Retracing Her Roots

"Alright my little lemur-"
"Niu-sifu!"
Master Niu chuckled, "I'm sorry Hun! That's been your nickname ever since you were tiny here. Can you blame me if it sticks?"
The girl in question, Hun-Hun, gave a harrumph! and pushed one of her thick hair ties out of her face. The two of them were positioned atop the poles of the Meditation Courtyard. Hun-Hun was balanced on one leg, as was Niu, with her fists pressed together firmly and her eyes closed. The object of the exercise this morning was to maintain balance through the changes of nature's winds; fortunately for Hun-Hun, the winds were pretty calm. Well, save for the lemurs who blitzed through the courtyard in blind furies. As their chattering escalated and they continued to flitter about the young airbender's lips contorted into a frown.

"Having trouble concentrating my little lemur?"

Hun-Hun popped one eye open and gave her mentor a withering glare. Honestly she was too exhausted to even make a smart-mouthed retort this time. "Yea. The stupid monkeys wont shut up and if one of them hits me upside the head one more time I'm going to put them in my gyoza for lunch."

Master Niu, who was pretty much used to her pupil's violent tendencies merely patted her on the head and grinned, "I see that not only must we work on your concentration, but also that temper of yours, hm?" She ruffled Hun-Hun's hair and leapt away before the young girl could protest. Hun-Hun darted forward and sent a jet of air behind herself, effectively propelling her forward.

"Wonderful technique little lemur! But you'll have to do more than that to catch a master!" Niu propelled herself upward with a blast of air and formed an air scooter. With a swish of her wrist she gained control and whizzed past her student, leaving Hun-Hun momentarily dumbfounded. "Argh! Master Niuuuuuuu!" Hun-Hun raced after her in her own air scooter and the two of them continued their little game. From a bird's eye view the duo resembled a pair of ping-pong balls bouncing around the meditation yard. After several minutes of their playtime, Niu whirled around a corner and came to an abrupt halt. Hun-Hun, who hadn't been paying attention, caught up soon after and crashed right into her.

Sending them toppling to the grounds.

"Ow."
The master had risen to her feet instantly, eyes glued to a rolled up parchment in her hands. In the far off distance, a maroon bird screeched and dove down the mountainside. The older woman's grey eyes scanned the parchment in earnest, eyes devouring the long awaited papers post-haste.

Hun-Hun grumbled, "Crud Master Niu what're you made out of, steel?" Her round eyes settled on the parchment in her teacher's hands and she cocked her head to the side, utterly confused, "So...um...what's that? Got a secret admirer?"

Master Niu gave Hun-Hun a pointed look, "No. Remember when I told you we'd be enrolling new students into the temple this season?"

".......Yeaaaaaa....?"
"It appears one has arrived early. I must meet her at the base of the temple and bring her here. Tien would normally do it but she's training the children today."

Hun-Hun began piecing everything together, "So...does this mean the poles are canceled for today?"
Master Niu nodded half-heartedly and started for the stables, "Yes."
Hun-Hun fist-pumped inwardly, 'Yes! Now I can finally get some sleep around here!' She did a small pirouette when Niu wasn't looking and fell into step behind her. As the two of them crossed over to the farthest pagoda, where they kept the bison, she couldn't help but wonder who the mystery student was. Were they a boy or a girl? Older, her age, or a snot-nosed brat? Would they be a stick in the mud like old lady Tam or be crazy fun like Niu, Lan Chi and Tien?

"Oh and by the way little lemur," Niu smirked as she bent herself onto the nearest bison,"I'm assigning to look after this one. So you can forget about lazing around today. You do have practice you know." She continued to smirk as Hun-Hun stared at her in disbelief.

"WHAT!"

"Well what are you waiting for? We can't keep her waiting all day. Haven't your parents and I taught you better than that?"
The young airbender's shoulders slumped and she trudged forward, realizing Niu had the upper-hand in this situation. And so she whirled herself up onto the fluffy bison and held on as he trudged forward to the diving platform.

