Chapter Text
A cold breeze swept through Aang’s body, interrupting his meditation, along with a gentle whisper. “Sweetie?” Aang took a deep breath, and opened his eyes to see Katara and Zuko standing in the doorway of Katara’s childhood home.
“Zuko!” Aang jumped up with a gust of air below him to greet his friend. He hadn’t seen Zuko in months and seeing him without his Fire Lord crown and robes was refreshing… until he saw the look of dread and concern on both Katara and Zuko’s faces as he pulled away from hugging Zuko. “What are you doing here? You hardly ever come to the South Pole.” Before Zuko can answer, Aang asked, “What’s wrong?”
Katara interjected, “Everything’s fine. Zuko and I were just thinking… that… Well, Zuko had been reading that… We wanted to ask –”
“We want to give the airbenders a proper burial,” Zuko finally finished Katara’s sentence. “I was looking through my Grandfather’s journals and found details of the attack against the airbenders. It was… more gruesome than I imagined.” Zuko hoped to stop there but Aang’s expression begged for more information. “If the soldiers were kind, they buried them all together in an unmarked grave. Most of the time, they didn’t care at all.”
“I remember how hurt you were when you saw Monk Gyatso’s skeleton at the Southern Air Temple, 4 years ago. I thought you might want to give him a burial so you can visit his grave.” Katara touched her necklace.
“Air nomads don’t have graves,” Aang said flatly.
After a long pause, and many exchanged glances between Zuko and Katara, she finally asked, “What do the airbenders do for a funeral?”
“I only went to one Air Funeral before the war. I don’t remember who died, but Monk Gyatso said he was a very skilled master, and was especially good at throwing fruit tarts,” Aang chuckled. “The monks would take their bison above the valley near the temple and scatter the ashes to drift in the wind. That way their soul could be with the air… they could be free.”
“Then we should give the airbenders all an Air Funeral,” Zuko stated. “Ever since I read my Grandfather’s journal, I can’t sleep at night. Knowing all the harm my people have done to the air nomads – to the world – keeps me up at night. I know you might not want to go back and see... everything. But the Fire Nation needs to give the airbenders some respect, even if only in death.”
Katara almost whispered, “Aang, we’ll only do this if you want to. I think that –”
“I want to do it,” Aang insisted. “They deserve that, at the very least. I wasn’t there to protect them, but I can set their souls free.”