Walk
Prompt: # Dreams of Flying by teamabodo
Title: Walk
Author: cantareincminor
Rating: G
Word Count: 5040
Warnings/Pairings: None
Summary: Let's take a walk, he said simply. You could be healed, if you wanted.
Notes: Apologies if this feels rushed; I broke the word limit :)
*****
The latest test of the ice mitt shoes yielded better results than before. Rathia hadn't yelped at the cold this time after walking across the array of ice cubes, confirming that he'd finally found the right balance between insulation and sensitivity. Teo rewarded the girl with a few points of extra credit and watched her run back to recess to brag to her friends about it.
He hung the thin-soled shoes on the wall and wheeled himself over to his desk to write a letter to Toph. A few weeks earlier, she'd sent an urgent plea for him to fix the snowshoes Sokka had made for her when she'd visited the South Pole the one and only time in her life. While Sokka had made quite a name for himself as a genius inventor, making shoes for blind people to maneuver comfortably in snow and ice was apparently not within his realm of talent. She claimed she'd never felt blinder or more ridiculous walking around in the earmuffs their Water Tribe friend called shoes.
And since they were all meeting up at the North Pole in a month for said Water Tribe friend's wedding, it was up to Teo to design a better pair of shoes for her, or she wasn't going to attend at all. It had been a fun but taxing two weeks trying to fulfill her request. Rathia, the only blind student who wasn't in a wheelchair, had been a good sport as a guinea pig-mole, all but leaping at the chance to test out shoes for the great Toph Bei Fong.
The sounds of soaring gliders and laughing children floated in through the window, the normal background music for his afternoon. He had about an hour of downtime before his special visitors were supposed to arrive, and he debated whether to join his students for a quick race before he had to start rounding them up to look presentable.
If someone had told him eight years ago that at twenty one he'd be a life skills teacher and mentor to sixty odd war-orphaned kids from around the Earth Kingdom, he'd probably have shut himself in his dad's lab and asserted the only thing he wanted was to be a world class scientist. It was funny how dreams could change once one met the Avatar and saw more of the world outside the safe haven of the Northern Air Temple-all the children who'd lost their families and homes and the ability to walk or see or hear. After the war he'd talked to his father about opening the temple to people who really needed their help, kids who could benefit from the convenient facilities his father had set in place to accommodate his disability. Katara had been especially excited to hear about his plans as she had traveled around the world trying to help those who had suffered the most; finding homes for lost children had been one of her foremost goals.
He finished the letter to Toph and had just sealed it when a shrill voice blared by his window.
"The Avatar's here!" Lareng shouted, steering his glider downward for the type of quick and dangerous landing Teo had repeatedly warned his students against. "There's an airship too!"
The boy's wheelchair skidded to a stop a second before it would have slammed into the wall, tilting haphazardly before rocking back into a stable position. The ten year-old beamed up at him with hardly restrained excitement in his freckled face, about to burst out of his seat belt at his first sighting of the Avatar.
"You sure you're not seeing things, Lareng? He's actually on time this year?" Teo called with a grin, reaching for the telescope on his shelf. He twisted it slightly and the speck in the distance sharpened, the sky bison's white fur standing out against the surrounding mountains. The giant airship following it was much more noticeable, the drone of its engines just starting to reach his ears.
"It's really him, isn't it? Who else is with him, Teo? Is Lady Katara coming? Mirem said she might come this year, and she might even stay to teach us! Do you think she'd bring her students too? What about the Blind Bandit? Or the Boulder? I just want one of their autographs! Do you think they'd-"
"Whoa, slow down a bit," Teo laughed. "Just wait a few minutes and we'll find out once the Avatar lands. Go tell the Duke to get everyone ready."
"Okay!" The boy was off like a shot with a simple pull on his speed handle. Automated wheelchairs had made life a lot easier since his father had made a few adjustments to his old model. But Teo was starting to think he needed a master speed control remote just so he could make sure hyper kids like Lareng didn't get into accidents.
Teo and the Duke had the school's sixty three students lined up in a more or less orderly fashion by the time Appa landed with a buffet of wind. A round of cheers went up and the line broke like scattering marbles, the whir of wheels drowning out the bison's friendly roar. Aang jumped down from the saddle with a whooping laugh and made the rounds among the children he knew and some he hadn't yet met, waving to Teo almost apologetically as he gave his full attention to his flock of fans at the Northern Air Temple.
"It's so good to see you guys! Hey, you got tall!" Aang exclaimed once he managed to escape the crowd.
"I'll be taller than you next year," the Duke promised, clapping the Avatar on the back. While Aang had shot up in height to match Sokka several years ago, the Duke had only hit a growth spurt last year at twenty, finally putting an end to the teasing about his size.
"Looks like things are going great around here," Aang said, obviously pleased by the renovations Teo's father had been making to the temple. "We have so much to catch up on."
"Yep. Once you get settled in I have to show you what my dad's done to the courtyards. Basically accident-proofed the whole thing. You wouldn't believe the trouble last year's group started getting into after Katara left," Teo said with a wry smile. The students were milling excitedly around Appa, some of them showing off the toys the Avatar had given them, the others eagerly watching the airship descend toward the landing pad, trying to guess what other famous visitors would be on board alongside their new classmates.
"That's a new model, isn't it?" Teo remarked as they made their way over with the crowd of students racing ahead of them. "Is the Fire Lord here?"
"No, Zuko's been busy lately. Well, busier than he usually is," Aang said with a laugh. "Since he couldn't come in person for the second year in a row, he just donated a new ship to us. People supposedly don't get so airsick on this one."
"I was gonna say, unless Katara's here to take care of all the nauseous kids, we'd have our hands full at the infirmary since Ren Yan's on vacation. I'll have to write him a thank you note," Teo said. The airship's design was something to marvel at; despite its unwieldy bulk, it landed as smoothly as one of his gliders.
