Brothers Avatar

The Legend of Two Avatars

Book 1 – Family

Chapter 19 – Disguises pt. 1

"They're coming, I'm sure of it." Pio said tapping his foot into a frenzy.

"Ya-huh, whatever you say, Pio." Lozulia said, "I feel really stupid right now, by the way." Lozulia said pulling her hood down over her eyes.

"Well why don't you ask the Stormbender over there how stupid you feel?" Pio pointed. Team Avatar was stationed around the infamous 'Spirit Meteorite' of the Northern Water Tribe. Some people were huddled around the crater, oohing over the stone; while a group of monks were meditating off to the side, trying to get some spiritual enlightenment from the hunk of space rock. All around the edges of the crater were Stormbenders from the Northern Water Tribe, making sure no one tries anything funny with the meteorite. "Who are those people?" Pio said about the people swarming around the meteorite, "They don't look like they're from around here."

"They probably came from the other boat from the west." Lozulia said.

Taresc said in disbelief, "What?"

"There's another boat that runs from the west, far away from Regille's Mountain Range." Lozulia said in a matter of fact matter.

Pio was in disbelief, "WELL WHY DIDN'T WE TAKE THAT ONE?" He said mouth wide open, "You know, the one that didn't take us through vulture-shark waters. Hell, Xulo and Ibera could have come with us…"

"Oh settle yourself, Pio, you're making the guards nervous," Minege teased, pointing out the shifty-looking guards, "That line of ships is controlled by the Stormbenders and trying to get by undetected would have been a nightmare. Just another thing I learned in my investigations."

"Also who has time for that? We'd have to go through The Serpent's Pass, back through the desert, and through some Stormbender controlled area just to get there." Lozulia said.

"Still sounds a little better than getting eaten alive by vulture-sharks…" Taresc said

Lozulia said, "Too bad! Already here!" She was distracted by some movement happening over yonder, "What's going on over there?"

They all moved over to an area outside of the crater that overlooked the road that enters the Northern Water Tribe. From afar they could see four individuals escorting two guys through the gate, "Oh no…" Minege said. Upon closer inspection, they all saw that the two men were Xulo and Ibera. "That's not good…"

"I told you guys…" Taresc said.

Pio stormed off towards where they hid Tanton, "Oh shut up."

Minege elbowed Taresc, "Heh, you heard the boy."

Lozulia elbowed him even harder, "Yeah, shut up Tare!" She then swooped in and kissed him on the cheek and giggled, "Love you."

Team Avatar sat in the tavern in a stupor; everyone slumped in their chairs unable to speak. Pio took a swig of his drink, "Looks like we don't have our Avatar, what a peachy way to start off our operation."

"Hey, we only lost two of our members, we still have us four." Minege said.

Pio scoffed, "Yeah, we got ourselves Xulo's bendingly-challenged brother, the non-bender with a giant duck and the firebender with fits of spasticity."

Minege slapped him on the back of the head, "Ease up on that attitude, hun!" Pio sipped his drink in misery, to which Minege confiscated, "And your drink, ya damn lightweight."

"We've made it out of worse, remember the Eastern Air Temple?" Lozulia said, "We took them out in flying colors."

Taresc chimed in, "I wouldn't say flying colors… more like… scraped by." Lozulia glared, "But we did make it!" Lozulia smiled again.

"What we've got here…" Pio said drunkenly, "makes The Eastern Air Temple look like a cakewalk, Zulia." Pio slammed his head down on the table, "Now if wonder boy over there has any ideas that can take us out of this, that'd be prime…" He lifted his head off the table and looked to Taresc, "Hm?"

Taresc was speechless, he tried to form words but all he could do was shrug, "That's what I thought." Pio said, "I'm going to go practice my waterbending, Minege, be a darling and come with to critique my form."

"Oh yes, Pio, because I'm an expert on waterbending form." Minege and Pio stood up and walked out of the tavern.

Only Taresc, Woorq and Lozulia sat at the table now. Taresc took a quick look around the bar; from the corner of his eye he saw Kreffti and Vaskon talking, except it was more Kreffti complaining and Vaskon being a shoulder to cry on.

