Years pass, and while the world outside the Si Wong Desert continues to change and shift, the Nomads within continue to exist as they always have. In particular, a pair of Nomads relax at an oasis, one that has served their people for a long time. At the water’s edge, they watched their child play in the clear water to escape the heat of the desert. As they did, there was a shift in the back of the skiff, hidden beneath a tarp that their young child had been trying to peek under all day only to be shooed away by whichever parent was not in charge of piloting the skiff.

But now, it was the perfect time. It was their child’s birthday, and they had gotten something good for them. A companion, a friend, and a responsibility. They were known amongst their commune to spoil their child a little, but this would be both a gift and a duty, where the child would be forced to care for a life while benefiting from a friend.

What did the two get for their child?

>A Rhinoceros Beetle grub, a well known pack animal in the Si Wong desert and renowned for its strength and ease of traveling the desert. Though not the cuddliest, the grubs are friendly to children and they can bond with a person who earns their trust.

>A boar-Q-Pine Piglet, a beast found commonly around the earth kingdom and known for its ferocity, it would prove a valuable ally and protector once grown, if it grew to love its owner.

>A fox Antelope, a clever creature that routinely migrates across the Si Wong desert, and has a close association with the Knowledge seeking foxes of Wan Shi Tong’s Library. It is only a Kit, and will be a handful, but an adorable one.

>A Shirshu, a blind mole-like creature known for its tracking ability. It’s tongue can be dangerous even as an infant, but it is well known as a loyal beast according to legend.

>>5580038
>Shishu
We will need to learn to be cautious and careful. Such is the way.

>>5580038
Yoooo Avatar quest. Very nice
>A fox Antelope, a clever creature that routinely migrates across the Si Wong desert, and has a close association with the Knowledge seeking foxes of Wan Shi Tong’s Library. It is only a Kit, and will be a handful, but an adorable one.

>>5580038
>A Shirshu, a blind mole-like creature known for its tracking ability. It’s tongue can be dangerous even as an infant, but it is well known as a loyal beast according to legend.
Ah, an earthbender avatar. Me like.
Perhaps we can invent the art of bonebending in contrast to bloodbending?

>>5580038
>A boar-Q-Pine Piglet, a beast found commonly around the earth kingdom and known for its ferocity, it would prove a valuable ally and protector once grown, if it grew to love its owner.

>>5580038
>>A fox Antelope, a clever creature that routinely migrates across the Si Wong desert, and has a close association with the Knowledge seeking foxes of Wan Shi Tong’s Library. It is only a Kit, and will be a handful, but an adorable one.

>>5580060
>>5580041
2 for Fox Antelope

>>5580050
>>5580040
2 for Shirshu

>>5580055
1 for Boar q Pine

Let's wrap up the vote in about ten minutes, then i'll get another post out before i head to bed

>>5580090
Only now do i realize i put the title and name in the wrong spots

>>5580038
>>A fox Antelope, a clever creature that routinely migrates across the Si Wong desert, and has a close association with the Knowledge seeking foxes of Wan Shi Tong’s Library. It is only a Kit, and will be a handful, but an adorable one.
Cute fox companion.

>>5580100
>>5580090
Fox antelope it is, writing

File: smile-laughing.gif (297 KB, 220x220)

297 KB GIF

>>5580094

>>5580038
I'm digging this, QM. Looking forward to more.

>>5580038
>A Rhinoceros Beetle grub, a well known pack animal in the Si Wong desert and renowned for its strength and ease of traveling the desert. Though not the cuddliest, the grubs are friendly to children and they can bond with a person who earns their trust.

>>5580112
The introduction had been everything the two young parents had hoped for, barely containing excitement held back only by the fear of scaring the small creature. It took some time, shorter than what the man and woman had expected, but as they sailed across the desert back home they were able to see their child cuddled protectively around the Fox Antelope Kit, the animal’s tail wrapped affectionately around the child.

Years would pass, and both Child and Kit would grow as all Si Wong Nomads did, learning the means of surviving the hostile terrain of their ancestral home and coming to understand their culture. Even at a young age the child showed a talent for bending, and by the time they were to begin helping the commune they had become a skilled Sandbender, with even some self taught classical earth bending alongside these skills limited only due to the lack of bendable stone available.

They learned of their people’s ways, how they traveled across the desert, scavenging what they could and sharing amongst their clan, ferrying travelers across the desert in exchange for goods and money that could be traded with the beetle-headed merchants. And on the 16th birthday, their father brought them on one of the most sacred tasks their people did, a task that since its renewal had been treated with the utmost seriousness and reverence.

The guiding of travelers to or away from Wan Shi Tongs Library. Early in Avatar Korra's time as Avatar, Wan Shi Tong made the decision to give humanity another chance, and after a time brought the library back to the Si Wong Desert and renewed the ancient partnership with the Si Wong Nomads. In exchange for protecting the library and ensuring those that sought it would not abuse the knowledge, the Nomads would be welcome in his library.

Such an honor was seen as sacred to the Nomads, and so on the child's first pilgrimage to the Library, they had been excited to see the fabled Knowledge spirit, and to look upon endless shelves of knowledge from around the world. But they never did, their Father judging the pilgrim to not be worthy of the knowledge and instead abandoning them on the far side of the desert, close enough to a town to survive but with no way of finding the library on their own.

(Cont)

>>5580150
This would happen a few times, as very few managed to pass the judgment of the Nomads. They were not allowed to bring anything save their tribute of knowledge, and were fed and watered by the nomads. The pilgrim had to have faith in the Nomads, who bore a sacred symbol upon their skimmers that was forbidden to be used by anyone else, and do nothing to anger the nomads. If the pilgrim attempted to leave a trail, they would not be worthy. If they attempted to map the way, they failed. If they attempted to bribe, threaten, or force their way to the library they would be forever banned from the journey. It would be 14 such pilgrimages before finally, the child came to the Library, and their father brought them inside for the first time.

There, standing at the mouth of the cavernous Library, they finally met Wan Shi Tong, he who knows ten thousand things. The pilgrim donated an old tome, an autobiography written by an ancient Avatar. Though Wan Shi Tong said he possessed a copy of the tome, he was impressed that the offered tome was in the original language of the avatar and thus left without Linguistic drift, and welcomed the scholar warmly.

Then, he turned to face the Child and their father, and the Spirit's eyes fell entirely on the child.

What did Wan Shi Tong see?

>A young lady near 18 years of age, with black hair tied in a braided tail and darkened skin.

>A young man, almost 18 years old with black hair cut short on the sides and back but left shaggy on the top of their head.

>A teen aged Sandbender, that’s all Wan Shi Tong could see, save that their hair reached their neck and their skin was a burned bronze.

>>5580152
>A teen aged Sandbender, that’s all Wan Shi Tong could see, save that their hair reached their neck and their skin was a burned bronze.

https://youtu.be/C3lWwBslWqg

>>5580152
>>A young lady near 18 years of age, with black hair tied in a braided tail and darkened skin

>>5580152
>A young lady near 18 years of age, with black hair tied in a braided tail and darkened skin.

>>5580152
>A young man, almost 18 years old with black hair cut short on the sides and back but left shaggy on the top of their head.

>>5580152
>A young lady near 18 years of age, with black hair tied in a braided tail and darkened skin.
oooooo how far back in history are we?

>>5580152
>A young lady near 18 years of age, with black hair tied in a braided tail and darkened skin.

>>5580152
>A teen aged Sandbender, that’s all Wan Shi Tong could see, save that their hair reached their neck and their skin was a burned bronze.
Mystery choice!

>>5580177
>oooooo how far back in history are we?
>' Early in Avatar Korra's time as Avatar, Wan Shi Tong made the decision to give humanity another chance'
We're not, we're in the future.

>A young man, almost 18 years old with black hair cut short on the sides and back but left shaggy on the top of their head.

>>5580152
>>A young lady near 18 years of age, with black hair tied in a braided tail and darkened skin.

>>5580152
>A teen aged Sandbender, that’s all Wan Shi Tong could see, save that their hair reached their neck and their skin was a burned bronze.

>>5580152
>A young lady near 18 years of age, with black hair tied in a braided tail and darkened skin.

>>5580152
>A young lady near 18 years of age, with black hair tied in a braided tail and darkened skin.
I find it amusing that it's going to take meeting what's basically a god of knowledge and intelligence for to find out they're the Avatar.

>>5580152
>A young man, almost 18 years old with black hair cut short on the sides and back but left shaggy on the top of their head.

>>5580152
>A young lady near 18 years of age, with black hair tied in a braided tail and darkened skin.

>>5580152
>A young lady near 18 years of age, with black hair tied in a braided tail and darkened skin.

>>5580152
>A young man, almost 18 years old with black hair cut short on the sides and back but left shaggy on the top of their head.

>>5580152
>A young man, almost 18 years old with black hair cut short on the sides and back but left shaggy on the top of their head.

So. Any ideas for a name for our lad/ laddette/ Ladthingy?

>>5580152
>A young man, almost 18 years old with black hair cut short on the sides and back but left shaggy on the top of their head.

>>5580152
>Young man

>>5580170
>>5580161
>>5580177
>>5580178
>>5580191
>>5580211
>>5580225
>>5580236
>>5580240
9 for female

>>5580453
>>5580274
>>5580230
>>5580186
>>5580175
5 for male

>>5580156
>>5580185
>>5580200
3 for androgynous

female wins, writing

>>5580527
for names, i recommend names from the Tuareg people, as the culture group has some notable similarities to the sand benders according to the wiki and a quick glance over their wiki page.

>>5580568
>for names, i recommend names from the Tuareg people
Not sure how accurate it actually is, but there is apparently a random name generator for this https://www.fantasynamegenerators.com/tuareg-names.php for anyone that needs help with name ideas, cuz I sure as hell do

Wan Shi Tong looked upon the child of Ilatig, and tilted their head as they looked upon the female human with interest. Physically, they were of average height and build for a Si Wong Nomad of their age, perhaps a bit more developed physically in some ways such as muscle definition and bone structure. Their Si Wong ancestry was strong, but there were clearly hints of Southern water tribes in there as well, most notably in their teal eyes whereas the norm would be a stronger and darker green or brown for someone of the earth kingdom. Great Great Grandmother perhaps, Wan Shi Tong seemed to recall a brief time where the Si Wong Nomads received a few escaped warriors and a bender or two during the first half of the hundred year war.

Wan Shi Tong however, filed the physical shell’s appearance away and looked beyond the flesh, and gazed upon the spirit. He could sense it, see it within, though dimmed due to the damage it had sustained from its previous incarnation, Wan Shi Tong gazed upon the Avatar’s newest form. He had never seen an Avatar so young and early in their development, and though the spirit within was refined and powerful, it lay beneath a young soul that had yet to truly discover itself. Wan Shi Tong first considered telling Ilatig that their child was the avatar and all that meant for both him and his daughter. But he did not, as the ancient owl considered the opportunity presented to him.

“Welcome Ilatig, I once more thank you for bringing me a worthy scholar to share my Library with.” Wan Shi Tong said, the owl spirit towering over the Nomad even as he bowed his head politely.

Ilatig and his daughter both bowed in return, deeper than the Owl spirits out of both reverence and respect “You are welcome Lord Wan Shi Tong, as always I am happy to help protect your home. It presented a good chance to bring my daughter to finally see the Library,” he said, standing up and rustling the young lady’s hair, making her lean away and attempt to slap away his hand light heartedly “This one was starting to get impatient with all the failed pilgrims we picked up lately.”

“Ah yes,” said the Owl Spirit, leaning forward and gazing into the eyes of the young woman, who froze up at first when they locked eyes with Wan Shi Tong, but to the Owl’s amazement, her eyes soon filled with wonder and joy looking upon the spirit. He senses a far more open soul within than the previous Avatar, truly fortuitous. “I had sensed Ziri had been with child, is she well?” He asked, summoning a fox to retrieve a desired tome.
(Cont)

File: Owl.jpg (38 KB, 810x726)

38 KB JPG

>>5580643
“Oh yes she’s well recovered, she’s just been doing more work with the caravans as of late, dealing with the outlanders.” Ilatig said, though the way he spoke of them, he likely did not care for those who lived outside the Si Wong desert. While respectful and prone to befriending those Pilgrims who would be allowed into the library, Ilatig was well known amongst the Nomads for his distaste for the peoples who encroached on the Si Wong Desert or lived on its borders. A combination of both the failed pilgrims he routinely had to ferry across the desert, and more recent times as large groups attempted to force their development or greedy desires on the Si Wong desert.

A fox arrived with a tome, and presented it to Ilitig, an old Air nomad tome detailing various remedies and techniques for improved health in spirit and body, to study while he was here. “Good good, now then. The scholar has been allowed a week to peruse the shelves of my library due to his donation, so I invite you and your daughter to do the same. As usual, meals, rooms, and a bath shall be provided as long as you do not bring anything from the library to your rooms or out of the library.” He said, before leaning down and once more locking eyes with the Young woman “Is that understood miss…?”

>Safiyya, a name meaning Pure, given to you as your parents had been overwhelmed by the rapture of your birth.

>Tatsut, a name meaning Spring as you were new life to your mother who had given up hope of bearing children.

>Takama, a name meaning Warmth, a name given to you when your mother held you in her arms for the first time and held you from the desert cold.

>Kahina, a name meaning My daughter, given to you by your father in honor of his his own mother who had passed away a few weeks before.

>other?

>>5580645
>Tatsut, a name meaning Spring as you were new life to your mother who had given up hope of bearing children.

>>5580645
>Tatsut, a name meaning Spring as you were new life to your mother who had given up hope of bearing children.

>>5580645
>Kahina, a name meaning My daughter, given to you by your father in honor of his his own mother who had passed away a few weeks before.

>>5580645
>>Safiyya, a name meaning Pure, given to you as your parents had been overwhelmed by the rapture of your birth.

>>5580645
>>Kahina, a name meaning My daughter, given to you by your father in honor of his his own mother who had passed away a few weeks before.

>>5580653
>>5580715
2 for Tatsut

>>5580815
>>5580716
2 for Kahina

>>5580790
1 for Safiyya

>>5580645
>Safiyya, a name meaning Pure, given to you as your parents had been overwhelmed by the rapture of your birth.
Sorry for the 3 way tie but I really like the name

>>5580863
No worries

>>5580645
>Safiyya, a name meaning Pure, given to you as your parents had been overwhelmed by the rapture of your birth.

>>5580928
>>5580863
And these break the tie, writing

>>5580645
>Kahina

A tong who doesn't hate us? I'm giddy.

>>5581096
OOps.

Sorry GM, missed that there.

“Safiyya, Lord Wan Shi Tong. I’ll do nothing to harm your collection or betray your trust.” You said, standing proper in the presence of the great spirit. Your father had made it clear how important the relationship between your people and the spirit was, and you felt the pressure to not damage it by accident, especially with Wan Shi Tong still having reservations about humans.

The owl spirits gaze lingers on you, forcing you to look at your own reflection in the black pits that were his eyes. After a few moments, he turned and began to walk away, you letting out a held breath as you relaxed. His words made you jump a bit despite their calm and welcoming tone “Enjoy the library then, and please seek aide of my assistants or myself should you need it.” With that, he spread his massive wings, stepped off of a bridge that was held above a seemingly endless pit, and disappeared into the depths below.

You had to be pulled from the edge by your father, your gawking cut short as he let out a quiet laugh and pulled you along. You had made a good impression, he said, and probably caught the Owl in a good mood. “He’s usually pretty curt to anyone he hasn’t met before, and only started being friendly to me about a couple years ago.”

You quickly ate and washed yourself, before following your father back out to the Library’s main halls. The knowledge collected for millenia was available to you, though your father would be accompanying you in at least this first visit, to make sure you knew how to behave in the library.

For the first few days, you wandered around and mindlessly read various books, trying to find things that may interest you. You found some interesting things, such as a book that depicted a mythical lion turtle. You wandered and briefly passed by a large room meant to simulate the night sky on days chosen by a center plinth, and you also paid respects to a skeleton of a scholar who vowed to spend eternity in the library.
(Cont)

>>5581248
In the final three days though, you found something that caught your interest. You had wandered off from your father, and been simply following the shelves mindlessly, a song you didn’t know the lyrics to being hummed out by your aimless body. Then however, your hand caught on a book, and you fumbled and panicked as you briefly juggled it until safely catching it without any damage.

The boom caught you focus, and you would spend the rest of your time in the library studying it.

What did you study?

>The life of Avatar Kyoshi, the previous Avatar of the earth kingdom and renowned warrior. Her 230 years of life placed her as the longest lived avatar, and thus her biography was rather thick.

>A recently restored time depicting the history of fire bending, as well as its cultural roots with lost cultures. The cover was dominated by a blue dragon and a red one, and they appeared to be dancing.

>A treatise on engineering in the modern day, a thick and heavy book that was a strain to even lift. Within it spoke of the principles of invention, the history of its role in the world, and some interesting designs and schematics from the last one hundred years.

>A rather light time containing Hymns, idioms, poetry, and philosophical ideas and concepts, written by an unnamed author near the end of the 100 year war between the fire nation and the world. On its cover, was a white Lotus.

>>5581249
>A recently restored time depicting the history of fire bending, as well as its cultural roots with lost cultures. The cover was dominated by a blue dragon and a red one, and they appeared to be dancing.

>>5581249
>A recently restored time depicting the history of fire bending, as well as its cultural roots with lost cultures. The cover was dominated by a blue dragon and a red one, and they appeared to be dancing.

>>5581249
>Avatar Kyoshi

Her earthbending was legendary. Though her practices were questionable

>>5581249
>>A treatise on engineering in the modern day, a thick and heavy book that was a strain to even lift. Within it spoke of the principles of invention, the history of its role in the world, and some interesting designs and schematics from the last one hundred years.

>>5581249
>The life of Avatar Kyoshi, the previous Avatar of the earth kingdom and renowned warrior. Her 230 years of life placed her as the longest lived avatar, and thus her biography was rather thick.

>>5581249
>>The life of Avatar Kyoshi, the previous Avatar of the earth kingdom and renowned warrior. Her 230 years of life placed her as the longest lived avatar, and thus her biography was rather thick.
Best Avatar

>>5581249
>A recently restored time depicting the history of fire bending, as well as its cultural roots with lost cultures. The cover was dominated by a blue dragon and a red one, and they appeared to be dancing.

