It Was in Me

dance

4. dance - if you hit a wall, climb over it, crawl under it, or dance on top of it

What year did Fire Lord Sozin battle the Air Nation army?

The Air Nation army.

What army? The ashen remains of bones that littered the Air Temples? The memories of a past erased and rewritten by the conquerors? The whispers and cries of voices drowned out by roaring flames? That army?

Aang shuddered, pulling his knees to his chest. Was that how his people were remembered? As part of a history reformatted and reworked? As aggressors instead of defenders? As casualties, no, as soldiers instead of victims? Was that how the world had chosen to immortalize his people?

Aang sighed, releasing his legs before slowly pushing himself into a sitting position. He wouldn't be falling asleep anytime soon. And besides - he could see the sun inching upwards over the horizon. Daybreak had almost arrived, which meant it was only a matter of time before everyone woke up and they continued travelling. There was no point in him trying to catch an extra hour of shut-eye.

Maybe he could meditate for a bit. While he waited for morning to come. It could help him clear his mind, he supposed, of... of those more painful memories. Of false knowledge force-fed down his throat.

But as Aang stood to find an open place for meditation, he was distracted by the presence of Sokka. His friend was already awake, hunched over and scribbling away at his lengthy schedule.

"We can shorten our stay here," Sokka muttered, "and taking this route shaves two hours off our total travel time if we only take one break instead of two -" He stopped when Aang joined him, the airbender plopping down on a patch of grass. "Good morning?" He paused. "Uh... What are you doing up so early?"

Aang gave his friend an amused smile, folding his legs criss-cross. Considering he himself was usually the first one up, Aang couldn't help but find Sokka's question rather hilarious. "I was going to ask you the same thing."

Sokka shrugged. "Just trying to rework our schedule. I have to take in account the extra days we stayed in that cave if we want to arrive at the meet-up point for the eclipse invasion on time."

Aang flinched at the reminder. Of the upcoming eclipse or the additional days he'd encouraged his friends to stay in the city, he wasn't sure. When Sokka glanced at him, Aang looked away. Down at his feet. "Right. Yeah. I guess we do need to make up for that... lost time."

Sokka raised an eyebrow, at first not commenting. He rolled up his schedule and placed it aside. "So, why again did you say you were up so early?"

Aang hadn't.

He sighed, leaning backwards to stare up at the arrival of dawn and bracing himself with his palms. Clouds of orange and red and yellow burned before Aang. Hues not dissimilar to fire. "Dreams." Memories.

Sokka nodded. "Nightmares?"

"Kind of."

"Want to talk about them?"

The Air Nomads didn't have a formal military.

Aang shook his head. "Not really."

Sokka nodded. "That's okay. You don't have to." He tucked the group's schedule into his bag. "Want to talk about something else?"

Aang didn't answer immediately. Stuck on some twisted loop, his mind traced over and over and over the surprise, the shock, the disbelief of every kid's face in the cave as he'd danced before them. They, too, had been robbed of their childhood. Not in the same way, no. Not at the same price. But it had been stolen from them all the same.