Avatar: Keiji's Legacy- Book One

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Air. Water. Earth. Fire.

Only the Avatar can master all four elements. Born into a new body every generation, the current Avatar is boy named Keiji, who is coming towards the end of his training.

However, all is not well in the world. War wages in the south between the Earth Kingdom and the Water Tribes, a land dispute that has escalated to terrible proportions. Meanwhile, the Air Nomads, isolated from the world, have spent long hours and days in meditation and prayer and come to the conclusion that the physical world is no longer worthy to be attached to the spiritual world. Severing the ties requires only a single thing: the death of the Avatar while in the so-called "Avatar State" and the end of the regeneration cycle.

It is the Avatar's purpose to bring peace and balance to the world again. It is not, however, a journey that he will take alone.

Characters

Spoiler

The Avatar: Keiji-played by StellaThomas
His twin brother, a Firebender: Kazu- played by Lumi
An Earthbender: Jiang- played by Bolt
An Airbender: Tashi- played by Rosey Unicorn
A Waterbender: Akaik- played by SisterItaly
A Non-bender, native to the Earth Kingdom: Liao Xueyi- played by Jagged
A Guru, of the Air Nomads- played by CelticaNoir

Rules

Spoiler

-Usual SB rules apply against god-modding, sex scenes and other explicit/inappropriate material. Everyone here is a pretty experienced SBer. You know what goes and what doesn't.
-I know there are lots of various modes of communication among members- Skype, Chat, whatever. You can use whatever you like to plot but please try and update to the TitanPad or somewhere else where everyone can see so we can keep things in order.
-We'll be playing by chapters, don't move ahead until the current chapter is finished.
-Drop me a message if you're unable to post for a while, and don't worry about it! Just try and post regularly- not frequently, necessarily, but regularly.
-all posts of a reasonable length (again, you guys should know what goes and what doesn't) and with Character Name | Location at the top.
-This SB is currently FULL. New characters may be added, but only if pertinent to the plot and then only by invitation.
-Any and all OOC posts made here will be deleted.

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[b][size=150]Name[/size][/b]
[b]Age:[/b]
[b]Nationality:[/b]
[b]Bender/Non-Bender:[/b]

[b]Appearance:[/b]
[spoiler]Place your appearance info and/or reference pic here.[/spoiler]
[b]Personality:[/b]
[spoiler]Place your personality here.[/spoiler]
[b]History and Training:[/b]
[spoiler]Place your history here.[/spoiler]

Kazu

Age: 17
Nationality: Fire Nation
Bender/Non-Bender: Firebender
Appearance:

Spoiler

Kazu is thin and spry, lean and quick on his feet. Typical for a fire nation boy, he sports dark hair and amber eyes with high cheek bones to bring his features forward. Though he and his brother are identical twins, Kazu finds--and sometimes revels in--distinct differences...some of which aren't so distinct. Kazu's voice is rougher (as his father put it, less inclined to public speaking--unlike the avatar's), and he has a prominent garnet scar lining the foreground of his neck as if nearly beheaded. This came from Keiji's first experience waterbending--with boiling water. He covers this with high collars and a scarf sporting his alma mater's colors of scarlet and black.

Personality:

Spoiler

Kazu does his best to remain an optimist, to keep a little skip in his step whenever his shoes are nice enough and the ground isn't falling apart beneath him. He's a tiny bit afraid of abandonment, a little more afraid of being used, and very afraid of not living up to something...worth being the avatar's brother. It's a big name, y'know. While he would love to be more of the athletic, powerful type, Kazu's nature renders him more of a tactitcian--more careful and concentrated, and a tad less quick to action than his brother.
Despite that, he does love to fight, to bend and feel in-tune with his home element. At home, any time not spent on studies would be spent in the fields practicing forms, or with his master increasing his skill.

History and Training:

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Kazu (and his brother, for that matter) were born into a well-off family of old merchant money, and grew up mostly on Ember Island where their parents spent the last drops of their free time. Kazu's father was a director--always getting lost in practice hours while mom recited her parts time after time after time again. Sure, it was pretty boring as a kid, but when Kazu and Keiji began their firebending training, the props and mechina backstage proved great fighting utilities.
Kazu and Keiji trained under the same master up until Keiji was announced as the avatar--and even though he didn't get completely blocked out of the better training, Kazu definitely felt he got the short end of the stick. Which is cool. With a Cosmic Entity sleeping in your bedroom, you try not to snore.
A bad metaphor, but still.
Anyway, since Kazu didn't have the best trainers, he focused in on his own personal training, and worked his butt off until he could safely say he was on-par with his brother's firebending.
And just. when. he. was. there.
Keiji has been advised to seek out spiritual guidance, and Kazu didn't want to let him go alone. So it's off into the world! He's even loaded up on homework.

Figured I should post before I let this rot in a doc.

Jiang
Age:19
Nationality:Earth Kingdom
Bender/Non-Bender: Earthbender
Appearance:

Spoiler

Personality:

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Jiang is most notably greedy, always thinking about himself first and how he can turn a profit off any of his actions. He hoards, never wanting to give up something that could benefit him in the future, from scrap metals to random scrolls. He likes to think of himself of a comic, but is generally just mean in his jokes and thin skinned when they come back, reacting badly to it. However he can lie very well, talented at short cons, but fails flat in his plans that require a long term commitment.

History and Training:

Spoiler

History
Jiang was born in a small Earth Kingdom village in the northern mountains. There were not many earthbenders in the village, so his training was very minimal in his youth. He tried to learn on his own, but most attempts led to self harm.
At the age of fifteen Jiang left his village, hoping to move to ba Sing Se to train in Earthbending and make a name for himself, but what he found was not a nice place. Jiang found himself in the Lower Ring, a place full of poverty and crime and was left in the streets to fend for himself. He learned to survive, doing some questionable things to survive. As part of the war effort Jiang, along with a large chunk of the Lower Ring, were drafted into the Earth Kingdom Army a year ago.

