Airbender

Chapter 16: A New Start

After all the drama that happened that day, we decided to camp out in the woods and then continue our journey tomorrow. Aang and I also decided to do a little training since we had time. I couldn't believe all the tricks and moves he had. I guess I shouldn't be surprised since he's the avatar.

There was this one trick that I especially loved: what he did was create a spinning air ball and jumped on it, then road it around. It actually looked really fun! He showed me how to do it slowly and I also tried, but failed quickly. He told me not to worry, because it takes time and patience to master air bending. All I wanted to do was learn more. I wanted to become a really good Airbender just like Aang, so then I can fight along side everyone someday.

"Alright. I'm gonna do some basic moves and you try to do what I do." Aang instructs. I nod and watch him carefully. He grabs his staff and takes a deep breath. He grips his staff, lifts it up and swings down, also stepping forward with his left foot. A gush of air blows forward. He then does it again but turning and stepping with his right foot and the same thing happens. He finishes by holding his staff in his right hand and swinging all around him close to the ground, his right foot also circling around him. Air blows all around him, then he stands up and faces me.

"Alright now you try." He smiles and walks to to me. I stand there for a second then grab my staff and walk to where Aang was. I swallow hard and grip my staff. I lift it up and, Swing! I turn and do it again, Swing! Only small gusts of air follow. I then grab my staff and try to swing around but end up losing my balance and stumbling over. Aang comes over to me.

"Are you ok?" He asked as he kneels by me.

"Yeah I'm fine..." I sigh and grab my staff, using it to stand up. Aang stands up too and gives me a reassuring smile.

"It's ok, it's only your first time. Here, let's try something different." He grabs both our staffs and sets them on the ground away from us.

"Alright. One of the most important things in air bending is movement and flow. You've got to feel the wind and air around you. Now just follow me." He begins to do different movements with his arms and legs, moving very gracefully and peacefully. I watched him and try to mirror his movements. I begin to see the pattern and see it's the same few movements in a row. He looks over and watches me for a second. He smiles.

"Good. You seem to be getting it." I slightly smile at the compliment.
"Keep going." He encourages. He stops then comes and observes me as I do the moves.
"Here." He comes closer to me. "You're thinking too much about it. Feel the emotion, go with the flow." He grab part of my wrist and hand and gracefully moves it around like how he was talking about. I then look at him, realizing that our faces weren't too far apart. I raise my eyebrows and slightly blush as we both pull away.

"Oh uh... Heh g-good job today. You're doing very well for a beginner." He encourages. I smile and nob.

"Thank you. You've been a great teacher." I say a little shyly. He looks at me and smiles.

"Well, we should probably join back up with the others." He shrugs. I nod and we both head back.

The next morning, we all gather around as Zuko begins to tell us about the plan. He rolls out a map on the ground and we all kneel down and look at it.

"We're right here, so Azula will probably be heading to this town next." He points to a couple spots on the map. "Between here and the town there is this big lake. There's only three possible ways that you could get to the town. There's a flat, winding trail to the left of the lake, going through the woods. You could go across the lake which would be the fastest but you would need a boat."

"Well we do have Appa here!" Aang says, patting Appa's side. Appa then opens his mouth and let's out what sounded like a roar mixed with a groan, his breath blowing on all of us. We all pause and blink. "Heh. Well maybe not. I guess he isn't too up for it." Aang says scratching his head and smiling. I slightly laugh as I fix my hair a little. Zuko clears his throats and continues.

"Anyways. The last path is a rocky mountain path that's more straight and would lead to the town fast. Although that may be true, Azula most likely took the woods path. The mountain would be too hard with all the carriages. So our best bet would be to take the mountain path and so we can get to the town fast and catch her in time."

"Wait wait wait. We have a flying bison! Why don't we just fly over the lake and to the town." Sokka says loudly and looking at Zuko.

"Because if we ride Appa then that's a huge risk and Azula and her men might spot us and they would most likely then change their path and not go to the town at all. Then we'd just be wasting time and we wouldn't know where Azula would be heading. We need the element of surprise; we always need to stay one step ahead." Zuko says seriously. Sokka crosses his arms. "Alright. Let's gather our stuff and get a move on." We all nod and start to pack up.

It took us a little while but we finally got on the mountain path and began the trek. I look around at the tall canyon walls on either side of us. It was beautiful yet a little nerve racking.

"Hey." I slightly flinch then look to my right. "You alright?" Zuko says to me with a half smile.

"Oh. Y-yeah. Heh. Just the canyon walls make me a little claustrophobic." I smile and shrug. He smiles at me reassuringly.

"Don't worry. Before you know it, we'll be out of the canyon and on the other side."

"Thanks." I smile and nod. A few minutes pass and I see Sokka go up to Aang and Toph, smirking widely.

"Hey I'll race you guys to the end of the canyon!" He says confidently.

"You're on!" Aang cheers.

"Ha! I may be blind but you guys are going down!" Toph says confidently. They all laugh then run off down the path.

"H-hey! Guys! Don't just run off! Guys!" Katara goes and runs after them.

"There they go." Zuko says sighing. I laugh a little then pause.

"Um......should we go after them?" I look over at Zuko.

"Nah. Just let them go. They'll get tired after a while."

"Hm." I look around again and over at Appa who was on my left. I smile and pat his side.

All of a sudden I heard a low rumbling noise from what sounded like up the trail a bit more.

"Huh? D-do you head that?" I say shakily, stoping in my tracks. I look up the trail and up on the canyon side. A huge rock was tumbling down, and then another, causing a chain reaction. My eyes widen.

"Get down!" Zuko yelled as he put his arms around me and pulled me down closer to the ground. All I could do was close my eyes and cover my ears as the earth seems to shake around us.

A few minutes pass and the rumbling slowly stopped. As soon as we think it's safe, we cautiously lift our heads and look around. There was dust all over us and in the air. I cough a little and dust myself off a little bit. Zuko turns to me and puts his hands on my shoulders.

"Are you ok? Did you get hurt at all?" He said worriedly. I shake my head.

"No I'm fine... what about you?" I say back to him.

"I'm fine." He nods. And looks around a little. At the same moment we turn to where the rock slide happened. The dust finally cleared up and we widened our eyes.

"Zuko.... what about.... the others..." There, not too far ahead laid a huge rock pile, blocking the way completely.

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Hey guys! I did it! I updated! Man this one was kinda hard to figure out. That's kinda why I took forever..(along with other reasons) sorry!! I feel bad when ever I don't update fast enough. But anyways, how do you like it? Did it make sense? Hopefully? Idk.... heh. Well! I always have writers block so if you guys have any ideas or suggestions then please let me know! ^_^ thanks so much for the support. You guys really are the reason I keep writing this story. I'll try harder this time to update faster! (I know I say that every time but I mean it this time)

Read, vote, COMMENT!

Love y'all!~