Next chapter here we go!
Reviews;
akagami hime chan: It's definitely unique! I doubt anyone else in the world is going to be able to do what she does. I'm glad you liked the beginning, I didn't feel like sticking her right where the action was. So I waited a few chapters. Until this one, actually.
SNicole: Thank you for that strangely passive aggressive input. I'll try to stay original.
Guest from March 19th: Thanks, I'll try!
Darth Nefurious: I think I can manage a little more, if you promise to keep reviewing ;)
Three year olds were loud.
Lien couldn't remember herself ever being such a whiny little snot, in this life or the last. It was grating on her nerves. Little Kyu would scream her little lungs out at the slightest provocation, shattering the peace of the desert. What was more, she never sleeped. Slept. Lien was too tired to remember what language was.
As soon as Kyu discovered words she had been a terror, ordering those three times her size and burying them if they didn't listen to her. Lien was good as a fire bender, but Kyu was a prodigy as an earth bender. It was as if she was a part of the desert herself.
Shin Yun, Kyu's father, was as proud as a peacock in the face of his daughter's tantrums. Declared that she was going to be a leader one day.
With a mutter of 'tyrant', Lien would declare that she was going sailing.
After her first adventure on her own she had become enamored with the art of solo sailing, and infatuated with the Library. Every opportunity she had she was disappearing for days at a time to spend there, surrounded by books and Seekers, and occasionally Wan Shi Tong himself.
He didn't say as much, but she thought that he had missed having people visit his library.
It was so big she could get lost in it. Literally. If she wasn't so good at keeping her bearing she would have never found her way out that first time. Peter was a help of course, and a dear companion on her search for knowledge. She adored the little fox, and brought him treats whenever she could. Jerky, spiced fruits, and dried vegetables were not rarities in the Si Wong, but he appreciated them any ways.
Lien appreciated the vast knowledge she was amassing. Over the years she had used what was in the library to refine and hone her craft, never practicing around anything that might catch fire. She knew a dozen forms and a hundred dances she could perform, to try and amuse her little sister.
Perhaps her absence would have been noticed more if not for Kyu, but such thoughts were not worth dwelling on. Shuya always loved her, more than anything else in the world.
Kyu, on the other hand, hated her. The only time she liked her sister was when she was threatening to turn into a pile of ash.
Shin Yun was not against or for his step daughter. Daughter? They had a working relationship. He understood that she would not take unreasonable orders and she accepted that she had to share her mother now. It was neither strained nor comfortable. They were neutral.
Her aunt, on the other hand, disliked Shin Yun. She had a passion for children and seeing one run so wild, and run Shuya so ragged, almost had the non-bender up in arms over it. She had no respect for the man or the fact that he refused to step up and take a guiding hand in his daughter's life, especially when she was so intent on making others do her bidding.
Ghashiun was still a little mama's boy, doing anything that Yulduz asked of him as soon as the question was posed. He loved his mother like no other. Respected her beyond even what he paid his father, who let it go as long as he wasn't causing trouble. He was so happy with her in his life that, when she eventually passed away, he was devastated. Broken.
Mischief became his one companion.
Lien had better company. Between her mother, her friends in the tribe, and her fuzzy companions the girl was never alone for long, unless she was seeking solitude. If that was the case she was getting very good as sitting down, closing her eyes, and getting rid of the world around her.
Though sometimes when she did so for too long sparks of color would start creeping into her vision and she would have to leave, before she started to dream strange dreams. It was never her intention to fall asleep, but it did happen.
And the dreams she had were truly, truly bizarre.
Four year olds were loud.
Or so Lien had told him. Wan Shi Tong doubted that he had ever had any four year olds in his library, and so could neither confirm nor deny this information. He took is to be truth. Lien, after all, was not a liar.
Not like many humans were proving to be these days. It made the owls blood boil with the thought.
Something else seemed to be boiling in the Library as well. Or at the very least heating up.
With a flap of his great wings the spirit was off the stone and into the air, soaring through the high arches of his palace of knowledge, towards the crossing Bridgeway's where Lien made her entrance when she stopped by.
This day the intersection glowed softly with fire, far from any documents that might catch on fire. A consideration of his most popular patron on this midnight visit.