"You have nothing?" Lozulia asked.

Taresc looked abashed, "Yeah…"

"Like really nothing?"

"Yeah?"

"Like, are we talking about an I-just-need-to-see-something-really-random-to-give-me-inspiration kind of nothing or I-need-to-do-some-soul-searching-to-find-an-answer-for-this-slippery-quagmire nothing?"

"Uh… the second one?" Taresc said unsure.

Lozulia flipped out, "No! We don't have time for that kind of stumped! Regille is right over there!" She pointed in the general direction of the Northern Water Temple, "She's probably hoisting up her stockings right now, making her merry way down to us."

"I know!" Taresc said slumped over the table, "I can't even focus right now, right when I need to most."

"Well what are you going to do?" She said moving over to his side of the table, rubbing his back.

"I haven't a clue… usually I can form—at least—a half-baked plan, but I have nothing; A complete void of any creativity."

Lozulia and Taresc sat there until Lozulia yelled, "I got it!"

"You came up with a plan?" Taresc said excited.

"Well… no… not in the way of saving Xulo and Ibera at least." Lozulia shrugged, "But, I got the solution to your inspiration problem." She paused to create anticipation, "Ask Rinley!"

"Avatar Rinley?" He thought about it for a second, "Hmmm… Avatar Rinley…" Lozulia nodded excitedly, "That… that could work… but there's one problem."

"What?"

Taresc said, "Don't I need to be in some spiritual place or a shrine to be able to contact the past Avatars?"

"Easy, there's a shrine to him in the Northern Water Tribe." She boasted.

"He does?" Taresc was shocked to hear, "That's interesting." He assumed that he must have been born there, considering he was a waterbender and that was why he had a shrine. "So I'm going to have to infiltrate the Northern Water Tribe just to pray to him?"

"Pshaw!" Lozulia said, "His shrine is probably just off to the side somewhere… probably."

Taresc stood up, "Well, I guess I don't have any time to waste."

Lozulia jumped up as well. "Yeah, let's go!"

"Oh…" Taresc said awkwardly, "I… actually need to do this alone…"

"Aw, come on!" Lozulia protested, "You're going into Stormbender area, I wanna be there to protect you if things go sour…"

Taresc said, "Well, I have a plan but it wouldn't work if you were there." Lozulia pouted, "I'll be back soon." He went in for a little kiss, but Lozulia held onto it; eventually Taresc to pull away and started walking, "Oh yeah!" He turned back, "Take care of Woorq, please?"

Lozulia sat at the table, dissatisfied at Taresc's decision. She looked across into Woorq's cold, apathetic eyes, "What's your perspective?" Woorq responded by croaking. "Riveting." She looked around and instantly noticed a girl was looking her way, as they met eyes the girl immediately looked away. Woorq perched himself on Lozulia's shoulder and they walked off, thinking nothing of the girl.

Taresc stood on the road to the Northern Water Tribe, internally shaking at the chance of being caught. He wrapped half of his face in bandages, hoping it would be just enough to deflect his appearance and separate himself from his brother. He dressed in the Stormbender garb they had gotten way back when and approached the icy gate.

Two Stormbenders were stationed in front of gate, "Halt!" One held out their hand and approached, "What's your purpose here?"

"My name is…" With all the planning he had done to infiltrate he forgot to come up with a fake name, "Basher…" The guards looked at him funny, "And I come from the Eastern Air Temple seeking refuge."

The Stormbender began lowering his guard, "Ah, you're an Easty trying to join us Northies. Who was your commanding officer at the Air Temple?"

Taresc was caught off guard, "Oh… Officer Beng?" The Stormbenders didn't recognize the name, "He was new."

The other Stormbender said, "I heard about that, they were right in the middle of a big change in command at the time; sneaky Team Avatar knew right when to attack."

"Smart people, those Avatar folks…" Taresc said, impressed with himself, "So can I come in?"

"Sure, sure, but first," The Stormbender looked to the other man, "show us your waterbending."

