"It's big, isn't it?" said a male voice.
"It's huge! I never thought it would be so big," said a female voice, filled with excitement.
"It also feels pretty heavy," another female voice said, causing someone to sigh with a lot of tiredness in their voice.
"Stop making it sound so weird," Zuko said, looking at Aang, Toph, and Ty Lee with evil eyes, his eyes narrowed as he watched these three guys who looked like kindred spirits.
If Zuko hadn't known that Ty Lee and Petra were a couple, he would have easily assumed that both Aang and she would end up together at some point. The two were quite similar, and it seemed they could always find a way to make a joke out of anything.
Add to that the new member, Toph, who seemed even more cheeky than Ty Lee with her comments, and Zuko, someone who took the modesty and manners he learned as a child more seriously, was tired.
It was barely early in the morning, and they were already making their strange comments, but what were they dedicating such comments to? Zuko turned around and looked at the huge creature that was sleeping in front of him.
According to Aang, his name was Appa, currently the only Flying Bison in existence, the embodiment of the Air Element in the Earthly World, just like the Dragons or the Badgermoles.
Although Zuko did not have the extraordinary spiritual sensitivity of Shisui or Ty Lee, he could sense the power hidden within this creature. But its effect was not limited to the spiritual, but also to the awe that all humans have for great things.
Seeing this great creature in front of him made Zuko feel small, even a little threatened. But he knew about the calm temperament of these creatures; even though Shisui had once joked that they were the whales of the sky, there was no doubt that they were as calm as those sea creatures.
"You're too boring, Zuko, isn't he, Azula?" Ty Lee approached her friend Azula and flirtatiously grabbed her arm as she pointed her tongue out at Zuko.
"But you're right, it's too early for those inappropriate comments, especially when there's a minor present," Petra gently pulled Ty Lee's ponytail while pointing at Toph with her chin.
"I'm not a minor! I'm 16, which allows me to get married in the Earth Kingdom," Toph replied, pointing at Petra, or at least trying to point at her.
Since Toph was still not used to the vibrations on the cold, icy ground of the South Pole, she sometimes got confused and wrong. This time, she pointed at Shisui, who was crouching in front of Appa, who was snoring loudly.
"What?" Shisui turned around and noticed how Toph turned red and started to feel the ground with her feet before she pointed at Petra.
"Besides, you do strange things at night," Toph said, trying to hide her embarrassment.
"I have good hearing; I can hear a lot of things." Noticing that no one seemed to respond to her, Toph puffed out her chest, but being the smallest of the whole group, it only made her look funnier.
"I don't think that's a good thing to say, Toph," Aang, who had turned a little red at Toph's strange comment, decided to whisper to her to keep her quiet.
Although he had only met her recently, for some reason, he felt a strange bond with this girl.
It was different from the bond he had formed with Katara over the years and during their time together, no, it was like some kind of pull or signal, as if Toph was someone who could become important in his life.
He had felt the same thing when he had met Zuko in person, and knowing that it was his spiritual sensitivity that reminded him of some things, he had come to trust him rather quickly, even though they had been strangers until recently.
"Hmm? I don't get it, my parents do weird things at night too," Toph said without a hint of embarrassment, causing both Shisui and Ty Lee to not hold back their laughter and burst out laughing.
"Oh no," Mai, who saw Ty Lee and Shisui bursting out laughing in front of her, had a nervous twitch in her eyelid, which started to twitch.
"How about we focus on the Bison?" Azula, noticing that Toph seemed to be paying attention to her, lowered her head and pulled the subject back to Appa, who had opened his eyes from the laughter.
Appa was a fairly intelligent creature; he didn't know why these humans were laughing, but seeing that Aang had a smile on his face as well, he easily forgave them for waking him up.
Although he had thick fur that helped him withstand the low temperatures of the cold winds when he flew, being in a constantly freezing environment made him sleepy.
Also, there wasn't much food here, so he had to keep diving down to eat the nearby seaweed and sea plants. But since he had eaten a lot lately, Appa just opened his mouth and licked Shisui, who was standing in front of him.
"Good morning to you, too! You snore as much as Aang!" said Shisui, covered in saliva, but not caring too much.
"I don't snore!" complained Aang, moving closer to Appa and rubbing his head against Appa's nose.
"Yes, you do," Katara, who approached with her older brother, said those words without thinking before realizing the implication of them, causing her to blush quite quickly.
"Wait, what does that mean?" Sokka looked at Aang, the bone spear in his hand slowly beginning to rotate, as if he were choosing where to stab Aang if he didn't like his answer.
"Looks like the Avatar's not wasting any time~" joked Ty Lee, who surprisingly hugged Katara.
"What, no! This is a misunderstanding," Aang tried to explain, but Sokka attacked the young man with his spear, albeit on the opposite side of his spear.
"And we're back to the same thing," Zuko patted his face as Azula walked over to Appa and stared into the Flying Bison's huge eyes.
