Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

A spinning disc of earth went flying through the air, dangerously fast.

Durham shouted, “Legosi!” Too late.

The disc broke against the wolf’s metal helmet, and Legosi collapsed straight down onto the ground.

Legosi was seeing stars in broad daylight, even as he heard Jack shout, “I got him!”

The wolf’s unfocused vision was paired quickly with the scent of blood coming from his head.

The padded metal helmets afforded some protection - like the rest of their armor and pads - but injuries were a regrettably common part of the game. So a few healers like Jack and Tao always stayed close at hand. It was good practice for healers, too, that way.

Injuries were still regarded seriously.

Their principal and coach, Gon the tiger, promptly whistled a time-out. He yelled, “Dolph, no head-shots! You know the rules!”

Dolph the hippo gestured in his defense, “I wasn’t aiming for his head! Legosi slouched down! It’s not my fault!”

Collot showed up beside Legosi at the same time as Jack. 

Quick as he could, Jack began bending some water from one of the irrigation troughs that divided the playing field. He gathered the water around his hands, and it glowed softly as Jack started healing the wolf’s head. 

Collot fanned the wolf with his hand, giving him a gentle breeze to refresh him. It was small kindness from an airbender. 

Collot tried to remind him, “Legosi, you need to keep your head in the game. You can’t daydream like that. Pro-bending is too fast.”

Legosi groaned softly on the ground, legs stretching in pain. “I wasn’t daydreaming… I just saw that rabbit … do a cool move…”

Gon leaned down into Legosi’s vision. “Legosi, how many fingers am I holding up?”

Legosi wasn’t certain. “Um … three?”

Gon still seemed concerned. “I think you should sit out the rest of the match.”

The wolf mumbled, “I’m feeling better… Jack’s real good at this…”

Gon sighed, “All the same, Legosi. Go sit out from this match. Are you okay to walk?” 

Legosi gave a slight nod, and tried standing even while Jack kept trying to attend his injury. Legosi stayed hunched a little low.

Gon stood back up and shouted, “We need a replacement earthbender for this match. Hey, Ellen! Can you substitute for Legosi?”

Off to the side, where the other benders were resting behind a safety net, Ellen the zebra soured immediately. She yelled back, “Are you serious?! That dumb dog got knocked out again?!”

The wolf softly protested, mostly to himself, “I didn’t mean to…”

Riz the bear stood up from the rest of the A team and put on his helmet, “It’s okay, Ellen. I don’t mind subbing.”

Durham punched a celebratory line of fire into the sky, “Oh, fuck yeah! We got the beast!! Uh, no offense, Legosi. But it’s Riz !!”

The wolf forced a small smile as he rubbed his head, “None taken. He is the best earthbender here…”

The big bear warned the opposing team as much as Legosi’s, “I’m not going to be going all out, okay? It’s just practice. I don’t want to hurt anybody.”

Miguno was playfully bouncing a big ball of water in his hands, “Yeah, you say that, but - we’re basically guaranteed to win the match with you.”

On the other team, Moro the rhino complained out loud, “It’s not like it counts for anything, whether you have Riz or not! It’s still just practice!”

Jack gave a little tug on the wolf’s arm, encouraging him to come along. “We need to get out of the way, Legosi.”

The wolf grimaced, nodded, and followed him to the benches off to the side. 

The metal safety netting was there to protect the rest of the players on the roster, when they weren’t actively on the field. There they could watch the other players’ performances fairly close up.

Legosi took off his helmet fully there, where it was safe, and picked up a gourd filled with drinking water. He poured some of it over his head so he could rub the blood away.

Legosi was happy to be on the sidelines, just watching as the games began again. He always loved watching. 

Each team was comprised of four benders, one of each element. Two teams would face off, trying to knock the other team back and off the playing field - like children’s dodgeball, with an elemental kick.

In their armor and helmets, the young benders of Cherryton could practice the game with … marginal safety.

It was inherently a dangerous game, even if it had rules. No icing, no sanding, no bending outside of your team’s field, and definitely no lightning. 

There was a general guideline for how big a blast of fire or water could be. Earthbenders could only use discs of a certain size, too. You didn’t need much rock at all to break bones (or kill).

Air was subtle, almost invisible, and had a bit of an unfair advantage there. So the rules said that airbenders had to focus on defense: either protecting their teammates from attacks, or deflecting the other team’s attacks back. 

And you could talk about rules and regulations all day long, but there was undoubtedly something visceral and magical about the experience. 

Each match, each round of pro-bending was fast-paced and intense, and like many people, Legosi got absorbed watching every single one. 

All the great cities had fallen in love with the sport. The city of Cherryton was no different. 

Cherryton might have liked it even more so since pro-bending was one of the few things that every clan would enjoy watching. 

Benders of every element manifested in every clan after all. 

Cherryton had become something of a cultural nexus over the last few hundred years, a trading port that almost all the clans tended to operate in, or through - even if Clan Artio owned practically half of it.

Clan Artio was, admittedly, one of the largest: it was the clan of deer and llama, sheep and goat, and many others. Clan Felidae had their own corner of the market, as did the birds of Clan Aves and Clan Tellura. Clan Canida, Clan Squamata, Clan Perisso and all the other clans - they were all there, too. Cherryton had a little bit of everyone. 

Yet even in the great cultural hodgepodge of a place like Cherryton, many things were still divided along clan lines - like how all the clans had their own variations to bending the elements, or how they worked their bodies. 

Pro-bending was just a game that all the benders could share, a way for Cherryton’s mixed youth to come together and train.

It was different from just copying whatever an old master did in front of them, and it tended to be a whole lot more fun. It was more about reflexes and control than specific movements.

Most of the students still got private lessons elsewhere, from family members or old masters. The local scion of Clan Artio, Louis the red deer, could certainly afford being taught by some of the best masters around.

Like most of the great cities, Cherryton even had three different fields for the three size leagues: the large-breed, the mid-breed, and the small-breed. 

Even with an A team and a B team, there were a whole lot more students on the roster, practicing, hoping to place on one of the teams eventually. Placing on one of the teams and playing a good game during the intercity matches was a great way to get fame, job offers, and sometimes? Suitors. 

Officially, Legosi was in the large-breed league, but he never actually showed enough skill to even place on Cherryton’s B team. He got his only earthbending lessons from his grandfather, before being sent to Cherryton’s boarding school five years ago. Placing on the A team was most assuredly a distant, impossible dream. 

But Legosi was fine with that. 

He wanted it like that.

He wasn’t there for glory, earthbenders were always needed for work somewhere, and he didn’t want to date anyone at all.

He showed up at every practice. He still tried to get better. But winning was never a concern of his, or a priority. If nothing else, he was just another earthbender for the better benders to train against. His own abilities had just been … stagnant. 

No, if Legosi was there for any reason at all, it was to see everyone else bending… 

That’s what he wanted: to watch them all up close.

His eyes tried to track the rapid movements and patterns: the way Riz pushed his huge body quickly and solidly through every block and throw, the way fluffy Collot shifted like a reed in the wind, the way Miguno’s limbs just seemed to flow, the ferocious way Durham attacked with his flames again and again.

And then there was the opposing team, and just a little ways farther, Legosi could see the mid-breed field and the two teams training over there, too.

So many styles, so many variations… 

With those four teams of four benders each - and the several dozen other students on the roster, waiting between matches… Was it any wonder that Legosi couldn’t focus on a single person? 

Legosi wanted to see it all. 

Every so often, his arms or legs jerked a little, like he wanted to move just like them.

The more he got drawn into the game, the faster the wolf’s tail started wagging.

Jack half whispered, “Legosi, if you just want to watch, you really don’t need to risk yourself playing…”

The smiling wolf tried to reign in his enthusiasm, “It’s better if I’m at least a little engaged, right?”

Jack shifted a little closer, talked even softer, “But if you’re lucky … you’ll never have to do anything.”

Legosi’s shoulders tightened. The wolf grimaced, “And if I’m unlucky…?”

Neither finished what wasn’t safe to say out loud. They’d had that conversation many times before.

The labrador sighed, “Please just be careful, Legosi. Even with the armor, pro-bending is a dangerous game…”

Collot deflected an earthen disc with a burst of wind, and it hit Pina so hard, the dall sheep ragdolled across the ground. 

Legosi winced, several others groaned, and Jack stood up from his seat again, saying, “I got him!”

……

Legosi tried to enjoy his dinner outside with the rest of the benders - but he was just as distractible as ever. He kept trying to think about how that white rabbit had pulled off that one move; it was just so hard to tell with airbenders… 

Durham tried to ask, “Hey, Legosi? Legosi?? Hello?”

The wolf blinked a few times. “What? What’s wrong?”

The coyote smirked, “I was asking if you studied for the geography test tomorrow.”

Legosi grumbled under his breath, “No… I forgot…”

Jack sighed, “Legosi…”

Collot teased softly, “Legosi, you really need to get your head out of the clouds…”

Durham laughed, “Says the airbender!”

Collot flicked a puff of air at Durham’s face. “An airbender with his feet on the ground, thank you. I’m doing better in class than you, and on the field.”

Voss complained, “And I’d be doing better than all of you if I even had a chance! Being in the small-breed league just sucks! We don’t get to participate in the intercity matches! We aren’t even allowed to play near you guys! It’s total bullshit!”

Jack cautioned him, “Voss, it’s a safety thing, you know that. What if one of the big blocks went wild and hit a chipmunk?”

Durham joked, “Or if Mina tripped and fell on a mouse?”

The small Voss gave a proportionately small growl, “I know that, jerks! It still feels unfair! I’m never going to get over it. Our playing field is shoved in a corner on the opposite side of the school from you guys, all by ourselves.”

Miguno tried to be encouraging, “Voss, we all know you’re amazing, really! You could be anything when you graduate, even join the military. Foreign intelligence would love an earthbender of your strength and size. Legosi, you could be a great earthbender, too, if you just focused a little more. Your build is solid, your form needs work, but -”

A sudden wave of heat and light drew everyone’s attention to a fiery maelstrom. The blaze was crashing between the fists of a tiger and a red deer.

Jack groaned softly, “…Are they at it again?”

Voss grumbled, “Firebenders…”

Durham glared at the small fox, “Hey! I’m not like them!”

The burst of flame diminished between tiger and deer, with both of their arms still raised and ready to attack again. 

Louis the red deer threw another volley of fire as he demanded, “Don’t whisper threats you can’t back up, carnivore!”

Bill the tiger had a wicked smirk on his face, catching and blocking the flames as he replied, “I just said, I’m going to replace you on the A team this year! That’s not a threat, it’s a fact!” 

Bill traced two claws through the air, and they started to spark electrically. Bill said proudly, “I can bend lightning now, and you still can’t. It’s inevitable, Louis: I’m going to overtake you this year. It’s just a matter of time.”

Louis stomped hard on the ground, and another plume of fire swirled up around his reddish-brown body. “What kind of logic is that?? Pro-bending doesn’t even use lightning! It’s banned from the game! I focus on skills that actually matter, and that’s why I’m the strongest! You’ll be lucky to even get my slot after I graduate!”

Bill snarled, “Give an herbivore a little taste of fire, and he thinks he can take on anyone. You know, I’m usually not one for rumors, but since it’s you? I have to know: do you really believe you could be the next avatar? Please tell me you’re not that dumb. You’re not even from Clan Squamata!”

Louis scowled, “What stupid cat falls for stupid rumors??” The deer stood taller, “The next avatar will be born from Clan Artio - my clan. It’s our turn after Squamata. That’s been the cycle for millennia. A pompous cat like you won’t even have the chance for hundreds of years.”

Bill stared at him, “You think the lost reptile died? You can’t kill the avatar.”

