Tanza
The giant white owl didn't strike out. Instead, she tilted her majestic head, her starlight feathers rippling like silk. When she spoke, her voice was not a harsh screech, but a soft, feminine melody that echoed gently through the purple fog. It sounded like a mother humming a lullaby by a winter fire.
"Be still, heavy soul," The owl spirit breathed, her dark eyes reflecting the infinite night sky. "You are waking the ones who need to rest."
Tanza, or Tenya for now, didn't move. He kept himself positioned directly over Hachi, his arms spread wide to defend the small calf behind him. He kept his feet pressed firmly into the glowing blue moss, ready to strike when needed.
He glared at the owl spirit, 'Heavy soul?' He thought to himself, while the owl shook her feathered shoulders a bit while titling her head the other way, '...does that mean this thing can see one's soul?' He asked himself mentally. "Heavy soul?" He spoke back questioningly at the spirit.
She narrowed her eyes, thrusting a hand forward to point accusingly at the giant owl. But as she did, the gesture caught her completely by surprise. The hand stretched out before her wasn't the broad, calloused palm of the old salaryman. It was smaller, slender, and pale.
Tanya looked down at herself, and her jaw dropped. The tall, heavy frame of her first life was gone. Instead, she was standing in her second life's body—the female adult frame of Tanya von Degurechaff. She was still wrapped in the yellow-and-orange cloth of an Air Nomad, the robes pooling loosely around her small boots, but the physical reality of her past life was undeniable.
"What!?" Her voice came out incredulously, high-pitched and sharp, completely shattering the quiet of the hangar.
She frantically pulled a lock of hair over her shoulder. It was silver-blonde. She touched her face, feeling the sharp, intense features of the girl who had terrorized battlefields. She was back in her previous skin, but it was the skin of a commander who had fought a war against a self-proclaimed god.
Above her, the owl spirit tilted her head, her starlight feathers rustling as she watched the girl's soul violently shift and settle into its truest, most defensive shape.
"When mortals cross the boundaries into this realm, their flesh fades so their true inner self may be seen," The owl spoke again, her soft, feminine melody drifting like smoke through the violet mist. "Yet you are a remarkable creature. It seems the soul before me has more than one true self fighting for space."
Tanya was taken aback by the words, her jaw tightening as she lowered her hand from her silver-blonde hair. 'More than one true self'. The spirit could see them all—the salary man from the office, the ruthless commander from the trenches, and the little Air Nomad apprentice. Her secrets were laid entirely bare under those unblinking obsidian eyes.
Before Tanya could form a defensive reply, the giant white owl lowered her head slightly, a gentle wave of warm, starlit air rippling from her feathers.
"Forgive my intrusion, little traveler," the spirit murmured softly. "I am Bou You Va, the White Owl of the Night. I do not wish to harm you or your young beast." She shook her feathers a bit before settling back down, "But I must say, I have only come across a few Air Nomads over the centuries who can remember who they used to be." She remarked with a fascinated tone.
Tilting her head once again, Bou You Va spoke, "Most humans forget their previous names after they die. They rest in the quiet of this realm for a time, then they are reborn into the world with no recollection of the lives they left behind."
Bou You Va let out a soft, low sound—a gentle click of genuine amusement that echoed from the ice arches above.
"In truth, I nearly mistook you for the Avatar when you first stepped through the moss," the owl admitted, her starlight tail feathers swaying. "But I believe Roku is still very much alive in the world outside." she remarked, while turning her head at one eighty, "Afterall, a soul as bright as the Avatar's is hard to miss and see when it crosses over to a new cycle." she said before turning her head back to Tanya.
"But I must apologize for my confusion. My days and nights are spent across the world, guiding the wandering spirits who lose their way, and carrying the newly dead safely to the afterlife."
Tanya listened, her sharp blue eyes darting toward the floor. Around the larger, sleeping sky bison, the faint, translucent shapes of the local Water Tribe souls were resting peacefully in the blue moss. The souls and small spirits were using the bison's natural spiritual warmth, and were keeping them safe before their final journey.
The great white owl paused, her unblinking obsidian eyes widening slightly as she looked down at the silver-blonde girl.
