Water, earth, fire, air... Long ago, the four nations lived together in harmony. Then, everything changed when the fire nation attacked. Only the Avatar, master of all four elements, could stop them. But when the world needed him most, he vanished.
A hundred years passed and the new Avatar, an airbender named Aang, was discovered. Now travelling by his side are Katara and Sokka of the Southern Water Tribe, and Ashlynn... An ex-member of the Fire nation, and Prince Zuko's lifelong companion...
"That looks like a pretty good place to rest for the night," Ashlynn suggested. She pointed out over the ridge of Appa's saddle to a dry landscape below a few yards away. "Sure, looks promising, there's a nice bit of forest nearby for firewood, and plenty of clear space to set up the tent," Aang agreed.
Aang turned Appa towards the selected campsite, and landed him safely on the flat ground. The sun was low in the sky, and the nocturnal animals of the forest were beginning to emerge from their sleeping spots. Crickets could be heard on and off every couple of minutes.
"Hey Katara, how 'bout you and I go collect some firewood. Sokka can set up the tent, and Aang can scrap for food," Ashlynn said with a cheerful grin. "Great idea," Katara agreed with an eager nod, and together they sauntered into the neighboring woods.
A half an hour later Katara and Ashlynn returned with plenty of firewood. Aang hadn't returned, and Sokka had just finished setting up the tent. Katara glared impatiently at him as he negligently tossed the tarp into the undersized tent.
"You're not going to set up the tarp?" Katara inquired. "No, the tarp makes a nice blanket," Sokka answered. "…What if it rains?" Katara retorted while tapping her foot impatiently.
"Katara… have you looked at where we are? It's not going to rain, it's too dry out here. This place looks like it hasn't had a good dose of rain in ages," Sokka nagged in return.
"Suit yourself," Katara said, and chucked her bundle of firewood at him just as Aang returned with the evening 'grub'.
"If you guys can't get along, why don't you just switch jobs? From now on, Sokka can help with the firewood, and Katara can set up the tent. That way, it gets done how everyone wants it too," Aang said while presenting their meal. "Sounds good," Katara and Sokka replied with annoyance.
Sokka took the bundle of firewood, and ignited the fire. Ashlynn wrapped herself in a blanket, and sat next to the blaze to keep warm. Sokka joined her after he made sure the fire wouldn't go out, and Aang joined them while Katara cooked their meal.
"So, we must be pretty close to the ---"
"Great Divide" Aang interjected. Ashlynn paused for a moment, then nodded to show that's what she was going to say. "You ever have been there?" Aang asked. Ashlynn nodded. "I haven't actually been there… I've just passed by it. I've traveled to most every corner of the world with Zuko."
Sokka yawned. "Know what, I think I'm going to hit the hay," he said after a stretch. "That sounds like a good idea, we need to get our strength anyways," Ashlynn nodded. With that, Katara put the fire out with some water-bending, and then the four companions crawled into the miniscule tent and fell asleep.
In the morning, Aang guided his friends to the Great Divide. The Great Divide was a vast and rocky canyon that split into two paths, but essentially both paths led to the other end out of the canyon. Sokka had little interest in it, and Ashlynn had already seen it. Katara stared out at in awe.
"Well know what Katara; we've got a sky bison. We don't NEED to cross this canyon on foot," Sokka said lethargically. Just then, a man dressed in an ostentatious silken robe shoved right past Sokka and stopped at Katara's feet.
"If you're looking for the canyon guide, we were here first! We arrived before you, so he's taking our team across before he takes yours!" the pompous man demanded while waving an arrogant finger at Katara.
"Calm down man, we already heard… You're first," Sokka said. "Don't tell me to calm down! You wouldn't be calm if your village was destroyed, and you found out the only way to get to the earth kingdom city of Ba Sing Se was through this good for nothing spit of land," the man shouted back.
"Ba Sing Se?" Ashlynn asked, suddenly interested. She still had vivid memories of Iroh's loss at Ba Sing Se. "You guys must be refugees!" Katara exclaimed.
Next, a group of barbarian-looking men tramped out of the forest, looking mean and hygienically deprived. "I'm guessing they're not your team," Ashlynn said, staring at the mob of uncivilized looking men. "They most certainly aren't. They're our enemy tribe. We've been enemies for a hundred years," the fancy man explained.
"I've already reserved a spot, so you will all just have to wait your turn, you flea-bitten mongrels," the robed man threatened. "Oh please, the canyon guide doesn't even take reservations," said the head-man of the opposing group.
