Avatar: God Of Bending

While Misty Palms Oasis was quite beautiful, with its large palm trees lining the edges, there really wasn't anything interesting other than the iceberg in the middle, which was the only reason why this place was a tourist spot anyway. So, after doing a quick walk around the place, we eventually left and aimlessly walked into the desert, heading in a random direction for a little bit.

"I had forgotten to ask, Monk Gyatso, but where are we heading first?" Asked Aang curiously as he casually walked along the hot desert, his feet digging into the sand with each step, giving him a pleasant sensation.

"To the Capital of the Earth Kingdom. Ba Sing Se. That is our initial destination, though, now that we're in the Earth Kingdom; let us take our time to fully take in the sights this beautiful Kingdom has to offer; there is no need to rush. You still have a long life ahead of you." Replied Gyatso lightly as he gazed up at the sky before glancing at Aang with a faint smile, causing him to nod.

"Hmm, but what about you? You're not exactly young anymore, Monk Gyatso. We can't take too long." Remarked Aang calmly as he looked at Gyatso, who laughed loudly.

"Haha, you're right about that, Aang." Said Gyatso with a hearty laugh as he continued walking through the blazing hot desert with Aang while the two Sky Bison walked beside them.

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Looking in the distance at the pyramid-based city, I turned and glanced at Monk Gyatso as we slowly descended toward the ground, all the way to the front of the long, curvy, and only road that led to the city.

"Monk Gyatso, I know you said we can take our time, but why did we visit the Si Wong Desert first? Did we not end up passing Omashu along the way?" Asked Aang as he looked at Gyatso, who nodded while lightly chuckling.

"Hehe, yes we did, Aang, but you must remember, it's not about the destination; it's about the journey." Stated Gyatso with a slight chuckle before speaking words of wisdom, causing Aang to nod.

"I understand, but no one would bother taking the journey if the destination isn't important." Remarked Aang, his words causing Gyatso to slowly nod while rubbing his chin.

"Hmm, that is true; I can't argue against that. I suppose it's up to personal preference to interpret whether the journey or destination was more important." Muttered Gyatso softly with a philosophical expression as he looked up at the sky, only to slide off his Sky Bison and gently land on the ground.

It's been several days since we left Misty Palms Oasis and only about two days since we left the Si Wong Desert; our pace has been steady, and we've visited a few places along the way, but none of the places were nearly as interesting as Misty Palms Oasis, they were mostly just rest stops. However, along the way, we encountered a few earth-benders, and those moments were, without a doubt, the most interesting to me; watching another element being bent was nearly breathtaking, at least to me.

The way they moved their body was vastly different from how we Air Nomads moved, yet while it was very different, I spotted very minute similarities between the two bending styles, which was very understandable, in my opinion; after all, we all acquired our bending from the same beings, so there must be some slight similarities.

Ever since I first laid eyes on my first earth bender, I've been very eager to actually earth bend, but, other than floating small rocks during the night, I haven't done anything more than that. My existence as the Avatar is, or at least should be, unknown to me; in fact, whenever I look through the library of scrolls, I can't find any knowledge of the previous Avatars except for Yangchen, and even then, the information is sparse.

'I've heard Monk Gyatso mention I remind him of one of his old friends, which could only be Roku, but he's never got into detail, even when I asked about it.' Mused Aang lightly as he walked along the long road and glanced at Gyatso, who was sporting a carefree expression.

Shaking my head, I sent such thoughts to the back of my mind: I'll have plenty of time to earth bend in the future; I was the Avatar, after all. Besides, I'm still far from hitting a plateau in my air bending; I have much room for growth.

"What a weird road. Don't you agree, Appa?" Muttered Aang lightly as he turned and looked at Appa, who growled slightly in response, causing him to nod in agreement.

The walk towards Omashu was unnecessarily long, in my opinion, but after several minutes, we eventually arrived at the front entrance; thankfully, there was a short line, so it wouldn't take long to enter the city.

"Alright, friend, thank you for accompanying me on this walk." Said Gyatso with a faint smile as he patted his Sky Bison head, causing him to roar gently before flapping his tail and taking to the skies.

"Well, it seems like you won't be able to enter the city, Appa, though; you probably wouldn't want to anyway." Said Aang lightly as he scratched behind Appa's ear while reaching into his satchel and feeding him an apple.

After a small roar, Appa flapped his tail, kicking up a ton of dust in the process, and took to the skies, following behind MonkyGyatso's Sky Bison. With it being just Monk Gyatso and I, we patiently waited in line to enter Omashu, and although no one had actually entered the city, the guards had moved through each person before they eventually made it to us.

"Ahh, I know those symbols, Air Nomads; what a rare sight." Said the stout man with a gruff voice as he looked between Gyatso and Aang in slight surprise.

"Hoho, I'm taking this young one out to explore the world and view the sights. We, in fact, have just visited Misty Palms Oasis, a beautiful place." Remarked Gyatso softly with a faint smile as he gazed at the stout man wearing green and brown armor, the colors of the Earth Kingdom.

"Misty Palms Oasis? I need to take my wife there one day; she's always wanted to visit. Anyways, Air Nomads don't need to identify themselves like everyone so long as you can prove you're truly an air bender." Stated the stout guard with a raised eyebrow, only for him to slightly furrow his brows as he glanced between Aang and Gyatso.

"But, of course, young man." Said Gyatso with a sight smile as he suddenly waved his arms, creating a vortex that sucked up the nearby dust, causing the stout guard to be slightly taken aback.

"It's not my first time, but seeing an airbender at work is always impressive. Alright, what about you, boy." Muttered the stout guard in slight awe, only for Gyatso to dispel the vortex, causing him to shift his focus to Aang after a few seconds.

Inwardly sighing at how unknowingly offensive his words were, I still did as told and created a gust of wind strong enough to force the man a few steps backward, which also ended up messing up his outfit, but that was easily fixable. Still, though, questioning an Air Nomad's ability to bend despite having the tattoos' of a master was rather offensive in our culture. It's not nearly on the level of calling a fire bender ash maker, but it's not too far behind, though; since he obviously didn't know any better, I didn't really hold it against him; a little annoying, but nothing that really bothered me.

"Well, then, OPEN THE WALL!" Said the stout guard as he fixed his appearance before turning around and yelling at the other guards, who all instantly nodded.

With the man's words, the guards standing on the towards suddenly stomped their feet and outstretched their hands towards the wall, only to pull it back, causing the large, stone wall to open, revealing the inside of the Omashu slowly. Saying farewell to the stout guard, we entered the city along with the other people, yet even though I had seen this place before, experiencing it with my own eyes was entirely different.

'Not nearly as wondrous as Misty Palms Oasis, but the architecture is incredible.' Mused Aang in slight awe as we observed Omashu.

The city really used its massive pyramids as each ascending level was occupied with houses and buildings while a long chute ran all throughout the city with numerous crates being sent through them every minute and despite being only at the entrance of the city, it was very bustling, with large crowds in the distance.

"So, what do you think of Omashu, Aang?" Asked Gyatso curiously with a faint smile as he turned and looked at Aang, who was taking in the sights.

"Unique, loud, and beautiful yet plain. It's far different from the Southern or Eastern Air Temple, that's for sure." Replied Aang truthfully, his words causing Gyatso to chuckle slightly while nodding and looking around.

"Well, we best get to walking; we didn't come to Omashu to simply stand around." Remarked Gyatso as he began walking deeper into the city, causing Aang to quickly follow him while they garnered weird looks from everyone.