Training
Jiang had attempted self teaching for several years at his village, but learned only very basic moves on his own. It was not until he was in Ba Sing Se that he learned anything. He had to learn his bending in do or die like circumstances, if he couldn’t defend himself he was a walking target for the gangs of the Ring, so what he learned he learned fast. He formed his own little gang, some younger kids who helped train each other and would watch each other’s back.
But while the streets gave him skill the army gave him power. The focus of the military was on big pictures, squads of earthbenders working as one to hand weave the lack of skill. Trained to tears holes in the earth, raise mile high pillars, but while he can’t do those things alone it gave him a step up in raw strength for his combat.

Keiji
Age: 17
Nationality: Fire Nation
Bender/Non-Bender: The Avatar

Appearance:

Spoiler

He's your typical reasonably good-looking teenage Fire Nation hotman. High cheekbones, amber eyes, soft black hair and a big white smile. He's tall and lean, well-muscled from all his training and stronger than he looks at first glance. While identical to his brother Kazu, he doesn't have the scar, tends to look vaguely happier than his brother and has a clearer (some would say more feminine but whatever) voice.

Personality:

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He's a very happy-go-lucky kind of guy. Things always tend to go his way, and people are always happy to help him out. That's not to say he's not hardworking, because anything but, he trains religiously and studies anything he thinks will help him. He sees the fact he's the Avatar as a gift, and is very proud. It's just that he really doesn't do planning. He tends to just wing it, fly headlong into a situation and rely on Kazu to clean up after him.

Between being brought up in a theatre and being told he's basically the most important person on the planet, Keiji adores being the centre of attention. He's very friendly and very flirtatious (although his chief pick-up line is, "Hey, did I ever tell you I'm the Avatar?" It works surprisingly well). Usually he is disgustingly optimistic, but due to his upbringing he reserves the right to have occasional dramatic turns.

History and Training:

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Keiji and Kazu grew up as two halves of a whole in the idyllic environs of Ember Island surrounded by the eccentric characters of the Ember Island Players. Keiji always felt an attraction to the other elements that nobody else understood. He and his brother trained under a master on the Island and liked to practice backstage at performances. When he was told that he was the Avatar, he was shocked and delighted and amazed and humbled and all that, but a little part of him said he had known it all along.

He was to leave the Island for formal training in the city but refused to go unless Kazu came with him. So they shared the Avatar's quarters- despite Kazu's snoring- but were separated when it came to Keiji's training in the four elements. He always found Water the hardest. The first time he Waterbent was also the first time he entered the Avatar state- and that's how Kazu earned his scar. Since then, Keiji has been unable to enter the Avatar state, and his brother's neck is a constant reminder of the terrible effects his power can have. His masters in the city are persuaded that Keiji has to go on a spiritual journey to gain entrance to the Avatar state once more- which apparently means an actual journey as well.

Dohna
Age: 54
Nationality: Air Nomad
Bender/Non-Bender: Bender, but doesn’t use her powers much anymore.

Appearance:

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In her younger years, Dohna had had the typical shaved back hairstyle of the female Air Nomads and dark brown hair and eyes. Her forehead is still as shiny as ever, but she now has very grey hair and small wrinkly eyes that can look both grandmotherly and suspicious alternately. In fact, her entire face, once smooth and pretty and hale as a robin, is now all wrinkly and grandmother-like.

She used to be of medium height before, but she currently hunches over a lot because of a back injury gained when a disgruntled Earthbender thought she’d stolen his stuff. She wears the typical Air Nomad robes and attitude on her sleeve.

Personality:

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Well, where do I start? I guess Dohna has a calm head on her shoulders. She’s not easily disturbed or otherwise distraught, which makes her the perfect candidate to be the Avatar’s guru. Almost. Except, behind this veneer of calmness, she’s not quite as cool-headed as one would suspect her to be. She’s constantly plotting her next move in any situation, treating everything much like a game of chess.

She’s very intelligent, yes, and has always been a good strategist in most situations. Even if she's quite spiritual, she's also an expert liar; she has swayed most of the Air Nomad tribe completely into believing that she has actually accessed the Spirit World. She's a brilliant actress and will do anything to get her way.

But, she can also be very malleable and can be made to believe quite a lot of things, despite her experience and advanced age. She may be smart, but in a lot of ways she can also be made a fool out of.

History and Training:

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Dohna was born in the way all the Air Nomads are--to an Air Nomad mother and father. She had been taken away by the temple monks at an early age, however, and then raised as one of their own, for what reason, she could never really fathom. She was a relatively sheltered child, however, and not knowing the ways of the world, didn’t question too much. She was happy with what she had.

She trained under them for years and years, and finally got her arrows at the tender age of fifteen. As said before, however, she had been sheltered from the outside world by the monks. However, stuff happened; much stuff happened that involved the girl being sent off after scandalous rumours began to spread. But not soon afterx she found herself flying back on her sky bison with a very injured back; an Earthbender had permanently injured her back, and she had become suspicious and disquieted. She started spending more time than ever meditating and becoming even more stranger than before.

Therefore, when the time came that they decided to kill off the Avatar in order to preserve the Spirit World, she became the monks' first and final decision to be the Avatar's 'advisor'. She wasn't worth a lot, and the amount of trouble she had caused them was none too less.

Akaik
Age: 19
Nationality: Southern Water Tribe.
Bender/Non-Bender: Waterbender
Appearance:

Spoiler

Akaik is a lot smaller than you’d expect her to be at her age, but small doesn’t exactly mean weak. She’s a terrific bender, and she can hold her own in a fight without it. Akaik isn’t known for having her hair down. It’s usually in the style shown below (Mostly for formal occasions) or up in a tight bun.