>>5581249
>>A recently restored time depicting the history of fire bending, as well as its cultural roots with lost cultures. The cover was dominated by a blue dragon and a red one, and they appeared to be dancing.

>>5581249
>The life of Avatar Kyoshi, the previous Avatar of the earth kingdom and renowned warrior. Her 230 years of life placed her as the longest lived avatar, and thus her biography was rather thick.

>>5581249
>>A recently restored time depicting the history of fire bending, as well as its cultural roots with lost cultures. The cover was dominated by a blue dragon and a red one, and they appeared to be dancing.
Learning about fire-bending in a library, what could go wrong? So based on the comment about Kiyoshi being the previous Earth Avatar, I guess that confirms that Safiyya is the Avatar immediately following Korra.

>>5581249
A recently restored time depicting the history of fire bending, as well as its cultural roots with lost cultures. The cover was dominated by a blue dragon and a red one, and they appeared to be dancing.

>>5581249
>The life of Avatar Kyoshi, the previous Avatar of the earth kingdom and renowned warrior. Her 230 years of life placed her as the longest lived avatar, and thus her biography was rather thick.

>>5581249
>>The life of Avatar Kyoshi, the previous Avatar of the earth kingdom and renowned warrior. Her 230 years of life placed her as the longest lived avatar, and thus her biography was rather thick.

>>5581254
>>5581262
>>5581291
>>5581355
>>5581524
>>5581553
6 for Kiyoshi

>>5581251
>>5581253
>>5581297
>>5581347
>>5581436
>>5581469
6 for the firebending time (Tome)

I'll give it another ten minutes then I'll just make a decision so we can move on if the tie isn't broken.

Rolled 1 (1d2)

>>5581730
1 is Kiyoshi
2 is Firebending tome

You spent the next few days reading through the thick biography of Avatar Kiyoshi, throughout her long life of combating enemies, changing the world, and the effects she had that echoed to even near the modern day. She was a warrior that spent her life shaping the earth kingdoms into what they were up until Avatar Korra’s time, a constitutional Monarchy and a federation of kingdoms that helped one another. In particular, she was also one of the most active and martial of the Avatars, more so than even Avatar Korra from what little you had heard of the most recent Avatar.

As you read along the story of Avatar Kiyoshi’s life, you become entirely engrossed in it. You had dreams of the events, of the people and the trials she went through. It was the first time you really became so fixated on something besides Sandbending itself, and when it came time for you to leave the Library, your mind was swimming with information pertaining to Avatar Kiyoshi. You had even found some earth bending knowledge in the biography that you adapted and used to further your classical earthbending skills, surprising your father with how quickly you picked up something you had just read.

On your way out, Wan Shi Tong stopped both you and your father causing your gut to tighten as you feared you had angered the Knowledge spirit in some way, and feared never being allowed to return. But instead, he presented a book to you. “You Showed a rare scholarly interest in the records of Avatar Kiyoshi, one of many who had aided me in the past. So, I took it upon myself to find an additional tome for you to read. It is a copy I had penned, so I lose nothing with its loss, but do take care of it. Knowledge is something that must be respected.” He said, holding out a book to you. It was another biography, this one of Avatar Szeto the Fire nation Avatar before Roku.

Showing your appreciation, both your father and you bowed deeply and promised to return the book in the best of condition. When you both left, your father couldn’t help but try and find out what you had done to make such an impression on the Owl spirit, to which you had no answer.

The next few months would be uneventful, as you continued to find your role within Sandbender society and discover who you were as you reached closet to adulthood. The tome of avatar Szeto was a tough one to read, as the avatar spent much of his life as a bureaucrat and advisor rather than a more in your face avatar like Koyoshi would be after him. But as you read along, you found that despite having issues focusing during the periods the book focused on his administrative work, you could never stop reading the book.
(Cont)

>>5581785
And when later on it delved into the web of intrigue and spycraft the avatar was suspected to live, you were even more engrossed. Once more, you dreamed of events and people from the book.

But your responsibilities to the clans were important, so you could not always be reading.

What was it you mostly did for the Commune?

>You helped ferry people across the desert, learning more of the outside world and experiencing outside cultures as you spoke and shared camp with these people willing to brave the Si Wong desert simply to save time or due to a desire for adventure.

>You helped search the desert for things to salvage or collect, ruins buried beneath the sands or the remains of travelers who fell to the Deserts' many dangers. You were forced to further your skills as a sandbender, as well as learn more of the Si Wong desert's past.

>You Helped your father with the pilgrims seeking the library, and through them got to spend more time at Wan Shi Tong’s Library than most others.

>Though it was shameful, you often left with your friends, other teenagers of the sand bending nomads to raid what targets you could in the desert. A life of freedom and excitement, you made both dear friends and trained yourself in combat as you faced caravan guards and the wild animals of the desert.

>>5581786
>>You helped ferry people across the desert, learning more of the outside world and experiencing outside cultures as you spoke and shared camp with these people willing to brave the Si Wong desert simply to save time or due to a desire for adventure.

>>5581786
>You Helped your father with the pilgrims seeking the library, and through them got to spend more time at Wan Shi Tong’s Library than most others.

>>5581786
>You helped ferry people across the desert, learning more of the outside world and experiencing outside cultures as you spoke and shared camp with these people willing to brave the Si Wong desert simply to save time or due to a desire for adventure.
Really nice quest so far QM

>>5581803
thank you.

I'm gonna try and get us going into the plot plot soon, but i felt some of this set up stuff needed to be done to develop the avatar's character

>>5581786
>You helped search the desert for things to salvage or collect, ruins buried beneath the sands or the remains of travelers who fell to the Deserts' many dangers. You were forced to further your skills as a sandbender, as well as learn more of the Si Wong desert's past.

>>5581786
>You helped search the desert for things to salvage or collect, ruins buried beneath the sands or the remains of travelers who fell to the Deserts' many dangers. You were forced to further your skills as a sandbender, as well as learn more of the Si Wong desert's past.
these guys had like zero development outside of a couple episodes and all I could think was "show me more"

>>5581786
>You helped search the desert for things to salvage or collect, ruins buried beneath the sands or the remains of travelers who fell to the Deserts' many dangers. You were forced to further your skills as a sandbender, as well as learn more of the Si Wong desert's past.

>>5581786
>Help search the desert for salvage

The avatars journey is about meeting new people. Meaning comes from context, and we must have our homes context.

>>5581786
>>You helped ferry people across the desert, learning more of the outside world and experiencing outside cultures as you spoke and shared camp with these people willing to brave the Si Wong desert simply to save time or due to a desire for adventure.

>>5581249
>The life of Avatar Kyoshi, the previous Avatar of the earth kingdom and renowned warrior. Her 230 years of life placed her as the longest lived avatar, and thus her biography was rather thick.
honestly sounds the most interesting- a book that thick would definitely garner attention, and something about the earth kingdom producing a hero with similarities to the protagonist could keep it

>>5582120
fuck, ignore this post, the rest of the thread wouldn’t load for me so I thought the vote was still up

My bad, voting for
>>5581786
>You helped search the desert for things to salvage or collect, ruins buried beneath the sands or the remains of travelers who fell to the Deserts' many dangers. You were forced to further your skills as a sandbender, as well as learn more of the Si Wong desert's past.
instead

>>5581786
>You helped ferry people across the desert, learning more of the outside world and experiencing outside cultures as you spoke and shared camp with these people willing to brave the Si Wong desert simply to save time or due to a desire for adventure.

>>5581786
>You helped search the desert for things to salvage or collect, ruins buried beneath the sands or the remains of travelers who fell to the Deserts' many dangers. You were forced to further your skills as a sandbender, as well as learn more of the Si Wong desert's past.

>>5581786
>>You helped search the desert for things to salvage or collect, ruins buried beneath the sands or the remains of travelers who fell to the Deserts' many dangers. You were forced to further your skills as a sandbender, as well as learn more of the Si Wong desert's past.

>>5581786
>>You helped search the desert for things to salvage or collect, ruins buried beneath the sands or the remains of travelers who fell to the Deserts' many dangers. You were forced to further your skills as a sandbender, as well as learn more of the Si Wong desert's past.

>>5582504
>>5582362
>>5582300
>>5582123
>>5581904
>>5581903
>>5581899
>>5581895
8 for salvage

>>5581789
>>5581803
>>5581972
>>5582178
4 for ferry.

Writing

While your father was one of the few who dedicated their time to serving Wan Shi Tong, your mother had fostered a more adventurous spirit in you through her many excursions into the vast Si Wong desert seeking supplies and goods to scavenge from the sands. An ancient occupation of the nomads, such excursions were one of the major means for the communes to obtain supplies and goods within the desert. Nothing could grow in the hostile sands, and the few permanent sources of water were closely guarded by both communes and the clans due to their precious nature. The dangerous wildlife of the desert also made hunting the large fauna of the desert too dangerous to do often, sand sharks and the Buzzard Wasps being particularly life threatening to anger. Of course, finding fresh kills was always viable when one could scavenge, and there were always those who tried to cross the desert on their own. While raiding was a shameful practice, picking through the belongings of the departed was not. All things had to be used, as survival demanded nothing less.

This scavenger nature seemed to be looked down on by those who lived beyond the confines of the Si wong desert, but such thoughts were not new to the Nomads. The cares and opinions of the outside world weren’t a concern for them, as while the Desert was harsh and demanded much, it also gave something the Si Wong Nomads treasured greatly: Freedom. Here, for centuries, their culture had remained free and untouched by the outside world’s problems, left unconquerable by the would-be kings and emperors of the world. For centuries, no army could claim mastery of the desert like the nomads, and so they remained as they were, free to live their lives and practice their ancient and treasured culture.

Still, the desert was not owned by the Nomads. They knew this very well, and lived not as its owners but as one of the many things that called it home, as eternal guests upon the land. They were careful to never over exert the resources they found, and always took every chance to ensure that there would be some food next week rather than having it all at once. Because harder than anything else, was replacing something that had been wiped away when there was so little already.

You rode along with a few others of your clan, your mother leading the skiffs across the desert as the sun blazed above you. Your long time friend, the Fox Antelope buck, rested in the back beneath the tarp that covered the back of your larger than normal skiff. Being so talented in sandbending was a point of pride of yours, but it also meant you were placed in charge of the large skiff used to transport goods, people, animals, and anything else that was found on the trip. Talent was already rewarded with responsibility in the clans, as it could not be wasted when it could help the clan prosper just a little more. So because of your talent, you were left to push the skiff on your own while available hands helped elsewhere.
(cont)

>>5582911
It wasn’t glamorous, and it was tiring, but you knew it was respected. You did not have a vanity born from empty praise or coddling compliments. You had a pride in what you could provide, reinforced whenever you saw the looks in your clans eyes when they watched you and you helped them. This day, you were keeping pace with the convoy as you moved through the desert, towards something the scouts had found beneath the shifting dunes and sands.

An ancient collection of buildings littered with what looked to be the campsites of a failed attempt at archeology or tomb robbing. From the looks of it, this was an ancient city from one of the ancient peoples of the region, either from before the Si wong desert existed or a civilization that for a brief time managed to carve out a home against the sands. You briefly wondered if these were the ruins of your ancestors, of a time when the Si Wong nomads built cities and places like the outlanders, but the thought quickly passed for now. Whatever the origin, they were uncovered now and had to be searched while the sands were calm and before they were covered once more. You watched as the others left their skiffs and began to search the campsite, your mother leading the way as quickly and as she could. It was unlikely you'd find any food or water that you could use, but the artifacts and gear you could find could be traded to the beetle headed merchants and the scholars that flocked to the Si Wong desert, and be used to buy what your clan needed.

You stayed with the caravan, taking a break from the exertion and also taking the first watch to ensure no one stole your Sandsails or they weren’t carried off by the wind. A simple job, but one you enjoyed for the time it gave you to rest and think. While raiding was shameful, it was not unheard of for some communes to raid other convoys, and though it was rare it wasn’t something that could be left chance. Sometimes people were desperate, and that was always true for everyone. One day, your commune may face hardships that forced your hand, and you would do what you had to do.

As you were scratching the ears of your Buddy, your eyes caught something. In a window on the largest building, for a brief second, you saw what must have been a mirage. A person, in blue, waving to you from an ornate building worn away by time and sand. You rubbed your eyes to clear them, and looked again to only see nothing. The blue had been so bright, so jarring to see in a world of tans and browns, that you quickly had to write off what you had seen as a mirage or a trick of the mind. Wishing to clear your head, you drank some more water and then splashed some onto your face to cool yourself down. It had to have been just an hallucination or something, you'd have to check in with the medicine woman when you got back.

(cont)

>>5582914
Just to make sure, you looked to the window again and saw no one and shook your head, then as your gaze drifted you saw your Fox Antelope making their way towards the building. “Woah bud, where’re you going!?” You called out, hopping off the sled and giving chase, wondering what had gotten into them. As you ran by, you caught the eye of another sandbender carrying stuff back to the convoy “hey man, I gotta chase them down before they get hurt, handle my watch for a bit?” You asked, putting your hands together pleadingly as you kept moving. Their smile and nod was all you needed as you shouted “Thanks.” and continued your chase.

You ended up chasing the Fox antelope into the large building, climbing into it through a revealed window, and then chasing it through its halls as they seemed to move with purpose. Everynow and again, you would see the mirage of the person dressed in blue, with every time making you less sure it wasn’t real. You moved through the building, finding that you were going deeper into its heart and below the portion free of the sand. The walls were worn away by sand, but sometimes you would see the remnants of ancient murals and paintings depicting benders or spirits.

Finally, you found your animal companion had stopped, at the mouth of a doorway that led to a dark room. Pulling out a flashlight, a useful modern tool you got a few years back, you walked forward to them and petted their head “Finally, what the heck bud? Why’d you charge down here?” You asked, watching their gaze lock onto your eyes, then watching trot away into the room and leading you in as you sighed.
(cont)

>>5582916
Willing to see this to the end, used to your buddy wandering off for something, you explored the dark room. Inside, you found statues everywhere, ascending into the darkness of the ceiling and following a spiral into the center. Each statue is unique, different in both dress and appearance, making you think they were real people at one point in time. Each felt familiar, and a growing tension in your stomach began to form, until you came to the center of the spiral. The last four, despite the feeling being faint and barely a whisper, was stronger than any of the other statues in the room.

>A stout man with a white beard, he looked elderly yet powerfully built. He was clearly from the earth Kingdom, but his style looked ancient and reminiscent of the outlander styles.

>A woman wearing furs and decorated with what looked like a carved necklace and a hair ornament, she had fine looking clothes and on her back was what looked like a bow and arrow.

>A woman without arms, dressed in robes with a serious expression on her face. Her hair was up in a tight ponytail, with a hair ornament in the shape of fire being held by a pin. She was exceptionally tall, and had what looked like the image of a third eye in her forehead

>A bald man that seems a little overweight but holding a serene expression on his face. His hands were held in what looked like prayer, and he had a collection of heavy looking prayer beads hanging from his neck and arms. He had a blindfold over his eyes.

>>5582919
>>A woman wearing furs and decorated with what looked like a carved necklace and a hair ornament, she had fine looking clothes and on her back was what looked like a bow and arrow.

>>5582919
>A woman without arms, dressed in robes with a serious expression on her face. Her hair was up in a tight ponytail, with a hair ornament in the shape of fire being held by a pin. She was exceptionally tall, and had what looked like the image of a third eye in her forehead

Is that sum combustion bending I smell?

>>5582919
>Bald man
He gives me Iroh vibes. Never doubt uncle.

>>5581786
>You helped search the desert for things to salvage or collect, ruins buried beneath the sands or the remains of travelers who fell to the Deserts' many dangers. You were forced to further your skills as a sandbender, as well as learn more of the Si Wong desert's past.

>>5582919
>>A bald man that seems a little overweight but holding a serene expression on his face. His hands were held in what looked like prayer, and he had a collection of heavy looking prayer beads hanging from his neck and arms. He had a blindfold over his eyes.

>>5582919
>A stout man with a white beard, he looked elderly yet powerfully built. He was clearly from the earth Kingdom, but his style looked ancient and reminiscent of the outlander styles.

>>5582919
>A stout man with a white beard, he looked elderly yet powerfully built. He was clearly from the earth Kingdom, but his style looked ancient and reminiscent of the outlander styles.

>>5582919
>>A woman without arms, dressed in robes with a serious expression on her face. Her hair was up in a tight ponytail, with a hair ornament in the shape of fire being held by a pin. She was exceptionally tall, and had what looked like the image of a third eye in her forehead

>>5583198
+1

>>5582919
>A stout man with a white beard, he looked elderly yet powerfully built. He was clearly from the earth Kingdom, but his style looked ancient and reminiscent of the outlander styles.

>>5582919
>A bald man that seems a little overweight but holding a serene expression on his face. His hands were held in what looked like prayer, and he had a collection of heavy looking prayer beads hanging from his neck and arms. He had a blindfold over his eyes.

>>5582919
>>A bald man that seems a little overweight but holding a serene expression on his face. His hands were held in what looked like prayer, and he had a collection of heavy looking prayer beads hanging from his neck and arms. He had a blindfold over his eyes.

>>5582919
>>A stout man with a white beard, he looked elderly yet powerfully built. He was clearly from the earth Kingdom, but his style looked ancient and reminiscent of the outlander styles.

>>5582919
>A bald man that seems a little overweight but holding a serene expression on his face. His hands were held in what looked like prayer, and he had a collection of heavy looking prayer beads hanging from his neck and arms. He had a blindfold over his eyes.

>>5583007
>>5583159
>>5583315
>>5583361
>>5583616
5 for the bald man

>>5583166
>>5583194
>>5583252
>>5583573
4 for stout

>>5582987
>>5583198
>>5583248
3 for armless woman

bald man wins, writing

You reached out to one that allied out to you more than the others, a hefty built Air nomad wearing a blindfold. His expression wasn’t like the other avatars, who were depicted in a solemn and serious mood, but instead showed a joyous smile. You placed your hand on his brayer bead necklace, where each bead was a smooth obsidian orb the size of your fist, and as soon as you did the world melted away.

The cold ruins full of statues disappeared, and were replaced by an open sky that allowed you to see you were in a massive canyon, upside down buildings collected all on your side of the canyon. Around you, you saw other air nomads conversing and moving around, while Sky Bison flew either from the canyon or between the buildings. Though, their dress was different from the air nomads you had seen cross the desert in the past. These ones were dressed slightly differently, and there were so many of them. As isolated as your people were, even you knew the air nomads weren’t a numerous people, still recovering from their near genocide in the hundred year war nearly two centuries ago.

