14
Dear Xana,
I'm so glad that you made it to the Shinjun encampment!
Please, do me a favor, and tell me if you see any of my family. At the
moment, the five of us are taking a little break from all of Aang's
training. Toph's been drilling him like crazy, and the rest of his time
is spent water bending! Eventually, I told him he needed to take a
break, and I suggested he take a mini-vacation. Like we did when we
traveled together and went to that festival in Hong Chao.
Actually, we're not too far from Si Wong right now. Maybe
I'll run into one of your cousins while I'm there. Although, I really
hope not. Most of your family is a little… insane.
I really miss you, though. I've been feeling a bit nostalgic
lately, which is a bit strange, but I'm sure it's nothing.
When all of this is over, I'll be sure to come and visit you in
the Ba-Sing-Se encampment.
Stay well and happy,
Hoshiko
Hoshiko smiled when she finished her letter. She looked over at Tao-Win as she preened her feathers. She gently petted the bird's head and the hawk seemed content at the feeling. They were currently flying through the air to where Aang was going to have his first mini-vacation somewhere out in the prairie a few miles away from the Si Wong desert. The hawk, who had arrived the night before, ruffled her feathers in a show of restlessness. Hoshiko smiled and added something to the letter.
PS - Tao-Win seems to be a lot more rested than usual, and it's starting to effect her in one way or another. Try getting her some exercise when you have some down time, and when she's up for it, of course.
Hoshiko, satisfied with the letter, rolled it up into a scroll and put it in the cartridge on the hawk's back. Tao-Win, knowing this meant she could finally go back to her master, leapt off the bison and took flight, heading east to where Xana awaited her reply. Not a few moments later, Aang landed the bison to a small field full of holes that littered the ground for about a mile. Everyone climbed off the bison, and Aang sat in front of the holes, a little flute in his hands.
"What's out here?" Sokka asked, looking at all the holes.
"A lot, actually." Toph said, kneeling down and putting her hand to the earth, "There's hundreds of little-"
"Shhh!" Aang hissed quickly, turning to her, "I know you can see underground, but don't ruin the surprise." He smiled and turned back to the holes, "Just watch." He blew a single note on the flute, and a prairie dog popped out of the hole nearest him, making a squealing noise of the same note. Aang laughed as he retreated back into his hole, "Yeah!" He blew another note, and another prairie dog came up, singing the same note, "I'm putting an orchestra together!"
"Orchestra, huh?" Sokka said, "Well, La-Di-Da." Hoshiko laughed as three prairie dogs came up from the ground, making the same notes for Sokka's 'La-Di-Da'. Momo, apparently finding this an opportune moment, dived into the hole after one of the prairie dogs. He popped out of the hole next to it, a blank look on his lemur face. Aang began to play more notes, and a prairie dog for each note popped up. Momo tried to catch them as they popped up, dashing around as fast as he could to catch one. After a minute or so, Sokka had apparently had enough and walked over to Aang, sticking his finger into the flute and stopping the next note from being made.
"This is great and all, but don't we have more important things to worry about?" He asked, "We should be making plans."
"We did make plans." Hoshiko said, "We're all picking our own mini-vacations."
"There's no time for vacations." Sokka said stiffly.
"I'm learning the elements as fast as I can." Aang said, "I practice hard every day with Toph and Katara. I've been training my arrow off!"
"Yeah, what's wrong with having a little fun in our down time?" Katara asked, stepping forward.
"Even if you do master all of the elements, then what?" Sokka asked, "It's not like we have a map of the Fire Nation! Should we just head west until we reach the Fire Lord's house? Knock knock! 'Hello? Fire Lord? Anybody home?' I don't think so! We need some intelligence if we're gonna win this war!" Aang quickly tooted out another note, and a prairie dog popped up between Sokka's feet, making the same quick note. Momo dove after the prairie dog, but it disappeared before he caught it. Aang looked over at the happy lemur with a smile as he lifted himself up with air bending.
"Alright, we'll finish our vacations, and then we'll look for Sokka's 'intelligence'." Katara said, Aang and Hoshiko snickered at her choice of words, Sokka scowled as a response. Aang reached into a pocket and pulled out a map and showed it to his water bending teacher.
"Your turn, Katara!" Aang said happily, "Where would you like to go on your mini-vacation?" Katara looked at the map and glanced around at the different places marked on the map.
"How about…" She pointed to a place, "The 'Misty Palms Oasis'? That sounds refreshing."
"Oh, yeah, I've been there!" Aang said, looking at the spot on the map, "It's a pristine natural ice spring, and I usually don't use the word pristine." Katara smiled at the enthusiasm in his voice, "It's one of nature's wonders."
