Legends of the Four Masters
#12—The Library

Back out in the desert, Kasumi and Toph were enjoying the shade they got from Appa, even though Kasumi was annoyed to be sitting in sand when she wasn't wearing a swimsuit. Toph didn't mind as she often got dirty anyway.

"I'm glad to be back on the ground where I can see." Toph stated, flexing her feet digging them into the sand. "Well, I don't see the way you do."

"Yeah, you sense vibrations in the ground. The time you fought to prove your strength to your parents was one of the best fight scenes I saw before coming here." Kasumi replied.

"Thanks. But this sand here," Toph replied, picking up some sand and letting it drain out of her hand. "It's so shifty and loose, it makes everything look fuzzy to me. Any vibrations I can sense are unfocused. It's really bothering me."

"Sort of like when we're in a fog. It blurs our eyes too much to see anything." Kasumi referenced. "Can you bend the sand?"

"It's still technically earth and not metal, so there's no reason I shouldn't. It's just hard to keep together. Maybe I could practice hardening it first, that's a start."

"That reminds me, I've been wondering. Why can't you bend metal?" Kasumi asked. "I mean, yeah it's not rock or soil, but it does come out of the earth and it is a mineral."

"Earthbenders have been trying for centuries, I think if it was possible someone would have found a way to do it." Toph claimed, getting up and trying to focus on the sand she was standing on. "But you do have a point. It is earth-based, so maybe everyone's been doing it wrong."

"Exactly, it's still an earthen mineral. Like coal. Just be a little more stubborn with it than you are with stone."

Toph grinned her trademark battle smile. "Better stop there Miss Know-It-All, you're getting me all eager and there's no metal around. Right now, I'm just going to work on the sand."


Inside the library, the group was checking out the books on the shelves in an unmarked section. Judging from the titles of the books, this was world history.

"Hey look at these weird lion-turtle things." Aang said, holding out a picture in a book. Momo was currently perched on his left shoulder. "Says here they're supposed to be part of the origin of bending somehow."

"Probably just a myth." Sokka said, not really looking at the picture as he took a book that he had a hunch about.

"Hey Aang, did you know that in a past life you were left-handed?" Katara mentioned, holding a book about previous avatars.

"I always knew I was special." Aang replied.

Ranma looked to him. "Really? You can bend all four elements in a world where reincarnation is a confirmed reality, and that's the thing that you say makes you special?"

"It's one of many things." Aang added. "What are you looking for? You're just glancing in books then putting them back."

"I'm not much of a reader. I'm mostly just trying to find something about airbending here so I can get some more training on it."

"Did you think to try the Air Nomad section?" Sokka muttered.

"If you know where it is I'd be happy to check it out." Ranma replied.

"I think I saw an emblem for them down that way." Zei suggested, trying to point to another part of the library despite his hands being full. He had been pulling out book after book, as if he wanted to read everything in the library all at once. Knowing him that was quite possibly the case.

Ranma shrugged. "Worth a shot. I'll let ya guys know if I see anything worthwhile."

Aang smiled. "You'll find we're a great culture. I bet when you come back, you'll be wanting to shave your hair and dress in robes too."

Ranma snorted a laugh. "Yeah, fat chance of that." He left before he'd laugh more.

Sokka ignored this, checking for anything that seemed connected to the Fire Nation and putting it in his bag. He soon saw a pedestal with a glass plating on it, and went to see the contents, which appeared to be a burned piece of parchment.

"The darkest day in Fire Nation history." He read out loud, hand on his chin. 'What could that mean? Is it as promising as it sounds?' "It's got a date at the top but anything else on this is burned away."

Mind made up, he used his machete to pry open the glass and pocket the parchment.

"Sokka what are you doing?" Aang asked. Katara and Zei looked up from their current interests to see what the Water Tribe boy was doing.

"I want to know what happened to the Fire Nation on 'their darkest day'. You don't say something like that unless you mean it." He replied.

Following him, they went back into the central chamber and looked around. On the floor below they saw the symbol for fire over a hall entrance.

