Bella [AANGXOC]

Chapter 2: Bells Are Ringing ✔

It was dark out by the time Appa reached the ice docks. Now with one less boat.

Aang didn't seem like he had a place to go, so Katara easily invited him to stay with us while Sokka groaned beside me.

We crawled back up the snow bank and entered the village. It was completely silent except for a burning fire in the middle. Everyone else had gone to sleep already.

"We'll tell Gran Gran about him in the morning," Katara whispered to me while the boys followed us to our igloo.

Gran Gran wasn't exactly going to be happy we brought a person back from a fishing trip, but she would be angrier if we woke her up in the night to tell her about it.

Thankfully, our fire was still going strong.

I grabbed my bag and crawled into my bunk. Katara's was above mine, Sokka's on the other wall, and Aang's was now our extra one on Sokka's side.

We wished each other goodnight and I waited a bit until everyone fell asleep.

Katara and Sokka knew my dad left me a journal, but I've never let them read it for obvious reasons. The village knew about my dad, and about his dad, but I had been passed on as a non-bender. This was going to be quite shocking for them.

I flipped open to the first page. It was my grandfather's diary first, then it was passed down to my father. Twelve entries in total, nine of them from my grandfather, and three from my dad.

I always wished there were more from him, but I have enough gorgeous memories to last a lifetime.

The first entry was my grandfather detailing how he decided to leave the Southern Air Temple.

In such forbidden and immense beauty as my forthright actions, I have decided to record all that I can. For I would regret to forget such love and comfort and sour courage from this week.

And, to think, that it all began with her.

To preserve this tale from its beginning to its end, I must start with the earliest of days.

I'd just received my mastery tattoos at the age of seventeen. It was fresh and sore, and I leaned out my tower window and enjoyed the air. Never did I think that this chain of choices would so greatly affect the future. Even now, I cease to believe it!

It hadn't been long since the trade agreement was made with the South Pole. Such a thing was unheard of, the air nomads usually appreciated solitary. But there had been a need for goods, and the South Pole was glad to help.

So it began, the South Pole delivered ocean weeds and other various icy plants. A single person would carry this cargo and ride on the sky bison to the Southern Air Temple.

That day, as I leaned out my window, I saw one of these South Pole people. She handed over a couple baskets and turned back to the bison.

We met eyes for a moment in time, and I felt something of myself leave with her. I promised, if I ever saw her again, I would make that moment longer.