And that's why they call me the zinger.
CHAPTER 4
Sol blinked in surprise. "The Sun People?" she repeated. Wan nodded, grinning. They were all looking at her curiously, and she felt herself blushing a bit, her glow intensifying.
"You have brought another spirit with you?" the Chief asked, giving Sol a friendly smile and bowing.
"Chief, this is Sol," Wan replied, squeezing Sol's hand. "The Sun Spirit."
A gasp rippled through the crowd of people, and a smile broke over the chief's face. He knelt and bowed at Sol's feet, and the rest of the people all did the same behind him. Sol was a bit overwhelmed and she clutched Wan's hand tighter.
"You honor us with your presence, Great One," the chief said reverently.
"Oh, my," Sol replied, flustered. "Please, you don't have to call me Great One. Just call me Sol." She paused, and Wan gave her hand a reassuring squeeze. "You can get up, too."
The Chief laughed as he got back to his feet. "You are modest, Sol," he said, bowing his head. "Your light and warmth give us life, and for that we are grateful."
Nobody said anything for a few long moments. Wan leaned over and whispered in her ear, "Give them a blessing or something."
She glanced at him. "A blessing? I've never given a blessing before, what am I supposed to-"
But she stopped when Hong and Lan approached the chief curiously. Lan balanced on the top of his staff and snorted, smoke furling from his nostrils. The Chief held out his arm for Hong, who landed on it and sniffed his headdress. He laughed, delighted.
"What are these extraordinary creatures?" he asked. Lan sneezed a jet of flame, and the crowd gasped in excitement.
"Oh, these are dragons," Sol said with a smile, glad for a topic to grasp onto. "I created them to guard me when I walk the earth. Chief, meet Hong and Lan."
The Chief bowed his head to each of them in turn. "An honor, dragons."
Sol snapped her fingers, excitement lighting her eyes. "That's it! I'll leave the dragons as my blessing," she said proudly, grinning at Wan. The crowd murmured in wonder. Wan smiled at her.
"I like the idea," he said with a nod. "As long as they accompany us whenever we walk the earth."
"Of course!" the Chief burst out, bowing low. "We are honored to receive your blessing, Sun Spirit. We shall care for Hong and Lan as well as we can."
Sol nodded her approval. "Good." She glanced around again, wondering at the architecture. "You've done a great job with this city."
"All for your favor," the Chief responded.
Sol frowned a bit. "Well I appreciate that and everything, but you should take individual pride in this as a culture, not just dedicate it to me," she said firmly. "You have accomplished much and built a civilization from nothing, so hold your heads high and know the Sun Spirit is honored by your ingenuity."
The Sun People cheered and Sol smiled. Wan beamed at her.
"Thank you for the warm welcome," he said to the Chief.
"Of course. You are always welcome here!"
Wan took Sol's hand and they disappeared, leaving the Sun People in awe.
0000000
They spent the rest of the day lounging in Wan's library. Sol was in particularly good spirits, which made Wan's mood improve considerably as well. They talked and laughed for hours, Sol providing what information she could as he scribbled notes about dragons.
"You're not going to miss having them around?" Wan asked as he carefully drew a picture of Hong on the bottom of a scroll with bright red ink.
Sol shrugged a bit, her chin resting on the top of Wan's head as she stood behind him and watched him work.
"They're in good hands," she replied, a smile in her voice. She placed her hands lightly on his shoulders, idly drumming her fingers. She hummed a bit, fingers trailing down his arms. He sneezed.
"Why do you do that?" she asked curiously.
"Do what?"
"Make that noise. That um… achoo noise."
"Oh, I sneezed."
"Sneezed?"
"You've never sneezed?"
"No. Should I have?"
Wan laughed. "It's just a human thing. When something irritates their noses, they sneeze."
"Oh. But you do it when you're nervous."
He paused, blushing. "What?"
He could hear her grinning. "Don't think I haven't noticed," she teased. "You sneeze when you're nervous."
She kept prodding him, both with her words and her fingers, until he sneezed again. She burst out laughing, shining so bright he had to close his eyes despite her being behind him.
"Oh quit making fun of me," he grumbled, finishing his dragon picture with a flourish.
"I'm not," she giggled. "It's just so sweet, all the little things you do." She draped her arms around his neck, resting her chin on his head again. "Like how you write with your left hand. Most of the mortals write with their right hands."
"Yeah, I still haven't figured that out," he admitted, examining his left hand.
"And your ears turn red when you blush."
"We can't all just glow, can we?"
She giggled again, then quieted for a moment and sighed. "You know I love you, right?"
She felt him relax and heard the grin in his voice when he replied, "As well as you know I love you."
Suddenly she moved away from him, and he looked around in bewilderment, but she was just moving around in front of him to plop down in his lap. She met his eyes shyly and brushed her fingers over his cheek.
"Thank you for taking me to see my sister," she said quietly.
He just gave her a smile in return.
0000000
"It's getting late, let me walk you home."
"Okay. Will you um…"
Sol paused, embarrassed, as they walked out of the library many weeks later. Wan glanced at her and took her hand, lacing their fingers together.
"Would you mind if I stay the night?" Wan asked with a smile.
She squeezed his hand gratefully. "Please."
For some reason, Sol was still embarrassed to ask Wan to stay with her even though he'd been doing it every day for nearly a month. Meanwhile, life in the physical world was whizzing by. The mortals were growing and changing rapidly in the eyes of the spirits, but time moved differently between their worlds. The Spirit World was everlasting, so time wasn't such an issue. A day could be a week for the physical world, or a month, or a decade.