"That must be the section on the Fire Nation." Sokka said, going along the outer rims until he found some stairs down, then went into the aforementioned area. Along the way they past by the Air Nomad section and Ranma glanced at them, but quickly ignored it and went back to looking around.

When the group got to the Fire Nation wing and went in, they stopped in their tracks. The entire section was reduced to ash.

"Firebenders." Aang said with some anger.

"Zhao must have destroyed everything regarding the Fire Nation so people like us could never learn about them." Katara claimed. "No wonder Wan Shi Tang didn't want us here."

"That's so unfair!" Sokka ranted. "Just when I-"

"Sokka, there's an owl spirit that doesn't want humans like us looking for that kind of thing, and I don't think he's hard of hearing." Katara warned.

"I get it. But what happened on their darkest day?" Sokka asked, holding out the burned parchment. "Now that I see this place, I think Zhao saw this thing I'm holding and that's what made him burn this place. Whatever was written here scared him, he didn't want anyone learning about the Fire Nation's darkest day. So to be safe, he destroyed this entire section."

"Then why did this one piece remain?" Katara asked.

"Zhao was a bit careless with his firebending. I was able to trick him into destroying his own ships before he even knew what he had done." Aang referenced.

Sokka nodded. "He probably just started the fire and let it spread out, so maybe other parts still remain in other parts of the library. We might still have a chance to find out what happened on that day."

Behind everyone, they could hear a whimper. Turning they saw one of the knowledge seeking foxes standing on its hind legs.

"Hello, little weird fox guy." Sokka said.

The fox turned and got back on all fours, looking like it was pointing somewhere.

"It seems like it's trying to assist you." Zei theorized.

'I guess the foxes aren't as picky as the owl is regarding what we learn.' Sokka thought. "Sure, I'll follow you."

The vulpine spirit then led it to another part of the library and up to the higher floor again, stopping at a closed circular door that seemed to be designed to mimic the sun. It went through a small hole, and somehow opened the door from the other side.

Everyone went in, not seeing anything but a round pedestal in the center. The fox pushed a lever, making a dome appear above them that looked like the night sky and moving segments that looked like the sun and moon trying to get somehow while gears were heard grinding.

Zei looked impressed. "This room, it's a true wonder. A mechanical masterpiece! It's a planetarium that shows the heaven's moving!"

"Umm... yeah it's beautiful, but how does this help us?" Sokka asked as the night sky left and was replaced with a day sky dome.

"Look at this." Katara said, pointing to the pedestal. It was ringed in layers marked with numbers, and two golden bars joining together in the center but separating like a V at the outer edge. "Maybe this is a calendar dial to select a specific date and see what the sky looked like on that day in history. Or in the future."

"It's worth a shot." Sokka stated, trying to adjust the dial to match the date on the parchment. Once he got it, he moved the lever and the schematic got to work. When it stopped, it showed the day sky, but it was still dark.

"Hey wait, what happened to the light?" Katara asked.

"Great, you broke it Sokka." Aang chewed out.

"No, it's not broken." The Water Tribe boy said, looking at the domed ceiling. "Look." He pointed.

Everyone looked and saw the moon, but it was in front of the sun.

"The sun is behind the moon. It's a solar eclipse." Sokka stated. "So it's literally the darkest day in Fire Nation history. Now I get it. Something awful happened on that day I don't know what but I do know why. Firebenders lose their bending during a solar eclipse."

"Just like how the entire Water Tribe at the North Pole lost their bending when the moon disappeared." Katara said, seeing his reasoning. "This is huge."

The fox came up to Sokka and whimpered while sitting in a begging position.

"Fine. You earned it." He said, taking out a piece of meat from his food rations and giving it to the animal, who was happy to have the snack.

"We've got to get this information to the Earth King at Ba Sing Se." Sokka claimed. "We'll wait for the next eclipse, and when it's lights out and they're totally helpless, we strike. The Fire Lord is going down."