Personality:

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Akaik has the soldier attitude you’d expect. She obeys her authority, but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t question it sometimes. When it comes to people she’s not the best for conversation. She never beats around the bush, which makes her the last person you want to ask to break bad news to someone. She is, however, true to her word and a woman of honor. If she is indebted to you, you are stuck with her.

In a fight, Akaik is cold, calculated, and highly focused. It’s hard to read her next move, considering how often she switches between using just fists and water. She likes to pick apart her enemies before seriously attacking. In that sense, she’s much better off in a slightly distanced one on one fight than an up close ambush.

Sometimes she can be too serious for her own good. Akaik cannot take a joke to save her life. She’s a get-to-the point kind of girl.

History and Training:

Spoiler

Despite her seemingly cold and violent nature, Akaik is a terrific healer. Her father was a waterbender soldier before her, but her mother was an excellent healer. It was believed in her family that healing and nurturing was the woman’s place. Her father’s attitude changed when he saw how talented she was in other aspects of water bending at a relatively young age.

He took her hunting, often. When he couldn’t, her uncles would. They taught her how to ice-bend and how to take down enemies larger than her by evaluating them and searching for a weak spot. Once they made the fatal mistake of exposing their weakness, you struck and took them down. Akaik jokingly became the ‘man of the house.’ She never understood why that joke was funny when she was living proof that she could do whatever a man could do.

She never even considered getting involved in the war until the news came back that her father and most of the people with him had been taken out by earthbenders in a surprise attack. Akaik quickly signed in, becoming one of the lesser respected--but still proud--soldiers. There’s only two things she wants. Revenge, and for this stupid war to end so no one else has to lose their family.

Xueyi
Age: 27
Nationality: Earth Kingdom
Bender/Non-Bender: Non-bender.
Appearance:

Spoiler

Medium height and dark brown hair usually worn braided or loose. Her skin is more tan than ideal for a lady of high birth, but not so dark as to stand out among others from the Earth Kingdom. She wears mostly tunics in Earth Kingdom greens, but favors white accents over the usual gold or brown. Her most distinguishing feature is her eyes - not the common brown or green, but a clear blue.

Personality:

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Calm, resolute and all business, Xueyi is a bit of an anomaly among the Earth Kingdom's more soft-spoken, demure higher class women. While respectful of traditions, she will not let them hinder her in her goals or beliefs, which has on occasion sparked a few conflicts with men trying to tell her her place was at her husband's side with her mouth shut and preferably a brat or two at her knee. (Those men usually found themselves nursing a broken nose and a sore pride after being unceremoniously escorted off the property.)
In charge of keeping things running while her husband is away, and practical either way, Xueyi rarely encumbers herself with the trappings of kindness. She's ruthless in her dealings but prides herself on fairness and knows the merits of mutually beneficient compromises.That said, if set on something, it will be difficult to move her to change her mind or set her off-course, and she will not back down unless there is absolute worth for it.
In her quiet moments she is fond of study, and while no great inventor she likes to wear and chip at ideas and concepts until she can find ways to improve on them, if only little by little.

History and Training:

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Raised the only daughter of a merchant widow and raised a proper lady, though her domain's location a certain distance from the bigger cities allowed her some leeway. She was married off at sixteen to an older man who didn't mind her refusal to strictly adhere to the limits of propriety and rather encouraged her to take up the reins up to some point. Over the years they've come to a working arrangement that lets him scout for deals and new markets around the kingdom while she keeps an eye at home and is left to do whatever she wants. She's picked up archery training as a way to protect herself and in her off hours likes to fiddle with her crossbow to make it more reliable, lighter, and deadlier.

Tashi
Age: 15
Nationality: Air Nomad
Bender/Non-Bender: Airbender

Appearance:

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Her hair is brown like most air nomads, but her forehead has remained unshaven. She wears her hair pulled back in a half ponytail to keep it out of her face, and to get used to when her forehead will be shaved after she receives her mastery tattoos. Her eyes are pale grey, face still barely rounded from childhood. She wears traditional air nomad robes regardless of the weather.

Personality:

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She firmly believes what the Sisters and Monks say, because they have lived longer than her and attained mastery, something she wants very badly. She spends long periods of time meditating and training in a day, trying to achieve the level of airbending that she sees people just a few years older than her have reached.

Tashi almost lacks the sense of humour so many airbenders are known for; she has a very quiet one, and she rarely shows it. When she does, it's dry like autumn leaves.

Her best trait, or so she believes, is obedience. She doesn't just trust anybody (in fact, the only people she trusts at present are the Elders), but when she does, everything they say must be examined and properly followed. She will also defend those she believes in quite strongly. Once she actually gets to believe in you.

All that being said, she has never experienced the outside world. The only stories she has heard is how the war and Avatar have ruined the physical world, and they need to be eliminated. This belief has led her to ignore the old Air Nomad teaching of pacifism. If she believes something is hurting the balance between the spiritual world and physical, she will take care of it. But only after instruction to do so. Otherwise, she would be too rash in her actions. She has enough self awareness to know this fact about herself.

She is working on a lethal move powerful enough to kill the Avatar in the Avatar State, hoping this invention will earn her mastery tattoos.

History and Training:

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She has been training along the ways of the Sky Bison since she was a toddler, moving from the Western to the Eastern Air Temple to facilitate her first lesson: detachment from her biological mother. She was slow in learning. As a result, she watched many more sisters reach airbending levels before she did.

At fifteen, she is at level twenty nine of airbending, very close to level thirty. She hadn't been on the slate for accompanying Sister Dohna, but she requested to go along because she wants to prove her worth among the other Sisters. She proved she had grown spiritually by simply going about her day as she always did, and not being distracted by the possibility she might go.

While her airbending might be weaker than others, and her skill not as sharp, she has been learning and plans on using this trip to improve. Nothing will get in her way to complete this mission.

