Disclaimer – all original Avatar: The Last Airbender characters in this fanfic (excluding my OC's) are the property of Bryana Konietzko and Michaela Dante DiMartino.
The Legend of The Violet Phoenix.
Fifty-eight years before the Air Nomad Genocide (58 BG), prince Sozin ascended to the throne following his father's death and becoming the new Fire Lord of the Fire Nation. Over time, he began to develop the ambition to unite the four nations under his rule. His grandson, Iroh, attributed this quest for power to jealousy of the Avatar's immense strength, a feeling that only grew as Sozin immersed himself in the role of Fire Lord and put ever more importance in power and influence.
Four years later (54 BG) and twelve years after his departure, Roku, who became a fully realized Avatar, returned to the Fire Nation. Even though many years had passed, Sozin still considered Roku his best friend and warmly greeted him upon his return. The Fire Lord even willingly ignored old customs of respect for the Avatar and happily hugged Roku just like in their youth.
A few months later, Roku married Ta Min, a noblewoman from the Capital, and the Fire Lord took the position of Roku's best man. However, Sozin also saw the wedding as his best opportunity to talk with his friend about his future plans. The Fire Lord approached Roku shortly after the wedding and took a walk with him.
Sozin pointed out that the Fire Nation was going through a period of great prosperity and wealth and that together with the Avatar, the two of them could spread it throughout the world by expanding the empire to make a 'brighter future' possible. However, Avatar Roku was greatly disturbed by this, telling Sozin that the four nations were meant to be separate and that he should not think of this again.
Despite Roku's warnings, Sozin prepared for the unification of the nations through war. He greatly expanded the Fire Nation's already powerful army and navy and ordered the establishment of colonies in the Earth Kingdom.
Seventeen years later (37 BG), Roku traveled to the Earth Kingdom on Fang, his tamed dragon and animal guide. He discovered the colonies and came to the Fire Nation Capital to rebuke Sozin, who warned his former friend that their loyalty was to their nation first. Anything less would make him a traitor. Roku, however, replied that the Fire Lord should not challenge him, as it would only end badly, leading Sozin to wrathfully attack him when his back was turned. The two engaged in a short battle, with Roku defeating Sozin and leveling the palace's throne room in the Avatar State. Roku spared his life because of their past friendship but warned him never to move forward with his plans again, or it would result in his 'permanent end.'
Twenty-five years later (12 BG), Avatar Roku's home island was consumed in a massive volcanic eruption that Sozin could see and feel from a hundred miles away. The Fire Lord flew in on his dragon to assist his old friend. The two used their bending to try to contain the lava flow but were hindered by poisonous gases, which eventually overwhelmed Roku, leaving him lying on the ground and begging for his old friend's help. Sozin suddenly realized that Roku's death would allow him to fulfill his plans and left his old friend to die along with his dragon, Fang.
With Roku gone, Sozin continued his military build-up, covertly preparing for a global war by further increasing the Fire Army's manpower and building a massive fleet of warships for the Fire Navy.
Twelve years after the death of Avatar Roku (0 BG), Fire Lord Sozin used the power of a comet, later renamed Sozin's Comet in his honor, to enhance the abilities of his firebending army and launched simultaneous attacks on all other nations, begging the war, which was later known as a Hundred Year War. Most importantly, he organized a massive, genocidal assault on the Air Nomads in an attempt to kill the new Avatar and break the Avatar Cycle.
However, a young Avatar named Aang ran away from the air temples sometime before, avoiding the gruesome fate with his flying bison, Appa, though they became caught in a storm shortly after, which caused them to crash into the water. Aang saved himself and Appa from drowning by semi-consciously entering the Avatar State and freezing them both in a sphere of ice through a combination of airbending and waterbending.
With the Avatar frozen in the iceberg, Sozin's reign carried on, and the war escalated. The Fire Lord established a cult of personality centered upon himself and the royal family, one that would be upheld through the reigns of Azulon and Ozai after him. Numerous monuments were constructed in reverence of himself, and the imperialist regime enforced various forms of propaganda that established Sozin as a higher, benevolent being. Such propaganda included the false claim that the Air Nomads possessed an army when in truth, they were a pacifist culture. Additionally, Sozin ordered that the Dragonbone Catacombs be sealed off so that all Fire Nation history recorded before his reign would be erased from the national conscience, making it appear as if the Fire Nation history began with himself.
Twenty years after the air Nomad Genocide (20 AG), Sozin died at the age of 102, and it was rumored that he lived to be older due to the influence of the comet's power. Fire Nation schools taught that he died peacefully in his sleep, an old and successful man, though in Sozin's own last testament, he reminisced about how his younger years used to be 'brighter. Sozin, like all Fire Lords, was buried in the Dragonbone Catacombs, and he was succeeded by his son prince Azulon at age twenty.
