Chapter 7: Inner Balance
The guru led them down several winding paths to the base of the mountain and into a rocky crevasse filled with boulders and tiny streams that sounded like wind chimes as they trickled down over the damp rocks. He stopped at a murky, moss-filled pond where some of the stream water had gathered, grabbing a long stick from the ground.
"In order to gain inner balance and therefore master the Avatar State, you must open all of your chakras," he explained as he faced Aang and Rinzen. "Tell me everything you know about chakras, Aang."
Aang shook his head in confusion. "What are chakras?"
"They're centers of spiritual energy," Rinzen answered for him. "Each located in different areas of our bodies." He gave her an incredulous look, surprised, and she added defensively, "What? Just because I'm not as spiritual as most of the monks were, doesn't mean I don't know what chakras are."
"In any case, you are exactly correct." Guru Pathik gave her a pleased smile. "The water flows through these creeks much like the energy flows through your body." He poked the stick he had picked up into the pond, swirling around the algae until a few spots of clear water were visible. "These pools are where the water gathers before flowing on, the same way chakras act as pools for the energy within you. If nothing else were around, this creek would flow pure and clear. However, life is messy, and things tend to fall in the creek, and then what happens?" He glanced up expectantly at Aang, who was ready for the question this time.
"The creek can't flow?"
"Yes. But if we open the path between the pools-" Guru Pathik used the stick to nudge a clump of moss at the base of the pool until it moved out of the way and the water began to trickle steadily down to the next pool, clean and clear.
"The energy flows," Rinzen finished quietly. Satisfied, Guru Pathik set down the stick and waved them on to follow him into a nearby misty cavern. The stone walls were damp and the ceiling of the cave opened up to reveal the beautiful starry night sky above them. The guru sat down on the ground in the center of the cavern, nodding for the airbenders to be seated in front of him as they obeyed.
"There are seven chakras that go up the body. Each pool of energy has a purpose, and can be blocked by a specific kind of emotional muck." He stared Rinzen and Aang down for a moment, weighing his words carefully before continuing, "Be warned. Opening the chakras is an intense experience, and once you begin the process, you cannot stop until all seven are open. Are you ready?"
Rinzen glanced at Aang to find that he was pale and looked nervous, but nodding his head all the same. "I'll do whatever it takes," he answered firmly.
Guru Pathik nodded slowly in response, folding his legs into the lotus position as they imitated him. "First we will open the Earth chakra, located at the base of the spine. It deals with survival and is blocked by fear." Rinzen found herself pressing her shoulder to Aang's, trying to keep herself grounded in the present. She closed her eyes and focused on the base of her spine, trying to imagine it as a pool of energy, but it felt more like the spot on her back that was currently aching from sitting on the cold, hard cave floor. "What are you most afraid of?" Guru Pathik prompted. "Let your fears become clear to you."
A vision of Aang crumpled like a tiny doll on the ground, looking small, cold, and lifeless, sprang to the forefront of Rinzen's mind instantly. She shuddered a little, swallowing back the growing lump in her throat as she resisted the instinct to reach for Aang's hand so that she wouldn't break his concentration on whatever his own fears were.
Even as she did her best to banish the image from her mind, it was already fading to reveal another scene that she had never imagined before, but found just as terrifying - Zuko standing at Azula's side, his cold, harsh expression matching his sister's and fire burning in his fists as they aimed at Rinzen's face. She cringed away from the vision, but to her surprise, Aang cried out in fear instead of her.
Her eyes snapped open and she found herself back in the damp, cold cavern under the Eastern Air Temple, Aang curled in on himself at her side and trembling. Guru Pathik's eyes were fixed on them, his expression still calm and unconcerned.
"Your visions are not real," he said soothingly. "You must surrender those fears. Let them flow down the creek."
Exhaling shakily, Rinzen closed her eyes again, doing her best to focus on the visions she had seen and trying to dismiss them again. Aang would be safe, she told herself firmly, and Zuko had changed. He cared too much about her and his uncle to betray them now and she was tired of doubting him. She forced the images out of her mind, pushing them away like the paper boats she and Aang had always folded and floated down a stream whenever it rained when they had been younger.
