ATER Book 2: Air

Chapter 1: The Air Temple

Katara insisted on taking us to the Air Temple on her boat despite the fact that Zenith would've been more than happy to swim us there. And Zenith was very anxious to swim. So instead of having us ride on him, Katara had him ride with us on TheAvatar. Fantastic.

As I'm leaning on the railing, overlooking the sea, Morada comes up to me.

"The sea is very calming," she says smiling, "when it's not coming at you with a huge wave." I can't help but laugh.

"The calmness is fitting; the airbenders are all about peace," I added on. "I can't wait to meet them!" Morada nodded enthusiastically.

"Oh yes! I have always wanted to see if they really stay in the air with those hang glider thingies." I scratch the back of my head.

"I'm not the person you should really be asking then." I caught her eye, and before I knew it, we were both erupting in laughter. It had been a long time since I'd laughed this hard. Just as we were finally stopping, Katara popped her head out of control room.

"Land ho!" she exclaimed. I peered out across the ocean and managed to see a little speckle of land perhaps maybe a kilometer out from the boat.

"We have probably 20 minutes 'til we reach it," Khanu said behind us, stifling a yawn behind his hand. It was nearly noon and he was just now getting up? I rolled my eyes.

I walked over to where Zenith was sprawled out in the sun sleeping, and gave him a shake. He continued to snore on. I shook him harder.

Snore.

I smoothed over his velvety skin, knowing full well that he was ticklish. His arms and legs started spazzing out, and I knew he was awake. In all that time, 5 minutes, the land had come into full view. So much for Khanu's prediction.

As we all stepped onto the ground, dizzy from that weird feeling you get when you step onto land for the first time in while, Zenith bounded off behind the huge mountain that loomed before us. I was pretty sure that Zenith had a big bladder, but not peeing for 2 days must've been killing him.

I surveyed our surroundings. There was a line of mountains to our right and left, but the sizes varied. They also looked pretty unoccupied. The mountain we were looking at had to be half to 3/4 of a kilometer wide. It also had this random hole about 3 meters wide and tall towards the side.

I look up and down the mountain. "How are we supposed to get up there?" I asked. Katara rolled her eyes.

"You think I don't have connections?" She whistled and 2 flying bisons zoomed out from around the mountains. They had sort of a cream colored fur, with horns and red arrows spiraling across their fur.

"They belong to Jinora," Katara said proudly. "Now hop on!" Katara took hold of the reins on the bison to the right. The 3 of us looked at each other, not sure who was going to fly the on on the left.

After a couple moments of silence, Morada said, "Oh, for goodness' sake, I'll do it! Can't be much harder than riding a Polar Bear dog."

I hopped on with Katara, Khanu with Morada. "All you have to say," Katara shouted, "is 'Yip, Yip!'" Our bison rose into the air. Morada repeated the command and followed in suit.

Once we got to the top, I spotted an old woman at the top. We floated to the ground and slid off the bisons. The woman smiled at us and said, "I've been waiting for you."

Katara gave our bison a pat and hopped off, running over to hug the woman. "I've missed you a lot! How are the air-babies?" The woman laughed.

"They're not babies anymore!" she replied. Holding a hand to her waist she said, "Pacha is this tall." She lowered her hand. "Ching Ho is right behind him." While they talked, I took the time to realize a certain eel-hound wasn't with us. I quickly scanned the area, but saw no sign of him.

"You do realize you could've taken the stairs like your friend over there?" the woman said to Katara. I turned to see Zenith bounding out of hole that matched the one we'd seen down on the ground.

Khanu did a double take. "We could've used stairs instead of riding 100 miles an hour on a bison?" Katara merely shrugged her shoulders.

"Riding the bison is more fun."

The woman shook her head and turned to us. "I'm Jinora. And who might you 3 be?"

Pointing to the other two, I quickly replied, "That's Khanu and Morada; I'm Luna." Jinora smiled.

"Your clothes and your name deceived me. You are an Earthbender, are you not?" I nodded, a bit surprised.

"Luna is the Avatar, Jinora," Katara said to her. Jinora nodded,

"Yes, I know." She turned toward the building behind her. "But come with me. There is much to discuss."

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Hey everybody!! Book 2 is finally here! Sorry if this chapter was a bit shorter than most. I'll try to update at least once a week, but things do come up. Feel free to comment and don't forget to vote!

Ciao!-Lauren