The Water Tribe Girl (Avatar: The Last Airbender; Book One: Water)

The Spirit World (Winter Solstice, Part 1)

Aya's POV

"Those clouds look so soft, don't they?" Katara gazed dreamily at the fluffy white clouds in the sky. "Like you could just jump down and land on a big, soft cottony heap?"

My sister was laying on her stomach watching the clouds as we soared by them. Sokka was carving something in his hands and Aang was just resting on Appa's head. I just sat there with my siblings, bored.

"Maybe you should give it a try." Sokka joked, smiling.

"You're hilarious." Katara looks at her brother with annoyance.

"I'll try it!" I heard Aang exclaim and then suddenly saw the avatar leap off Appa, laughing with joy. "Yeah!"

My siblings and I peak over Appa's saddle to watch him. Aang suddenly disappeared in a cloud and I searched around from him, concerned. Suddenly Aang appeared behind us, dripping wet and had a big smile.

"Turns out, clouds are made of water," Aang informed and then breathed in and slammed his fist against his hand, creating an airball around him to dry himself. This caused Momo's fur to get all fluffed, causing me to giggle lightly.

"Hey, what is that?" I heard my sister ask and I looked in the direction she was looking at. We moved forward to get a better view and saw a huge dark patch of land that was burned near a forest.

"It's like a scar," Sokka said.

Aang landed Appa on the barren patch of land to investigate it. The patch of land had burned trees and ashes on the ground. This area being dead silent made it more creepy than before.

"Listen," I told them. "It's so quiet. There's no life anyway."

"Aang? Are you okay?" My sister asked the Airbender who seemed down. I stared at Aang, worried.

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

"Shh!" I shushed my brother's angry rant.

"What? I'm not allowed to be angry?" Sokka whispered angrily.

Katara pointed to Aang who is slumped over.

Aang sighed, falling to his knees. "Why would anyone do this? How could I let this happen?"

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

"Yes, it does." He argued. "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," Katara told him. "To find you a teacher."

"Yeah. A waterbending teacher." Aang glanced back at us. "But there's no one who can teach me how to be the Avatar. Monk Gyatso said that Avatar Roku would help me."

'The Avatar before you?" Sokka questioned. "He died over a hundred years ago; how are you supposed to talk to him?"

"I don't know." Aang sighed as Momo settles on his lap. Aang softly pets him.

Aang continued to be upset about the forest and Katara had an idea.

"Hey, Aang. You ready to be cheered up?" She asked Aang with her hands behind her back.

"No." Aang declined, sadly. Katara pelts an acorn at his head. "Ow! Hey, how is that cheering me up?" He rubbed his hand.

Sokka chuckled." Cheered me up." I picked up an acorn and threw it at my brother. "Ow. Yeah, I probably deserved that."

Katara approached Aang and I crawled over to them. "These acorns are everywhere, Aang. That means the forest will grow back! Every one of these will be a tall oak tree someday." My sister placed an acorn in his hand. "and all that birds and animals that lived here will come back."