She opened her eyes again to find Aang sitting up again and breathing steadily, despite the sweat clinging to his forehead, the only sign remaining of his stress only moments earlier. He opened his eyes, glancing back up at her and giving her a small, weak smile of relief. She decided not to ask him what he had seen and settled for slipping her hand into his to squeeze his fingers tightly. He squeezed her hand back briefly, swallowing audibly.
"You have opened your Earth chakra," Guru Pathik said with a warm, proud smile. "Well done, both of you." He reached out, his bony hand patting each of them on the shoulder twice before he climbed to his feet. "Are you ready to move on?"
"Yeah." Aang got to his feet a little unsteadily and Rinzen let him pull her up as well, not daring to release his hand after what they had just gone through. If it was any indication of what was ahead, then the guru hadn't been exaggerating how difficult the process would be. Aang didn't seem eager to let go of her hand, either, lacing their fingers together as they walked with Guru Pathik out of the cavern and up the mountain trail to a rushing waterfall.
"Next is the Water chakra?" Rinzen guessed wryly as they followed the old man behind the waterfall and took a seat on the damp stone of the ledge there. The sound of the waterfall roared in her ears, nearly deafening her as Guru Pathik smiled at her.
"You may make an excellent guru yourself one of these days," he praised her. "Yes, the Water chakra is next. This chakra deals with pleasure, and is blocked by guilt." His smile faded, replaced by a serious expression as he folded himself back into the lotus position and the airbenders did the same. "Now, look at all the guilt which burdens you so. What do you blame yourself for?"
Rinzen began to close her eyes the way she had before to meditate, but Aang had already delved deep into the recesses of his mind as he spoke solemnly, "I ran away." She glanced back at him to find his eyebrows knitted together in sorrow, his expression torn and anguished even as he kept his eyes closed. "I hurt all of those people," he added, a deep pain she had never heard before in his voice, and she knew he was talking about the Earth Kingdom fortress they had visited months ago, when Katara had been taken captive by the general and Aang had entered the Avatar State, destroying the fortress in a fit of rage before Rinzen and Katara had managed to bring him back to himself.
"Accept the reality that these things happened, but do not let them cloud and poison your energy. If you are to be a positive influence on the world, you need to forgive yourself," Guru Pathik said kindly and Aang took a deep breath, releasing it and slowly nodding as he opened his eyes before looking up at Rinzen.
"Your turn?" he offered and she grimaced, not wanting to think too deeply on whatever guilts plagued her.
"I thought this was supposed to be your spiritual journey," she reminded him dryly.
"Well, it's ours now," he pointed out. "You already started the process, you gotta see it through."
She glanced at Guru Pathik for support, but he was nodding in agreement, much to her chagrin. "Aang is right. You must finish what you started, or you will never be whole."
She didn't like the thought of being incomplete, although she wasn't entirely sure what that might feel like, so she obediently closed her eyes, thinking about the times she had felt guilt in her life. There hadn't been many, of course; she attributed that to being as sheltered as she had been for most of her life, just as Aang had been. Still, there was one burden of guilt in particular that weighed heavily on her and swirled unpleasantly in her navel, more so now than it might have at any other time.
"Rin?" her brother prompted tentatively after several long moments of silence and she exhaled quietly, focusing on the roar of the waterfall cascading just feet away from them as the memory slowly came to her.
"Do you remember when we were little? Like, really little?"
"Sure," he answered, sounding confused. "We used to actually play together back then, before the monks decided we had to start our training separate from each other. What makes you feel so guilty about that?"
"You fell into a river once," she admitted. "I should've known better than to suggest we play by a flooded river during the monsoon season, but I did, and you nearly drowned before I managed to get help."
Aang was silent for a moment and Rinzen opened her eyes, wary of the expression she would find on his face, but all she saw was a small frown as he struggled to recollect the incident. "How old were we?" he asked slowly.
"You were only two years old," she answered. "I was six."