"These stories are quite captivating." Wan Shi Tang said in one of the rooms of the library. Through means Shampoo could not understand, he was able to write down each tale she was telling with a wave of his wings over some parchment. She had already told him five more Chinese fables, including the famous one regarding the ultimate spear and ultimate shield.

"Thank you." Shampoo said politely.

"Where do you come from? Why have I never heard these before?" Wan Shi Tang asked.

"Oh, somewhere you've probably never heard of. And you yourself said the fiction section here isn't quite as prioritized as the non-fiction."

"It appears I ought to rethink that policy." Wan Shi Tang commented. "What is this home you said I've never heard of?"

"It's called Joketsuzoku, we're a group of tribes that live simply in the Jusendo region and have a strong love of martial arts." She answered, even though the owl spirit wouldn't have a chance at verifying the validity of her claim, regardless of how true it was.

"You're a warrior?" Wan Shi Tang asked, some feathers ruffling like he was on alert.

"Sort of. We use the art more as a way to commune with Nature and defend our home from dangers. Jusendo has a lot of wild animals in it and no one there but me is a bender. We need some way to defend ourselves. You got a better idea?"

"I suppose not, but you haven't gone to war have you?" He asked, leaning closer to her.

"Maybe in the past, but not anymore." She answered. "Before you start getting judgmental, name one group of people that have never been in a war once."

"The Air Nomads."

"You mean the group that was completely wiped out because they had no ways to defend themselves from people who wanted to fight?" Shampoo asked. "I'm not going to say that wanting to go to war is a good thing, but is refusing to respond when someone else wants to go to war any better?"

"Is that why your group came here? You want to know how to respond to a war?" Wan Shi Tang tested.

"All I'm looking for is a way to get home. The Avatar wants to know what happened to his culture when he was away from it. And the professor just wants to read a few books." She stated firmly, showing no fear despite the big bird's attempt to intimidate her.

"That's good. But I should go check on this myself." Wan Shi Tang replied, pulling away.

"But let's say just for the sake of argument we were looking to respond to a war." Shampoo continued, trying to delay the knowledge spirit a bit longer. "How is that a bad thing? It's not destroying anyone, it's stopping someone else from destroying others."

"You think your side was the first to think it was justified in seeking victory? To the opposition, it's justified in seeking your defeat. What makes your side more deserving than theirs? Because you're suffering at their hands? If you won, then isn't the opposition at that time suffering at your hands instead? Where's your right and wrong then?"

Shampoo frowned. "I'm not in a war. I'm just trying to get home. But if I was in a war, I'd be more concerned about protecting who and what I love than whether or not I was right to do it."

Wan Shi Tang blinked. "I believe we have nothing more to say. I think it's time for me to check on what your group is doing now."


'Was the entire Air Nomad culture made of nothing but monks?' Ranma asked when he looked through some books, trying to find something that would be useful to him. So far he had seen some books and artist renderings of what historians and archaeologists had learned about the extinct society. And most records seemed to focus on their pacifistic ways.

'I know there can be a group of monks who practice pacifism and use martial arts for meditation and self defense. We have that in Shaolin monks and I think Tibet too, just to name a few. But an entire culture? I'm sure even Tibet had warriors in their past.'

The airbending scrolls he saw had shown him some stances that reminded him of the Baguazhang style of martial arts in how they emphasized quick evasive maneuvers and a heavy use of circular motions. This meant it was difficult to land a hit on the artist, but it seemed to lack any finishing moves. It was like airbenders just wanted to wear out the enemy rather than defeat them.

'Look, I'm all for not killing people, but when you've got groups of people ready and willing to take you down painfully you don't defeat them with kindness.' He thought, remembering many times he had been assaulted by his enemies in Nerima.

He went to another shelf that was filled with scrolls and artifacts, but had one book on it. The title was easy for him to see. 'The Forgotten Warriors of the Sky'.

Curious, he picked it up and opened it to the first page. When he picked it up some folded up parchment was moved and dropped to the floor.

'Before the Air Nomads became what they are best known for, there was a sect within them that had accepted the art of combat. It is entirely possible they had invented the first forms of martial arts known to man, but that cannot be confirmed.'