The students were slightly disappointed to find that Toph and Katara and the other big names they'd been so excited to meet hadn't come this time, but were soon wrapped up in meeting the twenty new kids Aang had brought in from the Earth Kingdom. Teo's father came out to greet them at last with the other teachers, and they all assisted the disoriented, flight-weary children off the ship and into new wheelchairs. The Duke went to help a particularly queasy-looking boy before he could throw up on any of the students, and wheeled him off to the infirmary with a quick wave in the Avatar's direction.
The rest of the afternoon consisted of the disordered routine of getting the new arrivals settled in, introducing them to their assigned buddies and all the teachers, and giving them a whirlwind tour of their new home. Aang disappeared for an hour to meditate in one of the towers, his yearly custom to express his gratitude to the spirits and to ask for their protection over the parentless children he'd brought to his ancestors' home. He came back down as everyone assembled in the largest hall of the temple and the welcome feast began. Aang made his usual speech and Teo's father said a few words of welcome, and they all enjoyed a big elaborate vegetarian feast in the tradition of the Air Nomads' festivals. Teo watched in amusement as Aang stood up in the middle of dinner, his attention span still abnormally short for a twenty year-old, and began an eccentric show of bending prowess for the kids. As always, he'd completely changed up his routine from the previous year, slicing vegetables in midair and setting streams of cooking oil on fire before sautéing all of it in a floating pan.
Several hours later, none of the kids were willing to go to sleep, still clamoring for time to hang out with the Avatar. Teo's father relented and gave him the responsibility of making sure they got to bed before midnight.
"As much as I'd like to join you, these old bones are too tired for more kiddy fun," he said with an exhausted smile. "Make sure the Avatar's comfortable."
"I will. Have a good rest, Dad."
It was exactly midnight when they got all the kids to bed and Aang sought him out for a real conversation.
"Let's take a walk," he said simply, his more serious tone belying the cheerful smile he always wore.
Teo turned off the automated function on his wheelchair, preferring to push himself along down the open-air corridor at a leisurely pace. Aang's demeanor had changed significantly, his light footsteps even airier now as if ghosting around something. The tense mood was rare for him, but Teo didn't interrupt his thoughts. The smooth roll of wheels against stone went on unbroken for another minute before the Avatar spoke.
"So, you ready for your first trip to the North Pole next month?"
"Ready as I'll ever be, I guess. I just have to iceproof my wheelchair, make sure the gear doesn't freeze up."
"Yeah, and make sure the wheels have enough traction on ice," Aang added. With a lazy flick of his hand he spun together an air ball and sat down on it, floating alongside him at face level. Teo appreciated the gesture; it got tiring to always have to look up when talking to someone as tall as his friend.
"I was at the North Pole before I went to pick up those kids," Aang said. "You wouldn't believe how many agreements and formalities have to be settled before Sokka can get married. Katara really wanted to come this time but she had to spend time with her future sister-in-law and help cement some agreements between their tribes. You know how clumsy Sokka can get with formal speeches and all."
"Yeah, the students definitely remember his public speaking skills from the last time he visited," Teo said, and wondered at the trace of nervousness in Aang's laugh.
"So Katara wanted to tell you something but since she couldn't come, she asked me to pass on the message," Aang began after a spot of silence. "She's been talking to Chief Arnook about the work we've been doing with the Earth Kingdom orphans and this school you and your dad have set up for them, and how you've made such a difference in these kids' lives for the past eight years."
Teo simply nodded, not sure how to deflect praise when Aang still seemed to be tiptoeing around the real point of the conversation.
"And Chief Arnook agreed that when you come up for Sokka's wedding, she can take you to the Spirit Oasis."
There was a pause that was probably meant to be significant, but Teo didn't get it.
"Uh, that's great, I think. But what exactly…?"
"Right, you don't know about the Spirit Oasis, huh," Aang said quickly. "It's the most sacred place in the North Pole, where the Moon and Ocean Spirits reside in their physical form. A beautiful green garden surrounded by ice cliffs, it's really amazing to see.
"The most amazing thing though is the water in the oasis. It has special healing properties, much stronger than what the best waterbender's capable of. Katara used it to save me when Azula shot me with lightning. And she was thinking that…she wanted to know if…she was thinking to take you there and heal you. If you wanted."
This time he definitely felt the significance of the ensuing silence. Aang looked at him cautiously, trying to gauge his reaction.
"Wow. So this is what you were all worried about." Katara's proposal was so out of the blue that he still hadn't absorbed it fully, but he found it comical that the Avatar had been walking on needles over this. "Come on Aang, did you think I'd be offended or something?"
"Well, I'm not exactly much better than Sokka at being articulate about important things," Aang breathed in relief. "So what do you think?"
"I…don't really know. I didn't expect anything like this to be possible. I mean, you're sure that this oasis water can heal me?" The words sounded strange after he said them; it had been a long time since he'd thought of himself as someone in need of healing. The way his father had raised him, giving him everything he needed not to feel different from other people, made Katara's offer all the more jarring and irrelevant as he tried to wrap his mind around it.
"That water basically brought me back from death. It definitely works," Aang affirmed.
"Okay. I guess I'll have to think about it. But honestly, my first thought is that it's not necessary," Teo said slowly. "Of course I really appreciate that Katara thought about me, and I'm guessing not just anyone gets to take a dip in this sacred pool if she had to get Chief Arnook's permission. In any case, I'll write a letter to her to say thanks. And tell her how ridiculous you were to worry about talking to me."
"Oh, she knows. And she already laughed at me," Aang said sheepishly, sinking a little lower on his air ball. "To be honest, I didn't think you'd want it either. But you know her, she's always thinking about everyone like she's their mom and she knows best."
