I couldn't wait to post Part 2 of Winter Solstice so here you go!
Enjoy and please comment, please, please, please!
Book 1.08: Winter Solstice, Part 2
Water.
Earth.
Fire.
Air.
Long ago, the four nations lived together in harmony.
Then, everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked.
Only the Avatar and Daimon, masters of all four elements, could stop them, but when the world needed them most, they vanished.
A hundred years passed, and my brother and I discovered the new Avatar and Daimon, an airbender named Aang and an earthbender named Hua.
And although his airbending and her earthbending skills are great they have a lot to learn before they're ready to save anyone.
But I believe Aang and Hua can save the world.
In the early morning hours in Senlin Village, you could see four figures trying to leave the village.
Well, it was two humans, Aang and Hua with Appa, the flying bison and Jaiyi, the kyuubi, trying their best to get their animal companions moving.
"Let's go, Appa! Come on, boy!", whisper-shouted Aang, pulling the reins.
"Jaiyi, be a good girl, shrink!", begged Hua, trying to get her ninetails to turn into her fox cub form and not stay in her big fighting form. Like this, she couldn't fit on Appa's saddle.
Nonetheless, none of the two animals listen to their masters.
They refused to obey since they didn't like to leave people behind.
This realized the two children at the same time.
"Look, I'm sorry, but Katara and Sokka aren't coming to the Fire Nation with us.", told Aang sadly.
Hua frowned, giving Appa and Jaiyi a pet.
"We don't like it either, but if anything happened to them, we would never forgive ourselves."
"So get your big butt off the ground, Appa!"
"And you Jaiyi shrink!"
"And then let's go!", chorused the Avatar and Daimon together.
This earned them unimpressed looks from Appa and Jaiyi. Both sit down on their butts, refusing to move.
"Thanks for nothing your useless fluff balls.", groaned Hua.
Why did they have to be so stubborn?!
Suddenly Sokka called out to them, his voice full of sass: "I think the useless fluff balls are trying to tell ya something."
Surprised and startled Hua and Aang turned towards the right to reveal a collection of Senlin villagers, with Katara and Sokka standing in the front.
"Please don't go, Hua and Aang. The world can't afford to lose you two to the Fire Nation. Neither can I.", plead Katara desperate to them.
These two were her rays of hope.
Hope was the only thing which had kept Katara going on for years in the cold lonely nights when she missed her mother and worried for her father.
Now the world had a chance for peace if Hua and Aang ended the war and the waterbender would be damned if she let anything happen to them!
Guilty Hua and Aang look at Katara before they look at each other.
They see the vision of the comet Fang and Qinyan showed them clearly before their eyes.
Neither of them wanted to hurt their precious people, especially Katara, however…
"But we have to talk to Avatar Roku and Daimon Lixue to find out what our vision means!", argued Aang back.
"We need to get to the Fire Temple before the sun sets on the solstice. That's today!", added Hua.
Aang airbends himself atop Appa's head, while Hua earthbend herself on the saddle.
If Jaiyi wouldn't come, she wouldn't force her anymore, but she needed to go.
As Appa stands up, Jaiyi, Katara and Sokka run to stand before the bison, preventing him from moving any further.
"We're not letting you two go into the Fire Nation, Hua and Aang.", scolded Katara.
"At least, not without your friends.", told them Sokka grinning. "We got your back."
Jaiyi yips in agreement.
Aang and Hua can clearly see how their friends won't take no for an answer, that's why they tried to leave in secret in the first place.
"This will probably be the most dangerous thing we ever did!", reminded them Hua.
However, the water tribe siblings just grinned, saying danger was their second name.
This made the Avatar and Daimon laugh.
Well, if their friends were so stubborn, they would probably follow them somehow.
Better they stayed together then.
So Hua earthbended the water tribe siblings and Jaiyi, who finally was in her fox cub form, to Appa's saddle, while Momo made himself cosy on Aang's shoulder.
