The Lady Xia

ten: Airbenders?

"Accept yourself, love yourself, and keep moving forward. If you want to fly, you have to give up what weighs you down."
~ Roy T. Bennett

"So travelers, the next time you think you hear a strange large bird talking, take a closer look, it might not be a giant parrot, but a flying man! A member of a secret group of air walkers who laugh at gravity and laugh at those bound to the earth by it!" The story teller said, and people began to clap. 

"Aren't airbender stories the best?" Aang asked. 

"Was it realistic? Was that how it was back then?" Katara asked. 

"I laugh at gravity all the time," Aang said before doing just that. "Haha! Gravity." 

"Jingle, jingle!" The storyteller said as he walked up. 

"Sorry!" Sokka said. 

"Aww," the storyteller said. "Cheapskates!"

"Oh, here," I said as I gave him some money. 

"Why, thank you, little lady," he said before walking away.

"It's nice not to be looked at with fear," I mused to Katara. "Thanks for letting me borrow some of your clothes."

"I think you've managed to mix our two styles pretty well," Katara said. 

"Too bad I can't hide my eyes," I said wrinkling my nose. 

~*~

"We went to one of the other air temples when Zuko first started looking for the Avatar, they were amazing," I said as Aang flew us to the Northern Air Temple. 

"Did you ever visit this one?" Katara asked.

"I can't remember," I said honestly. "The first year on the ship I had horrible seasickness, so I didn't always go with them when they were looking."

"Hey, we're almost at the Northern Air Temple! This is where they had the championships for sky bison polo," Aang said.

"That sounds fascinating," I said as I leaned towards Aang. "How does that work?"

"Like normal polo, but with sky bison," Aang said easily.

"That must have been an amazing sight," I said sadly, thinking of how the ski bison were also wiped out. 

"Hey guys, look at this!" Aang said as we flew closer, and we saw people on gliders. 

"Wow," I breathed. 

"Huh! They really are airbenders!" Katara said. 

"No, they're not," Aang said grumpily.

"How?" I asked, trusting that Aang was right. 

"What do you mean they're not? Those guys are flying!" Sokka said exasperated. 

"Gliding maybe, but not flying," Aang said. "You can tell by the way they move. They're not airbending. Those people have no spirit."

"I don't know, Aang. That kid seems pretty spirited!" Katara said as a kid flew overhead. 

"Neat!" I said, but then Aang took off. Some other kids flew at us and startled Appa. I went flying off of the saddle, only for Sokka to grab my arm and pull me down. I hissed in pain when he had to grab onto the burns, but there wasn't much I could do. 

"We better find some solid ground before it finds us!" Sokka said, and Appa found a spot to land. 

"Thanks," I told him as I rubbed my wrists.