"Half the kids here see her as their mom. Hope she can visit once all this wedding business is finished. They miss her."
"Yeah, she will," Aang said, more at ease now that the imaginary hurdle was behind him.
"So I'll think about it. There's a month before I have to go to the North Pole anyway."
"Cool. Now for the conversation I really should be worrying about-how to talk to Toph."
"What?" Teo said, hitting the brakes on his wheelchair. "Katara seriously wants to-"
"Just kidding," Aang said with a grin. "She knows she can't take the Blind out of Bandit."
While he'd been fine with everything they'd talked about before this, somehow the harmless joke felt off-color to him. But he brushed it off, knowing Aang meant nothing by it. The monk suddenly turned toward the stone columns at their side, maneuvering himself between two of them to float in the open air outside the temple. He looked back at Teo with a familiar friendly challenge in his eyes.
"Race you."
Teo raised an eyebrow. "It's past midnight."
"Looks like someone's trying to make excuses."
Teo rolled his eyes as Aang taunted him with a handstand on his air ball; sometimes it seemed eight years of serious Avatar responsibilities hadn't managed to age his friend beyond twelve.
"Alright, let me get my glider. I have to warn you though, my dad made some upgrades to it. Don't be surprised if I leave you in the dust."
The Avatar's teasing reply echoed after him as he headed for his room, somehow more conscious of how gritty the wheels felt under his palms.
***
It was common sense when he really thought about it.
Why wouldn't he want to walk? Who in his right mind would say no to an offer like that?
It wasn't like he was hanging onto his disability as a mark of pride. He'd never pretended to be proud of his suffering, because that would have let his disability define him. Everyone had to carry certain burdens in their lives, and not being able to walk just happened to be his.
His life would only get better if he said yes. He'd be able to do so much more, not just for himself but for his father and the school and the world, if he flattered himself enough to think he'd be that good of a scientist in the future. He'd be able to travel anywhere he wanted just like he'd always wanted without constantly running into obstacles and needing people to help him on the way. He wouldn't have to deal with the looks of pity everywhere he went, the automatic assumption that he was yet another victim of Fire Nation brutality or the unnecessary showers of praise when he did something as simple as cooking a meal or fixing a hot air balloon. And in the dark insecure corners of his heart, he knew that if he could walk, he'd be able to ask a girl out without fearing a sugarcoated rejection that pegged everything but his disability as the real reason.
If he could walk, he would have tested out Toph's ice mitt shoes on himself instead of asking Rathia.
If he could walk, what would Rathia and the rest of the kids think of him?
And there his fantasy stopped unfurling.
The kids could all quote him word for word from the introductory class he taught every year.
"Maybe it's unfair for us that we can't walk. But isn't it unfair for the rest of the world that we can fly?"
If he took Katara's offer, what would it mean for all the new smiles, the dawning hope that that simple speech brought to even the most discouraged faces? What would he say to them when he came back from the North Pole able to walk as well as fly, after all he'd taught them about how the challenges they faced made them stronger?
There was no question there. He couldn't turn his back on everything he'd always believed in. It was already grossly unfair that he alone was invited to the Spirit Oasis while countless people who had it much worse would never enjoy such a privilege.
Two days of internal debate and the issue was settled. He didn't tell his father or Aang or anyone, but he did write a letter of thanks and an explanation of his decision to Katara.
Just as he was tying it to the leg of a messenger hawk, he hesitated.
He stowed it away in his desk instead and tried to forget about it, though the very fact that he was keeping it made that impossible.
A day later he wrote another letter and sent it to Ba Sing Se University, requesting information on the Spirit Oasis if any existed in its research archives. It was a pathetic safety padding of sorts for all the what-ifs that refused to die. Maybe the oasis water wasn't as powerful as Aang claimed. Even if it had saved him from a lightning strike, Teo had heard of people being brought back from the brink of death by other means. In any case, reviving someone minutes after a fatal injury was vastly different from healing a body that had been broken for twenty years.
But he knew Katara wouldn't have made such an offer if she weren't one hundred percent certain it would work. And she'd gotten the permission of the chief, who surely wouldn't have said yes without consulting the expert healers in his tribe about the feasibility of his case.
At the end of the week the Duke asked him if he was feeling alright, seeing how tired and restless he was during the day. He brushed it off as spring allergies. Thankfully the students didn't notice, and he poured more effort into his classes, pushing them harder in sports and even taking them on an overnight camping trip.
Two weeks after that, his father noticed and came to his room for a talk one night after he'd taken a few days leave and gone to the Turlau Mountains alone.
"Is there something on your mind?" he asked kindly. Teo felt a twinge of guilt knowing his father was deliberately not calling him out for breaking their old agreement. As a kid he'd gone adventuring in the inland mountain range and had nearly killed himself trying to steer against strong winds over jagged outcroppings. He still wasn't allowed to go there even though he was now an adult and his glider was better equipped to handle rough conditions. His father seldom reminded him of his limits, but on the Turlau Mountains issue he stood firm.
He pushed himself up in bed and leaned against the wall with a sigh, not able to meet his father's eyes for more than a few seconds. His father waited patiently, making it clear that he wouldn't leave until he talked.
He stared at the desk drawer where Katara's letter sat neatly folded and sealed. And he told his father everything.
"I see," was the understanding, pensive response. "That's quite the choice you have in front of you, son."
"You're telling me," Teo said, his voice hoarse from braving three days of harsh mountain winds. "I'm sorry I didn't say anything earlier. I thought I had it all figured out."
"Well. What do you really want?" his father asked.
"Of course I want to walk. Who wouldn't?" he retorted. "But I told you, there's the school and all these kids who look up to me. I can't be so selfish and let them down."
