Disclaimer: the currents events take place before Avatar Aang and Korra and the following: Roku, Kyoshi, Kuruk, Yangchen & Unnamed Lava Bending Avatar. Before Kyoshi's succesful attempt at Constitutional change and winning the civil war with Chin, the Great Conquerer, the Earth Kingdom's noble families and monarchy were in a constant feud over power. Several kings controlled the kingdom, each having a small ownership of Ba Sing Se. During this very volatile time, a new Avatar had emerged. This is his story.

Prologue

Sheil had enjoyed fourteen years totally free of responsibility. Sure, he had to feed and water Bobeb and Lily, the family's two terribly ugly goat-dogs but other than that, he was free. Sheil only went to school when they were teaching earth bending or when the soldiers caught him playing hooky. He didn't pay much attention in class, partly because he got distracted easily, but mostly because Madam Woo was as mean and stubborn as a stone ox and built like one too. He and his friends would often play tricks on her during class. His mother developed a permanent red sheen on her face from all the embarrassment he had caused her, every time Madam Ox would send an angry letter home with him. It wasn't that he didn't take anything seriously. It was just that the things that everybody else took so seriously in life, he didn't. Sheil believed life should be enjoyed while you were still able to. He had planned to do this until he was eighteen, then he'd stop messing around and join the army and become a soldier for the Fong family. He'd go in search of his father and bring him home. That was the plot and nothing could mess with the plot. But life never seemed to go to plan; at least not to the plans we make for ourselves. No, that plan was coming to an end just because a couple of dumpy mystical types from the Fong family had decided that Sheil was the next Avatar. Sure, they were the authority but the only proof they had were some stupid test results. Now, a fancy wagon accompanied by four earth kingdom soldiers was stationed outside his house. A consul from the Fong family had come to deliver the news, if you can call bluntly blurting it out, "to deliver". For a moment, Sheil and his mother just stood in utter bewilderment. She then invited the consul and hurriedly boiled a pot of oolong tea to serve. While they waited, he and Sheil sat in the centre of the room in total silence.

A month or so ago, the Fong family forced all schools within western district of the Earth Kingdom to take a test of sorts. They never mentioned what it was about or what the students must do to pass it. All they said was that it was of great importance. They put a bunch of weird knick-knacks in front of him and all he had to do was pick out the ones that called out to him. Simple stuff, the kind of simple stuff you should not base the existence of an Avatar on.

"Well, what did he pick?" Sheil's mother asks, her fingers tightly laced around his. The stuffy white-collar stiff takes out rolled parchment from his bag and reads it out in an airy voice.

"Your son chose the crystal earring, the white lotus and a burning totem. These are all personal items once owned by the Avatars before him"

"Are you sure it is him?" she asks, her voice uneven with uneasiness.

"Positive, Mrs. Maa. Your son is the Avatar. His past lives spoke out to him and told him to choose those items, there is no other explanation. He will bring great honour to our families and the Earth Kingdom" he answers. "Do you know what this means?" he asks Sheil with a leer. Sheil shakes his head and remains quiet. He has never been this quiet before.

"It means that you will have a huge amount of responsibility weighing on your shoulders" says the consul. "You are not only representing your family, but the Fong family and the Earth Kingdom as well. You have had a great gift bestowed upon you. Now you must prove yourself worthy of it"

Sheil can't stay quiet any longer. "I'm just a kid! I'm not even good at earth bending. I just chose that stuff randomly. You've made a mistake"

The consul is surprised with his sudden interjection and his face turns down in a bitter frown. "We. Do. Not. Make. Mistakes" he sounds out, the thin whiskers on the side of his mouth spring with irritation. "There is no open opportunity for discussion. The next steps have already been planned out for you. In two days from now you will travel west to the Fong Family estate and speak with his Eminence. From there, you will be taken to Ba Sing Se for training"

"You can't just take him!" exclaims his mother and Sheil's heart fills with love for her. The red sheen of embarrassment has been replaced with the red sheen of anger, also a common expression for his mother and one not to take lightly. "He is not property of the Fong family. Sheil is my son and he will stay here until we have decided what is best for him"

"He is the Avatar! He is no longer just your son; he is the Earth Kingdom's only chance to put all this fighting to an end. Therefore, he belongs to the people of the Earth kingdom now"

"Why? So you can use him to forward your own agenda against the kings of Ba Sing Se? I will not have my son as a pawn in your wars!"