Louis said it like it was obvious, “Read a history book. Maybe you won’t sound so idiotic. Plenty of people have killed an avatar in their time. It’s been almost eighteen years since Avatar Jakhara died, and no one from Clan Squamata has shown the potential. It’s never taken this long to find the avatar in recorded history. You go on believing fairy tales if you want; the avatar isn’t invulnerable. They can die, same as anyone else - and they’ll be found living soon enough, in my clan.”

Bill growled under his breath, “Whatever, Louis. I don’t want your avatar; I just want your slot on the team. Gon will pick whoever’s better - and soon enough, everyone is going to see that’s me. Face it, Louis: you’ve peaked. A scrawny herbivore like you just doesn’t have what it takes to be a large-breed firebender.”

Carnivore and herbivore moved to torch each other again, but a wall of earth suddenly burst up between their flames.

Riz slid along the ground like it was ice, right up to Louis’ side. He grabbed the red deer by the sleeve, saying, “Louis, come on! He’s not worth it!”

Louis yanked his sleeve free, looking just about ready to burn the bear, too. “Don’t tell me what to do, carnivore!”

Riz continued softly, “I’m not telling you, I’m reminding you. If Gon sees you two acting like this, you’re both going to get kicked off the teams for sure. We need you two in the matches against Dorpal School, or we’re going to lose.”

Louis sneered, contemplating further violence, before he finally stomped away, leaving ashen footprints behind him.

Riz shoved his hand downwards, and the wall of earth returned to the ground below.

Bill was grinning victoriously.

The huge bear glared at him. “Knock it off, Bill. You’re giving us all a bad name.”

The tiger shrugged it off. “Whatever you say, Riz.”

Bill strutted away lazily, heading anywhere else.

Riz glanced around again at all the other students so clearly still watching. He clapped his hands twice to break the silence, “Show’s over, everyone. Finish eating. It’s a school night.”

A soft murmur of voices returned to all those eating outside.

Durham spoke up first among the other canids, “You ever get the feeling something major happened between Louis and Bill?”

Collot replied, “I have way more important things to worry about than what bug crawled up their ass.”

Voss added, “Like our geography test.”

Miguno sighed wistfully, “But it would be pretty cool if they found the lost reptile here at Cherryton. Pity we’ve only got like, three or four reptiles who are benders…”

Legosi was eagerly shoving his face full of rice, while Jack sipped away at his tea a little faster. They avoided making eye contact.

……

Durham was excitedly trying to wake Legosi up the next day. “Dude! Legosi! Legosi, wake up!”

The wolf was not a morning person. He looked up groggily, tried to rub his eyes open. He finally managed to ask, “What’s wrong? What happened?”

The other canids were half dressed and getting ready for the day. 

Durham seemed a bit too happy as he said, “Ellen is dead! The wicked witch is dead! They found her body half-eaten early this morning.”

Legosi blinked like he’d just been slapped. “Durham, that’s terrible.”

Durham scoffed, “Oh please, nobody liked Ellen. She was a scary earthbender and a terrible bigot.”

Legosi replied, “That doesn’t mean she deserved to die…”

Durham rolled his eyes a bit. “I guess. Personally, I think the killer deserves a reward, but that part doesn’t matter anyway. Point is, since her Royal Witchy Highness can’t play on the B team anymore, there’s a slot open for an earthbender!”

Miguno chimed in, “You could actually place on the team now, Legosi. Isn’t that exciting?”

The sleepy wolf just frowned more. 

Collot sighed dramatically while he finished getting dressed. “I told you he wasn’t going to care about that…”

Durham groaned, “Legosi! This is what we’ve been practicing for! You could get to represent the school and the city, and show all the non-benders what you can do! You could get a whole ton of girlfriends! Or at least get a job lined up for when you graduate. Spirits, I can’t wait for Louis to graduate, cause there’s no way I’m beating him or Bill any time soon…”

Legosi looked to Jack for help. 

Jack cleared his throat, then pointed out, “Cherryton has a lot of good earthbenders, guys. The school has students from all of the clans. Just cause there’s a slot open doesn’t mean Legosi will get it automatically.”

Tiny Voss spoke up grumpily, “You’re all going to make me jealous. Legosi just lucked out getting born as a large-breed carnivore. If I had even half his size, I’d be the best earthbender in the league.”

Miguno murmured, “Don’t be like that, Voss. You already are one of the best. Your rock armor technique is amazing, it’s just not legal in pro-bending.”

Jack added, “Guys, you know Legosi isn’t a morning person. He’s probably just half asleep. We can talk about it later. Personally, I’m hungry.”

Legosi yawned slowly, so many big carnivore fangs on display, “Breakfast would be nice…”

Durham just shook his head. “Typical Legosi…”

The wolf tried to stretch out his tired limbs. “I like food… There’s nothing wrong with that…”

Voss grumbled to himself and trudged out of their dorm room on his own.

Chapter Text

Legosi didn’t do great on the geography test… but he did better than his roommates expected. 

Durham was a bit annoyed by that. Distractible, inattentive Legosi barely applied himself to his studies, and he still skated by with passing grades. Durham asked him what his trick was, if Legosi was perhaps cheating on the tests somehow (and then telling him that Legosi should help him cheat, too).

Legosi claimed he just remembered things. Jack provided more thorough alibis. They ‘liked studying alone in the woods, without any distractions.’ ‘It’s quiet out there.’

Thankfully, that was usually enough, since Legosi himself was a terrible liar. 

It just … wasn’t exactly the complete truth. 

Legosi had no great ability for remembering things. His memory was as faulty as anyone else’s - maybe more so - and there were times he completely forgot to do his homework. He needed reminders from the others constantly.

No, Legosi just … occasionally … remembered things, from other people… 

Legosi had intrusive memories from foreign towns and distant countries, of historic landmarks and ancient kings - despite his feet having never left the forests around Cherryton. It was one more thing he could never let slip.

They were just flashes of a moment, foggy glimpses of the past, information he couldn’t remember actually learning from anyone in particular, and sometimes that came in handy. 

Other times… other times, he felt like he remembered too much, and he couldn’t make sense of it - like too many people were trying to fit into his head. His past wanted out, no matter how many times he tried to shut the door.

More often than not, he spent his classes unable to focus - glancing out the window, trying to replay bending moves in his head - and then racing to finish his test with whatever answer just felt right.

Case in point: Legosi was smiling to himself on his way to the practice fields after classes, because he’d already forgotten that ‘little detail’ about Ellen’s death and the open slot. 

Gon called all the benders together to talk about it before practice - the students on both the large-breed and the mid-breed roster. 

Gon tried to explain gently, “A lot of you have probably heard about the devouring already. Our own Ellen the zebra was attacked last night … and killed.”

People would usually be sad to hear about a devouring. A few looked uncomfortable, or angry, but not exactly ‘sad.’

Gon picked up on the obvious, “I know Ellen wasn’t exactly a popular person … but she was a great bender. So, moving forward, you all need to stay aware, okay? Be safe. Make good choices. That goes for all of you, herbivores and carnivores. Your bending doesn’t make you any less of a target for predation or violence. And, for our carnivores … I’m sorry to say, but you’ll likely be suspect in the proceedings.”

That got a rise out of people: multiple carnivores started proclaiming their innocence, providing alibis, protesting baseless accusations.

Gon tried to settle them down, “Listen! Listen, this is important! Ellen was a great bender! So it’s very likely that her attacker was also a bender! You need to be aware of that! The city guard and her clan - Clan Perisso - are both conducting an investigation. The investigators didn’t find any evidence of a specific element used to attack her, but a lot of her body was … not there anymore. The culprit could have consumed the evidence. So don’t do or say anything that might get you in trouble, or make people suspicious. We all need to be smart right now, and safe…”

Gon took a breath to steady himself. He explained, “Bending has always been the great equalizer between carnivores and herbivores. Any one of us, from any clan, could show a connection to the elements. This game allows us a way to come together, to learn and play with each other. The matches with Dorpal School will proceed in two weeks as scheduled. In that time, I’ll be looking for a new earthbender to take her place. But this is still inherently a game, and I don’t want to hear any of you got arrested for doing something foolish, okay? Bill. ”

The young tiger flinched. “What? What did I do?”

Gon scoffed, “You know what you did! I don’t care if you can bend lightning. I don’t care if you can bend everything! Don’t think you’re too great to be replaced - any one of you! If you keep picking fights, I can expel you from the league, or even the school. You can’t keep acting like little kids anymore. The laws of the clans are unbending and without mercy, and if they think you're guilty of something, they will not treat you like a kid. I don’t want to find out you’ve mysteriously vanished overnight. You all are more vulnerable than you know.”

It was Louis’ turn to be grinning. 

Gon turned on the red deer, “And Louis, the same goes for you! I don’t know what your tutors have told you, but you have got to control your temper! It’s your obligation to control the flames, not scorch the landscape in your wake! Bending is how we interact with the world around us. Bending is a gift from the spirits! It is not a weapon!”

Louis scowled but didn’t reply.

Gon the tiger opened his hand, and blue fire began to dance brightly in his palm. “Fire is an element of life! We need it to cook our food and make our tea, we need it to clean and sterilize our tools, we need it to light our way in the dark, we need it to stay warm in winter. But if you don’t learn how to control it safely, then the life in the fire will grow and consume and then someone really will get hurt!”

Gon clenched his hand, and the blue fire vanished harmlessly inside. 

Gon insisted, “Pro-bending is a game . It is not worth your life. All of you need to be smart in the coming days. The upper echelon of the clans are more deadly than you know. There are many who still look for a reason to strike on a daily basis. You’ve never had to fight in a clan war, and by the spirits, I hope you never have to - but we have no avatar now to maintain the balance. It falls on all of us to make good decisions, to see that the clan wars never start again. And as a game, yes, you are here to have fun, but also must learn control. You must maintain control of your element, and control of yourselves. Now … all of you finish getting your armor on. I’ll mix up some of the teams, and then we can start.”

…… 

Legosi was probably the only large-breed earthbender not excited about the open slot. 

There was great honor to be had in playing for your city. Glory. Opportunity.

Dolph the hippo was certainly trying to show off, to put all his energy into launching each earthen disc, attacking with what was practically a firebender’s ferocity. It was pushing everyone else to work a little harder, play a little fiercer, and Gon was definitely taking notes.

Even Riz was feeling the pressure, showing the strain as the other earthbenders tried to take him on. If they could stand up to Riz, well, clearly they deserved the spot, didn’t they?

Legosi had a feeling that Riz was more anxious about it, too. The huge bear seemed off-balance, and that stood out even more for an earthbender of his caliber.

Legosi probably should have been watching the other large-breed earthbenders, too, but he wasn’t. 

That white rabbit was on the mid-breed field again.

Haru. They weren’t exactly friends, or even acquaintances, but they’d seen each other play. They’d trained on adjacent fields for the last three years, and she’d been on the mid-breed A team for two of them. She was, without a doubt, Cherryton’s best mid-breed bender.

If Riz was the school’s best earthbender, then she had to be the best airbender. 

But Legosi never saw anyone pull off a move like she had yesterday - whatever it was she had done. She had twisted her weight and arced a shot with barely any motion of her arms at all. Legosi couldn’t get his brain around it. The subtlety of air was deceptive like that, and it could be used in so many different ways.

Everyone could jump and dodge on the field. It was part of the game. Even Legosi had to dive out of the way at times. But even a beginner airbender could jump right over a building if they wanted. 

So airbenders weren’t allowed to jump too high on the field, and usually had to keep their feet on the ground. ‘No excessive floating.’ That still gave them a lot of wiggle room for acrobatics and impossible gymnastics, and they were arguably better than earthbenders at not falling. 

However she had done it … Legosi really wanted to see that move again. He wanted to figure it out. He was trying to keep his eyes on her even as she dodged and twisted with an airbender’s supernatural grace. 

The opposing team could barely even touch her, which only encouraged them to attack her even more, even faster. 

If they could take her off the field, the others would be easy pickings.

Just by shifting her body a few inches, a straight shot could miss her entirely.

