Author's Note: How's that for a faster update? Anyway, there's no dream sequence for the beginning of this chapter. Aang hasn't gotten any sleep XD
Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar: The Last Airbender and I am in no way associated with the creators of the show.
(Edited 8/1/20): This chapter actually changed pretty significantly, especially in the beginning! The Water Tribe's focus on science originally only dipped a little bit into traditional Chinese alchemy but after my hiatus I played up that aspect of their expertise more.
Book 1: Fire
Chapter 8: Avatar Kuruk (Summer Solstice, Part 2)
Aang didn't know what he expected to see when he traversed through the Water Nation's "laboratory" on the riverbank outside the village. He thought it might be bigger. More foreboding. Cold and wrought from iron and belching smoke like everything from the Fire Nation in his world, a monster with snapping jaws that poisoned the air; further injustice against the domain of the people they had wiped out a century ago.
But this building - which he saw after he leapt over the walls surrounding it - was made of stone and almost disappointing in its mundanity. It had high arches and made him think of the buildings in the Northern Water Tribe carved from ice except that it had doors facing only to the south and the east. It bore no signs explaining its purpose; only the Water Tribe insignia emblazoned on the arches told passerby enough to stay away. Warriors stood guard with slings, bone clubs, and white minkhounds at the ends of leather leashes in case anyone didn't get the message.
Aang sprung from the wall to the upper tiers of the laboratory and slipped inside through one of the circular windows. A foul, heavy scent hung in the hallways, similar to the rotten sulfurous smell coming from the river. Before doing anything, Aang kept moving down the numerous corridors in more of an effort to find some information than to do any real damage. The inside of the complex was nowhere near as guarded as the outside and he was glad he came in through the upper levels instead of using the drainage pipe that released the laboratory's runoff into the river.
About an hour before, Kuruk's spirit wolf companion brought Aang back to the fishing village in the middle of the polluted river. It was then that Aang remembered Sokka hadn't been returned from the Spirit World until he calmed the raging spirit of Hei Bai, and it took even longer for Aang to remember exactly how it was done. The black and white spirit had been angry over the loss of his forest, so Aang showed him proof that it would grow back again. He deduced that the Painted Lady needed proof that her river would be clean and healthy in order to get Azula back. And that brought him to the laboratory, which was just upriver.
The laboratory seemed less like a factory and more like the university at Ba Sing Se, he had learned. Aang predominantly saw men in long blue robes with black silk hats but with a start he realized that many were from the Earth Kingdom and Fire Nation, their numbers almost equal to the Water Tribesmen. All buried their heads in their research as if completely ignoring him - poring over heavy books and scrolls in a room that looked like a library or sitting in another chamber with long tables and tinkering with instruments he had never seen before. The only woman he found knelt in another room manipulating water through the chi pathways of an acupuncture doll, its veins glowing with soft, blue light. The walls displayed no decoration of any kind, just informative diagrams and trigrams depicting the human body, the four elements, and a structure that looked like a cauldron or a furnace.
The one exception, he noticed, was an artist's depiction of Tui and La, the ocean and moon spirits, in their eternal dance.
He poked his head, unnoticed, into more and more chambers. In one room, he saw scholars holding up a familiar amulet between them, a silvery crescent moon shining at its lid. It made him wonder if they meant to research the properties of Spirit Oasis water, while in another room they seemed to be trying to figure out why platypus bears laid eggs. Curiosity nearly drove him deeper into some of the rooms, but he knew he couldn't linger. He was here to break stuff.
Everyone was so engrossed into their research that they didn't notice when he slipped into an open atrium with no one in it. At the far end of the wall, he saw a three-tiered clay bench with eight openings on each tier. Despite the size of the room the heat in here was suffocating and he realized the openings were ventilation shafts and the bench itself was a stove of some sort. On the highest tier, he saw a furnace shaped roughly like a cylinder. On the floor level, he found a smaller bronze cauldron on three legs with a brilliant vermillion metal burning inside - the traces of red he saw in the river. He had to bend down to see the characters etched into the cauldron like a ritual of some sort.
He read one term he didn't recognize - Wàidān. But he did understand characters relating to "clarity," "balance," push and pull, "change," and "water." All together, it seemed to describe the natural process of turning water to steam and back to water and then to ice - but why would waterbenders need to study that when they could mostly do that themselves? He wished Sokka was there to help him make sense of all this.
Behind him, toward the entrance of the atrium, he heard scrolls drop to the floor and roll down the steps. "Hey! What're you doing here?"
Aang turned back to look at the scholar who entered and he gave a sheepish grin. "I got a little lost," he said. "Can you help me?"
