Legal necessities:I went to the Library and found out I don't own this.
Chapter 11: The Library
"This is amazing!" Katara exclaimed, as Toph leapt from Appa's back.
"It really it, there are tons of Badgermole caves in this mountain!" she said happily.
"Sorry Toph, but we didn't come here for that, we came here because it's the perfect place to teach Kana how to use a glider." Aang grinned, grabbing both of said items, and throwing one at her.
"I thought the point of these vacations were to get away from the stress of learning how to bend." She laughed jokingly, tapping the glider to the ground, opening the blue wings.
"What are you talking about? Gliding is the most relaxing thing in the world! Besides, this is your surprise for helping me to learn Earthbending. Don't worry, it's just going to be you getting off the ground without jumping off a cliff."
"Fine," Kana grinned, " but first, let's have some real fun! I'll race you to the peak of that mountain and back!" without waiting for an answer, she threw her glider into an open expanse of air, and leaped on. She was in free fall for a second or two before the air currents picked up the heavier than usual glider. When Kana looked up, Aang was already ahead of her, and that meant it was time to give him a surprise of her own.
She shot a jet of fire beneath him, signaling the beginning of the game. As he shot air at her, Kana banked hard to the left, barely missing yet another attack coming right at her. She spun in the air with a laugh, there was a reason it was called glider chicken cow! Not many people were willing to have a bending battle in the air, and those who were, usually had to call it off right in the middle of it so nobody was hurt. That's why, as a Waterbender, she refused to play. But now, now she had more tools in her arsenal.
She shot more fire at him, causing Aang to swerve off course, giving her enough time to shift higher than him. With a surge of adrenaline, Kana snapped her glider shut, and dove straight at the peak of the mountain they had been racing too. She landed harder than she expected, but without missing a beat, she used her staff to fling a boulder right at Aang.
She heard the crunch of earth as she soared away, back to where everyone was waiting to see who the winner was. Kana flipped onto her back for a moment, shooting a jet of fire at Aang, who was getting closer and closer with each second. She knew he was pushing himself, he had never lost a game of glider chicken cow, not even against Gyatso! But there was always a first time for everything!
Kana hit the ground running, stumbling until Katara caught her with a laugh. "Way to go, Water Mama!" Toph cheered, slugging her in the shoulder.
" I've never seen anyone play like that before." Aang grinned, landing smoothly.
"That's because the Air Nomads always tried to make you make a mistake." Kana smirked, "I think we can say I play a little more offensively."
"Well now I know your strategy, I'm going to beat you next time!"
"I want you to remember this day Aang," she laughed, looping an arm around his shoulder, "this is the day you lost your first battle, and the moment you made your worst enemy. Now, teach me how to get off the ground without leaping from the side of a cliff."
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"Good one, Twinkle Toes." Toph said sarcastically, flicking him in the head.
"I guess the oasis must have changed management." He chuckled nervously, rubbing the back of his head.
"Well we can't just stand here," Katara frowned, "let's go in." Everyone did as she told, but as they walked past the gates, the sign fell, smashing into several pieces. They trailed silently past the melting ice spring, a block dog licking at the ice for water. There was a mud hut with people loitering outside, and everyone just migrated in that direction. As the group walked in, Kana hesitated, casting a weary glance at the two men. They were Sanbenders, so there were no distinguishing characteristics that could be of them gave her a toothless grin, and she scuttled into the tavern quickly.
"One mango please." She heard someone ask. The bartender diced and sliced through the fruit hanging from the ceiling, and before she knew it, Sokka wanted one. He moved forward, shoving Aang and Toph in the process, causing the man who already had his drink to turn. The smoothie splashed all over Aang, earning a shocked silence.
"That's okay, I clean up easy." He smiled, blowing a puff of air from his body, the juice going with it.
"You're a living relic!" the man exclaimed in awe.
"Thanks, I try." Aang replied off handed. The man began to speak again, identifying himself as professor Zei. Kana yawned, though she would have been able to answer this man's questions better than Aang. She turned her head to the entrance again, and saw something incredible. Wanted posters. Her eyes focused on one of Zuko, and felt a slight chuckle rise in her chest. It wasn't very accurate. The scar wasn't on the left side, and the jaw was too wide, the gold for his eyes was the wrong color, and he wasn't angry enough. His ponytail was leaning to close to the right, and his ears wear a little too sharp. His head was too narrow, making her smirked at the mistakes.