"Careful, Mrs. Maa. You are treading the grounds for treason against the Fong Dynasty. Choose your next words carefully"

She opens her mouth, probably to tell him to shove his threats where the sun doesn't shine but to speak ill of the noble family is to beg for a painfully slow death. Sheil squeezes her hand tightly and speaks.

"What do I bring with me?" he asks, swallowing the tears that were beginning to bubble to the surface. The idea of leaving home was a dreadful one but his father always told him not to let them see you cry. At that moment, the door of their modest hut slams open and on the threshold is Vidya, his sister.

"What's going on?" she asks, taking in the scene in front of her. She probably assumed it was news of their father when she saw the soldiers outside. Her eyes filled with disappointment when the face she had been searching for the last 8 years was not among them, once again. Vidya was the opposite of Sheil. She was the brightest pupil of her class and kept a pristine record. She was unpopular among her classmates though; apparently she was distant, officious and unrelenting when it came to group activities. It didn't seem to bother her much; she had a way of looking down on anyone who didn't take a liking to her. Though, Sheil agreed that these were common traits in his sister, she had redeeming qualities as well. She was honest, protective and determined. She always looked out for him.

"You must be Vidya" says the consul and she bows, visibly irritated by the need to curtsy for a Fong. Sheil knew he didn't have to worry about Vidya saying the wrong things. She was capable of removing her emotions from a situation, unlike him and their mother. "I have some very good news for you. Your brother is the new Avatar"

Her eyes shift to Sheil, they were filled with a combination of concern and astonishment. She kept her cool though.

"As in, the Avatar?"

"Correct"

"As in; master of all four elements?"

"Yes, Miss"

"Him?" she asks again, hiking her thumb at Sheil.

"Yes, the boy!" replies the consul in irritation.

She nods, makes a face and then asks, "Are you sure?"

"Yes we are sure. What is it with you people?" he huffs. "Are you all really so surprised that your son is the new Avatar?"

"Yes" Vidya and their mother say in perfect unison. He glares at them for a moment, his mouth hanging open.

"I am sure he is perfectly capable of fulfilling-" but the consul stops mid-sentence when he sees Sheil making faces at himself in the reflection of the window. The consul sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose. "We will return for the boy two days from now, at sun rise" he announces. "Good day" - and with a haughty sweep of his cape, he leaves their modest hut on his elegant wagon, followed by his soldiers on ostrich-horseback.

"They have to be making a mistake" murmurs Vidya in revelation.

"That's what we said" replies Mrs. Maa. "They wouldn't hear it"

"I'll play along with their game" reasons Sheil. "Sooner or later they'll realize I'm not the Avatar"

Vidya frowns, staring at him. "What if they're right?" she asks. "What if you are the Avatar?"

Sheil's lips press into a thin line and he stalks out of the house. He couldn't think like that, it just couldn't be possible. He didn't have the means or the stomach to be the Avatar. He wasn't made to restore balance. He was made of turkey-duck stew and roseleaf tarts. It had to be a mistake, it just had to be.

That night, he has a fever dream. He's in front of the Fong family and is asked to showcase his bending talents, but when he tries to move the rocks they have placed in front of him, all they do is tremble. He tries and tries, contorting his arms and hands, slamming his foot down onto the ground but with no luck. As the sweat drips from his brow, he watches the Fong family deride him in angry barks and snickers. When he finally wakes up, he has this sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. Sheil climbs up onto the roof of his house. On the plains, you could see almost every star. There were no lights, just the clear open skies of the night that faded into galaxies. These galaxies made Sheil feel small, under these stars; he was nothing more than a simple earth citizen. He can see campfires dotted across the grasslands where Fong soldiers are resting before their trek to Ba Sing Se. He wonders if his father ever got as far as Ba Sing Se or if he had been captured… or worse. He banishes the idea from his mind, his mother always said that thinking like that would do more harm than good.

"Can't sleep, huh?" Vidya asks, sliding down the hatched roof. "That's understandable"
"What do you think will happen when they realize I'm not the Avatar?" Sheil asks, pulling his knees into his chest.

