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Aang was looking at the sun setting over the Fire Nation.
He was sitting with Appa and Momo, on a spot along the cliffs of the caldera around the Fire Nation capitol. Appa was laying further in on the ledge of the cliff, while Momo was laying on Aang’s lap. There were a warm breeze blowing over the cliff.
He had a bottle of sake in his hands that he occasionally took a sip of.
Normally Aang is at the one of the Air Temples during this time of the year, but since there had been some urgent avatar matters that required his attention, he had to be in the Fire Nation.
On this day every year, Aang really felt the loss of his people, their absence was hard to ignore on this day.
Aang scratched Momo behind the ear. “At least we still have each other, huh guys” Aang mused to his animal companions.
As Aang was reminiscing about the Air nomads, he didn’t notice the person walking up to him.
“So, this is where you been hiding” the sudden appearance of Azula startled Aang and Momo flew out of his lap, he flew around for a bit before eventually landing by Appa.
“Oh, hi Azula. Yeah, I just have been hanging out here” He answered back.
“What are you doing here anyway? You have been gone for a while.” She asked him.
“So, you noticed that? Didn’t know that you were paying that much attention to me. Should I be flattered?” He teased.
She scoffed “Don’t think too highly of your self Avatar. I just noticed that there were some quite in the Palace for once since you arrived” Azula crossed her arms and looked slightly away trying to act nonchalant, but Aang saw the slight blush on Azula’s cheeks. “You still haven’t answered my question. What are you doing up here?”
“…. I am just reminiscing and stuff…. about my life before I went into the iceberg… and my people” He replied.
“Oh… sorry, am I intruding?” Azula suddenly looked a bit guilty for sneaking up on him.
“No, no, not at all! You can stay, in fact your company is nice. You can sit here if you want” he pointed to a spot along the cliff he was sitting at.
“Okay, if I am not intruding” she sat down beside Aang along the cliff.
Aang handed her the bottle of sake. “Want some?” He asked.
“Sure” Azula took the bottle and then took a sip. “I didn’t think you drank, figured you were to righteous for alcohol or something” She handed the bottle back to Aang.
He let out a small laugh “I don’t normally drink, but I am not above it. I drink every now and then, my mentor used to tell me that I shouldn’t be too strict with myself if it got in the way of enjoying my life… I guess that would apply for alcohol as well.” He raised the bottle to his lips and took a sip. “How about you though, you don’t strike me as much of a drinker yourself.”
“As a princess I am usually expected to control myself, some wine for dinners and events, but indulging myself too much is mostly frowned upon. On the other hand, who is supposed to stop me if I want to take a drink? There is not a lot of people who would be able to do anything about it.”
“Yeah, I guess that’s true” Aang chuckled at her comment.
They sat there in silence for a bit, just looking at the sunset.
“So is there anything special about today, since you up here moping.” Azula braved to ask him.
“Yes, it is. The festival of the four winds would be starting today, it’s an air nomad holiday” he answered.
“Oh… Do you want to tell me about it? How the festival is?” she asked in an uncharacteristically soft voice.
Aang was a bit surprised at her question, but he happily responded to her request. “The name, the four winds represent the four air temples and that the wind moves freely around the world across all four cardinal directions” he enthusiastically explained. “Each year one of the four air temples was picked to host the festival, and air nomads from all across the world came to celebrate. It was awesome, there were so many other air nomads, there were so many kids that I could play and fly around with. Even the most strict of the monks let loose and had fun. My mentor, Monk Gyatso took me and the other kids out on the wildest adventures, I always looked forward to that time of the year…” Aang was going about the festival, and he was worried that he started blabbing too much and that Azula would lose interest, but he looked over at her, he saw that she was listening attentively.
He continued “There is something special about the way the wind moves when a lot of air benders are gathered at the same place. There is life in the wind, there are so many benders bending the wind at the same time, each their own way, a bunch of us expressing our freedom through the wind, the spirit of my people represented by the wind.” He remembered the feeling of the way the wind moved when hundreds of air nomads where gathered at the same place.
“That sounds nice” Azula responded, unsure of what more to say.
“Yes, it was” Aang continued more somberly “but it is not the same anymore… For everyone else the air nomads have been gone for over a hundred years, but that’s not how it is for me. For me I ran away from the southern temple one day, and then I returned some days later, and the air nomads had gone for a hundred years. I am the only one left that that remember my people, our traditions, our festivals, and the way the wind was alive when we gathered. It is just me left, a lone air bender. I am the last air bender left; I am like a relic left from the past.” He looked out over the sunset.
They sat there I silence for a bit after Aang said that it seemed Azula struggled to find a response to what he said. Aang suddenly remembered that it was her ancestors that were guilty for that, and he started to worry if she blamed herself for it.
She looked up at him “Stop that”
“Huh?” Now he was confused.
“Stop being worried about me. You just told me about how the loss of your people feels, and then you sit here being worried about how I feel.”
“Oh… Hehe… I guess you are right” he rubbed his neck and felt that his cheeks were warming.
“But I do think I get how you feel, or at least somewhat.”
“….”
“Well, it is not like I have lost my people, but I have felt on something similar to what you are describing” she paused for a bit. “…Sometimes …. sometimes I feel like I am a relic left behind from the hundred years war, and that everyone just left me behind. After the war I was thrown into that asylum, and when I got out it was like everyone had moved on without me. The fire nation and the world had changed…. Of course it was for the better, but sometimes I feel like I have no place in it. Everyone had moved on and changed, like Ty Lee and Mai, to me they seem like completely different people now, but they are happy now and have found their place in this new world. And Zuko as well, what I used to see as my worthless brother suddenly became a very capable Fire lord.” She sighed “And then there is me, everything I know is about war, fighting, manipulation, and being ruthless. I am like a weapon of war that is left behind and forgotten, rusting away alone in a new era of peace.”
Aang didn’t know she felt this way “Azula I am so sor-“
She punched him lightly in the shoulder “You are doing it again dumdum. I am not saying this for you to feel sorry for me. So just let me get to my point before you say anything.”
“…’”
She took the bottle of Sake out of his hands and took a sip before giving it back. “My point is… That when I felt left behind, alone and forgotten, you were there. You were there for me, you cared about me, you still are there for me, with you I didn’t feel left behind anymore, with you I didn’t feel that alone anymore.” She turned her head to look at him. “Aang you are not alone; you don’t need to hide away and sit alone with what you are feeling. There are lots of people that care deeply for you…. I care about you. You are the best person I know Aang, don’t sit alone in your grief. I am here for you if you need.” She turned her head back to look at the sunset.
“…”
“…”
Aang gave her a soft smile “You’re right Azula, I shouldn’t keep these feelings hidden from the ones that care about me. You know… you sounded kind of wise there Azula.”
“Of course I sounded wise. What else would you expect from me?” she scoffed playfully.
“…uhm Azula?”
“Yes?” She looked up at him.
Aang looked into Azula’s eyes “Thank you” He smiled softly, and she smiled back.
They sat there for a while in a comfortable silence. They passed bottle of sake back and forth while watching the sunset. Their hands were slowly inching towards each other, eventually their fingers intertwined.
“Aang?”
“Yeah?”
“Would you mind telling me about that mentor of yours? Was Gyatso his name?”
Aang didn’t mind that at all. It was well past midnight when Aang was finished telling Azula stories about his mentor and their adventures. When they left the cliff to go back to the place, the bottle of sake had been emptied by them for a long time before they left.