Avatar: Reincarnated
Book One: Water
Chapter One: Missing
The mountain air refreshed the Avatar after his long day of meetings. The night brought with it calm and quiet – a peace he hadn't had in a long time. He should be relieved though. In over thirty years, – personal problems aside – he hadn't been faced with a threat as serious as Sozin's War.
There were of course the minor riots – a few fire benders here and there who weren't so accepting of their new Fire Lord. Some Dai Lee agents stirred up trouble every now and then, but nothing serious. Usually just the typical riff-raff – thieves, pirates, etc.
The average citizen experienced nothing but peace.
Aang was a little jealous. This was one of the few moments he felt at ease, staring off into empty space, a still and starless night.
Almost too still.
Aang leapt from the roof of the Southern Air Temple and bent the air around him, gliding smoothly to the balcony below.
Right on cue, a man stumbled into the last air bender's view. Judging by his heavy, blue coat, he was from the Southern Water Tribe. The white markings on the sleeves told Avatar Aang he was a warrior. The man's face was blocked by the thick, wooly hood. He tripped, falling flat on his face at Aang's feet.
"Sokka?" the Avatar asked hesitantly.
A muffled, "No," was the reply as the man looked up. The man was about ten years younger than Sokka, but he looked ten years older. His face was prematurely wrinkled and deep blue eyes reflected trepidation. He had clearly traveled all the way from the Southern Water Tribe with a purpose.
"My name is Hikalu," the man said, struggling to his feet and breathing hard. "I need your help, Avatar Aang."
"Hikalu… Do I know you?" The newcomer's blue eyes, dark skin and even darker hair were somehow very familiar.
"No, sir, but you may know my father… He was just a toddler when Sokka and… when Sokka found you in the iceberg."
Aang nodded his bald head. So the man was familiar with… the incident.
"What brought you all this way?" he asked after a moment.
"My wife is missing."
"I understand." Aang said immediately. "I'll find her. Tell me everything you know about her disappearance inside. You look exhausted." Aang could relate to Hikalu's problem all too well.
They made themselves more comfortable deeper inside the temple and some color returned to the Avatar's guest and he handed the Avatar a picture of Loki.
"I'm not sure what happened. I was at work, hunting, and when I returned home, my wife was gone. There were no signs of a struggle, nor were there any footprints in the snow…"
"Does your wife have any enemies?"
"No, no! There is no one who would want to hurt my gentle Loki… but there's something else you should know… Loki is pregnant." The man's voice faltered and he paused.
"How far along is she?"
"Nine months. She could have the baby any second! It took me a week to get here – she could have already… How could I let this happen?"
Aang placed a tattooed hand reassuringly on the warrior's shoulder. "I will do everything in my power to bring your wife safely back to you. Wait for me here. I can notify you by way of the Air Sanctuary."
"But—!"
Too late, the Avatar was gone.
The gilder from The Mechanist could only store so much food. On the third day of Aang's flight, he finally had to stop for a decent meal and rest. Hoping to go unnoticed, he slipped quietly into an almost hidden tavern. Despite the late hour, the room was full of other travelers. Judging by their clothes, many of them were pirates and thieves.
No one took notice of Aang as he sat at a table away from the light. From his view of the room, he could watch most of the other guests. Not until after he had ordered and eaten most of his vegetarian lettuce wraps did he notice there was another table behind him – one veiled by an even thicker darkness.
It was not so much the hushed voices that drew his attention, but more what the voices were discussing.
Three men, two women. All pirates. They'd just sold the last of their slaves – women they had kidnapped.
Women with infants.
It took all of Aang's self control to stay in his seat. He only realized he'd frozen with the last of his lettuce wrap halfway to his mouth when the captain stopped talking. Recovering quickly, he shoved the rest of his late dinner (or was it breakfast?) in his mouth, faking nonchalance.
The pirates commented on their meal, then left. Aang waited until the door closed behind them before following.
Outside, only a few paces behind his query, the Avatar realized it was afternoon. The thick grey clouds completely covered the sky, making it look later than it really was.
A storm was coming.
At the entrance to the harbor, Aang stopped. Once he knew which ship the pirates were boarding, he headed in the opposite direction. The pirates were already suspicious of him; he would lose them if he wasn't careful. He'd follow them in the air and make his move when they were out to sea; too far from backup.
Their ship was small and fast; it wasn't long before the shoreline was nothing more than just that - a line in the distance. Bending the moisture from surrounding clouds, Aang could follow closely while remaining unseen. Just a few minutes after leaving shore, large water droplets began splashing against Aang's head. The soggy state of his clothes tempted the Avatar into attacking sooner than he'd planned.
The ship had just changed course, now heading toward the Fire Nation instead of the Earth Kingdom. The storm turned the sea choppy, allowing Aang to sneak onboard unnoticed under the cover of an unnaturally made wave. Three deck hands washed overboard, clearing his path to the cabin door. Inside, the long hallway was dimly lit by torches on either side of doors that led to quarters.
He didn't need to look in the windows to know which door was the right one. Children's cries led him down the hall and around the corner…
…Straight into seven angry pirates.
