Chapter Text
Akko was breathing hard. Air exhaling from her mouth in gasps.
She had to make it.
She just had to.
The remote location of the school added to its mystique and of course it was modeled after the long gone ancient air temples so maybe she should have known. But they still could have told her that it was on top of a very difficult to scale mountain. The view was great, but honestly! It’s like the path leading up had received no maintenance in years. Boulders appeared every now and then that she had to climb over, and some parts of the path had collapsed, leaving only a thin ledge to shimmy across on.
I have never wanted to be an airbender so badly in my entire life.
Her legs were burning through the hike. The opening initiation started at dawn and she didn’t know how much earlier the top of a mountain would experience “dawn” before the quaint village below where she had stayed for the night. Once again, she didn’t account for how much time she actually would need. And its not like there was a brochure to tell her this information!
Around what had to have been the fifteenth mile Akko was doubled over. She couldn’t do it, she was exhausted. There was no way she would make it in time. And if she didn’t make it she would never become a master bender, and if she never became a master bender then she had no hope of bringing joy to the world or rejuvenating people’s wonder of bending and that meant her dreams were over. Tears prickled at her eyes, she had come so far to be stopped by a stupid mountain.
Akko turned around and kicked said mountain roughly.
“Ow, ow, ow, oh Beatrix why did I do that.”
She grabbed her foot hopping in pain and stumbled backwards, stomach dropping out of her body as she fell towards the edge of the pathway.
She waved her arms about and turned falling forward onto hands and knees. Her body was safely on the earth but her head was over the edge of the ledge and a very, very far drop greeted her wide eyes.
“Okay… That was terrifying.”
As she crawled slowly away, Akko spotted something below her. It looked like a fluffy white cloud coming out of the early morning mist and dense treetops.
Forgetting her pain and momentary abandonment of hope she squinted, trying to get a better look.
The fluffy—no furry—cloud was getting closer. She knew what that was, she recognized it from cliché paintings her mom and dad had hung up all over their home. One of her (admittedly) favorites had the caption “reach for the stars.” Paired with a beautiful soaring animal, six legs stretched in the sky, wide beaver-like tail curled into the air currents, white coat in stark contrast to the dark arrow ornamenting its forehead.
A sky bison.
And it was flying up towards her.
“HEY!” Akko screamed, all but forgetting her close encounter with a gruesome death. “HEEEEYYYY!” She jumped up and down, flailing arms wildly, doing anything she could to get its attention. Maybe the animal would see her and take pity, whisking her up into the air and towards her destination.
“PLEASE, I NEED A RIDE! I’LL GIVE YOU TREATS, BELLY RUBS, ANYTHING!”
The giant beast didn’t seem to change direction or acknowledge it even saw her. Akko panicked as she saw her chances slipping away. It wasn’t too far from her now and any moment it would fly past her, completely unaware of her dire dilemma.
Akko had been told before that she needed to do more thinking than acting. She was brash and impulsive by nature. Usually she only realized how awful her ideas were after the consequences caught up to her. This was by far the worst one yet.
Akko leaped.
Immediately she regretted every decision she had ever made in her entire life that led her to this moment. But it was too late for that now.
She was falling. Fast.
Air rushed by her, forcing tears to stream from her eyes.
And she had miscalculated the distance.
The sky bison wasn’t as close as she thought. And it certainly wasn’t below her, imminent death stared back in the form of her body splattering down on the rocks below.
She screamed.
Something deep inside her tugged on her gut and she felt flames spark into her palms. Pushing everything she had into those flames, Akko felt them ignite and she used them to propel herself through the air, just enough so that she was over top the animal.
She heard screaming and realized there were people on the sky bison. But she didn’t have time to think about it as she reached her arms out and caught the edge of the large saddle crib in one hand a tuft full of fur in the other. She clung for dear life.
“Are you crazy!” A high pitched voice yelled from somewhere on the bison's head.
Akko could barely respond, she was too busy hoping her arms didn’t tear out of her body.
“Agh, I’m slipping!” She spoke and felt her palms grow incredibly sweaty.
This was it. She would die and her parents would be told it was because she jumped off a mountain for absolutely no reason, onto a sky bison and then couldn’t hold on…. That would be true but that’s not the way she wanted to go!
