Hi again. Yes, back with a new chapter. And wow, 12 reviews for the last chapter alone! I'm amazed at the support this story is getting! Before we move on, some guest review responses:
Mina: thank you so much for your kind words and we're trying hard to keep the quality up, as well as updating this fanfic whenever we can! Sorry about the delay-ML8991
Wizz: You're totally right. Zuko did hunt them down and was involved and connected to various bad memories. Glad you approve of our take on the characters, it's something I occasionally worry about. And yeah, I love building up the friendship, happy you like it.
Guests: Thank you so much for reviewing, since there are multiple of you, I can't refer to you by name, but just letting you know, I read and enjoyed all your words and I'm happy you graced us with a review!
Chapter 10 The Library
Surprisingly quickly, the groups' eyes adjusted to the gloom of the tower, the hole in the minaret casting decent enough light that they could easily draw up the rope, and rappel their way down. After he'd affixed one end of the rope to a central pillar, Sokka led the way, followed shortly after by Katara. As they carefully let themselves down the rope, Aang elected to glide down. As he descended, Sokka silently mused that he was glad that the rope was a good length as he, and the rest of the inside group, as he had dubbed them, stared around the giant dome that had been hidden below the sand in wonder.
He, when Toph had said it was big, had imagined a big building, like the size of the Northern Tribe's Palace, but this was unlike anything he'd ever seen. The designs, the decor, were so intricate, with some bizarre, strigine, motifs that looked kind of otherworldly in their scale, that the sight before him was beyond anything he could ever have thought up with his imagination. It was terrifying, fascinating, awe-inspiring.
Katara felt similarly overwhelmed, but as she suppressed yet another cough, her dry throat reminded her of the reason they had entered rather urgently.
"What's with all the owl designs?" Aang wondered aloud into the lofty space as they collected themselves at the bottom, gazing around the library on floor level. Even he, with his chances before the war, when he explored the world outside the temple with Monk Gyatso and Kuzon, didn't recognise the style. It just struck him as weird that owls seemed to be the theme. He faintly recalled the owl to be a symbol of wisdom. That had to be it, he reasoned internally, given the place was a library. The cold, still, stone unsettled him, however. It felt creepy, like a spider on the back, like something was watching him, something malevolent.
"I think it's more important to find water right now, let's worry about the funky owls later," Katara said a bit tiredly. She, too, could feel the unsettling sensation of being observed. Sokka, however, didn't notice their concerns as he looked around at the vast collection of scrolls, and if this was just the atrium, he couldn't even begin to imagine what the rest of the library could contain. As he made his way around, followed cautiously by the others, he couldn't help but begin to notice that the library was too quiet, too isolated, even beyond what the library's location belied. Such a place of learning must surely have been used once upon a time, he reasoned, but no such trace of humanity could be seen. In fact, many of the shelves were taller than the greatest man, taller even than the statue of Kyoshi they'd seen on her island. This was built for something far greater, bigger…
A shuffle, and a slow, measured voice sounded out in the silence:
"Who are you?"
The group jumped in alarm and turned to face a great owl, black and white, with deep, soulless, blank, eyes staring back at them expectantly.
"I am Aang, the Avatar, of the Southern Air Temple" chirped Aang cheerfully, heedless or perhaps oblivious to the threat "... and these are my friends Katara and Sokka, heirs of the Southern Water Tribe. And who are you?"
The bird wrinkled his beak in distaste but nonetheless replied in that slow, patronising drawl: "I am Wan Shi Tong, he who knows ten thousand things, and you, young Avatar, are trespassing. Both in my library, and on time. You left the world behind, as you were afraid of what to do. No matter, you are here now."
Aang quaked at that, his bright demeanour quickly fading, he went silent. Katara quickly snapped back, her voice dry but clear: "How dare you, he carries that with him ev-"
The bird snapped its unyielding gaze towards Katara at the sound of her voice, and quickly interrupted her, still maintaining his belittling tone: "And you, Katara, the last Southern Bender walking free, screaming for a mother who sacrificed herself, who is living a lie all her life. Does it make you feel powerful, significant, being here helping the Avatar? Does it make you feel you are doing your mummy proud?" Before Sokka could save his sister with his own retort, the owl levelled a glance his way,
"And you, Sokka, son of Hakoda. The little soldier boy wanting to make daddy love him, showing him that he is worthy to be a warrior of the tribe. Pathetic, the whole lot of you, why should I bother my time with such failures and outcasts of their homes. Don't think I don't know that the Banished and the Runaway infringe on my realm also. That's all you are, a bunch of children running away to try and achieve something beyond yourself."
