OMG YOU GUYS I POSTED IN THIS THING!!!

This is for 31_days, a challenge which I may or may not continue. I like their prompts, though. Anyway.

Title: That Nature is So
Day/Theme: April 9th/Rainbows and puddles.
Series: Avatar
Character/Pairing: Aang, Monk Gyastso, Katara
Rating: G
Word Count: 554


Aang's memories of his childhood are pleasant ones, warm and comfortable and happy, without the tinge of bitter pain he senses in those of his friends. He never knew his mother or father, so there was no one to miss or mourn. He was loved and never lonely, he had good things to eat and games to play and endless opportunities to explore.

It hurts to talk about life in the Air Temple, but Aang is finding more and more that his new family wants to know about his old one. They want to know about his years of peace before the business of his being the Avatar affected all of them, took away the glow of innocence from so many lives.

Gathered around the campfire at night he tells Toph and Katara and Sokka his stories, and it becomes clear that with the telling the sharp, biting pain in his chest when he thinks of his destroyed home doesn't disappear but becomes softer, less raw.

He tells them of daily meditations on the verandas, of the great crisp wind ruffling his robes and making him feel a wholeness that was surprising and welcome every time, of strong hands lifting him up to dip a finger in a custard tart fresh from the oven, of spending hours with his friends gliding through the skies as the sun set, of curling up to sleep with a tiny Appa and dreaming of how big and brave they would both be someday.

And when one day Katara asks, "What is your best memory?" he has to think for a while, think all day through training with Toph and goofing around with Sokka, until finally, by supper, he's sure.

"One week when I was eight or nine,” Aang begins, “It rained so much I was sure it was going to last forever. We couldn't go flying because of the thunder and lightning. The monks were afraid we'd get hurt. I started crying because I was bored and scared, I guess, so Monk Gyatso took me outside and we stared at the storm and he said to me:

'Aang, all of this is a part of nature. Just like sunshine and clear skies are a part of nature, so is bad weather, the rain, the clouds, and the snow. If you learn to respect what nature gives us at all times, you can find beauty in it.'

And then he lifted me up, like I was still a little kid, up into the sky almost, and for the first time, I could really understand why it had to rain and how maybe it wasn't so bad after all.

We watched for a little while longer and then I went to bed, and the next morning it was clear and bright out and there was a huge double rainbow, the first one I'd ever seen. It was so beautiful and it made me so happy, but now I knew that the rain could make me happy too."

He doesn't understood why Katara's eyes get big and round and wet in that secret sad way, but she squeezes his hand tight tight tight and gives him a big smile.

"That's a beautiful memory, Aang. Thank you for telling me," she says, granting him an almost imperceptible kiss on the cheek.