Earth
Fire
Air
Water
Only the Dual Avatars master of all four elements can bring balance to the world.
Book III: Change
Chapter I: A Breath of Fresh Air
hums as she walks to work, the librarian is very lucky, her job and her home are safe from the vines that the monstrosity brought a few weeks ago. She had to avoid some of the ends of the spirit vines but other than that, she had a good day. She opens the door to the Shu-Ha library, takes a deep breath and begins her work, she climbs up a six foot wooden ladder to get to the highest shelf in section B-3, however the woman trips and falls, but before she does a gust of wind softens it. Ms. Nami looks around for anyone in the library but she finds no one. She gasps as she sees that below her is air, making her levitate. The air dissipates and she crashes on her butt. She looks at her hands, in horror.
"I'm a bender?!"
In the new spirit forest, the vines have overgrown dozens upon dozens of houses, the Dual Avatars, Tenzin and Jinora venture, but behind the young airbender are spirits. "How are we ever gonna clear away all these vines?" Korra mumbles asking herself, she pulls her glider away from her and fire bends at the vines, for a second they are burned but they grow back in seconds. Korra groans, "Come on! Wan, do you have any ideas? You dealt with the wilds before."
"Well," Wan awkwardly scratches the back of his neck, holding his own staff embarrassedly, saying, "I have no idea," as he lowers his head. Korra clenches her fists and throws her hands out, "Ugh, I don't get it! We can vanquish a literal freak of nature but not a bunch of stupid vines!?" Korra storms off frustrated. "It's bad enough Wan doesn't even know what he's doing now I don't!?" she rants, Wan sighs as he shakes his head, rubbing his temples. "I'm sure you'll find a way." Tenzin reassures Korra, Jinora looks up at Korra while holding a spirit, "Why do you want to get rid of them? You and Wan changed the world. We're connected with the spirits again. The wilds are their home."
Wan sighs, "I wish most people would be that understanding." The First Avatar pushes aside a bunch of vines, and exits the forest; he opens his staff, the interior is light orange. "Korra, you coming?"
Korra sighs as she opens her glider as well, hers is blue, "We gotta go face the press and tell them we still don't have a way to get rid of the vines."
"All in great fun." Wan sarcastically remarks, the duo flies off.
"How do you fly like this!?" Wan yells at Korra as he struggles to hold his glider, Korra rolls her eyes. "You're too comfortable with your cloud, you have to keep up with the times."
Korra is right, Wan. Raava says inside of them. "See, Raava agrees," Korra smirks, Wan scoffles, "I've been doing that technique for years, I'm surprised that you guys lost that to time. That's the perfect move for airbending!" Wan complains, Korra snorts, "Okay, old man."
Wan groans annoyed, "I'm twenty!"
"Ten thousand and twenty, if you want to be accurate, but you were dead," Korra corrects, she looks at Wan who looks a mixture of annoyed and disbelieving. Korra gives a small chuckle, "Teasing you never gets old." The duo sees city hall, overgrown with spirit vines. The press is congregated around the entrance. Wan and Korra land, creating a gust of air and Wan tries to be graceful with it but fails, the press quickly starts to get loud and begins to bombard the dual avatars with questions.
"Dual Avatars, a few questions please!" one pipes up and the others follow, "Avatar Korra and Avatar Wan, do you regret the way you handled the Unalaq Crisis?"
"Why are you forcing the integration of spirits in Republic City?" A female reporter asks, Wan tries his best to answer this without getting upset, "We're not forcing it. Look, we are trying our best to get rid of the vines. I know this is difficult for everyone but can you please stay-"
"Why can't you both fix this?" Another one yells. "Are the vines here to stay?" Another cries out.
