"Every war, when it comes, or before it comes, is represented not as a war but as an act of self-defense against a homicidal maniac." — George Orwell
"Aang, did you know that you were left-handed in another life?" Katara asked, gesturing to a passage in the book she held.
"I always knew I was special," the airbender grinned. He pulled a thin black and green tome from the shelf and began to leaf through it. "Hey, this is a book of characters! Matthew could learn to write!"
"When he's still learning to speak?" Sokka asked drily.
"Some people can do both, Sokka," Katara shot right back in that particular sickly sweet tone of hers.
This shelf seemed to have maps. Sokka grabbed a random dusty scroll and opened it. It showed a carefully detailed map of…the Earth Kingdom? Or no. Wait, yes it was. It was the far west side of the Earth Kingdom, but didn't depict any Fire Nation colonies. It must've been an older one–the marked paths didn't make any sense. They looped and seemed to run back and forth to the same places with no rhyme or reason. There were names, but Sokka couldn't reason out the strange, yet brutally simplistic characters. "Hey Aang, have you ever seen a map like this before?"
Aang wandered over to peer over Sokka's elbow. "No, this one's weird. I've never even seen characters like that."
"Huh." Sokka shrugged and tucked it under his arm in favor of another scroll. This map was larger by nearly an arm's length, showing the whole of the Earth Kingdom continent. It had more features than their own by far, even showing Misty Palms Oasis's ice spring to be the more accurate ice lump that it had become. Sokka smiled, and crammed it into his bag. For good measure he took the weird map, and the book of characters from Aang's hands as well. He also felt Matthew's disapproving gaze from ten yards away.
"Stealing is bad," Matthew intoned sternly.
"Necessary," Sokka explained shortly so that the blond could understand. "War. Information."
Matthew pursed his lips, but didn't comment any further. He wandered back over to the teaching books.
"This is all amazing." Katara closed the book she had with a sigh. "But it's not what we're looking for. I think we need to try another section."
"This place is so big, I think we should split up," Aang said by way of agreement. "You and Matthew look for something to help him get back home. Sokka and I will go look for stuff about the Fire Nation."
"What about the professor?" Katara asked, looking towards the end of the aisle where Zei was sitting on the floor already surrounded by teetering piles of books and scrolls. He didn't even seem to register that they were still there watching him.
"We'll pick him up on the way out," Sokka said. "He looks kinda busy. We'll meet on the skybridge in two hours."
They split into opposite directions. Soon enough the only footsteps they could hear were his and Aang's, echoing into the tall, menacing corridors of paper.
The light got steadily dimmer as they wandered deeper into the library. It was difficult to tell exactly what they were looking at at any given moment, much less read anything.
"So you heard what the spirit said about Matthew," Sokka said, now that they were alone. "What do you think?"
"I don't know what to think," Aang admitted. "What Wan Shi Tong said…it didn't really match up. I mean, Matthew's pretty passive."
"I know a dude with a broken nose back at the 'Oasis who'd probably disagree with you," Sokka snorted.
Aang looked at him with wide eyes. "Wha-Why did he break someone's nose?"
"Oh…he had a good reason," Sokka said evasively. He didn't want to be the one to explain the concept of human trafficking to Aang. "But still. I wouldn't exactly call Matthew passive."
"Then I really don't know," Aang shrugged. "He's making great progress on learning how to talk, though. I'm sure we can get him to explain soon."
"I hope you're right," Sokka sighed. "Because I totally let him walk into this giant magic library alone with my sister….I guess we should just focus on finding Fire Nation stuff. Somehow."
It was rapidly becoming clear that there was no real cataloging system here. One aisle might go by alphabetical order of title, another by size, the next by color going vertically down…Tui and La, they might be here forever. And they didn't have forever to be doing this. "I don't know how we're supposed to find anything here."
This final, exasperated statement was louder than he intended in the echoing building. Both of them winced as it reverberated off of the silent, heavy tomes. They really weren't trying to regain Wan Shi Tong's attention.
A few seconds later, rather than the scrape of huge sharp claws against stone, there was the soft padding of paws. Sokka's hand reached slowly for his boomerang. Aang readied his staff. A form melted out of the shadows ahead to reveal a…
"A knowledge-seeker," Sokka said, relieved. The professor had briefed them on these guys on the ride here. Wan Shi Tong's own assistants and curators; the ones who went out into the world to retrieve all of the knowledge that was here. "What does it want?"