"How can he fly? He's so fat!" commented Azula, and as if pressing a strange button, Appa stood up on all six legs, ducked his head towards Azula, and gave her a loud blow.
The wind created by this simple gesture was so strong that it cleared away all the snow on the ground, covering everyone in white. Azula just smiled at Appa, who, after taking a few breaths, seemed to forgive her rudeness and licked her face.
"You're lucky Appa is very gentle, Flying Bison don't like to be called that," said Aang, who also got a lick from Appa.
"Why?" asked Petra, who was holding a piece of charcoal in one hand and a scroll in the other as she drew Appa's picture.
"They're just as intelligent as humans, you know? They have their personalities, likes, dislikes, and even fears. Appa is even claustrophobic," Aang replied, causing Shisui to raise an eyebrow.
"Do you think they can talk? The sound travels through the air, it's a top Airbender, isn't it?" Shisui's words made Aang look at his friend strangely.
"Sometimes I think you have a Flying Lemur in your head, your thoughts are even stranger than mine," Aang said before looking at Appa, who seemed to understand the meaning behind Shisui's words.
"You don't think that big thing can talk, do you? That would be... cool!" Toph, who had suddenly hugged Appa, sinking her body into the thick fur of one of his paws, suddenly came up with this question.
"Just because they haven't tried it before doesn't mean they can't. I mean, I think Aang could make sounds by Airbending with a little practice," Shisui looked at Aang, who seemed to want to try it.
"You know, I was able to get my arrows because I invented the Air Scooter, what I'm about to do would make any young Air Nomad get them too," Aang started to manipulate the air in his palms, but he had never tried anything like this before, which was why his attempts failed a lot, but soon he was able to come up with something.
Whistling. The wind in his hand emitted many whistles, and he decided to go from there, even managing to create wind melodies. It reminded Aang of when he was a child and played with his friends with flutes made of bamboo or gourds.
It also reminded him of the fact that the temple where he lived had a fruit with natural holes in it, and when the wind blew through it, it made sounds that he used to think were ghosts howling, before he was taught that no, it was the strange fruit.
As Aang immersed himself in the fun world of creating new elemental techniques, Sokka eyed Appa warily, but the Flying Bison simply licked him, as he had the rest of the youngsters before him.
"Do you think he could talk if he tried?" asked Sokka, looking curiously at Shisui.
Shisui looked at Sokka. After hearing Yue's story last night, he now looked at the boy with a little more affection. His aunt liked Sokka, but she knew she couldn't have a relationship with him, so in order not to break his heart, she cut him out of her life in a very dramatic way.
"Yeah, only if he wants to, after all, they are the first Airbenders of the Earthly World, they have gifts that even the Avatar has trouble emulating, like flying." Shisui's words made Sokka look at him doubtfully.
"Humans can't fly, even if they are Airbenders," Sokka said, shaking his head.
"Yes, yes, they can, at least they used to. Airbenders are scary when you study some of the things they were capable of," Aang said with a strange smile on his face, which made Sokka start, but curiosity made him want to know more.
"Like what?" he asked, and as if Sokka's question flipped a switch, the teens, even Aang, who was trying to make sounds consistent with Airbending, looked at Shisui.
"Let's see, there was a Guru who could fly, but that was a long, long time ago. It is said that Airbenders can control the clouds and use them to move. You know that air not only has the elements that we breathe, but it can be made up of many gases depending on the area, right?
Imagine if an Airbender could separate those gases and use them in different ways. They can increase the air pressure of an area, which can be very devastating; I've done experiments with that.
They can suck the air out of your lungs, which is frightening. They can create vacuums, something that has been documented in our nation. If an Airbender with a lot of control and malice would make a wound in you, then fill it with air..." Shisui felt he had to stop talking when he saw Aang holding his folded glider and gesturing as if he wanted to hit him.
Even Appa felt that his words were somewhat dangerous, taking several steps back and staring at him with his huge eyes. Shisui could not resist such a tender look of kindness, so he remained silent.
On his side, Sokka turned his head stiffly toward Aang, sensing that the bald young man with the grin on his face was quite dangerous. Maybe he should stop trying to beat him up for interacting with his sister, after all, it wasn't like he was doing anything wrong to her.
It had nothing to do with his newfound fear that Aang would decide to fight for Katara's hand in earnest and find him an obstacle to their romantic life, so the air would be cruelly sucked out of his lungs.
"Bro, are the Airbenders that dangerous? At least the Waterbenders are softer..." Sokka stopped talking when he noticed the strange looks some people were giving him, while Shisui seemed to be coughing.
"Yeah, why don't we ride Appa instead? I think that would be fun!" said Aang, making everyone's eyes light up with excitement, causing the poor Flying Bison to back up several steps.
Humans are terrible! Appa seemed to be saying with his movements, but soon he was approached by all the youngsters present, who wanted to take a collective ride on the world's only Flying Bison, at least for now.
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AN: A drawing of Shisui made by me with Paint, because I am not a drawer at all, just a simple writer.