Chapter 12
Spirits Part 2: Five Spirits, Four Nations
A/N: A quick reminder to my readers since this doesn't happen often. If a POV changes it will look like this: Aang. In other words it will be the name of the person who the POV is changing to, underlined and italicized. Thank you for bearing with me.
The atmosphere was so tense that it acted like a wall between us. Not one of us was looking forward to flying into enemy territory. Aang was pushing Appa hard, racing time itself. Currently it looked like Appa was winning. My fans were tucked into a belt on my waist for when I needed to use them. Katara had filled her water-skin to the brim and Sokka had his club and boomerang ready. We were ready to fight for our lives if we had to.
"Great, we have company." I turned at Katara's call and looked behind us. A familiar metal ship, bearing a red flag and chugging determined in our wake.
"It's Zuko." I looked at Sokka, deadpan. Seriously, we all knew it was Zuko, he didn't need to announce it.
"No kidding." Sokka sent me a glare at my words, as if silently accusing me for the sarcasm.
"Guys, we have another problem." Aang called from the front. Spinning I turned. Ship after ship patrolled the waters in front of us, forming a clear line between earth kingdom and fire nation waters.
"A blockade." I felt a twitch of annoyance. Did Sokka really feel it necessary to tell us what everything was, honestly we all knew already.
"If we go north we can avoid it." Aang shouted.
"It'll take too much time." Katara shouted back from where she was watching Zuko's ship.
"This is why I didn't want you to come, it's to dangerous." Aang shouted over the wind.
"That's why we came." Katara called back. I moved over to her. Something caught the corner of my eye turning I froze.
"Fireball at five o'clock!" I shouted as Zuko's catapult went off. Appa moved to the side just in time. The ball of fire flew by, missing us but leaving a foul stench behind.
"Let's get out of here quickly before Zuko shoots another hot stinker at us." If we weren't flying for our lives that line would be funny. I slid forward and clutched he saddle tightly peered over the edge to look at the blockade in front of us.
"Oh we are so gonna die." I whispered. All the ships in the blockade had catapults and I would bet the shirt on my back that they were planning on using them too. My assumptions were proved correct when a volley of fireballs flew toward us. I screamed and dropped as giant balls of flaming death shot toward us.
The next few minutes passed in a blur and I could do nothing but sit and pray that we wouldn't be killed. The only time I found myself to be of any use was when Sokka nearly flew out of the saddle and Katara and I dragged him back in.
I lay on the saddle, gasping for breath. Katara and Sokka beside me were shaking from fear and adrenaline.
"We're past the blockade." Aang called as he came back to look at us worriedly.
"The crescent island isn't to far now." He reassured us as we slowly sat back up. I took one look at Aang's pale face and pulled him into a hug. After a moment we pulled away. Aang went back to the front, this time with Katara at his side. Sokka and I stayed in the saddle.
"That was more fun than I ever want again." I stated, shivering. Sokka nodded mutely, his grip on his boomerang tightening.
"There it is!" I looked up. An island loomed in the distance, black as pitch against the blue of the sky. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes, praying for the safety of my friends.
Grim silence greeted us on the volcanic island. Appa rumbled as he set down, legs nearly giving out from under him. We slid off quickly, the stress and fear from before the blockade coming between us again.
"Poor boy, you must be so tired." Katara stated softly, petting Appa lightly.
"Nope! All ready to fight some firebenders!" Sokka called, warming up with some absolutely ridiculous stretches.
"I was talking to Appa." Katara pointed out.
"Well... I was talking to Momo." Sokka pointed out. I chuckled and the tension eased. I wondered if Sokka had actually tried to ease the atmosphere or if it was accidental.
"Come on, we need to get moving." Aang reminded us. We nodded and began our trek up to the temple. As we walked I wondered about the wisdom of building a temple on an active volcano.
My legs began to ache as we walked up the steep hillside. After riding Appa for the majority of our trip I had lost some of my muscle. I made a mental note to myself that I needed to start working out every morning and evening so I could keep in shape.
The sheer heat the island was giving off was incredible. Curiously I found myself wondering if all the islands of the fire nation were of volcanic origin.
We entered the temple silently, looking around at the red and gold decorations in awe. The amount of wealth in this temple alone had to double that of King Bumi. We weren't able to take in the sights for long as we quickly realized that we weren't the only ones here. In front of us stood five men, all dressed in red and burgundy with tall headpieces. The eldest, a wrinkled man with jowls like a bull-dog and a white beard that clung to his chin like a flea-bitten animal stepped forward.
