In the Dark
Once upon a time there lived a man and a woman from two warring villages… (Oma x Shu)
Text in italics is the legend of the Cave of Two Lovers taken directly from episode 2x02 ("The Cave of Two Lovers.") This and most else belongs to Mike and Bryan, and subsequently to evil Viacom. I strongly suggest reading the italics, because the story does not flow without it.
They met on top of the mountain that divided their two villages…
She was angry. Angry at the war that had split the land once shared peacefully. Her feet led her to the top of the mountain, a land unclaimed by either village, where cherry blossoms grew and fell from the branches of a solitary tree. The mountain gave her peace. By the time her walk to the top was over, her heart had settled so that her face was not lined with anger. And even though her robes were ripped and coated with dust, and her hair was adorned with leaves, she was at peace.
He was angry. Angry at the village on the other side of the mountain that had taken his brother. His feet led him up to the top of the mountain, a land unclaimed by either village, where the wind tickled gently and bad things could be forgotten. The mountain gave him peace. By the time his walk to the top was over, his mind had cleared of fury. And even though he was missing a shoe and his robes were lined with earth, he was at peace.
They reached the top within moments of each other, and came face-to-face. At the top of the mountain, the war did not matter. They were merely two people that were lonely and afflicted by the war down below. If they had met anywhere else, their minds would not have been clear enough for them to understand.
They stared silently at each other for some time. Both were tired from the climb. Her hair was falling from its ornate knot. His robes were ripped at the hem. From their view on the mountain, it did not matter that they were from different villages. They were a single soul. Two halves of the same whole.
The villages were enemies, so they could not be together…
"This is wrong," she sobbed into his chest.
His voice was filled with reason. "No," he said. "Down there, that is wrong."
They stayed in each other's arms until the morning, on top of the mountain. He whispered sweet nothings into her ear. When they went back to their villages, they would pretend that there was nothing different. They would pretend that it did not matter that they were from separate villages torn by war.
But their love was strong, and they found a way…
It became harder and harder to meet atop the mountain. There was suspicion. The peaceful top of the mountain became unsafe for them to meet as time went on. The tension from the villages rose almost high enough to disrupt the calm they had.
She placed her hand on the earth, fingers splayed out. He placed his hand over hers. It was silent. Even the wind did not rustle the cherry blossoms from the tree. It was so silent, and the world was in such balance, that something stirred beneath their fingertips.
The two lovers learned Earthbending from the badgermoles. They became the first Earthbenders…
Everything had a rhythm. Her heart. His heart. The earth beneath them. And slowly, after they had heard their own hearts beat in harmony, they heard the steady pulse of the earth. It balanced out the war, and filled their hopes that they would be able to meet despite the unsafe top of the mountain. In the steady beat of the earth, they heard life, far below the surface, as only two who are in complete peace and balance can. It seemed that they could hear everything around them.
In the darkness, they learned the feel of the earth beneath their fingertips. Their senses were heightened at night, and they could feel the earth even better then. They heard the stir of something living beneath them. And the life beneath them heard the stir of the two lovers at the surface. By night, they first felt the badgermole. It moved in balance with the earth. It could not see, it only heard and felt. There was a connection, a tiny thread of understanding, which connected the lovers to the animal beneath them. They did not need light to see. Darkness made them feel the earth. And, from the badgermoles, they learned how to bend the earth around their fingertips, as if it was alive.
They built elaborate tunnels so that they could meet secretly…
Together, they raised their arms and let them fall, pushing the earth at their will. The badgermoles they had befriended helped them. There was one entrance from either side of the mountain. They found each other in the center, closing their eyes and letting their hearts lead the way. And they found that at in the mountain, there was just as much serenity as on top.
Anyone who tried to follow them would be lost forever in the labyrinth…
The paths they carved were ornate and twisting. The tunnels changed. They were clever. Anyone who found the entrance would be locked forever inside, for they had tried to stop the love between the two. If the villagers could not trust in the power of love, they would not find the way through the tunnels. They could see, but their ears and hands and hearts were blinded by hate and prejudice.