It was not one of nature's wonders. Maybe it was a hundred years ago, but not so much now. The place looked seedy, a little tavern and an even tinier market was built around an iceberg in the sandy ground that was no more than three feet high, and five feet in length. Everything looked run down and broken, and the people that hung around looked like they would sooner stab you and take your belongings than give you directions out of there. Everyone grimaced at the scene before them.
"Must've changed ownership since I was here…" Aang said with a nervous laugh as they walked into the oasis. Everyone jumped when the sign that had been displayed over the gate fell to the ground where they had stood only moments before. Leaving it, they walked toward the ice spring, and stared at the steaming little thing. A scrawny dog was licking the ice in an attempt to get a drink to cool himself off in the scorching heat of the Si Wong desert. Hoshiko tensed as they walked toward the tavern, seeing a group of sand-bending reptilians hanging around the entrance. As they walked past them, one of them spat at Sokka's feet before he set foot near the tavern. He glared at the reptilian, who smirked in a challenging sort of way in response. Before Sokka could make any stupid moves, Hoshiko grabbed his arm and pulled him into the tavern.
The tavern held only a few people, a few of whom were sleeping, the rest were idly chatting. One man was at the counter, where the bartender, who carried two swords on his back, was taking his order. The man requested one mango, and the man pulled out the swords, and with an impressive display of the two blades flying back and forth as they chopped up different fruits and put them in an ice bowl, and he filled that with water. Sokka grinned at the sight.
"I don't see anything wrong with having one of those fruity beverages while we plan our strategy." He said with a sly smile, before pushing through the group and going up to the counter. "Excuse me!" The man who had been before him, walked around and bumped into Aang, spilling his beverage all over his clothes. Aang looked up at the man and smiled.
"No worries, I clean up easy." He said to him, then he used his air bending to dry himself off. The man gasped at the sight of it, then his face broke out into a huge, excited grin.
"You're a living relic!" He said, Aang smiled back.
"Thanks, I try." He said, Hoshiko walked over to him.
"I think what he means, Aang," She began, "Is that you're very, very old." The smile fell from Aang's face.
"Oh." Was all he could respond with, seeing as he wasn't sure how to reply to that.
"An Air Nomad… Right in front of me." The man muttered to himself before bringing his hands together and bowing respectively, "Professor Xei, head of anthropology at Ba-Sing-Se University." Aang bowed back with a smile, then the professor grabbed Aang's arm and started examining his tattoos, "Tell me, which of the Air Temples do you hail from?"
"The southern temple." Aang said.
"Oh, splendid!" The professor said with a smile, pulling out a strange device that seemed to measure the diameter of Aang's bald cranium, "Now, tell me, what was the primary agricultural product of your people?"
"Uh… Are fruit pies an agricultural product?" Aang asked, looking at the professor unsurely.
"Oh, truly fascinating." Professor Xei said, "That is one for the journal." He reached into his bag and pulled out a bunch of papers bound together by string and began writing in it.
"So, Professor," Sokka began, "You're obviously a well traveled guy. Do you have a more current map? Ours seems to be a little dated." He sent a pointed stare at Aang when he said this. The professor looked up from his journal, still smiling.
"Certainly." He said, he gave them a map and Sokka laid it out on a nearby table. He went over it and saw it was only a map of the desert, covered in different trails starting from the same point.
"What, no Fire Nation?" Sokka asked unhappily, "Doesn't anybody have a good map of that place?" Katara put her finger to one of the trails on the map.
"You've made a lot of trips into the desert." She said.
"All in vain, I'm afraid." He said, "I've found lost civilizations all over the Earth Kingdom, but I haven't managed to find the crown jewel: Won Shi Tong's library."
"You spent years walking through the desert," Toph began, "To find some guy's library?"
"This library is more valuable than gold, little lady." The professor said, "It is said to contain a vast collection of knowledge. And knowledge… is priceless."
"Hmm… sounds like good times." Toph said sarcastically.
"Oh, it is!" Professor Xei continued, not catching the sarcasm, "According to legend, it was built by the great knowledge spirit Won Shi Tong with the help of his foxy knowledge seekers."
"Oh, so this spirit has attractive assistants, huh?" Sokka asked with a sly grin. Hoshiko rolled her eyes and smacked his head, "Ow!"
"I think he means they actually look like foxes, Sokka." Hoshiko said.
"You're both right." Professor Xei said, "Handsome little creatures." The professor reached into his pocket and pulled out a scroll. When he laid it out before them, it was a picture of a giant ornate building with the words 'Won Shi Tong's Library' written underneath. "Won Shi Tong and his knowledge seekers collected books from all over the world and put them on display for mankind to read, so that we might better ourselves."
"If this place has books from all over the world," Sokka began, "Do you think they've got info on the Fire Nation? A map, maybe?"
"I wouldn't know." Professor Xei said, "But if such a thing exists, it's in Won Shi Tong's library." Sokka seemed to mull over the thought in his mind, then grinned.
