A/N:Cat-Stat-Ave was the creative inspiration for this story, so if you must credit someone and shower them with praise then praise her… I'm assuming she's a girl, I'd feel like a creep for asking and besides that I have a 50% percent chance of being right. Reviews are appreciated as well, and I have tough skin, so don't be afraid to tell me if there was something you thought I could change or make better… constructive criticism helps us all. =)
Chapter 1
Promises
It didn't shock him, as he rode home on Appa, Yakone trying to escape. He should have seen it coming, though he couldn't have. Yakone bended using only his mind, making his bending almost instantaneous and second nature as having a thought. We never think about thoughts, they come and go. He thought to himself, most ironically. But we never realize how fast they travel because the time between a thought not being and being does not exist somehow, We can look back five minutes ago easily to when we thought of other things, but not to that instant, because we think of nothing else in that instant but the occurrence of the thought. Realizing just how mind numbingly fast Yakone could bend, that there was no defense against it once he started, before hand he had reasons of a possible escape attempt and danger to the city. Now he was certain he'd done the right thing in taking the crime lord's bending away, he would be too dangerous otherwise, even locked up, there's no armor made out of some special material that makes one immune to bloodbending, nothing her knew of anyway.
Just then Aang noticed a small bruise on the inside of his right wrist. Bloodbending does such things, during the time a person or animal is bended, they are like puppets on strings, in the cases in which he had taken accounts of Yakone's victims and his own unique experiences with being bended himself. He found that the blood vessels projected through the skin causing severe bruising within hours of the attack, stretching the skin beyond it's own elasticity. Others reported nerve damage to affected limbs and even paralysis.
Aang remembered one young boy in particular, he had been walking along the road and gotten in Yakone's way when he was making a getaway two years ago, still a smalltime crook, Nauta a young boy of twelve saw the police chasing Yakone and froze his feet to the cobblestone street to help.
Without a second thought, Yakone bloodbended the boy, and threw him into a nearby brick building.
The Avatar and his wife set up a healer's sanctum on Avatar Island in the east wing of the mansion after Yakone's first acquittal from the first of many trials. Katara and Aang worked tirelessly healing whoever came asking for aid. The wife of the Avatar was now 42 years old and Republic City's most prominent healer.
Knelt customarily with her calves bent under her thighs, in this way she was elevated over her patients at just the right angle and also allowed her to focus her chi to her hands easier, allowing her to heal wounds faster and more efficiently. Katara bended another two cups of water from the basin, beside the earthen exam table where the boy lay. His mother sat on a chair near the boy's head and held the hand closest to her of her young son. The water ball split into two smaller ones, about the size of a fist. "Let's try again." Katara, moved the large balls up to the main joints that made up the boys legs, first the ankles, then the knees and finally the hips, she then brought the balls back down the length of the entirety of each leg, and repeated this for several minutes.
It broke Katara's heart to shake her head and say, "I'm sorry Nauta, but this is beyond my abilities." Katara told the 12-year-old waterbender reservedly. "You healed countless solders suffering from being chi blocked didn't you Lady Katara?" Nauta's mother asked disheartened.
"This is different, those soldiers were chi blocked temporarily, had we not been there the soldiers would have been fine a couple hours later." Aang explained. "This is permanent nerve damage we are trying to heal." Aang rubbed his head for a brief moment, thinking hard. He then sprang into action. Rushing over to his wife and where she knelt. "Katara may sit next to you?" As an airbender Aang was always unnecessarily polite even in matter of life and death.
"Of course but what-" Katara then noticed Aang immediately bend the water out of the bowl and above the boy just like she did before. First the ankles and knees and lastly the hips before continuing this same process for several minutes as he explained what he was about to do. "Katara, what is the avatar state?" Aang's question caught her off guard and she was bewildered why he would ask her this now.
She thought for a moment, as it was hard to describe. "The same being's essence transferring from one body to the next and the physical manifestation of the bending arts made flesh, Aang I know what it is but what's your point?" Katara asked still confused.
"It's also connected to the spirit world, the bridge between one life and the next." Aang told her. Not removing his eyes from his work on the boy. His gaze hard and concentrated. "All life." He said with a smile.
"Perhaps by entering the avatar state, I can heal his legs by calling upon the spirit world itself and bring new life into them." Aang's expression softened. "Nautau." The Avatar began. "This may hurt…you need to be brave." And without another word, Aang's Tattoos and eyes began to glow and then stopped when Aang breathed out, the clear sign that Aang was in complete control of what he was doing and simply knew what the all the past avatars knew. The water from all the nearby vessels in the room with held water for drinking or flower vases and for keeping various herbs and plants sustained for use in herbal remedies, culminated to one massive razor thin sheet of glowing water that glowed so intensely with light that everyone except the Avatar shut their eyes. Nauta groaned in pain as he evidently started to heal. Drop by drop the spirit energy infusing the water dissipated into the Nauta's legs, and as the light slowly faded minute by minute all that was left was the sheet of water, still hovering barely six inches over his lower half of his body. The water then separated instantly and coasted peacefully back to the original spots from which they gathered. the boy hugged the Avatar in gratitude and told him that was the first time he'd seen Aang in the avatar state… and how cool it was.
The mother thanked both Avatar and Katara before departing, tears of joy in her eyes. The last thing Aang remembered was their final conversation before closing up for the night. "What sort of monster bloodbends a child?" Aang asked her. " The same kind that taught me about bloodbending. Monsters don't belong in this city… you promise me you'll find Yakone and bring him down." Aang just nodded. "We will."
That was a good day, Aang thought. Through everything, it was nice to have a small victory here and there. But it was finally over, and he fulfilled his promise he made two years ago to his wife. Aang smiled. Today was also a good day. He looked down at his wrist again, this time with reprehension and concern, and saw that the bruising was all the way up his arm. He promised her this very morning he wouldn't get hurt… some promises are harder to keep than others. Just another normal trial, He told himself. He sighed heavily, rubbing his eyes with one hand while still maintaing control of Appa's reins. In that moment he decided she can't know what had happened to him or anyone else that was there today.