Chapter 8: Avatar Day
Early in the morning, on an overcast day in one of the Earth Kingdom's many pine forests, all but two of a traveling group slept soundly. They were of course Momo and Proto, the former staring intently at Sokka's open mouth and the latter sitting near the remnants of a campfire, absolutely still.
"MMMF!" Sokka sounded out in the early morning before coughing as he pulled Momo's paw out of his mouth.
"What are you doing in my mouth?" an irate Sokka demanded of the lemur, who only stared at him while chewing.
"Momo, you need to be a little more sensitive to my boundaries," Sokka said while beginning to sit up, but Momo ignored him and started chittering rapidly waking Katara in the process. A low rumble could be felt throughout the camp. Immediately four large mounts jumped through the underbrush, encircling the small encampment. By this time, everyone was up and awake.
One of the riders who had red hawk feathers in his hair spoke. "Give up, you're completely surrounded," he said.
Sokka began to crawl away in the comfort of his sleeping bag and the mounted archer fired twin lit arrows, pinning his sleeping bag to the ground, forcing him to part ways with it.
"Come on! Come on, come on!" Sokka urged as he and Katara ran for Appa. Aang and Proto were already aboard and ready to go. Katara paused in her escape, realizing she had left something vital.
"My scrolls!" Katara exclaimed, seeing another rider wielding a scimitar plant his weapon into the stump her scrolls were resting upon as if daring her to move against him.
"My staff!" Aang exclaimed similarly before launching off of Appa. Katara froze the aggressor's scimitar before grabbing her scrolls and heading back to Appa. The man broke his scimitar free before launching it like a javelin at Katara's backside. Katara turned to intercept late, leaving her open. The scimitar flew straight and true into a wall of dark blue ice that had appeared out of nowhere. Katara breathed a sigh of relief seeing the scimitar's edge suspended before resuming her retreat to Appa.
"Thanks for the save, Proto" Katra said as she clambered aboard. Proto only grunted in response, observing Aang and the mounted combatants, one of which used a ball and chain to wrap around the trunk of a large tree before using the power of his mount to uproot it in an attempt to crush Aang. Aang used his superior movement to jump over the fallen tree before resuming his dash for his staff. Many of the other combatants began to encircle Appa. Seeing this, Proto vaulted over the edge of Appa's saddle, slid into the slot between his back and head, and grabbed the reins.
"Appa, yip yip!" Proto said. Appa hesitated. In response, Proto reached his hand forward and pressed against Appa's head.
"Appa, I need you to trust me. We're surrounded and vulnerable on the ground. We are not leaving Aang behind, but we certainly can't help if we stay here." Appa got the message and took flight, only reaching about fifteen feet off the ground before Proto directed him with the reins to stop his ascent and fly towards Aang.
Aang, now in possession of his staff, blasted away an explosive charge from the masked mounted combatant before sighting Appa above and leaping up to land on his saddle. Seeing that everyone was on board Proto gave Appa a reassuring pat.
"Alright Appa, time to turn and burn!" proto said. Appa gave a mighty flap of his tail and sent himself rocketing skyward. A few fire bolts came their way but nothing made contact with Appa as he climbed away, or at least as quickly as a Sky Bison could.
"Wait, my boomerang!" Sokka shouted, realizing the thrown weapon was still at the vacated campsite.
"There's no time!" Katara informed Sokka. She was right, the campsite had been completely captured. In the next two minutes, any unrecovered items would be relocated before being searched and discarded.
"Oh, I see. There's time for you to get your scrolls and there's time for Aang to get his staff but there's no time for me to get my boomerang?" Sokka asked exasperatedly.
"That's correct," Katara confirmed.
"Oh," Sokka deflated as the campsite got further and further away.
In fairness, many of everyone's items were left behind and an hour later supplies were being replenished at a vendor stall.
"Sorry about your boomerang, Sokka," Aang said sympathetically while sporting a hat to cover his arrow tattoo.
"I feel like I've lost a part of my identity," Sokka said morosely while sitting on the ground. He stood quickly and pushed Aang's hat up slightly.
"Imagine if you lost your arrow, or if Katara lost her bending," Sokka said as he motioned to Katara. "Or if Proto lost his… weirdness," Sokka said gesturing to all of Proto. Proto and Katara just watched Sokka as he trudged forward to the vendor stall to grab the purchased supplies and carry them, receiving a quick hug from his sister.
