Got another fun one for you today. And surprise of surprises! It's set in Season One. I hardly ever do that. Rest assured that it's one you'll enjoy. ;)
Day Eleven
Mythology
Of all the odd places Team Avatar had visited during the course of their journey to the Northern Water Tribe, the strangest by far was without a doubt the village of Ei Hazu.
Ei Hazu was a village of only a hundred or so people and it was so tiny and out of the way that it lacked even a market. However, this didn't stop it from being a very bizarre place. At the center of the village was a house more ornate than any of the others and Katara, Aang, and Sokka could only watch, bemused, as men, women, and children lined up at its door, each holding a plate that contained a single, unpeeled lychee.
"Um, what exactly is going on?" Sokka vocalized the question on all their minds.
An old man standing nearby took it upon himself to answer. "You lot clearly ain't from around here if you don't know about the daily offering to the great spirit Aa Ron."
Aang scratched his head and raised an eyebrow at the man. "Um, the great spirit who?"
"Aa Ron," the man repeated, giving Aang a critical once-over. "There's an old legend 'round these parts what says if you offer a lychee to the great spirit he may choose to impart a piece of his great wisdom on t'you. Aa Ron knows all, y'see. He even predicted this war."
"Wait, so he can see the future?" Katara asked, interested.
"That's right, little lady." He turned away from them and pointed to a girl close to Katara's age standing in the line. "That young lady over there's going to ask the spirit about the man she'll one day marry. All the young men and women in the village get matched by Aa Ron. He knows which couplings lead to the greatest happiness."
Immediately, both Katara and Aang perked up excitedly. Katara was always eager to hear her love fortune. Turning to Aang, she said, "Well, nothing ventured, right?"
Aang nodded. "That's right. And besides, it's my duty as the Avatar to meet this Aa Ron if he's a spirit."
Not wasting any time, the excited duo set off to get ahold of some lychees. Behind them, Sokka rolled his eyes and followed. "Here we go again."
oOo
Katara rocked from her heels to her toes and back impatiently as she waited for her turn to present her offering to the spirit. She still remembered Aunt Wu's fortune. Supposedly the man she would marry would be a powerful bender. She wondered if this Aa Ron's fortune would be the same. He was a spirit, so whatever he said had to be the truth, right?
Finally, the person who'd gone in before Katara reemerged from the house and Katara was ushered inside. Trying to rein in her excitement, Katara held her plate in a firm grip and walked through the open door.
"Welcome, child," an elderly woman in brown robes bade as she entered. Katara looked around the room, trying to find the spirit, but all she saw besides the obviously human woman was a large hole in the floor of the house. The hole was perfectly round and so deep that Katara couldn't see to the bottom. The old woman drew her attention again by saying, "What would you like to ask the great spirit?"
A little confused, Katara looked from the hole to the woman. She wore a friendly expression and though her face was weathered Katara could tell that she had once been quite beautiful. "Um," she started, feeling suddenly unsure, "I guess I'd like to know about the man I'll marry in the future. If the great spirit doesn't mind telling me."
The old woman smiled broadly, showing a row of somewhat off-white teeth. "Of course, my dear. Offer up your gift and I shall reveal the words of his excellency, Aa Ron."
Seeing Katara's continued confusion, the woman nodded to the hole in the floor. Katara's eyebrows shot up. "Oh! Right. Okay." Heeding the crone's gesture, she walked to the edge of the hole and upended her plate, allowing the lychee to fall into the dark abyss.
A moment passed in which Katara watched the piece of fruit disappear from sight, then the old woman closed her eyes and appeared to listen for a handful of seconds. Katara waited, and finally the woman's eyes opened and she said, "The spirit has spoken."
Katara's face split into a giddy grin and she leaned toward the woman expectantly. "What did he say?"
The crone smiled at her enthusiasm. "The one destined for you is close. He is an honest, compassionate, and hardworking young man, and Aa Ron sees a lifetime of love and happiness in your future together. You're very lucky. It isn't often that the great Aa Ron sees a union so auspicious."
