Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar the Last Airbender and Legend of Korra, or any of the related characters. The Avatar universe is created by Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko and owned by Nickelodeon. This fanfiction is intended for entertainment only.
Book 1: Dark
Chapter 6: Unveiling Shadows
As Kairo, Gyila, and Mona approached the port, upon the unexpected arrival of the chief of the Northern Water Tribe, they couldn't help but notice two polarized groups. Some people were cheering, excited to see their sister tribe's chief and family, and some were shouting and booing, clearly not supporting Varran's ideas of uniting the tribes. Mona now understood the different ideals people of the Southern Water Tribe shared.
They had just caught in time to see Varran and his family. Mona had never met them nor been to the Northern Water Tribe. An old man with long greyish hair slowly came down from their ship to the port, Varran, which they recognized from the television, alongside a young man on his right side and a young woman along his left side, who seemed to be his children. As they stepped to the port from their ship, both cheering and booing rose. Before everyone stood the chief of the Southern Water Tribe, Taluru, and his son, Karrim, who was about Kairo's age.
As the chiefs greeted each other, Kairo couldn't help but keep his eyes off the young woman next to Chief Varran. She had beautiful, long, two-braided dark hair framing her little triangle face, dark blue eyes, and tan skin. She wore the most beautiful water tribe dress, which seemed traditional rather than modern. Kairo was surprised to see how sad she looked. The young man next to Varran seemed quite serious; he looked like he had been older than Kairo for at least ten years.
"Why didn't they use the portal?" whispered Gyila to Mona, which she answered with a shrug, "I know, it doesn't make sense, right?"
"Come with me," Mona said, guiding Gyila and Kairo in the crowd. She boldly extended her arm and hand behind her, signaling Gyila to hold it. Mona was using the crowd as an excuse to hold his hand. Mona couldn't believe her courage, just like Gyila, who had let Mona hold his hand while blushing as hard as enough to make his full face red. They stopped as they reached the chiefs, and Mona sadly released Gyila's hand. "Chief Varran, we welcome you with humbleness. I would like to introduce you all to Gyila and Kairo. Kairo is the Ava-"
Mona's introduction was cut by Chief Varran. "The Avatar? I was not informed that you would be here, what a pleasant surprise," he said and bowed in front of Kairo, who seemed rather uncomfortable. He was still not used to seeing old men and women bowing before him. He bowed in response, not sure knowing what to do.
"Mona, why haven't you informed me of the arrival of these gentlemen?" asked Chief Taluru, not wanting to sound like he was scolding her in front of these people, but he was.
"My brother and I were assigned by Jinora for a mission in the spirit world. As I have met Mona in Wan Shi Tong's library before, we stayed in her place," explained Gyila in order to protect Mona from this annoying man's not-so-well-hidden scolding.
"My name is Gyila; I am the Avatar's airbending master," Gyila introduced himself to Chief Varran, who greeted him by lowering his head and smiling.
"And who might this young woman be?" asked Chief Varran, looking at Mona. "I am Mona Sanreq; meeting you is a great honor. I am an anthropologist studying the culture of the Southern Water Tribe," she explained.
"How exciting," responded Chief Varran with a smile. "These are my children, Senna, my only daughter…" he added, showing his daughter with his arm.
"What an honor. It is a great pleasure to meet every one of you," she bowed while trying her hardest to smile. Even if she said "all of you," her dark, curious blue eyes were fixated on Kairo, which made him blush slightly. As Senna shyly looked away, Chief Varran continued to introduce his children.
"... and my son, who is next in line after me, Taaqtuq," Mona's eyes widened as she heard the name, and so did Gyila and Kairo's, but they did everything in their power to hide their expression. Kairo was almost fooled by Chief Varran as he seemed so respectful and kind, but he was as evil as naming his son after the man responsible for a young chief's death and the separation of the tribes, eventually.
"My children and I would enjoy it if all three of you could come to the feast this night as honored guests," suggested Varran.
"What a great idea!" exclaimed Chief Taluru. "We would be honored," answered Kairo and continued, "Please excuse us as we are being late to Master Sadin's class. As I have understood, he doesn't respond well to being late," and smiled charismatically.