“Avatar Dhargey! It’s great to see you return home.” Said a young Air nomad woman, bowing in your direction and momentarily freezing you in confusion. Then the man whose statue you had touched stepped through you and had the woman rise and take his hands, the man smiling and hugging her to him with a laugh.

“Oh Dalha, none of that Avatar stuff here. I got enough of it out there!” he said boisterously, letting the woman take his arm and guide the blindfolded avatar along across the walkways of the hanging temples. You followed, not making the decision but simply doing it much to your confusion.

The woman laughed and shocked her head, looking out over the movement of the temple “Still not used to all the attention Dhar? And you were so excited when you first left for training.” She teased, a gentle smile on her face as the two moved on.

“That was before I realized how much responsibility there was, the real responsibility they don’t talk about. I knew about keeping the balance, but the expectations that I be this grand mediator, this great font of wisdom like my predecessors… It’s nice to come back here, where people still remember when the Avatar was just the problem child…” he said, his head turned in the direction of children playing, but not directly at it.

The woman didn’t say much in response, letting out a hum at acknowledgment at first, then after some silence, a wicked grin came to her face as she leaned in conspiratorially. “Well Avatar problem Child, maybe some old fashion fun is just what you need…”

(Cont)

>>5583969
The avatar looked to the women, directly at her though not leveling his eyes to hers “Oh, you don’t mean?” he asked, and paused while she nodded, then smiled brightly “Dal, we haven’t done that since we were ten!” he said in mock resistance, before nodding and looking to be barely holding in his excitement “Lead the way!”

The woman smirked and pulled the avatar along “I always do.”

The vision shifted, later in the day, and you found yourself on a balcony, with Dalha and Avatar Dhargey hiding behind the balcony wall with what looked like a collection of cabbages next to them. Dalha shushed the avatar through a giggling fit, and they both grew silent as they waited for something. A few seconds passed, and you began to grow restless when you saw a large and elderly flying beast, a sky bison of considerable age, floating by with a trio of Air nomad elders riding on its back. They held their heads high and looked rather stern as they looked around at the temples as they flew.

The duo waited for a second, before with a flurry sent the cabbages flying with a quick application of airbending past the snout of the old bison, catching the beast's attention. With a roar, it sharply turned and dove for the cabbages, surprising the masters and forcing them to hold on and yell out in surprise as their mount dove and weaved chasing the cabbages, all to the sound of Dalha and Dhargey laughing uncontrollably at the sight of it. You felt a warmth in you heart at the sight, and couldn’t help but join the laughter, only ceasing when both you and Dhargey looked at Dalha and you felt your heart skip a beat at the sight of her face wrapped in laughter and joy.

You saw Dhargey pause for a second, before an expression that was a mix of relief and peace came over his face. Before more could occur, the image shifted again, and you found yourself in a foggy expanse cast in a twilight sky. At first you were confused, trying to find Dalha, until you saw a figure step from the fog. It was Avatar Dhargey, though older now, and holding the serene joy on his face like his statue did. He was surrounded by fog, too thick for you to see, but he walked confidently with bare feet slapping against the moist earth. He stopped, and cast his gaze around himself, before standing with his hands tucked into his sleeves and spoke “Return the children, they are not yours, and there are mothers who miss them.”

(Cont)

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>>5583970
At first nothing shifted or made a sound, but you could feel something in the air, a tension and pressure that wasn’t natural to the world. You saw a dark figure moving through the fog, then another, and another. Dozens of them, all moving like a whisper, all moving to surround the avatar. Finally, they stopped moving, and the fog shifted to reveal that there were nearly two dozen of them. Tall robed figures with masks decorated with smoke and having a single eye. The Avatar looked straight at one, locking eyes with them despite his blindfold. His stance did not change, but you could feel the tension growing.

“Thieves, kidnappers, murderers, tyrants…They are better with us, than with them.” Said the group of figures in a single voice, many sources but one direction. All coming from the figure the avatar locked eyes with, and though the others seemed to shift as they spoke, the one the sound came from stayed perfectly still. “Our children won’t suffer, their children won’t suffer, They will have peace.”

The avatar let out a sigh, and removed his hands from his sleeves, making all the spirits save the one the voices came from shift for battle. However, he merely palmed one of his prayer beads, and pulled it from his necklace. It began to glow, and he began to roll the smooth orb around his hand, the orb looking as if it did not move due to how smooth it was. The motion was calming, almost meditative, and the avatar speaking shook you from your own haze “You are angry, you are angry at them for what they stole from you. I’m trying to fix it, I will fix it, but I cannot do that with you threatening the peace of those families frightened by the dark. Please, return the children and I promise you, they will not come to harm.”

The Avatar kept moving his orb around his hand as he waited for the spirits response, all but one looking at the others in hesitancy. A single mind pretending to be many, all trying to act as one. A delicate balance of who it was, what it used to be, and what it thought it must be, a spirit born of mortal emotion and trauma. For a moment, you saw it, how each was simply part of a single being, a single being born of the pain of many, grief and rage of mothers who suffered in a time of chaos in their land.

(Cont)

>>5583971
You saw what Avatar Dhargey could see, felt what he felt, smelled what he did, and began to wonder what your eyes were really for, began to desire a way to block the distractions they gave you from your consciousness. Then the spirit decided, and its many forms attacked as one beast. Avatar Dhargey immediately moved, his body feeling the shifting of the air, the tremors of the earth, then sound of the wind, and the shifting of Chi in the spirits around him. The orb in his hand shot out, along with the others of his necklace, and like a storm of obsidian, they flew through the air like cannons. They struck spirits, blocked blows, and served as stepping stones to aid the acrobatic movements and dodges of the avatar as he defended himself against the two dozen spirits who brought fire, rage, spiritual power against him.

Yet his blows were never done to harm, they subdued, they treated each spirit as if it were a rail person, and simply moved them or bumped them away. The action lasted for near a minute, a flurry of movement that showed Avatar Dhargey’s mastery of earth and air bending, his ability to control the fires of his enemy to deflect or redirect them, and the ever shifting fog around him being used to make ice for him to slid eon or engulf a spirit in water. Suddenly, it ended and Avatar Dhargey stood before the single Spirit who spoke with all their voices, and bowed to them in respect.

The spirit did not move, did not even shift in its place as it stood staring down at the Avatar, until it finally melted into the fog. “If they come to harm, or you fail, we will return, and save all of the children from this world.” It said in a whisper, before you felt the spiritual pressure fade and watched the fog recede, revealing 23 children standing in the fog where the other spiritual figures had been standing. They looked confused, lost, and afraid, but Avatar Dhargey was quick to set their minds at ease with candies, fruit pies, and an aura of joy that seemed infectious.

He gathered the children up, and led them away, back home you thought as the scene melted away again.

This time you found yourself back in the ruins, back in the dark, and you thought maybe the hallucination was over for a second, until you saw Avatar Dhargey standing before you. His body was almost see through, and he was blue, but the most concerning part was the feeling of familiarity you felt with him, of a closeness you had never experienced before. He smiled at you, and placed a hand on your shoulder, and you felt a rush of warmth and confidence surge through you. But you didn’t know why, or what you were confident about, only that you felt you could handle it.

(Cont)

>>5583973
Then Avatar Dhargey’s face shot to look up and to the left, and you could feel the air pressure in the room shift. He looked at you, a grave look on his face “They are all in danger…We can help them, but will you let me help? You are not strong enough alone.” His words held a weight to them, a weight that your choice was more than just asking for help. Something would break, something would be lost forever if you asked for help here, something you could never get back.

This was a cliff's edge, a precipice that should you jump from it would determine the path you would step onto and never be allowed to step away from. Avatar Dhargey faced it before, and had not been given a choice, and had a life taken from him that he always longed for. His words, the feeling of his hand on your shoulder, made you think he partly wished for you not to accept his help, but more than that did not want people to be hurt, he did not want your family to be hurt.

>Agree to Avatar Dhargey’s help?

>Decline it and run to see what the issue is yourself?

>>5583977
Heavy is the crown on the head.
>Accept his help.

>>5583977
>Agree to Avatar Dhargey’s help?

Based uncle D

>>5583977
>Agree to Avatar Dhargey’s help?

>>5583977
>>Agree to Avatar Dhargey’s help?
Childhood has to an end for everyone, eventually

>>5583979
>>5583982
>>5583987
>>5583991
Never any doubt, Writing

Dhargey’s smile no longer reached his eyes, it was forced, a state of mind that he had always maintained to make others feel like their Avatar was the Avatar they needed. A smile to show confidence, that promised wisdom and ability, even though Avatar Dhargey never believed he could meet those hopes and expectations. For a moment, you felt the weight he had carried, and then you felt your mind begin to drift as you fell unconscious. The last thing you saw were the eyes of all the statues in the room shining bright, and Avatar Dhargey surging in power.

_____

Outside, Ziri shouted out instructions as on the horizon a wall of sand and screaming wind was charging towards them. It had snuck up on them, somehow Ziri’s convoy hadn’t seen the sandstorm coming, and this sandstorm was something beyond anything anyone in the convoy had ever seen. Something in her gut told her there was something more, something worse than sand, something hungry, something angry.

“Get everything on board, we have to move now! Where is she? My daughter?!” Ziri called out, battling her maternal concern and her responsibility to the convoy. She couldn’t risk the safety of everyone for one person, but to ask her to simply abandon her daughter was too much.

“She went into the main building, chasing after their pet!” Said a young Sandbender, who had apparently taken over the watch while Ziri’s daughter had wandered off.

As soon as the words were said, the roar of the wind slammed into them all, lifting and flipping a few of the Sandskiffs. Ziri pushed up from the ground, and seeing the wall of sand heading her way, she let out a roar and surged forward, along with the other best Sandbenders and stood to fight the consuming storm. They would do what they could, but as much time as they could do at least some of them could escape, that some of what they gathered would make it home. They wouldn’t let all this be a waste, they wouldn’t let their commune starve because they selfishly tried to save only themselves.

Ziri was afraid, of course she was when facing a storm that would probably bury her alive if she was lucky, her sand away her skin if she wasn’t. So she thought the ground shaking was just her knees, then the main structure exploded in light, a beam of blue shooting into the sky at an angle and piercing the clouds. It cast the ruins in a blue light that fought against the looming and deepening shadow of the sandstorm, and revealed swirling shadowy figures swimming in the wall of sand rushing to her. Ziri lost her focus, lost all though for a final stand, as she saw a man shining with blue light standing on the tip of the temple ruin. It was an air nomad wearing a blindfold, wearing a prayer head necklace where each bead was the size of a fist. He stood and faced the storm, before flying up into the air as it made its final approach.
(Cont)

>>5584096
There were movements that she was sure must be some style of bending, and then the wall of sand parted as if an invisible giant had cut it in two. Wind roared out as the sandstorm was broken in two pieces and pushed to go around the ruins, wrapping around the buildings and barely missing the convoys, many skiffs and the frightened nomads. Ziri’s jaw dropped as around her a wall of sand roared and tried to consume her and everyone else, and how a single man seemed to make a storm heed his will.

As the man hovered, the beads of his necklace began to orbit around him like planets , then with a flick of his wrist shot forward into the sandstorm to strike at the shadows within. A dance of shadows chased by orbs, a war fought by one man against the roar of nature and the spirits within.

As this went on, the world wa alerted to the rise of the avatar, that after so long of silence that the new avatar had awoken their power. The sages wrote down for the records the day, while the White Lotus renewed their search with greater drive, unknow to them that a guiding light would lead them to their new avatar.

______

You woke up at the commune, tended to by the medicine woman who had brought you into the world. In time, you would learn what had happened. That a spirit of the avatar had come and saved the convoy, putting to rest the angry spirits whose rage at losing their home to an encroaching outlander company had lead to them attempting to begin a sandstorm that would engulf the Si Wong desert.

You would also learn that your mother discovered you after the Avatar spirit left, and you were left where it had stood. Your mother brought you home, where the medicine woman had been keeping you comfortable until you awoke,

It was clear now what you were, and the medicine woman left little doubt to this fact. You were the avatar, the next reincarnation of the master of all elements destined to maintain the balance of the world. You remembered the weight Dhargey had held return, and could only watch as your parents fought the emotions they felt at this revelation. The fear, the awe, the elation, but buried beneath it all you sensed grief. As if you had died, as if they had lost their daughter, buried beneath a conflict of emotions and their real knowledge that you were still there, right in front of them.

“She will have to meet with the White Lotus, they are the guardians and trainers of the last avatar, and they will be searching for her without rest.” The medicine woman said, her calm helping you stay calm as she handed out tea.

(Cont)

>>5584099
“Why must she meet those outlanders? They only trained Avatar Korra. The Clan Elders should decide how she will proceed, she is Part of our people first before any of the outlanders. If she is the avatar, she could do so much for our clans and people.” Your mother said, her mind always for the Si Wong people before anything else.

“Perhaps before we do anything drastic, we could confer with Lord Wan Shi Tong? He has knowledge and wisdom of many Avatars, and he might have a good idea of what we should do.” Your father said, his faith in the spirits over people shining through as well.

As the three discussed and argued their points around you, you saw the open door. It lead out into the dark night, and it called to you. The weight was growing heavier as you listened to them all, you had memories of Dhargey being taken from his friends, you remembered reading of Avatar Kiyoshi and Szetu and the kind of lives they lead as avatars. The pressure grew, as you could only begin to fathom what history would demand of you.

>Side with the elder, the White Lotus must find you as soon as possible.

>Side with your mother, the clan elders will know how best you could use your powers as the avatar to help your people.

>Side with your father and seek out Wan Shi Tongs guidance, as his knowledge and millenia of wisdom cannot be matched by any mortal teacher

>Run into the night, escape while you can, and let the wind guide you from this place and away from the mounting dread that threatened to smother you.

>>5584100
>>Side with your father and seek out Wan Shi Tongs guidance, as his knowledge and millenia of wisdom cannot be matched by any mortal teacher

>>5584100
>>Side with your father and seek out Wan Shi Tongs guidance, as his knowledge and millenia of wisdom cannot be matched by any mortal teacher

>>5584100
>Side with your father and seek out Wan Shi Tongs guidance, as his knowledge and millenia of wisdom cannot be matched by any mortal teacher

I've always like the owl, ever since the original airing of last air bender

>>5584100
>>Side with your father and seek out Wan Shi Tongs guidance, as his knowledge and millenia of wisdom cannot be matched by any mortal teacher

>>5584100
>Side with your mother, the clan elders will know how best you could use your powers as the avatar to help your people.

would think that trying to help the only home she’s ever known would take priority over consulting an owl she’s only seen sporadically

>>5584100
>Side wit your father

Wan shi tong is meant to be nigh omniscient.

>>5584100
>Side with your mother, the clan elders will know how best you could use your powers as the avatar to help your people.

>>5584100
>>Side with your mother, the clan elders will know how best you could use your powers as the avatar to help your people.

>>5584105
>>5584115
>>5584148
>>5584215
>>5584289
5 for dad

>>5584224
>>5584323
>>5584472
3 for mom

Writing

>>5585467
Sorry for the silence, I got busy. I’m gonna actually start writing now

Your parents quickly began to descend into argument, the kind you rarely heard from them but one that you had heard before. Your father’s faith in the spirits was always strong, with your mother commonly noting how often he sought their guidance on decisions instead of relying on his own judgment or the judgment of the elders. “This is just like your proposal all over again,” Your mother said, crossing her arms and shaking her head as the medicine woman moved away from the conversation, having given up on arguing with the couple and instead heading off to organize their medicine jars needlessly “Your father made a big deal out of you marrying outside the clan, and you disappear to the library for a week. What, did the owl tell you to marry me?”

Ilatig, your father, flinched at the accusation, then stood his ground as he retorted “You know Wan Shi Tong just told me to follow my heart, which I did! If we did things your way and just listened to the elders instead of going on our joyride, we would never have started dating at all.” You father countered, earning nothing but your mother making her stance even more solid as she seemed to find a hill to die on “Wan Shi Tong is as old as the avatar or maybe even older, he has books and knowledge of the avatar’s previous lives and their actions, if anyone would know how to handle this it’d be him.”

“He’ll probably just have you read a bunch of ancient history books, maybe even try to take him, I don’t know. He’s not one of our people, the Elders guide our people in all things, and with the outlanders growing more bold in trying to enter our lands, we might need an Avatar to protect us!”

They went on and on, all while you listened, considered, and most of all stressed over the shape of your fate that had suddenly shifted dramatically around you. You had expected to live like your parents had, like your grandparents and their parents before, as a nomad, as a key member of your people, eventually continuing things like normal. You had hoped for maybe something different, like all your age did, but now that that solid foundation of a fate you could always fall back to was shattered, you were without an anchor. Without any idea where you were going, or where you would end up.

The stories you read of the previous avatars showed lives full of conflict and struggle, of them traveling the world and fighting to keep the world and people safe. You remembered what you saw of Avatar Dhargey, how rarely he got to return home, the kind of monsters he had to fight, the pressure he always felt. Your heart began to quicken at the scale of it, at the thought that now you would feel that weight again, but it would not go away, that it was yours to bear rather than something you would feel briefly. Your life had been simple, each day spent on surviving or improving yourself or the clan so they can better survive. Now, it was crushed under a destiny larger than you had ever expected.
(Cont)

>>5585654
Finally, you couldn’t handle the weight of the unknown, of the possibilities, you needed to know how other Avatars dealt with this, how they had coped, how they found a way to be happy if any could in this fate. Dhargey hadn’t seemed all that happy, but he at least had found peace. “I-I want to…To go to the library.” You said shakily, but loudly, you gaze at the floor as you wrapped your arms around yourself.

Your parents ceased arguing, a pause, and you heard your mother begin to say something, likely an argument against your decision. You met her eyes, and the words died in her throat as she truly saw your expression, one of fear, uncertainty, and anxiety. She closed her mouth and looked ready to go to you, but then she remembered your decision, and hesitated. Her brow furrowed, she let out a hiss of anger, then turned to the door “I’m going to check the Beetles, the clans’ heading out late tomorrow to make use of the cold night.” She said, walking out of the building and the conversation as she escaped to her work, to her duty to the clan, rather than yell at her own daughter.

