WARNING – This is Book 2 - Becoming! If you haven't read all of Book 1 – Family, do not proceed any further with the chance of having the conclusion of Book 1 spoiled. So please, do yourself a favor and go and read Book 1 if you haven't already. Thank you.

Previously on Brothers Avatar – After successful take down of the Northern Water Tribe by Team Avatar. Xulo discovered that Taresc was also the Avatar. Enraged by the news, Xulo kicked Taresc off the team. Ibera decided to go with Taresc, while Lozulia (despite being in love with Taresc) decided to go with Xulo.

Brothers Avatar

The Legend of Two Avatars

Book 2 – Becoming

Chapter 1 – A Little Change

Gone. Taresc couldn't get the word out of his head: Gone. Maybe a few hours earlier, Taresc had four more people in his life than he did now. Because by decree of Xulo, to Taresc, they were gone forever. Gone.

After what seemed like hours of listening to the melancholic sounds of Taresc's weeping and the wind blowing through the tall grass, Ibera spoke up as Taresc's sniffling began to subside, "Taresc? I understand that this is an awful moment for you, but are you done by any chance?"

Taresc wiped the last tear that rolled down his cheek, "I think so."

Ibera blew down the grass in the area and sat down, "I think that we should talk." Ibera nodded, "This is probably warranting for a good chat."

"Agreed." Taresc said, wiping his nose.

"So… you're also the Avatar?"

Taresc nodded, clutching Woorq in his lap.

"Wow. I'd be lying if I said the thought never crossed my mind… but, here we are. Who knew it was even possible? How is it possible?" Taresc shrugged, "How long did you know you were the Avatar?"

Taresc looked off to the distance, "As long as Xulo's known he was the Avatar, maybe a little earlier."

"So you've just been steaming in the background? I feel like the discussion of Avatar twinning could've happened a tad bit earlier than this."

"I was going to tell him after this invasion, Rinley convinced me of that." He said. "Originally I wasn't going to tell him at all, I was going to be a closeted Avatar until I was a coffined Avatar."

"Why not tell him?" Ibera said, "I'd think it'd be fun quality to bond over."

Taresc hugged Woorq a little closer, "Rinley told him—really me, but how was Xulo to know—that someone really close to him would betray him. That's why he nearly killed Minege that one time. He was afraid, he's been afraid. I guess I wasn't too off in assuming the worse would happen if he found out; look at me now." Taresc lowered his eyes to the ground and let out a tiny chuckle, "If I just told him instead of him finding out… I bet he wouldn't have thought that I was the betrayer."

"He could've murdered you right here." Taresc looked up with a horrified expression, "It's not untrue! This is a much more lenient way of dealing with this all."

"I have a question for you, Ibera."

"Shoot."

"Why me?" Taresc stared at Ibera with the most quizzical eyes, "Why on earth would you choose me over Xulo? We've talked only a handful of times before this and Xulo is a far superior bender… I can't make sense of this."

"I think you have a better personality. That was how we were supposed to choose, right?" Ibera chuckled, "That's not the only reason. Xulo's tight grip on his crusade was strangling all of my creative freedom, with this crusade—Oh, and by the way, can we not call it a crusade? I feel like some kind of genocidal army when I say that. Anyways, with this crusade I hope to be able to cut my own piece of destiny."

"Certainly." Taresc cracked a weary smile, "I'm clueless as to where we go from here."

"Those words sound like heaven to my ears." Ibera said, "I'm mostly surprised that Zules didn't step off Tanton." Taresc started crying once again and held Woorq to his chest. "Oh, Taresc, don't cry… but… actually, don't; we kind of don't have that time. The sun's setting and the nearest village is a whiles away and I'm pretty sure there are wolves around these parts."

"I'm sorry." Taresc ceased his tears, "It hurts so bad. Just earlier, she told me she loved me and then she leaves me for no reason at all."

"Did you two finally become a thing? Thank goodness, she would always tell me about how in love with you she was." Taresc began hysterically sobbing again, "Bad thing to say, Ibera, bad thing to say." He said to himself.

"It makes no sense." Taresc said between sobs. "She was my first love."

Ibera went over and rubbed his shoulder, "Don't worry, Taresc, she's not going to be your last. You're a handsome young lad, you're the Avatar. Boys and girls everywhere are going to line up to get some of that small-town, boyish charm."

Like clockwork, his sobbing stopped as soon as it began. "Thanks Ibera."

"You better get a handle on those tears or you're going to bust in that Avatar State and roast me alive."

"I don't think so…"

Ibera raised an eyebrow, "Why not?"

"I mean, I've never entered the Avatar State before, no matter how hard I've cried."

