Disclaimer: I wish I owned Avatar, but, alas, I do not. Please don't sue.
Author's Note: This is the story of Teo's people, the refugees fleeing from the great flood. If you haven't seen Episode 17 (The Northern Air Temple) yet, I advise that you don't read this (spoiler alert!).
The Spirit of Air
Chapter One: Fight Water with Earth
Vahagan kept his body rigid as he concentrated. He felt the movement of the World beneath him, and he felt the connection between him and the Earth. Vahagan lowered his stance and raised his fists in front of him. He was ready for anything.
Kolak stood twenty feet from Vahagan. Kolak felt the flow of the water in the stream behind him. He felt it flow within him, and loosened his body. He was calm and relaxed, like water; passive, soothing, yet unforgiving. He felt the moonlight on his skin and the sound of the ocean beyond. He grinned as he looked at Vahagan's rigid expression.
"You try too hard, my Earthbending friend," said Kolak, his grin widening still.
Vahagan stared at Kolak, but said nothing.
"Do you really think you can beat me with your dirt?" Kolak chuckled.
Vahagan was angered at this. He closed his eyes with disgust. Kolak's grin turned into a devious smile. This was exactly what he wanted Vahagan to do.
Vahagan yelled and summoned a ball of earth from the ground, and it quickly grew to the size of a small boulder. He exhaled and hurled it at his opponent with all his might. Kolak simply dodged the speeding rock, his eyes fixed on Vahagan.
"Would you really hurt a Water Tribe peasant?" Kolak joked. "What of the legendary honor of the Earth Kingdom?" Kolak laughed, and almost didn't see another hunk of earth hurtling towards him. He dodged this one with ease, and smiled again.
"Fight me, you little coward!" Vahagan finally yelled. "Stop smiling! When you challenged me to a duel, I assumed you would fight back. So far, you haven't made a single move." Vahagan stomped on the Earth and sent a rippling earthquake towards Kolak. Kolak was ready and quickly moved out of its path.
Vahagan was very frustrated, so he decided on a new plan. Using a technique a wandering Earthbender had taught him, Vahagan created a cloud of dust and dirt off of the ground, and created a whirlwind of earth. He was able to keep it out of his own eyes and face, but Kolak began coughing like crazy and fruitlessly tried to keep the dirt out of his eyes. Although Vahagan could not see Kolak, he heard his suffering. Vahagan felt bad for his best friend, and relaxed his hold on the Earth and let the dirt settle back down on the ground.
Kolak continued to cough and rub his face. He kneeled down on all fours and kept coughing to try and get the dirt out of his lungs. After a while he caught his breath, and stood up, his eyes tearing from irritation. He looked at Vahagan coldly, and looked down at his blue Water Tribe furs. They were completely covered in dirt and soil. Kolak looked up at his friend, and smiled a big smile yet again.
"You've gotten me dirty," Kolak said, jokingly. "No you must pay the price!"
Kolak quickly summoned two large streams of water from the river behind him. He moved his arms rhythmically with great skill. The water flowed around him once and then was sent streaming down towards Vahagan. The unprepared Earthbender was forced back by the gigantic wave of water and flew back and landed with a thud. Kolak took the opportunity to strike while Vahagan was down, and formed a stream of water into a spike of ice, and threw it at Vahagan like a javelin.
In his sitting position, Vahagan tightened his fists and formed a wall of earth in front of him, shielding him as the ice javelin shattered into countless shards. Vahagan jumped up on his legs, and pushed the wall of earth across the ground towards Kolak. Kolak couldn't block the massive wall, and has hit head on. But it didn't hurt as much as it should have, because Vahagan had slowed it greatly before it struck Kolak. (Vahagan wasn't about to kill his best friend)
Kolak ignored the pain and stood up. He winced when he tried to form a water-whip with his right hand. He used his weaker left hand instead, but still with much vigor. The water whip struck everything around Vahagan, and the Earthbender wasn't agile enough to escape being whipped a good three or four times. The icy water stung, and annoyed Vahagan very much.
Kolak then inhaled and exhaled deeply. Vahagan watched as he rubbed his legs where the whip had struck him. Kolak inhaled and exhaled again, very loudly and deeply. Vahagan knew Kolak had something up his sleeve.
Suddenly Kolak pulled as much water from the river behind him as he could, pushing and pulling the water into the entire area. He moved his hands slowly and gracefully, yet with great strength as well. Kolak gave one final push which splashed Vahagan and knocked him down and covered him with cold water. Vahagan tried to jump back, but not before Kolak froze the water all around him into a solid sheet of ice. Kolak gave one final exhale, and relaxed.
