A/N: Thanks once again to everyone who reviewed. I am only writing this right now because I have nothing else to do… Well, I DO have two other Jak and Daxter fics to update, and I DO have a Marching Band fic to update, but I like Avatar the best right now. Yeah. Um. Guess what. Marching Band is starting soon. Yay! Um. Noooo, I'm not a Band Geek… Okay, maybe a little… Would you stop staring? Just read the chapter, k?
Disclaimer: I do not own the following or anything relating to the following: Avatar: The Last Airbender, Jak and Daxter (Mentioned in Author Notes), the Marching Band (though I'm a member), a flying bison, a lemur, the gift of being a bender, Microsoft, Eggo Waffles, NaughtyDog (They own Jak and Daxter), Microsoft Word (Which I'm writing this in now), the little Paper Clip dude in the corner of the screen (Otherwise know as "The Microsoft Office Assistant" or "Clip"), a cat (I love cats!), a dinosaur, the Central Park Zoo, the Republic of Finland, the North Pole, Mars, Mount Everest, and a brain.
(A/N: Just kidding on the last one there…)
The Art of Waterbending
Chapter Three
"Ai! Come quickly! We must give a welcome to our visitors!" yelled Mei Ling. Ai was sitting out on the edge of the sea, staring into the great beyond. What a beautiful thing the ocean was.
"Yes, Ma!" Ai scampered back towards her waiting mother. She gave a quick embrace, and then a wondering glance that Mei Ling responded to.
"We are holding a traditional celebration in honor of the visitors. We haven't had visitors since the days of Kazuki's fathers!" exclaimed Mei Ling. She giggled with her young daughter.
"Ma? Will there be Bender Dancing?"
"Yes! Now, come, let's go!" said Mei Ling.
A little while later, the mother and daughter reached their home village. There was a great bonfire in the village center, and food lay out under makeshift pavilions that smelled like heaven.
"Ma, seal blubber jerky!" Ai's mouth watered.
Mei Ling made a squelched face. "I still can't see how you and your father could eat that!"
Ai laughed, and separated from her mother to find Chaisu and the newcomers drinking warm Chongsah Tea, made from the Chongsah herb that was one of the few plants that grew in the Arctic climate.
"Hi, all," greeted Ai. Chaisu smiled warmly, and offered Ai a cup of tea. Ai gladly accepted.
"A Traveler Festival! Gran Gran used to tell us about them and how they were held in her time, back in the days when the great Water Nation City of the South Pole was still there. I've always wanted to know what one was like," responded Katara. Ai smiled at her, nodding in agreement. Sokka rolled his eyes. Aang jumped up and began speaking rapidly.
"Ooh, are there games and food and fun?" cried Aang. Sokka's eyes widened at the hyper spectacle to his side.
"Uh huh!" replied Ai. She wondered if some of Aang's childish nature was rubbing off on her.
"And music and dancing and sports and fun, fun, fun?"
"Yes, Aang."
"And animals?"
"Well, there's seal blubber jerky…"
Aang stuck out a tongue in disgust, but Sokka's eyes brightened up.
"I love that stuff!" Sokka commented. Ai laughed, and bobbed her head up and down in agreement.
"Come on, it's about to start!"
A large red and yellow bonfire roared in the center of the town. The Water Tribe and their visitors were gathered around it, feasting on the finest food and drink and engaging in merry chatter. One of the women brought out a set of bongo drums, and other women aided her. Together, the women brought the drums by the bonfire.
The first woman started up a fast-paced rhythm that was lively and joyous and pulsed through the bones and muscles of all those who listened. A few of the other women who had aided her accompanied her on other drums or by clapping their hands and stomping feet. Another woman brought out a small hand-carved flute and played a jubilant melody.
Kazuki laughed in merriment, overcome with bliss. "Bender Dancing! All Waterbenders join in!" he called.
The Waterbenders of the tribe began the traditional dance, stomping feet in rhythm and summoning water to swirl around them as they danced. The Benders' agile, fluent movements entranced Ai. Water glided in graceful arcs round the Benders; Ai noticed Mei Ling dancing near the other side of the bonfire, and she went over to where her mother was.
"Ai! Come, join me!" Mei Ling called. She pulled her daughter into the circle of dancers. "Dance, Ai!"
"But I don't know it," hissed Ai. She felt very uncomfortable standing in the middle of the Benders' stage.
"Your body will know the work," said Mei Ling. Ai continued to pummel her with interrogations, but Mei Ling said no more.
In the background, the music's tempo gradually increased, the music even more lively. The notes of the handmade flute soared through the area, and others who weren't participating in the Bender Dancing were clapping their hands or stomping feet to the rhythm to aid the bongos and the flute.
Ai tried her best to mimic the movements of her mother, summoning water to lash out to the sky and then arc back down toward the ground and twist back into the air. She brought it around her head and her torso, and moved her feet faster and faster. Ai was a bit off time, but she thought she was doing just fine for a beginner.
