Kuzon and Aang: The Yangchen Festival

"Now remember, lay low and don't do anything too risky, and you'll be fine," Aang told Kuzon. "Just stay close to me and you'll be golden."

"Alright!" Kuzon said, "I can definitely do that! Heck, I could do it with both eyes closed!"

As the young sky bison, Neela, descended with the two boys on her back, Kuzon reached up to touch his head again, feeling the smooth scalp beneath his fingertips. It felt so weird to him, and he just couldn't stop touching it. And his head felt so cold, now, too. He was feeling breezes he'd never felt before in his life, and a prickling sensation on his scalp whenever he got cold.

"Alright, we're almost here," Aang said, looking over the side of the cliff.

Kuzon leaned over and his eyes bugged out. It was a long, long drop to the bottom of that canyon, and it was filled with thick mist, concealing just how far the drop really was. He swallowed down his apprehension and instead focused on the upside-down temples hanging from the underside of the cliff, looking like majestic stone wolfbats instead of towering air temples.

"Woooowwww," Kuzon said. "That's so cool."

"I know!" Aang said. "But remember, act like it's all perfectly natural to you."

"I'll do my best," Kuzon said. His hands went up to his head again.

All around the temples, people were buzzing about, preparing for the festival to begin. Flowers adorned almost every surface of stone, candles were lit, colorful powder sat in piles of jars waiting to fill the air, musicians were already playing jovial tunes on their flutes and drums while a few danced idly along with the rhythm.

Even the sky bisons were preparing for the festival, with their horns adorned with garlands of freshly cut flowers and their fur being painted with colorful patterns from the patient monks and nuns. Kids sat by and watched, feeding the bisons peaches and melons and milk treats.

All around the air was the smell of cooking food. The spices hit Aang and Kuzon full force when they landed, and they both breathed deep, smelling the scent of cooking coconut rice and fried bananas and sweet custard tarts.

"It smells delicious!" Kuzon told him. "I can't wait to dig in."

"Well, you'll have to. It'll be another hour or so before the food's ready, but you can munch down on some fruit if you're really hungry."

Aang led Kuzon over to a huge basket filled with moon peaches, and they both grabbed one, quickly chomping down on it. A nun walked by them, looking over both of the boys.

"Don't spoil your appetites," she told them.

"We won't," Aang promised her.

The nun looked at him for a second, and then looked at Kuzon. Aang's breath stopped. She looked him up and down, taking in the sight of his bald head, his airbender clothes, his tattoo-less skin, and Aang could tell that she was trying to place him.

"I don't believe I've ever seen this boy before," she said, kneeling down to look at Kuzon.

Kuzon didn't seem to care, he just kept on eating.

"Oh, this is my friend from the Southern Temple," Aang told her. "His name is…Jampa."

The nun was silent for a moment before she smiled and said, "Welcome to the Western Temple, Jampa."

"Thank you," Kuzon said, and bowed his head at her. She smiled and chuckled and then was on her way, her basket full of eggs placed on her hip as she made her way towards the kitchens.

"That was close," Aang said.

"What? No it wasn't!" Kuzon said, elbowing Aang in the side. "We were perfectly stealthy! So Jampa, that's my name now! Awesome! I like it!"

"Come on," Aang said, grabbing his friend's hand. "Let's go to Yangchen's statue. We'll need to leave some offerings before we do anything else."

Kuzon finished his peach and followed Aang through the maze of temples and bridges and courtyards, each filled with so much color and sound and excitement it was almost dizzying. It reminded Kuzon of Fire Nation festivals, like the Summer Solstice celebration, or the New Year, or even National Day.

The last one was new, but it was celebrated just the same. Firelord Sozin made sure that everyone had the most fun on National Day.

When they got to Yangchen's statue, Aang picked up some incense sticks and a few dumplings, and Kuzon grabbed a jar of water as Aang had told him to. It was so crowded around her statue, with everyone needing to make their own offerings and prayers before the party could real begin.

But when it began, it began.

Soon, the music was in full swing, people dancing and laughing and drinking, colored powdered filled the air, and the soft glow of firelight illuminated the night as darkness fell.

