The Judgment Cave was a branch off from the main cavern, connected by a thin, worn-smooth tunnel that had been created by magma flow centuries before. The tunnel was almost impossible to reach or escape from without the skills of an airbender, which is what made it an ideal place to hold tribal meetings where non-airbending prisoners were involved.
Katara, Sokka, and Toph were carried from ground level to the tunnel's entrance. They made their way painstakingly up the steep slope of the tunnel. Once, Sokka slipped on the worn surface of the tunnel's floor and had to be hoisted up by the guard that led their group. As they were finally led into the chamber, the waterbender noticed a small stone ledge, only a couple feet above the floor of the chamber. On that ledge sat three windthrowers. In between two other windthrowers was Akiko.
She sat stone-still, passively observing the procession as they made their way toward the center of the large, dome-shaped cavern. Katara met her gaze and held it boldly. A flicker of a smile crossed Akiko's face before it disappeared into the depths of her suspicious brown eyes.
The prisoners were forced to their knees on a green, woven mat in front of the three Elders, and their guards took up their respective positions behind each of the three.
Toph could feel Aang's light steps through the earth long before he entered the cavern, flanked by two guards. She leaned over and nudged Katara with her shoulder, and gestured toward the Avatar with a jerk of her head.
When the waterbender caught sight of him, bound and blindfolded, she shouted out to him before the guards could silence her.
"Aang!" she cried, and he smiled when he heard her voice. The airbender tried to wave, but his tied hands made the action difficult.
A guard struck her lightly in the center of her back with his staff, and she fell forward with a grunt of pain.
As soon as the novelty of the new arrival wore off, Katara felt the gravitational center of the chamber shift from Aang to the three elders who sat impassively upon their pedestals.
This was the first time that Katara got a good look at the two elders that sat on either side of Akiko.
To her right sat an old, wrinkled man, whose skin was criss-crossed with lines and age spots. His brown robes were baggy and fit him awkwardly. They looked as though they had been shredded and patched back together again. Despite this, he sat straight-backed and with a humble dignity that bespoke of solemn wisdom. He had a wispy white beard that barely clung to his chin, and his bushy gray eyebrows shrouded his eyes in shadow. His pale skin was streaked with dirt, just as all the other windthrowers, though in his case it seemed to be mostly unintentional rather than due to strategy. A cloud of dust seemed to hang in the air about him, illuminated by rays of sunlight filtering into the cavern through the many vents in the ceiling.
To Akiko's left sat a young man, who looked to be only a couple years older than Sokka. Hardly someone Katara would categorize as an 'elder,' the teen was clothed in green like the matriarch beside him, distinguished in some way from the others. A wooden, beaded pendant hung from his neck, bearing the traditional three-swirl insignia of the Air Nomads. It was smaller than the one Akiko wore.
Sokka leaned over discreetly and murmured something in Toph's ear.
"What?" Katara whispered hastily, not taking her eyes off of the trio before them.
Sokka inched closer and repeated what he had said. "They're wearing one of those necklaces…remember? Like the Air Nomads wore."
"Maybe it's some sort of symbol of authority?" Toph suggested.
"Quiet!" Souta demanded, silencing them.
For good measure, the guard behind Toph struck her in the shoulder with the edge of his staff. Reeling, the earthbender hissed angrily through her teeth. She wanted so badly to bury the guard in the volcano, and she would've done it too, had Sokka not nudged her with his elbow in warning. Instead, she just scowled vengefully and bowed her head, allowing her thick bangs to obscure her face.
"Let this tribunal now come to order," Akiko announced when the chamber was quiet once more. She spread her arms, and pointed directly at the two water tribe siblings and the earthbender between them. "You have received your instructions. Have you chosen a spokesperson?"
Katara and Toph turned toward Sokka.
"Me?" he questioned, his voice cracking up several octaves.
Katara eyed him encouragingly, and Toph just shrugged. Annoyed at their hesitation, Souta hoisted Sokka up by the belt and forced the warrior forward.
"Yes, um, Your Honor," Sokka responded nervously, clearing his throat.
