Chapter 4
"With all the intelligence you have provided, I want to trust you," began Gyatso. "But I do not represent the Air nomads, and thus I will need to summon a council with the other representatives of the Air temples to decide of what we will do. I think it will be hard for them to believe your speech, but with Aang's testimony of his young friend's abrupt change of behaviour around him due to the fact he is an Air nomad, we could persuade them that the Fire Nation is indeed readying itself to attack us if only because we follow a way of life opposite to theirs and they hate us for it..."
"Then let's go to this council. Every hour counts, High Monk Gyatso," replied Kuvira. "Either we start now or your people will be killed to the last, even the children and babies."
"Then let's go on Appa and visit each Air temple to convince them before the meeting. It will be more efficient to convince them individually than to try and convince them as a group."
"I agree, but I feel like I would be wasting precious time if I went with you. Can you not go with Appa or call your own bison and leave me with Aang and Bumi here to train them and begin preparing the Earth Kingdoms to stop Sozin before the comet?"
"Without your speech and Aang's testimony, I doubt anyone will believe me. A metalbender would already be laughed at, no one will believe that."
"Fine, but we must go as fast as we can and I will teach earthbending to Aang on every occasion we get. I think I know how to approach this, he is not the 'harder than a boulder' type, he is more like myself, all about dancing and evading. I think I know how to teach him earthbending in one month, metalbending from there and he can then perfect it by himself with solid bases."
"Two months for earth and metal? Do you really believe he can do that?"
"When he removed his block in my timeline, he learned earthbending in a few weeks. He did not become a master until way later, but he won his fight against Firelord Ozai thanks to the seismic sense his friend and earthbending master Toph Bei Fong had taught him, without it he would have died from a treacherous attack in the back after winning."
"Is that true? That is...really impressive...then I guess he should learn it as soon as possible, even though he should start with learning waterbending..."
"Actually, he learned to waterbend after looking at his friend and waterbending master Katara exercise only once. He then temporarily surpassed her with a few weeks under a proper waterbending master before the fact that he had to spread his attention between three elements helped her get ahead again
"Aang became close to a master waterbender in just two weeks in the North Pole and although his technique with water was not great and he used it very little, he could have beaten the Fire Nation high officers easier if he had actually been using water instead of air. He actually sinked the whole Fire Nation fleet that was completely overwhelming the Northern Water tribe and covered the sea in front of the ice city as far as the eye could see."
"Woah! It seems like little Aang will become a great Avatar in little time!"
"I think the only thing to think about is to keep fire for last. He burned Katara the first time he tried to firebend because he juggled with fire and lost control, if the stories are true. He also learned the basic form of firebending from the dragons of the Island of the Sun Warriors. Then Prince Zuko, who had lost his fire and had gone with him to find a new source to fuel it, became his master. But with only a week to learn it, he was not proficient in firebending for his fight."
"So, he can learn an unusual form of earthbending from you, the basics of firebending from the original firebenders and he can learn waterbending extremely fast as soon as we find him a master..."
"Exactly. Now we must go quickly. I will show Bumi some exercises to train in while we are away so that he has a quicker start and can find the secret to metalbending, then his own genius will speak by itself. He managed to bend diamond by teaching himself, after all, at least in the future."
"Bending diamond? That kid really must be something!"
"Believe me, Bumi is a genius. No wonder he became the king of Omashu without being born from a noble lineage. He was a master of neutral Jing too."
"With two incredible earthbenders around him, Aang will certainly become a powerful Avatar. I just fear he might still be tol young to take such responsibility..."
"I do not ask him to become the Avatar rigt now. I just want to start his training so that he can protect himself as well as his close ones, and when he grows up he can take this responsibility, when he is old and mature enough for it.
"There is still a major difference with my timeline. Here and now, we know what is supposed to happen and we can take action to prevent it. Even if the world leaders do not believe us, we can still create a group to delay Sozin's plans and sabotage his campaign supposed to happen from the day of the comet."
"At worst, I can probably convince the other temple heads to evacuate the Air temples and hide our people in allied countries to avoid the genocide. I doubt they would refuse just in case you are actually right.
