learning about avatar kyoshi

a/n: do you ship katara and aang or katara and zuko?

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authors pov

07:42 PM. KYOSHI ISLAND

"i get it," sokka says as he follows suki. y/n, aang and katara behind the two. "i know why you wanted us off your island. i'd have done the same thing. it's a big responsibility, these people's lives on your hands," suki just listens as they walk along the gravel. "personally, i take that reasonability very seriously. i, uh...i'm the guardian of my village, too, so..."

"you?"

"yep," katara and y/n both look at each then both look down. 

"a guardian?" suki questions. "so how are you protecting your people if you're here?"

"what? i'm not," suki nods at sokka's statement with an unsure smile on her face. "i-i mean, i am. i may...i may not be physically be there...but still," aang holds his in his laughter as y/n coughs over her laugh. katara nods, encouragingly but she's more or less teasing him. "that is, i'm...i have to save the world first," suki nods at him, confused. "katara, y/n, how does it go again? i'm protecting aang so i'm protecting the village..." suki looks back at the rest of them before walking off. "or is it...hey! hey!" sokka shouts, noticing that suki's left. "um...the point is we have a lot in common. we're both warriors, right?"

"before she died, avatar kyoshi trained an elite force in her image," suki starts. "one ready to protect not only our homes but our way of life. that tradition has been passed down through th generations, and it is now my honour to protect this community and to uphold the values of the avatar. that is why i'm not just a warrior. i'm a kyoshi warrior,"

she walks off, sokka looking back at his sisters and aang. 

"nice work, romeo,"

💧

"you are a waterbender," y/n drops the water she was trying to manoeuvrer into her image and looks back. she managed to get the waterbending scroll off katara and she's decided to use it for a small while. 

"yeah, i am," she smiles, seeing suki walk over to her. "i'm y/n, it's nice to meet you,"

suki inspects y/n before bowing. 

"i am suki," she nods. a nice silence passes over the two girls, the wind speaking for them. "what is it like being a bender, y/n?"

y/n's eyebrows raise. she's never been asked that question before. 

"oh well," she chuckles, looking back at the scroll. "i haven't been bending properly for a very long time," y/n admits. "but...it feels good. i hope to be one of the best water benders in the world,"

"a goal?"

"more like hope," y/n laughs, which makes suki smile and nod, looking down at the earth. 

"suki! where are-" a boy around y/n's age, stumbles into the two girls conversing. "oh, hello,"

"y/n, meet my friend-"

"best friend,"

"my best friend," suki says, motioning to the blond haired male. a small scar above his lip, hard green eyes and a cool tone of skin colour. which completely contrasts with his personality in y/n's eyes. he's skinny, but tall. "this is minho,"

"wow, you look really pretty," minho smiles, walking over to y/n. "are you single-"

"please. excuse him," suki says, pushing a fan into minho's face, covering it. "he is a nuisance,"

"hey!"

"i'm not that bothered," y/n chuckles, folding up the scroll. "i know how younger siblings can be,"

"hey! i'm nineteen!"

"oh,"

"and what does that mean?!"

💧

y/n sits next to katara as she munches on some of the food that has been made for them. it's so good. she just can't stop eating it. 

"not home cooking, but not bad," sokka says, taking some more. y/n raises her eyebrow as she takes a sip of the juice in the cup. sokka goes to eat something again but momo snatches it out of his hands, flying up to a beam in the room and nibbling at it quietly. everyone else chuckles softly, taking more food as sokka looks at momo his eye twitching. "just try that again, drumstick,"

aang looks out at open layered building, seeing some kids from kyoshi island watching him. one of the girls run inside, looking at aang. 

"are you really an airbender?"

aang stands up with a smile, with a spoon in his hand. he airbends it, the kids outside exclaiming in awe and wonder. the girl runs off to her friends, aang looking back at y/n. she nods encouragingly, making him run after her.

y/n gets up, watching him with a smile on her face. 