To her surprise, he rolled his eyes, a smile tugging at his lips. "We were just kids. It's not like you could've known I'd fall into the river. Is that why you're so overprotective?"
"I mean, part of the reason why," she muttered, feeling a little stung and offended by how casually he was taking it. "Why are you even smiling? I nearly got you killed!"
"I mean, that's kind of a stretch," he pointed out, his shoulders shaking slightly as he did his best to stifle a laugh at the indignation on her face. "You didn't push me in, did you?"
"No!" she insisted, feeling a stab of horror at the thought.
"And you got help, didn't you?" he pressed and she nodded.
"Monk Gyatso pulled you out. You had a fever for a week after that, but you were okay."
"See? No harm done." Aang's amused smile melted into a softer, sincere one. "Rin, you can't go on feeling guilty for everything that happens to me. I know it just means you care, but you're never gonna have a life of your own if you keep worrying about mine." He reached out and she let him grasp her hand in his own. "It was just an accident. Let it go, okay? It wasn't your fault." As she focused on his thumb rubbing over her knuckles, she released the heavy guilt with a slow exhale of breath. The unpleasant swirling sensation in her navel dissipated and when she looked up at Guru Pathik, he was nodding with a warm smile.
"Well done. You have opened your Water chakra." As they got to their feet and the old man began to lead them out from behind the waterfall to the next location, Aang knocked his shoulder against Rinzen's lightly.
"Have you really been worrying about that all these years?" he whispered to her as they walked, frowning again.
She shrugged mildly, feeling somewhat uncomfortable under his scrutinizing stare. "It's like you said, we were kids. And I thought it was my fault for a long time. I mean, to be fair, I knew you were the Avatar since you were born. The monks kind of drilled it into my head that you had to be kept safe, and I nearly let you drown. They wouldn't so much as look at me for weeks after that, except Monk Gyatso."
"I always thought the monks knew everything back then," he admitted as they followed Guru Pathik up a steep mountain trail leading to a misty peak. "But now I'm starting to think they weren't so perfect, after all. They really did a number on you."
"What's that mean?" Rinzen stopped in her tracks, frowning back at him, and he hesitated.
"It's just...look, I know you care about me, and I really appreciate how much you try to protect me. But it's like they brainwashed you or something so you'd never think about anything but keeping me safe, and that's not fair to you," he explained. He grimaced after a moment and added quickly, "Sorry. That's not the right way to word it. They didn't brainwash you, not like the Dai Li brainwashed all those people in Ba Sing Se."
"No, I get it," she reassured him, chewing her lip as she began to follow him and Guru Pathik again up the mountain. As much as she wanted to believe the monks had raised her the way they had for Aang's safety, she was beginning to think Aang had a point.
While she had originally thought Guru Pathik would take them to the very top of the mountain, he stopped on a ledge and sat down. Knowing how it would work by now, Aang and Rinzen sat beside him. So much time had passed since they had started the process that the sky was already beginning to lighten with the approaching dawn and Rinzen watched as the first dim rays of golden sunlight peeked over the horizon. She wondered if Zuko, far away as he was in Ba Sing Se, was waking up at that moment and drawing strength from the same sunrise she was seeing in front of her.
"The third chakra is the Fire chakra, located in the stomach," Guru Pathik explained, drawing her out of her thoughts, and Aang clutched at his growling stomach.
"My Fire chakra would like to eat something other than onion-banana juice," he admitted plaintively and Rinzen couldn't help but feel the emptiness of her own stomach in response.
Guru Pathik laughed, even though Aang hadn't been joking. "Good one! Moving on." He sobered up again just as quickly. "This chakra deals with willpower and is blocked by shame. What are you ashamed of? What are your biggest disappointments in yourself?"
Rinzen remained quiet, reflecting for a few moments, and just as before, Aang spoke before she could close her eyes to meditate. "I'm never gonna firebend again." The same deep pain entered his voice and she looked at him to find him opening his eyes and staring at his hands sadly.
"Aang?" she prompted softly for an explanation, the same way he had pressed her.
