Phew! This chapter is loooooooong. It's almost two thousand words longer than usual but it's finally out! Woo hoo!
Sorry for the wait, but thanks for all of your reviews, favourites and follows!
Fairyglow2, you're never too late to the party and thanks for your review, you're awesome! (Even if you've made me look back on the first story and made me intensely cringe at my horrible writing now, I always find it mortifying when I realise people've read the first one)
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Chapter 9: New Knowledge
They were still in the more savannah-like area of the Earth Kingdom, sadly, and Eira was starting to really dislike it. It was just too hot and dry for her liking.
The land was barren except for a few shoots of grass, exactly like where they just were but Aang suddenly got excited as they flew over this area and he was determined to show them something.
He was sitting cross-legged on the hole-littered ground with a flute in his hands as Eira, Toph, Sokka and Katara stood behind him. Eira knew what he was going to show them, the singing groundhog-like creatures, but she was still interested. She knew that these things were different in real life.
"What's out here?" Sokka asked, looking around for what Aang had come here to show them.
Toph knelt and out her hand to the ground.
"There's a lot, surprisingly. There's hundreds of little-" she began but Aang turned around and raised a finger to his lips in a shhh-ing motion.
"I know you can see underground, but don't ruin the surprise. Just watch." He blew a note on the flute and one of the small mammals popped out of the ground and mimicked the note. Aang laughed. "Yeah!" He played another note and another animal mimicked that too.
Aang turned around to face them, a big smile on his face. "I'm getting an orchestra together."
"That's really cool." Eira hummed a few notes and the groundhog-creatures popped out of the ground in the same sequence.
"Well, la-di-da," Sokka said, making annoyed, over-exaggerated hand-gestures. Then, of course, the animals popped out and hummed la-di-da. Eira, Toph, Katara and Aang laughed before Aang played four more notes and Momo jumped around, hole-to-hole, trying to catch them.
It was surprisingly entertaining and they all took turns to hum/sing notes and have them copy it. Well, all except Sokka. He was just getting annoyed by it and eventually just took Aang's flute. Aang puffed up his cheeks in an annoyed expression.
"This is great and fun and all, but don't we have more important things to worry about? We should be making plans, not playing around with singing ground animals," Sokka said, annoyed.
Eira punched him lightly in the shoulder.
"Lighten up, it's been quite stressful lately and we were thinking that we could help us to relax and get to know Toph a bit better by having a day or two to do some sightseeing," Eira explained.
"Yeah, we're picking mini-vacations," Toph summed up.
"But we have no time for vacations."
"Come on, Sokka. Aang's been training hard with me and Toph. What's wrong with having a little time to ourselves?" Katara asked.
"Yeah, but even if Aang masters all of the elements, then what? It's not like we have a map of the Fire Nation."
"But, we kind of do. The map Master Pakku gave us is a little out-dated but it does show key area of the Fire Nation," Eira said.
"But not specifics. We need a map of the Fire Nation."
"And like we're going to find one in the middle of the Earth Kingdom which, may I remind you, has been at war with the Fire Nation for a hundred years. It's highly unlikely that there are going to be any detailed maps of their enemy for the general public."
Sokka sighed. "We still need something. We need to think this through. We need some intelligence to win this war."
Aang sneakily took his flute back and played a small note which caused an animal to pop out near where Sokka was standing.
"All right, we'll just finish our vacations and then we'll look for Sokka's intelligence," Katara said mockingly. Aang laughed.
He brought out the map and laid it out in front of Katara.
"It's your turn. Where would you like to go on your mini-vacation?"
Katara studied the map and Eira had a bad flashback and groaned. It was the Library episode. More difficulties to deal with. More desserts, more annoying spirits, more turmoil and losing Appa. Perfect. Wait! Eira had forgotten. She could just save Appa from the sandbenders. But, then again, in the library she could stop Sokka from angering the owl and she could maybe find out about her situation and if she could get back.
If she stopped Sokka it would also mean that the library would stay around and they could visit after the war. But she didn't want Aang to go through losing Appa. She wanted to help her friends, not make them go through emotional pain even though she could prevent it.
She hated feeling selfish.
"…That sounds refreshing."
"Oh, yeah, I've been there. It's a pristine natural ice spring. And I usually don't use the word 'pristine'."
"That sounds amazing," Katara exclaimed.
"Yeah, it's one of nature's wonders."
"Then let's go already!" Toph complained, already on the saddle.
Everyone quickly jumped onto Appa's saddle and with great enthusiasm, Aang flicked the reins and Appa flew off in the direction of the oasis.
o.O.o
They landed in a small little dusty town in the middle of a desert and Eira found out that she disliked deserts even more than the barren canyons.
The town was littered with shady men wearing white headdresses and eye coverings. Their blank gases felt like they attached onto anything worth stealing. Eira couldn't help but feel a little intimidated by the unfriendly atmosphere.
