the thief and the airbender
reincarnation
[two different oneshots, but they're both about reincarnation and kainora being given second chances so here you go]
An Ancient Proverb
1. an ancient proverb
He's seven when he's taken to the Eastern Air Temple to choose a sky bison, per tradition. He's hurrying down the steps, his robes flying behind him due to his lithe thin frame, his apple clutched in his shaking hands, when a girl bumps into him. Her hair is pulled back into ringlets, leaving her forehead bare.
"I'm sorry!" she exclaims, stooping to help him back onto his feet. "Are you alright?" The boy nods, unsure of how to react to such a loud, boisterous girl. His Temple, the Southern, was full of boys, and only the occasional nun. "I'm Ana, oh and you must be going to get your bison, right?"
Gyatso just nods again, holding his apple close to his chest. "I'm Gyatso," he says.
"I'm sorry for running into you," she apologizes. "Sister Nunya always says I have my head in the clouds. You better get to the courtyard. Maybe I'll see you later?"
And he doesn't realize it, as he rushes off to the courtyard to choose his bison, that he gained two lifelong companions that day.
2. once said
"Pai Sho, 'So?" Ana jabbered away. Gyatso merely chuckled, pulling out the old board game. "You know, it's too bad we can't visit the Southern Air Temple more often, it's really beautiful. Besides, it's pretty hard having you on the other side of the world for most of the year. And your letters take forever to arrive too. Your monks are fuddy-duddies to top it all off, the monks at the Northern Air Temple are a lot more fun. Well, your guardian Perri's really fun. I'm surprised he became a monk in the first place."
"Oh?" Gyatso raised an eyebrow as he moved a Pai-Sho chip. "A monk can't be fun?"
"Well, no," Ana said as though it was obvious, like a typical thirteen year old who thought she knew everything. "All that studying and working and discipline. Why'd you want that when there's a whole world to travel? Besides, when you're a monk you can't get married or have kids. Don't you want to fall in love?"
Gyatso looked away to think about her words. Being a monk would mean a life of devotion, but he couldn't see himself do anything else... His eyes were suddenly covered by the orange fabric of his shawl, and he lifted it off his face to see Ana redrawing her hands from the Pai Sho board; obviously cheating like the sore airbender she was.
"Cheating is against our customs," he reprimanded her, trying to hold back a smile while she grinned sheepishly.
"Lighten up, on might monk Gyatso," she teased, chuckling. Her ringlets of dark hair bounced while she left, the small chains of gold glistening in the sun, and Gyatso realized that Ana was actually really pretty.
Spirits help him.
3. that a heartache
Gyatso,
You won't believe what I overheard Nunya saying the other day. Apparently Avatar Roku will be coming to train at your Temple, can you believe it? You're so lucky, you little bald monk, getting to meet the Avatar. You better tell me all about him.
Love, Ana
...
Ana,
Roku arrived two weeks ago and we've hit it off. Don't worry, I'm not replacing you as my best friend. (And I know you must be thinking that you were never worried in the first place, but I thought I'd reassure you anyway. I'm thoughtful like that.)
Love Gyatso
4. cannot be remedied
"I can't believe you got permission to come visit me," Gyatso whispered. It had been a pretty big surprise to find Ana hanging out by his window in the middle of the night on the eve of his tattooing. "And you really shouldn't be here, I'm supposed to be meditating. Letting of of my earthly attachments and all that."
"First, it wasn't so much permission as not asking and leaving a note," Ana said, making herself at home in his room. "Second, when have we ever cared about the rules. And third, am I really a distraction?"
Yes.
Gyatso didn't answer. "Seriously, if the monks catch you-"
"I'm too fast for them to actually catch me, besides Mr. Goody-two-shoes, I can tell you're panicking. And I'm going to be here for my best friend. Now, calm down, and talk to me."
So he did. The words came spilling out of his mouth before he could think, all his worries and nerves rushing out of him, his hesitance for the pain of tattooing, being unsure that he was truly ready for them, the responsibilities that it would bring, the pride he felt, but what if something went wrong?