"The last time I did, I burned Katara," he confessed. "I can't do that to her, or anyone else again."
"You will never find balance if you deny this part of your life. You are the Avatar, and therefore, you are a firebender," Guru Pathik insisted, his tone not unkind, and Aang sighed as he closed his eyes again, drawing a deep breath and releasing it again slowly. The guru wrinkled his nose thoughtfully. "That chakra opened less like a flowing stream and more like a burping bison," he noted dryly.
As if to make his point, Aang burped slightly and Rinzen rolled her eyes. "Gross," she complained even as she closed her eyes to focus on opening her Fire chakra as well. Thinking of the Fire chakra only made her think of Zuko, and the guilt she felt whenever she had to hide anything from him about Aang or vice versa.
"I don't let people in," she said out loud, keeping her eyes shut to avoid seeing the look on Aang's face in response to her statement. "I compartmentalize too much."
"What do you mean? What are you-?" Aang broke off almost immediately as, even with her eyes closed, Rinzen could tell that Guru Pathik was raising a hand wordlessly to silence him.
Swallowing, she opened her eyes to turn and face Aang properly. "I know I don't always tell you everything, and I've always kept a lot to myself. It's one of my biggest faults."
Aang's eyebrows were furrowed slightly in concern even as he nodded a little. "It's okay, Rin. I know you're just trying to protect me. But you don't always have to."
"I know." She exhaled quietly, feeling the knot in her stomach loosen as the chakra opened. Nodding approvingly, Guru Pathik got to his feet, leading them to a fork in the mountain trail that led back to the ruins of the Eastern Air Temple rather than the peak.
"Aren't we going up?" Aang asked as they followed the old man, who shook his head.
"We will be saving the peak for last." He ushered them into an ancient shrine, seating himself on the floor of the broken building as they sat across from him. "The fourth chakra is located in the heart. It deals with love, and is blocked by grief." Rinzen already had a good idea of what grieved her as she looked up at one of the solemn statues of a female Air Nomad standing like a silent guard against the wall of the shrine. From the look on Aang's face, he was thinking along the same lines as he closed his eyes, his expression somber and melancholy. "Lay all your grief out in front of you," Guru Pathik urged. Rinzen wasn't keen on the idea, but obediently closed her eyes, focusing inward.
As if being struck by a tidal wave, the grief she had buried deep inside months ago slammed into her at full force, nearly overwhelming her, and it felt like invisible fingers had plunged into her chest and begun squeezing her heart within a vice-like grip. As she recalled how empty the temple they were currently sitting in and all the other temples were, and how they would never be filled with her people again, her eyes stung and she felt tears slip from beneath her closed eyelids before she could stop herself. She and Aang were all that was left of an entire culture and heritage, and she hardly knew the first thing about keeping it alive.
"You have indeed felt a great loss." Guru Pathik's voice penetrated through the cloud of grief and sorrow surrounding her. "But love is a form of energy, and it swirls all around us. The Air Nomads' love for you has not left this world. It is still inside of your hearts. It survives in the love you share for each other, and is reborn in the form of new love." For a moment, Rinzen thought of Zuko and felt heat rush into her face as she opened her eyes, the ache in her chest slowly fading as she dabbed at her eyes with her sleeve quickly. While the thought eased her grief just a little, she hardly even knew if what she and Zuko had could be considered love, when it was so new and unknown to her. She wasn't even sure she knew what that kind of love felt like.
Clearly, Aang did, though, because he was smiling as he opened his eyes and swiped at the tears on his cheeks. "Can I have some onion-banana juice, please?" he requested, his voice thick with emotion, and Rinzen wrapped her arm around his shoulders to pull him into a tight embrace as he buried his face into her shoulder in return.
After a brief break to gulp down another cup of onion-banana juice - Rinzen didn't know what had come over Aang, but she still hated the concoction just as much as she had before - they returned to another shrine, this time seating themselves in front of a massive statue of another female Air Nomad. She gazed serenely down at them, her stone eyes calm and unseeing, and Rinzen wondered if she would have felt this intimidated if she had grown up in the Eastern Air Temple as she had been meant to.