Your father shook his head, letting out a sigh as he patted your shoulder before letting his hand rest on it. After a pause, he looked at you with a serious expression “We’ll figure this all out Safi, you’ll see. I’m sure Lord Wan Shi Tong will know what to do. I’ll have to plan an expedition, so it’ll be a couple days before we can head out. Hopefully the next commune will have some supplies to spare.” he said, patting you on the shoulder again, then pulling you into a tight hug that he held until you returned it, his hand brushing down your back as he said “It’ll be alright.” before he let you go and left to do his own work, as even if he was fighting with her, your mother would expect him to help prepare for the trek tomorrow. The nomad life did not wait for couples to finish their squabbles, and you expected some tension and eventual reconciliation.

For now though, you sat on the bed and stared at the ground, your mind whirling with thoughts and worries you had no way to calm. An admonishing clap to the back of your head shook you from your state, and you looked to the medicine lady holding your head, not hurt but surprised “What was that for?!”
(Cont)

>>5585657
“For worrying about nothing. Here, drink this and get some rest. I’m not sure how much that little avatar light show took out of you, and judging from your face you’ll need it.” She said, shoving a cup of tea in your hands and glaring at you until you drank it. Once your drank every last drop, she smiled and morphed into a kindly old woman again “there we go, that’ll help calm your fussy mind. Now deary, lay down and just get comfortable. You won’t be much use to anyone tonight, and you’ll need all your strength for the migration.” She said, taking the cup to go clean it. She paused when you Fox antelope poked its head in through the door, and nearly shood it away until it calmly walked up and gentle placed its head on your chest, letting you pet it.

You began to feel a bit calmer, with both the tea and your friend there to comfort you, and eventually you drifted off to sleep as the medicine lady left the room and left you to sleep.

_____

That night, and each night after that, you dreamed. Or maybe, it was more like you remembered? You weren’t sure what to call it, as each night you found yourself in another vision of Dhargey’s life. You felt something strange in these dreams, as if something was being stressed, like a scar that had long healed was being tugged and pulled too hard. It would leave you tired in the morning but not physically so, as if you simply could not muster the will to do anything or feel anything. It made it so you seemed to feel the emotions and events in Dhargey’s visions even more, like they were happening to you.

From the visions, you saw Dhargey fought against spirits quite often, spirits born of conflict and misery that rose up across the world that was adjusting from some kind of conflict in the past. The previous avatar you think, you aren’t sure. But Dhargey worked tirelessly and brought a sense of hope and peace wherever he went, with particular care placed on those young people affected by the age and instilling a sense of wonder and hope in them wherever he could.

You could see that, while he fought to protect the people from spirits, he would turn to those people as soon as the fighting was done and try to heal their pains both physical and mental. He would comfort those whose minds could not escape what they had seen, he would help those without the will to continue on to find meaning again, and he would always work side by side with others to rebuild what could be rebuilt.

The people looked up to him, saw him as a savior, as a constant light.

As it went on though, even those he considered friends began to see him like that. His friendships withered in that light, and were replaced with devotion, zealotry. He watched as despite his efforts to stay amongst the people, to remain at their side as a friend, he was elevated above them with every kindness he did. Friends became acolytes, old masters became jealous of his ascension in fame or looked to him as students.
(Cont)

>>5585658
Each day he felt who he had been, the people who had known him as Dhargey and not as the avatar, slip away. Yet he could not fight this, could not bring himself to work against it, could not bring himself to act so cruelly. As the weight of the title grew heavier and heavier, he bore it with a more and more forced smile, and each act of kindness became less genuine. Good done because that is what Avatar Dhargey does, and not done because it was the right thing to do.

A growing hollowness became part of his days, as praise for Avatar Dhargey came, and the Air nomad Dhargey was forgotten to have ever been.

Save by one.

Dalha. Whenever Dhargey returned to the temples, he would find her there. And she would call him Dhar, and unknowingly chase away the weariness he had accumulated. They would talk as if he had never left, partake of the joys of their culture as if the avatar was some other person far away, and Dhargey would take solace that this woman would not forget Dhargey, the boy who would steal pies from the kitchens. Dhargey, the boy who the masters forced to clean the stables when he said bad words. Dhargey, the boy who stood by her when others were cruel.

He had loved her, a love fostered over a lifetime of both distance and closeness. One of understanding and fantasies to steady his spirit in his days away from the temples. Though he rarely had the chance to return, he always did when he could manage, and he devoted that time to her. Even when months, sometimes years, went by. He was always away, but his heart was always with her.

However, he never found the right time, he feared cutting that last tie away. And she could not wait, and she did not. When he came back and saw her with child, saw her forming her own family, he could only take solace in the fact that she still called him Dhar, and trusted him to be their child’s godfather. That pain had left you feeling empty inside when you awoke, and was a sadness you wish you hadn’t been forced to feel.

On the final day of your trip to the next commune, you had a final vision of Dhargey. Avatar Dhargey stood, old and tired, surrounded by those who praised his time as avatar, who praised all the good the avatar had done, who wept that their avatar would soon pass. Surrounded by acolytes of the avatar, Dhargey had felt that familiar loneliness he had long ago made peace with. He did not lash out in cruelty, he did not blame anyone, he merely merely closed his eyes and welcomed rest.

As Dhargey’s eyes had closed, your eyes had opened, and you worked through the day feeling wretched and alone.

________

(Cont)

>>5585660
It was about another week after arriving at the commune that your father had managed to take you out to the library. With supplies for the trip and a promise to bring the commune’s elder knowledge concerning a sickness a child had been taken by, your father and yourself made the trek across the desert to the great library.

You were thankful that your dreams since arriving at the commune had stopped entirely, welcoming the void of sleep rather than any more memories to drain at your spirit. While you still felt drained, you knew that each day brought back a bit of feeling and it became easier to will your own movement. The fact that your life still required you to work to survive, that nothing could be used as an excuse when it came to surviving the Si Wong desert, helped keep your body moving. If your parents had noticed anything, they had said nothing. Your father had handed off the sandbending to you, letting you drive the Sandskiff while he got water and rested.

You let the repetition of the sandbending guide you forward, let it sooth your thoughts and spirit with the familiar feeling of sand being willed to move. A form of meditation your mother had taught you, one she used when her spirit was feeling low and drained. You wondered if she ever felt like you did now, but abandoned that thought as it would only make you bitter. Instead, you simply moved the sand, and carried the Sandskiff through the desert.

Then the roar of an engine flew over your head, and made you fumble and lose control of the sand, bringing your skiff to a shaking halt as it was nearly caught in the sand and flipped. Once it settled, you felt relief wash over you as your father rushed out to see what had happened, only to freeze as he looked out ahead of you. Then, he frowned and grumbled “Outlanders…” with venom and also some worry, as in the distance was the mirage warped image of the library. Between you and it however, was a large metal vehicle, a plane if your memories served from the one time you had seen one. This one was bulky though, four massive propellers that shifted from a position where they were horizontal to the ground to point upwards to the sky, stll spinning and throwing up a small storm of sand.

From its back, a group of seven men and women in what looked like armored uniforms came marching out, all wearing visors to protect their eyes from the sun. On their chests was a symbol, a sword with a winged snake coiled around it, held within a circle of chains. Two of them had large backpacks and a device held in their hands that seemed plugged into it, while the rest appeared unarmed.
(Cont)

>>5585661
The leader was a tall, well built man with scars on his arms. He had metal plates all over his uniform, and you felt that the confidence he had was warranted. Something told you that this man was not like the other Outlanders you had seen. Your father stepped between you and the outlanders, and spoke first “What do you want outlanders? Why did you follow us?” he said, clear anger in his voice as he tried to hide you from the group protectively.

The lead man stopped, smiled, and waved to you and your father “Good day sir, a fine Si Wong welcome if i’ve ever heard one.” He said, a few of his followers smiling at the comment “We’re not here to cause any trouble for you or the great library man, so don’t worry. In fact, we’ll be wiping the cameras we brought with us clean once we leave.” He explained, while his men seemed to take position in a semicircle in front of your sand skiff.

“What do you want with us?” Your father asked coldly, his head shifting to watch the men and women, and you doing the same. One of the ones with a backpack had electricity spark from his hand held device, and he smiled at you, one you didn’t find very friendly.

“You see, our employer heard about someone taking care of some spirits that were disturbed in a recent mining accident. It led to a lot of hurt people and damaged equipment, but he was worried about it spreading. So he was so relieved to hear someone calming them down, so much so he wanted to have a word with them. Took some effort to track you down, but thanks to some helpful Nomads, they pointed us in the right direction.” He pointed back to the plane and maintained eye contact with your father “We’re here to pick you and your daughter up, so she can meet Mister Lee. He wants to thank her, on behalf of all the families and his business”

You felt what your father did almost as fast as he did, that this wasn’t an invitation. With a quick glance, you took stock of the outlanders around you. There was the leader, a strong looking man who had no weapons, but plenty of metal plates on his body and even more in his pockets you could see. There were the two who had those devices that sparked with electricity. There was a woman with a stern face, not wearing a helmet like her leader but with a red bandana on. She also had black orbs tied to her belt.

There was a pair of small looking men who had what looked like lots of canteens on their bodies, along with a long cylinder that looked chill to the touch on their backs. The final person you couldn’t see much of them, as their uniform had more flaps to it and wider sleeves. On their head was a Kasa, only instead of woven with reeds it was matte black with a silver edge on it.

(Cont)

>>5585662
There was tension in the air, and your father looked ready to fight.

>Agree to meet Mister Lee, you don’t want your father to risk himself here and there had to be a way to avoid conflict like this.

>Focus on the two with the backpacks and devices, blasting sand up to block their line of sight and let you get close with sand bending attacks.

>Send a wave of sand forward at the leader and the men behind him, while preparing to fight the others.

>Fall back into the sand skiff to get cover, and use sand bending to move the ground and try and distract the outlanders while you and your father ready to take advantage of the commotion

>Charge straight at the woman with the bandana, and use sandbending to cover yourself as you rush her down, and proceed to focus on them one at a time while relying on the sand to cover you.

>Work with your father and let the outlanders attack first, relying on defense, your training, and your home field advantage against them.

>Other?

>>5585663
>>Fall back into the sand skiff to get cover, and use sand bending to move the ground and try and distract the outlanders while you and your father ready to take advantage of the commotion

>>5585663
>Work with your father and let the outlanders attack first, relying on defense, your training, and your home field advantage against them.

>>5585663
>Fall back into the sand skiff to get cover, and use sand bending to move the ground and try and distract the outlanders while you and your father ready to take advantage of the commotion

>>5585663
>>Charge straight at the woman with the bandana, and use sandbending to cover yourself as you rush her down, and proceed to focus on them one at a time while relying on the sand to cover you.

>>5585663
>Fall back into the sand skiff to get cover, and use sand bending to move the ground and try and distract the outlanders while you and your father ready to take advantage of the commotion
Not too confident in our chances, they have us outnumbered and even if we manage to get away in the skiff, their plain will be faster. Maybe if we can make it to the library Wan Shi Tong would be willing to help us.

>>5585663
>Fall back to cover

When faced with a direct threat, we should evade and seek shelter. It's when we're cornered or unable to flee that we should fight.

>>5585972
>>5585913
>>5585746
>>5585669
4 for fall back

Writing.

While we wait, I wanted to ask: What were you wanting to see in this quest? Thoughts so far? And any particular notes you feel you want to mention in regards to the setting or characters? I can ask some questions at this point, stuff your character would definitly know

The silence that followed was heavy as each mercenary stood with a confidence that came with a history of fighting, and their leader stood with a sense that he was not afraid of any fighting that may break out between their group and your tiny two person convoy. It made you uneasy, almost as much as it seemed to make your father uneasy, the man you’ve known all your life to be rather steadfast looking tense as his footing subtly shifted to the first stance of sandbending. Though his upper body did not match it, a great deal of sand bending relied on the legs and maintaining that solid connection with the shifting ground. Many thought that balance was impossible for sand because it always shifted with the wind, but the sand simply moved alongside the air’s breeze. A scholar had once commented on how your father’s movements while performing the basic sand twister technique that allow the sandskiff to sail across the sand was as if water bending and air bending had been anchored, and though the description was a bit off, it was close enough for an outlander.

Both you and your father made a decision as you saw the mercenaries shift for a fight, and with sudden movement you both fully extended your arms and swung them forward and then fully round to your backs, calling upon a wave of sand to lift up the front of the Sandskiff to act as your shield as the mercenaries moved to attack. The crack of lightning was heard and the thunk of things stabbing or bashing into the hull of the skiff were heard as you and your father gracefully slid from the skiff to the sand.

Balance for a sandbender was almost always meant to be shifting, unlike earth bending that relied on a single point of rooted strength, a sand bender brought their foundation with them and shifted with it. It was like how air benders would move with the energy of their bending, or how water benders would direct its flow, except a sandbender still held firm control over the sand as it was still bound to their anchored will. The sand did not flow like air or water, it moved when forced to, and stopped when something stopped it, and so it was that where once there was still sand upon a dune, with the wave of your arms and the adjustment of your footing to shift the foundation around your center line, a cloud of sand spun around you and your father.
(cont)

>>5586534
The smell of burning ozone came and then was carried off by the shifting sands, and your and your father kept up the practiced technique to obscure yourselves as you looked to one another. “What does the sandshark do when it cannot hunt?!” He called out, using the phrase as a means of communicating his idea. You had always been a star pupil when it came to bending, and the phrase immediately translated itself in your head. You nodded with a smile, and both of you pulled your bodies into their center. You then balanced on the tip of you toes on one foot, pushed yourself into a spin, and you moved the foundation down beneath the sands. The Sandshark’s passage was a technique commonly used by Sandbending raiders in order to surprise and ambush travelers too wary to simply approach normally, but it was originally a technique used against Buzzard wasps and to make a student familiar with the nature of the dunes of the Si Wong desert. In the sands, there was no solid ground or rock beneath the dunes, and so the concept that the dunes were anything but transient mounds of shifting earth were rejected.

While the Mercenaries dealt with the calming sands and the overturned skiff, you and your father moved through the cold sands below and for a time tunneled towards the direction of the library. However, the technique was not a practical one as it required a lot of stamina and energy, and so it was best for either setting up an ambush and remaining underground, or used briefly to avoid attacks. You would have to return to the surface soon, and quickly. Of course, the Sandshark’s passage was easily followed up by its next form, the Sandshark’s feast.

_______

On the surface, the mercenaries were spreading out and surrounding the sandskiff, only to find that both sandbenders had fled. But where was unknown, as there was nowhere to hide for miles save for the Library, and they would have had to get past them to do that. Guo Luomo let out a curse as his team began to search, already hating this job. He didn’t do this job to herd a couple of sand savages, or boil in this long forsaken desert. He turned to Ty San, and gave her a quick hand motion and then pointed towards the top of the now vertically aligned sandskiff. The fire bender nodded and, with a quick burst of fire, landed atop the skiff and began to ready herself, removing her bandanna covering that eye tattoo she got and beginning her breathing exercises. Ty San was a rare kind of firebender, and Guo was happy he managed to find her, but sometimes he wished her little trick was a bit more reliable. It was rare she had the time to set up for it, instead more often relying on classical firebending instead.
(cont)

>>5586537
Still, it was good to have. Guo turned to start giving orders, when he saw both of his Shock Throwers get swallowed up by the sand and disappear. “Shit, they’re beneath the sand!” Guo called out, slamming his foot down, twisting his hands, then crushing the sand beneath him into a solid mass of sand too dense to crawl through.

The waterbending twins both moved as one, quickly using their water to freeze the sand beneath them and then rise into the air on a pillar, but it was quickly shattered by an underground attack and forced them to seek shelter on the Skiff. Their local demolitionist simply dropped a bomb where they stood and, as if caught by the air, flew up and drifted along the wind as a sand attack came up. His clothes let him glide around the battlefield, and use the explosion of sand to his advantage to gain distance. There was a pause, and then the two sandbenders revealed themselves again, only further away and leaving behind an explosion from beneath the ground.

Guo slammed his foot down, made his arms go rigid, and gave chase by riding on the sandstone he had made, meanwhile the twins worked together to freeze and unfreeze a path for them to skate down and after their targets. Onn for his part, seemed to start hopping after them, riding puffs of air to gain distance and briefly touching down on the ground once his oomph was used up.

Meanwhile, Ty San stayed atop the Skiff, meditating, and focusing in the direction of their target.

What is your next action?

>Focus on running, using sandbending to increase your speed and maneuverability as you settle in for the chase.

>Bring the fight closer to the mercenaries plane, using it as cover as you try and pick off the mercenaries one by one.

>Find your foundation and, with your father’s help, form a sand wave to slam into the charging enemies and try to let the sand devour them for at least a time.

>try to summon Dhargey again to help you, you were the avatar right? Surely you could do that again, it had been so easy before

>Other?

>>5586261
>What were you wanting to see in this quest?
Personally? Well, I was hoping to see some more interesting types of sub-bending (Blood bending, Bone bending, Glass bending, etc. ) that haven't been shown yet in avatar and what kind of creative stuff that can be done with them. Mainly all that.

>Thoughts so far?
Not much to go on as we are literally just starting out, but I would at least say we've started with an interesting premise. A sandbending avatar is a promising place to start. Other than that, I would say we are at a good pace and have a good start, just wondering what part in this rolling will have in both combat and training, if any.

>>5586538
>Focus on running, using sandbending to increase your speed and maneuverability as you settle in for the chase.

>>5586538
>>Focus on running, using sandbending to increase your speed and maneuverability as you settle in for the chase.

>>5586538
>Run, but use the plane as cover for as much as you can.

>>5586538
>Find your foundation and, with your father’s help, form a sand wave to slam into the charging enemies and try to let the sand devour them for at least a time.

>>5586662
>>5586627
>>5586881
Gonna combine these since they're both run and moving so the plane is in the way is easy enough

>>5586626
> I was hoping to see some more interesting types of sub-bending

I am down for that as well, one of the things In particular I wanted to do was sort of expand onm Combustion bending cause it's one of my favorites, but I plan to have it so that you guys get the opportunity to test and experiment with bending types, perhaps even make a new one yourself if you can manage it.

And glad you're enjoying the quest thus far, the setting of avatar is such a fun one to play with.

>>just wondering what part in this rolling will have in both combat and training, if any.

Not to sure yet on where rolling will come into play, maybe just forgo it in favor of narrative preference. Not saying their won't ever be rolling, but idk if I'll have it be in placed like combat.

