CHAPTER 15: Tattoos

"Life is energy and, as such, it belongs to all, reaches all and blesses all."

Nii took a deep breath and steadied herself a little with a small shake of her head, as she tried to focus on the massage she was currently giving Aang.

It had always been part of her routine to ground people with a massage when she had worked with someone on such a deep level of expansion of consciousness, and she felt that it was even more necessary with Aang, as his Airbender energy in itself was so elusive and fluttering.

Like air.

However, she could not help but to curse a little at herself for being so awkward around him.

In her mind, she heard his words and laughter from before: "A guy like me, huh?"

She wondered what went through his head as he laid there.

Maybe he was thinking how she was just another starstruck Avatar admirer?

She had never really cared much for statuses or seeing anyone as more spiritual than others. In her heart she believed that all beings were capable of the same level of consciousness, it was just a question of practice.

Even though she had always been told by the villagers that she was special, she had never really believed them.

Her abilities as a healer had come from the many years of training with the elders and the gurus. It was not because she had been chosen by the spirits, like many of the villagers claimed. She had simply been lucky that they had taken her in.

Nevertheless, even though she would not care to admit it, being in the presence of Aang made her a little awestruck.

Nii looked down at Aang as he laid there on the sleeping pad on the floor with his eyes closed and a rather content curl on his lips.

Firstly, he was a monk.

A real life Air Nomad monk in the flesh.

Never in her life had she imagined that she would meet an Air Nomad, and she certainly could never have foreseen that she would be so lucky as to work with one. Aang's energy just seemed to exude an effortless harmony with the world around him, and even though she was reluctant to acknowledge it, she just had to admit that she sensed a profound wisdom in him that she imagined had been honed through years of meditation and introspection.

Secondly, he was the Avatar.

The bridge between the Spirit World and the physical world, as the saying went.

As a child, she had heard many stories of the adventures of the Avatar, and in her childish mind she had always imagined some sort of grandiose being that walked around with a white ethereal aura shining brightly around them, followed by spirits and animals alike.

As Nii worked her way up over Aang's legs, she leaned over him to put pressure on the muscles around his hip joint, and he exhaled deeply with her and hummed slightly at the feeling of the release of tension here.

She smiled.

And yet, here he was.

The Avatar.

Just a human composed of muscles, veins, organs and energy, enjoying the sensation of her bodywork. Just like everybody else.

She was curious, though.

She wanted to ask him questions about all sorts of things.

Like how life had been in the Air Temples, what it felt like when he got his tattoos, what type of food he liked, how he had reacted when he found out he was the Avatar, how old he was, what his plans for the future were…

She exhaled deeply as she traced her hands from his lower abdomen and upwards toward his chest, and out of the corner of her eyes she noticed that the movement caused him to furrow his brows a little.

Nii quickly straightened herself in her seat to wave off her scattered thoughts and focus on her here and now.

"Is this painful to you?" she asked, repeating the circular motion.

She knew that this area held the chakras that had caused his reaction earlier in the night, before she was taken to the Spirit World with him. For just a short moment, the image of his angry white eyes and him saying "No" flashed for her eyes.

She felt a slight stabbing of pain near her wrist where he had grabbed hold of her.

"Uh, it's sore," Aang said with another furrow of his brows as she repeated the motion. "Mh, but it also feels good."

He exhaled a deep and long breath when she put a bit more pressure in her hands, gliding her fingers from his hips, over his stomach and up to his solar plexus before smoothing them out over his ribs.

Aang suddenly sucked in a hard breath and lifted his knees, drawing them upward to plant his feet on the ground.

"Can I… Can I turn around?" he asked, the tone of his voice suddenly trembling a little, as if he was nervous all of a sudden. "Like, can I lie on my stomach?"

Nii pulled her hands away from his body in surprise of his sudden reaction, widening her eyes a little.

"Yeah, of course," she quickly said.

As he turned around with a slight blush over his cheeks, she wondered what went on inside of him. She suddenly felt quite warm herself.

"It shouldn't hurt," she added, before letting her eyes travel over his back.

His back muscles were lean yet rather well-defined and toned. She noticed a discolored patch of skin in the middle of his back that broke up the blue arrow tattoo that traced his spine. Upon closer inspection, she realized that it was a scar.

She found herself wondering how the tattoo traveled further below his trousers.

She blushed and quickly pushed the thought away.

"It doesn't hurt," he assured her. "It feels, uh. Really nice."

Nii did not answer him but she continued her massage on his back, letting her hands travel over his lean muscles in an upward movement.

