The Avatar's Master

11. Waiting for Love

Bolin helped Pema prepare food for all of the airbenders and acolytes on Air Temple Island. It was a big job and he marveled at Pema's ability to handle all of that plus a squad of feisty airbending children.

Pema stirred a massive pot of vegetarian soup that had been slow cooking for nearly twenty-four hours, and next to her were piles of noodles.

Meanwhile, Bolin rolled little balls of sweet rice dough around sweet bean curd and popped them in the oven. The trays of already cooled buns were ready to be served, and he plated them up and brought them out as appetizers to Pema's famous noodle soup.

The benders and acolytes sat about the dining hall, chatting and laughing in their little cliques. This lifestyle had more or less become routine. About half of the new airbenders lived at the Southern Air Temple and the other half at Air Temple Island. Tenzin was master at home, and Jinora ran the Southern Air Temple, where she trained acolytes in the nuanced way of a well read young lady whose spiritual powers made her wise beyond age. She had read of gurus who lived in isolation in the mountains and astral projected her body to search and appear glowing before them as they sat in the lily-lotus position meditating or practicing ancient esoteric techniques long lost to the rank and file of society. The Gurus had venerated the spiritual powers of this young Airbender, Avatar Aang's granddaughter, and heeded her call to come down and help her teach.

Opal lived at the Southern Air Temple with Kai and Bumi when she was not off on missions, though Bolin had long wanted her to move to Air Temple Island.

Ikki and Meelo fluttered into the kitchen to help serve the food. Kya trailed behind them and bent the liquid base into the respective bowls, which had been lined up and filled with home-made noodles. The savory smell wafted up Kya's nostrils and she couldn't wait to serve the kids out in the hall because then it would be her turn to eat. Elders in the Southern Water Tribe typically ate their first few bites before the rest chimed in, but her airbending side taught her to serve others first so they in turn would want to reciprocate or pay it forward.

Finally, Tenzin walked in, tall and bald with sky blue arrow tattoos along the five primary energy pathways of his body. The arrows signified the flow of chi and thus the source of airbending and all life for that matter. He scooped up the plates and brought them out along with the kids, bending way down to kiss his wife as he walked by. Pema's youngest, Rohan, was seated at one of the tables with his nanny, a young acolyte, and Naga and Pabu were off running amok somewhere on the grounds.

As Bolin prepared to sit down and finally enjoy his bowl of noodles, he got a telegram from Opal saying she was going home to Zaofu for a few days before heading to Air Temple Island. And that she was looking forward to talking. Bolin deflated at this news. Opal was supposed to come straight to Air Temple Island after her last mission, but he tried to convince himself that a few more days of waiting was no big deal. He slurped down his noodles; the soup warmed his bones but not his heart.

Just then the door of the dining hall blew open and Tenzin led a young woman Bolin had never seen before in and toward his direction. As they approached, he tried not make it obvious he was looking at her ebony skin and wild, fancy-free hair that bunched outward in all directions. Her nonchalant gait caused a reaction in Bolin against his will, and the noodles slipped from his chopsticks, splashing in the bowl.

Bolin looked up at the woman standing next to Tenzin. She smiled at him with voluptuous lips and big hazel eyes. Blushing, he tilted his head down and speedily slurped his noodles so his mouth would be too full to speak and say something stupid, which he tended to do in these situations.

Tenzin introduced her as Sanyu, a new airbender who came from a distant land not on the map. She had heard rumors of this place and the son of the Avatar from a wise man in her tribe, and after unlocking airbending after harmonic convergence, she followed her fate.