"Forgive me," Bou You Va murmured softly, her melodic voice dipping with a trace of quiet embarrassment. "I do not usually speak so much to the living, nor do I share the details of my work. But I have watched over the threshold for thousands of years, and I have never encountered a soul that burns quite like yours. You are... an incredibly fascinating riddle!"
Tanya let out an annoyed, sharp scoff, her blue eyes narrowing. "I don't have time to be a riddle. How long are you going to be here?" She groused with a snippet tone.
Bou You Va shrugged her feathered shoulders slightly, her starlight plumage rustling. "I should stick around. It will be a while. For now, the spirits and the dead souls need some peace and quiet while I do my work to guide them to the spirit realm." She reasoned back.
Tanya glared at the giant owl, her hands clenching into tight fists. "And how long do you intend to use my calf and the other bison for your warmth? This hangar belongs to the village." She heatedly spat back, this spirit owl was causing discomfort to Hachi and the other bison, and she was doing so without having asked or even acknowledged that this place does not belong to her.
The white owl let out a low, musical hoot before she responded. "It will be until the solstice is over. Until then, odd soul, you should relax under my warmth." She cooed back.
With those words, Bou You Va gracefully spread her massive wings wide. The underside of her feathers didn't look like ordinary white down; they revealed a deep, cosmic expanse of swirling, starry indigo and glowing violet lights. As the wingspan opened, a gentle, invisible wave of ambient air rolled over the hangar floor. It carried a heavy, sweet scent of ancient midnight, instantly acting like a powerful sleepy spell.
Tanya felt her eyelids suddenly turn to lead. A terrifying wave of exhaustion slammed into her mind, urging her to just lie down in the soft blue moss, curl up next to Hachi, and surrender to the deep, spiritual slumber. Her knees buckled slightly, her adult frame swaying in the purple mist.
'No', her mind screamed, a hot surge of pure, venomous fury tearing through the fog of the spell. 'I will not be put to sleep like a helpless animal'.
Fighting through the crushing weight of the spirit energy, Tanya gritted her teeth, forced her eyes wide open, and brought both of her pale hands up.
SLAP!
The harsh, stinging clap of her own palms hitting her cheeks echoed violently through the silent cavern. The physical pain and the sudden rush of adrenaline shattered the sleepy spell instantly. Her skin burned a bright, angry red, but her eyes flashed with a lethal, wide-awake sharpness.
She snapped her head back up to glare at the giant owl, her chest heaving as she pointed an accusing, slender finger directly at the spirit's face.
"Don't you dare try to manipulate me!" Tanya snapped, her high voice dropping into a chilling, commanding bark that belonged on a bloody battlefield. "I am not one of your dead souls, and I am not going to sit around waiting for your schedule! Wake my calf up, or I will find a way to burn this entire sanctuary to the ground!"
But Bou You Va chortles, her melodic tone echoing through the high ice arches before she lazily waved a single massive wing through the air.
"So impatient," the owl spirit stated softly.
Tanya watched in pure frustration as the familiar, frosted walls of the village hangar suddenly began to tear and ripple like wet paper. The purple fog spun violently, displacing the solid ice floor beneath her boots with an entirely new, impossible landscape.
"I was merely helping you relax," Bou You Va's voice echoed, fading away like a distant memory as the world shifted.
Tenya stumbled blindly, his foot catching on a thick, twisted root that shouldn't have been there. He tried to rush at the place where the giant owl had just been standing, but his center of gravity was completely gone. He fell forward, catching himself heavily on his hands and knees.
Picking himself up with a low, frustrated groan, he looked down at his limbs. The pale, slender hands of the commander were gone. He was trapped in his male body again, staring at the broad, calloused palms and long arms of the salaryman.
He was in an entirely different realm.
"Spend some relaxing time in the Spirit World," the owl's voice trailed off in the wind above, sounding lighter and farther away. "I am sure you would appreciate it, being an air nomad after all."
Tenya whirled around, his boots sinking into soft, mossy earth. He glared at the empty, vibrant sky above him and yelled at the top of his lungs.
"Take me back! I'm not done with you!"
His deep, exhausted baritone rumbled through the clearing, but he got no reply. The heavy, magical silence of the Spirit World settled over him once more. The fierce blizzard of the South Pole, the village of Wolf Cove, and the shivering form of Hachi were entirely gone, locked away on the other side of a door he didn't know how to open.
