A Fresh Wind

It is important to say that no-one is really sure when or where the next Avatar will be born after the previous one dies. It was thought that it could take a few years for the next Avatar to be born, though modern times have proven this ancient thought wrong. When Avatar Aang vanished (since he never died in the ice,) it was thought the Avatar could not re-appear in humans, due to being trapped trying to reincarnate into the dead Air Nomads. This idea was thrown out once he re-appeared towards the end of the Hundred Year War. Before that it was thought the Avatar could not stay dead for more than ten years. Now it is known the reincarnation process really takes place in less than a month of time. With the death of the last Avatar, Avatar Aang, hero of the Hundred Year War, at the age of 54 in the year 153 AG (After Genocide), The Order of the White Lotus set out immediately to find the new Avatar. It took them four years to find Avatar Korra despite all their resources, intelligence, and man-power.

This is where I come in. I was the village orphan in my town, a little place in the northern Earth Kingdom. No-one in that nameless little town knew where I came from or who I belonged to. They didn't know if my parents were dead, or if I had simply been abandoned. The history of the village was that it was a small but functional slum built around a temporary mining camp that'd struck big. The valley the town was situated in rested between two mountains, halfway up their base. Several deep shafts into the northern mountain ranges were the life blood of the town, pulling heaps of ore out of the mine at the end of every month. The people were hearty and stony earth kingdom citizens, mostly regular people with a small sprinkling of Earthbenders. Their ore sold to the rest of the world, if not for its quality, then for its low cost quantity. It was the year 156 AG. At the time I was four years old. My next birthday would be in the late Fall, and it was the middle of Summer when I stumbled upon the town, so it might be more accurate to say I was almost five. It was early Autumn when the Order of the White Lotus arrived.

The Order of the White Lotus had come to this little town for me. Their intel was sketchy at best. They might have been looking at the new Avatar, or they might've been looking at a bogus rumor that'd been unusually well traveled. They could even have been dealing with a clever fraud, as far as they knew. But with the news they did have, the Order couldn't have ignored what they'd heard. Reports of Airbending. If it hadn't been the fact their informant had so much sway with the Order they probably would never have bothered to come to the remote little mountain town. However, since their informant was Toph, Hero of the Hundred Year War, the Order was perfectly content to listen to any demands Toph made of them. And that is why a three man mixed bender team was dispatched on Toph's request to that quaint little mining town with no name in the year 156 AG.

Simply put, (since I only remember the incident itself in the exciting moments) I never stood a chance. My five year old self had jumped my way up on top of a building with some stolen food. I'd been harassing the village for a few months now, using my Airbending to survive and steal food. The townspeople, rural earth kingdom yokel with little contact with the outside world, had fared no luck in catching me. The day the Order arrived would be different. I remember some of the early events very vaguely. Three weird old guys in blue and white cloaks had been brought to the scene where the townspeople had been gawking at me. As a young four year old, I had a decent idea of who lived in the town, and aside from the new person, a blind old blind lady who sometimes tried to talk to me, I knew how everyone reacted to me. The three old guys were different, foreign, but not too something to get worked up about. I'd leapt and climbed up onto the town hall roof with my stolen food, chased by several earth kingdom men and women. They might've been mad and beaten me, or they might simply have been trying to catch me so they could take care of me better. I can't remember which was more likely, though I like to think (against my better (more cynical) judgment) that they were mostly concerned with my lack of shoes and shirt. The Order of the White Lotus operatives stuck around after the other people had left, discouraged by my lack of response to them. The townies knew by then that chasing me was useless. I could evade anyone in their village. A few times they'd gotten one or two of the Earth benders to try and catch me, but not even they could get close enough to nab me. As it was, the townspeople gave up quickly by then, and when there was a lack of noise, I barely noticed I was still being watched by the blue cloaked Lotus men.

I remember that I did not yet know the common language, so I had no idea what anyone was saying. To my young ears the screaming and yelling of the people I surprised with my Airbending was always too loud. The surprised yelling of the people would make me run to avoid the noise. Due to my sensitive ears (part young age, part Airbending sound sensitivity) and my mostly fearful instinct, I reacted from yelling by gaining the high ground and running on rooftops, where people could not catch me. I knew even back then (in a childlike sort of way) that stealing was wrong, but I couldn't understand the people and took what I needed when I was hungry.

This time was different, of course, the Order of the White Lotus wasn't about to give up like the townies just because I could climb and jump roofs. After the small mob of house wives left, the old men approached the building and yelled up at the lip of the roof I was on. I'd first, in reaction to their calls, I'd hidden behind the roof. (Because if they couldn't see me then they had no reason to keep yelling; flawless child logic.) When they eventually lost interest (The townies always did, so why would the funny men be any different, right?) then I could leave and go find more food, or slip into the forest to play.

Except the Order members hadn't stopped yelling up at me even an hour later, so I relocated to another roof as slyly as I could. When they followed me, I leapt around and tried to outrun them. I knew if they lost sight of me for long enough, they'd quit trying to follow me. However, I was young and not very good with plans, so I somehow managed to eventually cornered myself near the edge of town with no roofs left to run on. They followed me doggedly all the way out even as the locals went about their daily lives. The sturdy new mining supply shed I'd landed on wasn't lived in, and so the three men took up posts around it to keep me from fleeing. Young me had decided to simply wait them out again, or slip off into the night if they refused to leave. I knew that the nights were getting colder all the time, and I had a childish inkling that they'd leave or freeze during the freezing night. They weren't like me or other Airbenders after all, who could stand the cold temperatures better.

I'd been waiting for the three blue guys to leave when I was picked up by my armpits. I remember I was so surprised that I didn't even struggle right away. I'd probably slipped into sleep daze, trying to wait them out. The hands holding me belonged to an old lady with the white eyes. She was dressed in metal, which aside from being weird, meant she shouldn't have been able to sneak up on me. This was the old lady who was new in town, the one who tried to talk to me when she saw me. She'd previously given me food sometimes, but I remember being wary about her at the time. Her eyes scared me when I was young. The memory gets a little more vivid after that. The old lady jumped off the tall shed roof, hit the ground without bothering to bend it. The ground cracked like an egg shell around her. Young me began crying, because the fall was scary. Even by then I'd fallen plenty, hurting myself several times. My newest methods of Airbending could protect me, but the sheer fall had scared me witless when I couldn't escape the old lady. I tried telling her to put me down, but she didn't listen to me (Understandable, considering I was speaking an ancient air dialect and was still a mostly incomprehensible four and three-quarter year old). In fact, the Order men and Toph had been a bit surprised that I could talk, since they thought I was some wild child.

In my little head, I'd given them fair warning. So when negotiations didn't work, I tried to escape. I blew an air funnel into the old ladies' face. Her mouth stretched out all funny, but she didn't let go. Her grip was like metal on my arms. One of the blue cloaked men passed out. That been funny to me, young as I was, and I remember I laughed at him, distracted from my escape attempt. Another blue guy took his funny pointed white cap off and clutched it to his chest, and started muttering something reverently at the sky. (It is now apparent to me that he was probably praising the spirits. I was quite the find. Then however, it made no sense to little-me.) The third blue guy stared at me. The old lady said something to the muttering guy, and he put his hat back on funny and hauled the fallen guy up. The old lady turned me to face her, and said something I didn't understand in words. The meaning was pretty clear however, 'no more funny business'.

I remember nodding, and the old lady had glared at me for another few seconds. To little me, Toph had been terrifying. Now, I can't quite describe why, there is nothing inherently terrifying about Toph unless she's angry with you. At the time, I was scared even even without seeing her bend full-scale. This was also the first time I'd seen the old lady wearing metal armor, maybe that had something to do with it. Something about her aura was hard and sharp, and I didn't want to upset her. She didn't seem the sort to go easy on me just because of my age. If she wanted me to do something, I would do it, with all the haste and respect as if a Temple Elder had asked me to. Now-a-days I understand this attitude to be one of my wisest moves of all time. Do not tick off Toph. 'Course, she wouldn't have really hurt me, probably just done something that seemed horrible to a young four year old, like wrapping my young Airbender feet in rock shoes. That would have been horrible, and probably would have made me cry something awful. I loved running and playing, and I needed movement to escape the threats of the wild. I can hardly think of a worse fate even now, and Toph could have walked me all the way down the mountain with rock shoes if she'd wanted to.

The old lady gave me to the third member of the blue cloaks, the guy who hadn't done anything silly. The old guy had a tight grip on me, but I wasn't tempted to run. I remember in the dead of night we walked out of town and down the mountain side on a trail the old lady bent as she walked. The light of the moon and stars gave those of us with vision plenty of light to see by. We kept walking until the moon was directly overhead. I remember the three guys had started to complain, especially the one I'd been handed to. (Somehow it'd turned into a piggyback ride. I forget how.) Toph finally relented and we all found a clearing. She stomped and flattened the ground in a single Earthbending move, and the men set up camp with the ease of professionals. I remember I fell asleep looking into the fire the Firebender whipped up.

The next day I woke up early in the morning. I went into the woods, found some berries and nuts and had myself an early breakfast. Another wise move, young me didn't even think about trying to run away. We were far away from civilization, and the north was getting colder by the day. These people hadn't tried to hurt me, and they seemed nice company. (Though I relent at the time I probably stuck with them because they amused me more than anything. That and I already liked and respected Toph, and she'd given me food before. Positive reinforcement, right? There was something about her that commanded respect even before I knew her name as anything else than 'small old lady'.). When I returned to the camp Toph was yelling and railing into the terrified Lotus operatives. It was such a funny sight that I laughed at them. The old lady 'looked' at me and then shrugged before stomp bending a bunch of rock spikes back into the ground. (Surely she wouldn't have really hurt them for their perceived incompetence, but Toph has funny ideas about discipline.) I remember that day the three blue cloaked guys kept a much closer eye on me. One of them would always be nearby me for the rest of the four days we spent hoofing it through nature. The old lady led us on a hard pace, and we stopped for breaks only when I was hungry, or needed a break or nap.