Vahagan was now stranding in the middle of a frozen lake made by his Waterbending friend. Vahagan attempted to take his Earthbending stance, but kept sliding on the frozen water. His arms flailed about, trying to connect with the earth around him, but he couldn't. His inability to take the rigid stance made Earthbending almost impossible. Vahagan gave up and slowly sat down on the freezing cold ice. Kolak had gotten the better of him.
"You've beaten me, Kolak," Vahagan said to his friend. "You have found my weakness. And, I admit, it is a pretty big weakness." Vahagan smiled, closed his eyes, and tried to meditate.
Kolak looked down at his friend, and with one push melted the ice into water. Vahagan fell on his behind, still in his meditating position. He laughed good and hard, harder than he had in a long time. Kolak kneeled down and helped his good friend up, who was still laughing.
"Come on, Vahagan. Let's get back to the village. It's almost midnight." Kolak stood and began to walk towards the village. Vahagan, still smiling, called after Kolak.
"My weakness is pretty big, Kolak." Vahagan called, "But yours is even bigger!"
Kolak kept walking, his back turned to Vahagan. "And what would my weakness be?" he asked.
"You're too nice!" Vahagan laughed, and summoned a gigantic pillar of earth right where Kolak stood. Kolak was thrown into the air and landed hard on the ground ten feet away. Vahagan made a run for the village, with a now laughing Kolak in pursuit.
As Kolak and Vahagan walked towards the village, they talked about life in general. Vahagan was not a very big talker; he preferred listening, especially to Kolak. Kolak would tell him about the South Pole, and how his family had lived in the ruins of the great palace there, and finally decided to leave and journey thousands of miles to a better place to live. Vahagan was fascinated by all the adventures Kolak had had. Vahagan was embarrassed that he had never left home before.
"It's nothing to be ashamed of." Kolak had said. "Everyone has their own adventure. You'll have your adventure, someday…"
Vahagan lived in one of the many small villages in the fertile Northern Valley of the Earth Kingdom. Nestled between a giant mountain range and the sea, the crop of the valley was prized throughout the world. Almost everyone was a farmer in that valley. Vahagan, however, was an Earthbender, which made him "special". His job, along with the two other Earthbenders (Ero and Hung-Jin) was to repair the floodwall when it sprung a leak every so often.
The gigantic flood wall had been built to protect the valley from floods, which happened occasionally. It had been raised by the great Avatar Kyoshi more than three-hundred years ago. It was as elegant as it was useful, with beautiful towers and battlements, and statues all carved from Earth by Kyoshi. Ever since that time, however, the Earthbenders in the Northern Valley had dwindled, until only Vahagan, Ero, and Hung-Jin were left.
The flood wall came into view as Vahagan and Kolak came out of the swampy forest. It was just as gigantic and impressive to Vahagan as it had been the previous day. To Kolak it was simply breath-taking. Vahagan eyed it carefully in the dark, checking it for leaks. He found a tiny crack, just under a tower.
"Okay, Kolak. I just have to repair this leak." Vahagan said.
"Oh, come on," Kolak complained, sleepily, "You can do it in the morning. We have to go to bed."
"It's my duty, Kolak. Don't worry; it'll only take a second."
And with that, Vahagan took his stance and created a gigantic rock in front of him. Concentrating very hard, Vahagan lifted it up with his hands very slowly, and then using his foot, he pushed the rock far up into the air. He guided it slowly to the area of the crack, and slowly molded the earth into the existing wall. He relaxed; his job was done. He turned to face Kolak.
"Now, that didn't take very long, did-"
But Kolak had already hustled off to bed.
"Ok, Kolak…" Vahagan sighed. Vahagan was not yet sleepy, so he decided to make the difficult clime to the top of the battlements. He had once used his Earthbending to climb the top, but he had gotten in deep trouble. He chuckled at this as he continued to climb the stairs. Once he had gotten to the top, he looked out beyond. What a beautiful sight the ocean was. It glistened in the starlight and moonlight, and it calmed Vahagan as he gazed out.
As he gazed into nothingness, he began to make out a small light on the horizon, like a fire. And it was moving, slowly across the water. It was then that Vahagan knew what it was.
"Firebenders…"
Author's Note: Cliffy…duhn duhn duhn! Let me know what you think!