Kuzon was covered with orange and turquoise powder, laughing and smiling the entire time as Aang smacked him with the colors over and over again. Kuzon ran, and Aang chased him, throwing bits of flower petals and powder at him, hitting a few other people in the process. Not that they minded; they only laughed and shouted their encouragements.

Kuzon dashed through the legs of monks and nuns alike, and Aang chased right after him, until Kuzon came to a crowd of people he couldn't find any way around or through.

"Oh no!"

Aang jumped up and tackled Kuzon to the ground, laughing and shouting the entire time. Some of the adults cleared the way for them, while a few other kids jumped in on the action.

"Get him, Aang!"

"Don't take that from him, Jampa!"

"Hey, let him go! It's my turn!"

"You two are a mess!"

Aang felt a pair of hands around his arms, and he and Kuzon were lifted up into the air by a monk and a nun, both of them pulling the boys apart.

"Now, now, you two," said the nun.

"Be more careful with your play. You almost fell over the edge," the monk said, turning his head towards the edge of the courtyard.

Kuzon and Aang turned their heads to see just how close they had come to rolling right off the temple. Aang swallowed and laughed it off, but Kuzon was nearly mortified. His face paled and he felt sick to his stomach.

"I…we're sorry," Kuzon said in a monotone, "we won't…we'll be more careful from now on."

"See that you do," said the monk, and he and Aang were set back down.

Aang chuckled and elbowed Kuzon. "That was pretty close, huh?" he said with a broad smile.

"Yeah," Kuzon said quietly. "Let's…let's go somewhere else, okay?" Without waiting for an answer, Kuzon walked away, deeper into the courtyard, surrounded by people who were walking around in unpracticed, random dances.

Aang followed him, making his way past the chuckling monks and spinning nuns. He found Kuzon in the very center of the courtyard, right in the middle of a giant lotus flower engraving. Right in the center; the farthest away from the edge as possible.

"Hey, you okay?" Aang asked him.

Kuzon sat cross-legged in the middle, and Aang sat down with him.

"No. I almost died. If I were to go over the edge, I'd fall all the way down. Right down to the bottom. I'd be dead. That's some serious stuff," Kuzon said.

"Hey, you didn't though. And even if you did, I'd go and get you," Aang replied. "Trust me, you're in no danger. You won't go over the edge…or at least not fall to your death!"

"Thanks, that's really reassuring," Kuzon replied sarcastically. "But I'd really rather stay away from the edge. Do something here where it's safe."

"You can't just sit here for the entire festival! This is the best day of the entire year!" Aang said. "Come on, we'll go and find someplace else, but you have to party with us! You can't not party with us!"

Aang grabbed Kuzon's arm and forced him up, dragging him from the center of the courtyard and over bridges and staircases until he found a safe spot amongst the fenced patios overlooking the courtyards. Kuzon lightened up then, eating sweet dumplings and rolling around on the ground in his own kind of laughing dance.

All around them, the drums were playing loudly, and people were singing their chants, some loudly off-key, others as though they'd been practicing their whole lives for that one song. Aang and Kuzon tried to join in, but neither of them knew the words, so they settled for humming along with them, swaying back and forth trying to match the dance steps.

Kuzon closed his eyes and clapped his hands, Aang following suit.

"Come on, dance with us," said a young nun, grabbing Aang's and Kuzon's hands. She looked no older than seventeen, recently given her title, but still nervous and kid-like in the dance. "Come on, please, I don't wanna be the only one off-step."

Aang and Kuzon followed her into the thick of the dancing, dancing with her as best they could, humming along with her words as she tried to sing along with the others. She grabbed both of their hands and spun them around in the circle with her, until they were a human ring just going around and around and around with no other thought or care in the world.

The night wore on and Aang and Kuzon left the patio, searching for a calmer, quieter place.

Oddly enough, the calmest place was right around Yangchen's statue, where people talked quietly, barely danced except for the occasional swaying, and drank tea while sitting cross-legged and picking at a plate of food that they no longer had any appetite for.