Eventually we made it into a 'big place' (a small city within the outer circle of proper civilization in the Earth Kingdom), where there were lots of people. I remember I made the old lady hold my hand as we walked. I was scared I'd lose her in the tide of people. We did end up losing one of the blue cloaked guys for a little while, and the other two had to look for him. I wasn't afraid of the 'old lady' any more by that point. She was grumpy, but was grumpier at the other three than me. Sometimes she smiled, like when I'd air blasted our blond haired Lotus member to wake him up the day before. I remember I spent a long time on a park bench with Toph as we waited. She was speaking at me, teaching me her language, though my young mind took a while to figure that out. She would point at something and say a word, which she would have me repeat. I 'learned' her name. She was 'Tuff, though mentally I kept calling her old lady. I picked up her lessons quickly, and she was less grumpy by the time our three blue men showed up again. The one we'd lost looked silly and dirty, so I laughed at him, and he was vaguely ashamed. (How could we have even lost a master Earthbender with as much training as a White Lotus member?) I remember I was disappointed we had to stop talking, but to my surprise we stayed there on the park bench for hours. One of the blue guys (not the dirty blond Earthbender) went away for a while and then came back with food. I was happy to be talking so much; normally I was alone except for all the funny animals and garden children.

I remember I fell asleep. When I woke up I was being carried by one of the blue men. He was talking to the old lady, my new friend. We were standing in a strange place while she was outside on the road. She waved at us with a hand, and though I didn't know what it meant, I waved back sleepily. My memory was pretty fuzzy after that, I wasn't done sleeping. When I came to properly, I cried when I realized we'd left behind the old lady behind. I tried to escape so I could go get her, but the blue men thwarted my efforts. I got pretty angry with them. By the time I realized we were moving over land in a magic box, the one who had gotten lost and dirty and the talkative one that had fallen when we met were sporting new bruises. (The quiet one who looked at me all the time, the Waterbender, was my favorite, and had been spared. He'd been holding me.)

When I was distracted by the magic box, I watched the scenery fly by, and I kept pointing at it to the three blue men. The two but my favorite were grumpy with me, but eventually they got over it and became properly amazed at the magic box. The quite one had been working on something with cold water. A while later, he showed me a strange thing. It had wheels and rolled on the table. It was only after we got off the train and I could see it properly that I realized he'd been trying to tell me we were inside the train. I don't remember how many days we traveled, but I know it was several. We would get off the train, move through crowds of people (I would piggyback on the Waterbender, my favorite White Lotus Member), then we would get on another train and ride for a long time. I tried to be on my best behavior, in case that made the old lady come back. At every stop I tried to look at all the people to see if she was there.

On the final day we came to a new place. It was my first time seeing the ocean, and I promptly scared the hell out of my bodyguards. The sight of the ocean was enough to break my decision to be good. I slipped out of their arms and spent the first part of the day trying to find something tall that I would climb. Once I was up high I'd jump as high as I could to try and see the end of the ocean from high up. When I tired of that, I finally went back down to my guards. They kept trying to use earth and Waterbending to catch me. (The guard that had gotten lost was our Earthbender, the quiet one with black hair and dark skin was our Waterbender, and the old and grumpy man was our Firebender. The Earthbender had been the one who'd fainted when he'd first seen my Airbending, and the Firebender had been the guy who'd taken his hat off and started thanking spirits.)

I was still determined to see how big the ocean was though. They just didn't know that I wasn't done. I made a break from them and started running. Reaching the shore, I picked a direction and began running. The water bender jumped on the ocean and water skated after me. I was interested in how he was doing that, but it wasn't enough to deter me from finding how long the shore was. I grew tired soon enough though, and the water bender caught me. By the time we got back to the port town the four of us were drop dead tired. We got onto a boat (If I'd have had the energy I probably would have realized that this was not something I would have wanted) and I fell asleep pretty quick.

The next day I explored the boat. (And 'played' hide-and-seek with my three guards. It wasn't my fault they didn't know that.) The boat was a big thing, with lots of people doing things all over it. They were all so fascinating. I understand now that the Order of the White Lotus must've pulled some strings to get us onto a cargo shipping boat that would normally not have taken passengers. I was very careful to stay out of the way since sometimes adults would get mad if you were in their way. I spent most of the day watching them work, my young brain unable to put all their jobs together into what they were all actually doing. We never left sight of the shore. A few days at sea (playing one long game of hide and seek with the blue men) later and the shipping barge stopped in port and let us off.

That night at the inn, I got my first look at a world map. I figured out what it was pretty quick, mentally comparing it to the map wall in the Northern Air Temple. The Lotus men had lots of maps that I rifled through under their watchful eye. Our journey had taken us from middle of a huge mountain range to civilization. We'd walked all the way east to get into the big circle city (Ba-sing-se) that had tram cars running in it (this was the place with the park bench I remembered fondly), and then gone north to the shipping port city by train. Now we were headed west, using boats along the northern coast of the continent. The Firebender pointed to a section of the map, where we must be going. It was a lighter color than the brown area we'd been in, a creamy white. There were lots of tall, steep mountains. I recognized it as one of the Air Temples and was elated to find out this information. They were taking me to my people! I thought I'd lost them! The food burst into smoke on the cooking fire and the Waterbender shrieked in alarm, which although funny, also hurt my ears. The Firebender rushed over to the food and pulled it off the fire. Little me was alarmed that he stuck his hands straight into the flame.

I was aware that I'd burnt my left hand once pretty bad, and I was scared that the Firebender had hurt himself. None of them seemed to understand my concern, but they let me look over both the Firebender's hands for where he hurt himself until he eventually decided he needed his hands back. I didn't understand yet the sort of resistances that being a bender granted you towards your element, though I attribute that moment as the start of my theories and sciences. The old Firebender ate the burnt food with gusto, and the water bender steamed us three some quick white rice from their supplies.

In the morning the mist was thick, and I enjoyed playing with the air. The chill didn't bother the Waterbender or I, but the Firebender was grumpy. The Earthbender bundled up in clothes under his recognizable blue cloak. The Firebender kept blowing fire from his mouth and breathing on his hands, which I though looked funny. We got on another ship, this one a real passenger ship. It was much smaller, and had less people running about, but all of them were in blue cloaks! I was scared I was going to lose my three among the others and never find them again, but they stayed with me. A stern old man with a white beard showed up and tried to ask me questions. I proudly told him all the words Toph had taught me (along with some I'd picked up from my blue men. (I proudly cussed that hell out of a confused senior member of the Order of the White Lotus~.) My blue men had very naughty language. How was it my fault I greatly enjoyed what they'd taught me?) After that the operatives told the senior member of our journey and all that had occurred. They got chewed out pretty bad, but I kept yelling 'no, bad motherfucker' at the old Lotus man, so they all things worked out my way in the end, and I got to keep my order men a while longer. All was good.

The ship sailed west for a long time, and a chill set in. It was becoming Autumn, my favorite time of year. Eventually I wandered off from my order men, my attention span thoroughly spent by the talking I couldn't understand. The cold didn't bother me, so I went to the side of the boat and played with the mist. I accidentally gathered a crowd, which I didn't notice until my Firebender grabbed my shoulder during one Airbender push. Realizing I had so many people watching me was a little startling. They all seemed amazed at the airbending, but I didn't understand yet why. Instead I was just shy, influenced by my history of staying out of sight of adults.

I spent the rest of the day eating and sleeping. The blue cloaked order was perfectly content to feed me, and I desperately needed the weight. I wanted to stuff my face, but my Earthbender kept making me slow down and eat properly, in the way he showed me with two little sticks. It was fun using the sticks to eat, like a game, but since it was still something new to me I wasn't very good with them. I kept shoving my mouth with rice when he wasn't looking to make up for the slow pace with the 'chop-sticks'.

We kept sailing for what felt like forever. When we finally hit land, I'd learned about the personal habits of every man on board, knew every inch of the ship, had learned the names of almost all the food and activities the sailors were doing, I had learned several new bending tricks (seeing mist is greatly helpful to young Airbenders because it allows you to visualize the air, especially helpful to youngsters who have not yet learned how to properly feel the movement of the wind. Because Airbending is entirely invisible, young monks like me are taught in the early morning mist what our powers look like.), and driven nearly everyone mad with my constant running to and fro and poking my nose into everything and everywhere. It might not seem exciting or important, but this was the first time I'd ever been so happy in a long time. Not even my animal friends and the garden children had been so much fun.

I wasn't sad to see them go however. I'd grown tired of the staring and the boat quickly and there was something about the cloaks that made trying to get to know them weird, like they were all trying their hardest to be secretive. I know now of course that the Order is secretive, and had long existed as a secret order. The little things they did that I spotted were all habits they'd formed from being in the order. No-one new (and potentially untrustworthy) had been allowed on the boat ride with such a valuable 'secret' cargo. I'd gotten a top of the line crew of the most trustworthy, benders-only crew amassed by the Order in thirty years. As such, being so out and in the open had made the crew act plenty weird, compounded by me bothering them- well, we were all happy to arrive.

We made shore at the island on the map. The mist seemed to go on in every direction by that point. But I could see the mountains. They filled me with a sense of excitement. I wanted to explore every inch of them. The Order of the White Lotus had/have a secret base there in the western mountains, north of the Western Air Temple. I was a little dismayed to see so many blue and white cloaks in one place. I'd grown tired of the combination. I and my blue men spent the night in the base. Late at night, we went out into the night air to see the stars. The stars were different from where I normally lived, and I was alarmed to see the celestial objects had moved without the change of the seasons. I hadn't figured out yet that my location was the reason for the change, since we'd all moved so far west.

