trans_9 | "If you were that old, and that kind, and the very last of your kind..." [closed]

It had taken him so long to find it, but then he hadn't really been looking. There were no mountains in the city, no places that rose high above the rest, other than the Garibah Tree. And without mountains, he hadn't expected any Air temples.

But here it was, the place where he'd grown up under Monk Gyatso's gentle guidance.

The Southern Air Temple.

It was set into its own hill, like it'd been at atop the mountain, only no rivers flowed here, no trees grew. What trees that were there were dead, but woven into the structure of the place, as they had been when they still lived. There was no smell of mountain blossoms in hanging gently in the air. It was as dead as when he'd first set foot there with Katara and Sokka, when he'd found Monk Gyatso's body.

But it was home. He felt it in the stones under his feet, in the way his voice echoed in the halls when he called out "Hellooo" ("Hello, hello ello ello lo," went his echo) exactly the same as it once did. This was his home. The exact temple, ripped from the world of the Four Nations. The only difference was that the hall of the Avatars was carved out of it, but he knew that was in the Statuary. Why they would tear the place apart he didn't know, but Aang knew by now not to question the actions of a people that didn't make sense, that he'd long since learned not to fully trust.

He would have to tell Nima. Not that she'd have the fondness of the place as him, but it was still one of the temples, and she might still want to walk the halls of this place.

It was terrible and painful and wonderful and beautiful at the same time. It left all kinds of feelings roiling in Aang's gut as he walked through from section to section of the temples, from meditation room to classroom, with Appa and Momo.

Somehow, even though the place wasn't as high up, even though the weather in the city was usually calm, the breeze was perfect here. It didn't smell right, but it felt like it should have felt.

Comforted by it, Aang sat and meditated in the place where he grew up for the first time in a long time. Momo chirped at him and Aang politely shushed him.

"Meditation time is quiet time, Momo."

For the first time in a while, he found true calm, so much so that he was able to get in touch with a part of himself he'd been struggling to get in touch with.

If anyone happened to explore the many splendored halls of his youth, the mountainside spires, the winding passageways of the temple, they would find a giant furry flying bison laying comfortably on a balcony, with a flying lemur sitting on his head, picking through his fur. Next to them both, there was a bald monk seated with his eyes closed, his tattoos glowing a gentle blue glow, robes buffeted by winds that shouldn't have even existed.

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"Your people?" Thom asked.

In someone else that might have provoked an expression of sympathy. Thom was more interested in the academic standpoint, almost not seeing the young man in front of him.

"They were killed by the Fire Nation."

All of them.

"I'm the last Airbender--or at least I was, until I was brought here. The ship saved one of the nuns. Sister Nima."

There was the faintest of smiles on his face. One person in the face of all that loss didn't do much to dull the pain of it, but it helped. Yes, it certainly helped.

And it was a loss. He wasn't sure what would happen when all this was over. If the goal was to restore everything back the way it was, didn't that mean exactly that? No more Airbenders aside from the ones Stacy had picked up?

Again the proper response escaped him. "The Fire Nation - Princess Azula's Fire Nation?" Thom asked, turning away from the carvings at last to focus on Aang.

Interesting. Perhaps he would get more to her story - she was a fascinating individual.

Aang's eyes flicked up to Thom, curiously.

What did he know of Princess Azula. Was he someone that just saw the hub-bub at the meeting or was she gathering allies already?

"Yes. Although it happened long before she was born. Around a hundred years, give or take."

"She is a powerful force," Thom said, neither condemning nor exalting her presence. "Someone with that much determination shouldn't be easily cast aside."

Was Azula gathering allies, or was Thom? He saw the Princess as someone useful that he could come to make rely on him.

"She's dangerous," Aang said simply. "Not someone to turn your back to."

Maybe that was a warning. Perhaps. Maybe he was just talking about her nature.

"So are many people," Thom said. "I imagine her firebending would make her dangerous."

He was being purposefully obtuse - he knew Azula was dangerous for far more than just her firebending, but he wanted to know what this boy knew about her.

"Not just her firebending, she's dangerous. Her mind is," Aang corrected.

"I did notice she didn't seem entirely stable," Thom said. "But remarkably lucid, for someone who had been locked in the brig upon arriving."

Azula had of course downplayed her imprisonment, so Thom had no idea what she had actually done. He wouldn't put much past her though - she seemed ruthless.

"Why are you so interested in Azula?" Aang asked, though his voice wasn't as suspicious as it could be.

Easygoing monk though he was, he still wasn't the most trusting where Azula was concerned. You know how the saying goes, don't you, Thom? "Electrocute me once, shame on you, electrocute me twice, etc. etc."

Giving Azula information was dangerous, but giving information about Azula could be as well if there were any Dai Li types out there looking for a fire princess to team up with.

"She is interesting," Thom said simply. "She has a power I have never seen before. And I am nobility, where she is royalty. Why are you so interested in my interest?"

If Azula was a potential ally, he had to feel out her potential enemies. This boy didn't seem like much of an enemy, but Thom knew better than to underestimate anyone on this ship.

"Why are you interested in my interest in your interest?"

Er, wait.

"You could have asked how a hundred years had passed since all my people were gone, and how it happened before she was born, yet how I still knew Azula--" Seriously, time paradox up in your face, Thom "--you could have asked about my people, or this temple, or my world, or even just the Fire Nation itself. You could have asked a lot of things, but you wanted to know about Azula. Determined, powerful, dangerous Azula. Your words, not mine, though they are true."

Aang wasn't the most suspicious person in the world. In fact, he was incredibly trusting, especially when it came to most things, but where Azula was concerned, he and his friends were downright paranoid. The only thing worse than Azula being free was her being free to make possible powerful allies. Even in her condition, they had that to worry about.

He pointed out rationally, "If someone were to come asking you questions about someone you knew who was powerful and deceptive and manipulative, prone to making and discarding allies and using others to do terrible things, wouldn't you want to know why they were interested in that person?"

"If you were that old, and that kind, and the very last of your kind..." [closed]

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