Hikalu stared after the Avatar for a few minutes before he was able to move from the spot. He prayed he wasn't too late. Poor Loki.
After gathering some food from the trees outside for himself, and for the creatures he would inevitably encounter, he began searching for the Air Sanctuary.
It wasn't difficult to find. The Avatar had thankfully left tall doors open. Hikalu wouldn't be able to get inside otherwise, as Avatar Aang was the last of the air benders, and air bending was the only key.
For the first time since Loki had vanished, Hikalu worried about the future of their world. If there were no air benders left, the Avatar Cycle would be broken. The world only had three more generations of Avatars after Avatar Aang. Would his great-great grandchildren live in a world protected by the Avatar, or would they be left to fend for themselves?
Hikalu took another step toward the Air Sanctuary, before a giant furry monster landed in his path with a deafening roar.
Smiling reassuringly, Hikalu held out a large melon toward the last sky bison. Appa sniffed it before opening his mouth for the guest to throw in.
Momo dived at Hikalu's head, screeching angrily.
"Don't worry," he called, chuckling. "I have some for you, too, Momo." The man from the Southern Water Tribe held out a few moon-peaches for the flying lemur. He was pleased to be in the presence of such amazing creatures, and thankful their lifespan outlasted humans'.
Reluctantly, the flying bison moved aside to let the guest inside the sacred Air Sanctuary.
As soon as he entered the room, Hikalu felt a drastic difference in the atmosphere. It was a strange stillness, calm and peaceful, yet eerie at the same time. Regardless, the Sanctuary was nothing short of amazing. For a few minutes, all he could do was stare in awe at the face of every Avatar since the beginning of time.
Feeling insignificant, Hikalu woke from his reverie and began unpacking his sleeping bag and other supplies. It was difficult for him to remain in one spot for so long while the Avatar was looking for Loki alone. He desperately wanted to search for her, but there was nothing he could do.
He sat alone, staring at the empty place where Avatar Aang's statue would someday be, waiting for news.
The three of the pirates who could bend earth launched hard pebbles in Aang's direction.
Aang held his hands out, one on top of the other, palms out, blocking the shots. He compressed the pebbles together, making a larger bolder, which he aimed at the middle earth bender.
Aang's target dived out of the way, but the boulder nicked his shoulder before crashing through the ship's exterior. They were lower than Aang thought; water began spilling in through the hole.
He'd have to be more careful.
Aang let out a slow breath, lowering his hands toward the water flowing at their feet, freezing the pirates in place.
"Captain!" one of the frozen prisoners called. "It's the Avatar! What should we do?"
"Fight!" the captain ordered, drawing a long sword.
The captain had brought reinforcements from behind. It was now one against twenty. The fire bending crew members hurried to unthaw their fellow pirates while Aang used an old water bending trick, the Octopus. He easily knocked away and blocked every advance from the pirates.
However, defense wasn't the way to go this time. Especially since many of the pirates were reckless, and there were defenseless children nearby.
There was a flash of lightning, and suddenly Aang was far away.
"Roku! What's going on?" he demanded.
"I'm sorry, Aang. I'm afraid… your time as Avatar is up."
"What? I'm in the middle of a battle! There's still so much I have to do, Roku! I can't just leave now! I'm only fifty-seven! Okay, that is old, but compared to Bumi's one hundred and thirty years, that's nothing!"
"Actually, you're one hundred and fifty-seven, Aang. If it were up to me, of course I'd let you stay, but it isn't. You have to accept your natural destiny, just like the rest of us. And you will do more, Aang, when the cycle continues."
"Roku, I have to save these kids."
In another flash, and Aang was back on the pirate's ship, which was now falling apart. The captain and the five strongest crew members – a fire bender, a water bender, two archers and someone wielding a naginata – remained standing.
Aang ignored them. He pushed them away with a wave, freezing them to the wall, and ran into the children's room. Roku was nuts if he thought these pirates, skilled though some of them were, could defeat him, the Avatar.
Compressing the earth left behind by the earth benders, Aang created a granite-bottomed raft big enough for the children. Altogether, there were seven kids – four toddlers, two babies.
One of them looked new born, and the other baby wasn't moving…
Movement outside the cabin door told Aang he didn't have any time to waste. Using a strong gust of air, he blasted another hole through the ship and carefully placed the raft into the
ocean. He stuck his glider on top for a makeshift sail and iced high walls to keep the kids from falling off.
The older baby still wasn't moving, but there was nothing Aang could do; he couldn't revive the dead.
They were far from the pirate ship now, but he could still make out the captain, watching him and his raft.
He tried to water bend the sea, attempting to make a calm path for the raft to travel by, but he was not more powerful than nature.
Suddenly, Aang remembered how Roku had died – defeated by nature, not by an enemy. The last air bender looked at the storm surrounding him.
So this was how it would end – beaten by the ocean. How ironic.
Aang closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, they, along with his arrows were glowing. He gave everything he had into saving each child on that raft.
The sun poked through the clouds, and the baby began to squirm.