"ChenChen!" Niu called, snapping the reigns,"Yip Yip boy!"

ooOOoo

They landed at the base of the third mountain in less than ten minutes. ChenChen plopped onto the small courtyard and immediately lumbered over to the lone figure standing near the gates. Master Niu, with an ever present smile on her face, looked the girl in the eye and gave her a sweeping bow.

Hun-Hun, as boisterous as she was, peered shyly from behind her teacher.

"Hello young one, I am Master Niu, one of the teachers here at the Eastern Air Temple. I was the one who recieved your enrollment scroll the season before. It's a pleasure to have you here with us now." She dropped the reigns carefully and beamed at the younger girl. As she spoke, she was examining. The child could be no more than a young adult, definitely older than Hun-Hun but still a young one no less. Amused, Niu smile inwardly to herself.

She definitely looked the part of an airbender.

Behind her, Hun-Hun poked her head up near Niu's shoulder and watched the girl curiously. Her cheeks were slightly red and her round eyes shone with wonder and hesitancy. Unbeknownst to her, her master begun sliding off of the bison and walking towards the new student.

"Come come little lemur, "Niu called for Hun-Hun, chuckling, "Don't be shy, I don't think this one bites."

Hun-Hun was not prepared for this. This girl was talking so much she could barely get a word in edgewise, and had she even come up for air yet? In contrast to her, Niu stood there wearing a discreet grin. It was not uncommon to have motormouths as students, nor ones as hyper as winged-lemurs either.

Hun-Hun lazily picked her ear with her pinky finger and blinked at the girl, "Uh....?" Her utterance was trampled by yet another series of questions and things of that nature. Meaning that the younger airbender just sat there on the saddle dumbfounded. "How do you know my name.........?"

And then, four seconds later, everything spilled out like bricks. What?? No way! Are you serious?!' She blinked while her catty eyes slid from Matsu, to Niu and then to ChenChen who'd began helping himself to a string of apples nearby.

"NO WAY!"

Niu merely folded her hands in her long orange sleeves and closed her eyes. She felt the beginning stirs of a breeze and, tilting her head back, started counting silently to herself.

"3...."
"2....."
"1......"

"YAHOOOOOO!"
"Never fails."
With a powerful slap to the base of the saddle, Hun-Hun bent the air and sent herself spiraling upward. She compressed the wind around her to break her descent and landed softly, propelling herself forward in a flurry before her toes touched the ground. Hun-Hun scrambled around Matsu until she found herself latched around the older girl's shoulders.

"NO WAY! Mama told me all about you and aunt Pei Zhi and the circus and stuff! What's it like? Do you guys do pyrotechnics or do you have firebenders that do that? Are you an acrobat or a beast tamer or a sword swallower or a fortune-teller or a trapeze artist or a contortionist or-"

"HUN-HUN."
"Sorry."
Niu strode over to the two girls and gently hooked her hands under the smaller girl's arms, lifting her off of Matsu. Immediately Hun-Hun wiggled out of her mentor's grasp and clambered around her until she found herself on the tall woman's shoulders. Niu visibly sweat-dropped, this was typical Hun-Hun behavior.

"So the saying of being threaded from the same fabric is true, is it not?" Master Niu winked and Hun-Hun blushed with embarrassment, "No matter. We'll further discuss everything once we're at the temple."

"Yea!" Hun-Hun piped and gave Matsu a thumb's up, "Hope you're not afraid of flyin'. Well, you're an airbender so you can't be. I think?" She tumbled off of her mentor and sprinted for ChenChen, who'd stopped lumbering about and was waiting for them.

"Matsu this is ChenChen, ChenChen...this is Matsu!"

The bison grumbled in response and moved to bathe his massive tongue all over the newcomer.

Once everyone was aboard the gentle giant, Master Niu assumed commander position at the crown of ChenChen's head. "To the temple Chen, yip yip!" The bison groaned and sauntered away from a conveniently placed hay stack. With one powerful slap of his massive tail the beast propelled himself in the air with a gust of wind and took off for the middle temple. Hun-Hun let out a whoop and clung to the edge of the saddle, eyes twinkling with mirth. Every now and then she would glance back at Matsu, head tilted curiously before quickly looking away.