The Senlin Village leader hands Aang some supplies reminding them how long their trip to Crescent Island was and wishes them good luck in their quest.
Aang wants to thank him for their hospitality and help, but the man just yells for them to go, go, go!
And that's what they do.
Appa soars up into the sky, next destination: Crescent Island!
Daylight has come.
The flying bison flies over the ocean, while his passengers all watch the ocean fearfully.
"Come on, boy, we've got a long way to go. Faster!", encourages Aang his bison.
Appa lets out a growl and does as Aang said.
Katara, Hua and Jaiyi huddle together, to comfort each other, but Hua can't stop herself from letting out her thoughts: "Oh spirits, this is so bad. If a Fire Nations ship sees us we will get roasted nicely!"
"Hey, I'm the pessimist here.", says Sokka, petting her head to calm her down. "Don't steal my job."
A nervous laugh escapes Hua.
Katara kisses her cheek, normally Hua would blush up a storm, but her nerves prevent her from doing so.
"It will be okay. We will manage.", reassured Katara.
It's like the universe wants to prove her wrong since Hua sees how a Fire Nation ship is now on their tail.
"What about that?!", she shouts.
"Aang. We've got trouble!", calls Katara back to him.
She tried her hardest not to freak out since Hua needed her, yet it was difficult.
"Yeah! And it's gaining, fast!", adds Sokka.
The next minutes in their lifes were nerve-wracking for Team Avatar-Daimon.
Not only did Prince Zuko shoot stinky fireballs at them, also a barricade was before them and attacking them too.
Aang had trouble manoeuvre Appa around all the flying fireballs.
At one point the passengers had to put out small embers from Appa fur.
It was pure and utter chaos!
Their wild ride ends finally when Aang airbends forward off of Appa's head. He uses a powerful airbending kick, and the flaming boulder, which was coming towards them, explodes in a large smoky blast.
The Avatar falls back to Appa's head, Katara, Hua and Sokka grabbing him.
Now Appa soars safely over the blockade, passing them.
"We made it!", celebrates Aang.
Meanwhile, the Daimon and water tribe siblings look onward in horror.
They were really in the Fire Nation.
Oh Spirits!
At least the rest of their flight was calm.
And boring.
For hours and hours, they flow over the ocean.
Hua was sure if people could die of boredom, they all would be dead right now.
She lays like a starfish on the saddle, Sokka and Katara copy her, while Jaiyi has fallen asleep on her stomach.
Aang and Momo were slouched on Appa's head and the poor bison seemed to get more tired every second.
"Aang, are we there yet?", calls Hua out to him.
"No, not now."
A few seconds pass.
"How about now?"
"No, still no Crescent Island in sight."
Again a few seconds pass.
"Now?"
"No, Hua."
She lets out a huff and dramatically drapes an arm over her eyes.
"That's how I'm going to die….from utter boredom. What a way to go.", mumbled Hua, but everyone heard her. Agreeing groans from all around. That's when she realizes something important. "Wait if I die now I get reincarnated into the Fire Nation!"
"Yeah, don't do that.", deadpans Sokka at her.
"You got it boss.", she answered jokily back.
At least it made Katara and Aang snort.
Silence again comes over the group.
Somehow she must have fallen asleep because the next thing she knew it was sunset and Aang shouted: "There it is! The island where Roku's dragon took me."
Finally!
Appa lands at the base of a stone bridge leading up to the island's mountain.
The bridge ends at an elegant, multi-story Fire Temple mixed with Water Tribe decorations.
Lava is flowing beneath the bridge and the air is thick with steam.
Aang stands by Appa's head, and Katara and Hua stand at the bison's side.
Sokka is stretching further away.
Aang praises Appa for getting them all safely there, while Katara and Hua rub his belly.
Katara cooes at Appa how he must be tired, strangely Sokka thinks she was talking to him and tells her he was ready to beat up some firebenders.
When her realizes with whom his sister was talking, Sokka lies and says he was talking to Momo.