The oasis itself was a small clay fountain which was filled with murky water. The disappointment on Sokka, Aang and Katara's faces was clear whilst Toph and Eira simply wore dissatisfied expressions due to Eira prior knowledge of the state of the oasis and Toph's inability to see said oasis.
"Must've changed ownership since I was here," Aang said, laughing sheepishly as he and Katara wandered forwards.
"It's been a hundred years, that's incredibly likely," Eira commented, trying to make Aang feel a little better. "They have some little places we could have a drink in, so this might not be a complete waste." Eira pointed to a couple of small bars side by side.
They all walked aimlessly past the melted ice spring and walked past several sandbenders into the bar.
Eira counted and there were about five of them. And one of Appa. She thought bitterly. What kind of life did you live is you just went around the desert, stealing people's lifelines. Eira hadn't thought about it much but she realised that if they went around stealing things from people in the desert, there were probably some people who died of thirst or something else because of them.
The bar was dark and full of weary travellers and they quickly sat at a table, Katara having to pull Sokka from staring at a spitting sandbender.
"Well, this place is… nice," Eira said, trying to sound sincere. Aang was starting to look even more embarrassed and Eira wished that she could make him feel better. It wasn't his fault some places changed after his hundred year absence.
"One mango, please." A man ordered a drink at the bar and the bartender took two long swords and used them to slice a bowl from a large chunk of ice (how it managed to stay frozen, Eira had no idea) then cutting down some mangos from an overhanging fruit tree. He diced them up and tipped some water or something into the bowl, mixing it with the fruit, still using his swords to do it.
The bartender placed a decorative paper umbrella and a straw into the bowl and served it to the man who tossed him a coin.
Despite the unnecessary flair with the swords, the drink itself did look nice and refreshing and Sokka apparently was thinking the same thing.
"I don't see anything wrong with having one of those fruity beverages while we plan our strategy," he said slowly, trying to act cool, before running over to the bartender.
"I'll come with you." Eira got up and walked over to the bar but she accidentally bumped into the man who'd ordered the drink.
And, sadly, the drink spilled all over Eira.
"Sorry, sorry, sorry!" Eira quickly stammered. "My fault, sorry." She threw her hands down at her clothes and the drink airbent off her.
The man gasped in shock and Eira realised it might not have been the best idea to airbend in front of a stranger. They had been gone for a hundred years, after all.
"You're a living relic!" the man exclaimed and Eira waved her hands quickly in denial.
"I'm really not. I'm not a nomad but-" Eira began but then the man noticed Aang behind Eira and gasped even more.
"An Air Nomad, right in front of me!" he rushed over to Aang and shook his hand. "Professor Zei, head of anthropology at Ba Sing Se University." His eyes widened as he examined Aang's electric blue tattoos and Eira thought that he was going to faint by how much her was gasping.
She was glad that Aang was there so she didn't disappoint the professor by telling him that she knew almost nothing of airbender culture.
"Tell me, which of the air temples do you and your friend hail from?" Zei asked, looking closer at the tattoo on Aang's arm.
"I'm from the Southern Temple. Eira doesn't come from a temple," Aang explained as Zei pulled out some sort of measuring thing to measure his head.
"Oh, splendid! Where do you come from then?" he asked, turning to Eira.
Quick lie, lie, lie, lie! Eira thought in a panic.
"I've just been travelling around the Earth Kingdom and Water Tribes."
"Excellent! I've got to write this down! What was the primary agricultural product of the Air Nomads?"
Aang looked a bit unsurely at Professor Zei. "Uh, are fruit pies an agricultural product?" Aang asked nervously.
"This is truly fascinating. I'll be able to update the Air Nomad library in the Ba Sing Se University finally. This is incredible!" Zei pulled out a small leather notebook and began to write in it. He looked friendly and Eira knew that he had no ill will but she couldn't really think of Ba Sing Se without feeling slightly creeped out.
He wore white robes and hat but Eira was surprised by the amount of stuff he was carrying on his person despite the heat. He had a large green rucksack filled to the brim with miscellaneous items for travel and research.
"So Professor, you're obviously a well-travelled guy. Do you have a more detailed map of the Fire Nation we could look at? Ours is a little vague."
Professor Zei stopped writing in his journal and looked a little surprised at Sokka's question.
"Uh, I-I think I might have a map of the Fire Nation but I can't vouch for its detail." Zei rummaged through his bag and laid a map on the table.
Sokka and Eira looked at it carefully, comparing it with the map they had and it was basically just a larger version of theirs except it was a couple of years older.
"Doesn't anyone have a good map of the Fire Nation?" Sokka complained, straightening to look at Professor Zei.
He rolled it up and stuck it back into his bag.