"So you've taken to risking your life in the Turlau Mountains to prove…what?" There was no accusation in his tone, but Teo still felt his guilt grow heavier.
"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have…you're right, I was trying to prove something. It's crazy but I wanted to see if I really was missing out on anything, or if I could keep breaking my limits on my own, if I could still be happy like this."
"You're always breaking limits, Teo, but that's not the only thing that makes you happy. That's why all the students look up to you."
"But that's another thing, Dad. These kids…" He hesitated for just a moment before finally letting it out. "What if I didn't have to be responsible for all of them? What if I hadn't decided to be a teacher and had just kept on with the dream I've always had, to be a full-time inventor like you? I would be free to say yes then. I could go to the North Pole and head straight for that oasis without anything on my conscience."
His father was quiet, maybe out of surprise that his son had such bitterness in him. Teo was doubly angry with himself for feeling this way and letting his father know how selfish he was. He had a good life. A great life. He really shouldn't have been complaining at all, especially not to the man who had made it all possible in the first place.
"I'm sorry," he sighed. "This whole thing just came at me out of nowhere. I'll get over it."
"There's nothing to be sorry about. I'm proud of you for thinking of others before yourself even in this situation," his father said gently. "Sometimes in life you'll come to these crossroads where you have to decide what's really important to you. I came to mine the day you discovered I'd been building weapons for the Fire Nation. The choice is never easy, but I know I raised a son who'll make the best decision."
He lay awake for a while after his father left, a little more at peace though nothing had been resolved yet. There was a week remaining before Toph would swing by to pick him up for her second and his first journey to one of the poles. He was expecting scrolls to arrive from Ba Sing Se University tomorrow or the day after. Ren Yan needed help dealing with one of the new students who wasn't acclimating well to the altitude and was showing signs of depression. And all the kids were anxious to hear about his stint in the Turlau Mountains, though he'd have to explain how he could break a school rule while they'd be punished if they did the same.
There was a lot to do.
***
All the conceptions he'd carried of the Northern Water Tribe's austere and stifling culture were blown to bits the moment he arrived. Behind the towering protective walls was a magnificent, vibrant city full of laughter and music and the exhilarating rush of water, every surface paved with the sheen of moonlight, intricate ice sculptures adorning each street corner. It was a three kilometer-wide miracle of engineering under a perfect blue sky. Toph was impatient with him when he couldn't describe it adequately for her on the canoe. She finally found out for herself when she stepped out onto solid ice, falling silent for a minute as she tested her new shoes.
"This totally owns the South," she declared.
The wedding itself was a full-day affair packed full of ancient ceremony, breathtaking displays of waterbending and some unorthodox forms of entertainment Teo knew were Sokka's idea. The groom surprisingly managed to stay sober through all the toasts, or at least sober enough not to embarrass his beautiful bride as he gamely accepted all sorts of challenges from the guests. The biggest hit was when he spent five minutes rooting for a sugardrop in the folds of her dress with his teeth.
Katara had found her way to him by the time her brother had completed the challenges and was serenading his bride with a unique off-key song. She shook her head with feigned resignation, but her smile was warm as ever. With a graceful turn of her gloved hand she fashioned a chair out of the ice and sat down beside him.
"I'm really glad you made it, Teo."
"Wouldn't have missed it for the world. This city is amazing," he said. "And I'm really happy for Sokka, of course."
She laughed, a sound much more pleasant than her brother's crooning. Over the continuous flow of spirits and dozens of exquisite dishes he couldn't identify, they caught up on a year of her travels to virtually every stretch of land between the poles and the lives of the children she missed so dearly at the Northern Air Temple.
The evening slowly wound down around them, only moving faster when the newlyweds left for their new home. Her unspoken offer quietly stood in the deepening chill of the night, and she used the same words Aang had a month before.
"Let's take a walk."
Under the dim oil lamps that lined the streets, she led him to the place he'd only seen in a sketch from an old library scroll. The water was unchanging blue against the night, its deep, enigmatic sense of purity and stillness serving to calm the questions that had started to race again.
The rattle of the wooden bridge under his wheelchair was the only sound other than the light swirl of water in the center of the oasis, where the deep blue lightened enough to reveal two elegant koi circling each other in a patient, unending dance. He slowed automatically, feeling out of place even as an invited guest. Katara walked ahead and sat down on the grassy edge of the pool with the ease of a long-time visitor.
"I've wanted to show you this place for a while. Since I first came here, actually," she said. "So I had Aang talk to you and…I'm sorry if I overstepped my bounds."
"No. I'm grateful you thought of me. It's amazing just to see this place."
He ventured forward onto the small island, wheels muffled by the grass. Stopping beside her, he lifted himself out of his wheelchair and sat down on the ground, pulling his legs closer to his body for better balance. Her hand rested on his shoulder and he felt her eyes on him as he looked at the water, thinking and taking it in. An inexplicable feeling gently flooded his breath and skin, that the knowledge of something much greater than his small, confined soul, a deep flow of unfathomable mystery, of healing, was within arm's reach.
He closed his eyes and breathed.
"I'll tell the kids that I got to see the most sacred place in the North Pole. That there's a garden that grows in the middle of miles of ice and polar winters. I'll tell them I watched the Moon and Ocean Spirits circle each other."
He placed his own hand over hers on his shoulder when she moved closer, the fur of her parka warming his side.
"I'll tell them they should all go to the North Pole one day and see how beautiful this city is. And that they should see the rest of the world too, once I build better long-distance gliders for them. They won't need an airship to get around."
He opened his eyes and watched the pale glimmer of moonlight over the deep blue, and smiled.
"Thanks for the walk, Katara."
He could hear the soft returning smile in her voice. "Next time you'll have to take me flying."
