A Fated Meeting in the Park
'Korra's gonna airbend! Korra's gonna airbend!'
Rinzen just rolled her eyes slightly at her younger sister's usual hyperactivity. Her and her three younger siblings, Jinora, Ikki and Meelo were happy that Korra was staying with them on Air Temple Island and eager for her to finally start her airbending training. Their father and the avatar were making their way up the steps towards them, Tenzin wearing his usual attire, whereas the avatar-in-training had changed into the same outfits the young airbenders were wearing.
'What is that contraption?' Korra asked Tenzin when she saw the air gates behind the kids.
'A time honour tool,' Tenzin answered calmly 'that teaches the most fundamental aspects of airbending.' Their father turned his head to look toward Jinora. 'Jinora, would you like to explain this exercise?' Jinora took a step forward, holding out her hand toward the air gates.
'The goal is to weave your way through the gates and make it to the other side without touching them.' She explained without skipping a beat.
'Seems easy enough…' Korra raised an eyebrow at the young airbender's explanation. Rinzen smirked knowingly.
'Jinora forgot to say that you have to make your way through while all the gates are spinning!' Ikki blurted out to Korra as Tenzin took a step toward the gates. He planted both his feet on the ground, bringing his arms up to create a gust of air strong enough for him to bend forward and through the gates, causing them to start spinning quite fast. Rinzen sneaked a look at Korra's now surprised and worried face.
Their father picked up a leaf and raised it in front of him, letting it go and watched as it made its way toward the spinning gates.
'The key is to be like the leaf.' As the leaf entered the gates, it moved and flowed with the time of each spinning gate. 'Flow with the movement of the gates.' Tenzin finished explaining as the leaf made it out the other side.
Tenzin turned towards his oldest daughter and smiled gently. 'Rinzen will demonstrate.'
The younger airbending master started toward the gates with a determined look, swiftly entering them.
'Airbending is all about spiral movements.' Their father explained to Korra as Rinzen speedily weaved her way through, turning where ever she met resistance and moving with the flow of the gates. 'When you meet resistance you must be able to switch direction at a moments notice.' Tenzin finished as his daughter had made her way out the other side.
Rinzen planted her feet firmly on the ground, whilst bending a strong gust of wind that she pushed back through the gates to get them moving fast enough again, ready for Korra to try.
'Lets do this.' Korra said, putting on a determined look and sprinting into the gates. Almost immediately forgetting everything Tenzin had explained, she ran straight into the first gate. It stopped spinning abruptly, propelling Korra into another gate. The same thing happened again with another ten of them before Korra hit the ground, butt first back in front of Tenzin.
Almost growling, an annoyed Korra quickly got up to try again. Sprinting into the gates, the same thing happened again, with the avatar being thrown around the gates like a polar bear dog toy.
'You can do it, Korra!' Rinzen shouted from the other side of the air gates encouragingly.
'Don't force your way through!' Jinora shouted from back beside Tenzin, trying to offer help.
'Dance! Dance like the wind!' Ikki called.
'Be the leaf!' Meelo cheered, swaying his arms from his left to his right, imitating the movement of the leaf.
'AH-!' Korra shouted, being smacked back out of the air gates, this time, thoroughly beat up and falling onto her back. Her airbending teacher sighed disapprovingly at her headstrong approach.
----
Atsuko sighed as she placed her bag on the ground next to her bed. Looking out of the inn window, she thought of what she should do next.
'I could just sleep until tomorrow. It's not like I have any plans.' Just as she whispered to herself, an idea popped into her head.
'Hey I could go visit Republic City Park. I heard its really nice there.' Atsuko laughed, turning to the fire ferret sprawled across the bed.
'Nigel, wanna come with?' She smiled, asking her pet. When she was met with only snoring, the firebender rolled her eyes and left the apartment quietly.
----
As Rinzen walked out of her room yawning, she was met with a look from her father.
'You sure slept in a lot later than usual, Rinzen.' He stated as said airbender finished stretching.
'C'mon Dad. You know me better than that. I was meditating, not sleeping.' Rinzen said giving the older airbending master a playful look. 'Have you seen Hunter around?' She asked, referring to her friend, a ring-tail winged lemur.
'Hmm.. I think I saw your brother chasing him around before.' Tenzin answered with a slight chuckle.
