savedtheworld | Book 6: When the Well is Dry [Voice/Action

[It started off as another ordinary day for Aang. After firebending with Zuko, he headed up to the other Avatar House for Airbending training with Tenzin and the kids. But he arrived to find only Jinora. There was no sign of Tenzin; his room was as bare as Suki's had been. Aang knew what that meant. He felt that there was so much he could learn from his elder son, but that time was over. At least he could take care of his family... except that Jinora was still here. Looking over the blankness of the room... his heart tightened as he went to check the other absence.

Jinora had told him that she woke up alone in the room that she shared with Ikki. He checked her bed and found only the prayer beads that he had given to her. He gripped them tightly as he exited the room and crumpled onto the floor outside the door, as he did after Suki had left, but this time he felt so much more crushed. He knew he should feel happy for her. Ikki was just a child, and she was going back to her family before this place could do something horrible to her. But he felt so much emptier without the other Airbender around. Unlike with Suki... Aang already knew that he would never meet her. Yesterday was the last time he'd see her, and he wasn't able to give her a last goodbye. There was so much he still wanted to tell Ikki and teach her.

Is this how Gyatso felt?

No, it wasn't the same. Gyatso couldn't have had any idea that Aang was alive after he ran away. But Aang knew that Ikki was still alive back home, safe and sound. Korra had saved the day. With his grip still bearing the prayer beads, he made a prayer that she had found her way home safely, and that their family would be okay. That things really were on the road to peace back home. And he reflected on their times together... first meeting at the fountain, bending her nightmares away, reading her beautiful drawings, watching her antics at Katara's birthday, getting lemonade with her from the Pokemon trainers, introducing her to Moro and cheering her on at the volleyball game... Ikki had been the first person he met from the future, the one who had first told him everything about this beautiful family. If it weren't for Jinora staying... he'd be left wondering if any of it was really real.

He took some time to try to comfort Jinora, despite how overwhelmed he felt. He was possibly accosted by any of the remaining housemates as he left, but he eventually bolted off and spent most of the day sailing aimlessly on Appa. No adventure this time, just an escape.

There was still something he knew he had to do. He thought about all of Ikki's friends, and he opened his journal with trembling fingers, before he started to record a message. He only took the foresight to filter it from Jinora, so that she would be spared any further pain.]

[Voice / Filtered from Jinora]

Ikki has gone home. A lot of you know have known her by now, so I... I thought you should all know. She wasn't here for long, but she made so many friends. Out of all the people I know she's met here, there wasn't one person who she didn't like. That's the kind of person she is.

She didn't go alone, either. Her f-father Tenzin has also gone back to take care of the family. We... we should be glad that Ikki was sent home before this place could really hurt her. I know that she has a loving family waiting back home. And a... a wise and kind father who has gone with her. It's where they belong. From what I know of the future... they're going back to a happy time. I just want to thank all of you who listened to her and gave her a chance as a friend, and to ask you to just remember her... okay? [In case I get sent home and back again and forget all this.] I didn't know her for long, a-and I may never get to meet her back home, but I know she's going to be a great Airbender, and I'm already proud of her. She earned the title of Avatar princess without even trying and I miss her already.

Her older sister Jinora is still here. The only person left... from [my] that family, and I hope that you show her the same kindness you showed Ikki.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[First he took the moment to make a cheeky grin.] Oh I know there's plenty of other great things about you that must have helped you become friends, but since both of you come from cold places, it must have helped you to break the ice.

As for where I came from... I was raised at the Southern Air Temple. It was on top of a mountain so it was pretty cold there but we were used to it. It's really nice and peaceful.

Oh, Aang, that was terrible. [So why is she laughing?]

An Air temple...so you knew a lot of wind users like you?

[He does give a confident smile at her laughter, but it fades as she goes into the next subject.]

Yeah... my people were the air nomads. They were all monks like me who could airbend, and they lived in four different temples located around the world.

[Whole villages of Adepts! Like Vale. Mia looks excited at the prospect; after her parents died and Alex left, it was just her and her apprentices in Imil with any kind of ability.]

It sounds like what little I know of the Jupiter Clan. ...Something happened to them, didn't it? [Softer, because there's an awful shadow on his face.]

[Aang gives a quiet nod.]

They were the first people targeted by the Fire Nation when they started the war. In... in my time, I'm the last Airbender.

...But in the future, you are not. So you know that you make good changes.

I know that. Knowing that gives me so much hope. ...And it makes me miss Ikki even more. She's... she's the first Airbender I saw since the old days.

[He says, as he feels the petal of a petunia.]

[A hand reaches out for his shoulder again.]

Not the last, I know, but the first one matters, doesn't it? [This isn't the time to talk about her own weird Mercury Clan status. Nevertheless, she acknowledges the similarity to herself.] Another person to finally understand a part of you that no one else can.

Yeah, you're right. Roku also knows how to Airbend, and Korra's gonna learn some day, but they're not my people. [He shakes his head.] I love them, but it's just not the same. With Ikki and Jinora and Tenzin, I feel like a part of me that I thought wasn't alive anymore is again. But now that two of them are gone, parts of that part feel empty again.

What will happen, then, if they never fill up again?

[[ooc: Just had all these thoughts about how Kya and Bumi are older than Tenzin and how Aang might have felt having a waterbender and then a non-bender child before finally getting an airbender and and and all these thoughts.]]

I don't know. I... I'll live. But... I could wind up becoming less of an air nomad. I don't... I don't want to let them down.

[ooc: Yes there are many feels associated with that subject. One particularly sweet one is here.]

It sounds...as though you think you will be less of a person, if you don't ever see them again.

Maybe not... less of a person. But a little less of myself. I'm all that's left of my own culture. I'm carrying everything the air nomads ever taught me. I have friends and there are books, but it's not the same. Having more airbenders... that's the closest I can get. To the comfort I felt when I was younger a-and to my obligation to pass down everything my people were. So that they can live again. Otherwise? I can still be a person, but if I keep all of that inside me without ever getting to pass it down, I'll be less of myself.

Were you less of yourself before you knew they were going to be born?

I... I guess not. That part of me was still there, I just didn't get to use it that much without other air nomads. But if keep on neglecting it, I might wind up forgetting and losing stuff. I don't want to forget what it's been like to be an air nomad, because my memories are all I got of them. And in Ikki and Jinora and Tenzin... it's like they're alive again.

["The air nomads' love for you has not left this world. It is still inside of your heart, and it is reborn in the form of new love.""]

And they must have learned from someone, Aang. Who else, if not you? I don't think you'll forget at all.

You're right. Thanks, Mia. As long as I get home someday... that part of me can be fulfilled.

Have you decided on a flower? I'm sorry if my questions got in the way of your choosing.

It's no problem, Mia. Your questions... helped me a lot.

[He indicates one particular petunia.] I think this one looks nice. Do you?

[Knowing that anything she said helped Aang feel better is more than enough. She comes closer to observe his chosen flower.]

That's beautiful.

Great! [He glances around, confused.] Do I just grab it?

I don't see why not? People work here but there is no money to spend.

I get that. But do I just pull it out of the dirt?

Oh, isn't it in a pot? Maybe there's something temporary to put it in until we get to the garden.

Alright, no problem. [He grabs some sort of dish to put it in and puts the flower with some dirt into it.] Do you think we should get more flowers too?

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