"Then it's settled." He said, then turned to his air bending friend, "Aang, I do believe it's my turn. I'd like to spend my vacation AT THE LIBRARY!" Hoshiko squished her ears to her head at his dramatic shout, then elbowed his stomach, "Ow! Why do you keep hitting me, woman?"
"Because you're an idiot." Hoshiko said, "And what about my mini-vacation?"
"Yeah, and mine!" Toph added, "When do we get to pick?"
"You gotta work here a little longer before you qualify for vacation time." Sokka said. Toph 'hmphed' and crossed her arms over her chest angrily. Hoshiko glared and brought up her fist to bonk him on the head, but Sokka was prepared for it and jumped out of the way. He stuck out his tongue in a victorious sort of way at her, and Hoshiko fumed. She used shadow bending to push him towards her, and she bonked his head. "Ow! Again with the hitting!"
"Would you rather I smacked you with my claws?" Hoshiko asked, showing him her clawed fingers. Sokka shied away and went behind Aang.
"You know, what's a few bruises anyway?" Sokka said nervously, "They'll heal with time, right?" Hoshiko smirked and put her hand on her hip.
"I thought so." She said.
"Of course, there's the matter of finding the library." Professor Xei said, "I've made several trips into the Si Wong desert, and almost died each time! I'm afraid that desert's impossible to cross." Sokka and Aang shared a glance and grinned.
"Professor," Sokka began, "Would you like to see our sky bison?" The professor's eyes widened and his jaw dropped.
"A sky bison?!" He repeated, "You actually have one?!"
"He's right outside." Sokka said, pointing his thumb at the door, "Come with us." Everyone headed outside to let the professor see Appa growling and backing away from the group of sand bending reptilians from before as they moved closer to the giant bison.
"Sand benders! Shoo!" Professor Xei called out to them, "Away from the bison!" The rogues moved away from the creature, giving them all dirty looks. Hoshiko saw one of them looking right at her. She glared fiercely at him and hissed angrily at him. He jumped and backed away, joining the other sand benders as they got on their sand surfers and glided away from them. Once they were gone, they all boarded Appa, Aang and the professor sitting at the head of the great beast while everyone else sat in the saddle.
They took off into the air, heading into the desert. Sokka pulled out a spyglass so he could better look at the areas surrounding them to find the library. Professor Xei crawled up the head of the bison and leaned over so he could look into Appa's face.
"Tell me, sky bison," He began, "Are you the last of your breed?" Appa only responded with a grunt, and the professor laughed, "Delightful! I only wish I spoke his tongue." He gently rubbed big circles on Appa's head, "Oh, the stories this beast could tell…" Momo scurried over to him and began chirping and squeaking at him, "Shush, chatty monkey!"
Aang looked over the drawing of the library, "Wow," He said, "Shouldn't be too hard to find a place like this out here." He whipped the reigns of the bison and Appa went off.
About an hour later, nobody had seen any sign of the library.
"See anything yet?" Sokka asked Hoshiko.
"Only sand, sand, sand. Oh and look! More sand." She said with a sarcastic bite. Sokka glared at her from over his shoulder and she stuck her tongue out at him.
"Haaaaugh! Does this place even exist?" Toph groaned.
"Some say it doesn't." The professor replied with a smile. Hoshiko whipped her head towards the professor and Toph's eyes went wide.
"Shouldn't you have mentioned that before? Hrrmm!!" She fell back against the saddle in frustration.
Another hour had gone by, with no luck whatsoever. Hoshiko had given up, collapsed against the floor of the saddle, staring up at the empty blue sky as they flew. She felt her eyes begin to droop from the drowsiness that was beginning to consume her from the pure boredom of flying around aimlessly.
"There it is!" Toph exclaimed, making everyone jump up and look at where she was pointing. They saw only sand dunes as they flew by. They all glared at Toph as she slumped against the saddle, "That's what it will sound like when one of you spots it." She waved her hand in front of her smiling face, making a joke about her blindness. Hoshiko rolled her eyes and went back to looking at the desert, searching for the library.
"It shouldn't be this hard to spot a giant, ornate building from the air." Katara said.
"We could be going the wrong way." Hoshiko said.
"Well, what way would you suggest?" Sokka asked sarcastically, "Are you some kind of building-finding expert?" Hoshiko glared at him.
"I'm a tracking expert, not a radar." She said, "And it was just a suggestion." Sokka rolled his eyes and looked back through his spyglass.
"Whatever." He said, he looked through and saw a tower in the distance, "Down there!" He pointed to it, "What's that?" Aang directed Appa to go towards the tower. When they landed, they all jumped off, needing to stretch after such a long ride on the bison. They looked up at the tower and Katara compared it to the picture of the library.