I fell asleep up there, and one of my nameless guards moved me into a bed. I was shaken awake in the morning by my Firebender, looking unusually stern. We slipped through the mostly underground base before coming out to a courtyard. Three people in funny orange robes were waiting for me. I was still really sleepy. I let the orange bald people examine me. They all seemed concerned with how skinny I was. They gave me an Air Nomad tunic and clothes, and I accepted it easily and without incident, slipping into the clothes I'd known my whole life with ease. Despite all the poking and prodding, I was still so sleepy. I let the three benders (my three benders) say goodbye to me, though I didn't realize what they were doing. The Earthbender, a rough and brusque man that he was, gave me a big smile and handed me over to his friends. The Firebender laughed and shook my little hand when I looked up at him sleepily. He babbled to me, but I had no idea what he was saying, though everyone looked amused at him. The Waterbender knelt down and tapped at my shoulder. I turned and he handed me a little round thing. It was a tile with the white lotus on it. It looked hand carved.

I admit I was so sleepy I didn't notice the big fluffy thing in the room until it had trundled over and sniffed me. I became aware of it when it sniffed my hair, breathing so big and massive I could feel the whole room's air shifting. Now- try to understand. I'd never met anything as big as a sky bison. Never. Never even imagined something that big. Until we were at least six years old, Northern Air Temple children were kept away from the sky bison pens. Northern bison were grumpier and less forgiving than any other breed, and so we children were simply never to know they existed until it was time to let us know. And to a little four year old, it was so big it seemed to scrape the ceiling with its horns. Not only that, it was a big bull of a sky bison, larger than any other bison I've seen since. I turned around in time to see the sky bison inhale some of my scent and spotted teeth, huge things each the size of my head. And it's tongue! That was larger than even me. I screamed and cried. I was just a little kid, don't laugh! Okay, fine, laugh, it was just a sky bison happy to see a new person and I was admittedly pretty silly for thinking it was going to eat me. The incident put me off sky bison a tiny bit for a long time though. It might not have helped all three of my guards laughed themselves to hysterics seeing an Airbender child scared of a Sky Bison. The bison stood for them laughing at me until it figured out it'd upset me, at which point it bowled the three over with its breath.

I would say that it served them right, but that's a little unkind. They'd put up with me being a right hellion at them the whole time since Toph left to wander around and teach Metalbending/world walk/escape the memories of young air children. Instead I eventually calmed down and they got me to pet the sky bison, He put himself on his best behavior so not to upset me again. The three fanatic's Air Acolytes fussed over me and eventually loaded me up. I was scared to be in the saddle until my Firebender climbed up with me to assure me it was safe. Then he pulled a dirty trick and dove off the side once the bison started moving. I didn't even notice he was gone until we were in the air. The bison walked out the big door-less hole where he'd come through onto a balcony, and he took off with me and the three Acolytes aboard.

There's a lot to say about what happened next, so I'll summarize a little. I had a fit when I discovered I'd lost my blue men, and then decided I didn't like the three not-Air Nomad pretenders when they tried to calm me down. The bison flew for an hour or so, which I spent the entire time glaring evil at the untrustworthy orange men who looked and acted so much like monks but weren't. We arrived at the Western Air Temple, and I promptly ditched the Acolytes. Over the next half week I explored the upside down monastery, evaded my benefactors, discovered three secret rooms, had a strange spiritual enlightenment session in the echoes room, played with the echoes in the echo room, and taught myself more about Airbending from paintings on walls. I cared little about the Air Acolytes. They were trying their best to keep me from doing foolish things, but I wanted to do all the foolish things. (I of course, was winning, being the Airbender in the Airbender temple.)

The Western Air Temple is the largest of the four ancient Air Temples, and somehow also the most boring in my opinion. There were so many empty rooms. Despite my best efforts, it seemed I'd uncovered all the secrets by the time I'd been there for a week. The only things that could reliably find me were the sky bison. Otherwise I considered myself on the LAM from the grabby hands of the not-Air Nomad Air Acolytes. I spent days away from them and their traps to catch me. It helped the temple was full of unguarded food. I didn't understand that as soon as they understood they'd lost me in the temple they'd left food everywhere. My well trained thieving impulses kept me well fed. In my childish happiness to have food on my exploration of the Temple I never questioned where it all came from.

Finding clean drinking water was easy. There were so many fountains (Most were boring, with no secrets, except for that one that had an Airbending instructional painting in the basin.) I learned to use Airbending to direct the water around with wind, floating water from fountain to fountain. I wouldn't understand the significance of this skill until much later. Instead, I reluctantly admitted to myself that I'd discovered everything after being there for a week and three days. I went back to the acolytes. I showed them my discoveries. The Air Acolytes rewarded me richly with candies, the best treasure in the world.

Finally I met the man who would shape my life. His name was Tenzin, as it got through to me after we caveman pointed it out. He asked my name, and I told him Kaldan. I almost hadn't remembered. It'd been ages since I'd heard it spoken. Kaldan. I was Kaldan. I wouldn't dare let myself forget it again.

I decided quickly Tenzin was weird. He watched me. Everything I did. He seemed enamored with me. Everywhere I went, he was always a step behind, simply watching and observing. It went on like that for two days. I got tired of him following me quickly, but no matter what I did he couldn't shake him. It was the weirdest thing, even when I dodged into Airbender-only places where the Acolytes couldn't go, he could follow me. Finally I got angry at my shadow and tried to Airbend at him. Nothing worked. Everyone one of my tricks failed, even the newer stuff. I will not tell you how much that scared me.

Now, Tenzin is not a frightening man. He was awkward in a strange, almost alien sort of way, sure, but not really frightening. He wears bright oranges and russet reds, and he has that ridiculous beard and mustache. It was a little less magnificent fifteen years ago, seeing as he was only thirty seven at the time instead of the modern fifty one. But despite all that, I'd never been so terrified. Only my first encounter with the bull Sky Bison had had any similar effect. I'd never had a threat or problem that I could not either evade or scare off with my invisible Airbending magic. Now here was someone that didn't care about my Airbending that could also follow me. Being a thief had instilled powerful instinct about the importance of being able to get away from people. Before that, after leaving the guarden, I'd learned the animals of the world were dangerous, and sometimes they followed me until I ran so far away from them they couldn't find me anymore. My time as a wild child before finding the town had taught me the importance of being able to fight off or flee from things that followed me.

I didn't break down and cry, I got panicked and stupid, and worst of all, I got desperate. I blasted Tenzin with air, accidently harnessing the natural winds of the air current in the halls. I don't have the raw power Tenzin does; I'm not the son of the Avatar. I'm not as well trained or all that good a fighter even, and to top it off, I was a five year old kid at the time. But the Western Air Temple is full of wind. It winds and coils through every room, whistling through the whole complex. Wind rushes by below the edge of the cliff, air sweeps through the rooms. In my travels I'd found that there was a constant circulation of air through the temple. It reached from one end to the other before turning in another air current to return. This room in the echoes room was close by one of the ends of the Temple, and the wind was strong and fast here. Tapping this natural force on accident allowed me to throw around wind much stronger than I.

Blasting Tenzin with all that air was the most power I'd ever thrown around in my young life. Tenzin was a trained Airbender. He knew that when meeting a superior force, you don't try and meet it head on like an Earthbender, you move out of the way and circle in from behind. But I was throwing around far more wind than I could manage. The scene is always fresh in my mind as what was potentially the most dangerous moment of my life before meeting the Avatar. I blasted Tenzin with everything the temple could give me. He redirected a little wind to knock the current aside so he could slip by, just as any airbender would've done. He knew he had to try and take me out of the current, where I was directing it. So he leapt over at me.

I lost my footing and went straight into the air, and all that air in the current I'd just sped up to maximum speed swept me straight through two rooms in the temple, ripping me away from Tenzin and right off the side of the temple into the mist below. I myself was also battered by the ferocious wind. Falling, I remember everything hurt, I was out of breath, and I couldn't tell up from down with all the spinning. However, sheer luck saved me and I landed in a pool of water in the depths of the canyon the Western Air Temple hangs in. The pool was deep and I had no idea where up was. I was down there for half a minute before I followed the bubbles going by my face and surfaced.

It took me a while to get back up to the temple. Not even Airbenders possess true flight, and I had to climb a sheer rock wall almost the whole way up. To get up I had to leap from spot to spot, clinging to hand holds in the mountain side. It took me a frustratingly long time to return to the height of the Temple. When I did get up there I found Tenzin and the Air Acolytes quickly. Tenzin was sobbing, the acolytes were tearing up, and even some Sky Bison were making unhappy sounds. I was grumpy, but I won't admit my following actions weren't awesome. I walked in, grabbed Tenzin by his stupid beard, and yanked as hard as my weak little five year old arms could. I think it made sense in my mind at one point. It was all Tenzin's fault. His fault for following me around so much and not allowing me the freedom I was used to. I was going to take it out on him, even if I had to do it while he was distracted.

I walked off with two little fistfuls of beard hair, got myself some fruit from one of the bowls in the Air Acolyte kitchens, and found myself a nice bed in the straw with a baby Sky Bison and went to sleep. I stubbornly ignored the fact I'd both nearly fallen to my death and drowned in less than a three minutes.

Tenzin and I have an understand in the modern day that stems from this incident. I don't take orders. If I want to be left alone, I will be left alone. I fight dirty and get nasty when I feel threatened.

The only saving grace to my brattiness is that if he tries to order me around I will not follow his rules, but I am willing to compromise if he is.

I'm fairly certain the reason for all this is because Tenzin's dad (Aang, the previous Avatar) had died a couple years before I'd been found. Being the solo Airbender in the world had probably been something weighing heavily on Tenzin. Heavily like always-on-edge-existential-crisis heavy. The sudden discovery by the Order there was another Airbender (even if I was just an untrained child speaking a long dead dialect) would have seemed like a gift from the spirits to Tenzin. But then to meet me, grumpy kid that I was? And for me to reject his presence, attack him, and then seemingly die because of something that seemed like his fault? And to top it off, I would like to point out, Avatar Korra had not been found yet. They probably would have had suspicions, (ancient language barrier or no) that I was the new Avatar at this point. It would have seemed like Aang rejecting Tenzin to the man.

I'm nicer to him now. A lot nicer. I regret a lot of things about how I at first treated Tenzin. I'd take it all back if I could. I was one hell of a little monster to him, and he didn't have any clue what to do with me. We get along now, but there are always the memories standing between us. It feels like some kind of impassible barrier. It feels like 'We will always be family up to this point' to me, like I could never get or let anyone get closer than that.