As if in answer, the fox-like creature turned and pointed towards an adjacent hall with its nose like a dutiful arctic dog pointing the way out of an ice cave.
"I think…he wants us to follow him," Aang said slowly.
"Can it be trusted, though?" Sokka was suspicious.
The knowledge-seeker almost looked like it was rolling its eyes. It waited.
"Let's just follow him," Aang shrugged. "We're kinda lost anyway."
The Water Tribe teen grumbled and subsided. They followed the fox through the dim corridors, making seemingly random turns and abrupt changes in direction. They were very far away from the entrance by now. Just when they began wondering if their guide was lost as well, the knowledge seeker stopped and sat down, looking at them expectantly.
Aang looked up at the red banner hanging on the stone arch above them. "So the Fire Nation stuff…is in the Fire Nation section."
"Stop that," Sokka ordered drolly. "Being sarcastic is my job."
Aang's lips quirked into an impish smile. He peered into the darkness ahead of them. "There's no light in there. Like, at all. I wonder why?"
Sokka stepped first into this pitch black section of the library, and it was like he'd crossed some kind of threshold. The scent of charred leathers and wood ash hit him like a wall, making him sneeze. His eyes adjusted slowly to the lack of light; he was beginning to make out shapes in the darkness. Soft echoes became crunches beneath his feet as he advanced.
Spirits, this place needed to air out. It smelled like a fire pit…wait. Sokka happened to look down, and scowled deeply.
Aang seemed reluctant to follow him, still standing just beyond the aisle. "What do you see?"
"Come and see for yourself!"
The airbender picked his way carefully around the shadows to join him. His nose wrinkled at the smell, and his expression quickly became one of dismay as he immediately realized what it meant. "It's all…"
"Burned," Sokka confirmed grimly. "The Fire Nation beat us here, and did…what they do best." He glanced aside. "Damn it all, who even knows how long ago?"
Aang looked into the ashen dark with a slightly lost look. "What now? Was this whole trip useless?"
The Water Tribe teen sighed hopelessly. "I don't—I don't know, Aang. We really needed that information."
The two went silent. Aang left Sokka to his thoughts and wandered towards one of the charred black skeletons of a shelf that they could now make out. Spirits, there was barely anything left of it. It was a real testament to how little things moved here to see it still standing like this. Sokka thought for sure it would come down on Aang at any moment, and was about to call out-–but the airbender didn't touch it, instead turning away to dejectedly push around piles of ash and blackened paper with his staff.
'How many times now has Aang watched his hopes get burned like this? How familiar was this feeling to him by now?'
Sokka grimaced and shook his head to dislodge those thoughts. They weren't productive.
"Hey…what's this?"
Sokka blinked and shuffled over to where Aang was picking up a white scrap of burnt paper. "'The Darkest Day in Fire Nation History'?"
"Does it say anything else?" Sokka asked, tearing the scrap unceremoniously from the airbender's hand before he could even answer.
"I-it has a date, I think?"
Sokka re-read the soberly elegant script at least four times to himself, turning it over in his hands as if this little piece could magically reveal more to him. "I need to know what happened on that day," he said intently. "It could be important."
They both looked to the knowledge-seeker who was patiently waiting just outside of the destroyed section as if it was some kind of cursed and unclean place. Sokka couldn't blame the thing–something about this area felt off, and it wasn't just the dark. He figured he might as well ask. "Can you show me?"
The fox snorted and ran the exact opposite direction. Aang and Sokka followed.
"This place is huge," Katara said for what was probably the fourth truly, she'd never seen so much knowledge in one place in her life. Even a mere eighth of it would've been ridiculously impressive. "Where do we even begin?"
Matthew didn't mind–probably because he didn't understand. He drifted down the hall with no apparent destination in mind, seeming to have fallen deep in thought. Katara trailed along behind him, scanning the countless titles for something that might help them.
They walked in awkward silence. This language barrier was proving to be a full-blown city wall between them, and Katara was having a hard time breaching. "Matthew…do you have any family?" She tried to stick mostly to words he would understand. She hoped that context clues would help him with any new ones.
Matthew tilted his head slightly as he translated the sentence before nodding. "My brother. He, ah–looks like me."