The city at the North Pole had grown to great size. The waterbenders, as they were now called, put forth all their skill and creativity to finish it. Hong and Lan were growing rapidly under the care of the Sun People. They were positively huge and flew over the land at great speeds. They'd also learned to communicate with the people through their minds, not so much in words as images or impressions of things. They became the father and mother of an entire species, and soon dragons were spreading peacefully across the western islands.
Not only that, but Vayu, the Wind Spirit, had seen what Sol gave to the Sun People and thought it was a wonderful idea. He created a pair of animals called sky bison, big furry creatures with six legs that flew through the sky. Not to be outdone, the Mountain Spirit, Yama, created equally large and furry creatures called badger moles. They lived underground and burrowed through mountains.
These gifts had been kept secret from Shangdi, and he and the rest of the spirits failed to notice the people in the west slowly learning from the dragons.
Wan and Sol passed Xian on their way into the cloud temple. He was rarely seen outside his human form these days, though it displeased his father. He modeled himself after the nomadic people, with fair skin and brown hair. He shared Wan's fascination with mortals and delighted in the use of fingers and toes. But this evening he looked a bit nervous. Wan and Sol paused beside him at the foot of the glass stairs.
"Is something wrong, Xian?" Sol asked gently, smiling at him.
Xian sighed and looked down, shuffling his feet. "Thank you for your concern, Sol, but it's nothing," he muttered. The two of them just gave him a look, communicating that they clearly didn't believe him, and he sighed again. "I guess I'm just getting restless, being an undetermined spirit. My father refuses to give me something to preside over, says I'm not old enough to handle the responsibility."
Wan put a friendly hand on Xian's shoulder. "Don't worry about it too much, Xian," he said firmly. "He can't refuse forever. And besides, if you stand around here all night, I know a certain spirit who would be very disappointed."
Xian blushed, embarrassed, but he smiled and nodded. "Thanks, Wan."
The three of them climbed the stairs together, Wan and Sol still hand in hand. When Zhenai stepped out to meet them at the top, her eyes widened at the sight of the other two spirits. She was in human form as well, with dark skin like the southern tribes and bright blue eyes. She blushed, her silver glow brightening, but Sol just smiled and shook her head.
"We won't tell," she whispered. "Promise."
Zhenai looked at Xian, who was already grinning at the sight of her, and a tentative smile crossed her face. Wan and Sol passed them into the temple, heading for the stairs. Behind them, Xian scooped Zhenai up in his arms and kissed her.
"Ah, young love," Sol sighed dramatically as they climbed the stairs.
Wan laughed and picked her up, eliciting a surprised shriek from her as he ran up the stairs with her slung over his shoulder. He dropped her unceremoniously on the clouds when he reached the top and fell beside her, the two of them laughing in delight.
When they settled down a bit, sol sighed and rolled to look at Wan. She smiled at him. "I want to stay like this forever," she said quietly. Wan looked over at her, grinning.
"Hey, we're immortal," he said lightly. "We will be like this forever."
She beamed at him, glowing brightly. "Love you."
"Love you too."
They drifted off to sleep soon after, Sol curled up in his arms.
0000000
When Wan and Sol woke up the next day, it was with the discovery that the physical world had jumped forward nearly two half a century during their night, and a lot had changed.
Shangdi was not at all happy.
He called all the spirits to a council in his great pavilion, and they didn't leave him waiting. He was angry, all right, pacing up and down in shining, every-changing form. He refused to take human form, but he never settled into a single recognizable form either. He glowed bright white, nearly impossible to look at directly, and every time a spirit caught a good look he was a different creature. A lion, an eagle, a tree, a horse, all in a matter of seconds. It was a bit distracting, but his voice boomed out to all of them with inescapable authority.
"The humans have gone to war with each other," he said, his voice low and serious. No one made a sound. "In the central continent, two countries began killing each other over land and territory. Not only that, but a human from each country learned to bend the earth from creatures called badger moles."
Wan glanced surreptitiously at Yama, but she didn't flinch.
"The war there is escalating, and it will soon come to a head. Many lives have been lost, and this trend will no doubt continue. But my news gets more and more serious."
Shangdi stopped pacing, facing the room at large. He was a bear for a moment, then a gorilla, then a hawk.
"Shortly after the earthbenders emerged, the peoples now calling themselves the Fire Nation came to my attention."
Wan and Sol exchanged a look, confused. They'd never heard of the Fire Nation. Judging by the confused whispers around them, nobody else had either.
"They broke off from the Sun People in the western islands."
Sol's eyes widened, and her glow dimmed.
"And now they are showing signs of hostility toward the Water Tribe in the north. They have learned from the flying dragons how to bend fire."
Wan could see the shock in Sol's eyes. She had never meant for that to happen. She squeezed his hand, suddenly afraid. Her sister had been banished for the same offense. Wan swallowed hard.
"And then there is the matter of the flying bison."
Vayu, unlike Yama, flinched. Shangdi either didn't notice, or didn't care.
"The nomadic people, perhaps the only trustworthy humans left, have decided to separate themselves from the others. They have learned from the bison the bend the air, and they have retreated to the highest mountains in the four corners of the world to study in peace."
Vayu let out a quiet sigh of relief.
"But even as I speak, the firebenders are preparing to attack the waterbenders. The first earthbender has just been killed, and his lover has unleashed her earthbending upon both armies."
Muttering broke out among the spirits. Shangdi had clearly devoted some of his power to keeping an eye on the humans, even when he wasn't actively watching. Events below were spiraling out of control.
But then Shangdi paused, his form holding as a stag for a moment. He seemed surprised.
"She has ended the war," he said, perplexed. Yama smiled with grim satisfaction. Shangdi sighed. "The humans continue to surprise me. But I am still deeply concerned. Some among you have created these creatures without my consent, and because of that the humans are getting out of control."
Then he paused again, and looked straight at Sol. She froze.
"The only solution to this is punishment."