1.03: The Oni
A far cry from the high-rise sleek and future city of central Wucheng, the scrapyard was almost like walking into a dingier, more lived-in world. Workers moved to and fro, moving materials from half-deconstructed wrecks to be re-purposed and reused. Azi watched her step as they walked, avoiding stepping on a snake-like spirit full of shifting psychedelic colors as it slithered by into its home—a pile of abandoned metal chunks.
Many of the workers, as expected, were metalbenders who peeled the material away from their targets and then, almost like doing laundry, folded them into ingots for later use. Other people who didn't have that talent (or if it were made of platinum) had to go about things the old-fashioned way, with blowtorches, elbow grease, and large construction mechs that lumbered from place to place on their giant treads. They weren't fancy or anything—nothing like the ones used as mobile gun platforms in space, or in police work, but they got the job done. Really, less 'mech' and more 'exosuit' since most of them lacked an interior cockpit, but as far as Azi was concerned there wasn't much of a difference.
"...She's around here somewhere" Yuka said, shading his eyes from the afternoon sun as he looked around for his target. Then he saw her, "Ah! Come on!"
"WhaAHCK-!" Azi grunted in surprise as Yuka pulled her by the arm and yanked her towards a girl not much older than her in work overalls who was currently angrily berating one of her co-workers.
"...Because we haven't catalogued any of that into the system, Li! All that work means nothing because right now it for all intents doesn't exist! We're going to have to go back and go through that whole pile all over again because you were lazy! Just like I told you last time! And the time before that!"
"...It's fine, we can just-"
"HOURS, Li. HOURS! You just wasted the last two of our lives. Congratulations, you useless pile of meat. MOGU is more helpful than you, and he's a fungus!"
"I'm just happy to be here" the glowing stationary mushroom spirit a few feet away shrugged nonchalantly.
The girl pushed a data pad into Li's chest, "Do it again, and this time do your damn homework!" Li grumbled with a glare but didn't attempt to argue, instead walking away in irritation.
"Rin!" Yuka said cheerfully.
"WHAT!?" Rin turned, enraged, only for it to die when she saw who it was. A look of surprise washed over her, "Shit, Yuka? I thought you were dead".
"...Yeah I'm probably going to be getting that a lot" Yuka said, scratching the back of his head.
"No seriously, I filled out a missing person report and everything".
"Aw, you do care about me".
"What can I say? Rent's a bitch in this city" Rin replied with a shrug and a grin, "But for real, what happened? Last time I saw you you were talking up some weird shit and then POOF, gone".
Yuka and Azi looked at each other, then back at her before Yuka replied, "Uh...it's kind of a long story".
"Yuka was possessed by some sort of malevolent force. Spirits or Oni or something we think. He's fine now though. Probably" Azi said.
Yuka glanced at her, "...Okay, so maybe not that long".
Rin stared at Yuka for a second, trying to digest that before she turned her attention on Azi, "And who are you? You look familiar".
On the spot now, Azi's mouth went dry, "Uh..."
"Oh, right" Yuka stepped between them, "Azi, this is Rinchen, my roommate. Rin, meet Avatar Azi!"
Rin glanced at Azi in brief surprise, "...Huh, no shit" before she glared at Yuka and rolled her eyes, "And I told you not to use my full name. It's just 'Rin'".
"...You don't like your name?" Azi asked.
Rin scoffed, "My parents are all about that Air Temple life. I dunno; I just always found it weird we all pretend to be Air Nomads when my dad's ancestors were on the side that did war crimes. 'Rin' at least sounds like something out of the Earth realms or the Fire Nation". Azi noted that the girl in front of her decidedly did not have any airbender tattoos.
"Don't listen to her" Yuka said, "She's plenty airbender. Even loves flying ships. She's really good too".
"Mmm" Rin blandly mused before folding her arms expectantly, "You know roomie, if this is your attempt at buttering me up, you're really bad at it".
"Ah well, guess I can't be perfect at everything" Yuka said with a hint of a smile, counting off his fingers one by one, "Just, you know, cleaning, cooking, fixing your computer when you keep messing it up-"
"Alright, alright, I get it" Rin leaned against a nearby cart and rolled her eyes, "So what do you want?"
Yuka had a confident glint in his eye; he had a clear objective, "I need a ship. Something that can get us out to the Oni swamps to the southwest".
Rin took her weight off the cart and stood up, her eyes widening, "You want to...woah, no way. Look, I like breaking rules as much as the next girl, but I don't do risk without reward, and going into 'The Forbidden Zone' full of angry Oni tribes sounds like a bad time".
"Oh, no. Nothing like that. I've got authorization this time. We're golden".
Rin looked at him like he was crazy, "...You got permission".
"Yep!"
A beat passed, "...Wait, the Database is taking you seriously?"
"Not...exactly" Yuka said.
"It's part of the police investigation" Azi spoke up, "We think the two are related".
Rin looked at her, then back at her roommate, "The police…? Oh no, no no no. Yuka, you know I don't do police! No way!"
Yuka moved to block her escape, "Wait, please. Rin. You know me. I wouldn't ask if this wasn't important".
"Please" Azi added, begging behind her, "People are vanishing, turning into zombies, and it's only getting worse. The sooner this is figured out, the better".
Rin glared at Yuka, frozen in her tracks at Azi's statement. Yuka pressed his advantage, "...I'll make you your favorite food for a week".
Rin continued to shift her gaze between the two of them hesitantly, "...Why not just get the police to take you?"
"We're doing this on the down-low. We don't want too many people to get wind of it. Please; I swear to you, we won't get you into trouble. But I really need you".
Rin's expression was torn between telling Yuka to piss off and accepting. Her finger went up.
"...It'll be an adventure" Yuka said enticingly.
Rin relented, ah he got her there. "...Damn it all" her finger went down, "Fine" a sigh, "Fine. My shift ends in twenty minutes. Meet me at my ship then. And then you're gonna help me hide all the stuff I don't want the police to see, if you catch my drift".
Yuka's face broke into relief, "Of course. Thank you, you won't regret this".
"Yeah, yeah" Rin walked away before calling back, "And you owe me two weeks!"
"Thank you!"
She flipped him off.
Azi watched her walk away and then tentatively turned to Yuka. She wasn't super thrilled about the thought of going on a trip with Rin, "...Is she always so...abrasive?"
"Ah, she's good people. Fun once you get to know her" Yuka said, his expression pensive, "She's just...well, Rin".
A familiar squawk ended any reply Azi would have made as she instead turned up to see a shadow flutter down to her. A wide smile crossed her face as her best nonhuman friend rather unexpectedly landed on her arm, "Tenku!" she giggled happily.
"Wait, who?" Yuka asked, then seemed to correct himself, "Oh, right. Your animal companion. Think I've seen him with you on the news once or twice" he reached to pet the bird, but the animal bared his open beak and talons aggressively, forcing Yuka to back away.
"Sorry, Tenku's not great with strangers" Azi apologized, then stroked Tenku's head, calming the bird, "It's okay. This is Yuka, he's friendly". To his credit Tenku seemed to calm down and as Yuka cautiously approached once more, begrudgingly allowed the waterbender to pet him—and it seemed as though Yuka knew what he was doing, as Tenku seemed to genuinely enjoy it even as he continued to try to play hard-to-get and be exceedingly grumpy before shifting to begrudging respect as Yuka zeroed in on his favorite spots.
"...You're pretty good with animals" Azi noted. That odd feeling from Yuka was back, and then vanished just as quickly. That was weird.
Yuka shrugged as he let Tenku go, "I guess".
"Wait..." Azi frowned as the implications of Tenku's arrival caught up with her. She'd left him on the Moon, "...If you're here, then..."
"What?" Yuka asked.
Shit. Shit shit shit shit shit. Azi tried to control her sudden bout of panic, looking for any familiar faces around them and seeing no one. No White Lotus, at least not yet, "...If Tenku is here, that means the White Lotus is here looking for me".