She was a proper beauty to watch on the battlefield, and it set Legosi’s tail wagging. His eyes were glued on her performance. Legosi was sipping water from his drinking gourd -

And that’s when he saw the ice.

It was only there for a split second - just enough time for Haru’s foot to slide when she tried to dodge. 

Too fast. Pro-bending was too fast, too many were trying to hit her at once, and a split second made all the difference between dodging or taking the hit.

A disc of rock and earth shattered hard against her chest, more stone than dirt. Even with her armor, Haru was knocked off her feet, and onto her back.

She landed soft, caught herself on an air cushion, but that shot still looked like it did damage to her armor.

Legosi promptly stood up, “Icing! That was icing! Call time!!”

Gon blew a whistle even as Legosi, still holding his drinking gourd, ran straight past the large-breed field, over to where Haru was struggling to sit up and holding her side.

Tao was hesitant about getting too close to heal a conscious herbivore without their permission.

Gon approached her just a little less fast. He asked her, “What happened? Are you okay?”

Haru grumbled and glared at the wolf, “I’m fine! I’m fine, my foot just slipped and I took the hit wrong.”

Legosi was practically panting from anxiety, pointing at the harlequin rabbit with his free hand, “Haru’s foot slipped because her teammate iced the ground beneath her! That’s illegal! Why would you even do that to your teammate?!”

Mizuchi the harlequin rabbit seemed shocked, “Me? Icing my own teammate? Why on earth would I do something like that? Really, Haru, are you going to let the carnivore talk to me like that?”

Haru winced and brushed off her clothes and dented armor. She insisted, “I’m fine! Leave it alone. I just stepped wrong.”

Legosi’s head tilted in canine confusion, and he looked to Gon for support. “I know what I saw! Mizuchi made Haru slip on purpose! Haru could have gotten really hurt!!”

It was Haru who yelled at the wolf though, “I just slipped! It was me! You were nowhere near us! You don’t know what you saw!”

Gon put his hands up, “Okay! Enough! I don’t know what happened, but there’s no point arguing about it! Legosi, stay out of this. Haru, go take a breather. Mizuchi, if I do see you icing your teammates, that’s it. You’re out of the league. Do not let me see that.”

Haru took off her helmet and stormed off the practice field saying, “Gladly.”

Legosi gripped his drinking gourd harder, looking back and forth between the three of them like everyone else had gone insane. Tao just stood there, not knowing what to do.

Mizuchi had a sickening look of satisfaction across her face, like she’d got away with murder.

The wolf took two steps after Haru, and Gon grabbed his arm tight. 

The old tiger whispered, cautioned him, “Legosi, think about what you’re doing.”

Legosi’s brows were locked in concern. He whispered back, “She’s hurt. She’s really hurt, I can tell! I just want to make sure she’s okay!”

Gon’s eyes seemed to be gauging something from the wolf’s features. He must have seen enough sincerity, because he released his grip. “Be mindful, Legosi.”

The wolf swallowed. He repeated, “I just want to make sure she’s okay.”

Gon gave a warning growl. “Don’t be long. Your next match will start in a while.”

Legosi nodded once, and then ran after the white rabbit.

……

Even injured, Haru got a lot farther than Legosi expected. 

She cast off her armor and just left it on the ground behind her. She floated more than walked, eager to distance herself from all the others fast. She didn’t want Mizuchi to know how bad it was.

Legosi had to run after her, following her scent past the school, far out into the surrounding woods. 

The wolf shouted out, “Haru?? Haru, are you okay? Haru!!”

Legosi hurried more, searching for her, pushing past bushes, eyes scanning through the forest. 

The white rabbit suddenly turned around a tree in front of him, and stomped so hard, the wind shoved all the loose twigs and leaves away from her. She snapped at him in the same breath, “What?! What is it with you?! What was that about back there??”

The big wolf held tight to the drinking gourd in his hands like it was a shield. “She iced you! You had to know that! You’re way too good to slip up like that!”

Haru was angry and visibly in pain. 

She yelled at him more, stomping towards him, “Yes, she did! And I can handle it! How did you think that was going to go back there?? What, you’d call her out on her shit and she’d stop picking a fight?? That would have only made it worse! This isn’t my first day dealing with her! She’s just a bully! She’s an elitist noble, I’m a commoner! I can handle her my own - my own -”

Haru was wincing. 

Then wincing turned to gasping. The white rabbit was starting to breathe shorter, sharper, holding at her side. She started grasping at a nearby tree trunk for support.

Legosi felt frozen. His ears had already drooped down. 

Haru was struggling to speak, “Something - ahh! Something’s -”

Legosi’s eyes darted around in a panic, but he only saw forest. 

Then he crouched straight down in front of her, onto his knees. He put a hand against her side, then up closer to the ribs - where the white rabbit suddenly wheezed sharp and nearly bent double against his arm. 

Legosi felt his mouth go dry. “You have a broken rib, maybe two. It’s impacting your lung - it might be piercing it.”

Haru couldn’t even speak the obvious, that she couldn’t breathe.

Legosi looked around wildly again, tried to shout, “Jack! Jack, come quick!! JACK!”

Too far - calling was pointless, he realized it as soon as he did it - they were way too far out now. Haru had wanted to be alone explicitly. 

Fear was a pair of shiny black eyes, looking for help from the huge canid carnivore.

Legosi felt his own heart pounding, racing, trying to calculate something for himself even as the rabbit struggled to stay standing. 

No time. There was just no time to get her back to the rest, this was happening too fast. How long can a mid-breed herbivore go without a working lung? If Legosi ever knew, he couldn’t remember. 

He helped her lay down.

Legosi’s voice finally built up into a louder groan and he begged her, “Please don’t tell anyone, please!”

Haru’s nose twitched. She didn’t know what to make of that - not before the wolf very clearly bent the water out of his drinking gourd, gathered it to his hands and then applied it to her stomach and side.

The water glowed. 

He did it just like Jack had taught him: how to use water as a medium, how to connect with the waters of life inside them all - how to channel energy and spirit into the mix, to repair and correct the flow. 

Haru was staring. It was all she could do. 

It took a sketchy minute’s work before the rabbit was actually able to catch her breath and her injured insides were in great pain, but no longer meant an imminent, aching death sentence.

Her black eyes went wider at some point, her ears as stiff as sticks. As soon as she could speak, she practically yelled, “YOU’RE A WATERBENDER!”

Legosi gulped. He almost lost his concentration. “N-no. No, I’m not! This is … mud!”

Haru yelled again, “IT’S TRANSPARENT WATER. IT’S GLOWING.”

Legosi stammered, “It’s - advanced mud?”

She insisted, “YOU GOT IT FROM YOUR DRINKING GOURD!”

“Very advanced mud?” He hoped she’d believe him.

Haru grabbed her ears despite the pain, “How are you doing this? How are you doing this?!”

Legosi tried not to whine, “My friend Jack is a really good healer? He taught me things?”

Haru grabbed him tightly by the sleeve, “Are you the avatar?! Are you fucking kidding me ? Are you the avatar??”

Legosi dropped his voice to an insistent whisper, “Please, stop yelling! Please! I’m not! Stop yelling!”

Haru finally whispered back, “You’re waterbending! You’re waterbending right now! You’ve been bending earth for three years and now water?! What else is there??”

Legosi tried to lie, “You’re - hallucinating? Yes. It’s a concussion. This is all in your head. It’s the blood loss. I am a lanky yellow labrador. My name is Jack. You’re confusing me with Legosi. We’re around each other a lot.”

Haru put a hand over her eyes. “I’m going crazy. Of course. That’s the only possible explanation for this. The next Clan Canida avatar isn’t due for a few hundred years and yet YOU ARE FUCKING WATERBENDING!”

She stared at him hard, and the wolf nearly whimpered. 

Haru was practically gawking, “Why aren’t you excited about this? They’ve been trying to find the new avatar for almost eighteen years! You’re here! You’re right here!”

Legosi finally spoke back, “And they can’t find out I’m here! Do I look like I’m from Clan Squamata?? I’m not a reptile!”

That actually stopped her for a moment. She squinted at him. “…How old are you?”

Legosi mumbled, “I’m seventeen…”

Haru had to do more thinking. That tracked with the death of Avatar Jakhara, but … it wasn’t a reptile in front of her. “…How long have you been able to do this?”

The wolf sounded defeated by that point, and finally gave in, “I started moving rocks when I was four … and when I was six, my friend Jack started waterbending. We used to live out in the woods, with our families. He was the only other canid kid around for kilometers. There’s this river we liked to play at… He showed me his bending there. I copied his movements, I didn’t think anything of it … and that’s when we found out I could bend water, too…”

Haru had to ask, “Can you bend all four?”

Legosi muttered, “…Sort of? I really like watching other people, but I’ve been trying not to learn the actual forms… I don’t want to slip up by accident. I wanted to learn to heal though, just in case something bad happened…”

Haru resisted the urge to laugh at her own condition. “Yeah, something bad happened, so thank you very much.”

That sounded more sarcastic than she meant it to.

Legosi still looked downcast about it. He explained it like it was something to be ashamed of: “Jack helped teach me. He lets me borrow his medical books sometimes, when I’m interested. I can’t concentrate well. Not waterbending is easy enough. Not airbending is problematic. I still have to be careful when I sneeze, so I don’t hurricane myself across the room. And I don’t have much experience firebending at all, but I can start and stop fires…”

Haru blinked. “Then … that has to be it. You’re the avatar. You have to be. They’re the only one who can bend all four.”

Legosi didn’t reply. He just focused on trying to repair her insides, if he even could.

The enormity of it finally caught up to her, now that she wasn’t in agony. “…What does this mean? The avatar was supposed to be born from Clan Squamata. Is the cycle broken? I thought it was the work of spirits. I thought the avatar was a spirit, incarnate. How is it even possible for the cycle to break ?! If the incarnation of balance is wrong , people are going to freak!”

Legosi heaved his next breath, “This is why we can’t let people find out! The avatar cycle gives people a sense of stability, purpose, hope. The avatar connects all species, even carnivores and herbivores, and the spirits. The avatar is supposed to be the bridge, the balance, and the proof that we are all connected. The clans spend hundreds of years waiting for the honor and glory of the avatar being born among them - their son, their daughter, their cousin! Yeah, I’m here now, but I’m not what they want me to be!”

Haru insisted, “But people have to know! They need to know the avatar hasn’t abandoned them, that balance is still in the world! They need that! Even if the cycle is wrong, or different, the avatar might be the only one who can actually fix some things! They’re the bridge!!”

Legosi replied desperately, “And if they find out it's me, they’ll kill my family!!”

The rabbit leaned back. “What? Why? Even if some of Clan Squamata resented you -”

Legosi was scared. He nearly yelled, “It’s not some people! It’s everyone! It’s fucking everyone!”

Haru frowned. “I don’t understand. What’s wrong? Why would you think that?”

Legosi looked in actual agony then. “Because … I was born from Clan Squamata. …My grandfather … is a komodo dragon. I’m one-fourth komodo…”

Haru swallowed hard. The old tales, the warnings and the laws - so many horror stories - they all hit her so fast it made her sick. “…You’re abomination.”

Legosi flinched, wounded, “Don’t call me that! I’m a hybrid! I’m just a hybrid! That’s all! …Now do you get it?? Clan Squamata is going to feel cheated out of their honor, their only avatar in a thousand years, by a monster! Clan wars have been fought over less, to say nothing about what they’d do to my family!”

Haru’s voice hardened, completely serious, chilled down to her bones, “…Having hybrid children is illegal. Your existence is illegal, your grandfather was breaking a dozen clan laws. People will be calling for blood, from you and your family.”

The water around Legosi’s hands stopped glowing, and he flicked the rest of the water off to the side. Legosi couldn’t make eye contact with her anymore, but he didn’t move away. He stayed where he was, down on his knees.