“Sucy, do something!” The shrill voice called out again.
Another girl peaked over the edge of the saddle crib and stared at Akko. She looked completely emotionless, if anything almost bored. Long mauve hair trailed over her face into the breeze.
A malicious grin prickled onto her cheeks, “But it would be more fun if—“
“SUCY!”
The girl sighed. “Fine.”
She swirled her fingertips and water trailed up from somewhere wrapping around Akko’s hand on the saddle.
For a terrifying moment Akko felt the water cause her hand to completely slip. Then it froze solid. Firmly attaching her to the flying beast.
She pressed her forehead deep into the beasts fur and breathed out.
She had made it.
~^|^~
By the time the sky bison touched down, Akko’s arm was completely numb. The scary girl—Sucy—never offered to pull her into the saddle and Akko didn’t trust her enough to ask. She still could see that evil grin and she wasn’t sure that she wanted her hand to be freed from the ice long enough to find out what it meant.
They had landed on a beautiful patch of meadow high up near the top of the mountain, and Akko had never been happier to see solid ground.
Sucy stepped over the side of the saddle and slid serenely down the bison’s side to the ground. She started walking away.
“Hey wait! Unfreeze me!” Akko called.
She pretended not to hear Akko and kept walking until another girl, the shrill voiced driver hopped down from her position at the reigns and stormed over to Akko.
This girl was petite, with a short bob of pale orange hair and clear blue eyes, like the sky, slightly framed by a large set of round glasses. Her face was bright red and her frown was severe but also unintentionally kind of cute.
“What were you thinking! You could have been killed! Or at least severely injured! What kind of a prank to pull on someone at initiation. It wasn’t funny at all.” Her foot stomped into the ground but Akko could tell this girl wasn’t used to raising her voice at others. She just seemed scared.
“I—I’m sorry.” Akko hung her head. “It wasn’t a prank. I thought you were my only chance to make it to the ceremony in time. I didn’t even realize the sky bison had passengers.”
“That is the worst reasoning I’ve ever heard! Why were you up on that path in the first place. No one has takin it in ages.” The girl put her face in her hands, as if to try and contain her sheer astonishment that someone would do such a thing.
“How else was I supposed to get up to the top?”
Sucy snickered then, having come around to silently loom behind the shorter girl.
“Maybe take the sky bison, like everyone else.” She flatly responded.
“Waah! You mean everyone takes those! How was I supposed to know that?” Akko wailed and flung her free arm around.
Then she remembered that she was still hanging from the saddle. The beast’s chest rumbled discontent at the weight still on its back. Or maybe requesting the treats Akko had promised…
“Umm. Sucy, do you mind letting me down now?”
Sucy just stared at her until the other girl turned around and frowned.
“Ugh, fine. I was just having some fun, Lotte…”
With another swirl of her wrist, she dissipated the ice encasing Akko’s hand and Akko landed on legs that weren’t yet ready to carry her weight.
She pitched forward and would have face planted had a soft breeze not cushioned her fall and gently pushed her back upright.
The shorter girl, Lotte apparently, stepped forward and carefully grabbed Akko’s arm. Concern replaced the discomfited frown. She pulled Akko’s hand towards her and studied the angry red skin.
“There’s no way you’re not hurt after the stunt you pulled.”
Akko rubbed the back of her neck with her other hand and winced. Her shoulder seemed quite unhappy with the movement.
“I’m fine, it’s not the first time I’ve gotten a little banged up.”
Lotte sighed and mumbled “I don’t doubt that one bit. Leave it to a firebender to be completely reckless.”
Akko looked up at her and remembered why she was here. “That’s right! I am a firebender and I’m going to Luna Nova to be the greatest firebender in the world! Just like Shiny Chariot!”
Sucy snickered, then paused quirking her head to the side to look at Akko. “Wait you’re serious?”
“Of course I am! This is where Shiny Chariot learned her bending, and I’m gonna follow in her footsteps.” She put both hands on her hips and posed but her right wrist twinged at the movement.
“Ouch.” Akko grabbed it with her other hand and cradled it closer to her.