Yuka tensed, looking around the same as Azi, "...Come on, let's go to Rin's ship. If they are here we can hide you there until liftoff". This mollified Azi for the moment, and the two made tracks, with Azi sending Tenku back into the sky to keep watch.
Luckily, it didn't seem as though the White Lotus, if they were indeed here and looking for Azi, had been anywhere close by since no one had come snooping. Rin, having switched out of her work clothes, had shown up a few minutes later and introduced them to her ship properly, incredibly proud as she did.
Rin's ship wasn't anything super impressive—an old beat-up transport that had clearly gone through a lot of parts and labor but was somehow still standing. Covered in a mishmash of mis-colored hull plates, it struck out forward with a central triangular shaft with a cockpit near the front tip, and was flanked by twin jet wings that folded downward and helped stabilize the ship while it was on the ground, while the jets themselves could seemingly swivel around in space for high maneuverability. The main engine was in the rear, while the way into the ship was via a ramp on the underside that had been closed up until Rin had arrived.
But for Rin, it was a point of pride.
"Rebuilt her myself" she explained as they boarded the craft and entered what looked to be the cargohold, "She's an old D-60 'Venture' model, used to be an old expensive personal yacht for rich people about half a century ago, VIP events and stuff. A whole bunch of them got tossed out to get scrapped when Future Industries did some house cleaning a couple of years ago and I uh, convinced my boss to let me buy this one for cheap. Wasn't much to it; they'd let the poor thing rot for a few decades and had already stripped out anything valuable. I spent two years making her spaceworthy again".
Azi looked around; the cargobay had a few nondescript boxes, a work station, and...wait, was that a construction mech? It had seemingly been refitted for combat, with various haphazard metal plates installed, a shield over the front to protect the pilot, and a number of electric weapons strapped to its arms.
Was...was that even legal for civilians?
From the cargobay the doors slid open and the group walked up a staircase and entered the ship's main hall. Rin pointed to the opposite walls, "On the left is the main suite; that's mine. On the right are the smaller guest rooms. Engine 'room' is behind the cargobay. Below us through a hatch is the kitchen and above is uh…well, the party room, I guess".
"...Party room?" Azi asked curiously.
"Shit, I dunno what rich people do. Lots of windows. I turned it into my own personal den. A small gym, a bar. Probably going to add in a large screen TV when I get enough cash".
Azi seemed confused, "...Wait, I thought you two were roommates with an apartment".
Yuka chuckled a bit at that while Rin sneered. He explained, "We do. Turns out there's regulations against squatting on a ship in a junkyard".
Rin rolled her eyes, "Gotta have a 'permanent place of residence' where they can suck you dry for money or else they consider you a vagrant. And then they fine you more".
"I mean I guess otherwise everybody would have old rundown ships parked in random lots" Yuka said, "That would probably be a problem".
Rin's reply was absolutely dripping with sarcasm, "Oh no! People living their lives! The horror! The scandal! How would all the CEOs recoup their losses?!"
"I take it you're not a fan of the government?" Azi asked.
Yuka sighed and muttered dejectedly under his breath, "Oh boy, here we go".
Rin spun on her heels and Azi suddenly regretted speaking up as the girl got in her face, her finger up and making a point, "Pro tip? Don't ever trust the government, kid. All they care about is their trillionaire buddies" Azi was about to speak up that they were practically the same age, but Rin pushed onward anyway, "Especially on this planet" a pause; she considered something, "...Also don't trust people telling you not to trust the government. They're trying to sell you something".
"...So I...shouldn't trust you…?" Azi awkwardly backed away to give herself some space.
"Nah" Rin spun back around, ignorant of her hypocrisy, "You can totally trust me".
A groan from Yuka, "Look, as much fun as discussing politics with you is..."
"Right, right. I get you" Rin opened the door to the cockpit, "Ta-daa!" The inside was...well, it was a cockpit. Two chairs in the front, two behind them, and not much else.
"...Cozy" Azi muttered, not really wanting to get Rin's ire again.
With a gust of wind Rin jumped over the seats into the captain's and began her usual systems check, numerous holoscreens and controls activating as she did so, "So, you got coordinates for me, or do we just wanna wander around like a bunch of useless tourists?" Yuka motioned for Azi to go ahead of him and sit down. Gingerly the Avatar took one of the rear seats.
"Well, we gotta go to the police station first. Chief Yazan's waiting for us" Yuka said.
Rin groaned as she remembered, "Right. Yay, the police" she activated some more systems and a holographic figure emerged on the ship's dashboard. It resembled an overly fat gorillafrog and was dressed in a fancy suit, not unlike a waiter or a butler.
"Yes?" the artificial spirit said with a lethargically posh accent.
"Wuliao de, get the ship ready for departure, I got some stuff I gotta take care of" Rin told him.
The frog sighed with abject disinterest, "As you wish. I will endeavor to complete the tasks you could have easily finished yourself but chose not to".
"Don't get lippy with me, old man" Rin glanced back at Yuka, "...You, with me".
"You know, you could just decide not to stash your gray market and unlicensed illegal war mech on the ship" Yuka said as he let Rin push him out.
"The alternative is the apartment!" Rin shot back as they exited back into the main hall, "Where would you prefer?!" Now left alone, Azi fidgeted awkwardly in her seat onboard the unfamiliar ship. Tenku preened his wings from his perch ontop the back of her seat, while the ship's spirit blandly continued his task. Azi idly wondered how she had ended up in this situation to begin with and how much deeper it could possibly go.
She kind of wished she'd brought Shi with her, if she had thought she'd be able to convince him to go along with her little trip. What she would give for some element of familiarity.
She coughed.
"May I be of assistance?" the spirit asked, bored.
"Oh uh, no. I didn't say anything. Sorry" Azi replied quickly, just before there was a heavy 'THUD' somewhere else in the ship followed by muffled arguing.
"...I should have gone to those hot springs instead" Azi told her animal companion, remembering the other banner ad as she scratched his chin.
Shi almost hadn't even noticed Tenku's signal was speeding away from him. As his taxi had arrived over the scrapyard he'd pushed himself to the front of the taxi (ignoring the protests of the driver) and looked at his GPS, then at the scene below him as a small transport ship took off and, after a few seconds of not seeing any familiar faces, looked back down and ohhhhh shit.
"...The ship!" he shouted, pointing, "Follow that ship!"
"Sir, this is a taxi cab, I'm not allowed to go into space" the nasally-sounding cab driver replied, inexperienced and likely a college student in his early twenties, "I'm pretty sure that's against company policy".
"They're not headed for space" Shi replied, watching as they pulled away, "They aren't escaping the atmosphere with those speeds, and they're heading southwest" seeing the driver was still hesitating, Shi jumped up into the passenger seat and decided to pull rank. He cleared his throat and summoned up his best and most imposing 'official' demeanor. He uh, he may have puffed out his chest a bit, "As a ranking member of the White Lotus, I am officially commandeering this vehicle and deputizing you as my agent".
"...Did you just deepen your voice?" the driver asked.
"No—er" Shi deflated, "No. I mean—just...just drive" he pointed forward limply and slouched back in his seat in embarrassment.
The driver seemed to debate with himself, but ultimately 'not pissing off the White Lotus' won out, "...Aw man" he said as he reluctantly turned the steering wheel and hit the gas, "I was supposed to be off in a half hour".
The cab didn't have to travel too far as it turned out. Despite the driver's refusal to fly outside of the proper air lanes, they didn't lose the ship that presumably had Azi onboard and pretty soon found it parked just outside the police station, something that caught Shi's attention. What also caught his attention was the police officer waiting for them, who boarded as soon as they had landed.
"...Where do you want me to park?" the driver asked.