Ana, for once, didn't interrupt and merely listened. When he was finally done, she gazed up at him and started laughing. Gyatso looked at her surprised. "Nothing," she wiped her eyes, her giggles dying down, "it's just, if anyone was born to get his tattoos, it's you. You're the most talented airbender I've ever known, including me."
Despite how nervous he still felt, Gyatso chuckled. "I forgot how modest you were." He glanced towards the door. "But seriously, you should go."
"Fine, fine," Ana clambered over to his window and sat on the sill. Gyatso glanced outside to make sure the coast was clear, and when he pulled back their faces weren't very far apart.
Gyatso swallowed hard. He could kiss her. He could tell Ana was thinking the same thing. Let go your earthly attachments, the monks had told him. So he let her leave.
5. by medicine
"You're becoming a monk." It wasn't a question. He was going to stay, and study, and be the responsible monk he was.
"And you're not." She was going to leave, and travel the world, and see as much of it as possible, like she had always wanted to. Gyatso tried to smile. "Write to me, okay? Send me all sorts of letters, from your travels." Ana leaned up and kissed him on the cheek, tears pooling at her eyes. Not for the first time, Gyatso wondered what they could be, but still knew everything they weren't. Gyatso's eyes crinkled. "I can't make you stay."
Ana smiled sadly. "And I can't make you leave."
Gyatso wiped his eyes. He pulled into a hug, and didn't look away from her until her bison had disappeared on the horizon.
4. nor time
"It's about time you visited me," Gyatso told her, smiling. "My charge, Aang, he's been wanting to meet you for forever. He can't remember the last time he met you, of course, he was only a baby."
"Gyatso!" a little bald boy came hurtling towards the monk, throwing his arms around his guardian's knees. "Is this Ana?" he squealed.
"I sure am, kiddo," the woman announced. Her hair was still pulled back in ringlets, now with plenty of gray. Her youth and her days of travel had long since passed, and she had been thinking about settling down at the Temple as one of the few Southern nuns. "Why don't you go get your bison, so I can meet him too hmm?"
Aang scampered off with a grin. A sadness settled in her. "Is he-?"
"The Avatar," Gyatso said softly. "I'm afraid so."
"There are troubling signs from the Fire Nation, 'So, you know that," Ana said darkly. Gyatso placed a hand on her shoulder.
"I'll give him as much time as possible, Ana. For now, let's go meet his bison. And maybe a game of Pai Sho. He's quite good you know, and he doesn't cheat like you do."
And Ana prayed to the Spirits with all her might that Gyatso's little boy would stay safe. She couldn't help but wonder, if they had chosen a different path, if their child would've looked like him.
3. but only with patience
"Nunya, is it true, what their saying? The Fire Nation has declared war?"
"I'm not sure Ana, calm down, you shouldn't be here at the Temples, you should keep moving. If you hear anything worrisome, come back straight away but-"
"Alright... I understand."
2. and love
She flew to the Southern Air Temple as soon as she heard; she saw the smoke far before she heard the screams. Bodies and fire and smoke were everywhere. She ran among the Temple, taking a back entrance to Gyatso's old quarters that she was sure the firebenders wouldn't know. And then she saw him.
"Gyatso, no." He was bleeding. Badly. She stooped to her knees, gathering him in her arms. It was too late. All of her regrets - she should have chosen a different path, or perhaps he should've, but it was too late now. Even if she was no monk nor nun, even she remember her teachings: you couldn't change the past, only the future. She wondered what had happened to Aang. Had he survived? He must have.
She gently kissed Gyatso, for the first and last time. "I'm sorry."
The firebenders found her. Killed her. It was a quick, relatively painless death.
1. and second chances
Her name is Jinora, and his name is Kai. She's studious, disciplined, with a more mischievous side showing through. She wants to see the world (to make up for past mistakes). He's hurt and fun-loving and kind. He wants to find a place to stay (to make up for past regrets). And in this life, they'll choose a different path, and they'll walk it side by side.