'Oh great… I'd better go save the poor lemur before he's farted on. Or worse.' She rolled her eyes jokingly as she jogged out of the building.
----
Atsuko looked around endlessly at all the tall buildings and shops that lined the streets of Republic City as she walked in the direction of the park.
'Gee. This place is really big. No joke…' The firebender thought as a food stand caught her eye. Reaching into her empty pockets, her stomach seemed to growl a little louder when she realized she didn't have any food… or money. Sighing, Atsuko picked up the pace toward the park.
----
Picking up her glider staff along the way, Rinzen quickly checked around to see if she could spot her brother from there. When the airbender saw no sign of either her brother or winged lemur, she swiftly extended her glider. Holding it above her head, Rinzen quickly bent the air underneath her to propel herself up into the air. As she slowly glided over Air Temple Island, scanning the ground for her target.
After a few minutes of searching, Rinzen spotted Meelo chasing a worried Hunter around on an air scooter. Smiling gently, she began gliding down towards them, landing right in front of Meelo. Startling Meelo, he fell off of his air scooter and onto the ground next to his older sister. Noticing Rinzen's arrival, Hunter had run back and up onto her shoulders.
'Hey Rinzen! No fair! Hunter and me were playing!' Meelo poked his tongue out at the airbending master. She smiled back at him.
'Seemed to me like Hunter was more interesting in getting away from you.' Rinzen laughed when Meelo meekly scratched the back of his head.
'Hunter and I get to play now. Besides, he's my pet.' Hunter jumped to Rinzen's right shoulder and chattered something into her ear. 'Besides. He just said that he'll play with you later.'
'Yay!' Meelo jumped up into the air, excited to play with the lemur at a later time. To express his excitement, Hunter jumped from Rinzen's shoulder to the younger airbender's head and did a small play dance before jumping back.
'I'm gonna go find Ikki. She said we could have our air scooter race rematch today! Have fun, Rinzen!' Meelo shouted as he ran back towards the temple. Rinzen stifled a chuckle as she watched her energetic brother sprint off.
Rinzen felt Hunter climb up and sit on her head as she began to walk over to her favourite rock on the island. Using airbending, she swiftly jumped up to sit atop the rock. Crouching down, the airbender look out across the waves, her eyes fixed on Republic City.
'Wanna visit today, Hunter? ' Rinzen suggests to her lemur. Hunter usually is on and off about visiting the city, only coming along when he feels like it. Chattering heard from the top of her head, Rinzen feels the lemur slide off.
'Hm. I guess that’s cool. Go find Jinora and let her know that I'm headed out to the city for a bit, okay?' Rinzen stood upright, extending her glider staff as Hunter made some more squeaks and other noises.
'Alright. I'll see you when I get back.' She smiles at her lemur and she holds her glider above her head, jumping off of the rock to soar over the ocean.
----
Squatting just in front of the stream in Republic City Park, Atsuko checked either side of her to make sure no one was watching before she continued bending a small, constant stream of fire onto the fish she had caught with a stick. Licking her lips hungrily, the firebender looked at the other two fish she had caught before the one she was currently cooking, mounted atop sharp sticks jutting out of the ground in front of her. After the fish was ready, Atsuko brought it closer, opening her mouth to take a bite.
'UHM!'
Atsuko jumped at the sudden voice coming from the bush next to her. Turning to look that way, she saw a small girl, around her age, wearing bright orange and yellow clothes, poking out of the bush. She had a light blue arrow on her forehead and her brownish-red hair was tied back into a ponytail.
'…say… Think I could get one of those tasty smellin' fishies?'
Surprised by the unexpected presence, Atsuko struggled to find her voice.
'Uh…I-I yeah sure. W-Why not?' The firebender watched as the strange girl jumped soundlessly from the shrub and landed next to her. Snatching one of the sticks out of the ground from in front of her, the girl started eating it hungrily. Atsuko decided to do the same with her fish.
'Hey.. Do you live in that bush?' She tried making conversation. Atsuko heard the red haired girl chuckle next to her.
'I sure do. Got a problem with that?' Turning to look, the firebender saw that the girl was wearing a wide grin.
'No.. I was just asking is all… What's your name? Are you a bender?' Atsuko asked, missing the evil smirk the girl next to her made.