Just as the man and the group began to bicker, the canyon guide made his appearance. He was a chubby old man, who could earth bend just as was said of him. After he'd appeared, the remaining team of the lavishly clad man arrived as well.
Then, Aang, Katara, Ashlynn and Sokka watched with disbelief as the two tribes bickered and argued over which team had the priority in being led across the canyon. "We should do something," Ashlynn said as she watched the canyon guide's face grow red with stress and embarrassment. Aang sighed, and stepped forward.
"Alright, although you guys may not like it, this is what's going to happen. My sky bison Appa will fly your sick and elderly across the canyon, while the rest of us travel together as a group," Aang explained. The groups murmured amongst themselves for a moment, and then nodded in agreement.
The canyon guide then proceeded to tell the groups that food wasn't permitted because it would attract beasts and bugs of all kinds that would lead them to an unfortunate death. So, while Aang loaded the sick and elderly men into Appa's saddle, the teams ate the food they'd brought with them.
Once the groups had finished eating and Appa had flown off for the other side the canyon guide had everyone follow him to make the descent down into the canyon. When it was appropriate, he'd earth bend a passageway so everyone could walk across safely.
"I can't believe we got mixed up in this," Ashlynn muttered to Sokka and Katara. Katara shushed Ashlynn to be quiet so she could listen to the canyon guide talk about how the canyon was formed by earth-bending spirits. Sokka gave his sister an exasperated glare, but gave Ashlynn a nod of agreement.
Again, when it was appropriate, the canyon guide would prevent landslides and every so often he'd create his own landslide behind them to get rid of their tracks so the fire nation wouldn't find them. At one point the self-created landslides caused too much of a racket, and one of the canyon bugs the guide had warned about attacked the group.
The creature was a four-legged beast, taller than the average height of a man, and thin with pointed feelers. It snagged the guide by the collar of his clothing, and began shaking him around in the air like a dog would a toy. While Katara, Sokka, and Aang fought off the creature, Ashlynn kept the villagers under control, and preventing them from suddenly panicking. One of the men in the crowd screamed as they watched the creature toss the canyon guide with such a force that the sound of breaking bones was emitted when the guide collided with a rock.
Aang scared off the creature, and Katara ran to the old man to check on him. Ashlynn did the same, while Sokka took over keeping the teams calm.
"It looks like his arms are broken," Ashlynn said. The man groaned in pain, and explained that if his arms were broken he wouldn't be able to bend their way out of the canyon. "Then… we're trapped here…" Aang said with shock.
"Here, I'll bandage your arms while we think of something to do," Katara sighed. She retrieved some of the remaining bandages, and made a cast for the guide so his arms wouldn't limp and cause him pain. "I thought we wouldn't have to deal with these things if we didn't have any food," Sokka asked.
As soon as he mentioned the food, the two tribes began accusing one another of sneaking food on the trip.
"Alright everyone, shut the holes on your faces," Aang screamed impatiently. "It's obvious that we need to get out of here safely. I thought we could work together on this, but I guess I was wrong."
Aang air-bended his way to a higher ledge so that he could speak to the group as a whole, rather than looking back and forth between parted teams. It was then that Ashlynn noticed that they'd reach the portion in which the canyon broke off into two halved canyons; the two passageways that lead through to the end.
"Zhang's, you go on this side," Aang said, and pointed to the left passageway. "…And Gon-Jins- you go that way," Aang said and pointed to the right. The teams agreed, and took off in their designated directions. Aang then hopped down from the ledge he was on, and confronted Katara, Sokka and Ashlynn.
"I think it's best we split up and found out why these two groups hate each other so much," Aang contemplated aloud. "Good idea Aang. I'll go with the Zhang's," Ashlynn offered. "And I'll go with the Gon-Jins," Katara said after. Sokka hesitated a moment, then said he'd join Ashlynn. "Good, I'll try and give equal attention to the groups," Aang said. With that as the final word, they split up and went with their chosen teams.
"How do you want to go about asking them how they came to hate the Gon-Jins?" Ashlynn asked Sokka as they paced behind the Zhangs at a moderate pace. "I have no clue, but we'll think of something," Sokka said. Ashlynn smiled, and nodded.
When the sun had begun to set, the group paused to set up camp. Sokka was overjoyed to find that the Zhang's shared his opinion on 'tarps'. When it was really dark, a campfire was set up to keep everyone warm and comfortable. The campfire of the other group twinkled several yards away. As it began to die down, the leader of the Zhang's extracted a chunk of meat from within his clothing.