"I don't think there are many in the Earth Kingdom. Ba Sing Se is the height of all knowledge and culture in the Earth Kingdom and that map was from their libraries." He paused. "There may be one library that would have the information you need but," he sighed. "I've been on countless journeys to find it and each time it ended in failure."
"Wan Shi Tong's Library," Eira concluded without thinking. The professor looked at her with delight.
"You've heard of it?" Eira nodded slowly and looked at Katara, Sokka and Aang sadly.
"Wan Shi Tong's library is where Zhao got the information to find the Moon and Ocean Spirits. It's located in this desert but from what I know, it's been half-buried with sand. But, if we find it, we'd be able to get information on practically anything, including the Fire Nation."
Well, any information that isn't burnt to the ground, that is.
Then Eira thought of something else. If they didn't go to the Library, they wouldn't find the eclipse date. That would mean that they wouldn't form the invasion plan as well as Appa not getting captured. If they didn't go to the Library, so many future conflicts would be solved but… then Zuko wouldn't have an opportunity to rebel against his father.
He would continue to fight against them and Aang would never learn firebending in time to take down the Fire Lord. It was incredible how many things relied on their library visit but, which would be better for them?
Zei's eyebrows shot up in surprise as he readied his journal.
"Please, tell me more. Do you know where it is?" he asked hopefully.
Eira jumped a bit, being shocked out of her thoughts. She paused as she registered the question. Should she?
"No, I don't know where it is," she said quietly. "But, but, I know how we can find it." I will save Appa and if it comes to it I will stop Azula. Maybe this way the Day of Black Sun will succeed.
"But the desert is gigantic. I've almost died every time I've travelled into it."
Sokka and Aang smiled as they looked at each other.
"I've made my decision for my mini-vacation," Sokka announced cheerfully. He pulled a dramatic pose. "We're going… TO THE LIBRARY!"
Toph looked annoyed as she sipped her drink.
"Hey, I thought it went Aang, Katara, Me, Eira, and then you. What about me and Eira's turn?" she asked.
Eira shrugged.
"Sokka's is closest and we still haven't decided. I think we can do ours after Sokka's." Toph huffed.
"Fine. Let's just fly through a desert for the entire day looking for some dusty old library. Perfect for me," she muttered in annoyance.
"Wait, fly?" Professor Zei looked confused as he looked in-between them.
"Professor, would you like to see our sky bison?" Sokka asked with a large smile.
"A sky bison?! You actually have one?" The professor looked like he was giddy from excitement.
"Yes, he's-" Aang started, pointing to the exit and Professor Zei sped off towards it and outside in no time at all.
"He's already gone…" Eira finished under her breathe.
They all walked out and Eira's heart jumped before settling as she saw Professor Zei shooing off some sandbenders.
"Sandbenders, away from the bison!" he yelled, making shooing motions as he quickly paced over to Appa. Eira sped-walked over to there and was unhappy to see the sandbenders speeding off into the desert.
You made the choice to inform them about the library, she thought, clenching her fists to try and hide her panic. Now you need to make the choices to save Appa. He won't be captured.
Eira cleared her throat and motioned to Appa's saddle.
"After you, professor," she said politely, directing him to walk up Appa's sloped tail up onto the saddle.
Katara, Aang, Sokka, Eira and Toph all climbed up onto the saddle and they began their journey into the desert, much to Eira's quickly growing dismay.
"Why…is…it…so…bleeding…hot?" She complained as the sun figuratively beat her over the head with a frying pan. She was leaning on the side of the saddle, using her tired eyes to survey the blank, empty landscape of red-ish sand.
Sokka had taken off his shirt and tied it around his head. He was examining a telescope and looking out as Aang steered Appa and Katara and Toph leant against the sides and searched for the library.
"We know, it's hot! Stop complaining!" Toph scolded. Eira frowned, not having the energy to look at Toph, not that it would matter either way.
"I am British. It is in my nature to complain about the weather. You're all lucky I was toning it down in the North Pole and the past few days. I'm not adaptable to this kind of stuff. Where I'm from it's practically the same every day. Grey, cloudy skies and slightly below-average temperatures."
"Um, where are you from exactly?" Toph asked. Eira then realised that Toph didn't actually know about her whole 'from-another-world' thing.
"Oh yeah," Eira looked up and remembered that Professor Zei was there. "It's, uh, kind of hard to explain. It doesn't matter now."
The professor looked a little disappointed but Eira wasn't going to elaborate. Sure this guy believed in spirits considering Wan Shi Tong's spirit library but it was still a stretch to believe in alternate worlds and spirit abduction.
The professor however wasn't discouraged as he climbed over Appa's head and gazed at him.
"Tell me, noble sky bison, are you the last of your breed?" he asked enthusiastically and Appa simply growled in response. "Ha! Delightful! I only wish I spoke his tongue. All the stories you could tell." Momo pranced over to him and chittered but Zei held out his hand to silence him. "Shush, chatty monkey."