"No" was Shi's reply as he sat up, only half paying attention to the man's discomfort, "Wait. I want to see where this goes". Up until now he'd been under the assumption that...well, honestly he wasn't sure. Shi hadn't really had a lot of time to come with theories as to why Azi was probably on that ship. Was she in trouble? Kidnapped? Being taken advantage of? But now a police officer was involved and suddenly anything he'd come up with had vanished in a puff of smoke. Something was going on here, and he wanted more information before jumping in.
The ship Azi was on took off after a few moments and Shi nudged the pilot, "Follow". The driver made a whining noise but complied.
"...We're being followed" Wuliao de said, "By the by, they're not very good at it".
Rin summoned a holo-rear-view window and caught sight of the otherwise inconspicuous skycab trailing her ship. She shot a look at Yazan in the seat behind and across from her, still not happy about having the chief of police of all people on her ship. She was gonna get fined so hard for so many things, from the mildly-illegal weapons systems on the ship to the unregistered gray market replacement parts she'd rebuilt the craft from, "...Friends of yours?"
At first Azi thought it might be the White Lotus, but just one cab? No, there would have been more fanfare.
Yazan seemed equally troubled, "...No. Damn, someone must have leaked this to the press".
"...Press?" Azi asked, worried.
"Not if I have anything to say about it. Police man?" Rin shot back at Yazan.
The police chief nodded, knowing where she was going with this, "Just as long as you don't get caught or kill anyone".
Rin smirked, "Huh. Maybe I can work with you after all. Everybody strap in and hang on!"
"Wait" Azi didn't like the sound of that, "Wha-"
Shi's eyed bugged out as he saw the ship suddenly dive towards the ground below, ignoring the air lanes reserved for traffic, "Oh come on!"
"I can't follow that, sorry man. I'll get pulled over".
"The heck you can't!" Shi gripped the driver's steering wheel and pushed, "I'm not losing her!"
"Wha, no you can'tAAA-"
The skycab took a nosedive.
The cockpit was filled with Azi's screaming and Rin's wicked laughter as the ground rushed up to meet them, only for the ship to pull a tight turn up at the last second, barely missing the top of a low-rise building. Just as the vessel cleared the rooftops a grinding noise followed by a thick CLUNK sounded. The group of four didn't have time to wonder what had just broke as they all immediately felt the ship's internal dampeners fail and suddenly they were unfortunately experiencing all the G's. Azi was just about knocked out of her seat, and Yazan and Yuka weren't much better.
"Shit" Yuka managed to gasp, then noticed they were about to turn and fly through a narrow gap between two buildings and his knuckles, already clenching the armrests of his seat, turned white, "Rin!"
Rin's face was locked on her target with a wide, manic grin, "I'll fix it later!" She stole a glance—the car was still in pursuit. Well, time for level two, bitches! She twisted and the ship passed between the two skyscrapers almost effortlessly before spinning with a flair—and everyone inside but Rin hated it. She continued her near-physics defying feats at speeds that were far, far beyond the speed limit, even as she weaved around buildings and in and out of traffic lanes, including two or three near-misses.
Yet through it all the car managed to keep up. The ship closed in on an illuminated tunnel that was carved out of a large skyscraper—and they were entering the wrong way.
Rin grinned, "...Seems we've got a daredevil on our hands. Let's see how they handle this". Standing up even as she kept a knee on her controls, the airbender opened the cockpit's side windows. She then jabbed outward, cutting a number of sharp, curved swaths with her hand.
Whoever was driving the ship was really, really good, but Shi hadn't consistently beaten Azi at racing games since they were kids just to lose now. The 'driver' was currently curled up at the side and trying his best not to imagine dying as Shi had completely taken over piloting.
Suddenly the skycar shook. Then another. A third took them off-course. The hits were too regular to be turbulence, too directed.
"They've got an airbender!" he shouted. A flurry of powerful and localized airbursts continued to drive the car in every which way, and it was all Shi could do to keep going in the right general direction—which wasn't enough as as it stood he wasn't going to make it into the tunnel...or worse, hit an oncoming vehicle.
Shi wasn't really a good enough metalbender to start stripping things off the ship at this distance (he was really best when he could make physical contact with the material), but maybe he could still mess with the enemy pilot…
Rin had a smug look as she hummed to herself and drove with one knee into the tunnel and just below what would have been oncoming traffic while still giving her pursuer a hard time (meanwhile everyone else were doing their best not to look). All that came crashing down however when the ship's rear suddenly jolted to the side. Instantly she dropped into her seat and tried to realign the ship before she crashed into someone. The side of the ship ground against the wall, metal screeching against metal as she was forced to close the windows.
"Rin!?" Yuka exclaimed, half in fear and half demanding to know what was happening.
Another jolt.
"You've gotta be kidding me!" Rin shouted, "They've got a metalbender! Who are these guys?!" Panic welled up within her; of all the people who she could have faced, metalbenders were the most problematic. She needed to end this now, before anyone hurt her baby. Oh, how she wished she'd had the money to refit the entire hull with platinum.
"...Not the press then" Yazan growled. Someone had it out for them.
Rin's expression was incredulous, "Yeah no shit!" Another jolt, "Anyone got lightning powers!?"
"No!" Azi squeaked.
"Nonbender!" Yazan exclaimed.
Rin growled in aggravation; the police were useless as usual, "Fine. I got this. Everybody, hold on!"
The two craft shot out the back side of the skyscraper tunnel and Rin pulled up, hard. The craft shot past the layer of traffic and went up.
"No!" Shi refused to let them slip from his grasp now, even as the cab's engine was whining from being pushed so hard. He pulled up, following the ship—a mistake as it turned out, as the less-maneuverable car spun on its axis as it cut through traffic, nearly colliding with a semi. It veered off from the near-miss, tilting to its side as the driver lost control. Another truck clipped it, and out came its cargo.
Cabbages, everywhere. Just raining from the sky.
By the time Shi had stabilized his spin however, another problem emerged when the car began blaring an alarm.
...Cars weren't meant to fly vertically. The car's engine stalled out.
Uh oh.
With a manic, crazed, toothy grin, Rin let her ship stall. Gravity overtook the craft as it spun back around so it was facing the ground below.
"Are you insane!?" Yuka shouted, doing his best to become one with his seat.
Rin's only response was an enthusiastic "WHOOOOOOOOOO!"
Azi screamed.
The ship shot past the tumbling cab, before leveling out and fleeing the area.
Shi had one more trick up his sleeve. Forgoing trying to right his car, instead he latched onto the ship as it blew past with his bending.
Magnetism.
Polarizing his cab one way, he allowed the ship to pull him along in its wake for just a moment, straightening the car out in the process. It was just enough time for the engine to regain control of itself.
Rin felt the pull on her baby, then scowled as she saw what she already knew on her rear-view holoscreen. Their fan club had long outstayed their welcome.
"Screw this".
Rin activated one of her 'less than street legal' mods.
Shi didn't really have time to react as a rear port of the ship opened up and with a loud and decisive crack a bolt of lightning shot through the air, courtesy of the ship's battery generators. To his credit he actually managed to dodge the first one, but the second struck dead-on and immediately the skycar's engine shorted out and for two terrifying seconds it entered freefall until the emergency thrusters kicked in and the craft began to descend at a measured place.
Still, Shi couldn't help but glare angrily at the ship as it flew away beyond his grasp, and as his own view was quickly obscured by the buildings, formerly below, began to swallow him up on all sides. The car sputtered as it landed in an empty parking lot in front of a school, apartments on all sides. Then the vehicle's backup batteries flickered and died one final death.
The driver watched in dismay as a thick, black plume of smoke emanated from the car's engine.
"Aw man, they're gonna dock my pay for this".
Shi grunted in aggravation and threw his head down onto the dash, just before a cabbage landed on the front of the car from somewhere above.
Rin's ship shot forward, leaving the city behind as it now flew over the outlaying suburbs in the late afternoon. Once certain they were no longer being tailed, she sat back in her seat, "Everyone okay?"
