Air, Water, Earth, Fire
Book One: Air
Chapter One: The Lion Otter
I lived near one of the Southern Ice Villages at the time. There were several after the GAP, many waterbenders moving southward after bending had been banned from the major cities. I'd heard stories about how there used to be only one, but after what had happened last time large groups of people lived together it was no surprise that the citizens decided to divide into groups.
None of the villagers were particularly fond of outsiders. Each village kept to itself for the most part and traded with the other towns if they needed supplies. Soon the sites all took up a specialty. Matu, the village I considered myself a part of, was known for leatherwork. I made my livelihood hunting and selling hides to the leatherworkers and ferrying the leather to the other villages with the shopkeepers. Despite the work, I was never accepted by them. This was largely caused by me being a firebender and the fact that I could melt any of their homes if they got me angry. The let me come into the town as long as I remained friendly and kept my home outside the snowy walls.
It wasn't a very friendly climate around Matu. It was a flat, snowy plane that was prone to windstorms and blizzards. The waterbenders of the village had raised hills out of ice around the walls to protect the town from the harshest of the weather, and those hills quickly became covered in the snow that the wind would blow up against it. I made my home on the edge of these hills, on the side of the hill that the wind didn't blow. It was a small igloo, but better a home than I had had anywhere else.
Not too far from the village the ocean started under a thick layer of ice. All sorts of sea life lived down there, a whole world beneath your feet. There were breathing holes in the ice where an assortment of seals came up for air, and that's where I hunted. It took patience- something I didn't have much of before I settled here. Almost every day of the year, I would sit in front of a breathing hole. My shadow cast away from the hole, not moving in the slightest, and watching the feather I placed over the hole. As soon as that feather moved, my spear would make sure that there was one less seal in the world.
I would sell my catch, usually small rabbit seals or on occasion a turtle seal, back in Matu. Matu itself consisted of a residential rise, a market rise, a government rise, and a sanctuary dedicated to the moon and ocean spirits. The rises were how the village was built- the outside rise was the highest up, and you'd find yourself climbing stairs all the way down to the sanctuary in the inner circle. The storyteller Atana told me that there used to be a chief, but it became a democratic council not too long before I was born.
Atana was the spiritual leader of Matu, and nearly the only person in the village that I actually talked to on a regular basis. She found me in the Moon Garden when I was younger. I had been exhausted and starving from traveling on the icy plains that I had been ill prepared for. Atana tells me that I wouldn't have lived if I hadn't been a firebender. She's also the reason why I was allowed to stay. Life is taken seriously in the village, but Atana was always telling stories from the time before the GAP. I didn't believe most of them, such as the tales about how the Avatar was reborn or that there could have been a war that lasted 100 years, but she was still a great storyteller and I loved to hear them. Nobody else paid her much attention while I spent hours with her in the Gardens. Back then I hadn't a name, and the locals started saying that I was the next Atana, which was eventually shortened to Tana.
The Moon Gardens had been here for a long time because of some spiritual energy (which I'm sure Atana would have a story about), and the entire town was built around them. The Gardens are where we hold all of our festivities and meetings. It's also has very odd acoustics, which is useful for announcements but frankly quite annoying when you're trying to have a conversation with someone.
Okay, the endless descriptions are not quite part of the tale. You'll be happy to hear (or rather read) that this is where the story starts. My journey's beginning (with the Avatar, of course) was marked on one of the lengthening days in spring, when the blizzards were coming to a halt and the people of Matu beginning to thaw out.
I had been in front of a breathing hole for hours watching the feather (or rather sitting and trying to pretend that my foot didn't itch). Nothing had been taking a breath, and I was beginning to consider that perhaps the seal had drowned underwater and would no longer come up anyway.
The feather shook, and I raised my spear. The spear itself had several yards of rope attached to it, so that I could retrieve it if the seal managed to get away. I was ready to throw the spear, but jumped as the feather blew sideways. It wasn't a windy day- I spent those in a different location so that my feather wouldn't be disturbed. There was nothing moving behind the ice (that I could see, that is. I'm sure there was a seal somewhere, even if had drowned). I felt the hairs stir on the back of my neck. Since this hunt was going to be a bust anyway, I turned to see what was up.
