1. Beginnnings

Aaron's world changed on the night of his ninth birthday when Matron Li called her into her room and placed a scroll in front of her.

She didn't wear the perpetual glare he'd come to recognize her by, and he saw worry instead on her tired, wrinkled face.

"Am I in trouble," he asked, looking down at the scroll with some dread, sure that it contained some cruel form of punishment she'd cooked up to torture him for his recent antics.

"I swear Tabi deserved those mud pies," he said quickly. "Picking a fight on my birthday," Aaron shook his head like he'd seen the Matron do a thousand times. "He's a little monster, you know."

Tabi had had it in for Aaron for as long as he could remember, and since the growth spurt came in, his annoying shoulder punches had graduated to full-on tackles. And the little shit grew even more insufferable the more he got away with it. Aaron had to get more creative if he didn't want his shoulder falling off.

"Tabi is a bull goat for sure, but he is stronger than you. You should know better than to pick a fight with him, even if it's your birthday," Matron Li said.

Aaron huffed.

"He would've trounced you today if you hadn't cheated." Matron Li said severely."If you hadn't used your air bending to form those mudpies and dodged his tackle, you'd be covered in mud and bruises."

Aaron's eyes went wide. "Air bending," he sputtered, avoiding her eyes. "I don't know what you're talking about, Matron."

"Save it," she said with a sigh. "I have suspected for years, but I've only confirmed it recently." Her face cycled through dozens of emotions before she shook out of her reverie and slid the scroll forward.

Aaron observed her with some worry, "Are you okay?"

"I knew your Father's and your grandfather," she said.

"What?" Aaron blinked, scarcely believing his ears.

"Your uncle only stayed with us until he was about your age and suddenly disappeared one night. I never saw it coming. All I got was a note that said he'd gone to look for his real family," she said, eyes sweeping back to the scroll.

"I also knew the man who left him. I was a child when I first saw him. He saved my sister and me from bandits a few years after the start of the war. He was faster than any man I've seen, and he took down a whole squad with no weapon." She shook her head. "He turned up a few years later with a child and very specific instructions. I was to give him the scroll if he showed any talent for air bending and to tell no one, not even your uncle, that I knew of his origins."

Aaron's eyes glazed over as he listened. At Matron Li's pause, he settled back on the scroll, and suddenly, he understood.

"It's the same scroll."

"The very same," she nodded. "I loved your uncle Wang like I love all children staying with me, and I'm no stranger to sealed letters either. It's just that, with the history of your people, I just hoped this day would never come." Her voice hitched at the end.

Matron Li, the woman who raised him, spanked him with a wooden spoon when he misbehaved, treated his wound after roughhousing, and wore the perpetual frown of a disapproving Grandma, feared for him.

Whatever was in the scroll might force him to leave her and his other brothers, and that was enough for young Aaron to decide he wanted no part of it.

He shoved it back and, with a pout, declared. "I am not reading the Scroll, Grandma Li. You're my real family."

Matron Li's lips stretched to an even thinner line, and she shook her head. "You have to read it, Aaron. Not knowing will eat you up otherwise."

Aaron opened his mouth to object, but the more he thought about it, the more he understood what he'd give up.

What orphan didn't dream of learning about their Parents and origins?

He was already excited by what little the Matron had told him about his people.

Warrior Airbenders? He'd heard that all his people were monks.

How had they survived? What were Airbenders like? More importantly, Why did they leave him and was he in danger?

All the answers to his questions were in the scroll. Turning it away might've been the easy answer, but not knowing would've driven him mad eventually. Aaron's hand shook as he reached for it.

"It's okay," Grandma Li said in a soothing voice. "I will still be here for you no matter what you find."

With a heavy breath, Aaron picked up the scroll and inspected it. It had a small carving of the Air Nation at the very top of the cylinder and was sealed with wax. A falcon was embossed on top.

With little effort, he broke and began to read, and his eyebrows and heart rate rose with each line.

According to the letter, he was the grand son of the only survivor from the air temple massacre and the series of executions that followed. Grandmaster Paku or the Falcon as his enemy called him, traveled around the earth and water nations sowing seeds hoping to sire airbenders to reform the air nation, and Aaron was a third generation Airbender.

There were about six other Airbenders, not counting the new generation, and according to his father, Wang, their mission was to restore the Air Nation and undo the damage of the 100-year war.

The very last line of the letter contained directions to where his father had supposedly trusted air-bending manuals for him to study on his own. When he'd mastered all that was written there, he was to find him so that he might receive proper instruction.

By the time he was done reading, Aaron's mouth was ajar.

He did not know what he found more shocking– the fact that the Avatar was alive or that the supposedly deadly Air Nation was at war with the Fire Nation.

Grandma Li stared into the distance as he relayed everything he'd learned to her and remained quiet until he spoke again.

"What do you think I should do?"

"Your family situation is…complicated. While I don't want you fighting anybody's war. The world hasn't a choice. The Fire Nation made sure of that," she muttered. "I think we should pick up those materials he left for you at the very least. When you're older, you can decide what to do." She picked up his tiny chin with a smile, "But know that you'll always have a place with us."

The following week, they stopped by a bookstore two villages away, where he found a pair of curved swords waiting and several thick materials to start his training.

—

Five years had passed since that night, and Aaron's mission brought him to a forest a dozen miles from the village of Senlin, his next destination on his mission to find the Avatar.

The forest bordering the village was a veritable geyser of spiritual energy and natural energy and was home to a forest spirit. Outside select celestial events, it was only in locations like these he could meditate into the spirit world.

As evening turned to night, Aaron settled into a lotus position and emptied his mind like he'd done a thousand times before.

When his spirit opened his eyes, he stood before Hei Bei, the spirit protector of the Earth Kingdom forests. He greeted it with a genial smile and a deep, respectful bow, and the beast chuffed in response.

"I have come for your guidance like many other Airbenders before me. I wish to see the Falcon. Can you take me to him?"

Hai Bei rubbed his thick button nose and nuzzled against Aaron's face. Aaron laughed as he scratched the gentle beast affectionately.

After some brief negotiation, Aaron hopped on the forest spirit's back, and they were off. In return for Hei Bei's assistance, Aaron would have to guard the forest for an entire month, but it was no problem.

All he had to do was… dissuade trespassers that came snooping around, but it would've been something he'd otherwise done. There were few places as suited for his training as the forest. As long as the Rough Rhinos didn't find him, he thought he'd be able to keep his promise.