>>5586538
>>Focus on running, using sandbending to increase your speed and maneuverability as you settle in for the chase.

>>5586626
>>5587012
Would vacuum bending be a thing for airbenders?

>>5587328
I don’t think you could vacuum bend itself, but rather that the creation of vacuums is just a skill classical airbending can do, requiring perhaps a high level skill to do I imagine since only masters have been seen able to do it

While in classical earthbending one kept their arms straight and rigid as they swung them like pendulums in order to travel at speed on a sliding mass of stone, sandbending functioned best when one cut through the sand rather than attempting to force it to move as one. It was not like water bending where you let the flow of the material push you forward, as sand did not move like that, instead forcing the user to push off the sand and their gentle drifting between left to right and back give them purchase and grant the user more speed and power. At times like this, one could once more see some hidden relationship between sandbending and water bending, but the very stiff planting of feet was clearly Earthbending, even if the feet slid with the curves of the sand as a trail was left in the pushing Sandbenders wake.

You and your father moved with a practiced pace forward, away from the mercenaries and towards the only viable sanctuary for miles: The Library. You didn’t know if Wan Shi Tong would interfere on your behalf, but you had to hope that he would at least be willing to allow you to enter and provide shelter. A black orb flew past you and slammed into the sand ahead, your father letting our a curse as he shifted direction and sent up his hand as he turned, creating a wall of sand that exploded from the ground and took in the explosion, sending slag and cooling glass raining down over you. Your clothing protected you from getting burnt or scalded by the debris, but the pressure from the explosion had hit you and you worried that if you had been much closer that you would have had the breath driven from your body just from the power. You pulled your mind to the present rather than letting it dwell on what could be, understanding that your father had turned to lead you behind the plane, planning to use its bulk as cover for at least a short time

Behind you, the mercenaries gave chase each in their own way, the eartbending leader at the front as he gave chase, before he slowed as his stance shifted and changed to an unfamiliar style, then metal plates shot forward towards you and your father. Letting out a yell of shock, you threw up a sand barrier, only for the metal to cut straight through the sand and shifted in the air as they shot for you, bending like grasping hands as they flew for your arms. You were only barely saved as your father planted his foot into the ground, spun on it as his body lowered, extended his other leg, and sent a wave of sand to crash into you and throw you out of the way of manacles that uselessly fell to the sand as you tumbled through the air. Finding your wits, you tucked your legs in and got control over your tumbling, then swept your arms out so that the dunes would shape themselves to catch you in a way that let you continue your smooth sand bending movements away from the mercenaries.
(Cont)

>>5587487
In exchange for your father’s help, you covered him by sending a trio of sand tendrils out in a single motion to strike at the water benders, forcing them to dodge and weave and ruining whatever aiming they had attempted to perform. Then you followed your father and fell behind the plane, using it to gain some time and distance before the mercenaries could once again attack you.

Your retreat was working, you had already taken down two of their numbers, and lost a third. You would be exhausted, likely dehydrated by the time you made it, but you could reach the Library and seek shelter. You could get supplies and either reclaim your Sandskiff or wait until another scholar was brought to the library. You felt you had a solid chance at escaping.

______

Ty San rose from her seated position, breathing in sharply, then exhaling carefully. She had to keep total control over her breathing, carefully draw on her chi and focus it through the chakras. It wasn’t how her master had taught her to visualize it, but it she thought worked better this way, it was slower but more reliable. For one, she was the only one of his students that had survived intact, and two she had bested him in the art.

Their bending was rare, and it was the kind that could not be taken for granted or used carelessly. Yet she had to use it to earn her way, to stay with the captain and the squad. So, she focused her will to her fire chakra, willing the energy within her gut to focus and travel up her body. She helped it along with a sharp breath, then collapsed her diaphragm in an exertion of will over an organ not meant to be controlled by its host. She felt the energy travel up her body, before resting in her mind, and she breathed out and opened her eyes, focusing on the sand clouds in the distance, then aiming ahead of them.

She then released the energy, and her the air snap around her before the energy shot forth in a focused beam.

______

One second you had been confident in your escape, the next you were lying in the sand, trying to pull air back into your lungs and wondering what in the world could make such a high pitched ringing noise. You pushed yourself up, and groggily looked up and around, spotting your father face down in the sand on the other side of a glass crater that was nothing but black shattered slag, the air filled with its burning scent. You gaze lingered on it for a time, before a wave of pure uncontrolled rage took root in you.

Invaders! Thieves! How dare they come here, how dare they attack what you hold dear?!

(Cont)

>>5587489
Flashes of dream like memory come to you, of a time of rage, grief, and aggression. Of armies transformed into ash, of villages left as craters, of fearful awe staring up into the sky.

With a roar of anger that wasn’t your own, you spun from the ground onto your feet, and slammed your hands into the earth. You twisted them, and felt the sand wrap around your arms like a vice, before you yanked up on the dune and exerted your rage onto it. A great wave of sand rose, which then turned into a maw that opened to swallow the mercenaries and their plane whole. This was not your bending, you thought not at least, as no one commanded the sands such as this. The sands allowed one to push against it in small ways, quickly and controlled. This was something else, an ancient rage using what you had mastered and partnering it with an ability foreign to you. The desert surged forward and tried to consume the mercenaries, and while the air bender flew away, and the Earth bender formed his own shield of metal and stone from the crashing wave, the water benders attempted to have their own wave of water and ice best that of the sand. It was found to be insufficient, both were buried, then dragged under by a sharp motion of your hands and an adjustment of your stance.

Then the maw of sand you had summoned exploded, erased by a blast from the fire bender all the way back at your skiff, who followed up that blast with another, before taking a knee. The shot flew towards you, and though you moved to bring sand up to shield you, it detonated early and pushed the sand and yourself back. You landed on the ground hard, and you had to hold your eyes closed as they ached from the flash you had seen first hand, and once more you fought to bring the air back into your body. The rage was gone, and you were left with only your own pain and exhaustion, but still you pushed yourself first onto your stomach then your feet. You had to face these people, as you doubted you had the strength to make it while defending yourself.

Readying your stance, you leveled your eyes to the Earthbender leader who stood opposed to you, while the air bender seemed to square off with your father.
(Cont)

>>5587494
“You’re making this harder than it needs to be, just give it up. It’ll be less painful.” He said, flicking his hands out, then leveling them with his hands. The motion brought metal plates up to his fists and covered them, giving him a pair of metal gloves that looked ready to cause pain “course I’ll still have to bloody your nose for the trouble, I’ll make sure not to break anything, or well…we’ll see how it goes” He said, slamming his fists together and creating sparks. He had a sadistic excitement beneath his calm confidence, his eyes told you there was a hunger for what he imagined came next.

You took the combat stance of the Sandbender style, your front foot placed to the side and facing outward while the other was firmly centered, the knee bent as you readied to shift and push the sands with legs and arms.

>Focus on defense, keep him at a distance and use the sands to obscure your movements or shift them to ruin his own.

>Go on to attack, using the sands to batter and try to bury him under their weight and their cutting grain.

>Sink beneath the sands, and give all thoughts of exhaustion or limit away. Use the sands and become as the Nomads are, a beast of the desert.

>Attempt to maneuver the fight so that you can shift targets and help your father focus down the air bender, so you and your father can fight as one.

>Other

>>5587497
>Sink beneath the sands, and give all thoughts of exhaustion or limit away. Use the sands and become as the Nomads are, a beast of the desert.

>>5587497
>Sink beneath the sands
>Focus on defence

A mix of the two will serve us best. We're tired and he's more experienced. Best we can hope for is to ruin his attacks and punish the openings

>>5587497
>>Sink beneath the sands, and give all thoughts of exhaustion or limit away. Use the sands and become as the Nomads are, a beast of the desert.

>>5587497
>Focus on defense, keep him at a distance and use the sands to obscure your movements or shift them to ruin his own.

>>5587497
>>Focus on defense, keep him at a distance and use the sands to obscure your movements or shift them to ruin his own.
>>Sink beneath the sands, and give all thoughts of exhaustion or limit away. Use the sands and become as the Nomads are, a beast of the desert.

>>5588544
>>5587639
>>5587507
>>5587503
>>5587498
I’ll partner these all up together, and I’ll try to get a post out today.

So what bending do you think we'll learn first? My money is on air

>>5589932
Fire

>>5589932
Earth.

>>5589932
Water

There multiple references to how sand bending looks similar to water bending but acts differently

>>5589932
We go by the cycle. So Fire is next.

>>5589932
>>5589988
>>5590061
Due to how the avatar cycle works, Fire will be the next proper element to learn, though there seems to be some leeway, as Aang still learned some fire bending early, even if that ended badly.

So I won’t stop you guys from pushing for another element over fire, just know that it’ll likely be more difficult either due to you not learning the proper lessons from Fire bending or due to its inherent nature being contrary to your own bending.

>>5590166
You still there QM?

>>5591256
yeah i am, weekends just seem to have my brain exit and i become flighty. Gonna whip out a post now.

sorry for my distractible ass

There was a calm before your battle, where you and the metal bender quietly weighed the merit of the other, searching for the weaknesses and advantages of both sides. It was clear this man was your superior when it came to experience both in bending and dueling, from how he held himself, how he stood, the kind of stance he had chosen. In comparison, you were far less experienced but had been talented in bending since you were young, able to pick up techniques and lessons rapidly and then improve upon them either so you could use them better or so others could. How much of that was you and how much was owed to being the avatar was a thought you quickly had to banish, as it would only distract you in this moment. Instead, you played through various strategies to face this man, and came to one you thought might serve you best while taking advantage of your sandbending skills.

Right as you had decided on a plan of action, the man surged forward, launching two more metal plates out to bind your limbs with a swing of his hand before he surged forward on a rush of stone to close the distance and bring you within range of his fists. Your choice had proven lucky though, as you sank beneath the sand in an explosion of particulates and avoided the opening attack that might have doomed you right from the start. Surging into action, you shoved yourself through the medium surrounding you, staying close to the surface to have an explosion of sand follow in your wake and fill the air with its distracting haze. As you moved, you sent out tendrils of sand to mimic your movements, to hide your path and further fill the earthbenders vision with sand.

You briefly popped your head out for air, before going back under to go on the offensive. You had to pop your head out often to breathe and to keep track of where the earth bender was, but your movements and excessive disturbance of the environment would hopefully keep your vulnerability hidden. Standing in the center of a roiling cloud of sand, the metal bender maintained his stance and remained calm, his control on sand like that of a child but his quick movements and power allowed him to combine his dodges and bending into planting a foot briefly on sand and then bending it into a solid mass. Slowly, he was constructing himself an area of solid ground and bendable sandstone.

(Cont)

>>5591816
So you adjusted, and tried to use that against him, having sand push on the rim of the platform and shove it around, making the ground uneven and making it difficult for him to maintain his stance, where you would send a blast of sand to take advantage of the slightest misstep. You managed to hit him like this, further knocking him off balance and even wind him a little you though. But when you saw his serious and contemplative expression, you knew he wasn’t afraid of losing yet, but constructing a solution.

Still you continued, hoping to wear him down and bury him, doing your best to attack him from whatever angle he was least defending. Which proved to be a mistake, as when you rose to throw a massive attack in his direction, the sand containing solid chunks of sandstone meant to batter him down, the man spun to face the attack and rose up a mass of his platform into an angled shield to cut the attack in half. As the shock of his reaction hit you, he sent the shield forward through the sand to do the same, an example of classical earthbending’s fusion of defense and attack. An example you got to get a close look at, as it slammed into your upper body and made your vision fill with at first flashes of white, followed by a quick fade to near total darkness as you felt yourself thrown through the air and back onto the desert surface. The Impact, rather than finishing off your consciousness, jolted you awake and allowed you the chance to push off the sand and roll, barely dodging another attempt at binding your limbs with metal.

You scrambled to your feet, and turned the motion into a wide sweep of both your leg and arms, pushing forward a massive wave of sand at the metal bender meant to bury him under the solid mass. However, the wave was cut in half as the platform the Earth bender had been standing up flew through the wall of sand, cutting through it with raw weight and power. Holding onto it, a fact you noticed too late, was the earth bender. He limited your movements by sending chunks of the rock like great spears to slam into the ground and take out any of your attempts to push the sand together, then he rode the remaining stone into the ground and jumped off. Then with both arms, he summoned the various metal plates he had thrown throughout the fight and had them come in from multiple directions.
(Cont)

>>5591818
Time slowed for a second, as you saw metal flying towards and sensed more metal coming from your blindspots. Then you realized, you could sense the metal like you could stone and sand, then something seemed to guide your hands. It was like when you were shown a technique by your teachers, first the ignorance of the unlearned, then a vague shadow of understanding that would shift with practice. You extended your hands out and caught the two metal pieces, crushing them like paper in your hand, then dodging beneath the other two before with a flourish throwing the metal you caught at your opponent.

The man was caught off guard, and received a crumpled plate of steel to both his face and shoulder that sent him stumbling back clutching his face. You smiled at the victory, at the shifting tides of the fight as you positioned yourself to throw the chunks of rock at him and keep the pressure on. Then you saw him pull his fist sharply to the side, and you were struck with one of the stones around you. He then followed it up with one of the metal plates you had dodged shooting back and wrapping around your leg as you stumbled from the hit, then yanked it back and took your leg out from under you and dragged you towards him.

You tried to fight back, moving your arms to once more escape beneath the sands, but the man closed the gap as you began to sink and sank his fist into your gut. You were emptied of air and went limp for a brief instant, long enough for him to follow up the metal fist to your stomach with one the side of your head that sent your rolling across the sand. Once you stopped, you were face down in the sand and unable to really will your body to do anything despite your full intention to keep moving. Any signal to struggle or stand went numbly into your body, disappearing in the mix of pain and disorientation that only cleared a little when the earthbender grabbed you by your hair and lifted you up with a sharp tug. At the same time, you felt more metal wrap around your wrists and ankles, locking them together and stopping you from bending. You struggled, but it was still difficult to breathe and every motion you managed brought pain to your scalp.
(cont)

>>5591819
“Gotta say kid, you surprised me. I thought you were just stuck with sandbending, but learning to metal bend during a fight? My teacher would have loved you at the dojo, hell I’d love to have ya as a recruit.” He said with a chuckle, before making you face him and stare him in the eye “Though, I wonder how much of that was dumb luck and how much was actually you…” He said, pondering for a second, before smashing his fist into your face. There was an explosion of pain, a crunching noise you felt, followed by even more pain as your face struck the sandy earth and the pressure on your now broken nose. You tried to cradle your face. But you bound hands couldn’t reach and you could only pull into yourself, your knees to your chest as you tried to work through the pain “Told you i’d get you back for the trouble. Now let’s get you loaded up so we can get out of this hell hole, bad enough with the heat but I don’t trust that spirit library. Damn things always creeped me out.”

“Libraries or Spirits?” Said a calm, otherworldly voice.

“Bit of both, though the library part is cause o- Oh hell!” he said, turning around to try and take a bending stance, only to be grabbed by the talons of Wan Shi Tong. The owl spirit lifted the man up, slammed him down into the ground, repeated the motion three more times, before throwing him across the battlefield into the air bender that had been kept effectively on the defensive against your father. Both became a tangled mess that struck the earth, before both were buried beneath the sands by your father, who turned and ran over to you as Wan Shi Tong broke your metal bindings with his beak, then stepped back so your father could come to your side.

“They are beaten, but not for long. I suggest you come with me to the library. While they are brazen enough to attack you in the middle of the desert, I doubt they would dare enter a spirits personal realm.” The owl spirit said, and before you or your father could consider arguing, he picked you both up and took to the sky. He left behind the mercenaries climbing out of the sand, and the fire bender buried head first into the sand up to her waist, having been the first person the owl spirit had targeted.

_______
(Cont)

>>5591820
Wan Shi tong explained that he had heard the plane arrive, and at first decided to let things play out without interfering until he heard the first explosion. After that, he decided anyone foolish enough to combustion bend so close to his library was someone that had to be handled quickly. When he saw you and your father fighting, he had decided to lend his aide. He then helped your father reset your nose, and helped you settle into your rooms where you could rest from both the battle and the long trip you and your father had taken here.

At first you thought you wouldn’t be able to sleep, so round up by the sudden attack and sore from the damage you had taken. But after a bath and some tea to soothe your pain, you quickly fell asleep, not noticing as your father left the room to speak with the Owl spirit.

In your sleep, you dreamt of someone. Who?

>A woman, full of rage and anger, a destroyer to invaders and those who hurt her and her people. Fire, explosions, and screams accompanied the first seconds of the dream.

>A hunter, hidden in the ice and hunting for something. Something in the frozen wasteland called for them, and they sought it out hoping to help their people

>An older man, taking a break from his work, sitting atop a wall that dwarfed all others. One that would be one of many impenetrable defenses for his home.

>>5591824
>>A woman, full of rage and anger, a destroyer to invaders and those who hurt her and her people. Fire, explosions, and screams accompanied the first seconds of the dream.

>>5591824
>>A hunter, hidden in the ice and hunting for something. Something in the frozen wasteland called for them, and they sought it out hoping to help their people

>>5591824
>A woman, full of rage and anger, a destroyer to invaders and those who hurt her and her people. Fire, explosions, and screams accompanied the first seconds of the dream.

>>5591824
>A woman, full of rage and anger, a destroyer to invaders and those who hurt her and her people. Fire, explosions, and screams accompanied the first seconds of the dream.
I love this autistic owl.

>>5591824
>>An older man, taking a break from his work, sitting atop a wall that dwarfed all others. One that would be one of many impenetrable defenses for his home.

>>5591824
>An older man taking a break

I think this fits our desire to help our people

>>5591824
>An older man, taking a break from his work, sitting atop a wall that dwarfed all others. One that would be one of many impenetrable defenses for his home.

>>5591824
>A woman, full of rage and anger, a destroyer to invaders and those who hurt her and her people. Fire, explosions, and screams accompanied the first seconds of the dream.

>>5591824
>>A hunter, hidden in the ice and hunting for something. Something in the frozen wasteland called for them, and they sought it out hoping to help their people

>>5591980
>>5591963
>>5591828
3 for the rage filled woman

>>5592065
>>5592278
>>5592293
3 for the protective old man.

To provide context, these are two different avatars.

The woman is Avatar Agni, a woman from the early chaotic days of the fire nation before it was a singular nation. In a period of civil strife, infighting, and cruelty, she was one of a number of benders who tried to reconnect with their ancient past as the sun people, through meditation and mimicking the ways of the air nomads to tame their power.

