Closure [Xilingshi and Rex]

Pan

Pan didn’t think he would ever come back. Not to this place. Yet, for whatever reason, Pan found himself gliding smoothly towards the collection of stalactite temples that hid beneath the overhang of a great cliff like massive shadowy bats clinging to the roof of a cave. The sight of these massive hanging edifices brought with them memories that were, truthfully, not all that bad. Sure, Pan was not a popular boy, but he was never outright mistreated – only shunned by his peers.

That was all in the past, and Pan had come to the Western Air Temples for nothing but closure. He didn’t care about seeing any of the nuns or students – although he probably would – but instead wanted to make peace with the place itself. The temples, while hardly of orthodox design, were beautiful in their own way. Of course, Pan was not one to get so sentimentally attached to anything; in all honesty, he just missed the air that surrounded the temples.

It felt cooler against his skin, smelled fresher, even tasted better than the air of anywhere else that Pan had ever been. Then again, Pan was not a very well-traveled individual and had never been outside the territory of the Fire Nation and the Western Air Temple Islands.

Before long, Pan was able to manipulate his glider in such a way that he could circle a small, seemingly abandoned temple. He made a few lazy laps around the ornate building, basking in the rich atmosphere, before landing roughly on one of the higher levels of the temple. The stone beneath his feet felt solid and safe after such and long flight. Immediately, Pan allowed his body to collapse onto the ground.

He wasn’t all that tired, really, but standing up is such hard work, so Pan lay there for a while, unwilling to force himself up. Maybe I could take a nap, Pan felt like he deserved a short nap, so he let his eyelids sluggishly fall down. If anyone were to happen upon the prostrate body of Pan in the abandoned temple courtyard, they would see him sprawled out on the rocky surface with a half-closed glider by his side as he snored gently into the dust.

Pan

Pan was awakened very shortly after he closed his eyes; the man could not have been asleep for more than a few minutes. A rumbling noise had come from above him, and it sounded like it could have come from any of the inhabitants of the temples. Briefly, Pan wondered if he could just ignore the voice. Maybe it would just go away if it were not given any attention.

Ugh, Pan groaned internally, I hope it isn’t any of the people I used to go to school with here.

Cautiously, Pan popped open a single sky-blue eye. Above him towered a man - no, a boy, but not one that Pan had ever seen before. With a great sigh, Pan heaved his body upward with a single slow but strong blast of wind from his left hand. Pan’s right hand kept hold of his glider, snapping it shut so that Pan was able to lean on it heavily once he landed upright after being blasted a few feet into the air.

Lazily, Pan wiped a bit of sleep from his eyes and ran a hand through his blonde hair. The hand came away grimy with dirt, causing Pan to scrunch up his face in disgust and send a twisting gale of wind to clean himself off. Satisfied, Pan hummed happily and turned his gaze towards the one who had awakened him.

The first thing that Pan noticed about the boy was the mangled glider on his back. Pity, that, Pan mused, looks like the kid’s going to have to find some replacement wax paper. At least the frame seems to be alright. The boy had a few cuts and scrapes that Pan could see - maybe he had been playing with his friends and the games had gotten too rough. Pan couldn’t see anything too noteworthy about the boy except the slit eyes, which gave his face a slightly reptilian appearance. Freaky, Pan remarked silently. Everything else about the kid seemed relatively average, though.

”Hey, kid. I’m Pan,” his voice was a bit more gruff than usual due to tiredness, but Pan had tried not to sound too unfriendly. Out of the corner of his eye, Pan noticed another figure and turned his head for a moment to get a better look. It was a small woman at least a decade or so older than he. She seemed to be snoozing on a column, so Pan turned his head back to the kid.

Pan

The babbling boy brought a shining spark of amusement to Pan’s eyes and he grinned. Pan was still leaning on is staff and was mildly surprised that it hadn’t snapped in half yet. Why do I always end up more tired after a nap than I was before I fell asleep? Pan shook his head, making his hair twirl around his face. Whatever.

At the kid’s – Rex’s - query, Pan thought for a moment. As this was an Air Temple, there were plenty of places where one could acquire the materials needed to make or repair gliders, if only one took the necessary time to seek one out. Most students of the Air Temples made their own gliders and repaired them when they broke, so there would have to be storages for the needed materials scattered throughout the temples. The Great Spirits know Pan had to repair his own glider plenty of times in his younger years – back when he still studied at these temples.

But the boy had asked if there was anyone around who could repair it and that was a little different. Pan was sure that almost anyone around here could fix it, but Pan wasn’t entirely sure that whoever Rex asked wouldn’t ask for ridiculously high compensation in return.

Pan decided to give the kid another once-over. The clothes Rex wore did not look like the usual Air Nomad attire. They looked more like the things that Pan had seen tourist kids from the Earth Kingdom wearing. Huh. An airbending citizen of the Earth Kingdom. Weird. Then again, Pan was an airbending citizen of the Fire Nation.

Oh, right. The conversation. Pan supposed he should probably return to that. “Well, Rex, I could probably repair the glider for you. It doesn’t look too bad, really. I’ve managed to bring mine back from worse.” Pan yawned. ”I wouldn’t charge you anything for it, either, since I’d just need to scavenge around for some wax paper and adhesive. I could show you how to fix it, too, so you’ll be able to do it yourself next time this happens.” Pan smiled at the kid and twirled his glider in a wide arch before bringing it back down, letting a small wisp of air trail along its path.

“About the healer, I don’t really know what to tell you. There was a small handful of healers living in the temples the last time I was here, but I don’t know where any of them could be at the moment.” The blonde man shugged. "I'm sure you know how those types can be. Very elusive, especially when they're needed."

Pan

The blonde listened as the woman introduced herself and nodded his head in acknowledgement. Pan could tell by the arrows on her skin the she was a master airbender, and Pan had been brought up to respect such skilled benders. “It’s nice to meet you, Xi. My name is Pan.” The words came out of Pan’s mouth in an even tone.

Rex was speaking then, and Pan listened to the boy as well. Nodding his head, the man said, “All right, I’m sure it won’t take too long for me to find what we need.”

Pan sent a gentle puff of air towards Xi, meaning to draw her attention rather than start any sort of confrontation. “Hey, Xi, you wanna come help me carry the things we’re gonna need to get this kid back in the air?” The man snapped open his own glider in preparation of the flight to find the materials.