Chapter One Hundred and Seventeen
After getting over the shock of discovering that, when in one world, time did not pass in the other, the implications hit, and the gnawing guilt at the back of my mind, the feeling that I'd abandoned them, even if I knew it was the best decision, eased.
Though, at the same time, a smaller worry, that I couldn't run, that I would, eventually, need to face All-for-One, sprouted, but, on the other hand, or maybe the first hand, that could be centuries down the line, long after I'd already gotten strong enough that I could crush even Quirk Satan like a bug.
Though, given how Zuko had almost kicked my ass… that was… gonna take a while.
In the meantime, I remotely logged into my email, which, checking, while I could still access it when connected to Avatar, any email I tried to send didn't go through, and I received a message that it was 'pending'. Re-connecting, the test message to myself went through, and I was able to cancel the 'I've left to protect you' messages I'd set up to go off in a couple days.
Mina's note to her parents had been a physical note, under her pillow, so she was in a bit of a hurry to go back and grab it before it got found. But, looking at the portal home, I… I'd gone through before, without thinking, but, now, staring at it, I… really didn't want to go.
"Do, do you mind it if I stay here?" I questioned her, hating myself for my own cowardi-
Mina hugged me, tenderly, almost crooning, "I got this, Sparky. You don't have to come with. You open the gate with your phone, right?" At my nod, she let go of me, stating, "Then I'll pop back home, and open it again in my room! It'll make movin' my stuff super simple that way anyways!"
"I, I can come if you need me to-" I tried to argue.
"Sparky," she insisted. "I got this, and, if I don't, I know you'll be there in seconds to take down whatever's giving me a hard time."
"O… Okay," I gave, quickly adding, "But, try summoning my phone once you're on the other side, so we can tell if it works like that. And then keep it with you, just in case. And, maybe wear your Hero gear, so if you need-"
"Sparky," she interrupted, laughing a little, but kindly. "I'll do the first two, but going out like that's gonna attract a lot more attention. I'm just gonna dress normal, and pretend to be normal. 'Cause, unlike in that other place, I can do that here."
Taking a bracing breath, I nodded, watching, with apprehension, as Mina made her way through the gate, my phone disappearing from the nearby table a moment later, my girlfriend leaning through right after, waving the device, and I gave her a thumbs up, not saying anything.
Blowing me a kiss, she left.
And I was standing there.
Staring at the coruscating energy of the Gate.
Worrying.
"Gaaah," I groaned, wanting to leave, to go upstairs and find a way to distract myself, but, if she needed me, I needed to be there in seconds.
So I stared at it, waiting, forcing myself, step by step, to get closer to the interdimensional event horizon, because, because I was being stupid, as it felt like something inside me was straining, but, but I wasn't going to be scared, even as I felt my heart starting to beat faster, the memory of my fight with All-for-One coming to the forefront of my mind, the feeling of having my limbs ripped off, making them itch, and I stopped, a couple steps away, wanting to go through, to prove I could but…
But I couldn't.
So, quickly retreating, I headed back to the control room, closing the portal, in case, while it was open, Mina couldn't open a new one, breathing a sigh of relief, even as I hated myself for doing so.
Heading back down to the Gate-room, easier now that it was inactive, I… waited, pacing occasionally, finally Creating a basic candle, setting it alight, and, focusing, on it, I felt the flame, on a level I couldn't really put into words.
Iroh had mentioned 'Candle Meditation', and I could kind of see what he meant, as the fire wasn't…. still.
No, it burned, dancing back and forth, and, while the wick I'd made was nigh-supernaturally even, the air currents that subtly blew around me, so softly I hadn't even noticed them, weren't, pushing the flame one way, slightly burning one bit of the base more in that direction, leaving more burnable material on the other, and the rising heat itself, which is what the 'fire' actually was, not just the ignition point, lifted up, drawing cooler air in as well, which created micro-breezes, feeding the fire more, but, if there was a bit of wick in the way, that disrupted the air-flow slightly, causing it to 'flicker', as it corrected, the airflow, invisible to my senses, but, scientifically I knew it had to exist, feeding the expanding ignition, pushed it further to the other side, back and forth, over and over again-
Fwooosh!
The Gate opened, and my candle flame momentarily exploded outwards, as I tensed, turning, hands turning to lightning, the blaze starting to twist with me before burning out, the candle dropped, forgotten, and I was through the gate, ready to kill whoev-
Pink.
