Thunderstruck
In an Air Temple, where Air Nomads live, there was a storm.
Young Yangchen had always hated storms, but this one was the worst ever.
"Make it stop!" she screamed, as thunder tore the sky apart, in her mind's eye.
"Yangchen, do not fear, simply meditate, remove your mind from this fear, clear your-ah!" they beheld the girl's eyes glow white, horror in their eyes as the power of a master firebender flooded from her mouth, the mouth of an airbender in training.
Fire sparked from her feet, sending her higher, she kicked a flaming foot through the roof and continued her ascent.
She sent a spray of flames towards the storm, burning through the clouds, tumbling them as the heat caused surrounding clouds to be caught between a heat wave and strong gusts, she was swinging her arms fiercely, an unnatural sight that shocked the masters.
She moved flaming orbs behind the clouds and guided them towards her with one hand, the other pulled back, and at the critical moment, when the clouds were too close to be rushed away by the sudden heat blast, but just before she was enveloped in darkness.
She waited and watched as the large-scale static shock she was in for caused her hair to stand up, and even flow against the wind.
No one saw where the first bolt of lightning came from, the girl or cloud, but it was almost simultaneous.
Water, earth, fire, air; those four elements, balanced in the spirit of one…a beautiful promise of peace…fierce, yet gentle, strong, but restrained. It was something children her age dreamed of, something she had dreamed of.
"Yangchen!" a voice called out to her, with each part of each sound, and each subsequent smaller part, echoed, some parts rising while others fell, garbled; the voices behind it ringing in unison, as though one, and yet, certainly not one.
The voice reached out to her, guiding her to her mind, which seemed to be separate. Was she dead?
"Yangchen!"
That voice again, it was powerful and frightening, but it was familiar, comforting, even.
"Yangchen!"
It was her voice.
"Who is there?" she asked, her eyes suddenly flashing open. She saw darkness around her, as though physical walls to be held to for some semblance of stability.
She was under water, swimming, flailing arms, now, she'd never been a great swimmer. Her eyes went wide, drowning now…losing consciousness.
A sudden burst of air hit her from above, fresh life pouring into her lungs, giving her a fighting chance.
"Yangchen!"
The voice caused her to focus, and there was a white light.
"Yangchen, you have allowed your emotions to trigger the Avatar State. Take care to first master using this boon while remaining conscious, not blind by emotion, but let it be within yourself, contained. Be calm and know when to not use it, for if you die while the Avatar State is active, then the Avatar Cycle will cease."
No one knew what they saw, but who could, with her lashing out at the storm so recklessly?
They sent her to the Northern Water Tribe, along with some Avatar Relics, in case she was indeed the Avatar.
They would need to know.
"She's the Avatar?" the Water Tribe Chief asked, stroking his beard thoughtfully.
"Yes, she muttered she heard a voice," the Air Nun began, recalling the girl's last moments of consciousness before drifting into a deep sleep while in the healing pool, "ten thousand voices behind him…she recognizes the late Avatar as herself…the Avatar reborn."
"Is there no possibility that she was hearing voices?"
"We will know when we take her back to the Avatar Relics, but Kevi isn't healing her well, are there no more healers?"
"No…but there is a sacred pool, Tui and La, the Moon and Ocean spirits, reside there…take her to the Spirit Oasis. The water can heal any wound, and mend any shattered bone." He beckoned two guards and addressed them, "Guide the Avatars group to the Sprit Oasis."
"Thank you, your highness." The chief smiled. He loved airbenders, they were so respectful, and now this Avatar was an airbender, unlike hot headed firebenders, hard headed earthbenders, and his fellow waterbenders, who, honestly, he held in mild contempt…using the sacred spirit's pool of water for any scrape, scratch, or cut. Chopped fingers, sure, and he could understand burnt flesh, but frostbite? Of course, no one should suffer such damage to skin tissue. Oh, and while you're at it, that splinter in your heel? Take it out and dip in your filthy feet, really.