"We are the Fire Sages, guardians of the temple of the Avatar." His voice rasped, causing me to wince. This guy needed a good retirement and soon.
"Great! I'm the avatar!" Aang chirped. He stepped forward, beaming from ear to ear.
"We know." Five jets of fire shot at us. I yelped and stepped back, raising my arms to shield myself. I didn't need to worry, Aang blew the fire away with a strong gust of wind.
"This way!" I charged after Aang and the water tribe siblings into a side corridor. I heard shouts behind us, but my adrenaline was back and the sudden rush of energy made me forget everything else.
"Aang! Do you know where you're going?" Katara shouted beside me.
"Nope!" Aang shouted back turning a corner before spinning around and shouting "Not this way!" I spun around, following my friends as we ran in another direction. A few seconds later we came to a dead-end. Sokka and I stopped side by side, each of us pulling out our respective weapons. One of the fire sages, the youngest by far based on his appearance, stopped in front of us, hands raised in submission. It took a moment to place him but I recognized him quickly enough as the fire sage who had helped the Gaang. I grimaced as I realized I couldn't remember his name.
"I don't mean you any harm." He insisted.
"Tell that to someone who believes it." Sokka snarled, club raised. There were a couple of shouts behind us and the fire sage moved forward. I stepped backward subconsciously then silently berated myself. I knew this man really meant no harm but my instincts weren't as aware.
The man ignored us and pressed his hand again the wall before sending a shot of fire into it. Fire blazed and a door opened.
"Hurry, this way." We didn't question him this time, instead charging in as quickly as we could manage. The man slipped in, seconds before the door shut. We were silent for a while before the man spoke.
"My name is Shyu." He adjusted his headpiece which had been knocked at an angle.
"Why did you help us?" Sokka asked, blunt and straight to the point.
"Walk with me. You wish to met with Avatar Roku?" Aang nodded and fell into step beside Shyu. Sokka, Katara and I followed behind, listening as Shyu explained not only why the fire sages had attacked but how the sages were under the fire lord's payment. I tuned out the conversation not because I had memorized the words but because I was distracted by the lava flowing freely a few feet away from me and the oppressing amount of heat. Sokka and Katara were doing even worse than I, heavy parkas aren't very comfortable in stifling heat.
We finally walked up a set of obsidian stairs to the exit of the passage. Slipping through we found ourselves on the top story of the temple. In front of us, between two beautiful columns was a door, guarded by five mechanical snake heads, each with large glinting ruby eyes the size of dinner plates.
"Oh no." Shyu groaned, walking up to the door and pressing his hand against the metal.
"What's wrong Shyu?" Aang asked curiously as he approached the middle-aged fire sage.
"The doors are closed," Shyu explained, gesturing at the creepy snake heads, "the other sages must have closed them when they heard you were coming."
"Can't you open it?" Katara asked. Shyu shook his head.
"No, this door will only open with five simultaneous blasts of fire from either five firebenders or a fully realized avatar." We fell silent. Part of me wanted to fix the problem right away, but another part of me was reminded that Sokka deserved his time to shine, he wasn't going to get enough anyway.
"Five simultaneous fire blasts…" Sokka murmured thoughtfully. I grinned, I hadn't needed to wait long at all.
"I have an idea!" Sokka cried, face alight.
"Shyu, do you have any blasting powder or jelly here in the temple?" Shyu frowned in thought before nodding and showing us to a side room not to far away. Sokka grinned when seeing the supplies there and quickly gave us each a job.
"Aang I need you to find some sort of cloth, Katara find some pieces of rope or thick twine, Shyu I need that blasting powder, Pala come with me." I followed Sokka to one of the corners of the room. The excitement in his face all but lighting our way.
"Pala, I need you to find the lamp oil, can you do that?" I nodded and Sokka hurried off. I smiled, the happiness was contagious. I was flattered that Sokka had given me one of the more dangerous jobs, the other being given to Shyu. Maybe the direct dealings with those elements weren't dangerous in and out of themselves but we would undoubtedly end up fighting firebenders sometime soon. None of us wanted any explosive or flammable substance on our bodies when we would be facing off against a group of people who could manipulate fire.
I lifted a lid of one of the containers and carefully wafted the fumes to see if it was the oil I was looking. I blinked in surprise when I realized that it was oil but it was scented. It was probably for rituals or prayers. Deciding that if the ash in the mouths of the snakes smelt like perfume might hint at our lie I closed the lid and tried another.