Tenya gritted his teeth, his chest heaving as he looked around to survey his new surroundings. The air here was warm and sweet, completely devoid of the biting polar chill. Giant, weeping willow trees with glowing pink leaves hung low over a crystalline river that flowed backward, defying gravity. It was a place designed for absolute peace and meditation—a paradise for a proper Air Nomad.
Kelsang
The freezing gale ripped at Kelsang's heavy winter coat, but she didn't hunch against the wind. She walked with a deliberate, steady stride, her boots finding certain placement on the treacherous ice. Behind her, Valik and Lohoni kept pace through the blinding whiteout, their bone visors helping them peer through the blistering blizzard.
When they reached the wind-carved ridge, the specialized ice-dome hangar loomed out of the swirling snow. The thick, triple-layered hide doors were no longer flapping in the storm. Instead, they were sealed completely by a massive, solid wall of pale blue spirit-moss. The vines pulsed with a gentle, hypnotic light, completely out of sync with the violent blizzard raging around it.
Kelsang stopped a foot away from the barrier, her sharp eyes taking in every detail. She slipped her hands from her sleeves and held a single palm just inches from the glowing growth.
"The physical threshold is closed," Valik yelled over the storm, stepping up beside her with his heavy arms crossed. "My hand went straight through it earlier, but the moss has woven itself too tight now. We can't clear it with brute force."
Kelsang didn't answer immediately. She closed her eyes, letting her breath slow until it matched the rhythmic, low pulse of the spirit-moss. She didn't search for a way to break the wall yet.
Instead, Kelsang focused on finding the right spiritual tune to begin spirit bending. It was a secret art she had never shown to the temple elders, to Tanza, or to anyone else. She was still learning the technique herself, even though she was already a master airbender who lived a traditional nomadic monk lifestyle. Her long, private journeys across the world had allowed her to learn the hidden ways of energy bending. And right now, she was deeply worried for her apprentice. It was now or never to put her private skill to the test.
She turned her head slightly to look at the father and daughter. "If I'm not out by the end of the solstice, have the other airbenders notify my master Paaru that we are in need of dire help."
The two water tribe citizens gave Kelsang a firm, understanding nod.
Turning back on her heels, Kelsang faced the barrier with complete determination. With a sudden thrust of her hands, she reached out for the spiritual energy trapped inside the moss, tuning her own internal chi to match it.
Wisps of yellow energy started to gather at her fingertips that touched against the moss wall, while her eyes shined yellow as well.
Valik and Lohoni both took a sharp step back into the deep snow drifts, their jaws dropping behind their bone visors. They had seen Air Nomads summon ferocious gales and float effortlessly over the ice, but they had never witnessed an internal, radiant light like this. The golden chi flowing from Kelsang's hands didn't push against the spirit-moss with violent, physical force. Instead, it hummed at a deep, resonant frequency, singing to the ancient energy woven into the vines.
Kelsang gritted her teeth, her brow furrowing as the sheer weight of the two overlapping worlds pressed down upon her consciousness. Spiritual tuning was an exhausting, delicate art. One wrong movement, one lapse in her internal harmony, and the volatile energy of the solstice could rip her own spirit right out of her physical frame.
But she kept her focus locked. She listened to the pulse of the moss, adjusting the flow of her own chi until the golden light at her fingertips smoothly shifted, matching the pale blue vibration of the barrier perfectly.
Suddenly though, the steady connection fractured.
The glowing blue of the moss and the bright yellow of her own chi began to violently stutter. A harsh, static-like crackle hummed through the air as the two energies resisted each other. The smooth, matching light instantly warped into a chaotic distortion of clashing, unstable colors—angry purples, flashes of hot crimson, and blinding whites exploded across the threshold.
Kelsang gasped, her body locking up as a terrifying, cold pull yanked at her center. The volatile spiritual energy of the solstice was pushing back, threatening to rip her soul completely apart from her physical flesh.
Behind her, Valik shielded his face with a heavy arm, while Lohoni shouted something over the noise, her voice drowned out by the spiritual hum.
'No!' Kelsang thought, her teeth grinding together so hard her jaw ached. She refused to lose her grip.