Title: Walk
Author: cantareincminor
Rating: G
Word Count: 5040
Warnings/Pairings: None
Summary: Let's take a walk, he said simply. You could be healed, if you wanted.
Notes: Apologies if this feels rushed; I broke the word limit :)
*****
The latest test of the ice mitt shoes yielded better results than before. Rathia hadn't yelped at the cold this time after walking across the array of ice cubes, confirming that he'd finally found the right balance between insulation and sensitivity. Teo rewarded the girl with a few points of extra credit and watched her run back to recess to brag to her friends about it.
He hung the thin-soled shoes on the wall and wheeled himself over to his desk to write a letter to Toph. A few weeks earlier, she'd sent an urgent plea for him to fix the snowshoes Sokka had made for her when she'd visited the South Pole the one and only time in her life. While Sokka had made quite a name for himself as a genius inventor, making shoes for blind people to maneuver comfortably in snow and ice was apparently not within his realm of talent. She claimed she'd never felt blinder or more ridiculous walking around in the earmuffs their Water Tribe friend called shoes.
And since they were all meeting up at the North Pole in a month for said Water Tribe friend's wedding, it was up to Teo to design a better pair of shoes for her, or she wasn't going to attend at all. It had been a fun but taxing two weeks trying to fulfill her request. Rathia, the only blind student who wasn't in a wheelchair, had been a good sport as a guinea pig-mole, all but leaping at the chance to test out shoes for the great Toph Bei Fong.
The sounds of soaring gliders and laughing children floated in through the window, the normal background music for his afternoon. He had about an hour of downtime before his special visitors were supposed to arrive, and he debated whether to join his students for a quick race before he had to start rounding them up to look presentable.
If someone had told him eight years ago that at twenty one he'd be a life skills teacher and mentor to sixty odd war-orphaned kids from around the Earth Kingdom, he'd probably have shut himself in his dad's lab and asserted the only thing he wanted was to be a world class scientist. It was funny how dreams could change once one met the Avatar and saw more of the world outside the safe haven of the Northern Air Temple-all the children who'd lost their families and homes and the ability to walk or see or hear. After the war he'd talked to his father about opening the temple to people who really needed their help, kids who could benefit from the convenient facilities his father had set in place to accommodate his disability. Katara had been especially excited to hear about his plans as she had traveled around the world trying to help those who had suffered the most; finding homes for lost children had been one of her foremost goals.
He finished the letter to Toph and had just sealed it when a shrill voice blared by his window.
"The Avatar's here!" Lareng shouted, steering his glider downward for the type of quick and dangerous landing Teo had repeatedly warned his students against. "There's an airship too!"
The boy's wheelchair skidded to a stop a second before it would have slammed into the wall, tilting haphazardly before rocking back into a stable position. The ten year-old beamed up at him with hardly restrained excitement in his freckled face, about to burst out of his seat belt at his first sighting of the Avatar.
"You sure you're not seeing things, Lareng? He's actually on time this year?" Teo called with a grin, reaching for the telescope on his shelf. He twisted it slightly and the speck in the distance sharpened, the sky bison's white fur standing out against the surrounding mountains. The giant airship following it was much more noticeable, the drone of its engines just starting to reach his ears.
"It's really him, isn't it? Who else is with him, Teo? Is Lady Katara coming? Mirem said she might come this year, and she might even stay to teach us! Do you think she'd bring her students too? What about the Blind Bandit? Or the Boulder? I just want one of their autographs! Do you think they'd-"
"Whoa, slow down a bit," Teo laughed. "Just wait a few minutes and we'll find out once the Avatar lands. Go tell the Duke to get everyone ready."
"Okay!" The boy was off like a shot with a simple pull on his speed handle. Automated wheelchairs had made life a lot easier since his father had made a few adjustments to his old model. But Teo was starting to think he needed a master speed control remote just so he could make sure hyper kids like Lareng didn't get into accidents.
Teo and the Duke had the school's sixty three students lined up in a more or less orderly fashion by the time Appa landed with a buffet of wind. A round of cheers went up and the line broke like scattering marbles, the whir of wheels drowning out the bison's friendly roar. Aang jumped down from the saddle with a whooping laugh and made the rounds among the children he knew and some he hadn't yet met, waving to Teo almost apologetically as he gave his full attention to his flock of fans at the Northern Air Temple.
"It's so good to see you guys! Hey, you got tall!" Aang exclaimed once he managed to escape the crowd.
"I'll be taller than you next year," the Duke promised, clapping the Avatar on the back. While Aang had shot up in height to match Sokka several years ago, the Duke had only hit a growth spurt last year at twenty, finally putting an end to the teasing about his size.
"Looks like things are going great around here," Aang said, obviously pleased by the renovations Teo's father had been making to the temple. "We have so much to catch up on."
"Yep. Once you get settled in I have to show you what my dad's done to the courtyards. Basically accident-proofed the whole thing. You wouldn't believe the trouble last year's group started getting into after Katara left," Teo said with a wry smile. The students were milling excitedly around Appa, some of them showing off the toys the Avatar had given them, the others eagerly watching the airship descend toward the landing pad, trying to guess what other famous visitors would be on board alongside their new classmates.
"That's a new model, isn't it?" Teo remarked as they made their way over with the crowd of students racing ahead of them. "Is the Fire Lord here?"
"No, Zuko's been busy lately. Well, busier than he usually is," Aang said with a laugh. "Since he couldn't come in person for the second year in a row, he just donated a new ship to us. People supposedly don't get so airsick on this one."
"I was gonna say, unless Katara's here to take care of all the nauseous kids, we'd have our hands full at the infirmary since Ren Yan's on vacation. I'll have to write him a thank you note," Teo said. The airship's design was something to marvel at; despite its unwieldy bulk, it landed as smoothly as one of his gliders.