"Absolutely not, kids shouldn't be here!" the bespectacled man replied - an elder with pale blue eyes. He didn't look threatening, so Aang swung his staff at the door behind him instead of the scholar himself, slamming it shut so that the scholar was stuck in the atrium with him. The man gaped at the display of airbending. "Oh! You're the Avatar!"
"Yup," Aang said, tapping his chin to think of the best way to destroy this place. "What would happen if I closed all the vents in that big furnace?"
The man stammered and pushed his glasses back up his nose with quivering fingers. Aang realized he wasn't an elder, but a young man who had just gone prematurely grey. "Um, well, you see, that would be quite a terrible thing, because it might interfere with the reaction of cinnabar and quicksilver melting down in there, and, um, the only way for the heat to escape would be through the chimney, which normally wouldn't be catastrophic but the lute lining the inside of the furnace is a new, experimental mixture for sealing and it might have unforeseen consequences… I would highly recommend…"
"Great," Aang said, swinging his staff at the furnace so all the vents closed with a sudden gale sweeping through the atrium. "Thanks!"
"Oh, dear," the man said, wringing his spindly fingers. "If I were anyone else I would, um, be waterbending at you right now."
Aang raised an eyebrow. "Well, are you a waterbender?"
"No."
Aang frowned. "Shouldn't you be running out of here in fear since it'll explode any second now or something?"
"Oh, that, um, would've happened already if it were going to," he said, scratching his head of wild, wiry grey hair. "The blasting jelly and firework powder chambers are the rooms that, er, might potentially maybe have a higher likelihood of exploding. Perhaps."
Aang matched his movement and scratched the back of his own head. "Um, thanks, I guess. Why are you helping me?"
The man threw his hands up in the air. "Because you're terrifying! You're the Avatar! And I'm a coward, through and through. That's why I'm here instead of, um, training other warriors or some such. That's what they call me. Nuktuk, coward of the South. Also a blubbermouth - I mean, uh, blabbermouth. Especially when I'm nervous."
Aang tapped his staff on the floor and Nuktuk jumped about a foot in the air. "Listen, I'm not going to…"
"Down the hall and to the right, sneak by the minkhound patrol but don't worry because they can't smell you with all the funky stuff going on in here and then cut through the herbal concoctions room which you don't have to worry about because everyone in there's on break right now and then you'll find your way to the firework powder room!" He cringed and pointed a finger toward the hallway.
Aang shrugged and went on his way. "Uh, okay. Thank you!"
Aang landed on the wooden docks of the tattered fishing village with a gentle tap, twirling his glider and folding it back into his staff. Dock (or was it Xu?) was the first to run up to him, eyes bulging.
"What happened over there?" the old man spit out, pointing in the direction of the laboratory. Now, a plume of black smoke billowed into the air.
"I just got the Water Nation out of here for you," Aang said. "Now your river can be cleaned. Let the water flow downriver and wash away any impurities." Aang just hoped that the Painted Lady would bring Azula and the other villagers back before then...
"You did that all by yourself?" Dock asked, shocked. "How?" The other villagers crowded around them, listening with rapt attention.
"Well, I am the Avatar," Aang answered. And let's leave it at that. "Where's Zuko?" he asked, looking around. His swordsman friend was nowhere to be seen.
"Oh, he was searching for you all night," Dock answered. "He still hasn't come back yet." Aang's brow furrowed and he frowned, turning to look into the sky. The sun had only just started to peek over the mountaintops. Was he still searching? He had probably taken Appa. Aang was only mildly surprised—it seemed that this Zuko kept his avid determination.
Dock took off his small hat, unveiling another one that unfolded on top of his head. "Okay, let's clean some river! I'm Bushi, Dock and Xu's brother and the river cleaner!"
Aang slapped his forehead.
Hours later, Aang started to get desperate and very impatient. All of the villagers went out on their rowboats, scooping up as much sludge and other wastes from the river as they could. Aang helped, more so because he wanted to get Azula back, and fast, than to really help the village. He, Zuko, and Azula needed to get to Avatar Kuruk's temple quickly, before the Summer Solstice started. He fleetingly thought about leaving Zuko and Azula while he did the dangerous work alone, but he knew the two very hot-headed siblings would want to be in the action. Then again, he remembered how much danger he was in when he went to Roku's temple with Sokka and Katara...
He was prepared to face those dangers this time and counter them before they happened.
Zuko finally arrived back at the village a few hours later, relieved to see Aang but concerned that his sister still wasn't there. He helped with the work with just as much fervor as Aang expected. It seemed that through the night, the young man's determination had not wavered. Aang was slightly unnerved over his protectiveness of Azula—he never imagined that the Zuko back home would ever feel that way towards his sister.