In ten minutes time they managed to surpass the vast height of the mountain and reached the imperial landing of the center temple. Immediately another airbender appeared from the center courtyard and bowed to the three, before bowing again to Niu and going over to ChenChen.

"Fei-Ming?"
"Yes?" The girl, Fei-Ming, piped.
Niu inclined her head toward ChenChen who was beginning to wander off again, "Take ChenChen back to the stables please."
"Yes Sifu Niu! Come on ChenChen, I've got a papaaaaaya for youuuuuu......" The beast and his caretaker traipsed away from the trio and disappeared down another corridor. Master Niu turned toward the two girls and retracted her hands into the long fabric of her golden orange robes, giving them a nod.

"Alright you two, I need to head into the Sanctum and I will return in about ten minutes. Hun-Hun, why don't you show your cousin around for a bit until I get back, does that sound good?"

"Can I take her to Airball Court Sifu Niu? Please? Pleeeeeeease?"

Master Niu rolled her eyes to the sky as the smaller airbender bounced around her, repeating the same word over and over. Hun-Hun continued to circle her mentor until she was stopped by two fingers to the forehead.

"Yes Hun, I do not mind if you do. Just show her the basics, understood?" There was a specific tone in her voice, an undercurrent that Hun-Hun was all too familiar with whenever they held seasonal competitions. Everyone knew that the talented airbender held a....rather competitive streak when it came to Airball, so strong that it was quite scary. The last thing the elders needed was to have to put Itamatsu in a tomb and explain to her parents why their daughter's things were being returned in a white match box. The small airbender did a fist pump and went to grab Matsu by the hand, ignoring her mentor's groan.

"Yes! I promise Master Niu; come on Matsu I'm gonna show you around!"

"It's a time-honored Air Nomad game. I'll show you. Yes. Most likely sometime tomorrow. In the Tian Hall. Yes, 1,000 herd count. As big as Ba Sing Se. No,this place is bursting at the seems with airbenders!"

The little airbender didn't miss a beat in her rapid-fire response. She let go of Itamatsu's hand once she spotted sunlight peeking around an all too familiar corner. Hun-Hun pushed open the sliding doors and shielded her eyes as the sun's rays flooded the halls. She motioned for her cousin to follow her and stepped out into the vast courtyard. An arena of poles of several different heights with various goal posts covered about half of the massive yard, there was a fountain in the center, and a garden with plenty of trees that took up the other half. There was a sparse cluster of young air nomads gallivanting around and Hun-Hun chirped to them briefly before leading Itamatsu to the AirBall arena.

"THIS, my dear cousin, is Airball. You have four goal posts stationed around the arena that represent the four different temples. Individuals, or teams, compete against eachother to get the most points. If you knock an airball through a goal, you score a point. If you FALL from the poles....you or your team is cost 2 points and you're benched for 2 turns."

During Hun-Hun's brief run-down of the game 3 other airbenders were beginning to make their way towards them. They were all taller than Hun-Hun, but either the same height as Itamatsu or an inch shorter. The middle one, a girl with shoulder length black hair and soft grey eyes, thumped a finger against Hun's forehead and sneered.

"Well, well, well. If it isn't the Halfa McShortness! How's the weather down there ya little midget? Cold as usual?"

Hun-Hun smacked the girl's hand away and glowered, "Shut it Lu-Yen, before I push you in that fountain over there."

Lu-Yen flew a hand to her mouth, feigning surprise, "Halfa?! Is that a threat??" She poked her in the head again and retracted her fingers before the shorter airbender could bite them. Laughing, Lu-Yen and the others caught sight of Itamatsu and stopped.

"Eh? Who are you?" She asked, flicking a finger at a part of Itamatsu's garment,"Are you an airbender?"

A girl with a two-bun hairstyle, named Han-Yi, cupped a hand to her mouth and mumbled oh-so-indiscreetly, "Look at her clothes! ....And her hair!"

Lu-Yen glared at Han-Yi sharply, smiling with satisfaction when she clamped her mouth shut. Abandoning Hun-Hun for a second, the airbender circled around Itamatsu and eyed her, expression fraught with disgust.

"Are you......are you new?"