Ch 2: In Search of the Avatar

Shang awoke to the sweet sound of seagulls and the gentle, even waves of the ocean. Slowly, she managed to open her eyes only to be blinded by the bright sun above. She stretched, yawned, and pulled herself to her feet, brushing the sand off what was left of her coat. Sand? Where was she? What happened? A glance at the young boy sleeping nearby made her relive yesterday's unfortunate event. Or was two days ago? She felt like she had been sleeping for ages.

Her first instinct was to wake up the boy, but he seemed to be having such a nice dream, she didn't want to wake him up to reality. Instead Shang tried to remember all of what happened the previous day but could only make out bits and pieces of it. She remember Don yelling something to her, then seeing the statue of Aang standing alone in the melted city, and then jumping toward the ocean with what little faith for the future she had left. She just couldn't make out all of what occurred.

She decided to take a quick dip in the ocean. Water always seemed to clear her thoughts. Shang rolled up her pants, threw off her jacket, and waded in. The water here was a lot warmer then the water back at home. How far away was she? And how did she get here? When the water was up to her waist she turned around and surveyed area. It started as a sandy beach and then some trees started a deep forest. There seemed to be no sign of civilization at all. For someone who had lived in a well structured city for her whole life, this was a very unusually.

Once she made her way back to shore she pulled her jacket back on. Something shiny fell out and landed in the sand with a thud. It glistened as Shang picked up the blue piece of glass. It seemed to be a picture of a black hole in a deep ocean. Or was it an eye? Then, it hit her as if someone had just hit her with a snowball: the chandelier, the stain glass window, the…fire nation! The fire nation was responsible for ruining her life. The more she thought about it the angrier she got. She looked at the glass piece with hatred and threw it into the ocean as far as she could.

How could the fire nation take down such a developed city? It they could take down the Northern Water Tribe they could take control over almost any other city. Aang's hard work had only lasted a good 300 years.

"We must find the new avatar," Shang thought aloud. "It's the only way to save the entire world."

Suddenly, she heard a deep growl come from inside the wooded area. First it started soft and gradually grew louder and louder. Shang rushed over to the boy and shook him awake.

"No, I wanna ride the carousel one more time Mommy." The boy was obviously still sleeping, so Shang shook him again. The growling grew louder. "Whaaaaat?" he said drowsily.

"Hurry come with me," Shang told him, but not soon enough. All of a sudden, a giant white bison jumped from the woods and tumbled Shang to the ground licking her face.

"Ahh," she cried. "You don't want to eat me. I don't taste good as you can probably can tell for yourself."

A boy Shang's age walked behind the bison laughing hysterically. "Don't worry, he won't hurt you. His name is Roxo. By the way, my name is Red." Shang couldn't see why. He had no resemblance to the color red at all. He had black shaggy hair and dark eyes.

"I'm Paca," the little boy said.

"Shang. I'm Shang. Where did you get a flying bison from? I thought they were extinct."

"No-way. The airbenders might be, but not these fellas. I saved him from the circus. Poor guy, my uncle worked him too hard." Then Shang understood. Red was from the fire nation.

"Well, what do you want from us? There is no way you are turning us in to the fire nation."

"Whoa there. I'm not taking you anywhere. Is that how you treat someone who saved your life?"

"Saved my life? What are you talking about? You are from the fire nation, right?"

"Well ya, but I am against this all powerful fire nation plan. I saw you jump and so I swoop down and saved you."

Shang was disgusted. "Well, for your information I had it all under control. I have done that many times before."

"With a child strapped to your back?" Red referred to Paca who was currently building a sand castle.

"This stuff is great," Paca was fascinated by the soft, warm substance. Shang went silent with embarrassment.

"Well, I did overhear you talking to yourself about the water avatar." Shang turned even redder with that comment. "So do you know the avatar? Because if there was ever a time we needed him most, it would be now."

"Who says it's a him?" Shang once again became furious toward his anti-female attitude.

"Well, I just assumed that since all the great role models are male that…"

"Well, don't assume," Shang cut him off. "For your information I am the great, great, great granddaughter of Princess Yue who has shown more bravery in one day then you will show in your life!"

"Sorrrry. But on to more important things…we need to find this avatar before all other elements become extinct as well."

"What's it to you?"

"Well my mother was actually an earthbender. Her and my father fell in love, but had to hide their feelings. My father being a firebender was forced to join the fire nation's army, and I haven't seen him since."

Shang felt a little bad for accusing Red now. She watched as he turned away and looked out at the ocean. "Red?" she asked. "Thank you." And with that she went over the join Paco and his sandcastle.

"All aboard!" Red called out. It was early in the morning, but everyone was already packing up their belongings. Shang shoved her coat in one of the bags tied to Roxo. Behind her Paca came running with an arm full of sand. As he ran it gradually sifted through the cracks in his arms so that when he reached Roxo there was nothing left.

"What's with the sand?" Shang laughed.

"I wanted to take some with us so I will always remember what it feels like."

Red pulled out a small teacup and handed it to Paca. He told him to fill it up and tie a piece of leather on the top so it wouldn't spill out. Paca did as he was told and placed it in the same bag as Shang's coat. He climbed up on Roxo ready for his second flight in his life, and this time he would be awake.

Shang took one last look around the place. She saw something sparkling in the corner of her eye. It was the stain glass piece. Hmm, the tide must have pushed it to shore. She picked it up and placed it back in her pocket.

"Come on Shang!" Paca yelled. Shang climbed up, Red gave a "yip, yip," and they were off to find the avatar.