Over the next couple days in the Western Air Temple, Tenzin was more careful about how he stepped around me, and I was more willing to tolerate his presence since I'd exhausted all the other options. This was the first compromise in my life, but at the time it felt a lot more like one big 'no' to a child who had never heard it before in his life. Eventually Tenzin and the Air Acolytes began teaching me. They drew me in by slowly moving the food they'd left out closer and closer to their areas until I was near them constantly, and more used to their presence. For there, Tenzin personally oversaw and taught me, using food and careful attitude to keep me still. Finally it clicked with me, and I realized a Temple Elder was teaching Lessons, so I got my act in gear. Quickly I became an ideal little Northern Airbender child once more and we began our lessons in earnest.

I absorbed knowledge. Inhaled it. Consumed it. I was up to an advanced speaking level (for my age) in months. So one day I was sat down in Tenzin and we talked. About history, stories, ancient lore. He told me about his parents and their adventures, and the world since then, and how things were before that. I will not admit I initially freaked out. I was good at hiding things, and no-one noticed. I hid my revelations by learning more and more and more about them. I quizzed Tenzin and the Acolytes for everything, looking for evidence. I learned from them the unimportant details, the personal opinions, little conversations. Thing that didn't really matter. I wanted to know everything because I was looking for information.

Eventually Tenzin asked me about my past, and I told him what I'd worked out. I was older than the Hundred Year War. When I was a young Airbender, some five hundred years ago I had wandered off from the Northern Air Temple. I'd been lead to safety and sanctuary by a strange animal. A Spirit. It glowed blue and was see-through. It looked a bit like a Wolf-bat without the 'bat' part. It took me to a garden, filled with children and friendly playmates. I'd played with them for what felt like to me to be a few weeks. None of the older children had any want to leave the garden, but I felt like I was needed back in the world. I'd discovered that, that place, the garden in the spirit world, was disconnected from time in some way. The kids there had been there for what they said had been months compared to my few weeks. The animals took care for them, cared for any needs, kept them from getting sick or being lonely or sad. I had asked about their cultures, since there were boys and girls from all four nations there. Ever inquisitive, I'd talked to all of them and eventually found a common theme. All the dozens of children had gotten lost and found this place by following a blue creature none of them could describe very well.

I eventually tried to leave the garden. I managed to slip out and I found a world outside it that confused me. It scared me and I wanted to go back to the garden. I think now that place outside the garden was the Spirit World. The blue creature, the blue wolf, found me and guided me out. But it didn't take me back to the garden; it brought me to the forest near the nameless village in the mountains.

And so five hundred years had passed in the real world while only a few weeks passed in the spirit garden. Tenzin asked me to keep that knowledge to ourselves. I didn't know why he wanted that, but I did keep it to myself. I didn't know if Tenzin believed me right away. I mean really believed my story and theory. He obviously accepted my story as my point of view, what I thought had happened, but I wasn't sure if he agreed with me. I think he believed those to be implanted memories. I tried to show him old Airbender bending styles, and he admitted what I knew was pretty old according to the scriptures. I didn't know enough to actually demonstrate much else for my theory besides my 'official' air slice stance and the correct old air wall that I'd learned by rote from copying older monks.

We left the Western Temple behind when I explained I was bored of the place already. Tenzin seemed alarmed that I could grow bored of it. I was just a kid; the significance of the restored Western Air Temple wasn't something I was grasping. What I wanted was to see how the world had changed. So we toured the temples. We went to my home, the Northern Air Temple and stayed a week, went to the East Temple, stayed a few days, and then settled in the South Temple for a month. Our stay at the North was eye-opening to me. The Northern Temple where I'd lived had been my home until I'd wandered away from the temple. I was told it had been restored to its former glory by Avatar Aang. But it was obviously damaged and changed even after what the Fire Nation and the Mechanic's people had done to it. I commented and pointed out differences aloud as Tenzin and I walked through the temple. Tenzin told me about how the Mechanist had worked here with his people, moving into the abandoned Northern Air Temple and renovating it to their needs. Some remnant of their changes remained, and the descendants of the group did still live there, but no longer was the temple in such bad shape as it was during Aang's time. During our wanderings, I think, is when Tenzin began to really accept my story as the whole truth. We'd walk, and I'd find some change, and I'd tell Tenzin how it was in my time. Tenzin had enough eye for detail, architecture, and culture to be able to see how it used to be when I explained the differences between now and five hundred years ago. He began to see my limited proof of theory, and, for the first time, decide that I was right.

When we left the North it was not a bitter pill for me to swallow, like leaving my people behind. I, in true Air Nomad fashion, wasn't particularly attached to the temple like other people might be with their homes. I knew the ways of the north in my blood; the temple was just a place. It had never been 'home' to me. I could live anywhere, even if I thrived most in the cold airs of the north. I barely remembered the place as anything more than walls. I was also far too young to be concerned by the change in the times. Still I feel more like I belong in this time than what could have been. I have spent more time in AG (after Genocide) than BG (before Genocide). But there in the north, it really sank in there that there were so few Airbenders left in the world. Just Tenzin and I; alone in the world. It took the visit to Northern Air Temple without its natives, stern old men and quiet children, to really drive the point home to me.

I'm not sure how to say what I feel about it. The visit to the east was uneventful. I was uninterested in exploring the Eastern Air Temple. I took interest in the Avatar Yangchen statue for a little while. My Avatar five hundred years ago had been Avatar Lee, a fire Avatar who had no great achievements to his name aside from his tremendous skill in Lavabending. Perhaps the only thing I knew accredited to him was that had once helped in a great deal of volcanic eruptions in the Fire Nation that had been going off, which is where he got the skill and reputation.

The Eastern Air Temple was pretty big, and full of shiny white marble. It had been the last holdout of the Airbenders and taken the most damage by the Fire Nation. But to see it, you'd never know it had been through a war. It wasn't like I'd ever been there before the war, but I knew it to be changed. All the surfaces looked new, free of the fine dust that somehow followed Airbender everywhere. It probably was 'recently rebuild' new, having been refinished so extensively from the ruins. There was something weird there that set my teeth on edge, and Tenzin told me it had been the most spiritual of the temples. I wanted to leave the moment I heard that. I had a notion the blue spirit creature might show up again and take me back to the garden of children.

We traveled to the Southern Temple. There Tenzin and I holed up and he taught me through all the Airbending traditions he knew. I mixed what he knew with my ancient lessons. I breezed through the first of the thirty six levels of Airbending mastery. I remember Tenzin making some off handed remark about how I'd earn my tattoos in no time. I quit at the sixth level of Airbending and refused to go further; much to Tenzin's surprise and frustration. I didn't want to get shaved and I wasn't exactly sure about the Airbender tattoos. I'm pretty sure I remember most of the monks not having tattoos. Maybe I'd been wrong. But I was not wasnotwasnotwasnot getting shaved like bald Tenzin.

Though we stopped the tiers of Airbending mastery, that didn't mean I stopped learning. Something to note here is that Tenzin is/was not a good teacher. At least, I didn't think he was. Not then. I'd never had an actual teacher before to compare him to. I was too young for actual training by the monk's standards. Tenzin probably wanted me trained up as soon as possible. With our Airbending at an impasse, he shoved as much culture down my throat as he could. I might have you know, thought I was an Airbender and an Air Nomad before, but hooo-boy was I wrong. I grew grumpy and resentful, so I did some more lashing out before we eventually both settled on learning at a more restrained pace. My language was coming along great. I spoke as well as an adult by the time we finished. I simply could not find enough words to string together. I think I invented several new swears in confusion though. Or rediscovered a few, going by the red look on Tenzin's face. It turned out Monkey Feathers was still one heck of an Airbender swear, even after five hundred years. It also caused some confusion when I tried to figure out what the modern word for Firebender was. Apparently almost all the things I tried to say before I finally got it right were swears or rude phrases. I was glad I had Tenzin to bounce them off of instead of actual Firebenders. I also learned from a shifty Tenzin that I could call Earthbenders rock-plodders so long as I never got caught, though that seemed like too much effort so I simply never said that word again.

Several other exciting things happened for me at the Southern Air Temple. First of all Tenzin made me pick out a sky bison. After my first meeting with one I was a little put off and tried to worm my way out of it. (I had had to explain to Tenzin that five hundred years ago the Bison were less common and more readily found in the east and south and not the north where I'd grown up, as we took less care of them for reasons I didn't know) But eventually I found a bison that I could stand. It was a male I named Duga. He was smaller than some of the others, and made up for it in being so much fluffier. He loved one thing above all others, and that was sleeping. Tenzin seemed exasperated with my choice, but I pulled the rug out from under him by repeating something the old monks had said plenty of times. 'There is an art to dreaming'. I left out the part where they usually said that to us young children to make us more willing to fall asleep.

Sky Bison are lifelong partners to Air Nomads. Choosing one for such a strange reason would have gotten me in trouble with the older monks, but at that point I would have already chosen and it would have been too late anyways. But as it was, I genuinely liked Duga. He slept reliably, and was always where I knew he'd be. There was a certain stability to him I think I needed after all my revelations. And while you'd think one 'pet' was enough, I actually found and smuggled my favorite playmate along too out of the South. There are rare lemurs in the Southern Air Temple that are different from the ones I was used to, but were the only similar replacement. They were Ring Tailed Winged Lemurs, and were the carefully cared for replacement of the much beloved original Winged Lemur of the old era.

Rue was as such, an exception to both races. She was a hybrid of the Ringtailed and Flying lemurs, a genuine one-of-a-kind meeting of two times. I loved her instantly. She was smaller than either breed, but had bigger wing membranes. Her fur was a soft cream color, and she had a dark heart shaped face with green eyes. She was furrier than the older species she took after, but she possessed more ability in her ring tail than the newer breed. Even Tenzin agreed she was lovely and was willing to bring her. She was a constant companion to Duga and myself. With my two animals we headed to Tenzin's home.

