Altered | A Genderswap ATLA AU

The Air Temple and an Insufferable Zhao

As Katasi packed their supplies, Aang eagerly explained her home. "Just wait til you see it!" she said. "The Air Temple is one of the most beautiful places in the world!"

"I know you're excited, but hasn't it been a hundred years since you've been home?" Katasi reminded her gently, not wanting her to get her hopes only to have them crushed. He wasn't even positive anyone would still be there after all this time. Unlike Aang, he knew the story behind how the war started: With the genocide of the Air Nomads.

"That's why I'm so excited!" she retorted with a bright grin on her face. Of course she dreaded finding out what happened to her people in the last century, but it couldn't all be bad. Monk Gyatso had undoubtedly passed, though, and it saddened her to know he had gone off into the Spirit World without knowing what had happened to her. That was something Aang couldn't help but feel guilty for.

"Yeah, but...a lot can change in that time," Katasi tried to explain. In his defence, how exactly was he supposed to bring it up? 'Sorry, Aang, hate to break this to ya but the Fire Nation slaughtered your entire race'? Yeah, that'll go well....

"I know. But I have to see for myself," she stated firmly. She just hoped the new Air Nomads didn't cast her out for abandoning them years ago. Aang jumped off of Appa and glided to the ground before she walked to Sokka, who was snoring loudly, still sound asleep.

The young airbender raised an eyebrow at her, slightly annoyed that Sokka was sleeping in when they had to head off for the Air Temple. "Come on, Sokka. Air Temple here we come!"

Sokka grunted sleepily in response. "Sleep now, Air Temple later," she yawned. And with that she rolled back over and the snoring started up again.

Aang frowned, then she thought up a plan and it turned into a smirk. She grabbed a stick and tickled Sokka with it. "Quick, Sokka, wake up! I think there's a prickle snake in your sleeping bag!" she cried, sounding the part of shocked and scared.

And with that, Sokka's eyes popped open as she screeched. "GET IT OFF! GET IT OFF! GET IT OFF!" She continued to scream as she jumped up in her sleeping bag, and seemingly forgot she was in it when she tried to run from the imaginary prickle snake, hopping forward before face-planting onto the ground.

As Katasi laughed at his sister, Aang announced with a cheery grin, "Great! Now that you're awake, it's off to the Air Temple!"

🔥

As Zuleika and her uncle walked off their ship in desperate need for repairs after their recent fight with the Avatar, she eyed around warily. She wasn't exactly comfortable being around all these unfamiliar soldiers, them following a different commander. Her crew happened to be more trustworthy and reliable considering they had been together for almost three years. "Uncle, I want the repairs done as quick as possible," she told him in a hushed tone, her eyes darting around her to anyone who may be listening. "The longer we stay, the more we risk losing her trail."

"You mean the Avatar," he muttered.

"Don't mention her name on these docks!" she hissed. "The minute word gets out that she's alive, every firebender will be out looking for her! And I'm not letting anyone get in the way." If someone else captured the Avatar, there went her glory, her honor, her ticket home.

"Get in the way of what, Princess Zuleika?" A voice cut in. Though it was said as a question, Zuleika sensed a hidden meaning in his tone that she couldn't quite figure out. Possibly something along the lines of, "Drop dead," or, "I'm better than thou." She and Iroh over their shoulders to spy Captain Zhao, a man known for being against Zuleika since her banishment.