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

The Northern Air Temple

Aya's POV

"So, travelers. The next time you think you hear a strange, large bird talking, take a closer look. It might not be a giant parrot, but a flying man. A member of a secret group of air walkers, who laugh at gravity, and laugh at those bound to the earth by it!"

My siblings, Aang, and I were sitting by a campfire with other travelers listening to a storyteller tell a story about airbenders.

"Aren't airbender stories the greatest?" Aang asked us as the storyteller collected money from other travelers.

"Was it realistic? Is that how it was back then?" Katara asked him excitedly."

"I laugh at gravity all the time." Aang said and chuckled to himself. "Gravity."

The storyteller appeared in front of Sokka with a bag. "Jingle jingle."

Sokka rummages through his cloak and pulls out a bug, a worm, and some crumbs.

"Sorry..." Sokka apologized and the storyteller sighed walking away.

"Aw, cheapskates!"

Aang runs after the storyteller who was kneeling in front of an old man.

"Hey. Thanks for the story."

"Tell it to the cap, boy." The storyteller told him, showing him the cap.

Aang searches his clothes for some money and Momo picked up a coin from the ground and placed it in the cap.

The storyteller turned around and petted Momo. "Much obliged, little bat-thing."

"It means a lot to hear airbender stories. It must have been a hundred years ago your great grandpa met them." Aang mentioned.

"What are you pratting about, child?!" The storyteller asked. "Great Grandpappy saw the air walkers last week."

The storyteller gestures to the old man sitting behind him. The man makes a sound and smiles widely at Aang.

——

The following day, Aang wanted to fly to the Northern Air Temple to find more airbenders.

We were all aboard Appa on our way there. I was up front with Aang like usual and my siblings were in the saddle.

"Hey, we're almost at the Northern Air Temple. This is where they had the championships for Sky Bison polo." Aang informed us.

"Do you think we'll really find airbenders?" Katara asked and I turned to my siblings. Sokka was whittling a piece of wood.

"You want me to be like you, or totally honest?" He asked, not really paying attention.

"Are you saying she's a liar?" I asked my brother, with a raised eyebrow.

Sokka shrugs. "I'm saying you both are optimists. Same thing, basically."

I rolled my eyes and turned my attention back to the front. I gasped lightly when I saw a huge temple at the top of the mountain.

"Hey guys, look at this!" Aang called when he noticed the temple. As we got closer, Katara gasped when she saw people flying in the air.

"They really are airbenders!" Katara gasped with amazement.

Aang leaned back and scowls with his arms folded. "No, they're not."

I was confused. "What do you mean 'they're not?"

"Those guys are flying!" Sokka added.

"Gliding maybe but not flying. You can tell by the way they move, they're not airbending. Those people have no spirit." Aang explained in a bitter tone of voice.