"...Wan Shi Tong's Library." Kana's head turned around so fast she didn't have time to realize what she was doing, until she questioned the professor.
"What do you know about his library?" Everyone stared at her as if she had gone crazy, but her gaze remained steady on Zei.
"Only that it's in the desert somewhere." he mumbled, a bead of sweat forming on his brow. It was obious Zei felt intimidated under the girl's stare.
"Does this place have a map of the Fire Nation?" Sokka asked happily, making Kana cringe.
"Sokka I don't know if it's the best idea to go to a spirits library in the hopes of learning how to destroy people." She said.
"If it exists, it's in Wan Shi Tong's library." Professor Zei grinned.
"Then it's settled, Aang I do believe it's my turn. I'd like to spend my vacation… AT THE LIBRARY!"
"Of course there's the matter of finding it. I've made several trips into the Si Wong Desert, and almost died each time." Professor Zei said in a depressed voice. "I'm afraid that desert's impossible to cross." The group shared a look between them, before Sokka smiled.
"Professor, would you like to see our sky bison?"
"A sky bison, you actually have one?" Zei asked in amazement. He immediately jumped from his seat, and dashed outside. Everyone started to follow him, but Kana glanced one last time at the wanted posters, accidentally bumping into Aang.
"Hey, what are you looking at Kana?" he asked, looking back inside.
"Oh, nothing. Just these wanted posters, they made your ears a little too small." She joked, making him laugh.
"Well they made you a little too Fire Nation." Aang snickered, taking her poster down. "Hey guys, look at this!" he shouted running up to everyone – except Zei, who was talking to Appa – before she could stop him.
"Is this one of Wan Shi Tong's 'foxy' assistants?" Sokka asked, nudging Aang in the side with a wink, causing Kana's cheeks to flush.
"Um, Sokka… I think that's just Kana with gold eyes, paler skin, and a top knot." Katara said, peering over his shoulder.
"What!?" he shouted, "When did you ever wear this?"
"It's just an artist's interpretation of what I'd look like as Fire Nation!" she yelled back, yanking away the picture and shoving it into a pocket. It was of her wearing the dress at the Fire Days Festival.
"I can tell you're l-." Toph started, earning a shove from Kana.
"If we want to look for Wan Shi Tong's library, shouldn't we get going?" she coughed, making Zei's face light up.
"That we should little lady!" he grinned.
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"I say you guys go ahead without me." Toph said.
"You got something against libraries?" Katara asked, staring at her.
"I've held books before, and I gotta tell you, they don't exactly do it for me." she replied, making chuckle Kana as Katara gave a nervous laugh and scratched the back of her head.
"Oh, right. Sorry."
"Let me know if they have something you can listen to." she said as Sokka's boomerang, with a rope tied to it, was thrown through the window of the spire, and he began climbing the rope as Katara and Zei watched.
"Don't worry buddy. I'm not making you go underground ever again. You can stay out here with Toph." Aang said, patting the bison's side.
Aang walked away. Toph crossed her arms and both she and Appa looked away from each other, then looked back at each other, Appa giving a soft grunt. Both stare at each other a moment.
"What's up?" Toph asked, making Kana giggle before following everyone up the spire, and into the library.
"Oh, it's breath taking. The spirits spared no expense designing this place." Professor Zei exclaimed in awe turning around on the bridge they had landed on. The large room was supported by many pillars and archways, and was so large that darkness enveloped the corners. And over all of the arcs, the visage of an owl was carved into the stone. "Look at those beautiful buttresses!" Sokka and Aang burst into a fit of giggles, earning a simultaneous slap to the back of the head.
"What's funny?" Zei asked in confusion.
"Nothing," Aang said as Kana gave him a sharp glare, "we just like architecture."
"As do I." Zei grinned "The exquisite mosaic handiwork of this tile-rendered avian symbol is exquisite... uh, it's a nice owl."
Suddenly there was sound of rustling feathers, causing everyone to turn around in surprise.