Katara squealed in delight. She clasped her hands together by her chin and did a little dance. Her excitement ripe to burst right out of her, she asked, "How do I find him?"
The crone didn't seem bothered in the slightest by her energetic enthusiasm. "He is much closer than you think." She reached forward and took one of Katara's arms, grasping her wrist in bony fingers. "The next man to touch you will be him."
Katara's grin faded and was replaced by a look of confusion. "The next man to touch me?" she repeated. That couldn't be right. The only two boys liable to touch her anytime soon were her brother and…
At once, her eyes widened. Aang. Aunt Wu's fortune telling had also pointed to Aang. Could it be that the two of them actually were destined to be together?
She wasn't quite sure how she felt about that. She did care greatly for Aang, but love? She'd need some time to think about it.
Despite her uneasiness about Aa Ron's prediction, she plastered a polite smile on her face and thanked the woman for her time. She made to go on her way but she was stopped when the old woman laid a hand on her shoulder and said, "Beware, child. There are forces in this world—powerful ones—who will attempt to lead you to a different destiny. You must trust the guidance of Aa Ron."
Katara blinked in confusion at the old woman's strange shift in demeanor. Hesitantly she nodded. "Um, sure."
The woman released her and Katara was allowed to go on her way.
When she stepped out of the hut, Aang was waiting. He was the next in line after her. "How'd it go?" he asked eagerly. "Did you learn anything good?"
Katara nodded slowly. "Yeah. Um, I think so?"
Aang's grin widened. "Great!" He released the plate with one hand to give her a wave. "Well then, I guess it's my turn. Wish me luck!" With that, he disappeared through the door.
Katara watched the doorway for a moment before shaking her head and turning around. She should find Sokka before he got himself into trouble.
She'd barely made it twenty feet from the house when a cry of alarm rippled through the line of people. Becoming instantly alert, Katara placed her hand over her the cork of her water skin and looked around for the source of the disturbance.
She found it—or rather, him—quickly enough. She wasn't even surprised when she saw the dark ponytail and angry scowl of a far too familiar figure riding a Komodo Rhino through the center of the village as if he owned the place. Flanking him were two more rhinos carrying two Fire Nation soldiers each.
"Zuko!" she cried at the sight of him. It just figured that he'd track them here. He always showed up right when they thought they could relax for a minute.
Zuko caught sight of her and his scowl deepened. "Just as I thought," he announced, looking her right in the eye. "I knew the Avatar would travel through here." As Katara watched, he hopped down from his rhino and strode toward her, his expression fierce. "Why don't you tell me where he is, little girl?"
Katara scowled right back and uncorked her water skin with a deft flick of her thumb. "Why don't you make me?" she challenged.
Zuko was, apparently, perfectly happy to take her up on that challenge because he clenched his fists at his sides and twin daggers of fire appeared from them. Without taking his eyes off her, he addressed his men. "Split up and find the other water brat. The Avatar won't be far."
Katara's eyebrows pushed together in anger. "Don't you touch him!" Before the soldiers could move, she pulled a long stream of water from her flask and formed it into a whip which she lashed at the komodo rhinos one by one, causing them to rise up onto their hind legs in fright and throw off their riders.
"Why you—peasant!" Zuko called to her, breaking into a run straight at her.
Katara hurriedly pulled her water back and, with a spin, sent it flying at Zuko. Zuko dodged expertly out of the way and shot a blast of fire at her whip, causing a large amount of it to evaporate into steam. Katara cursed at the loss of precious water and turned her head this way and that, hoping to find a well or other source of water she could pull from. All she saw were the white faces of the villagers watching their fight with fearful eyes.
Zuko took advantage of her lapse in concentration and dodged past her defenses to grab her wrist in a vice grip. "Tell me where the Avatar is!" he demanded again. His face was near enough that she could make out the individual flecks of gold in his eyes.
Katara was about to tell him to take a hike when another voice rose over the scene. "Right here!"
