Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender.
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 air bender 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...
For several beneficial factors, Aang parked Appa by a small river to give the team, especially Ashlynn, some time to rest up after several days of consistent flight. There were plenty of fish in the water that they could have for food, and Katara and Aang could practice their water-bending. Ashlynn could take the time to heal up.
During the second day of their resting, the roaring of a platypus-bear could be heard several yards away. "Ashlynn, watch Appa and Momo, we'll go check it out," Aang ordered. Ashlynn reluctantly nodded, and went to pay Appa to assure him everything was fine.
After a while the incessant roars of the animal ceased, but Aang and Sokka and Katara did not return so quickly. Ashlynn stood up and tried to peer downhill where they'd run off to, but she couldn't see anything. Minutes later a sudden downpour began to fall. Ashlynn ran under Appa's stomach to hide from the rain, and watched the hill and waited for her friends to return.
After a few minutes of waiting, Aang, Katara, and Sokka appeared over the cliff. Aang was carrying an umbrella, which he was holding up over himself and Katara. Sokka was walking outside the umbrella defiantly, looking soaked and rather smug.
"Hey Ashlynn, there's a town nearby here with a fortune teller! We think maybe we should go see her, and you can get new clothes and maybe replace the weapon that was taken from you while you were captured," Katara suggested.
"Sounds good," Ashlynn agreed, and then smiled as the rain stopped. "Well what do you know, now we'll have more comfortable travel," Aang said cheerfully, and folded the umbrella.
The town that they travelled to was a fancy place. All the shops were indoors, and all the people were dressed to first-class.
"I want to see the fortuneteller first," Katara squealed excitedly. "Fine by me, we can go shop after," Ashlynn nodded. They walked up to the most elegant building in the town, where an old man greeted them, and said the fortuneteller, Aunt Woo, was waiting for them.
They went inside and sat down on the mats that were designed to wait upon. A girl who looked as old as Aang appeared greeted them and introduced herself as Mang. It was obvious she fell for Aang at first glance and hurriedly rushed off to retrieve him some food. Aang had little interest in her, and Ashlynn felt rather sorry for the little girl.
The girl returned with food and Aunt Woo. Sokka snagged the food from Aang's hands and began to scarf it down willingly while Aunt Woo introduced herself.
Katara volunteered to go first, and together she and Aunt Woo walked away and out of sight.
"What do you think they're talking about back there?" Aang asked nervously. "Boring stuff I'd assume, like love and who she is going to marry and stuff," Sokka said while still stuffing his face. "Right… Whelp, I going to go find a bathroom," Aang said and abruptly ran off.
"Are you enjoying that food?" Ashlynn giggled at Sokka. He nodded, and then said "It'd be great if we could just get out of here though, this woman can't possibly predict the future."
"Gee Sokka, could you be any more of a pessimist?" Ashlynn responded sarcastically. "Probably," Sokka said with his mouth full.
"Hey I want some of that food!" Ashlynn playfully shouted, and then lunged at Sokka. Sokka held the bowl above his head with one hand and shoved Ashlynn back with his other hand. "There's no way you're getting these!" he said, and swapped his deflective hand with a foot and continued eating his food.
Ashlynn stood up and tackled him, knocking the bowl out of his hand. They both laughed and began to wrestle their way to the food, laughing all the while. Ashlynn scrambled away from Sokka and picked up the bowl and curled herself around it, hiding it from him. Sokka lunged at her and knocked her onto her back and pinned her wrists to the ground so that he hovered above her.
Ashlynn stopped smiling for a moment, and awkwardly looked away from Sokka's face.
"What the---?" came Aang's voice from nearby. Sokka quickly stood up and blushed and tried to explain what'd happen.
"He wouldn't give me food!"
"She attacked me!"
"He made me trip!"
"She scratched my face!"
"Okay, guys, stop! Seriously, I don't care," Aang shouted with irritation.
Then he, Ashlynn, and Sokka sat back down and remained silent till Aunt Woo came out.
"Who is next?" she asked. Sokka stood up and said, "May as well get this over with."