(Image)
The room I was in was almost aggressively pink, but also surprisingly black, and Mina, standing on the other side, had frozen, as I pounced out, not even having thought just moved, but…
"Oh. Right. You couldn't call me to warn me because you had my phone," I realized dumbly, and, a little awkwardly, let my transformed limbs snap back. "So. Uh. This your room? I like it."
"Shit, sorry, Sparky!" my lover winced. "And, um, really?"
The young woman seemed oddly vulnerable, which, what? Either way, with hands that only shook a little, I nodded, telling her, "Yeah, it's… feminine, without being girly, and has a very vibrant stylistic flair that matches you extraordinarily well."
Mina blushed fuchsia, stepping over to give me a chaste, almost embarrassed kiss, which I didn't understand either, but I wasn't going to complain. Looking around, I asked, "So, what do you want to take? Because, hmm…" I considered the situation. "I, when, when we come back, if we move your bed, we'd have to move it back, fast enough that no one notices during the time spent between jumps, and-"
"Sparky," my girlfriend laughed, opening a drawer. "I'm just gonna take some clothes and stuff. Not, like furniture."
"… Oh," I replied. "That's… easier." I looked around. "Sorry. I'm, just…"
Putting down the shirts she'd lifted before I'd entered, setting them to the side, she moved back to my side. "I know. That's why I was okay doing this on my own. I, I'd like to see the others, but I know you're, like, not-
"MINA!" a man's voice called from the other side of the door, and, in an instant, I was at the ready, half-crouched, claws crackling, pulse pounding, ready to-
I flinched as gentle arms wrapped around my waist, and my girlfriend gently yelled back, "YEAH, DAD?"
"JUST CHECKING YOU'RE HOME! YOU HAVE FUN WITH YOUR FRIENDS?" the man, Mina's father apparently, bellowed in return.
"YEP!" she called out, more quietly telling me, "I got this Sparky. How 'bout you go on the other side, and carry the stuff I pass through to our room?"
Forcing myself to drop my guard a little, though not my Defenses, I jerkily nodded. "If you're sure…"
"I am," she insisted, gently pulling me back towards the gate. "I'm glad you're here, but I'm safe-ish, though I'd be in a whole mess of trouble if Dad knew I had a boy in my room!" she giggled, and, despite myself, I found myself smiling in return, heading back through the Gate, shaking a little, and almost slipping on the mass of wax that now covered part of the floor, from my exploded candle.
"Oh," I muttered. "I should probably take care of this first."
MHA
We'd put away Mina's wardrobe, though not the literal wardrobe, as well as a pink stuffed rabbit, and I'd found an app on my phone that'd let me keep track of the date and time of each world independently. Having opened and closed a portal to Avatar, if only for a moment, time was now stopped back home.
Now, the next day, with my metaphorical batteries charged, wrapped up in cold weather garb again, I opened the Gate once more, ready to step on deck of Zuko's ship, retrieve my emergency blankets, and get my first actual lesson, detonated candle aside, on how to do this entire 'Firebending' thing.
Except, I didn't step out onto steel, but stone.
(Image)
It was still fairly cold, though not bitingly so, icy drifts piled up on every surface, and, taking a deep breath, the air was a bit thinner, which meant…
"Uh, Sparky?" my partner asked, looking around, unsure.
"Welcome, Mina, to the…" I paused, but other than the faint whistling of wind, this place was dead silent, "Southern Air Temple. Once one of the four primary homes of the Air Nomads. Now… A monument to a culture all but gone from this world. Probably. Other than Aang, of course."
Looking around, the girl commented, "Spooky. Wait, is PZ around here somewhere?"
"PZ?" I questioned, before connecting the dots. "Oh, Prince Zuko. I… he shouldn't be," I frowned, looking around. "Or, well, he's not supposed to be, but, well, Alternate Universe, so… maybe?" I shrugged.
Sniffing, I tried to catch a hint of coalsmoke, but there was nothing but pristine mountain air, and Zuko was many things, but, unless he was on mission, subtle was not one of them. "The portals here clearly aren't static, like the one we used back home, because the ship we exited on moved, but… I, I don't really know how this works? Like, there might be a user manual, but I haven't found it yet. Either way, we could poke around, just, you know, watch your step."
Prancing over, and taking my left arm in both of hers, Mina promised, "I'll stay real close, Sparky!"
Walking around, pulling on just enough of Todoroki's Quirk to keep us both nice and toasty, it was… interesting.