"Huh?" Taresc said in worriment.

"It's nothing against you personally, but we've had a case of some rebels donning the uniform and using it to disguise themselves as our kind." He explained, "So if you could, we'd like see you waterbend as your uniform suggests."

"Certainly." Taresc began bending a small bubble of water out of the snow. Truthfully, waterbending was one of Taresc's worst and least-practiced bending types; the bubble began to wobble in the air and it was clear to the Stormbenders that Taresc was struggling. Considering that just to get into the Stormbenders you have to at the very least some rudimentary skills in bending and even more if they are to be stationed at one of the big Stormbender holds; they became instantly suspicious. Taresc recognized their suspicious behavior and clenched his arm. "Argh!" He yelled and let the water fall, "My arm was hurt in the invasion of the Air Temple, I apologize."

"That explains it." The Stormbender said quietly to the other, "Welcome to the Northern Water Tribe, Basher."

The Stormbenders used their waterbender to slide the gates open and revealed the Water Tribe. The tribe was bustling place, with people going every which way and strolling about. There was a huge port where ships could come in and out; it was rather vacant due to the Stormbenders' occupancy. Right in the middle of the Tribe was a huge plaza; Taresc wandered into the plaza and found a bunch of flyers on the ground. He picked one up and it read, 'Wilner's Traveling Variety Show!' The date on the flyer indicated they were set to arrive tomorrow.

Taresc suddenly felt someone looking over his shoulder, "Such a shame we can't go."

"Huh?" Taresc said, looking over to see a Stormbender standing behind him.

"Wilner's Traveling Circus, we're not allowed to go, right?" She said, "Oh… you're that new guy with the odd name…"

Apparently news spread fast in the Northern Water Tribe, "Oh, Basher, right." He said.

"Welcome Basher!" She said, "We're not allowed to go to this though, Aurut's orders. Since we got the Avatar under lock, he said that we should expect for his teammates to come and try to break him out."

Taresc said, "That's too bad."

"Yeah, but I get it. It ain't irrational." She said, "While I'm here, is there anything else you need to know?"

"I actually do, would you happen to know where the shrine of Avatar Rinley is?" Taresc said.

"Rinley's shrine?" The girl wondered to herself, "I think it's somewhere in the palace…" The thought hit her, "Oh yeah! It's behind Aurut's throne room!"

Taresc's heart dropped, "Oh…"

"Oh don't look like that!" She smiled, "Aurut's not such a scary guy when you get to know him."

Taresc's hopes were that he wouldn't have to get to know him or even be in the same room as him at any point, "Well thanks for the info."

"No problem!" The Stormbender said and walked off. "See you around, Basher!"

Taresc sucked up his courage and started making his way off to the palace.

"Two days…" Ibera said.

Xulo said, "Two days til Regille comes to play." Xulo and Ibera sat in their metal cell, Ibera on the bed and Xulo on the ground. They had just finished having a chat with General Aurut about how Regille was going to be coming in two days to do whatever she wants with them.

"How are you feeling, Xulo?" Ibera said. "Fabulously joyous, I presume?"

"Oh how did you know, Ibera?" Xulo said with annoyance in his breath, "Embarrassed, wholly embarrassed. It feels like I've been stuck in a rut of being at the disadvantage and then paying for it."

"Hmmm, this is your third time being imprisoned isn't it?" Xulo looked shameful, "Oh don't pout, you're the Avatar; you're the one that they want to capture. It's natural for you to be captured the most."

Xulo slammed his fist on the metal wall and Ibera jumped, "I don't want that!" He slammed the wall again, "I'm supposed to be strong, I'm supposed to protect everyone else and I'm supposed to be the one with the answers." Xulo sunk his head to his knees, "I've accomplished none of those."

"Power is your goal?" Ibera said thinking less of Xulo as they continued to talk.