"I don't know" she confesses. "I'm more worried about what they will do if you are. Everyone in this war is itching for the advantage. It'll become a tug of war with you in the centre of it all"

"I don't want this" he murmurs into the crook of his arm. "Not any of it"

"I wish dad was here" Vidya utters dejectedly. "He'd know exactly what to say"

"I can't do this" Sheil states, his brown eyes intensify, like he's trying to look through her. "I can't give them what they want. I'm not strong enough"

"Sheil…" she wraps one of her long, tanned arms around his shoulders and pulls him closer. "You are capable of more than you think. Out there, the world is big and intimidating but the Maa's don't scare easily. Dad always said our ancestors came from stone, that we were shaped by it. The only thing stopping us is ourselves"

Sheil cracks a smile and mockingly bows to his sister. "Yes, Guru"

She swats his shoulder but laughs with him. She was right; maybe his plan hadn't been uprooted, just changed. He could still join the army; he could still find their father. He could ask the Fong family or one of the generals at Ba Sing Se if they know anything of his whereabouts. Maybe being the Avatar could help Sheil find him faster. Maybe this was a good thing. He was made of stone; he will be untiring like stone. He will not let anyone stop him. He was a Maa after all.

Chapter One: Journey To The West

The next two days were arduous. As much trouble as he had given his mother in the past, she had never put up a fight like this. She refused to let Sheil leave. Apparently she didn't "care" about the great duty that he had to fulfil as the Avatar or that hundreds of thousands of people were counting on him. Hell, she didn't even care that he had this colossal legacy hanging above his head like a boulder, threatening to flatten him at the moment he failed to perform his duty. To her, Sheil was only her son. The boy she had brought into this world and could notoriously "take out of it as well". "How will I know you'll be safe?", "Who will take care of you?", "They only want to use you", etc. These barrage of inquires were merciless. She may have seemed controlling and stubborn, but she was just scared, Sheil could see that. She spent her whole life protecting him, caring for him. She loved him. Now she had to throw all that hard work into the wind and surrender control. She was no longer able to guide him on the course that she always planned for him. The life she dreamed up for him had slipped through her fingers just like Sheil's own plans for himself. She had to give up her only son to a world that only wanted to consume him, to use and abuse him. She didn't see the Avatar as a source of great power and honour, but as a great burden that had to be carried. This made Sheil angry. It was not that she was being stubborn; it was because she didn't seem to trust in his abilities to see this through. While she had bickered and bickered about the whole situation, he was slowly reaching his boiling point.

"Enough!" Sheil spat. "This is who I am and we can't change that. I have a responsibility, mom. I have a responsibility to all those people out there, all those families who have somebody fighting in these wars. Families who have lost loved ones and families who are still waiting for them to return. Families like us"

"I will not lose another person to this war, Sheil! I just won't" she states in a hard voice.

"You won't lose me, mom" he reasons. "If I can help those families, then I will. I have to do this, even if you think I can't"

Her eyes softened. "Of course I think you can do this, I know you can, Sheil. I just wish you didn't have to"

She hugs him close and kisses the top of his head. "You are just like your father. Stubborn like a stone ox"

He chuckles and replies, "I don't think I get it from him, mom. I get it from you"

"Preposterous" she huffs and tidies his hair. She cups his face and lifts his gaze. "You are very brave" she says, proudly. "That's from my side of the family. I understand I must let you go…. But only on three conditions"

Sheil rolls his eyes. "I'm listening"

"One, you must not allow this to change you" she states. "Stay true to who you are. Two, you must come back to me"

"I promise" he says. "Three?"

"Vidya must go with you"

He opens his mouth to argue but Vidya beats him to the punch. "WHAT?!"

She's got her head popped around the corner; she was in the process of doing her hair. "You got to be kidding me! There is no way, what about school? I'm at the top of my class!"

"School will be here when you return. Your duty to your family is more important" their mother reasons.

"Than my education?!" she huffs. "How am I suppose to change our empire for the better if I'm stuck babysitting?"
Vidya was convinced if she did well enough in school, she'd be able to work her way into the Fong family's administrative council, and from there overthrow the monarchy. For some reason, she thought it possible, even though the Fong family do not allow women into the council. It was a revered tradition for all councilmen to be just that; men. But then again, they've never seen the fire in her eyes.

"I don't need a babysitter!" interjects Sheil. "I'm old enough to do this on my own!"

"Yes, but that doesn't mean you have to" she replies. "That is why you have a family, so you don't have to do things alone"

"Well, what if I want to do this alone?!" demands Sheil and his mother glares at him.

"There will be plenty of paths in life that you will be forced to walk alone, trust me" she puts her hands on his shoulders and her bright green eyes burn into his. "This is not one of them"

"But-"

"Those are my conditions" she declares. "Take it or leave 'em"

He reluctantly puts out his hand and she shakes it triumphantly with a big grin on her face.

"So I don't get a say in this?" asks Vidya.