Chiefs seemed to be amused by the young Avatar's humble declaration, but he couldn't understand if the chiefs were just trying to get along with him just because he was the Avatar.
As they left the port and the crowd behind them, "What should we do now?" asked Kairo.
"I think we should attend the feast and try to warn Varran there," suggested Gyila, accompanied by Mona, "I agree."
As the trio rushed to Master Sadin's lesson, they started recognizing other waterbenders practicing their techniques. Master Sadin's training area was located near the edge of the tribe, facing the vast expanse of the Southern Sea. The sound of gently crashing waves provided a calming backdrop to the training grounds. Mona started to run towards a young man, "Hoaq!" she exclaimed. "Did you know that Varran was coming?" she asked curiously. The man she ran to was a tall, strong-looking young man, perhaps a year or two older than Gyila. He was wearing a white coat and a dark blue sweater. His hair was long, but it was firmly braided.
Gyila and Kairo caught up with Mona and started to listen to their conversation. "What? Varran is here?" he asked with confusion. "We are afraid so," answered Kairo.
"Wait, the Avatar is also here?" asked the young man, who they understood was named Hoaq. "Hoaq, these are my friends, Gyila and Kairo," Mona introduced them, and they all shared bows and greetings, which seemed like they had done a lot of today. "Since when are you friends with the Avatar and an air nomad?" he asked teasingly with a grin.
Gyila squinted his eyes. Was this man flirting with Mona?
"Since two days ago," answered Mona with a smile, and the four of them turned their attention to the old man approaching them. Mona was the first person to greet him. His long, thin beard was braided with little blue beads, just like his long white hair. His face was filled with years of wisdom, as others may call it, wrinkles.
"Master Sadin," Mona started. "I would like to introduce the Avatar and his brother, Gyila," she began. "They are my guests."
The old man first took a long glance at the young Avatar before him. "What a great surprise, we are honored to house the Avatar and his family in our tribe," answered Master Sadin.
"Master Sadin, I would be honored to learn waterbending from you," requested Kairo with respect in his eyes and voice while bowing in front of this old man.
"Waterbending? I thought the Avatar had just begun his airbending training," asked Master Sadin curiously.
"You are correct, Master Sadin, but as the Avatar's airbending master, I thought learning waterbending first could benefit him, as he is quite…" Gyila stopped his sentence, trying to find a kind word to describe Kairo's block in airbending.
"I am terrible at it," confessed Kairo, which put a smile on Master Sadin's. He seemed as if he was both impressed and amused by the young Avatar's humble yet accurate confession.
"Sadly, I cannot teach you, Avatar," started the old man. His sentence was followed by the disappointed faces of Kairo and Mona.
"As you already have a master," said Master Sadin, confidently and proudly looking at Mona.
Mona's eyes widened and started to shine, "Me?" she asked while stuttering. "What did you expect? That I don't train my students to become masters?" asked Master Sadin rhetorically with a smile. Mona seemed to be failing to control her excitement and jumped high while clapping her hands together.
Gyila was looking at Mona with admiration; he loved to see her beautiful smile and hear her angelic laugh. He accidentally glanced over at Hoaq, who looked at Mona exactly the same way Gyila was looking. Gyila had never been a jealous man; he was surprised to see what this young woman was capable of making him feel.
"We are proud of you, Mona," said Hoaq with a smile. Gyila was proud of her, too!
"I see you have already met my pupil," guessed Master Sadin correctly, talking with Kairo and Gyila while showing Hoaq with his arm. The young man bowed their heads to answer his question.
As Master Sadin instructed Mona, Kairo, and Mona started to perform the "stream the water" move, named by Katara, which was a move that drew water from a source that waterbenders move around their bodies. Kairo closed his eyes, as instructed by Mona, and felt the presence of the water he was bending. "Feel the flow, feel the water's energy flow as you bend it," explained Mona, as she was doing the same things she was instructing. Gyila mesmerizingly watched Mona, who so effortlessly taught the Avatar how to waterbend. Hoaq glanced at Gyila while his attention was solely fixated on Mona. Seemed like he now had competition.