"Okay, this looks interesting." He said, looking around as if thinking he might be spotted, then placed the book inside his shirt to read later. 'If Sokka can swipe some books why can't I?' After that he bent down to pick up the dropped parchment, and it had of all things Aang's name written on it. He put this in his pocket, knowing the bald monk would want to see this.

Moving around the corner he saw a display of Air Nomad garments shown on faceless mannequins, both male and female with the female display having a wig that made her look like she was going bald, and a collection of glider staffs along the walls.

"Hey, I wonder if I could try out some moves with one of those." He said to himself, moving to pick up a staff. He felt like it was in good condition, and a little heavier than it looked but nothing like Ryoga's umbrella. Holding it, he noticed that it wanted to level itself, indicating that the ends were weighted.

'Maybe this one was designed to be a combat staff.' He thought, surprised but not disappointed. He spun it around and did some thrusts, enjoying how natural it felt in his hands. 'I've never been much of a weapon guy, but I could enjoy this.'

Grabbing a scroll for reference, he went to the bridged walkways for room to practice, and almost ran in Wan Shi Tang.

"What are you doing with my relics?" The owl asked.

"Oh, I'm trying out one of the airbending stances I saw here. And I learn better by doing than reading." Ranma asked.

"You're an airbender?" Wan Shi Tang asked while Shampoo went around him to stand next to the pigtailed teen. "But you look nothing like an Air Nomad."

"Let's just say I'm not your traditional Air Nomad." Ranma answered. "Is it okay if I do some hands-on learning?"

The big owl was silent for a moment. "I suppose it's better you do that then practice firebending in here. At least airbending is meant to be the least destructive art. But do not damage my relics." He finished while leaning in Ranma's face.

"You got it." He said.

"Good." Wan Shi Tang said, walking down the bridge to go find the others in the library.


"So now that we know what a solar eclipse does, how does that help us? It's not like we know when the next one is going to happen." Katara asked.

"But we can find out." Sokka said, adjusting the calendar dial.

"What are you going to do Sokka? Check each day in the future one by one until you see the eclipse again?" Katara asked.

"You got a better idea? Because I don't see a 'find the next eclipse' setting on this thing." He replied, setting a date a month in the future and pushing the lever. "Besides, we don't need to check too far ahead, if there's no eclipse before the comet arrives then it wouldn't help us in the first place."

"He's right, it has to be before Sozen's Comet or not at all." Aang agreed.

"Would anyone mind if I went back to seeing what this library has to offer?" Zei asked.

"Sure, knock yourself out." Sokka waved him off, trying another date.

After three more attempts, it looked like Sokka was getting closer to finding the day he was looking for.

"What are you doing?" Wan Shi Tang asked when he got into the planetarium.

"Umm..." Sokka said nervously while Momo tried to hide behind Aang.

"Oh, one of your knowledge seekers showed us this room, and since we saw a lunar eclipse not that long ago, we were curious if this could show us when a solar eclipse would happen." Katara said for him.

"Hmm... very well, but I'll be keeping an eye on you all." The big owl asked. "Where's the anthropology professor?"

"Probably nose-deep in a book somewhere." Aang remarked.


"Damn, sand is harder to bend than I thought." Toph said, wiping some sweat off her forehead. Even though she couldn't see, sweat in her eyes still stung like it did with anyone else. To deal with the heat she had taken off her shirt and draped it over her head, leaving her in a yellow undershirt.

"At least you can create sandstone with it." Kasumi said, wearing her apron on her head like a makeshift turban. She couldn't adjust her clothes since she had nothing else to wear, and she remembered hearing that exposing too much skin to the sun in the desert was a bad idea.

"Enough to stand on. I'm trying to create a wall so we can get more shade. Appa probably would like some too." The blind girl said.

Appa bellowed, as if saying he'd really like that.

Toph stomped on the sand, creating a pillar this time. "This is the best I can do right now." She stomped again creating another pillar close to the first one, then created a third. But before she could create a fourth, she stopped.

