14 BG, Tanza
After a few days of travel, Tanza yawned with a tired look on her face, having just woken up alongside her master to continue their journey. While the trip from the Western Temple to the Fire Nation's island city had taken a heavy toll on their bison, requiring non-stop flying for a few days to that island and then to Whaletail Island, the rest of the journey allowed them to rest each night among the lands surrounding the Southern Temple.
Shaking her head to clear the fuzziness, Tanza looked out from inside the saddle of Juun, peering over to see Hachi bright and awake as he flew beside his older peer.
"It should not be long now until we reach the temple, my young apprentice." Kelsang's voice broke Tanza out of her morning haze, prompting her to blink and steadily make her way to the front of the large saddle. She looked down at her master, who sat on the back of Juun's head steering the beast from behind his horns.
Kelsang glanced back momentarily. "Who knows what you'll experience there, but the best advice I can offer is to make some more friends." She winked, causing Tanza to furrow her brow in response, which earned a chuckling look from Kelsang before the master returned her gaze forward.
'What is that supposed to mean?!' Tanza questioned herself, before hiding her annoyance quickly after.
She sat down at the front of the saddle and watched the scenery as Juun flew past the massive, vertical pillar-like mountains. In her honest opinion, those stone spires looked like they would protect the temple as excellent natural defenses. Each pillar would stand in the way of any trebuchet or catapult's aim, not to mention the trek on foot below looked like it would be an immense pain to traverse for any invading army.
But with that tactical thought aside, the region itself was immensely beautiful. Given that summer was fast approaching, the landscape of the pillar-like mountains was vibrant and green, with fresh grass carpeting the ledges while wild alpine flowers bloomed along the rocky crevices.
As Juun cleared the final stone pillar, the mountain mist parted completely to reveal the Southern Air Temple in all its grandeur. Tanza leaned over the saddle's edge, her eyes wide as she took in the sight. Unlike the upside-down spires of her home at the Western Temple, which hung protectively beneath the shadows of massive cliffs, the Southern Temple was built completely out in the open. It all sat proudly atop the rugged peaks, with the blue-roofed towers gleaming brightly under the warm sun.
Kelsang pulled back gently on the reins, guiding Juun to fly lower now. The massive bison tilted his tail, drifting downward toward a wide, circular landing platform covered in fresh green grass. The younger calf, Hachi, chirped playfully as he matched the descent, his smaller shadow dancing across the mountain ledges below.
For Tanza, her mind appreciated the scenery, but one thought popped up above it. Tanza's mind immediately began analyzing it all. 'An architectural marvel, but an absolute nightmare for a siege', she concluded. 'Building entirely in the open makes them a visible target from leagues away. If an invading force ever managed to bypass the natural pillar defenses and scale these peaks, there are no protective caverns to retreat into. They would be completely exposed'.
But aside from any lingering animosity over the incident decades ago, she was unsure why the Fire Nation would attack either her home temple or this one. Both were within reasonable sailing distance and reach for the Fire Nation's obvious eventual invasion of the Earth Kingdom. However, given the fact that the Western Temple was a notoriously hard-to-reach spot for an attack, that left this place. Still, since it had been decades since the Guiding Wind, it would be pointless to attack this airbender temple out of petty retribution for the past.
'…but then again…this is all not counting the eventual Air Bender Avatar, after Roku's death…'
Her thoughts were soon broken, as Juun's heavy paws touched down smoothly onto the stone platform, with Hachi landing not a second later. A few young male acolytes in yellow robes stopped their sweeping to look at the newcomers with curiosity, but they quickly offered polite bows of traditional hospitality.
Besides them, an elderly man in probably his late fifties or early sixties was in the middle of walking down the grand stone pathway lined with blooming alpine flowers, the monk monk himself stepped forward to greet them. He wore the traditional orange shawl of a master, but his posture was relaxed and a smile greeted them as Kelsang let Juun relax while Hachi let out a huff beside him.
"Kelsang! It has been far too long since a breeze from the west blew you into our courtyard," he called out, his lighthearted voice instantly filling the mountain air.
"That It has, Gyatso," Kelsang replied with a chuckle as she hopped down from Juun's head, folding her hands into her sleeves. "Our journey south took a bit of a detour, but it turns out the wind brought us exactly where we needed to be."
Gyatso's eyes drifted past Kelsang, noticing the small girl standing at the edge of the saddle. Tanza simply looked down at him with honest, curious eyes. 'He completely fits the look of an old monk master,' she thought to herself, studying his wrinkles and relaxed posture. 'Harmless on the surface, but likely possessing a lifetime of hidden experience!'
