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CHAPTER VIII - CHANGE IS IN THE AIR
PRESENT DAY - 192 AG
The boy had been training for as long as he could remember, he was bombarded with rocks, assaulted by metal, whipped with water, stabbed by ice, scorched by flames and struck with lightning – over and over until he mastered control over all of them.
Despite his incredible strength, the ten-year-old had the appearance of a fragile, malnourished child – likely the effect of whatever concoction his mother had been injecting into him. The boy didn't mind, though, he felt its other affects. It made him powerful, he was even stronger than his teachers now, he mastered all three elements - he felt like he could do anything – except for one thing.
"Mommy," he tugged at her as she put away the needle. "Can I go- Can I go outside now? Please?"
"No," his mother warned. "No, baby, you can't, you mustn't go outside."
"But w-why?"
"It's very dangerous outside, Sung – there are bad people that want to take you away from me."
"But I can beat the- the bad guys! I'm strong!"
The mother finished packing up the needles and cotton.
"Not strong enough, yet." She kissed his forehead. "Look, here's Uncle Kav! He's gonna teach you something new!"
The boy saw the man outside the window, he was holding a box. The Waterbender scanned his eye on the console outside the room as the door opened itself for him.
"Really?" Sung was eager to learn new things. "W-what is it? What is it?"
"You'll find out soon," said the mother, meeting Kav as he entered.
"You sure about this, Kaili?" he asked her, glancing at the box in his hands. "I'm not sure if the Avatar is supposed to be-"
"I want him to learn everything," she insisted, leaving without waiting for an answer.
"Well," he replied, even though she probably couldn't hear. "Everything apart from airbending, because, you know… we don't have any airbenders around."
Kav walked to the boy.
"Uncle Kav! What's in the box?"
Kav opened the box and a group of small rodents were let loose, scurrying around the incredibly vast room.
"Elephant-rats?" said Sung, a little disappointed.
"You ever heard of Bloodbending, Sung?"
NINETY-TWO YEARS AGO - 100 AG
"Question one: What year did Firelord Sozin battle the Air Nation army?"
The boy with the headband raised his hand.
"Kuzon?" The teacher called him.
"Is that a trick question?" he asked after he stood up. "The Air Nomads didn't have a formal military - Sozin defeated them by ambush."
"Well-" the teacher replied. "I don't know how you could possibly know more than our national history book - unless you were there a hundred years ago?"
Kuzon scratched the back of his head and smiled uncomfortably. "I'll just write down my best guess," he said as he sat down.
PRESENT - 192 AG
Air Temple Island had expanded considerably. It housed as many citizens as the other Air Temples, maybe more. Despite the bridge connecting it to Republic City, it had gained independence from the Republic of Nations and was considered a land of the Air Nation - in fact, its name was officially changed to 'The Central Air Temple' some years back, but most people still used the old name.
The Central Air Temple had many towers flirting with the clouds as opposed to the original single one, and it had many roads leading to many buildings. It was the most modernised out of the five – the East being the least, Matriarch Pema had opposed to the gentrification as much as she could, she knew where it was leading.
The schools across the nation were now populous enough to warrant the segregation into year-grades. Cultures clashed, in rare cases, a boy would wear traditional robes to school while his brother would walk beside him, donning a t-shirt.
The expansion was driven mostly by Chairwoman Jinora. She was an innovative and forward-thinking leader – maybe too much so – or at least that's what her mother and the East thought.
But Jinora would surely hear much of her mother's opinions today, there was a meeting to be held.
The Air Nomads always had defensive forces, but they were traditionally not trained in offensive tactics. It was an open secret that Jinora had planned to expand the defensive forces into a military, the foundations to build it were already there, most of the Patriarchs and Matriarchs had stood idle as the Chairwoman introduced new weapons, new armor, new training and new attitudes towards global operations. Today it would be made official. Ever since Bumi had stepped down, Meelo was serving as Patriarch in the North, but Jinora would raise his rank once more today...
TWENTY-ONE YEARS AGO - 171 AG
"When a new guy gets airbending, does that make him our brother?" asked Ikki, jumping onto her father's lap.
"Well, in a way, all airbenders are our family," Tenzin explained.
"Does that mean I have to share my room? Because I like my personal space!"
"Of course not - but we might have to get used to not being the only airbenders around anymore."
"I hope we have enough for an army!" said Meelo. "I wanna be a commander, like Uncle Bumi!"
Jinora rolled her eyes. "Air Nomads don't have armies, Meelo."
PRESENT - 192 AG
The Chairwoman stood up to address the hall - which was much more spacious than it used to be, thanks to the island-wide expansion project, still, the seats were completely full and some people standing were dotted around.
"Thank you all for coming," she spoke into the microphone. "I plan this meeting to be short, so I'll be blunt. All defensive forces in the five temples will be unified under a single banner – the banner of the Unified Air Nation Forces." She motioned towards someone on stage that rolled out a flag to unveil the new logo – which was quite similar to what had already been painted on most of the Air Nation's balloons, but nevertheless it received applause.
"They will report to my brother, Commander Meelo," Meelo stood up and bowed in response to the applause.
"And me, the Chairwoman. Many of them will be sent overseas on foreign operations in order to establish peace and maintain balance in the world." Jinora took a deep breath. "Are there any objections?" She regarded Matriarch Opal and Matriarch Kai, who had nothing to add but their approval.
Pema stood up. "Your father would be ashamed!" she spat.
The members of the gathering reacted audibly.
'Your father would be ashamed!'
Korra's words echoed around the appalled room. She never thought that she would be on the receiving end of that spear, but it had pierced her heart nonetheless. She was nothing like the previous Firelord, was she?
"You! You turned my children against me!" she said, despite the fact that she was screaming at one of them.
Rohan and Ikki were uncomfortable.
"When will your mission of revenge end? When will you be satisfied?" she continued.
The Chairwoman recovered and spoke unfazed. "Is there a statement here, Matriarch?"
"Here's your statement!" she roared. "I refuse! I refuse to give my forces to you! They will stay and defend the East, as they are trained! They won't become your... your tools of war!"
This wave of gasps was even louder.
Ren, Meelo's captain in the North stood up. "I don't think you have the authority to do that, Matriarch Pema, with all due respect."
The Chairwoman put her arm out to motion the Captain to sit down. The remaining Matriarch still glared at her.
"Alright," said the Chairwoman after a moment. "Fine. Out of respect for our mother and her wishes, I will permit the East to remain in absolute control of their forces, they will not have be unified."
More whispers.
"However, you will not prevent any warrior from the East who wishes to join the Unified Forces from doing so."
The room seemed to think it a wise decision. Pema, herself, thought it to be a better outcome than she had hoped for, and sat back down, without a word.
"All other forces will be unified. Are there any further objections?"
Silence.
. . .
Jinora needed to relax. Arranging and preparing armies was stressful work.
She breathed in the fresh air of the spirit world and-
A familiar presence. Distant, but still…
It couldn't be. But it had to be. Jinora only felt these energies being emitted from one person.
Korra?
. . .
"Are you sure?" asked Rohan.
"It's her. I felt it," answered Jinora.
She had just come back after searching for hours and burst into Rohan's room with teary eyes. She had decided to get Rohan to help her, his spiritual powers rivalled her own.
"After ten years… What's she doing in the spirit world?"
"I don't know, but you're going to help me find out."
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