Eira sighed as she continued looking at the stupidly empty desert. Someone should just pour a massive bucket of water on this place. An ocean would be so much nicer.
"Remember, the library is somewhat covered in sand. It won't be a massive building or we would've found it already."
"Gah! Does this place even exist?!" Toph groaned in frustration.
"Yes, it does Toph. I happen to know because a psychopathic firebender almost got rid of all waterbenders because of said library." Eira was getting far too tired from the heat.
"I get it, Fairy Feet."
"Come on, guys. We need to find this place, so keep a lookout," Katara said quietly, her tone clearly indicating that she was getting frustrated with their bickering.
They continued flying in silence until Sokka finally reacted.
"Wait! Down there, what's that?"
Everyone scrambled to the side that Sokka was looking at and Eira noticed the small stone tower popping out of the sandy surface.
Aang turned the reins and they landed in front of it. It looked much taller from the ground than from the sky, like eight times her height. It looked incredibly designed and built.
"Well, this should be it," Aang said, holding up the drawing of the library and comparing it to the tower in front of them. He pointed to the top of drawing that corresponded to the tower.
Professor Zei gazed at it in horror.
"My life's work is buried under tonnes of sand!" He collapsed to the floor and knelt in despair. "Well, let's get excavating." Well, he recovers quickly… He began to dig at the sand with a small little spade but Toph stopped him.
She walked over to the tower and placed her palm on it.
"Wow! It's still completely intact, and it's huge. There's a window above and you should be able to climb down from there. There's a floor beneath it."
"Then I say we should give it a look," Sokka said, rummaging through his bag for a rope. Eira looked around and gasped quietly as she saw a fox holding a scroll in its mouth.
"Hey, look. There's one of his fox helpers," Katara said, pointing at the fox, noticing it at roughly the same time as Eira. They all watched (obvious exception being Toph) as the fox leaped of the dune and sprinted up the side of the wall and into the window that Toph pointed out.
"Perfect!" Sokka said, swinging the rope up to the window. "We have a library to visit."
"Not me," Toph said, staying still.
"Why not?" Katara asked.
"Well, I've held books before and, I gotta tell you, they don't exactly do it for me." Toph waved a hand in front of her eyes and Katara looked sheepish.
"Oh, right. Sorry." The rest of them moved towards the ladder when Eira quickly rememberd.
"Wait!" Eira held out her hands to stop everyone from moving towards the rope. She was an idiot. She almost forgot! "Someone needs to stay here with Toph."
"Why? I'm fine on my own." Toph crossed her arms defensively.
"Not if you have to protect Appa and the library from an ambush of sandbenders," Eira retorted. "Look, Toph. You're the best earthbender in the world, no doubt about that, but I know you can't see as well in the desert and I'm worried that something will happen to the library. I'm not too fond of spirits and I know a lot of them feel the same way about humans."
"But, that's incredibly unlikely for something to happen to the library at the same time as sandbenders attacking," Katara protested.
"Not as unlikely as you'd think. Those sandbenders probably patrol around and wait for moments when they can attack and steal. Trust me, I've seen things like that and I know what they'd do. I just... want to be on the safe side."
Katara and Sokka looked a little sceptical but Katara's expression softened as she looked at Eira.
"Alright, then. If it makes you feel better, I'll stay here with Toph." Eira visibly relaxed and hugged Katara.
"Thank you. I know I may seem a bit ridiculous but this really means a lot."
"Heh hem." Sokka cleared his throat loudly. "Now that little bit of Eira craziness is over, can we please get going now?"
Eira nodded.
o.O.o
They all climbed down the rope and Eira was in awe about the size of the place. It was incredible. There were floors and floors of bookshelves with owls engraved arches. It was incredibly expansive and Eira could barely believe she was in it.
"Oh, it's breath-taking!" Zei exclaimed, pointing around at the architecture. "The spirit spared no expense in designing this place. Look at those beautiful buttresses!"
Sokka and Aang tried to hide their laughter, but they completely failed. The professor didn't get the joke and Eira wasn't sure whether it would be better or worse if he got it.
"What's funny?" he asked innocently.
"Nothing. We just like architecture," Aang said.
"As do I." Professor Zei still looked in awe at the library and Eira couldn't help but pity his ignorance.
They slid off the rope and landed on a bridge.
"Wow! This is incredible. I wonder how this was built." Eira gazed up at the dome on the ceiling. It was one of the most impressive buildings she'd ever seen.
"My word!" Professor Zei pointed at the owl designs on the arches. "The exquisite mosaic handiwork of this tile-rendered avian symbol..." he trailed off as Sokka and Aang gave him puzzled looks and Eira didn't know whether or not to be proud as she actually understood him. "Eh, nice owl."