"Strong family resemblance," Katara nodded. "My family is the same."
Right then, Katara felt the need to smack herself. Matthew already knew that. He knew her brother.
Matthew nodded politely. "Many families are."
This was really hard.
Katara decided to accept the silence for now and allowed her own thoughts to wander as she walked. Unwillingly, she remembered Wan Shi Tong, and his cryptic warning.
"...they are worse. The fate of his kind is tied to humanity. Their very existence is characterized by violence and desperation…."
It didn't sound like Matthew at all. And 'his kind'. What did that mean? Was he a spirit…or a-a monster of some kind? She wished she could just ask. So that Matthew could just explain himself, and everything would be fine. But with his limited vocabulary…a full explanation might be long in the coming. And now they were walking through a dark library together. Alone.
"Why, they'll slaughter their own family to survive. I've read all about it."
Katara repressed the urge to shudder at the thought. But–Matthew mentioned a brother. And it didn't sound like he…hated him, or anything. "What's your brother like?"
"He is…s-strong?" Matthew seemed uncertain of his translation. He looked at her and mimed flexing a bicep, making sure he got the point across correctly. It looked so goofy, though; Katara laughed aloud and gestured for him to continue.
"Very strong. Annoying, sometimes. Very stubborn and–what is a word for…smiling? Thinks good things happen always?"
Katara hunted around for a good word. "I think you mean 'optimistic'." She smiled. "Your brother sounds really nice. Kind of like Aang?"
"Mm, kind of. Definitely not a monk. He likes meat and weapons too, like Sokka." Matthew stopped walking and sighed. "He is probably worried."
Katara ached to see that expression on Matthew's face. So tired and anxious, it added years that didn't belong on his face. "I couldn't imagine being separated from my brother like that," She admitted. Sokka was annoying and sarcastic, yes…but he was her brother, and a good person. Privately, she knew she wouldn't have made it this far without his support. The waterbender took Matthew's hand and squeezed to show her support. "We'll help you get home, Matthew. You'll see your brother again."
Matthew smiled that gentle smile of his. "I believe you."
'...they'll slaughter their own family to survive…'
No, that didn't sound like Matthew at all.
They'd stopped somewhere deep, with very little light. It was difficult to read the titles on some of these worn out old books, but it looked like some kind of anthropology section. Too bad that professor wasn't here to tell them what was worth looking at. She started flipping through tomes anyways.
'Strange Peoples; Strange Practices' was about the Water Tribe, written by a self-proclaimed world traveler who couldn't stand the cold.
'Lands Close and Far' turned out to only go as far as the edge of the continent and seemed to focus more on the rocks than anything else.
'Beyond the Valleys' was talking about a different valley that had nothing to do with the North Mountains, and never actually mentioned what lay beyond it.
'Alternative Linguistics' was purely theoretical, and the author spent more time talking about how much he hated simplified characters than anything else.
This went on and on until forty-five minutes later Katara was glaring at an empty shelf, yet another uselessly adjacent book about obscure nonsense dangling by the cover from her hand. She wasn't much of a reader, but she knew a bad batch of books when she saw one. "Another dead end. Isn't this place supposed to have all the answers?"
Matthew was leaning against the bookcase right next to her and going through one that seemed to have mostly pictures of fashionable Earth Kingdom court robes. "I'm sorry," he said, closing the book. "I'm being useless."
"No one expects you to learn characters overnight." Katara reigned in her frustration as best she could as she said this. She didn't want Matthew to think she was upset at him. "These books are all stupid, anyways."
Matthew shrugged and crossed his arms. "Still sorry. I want to help."
"I know you do, Matthew," Katara sighed. She carefully stacked the books back in their spots and started scanning for another shelf to try. Maybe the spirit legends and folk mythologies section could give her something. If Matthew could point out the pictures of creatures he recognized, maybe she could figure out where he's from that way…
Just as she was thinking this, Matthew uttered a soft exclamation. Katara spun around. "What is it?"
"This one." He pulled a small black book right in the middle of a bunch of oversized scrolls. It was easily older than anything else nearby, going by the barely intact spine and broken or missing corners. The cracks in the stiff, ancient leather were so deep and myriad that the whole thing looked like it was ready to crumble to dust at any moment. There was writing carved into the cover. A set of straight-lined symbols that marched brutally across the cover and spine like slanted little soldiers.