Air Temple Island in Republic City is pretty decently sized for an island. It's got enough room for serious exploration, and has a nice big building with plenty of rooms for an Airbender used to stone temples. There's a big bamboo forest on a cliff ridge over the ocean. There's a beach and a winding stair with a long dock out into Yue Bay. There was an extensive library in the temple, training grounds, and every tree is a fruit tree or a nut tree. There are vegetable patches and vines in a greenhouse and plenty of little secret places perfect for Airbender children. It was as good as one of the four temples, despite being a third the size of the Northern Air Temple, which was already the smallest of the four directions.

I spent a good four years on that island. My opinion ultimately changed. It was still a great place, but being nine years old now, I cared a little less every winter. The island was ten thousand and four hundred twenty two steps long and only seven thousand fifty two steps wide. There were ten thousand five hundred fifty three trees on the island. There were three bison on the island, Oogi, Duga, and a female named Risha. Rue loved the islands many nut trees, and responded well to my and Tenzin's training. (I might need to re-learn how long and wide the island is, now that I'm nearly a full grown adult.) Duga got along well with Oogi, Tenzin's bison, and Risha wasn't bothered her territory had gained another bison. It probably helped Duga was so young.

Tenzin and Pema were always mushy-mushy, which was pretty sickening. Oh, I should mention Pema. She's not a bender, but that's okay. Tenzin used to date this lady named Lin Befong (I had not yet connected her and her mother for reasons I myself do not understand). They broke up about half a year after Avatar Aang died. Tenzin told me he'd tell me why later. He also said she was the reason I kept finding deep cuts in the ground was due to her metal and earth bending, and that if I find any more I should tell one of the dozen Air Acolytes who lived on the island with us. They have a standing order to repair any of the cuts in the island they were made aware of. But I tried to have as little to do with the Acolytes as possible when I was younger. I knew them all pretty well even back then, but I was unsure how to feel about them. When I wasn't feeling generous I would think of them as sort of annoying, as pretenders who could never be real Air Nomads. They aren't actually Airbenders, and seeing them wearing the colors only reminds me that all those kids I used to know are dead and gone. That all those scowly men who sat and meditated in the day were gone. That all the people I'd ever met in the temple were gone. Seeing the Acolytes made me hurt, but I always made sure to leave my feelings locked up when I talk to them, and I made sure to never be insulting or demeaning, no matter how I may feel. Tenzin told me they were Temple Brothers, and I knew better than to be rude to my family. (Even if they weren't really family, just strangers pretending to be something they weren't.) They worked tirelessly and follow our way of life. They and we two air benders are all that stood between the Air Nomad style of life and the brink.

Oh yeah, talking about Pema. I understand now a lot more about her now that I'm older. At first she was mad about me. It was not obvious why to me at the time, but I understand now. She was pretty sure either Tenzin or Aang had had an adventure with a girl up north to put it kindly. I told her the agreed upon story of being an Airbender due to spirituality and she eventually gave up her anger. Simply looking at Tenzin and I reveals with utmost clarity that we are not related. And Tenzin looks so much like the pictures of Aang that it's clear I cannot belong to either. Tenzin is tall and broad shouldered, with a strong build and firm stance and bearing. I was tiny even as a kid and always thinner than adults would like, with what Pema described to me as a flighty frame and attitude, like I was always about to break out running (away). I was all wiry with lots of energy and a bony structure, like I'm one thin bone reed. Tenzin's face is all cheek bone and high eyebrow ridges where I'm gaunt cheeked and low eyebrows. His ears are as big as stones and stick right out beside his head but mine are small and close to my head. Tenzin is blue eyed like Aang's, but mine are light and gray. Tenzin has a dark brown beard so his hair would probably be dark too, but I have light brown hair with lots of lighter flecks of almost red colors. (On a side note, I'd never seen my own reflection before. Mirrors didn't exist in temples. I spent several hours examining my reflection.)

Once Pema got over there being another Airbender child (that really only took a single day before she couldn't be mad at me) she started the doting attitude I'm familiar with today. Pema is sweet, understanding, and sometimes pretty funny. I grew to like her quick enough. One day she asked me about what she thought of having her as a mother was like. I remember vividly the look on her face when I explained I had no idea what she just said. An evening later I finally managed to get in a word edgewise and told her she could marry Tenzin if she wanted to. (Part of what she talked about in her rant) I explained that Airbenders don't really have much in the way of mothers or fathers. She had marched off with a decisive 'we'll see about that'. We were all temple children, taken care of and tolerated until we were old enough to train and raise as the new civilized Air Nomad generation. Children were to be seen, not heard. There was also no need to keep track of familial ties unless it was to keep track of blood and ancestry. A monk or nun could go their whole life never even seeing one their parents.

I think that was one of the only times before I was ten that I apologized to Tenzin for anything. Just a simple 'sorry' for an unspecified event (I still don't know exactly what was said) to a man who looked like he'd seen his own grave. When I was eight they got married in the fall shortly after my birthday. I used to think this was unrelated but ever since Tenzin has thanked me on my birthday for reminding him of the anniversary date. Another side note, I now celebrate the date I was born for reasons I don't quite understand. Pema said we needed to and Pema is the real final authority on Air Temple Island. A little after that Pema became pregnant with Jinora. Tenzin gave me the talk. I ripped out another chunk of his beard because I had only asked why Pema was gaining so much weight. I resolved to make Tenzin improve his 'talk' from the one Aang gave him. The original version (awkward and bad as it was in retrospect) sounded better; Tenzin had added diagrams. I spent lots of time out with Rue and Duga afterwards as an eight year old. I began theorizing and testing the limits of Airbending in new and unusual ways as a hobby, all in the name of staying out of the house. Pema was hormonal and I had the sense to dodge a superior force or redirect it (At Tenzin).

I wasn't exactly sure what I was doing with my airbending back then. I didn't know enough. But what I was attempting was twofold, some odd achievements in ignorance. No-one had ever told me I couldn't do the things I was trying, and so my personal training was taking some very odd routes. I seemed to be trying to use Airbending to manipulate my environment similar to the other three elements. I also seemed to focus on finding/developing ways to use other bending styles in an Airbending compatible way. I didn't have a goal or reason, but it taught me as much about Airbending as I put into it. The Air Acolytes watched me practice my hobby when they weren't busy with tasks. Sometimes they helped. They helped me set up targets, they told stories about the other bending disciplines (since I had no real idea what they even looked like in practice), or gave accounts of experiences of other bending styles. Tenzin himself was impressed with my hobby, even though no real progress had been made.

Pema gave birth to Jinora, and my world went sideways. Tenzin and Pema were always busy. The baby was always crying. I was suddenly a family member. I mean this in a literal fashion. I'd always held Tenzin and Pema at arm's reach, like an air bender would their fellows in the monastery. Air Bending was about being detached, aloof, free from this world and its troubles. Pema told me to hold my baby sister for a while she took a nap. I told her I wasn't an older brother.

I now recognize this as the second most dangerous moment of my life before meeting the Avatar. I came to be glad for a moment of my own confusion. I wasn't sure what gender Air Temple Island was supposed to be. It seemed male with me, Tenzin, and most of the Acolytes being guys, but there was also Pema, Jinora, and female Acolytes. This confusion is why I never told Pema that girls lived in the West and East Air Temples while males lived in the North and South. Thus, I never said anything remotely similar to suggesting Jinora and Pema should leave or go, and thus Pema did not ever have a reason to teach me diaper changing.

I was now an older brother and Tenzin finally explained to me that Airbenders now had familial values based on Water Tribe values due to the fact Katara, wife of Avatar Aang, was a Waterbender and that Tenzin and his brother and sister and their weird uncle Sokka all practiced Water Tribe values. I was smart enough to see the unspoken or else of Katara and Pema hanging over my head if I didn't obey. I redirected. (Not at Tenzin this time because throwing him under the bus for something outside both our controls was unfair and more importantly, against those water tribe values I now had to figure out.)

In other news, I made something of a breakthrough regarding bending. Not my own, but just an understanding. In the days before the Hundred Year War bending was a way of life that claimed all those who had the gift. We were much rarer back then. I don't remember there being anything else for it. You had the gift, and you had to master it or it could endanger you and those around you. I know how all Air Nomads were Air Benders, but other nations had all benders be trained at least a little. By the time the Hundred Year War came around people had spread enough of the basics around that even with no-one else being a bender in your community you could get by on the communal knowledge or stories. A big jump indeed. However, I hadn't seen then why Bending was so aggressive after the war. But I'd figured it out.

During the Hundred Year War bending became more aggressive in combat. Benders became artillery and dangerous fighters. The Earthbender who could destroy a three Fire nation tanks could grow to spread his teachings compared to the Earthbender who could only go to two (and died as a result). The talented were pushed to succeed like never before. Bending combat progressed in leaps and bounds. Now, after the war, Bending was perhaps irreversibly changed. The long sacred and secret Lightning Bending of the Firebender Royalty had passed into the hands of the people, it had become common knowledge. Earthbenders had discovered how to bend refined metals. Waterbending healing carried more importance than ever before.

The war was over, but the three styles still carried with them so much history of war. It was saddening to think of. Benders were supposed to support their fellows. Five hundred years ago bending was used to fight nature and its wrath, not each other. When I took these thoughts to Tenzin (I'd made sure Tenzin had a moment so I wasn't intruding on taking care of Jinora) Tenzin had told me I was insightful for being so young. I'm not so sure about that, it was just that I had heard some stories from monks that I barely remember from an age gone by, I think. (I remember little of them but know there were lots of tales of heroics among the monks.)

My training with Duga was officially done. He had grown much, but was not yet full size. Rue had grown fat and was a family pet, and I found I needed to keep her exercising to keep her weight down. For Rue, Air Temple island was paradise. It was peaceful, there were plenty of nice sunny spots, we petted her and cared for her, and there were no other Lemurs to compete with for food! Rue loved this place, and she loved us too. Pema always knew the perfect spot behind Rue's ears to scratch. I fed her daily and spent time with her. Tenzin was willing to idly scratch her when he was thinking, and willing to play little games with her when he thought we didn't see. Rue was even surprisingly willing to put up with Jinora and her grabby baby hands. (I told Rue she was sentimental, and she didn't let me feed her any nuts for a day.)