Definitely spooky, to the point that, well, I couldn't help shake the fact that we were being watched, and not necessarily in a good way, though, when Mina tried to Waterbend some snow away, and insta-melted it instead, jumping back with an amused squeal to keep from getting wet, the sensation of wary observance shifted to seem… almost amused.
Looking around, trying to spot it, I could swear I was catching things in the corner of my vision, but, as soon as I turned, whatever it was, almost white-on-white, was gone.
Probably Momo, the flying lemur companion that Aang picks up when he visits, I finally decided, whatever it was not approaching, just… around.
Regardless, while it felt desolate, it was absolutely peaceful, almost oppressively so, but not quite passing the line into smothering, like a pillow lightly resting on your face, not yet pressed down, but enough to cause mild unease. There was also a lot of stone architecture, with wood accents, here and there, heavily weathered by exposure and time, though nothing structural, just the occasional railing that creaked a little worryingly when leaned against even slightly, and such.
There was constant airflow, which, well, duh, that would've made it uncomfortably cold, if I wasn't a living heater, and part of me wondered how the Air Monks tolerated it, unless, like meditating under a waterfall, or in the snow, the persistent wind chill was a kind of ascetic hardship training, where, by overcoming physical discomfort, it worked as a Spiritual Stone Tumbler, smoothing out the imperfections in one's soul.
Which sounded… unpleasant, though useful, if managed correctly, and in small doses.
How do you get nomads to not settle down? I wondered, with a silent laugh, as Mina looked over what was clearly an oven, trying to figure it out. Make the places you do settle down kinda suck.
Though there was a kind of spartan beauty to it, even if this place would give an OSHA inspector aneurisms, mostly because it seemed to be built with the belief that everyone who lived here could fly, or, at the very least, fall with sufficient style to survive.
We spent a couple hours just poking around, as the sun rose high in the sky, through living quarters, the remains of long decayed bedrolls visible; and meditation chambers, with circles of stones set overlooking beautiful vistas; through prayer halls, where the mountings for something were all that remained; and through orchards, mostly picked clean, but which held a few pieces of hanging fruit, still preserved by the freezing temperatures, yet having grown despite the inclement climate, somehow.
It really gave the place a sense of… realness, that hadn't been in the show, seeing it in all its complexity, a place where people had truly resided, which, if anything, deepened the horror of what had happened a century ago.
"And everyone who lived here's gone," Mina finally observed, as we made our way towards what seemed to be the center, her words not quite echoing, almost lost on the wind.
"That's war," I observed, my deeper tones reverberating more than hers. "Though, I'm gonna be honest… I expected more bodies."
"What!?" the girl questioned, shocked, before her expression turned thoughtful. "Oh. Huh. Yeah. That's… well, it's been, like, a hundred years, right?"
Shaking my head, seeing where she was going, I disagreed, "If this place were not hilariously inaccessible for almost everyone, maybe, but we're on top of a very large mountain, with extraordinarily sheer slopes. The Fire Nation got up here with specialized equipment, but, lacking that, the only realistic way to get here is to fly. And everyone that could got killed. We've seen bits of armor, here and there, and the occasional shard of bone inside, but…"
"But?" she questioned when I trailed off.
"But there aren't enough corpses," I finally stated, with that annoying niggle at the back of my head, one that almost itched, as it felt like I was pulling on a still-healing wound, and, with a force of mental effort, I backed off from it. "You haven't seen mass death, Mina, and I'm glad you haven't, but it's not this… this clean."
My lover considered that, taking hold of my arm once more, warming herself up, even as I found myself leaning into her grasp. "Then, some escaped?" she questioned after a moment, and I looked down at her, confused. "Well, you said they could fly," she pointed out. "And even if they attacked from every direction, you could still go up, right?"
"I… huh," I replied. Firebending was, honestly, fairly close range, and slow, compared to guns, and thus dodgeable, especially for someone who could dance on the wind. Lightning-bending was different, but, as far as I remembered, at this point that was an art that only Fire Nation royalty could reliably pull off, and, even empowered by Sozin's Comet as they were, that only magnified what they could do normally, not give them new skills. That said…
"Sparky?" Mina prodded. When I looked her way, she told me, "You've got that 'I just realized' something look."
Blinking, I asked, "Really?"
"It's a very distinctive look," she informed me with a smile. "So, spill!"