"Can you read that?" Katara asked. "Is that your language?"
The blind opened it halfway and turned some pages very, very carefully. They were as thin and brittle as old leaves. "Not mine…too old. Others know it better."
"But you can read some of it?" Katara pressed. They needed something to go on. This was the closest thing to a lead that they had.
"Some," Matthew closed the journal and gently ran his fingers across the carved characters. "It doesn't belong here."
"Keep it on you," Katara said. "Maybe there's others like it around here."
Matthew nodded. They started searching together more diligently, him for things he could read, Katara for whatever she couldn't. Somehow, they'd found the right spot to be in this massive library…
"Too weird," Matthew said. "The library is too big for…happy coincidences?"
She couldn't have said it better to anything in this library was a journey, but as far as Aang was concerned, this part was worth it.
He stood in awe of the huge, incredibly ornate doors before them. Even as Sokka searched impatiently for a way to open it, he seemed to appreciate the ingenious mechanical design of the whole thing.
"The fancy door doesn't have a fancy doorknob," Sokka said after a while. "Might as well be a dead end."
The knowledge-seeker huffed at them before ducking into a small cubby in the wall. A few moments later there was a loud clanking sound and the grinding of stone. The door rolled rather than sliding open.
"That's probably for momentum," Sokka said with hushed appreciation. "Wonder if it's hanging onto something near the top? Like a latch that releases from–"
The knowledge-seeker waited for them just beyond the threshold, tail wagging almost like a real dog's. Aang watched with a smile as it padded up to Sokka and pushed its head up against his hand, seeking pets from the leeriest of all spirit activity. Sokka obliged with such a nervous expression that Aang outright laughed.
"At least someone likes your weird inventing tangents."
Sokka blinked. "Is that what this is?"
Aang felt nervousness edging into his mood as the creature disappeared into the shadows of the greater library. "I hope we can find the exit later."
"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it," Sokka said dismissively. He pulled a scrap of paper from his bag and waved it for emphasis. "We have work to do."
The room they entered was massive and brightly lit with a vaulted, dome shaped ceiling done in sky blue. Two metal rails ran across the diameter of the ceiling, one with a stylized sun bolted to it, and the other with a moon that was painted with both a waxed and waned pattern. In the middle of the room was a strange table set into the stone floor. They converged on it with interest, the echo of their footsteps bouncing back at them from all angles.
"What is this?" Aang asked, running his hands along the concentric metal rings and symbols. He reminded him vaguely of something he must've seen before the iceberg. He just couldn't remember exactly what it was called. It was…planter…planular…? Plana-something…
Sokka studied the paper, and then the table. "I think–it's a calendar of some sort. Quick, help me align this date here."
They rotated the (very heavy) rings until the matching date was bracketed by the metal rails running from the side of the table to the center. Sokka pulled the lone lever coming out of the floor next to them.
The lights dimmed on their own, and the ceiling came to life. Twinkling stars began to travel across a simulated night sky. The sun and moon rails clanked as they moved, signifying the passing of days. The stunning show ended when the stars became still and the sun was hidden behind the moon.
"...Sokka, you broke the room."
Sokka ignored him in favor of puzzling over what the fake sky was trying to tell them. "The sun…hidden behind the moon. A solar eclipse, right? But I don't see what's so…" He trailed off.
Aang started fidgeting with his staff. 'Plan. Planto…graphic?' How long has it been already? They were going to have to find their way back soon–wait, he remembered now! It was a—
"A SOLAR ECLIPSE!"
Aang jumped a bit higher than was natural right before a newly energized Sokka started shaking him by the shoulders. "Firebenders get their power from the sun!" There was that slightly manic look on Sokka's face that came with a mystery solved, or a plan forming . "But if the sun is hidden-!"
Suddenly, Aang understood. "They won't be able to firebend!"
Sokka nodded eagerly. "They'll be completely defenseless! We have to get this information to the Earth King. This…this is huge! This could end the war!"
Aang looked up at the painted moon again. He wouldn't need to learn firebending after all! "When's the next one?"
Sokka's enthusiasm abruptly fled, his hands coming loose as he was looking right above Aang's head. Aang felt the angry shadow against his back, and gulped. He didn't look back, so much as up, to meet the blank white face of Wan Shi Tong.