"you got to admit," katara says, standing next to her sister. "he has a way with people," they watch him play with the rest of the kids, not being the avatar. just being aang. "he knows how to connect, to get through to people, like he did last night," sokka stands up, looking at both his sisters in disbelief. "that's his real power. connection. building bridges. that's how he's going to be the avatar,"

aang using his air ball, propels himself into a statue, lying flat on his back. 

"right," sokka falsely agrees. "there goes the saviour of the world," he munches on the green mochi, y/n slapping his shoulder. 

💧

y/n bends more water, trying to remember the scroll from memory. 

"there you are!" she screams, drenching minho head to toe by accident. "woah,"

"oh my gosh," y/n mutters, lookin at him. "i am so sorry. you scared me and i-"

"woah, relax," he says. "it's fine. honestly," he starts to take off his top, before realising that there's a woman there. "sorry, i'm just used to doing my own thing,"

"i don't want to intrude," y/n says. "do what you need to do," she shrugs, going back to her bending. if she could learn how to take water from clothes, life would be much easier right now. 

minho smiles at her back, taking off his green shirt and drying it on a low tree trunk. 

"could i watch you bend?" he asks, going to sit on a rock. 

"if you want to," y/n smiles. "i'm not the best. so don't make fun of me, please,"

"wouldn't dream of it,"

💧

the three benders find themselves inside the statue which is avatar kyoshi. 

y/n walking as she reads a scroll on earth bender, aang resting upside down, looking at another scroll and katara sitting next to a table. 

"nothing," aang starts as a whisper. "nothing about the avatar state or any of her powers. nothing that can help me train," the airbender sighs out. "so how am i supposed to figure out how to save the world? how do i stop the fire nation from hurting more people?"

he gets up, the right way and walks over to the waterbending sisters. 

"hey, did you know she was an orphan?" y/n speaks up. "lived on the streets until she was hired as a house girl for the richest family on the island," she passes the scroll to katara who reads it quickly. 

"she was quiet and kind," katara continues. "no one had a clue she'd become the avatar,"

"yeah, so how did she go from this..." aang points at the scroll, then to a painting which kyoshi is drowning a large army. "to that,"

"wait, is says something on that painting," y/n says, standing up and getting closer. "'only justice will bring peace'," she reads from it. does she agree with that? there's no need to kill people...right?

"i never wanted to fight," aang says, turning away from the picture. "and i'm afraid of hurting someone," he looks towards the uniform avatar kyoshi wore when she was alive. "back home, the other kids used to say i was lucky because i never really had to train. but i did have to train. not to develop my powers but to keep them under control. no one said anything, but i could tell they were scared of me. just like the both of you and sokka were when i went into the avatar state," y/n looks down, feeling slightly guilty. yes, she was scared. but she was scared for him. the twelve year old kid who has this massive weight on his shoulders. "what if nothing in here can help me? what if i never learn to control my power? how many people will i hurt?"

"you won't hurt anyone," y/n says with determination. "you are too kind," aang looks at y/n not convinced. 

katara looks at y/n who looks back at her. what can they do? they're not airbenders. they don't feel the insane amount of pressure he's under. 

katara look back into the book she was reading, a smile lighting up her face.

"aang, you're not alone," she walks over to the two, her head in the book. "according to this, all the previous avatars are incarnations of your past lives. you are literally not alone. the other avatars are inside you,"

"that sounds gross," y/n says, furrowing her eyebrows. "and concerning," the younger waterbender and airbender look at the oldest unimpressed. "what? i'm just saying,"

"and as i was saying," katara says, rolling her eyes. she faces aang once more. "you want someone to teach you, you just need to figure out how to connect to them. the answers aren't inside here,"

"they're inside him," y/n realises. aang's eyes go wide as he gasps. "that's still concerning though,"

💧

y/n and katara look at each other as aang sits in a mediating positing, his fists together. they're outside the temple, the winding whistling at them.

just as it did before, the statue of kyoshi's eyes burn a blinding light, making y/n cover her eyes, katara doing the same. 

"aang?" katara questions, the blue arrow on his head going white. 

"i think he's reached her," y/n mumbles. "he's did it,"