"I want to be respected and I want the fame that comes with being the Avatar." Xulo grimaced in his lap, "But mostly, I want to protect people that matter to me…"

Ibera sighed, "That's nice…" Ibera started thinking about how he felt about Xulo and his little conquest. At first he felt it was like a breath of fresh air, a time where he could carve out his own little chunk of destiny and get away from the stagnant life of the Flying Chakras, but as it continued, Ibera got less and less inspired by their quest. He felt more like a convenient airbending tool in a continuously viler conquest than an actual living, breathing asset. Ibera wasn't quite sure how much longer he would stay with the group, "Very Avatar-esque of you, Xulo."

Xulo ignored Ibera and instead felt the side of the wall, in particular the screw. An idea seemed to pop into his head and gestured for Ibera to keep talking. Ibera obliged by talking about his passion for architectural design and monkeys with shoes. With his airbending, Xulo was able to blast a little shot of spiraling air into the screw and turned it outwards. Xulo did that for all four screws and eventually was able to take off the panel of metal, exposing a dirt wall. Luckily there was a random box in the way and the guards were unable to see this go down.

Ibera looked impressed and gave the thumbs up; Xulo went over and whispered his plan into Ibera's ear. Ibera nodded and proclaimed, "Oh you're going to bed already? I guess that's fair."

Xulo then jumped into the bed with also a bunch of other blankets they had in the cell, "I guess I should go to bed too." Ibera then took a sheet and held it up, looking as if he was going to throw it down on the floor. With the blanket for cover, Xulo slipped out of the bed and over to the dirt wall where he immediately began burrowing.

"Good night, Xulo." Ibera said to the clump of blankets on the bed. Ibera then laid down and hoped for the best as Xulo tried to make his escape.

Taresc went up some canals, bridges and stairs and eventually he was there at the front doors. He immediately found someone and asked for directions to the shrine, "Just up those stairs and through the next two doors, Aurut should be in there, so just ask him for permission." They said. Taresc thanked them and went forward with his search. As he entered the Throne Room, he saw that no one was present not even a guard.

Taking in the throne room, he noticed that there was a large amount of wood. While the rest of the Northern Water Tribe was mainly made of ice, this room was made of wood. Behind the throne in the center of the room was a giant longbow. He wondered if it was Aurut's, but decided not to doddle and made his way to the door in the back of the room. Until he heard a voice, "Wait." A boy not too older than Taresc stepped out of a room to the side, "What's your business here?" It was clear that Taresc was in the presence of General Aurut.

"Me?" Taresc put a hand to his chest.

"Yes, you." Aurut had the demeanor of some who was extremely put together; someone who didn't have need to express himself facially. Physically, he was very well put together, very sturdy and strong. He wore a big fur-lined coat that he left open, exposing a black tunic underneath. The vacant coat was white but had blotches of blue to signify intertwined nature of water and air in the Stormbenders.

Taresc was entirely speechless in the presence of such a man, "Uh… I…"

Taresc believed that he was losing patience, but it was difficult to tell, "Who are you?" He looked Taresc up and down, seeing his non-winter Stormbender outfit, "You're not from around here."

"Basher from th-the Western Air T-Temple…" Taresc said.

"Western?"

"Eastern! I mean, I meant… Eastern Air Temple." Taresc said.

"You seem to have some nasty head injuries." Aurut strolled over to his throne and sat down, "Are you okay?" Aurut said, indicating his head bandages.

Taresc said, "Oh yes, they're not as bad they look…"

"Let me have a look." Aurut stood to unravel Taresc's head wraps.

Taresc took a step back. "No!" Taresc held his bandages fiercely, "They're not too bad, but they look horrible, you wouldn't want to see."

Aurut perceived the fear in Taresc's voice and decided to sit back down, "Fair enough." Taresc lowered his hands, "I see you were admiring my room, Basher."

"Oh, yes." Taresc said, looking around, "It's very wooden."

"Isn't it?" Aurut cracked a very small smile, "I believe it was the chief that was in place—before I came in—that designed this room." Aurut reminisced, "His reason was that while wood isn't that decadent, it's a rarity in the Northern Water Tribe and therefore should decorate the most important room in the whole continent."