"Very well," Akiko laced her fingers together beneath her chin. "Proceed."
As Sokka began his long-winded tale, Aang allowed his mind to drift. Blinking into the crimson fabric wrapped around his eyes, the airbender suppressed the desire to sigh. If he could only get this blindfold off. He would've liked to see for himself the condition of his friends, to make sure they were okay. Katara's stressed greeting had been a little more unnerving than it was comforting…darn, this stupid blindfold!
Instead of wallowing in his annoyance, Aang decided to shift gears, and focused on the hazy vibrations in the ground. His earth-sight was still far inferior to Toph's, but he could make out the fuzzy figures of his friends, kneeling on the ground, and the guards behind each of them. At his back, he could feel the anxious shifting of Gorou's feet and…from somewhere…the burning of someone's gaze tearing through his blindfold.
It was nearly ten minutes later when Sokka finished.
"...and, so yeah. That's basically how we ended up here."
The thick, thoughtful silence that followed weighed heavily on Aang's mind. He could barely make out the shifting of the water tribe siblings weight as they stole a glance at him. Why? He wondered, blinking into the fabric of his blindfold.
He once more felt the burn of someone's gaze focusing intently upon him.
A voice in the silence…a raspy voice, weakened by age, but nonetheless strengthened by authority…rang upon the airbender's ears.
"Gorou," the voice commanded, "Would you remove the blindfold, and release this boy from his bonds?"
And so it was done.
Aang blinked as his eyes adjusted to the light, and rubbed his sore wrists as they were released. He craned his neck upward to get a look at the man who had ordered him to be freed, and was surprised to see a cloud of dust illuminating the air around him. Aang glanced toward Akiko, and saw the expression of perplexity that flashed from beneath a carefully neutral mask. On the other side of her sat a teen who Aang had not seen before, regarding him with a cold stare.
Aang's eyes drifted back toward the old man as the old windthrower addressed him.
"What say you, boy?" the old man inquired. "Are you truly the Avatar of forgotten legend?"
Aang was dumbstruck. Something in the old man's eyes had hold of his attention, something in the creases of his wrinkled brow and the dust about him.
"Can I…" the airbender sputtered, "Can I ask…you a question?"
"Of course, young one," the old man agreed.
"Which of our Temples were you born in?"
Before the old man could reply, the voice of the third elder—the teen—resounded for the first time.
"This is not standard tribunal protocol," he interrupted angrily, "The prisoners do not ask questions. They do not speak. By allowing this hearing, we are defying the very basis of our law!"
Aang stared at him incredulously. "Defying?" he demanded, "Defying our law? What have you become? You, the airbenders who once believed in beauty and freedom! You, the descendents of those who once spread love to all four corners of the earth! You, who upon your capture and escape turned from all that is good and true to that which is deceptive and cruel! You defied our sacred law by turning to violence and manslaughter! You've become no better than the Fire Nation who kills and conquers all that it sees! I'm ashamed to see how far you have fallen, and I'm ashamed to call myself that which you have become…I am no windthrower. I am an Air Nomad…and in that I see that I am truly alone in the world!"
Upon finishing, Aang gasped for breath, having not paused at all during his outburst. He stared hard at the dark volcanic rock beneath his knees, and placed both his palms flat on the warm stone, simmering with a fading anger.
Shocked silence echoed throughout the cavern.
"How can this be?" It was the choked voice of the old man who broke the silence, and Aang brought his head up once more to level the old man with his electric gray gaze. "How can it be that I have lived my life in desolation, never realizing until this day that I have led my people astray?" The man touched his wrists and pulled up his sleeves, laying bare the blue arrows that marked his hands and arms. Aang blinked in shock.
"I thought I was a master…I thought I deserved the title, as you did." The old man met Aang's gaze, his bare forehead wrinkling with anguish. "But after you disappeared, my training was put on hold, and I never received mastery."
Aang blinked in realization, noting the old man's dirty clothing and finally recognizing the familiar gleam in his eye. "Jinju?" His voice was disbelieving. "Is that you?"
A/N: If you love puppies and/or kitties you will review! :P Por favor?