Yazan and Yuka, both close to hyperventilation, slowly loosened their steel grip on their respective chairs. But it was Azi who spoke first as she bent over and clutched her stomach, "...I think I'm gonna throw up".
"Not in my cockpit!" Rin warned.
"Sometimes, Rin" Yuka gasped with bewilderment at his functionally insane roommate as he forced himself up to help Azi, "Sometimes. Come on Azi, let's get to the kitchen". Rin watched him go, suddenly feeling a pang of guilt: the Avatar was a bit more fragile than she'd expected. It wasn't like Rin disliked her (aside from her being affiliated with the White Lotus and thus government-related); she'd known her for all of an hour and most of that time Azi had kept to herself, but it did annoy her that she seemed unable to keep up. She was the Avatar for spirits' sake! Still, Rin filed that away and decided to dial it back a bit.
After the other two had left, Yazan spoke what was on his mind, "It's lucky that one of us seemed to be able to lightningbend after all".
Rin grinned, "Seems so". Okay, so maybe this police chief wasn't all bad. At least not in this context anyway. Choosing to accept his turning a blind eye for what it was, she shifted the conversation as she turned her seat, "So, thoughts?"
Yazan's brow furrowed, "No. I'm not sure who they were. The press wouldn't risk attacking, and no one at the station knew what I was up to. Either someone at the Database caught wind and didn't like it or..."
"Or?"
"Hmm. Or maybe there's more to your friend's theory than I thought".
Azi finished emptying what she'd had for lunch into the kitchen sink, thoroughly embarrassed that she, a grown adult, was vomiting in front of a near-stranger. Though honestly, Yuka felt he was halfway to joining her.
Azi gave one last groan, "Your roommate's insane".
"...In her defense, I don't think she meant for the dampeners to fail" Yuka replied weakly.
"She's still crazy". So far Azi was not thrilled with the girl. Between her aggressiveness, her lack of regard for personal space, and now this? The sooner this mission was done the better.
Yuka sighed, handing Azi a paper towel, "Yeah. She kinda is". Rin was a great person once you got to know her, Yuka knew, but that didn't keep her from being unnecessarily over the top. Probably one more way to keep everyone at arms distance, if he had to wager. Yuka made a mental note to talk to her later.
Azi took the paper towel and wiped her mouth off while Yuka used a bit of waterbending to clean out the sink. "...Thanks, by the way" she said, "You didn't have to".
Yuka shrugged, "I'm used to taking care of others. Siblings, remember?"
The Avatar nodded, "Usually it's Shi taking care of me. I'm not so good without him" a weak chuckle, "As you can see".
"You're doing fine" Yuka said, "Could probably do with some more self-confidence, but otherwise..." he trailed off for a moment, "Shi's a friend of yours?"
A smile graced Azi's face, "Known each other since we were little".
"What's he like?"
"A bit of a stick in the mud" Azi laughed, then sobered, "He's a good person though. The best really, good at keeping me out of trouble. He's driven, kind of like you. Always wanted to serve in the White Lotus, like his grandfather" Azi frowned, saddened, "...When I...well, when I ran away I said some things I shouldn't have. And then I ditched him. He probably hates me now".
Yuka shook his head comfortingly, "Nah. If you're really as good of friends as you say you are then he couldn't hate you. He might be angry with you, but nothing that can't be fixed with time".
"...Yeah" Azi said quietly. In all the chaos she hadn't really taken a moment to consider how her reunion with Shi would go, and all of the sudden dread gripped her once again at the unpleasant thought of their next conversation. Shi was going to be so angry and he had every right to be. She'd just been so...frustrated and overtaxed.
Yuka seemed to notice her going off into her own little world and nudged her, "Come on, we should get back up front before Rin decides she's bored".
A nervous chuckle, "...I'm going to assume that would be bad". Azi followed Yuka out of the room.
"Oh, you have no idea".
The rest of the trip was rather quiet, though thankfully not terribly long. By the time Yuka and Azi had returned to the cockpit the ship had left the city behind and was now coasting over the outermost towns and farmland towards redlands.
"How far out are we going?" Azi asked as she watched the farms give way to scrubland twinged with red soil.
"Pretty far, actually" Yuka brought up a map on a holoscreen. Beyond a band of redlands the coast looped around which was where the swamp they wanted was at, at a river delta downstream of a canyon, "Luckily we're on a ship and not like, dune-buggying it or else we'd be traveling for hours and hours. We should be there within a half hour or so".
Sure enough, as the trip went on the low-lying range of red mountains gave way once more to green marshland, with thick redwood-like trees towering over the waterlogged soil like a jungle all its own.
A blinking icon appeared on the map, and it was a spot that they were very clearly closing in on, "We'll land here and take the rest of the way on foot" Yuka said, "Landing with a ship in the middle of the village would probably not be a good thing".
Rin shrugged before turning the ship towards its soon-to-be parking spot, "You're the boss".
The ship circled around before hovering over a dry clearing and gently descending until it touched down. Moments later the belly of the ship opened up and the four occupants plus a bird stepped out onto the marshy soil.
"...Muggy, clammy, and-" Yazan slapped a mosquito-cricket seemingly almost the size of his fist, "...Bugs. Fantastic".
"How far is this village anyway?" Rin asked, putting her hand over her eyes to block out the evening sun as she surveyed the bog around them. Golden light filtered through the dense overgrowth, and while the patch of open land they stood on was well-lit, the same could not be said for the foliage around them.
Yuka pulled out his phone and began leading them forward, "Not far. Only a mile or so".
The groans from everyone were unanimous.
"You can't be serious" Rin said.
Yuka explained, "Look, we don't want to accidentally provoke an incident. The village we're going to is friendly, but they're still wary of outsiders".
Rin was unswayed by his arguments, "You are the worst field trip guide. Hey Rin, wanna go on an adventure? Sure Yuka. Oh by the way, we're gonna go wander around in a swamp full of bugs for an hour, sound good to you? Sure Yuka, whatever you say".
"I told you before we left that we were going to a swamp" Yuka said testily, "You could even stay on the ship if you want".
"And do nothing at all all night? That sounds dumb. Waste of a trip".
"Can't be helped" said Yazan as they entered the forest, "Come, let's get this over with".
While initially annoyed they were going to have to walk so far, Azi soon found a lot to like about their hike. While still daylight out, within the dense swampland it was essentially already dusk with tall trees towering above them and cloaked in thick soupy mist, while all around firefly-moths fluttered about, blinking to one another in swarms. Everything was so quiet and tranquil, with even the streams and ponds that dotted the ground being almost still, as if time was stopped here. She really hoped she got time later to draw all this.
"...No spirits" she mused outloud, "Like, at all".
"Oni and spirits don't typically get along" Yuka said as they walked, "Spirits don't like how Oni music works, and Oni are superstitious about spirits. Spirits around here mostly keep dormant and out of the way. Probably why it's so quiet and still".
"Spirits don't like music?" Yazan asked skeptically, "Pretty sure I've seen plenty listening or playing their own".
"They don't like Oni music" Yuka clarified, "Remember, the Oni have deep ties with the peculiar mechanics of this planet and use it to alter things around them. Spirits are antithetic to that, they don't like how the Oni alter things".
"It's probably something that messes with their own definitions and spheres of influence" Azi said, remembering something from class.
"Yes, exactly!" Yuka replied, happy to be speaking on even terms with someone now, "Spirits are the living abstractions of the world around us. Forests, mountains, even celestial bodies like the Moon all have...well, for lack of a better term, personifications. Human interference with that is why human-spirit relations can get pretty tricky. But Oni have their own conflicting ways of interacting with the world too". And that was when he went into full lecture mode, adjusting his glasses as he continued, "It's all pretty interesting, really".
"Here we go" Rin said under her breath as Yuka began to show off.
"See, the Oni believe that the universe itself is the manifestation of some primordial music and that they came to be by defining themselves from the song, and when they die they return to that music. That's why they don't like spirits; to them spirits are discordant notes ruining the symphony. Which obviously isn't the case since without spirits the world would probably be like an empty void, but the Oni..."
