======== 65 - Avatar Yangchen ==========
Finding temporary shelter in a fishing town was perhaps not the quickest task, but it was certainly not the most difficult. Winding our way through the dirty streets, we got closer to the port, which, according to local stories, had once been destroyed by a powerful tsunami, while the rest of the city had been saved by Rok. It was there that we found our new lodgings.
The rooms offered an excellent view of the blue sea and the fishing boats ploughing through it. And even though the sound of workers' shovels could be heard everywhere and the windows smelled of fish, I had lived in worse places. Plus, there was a hangar where we could park the Appa, which they allowed us to do for free. They were helping Avatar, after all.
But perhaps it was the day when the trust between me and my friends was being tested.
From the command, you could see how everyone was on edge, Aang was struggling to keep himself from rushing to the aid of his beloved city. Sokka and Katara were holding themselves back so as not to slap Zuko, who was heating up the situation, and they were barely managing to control themselves. When asked about training or even a spiritual ritual to summon the spirits, they responded rather curtly:
"Call the Avatar again? I think after what happened last time, we should stop doing that," Katara said bluntly during the gathering at the common table. "I don't like seeing you and Aang fight. It's scary..."
"On the contrary, I really enjoy watching the fights..." Sokka raised his finger, only to receive an instant disapproving look from his sister. "But the last one really went too far. If the whole city gets hurt... I don't think I can take that responsibility."
Aang didn't say anything. Well, they all showed themselves to be surprisingly mature. Taking risks after what happened last time was really a bad idea, especially now that we don't even know if Aang will kill me, now that he's no longer the Avatar.
At the end of the day, having predicted some possible outcomes, I simply had to head to the hangar and spend the night with Appa. Just so that Aang wouldn't decide to take off in the middle of the night, giving in to his childish impulses. Who would have thought that someone else was thinking the same thing?
"Oh, I thought I was the only one worried about that," Tai Lee said, leaning on the sleeping buffalo. The girl smiled innocently and let me sit down next to her.
"So you don't want to help Aang fly away?" I asked, more to lighten the mood than out of serious consideration.
"So he can waste several weeks travelling? No, of course, I thought about the whole situation at first, but I realised that even here I can trust you. You swore," she said, blinking innocently, as if once again testing the bond between us. It was certainly nice to hear.
So we continued to sit next to each other throughout the night. Probably none of my team would have been surprised if we had caught Aang red-handed, but perhaps because of some degree of trust, or even belief in my righteousness, he never came. Instead, someone else crept into the hangar with the intention of stealing the bison.
An inconspicuous man in a hood and a black mask covering his nose, moving like a calm stream, peeked around the corner to survey his target. However, he only saw me sitting with Tai Li asleep on my shoulder. Our eyes met, and for a second there was silence. I raised the corners of my lips and shook my finger at him, warning him not to do that again.
How quickly this man got scared and ran away was not even worth mentioning. However, nothing else interesting happened during the night. We rested peacefully and met again at the hotel in the morning. Aang looked as if he hadn't slept at all and was just worrying about something, while Zuko, in turn, yawned sweetly, infecting everyone around him with the desire to repeat this wonderful morning ritual.
Only Katara was giving me strange looks, clearly unhappy about something and trying to support Aang at the same time. We had a strange relationship, caused more by our different personalities than anything else. After all, I didn't give in to childish desires and wasn't ready to put up with Aang's lack of understanding. That's why, for some, I may have been an older brother, but at the same time, I was such an archetypal tyrant who didn't allow anyone to do anything stupid. Like Katara that night.
How nice it was afterwards to look right and have every right to turn up my nose and say, "I told you so." At least, that's what I wanted to do when, after a couple of hours of tedious morning waiting, a member of the Order called us, and inside their secret lair, the elders showed us the letter that had been sent. I was lucky it came so quickly; I thought the wait would take a couple of days.
"I'll be happy to watch the fight that's about to happen," said Zuko, looking at me and Aang. The letter was in Sokka's hands, and he was looking at it closely, fighting off the expectant glances of his friends.
"Before I begin, I want to announce that in the event of a fight, I'm taking bets starting at one gold coin, and I'm putting my money on Dagoth," he said, seemingly in jest, but it caused such a storm of discontent that they almost beat the money out of him. Forced to finally open the letter, he began to read aloud in a solemn voice, "Um... 'Everything is fine, the warriors of Kyoshi have stopped a couple of incursions, and the soldiers are fighting back successfully. We can hold out forever.
"It's good to hear that Bumi hasn't lost his touch," smiled the members of the Order, who had recently caused panic among Aang. Aang reacted quickly to the name, greatly surprised, but said nothing.
"Well, Omasu is the second most fortified city in our kingdom, so this was to be expected.
Standing against their backdrop, Aang looked as if he had seen the world. Some were disappointed that there would be no fight, but at the same time somewhat impressed — Zuko's face was priceless when I proved to be right. Others looked at me as if I were their older brother who always told the truth — with respect and admiration.
Aang approached, holding his hands behind his sweaty neck, and offered his sincere apologies for everything he had said. As he said himself, he sincerely wanted me to be right, but his feelings for the place he once remembered were stronger than common sense. Katara felt like a fool, because last night she had almost made a mistake by giving in to the sad behaviour of her dear Aang. Yes, she had wanted to steal the bison herself and call Aang to come with her, to take responsibility for the escape and... now she realised that she should have thought twice.