Chapter One: The Avatar's New Guruve

Keiji | Avatar Training Grounds, the Fire Nation Capital

"Stop relying so much on Earth and Fire!" Master Takeda shouted at him. "Water! Now!"

But Keiji's water attack was immediately diffused into steam by a shot of fire from the master's right palm. He paused, exhausted, but the attack was already coming back at him. He fought it off with fire and earth, slicing the fire into parts with quick air moves, but could feel he was already at his end of the strip. He held his hands up in surrender and dropped to his knees.

"Come on, Keji." Takeda walked down the strip towards him. "You're off your game."

"I'm just... tired..." Keiji panted. Takeda offered him a hand and Keiji gratefully took it.

"Up late last night blasting off fireworks with your brother again, were you?"

"No!" Keiji said indignantly as they stepped into the shade and a couple of servants handed them towels. Takeda gave him a look. He bowed his head. "We may have... tried to sneak into the palace... again..."

Takeda laughed. "Why sneak in when you could walk in?"

"Where's the fun in that? Also, there's less likelihood of seeing his youngest daughter changing. Besides, we got caught. Knew I should have listened to Kazu and gone over the south wall."

"That wasn't my advice. My advice was break the south wall down." Kazu was sitting grinning like an imp at the two of them with a book in his hands.

"Ah, now, I think that constitutes abuse of your powers as Avatar," said Master Takeda with a laugh. "And here was I thinking you were the good brother, Kazu."

"What are you reading?" Keiji yanked the book out of his brother's hands to see the title. "A History of the Advances Made in Medicine by the Air Nomads - Kazu why are you reading this?"

"I wish I knew," Kazu said with a frown. "In hindsight, it was really a terrible choice of mine when presented with an entire library and only allowed to take six books."

"You get any bending books?"

"None you haven't already read. Why don't you try some nice history-"

Keiji snorted. "No thanks." It wasn't that he wasn't interested in- alright, so he wasn't interested. Kazu was always reading like he was hoping to find something new, reading so he would have just one extra nugget of knowledge to recommend him to the world. Keiji didn't need that. He was the Avatar. He needed to bend, and bend well. And be nice. As far as he could see, that was his only purpose and as long as he was fulfilling that, why should he bother-

and just as that nice long happy thought was concluding, Master Takeda decided to cut it off.

"Keiji, I have been speaking with your other teachers." The other three element teachers who, while all masters in their field, did not have the relationship with Keiji that Takeda had. "And we believe that it is time for you to expand your spiritual training."

"I meditate for ten minutes every morning to improve my Airbending," Keiji said proudly.

"Not for bending purposes. For the purposes of entering the Avatar State."

Keiji immediately drew his knees up to his chest. Kazu watched him carefully and- Keiji figured, unconsciously,- adjusted his scarf. Underneath it, Keiji knew the scar wrapped over his throat as pink and raw as it had always been. The first time Keiji Waterbent had been his first time in the Avatar State. His first and last.

"I don't want to," he said immediately to Takeda, shooting the older man a dark look. "And you can't make me. I can manage just fine without entering it. I just need more training."

He stretched his legs out and turned his back on his mentor and his brother and marched away. To where, he wasn't quite sure. To his room, or maybe the roof, or maybe to have another go at the Fire Lord's walls. Maybe his youngest daughter was feeling like taking a mid-morning bath...

The One And Only Kazu

Kazu clapped his book shut and watched little pebbles fly from the bending of his brother’s footsteps. “What are your thoughts on the matter, young Kazu?” A breeze flew by, ferrying the pebbles away with dust from his training session.

“I think,” he said, catching a floating leaf, staring at it, “he’s just fine how he is.”

Takeda was taken aback with surprise. “And I suppose you have no interest in traveling, seeing the world, hmm?”

“Well, I--” Kazu flipped to his feet, rolling his shoulders to pop the joints. “Keiji is so safe here. I know he’ll be alright as long as he has toes digging into fire nation soil, but.”

“But you know it is his duty, yes?”

Kazu looked at Takeda with wavering eyes. “Does he have to enter the avatar state?”

Takeda took in a slow breath, pulling flames from nearby burners. “The avatar is not just a physical master of elements: there is fire--” as the flame took the shape of the fire nation emblem, “water,” of the water tribes, “earth,” the mighty Earth Kingdom symbol,” and air.” The flames separated into the four distinct insignia of the nations, hovering between the two men. “Right now, Keiji has taken hold of bits of each of the fractals of nature.” He then let the flames vanish. “But there is a great entity that your brother has not acknowledged: the Avatar State is the ether between the segments, the ocean between lands.”

Kazu’s eyes wandered towards the walls where his brother’s distant form was still running.

“Besides,” Takeda said, kicking back against a rock, flipping a gold piece, “think of all the pretty girls in Ba Sing Se!”

Kazu’s ears perked, and he pursed his lips. “More beautiful than the Fire Lord’s daughter?”

Takeda sighed in awe. “As beautiful as the burning s--”

Kazu took off after his brother before he could finish, weaving and bobbing between trees and rocks to follow his path on the Barricade Wall. And when his sprint caught up with his brother’s march, he pressed his breath down through his wrists--two blazing plumes shooting him upwards into a front-flip, his feet landing squarely on the stone wall.

Keiji turned around and cocked his head to the side. “I thought it was your turn to train with Sifu.” He smirked. “Think you don’t need the training? Think you’re better than me already?” He playfully crouched into the Omashu stance.

“No, I just--” he rolled to the side to dodge a slab of marble zipping past his head. Setting his stance against his left hand on the stone wall, Kazu twisted his ankle, a gush of flame riveting out around Keiji, just for him to reciprocate. The brothers took hold of each other’s flames and circled around their torsos like eels around prey. The two shared a grin.

“Tui!”

“La!”

“Koh!”