"This place isn't burned enough," I noted. "It's, there's still wooden structures, though after a century without maintenance, they're a little iffy, but, for the amount of fire they'd be throwing around, portions of this place should be slagged, or the stones should be cracked, at least. And little bits, here and there are, yet entire buildings should be gone. But then…"
"But then where did they go?" Mina completed for me, and I nodded slowly in agreement. "Is that what's different?"
"Could be," I replied slowly, "Only, only this matches what I remember, if in more detail. And, you know, not a cartoon. Next time we go home, we really need to see if we can find this series, if only to bring you up to speed."
"Eh, I kinda like not knowin'," the golden-eyed girl shrugged. "That way I don't know stuff that ain't true, ya dig?"
Parsing that statement, I had to agree, "Fair enough. In that case, take everything I say with, like, a Mineta-sized grain of salt, because I'm going to be wrong about something, but I don't know what."
"Yeah," she smiled. "But we'll figure it out when-"
Mina cut herself off, as I sharply raised my free hand, listening, and, in a way that was not my imagination, I heard childish laughter.
"Uh, Sparky?" my partner questioned, whispering, and holding onto me tightly. "Did you hear that? 'Cause I did, and it's creepy AF."
Creepy? I thought, before I realized that, yes, hearing a child laughing in a war-ravaged, abandoned outpost was, like, Basic Bitch Haunting, but I shook my head, instead asking, "Hey, Mina? Want to go meet the Avatar?"
MHA
Sokka, Son of Chief Hakoda, of the Southern Water Tribe, was… not having a good day.
And kinda regretting this trip already.
But, but Katara would have left no matter what, and, and Gran-Gran had given him her blessing in doing this, even though, as the oldest man in the tribe, it was ultimately his decision, so he didn't have that much of a choice, only he also had all the choice, but…
But Aang had burned their supplies because the monk had thought blubbered seal jerky was kindling!
Now, Sokka wasn't a stranger to hunger. He, like everyone else, knew that sometimes you had to go without, so you had enough food preserved for the Long Nights each year, when the sun barely shown, if it did at all, and one had to keep fed, lest they attract Them.
But the Cold Ones wouldn't come for many months still, so it was safe.
If annoying.
But… But while he was the Avatar, Aang was still a kid, and, if his dad didn't teach him about these things, because his people didn't even eat meat, then it was an honest mistake.
Even if it left Sokka honestly hungry, the other two having eaten before they'd woken up, and leaving him with nothing. Katara wasn't being mean about it, she knew Sokka had his stash, but Aang… Aang hadn't really thought about it, just like he hadn't thought about why you weren't allowed to go into the abandoned Fire Nation ship, but, again, kid.
Just a kid with a whole lot on his shoulders.
Which was another reason he was here, because if Sokka could help Aang defeat the Fire Nation?
End the War?
Well, when that happened, Dad could come home.
And that was well worth a bit of hunger.
Though, getting blasted off a wooden beam playing 'airball', seven times in a row, would've been a lot easier to manage on, well, not a full stomach, but one that wasn't trying to eat itself.
And his sister going out of her way to hide signs that the Fire Nation had been here, burying rusted armor, with the telltale yellow-white of shattered bone within its eye-sockets, under snow, was just kicking the ice down the drift.
Eventually, you'd get to the bottom.
"Katara, Firebenders were here!" Sokka finally declared, as Aang ran ahead, into areas she hadn't cleared yet, meaning it was only a matter of time before he stumbled across the evidence of murder. "You can't pretend they weren't."
"I can for Aang's sake," she replied, missing his point. "If he finds out that the Fire Nation invaded his home, he'll be devastated."
And she cared, she really did, which he couldn't fault her for, but-
"Hey, Guys!" Aang called, and Sokka's gut clenched for a moment, in a way unlike the way it'd been clenching for the past hour, but, no, he sounded excited? "I want you to meet somebody!"
…what.
Looking up, it was a statue, a wooden statue, life size, and then some, the buildings around here, made of stone instead of snow and ice, weird enough, but to have enough extra wood to just make statues that didn't actually do anything, instead of ships, or firewood, for something that just… sat there, was just weird.
"Who's that?" Sokka asked. The statue was of an Air Nomad, what with him having the same arrows that Aang did, but the way the kid talked this sounded… personal.
"Monk Gyatso," Aang announced. "The Greatest Airbender in the world. He taught me everything I know."