Azi quickly got lost and her attention trailed off. Inwardly, she decided to ask her former selves about advice on dealing with Oni while Yuka was occupied. It wasn't as easy as it was on the Moon as Shengyinxing wasn't a spiritual hotspot like Yue's home plane, but speaking with her other selves was actually one of the few things Azi was actually kinda sorta good at. She'd gotten lucky once at a visit to an Air temple (or maybe Korra was just really loud and bored) and the funny thing about recalling your past lives was once you'd done it once, it became easier on all subsequent attempts.
Unfortunately, Korra didn't have much to offer here. First contact and sustained space travel had only started after her death. Jianguo didn't have much more to say—he apparently had never paid much attention to aliens, to which Korra couldn't help but note that the 'champion of space travel' had never bothered to care about the people whose planets he was helping to colonize. Jianguo in turn couldn't help but note that Korra had hypocritical thoughts about that considering that she was the one who opened the Spirit Portals and let spirits move in without asking anyone and okay wow. Azi pulled out of that mess and returned her attention to the task at hand.
Talking with her prior selves was always a bit tricky like that. Most of the time the two put up a friendly front, but Azi could usually tell there was a bit of tension between the two, like opposite sides of a family at dinner.
Yikes.
Anyway.
"So what's the plan, anyway?" asked Rin the second that Yuka paused long enough for her to talk over him, "Do we just walk into the village, or…?"
A whistling noise caught Yazan's attention. He looked up at the trees, his brow furrowed, "No need". More whistles began to sound all around them and a sinking feeling of apprehension entered his gut, "They've found us".
"...We're surrounded" Rin backed up, hers turned to Yazan and Yuka's. She couldn't see any of them, but she could sure hear them. She shot a glare at Yuka, "You talk too much".
"Everyone stay calm" Yuka said as he stretched his arms out, yielding, though the warble in his voice betrayed his own apprehension, "This is normal. They're sizing us up. No one make any sudden moves".
"...I don't see them" Azi said, near panic as her eyes shot from tree to tree in the dim light, "Where are they!?"
"And what happens if they don't like what they see?" Rin asked Yuka.
He eyed her, his arms up, "...What do you think?"
Yazan resisted the urge to reach for his taser or any of his other weapons as he backed up against the others and put out his arms non-threateningly. Azi did likewise after the others, pressing against them for support.
For what seemed like an eternity but was just a few seconds, the discordant whistles harmonized with each other and then stopped, replaced once again by silence.
"So, you're the ones we were told to expect".
The group turned to the source of the voice. There, where no one had been just seconds ago, stood an old blue-skinned Oni woman, rail thin, bent-over, and wrinkled with snow-white hair draped around her horns and cascading down haphazardly. She wore long, ornate robes and held a walking stick.
"No one wants to start with introductions?" the old woman asked with a rough voice after a moment of uneven silence, "It couldn't have been easy to get permission from your government to come out here. I can see you even brought the Avatar with you. But no, you're just going to stand there like a bunch of pissants".
"Ah, esteemed elder" Yuka began, shaking himself from his sudden shock as he bowed slightly in respect, utilizing everything he knew on Oni culture to aid him, "We humbly respect that you have seen fit to see u-"
"Oh good, another Database toady" the woman said, cutting him off, "Child, while the elders at some of the other villages might find it quaint you're trying to appeal to local tradition, you're bad at it and I don't particularly care" she caught sight of Yazan, "You. You're the only one here with both feet out of the cradle. Can you speak for them?"
"I...yes" Yazan cleared his throat, taken off-balance by the woman's demeanor, "I am police chief Yazan, speaking on behalf of Wucheng City".
"Mmm, of course you are" the woman drawled with an eye-roll before snapping to attention, "I know why you're here and what you've come for. Come; we can talk in the village. These days it's not safe out here in the forest after dark".
And just like that, a song the group didn't even realize was playing had ended, and instead of an empty swamp they now stood surrounded by a group of Oni warriors and a handful of beasts of burden. Most were giant tarantula-like spiders the size of an ostrich-horse, but one was one of those glypto-mammoths Azi had seen a model of at the Database, and from its saddle hung a great deal of supplies.
"...I'm not a toady" Yuka muttered to himself, humiliated and annoyed, though only Azi seemed to notice.
"...Wait, where did everyone just come from?" Rin asked, surprised.
"They were here the whole time" the woman said as she turned to pull herself onto the back of one of the spiders being ridden by one of the warriors. She had a wry grin on her face, "You were just too focused on the music to notice".
The trip to the village was spent mostly in silence, with none of the group really willing to speak up in front of the heavily armed group, or in fear of instigating a social faux pas. Or in Yuka's case, because his pride was still stinging from being unceremoniously rejected by the subject of his academic study, and he didn't want to risk losing even more face. No, he wasn't pouting. Not at all. That was unbecoming.
The one real exchange had happened when Yazan had asked for the woman's name.
"As far as you're concerned, I am the Elder of the village. That will suffice." she said.
The group had taken up residence atop the armored glyptomammoth, which Azi was very thankful for as she in no way wanted to ride on of the giant horned spiders—her skin involuntarily crawled as she watched one skitter by.
Honestly though, everything seemed way more uh...well, cultured than she'd expected. Truth be told she hadn't really known what to expect, but as far as she'd known the Oni were primitive. Loincloths, giant clubs, mountain caves, that sort of thing. But here everything about the blue-skinned Oni were intricate; the armor, the weapons, the gear. Everything was laid out with intricate multicolored geometric patterns. The robes the soldiers wore were multi-layered and complex, and the form-fitting armor they wore on-top were a mixture of leather and metal, almost like a scaled dress. Their faces (aside from the Elder) were hidden beneath rather vicious-looking war masks, though Azi could still see their very real horns protruding from the tops of their heads.
The village was in another clearing wide enough that the evening sun could shine down without the fog in the way, though it had been built within a large complex of stone ruins. They were grand yet ancient, with vines growing over their decapitated remains. Some of the more intact structures had been converted into housing, open pens, and a watchtower, but most of the rest of the town consisted of thatched huts of straw and wood that sat on stilts above the waterlogged surface, connected by bridges and pathways. It stretched up above, with a series of levels extending upwards thanks to the trees that had been built around with winding staircases and paths. All around people went about their day, with farmers tending to their crops, kids playing in the mud, merchants from other towns and villages making sure their animals were tied up for the night, and townspeople stealing glances at the newcomers and gossiping in hushed whispers.
Everywhere however, there were the telltale signs of anxiety.
"...The people here seem worried" Azi noted.
"Yes, well. That tends to happen when the human colonial government announces an immediate unplanned visit".
"You were expecting us" Yazan surmised. Not a question, a fact.
The Elder turned to him, eyeing the police chief incredulously, "Of course I was expecting you. Your government sent us an email two hours ago" behind her could be seen a portable generator with the Database's insignia that was connected to something inside the building, "Though I suppose the real question is why. Usually the Database's visits are regular, and give us time to prepare".
Yazan coughed slightly under the expectant stare the woman was giving him, "Yes, well. You see, there has been a rash of disappearances in Wucheng and other cities. At first we thought it was a rogue spirit, but then we found some of the missing people, and they talked about a sort of silence..."
"And you thought 'Oni', yes?" the Elder's stare bore into the police chief, who tensed at the not-untrue accusation. But before he'd had a chance to try and talk himself out of his hole, the Elder relented with a reluctant sigh, "...I know of the silence of which you speak. Many of our own have vanished or have...turned" her voice was heavy with distaste, "Nightmares have become common among our people. Red tribes now move erratically. And everywhere the music is muffled and distorted and fouled" she turned to the Avatar, "This is not Oni doing. We would not desecrate the song like this, not even to spite a rival tribe in war. Something dark has perverted it. We thought perhaps it was something you had done; evidently not". She pondered this for a moment before coming to a decision, "Very well" she turned to leave.
