Chapter Text
Present Time
The Southern Air Temple, 145 AG
“Owh! Appa! Appa, stop! I just wanted to declutter your saddle, I didn't ask for, ugh, for this--” Tenzin yelped as the furry animal licked him up from head to toe and pushed him onto the solid ground of a thousand year old temple, his yellow robes sticking to his skin in a manner one would certainly have nightmares about.
‘Monkeyfeathers’, Tenzin thought to himself. His dad’s air bison had a particular fondness reserved for him, which he suspected had something to do with his airbending skills, but that fondness surely stretched way beyond what his boundaries would usually allow. Tenzin doesn't even let his own bison, Oogy, act this way - yet there really seemed to be a never ending fight when it came to his father’s companion.
This, unfortunately, wasn't the first time Tenzin had to deal with smelling like a sky bison’s lunch.
“Yes, Appa! That’s the spirit! Tenzin just looooves when you give him a shower! Isn’t that right, little brother?” Bumi spoke from one of the nearby walls, leaning against it with a wicked grin that drove Tenzin mad, an apple in his hand, his grin growing wider as he bit into it. His hair ran a little wild, as it usually did, his face clean shaven in a way Tenzin hadn't seen him in months - there was this whole phase about a fire nation girl who only loved men with a beard - and his new United Forces uniform adorned him in bright reds, the young man too stubborn and proud to take it off, even while surrounded with nobody but immediate family.
“Yuck…” Tenzin yelped, inviting a gust of wind with both of his hands, the breeze lifting him up from the ground and back on his feet. “Shut up, Bumi!”
“Hush, you.” Kya perched in, surely only using that as an excuse to send a surge of water toward her older brother's head, though he was used to her games and dodged it as his sister kept on talking.“You know how sensitive Tenzin can be.” Kya walked toward Appa in what one would only describe as “the same grace and elegance of her mother, strength of a warrior hidden underneath - her brown locks were longer now, the signature braids of the South framing her locks in what was keen to a crown.
“I’m not- ugh, whatever.” He really didn't want to argue right now. “I need to wash this off.”
“There's no need for that, little bro! I’'m sure Lin would love that…” Bumi grinned so big one wouldn't be able to tell the difference between a human or one of those teethy spirits their dad always talked about “- new coat of yours-” A gust of wind flew toward Bumi's face and created unnatural spikes in his - usually well taken care of and combed to no end - locks of hair. Tenzin only stood proud after his little airbending trick.
There was a hint of pink that crept across their little brother's cheeks. He had gotten used to being the target of all their annoying teasing.
“Why would I care what Lin thinks?” Tenzin huffed and crossed his arms in pure annoyance.
“Oh, please, Tenzin. I have been traveling for the past year and even I noticed you two sneaking off during the end-of-war anniversary celebrations.”
“We…we didn't - We just…”
“If you're gonna keep trying to make up some lie, at least let me wash that snooze off of you while you think.” Kya waterbent some water from the fountain their dad had fixed up during the renovations done on the southern side of the Air temple, and a giant wave engulfed Tenzin before he could even think about what’s happening, let alone dodge the big typhoon.
“Tenzin's in looooveeee.” Bumi squeeled as Tenzin could only groan at the fact that a wave had just swallowed him whole.
“We're not…we're just - ugh.” The bald-headed boy gave up, at last. “Can you at least be quiet? I don't need dad hearing you. And Lin and I are…not together or anything. “ There was that blush again.
Children, Bumi thought to himself.
“Oh, please, dad can't hear shit from the spirit world. And who ever mentioned you two were together?”
“I just thought…that you thought…”
“Bumi’s just teasing, Tenzin.” Kya called down from Appa’s saddle, using a water grip to bring some of the clutter down on the ground. “Relax.”
“Are you sure he can’t hear anything?”
Tenzin walked up to his father. His firm figure stood in a position in which he was familiar with, the one in which the air nomads meditate. Tenzin has done the same pose hundreds of times, since the moment he was old enough to join both Kya and his dad in their morning meditating sessions.
