ATER Book 2: Air

Chapter 2: Plans of Action

As we walked to the main building, I was surprised to see how many people were here. So I asked Katara about it.

"Some of them are a part of Jinora's family," she replied. "Most of them are the Air Acolytes. They used to be trained on Air Temple Island in Republic City."

"But Jinora wanted to train them at a real temple," I said. Katara nodded. And it made perfect sense. What better place to train people the airbending ways than at an air temple itself?

Once we entered the main building, Jinora singled me out and made the others wait towards the front of the building. She guided me to a room with a door that had very intricate locks on it.

"This door can only be opened by airbending," Jinora explained. I stepped back as she breathed in, then ushered gusts of wind into what looked like horns. There was a series of unlocking noises, then the doors opened.

The room was huge. And that was pitting it mildly. There were ledges and oval-shaped holes in the walls that could hold 3 meter tall statues. On the floor was the symbol for every single element: earth, fire, air, and water. But the entire room was nearly empty. Only one statue stood in the center of the room, at the beginning of a spiral on the ground.

"What is this place?" I asked.

"The new Hall of the Avatars." Jinora walked up to the central statue, and for the first time, I noticed that it was Korra.

"What happened to the old one?"

"It got filled with 10,000 years worth of Avatars." She dusted off Korra's shoulder and turned to me. "And now it's time to fill this room with 10,000 more years worth of Avatars."

"Will my statue have to be in here?" I asked quietly. Jinora smiled.

"This is how the Air Nomads recorded Avatar history. What do you think?" I sighed. Of course my statue would be in here. I honestly don't know why that bothered me. It just felt....selfish.

Jinora put a hand on my back and guided me out. Meeting up with my friends, she lead us to our quarters and let us get settled in.

"Let's hope we stay longer than two days," Khanu joked. I smiled, remembering the tsunami swept stay in the Northern Water Tribe. And inside, I hoped so, too.

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The room that was used for meals had huge tables spread out around the room. In the center was rice, noodles, greens, dumplings, and greens. And no meat.

"They believe that all life is sacred," Katara told me, "so naturally they're all vegetarians." Katara, Morada, Khanu, and I sat with Jinora and her family. She had two daughters and son. Each of her daughters had a son, while one had another and a daughter. The son was not married.

I sat next to the eldest daughter's children; Akito, Seito (they're both 19), and Salwa, who was 16. Akito and Seito often finished each other's sentences, and looked so much alike, it was very hard to tell them apart. It was especially helpful when they wouldn't tell us who was who. But, they were very serious and quiet.

Salwa, on the other hand, was very talkative. And I was later due to find out that she was also very energetic. Right after she nearly killed me with a ball, that is.

".....like to see what would happen if Salwa trained Luna!" Jinora said enthusiastically.

At the mention of our names, we both looked up and said, "Huh?" We'd both been deep in conversation about airbending in general while Zenith napped at my feet.

Jinora laughed. "I was just talking about your training schedule, Luna. I thought that it would be a great idea for someone your age to teach you the ropes of Airbending." I nodded. Salwa and I were really starting to connect.

"And of course Akito and Seito will help," Jinora's daughter replied.

"Mo-om," Salwa moaned. "Akito and Seito don't need to babysit us!"

Seito- or was it Akito?- rolled his eyes. "Salwa, you could blow her to smithereens. Someone has to watch you guys."

"Yeah," she muttered under her breath, "but it doesn't have to be you two." I smiled. I figured we'd all get along just fine. Well, sort of.

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I found him skipping rocks out across the the lake the stream empties into.

"Couldn't sleep either?" Khanu shook his head.

"Nah, new places give me the creeps. Never know what's around here, you know?" I nodded, thinking about the animals around here. I'd seen flying lemurs, sky bison, and monkey possums everywhere.

He skipped another rock across the water. I concentrated on the water, willing it to leap up, grab the rock, and swallow it back into the lake with only my mind. He stared at me.

"How do you do that?" I smiled and thought back to the day Mako had asked the same question.

"I don't know, I guess there are just things that I can do that you can't." I smiled when he rolled his eyes.

"I know that. But how do you do those....those mind tricks?" My smile vanished.

"I've just always been able to do it. I mean, we were all taught to."

"Who's 'we'?"

"My village. At school we were taught to. As a technique to catch our opponent off guard."

"Huh." Khanu was no longer looking at me, and for the first time, I got the impression that he...might actually be....jealous. The thought made me almost laugh. Khanu wasn't the jealous type.

Before I could stop, I found myself saying, "I could try to teach you how, if you'd like." He smiled.

"Thanks, but no thanks. I'd rather have the Avatar have a super secret weapon against the enemy, than for everyone to have it. Just keep being mysterious, Luna."

I bit my lip, afraid that I'd hurt his pride by offering. But there wasn't really anything else I could do. "Um, yeah. I'll just...do that." And I before I could make the situation anymore awkward, I walked back to main building.

I really needed to work on my conversation skills.

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