Aang, who was silent after Wan Shi Tong shut him down, now reasserted himself. His eyes flashed a blinding white for a second before he spoke, a thousand voices layering his words, "You dare challenge my right, my choices in this world, spirit? We are the bridge that binds the world, and you will heed our words. Our companions have come to use your library, and you will let us, leave now, or face our wrath," their promise over, the spirits dissipated from Aang, who crumpled weakly into Katara's worried lap, the Avatar State and the physical exhaustion was getting to him. He rose his head, dazed, but still, he held his gaze with the shaken bird.
"Very well, so be it." Wan Shi Tong said in a disgruntled tone, he stretched out his wing, holding out a small scroll. Sokka quickly reached out to grab it, quickly putting it away without even looking at it, as the bird slunk into the shadows, his voice became eerily disembodied, and voiced what sounded like a curse to the group.
"Tréowaþ naénigum menn"
Aang shook himself and brushed off Katara's fussing, before heading off. That was just fine with Sokka, who was eager to get into the thick of research. Before long, however, the group found themselves lost, the many high shelves holding a variety of old and dusty tomes that seemed to hold nothing of value. Each shelf was cut with a unique symbol, some indeterminable, but some, the group recognised.
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Toph sat down in the shade of the tower with a heavy thump, followed closely by Zuko, who slid down more slowly, and with decidedly more grace. Appa was laying down in front of them, his big head droopy from the long flight.
"So… Sparks, how do you like flying?"
Zuko turned his head towards her. "It's alright," he said, shrugging his shoulders.
"I hate it. I can't see anything when on that saddle. Though, with this sand being all loose and shifty, it doesn't make much of a difference. Not really much of a change standing here on the ground or on the saddle."
"I suppose." he intoned, his voice carrying the same uncaring tone as before.
"Come on, Sparks, it's no fun talking with you like that. What about you?"
"What do you mean?"
"How have you been holding up? You say hardly anything, and I can't get a feel of how you are through my bending right now." She took a handful of sand and absent-mindedly let it run through her fingers as if to prove her point.
"I'm alright. Thirsty, but it's not too bad. I guess that's how I'm holding up. How about you? Feeling better than yesterday?" he answered with a shrug, seemingly not caring if Toph could see it or not.
"A bit… Was it just my imagination or did Katara give out more water yesterday evening than the days before? Did we gather that much water from that cactus?"
"I don't think so, felt the normal amount to me," Zuko said, trying to keep his voice steady for his lie. He didn't want Toph to know that he'd told Katara to give his water to her last night.
"So, you a friend of libraries? cause I sure ain't. All the ones I've been forced to endure, have had this talking ban, so no one could read for me there. Boring! Though, if the majority of books are like that old dusty geography book that my teacher tried to teach me from, then I'll happily go without. I suppose books just aren't for me." She waved her hand in front of her eyes to exaggerate her point, a goofy grin on her face, oblivious to Zuko's white lie.
"I don't mind libraries, the calm atmosphere is nice and reading can be a good way to pass time and learn something. If you got a geography book as your go-off for books, then I get why you're not fond of them, though..." He paused, trying to figure out how he'd have tried to explain it, but coming up empty. "... they're not really easy to explain verbally."
"Well, he tried: a five days travel north-east from Gaoling is this fort, and ten days from Ba Sing Se is that village. But they never let me walk the distance, so I could understand how much a day's travel even is, so that was kinda pointless, I rarely had left my family's compound before Earth Rumble… And north or south… Like how am I supposed to know when I'm not at home, where someone told me' this wall faces south' and so on…"
"There are books with tales, too. If I get my hands on one, I'd read it to you if you want."
"That'd be nice! It would be even nicer if you could do that when we fly…"
"Well, I need a book to read from first."
"Maybe the others will bring some." Toph mused.
"I doubt they'll pick books with tales. They're there to find water, at least that's what Katara said…. How big is this library anyway? What does it look like, can you describe it?" he said, his prior slump fading away as curiosity flavoured his tone.
Toph laid a hand on the sandstone, her eyebrows furrowing in concentration. After a moment, she stopped, her eyes wide open in awe, her prior assessment having proved underwhelming by comparison.
"It's humongous. It's so big I think I can't feel its furthest corners, but anyway... This tower is atop of a gigantic dome, there are a couple of smaller domes and towers symmetrical on both sides. It has got multiple floors, each at least as high as Appa, filled with shelves of what I assume are scrolls and books and the like…. there are long passages, hallways, weird rooms... all in all, the layout is rather complex. Kinda feel bad for Snoozles, I kinda didn't say quite how big this place really is."
"Whereabouts are the others?"
"Hmm, they're not far in yet, they seem to be down over here!" She pointed down vaguely to her right. "I also feel animals walking around. hmm… the others are separating, Aang has stopped walking."
"I hope they know what they're doing," Zuko murmured.