"Forget it," She sighed, "It's obviously not what we're looking for. The building in this drawing is enormous." Something a few feet away caught some of the desert sunlight, and it shone in their eyes. They looked to see what appeared to be a brown fox the size of a coyote carrying a scroll in its mouth come over the dune of sand and go towards the tower, running.
"What kind of animal is that?" Sokka asked, looking at it. The fox-like creature ran up the walls of the tower and inside it through one of the windows.
"I think that was one of the knowledge seekers." Professor Xei said, "Oh, we must be close to the library!" Hoshiko and Sokka looked over Katara's shoulder at the picture of the library, then at the tower.
"No," Sokka said, "This is the library. Look!" He pointed to the top of the building in the picture, then at the tower, showing they were the same. "It's completely buried." The professor seemed to be in a state of shock for two seconds, then he came back to his wits.
"THE LIBRARY IS BURIED?!" He shouted out, running closer to the tower, "My life's ambition is now full of sand…" He fell onto his knees depressively, then he pulled a small shovel out of his pocket and smiled, "Well! Time to start excavating." He started shoveling away at the sand in front of him.
"Well, he got over that fast." Hoshiko muttered. She watched as Toph walked over to the tower and hit her palm against it.
"Actually, that won't be necessary." She said, catching everyone's attention, "The inside seems to be completely intact. And it's huge!"
"That fox-thingy went in through a window," Sokka said, "I say we climb up there and give it a look!"
"I say you guys go ahead without me." Toph said, crossing her arms over her chest.
"You have something against libraries?" Hoshiko asked.
"I've held books before," Toph began, "And, I gotta tell you, they don't exactly do it for me."
"Oh, right." Hoshiko said, "I forgot, sorry."
"S'okay." Toph said, "Let me know if they have something you can listen to."
Sokka tied a rope to his boomerang and threw it up into the window. When he was sure it was secure, he began to climb up it, Katara, Professor Xei, and Hoshiko following. Aang petted Appa's head before he left.
"Don't worry, buddy." He said, "I'm not making you go underground ever again. You can stay out here with Toph." He jumped up onto the rope and followed Sokka as they went down into the library. When there were no more walls to scale, they shimmied down into the main part of the library, seeing it form out into a dome and into walls and incredibly long bookcases filled to the brim with works of literature of all kinds.
"Oh, it's breathtaking!" Professor Xei gasped, "The spirits spared no expense in designing this place. Look at those beautiful buttresses!" Sokka and Aang snickered to themselves at the word 'buttresses'.
"Oh, real mature guys." Hoshiko said with a roll of her eyes.
"What's funny?" The professor asked.
"N-Nothing." Aang answered quickly, "We just… like architecture."
"As do I." The professor said, looking around the building. The group moved down the rest of the rope and got to the floor. The professor looked up when he saw a mosaic above the buttresses and gazed.
"My word!" He gasped, "The exquisite mosaic handiwork of this tile-rendered avian symbol is-" He looked over at the kids and saw the blank/confused expressions on their faces, "Uh… Nice owl." A loud fluttering sound was heard and everyone ran behind the columns that held up the dome above the building. Hoshiko listened as she heard the sound of clawed feet walking against the stone floor, big ones by the sound of it. She peeked out behind the column and saw it was a giant, black barn owl with a white face. It looked at the rope, then it turned its head all the way around towards them.
"I know you're back there." It said, Hoshiko ducked back behind the column to hide from the great creature. She looked over at the professor and saw he had left his hiding place and was quickly walking over to the great owl.
"Hello!" He greeted joyously, "I'm Professor Xei, head of anthropology at Ba-Sing-Se University!" He bowed low and looked back up at the ten foot owl.
"You should leave the way you came." The owl said, "Unless you want to become stuffed head of anthropology." He gestured over to a wall of stuffed heads of creatures from different parts of the earth. The professor grimaced and rubbed his neck at the thought. It was at this time the others decided to come out from their hiding places.
"Are you the spirit that brought this library to the physical world?" Sokka asked.
"Indeed." The owl answered, "I am Won Shi Tong, he who knows ten thousand things. And you are obviously humans," He said it with a hateful bite, "Which, by the way, are no longer permitted in my study."
"What about Shinjuns?" Hoshiko asked.
"They are permitted." Won Shi Tong said.
"What do you have against humans?" Aang asked.
The spirit 'humphed'. "Humans only bother learning things to get the edge on other humans." He said, "Like that fire bender who came to this place a few years ago, looking to destroy his enemy. So," He leaned down and looked at Sokka's face, "Who are you trying to destroy?"
"What? No- no. No destroying. We're not into that!" Sokka said, his nervousness showing through his lie.
"Then why have you come here?" Won Shi Tong asked, not believing him for a second.
"Umm…" Sokka quickly racked his brain for something to say, "…Knowledge for knowledge's sake?" Hoshiko fought the urge to slap her forehead.
"If you're going to lie to an all-knowing spirit being," Won Shi Tong said, "You should at least put some effort into it."
