FicWad

Author’s note Sorry this took so long, I’m a lazy butt. It’s kind of long, and I promise, this is the last boring chapter. Soon the little Gaang will go someplace xD. Enjoy!*

Hope awoke from her strange dream in a cold sweat, and she blinked as the morning crept into her eyes. As he surroundings came into her view, Hope smelt warm food, and her stomach jumped for joy.

She hadn’t had a good meal in months. Then she noticed Katara mixing food, and to her dismay realized she had slept in. “I’m sorry”, Katara said, “did I wake you?”. Hope smiled and shook her head, no she had not.

Hope glanced sleepily around the room, and spotted a little boy sitting by the fire. The little one looked up to see Hope watching him. Hope smiled, but the little boy didn’t remember going to sleep with a stranger in the house, and ran to the safety of his mother’s skirt.

The water bender laughed and nudged him forward with her foot. “This is Gyatso, my little son”, she beamed.

Hope nodded, then noticed something new, he had crystal grey eyes just like his father, and she realized just like her. “He’s an air bender!”, she cried. Hope laughed and tried to hug the boy, whom had run back to his mother terrified.

“Yes”, Katara chuckled, “at least we think so. He hasn‘t shown any sign of it yet”. Katara’s eyes held worry, but she kept on smiling. Just then the heavy ice door to the house blew open, and Hope whipped her head around to see a jolly avatar come skipping in. Another laugh erupted from the older woman.

The man breezed in and sat down at the table, while inviting Hope to do the same. She walked slowly over and sat down next to him, while her hostess served the meal.

“Good morning, family, sorry I’m so late to breakfast, there was some trouble in the west”, He looked over at Hope whose mouth was watering at the meal. “Now, Hope, are you interested in becoming a true air nomad, or just mastering the element?”

Hope blinked in surprise, she had never thought about this.

“It’s alright if you don’t know, I was just wondering since you haven’t choose between the vegetables and the meat. Air nomads don’t eat meat.”, he continued.

“Oh”, said Hope thinking, “Well, I never really thought about it, but I did intend to master the element. I’m not sure, I mean it’s such a big decision”, the people around the table nodded, as though they understood. ”I don’t think I want to go back to my family in Ba Seng Se after I‘ve mastered it. You’ll need help restarting the nations too, so I think I’ll join you?”, as she said this, she picked up a large spoonful of veggies and poured them unto her plate.

The avatar grinned again, and did the same. Then the little boy ran into his father lap, and Aang made room as he squirmed and wiggled. Finally Katara sat down, and they ate a warm breakfast.

Later that day..

Hope had been helping Katara with her chores when the avatar returned, and sat down at the table. He grinned and beckoned Hope to follow.

“Are you ready for your first formal lesson, student Hope?”, his voice contained warmth and jokiness, but he had darkened his face to look serious.

Hope was confused for a moment and tried to return the look, and feeling silly said, “Uhm, yes Avatar-I mean Sifu Aang”.

The avatar burst into laughter and walked out, shaking his head. Hope still felt awkward and looked to her hostess. Katara had started remembering a day very long ago, when she had the same conversation on the day of Aang’s first water bending lesson with a smile glued to her face.

Hope decided to leave, feeling like she was intruding on something. As soon as she closed the door she walked right into a blistering cold wind. The breeze blew by and she realized she was terribly under dressed.

She ran back inside and asked for a warmer coat, completely embarrassed. When she finally left the house in a warm furry parka, the storm had passed. She sighed and hurried to the water’s edge where her teacher was looking concerned while talking to a stranger.

“Um, hello”, Hope said softly. Both master and the stranger(whom Hope guessed to be about her age) turned to her voice, and Hope almost gasped at the perfect crystal hue of young man.

She was hypnotized for a moment, until her teacher’s voice brought her back. Aang looked over and flustered to introduce her.

“Oh Hope, hello, this is Kurt. He works as a stable hand, and is one of my water bending students. Kurt, this is Hope”.

“Hello, I’m Hope”, she said to the boy, but realizing what her master had just said, she blushed and stared at the ocean.

Still feeling awkward, she held out her hand. The boy softly held her hand and shook. She looked over to her mentor and said, “Well, are you ready for the lesson now?”. Aang nodded, but continued staring at her.

She looked to where he was looking and realized she had not let go of the stranger, Kurt, hand.

She let go quickly and looked away. Kurt giggled, and murmured, “I guess I really can’t keep the ladies hands off me!” ,as he walked away.

“So, ready?”, the avatar inquired. Hope nodded, trying to hide her reddening cheeks, and they began. As her sifu began with something about his ancient nomadic culture that she was now a part of, Hope could not help but think about his eyes.

She had seen water benders before, obviously, but none had such electric eyes as his. Suddenly Hope was blown into the snow, and turned to see a somewhat stern looking Aang obviously trying to suppress a giggle. She stood up and then dived into the lesson.

“Well, the most basic move in air bending is the push of the air. You make it go forward, then bring it back to you. I’ve discovered that this is one of the most difficult first moves in all the different bendings, because you have to watch and make sure you actually are moving it.”

He demonstrated by holding his arms at length and moving forward slowly, but when Hope imitated him nothing happened.

She panicked, but then the avatar laughed and stopped her. “I’m sorry! It’s been so long since I’ve showed anybody air bending I forgot for a second. This is the first move in water bending!”. He readjusted himself while Hope let out a nervous laugh. Then the lesson really began..