The lemur critters in confusion.
Since the temple was way too small for Appa, he would wait for them and Team Avatar-Daimon with Momo and Jaiyi made their way over to it.
Soon they stand before the temple and hide behind a wall. You could never be too careful.
Better look for hostile firebenders.
"I don't see any guards.", whispered Sokka.
"The Fire Nation must have abandoned the temple when Avatar Roku and Daimon Lixue died.", was Katara's guess.
"Let's get inside, it's almost sundown.", murmured Hua.
Aang nodded.
"Yes, we better hurry!"
The group leaps over the wall and charges for the front door. After they are inside the temple they tip-toed through an enormous chamber with fire and water-decor columns.
"Wait.", stops Sokka the group. "I think I heard something."
Turning around, they see five men standing in the hallway dressed in red, with a blue sash around their waists and tall hats.
"We are the Fire Sages.", announced the Sage in the middle, the Great Fire Sage. "Guardians of the temple of the Avatar and Daimon."
"Great! I am the Avatar and she here is the Daimon!"
"We know."
Without a warning, the sages attack them with fire blasts!
What?!
What was going on?!
Thankful Aang can reflect the fiery attack with his airbending. He yells at his friends to run, he would hold them off.
They didn't need to be told twice.
So they run around the temple hallways in the hope of losing the Fire Sages, Aang joins back up with them and then they reach a dead-end.
Awesome!
A Fire Sage was coming towards them.
Even better.
"I don't want to fight you! I am a friend.", promised the Fire Sage.
Angry Sokka tells him that firebenders aren't their friends.
Jaiyi jumps forward to protect them, growing into an adult fox. Her hackles are raised and her nine tails wander around aggressively.
Aang and Hua stand beside her, getting into bending stances.
The Fire Sages wanted them, not Katara and Sokka, they would protect their friends!
This Fire Sage steps toward the Avatar and Daimon, before dropping to his knees and pressing his palms to the floor in submission.
This startles the children and Jaiyi.
"I know why you're here, Avatar and Daimon."
"You do?", chorus Aang and Hua together in disbelief.
"Yes." The Fire Sage rises from the floor to stand again. "You wish to speak to Avatar Roku and Daimon Lixue. I can take you to them."
Sceptically Aang asks how.
In answer, the Fire Sage slides back a lamplight on the wall. He places his palm on the wall and focuses firebending into this location to open a secret passage.
"This way."
That's when they hear the Great Fire Sage hollering to the others to find them and their ally Fire Sage begs them to hurry inside the secret passage.
Hua and Aang exchange a look with one another, asserting each other's belief to trust this firebender.
Well, they don't have really a choice, do they?
They enter first, Jaiyi and Momo right behind them, then Katara and Sokka and lastly the Fire Sage who closes the secret passage.
They are now in a cave, lava flowing down under them and follow the Fire Sage who tells him his name, Shyu.
"Avatar Roku and Daimon Lixue once called this temple their home. Together they formed these secret passages out of the magma.", explained Shyu to the group as they made their way through the caverns.
"Did you know them?", asks Aang curious.
"No. But my grandfather knew them. Many generations of Fire Sages guarded this temple long before me. We all have a strong spiritual connection to this place."
"Is that how you knew we were coming?"
"A few weeks ago, an amazing thing occurred. The statue of Avatar Roku; its eyes began to glow! Then moments later the eyes of Daimon Lixue."
Katara reminds them how Roku's eyes had glowed too, when they were in the Southern Air Temple as Aang had entered Avatar State. Then Hua got into Daimon State to calm him down, it was only logical that the Daimon Statues light up just like the Avatar's.
Shyu agreed and said that's how they knew how Aang and Hua had returned.
"I just don't get it.", began Hua. "If you Sages are devoted to this temple and to the Avatar and Daimon, then why did the others attack us?"