"Your very welcome, Air Nun." He bowed slightly. Respect those who you want respect from, his sacred rule that he enforced upon himself with no mild diligence, sometimes taking week long fasts when he failed to carry it out. His people called him crazy and an eccentric, but of course, whatever they didn't see commonly was strange, because they didn't practice it themselves, so they didn't see it. He had a good feeling, though, a nice, respectable Avatar. Of course, maybe he was told wrong. He just ascended to the throne; maybe the recently deceased Avatar wasn't so bad…if only he could see the world.
The Avatar was carried by him, she wasn't older than eight, he knew that, but how had she been injured? It wasn't combat, and yet, she seemed to be in great pain, she red scarred skin, like a lightning bolt got her or something.
Yangchen awoke in the water; it was startling at first, but after she opened her eyes she saw that she wasn't drowning. She looked around and saw the Air Nun who had been sent with her.
"Be calm, Yangchen, you are still weak." She turned to the waterbender next to her, a young healer who until now had been focused on keeping her eyes closed and working at the task of healing the Air Nomad, "Is she alright?"
The girl nodded, "She's better now."
An older woman stood behind her and with an outstretched arm closed her eyes, in a more stoic tone she faced the Air Nun, "Another bolt of the like and she will die."
The girl who had tended to the young Avatar cringed, "Mother, please, that would be terrible!"
"I know, but it's the truth…it was terrible enough that you had to take the risk…I'd have never forgiven myself if she died under your care, but to lose a patient is a fear all healers must face." The faraway look in her eye spoke of experience, the Air Nun wouldn't have chided the mother harshly, but now she was uncertain if a word would be wise, though she would try anyways.
"It's not my place…but your daughter-"
"Lost her father because of me; I let him die, I was too—too weak to save him!"
"Mother, please don't beat yourself up-"
"I'm sorry, Kevi, I just…am so coldhearted sometimes…but it was so terrible, and ever since your father passed…I'm just so weak right now, it's too soon to start healing again, you've had to take my place…you're powerful, though, so I believe you can save lives where I can only drag out the inevitable."
Later that evening they sat down to a good, Water Tribe style dinner…which consisted of a lot of meat. For a while Yangchen ate only what was given, but she was still hungry, and the sea weed wasn't filling her up…but it was familiar.
Her fork reached across the table, for some reason it seemed so foreign, as though she were only aware of it.
The fork then stabbed some meat, she didn't know what it was, but everyone else but the elder lady in the yellow clothes was eating it.
"No, Yangchen," the Air Nun chided, "you mustn't eat that."
Yangchen's fork was removed from her hand and she was given another one. She sighed resignedly.
Kevi thought that was unfair, so she asked her mother why she couldn't sit next to the Avatar, and after obtaining permission from the airbender woman—because she was the boss Yangchen, apparently—she sat next to the airbender in training, but only after making a display of asking if Yangchen was alright with that.
"Sure, I don't mind." Yangchen replied, she was glad for the company.
"So…you're the new Avatar, Yangchen?" Kevi asked, casually serving herself to one of all the few meat dishes present.
"I guess so…I can't really remember much, except waking up in the water earlier."
"Here, you can have these." All the food she just dipped "accidentally" fell of the spoon…and right onto Yangchen's plate.
"Thank you." she, for some reason, set her fork down, clasp her hands, and bow, as though she had learned somewhere that it was polite…it wasn't anything she recalled, though, like she developed a habit and forgot it.
One bite and it hit her—she's a waterbender. Everything made sense to her now, except the yellow garbed woman, who presently gasped.
"Yangchen! I can't believe you…you have broken a sacred rule for all Air Nomads!"
"Huh…Air…Nomads?" Yangchen was confused. While the name seemed familiar, she didn't really know what this woman was talking about.
"Yes, don't tell me you've forgotten!"
"I'm a waterbender, though." She insisted.
"I…suppose you are…there's nothing to be done for it, though…you aren't just an Air Nomad…even at such a young age you utter profound wisdom, Avatar Yangchen."