But now, his father's tattoos were glowing a blinding white. The only thing Tenzin would hear was the soft sound of his breath, and for what would be about five hours now, he hadn't moved an inch.
Avatar stuff…
“Oh, definitely. He’s too busy talking to whatever spirit or past avatar is all over his arrow right now.” Bumi declared with the type of nonchalance that pissed his siblings off to no end.
“How are you sure?”
“If he could hear something, he would have come back by now.” Bumi stated, biting into yet another piece of fruit he mysteriously got his hands on.“I also accidentally spilled some watermelon juice all over his robes, and he’s still out.”
“Right…” Tenzin murmured, shooting him a sidelong glance. “I’ve just never seen him out for this long before. It’s been over five hours.”
“He's fine.” Kya broke the conversation as she jumped back down from Appa's back. “There was this one time where he was out for like two days, mom was crazy worried.” She said, throwing Appa some food before coming closer to the two. “But it was all fine in the end.”
Appa seems to be fine also. He would probably feel it if something was wrong, wouldn't he?
“Why is he even over there at all?” Tenzin questioned, his brows rising up.
“Maybe he's talking to one of the past avatars.” Bumi wondered. “Kyoshi and Roku and all of them.”
“Oh, I hope he's speaking to her.” Kya added, “I love her!”
Tenzin looked up at his older sister. “You do?”
“Please, you only like her because she had a wife.”
“Bumi-”
“Kyoshi had a wife?” Tenzin asked, though he doubted either of his siblings heard him at all.
“One thing you're forgetting little sis.” Kya couldn't even say much before Bumi had interrupted her. “Dad doesn't like to go to Kyoshi for advice.”
“What? Why?” Tenzin chimed in.
“Something about killing all her enemies, being one of the most dangerous avatars to ever exist, blah, blah.” Bumi took another bite of the fruit in his hand, before spewing out a seed. Gross. “Dad's not…a fan of her ways.” He concluded.
“But she's his past life.” Tenzin said in wonder.
“Yeah, and dad's a monk.” Kya stated. “He doesn't support murder, remember? That's why the crazy old fire lord is rotting in a prison right now instead of ten feet underground.”
“Well, that makes no sense.”
“What do you mean?”
“Didn't the fire nation kill our entire culture?” The boy asked. “All of our people?”
“Well, um, yeah…”
“You'd think that would make dad forget about all of those old ways of the monks. Isn't this ‘not killing rule’ the reason they are all dead right now?”
Bumi and Kya looked at each other, their eyes widening in shock. “Well when you put it like that…” Bumi trailed off.
“The nomads were peace-makers Tenzin.” Kya spoke in earnest. “ It was about way more than taking a life, it was about…harmony. Between all nations.”
“But isn't that the Avatar's job?”
“Umm…” Tenzin couldn't quite believe he shocked his siblings into near-silence.
“I'm sorry. It's just…it's only us, you know. Do you guys ever think about that?”
“About what exactly?” Kya asked, pushing a lock of her hair back behind her shoulder, and away from her face.
“It's just dad and the three of us.” Tenzin stated. “We're all that's left of the true air nation…do you ever wonder what our lives would have been like if they fought? Killed the soldiers that attacked them?”
“Hey, I'm sure they fought.” Bumi chimed in with a sympathetic smile, squeezing his brother's bald head in the process. “They had to. It would have been self defense, but they must have. They didn't just give up.”
“We don't know that. Not even dad knows that…”
“Yeah…” Bumi sighed. “-he was stuck in an iceberg.” Something keen to a giggle escaped him.
“Dad's a hundred and forty five years old.” Kya broke the silence, watching her dad's still body ahead of her. “That's crazy when I say it out loud.”
“How the hell did he go without eating for a hundred years? That's crazy. He can't go a week without those fire cracker buns uncle Zuko brings when he visits.”