And, while the monk didn't say it, bowing to the statue in respect, it didn't sound like he was talking about a teacher, it… it sounded like if someone asked Sokka to talk about his dad. Was this 'Gyatso' Aang's dad? Or, maybe his grandfather? Gran-Gran did raise Katara, after Mom… wasn't around anymore, since there were things that only women could teach each other, Girls' Mysteries, and stuff, like delivering babies, just like there were things that only Dad could teach him, like hunting.
Aang stayed bowed, and was… obviously grieving, so Sokka gave him some space, but Katara moved forward, thankfully waiting until he stood back up to put a hand on the monk's shoulder, reassuring the kid by saying, "You must miss him."
"Yeah," the monk agreed, voice subdued.
"From what I've heard, he was a good man."
Sokka turned, Boomerang pulled from underneath his jacket and at the ready, seeing…
The heck!?
There were two people, maybe, standing there, but they weren't, weren't actually people, even though they were people shaped.
One was a guy with Fire Nation pale skin, but spikey yellow hair, with a black zigzag in it, and looking at them through gold eyes, the same as the Firebender's that attacked their village, but this guy couldn't look more different, smiling at them, and wearing… Sokka didn't know what it was, but it was gold, with more black stripes like his hair running down it, and he'd say it was leather, except what animal came in that color?
And he was the more normal of the two!
Standing behind him was a girl, probably, except she had eyes like a tiger seal, with the whites pitch black, her irises a dull gold to the guy's bright colors. But, more than that, was the fact that both her skin, and her hair, was pink! Oh, and she also had golden horns!
So, not-people people, which meant…
"Oh, are you two Spirits?" Aang asked, grief gone, now excited, zipping up to the pair, while Sokka and Katara both froze, unsure of what to do.
Sharing an amused glance with his partner, the guy replied, "We've been called that."
"Well, I'm the Avatar, and I'm the bridge between Spirits!" the monk smiled. "Wait, were you who Monk Gyatsu said would be waiting for me? But, like, I haven't even entered the Air Temple Sanctuary yet!"
"Awww, he's adorbs!" the pink girl-Spirit giggled, patting the monk on the head, who just went along with the gesture, and, yeah, even her fingernails were pink!
Shaking his head, the gold-guy replied, "No, we're not here for that. Rather explicitly not here for that, actually."
Ohhh, I don't like the sound of that, Sokka thought, trying to figure out if he needed to do something, if he could do anything against Spirits. He wasn't a village elder, or a bender, but he was the eldest, so… yeah, he had no idea, but he needed to get one, stat!
"Then, why are you here?" Aang asked. "I don't think anyone could be up here, but, I guess you're Spirits, so, um, can you fly?"
"In short bursts, yes," the gold-guy nodded, glancing Sokka's way, giving the warrior an amused smirk. "And, let me clarify. We're travelers, tourists, out to see the world, but, at least for now, we're not helping with the entire…" he waved a hand, which, for a second, turned into lightning, "Avatar thing. That's your journey, we're just poking around for the fun of it."
Blinking, the bald boy nodded, like that was a perfectly reasonable thing to say, asking, "Oh, um, then, uh, who are you? I'm Aang, but you already knew that. Oh, this is Sokka and Katara! They're from the Southern Water Tribe, and they're my friends!"
"I-It's nice to meet you," Katara stuttered slightly, off balance. "I've never actually met a Spirit before!"
"I'm Denki. Denki Kaminari," the lightning-Spirit nodded back to them, which was kind of a weird name, but, having been taught by his dad, did that make them Earth Kingdom Spirits? Sokka had heard people there had multiple names.
"Aaand I'm Ripley!" the pink-girl grinned.
Looking at the other Spirit, Denki chided, "No one's going to get that reference."
"Oh! Are you a water Spirit?" Aang questioned. "Cause, like, ripples?"
Laughing again, the horned girl shook her head. "No, I mean, kinda?" With a wave of her hand, water came out of her skin, and moved like water shouldn't, making a weird motion, like she was Waterbending, except she wasn't moving, only the water was, before she tossed it behind herself, into the snow. "Fine, call me Mina! Mina Ashido! Nice ta'meetchya!"
"It's… nice to meet you too," Katara smiled, elbowing Sokka in the ribs, muttering under her breath, "Say hi!"
"Hi," the warrior stated, looking at his boomerang, still at the ready, and holstering it, yeah, that was cold. "Um, can we help you? We were, uh, kinda-"
Gurgle.
Cut off by his own stomach, the young man reddened in embarrassment.