Kuzon and Aang found a quiet spot among the people, sitting down cross-legged close to the edge of the courtyard, still in full view of the giant Yangchen statue, her eyes overseeing everything and everyone that sat before her. Aang looked up at her statue, an eerie sense of calm overtaking him.

"That Yangchen woman sure is important, isn't she?" Kuzon asked.

"Yeah. She was the last airbender Avatar. The whole entire world was at war when she was born, and she lived her entire life struggling to end the war. She did, and she was immortalized because of it," Aang replied.

"I didn't know that," Kuzon said. "How long ago was this?"

"Not entirely sure. Maybe a couple hundred?" Aang said. "Avatars live long lives, so who can be sure?"

"I'm sure someone here knows for certain," Kuzon said. "Everyone here seems really devoted to her."

"Yeah."

"Is she worshipped or something?" Kuzon asked.

"No. Not worshipped but remembered and honored. We don't really worship anything. That would be like severing our connection with everything, saying that someone or something worth worshipping is disconnected from us, when really they are a part of us," Aang explained.

"You sure know a lot for a kid," Kuzon said. "My sister couldn't even recite stuff like that, and she's been a Fire Sage for years."

"Well, we're just a spiritual kind of people, I guess," Aang said with a sheepish smile, rubbing the back of his bald head.

Seeing Aang do that made Kuzon touch his own head again. It wasn't feeling as weird anymore, but it would still take time to get used to it. And his head was still feeling cold, even with all the dancing and burning candles.

"Hey, Aang!" someone shouted.

They looked over to see a girl around their age walking over to them, carrying a bit tray of sweet custard and some leftover blue powder.

"Hey Ketu!" Aang said, waving her over to them.

She sat down and pushed the plate of custard over to them, picking up one and shoving it in her mouth. She looked at Kuzon and without swallowing she said, "You're Jampa, right?"

"Yeah, that's right," Kuzon said. "I'm Jampa."

"Nice to meet you. I'm Ketu. I've never see you around this temple before," she said.

"I'm from the Southern Air Temple. This is my first time here," he said. He glanced over at Aang and Aang winked at him. Perfect lie, flawless execution.

"How are you liking it so far?" Ketu asked.

"It's awesome. This festival is awesome!" Kuzon said. "Right Aang!"

"Absolutely!" Aang said, chowing down on one of the sweet custard tarts that she had brought over. "Best festival ever."

"Do you wanna come play with me and the other kids when we finish eating?" Ketu asked. "There aren't that many kids here, so I wanna recruit as many as possible."

"We'd love to!" Aang said before Kuzon could even think about objecting. "Wouldn't we, Ku–Jampa?"

"I don't know, Aang," Kuzon said. "It's getting late and I'm getting tired."

"You'll have plenty of time to sleep once the festival is over!" Ketu said, giving him her brightest and biggest smile. "Pleeeaaasseee! It'll be the most fun ever!" She pouted and gave them her best puppy-dog-moose eyes.

"Oh come on, Jampa," Aang said. "It'll be fun. Like she said, we'll have plenty of time to sleep once the festival is over!"

"Oh…alright," Kuzon said. "If she insists, I'd love to play with a bunch of kids. There's too many adults, here, anyway," he said, looking around at the throngs of quiet adults making small talk around Yangchen's statue. "Just let me finish this. It's delicious!"

Ketu lead them both over to a small group of children who were standing around one of the pavilions, near a fountain that was lit with a dozen candles and was sprinkling water out from the top. Kuzon got nervous when he saw that they were all showing off their airbending skills, each of them trying to outshine the other.

"Uh…Aang," Kuzon whispered, tugging on his friend's shirt.

"Hey guys!" Aang said, raising his arm to wave at them all.

"Hey!" they all said, running over to meet the three of them. "Ketu said she'd be back. I didn't think there were any more kids around this temple."

"I told you there were," Ketu said, sticking her tongue out.

"Yeah, yeah," they replied. "Now come on, you guys, we're all playing a game."

"Cool. What kind of game?" Aang asked.

