While summer wasn't Ren's favourite season — it could get much too hot on occasion — it was usually the nicest season to take her calligraphy work out-of-doors. In spring, you always ran the risk of sudden showers, appearing out of nowhere in a clear blue sky. In the fall, it was always much too windy, causing her papers to flap about which always, always resulted in ugly ink blots on the page. And of course, it always snowed during winter which meant that being outside lead to very numb, uncontrollable fingers.

Humming a little tune to herself, the tall woman made her way across the Air Temple grounds. The Sun Temple district was home to many different temples, though the Air Temple was by far the largest and most known. The most popular temple in the district, however, was the temple of Hei Bai; it was the protector of the local forest, appearing in the legends as either a docile panda or as a terrifying, strangely-limbed beast, depending on the tale.

Ren turned a corner to head to a nearby pavilion just in time to see a young woman, not much younger than herself if she had to guess, doing her utmost to blast away a wooden training dummy at the end of the courtyard. The dummy, unfortunately, barely wiggled.

"You c-can't force it," she answered, her voice soft and deep. She tilted her head, her messy braid swaying over her shoulder, and offered a shy smile. "Sheer str-strength and stubbornness won't increase the p-power of your strike. Remember, you're the c-conduit, not the s-- not the source."

Ren bowed, her braid swinging with the motion. "W-welcome to the temple," she said in her soft way. "I'm Ren. S-sorry to interrupt."

(OOC: No worries! I'll send you a PM from my OOC account to explain further ^-^)

---

Ren nodded in understanding. "That's not uncommon for p-people here," she said. "M-me, I was drawn to the Air Nomads and this temple about tw-twelve years ago." She smiled again, her large wire-frame glasses sliding slightly down the bridge of her nose. "My bending didn't m-manifest until two — two years ago, th-though."

She set down her calligraphy supplies carefully then motioned for Ying to move a little closer. When she spoke again, it was with the tone of someone who had slipped into their comfort zone: calm and stutter-free.

"Air is the element of freedom," she murmured, still smiling. "It flows wherever it can, whether through open pathways or through the smallest cracks in the thickest walls. If air cannot go through, it goes over, under, or around. As such, we must be flexible when harnessing our powers. Rigidly following a scroll, or a lesson — there is no freedom in this. Feel the air around you. Feel your chi, coursing through you."

As she spoke, she stepped forward slowly with her right foot and began to turn, toeing her left foot in a semi-circle. Her hands pushed down, as if against an invisible object. "Always follow the path of least resistance. If this move is difficult, approach it from another angle. There is always another answer."

Instead of simply pushing her hands out as depicted in the scroll, similar to how someone might push a person from behind, Ren finished turning in a circle, brought her hands up close to her body, then pushed her arms out while keeping them connected at the wrist. Her hands were palm-out, sort of cupped and intersecting where her wrists met. A gust of air wooshed past her with the motion, rattling the wooden dummy so loudly it echoed in the courtyard.

With an embarrassed grin, she turned back to Ying. "That may not work for you," she said shyly. "But for me, it seemed silly to try and push air. I mean, air is nothing. What are we pushing? So instead, I sort of imagined that my arms were pointing the air where to go, and my hands gathered the air in one place. The turn makes me feel like I'm making the wind myself." She laughed softly, turning bright red. "I guess I am, in a way. But the point is air is all around us and can't be forced to do anything. Even if you were to harness its power, you could only guide it on where to go."

Ren scratched the back of her head, feeling immensely awkward. She had gotten carried away again, and her nervousness came rushing back. "Does — does that make s-sense?"

Ren clapped in delight as Ying produced a much more powerful gust of wind. The young woman turned to her in triumph, her face aglow with excitement and accomplishment. 

"Good job!" she replied, a wide smile on her face. "That's the way. The scrolls are a guideline, but you need to be flexible." The stutter disappeared again, her nervousness banished with her new acquaintance's success.

When Ying asked how long it took her to learn, Ren scrunched up her nose and absently pushed her glasses back up. "Gosh, I'm not sure. I'm not very advanced, really. It took me a few months, maybe? But that's really the only thing I do particularly well. No air scooters or gliding for me, not yet anyway."

She gestured to her supplies. "I'm actually a scribe, and I transcribe the teachings of the original Air Nomads to paper. I'm not really sure why they don't use print, since it's more efficient, but it might just be nice to have some hand-made calligraphy to give it that authentic feel."

Picking up her supplies, she gave Ying a curious look. "What duties have you been assigned to? I don't think I've seen you around the library, at least."

"Wow!" Ren was impressed. Her affinity with animals was not as great as it could be — her fault entirely, not the animals'. Air bison in particular she still wasn't used to. They were gentle giants, but the emphasis for her was really the word giant. Even a calf could come up to her shoulder, which was no easy feat considering that Ren was taller than most people she met. "That is such an important job." Ren bowed. "Thank you for your hard work."

In response to Ying's question, she shook her head, her braid flying from side to side. "Not officially. My parents have a close friend who is an airbender and I was drawn to the Air Nomad teachings when I was a teenager and going through a bit of a rough time personally. I visited here frequently to study and learn about Air Nomad culture, but didn't join the temple as part of the fold until my airbending manifested two years ago." Ren looked over at the temple proper, a small smile on her face. "It feels like I've been part of the family longer though, somehow."

She turned to Ying, still smiling. "Do you feel it, too? The sense of belonging?"