Chapter Text
Rohan smiled down at the boy who was holding his hand. Goba was six now, and could talk up a storm. Ikki had told him that when he first came to the Temple he was barely speaking at all, so used to the grunting silences in the tent he was born in that he hadn’t picked up much in the way of language.
He was staring down at the ocean, looking at it like he could bend it to his will if he could just figure out how. Ikki had hardly been able to get him to go inside to sleep at night; it wasn’t his first visit to Republic City but it was the first time he’d gotten the chance to actually swim in the ocean and he was just fascinated with it, braving the cold waves while laughing and splashing around. He climbed around like the little goat dog they had at the temple, too, up and down the sea cliffs, fearless and sure-footed.
Rohan still couldn’t get over how many airbenders there were on the Island. When his father had put forth the call throughout the various nations to invite any untrained airbenders to come and learn more about the Air Nation, they’d expected some new benders, sure, but not the frankly staggering amount of people who had shown up on their shores, on private boats or coming across on the ferry. They’d even had a man arrive from the Northern Water Tribe, his three year old daughter in tow, demonstrating how she was already able to direct the air around her. His mother, always capable, had allowed herself a few minutes of quiet hysteria before pulling herself together and directing the Air Acolytes to put extra bedding down in the temple itself.
Ikki and Meelo had come from the Northern and Southern Air Temples, offering to take some of the overflow. Ikki had brought along Yung and Goba as well as the handful of other airbenders who had made their way to her over the past two years; Meelo did the same. She’d spent the afternoon talking to the Northern Water Tribe man, assuring him that he would be welcome at the Temple as well as his daughter, telling him that they already had a waterbender and her daughter living there. Yung’s oldest daughter was an airbender as well, but was too young to travel, staying at home with her mother, who was pregnant again.
“Uncle Rohan?” He looked down to smile at the boy, who was looking up at him with a serious expression, his eyebrows furrowed together, a little frown on his face. He’d only met Baatar a few times, but he recognized the look nevertheless.
“Yes?”
“Can we go someplace high so I can jump off it?”
Rohan laughed. “I’m afraid we don’t have anywhere here as high as you are used to from home.”
Goba grinned. “I want to practice with my glider.” He had a wingsuit, of course, but Ikki had been teaching him how to use a glider as well, saying that she didn’t want the knowledge lost.
Rohan nodded. “I could use some practice too. There’s only one good place for it on this Island, though.” At the boy’s quizzical look he pointed at the slender Temple tower, rising far higher than any of the other buildings. Goba laughed in delight.
“I’ll race you there!” He took off running, and Rohan let him get a good head start before chasing after him, grinning as well.