"Here's your produce, pony-tail guy," The vendor said cheerfully, handing a basket to Sokka who sighed.
"I used to be boomerang guy," Sokka said dejectedly and began walking towards Appa. Katara quickly paid the vendor.
"Hey, Water Tribe money," The vendor said while inspecting the silver currency in further detail.
"I hope that's ok," Katara said quickly, the vendor quickly confirmed that it was.
"So long as it's money," he said, before closing his stall. "Have a nice Avatar Day!" the vendor said as he was leaving. This bit of information piqued everyone's interest.
"Avatar day?" Aang asked.
"You guys are going to the festival, right?" The vendor asked while walking to the nearby village. Aang, Katara, and Sokka all gave knowing looks before they began walking towards Appa. Proto simply followed.
"There's a holiday for the Avatar! Who knew?" Aang said while looking around from underneath his hat. The streets of the village were lined with lanterns and banners in Erath Kingdom green, many people wore matching festival robes. It was rare to see so many smiles during this time of war.
"Look!" Katara began. "There's a giant float of Kyoshi," she said excitedly before taking off, Aang and Sokka following closely while Proto followed at a more relaxed pace joining them at a large central plaza.
"And here comes Avatar Roku," Sokka said pointing to a large float of the previous Avatar.
"Having a huge festival in your honor is great, but frankly, it's just nice to be appreciated," Aang said humbly.
"And it's nice to appreciate their deep-fried festival food!" Sokka said with a grin before taking a large bite out of some kind of pastry.
"Aang, look!" Katra said pointing to another float, this one depicting Aang.
"That's the biggest me I've ever seen," Aang said as his float joined the lineup.
A man ran from where the floats had come from, the crowd cheering him on, he held a torch high.
"They have a torch," Sokka said pointing him out. "Now that's a nice prop. It's bright, dangerous…" Sokka inhaled deeply through his nose. "Smells manly. But I'm not sure I could carry it off," Sokka said.
"Hey, what's that guy doing?" Katara asked as the man began running towards the Kyoshi float before jumping, bursting through it on the other side, and lighting it on fire with the torch.
As the man moved to the Avatar Roku float, the townspeople gathered in the plaza began chanting, "Down with the Avatar" repeatedly.
The man jumped up onto a nearby roof where another man, also dressed differently from the townspeople signaled him. With a toothy smile, the man grunted in effort as he hurled the torch right at the eye of the float of Aang. Aang flinched at the scene, Sokka grimaced, and Proto didn't reveal any emotion. But Katara decided to act. Katara ran forward, grabbing the nearby water which was available for if the burning got out of control, and put out the floats early, much to the chagrin of the people if the boos were anything to go by.
"That party pooper's ruining Avatar Day!" A man said to Aang angrily. Aang grit his teeth.
"Aang, I wouldn't," Proto warned, though Aang either didn't hear him or didn't care. Aang jumped high and stood on the shoulder of the massive float depicting himself.
"That party pooper's my friend!" Aang shouted while removing his hat, putting his arrow on full display.
"It's the Avatar himself!" a man said.
"It's going to kill us with its awesome Avatar powers!" Another said.
"'It'?" Proto thought to himself.
"No, I'm not I-" Aang began, raising a hand in an attempt at a placating gesture that was poorly received. The man began screaming and jumping around in an attempt to get away from what he believed to be his imminent doom.
"I suggest you leave. You're not welcome here, Avatar," The first man said while dusting himself off.
"Why not?" Katara challenged. "Aang helps people," she said as Aang landed behind her.
"It's true," Aang said. "I'm on your side," he continued while walking to stand beside Katara.
"I find that hard to swallow, considering what you did to us in your past life!" the man said becoming agitated. The villagers were beginning to gather behind this man. He was a leader of some kind, or he was the only one dressed differently from all the villagers. Either way Proto wasn't liking their odds.
"It was Avatar Kyoshi," The man began. "She murdered our glorious leader, Chin the Great,"
"You think that I… murdered someone?" Aang asked in disbelief.
"We used to be a great society before you killed our leader… now look at us!" an older man said, eliciting a reaction from Aang.
"Aang would never do something like that," Katara said. "No Avatar would. And it's not fair for you to question his honor!"
"Let's tell her what we think of the Avatar's honor!" a man shouted before turning his backside towards Aang and making an impression of flatulence with his mouth. In response, the crowd began cheering.
"Give me a chance to clear my name," Aang shouted above the roar of the crowd.