Gyatso smiled warmly up at her, offering a gentle bow of his head. "Welcome to the Southern Air Temple, little one. I hope the mountain winds treat you well." to which she gave a respectful bow of her head back.
He looked back at Kelsang, his eyes gleaming with old memories, before chuckling. "I remember when you were no bigger than she is, Kelsang. Back when you traveled to this very temple with your own master, Paaru." He stroked his mustache idly. "Tell me, how is she faring these days?"
Tanza remained silent for now, as she looked back to her master, who kept her smile. "Master Paaru is doing well," Kelsang answered, a respectful tone in her voice as she kept her hands folded in her sleeves. "She has taken up the same duty as the rest of her elderly peers at the Western Temple. She spends her days looking after the youngest ones, keeping them safe and fed until they are old enough to be given to masters of their own."
While the adults spoke, Tanza stepped to the edge of the large leather saddle and hopped down. She released a soft cushion of air beneath her feet, landing on the cold stone pathway with absolute grace. She moved aside as the young acolytes stepped forward to guide Juun and the yawning calf, Hachi, down toward the temple's sky bison pens.
Shortly after, Kelsang looked down at her young apprentice. "Go on ahead and look around, Tanza." she gestured to the temple grounds, "Feel free to roam the temple and see the sights for a bit while Monk Gyatso and I catch up on old times."
Tanza offered her master a polite smile in response, 'A perfect opportunity given to be on my own, and see what further comparison there is to this temple and mine.' She mentally thought, before being vocal with her master, "Thank you, Master Kelsang," Tanza replied.
As Kelsang and Gyatso began to walk off together down the stone pathway, Tanza watched them go. Gyatso leaned in slightly, idly asking how the trip across the sea had been. Kelsang adjusted her sleeves with a light chuckle, responding that it had been quite a little journey, but nothing too troubling aside from a thing or two along the way.
Tanza turned back toward the main path, but her attention was immediately caught by a sudden movement near the walled entrance. A few young boys had been peeking around the stone archway, watching the landing platform with intense curiosity.
The moment the adults walked away, the group broke into a run. A seven-year-old boy led the pack, rushing over toward the landing platform with a few older boys trailing right behind him, their faces full of bright excitement at the arrival of a new face.
While Tanza stepped back a bit with cautious, wide eyes, the group skidded to a halt right in front of her. The youngest boy eagerly blurted out the first questions on his mind in a single, excited breath.
"Hi! Which temple did you come from? Is that your bison over there? What's your name!?"
The sudden wall of raw, unfiltered noise made Tanza step back once more. It was a bizarre, almost sordid new experience for her. In her first life, childhood had been a standard affair with parents. In her second, it had been a grim, miserable struggle for survival inside a bleak orphanage surrounded by sullen, hopeless children.
Aside from the young boy Jian she had briefly dealt with in the Fire Nation a few days ago, she had never had to navigate a pack of hyperactive boys. Their boundless energy felt almost overwhelming.
Forcing her mind to take control of the situation, she maintained her grip on her sanity and addressed each question in orderly succession. Straightening her posture a bit, she folded her hand behind her back, and used the other to palm her chest…
"I am from the Western Air Temple," Tanza answered calmly, before pointing her hand toward the landing pads. "The small bison over there is mine. I named him Hachi. And my name is Tanza." She paused, looking over the eager faces of the crowd. "What are your names?" She asked back, as it was only right they introduced themselves next, and so she can put names to faces.
All four boys let out a collective gasp of awe the moment Tanza mentioned where she was from.
"The Western Temple!" one of them echoed, their faces lighting up as they immediately began chiming in about their own experiences traveling across the globe to visit her home every other year for the Yangchen Festival, but their voices were a bit hard to discern from them talking over each other.
The youngest of the group, the seven-year-old, eagerly stepped forward. "My master took me there last year for the big celebration!" the boy remarked with a wide, gap-toothed grin. "It was an awesome place! But man, there were just so many girls there—"
Before he could finish his thought, he was cut off by a light, disciplinary bonk on the top of his shaved head from the oldest boy in the group. The boy winced, rubbing his head with a pout.
The oldest boy stepped out in front of his peers, looking a bit bashful as he offered Tanza an apologetic look. "Sorry about Gyahn," he said, rubbing the back of his own neck. "He doesn't always think before he speaks." to which Tanza nodded.
