Airbenders are pretty thoroughly repopulated now, but they're still minorities anywhere but the handful of enclaves that have retaken the open temples or integrated into the populations that have woven into them. Beila doesn't live in one of those enclaves. She lives in Republic City. Benders are a minority, airbenders more so. She's the only one in her class. It could still be a coincidence that she's supposed to do her history project on Avatar Aang, her some-number-of-greats grandfather, and not casual stereotyping. Whatever. Her partner's not a bender at all unless he's very quiet about it, he's just a random cute boy who sits to her left. Dao, that's his name.

"Hey," she says. "When's good for you to meet up and work on this thing?"

Author: roc_on	Airbenders are pretty thoroughly repopulated now, but they're still minorities anywhere but the handful of enclaves that have retaken the open temples or integrated into the populations that have woven into them. Beila doesn't live in one of those enclaves. She lives in Republic City. Benders are a minority, airbenders more so. She's the only one in her class. It could still be a coincidence that she's supposed to do her history project on Avatar Aang, her some-number-of-greats grandfather, and not casual stereotyping. Whatever. Her partner's not a bender at all unless he's very quiet about it, he's just a random cute boy who sits to her left. Dao, that's his name. "Hey," she says. "When's good for you to meet up and work on this thing?"
Author: thinklikethis	"I'm not sure," he says, smiling shyly. "Um, the weekend probably, unless you have - I don't know - plans?"
Author: roc_on	"Bending lessons are all on weekdays, everything else can move," Beila says, shaking her head. "Day after tomorrow, after lunch? My house or yours? Or I guess we could use the library."
Author: thinklikethis	"Library!" he says. "Definitely the library. Unless there's some really good reason not to use it that I don't know about. Squirrelbats nesting in the walls?"
Author: roc_on	"Far as I know the library's uninfested. They're just strict about quiet and I'm not quite automatic enough with anything as complicated as soundbending to let us talk above a whisper anyway."
Author: thinklikethis	"Oh," he says. "Yeah, there's that. I don't know, I don't think it'll be a big problem, do you?"
Author: roc_on	"Not if you don't mind whispering. But I think I actually have enough books to do the whole project at home. My mom teaches at an airbending dojo, we live about a block away from it, and they do history lessons there once a week, most particularly about Aang."
Author: thinklikethis	"Oh!" says Dao. "Well, then I guess we can go to your place!"
Author: roc_on	"Okay! It's not that near here, I usually fly - have you got a shuttle pass or do you want me to pick you up or do you really like walking or what?"
Author: thinklikethis	"I do have a shuttle pass," he says, "although if the other option is riding a roc I'm a little tempted to suddenly and mysteriously lose it."
Author: roc_on	Beila snorts. "Goodness gracious, how could you be so careless. Where do I fetch you from?"
Author: thinklikethis	Dao giggles. "Number 807 apartment four, Dragon Flats."
Author: roc_on	Beila writes this down. "Can do. I'll see you then."
Author: thinklikethis	"Then!" he says. "Yes. Then. After lunch. The day after tomorrow. At that time."
Author: roc_on	Beila giggles. He's cute. "Well, I'm off," she says, and she gets up with the gentle breeze that she always has accompanying her. She's tried to walk without doing any airbending at all and it doesn't go well. Outside the school building, Liqing isn't there yet, so Beila emits a piercing whistle, and a minute later, there's her roc, landing on the courtyard and scaring the little kids. Silly kids don't even know that rocs eat fish. Beila mounts up and directs the bird home. She's in Dragon Flats, scanning building numbers, at the appointed time. When she finds Dao's, she lands Liqing, then slides from her back and goes up to knock on the correct door.
Author: thinklikethis	The correct door has Dao sitting outside of it. He hops to his feet and waves. "Hi!"
Author: roc_on	"Hi! All set?"
Author: thinklikethis	"Yep!" he says.
Author: roc_on	"All right - now, getting on her's a little tricky without any airbending, will you freak out if I just waft you up?" Beila asks, demonstrating this wafting.
Author: thinklikethis	"I think I will probably survive wafting!" he says optimistically.
Author: roc_on	Waft!
Author: thinklikethis	"I feel very wafted," he declares.
Author: roc_on	"Good. All your waft-detection is working correctly. Hang on!" She must mean to her, because there's not a whole lot else up here.
Author: thinklikethis	He nevertheless feels compelled to ask: "Um... to what?"
Author: roc_on	"Just sorta hug me 'round the waist. You'd pull her feathers out if you held on to those. I'll steady us both as we go but it's good to have an extra layer of caution, you know?"
Author: thinklikethis	"Okay," he says dubiously, and he hugs her 'round the waist.
Author: roc_on	Beila whistles, Liqing takes off, and up they go! It's not far, if you're a roc. They land on a roof, Beila wafts them off the bird, Liqing gets a treat and goes to do whatever rocs do when they aren't ferrying airbenders, and Beila leads Dao down a staircase into the house.
Author: thinklikethis	"That was awesome," says Dao.
Author: roc_on	"Liqing's great! People keep asking me why I don't have a sky bison, like everybody has a sky bison, they have no idea how much those things eat, the ancient nomads could only keep them because they moved around all the time," says Beila. "Liqing, on the other hand, fishes for herself, and the bay fills itself up with fish neat as you please. So. Have you got any thoughts about our topic? 'Cause 'Avatar Aang' is a pretty broad subject."
Author: thinklikethis	"Well, everybody knows about all the famous stuff he did after he got out of the iceberg," he says. "But I kind of wonder more what his life was like before that, you know? Do we know much about the time he spent with the original Air Nomads?"
Author: roc_on	"Not all that much. He wasn't much of a writer, himself, all the primary sources are people who knew him and most people who knew him then were dead by the time anyone knew he needed to be written about. Basically we know the general biographical details - which temple, what years - and some things about the people he visited while he was traveling. And what he taught his kids and the Air Acolytes about the culture. Much of which, mercifully, has been discarded since, I wouldn't really want to shave half my head. The tattoos would probably look cool, though," she adds thoughtfully.
Author: thinklikethis	"Think that's enough to make a history project?"
Author: roc_on	"It'll depend on how liberally we interpret the assignment, if we count Air Acolyte practices, but you know what, Aang totally founded the Acolytes, they count. And they were really good recordkeepers even if they've basically died out as a separate-from-airbenders thing." She heads for the bookshelf and starts scanning titles. "Good idea."
Author: thinklikethis	"I had a good idea," he says, bouncing happily.
Author: roc_on	She almost tells him he's cute out loud. Instead she finds them books - she hands him one on Air Acolytes and she takes one that's a general Aang biography with a few chapters on his early life. "You got something to take notes with on you? I have some actual paper around, but we don't have a spare screen or anything."
Author: thinklikethis	"Yeah, I'm covered." He did in fact bring a screen. It's not a very good screen, but it's a screen.
Author: roc_on	Beila fetches hers - she breezes it and catches it rather than getting up and crossing the room - and detaches the chordpress into her hand and starts typing up an outline as she scans the book in her other hand. "If you wanna divvy up the books differently, speak now," she adds.
Author: thinklikethis	"Nope, I'm good," he says. Typetypetype!
Author: roc_on	Typetypetype indeed! She sets her book down briefly to turn on update protocols so his screen will have a remote copy of her work. "Need your screen number," she says, and she rattles off hers, although she has to consult the spot it's written in the corner.
Author: thinklikethis	"Oh, uh..." He comes up with a number.