Disclaimer: I don't own AtLA.
AN: This is the last update to Inversion: Book 1. Hopefully you're all happy with it. Book 2 will hopefully come out at some point, but it relies on the muse, who can be very fickle and unreliable, especially when I'm busy like I am right now.
Thank you all so much for your lovely reviews and just reading this generally. Read, enjoy and review!
Chapter Twenty-Five
Battle of the Sun 1
Sun Warrior Island: Fire Nation waters: 18th lányuè-13th guìyuè, 99 AG
Having been judged 'worthy' by the two dragons, the trio settled into the Sun Warriors' community to allow Anji and Azula to become firebending masters. They were taken to the hidden village that the warriors had retreated to after the beginning of the War, having decided to sit out the fighting due to being entrusted with the preservation of the last dragons by Agni Himself. It was small and designed in such a way that it blended into the landscape, with homes carved into the mountainsides, though it was not underground, as the trio had initially presumed. Firebending, especially the Warriors' style, drew strength from the Sun as well as from the inner flame within everybody. The two girls, despite the vast differences between the style they had first learned and the Sun Warriors' style, advanced quickly and were soon ready to be tested, duly defeating their instructors and being declared and marked as Firebending Masters.
Zuko, despite not being a bender, was not left unoccupied while the girls trained their firebending. A group of non-benders in the tribe took him under their wing and began helping him improve his fighting and hunting skills, along with other things like strategy, geography and history.
Among the group was a man named Piandao, who had apparently been from an island in the east of the Fire Nation and served in the EFAA for several decades before too many years of fighting and the deaths of everyone in his family led to him leaving, seeking an escape from the seemingly never-ending carnage the War left in its merciless wake. After some time spent travelling, Piandao had found his way to the Warriors, where he had settled down and never left. The two Fire siblings had been shocked to learn he was living with the Sun Warriors. Even twenty years later, he was still spoken of as one of the greatest swordsmen produced by the Fire Nation and a very honourable man. Zuko glowed with pride when he told the girls that he had been taken on as the old general's student, though later on he would sulk over various menial tasks assigned to him by his mentor.
They also learned about how Iroh had ended up in the Sun Warriors Island while injured and passed the best part of a season there, healing and learning their ways, and been adopted into the tribe like they were. Eventually, however, duty to his Nation and his family had pulled him back to the War. The siblings were shocked and intrigued, but enjoyed listening to the stories of their beloved uncle.
But throughout the weeks the trio passed training and honing their skills under the shrewd and calculating gazes of the Warriors, there was one thing none of them brought up. They talked about their training, about the tales of history told to them by their instructors and of what they would do once the girls had finished with their firebending training and been named masters.
But not once did any of them tell the others of the vision they had seen while being judged by Ran and Shaw. Anji said nothing to her friends of the visions of her attacking a Coalition village. She tried to put it to the back of her mind, but at night when she finally fell asleep, the array of nightmares and visions she suffered through expanded to include the scene of her vision self wrecking merciless fury on the villagers and their protectors as they screamed and pled for mercy she refused to grant. The prospect of becoming such a person terrified her and she was unable to release her fears over it all.
Azula also remained silent on the topic of their test, but she too was unnerved by it. In her vision, she had seemed to be split into two people fighting under the gazes of the two dragons. One Azula was on the left with Ran, and she was clad in red while the other Azula was on Shaw's side and dressed in blue. A third Azula, the 'real' Azula, had floated above them all, watching as her two other selves fought viciously, feeling their emotions as though they belonged both to her and to another in a way she couldn't properly describe. Then she saw a burly Coalition man, murdering her parents, and the two Azulas' fighting had increased to desperate tempos as they both sought to reach the murderer as the faceless man sauntered away, indifferent and uncaring of the pain he had left behind. The dragons had turned to the watching Azula and asked her what she would choose, justice or vengeance? Azula had stared at the bodies of her parents, thinking of the way her father would tell her that they must never lower themselves to the level of their enemies, the way her mother would smile indulgently at Azula and Zuko and praise them when they were being good or helpful and urge them to always be humble and kind.
Then Azula said justice.