They broke their stances, leaping back onto battlements of the wall. Kazu ignited a whip of flame, and Keiji broke it with a wheel of air, sending Kazu rolling off the wall and into a cherry tree below. Keiji hovered down on a disk of wind and picked a cherry from under Kazu’s arm. “Bad move, bro. Never go for the dragonmouse maneuver when your opponent is obviously going to town with a pigeoncat flip.”

Kazu grunted and twisted himself out of the tree’s thin branches, dropping to the ground in a rain of red fruit. “I think,” he said, brushing the leaves off his shoulders, “that you should follow Takeda’s suggestion.”

Keiji’s grin vanished instantly. He turned his back on his brother and threw out his arms. “Why would I?! I’m a perfectly fine avatar without turning into some weird voodoo glow mummy and hurting everyone around m--”

Kazu grabbed his shoulder. “I want to go with you.”

Keiji turned to face his brother, unsure. “Everything’ll change,” he said.

“So let it change!” Kazu looked out at the blue sky. “The world is so huge, with so many things to do and people to rescue!” He rolled his eyes sheepishly. “And, y’know, plenty of girls would die to meet the avatar.”

His twin thought on this, leaning back against the wall. A moment passed and a window opened above them, the Fire Lord’s daughter peeking out. “Can either of you can boil some tea for me? My servants are off-duty.”

The brothers glanced at one another before scrambling for the window.

Jiang | Island Between South Pole and Earth Kingdom

“Now listen you here you Elephant Rats and listen good,” Commander Sud pounded into the earth, causing quakes beneath the soldiers. “In only a few moments the Water Tribe will arrive, and despite what some of you may think, they are some of the toughest men you will ever fight. We cannot afford to prance around like the Air Nomads, we need to strike hard as a Viper Bat, be as quick as a Hog Monkey, and as skilled as a Badger Mole, you hear me?”

“Sir Yes Sir!” They screamed.

“Good!” Sud paced the front line. “You men are going to be our front line, you will be right in the action. This not a training exercise, where if you fail all you get is the stunkfish smell of General Ming’s breath in your face. If you do not act well you will fall, and you will put even more men at risk. Do you understand?”

“Sir Yes Sir!”

“Good.” Sud turned to the water, pulling out an out metal device. “Did I say to stand around and wait like a bunch of idiot? Get into position you Maggot Sloth!”

The men fled away from the scene, sliding down the cliff face in front of them, sprinting towards their positions. There they waited, in complete silence, for the men above to give the single. Down below it was a mess, the earth was torn apart from previous battles, blood stained the remaining bits of flora around them. The earth beneath them was dry, cracked in web like fashion, the top so hard it might as well have been stone.

Small squads of men were spread out through the area, uneven in number from the ongoing fight. Most of them young, fresh faces ripped from their homes and pushed into uniform. Maybe a bit of training if they were lucky.

“Jiang, get into battle position!” Barked Squad Fourteen’s head. “The Water Tribe could be here at any moment!”

“Oh bì zuǐ,” Jiang shouted, fixing his stance. “If they showed up I think I would have enough time to move my foot.”

“Lose the lip, or I will move you up to Squad 2, they’re missing a few men anyway.”

“Yes Sir.” Jiang turned his head, muttering something.

“What did you say?” The head stomped the ground, pulling Jiang mere inches from his face.

“I said you’re brain damaged, Lee, you cuckold.” Jiang smirked.
Lee took a deep breath. “I don’t have time to deal with you. We have an army on the way.” Lee bent the earth under Jiang, turning him toward Squad Fourteen.

Jaing stumbled forward, grumbling under his breath as he wandered over to the squad. “So I’m not important enough for you? Is that what you’re saying?” Jiang switched into battle stance. “I’ll show you important!” Jiang fell to the ground, pounding his fists into the earth as he did. Beneath Lee a pilaar began to rise, quickly stopped as Jiang sensed something.

“Wowa, those are some weird vibrations....” Jiang pounded the ground again, focusing on the source. It was strong, wearing at the earth, causing shifts weakly as it rushed by, small jets filling something...like the pipes in Ba Sing Se. “Lee! I think we might be in trouble. ”

Above them a horn blew, causing the men around him to shift into high-gear, sprinting towards their battle positions. “Lee!”

But everything changed when the water tribe attacked!

Suddenly the battlefield erupted, steam fogging everything in sight, burning drops of water falling from the sky. Jiang kept his ground, trying to make sense of it all. How was this even happening? How did the water get there? Where were the waterbenders?

Jiang flinched, feeling something rising below him. He flung himself out of the way, feeling the blazing water as it blasted out of the ground, turning the ground hot as fire. As he rolled away from the hot rocks he saw a shadow, rising from the water and into the steam-fog. Jiang dug his arms into the ground flinging the hot rocks toward the shadow of an enemy, drawing attention to himself.


The foe sent a burst of boiling, Jiang leaped to his feet, kicking a wall of earth in front of him to block. With a punch the wall shot forward to the Waterbender, quickly sliced in half by a whip of water, another burst headed right to Jiang. Jiang fell to the ground, burrying his arms into the earth as he did, sending a shockwave through the earth and collapsing the earth beneath the Waterbender’s feet, quickly tightening into a coffin before he could do any more.

Jiang moved over to his fallen enemy. “OH! What’s that? Water Tribe is so hard? We might die? Yeah Yeah!” Jiang started laughing. “Yeah right!” Jiang started laughing over the Waterbender, eyes closed, oblivious to the oncoming attack. While he was laughing the earth beneath him shook, falling apart before he could react, replaced by another geyser shooting him, and the Waterbender, into the air. The Waterbender smirked, surrounded his fist in a case of ice, and pounded it into Jiang’s face, a surge of water following that sent him flying away from the field.

The punch had done some damage to Jiang, unable to focus as he flew through the air, aware of his doom but unable to do much of anything as he fell. He barreled into the ground, the earth turned jagged in his path. As the dust cleared around him he tried to hold onto consciousness, hoping someone, anyone, had seen him fall. His eye caught onto a vague figure, his vision too blurry to make out anything. “You! Please!” Jiang shouted. “Can you help?” he said with desperation.