The tempo decreased, and so did the dynamic of the music, until it was none but a dull thumping from the largest bongo and some low, sustained notes from the flute. The Benders' movements were slow and curving, copying the music's elongated, legato form. The Benders circled once more in unison, and brought water to arc over their bodies and fall to two inches from the ground as the last note of the song grew softer and softer, until it was nothing but a memory. The dancers held the pose for several seconds, and then the audience burst out in applause.
Mei Ling hugged Ai. "You were wonderful, Ai!" congratulated Mei Ling. Ai smiled, and then lost a bit of heart.
"But Ma, I still could not do the dance."
"There is no designated Bender Dance; it is of fluid, free movements and remembrances of the glorious days of the past. It is in the dancing that we remember who we once were, who our mothers and fathers once were. It is an art form that can not be mastered, for it is of free will, and not of pre-chosen movements that the dance emerges from."
Ai could not begin to understand what her mother had told her, but she nodded to show that she had heard.
"Look, your Grandfather is telling the story tonight. Go listen, my dear, to the days gone by," whispered Mei Ling. She pointed over to an area where a group of children and teenagers had gathered around Kazuki, and some of the adults as well.
"I shall, Ma."
"I must ask the Newcomers to come forward, please," instructed Kazuki. Aang (with Momo on his shoulder), Sokka and Katara stepped into the center of the circle where Kazuki was. "Come, sit."
Once they were seated, Kazuki began. "We will have the Newcomers tell their tale after I have told mine.
"Tonight, I speak of a legend. It is, in fact, the Legend.
"Long, long ago, in the days before this era and before our specific species of Benders even existed, there lived an a man as old as the Earth. He lived in the warm places of the world. His name was simply Zah.
"Now Zah farmed the land of the mountains, terracing into the depths of the Earth and communicating with the very soil in which his plants grew. He was a deeply spiritual man, and full of wisdom. People of all around the world come to him for help or advice.
"One day, a great king of a sacred nation came to Zah. The King explained to Zah that his Kingdom was divided up into four counties that were like separate countries. He could exercise no control over them, and one county especially was gaining too much power, and leading conquests in the other three. He wanted to establish peace in his Kingdom, but was unsure how.
"The King explained further that the people of his Kingdom were very special, in a way. They could commune with nature and will it to do their bidding, in small instances. He himself could not, he being from a different land and of different blood than the common people, so he could not control them because of their powers.
"'Now this is a great trouble,' said Zah, 'but I may have a solution for your warring states.'
" 'Oh, please, I will do anything!' begged the King.
"And so Zah told him of his plan: he must find a child, firstborn of two people of different counties. The child would be born in a small village, and would bare the markings of Earth, Water, Fire and Air on his or her forelimbs.
"And so for many years, the King sought out such a child. And the King called the child an Avatar, for he bore the marks of the four elements of the world.
"A great battle was fought, and peace was restored. Eventually the rest of the people on the planet besides the people of the Kingdom died out because their bodies were not able to handle drastic changes in the world's ever-changing climate. And so, the four counties became the four nations, and spread all over the world, away from each other.
"But in each generation, there was one who bore the symbols of the four elements on his or her forelimbs, and the child was called the Avatar. Over time, the signs stopped appearing on the Avatars' forelimbs, so it became more difficult to determine who the Avatar was. But all great peoples had ways of knowing.
"And so it was, the Avatar continued to live on through so many people, to keep peace of the world. That is the sole duty of the Avatar, as has been for generations. For the Avatar lives on today.
"But that is another story for a different time. Come, tell us of your adventures!" chuckled Kazuki, now finished with his tale.
"Well… It all began when Sokka and I went out fishing one day…"
He observed the large bonfire that roared from a distance. He knew where the Avatar was. It was so… easy to spot him in such a given place. The foolish Waterbenders who lived here were just sending a signal to the Fire Nation for their own doom, really. How perfect of an opportunity it all was.
Zuko turned to some of his men, demanding an answer, "When will we land?"
"Not for another three days, your highness," responded one of the guards, bowing.
"…Three days?"
"Patience is a virtue, Prince Zuko," mumbled Uncle Iroh's soft, profound voice. Zuko's golden eyes flared with anger.
"Uncle! Three days to get to the North! This is an outrage! Why can not we sail faster?" demanded Zuko.
Despite his nephew's menacing attitude, Iroh kept his calm demeanor. "Because the winds are against us, Prince Zuko. They will not shift their course for a few weeks."
Zuko growled in frustration and let a burst of flame escape from his palms.
Three days?
A/N: I just finished watching chapter four of Avatar. And it rocked so much. You can really see Aang likes Katara from that one… And Sokka actually learned to appreciate women! Whoo!
Anyways, hope you enjoyed it. Please read and review.