"Your life is full of struggle and anguish, most of it self-inflicted," the women said solemnly. "But… you didn't even read my palm," Sokka protested. "I don't have to," she said, not removing the solemn looked from her face.
"I'll go next," Ashlynn volunteered. The women eyed her suspiciously and then guided her to the back room for the reading. "This is how I will read the fortune. You pick up one of these bones, and toss it into the fire. The bone will crack, and I will read the cracks in the bone," Aunt Woo explained.
Ashlynn nodded with understanding, and lifted a small bone that had a very slight curve to it. She tossed it into the heart of the flame, and sat on the designated mat. Aunt Woo pondered the cracks in the bone for a moment.
"You were part of the Fire Nation," she said without taking her eyes off the bone. "Yes, but it's not the place for me… I'm trying to help Aang destroy the Fire Lord," Ashlynn responded.
"You have a secret," Aunt Woo said after. "A secret? - I don't think so, I've never had a secret," Ashlynn said, confused. "That's because you haven't discovered it yourself yet," Aunt Woo explained.
"I… oh…" Ashlynn said, and lowered her head and began to think.
"You are confused," Aunt Woo then said, and Ashlynn nodded. "Let me see your hands dear," she requested, and Ashlynn displayed her palms for the elderly and rich woman.
"I can't tell much from your palms, you're still at such a young age… There's so much room for you to develop your own future," Aunt Woo explained. Ashlynn frowned with disappointment. "….There will be much grief and turmoil and struggle, but there will also be victory, friendship, and true romance. But, it is you who will shape how this will turn out," she said. Ashlynn smiled and stood up. "Thanks Aunt Woo," she said with a curtsy, and walked back out to the waiting room.
"Yeah- my turn!" Aang said and eagerly ran into Aunt Woo's room.
"So what'd she tell you?" Katara asked eagerly. Sokka still hadn't wiped the smug look from his face.
"She told me… That… I have a secret… A secret that I don't even know about yet… How is that even possible?" Ashlynn pondered aloud. She looked at Katara and Sokka who both had looks that said 'Yep, she's officially lost it.'
"Well… When Aang gets back we'll go buy you some new clothes and a weapon," Katara said, quickly changing the subject. Ashlynn nodded, and together the three waited in silence for Aang.
Aang exited several minutes later, looking happier than ever. Katara and Ashlynn eagerly scrambled out the door and ran to the nearest clothes shop. "Great, now we got to wait for them to finish shopping… Women… I swear…" Sokka muttered to Aang. Aang laughed in return.
Thirty minutes later the team departed from the shop with Ashlynn dressed in her new outfit.
Ashlynn was now dressed in a tight white T-shirt that hung above her belly button and hugged her figure perfectly. She had black detachable sleeves that ran from her wrist to up several inches from her elbow, leaving some skin exposed between the sleeves of her shirt and the detachable sleeves.
She also had light blue short-shorts that kept most of her legs exposed. She covered up the skin of her legs by having black stockings that matched those of her detachable sleeves. Just as the shirt and sleeves left exposed skin between the two, the shorts and stockings left some of the skin of her thighs out in the open.
To add on to the outfit, she had a black choker wrapped around her neck, a black belt, and black boots that ran up just below her knees. They also bought her a winters coat to keep her warm in cold weather. Finally, after an extra half hour of shopping, they finished with buying her two swords that would attach to straps on her hips.
Satisfied with the clothing, Ashlynn followed her friends to where a crowd was beginning to form. "What's going on?" Aang asked one of the townsfolk.
"We're waiting for Aunt Woo to come and read the clouds. Once a year she will read the clouds and predict the fate of the village, such as that of whether or not the volcano will erupt," he said and pointed at a volcano that was on the outskirts of the village. Just as Sokka began to protest against it, Aunt Woo stepped onto the altar the crowd had formed around, and opened a booklet.
Using the booklet to tell her what the clouds meant, she predicted that the village would have good crops, the twins of the village would have a rather pleasant year, and that the volcano wouldn't erupt.