The students were slightly disappointed to find that Toph and Katara and the other big names they'd been so excited to meet hadn't come this time, but were soon wrapped up in meeting the twenty new kids Aang had brought in from the Earth Kingdom. Teo's father came out to greet them at last with the other teachers, and they all assisted the disoriented, flight-weary children off the ship and into new wheelchairs. The Duke went to help a particularly queasy-looking boy before he could throw up on any of the students, and wheeled him off to the infirmary with a quick wave in the Avatar's direction.
The rest of the afternoon consisted of the disordered routine of getting the new arrivals settled in, introducing them to their assigned buddies and all the teachers, and giving them a whirlwind tour of their new home. Aang disappeared for an hour to meditate in one of the towers, his yearly custom to express his gratitude to the spirits and to ask for their protection over the parentless children he'd brought to his ancestors' home. He came back down as everyone assembled in the largest hall of the temple and the welcome feast began. Aang made his usual speech and Teo's father said a few words of welcome, and they all enjoyed a big elaborate vegetarian feast in the tradition of the Air Nomads' festivals. Teo watched in amusement as Aang stood up in the middle of dinner, his attention span still abnormally short for a twenty year-old, and began an eccentric show of bending prowess for the kids. As always, he'd completely changed up his routine from the previous year, slicing vegetables in midair and setting streams of cooking oil on fire before sautéing all of it in a floating pan.
Several hours later, none of the kids were willing to go to sleep, still clamoring for time to hang out with the Avatar. Teo's father relented and gave him the responsibility of making sure they got to bed before midnight.
"As much as I'd like to join you, these old bones are too tired for more kiddy fun," he said with an exhausted smile. "Make sure the Avatar's comfortable."
"I will. Have a good rest, Dad."
It was exactly midnight when they got all the kids to bed and Aang sought him out for a real conversation.
"Let's take a walk," he said simply, his more serious tone belying the cheerful smile he always wore.
Teo turned off the automated function on his wheelchair, preferring to push himself along down the open-air corridor at a leisurely pace. Aang's demeanor had changed significantly, his light footsteps even airier now as if ghosting around something. The tense mood was rare for him, but Teo didn't interrupt his thoughts. The smooth roll of wheels against stone went on unbroken for another minute before the Avatar spoke.
"So, you ready for your first trip to the North Pole next month?"
"Ready as I'll ever be, I guess. I just have to iceproof my wheelchair, make sure the gear doesn't freeze up."
"Yeah, and make sure the wheels have enough traction on ice," Aang added. With a lazy flick of his hand he spun together an air ball and sat down on it, floating alongside him at face level. Teo appreciated the gesture; it got tiring to always have to look up when talking to someone as tall as his friend.
"I was at the North Pole before I went to pick up those kids," Aang said. "You wouldn't believe how many agreements and formalities have to be settled before Sokka can get married. Katara really wanted to come this time but she had to spend time with her future sister-in-law and help cement some agreements between their tribes. You know how clumsy Sokka can get with formal speeches and all."
"Yeah, the students definitely remember his public speaking skills from the last time he visited," Teo said, and wondered at the trace of nervousness in Aang's laugh.
"So Katara wanted to tell you something but since she couldn't come, she asked me to pass on the message," Aang began after a spot of silence. "She's been talking to Chief Arnook about the work we've been doing with the Earth Kingdom orphans and this school you and your dad have set up for them, and how you've made such a difference in these kids' lives for the past eight years."
Teo simply nodded, not sure how to deflect praise when Aang still seemed to be tiptoeing around the real point of the conversation.
"And Chief Arnook agreed that when you come up for Sokka's wedding, she can take you to the Spirit Oasis."
There was a pause that was probably meant to be significant, but Teo didn't get it.
"Uh, that's great, I think. But what exactly…?"
"Right, you don't know about the Spirit Oasis, huh," Aang said quickly. "It's the most sacred place in the North Pole, where the Moon and Ocean Spirits reside in their physical form. A beautiful green garden surrounded by ice cliffs, it's really amazing to see.
"The most amazing thing though is the water in the oasis. It has special healing properties, much stronger than what the best waterbender's capable of. Katara used it to save me when Azula shot me with lightning. And she was thinking that…she wanted to know if…she was thinking to take you there and heal you. If you wanted."
This time he definitely felt the significance of the ensuing silence. Aang looked at him cautiously, trying to gauge his reaction.
"Wow. So this is what you were all worried about." Katara's proposal was so out of the blue that he still hadn't absorbed it fully, but he found it comical that the Avatar had been walking on needles over this. "Come on Aang, did you think I'd be offended or something?"
"Well, I'm not exactly much better than Sokka at being articulate about important things," Aang breathed in relief. "So what do you think?"
"I…don't really know. I didn't expect anything like this to be possible. I mean, you're sure that this oasis water can heal me?" The words sounded strange after he said them; it had been a long time since he'd thought of himself as someone in need of healing. The way his father had raised him, giving him everything he needed not to feel different from other people, made Katara's offer all the more jarring and irrelevant as he tried to wrap his mind around it.
"That water basically brought me back from death. It definitely works," Aang affirmed.
"Okay. I guess I'll have to think about it. But honestly, my first thought is that it's not necessary," Teo said slowly. "Of course I really appreciate that Katara thought about me, and I'm guessing not just anyone gets to take a dip in this sacred pool if she had to get Chief Arnook's permission. In any case, I'll write a letter to her to say thanks. And tell her how ridiculous you were to worry about talking to me."
"Oh, she knows. And she already laughed at me," Aang said sheepishly, sinking a little lower on his air ball. "To be honest, I didn't think you'd want it either. But you know her, she's always thinking about everyone like she's their mom and she knows best."