A cold shiver ran down Eira's spine as she suddenly heard a rustling noise. Everyone darted behind the pillars and Eira saw a slight rush of black feathers.
Lovely. Another spirit. Let's hope we don't have another trip to the spirit world. Eira thought grimly. She didn't remember her last trip fondly in the slightest.
Aang turned his head slowly to try and get a glance of Wan Shi Tong.
"I know you're back there," announced a booming, oddly echoing voice and Aang spanned his head back to hide again. Professor Zei took a deep breath to get over his momentary shock and ran out of his hiding place.
"Hello, I'm Professor Zei, head of anthropology at Ba Sing Se," he greeted respectfully, a large smiled on his face as Eira, Sokka and Aang carefully walked out of their hiding places.
Wan Shi Tong was a massive bird. His face had white feathers, a small sharp beak and black eyes. His body was tall and imposing but Eira found herself fascinated by how his wings seemed to melt into his body. When they were folded Eira could barely tell he had wings.
"You should leave the way you came. Unless you want to become the stuffed head of anthropology." Wan Shi Tong looked to the side a motioned to three stuffed animal heads hung on a pillar. Professor Zei moaned in shock and clutched his neck nervously.
Is it just me, or does his mouth not move in sync with his mouth? I have a feeling that will start to bug me soon, Eira thought
"You're the spirit who brought this library to the physical world?" Sokka asked, walking a bit closer to the spirit.
"Indeed. I am Wan Shi Tong, 'He Who Knows Ten Thousand Things'. And you are obviously humans, which, by the way, are no longer permitted in my study."
"But, we're here for innocent knowledge. We just want to find out more things about this and the spirit world," Eira said, stepping forward.
"Hm! Innocent knowledge. Humans don't understand the concept of innocent knowledge. They only seek out knowledge to get the edge on other humans. Like that firebender who came to this place a few years ago, looking to destroy his enemy." He leaned towards Eira who had to use a lot of her willpower not to shy away. It was hard considering how his slowly blinking beady eyes were staring blankly and he was huge! "So, who are you trying to destroy?"
"W-We are not like Zhao," Eira said slowly, trying to stay calm and think about her words. "We are not here seeking to destroy enemies or your knowledge. We are here to learn more about the nations. I'd like to learn more about airbenders and the Air Nomads personally," Eira added, trying to seem more truthful, worried that she was acting too formal and suspicious.
Wan Shi Tong's eyes continued staring and Eira was beginning to lose her nerve. What if he didn't believe her? What if he knew what they were actually going to do concerning the Fire Nation? What if-
"Hm." Wan Shi Tong flapped his wings and stood up straighter. "Very well. I'll let you peruse my vast collection, on one condition." Everyone's hopeful expressions wavered slightly, worried about the condition. Eira, however, was more worried because of the fact that she forgot. What could she give to him? "To prove your worth as scholars, you have to contribute something some worthwhile knowledge."
I mean, I would write something down or something but then he wouldn't even understand it, Eira thought, annoyed. I guess I might have something left over from what the Northern Water Tribe gave us for our travels but would that even count?
Professor Zei pulled a book out of his bag and knelt down, presenting it to the spirit.
"Please accept this tome as a donation to your library," he said respectfully.
Wan Shi Tong looked down at him and swiped a wing at it, taking it away from him.
"First edition, very nice." Aang looked thoughtfully and excitedly pulled out the wanted poster from the Fire Festival they went to.
"Tah, dah!" He presented it to the spirit and Wan Shi Tong let out a small sigh.
"I suppose that counts." He took the poster and turned to Eira and Sokka, who were still thinking about what to do.
Eira rummaged through her bag and eventually presented a small scroll she'd taken from the North Pole, it was a calendar. When they set off for the Earth Kingdom, they'd packed some things for preparation.
"Is this okay?" she asked, holding it up. Wan Shi Tong nodded and swiped a wing at it, taking it in a swift movement.
"Stylish illustrations and calligraphy," he commented.
They all turned to Sokka who walked up confidently. "Oh, great spirit," he started before showing his hand which contained a piece of string. "Check this out." He quickly tied the spring into an intricate knot in the shape of a butterfly and showed it to him with a wide smile. "It's a special knot. That counts as knowledge."
Everyone stood in silence.
"You're not the brightest. Are you?" Sokka frowned in indignation as Wan Shi Tong took the knot. "Enjoy the library." He jumped of the bridge and flew down into the lower floors of the library.
"Bright enough to fool you," Sokka mumbled, narrowing his eyes and Eira shot a look at him.
"Sokka. You do realise that he has the power to easily kill us right? We need to be careful. We can't offend spirits. I think Tui and La's treatment of Zhao after he tried to kill them should be enough evidence of that." Once again, I still find it strange I'm saying these things. Eira shook her head in self-disbelief. It just sounded so strange to hear herself talking about offending spirits, no matter how much she says it.
