A Strange Beginning - Sokka x OC

Chapter 7: The Southern Air Temple (Pt.2)

"Anyone home?" called Aang inside. He walked inside. 

Katara and Sokka followed him. I was hesitant at first because I thought it was supposed to be a private moment for Aang, but that didn't seem to be the case so I went inside as well. 

There was a spiral of statues circling the ground of the room. They were also held by stone shelves on the walls. 

I walked through them and observed them closely. The statues represented different people from all 4 nations. 

"Who are all these people?" asked Katara. 

"I'm not sure, but I feel like I know them somehow," said Aang uncertainly. 

"They're all lined up in a pattern," I noted. "Look, this one is a fire bender, and next to it is an air bender, water bender, and an earth bender."

"That's the Avatar cycle," added Aang. 

"Of course. They're Avatars," explained Katara. "All these people are your past lives, Aang."

"That's why you feel like you know them," I said. 

"Wow! There's so many," marveled Aang. He walked around, looking up and down at the room. 

"Past lives? You really believe in that stuff?" asked Sokka incredulously. 

"It's hard not to when you're walking around with a kid who was preserved in an iceberg for 100 years and came out alive," I muttered. 

"It's true. When the Avatar dies, they're reincarnated into the next nation in the cycle," argued Katara. 

I walked over to where Aang was standing. He was staring at a statue which I recognized to be a statue of Avatar Roku. 

"You know, that guy is hated in the Fire Nation," I told Aang. 

"Really? Why?" asked Aang.

"Because he tried to stop Fire Lord Ozai from starting the war against the nations," I said. "They describe him as a disgrace to our nation or something like that."

"What do you think?" asked Aang. 

"Oh me? I don't care, I slept through most of class anyways," I chuckled. Aang laughed along with me. 

Sokka and Katara walked over to us. "Who is that?" Katara asked. 

"That's Avatar Roku, the Avatar before me," informed Aang.  

"You were a fire bender? No wonder I didn't trust you when we first met," said Sokka. 

"Love the prejudice, Sokka," I scorned. 

"You're welcome," he replied. I rolled my eyes. 

"How do you know his name? I didn't tell you," I said. 

"Yeah, there's no writing either," added Katara. 

"I just know it somehow," confessed Aang. 

"You just couldn't get weirder," said Sokka. 

"Too soon," I warned. "Don't be surprised when he starts reading minds." 

We stopped talking when we heard footsteps come from the doorway. We all spread out through the statues, hiding behind them. 

"Fire bender. Nobody make a sound," whispered Sokka. I took my daggers out of my coat and gripped them tightly. 

I waited for a minute or two and then Sokka and I got out of our hiding places. It wasn't even a person; it was a lemur. I put my daggers back in my and smiled.