"Half the kids here see her as their mom. Hope she can visit once all this wedding business is finished. They miss her."
"Yeah, she will," Aang said, more at ease now that the imaginary hurdle was behind him.
"So I'll think about it. There's a month before I have to go to the North Pole anyway."
"Cool. Now for the conversation I really should be worrying about-how to talk to Toph."
"What?" Teo said, hitting the brakes on his wheelchair. "Katara seriously wants to-"
"Just kidding," Aang said with a grin. "She knows she can't take the Blind out of Bandit."
While he'd been fine with everything they'd talked about before this, somehow the harmless joke felt off-color to him. But he brushed it off, knowing Aang meant nothing by it. The monk suddenly turned toward the stone columns at their side, maneuvering himself between two of them to float in the open air outside the temple. He looked back at Teo with a familiar friendly challenge in his eyes.
"Race you."
Teo raised an eyebrow. "It's past midnight."
"Looks like someone's trying to make excuses."
Teo rolled his eyes as Aang taunted him with a handstand on his air ball; sometimes it seemed eight years of serious Avatar responsibilities hadn't managed to age his friend beyond twelve.
"Alright, let me get my glider. I have to warn you though, my dad made some upgrades to it. Don't be surprised if I leave you in the dust."
The Avatar's teasing reply echoed after him as he headed for his room, somehow more conscious of how gritty the wheels felt under his palms.
***
It was common sense when he really thought about it.
Why wouldn't he want to walk? Who in his right mind would say no to an offer like that?
It wasn't like he was hanging onto his disability as a mark of pride. He'd never pretended to be proud of his suffering, because that would have let his disability define him. Everyone had to carry certain burdens in their lives, and not being able to walk just happened to be his.
His life would only get better if he said yes. He'd be able to do so much more, not just for himself but for his father and the school and the world, if he flattered himself enough to think he'd be that good of a scientist in the future. He'd be able to travel anywhere he wanted just like he'd always wanted without constantly running into obstacles and needing people to help him on the way. He wouldn't have to deal with the looks of pity everywhere he went, the automatic assumption that he was yet another victim of Fire Nation brutality or the unnecessary showers of praise when he did something as simple as cooking a meal or fixing a hot air balloon. And in the dark insecure corners of his heart, he knew that if he could walk, he'd be able to ask a girl out without fearing a sugarcoated rejection that pegged everything but his disability as the real reason.
If he could walk, he would have tested out Toph's ice mitt shoes on himself instead of asking Rathia.
If he could walk, what would Rathia and the rest of the kids think of him?
And there his fantasy stopped unfurling.
The kids could all quote him word for word from the introductory class he taught every year.
"Maybe it's unfair for us that we can't walk. But isn't it unfair for the rest of the world that we can fly?"
If he took Katara's offer, what would it mean for all the new smiles, the dawning hope that that simple speech brought to even the most discouraged faces? What would he say to them when he came back from the North Pole able to walk as well as fly, after all he'd taught them about how the challenges they faced made them stronger?
There was no question there. He couldn't turn his back on everything he'd always believed in. It was already grossly unfair that he alone was invited to the Spirit Oasis while countless people who had it much worse would never enjoy such a privilege.
Two days of internal debate and the issue was settled. He didn't tell his father or Aang or anyone, but he did write a letter of thanks and an explanation of his decision to Katara.
Just as he was tying it to the leg of a messenger hawk, he hesitated.
He stowed it away in his desk instead and tried to forget about it, though the very fact that he was keeping it made that impossible.
A day later he wrote another letter and sent it to Ba Sing Se University, requesting information on the Spirit Oasis if any existed in its research archives. It was a pathetic safety padding of sorts for all the what-ifs that refused to die. Maybe the oasis water wasn't as powerful as Aang claimed. Even if it had saved him from a lightning strike, Teo had heard of people being brought back from the brink of death by other means. In any case, reviving someone minutes after a fatal injury was vastly different from healing a body that had been broken for twenty years.
But he knew Katara wouldn't have made such an offer if she weren't one hundred percent certain it would work. And she'd gotten the permission of the chief, who surely wouldn't have said yes without consulting the expert healers in his tribe about the feasibility of his case.
At the end of the week the Duke asked him if he was feeling alright, seeing how tired and restless he was during the day. He brushed it off as spring allergies. Thankfully the students didn't notice, and he poured more effort into his classes, pushing them harder in sports and even taking them on an overnight camping trip.
Two weeks after that, his father noticed and came to his room for a talk one night after he'd taken a few days leave and gone to the Turlau Mountains alone.
"Is there something on your mind?" he asked kindly. Teo felt a twinge of guilt knowing his father was deliberately not calling him out for breaking their old agreement. As a kid he'd gone adventuring in the inland mountain range and had nearly killed himself trying to steer against strong winds over jagged outcroppings. He still wasn't allowed to go there even though he was now an adult and his glider was better equipped to handle rough conditions. His father seldom reminded him of his limits, but on the Turlau Mountains issue he stood firm.
He pushed himself up in bed and leaned against the wall with a sigh, not able to meet his father's eyes for more than a few seconds. His father waited patiently, making it clear that he wouldn't leave until he talked.
He stared at the desk drawer where Katara's letter sat neatly folded and sealed. And he told his father everything.
"I see," was the understanding, pensive response. "That's quite the choice you have in front of you, son."
"You're telling me," Teo said, his voice hoarse from braving three days of harsh mountain winds. "I'm sorry I didn't say anything earlier. I thought I had it all figured out."
"Well. What do you really want?" his father asked.
"Of course I want to walk. Who wouldn't?" he retorted. "But I told you, there's the school and all these kids who look up to me. I can't be so selfish and let them down."
