Aang understands--perhaps better than he should have to at his age--the power of positivity. It's corny, he knows, but it's true. It helps people keep putting one foot in front of the other when there's nothing else to keep them going.

"In some of the old rooms upstairs. They were all laid out like kings would play on them." He puts the board between them and starts to set up the pieces. "I was thinking that maybe you'd play with me. People showed me how to play, but we don't have this game where I come from, so I'm not very good yet."