While the only thing the young men Gyila and Hoaq could think of right now was this young woman, Master Sadin focused on the shift he had been feeling since he saw Mona today. Something had changed about her; the old wise Master was sure of it; he just couldn't put his finger on why. Mona had displayed incredible improvement over the past months and already mastered the art of using the element of water as an extension of her body. But now her bending has become like a sense to her. She used waterbending as if she was seeing, smelling, hearing, feeling, and tasting.
After the lesson, Gyila saw Hoaq, Master Sadin, and Mona heatedly chatting about something as he sat beside his brother, who was trying to catch his breath after this challenging waterbending lesson.
Mona couldn't help but realize Hoaq was clenching his fists about the matter she was informing her Master and her friend. "The Southern Water Tribe must be kept independent!" exclaimed Hoaq with anger flowing down his eyes. His sea-blue eyes had gone black from the rage he was feeling. Hoaq had always been a conservative nationalist regarding his tribe's independence. He had always tried to warn people not to agree on Varran's uniting ideas.
As the young man was boiling with rage, Master Sadin sadly closed his eyes and put his chin to his hand, slowly scratching his braided beard.
Mona continued, "Not just that… I was able to find a spirit willing to tell me the story of the separation of the two water tribes," she continued as she saw both men carefully listening to what she was about to tell. "I met Aisu, Guardian of the Water Tribes', tasked by Tui and La after her death. She was Qutqa's wife, the first chief of the Northern Water Tribe that didn't share the first-ever chief Hoanaq's blood. The ones who supported Qutqa left the Northern Water Tribe after twenty years of miserable war and founded the Southern Water Tribe. Varran's son's name, Taaqtuq, was also the man's name who slaughtered Qutqa, Aisu, and their newborn daughter."
Mona slowly watched Hoaq's and Master Sadin's eyes widen as she told them about her experience in the spirit world. "That is… incredible. The tales of the Guardian Spirit are told in our songs, but we never thought she was real, just a legend…" explained the old man with awe. Master was starting to realize that the shift he felt in Mona's energy was caused by her meeting this great ancient spirit.
With the sun beginning to set, the trio decided to head back home to get ready to attend the feast organized in honor of the visiting Northern Water Tribe delegation. Gyila wore his traditional air nomad clothing instead of his yellow shirt and crème-colored pants. Kairo wore traditional Omashu clothes, and Mona wore a dress with both modern and traditional aspects. It was a long-sleeved, mid-length white dress that went up to her neck from her knees, with dark blue lines wrapping her body up, contrasting with the color white. She had put her hair up, except for two strands of wavy hair hanging from both sides, perfectly framing her face.
When they were all feeling nervous since their plan solely relied on succeeding in convincing Varran not to unite the tribes, was the time Gyila first saw Mona, and Mona first saw him. It was just the two of them waiting for the fancy Avatar to finish getting ready. Although Kairo had a perfect reason to be this attentive with his looks, you see, he was also developing a crush; he couldn't wait to see Senna again.
Gyila glanced at Mona. He couldn't help his blush, but this time, he wasn't hiding it either. "You look amazing," said the young airbender, looking right through Mona's beautiful blue eyes, making her blush too. He remembered what he felt and how he lost his mind when Mona had gone missing. Gyila was falling faster than he ever did to this young woman. Little did he know that his feelings were mutual.
"You are not looking bad yourself," replied Mona while looking away, hoping to hide her blush. They silently waited for Kairo, which seemed like an eternity.
When Kairo entered the room with Mona and Gyila, Gyila started to chuckle and say, "Lookin' sharp, brother," with a grin; he sounded sincere. His dark green uniform really made his tan skin and emerald eyes stand out. He had put his hair back with the help of some jelly.
The trio left Mona's house, walking under the slow snow and gloomy street lights slightly lighting up the Southern Water Tribe. Mona was walking close to Gyila, which didn't go unnoticed by Kairo.
As they approached the grand gathering in the palace, the residency of the Southern Water Tribe Chief, his family, and honored guests, they looked in awe to the flickering lights of lanterns illuminated the icy courtyard, giving the place a festive ambiance.
They took a deep breath, almost collectively. They had to convince Varran today, but for now, for the next half an hour, they could enjoy their meals and the entertaining performances.