I quickly took a step back and slid on the ice. Despite being a big, scary, dangerous animal, the lion otter in front of me was also really cute. It had otter whiskers, a pointed otter tail, and sleek fur that was a gray color. This was offset by lion paws that looked too big for its body, a big dark gray mane, and big, sharp teeth. It sniffed at me, looking pitiful. Then the lion otter sat down, looking at me expectantly.
This thing had no survival skills. I'd never actually seen a lion otter in person before, but Atana had told me stories of the fearful creatures. Either Atana had been fabricating her story (likely), or this particular lion otter was an exception. I glanced at the animal, looked back at my spear, then back at the lion otter. I don't know what it was waiting for (perhaps for me to cook myself as its dinner). It certainly looked hungry, but also sort of helpless.
I always had emergency supplies in my pack (which was of course made of leather) in case I got stranded or lost. Too much paranoia due to those months that I spent helpless out on the ice. Blubbered seal jerky, kindling for a fire, a small bedroll (which was quite gross. It was secondhand, made of worn leather and fur, and I would probably never use it even if I did become stranded), and my scarf (which was surprisingly not leather). Without taking my eyes off of the pleading lion otter, I managed to grab the strap of my bag (the bag was dangerously close to the breathing hole). I pulled the jerky pouch out of it, and threw a piece of jerky to the lion otter (the moral of a story that I myself had contributed to Atana's arsenal- don't feed predators. I suppose I hadn't learned my lesson yet). The lion otter snatched it out of the air, and I wondered to myself if it would do tricks like the polar bear dogs that pull sleds between the villages do (though I didn't bother trying). I reached for more jerky, and the eager animal ate it out of my hand before I could even toss it. Soon I shooed the beast (who seemed to be looking for more jerky) off because I had to get back to my hunting before noon came and all the animals moved deeper out into the ocean. The sun was high in the sky though, so I slung my bag across my shoulder and began the trek back home empty-handed.
I scored early the next day (a rabbit seal) before the lion otter made a reappearance. I groaned (which the lion otter seemed to think was an appropriate greeting, seeing as it made a barking-growling noise back). It seemed pleased with itself that it had found me, and it should've been considering the pains I went through to make sure it couldn't. The lion otter had cost me yesterday, both in jerky and in the acquisition of more seals. I didn't even bother going back into Matu and just spent the evening alone trying to patch a hole that had begun to form in the bottom of one of my shoes (no that it mattered, my feet we numb no matter what).
I was basically out of emergency meat after the encounter yesterday, so I took my skinning knife and sliced off a piece of the rabbit seal and threw it at the lion otter.
"Well, fatty, I hope you're happy," I told the lion otter. It tilted its head to the side in the cutest fashion it could manage. "I'm not going to get anything done as long as you're following me." It slid its dark grey tail across the snow happily. The fat beast, wanting my food. I picked up my spear and got ready to leave (to another breathing hole, far, far away). It gave me otter eyes (which are remarkably similar to polar puppy eyes, but on a lion otter), and, well, the thing was cute. Even for a savage, vicious killing machine.
Over the wind I could hear someone yelling. The shouting was far off, saying something like, "Jelloooo! Jello, where the frh frh frh." The yelling caught the otter's attention, and it slid off in that direction (probably to mooch food from them too).
It was that line of thinking that led me to follow the lion otter (was it possible to make a living on the ice by mooching off of others in return for cuteness?). I followed the lion otter further out over the sea, where the ice buckled from the waves. I couldn't quite see where I was going (looked to be the starts of a late blizzard), and soon lost sight of my otter friend.
I was pushed from behind, and slid over the edge of the ice crest backwards.
"Stay away from my lion otter!" my assailant yelled, coming at me from above. I struggled to my feet on the ice. To my surprise, the lion otter's owner firebended (firebent?) at me. It was certainly fire, though it looked completely different than my own. His (I could tell from the voice that this was a male) fire shot off bright sparks and otherwise went everywhere. Of course, he was a much better bender than me. I couldn't do much more than shoot little spheres of fire, which I promptly did in retaliation. He looked surprised.
He had a good reason to be. I had been living here for years and was dressed like a waterbender or someone from the village. Parka, leather bag, giant boots. I also had dark hair like the majority of them. Theirs was a dark brown for the most part (mine was black), but there was one girl in Matu with yellow hair. The only thing that gave away that I wasn't from the ice villages was my eyes, a hazel, which were more common in the warm regions around the equator.
