Accidental Avatar

Back at the Northern Air Temple...

We were standing before the door again, and by now, my whole body was tingling with a feeling of wrongness.
"I can't believe I'm finally going to see what's inside!" Teo gushed happily as Aang walked up to the door.
Aang sent two blasts of air into the pipes on the door, which sounded musical as the locks turned.

The doors swung open, and that feeling finally vanished to be replaced with something else. Rage. The whole room was filled with weapons and in the centre was something in red cloth, with the Fire Nation emblem showing through.
"This is a nightmare," Aang said in a neutral tone, his sadness and anger hidden behind a mask of nothing.
"You don't understand!" Wow, Einstein was quick.
"Understand what!?" I yelled, turning around quickly, fire appearing on my hands again. "I see the inner sanctum of a temple once inhabited by peaceful monks turned into a chamber of death!"

I threw one fire blast at one of the tables with sick looking blades, setting the table on fire. "IS NOTHING SACRED ANYMORE!?"

"You're making weapons for the Fire Nation!" Aang yelled, pointing an accusatory finger at the old scientist.

Sokka stared in horror at the scientist before he yelled pretty much exactly what Aang had just said. The old man had the decency to look apologetic, but I was too far gone past angry to care and only wanted to know why. Why was something once sacred turned into the opposite of its purpose?

"Explain all this!" Teo demanded, and for a moment, I was surprised. He didn't know? "Now!"

"It was about a year after we moved here," the old man responded, sounding completely defeated. "Fire Nation troops found our settlement. You were too young to remember this Teo. They were going to destroy everything, burn it to the ground! I pleaded with them...begged them to spare us! They asked what I had to offer, and I offered...my services." 

Teo's face was completely shocked, and I could see the wheels turning in his head as all this processed. Slowly, my anger faded. Teo didn't know. And this was bringing his world crashing down. "You must understand! I did this for you!" 

At those words, Teo turned his head away from his father, tears spilling from his eyes, his face angry and hurt. He turned the whole chair away as his father took a step towards him, and seeing the rejection; the old man wandered away sadly.

When the old man was gone, I put a hand on Teo's shoulder. He looked up at me, his eyes spilling tears. 

"We don't blame you," I said gently. "You didn't know."

He looked around at us all and saw that the others shared my feelings.

"But," I said, standing straight and punching my hand with my fist. "The Fire Nation has no right to this place. This was a place of peace, not war. It's time to make it that way again."

Aang nodded, his face determined. "I won't let the Fire Nation ruin my home anymore." 

Aang and Teo went to find the old scientist while Katara, Sokka, and I investigated the things in the room. After a while, we agreed that we couldn't make much headway in there and left to find the other two. When we bumped into them on a bridge outside, Aang explained how the Fire Nation was coming to destroy the temple.

"This is bad! Very bad!" Sokka said, running his hands over his hair.

That feeling was creeping along my skin again, and I found myself wondering what the cause might be this time.
"Aang, what are we gonna do?" Katara questioned nervously, wringing her hands. "How can we possibly keep them all away?"

"I'll tell you how," Aang said with a grin, then pointing to the sky. "We have something they don't. Airpower. We control the skies. That's something the Fire Nation can't do."