"Really? You're basically the equivalent of an emotional dandelion. Wind comes ablowin' and you fall apart and start crying your eyes out." Ibera remarked.

"Hey…" Taresc held his arm.

"I prefer that to the brotherly alternative, where whenever the wind blows the dandelion turns into a vicious bull and accuses everyone of trying to betraying him. Have you ever talked to your brother about his trust issues, by any chance?"

"Hasn't come up yet." Taresc said, "I'll be sure to address it the next time we talk." Taresc sighed, "I feel so broken right now."

"I can tell that you want her back, Tare, Xulo too." Taresc nodded, "That's why I'm here to help. As official Navigator to Avatar Taresc, I have the perfect plan. If you want Xulo to accept you back into his life, you need to gain his respect. And what better way to do that than to beat him!"

"Beat him?" Taresc's expression went sour.

"Not literally—although I do expect you to challenge him to a battle to decide who the better Avatar is, eventually—we're going to beat him in being the superior Avatar."

"And how are we doing that?"

"By defeating Regille, of course!" Ibera said with cheer.

"Regille? Stormbender Regille? Queen of the Storms Regille?" Taresc said, "I can barely take on a regular enemy on my own, let alone one of the best benders alive currently."

Ibera said, "We'll fix that."

Taresc scoffed, but said, "It's ballsy, but it might work. Xulo might accept me back into his life if he saw me in a more virtuous light. Let's do it."

"Now stand up." Ibera said, rising to his feet, "I want to test your bending."

Taresc released Woorq and rose, "O-Okay… I assure you that I'm not as good as my brother."

"Stop being such a downer. I feel like part of my heart dies every time you say something in that down-on-my-luck tone of yours." Ibera clutched his chest, "You're just less practiced than your brother, that's all."

"Alright…" Taresc said as Ibera scowled, "I mean alright!" He said cheerfully.

"My heart thanks you." Ibera got into a fighting stance, "This is just to gauge how hard we're going to have to work to get up Xulo-level bending. I'm going to blow air at you and I want you to blow back as hard as you can."

Taresc nodded and Ibera began bending wind. Taresc joined with his inept form and struggled to keep up, "Are you blowing?" Ibera asked.

Taresc said, "Yeah! Can't you tell?"

"No…" Ibera said. "I can't." He released his air. "Okay… I'm going to blow at half power this time. Remember, use all the power you have." Taresc nodded and they commenced once again. Just like last time, Ibera called off the bending after a few moments of blowing, "That's not good." Ibera seemed deeply concerned.

"What's not good?"

"Your bending… you are really weak. Like, really, really, really, really, REALLY weak."

"Well, I haven't bent air many times… so it's normal for me to be weak!"

"But, you're scarily weak at bending air. When I taught children to bend air, they were stronger than what you're providing."

Taresc mustered up a dignified pose, "We're just going to have to work at it, aren't we?"

"That's the problem… while I believe that if you work your hardest and train every day you can achieve anything; I also believe that there's a certain amount of natural talent involved." Taresc and Ibera both appeared discouraged, "Are you sure you were bending on full blast?" Taresc shamefully nodded, "Good grief." Ibera paced around. "Even when Xulo wasn't producing air, there was more power."

"Thanks…"

"These are facts, dear, and stating facts cannot be offensive. Fact." Ibera's pacing was picking up speed. "A-ha! Why don't you show me your earthbending? That's something you've been working on for plenty of years, right?"

"Yeah!"

"Great, just bend a stone against my wind, maybe there's hope yet." Taresc bent a stone out of the ground and Ibera began blowing. Taresc struggled to keep the stone moving forward against the torrent of wind coming from Ibera. Eventually, Ibera's wind won and the stone came flying back at Taresc and knocked him over. "We're hopeless."

"Hey! It's not like you didn't know that I was a weaker bender than my brother when you picked me." Taresc said sitting on the ground.

Ibera flung his hands into the air, "Part of me was secretly hoping you were putting on a show for Xulo about being a weaker bender so that he wouldn't think you were the Avatar."

"Nope, this is just me."

Ibera immediately went into his head. The first thought was him wondering if he made the right choice in Avatars, but he quickly dispelled it. Then he went into think about any ways he could fix this situation. How could he power Taresc up over Xulo? Then the answer came to him, "That's it! We can't!" He turned to Taresc, "You are always going to be weaker than your brother!"

"Yaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyy." Taresc unenthusiastically proclaimed.

"But that's it. We should never try to overpower your brother, because that's like trying to overpower the sun in a firebending match." Ibera said, "Instead, we're going to out-bend your brother, out-style him, out-finesse him if you please."

"I don't follow."