"Now, the fifth in the chain is the Sound chakra, located in the throat. It deals with truth, and is blocked by lies. The ones we tell ourselves." Guru Pathik studied each of the airbenders in turn and Rinzen felt like he was reaching inside her and pulling out every single lie she had ever told to lay them out in the open for all to see. Aang didn't even have to speak for the guru to see what he had been hiding. "You cannot lie about your own nature. You must accept that you are the Avatar," the old man insisted, kindly, but firmly. Aang exhaled quietly, his back straightening as if a burden had been lifted off his shoulders and yet still looking like the weight of the world was on them as he opened his eyes. "Very good, Aang," Guru Pathik praised before turning his eyes on Rinzen, who shuffled self-consciously. "Now. Is there something you would like to tell your brother?"
Wondering how he had known, Rinzen turned to face Aang, who was staring back at her so innocently that it only hurt her throat more to force the words out. "I haven't been entirely honest with you about Lee."
Aang blinked, having not expected the conversation to take that turn. "Lee?"
"That's not actually his name." She dropped her gaze away from his face, focusing on her hands in her lap instead. "It's Zuko."
Aang was silent for a long time and Rinzen hoped that he would be as accepting as he had always been, but this time, he suddenly shouted, sounding angrier than he had ever been at her before, "All this time, it's been Zuko?!" He pushed himself to his feet and she looked up warily to find him scowling down at her. "And you lied to me about it?!"
"I didn't mean to!" She pushed herself to her feet as well, wondering when her little brother had grown so tall that he was almost nose-to-nose with her. "I was going to tell you, but then one thing led to another and-"
"Great, more excuses, more lies!" He threw his hands up in the air, frustrated. "I can't believe you!" He stormed out of the shrine and Rinzen glanced at Guru Pathik, only to find him looking vaguely amused at her distress.
"I would recommend making sure he doesn't leave," he pointed out and Rinzen ran a hand through her hair agitatedly as she nodded, hurrying after Aang to find him leaning against Appa's side, but not climbing into the saddle.
"I know I messed up," she said, feeling a little helpless and unsure what to say, and he glared at her before burying his face into Appa's fur unceremoniously. Sensing Aang's misery, the bison grumbled disapprovingly at Rinzen. "Not you, too," she complained, stroking Appa's nose to soothe him before focusing back on Aang. "I thought keeping Zuko a secret would protect you."
"And how exactly does that protect me?" Aang snapped bitterly, his voice half-muffled by Appa's thick fur.
"I-" She broke off, not knowing the answer to that question herself. "I guess it doesn't," she admitted quietly, dropping her gaze to the cracked stone below her feet. "I thought the further I could keep you two apart, the safer you'd be, and the safer he'd be." Aang didn't answer, but she heard him shuffle around to face her again and looked up to find him still glowering at her, but a little less harshly than before. "I told you, my biggest fault is not letting people in when I should. It took me this long just to start trusting Zuko a little. It took him freeing Appa down in Lake Laogai to-"
"He freed Appa?" Aang interrupted suddenly, his tone softer than it had been as his fingers curled protectively into Appa's fur.
"Yeah. He's changed, Aang. He's different, better, and his uncle is, too. They've been living in Ba Sing Se for about as long as we've been there and not hurting anyone." Rinzen met her brother's eyes, silently trying to plead for forgiveness. "I shouldn't've kept them a secret from you, and I'm sorry. I should've trusted you."
"Yeah. You should've." Still, Aang relaxed slightly as he let go of Appa to close the space between himself and Rinzen, reaching for her hand as she let him take it. "You can't shut me out all the time and pretend it's for my protection when it's obviously for your own."
She winced, even though he no longer sounded angry. "I'm sorry." She clutched his hand tightly, lacing their fingers together. "It was selfish of me. I wanted to keep him for myself, as stupid as it sounds."
"Well, you're not wrong," Aang said wryly, but a smile was beginning to tug at the corner of his mouth. "You deserve to be a little selfish sometimes, but not like this. No more lies, no more secrets. Okay? Not from me, anyway."