Fire Lord Azulon secured many victories against the Earth Kingdom during his reign, expanding Fire Nation territory and increasing colonization in the continent. Under his leadership, the Fire Nation continued to push the Earth Kingdom forces east toward the capital of Ba Sing Se.
Around year 40 AG, Fire Lord Azulon, father of Ozai and Iroh, began ordering attacks on the Southern Water Tribe's main city and villages in an attempt to deprive its people of their ability to resist the Fire Nation. In order to achieve that, the Fire Nation created the Southern Raiders, a special naval force unit that was meant to capture or kill waterbenders residing in the Southern Water Tribe through hit and run tactics. They also devastated the, at that time, largely spared southern Earth Kingdom.
The waterbenders fought back and even managed to freeze at least one ship by suspending it on ice. However, as the raids continued, more and more the waterbenders from the tribe were either killed or captured until a female named Hama was the last waterbender in the tribe.
Outnumbered, she eventually surrendered and was led away in chains to be transported to the Fire Nation, where she was put in a maximum-security prison located on a remote island.
The captured waterbenders were separated from each other. The prison kept the humidity to a minimum so that no water could be pulled from the air, and the prisoners were given water only after their limbs were chained. Still, each month, Hama could feel the power of the full moon and believed there was a way to escape.
She eventually realized that since water existed in all living things, she could control them by bending the water in their bodies to escape. Only during the full moon Hama was able to control the water in the bodies of the elephant rats. After many years of practicing, she mastered this ability and called it bloodbending. On the night of her escape, Hama used bloodbending to control one of the prison guards assigned to keep her locked in and forced him to unlock her cage, allowing her to escape from the prison. She left the island with the help of her waterbending, which allowed her to glide on water.
While she theoretically could return to her tribe, Hama wanted revenge for the harsh treatment she and her fellow waterbenders had to endure in the waterbender prison. She reached one of the central islands, located close to the Capital Island of the Fire Nation.
She moved to a small Fire Nation village and became a keeper of a modest inn after abducting the previous owner and locking him in the mountain cave, which she found during her first arrival.
While she played a gentle and kind innkeeper during the day, she was ruthless and full of hate during the full moon. Consumed by the desire for revenge for the harsh treatment, Hama began to abduct innocent people of the Fire Nation village with her bloodbending, forcing them to walk up a mountain and chaining them in the same cave.
Hama was obsessed with her revenge, and nothing could change her mind. However, one thought began to haunt her. Without someone to carry on her work after her death, she'd be the first and the last bloodbender. Her skills and knowledge would perish along with her.
She needed to teach someone bloodbending, and since there were no waterbenders in the village, Hama had no choice but to pick one of the villagers. She chose a random, good-looking non-bender named Yan Zu to make sure her child would become a waterbender and began to flirt with him. The two eventually become a pair.
Chapter 1. The Plan.
Year 63 AB – Fire Nation Central Island, Hama's Village, Marketplace.
The small village where Hama and Yan Zu lived was located within a rural area surrounded by forests. It was also located near a vast field of fire lilies, pretty, vibrant, red flowers with thin sterns. The village itself sat on a large bed of rock and included a lively marketplace where many popular Fire Nation products were sold, including ash bananas and komodo sausages.
"Here you go, Hama," said an older man with a grey mustache and a long beard, giving the forty-three-year-old woman a basket with fruits. Hama wasn't the youngest anymore, but she was still easy on the eye. Her brown-colored hair with a few grey strands was well-groomed, and her slim figure still made men turn heads. "I added a few extra ash bananas since I know how Yan Zu likes them."
"Thank you, mister Zuon," Hama replied, concealing her deep-rooted anger behind a gentle smile, and walked away from the fruit stall. As she passed a fish stall, a young woman merchant with short, brown hair, who owned it, waved to her. "Hama! I have fresh sea slugs!"
"Save a few for me, Suri!" Hama replied. "I'll buy them after dinner!"
An elderly man and a woman, who were in the middle of buying fish from Suri, spoke to the merchant. "I must say, Hama seems more lively today," noted the elderly woman.
Suri smiled. "She and Yan Zu are finally together," she said, placing fish into their basket. "Lucky girl. Yan Zu is quite the catch. Hardworking, wise, handsome."
"Suspicious," the elderly man said, shrugging his arms and making Suri roll her blue-colored eyes. "He appeared in our village a few years ago and he doesn't want to share his past with anyone. He's hiding something. What's more, he has an unhealthy habit of trying to play the hero. He already makes plans to get rid off the moon monster. That's stupid if you ask me."
"Don't say that," the elderly woman scolded, slapping his arm. "At least he wants to protect the village... protect all of us."
"He should think about Hama and their future if he really cares about her," the man replied, crossing his arms over his chest. "If he vanishes like the rest and leaves her alone with a child, what good that will bring?"
