The sheer cold of the South Pole greeted his reawakening senses, and Aang could not withhold a sigh.

He knew that it was too much to hope for to think that he'd died for real this time. Hundreds of lifetimes and thousands of years of life made him cynical of the prospect of being freed from this never-ending torment of eternal life. He knew better.

… That still didn't stop him from hoping every tenth life or so, though.

Oh well. Business as usual, then.

He opened his eyes, and Katara's visage swam into view against the backdrop of blistering white sky. He saw her smile as his gaze focused.

What should I do this time? He wondered. Over the course of so many lifetimes, he had done it all; boredom, and the need to do and see new things drove him to heretofore unmentioned heights of ridiculousness. He'd kissed Katara; told her with complete sincerity that he loved her, to her great discomfort. He'd told the two siblings that he was a really, really deep undercover spy. Once, he was feeling curious enough to make a pass at Sokka, just to see how much it'd freak them out. And one time, he'd told them that he was a genie that was there to grant wishes to whoever freed him; that was a really fun one.

He'd even killed them, once, a long time ago; threw a couple of fireballs in their faces.

He was in a bad mood that time.

This time…

There were a couple of relatively recent lifetimes which he had spent meditating, for the most part. He'd gone off and ripped Ozai's firebending from his spirit as fast as he could, leaving Katara and Sokka at the South Pole and making absolutely no detours on his way to the Fire Nation. He also took Azula's bending away from her for good measure. Then he went to the tallest peak of the tallest mountain and lived the rest of his days in isolation, making sure that he absolutely could not be found. Then he spent his days in reflection upon his past lives, trying to discover his own purpose. It seemed that no matter what Aang did in his life, he was sent back to the iceberg to live it again. Unrepentant evil, mediocrity, saintliness… Nothing changed.

It wasn't until the end of the last of those lives that he decided, finally, that it didn't matter what he did. All that mattered was that Aang live his lives to the best of his ability and to his utmost satisfaction. After all, he had no idea when the eternity might suddenly, abruptly stop, and he didn't want to go to the afterlife bemoaning that he had wasted so many chances to live a good life.

So he had stopped worrying, and simply… lived. And it was fun. It's not like there was nothing new. That's what made life worth living; even though he'd lived in the same window of time for eons, there was always something new. It didn't happen often, but when he saw or experienced something that he had never had the privilege to experience before… He cherished it.

So this time, when he awoke from his millionth one-hundred-year slumber, Aang chuckled and smiled warmly up at his first love and said, "Hi Katara."

She started, and dropped Aang onto the ice in shock while confusion etched itself onto her face.

"Wha… How do you know my name?"

Sokka recovered with a vengeance, bringing his spear to bear and pointing it at Aang's throat.

"Yeah, how do you know, Fire Nation spy?" he growled out.

Aang chuckled and waved sheepishly from where he laid, "Hi Sokka."

"Gah! How did you-! Would you quit being weird and explain yourself!"

Sokka waggled his spear threateningly, Katara looked like she wanted to intervene, but she seemed just curious enough to let her brother interrogate the boy.

"My name's Aang; I'm the Avatar," he said, as though that explained everything.

Katara gasped.

Momentarily stunned by the non sequitur, the water tribesman scoffed, "If you're gonna lie, you should at least try to make it believable. And don't change the subject!" he emphasized this with a light poke of his weapon, "How do you know our names? And how'd you get in the ice? And why aren't you frozen?"

Aang innocently asked, "Which question do you want me to answer?"

Sokka blustered for a second before he blurted, "The first one! And don't think you can get out of answering the other ones!"

"My arrow told me," he cheerfully elaborated.

The poor guy's jaw dropped, and Aang had to laugh. He knew that he'd have to come up with something more credible later, but for now he felt like messing with them. Sokka's spear lowered, and Aang took the opportunity to messily airbend himself upright, which startled Katara enough out of her daze to gape.

"You… You're an airbender!"

Loving this game of keeping the water tribe siblings off-balance, Aang looked at her funnily, "Well, duh… I'm the Avatar. Didn't I just say that?"

And with that, he turned around to face the iceberg and bent away the ice forming the bubble surrounding Appa, causing it to melt into the ocean.

Sokka actually fainted.

Katara didn't look like she was far behind her brother.

"Appa!" Aang cried out, and he sprang forward with a flying leap to land on his friend's forehead.

His tears were soaking into Appa's fur as he said, "I missed you so much, buddy."

He meant it, too. Appa had died forty years before Aang passed away in his sleep. It was a typical thing that happened often in his various lives; he hated it every time.

Belatedly, he realized that the flying bison was still waking up from cryogenic sleep. He reached down and lifted the creature's eyelid, saying "Come on, boy! Wake up!"

When Appa mooed his response, Aang sighed with relief and said, "You're okay!"

He knew that, but it always felt so reassuring to hear him after such a long time.

In the time that he was bringing his friend into wakefulness, Katara had slapped her brother awake, and – after scolding him – practically dragged him with her over to Aang.

Then, when Aang turned around to offer them a ride back, Katara gave him a bow which was hastily copied by his brother.

"It is a great honor to meet you, Avatar. My brother, Sokka, has something to say to you."

When he remained silent in his bowing position, his sister elbowed him, causing an undignified squeak to escape his lips before he replied.

"I'm very sorry that I threatened you earlier, your awesome, super Avatariness. I promise that I won't ever do anything like that ever again.

"That's not how you were supposed to say it!" Katara whispered angrily out of the corner of her mouth.

"How was I supposed to say it! How do you know how to-"

They were cut off by Aang's giggling.

"Guys, you don't have to apologize! If I was in your position, I'd be worried, too," he said. Then he shifted uncomfortably, glancing down at the snow while bringing his hand up to the back of his neck and rubbing. "And… If you could please just call me Aang? Only people who don't really like me have ever called me by my title, and you're my friends!"

While Katara slowly got out of her kowtow, Sokka immediately got out of his bow with express relief on his face, but then a look of morbid curiosity came over his face.

"What is that thing?"

"This is Appa, my flying bison," said Aang fondly, "He's been with me for his whole life!"

For a moment, Sokka looked like he was about to contest the notion that Appa was a flying bison, but after a second his face went carefully blank. Then lifted a finger and pointed at Aang, "You know what… I think I'm just gonna go with you on this one."

Aang and Katara both laughed. Everything about this scene felt familiar; he'd probably lived it out at least a couple of times. He looked at his friends caringly, happy to see them young again.

Both of them had died of old age in his last lifetime, and it was always the worst way to go out. He had to watch them both become feeble and weak to the ravages of time, watched them succumb to its life-sucking grip. Sure, he felt himself go the same way, but that hardly mattered – he'd felt it tens of thousands of times before, even though it always felt horrible. But his friends… They suffered. It made Aang feel helpless in the worst way.

But then he smiled and easily drowned those bad days with a deluge of happy memories.

He beckoned with his hand, "Climb on! Appa's probably too tired to fly from sleeping for so long, but I think he can handle swimming; I'll take you back to your village, since it seems you've lost your boat."