"I…Avatar…so I'm not in trouble?" she asked, hopeful.
"No, you are not in trouble…but I don't what everyone back home will think." The airbender was becoming increasingly dismayed by the moment.
"You're free to stay for the night, if you wish…I could give you a written notice of the weather, you'd have a legitimate reason for delaying your return trip." Kevi's mother offered, calmly drinking her tea.
"Thank you, Kiz, we are honored by your offer, but the Avatar's discovery is a pressing matter, we must return home at once, I wish we could delay this journey, though."
Yangchen was talking with Kevi about the buildings being mostly ice, when the young Avatar collapsed and started twitching violently, as though she'd been hit by lightning.
Kevi fell out of her chair and pulled some water out of the floor's ice tiles.
"Mother!" she exclaimed, not able to hold the Avatar still.
Yangchen somehow found herself out in the cold night, an arctic gale biting at her face. She looked down at the thin material she wore. No wonder she was cold, these yellow clothes were nice and all, but offered no protection against the cold. Suddenly she recalled skating along the ice, as though it was water. Ice is water, it's only changed forms.
She held out her hand and fire melted the ground beneath her, no waterbending in site. Was the memory wrong?
She saw a distant cave and stumbled towards it, but she couldn't make it, she feel and turned onto her back. She's a waterbender, so firebending doesn't make any sense.
She didn't want to close her eyes, but it was so cold, she just needed a little rest.
"Yangchen!"
That voice woke her up; she must have sleepwalked over here. Speaking of which, her feet were so cold that she couldn't feel them. She couldn't feel anything now, not even the pain as the cold pierced her skin, and soon, she was asleep.
It was warm, like autumn pilgrimages were warm, still a chill, but the sun's rays…kind of burned.
Yangchen felt happy, and couldn't think of why. She felt pretty strong, actually. Suddenly she opened her eyes, a big fire in front of her, it roared at her as a twig snapped in it, and she heard a light, wispy sound.
She turned to view the other side of the cave, Kevi sat against the wall, a blanket pulled over her. Kevi was asleep…so who was watching the fire? Yangchen peered around the fire and saw that it was contained by rocks, and in a hole, besides.
"Kevi," Yangchen was not leaving alone, "wake up."
"Huh?" Kevi opened her eyes and yawned for a long time, as far as yawns go.
"No, thanks, the fire has enough." she muttered tiredly, closing her eyes again.
"Kevi, don't go back to sleep!" she sighed, annoyed, then tugged at the blanket, pulling it away from the sleepy girl's grasp. Yangchen realized something, Kevi was wearing regular clothes, while Yangchen was wearing a fluffy blue coat…does that mean she was followed?
"Kevi…hmm," Kevi had curled in on herself, and seemed pretty happy on the floor right now, "here, good dreams to you, Kevi." Yangchen returned the blanket and set out for food.
Somehow hunting was natural to her, as though once upon a thousand times she hunted animals with firebending.
A penguin otter was her target, a fire ball killed it instantly, and she felt a twinge of pain for the act of killing the creature…as though a voice in the back of her mind was grieved by what it considered a travesty. Was that her? Did the Air Nun stir up memories of old feelings? Did she once not eat meat?
She dragged her kill to a space outside the cave and somehow kept the fire she used as a knife from spreading, as though she had studied the technique.
Kevi woke up to the smell of roasted meat, she sighed happily and waited for her mother to stir her, slowly remembering that she went out alone, to find the Avatar, who she heard walking pass her room late last night. She started to get ready for another journey when she saw the tired firebender hungrily chewing some crispy looking meat with her mitten covered hands.
"Where did the food come from?" Kevi inquired, remembering she forgot to bring food.
A distant look crept into the Avatar's eyes, "I…killed an otter penguin." she whispered sadly. The memory was slowly eating away at her, as though someone else had hunted and killed animals, but not her.
"Oh…are you homesick?" Kevi asked, as Yangchen stared at the ground.
"No…there was so much blood!" she cried.
