Chapter 15

While we flew, moving gently up and down with Selene's movements, Lee told me of his growing up at the Southern Air Temple. He said that he was dropped off there by his parents when he was around six. And he never heard from them. The only thing that he had from them was a yellowing envelope that he had to open on his twenty-second birthday.

"And when is that?" I asked.

"In a couple of days," he answered.

Steering away from himself, he said; "Omashu is coming up soon."

"Omashu," I said. In my mind, I caught a flash of hands, blue arrows on the top, grasping the edges of a delivery cart, as it slid down a ramp. I felt my heart soaring as I plummeted, the ramp steepening. One of Avatar Aang's memories in his young days.

I looked forward to returning to it.

I pushed Selene as much as I could until we reached Omashu. Nestled in the Kolau Mountains, Omashu was the second largest Earth Kingdom city, besides the capital, Ba Sing Se. During the Hundred Years War, it had been conquered by the Fire Nation and been renamed New Ozai. That didn't last long.

"Do you have ID?" I asked.

"ID?" Lee asked in return.

I was tempted to do a face-palm. Lee seemed knowledgeable but did not know much about the modern world.

"Identification? You know, that card with your face on it, name, birth date, birthplace. All that," I said.

"Oh, why didn't you say so?"

I just laughed, not looking at him.

"You should bind your hair. It's getting in my face. I don't think you'll like it if it gets in my mouth," Lee told me, completely serious.

I weaved my hair into a braid as I chuckled, getting the image of him spitting out white hair.

Soon enough, we were approaching the great mountain city of Omashu. It was a dull pale gold in the afternoon sun. I could make out the slides of the delivery ramps interspaced between the city buildings. It would be so cool to ride one of those. Maybe I could persuade Lee to do with it.

Selene wearily landed in some forest near enough to the city. The rest of the way we would have to make on foot.

I unbraided my hair immediately after dismounting Selene. It fell in waves, my scalp singing in relief. I sighed, shaking my hair out.

"Go rest, girl. I'll be back soon," I told Selene, rubbing her snout affectionately. She huffed in response, giving my forehead a bump with her nose.

Then we walked the long path into Omashu. The sun beat down on us, an unusually hot day for fall. I was already sweating in my clothes.

At the gate, an older earthbender man stood, arms crossed, dressed full out in the uniform of the Earth Kingdom Army.

His brown eyes narrowed when he saw us. "Air Acolyte," he mumbled, seeing Lee.

Then he narrowed his eyes at me. "But you, what kind of bender are you?"

"An earthbender," I said, raising my eyebrows.

"Hmm," he answered and then held a hand out in front of my face. "ID," he demanded of me.

I had my ID in a protective metal case, so I could bend it if I wanted to. I held out a palm flat to the ground, letting the ID float out of my bag. The guard grabbed the floating case with a huff, opening it and looking at my picture.

"Republic City, huh? A bit a ways from home, aren't you?"

I didn't say anything, just crossed my arms over my chest.

"Alright," he said, flicking the ID over to me. I caught it between two fingers and smirked.

"Thank you," I said, pushing past him. I didn't wait for him, and the hidden earthbenders to open the great wall of Omashu to let us in. I did it myself.

Sucking a breath, I lifted my hands above my head, and then slammed them down in front of me. The wall that acted as the door to Omashu crashed down.

The guard stared, his mouth gaping open. The other earthbenders were staring at me with awe. Their eyes were bulging comically.

I swaggered past them with tall, muscular Lee in tow. I must have looked pretty impressive. When we passed through the walls, I simply flicked my fingers, letting the wall slide back up.

"You are a very powerful bender," Lee said, his eyes heavy on me. I felt them searching and probing. We both knew that I was not being honest with him about some things.

"Thanks," I said, my eyes scanning the streets. There were no phone booths in sight just yet. We would probably have to go to the centre of the city.

I shoved my hands into my pockets, taking in the city. The recognition settled deep on my heart, my eyes flashing to the very present Omashu before me and the hazy memory of Aang's Omashu.