The lovers met in the tunnels every day and forgot the tension outside. The woman's love was so strong it lit the way to the man. The man's love was so strong it lit the way to the woman. When they found each other, it seemed that from their hearts, the cave they had built was illuminated.
But one day, the man didn't come…
It was dark in the tunnels. She raced around, calling his name. She screamed silently to the earth, her desperation echoing off the cavern walls. The badgermoles felt her worry and sadness. Having them there was little comfort, and it did not set her mind at ease. She fingered the necklace he had given her, carved out of earth. She ran her hand along the wall of the cave, feeling where he had placed his hand. She cried, and there was no one to hold her and comfort her.
The mountain felt the loss of the man just like the woman did. It seemed to heave, as if trying to break the thread that connected it to the man, and the woman to the man. But too quickly, she felt, from inside the mountain and far away, the light of the man was gone.
He died in the war between their two villages…
She walked through chaos, bending the earth in a path around her, making walls between her and the villagers that had destroyed her love. She came upon the place where her lover laid.
The world seemed to stop as she fell to her knees. The earth moved beneath her. Her lover laid with an arrow in the heart she had once heard beating its steady, comforting rhythm. The only thing to comfort her now was the earth.
She sobbed over his chest and pulled his helmet off with shaking fingers.
Devastated, the woman unleashed a terrible display of her Earthbending power. She could have destroyed them all…
She shrieked, but it was not heard by the people still fighting around her. She pounded the earth with her hands and seemed to feel all the way down to its very core. Before she could think, her heart had led her to the top of the mountain. She cried out, a scream that ripped through the two warring villages. Her head was bent down, and she closed her eyes, preferring to feel rather than see. She steadied her wobbling legs and spread out her hands.
The earth sang a mournful song as she lifted her arms and the earth rose with them. She pulled them down, hard, and the earth buckled. Down the mountain to the war below, the earth groaned and lifted as the woman stood atop the mountain, rage coursing through her and devastation pulsing through her veins. With the flick of her wrist and the power that held her up so high, she could send the mountain crashing down on the villages that had destroyed her lover. A flicker of peace brushed against her, a memory of the mountain.
But instead she declared the war over…
The earth magnified her voice, wracked with sobs.
"Hate blinds us, so that we cannot feel the earth. But it is there; beneath us…it does not like the feel of blood or the hate that courses through our bodies. The earth does not need war or hate or prejudice. The earth needs care…and love…and balance. I can make the earth topple down. I can move mountains! The earth does not need war, but peace. Creation. Balance. It is over."
Both villages helped her build a new city, where they would live together in peace…
With the strength of her lover in her, the woman knew that there would be peace. Beyond the mountain, she built a city with the help of the villagers. It rose up, in the shape of a mountain, made of earth. There were no sides of the city; it rose in a spiraling circle to that there could be no "other side", only further down the path.
Some could learn to understand the earth and find balance, and it united them. With the earth, they were at peace.
The woman's name was Oma, and the man's name was Shu…
"My name is Oma," she had said, when they first met on the mountain.
He had pointed to him self, putting his hand over his heart. "My name is Shu."
She carved their names into stone in the labyrinth when she buried him there.
The great city was named Omashu, as a monument to their love…
And to those that could not read what was written so far down in the earth, they heard it spoken again and again.
"Omashu."
Their names were spoken and heard in harmony, a balance of the two lovers and the two villages that had come together to live in peace. It took many years, but the city was made from the earth itself, a mountain made by those that understood the how to listen to the beating pulse of the earth. The woman, still alone, was proud of her mountain, the mountain that had risen from love.
She carved their story into the caves, to light the way for those who found it.
Love is brightest in the dark…
This is a wonderful legend in the Avatarverse, and I suggest that you find this episode on Veoh and rewatch it and fall in love with it again. If you're feeling so encompassed by the lovely art of the Oma and Shu legend, perhaps you won't even notice the stomachache-inducing Kataang.
Thank you for reading, and please review!
Ekatherina