'My name is Rinzen…,' She stood up while she spoke, pointing to herself. 'And I'm a BUSHBENDER!' Rinzen then pointed to the bush behind her. 'See?' Rinzen laughed, bending a small gust of wind through the bush so it moved.
'Woah. You're an airbender? That's so cool.' Atsuko smiled up at Rinzen.
'Uh… no… I just said I was a bushbender.' The airbender raised an eyebrow at the girl sitting on the ground.
'Right… Very well. Nice to meet you. Atsuko is my name.' The firebender gave a small smile, introducing herself.
'Hey that's a pretty name.' Rinzen said almost straight away, causing the other girl the blush shyly.
'I… Thanks..' Atsuko mumbled.
'Hmm… Hey, quick question. Why did you bother asking if I'm a bender? Y'know with my obvious airbender get-up here.' The airbender asked curiously, motioning towards her orange and yellow clothes.
'Actually no. I've only ever read about them. You're the first airbender I've-' Atsuko started before she was rudely interrupted by someone shouting from the bridge.
'HEY! YOU CAN'T FISH HERE!' A police man was running towards the two, shouting loudly.
'Uh-oh.' Her eyes widening, Rinzen quickly grabbed her glider staff from the bush she was in and extended it. 'We'd best skedaddle, unless you want to be in trouble?' When Atsuko shook her head, Rinzen laughed.
'You ever flown before?' When she was met with another quick shake of the head, she chuckled. 'Then I'd hold onto my wait real tight if I were you.' Not wasting any time, the firebender quickly hopped up and wrapped her arms around Rinzen's waist, who held the glider up above them and speedily bent some air to get them going. Just as they had taken off, the police officer reached where they were standing.
'HEY! GET BACK HERE!' He shook his head. 'Darn kids.'
----
Now gliding slowly above Republic City, Rinzen laughed at their close shave.
'That was really close. We're lucky to have gotten away…' She chuckled, thinking back to what had happened just a few minutes ago.
'Yeah, you're telling me.' Atsuko gave a small laugh, but still held on tightly. 'Hey this flying thing is pretty cool. You should teach me how to airbend.' The firebender joked.
'Well, today is your lucky day. We're going to Air Temple Island. I can maybe teach you some stuff there. I'm not too sure about you airbending though…" Rinzen chuckled.
'Air Temple Island?' Atsuko raised an eyebrow.
'Yeah. That's where us airbenders live. There's my dad Tenzin and my siblings, Jinora, Ikki and Meelo. My mom lives there too, but she's a non-bender. There's dad's sky bison, ring-tailed lemurs, air acolytes, airbending training stuff. You name it and we've got it.' Rinzen said, puffing her chest out in pride.
'Woah. That sounds awesome' Atsuko whispered, her eyes sparkling.
----
Atsuko stood upright, struggling to find her footing and almost falling over. Rinzen quickly placed a hand on her shoulder, helping her to stand.
'Wow. That landing was really hardcore.' Atsuko mumbled in a slur, causing the airbender to chuckle.
'Well, if you're an airbender, you kinda get used to it. Landing is a lot smoother when you're on a sky bison, trust me.' She smiled.
'So… what are we going to do here.' The firebender asked, smiling.
'Hmm.' Rinzen looked around. 'Oooh. I know, there's some really important airbending training going on right now, c'mon follow me!'
'Sounds exciting!' Atsuko thought, taking off after Rinzen when she started jogging.
----
'Whatever.' Korra stated, annoyed. 'None of this airbending stuff makes any sense to me.' The avatar looked over to her left, where Jinora and Ikki were sitting with their eyes closed, in silence, whilst Meelo snored loudly.
'I know you're frustrated, but these teachings will sink in over time. Then one day, they'll just click.' Tenzin said reassuringly to the frustrated Korra. Trying once more, Korra closed her eyes and took a deep breath, attempting to find her inner calm.
Lasting about three seconds, Korra exhaled loudly.
'It's not sinking in yet.' She unfolded her legs to stand up. "I'm gonna go get a glass of lychee juice.' The avatar walked away from the airbenders carelessly.
'Korra! The meditation's not over yet!' Tenzin called after her, annoyed.
'Daddy!' Tenzin looked down at Ikki, who piped up. 'Can I have some lychee juice too?" She asked hopefully.