"I'm not lying!" Sokka said quickly, "I'm here with the avatar!" He grabbed Aang and pushed him in front of the great owl, "He's the bridge between our worlds, he'll vouch for me!" He elbowed Aang's back.
"Ow!" Aang said in a low voice, "Uh, yeah. I'll vouch." He looked up at the spirit, "We will not abuse the knowledge in your library, good spirit. You have my word." Everyone bowed to him.
Won Shi Tong hummed thoughtfully as he mulled over the avatar's vow in his head. "Very well," He said, "I'll let you peruse my vast collection. On one condition: To prove your worth as scholars, you humans must contribute some worthwhile knowledge."
"So I don't have to?" Hoshiko asked, when the owl nodded, she did a victorious arm-pump, "Yes!"
Professor Xei pulled a large book from his bag and walked forward, kneeling before the spirit, "Please accept this tome as a donation to your library."
"First edition." Won Shi Tong mused, looking at it, "Very nice." He moved his wing over the book and it was gone from the professor's hands. Professor Xei stood and backed away from the spirit, and Katara stepped forward, holding an open scroll.
"I have an authentic water bending scroll." She said.
"Ooh. These illustrations are quite stylish." Won Shi Tong waved his wing over the scroll and it was gone as well.
"Uh…" Aang thought of what he might contribute as knowledge, "Oh! I know!" He reached into his shirt and pulled out a scroll that bore his wanted poster, "Ha!"
"…I suppose that counts." Won Shi Tong consented, taking the scroll from Aang. Sokka stepped forward in front of the giant owl.
"O great spirit," He began, "Check this out." He took a string and tied it into a knot that resembled a dragonfly, "Ta-da!" Won Shi Tong stared at it blankly (or what must have been blankly, it was hard to read the facial expressions of an owl). "It's a special knot! That counts as knowledge!"
"You're not very bright, are you?" Won Shi Tong said, accepting the knot and taking it from Sokka, who scowled at the mention of not being very bright. "Enjoy the library." Won Shi Tong lifted up his wings, which must have been twenty feet each at least, and jumped down from the floor they stood on, gliding down somewhere below them. As they walked away towards the nearest bookshelves, Sokka glared down at the large owl.
"Bright enough to fool you." He muttered, before following the others.
Hoshiko reached up to attempt to get a book on a high shelf that read "The Shinjun Tribe, a History" on the spine. She stood on her tiptoes in an attempt to be higher, but her fingers only barely grazed the wood of the shelf it sat on. She jumped when she felt little feet climb up her back and she saw Momo scramble up her arm and latch onto the book with his paws before throwing it out of the bookcase. Hoshiko caught the large tome with a grunt and smiled up at the lemur as he jumped onto her shoulder.
"Good job, Momo." She said as she scratched behind the lemur's ear. He purred happily at the feel of it and when she stopped, he jumped off her shoulder and onto Aang's. Hoshiko opened up the large tome to the table of contents to see it was something similar to an entire explanation of Shinjun culture that went as far back as it possibly could in history. With a growing smile and high expectations for her people's history, she opened the book to the first chapter and leaned against the bookshelf next to Aang. Looking up from it as she saw one of the knowledge seekers come by, placing a book in one of the shelves.
The young air bender was currently looking through different paintings made by the same artist who died over five hundred years ago. He flipped one of the pictures to another depicting a group of giant lion turtles moving around on land, one of them looking down at a man on the shore of an island.
"Hey, look at these weird lion turtle things!" He said, presenting the picture to Sokka, who only glanced at it as he pocketed a book he thought might be useful against the Fire Nation.
"Eh, I've seen weirder." He said with a shrug, walking past his sister and the professor as he left. Katara was looking through one of the many books about one of the avatars in history. The professor… well, it was hard to tell what he was reading, because he had made a small, paper fort around himself of different books, scrolls, and notes of what he has read and will read.
"Aang," Katara walked over to Aang, holding the book to her chest, "Did you know that in a past life, you were left-handed?" Aang smiled sheepishly and put his hand behind his head.
"I always knew I was special." He said, he looked over at Hoshiko to see her completely engrossed in the book she was reading, "What's that, Hoshiko?" She looked up at the mention of her name.
"What?" She asked, Katara giggled at her blank face and walked forward.
"That must be a good book for you to be so into it." She said, lifting it up to read the cover.
"It is." Hoshiko said with a smile, "Look at this," She moved so Katara could get a good look at the pages and some of the illustrations on them, "Before the hundred year war, we Shinjuns had an entirely different culture! Did you know we were the original bamboo wheat farmers? When we became involved in human lifestyle, we taught your ancestors how to farm and grow fruit." She looked over at Aang when she said this, "And this, too!" She flipped a few pages, "We weren't even aware humans existed until a thousand years ago, when one of them stumbled into one of the spiritual campgrounds and everyone mistook him as a tailless monkey Shinjun from the nearby jungle!" Everyone laughed at the story, "Do you think that knowledge spirit would let me hang onto this? Or, maybe get me another copy? I really want to keep reading it." Katara shrugged.