"I'll keep a hand on their whereabouts." She made a laugh at her joke, slapping a hand against the coarse stone of the minaret, but Zuko didn't share in her mirth as they returned to a content silence, looking out at the desert-scape and Appa, who still seemed to be quite tired, his big eyes slowly closing. Zuko inaudibly sighed, he was feeling a bit exhausted as well, and despite what he had said to Toph, his thirst was becoming more apparent. He just hoped they'd soon find water.
"You could tell me a story in the meanwhile, one you've read," Toph called out into the awkward quiet.
"Uhm, I'd rather not."
"Oh come on!" Toph pushed him.
"No"
"Why not?"
"Can't think of one."
"Liar," Toph accused, her tone playful.
"The only story that spontaneously comes to my mind was my mother's favourite play."
"So tell that!" she pushed.
"It's a love story, I doubt you'd like it." he groaned out
"Just get on with it." She demanded, petulant.
"No." Zuko said, his tone ringing of finality. He didn't want to talk about any Fire Nation folklore or battle retellings either, even if Toph may enjoy those.
Toph threw her hands up in annoyance. "Find something else to talk about, then!" she huffed.
"Let me think." He quietly said, careful not to allow any anger into his tone, he had enjoyed the moment of peace while it lasted. He leaned back against the tower and stared at the sky again. He was glad that they were in the shade, providing just a tad of respite from the blinding glare of the sun. The world around them had heated up and one could see the air shimmer from it close to the sun-baked sand. Zuko closed his eyes and tried to take in what it felt like with his bending...slowly, his mind cleared, and he could sense it.
The heat reached deep into the sand, slowly fading out the deeper it went. Above the sand, he could feel the heat move, much like invisible flames, he supposed. The shimmering air… It was the same feeling he got from fire, really. And then there was Toph next to him, a different source of heat, a different flame, that almost had disappeared in the encompassing heat of the desert sands. She had asked him before if he could sense the fire in things.
"You were right, I can. I can sense fire within with my bending. It seems I need to be meditating, or at least calm to do it, though." He noted, sounding a bit dejected.
"That's awesome. What does it feel like?" said Toph, her interest piqued, her slumped posture becoming upright.
"It's… It's hard to explain, but it feels alive? And I get how you feel with the unclear image you get from the sand now. The desert sun heats everything up so much here that it is nearly impossible to get a clear feel of things being there unless there's a clear temperature difference and I'm close to the source. The rest of it gets veiled by the heat the sand gives off. And I get blind spots if something is standing in the way and covering what is behind…"
"Much like normal sight works, I guess? Well, maybe as you get better, you might start to reach and feel beyond some obstacles. I'm sure it depends on how big things are, I mean I can kinda bridge a certain amount of mass that isn't earth with my senses if there is earth on both sides, but my perception of things becomes less clear because of it." she shrugged, the shortcomings of her sight not fazing her.
"Maybe, who knows how far this 'heat sight' can go. That was the first time that I've got something, and yet you use your bending as second nature, as a fully developed sense to balance your lack of visual sight. I am sure most people aren't even aware that they could perceive the world through bending, I was one of those people, till I couldn't do much else."
Toph nodded, smiling. "You're getting the hang of it, though, Sparks." She said with a lazy slog, missing Zuko by some margin.
"If I can use it past the meditating stage it might become useful, but so far I haven't managed." he sighed, returning to his dour mood.
Zuko sighed more as time wore on, the others seemed to take their sweet time in there, he noted abstractly. He turned his gaze back to the sandscape, detecting some movement on one of the dunes. Squinting his eyes, he tried to make out what was there, it was almost sand-coloured and fairly small. An animal of some kind coming straight towards the tower.
As it came closer, he was able to make out that it seemed to be a type of fox, holding a scroll in his mouth. The cute thing was now jumping into the tower's window, disappearing inside. Thinking about it for a moment, he remembered that he had read about this place before. An old folk tale that he had come across in his search for the Avatar. He'd signed it off as just that, a tale, at that time… But if the part about the foxes was true, then the spirit part was probably real, too. He just hoped they would not do anything to anger it. He'd had enough angry spirits for a lifetime at the North Pole, he inwardly groaned. At least a fox seemed simple enough.
"What was that?" Toph asked, upon feeling it hit the ground with its paws.
"A fox. I think they're Wan Shi Tong's helpers, if I remember the tale right. Seems that there was some truth to it after all."
"You know about this place?"
"I only read about it once or twice, I dismissed it as just folklore, so has much of the Fire Nation."
"What did it say?"
"Just something about-" The words died in his throat. Appa had risen his head, his eyes suddenly alert, wary, looking off into some direction, away from them. Both Toph and Zuko stilled as they wondered what had possibly caught Appa's attention out there in the desert and after a while, they heard it, too. Then Toph started to feel the fast approach of something. Zuko straightened up, ready to get to his feet. Toph did the same.