"Is this part of the new era?" Wan closes his eyes as his nerves begin to get worse and lets Korra speak, "Look, Harmonic Convergence was just a couple weeks ago. We just needed a little more time to get everything back to normal." Raiko cuts Korra off, "The Dual Avatars have put us all in a very difficult position, but my administration- "
"Oh, excuse me, my bad," Wan sarcastically starts, "Did we put you in a difficult position by fighting the most abominable thing in the universe that was going to destroy the whole world!? Oh, you poor thing, you must be aching, do you need a healer? I'm sorry that you had to deal with a few annoying vines instead of a dark entity," Wan taunts further, however Lin walks up to the podium, "That's all, no more questions." Raiko storms into his office as Wan rolls his eyes, folding his arms, the crowd mumbles.
Later on, the crowd disperses and Wan and Korra sit on the stairs, they are both tired and aggravated. "This is a disaster." Korra says, downcast, "You can say that again," Wan mumbles, Asami walks over to the dual avatars, "Are you two okay?"
"No." Wan and Korra say in unison, Wan begins his rant, "I can't believe that people can rate me! Ten Percent approval!"
"You're lucky, you don't have my poll numbers. Eight percent approval." Korra crosses her arms, "Okay, yours is worse," Wan points out.
Asami sits down beside Wan, "You guys can't take that to heart. People are just frustrated."
Korra looks at Asami, "I don't blame them. We should be able to fix this. We're the Dual Avatars, Wan is the first avatar, this should be easy for us!"
Ms. Nami rushes and buys a ticket to air temple island, holding her brown suitcase and wearing her flapper hat with a white ribbon flower. Once at the island, she talks to the aycolates and she is sent to the dining room. Once she enters, she sees the room of people in shock of what they are seeing, Bumi is holding the plate with a gust of air. "Wait 'till I tell Mom, she's gonna love this!" Bumi smiles then the plate drops and so does Ms. Nami's mouth. Wan stands up, "Ms. Nami?"
The first Avatar rushes over to her, she hugs Wan tightly, "Wan, you are the only one that I could go to about this," The librarian says hurriedly. "About what?" Wan asks, she takes off her hat and bows, "It is wonderful meeting you all, I am Ayame Nami, Master Tenzin, I believe we've met?"
"Yes, but why are you here?" Tenzin asks, Ayame breathes in, "When I was working today, I tripped on a ladder, and the strangest thing happened- like with him," the woman points at Bumi, "A gust of wind slowed my fall."
Tenzin's eyes widen, Ayame looks at Wan. "I'm an Airbender and I don't know how. I've been a non bender for my entire life, even my parents are non benders and so forth. I don't understand! I'm terrified!" Ayame starts to panic as her heart races, as she feels an overwhelming dread. Wan helps her sit down, "Someone gives her water!" Wan yells as he tries to calm the woman down, Korra and Tenzin help as well.
" , everything's going to be okay." Wan rubs her back, the woman cries out in fear, "Why is this happening?" Pema rushes up to give her a cup of water, after a few moments the new Airbender slowly calms down as her breathing becomes steady. "Ayame, may I speak with you?" Tenzin asks, Ayame accepts and walks with Tenzin. Wan looks at Korra, "Bumi and now Ms. Nami? Something's up. I'm speaking to Raava."
Wan meditates out near Yue Bay, focusing on Raava, "Raava, Ms. Nami, and Bumi have gained airbending. How did this happen and are there any more?"
Yes. Wan, are you familiar with the One Hundred Year War?
"Yes, but I heard the major things."
Good, During that time, Fire Lord Sozin slaughtered the Air nomads only to leave Aang, who escaped. Though the war ended, the balance was not completely restored as the air nomads were such a small number. However, with Harmonic convergence shifting the planet's energy, adding that you and Korra are keeping the portals open...
"The airbenders came back," Wan gasps. Yes, You and Korra brought them back from near extinction, now almost a half of the nonbender population are air benders, Balance with the elements isn't restored yet, more will come but this is a start.
"Does it also have to do with descent in any way?" Wan asks. Raava hums then answers. That, I am not aware of. Maybe so, depends on the person.
"Alrighty then, so airbenders are going to be popping up." Wan glances at the bay. For the first time in weeks, he feels relief.