"...Wait, is that it?" Yazan asked, incredulous.
The Elder eyed him flatly, "Hmm? Oh, yes of course" she whistled, seemingly to thin air. On command, a large and very red Oni stepped out from the building. Easily seven feet tall with a thick black beard and wearing nothing above the waist, he was more what Azi had been expecting. He seemed very approachable however.
"Tabigarasu will set you up with lodgings for the evening. Unless you'd rather brave the swamp at night, that is".
The red Oni was just as jovial as his appearance, "Greetings! Welcome to our humble aboard, weary travelers. I am Tabigarasu, and I shall be your host".
Yazan was rather irritated that he'd come out all this way only to be unceremoniously shown the door. He stepped forward, "...So you're just going to toss us out?"
The Elder turned back to him with a look of 'really?', "Child, what would you have me do?"
"...I'm forty-nine" the police chief said, slightly put out.
"And I don't care" the Elder said, then sighed and deigned to explain, "I am an Oni; I take care of my village and do my best to ensure our future. I can't fight spirits. That is your Avatar's duty, I believe" she glanced at Azi, who flinched.
Yazan scoffed, "Don't you have magic powers or whatever? Is there really nothing you can do to help?" Yuka had an expression of cringe mixed with panic and looked like he really wanted to correct Yazan.
The Elder did it for him as she was rather unamused, "I have no such 'magic powers', and I'm offended by the implication. Our people are simply in-tune with this world and its music. If you actually cared to pay attention and listen, you could do the same. Instead you prefer senseless noise and waving elements about like toys" her brow furrowed and she looked down in thought, "We have tried to trace the source of the silence, but it distorts and mutates the song around it. In order to track down a spirit, I would...hmm" the Elder took another look at Azi, before stepping over to her and grabbing her chin, looking her over like one would a piece of merchandise, "Perhaps. What was your name again, Avatar? Azu something?"
"Er, Azi" was the Avatar's surprised, grunted response.
"And are you proficient at spirit business?"
"I, er..." Contacting her past selves she was good at. Talking to spirits, not so much. If Azi had to be honest with herself, she probably knew just enough to get herself into deep trouble. Heh, story of her life, right? "Sorta? I mean, It's kind of a hard topic and I'm not sure-"
"Hmm. I suppose you'll do" the woman said without waiting for Azi to stop babbling and let her go. Azi rubbed her chin at the Elder addressed the group, "Very well. The Orchestra of Homecoming is traditionally held after dusk; the nighttime air is more accommodating, and we will need time to set up anyway. Until then Tabi will take care of you, and you will have supervised access to the village. Make yourselves at home. Or don't, I don't care".
"Wait, what's happening?" Yazan asked, suddenly confused by the sudden change in conversation, "What's the Orchestra of Homecoming?"
The Elder rolled her eyes, "We're going to help one another and track down the threat responsible for this curse, of course" she waved them off, "Enough, I have work to do. If you think I'm going to stand here and explain to you every facet of our culture like one of those museums of yours for your amusement, then you're very mistaken. Ask Tabi if you're that curious" she paused, but only long enough for it to seem that way while still avoiding letting anyone talk (that Azi girl looked like she had been about to as the gears in her head had been turning wildly, so the Elder shut that down real quick), "Is that it? No more useless questions? Good, I will send for you later. Tabi, if you would, dear".
The red Oni clapped his hands together with a wide, friendly grin as he bared down on the group, "Excellent! If everyone would kindly follow me and allow me to show you to the guest lodge!"
"...Wait, what did I just agree to?" Azi asked with dawning concern as Tabi began to lead everyone away, her eyes darting comically between her companions, hoping to find solace with at least one of them.
"What is this Orchestra?" Yazan asked with suspicion.
"Ah, the Orchestra of Homecoming. Not a common one, usually reserved for when someone in the tribe is missing and needs to find their way home. I suppose the Elder is going to use it for a somewhat different purpose tonight however" the Oni said.
"I...look, I don't know what's going on, but I can't sing. Or play instruments. Uh...I can dance, kinda. Do rhythm games count?" Azi said, increasingly concerned about what she was being roped into and not in any way looking forward to making a fool of herself again. Increasingly embarrassing scenarios were running through her head.
Tabi laughed, "Oh, I wouldn't worry. The Orchestra is performed by the village council. I'm no expert on orchestra hocus pocus, merchant by trade, but I suspect you'll be the conduit".
Well shit, that sounded rather ominous. Azi felt dread creeping in, "...Conduit? Conduit for what?"
"Ah, just means you'll be the audience. All you'll probably have to do is sit down and look pretty. The Elder and the council will take care of the rest".
"Oh, heh" Azi breathed a sigh of relief and chuckled to herself, "That's good. I mean, that's kind of what I'm good at, so, y'know..." she tilted her head and rubbed her arm in half-joking self-deprecation.
"Do you trust the Elder?" Yazan asked the Oni.
Tabi uttered a deep, guttural laugh, "Do I trust her? 'Course I trust her, wouldn't have settled down here if I didn't. I get she's a bit uh...direct, but she has her reasons. Ah, and here we are!"
The guest lodge was the second biggest building in the village, a large old stone structure that had been retrofitted with a thatched roof.
"Don't let the exterior fool you, she's rock solid. Hah, get it? Rock solid?" Tabi took a moment to chuckle at his own pun, only for it to die when he looked back at his company and saw no one else had found it funny, "You know, like...aw, never mind. Let me show you inside".
Rin meanwhile was marveling at a rather large shaggy beast the size of a hut with a canine head and large arms that she'd only ever seen in a zoo before: a diresloth. It was currently occupying itself with a large carcass that it had been given as dinner by its owner.
"...I want one" she said, nudging Yuka in the side and pointing. Imagine running through the forest with one of those! She bet a sloth of even that weight could hang from the big redwoods.
Yuka however, just gave a casual grunt of acknowledgment rather than sarcastically telling her no or going off on a lecture about how cool they were or how they were used in Who-The-Heck-Cared-Town and they would get into one of their usual back-and-forths. Rin frowned, "You're being quiet. I'd thought you'd be over the moon right now, considering".
"I'm fine" Yuka replied tersely, "I just have a lot on my mind".
Rin looked on in confusion for a moment, before a wide grin cracked her face as she understood, "...Wait. Are you pouting?".
Yuka frowned, "No" he said coldly. It was fine. This was fine. They'd gotten here, they were going to solve the problem, and Yuka was going to be able to show his superiors that he was good at his job. It didn't matter that he'd just been unceremoniously shut down and sidelined during his big break. It didn't matter that he felt utterly humiliated. These things passed with time.
It was fine.
Rin put her hands up in mock surrender and backed away, deciding not to risk a fight as they entered the lodge. Still, Mr 'I'm always composed' was pouting!
As far as pre-industrial lodgings went, the guest lodge was fine. In fact, as far as Azi was concerned it was really just an extension of her impromptu camping trip. At the moment however, she was outside sitting on the railing that guarded the wooden pathway surrounding the lodge, watching the village as day turned into dusk.
The others were scattered; Yuka had rebounded and had been talking shop with Tabi for the last hour now, to which the red Oni was more than happy to (loudly) regale the man with stories of his adventures. Tenku was out hunting...or at least that was what Azi assumed (who knew what the old bird really got up to when no one was looking). Rin had oped to take a nap, while Yazan was across the way, leaning over a railing and seemingly enraptured with a group of Oni practicing for the ceremony with various instruments.
Azi turned her attention back to her drawing pad and resumed sketching the town, even though by now she was reduced to torchlight.
"...Not bad".
The Avatar jolted and squealed in shock at the sudden voice coming from her immediate left, nearly dropping her pad in the process. Rin had a satisfied smirk as she pulled back, giving Azi a moment to put her heart back in her chest. She composed herself, "I uh, you, uh...what's...um..."