"You lied to me," the spirit stated very matter-of-factly. "I'm not surprised."
"Please, sir!" Aang spun and backed away slowly, both hands raised in peace. Sokka's were going for his boomerang. "The Fire Nation is going to hurt everyone if we don't–"
"That's always the narrative," Wan Shi Tong interrupted sharply. He advanced on them slowly, his looming form cornering them in this giant room that was rapidly feeling much too small. "There isn't a nation alive that hasn't started or ended a war for whatever reason. And I. Do not. Care for petty human squabbles or excuses! My library shan't be misused any longer!" His deep black wings stretched open, winds stirring from nowhere as they beat hard and long enough that both Aang and Sokka had to retreat to avoid getting smacked against a wall.
"What are you doing?" Sokka demanded over the wind.
"Making sure humans can never enter again!" The owl boomed back.
The ground began to shake, dust coming down from the ceiling as the elegantly painted illusion of a sky began to crack and flake.
Aang felt a distinct drop in his stomach that told him everything he needed to know. He grabbed blindly for Sokka's wrist. "The place is sinking–we've got to go!"
They fled the planetarium as fast as Aang could pull them, a massive angry knowledge spirit right on their heels.
Wan Shi Tong had size on them, and he knew his library well. But Aang and Sokka were small, and fast in their own right. Aang wasn't sure where he was leading them; all of the air in this building felt stale and old, and his sense of direction was absolutely shot. Wan Shi Tong would spot them and lose them at such random intervals, that it never really felt safe to stop.
The next time they lost him, however, Sokka gasped out in a harsh whisper, "I need to stop!"
Aang paused reluctantly. They flattened themselves against the nearest bookcase and tried their best to be just two more small, innocuous lumps of shadow in this great dim library.
Wan Shi Tong was calling out to them, crooning gently, like he was trying to coax baby rabaroos from beneath the hollow of a tree. His claws clicked ominously by them, his shining black eyes sliding right over their still figures in the dark. He turned another corner and disappeared, his mocking calls fading into faint echoes.
"What did you just do?"
Aang once again nearly flew up to the ceiling, Sokka on his lap like he was gonna go right along with him. They released their collectively held breaths when they saw Katara, Matthew trailing right along behind her with a small stack of books.
"He knows why we're here," Sokka managed. He was still trying to catch his breath from trying to keep up with an airbender on foot. "And he's pissed."
The building rumbled again. Sand was trickling down the ceiling in earnest now.
"And he's sinking the building," Aang added.
"You don't say," Katara intoned flatly. She took Sokka's bag and started rapidly squeezing Matthew's little stack of books into it. "Professor Zei should still be near the exit. Let's grab him and go."
"You all go," Sokka said. He handed the newly laden bag to Matthew for safekeeping. "There's one more thing I need to do."
Something very large far below them collapsed. Katara was already shaking her head. "Nothing's that important."
"I need to know when the next solar eclipse happens," Sokka insisted quickly. Intently, "It's for the war."
"But that means going back to the planetarium!" Aang yelped. "We don't have time for–"
"We won't get another chance like this," Sokka cut him off with a motion. "We'll have less time if I don't go right now."
"There's no reasoning with you like this," Katara scowled. "We're not leaving you alone in the sinking library, Sokka."
The building rumbled again. Matthew shifted the bag on his shoulder, his accent thicker than normal with stress. "Will it find the professor?"
It, as in Wan Shi Tong. Professor Zei was alone and defenseless, and here they were standing around! With that in mind, Aang interrupted the arguing siblings. "You're right, we can't pass this up. I'll go back with Sokka. Katara, take Matthew and find Professor Zei before Wan Shi Tong does. Meet us outside."
Katara clearly didn't like it, but she knew as well as the rest of them that there was no more time for this. She wordlessly tugged Matthew's sleeve, and they vanished into the dark maze of books.
Matthew didn't know everything that was being said, but there were plenty of very obvious context clues to explain the situation.
The giant owl was now trying to kill them for reasons as yet unknown to him, but he'd dealt with plenty of barn owls in his time as a heavily forested Nation. The fact that it hadn't tried to kill them sooner was a bit of a marvel.
Sokka and Aang were off doing…something dangerous. Looking for something. He and Katara were looking for the professor that got them here.