It took me three barrels before I found the regular lamp oil. Once I had I dragged the barrel over to Sokka where he had created the bombs. Five dark clothes were wrapped around a large portion of blast powder. Into and around the mouth of each bag was a thin cord. Sokka nodded to me lifted the lid. Nodding appreciatively he dipped the wicks of each bomb into the oil. Once that was done, he handed two to Shyu and one to me. We exited the room quickly and went back to the door where we inserted the bombs into the mouths of the snakes. While I checked to make sure all the bombs were secure Sokka explained his reasoning.
"Pala, come on." Katara called to me standing slightly behind one of the pillars. I nodded and joined her and Aang. Sokka turned to look at us, walking over so that he was within a safe distance.
"When they go off it's going to create a pretty big explosion," he warned Aang, "so the second the door are open you have to rush through." Aang nodded seriously. Sokka turned and nodded at Shyu who's fist caught fire. I closed my eyes and turned my head away as I heard them explode.
My ears were ringing. I grimaced as I was shoved away by a gust of air as Aang dashed out and promptly came across the solid door, which hadn't moved at all.
"No." Aang whispered.
"It didn't work." Shyu groaned. It appeared that this apparent failure was too much for Aang. Furious he began to assault the thick metal with huge gusts of wind.
"Why won't it open!" Aang shouted, frustration clear on his face.
"I don't understand, that looked just as strong as any fire blasts I've seen." Sokka muttered, scratching his cheek and looking completely confused. Katara, hearing what Sokka said spun and, taking a close look at the door grinned.
"Sokka! You're a genius!"
"How's Sokka a genius? His plan didn't even work." Aang asked, turning around from where he had been trying to knock down the doors with air. Sokka smirked.
"Let her dream Aang." I swatted Sokka on the back of the head for that comment. Sokka winced and rubbed the spot I had hit, sending me a wounded look.
"That's not what she meant," I snapped, before turning to the fourteen year old water bender, "you were saying Katara?"
I felt like I was trying to even hide the sound of my breath as I pressed myself to the back of the pillar beside Aang. All it would take for our hide away to be given away was for one of the sages to come up the stairs that were slightly behind us, or for one of them to look back at the pillars from an angel. We were way to exposed to be comfortable.
Luckily the plan proceeded smoothly for a while. Just before the fire sages opened the door I found myself looking toward those stairs. To my shock a certain familiar pony tailed, golden eyed prince staring at Aang. If Aang even thought about his peripheral vision he would see the teenaged prince. I felt a sudden surge of heat. I was completely aware that meant that the door was opening and I would have to charge out in a second to take down a fire sage. The sudden blast of fire had also caught the attention of another. I froze when the fire prince's eyes locked on mine. Had he been so focused on Aang he honestly hadn't seen me? It appeared so, otherwise why else would he look so surprised?
"It's the avatar's lemur! It must have crawled through the pipes!" That was my cue. I pushed Zuko out of my mind and charged out, tackling the first sage in my view. The man yelped as he was shoved to the floor. I pinned his arms behind his back. Looking up I noticed that the other sages were taken down as well. Katara's sage was suspiciously soaking wet and she looked as pleased as punch. Sokka's was looking nervously at the sharp boomerang cradling his neck. Shyu hadn't been as enthusiastic as we had, the sage he had taken simply bent slightly with his arms behind his back. On the other hand though, Shyu's captive was the eldest of the sages.
"Aang! Now's your chance!" To my absolute shock Aang tore out from behind the pillars, Zuko not even a second behind. I cried out as I bucked off the back of the fire sage and thrown to the floor. Despite what the fire sages were trying to do it was too late. Aang was through the metal doors then they glowed blue and snapped shut. I didn't have a moment to question why that had happened so quickly as I suddenly felt my hand grabbed by someone. I jumped and pulled away. To my shock the person let go without a fight. Turning to get a better look I froze. I was standing over my own prone body, the fire sage who had been about to grab me staring shocked at it. I looked to my right slightly to see a strange woman standing there, a warm smile on her face.
"Hello Maddi."
Zuko: An hour earlier
Zuko: An hour previous
I stared at the giant bison as I stood on the deck of my ship. The avatar was on that giant beast, just a few yards ahead and a few miles up, but so was that girl.
"Long live Fire Lord Zuko." I couldn't get her out of my mind. She was a mystery. The only things I really knew about her was her name, that she thought that I would be a better fire lord then my father and that she was fire nation. That wasn't a lot to go by. I sighed and rubbed my forehead tiredly. The way she held herself, the way she spoke told of someone who was educated and of a high birth but her features did not belong to any high class fire nation woman, her features belonged to those of the lower class. One of the explanations was that she was some lords bastard daughter who had been blackmailed to pay for the girl's schooling. The other, that she had been a servant girl at the palace, which is how she knew the personal details of my life. The second seemed more accurate, but if she was a servant girl her sharp tongue would have quickly gotten her into trouble and kicked out. Unless she could act just like anyone else... maybe she was putting on an act for the avatar and his friends? I didn't know and that very lack of knowledge was bothering me.
