Task: Character A gets lost and Characters B and C search for them. Character D finds Character A helps him/her find his/her friends. This is the story of Character D.
Prompts: momentous, adventure, Ty Lee, spirit
Words: 2,877
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Ty Lee broke the day they told her Azula had gone missing after she went on the search for her mother. She hated how things ended up between them: friends; then there was that night in Ember Island in which she hoped they would be something else but never talked about it the next day; then the night before the eclipse when she thought they would finally be together; but then the Boiling Rock - Azula could've done anything to her but not to Mai, her only other friend in this world.
After Azula went missing, Ty Lee made a sacred vow to herself to find Azula and be with her, for the sake of all they had gone through, and she would be there for Azula as friends if it came to that, though she didn't want it that way.
She looked for a long time and had no clues other than what Zuko had told her: Azula banished into the Spirit World. If to keep her word she had to go there she would, but how? The spirit world isn't in some far away island, it's another plane of existence, one that is not easy to reach.
One mournful day, she got her answer.
She knew it was coming but it still shocked her when she got word that Iroh, The Dragon of the West, was no more. She got to the Fire Nation Palace as fast as she could and hugged the Firelord as hard as she could.
Zuko was devastated, his father, his true father had passed and was gone to meet his son and wife in the afterlife, and Ty Lee had lost a friend who had given her good advice regarding Azula, back in the day before she had lost her mind.
The funeral came and there she got her answer. As the rituals were performed, Ty Lee saw a flash of blue and there he was: Iroh. With a cup of tea in his hands, watching his own funeral.
She rose from her place and went to where the spirit of Iroh was and whispered in its ear:
"How? How are you still here?"
Iroh seemed surprised but then said, "when my time came I decided to detach myself from my body and live in Harmony in the Spirit World."
"Have you seen her?" Ty Lee asked, a little anxious.
"I've heard of her whereabouts. You're better like this. You should really find your peace in this life, my dear. Love will come," Iroh said in his wise voice, but Ty Lee refused to listen.
"I will never love anyone like I've loved her. I'll go through anything to find her. Even if that means I have to die and see you on the other side," Ty Lee said with determination. Iroh limited himself to nodding in agreement.
"Yours is a good cause, but it will take time to accomplish."
"I'm willing to wait," said Ty Lee. "I've been waiting this long to find her, haven't I?"
Ty Lee sought in the Air Nomad's philosophy a way into the Spirit World through detachment from her body and eventually was able to get in, and got lost in its wonders, to the point she lost her connection to the physical world.
Though she didn't leave anyone of importance behind, she didn't want to die just yet.
But her need to find Azula was bigger than anything else.
Thus she spent a lot of her new found time exploring the Spirit World and getting acquainted to its inhabitants, and eventually welcomed two new-comers; good old friends of hers in the physical world, and saw how the next Avatar changed the world.
The spirit portals were open and even a new one had appeared and all her new spirit friends had asked her a thousand questions of the human world and she answered to the best of her capabilities, since the world had changed so much during her absence.
In one of her wanderings she finally found Iroh, who she knew had the location of Azula.
"Iroh! How are you doing?" Ty Lee said, glad to find him at last, not only because of the information he had, but because he was her friend, a very good old friend of hers.
"Ty Lee? How are you?" Iroh responded with surprise in his voice.
"Fine! I've been having a blast around here! The Spirit World is such an amazing place!" Ty Lee said sincerely and Iroh smiled, glad that Ty Lee had not lost her kindness.
They proceeded to have a cup of tea and talk about their experiences: how Ty Lee had befriended many great and powerful spirits and some of the lesser ones, how they gave her information for her quest of places where wanderers could get lost. Iroh spoke of his experiences: of meeting the new Avatar and helping her in her quest to defeat Vatuu. How he had found her lost and scared and had helped her to become herself once more.
"Iroh, I've loved this meeting but you know I have to ask this," Ty Lee said sadly, but she had no other choice. Iroh had the only clue to Azula's whereabouts.
"I'd rather not tell you; but you've come this far. I won't stop you now. Azula is lost in a place called the Fog of Lost Souls. It's a spirit that torments people with their worst fears. Azula won't come out of there. The only way she will is if she faces her fears, which if she hasn't done already, she probably never will," Iroh said sadly and regretfully, fearing he had just sent another victim to the claws of that spirit.
"I'll get her out even if-" Ty Lee was interrupted by a spirit friend of hers who had told her a mean human had just tried to set it on fire.
Ty Lee glanced up to the sky and noticed it was darker on a far spot in the horizon. It would take her a while to get there.
"Iroh, I think I'll be taking my leave. If there's a human lost here, they might cause an accident or worse." Ty Lee stood up and bowed to Iroh in gratefulness for his attention.