"Going against the practical answer for the more extravagant one… all for his ego." Taresc commented.

"Exactly." Aurut appreciated Taresc's take, "Well, it's my throne room now." Aurut looked directly into Taresc's shifting eyes, "Are you calm enough now to tell me why you are here?"

"Yes, sir." Taresc was grateful for Aurut's tactic of small-talking in order to make him feel at ease, "I've come to mediate at the Rinley shrine."

Aurut closed his eyes in mild repulsion, "Spiritual, are we?" He opened them and pointed behind him, "That door leads to King Rinley's shrine, feel free to enter."

Taresc was intrigued by the title King and gladly entered the corridor to the shrine, bowing to Aurut as he left. As soon as the door closed, Aurut called for his personal assistant, "Yes, would you check on Avatar Xulo for me, please?"

Lozulia sat on her bed with both hands palms-up; she was shooting out fire at a steady pace. Since Tanton and Woorq were both unaccustomed to colder temperatures, Lozulia took it upon herself to make her room into a warm oasis of sorts. Tanton rested in the corner of the room, with Woorq sleeping peacefully on her head.

Minege was walking past the window to the room and decided to have a look in. She saw her pet happily resting but she also saw that Lozulia was in some kind of trance-like state. Staring strenuously at the ground, she also heard Lozulia mumbling to herself at a scary speed. The only things she was able to make out were, "Xulo," "the only way," "Fire Nation," and "love's not."

"Zuli!' Minege knocked on the window.

Lozulia immediately snapped out of it and ran over to the window, opened it and said, "Hey! Weren't you supposed to be helping Pio?"

"While making up phrases—like 'your aero-staticity was too tight," and 'if your water had more shua-le-fong it really could improve'—and watching Pio pretend like he really understood them was fun, I needed a break." Minege face instantly became really concerned, "More importantly, are you doing okay?"

"Hm?" Lozulia acted like she had no clue.

"You were talking to yourself and it was like you were somewhere completely different."

Lozulia laughed insincerely, "Oh that?" She looked Minege in the eyes, "I just space out sometimes, that's all."

"Sweetie, you say that a lot but I'm starting to doubt it." She said, "Are you sure there isn't anything wrong?"

"No, I'm… fine." Lozulia slowing ran her fingers through her continuously getting disheveled black hair, "There's nothing you need to worry about, honestly." Lozulia managed to force a disingenuous smile.

"Alright, then…" Minege said unsatisfied, "I suppose, get back to heating the room, honey."

Minege continued on her way and Lozulia dropped her act, letting her face droop. She ran her hands down her face letting out a frustrated sigh, "I don't know how much longer I can keep this up…" she said to herself and resumed her fire. As she continued, she decided to look out the window and from behind the side of a building, she saw the same girl from the tavern. This time Lozulia noticed that she was wearing a Stormbender outfit. Once the girl realized that she had been spotted, she decided to run. "Shit!" Lozulia said, thinking the girl was going to rat them out to Aurut. She stood up, ran and jumped through the window, "Wait up!" She yelled.

The girl was rather fast on her feet, but Lozulia was a raging beast when it came to running. Lozulia began gaining on the panicked girl and was able to tackle her into the snow, "Got you!" Lozulia yelled.

"Please, please!" The girl begged, "Don't hurt me! I'm not here for what you think I'm here for."

Lozulia pursed her lips in skepticism, "Oh yeah? Let me hear it." She said pulling herself and the girl to their feet.

Taresc entered the shrine devoted to Avatar Rinley; just like the shrine near Dayue, it looked like the people who made it gave up in the middle of constructing it. But also like Dayue's shrine, the statue of Rinley was fierce and extremely imposing.

Taresc got down and folded his legs and began to meditate. As he tried to summon Rinley, he instantly began to wonder if he even could. He never thought of himself as spiritual, but as the thought left his mind a flash of light pierced his eyelids. He opened his eyes and the ethereal image of Avatar Rinley was in his presence, "Hello, Avatar Taresc." The room filled with golden clouds like it did back in Dayue, but the faint outline of the room still remained.