As they all talked, Hama casually headed towards her inn to prepare dinner for her and Yan Zu. Everything needed to be perfect if her plan was to work. The thought of sleeping with someone from the Fire Nation alone was making her nauseous, but she needed to endure it. At least Yan Zu was a good-looking man. Nothing else mattered for Hama. Compared to years in the Fire Nation prison, this would be easy, and the price was worth it.
Fire Nation Central Island, Underground Cave.
While the villagers weren't aware of the mountain cave where Hama kept her prisoners, they knew about the large cave underneath the forest that surrounded the village. The cave wasn't the best place to spend one's free time with the mushrooms and moss that covered the walls and rocks. However, it was a special place for Yan Zu, who entered it with a large bag on his back.
Yan Zu was a tall, forty-four-year-old man with slightly tanned skin, brown-colored eyes, and short black hair. Even though he looked like a hardened soldier, the villagers knew that Yan Zu was a kind and spiritual man who preferred to solve things peacefully rather than with violence. Many villagers even said that Yan Zu spent more of his life meditating than not.
After finding a good spot, Yan Zu placed a bag on the ground, opened it, and took out a large pot with extra spiced komodo sausages. He placed the pot on the ground and reached into the bag again, pulling out a pipa, a plucked instrument with a pear-shaped body with five silk strings and thirty frets. He prepared a fireplace in the middle of the cave but didn't start the fire yet. He sat down on the ground in a lotus position in front of the fireplace and waited for his friend with whom he met once a year during the summer solstice, a natural phenomenon that occurred in a hemisphere's summer season when the sun reached its highest position in the sky. As the solstice approached, the natural world and the Spirit World grew closer together, blurring the line between the two; consequently, the summer and winter solstices were the easiest times for people to enter the Spirit World.
After a few moments, the cold air in the cave became warmer and warmer. Yan Zu smiled as a ring of fire appeared on the ground not far from him. The orange flames burst upwards, quickly turning purple, and reached the ceiling of the cave. Yan Zu raised his hand to cover his face from the immense heat. When the flames finally went out, a large, majestic bird stood in the middle of the cave.
Yan Zu lowered his hand and looked at his friend. "Welcome, Shen'Rai," he smiled and bowed his head towards the spirit.
Shen'Rai was a large phoenix with feathers that came in bright red, orange, and yellow hues. On top of his head, he had a purple-colored crest made from plumulaceous feathers. The feathers of the same color adorned all five of his serrated peacock-like tails, which ends burned in purple-colored flames. The phoenix looked at the human with his orange-colored eyes and spoke with a masculine voice without opening his beak. "Hello Yan Zu, it's nice to see you."
Yan Zu gestured towards the fireplace, and Shen'Rai approached him. Before he sat down, he opened his beak and created a small violet flame, which took a detailed shape of a small bird. The bird then flew around Yan Zu and landed on the fireplace, kindling it and vanishing afterward. After a moment, the violet flames turned orange.
"Heh, it never ceases to amaze me how you and your siblings control fire," Yan Zu noted, standing up, and placed the pot with komodo sausages in front of Shen'Rai.
"Perks of being a Fire Keeper," Shen'Rai replied and grabbed one of the sausages with his beak. He swallowed it in one go. Humans would immediately begin to gasp and tear up from the spiciness, but for him, it was nothing but a delicious flavor. "How are you doing my friend?"
"Well, I met an awesome woman, Hama," Yan Zu answered with a smile and sat back down. "We're together for almost a year now and she really wants to start a family. So tonight, she wants to try to have a baby."
"Congratulations," Shen'Rai replied. "Did you told her who you were?"
Yan Zu's smile faded, and he sighed. "Maybe someday I will," he replied. "My past was very dark so I don't want Hama or my child to judge me by who I was. For now, I just want to have a normal and happy life, but with the moon spirit kidnapping villagers, I'm afraid I won't be able to protect my family. However, I strongly believe it's not a spirit though. The villagers did nothing to the environment to upset the spirits. It's either a wild animal or a human."
"It's not to late to become a firebender once again," Shen'Rai stated. "The Ancient One can give you your bending back. Especially when I'll tag along and vouch for you."
Yan Zu shook his head. "I've asked the lion turtle to take my bending away in the first place as a symbol of my atonement for my past sins. My chi blocking skills and my swordsmanship will have to suffice for now. However, when our child will be born, I'll decide together with Hama if we want a bender. Of course if the child won't be a firebender in the first place."
Shen'Rai nodded. "As you wish," he replied. "Remember, I don't need a soulstice to enter this world so when you'll consider that the time is right, meditate into the Spirit World and notify me."
Yan Zu nodded and noticed that Shen'Rai had left a trail of feathers. He gestured towards them. "I see you're molting," he noted, changing the topic. "Your rebirth is getting close?"