"Maybe." She said. They all looked up as Sokka ran past them.
"Sokka, where are you going?" Aang asked.
"I wanna know what happened to the Fire Nation on their darkest day." He said, holding up a piece of old parchment, "This could be promising." Everyone shared glances before following him as he ran to a different wing of the library. The wing's entrance was decorated with dragon statues along the walls, and a large red tarp with the symbol for fire was placed at the top. "The information on the Fire Nation should be right up here."
They walked in and were shocked by what they saw. Everything was destroyed, burned to an ashy crisp and laying on the ground. The only things that hadn't been completely destroyed were the lanterns lighting the halls, but even they had a few scorch marks.
"Fire benders." Aang said, looking at the wreckage.
"They destroyed anything that had to do with the Fire Nation." Hoshiko said, looking around.
"That's so unfair!" Sokka shouted, stamping his foot, "Just when I think I'm one step ahead of the Fire Nation, it turns out they beat us here a long time ago!" He fell to his knees in front of the remains. He lifted his head slightly, determination showing in his eyes, "I need to know what happened on the darkest day." A sound of whimpering was heard and everyone turned to see one of the knowledge seekers on its hind legs, looking at Sokka. He looked back nervously, "Hello… Little weird fox guy." The creature got back on all fours and pointed its nose in a specific direction.
"Seems it's trying to assist you." Professor Xei mused, looking over at Sokka.
"Um… Sure." Sokka said, "I guess I'll follow you." The group followed the fox creature down different hallways until they came to a large, golden, circle shaped part of the wall that had designs that vaguely resembled a sunflower. The creature crawled into a small hole in the wall, and after a moment, the circle moved to the side and the knowledge seeker stood on the other side. He ushered them in with a whine and they walked into a domed room with clouds and mountains painted on blue walls. In the center of the room was a large circled table with different layers of stone, each one decorated with different symbols. Next to the table was a lever, which the knowledge seeker didn't hesitate to push. A loud whirring and creaking was heard and a large, black covering moved over the room. The covering was filled with holes, and it looked an awful lot like the night sky, constellations included. They even saw a metal moon passing over the sky.
"This room is a true marvel." Professor Xei said, gazing around at it, "A mechanical wonder! It's a planetarium that shows the heavens moving!" The stars disappeared from sight and the blue sky came back, lighting up the room as the mechanical sun rose in the planetarium.
"Uh, this is beautiful." Sokka said, "But how is it helpful?" They looked over at the table decorated with dials.
"Maybe these dials represent dates and times." Katara suggested, looking at them, "Sokka, try entering that date from that parchment you took." Sokka quickly shushed her.
"Katara!" He hissed, "Not in front of the fox, he's with the owl!" The fox in question whimpered sadly and drooped its ears.
Sokka 'inconspicuously' snuck a peek at the date on the parchment he had taken from the library, then moved the dials to the appropriate time. The third day of the seventh month of the second year in the year of the dragon. Then he pushed the lever and watched as the night sky came up again. The fake stars twinkling over their heads.
"Wow." Aang said, "I gotta hand it to you, Sokka. You picked the best mini-vacation, for sure." The night sky began to move away, and suddenly, the lights went out, and the machines stopped.
"Hey, wait." Katara said, looking up at the mechanical sun and moon, "What happened to the sun?" Hoshiko squinted at the two pieces of metal as they stood still in the domed sky.
"Oh, great, Sokka." Hoshiko said, "You broke it." Sokka looked up at the moon and sun and noticed something.
"It's not broken." He said, "The sun is behind the moon. It's a solar eclipse!" A grin broke out over his face, "It's literally the 'darkest day in Fire Nation history'! Now, I get it!" He grabbed Hoshiko's shoulders and made her face him, "Something awful happened on that day, I don't know what, but I do know why." He began to shake her shoulders out of his excitement, "Fire benders lose their bending during a solar eclipse!" He pushed her out of his hold and she stumbled back, "Sorry."
"That makes sense!" Katara said, stepping forward to get a closer look at the mechanical sun and moon, "I mean, think of what the lunar eclipse at the North Pole did to the water benders! This is huge!" The fox walked over to Sokka, whining as it got on its hind legs in a begging sort of motion.
"Fine, you earned it." Sokka said as he reached into his bag and pulled out a piece of jerky and tossed it to the fox. He walked over to his sister, Aang, and Hoshiko, "We've gotta get this information to the Earth King at Ba-Sing-Se. We'll wait for the next eclipse, then we'll invade the Fire Nation when they're totally helpless. The Fire Lord is going down!" Everyone looked up as a large shadow loomed over them, and they jumped when they saw it was Won Shi Tong.