When I was eight, the limits of my Airbending powers one day out of nowhere seemingly skyrocketed. I had to learn where my new limits were. The next day my powers had increased further. I had to keep mastering myself. I took it stride and did not panic. Tenzin 'helpfully' never left me alone even when I practiced, even when I told him sooner or later I was going to have the raw power to make him leave me alone. A year passed seemingly in a few months. I was nine now, Jinora was a genius and already parroting words and phrases beyond what you'd expect her to normally pick up. Tenzin showed me how to build a traditional air staff and I went at it.

The eighth attempt at the Glider Staff held promise, but dropped me out of the sky into the ocean. My brain took that moment to remember the Unagi of Avatar Aang's stories and I discovered I could run on water. Also, there is no Unagi in Yue Bay. I researched extensively. There are however, shark seals. I also took up running on water and made serious attempts to use Airbending to make myself not sink. I put aside my Airbender staff project for a few months and surprised everyone by using something I saw an old monk do one day to genuinely stand on water. Granted, you couldn't walk on it, but you could land on it. It worked by using a certain level of psychic bending (bending without obvious motion) to bring big air bubbles under your feet under the surface of the water. With the right (rigid but not unnatural) stance you could prevent those air bubbles from bursting or letting your feet fall through, giving you a weird feeling of weightlessness but allowing stationary standing. The bubbles made the water tension support your weight like a sheet of ice. Moving your feet or churning water ruined the effect, and there was no practical use aside from looking cool. But flameo did I look cool! To see how long I could hold it I stood almost an entire day on a pond on the island. Air Acolytes watched, grew tired of watching or had duties to attend to, and left. I used their coming and going as a measurement of time. Eventually I'd stood there from lunch until sundown. My legs hurt due to being so rigid for that whole time. I could hardly walk the next day. Tenzin informed me that according to Airbending training that counted as inventing a technique for my mastery. (Just in case I wanted the tattoos and to shave my head!)

I spent more time trying new things with Airbending. I had lots of free time. Aside from taking care of Duga and Rue I had no real responsibilities, so I pitched in with taking care of Jinora. My studies progressed to finding the invisible line I couldn't cross, revealing the limit to my ability to use Airbending to manipulate other elements. I could use air to move fire in ways I wanted to, but I could not sustain it because I could not fuel it. Firebenders used chi to fuel their fire, so I could kill or move fire but I could not use it. It was not an extension of myself like it was for a Firebender. Earthbending had a severe limit on what I could use Airbending on. I had to brute force move rocks with air, which went against all Airbending principles. But I could do it. It wouldn't do me any good against an earth bender though, since they would always have more control over stone and earth (even traveling through the air) than I would. Redirection wouldn't work on anything too large so I would have to dodge.

I had a surprising amount of control with water. Water had more substance than air but less weight than rock, allowing me to block and control it with surprising ease. With Airbending alone I could create typhoons and twisters over water. I accidentally ripped up the garden with a freak weather cell. Tenzin said my progress was interesting and I got the idea maybe it would be a good idea to not try and improve something so dangerous by itself, and not right next to the compound. The sinkhole that had appeared was filled and I pitched in as much as I could during the yard reconstruction. I vowed that I would only use that ability over open water in a scenario that determined a full-scale hurricane would be appropriate.

I turned my attention back to using Airbending with other styles. Simply put: an Warthbending style allowed for more power but cut speed and responses down, as well as being deadly immobile. Fire worked well with a strong but mobile stance, and the air responded well, resulting in more power but substantially less speed. Water was slower than fire but still faster than earth. It offered less power than my fire air style as well, but seemed to offset this with its interesting push and pull dual forces. I was greatly pleased to learn none of the styles worked as well for Airbending as the Airbending style I'd known my whole life. The regular Airbending stance was both the fastest and the strongest, making all three bastardized semi-stances obsolete. Ultimately I'd discovered nothing groundbreaking, but I'd still learned so much from my experiences. Tenzin told me to write down or get an acolyte to record my findings and to go into as much detail as I could. I had to wonder why before realizing this was probably the most use Airbending had had in a long time. Tenzin certainly didn't use it in everyday things like I did. Any scientific progress I made, no matter how small, would only be digging us out of a hole, an abyss of no information about Airbending compared to the other three styles. It was a momentous realization, that I could do something huge for the future generations of all Airbenders. I could set a ground level for progress and then the next generations would work upwards.

I wrote down everything I'd discovered in a document journal Pema got me for my ninth birthday. Jinora began calling me brother rather than my name as I had told her to do, but I found myself not wanting to correct her. My Airbending began improving again, but I realized I needed to be careful where I practiced. Jinora had tried to copy something I'd done and I'd had to explain Airbending in the house should be restricted to prevent breaking things and that she would be trained when she was older. At two and a half years old Jinora was toddling around everywhere and unintentionally swirling the air around her ankles as she walked. That caused enough problems inside; we didn't need her intentionally practicing Airbending indoors.

Pema became pregnant again. Tenzin explained that we were all going to go to the North Pole. (They'd gone a few times over the years but I'd never been invited and I had never asked to go along, in case I wasn't welcome.) I asked why and Tenzin explained it was high time that we go see his mother. I told Rue and Duga to be good and fed them extra, grabbed my latest (untested) air staff and climbed up on top of Oogi. (I was informed a little while later Tenzin did not mean right this minute as I had thought he did). Two days passed before we were ready to set out. I had tested my air staff by then since I decided I was going to need it if we fell out of the sky. To my utter surprise the staff worked almost perfectly. I double checked it was actually mine and everything! I tweaked it a little, got a nice result, and then documented everything I'd done in this model. I took it to Tenzin who told me I'd done it right (just to be sure) and then I spent every moment until our departure in the air. I got in a lot of practice and found it to come naturally as walking. The adults finished packing and we boarded and left.

Oogi flew us from dawn to sunset to the south. Tenzin was willing to let me fly Oogi part of the way for training. I also did some flying nearby on my glider under the watchful eyes of my family for extra practice. It began to get rather cold so high up. Natural Airbender resistances against wind and cold chill seemed to only work up to certain altitudes (Further up than even most Airbenders dare), and we were so high up we were above the clouds, but I felt the chill only as a breeze. My inherent resistance to the cold was stronger than that of Tenzin's bloodline.

Now confident in my air staff skills, I began to get adventurous. Since we were so high up I felt that I could fall for hours before hitting the ground. I knew I could pull my staff towards me from a long ways away under a variety of circumstances, so I got really inventive. I told Tenzin of my plans and as much as he wanted to obviously say no, he couldn't find a fault in my plan besides 'it's dangerous', which I didn't care to hear. I flew some ways above them so that if I messed up they'd see it and be able to react quickly. I taught myself stunts. I could throw my glider and catch up to it in fall. I could ride the spine of my glider with the wings extended, surfing on it, and I figured if I attached foot straps I could actually use the glider that way. I used the wind to whip turns at breakneck speed and my body could seemingly negate something Tenzin called G-forces well enough to indicate I'd grown to be a healthy Airbender despite being so painfully thin still.

I did so many stunts I ran out of energy. Landing in the saddle was a bit harder than I thought it would be, and I learned I should try and save some stamina for landing. Tenzin was rather pleased to have proved his points about the dangers when I bounced off Oogi and he had to dive to catch me. His own adult sized glider held the air so much better than mine. Pema fussed about how she knew it was dangerous and how I was such a rash boy. I felt bad for scaring her, but I thought I'd still had it perfectly in hand up until the end there.

Pema still made me sit and ride the whole ways afterwards. I teasingly told Jinora to not do any of my stunts until she was at least ten. She nodded palely and Pema smiled and made me sit beside Jinora and tell her about my bending science. In no time at all Jinora had fallen asleep. I let myself doze into a light sleep. I woke to a hushed conversation between Pema and Tenzin. Pema had explained how I scared her to death because I was always so 'brash' and 'careless' and Tenzin pointed out that although it may seem that way I was always careful about my safety and the safety of others, and that he understood it to be typical of Airbender children to be like that, even if he himself had never been so. They made some sort of agreement about how they'd teach their own kids differently, but Tenzin was firm with Pema about only I could change myself. I don't know how to describe how overhearing that conversation made me feel. I felt a bit like I'd let them down somehow, like I could be better. But I didn't understand it well enough for many years, and I pushed the thoughts away. In my core, I was still alone, not yet truly a part of Tenzin's family.

On the other hand, it was kind of shocking to hear Tenzin standing up for me. I think this was something that changed my aloof attitude towards the family into become more considerate. Pema had explained how I was a dangerous influence on Jinora, and Tenzin agreed, and he'd explained how hoped to be able to teach her and their children more himself so that they wouldn't experiment as much as I did. Tenzin explained to Pema how I had rejected learning the thirty sixth levels of air mastery simply because I didn't want to shave my head, and how it concerned him that he wasn't doing enough to pass Air Nomad culture on to me.

Now that all seemed pretty unfair to me, but I didn't speak up. Pema did though, citing that if her kids didn't want to shave their heads he wasn't going to force them. Tenzin went quiet then and I got the feeling that was something we might never see eye to eye on. Pema went again and said that she would have thought that he wouldn't have supported my testing other elemental styles with air. Tenzin explained Airbending was more than just fighting, and I knew that, so even though I was trying to expand the abilities he knew that I knew that Airbending was the most non-confrontational of the elements. He said I had not forgotten what it meant to be a nomad, and that I had taught hima lesson in freedom during our arguments. I tried and failed to think of which of our arguments he could be talking about.

They were quiet for a long time after that. I'd thought they were done talking and was almost back asleep again when Tenzin spoke up again. He said something profound that I cannot remember the exact wording of. He said I had shown him a unique take on a culture we both shared, but just because we clashed frequently did not mean one of us was wrong. He admitted to trying to become a less rigid person, and that he hoped by the time Jinora was my age he'd have figured out a way to be both a more flexible person and a better father. I fell asleep after that, but I don't think I will ever forget that strange, clashing mix of feels I carried with me inside until we reached the South Pole.

