Liara groaned and sat up from her position in the cave where she had fallen asleep.
She felt sore, and as if she hadn't moved a single muscle in a good while, so after a leisurely stretch, she looked the singed parts of her yellow and vermillion robes, sighing at the sight. The fire nation really did a number on her.
Hopefully she wasn't the only one to escape. Otherwise, her nation was done for. Literally.
She thought back of what Yao said in the spirit world. Only she and the Avatar remained. No others.
She could feel a lump forming in her throat, but she quickly dismissed the feeling and turned to Diki, who was still asleep.
"Diki. time to wake up." she told the bison, pulling open a large, fuzzy eyelid to reveal tired blue eyes. Diki groaned in dismay, but still opened her eyes to look at Liara.
The airbender was staring at the saddle that lay on the cave floor. There were some vines of jasmine growing from it, almost coating the entire wooden outer rim. The inside was dusty and had some spider webs and other insect life. It was still relatively the same and all of the scrolls and blankets still laid inside it, as well as Liara's staff, that had some carvings of blossoms and vines on the wood. Carvings she'd made with Meiji.
Liara used her airbending to place the saddle onto Diki's back and walked out of the cave with her bison.
"What do you say? Are we going back to the temple?" she asked the large, fluffy creature. Diki crooned in agreement and Liara hopped into the bison's head. "Let's go home then, yip yip!"
Diki took to the skies and headed south, towards the air temple.
Liara retreated back to the saddle and took off her burnt robes and replacing them with another outfit. She braided her hair back into a half-up braid and left some pieces framing the face, while also proudly displaying her blue mastery arrows.
By the time she was done, Diki finally landed in the western air temple. The sight of it made Liara deflate. It was empty and dead quiet, only the water of the fountain being heard.
She dismounted Diki and walked around the temple, which didn't even have one monk or lemur. No signs of bandits or other human life, either. Only she and Diki were what was once the population of this temple.
Sighing when she got to her room, she sat down on her dusty, corroding bamboo bed. the orange blankets were filthy, and it looked as if they hadn't ever been cleaned.
Or as if they hadn't been cleaned in a very, very long time.
Most of her things were almost exactly as she had left them that day when they attacked. She remembered vividly how monk Nora rushed into her room and ushered her to run.
She could remember the look on the 30-year-old woman's face as they ran out of her room when the screams began. Pale, slick with sweat, dilated eyes. Terrified.
She remembered the feeling of a kiss being planted on her forehead just before Nora turned around to fight off firebenders so that Liara could get away unscathed.
She remembered feeling heavy as a chunk of iron as she stared at her mentor blowing firebenders off of the cliff.
She could remember the shouting. The shouting for her to run. To go to the water tribes or Omashu. Maybe even Ba Sing Se. Somewhere safe. Somewhere hidden.
But most of all, she could remember the killing.
The murder — the genocide of her people, her friends and mentors.
The murder of airbender spirits as children watched their mentors die in hopes to save them As they waited like sitting turtle-ducks, wondering who would be next.
The death of the fire nation soldier. The feeling of bending the air right out of his lungs and resulting in him having a painful and agonising death. It made her sick.
Literally.
She jumped up from her position on her bed and leaned her upper body out of the window, spilling whatever she had in her stomach off of the cliff and into the river deep in the ravine.
~
After spilling her guts, Liara took an old basket from the kitchens near the prayer chamber, and she set out on her glider after telling Diki to behave.
Her best course of action was to use what she knew and stay alive. She needed to get some food. She flew into the forest above the temple and looked for the blueberry, strawberry and raspberry bushes that were usually found there.
After getting enough for herself for a few days, she stumbled across a patch of watermelons that she quickly took as well.
Liara then walked up the forest into a beautiful grassland. She went on to use her airbending to slice the grass and tuck it into her arms.
She did so until she couldn't carry any more items while gliding.
Once Liara got back to the temple, she de-saddled Diki and gave her the grass and two of the watermelons she got.
While they were both eating, Liara sighed. "it's just you and me, girl." she said to the bison. "We're the only ones left of this place. Us two and Aang. We're the last of our race."
Diki let out a sad croon and nuzzled her nose into Liara's side, earning faint laughter from the preteen girl.
"Yeah, I love you too." she smiled, petting her bison's nose.
YOU ARE READING
the wind in my sails | aang x oc
Fanfiction[UNDER EDITING] THE GRAMMAR SUCKS PLS LET ME FIX Aang and Liara had been best friends since they were young, but after aang ran away, he feared that he had lost liara along with the rest of his people. however, liara was saved by an act of taboo and...
