Chapter Three
While the boys were busy hauling the crates of supplies onto Appa's saddle, Katara stayed by Moria's side. They walked down a long narrow path that branched off from the village square and soon came to a round clearing lined with homes. A fire pit with several log benches took up the center. All of the homes had been destroyed to various degrees. Some only suffered from broken doors, others were burned down to nothing but ash and a few charred hunks of wood.
Katara took in the destruction with a frown. She tried to imagine living alone, completely cut off from the rest of the world, and surrounded by constant reminders that her loved ones were no longer there. The thought was too painful. She turned to Moria and found that she couldn't think of a single thing to say.
Moria locked eyes with Katara, her eyes full of understanding, and motioned to a home on their left. The roof was caved in and the door lay discarded on the ground several feet away. "I lived there with my parents. I'd like to take a few things with me."
"Of course," Katara readily agreed. "Can I help you?"
"There isn't much." Moria ducked into the house with Katara close behind. "Be careful. I couple other houses in this condition have crumbled. I've been sleeping next door. I haven't had the time to gather my personal belongings with…everything else going on."
"I understand," Katara said, although she didn't think she ever truly would. Having her mother taken away was bad enough. She didn't know if she could handle the entire Southern Water Tribe being wiped out the way Moria's village had been. At least she would have been able to leave.
The small home entered into the kitchen, where a cooking pit sat promptly in the middle of the floor. A smashed table rested in the corner. A shelve containing bowls, plates and utensils had dislodged and spilled its contents onto the wooden floor. The roof had caved into a room on the left, and a quick glance told Katara that it had once been a bathroom. The wooden tub, while still visible, was split into two and lying on its side. A paper screen separated the kitchen from the sleeping area. Katara followed Moria behind the screen and saw that the sleeping mats were still laid out, looking inviting and comfortable.
Moria stepped over the mats and opened the doors of a large wooden cabinet. She took an oversized leather bag from the top shelf and set it at her feet, then began pulling neatly folded colorful silks off the shelf and placing them inside the bag.
"Those are beautiful," Katara said, feeling like an outsider in this once clearly loved home.
Moria took one of the silks, patterned with wide stripes, and held it out to Katara, inviting her to touch it. "They're made from banana silk. This is the material we use the most, as we never had enough sheep pigs to provide enough wool to clothe everyone. There were some incredibly skilled women in this village who could create the most amazing colors and patterns with the silk."
"Do you know how to make it?" Katara fingered the fabric, marveling at the sleek, soothing feel of the silk.
Moria shook her head. "I suppose it's now a lost skill. We have many books in our library, but this was a craft that was always passed down orally."
"You have a library?"
"Yes." Moria added a few pieces of seashell jewelry and a pair of leather sandals on top of the silks. "There were many writers in the village. They could create fascinating characters and worlds. We had poets, and songwriters as well."
"Music seems to be very important here," Katara said.
"Naturally." Moria went to a large chest shoved against the wall and opened it.
She stared into it for so long without moving that Katara walked over and took a peek inside herself. String instruments of all shapes and sizes, wind instruments, and handheld percussion instruments completely filled the chest. The look of longing on Moria's face was etched so deeply on her features that it broke Katara's heart.
"I suppose I can't take everything," Moria said quietly.
Katara chewed her lower lip thoughtfully. Appa was going to overloaded as it was, and the chest looked incredibly heavy. "What are your favorites?"
Moria thought it over for a moment, then shook her head. "What an impossible choice."
After carefully consideration, she finally selected an intricately carved lute and a wooden flute. Wordlessly, she hoisted the bag to her shoulder and walked out of the house with Katara following close behind.
"What else do you need?" Katara asked as they made their way back to the square.
"There are some books I'd like to take with me. I can't allow them to be lost."
The library ended up being in a large hut next to the shrine. Books bound in hard leather lined wooden shelves that covered every inch of wall space. Moria sat her bag down on the oversized table in the center of the room and ran her hand along the thick volumes.
"The folk songs of my people," Moria explained as she removed a tattered book from a high shelf and placed it in her bag. "And these," she pulled down four oversized, incredibly thick books and placed them on the table with a grunt, "are the complete history of the soundbenders. Well, almost complete." She pulled a quill and inkwell from a drawer underneath the table. "Please leave me alone for a while. I'd like to update the final volume before we leave."
"Will you be taking those with you as well?" Katara asked.
"Of course. I think it's time the world learned about the soundbenders once more." She gave Katara a hardened look. "I want our history to be spread throughout all of the nations."
Katara stepped back out into the harsh, late afternoon sun. The air was filled with a hot, sticky humidity that, even after all of her travels, she could never get used to. The tropical trees provided cool shade as she walked down the path to the beach, leaving Moria to take care of her business.
Sokka was sitting in the sand, taking massive bites out of some dried meat. Toph sat beside him, sandbending small misshapen sculptures between her hands. Zuko and Aang were just finishing securing the food crates to Appa's saddle with long leather straps.
Aang slid down onto the sand when Katara came onto the beach and brushed his hands together. "Where's Moria?"
"She's just taking care of a few things," Katara explained.
Sokka made a face. "How long is she going to be? It's getting late, you know."
"Give her time," Katara said more harshly than she intended. "She's leaving behind everything she's ever known."
"I still don't understand why she never just left," Toph muttered, letting the sand fall through her fingers.