Sokka stayed quiet but he took the withering look Eira was giving him seriously.
"Fine. Let's just find that map and info quickly and get out of here," he muttered under his breath.
They walked through the library and looked through shelves and selves of scrolls and books. Sokka's plans of quickly finding the information they needed soon evaporated as they all got caught up in the mass of knowledge surrounding them, Professor Zei in particular.
Eira looked at a random scroll and smiled as she saw beautiful illustrations of lion turtles. There were four of them and each one looked slightly different. They were subtle differences, but interesting.
"Hey, Aang. Look at these lion turtle things," Eira said, showing him the drawings. Aang smiled widely.
"Wow, they look so cool." Sokka shrugged as he pulled a book of the bookshelf with two symbols on it that Eira read as "child" and "white".
"I've seen cooler." Eira looked at him incredulously and raised an eyebrow. Seriously, Sokka?
EIra put the scroll back and pulled out another book. It was a book about the Avatar and his past lives.
She flicked through the pages absently and was slightly surprised to read about Avatar Yangchen's section. She knew that she told Aang to ignore the peaceful teaching of the monks in favour of saving the world but Eira never knew she took her own worlds to heart.
From what she read, at the start of her avatar training, crime started to increase as people assumes airbender avatars were weaker but… crime went down quite quickly once she disproved those assumptions.
Eira decided to keep the book for a while, for further reference, and moved to another bookshelf.
She didn't want to say it in front of Aang and Sokka, but Eira actually really wanted to learn more about the spirits, and if there was a way for her to get back home.
She was by no means going to leave before they defeated the Fire Lord, she made her promise to Aang, but she still wanted to go home someday. Eira needed to see her family again, she didn't want to leave them thinking that she'd run away or worse. She missed her home and no matter how much she loved being with Katara, Sokka, Aang and Toph, she was going to go back after the war was finished.
She walked off a bit, looking around a bit for one of the fox helpers.
"Hello? Um, do you know where anything about spirit travel or other worlds would be?" Eira said aloud and she turned around quickly as she heard a noise behind her.
Bingo! A fox stared up at her and pointed with his nose. "So, it's that way? Great. Lead the way." The fox ran off and Eira jogged after it. They went across another bridge and down a flight of stairs to a particularly old section of the library.
It wasn't as clean as the other sections. The bookshelves were slightly worn down compared the the ones upstairs and the scrolls and books didn't appear to be in any order, just piled on top of each other.
"Okay, so I just need to get through… all of this… yay!" Eira said, enthusiasm diminishing as she walked up to the shelves. It was never going to be as easy as pointing out, "oh, here's the information you need to travel through the spirit world and get back to your own, solving all of your problems along the way". I can only dream, Eira thought as she began her search.
Indexes on different spirits, nope. Story of Raava and Vaatu, nope. Origins of bending, maybe? Mortal world, nope. Gah! They all sounded interesting but they were all on the wrong topics. It was beginning to just become annoying looking at all the spirits in the diagrams and knowing full well that it was their fault that she was there.
Honestly, she didn't even need to be brought into the A:TLA world considering how they stopped the Fire Lord anyway and she was pretty sure Aang would have at least one airbender kid. They didn't need another airbender, well, okay they kind of did but they didn't have to abduct someone to get one.
Eira skimmed a few books, occasionally keeping one of two for future information, until she finally found one about spirit travel that actually had useful information.
"Finally," Eira whispered as she read through it.
While mortals have physical bodies, they also have spirits. These spirits, if connected with, can be used to travel using the spirit world.
It can be used for astral projections in dire circumstances, other forms of communications and reaching greater levels of bending mastery. Airbenders are taught to have simple lives and clear minds, unconnected to the mortal world and by doing so, the majority of mortals capable of spirit travel are airbenders.
The non-physical aspects of their bending also helps them maintain this spiritual method of travel as by being able to control something non-physical, they're inherently more prepared. Earthbenders are known as being the weakest spiritually due to being the opposite of airbenders and being very material.
The mortal world is not the only connected plane of existence to the spirit world and other mortal realms do exist. However, these worlds aren't directly linked with the spirit world and travelling to these worlds is near impossible unless one becomes a spirit or has lost all material binding to the earth… Eira trailed off as she read it in her head.
Her eyebrows knitted together as she took in the information. It sounded incredibly difficult, but thankfully, it sounded possible. And, she was an airbender, thanks to the spirits so it would at least be a little easier, right? But would this mean that I'd have to master airbending to do it? Would that also come with needing tattoos?
Eira shook her head to clear her thoughts as she slammed the book shut. She had her information. That was it. That was all she needed. There was no need to waste time thinking on impossibilities at the moment. She would have plenty of time to sort it out after the war was over.