"Try words, maybe?"
"I thought...weren't you taking a nap?" Azi managed, gasping from her pounding chest.
"I was. I got bored".
"You got bored...of taking a nap" Azi deadpanned. Rin's smile never left her face.
"So you like to draw?"
"Uh...yeah" Azi self-consciously put the pad away, wishing she hadn't been caught with it, "I guess. Helps keep my attention off stuff" a frown, "Uh...sorry, by the way. For almost throwing up on your floor, I mean".
Rin waved her off, "Ah, that was my bad. I shouldn't have cheaped out on dampeners. It's just, if I want to fly the thing, I've gotta do it on a budget". A brief awkward silence fell before Rin broke it, "You know, you uh...you don't need to hide your drawing stuff from me. I'm not gonna make fun of it or anything. Like I said, it looks good".
"I...wasn't getting much done anyway" Azi admitted, looking back out at the now-dark village, lit by torchlight. A nervous chuckle escaped her lips as she fidgeted with her hands, "Turns out if I have too much stuff to pay attention to, I can't focus".
Rin stole a glance at Yazan, then back at Azi, "Yuka told me what's up with you. That's some tough shit".
Azi's cheeks burned, embarrassed that she was the target of conversation. More than that, even more people knew what was up with her, and of course it had to be Rin who just in the few hours she'd known her, knew that she was incredibly nosy, opinionated, direct and just...a lot to deal with. Especially right now.
Truth was, she wasn't quite sure how to respond.
Rin seemed to pick up on this and just decided to lay everything out, "I can smuggle you offworld first thing tomorrow morning. Wherever you wanna go. Just say the word and I'll drop you there". Rin blurted out the words, a bit flustered herself by suddenly being open, even though she tried to pass it off as being nonchalant.
Well. That certainly wasn't what Azi had been expecting. She looked at Rin, blinking and trying to process the offer she'd just been presented with.
"Look, you're clearly not happy here, and honestly it's kind of hard to watch. The police dude's probably gonna have the lead he wants, so why not just bail?" Rin said.
Azi sighed. She wanted to take Rin up on her offer. She really, really did, "...I can't". When Rin made it clear she expected Azi to expand upon that she groaned, "...If I leave, then Yazan puts out an arrest warrant for me".
Rin scoffed, "Psh, so what? You'll be off-world, never mind out of the city".
"And the press would have a field day" Azi muttered with distaste, "I can't even imagine what the White Lotus would think. There would be consequences".
Rin leaned forward over the fence and gave Azi the biggest look of incredulousness she could muster. This girl could not be serious, right? "You're the Avatar. Past versions of you have ended empires for looking at you wrong, and you're gonna let some two-bit cop and your personal butlers tell you what to do?" she laughed. Azi shot her a glare, and Rin actually flinched just slightly, if only out of surprise, "Oh, so you can get angry".
A thousand different arguments raced haphazardly through Azi's mind. She couldn't go against the White Lotus; they'd raised her. She was the Avatar, she had a duty to appear above suspicion. If she went against the grain, were would she go? There was the stability of society to consider. This just wasn't how things were done. She would just mess everything up even worse. Zhuang and Shi and everyone would be so disappointed and angry.
But ultimately, none of the well-choreographed arguments from her lessons and classes came out of her mouth. Instead, flustered, there was just her impotent reply, "...Did you just come over here to insult me?"
Rin backed off a bit, realizing she was taking the wrong track, "Look, what I mean is...do you want some advice?"
"...Hasn't stopped you so far" Azi mumbled.
Rin's expression was very unamused, but she ignored the jab as she turned around, now leaning against the railing backwards, "You either decide what to do with your life, or other people will decide for you. That's how it works. If you sit back and do whatever, then you have no right to be unhappy with the consequences".
"Sing or others will sing instead" an old female voice said. The girls looked back and saw the Elder standing there, staff in hand, "An old proverb. Unfortunately it doesn't really help if the orchestra drowns you out anyway" she beckoned to them, "Speaking of, it is time. Avatar, if you would accompany me".
"...What about the others?" Azi asked, standing up.
The Elder looked at an equally confused Rin expectantly, "Well, I would imagine your friend will help Tabi round them up, yes?" Appropriately chastised in a way only an old woman could inflict, Rin's cheeked flushed slightly before heading inside to gather the others. The Elder turned her attention back on Azi, "Today, if you would please".
Azi hurried up to walk just behind the Elder, "...What did you mean? About the orchestra drowning you out?" Really, she had a thousand more questions (which the Elder just kept piling more on every time she spoke), but this was the one Azi was least certain would end in the woman calling her an idiot for asking. Maybe she just shouldn't talk to the Elder at all, it felt a bit like stepping on needles.
The Elder regarded her from the corner of her eye for a moment, her expression unclear, "Does it matter?"
Uh...okay. Azi wasn't sure how to answer that. Was it some kind of riddle? "I...don't know? But you said it, so you must have had a reason to, right?"
To Azi's surprise, the Elder actually let out a laugh at that, "You might be the smartest one of the bunch". The woman stopped her walk, becoming pensive and considering her words, "Your people's name for this world is apt, if rather blunt; Shengyinxing, the 'sound star'. I was just a girl when the first of your colonists arrived and ever since then they've expanded in all directions, disrupting currents, altering the shape of the terrain so they could build cities, and generally been a nuisance. Your discord drowns our music out".
Oh. Oh shit. "...I'm sorry" Azi said quickly, "I didn't know".
"No, of course you didn't".
"...The Republic put you under protected status though, didn't it? That's why it was so hard for us to get out here" Azi said nervously, hoping to get back onto solid ground, metaphorically.
"Yes, yes. We get to be a nice little exhibit, an open-air museum piece for study" the Elder drawled, "And yet every year your cities stretch out just a bit more, and the redlands and forests retreat just a bit further".
"...Oh. I see" Azi's rather weak reply came with an equally weak mortified chuckle, "I'm uh...I'm going to shut up now".
"Ah, wisdom" the Elder remarked—a little too happily for Azi's taste. She was led to the backside of the village, to a large open patch of dry, flat land ringed by poles connected by string that housed many paper lanterns. Ringing the arena were a number of blue Oni of the tribe, all dressed in ornate robes with geometric patterns.
What was most interesting however, was the grove. All around the arena were trees arranged in even spaces, and they were all very uniquely shaped, as if they'd been bound and cultivated that way, with branches twisting like knots in very carefully sculpted ways. One stood behind each of the robed Oni, while in front of them sat a series of stones that had been carved into peculiar shapes and sizes.
The Elder explained as she led Azi into the circle and the rest of her group found seats on the ground with the rest of the assembled crowd, "The Orchestra of Homecoming is a rite without a season. It is not a celebration or a memorial. It wanders, fittingly, throughout the year".
"So what am I going to do?" Azi asked.
The Elder began speaking to the crowd as much as she was Azi, "A foul song has been propagating through the forest for the last several fortnights. It is sour and overwhelming, displeasing and haunting in equal measure. We have all sensed it. We have also witnessed as fellow members of the village, neighbors and siblings and parents and children to us, have gone missing. And not just our own, but many surrounding villages and tribes as well. And now even the humans report they have lost people as well" she motioned to Azi and the crowd murmured in hushed tones, "We Oni do not care for spirits. But in this case, the so-called bridge between humans and spirits may be used for the benefit of the Oni".
She turned to Azi to speak with her, "We would not ask just any spirit, but your nature may allow us to trace the signal of the disruption. You are the ideal audience for this world".
"I er, you don't...I mean" Azi began stumbling over her words as she noticed she was once again the unwanting star of attention and everyone was staring at her, "...I'm honored, I guess. Er" wait no, "I mean, yes. I'm honored. Er, thank you".
"Mmm" the Elder said in the most lukewarm manner possible while resisting the urge to roll her eyes. She grabbed Azi's scalp and turned her around before pushing down on her, "Sit. The sooner we get this over with the sooner we can all be out of each others' hair".