"Can you see anything? Because I might be sensing something coming."

Kasumi stood up and got to the other side of Appa, looking everywhere she could. "I see... a sandstorm? And it's getting closer. Wait, no it's not a sandstorm. It's..." She trailed off.

"It's what?" Toph asked.

"People in boats. I think they're those men Zei called sandbenders." Kasumi finished.

Three sandboats owned by sandbenders came at them. The middle one attacked with a wave of sand that hit Appa. Luckily he was sturdy enough to withstand it.

"What do they want?" Toph asked,

Before the housekeeper could respond, the three sandboats surrounded them, circling them like sharks. Toph tried attacking with a wave of sand of her own, but all she created was more the equivalent of a splash. Appa tried to roar as best a sky bison could, and it was about as effective as one might expect.

'What do I do? What do I do?' Kasumi asked herself, scared out of her wits. Uncorking her waterskin she waited for a time when she could waterbend. Doing it too early at her current level would risk wasting what little water she still had with her.

'Ranma, Shampoo, Aang, everyone please get back out here.' She pleaded.

The boats continued to circle them and Toph kept trying to attack. Some of the sandbenders jumped out and got close to Appa and Kasumi. Appa roared and stomped a foot, while Kasumi tried to mimic a fighter's stance. It didn't look that convincing.

One of the sandbenders pointed to her and elbowed his companion, who smiled and nodded.

Despite the desert heat, a chill ran down the woman's spine. 'They're going to try and take me somewhere, do awful things to me. And because this isn't a kid's show anymore, they're not confined to a PG rating here.'

Reacting on her fear, she did some motions Katara had taught her and bent some water, holding it in front of her and working to keep it afloat in the air.

The sandbenders hissed, and caught a few ropes that had been thrown at them from the other side of Appa, who was trying to fight off the others that were trying to tie him down.

"Get outta here!" Toph yelled, trying to hit some of the bandaged men with a pillar from below. One of the sandbenders saw her and managed to hit her with a sand burst first, sending her flying into the tower. She groaned and collapsed on the sand, but wasn't unconscious.

Appa tried to get into the air to get away, but the sandbenders anchored their feet down by encasing them in sand. It gave them enough leverage to prevent the large animal from successfully taking off.

"Let him go!" Kasumi yelled, yes she actually yelled, sending her water at the rope hoping to sever it. However the water simply burst against it like a water balloon, only making the rope damp. One of the sandbenders looking at her got a hand free and bended the sand to cover her feet then pulled them back making her fall. Once she was down more sand covered her hands, pinning her very effectively.

'This can't be happening to me.' She thought, struggling to get free.

Appa's restraints proved too much for him and he collapsed on his belly. The sandbenders tightened the ropes and started moving the sand so it would carry him into position behind one of their stronger sandboats.

"That's it, I'm kicking all your asses!" Toph rued, getting up even though a few muscles in her back protested. She tried sending a stronger sand wave at the boat securing Appa and it did reach the boat but it had too little effect. Thinking quickly the blind girl created a sandstone and levitated it, certain this would do more damage.

"Toph! Help!" Kasumi called out. Now that Appa was trapped, some of the sandbenders were standing over her, looking at her in ways that just screamed rape. One of them even ripped the lower part of her dress off, exposing her legs and panties, making them smile more.

The young girl was torn, knowing she could only help one of them.

"I'm sorry Appa." She said sadly to herself, throwing the sandstone at the sandbenders surrounding Kasumi before rushing up for a more direct application of sandbending. Her stone hit one of them in the head, making the second one look to her. Toph did a quick sand attack at him, and at the current distance it was enough to blind him long enough for her to punch him in the stomach. At the same time she stomped the ground, shattering the sand bonds that were holding Kasumi down.

Kasumi got up and immediately grabbed her torn garment, trying to cover herself with it. But without a belt there was going to be no way to keep it on again.

The first sandbender got behind Toph, and the blind girl managed to hit him with a pillar uppercut. However it was clear that Toph wasn't going to defend herself for much longer. And if she was beaten, then both girls would be whatever the sandbenders forced them to be.

