we'd been flying for a day or so and it hadn't been too bad at all.
i mean, it was better when i had someone to talk to.
'so,' said sokka, handing me his knife, 'are you sure you've done this before? i just don't want you to cut yourself or anything cause if y-'
i laughed, shushing him, 'it's alright sokka, ive had thousands of years of time to practice.'
i gracefully whittled the block down, smoothing any imperfections with ease, and handed it back to him.
'yeah,' he smiled, 'at least you didn't cut yourself.'
then, katara spoke up
'those clouds look so soft, don't they? like you could just jump down and you'd land in a big, soft cottony heap.'
'maybe you should give it a try.' said sokka.
katara dead-panned, 'you're hilarious.'
aang laughed loudly, jumping off of appa, 'i'll try it! yeahhhh!'
we sped over to the other side of the saddle, looking down to see where aang was.
but he reappeared on the other side of the glider, soaking wet.
'turns out clouds are made of water!'
i felt cold and realised he must be too.
'aang get something warm on or you'll freeze to death' i fussed, taking a coat from one of the bags and wrapping it around him, making me feel almost instantly better.
'thanks y/n' he smiled, hugging it tighter.
'hey, what is that?' asked katara, looking into the distance.
she was looking at a zigzag patch by the river. it was completely black and made a stark difference from the rest of the lush greenery that surrounded it.
'it's like a scar.'
---
we flew down to investigate but all we found were burnt treestumps.
i couldn't believe it.
and apparently, aang couldnt either.
'listen,' said sokka, 'it's so quiet. there's no life anywhere.'
'aang, are you ok?' asked katara.
aang was sitting on the floor - picking up handfulls of the ash and letting it blow away with he wind.
sokka looked at the footprints and began shouting but was quickly shushed by katara and i directed his attention towards aang.
'why would anyone do this? how could i let this happen?'
'aang, you didn't let this happen. it has nothing to do with you.' said katara, trying to comfort him.
'yes it does. it's the avatar's job to protect nature - right y/n?' said aang, 'but, I don't know how to do my job.'
'you had no control over this and what's done is done. you will find out how to do your job - i promise.' i said, hugging him.
'monk gyatso said that avatar roku would help me.'
'the avatar before you? he died over a hundred years ago, how are you supposed to talk to him?' asked sokka
'i don't know.' he said.
'there's always the spirit realm.' i said, 'but i can't help you get there.'
aang sighed, 'oh, okay.'
---
'ow!' i heard aang say, and i ducked just in time to not get hit by an acorn.
'hey, how was that cheering me up?!' he said, annoyed, while katara bounced another on in her palm.
'hehe, cheered me up.' laughed sokka as katara threw the acorn at him.
'ow! yeah, i probably deserved that.'
'these acorns are everywhere, aang,' marveled katara, 'that means the forest will grow back. every one of these will be a tall oak tree someday, and all the birds and animals that lived here will come back.'
just then, an old man began to approach us.
'hey, who are you?' asked sokka.
'when i saw the flying bison, i thought it was impossible, but those markings... are you the avatar, child?' asked the man.
aang looked back at katara and nodded his head in reply.
'my village desperately needs your help.'
he showed us to a small earth kingdom village. many of the houses were just the timbers or had been burnt and very few were still completely upright.
a man who looked as if he was the chief walked near as the old man addressed him by pointing to aang and saying, 'this young person is the avatar.
'so the rumors of your return are true,' said the chief, bowing, 'it is the greatest honor of a lifetime to be in your presence.'
'nice to meet you too. so...is there something i can help you with?'
the chief looked at him with a pained expression, 'i'm not sure...'
'our village is in crisis, he's our only hope.' said the old man, 'for the last few days at sunset, a spirit monster comes and attacks our village. he is hei-bai, the black and white spirit.'
'why is it attacking you?' sokka questioned.
the forest.
'we do not know, but each of the last three nights he has abducted one of our own. we are especially fearful because the winter solstice draws near.' said the chief
'what happens then?'
'as the solstice approaches, the natural world and the spirit world grow closer and closer until the line between them is blurred completely.' the old man said.
'hei-bai is already causing devastation and destruction. once the solstice is here there is no telling what will happen.'
'so, what do you want me to do exactly?' aang asked
'who better to resolve a crisis between our world and the spirit world than the avatar himself? you are the great bridge between man and spirits.'
'hey, 'great bridge guy', can i talk to you over here for a second?' called katara, leading aang away from the men.
'aang, you seem a little unsure about all this.' she said.
'yeah, that might be because i don't know anything at all about the spirit world. it's not like there's someone to teach me this stuff!' he said, almost angrily.
'im so sorry aang. ive always found it hard to connect with he spirit world - let alone teach the avatar how to.' i said, quietly.
'well WHY!? WHY CANT YOU TEACH ME?!' he said, just quiet enough for none of the people to hear.
i took at step back - that had hurt more than he'd probably intended.
i mean, i was an airbender. we're supposed to be able to connect to the spirit world easily. but id only ever done it a few times. and it had never ended well.
'so, can you help these people?' hoped katara
'i have to try, don't i? maybe whatever i have to do will just... come to me.' he said, sadly
'i think you can do it, aang.' said katara, comforting him.
'yeahhh,' said sokka, 'we're all gonna get eaten by a spirit monster.'