Haru glanced down at herself suspiciously, “Why’d you stop?”

The distraught wolf gave the weakest shrug of the shoulders. “You’re better now…”

The white rabbit squinted. “You said I had broken ribs and a messed up lung. You can’t have fixed them that fast.”

Legosi fussed with his hands nervously, still looking down at them. “…I said you might. I don’t know. Maybe I was wrong. But healing with waterbending uses spiritual energy… and I’ve got a lot of energy to spare…”

Haru carefully started to sit up then, as if expecting the pain that didn’t occur. She stretched her arm and her side slowly, just to be sure. 

She stood up properly then. She brushed herself off. 

Haru started to open her mouth several times, gesturing with her hands, but kept stopping herself short. 

She started pacing.

Legosi just kept looking down at the ground, and scratched a tiny line into the dirt. 

Two ants started crossing the miniscule valley he had made.

Finally, Haru’s expression resolved itself. “Okay. So… you might have just saved my life. I should acknowledge that. Thanks. Choking to death would have majorly sucked.” 

Legosi mumbled a lie, “No problem…” 

Haru continued, “So keeping your secret is probably the least I can do.”

Legosi’s ears hesitantly lifted up a little. 

“…But,” she warned, “I have one stipulation.”

Legosi’s ears fell back down for the incoming blackmail. He scratched at the dirt more. “…What do you want? …I don’t have any money. …I’m terrible at taking notes, I’d probably ruin your homework, and I’m not a great bender, I swear. I barely know how to bend water. I just know how to heal things.”

Haru stretched out her arms and smirked. “You may be in a different size category from me, but I don’t need you fighting my battles. You have to let me handle Mizuchi in my own way.”

It was a weird time for Legosi to bark a laugh, but he couldn’t hold it in. His tail finally started wagging again, and Legosi rubbed the back of his neck. “Sorry. I’m sorry about that, I just … I got really upset cause she stabbed you in the back like that. She betrayed you. It wasn’t right…”

Haru came up closer and poked him on the nose. “Yeah, and maybe that’s your avatar instincts, but this is a girl fight. I know how to handle her. You go handle avatar business: stop disasters, defeat monsters, keep the clans from going to war.”

Legosi didn’t realize he started smiling. “If I never have to do any of that, I’ll be happy.”

Haru sighed to the universe above, “Oh, if only we could all live happily…”

Chapter Text

Legosi made an important note to himself: don’t piss off an airbender. 

Mind you, Legosi tried to stay on everyone’s good side, or at least their indifferent side. But a mad airbender? Scary.

Haru was not new to bullying or prejudice. She could deal with bigoted remarks. She could deal with passive aggressive comments, and she could put up with a whole lot of other shit in general. If Mizuchi wanted to preen about how great it was to be some noble rabbit bloodline, how dwarf rabbits were all a bunch of commoners, fine. That was no fur off Haru’s back. 

Haru didn’t need recognition from a bully. The accolades of a specist are worthless.

But after nearly choking to death on her own blood? No, that was the final straw for Haru. 

If Mizuchi was going to screw with Haru on the field, then Haru could do it right back. If Mizuchi wanted war, she’d get war.

From the sidelines, watching everyone’s afternoon practice, there was no way Legosi could prove Haru was doing anything. Pro-bending is so fast, the opposing teams are always trying to hit whoever they can, whenever they can. 

But whenever Haru and Mizuchi were on the same team? Mizuchi kept getting hit.

Whenever Haru and Mizuchi were playing on opposite teams? Mizuchi kept getting hit. 

It wasn’t like Haru was bouncing every attack straight toward the harlequin. That would be obvious to everyone. She deflected a shot or two at Mizuchi when they were on opposing teams, but that was the game. Each team wanted to knock the other off the field.

Maybe everyone else was just … a little more accurate in hitting her.

Air is subtle, oftentimes even invisible, but most airbenders had a gentle personality. 

Haru was not in a gentle mood anymore. Yesterday was the last in a long string of behaviors that the dwarf rabbit had tried to tolerate. No more. Haru was pushed past the point of gentleness. No more avoiding the problem, no more dancing around the issue; she was going to deal with it, and that was on Mizuchi. 

If Legosi wasn’t aware of the problem between them, if he wasn’t watching the pair so closely, he wouldn’t have noticed. No one else did. There was always so much going on at any one moment. Most of Gon’s attention was on the large-breed earthbenders, looking for Ellen’s replacement. But Legosi was watching the rabbits, and it was like watching a secret war. 

And Haru was winning. 

The end of the war came soon enough.

The opposing team’s earthbender, Mokichi the badger, was the last bender still standing on the field - alone against Haru, Mizuchi and Kai.

The badger launched a desperate volley at them all, a flurry of earthen attacks to throw them off balance. It was a long shot, but if he could hold on a little longer, if he could just knock down two of them, maybe he could run out the clock and force them into a tiebreaker. 

Haru dodged, twisted, deflected a shot away from herself with a backhand motion - and not one but two rocky discs smashed into Mizuchi nigh simultaneously. 

The harlequin rabbit went flying from the double hit, landed on her ass and went skidding off the field

Legosi winced, several others groaned.

Tao prepared to start healing just in case, gathering water to himself even as he went over to the harlequin, “Are you okay? Try not to move.”

The harlequin was ready to blow. Mizuchi fought off her helmet, “No, I’m not okay! Fucking peasants ! This sucks! You all suck!! This game is fucking stupid!!”

She threw her helmet onto the ground, and Gon blew his whistle, “Mizuchi! Unsportsmanlike conduct! Go sit down!!”

The harlequin yelled back, “You sit down! I quit! Commoners!! You can keep this fucking game! I am a proud harlequin! I don’t deserve this!!”

The harlequin rabbit stormed away, still yelling, casting off her armor and pads even as Gon ran after her. 

Tao glanced at the others, unsure if he should follow her or not.

Legosi caught the look on Haru’s face. Their eyes met, and Haru had the slightest turn of a grin at her lips. Legosi’s tail wagged faster. 

Airbenders fight very dangerous wars. 

…… 

When practice was over, Legosi was walking away towards the dorms with Jack when he felt the wind shift.

Haru shouted, “Hey, Legosi! Hold up!!”

Wolf and labrador both turned and looked at the rapidly approaching rabbit.

Legosi smiled when he saw her, “Oh. Haru. Did you have a better day?”

Jack frowned when he saw Legosi’s wagging tail. After yesterday’s events, a wagging tail was not what Jack expected.

Haru herself was definitely grinning bigger now, “Way better. The trash finally took itself out.”

Legosi nodded twice. “It’s great when that happens.”

Jack was a little uncertain, and a little suspicious. “Um. Hi. Is there something we can help you with?”

Haru looked around, trying to double check if anyone was close enough to overhear. They were clear, it was safe, but she still whispered, “Actually, I was thinking about our little conversation yesterday. You know, in the forest?”

She glanced at Jack warily. Jack was doing the same to her.

Legosi looked more downcast immediately, “Yes… What would you like?”

Haru picked right up on that. She softened and sympathized, “Ah, no! Sorry! Maybe that came out wrong. No. I don’t want anything. But … I imagine you have to expect the worst about this stuff, don’t you?”

Jack insisted, “Yes, he does. There are a lot of bad people out there.”

Haru breathed, “Ain’t that the truth… But no, I don’t want anything. Actually, I was thinking I could give you something.”

Legosi didn’t look as sad, but he still looked confused. “You don’t need to do that. It’s fine. I’m glad I was there to … help when you needed it.”

Haru hesitated. “This isn’t an ‘I have to’ thing. I want to. And I also want to apologize for … calling you that thing. I wasn’t actually thinking when I said it. It just slipped out.”

The wolf gazed elsewhere. He lied again, “It’s fine… It’s just what people say.”

Haru grumbled, “Well, they shouldn’t. That didn’t even occur to me before yesterday. I didn’t even know it was possible before. I thought it was just stories. And you were trying to help me, and I said that, and it was majorly uncool of me. So, I’m apologizing. I’m sorry.”

Jack and Haru looked to Legosi.

The wolf remained conflicted and awkward. He was glancing at Jack, as if Jack could help. The labrador nudged the wolf.

Legosi scratched his arm and mumbled to his feet, “You were in a lot of pain. It happens…”

Haru replied, “Yeah, but I don’t think that’s an excuse. Mizuchi is a bigot, and she’s constantly talking down to people. And while I’ll admit, actually smacking back at my bully for once was extremely satisfying … I said something bigoted to you, too. That was wrong of me, regardless of extenuating circumstances. I owe you that apology. But the more I thought about your situation, I realized … well, you like watching other benders, right?”

Legosi paused, suddenly unsure of where this was going. “Yeah?”

Haru asked, “And you get to … watch Jack here bend water, right?”

Jack cleared his throat. “Yes. I do … bend water.”

Haru was trying to watch her language. She glanced around again. No one was actually anywhere near them, but she was trying to be mindful of eavesdroppers just in case. “…Did you guys ever hear about the Dragon of the West?”

Jack blinked. “Who?”

Legosi remembered, “He was a komodo dragon a few generations back. He wasn’t an avatar, but he made a point of studying all the elements, and a whole bunch of bending styles from different clans. I think he wrote a book, but it’s super hard to get a copy. Some people claim it’s a betrayal of their clan secrets.”

Haru was grinning like she had a secret waiting to be shared. “Yeah. Figured you’d know him. He made some waves in the bending communities when he started incorporating other techniques into his firebending, even stuff from airbenders.”

Jack was still feeling protective. He questioned her, “So what about the Dragon? What does that have to do with Legosi?”

Haru shifted her weight from one foot to the other. “Well … seeing as Legosi here is such a … fan of bending … I was wondering how you’d feel if I showed you some airbending? You could be the dragon of the, um, east? The wolf of the west? I’m getting off track. Point is, you could ‘watch’ some airbending up close, by one of the better airbenders in the school.”

Legosi glanced at Jack, but he corrected Haru, “You’re not ‘better.’ You’re one of the best. At least, I’m pretty sure you’re better than Sheila, and she’s on the other A team with Louis and Riz.”

Haru rolled her eyes dramatically, “Please, please. Don’t flatter me, I’ll get a big head. And clearly you can’t do any airbending, but I could teach you some forms and tricks. You could work it into your own bending, like the Dragon. Your earthbending, I mean. Cause that’s what we’re all talking about here: Legosi the earthbender just likes to see some cool moves, right?”

The tails of both canids started wagging. 

Jack faced the wolf, “This would be a great opportunity to ‘watch’ an airbender up close…”

Legosi’s tail was wagging faster still, but he hesitated a little. He asked her, “You’d be okay with that? I mean, I’m a … a carnivore. Would you get in trouble for teaching someone out of your clan? Someone like … me?”

Haru seemed calm and unaffected. “I’m not afraid of you if that’s what you mean. You already went way out of your way to help me, you’re not gonna eat me. As for the clan? Eh, I’m not big on the clans anyway. A lot of the old laws are stodgy and superstitious. There are way too many Mizuchi’s in the world.” 

Haru dropped her voice, whispering conspiratorially, “Also, I’m trying not to come on too strong here, but - the opportunity to show you some airbending? That just tickles me a little. Out of all the airbenders in our generation, I could be the one to train the av - a talented earthbender like Legosi.”

Legosi’s tail didn’t slow down. The opportunity was too exciting. He just said meekly, “I’m not talented.”

Haru replied, “Semantics. Now, I’m not gonna chase you down or anything - although that would be hilarious. A rabbit chasing a wolf… Ha! But if you don’t want to, I get it. We can forget all about this, and I won’t bring up yesterday ever again. We can go back to just playing on adjacent fields.”

Legosi couldn’t hold it in. He said brightly, “I want to! I totally want to!”

He may have said that a little too loud actually. 

Haru giggled softly, “Well then, Wolf of the West. We can start whenever you want.”

Jack had a look of curious pride. 