Straightening his robes, the older boy offered a polite bow of introduction. "My name is Jamyang," he said, before gesturing to the rest of the group behind him. He pointed to the two boys standing side-by-side. "And these two are our twins, Gio and Gyi."
The twins grinned broadly in unison, raising their hands to give Tanza an identical, high-energy wave.
Tanza nodded at them, before looking back at Gyahn, "Well, to answer your question, the Western Temple is a monastery only for girls, just like yours is a temple only for boys," Tanza responded calmly, keeping her voice light. "It is not up to me why things are arranged that way."
Gyahn tilted his head to the side, his face scrunching up in deep confusion as he tried to process her explanation. Finding it a bit too much to think about, he simply shrugged his shoulders. "Okay!" he chirped, completely satisfied to drop the matter.
Tanza maintained her polite posture, but as she looked over the group, her eyes displayed a curious gleam. "But… are there any other girls visiting from the other temples right now? I would be interested to know." She and her master surely must not be the only visiting females of this temple afterall.
Gyahn puffed out his chest, eager to be the first to answer again. "Yup! In fact, there are!"
Tanza nodded at him, validating her thought that it was only reasonable that she and her master weren't the sole visiting females. "I see."
Jamyang proceeded to speak next, crossing his arms over his chest. "So, what brings you and your master here?" He looked down at her with genuine interest. "I'm guessing she just picked you up as her apprentice to journey the world and teach you?" he asked in a genuine tone of interest.
She nodded at him, a simple question to answer if anything, "Yes, in fact, we just left my home almost a week ago," Tanza answered, keeping her response simple and direct.
Gyahn stepped in again with sudden excitement. "Wait, how old are you? That means you're what, six years old or more? Because you look i—"
He was promptly bonked on the head again by Jamyang, who rolled his eyes at his junior.
But before the youngest could complain, the two twins spoke up, finishing each other's sentences in a rapid-fire blur.
"Hey, since you're new here—"
"Want a tour of the place?!"
"It's almost lunchtime too, wanna join?!"
Both twins were immediately silenced by another bonk from an exasperated Jamyang, who let out a heavy sigh and gave Tanza a deeply apologetic look. "Sorry about these younger boys. We get enough visitors, but let's just say it's always fun to welcome a new airbender face." He offered her a simple, reassuring smile.
Tanza responded with a simple, calm "Sure," offering a polite smile to the mature older boy. 'Thankfully, I'm just meeting boys of grade school ages, were I older and they were in their teens, I dread the thought of being 'hit' on.'
Outside her thoughts, the twins on the other hand instantly exploded in celebration. "Yeah!" they shouted in unison, before they rushed forward to gently nudge Tanza from behind with their hands against her back to get her moving.
Before she could even adjust to the sudden push, Gyahn rushed in from the front, grabbing her hand tightly to guide her along. "Come on!" the seven-year-old cheered, pulling her forward. "I bet you girls don't have a cool airball arena like we do!"
Trapped between the shoving twins and the pulling child, Tanza's face twisted into a comical expression of absolute overwhelm. Her strict boundaries and orderly mindset were completely helpless against the chaotic, high-energy swarm of local boys.
Seeing her plight though, Jamyang swiftly intervened. He moved into the crowd, delivering a sharp flick to the back of both twins' heads to back them off, before forcefully shooing Gyahn away from pulling on Tanza's arm too hard. With a stern glare, he pointed down the path and motioned for the rowdy group to follow his lead. He cast one more deeply apologetic look toward Tanza.
Tanza gave him a grateful nod. Stepping out of the swarm, she paused for a moment to brush her robes off and smooth her wrinkled clothes down. Reclaiming her calm composure, she fell into step behind Jamyang, letting the energetic pack lead her away into the green, blooming courtyards of the Southern Temple.
Farther down the pathway, the lighthearted mood faded as Kelsang and Gyatso spoke in quieter, more serious tones beyond their previous conversation they had after leaving Tanza to the 'welcoming party'.
"—and quite frankly, even after a few decades, the people there no doubt still harbor resentment for that group back then," Kelsang explained, shaking her head in dismay as she recalled the hostile glares of the harbor guards. "The air was thick with it."
Gyatso listened intently, nodding his head in solemn understanding. He knew all too well how easily the peaceful intentions of old movements could be twisted by time and prejudice, leaving innocent travelers to bear the brunt of a nation's anger.