When he landed on the bridge his head tilted to far it may have been upside down for a bit there.
"What," he began slowly, "Are you doing, to my Knowledge Seeker?"
It was a far question. He couldn't think of any reason why she would be kneeling next to one that had laid itself on the ground at her knees, running her hand back and forth in the air above the small creature's body. Fire floated between her palm and his fur, flickering with colors beyond the normal spectrum.
The fire faded with a long exhale of the girl. She had always kept the word she had given him when she arrived. That she did not intend to destroy.
Lien lifted her eyes to his own, a spark of amber against fathomless obsidian.
"Did you know that spirits are made almost entirely out of energy?" she quizzed. Her hands slid around, catching a stick sitting at her side and a small book at her lap. It was already filled with notes and now, before his eyes, she began a diagram.
"I did," he confirmed, lifting his head to watch her form the shape of the Seeker still on the tiled floor. Its eyes were closed, and it seemed perfectly as peace.
"I've been mapping the way the energy moves inside of them," she nodded towards the small creature, "and inside of humans too. I found some chi diagrams, well, he did, and I poked around with it and played with some of my cousins, and it's really interesting. I found out that if I concentrate I can feel the energy moving inside of them, and even straighten out it's flow if somethings gone wrong."
She went on, telling him of all her experiments while the lead slid after the strokes of her hand. Slowly, her words fell away. The spirit lifted his gaze along with the girl and his Seeker to the sky. Where the moon had once hung, full and pure, now floated a perfect circle of red.
Lien sucked in a sharp breath and je felt his feathers ruffle where she moved to his side, pressing into it along with the Seeker. They were joined with more, dozens of foxes pressing in. They could feel what he did, see what was clear. The wrongness in the world. The balance destroyed.
"Oh hell," the little human breathed.
The owl snorted disdainfully. "Not hell," he snapped, "Humans."
Five year olds were loud.
They were demanding and bossy and by then Lien had had enough of them. Ghashuin wasn't much better. He was a teenager, filled with anger at the world over the death of his mother. He stole and tricked and lied. He gave all of their people a bad name and Lien was as sick of him as she was of Kyu.
Shuya was a strong woman who loved her family, her daughters, and her husband but she had started to grow weary of the lack of discipline coming from Shin Yun. It had arguments spouting about almost everything.
Lien made a point to stay as far from the conflict as she could. She hated fighting, and planned to avoid it for as long as she could.
Often times that meant going to the Library. She had spent years there, learning all sorts of things. Different types of plants, the history of the world, fire bending tricks. She was even getting to the point where she could create the sparks that she had so desired upon her first entry.
It was nice there. The spirits were friendly and enjoyed her presence, Wan Shi Tong himself had even deigned lower himself to directly teaching her Pai Sho. It was a confusing game and she was not fond of it, seeing as she lost every game she played against the spirits, but it was something to pass the time and to her, something special.
She was watching a game in the corner of the Misty Palms Tavern when she felt new comers arrive. Two benders, three non, and someone with the most energy she had ever felt coursing through his veins. It was enough that she turned confused eyes away from the match to watch a quartet walk into the building. Two girls, two boys, and flying lemur.
Her heart sunk and skipped at once.
On the night of the death of the moon she had finally understood when she had arrived, and she finally knew who her father was. Not just some fire nation soldier who happened across the desert and died within it. He was there to find something. And he had disappeared because he'd found it.
Lien frowned at the Team as they made their way through the establishment, running into the professor who had been hunting the sands for months. She would have helped him, but after the lunar eclipse Wan Shi Tong had made her swear not to show another where his Library was.
If they were here, that same Library would soon be gone.
It was a necessary loss, she knew. After all, how else would they know about the Day of Black Sun? How else would they know when to launch the attack doomed to fail? Everything happened for a reason.
But maybe, just maybe, this didn't.
With a half formed plot in mind the young fire bender lifted to her feet and moved over to the door. If she knew her people someone would be outside already, looking at Appa. He would fetch a high price to anyone in the world, and the sand bender tribes were always looking for ways to better their lot.
It was a part of living in the desert. She was no more free of theft than any other, though she was also skilled enough to make fair money off of her crafts.