“I’m sure it doesn't work like that, you idiot.” Another whip of water flew Bumi's way in a matter of seconds, and this time, there was no time to dodge it.
“What?” He yelped, “It's a logical question!”
“Dad didn't feel those hundred years. It was like, he fell asleep and woke up the next morning…like time travel.” Kya explained.
Tenzin looked at her. “Like in that play we saw on Ember Island last year?”
“Kind of…he just woke up. And then he was in a different timeline.”
“And then he met mom.” Tenzin added, wondering about what was. A time before he had even existed.
“Yeah. She's the one that got him out of the ice.” Bumi said.
“They were so young.” Kya whispered.
“Children.”
“Like me.” Tenzin whispered back.
“Yeah.”
“Dad stopped a war when he was twelve” It was a fact. Tenzin even had to learn about it in his history class. “I don't even have my tattoos yet.”
“Yeah well, dad's the avatar. The power of all of the thousands of other avatars is like…running through him every day or something. I bet you'll get them in like a year's time, anyway.”
“Yeah…” That's what they all seemed to think, anyway.
“Let's just go eat something. I'm famished.” Kya invited, turning around and starting the short trail toward the space they used as a kitchen whenever visiting the temple.
“Finally, I’m hungry.” Bumi followed. But Tenzin only kept on staring at his dad's tattoos, at their white glow and his still body, his siblings voices getting quieter with the distance.
“You're always hungry.”
“I'm just a simple guy!”
He could still hear their usual bicker, before finally following them back inside.
…
It was almost sundown. A few other sky bison had wandered away from their herd, and were now playing in the air with Appa and Oogy. Kya stood a few feet away from her dad (still in the spirit world) and practiced waterbending stances from a new scroll she had found on her most recent visit to the South Pole.
Tenzin stood at the other end of the terrace, practicing some of his bending as well. There was a move his dad had tried to teach him a few days back, and he had trouble getting it quite right. He was on his fifth try now, and with each failure, his face grew a little bit redder from the frustration.
Bumi relished in it.
He was the only one who had strict timing as to when his training were to take place every day. He had spent over three hours practicing all of the formations his time in the United Forces had taught him so far, earlier that day.
All he got to do now was watch.
“You know, I think you've almost got it.”
“I get it, Bumi.”
“If only you could fly a little higher…”
“Can you…just be quiet?”
“No.”
“Ugh.”
“Don't be such an airhead Tenzin. Lin's really being too much of an influence, isn't she?”
“Can you stop talking about Lin?!”
“Okay, okay, calm down, I'm just teasing. What are you so upset about, anyway?”
“I just…can't get this right. And your comments certainly aren't helping. Can't you just be quiet, like Kya?”
“The only reason I'm quiet is because I'm trying to focus. Which is getting a little difficult with the two of you idiots.”
“There's no reason for you to get so angry at it. What is it that dad always teaches you about patience, aren't the air nomads supposed to, um…breathe through the frustrations? or something?”
“You just don't get it, okay?” Tenzin sighed.
“And what is it that I don't get, exactly? Is it because I'm not an airbender?” Bumi answered back.
“No, I didn't mean…I just meant…”
“Well what did you mean?”
“Okay, fine. You don't get it because you’re not an airbender. I did mean it. And that's not an insult, it's just a fact.”
“Oh, it's a fact now is it? All I said is you need to calm the fuck down, kiddo. It's just a stupid airbending move, you’ll learn it. There is no need to get all pissy about it.”
“Okay, Bumi, bending isn't stupid.” Kya intervened, dreading the fact that she might be walking into yet another argument. “I get where Tenzin is coming from-”
“There's no way you're taking his side right now.” Bumi scolded.
“What? I'm not taking any sides, I'm just saying-”
“He always does this Kya! You know this! Poor little airbender, he has it so much harder than everyone else. It is just a move you can't learn, you'll learn it, the world keeps on turning. There are real problems people have to deal with, you know that kiddo?”