She is the the inspiration for the Agni Kai duel, and through her you would begin to learn the basics of Fire compression, key part to many powerful fire bending techniques and the core of Combustion Bending.

The old man is Avatar Shi Huang, the man who lead the construction a founding of Ba Sing Se, and it’s first regent, where he cared for the kingdom as he trained its first king to rule wisely.

Through him, you’ll gain access to proper learning of classical Earth bending, focusing mainly on defensive techniques such as rock armor and such due to Shi Huangs pacifist nature. However you would also gain access to his knowledge on Crystal bending, which has great combat potential despite the rarity of of crystals.

So go ahead and vote on which of these you want with this new knowledge.

>>5592309
>>5592304
Sorry, I was typing while you guys posted.

Because of the nature of >>5592310
this post, a new vote has begun, to decide between

>Avatar Agni

And

>Avatar Shi Huang

>>5592314
>Avatar Agni

>>5592314
>Avatar Shi Huang

>>5592314
>>Avatar Agni

>>5592314
>Avatar Agni
BUST

>>5592314
>Avatar Agni

>>5592314
>Agni

Fire bending neat

>>5592314
>>Avatar Shi Huang

>>5592515
>>5592499
>>5592373
>>5592370
>>5592344
5 for Agni

>>5592681
>>5592346
2 for shi huang.

Alrighty, writing

Update on the post, it’s gonna likely be another big one. I have fun diving into these Avatar dreams, and making them characters in their own right.

Still writing Avatar Agni thing, but wanted to let y’all know I didn’t disapear

First came the screams, quickening your heart as your head swiveled in search for a threat or a child in need, only the jump back as fire roared out into the air and the thump of explosions were heard in the sky. You thought it was a nightmare, and prepared yourself to throw your mind away, anywhere but a battlefield conjured by your subconscious fears and deepest anxieties. Then you saw children run by, shouting in excitement in that shrill way only children could manage. You were in a foreign land, an island from how much of the horizon was dominated by sea, where the village you were in held fire nation people in old outfits that looked similar to the fashion you saw in Avatar Szeto’s biography. Men and women strolled and laughed in the festivities of you had to assume a celebration of some kind, or perhaps a wedding or birthday?

Then you heard the snap of an explosion, and found at its source was a woman dressed in orange robes, others dressed like her performing tricks with fire bending. There were twenty of them in robes, spread all around the town square, but then 5 in the center including the woman had stylized eye tattoos on their foreheads, the pupil a red dot that looked to be painted rather than part of the tattoo. The orange robed people entertained the village with fire bending, shadow puppets, and stories while at the center a crowd watched the woman and her cohorts both showing off their unique bending and espousing their beliefs to those willing to listen.

They spoke on how the firebenders of today relied too much on anger and aggressions to fuel their bending, that fire bending’s roots should be returned to and focus on both strengthening and controlling their emotions and spirit as a whole. They avoided saying it directly, but through implication you could tell they were heavily criticizing a powerful group and their use of bending, though if the villagers agreed or not you could not tell. They listened only politely, instead focusing on the entertainment, though the robed benders didn’t seem to hold it against them. They seemed content to get what coin and food they could, and bring smiles to the people.

“Avatar Agni! Could you show us some air bending or earth?” Asked a young man, excitedly looking at the woman who had a gold hair ornament, the apparent leader of the robed figures. Her companions encouraged the show, and with a bit of embarrassment she relented.

(Cont)

>>5593672
“Okay, Okay!” She said with a laugh, motioning the crowd to calm down “Here is something I learned from my friends in the Western air temple, where I rediscovered the old ways of firebending.” She said, working to loop the display of her power back to her preaching. With a flourish of movement, she created a large ball of air above her head, and began tossing items such as snacks, colorful stones, and a drum into it. The air currents kept items in the air, flowing around the ball of air in clean orbits around the center that captured the joy of the villagers.

“Avatar Agni!” Shouted a man, angrily, with a thunderous base to his voice that caused everyone in the square to jump and look to the source, the avatar also flinching and dropping all the items and getting bonked on the head by the drum making her wince. The man who had shouted it was imposing, wearing armor plating with gold decoration, backed by around two dozen guards. He marched forward, anger on his features as Agni stepped forward from the crowd, many of the villagers retreating to their homes with clear worry and fear on their faces. When the two stopped around ten feet away from one another, the man spoke in a clearly aristocratic tone “Avatar Agni, you’ve been warned before, bending is forbidden to the plebian castes. Yet here I find you accompanied by peasants who bend in the open, to solicit from the peasantry! You insult not only the dragons, but especially my own person for doing this so brazenly in my lands!” The man said, glaring at the woman who looked bored as she crossed her arms and leveled her unimpressed stare at him.

Avatar Agni looked to barely resist the urge to roll her eyes, bowing respectfully not as a peasant, or a peer, but as a superior, barely lowering her head in recognition of the man’s position “Lord Yang, while I mean no disrespect, my stance on the traditions of firebending are quite well known. My congregation do not oppose your rule, but we also do not fall under it. Those I train in fire bending follow me, and what we do with our skills is our concern, and as I am the Avatar, beyond your right to question.” Agni said, staring the man directly in the eyes and standing tall, exuding the authority of the Avatar to this local lord who may be powerful, but was still a mortal man standing before the Avatar herself.
(Cont)

>>5593674
Yang’s face turned bright red in rage as he seemed ready to attack, but a slight adjustment of Avatar Agni’s stance chased his rage away and left momentary fear, a subtle reality check to the little lord that made him step back. There was a tangible silence, before both parties calmed themselves, and Lord Yang spoke with much more control “Respectfully Avatar Agni, I must request that you leave my lands. Your disturbances in my people’s lives is not appreciated.” he said, bowing at the hip, a formal and respectful request to a superior.

Avatar Agni waved her hand, turning back to those villagers who stayed. “We will leave in a few days time, I promised the village here to help with their farms and divert a river to a more helpful location.” She said, going back and smiling to everyone as Lord Yang turned and left, fuming as he clenched his fists in shaking rage.

_______

The scene shifted to night, the village replaced with a camp that had laid down to sleep, only one or two still up to keep watch. Avatar Agni slept in her tent, hair undone and allowed to spread across the mat she slept on, the night too warm for a blanket so she slept in the open air. She was young, probably only a few years older than you, and here you could tell that perhaps she had not needed to work as hard as your people did to survive. Perhaps she was nobleborn, part of the aristocracy she spoke against? Or perhaps she was the favored daughter of a village family and managed to cross most of her life in relative ease. Hard to tell, but the thought only came to you as you felt the dream grow more tense as something major approached, something that shifted everything.

There was a sound as if someone tried to scream but was cut short just as the beginnings came out, not enough to stir someone asleep when it sounded so close to a cough. When it happened again, there was the sound of something being knocked over, which stirred the sleeping Avatar but not in a way that alerted her to any threat. She looked around her dark tent with confusion and a longing to return to sleep, but as the leader she stood and went to check if someone had knocked over a food bag or a chair stumbling through the dark night.
(Cont)

>>5593676
As she stepped out of the tent to explore the night, you tried to follow her out, only to be pulled back by an unseen force. The world was full of noise and fire, and for a second you felt a great agony in your heart before it faded away as you were dragged away from the memory. You stumbled back from the force and fell on your back, before scrambling back to your feet and looking at who had pulled you back only to see Avatar Agni, only now she stood without arms and her orange robes had been replaced with a dueling outfit. It was a deep red, and consisted of a shawl placed over her shoulders that she could shrug off to reveal the form fitting dueling clothes beneath. Her stare locked eyes with you, before it slowly drifted out to a rocky landscape. “Why did you pull me away?” You asked, adjusting your clothes despite knowing this was a mental realm.

Agni was silent for a time, before nodding her head forward inviting you to look upon a figure stumbling through the rocky flats towards a distant village. As it grew closer, you saw it was Avatar Agni, only her orange robes had been burned to tatters, her body covered in melted skin, and her arms crudely cut away as she weakly stumbled forward. “Because you didn’t deserve to live through that again…” She said, a hollow voice coming from the older and more regal looking Avatar that joined you and watching her past. “That Snake Yang came in the night, and tried to take everything from me. He took that and more, and let me go so I could live as a cautionary tale and so Yang could show his power. That he could conquer the Avatar.” She explained, her voice becoming nearly a feral growl near the end of her statement.

The Memory Agni stumbled in her pain-filled daze and fell to the ground, struggling at first to lift herself up without arms, before her face was pressed against the sharp stone of the ground and hidden by her messy and loose hair. She shuddered as she quietly sobbed, and so she stayed. “I laid there for a day, wishing to fade away, for someone to find me, for Yang to finish the job, for someone who had escaped the massacre to return to me in my darkest hour…” As she spoke, the sun sped across the sky, followed by the moon and stars, then the sun returned and covered the land in its red light. “None of that happened, and I grew tired of the stone and the cold.” Avatar Agni said, as you both watched her past self force themselves onto their feet, their face a twisted expression of rage fit for a wrathful beast.
(cont)

>>5593677
The beaten and broken Avatar Agni limped forward once more, a rage and anger ignited that threatened to melt the stone around her as it escaped in sweltering waves. “I believed that I could fix the world's problems with gentle teaching, that my position made me untouchable, that given time I would correct the course of my home and help the world. Perhaps I still could have, even as hurt and devastated as I was, but I was just a young woman who lost so much in a single act of cruelty and sadism. So I became a hypocrite, and carved my legacy.” She said, wiping away the memory, then summoning a new one.

A palace once unrivaled in beauty and strength lay crushed and broken, its master crawling through flaming ruins and past what remained of his men. Terror decorated his face, the man ignoring any cries for help he heard from both friends and family as he sought safety for himself. He froze as he heard the slap of feet behind him, stepping through blood or across smooth marble, the man turned to look at the monster that had come to take everything and saw the silhouette of an armless woman.

Her eyes glew a spiritual blue along with the eyes tattoo on her forehead, the flames wrapping her and in a bright red glow that nearly matched her anger. Lord Yang sputtered, and held up his arms, screaming for mercy, that Avatar Agni was not a monster. “Once I recovered, too angry to let the kindness of strangers calm my rage, I formally requested a meeting with Lord yang. I abided by the ancient and precious traditions of the nobility, forcing him to accept or to accept disgrace from all who learned. I then gave the fire nation its most enduring practice. The Agni Kai.” She said, as a ball of fire formed in front of the past Avatar and then was condensed into a pinprick of screeching light no bigger than a thumb. “I called for a meeting to settle our dispute, and the dispute was settled. I would use this against many a bandit king and tyrannical warlord, against armies that invaded the innocent across the world, any who caught the attention of my anger.” The pinprick of fire was released, and a pillar of fire engulfed Lord yang and everything in front of the rage filled Avatar. By the time the fire was gone, and the glow of the earth faded away, there was a smooth groove of glass extending from the avatar’s feet to the hilltop beyond the now melted castle wall.
(cont)

>>5593678
“By the time I reached my middle age, and I finally was able to tame my emotions, the Agni Kai had become a fire nation tradition used to settle disputes between all classes. It was a divine means of settling issues or fighting against injustice, one that not even Fire lords could escape from. By divine challenge, a peasant could burn or kill his Fire Lord and be declared righteous in doing so.” The dream shifted forward, showing Avatar Agni standing alone on a stone wall staring out into the sea, wearing the outfit her spirit came to you in. A hollow look in her eyes, a void of emotion that gnawed at even you as your soul seemed to recall that very same feeling. The spirit of Avatar Agni swept her hand, banishing the dream and then turning to you.

“I had hoped these memories lost to the Avatar, that we would be safe from these memories as the cycles buried it beneath more and more memories. Yet you call upon some of the most ancient of your lives, lifetimes so distant their echoes echoes have faded from history.” She looked you in the eye, and you sensed almost anger directed towards you for bringing her back and digging up her pain. But then she smiled as she shook her head, and a bit of that young woman you saw entertaining children in the village shined through the age of her face. “I don’t really know what’s happening, but since I have been called I will offer what I know.”

You were caught off guard at this, having just expected this to be just another dream through a past life and maybe some words with a past life. She seemed to see your shock and lowered herself in a crosslegged seat “The avatar has access to all of his past lives skills and mastery, though this is commonly only through the Avatar state. I cannot act as your firebending master, both because it would interfere with your development as a person, but also because you cannot learn as I did. So instead, I will simply remind your spirit of its past skills, and allow you access to powers long forgotten.” She said, motioning for you to sit in front of her.

You did so, and mediated across from your past life as she spoke “Compressing fire is one of the most difficult forms of fire bending, as it requires focus, a strong will, and iron clad control of your spirit. It has mostly been forgotten save by those truly great masters, but there are some who have a natural talent for its generation. Combustion benders I believe you call them.” Agni said, smirking at the name before continuing “A good enough name if any. Their power, should they survive into adulthood, relies on both their mind and will, manipulating the intense power of their chi, commonly to the forehead where the light chakra lies. Through meditation and focus, a bender can channel the chi and condense it, compressing its power again and again until they create a power stronger than what they put into it.”
(Cont)

>>5593680
Agni continued to explain, but eventually her words began to fade away into you remembering the lessons you had long ago discovered. Eventually, she faded away entirely and so did the dream, the sight of your room in the library welcoming your waking mind. You still remembered the lessons from beyond, still felt that within you was the ability to compress fire, if you could simply master your spirit, your focus, and most of all your will.

While you and your father waited for Wan Shi Tong to offer advice on your being the avatar, the owl stating that he would need to research past avatars in order to properly comment on your path, you read up on the chakras and what they represented. You read ideas of their connection to bending, of how one accesses them or “cleared” them, however it quickly became a topic that made your head either ache or your mind become fuzzy.

Still, thanks to Avatar Agni and your research you learned enough to bend some amount of fire, though you didn’t dare do so anywhere in the library, saving such demonstrations for outside.

Wan Shi Tong informed you that he would in total need a few days to settle his thoughts, the old spirit not caring for the idea that he had to rush to meet a mortal's limited time.

While you waited, what else did you study in the library?

>You studied various styles of swordsmanship held within the library, in particular a style of Fire Nation swordsmanship once taught by someone named “Piandao”. It was known for its creative nature, flexible application in combat, and focus on using one's intelligence to take advantage of both your opponents failings and the environment around you.

>You studied a collection of engineering schematics, notes, and journals of a prolific inventor. Through it, you acquire an interest in engineering and invention, succeeding in recreating his small prototype for an Air Balloon that might have been the inspiration for the old war balloons of the hundred year war.

>You searched the library for all it contained on earth bending, you fight with the metal bender making you determined to never be found incapable of even competing with the man should you meet again. One tome you find, decorated with a symbol of a boar with wings, catches your eye and interest in particular.

>You search for records of a means to help you in a fight, a martial art to use in conjunction with your bending to give you an edge. Buried among a number of scrolls and books of earth kingdom origin, you find mention of a martial art able to steal the ability of the victim to control their own body, and perhaps even cut off their bending for a time.

>>5593681
>You search for records of a means to help you in a fight, a martial art to use in conjunction with your bending to give you an edge. Buried among a number of scrolls and books of earth kingdom origin, you find mention of a martial art able to steal the ability of the victim to control their own body, and perhaps even cut off their bending for a time.

>>5593681
>You search for records of a means to help you in a fight, a martial art to use in conjunction with your bending to give you an edge. Buried among a number of scrolls and books of earth kingdom origin, you find mention of a martial art able to steal the ability of the victim to control their own body, and perhaps even cut off their bending for a time.


This was a really hard choice. Metal bending, old school fire nation engineering, but I have to see what kinda monster a sandbender with Ty Lee's fighting style will look like! Too cool to pass up!

>>5593681
>A martial art to use in conjunction with your bending

It's a pacifists art. Disable, disarm, and let no harm occur.
Something that Tong would approve of, and will be of great use in the future.

>>5593681
>You studied a collection of engineering schematics, notes, and journals of a prolific inventor. Through it, you acquire an interest in engineering and invention, succeeding in recreating his small prototype for an Air Balloon that might have been the inspiration for the old war balloons of the hundred year war.

>>5593681
>You search for records of a means to help you in a fight, a martial art to use in conjunction with your bending to give you an edge. Buried among a number of scrolls and books of earth kingdom origin, you find mention of a martial art able to steal the ability of the victim to control their own body, and perhaps even cut off their bending for a time.

>>5593681
>>You searched the library for all it contained on earth bending, you fight with the metal bender making you determined to never be found incapable of even competing with the man should you meet again. One tome you find, decorated with a symbol of a boar with wings, catches your eye and interest in particular.

>>5593681
>>You search for records of a means to help you in a fight, a martial art to use in conjunction with your bending to give you an edge. Buried among a number of scrolls and books of earth kingdom origin, you find mention of a martial art able to steal the ability of the victim to control their own body, and perhaps even cut off their bending for a time.

>>5593681
>You search for records of a means to help you in a fight, a martial art to use in conjunction with your bending to give you an edge. Buried among a number of scrolls and books of earth kingdom origin, you find mention of a martial art able to steal the ability of the victim to control their own body, and perhaps even cut off their bending for a time.

>>5593681
>You searched the library for all it contained on earth bending, you fight with the metal bender making you determined to never be found incapable of even competing with the man should you meet again. One tome you find, decorated with a symbol of a boar with wings, catches your eye and interest in particular.

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>>5593681
>You search for records of a means to help you in a fight, a martial art to use in conjunction with your bending to give you an edge. Buried among a number of scrolls and books of earth kingdom origin, you find mention of a martial art able to steal the ability of the victim to control their own body, and perhaps even cut off their bending for a time
Sand, fire and martial arts? Yes please

>>5593681
>You studied a collection of engineering schematics, notes, and journals of a prolific inventor. Through it, you acquire an interest in engineering and invention, succeeding in recreating his small prototype for an Air Balloon that might have been the inspiration for the old war balloons of the hundred year war.