There were not many differences, except for the colour posters of upcoming movers, the technology. Much of the city was exactly the same.

We passed by a radio, surrounded by a couple of shoppers.

"That's right folks! Bolin is back in a new mover! So, Bolin, what do you have to say about his upcoming blockbuster?"

When the male voice answered, I shivered. I knew that voice so well, even though we never met.

"Well, the story is about a past Earth King, who journeys into the Spirit World, for the perfect engagement present for his bride to be! And of course, there is more than one love interest!" Bolin answered.

"Oooo. Some spicy stuff, well that's all the time we have today folks! Stay tuned, for a trailer will be released soon of Bolin's upcoming film! The Earth King's Gift!"

The crowd gathered around the radio tittered in excitement. We kept walking.

"You! You!" A bony hand grabbed me by the arm.

"Let go of me!" I couldn't help the surge of panic that spiked. My whip shot out and wrapped around the bony hand's wrists. There was a small cry in pain. I turned and saw a bent over old woman, clutching a metal cane. Copper vines intertwined and rose on the dully gleaming cane.

"Sit!" she commanded, not caring that my whip was still around her wrist.

My whip withdrew into my sleeve. I looked to Lee. He was narrowing his eyes at her, his face suspicious. He shrugged at me but I knew he was still on edge. Were those Air Acolyte senses tingling?

Both of us sat across from the old woman, shaded by a green umbrella. The hard planks dug into my back as I stared across the table, at the old woman. From the depths of her billowy black sleeves, she withdrew a deck of cards.

"She's a Tarot card reader," I said, sighing. There were plenty of these people in Republic City and I'd say that 99.9% of them were scam artists.

"Both of you, your futures burn bright compared to these people," the old woman murmured. "Burning bright trails of white fire. Burning bright trails of white fire."

This woman was a little off the rocker. The urge to run, to flee, stirred in my body, urging my muscles to tense, to propel me into motion, was so strong, that I had to bite my tongue. I was rewarded with a surge of liquid metal in my mouth, like I was sucking on a Yuan coin.

"You first," she said, gesturing to Lee. He gave me a raised eyebrow but shrugged.

"Hold your hand out," she instructed, grabbing his arm and shaking it.

Looking disgruntled, Lee did so. The old woman splayed the cards in her hand and brushed each across Lee's open palm. When she was done, two cards were in his palm. I looked at him. His face was scrunched in confusion, wondering how the cards got there in the first place. I didn't see a slip of hand or anything but then again she could be a professional scammer.

She took the cards from him and flipped them over the table. One was of a butterfly shedding its chrysalis, the other was of a black silhouette standing at a fork in the road.

"In your future lies an important transformation. It results in the revealing of years-old secrets and deceptions. It shall make or break you."

Her fingers drifted over to the other card, the one with the forked road. "You face a decision that will shape your entire future. Torn between desires of heart and mind. The crossroads lurks very near. Maybe a couple of days."

A couple of days. That was mentioned a lot lately.

Lee's jaw tightened, a muscle feathering under his skin. His brown eyes darted to me but then slid away, like a writhing fish in my grasp.

"Now, you, special girl," the old woman said, holding a demanding hand out. Sighing, I held out my hand, falling into hers. Her skin was fragile, papery and dry. I tried not to shudder.

She did the same with me, letting her fan of Tarot cards brush my hand. They felt slippery and cool. But when certain ones touched me, they felt frozen and stuck to my skin. Three cards were stacked in my palm.

The woman plucked the cards out of hand and spread them on the table. She flipped the first. It was of two figures intertwined in an intimate embrace. A pair of snowy unfurled wings arced behind them.

"You shall find love," she said, her hand going to the second card. It had a woman crumpled to her knees in grief, alone in darkness. "But there will be grief." She reached for the last card. She paused.

I stared down at the card. She didn't have to tell me this one. A white cloaked figure, the fabric like fog hanging over the softly glowing blue globe, a skeletal hand stretched out. The Death Card.

"Death awaits you in your near future," the old woman whispered.