Taresc was completely bewildered, "H-H-Hello." He bowed his head, "Taresc will be just fine, though."

Rinley smiled, "Not used to the title of Avatar?" Taresc shook his head, "I sense that Xulo is still completely unaware of your position. Why is that, Avatar?"

Taresc lightly rolled his eyes, "Not to point fingers, sir." Taresc stood up from his position on the floor, "Your prophecy of the betrayer in his life… really threw a wrench into my reveal…"

"Hmmm…" Rinley seemed to be throwing some ideas around in his head, "What an interesting interpretation, you are the closest in his life for sure." Rinley gloomed, feeling guilt, "He believes that you are the one to betray him?"

"Well, he doesn't know anything yet—or ever will, for that matter—but if I were to reveal myself to him, I know he'd pinpoint me as the one." Taresc scowled.

The aura in the room filled with sadness, "I am apologetic, Avatar, if I was the cause for grief for you and your brother."

Taresc crossed his arms, "…It's fine…" Taresc grumbled, "I suppose it was my fault deciding to wait after our fun shrine visit to reveal that I'm also the Avatar." Taresc emboldened himself, "But if you want to make it up to me, you can start by just calling me Taresc, not Avatar."

"My apologies, Avatar."

"Good grief…" Taresc quietly fumed, "Can't reason with a spirit."

Rinley smiled contently, "What's your reason for summoning me, Avatar?"

"Ah, yes." Taresc said as he got onto one knee, "Avatar Rinley, I come before you in an act of desperation. My brother has been captured and I am ignorant as to how I am to rescue him. I was hoping you could pass onto me some divine inspiration."

Rinley fell silent, only staring at Taresc inquisitively. Taresc waited a few moments until he finally looked up and said, "Well?"

"Avatar…" Rinley said in a calm tone, "Would you care to ask for what you really want?"

"Pardon?" Taresc said off-guard.

"That's not what you're here for." He said as Taresc tried to come up with a comeback, "Avatar, upon your arrival to the Northern Water Tribe, you mean to tell me you've taken nothing in? In your ingenious brain, you have not been able to take what you've gathered and come up with a plan?" Rinley rocked his head from side to side, "I find that implausible."

"I might have." Taresc said guiltily.

"So would you care to inform me of what's your real problem?" Rinley said calmly, Taresc stood silenced by embarrassment. "Come now, young Avatar."

"Truthfully, I need help with everything…" Taresc lowered his eyes, "My life is a handful of shambles being held together by a thread of deceit."

"Deceit, you believe that by being the Avatar you are deceiving your brother?"

"I'm deceiving everyone! I'm not the Avatar, Xulo is! Sure, I might be an Avatar, but Xulo's the one who's meant to save the day and just by being here I feel like I'm betraying him." Taresc felt tears coming.

"Is that why you despise the moniker Avatar so much?" Rinley inquired.

"Yes." Taresc said, "And I was wondering, could you maybe take away my Avatar abilities?" Rinley was taken aback, "It wouldn't be as if you were getting rid of all Avatars, just me… There's no reason I should have these powers while Xulo exists."

Rinley stared confusedly at Taresc, "I can't and even if I could I wouldn't, young Avatar."

"Stop calling me that!" Taresc began crying, "Rinley, please!"

"Taresc, you are an Avatar, no lesser than your brother. If you claim yourself to be an inferior version of Xulo then you only serve to make that prediction come true." Taresc was starting to hear the truth in Rinley's words, "You have just as much of a reason to exist as an Avatar as your brother does." Rinley's tone was stern, "Has it always been this way? How long have you been putting Xulo in front of you?"

Taresc had never given it much thought, "I think always… He was always the stronger one and the one who Lido looked up to, I just assumed that my purpose was to be there for him and help him reach his true potential…" Taresc's mind started going into dark places that he buried deep away; places where he resented Xulo, hated his tight grip and wished that he was born with Xulo's traits. But Taresc brought himself back, "But Xulo's been there for me; even at my worst he came to bring me back out of my sadness. I don't want to be the Avatar and I think I do better as supporting him than being him…" Rinley looked disappointed, believing he had made a breakthrough, "But that doesn't mean I should have to hide myself from him."