He stopped walking, looking at his junior with genuine concern. "With that much hostility at the gates, how did you even manage to stay on the island without being turned away immediately?"
Kelsang let out a soft chuckle, a wry grin tugging at the corner of her mouth as she turned to face him. She tucked her hands a little deeper into her large orange sleeves. "Well, you can guess who my apprentice and I happened to run into right after we landed."
Gyatso raised his brows a tad bit, looking genuinely taken aback. "Now, don't be pulling an old man's leg," he jested back with a wry smirk, letting out a soft chuckle in amusement. "Surely you didn't run into him of all people."
Kelsang only chuckles again in response, halting her steps along the path. Gyatso stopped beside her.
"One could say destiny works in weird ways, perhaps," she said, shrugging her shoulders lightly. Gyatso gave a slow nod, listening intently as her smirk softened. "But yes, Avatar Roku of all people landed at the same harbor right after us. Because of him, we were able to stay longer at that island to let our bison rest safely."
Gyatso let out a soft sound of wonder. "Indeed!" he chuckled, lightly pulling at his mustache. "Perhaps indeed it was destiny for you to meet him!"
The serious atmosphere between them shifted, returning to a lighthearted comfort as Gyatso looked at her with an amused grin. "And how was your experience with him? I have to imagine he's as wrinkled as me!" he added, letting out another hearty chuckle.
Kelsang smiled. "As you'd expect, yes. And it was a true pleasure getting to know him before he, well…" She paused, letting the unspoken reality of Roku's limited time hang in the air without needing to be said aloud.
Gyatso's chuckle subsided into a quiet nod of understanding. "Ah, yes. Death awaits us all. Even the Avatar is not immune to that," he remarked softly.
Kelsang raised an eyebrow, a playful challenge gleaming in her eyes as she drew upon the history gathered from her global travels. "Oh? And what does that make Avatar Kyoshi? An exception?" she rebutted.
Gyatso softly smirked at her, completely unfazed by the counter-argument. "Ah, you've done your history, my junior," he said, shaking his head with a gentle smile. "But you forget, she eventually let herself pass on simply to let the world move on to Roku."
As the mood shifted back to a simple matter of a junior master being challenged by her senior, the air became completely relaxed once more. Kelsang let out a soft breath, her expression turning incredibly gentle as she finally spoke the words she had carried across the sea.
"Though, there is one message he wanted me to pass on to you…"
A soft smile remained on her face, causing Gyatso to quickly display a look of curious wonder across his wisened features.
"Oh!" he remarked, a fond, bright smile immediately gracing his lips. "Did he now?!"
He leaned forward a bit, his eyes widening a tad in pure anticipation as he looked at her. "Well, don't keep an old man waiting! What has that old friend of mine sent to me as a message through you?"
Without further pause, she answered. "He said, "Tell him that our time together was a grand memory I never forgot. It is a memory I will cherish of our friendship until the very end." were his exact words." She delivered, the words hung softly in the crisp mountain breeze, carrying the quiet weight of a lifetime across the vast ocean.
Gyatso did not speak right away. The bright, eager anticipation in his eyes softened, giving way to a deep, quiet stillness. A bittersweet smile steadily dawned on his face, tracing the deep lines of a man who was looking back at a beautiful youth that had long since passed. He let out a long, slow breath, his gaze drifting away from the landing platform and out toward the green mountain valleys below, as if he could see his old friend standing right beside him.
"That sounds just like him," Gyatso said softly, his voice dropping to a gentle, tender whisper. He pulled lightly at his mustache again, though this time his hand trembled just a fraction with emotion. "Always remembering the grand days, even while carrying the weight of the entire world on his shoulders."
Kelsang kept her hands folded respectfully inside her sleeves, maintaining her quiet, supportive smile as she watched her senior master process the handoff. She could see how much those few sentences meant to the elderly monk, serving as a beautiful, final reassurance that time and distance had done absolutely nothing to erode their lifelong bond.
Gyatso closed his eyes for a brief moment, letting the warmth of the memory settle deep into his heart. When he opened them again, the melancholy had passed, replaced once more by his signature bright, cheerful spirit. He looked back at Kelsang, his eyes twinkling with genuine gratitude.
"Thank you for bringing that to me, Kelsang," he said warmly, offering her a deep, respectful bow. "A message like that is worth a dozen detours. Now, come along, let us go find your bright little apprentice and get some food into both of your bellies.!"
She nodded in agreement, before she followed him out, her message easily delivered between one friend across the ocean to another.