Later..

Hope and Aang walked side by side through a light blizzard as they made their way home from Hope’s first lesson.

They discussed different moves and styles, and Aang would go on to tell her how one move was like another move, even though the moves were two different bending styles.

They passed a larger igloo, one with a more square roof and large, blocky ice door. Hope found herself staring at the place, she could hear low rumblings even against the screaming wind.

“That’s the stables. They keep any warm-blooded animal who can’t sustain in the wild here. Mostly for the travelers. This is where Kurt works, you remember him from earlier?”, asked the avatar.

Hope blushed, she remembered him.

“Yes, from before. What were you two talki-”, suddenly the older air bender jumped and pulled her along to the inside. “Let’s go!”, he shouted over the wind, “You need to meet Appa!” So then the young air bender and her master hurried into the stable.

The inside of the stable was a feat of wonder. There was a long hallway type passage, with little stable doors on each side that opened to various animals’ pens. The floor was littered with dry hay, and at the end there was a roaring fire in a large black metal fireplace. Even from the door, a good thirty feet away, she could feel its warmth licks her face. Hope just stood in awe.

“C’mon! Appa is all the way at the end, on the right side. I think I’ll show you a new move while I’m at it.”, the avatar said while making quick arm movements.

Hope tore herself away long enough to see the man be propelled forward. She tried to do the same, and felt the rush of wind as she succeeded.

The feelings was exhilarating, but it changed to panic when she couldn’t stop herself and collided with something soft. Hope fell backwards and looked up to see the blue eyes of that Kurt fellow, who was laughing pretty hard.

“Hey there”, he said, “funny running into you again.” Kurt laughed harder at his own lame joke.

She heard another guffaw and twirled her head around to see another big man, with gray hair and a short beard to match. He had the blue eyes of the water tribe, but they sparkled with a different hue.

He held a hand out to the young woman, who took it and stood herself up. She turned to the Kurt boy and quickly apologized, but he was still chuckling. She then turned to meet the older man. “Hello”, she said awkwardly, “my name is Hope.”

The older man smiled and said, “My name is Sokka, brother of Katara. I couldn’t help but laugh when you collided with Kurt and then when he made that hilarious joke…hoh boy”.

Hope was still blushing, and was about to end the conversation to go back to her teacher, when Aang popped up beside her.

"Sokka!”, he cried, “ I haven’t seen you in a couple days! How did that meeting go with..”, and then the conversation trailed to politics, something Hope did not understand.

She had started petting an eel hound’s nose when she was called over again. “Hope, this is Sokka, chief of the Southern water tribe, and new father to six.”, Aang grinned, while the man beamed.

This Chief Sokka fellow, she had heard of him of course. The heroic warrior who helped the avatar vanquish Fire Lord Ozai. Hope smiled and congratulated him, like a polite guest should.

“So it appears you are an Air bender, like my little friend over here. This is amazing, we should thank the spirits sometime.”, he chuckled. Hope nodded. “Well anyways, I only came around here to check on Hawky, he’s getting so old he can barely fly, poor little guy. Enjoy yourself.” He shook his head and walked away. Aang looked at Hope curiously, then pulled her to meet his favorite animal in the world.

Later that day..

Finally student and teacher made it home, both wet from Appa’s tongue and tired from their lessons. They breezed through the door, and sat done on a warm sea goose feather couch.

Hope turned her attention to Katara who was at the other side of the room surrounded by a few children.

“Now children”, she said, “ water bending is a pillar part of our culture, and you must respect the gift that was given to you. This is next move is good when trying keep an enemy back or-”.

“Are you sure you should be teaching them about attacking at such an early age?”, her husband cut in.

“-or to create a temporary shelter from the elements. As if you get stuck in a blizzard, you move the water to create a barrier against the cold.”. Katara finished, giving Aang a look.

The avatar backed down and walked into the kitchen.

Hope was still interesting in this water bending lesson, and was amazed as how simply Katara was teaching these young ones more advanced moves.

The older water bender raised her arms slowly, coaxing the water to do as she asked, then began moving them back and forth quickly, and proved herself true.

She had asked the children to throw small things at her, and when they did the water just bounced the objects back.

Katara put the water down and asked the children to do the same. Some got it quickly, other took some time, while others still, who probably had not been paying attention, glanced nervously around the room for help. One little girl’s eyes fell on Hope, and she couldn’t figure out the moves.

Hope silently, and sneakily, motioned with her hands and the girl tried to repeat them. Within minutes, she had nailed the move. The little girl bowed then turned back to her teacher. Hope smiled and left the room, searching for something to do. She had not noticed the brilliant breeze had followed her.

Somewhere warm, in an underground cave, a few people collected around a makeshift rock table. At the head of the table, a man stood. Behind him, cloaked in shadows and unseen to the others, a lean and sinister looking woman smiled.

“Ladies”, he began in scratchy voice, “and gentlemen sitting before me. We are the few in the world that understands the supreme order of it.

"All who are present here understand that our gifts our the most precious and most powerful ones in the world. When the Great War first started 100 years ago, the entire air nation culture was destroyed.

"As we work on doing the same with the two remaining nations, we have learned that air benders remain. We tried to stop the avatar from discovering this, but one girl has escaped us and found him in the South Pole, and soon they will leave to join the others. It is our duty to make sure they have no one waiting for them”. The small crowd cheered.