"Okay." Rinzen managed a tiny smile back at him in return. "I really am sorry."
"I know you are." He squeezed her hand before releasing it again, starting to walk back to the shrine where they had left Guru Pathik after giving Appa one last pat to his side to reassure the bison. "Besides, I think you'll suffer enough when you tell Katara, Sokka, and Toph that I'm not upset about it anymore." He grinned cheekily back at her and she grimaced at how the others would react to Zuko's presence in Ba Sing Se. She knew that Toph wouldn't care quite as much because she lacked the history the others had had with Zuko and, to an extent, the Fire Nation altogether. But Katara and Sokka, the siblings who had lost their mother to the Fire Nation and been hunted directly by Zuko at one time, would be far less forgiving.
"I see your Sound chakra has been opened," Guru Pathik noted as the airbenders approached him again, getting to his feet and ushering them back to the mountain trail they had abandoned earlier. "I assume there won't be any further interruptions in your training?" The question was casual, but he gave them a stern look over his shoulder and they both shook their heads. "Good." He led them to another ledge similar to the one they had watched the sunrise on before. "The sixth pool of energy is the Light chakra, located in the center of the forehead. It deals with insight and is blocked by illusion. The greatest illusion of this world is the illusion of separation. Things you think are separate and different are actually one and the same."
"Like the four nations?" Aang asked as he sat down and closed his eyes to meditate, Rinzen following in his lead. As she closed her eyes, she imagined the world laid out like a map in front of her, each of the nations split by lines and colored based on their respective element. Slowly, she dismissed the colors, transforming the mental map into one unified nation.
"Yes. We are all one people, and yet live as if divided," Guru Pathik was saying as she drew herself back to the present, feeling less like a chakra had opened and more like a migraine was forming in the center of her forehead.
"Like the swamp and the tree connecting it all," she said to Aang, who nodded in agreement.
"Everything is connected."
"Exactly," Guru Pathik praised them. "Even the separation of the four elements is an illusion. If you open your mind, you will see that all the elements are one. Four parts of the same whole. Even metal is just a part of earth that has been purified and refined." Rinzen wondered vaguely if that meant earthbenders could bend metal, and if so, why no one had ever tried before.
Aang took a deep breath, exhaling before opening his eyes to smile back at Guru Pathik. "We're all connected," he repeated slowly and Guru Pathik nodded back.
"Just so." He beckoned for them to follow him up the mountain and Rinzen wondered just how much time passed whenever they entered their meditative states for each chakra they opened. The sun seemed to have only risen a few chakras ago, and yet the sky was already darkening again as they reached the mountain peak, the sun beginning to drift steadily lower toward the horizon.
"This is the last chakra, isn't it?" Aang asked as they took a seat on the flat surface of the mountaintop. The stars were beginning to become clearer in the evening sky and Rinzen tilted her head back briefly to admire the twinkling dots.
"Yes. Once you open this chakra, you will be able to go in and out of the Avatar State at will. And when you are in the Avatar State, you will have complete control and awareness of all your actions." Guru Pathik turned his clear gaze on Rinzen, who quickly took her eyes off the stars to avoid being reprimanded for not paying attention. "And you will both attain inner balance, something even some of the highest-esteemed monks never achieved."
Rinzen vaguely wondered if any of those monks had been the ones who had raised her, scolding her for putting so much as a toe out of line and punishing her strictly whenever she fell behind in her training, but was drawn out of her thoughts as Aang said firmly, "Let's do this." He shut his eyes, folding his legs in a lotus pose and withdrawing into his meditation.
"The Thought chakra is located at the crown of the head. It deals with pure cosmic energy and is blocked by earthly attachment. Meditate on what attaches you to this world," Guru Pathik instructed.
What attached her to the world? Rinzen was puzzled by the question as she closed her eyes, unsure how to even begin answering that. It was something only grown monks had ever had to ask themselves as they severed their earthly attachments and ascended to a higher state of enlightenment. What kept her grounded, away from all of that? Her first thought was Aang, and the need to protect him, but briefly, Zuko's face drifted to the forefront of her mind as well.