He offered a chunk of meat to Ashlynn and Sokka. Sokka took it happily and immediately gobbled the meat down. Ashlynn hesitated. "I thought we couldn't have food?"
"You're right, we can't. But, when you think about it, the others must've brought food too. I mean, it'd be in their nature to assume that we had brought food, so they would decide to copy us and bring food as well. It's only fair," the leader explained.
Ashlynn hesitated another moment, and then took the scrap of red meat and ate it slowly, savoring the taste. Then, surprised, she listened intently as the man began to retell the tale of how the two tribes had become enemies without her or Sokka even asking him to.
"It goes way back to when our older leader, Wai-Jin was out for a jog. He happened across one of the Gon-Jin members, who had collapsed upon the floor. The man was Jin-Wai, who was the leader of the Gon-Jin's. He'd been transporting an orb that was sacred to his tribe, and was used in their redemption rituals. Wai-Jin offered to help mend the man's wounds, but Jin-Wai insisted that his tribe's trinket was more important. Wai-Jin vowed to take the orb back to the Gon-Jin's, but as he did so he was arrested."
"That's terrible," Sokka said, completely uninterested.
"I don't know… I kind of feel like there was a misunderstanding," Ashlynn said hesitantly. "Well, yeah… The Gon-Jins misunderstood Wai-Jin's act of kindness. I'd pretty much say that's a misunderstanding," Sokka said, even while chewing on the rest of his meat. Ashlynn sighed and shook her head, and couldn't help but laugh a little. The leader laughed along with her. After their meager meal, everyone went to sleep.
In the morning, everyone packed their bags and began to continue onward through the divided gorge. By midday, the two teams came around the canyon dividend and became a whole once again. Aang met them in the middle, and sighed with disappointment as the two tribes continued to act hostile towards one another.
"Katara, Ashlynn and Sokka, what'd you all find out?" Aang questioned. "Aang, I don't think these two tribes should mingle any longer. The Zhang's really wronged the Gon-Jins, and stole their sacred orbs," Katara said.
"What are you talking about?" Aang, Ashlynn, and Sokka all responded in unison.
"Katara, the Zhang's were returning that orb, they didn't steal it!" Sokka defended. "Yeah Katara, the Gon-Jins had a misunderstanding. The Zhang's were wrongfully judged," Ashlynn interjected.
"Okay guys I get it, let's just make getting out of this canyon our main priority," Aang shouted to stop the civil bickering.
After his demand, Aang flew over to where the two tribes were back to their usual bickering. Being that the canyon had stopped at a wall, so that they had nowhere else to go, they took up fighting instead of continuing onward.
"Guys, please, we're almost out of here. We need to find a way up this wall, and then we can all go our separate ways," Aang pleaded.
The two tribes listened for a moment, and then continued to insult one another. Even Sokka and Katara joined their chosen side and began to insult the other's team as well. Aang shouted even louder for everyone to be quiet.
"HEY!" Ashlynn yelled as loud as she could. Everyone stopped their fighting, and looked over at her. "Aang is doing everything he can to help you guys get out of here alive. Why don't you pay him some respect, give him a little slack, and hear what he has to say!" Ashlynn screamed out again.
Everyone silently turned to Aang. "I'll say this once more. Harsh words won't solve anything; action will!" Aang shouted.
"Perhaps he's right…" the men in the crowds began to sneer.
After a moment of staring one another down, the leaders of each tribe drew their weapons, and began to duel each other. Aang's mouth dropped with a gasp of disbelief as he watched the two leaders slice at the other with their weapons.
The leader's seperated a moment, and then charged again at each other. Aang jumped high into the air, and landed between them, and sent a forceful wind in both directions, causing the men to fly backwards into their teams. The men of the teams were also pushed backwards by the wind force, and food from each team fell from their clothes and packs. Aang gasped once again, and, again, stared at the two teams with disbelief.
"You BOTH smuggled food down here?! You all put our lives in danger!!" Aang cried out furiously.
"Aang… Aang… AANG," Ashlynn shouted as she saw one of the oversized bugs crawl from a crevice in the wall. As soon as that one had emerged, a dozen more followed it. Each and every monstrous bug was hungry for the food that was neatly displayed before it.
Each team scattered in all directions, trying to escape the menacing jaws of the creatures. Ashlynn, who was confident that her wound had nearly fully healed, picked up an abandoned sword that lay on the dirt floor. It looked like it had belonged to one of the Gon-Jins, and was a perfect weight and fit for her. She gave it one experimental swing, and then ran after a bug that was pursuing one of the Zhang's.
