Art drawn by me!
Just a small note by me. The chapters should be coming normally now, or at least more normal than they were. About every two weeks or a bit earlier, since I do not have a set schedule for this series.
Thank you for your patience.
Your Author,
-Jenna
Getting Appa to fly was not all that difficult. Although it took a bit for the trio to jog their memory of Aang's special command, they did manage to remember it and the bison took off to the sky.
"He's flying! He's flying! Katara! Ayaan! He's—" Sokka stops his exited rant when he saw his little sister's 'I told you so' smile. He was about to try to be cool and shrug it off and both of them say the look on Ayaan's face. It stopped all thoughts they had at the moment.
He was smiling brightly, almost similar to Sokka's excitement but much quieter. There was a sparkle in his eyes as they made it passed the clouds, taking in an entirely new perspective of the gradually setting sun. They dived a bit lower, a small black dot on the horizon which they were sure was the fire navy ship.
He looked to his younger siblings, "We're flying. We're in the sky." Ayaan was not shy about his amazement. Katara and Sokka couldn't help but smile at the sight. It had been a very long time since they had seen him smile like that. "Appa, you are amazing. A wondrous bison you are."
Appa roared happily at the praise and let out a rumbling growl at the feeling of Ayaan petting his fur again. He enjoyed the feeling immensely, and Ayaan's constant praises gave him motivation to fly a bit faster.
It was Sokka and Katara's first time truly seeing Ayaan interact with Appa, and they could tell that the two were fond of each other. How they were so close, they had no clue, but they were happy that Ayaan was happy. The rest of the ride was silent as they took in the fact that yes, they were indeed flying through the sky, and would most likely use this as their main mode of travel from then on.
They looked forward to this journey even more. When they got to the ship, however, their elation was halted.
Aang was battling against Zuko, defending against his never ending torrent of fire blast attacks. He was spinning his staff to create a air shield just like he had in the village, but he was caught off guard by the power behind the last and loses it. Forced to dodge, he ends up at the end of the ship.
A final blast of furious fire was all that was needed to send him overboard and into the freezing, icy waters.
"Aang! No!" Katara cried, horrified at the sight. Sokka was silent, but an equal amount of horror could be seen in his eyes.
"No!" Ayaan clutched Appa's reigns, about to guide Appa down to the ship so that he could wreak havoc on the evil ship below, when he saw something glowing in the water. It did not take long for his confusion to become amazement when Aang, in that glowing state from before, rose from the depths surrounded by a swirling vortex of water.
He landed back on the ship with ease and took care of the firebenders surrounding him in seconds, leaving the three siblings shocked and amazed.
"Did you see what he just did?!"
"Now that was some waterbending!"
Ayaan nodded, agreeing with their exclamations. He guides Appa down as he sees Aang crumble to the floor of the deck, exhausted. His eyes and tattoos were no longer glowing. Within seconds they were there, sliding off of Appa to get to their friend.
"Aang! Are you okay?" She knelt down to hold on to Aang who seemed visibly tired from the ordeal.
"Hey, Katara. Hey, Sokka. Hey Ayaan. Thanks for coming." He said weakly.
"You are welcome." Ayaan said with a nod.
"Well, I couldn't let you have all of the glory." Sokka smiled, no longer having any animosity towards the airbender.
"I dropped my staff..."
"Got it!" Sokka takes off in the direction of the staff, easily finding it. He goes to pick it up, only to find Zuko firmly gripping the other end. Horrified at the sight, Sokka struggles to get Zuko off, he then proceed to poke him in the head, in the same fashion that was done to him earlier.
"Ha! That's from the water tribe!" Sokka said triumphantly, seeing Zuko clinging to the anchor chain of his ship.
"Do you feel any pain?" Ayaan asked slowly. He'd knelt down and picked Aang up easily from Katara. He was extremely light and small compared to Ayaan. It was the same with Katara, and even Sokka, to Ayaan they all seemed small. His natural protective instincts kicked in.
"No." Aang shook his head. "Just a bit tired." Ayaan hummed in answer to the response, easily helping Aang get on Appa's head where his reigns were. "Thanks."
Ayaan simply nodded again before returning to the deck. He wasn't one for long exchanges, not even with his family, but he got the point across. It was the same when he sent a glare to the incoming soldiers, causing them to flinch at the animosity.
'I dare you to come closer' It seemed to say to them.
Nonetheless, it was their job to approach this fearsome beast locally known as an 'Ayaan'. The Fire Nation soldiers approached him and Katara who stood beside him with extreme caution. Some were even getting flashbacks of their previous encounter in the village.
