It's been over a century now since my people have seen or tasted the sky. We were hunted at the beginning of the war-the fire nation went from temple to temple. But what the fire nation had apparently forgotten, is that the balance of the world depends on all of the four elements. The balance and prosperity of our species depended on all four nations surviving, similarly. A great monk called Gyatso realized this, as well as did the beasts who guided us and taught us everything we knew. Monk Gyatso met with the great Badger-moles of old, the great sea serpents, the dragons, and of course the original sky bison spirit. Normally, these spirits would show themselves only to the avatar, but the world was in terrible danger, and the avatar had disappeared.

We had to hide. There were now too few of us compared to the fire nation's armies to fight without endangering our entire species. The badger-mole spirits of old proposed an idea that was necessary, but one my people hated. We, the people of the air, would be hidden underground, underneath a desert, for as many generations as it took for the avatar to return and restore peace to the world. The sea serpents offered their services in providing us fresh water with their bending, provided the badger moles could carve a path for them from the sea. The original sky bison spirit, our ever-lasting friend, reminded Gyatso of the sky bisons' loyalty, and said that while most of them would perish in the last fight for the only temple we had left, a select few would come underground with us, to save their species and to guide us, as was the pact.

The dragons were in a state of turmoil. For eons they had protected and guided the fire nation-and for the first time, that pact had been over-turned, and the fire nation had begun hunting them for sport. Never before had a nation betrayed their own animal guides like this. And while the dragons were loyal to the fire nation, they understood the need for balance the in world, for the good of all. The sky bison were big and strong, but not agile enough to survive the fire nation, who rode in on beasts quicker on the ground and more agile, shooting fireballs faster than the sky bison could dodge. It was then that a new pact was formed, and the dragons further acknowledged that they were creatures of both air and fire. The dragons would be bonded to the air nomads as they once had the fire nation, and offer their strength to protect us should our hiding place be found.

It has been a hundred years since that plan was put into action.

Avira, are you going to get up, or just lie in bed all day?

I groaned and rolled over in response to my dragon's mental prodding, futilely pretending to be asleep. Condor let out an amused snort, and a heavy paw clamped itself onto my side, firmly rocking me from side to side.

Oh, dear, what ever am I to do? It seems my beloved Avira is in a coma. Perhaps a firm licking will wake her up.

Instantly, I shot up, banging my head across Condor's chin.

"Ack! I'm up!"

The tongue of a dragon is not a pleasant thing to be beheld. It's extremely rough.

Miracles do happen. Conder said dryly, regarding me with amused yellow eyes. The firelight he had kept alive glowed brightly in the room, and gleaming off of his pearly white scales. I blinked, my eyes adjusting to the light, and taking in my surroundings. A large, dark furry fuzball attacked me.

"Apala!" I laughed, as the baby sky bison proceeded to rub me all over and push me out of bed.

I landed with a grunt onto the wooden floor.

"Thanks guys." I said sarcastically. Apala bleeped, and Condor let out a breath.

Get dressed.

"Right away, your bossiness." I muttered, walking over to my clothes cabinet and picking out the normal nomad attire, even though our people couldn't really be called nomads anymore.

I dressed quickly, stripping myself of my sleeping wear and throwing on the day clothes. I took a quick look at myself in the mirror and bound my brown hair into a hair tie, with the tatooed arrow showing proudly over the middle of my forehead, signifying that I had finished first level airbending class. That being done, I grabbed Condor's saddle from its rack on the wall and walked over, strapping it onto him with its dark blue pad-my sitting place was right over his shoulders, right in front of his neck. But instead of waiting for me to climb on, Condor charged through the large bamboo covered doorway, and with a loud flap, went airborne, without me.

You'll have to fly yourself!

"Gee thanks!" I called, going to my bedside and grabbing my mahogany wooded glider. Before I turned, I heard Apala let out a loud call and launched herself out as well. With a sigh, I stepped through the bamboo doorway and stood on the ledge of my room's entrance, taking in my surroundings for a moment.