Katara was clearly trying to hide how scared she really was for her brother and friend. Matthew wished he could tell her it was alright–he wasn't going to lose it in a dangerous situation just because she was scared.
She kept grabbing his hand as though trying to keep track of him. He squeezed it reassuringly.
"Professor Zei was–" something too fast to translate "—exit," Katara whispered. They were trying to stay as quiet as possible. The idea was to stay invisible to the owl. That much he could do, at least.
The professor wasn't where they left him. The only sign they had of him was a stack of books where he had been sitting. No signs of violence either…but Matthew supposed Wan Shi Tong could have simply plucked the man from his seat to protect his precious books.
Katara made an audible sound of disappointment. Then she looked to the sky bridge. They were right next to the exit now, and the rope was still dangling from far above. She touched his shoulder and pointed meaningfully. "Matthew, you go."
Matthew shook his head emphatically, old irritation warring with his lingering awareness of danger. Always underestimated. Even by humans. "No. Professor first." He walked back towards the stacks before she could press him. It was dusty here; he'd be doing Kumajirou proud if there was something to—yes! Damn it, what was a word…? He pointed at the ground. "Eh, feet."
Katara frowned at him uncomprehendingly. The signs of sinking were quieter here, but still an ever present reminder of how little time they all had for these things.
He tried again, pointing at the ground more firmly. "Feet spirits on the floor."
Katara repeated him silently as she finally looked where he was pointing, and immediately understood. "Oooh, footsteps!"
He really needed to hurry up with this weird language.
They followed the meandering steps a long way back into the bowels of the library, further than Matthew was comfortable going, but Katara seemed determined.
The fact that Professor Zei wasn't coming back despite something being very obviously wrong did not bode well. But Matthew could not communicate that well even if he wanted to.
A long shadow moved in the corner of his eye. He grabbed her and pulled her back behind a shelf, clapping a hand over her surprised squeak.
Wan Shi Tong prowled across their path, his neck and wings extended longer than should have been possible. He more resembled a feathered cobra than a barn owl now. His beady black eyes glittered with hate, mutturing things under his breath that Matthew…could hear. And understand.
"Always forsaking your higher brethren for these creatures of mud. I will never understand you."
It was speaking Japanese.
The owl was talking to him.
"I know where you're from. These desperate mortals can't help you."
It took everything in Matthew's power not to tuck Katara into this corner and follow the owl. It was selfish. In his heart of hearts, he knew this. But this wasn't a Matthew feeling. It was a Canada feeling. Canada wanted–needed–to go home. Any lead he could get, it didn't matter.
"Whatever he's saying," Katara whispered directly into his ear. She was pronouncing it very, very slowly to make sure he understood. "He's tricking you."
Matthew exhaled silently. That…was probably true. He forcibly pushed the Nation away for the time being. They still had to find the professor.
As soon as Wan Shi Tong went out of sight again, he and Katara kept moving.
It didn't take them long to find the planetarium again. All they had to do was follow the frightening scratches in the floor from Wan Shi Tong's chase all the way back. The door was even still open. Sokka could see the bright lights inside flickering unusually with every occasional rumble of the library that was still very much sinking.
If Sokka was not determined to not think about it, he'd remember that the library wasn't that far above the ground in the first place. It should've been sunk already. They should be trapped right now.
But they needed every ounce of improbable seconds Tui and La could give them. They cycled through two months of dates before the two false astral bodies were looking close to touching. "This should be it," Sokka said, rotating the wheels one more time with a nod.
Aang pulled the lever and stepped away to anxiously watch the sky move one more time. "I really hope so."
The lights darkened, the stars appeared, and unseen gears clanked as the metal rails traveled across the ceiling. The noises outside were getting louder. Rumbles and distant collapses from somewhere very, very far below. Sokka crossed his fingers. Time was running out, and each second here was another second Matthew and his sister were facing Wan Shi Tong alone.
The gears stopped with an awkward, shuddering scrape that hadn't been there before as the sun and moon finally converged with each other. Sokka let out a whoop and scribbled the date down. "Got it!"
They escaped the planetarium right before the rails began wrenching and groaning with the added weight of the sand above the building. The moon came off its housing and hit the stone floor with a hollow clang as they turned a corner and out of sight of the doors.