"You guys want to get some lunch?" Denki inquired, which, yes, but there were like a dozen Spirit-tales that said the answer to that question was always-
"Sure!" Aang smiled. "Oh, but, uh, we're, kinda low on supplies."
"We've got food," the Spirit reassured them. "And you guys can keep the leftovers."
On one hand, this was a really really bad idea, on the other… "You guys got any meat?"
"We do," the Spirit-guy nodded, who, maybe wasn't such a bad Spirit-guy, and who added, looking to Aang, "And, I know, a vegetarian option for you."
"You guys know about Air Nomads?" the monk asked excitedly. "Oh, right, Spirits, duh, wait, uh, do you know-"
"We know of them, not that much about them, beyond the obvious," Denki interrupted.
Mina shrugged, "I don't, but IIII'm learning!"
Nodding, Aang agreed, "Yeah, Monk Gyatso said that if you aren't learning, you aren't living!"
"Ain't that the truth," the electric Spirit nodded. "Tell ya what, you guys can keep the cutlery too, since you look like you need it. What do you use to eat with, in the Water Tribes, anyways?"
Never let it be said that Sokka couldn't take an opportunity when it was offered.
"Fishhooks," he answered, without missing a beat. "Fishhooks and fishing line." Because while they had some, it was Sokka's personal set, having left the good ones behind for the kids in the village to use, since he wouldn't be there to hunt for them.
And, from the look in his bright yellow eyes, the Spirit knew that was bullshit, but the Spirit-tales were also clear about this, and how rules were rules, but they weren't always rules, and if they couldn't 'help', but they could let them 'keep leftovers', well, that was different, wasn't it?
"Seems a bit dangerous," Denki mused, "but if that's how your people do it, who am I to argue?"
Going for it, knowing he was pushing his luck, the warrior asked, "Are you also bringing drinks? It's okay if you aren't. We've got snow."
"Nah, it's fine. Something specific there too?" the yellow-haired man prodded.
"Well, we normally use waterskins," Sokka shrugged. "But cups are okay too."
"And gold coins!" Katara added, understanding what her brother was doing, but not why.
Mina, the pink girl, snorted, "Pfft, really?"
"Uh, yeah!" the Waterbender nodded. "Definitely gold coins."
But, while the horned Spirit tried not to laugh, the electric one was… not amused. "And what happens if one is not furnished with gold coins?"
"Oh, bad things, definitely!" his sister noted with as much seriousness as she could muster.
However, before Denki could respond, Sokka added, "But that's, only, for, like, really important meals," he quickly stated. "Like, really important meals."
"Oh," Aang nodded, not getting what was going on. "That explains why you didn't use them for me. Wow, the Water Tribes really have changed!"
"Indeed," the inhuman being noted. "That's good to know. I'd hate to imagine what would happen if we visited the Southern Water Tribe and they refused to furnish us with the proper implements. Why, very bad things might happen," he commented mildly, for a second his teeth seeming to turn into serrated lightning, with an electric tiger-shark's grin, and Sokka felt icy fear drip down his back, like stumbling across an Arctic Hippo that looked up, considered you, and decided you weren't worth eating today.
Right. Spirit Tales.
Wait, the Avatar is a Spirit Tale.
… Is it too late to go home?
But, no, there was a reason he was here, even as Mina rolled her animalistic eyes and smacked the other Spirit in the chest. "Come on, Sparky, don't be like that!"
And, shrugging, Denki turned his attention back to Aang.
Thank you, pink lady!
Because, while they looked like they might be Sokka's age, the way the lightning guy held himself…
The Spirit was a lot older than he looked.
"So," the yellow-haired man said, absently pulling out a glowing Spirit-stone, and tapping it, definitely Earth Kingdom Spirits, "We'll be right back, so don't go anywhere, okay?"
"Okay!" Aang agreed for them, watching, along with Sokka and Katara, as the Spirits stepped into air, and disappeared. "Oh, that's cool!"
With them gone, the warrior sank to his knees, heart pounding, even as his sister turned, demanding, "Sokka, what the heck? …Sokka?" she asked, a little more concernedly.
"Katara, you don't threaten Spirits!" the boy chided.
"I wasn't threatening, I was just… suggesting," she argued, which… wasn't how Spirits worked.
… Probably!