"Well, thanks for nothing," I said, rising from my chair. Lee did as well. "Now, if you'll excuse me, we have better things to do."

I didn't betray how much that old scammer's predictions shook me. And I knew I wasn't the only one. Could her prediction actually be real?

My head pounded as we grew closer to a telephone booth. It gleamed dully in the sun's rays, making my head pound further. I knew what that metal was.

It was platinum.

In several Earth Kingdom cities, the local governments started to use platinum to ensure the citizens' safety, as the majority of the benders in the Earth Kingdom were earthbenders, many who had the ability to use its sub-element, metal. By using the purest metal out there, they ensured the safety of people against trouble-making earthbenders. Non-benders couldn't make a dent against them either, because usually the metal was pretty dense. Unless they had those Equalist electric gloves, which were forbidden. Possessing them without a good reason and an official license would be considered a major offense. Any non-benders up to no good would never get them, since they could be tracked with the licenses.

No loop-holes whatsoever.

Head aching, I entered the telephone booth. Lee nodded, not really looking at me.

"I will go get some more rations," he said.

"Alright. Well, meet me back here. If I'm not here, then at Selene," I told him.

He nodded and walked off, broad shoulders slightly hunched. He stood out like a sore thumb with his bright yellow, red and orange clothes. Sighing, I turned to the telephone, dialing carefully so I wouldn't have to start over. Those revolving dials were a nuisance. I hoped the rumours were true that they were developing telephones with no rotary dials.

Yena answered on the first ring.

"Oh, Tiana, I've been so anxious! I was so worried that you wouldn't call!" Yena cried through the phone.

"Of course I'd call, Yen-Yen. This is important," I said, using her childhood nickname.

"Yes, well do you want to go first?" she asked.

"Sure."

So I explained to her all that I saw in Korra's memories, even relating my exasperation at how Korra wanted to show me her epic love affair with her husband, Mako.

"And you had to feel what she was feeling? That must have been tough."

I found myself nodding, even though I knew she couldn't see me agreeing. That heartbreak, confusion, the pain in her final moments. That had been hard on the head.

"Her death definitely wasn't peaceful. But you know what? At the moment she died, it wasn't just the old woman and the new Lieutenant."

"Yeah, didn't you say there was a young couple there?"

"It wasn't just any young couple, Yena. It was our parents."

"But how could they know they would bring to the world the next Avatar?"

I picked at my sleeve, not answering for a moment. I only had this realization a little bit ago, when I finally returned to myself. Korra did not recognize them because she didn't know them. But we did.

"Something to do with that old witch," I said. "If she has the ability to split the Avatar Spirit in half and revive Vaatu, I don't think foreseeing the future would be that big of a leap."

"You're right," there was a sigh. "I just can't believe that Mom and Dad would do this. Stand by while someone kills the Avatar, which would soon be us. Wouldn't it be very possible that they could do that for us?"

I pressed my head against the platinum wall of the telephone booth. It was achingly cold against my clammy skin. I didn't care that my head was pounding even more with the contact from the metal.

"Yeah," I said. That one word was loaded with so much sadness, dismay.

"Well, I guess I have to tell you what I found out," Yena sighed, demonstrating the same desire of not wanting to talk.

"Okay."

She told her tale of sneaking into the Neo Equalist meeting, of hearing their plans. They wanted to assassinate the President by using the Dark Avatar. One non-bender could not face off against the most powerful person in the world. Not even the President.

This wasn't a surprise. I had pretty much found out from one of those chi blockers that attacked us outside of that village.

"What about whoever is the Light Avatar?"

"I don't know. I think they want them as well, but I think they mainly want the Dark Avatar," she answered.

"Do you know when they're planning this?"

"A couple of days."

Again, the couple of days. Two days.

Why was that so important?

I heard something creak on the other side of the phone. "I have to go, Tiana. Mom and Dad are home," she whispered.

"Be careful!" I cried before she hung up. I just stared at the telephone, and then slammed the ear and mouth pieces onto the cradles.