She got up and jogged back up to where she'd left the others and was mildly surprised to see that they weren't there.
"Um, guys?" Eira called, walking slowly through the library, looking for them.
She tried to be direct but kept on getting distracted by random books that caught her eye. She found that books on the different cultures and animals of the nations, particularly the Air nation caught her eye, mainly due to the fact that the actual show didn't offer too much information on them due to the genocide.
She collected a few interesting ones until she ran into a circular room with all of them gazing up at a painted sky and mechanical machine.
They turned around to face her as she walked in and Aang smiled at her.
"Oh, hey Eira. Where were you?" he asked. Eira shrugged nonchalantly.
"I was just seeing whether or not I would be able to find some information that the Fire Nation didn't destroy," she explained as she walked closer to the middle of the room. "This room looks amazing."
"It's some sort of mechanical calendar," Professor Zei said, his excitement only barely contained enough to stop all of the books in his hands from falling.
Sokka turned the dials in the centre of the room and pulled the lever a metre away and suddenly, the room started changing, the lighting in the domed ceiling changed from day to night, day to night until it settled on night, or at least, that's what it looked like.
"It's an eclipse," Sokka gasped. "That's it! Fir-"
"Shhh!" Eira hissed, cutting him off. "But it would be interesting to see when the next eclipse is. They're very interesting events," Eira spoke very sharply, the message clearly being "the owl is listening, don't talk about defeating the Fire Nation"
Sokka looked at her, puzzled but then his eyes widened as he got it.
"Oooooh yeah. I love eclipses. So interesting. Yeah, let's see when the next one is."
"What are you guys talking about? Why do we need to find out when the next eclipse is?"
"To destroy your enemies." Eira's blood turned cold as a low booming voice suddenly spoke up and a dark shadow grew from behind them. She turned around slowly to see Wan Shi Tong's white face towering over them.
Eira stepped back a little, her willpower from before failing as this was undeniably even more terrifying.
"Humans are so predictable, and such terrible liars. You have betrayed my knowledge. You intended to misuse this knowledge for evil purposes."
"But, we didn't lie!" Eira protested, taking another step back and slowly taking her staff into her hand. "We did come here for more information about the nations and I did come here for more information about the spirit world. We're using this information to help more than two thirds of the world, doesn't that count of using knowledge for good. The way you're hording this knowledge isn't useful to anyone and, yes, human's use things like this to get the better of each other but there's a line where you know it's for the better."
"You think you know what's for the better? You think you know better than any other mortal who's come here, to abuse my library?! You know nothing of the world, humans know only of themselves. That's why you're here, not to help anyone else, but yourself."
Eira couldn't respond. Because she couldn't deny that. In the end, she knew they didn't need the information about the eclipse, she knew that knowing about the eclipse is what caused many people to be sent to prison or worse. Did…Did she just come to the library to selfishly get information about getting home?
Wan Shi Tong seemed to take her silence for confirmation.
"It seems even you realise it. I commend you for being one of the few humans who do, but you have all stolen information from me, and I'm taking it back." Wan Shi Tong flapped his wings and the building started to shake.
Professor Zei, Aang, Sokka and Eira staggered to stable themselves.
"What are you doing?!" Aang exclaimed, yelling to be heard over the rumble of the shaking building.
"I'm taking my knowledge back. No one will ever abuse it again." The building let out a tremor and sand shook down from the ceiling.
For the first time since being down there, Eira was suddenly faced with the realisation that they were underground. And she was about to buried alive. Again!
"We've got to get out of here! Now!" Eira cried and began to turn towards the exit.
"I'm afraid I can't allow that. You already know too much." He dived at them, thankfully missing and Eira on impulse slashed her staff, the adrenaline causing a massive strike of air to push him backwards into the other wall, causing a cloud of dust to fill the room as they ran out.
They ran out, Eira positively flipping out at the prospect of the library collapsing, and it seemed that knowledge spirits recovered quickly as he burst out of the opening, completely shattering it.
They all ran for their lives but Professor Zei was still determined to reason with Wan Shi Tong.
"Please, Great Knowledge Spirit, I beg you, do not destroy your vast collection of priceless tomes." Wan Shi Tong reared up and prepared to attack but Aang used his airbending to pull Zei towards them, following with a massive air blast that struck him and sent Wan Shi Tong over the edge.
"We need to get back to the surface!" Aang said as he began to move towards the direction where they'd entered from.
"Yeah, yeah. Let's get out of here quickly," Eira said quickly, glancing up at the sand coming down from the ceiling nervously.
"But we don't know when the next eclipse is going to happen," Sokka protested, looking back towards the circular room.
"We don't need to know!"
"Yes, we do! The eclipse leaves firebenders completely helpless. We need to use that somehow! "
"But-!"
