The Fifth Element

The flying Bison glided effortlessly through the air, two of its three passengers sleeping fitfully upon its broad back. Only one remained awake to steer. His name was Aang, and he was the Avatar. A being who was to be master of all four elements and the one who was supposed to bring peace back to the middle kingdom.

Right now, he was simply hungry.

He looked back over his shoulder. "Hey, Sokka, Katara, wake up back there!" He called out happily. He had lost all his friends, his family and now, these two water-tribemen were his family. "Where are we?"

Katara sat up sleepily and rubbed her eyes. "Hmm?" She said, as she tried to focus. She ignored her brother Sokka's incomprehensible complaints as he woke up from his deep sleep and she peered over the bison's side to the ground below. "Hmm…" she pondered. "I think we are still over the Earth Nation." She pulled out a small map and fought to keep it steady in the breeze. "Yep," she confirmed. "Here we are. Near the town of Greystone."

Aang raised an eyebrow. "They named a town Greystone?"

Katara shrugged as Sokka, now fully awake, quipped. "Hey, it's Earth Nation, whaddaya expect?"

Aang giggled as he turned around again. Then it hit him; "Hey!" he said. "I know someone there. Uh, well I used to..." he looked back at his friends again. "Do you think he might still be alive? He was my age before..." Aang's voice trailed off, like it usually did when he was pained about his past.

Katara noticed this and she frowned. She hated to see him hurt in any way. "Well, we could go look." She suggested.

The avatar's face lit up like a small sun. "Alright!" he shouted and raised a hand into the air. He pulled slightly on the reigns and the bison responded into a steep dive. The action made both Katara and Sokka hang on for dear life, and Katara barely managed to hang onto the map.

Soon, they landed just outside the village. They had learned long ago not to land a flying bison inside any city, as it made the residents nervous and frightened. That and it tended to attract attention, and -that- attracted their Fire Nation pursuers.

The village was quiet and devoid of people when they finally entered. It was unusual for the early time of day for such, as the town should bustle with activity. The trio looked around in curiosity. It didn't appear the village was abandoned, as farm animals grazed nearby, fresh flowers grew in doorway stone pots, and the homes looked in good repair, there was even bunches of vibrant yellow flowers growing throughout the entire village.

Sokka was the first to speak. "Ok, does anyone else think this is just weird?" his voice seemed loud in the unnatural quiet, and both Katara and Aang winced. "Oops." He added.

As they walked through the village, they saw more of the same. Quiet homes, empty shops, and yellow flowers. Katara walked up to a group of the brilliant plants and leaned towards them for a closer look. "Beautiful flowers." She said, breathing in their delicate scent. "Do you think they are having some sort of festival?"

Suddenly a voice hissed at them from a doorway, "In here!" it whispered urgently. All three turned that direction and walked to the doorway. There was a woman inside peering out from the crack. "You have to leave." She said without preamble. "Now!"

Aang wasn't put off so easily. "But, why? We just got here..." he started to say.

She cut him off. "It's not safe here. Leave before you are infected like the others."

The three teenagers blinked. "Infected?" Sokka said. "Like the others?" He nodded. "Ok, we're gone. Sorry to bother you. See you later." He turned to walk away with the full intent of leaving.

Aang nodded with a bit of sadness. He did not want to think about what fate may have befallen his friend, so he turned with Sokka to leave as well. He took three steps and then turned back to look at Katara...and he stopped abruptly.

Katara had collapsed on the ground behind them.

Sokka and Aang ran to her side immediately. Her breathing was shallow, and a pale, sickly yellow tint had tinged the edges of her face, along her hairline. "Katara!" Sokka cried urgently. He'd never seen his sister in such a state, and, more then he'd care to admit, it scared him.

It scared Aang too. Despite anything else, he knew he had feelings for her, he knew better then to voice those feelings as well, but he still had them. It sickened him to think that Katara was hurt, and now it tore at his heart to see her this way too. "Wake up Katara!" he cried.