That frightening thought caused something to snap in Kasumi, and she did something she hadn't done in a long, long time.

She got up and slugged one of the men in the face with the hardest punch she could deliver.

The hit sandbender fell to the ground, mostly from it being a lucky strike and being caught off guard. The other sandbender was surprised, and Toph took the chance to slam her hands on the ground creating a sinkhole for the bandaged man to get trapped up to his neck in.

"Thanks Kasumi." Toph said.

The older girl was holding her fist, rubbing the knuckles and wrist looking like she was in pain. "No problem." She said in a very strained way.

One of the sandbenders on the boat waved their hand, telling the ones near the girls that they had to leave. Two of the sandboats had already left, taking Appa with them, and the third one was falling behind waiting to see if they could abduct the girls too. The one Kasumi hit got up, rubbing his jaw and spitting a tooth out, doing some sandbending to free the man Toph had trapped. Both sneered, but they headed to the sandboat and fled.

The danger gone, Toph collapsed on the sand. "That was tough."

"That was scary." Kasumi added, sitting next to the blind girl. "Thank you Toph, I owe you big time for saving me."

"What are we going to do about Appa?" Toph asked.

"I... don't know." Kasumi said, feeling bad about losing the sky bison too. She looked to the top of the tower, as if expecting the group to come out any second.


"Thank you for letting us look through your archive." Katara said with a bow when the group was satisfied with their search. It was getting later in the afternoon, after the worst of the heat of the day but before the cold of night would be upon them.

"Thank you for not looking for something to cause pain." Wan Shi Tang said, having kept a direct eye on them since the planetarium. The group had managed to convince the owl that their interest in the solar eclipse was purely for observational purposes. This allowed Sokka to find the right date, which was in a few months and before Sozen's Comet came near the summer solstice. After that, to put on a better show of nonviolence they went back to the history section and even the Water Tribe section.

"Well we told you we weren't." Sokka stated, hoping the big owl wouldn't notice some of the books he had stowed away in his bag. It was a library, shouldn't he be allowed to take things out too?

"Remember, knowledge is meant to make life better, not violent." Wan Shi Tang said.

"We will remember." Aang said with a respectful bow.

"As a token of my gratitude, I will allow the non-traditional airbender here to keep the staff he has been practicing with in his time here. This will hopefully encourage better learning and less strife for you all." Wan Shi Tang added.

Ranma's eyes widened. "You mean it? I can just take this?" He held out the staff for reference.

"I do this only because I am glad that there are indeed some humans who are less predictable than others and treasure knowledge like I do. The enthusiasm with which you practiced what you read was what I like to see in your species. If letting you keep one staff will continue that, I will be content."

"Thank you." Ranma said with a respectful bow. 'At least he didn't say anything about the book.'

"Hey, where's Zei?" Katara asked.

"Over here." Zei could be heard. The group looked over the bridge, seeing him on the floor below seated by a bookcase surrounded by books and scrolls. "I'm going to be staying a bit longer. I've spent too much time searching for this vast collection of knowledge to just leave it in one afternoon."

"Umm... you came here with us. How are you going to leave without us?" Ranma asked.

"I'll figure that out later on. But I'm not concerned. I could spend the rest of eternity here and call it a life well lived." Zei said with a wistful smile as he put a hand on a book.

'Nerd.' Ranma thought.

"Let's get going. Appa, Toph, and Kasumi are probably bored waiting for us." Aang said, starting to climb the rope up.

Everyone climbed out, and then used the same rope to get down the tower exterior.

"Alright, next stop is Ba Sing Se." Sokka said, folding up the rope after Aang flew back up to untie it.

"Hey, where's Appa?" The bald monk asked, seeing the two girls in the shade of the tower but no sky bison. Kasumi had tied her torn dress around her waist making it sort of a makeshift skirt now. It exposed more of her legs than she preferred, but it at least covered her personal area.

Toph and Kasumi briefly looked at him, their faces covered in remorse, before they looked away.

Aang gasped and dropped his staff.