"Maybe they were threatened with serious consequences if they ever tried to leave," Zuko suggested. "If the Fire Nation had anything to do with their banishment, they would have instilled all kinds of fear into the soundbenders."
Aang nodded, motioning to a few tiny fishing boats scattered along the sand in the distance. "Those seem to be the only boats here, and a boat that size can't go very far."
"I can't believe she was just going to live out the rest of her life all alone here," Katara said, staring out into the vastness of the ocean.
"Maybe she wasn't," Zuko muttered. All eyes were suddenly on him and he quickly shrugged off his remark. "Never mind. Sokka's right. It's getting late. Let's find her."
The sun had dipped below the trees, casting long shadows of the trees over the beach, and masking the trail in premature darkness. They bumped into each other awkwardly as they walked over the dirt path, using Toph to help guide them towards the square.
Moria's oversized leather bag, now bulging at the seams with her belongings, sat by the gate outside the shrine. They crossed the village square together, taking in the destruction now bathed in the vibrant golden glow of twilight. The setting sun cast a surreal quality of light over the damage, and made the gang feel as though they were walking through some intricate painting, a scene caught frozen in time.
They stopped just in front of the broken steps leading into the shrine, wordlessly agreeing to stay put. Moria kneeled before the altar, her back to the group. In the stillness of the evening, she began to sing in a soft, melodic trill. Her voice was filled with raw emotion, and as she sang, the fading sunlight falling through the broken ceiling bathed her in an ethereal glow, outlining her body with a gilded shimmer and weaving golden brilliance in her hair.
"The time has come for me to go and leave my home behind.
My body is gone but my soul stays beside you to remind,
That the Guardian lives within us all, we have nothing to fear.
No matter where our spirits soar, the Guardian lingers near."
Taken completely aback, Aang whispered under his breath, "It's like we found a spirit."
Moria whirled with a start, placing a hand on her chest. "I-I didn't know you were there."
"Sorry," Aang apologized quickly. "That was a beautiful song."
Moria bit her lower lip and glanced back at the altar. "It's the funeral song of my people. We don't really have a song to fit this particular situation. This seemed close enough."
Aang nodded in understanding. "We're ready to go. Are you…?"
Moria stood, wrapping her arms around her chest tightly. "I think so. I've let all of the animals loose. They should be all right." She turned to face the altar, placed two fingers to her lips, nodded and then walked to the entrance.
"Is this all that you're bringing?" Zuko motioned towards the bag.
Moria nodded. "It's everything I need."
"I'll carry it." Zuko went to lift the bag by its strap and nearly toppled over, surprised by the weight. "What's in here?!"
"The history of my people," Moria said levelly. "I can carry it if it's too heavy for you."
Zuko narrowed his eyes and heaved the bag onto his shoulder. "I've got it."
They walked back to the beach with Moria trailing behind. She lingered in the square, drinking in the final sights of what remained of her village, and dragged her feet down the trail, soaking up the cool and tranquil protection of the trees.
She paused as they broke through the trees and stepped onto the beach. Appa was resting peacefully on the shoreline, and Moria looked him over quizzically. "I didn't realize you came here on a…swimming cow?"
"He's a flying bison," Aang muttered.
"Appa is great," Sokka assured her, giving her a friendly pat on the back. "Flying is the best way to get around."
"I wouldn't know." Moria looked up at the saddle apprehensively.
"You'll love it," Sokka promised.
Once Zuko had hauled Moria's hefty bag onto Appa's back, Sokka and Katara helped her climb up into the saddle.
She peered over the edge and grimaced. "This doesn't seem safe."
"I'm not a fan of flying either," Toph said. "Just sit in the middle."
Moria took Toph's advice and in a moment, they were hovering in the air, rising high above the only home Moria ever knew. She looked down at the cluster of trees and clearings that made up her home, two fingers pressed to her lips, eyes welling with tears. "Goodbye, my Guardian," she whispered.
Just as Katara was about to ask what she meant by that, a mass of gigantic bubbles formed at one end of the island and, to everyone's astonishment, the massive head of a lion turtle rose from beneath the water. The creature craned its neck and looked up toward Appa, a sense of loss reflecting in its eyes.
Aang let out a sharp gasp. "A lion turtle!"
"I thought they were extinct," Zuko said, shocked.
Katara turned her head to look at Moria. "I understand now. This is why you couldn't leave."
Moria nodded slowly as a single tear slid down her cheek. "Our Guardian, the last remaining lion turtle, roams the ocean. If we were to ever leave, we would never be able to find our home again. Our Guardian is constantly moving."
"That explains so much," Katara whispered.
"I can't believe a lion turtle is still out there!" Aang cried, nearly bouncing with excitement. "We were riding a lion turtle this whole time and never even knew it!"
"Incredible," Sokka, for once at a loss of words, managed to say.
Moria wiped her tears away with the heel of her hand. "Thank you for everything, my Guardian."
The lion turtle watched them for a moment. A deep, rumbling voice, so low that it barely registered, boomed out, "My duty to you is done. Goodbye." It lowered its head back into the water, and a thick mist began to envelope the lion turtle's back.
Moria sat back, turning her face away from the island, although it clearly pained her to do so. "Okay. I'm really ready now. Show me the world."
/I'll do my best to update on a weekly to bi-weekly basis. Thanks for reading!