After the reading Aunt Woo went back into her home and Katara followed her like a pest, wanting more readings. Sokka was determined to prove that Aunt Woo was wrong, so he ran about the village trying to convince its inhabitants that Aunt Woo won't always be right.
Ashlynn merely decided to go lie down in the inn they were staying at and think about what Aunt Woo possibly could have meant. After thinking for a long while she fell into a deep and much needed sleep.
Ashlynn was awakened by a sudden rumbling in the ground that shook the entire room she was sleeping in and even knocked over the decorative china. Without hesitation she got up and ran outside to see another crowd had formed and Aang and Sokka and Katara were speaking to them.
"What's going on?" Ashlynn asked Sokka after she ran over to them "Aunt Woo was wrong. Aang and I saw the lava in the volcano, it's going to erupt!" Sokka exclaimed. "Yeah, and the villagers won't believe us…" Katara followed.
"They won't believe you guys, but they will believe Aunt Woo. Look you guys, clouds are made of air and water. Why don't you and Aang go bend them into the shape that'll mean death by volcano?" Ashlynn suggested. "Wow… not bad Ash," Sokka responded, surprised.
Ashlynn was startled for a moment to hear her nickname spoken by Sokka for a second time, sending her memories of Zuko and how he'd call her Ash all the time, but she brushed it off her shoulders after a moment and focused on the main task. When Aang jumped down from the building, irritated that the villagers wouldn't listen to him, Katara explained Ashlynn's plan to him. He grinned up at her, and agreed eagerly.
"How will we know what cloud to make it?" Aang asked. "Simple, go steal Aunt Woo's cloud symbols book," Ashlynn responded. Aang nodded, and ran off to Aunt Woo's home to sneak in and steal the book. He returned moments later, and together he and Katara ran to mount Appa and fly into the air. Together, they began to shape the clouds.
"Come on Sokka, we'd better go get Aunt Woo and tell her there's something happening with the clouds," Ashlynn said after a moment. Sokka concurred, and they ran to retrieve Aunt Woo.
"Aunt Woo!" they shouted as they busted through her door. She dropped the class of steaming tea she held in her hand, and stood up to yell at them angrily. "What is the meaning of this?" she demanded. "No time to explain, come quick!" Ashlynn said, and tugged on the old woman's robes. Aunt Woo refused for a moment, and then ran with them outside.
"Look Aunt Woo, look at the clouds!" Sokka exclaimed. Aunt Woo gasped, and recognized the skull-shaped cloud that meant destruction for the town. "You were wrong Aunt Woo, that volcano is about to erupt!" Ashlynn yelled at her.
Sokka proposed that he had a plan when Katara and Aang ran to greet them after they'd landed.
"Lava is going to flow to this spot, so we need earth benders to come with us and help dig a trench that will guide the lava to the river!" Sokka shouted to the townsfolk that had crowded around them.
Sokka, Ashlynn, Aang, Katara and multiple earth benders ran out to the river, and began to dig and mold a trench for the lava to channel through. It was well into the night before they finished digging. Aang then ordered the whole town to evacuate as the volcano began to erupt violently.
Aang, Katara, Ashlynn and Sokka stood on a cliff that overlooked the town and the scene of flowing lava. "There's too much lava, it's going to overflow," Ashlynn said regrettably. Aang took a deep breath, and then ran head-on towards the oncoming wave of magma. He used his air-bending to harden out the wave of lava so that it crumbled to the ground and became lifeless, no longer a threat to the village. The rest of the volcanic emission flowed through the channel they'd built, and safely sank into the river.
Then, the four companions walked back to tell the townsfolk they were safe to return to their homes.
"I hope you all have learned not to rely too heavily on this fortune-telling stuff," Sokka shouted at the town, proud that he had been right all along. "But, Aunt Woo wasn't wrong! She predicted this town would be safe, and it is safe!" one man responded optimistically. Sokka's smug face returned, and he walked off to continue his pouting.
Then, Ashlynn, Katara, Aang and Sokka mounted Appa, and with a cheerful goodbye, left the grateful village, and continued on their adventure to the Northern Water Tribe.