Lotte looked uncomfortable. “…I’m not sure everyone feels the same way about Shiny Chariot.”
“What!? Why not, she’s the greatest! I saw her perform when I was little. She made a giant dragon appear in the sky and then fought it. What’s not to love?”
Lotte wrung her hands together, evidently uncomfortable. “Well, she only used her talents to entertain people. When the war broke out… She vanished. She could have saved a lot of people.”
“Maybe she wanted to! Maybe there’s a reason she left, Shiny Chariot would never just run away. People are wrong.” Akko harrumphed and glared.
“I—I’m sure your right… Just maybe don’t talk about her like that with other people around...” Lotte’s voice trailed off.
Akko couldn’t fathom why that would be a necessary precaution. She would never hide her love of Shiny Chariot. That woman was her personal hero, role model, and everything in between. She might have kept arguing but as she flung her arm out to elaborate her opinions on the greatest woman to ever live, her wrist once again protested.
“Oh, ow, ow, ow I should not have done that.” Akko whimpered.
“You need to see a healer. How are you gonna perform the initiation without proper wrist movement?” Lotte’s lips pursed. She jumped up onto the sky bison and grabbed her pack of belongings. Then she landed lightly on the ground. “Come on we need to get going. Sunrise is only a few minutes away. I’ve heard they are very strict about all new students arriving on time.” Then she turned to Akko, “Where are your things?”
“Um… My pack got too heavy so I left it somewhere down the mountain.”
“Well you’ll just have to get it later.” Lotte turned to the giant creature and gave its face a hug, setting a gentle kiss on its nose. “I’ll see you later Spirit. Go find the stables and get some breakfast. I’ll come find you when I get settled.”
The beast roared, as if it understood what she said, and flew off. Giant tail bending the wind around it and carrying its great form through the air.
“Wow… That’s your sky bison?” Akko’s jaw dropped.
Lotte nodded. “My parents run a sky bison sanctuary down south. I’m lucking to have been accepted by such a gentle creature.”
Akko doubted it had anything to do with luck and more to do with Lotte’s own calm demeanor.
The three girls walked through the grass. Akko kept Lotte between her and Sucy… She still didn’t trust that girl. They came to a cobbled path that wound around the mountain. Luckily for Akko’s legs, it was fairly flat and easily navigable.
“I’m Astuko Kagari by the way. But you can call me Akko.” She looked over at the two other girls and grinned. It was nice not being on her own for the last trek of the journey.
“I would say it was nice to meet you Akko. But honestly meeting you was the most terrifying couple minutes of my life.” Lotte looked at her shyly, peaking under the rims of her glasses. “My name’s Lotte Jansson. This is Sucy Manbavaran.”
Akko grinned and the girls continued to walk in silence, then Akko noticed something.
“Where is everyone? I thought we would see other students by now?”
“Everyone else already left, Sucy and I were running late, because someone had to pack fifty different species of mushroom into individual pots.”
Sucy shrugged. “They like their space.”
Akko was about to ask about the mushrooms, when they turned a bend and their view was no longer obstructed by pine trees and stone. Luna Nova Girl’s School of Bending Mastery appeared before them.
“Wow.” Lotte and Akko said in unison. Sucy just stared.
An entire section of the top side of the mountain had been carved out. Temple like buildings spiraled into the air created from the same pale stone as the mountain. Elaborate channels of fire and torch fixtures lit the entire place and Akko could see all the new and returning students. Air benders were flying around on personal gliders, chasing each other through loops and naturally forming holes in the stone cliff face behind the beautiful structure. Other benders seemed to have gathered in packs, tossing fireballs or playing some kind of dodgeball with boulders. Akko winced as one girl got nailed in the gut. But she seemed fine, laughing after being thrown a few feet into the air from the impact.
Some of the students were laying on a neatly manicured courtyard lawn, others went through their bending motions, practicing for the initiation. A small gathering had surrounded one girl who was going through some kind of waterbending form, but Akko couldn’t see who it was.
As dawn broke the horizon, Akko breathed out an exhausted sigh of relief. The cresting sun began lighting up the pale stone of the school into a beautiful golden cream. She wasn’t late.
She had made it.
Then Akko realized the easy part was over.
She still had to go through the initiation.