Avatar: The Last Airbender
Book 2: Earth
THE COMPANION
Chapter 5: A Story from the Past
They followed Ananda through the gardens again but this time they only had the glow of the moonlight and her lantern to show them the way. The garden was just as pretty in the moonlight as it was during the sunset. The flowers seemed to be decorated with silver thread, and the grass seemed to be glowing like the lantern was.
"How does it do that?" Sokka asked her.
"What?" Ananda replied.
"Glow. It looks like the garden is alive." Sokka told her in amazement.
She smiled and told him, "Did you ever consider that maybe it is alive?" Sokka looked surprised at that and backed away from the plants. Ananda laughed and told him, "Don't worry Sokka, they won't eat you, bite you, or harm you in any way." She laughed again, then continued on.
Finally, they reached a small clearing that contained a lake. "We're here. Please, sit." She told them as she motioned for them to sit around the lake. Once they were all seated, she sat accross from them, looked at each of them, and told them, "In order to know who I am and how I know Aang, you'll have to actually see it for yourselves."
"But how is that possible?" Katara asked her.
She smiled sweetly at Katara and said, "Many things are possible Katara. Just wait and see."
With that, she took her cover off so she was wearing a long white dress similar to the one Aang saw her wearing in his dream. The only difference was, this dress exposed her arms and back so you could clearly see the tattoos on them. The tattoo that wrapped around her right arm, was a design of swirls and other symbols that resembled air. Down her left arm was a similar tattoo. Only this one seemed to have flowers and other symbols that would be used to represent earth. Down her back, it looked like there were two threads interlacing each other. One seemed to have flames and other symbols to represent fire. The other looked like it had waves and other symbols used to resemble water.
They stared at her in awe. She looked absolutely magnificent! Her tattoos seemed to define her. Like they made her. She closed her eyes and looked at the sky. Then, she shivered, looked back down at the lake, blew on the surface of the glass-like water, and therefore causing it to ripple. When the ripples vanished, a strange scene was playing out before them.
A long, long time ago, the very first Avatar literally created himself a companion to help him succeed on all his quests. With the Avatar and his companion working together, the two were unbeatable. The Avatar first built her using the four elements, water, earth, fire, and air. Then, he entered the spirit realm to bring her to life. When his creation came alive, she looked perfectly normal. Like any human being would look. The only difference, she had four tatoos. One on each of her arms, and two running down her back. They seemed to represent elements that made her and bonded her to the Avatar.
Due to the fact he gave her life from the spirit realm, he created a spiritual bond betweent he two of them. He didn't know it at the time, but the Companion would be reborn along with the Avatar. The Avatar held the power of all four elements and the ability to enter the spirit world, whereas his companion was originally not ment to have any powers. However, somehow she came to develop them on her own. She had magic no one had ever seen before, many believed she was even more powerful than the Avatar.
Years after they had completed their quests, they were old, and the Avatar was sick and dying. His Companion was sitting right next to him and talking to him as he died. Then, right after he died, the Companion grew ill. "Wha-what's happening?" She asked herself. She was alive for about five minutes after the Avatar died, then she died as well. Neither she, nor the Avatar knew that if the Avatar dies, his companion dies soon after. But, if the Companion dies, the Avatar lives on without him or her.
The Avatar himself discovered that many lifetimes later when he took a trip to the spirit realm. He discovered that both the Avatar and the Companion are reborn together, and the two will always be the same age. Also, if the Avatar is born a girl, the Companion will be a boy. If the Avatar is born a boy, the companion will be a girl. He also learned that they will always be born apart, and fate will decide if they ever meet. He was told that because the Avatar was the one to create her, he is also the one that destroys her in the end. This Avatar had not yet met his Companion, so he was rather confused by this. Then, a few days later, he met her and understood it all.
The scene then changed to a small town many years later. It looked like a family from the Earth Kingdom, and they had just given birth to a beautiful baby girl with strange tattoos.
"What strange markings" The mother said. "Oh well. It just makes her all the more special." She said to her husband with a smile.
"What should we call her?" Her husband asked.
The woman thought for a moment. "Ananda. Her name will be Ananda" She replied with a smile.
Sorry I haven't posted for a while. I've been sick and I've had A LOT of homework. Anyway, I honestly don't think this is one of the best chapters I've written, but the next one will be about her past with Aang. I'm not sure when I'll be able to post that, but I'll try my best. Again, sorry if you don't like the chapter, I'm tired, sick and busy.