"The only way to prove your innocence is to stand trial," The man in charge said.
"I'll gladly stand trial," Aang said confidently. Proto internally groaned.
"You'll have to follow all our rules. That includes paying bail," the man said.
"No problem," Aang said.
Less than five minutes later in the castle dungeon, Aang was explaining himself to Sokka, Katara, and Proto.
"How was I supposed to know they wouldn't take water tribe money?"
"So some people don't like you, big deal," Sokka said. "There's a whole nation of Firebenders who hate you. Now let's bust you out of here," Sokka said.
"I can't," Aang said.
"Sure you can," Sokka countered. "A little-" Sokka proceeded to make noises and imitate bending. "… Swish, swish, swish. Airbending slice! And we're on our way," he finished with a smile receiving an eye roll from Katara.
"I think what Master Swish is trying to say, is that you're supposed to be out saving the world. You can't do that locked up in here,"
"I can't do that with people thinking I'm a murderer either, I need you guys to help me prove my innocence," Aang said determinedly.
"But you're not a murderer. Though you share the same title, you are not Kyoshi," Proto spoke.
"But the villagers don't see it that way, and I don't think any Avatar would take a life," Aang retorted.
"No Air Nomad avatar would. Correct me if I'm wrong, but Kyoshi wasn't an Air Nomad," Proto said. "If you come to your senses, I'll be looking for a library or something," Proto stated with finality before walking away.
"Aww man, I wanna go to the library," Sokka pouted before receiving a smack on the head.
Proto received wary looks and wide berths as he cut through the murmuring crowds of the afternoon. However, it didn't take long for him to find the unassuming building with propped-open doors and a modest collection of bound prints. There were few people inside the rustic one-story building, many were out on the street for the now abandoned festival, though the few inside milling about quickly found their way to the exit once Proto was recognized. In less than a few minutes it was just the librarian, an elderly woman who was nearly asleep sitting on a stool by the front, and himself. Proto grabbed one of the closer books, inspecting the spine for writing before pulling it out and inspecting each cover to find them both blank. The crudely crafted book opened vertically rather than horizontally as he was accustomed to. Inside were simple illustrations of animals and everyday objects with small bits of writing beside them. As Proto continued to flip through the book, he came to a realization. He couldn't read the local language.
"Fuck," Proto muttered to himself.
"You watch your language sonny!" Proto whirled around to find the librarian peering up at him.
"How old are you? You don't look like the size to be reading children's books," she said.
"No, I-" Proto didn't get a chance to answer.
"Do you have little ones you're perusing for?
"Not really," Proto answered quickly.
"Eh?"
"Not really," Proto answered louder this time.
"Oh? Then why are you here?" she asked.
"Can you guide me to the history section?" Proto asked.
The older woman gave him a smile with a twinkle in her eyes. "I don't know, can I?"
Proto was not sure why, but for some reason, he chuckled. "Will you please guide me to the history section?" Proto said after a moment.
The older woman's smile widened at this. "Sure thing, just don't get your hopes too high. We're not Ba Sing Se!" She exclaimed with a cackle before hobbling away, Proto close behind.
Eventually, she stopped at a single bookshelf with only two of its six rows filled. The books were not packed together, and the dust was visible. The pages of the books were misshapen owing to water damage.
"This is it," she said with a sigh. Her smile had disappeared. Proto didn't respond, his focus was less on the number of tomes and more on their sorry state. Given the size of Chin, he wasn't expecting a lot but as someone so dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge this was almost painful to see.
"Let me know if you need anything else er… what was your name again?" the woman asked.
"Proto," the Exo responded simply.
"Well, good to meet you, Proto. I'm Hikoh," she said while turning away. Proto watched her go before turning back to the shelf.
"Translation matrix?" he asked aloud. A flash of light at his side.
"Already on it," Themis responded. "It's very similar to pre-golden age Chinese. I should have a matrix ready for most of the language, but I'll need some more cross-references for names and such. It's remarkable how similar it all is though." Themis continued. Proto didn't say anything in response but instead grabbed every book off the shelf and strode to a more secluded part of the library. Proto didn't keep track of time as he leafed through the pages, his HUD beginning to overlay translations that his mind processed based on the data Themis was feeding it. Being an artificial construct had its perks.
Proto simply read and read and read. Looking for any mention of this "Wan Shi Tong". Unfortunately, after scanning and cross-referencing every title that the library had in its modest historical collection, the only mention of the spirit was in a book titled "The Spirits," which only gave him information on what he already knew. That Wan Shi Tong supposedly knew ten thousand things.
