Under the Cherry Blossom ↠ Zuko x OC ✔️

02 | The Northern Air Temple

The Gaang flies on Appa to the Northern Air Temple from the Northern Water Tribe. Sokka wants to speak to The Mechanist, Teo's dad, about new inventions, and Arlington wants to propose new ideas to make things more efficient, like the use of electricity instead of steam power.

"Guys, look!" Suki points at the people flying in the sky.
"They're not air benders, are they?" Zuko skeptically looks at them.
"No, they're just gliding. You can tell by the way they move. They're not airbending." Aang explains.

"Hey, Aang, can I barrow your glider?" Arlington asks. "I want to join them."
"Yeah, just don't fall out of the sky." Aang tosses his staff to Arlington.

Arlington opens it. "No promises!" She says before jumping off of Appa's back. Arlington free falls a little before letting the wind lift her up.

"This is the first I've seen her fly. She looks pretty good." Sokka comments.
"Well, I did teach her." Aang smiles like a proud parent.

The early winds of autumn whip across Arlington's face. She deeply inhales then exhales. 'I love flying. It makes me feel free.' Arlington weaves in and out the arches of the Air Temple. Every now and then, she glances back at the Gaang. Zuko wears a worried look as he watches Arlington soar through the sky.

"You don't think she's actually going to fall out of the sky?" Zuko asks.
"No. She hasn't done that since our first training lesson together." Aang assures.

"Aww, someone's worried about her." Katara teases.
"Let's just land." Zuko grumbles.

Appa lands on an open space in the Northern Air Temple. Teo comes rolling up to the Gaang. Arlington flies in a few second later.

"Wow, Arlington. You've really improved since I last saw you." Teo complements.
"Thanks." Arlington smiles.

"My dad will be out in a couples of minutes, he's fixing up a few things in the bathhouse. For now, I can take you guys on another tour of the Air Temple. We've added a lot of new things." Teo waves for the Gaang to follow.

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"It's good to see you all again! Oh! Arlington, Teo and I made you a glider." The Mechanist hands Arlington a sleek staff that pops open into an orange glider. "It was Aang's idea that we make you one." He finishes.
"Thank you!" Arlington gives a quick hug to Teo and his dad. "I'll have to test it out soon."

"Like Aang's glider, yours also has a snack compartment." Teo adds.
"Sweet." Arlington smiles.

"Sokka, I got your message about steam powered machines, and I must say, I'm very impressed." The Mechanist nods.
"Thank you, the only problem is I don't really know how to change those ideas into actual inventions..." Sokka admits.
"We could use the plans from the Fire Nation air fleet. They used steam power." The Mechanists offers.

"Or, you could scratch the idea of steam power all together." Arlington offers.
"What?" Sokka asks, astonished.
"We should try to use electrical power instead. It doesn't need as many moving parts, so you're losing less energy to friction, thus making electrical power more efficient than steam power." Arlington concludes.

"How do you suppose we do that?" Teo asks, joining the conversation.
"It has something to do about converting the mechanical energy of a rotating copper disc to electrical energy." Arlington recalls.

The rest of the Gaang, Aang, Zuko, Katara, Suki, and Toph listen in on the conversation.
"I'm starting to think that Arlington's world was a lot more advanced than ours." Aang whispers to Zuko.
"Yeah, she told me some things about it, but it never quite made sense." Zuko curiously listens to all the ideas Arlington has to offer.