Korra starts the engine with Asami on the seat next to her. "Do you think talking to Mako is gonna be like pulling teeth?" The female Avatar asks, still trying to focus on the road as she presses the breaks then gas to let the car move.
"Well, Mako has never been the most ... 'in touch with his feelings' guy, but it'll get better eventually."
Korra sighs as she closes her eyes for a brief second, "So, when me and Wan were gone, did he tell you that we broke up?"
Asami winces, then says. "Yeah, we all knew." Korra blushes as she turns away embarrassed, "Wow, Okay."
Asami then looks even more uncomfortable as she says, "and I should have told you this sooner, but ... while you were gone I kind of... kissed him. I'm sorry." Asami gets the exact opposite reaction that she expected when Korra laughs, wholeheartedly in fact. "No wonder he's so nervous around us! Asami, don't worry about it. I mean, I kissed Mako when he was going out with you and I also know that you know that."
"Let me guess, Wan?" Asami crosses her arms, Korra nods as she blushes a bit, "Yeah, he's really great."
"Korra, Do you have feelings for Wan?" Asami asks. Korra's eyes widen abruptly, she turns to Asami, in a state of shock. "What do you mean by that?" her voice is in a higher pitch, almost screeching. "I saw the way you act together, I couldn't help but notice there is a chemistry between you two," Asami states while shrugging, as she glances back at the road. Korra's heartbeat begins to speed up. "And it's not just an Avatar thing?" Korra questions, as her blush gets more furious.
"I don't think so, but it's okay if you tell me. Wan won't know a thing."
"No, I don't have feelings for Wan. We're just friends" Korra clenches the wheel, focusing on the road. Asami quickly notices her reluctance and a bit of anger so she backs off. She turns her head back to the front and screams, "Vine! Vine!"
Korra quickly slams the brakes, narrowly missing the vines. A hedgehog-like spirit phases to the car making Asami gasp. "Hey! Watch where you're going!" Korra throws her hands up, directing to the vines as she says, "What are you doing living in the middle of the road in the first place?!"
"Don't ask me, Avatar! You and the other one made the world this way; we're just living in it!" The spirit retorts, Korra sighs as she rubs her temples, "Look, I don't have anything against spirits, but these vines are causing major problems all over the city."
"Spirits, vines. We're all the same. Seems like the Dual Avatars would've known that." The spirit walks away leaving Korra to stare into blank space. Then an idea hits, a bright smile comes on her face. "I think that spirit just gave me an idea of how to get rid of these vines… But I'm gonna need a lot of water, and Wan."
"Sure this is going to work?" Wan asks unsure, the two are on a bridge. "A spirit gave me an idea, if vines are the same as spirits and it was caused by the monstrosity, maybe we can purify it?" Korra ponders. Wan's eyebrows arch questionably. He looks forward at the apartment near the bridge overgrown with spirit vines. Lin and Bolin wait, then Raiko and the small group of reporters approach them
Wan hums, he isn't so sure. The spirit bending technique could work plus Korra has a very good point, but it seems too easy for Wan that the vines are meant to stay the same with the spirits.
"I just hope it works," Wan mumbles. Then he turns his head and sighs, his shoulders slump out of annoyance, "Great, look who's here." Korra looks over, "Why are you all here!?" Korra yells The president says with his normal demeanor, " I was alerted that you and Avatar Wan had a new plan to wipe out these noxious weeds. So I thought you'd want everyone to be here to watch."
Wan's eyes twitch as a male reporter comes near him asking him another question, "Avatar Wan do you really think-" Wan is about done and shouts, "Okay, no more questions! Just watch silently!" Wan turns back around and mumbles to Korra, "This has to work."
"It should, hopefully," Korra replies, a bit nervous but nonetheless confident. The duo steps up to the vines. They focus for a moment and enter the Avatar state at the same time. The duo begins their dance, circling one another, in a yin-yang motion. At the same time, water begins to incircle the vines on the building as the water starts to glow. The vines begin to slowly retreat, soon they retreat from the building. Wan and Korra finish their dance and bow respectfully.