"Is something bothering you Prince Zuko?" Uncle asked, amber eyes warm and knowing. He knew what I was thinking of, but he insisted upon asked every single time.
"It's the girl again." I admitted roughly.
"Ah, Madison was her name right?" I glared at uncle harshly. I didn't want to think about her name right now. I wanted answers.
"Yes." I bit back.
"A very unusual name... I have never heard one like it before in all my travels. Especially for a girl." Iroh chuckled in a good-natured manor. I opened my mouth to snap back an answer when one of the sailors came charging into the room.
"Sir! The avatar's bison has been spotted five miles to the west." I stood up, mentally calculating where that would place the bison. I froze when I realized just where that was.
"They're heading toward fire nation waters."
Current time
I glared down at the traitor. The middle-aged fire sage gazed black, amber eyes calm, only once in a while flicking to look over at those he had betrayed his country for. The water tribe siblings, and Madison who had passed out after the doors had shut and sealed themselves. I shook my head, I didn't have time to think about her right now.
"Tell me, why did you betray your country." I snapped, catching the sage's attention. Seriously, the sage replied in an empty voice.
"Because it is our duty. It has always been out duty." I glared, and raised a hand before dropping it in disgust. Maddi sagged against the chains binding her to the opposite pillar as her friends, breath shallow. If I hadn't seen that she had been in perfect health not ten minutes ago I would have thought that she had been sick or was even on her deathbed. Healthy people did not breath like that.
"Well you look at that, two birds, one stone. The firelord will be pleased." The familiar voice rang out. I grit his teeth and turned to glare at a man I now considered my sworn enemy. Lieutenant Zhao.
"What are you doing here Zhao?" I snarled, I could feel his internal fire rise up just at the sight of the man.
"I came to pay a visit." Zhao replied, "Your little trick with the smoke failed. Tie him up with the other traitors." Zhao's soldiers moved forward to do as requested. To my shock and anger, one of the sages grabbed my hands and helped two other soldiers restrain me. I struggled, eyes bright with self-righteous fury. Zhao was going to pay for this dearly.
Madison
"Hello Maddi."
I stared at the woman blankly. Once again it had appeared time had frozen upon contact with the spirit world. No one around me was moving. No one, except the strange woman. I eyed her up and down cautiously, feeling a pang of jealousy at the same time. This stranger was breathtakingly beautiful. Long red hair, gold eyes, a tall figure, pale, flawless skin. She was everything I could ever dream of being in the looks department. The only thing that she didn't have was large breasts, which actually seemed a fairly common trait from what I had seen in this world... I shook my head. Comparing our chest sizes wasn't what mattered right now. Why this woman had dragged me into the spirit world against my will and how she knew my name was what mattered.
"Who are you?" I demanded, glaring at her with the most intimidating stare I could form. She just raised a dark, thin eyebrow.
"You don't need to be rude. I could have whisked you off where I was supposed to without any warning. This was simply a courtesy." I looked at her blankly. If this was a courtesy then I wasn't sure I wanted to see rude. To my shock she chuckled.
"You humans are such strange creatures, sometimes I wonder if you want us to read your thoughts the way you project them." She laughed again before grabbing my arm. I shouted in panic as I suddenly was standing on a white plain. Above me, towering miles above me stood five giant figures, one of which I recognized as the woman who greeted me.
On my far left was the woman from before but her appearance had changed somewhat. Her red hair was pulled into a typical firenation topknot, with two long strands left to hang in front of her ears. The style reminded me of Azula's hairstyle, except this woman's hair was full of oranges, yellows and reds. If I hadn't known better I would have thought that her hair was on fire. Her dress fell off one shoulder and fluttered to her knees. At the top it was a brilliant white, then it changed to blue, then yellow and lastly red. every time she moved her dress made a snap like a piece of damp wood in a campfire.
"I am Agni," she said with a welcoming smile and a twinkle in her gold eyes, "the goddess of fire. I am the lord protector of the fire nation." I stared at her in shock. If this was Agni herself... I moved my eyes to the next person. She had hair as white as fresh fallen snow with a light silvery gleam. Her skin was pale and flawless and glowed in the same silvery light as her hair. Now that I noticed I saw that her entire form was glowing, all except her eyes which were the darkest blue I had ever seen. Her dress was coloured nearly the same colour as her eyes, except small silver specks. My eyes naturally drew lines between the specks and in shock I realized that her dress was the night sky and the specks were the stars. Her sash was almost completely made from stars, with a rich blue and purple background. There was no doubt in my mind that her sash was the milky way. It was perfectly clear to me that I was looking at the goddess of the moon, La. Which meant that the man who was running his fingers through her long hair must be Tui.