First came the sound of shouts, then a weird whistling sound, before a strange-looking raft appeared with men appearing to manipulate the sands to move their raft. Something about their movement seemed familiar, not like Earth-Bending at all, but Toph interrupted before he could look closer.
"What is it?" She asked, hearing one of the men shout out in the distance.
"There it is! Let's get to work!" They stopped bending and the men jumped down, quickly approaching to surround the sky bison, ropes in their hands.
"Who's there?" Toph raised her voice, but Zuko had already sprung to his feet and surged forward as the first man threw a rope over Appa.
"They're trying to capture Appa." He shouted as he entered the fray. Toph had trouble following his movements through the sand, his footsteps growing fuzzier the further he went away. There was a lot of commotion and it confused her senses. The fact that sand was not at all reliable as a messenger of vibration didn't help her, either.
She shot sand at the group of what she assumed might be sandbenders. Zuko's whooshing of fire was heard, as were the shouts of warning when the other benders realised that they were facing a firebender. She needed to get closer. She tried running, but slipped in the sand that swallowed her feet, limiting what she could do and annoying her greatly. But when she finally had made it, she was able to hit people with a bit more efficiency… though she might have hit Zuko as well, once or twice, at least he loudly called her out on it,
"Oops" she thought, a little guilty, as she continued her barrage.
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Katara nearly squealed when she recognised the Water Tribe symbol as she stumbled on one such row, the weight of potentially finding something of the tribe's history was highly tempting. Sokka tried dragging her away, but to no avail, Katara was rooted in. So he and Aang shrugged, letting her go and moving on. It didn't take long, however, until they came to the Section about the Air Nomads. It was still preserved, to the surprise of both of them, and Aang soon also was looking at Sokka with puppy eyes. He groaned in response, and Aang flew away in excitement. Thus, Sokka was left alone.
Fortunately, the section on the Air Nomads happened to be next to the section on the Fire Nation, and that was, after all, what Sokka had been most curious about exploring, ever since hearing about this place.
Unfortunately, as he rounded the corner of its first row, it was all char and rubble.
What had happened here? He wondered internally, as he delicately tried to shift through the blackened pages. He lifted one, and it turned out as a letter from someone congratulating Avatar Roku on the birth of his latest granddaughter. Another seemed something to do with a Dark Water Spirit. It seemed his search would be in vain, until he found a small scrap, barely the size of his hand, that seemed to read "...and so the darkest day in fire nation history came to pass.", he shuffled around the same space, sure that that couldn't be all that remained of this scrap. After much futile looking, he caught a clip of a corner piece, to which the writing matched. This scrap was a bit bigger, and it detailed that the account was from Fire Sage Tasogare, who was writing under a Lord Ieshige, in 7829 AHC, on the 19th Day of the Seventh Month. The scrap revealed that whatever 'the darkest day' was, it was unusual in the cycle of things, and that the next one was due, from Tasogare's perspective, in 667 years. Sokka tried to do the maths, but fell short. He tried again, and found that it could be this year. At that, he felt a brushing at his feet, and saw a fox-like creature with glowing blue eyes look back at him, nudging him expectantly, as if asking him to follow. And so he did.
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Zuko shot fists of fire at the sandbenders, falling back into a battle mentality surprisingly quickly, he internally noted. Instead of thinking if he could conjure fire, he just did, and it came easily enough. The men's shocked reaction to a firebender gave him a chance to get in some good hits before they figured out how they could counter properly. Some of the ropes they had tried to snare Appa with, had already started to catch fire. They threw sand to douse the flames, and in an effort to keep Zuko away. Appa flapping his tail had whirled up quite a bit of sand as well.
Zuko moved closer to their attackers, determined to hold them off at least until the others came back. He wasn't at his best, and outnumbered, so he conjured fire to keep them at a distance, trying to push them back, away from Appa.
Toph got him once, luckily missing hitting his face, or he'd have had sand blinding his already limited vision. That didn't stop it stinging the unprotected skin of his neck, however. "Toph, don't attack me!" he shouted at her.
It was when he looked over to Toph to see how she was doing, that someone finally got a clear look at his face.
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Meanwhile, oblivious to what was going on above her, Katara browsed the shelves of the Water Tribe section. It was truly shocking, there was so much material. She could see titles ranging from "The Battle of Katyaaq: Conflicts of the Nunataaġmiut and the Taġiuġmiut" to "Tropic or Arctic? On the trail of the Koala-Otter" It was overwhelming to say the least, especially given she had thought so much of her culture had been lost to the raids. Catching a glint in the depths of the shelves, she reached in.