"Didn't you say one time that your brother is bad at technique?" Taresc nodded, "There's our entry! Instead of trying to beef you up to his power, we're going to teach you a bunch of different types of bending styles."

Taresc pondered the thought, "My brother could barely even get sandbending… If I learnt new styles of bending, I'd be able to outwit my opponents and focus on strategy instead of just raw power… It's genius!"

"So all we need to do is find a bunch of teachers from around the world to teach you and we're set to take on Regille." Ibera was jumping up and down.

Taresc was filled with such a sense of excitement; it was such a surprise when that excitement turned to dread in his stomach. "What am I saying…?" He felt the sadness creeping back into his skull and it churned his stomach to sickness, "This is ridiculous."

"Excuse me?"

"I'm talking about taking down Regille; what am I saying?" Taresc felt sadness drip over him like searing candle wax, "I want Xulo back into my life, but I'm not cut out for this Avatar business."

"Come on, Tare, I believe in you… somewhat."

"It's not just that, either. When it comes down to it, I don't want to be Avatar, I never have." Taresc frowned, "I only went along with Xulo because I wanted him to be safe and to protect him… he's expelled me from his life, so I'm free." Taresc laughed despondently, "I'm free, Ibera!"

Ibera was sure he picked the wrong Avatar, now, "Taresc, that can't be true. Everybody wants to be the Avatar."

"Not me." Taresc shook his head, "The constant worry, the desperate circumstances and just the overarching responsibility, they constantly kept me awake at night. The last month, or however long we've been doing this, has been torture for me."

"It's your destiny, though."

"Screw my destiny. The world already has one Avatar and if history has proven right, one Avatar has been plenty sufficient in the past." Taresc began walking towards the village in the far distance.

"You can't quit being the Avatar! Read the rules, Taresc, It doesn't work that way."

Taresc turned around, "I'm sorry, Ibera. I know you picked me over Xulo, but I'm not your Avatar. I'm not anyone's Avatar."

"Taresc!" The man behind the counter yelled.

Taresc had just finished filling a customer's teacup. "Yes, sir?"

"You need to clean the teacups in the back." He stared with eyes of no patience for slacking.

"Yes sir." Taresc placed his kettle to the fire and went into the backroom where Woorq was resting after rubbing him under the chin, he got to polishing the porcelain. After the scene in the field, Taresc made his way to the little town of Beentah. Seeing as this would likely be his new home, he began looking for work immediately. Luckily for him, he almost instantly found a little tea shop on the main street that had a sign saying that it was looking for waiters. Taresc got hired and enjoyed his first day of work. Now the day was winding down and there were only a few customers remaining. As he stared into the shining china, Taresc felt content in his choice of a slower life.

"Hey! Can I get some service over here?" Taresc heard from the dining room.

"Taresc!" The shop's owner yelled.

"Coming!" Taresc put down his rag and teacup and went into the dining room. Taresc picked up the tea kettle and went over to the table with the newly sat man and woman. He filled both of their teacups.

"Sheesh, took you long enough." The belligerent man said.

"Thank you." The sheepish woman said quietly to Taresc.

"Did I say you could talk?" Taresc herd the man say as he turned around. The gentleman immediately began to irk Taresc, so much so that Taresc decided to fill other customer's teacups, just so he could listen in. "Huh, did I?"

"No, you didn't, I'm sorry." The lady said, not looking at the man's face.

"Yeah, that's what I thought." Taresc's blood began to boil, "Now if you try to do that again, you know what I'll have to do." With every word, Taresc thought a vein in his body was going to pop. "I'll beat you so hard, you won't be able to speak for weeks."

"That is enough!" Taresc yelled from across the shop.

The man turned his head slowly, "Oh?" He rose to his feet, "You want to say that again, boy?"

"You can't talk to her like that, I won't allow it." Taresc stated, "So back off and leave!"

The man laughed and cracked his neck, "Why don't you make me?"

Taresc tightened his body in fear. He most wanted to simply turn around and head back to the kitchen where he could avoid conflict. But, when he looked in the poor woman's eyes, he knew he had to fight. "Come get some."

The man launched himself at Taresc. He began throwing fire from one hand and then the other, while Taresc desperately tried to dodge. Taresc noticed a table began to spark with flames and used the water in the teapot to put it out. Taresc backed himself up to the back wall of the shop, "Nowhere to dodge, kid." The man said. He ran at Taresc with a blazing fist and just at the last second, Taresc ducked out of the way. With the tea water, Taresc froze the man's fist to the wall. As the man struggled to free his hand, Taresc grabbed the tea kettle and smacked the man over the head.

