Author's Note: Takes place on the dawn of the war. Inspired by a Zen Buddhist story.
Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar: The Last Airbender or any part of it. Nickelodeon/ Viacom/ DiMartino and Konietzko do.
Strawberries
The first sign that something was wrong was the behavior of the bison.
The great beasts normally spent their time floating placidly on the updrafts surrounding the cliffs of the Eastern Air Temple, grazing on the high pastures above the sea, or nuzzling in the hay of the stables. But one fine summer morning, the bison appeared suddenly en masse, streaming out of the sky in a panic. Eyes rolling in terror, they landed hard on the ground and thundered towards the safety of the stables, scattering the sisters who had been practicing on the plaza.
Sister Iio had not slept well that night. She awoke before sunrise, and saw to her surprise the pitch black of night had been turned to grey morning by the brightness of a new, tear-shaped star in the sky. It was an omen, but for what she could not be sure. So troubled was she that she left her room to calm herself, the sun's first rays finding her atop the central plaza, meditating in the early morning silence. That morning, she was to meet the youngest generation of airbenders for basic instruction. Some had only just arrived, brought by their wandering parents to one of the only four permanent air nomad dwellings. Fidgety and unsure of their own abilities, the girls would need to learn the most simple airbending techniques before attaining the first rank and receiving the honor of their own glider. But Iio had high hopes for them. After all, the children were the future.
Iio's ruminations were shattered by the bellowing of bison and the panicked shouts of the nuns. Iio took one look at the chaotic sight below and leapt down from her perch to help restore order. She landed soft, looking around for her own bison, Lulaya, the matriarch of the herd. The huge bison was running in circles, completely disoriented and tearing up the ground with her nails. Sister Iio rushed up as fast as her old bones could carry her, murmuring softly, hoping to calm the enormous animal down. She was met by the bison's wide, unseeing eyes, big as melons, their whites showing all the way around. Lulaya pushed forward, almost trampling Iio, who quickly jumped to the side and swung onto her back. "Shh.." Iio whispered, reaching down to stroke her bison behind the ears and wrinkling her nose at a strange, rancid smell. "Shh… calm down. It's me, girl. Everything is alright." Slowly, Lulaya slowed her charge, coming to a trembling stop and allowing her rider to dismount. Relieved, Iio stroked Lulaya's shaking flank, then stopped with a sharp intake of breath.
All along the bison's left side were terrible burns, the skin blackened and blistered and the fur still smoldering in places, giving off a terrible smell. What, how could… no, it can't be...
Iio groaned inwardly. I am too old for this. She took a deep breath, her lungs taking in far more air than any normal human could, then sent it out in a shout that resonated with her entire body. "Everybody calm down! Calm the bison! Where is the bison-herd?" No one could answer her question, but the bison were slowly brought back under control, lowing and making odd, strained groans. As they calmed enough to allow the other nuns to inspect them, it became clear that many of the bison were burned or singed.
"Sister Iio!" She turned and saw Anan, a junior nun who couldn't have been more than fifteen, run up, panting. "Sister Iio, look, these burns… what could have caused this? You don't think a dragon…"
"No, not this far east." Iio shook her head, and then set her mouth in a grim line. "Anan, please, go alert the council immediately. I fear we may be under attack."
"What?" Anan's eyes widened, then she ran off, blowing dust to the side in her rush.
"Sister Iio, I'm going to go investigate," spoke up another nun, Piyat, unfolding her glider.
"A strong wind to you. Be careful," called out Iio as the other nun lifted into the air. "And try to find the bison-herd if you can." The elder closed her eyes, and prayed that it was not too late.
When Piyat returned, gasping and shaking so much she could barely walk straight, Iio had already gone to the council chamber with the other elders. She entered to the sound of the council arguing heatedly.
"The first thing to do is get the children to safety!" Iio was saying. "They need to be the top priority. Protecting the temple itself is lesser importance."
"The temple itself can serve as protection," countered B'kri, the head of the council, an old nun with a lined face but piercing eyes. "We can bring them into the inner sanctum if we must. Regardless, why would they be interested in the children?"
"And that is assuming that it even is them," added the elder Golsa, pressing her thin lips together in suspicion. "I somehow doubt that they would announce themselves like this, or that they would consider us as a target worth their time. There was probably a forest fire in the hills that spooked the bison."
"You didn't see these burns. They were not caused by a natural fire!"
"Please…" Piyat tried to make her voice heard, but the elders were too involved with their discussion to hear.
"There is no reason to panic," said the elder Netra. "We have never antagonized the Fire Nation. We shall simply wait until they tell us the meaning of this intrusion…"
"What else can they mean by…"
"Please, listen!"
The elders tore themselves away from their argument and took in Piyat's disheveled appearance with surprise.
"Piyat, what happened?" Sister Iio rushed over, expecting the worst.