Proto let out a sigh and stood, carrying several books back to the shelf on which he found them. Putting the last ones away, he turned and began slowly shuffling to the exit, cursing his misfortune. Just as he reached the exit, he glanced once more at the children's Novels. The sky was beginning to turn gray at the first hint of light. Grabbing the first book in reach, he flipped it open to the title, "Lore and Legends of the Spirits," Proto was willing to take anything at this point and so he did just that, marching back to his secluded spot and resuming his search.
Hours later, Proto found himself at another dead end, but this time with a lead. As he closed "Tales of The Si-Wong Desert," he clenched and unclenched his right fist. A structure in The Si-Wong desert was all he had to go on. He didn't even know where to start. He barely knew where he was in relation to the Si-Wong desert itself. Proto stood and collected the veritable hill of books that had found their way on the table he had been using. Day had long broken by the time the books had been returned to the shelves. By the time Proto finally stepped outside the sun was high overhead, indicating it was or was nearing noon.
VOOOooom
"Oh shit," Proto muttered to himself before breaking into a sprint as the sky darkened. It seemed that paracausal activity had the best sense of timing. Proto followed his senses through deserted town streets. No one else seemed to be around, as he continued his sprint he simply jumped over buildings and walls that were in his way. In the distance, he could see a crowd in an amphitheater, watching diligently as a green-robed figure spoke. "Kyoshi?" He heard her voice, deep and rich. Exuding the same power that Aang seemed intermittently capable of summoning. As Proto dropped back down from the roof he had been on, everything went back to normal. The sky cleared, and everything rebalanced. Proto's pace slowed to a walk as he approached the amphitheater.
"And I find you guilty! Bring out the wheel of punishment!" A man's voice echoed out from the center. The watching crowd cheered. Another man, also dressed differently than the villagers, but not as regally as the one speaking before tapped a staff with four rings on the ground. A group of men from the village stood and walked away, with the staff-wielding man in the lead.
Proto walked up behind Sokka. "What happened?"
"GAAHHH! Oh, it's just you. Don't scare me like that!" Sokka exclaimed. "Well it all started with- hang on. Where have you been?" Sokka questioned him.
"The library. What happened?" Proto asked.
"Well, it all started with an inspection of the site where the murder took place. My undeniable genius found that-" Sokka was cut off.
"No! You don't get to ask questions after ditching us!" An angry Katara stormed up to Proto, jabbing a finger at his chest.
Proto slowly tilted his helmeted head down to stare at Katara, who had just noticed the size difference between her and who she was yelling at. Doubt flickered across her expression. Aang and Sokka were looking on, the latter less concerned than the former.
"If I had intended to ditch you, I would have left this town as soon as I got a lead earlier today," Proto said. His voice had a hard edge to it.
"Proto," Aang spoke up drawing all three of their gazes to him. "I'm sorry. You were right. I thought that because Kyoshi had been trained as an Airbender, there was no way she would ever even consider taking a life but now I don't know," he said his eyes falling to the ground.
The group of four stood in silence for a moment. "Look, mistakes happen. When you learned to walk you didn't do it right away. You stumbled and fell, and you learned. That's part of life," Proto said with a shrug. Aang smiled. "Props to you for sticking with your guns, that takes more courage than most have," Proto added on. Aang's smile grew at this, Katara only sighed and folded her arms.
"Now, as I was saying," Sokka began. "My undeniable genius found-"
"We're ready," The man with the staff said standing in front of the wheel. The sky had turned orange. Sokka grumbled but moved to sit where he was before, joined by Proto.
"The accused will now spin the wheel of punishment, to determine his sentence," the man said.
Aang turned to look at Proto, Sokka, and Katara. Proto didn't have eyes, but if he did Aang would probably be looking right into them. "I said I would face justice," Aang said whilst looking at Proto who nodded. "So I will," he said before turning and spinning the wheel.
"Come on, torture machine!" a man in the crowd said.
"Eaten by bears!" shouted another.
"Razor pit!" a third yelled.
"Community service! Please stop on community service!" Katara said. Momo, perched upon Proto's shoulder, covered his eyes with his tail.
The wheel stopped. "Looks like it's boiled in oil," the man with the staff said. The crowd erupted into cheers.
A small, burning sphere bounced into the amphitheater and then into the small structure within, trailing smoke all the way. Careful not to throw off Momo, Proto shifted his head slightly and readjusted which cameras he was seeing through.