She gently kneaded the muscles around his shoulder blades, her fingertips gliding over the skin as she sought out areas of tightness and discomfort. With each kneading motion, she felt the muscles beneath her fingers begin to yield, loosening their grip on the surrounding tissues as tension melted away.

She could hear that his breathing had steadied a bit. He slowly inhaled and exhaled with her movements.

"Can I ask you something?" Aang soon asked with his eyes closed, his voice thick with relaxation.

"Sure," she voiced.

"I noticed your tattoos," he said. "What do they mean to you?"

Nii paused her hands for a short moment as she smiled at him, weighing her words in her mouth.

To her people, tattoos were sacred symbols that had been passed down through generations, connecting her with her ancestors and the ancient wisdom of her people. Each symbol represented different aspects of nature and spirituality, but they also served as a form of storytelling as to help preserve the history and traditions of their community through visual imagery.

"They mean a lot to me, actually," she explained, as she continued her massage. "I got them during special rituals and ceremonies. They're kinda like talismans."

Aang seemed to ponder her words for a moment.

"What's a talisman?" he asked, causing a small giggle to escape her lips.

"Um," she breathed. "They're sort of like symbols of protection and strength. It's believed that they invoke strength from ancestral spirits and the creatures of the forest. Receiving a tattoo isn't just about marking the body but we also believe that they transform the individual."

With a swift movement, Aang suddenly turned his head to face her, his eyes sparkling with excitement and joy.

"That's kinda like mine!" he exclaimed, pointing his head at his arrows, a wide grin spreading across his face. "I got them because I mastered the 36 tiers of airbending. It's both about technique and philosophy."

Pride seemed to beam from his entire being.

Nii chuckled with him.

"Yeah, well that actually makes sense. My people's always been kinda inspired by this temple. Look," she said, as she waved away some of the hair that fell over her shoulder, while she pointed to one of the small markings in the middle of her chest.

Aang turned his body fully around now and sat up, leaning closer to her, as he narrowed his eyes to zoom in on the symbol she was pointing at.

His eyes widened.

"The air symbol!" he smiled in a wide grin, as he recognized the three swirling loops that had been forever carved into her skin just at the center of her heart chakra.

As Aang looked up to lock his eyes with hers, Nii suddenly felt really self conscious as she realized how close they were, their faces only inches from each other. The smell of his skin filled her nostrils and she felt a tingle in her stomach.

She looked down at her hands, blushing slightly.

Aang also pulled a bit away from her as he cleared his throat.

"I hope it's not… insensitive to you. To your culture," Nii said with her gaze still on her hands.

Her voice sounded almost like a careful whisper.

"No," Aang assured her. "No, not at all. Actually, I think it's kinda cool. It sort of makes me feel like our cultures are connected in some way. I like that."

As he spoke, he reached one of his hands upward and rested it against her chest over her air marking.

Nii closed her eyes at the sensation of his touch that was feather-light, barely a whisper against her skin, yet she easily felt the warmth of his hand that seemed to seep through her skin and warm her heart.

She opened her eyes to look at him, and as their eyes met, time seemed to stand still.

His eyes were a striking shade of grayish blue, reminiscent of the vast expanse of the sky on a clear day. They shimmered in the light of the morning sun that filled the room as if reflecting the ever-changing currents of the outside breeze.

It was as if they radiated a soft, serene glow from within, like sunlight dancing on the surface of a tranquil pond, and Nii heard herself exhaling slowly, as she felt her heart dance happily in her chest, spreading warmth and tingling sensations down her legs.

As they shared this quiet moment of intimacy, she felt her body lean a bit closer to him as if a small gentle wave washed through her insides, mindlessly drawing her in.

"I'm glad," she heard herself say, and in a fleeting moment, she saw his gaze darting downward at her lips. It was a mere flicker, barely perceptible, but in that split second, the air around them seemed to stand completely still.

But just as quickly as it had happened, Aang's gaze snapped back up, a blush tinting his cheeks. His hand quickly fell from her chest, and he pulled himself slightly away from her.

Nii cleared her throat awkwardly, a nervous laugh escaping her lips as she attempted to regain her composure.

"Um," she heard Aang say, looking over at the windows, and she felt a slight panic spread throughout her body, looking around them for something to break the tension that instantaneously seemed to crackle in the air between them.

"I should probably…" Aang started in a slightly trembling breath of a voice.

"Yeah, that's a good idea," Nii quickly continued. "Let's get you some water."