Glowing chrystals lit our ten-mile area brightly, so you could see the pool of water, the trees, and grasses far below. To the east was another tall tower-the other dorm section. Directly in front of me, about eight miles away, was the main training temple, where the masters lived. Basically, I lived in an earth bowl.

I looked to the west, where Condor was banking around in circles, waiting for me. Today, we would once again venture out in search of-well, something interesting. We were the only ones up-we had to get up extremely early in order to leave without being seen. Most would just assume we were sleeping in my room, and on our days off, most knew better than to interrupt mine or Condor's sleeping. And now, baby Apala was feared as well for her horrible waking up temperament. We were such a bad influence.

With a deep breath, I launched myself off the ledge. Gravity gripped me fiercely, until I exhaled, and a gust of wind opened my glider. The dark red fabric caught the still air, and with my breath and mind, I manipulated it, charging after Condor's ghostly white form in the darkness, seeing Apala struggling as well to catch up to the dragon, her white markings the only give-away. But-it wasn't really something we had to be terribly worried about. A hundred years underground had severely depleted many of us of much of our sight. About a quarter of the nation was blind, and with every group of births more were born blind. Our bison, and flying lemurs, and the few other species that had been rescued were suffering the same slow fate. It...wasn't something any of us living down here wanted to think about.

It was a few minutes before all three of us dipped down, flying as close to the ground as we could get. And it was well we did-there was one other dragon in this particular airbending school-Kwarak, dragon of the monk Wyad-and he was much larger than Condor. Condor had hatched and crawled to my side only five years ago. Kwarak was almost eighty. His sleeping quarters was up above us. He would definitely notice us flying over him-under him, not so much.

A gust of wind signaled another bender, and I blew some air at one of the wings of my glider at an angle, wheeling around. I let out a sigh of relief as I circled-a familiar bald face gleamed mischieviously as he rose up next to me.

"Another nightly outing?" O'rong asked, bending the air so his words reached me and didn't echo across the area.

"Of course. Today's our day off," I replied. Dipping closer, I asked, "Can you cover for us?"

"Absolutely. On one condition-you have to hang out with me and Ying when you get back."

"Deal," I said, and we swerved off in our different paths.

Condor and I exchanged a glance as I neared, and without warning, Condor grabbed Apala in his talons and shot straight up, disappearing into a tunnel rarely used. I took a deep breath, and exhaled sharply, bending the wind abruptly against the lower part of the wings of my glider, the momentum carrying me straight up as well. With a little push of air, I closed my glider and landed softly into the archway of the tunnel, hurrying in before I was seen.

"So where to?" I asked as we came to the familliar three branches of the tunnel.

That one leads to the capital...Condor gestured to the far left one.

"We've gone to the capital far too many times already." I said, the idea already boring me. I looked to the one on the far right.

"We could go to the scroll cavern...and cause some ruckus again," I threw in the air, a smile touching my face as I remembered the chaos that Condor and I had caused a few months ago on a particularly boring day. Scrolls had scattered all down the halls from our sudden, accidental wind gusts. Across thirty miles of tunnels. Ahh, fond memories.

Condor blew out.

That prank's old.

Gingerly, we looked down the tunnel we were both loath to go down. We stared at it for a few moments, until a scrabbling sound caught our attention. I turned, and saw Apala scratching her paws at the side of the wall.

"Apala-stop. You're not a badger-mole."

The black flying bison fledgling bleeped and turned, slamming her tail against the still air. Immediately, the side she was digging out imploded.

Apala! Condor chided, showing his teeth. Apala wheeled about and growled back at him-which was rather hilarious, similar to a worm-mouse staring down a wolf-bat.

"Uh guys?" I started, trying to get their attention. No luck. Dragon and flying bison continued to growl at each other insidiously.

Sighing, I reached up to try to fix the dark hole-only to fall through, onto soft ground. I blinked and looked forward, realizing that I had fallen onto an incline. Apala had uncovered another passageway. Strangely though, there were no glowing earth-chrystals here to light the path.

Still, I lept forward at the new challenge.

"It's a new tunnel!" I cried, cutting off both growls. Excited, I felt along the sides of it, using my energy to send air out away from my fingertips. There were parts where the air recoiled back, as it would in a solid tunnel, but there were parts here and there where air met open air. I readied my stance.