Akaik | War field on Island Between South Pole and Earth Kingdom

They were doing great, and the Earth kingdom was beginning to fall back. It wouldn’t be long now before they gained some ground back over them and got the upperhand over them once again. For a short while, the Earth kingdom seemed to have been rising back up from their loss back on the last battlefield Akaik had been posted on, even with their increasing loss of men. The Water tribe had lost an entire squad back there. Six of the men were declared missing, and not dead. She didn’t want to think of where those men were-- probably lost out in the Earth kingdom forest with whatever creatures lurked out there.

This battle was for those men. The ones lost and missing. Every battle was for someone, in Akaik’s mind, it’s what kept her fighting. She was avenging the deaths and losses of someone’s family, or friend. It was a hard thing to think about-- how someone out there hadn’t yet received the news that their father wasn’t coming home. She imagined how much harder it was to hear; ‘Son, your father has gone missing. No one knows where he is,’ with the knowledge that no one was even looking. This is what gave her the edge she needed to strike down the Earth kingdom soldiers without hesitation.

But of course, there were always her mother’s words in the back of her mind. “The greatest weapon of all, is forgiveness.” She never really understood what it meant, but it was a nice thought.

Which is why when she heard someone calling for help, she couldn’t resist the urge to go over and check it out. Somewhere in her head she just knew it wasn’t one of her fellow waterbenders asking for her aid, and she was right. Laying in the rubble was a rather beat-down looking earthbender. She almost turned away and left him there, to head back into the mess that this fight had become for them. Almost. She knew that she would get in trouble for this later, but she had to heal him. There was just something very not-right about leaving him there.

She took her stance and quickly pushed her hands out in front of her, then brought them up over her head to clear away the steam the other waterbenders had created, just over the two of them. The earthbender looked less than pleased to see her, like he had been expecting she was on his side.

“I don’t need a girl’s--”

Akaik quickly put a hand over his mouth to silence him. “I’m going to heal you. Be quiet,” she murmured, collecting water from the air around her hand while she spoke. “This girl is going to help you. Try not to get yourself beaten again, I may not be around to help.” Most people would have taken that as sarcastic humor, but Akaik was dead serious. “Now hold still.”

She brought the water down over his ribs, feeling for any breaks or wounds on him, but found nothing. Next she felt for his shoulders, but those also seemed fine. Finally she checked his head, which he had to have hit pretty hard because he had managed to give himself a slight concussion, and broke the skin on the back of his head. She focused her energy, and the water began to glow silver as she worked her healing on him. When she was positive it was healed, she let the water fall away and stood up again.

“Now take care of yourself out there.”

She raised her arms back over her head, and brought them down in an x-formation in front of her, letting them steam settle back over their clearing. She knew he could still see her form clearly through it, but she was more concerned about one of her captains seeing that little display than him attacking her. He wouldn’t do something so dishonorable right after she had healed him.

Right?

Keiji | The Firelord's Palace

"But then I said, never fear, dear citizens, for I am the Avatar!"

The Firelord's daughter Kula gasped and clapped her tiny hands. Kazu... rolled his eyes.

"And then with a-" he demostrated a few hand movements without the bending, punch, slice, double-punch, and made some good sound effects to go along, "I killed the deadly beast! And then they roasted him for the feast in my honour that night." He sat back in his chair and folded his arms.

"My brother fails to mention that the ferocious beast was a rather large koi fish and the citizens were a bunch of five year-"

"A giant koi fish! Gone mad with bloodlust!"

Kula sighed. "You must have been so scared, Avatar Keiji!"

"Of course, but the Avatar must face such fears to save those less able."

Kula batted her eyelashes and Kazu interrupted, "Your Highness, did I ever tell you about how I turned the sand of the cove at Ember Island to glass?"

"No." Her mouth turned into a perfect pink circle. "Do tell, Kazu!"

"Well." Kazu puffed his chest up now that it was his turn to impress her and began. "Ihadreadinasciencebookthatifyouheatedglass-Imeansand-uphighenougheventuallyitwouldturnintoglass exceptusuallythisonlyreallyhappensintheforgesoftheFireNationbutIdecidedthatIw-"

Kula's eyes were getting wide again, her feet tucked up on the chair and her perfect tiny hands wrapped around the cup of jasmine tea they had brewed her, and Keiji was smiling at her and not listening to Kazu when the door opened, and a terrible, booming voice filled Keiji with terror.

"What are you doing here?"

In simultaneous movements, he and Kazu were at the Firelord's feet. "Firelord Zorai," Keiji said. "Your daughter required aid with her tea and-"

"She has servants for that!"

"Yes, but Father-" Kula began, but he silenced her by holding a hand up.

"My daughter is very precious to me," said the Firelord. "And very delicate. I will not have hooligans in my house!"

Keiji dared to lift his head and flash him a smile. "But we're not hooligans! Did I ever mention that I'm the Avatar-"

--

"So I'm guessing that Kula's dinner invitation for next week no longer stands?" Keiji asked, rubbing his backside as they picked themselves up from outside the - now closed- doors of the palace.

"I somehow doubt it." Kazu flicked his hair off his face. "Sometimes you should really keep your mouth shut."

"I'm working on it." It was true, Keiji had tried keeping quiet. But in the end, he didn't see the point, because who could honestly resist his charm and good looks, and if he only explained that they had the best intentions at heart-

"The Masters aren't going to be happy about this, you know," Kazu said. "The Firelord will blame them for letting you get out of hand-"

"I know, I know. Don't think they're particularly happy with me anyway." Keiji sat on the low wall along the path and flicked his hair back. Kazu sat beside him.

"You could do it, you know," his brother said. "Go off, find a... spiritual teacher or guru or whatever. Who knows, it might even be fun."