"Mortals are so predictable." The owl said, "And such terrible liars." His eyes seemed to narrow, and he suddenly seemed very dangerous and terrifying. "You betrayed my trust! From the beginning you intended to misuse this knowledge for evil purposes!" Hoshiko flinched at his voice, until that moment, he had spoken calmly to them, but now he was yelling.
"You don't understand!" Sokka said, "If anyone's evil, it's the Fire Nation! You saw what they did to your library, they're destructive and dangerous! We need this information!"
"You think you're the first person to believe their war was justified?" Won Shi Tong demanded, "Countless others before you have come here! Seeking weapons or weaknesses or battle strategies!"
"We had no choice!" Aang said in a pleading tone, "Please, we're just desperate to protect the people we love."
"And now," The spirit began, raising his wings, "I'm going to protect what I love." He began flapping his wings, creating a huge air current that nearly blew everyone away.
"What are you doing?" Aang asked over the rushing wind.
"I'm taking my knowledge back." Won Shi Tong said, "No one will ever abuse it again!" Hoshiko watched in horror as sand began to slide down the walls around them.
"He's sinking the building!" Katara said, "We've gotta get out of here!"
"I'm afraid I can't allow that." Won Shi Tong said, ceasing the flapping, "You already know too much." Hoshiko felt her insides plummet as Won Shi Ton began to change his appearance. His neck became longer, resembling a snake's, and the feathers on his head perked up, making it appear as though he had black horns on his head. He let out an avian shriek as he dove his head down and everyone moved out of the way and began to run. Won Shi Tong not too far behind.
They ran through the hallways to try and lose it, but the owl simply burst through the bookcases and kept coming toward them. They kept running until they came closer to one of the walkways in between sections of the library. Before they reached it, though, the professor turned to the owl.
"Great knowledge spirit! I beg you!" He called out to it, "Do not destroy your vast collection of priceless tomes!" The spirit only came closer to him, and when Aang saw he was about to be eaten by the giant bird, he used his air bending to pull the professor back and onto the other side of the walkway with the others. As Won Shi Tong still came closer, Aang decided this was time to fight back, so he used his air bending to disrupt the flight path of the creature and sent him over the edge of the walkway down further into the building. Knowing that wouldn't keep him down for long, he ran back to the others.
"We've got to get back to the surface!" He said, and everyone began to run to where they had first come in. Everyone but Sokka, who stopped and looked down the path to the planetarium. Katara noticed her brother was missing and turned to face him.
"Sokka, let's go!" Katara said.
"But we still don't know when the next eclipse is gonna happen!" Sokka said.
"Don't be even more stupid!" Hoshiko said, "We'll have to go! We'll find out later!"
"No, we won't!" Sokka retorted, "If we leave this place, we'll never get the information." He looked to his friend, "Aang, come with me to the planetarium, I need cover." Aang dashed over to his friend's side. "Katara, you and Hoshiko take Momo and get out of here!"
"But-!" Katara was cut off as the column that separated the two groups was smashed to bits by Won Shi Tong.
"Go!" Sokka commanded over his shoulder as he and Aang ran for the planetarium. Hoshiko and Katara ran, the professor not too far behind them.
"Hurry, Sokka!" Katara called back, not wanting to spend too much time in the library before it sank. When the spirit flew up into the air, though, the wind blasted the professor back to some unknown region of the library. Hoshiko and Katara looked up in fear as they saw the giant owl descending upon them and ducked out of the way before he landed. They left in different directions, and Hoshiko watched as he went after Katara. She gritted her teeth and pulled up a stream of shadow, making a pole-like barrier between two bookcases and stopping him from going any further towards the water bender. The bird whirled to her and she jumped back out of fear, and began to run, hearing the sound of Won Shi Tong's clawed feet as they scraped across the floor after her.
"Not in the best position, are you?" Hoshiko groaned as the all-too-familiar voice sounded in her head.
"This is the worst possible time for you to try and take over again!" Hoshiko growled at her as she dashed down a hallway.
"On the contrary, I see it as the perfect time." Kagemi said calmly as Hoshiko dodged the owl's beak and kept running, "You're running for your life in a place you're unfamiliar with. Your life is at stake, meaning mine is, too, by the way. And to top it all off, you're going up against someone from my domain, who knows how to fight a being from the spirit world than one who was born there?"
"You were born with me, at the same time as me!" Hoshiko growled, before shrieking and ducking the bird's beak again as it destroyed a nearby bookcase. Hoshiko let out a frustrated growl, "Okay! Okay! Look, if I let you take over for ten seconds, will you please get this bird away from me?" Hoshiko completely despised the idea of giving up her body to her other half, if only temporarily, but at this point, she didn't have many options.
