Seeing the Old woman near us, I may not have known her name, but just from the fact that she has the markings of an Airbender Master, I clasped my palms together and gave a bow, which was promptly followed by everyone else excluding Monk Gyatso, Pasang, and Tachi as they leaped off their Sky Bison and approached the woman.
"Sister Iio, I feel like it's been forever; how have you been?" Asked Gyatso with a friendly smile as he, Pasang, and Tachi gave Iio a slight bow while she did the same.
(Note: Her name is actually spelled iio. Don't ask me why; I don't know.)
"Hehe, you know how I've been, Gyatso." Replied Iio with a faint smile as she glanced at Gyatso before gazing at numerous children in the distance, her eyes lingering on Aang slightly longer than the others.
"Haha, yes, such a foolish question of me to ask; with a new generation being born, you must have been enjoying teaching them. I don't think there is any Elder with as much passion as you when it comes to teaching the newer generation." Remarked Gyatso with a laugh as he lightly patted his stomach, causing Iio to smile before she shifted her focus to Pasang.
"Pasang, how has the life of an Elder been treating you? Well, I hope." Asked Iio curiously as she looked at Pasang, who was nearly two entire decades younger than her.
"More work than I honestly expected, but nonetheless, it's been enjoyable." Replied Pasang with a slight nod while faintly smiling, causing Iio to do the same before she glanced at Tachi, who slightly grimaced.
"Same old Tachi, I presume? Haa, still giving the children a hard time?" Remarked Iio with a raised eyebrow as she eyed Tachi, who huffed in defiance while looking away.
"Hmph, it grows character; besides, they should be practicing rather than playing around, especially right now, given the state of the world. Who knows when things might suddenly erupt; they'll need to be able to protect themselves and the Air Temples." Declared Tashi as he folded his arms while refusing to look at Iio, who opened her mouth, intending to rebuke him, only to sigh before nodding.
"Haa, children will play around; that's in their nature, but I suppose your words may be correct. With the Fire Nation having been bolstering their military forces since Avatar Roku's death, I fear for the worst." Said Iio with a soft sigh as she gazed at the numerous children playing near the Sky Bison.
"I don't want to brush such an important topic aside, but I think it's best we lay off the more critical and worrying matters; today is a special day, after all." Remarked Gyatso with a faint smile as he waved his hand, creating a light gust of air, as if blowing the topic away before turning around and gazing at the children, prompting Tachi, Pasang, and Iio to nod in agreement.
"Yes, we'll discuss that with the Council of Elders." Said Tachi sternly while he, Pasang, Gyatso, and Iio approached the group.
Feeling the movement of the wind, I opened my eyes only to see the three Elders and the old lady approach us, prompting me to quickly stand up from my meditating position while patiently waiting for one of them to say something, yet just when it looked like Monk Tashi was about to yell at the unruly children, the old lady waved her hand in front of him, silencing him while he just gave her an annoyed look.
Because of the woman's actions, my fellow brothers continued to play with next to none, noticing that there were three elders patiently waiting for them; this went on for roughly a minute before I made an O with my hands, and coughed, creating a powerful gust that expanded outwards, blasting my fellow brothers onto their butts. After that, they looked around and quickly noticed the three elders, prompting them to all stand in an orderly fashion, which caused the old woman to faintly smile while Monk Tashi gave me a nod.
"Welcome to the Eastern Air Temple, my fellow young Air Nomads; I'm Elder Iio." Said Iio with a smile as her gaze traveled across the numerous children, causing them all to clasp their hands together before deeply bowing.
"Elder Iio." Said the sixty or so children simultaneously in respect, causing Iio to faintly smile before she cleared her throat, grabbing their attention.
"Now, even without mentioning it, I can see the eagerness in all of your eyes to meet your future companions, so let us get right to it." Stated Iio with a smile, her words causing nearly every one of the children's eyes to shine eagerly as she turned around, walking the way she initially came from while Pasang, Tachi, and Gyatso followed right behind her.
Watching them walk away, we, too, followed them as we traversed through the Air Temple, passing several familiar and a few unfamiliar places while our eyes gazed upon the woman and girls who walked by who also happened to be doing the same, though it was only the young girls, the older woman only gave us a few glances before continuing with their day.