Her words caused the red-Azula to triumph, and a strange ease settled over her. As if she had released some of the anger and lust for revenge for the harm endured by her people over the past ten decades. She still wanted the Coalition to pay for all they had done, but no longer did she feel as if she were burning up from within with sheer hatred. A desire for justice, not vengeance, was what she now felt and the desire to make them hurt the way their victims had was gone. It helped, but a part of her felt strangely bereft at the missing emotions, the grief over losing Ozai and Ursa suddenly as fresh as that first terrible night, but without Uncle to hold her as she screamed and threw a fit and sobbed. She was unwilling to seek comfort from Anji or Zuko, her pride too strong to let her put down those barriers and show what she felt to be her weakness, even though she herself had comforted them both on multiple occasions when they wept for whatever reason.
Finally, Zuko, like the girls, kept his experience during the test to himself. Again, he'd had to make a difficult choice, one that weighed on him. The dragons had both made him an offer. Shaw had offered to take Azula's bending and give it to Zuko, whilst Ran had offered to let him keep the stone Zuko had taken from the Temple of Agni. Much as he had envied Azula's power and the link to their heritage that it gave her, and though the stone seemed pretty useless and not even worth much if pawned, Zuko had chosen the stone.
Azula loved being a bender. Sometimes Zuko thought her whole identity was built up around it. Back before they left Ember Island and joined Anji, she would spend all her spare time pouring over the scrolls she had access to until she literally had them memorized off by heart, nagging Li and Lo to tell her everything they could recall of the firebending movements they'd seen others use for the thousandth time and practicing the techniques Ozai and Iroh had taught her over and over until they were beyond perfect and instinctual. He couldn't take that away from her. It would break her completely, and it just seemed wrong to try and picture Azula as a non-bender, whereas he had never been one, but had managed all his life. And so, he chose the stone, taking some comfort in the way it seemed to hum in his mind.
What troubled all three members of the Avatar's small group was not the decisions they had made during their tests. They were all certain they had made the best possible choice, the only one they could live with.
What troubled them, was just how close they came to choosing to accept the offers made to them by Shaw.
/\\\/\\\/\\\
Whilst the trio passed their time training and planning in the city of the Sun Warriors, the Coalition was making arrangements. The Shaman who had replaced the previous Shaman who had died when Avatar Kuruk had destroyed the Southern Water Temple and his fellow angakkuit had spent weeks in the Spirit Oasis searching for spiritual aid on the destruction of the Avatar. Although Tui and La had long since abandoned Their people and Their physical forms, the Oasis remained a place close to the Spirit Realm where visions could be summoned and seen clearest.
The fact that this was due to the Northern Spirit Portal was long forgotten. The Avatars, with their shared immortal soul and vast political and religious authority, could manipulate the historical record with relative ease. It was not something they enjoyed doing, nor did they do it often. Indeed, most times they corrected the record when they realized it had been written in a biased manner, attempting to reduce the amount of prejudice and sense of superiority in the world. Despite their best efforts, even when the world was at its most peaceful, they still couldn't eliminate things like racism or a belief in cultural superiority entirely. But on occasion, they used their power to their own advantage, and covering up the knowledge of the Portals' locations was one of them. People knew that portals and cracks in the Veil existed of course, and it was easy to learn of locations where visions were especially strong, but the knowledge of the Portals, their exact locations, and the significance of these particular entrances to the Spirit Realm and what they guarded was confined to the Avatar alone, the current Avatar being told the truth by their direct predecessor when they became fully realized.
They could not trust anyone, even their most cherished loved ones, with the location of Vaatu's prison, or the knowledge of where the Veil was anchored. Only from one of the Portals could the Veil be undone and their greatest and oldest enemy freed from the prison the First Avatar had bound Him into the greater part of ten thousand years past. None could ever be trusted with the information. Even those they trusted most might still let something slip, either through torture or trickery. As such, the knowledge of just why the two poles were so spiritual was long forgotten, most presuming that the presence of Tui and La in the Spirit Oasis had caused its' connection to the other world, rather than Tui and La taking up residence in the Oasis because of its spirituality.
Still, although the origins were long forgotten, the effects were still felt. Of course they were, for the true source of the Oasis' spiritual nature remained, even with Tui and La returned to the Spirit Realm for ten decades. As such, despite the capital of the Coalition being at the South Pole, it was to the Northern Oasis that the new Shaman led three of his chief acolytes into in search of spiritual guidance, the group making up four of the most talented and powerful waterbenders in the angakkuit.
Four was the most sacred and spiritual number in the world. There were four elements, four cardinal points, four Nations (or there had been, at any rate), for seasons and so on, so forth. Even with the Coalition's fierce belief in their element and nation's superiority, they acknowledged and accepted the importance of the number. Their acknowledgement showed itself in the fact that they had four leaders of the Angakkuit, all men of course. Although that was a new enough thing, for prior to the formation of the Coalition, there was the Shaman and then all the rest were considered to be equals, though respect and power was given to the eldest and wisest.