"Things have changed. In the past, the sages were loyal only to the Avatar and Daimon. When Roku and Lixue died, the sages eagerly awaited for the next Avatar and Daimon to return. But they never came."
Immediately the old feelings of guilt arose in Aang and Hua.
They had let down people again.
Sokka mocked them humorously that they only were 100 years too late.
For that, he got twin scowls and Jaiyi who growled at him.
Shyu continues to explain how the Sage lost hope that the Avatar and Daimon would return. Then when Fire Lord Sozin began the war, they were forced to follow him.
"I never wanted to serve the Fire Lord.", confessed Shyu. "When I learned you two were coming, I knew I would have to betray the other sages."
"Thank you for helping us.", chirps Aang happily, while Hua bows in gratitude. "We won't forget this."
The Fire Sage smiles at them, leading the group to a set of stairs. Following them they would reach the sanctuary and when the light reached the statues of Roku and Lixue they could talk to them.
Shyu slides back a secret tile and they climb into the outer sanctuary.
Massive columns with dragon and phoenix statues atop them line the room.
An immense door is before them with a device holding five open-mouthed dragons, over them a phoenix with spread wings and waves artfully encircled them.
"No!", gasped Shyu.
"Shyu, what's wrong?", asks Aang.
"The sanctuary doors, they're closed!"
"Can't you just open them with firebending?", wonders Katara. "Like you opened that other door?"
"No. Only a fully realized Avatar or Daimon is powerful enough to open this door alone. Otherwise, the sages must open this door together, with five simultaneous fire blasts."
Unsure what to do now, they all looked around.
There had to be another way!
That's when Sokka had an idea.
It's a trick he had learned from his dad.
They need to seal the lamp oil inside five animal skin casings, Shyu lights the oil-soaked twine and ta-da!
Fake firebending!
Katara and Hua are impressed with Sokka and Shyu agrees that it might actually work.
The children, Sokka with Jaiyi and Katara with Momo, hide behind the columns, as Shyu gets ready to light the twine.
He reminds the Avatar and Daimon how the other Sage would hear the explosion, so they had to hurry and enter the sanctuary.
"It's almost sunset.", notes Katara. "Are you two ready?"
"Definitely.", reassured Aang.
"Ready as I ever will be!", vowed Hua.
Shyu thrusts his finger forward, sending a small flare racing across the door to light all five bags at once.
He hurries to take cover.
There is an intense explosion, producing a lot of smoke. Aang and Hua burst forward and ran for the door.
The Avatar and Daimon strain to open the door, which has not budged by an inch.
"They're still locked!", they shout disappointed.
The water tribe teen was right with them, as all stepped from their columns.
Pissed off Aang airbends currents at the door, hollering: "Why, won't, it, open?!"
"Aang, calm down!", demanded Hua, holding his shoulders. "Airbending at it won't work. Seems like we came here for nothing."
A groan leaves the Avatar's mouth.
"I don't get it. That firebending looked as strong as any firebending I've seen.", thought Sokka aloud.
Suddenly Katara declared him a genius.
All were more than confused.
Smiling Katara told them it didn't work but it looked like it!
Now she had a plan.
A few minutes later the other Fire Sages reached the sanctuary where Shyu was waiting for them.
He tells them that somehow the Avatar and Daimon entered it, pointing even at two shadows you can see from the crack in the door.
Immediately the Great Fire Sage commands his fellow Sages to open the door, they couldn't risk the current Avatar and Daimon contacting Roku and Lixue.
Hua and Aang slide into position behind nearby columns as the five sages firebend the door locks open.
As the door opens, a sooty Momo and Jaiyi are revealed sitting on the floor.
Jaiyi shakes herself free from the soot, while Momo sneezes, blowing the soot off himself.
"It's the Avatar's lemur and the Daimon's Kyuubi. They must have crawled through the pipes! We've been tricked!", shouts the Great Fire Sage, but too late.
The kyuubi turns big enough to sit on him and Momo leaps atop the Great Fire Sage's head and clings to his hat. Katara charged forward, pulling a nearby sage's tunic over his head to blind him.