Rinley seemed to accept the progress, "Excellent."

"I have to let him know; he doesn't matter so much that I should have to pretend part of me doesn't exist so he can feel that more special." Taresc said proudly, "It won't be easy, especially with your premonition, but it's something that I have to do."

"It's funny." Rinley said, "I never expected for my words to be taken in such a way."

"And how was that?" Taresc said wiping a tear from his eye.

Rinley smiled deviously, "Those words weren't meant for him, they were for you."

"WHAT!" Taresc yelled, "You… what… no!" Taresc was at a loss for words as Rinley nodded gently, "But you were speaking directly to him."

"I don't believe I used his name, did I?" He said.

Taresc thought back and faintly recalled him using Avatar, instead of Xulo, "Using a name would've been nice."

"How could I have?" Rinley said in an innocent tone, "You had not yet revealed yourself as the Avatar and I am in no position to go against an Avatar's wishes."

Taresc sighed, "Or actually, better yet, it would have been great if you said nothing at all!"

Rinley gave a sly wink, "I'm sure you'll thank me later."

"Won't I?" Taresc said frustrated. "But that message was for me? Who's going to betray me…" Taresc said to himself.

"Is that all you need my assistance for, Taresc?" Rinley said.

Taresc held up a finger, "Actually no." Taresc shifted his weight, "Something was bothering me… When Aurut was telling me where your shrine was, he called you King Rinley, why is that?"

"Oh my, no one has told you?" Rinley wore the most nonchalant grin as he spoke the next couple of words, words that blew Taresc's mind, "I was Storm King Rinley, Leader of the Stormbenders."

"WHAAAAATTTTTTTTTTT!" Taresc yelled as Rinley put a concerned hand to his cheek.

Back in the throne room, Aurut's messenger came back with the news, "Sir, Avatar Xulo is no longer in the cell!"

Aurut did not lose his cool, "As I thought." Aurut calmly rose to his feet, "He's not in his cell because he's in there contacting Avatar Rinley."

The messenger gasped, "How do you know that?"

"Somehow he escaped and got a hold of a Stormbender outfit to get past me and enter Rinley's shrine." Aurut's explained.

The messenger seemed confused, "Why didn't you stop him, sir?"

"Certain parts of this plot seem fishy to me and motives aren't entirely clear, I couldn't be certain." Aurut said without guilt, "and I wasn't going to detain a soldier when I had suspicion with doubt." Aurut made his face serious, "I have no doubt now, gather the troops, scatter them across the premises! The Avatar does not leave!"

Back in the shrine, Taresc was losing his mind while Rinley was cool and collected, "I'm surprised no one told you, it was my claim to fame." Rinley pondered further, "Perhaps they just assumed you knew, but didn't you notice people not being so enthused about Avatars?"

"Well yeah…" Taresc said dazedly, "I never assumed the reason was… that! Are there any other things I don't know about you?"

Rinley put his hand on his chin, "Do you know that Regille is my daughter?" He said distantly.

"WHHHAAAAAAAATTTTTTTT! NO, I DID NOT!" Taresc yelled again.

From behind him, Taresc heard the door to the shrine being rustled with, "Looks like my Stormbenders want to come in." Rinley said.

"Crap." Taresc said as the Stormbenders began to slam the door with air, "I have so many questions now!"

"If or when we meet again, I shall answer them all." Rinley noticed Taresc was thinking desperately for an escape plan, "Avatar, if you wish I could help you out of this." Rinley was hinting at invoking himself into Taresc's body and knocking the Stormbenders out.

"No thank you!" Taresc said, "If Xulo is going to find out about my Avatar-ness it's going to be on my own terms, not because he heard it through the Stormbender ranks." Taresc then began intently staring at the wall, "However, there is one thing you could help me with…"

Rinley looked to where Taresc was staring and caught on, "I see what want, one second." Rinley's spirit flew into Taresc's body and with his power; Rinley bent a passage through the ice that would lead out of the Northern Water Tribe. Rinley left Taresc's body and both were exhausted, "Avatar…" Rinley between pants, "Your body is weak… even Avatar Niqan has more power in brittle bones and he didn't realize he was an Avatar until he was 87."