Katara and Sokka ran behind the archways and hide behind a large pillar to the right. Aang took Zei's hand and pulled him behind the pillar on the left. Kana knew she should have ran, but for some reason she just didn't feel the need to.
An enormous black owl with a white face walked through an archway and onto the bridge. Aang peeked at the bird from behind the pillar where he saw him examining Kana. It began to turn its head to the left, then it turned its head around three hundred and sixty degrees, revealing two white spots on the back of its head that resemble eyes.
"The Moon's Avatar. It's been a long time. Since before Avatar Kyoshi killed you in fact." Kana felt a sudden twinge at that. She had never thought about the fact that she was obviously alive with Kyoshi, and she must have killed her… it suddenly made sense why the Earthbender was so adamant on giving her advice. Guilt, even in death.
"Anja and I have already forgive her for this, Wan Shi Tong, it's good to see you again." She murmured, bowing.
"I see you've brought company," the great owl said, turning to look at where everyone was hidden, "I know you're back there."
"Hello! I'm Professor Zei, head of anthropology at Ba Sing Se University." the professor said excitedly.
"Only the Avatar is welcomed in my library, you should leave the way you came, unless you want to become a stuffed head of anthropology." he growled looking at three mounted animal heads.
"That's great!" Aang said, walking from behind the pillar he was hiding behind. "I am the Avatar."
"Not you boy!" Wan Shi Tong snapped, neck springing out until it was right in front of him, before motioning back to Kana. "Her."
"What do you have against us?" Sokka asked, crossing his arms.
"Hmm, humans only bother learning things to get the edge on other humans, but if the Avatar is willing to vouch for you..." the owl said, staring down at Kana.
"She vouches, she'll definitely vouch for us!" Sokka grinned, slinging an arm around her shoulder, but she couldn't meet anyone's eyes.
"I... I can't..." Kana whispered guiltily.
"I'll vouch for everybody," Aang piped up, "I am the Avatar too."
"Very well. I'll let you peruse my vast collection, on one condition. To prove your worth as scholars, you have to contribute some worthwhile knowledge." Everyone glanced at each other, then formed a line. Kana pulled out the Fire Nation wanted poster like Aang did, but before she could offer it to the great owl, he held out a wing.
"Not you, child. We have a deal that goes back many lifetimes. I offer you a piece of my knowledge of your choosing."
"No," she said, shaking her head, and offering the wanted flyer, "Knowledge for knowledge."
"You still haven't changed child." Wan Shi Tong rumbled, swiping out a wing, his feathers brushing along her fingers as he took her offering. "Follow me, to complete our transaction… And enjoy the library." He droned to the others, leaping from the bridge, down to the bowls of the building.
Kana took the glider from her back, peering over the railing into the dark unknown, before turning her sharp gaze on Sokka. Her eyes were full of ice, frost spreading from her feet, a sudden draft of cold emanating from her. "Don't abuse this opportunity, stay away from anything to do with the Fire Nation." She didn't wait for his response, or any of theirs for that matter, she just flung herself off of the bridge, her gliders wings snapping open.
The glowing green lanterns barely lit the way as she spiraled down after the great owl, her muscles coiled for anything that might jump out at her. But she landed safely on the ground, right in front of Wan Shi Tong. He didn't say anything, just turned knowing she'd follow, and started down a corridor. Kana kept the silence, though her eyes roved over every book she could see lined on the shelves. She imagined that this would be the ideal place to stay when the spirits re-took the world.
"You won't find what you're looking for," Wan Shi Tong droned, emotionless, as he turned his head around to stare at her, "you never do. Not until you discover the beginning."
"The beginning?" She asked, but he just turned back away walking through a surprisingly normal sized archway. There was a carving of the great owl, his wings spread over the door, and beneath each, two elemental symbols of the Avatar. Kana moved through into a room that only had three significant attributes. One: it was a room – an actual room, two: the walls were lined with books, yet one of them had space left for more, and finally three: there was a pedestal in the middle holding up what seemed like a collection of texts all in one.