"Yes," Shen'Rai confirmed, grabbing and swallowing another komodo sausage. "It's our natural cycle. I think I have around one year left before my body will burst into flames and turn into ashes. From those ashes, I will be reborn as a young phoenix while the oldest of my siblings will take over my role as a leader. When he'll start molting, the same will happen to him and so on. Each of us remembers our past lives and our experiences."
"Many power-hungry humans would give everything to have such an immortality and knowledge," Yan Zu noted and looked at the flames. "I know I would many years ago."
"Well, I'm tired of this to be honest," replied Shen'Rai. "After almost twenty thousand years everything becomes tedious for me. My existence and the neverending cycles are unchanging."
"Maybe try to find a hobby," Yan Zu suggested with a smirk, making the phoenix chuckle and reply. "Yes, perhaps I will try singing and playing music like you."
"Hey, that's my hobby," Yan Zu squinted his eyes, and the two laughed. "No, but seriously, can't you retire? You have four siblings, can't they continue the Keeper's work without you?"
"We cannot simply retire from being the Fire Keepers," Shen'Rai noted. "We were born for this purpose. It's our destiny."
"In that case maybe you should consider reborn yourself with a new destiny," Yan Zu suggested with a smile. "Remember my friend; the only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be."
Yan Zu grabbed the pipa and began to play a song while Shen'Rai listened to the music and deeply pondered about what the human had just said.
Sometime later - Fire Nation Central Island, Hama's Village, Hama's Inn.
The inn was two stories tall and had a small attic. The inn's ground floor was at a higher level than the front door, so stairs had to be climbed to reach it. Though there was a window in each room of the inn, it was generally dark and gloomy and seemed to have an air of neglect. On the ground floor was a large vestibule, a kitchen, and a dining room. The vestibule was the front room of the inn and was full of cabinets, which contained foods and other assorted goods. In it, there were two doors: one leading up the stairs to the second-floor guest rooms and the other leading to the kitchen. The kitchen was located at the back of the inn and had a small table where travelers could eat meals prepared by the innkeeper.
The second floor of the inn consisted of four bedrooms arranged around a central hallway. Three of these were available for guests, while the last one belonged to Hama and Yan Zu. At the end of the hallway, there was a steep flight of stairs leading to the attic. Directly across the hall from these stairs was a closet containing puppets, which depicted Hama's victims. The attic of the inn was partitioned into two rooms, each of which had a single window and was divided by a locked door. The only thing in the attic was a small locked box that contained Hama's Water Tribe whale tooth comb.
Hama almost finished preparing dinner in the kitchen and wondered when Yan Zu would return. She was aware of his spirituality and occasional meditations into the spirit world, but that didn't bother her. Or, to be more precise, she didn't actually care.
The door to the inn opened, and Yan Zu entered the vestibule. "I'm back!" he announced, placing the bag on the floor. "I hope I'm not late!"
Hama inhaled and exhaled, putting on her kind, smiling face. "You're just on time, my dear!" she replied, turning towards Yan Zu. The man entered the kitchen, approaching Hama with one arm behind his back, and the two shared a quick kiss.
"I have something for you," Yan Zu said, revealing a bunch of fire lilies. "I know how you like them."
"They're beautiful," Hama said, taking the flowers and smelling them. "I'll put them in a vase."
As Hama approached a shelf with an empty vase, Yan Zu got one whiff of the seasoned roast duck, which was cut into bite-sized pieces, and dumplings filled with vegetables. Hama even added some peppers, which were a natural aphrodisiac. "Mmmm... as always you spoil me with such fancy cuisine," he said, helping Hama by grabbing the dishes and taking them to the dining room.
Hama soon joined him, holding a bottle of plum wine. The two sat down and began to eat.
After dinner, the two spend their time together while savoring the taste of the plum wine. "I never thought I would meet a woman like you," Yan Zu said, placing his hand on Hama's. "I could spend the rest of my life with you."
Hama smiled, intertwining her fingers with his. "I want that as well, my love," she said lovingly. "Nothing would make me happier than to have your children."
Yan Zu sighed. "I relish the thought of fathering a child, but I'm worried that the moon spirit could hurt you or our child," he said with worry in his voice.
Hama leaned closer to Yan Zu, placing a hand on his cheek, and gazed into his brown-colored eyes. "I'm sure that whatever troubles the life will place on our path, we'll overcome it together," she said encouragingly and smiled. "I know that you'll do everything to protect us, but looking for trouble would be reckless and stupid."
"But I-" Yan Zu wanted to reply, but Hama placed a finger on his lips. "Hush now," the woman's smile turned into a more seductive one, and she stood up, pulling Yan Zu with her towards the staircase. The two went inside their bedroom and kissed, closing the door behind them.
Please R&R ;)