I can choose a lot of words to describe the South Pole. If I put my head to it, I could even do it kindly. But I will be frank. It was cold in a way I'd never felt cold before, the landscape was barren and desolate; a desert of snow and ice, and the wind was some of the most unfriendly I've ever felt, whipping at high speeds; sucking the life and spirit out of your bones. Wordlessly I handed Pema another two layers of shawls from the packs before wrapping one around Jinora and myself while we flew on.

The night had passed and daybreak was upon us when we actually hit the South Pole proper. Lights started to appear below us and I realized with a start we were actually flying over the South Pole city. There must've been some sort of snowstorm overnight to cover the buildings (colorless as they were) under the white layer of snow. As we passed over slowly Waterbenders got to work clearing away the snow, revealing the city's presence more easily to us. It was a rather large place. Not as large as Republic city or Ba Sing Se or as grand as either, but the whole city seemed a grim testament to the survival of the south. Comparing it to the stories I'd heard from Tenzin about the South it was certainly an amazing leap up from groups of camps out in the frozen tundra. I had not actually been informed about the condition of South before we left; I had not thought to ask.

We flew past and right over the city however. I asked Tenzin where we were going, and he explained that his mother did not live in the city, but rather many miles from it. Close, -relatively. We descended from the sky on Oogi. There was a small reception waiting for us down below on the ground. There were some old white haired dudes in blue Order of the White Lotus outfits, but I didn't pay any attention to them. Members were almost all white haired old guys with big beards and bigger bellies. My attention was split between the old lady in the blue furs and the girl my age that stood next to her with crossed arms.

Tenzin helpfully informed me that this was Korra, the current Avatar. I will admit, at first I was a little underwhelmed. The Avatar was a kid? Like me? Then I reasoned even the Avatar had to grow up, and then I remembered a piece of wisdom about the Avatar; about how the Avatar used a mortal body in order to live with and alongside humans. So it made sense for the Avatar to be a kid, and Avatar Aang had only died eight years ago, making Korra roughly a year younger than me biologically. I hopped out of the saddle before we even hit the ground, and then immediately felt foolish. Katara didn't know me! She didn't seem terribly surprised however, only raising an eyebrow. I approached her hesitantly. I wasn't sure how to address her. She wasn't a monk, should I bow and clasp my hands? Was there a Waterbender hello? An Airbender bow seemed the best bet, just to be safe.

Tenzin approached behind me, having helped everyone down. "Hello Mother," Tenzin causally addressed Katara. "This is Kaldan, the young Airbender I told you about," Tenzin explained. I resisted the urge to bow again at being properly introduced and instead just tried to observe the two new people. Katara was old. She would have been seventy seven at that point in time. She was hunched over and wearing some of the thickest furs (that might be for practicality or for some watertribe tradition, I'm not sure) I'd ever seen. I tried to remind myself that here in the south they needed that sort of heat, and that they always honored their kills. Even still it was strange to see them wearing animal hides. As a Nomad, that idea was abhorrent, but I'd learned much about the world in my wild time. Katara's hair was as white as the snow around us. Her face was wrinkled and she was hiding her hands in her sleeves to keep them from the cold.

"Tenzin tells me you have quite the interesting story young man," Katara told me. It took me a moment to address the fact she'd spoken directly at me.

"Yes ma'am?" I had squeaked. I think Katara had laughed at me.

I don't remember a whole lot of the first visit. I remember formally meeting Avatar Korra. She'd asked me what airbending was like since she'd never been able to do it. I hadn't really known how to answer, so I'd asked her what the other three elements were like and told her about my studies in finding used for different elemental stances for airbending and my theory on how Benders had changed on what roles they needed to fill in their society. I hadn't realized what a huge impact on Korra my theories would have on her.

Katara hadn't actually been all that interested in me. She hadn't asked any awkward questions or prodded at my barely-there-memories. It occurs to me now she probably knew (since I had only been a young boy of four-five when I emerged from the garden) I'd have few solid memories of the air monastery. It was also the first time I realized my situation wasn't totally unique in the world since Aang himself had been displaced a hundred years, though even he'd needed the Avatar spirit's power to exist that long in the physical world. No-one else could be displaced like that in reality but the Avatar. In the spirit world however- it reminded me of all those other kids in the spirit garden we'd played in. There had been benders of all four walks of life, and plenty more non-benders. If I remembered right I'd been the eightieth kid in there. Who knows what would happen to them?

Katara had done some weird Waterbending healing trick to tell Pema that Ikki was an Airbender like Jinora. Tenzin and Pema had been happy and were being all mushy and leaning on each other. Korra had found that boring and dragged me off to see Naga, her Animal Guide, a Polar Bear Dog that was already as big as the two of us put together. Naga was sweet and friendly, and full of puppy energy, so I'd played fetch with her with a Frisbee. No one can Frisbee like an Airbender. If I remember right I'd also explained to Korra it was a game I'd played with other Airbenders once upon a time.

I never got around to badgering Katara with all the questions I had. Meeting her in person had been odd. I had the feeling when I faced her that she was growing tired, and enjoyed the peace more than her memories, so I'd avoided my questions and suddenly they seemed too small and unimportant compared to the here and now. Tenzin told me that I'd discovered the wisdom of not spending all my time with my head in the past.

The experience was over soon and we returned to Air Temple Island. During that time I remember shelving a lot of my projects for the time being. I'd been full of strange feelings, so I'd stuck closer to what I knew to be solid and dependable. I got a long better with Tenzin, and I spent time with Jinora and Pema. My airbending grew a little more, but I didn't feel the need to push the limit of my abilities again and again. It was a simple time of peace.

It also ended when Ikki was born and the Air Temple once again became abuzz with activity. I realized for the first time what a full time job being a parent was, so I volunteered my services in taking care of Jinora so her parents could concentrate on Ikki. Jinora and I took up reading. At first I read her stories aloud, but before long I was teaching her words, letters, and language. I taught her my old dialect of Air Nomad language and then recorded what I knew myself for the library. I became a regular of the library in order to keep half an eye on Jinora (who spent every moment of her time reading) and in order to properly read all the books, scrolls, and diagrams in the library myself, something I had been putting off in my self-training.

A year passed. I remember the library being a bit like a coma. Jinora and I spent more time in the library then outside of it, and emerged a year later blinking our eyes in the sun like Badgermoles. I quit the library, having read everything in it, but Jinora seemed to prefer it to anywhere else in the compound, so I allowed her to stay, informed her parents she probably wouldn't come out for meals if they didn't make her, and went back to training myself for a while. I didn't come up with new theories or ideas, but secretly trained myself from the Airbender mastery levels. In all honesty they were pretty hard without a dedicated teacher like Tenzin had been, and I realized as a kid I probably could not have gotten past the twelfth level. My strength had been too limited. Tenzin probably had been using the levels to test my mind since most of them are thinking puzzles up until the twentieth.

Starting over in the Airbending Mastery levels hurt my pride, but I reminded myself that I was an Airbender and pride should never factor into a decision. We went back to the South Pole a couple times. I got to level sixteen and stopped myself, frustrated by lack of progress. Ikki was one heck of a child. She was loud and so full of energy it made me look slothful by comparison. She enjoyed using her airbending powers and no one could get her to see reason. Of course, she was about two years old then. I reviewed my history, and made sure I could remember most of the big events of the past five hundred years. It surprised me how little was really available before the Hundred Year War or how much information had been lost BG (Before Genocide). It was like either tons of records had been destroyed, or no one had been recording anything. Reinforced with the important of my journals, I made sure to keep updating them, even though I felt like nothing important was happening.

Maybe the ancient people had had other priorities at the time, rather than recording history. I turned fourteen, Jinora turned six, Ikki turned three. Pema became pregnant with Meelo. I turned once again to training to keep myself in shape and to make sure I was healthy. I did my level best to ignore all Tenzin's advances to talk about puberty. I took up meditating like an Airbender would to keep my center calm and my head in control. It did me a world of good to simply relax and let go of the world, but I noticed something I had never considered before.

Water tribe values were now ingrained. Before Airbenders meditated until nothing bothered them, and tried to reach enlightenment and true wisdom by letting go of everything. I remembered that much clearly, it was the only thing the old monks ever did as they prepared themselves to face the great beyond. But I could not let go of my family (as it had become), and more importantly I did not want to. I refused to even try. I wondered if the old Airbenders would see this as a failing, but accepted I did not care if they did. There was something freeing about not caring about old customs and traditions.

I told Tenzin that if he wanted me to, I would shave my head. It was something that quieted the entire household. I explained that I felt holding onto old traditions was less about holding onto culture and more about trying not to disappoint ourselves by not holding to their standards. It wasn't an argument that Tenzin and I got into, it was a deep conversation about what we modern Airbenders were and where we were going, and if we felt the need to conform to old traditions in the face of change.

It was a long talk. It took hours; I learned later Tenzin missed a council meeting that he had been preparing to go to so we could continue our conversation. When I apologized he told me that family was more important. We ended with a new philosophy for the family regarding old traditions. We were the new, we were the change, and if we wanted to change something, we should, and we would not let the past and old traditions hold us back. They no longer applied. Jinora helpfully pointed out that the monks probably shaved themselves of all hair anyways to prevent bug and lice problems, and that they probably kept lemurs precisely because it helped in that problem.

I asked Tenzin if we could get an IQ test for Jinora, and he revealed he didn't know how high the scale went, but that it probably wasn't enough for Jinora anyways. I kept my hair, ensured the safety of future Air Nomad hair, and probably became an overnight hero to the yet unborn future Air Nomads who would worship me for freeing them from the well meaning but tyrannical rules of the old world. I started shaving my chin and under my nose though, as well as basically everywhere else but my head.

