As much as M/N hoped, his life could never truly be normal; being the oldest of three siblings was hard enough, on top of that his mom died, and his dad along with basically every other adult male in the village had gone off to help the Earth Kingdo...
"Wait till you see it Katara, the Air temple where I grew up is one of the most beautiful places in the world!" Aang muses giddily as he re-ties the reins around Appa's horns. Katara turns to face him over her shoulder, her voice soft: "Aang, I know you're excited, but it's been over a hundred years since you've been home...", "That's why I'm so excited!" he claims, clearly oblivious to the deeper meaning of her words; "It's just that, a lot can change in all that time..." she concludes, "I know, but I need to see it for myself..." he states, closing the matter for the time being. M/N stretched his arms over his head, a fierce yawn overtaking him, he rose and lumbered over to a pot that was suspended over the remains of their camp fire. His face crinkled unfavorably as he came to be aware of its contents: Tea; he never had the stomach for it and was honestly baffled whenever he met someone who did.
"Wake up Sokka, Air Temple here we come!" Aang announces loudly, trying to rouse some spirit out of the older boy; "Ughhhh, sleep now, Temple later..." Sokka whines groggily, rolling over on his side and snoring dramatically. Aang frowns before M/N whistles him over, whispering a plot in his ear, Aang grins impishly and grabs a discarded branch off the ground, trailing it across the front of Sokka's sleeping bag, "Sokka wake up, there's a prickle snake in your sleeping bag!"; Sokka immediately jumps upright, hopping around as if someone tried to light him on fire and screaming: "Ahhh! Get it off, get it off, ahhh!". Not soon after, he trips, falling on his stomach while both Katara and M/N snicker: "Brilliant work Aang, couldn't have done it better myself..." M/N teasingly praises the young Airbender's acting performance...
It was now 3 hours into their flight to the temple, around noon, and Sokka's stomach decided to make its presence known: "Hey Stomach, be quiet, alright? I'm trying to find us some food..." he grumbles bitterly, rummaging through their supplies; "Hey M/N! Where'd you stash the grub?" Sokka inquires to his brother. "Hmm? Oh, uh, check that little white sack there, the one Gran-Gran sent with you when you left to get Aang; it was one of my reserve bags of seal jerky...", Sokka grins broadly, eagerly tearing into the indicated bag: "It's empty!" he complains; "Empty? The fuck you mean 'it's empty'?! I packed it myself, there was over a month's worth contained in that bag!". Aang turns to face the two older boys, his face slightly pale: "Wait, you mean to tell me *that* was food?! I used it to start the campfire last night, I'm so sorry!".
"You what?!" both Sokka and M/N croaked in unison: "No wonder the flames smelled so good..." Sokka moaned, his voice equal parts fond and melancholy; M/N on the other hand couldn't decide if he wanted to laugh at the absurdity of Aang mistake, or burst into tears at the fact that those 6 weeks of strenuous labor had quite literally gone up in smoak. He tries to form a response to Aang's apology, but all he can manage is some halted sputtering. Aang, Sokka, and Katara all look at him with concern: "You ok M/N? You look like you're gonna faint." Sokka asks; "Mhmm! no yeah, I'm okay, promise..." M/N mumbles, his tone hurried and unconvincing. They arrived at the Air Temple a short time later, and while it was obviously in ruins from a lack of being maintained for over a century, it was still a sight to behold.
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