“I know, I never said-”
“Kya here is not an airbender either, is she supposed to just sit quietly with you playing the moral high ground around here?”
“I never said that. Spirits, do you ever listen to me? Can you ever let me talk? It's as if it doesn't even matter what I say, you dismiss it before I can even get a sentence out! I might be twelve, but I'm not stupid!”
“Well it's not like you ever listen to us either. You're too busy learning your new tricks with dad, I can't even joke without you getting all defensive about it. What next, can Kya not understand anything either huh? Because she is a waterbender?”
“I never…”
“Okay, Bumi, you're taking all of this way too far…” Kya tries.
“He doesn't say it. But he thinks it, Kya. I see the way he acts about it, you can't pretend like you don't see it too.”
“IT'S NOT JUST A STUPID AIRBENDING MOVE, OKAY?” Tenzin snapped, uncontrollably jumping about 10 feet in the air before landing back on his feet, his back turned to his siblings. “I don't want to disappoint dad, is that so hard to understand?”
“Well what does that have to do with me not getting it?”
“Well, it's not like you care. It’s not as if you don't have any choice, either of you.”
Only silence followed.
One second…
Two..
Three…
Four…
“What.” Bumi was the one to finally break it, his stare cold as ice. In a way, he sounded just like his mother.
“I'm the only airbender, out of the three of us. I'm supposed to be the one who carries our culture onto the next generation. Dad was clear about that.”
“Yeah. He was. He told us all the same fucking thing.”
“It isn't the same and you know it!"
“How is it not?” Kya jumped in, suddenly fuming as well. “How are you any more of an air nomad than Bumi and I, huh?”
“You guys can't airbend. I'm the only one who can't step away from this and I take it seriously-”
“The only one! Do you hear this kid? Dad has spoiled you, that's for sure. Who do you think you are, the Avatar?” Bumi trailed on.
“I never said that!” Tenzin defended.
“Tenzin, I can understand all the pressure you're feeling, but it doesn't mean Bumi and I don't feel it as well. We're a family, of course we all feel the same way you do-”
“Well, you obviously don't!”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“Isn’t it obvious? Kya, you've been too busy traveling to even find time to help dad with the air acolytes, it's all me. And Bumi, you're in the military. The air nomads never even had a military!”
Bumi was losing his patience. “Yeah, and look where that got them!”
Another silence followed, so much so that not even the bison could be heard any longer.
“That was uncalled for.”
“This whole argument is uncalled for.” Kya said, her hands on her hips. “Dad is quite literally glowing five feet behind us, might I remind you. The spirits must have heard your annoying voices all the way in the Spirit world by now!”
Their voices echoed around the temple, growing louder and louder by the second. Appa and Oogy had stopped playing, and only watched as the three young siblings kept on speaking over each other, their voices getting mixed up as the time went on.
Maybe, if they had been a little bit quieter, they would have noticed it. The way everything went white, for only a second - the way the bison started shrieking and the way the wind started up, creating a swirl of leaves that circled around them at a speed unlike what was usually ever seen around the Southest of the air temples.
But maybe, if they hadn't fought at all - the world wouldn't have gone so white at all.
...
33 years earlier
The Western Air Temple, 112 AG
Aang loved the mornings in the Western Air Temple. It was quiet, but not the kind of quiet that bothered him. Not the kind that gripped him around his throat, like the one he felt when he entered the Fire Lord's palace during the invasion. Instead, it was a silence that offered solitude, and in that quiet - he was reminded of home.
Or at least, he was reminded of what home used to be.
He could see it, whenever he closed his eyes - even more whenever he meditated, just as he did now. He could imagine it.
The bison, bending the air around them, flying freely with the other airbenders - their companions - on their back, or even flying side by side.
Gyatso, who tried his best to teach Aang of the women’s ways here in the west - and Aang, who only pretended to listen. There aren't words that can explain how much he regrets that.
His friends, playing a new game he made up, one with the air scooters.