Kana moved to the wall that still held space for more writings, and crouched down to see what was on the shelf. Her heart skipped a beat. The history of Avatar Roku. Avatar Kyoshi and Anja, Kuruk and Zalec, Yangchen, and more, they just kept going. This was the section of the library that held the entire history of every Avatar that ever existed. So… what was that book on the pedestal?
She took a deep breath before standing, then moving over to the dais, heart pounding in excitement. She leaned over and flipped the text shut, and felt a shudder run up her spine. The ongoing history of Wan Shi Tong and the Avatar. "The beginning is what you always come to remember." The owl said, placing the two wanted posters given to him in a blue bound book with gold with yellow words, and she felt another shiver. The history of Avatar Kana and Aang- incomplete.
"Why isn't Aang's name first?" she whispered.
"You came before him, he is second to you." He replied back simply, the book disappearing in his wings. "Read, so you may take your knowledge from me."
She winced, but did as he said, opening the leather bound book in front of her to the first page. The chapter title did not surprise her, The Beginning.
The beginning of the Avatars came as a solution. The corruption of people who could no longer bend the energy given to them was spreading, and the spirits needed a solution, so they came to me.
"The solution," I said, "was simple. Give the people a fragment of your own energy, as they are no longer able to bend their own." The spirits complied, but without the unity that came from such a similar entity, war broke out. The spirits blamed me, accused me of trickery. They did not ask the outcome of this plan, so they brought their own destruction. They asked how they could end the war, I said, "Pick the person you think the most worthy, and give them the power to bend all of your energy."
They asked how they could choose the most worthy. So again I gave them the answer. "Gather the spirits who in their next life will be human, and you believe are worthy. Each of you will choose six so that there is a fair number of twenty-four candidates. Construct an arena where your energies exist, but they don't. They shall play a game, and those who lose shall know they are unworthy. The punishment for failure is simple. They will remain in the Spirit World for another one hundred years; the game shall be a fight to the death-
Kana recoiled as if the book had burned her, bile building in her throat. She rushed to the door, collapsing on her knees as she took deep breaths to calm herself. One hundred years. She thought, eyes pinching shut in pain. "Hmm, you have never had this reaction to the beginning before. How fascinating." Wan Shi Tong rumbled, gliding next to her.
She shook her head, "I killed them." She shuddered.
"Who?" the bird asked.
"Sokka, Katara, Toph… Zuko. I know they were in the games with Aang and me!"
"I guess that is a possibility. You were most likely allies picked off by other candidates. Human's are so petty, a friendship with the person who killed you seems unlikely."
"Allies?" she whispered.
"If you had finished reading the beginning, you would have realized that all of the candidates are placed in a single arena. Most of them are smart enough to make alliances."
"So I didn't kill them?" she croaked. There was a movement by Wan Shi Tong's head that she took for a shrug.
"The games do not concern me. You've only managed to surprise me a handful of times. I doubt it would have made a difference if I had bothered to watch."
"I guess that's why they call you He who knows 10,000 things." Kana sneered.
"Are you questioning my intelligence?" the bird asked, bringing its face level to hers.
"You doubt my ability to improvise and improve past what I already know. You underestimate me, Wan Shi Tong."
"There is no reason to fear you, there is no reason to study you either. You never change."
"Fire."
"Hmm?"
"I want a book on Firebending. To make it stronger, hotter, like Azula's. I'm going to give you something to fear in my next life."
"You've been saying that for a thousand years," the bird said, handing her a white book with blue letters. The Truth of Fire. "You still haven't fulfilled your promise." Kana smirked, storing the text in her robes.
"Perhaps not, but I'll most likely be a Firebender in my next life. And I'll already have the knowledge of how to master that element to its full extent. You're going to need to learn how to fear, Wan Shi Tong."
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"If we die, you can all blame Kana." Toph felt as if someone had punched through her gut. Everything was just as Kana said; they were slowly ripping each other apart, yet they didn't even know it. And the only way this brutal cycle was going to end was if one of them killed the other in the Avatar state. Both had done it once before to the Fire and Earth Avatars, what was to stop them from doing it to each other?
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Boy these cliffhangers just keep coming. I don't even mean to do it, but oh well XD. Also, I'M HALFWAY DONE WITH THE STORY! Thanks to all of you who've stuck by my side for this long.
No character questions