"Go in peace," Wan and Korra say, the news reporters rush up to Korra and Wan asking even more questions that make Wan clench his teeth groaning, then the first avatar hears a loud splash. He turns around as the vines grow back, thicker than before as they spreads to the opposite side of the block as if the weight causes it to tip over. Korra opens her up glider, and flies uptop helping people get out while Wan tries to help at the bottom. Wan gasps as he sees the tip of the building collapse, he quickly acts, using his earthbending to hold the tip from crushing the civilians below. Korra holds a child that was stuck inside, she flies down as Wan slowly lets the tip land softly. Lin and Bolin are behind the Dual avatars who look at the wreck.
"That went wonderfully," Korra mumbles to herself sarcastically.
"Okay, Raava doesn't know what to do either so-" Wan starts walking on to the Pavilion, the male avatar stops while he sees Korra meditating. "You're meditating? Woah," Wan smirks, holding his hands up in shock and amusement. "Yes," Korra replies annoyed, her eyes still closed. Wan chuckles as he crosses his arms, "We really must be in trouble."
"I'm glad you're amused Wan," Korra retorts trying to focus, "Sorry, it's not everyday I see you do that." Wan says sitting next to her looking out at the sun set. "I wish Raava could help, but she's stuck too," Wan sighs. Tenzin walks up to see the dual avatars sitting and watching the sunset. "You two need to talk?" The duo turn to him, and stand up as Tenzin steps forward to them. "Yeah, Raava doesn't know what to do, in fact no one does," Wan shrugs, a bit tired of the whole vines thing.
"Did we ruin everything by leaving the spirit portals open?" Korra asks a bit regretfully, Tenzin puts his hand on her's and Wan's shoulders, "You didn't ruin anything. You both did what you thought was best for the world, and now things have changed. Change can be good or bad, depending on your point of view."
"Well, the people hate us for it," Korra mumbles and Tenzin hears her, he sighs and responds with, "You're not the President, Korra. Your job isn't to fix the daily problems of every person in Republic City. You and Wan's responsibility is to bring balance to the entire world, and that means no matter what you do, some people are not going to be happy about it."
"He's right, some people weren't all too happy about leaving the lion turtles ten thousand years ago, believe it or not." Wan smirks at the memory of it, ah it was so rich seeing the faces of those Shai after they saw him, though he didn't step foot in the lion turtle it was too good seeing the chou's without his caste title. "On the other hand, some people will be very happy. Like me. What you both did during Harmonic Convergence brought back the Air Nation, and that can only be good for restoring balance. That is an act of great Avatars. You've started a new age, there's no going back to the past." Tenzin says.
Wan and Korra glance at each other, as if they are in complete sync they both understand what must happen now. Bolin interrupts the conversation, yelling as he runs up to the pavilion, "Mako called. The cops found a new airbender guy, but when they tried to bring him in, he ran away and climbed to the top of Kyoshi Bridge and won't come down. Ooh sorry, did I interrupt?"
"Yes, but that can wait. Who's the man?" Wan asks.
Oogi lands at the bridge as several metal benders block the entrance and exit as the man holds on uptop of the building, gulping. Lin pulls out her microphone and speaks, "Come down immediately, or we will be forced to take action."
"Stay back, I'm dangerous!" He cries out, The man is attacked but he uses an air dome to protect himself. In shock he gasps, "I'm sorry!" Wan and Korra fly uptop and land, "Everything is going to be okay, don't panic." Wan resaures as he and Korra are on both of the man's sides, he turns to Wan, "Please, I don't know what I'm doing and I don't want to hurt anyone."
"Tell me about it. Rough day, huh? We're having kind of a rough day ourselves. You mind if we sit down here?" Korra and Wan sit down, on the surface while the man stands horrified. Wan sighs, having a heart to heart with the man. "I know you're scared. You're going through a huge change and it's me and Korra's fault. But you're not alone, there are other airbenders just like you, a person I know who just found out she's an airbender today. She's scared like you, but there's a lot of airbenders who can't wait to meet you and help."