'No.' The airbending master answered promptly. Jinora opened an eye, slightly dissatisfied with the noise going on around her and Meelo fell back, asleep and snoring loudly.
----
Tenzin opened one eye slightly when he heard footsteps approaching. Rinzen paced quietly over to where her father and siblings where meditating, (with the exception of one of them sleeping), and waved a quick hello to Tenzin.
'Hey Dad. Where's Korra? Shouldn't she be here?' She whispered, wondering where Korra was.
'She left because she couldn't get the hang of it. She can be quite hard to handle sometimes.' The older airbending master sighed.
'I see.' Rinzen turned, motioning for Atsuko to come join them. Jinora remained quiet and meditating while Ikki turned and looked over, waving at the firebender. She shyly waved back, walking over to them.
'Dad this is my new friend, Atsuko. She's a firebender. Is it okay if she trains with us today?' Rinzen asked, looking back at her father.
Tenzin nodded towards the girl standing next to Rinzen.
'Of course. Welcome Atsuko, I'm Tenzin.'
'And I'm Ikki!' Ikki whispered loudly from next to Jinora. Atsuko smiled at both of the airbenders who introduced themselves, not wanting to speak and interrupt their meditating. The firebender leaned in a little closer to Rinzen and whispered to her.
'So what's this cool airbending training you were telling me about?' She looked over to see Tenzin's eyes were closed again, as well as Ikki who was quiet once more.
'Can't you see? It's right here.' Rinzen smiled, before sitting down with her legs crossed, eyes closed and fists together. Confused, Atsuko quickly copied the airbender, sitting next to her.
'Sooo… meditating?' The firebender thought, before clearing her mind and slowing her breathing.
----
'How long has it been? Ten minutes?' Atsuko thought to her self. She quickly opened one eye to look at Rinzen, who was sitting next to her. The airbender was quiet, her eyes closed and she seemed to be really focused.
'What's the matter?' Rinzen asked, without opening her eyes. Surprised, Atsuko closed her eyes again, facing the front.
'Nothing.' She answered quietly.
----
'How long has it been now? Half an hour?'
'Alright. Meditation time is over.' Tenzin's gruff voice suddenly sounded in her ears. Opening her eyes slowly, the firebender saw that the airbender kids where already standing(with the exception of Meelo, who's still snoring), as well as Tenzin. She rose slowly, stretching a little and looking around to see that it was late into the afternoon, almost night time.
'Wow. That went for a lot longer than it felt.' Atsuko looked back up when she heard Rinzen's voice.
'Hey Dad, I'm going to take Atsuko back to Republic City. I don't really want her swimming home.' She chuckled, grabbing her glider staff from next to Jinora. Ikki was poking Meelo's cheek.
'C'mon Meelo it's time to go back now.' She chanted.
'Very well Rinzen. Make sure you're back in time for dinner.' Tenzin gave her a gentle smile.
'Don't worry, I will.' Rinzen smiled and turned, motioning for Atsuko to follow.
'See you later, Rinzen.' Jinora called after them, waving.
'Yeah! See you soon Jinora.' Rinzen laughed as Atsuko caught up to her.
Together they walked to the airbender's favourite rock, over looking the ocean. Looking at the rock, Atsuko raised an eyebrow.
'Wait how are we supposed to get up there? It's like three time's taller than me!' The firebender asked, confused.
'I think you're forgetting that I'm an airbender.' She reassured her. Bending a small air sphere around them, Rinzen looked to Atsuko.
'Jump!' She instructed, jumping at the same time the firebender did, the air sphere propelling them up to land safely atop the rock.
'Phew. I don't think I could ever get used to that.' Atsuko stated, holding her head.
'Alright. Time to get you back to Republic City. It's even prettier during-' Rinzen suddenly became quiet. The firebender quickly became worried after she stopped mid sentence.
'During what, Rinzen? What's the mat-'
'Ssh.' The airbender silenced her, placing a finger over her mouth. 'Be quiet.' She whispered. Rinzen crouched, pointing over to another rock jutting out of the island, over the ocean. Suddenly a figure sprinted off of the rock Rinzen had pointed to, jumping down to the ocean. A spout of water came up to meet the figure and it disappeared with a splash. Rinzen quickly stood upright, extending her glider and holding it above her head.
'That’s Korra.'