Tui was just as majestic as La, except he seemed to be her very opposite. His hair was so black it seemed to absorb all the light that came from La and yet his silver eyes matched her so perfectly. Tui wore a parka with the hood down that upon close inspection changed colour from nearly perfect black to the palest of blues at his shoulders. I noticed that it looked like the images on his outfit moved slightly. It wasn't until I noticed that a small gold and orange fish about the size of my pinky near his shoulder that I realized that his parka represented the very ocean itself. Why else would he have actual swimming elephant koi? No one introduced them so I assumed that everyone knew I had recognized them.
The next person in the semi-circle was hard to describe. He was pale, like he had no colour at all. Occasionally the faintest of oranges would appear on his outfit, which was a long-sleeved robe. The only other colour on his person was a blue arrow on his bald head. As I watched he smiled at me, pale eyes seeming to shift in front of me. In shock I realized that his form was constantly changing. One moment he looked as young as Aang, the next he was an old man. His features didn't even stay the same. I followed his robe down to where it should have met the ground, instead it slowly vanished until all that remained was a thin mist.
"Hello Madison," he spoke in a strange hollow, echoing voice, "I am Lung, god of air." I nodded and turned to the last person.
In comparison to all the other deities this man looked strangely human. He had a short-cropped beard, tanned skin, and brown hair and eyes. His features were hard and blunt, with a square-shaped jaw and eyes like a hawks. He wore a green tunic and beige pants and he was barefoot. The only thing that seemed strange was his oddly shaped cloak which fell only past his shoulder blades and looked more like a badly cut rag then a cloak. Looking carefully I noticed that he stood slightly farther away from the others, with his back turned slightly, like he was mad. The sulky expression on his face didn't help matters much. He shot me a venomous glare that actually caused me to take a step back.
"And that is Prithvi, god of the earth." Prithvi snorted but didn't say anything. Swallowing I decided to take matters into my own hands.
"Listen... thanks for the introduction and all but... why am I here?" Agni chuckled and bent down to get a closer look at me.
"We have been watching you for some time Madison, ever since you fell through the spirit world into our lands you've been a mystery. But you've made a difference, you've changed the very world just by being around and none of us knows what is going to happen because of it." Agni explained. I took a step back, partly intimidated by her sheer size and partially because of how much heat her body radiated. I had the uncomfortable feeling that I'd burn up and turn into ash if I actually touched her.
"Are you going to smite me or something?" I asked nervously, were they mad with how I was messing with how things were supposed to be? Agni laughed brightly. This time it was Lung who moved towards me.
"Nothing like that, we want to help you, we didn't know the future anymore then anyone else until you came along. We now know what to expect from Ozai and we wish to thank you for that. You may chose a gift from one of us, whatever you want you can have it." He leaned back with a smirk. I furrowed my brow and bit my lip, unsure.
"You're telling me I can ask for anything from one of you and you'll give it to me, just like that? So what if I asked to become a ruler of my own new nation you'd do that?" I challenged. I highly doubted that they would do that. There had to be some underlying motive behind at least one of these spirits, I just didn't know who. Besides, choosing a gift from just one when there were five would end up with me possibly making four powerful enemies. I had read the Iliad and I did not want to get on the bad side of even one of these 'deities'.
"Well, not quite," Agni stated lightly, sending a sharp look at Prithvi, "not everyone is supportive of the idea."
"And your request has to be within reason and within our power." La said, speaking for the first time. I noticed her voice was as silvery and light as her appearance.
"And that means..." Lung laughed, the sound reminded me of a powerful wind blowing through trees.
"Just chose one of us, and you can bend whatever element you want."
A/N: Wow, I just want to say I am absolutely stunned. Currently Change the World has nearly seventy followers. (almost) Seventy followers, thirty five reviews and forty-four favourites. I'm really happy about this. Anyway, I hope you liked this chapter and while, yes it was a cliff-hanger It felt like this was the natural place to stop. Also this chapter has made the record of longest chapter in this story at 5,110 words. I know it isn't quite as long as some of you hoped it would be. Anyway let me know what you think. One last thing, thank you Anon for your wonderful review. Since you're a guest I can't review by PM but I hope you are going to keep reading and enjoying my story.
Princess Kassie Out.