When she got close enough, she rolled under the belly of the monster and hacked it's insides from its abdomen up to its chest with one swift stroke. She rolled back out on the other side, narrowly avoiding the pools of blood that began to ooze from the bug.
The bug stumbled, and Ashlynn turned her attention to the two bugs that were after Sokka. He flung his boomerang at one, but stumbled as he turned towards the other. He threw a protective arm across his face as the jaws of the monster opened. Ashlynn ran right in front of Sokka just in time, and stuck her newfound weapon into the roof of the mouth of the bug.
Meanwhile, Aang and Katara used their bending to wipe out several of the bugs at once.
Once all the bugs had been knocked out or killed… they each got up and continued fighting. "Aw man- how did we NOT kill them all?" Sokka groaned. "Sokka… you ever try and kill a cockroach?" Ashlynn asked as she wiped her forehead of sweat. He gave her a quizzical look. "You could cut its head off, and it'd still live for a while after," Ashlynn said as she finished catching her breath. Sokka laughed, and then they departed to ward off bugs that were attacking the tribes.
Suddenly, Aang's voice could be heard from over the commotion. "Everybody, do what I do!"
Everyone tried turning around to watch Aang's demonstration. He lured a bug with a morsel of food, and when it got close enough Aang hopped up onto it's back, and forced a cloth back over its mouth to prevent its teeth from doing any more harm to the people.
Doing as Aang did, everyone grabbed a partner and worked together to do the same. "Ashlynn, you help me," Sokka said, and tossed her a piece of food. "Right," Ashlynn said as Sokka leapt on the back of a bug. She distracted the insect with the food while Sokka put a bag over its mouth.
Eventually, every bug had been bagged and had formed a crowd in front of Aang's leading bug. "Everyone, share a bug and follow me! We're riding out of here!" Aang said, showing everyone that he had a bag of food that'd attract the monsters up and out of the ravine.
Sokka grasped Ashlynn's arm and pulled her up behind him on the bug. She wrapped his arms around his waist, and watched as he, along with everyone else, used the bags as reins and forced the bugs to follow the lead bug safely out of the canyon.
When they reached the top Aang ordered everyone to jump off their mounted bug. Everyone did as he commanded, and jumped off safely. Aang then took the bag of food he had, and tossed it back into the canyon. The bugs followed the scent, and trailed back to where they belonged.
"We made it!" Ashlynn said, relieved. Sokka and Katara smiled at her and nodded. Even the two tribes were conversing together about how their teamwork led them to victory.
"Well, just because you guys were reliable back there doesn't mean that we can unwrite history so easily!" the leader of the Gon-Jins shouted, and once again drew his weapon. The leader of the Zhang's snarled, and pulled out his weapon as well. Aang screamed with uncontrollable rage at their ignorance.
"…Wait a second… Wai-Jin, Jin-Wai? I know them!" Aang exclaimed happily. "Huh?" everyone muttered, and turned to look at him. "Yes. It might not seem like it, but I'm 112 years old, and I was there on the day you're talking about," Aang explained.
He then retold a tale about how Jin-Wai and Wai-Jin were twin brothers, and that when they were kids they had played a game. The sacred orb was a ball in their game, and they had to take the ball to goal posts. Jin-Wai had fallen, and so Wai-Jin had picked up the ball and went to score a goal with it, but stepped out of the boundary lines and was put in time-out for it.
Ashlynn began to crack up with laughter as Aang told that story. Sokka and Katara joined her as they surveyed the expressions the tribes had on their faces.
The leaders of the two tribes turned to one another, and bowed, and made an agreement to stop feuding with one another, and become a whole and civilized group. Then, everyone walked along the main road until they ran into Appa, who had remained protective of the sick and elderly men he had carried along.
Then, the tribes, now combined as one, continued on their way to Ba Sing Se. Ashlynn watched them march into the distance, wishing she could join them in their journey to the earth kingdom capital. Yet, she knew it was not her time to go there yet, and that her destiny pointed towards following Aang to the northern water tribe.
"You know Aang, it's lucky you knew those kids," Ashlynn said. "Actually, I didn't. I made it up," Aang said, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly.
Ashlynn stared blankly at him for a moment, and then burst out laughing once again. The rest of her companions joined her, and then they applauded one another for making it through another rough journey. Ashlynn looked down at the weapon that neither of the tribes had claimed, and was grateful that she'd finally be of use in Aang's journey.
She just hoped she wouldn't have to use it on Zuko in the future.