Ikki learned to talk. This may surprise you, but she was a very quiet child. Life continued on, and then Pema gave birth to Meelo, and the house once more exploded into motion in a way that I was now familiar with. We visited the South Pole once more, and I taught Frisbee to Jinora too. Frisbee with Korra was becoming a tradition of its own between us. Naga had seemingly doubled in size again, and she kept chasing down and stealing our Frisbee. I used the Air Scooter to try and take it back and she played a merry game of keep-away with me. By the time we left we'd had a few Frisbees shredded into wood splinters by Naga's powerful teeth. At least I was getting use out of my self-invented Finger Air Blade technique. Whittling.

I oversaw a momentous change in young Ikki's life, though I did not know it at the time. Jinora told Ikki if she wanted to know something, all she had to was ask. It started slowly, but erupted into a never-ending stream of questions. It turned out Ikki had been harboring a million questions but had tried taking after her big sister and brother by finding out herself. Having been told she could ask and receive answers showed the young four year old girl a whole new world. Ikki must've invented some sort of airbending technique I will figure out someday to recycle air internally, allowing her to speak endlessly.

Jinora, in proper airbender fashion, redirected. Ikki came to me, and, not wanting to send my little sister into an endless bounce between Jinora and me redirecting her, I stood my ground like an Earthbender. To my surprise it wasn't as bad as it seemed. I got good at answering questions in easy to understand metaphors and simplistic explanations. I still dipped into what my family called 'Airbender Mad Science' when explaining things, but my sisters were beginning to understand some of my idiosyncratic speech as well. I had underestimated how much they took from my examples.

Meelo began talking, and asked to have his head shaved. Secretly panicked, I tried asking why and he explained he liked the way Tenzin looked. With great ceremony Tenzin shaved Meelo's head. I made sure not to openly weep for the loss Meelo was obviously too young to understand. Afterwards Tenzin cheerfully asked if any of his other three children wanted to have their heads shaved. Before I'd really figured out what he'd just said Ikki and Jinora had grabbed my elbows and evacuated at top Air Bender running speed.

I settled with myself that although I would always call Tenzin Tenzin, but I would not reject or redirect if Tenzin called me his son. It sounded odd to my ears, but I reasoned that it was just because I was unused to it. And unused the idea of it. I'd been raised for the first five years of my life first by the community among Air Nomads in the Monastery as was everyone else. Then I'd been taken care of by the Spirits of the Garden. And then I'd rejected for several years after that. It was only because it sounded weird, really.

Tenzin began coming home in foul moods from when he went to meetings with the city council. He could always bottle it up for his kids, and it was clear spending time with them cheered him right up, but I wanted to know about the cause of it. I asked to tag along one day. There were a lot of 'whys' asked, but I had lots of reasons. I'd never been into the city, only flown over it on our family trips or on my glider. I wanted to see what Tenzin did, since after all (in a spur of the moment brilliance) I said I might be doing it myself one day. He could show me around the city as someone who commuted there, since I only really had seen it from afar. I didn't think anyone would ever try anything against an Air Bender, if he was worried about my safety, and I was sure I could escape any threats anyways.

I was firmly shut down. But it was too late. I'd gotten the idea into my head. I flew after Tenzin into the city, carefully hiding above him in the cloud layer. Landing down after him, I Airbent the water off myself and snuck into the big huge building he entered through an open window. I snuck in and over watched the meeting. I thought I was in the clear. Lin Beifong, halfway through the meeting, casually whipped out a line of metal, wrapped it around my arm, and pulled me from my hiding spot in the rafter. I slammed face first into their rather impressive table. I was fine of course; Air Benders are a resilient folk, especially to falling. Lin was all for locking me up for a night in the precinct, I may have told her security sucked, she'd gotten this look on her face and-

Well, you may remember how I mentioned I did not realize her as being Toph's daughter even thought they had the same last name? It took her pulling 'the face' on me to realize who she was. My moment of vocal realization and subsequent three minutes of hero worship did not impress her, probably did not earn me a good name with the council, and made Tenzin sigh sadly and cradle his head in his hands. I earned my night at the jail. Tenzin acknowledged no harm would come of me and that maybe it would do me some good. I pressured him into it since I'd been hoping to have a conversation with Lin (Prisoners get interrogated, so I'd be talking to her, right?), I agreed and marched happily off to jail.

I didn't get to see Lin. I got locked up by a run-of-the-mill Metalbender in a cell that had been quickly modified to resist Airbending (a good thing too, because I did make a couple escape attempts. If I'd succeeded then they would have had to put me in longer and it would've repeated until I earned myself some real hard time). The night was cold and lonely and I missed my family and my thoughts wouldn't stop racing until I realized I should simply meditate. The morning came, Tenzin collected me and my staff, and we went home.

The experience jaded me toward Lin Befong, but I was not done with that city. I practiced my sneaking, mixed up some of my habits so my family could not predict me as easily, and began secret work on a new glider to make it easier to go long distances faster and with less strain. The finished long-distance glider could not be distinguished as anything else than what it was due to the size it ended up being. As a result my full-adult sized glider was reluctantly left behind as being too obvious to my family. Taking my regular glider into the city was a strain. Flying on a glider for a long time was always straining. There was a reason that Airbenders preferred to use Bison for distance travelling. Now, Republic City isn't actually very far away at all, but the wind above Yue Bay is all choppy, and it likes to buffet around something as small as a lone gliding Airbender a great deal. It really took it out of me to make the trip over into the city.

The first time I snuck into the city I acted like an idiot. I kept trying to hide from everyone. My clothes were airbender orange and I was attempting to act like some sort of ninja. Ludicrous. Thankfully I was in the main parts of the city. People saw me, realized I was an air bender child and tried not to laugh at me acting like an idiot. We were sort of celebrities. There was no real news of us and no pictures, but vaguely everyone knew there were air bender children on Air Temple Island. I liked to think they liked us well enough for what we stand for and were, even if they've never met us before.

I made a dozen trips into the city, and made huge progress each time. By the fourth trip I knew to simply be regular. It was legal to walk, I didn't have to try and sneak around rooftops. These people weren't going to be mad at me or anything. I found spots to leave my glider behind for the return trip, and travelled the city. I had no money and no interest in material possessions, so I could not buy anything. I got hungry pretty often, and once or twice some kind people offered to buy me food, but I told them I was on my way home. I developed a strong idea of what the city was like in the nicer areas.

Jinora approached me one day and explained she was worried about Rue. I was seventeen, she was nine, Ikki was six, and Meelo was four. I visited Rue and paid her special attention for a while before concluding she was fine. I didn't see anything odd with her behavior. I spent the next couple days watching her when Jinora pleaded me to help her, putting off my next trip into the city. I relearned the habits of my old pet Rue. She spent almost all of her time sleeping. One day I realized she'd been with me for a long time, and I asked Tenzin what the average lifespan of a lemur was.

I will remember the following conversation closely. Tenzin's normally stern face cracked a little and he bent a little to look me in the face. He put a hand on my shoulder firmly and I realized I wasn't going to like the answer. "Son, I want you to know that you have taken very good care of Rue. And I realize that she is very important to you and your siblings. But Rue is very old for a lemur now. With all the love and attention you've shown her, she has lived near twice what a wild lemur will live. But I think Rue's time in this world is closing."

He was right. Rue's creamy fur turned golden in the fall one last time, she spent all of her time curled up on top of Duga and stopped flying. She kept giving us kids long considering looks with her brown heart shaped face and big green eyes. I explained carefully to my little sisters and brother that Rue would be leaving us soon, and they should try and make some last memories with her before she had to go. Jinora understood intellectually, but she'd never experienced the loss before. Ikki and Meelo kept asking where she was going.

One day close to my birthday Rue was gone. I flew all over the island and found her dead and cold in her favorite tree on the south size of the island, looking as peaceful as if she was merely asleep. I told my siblings that Rue had died, which meant her spirit had left her body, and that according to Airbending principles it meant she would be reincarnated into a new lemur body somewhere. Ikki asked if that meant they could go find her, but I told them she wouldn't remember us if she saw us, and that meant we would have to remember for her since she forgot. I think I did pretty well explaining it.

It was still a sad experience though. I buried Rue beneath her tree and spent a long time with Duga, just sitting beside my Bison. It was weird not to have Rue chattering all over us and inspecting us for edibles. I meditated away the hurt, and taught the three little ones how to do so as well. I think it worked and I know it helped. We were back to normal soon. And then, because peace only lasts so long without change in our strange little family, we all learned we were going to have a new sibling soon. Pema seemed the least concerned about it out of all of us. I may have given Tenzin the stink eye for his timing. Losing a family member and then replacing right away? He explained he thought the news would distract us, and that they had only just found out.

Ikki foolishly argues with Jinora that she is taller (hint, she's not, Jinora is three years elder and possesses a more graceful build) and demands we measure them. Jinora is about four foot, Ikki is about three and a half, and Meelo is three and an inch. Ankle biters, the lot of them. I get measured for comparison since I'm eighteen now and a legal adult and they think they can use me as a literal and metaphorical measuring stick. I end up being five foot and eight inches. Then because Ikki wants to know, I explain how I used to look when I was her and Meelo's age. I'm not sure she believes I was ever that young. Now I'm a little rounder and not quite so bone thin, though all my teenage gangle refuses to go away. My hair is cut short and close to my head, not shaved but still practical for flying, and it's still that bizarre brown with red flecks coloration. My face is no longer so gaunt looking due to steady food intake. I'm glad my cheek bones aren't so angular as Tenzin's or my face would've give my siblings nightmare with the combined big bones and thin layering. I've become grown enough to 'graduate' to my long distance glider which is a bit heavier than even Tenzin's. I'm runner fit, all my muscles being wire and tense. My little sister Ikki refuses to stop poking me all over and Meelo is trying to eat my left shoulder or something.

We're in front of the mirror because I'm supposed to get them all dressed up for the trip to the South to see Korra and Katara again. I don't see why we're getting all dressed up in heavy clothes since we'll just throw blankets over ourselves for the trip and wear our regular attire when we land. Pema pokes her head into the room and stifles a chuckle as Meelo attempts to eat the hand I'm holding him away from my body with. I sigh. My voice is high with ignored pain right now. "I say they're ready enough," I announce.

We're headed south in a few minutes. Time to see Cousin Korra again.