Finally, nighttime fell. The river was noticeably clearer than it was before cleaning, but it still had a long way to go until it was perfectly blue again. As Aang stared into the river's depths, thinking about his next course of action, mist began to swirl around him. And then the unmistakable spirit form of the Painted Lady appeared before him, whispering two words, her voice echoing as if from underwater.
"Thank you..."
Aang smiled slightly as she faded away, swinging his feet off the edge of the dock. A moment later, several figures emerged from the mist, their feet pattering on the wooden planks. Azula was one of the first to come out and she came towards him.
"What was that? What took you so long?" she immediately asked, lips pursed in annoyance. She inspected her nails the same exact way evil Azula did, and at that moment Aang felt anger bubbling in his gut like the cauldron full of cinnabar.
"Do you know how hard we worked to get you back? Do you know what I did?!" he exploded at her. She didn't even react to his outburst, perfectly in control of her anger, just as he knew her from his world. The fact that she didn't even seem hurt by his words took the wind out of his sails - a grim reminder that she wasn't the same as his other friends back home. "Never mind. Forget it."
Like the snap of a firebrand, her response stung. "Oh, you cleaned up a river, did you? Boo-hoo. I'm sure that's much worse than spending a night and a day in the terrifying chaos of the Spirit World."
Zuko and the other villagers came running over, hearing the disturbance of the captured people returning home.
"Azula!" Zuko shouted to his sister, running over to the two arguing benders. "You're alright!"
Azula turned to him with a raised eyebrow. "Ooh, was my brother Zuzu worried about me?" she asked, and her voice took on the false sweetness of lemonsap. Zuko's face fell from worry to vexation.
Aang rubbed his temples, trying to keep his anger in check. Even with his older friends back in the real world, it was much easier for Aang to get angry than when he was younger. "Guys, let's stop fooling around. We have to get out of here." The two siblings, ready to start bickering, turned to him.
"What?" Zuko questioned.
"Where are we going?" Azula asked, freezing her fingers from flicking her brother's forehead.
"The Water Nation. And we have to get there by tomorrow."
Azula finished her movement and Zuko rubbed his head, scowling. "Well, first…" she said, a little sheepish. "I need to excuse myself and find a bathroom."
"Hey, Aang," Zuko called to the Avatar.
"What?"
"Did you ever hear the story of the moose-lion that stole snacks from the better hunters? He didn't have any pride."
And Zuko let out a chuckle, slapping his knee. Aang and Azula cringed.
"That was hysterical, Zuzu," Azula said to her brother, rolling her eyes.
"Uncle told me," he said with a lopsided grin. "You know, because moose-lions have prides?"
Aang smushed his cheek against his fist, leaning against the side of the saddle. "Zuko, sabertooth moose-lions don't travel in prides. You're thinking of lion-hares."
Zuko crossed his arms and shrunk behind their pile of bedrolls. "Oh."
For some reason, Aang almost couldn't blame him for the terrible joke. They had been flying over open ocean for hours with nothing to break the monotony. Aang felt little dread for what he knew must await them ahead. He figured he'd learn some horrible new truth, but he wanted to speak to Kuruk and demand to return home. He didn't know what his friends would do without him, or what was happening to his body after going into the Spirit World, or if him being gone was holding them back...
Of course, both Zuko and Azula jumped at the chance to go into Water Nation territory, but Azula, at least, seemed to regret it with the seemingly endless stretch of boring ocean all around them. With his earlier lack of sleep, Aang felt himself easily dozing off...
"We're right on his trail, grandmother," Sokka said to Kanna as he stood on the deck of the ship, staring straight ahead. After raiding the previously polluted fishing village, Sokka learned that the Avatar headed to Kuruk's temple in the Water Nation, his own homeland. He was a little apprehensive about returning, he had to admit, but nothing was going to keep him from his goal.
"Do you think you're making a wise decision, Sokka?" the old woman asked him.
"What do you know, woman?" Sokka nearly growled at her. He was on edge and she knew it.
"Teenagers," she muttered under her breath. "Sokka, you are going against your own decision to leave the Water Nation. You are treading on thin ice. Much of the Navy thinks you were banished or that you wrongfully abandoned your Nation... they believe you are a traitor."
"I'll be fine unless they have direct orders to take me down," Sokka said, churlish. "I don't know how that rumor spread but even though things are weird with my father he wouldn't take a direct attack on his heir lying down. No one's stupid enough to do that."
"You've thought this through, then?"
"We are approaching the Navy's barricade," Lieutenant Kinto said to the two royals. Sokka stared straight ahead with his one blue eye at the impressive line of silver ships, deciding to let his next order be his answer.