The feeling of being hunted was not pleasant.
Ayaan made a small gesture to Katara, causing her eyes to widen.
'You take care of them. Show me what you got.' It seemed to say to her.
She raised her arms, the water seeming to follow her will as a small stream of it rose from the leftover wter on the deck. Seeing Katara attempting to do something to them with her waterbending, Ayaan watches her closely. This would be the first time she ever used her waterbending offensively, and he wanted to see she would do.
The men slow down and gasp in surprise as they were expecting Ayaan, who they had fought before, to be the only waterbender in their little group. The surprise dies down a bit when her attempt fails and she ends up freezing a channel of water behind her, freezing Sokka's legs in the process.
"Katara!" Sokka exclaimed angrily, not surprised it was his sister who had done it.
"Try again, Katara." Ayaan said reassuringly as he caught the dejected look that flashed across her face. The first time was always the hardest, but if she was going to be going with them on this journey, it was something she needed to do.
The first step must be taken. If she saw that she could do it, then she'd feel more confident in herself about her abilities, even if they were still lacking. Waterbending was not his area of expertise, it was going to be his sister's.
He could tell, because as he had said before, she was more adept to it. Sometimes, it felt like he was missing something important when it came to his own waterbending. It was a strange disconnect, as if he was trying to do something while being half asleep. It felt like something wasn't all the way there, and it felt strange.
Why did he feel this way? He was not sure. He had told no one this, not even his grandmother. It was because it was too strange and subtle for him to want to care about, and his waterbending was not something that took priority in his life.
Firming her resolve, she turned and did the same movement. This time, it worked how she wanted it too, and the approving nod she got from her eldest brother brought her even more happiness.
"Good job. Let's go."
"Yes!"
They both get up on Appa's saddle, taking the same seats they had when they first met Aang. Only Sokka hadn't gotten on yet as he was still stuck in ice.
"Hurry up, Sokka!"
"Use the other end of your boomerang, it is sharper." Ayaan adds helpfully.
Sokka grumbles irritably at the situation. "I'm just a guy, with a boomerang." He says, freeing one of his feet. "I didn't ask for all of this flying and magic!" He gets his other foot free, getting on to Appa as quickly as he could. "Yip-yip! Yip-yip!" He says urgently as he finally mounts Appa, getting into his saddle.
Ayaan then sees an older, round man come onto the deck. He rubbed his eyes as if he had just been asleep, only for them to open wide in shock at the sight of Appa. For some reason, this old man did not strike Ayaan as 'Evil Fire Navy Scum', although he was clearly fire nation.
It was weird, so Ayaan ignored it. They flew off into the sky on his giant bison friend, the ship becoming smaller as they got further away from it. Just as they thought they were home free, however, a huge fire blast headed towards them.
Aang quickly jumped from Appa's head with his glider at the ready. The tail of it opened, and with a heave of airbending, he knocked the fire blast into a nearby glacier. The resulting impact caused an avalanche to befall the poor fire nation ship, and they flew off, free of them at last.
...
..
.
"How did you do that?! With the water? It was the most amazing thing I've ever seen!" Katara gushed a bit.
"I don't know. I just sort of... did it." Aang was sitting on the edge of the saddle, his expression was less than happy despite the compliments he received. He was still reeling from the fact that he had really done that.
"Why didn't you tell us you were the Avatar?" She asked, her curiosity laced with seriousness. Ayaan was also waiting for an answer. Unlike his little sister, he did not speak. Aang gave them all a glance, seeing Ayaan who was patiently and calmly observing him from the furthest seat in the saddle.
He was the only one who had known that he was keeping something from them the entire time. Just like then, he was patiently waiting for Aang to tell him why. Now, he was going to get his answer.
"Because," he turns away from them, his expression saddening, "I never wanted to be."
Aang never wanted to be the Avatar. After he was announced to be the Avatar, everything changed. All of his friends didn't want to play with him anymore, it felt like everything he had known before was slowing but surely being taken away from him. He felt like it was unfair, and this responsibility had suddenly fallen on his shoulders. A responsibility that he was not ready for nor wanted.
Ayaan was silent. He did not see Aang's face, but his figure seemed smaller than before to him. The world had put their fleeting hope on the shoulders of this child, as if he alone could change everything. Right now, he did not see an Avatar, a warrior, or a hope.
He saw a child, one that the world seemed to not realize was a child because the title "Avatar" had been slapped in front of it.