If only she could put on her rose-coloured glasses and snuggle up to Momo, believing that she could disobey everyone and do whatever she wanted.
"Now grow up, Aang," I said, raising my voice so that the entire Lotus lair could hear me, drawing the attention of both the team and the elders riding on the Avatar. "I am willing to forgive your mistrust, but only this once. You haven't done anything wrong now, but trust in the people you respect will become the foundation of your character in the future. And you, Katara... if you squint every time I say something you don't like, you won't be any better. Learn to respect.
"...I am ready to summon any of my past incarnations again to prove my trust," after a couple of seconds of silence, the Avatar's tone changed from apologetic to extremely confident and strong. It was as if he had become a real stone, ready to accept any consequence.
Perhaps right now I had managed to lay the foundation for his earth magic. But I needed to play on his pacifist feelings, because if he agreed to summon another spirit, it had to be the most famous pacifist of the last five hundred years.
The location was perfect — we had left the city and stopped in a canyon-strewn area swept by a cold wind. This was where Sokka and I could develop our accuracy and hone our earth magic, but that was secondary. The main thing was to learn how to block lightning.
"So Aang is going to summon Avatar Yangchen, who is a staunch pacifist? "Sokka frowned. "Then you have to yell at her and start a fight. I believe in you, Dagot!
"Sokka, we're not switching places. I'll just summon her spirit and talk to her," Aang shook his head, sitting down in the Lotus position. He took his air nomad amulet in his hands and exhaled slowly, tuning in to the wave.
"I also hope that we can talk calmly and Yangchen will come over to my side," because all this was being done purely to bring Yangchen around to his way of thinking. True, he had no idea how difficult it would be, considering that she was a monk who honoured the traditions of Laghima, but there had to be a way. The question was, what?Soon, Afka and I sat down next to Aang. The rest just stood by and watched, hoping to catch a glimpse of this Yangchen... but since we had summoned her soul, only Airo could see her. Well, Tai Lee would probably be able to sense something too.
After Afka waved his tail, everything began to happen exactly as it had when we summoned Kuruk. Aang went into the spirit world, and a figure began to materialise out of the air: a semi-transparent lady in a dress that I had only seen in books — a female uniform from the Western Nomad Temple, with the same amulet that Aang had around his neck. On her head was an arrow, proof of her mastery of airbending, although she had apparently refused to shave her head.
Her peaceful gaze slowly scanned our group, focusing on the two of us. The difference between her and the lively Kioshi was immediately apparent; she did not try to announce herself loudly right away... well, Aang had a whole harem for every taste.
"Avatar Yangchen, nice to meet you," the bald boy, in turn, was somewhat excited, seemingly finding it hard to believe that he could talk to another nomad.
"I've been waiting for this meeting since my last conversation with Kuruk. Apparently, you intend to change this world?" The ghostly voice made him blink. She brought up the subject of conversation abruptly. Without even bothering to greet him, she made it clear that our agreement with one of the Avatars had not escaped her.
Did Kuruk know that it would be difficult to persuade her, so he prepared the ground? Apparently so, the spirit world is a strange place, Aang's past lives could well have crossed paths there and chatted about life. And if he helped in any way, she must now be thinking about helping us. At least, the idea should be in her head.
"Are you trying to make him change traditions that have been established for thousands of years and change his philosophy? However, judging by Yangchen's tone, it was clear that things were not going according to plan. She looked at me with empty eyes and shook her head disapprovingly. "I could discuss it, but only if the new philosophy does not involve violence.
"Oh, we're pacifists! - A smile spread across his face, and he pointed at himself and Aang.
"I know. But I said violence that involves serious bodily harm, and that's exactly what you do," Oh, damn. She reminded me of my time in the library, when I had the choice of taking the most severe oath, committing myself to the strict discipline of the nomads and never deviating from their views. Did she really adhere to such strict restrictions?
Living in isolation, enduring, unable to punch someone in the face, that was apparently what she wanted from me, and that was a problem. Literally no one could live like that now, and to my great relief, Yangchen, who had taken a breath, understood that too. She turned towards the sea and...
"There are many ways to show your love for life, including protecting it. Show your love by protecting innocent lives from a threat that is difficult to even predict. If you achieve this, I will gladly talk to you further. But right now, you are not worthy of discussing profound topics, because you are not ready to sacrifice your life for peace," she said, apparently throwing in a beloved delusion, and then she disintegrated into particles and simply disappeared. No hints or even explanations that in human language this meant "fuck yourselves."
But she didn't know that I was an expert at deciphering couch gurus.
"Choose: 1 - Natural disaster Dagoth (You begin to understand that you shouldn't visit places where something bad might happen. A giant tsunami is approaching the city, which was stopped by Avatar Roku over a hundred years ago. Repeat this feat and save the city from destruction. Become a disaster that no cataclysm can break. Attention, by overcoming the natural disaster, you will prove to Yangchen that you are ready to fight for peace against any threat) 2 - Life is more precious (There is no point in lying, you have little chance of repeating Roku's feat. However, if you leave the area where disasters are likely to occur, the city will be safe. Warning: you will not reach an agreement with Yangchen and will not learn the secrets of her magic)3 - Historical event (You can summon someone who has already dealt with the problem once before to Aang's location. Yangchen will consider this a wise move. Be careful, Aang's worldview will most likely shift back towards traditionalism).
"Why...