The firebending lion otter owner was obviously not from around here. His coat was too thin to actually keep out the cold, and he a knife in his belt (in the Ice Villages we use spears to hunt), although it could be used for self-defense against other humans.. His hair was dark and tangled; he was fairly tall and muscular. It wasn't the kind of muscular you get around here. His skin was about the same tone as mine, but mine was smooth (not really, though I'd never admit it to myself) while he had gross teenage boy skin. But his eyes were blue, so maybe he did have ancestors around here.
This stranger didn't seem to like me.
"My lion otter isn't food! Back off!" So this was his otter?
"I wasn't! I was feeding him!" I yelled over the wind. The firebender looked confused. I took this as an opportunity to slide over to my pack and scoop it up.
"Where are you going?" he asked me as I climbed up the side of the ice crest. I almost didn't answer him, but I remembered the awful weeks that I spent in this icy wasteland. It had been years and I still had strange, cold dreams about it during the night.
"There's a town, about an hour's walk north," I shouted over my shoulder. The wind was blowing sideways now, whistling off of the icy crests. It would probably be snowing back near the village already. I needed to hurry.
I lost sight of the stranger as I rounded corners around the frozen waves. There was no way to know if he was following me, but I continued back to Matu.
Matu was a busy place during snowstorms. It was dangerous to be outside of the village walls, which protected us from the mostly horizontal falling snow, during a blizzard, so the villages took the time to run errands, socialize, or whatever else there was to do (I usually stayed at my igloo, trying to avoid friendly human contact).
But today I was on the western side of the market rise, trying to deal with the shoemaker (she was the best in Matu, but gave everyone evil eyes when they talked to her), who insisted on me buying new shoes. All I wanted her to do was fix the hole in them. Eventually I gave up and left, replacing the shoe on my foot.
I looked up and could see the snow blowing far above the hills surrounding Matu. It blocked out the sun, so the torches had been lit about noon. There were excited voices to be heard at the end of the market rise. Earlier today while I was out hunting, one of the sled runners who had been sent out months before had returned. Most of the village had gone to greet them.
I had originally been offered a position in the three-sled caravan, but was replaced by someone's new girlfriend (the polar bear dogs didn't like me anyway, so no hard feelings). Two of the sleds had returned last week, bringing money for many of the leather shops plus wares to sell. The sled that returned today had held back because there had been an important message getting delivered to the biggest Ice Village, Siku, and they wanted to deliver the message to Matu. Siku, and most of the other villages, is located on the western side of the continent, while Matu is in the east. Besides the sleds, we don't hear much from the other villagers.
As expected, the town horn sounded (I don't know what they made the horn from, but it sounded almost painful and hurt your ears). I made my way back to the north of the market rise and descended the staircase down to the Moon Pavilion, the place in the Moon Gardens where meetings were held. People were quickly gathering in the area, so I hurried and managed to push my way in front before the crowd became too thick.
Atana was the one making the announcement. She usually did (blessed with a wonderful reading voice, Atana could also be very loud). The scroll was passed from the head sled pilot to Atana, who stood on the stage wearing her long purple robes. Her hair was white from age and worn in a very long braid. When the scroll was passed over, a hush settled on the crowd.
I sat on the edge of Atana's stage and scanned the crowd. All eyes were on her, aside from that of the chieftains' (they must have already known the contents of the message. From the looks of it, War Minister Myko had told his daughter as well. His daughter was the one person I have ever seen with yellow hair, and she was visibly squirming in her seat). The other person who wasn't paying attention was the one who stuck out like a sore thumb in his brown coat- the firebender with the lion otter. Instead of looking at Atana, he squinted at me. I looked back at him, and he quickly moved his gaze to Atana as she cleared her throat.
"Attention name of village," Atana read, then quickly corrected, "Attention Citizens of Matu. The Great metalbender Rael asks that each village sends a representative to the great city of Ba Sing Se. Each village will be rewarded for their efforts and presented with a great opportunity. This may restore the world to its former glory! The representative will be required to come to the Government Hall on the eve of the Summer Solstice." She rolled up the scroll. There was a pause as people comprehended what Atana had said.
The city of Ba Sing Se was off limits for benders as far as any of us had known (it, as well as Republic City, had been closed to us since the GAP). It was unusual that anybody would request an audience from a village in arctic and even more so that a metalbender was in Ba Sing Se, which was a no-bender zone.