Keiji looked at his hands. "I just don't see why- I'm strong enough as it is-"

"Sifu Takeda beat you today-"

"I wasn't thinking-"

"And you think that if you're in a fight for your life or for the lives of people you care about you're going to be completely focused on the battle?"

"Yes."

"Keiji." Kazu had his serious voice on. Keiji sighed.

"You know why I don't want to do it, Kazu. You know better than anyone."

"I know. But this way you'll learn to control the Avatar State. You won't do anything dangerous or stupid. Surely that's a better deal."

Keiji shrugged.

"Plus we'll get to go exploring."

He lifted his head. "Exploring?"

Kazu nodded. "Flying all over the world in search of a teacher, I expect. Think about it. Just you, me and Ryuu, three dashing young bachelors stealing hearts all over the place."

Keiji considered it more seriously. It did sound like a lot of fun, just him and his two oldest friends.

"And..." Kazu continued. "I hear there are some very pretty girls in the Earth Kingdom."

Keiji stared at him. "Prettier than Kula?"

Kazu cleared his throat. "I mean, very pretty girls who aren't clearly in love with your far handsomer brother." Keiji snorted. "But very pretty. Yes."

"Maybe it's not such a bad idea."

"Maybe not. We should go back and talk to the Masters." Kazu jumped up and offered Keiji a hand. He took it and stood up himself. "Besides, I don't think we're going to be welcome in the palace for quite a while. Maybe by the time we come back, Firelord Zorai will have forgotten about it."

"Unlikely."

"If not, maybe you can Avatar State it and knock down the South Wall of his palace as revenge."

"Seems fair."

Keiji bumped into Kazu as they walked. "Thanks."

Kazu shrugged and gave a modest smile and they continued walking home.

"Also, far handsomer?" Keiji challenged. "You could have gone for far cleverer or nicer or funnier, but in case you haven't noticed, we're identical."

"Nah, I have the whole rugged thing going on... you're too pretty-boy-Avatar-"

"Maybe I should try and grow a beard..."

Tashi | Traveling to Ba Sing Se

The terrain shouldn't have excited her. It was a dry, somewhat barren land; only sparse forests and arid mountains around, and there wasn't really anything to see.

But it was different.

These mountains, looking so empty of anything, were a stark contrast between the animals and plants and the general lushness of the air kingdom's mountains. Tashi tried not to stare at the river and all the people around her, instead staying in her seat and attempting to meditate, despite not having the room to cross her legs.

"Tashi," Sister Donha said from beside her. "I hope the boat isn't making you sea sick."

She glanced up quickly, only to look back down. "No, it's not."

The movement was similar to learning to control an air spout or wheel: turbulent. Tashi was not ignorant of this sensation, and knew she would have to feel it many times in the future until receiving her tattoos. Her hands were halfway to adjusting her pulled back hair before she caught herself. Her hands belonged in her lap.

She inhaled a bit too sharply when the boat docked. Thankfully she wasn't the only one who had lost their bearings and stumbled to the side. Except for Sister Donha. While Tashi had almost fallen into her lap, she hadn't moved. Tashi blinked, beginning to feel a spout of air next to her legs, around Sister Donha's. It faded as the boat settled and people began to leave.

She exhaled, nearly sighing. Sister Donha's comment said her feelings for her. "You have a lot to learn, still."

Tashi nodded and stood with her superior, head bowed and eyes trained on the older woman's feet.

I must not get distracted by the city. I must not get distracted by the city.

She still snuck glances at the secondary customs. Her mantra was soon broken when she caught sight of rectangular, windowed boxes sitting on rails. Despite her best efforts, she was now wondering what those were. As one filled up with people and... moved, she began wondering where they would take her.

And I get to live here?

At least, until Sister Donha determined where the Avatar was and what he was doing. The city apparently held a contact— who it was, Tashi hadn't been told— that had been receiving news about the fire boy. They were going to see him.

Hopefully she wouldn't get lost in the crowds.

Kazu | The Avatar Quarters

“Do you think it’s too much to take three volumes of Fourth Century Ba Sing Se customs?” Kazu turned to his brother and held up three thumb-width books in his left hand and met a cocked eyebrow in return.

Keiji returned to packing his weighted belts and anklets for training. “What about a book on kicking butt without selling your soul to a thousand dead people?” He dropped a pair of leather gloves into his bag and turned back to Kazu. “Do you have that one? Or was it checked out of the library when you looked? Because it definitely wasn’t there any time I looked for it.”

Kazu put his books down and sat on his bed, watching his brother. They just stared in silence.

A dragon bee buzzed by Keiji’s nose, and he twitched, sneezed out a snort of flame, and roasted the insect before it dropped to the floor.

“I already know you can kick butt without the avatar state,” he said, “but since no one else really knows yet, there isn’t a book on it.” He pondered for a moment. “That doesn’t mean we can’t write it ourselves, though.” The two shared a huge grin. “Imagine it--the Fire Nation’s best seller, Avatar Keiji: The Legacy of The Avatar Who Didn’t Need To Be!”

His brother thought for a moment, toying with a pocket knife. “Shorter titles are better,” he said and dropped the knife into his bag, “like you cut out all the stuff that interesting people skip over, and then you have a great book. Like. Keiji’s Legacy, or something catchy like that.” He fastened a buckle on his bag and put it over his shoulder, and then gave Kazu a very intense look that was getting way too frequent for the two of them. “We’re getting real close to the chickening out line.”

Kazu nodded and took up his own bag, leaving his books behind. “We’ll be back before you know it, I promise. And when we do, you’ll be the best bender there ever was.”

“I dunno, Master Takeda is pretty sick.”

Kazu walked backwards through the hanging tarp in their doorway. “He’s also very old, which means you’ll outclass him in no ti--”

He bumped into something solid and hot-breathed and turned around, eyes widening. “Uhm. Oh. Master Takeda!” Keiji came running out of their room, goofy half-grin vanishing.

