Play This Hand
From the Fool to the World and back again.
0 - The Fool
Aang is the Fool of the world. Every time he comes around to save it, it laughs at him, and watches him caper around trying to make sense of it all. He dances, and jingles, and smiles, but from his lips drop words that contain too much truth. A true Fool is a dangerous man, which one would do well to remember.
1 - The Magician
Roku is the magician. He performs spectacular tricks for everyone to admire, and even has a pet animal. He appears in a flash of light, disappears just as fast, and slowly one comes to realise that he has little to offer but trickery with light. One must dig deeper in order to find true magic.
2 - The High Priestess
Yue is the High Priestess, forever virginal, forever doomed to self-sacrifice. She was never truly alive, and so her death could not be properly mourned. She was forced into a role of cosmic understanding, but wished only to be human. She is tragedy, and she is hope.
3 - The Empress
Suki is the Empress of her own domain. She has power, and is willing to use it. She takes on lovers, but will easily leave them. She is a figure depicted in white and green, and difficult to understand. She is power, restrained for the moment.
4 - The Emperor
Zhao is the Emperor, strutting pride and a firm belief in inequality. He is fire surging to consume, and a desire to claim all as his. He is ultimately toppled, for no leader lasts forever. He is a warning of what happens to humans who fly too high.
5 - The Hierophant
The Avatar State is the Hierophant. It is fearsome power, the many discarded lives driving it ever harder, until the mind caught in it is all but lost amid the screaming. It is both beautiful and terrible to behold. It is not of this world, and all who see it understand this.
6 - The Lovers
Katara and Zuko are the Lovers, although not always with each other. They are passion in all its forms, from fast and destructive, to the softly tugging strings of romance. They are heartbreak, and hope, hatred and love all rolled up into one. To split them would be to destroy the cycle.
7 - The Chariot
Appa is the Chariot, but he cares not a whit about it. He is oblivious to all four elements, and is the steady force that saves the world time and time again. Without him there is only slowly moving feet and, ultimately, failure.
8 - Strength
Katara is Strength, peaceful and passive, but unstoppable all the same. She could become a juggernaut, if but a small twist of fate had sent her along a different path. She controls life itself, but has sworn to never end it. She is true nobility, powerful and pure.
9 - The Hermit
Jeong Jeong is the Hermit, and bitter about it. Harsh lessons have burnt themselves into his skin, and he wishes for nothing more than to keep those teachings to himself. He is alone, and hurt, and deep inside his cave he licks never-healing wounds.
10 - Wheel of Fortune
The Elements themselves take on the role of the Wheel of Fortune. They are ever present, ever-unchanging, and utterly without mercy. They take and give as they see fit, and change lives without ever acknowledging them. They hear neither threats nor pleas, and cannot be stopped.
11 - Justice
Jet is Justice, without the saving grace of mercy. He is fast, and harsh, and will deliver his justice to even the smallest baby, if they wear red and smell of smoke. He is the hand of god, but which god he will not say. He is truly blind, for he himself has shut his eyes.
12 - The Hanged Man
Jun is the Hanged Man. She sees the world through eyes made for money, and will one day suffer for it. She is sentences that jolt minds out of complacency, and biting wit that strips people down. She is slight desperation, and overwhelming ego.
13 - Death
Death belongs to no one, and no one belongs to death. It, of all of them, is utterly alone.
14 - Temperance
Sokka and Katara together make Temperance. They are science and fiction, the improbable rubbing against the impossible in an attempt to make sense of reality. It is balance, imperfectly maintained, whilst at the same time inseparable. It is love of a different kind, but cherished in its own way.
15 - The Devil
Ozai is the Devil. A figure painted in sharp relief, motivation barely touched upon, and with a sense of justice all of his own. He is power, temptation, and mindless destruction that is hideously seductive. He is the reminder that a God must be out there, somewhere. He is oblivion, willing accepted.
16 - The Tower
The comet is the Tower, and from its heights everything appears insignificant. Underneath its curve people scream, and shout, and die, but still it continues on, forever unheeding.
17 - The Star
Gran-Gran, oddly enough, is the Star. She is faded dreams, and lost hope. She is renewing ideals for the next generation, and carefully breathing life into the coals. She is one among many, but treading her path heavily all the same.
18 - The Moon
The Blue Spirit is the Moon, mysterious and unknown. His face is always half-hidden, and he is black and white melted down into grey. He is the nameless fear in the dark, and the safety of a dark hole. He is what-might-have-been, and what never will be.
19 - The Sun
Haru is the Sun. He is a child, loving hard and fast, and as ancient as life itself. He knows war, he knows death, he knows pain and he knows loneliness. He knows love, he knows hope, he knows determination and he knows friendship. He is used to being looked at slyly, and the power of changing fate's course.
20 - Judgment
Iroh is Judgment, Justice's twin. He is painful memories hidden under a tired smile, an old man light on his feet. He is a hand gently soothing away fear, yet all the while ready with a knife. He is forgiveness, tempered with lethal determination.
21 - The World
The Avatar is the World, and the world is the Avatar. They are ying and yang, both unending and intertwined so tightly that if one pulled them apart they would surely snap. It is a war averted, and the Avatar standing over humanity, gently guiding it towards completion, the ultimate utopia. It is knowing that this will never be achieved, but nevertheless returning still. It is everything from the Fool to Death, and it is all one need ever know.