"I don't want to be an airbender! Please, you're the Dual Avatars, make it stop." The man pleads, Korra sighs as she gets up, "I'm sorry, we can't, but I promise you things will get better if you just give it a chance. Let us take you over to Air Temple Island and we can talk this through. Okay?" Korra offers her hand and the man hesitantly takes it, but then he falls. Wan opens his glider and with the help of Korra saves the man. The crowd cheers as Wan helps the man up, Korra introduces him to Tenzin. Korra sighs, rubbing her back, "Today couldn't get any crazier-"
"So, is this the deal?" Korra groans at the mere presence of Raiko. Wan rubs his temples as a Metalbender cop opens the fence for Raiko and closes it once he walks though, "We have a crisis every other day now thanks to you two."
"Korra, you take care of this before I burst into flames," Wan whispers, Korra nods as Raiko walks up to her. "Listen, I know you're having a tough time getting used to these changes and I'm sorry for that, but you and everyone else are going to have to learn to live with it. The vines and the spirits are here to stay." Korra says, Raiko points at Korra,"Well, you know who's not here to stay? You! I order you and Avatar Wan to leave this city. You've both caused nothing but trouble since you arrived." Wan's eyes widen, then he grits his teeth, "Consider yourself a fool for losing two Avatars in one day." Wan smiles tauntingly, "Good evening Mr. President."
With that, Wan walks off fuming and Korra sarcastically says, "We were leaving anyway, but thanks for the order." Korra joins Wan and Raiko walks off in the opposite direction.
Korra smiles at Wan, as they walk up to Tenzin, "There are new airbenders out there and we're going to find them and rebuild the Air Nation." Korra announces and Wan nods in approval.
Tenzin smiles gleefully, "Don't think I'm not going with you. It's so exciting. Who knows who's out there now, discovering the gift of airbending for the first time?"
The doors open to reveal light as Zaheer waits in his prison cell, sitting calmly and composed. "You know the drill, Zaheer," A white lotus guard calls out, Zaheer stands up and faces the wall with his hands behind his back, "Of course."
"Hope you still like rice," The guard says as he puts the bowl of rice under the opening of the cell door. "Have you ever read the poetry of the great airbending guru, Laghima?" Zaheer asks, the guard looks around and shrugs, "What?"
"Guru Laghima lived four thousand years ago in the Northern Air Temple. It is said that he unlocked the secret of weightlessness and became untethered from the earth, living his final forty years without ever touching the ground." Zaheer explains, the guard laughs and begins to walk away from the door, not before mocking the prisoner, "Is that how you plan to escape? With something you picked up from an old airbender children's story?" But the man is stopped in his tracks as he hears Zaheer once more, "Like all great children's tales, it contains truth within the myth. Laghima once wrote: 'Instinct is a lie, told by a fearful body, hoping to be wrong.'"
"What is that supposed to mean?"
Zaheer slowly puts his hands down, "It means that when you base your expectations only on what you see, you blind yourself to the possibilities of a new reality." Zaheer turns, using his new airbending to slam the guard against the prison bars. He runs forward then turns the man's body, grabbing him by the neck and making a choke hold. The rest prepare to attack, but stop.
"You wouldn't want to burn your friend, would you?" Zaheer smirks, the guard gasps trying to get more air, "You're not a bender!?"
"Nature is constantly changing. Like the wind." Zaheer snaches the keys from the guard and opens himself up, the guards attack but Zaheer is efficient with his new bending, forcing the guards in by airbending. Zaheer shuts the doors, as he is now a free man, the guard looks up in shock. "Now you might want to ration that bowl of rice. You've got three weeks until the next shift change. It's the dawning of a new age. The end of the White Lotus, and soon, the end of the Dual Avatars."