Feeling a smooth surface, Katara grabbed on. It turned out to be a small box, neatly engraved in gilt-work with the symbol of her tribe. She gasped, lifting it quickly onto her lap. Inside was, what looked to be a loosely bound book, though now battered with age. Despite this, Katara could feel the smoothness of the sealskin cover, on which she could faintly make out the gilt etchings of a name, Angnuk, and the symbol of her tribe again. Flicking through, she was quickly spellbound, tears threatening to come to her eyes as the book detailed parts of her culture she'd thought lost.
Also amongst the books, and the true treasures, were 3 tightly bound scrolls, much like the one she'd taken from the pirates. But unlike that scroll, they showed a sharper, crisper, but somehow more nimble art form, that advanced on the enemy. It was then that she realised that this must be Southern Bending, not Northern Bending. She nearly squealed, taking another minute to look through and soak up her find. Then she remembered what she was here for and shuddered as she put everything back into the box and closed its ornate lid.
Closing the lid somehow felt like shutting away a precious part of her and tears finally fell, as she made her way to the end of the row. Carrying the small box under her arm still, she finally found what she had come here for: A fountain. Too tired to try bending the water, she just brushed the group's waterskins, and then her combat ones, through the bubbling fountain, the cheerful water soothing her aching heart. Enjoying the view of the fountain while standing in the section of the library that held their heritage, she only wished Sokka was here to share in this moment with her, as she slowly started to look over the bending scrolls.
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"He got that scar around his eye just like on that wanted poster!"
Those who could, threw a glance over, now regarding him more closely.
"That guy's got a lot of money on his head, that's even better than this weird fur-ball. We should take him; it'll be easier, and the money assured."
"That was a Fire Nation wanted poster, you dolt!"
"Who cares, money is money, and if they take care of their own, then all the better. And this kid's their Prince, least that's what that poster said."
"I already know who to sell the beast to, he will pay us a lot for such an exotic animal. We should focus on that." an authoritative voice spoke.
"Hah, and how much do you think he will p-" Toph had hit the speaker's face.
Whether because the idea had been planted into their heads, or because he was defending Appa, three men started to focus on Zuko instead of the sky bison. It became more difficult with three solely focused on him, but he was determined to not let them get the better of him. He had only narrowly escaped the rope twice when he spotted that one of the men carried twin dao on his back.
Appa, in the meanwhile, was fighting fiercely, but thirst had weakened him also, and he just wasn't as quick as normal. A fact which quickly became apparent as he was slowly becoming enwrapped in the ensnaring rope. Toph tried hard to help, but her aim was still off, although it was improving with each thrust. She threw the shifty sand at those who talked, using sound as an additional element to locate the enemy. A shout of: "Let's capture both of them!" let Toph know that Zuko would be busy defending himself. She tried to hit the man with some sand, but hearing no indignation, knew she had missed.
Zuko had, after getting out from his previous quarry, finally made it to the man with the blades, and succeeded in knocking him over from behind, he then grabbed the weapons and quickly drew them. He jumped up, sending another wave of fire to keep the benders away as he attacked the first set of ropes that had Appa trapped. The blade didn't cut deep even though he had put force in the blow and Appa was straining against them, which should have made it easier. He groaned internally as he looked down at the edges of the blades and noticed that these weapons weren't well taken care of at all.
He wished that he could set the ropes on fire, but he couldn't do that with Appa there. The sky bison would panic and with so many ropes binding him he would not be fast enough in removing them all before the fire reached Appa's fur.
The blades were balanced slightly differently than the ones he had used before, and it was proving just enough to throw him off. Additionally, at least one of the opponents now solely focused on him was a skilled sandbender. The sand's shifty form had gone past his guard several times already, as he was unable to deflect all of the grains. Actually, the grains started just slipping along the blade, past it and towards his body very easily as soon as there was no fire intercepting them.
A sword just wasn't enough against a bender of this type, let alone a master of the art form. He realised he could probably only stall the inevitable and hope the others came back before then. He heard Appa groan. He refused to think about being captured again, trying to focus on the fight instead.
The other sandbenders foolishly started throwing ropes at him in hopes of managing to snare him too. He evaded and sent fire towards those throwing. He succeeded in getting one of the many ropes to catch fire and the person ran to get another one from their weird raft-like vehicle. He was doing well, he was keeping them off and occasionally even managed to get close enough to distract one of the sandbenders trying to hold Appa down. The skilled sandbender prevented many attacks from hitting with full force though, protecting his teammates from both sword and fire.
Then, the library started sinking.