"I know about Avatar Niqan, thank you!" Taresc snapped.

"Once you close off the passage, I will dismiss myself and the Stormbenders will be able to enter." Rinley said, "Farewell, Avatar."

Taresc nodded and entered the tunnel Rinley had created. Taresc was able to bend a thick sheet of ice down; making it look like no one had even touched the ice. As Taresc left, Rinley dispersed and in that singular moment Xulo busted through the wall and fell to the floor. Aurut busted down the door and yelled, "Seize him!"

Completely dazed, Xulo was surrounded by a roomful of Stormbenders shouting for him to put his hands behind his back. Xulo thought he'd have at least more than a few minutes before people would go searching for him, and even then he didn't think they'd locate him so quickly—obviously he was wrong on both accounts.

The Stormbenders hauled the Avatar out of the room, but Aurut wasn't completely satisfied. He noticed that Xulo was back in the clothing he was wearing in prison and the Stormbender outfit was nowhere to be seen. He saw the giant hole in the wall that looked like it was used for tunneling; however he came in through the front door. Many things simply didn't add up for Aurut, but the Avatar was secured and that was all that mattered.

Outside as Taresc was trudging through the thick snow, hugging himself for warmth, from behind he heard a voice yell, "Wait up!" Taresc turned around and saw a soldier running for him.

Knowing he had no chance of outrunning the man in his condition, Taresc stayed in his spot. "Yes, sir?" Taresc said suppressing his nerves.

"The Avatar has gotten loose and we've given strict orders to scope out anyone who looks like they're trying to escape." The Stormbender looked Taresc up and down, "In fact, you look a lot like the description of the Avatar…"

"Oh." Taresc said, eyes bulging out of his head. In his mind, Taresc was certain that this was the end, just barely had he made it, but it wasn't meant to be. But he wasn't going to give up; Taresc had neither the strength nor skill to take on the stocky person in front of him. Taresc shifted his weight into a fighting stance, "Is that so?"

Just as Taresc was about to begin fighting, another man in the distance yelled, "Hey Pausk, they found him!" Pausk looked back, "Aurut said for everyone to get back."

"Okay, I'll be right back." He said, "So sorry about that," Pausk looked apologetic, "You can't be too careful, am I right?"

"Yeah." Taresc tried his best to sound casual as his heart thudded at terrifying speeds, "You know, I'd suspect me too if I saw me." He chuckled.

"You look pretty underdressed… Oh you must be that Easty with the cool name…" Pausk wracked his brain, "Basher?"

"That's me!" Taresc said, completely uncomfortable.

He slapped Taresc on the arm, "This is great, I've wanted to meet you! Off to go grab the rest of your stuff, I'm guessing."

Taresc shook his head in an incredulous manner, "Yup, you are just on a roll today."

"Oh stop it, you." The Stormbender blushed, "Why don't you take my coat?" Taresc tried to refuse but Pausk kept asserting, "Please, I insist, you can give it back later when you come back, besides I have like five more."

"If that's what you want." Taresc said, putting on the man's oversized coat, "Thank you so much." Taresc said.

"Yeah, see you back at the barracks!" Pausk said as he walked away. Taresc stood just looking at the oddly kind man, bamboozled by this odd encounter of friendship. Besides that, he wondered how they found him when he was standing just outside of the Tribe, unfound. Taresc shrugged and started making his way off towards the town.

The twisted situation of two Avatars suddenly began clearing up in his head. He had avoided it for so very long, but finally it came the time that he would face it head-on. For the first time in a long time, Taresc felt a sense of optimism; for once he would be able to take the bull he called life and steer it in the direction he wanted. "Onto Xulo." Taresc said to himself, letting out a little breeze of a chuckle. "Onto Xulo."