The pranks they used to pull on the older monks…He could feel all of it. Sometimes, he would forget his reality, and for a few moments it was only him and the air nomads.
Well, him and Katara, who would manage to slip into his thoughts from time to time. He only wished he could truly introduce her to his people, his culture…
It was only a thing for dreams.
It has been like this, every day for three and a half weeks now. He would wake up before the others, and would take a seat at the very edge of the temple, right next to one of the smaller Yang Chen statues in the front. Momo was right there with him every morning. He seemed to hope for any bit of food, even before breakfast time.
Lemurs were pretty high maintenance.
“Momo, could you get off of my head please?” Aang whispered after opening one of his eyes and taking a look up. “ I'm kind of busy.”
“I’m sure he's just hungry!”
“Katara!?” Aang turned around on what felt like instinct by now, noticing the way her morning locks bounced around her shoulders as she pushed herself closer.“ I didn't realize you were awake.”
“Yeah, I've been up for a few minutes. Could I join you?”
“Oh, um, sure. I'm done meditating anyway.” Heshoduld really find a way to stop getting so excited around her. It was getting obvious. And embarrassing…
She took a seat right next to him, with Momo finding his way toward her lap. “Everything alright?”
“Just thinking, that's all.”
“What about?”
“Home, mostly.”
“Oh. Tell me about it?” Aang's eyes went wide with excitement.
“Really?”
“Yeah, why not. I don't know much about airbenders, you know? You must have some fun stories.”
“Well, what do you want to know?”
“Anything you want to tell me.”
He told her about the small, ordinary joys that made the Air Temples feel alive to him. How the monks would wake up early just to race the wind currents around the courtyards, laughing when they lost their balance mid-flight, and how Gyatso always let him win at air scooter games even when Aang pretended not to notice. He spoke about meals that turned into games too, food floating between tables as everyone tried to snatch it mid-air, and the way the elders taught compassion through play instead of punishment.
“That sounds wonderful, Aang.”
“It was.” He whispered.
“I know you miss them.”
“Every day.”
“I’m sure it’s hard. But you have us now. We're all your family now, you know that right?”
“Yeah, I know Katara. Thank you.” Aang took a deep breath, letting the breeze around the Western Air Temple take over his body. .”It's just…”
“Just what?”
“You have no idea what I would do to be able to see just one airbender again. Even one.” His voice turned melancholic.
“Yeah, I get that feeling.”
“Yeah?”
“It's how I felt…all my childhood.” She understood. She always did. It was part of the reason he liked her so much. “Also, you might be able to see another. One day.” She nudged his shoulder, teasing.
“What do you mean?”
“Well, when you grow up.” Katara explained.
“I'm not following.”
“When you have kids one day, Aang!”
His face turned bright red. So red he thought he would be mistaken for one of the fire nation soldiers.
“Oh…um, I…I never.. what-”
“Don't get all corny about it, it's life.” She said. “I always knew I wanted to be a mom one day, when I grow up, of course. It's not a big deal. You might just be able to see a new airbender be born. My grandmother says it's the circle of life.”
“I never really…thought about that.”
“Remember little baby Hope?” Her hand was on his shoulder now, her eyes bright as the moon. “She is exactly what I mean. A hope for the new generation. And I think there is a reason you are here with us today.”
“Think so?” He asked,
“Know so.” She jumped to her feet. “Now get up, we need to go get some food before Sokka wakes up and gets all cranky.”
“Yeah. And before Toph starts drilling me with new earthbending forms.
...
They found themselves at the back of the Temple, a part connected to the woods. They walked for about half an hour, before finding some berries and different fruits in the bushes and trees. Katara started picking through them, and then putting them in her basket. Aang kept on looking, trying his best not to touch anything poisonous.
That would have been much easier if he actually knew what plants were poisonous in the first place.
It was when Momo jumped onto his head and purred in fear that he noticed it.
“Did you hear that?” Aang asked, pure seriousness enveloping his body.