"So you've taken to risking your life in the Turlau Mountains to prove…what?" There was no accusation in his tone, but Teo still felt his guilt grow heavier.
"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have…you're right, I was trying to prove something. It's crazy but I wanted to see if I really was missing out on anything, or if I could keep breaking my limits on my own, if I could still be happy like this."
"You're always breaking limits, Teo, but that's not the only thing that makes you happy. That's why all the students look up to you."
"But that's another thing, Dad. These kids…" He hesitated for just a moment before finally letting it out. "What if I didn't have to be responsible for all of them? What if I hadn't decided to be a teacher and had just kept on with the dream I've always had, to be a full-time inventor like you? I would be free to say yes then. I could go to the North Pole and head straight for that oasis without anything on my conscience."
His father was quiet, maybe out of surprise that his son had such bitterness in him. Teo was doubly angry with himself for feeling this way and letting his father know how selfish he was. He had a good life. A great life. He really shouldn't have been complaining at all, especially not to the man who had made it all possible in the first place.
"I'm sorry," he sighed. "This whole thing just came at me out of nowhere. I'll get over it."
"There's nothing to be sorry about. I'm proud of you for thinking of others before yourself even in this situation," his father said gently. "Sometimes in life you'll come to these crossroads where you have to decide what's really important to you. I came to mine the day you discovered I'd been building weapons for the Fire Nation. The choice is never easy, but I know I raised a son who'll make the best decision."
He lay awake for a while after his father left, a little more at peace though nothing had been resolved yet. There was a week remaining before Toph would swing by to pick him up for her second and his first journey to one of the poles. He was expecting scrolls to arrive from Ba Sing Se University tomorrow or the day after. Ren Yan needed help dealing with one of the new students who wasn't acclimating well to the altitude and was showing signs of depression. And all the kids were anxious to hear about his stint in the Turlau Mountains, though he'd have to explain how he could break a school rule while they'd be punished if they did the same.
There was a lot to do.
***
All the conceptions he'd carried of the Northern Water Tribe's austere and stifling culture were blown to bits the moment he arrived. Behind the towering protective walls was a magnificent, vibrant city full of laughter and music and the exhilarating rush of water, every surface paved with the sheen of moonlight, intricate ice sculptures adorning each street corner. It was a three kilometer-wide miracle of engineering under a perfect blue sky. Toph was impatient with him when he couldn't describe it adequately for her on the canoe. She finally found out for herself when she stepped out onto solid ice, falling silent for a minute as she tested her new shoes.
"This totally owns the South," she declared.
The wedding itself was a full-day affair packed full of ancient ceremony, breathtaking displays of waterbending and some unorthodox forms of entertainment Teo knew were Sokka's idea. The groom surprisingly managed to stay sober through all the toasts, or at least sober enough not to embarrass his beautiful bride as he gamely accepted all sorts of challenges from the guests. The biggest hit was when he spent five minutes rooting for a sugardrop in the folds of her dress with his teeth.
Katara had found her way to him by the time her brother had completed the challenges and was serenading his bride with a unique off-key song. She shook her head with feigned resignation, but her smile was warm as ever. With a graceful turn of her gloved hand she fashioned a chair out of the ice and sat down beside him.
"I'm really glad you made it, Teo."
"Wouldn't have missed it for the world. This city is amazing," he said. "And I'm really happy for Sokka, of course."
She laughed, a sound much more pleasant than her brother's crooning. Over the continuous flow of spirits and dozens of exquisite dishes he couldn't identify, they caught up on a year of her travels to virtually every stretch of land between the poles and the lives of the children she missed so dearly at the Northern Air Temple.
The evening slowly wound down around them, only moving faster when the newlyweds left for their new home. Her unspoken offer quietly stood in the deepening chill of the night, and she used the same words Aang had a month before.
"Let's take a walk."
Under the dim oil lamps that lined the streets, she led him to the place he'd only seen in a sketch from an old library scroll. The water was unchanging blue against the night, its deep, enigmatic sense of purity and stillness serving to calm the questions that had started to race again.
The rattle of the wooden bridge under his wheelchair was the only sound other than the light swirl of water in the center of the oasis, where the deep blue lightened enough to reveal two elegant koi circling each other in a patient, unending dance. He slowed automatically, feeling out of place even as an invited guest. Katara walked ahead and sat down on the grassy edge of the pool with the ease of a long-time visitor.
"I've wanted to show you this place for a while. Since I first came here, actually," she said. "So I had Aang talk to you and…I'm sorry if I overstepped my bounds."
"No. I'm grateful you thought of me. It's amazing just to see this place."
He ventured forward onto the small island, wheels muffled by the grass. Stopping beside her, he lifted himself out of his wheelchair and sat down on the ground, pulling his legs closer to his body for better balance. Her hand rested on his shoulder and he felt her eyes on him as he looked at the water, thinking and taking it in. An inexplicable feeling gently flooded his breath and skin, that the knowledge of something much greater than his small, confined soul, a deep flow of unfathomable mystery, of healing, was within arm's reach.
He closed his eyes and breathed.
"I'll tell the kids that I got to see the most sacred place in the North Pole. That there's a garden that grows in the middle of miles of ice and polar winters. I'll tell them I watched the Moon and Ocean Spirits circle each other."
He placed his own hand over hers on his shoulder when she moved closer, the fur of her parka warming his side.
"I'll tell them they should all go to the North Pole one day and see how beautiful this city is. And that they should see the rest of the world too, once I build better long-distance gliders for them. They won't need an airship to get around."
He opened his eyes and watched the pale glimmer of moonlight over the deep blue, and smiled.
"Thanks for the walk, Katara."
He could hear the soft returning smile in her voice. "Next time you'll have to take me flying."