That had been nearly ten years ago, she remembered, Kevi realized that she was upset about how everything turned out, and hugged her, and assured her that everything would be fine. The distress she was in made her ill, and after throwing up her meal, they stumbled back to the city, where she was taken back to the Air Temple from there. She only had firebending and memories of ten years, an unsolved mystery to the wisest monks and most versed sages.
"Who is Yangchen now, and who was she then?" she wrote those words on a piece of paper, sighing softly to herself as she contemplated what life meant. As an Air Nomad, nothing, as a member of the Water Tribe, nothing, as a member of the Fire Nation, nothing, and as a member of the Earth Kingdom, she had no bending skills or time spent to correspond with those people. The Avatar has to come from somewhere, but why did she not have any airbending, or why was she not where she was born?
Why did she eat that meat, and why did she leave late at night? Was she simply being a child, or was there purpose in her actions? Was she possessed? Since then she learned that those voices she heard were other Avatars, a fact that startled no one else.
Each Avatar was different, they said, so what did life mean, for her? Should she give up, could she impart her power to someone else?
"Argh!" she cried out as a familiar pain, like something lightning, hit her. This time was worse than ever.
She staggered through the halls until she found the masters in a circle in a dimly lit room. She didn't remember a lot of Air Nomad customs, but this seemed like an urgent situation.
"Masters, the pain!" she grunted, disturbing their meditation.
"Yangchen, leave us in peace!" one demanded.
"It's too late, the storm spirit returns!" shouted another.
"Storm spirit?" Yangchen whispered, before staggering away.
She felt rain pouring on her as she stepped under the hole in the ceiling, which she was told she put there.
She closed her eyes and firebent from her feet, flying up to the cloud above.
"What are you doing here, spirit?" she asked, dropping to the roof.
"The air masters focus even now on dispersing my power and send me back to the Spirit World, but I have a score to settle with you, Thunderstruck."
"What?" she asked, suddenly seeing the face in the cloud, it looked almost human.
"You attacked me, Avatar, and I marked your spirit with my own power, so that when I return we might finish our duel."
"I don't remember attacking you!" she yelled as the wind picked up.
"You humans and your excuses, it is pathetic, really, you attacked me, and I will destroy you, Avatar or not!"
Lightning arched towards her, but a powerful blast of fire blocked it, and cut into the cloud.
"Weak!" the cloud cried, and a gale blew her back, and another line of lightning struck, she dodged and kicked off the roof, firebending knives into her hand, which she then used to cut with, but the cloud was large, wearing all of its power down could take days, and she felt faint.
Suddenly words came to mind, "Another bolt of the like, and she will die."
Her firebending feet stopped and she fought to remain aware, but blackness shrouded her. So be it, she would destroy the physical hold the spirit had in this world, from the inside.
All she needed was a guide; she rubbed her eyes, panicking, barely able to see her blurry fingers. Just one guide to its heart, and she would gladly die, but if not, would this spirit haunt future lives? How many Avatars would die because of her error?
She saw a bluish blur and flew to the left, then dove forward.
One more bolt of lightning and she was dead. One more second and several bolts would hit her, she was already dead.
She yelled and focused all her energy on firebending from her palms and soles, spinning as did, pointing more one way then the other, so that it would cover a wider space, this cloud needed to melt.
She didn't know if she did melt the cloud or not, but the clear blue sky with the radiant yellow orb was the last thing she saw, before her life flashed before her eyes, she remembered some things now, the deep, primal fear that caused her to access the Avatar State being the most prominent.
"Yangchen." it wasn't the voice of Avatars past, it was a voice in the present, but not her own.
"Yangchen, wake up."
There was a healer before her. She knew this because the girl had blue eyes and brown hair like a waterbender, so of course she was a waterbender, and female waterbenders were healers, and there were no other female—or males for that matter—within her hearing range.
"It's a miracle you survived." she said, eyes sparkling as she took a bowl of soup off the nightstand next to her, "You're an Air Nomad, right? There's no meat in this."
