Responses to Reviews:
RonaldM40196867: I think it could have been explored more, but I don't think it should have been. It needs an air of mystery about it, I think.
Zigzagdoublezee: Nothing like being put in a room full of statues of your past lives to evoke existential thoughts. And yes, it is quite like the dinosaurs; so much of the essence of those past Avatars has been lost, although I expect a present Avatar probably could make a concerted effort to find those Avatars from thousands of years ago and talk to them.
As Always, Please Review!
"You can open your eyes now," the voice continued. Yue did, and gasped.
The statues, previously inert stone, were now flesh and blood. The previous Avatars themselves stood upon each pedestal, their eyes glowing with the power of the Avatar State coursing through them. In front of her, Aang smiled.
"Surprise!" He spread his arms. He was the only one whose eyes were not glowing, and he stepped down off the podium to approach her.
Yue was speechless. She went to stand up and felt a strange lurching sensation, and swiftly discovered why when she looked down to find her own body still sat inert and cross-legged, eyes glowing just like the statues, below her.
"Rinzen?" She called, trying desperately to get his attention. But Rinzen showed no sign of having heard her.
"He can't hear you," Aang said. "Because for him, nothing is happening. We're all just statues. He'll see the glowing eyes, but nothing else."
"Then how are you here?"
"You stand in my home," Aang reminded her. "In a room where the walls between the Avatar's past and their present are thinner than anywhere else. That is why I requested you come here."
"You said you had something to tell me, didn't you?" Yue remembered.
"Not just tell you," Aang said. "Show you too."
With a movement of his hand, Yue's vision changed, and seemed to... zoom out. She wasn't sure how to describe it. She seemed to leave the room and float upwards, until at last she could see the entire world stretched out beneath her. Despite that, she could still make out individual people, which was very confusing to her sense of scale. Focussing back on the Southern Air Temple, she made out a couple of figures in water tribe blue in one of the courtyards, sat by a fountain.
Elsewhere, the news was not so good. At the other end of the world, the north was still clearly a smoking ruin from the battle. Most of the buildings had been destroyed, the sea wall was in a state of disrepair, and the streets were empty. Fire Navy warships were docked around it, and many more cruised through the seas, leaving clouds of ash and soot in their wakes. Several red, snaking columns of men travelling east through the Earth Kingdom indicated Fire Nation field armies, driving columns of refugees and bands of Earth Kingdom resistance before them alike. Yue could see several dragons swooping over the heads of the Fire Nation troops as they trudged eastwards. They appeared to her like arrows, and all were pointed in one direction; towards the vast metropolis of Ba Sing Se. The city did not look like it was much affected by the war yet, but it was protected by two layers of mighty walls. Yue didn't know how long that would last.
Yue saw the fleet that had occupied Kyoshi Island making its way south. It left the largest ash cloud of all, and it was headed straight for the South Pole.
Yue's sister tribe was one of only two places on the map which didn't look affected by the war at all. Sokka hadn't been lying when he had told her how nice it was; it was situated on a great plain of ice, and so spread out over a much wider area than the north did. Around it, smaller villages were spread out over the frozen landscape.
"Why are you showing me this?" She asked.
"To warn you," Aang replied. "The danger is real, and it is everywhere. The Fire Nation seek to conquer the water tribes and reach the walls of Ba Sing Se. Then they will break through, for certain. The loss of life when that happens will be immense. The balance of the world will be broken forever. You must stop it from happening."
"How?" Yue asked. "The walls of Ba Sing Se are meant to be impenetrable."
"They're meant to be, yes," Aang replied. "And if it were up to me, we wouldn't have a chance to test that claim. But we do, and the Fire Nation have an ace up their sleeve."
Yue's focus shifted over to the last nation on the map. The Fire Nation's volcanic islands loomed in front of her vision, surrounded by yet more ships. She could somehow both see the vast scale of the entire country and individual people scurrying down the street in the Caldera, their capital in the crater of an extinct volcano.
"Dragons?" Yue guessed. But Aang shook his head.
"Not dragons," he said. "The Comet."
He turned to her.
"I think I heard the Royal Astronomers back home talking about a comet," Yue remembered. She hadn't paid too much attention at the time, and now she was beginning to regret it.
"Because you are due a very specific one in a few months," Aang agreed. "It comes every one hundred years, on the dot. The last time it was seen in the sky, I was a twelve year old boy and had no idea I was the Avatar. The time before that, Avatar Kyoshi was still alive."
Yue digested that information.
"But why is it important?"
The world below her began to change, as everything was swamped by a fiery orange glow. Aang began to speak.
"Because for as long as it is visible in the sky," He told her, "Every Firebender on the planet gains a massive power boost. When the Fire Nation was a respectable and peaceful member of the international community, that wasn't much of a problem. Now they're waging a war of annihilation against everyone else, they could use it to cause immense damage. No doubt their aim is to get close enough to their goals by the date of the comet for a big final push using it. Even if that doesn't win them the war immediately, a lot of people will die."
The orange glow intensified as he spoke, and Yue saw vast swathes of the world catch fire beneath her. The inferno raged, brighter and brighter, until she had no choice but to shut her eyes. When she opened them again, she was back in the great hall in the Southern Air Temple, with Rinzen and the static forms of her many past lives.
"That is, of course," Aang finished, "unless you stop them before that date."
"How can I do that?" Yue asked. "I've barely got the hang of waterbending!"
"The Avatar is a fast learner when they need to be," Aang shrugged. "And not all your weapons are physical. Your status as the Avatar, and most of all, your words, can be as effective as a fireball or a boulder."
He paused.
"And remember, you're not fighting against the Fire Nation, so much as you're fighting for peace," he said. "The Fire Nation just happen to be standing in your way. You'll need to work with them after the war to restore balance, so don't go too hard on them, hey?"
He grinned.
"I'll try not to," Yue returned the grin. It felt feeble. It probably was.
"Good luck, Avatar. Oh, and one more thing," Aang began to return to his pedestal.
"What?" Yue demanded.
Aang grinned again, and nodded towards Rinzen.
"Say hello to my grandson for me?"
He gave her one last grin, which turned into a serene smile as he froze, his skin turning grey as the vibrant and full-of-life Avatar became the motionless statue of before. Yue felt herself be sucked into her body and then she woke up, panting, her eyes wide.
Rinzen was there in an instant, a look of concern on his face.
"Are you alright?" He asked. "Did it work? Did you see him? What did he say?"
"I think he mentioned you," Yue said, dazed. "I think he said you were his grandson."
The revelation hung heavy in the air for a moment.
"Oh, and the Fire Nation is going to use a comet to destroy the world unless we do something."