Sokka grabs the lower skirt of a sage's outfit, lifting it completely over his body to cover his face.
Shyu grabs the last free sage and hauls him into his grip, pinning him.
"Now, Aang! Hua!", shouted Shyu.
A moment of silence.
Now Katara calls for them to hurry.
But to the shook of Aang and Hua's friends and allies, Prince Zuko comes forth from behind a column.
He somehow manages to pin with one arm each of Hua and Aang's arms behind their backs.
"The Avatar and Daimon are coming with me!"
More he can't say, because Jaiyi turns into her fighting Kyuubi form and knocks with all her tails the enemy sages down.
Then she tackles Zuko to the ground, growling in his face.
So she freed Hua and Aang, who didn't waste time and raced into the sanctuary.
Everyone looks away as the door seals with a blinding flash of white and orange light.
Inside, Aang and Hua stand around and look up at the tall statues of Avatar Roku and Daimon Lixue.
A beam of red sunlight enters the room and strikes a glistening red jewel held by the statues.
Both children look confused around.
"And now?", asked Hua.
"I don't know.", admins Aang. "The light hits the statues and we talk to Roku and Lixue."
"But nothing is happening!"
"Please Avatar Roku and Diamon Lixue talk to us!", beg Aang and Hua together.
Roku's statue turns red and Lixue's blue as sunlight engulfs them.
His eyes glow white and hers orange.
Smoke fills the room.
When the white smoke dissipated Avatar Roku and Daimon Lixue walked up to them arm in arm.
They aren't any more in the sanctuary but on a mountaintop with clouds around them.
"Welcome Hua and Aang.", greets them Lixue with a kind smile. "It's wonderful to meet you finally."
She is a beautiful aged lady and looks younger than Roku, even if they are the same age. Her clothes are in the classic blue of the Water Tribe with some red accents for the Fire Nation.
"What took you so long?", adds Roku also with a smile.
He wears typical Fire Nation clothes, but a necklace made out of a shark tooth, clearly Water Tribe, hangs from his throat.
It was nice to see how this married couple integrated the nation of their spouse in their clothing.
Respectfully the current Avatar and Daimon place a fist into a palm, bowing their head to the Avatar and Daimon before them.
"We have something very important to tell you, Aang and Hua.", begins Roku. "That is why, when you were in the Spirit World, we sent my dragon and Lixue phoenix to find you."
"Is it about that vision we had? The one of the comet?", guesses Aang.
"Yes indeed, young Avatar.", confirmed Lixue.
"What does it mean?", wanted Hua to know.
Roku explains to the young ones: "One hundred years ago, Fire Lord Sozin used that comet to begin the War. He and his firebending army harnessed its incredible power and dealt a deadly first strike against the other nations."
"The Air Nomads.", mumbled Hua and Daimon Lixue nodded.
"So the comet made them stronger?", summarized Aang.
Avatar Roku confirmed it, even saying it made them stronger than they could imagine.
"But that happened a hundred years ago. What does the comet have to do with the War now?"
Now Lixue took over to explain: "Listen carefully, young ones. Sozin's Comet will return by the end of this summer, and Fire Lord Ozai will use its power to finish the War, once and for all. If he succeeds, even the Avatar and Daimon won't be able to restore balance to the world. Hua and Aang. You must defeat the Fire Lord before the comet arrives."
That they were shocked was the understatement of the century.
They panic!
"But, but, Lixue I may have started learning airbending, but I don't make the progress I should, because I should learn fire first! How should I get down water too like this?!"
"Yeah, and I haven't even started learning waterbending! Not to mention earth and fire!"
"Mastering the elements takes years of discipline and practice.", told them Roku calmly. "But if the world is to survive, you two must do it by summer's end."
"What if we can't master all the elements in time? What if we fail?", argues Aang back with Hua rapidly nodding along.