…… 

Legosi and Jack snuck away after dinner, and they met Haru a little ways into the woods outside the school. Legosi’s tail refused to slow down.

As a trading port, the city of Cherryton was largely clumped together where the largest river ran to the sea - but there were a lot of rivers that fed through the forest.

The canid pair used a weaker one: just a tiny stream really. It wasn’t on any map, and it wasn’t visible through the trees above. It was technically still considered part of Cherryton’s territory, but it was several kilometers out from the school and city. 

Jack and Legosi had never seen anyone come that far out. But to be extra safe, they followed the stream up a little further to an even darker part of the wood.

The forest was dense, the brush and underbrush thick. The stream itself was largely the only trail to get where they were going: a cave system.

Haru had the strangest sensation that they were being watched by spirits, but none appeared or even said something.

Jack used his waterbending to cut them some firewood, and he and Legosi lugged it along with them.

Legosi stopped though before going in the cave. He turned back to Haru as he recalled, “Oh… You can’t see in the dark very well, can you?”

Haru murmured, “Not as well as you two, I suppose.”

Legosi double-checked if anyone was around, sniffing at the air a few times just to be safe. Jack did likewise. 

Legosi admitted, “I’d usually wait until we’re further inside, but…”

Legosi used firebending to make a little flame in his right hand, holding it to light the way for Haru.

The rabbit stated, “That’s great, thanks. Much obliged.”

Jack explained as they went further inside the cave system, “This stream actually starts in the mountain. Legosi and I explored it way back. The water makes its way through the caverns. It’s a bit cramped at first, but Legosi hollowed out a sizable space for us to practice further in. Should only take us a minute more to get there.”

Haru nodded along as they entered the secret space.

They left behind all sunlight fast. Haru once more gave her thanks for Legosi’s fire.

They followed the stream in the dark until finally getting to a place that was clearly unnatural: an artificial room with a mostly flat ground and a high ceiling.

An old firepit was waiting towards the side, home to old wood and ash. Legosi set the bundle of new firewood down in the pit, and used his hand-held flame to start them a campfire instead. That brightened the place up a whole lot more.

Haru noted, “It feels like there’s a breeze through here, too. How’d you even find this place?”

The wolf shrugged offhand, like it wasn’t anything special. “I remembered it…”

The rabbit tilted her head. “You ‘remembered’ it? Weird phrasing there.”

Legosi fussed with his hands. “It’s part of being the avatar. I just … I get flashes, sometimes, from the past. From the other avatars. Jack, you tell it. You’d explain it better.”

Haru turned to him instead and gestured, “Please and thank you.”

Jack cleared his throat, “Okay, so, everybody knows how the avatar spirit reincarnates. According to the spirits and the sages, we all do, but almost none of us remember it. Legosi can remember little things, from time to time. But the avatar isn’t a normal person, or a normal spirit. They’re something more. I’ve put some vague questions to the sages before; I told them I was writing a report for class…”

“…Apparently, it's well documented that the avatar spirit can commune with their previous incarnations - their past lives. In an emergency, those past lives can even take control and work through the current avatar’s body. They call that ‘the avatar state.’ Supposedly, that’s when they’re at their strongest. They can channel so much spiritual energy, their eyes even start glowing.”

Legosi interrupted, “Yeah, but it’s also really dangerous. The avatar state is a defense mechanism, and it's only for emergencies.”

Haru laughed, “Yeah, I assume being the strongest bender on the planet would be dangerous.”

The wolf clarified seriously, “No, it’s dangerous for me.”

Haru frowned. “How is it dangerous for you?”

Legosi hesitated. “…I don’t, actually, know that yet. I haven’t remembered that part. …My head is messed up, okay?? I can’t remember what I want to remember, and I do remember things I’d rather forget. I barely remember anything that helps, and I can’t ask the sages. They’re supposed to help the avatar with this stuff, but I’m me. I can’t trust them. They’re supposed to have ways of finding the avatar, too. The further away they are from me, the better. I remember an avatar talking about being vulnerable then, but not why.”

Haru wondered, “Have you ever actually used this avatar state before?”

Legosi gave an uncomfortable shudder and squeezed his wrist. “No. Once, almost, but I stopped it. And it felt … wrong. Something felt really bad about it.”

The rabbit didn’t want to push the question. “Then let’s hope you don’t need it. But hey, I’m here cause I offered to teach you, not the other way around. Who wants airbending funtimes??”

Haru did a playful dance right where she stood.

Legosi scratched at his arm anxiously. “…Do I need to answer that?”

Haru laughed, “Naw, I’m just trying to cheer you up. You gotta keep light to be a good airbender. Anyway, there’s a whole lot I could tell you about airbending, but you’ve been on the roster for the last three years. I imagine you’ve seen a bunch, so how much skill have you picked up?”

Legosi demonstrated several moves with his arms, creating several dusty gusts of wind. “I can push the air, I can arc it a little, but … that’s about it. I know it uses open palms more than fists. I know there’s stuff about ‘circular movements,’ but I never fully understood that. My sneezing is dangerous. …Um, I can blow really hard?”

Haru giggled at that last one, “Okay. Yeah. We’re at beginner’s level here. So! Let’s start with this.”

Haru picked up a half-burned stick, and drew a large circle in the dirt, roughly two meters across. 

The rabbit explained, “Pro-bending can be a fun game to watch or play, but if you’re basing your entire experience on that … you’re going to miss a ton of fundamentals. Honestly, pro-bending has so many rules to make it fair for everyone, that for an airbender like me, it’s like I’m playing with both legs chained together…” 

“…There’s so much I can do, that I’m just not allowed to do on the field. More than any other element, airbending is about how you move in the world around you. Air is the element of freedom. An airbender runs faster, jumps higher, and can use the air itself to float and dodge where any other bender would just fall flat.”

Legosi commented, “I’m very good at falling flat.”

Haru snorted, “Hilarious. Also, that’s probably your earthbender showing. Correct me if I’m wrong, but a lot of earthbending is being rooted to the ground, right?”

Legosi nodded, “Yeah, pretty much. Earthbending is supposed to use our connection to the ground for strength and fortitude. I’m just … not very good at the fortitude part.”

Jack tried to be encouraging, “But it’s straightforward and direct without being too aggressive, so that fits Legosi’s instincts. His grandpa taught him some stuff, too, but they haven’t seen each other in five years.”

Haru replied, “Then I think, for you, the first thing you should work on is just moving your legs more.”

Haru began to walk along the edge of the circle she had drawn, always holding her arms defensively towards the center. 

She started explaining, “This is called circle walking. Watch my feet, especially when I shift from one direction to the other. It's just one of many ways airbenders use circular movements. It’s one of the fundamentals I was talking about. With enough practice, you should be able to change direction rapidly and easily.” 

Legosi was trying to follow the position of her feet with his eyes. “How rapidly?”

Haru actually smirked. “An airbending master can use their superior agility and footwork like this to not only avoid getting hit, but to circle behind an opponent, get into their blind spot, and then stay there. It’s a whole lot harder to hit someone if you can’t even see them. Pro-bending doesn’t let us do that though. We’re restricted to opposing playing fields. But getting this footwork down will help you in everything else, I promise. You try.”

Legosi took the same pose she did, palms open, arms defensively towards the center. 

He made a good three steps before nearly tripping over his own feet. 

Four more steps, a stumble. 

He had to force himself to take each awkward, purposeful step at a time, constantly turning to follow the circle, upper body constantly facing the middle. “This feels … weird.”

Haru agreed, “Oh, I’m sure it does. You’ve been taught to be a solid rock, but now you have to be a leaf on the wind. Switch directions.”

Legosi nearly tripped again trying to do that, and flailed his arms wildly to catch his balance. 

He grabbed at the air to steady himself. 

Legosi asked, “How long should I work on this? Is there something else to practice?”

Haru laughed, “Oh, there’s tons of stuff you can practice. But you should focus on this first.”

“Great. Focus…” Legosi’s ears drooped a little lower as he continued stumbling, feeling worse. “…Sorry. We came out all this way to practice. I didn’t mean to waste your time… You can head out if you want to. I’m probably just going to embarrass myself like this…”

The rabbit said warmly, “Hey, we all have to start somewhere - even avatars.”

Haru stepped onto the circle across from Legosi, arms defensively towards his. She started walking the circle with him on the opposite side, and tried to be as encouraging as possible, “Just keep walking. When faced with a problem, an airbender looks at it from another angle first. That’s what all of this is about.”

…… 

Airbender movements, as it so happened, did not come easily to an earthbender. They were practically opposites. A little over a week of just walking the circle, and Legosi was only just getting the rhythm. 

He had to retrain his brain as much as his body. He was used to being still, solid, rooted. Moving his feet like this was a foreign language. 

Haru told him to work on it as much as he could. So he started practicing on his own, in between his classes, or just walking through the woods. A handful of times, he caught himself walking the circle when he wasn’t even by himself. 

‘Legosi the weirdo is being weird again.’

Legosi wasn’t expecting to be grateful for his poor social standing.

Tem, as another airbender, recognized the steps. “Oh, wait a sec! You’re circle walking!”

Legosi gave a choking explanation, that he was told it would help him in pro-bending. That wasn’t actually a lie either.

Legosi wasn’t getting knocked out nearly so much in pro-bending practice. He wasn’t using airbending, he wasn’t channeling a breeze or wind or anything like that - there were just times he was about to get hit and he … shifted on his feet. 

Just half a step. 

Just moved in a way he wouldn’t have before, but that was enough. 

The attack sailed by harmlessly. 

Legosi felt a small amount of pride in that. It was nice not always getting yelled at.

“Legosi!” Gon yelled. 

The wolf perked up from his seat on the bench, suddenly aware that the coach and all the rest were staring at him. 

Dolph the hippo complained, “Are you serious?! Are you kidding me?!”

Legosi blinked at Gon, “Yes, sir?”

The old tiger sighed as if he was already regretting this decision. “I said, you’re on B team.”

Legosi blinked again. “Excuse me?”

Chapter Text

Tiredly, Coach Gon restated, “Legosi, I know your hearing is fine. You’re on the large-breed B team. You’ll be representing us against Dorpal.”

Bill actually threw his hands up and cheered, “Team Carnivore! Hahaha!! Yesss!!”

Durham joined Bill in the celebration, one firebender to another. 

Miguno gave the wolf an affectionate squeeze of the shoulder, and even whispered, “I told you you could do it.”

Dolph the hippo interrupted it all with a stomp of his foot on the ground, shaking the ground beneath their feet. He protested angrily, “There has to be a mistake! Legosi is constantly getting knocked off the field! He can’t be on the team!!”

Louis already had his arms crossed and glared, “I’ll say. ‘Team Carnivore?’ What kind of sick joke is that??”

Gon went from tired to angry at Bill fast. The old tiger insisted, “Bill, shut it! It’s not about carnivores or herbivores. It’s just about who’s ready right now and who fits the existing team. Legosi will fit better.”

Juno clenched her fists, “I’m sure Legosi can do it! Gray wolves are plenty strong!”

Aoba offered quieter support, “Guys, Legosi’s been getting better.”

Dolph stomped again, “And so have I! I deserve the slot! I work twice as hard as him! I’m twice the bender he is! This is supposed to be my chance, not his! He’s going to shame us all in front of the city! How does that not matter??”

Gon yelled again, “Dolph, knock it off! I did not open this to a debate! I’ve been watching all of you for years, I know what you all are capable of! Yes, I know you’ve been working harder - but that doesn’t mean working better! Dolph, you don’t play smart!! You’ve been wasting too much energy on the field! You’re going to burn yourself out, make yourself a target, and leave your teammates out to dry! You’re unstable! There has to be balance on the field! Legosi will be that balance!”

Dolph’s arms were shaking with rage.

Legosi was suddenly nervously aware of more eyes turning on him, so many new looks regarding him again with suspicion, curiosity, resentment.