Were Earth Kingdom Spirits different than Water Tribe Spirits? Sokka knew the people were different, at least, that's what Dad said, and while Gran-Gran came from the Northern Water Tribe, she'd gone straight to the South, so would she know? Would she have taught Katara if they were? Had she even seen them for herself?
"Hey, Aang, how do Spirits handle phrasing?" Sokka questioned.
"Oh! Monk Gyatso said that they're, like, really particular about it!" the monk exclaimed. "So, like, it wasn't really threatening, Sokka. Besides, Katara wouldn't threaten a Spirit! Stop being silly!"
"See!" his sister exclaimed, waving towards the World Spirit, which, well, he would know, but, if she'd done that to him…
Maybe it's different for Spirits? He thought, but, no, no Denki had seemed annoyed, but she didn't notice, and it wouldn't be the first time Katara decided her brother was just wrong. However, "How were you going to eat with gold coins, anyways?"
"Well, how were you going to eat with fishhooks?" she shot back.
"Use 'em like forks, wrap the line around my hands," the warrior answered easily, taking a deep breath.
Smiling, Aang pat him on the back, "Don't worry, Sokka, I'm the Avatar! I wouldn't let Spirits do anything bad!"
It wasn't us I was concerned about, the warrior thought to himself, but didn't say anything, standing, and dusting himself off, looking around, and, glancing at the odd statue-thing next to them, like three giant bowls stacked on each other, all of them filled with ice, he moved to clean the snow off of it, to make a kind of table.
Only a few minutes later, the Spirits returned, which was far too fast to cook anything, and, yes, meat!
At least he was getting that!
Though, looking at it, even the food looked otherworldly, dozens of pieces of what were unmistakably meat, with a layer of cheese on top of each slab, the gooey goodness something Dad sometimes had brought home from trading before he'd had to leave for good, and bread on either side of that, which made Sokka's stomach bunch up in anticipation, as he tried not to drool.
And failed.
"You're fine with milk-based products, right?" Denki asked, unsure.
"Yep!" Aang nodded. "Just nothing that means something has to, ya know, die."
"Okay, then, these are curry-burgers," the lightning Spirit stated, putting a cloth on top of the top ice-bowl-thing, and the metal tray holding the delicious looking food on top of it, "for us, which are made with beef, and these," he said, accepting a smaller tray from Mina, putting it to the side, closer to the monk, "are curry-bean-burgers, that replace meat with legumes, and thus are in line with your requirements."
The pink skinned girl stepped away, into, like, the Spirit world, and came back a moment later, holding five metal bottles. "And these are the drinks!"
Sokka accepted one, the top some kind of strange assembly and, glancing over as the Spirit flicked the top of it, he watched as the middle bar lifted up, the bottom of the lever rounded, until it… made a straw? Flicking it back down, the warrior could see there was actually a tiny little hole at the bottom, so that, when it was down, it must block the fluid from coming up, but, when it was extended…
Huh, that… actually made a lot of sense.
"Having fun?" Denki asked, smiling, and Sokka nodded.
"Yeah, this is really cool…" the warrior noted.
"Eat first, play with the bottle later," the lighting-Spirit prompted, and, right, food!
Remembering himself, the Water Tribesman grabbed the food, like everyone else was, but then, as the yellow-haired being cleared his throat, Sokka looked down, and saw there was a small square of fabric in front of him, upon which were two fishhooks, a sheathed knife, and, wow, that was a lot of fishing line, on a spool, like thread from the Earth Kingdom, which made sense, except it was bright blue.
Glancing over to the Spirit, who'd placed his own food on the fabric, cutting it in half with the knife, Sokka did the same, before, with a bit of thought, cutting some of the line he'd unspooled, making two small lines that he wrapped around his fingers, threading through the hooks, and, attaching them to his pointer fingers, sank those into the bread, carefully eating with them, and wondering if the Spirit knew, somehow, that the tribesman had once gotten a fishhook stuck in his own cheek.
Which he'd tried to extract with another fishhook.
Which meant he'd now had two fishhooks stuck in his cheek.
But those were bone, and he'd eventually snapped them, but these were metal, and would be a lot harder to get out.
"Hmm, Katara, you're not using the hooks?" Denki questioned, and Sokka almost hooked himself, turning to glance in her direction.
"What?" his sister asked, freezing. "Oh, uh, that's, like, a guy thing."
"Hmm," the Spirit noted, while, next to him, the girl-Spirit just rolled her eyes, and gave the lightning-man a look. "Fair enough," he agreed, in a way sounding a lot like Dad did when Mom had convinced him of something, and, secretly, Sokka sent a thumbs-up towards the pink girl, who winked back.