"I don't remember the way to the exit!" Sokka exclaimed.
"I think it's this way!" Aang called back. He stopped and snapped his glider open. "Hop on!"
Sokka didn't have the time to dread or argue. He jumped onto the back of it and held on for dear life.
The meandering footprints in the dust (stopping frequently at different shelves with seemingly no rhyme of reason) infuriatingly circled them back around towards the entrance. They found Professor Zei right as Wan Shi Tong found them all.
"There you are!" the owl crowed, wings spread fully to crowd them into the aisle they found themselves in.
Zei, laden with books, was confused. He looked back at Katara and Matthew, then the spirit. "…Where else would I be?"
"Don't play dumb with me." Wan Shi Tong reared like a mink-snake about to strike. "It's too late for that."
The building rumbled and cracked overhead. A massive chunk of stone ceiling dislodged itself and Matthew dove to push Zei out of the way. It landed square on Wan Shi Tong's back just as he lunged. "Aargh!"
Zei knelt to try and save the books scattered around him. Matthew pulled him up by the arm. "We leave!" Matthew snapped urgently. "Books stay!"
Wan Shi Tong recovered too quickly. Katara saw it first, and momentarily blinded him with a decisive whip of water to his wing. His unnaturally long neck twisted awkwardly to face a very determined Katara, water snaking down her hands with deadly intent. She had to keep his attention while Matthew pushed the professor towards the rope. Their exit was in sight, but she couldn't leave until she knew where Sokka and Aang were.
"Your waterbending won't do you much good here," the knowledge spirit sneered. "I've studied northern water style, southern water style, and even Foggy Swa–"
"HAAAAH–!" SLAM!
The slam and crack of a book hitting the back of Wan Shi Tong's head was audible despite the groans of the sinking building that now seemed to be collapsing in earnest. Sokka landed with a sloppy roll, and lurched up with a victorious (and dazed) grin. "That's called, uh…SOKKA STYLE….learn it!"
"Rope!" Matthew exclaimed as the owl went down, and he didn't need to tell anyone twice. Aang was already soaring up and out on his glider. Sokka scrambled over Wan Shi Tong's fallen form and shimmied up the rope to sunlight like Momo going up a fruit tree. Katara took the rope in both hands and began to climb–
Wan Shi Tong shifted and thrashed to regain his footing. "NO!" he shouted up at them, his piercing voice making Katara's ears ring. "YOU WILL NOT LEAVE!"
Matthew was still on the ground. Wan Shi Tong knew this, foregoing the escapees in favor of this much more vulnerable prey. "Oh, I have plans for you, you self-important little dirt clod…"
Katara drew water from her pack knowing she needed to do something, but not really knowing what she could do with only one free hand and dangling from a rope already so far above them.
Wan Shi Tong lunged. Matthew's focused expression finally slipped, his barely-controlled panic visible as he lashed out with his fist.
It connected solidly with the owl's eye.
Wan Shi Tong squaked in protest and reared back. However he was large and fully extended, which made his movements awkward. Matthew dove away from that snapping beak and juked left, nearly going over the side of the sky bridge as he sprinted a wide path to get around the spirit.
Matthew wasn't able to clear the wings in time. The owl managed to sweep Matthew hard off of his feet and loom, one claw holding him down to the ground.
"Matthew!" Katara nearly dropped the water that was woven around her hand. She made a yanking motion to regain control of it–...but it was hard. The water was trying to pull away from her.
There was a flash of familiarity in that feeling, from her time with Master Pakku. Another bender was trying to take the water.
An orange blur dove past her and halted in midair. Aang closed his staff in midair and snapped out a rapid sweeping motion. A stiff blast of air collided with Wan Shi Tong with the force of a very fast-moving wall, knocking the spirit back into his own trembling shelves.
Columns were falling now. The building groaned.
"Let's get out of here!"
Katara began to climb, trying to catch up with Sokka. Matthew was somehow almost immediately on her tail. Aang floated up protectively with them, ready to sweep them all up in a gust of wind if he needed to.
Dust and stone gave way to sunlight, and with a rush of relief, Katara knew they were home-free.
I don't usually do the quote thing, but I liked this one.
This chapter is twice as long as my usual chapters. To be honest, I'm kinda proud of that.
Drop a review and lemme know what you think!
Later dudes. ^J^