The Shaman was known only by his title on ascending to his position, whilst the other three each oversaw one of the headquarters of the group, one in the North Pole (the second largest and most important. Shamans usually came from there, but not always. Experience and skill were the biggest factors in the decision. Well, second biggest. The biggest factor in the Shaman's selection, as with everything in the Coalition, was the Emperor's favour.), and the other two were small ones in the Earth Kingdom colonies and the Fire Islands. When a new Shaman was chosen, he came from the ranks of the High Angakkuit, as they were called, and went to the temple in the South (another change from pre-War days, when the angakkuit were split between the Temple and the Oasis and he'd gone to Agna Qel'a and the Spirit Oasis to stand guard over their patron spirits), whilst hand selecting his successor for the smaller headquarters he ran.
Currently, the three High Angakkuit were Amaqjuaq, who oversaw the Oasis itself, Inuksuk, who ran the headquarters in the Coalition Earth capital of Kisarviksak, once known as the Zeizhou Province before becoming the first of the Coalition's conquests, and the newest and youngest of the group, chosen to replace the Shaman, Panuk, who was now in charge of the Fire Island headquarters.
They spent several days, just short a week, within the Oasis and seeking guidance from Anningan on how to advise their sovereign. The Dark Moon spirit obliged, eager to have His devotees end his foe before Anji could end the War and restore Tui and La to power over the Tribespeople. He loathed the Avatar with all the hatred a Dark Spirit could muster, which was more than any human could ever comprehend. His loathing went back to the ancient days, when Wan had bonded with Raava and they had devoted Themself to bringing peace to the Mortals and binding the Dark Spirits as they had bound Vaatu. But while the circumstances of Vaatu's defeat meant that, excepting outside intervention, the Greatest and original Dark Spirit was trapped until the next Harmonic Convergence, when the then-Avatar would no doubt be waiting to battle Him once again, the other Dark Spirits bound by Wan and his successors were able to weaken their prisons and escape, albeit with significant effort. Unfortunately, the Avatar was a fierce and determined opponent, and whenever Anningan managed to escape, a total of five times since Wan had sealed him away originally, the Avatar of the time would learn of his escape and hunt him down.
It didn't matter if he faced Wan, Akira of the Sun Warriors, Saghani of the Water Tribes, Chesa of the Air Nomads, Shen of the Earth Kingdom or Roku of the Fire Nation. Anningan was forever humiliated and forced back into his cage by an arrogant, jump-upped mortal with delusions of grandeur, as the Dark Spirits liked to consider the Host of Raava. To add to the humiliation, only once had the Dark Moon Spirit managed to inflict mortal wounds on his foe during their battles, and Saghani, at sixty-two, had been old for a mortal. And even after being inflicted with lethal injuries so grievous she barely managed to return to the Material World by riding her buffalo yak before succumbing to death, she had still managed to complete the binding properly, trapping him for another three centuries.
Anningan was determined that this time he would succeed. He was no fool, however. His best advantage was that Anji of the Air Nomads was not yet a fully realized Avatar. She could not yet control the Creator Spirit's power. Experience had shown that it was unlikely Anningan could defeat her if she did manage to learn that all important ability. He was strengthened by the offerings and prayers of the Coalition, but, in truth, he barely qualified as Greater Dark Spirit, whilst the Avatar was the Vessel of the Light Spirit, more powerful than any other save the great Vaatu, who was trapped for just short another mortal century. If they faced off now, Anningan believed he could at last defeat his ancient enemy, but if she became fully realized before they fought, Anningan, along with the Coalition, would lose.
And so, when the Shaman and his three senior disciples sought his guidance, Anningan obliged them. He and Tui both had the ability to see everything beneath the moon, and as such the Dark Spirit was well aware of where the Avatar was hiding with her two current pets, as the spirit contemptuously labelled the members of the Avatars' various entourages. Even some Light Spirits often distrusted or looked with condescension upon humans. To Dark Spirits, they were a little less useless than insects due to being able to strengthen spirits through offerings and worship, and the Avatars' habit of gathering groups of mortals around them was further proof of their unworthiness to hold so much power.
