"Jangmu! Jangmu, look! The comet!"

The clear midnight sky glows a dull orange, illuminated by the Great Comet as it skims the atmosphere. From the cliff above the Western Air Temple, the view of the celestial body is unforgettable, like a thin streak of gold on dark silk. "Only once in a hundred years. Some people won't even get to see this, you lucky little gecko-roach." Weathered fingers pull gently on Jangmu's earlobe.

"I know, Sister Lhamo, I know. I'll treasure it." Jangmu pouts, but her eyes, reflecting the gold of the comet, look up at her elderly guardian with love and affection.

Within the chatter of nearby Airbender nuns, one voice calls out, "Jangmu, we'll be up on the Century Oak. Join us!" Gliders unfurl, and the group ascends onto the branches of an ancient tree, leaving one young nun waiting on her friend. Jangmu takes note of her peers' blue tattoos, her expression sinking. "Just a minute, Binsa!" She says through a forced smile. Binsa nods and flies off to join the rest.

Sensing her insecurity, Lhamo musses Jangmu's hair. "You know, not every Airbender gets their tattoos," The older nun says. "And some of us take longer than others. Don't tell the other kids, but I only got my tattoos when I was thirty."

"Really?" Jangmu turns to face her guardian, hopeful, though it's quickly replaced with disappointment. "It's not just airbending. I'm... not really good at anything."

"Nonsense, silly." Lhamo coos. "You're good at being. Being yourself, being loved. You have so many friends!" Her ward looks unimpressed. Lhamo sighs. "Besides the fact that no good comes from comparison, right now, you're still a little sapling, waiting to grow into its leaves." She shifts her gaze to the Century Oak, filled with frolicking young nuns. "But in time, you'll become a mighty, blossoming tree, I just know it. And time is what you have, if nothing else."

Before Jangmu can groan, two pops pierce the air, like arrhythmic taps of a ritual drum. Then, an earth-shattering explosion. The Century Oak is smashed into pieces, its falling canopy engulfed in flames. Blasted off the branches, the previously-frolicking nuns look no different from burning debris. Some escape the brunt, clinging to open gliders. But pillars of fire rise from the chasm of the misty valley, and their fates are sealed. Only one left, speeding towards guardian and ward.

Jangmu starts forward, arm outstretched. "Binsa--" Immediately, she is yanked back, barely avoiding a gargantuan fire blast that continues onward and crashes into the cliff on the other side. "Firebenders," Lhamo mutters, accompanied by words unbecoming of an Air Nomad, let alone an elder nun. She turns to Jangmu. "Stay close. We'll get to Binsa."

Lhamo tosses Jangmu's staff to her and wields her own. The air heats up around them as they circle and whirl around the assault. The elder Airbender parts the edges of the flames with wind to create openings for movement. Meanwhile, Binsa dips and twists in the air at high speed, getting to the duo in no time.

Jangmu stumbles, and flames pull her staff out of her hands and across the chasm. She pushes hard against another wave of heat with the force of airbending, but the impact splits it into sparking daggers that bounce off the sides of her face. She cries out in pain and falls backwards, her skin singed and raw.

Binsa and Lhamo look down at the injured Airbender, then at each other. They move to guard her, swinging the forewings of their gliders like giant fans to deflect the fiery assault. But they're running out of energy. Running out of time.

A shiver runs down Lhamo's spine. "Get back!" She blasts the two young nuns off the cliff with a powerful jet.

Pop-pop. BOOM.

"SISTER LHAMO!" When Jangmu looks back, she sees nothing but a smoking crater in the wake of the explosion that ate into the edge of the cliff. "NO! No..."

Stifling tears, Binsa loops one arm around her dear friend in midair. Her other hand almost slips off the grip of her glider, but she manages to find some sort of lop-sided balance. The forests on either side of the chasm are set ablaze, and rows of firebenders advance inward. In all directions, screams are silenced by roaring flame. After a quick assessment, Binsa decides: the only way is down.

They dive into the valley, avoiding another series of blasts from level ground. Her fingers almost slip. Binsa was always the best flyer in the Western Air Temple, but she can't make it out of this impossible situation. Not like this. She barrels them around another bout of flame. Two fingers. Hanging by two fingers now.

Jangmu has retreated into herself, reduced to uncontrollable sobs. The sting of tears against the fresh burns on her face pale in comparison to the pain of guilt. Why did she have to be a burden? Why did she have to doom Sister Lhamo to die?

Binsa takes one last good look at her dear friend, practically her sister by covenant. Then, she lets go.

Jangmu's face goes blank. Her limp form plummets, tears falling upwards from the corners of her eyes. "That's right," she mumbles. "You deserve to live." She smiles, content in the fact that somebody better than her would survive today.

A sharp jab into her back jolts her to her senses. She instinctively wheels around and snatches a glider out of the air. Binsa's glider. Jangmu looks up moments before Binsa is engulfed by flames, enough time to see her mouth the words, "Love you, sis."

"Binsa."

Jangmu falls through the mist, hugging the glider.

"Love you too."

She emerges from a far end of the misty valley, flying steadily in an unknown direction. The tears have dried up by now. Grief mixes with resolve. "I'll live for you, Lhamo, Binsa."

---

---

Day, then night, then day again. Jangmu's lost count at this point. She hasn't once landed since she left the valley. Wouldn't land, because rest and sustenance mean nothing to the grieving. Couldn't land, because she's been flying over a stretch of ocean for that long. Still, she presses on, clinging on to the glider and to life.

Once the distracting aching of her fingers and toes finally numbed, she learned that flight could be its own kind of meditation. Her mind even achieves some semblance of tranquility at times, and her body would almost feel weightless, unshackled, free. But the pain from her festering wounds would flare, the pain of loss flooding back with it to weigh her down. But she's held aloft by sheer will, a determination not to see the sacrifices of her loved ones go to waste. "I'll live for you, Lhamo. I'll live for you, Binsa," she would repeat, a mantra for survival.

---

---

Jangmu opens her eyes, greeted by the darkness of night. But this time, instead of a pitch-black sea, there's an island, within reach. Her body quakes, and her eyes roll back. She dips, then levels off and stalls. She passes over a Fire Nation flag, flown high over a small military outpost.

Dips, levels off, stalls. Her knee grazes the top of a wooden sign that reads 'Welcome to Hwajae Island'.

Once more, and she bursts through a window. Her glider continues into a wall with a thud and clatters against the hardwood. You stir from your sleep to find this young lady strewn across the floor of your abode, weak and unconscious.