Protests started to whip up in front of me. We need more food! … No, we're self-sufficient! … He wants to restore the world! … It's pointless anyway… We can't spare the people (we had had a particularly harsh winter and the Honee village was on our tails about some sort of debt). … Who could we even spare for the journey?
War Minister Myko's daughter immediately shot up at this last statement, the sudden movement causing pieces of her sun colored hair to fall out her bun, held by a seashell pick. All eyes turned to her as she climbed up onto the stage.
"I volunteer to go as the representative!" she announced in a high, clear voice. Her father didn't looked too pleased, though he must've known because he didn't say anything. The Defense Minister didn't seem to agree.
"The last thing we need is more waterbenders to leave us," she said over the crowd, "and she's too young to go alone anyway." I caught movement from Atana. I looked backwards at her and she made eye contact with me (I should mention that she's in charge of me, since I don't "belong" here).
"Tana will accompany Kayoka to Ba Sing Se if the elected Ministers will allow it," Atana announced. I wasn't surprised, since she had volunteered me for journeys before (all of which had stayed within the arctic circle of course). The shoe cobbler with the evil eyes decided to speak up next.
"What should we do about the other outsider? He owes me as well as many other shopkeepers for his supplies. I, for one, wouldn't mind if we sent him out of our village with those two as a payment," she said as she made evil eyes at the crowd, daring anyone to disagree with her.
"There's no way to tell if he would attack them or flee as soon as they leave," the Defense Minister responded. Evil Eyes pushed her way over to the fire bender, grabbing something from around his neck. He struggled for a moment, choking, before she managed to break the chain.
"This necklace," Evil Eyes began, "does not belong to a warrior (He would later defend that it was a very manly necklace), and if a warrior wears it, the necklace must be important." She shoved him up towards the stage and pocketed the necklace before I got a good look at it.
"He may have the necklace upon his return, and in addition he has a lion otter to travel on. Bryka will supply a saddle that will seat the three of them," she said as he mounted the stage. Atana nodded, gesturing to the three of us.
"They depart tomorrow," she announced, "Meeting dismissed."
Few departed the Pavilion, many stayed to chat with their neighbors. Atana walked out of the lamplight and disappeared into the Moon Garden. Kayoka hurried after her, though I knew where Atana was headed. I turned around to the outsider.
"This way," I said, gesturing for him to follow. He took one last look at the crowd before coming after me.
I stalked out of the lighted pavilion and into the dark garden. There were torches on occasion, but only in clearings. I could hear the outsider behind me, stumbling into the bushes every few seconds. Even though it was the middle afternoon, it was nearly pitch black in the gardens because of the blizzards and the shadows from the ice hills.
We came to the torch that marked Atana's house soon enough. I lifted the metal seal (looks like one of the manhole covers in the cities, though don't ever mistake those as good places. Did that once when I was little, and smelled like the sewers for days.) and moved aside so that the outsider could go down the staircase. He looked at it suspiciously before descending; I followed and closed the cover above us.
As soon as the light from above was extinguished, the glow could be seen from the bottom of the spiral staircase. It blinked in and out as the stranger went down.
When we got to the bottom of the stairs Atana and Kayoka were waiting near the fire. Seats surrounded it in a circle, with two hallways leading off into the darkness. The walls were made of ice, yet were never too cold.
"Make yourselves at home," Atana told us. It basically already was my home, and I sat on the fur near the fire that was my usual position. Kayoka eagerly sat crossed legged beside me, Atana on the other side. The outsider leaned against the wall, and then thinking better of standing the entire time, slid down into a sitting position. There was a pause.
"So, who are you?" Kayoka asked, talking really fast. "Well, I know who Tana is. She's the crazy firebender who lives out in the snow. Oh! And of course I know Atana is- that's obvious." Kayoka turned her vision to the outsider, who looked very uncomfortable. I would be too.
"Where are you from? Are you a bender? I've always wanted to meet an earthbender. I heard that the first earthbenders learned from these GIANT moles because they had secrets and stuff and it's a cool story and I think Atana told it to me but I can't remember the whole thing and-"
"That's enough," Atana said, not unkindly. Kayoka took a deep breath.
"…sorry," she said.
"What's your name?" I asked him. He sort of glared at me. Very hostile. "Well, if you want, I could call you Wang Fire (a character from a story that Atana told me, about some man who was hiding in the fire nation back before the GAP. I think Atana made it up on the spot.) if you wanted." Atana caught the reference and smiled before trying to apologize for me.