"It's a long walk, my dear. can you make it in time or would you like me to call a friend who could aid you?" Iroh said in a serious tone. He agreed with Ty Lee.
"I have my own friends as well. But thank you for the offer, General!" Ty Lee said in her cheery tone.
She went for the inner part of her robe and pulled out a whistle that had the shape of an Air Bison. Ty Lee hoped her friend would come quickly, and blew thrice before hearing a roar far away.
Quickly, her old friend Appa arrived and settled down in front of her. Aang once told her she could use him if she needed to advance fast through the Spirit World, and well, she might use him to get Azula but first things first: get the humans out before they get themselves killed or worse.
She moved fast across the spirit world and suddenly she was able to make out a column of smoke and wished it was only the human trying to make a fire in the spirit woods; she knew it could get really dark down there, especially if you're scared since that affects the weather, but setting spirits on fire is a quick way to get yourself killed or sent to Koh.
As she approached the smoke she was able to make out a person sitting on the floor, she appeared to be scared since she had her eyes closed, so she had Appa slow down so the person could relax.
As she and Appa came to a halt, Appa licked the person (Ty Lee couldn't make out if it was a girl or a boy) and felt she also needed to say hi to this newcomer.
"Howdy, there, stranger!" Ty Lee said cheerfully
The person turned her head and Ty Lee could see a girl under those fur coats; she was covered in ash but Appa was handling that with his tongue and quickly llicked off the last of the ash.
"Excuse me?" asked the person in a cold voice that made Ty Lee see Mai for a moment in her head..
"Up here!" Ty Lee said amicably "Your aura looks a sad shade of grey. It looks like you could use a friend, young lady. I'm Ty."
"I'm Eska," the girl said cautiously.
"You're probably wondering whether you can trust me," said Ty Lee, understanding the girl's reluctance to trust her.
"Don't worry, I can't read your mind," Ty Lee said jokingly "I just know you grumpy-pants types. My best friend used to be like that." Ty looked around. "We can leave you alone, if you like."
"No," Eska pleaded. "Please."
"Good decision," said Ty Lee. "Hop on up."
"I hurt my leg," said Eska.
"Oh dear," said Ty Lee, recognizing Demu, the tree spirit she was resting against.
"Why didn't you say so sooner? Could you help her up please?"
Eska seemed confused. "Were you talking to the bison?"
Ty Lee laughed. "Spirits, no. He can hardly reach his own back. That's what he needs me for, isn't it, boy?" She scratched the bison's head.
"The fool can't even understand us," said Demu. "And she tried to burn little Deshu."
"Oh, come now," said Ty Lee, "she didn't mean any harm."
"Then who are you talking to?" Eska asked, more confused than before.
"The tree, of course," said Ty Lee, as if it was the most normal thing in the world.
Eska looked up at the regular, non-talking tree trunk. "Right. I changed my mind, you can leave…" before releasing a scream as branches grabbed her and sat her in the bison's large round saddle. Surprisingly quick, Ty Lee tumbled beside her and jabbed at her leg.
"I can't feel my leg!" cried Eska. "What did you do to my leg?"
"Just some pressure points, honey," said Ty Lee. "It will help with the pain until we can get proper medical attention."
"I… I…" Eska breathed in as she noticed the constant background pain had indeed subsided. "Thank you."
"You're welcome," Ty Lee beamed. "You aura looks much rosier."
"Maybe she didn't mean it," said Demu, returning her branches to their usual position.
"But she must apologize nonetheless."
"Fine, I'll ask," sighed Ty Lee, turning to Eska. "It wants you to apologize for singeing Deshu."
"De-who?"
"Deshu, a twig spirit," said Ty Lee.
"Oh," said Eska. "I'm… sorry?"
"See? I told you it was an accident," Ty told Demu.
"A mediocre apology," said Demu. "Perhaps I shouldn't have debated the motion by Deshi, Deshu's grove-brother, for giving her a taste of her own medicine."
"What's it saying now?" asked Eska.
Ty Lee translated. Eska obviously cringed at that comment.
"But Demu," Ty Lee pointed at tree that had sheltered her, "thought more discussion was needed."
"Thank you," Eska said before she turned to her. "Could you help me get back to the portal?"
"They grow emboldened," said Demu. "Another like her and a metal-walker were seen crossing over. Demi heard it from Deti who heard it from Deni..."
"Sure," said Ty Lee. "But Demu heard from the moon peach tree, who heard it from the white jade bush, who heard it from the..."
"I get the idea," said Eska.
"Right," said Ty Lee. "Two humans were seen entering the portal shortly after you. One looked exactly like you."
"Desna!" Eska said enthusiastically.