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The fox-like creature moved awfully quickly, he noted, as he doggedly followed it deeper and deeper into the library. Sokka really hoped this wasn't some trap. That owly thing clearly didn't like them, and he really didn't want to get on the wrong side of it. He'd had enough of spirit shenanigans, thank you very much. He marched on, oblivious to the scroll the owl had thrown at the group digging in his side. Soon after this though, he approached a fine wooden door, inlaid with a symbol that looked like Tui and La circling one another. And above them was a brushed plain gold circle, in the middle of some sort of flower, he saw. He shrugged, paying the decorations little heed as he opened the door.
Now, though, he did pay heed, since the sight he saw was truly shocking. The fox was walking over a stone causeway that looked to bisect a map of the world, which was surrounded by a moat of a shining liquid. The map was not painted in the colours of the nations, he noted as he walked along the causeway, but in relief, he could see every valley and every peak from home to the Northern Water tribe, in glinting detail. He then looked up and saw the sky split into two parts, one half shimmered in pale blue, a glowing golden metal disk low to his west, and to his east, a pale silvery metal glowed in a chasm of deep black, which twinkled with tiny metal flecks of the same colour. His gaze enamoured, returned to the centre, where the fox's eyes blinkered back at him in the dusky gloom, standing beside a weird central block. Getting closer, Sokka noted that it had a series of rings on it, each outlining a set number of years, months, days, even hours and minutes.
Looking around him, and then looking back at what stood before him, he shuffled the wheel forward slightly on the hour wheel. The fox looked at him bemusedly, as it pushed a lever Sokka hadn't seen before. A great whirring took place, startling Sokka when the world fell into darkness, day had turned to night in what Sokka now realised was a day measurer. He shuffled the hour wheel round again, being sure to set the lever in motion so that he could see what he was doing. Night became day, as Sokka drew out the now crumpled piece of paper.
"Right, so shuffle that one there, this one to the left, that one to the right, around a bit more, a little more, right! that should be it." he murmured to himself. Pulling the lever, he waited to find out what the Fire Sage was talking about when he said the darkest day in Fire Nation history. The days and nights shuffled by quickly, flashing before Sokka's eyes until the gears began to slow. It was daytime he noted, when the event happened, no duh, he was sure Toph was saying subliminally from the outside. Then suddenly, the bright light dimmed into almost twilight. He looked around for the sun on the horizon, but it wasn't there. He looked up in search and only after a moment did he realise that the moon was blocking the sun. This must be what the Sage meant, he thought, amazed. Sokka could even see a darker spot landing over the Fire Nation. A total solar eclipse. He thought back to the North Pole when Tui, may La bless Yue's soul, he intoned, was removed from the spirit oasis, and killed by Zhao, the waterbenders lost their bending. The same must be true for firebenders during a solar eclipse.
He hastily put the paper down and tried to recall Gran Gran's stories. She had mentioned something about something big and spiritual that happened 9,000 odd years ago, and this text had to be written before the Genocide, as all dates he knew, were post genocide. In his scrambling, he hadn't noticed he'd shuffled the date forward a few days, so he tried shuffling it to the present year, which proved difficult, but he got it eventually, the fox proving to be helpful as it nudged him on the appropriate side of the wheel as he moved it to the right place. Pulling the lever again, nothing happened. At first, he gulped, he had thought he had broken the system, moving too fast across what he guessed must be some 2,000 years of history, but then the Fox let out an excited yelp, as it dawned on Sokka that the machine wasn't broken, it was just that he'd happened on exactly the same event, or at least the Fox had encouraged him to land on the same event.
"Got to hand it to those spirits, they sure hate me, but they love that kid," he said to himself, and the chances that he awoke within a year of the next total solar eclipse within countless generations that also happened to over the Fire Nation. But as he took note of the symbols, the fox scrambled away, and as he picked out the last symbol, a shadow fell over him.
"And what might you be using my planetarium for, young warrior?" intoned the great knowledge spirit Wan Shi Tong, his eyes as black and dead as coals, staring at Sokka as his voice reverberated around the large space.
"Ummm, observing, as this is… a mighty fine display you have, I mean I've never seen something like it, and I've been many places, to the Northern Water Tribe, to Crescent Islan.." he nervously rambled on.
"You misuse my library, and abuse the trust of your friends. You will use this knowledge for evil purposes, don't you heed? Don't you read?" Wan Shi Tong cooed, the sound chilling on Sokka's mind, raising goosebumps up his arms
"No, you misunderstand, I-" Sokka tried to reason with the Spirit.
"You think you are the first to come to my library? You think your actions are justified? Countless others have come here before you, seeking weapon plans, weaknesses or battle strategies. No more, for this breach of trust, you must pay!" screeched Wan Shi Tong, as he reached up, his neck becoming monstrously long, the owl taking on a more serpentine, terrifying form. Sokka ran as the beak came thundering down, missing him by mere seconds.
"Get back here, thief!" cawed the half-bird, half-snake like creature Wan Shi Tong had become.
"No thanks" cried Sokka over his shoulder as he ran away, back towards the group.