"We have faith in you Hua and Aang because you two mastered it already once and you can do it again.", reassured Lixue.
This makes the children smile.
"The solstice is ending.", declares Roku. "We must go our separate ways, for now."
"But we won't be able to come back to the temple. What if we have questions? How will we talk to you two?", asked Aang and Hua as one.
Roku and Lixue answer them together: "We are a part of you. When you need to talk to us again, you will find a way."
The late Avatar and Daimon closed their eyes, showing the current ones what was going on outside the sanctuary.
Firebender, ready to burn them to crisp.
"A great danger awaits you two at the temple. We can help you face the threat. But only if you are ready."
Hua and Aang who had also closed their eyes open them together.
His a brightly white and his arrows in the same light and hers in a burning orange.
"We are ready!"
The people outside saw how the door glowed bright white-orange once again.
Smoke streams come through into the room.
The door unlocks itself, beginning to open.
As it opens, a blinding white and orange light forces all present to look away.
Admiral Zhao commands his man to attack, while Katara cries out to her friends terrified.
The wall of fire amasses, circling its new hosts as Avatar Roku and Daimon Lixue, eyes aglow, are revealed behind the flames, untouched.
In perfect harmony, Avatar Roku and Daimon Lixue draw the circling fire together in one motion.
They send it forward in one powerful wave that sears the room, blasting the offenders off their feet and melting the chains binding Katara, Sokka, Shyu, Jaiyi and Zuko with precision.
Daimon Lixue and Avatar Roku, turn their glowing glare upon the offending sages.
The sages panic, all turning to run from their wrath.
"Avatar Roku and Daimon Lixue are going to destroy the temple! We have to get out of here!", implores Shyu the water tribe siblings.
"Not without Hua and Aang!", countered Katara.
Never would she leave her friends!
Roku and Lixue kneel into a forward strike, melting the floor with a molten firebending trail.
They steadily lift a hand each, causing the stream of lava below to erupt into maddened explosions.
The lava soars through the temple, tearing it apart.
Katara and Sokka huddle together, arm-in-arm, behind a column.
The destruction ceases momentarily as Roku and Lixue lower their hands, exhaling soundly.
The solstice's beam of sunlight leaves their statues; their eyes no longer glow.
As this happens all smoke in the room draws in upon Avatar Roku and Daimon Lixue, their forms disappearing to leaving behind a weary Aang and Hua.
Both fall to their knee, however, Katara catches Aang and Sokka catches Hua before their faces meet the floor.
"We got your backs.", tells them Sokka.
"Thanks. Where's Shyu?", wonder the Avatar and Daimon together.
"I don't know.", admins Katara.
Jaiyi licks Hua's cheek and then Aang''s before she yips urgently.
They need to leave!
Hua, Aang, Katara and Sokka stare in horror upon seeing the stairwell leading to the exit filled with lava.
They quickly turn to the only exit; the hole in the wall Roku and Lixue had created.
There is no escaping, as they are on the top level of the temple.
All four humans gasp and the Kyuubi yips in surprise as they notice Appa and Momo swiftly closing in.
They run out of the temple, leaping into Appa's saddle.
Time to leave the Fire Nation!
The full moon shines down on them, as Aang and Hua, who are sitting side by side on Appa's saddle, look both in desperation at nothing in particular.
What Roku and Lixue told them…
How could they do it?
They were just two dumb kids.
Two dumb kids who had to save the world before the end of the summer.
At least…they wouldn't have to do it alone.
Like if they agreed on, their hands find the one of the other and they squeeze.
They needed some reassurance.
That they really weren't alone in this whole mess.
That their other half would walk the same path as them.
For the first time, both were thankful that they had each other.
How the burden of saving the world in less than a year could change your perspective on things.
Katara and Sokka looked at each other worried for their young friends.
They kneel down behind them and Katara puts a hand on a shoulder each.
Whatever the young Avatar and Daimon had learned, which troubled them so much, the water tribe siblings would support and help them.