“Sifu,” he greeted, bowing.

“Keiji, Kazu.” He nodded to both boys and brought a scroll from his robes. “I came to see you off properly with a useful gift.” He extended his hand to Keiji. “It is a map of the entire world, taken from an ancient library deep within the Earth Kingdom. While it will be useful to you, as soon as you find another map, I would like you to return it to its previous owner.”

Keiji looked at the rolled-up scroll, tossing it from one hand to the other before Kazu grabbed it and carefully stowed it in his bag with a scorning look.

“In addition to your gift, I have unexpected visitors for you!” Takeda moved aside, revealing their mother and father standing in the doorway.

The twins’ faces lit up as they ran to embrace their parents.

“This has been the longest two months of my life,” their mother said, pulling them both into a vice-grip of a hug. “And when Master Takeda sent word that you’d be leaving for a full journey, it nearly broke my heart, like in that wonderful production we put on when you boys were thirteen, The Heartbreak Of Being Worlds Apart in which I played the leading lady, Fire Lady Konami--” she trailed off, dabbing at her eyes to wipe tears.

Their father finally broke in. “What your mother means is that we’ll miss both of you massively, and that we are infinitely proud of you two.”

“It seems like just yesterday you two were hiding backstage in the theater after school while we rehearsed!” She held Keiji at arm’s length and squeezed his cheeks. “You always climbed on the sand bags,” she turned to Kazu and smiled, “and you were always correcting the grammar in the scripts! My little scholar.” She stepped back, nestling into the crook of their father’s arm. “But you’re both growing up so fast, and we wanted to help as much as we could--”

“--so we brought a new friend!” The towering man brought two fingers to his lips and whistled.

And as Kazu’s jaw dropped, in flew a mahogany hawk with a courier’s canister tied to its back. The bird hovered for a moment before taking its perch on Kazu’s shoulder, staring him in the eye.

Keiji pouted. “How come the bird likes you better?”

Kazu grinned. “Dunno, but I’m liking it so far.”

Takeda broke in politely, placing a hand on Keiji’s shoulder. “While reunions and sentiments are two of the greatest things on earth, I do believe it is time for your journey to begin.”

Their parents grabbed them up for one last hug as the boys took their bags onto their shoulders. Their father grabbed Keiji and gripped him tightly to whisper in his ear, “You’re the best of all of us, son.”

A knot caught in Kazu’s throat when he overheard. He walked to the front entrance, parting the draperies to peer at the winding dragon lying in waiting for them. He strapped his bag to the saddle on the beast’s back and took a long look at the size of the passenger space. “Master Takeda, you’ve given us enough room here for the entire cast of Cuzid the Lovebender, do we need so much room?”

Master Takeda simply shrugged, guiding Keiji out of the building. “As I believe you will learn over time, the Avatar has a knack for attracting many allies in his life. The trick is,” he gave an understanding nod to Kazu, “being cautious as to whom you let closest to you.”

As the boys loaded onto the dragon’s back, Takeda took a good, long look at his pupils. “Be sure to say hello to the Earth King for me! He has exquisite taste in literat--”

“KAZU!” A girl’s voice rang down the alleyway, catching the boys’ attention. A slender young girl in a hooded robe ran down the cobble path with something dangling in her hand. When she stopped in front of the group, she paused for breath. Ryu gave a large, smoking yawn and stared at her.

Finally, she removed her hood, making their parents gasp.

“The Fire Lord’s daughter!”

“Kula, what are you doing all the way out here?”

She climbed halfway up the dragon, pulling on Kazu’s hand until she stood on her knees, holding a worn-through black bandana with the royal emblem embroidered in the corner. “I want you to have this,” she said, tying it loosely around his neck, “for good luck.” Kula smiled sweetly as she looked at her handiwork, and sheepishly pulled forward to give him a kiss on the cheek. “Come back safe. For me.”

Kazu was doing his best to clear the blush off his face, but quickly nodded, thinking. And then he touched the old scarf around his neck, suddenly feeling the heat outside. “Y’know what, Kula,” he unwound the scarf and put a hand against the bandana covering his neck, half-smiling. “Take this, and we’ll trade back when we return, okay?”

The young fire girl held the garnet cloth to her chest and nodded, climbing down from the dragon. Master Takeda cleared his throat and nodded to Keiji, who nodded to Kazu, who nodded to their parents--and their mother was too busy glaring at Kula to notice. “Be safe, young ones. You will find your guide in Ba Sing Se, in the heart of the Earth Kingdom.”

Keiji took the reigns on Ryu’s back and wrapped the leather straps around his hands. “We’ll be back before you even miss us!” He gave a quick tug, and Ryu spread his wings, winding up onto his hind legs. “Let’s go, boy!”

The dragon lifted off the ground with a great gust of wind and slithered into the sunlit sky. It was only after they’d reached the bay outside the capitol that the boys finally talked.

“So Kula,” Keiji began, making Kazu’s embarrassing red blush come back.

“Yeah,” he replied.

“Does that bandana smell like her?”

“Overwhelmingly.”

“The next girl’s mine, then. Can’t be too selfish.”

Kazu kicked back in the sprawling space of the saddle and took a sniff of the bandana, smiling. “Fine, but if your spirit guide just happens to bring along an air nomadette, she totally counts. And you know those air nomad girls don’t date.”

Keiji thought on this for a while. “I could change her mind.”

“What if she has more tattoos than that circus performer we saw at that Fire Party last year?”

Keiji was very silent for much longer. “Then I guess she’ll have a lot of interesting arrow stories to tell.”

“Pfft,” Kazu said, “she’ll be tougher than you. Ten silver coins say so.”

“Make it fifteen to cover a nice Earth Kingdom dinner, and you’re on.”

“She’s gonna kick your butt.”

“I really like Earth Kingdom steak. Make it twenty.”