"Kinto, let's pull out the windsailer."
"Is that... a Water Navy barricade?" Azula suddenly asked, leaning over Appa to stare down below. The look on Aang's face was uneasy.
"We need to fly higher. Come on Appa, yip, yip!" Aang called to his bison. Appa answered with a low groan of approval, rising in altitude and causing the wind to whip their faces.
Bato looked through the ship's mounted telescope, gazing into the sky. With his naked eye, he saw a white blot in the distance, but with the magnified view, he was able to spot the flying bison, and far below it, a Water Tribe warship.
"There's our esteemed prince," he said, his eyes thinning to slits. "Come on, Sokka. You're normally smarter than this. You know I have to fire directly on the Avatar if he comes this way."
A marine approached him with a salute. "Chief Bato?"
Bato turned to his captain. "Fire on the Avatar!"
The captain's crisp salute loosened and he fumbled with the coil of rope used to prepare the ship's mounted weapons. "But sir, one of our own is out there."
"Then don't hit him," Bato replied. The captain nodded and issued the order, perhaps a little reluctantly. Waterbenders on the decks of each ship in the blockade gathered water from the ocean around them, freezing them into boulder-sized chunks of ice in the middle of the deck. Then, all as one, they catapulted the ice blocks into the air, letting the ice's own momentum carry it to the Avatar. Another unit of marines readied the ballistae - normally for whaling - and fired on the bison with the intent to kill it.
"Aang!" Zuko yelled, pointing at the ice boulders sailing through the air at them.
"I see them!" he cried out, pulling on Appa's reins to dodge the rain of ice. Nearly a hundred blocks half the size of Appa had been launched at them, reminding Aang disdainfully of a similar situation in the past. Azula and Zuko held onto Appa's saddle for their lives, eyes clenched shut. A particularly large chunk of ice headed right for them and Aang saw no easy way to dodge it. He sprang from Appa's head and slammed it with his staff, using his airbending to make it rocket down below, completely destroying one of the ships. He jumped off of the impact and back onto his bison, his gaze hard.
Javelins speared through the air like enormous crossbow bolts, much more difficult and even more horrifying in their speed and deadliness. No amount of airbending would stop or divert those, so Aang focused all his efforts on twisting and weaving Appa through the assault. He pulled Appa higher into the sky, and thankfully the new weapons didn't have the capability of achieving that kind of height.
The ice followed them even as they passed the naval blockade until they were out of their range. Aang stared ahead, his gaze solemn. The Water Nation was ahead. Zuko and Azula sighed with relief, but stiffened when they spotted something else behind them.
"What's that?" Zuko asked, gaping. "Some kind of kite's following us!"
Sokka whooped as he flew through the air on his windsailer, over a hundred feet in the sky like an airbender on a glider or a seabird in flight. Far below him, Kinto performed some high-speed waterbending on a catamaran, attached to Sokka with a rope and harness. His newest invention gave him speed and the maneuverability to dodge through the blockade's assault - this wasn't what he had in mind for the windsailer's first real test run, but it was equal parts exhilarating and terrifying and best of all, it worked.
One of the ice blocks aimed at the Avatar fell toward Sokka in its descent, but he let go of his control bar with one hand long enough to divert it with a single swipe, sending it crashing down on one of Bato's ships. "Oops," Sokka said, unable to hold back from grinning. "How clumsy of me!"
This plan necessitated leaving his grandmother and ship behind, but it couldn't be helped. It got him through the blockade and he planned to make use of it to reach the Avatar Temple even faster than he could have dreamed.
Almost an hour later, the flying bison, with its passengers, reached the southern islands of the Patola Mountain Range, where Avatar Kuruk's temple lay. The azure temple was situated at the peak of a snowy mountain on an island that was made up of several. Light flurries of snow blanketed the mountains, a sharp contrast to the grey stone that was so dark it was almost black. Hardy grasses and reeds stuck out of the mountainside in defiance of the cold. Aang looked wistfully at the horizon, knowing that he was near the Southern Air Temple, as well as Kyoshi Island and even the Southern Water Tribe, where his first adventure started. As Appa landed, he took a deep breath, ready to face whatever awaited him inside the temple.
He had the bison land on the side of the mountain where there was an outcropping of rock large enough for them all to land on comfortably. A small trail not far from them wound up the side of the mountain, leading to the Water Temple at the mountain's peak.
"Well, here we go," Zuko said, bracing himself.
"Are you guys ready?" Aang asked them.
"Oh, please. How hard could this be?" Azula scoffed.
"Alright. Appa, Momo, you stay here," Aang said to the two creatures. The female lemur stared at him curiously, and Aang realized his blunder. Luckily, neither Zuko nor Azula noticed, too focused on their mission ahead. "Er... Sabishi, you stay here with Appa."