'I'm sure it must be a little weird for them since this is basically their first time ever seeing the opposite sex; I suppose it's just good we're only seven and not a bunch of hormone-driven 13-year-olds.' Mused Aang lightly as he two gazed upon the girls.
A part of me hoped one of these girls was my reincarnated wife, but at the same time, I hoped she wasn't born an air-bender because if so, when the Fire Nation attacks, there is a good chance she'll die.
'Well, that's even IF the Fire Nation attacks; with my existence, I've no doubt changed many things; after all, it is called the butterfly effect for a reason. Who knows what may happen now.' Thought Aang lightly with a thoughtful expression as he closed his eyes and deeply pondered, only to shake his head.
I saved all those troublesome thoughts for later and decided to focus on acquiring my life companion, though if I was being honest, I was somewhat indifferent about the whole thing. Having a companion meant less time to myself, which in turn would take away time for me to train and practice my bendings; that wasn't exactly something I was happy about.
'Maybe I won't even manage to find a companion? After all, I'm different from the Aang I know.' Mused Aang calmly as he glanced at the Sky Bison flying overhead before shaking his head.
After waking down several more flights of stairs and reaching the base of the Air temple, we arrived at a large, flat, grassy plain that was filled with numerous baby or calf Sky Bison; there were a few adult Sky Bisons seemingly overlooking the younger ones as they played about, along with several other Air Nomad's helping where they could.
One thing to note, though, is that there were what looked like bronze constructs that the Sky Bisons would latch onto with their mouths, and if I had to guess, they were what they drank from since I didn't see any obvious source of water.
"Woah! So many! So fluffy." Said the numerous children in awe as they gazed upon the numerous Sky Bison playing about in the grassy plain.
"Now, before any of you run out there, grab an apple, and remember, a Sky Bison chooses you; you don't choose the Sky Bison." Stated Iio softly as she gestured the children to the barrel of apples, causing them to all nod while rushing towards the barrel.
"Slow down, one at a time!" Said Tashi with a frown as he kept the children in an orderly fashion while Pasang, Gyatsoa, and Iio watched with faint smiles.
Patiently waiting for my turn, I grabbed an apple from the barrel and walked deeper into the grassy plain, not gazing at any Sky Bison specifically since there was no point in doing so; if one wished to be my companion, he or she would come to me on their own accord.
This was how the next several minutes passed; I just walked around, greeting a few of the Monks in the process, yet in the end, besides a few Sky Bisons coming up to sniff me before walking away, none wanted my apple, and so, I eventually gave up and just sat by my lonesome, meditating to pass the time.
However, that plan didn't last for long as I heard someone approach me, causing me to open my eyes and see Monk Tashi, though unlike usual, he was looking at me with a frown.
"What are you doing, Aang?" Asked Tashi with a slight frown as he folded his arms within his oversized sleeves while gazing at Aang.
"I was meditating, Monk Tashi. No Sky Bison seemed interested in becoming my companion, so I meditated to pass the time." Replied Aang respectfully as he glanced at his fellow brothers, each playing with their new companion while some continued searching for their own.
"I'm all for training and meditating, but this is the chance to meet your companion, who you'll create an unbreakable bond with for life. Now isn't the time for that." Stated Tashi with a frown as he shook his head, slightly taking aback Aang.
"With all due respect, Monk Tashi, you were the last person I had expected to hear those words from." Said Aang softly as he glanced at Tashi, though before he could respond, the two heard the quiet thumping of an approaching Sky Bison.
Gazing at the approaching Sky Bison calf, he or she stood directly in front of me and just looked at me, causing me to tilt my head.
"The apple, Aang, feed him the apple." Said Tashi softly as he gazed between Aang at the Sky Bison, causing the former to suddenly nod before grabbing the apple sitting on his lap.
"Do you want this?" Asked Aang lightly as he held the apple before the Sky Bison, who responded by consuming the apple along with his forearm.
Removing my arm from his mouth, I waited for him to finish eating, only for him to suddenly lick my whole body with his massive tongue before trying to snuggle within my embrace, causing me to inwardly sigh as I softly stroked his head, feeling an inexplicable connection with him, one that confused me, yet at the same time, I didn't question it.
'Haa, well, it seems the butterfly effect hasn't affected this.' Mused Aang lightly with an affectionate smile as he rubbed the Sky Bison's furry head.