"Oh, absolutely." Kagemi said smoothly, "I'll get the bird away from you, and you'll have all the time you need to get out." Hoshiko let out a frustrated groan and ducked behind a bookshelf, standing still as she let Kagemi's being come out of her place inside her and on the outside. She slowly felt her consciousness slipping away, feeling as though she was being engulfed in darkness. When she finally felt herself slip, Kagemi opened her eyes, her white irises gleaming darkly as she grinned maliciously. She moved out of the corner and faced the owl, and as he began to move towards her, Kagemi's eye caught the sight of someone moving. She recognized her as the water bending friend of Hoshiko's. Her grin grew and she used shadow bending to bring up a huge wave of inky blackness that pushed it toward her.
Kagemi groaned as she felt her consciousness slowly slipping, her time was running out. She growled angrily, letting Hoshiko come back, for as much as she hated to lose control, she had made a promise, and she always kept her word, no matter what the cost. She felt herself slowly slipping back into the confines of Hoshiko's mind as she re-emerged. Hoshiko stumbled a little when she came back, feeling a small headache.
"Now hurry and get to the exit!" Kagemi's voice said in her mind, "He won't be kept like that forever!" Not knowing that Kagemi has used Katara as bait, Hoshiko agreed and headed for the rope that led her in.
Katara stopped when she saw the knowledge spirit be thrown in front of her. When it saw who was closest to it, the bird jumped up and went after Katara, who ran away. Kagemi saw this and smirked, dashing toward the rope, leaving Katara to fend for herself against the owl.
Katara ran down a hallway and ducked behind a bookcase, holding Momo close to her as she tried to catch her breath. She stayed as quiet as she could as she heard his clawed feet step against the floor. Her heart pounded as she heard them stop, hoping he wouldn't find her. Won Shi Tong looked around the bookcases, searching for her, and his eyes caught sight of Momo's tail.
"At least I'll have one specimen to add to my collection." He said, before diving his head down towards her, and Katara ran, heading for the rope that led out of the library. Her eyes widened when she saw Hoshiko, climbing up it as fast as she could. She turned to the owl, opening the canteen of water she kept on her and getting into a fighting stance.
"Your water bending won't do you much good here." The owl said as he arched his long neck menacingly, "I've studied northern water style, southern water style, even foggy swamp style!" Katara looked up as she heard a war cry and saw her brother jumping off Aang's glider and bringing a very large book down on the owl's head. Won Shi Tong fell to the ground from the hit.
"That's called Sokka style! Learn it!" Sokka said. He grabbed his sister's hand and they used the owl's body as something of a stair case and they began to climb up the rope. Sokka looked around, then stopped when he saw the form of a person not too far away, sitting on the library floor, "Wait!" He called out, making Hoshiko and Katara stop, "Professor, let's go!" Hoshiko looked over to see Professor Xei sitting in the middle of a fort of books he created.
"I'm not leaving!" The professor called back, "I can't. I've spent too long trying to find this place! There's not another collection of knowledge like this on earth!" He looked around at the books then smiled back at Sokka, "I could spend an eternity in here."
Katara looked back up at her brother, "Just go!" She said, shrieking when she felt the rope being pulled and swayed and looked to see Won Shi Tong had awoken and was pulling the rope back and forth to try and shake them off of it. Aang saw this and moved his glider down just as his friend's fell from the rope. Katara grabbed onto Aang's waist, Sokka grabbed Katara's, and Hoshiko grabbed Sokka's. Aang flew the glider up higher and higher, Won Shi Tong flying after them. Then, after what seemed to be forever, they flew up and through the window of the tower and back out into the desert. All but Aang and Hoshiko face planting into the sand. Aang used air bending to cushion his fall, and Hoshiko, for some unknown reason, landed on her feet.
Toph, who had kept the tower from sinking for as long as she could using her earth bending, could hold it up no longer. It fell from her grasp and she flew back into the sand. The remainder of the library sank into the ground, never to be seen again. Toph sat up, sitting on the sand, a forlorn expression on her face. Everyone else stood up. Aang stood and looked around for his bison, who seemed to be nowhere in sight.
"We got it!" Sokka exclaimed to Katara, "There's a solar eclipse coming!" He ran over and hugged his sister happily, "The Fire Nation's in trouble now!" Aang, still not seeing his bison, walked over to where Toph was still stationed on the ground.
"Where's Appa?" He asked her quietly. Toph said nothing, she only shook her head. Aang gasped at the realization that Appa was lost. Tears flooded his eyes.
Appa, his lifelong friend and companion, was gone.
Yay! Chapter 14!
Okay, I seriously thought after fourteen chapters, I'd have a few more reviews than this. I do appreciate the last one I got, but there's a whole lot of people I still want to hear from. So, please, review my story! I want to know if it's crap or not so far, because I won't know if it is until you tell me!
PLEASE REVIEW!