A/N: This week's chapter is short—just shy of my 1k word minimum rule—but I figured you all wouldn't mind since it's only been a week since the last update. XD

I hope you enjoy. Not much exciting in this chapter, but hey! A chapter's a chapter, right? And we get to see Aang using some knowledge he's gleaned from spending a liiiiittle too much time with Sokka.

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Eight days to the Comet Festival

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Aang had a plan. It probably wasn't as good as one of Sokka's plans would be, but it was better than nothing. Sozin's forces would be attacking in eight days. Aang had spent one day goofing off with his old friends (and he did feel better after that, but he was running out of time and that thought alone left him wanting to curl up and scream.) Another day had been spent stuck training with some of the monks. He'd admit that he felt a little bit smug when he demonstrated his new airbending skills that he'd honed over the last year. He used that 'improvement' as an excuse to ask for another day off.

It was thankfully granted. Now he sat with Momo in an isolated area of the Temple's grounds, tracing out battle plans in the dirt with a stick and his earthbending. He eyed the tiny to-scale model of the Southern Air Temple. Toph would be proud. He eyed the miniature pillars the temple was built upon and felt his lips pull into a sharp frown.

What could he do? If the Fire Nation could reach the Temple without their balloons, how could he possibly keep them from attacking? From what little he knew of the invasion, they'd propelled themselves up with flame alone, gifted the strength and stamina to do so by the comet.

"Sokka... I really wish you were here." Aang groaned. He could try to warn the Elders, but there was a high risk that they'd brush him off. They hadn't even technically told him he was the Avatar yet. If he ran in there saying he'd spoken to Avatar Roku and claiming the Fire Nation was on the attack... Well, he wasn't sure they'd actually believe him.

Even if they did, he had no way to prepare them for what was to come. Even Aang himself thought the Temples were safe from an attack until he found the remains of the Fire Nation soldiers in the ruins of his home. The idea of a non-Airbender reaching the main Temple without a bison was entirely foreign in this era. He wasn't sure he could convince the Elders that it wasn't just some weird nightmare.

Even pulling the Roku card wouldn't guarantee anything, because technically Aang shouldn't be able to speak to Roku outside a solstice without training. Even though Avatar Yangchen had often had nightmares in her youth, unable to tell past from present, they were memories of previous lives, not conversations with them. Aang couldn't claim to have the same or similar connection to the other Avatars, not when he'd lived his life normally up to this point.

He flopped back into the dirt with a groan. Momo gave an inquisitive sound as he settled himself carefully on Aang's stomach, wary of the bruised ribs the boy still sported. "I guess I could always whip out my other elements if I need to prove my story."

The idea was ludicrous. The entire situation was ludicrous. In the worst possible scenario, Aang would be sent away with mutters of extreme spiritual disturbances—the same kind of spiritual disturbances that had people leaving the temples on pilgrimages for years at a time. He'd be forced to leave the Southern Temple, still miss the attack and have nothing to show for all his struggles.

Beyond that, Appa hadn't appeared once in the three days since he awoke. He was starting to get concerned. If Momo had returned to the past with him, Appa should also have his memories. At least, Aang dearly hoped so. Either way, the bison should've already come to Aang, but he hadn't. The boy missed his friend desperately. Not having Appa nearby was a little too similar to the aftermath of the Library.

Momo chittered almost chidingly, snapping Aang from his thoughts. "Thanks Momo." He patted his friend on the head, returning his attention to his plans. "If we can just buy enough time to get everyone out of here..." He bit his lip, wishing he'd asked people more about the Air Nomad Genocide. He didn't know enough details to make plans against it.

How had they stopped people from fleeing on their bisons? From which direction did they attack? Was it under the cover of night, or in broad daylight when firebending was at its strongest, but Airbenders were at their most awake and alert?

Aang suppressed a shudder at the thought of fighting an army of Firebenders at high noon during Sozin's Comet. "It's no good." He despaired. "I'm not Sokka. I'm not the planning guy." He bemoaned softly to Momo. "I just have to work with what I have."

He got to his bare feet and shifted his stance, bending the earth before him. The tiny Temple rippled and sank back into the dirt, looking exactly as it had before Aang had started his planning.

If the air was rendered unsafe for an escape, then Aang would have to think outside the box. There had to be something. A place that nobody would expect to find the Airbenders...

He paused in his pacing, eyes drifting towards the edge of a small cliff that jutted out of the ground before him. A small grin spread across his lips as the barest outlines of a plan began to form in his mind.

Nobody knew he was an Earthbender, and Air Nomads were notoriously wary of small enclosed spaces, especially ones underground. It was natural, after all. Firebenders were wary around icy watery terrain, Waterbenders were wary in dry arid environments, and Earthbenders were somewhat terrified in the sky or over deep open water—something the group had learned the hard way with Toph. Everyone had an instinctive unease around their opposite, deprived of that which they called home.

He let his gaze slip towards Momo, beckoning the lemur back onto his shoulders. "C'mon, Momo. We've got a lot of work to do."