With a massive surge of raw determination, she forced her mind clear of fear and focused entirely on the living bond she shared with her apprentice. While it would have done her no favors as an air nomad, it was entirely different for energy bending.
She threw every ounce of her willpower into her hands, forcing her chaotic chi back into a steady, rhythmic pattern. The wild, clashing colors began to recede, fighting their way back into a harmonious blend of yellow and pale blue.
The distortion snapped back into perfect sync.
The moss wall parted and it completely lost its solid form beneath her fingers. With her balance restored and her energy perfectly tuned, the physical resistance vanished entirely. The forward momentum of her heavy stance carried her right over the line, and she fell cleanly forward, tumbling straight through the glowing threshold.
The freezing gale, the chaotic colors, and the shouting voices of the Water Tribe hunters disappeared instantly.
Kelsang hit the floor with a heavy, muffled thud, catching herself on the soft ground as she rolled onto her side. She quickly pushed herself up, blinking away the lingering golden glare from her eyes to take in her new surroundings.
She was inside.
The hangar was entirely devoid of the polar winter. The space was dead silent, filled with a thick, warm, and swirling violet fog. The floor was no longer stone or ice, but a lush carpet of pulsing blue spirit-moss. Right before her lay the massive, translucent forms of the sleeping sky bison herd, surrounded by the peaceful, glowing spirits and few dead soul wisps.
And hovering right above them, staring directly down at her with unblinking, obsidian-black eyes, was Bou You Va.
"...I never thought we'd meet again like this..." Bou You Va remarked, a curious and amused tone. "Kelsang, how long has it been, five, ten, maybe twenty years?" she tilted her head, "so hard to know, all the years just don't matter when you live as long I have... hoo hoo!" she chortled.
Kelsang slowly stood up from the soft spirit-moss, brushing off her heavy winter coat as she let out a long, slow breath. But a frown kept its hold on her face, her apprentice was nowhere to be found in here, but confronting a spirit she's met before was a bit of a startling surprise after…
"Fifteen years, Bou You Va," Kelsang replied, a calm and succinct tone leaving her lips. "It was during the summer solstice in the mountains near the Eastern Temple. You were guiding a flock of lost cliff-spirits home." she answered offhandedly, before she would start interrogating this spirit.
The giant white owl ruffled her starlight feathers, her obsidian eyes shining with recognition. "Ah, yes. The mountains. You were just a young traveler then, poking your nose into places where the veil was thin. And now you return to me as a master, it looks like, forcing your way into my sanctuary with that same stubborn energy!"
She shook her head at the owl, "I wouldn't have broken your threshold if it wasn't an emergency," Kelsang said, her tone growing serious as she stepped closer to the sleeping sky bison herd. She looked down at the empty space in the moss where she knew her apprentice should have been. "My young student, Tanza, ran in here before the barrier was sealed. I can feel the trace of her spirit, but she isn't in this room." she steadily glared at the owl.
Bou You Va didn't flinch under the master's intense gaze. Instead, she tilted her head almost completely around, her feathers rustling softly as she let out a low hoot.
"The little girl," the owl spirit murmured, her feminine melody dripping with a strange, lingering wonder. "Yes... she was here. A very remarkable, very impatient creature. She threatened to burn my sanctuary to the ground simply because I asked her to rest."
Kelsang's frown deepened. That…was concerning. But she could sympathize with the idea… her eyes traced to the sleeping form of Hachi and the rest. Her apprentice was no doubt worried for her Bison, and while young, quickly resorted to threats for the Bison she's grown fond of.
She has seen her apprentice pet and play with her bison when she thought no one was watching in seclusion. She shook her head.
"Where is she, Bou You Va?" Kelsang demanded, her voice dropping into a firm, commanding register. She stepped right up to the moss-covered crate, her boots sinking into the pulsing blue vines. "The solstice wild is no place for a child's soul."
The owl hooted in amusement, before she responded to Kelsang. "She is no longer a child in this realm, Kelsang, or rather, was never a child in the first place/" the white owl countered smoothly, her massive obsidian eyes reflecting the starry expanse beneath her wings. "When she stepped through the veil, her shell cracked. I saw what lies beneath her skin. She carries the weight of a thousand fires, and a soul that has lived entirely different lives before this one."