Minutes later, Aang was ready to make Azula eat her words. It was an incredibly difficult hike up the mountain, as the snowstorm above increased and threatened to blow them all off the mountainside. The cold seeped into all of their clothing, and because of the fierce amount of wind, Azula was unable to keep a decent flame of warmth alive. Aang wondered how it could be so cold in the early days of summer and thought it might have to do with the spirituality of the temple.
Eventually, the Avatar Temple came into sight. The first part of it they saw was the crest at its top, like a beacon - a diamond shape carved from a stone that looked like ice. The multi-tiered roofs sloped down in the shape of several lilies piled on top of each other. Chimes rang like bells in the wind, decorated with a painted pattern to ward off evil spirits. They traveled the rest of the way up a glittering staircase of ice, and they were greeted by heavy doors also carved from frost that sealed the entrance into the temple.
"Hmm... We should probably find a better way to get in here," Aang said. After a moment of thinking, he passed his staff to Azula and threw Zuko over his shoulder before he could shout in protest and leapt to the roof. The older boy let out an undignified shout that was swallowed by the blizzard and Aang jumped back down to the ground to do the same for Azula, but she stepped back.
"Don't even think about it," she said, falling into a defensive stance with one finger held out to him while she gripped his staff in her other hand.
"Would you rather stay out here and freeze to death?"
She huffed at him and straightened. "No." Without wasting any time, Aang scooped her over his shoulder like he did to Zuko and jumped up to the roof where he placed her down and she almost slipped. "You know, I thought you airbenders were more graceful!"
"Look, I found a way in," Aang said, ignoring her and taking his staff back. On one side of the temple were dark blue shutters, which Aang tried feebly to pull open. They had been frozen shut, coated in a layer of rime that Azula melted away with hotter than normal flames. Several teeth-chattering minutes later, Aang tugged on them again, to no avail."
"Here, let me," Zuko said, aiding him. He was able to pull them open with one hand. Aang frowned. He missed his own physical strength. He didn't thank Zuko. Instead, he jumped inside the temple and lithely rolled to his feet.
The inside of the temple shared the blue theme with the outside. As Zuko and Azula crawled in after him, he admired the beautiful waterbending mosaics, interrupted by random panels of ice on the walls. He wondered what they were for.
A moment later, he heard footsteps walking down one of the hallways adjacent to his. He motioned for Zuko and Azula to stay back as Aang gripped his staff, prepared to deal with whatever it was. He cautiously stepped forward and turned around the corner. He was surprised when he nearly bumped into an old woman.
"Who are you?" she asked, giving him one wide eye of suspicion. "What are you doing in this sacred place?"
"I am the Avatar. Bring me to Kuruk," Aang demanded, holding out his staff. The woman - a priestess or one of the Water Sages - wore heavy robes lined with white fur and a matching cap with flaps that covered her ears. She expressed surprise upon seeing him, but raised a hand and sent ice spikes flying at Aang. Immediately after, she turned away from him and ran, leaving Aang to ward off her attack with a wall of wind. She ran down the hallways shouting out in her hoarse voice.
"The Avatar is here! The Avatar has returned!" she screamed, setting off the alarm. More old women Water Sages emerged from the different hallways, attacking him with a coat of ice that stuck to the walls. Azula stepped in front of him and burned away the attacks.
She scowled at the woman's retreating back. "Dumb old crones. Aren't they supposed to support the Avatar?"
Aang growled under his breath. He should have expected this.
He ran down the cold corridors, dodging the waterbenders' attacks and warding them off to allow Zuko and Azula to pass. Aang turned the corners at a rapid pace, searching for the entrance to Kuruk's chamber. He was able to stop himself just in time when he noticed the coating of ice on the floor.
"Zuko, Azul— Ah!" He tried to warn them, but the two siblings ignored him and sped right towards him, but before they could notice that he stopped, Aang jumped into the air as the two toppled to the icy floor, sliding across it and crashing into the wall on the other side of the hallway. Aang ran after them carefully with practiced, sure feet. Before he could reach them, a hand wrapped in Water Tribe furs reached out at the two and pulled them away.
As Aang turned the corner, ready to stop the Water Sage, he readied his staff to fight. He saw the old woman with a grasp on Zuko and Azula. Aang was about to swing his weapon at her, but she held up a hand and stopped him.
"Wait, I want to help!" she said to him, her voice hushed. "Quickly, this way." Before Aang could even speak, she put her hand on one of the icy wall panels, melting the cold away. It revealed a door, which she opened. "Inside, before the others find us!" she urged them.
