Avatar The Last Airbender Reader Insert Book One: Water

The Southern Air Temple - Part 4

The deeper we walked into the sanctuary the more I could make out what was inside, in front of us stood a vast collection of statues. We all ventured into the assortment of stone sculptures.

"Statues? That's it? Where's the meat?" Sokka questioned, disappointment lacing his words.

"Who are all these people?" Katara wondered out loud.

"I'm not sure. But it feels like I know them somehow. Look!" Aang pointed excitedly at a statue that shared the same tattoos as him, "That one's an airbender."

Katara matched his excitement, "And this one's a waterbender." She continued to examine the statues that ran in a row, "They're lined up in a pattern: air, water, earth, and fire." She pointed to the corresponding statues respectively.

"That's the Avatar Cycle."

"Of course. They're Avatars. All these people are your past lives, Aang."

"Wow! There are so many!" Aang began looking at all the statues in amazement.

Katara came over to where Sokka and I had congregated.

"Past lives?," Sokka gave his sister a skeptical look, "Katara, you really believe in that stuff?"

"It's true," I added, showing Sokka that Katara wasn't the only one who believed in it, "When the Avatar dies, he's reincarnated into the next nation in the cycle."

Katara walked over to Aang. He was staring at a statue of an old firebender.

Concerned, "Aang! Snap out of it!" Katara lightly shook him out of his daze.

"Huh?"

We all looked at the statue that Aang was entranced by, "Who is that?"

"That's Avatar Roku. The Avatar before me."

Sokka stood behind Aang, "You were a firebender? No wonder I didn't trust you when we first met."

"There's no writing. How do you know his name?" I asked him.

"I'm not sure. I just know it somehow," Aang attempted an explanation.

Sokka grumbled from his spot behind Aang, "You just couldn't get any weirder."

That's when we heard something behind us. Katara and Aang hid behind a statue and Sokka grabbed me by the shoulders bringing me down, cowering beside him, and hiding us from the intruder.

"Firebender. Nobody, make a sound," Sokka whispered to the other pair.

Irritated, Katara replied back, whisper-yelling, "You're making a sound!"

"Shhhh!"

Sokka readied his club, "That firebender won't know what hit him." He stood up, but I quickly grabbed the sleeve of his water tribe coat, in an attempt to keep him from making any rash decisions. He peeked around the statue, ready to attack. Confused as to why no one was moving, I peeked around him and spotted a small animal where I expected a fire nation soldier to be.

"Lemur!" Aang shouted.

"Dinner!" Sokka said, drooling at yet another prospect of food. The lemur didn't like the sound of that, his ears perking up in concern.

"Don't listen to him. You're going to be my new pet," Aang reassured it.

Sokka challenged, "Not if I get him first!"

Both boys ran at the lemur, trampling over each other. The lemur quickly evaded them and the three of them hastily left the sanctuary. Katara and I shared a look. We roll our eyes and I grumbled at their antics, "Boys."

I turned my attention back to the statues. Each one was so different in its own way. I stopped and looked at many individually; contemplating about all the things the previous Avatars might have done to make our world a more peaceful place. What's Aang going to do to change the world? Will he be able to end this war all by himself?

My thoughts were cut off by the bright glowing eyes of the statue I was planted in front of. I gasped and ran after Katara. She sprinted outside and we looked off the cliff side trying to spot Aang. Below us, the rubble of a tent swirled in a whirlwind. We rushed down to it as fast as we could.