"But remember, you have already altered the events of this timeline. Some things will inevitably change from your own. We should prepare for the enemy to adapt their own plans to the new information they will be able to gather."
"I know, High Monk Gyatso. I have been on the other side once. I can think as both sides, unlike the Fire Nation who will be locked into tunnel vision for the next century, ready to commit atrocities and justify them just to reach their absurd goals."
X
After their long discussion, Kuvira showed the exercises to Bumi so that he would grow into an earthbending master even faster and learn metalbending. She also told him that she had known two people able to lavabend just to give him a little push towards absolute earthbending mastery. If she could leave a trace of her passing as the one who gave Bumi some of his ideas to perfect earthbending, she would also be a decent earthbending master.
Then, she jumped onto Appa with Aang while Gyatso jumped on his bison friend called Pie - according to Aang, Gyatso loved pies and launching them onto his fellow monks' faces. They took off for the Western Air temple.
X
The trip was long and annoying for Kuvira. She didn't particularly like Aang's character and jokes. At least he wasn't too much into physical contact, which she despised enough to fight from a distance and indirectly rather than with punches like the usual earthbenders. She had even gotten used to wearing gloves during the unification campaign and her whole body but her head was covered, preventing anyone from being in contact with her skin.
The only person she had allowed to touch her after Su Bei Fong had weakened the link between them was Baatar Junior, and they had been fiancees. She wouldn't let anyone she didn't love touch her skin.
This disgust for physical contact came from her childhood. Her parents had been abusive bastards before abandoning her for not being good enough for their family.
Su had managed to put back the pieces and make her regain confidence and trust towards some select people, but after the woman she had considered like a mother had distanced herself from her, she had lost this trust. Only Baatar Junior had kept close enough to regain her trust and finally conquer her feelings.
But then he had wanted to give up on their goal to live their life together, happier, and she had fired her spirit beam at him, probably killing the only person she had really cared for to achieve her mad goal that had gone too far.
But Korra had protected her in their final moment. She had protected her by putting her own life on the line. Was it because Kuvira had saved the Avatar's father? Or because she would have protected anyone? Was there another reason?
All she knew was that the energy had created a portal with the Spirit World and that when she was lost, Zaheer of all people had given her a second chance. A new life where she could be someone else. Where she could avoid repeating the same mistakes. Where she could protect people without second thoughts, without expecting anything in return.
And here she was, flying on the back of the previous Avatar's sky bison to try and prevent the genocide of a pacifist people, trying to prevent a war from extending for a whole century and killing millions of people, nearly destroyins entire cultures, all that for an era of industrialisation.
In the end, Zaheer was probably right on some points. Detachment was the only way towards freedom and industrialisation was leading to material attachment, to a few people owning most of the land and riches and exploiting the people for their own bank account to grow further and their palaces to show more ornament.
This meant that she would have to prevent this industrialisation from becoming too big. She had to destroy most of the dangerous technologies, only letting harmless, practical ones be developped and spread while keeping anything dangerous from being expanded on. She would have to lead the industrialisation into a good way and prevent it from being used for warfare or being accaparated by the wealthiest people.
The good point of this air trip was that she had the time to think of her new goals. Protecting the Avatar, preventing the genocide of the Air nomads, shortening the war and reducing the negative impacts of industrialisation.
And maybe, just maybe, she could get rid of the king of Ba Sing Se who was already a leech before the war and free the city from the Dai Li, so that Ba Sing Se could become a better place to live in, better than the city where you would be sent to a rehabilitation camp if you spoke about war or anything that 'could trouble the order and peace of the city'. A place where there would be no giant walls segregating the poor from the middle class and everyone from the lazy noble class.
But Ba Sing Se was not her priority for now. It would just be a bonus if she could find a better system to replace the rotten one in place...
X
Finally, they arrived at the Western Air temple after five days of flight.
"Dear passengers, you have reached your destination! Thank you for flying with Appa Airlines!" joked Aang as Appa prepared to land.