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Toph didn't know what was going on, but one moment the library was as safe as ever, then the next, it suddenly started sinking, forcing her to abandon the fight and holding it in place with her bending. Appa was not doing well, and Zuko she wasn't sure about. He was quiet, and she could hear his fire better than his movement. She had deduced from another shout of warning that he had managed to snatch some kind of blade to fight with.
He was clearly still fighting and Toph, having had to abandon the fight, cheered instead: "Sparks, you can do it!" she ground out, the strain of holding the massive library up proving immense.
Appa growled again, but it sounded more subdued than before. It didn't sound reassuring at all. She tried to feel for any movement within the library, she could feel Katara running, Aang was probably flying, but what worried her was, that Sokka was standing, and there was an ominous, big, living, being, standing in Sokka's way, and it definitely didn't feel human.
She turned her focus back to the group since Appa now mournfully groaned. The sounds of battle were still present, there were a couple of screams of voices unfamiliar to her. It must have been Zuko's work. Appa hadn't moved properly in a while and Toph guessed it was because of whatever they had been throwing around. She just hoped that the others would show up soon, anyway, she could still feel the force pulling on the building, and she was afraid of what would happen if she could no longer hold against it. She had already hardened the ground below her to have better footing, but if they could just hurry, she'd appreciate it a lot.
She heard Zuko coughing. A pained hiss, but then he seemed back in action from the sound of things. She couldn't use her bending to see what was going on at all anymore, she had it focused on the library, and little else. The only thing she had to go by to know how Zuko fared, was her hearing, and it felt terribly patchy to how she usually perceived the world. She really missed solid ground.
Grunts of effort told her of a continued struggle. She heard several men breathing hard. "Give up, we got you now." someone was saying in a mocking tone. Toph screamed Zuko's name, turning to shoot sand into the direction of the sandbenders but missing. The library immediately slid down more, so she quickly had to grab it again.
"Come on guys, hurry up!" She whispered as she realised that Zuko wasn't fighting anymore. Katara was close, but would it be enough? Toph feared it wouldn't.
Then she heard a shout of confusion that was quickly joined by murmurs expressing the same thing.
She heard a voice that couldn't be there, wasn't supposed to be there. What was going on?
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"Ooooh, ooh, here's another one," Aang said excitedly. In the collection, he had found a scroll that contained jokes from High Monk Namdol, who Aang had explained was Gyatso's predecessor on the Council of Elders, and one of the best pranksters, at least that was what Gyasto had told Aang.
"When a man spits into the wind, the wind spits back" Aang burst out with laughter, whilst Katara looked on, slightly bemused, but not quite getting Aang's enthusiasm. "It..It…" Aang struggled to say between giggles, "It's about what goes around comes around. Always be respectful", Katara cracked a smile, just as she heard a crash in the distance, a far away "ha" followed by an inhuman screech. She saw a flash of blue, which just shouted "RUN!" before it was gone. Another crash, closer this time, made them flee, then they felt the ground shift beneath them, throwing Katara off balance and making Aang jump into the air. No sooner had they turned the corner into the main passage (Sokka just ahead of them), a great shadow careered into the corridor they were just in, sending scrolls and books flying everywhere.
The whole building started to vibrate, rocks dislodging from above and sand starting to cascade in from unknown places. It felt like an earthquake and it was making running difficult. More than once Katara slammed into a bookshelf and had to grab onto an edge so as to not faceplant into the tile floor, any slip could mean death if the inhuman screeches that crept ever closer were anything to go by. Aang finally grabbed her hand, but by then, they had lost sight of Sokka's retreating back. At times, the building seemed to jump, slumping off to one side that felt suspiciously like air holes.
Aang's hand and airbending helped the pair a lot in gaining ground, but what helped moreso, was when the Library finally ceased to jerk downwards. Its walls still trembled and shook, but the ground below them didn't make them mis-step anymore…
Just minutes later, for a brief time, it happened again, but then they were in the main hallway towards the dome where they had entered. Wasting no time to admire the structure this time, only diving out of the way of more falling debris and trying to not get any sand into their eyes, they ran blindly for the rope they had entered with, Sokka nowhere to be seen.
00000
Zuko saw the rope coming and sprang out of the way, but another one was coming from that side already, too. He realised with panic that his landing spot was right where the newest lasso was closing in and tried to throw himself out of the way, but it was too late. The snare wrapped itself around his leg and the owner of the rope pulled roughly to get him to fall down.
He sent another wave of fire to burn it and the lasso loosened, but the damage had already been done. He landed off-kilter and stumbled. The man closest to him quickly made use of it, shoving him forward to keep him from regaining footing.