As she predicted there was already a gathering around, numerous eyes on the beast. One group of three was already next to him, testing how close they could get. She knew those three all to well.
"Ghashiun!" she barked, moving forwards. The sand twisted beneath her feet, sinking her steps down. Appa made some low groan into the air, trying to move away from the encroaching poachers. She felt the immense energy of the Avatar moving out of the business and mentally congratulated herself on being crafty. Too much time with the Knowledge Seekers.
Her cousin turn to her and scowled, most of it hidden by his mask. Her face was in the same state, so they were reduced to glared and body language for physical communication.
"Go back inside, Lien, we're busy," he snapped, striding towards her. Very purposefully the girl put herself between her cousin and the Flying Bison.
"Busy getting into more trouble. We're doing well this year, there's no reason to bother with something like this. Go back to the Commune, I'm sure your father is looking for you right now," her arms crossed over her chest, defensive. She wasn't moving.
Ghashiun snorted, the sound muffled. "What, like your mom is looking for you?"
His harsh words made the girl flinch back. Her hands curled into fists at her sides. The words were out of her mouth before she could stop them.
"At least I still have one."
The air around them went totally still before Ghashiun threw a wave of sand at her with a shout of rage. Lien threw herself to the side, rolling on the sand and back to her feet in one smooth movement, just in time to push her hands in front of her, erupting with raw heat and glazing a new twist that her cousin tried to wrap around her. Before he could continue his onslaught his friends grabbed his arms, dragging him forcibly away from his clansman.
She was left standing in a surprising elegant vortex of glass.
"Lien?" It was the professor. They had spoken numerous times since his arrival in the desert months before, about how to not die, about the best way to translate old languages. He was nice enough. A bit eccentric.
The young fire bender stood up straight and turned to see the professor, standing next to Appa, with the rest of the Gaang standing around him, staring at her. Or at least in her general direction.
It occurred to her that it was a good thing she had used heat instead of fire, or that might have been the opposite of productive.
The glowing glass was cooling steadily as she leapt over the edges of the new contemporary art, managing to only touch it once, not long enough to burn her.
"Hello Professor," she greeted, dusting herself off. She really hoped that none of them understood how glass was made. Given that it wasn't often used in this era she figured she was at least a little bit safe.
"That was quite the show, is everything alright?" he asked, sizing her up. The others were watching her as well, curious. If she wasn't used to living in a desert she might have broken into a sweat. She was so nervous. She wanted to keep her library, badly. It was her favorite place on earth.
Lien waved her hand as flippantly as she could with it weighted with her bandages. "Fine, fine. Ghashiun just wanted to figure out how much the bison was worth."
"Worth?" Aang asked, frowning at her. She didn't blame him. Appa was his best friend, after all.
"Yeah, you know. How much he could sell him for," Lien elaborated. Damn. She really hadn't thought this all the way through. How was she going to invite herself along?
"But Appa isn't for sale!" Aang looked horrified. Lien merely shrugged.
"My cousin is trouble," was all she could really say.
She felt bad about it. Ghashiun was family, no matter how much of a jerk he could be. She shouldn't be throwing him under the bus like that for her own personal gain.
Although in the long run, it might work out better for him.
Switching tracks smoothly Lien looked up at Appa, who was much bigger than she first expected. He was massive, and his eyes were wide, locked onto her.
"Professor, what are you doing with a Flying Bison?" she quizzed, letting her gaze fall to the man. She trusted the sand to cloud Toph's 'vision'. Hopefully her home would not fail her.
Just as she had expected, Zei's face lit up with his excitement.
The man had always reminded her of some kind of puppy, easy to get the attention of and hard to dissuade of chasing something shiny. This time was no different from any other.
"Oh, this magnificent creature is going to help us find Wan Shi Tong's Library. Isn't that wonderful?" he was grinning like a fool.
Behind her cloth Lien smiled warmly. This poor man, so obsessed with knowledge just for the sake of it. It was his one true love and he knew so much already. The Archeologist was just too curious for his own good. The fact made the girl a bit sad. He was going to be going to the Spirit World soon, if she didn't do anything about it.
Her mouth was open, about to try and weasel her way into the adventure when the time was saved by Zei.
"Would you like to come too?"