"I am not an Air Nomad…I belong nowhere." it had been a long time since she heard her own voice, or so it seemed.
"That can't be true; your parents must love you." the waterbender asserted, a sad tone in her voice.
"My parents…I was raised apart from my parents."
"That's terrible!" the young woman replied, looking hurt.
"It is my culture, it is who I am…and I have committed a grave offense against it." she felt depressed now.
"Well, maybe you can go back, eat how you were, live how you did, become an Air Nomad again."
"Its fine, I don't care…I'll just never get my tattoos, even if I master airbending."
"Well, you must be hungry, so just focus on your soup." she bent the bowl's contents above Yangchen, who was amused by the technique. She reached up with her neck to pick the solids out before sipping up the liquid.
"You looked like you're having fun." the waterbender said, moving some drops that managed to fall on her face up above Yangchen, who surrounded the globular mass with her mouth, "I learned that trick long ago, it's pretty lazy, but it's fun."
"It is, Kevi." Yangchen confirmed, somehow remembering who this waterbender was.
"You recognize me?" Kevi asked, smiling mischievously.
"I…don't know how, but yes, I do…I need to master the four elements but the pain that reminds me of lightning often distracts me, can I be healed?"
"I think it's gone now…whatever I sensed the last time you were here…I thought it was just you, back then, but now I recognize that it's gone…Yangchen, right? I remember that you were the Avatar, but names are difficult for me."
"Yes, that's my name."
"Well, you should get some rest now."
Yangchen had a familiar dream, as though she were searching in a blizzard, but couldn't find anything.
"Yangchen…hello?" Kevi timidly poked her head into the cave, crouching low to enter. The way in was half her height, but the inside was a head shorter, so she didn't to duck so much.
Yangchen was obviously depressed, and it was apparently a deep rooted problem. It brought her back here, anyways.
"Wow, it's incredible how big this place was when we were little, huh?"
"Go away, please, Kevi." she buried face in her arms, silently mourning everything she had done wrong.
"Yangchen, please look at me." Kevi took her seat next to the Avatar, her smile gone, "I'll be honest with you, I don't understand the Avatar, but you are a human, making mistakes is a thing, for us."
"I'm an Air Nomad, though, we're supposed to respect life, not eat everything!" Yangchen shouted.
"But we respect life, and we're not Air Nomads." Kevi pointed out.
"No, it's different, observing a vegetarian lifestyle is important to my people's culture, I'm not like them now, though."
"So…you're like us." Kevi ventured.
"No, I'm…I'm not…I don't know." Yangchen closed her eyes and looked away, "I'm terrible."
"It's all my fault, I-" Kevi slid closer, pleading gazing upon the Avatar's face, but Yangchen couldn't bring herself to acknowledge her as she dismissed the notion, out of guilt.
"It was my fault for not getting the answers, but that isn't so bad…hundreds of thousands of years of tradition, destroyed in so few moments, that's what hurts me…we're supposed to be pacifists, vegetarian, and the Avatar above all is supposed to strive for that…all those things were broken easier than they were made."
"I imagine you were made fun of by the other kids."
"I was…they called me the Carnivore, ever since then I haven't touched a sky bison or lemur, dead or alive, anything that might be considered food by any man or animal, I've stayed away from."
"What about keeping those animals in captivity, the lemurs and bison?"
"We don't, they stay with us of their own will, anything less than voluntary companionship doesn't exist there."
"Oh…sorry, I'm just ignorant of your culture, I wasn't trying to say anything bad about them…just make you feel better."
"Its fine, Kevi." Yangchen got on her knees and crawled along the ice until she was out of the cave.
"I want this travesty forgotten," she stood up and faced the way to the city, readying herself for the journey back, "by everyone, I don't want people to know what I've done, I want a new chance to do things right, I will do things right next time." Yangchen looked behind her and sighed, "I've heard of the Mother of Faces, I want to meet her…but I can't bring myself to even look at a sky bison…so I have no idea how to get there."