The wolf swallowed hard. He tentatively held up a hand, “Um, coach? …I’m not sure I’m the best pick either.”

A better way to put it? ‘I cannot and should not be on a public team where thousands might witness unintended avatar powers bursting forth.’

Legosi couldn’t say that in a million years.

Legosi just fussed with his big hands, “Dolph’s a lot better than me. He’s a lot more confident, too. He’ll handle the pressure better.”

Gon calmly returned, “I know exactly how good all of you are. And like all of you, I want Cherryton to win. I know you all can win - with Legosi, not Dolph. Dolph, I’m sorry, but right now you’re a risk and that would be unfair to your teammates. Your desire to prove yourself is not enough. Legosi blends with every team I put him on, and he plays better whenever he’s on a better team…”

“…We’ll have more time to re-evaluate all of this after the match with Dorpal School. Dolph, I can work with you more then, but right now? We’re out of time. I still need to work in a replacement for Mizuchi since she quit the mid-breed team. Starting tomorrow, Legosi will be practicing expressly with the rest of the large-breed B team.”

Bill started rough housing and cheering again with the other guys like it was his own little victory party, still chanting, “Team Carnivore!” 

Gon snapped, “Bill, I will cut you right now!”

Bill froze quiet.

Dolph was practically growling like a carnivore himself, stomping away, and Louis walked away from the rest of the large-breed A team as well.

Riz got up from the bench and offered to shake the wolf’s hand. He said awkwardly, “Welcome to the big leagues, Legosi.”

Legosi felt his anxiety mounting by the second. He gripped Riz’s huge hand hesitantly, and shook it once. “Thank you… I think…”

Aoba patted Legosi on the back, “Don’t let Louis bother you. He’s intense about everything.”

More congratulations started going around, as Legosi tried to swallow his despair.

……

In their secret space in the caverns, Legosi was walking the circle faster, grumbling, “How did this happen?? How did we let this happen??”

Haru walked the circle on the opposite side from him, pacing him. She said easily, “You got better. You couldn’t tell? Switch.”

The pair started walking the other direction, Legosi’s movements practically a mirror image of her own.

Jack was watching from the side, making a slight wave in the cavern’s stream to occupy himself. He added to the conversation, “Legosi’s never had great self-awareness. Or, good awareness in general, I guess…”

Legosi fussed, “I wasn’t supposed to make one of the teams! I’m not supposed to be that good! I mean, I’m not that good! But I’m the avatar!! What if something happens??”

Haru replied calmly, “Legosi, you can’t plan for every last little thing that might ever happen. You’re not helping yourself like that. You need to roll with the bad things as they happen. Or, put a way you’re more familiar with: if something happens, you face it head on. Isn’t that the earthbender way? If there’s a wall in your way, you smash it down. Switch.”

Another change of direction, Legosi went with it automatically, “But I’m not just an earthbender! That’s the whole problem!!”

Haru suddenly thrust her palm forward, and Legosi twisted away from a fast gust of wind. 

Before he could say anything else, she kicked and punched at the air, sending pulses of air pressure at him. 

He leaned and stepped away from two, swatted a third blast away, and bounced a fourth upwards. 

Legosi yelled, on guard, “What was that for?!”

The rabbit smirked as if she won anyway. She stated, “Just making a point. A week ago, that would have knocked you flat on the first shot. You got better. You’re thinking and moving more defensively. Gon saw that, too. Despite your initial earthbender roughness, you’re actually picking this up pretty fast. Maybe it’s your avatar-ness finally showing.”

Legosi groaned and paced side to side. “I didn’t want it to show! I just - I just wanted to see some cool moves!”

Haru sighed dramatically, “Honestly, Legosi. You’re the avatar. That means you’re a bender. Eventually, one day, you will be the strongest bender on the planet. That’s not an exaggeration, it’s a fact. That’s what being the avatar means. Being the avatar, being any bender, isn’t about cool moves and fun games. It’s about how you connect with the world around you. The avatar may be the incarnation of balance, but - despite what people say - the balance is all of our responsibility, not just the avatar’s. If this stuff with the team bothers you that much, just quit. Tell Gon you don’t want to play anymore.”

Legosi groaned louder, “I don’t want to quit! I like pro-bending! I get to see everybody else bending up close! It’s one of the only things I get to enjoy in my life!”

Jack was off to the side and laughing a little under his breath. He tried to explain to her, “I’ve had this conversation with him before, Haru.”

The rabbit asked, “Oh yeah? And how did that go?”

Head low, Legosi was still pacing and kicking a tiny stone in front of him.

Jack scratched the back of his neck, “Pretty much like this…”

Haru asked seriously, “Legosi, do you want to stop airbending lessons?”

The wolf turned quick, “No! No, I love it! I never thought I’d have the chance to do this at all, and - and it’s so cool! You’re the best airbender in the school, and you’re teaching me! Me?! What universe did I wake up in that I actually get to do this stuff??”

Haru said honestly, “The same one you’ve always been in. But being an airbender and being the avatar are inseparable for you. Getting close to one means getting close to the other. I don’t mind teaching you. I want to teach you. I’m quite enjoying being the airbender that trains the avatar. But soon we’ll be up against Dorpal School, and you’re the only one who can decide how strong you’ll be on the field.”

Legosi groaned in a long, drawn out sort of way. “Can - Can we just go back to circle walking? Please? I don’t know how to process this right now.”

The rabbit smirked, “Actually, I think you’re ready for the next level… You want to see some cool moves, right?”

Legosi’s ear flicked. His tail had an awkward, half-excited, half-embarrassed wag. He grumbled his admission, “Yeah… I always do…”

Haru bounced lightly on her feet, “Well then, it’s time you step off the circle, and start moving like a real leaf on the wind. So forget about Dorpal for a while, and focus on me.”

……

The next day after class, Legosi got all suited up for his first few hours of actively training with B team.

The way Gon randomized the teams for practice, Legosi had played with and against some of them before - and A team, too. 

But until Cherryton faced off against Dorpal, Legosi would be playing with at least two or even all of B team on his side. 

The team needed to get a feel for working with each other in a hurry, and put strategy into their coordination.

Juno? Legosi got along fine with her, even before he made the team. She was a nice person, and tended to get along with most everyone, even across clan lines. On the field, she was also a great waterbender, and deceptively powerful in her dance-like movements. 

Legosi wouldn’t exactly say they were ‘friends,’ but they were solid acquaintances. He saw her at all the big Clan Canida meetings, too, on campus or in town - the mandatory ones, that is. (Legosi avoided them if he could.) Yet the fact there was another gray wolf on the team was clearly something Juno thought deserved celebrating.

Bill agreed with her. Loudly. 

Bill was firebender through and through, all passion and energy. Honestly, how he ever managed to bend lightning still confused Legosi. Didn’t you have to be calm for that? Maybe Bill was just bullshitting people. Legosi wouldn’t put him past that. 

Admittedly, Legosi disagreed with the way Bill did a lot of things, but for this week? For this week, Legosi decided to say nothing about anything, because he needed Bill to be on his team - literally and metaphorically - to get through this. 

Aoba couldn’t be more different. He was always polite, clear-headed, mature, and one of the lucky few fliers blessed with airbending. Even among Clan Tellura, his flight was on another level, and in the air, he was probably one of the fastest things alive.

Legosi vaguely remembered trying to fight an old master, a falcon airbender, as one of the avatars past. That was … a frightening memory, disorienting in their speed and agility. 

The bird clans, both Clan Aves and Clan Tellura, were some of the most dangerous in open war. All it took was a small flying squad of firebenders and airbenders, and they could torch whole cities in a flash, destroy a county’s food supply, or just their supply line. They’d ended entire wars like that. Every clan wanted to be allies with at least one of them.

Mind you, pro-bending didn’t allow flying … but Legosi still thought Aoba was plenty impressive.

Like the herbivore birds of Clan Aves, the carnivore birds of Clan Tellura used their whole wingspan more prominently in their bending styles, and their legs. It gave Aoba a broader, more aggressive reach with his moves. 

Sheila was still faster than him in a ground fight, and she had a lot more experience. That’s why she was the A team’s airbender and he wasn’t, but the B team still knew, Aoba was probably the most important part of their team setup - their unofficial leader.

No, the only real problem that afternoon … was Louis. 

Louis the red deer, the local scion of Clan Artio. 

Louis was a very scary firebender. Legosi didn’t even need to play against him to know that. There was just something in the way he carried himself - like he was bigger, taller, a walking blaze of a person, prepared for battle at any moment. Bill was the only one suicidal enough to comment on how small Louis’ body was. Most red deer were a lot larger than Louis - not that it mattered on the field.

Louis’ flames all had such power and force, always threatening to get bigger than was legal in game. 

For Legosi, on opposite sides of the field, seeing that passion coming straight for him was even scarier. 

The way Louis fought, Louis was the kind of frightening where it was even harder to look away from him. It just sucked you in. 

Louis could probably blast Legosi half dead and - fan boy that he was - Legosi would think to himself, “damn, that was awesome.”

That probably said something unfortunate about Legosi.

For the fourth time in an hour, the concussive power of the red deer’s firebending knocked Legosi off his feet, all the way off the playing field.

Legosi wasn’t hurt, thanks to the armor, but he needed a moment to get his wits back after that hit.

Gon whistled, “Louis, come on! You’re supposed to be practicing with him, not killing him!!”

The red deer yelled back, “Ferocity is part of the game! Dorpal won’t hold back! We can’t either!”

It’d be nice if Louis held back a little.

Bill helped Legosi stand back up, and the wolf tried to speak out, “It’s okay, coach. I’m fine.”

Legosi was not fine. He wanted to quit. 

But he also wasn’t like Haru, and he wouldn’t dare to fight a secret war against Louis .  

Louis could destroy him, socially or physically. Maybe in that order. 

At least, in most games, Louis was more interested in shooting at Bill… 

…… 

By the end of the afternoon, Legosi and the rest of “Team Carnivore” would have had bruises on their bruises - if it wasn’t for Jack and Tao.

The pair of healers were both tapped out by the end of it. Healing could patch up a lot, but it was pretty energy intensive in its own way. Juno wasn’t exactly a healer, but she knew enough to attend her own bumps and bruises. 

Even Legosi didn’t usually get this banged up, but … Louis was probably making a protest statement against “Team Carnivore.” Gon kept trying to pull him back, but Gon was more preoccupied with the mid-breed teams. 

For a while there, Legosi forgot that Dolph was a part of Clan Artio, too. Louis probably didn’t like that his clanmate got snubbed like that, and Louis always seemed to have some problem with carnivores in general. 

Legosi was technically physically unharmed by the end of practice, but he was feeling beyond exhausted. 

Haru seemed to realize how drained he was. She waited for some of the other players to head out first, then said, “Hey, Legosi? You were working extra hard out there today. You should probably take the night off or something.”

Legosi grimaced, and double-checked that Louis wasn't among the players still hanging around. Legosi murmured, “Yeah… I’m pretty wiped. Don’t have much energy right now. I might go sit by a river in the woods for a while. That’s pretty calming. I do like that.”

Haru nodded, “Just take it easy. There’s plenty of time to practice your bending tomorrow.”

Secret message understood. 

Legosi forced a smile. “Yeah. Tomorrow … I’ll probably be okay … tomorrow…”

…… 

Legosi had to do a lot of thinking. This whole thing was a mess. His head was all twisted up over it. Sitting by a nice river just gave him a little more space to untangle himself. 

The river here was bigger than the secret stream, but not as big as the one that ran by Cherryton - the Cherry Tree River. There’d be a lot more people along that one, with boats going by both directions. This river let him be alone. 

Yeah. Just, alone.

He forgot the river’s name, but it was quiet. It was enough. And he enjoyed the look of the universe above - as dark started falling, and the bright stars began to make a painting of the night sky.

He laid on his back, looking up past the trees, trying to decide if what he liked was worth what he feared.