You Have A Connection
vii. the spirits are merciful
He's a firebender and the Western Air Temple is crumbling before his eyes. His footsteps echo against the floors amid the screaming, and he has the nasty job of checking for any survivors. There aren't supposed to be any. Scanning a room with amber eyes, he finds a girl - his age - slumped against a wall, barely breathing. Cautiously, he walks over to her, bending low.
She cracks an eye open, half of her face covered in grime and her breaths are laboured and fragile. Pity wells up inside him. He was just part of the mindless attack; there was no real blood on his hands. The girl winces when he drops to her eye level, covering one hand over her side, stained with blood and raising the other in a feeble attempt to defend herself.
"Hey," he says gently, gingerly grabbing her hand and giving it a slight squeeze. "I'm not gonna hurt you," he promises, unsure of what's come over him, but something about this girl draws him in. He thinks it her eyes, warm and brown even when they're clouded by smoke; He can feel it filling up his lungs.
"Thank you," she says, lower than a whisper and barely audible. She relaxes, the tenseness in her shoulders fading away. She studies him, as if evaluating him. She takes a deep, raspy breath.
"Can you stand?" he asks and slowly, she nods. He slings her arm around his shoulder and lifts her up. She's as light as air.
The Temple is so hot it takes him a few corridors to realize that her body has gone cold, and that she's died with a smile on her face, and he weeps, realizing the horror of the situation. Sozin had no right to do this. His nation had no right to play god and slaughter thousands.
He sneaks away from the other guards and buries her privately, with respect.
Later, when he gets caught and executed for helping to smuggle refugee airbenders, he thinks she'd be proud.
vi. so when two souls are meant for each other
A BaSingSe noble and a peasant can never work. They run away anyway, but are caught. She's forced into a loveless marriage and he's hung, but no one ever discovers why the baby doesn't look like her husband. It's her secret, and one she takes to the grave.
v. they will give them second chances
Firebenders who fight together die together. It's oddly fitting, the bodies of the man and the woman - both soldiers - are brought in together, pale and with their eyes closed, as if peacefully asleep, holding hands. Lee shifts through their belongings - identification tags and notifies their families, the usual protocol, when he finds something odd: a ring, with a ruby stone, obviously a wedding ring.
He sighs, carefully filing the ring away. Perhaps the families will want it, since they can't have the wedding.
iv. and third
"Hey, don't talk like that, you're going to be fine," he brushes the hair tenderly off her face, his voice breaking.
"You'll take good care of our daughter, I know you will-"
"No, no don't say goodbye-"
"I love you."
"Sir, I'm sorry to say your wife has passed away in childbirth. Would you like to see your daughter? Sir…? Sir?"
iii. and fourth
She's never the same. She never drives again. Whenever she sees a car, she thinks she sees him - two weeks after they start dating - hit, again and again and then - she curls in on herself.
She's never the same.
ii. until finally
They never meet, but merely coexist like parallel lines, so close but they never touch. They never connect. They grow up and marry other people and she becomes a skilled waterbender and he works in a Satomobile factory, both as happy as can be. Or maybe, not quite as happy.
i. they get a happy ending.
"Kai?"
He meets her brown eyes, and not for first time, thinks something about them is almost familiar. "Yeah Jin?"
Jinora hesitates, biting her lip before she carries on. "Do - do you ever think that the Avatar isn't the only one who gets reincarnated?"
Kai's brow furrows. "I suppose it's possible. Why are you asking?" She shrugs, not answering, but their eyes lock - and she sees a flash of a man with compassion and he sees her cracking a weak smile - and think about how incredible it is that they met, with airbending and Harmonic Convergence, and the Dai Li and everything else.
And they know.
I'm sorry I haven't been updating as reguarly; life has been crazy and I've trying to focus more on my Kainora plot-centric multichaptered fics. However I hope to start posting drabbles and your lovely requests more often.
Thanks for being patient, and for the mind-blowing 400 plus reviews. Wow. 0-0 I do not deserve such awesome readers.
As always, love you guys.