The Last Energybender

"Blessed is the lion that the man will devour, and the lion will become man. And loathsome is the man that the lion will devour, and the lion will become man."

"…what's a lion?"

"Lion turtle I guess."

'I guess'…it was an assumption, Aang reflected. A supposition. An inference that became theory. But at least in this case, he supposed Sokka was right. Because in all his travels, Aang had never heard of a "lion" before. And while everything from armadillo lions to lion vultures existed, the Avatar somehow doubted these texts would concern themselves with common fauna.

"What do you think it means though?" Sokka continued, one of his hands keeping the parchment straight on the desk while his other made an attempt to jot down notes. "Lions devouring men…I mean, are women safe or something?"

"Probably not," Aang mused, leaning back in his own chair and let air spin between his fingertips. "It's a man's world after all…"

"And what's this about men devouring lions?" the Water Tribesman continued. "I mean…the lion turtle you encountered? It hardly sounded like something you could actually eat."

"Ah, don't sell yourself short," Aang mused, replacing the air with fire. "I'm sure you could manage."

Sokka briefly glared at him. Aang stared back before his friend returned to the scroll. Thankfully boomerangs counted as weapons, and as such, weren't allowed in the Ba Sing Se University Library.

The Avatar lent back in his chair, extending a hand to Momo on the shelf above, only for the ageing winged lemur to swipe his paw in the effort to communicate that he wanted to keep sleeping. Leaning forward again, Aang sympathized, if only for having the benefit of an outsider's perspective. It felt like his life had reached its climax a decade ago and now, in his late twenties, he was doomed to live the rest of his life in anti-climax. True, there were four nations and a blossoming fifth that would call for his aid from time to time, and there was always the issue of Katara and the knowledge that he couldn't remain as the last airbender in the world indefinitely…

Aang shook the thoughts away. He was getting older…but he still wanted to have a bit more freedom than that right now. Even if it meant relaxing in a library while Sokka did 'research' for the United Republic Council.

Well, we all need a holiday, Aang reflected, watching as his friend spilt ink on a piece of parchment that was thankfully blank. Even councilmen…

"Nice…" Aang smirked as Sokka tried desperately to save one of the last pieces of parchment he'd brought with him. "Real nice…"

"Aang, if you're not going to help-…"

"Hey, if you'd spilt water I'd help you in an instant," the Avatar smiled. "But ink's beyond my abilities."

Sokka went to say something, only to knock the rest of the ink off the table. It fell…only to land on a piece of floor that Aang uplifted.

"Good thing we're on the ground floor."

Sokka sighed as Aang placed the ink back on the desk. He looked tired, even more so than Momo. Even if being the Avatar didn't prohibit him from taking a seat on the council, seeing his friend like this was more than enough incentive for Aang to keep himself off the governing body.

"Lions…" Sokka mused, rubbing his eyes. "I keep seeing lions."

"How can you?" Aang asked. "Lions don't exist…not by themselves anyway."

"Sea lions, armadillo lions, whatever!" the Water Tribesman exclaimed. "It doesn't help that you're the only one who saw the sea lion and taught you energybending. And it seems that everyone else who claimed to see such creatures wasn't gifted with artistic abilities either."

Aang started to say something about Sokka's own artistic abilities, but decided against it.

"I mean, I'm on the council now," Sokka mused. "Every time I leave the United Republic, they expect me to bring back some new insight, whether it be cultural, economical or political. But we visited everywhere over a decade ago, so it seems that lion turtles are last on the list."

"Actually, I think King Kuei found a new animal," Aang said. "It…" He trailed off. "But I'm sure we can go into lion turtles if you want."

Aang suspected, or rather hoped, that the whole lion turtle thing was Sokka's curiosity talking, and not anyone else's. He'd only shared the secret of his energybending with his closest friends, and didn't want to advertise that he even had the ability. Energybending was a necessity, when it had to be used. He didn't want to be summoned to strip the bending of everyone who misused their power. He'd leave punishment in the hands of the powers that were, but he wasn't judge or jury, and while taking bending didn't make him an executioner in his mind, it wasn't a pleasant alternative. Either way, he took the tome that his friend had been looking at and re-read the line.

"Blessed is the lion that the man will devour, and the lion will become man. And loathsome is the man that the lion will devour, and the lion will become man."

"Not a great help, is it?" Sokka asked. "Doesn't say a thing about lion turtles."

"Actually…I think it does."

Sokka stared at Aang. Aang stared at the tome. On his shelf, Momo began twitching his leg in his sleep.

"Devouring…" Aang mused. "It's a metaphor."

"Hey come on," Sokka said. "Meat isn't a metaphor."

"Sokka, no-one's going to eat a lion turtle," Aang said. "Rather it's…it's about power…"

"Come again?"

"Sokka, from what we know, the lion turtle I met was the last of his kind, right?" Aang asked.

"True…" the Water Tribesman murmured, picking up another piece of parchment. "Certainly there's veiled references to the hunting of lion turtles in ancient times. Kind of like what happened with the dragons and Fire Nation.

"Right…and it's endorsing it," Aang said. "Devouring…it's taking power. Energybending. It's as if…as if energybending was used against those who imparted it in the first place. Devouring…as if, taking bending away…"

"Yeah…" Sokka mused. "It's…what, so people decided that they'd take away the bending abilities of the ones who gave it in the first place?"

"You surprised?" Aang murmured. "You think that after all that's happened in the last century, taking the abilities of a species of intelligent animal is unexpected?"

Sokka didn't answer. Maybe he didn't know. Or maybe he didn't need to.

Silently, Aang put the parchment back down on the desk. It was late. Or at the least, he felt more tired than he was a few minutes ago.

The last airbender…it was what he was, at least until…well, still, his teenage self was alive enough that he didn't want to think about that. How had the lion turtle felt, Aang wondered, when he imparted energybending? The burden of sharing that knowledge, of no longer being the last energybender? The calculated risk that he could trust the Avatar not to abuse his power. Certainly research on animals wasn't the only thing Aang and his friends had looked at. There'd been other Avatars before him. Some, thankfully none he'd ever met, had even abused their powers.

Perhaps at the end of the day, men were indeed lions. Always on the brink of devouring, or being devoured.

Sitting back in his chair, Aang hoped that if he ever had to take away someone else's bending, he wouldn't be devoured in turn.

A/N

The idea for this actually game from the quote used at the start of the oneshot-one I picked up from browsing the novel Riddley Walker, said quote in turn originating from the Gospel of Thomas. Can't say I was put off by it per se, but...well, let's just say I'm not a fan of anthropocentricism. Anyway, came up with this as a result.

And, you know, how Aang currently imparts energybending (cough...deus ex machina...cough) in The Legend of Korra, but hey, vented my spleen elsewhere.