"Tana, I ask that you remember that not everyone has a name, or at least one that they may want to share. You did not when you came to Matu, so do not be so quick to judge."
"Fine," I said to her, before looking back at the outsider, "I'm sure we'll think of something less derogatory." Another lull in the conversation.
"Is he… mute?" Kayoka asked. "The man who lives next door to me is mute. His wife said that he lost his voice after their daughter died. Maybe it's because of your journey- did the ice damage your voice? Is that even possible? One time I went out into the ice and got lost and…" I sort of zoned out after that. No wonder the War Minister let his daughter on this trip- she was like a chatty monkey. Atana listened patiently, most likely listening for more story material. The outsider and I made faces at each other for a while. Kayoka went off on random tangents and was saying something about how she doesn't understand why sea prunes are usually stewed because it evidently tasted bad when the outsider got up.
When he rose, sparks skittered from the fire and flew into the air and up towards the chimney (or really just a hole in the ceiling). Kayoka and I flinched back, though Atana didn't move.
"I have to go feed my lion otter," he said, leaving the room and going towards the staircase.
"He talks!" Kayoka exclaimed. Atana waited as he began to climb out of her home.
"I've never seen firebending like his," I told Atana as Kayoka listened closely. "He was out over the frozen ocean this morning, and all of his firebending shoots off sparks."
Atana nodded, thinking.
"Firebending often reflects the user's personality or mastery of the skill, though it is beyond me why his would create sparks like that. I have only heard about how some masters can control the intensity and properties, which can change the color."
"That's it!" Kayoka said excitedly, leaning forward as her headband fell into her eyes. "We can call him Sparks! Cause, you know, he shoots off sparks when he firebends."
There was a boom that echoed down the staircase as the hatch was shut.
"Does he really have a lion otter?" Kayoka asked as I started to leave the room. I wanted no part in any conversation with her. She'd already given me a headache and we hadn't even left on our journey yet. Who knows how many hours I'd have to put up with it, so may as well enjoy my time now. I went towards Atana's spare bedroom that had several hammocks in it. As I moved down the hall I caught a last bit of Kayoka's talking. "I am SO excited. I'll get to see the world! Where do you think Sparks is from? He's cute."
To my relief, I couldn't hear her from the bedroom.
We met at the gate out of the city (which was created in the valley between two of the bigger ice hills) the next morning. Kayoka seemed like she was about to burst, while Sparks (his official name now because of Kayoka) looked less than eager. Atana came up to me while Sparks attached bags to his lion otter's new saddle.
"Bring me back more stories to tell, Tana," she said to me, resting her hand on my shoulder, "and do not lose your way home." I had never really considered this to by my home. Sure I had a house that I had even stopped at this morning to gather my things, but I hadn't even realized that anybody here would be sad if I moved on.
I was about to reply but was interrupted by Kayoka, who took the fact that someone was talking as her cue for an outburst.
"Of course there will be stories! This is going to be soooo awesome!" I frowned at her. I had a hunch that she'd never been far away from Matu before.
"Okay," Sparks said, "the stuff is loaded onto Juo's saddle. Where's the map?" he asked.
"I have it," I informed him while walking over to Juo the lion otter.
"Well… I need it," he told me.
"I'm perfectly fine holding on to it."
"You don't even know where we're going," he sounded exasperated.
"Yes I do. You're the one who would be lost in a blizzard in the middle of nowhere if I hadn't told you where to go."
"I don't need a backseat driver," he argued, pushing his messy hair out of his face, "and Juo is my lion otter. Therefore, the map is mine."
"Don't fight, you two," Kayoka chimed in. "Not a very good way to start our mission." Why did I agree to let her be part of the group? Oh, yeah, I didn't. That was Atana, who, as I should add, was walking back into the gates of Matu.
Kayoka stole the map from me. She would've been a backseat driver no matter if she had the map or not. We boarded Juo, Sparks taking the front seat. I quickly took the back, so that Kayoka's infernal chattering wouldn't be directly into my ear the entire time.
With everyone seated, the lion otter took off over the ice, and our journey began.
Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender, Legend of Korra, or Jell-O. I do own Lion Otters, all of my characters, and the Southern Ice Villages.
Thank you to SomniumAstrum, who helped me with plot, names, and editing, and tsuki-no-taiyo, who was the first person to review my story.