"Uh…Aang," Kuzon tried again, tugging on his friend's shirt, but Aang walked into the thick of them and pulled his shirt from Kuzon's grasp.

"We're seeing who's got the best airbending move," said a boy. "So far, I've got the best."

"Well I hate to break it to you, but clearly I have the best," Aang replied. "I invented the air scooter, something no one's ever seen before!"

"So what?" the boy replied. "Just see if you can beat this!"

He walked towards the edge of the courtyard, got up on the tips of his toes, and started spinning around until he was lifted off the ground into his own personal tornado, then whipped the air from him, sending it spinning into the mist, sending the mist flying in a thousand different directions as the tornado spun around down, down, deeper into the canyon before disappearing.

"Ta-da!" shouted the boy, then took a bow as people started clapping.

"Oh, I can totally do better!" Aang told him.

Aang waved his arms in the air until a sphere of spiraling air formed in front of him. He hopped on top and took off around the temple, riding up and down the walls, along the ceiling, around the patios and courtyards, straight through the air and then over the ledge of the temple, hovering in midair as he gave the rest of the kids a cheeky grin and flew through the air on his air scooter before coming back and landing on his feet right in front of them.

"See if you can beat that!" Aang challenged.

"Oh, any one of us can fly through the air like that!" Ketu said.

To prove her point she ran towards the edge of the courtyard and leapt off, plummeting down towards the canyon floor. Everyone raced over to the ledge to watch her, watching her fall and fall until she finally airbent a spiral of air beneath her body, lifting her up higher and higher until she was level with the rest of them again. The kids stepped back to let her land again, and Ketu crossed her arms and said, "Who's next?"

"Jampa, let's see what you got!" said one of the older boys.

"Yeah, Jampa, what can you do?"

"I, uh, really can't do anything now. I'm tired and I just want to sit down," Kuzon said. "Really, I'm too tired to do any airbending."

"Too tired to airbend?" Ketu asked. "What have you been doing? Building temples with one arm?"

"No…just a lot of dancing," Kuzon replied.

"You don't look tired, though," another girl said, leaning in close to him. "Your eyes are still sharp! You probably just don't have that good of a move!"

"You caught me," Kuzon said. "I'm really bad at tricks and whatnot."

"Well, what better time to learn?" Ketu asked. "Come on, I'll teach you!"

Before Kuzon could even ask what she meant, she grabbed Kuzon by the waist and jumped off the ledge of the temple, hurdling them both down farther and farther into the canyon.

Kuzon screamed, the wind roaring in his ears as he saw the far away ground get closer and closer to him with every passing second. Ketu let go of him and pushed him away, saying, "Come on, just bend a bit of air in a spiral! You know how to do that right?"

"Nooooooo!" Kuzon shouted. "Aaaaaaannnnnggggg! Heeeellllllpppppp!"

"Kuzon!" Aang shouted after his friend as he and Ketu fell. "Hang on, I'm coming!" he screamed, and jumped off the ledge with him, chasing him down into the canyon and grabbing ahold of him.

"Aang!" Kuzon screamed in relief, grabbing ahold of Aang so tight that it nearly bruised him.

Aang airbent a spiral of air beneath the two of them, slowing and then stopping their fall downwards. Kuzon looked down at Ketu, who was sitting on her own spiral of air, looking up at the two of them curiously.

"Can you not airbend?" she shouted in disbelief.

Kuzon didn't say anything; just held onto Aang as tight as he could while Aang slowly lifted the two of them up, higher and higher, until they were level with the temple's patio again. Aang had to push Kuzon back onto the solid ground.

Kuzon fell onto all fours, his whole body shaking violently, and all he could do was numbly crawl away from the ledge. He was only halfway there when he ran into someone's legs. He looked up and saw the face of a nun staring down at him. He couldn't even feel ashamed or scared or embarrassed then; he was too busy shaking and crawling towards the center.

Aang walked up beside Kuzon and put a hand on his back.

"Hello, Nun Tien," Aang said.

"You have a lot of explaining to do, young airbender," she replied. "Tell me, is this boy an outsider?"