>>5594645
>>5594413
>>5593933
>>5593741
>>5593709
>>5593704
>>5593686
7 for chi blocking. Gonna start writing and get a post out before I get distracted by the weekend

>>5596452
>get a post out before I get distracted by the weekend
ohoho

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>>5596452
>before I get distracted by the weekend
>distracted by the weekend
>distracted

>>5598959
>>5598987
Yeah I have no excuse. Gonna be a big post, cause I plan to move the plot forward. But, yeah sorry XD

>>5585660
>He did not lash out in cruelty, he did not blame anyone, he merely merely closed his eyes and welcomed rest.
Pressing F for my boy Avatar Dhargey.
I'm just starting to read through this, it's really good Quest Master.
I just hope the chat doesn't make us another lesbian avatar ;_;

In the time that Wan Shi Tong has requested, which all considered lasted nearly two weeks and may have only been extended when you asked how much longer it would take. You’re still not 100% sure Wan Shi Tong had chosen to be spiteful, or if you had actually ruined his chain of thought and thus forced him to continue contemplating. In any case you were left with plenty of time to wander the library and wait, and while your father forced himself to learn engineering feeling the Sand Sleds and your people in general should modernize a little with how easily those mercenaries had found and cornered you, you found yourself drawn to set of tomes placed in a section near where you had found the book concerning Kiyoshi. It was a newish book in the library, likely near a century old compared to all the others, and it was colorfully detailed with its art and diagrams of the human body both as references and as depictions of techniques. It was a tome that described a martial art well known to be used in mass by the Kiyoshi warriors that allowed a person to strike at points on an opponent's body and rob them of function or with some training even their bending. All these effects would be temporary, but the sheer advantage it would grant you was what had caught your eye, though you would be lying if the art itself hadn’t played a part in keeping you around.

Your first few days studying were met with expected failure, as no one could expect to become skilled in a single day. However, when you made a breakthrough on the sixth day your arm was left paralyzed and limp for the rest of the day, something your father didn’t miss and made sure you got your required ribbing for such a predicament. Besides your father’s teasing, you had been exhilarated at the success and had woken up early to go and study more, only to bump into Wan Shi Tong who had been loomng over your door. You had immediately bowed, and expecting that he had come to speak with you, asked what his thoughts had formed into. He was confused at first, caught off guard by the question, then shook his head “I was still considering them, but now that you have shaken those thoughts like I was a tree with fruit, they shall have to be given more time to form.” he said, his tone not really telling you if it was spite or him actually needing the time “That is not why I am here anyways. My custodians informed me they had seen you practicing martial arts, one from a book from my collection.” he said, his voice dropping an octave as the room grew cold, his tone holding his anger like a shaking dam. “As you are the avatar, and the child of a trusted visitor to this place, I have decided to allow you to defend yourself. Now, why do you work to misuse my knowledge?”
(cont)

>>5600936
You were effectively frozen in shock as the owl spirit loomed over you, his neck lengthening a little as you felt the anger grasp everything around you like a gold strangling grip. You had to try multiple times to find your breath, before you managed to speak. “I was practicing them for self defense, Lord Wan Shi Tong. While it is a martial art, it is a non lethal one sir, one that allows me to defend myself without harming others. I had thought that should me or my father be attacked again, I could rely on it as a last resort.” You then bowed deeply to show your earnestness “I apologize, I should have checked with you first before doing such things, I just assumed since it was for self defense it would be alright.”

The owl was silent for a time as you held your bow, and you didn’t dare rise for a solid few minutes before you met his gaze, and saw yourself in his eyes. You didn’t speak though, not wishing to interrupt his thoughts and ruin any chance that you had. You briefly considered all the routes you knew of the library that would lead to you escaping, but quickly determined that you would not be able to escape when the owl could ascend to the various levels of the library with little to no effort. So you waited quietly and patiently, hoping that your reasoning would work. While you had considered using the martial art offensively, to do so would require a level of acrobatics that would take you years to train, so it was best used when an enemy got close enough to you. You thought it made sense, but because it could cause harm or be seen as you trying to gain an advantage over others you believed that the chance that the spirit of knowledge could very well become enraged, an anxiety made even worse with how your past incarnations may have angered him.

“Hmmm,” the sound had nearly made you jump, a slight flinch all that was seen as you waited for his judgment. The anger faded away, and you felt the warmth in the library return “I suppose that is a reasonable application of the knowledge, as it is a martial art. Plus, without the acrobatic mastery its creator had, you using it offensively is unlikely.” He said, tilting his head as he seemed to peer into your soul “And I have allowed the study of bending here in the past, so I shall allow this. Please know however, that should you use this against someone as a method of dominance, I will not be so understanding.” he said, making sure you had felt the quick return of the cold, before turning and leaving to go back to his thinking.
(Cont)

>>5600940
You spent about half that day in your room, afraid to leave and be caught once more by the spirits gaze. Eventually though, food and a bath called you, and since you were already out you decided to get some practice in.

At the end of the second week, you had managed to learn and master a few of the techniques and pressure point placements. You had mastered the pressure point for a person’s neck, their right arm, and their left arm. However, they all were complex to learn, and techniques to block a person's bending entirely were beyond you as they required hitting hard to reach locations that you couldn’t reach on yourself, and required such precision that you were certain it’d be impossible at your current level to even do it properly if given the chance. Stil, with those three pressure points you could force a person's neck to go limp, their right hand become stuff as a board, and lock the shoulder of the left. These would hamper any fighter, and would make most bending extremely difficult.

“You know,” Said the owl spirit, making you jump so high you flung yourself from your chair and onto the ground, your heart thumping against your ears as he spoke “---------------- was a descendant of the air nomads, so I do not doubt there is a spiritual element to the martial art.” he said, the first part lost to the sound of your own panicked heart beat. The owl spirit simply looked at you. Seemingly expecting something, but when he didn’t get it as you tried to steady your breathing, he continued “I have made a decision, and have called upon a friend. There will be a meeting tonight, when the moon is fully eclipsed, that they will be able to speak. Come to the observatory when the moon is at its highest.” He said, then turned and left without waiting for you to calm down enough to ask any questions. By the time you stood, he had disappeared behind a shelf and was likely gone to some other far flung corner of the library.
(Cont)

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>>5600942
With Nothing to do until the time of the meeting, you had originally planned to return studying, but when you were about to sit down you locked eyes with one of the fox custodians of the library. Both you and it maintained a steady eye contact for about three minutes, before it gestures for you to follow it with a shift of its head and a wag of its tail, it turning and slowly walking off before picking up the pace once you were indeed following right behind it. It leads you through the library, ascending the levels of the great monument to knowledge and you couldn’t help but be reminded about all that was held within this library. Every thing that humanity had learned, and likely a great majority of it could be found here, preserved by a spirit that only cared for the knowledge for the sake of knowledge itself. It was a fortunate thing, for everyone, that Wan Shi Tong existed and through him the library. Untold amounts of history and discoveries would be lost to time had no one intervened, and likely even if some humans had intervened. Only a being removed from mortality and mortal desires could accomplish this.

Your musings ended when you were pulled away from the center of the library, past the shelves and cases, to the entrance of the building. You felt the heat begin to rise, and the dry air of the sunscorched desert met you and reminded you just how long you had spent in the depths of the library. Your eyes needed time to adjust, throbbing as the light grew so bright as to blind you briefly as you stumbled forward. When your vision returned, you immediately had to try and clear your vision again as you registered the large white six legged animal lounging in the sand before you. Next to it, equally shocking but less surreal, was the Sandbarge of the Elder Diet. It was a massive construction that had always been kept in good condition and even updated at times with new materials or technology, a vessel that could house all the elders of all the communes and all the clans comfortably and safely, that could project its power while the Elders within spoke.

At the front of the barge you saw the elder council, and your mother, standing across from a collection of white robed individuals, led by a middle aged woman with a blue arrow tattooed on her forehead and wearing air nomad robes. The woman was calmly talking, admirably weathering the storm of your mothers shouting.

“I don’t care who you are or what avatar you knew, she is my daughter and a child of Si Wong. Her talents belong to the clans and our people before anyone else!” Your mother said angrily to the elders nodding more calmly.

The white robed men and woman looked flustered and irritated, but the woman at their lead maintained a neutral expression “I’m afraid as the avatar, they cannot simply be considered as a talented individual. They are a person whose role is to ai-”
(Cont)

>>5600950
“Fuck that, her role is what the clans need of her. Si Wong tradition requires that she works and does what she can to help the clans. Her being the avatar only makes her potential great enough to have our unified elders decide. Who are you to come to our lands and decide to take away one of our people?!” Your mother said, jabbing a finger into the Nomad Master’s chest.

Despite not rising to the yelling or the poking, you could tell the older woman was working hard to keep her emotions in check from the twitch of a vein on her face. “Nothing will stop them from returning once their training is complete, but it is the White Lotus’s duty to prepare the Avatar for theirs. We can provide teachers for the elements, and proper education on everything they’ll need for the world that is to be under their care.” She said, the weight of her words landing harshly on you as you imagined such a responsibility. Would you have to deal with the conflicts of nations, did they expect you to have the answers for such big issues? Memories of the lives of both Agni and Dhargey came to your mind, and you considered the fear that your life may go down the same route.

But then you remembered how Kiyoshi and Szeto had acted as avatars, and also how the White Lotus were a recent creation, only as old as the last Avatar in terms of training the avatar. All the old avatars had to travel the world and learn on their own, but with the White Lotus you would get all you would need to learn in both bending and worldly matters, and have access to a well of wisdom from all its members. It had made Avatar Korra a peerless bender in her time, and she had successfully dealt with the complex issues between nations and peoples. Perhaps the White Lotus would hold the keys to making sure your time as avatar would have a well made foundation.

One of the Si Wong elders spotted you, and brought everyone's attention towards you. Immediately you were crushed in a hug from your mother, and before you could even say Hi she spoke “These outlanders came all this way to take you, as if they have some right to do so. The message I got from your father, they probably sent those damn mercenaries, only coming in when they can’t find a way to not get their own hands dirty.” Your mother said, spitting venom at the group as they approached.
(Cont)

>>5600955
She then looked at you “I don’t care what that Owl spirit has said. He is a great friend of our people, but he is not our people. The elders should decide how you can help, how you can make our people’s lives better and safer. They’ll just take you and have you deal with the outlander’s problems, where their borders always shift and change and their peoples always fight. Or have to help whatever new warlord they like beat the one they hate.” She said, gesturing to the elders. You had met each of them in the past, through some means or another. Each was wise and chosen to lead their clans based on both that wisdom and their devotion to the people of Si Wong. The Elder Diet had served faithfully for thousands of years, going back many avatars in the cycle.

Looking at them, you knew they would know how best an Avatar could help the people of Si Wong. They would have had ideas and plans and dreams that only an Avatar could make reality, all of them leading to better lives and less hardships for your people without relying on Outlander aid or bowing to Outlander rules. While other avatars would have had only their own experiences and wisdom to rely on, you would have the collective wisdom of your people to help only your people. You knew they would never even entertain the idea of your aiding those outside the clans, and would scoff at the idea of letting other nations take you away unless it truly benefited the clans enough. They were reliable, trustworthy, and would be an unshakable foundation for all your future efforts as avatar.

“Hello Avatar Safiyya,” said the Air Nomad woman, her and the white lotus bowing in respect. “I am Jinora, Daughter of Tenzin who was the son of Avatar Aang. It is a pleasure to meet you.” She said with a genuine smile, ignoring the daggers your mother was staring at her. “While I understand your Mother’s, and your Elder’s, hesitation.” She said, nodding to both “They are Mistaken in our intentions. We play no hand in what the Avatar does once they have been trained, and fully plan to only advise as best we can once our purpose as teachers has been completed. I respect your people's value on community and working for the greater good, but the Avatar cannot only serve the good of a single people. They are meant to tend to the world, tend to all peoples as all people are a single community.” She said, staying calm but showing you a wam smile as she spoke “ If you were to stay here, you would not only abandon the world who relies on the avatar, but would only attract its troubles back here. We did not send those mercenaries, and whoever did is unlikely to simply give up after one failed attack. The avatar attracts much attention, both good and bad, and I believe only we of the white lotus can prepare you for that attention.”
(cont)

>>5600962
This descended into a further argument between your mother and Jinora, and the elders and the white lotus. Accusations, threats, debates on where your fate truly lied, who you belonged to, who the avatar belonged to, brought back that feeling Dhargey had felt. That loneliness, only now it was not something muffled that you could remember, but raw and personal. The anxiety and pressure of what was being argued about, your role in the world, who you would help, how you would do it, what your life from this point on would be dedicated to. You looked to the White Lotus and saw Avatar Dhargey, a great man consumed by the role of Avatar and all he accomplished. You looked to the Elders, and saw Avatar Agni, a woman so dedicated to her people it consumed her and left her with a rage that was never forgotten.

The weight of two lifetimes came crashing down on you, as the infinite weight of a life you have yet to live perched itself above ready to completely crush you. You felt your breathing grow quick, then thin, before you realized you couldn’t hear anyone any more as your heart dominated the soundscape with its thunderous beating. You were sweating not from the desert heat, but from the cold pit that had formed in you guy as people wiser than you shouted about what you should do, what path you were to take and for what reasons.

Eventually, unable to hear the shouts and calls of anyone, you sprinted away in a panic. You didn’t stop, only looking back to see fox spirits blocking the group's entrance into the Library, with Jinora standing at the front of the group looking at you with sadness and concern but not shouting after you like your mother, the elders, and the white lotus were.

You ran, ran as far as you could, deep as you could manage. Until the heat turned to warmth, then the warmth became cool, then it became cold as you found a deep part of the library to hide away in. There was no reason for it, only animal panic as you eventually fell to the ground in exhaustion and huddled behind a shelf, gasping as you tried to collect yourself, to take back control of your mind and body as thoughts and worries buzzed in your head like a ravenous swarm of Condor Wasps.
(Cont)

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>>5600965
You pulled your legs close to your body, and placed your head between them as you fought to get your heart beat down and to slow your breathing. You don’t know how long it took, or when it happened, but eventually you managed to raise your head and look to your left where a fox spirit had nuzzled close to you and let your pet it. Your hand was acting on its own, but you didn’t mind as the warm presence of the fox and the motion helped to bring your senses back under control. The anxiety was still there, the knowledge hadn’t left, but you were back in the now, and could cope a bit better. You smiled when they looked up at you, giving their ears a quick scratch that made them shake their tail “thank you…Just thank you.” you said, petting them a little more before standing up and feeling your body ache from sitting improperly for so long.

The Fox leads you back to warmer parts of the library, back to the center pit that let one see both all the levels above and all the levels below. Looking down, you saw that there was still an untold number of levels to the library, the possibility of it being infinite rather possible since it was a spiritual construction. The fox led you up many floors, until you began to recognize sections of shelves, but they didn’t lead you to your room. Instead they lead you to the observatory, where Wan Shi Tong stood patiently. “You’ve arrived, I was expecting you might be late.” The owl said, his feathers briefly petting the fox as it walked by him, before he turned to the center of the room. “Come, my friend will be here soon.” he said and brought you to the center, where the light of the stars was shining through the roof but there was only a black shape in the darkness that told you the moon was also directly above this room.

There was a charge to the room, one you had felt when you had seen Dhargey face those masked spirits in the vision, but this was different. It was more familiar, less alien to yourself and not drenched in emotion. Wan Shi Tong stood patiently for something, staring up at the moon for what you assumed was some kind of sign. Then he lifted up his wing to block your view of the center of the room, held it there for a minute, then lowered it with the song of chimes in the air to reveal a young woman dressed in traveling clothes. She was sitting in a meditation stance, but she looked at you with an excited smile and beckoned you over to sit with her. She smiled at Wan Shi Tong “Thanks Lord Tong, it would have taken me months to make the trip without your help.”

The owl nodded and chuckled “You are welcome Mahsuri, it is good to see you are in good health. Any words from Jìyì tūnshì? It has been some time since I last had a visit from them.”
(Cont)

>>5600967
The girl nodded and opened her mouth to speak, but seemed to stumble on what she was going to say, before she pulled out a note and handed it to Wan Shi Tong who took it. “Guess I paid for my meeting with him with the memory of the meeting. Not a bad trade I’d say.” She said, looking at more notes in her pocket, before turning to you as Wan Shi Tong backed up to let the girl lead. Mahsuri looked you over for a time, before nodding and bowing to you “nice to meet you Safiyyah, I’m Mahsuri, and I represent some people interested in speaking with you.”

“More people who want to decide what the avatar should do with their life and why?” You said without much control, bitterness and anger slipping out before you could control yourself.

“Yep! Sorry girl, but just like knowing how to lightning bend attracts job offers, so does being the avatar. I’m sure Avatar Dhargey and Agni can agree to that partly.” She said, raising a brow to your surprise “My friends and I have a very close relationship with the spirits and their world, so we have been able to feel and sense your past lives visits. It’s honestly amazing you can contact them, as they’re ancient ancient. Like, ancient for even someone like Yangchen or Kiyoshi. The fact that you are so sensitive spiritually, is why Wan Shi Tong thought to bring us together. I don’t have all that much time, though I’d love to get to know you before dropping a business pitch in your lap.” She said, and she actually sounded upset she didn’t have the time to talk with you about other things “My friends, including Wan Shi Tong, have been seeing as the sanctuaries of spirits and the protected lands of ancient beings have been either slowly eroded away or outright destroyed by human development.”
(cont)

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>>5600971
More than anything though, you were angry at Avatar Korra, blaming her ineffectually because she was the only one you really could. How come she couldn’t have died a few years later, or earlier. Why did you have to be the one to have the avatar spirit dumped onto you?

You let out a growl and threw your pillow at a wall, and stared at it, seeing a map of the world. The wide world, full of people who would want something from you as long as they knew what you were…Full of people who have never met you…

Nations and kingdoms and towns and villages, across the world in all directions, full of people who wouldn’t know who you were, what you were. Who would expect nothing from you, want nothing from you, who would only know what you let them know.

You felt a lure in that map, an image of you disappearing into the night and into the wide world. Avatars of the past had found themselves traveling the world, and despite what people said the world seemed more capable of handling its own problems, at least for now. There were thousands of lifetimes where the avatar learned without the white lotus, thousands who left their home to never return or return on their own whim when they wanted to. Thousands who had lived a life no other person could, experienced a freedom no other could.

Beholden to no single tribe or culture, free to wander and partake of the life beyond everything they knew. Avatars whose revelation was an opportunity they could enjoy, not a responsibility chained by duty and expectation. You imagined your journeys, who you might meet, what you might learn, what you could see and experience without others guiding you on a leash or yanking on shackles made of responsibility or a sense of tradition.