The angakkuit drank from the Oasis, chanting and hitting a drum in a specific beat as heavy incense filled the air, facilitating their visions. Anningan gave them as clear a vision as he could, showing them an image of the Fire Nation and then zeroing in on the island of the Sun Warriors, before showing them Anji, Azula and Zuko gathered with the Warriors around a campfire in the darkness, Ran and Shaw clinging to a cliffside and observing as the humans were told tales as old as the Warriors themselves.
As soon as the group were released, they scrambled out of the Oasis, staggering as though they were drunk and leaning against the walls for support. Tui and La had always been gentle and careful of Their chosens' minds when sending visions to their mortal devotees, but Anningan did not have such concern for His worshippers. The visions He sent them were clearer and more accurate as a result, but it ran the risk of shredding the diviners' minds as easily tearing a piece of parchment into pieces.
Their sight was blurry, their heads aching and their breathing heavy as they stumbled away. Panuk had a nosebleed, whilst Amaqjuaq's left eye had turned red due to a burst blood vessel. That didn't stop them from leaving the Oasis as fast as their weakened legs (from both the lack of food and drink during their shared trance as well the vision itself) could carry them, heading to where Gilak and Chief Arnook, subdued after the recent royal visit, waited impatiently for their return, where they hastened to reveal the location of the Avatar.
Fortunately for the Coalition's enemies, and unfortunately for the Coalition itself, the Dark Spirits were not the only ones keeping a suspicious eye on them.
/\\\/\\\
Anji dreamt she was in a place she recognized as the Spirit Oasis. She had never seen it in person in this life, of course, not even a sketch. But she knew it was the Oasis as surely as she knew her own name. Swimming in a circle in the softly glowing pool was a pair of large koi fish, one black with a white spot, the other the same colours but reversed. Again, she knew them instinctively.
"Tui, La," she bowed respectfully to them. "Did you summon me here?"
"Yes, Tulku," Tui confirmed. Neither She nor Her consort ceased Their swimming. They could not, Anji knew, for their circle did not just symbolise the push and pull of the tides, the very centre of waterbending philosophy of all types, but controlled it. Were they to stop swimming, the oceans would fall still, and waterbending would disappear from the power of its benders.
"We have an urgent warning for you, Tulku," La added. "One similar to that which We would have given you prior to the Great Slaughter of Pehar's Sons and Daughters, yet your mind was then unable to receive Us."
Anji bowed her head in regret. "What is this warning?" She asked, rather than touch on the painful topic.
"You know my Dark twin, Anningan, has benefited from the corruption of Our Children," Tui spoke up.
"I do," Anji nodded. Or at least, she had assumed so from what she knew of spirits and their dimension.
"He fears your return signals the end of His reign and the start of Our return to power over the people of Water, as it does," Tui went on. "And is taking steps to prevent you from gaining control of the Creator's gifts and being able to defeat Him. He, like Me, can see all that occurs beneath the moonlight, and has sent a vision of your location to His worshippers, allowing them to gather their strength and launch an attack. As we speak, they are packing their ships and setting sail for the island of Agni's oldest Chosen, preparing to invade it."
As Tui spoke, Anji saw the fleet She warned of in the water's reflection. It was a vast fleet of fifty ships, packed full of highly trained and mostly experienced Coalition warriors. They far outnumbered the Warriors, whose entire population was not quite a hundred, counting the children and elders too old to fight.
Anji felt her heart sink.
"Thank You for Your warning, Great Spirits," she said respectfully, despite her barely contained panic and dismay. "I will prepare. I will not fail in my task to restore the Balance of the World to the Light, and to see You both returned to Your rightful places as Patrons of the Water Tribes."
"We have faith in you, Avatar," La assured her. "You have never failed in your task, no matter the face and name you wear. Raava chose well, when she decided to bind Her soul to your first self's."
Anji swallowed thickly and nodded. "My thanks," she mumbled.
"Go, Avatar," the Spirits urged her, their voices blurring into one. "Go and save Agni's children from disaster!"
'How?' She wondered with despair. She thought of Kuruk, and reached for his mind. 'Help me', she pleaded. 'What do I do?'
The vision changed, and now she was sitting in a pretty little meadow, the epitome of peaceful. Kuruk, in a Tribal summer tunic with a necklace around his neck, sat cross-legged across from her, expression solemn but welcoming.
"Anji," he nodded to her in greeting. She returned the gesture.
"Kuruk," she said. "Thank you. What do I do?" She assumed, correctly, that he was aware as she was of her discussion with Tui and La, and Their warning.