"Think about it this way" says her mom. "You'll have an easier time getting in with the leaders of this nation if your brother is the Avatar"

Vidya's brow furrows for a moment as she ponders the possibilities and then with the nod of her head, it had been decided. Vidya would accompany Sheil on his journey.

Mrs. Maa wiggles her eyebrows at Sheil and says, "Mother of the Year or what?"

The night before their trip, Sheil lies awake in his bed, staring up at the ceiling. The magnitude of his journey is dawning him. These wee hours of the night are all he has left in his home. He rolls out of bed and tip toes to his mother's bedroom.

"Are you asleep?" he murmurs into the darkness of the room and the sheets of the bed twitches.

"How could I possibly be asleep?" she asks. She pulls back the sheets and he climbs into the bed. A few moments later, Vidya appears at the doorway, looking in timidly.

"I can't sleep" she confesses.

"There's plenty of room for one more" says her mother and Vidya wanders over.

They rest on either side of her while she hums the melody of an old war song the soldiers would always sing as they ride past their home to Ba Sing Se.

Leaves from the vine / falling so slow

Like fragile, tiny shells/ drifting in the foam

Little soldier boy/ come marching home

Brave soldier boy/ come marching home

Sheil does not know when his mother stopped singing or when he began to nod off but it seemed as though he only closed his eyes for a moment until a bright light cut through the shutters and flooded straight into his eyes. The sharp crow of a rooster pigeon breaks the morning calm and Sheil's uneasy feelings return.

The wagon doesn't arrive long after and while the soldiers pack their modest things onto the back of the carriage, Vidya and Sheil say goodbye to their mother.

"I love you, mom" whimpers Vidya and she grabs onto her mother like she was holding onto life itself. When its Sheil's turn, he puffs out his chest, very aware of the curious gaze of the soldiers.

"Well, I guess this is it" he says in a deep voice and bows slightly.

"You idiot" mutters his mother and she grabs him by the collar and drags him into a strong hug.

"Good bye, momma" mumbles Sheil into her dress. She smells like roseleaf, he breathes it in so that it burns into his memory. His heart aches as tears well up in his eyes. He has never been away from home for longer than a day.

"Good bye, baby" she murmurs back. She holds his face between her hands and says, "Please, be safe"

"I will, I promise"

The carriage is decked out. Sheil has never ridden in a coach this nice before. All he's ever ridden on was an old wooden cart owned by his friend, Goa's father. He begins to think about Goa and his other friends and his heart twinges so he pushes that to the back of his mind and focuses on the carriage's beautiful interior. Leather seats, gold trim and velvet curtains align the windows. There's even a small communication box attached to the front so you can speak with the carter. Even so, it rumbles and shakes as it races across the gravel, and it makes for an uncomfortable journey. The consul that delivered the news is the same to pick them up. He's greased his tiny whiskers into a sharp, thin moustache, like it was drawn with a calligraphy brush. He looks so stiff in his get up, all green and buttoned up to his chin. Sheil wonders if they're going to make him dress like that.

"How long until we reach the Fong's residence?" asks Vidya and the consul eyes her up and down bitterly. They didn't want her to come along in the beginning but Mrs. Maa wouldn't take no for an answer. The consul was still a bit piqued by the whole scene.

"Two hours, three at most" he answers curtly. Sheil huffs, that's a long time to spend in such a small space with the likes of him. Not to mention, the shaking and hobbling of the carriage was not that great either. He sits on the edge of his seat so he can see out of the coach's windows. The Haruki Plains stretch out in front of him and he watches the fox antelope gracefully graze and sprint across the green knolls. He daydreams of what it would be like to be a fox antelope. To be so beautiful and fast. To not have to do anything all day but eat and run and eat and sleep and then maybe run some more. You wouldn't have to go to school, or grow up and get married. You wouldn't have to use all your money and buy land or become a soldier in any dumb wars for a bunch of old geezers who didn't even have to do the fighting. You'd just get to live among the wilds. Yep, that sounded pretty great to Sheil. The surroundings change over time, from grassy heaths to mountainous ranges and then to rocky paths that had been earth bended out of the sheer cliff sides. They were nearing the Fong Estate. The manor was built in the rocky ridges of a mountainside. Sheil could see its large a cylindrical tower that was in the centre of the manor and scaling walls that seemed to go on for miles. It was grand and intimidating. The feeling of dread returned to the pit of Sheil's stomach and he began to nervously play with a loose fraying on his pant leg. The carriage trundled past the large gates and the consul smiled.

"Welcome Avatar, to Fort Fong"