Before either of them could react, a strong gust of wind blew over her head, striking Zuko and forcing him to release her. Not a moment later, a yellow-garbed figure landed beside her, retracting the wings of his glider and leveling it like a staff at the downed firebender.
"Avatar!" Zuko snarled at him, hastily regaining his footing and dropping into a bending stance. Unfortunately for him, he never got an opportunity to attack because right as he pivoted into the beginnings of a punch he was knocked off his feet once again by the enormous and fluffy figure of Appa who dropped down from the sky nearly on top of him. Sokka motioned to Aang and Katara from his saddle. "Get on! If we leave, they'll follow us!"
Not wasting any time, Aang grabbed Katara by her wrist and used his airbending to propel the both of them up onto Appa's saddle. Sokka snapped the reins once and yelled, "Yip yip!" and then they were flying, leaving Zuko and his soldiers to stare after them, their attempt to capture the Avatar foiled once again.
Once they were sure the village would be alright and that they had nothing more to fear from Zuko, the three companions let out a breath of relief and relaxed against the sides of Appa's saddle.
"Another close one," Aang said what they were all thinking. "Jeez, I was only gone for like three minutes. How in the world does he find us so fast?"
Sokka made a whirling motion with one hand. "Maybe he asked Aa Ron."
The remark was meant to be sarcastic, but it brought Katara's mind back to her talk with the old woman in the house. Giving Aang a curious look, she asked, "Speaking of Aa Ron, what did he say to you?"
Aang's shoulder slumped in a decidedly disappointed fashion. "I never got to hear. Zuko showed up right as the old lady was going to tell me."
Katara laid a sympathetic hand on his shoulder. "That's too bad. I'm sorry, Aang."
Aang just shrugged. "Maybe it's for the best. After all, there's a chance I might've been really disappointed by his prediction, right?" His expression brightened then and he turned Katara's question back at her. "What did he say to you?"
At once, Katara stiffened. The memory of the old woman's words ran through her head. "Um…" she started. "He said that the man I'd marry would be honest and hardworking and that we'd be very happy together." She carefully left out the part about how she'd know who he was. After all, she wasn't sure she was quite ready yet to reveal to Aang that he was the one who…
Wait.
Her eyes shot wide open and she grasped her right wrist in her left hand. The first man to touch her…
It hadn't been Aang.
"Oh, no," she uttered, deadly serious.
Sokka raised an eyebrow at her. "Oh no, what? That sounds like a pretty good fortune."
Katara didn't acknowledge him. Her mind was too busy trying to process what she'd just realized. The woman had definitely said that the man she was destined to marry would be the first one to touch her upon leaving the house. But there was no possible way that could be right because the first person to touch her had been…
No. She refused to even think it. Uh uh. That was not going to happen.
"Katara?"
Katara responded to her comrades' concern by shaking her head violently and in a voice that was maybe a little too loud declared, "I just remembered that totally forgot to pick up supplies in that village. How silly of me!" She punctuated this statement with a laugh that sounded forced even to her.
Aang and Sokka gave her dubious looks but didn't comment on her odd behavior. The conversation moved on, much to her relief, but she didn't participate in it. She was too busy having a silent crisis in her head.
Honest and hardworking? Compassionate? A lifetime of happiness and love?
No way. That prediction couldn't be referring to him. Aa Ron must have made a mistake. Perhaps he hadn't accounted for Zuko finding them so quickly. That had to be it. Even spirits weren't omnipotent, right?
Feeling a little better after rationalizing it, Katara put the matter aside, determined never to revisit it.
Her and Zuko? What a laugh. Not in a million gajillion years.
oO0Oo
Oh, Katara. How little you know. We were all so innocent in season one.
This was another prompt I almost didn't write for. I couldn't for the life of me think of a fitting story for it. The story I ended up writing still doesn't really fit "Mythology" but I'm honestly just happy to have written something. I'd have been really disappointed if I ended up missing a day.
Tomorrow is the continuation of 'Vigilantes'. I hope you're all pumped for it!