Eska and Desna? These had to be the Water Tribe princelings. Time passed so quickly in the physical world. "The other was clad in metal." Ty Lee added.
"Do they know where they are now?" asked Eska.
Demu shrugged. Deshi ignored them.
"Sorry, they don't," said Ty Li. "Why did you come here?"
"I was tricked by a white cat-rabbit spirit," Eska responded.
"Never seen it before," said Demu. "Bad business."
"The trees say it wasn't from around here," said Ty Lee. "Do you remember anything else?"
"Only that it was trying to take me somewhere else," Eska added. "To feed. But I couldn't move any further, so it gave up on me."
"Your friends could be in danger," said Ty Lee.
"We need to help them," Eska said with worry in her voice. "But how will we find them?"
Ty Lee had a chilling thought. "I have an idea."
Ty Lee took them where she knew an evil spirit that fed on people could be, now
thanks to Uncle Iroh.
The bison landed on a cliff, the valley below hidden in mist.
"Where are we?" asked Eska.
"A bad place," said Ty Lee.
The bison bellowed its agreement.
"Some call it the Fog of Lost Souls," Ty Lee continued. "It's actually a spirit that feeds on humans' darkest memories. From what you told me, your friends may be trapped inside."
Eska didn't seem as shocked as she expected. "How do we keep from getting trapped ourselves?"
"We can blow away the worst of the fog," Ty Lee said uncertainly. "We'll have to be strong. It may be possible to pull people out, but..." Chould she really save Azula?
"Sometimes they're too attached to their delusions." That last part was the one she was afraid of the most as they started to advance into the fog.
Appa walked reluctantly into the valley, the beat of its tail keeping the mist at bay.
Wanderers emerged from the white only to sink back, mumbling to themselves.
"I think I see them," Ty Lee said suddenly as she made out the figure of a woman clad in metal.
"Are you sure?" Eska asked behind her. "What if it's a trick?"
"I'll be right back," Ty Lee said confidently, sliding off the bison. "Keep him calm while
I'm gone. If I'm not back in… Never mind, I'll be back."
Ty Lee left without wasting a second and rapidly found herself struggling against her own delusions that were represented by her sisters when she saw her. Her quest had reached the momentous part she had been waiting for: she saw Azula wondering around.
Before she could do anything however, she noticed the woman in metal armor hugging her knees and decided that if she could make it out of there once, she would be able to do it twice.
She approached the woman sitting in the floor and punched her once across the face, and was about to do it again when the woman reacted, and Ty Lee simply told the woman "Get up!"
"Aunt Ty Lee?" said the woman. "What are you doing here?"
The woman looked to be in her fifties. Who was she? "I'm trying to save you and Desna!" Ty Lee kept herself focused and was thinking on a way out.
"What's the plan?" asked the woman.
"Aerial rescue," said Ty Lee, glancing up and blowing her whistle.
Next came Eska's carbon copy, fighting off his own inner demons. She tapped his arm.
"Hi." She smiled, "Glad to see you're in control of your faculties, now if you wouldn't mind keeping this bad old mist away, that would be wonderful."
Desna looked startled, but complied.
Appa came to their rescue. Ty Lee grappled onto his head as Desna and the woman pulled themselves into the saddle.
"Go go go!" called the woman.
Ty Lee gave Appa the signal, but the fog had wrapped tendrils of mist around his legs.
"The fog is holding us back!" Ty called back, trying to comfort him in the middle of this crazy moment.
The passengers in the saddle managed to do something about it, because soon enough they found themselves free from the misty tendrils and on their way to the new spirit portal.
Once there, the bison landed by the spirit portal and all the people Ty Lee had saved in this occasion got down from the saddle.
Ty Lee look on in amusement as Appa licked the woman in armor.
"He likes you." Ty Lee giggled when she received a scowl.
"I'm not sure it's mutual," said the woman, making a familiar grimace. Of course! How hadn't she seen it before?
"He must remember you from when you were little," Ty Lee said, fond of the old memories.
"Appa?" Lin said, surprise obviously in her voice. She was rewarded with more slobber.
"That's impossible. An air bison's lifespan…" Lin started to say.
"I met him in the Spirit World, when I crossed over," Ty Lee interrupted. "Aang said he needed the exercise. Your aura is just as grumpy as your mother's," Ty Lee said, amused.
"Gee, thanks, Aunt Ty Lee," Lin answered
"Sorry to interrupt the reunion…" said Eska.
"…But who's Aunt Ty Lee?" the twin finished.
Before Ty Lee could, Lin answered for her. "The inventor of chi-blocking, among other things. Thank you for the rescue."
"I should thank you," said Ty Lee. "It was starting to get dull around here. Be sure to visit!"
Ty Lee waved them goodbye as she saw her new friends leaving through the portal.