Azi did as she was told, her eyes darting across the crowd before her. She now sat cross-legged on the ground in the middle of the orchestra arena facing everyone.
"...This is really embarrassing" she said, wilting.
Music began to play. To Azi's astonishment, that was what the trees and rocks were for: the orchestra beat the stones as if they were drums. They blew into the branches of the trees as if they were flutes. Others began to hum or chant, drawing on the planet's underlying rhythm. Her jaw dropped, "What? Wait, how?" Her companions had varying expressions of surprise as well—all except Yuka at least, who simply had a satisfied smile as he scribbled down notes while taking photos with his phone, clearly in his element.
"Hush" the Elder told her as she sat behind her, "Normally one of the choir would take up the role of conduit, but tonight it needs to be you. Now, I want you to close your eyes and let the music guide you. Do not fight, do not struggle. Think of it like a current and let it simply lead you to its destination".
Azi did as she was told and closed her eyes. Then she risked another peek at the orchestra, amazed.
The Elder growled, "I said eyes shut".
Azi let loose a small 'eep!' and did as she was told.
The Elder explained further, quiet enough so only Azi could hear, "Through sound, everything here is connected. The sky, the land, the sea. Life and death. We are but an illusion, a part of the song given form".
"Oh, like the banyan-grove tree!" Azi said suddenly, opening her eyes with a smile and looking back at the Elder, excited that she actually had something to contribute to the conversation. She had been taken there once during her training.
"The what?"
"Oh, it's um..." Azi sagged, realizing the Elder wouldn't know what she was talking about, "See, there's this swamp on Homeworld and-"
"Never mind, you babble too much. Focus" the Elder replied with irritation, poking her back, "And close your eyes!"
Azi straightened herself and again shut her eyes, this time focusing on the music. It wasn't like anything back home. It was...freer, somehow. No true structure or timing, a lot like the ambient sound this planet emitted. Yet also just like the planet, it wasn't just mindless noise. In fact, actually, it was as if the orchestra was giving voice to the planet's rhythmic vibrations, working in tune with it. It was beautiful. Azi relaxed, letting herself be immersed by the music.
The music took her.
She tried to open her eyes, but there were no eyes to open, no body to restrain her as the Avatar experienced the planet of sound in its full glory, taking it in all at once and witnessing everything beyond the full comprehension of any mortal mind. It was breathtaking, awe-inspiring.
Except there was a dark spot. A void, an emptiness that should not have been. A nothing surrounded by many somethings. Silence, surrounded by sound, yet loud enough that it was beginning to drown out its surroundings. It was spreading. If the song said something was there, then the silence said something was Not.
Instantly, and yet after an eternity, the Avatar arrived. From the Oni village, across the red mountains, back to Wucheng City, back to the industrial district, back to where they'd been ambushed and then…
There was a warehouse, several blocks from where she'd been. No, not the warehouse. Beneath. Yes, beneath. Far down.
There.
Except…
The hole was but a tendril, a minor arm which snaked up along with may others to the outer system, and from there beyond, out towards the outer firmament of stars, the outer sphere that encompassed the universe, far beyond where anyone had ever been, and reality bore itself down on the Avatar.
And so the Avatar witnessed creation in all its majestic wonder, and a terrible Not that lay beyond.
...Then the Not began to spread, first from its origin and then from everywhere else. The stars blinked out, darkness surrounded the Avatar, engulfed them. The Nothingness that was Not suffocated them, closing in from all sides as they struggled in the sheer, incomparable emptiness of the void.
They screamed.
Wait.
That wasn't her scream.
Azi awoke with a deep gasp, laying on her side where she'd been sitting before. It took a second for her mind to catch up with her senses as her spirit re-inhabited her body. There was definitely screaming but...it wasn't hers.
There was a lot of screaming. And people running. And fire.
"Azi!" Yuka was there at her side, pulling her up.
"What...what's happening?" Azi asked, still dazed and getting her bearings, still half-present within the song and not entirely sure what was real, "What's going on?"
"We're under attack, we gotta go!"
Attack? What? "...From who?!"
As she asked that, her question was answered as an ostrich horse-sized spider crawled over the stone wall and into the village, ridden by a heavily scarred red Oni with a heavy, spiked club and wearing little more than a fur loincloth. The brute looked around before eying the two young adults. With a manic glee he roared and charged at them with his mount.
"Go! Go!" Yuka yelled to Azi, pushing her aside.
Azi was still a bit dumbstruck, "What-"
"GO!" As the Oni closed in, Yuka summoned an impressive water whip from the marsh and with all his strength swept the Oni clear off his mount before dodging the spider.
"Yuka!" Azi cried out, before Yuka rose an ice barrier between him and the spider. All around her frantic chaos reigned; blue Oni guards clashed with red Oni raiders, townsfolk fled, huts were on fire, the Elder was nowhere to be seen, and Azi was completely overwhelmed. To her left two blue Oni guards drove their armored glyptomammoth crashing into a group of red Oni spider cavalry. Elsewhere, a trio of red Oni raiders took large horned instruments that looked to be carved from glyptomammoth tusks and used them as trumpets that issued harsh, demoralizing notes before they rushed a group of blue Oni spearmen.
"...The ship!" Rin suddenly shouted in alarm after knocking an Oni into a wall with a gust of wind. The idea of the Oni getting ahold of it was knuckle-whitening, "I gotta get to it!"
Yuka looked at her, fear washing over him as he realized what the Oni could do if they commandeered it, "Go! We'll handle this!"
Rin nodded, then turned as another Oni bore down on her, "...I don't have time for you right now!" With a burst of air Rin leaped into the air, over the Oni and onto the top of a hut before racing across and jumping again into the marshland. Her feet never touched the ground though, because as soon as she would have she summoned an airscooter and sped off, even as a pair of red Oni chased after her.
"Later, losers!"
Yuka meanwhile was still dealing with the spider as it crushed his icewall and scuttled towards him. Yuka's counterattack by peeling off several ice spikes and shooting them at the creature did little against the arachnid's thick hairy hide except cause it to hiss at him while he summoned more water. He thrust his arms forward and sent streams of liquid at the creature, and while they themselves did little more than piss it off, on cue to the side Yazan sent one of his electrified police batons flying at the point of impact.
The spider did not survive.
Yuka, slumping slightly in relief, nodded at the police chief in acknowledgment, before tensing once more, "-Look out!"
Yazan turned just quick enough to block an Oni's blade-filled club with his other baton, and the two began to clash, weapon against weapon. In this case however, it did not go in Yazan's favor, as after three hits his baton shattered on impact, and the Oni's next blow crashed right into him and sent him tumbling into the mud.
"POLICE CHIEF!" Yuka and Azi both shouted as his body rolled and stopped in a heap. They both ran to him.
"Is he okay?!" Azi gasped as Yuka looked at him, still in a bit of shock. She hadn't really done anything yet except watch in dumbstruck horror as the village, which had been peaceful just moments ago, was now somehow going up in flames.
Yazan was out cold. The Oni's spiked club had lacerated his body and blood was pouring from the wounds, never mind the likely head trauma from the impact.
"...It's bad" Yuka said, "He needs immediate medical treatment!" the waterbender cracked his fingers and began applying healing water, but already the Oni was upon them.
In his eyes, with the fire of the village illuminating his face, Azi could see he was empty inside. A zombie.
Like before.
She only had time to gasp as he came down on them and then-
The earth rumbled and the ground shot up all around them before a bolder half Azi's size slammed into the Oni and sent him flying back. Another human landed in front of Azi with a crash, his feet forming a visible impact crater before the muddy water moved to fill it in.
"Who's next?!" he demanded to know, pulling up more boulders from the ground and circling them around himself.
Azi's jaw dropped as she recognized the man's White Lotus uniform, never mind the messy, unkempt hair.
"Shi?!"