"But you will still be you." Kevi said, "No matter if you change your face."
"Yes, but I will at least have a new chance…I've read in old scrolls that she can take away a person's memory."
"Then you will not know you're the Avatar, or an Air Nomad."
"You will teach me these things, and tell me that I must keep being the Avatar a secret, but first…I will ask you to never speak of my old life, not to me, nor that you should speak of me to others, but that is optional."
"Your duty is to the world…if this makes your quest easier, I would also forget."
"What of your mother?"
"She was murdered three years ago, an earth bender at a port town on our way back…she went to a bank to take out some money, I went there to meet up with her…there was a large earth spike…through her back, out of her chest," she started to breath heavier as the memory shook her, "she was alive, dying slowly…she had tears in her eyes and looked at me, then her chin rested against her collarbone, as though she were a puppet. She had died the second I saw her, but that second…maybe two seconds, it was like an eternity, so I shouted at the man and I and threw an icicle spike through his eyes, and then dragged him to the bay, and then sealed the water in ice, so that he would drown." Yangchen was surprised by how frightening this waterbender was, and made a mental note to always watch her eyes when dealing with waterbenders.
"I have since come back here…home isn't home anymore, and I won't go back, not that female waterbenders are smiled on if they learn to fight."
"Airbenders are mostly pacifists anyway…but even then, every fourth Avatar is an airbender, so I'm more confused about the reason behind it altogether…am I not a firebender, or is it a question of nationality, or what if two people from different nations fall in love…would their child be the Avatar, and whose side of the nation mix would they exhibit?" Yangchen shuddered, "Was my mother or father of the Fire Nation and the other of the Air Nomads, and I look like an Air Nomad, even though my bending is fire, didn't we just have a firebender Avatar?"
"Yangchen…umm," Kevi turned away, blushing and making a point to look away from the Avatar, "this may be a trivial question, but…is-do…what-umm-are Avatars…c-can they fall in love?"
Yangchen tilted her head curiously, holding Kevi's gaze.
"Uh, I mean-are they allowed, or would it hurt the next Avatar because they miss a past…I-I mean, can they feel…love, or not…does that feeling carry over to the next life, or can they access memory regarding someone, like where they met…and stuff, or is personal stuff separate?"
"Our memories are our own, I can't remember past Avatars, but I think they have shown me their past, to guide me, one of them counseled me once, and I think I've been possessed or just really in the moment once, one of their doing."
"Oh…well, so falling in love is possible?" Kevi asked.
Yangchen was sure now that Kevi's plan was to make the Avatar laugh, and she did a great job of it.
"In theory, perhaps," Yangchen chuckled, "though I have never tried to before."
"See, Yangchen, life isn't hopeless…though if you wanted to go west for a day's hike, there's a city of warriors that may be worthy of a chance to try to fall in love with."
"Ha, sure, maybe we can go after I become an Avatar worthy of my own station."
"Suit yourself, Yangchen. So, what's the plan?"
"I will journey to the Mother of Faces and then we'll return here, and wait for sky bison to arrive, then I will travel the world, master all four elements, and then take you up on your offer."
"Will you still be the same person?" Kevi asked, curious about what Yangchen knew of the Mother of Faces.
"Yes, but with no memories, so I'll entrust you to tell me all that I need to know."
"When do we leave?"
"We'll go as soon as you're ready."
"Well, I'm ready to leave, though we should probably pack first."
"Yes, we should." she cried out as another shock hit her, "I will try one last time to have the spirit torn from me."
"Very well, let's go to the Spirit Oasis, then."
Author's Notes: here it is the beginning of a very long something.
I will ask that you guys who read and review will also post your thoughts to me about her social connections, romance, allies, enemies, maybe her parents—I left that aspect very open ended—maybe locations, background for her social connections, just stick them in the reviews when you talk about what you think about the story so far, or PM me if I don't get a review. :-{
Anyways, whatever you choose (or chose, if you've already picked one of the three doors [you could just not review or PM me, whatever]), I am out of here!
KHH out!