Aang sighed with relief. It seemed that there was a traitor among these Sages' ranks, too.
"I am Water Sage Yugoda," the woman said, revealing a kind, elderly face. Her grey hair was held back in braided hair loops. Something about the name sounded familiar but Aang couldn't place where he had heard it.
"Pleased to meet you. I am Avatar Aang," he said, bowing. "These are my friends, Zuko and Azula."
"Aren't the Sages supposed to help the Avatar?" Zuko asked her, annoyed.
Yugoda's face fell. "Once, a long time ago," she answered. "The others have become corrupt. But I am a distant relative of Avatar Kuruk's wife, before she was taken away from him. She was my grandmother's youngest sister," she said with a distant smile.
"I'd like to speak with Avatar Kuruk," Aang said to her.
"I thought that was why you have come," Yugoda replied. "This way, please." She led them through a tunnel of ice with an uneven staircase that led up and deeper into the temple. Avatar Kuruk's chamber was close, he could feel it.
"My father once told me that waterbender women weren't trained to fight. What's the deal with these Water Sages?" Azula asked with a frown.
"We are the only exception to that rule," Yugoda said. "We were sent to protect the temple of Avatar Kuruk, when no man would want the job. They are too busy fighting this war. But I volunteered and moved here all the way from the Northern Water Tribe."
Zuko whistled. "You volunteered? Because of your ancestor?"
"I was born and raised in the Northern Water Tribe," Yugoda explained. "But I've always wanted to fight with my waterbending, instead of only healing. Being a Water Sage helped me become what I've always wanted to be," she said with a gentle smile.
Azula scoffed with something like derision. "It's so backwards there. Your people cripple their own forces by half in forbidding women to fight. I never understood those rules."
Yugoda shrugged. "It has long been the tradition among our people. The princess of the Southern Water Tribe is really making an effort to let women learn all kinds of waterbending," Yugoda went on to explain proudly. "She's really an inspiration to Water Nation women everywhere."
Aang raised an eyebrow, wondering who the princess was. Yue? If she's around, she'd be the type to do that, I think. Well, good for her. Maybe I can see her some day...
Abruptly, before the conversation could be continued any further, the narrow tunnel opened up to an expansive, icy chamber. There was old Water Tribe artwork on the walls of a very powerful waterbender, etched onto stretched, leathery animal skin. On the other wall, Aang spotted a giant, blue door that was covered in ice, keeping it frozen shut. Yugoda was the first to approach the door.
"Many places in the Water Nation are only accessible by waterbenders," she informed them, placing a hand on the frozen door. The ice melted away at her touch. "Hurry, Avatar. Get inside before the other Sages come. They're bound to check up here soon."
With Zuko's help, he was able to pull open the large, heavy door, and he stepped inside.
Sokka barged into the Water Temple, frantic and determined. "Where's the Avatar? I know he's here!" he yelled as Water Sages hurried into the main chamber. They fell into bows at his feet.
"Prince Sokka, your arrival is so unexpected," one of them said.
"Tell me where the Avatar is! I know he's here!" Sokka shouted at them. He searched among them, briefly, for a familiar face with her distinctive hair, but he had no time to search her out. He had to make sure the Avatar was in his clutches before Bato arrived.
"I-I'm sorry, but he's loose in the temple," the woman said.
"Where?" he demanded.
"He's probably going to see Avatar Kuruk right now!"
At that moment, unknown to Aang, the sunlight shone on the crystal at just the right angle, directing a beam of light to the statue of Avatar Kuruk's forehead. The summer solstice had arrived.
Aang opened his eyes as the blinding mist cleared all around him. All he saw was an expanse of white, a snowy wasteland. Snow gently fell down, getting caught in his rugged head of hair, which was getting longer every day. A gust of wind blew in front of him and Avatar Kuruk appeared. He looked exactly the same as when Aang last saw him – young, and wearing full Water Tribe clothing with the head of a polar bear as his mask.
"Nice to finally meet you, kid," Kuruk said. "There's something important I need to tell you."
"Wait!" Aang quickly stopped him. "What do you mean, 'nice to finally meet me?' We've met before!"
Kuruk's tanned face turned to one of confusion. "We have?"
"Yeah! You, Yangchen, Roku, and Kyoshi were the ones who sent me to this place! I want to go home!" Aang yelled at him, unable to bottle his anger. Meeting a version of Kuruk who didn't recognize him - or at least, this version of him - was an eventuality he didn't expect. He couldn't have come all this way for nothing...
"I'm sorry... but what are you babbling about?" Kuruk asked him, scratching his head with his gloved hand.