And, eating the food, it was really, really good, but kinda weirdly spicy, leading to the warrior taking a sip of the drink, which was… sweet, but kinda salty, and also weirdly fruity?
"Uh, what is this?" he asked.
"Pocari!" Mina smiled.
"Kind of," Denki disagreed. "Definitely in the category of an off-brand Gatorade."
Aang, who'd been taking a drink, paused. "It's made from gators?"
"No gators were harmed in its creation," the Spirit reassured the Bridge between Spirits. "It's an exertion recovery tonic, meant to help with vitamins and minerals that people sometimes don't get from their diet, or are expended when they sweat."
"Like how if you don't eat your sea-prunes, your teeth might fall out!" Sokka nodded. "Huh, that's cool."
The Avatar looked horrified. "Your teeth what? I thought that was an old-person thing!"
"Malnutrition can be deadly," Denki noted. "Your diet was likely varied enough growing up that it wasn't an issue, Aang, but, living on the tundra, options are often far fewer and far less regular."
"Yeah," the Tribesman nodded, because of course the Spirit got that stuff, which was the wisdom of the Spirits. "But if you're smart enough about it, and listen your elders, you can get by." The look that the warrior gave his younger sister, was, of course, ignored, but, well, at least that was something that was familiar.
Once they were all done, the Spirits helped clean up, which was the part that Spirit Tales generally skipped over, but, when they were done doing that, that left them a half dozen 'burgers', wrapped up in individual bits of cloth, along with three 'bean-burgers' for Aang, all of it bundled together in the larger piece of fabric that had gotten damp as it'd melted the ice in the statue/pool thing, but, holding it in one of the yellow-haired spirit's hands, it'd started to steam, but without any fire, drying it out, before it was used to hold the others.
That also left them with five knives with leather sheathes, five extraordinarily light metal bottles, two similarly light metal trays, four metal fishhooks, a dozen bits of high-quality fabric, and, well, Sokka wasn't sure how much fishing line, given how thin it was, but, testing it, it was very strong, and he had two spools worth.
And everything was of a quality that Sokka had never seen before, which made the fact that the different pieces were all completely identical even weirder, down to stitching on the cloth and the grain of the wooden handles.
But… Spirits.
They might not've given them gold coins, but the two Spirits might as well have paid them, except this was even better, because this stuff was all things they could use.
It really made Katara's request look pretty greedy, and, well, there were tales about what happened when you got greedy with Spirits too.
"Well, best of luck," the yellow-haired being noted, dusting off his hands. "And remember," the lightning-Spirit added, giving Sokka a deadly serious look, "this place was built assuming everyone could fly. So be careful."
And didn't that just give the Tribesman a whole new set of worries, but, again, Spirit-warning, so, bowing in thanks, the warrior formally stated, "Thank you, Spirits. I greatly appreciate-" he cut himself off before he said 'the help', because, to them, it wasn't, because there were rules, so substituted it for, "the meal, and the advice."
"Don't worry about it!" Mina grinned, the girl sliding across the stone like it was ice, and giving him a quick hug, which, um, what? "Sparky's just being all extra! You guys have fun, and we'll see ya around!"
And then, without walking, but skating across the stone, she disappeared.
"I think I was being an appropriate amount of extra," Denki muttered to himself, before looking at the others. "Just know that we cannot help. And Katara, Sokka, anything that glows," he stated, momentarily wreathed in lightning, so bright he was hard to look at, as bolts struck out, singing the nearby rock black, "should be treated with care. Until we meet again."
And, turning his legs into lightning, he leapt away, through the same spot Mina disappeared, and was gone, just leaving the three of them.
"Well, that went well!" Aang grinned, heading for the entryway behind the statue of Monk Gyatso. "Now come on, I want to show you guys the Air Temple Sanctuary!"
Sokka turned to follow, grabbing the tray, and a bit of white caught his eye, the topmost 'bowl' of the structure having melted, showing most of the ice that filled it to be clear.
And, at the bottom of it, staring back at the warrior, was a skull.
Oh. Right. Aang still doesn't know what happened.
… We're screwed.
AN: And we see the other major players here. The question, then, is what is it that is different? Also, thanks to Plasma Regulators for the Temple Art! Dude's great at this sort of thing! As usual, the next four chapters are up on and Subscribestar!