The sun was finally setting on this long day. A lot had happened, and it was all sinking in for the four. The dusk sky they were flying through cast them into a beautiful scene, but the mood was downcast despite them being in flight.
"But Aang, the world's been waiting for the Avatar to return and finally put an end to this war." Katara said. This was true, and they all knew it. The people suffering in their war who had even a sliver of hope were waiting for the Avatar to return and free them form their misery that had taken the form of 100 years worth of war.
Their grandmother was one of them.
Katara was one of them.
Their mother had been one as well.
"And how am I going to do that?" Aang asked, downcast still. It was a valid question for a child like him to ask. A moment of pause fell again, but this time, the quiet Ayaan was the one to break it.
"Become the Avatar." He said bluntly, earning looks from all three of them. He had a determined look upon his face, a new expression for Aang. Sokka was a bit confused at the choice of words, because wasn't Aang already the Avatar? Katara, being the aspiring bender she was, understood what Ayaan was getting at instantly and followed up what he was saying. Sokka belated understood and nodded his head furiously at his brother's thinking.
"Yeah! An Avatar is suppose to know all of the elements, right?" Sokka added, earning a nod from Ayaan, Katara, and Aang in confirmation.
"According to legend, you need to first master water, then earth, then fire, right?" In all of their legends of the Avatar, no matter the story, their was one thing that was constant.
His or hers mastery of the four elements.
"That's what the monks told me." Aang answered.
"Well, if we go to the North Pole, you can master waterbending!" She responded, lifting the downcast mood with optimism. This resulted in Aang's mood becoming better, and that resulted in everything else becoming better because a happy Aang was a contagious thing.
"We can learn it together!" He was smiling again, and Ayaan nodded with his own small smile on his face. Aang was better like this. A child deserved to smile.
"And Sokka," Katara said, turning to her brother, "I'm sure you'll get to knock some firebender heads on the way."
"I'd like that. I'd really like that." Sokka replied with a content expression.
"And Ayaan, haven't you wanted new challenges to test your skills in?"
"Yes. If I'm stronger, I can protect you three better."
"Three?" Aang asked, noticing how he'd been included. He thought Ayaan would only be protecting his siblings since, well, they were his siblings. He was an airbender with pretty good skill in his element, so he wasn't sure why he was included. He didn't think they were close enough for him to be included. His smile widened as Ayaan nodded his head.
"Yes. Katara, Sokka, and You." Ayaan answered, before pausing for a moment and rephrasing his statement. "Actually, four. Appa too." Ayaan said with a nod.
Aang's smile widened even more. They didn't treat him any differently after learning the truth of who he was. Katara and Sokka gave their brother a fond look, as this was his personality. His family, his friends, his home, those were things that no matter what, he would protect and do almost anything for. When Ayaan decided to do something, almost nothing could change his mind and he put all of his best effort into it.
Ayaan was absentmindedly patting Appa's soft fur, ignorant of the looks he was getting. He was sure this would become a new habit of his, but he did not care. He wondered what Appa's favorite food was. Speaking of favorite food, what was Aang's? He wanted to get it for them whenever he was able to.
Aang would be different from Sokka, who liked any kind of meat, or Katara, who had a more balanced pallet. Aang did not eat meat at all, he saw it when they were still in the village. If he was going to take care of him like another little brother, he needed to know what he liked. It was natural to want to know these things.
Ayaan did not realize that these types of thoughts were why he was the favorite of the village as well as the favorite sibling. Did he not know he was about to spoil them?
No, he didn't. And if he did, he would not care.
"We're off to the north pole!" Katara said excitedly. It had been a life long dream of her to finally master her element. Even though Ayaan also wanted to learn, it could not compare to Katara's desire. The mood had become much happier, the previous blues forgotten.
Aang cheerfully pulls out a scroll, "All right, but before I learn waterbending, we have some serious business to attend to." Using his airbending to land himself in the saddle, he unrolls the scroll, revealing it to be a map. "Here, here and here." He states as he points to various places on it.
"What's there?" Katara asks curiously. Sokka was also curious about the places. Ayaan was silent, watching the three converse.
"Here, we'll ride the hopping llamas." He points to the next place, "Then waaay over here, we'll surf on the backs of giant koi fish." The younger of the siblings looked at him in wonder, and Ayaan watched the scene. "Then back over here, we'll ride the hog monkeys." At this, Katara and Sokka glanced at each other, Ayaan shaking his head slightly.
"They don't like people riding them, but that's what makes it fun!" Aang said with an elated smile on his face. The trio found his smile to be contagious.
And just like that, they were off.