(cont)

>>5600975
You imagined how if you didn’t go with the Elders, what your mom might say or feel. You wondered what judgements your father would make if you turned your back on Wan Shi Tong and his friend Mahsuri. You tried to imagine what that lady JInora would say or feel, and wondered why you cared as the image of her concern flashed in your mind. Decisions surrounded you, big ones that you knew shouldn’t be yours to make, not when you were barely an adult. You imagined you still had childhood left to live, but the only path you could see where you could salvage any of that was the one that led to that map.

You did not sleep much that night, as you thought.

>Go with the White Lotus and Jinora, and learn as Avatar Korra did. They can provide you training for all the elements, help you learn about the state of the world and how the nations worked and acted with each other on a large scale. A path of tradition

>Go with the Si Wong elders, and accept their guidance in working for your people. They would provide you their wisdom, and would ensure you could make your people’s lives better and safer, while staying with your family maybe or at least getting to visit them more often. It would be closer to the life you were used to. A path of duty

>Wait for Mahsuri to arrive, and join her and her associates to aid the spirits of the world. The trust Wan Shi Tong had with her seemed strong, and the idea of receiving wisdom and knowledge from beings older than most anything else in the world was one that you think served you well. A path of knowledge

>Leave the library, and the Si Wong desert on your own as you have done in your past lives many times, and find your own path to the Avatar you are meant to be. It would be tough, but you would be free to make your own choices, choose your own masters, learn your own lessons, and develop a wisdom and identity that was yours and only yours. A path of freedom.

>>5600978
9 pages
5254 words
23,162 characters (without spaces)

Sorry guys for taking so long, but hopefully this was a good post for y'all. i must now sleep.

>>5600978
>Wait for Mahsuri to arrive, and join her and her associates to aid the spirits of the world. The trust Wan Shi Tong had with her seemed strong, and the idea of receiving wisdom and knowledge from beings older than most anything else in the world was one that you think served you well. A path of knowledge
Got to fix the mess Korra made.

>>5600978
>>Go with the Si Wong elders, and accept their guidance in working for your people. They would provide you their wisdom, and would ensure you could make your people’s lives better and safer, while staying with your family maybe or at least getting to visit them more often. It would be closer to the life you were used to. A path of duty
Weeeeeee that was great

>>5593680
Didn't Ubalaq cut off the connection to past Avatars?

>>5601085
Yeah, but somethings is going on that is allowing your to contact ancient as hell avatars.

Normal avatars don’t tend to be able to go this far back

>Mahsuri

>>5600978
I want to go for the path of freedom.
We SHOULDN'T be spoonfed our knowledge, we absolutely SHOULDN'T be boxed in and led around by a leash to serve a small portion of the planet's peoples.

The avatar belongs to nobody, and they need to learn of the world themselves to help it.
But being so close to Korra, we need to fix the spirit world.

>>5600985
Holy fug man, good job.
Stellar read!

>>5600978
>Leave the library, and the Si Wong desert on your own as you have done in your past lives many times, and find your own path to the Avatar you are meant to be. It would be tough, but you would be free to make your own choices, choose your own masters, learn your own lessons, and develop a wisdom and identity that was yours and only yours. A path of freedom.
The ideal avatar is a pure expression of freedom.

>>5600978
>>Leave the library, and the Si Wong desert on your own as you have done in your past lives many times, and find your own path to the Avatar you are meant to be. It would be tough, but you would be free to make your own choices, choose your own masters, learn your own lessons, and develop a wisdom and identity that was yours and only yours. A path of freedom.

>>5600978
>>Leave the library, and the Si Wong desert on your own as you have done in your past lives many times, and find your own path to the Avatar you are meant to be. It would be tough, but you would be free to make your own choices, choose your own masters, learn your own lessons, and develop a wisdom and identity that was yours and only yours. A path of freedom.

Just wanna say, you're doing a great job QM. I've seen way too many avatar related quests get stuck trying to "fix" what they thought tlok did wrong instead of just writing something interesting with what they have. Well done.

>>5600978
>Leave the library, and the Si Wong desert on your own as you have done in your past lives many times, and find your own path to the Avatar you are meant to be. It would be tough, but you would be free to make your own choices, choose your own masters, learn your own lessons, and develop a wisdom and identity that was yours and only yours. A path of freedom.

>>5600978
>Leave the library, and the Si Wong desert on your own as you have done in your past lives many times, and find your own path to the Avatar you are meant to be. It would be tough, but you would be free to make your own choices, choose your own masters, learn your own lessons, and develop a wisdom and identity that was yours and only yours. A path of freedom.
Avatars always choose freedom

>>5600978
>Leave the library, and the Si Wong desert on your own as you have done in your past lives many times, and find your own path to the Avatar you are meant to be. It would be tough, but you would be free to make your own choices, choose your own masters, learn your own lessons, and develop a wisdom and identity that was yours and only yours. A path of freedom.

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>>5601228
>>5601243
>>5601252
>>5601258
>>5601397
>>5601405
>Leave the library, and the Si Wong desert on your own as you have done in your past lives many times, and find your own path to the Avatar you are meant to be. It would be tough, but you would be free to make your own choices, choose your own masters, learn your own lessons, and develop a wisdom and identity that was yours and only yours. A path of freedom.
>>5601004
While I also think a path of freedom is the best one, I'm not sure if it's in line with what our character would want. In character I think she'd choose to serve her people first. She definitely has a strong desire to be with her family, and I could only see her taking the freedom option if she thought it ultimately would be the best thing for them.

Quest Master, can I add if we do end up going our own way, that she makes it public knowledge and not a secret? I don't think she'd want mercenaries coming to her village looking for her. Though there is always the possibility that evil people might use her family against her, so everything she does has to be with them in mind.
I'm very excited to see more of this. And it's making me want to try my own bending quest again LMAO.

>>5601434
Sure if people support that I can make that adjustment

>>5601228
Thanks, glad you enjoyed it!

>>5601252
Thanks, happy to hear you’re enjoying it. And yeah, I’ll admit that cross my mind, but I thought that despite my own issues with the show, there was plenty of good. Plus anything I think super bad I can adjust, like the nature of The avatar spirits.

>>5601434
I'll support making it public.
from >>5601168 to supporting>>5601434

I don't want to lose our family connections, nor does Safiyya and I hope that mother will understand.

>>5601460
Yeah I'll support making it public >>5601434

And just a thought, I hope Wan Shi Tong doesn't get mad at us for not listening to him. We basically showed up at his home and asked for his advice, and then we'll be like:
>You know how I've been bothering you for the past few days/weeks for advice? Well now that you've given me it I can tell you your advice sucks!
I'm not sure how he viewed the last past avatars, but he seems to have at least a slight positive opinion of Safiyya. It would be nice to keep it that way.
And at any rate we'll probably help the spirits like he wants us to on our own. Trouble has its ways of finding the Avatar on its own.

>>5601547
Not sure on anyone before Aang, but I imagine him having a grudge against Aang for abusing his trust and the avatar’s position to misuse the libraries information.

He activly worked against Korra in season 2, but seemingly changed his mind on humans in general around then, which I read on the wiki.

What Korra’s actions, it was during her time as avatar that he returned to the human world and once more began working with the Si Wong Nomads.

>>5600978
>>Go with the Si Wong elders, and accept their guidance in working for your people. They would provide you their wisdom, and would ensure you could make your people’s lives better and safer, while staying with your family maybe or at least getting to visit them more often. It would be closer to the life you were used to. A path of duty
Enough running away. Time to stay.

>>5600978
>Go with the White Lotus and Jinora, and learn as Avatar Korra did. They can provide you training for all the elements, help you learn about the state of the world and how the nations worked and acted with each other on a large scale. A path of tradition

>>5601228
>>5601243
>>5601252
>>5601258
>>5601397
>>5601405
>>5601434
>>5601481
8 for leave the library, with enough people voting to make it public.

>>5601001
>>5601098
2 for Mahsuri

>>5601004
>>5601953
2 for Si Wong Elders

>>5602434
1 for lotus.

Alrighty, so our Avatar shall be going out in her own, and making sure that people know she is so that whatever troubles that may exist can chase her and not target her family needlessly.

Writing

It was late into the morning when you finally came to a decision, one that had been formed from the tension of conflicting desires and ideas of what was right. The wisdom of the White Lotus, the expectations of your people, and the plea from the spirits. All had been the right choice in their own way, all having their own justifications that could have been used against any who thought ill of you for making them. The masters of the white lotus, an order of people devoted to protecting the world and its balance like the avatar, an order that had freed Ba Sing Sei from the Phoenix Kings rule, one that dedicated themselves to that which until Avatar Aang’s disappearance before the hundred year war was solely the job of the avatar. It held within itself great masters and wise men. But they were only human, who thought that the only way to protect and ensure the safety of the Avatar, was to put them in a cage and train them in wisdom they knew and techniques they had mastered. You would not be Avatar Safiyyah, but simply Avatar Korra’s replacement, an extension of her tenure and likely the continuation of the White Lotus’ views on what the avatar should be shaped to be. Oh you may end up different, and Even Korra defied them, but they will have either changed to accommodate or do the same regardless. The Avatar was not meant to be a thing one made and kept in a cage.

The Elder’s Diet of the Si Wong nomads had a centuries long reputation of faithfully serving and leading the clans, using everything at the disposal of the communes for the collective good. They had a trained eye for talent, and how best to use it, and were trusted in their decision making completely and utterly. However, to turn to them would mean to accept their leash. You would not become Avatar Safiyyah, you may not even be any kind of avatar worth being known as you served the whims of your people and turned your back to the world outside the Si Wong borders. A tool destined to work for the communes, as was expected of you. The Avatar could not simply be a leashed work animal, or a well used tool to a single peoples.

The spirits and by association Mahsuri were the ones you were the least sure about. They called upon the Avatar’s role as the bridge between the spirits and humanity, and talked about how so many people were in conflict with the natural world and the spirits who resided in the areas that were now mines or places of construction. And as isolated as you were, despite how young you were, even you had the wisdom to know that there was much more to the situation than simply the spirits point of view. To go with them would be to accept their path wholeheartedly, to act as the agent and representative of the spirits, when the avatar was more than that single role.

(Cont)

>>5603152
All the choices you were presented with were not right, you felt in your gut that none of them were how you were meant to become the Avatar, that the path you had to take led somewhere else. Your eyes fell back onto the map on your wall, and silently you came to a decision.

Once that decision had been made, you worked fast. First you ensured everyone would know your decision, telling everyone to meet at the entrance of the library by sun down so they could hear your decision. Then you spent the day avoiding everyone, sneaking around the library gathering all you would need. Food, water, supplies for the long trip to the edge of the desert and into the outside world. With what time you could manage, you found a spare copy of a map of the world and marked notable locations on it so you would have some ease in finding them later. You marked down the location of Kiyoshi island, the western air temple, republic city, and the nearest major earth kingdom city Omashu. You weren’t sure if you were actually going to go there, but it would help you keep track of where you were as you traveled.

You dared not entertain the idea of taking any books with you, so you wrote down titles to hunt down later and made copies of passages as time allowed. But eventually you had to prepare to leave as sundown approached, so you brought your things to one of the few structures built by the nomads around the library, a stable that held within it a few pack animals and more importantly your own companion. The Fox Antelope stood in its stall, happily chewing on some kibble laid out for it, looking up briefly as you strapped bags to it before going back to its eating.

You would have to be careful on your trip out, and likely borrow a Sand Sled from one of the various dead drops around the desert to bring you to the edge of the desert. It would find its way back, you knew, especially if you left it with one of the border communes. In any case though, the trip would likely take a few days, maybe a full week if you didn’t rush it. After that, you would simply have to figure out your next move from there, let that freedom that was uniquely the avatar’s guide you out into the world.
(Cont)

>>5603153
“You’re gonna have to stop at an oasis,” said your father, making you jump and turn around to see him and your mother standing in the stables. Your father had a sad smile on his face, while your mother was holding back some anger but also some hurt. “The only one you’ll be able to reach with that much supplies will be the northern one near Si Wong Rock.” he said, walking forward and pulling something from his bag. It was a piece of bone, taken from Sandshark, a bone in their mostly muscle body that, when swung in a circle like a bola, would let loose a sound inaudible to people, but quite audible to animals and especially Condor wasps “You’ll need this, they’re very territorial this time of year.” he said, placing it in your hands and closing them around the tool.

Your mother hesitated at first, looking like she wanted to yell or lecture you, but when she locked eyes with your father she seemed to come to a decision. She then walked up and clapped you upside the head “Ow mom! “

“Don’t give me that, look at this half assed job you did.” She said, gesturing to your supplies and packed goods “you barely have enough for the Fox antelope let alone yourself. I taught you better than that.” She said, walking off and out of the stable, before returning a few minutes later as your father smiled warmly. Your mother held a perfectly packed sack, filled with supplies for bedding, camping, and rations for a long trip. It was also still easier to carry than the supplies you had packed yourself, your mother’s decades of practice and experience coming into practice here. She forcefully turned you around, put the back pack on your and strapped it in just the right way so that it would barely weigh you down or shift. Once she finished, her hands halted, and you waited a few seconds before turning to face her again, and saw her fighting back tears. “I’m sorry, I just…I didn’t mean to drive you away. I didn’t mean to go against you and your father, just thought th-that it was the right thing to do.” She said, refusing to let herself cry easily but letting your father wrap an arm around her shoulder.
(cont)

>>5603156
You were shocked at first, seeing the strong and unshakable woman you had known to be your mother in such a state, that at first you didn’t react. Then, you hugged both your parents tight, your father nodding with a sigh and your mother hugging you back tight. “You didn’t drive me away and I’m not mad at you. But…I’m the avatar…I’ve seen how my past lives lived, at least a couple.” You said, your mother and father were silent as you told them partially of the dreams you had and what you had read “I think…I have to go out there and find out who I am, who Avatar Safiyyah is meant to be, and I have to do it on my own. I can’t be spoon fed my wisdom, or be kept on a leash for a single people, as much as I love the clans…” You said, your father looking ashamed and your mother slightly aghast, but both nodded at your words. “I promise to return, that I won’t forget to make the lives of my people better, but I….I have to do it as Safiyyah, as my own kind of Avatar.”

You and your parents exchanged good byes, them giving you last minute advice and you giving them promises to return and to be safe. As you readied to leave, you asked them to make the knowledge of your journey beyond the desert known far and wide, to ensure everyone knew that you were leaving on your own so that anyone who sought the avatar would chase you, and not needlessly harm the clans. You had at first thought to silently leave without letting anyone know, but this way, they would know it was your decision and perhaps it would ensure those mercenaries that had attacked you would stay away from your clan.

Si Wong Nomads weren’t much for lengthy goodbyes, as the desert waited for no one and it could quickly turn hostile or pleasant at its own ancient whims. Still you lingered a second more to look at your parents, your father holding your mother tight as they botched watched you go. Then you turned as you rode your Fox antelope, your companion larger than most of his kind, and commanded him to go. And you sped off. You would see the White Lotus, the elders, and Wan Shi Tong try to call out to you as you sped away, you would not here their brief accusations against each other that were silenced by the news your parents bore, and your would wipe away any trail they could use to follow you with a combination of sand bending and the coming pitch black night.
(cont)

>>5603157
The elder’s sandbarge would never be able to keep up with you, and the White Lotus would not know the desert well enough to track you, and Wan Shi Tong would never consider leaving his library. So, you would be left on your own with no one able to find you, every hour going further and further away from your family and closer to the start of your journey.

It would take you a few days to make it to the Oasis your father mentioned, with his tool serving you well when the Condor Wasps tried to attack you for drinking their water. After that, came the longest part of the journey. Days spent going through the desert, even the speed of a sandsled seemingly doing nothing to shorten the trip as you carved through the desert that had been your whole world for most of your life.

You thanked your father and mother for teaching you the skills you needed to survive this harsh world, and you thanked your clan for keeping you so safe and fed so that you could use the skills to their fullest extent. Both of these would be repeated everyday, for another week after the oasis when you finally came to the desert's edge. At firs the transition was light, the sand dominating but the occasional patch of brownish green rocky terrain interrupting it, until finally you came to the very edge of the SI Wong desert. Before you was the color green, dry grassland that in the distance you could tell would eventually shift into sparse trees. You wondered what a forest might look like, what kind of animals lived in the grasslands, and for a breath moment excitedly imagined what seeing the ocean would be like. This excitement would die down after a few hours of walking, the reality partially disappointing as you trudged along as the novelty of green and grass quickly wore out. Of course, the novelty would come back randomly, with the stream of running water you discovered being of particular fun as you resupplied your water.
(Cont)

>>5603159
It would be another few days before you finally came to a town, one that seemed to be quite small but well off as its numerous potters and glazers made their works of art and readied them to be shipped off. Once you resupplied here, you found yourself at your first real choice on your avatar journey. It was exciting in some aspects, but it ultimately boiled down to you deciding where you wanted to go.

>North would lead you in the direction of Ba Sing Sei, and the Earth Kingdom heartlands. There you would likely find more and more developed regions, and get to be exposed to urban life as you grew closer to the famous walled city. In this direction was also the famous train network, which you could take directly to republic city if you so desired.

>West would take you towards the Kolau mountain range and by extension the ancient city of Omashu, said to be the birthplace of earthbending. Once ruled by King Bumi, it has become a metropolis in its own right, and the cave of two lovers is a popular location for songwriters. Legends of the first Earth benders, the badger moles, still living within have also made it to your ears. Plus, if you continued beyond Omashu, you would find port towns and harbors that could likely take you across the sea towards the fire nation, a completely different land from the one of your birth.

>South would take you to what was said to be an ancient and massive forest, once the refuge of a master bender who could control plants and later where the greatest earthbender in history, Toph Bei Fong, had chosen to reside for meditation for a time. It was also rumored to be a highly spiritual place that could show one visions of their future or their past. You wondered if you could use that to speak more with your past lives. Beyond that, further south would be Chin village and south of it across the water, Kiyoshi island and the legendary Kiyoshi warriors.

(East leads back to the desert so is not an option.)

>>5603160
>>West would take you towards the Kolau mountain range and by extension the ancient city of Omashu, said to be the birthplace of earthbending. Once ruled by King Bumi, it has become a metropolis in its own right, and the cave of two lovers is a popular location for songwriters. Legends of the first Earth benders, the badger moles, still living within have also made it to your ears. Plus, if you continued beyond Omashu, you would find port towns and harbors that could likely take you across the sea towards the fire nation, a completely different land from the one of your birth.