"Just take the Professor and go!" Sokka ordered.
Wan Shi Tong burst out from between them and turned towards Eira and Professor Zei.
"Go!" Eira didn't need him to repeat. She sprinted for her life away from the chasing spirit. She ran into a maze of bookshelves and tried to swerve in between them, hoping he wasn't very agile.
Eira darted away from a bookshelf that Wan Shi Tong had just burst through and hid in a small notch of bookcases to try and think of a way out.
Damnnit guys! Please hurry up! She thought desperately. Why didn't she just all together stop them from going here?! You won't get anywhere just regretting your choices, she scolded, mentally slapping herself. Just deal with it!
Wan Shi Tong dived at the bookshelf she was hiding behind and she rolled away and jumped up, opening her glider mid-jump and flying further away from the spirit to buy more time.
She landed on the bridge that they'd first landed on and she flicked her staff back, taking an offensive pose as Wan Shi Tong turned around, his wings half-open in an intimidating gesture.
"You may be an irregular airbender but I've studied airbending for centuries. There's nothing you can do to defeat me."
He dived at her and Eira jumped up high into the air. She slashed her staff through the air and somehow managed to pull of the strongest airbending she'd ever managed to do. An almost Aang-level force of air was channelled into Wan Shi Tong's direction and caught his wings. He was thrown backwards into his bookshelves and Eira span her hands around to send him spiralling into the wall.
He didn't get back up. For once.
"Oh yeah?" she gasped, exhausted. "Take that."
"Eira! We've got it!" Eira looked up and saw Sokka and Aang running towards her.
"Wait? Where's your scarf?" Aang asked. Eira looked and she only just noticed that her hair wasn't tied up in her scarf anymore.
She looked around but couldn't see where it had gone. Knowing her luck it was probably under a couple of crushed bookshelves.
"It doesn't matter," she breathed. "You missed the excitement, by the way." Eira gestured to the motionless Wan Shi Tong in the broken bookshelves.
Aang and Sokka looked at her in disbelief.
"How-?" Sokka began but Eira cut him off.
"We need to leave now, the library's still sinking and I doubt we have the time to exchange stories."
Eira, Aang and Sokka all began to climb the rope, but then Eira noticed Professor Zei. He had made almost a nest of books. And he wasn't leaving.
"Professor! You need to go!" Eira called.
"I'm not leaving!" he insisted, dropping his book and looking up at them. "I've spent too long trying to find this place." He looked up, his eyes glazed over and a wistful smile on his face. "I could spend an eternity in here."
But, Wan Shi Tong will kill you! Eira wanted to scream sense at him, but her voice wouldn't work. She couldn't tell him to give up on this place… He wouldn't be able to…
"Just go!" Sokka yelled at her and, after a moment's hesitation, Eira continued to climb.
Wan Shi Tong let out a ear-bursting screech and the rope fell, Eira and Aang opened their gliders, Aang catching Sokka, and began to fly out. Wan Shi Tong flew up behind them as they shot out of the library into the desert where the library finally sank back into the ground.
Eira crashed into the hot sand and skidded, the sand scratching her skin like falling over on Astroturf.
She picked herself up and looked sadly at the now blank area where the tower of the library had been.
"It's completely gone," she muttered in disbelief.
Sokka ran over to Katara and Toph… and Appa! Eira was shaken out of her daze and smiled at the sight of their furry friend. She'd done it. She's done it! Her actions had saved Appa!
Eira ran over to Appa and hugged him.
"Appa, you're safe! I can't believe it!"
"I can't believe how well you predicted it, Eira." Eira turned around to face Katara who was looking at her with conflicting expressions.
"What do you mean?" Eira asked.
"I mean, you predicted that the library would sink and that we'd get attacked by sandbenders who were after Appa." Katara crossed her arms. "You have to admit that's a little strange."
"Yeah, they might've actually taken Appa if Katara wasn't there and I was stuck keeping you guys from being buried," Toph added.
"Yeah, I agree it's strange. This may sound strange, but I just… knew it," Eira said, knowing it was a weak explanation. "I know it's a weak argument and you probably won't believe me, but the good thing is that Appa's safe. It payed off and have a plan."
"There's a solar eclipse coming. The Fire Nation's in trouble, we've got a plan," Sokka explained. "If we tell the Earth King about it, we can pull off a full invasion of the Fire Nation without them even having their firebending."
"Then, let's go and get to Ba Sing Se," Aang announced, jumping onto Appa's head. They all climbed onto the saddle and flew off. Eira looked down at the empty desert with tinges of guilt. Professor Zei. The first person Eira couldn't save.
Well, we've saved Appa. Now all of the implications of that and future decisions are all in the balance. What will Eira do? What the heck will I do next chapter or the chapter after that? Find out soon(ish)!
Please review and I hope you've enjoyed this chapter!