The worst is what she got. "There are firebenders, thousands of them! A whole army! I don't know why, they didn't say anything… They almost shot me down!"
"What?" snapped Golsa. "Firebenders? On foot? How did they pass through the mountains?"
"No, Sister Golsa, they can fly."
Golsa barked a laugh. "You silly girl. Firebenders cannot fly."
Piyat shook her head from side to side, and the expressions of horror on the faces of the other elders were proof that they did not share in Golsa's skepticism.
"I believe," said Iio, breaking the sudden silence, "That we should send the children away for now. We can send them on a bison, with Dahara."
"Agreed," murmured Sister B'kri. She rose from her pedestal, her face grave. "We shall go and try to speak to them. Find out if this can be resolved peacefully."
The elders rose in one movement and left, leaving Piyat alone and trembling in the chamber. Wrapping her arms around her body, the young nun began to pray to the wind spirits that the flames, impossible flames that she had seen used to launch the firebenders' bodies into the air like arrows, would by her elder's words be quelled.
Chaos. The smoke rising from the valley had blocked out the sky, shrouding the temple grounds in dusk, not even pieced by the light of the comet. Anan could barely see in front of her, the thick, eye-burning haze only pierced every so often by the immense form of a charging bison. She could already hear the roar of the fire, sounding as if it was at the very temple gates. Why were they under attack? Where was everybody? Where were the elders? What was she supposed to do? Where was she supposed to go?
The smoke suddenly lifted, and Anan saw a very welcome sight. "Sister Iio!"
She ran up to the elder, overwhelmed with relief at the face of an authority. "What's happening?"
"They are coming." Sister Iio's face was oddly serene, in bizarre contrast to the gravity of the situation. "There is nothing we can do."
"W-What?" Anan was aghast. "What do you mean? Nothing?"
"No. They are too many, and far too strong. We can only hope that the children have escaped in the confusion." The elder's voice was steady, but a pain showed in her eyes. "Come with me. There is something we must attend to."
"But, but if we can't escape them, we have to fight!" Anan's mind reeled. They couldn't just give up!
"Oh, my child, what good will it do?" Iio turned to Anan. "Listen, at this point we must draw them inward, to the center of the temple, so they do not think to look to the sky. We must keep their attention away from the children. That is all we can do."
"Then we should fight! That would keep them busy…."
"Fighting now will accomplish nothing. Our fates will be the same, and only cause unnecessary suffering."
"No…" Anan didn't know what to do. This was too much, too quickly. Hadn't she been preparing for class just that morning?
"We'll fly…"
"We will choke in the smoke, or they will see us, and shoot us down. They have surrounded the temple." Iio's voice was quiet. "Now come. Follow me."
Anan followed meekly as Iio led her towards her quarters, shaking with fear. Surely Iio had some sort of plan? Surely… surely she was not leading them both to their deaths?
Iio's room was, like those of most of the air nuns, fairly sparse, home only to a sleeping cot, a reading desk, and a space for meditation. As Anan watched, Iio drew out a key from her robes and pushed aside the rug, revealing a small, concealed door. Anan's heart leapt at the hope of escaping underground, but sank again when she saw it was only a small storage space, not even large enough to hold one person.
Iio rose up, holding a large ceramic jar sealed with wax. Anan watched it with her brow furrowed, wondering at what it could possibly contain that could help their situation. But when Iio opened it, it revealed not a weapon but a profusion of shining red fruits.
"What is it?" asked Anan, beginning to think that perhaps the smoke had addled Sister Iio's mind.
"Candied strawberries," answered Iio, kneeling on the floor and setting the jar down beside her. "I have been saving them for a special occasion. But, I suppose…" She smiled sadly at Anan. "Now is as good a time to enjoy them as any."
Anan gaped, unable to understand. "But, the firebenders…"
"It will take them time to find us. Hopefully, time enough to finish the strawberries." Iio selected a berry and nibbled it, sighing at the taste. "Please, sit. Food is sweeter when shared."
Anan paused a moment, then sat, shivering. Iio offered her the jar and she tried one, her fingers growing sticky.
"Do you like it?" Iio's voice was very quiet now.
"Yes," murmured Anan in return, tears leaking from the corners of her eyes. "Yes, it's delicious."
Many stories were told by the Fire Nation of the fall of the Air Temples. Many tales were spun of the airbenders' terrible might, of how their greatest warriors took out dozens of soldiers before finally falling to the comet-strengthened flames, of how they defended their walls to the last man.
Few tales were told, however, by those soldiers who lay siege to the Eastern Air Temple and found, in an enclosed room, a scene out of a dream: two nuns, one young and one old, sharing a jar of fruit and seemingly oblivious to the smoke and fire around them, finishing the last glistening bite just as the soldiers burst through the door.