A short while later the game of airball ended with Sokka being shot through a goal for what Harry believed to be the seventh time, it turns out airball was sort of like football where you had to send a ball into a goal, except you did this while on top of poles and instead of just using your feet you had to use airbending. Harry felt like he was quite good at it even if he wasn't as good as Aang, he even managed to score two goals when it had been his turn to play against Aang.
"Making him feel better is putting me in a world of hurt." Sokka sighed.
"Well, from what I understand it's only the ball that really has to go through the goal post. So either Aang is more sadistic than we first believed, you've misunderstood the point of the game or maybe you just haven't mastered the art of dodging." Harry said with a smirk.
"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up." Sokka grumbled before he lifted his head off the ground and paused. "Oh."
"What?" Katara asked as she and Harry followed Sokka's gaze and their eyes widened when they saw a Fire Nation helmet resting a short distance away. Sokka crawled forwards and stopped once his face was a couple of inches away.
"Well...that's not good." Harry said in a quiet voice. "Aang," Harry called. "get over here, now."
"Coming!" Aang said in a happy voice as he hopped off the poles and began making their way to the trio, as he got closer Harry suddenly heard a large sound and looked back to see snow land on Sokka while also covering up the helmet, Harry caught Katara lowering her arms.
"Aang, maybe we should go now, we've wasted enough time playing around." Katara suggested.
"You're right," Aang sighed before his smile came back up, Harry was honestly amazed at how happy the boy could be, he wondered what would happen if Harry had put the boy in a room with Luna Lovegood and gave them both some energy drinks. "we've got more to see, let's go!" He cheered before running off while the trio followed after him.
"What are you doing?" Harry whispered as he and Sokka started walking on either side of Katara.
"I'm with fire boy over here, Aang needs to know." Sokka said. "You can't protect him forever."
"As much as it pains me to agree with meat-for-brains, he's right." Harry replied. "Fire Nation were here, he needs to know. You can't keep this a secret."
"I can for Aang." Katara said stubbornly.
"If you care for Aang then we should tell him." Harry said in an irritated voice. "There is a time and place for secrets, I get that you want to spare him but you're going to cause him more problems than if you told him the truth."
"And how would you know?" Katara said, not looking at him.
"Fine," Harry growled. "you want to keep this a secret then go ahead, I won't say anything. But don't blame me when we've got an emotional twelve year old Avatar to deal with." Harry said before he quickened his pace and walked past the two siblings.
"Great, now I'm agreeing with the fire jerk." Sokka sighed.
"Hey guys, look at this!" Aang said when they arrived in front of a statue of an older monk.
"Should we know who that is?" Harry asked as he and the other two stopped in front of him.
"Monk Gyatso! The greatest airbender in the taught me everything I know." Aang said before he bowed to the statue. "Come on." He said after a lengthy pause. Aang was rushing off again and the other three followed after him.
"You miss him, don't you?" Katara asked.
"A little." Aang admitted in a quiet voice.
....
"What is this place?" Harry asked when they arrived in a room that was filled with statues, they were lined up in a circular pattern and were spread all across the floor and proceeded to go all the way up the very large room, there were so many of them that Harry was positive that there were some beyond what he could see.
"Statues? That's it? Where's the meat?" Sokka asked in a disappointed voice.
"You know if you focused on your brain as much as you would focus on your stomach then you'd be the smartest man alive." Harry said as they all walked inside.
"Hey!" Sokka said in an offended voice.
"Who are all of these people?" Katara asked.
"I'm not sure," Aang replied, "but I feel like I know them. Like this one, he's an airbender, the next one's a waterbender, then earth and..."
"Then fire," Harry said. "that's the Avatar cycle. Air, water, earth and then fire. These people..."
"They're your past lives!" Katara gasped as she finally understood.
"Wow, there are so many!" Aang replied.
"Past lives?" Sokka said disbelievingly. "You two believe that?"
"I believe anything can be possible, and in this case I truly do believe it's true. There has been plenty of evidence to prove that the Avatar is always born into the next nation in the cycle. The last Avatar was a firebender after all." Harry said just as Aang stopped in front of one statue of an old man with long hair, a long beard and fire nation clothing. "That would be him, Avatar Roku." Harry said, gesturing to the Avatar statue. "He's an important figure in Fire Nation history."
"You were a firebender?" Sokka asked in a surprised voice as they all stopped next to Aang. "No wonder I didn't trust you when we first met."
"I'm a firebender." Harry reminded him.
"And I don't trust you." Sokka shrugged.
"..."
"..."
"Fair enough." Harry nodded.
"It's weird," Aang said as he looked around. "I feel like I already knew his name." He said as he gestured to Roku's statue. "I feel like I already know all of their names."
"Well, they are supposedly your past lives." Katara said in a thoughtful voice. "So it's not totally surprising." She said just before a noise startled the four, they all quickly jumped behind the nearest statues. Aang and Katara hid behind one while Harry and Sokka hid behind another.
"Firebender, nobody make a sound." Sokka whispered, Harry had to restrain himself from commenting on Sokka's belief that it was obviously a firebender.
"You're making a sound." Katara pointed out, only to get shushed by all three boys.
"Look, on three." Harry whispered before he counted down from three fingers. "Now!" He said, they all popped out from the statues with Sokka holding his weapons while Harry had a small ball of fire in his hands, meanwhile Katara and Aang had simply popped their heads out to see who it was. "That's not a firebender." Harry dryly commented as he looked at the small creature with white and black fur, a long tail, large ears and large membrane-like wings attached to its arms.
"LEMUR!" Aang said excitedly.
"Dinner!" Sokka drooled.
"Don't listen to him!" Aang quickly said. "You're going to be my new pet!"
"Not if I get him first!" Sokka said before he leaped towards the lemur, the lemur escaped his grasp and began running out of the room with Sokka and Aang chasing him.
"I..." Harry paused before shook his head. "...he's the saviour of the world." Harry sighed before he began walking after them. "The saviour of the bloody world."