“Hear what?”
“People.”
Katara's hand instinctively moved to the pouch of water on her hip. “Do you think it's the fire nation?”
“It could be.”
Aang tilted his head slightly, listening deeper into the wind. “There's more of them. I hear at least three voices. Maybe four. I'm not sure.”
“They are…loud.” Katara said slowly, frowning.
“Yeah…” Aang's brown knit together. “Are we sure this is the fire nation?”
“It doesn't make any sense.”
“I DID NOT SAY THAT, I NEVER SAID THAT. KYA, YOU ARE NEVER ON MY SIDE.”
Aang froze.
Katara stepped closer, lowering her voice. “That's…not the Fire Nation.”
“How can I be on anyone's side when both of you are idiots.”
The voices were clearer now, closer.
“None of this would be a problem if Tenzin's little airhead simply went out of his own ass!”
Aang frowned. “A what now?”
Katara only looked at him, confused in return.
“What does that even mean?”
“Ask your girlfriend, kiddo.”
“LIN IS NOT MY GIRLFRIEND.”
“And who even mentioned Beifong? I sure didn't.”
“Beifong? Toph?” Katara nudged.
“This doesn't make any sense.”
“Ugh.”
“Dad’s gonna hear you two fighting any second and-”
The voices were overlapping now, and it was getting harder to understand. Both of them took a step forward, leaning in between the bushes.
“Oh, please! He’s been in out for hours, there’s nothing he can-”
Children.
Or…one child.
And two teenagers, if Aang’s guess was any right. The eldest wore some kind of a formal uniform. Official.
Red. But not Fire Nation. He’d never seen one like this before.
“Are those robes water tribe?” Katara whispered in excitement, noticing the girl. She seemed to be about sixteen or seventeen, he wasn't sure. She looked pretty. A little like…
He looked over at Katara.
This girl must be from the Southern Water Tribe. But what was she doing all the way over here?
Nothing could prepare Aang for the shock he was about to experience. The shock that came over him when he took a better look at the little boy, one that seemed to be just about his age.
His clean shaven little head…and his robes…adorned in orange.
“CAN YOU JUST STOP BEING SO ANNOYING BUMI?”
A sudden blast of wind snapped through the air, thrown by the younger boy, striking his older companion full in the face and scattering his hair wildly as he stumbled back mid-argument.
Aang went still first, the color draining from his face as if the wind had been pulled straight out of his lungs.
Katara’s breath caught beside him a moment later, her hand instinctively tightening as she stepped closer without even realizing it, her expression shifting from confusion to sharp, dawning shock.
The little boy was an airbender.
…
“Guys…” Kya said, her voice cutting straight through the argument.
“I can’t believe I am even related to-”
“Guys!” Kya snapped again, louder this time.
“What?” Tenzin and Bumi both answered at once.
“Where are we? Where’s the temple gone to?”
The words finally landed.
Tenzin was the first to break away from the argument, his head turning slowly as he took in the surroundings properly for the first time. The Southern Air Temple was gone. No open terraces, no carved stone, no endless sky. Instead, dense unfamiliar trees surrounded them on all sides, the ground uneven and wild beneath their feet, the air heavier and still in a way airbenders were never meant to trust.
“I KNEW IT! I KNEW YOU WOULD UPSET THE SPIRITS DAD WAS WITH-” Kya snapped in fear.
“I didn't do anything!” Bumi shot back.
“Me neither.!"Tenzin defended.
Tenzin’s expression had fully changed now. The anger was gone completely, replaced by something uneasy. “Guys…I think we have a bigger problem.”
“What?”
“Look.”
…
“Who are you?” Aang spoke, Katara taking a defensive waterbending stance right next to him, water already lifting in a sharp, controlled arc around her wrists.
It was their parents, Tenzin thought.
Except…dad was right next to him. In the spirit world.
And his parents looked like children.
It was impossible, Bumi thought.
Only ten seconds passed before Kya screamed.