Her eyes fluttered open briefly, unfocused and cloudy, before they closed again. Aang leapt to his feet, with the intent to knock on every door until he could find someone to help her. He didn't have to, as a large calloused hand fell on his shoulder.

The hand belonged to an old woman. She gestured to them and spoke softly "Bring her this way." She led them to one of the smaller huts and opened the door. Inside there were two others that lie in the front room on thick fur rugs. Both looked like Katara but worse. Black veins, like macabre spider webs crisscrossed their foreheads and temples. Their arms were a lattice work of the same black veins. Shallow irregular breaths accompanied his weak heartbeat and pallid complexion. The two boys couldn't help but feel apprehensive as they set Katara beside the others.

The woman placed a damp cloth on Katara's head. "You should not have come here." She whispered. "We will all die eventually..." Her eyes raked over the two boys with sad malice. "Including you."

Aang still knelt beside Katara and gazed at her softly. "What happened here?" He asked. In hindsight, he recognized the air of the village. He's seen this before, long ago. Entire villages afflicted with strange diseases. Strange afflictions that seemed to spring up from nowhere, kill off entire nations then disappear just as quickly. His old teachers could only site the whims of the gods, the spirits of the lands. Each one had told him, as the Avatar, it would be his responsibility, his duty to cleanse the lands, and heal the people.

But, he didn't know how.

Oblivious to the turmoil that ran through Aang's head, the old woman answered. "We have angered the spirits of this land." She nodded even as her voice shook. "We don't know what we did, but that must be the reason for such madness, such horrible death. We have unleashed a toxic spirit."

Sokka didn't know much about such things. In truth they bored him. He was a warrior and things like this were best left to people like his sister, and gran gran. But he nodded. "But you can appease it?" he asked. It had always been his belief that anything can be made right again, no matter how bad things seemed. Surely this is the same way.

But the woman shook her head. "We have tried. But the flowers still grow in our village, and no one dares to get close enough to them to pluck them out. Eventually they will overrun the village and kill us all."

Aang blinked. "But...but you could just leave" He reasoned.

"No." The woman answered. "This is our home. Where would we go? We are a simple Earth village. The Fire Nation would sooner destroy us then help us. And there are few Earth kingdom villages near enough that we could make it to, besides that...we would not want to spread this malady to our brothers. We are all doomed."

The Avatar shook his head and jumped to his feet. "No!" he cried out. "No. I have to believe there is hope. There must be a cure." The lady simply looked away sadly. "There must be..." his voice trailed away as he sunk back down to his knees. "I'm the Avatar...I have to be able to help."

At that the woman lifted her head. "You are the Avatar?" She asked breathlessly. When Aang nodded mutely she took his hand. "Perhaps, perhaps then there IS a way." She stood up with difficulty and hobbled to a small chest. From it, she pulled out an old yellowed parchment and handed it to Aang.

"Perhaps you are familiar with the legend of the Life-benders?" she asked.

Aang thought back. He'd heard tales of such beings. One such being was born once in a generation and only one to each element. Extremely rare and valuable, kings would find one and sequester them away for their kingdom or themselves. They were worth a ransom in valuables and because of that any Life-bender was either hidden away deeply or hunted down and imprisoned. He nodded "I think so, could one of them heal your people?"

The woman nodded. "I believe so, yes. Legends say they can bend flesh and bone like the four elements. If anyone can heal your friend, and our village, is this Life-bender."

Hope alighted in both Aang's and Sokka's eyes and Sokka stood up. "Do you know where one is?" When the woman shook her head, his face fell.

The woman quickly continued. But," She said. "I think I know someone who might know." She unrolled the map. "Here is the mountain of Bali, it's a volcano, and long ago it erupted and destroyed a large city. The city is now home to very aggressive spirits but here," she pointed at the mountains peak, "Here, lives an old sage. It's rumored he trained with Avatar Roku. If anyone knows where this Bender is, it would be him."

They thanked the woman and then flew out the door, back to the bison. Within minutes, full of newfound hope, they were on their way to Mt. Bali.