"You sent me to this world!" Aang bellowed. "I want to go home, I need to help my friends! I miss Sokka, I miss Toph, and I miss Katara..." As he mentioned their names, his body became wracked with sobs. He fell to his knees in the snow. This couldn't be happening... could this Kuruk be different, too?
"I'm sorry... but I have no idea what you're talking about," Kuruk admitted, and Aang knew it to be the truth as much as he knew himself. "I wish I could help... but there's something else I need to tell you."
Several of his soldiers followed him as Sokka strode into the chamber. The Avatar's firebender and the other Fire Nation boy tried to stop him, as well as the old waterbender, but they were quickly stopped by his soldiers and chained to the ice pillars in the center of the room. Sokka patrolled in front of the giant door that led to Kuruk's chamber, furious and impatient.
"Why won't it open?" he growled as his soldiers tugged at the door.
"Avatar Kuruk is forbidding us entry," one of the other Water Sages said. They all dutifully ignored the traitor in their midst.
"Good to see you again so soon, Prince Sokka."
The fallen prince's body froze. "What do you want, Bato?" he asked the man through clenched teeth, refusing to move around to meet his gaze.
"I've come to receive the Avatar," he said, and Sokka knew he smirked with triumph without even looking. "Maybe even help you do it. I hope you haven't forgotten our ways of hunting for prey along with your family. Like a pack of wolves. I trust your time in exile hasn't made you forget even that."
Sokka turned to face him, gritting his teeth. "You're not my family, Bato."
"Neither of you will ever get your hands on Aang!" the firebender shouted out at them. "He's too strong for all of you. You won't stop him."
"I'd like to see about that," Bato said, as more of his soldiers came into the chamber.
Aang frowned from his position in the snow, wiping away his angered tears. He was frustrated that he let tears fall. He never cried anymore. He stiffened when Kuruk mentioned something he needed to tell Aang. "Lay it on me."
Kuruk frowned. "I know it'll sound tough, but I know you can do it... You ready?"
"Just tell me. That's what Roku always did," Aang said wearily. "He was blunt about that sort of thing."
Kuruk frowned. "Okay... I wasn't aware that Roku spoke to you... But at the end of the winter, a terrible thing awaits you. There is a second moon, Seiryu's Moon, that appears in the sky above our world. The power of the waterbenders will increase a whole lot more than it usually does every month."
"So I'll have to master all four elements and defeat the Water Lord before then, right?" Aang asked, shoulders falling.
"The Water Emperor," Kuruk corrected him. "But yes, you will. Don't worry too much, you've mastered all four elements several times in your past li—"
"I've mastered them all once already," Aang told him, interrupting the Water Avatar's words. "I can do it again."
"I'm sorry that we're putting all of this on you at once, Aang. But you can defeat him and save the world. I know it."
"How can I do that when I haven't even saved my own world?" Aang suddenly yelled out at him, standing up. "I failed my own friends. I didn't defeat the Fire Lord in time for Sozin's Comet and everyone I knew and loved died... And I'd still be with them if you didn't send me here to this messed up world! How can you expect me to do it again?" Every inch of his body ached, but he felt unburdened. It was nice to vent his frustrations out on someone.
"I don't know what you're talking about!" Kuruk yelled back at him. "It wasn't me that sent you here!"
Aang clenched his fists. "It was all of you! I can't believe this... you must be a different Kuruk, then..." Aang slumped to his knees in defeat. "I'll never be able to go home..."
"I don't understand. What happened to you?" Kuruk asked him. "Hurry, we don't have much time left!"
"In my own world, the Fire Nation ruled over everything," Aang began, gulping down the pain he felt. He wouldn't forgive himself if he wavered or stuttered as he spoke to Kuruk. "Sozin's Comet came, strengthening the firebenders to the point where they were unstoppable. They had a firm grip on the world, but my friends and I were able to travel around in secret and stop them. I journeyed to the Spirit World to restore my Avatar Spirit when I had enough of the war, but I spoke to all of my past lives and Yangchen sent me here. Now, I'm fighting against my old friends and allying with my former enemies... I'm so lost... And confused..." Damn it. He sounded weak at the end, and it made him angry again.
Kuruk was silent for a long time. Aang began to think their time together would run out before he responded again. "I see," he said finally. "I don't know what to say to that..." He paused and looked back to the door. "We don't have time left, but there are Water Nation soldiers outside, waiting to ambush you."
Aang sighed. "Oh, and everything is basically a repeat of last time, but reversed," Aang added. "I've figured out that this timeline, or whatever it is, has been following my last adventures, but there have been some changes..."
"I will speak to some of the older spirits about it," Kuruk told him. "Now, I'm going to help you fight off your enemies." Aang nodded and closed his eyes. "Until we meet again..."