"Now, let all of those attachments go. Let them flow down the river. Forgotten," Guru Pathik continued, seemingly oblivious to her internal struggle.
"What?" Aang gasped, his concentration broken, and Rinzen forced her eyes open as well to find him gaping at the guru, stunned. "Why would I let go of Katara? I...I love her!"
That explained Aang's earthly attachment, and it took a moment for Rinzen to register what he had said. "You love her? You're twelve!" she pointed out incredulously and he flushed bright red.
"Shut up," he muttered, embarrassed as he elbowed her side sharply. "Like you don't feel that way about Zuko." She felt her own cheeks redden, but didn't answer, unsure what exactly to call her feelings towards Zuko.
Guru Pathik cleared his throat, causing the airbenders to sober up again. "You must learn to let her go, or you cannot let the pure cosmic energy flow in from the universe."
"Why would I choose cosmic energy over Katara? How could it be a bad thing that I feel an attachment to her? Three chakras ago, that was a good thing," Aang grumbled sullenly.
"You must learn to let her go," Guru Pathik insisted, sounding a little more stern now. "You must let both of them go," he added to Rinzen, who frowned.
"No." She got to her feet and Aang looked up at her, confused. "I can live without spiritual enlightenment," she reminded him. "You can't. As much as I hate the idea of you letting Katara go, you're gonna have to if you want to control the Avatar State."
"Why should I have to let her go when you get to keep Zuko?!" he snapped back, sounding hurt. "That's not fair!"
"He's not my only earthly attachment!" she retorted. "And excuse me if I don't want to let you go!"
Aang reeled back, looking like she had slapped him in the face. "...me?" His voice was small and she felt the anger drain away instantly as she sat back down slowly.
"Are you really surprised?" she said wryly.
"No. I guess not." Aang dropped his gaze to his knees. "I'll try to let her go," he agreed reluctantly, closing his eyes and focusing back on his meditation.
Guru Pathik turned his eyes on Rinzen again and she exhaled a little with frustration. "I can't promise it'll work, but I'll try," she promised him as she returned to her meditation as well.
She already knew well enough that she wouldn't let Aang go, but as much as it hurt her, she had to try and let Zuko go to get at least a little closer to inner balance. It felt like she was cutting through a fragile thread keeping them tied together, but just as she prepared to sever the attachment entirely, a vision swam in front of her eyes of Zuko, bound in chains and a cloth tied over his mouth in a makeshift gag as he struggled against his restraints. Where was Iroh? Why wasn't he helping Zuko escape? The horrible sensation that something was wrong made Rinzen open her eyes before she could stop herself.
"Katara!" Aang gasped as he jolted back to reality beside her.
"Zuko," she breathed, her voice sounding shaky even to her own ears as she glanced up at Aang, rattled to her core by the vision she had seen. "They're in trouble. Both of them."
Aang nodded, already climbing to his feet. "We have to go," he said apologetically to Guru Pathik, who looked alarmed as Rinzen hurried to follow Aang down the mountain trail.
"No, Aang! By choosing attachment, you have locked the chakra!" Aang stumbled to a halt and Rinzen grabbed his shoulder to steady herself before she tripped over her own feet. "If you leave now, you won't be able to go into the Avatar State at all!" Guru Pathik warned.
Rinzen bit her lip before offering quietly, "I can go back to Ba Sing Se myself, Aang. If something's wrong, I'll take care of it. You need to finish this."
"No." Aang turned his determined gaze up, meeting her eyes. "We're gonna take care of it together. Let's go." Turning his back on the guru, he headed down the mountain trail again. Rinzen didn't dare face the guru and the disappointment that was sure to be on his face, deciding to follow her brother instead.
Another update within one week?! Sound the alarms!
Yeah, this is actually one of the chapters I've been mentally writing for a very, very long time (since before I even began writing the first chapter of the first book, honestly). It's why this one is much longer than my other chapters and why it was much easier to write since I've been mentally writing the dialogue for months lol.
I hope you enjoy it!