Kelsang paused, her eyes widening just a fraction. The elders had claimed Tanza was unusual enough to see that she must have been an old soul of an airbender, but hearing an ancient archivist of the dead confirm that the girl remembered her past lives was a massive revelation.
"She was far too loud for the peaceful souls resting here," Bou You Va continued, waving a single, majestic wing toward the thick violet fog at the back of the hangar. "So, I did her a favor. I sent her to a quiet, gentle corner of the realm to learn how to relax." The owl tilted her head at her, "If you want her back, you had better go chase her down before she stumbles into something she cannot fight." she hooted in calm amusement.
Kelsang didn't waste a single second processing her shock. The revelation of Tanza's past lives was a massive puzzle for another day; right now, the immediate survival of her student was the only priority that mattered. She looked past the giant owl, staring straight into the thick violet fog rolling at the back of the hangar.
"You shouldn't have interfered, Bou You Va," Kelsang said, her voice matching the cold, unyielding gravity of the storm outside. "But if you won't bring her back, then I am going in."
The white owl shuffled her talons on the moss-covered crate, her starlight feathers rippling. "The paths of the deep realm are shifting tonight, monk. Are you certain you can find her without losing your own anchor?"
Kelsang didn't answer. Instead, she stepped away from the crate and moved toward the center of the nursery, dropping gracefully to her knees on the soft carpet of pulsing blue spirit-moss. She crossed her legs into a tight, traditional meditation posture, resting her hands lightly on her knees.
Taking a long, slow breath of the warm, violet air, she closed her eyes.
She didn't try to use her physical airbending to move through the fog. Instead, she leaned heavily into the energy-bending roots she had practiced in secret. She cleared her mind of the roaring blizzard outside, the sleeping bison, and the watching owl, focusing entirely on the unique, jagged frequency of Tanza's spirit.
Wisps of that familiar, bright yellow chi began to bleed out from Kelsang's seated physical form, enveloping her like a radiant cocoon.
With one final, deep exhalation, Kelsang cast her consciousness forward, letting her spirit detach from her physical flesh. Her soul pushed through the heavy violet fog, plunging directly into the shifting currents of the deep Spirit World to find her apprentice.
Tenya/Tanya/Tanza
Letting out a growl of annoyance, he found himself right back at the spot he had started from. It wasn't because he was lost, but simply because going any further away from this clearing would probably take him to a place he wasn't meant to be.
For what felt like hours, Tenya traveled in exact, calculated patterns to get a lay of the land. As he marched through the strange forest, he passed by unusual animals that fled from the mere sight of him. Some of the hidden spirits even whispered to one another as he passed, their voices rustling like dry leaves as they called him an "old soul," a "smelly soul," or a "weird human."
But now, as he returned to his starting point after doing an hour of careful recon to find a possible exit—of which he had found absolutely none—the sheer frustration of the situation broke his hold on his form.
With a sharp sigh, Tanya sat down on a thick root, grousing as her silver-blonde locks fell forward to frame her face. Her hands clenched into fists against her yellow-and-orange robes. Dealing with her shifting shape was turning into a complete nightmare. When she was analytical, the man returned; when she was furious, the commander took hold.
She closed her eyes, trying to force her breathing into a steady, controlled rhythm. If she couldn't find a physical door out of this colorful prison, she would have to figure out the local laws of this realm to force her way back to Hachi.
Suddenly, the warm, sweet air of the pink-leafed forest rippled.
A brilliant, pulsing glow of golden-yellow light began to manifest at the center of the clearing, cutting through the vibrant landscape. Tanya immediately snapped her eyes open, her instincts flaring as she stood and bent her form into a low, defensive crouch, ready to strike at whatever entity was invading her space.
But as the golden light settled, it didn't reveal a terrifying monster or another chatty bird spirit.
Out of the radiant energy emerged the tall, steady form of Kelsang. The Air Master's spirit looked exactly as she did in the physical world, wrapped in her heavy winter coat, her expression calm and searching. She blinked, shaking her head as she adjusted to the deeper realm, before her sharp eyes instantly locked onto the silver-blonde girl crouching in the moss.
Tanya froze, her breath catching in her throat. Her master had actually followed her into the dark.