He barely recovered enough to blindly swing his swords towards the man, only to stumble into another one that threw a fist at his belly. Coughing, he jumped back, grimacing as he straightened up. The sandbender attacked again. Sand hit his face and Zuko hissed as his eyes started to tear up. He couldn't see properly. At that moment of disorientation it finally happened:
The stench of days gone without washing hit Zuko off guard. Someone had come up behind him, wrapped their arms around his, and folded their hands on his neck, forcing his arms upwards and his neck down. He struggled, trying to buckle, but the other was taller and, with straightening up, managed to lift Zuko enough that he lost any hold or leverage in his feet that he might have been able to use to escape before. Throwing his legs around, he tried to get the other off balance, but no such luck.
He could see feet approaching him, large, male feet. Suddenly feeling hyper-aware of his position, he looked up, eyes widening. The man was grinning, already lifting a hand, reaching out. Zuko stilled. He froze. He remembered this. No amount of fighting could prevent it, not when he was already pinned, bound. The men's lips were moving, but sound had stopped to reach Zuko clearly, everything just drifted far away. He could feel his chest moving up and down rapidly. This couldn't be happening, not again. He wanted to scream, but somehow couldn't find his voice. They had gagged him before when he tried.
Unwilling to see, he squinted his eyes shut. No, this wasn't happening. He was breathing hard, too deeply. Somewhere in his mind, he registered that he was panicking, but he couldn't bring himself to care as long as he wasn't back there.
Suddenly a weird pull-push feeling surged through his body and he was falling forward, the restraints giving away to nothing all of a sudden. As he slumped to his knees in exhaustion, his vision barely holding on, the bright light of daylight dimmed to subdued shade.
A/N: exciting news: This story is being translated into Spanish by Rene d'Herblay! Never thought that would happen, it's awesome. Three chapters are out already, here the link to the first, enjoy and support: s/13308627/1/Zuko-la-ca-de-un-pr
Thanks to this translation, I also finally pulled myself together and started going back and fixing up the older chapters. In those two years I've been writing this story, I learned a lot about writing in general, as well as writing English specifically, so I think my changes make the chapter easier to read, and therefore more enjoyable. Changes mainly concern formulating and rearranging sentences and proper grammar, the content is still mostly the same, only improved.
A few words to the chapter: This was a joint effort between ML8991 and I more than ever. I think it's the first time he wrote longer passages on his own. I hope you enjoyed it, and sorry for the delay.
From ML8991: heya guys, hope you enjoyed the chapter, was definitely fun to write, though as you can infer was hard to write. Been busy these past few months, last year of Uni finished now, and otherwise just been a bit scatterbrained doing other stuff. Looking forward to hearing you guy's thoughts and I am excited for the next chapter, been a scene in there that I have had the plan set out for it for over a year now heh.
05/03/2022 revision:
ML8991: Hey guys, welcome to this revised chapter 10. Not too many more that need a rework, but it was definitely good to come back here and see how things developed. Wan Shi Tong always gave me the creeps, and I hope we've done him justice here.
Although Aang might not take anything from the library, his moral code telling him not to (although this is flexible in the series), I hope you enjoy his chance to be more connected to his now deceased culture. Katara however is impulsive, and (due to no one being able to tell her of her culture and heritage, unlike Aang whom for him that heritage was only a few months ago in his mind) so she takes that box. There are plans for it, don't worry.
And then we get to Sokka. Oh Sokka, our brains of the group really isn't thinking fully through. Wan Shi Tong is sly though, so his warning is deliberately not in a language the majority speak (kudos to the first person to get it right ;) ), but Sokka is a man on a mission. Whilst achieving this though, he imperils the whole group, and only just gets out alive himself, at the cost to… Theory type away you new readers…
Toph and Zuko on the outside were also a fun write, a chance for them to properly bond, and also Zuko to begin to explore his wider abilities, as well as cement himself as an ally to the Gaang, defending Appa from the sandbenders. We are reaching a very exciting moment in the story, and how our Zuko evolves over the next two chapters, and I can't wait to hear your thoughts when they come. Thank you all for all the love and support, and see you in the next chapter :).
Ystävä: Looking back at that chapter and how our co-writing evolved here was a bit of a memory lane, and more is to come when we revise the coming chapters. The revising seems to come more easily now, as we were not only each writing our parts, but also getting to a place we are happy with our merging of writing styles.
Fun fact. I spent about three hours researching Wan Shi Tong's words, comparing texts and their translations, to make sure we had them decently translated. Three hours for what turned out to be three words "Tréowaþ naénigum menn". Really hoping some of you attempt to crack it, but it was worth it even so.
Good luck figuring out what's going on at the end of the chapter. We'd love to hear what theories you come up with.
I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and thank you for your kudos, thoughts and support in whichever form it comes. See ya in the comments, or next chapter ;)
