Chapter Text
Three generations after Avatar Aang restored balance to the world and ended the Hundred Year War, it was the Fire Nation's turn to host the rebirth of the Avatar. Celebratory fireworks lit up the skies over every city, and when the Fire Sages identified the infant they smiled. The boy had been born to good family, renowned for bending prowess and ferocity in battle on his mother's side and honor and kindness on his father's. Admittedly Lady Shinju had not survived the birth, but her father was still alive and much respected both as a teacher and as a powerful bender.
When Lord Kazumasa died in mysterious circumstances and the child vanished six years later, nine years before he was due to be informed of his destiny and true identity, there were no smiles to be found. The Fire Lord alerted his counterparts in the other nations and ordered a quiet but urgent search for the missing boy. Agents hunted across the world for the faintest hint of his location – all for naught.
Ten years after his disappearance all the temples abruptly lit to signal the first awakening of his power. Reports later indicated a volcano had simultaneously erupted on one of the uninhabited islands in the far west, where dragons could sometimes be found, but no one came forth to take up the mantle. As the world waited for the Avatar to step forward, a desperate, badly injured boy with bruised eyes unknowingly passed entirely under its radar – even with a knowledge spirit and a small, battered dragon in tow – traveling east with a small band of Air Nomads.