Kuruk looked calmly at her. "You do what you must," he stated firmly. "What we always do. You stand firm, chin raised high, and force the servants of Darkness to bow to you, accepting that death is preferable to you ever bowing to them. The destiny of the world is clay in your hands, Anji, and you must actively shape it."
"I tried," Anji breathed, eyes feeling wet. "I wasn't enough."
Kuruk looked pained. They were the same person, of course, and their emotions seemed to circle between them as Tui and La circled one another. "We are powerful, but we are not almighty," he sighed heavily. "Even when we have mastered all the elements. Your fear and remembrance of being unable to defeat the Coalition during the Slaughter is holding you back, Anji.
You must remember the lessons of Kelsang and the bhikkunis. Everything in the world is temporary. Letting go of your grief and regret is not disgracing their memory, it is honouring it. You will always remember your people and their love. Accept that they are gone, and honour them by being true to their beliefs, and bringing peace, as they trusted you would."
"How can I honour their beliefs whilst fighting a war? They were pacifists. I spit on their memory by spilling another's blood," she whispered miserably, looking down at their hands. Kuruk reached out and laid a hand on her shoulder.
"You do not fight for the sake of power and vengeance, to dominate others," he reminded her. "You fight to protect the innocent, to bring justice to those who deserve it. That is how you honour the ways of the Nomads. They had faith in you Anji. Through your actions that day, a dozen girls escaped alive and kept the airbenders alive, if changed. All things are temporary. The airbenders still remain, but they have been changed by time and experience. Take solace in that."
"I'm afraid," she said thickly. "I can't fail again."
Kuruk bowed his head in regret. "I too failed," he admitted. "It was not your failure that led to this war, Anji, it was mine. Emperor Amak was my cousin, and we grew up closer than many brothers were. Because of this bond between us, I didn't kill him when I should have. When I had the chance. I fought him and forced him into submission, and I told myself that it was enough. But Amak was a master poisoner, and by the time I realized I was dying, it was too late. Kyoshi had her failures too. When she killed Sozin, she defeated an evil and corrupt man, but unleashed chaos, as he was the lynchpin keeping the Fire Nation and many Earth Kingdom states from falling into anarchy. Yangchen is called one of the greatest Avatars of all time, but her prejudice against spirits, caused by her first mission being against a corrupted spirit and the death of her wife Akari and dear friend Huizhong at the hands of some dark spirit worshippers led her to cause an Imbalance in the world by neglecting her duties to the Spirit Realm and consistently favouring mortals in disputes.
We are none of us perfect, Anji, and all Avatars make mistakes. The problem is that when an Avatar makes a mistake, it affects more than just themselves or a few others, but entire countries, or the whole world. Your choice is to either let that fear control you, hold you back, or else conquer it, and do what you feel is best. I am here to guide you, as are all our shared predecessors, but we cannot control you. In the end, your personal judgement is what matters most. You must have faith in yourself to make the right decisions and protect the world.
Will you protect the world, Anji, regardless of the personal cost to your body and soul? Or will you choose to flee into hiding and live a life in obscurity as a fugitive, watching the world drown in blood because you prefer to put the morals of the Nomads above the safety of the world now?"
The words were harsh, but in truth the shock was just what Anji needed. Above all, her people had believed in self-sacrifice for the greater good. She would be selfish, if she decided to cling to the no-killing beliefs of the Sangha. She had managed to stick to injuring and knocking her opponents unconscious so far, but that could only last so long before it came to a position where it would be either her morals or somebody's life, and with the approaching fleet, the time for her to make that choice was fast approaching. And even the gentlest of the bhikkunis at the Western Temple had thrown aside their pacifistic beliefs in favour of fighting with all their strength and skill to protect the children. They would expect no less from her.
She did as Kuruk had urged her, lifting her chin and setting her shoulders as she looked him in the eye. "I failed the Nomads," she stated flatly. "And I cannot, will not, forgive myself for that. But I won't fail again. I won't hesitate again. If I am going to shape the destiny of the world, then I will shape it into a world of peace and acceptance, no matter what I have to do to achieve it."
Kuruk gave her an approving look and bowed his head in respect as the dream began to fade away as Anji began to wake up.
/\\\/\\\
"Anji?" Azula leaned over her with a mildly concerned look. "Are you okay? You were rolling all over the place, muttering about choices and ships."
Anji sat up and scrambled to kick off the light sheet covering her. "We need to speak with the chief," she told her friend as she hurried from the bed. "The Coalition knows where we are. They're on their way with a fleet."