Outcast

Chapter 6: Winter Solstice Part 1

It was bright outside as we flew above the big, fluffy clouds in the sky. Katara was laying down looking over the edge, admiring the view. Sokka was messing with his boomerang and Aang was steering Aapa. I, on the other hand, was writing in a journal. I picked one up while we were in the market one day gathering supplies after rescuing a bunch of earthbenders from a fire nation prison a few days back. I started writing about our adventures and new firebending techniques I've been working on.

"Those clouds look so soft, don't they? Like you could just jump down and you'd land in a big, soft, cottony heap." Katara says.

"Maybe you should give it a try." Sokka says and I kick his leg. "Ow! You really need to stop doing that, Kai!"

"I'll stop once you stop saying stupid stuff." I say as I continue to write, not taking my eyes off the page.

"I'll try it!" Aang says and jumps off of Aapa and falls straight into the clouds below. We all looked over the edge but Aang appeared behind us dripping wet. "Turns out, clouds are made of water." He then used his airbending to dry himself off.

"Hey, what is that?" Katara stands and walks over to the front of the saddle to get a better view. We all follow her and see a bunch of trees burnt to a crisp in the forest.

"It's like a scar." Sokka says.

"It's huge." I say as I put my journal down. Aang then tells Appa to land in the middle of the burnt part of the forest and we all get out to look around.

"Listen. It's so quiet. There's no life anywhere." Sokka says as he gets down and looks in the dirt. I was over by him looking at the burnt stumps around.

"Aang, are you ok?" Katara asks but Sokka jumps up before he can answer.

"Fire Nation! Those evil savages make me sick. They have no respect for–"

"Sokka, Quiet!" I say to him as I put my hand on his shoulder.

"What, I'm not allowed to be angry?" Katart then shushed us and pointed at Aang who had his head handed down. He looks upset. He fell to the ground and started touching the dirt.

"Why would anyone do this?" He asks himself. "How could I let this happen?" Katara begins to walk over to him.

"Aang, you didn't let this happen. It has nothing to do with you."

"Yes, it does. It's the Avatar's job to protect nature, But I don't know how to do my job."

"That's why we're going to the North Pole. To find you a teacher."

"Yeah. A waterbending teacher. But there's no one who can teach me how to be an Avatar. Monk Gyatsu said that Avatar Roku would help me."

"The Avatar before you?" Sokka asks. "He died over a hundred years ago. How are you supposed to talk to him?"

"I don't know." I walked over to Katara and handed her some acorns. She looked at me with confusion but I gested to her to go take it to Aang. She then Nodded and walked over to him.

"Hey, Aang. Ready to be cheered up?"

"No. Ow!" Katara threw an acorn right at Aang's head. "Hey, how is that cheering me up?" Sokka started laughing.

"Cheered me up." Then I threw an acorn at him. "Ow! Yeah, I probably deserved that." I then started laughing.

"Yep, you definitely did. You're welcome."

"These acorns are everywhere, Aang. 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."