Taresc hoped it would knock him out, but it only served to anger him further, "You're going to pay for that." He melted the ice off his hand and continued his wild pursuit but fiercer now. Eventually the guy got a good hit on him and was able to lift Taresc and slam him down on the table.

Taresc was paralyzed with pain by the hit. Suddenly he felt Woorq tongue smack his face. At some point, Woorq must have joined the fray and when Taresc came to, he noticed the man was going to body slam him. Taresc pushed through the pain and rolled out of the way in time. The man broke the table and fell to the ground with a thud. Before he could get up, Taresc bent the ground underneath the man and slammed him into the roof and then dropped him on another table.

The tea shop was a chaotic mess of shattered china and broken tables, but Taresc had won. The man lay on the ground, groaning at the pain that Taresc inflicted. Somehow, Taresc managed a victory over a quite formidable opponent.

"Holy crap." The owner said, "I hired the Avatar to wait tables."

Taresc turned around and saw the saw the woman sitting there with a gratefulness in her eyes, she stood and gave Taresc a hug, "Thank you."

She ran out of the tea shop and in the wake of the fight, Taresc came to realization. Earlier that day, Taresc said that he had no want to be the Avatar; he said there was nothing about the position that interested him, but he realized that it wasn't completely true. The ideas of fighting for glory, taking down Stormbender cults and being heralded as a god amongst men weren't appealing to Taresc in of themselves, something else did, though: Helping people. Looking into that woman's eyes and seeing how he made her happy and probably changed the course of her life, it brought him such joy inside. By being the Avatar, he could spread this joy on a worldwide scale; the thought simply excited him greatly.

Panic quickly spread over him as he realized that he wouldn't be able to do that without Ibera's help and direction. He rushed out of the shop, "Hey! Are you gonna pay for your damages, kid?" the shop owner yelled.

Taresc stopped in the doorway, "Um, I'll pay you back when I'm famous?" Taresc shrugged and continued on his way.

Taresc began running through the streets of Beentah screaming Ibera's name, hoping dearly that Ibera had even decided to come to this town or that he didn't already leave. "Ibera!" He yelled at the buildings. "Ibera!"

"What?!" Ibera appeared from one of the windows.

"What are you doing?"

"I was trying to get to sleep! I work the shift after you, thank you very much!" Ibera yelled in a grumpy mood, "What do you want?"

"Ibera, I want to be the Avatar, I really do!"

"You do?" He said, perking up, "What's with the sudden change of heart?"

"I realized that I want to help people and fulfilling my destiny of being the best Avatar will help with that!" Taresc said, shouting up to Ibera, "Will you help me, Ibera?"

Ibera, unable to control his excitement, flew out of the window and glided down to Taresc. He tackled him to ground and yelled, "Yes, of course!" They both laughed and got up from the ground, "Whew, this is a relief, I thought I was going to have to wait table for the rest of my life in this town."

"So what's our first plan of action?" Taresc said.

"Well, while I think Woorq is plenty majestic, I think he'll make for a pretty poor steed. We need to get a ride, now that we don't have Tanton."

"Agreed." Taresc said, "Do you have any ideas?"

"I do… but I'm trying really hard to think of anything other than that idea." Ibera said with a painful grimace, "I really don't want to go back there."

"Go back where?"

"You'll see soon enough. I really don't want to go back though! But for you, I will make the sacrifice." Ibera planted his hands on his hips, "Alright, now that we have that settled, I'm going back to bed."

Taresc said, "Oh come on! Let's start now, the night is young."

Ibera didn't even look at Taresc, "I have been awake for practically the last 24 hours. Laying on the cold metal floor of that prison, with regular bed checks to make sure that no one escaped. I need sleep, Taresc, or otherwise I'm going to go Avatar State. Is that even possible? Who knows, but it will happen, so mark my words." Ibera said with his red eye bulging out of his head.

Taresc chuckled, "Never mind then, have a nice night."

"Good choice." Ibera kept walking, but then stopped in his tracks, "You're not coming?"

"No, I think I'll walk for a little bit." Taresc said looking up at the stars, "It's crazy how a little change can flip your whole perspective. Call it foolish optimism, but I'm feeling good about this journey."

Ibera laughed softly, "I like what you're becoming, Tare, keep it up." And thus Ibera left Taresc to wander the town of Beentah. Taresc kept repeating what Ibera said in his head, was he changing? Just a month ago, he wouldn't have stood up to the man in the tea shop even if he was being attacked personally. Just a month ago, he wouldn't have gotten up from that field of tall grass; he would've given up and sat there until he was nothing more than a weeping corpse. While the hurt of his betrayal of Xulo and the separation from Lozulia weighed him down, he never felt so light. Maybe he would make it, just maybe.