The quiet spaces of the forest reminded him so much of his old home, so much deeper in the woods - where his small family had once lived alone in safety and solitude.

He missed his mom. 

He missed his grandpa. 

He hadn’t seen Gosha in five years, and hadn’t seen his mother even longer than that. It wasn’t safe to see his grandpa anymore. Legosi understood that. 

And Leano just … disappeared. 

No note. No goodbye. Tiny Legosi just woke up one day, and she was gone. No more mom. Gosha tried to be strong, to smile through it for Legosi, to be all the love and support that a young wolf could need. Gosha seemed certain Leano would come back eventually, from wherever she had gone. 

Legosi wasn’t sure if he could keep hoping. 

Thinking about it was too scary. Hiding in the woods was one thing. It was so much more dangerous for her to be traveling alone.

He had a feeling he knew why she vanished. Legosi was lucky he could pass as a full wolf. But Leano had started changing a long time ago. If she didn’t cover up, you could tell what she was at a glance. Half reptile. Half canid. All a crime.

Maybe she thought it was safer for them, if she wasn’t around.

Legosi wouldn’t have minded being unsafe, if he still had her. It was too late to tell her that.

But as the years marched on, Gosha had thought it’d be better for Legosi to make more friends his age, to actually spend time in the city with other people, other kids, and other benders. It wasn’t good for him to be alone all day while Gosha worked, especially after Jack’s family sent the labrador away to Cherryton. Jack’s family had already lived several kilometers away, but Legosi didn’t mind the long walk to see his one friend. 

Home was just … so much further away from Cherryton… 

Gosha barely had any money, and he spent almost all of it to send Legosi to Cherryton’s boarding school.

Gosha, thankfully, was a much better liar than Legosi. He’d been doing it longer than Legosi was alive, ever since he fell in love with Toki the gray wolf. Gosha always talked fondly of their decision to live happily out in the woods, on their own, away from society. “Secret, and happy.”

Legosi never asked how long the happiness lasted. He only knew Toki died long before he was born.

But Gosha spun the boarding school a good story about “his neighbor in the woods, who moved on.” Adopting out of clan was sketchy at best, if not illegal, and the school was sure to have raised eyebrows when the komodo came in with the twelve-year-old wolf. Gosha “just felt indebted to her,” and chose to be the young Legosi’s (completely biologically unrelated) benefactor. 

Weird, but not unheard of.

Gosha had to stay distant to keep up the illusion. They barely exchanged letters anymore.

After five years of living in Cherryton, a part of Legosi wanted to go right back to hiding in the woods. It would have been so much easier if he never left.

Maybe he’d be happier if he never left. 

If he didn’t know what he was missing.

It must be nice having a real family. A brother, a sister, cousins, aunts, uncles.

It must be nice having a clan that wouldn’t turn on you.

Legosi wasn’t sure if he loved or hated the vague memories of the families that the past avatars got to have. They made for such nice dreams, until he woke up.

Legosi hated being the avatar. 

One stomp. 

That was all the warning he had before a sudden explosion of dirt and dust enveloped him like an avalanche.

His eyes flinched closed. Legosi tried to stand, lungs suddenly choking. 

He tried to fan away the dust and dirt with an earthbending boost, but this wasn’t an accident of nature. He wasn’t even near the caves or mountains. 

Someone was attacking.

Legosi tried to look - eyes barely open before sharp sand was shot directly at Legosi’s face, blasting his eyes, nose, mouth. 

The wolf’s whole body choked on it, bled for it. He went down like a rock.

Overwhelmed by sudden pain, he would have yelled if he had the air. Legosi jerked his arm over his body, thrashed on the ground, and earth formed a protective dome around him.

He sneezed the sand out, coughed it out, wheezed a desperate gagging breath, only to choke on some of his own blood.

He tried to paw at his eyes, but that made them feel even worse. They felt like they were on fire, scoured, bleeding. His hands came away wet with it. 

He couldn’t see. 

Panic shot through the pain.

The river! Where’s the river??

A huge fist suddenly smashed through the earthen dome, yanked Legosi out, and slammed the wolf down onto his back.

Massive hands squeezed hard around Legosi’s throat, tighter and tighter.

A voice growled out, “You can blame Gon for this! Gon and your own stupidity!!”

Dolph .

Legosi would have said the hippo’s name, but Legosi couldn’t breathe, much less speak. 

Legosi lashed out with a wild upwards hook - and a pillar of rock shot up diagonally from his side.

It smashed the hippo hard - the hands vanished from his throat - but Legosi couldn’t tell how far away it hit him. 

Legosi was still on the ground, gasping, blind, struggling to get back up.

Legosi felt a sudden, twisting, writhing pressure from his insides. 

A pressure from his spirit. 

Something inside him demanded to be let out.

Legosi tried to squeeze it down, but it was hard enough just trying to breathe.

Legosi chanted in his mind, {Not now! Not now not now not now!!}

Inside his head, a distorted voice - a dozen voices talking at once - all insisted, {Yes, now! You’re dying!}

It was fighting him for control, trying to slip into his veins, move his limbs. Legosi gripped his stomach tight as he tried to power through his own agony and the new pain of an alien force trying to flood through his flesh.

The ground shook again. Legosi half felt, half heard a huge chunk of rock being ripped from the earth.

Dolph snarled, “I didn’t want this, Legosi! Ellen had it coming!!”

Legosi put up another rock wall between him and the voice, right before the massive boulder shattered wall and boulder both, showering Legosi with smaller rocks and dust.

Footsteps were thundering closer, to finish the job. The ground shook again, Dolph ripped another boulder up.

Legosi scrambled along the forest floor, blindly trying to get away.

The hippo yelled, “She treated everyone like they were shit, even other herbivores!! No one liked her!! I was glad to kill her!! We’re not all pretty!! But you?! You’re just IN THE WAY!!”

Legosi hit the ground, used earthbending to springboard himself away. 

His previous spot was cratered, crushed by Dolph’s latest attack.

Legosi smacked into a tree in his blind haste, felt like he wrenched a shoulder, and still rolled further away.

He got his feet under him, and he ran again.

He kept running into trees, tripping over his feet, over roots and bushes, barely staying up - trying desperately to run away when he couldn’t even see or tell where he was going. He was completely turned around, directionless, in agony.

Alone.

The distorted voice in his head spoke again, {You need our help! Stop fighting us already!}

Legosi was bloody blind and panicking. He tried to argue with it, {He’ll see our eyes glow! He’ll tell everyone about me!!}

There was another explosion of rock in the sky. 

Legosi dragged a barrier of earth in an arc over him, right before chunks of stone came firing down like deadly hail. He desperately tried to catch his breath.

Where’s the water?? Where’s the river? The river??

He couldn’t smell it anymore, his nose was messed up, too, from the scouring sand and covering blood. 

If I can just heal my eyes, if I can see him, I can fight back!

{We don’t need to see him to beat him.}

The image of an avatar, an earthbending mole, went through his mind.

Legosi felt the stomps shaking the ground, the hippo bending the earth even as he got closer and closer - like Dolph was dragging along the dirt into another huge boulder, to flatten the wolf in one go.

Legosi choked again on his own blood, coughed hard again. 

He was trying so hard just to get away. 

Legosi never felt so helpless, so afraid.

He was so tired. 

He couldn’t do anything.

I don’t want to die.

He asked inside, almost begged, {No glowing eyes?}

A woman’s voice spoke clear and calm inside his mind, {No glowing eyes.}

Dolph stood next to the wolf, his huge arms upwards. The boulder was floating over Dolph’s head.

Legosi gave up. “…Help me.”

Dolph laughed darkly, “It‘s too late for that.”

An overwhelming surge of energy pulsed through Legosi’s entire body.

The wolf slapped the ground. Dolph yelled.

A giant hole opened up, Dolph dropped four meters down.

Dolph’s boulder fell down, too, on top of the hippo.

Too hard. Dolph braced against the falling rock, managed to break and soften some of it with his earthbending, but the force moving Legosi’s limbs wasn’t done.

The wolf’s hand repeatedly smashed up and down, up and down - launching Dolph upwards in the hole, then gathering the rock fragments from the hippo’s boulder to drive him back down again. Smash up, crash down.

A dizzy, battered Dolph jerked sideways to escape, suddenly afraid, suddenly hurt, swimming through the underground as easily as water.

No eyes - the force that was moving Legosi’s body didn’t need them. A past life sensed another way, and Legosi was feeling it, too. 

Vibrations through the ground were painting a picture in place of his blind, burning eyes - an old earthbender’s seismic sense. 

Legosi wasn’t in charge anymore - not of his flesh, not of anything. He was separate, detached, an observer even to his own mind, caught in a torrent of power and emotion and all he could do was get swept away by it all. 

The bloodied wolf gave chase through the forest, nimbly dodging trees, avoiding roots, shoving bushes aside. 

He was chasing after the underground hippo. He could feel where Dolph was in the earth, and getting closer.

Dolph sent stone spikes upwards, aiming wildly, trying to impale him - missed as the wolf deftly sidestepped each one. 

The wolf stomped down hard in return, hard as possible, ground crunching for the pressure, and the wolf pushed his arms up towards the sky like he was lifting a whole house.

A huge mound of stone burst upwards, starting way down deep and rocketing the hippo above ground, off the ground, into the air like a flightless bird.

The wolf flexed his arms, and two huge chunks of earth were ripped up into the sky, too - the chunks of earth, and the trees that were rooted in them. 

The wolf clapped his hands together.

Dolph could soften some rocks.

In midair, the falling hippo couldn’t soften the two trees that smashed into him from each side, with enough force to shatter bones.

…… 

Legosi returned to the school, dragging the bleeding, unconscious hippo behind him. His earthbending helped to slide the big herbivore along the surface.

Legosi kept his (aching, burning) damaged eyes shut. Right now, he couldn’t see with them anyway.

Legosi had a high tolerance for pain, he’d gotten hurt all the time in pro-bending, but this was a whole different kind of fire. There was no comparison. He could barely keep walking because of the pain.

He didn’t want to know how bad it looked. He wanted to shove his face in ice water for an hour, wanted so badly to just use his own waterbending to fix it all right that second … but a small, terrified piece of him knew he needed to stay injured, just a little while more. A few more minutes. 

His injury was evidence, protection, insurance.

A half dead carnivore dragging a half dead herbivore out of the woods - not a healthy carnivore with an edible victim.

Legosi, face all bloody, sure footed but blind, walked towards a pair of what he really hoped were guards. “Please… Help us…”

Chapter Text

At some point between finding help and getting taken for medical attention, Legosi - mercifully - passed out. 

He was asleep for the first round of healing. He didn’t wake up to pain.

He woke to exhaustion, and darkness - and a certain smell that more forcefully was dragging him back to consciousness - but not in pain.

The bed felt comfy.

He still flinched awake.

An old woman’s voice started to speak, “Welcome back. You, my dear, are very, very lucky.”

Legosi felt his heart still plummet inside as he tried to look around and still only saw black. “…Am I … Am I blind now?”

The woman patted his wrist and stated gently, “You are blind folded , for now. You very nearly could have been. Damage to the eyes is serious, very serious, and yours was most severe. You still need more time and treatments to heal. You will be sensitive for a while. But, as I said, you are lucky. I have a pelican friend who risks the woods to bring me water from a nearby spirit oasis. I can use it for the more impossible situations.”

Principal Gon’s voice was a surprise in the dark, “Legosi, how do you feel? What do you remember?”

‘Too much,’ he didn’t say out loud. 

Someone must have summoned the tiger, but Legosi wasn’t sure how much to say at all. Less was probably better. He tried to stay calm, “I got attacked in the woods. …What about Dolph? Is he okay? Is he here?”

The old woman answered, “He’s alive, if that’s what you mean. Unconscious. The others are still attending him, but the body can only support so much healing at a time. He has many broken bones, but - on the bright side - I doubt there will be long term damage after enough treatments. I could not say the same for you.”