"Huh, weird timing," Proto said to himself.
"What are you talking abo-" Sokka began to ask before he was cut off by an explosion.
Up above the amphitheater, the group that attacked them earlier at their campsite was poised, ready to charge.
"We've come to claim this village for the Fire Lord!" The one in front said. "Now show me your leader so that I may," Another attacker cut down the statue at the center of the amphitheater. "... Dethrone him," the leader finished with a smirk.
"That's him over there!" one of the villagers said, pointing to the man with the headdress.
"Aah!" The leader shrieked before ducking behind the wheel of punishment. "You, Avatar. Do something!" the leader demanded of Aang.
"Gee, I'd love to help, but I'm supposed to be boiled in oil," Aang answered. Proto smirked as he watched.
The leader turned the wheel to community service. "There, community service," The leader stressed while pointing at the representative pictogram. "Now serve our community and get rid of those Rhinos!"
Aang allowed himself a smirk before leaping into action, removing the articles of Kyoshi in a single move, and granting himself a much better range of motion. In two moves, he had dismounted the scimitar-wielding rider and sent him into the ocean.
"Rough riders, to the town!" The leader called. Aang was quick to follow, and Sokka and Katara were right behind him. Proto stood and followed Sokka, eventually winding up watching him from above. Proto watched as Sokka used the magnifying device attached to his hat to blind the archer, causing him to blindly fire a flaming arrow into the pack of the demolitionist. The explosion incapacitated him. As the man's items flew, one sack in particular fell with a rather metallic clunk. But Sokka didn't have time to investigate, as the archer was lining up another shot. Proto decided that now would be a good time to get involved and tackled the archer off of his mount, before snapping his bow. A snap was heard as Katara used Water Bending to prompt the animal to flee.
"Let's go help Aang!" Sokka said before taking off, Katara quickly following. Proto followed at a more leisurely pace, deciding to grab the bag of the fallen demolitions expert. Lifting and opening Proto found fuses, a letter, and most surprisingly, a very familiar boomerang. Proto lifted the boomerang out of the bag and dropped the bag unceremoniously on the ground before taking off after the siblings.
Many hours later, Proto watched from the doors of the library out onto the square where Aang, Sokka, and Katara all celebrated the rescue of the town from the Rough Riders. Fireworks boomed overhead as people milled about, the low din of a far-off happy crowd radiated up towards him. Proto however was deep in thought, once again considering his dilemma. He needed to get to Wan Shi Tong as soon as possible. While he could easily leave Aang and his friends to their own devices, he would have difficulty finding the Si Wong Desert, let alone the library. On the other hand, he could stay and potentially be delayed by who knows how long, but eventually he would get there with them.
"Proto was it?"
Proto glanced down to find Hikoh, the small woman who operated the library looking out into the sky while standing next to him.
"You've got something on your mind sonny, I know it," She said.
"I doubt you would find my woes interesting," Proto responded after a moment.
"You arrived with that boy, right? The Avatar?" Hikoh asked. Proto nodded his head.
"I'll be honest, I don't have a very positive opinion of Avatar Kyoshi and Roku, but working in a library with a population that doesn't concern itself too much with reading gives you a lot of free time. Do you know what a librarian does with excessive free time on their hands?"
Proto shifted his head to glance at the diminutive librarian's desk and saw a few books in various positions, each open to a specific page.
"Read?" Proto asked in a monotone voice after a moment of silence.
"Precisely. And I've read all bout prior Avatars and their exploits. I know what the Avatar is supposed to bring. Balance. But to balance a hundred years of war is no small feat. The Avatar will need all the help he can get, and that includes you. I have a feeling you, Proto, will play a very big role when the world weathers the worst of the storm," Hikoh said.
"I best be moving to our campsite outside of town," Proto said, pushing off the doorway with his elbow. "You have given me a lot to think about," Proto mumbled over his shoulder as he walked away.
The next morning Appa lifted off into the blue sky, bound for their next destination. In the saddle, Proto produced a familiar boomerang and sheath, which he presented to Sokka.
"Boomerang! You do always come back!" Sokka exclaimed snatching the items out of Proto's hands. Katara smacked his shoulder.
"I mean, uh, thank you, Proto," Sokka said sheepishly.
Proto silently nodded and turned to stare at the rapidly shrinking town, his eyes focused on what he knew was Hikoh's library.