud of the young woman that you have become, for you have begun to find the balance between a warrior and a caretaker. But as the Avatar, Aang must be focused on his training. And tomorrow morning, he will go to Eastern Air Temple to continue just that. And as for you, you need to be training alongside the other sisters at the Western Air Temple."

I stood up, my sewing forgotten. Aang and I were going to be separated? I had to go the Western Air Temple? No! I made a promise to protect him! He was my brother Avatar or not, I wasn't going to leave him alone. He needed me. Who was going to play games with him to make his training seem less like a chore? Who was going to remember to sneak him and Appa extra nut and fruit rice when he finished his tsempa? Who was there to hold him when he cried?!

"Is it best for everyone, or is it best for you?"

Sister Wei said nothing to my comment. There was hesitation in her lips. I glared at her for a continuous moment before finally, she took my hands. Her thumb stroked my knuckles gently. Before she could utter something, I pulled by hands away and marched out of the room, watching the Airbender boys ride around on their air scooters as Aang had taught them. I stormed out of the halls and outside. I flumped outside by a nearby statue of a sky bison, feeling the wind of the Patola Mountains and listening to the wind chimes over my head tinkle. I closed my eyes, letting a tear I stubbornly held back streak down my cheek.

As the sky turned dark, I returned to my room. I refused to eat dinner. How could I when my stomach felt heavy enough? I blew out the candle and curled up into a ball, facing the empty wall. The wind whistled outside. I tossed and turned anxiously. My restlessness was interrupted by a knock on the door. Grumpily, I sat up and smoothed my ponytail down. I opened the door to find Aang looking up at me.

"I looked everywhere for you," he said, sounding more like an old man than a child, "have you been here this whole time?"

"Yes. And I should be going back to bed. Sister Wei says I'm leaving tomorrow morning with her."

"No, you're not." He took my hands and looked at me. Resolution glittered in his large gray eyes, and I could only gape at him. It was rare for him to be serious, let alone looking as stoic and firm as he was now. "You're coming with me and Appa."

I exhaled in relief. Aang's wide eyed goofiness was still there, but along with it was a devotion to making sure we both were safe I gave him a hug and then looked at him. "Have you packed everything?

He shook his head. "I have one thing left to do."

I looked outside as the thunder rumbled once again. The clouds were beginning to form a thick blob in the darkness. Occasional flickers of lightining painted them white. "Well, do it quick. The faster we get on Appa, the faster we can outrace that storm."

Aang rushed back to his room. I pulled everything that I figured I needed onto a large tarp and secured the knot. My heart was drumming in my ears as the finality of us running away together began to sink needed other teachers if he was to become an elemental master. Leaving the Air Temple would give us that chance. Besides, it wasn't like we had nowhere to go. Bumi was in Omashu, so if we had to stop in the Earth Kingdom, it wasn't a problem. Aang had a friend from the Fire Nation, Kuzon. Sister Wei had drilled enough wilderness survival techniques into my head that if we had to camp out, we wouldn't starve. Aang was a skilled fighter. I was a skilled fighter. Sure it was something that we would have both liked to avoid, but the reality was fighting could be inevitable, especially if word got out that he was the Avatar.

B the time I had left my room, the wind was beginning to stir. The cold bit through my clothes and right through my nerves. I shivered and scurried across the courtyard where wind chimes clanged loudly. Leaves were picked up and thrown around wildly. My chupa was whirling wildly from the wind and how fast I ran. My staff was hitting against my spine. Stealth wasn't on my side, but with how late it was, some monks were too deep in sleep to hear me.

Aang was already on Appa's head when I made it to the bison's stables. I gripped a handful of our bison;s fur and climbed into the saddle. I tucked the bundle of my belongings into the large pile that Aang had secured for us. We both looked up at the Southern Air Temple one last time. Thunder rumbled ominously once. Aang then snapped the reins and said firmly. "Yip yip."

Appa pushed from the ground with his large tail, and we both flew off.

The mountain range disappeared behind us. Then it was just a stretch of land before it turned into the quiet, vast ocean stretching towards the sky, creating a seemingly endless void. We had no true plan or sense of direction on where to go, except as far far away from the Southern Air Temple as possible.

"Let's go to the South Pole!" I called out to Aang, who was navigating Appa. "We'll be safe there! And when the storm passes, we can fly again."

Aang tugged at the reins. "Great idea!"

He steered Appa in a new direction, Our bison lowed and grunted as we turned. At first, we thought we had beaten the threatening storm. But then, it was upon us. The wind of the storm pushed us around in multiple directions. Drizzles turned into driving downpours, which sometimes turned into hail storms or even short lived blizzards. Lightning and thunder crashed loudly, which made Appa do manuevers that made out stomachs nd bodies lurch. Aang and I screamed in unison as one particularly bad gust forced us down towards the ocean, which was churining like boiling water.

Appa broke through the surface of the water. Its salty coldness seeped into out clothes. Bubbles rushed past our noses, gurgling towards the surface. In the brief disorinetation of the sudden dive, I groped around for Appa's saddle but couldn't find it. But then I felt a heaviness drift beneath me and I gripped the familiar weight of well crafted leather. We burst through the surface. Appa had enough time to roar out a warning before a wave came crashing down onto his head. The rush of the water spun me out of the saddle. Instinctively, I kicked to the surface and gasped for breath. When I looked around, Appa was gone. I swam around, noticing the telltale pattern of his white fur in the murkiness of the ocean. I swam into that direction as fast as I could before diving beneath the surface. I swam closer and closer, noticing Aang was unconscious. His hand limply dropped from the reins.

No!

I kicked faster, a hand outstretched towards him. The water currents fought against me. I could see his form getting closer...

And then the world went cold and white.