Kuvira jumped before the bison even touched the stone floor of the upside-down air temple.
"Finally, I don't feel powerless anymore. Five days of travel in the air would make any earthbender crazy. Now I understand why Toph never liked riding on Appa...
"Oh, and by the way, this temple looks really great! Is it a temple for nuns? I only see women in every direction."
"Yes, the Western Air temple, just like the Eastern Air temple, is inhabited by girls," answered Aang.
"Welcome into our home, young Aang," greeted an old nun in Air nomad clothing - a yellow ample suit with an orange shoulder-sized cloak. "We had not seen you for the last two years, how are you?"
"Good afternoon, High Nun Jinsu Li," saluted Aang politely, "I have been doing well with High Monk Gyatso at the Southern Air temple. We have been traveling to Omashu, where we have met this woman who has reported some worrying information to High Monk Gyatso that I...overheard..."
"Welcome, Miss?"
"Kuvira. Glad to meet you, High Nun Jinsu Li."
"What kind of information is so important that you came without Gyatso?" asked the old woman.
"Appa is just faster than Pie. Gyatso will arrive soon," explained Aang. "But it is the kind of information that can change the world."
"I guess it has something to do with the Fire Nation militarizing heavily then?"
"Indeed," answered Kuvira. "I can tell you that the Fire Nation is preparing for a war. Firelord Sozin has deliberately let Avatar Roku die ten years ago because he was opposed to Sozin's goal to share the greatness of the Fire Nation's industrialisation through...conquest and warfare.
"And since the new Avatar is born in the Air nomads, Sozin's first target will be the pacifist people he despises so much for being at the opposite end of the philosophical spectrum compared with him. Sozin has planned to eradicate the Air nomads from this world, then he will target the insulated and weak Southern Water tribe.
"If we do not take action soon, there will be no way to avoid a global war in which the Fire Nation will fight on all fronts, but focus on one at a time. He wants a blitzkrieg with the Air nomads, waiting for the comet that will come in two years to wipe most of you out in a minimum amount of time and then track the survivors until there is no Air nomad left.
"Then Sozin can easily weaken the Southern Water tribe by capturing their benders until there is none left and focus most of his forces on the Earth Kingdoms and colonize them further, capturing their people for free workforce to build his empire."
"As much as I wish I could not believe what you told me, I have noticed a lot of changes hinting towards the scenario you have exposed to me," sighed Jinsu Li. "And I guess High Monk Gyatso will try to inform all of the Air temples and gather the heads to decide of how to react before it is too late..."
"Yes!" exclaimed Aang. "And I went to meet my friend Kuzon in the Fire Nation, and I was really sad because he confirmed that the Fire Nation hated the Air nomads and that they were educated to believe in the greatness of their Nation and to spread that greatness... He broke our friendship because he has been brainwashed by the adults into believing that war was great and that warfare was a way to share their superior technology with the rest of the world..."
"That is sad indeed," commented the High Nun. "Using propaganda to change children into good soldiers for their military, that disgusts me even more of the recent changes in the Fire Nation's politics..."
Pie landed and Gyatso jumped onto the stone floor. He saluted Jinsu Li, she welcomed him and invited all of them inside.
They discussed for half a day and she agreed to help them convince the other heads of the Air temples to take action and save their people before it's too late.
X
A/N: This chapter is mostly the exposition of the problems they will have to face and some little worldbuilding, like giving an actual name to the head of the Western Air temple and showing that being situated in the Fire Nation's territory allowed them to notice the changes around them.
Air nomads can't be dumb enough to ignore the massive militarization of the Fire Nation and the way Sozin and his people look at them.
I am thinking about when to start the action, and I think when Aang starts getting taught water or fire seems to be the right time for it.
Be ready for massive changes in the timeline. Kuvira's timeline is set in stone, she will not be affected by what changes she causes in the new timeline (just like future Trunks in DBZ is not affected by Goku's survival and the new androids).
Remember that this fic isn't entitled Avatar for a good reason. Shit happens when you try to change the past.
Write you next time!