Azula tried to wriggle free of the chains binding her to the ice pole, but she couldn't move a muscle. She was irritated when she started to get worried for Aang. She knew he was strong, but she didn't know if he was strong enough to defeat all of these warriors.
Bato paced in front of the heavy doors as they rumbled open, grinding across the floor. Sokka looked up, pulling water to coil around his wrists while he readied his boomerang in his other hand and the other warriors took up similar fighting positions.
"Aang, look out!" Zuko shouted.
Two glowing orbs appeared inside the dark chamber and Zuko and Azula remembered the Avatar State's power and exaltation with haunting clarity. Bato laughed as if it were no more than a simple thrill until a full grown man stepped out of the chamber instead of Aang. The Water Tribe man in the Avatar State moved his arms above his head, melting the ice pillars that Zuko, Azula, and Yugoda were tied to, letting them free. Ice spikes plunged from out of the walls, and torrents of water rushed out at everyone in the room. Somehow, the three that were chained up weren't bothered by the torrent.
The whole temple began to shake and they all heard a distant rumbling from outside. Sokka and Bato's leather-clad warriors turned and fled from the temple, followed by the Water Sages who urged their prince and Commander to leave.
"Come on, Zuzu! We need to get out of here!" Azula yelled to her brother. "Yugoda, come on!" The winds picked up all around them, shaking the very foundations of the temple. Azula was determined to get out of there if only to save her own skin. Bato and Sokka were lost in the chaos. Yugoda urged them to follow the other Water Sages.
The roof of the temple ripped off and was lost in the storm outside, but Kuruk remained where he was, manipulating the storm around them. The snow and the cold whipped at Zuko and Azula like lashes. The very mountain they were on trembled, causing the snow to fall down in an avalanche.
"If we don't get out of here soon, the avalanche will destroy the temple!" Zuko yelled to his sister over the roaring winds. He hesitated because of Aang. "We can't just leave him here!"
"I know!" Azula shouted back. She wrenched her eyes shut, trying to think of something. For the first time, not a plan came to mind. She was utterly helpless and hated the feeling of it.
They both saw a white form in the distance, battling against the winds. "It's Appa!" Zuko let out a bellow to get his attention, clutching onto the ruins of the walls for support. As the bison came closer with a furious roar, they noticed Sabi clinging to his saddle with her tiny arms. The Avatar was going to rip them all off the mountainside.
"Aang's going to kill us!" Azula cried out, panicked.
At her words, the Avatar's fury and anger seemed to be quenched and sated. A whirlwind surrounded Avatar Kuruk, blocking him from their view, but when it dissipated, Aang stumbled to the ground in his place. He fell to his knees. Zuko and Azula hesitated going over to him while Appa was able to stabilize himself right outside the temple. The avalanche still continued to tear down the mountain.
Azula tried to approach him, almost timid. "Aang...?" Her golden eyes were wide with concern for him.
Aang's head turned up at them, his grey, hardened eyes locking onto Appa. "Let's get out of here," he said to them, sprinting over to the two. Zuko grabbed his staff just as Aang snatched the backs of their shirts to jump onto Appa's back. They flew away just as the surge of snow swallowed the remains of the temple, letting it fall down the mountainside. The storm above cleared.
"Tell us everything," Azula said to Aang.
"You're all traitors!" Bato bellowed at the Water Sages, handling them while Sokka departed for the island's docks, where his ship waited for him. "All soft and weak, the lot of you."
"It was all Yugoda, sir! She's the traitor!" one of the Water Sages pleaded. "Let us go!" Yugoda put her head down in apparent shame, even though Bato knew she helped the Avatar willingly.
"Shut up!" Bato silenced her. "All of you will be brought to Aniak'to as prisoners. All you've done is prove that women can't be relied upon to handle things at the temple."
He held the flame headpiece in his hand so that it reflected the light in the sky as his warriors led the women away. If he couldn't rely on Sokka's help, he'd have to make sure to stay several steps ahead of the prince.
Author's Note: Everyone, go check out AvocadoLove's great artwork of 'Prince Sokka' right from this fic! The link is in my profile. Thanks so much, AvocadoLove!
Again, sorry if this is too much like the episode. For big story chapters like this one, I can't deviate too much from the main plot. The next chapter will be interesting... "The Firebending Scroll."
Ahh... and sorry if "Seiryu's Moon" seems like a bit of a stretch. Firebenders gain power from the Comet because it is essentially a second sun, so... (Edit 8/1/20): Seiryu's Moon was something I didn't think too deeply into when I first wrote this story, but now I've come up with a (slightly) more plausible explanation for it, so don't think too deeply into the scientific aspects of a second moon, lol.
Please review!
