#pengpeng

Kyoshi: I'm bi.

Yun: I meant, could you come out to Pengpeng?

Kyoshi:

Lek: BLOCKED.

Rangi, rubbing Pengpeng: Sometimes they are good girls!

("The Rise of Kyoshi", page 250)

If you hear a shattering sound, that's my heart breaking into millions of pieces. For so long, I've headcanoned that after Aang's death, Appa lived for a little while longer before dying of overwhelming sadness (like dogs sometimes do in our world, when their owner passes away) or due to the connection being cut off between them (the "if you go, I go" kind of thing, like what happened with Roku and Fang, when the dragon chose to go down together with his companion).

But this excerpt means two things. One would be that, as soon as Aang died, Appa felt the connection between them fade away (just like Pengpeng did with Kelsang) and he eventually flew away to join a wild herd (maybe not on the same day, but a few days.. a week or two later, he was gone) and he lived the rest of his life together with other untamed bison.

Option number two is even more heartwrenching. It'd mean Appa stayed on Air Temple Island, despite his best friend's passing, which we all know was a rare thing to do for a sky bison. Maybe he did feel the urge to fly away in the beginning, but there was something stronger that kept him grounded to that place.

Maybe it was those 100 years of being frozen in an iceberg, and the 50+ years they'd spent together on that island. The hard work and effort that they put into making a home of that place. The sense of belonging to a different, mixed-species kind of family (him, Katara and the kids, Momo). It was the last place he could remember being connected to Aang...

And then imagine Katara, all alone in the living quarters of their home, shedding tears over losing the love of her life. Because that's all she can do right now - grieve. But then, she'd look out the window and notice that something's off with her husband's animal guide.

She knows about the unbreakable bond that the airbender and sky bison shared, but she has no idea how a broken connection would affect their buddy. Will Appa fly away? Will he stay? She wipes away her tears and makes her way outside to check how he's doing.

Appa would roll over on his belly and watch as she slowly approaches him. Katara would step in front of his face and look into his big brown eyes knowingly. The white fur around them betrays the frown on the sky bison's face. She can tell he's grieving, too.

Katara would sit down on her knees and ever so gently, she'd lay a hand on his wet nose. Appa would growl in a melancholic tone, but still accept her comforting strokes through the beige fur between his eyes.