Avira, I don't think that-

Ignoring Condor's warning, I twirled in a quick, energetic step, feeling the air around me and then pushing it with my hands. With a rumble, the passageway became a large tunnel, the excess dirt and debree piling on the floor. Apala bounded in with a huff, despite the looming darkness. I turned to Condor.

"Now, don't tell me the mighty white Condor is afraid of a little dark."

Condor's eyes narrowed, and arching his neck, he pushed past me with a decisive flick of his tail. I watched as the darkness swallowed his large bulk whole, laughing a little. Then I realized something.

"Uhh-guys? Don't leave me behind!"

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"I'm beginning to think this maybe wasn't such a great idea."

Was that before, or after we got lost? Condor said dryly. My hand had found its way to his wing joint, and Apala was walking extremely close to my left hip, her fur brushing me every step of the way.

"Can you please blow some fire again? I can't see anything, and I'm closed in on all sides. It's a little un-nerving."

And you suppose for me, a being of both air and fire, it gets any better?

None the less, a large stream of fire erupted from Condor's jaws, allowing us a few seconds of light.

And new hope.

"Hey! Look! I think we finally found the exit!" I exclaimed, rushing forward just as Condor shut his jaws. Tripped over a rock in the process of course. By instinct, I blew out and pushed myself back to my feet with air bending.

"More fire, please!" I exclaimed. Condor let out a low, annoyed growl, which was abruptly cut off by a loud bleep from Apala.

Fine.

I had two seconds to push the air out in front of me in a sort of shield before flames engulfed me.

"Hey!" I snapped as all went black. Condor let out a coughing laugh, and a moment later, a soft glow filled the tunnel.

Is this better, perhaps?

I glared at him, noting the small fire simply roaring in his mouth as a simple cavern fire would.

"Yes, you sarcastic sack of scales and feathers."

I kept the glare fully on my face, expecting him to shut his maw at that comment-but he didn't.

A door!

"Yes. A door." I replied.

It's one of those multi-bending doors. Fire I can provide, obviously. And Apala and you can provide air-but what of earth?

I rolled my eyes.

"How many times do I have to demonstrate it? Faking earth bending is easy when you're an air bender," I said, with a bit of pride, as I threw my energy from my hands and created a small wind that scooped up a piece of the softer dirt. I juggled it from hand to hand using the air, smug. Condor coughed.

"AHH! It's on fire! My dirt's on fire!" I cried, panicking and chucking it at the dragon's face.

That earned me a roar in my face.

"Ow! Now I'm dea-

I was slammed against the side of the tunnel. I blinked to see Apala mustering a tiny roar at Condor. Condor and I exchanged a glance.

"Yes, ma'am."

Alright.

The three of us turned to the door-a large, metal door. There was one long horn like tube on both sides-one for fire, one for air. In the middle, the door compressed to form a bowl like cylinder-for earth bending.

"Whatever's behind there must be pretty important." I noted. I turned to my two comrades.

"Alright-let's get this over with."

Condor stretched his neck over to the fire tube, while Apala padded over to the air-bending tube. They both looked over to me expectantly.

With a downward thrust, I brought together all the loose dirt I could. Which wasn't much. Still, at least it was something.

I inhaled, gathering air under the dirt pile, and manipulated it, moving my hands in a circular motion. Sloppily, but slowly, I managed to lift a swirling mass of both dirt and air towards the center of the door.

"One-

Two.

Apala finished the third by blowing into her tube impatiently. Condor extended fire into his, and with a big effort, I chucked the mount of swirling dirt and air at the center. We all stopped, and held our breath.

For a moment, I was afraid it wasn't going to work. And then, like magic, the two tubes shifted, and the one door split into two.

"Do we push it?" I asked awkwardly. If dragons could roll their eyes, Condor would've. Both he and Apala barreled past me, throwing themselves through the doors, which erupted into light brighter than I'd ever experienced.

I found myself curling up into a ball, shielding my eyes. Apala's distressed cries sounded somewhere off to the left of me.

"What the hell is that?"

We're...I think we've found our way above ground.