A third, bass voice cleared his throat, “Who was it that attacked you?”

Legosi hesitated. It must have shown on his face somehow. Or his ears.

Gon tried to be encouraging, “Legosi, the guards are here to help you. Two young men were grievously injured; they want to get to the bottom of this. If there’s anything you remember about your attacker…”

The wolf swallowed the desire to whine. It was still an effort to say it out loud. “…It was Dolph, sir. He’s the one that attacked me.”

A fourth voice, another man, repeated it as an accusation, “ He attacked you ? You’re a carnivore!”

Legosi choked a whimper back. “He said he killed Ellen, too!”

Gon sounded like he moved closer, “What?? How?? Why??”

Legosi had to look like he was panicking. He squeezed at his own wrist nervously, “I don’t know how! I was laying by the river. I just wanted to be alone for a while! He hit me with a dust cloud first, then blasted my face with sand. He almost killed me right there, but I was able to get the sand out. He still tried to choke me, and said something about … me being in the way. He said Ellen had it coming, and he was glad to kill her, and something about -”

Legosi froze mid-sentence. 

The third voice asked urgently, “He said what? What else did he say?”

Legosi felt bad for repeating it. “…He said I should blame Gon, and my own stupidity.”

Legosi didn’t need to see the old tiger to know that hurt.

The fourth voice was more than skeptical, “Dolph’s Clan Artio, she’s Clan Perisso. They’re not clan mates but they’re both herbivores. What possible motive would he have for killing her, much less devouring her? He’s not even a carnivore.”

Gon offered guiltily, “The pro-bending team. Ellen was on the large-breed B team. Since she died, Dolph has been … particularly animated about taking her place. He’s acted like it was owed to him. He’s been loud, aggressive, demanding - but he’s just a kid. Sometimes they’re like that. I didn’t think much of it at the time. I told the roster just yesterday that I was choosing Legosi, not Dolph, and … Dolph didn’t take it well.”

The fourth voice asked, “Enough to actually kill someone? Over a game?”

Gon explained with sudden sadness, “Playing a great game for the city can open doors for many kids, kids who don’t otherwise have much hope for fame or attention. Some kids have gotten great jobs lined up for themselves after they graduate. Sometimes, it’s more carnal. I don’t know what Dolph wants, specifically, but even playing a losing game to the right audience can change their future prospects.”

The third voice noted, “Ellen’s body showed signs of devouring - but that can be faked. Hippos do have very powerful jaws. And if Dolph used the same method of attack on her, sand blasting her face … it would explain her … head.”

There was another unpleasant silence in the clinic room.

Legosi spoke up anxiously, “What about her head? What do you mean by that?”

There was a hitch in the conversation, like all the adults knew something and were wondering if they should say it.

The fourth voice was more brusque about finally conceding, “We couldn’t find one. The guards were able to identify her by her belongings, her physical statistics. I suppose, yes, if Dolph sand blasted her face like yours, he could have been hiding the evidence. We could have identified it as the work of an earthbender. Don’t know why he didn’t just hide the whole body though.”

Gon acknowledged uncomfortably, “If he wanted her slot on the team, it wouldn’t have been enough for her to be missing. We wouldn’t have tried to replace her right away. If we found her dead, he’d get what he wanted sooner.”

The third voice wondered, “How exactly did you end up dragging Dolph back to town? How good an earthbender are you?”

Legosi swallowed. He struggled to tell half the truth, equally terrified to say too much or not enough. Trying to lie to Haru had gone terribly. He tried to doctor the events in his head.

He barely managed, “I’m … not entirely sure. I was panicking the whole time. I hit him once, when he was trying to choke me with his hands. I think that made him angry. When I tried to run away, he kept attacking, he started trying to crush me outright. I think I … blacked out at some point? Passed out? I don’t know. My head’s all messed up. When I came to, I heard wheezing. He was unconscious, and struggling to breathe. …Dolph may have wanted me dead, but the feeling wasn’t mutual. I didn’t want to leave him to die alone in the woods.”

Gon whispered, “That’s very commendable, Legosi…”

The fourth voice said sarcastically, “Yeah, it’s a very nice story. Sir, are we done here?”

The third voice stated, “Almost. One more question, kid. You still didn’t say, how’d you get back to town with your eyes like that?”

Legosi was panicking again right there. His mouth struggled to make words.

The fourth voice sneered, “Your silence is suspect.”

Gon protested, “Give him a break! He nearly lost his eyes, and his life! He’s lucky to be alive at all!”

The old woman scoffed, “Any number of animals can navigate blind! Moles, some badgers, bats, who knows how many beasts in the sea.”

The third voice acknowledged, “He isn’t, technically, any of those. He’s a member of Clan Canida.”

Gon remembered and came to his defense, “But Legosi is an earthbender. Though rare, some earthbenders are able to develop what's called a seismic sense. They become hyper sensitive to vibrations in the earth.”

Legosi begged them to believe, “I don’t know, okay?? I don’t! I just felt - something , and I started walking! I don’t know! I was in so much pain, I couldn’t think. It was all I could do to keep walking and drag Dolph, and I could barely do that!”

The old woman snapped, “Enough! As of this moment, he is still my patient, you have no evidence against him, and this stress could still permanently damage his eyes! We are done here! If you have more questions, you can ask them in the morning! He needs sleep! He needs to heal! As does Dolph, regardless of who attacked who! Go do some investigating in the woods or something! You can come back to question them in the morning!”

Even blindfolded, Legosi thought he could feel the second guard glaring.

The first guard stated calmly, “We will return to speak with you all then. Legosi, I hate to have to say this, but … don’t try to leave town.”

The old woman shot back, “This is ridiculous. Legosi, open your mouth.”

The wolf would have blinked if he could have. “My mouth?”

Some drink was shoved into his lips. She was so forceful about it, he gulped it down before he knew what it was. 

The old woman spoke sharply to the guards, “There. He needs sleep. He’s about to sleep. He won’t wake up till morning. Happy?”

The second guard snorted like that was funny. 

The first guard said more gently, “We’ll be back then.”

……

The wolf passed out again fast, when the medicine hit his system. Gon and the woman had been saying something else to each other, but Legosi couldn’t remember when he woke up. He was still foggy and drained in the morning.

Still blindfolded.

He tried calling for someone, but no answer came back.

He resisted the urge to take off the blindfold. But he had a … problem. He really needed to get up.

He very hesitantly tried sitting up on the bed first. He set his feet on the floor, and felt - something? He hit a foot down once, and then tried again a few times. He felt more. Pressure? Space? He couldn’t exactly say what it was he felt, because he lacked the language for it entirely.

It was … weird. 

It wasn’t quite the same as last night - when his brain was on autopilot, when the mole avatar had taken control - but he could still feel some measure of the room through the floor. It was blurry, secondhand knowledge - someone else’s unseen memories - but it was enough to tell where the door was at least. However slight, he still had access to some part of the seismic sense. 

Arms reaching out in front of him, footsteps scared and unsure, Legosi slowly, awkwardly crossed the room, and down part of a hall. 

He trailed one hand along the wall, using it for support. He sniffed more, bigger drags of air through his nose, until he actually found what he was looking for. Legosi just … needed to relieve himself, in the restroom.

He gave the old woman a fright when he opened the door afterwards.

A quick exchange of apologies and protests saw the old woman escorting him right back to the bed, and ordering him to stay there for the day. 

She’d remove his bandages when it was safe and not before.

But the last dregs of medicine were still in his system. Legosi drifted between half asleep and half awake for a few hours more, before someone was opening the door to his little room of the clinic again. 

Two heavy pairs of feet sounded like the guards from last night, but Legosi recognized Gon’s scent with them, too.

The second guard from last night opened with a grumpy complaint: “You - are a stupidly lucky wolf.”

Legosi swallowed. Somehow hearing that still made him feel afraid. “What happened? Wh-what’s wrong?”

The first guard from last night stated, “Several things actually. But first, do you have any further testimony regarding last night? Do you remember anything else?”

Legosi remembered far too much but most of it was unhelpful. “…I’m not sure. I told you, he blinded me first. And then things got really fuzzy. I spent most of it running for my life.”

Gon sounded angrier as he spoke to the guards, “Don’t make him suffer. Just say it!”

The second guard grumbled, “We found a witness, and Dolph confessed. Congratulations. You’re off the hook.”

Legosi felt even more terrified and tried to stay as still as stone. “A witness? …To what?”

Gon spoke faster, “It was a spirit of all things. The guards ran into one out in the woods, when they were trying to locate the scene of the attack.”

The second guard was annoyed, “Yeah, laughing its head off about the whole thing. Unhelpful prick.”

The first guard said more seriously, “Spirits don’t normally involve themselves in our affairs at all. We heard it laughing before it approached us . It wanted to talk to us . I’m still trying to get my head around that. Regardless, the spirit corroborated your story, that Dolph attacked first. But the spirit was less clear about the actual proceedings. When we asked how you survived, it said ‘another spirit helped you.’ It was still laughing about that when it left. Admittedly, spirits don’t think like us at all, but for some reason, it found the situation … hilarious.”

The second guard grumbled, “I don’t think we need to explain how ridiculous this sounds even coming out of our mouths.”

Gon added, still trying to be helpful, “Dolph confessed when they brought up your testimony and the spirit’s. But … he did claim that you were the one who hurt him so badly.”

Legosi shuddered. He started protesting, “B-but … I was blind! I, I told you, I don’t - I don’t remember what happened!”

The first guard acknowledged simply, “Yes, so in all likelihood, you were probably possessed by that second spirit. You should see a sage to make sure it didn’t leave any lasting complications. Even when they mean well, the touch of a spirit can have unfortunate side effects.”

Legosi felt a weird chill, not relief. “…That’s a thing?”

The second guard complained, “A fucking rare thing. Most of the spirits stay away from us and we stay away from them, but yeah, if they want, a strong enough spirit can jump in you and fuck you up at the same time. So again, kid: you’re fucking lucky. You got not one but two spirits saving your hide last night. I’d tell you to hit the casinos, but you’re not legally old enough to play! Congratulations.”

Legosi wasn’t sure if he ever considered being an avatar as ‘good luck.’

At least it kept him alive last night.

The first guard sounded like he was glaring at his compatriot, “What he means is that you’re clear of suspicion. Your story checks out. Dolph will be arrested and transferred to an earthbender’s prison when he’s well enough to move. I wish you the very best luck with your recovery, and I appreciate your understanding during this difficult time.”

The second guard asked sharply, “Unless you have anything else to add? Do you remember seeing anything or anyone else out there?”

Legosi snorted indignantly. He rubbed his forehead, above the blindfold. “S-sorry. I’m sorry. No. I didn’t see anyone. I went out there cause I wanted to be alone for a while. I just wanted to look at the stars, be by myself.”

The first guard inquired, more appropriately, “Do you remember hearing or feeling anything else that could identify the spirit? Any lingering sensation? Warmth? Coldness? A scent, or an emotion? Because to be honest, a spirit that strong is inherently dangerous, and I’d prefer we know more about what’s lurking in the woods.”

Legosi shook his head slowly. “No. I’m sorry. I don’t.”

The second guard grunted. “If you do, make sure to tell us.”

Legosi lied, “I will.”

The two pairs of footsteps left then. Gon and the old woman stayed. 

She stated, “Well, as long as I’m here, I may as well work on your eyes a bit more. I’ll be covering the windows for that. The less stimulation you have right now, the better. If you have anything else to say to each other, be quick.”

Legosi didn’t have an answer there.

Gon, too, was slow to speak. “Legosi, just … just focus on getting better. Don’t worry about Dorpal or your classes. I’ll assign a notetaker. I’ve already informed your dorm mother regarding your location.”

Legosi wasn’t sure why that didn’t make him feel better.

He thought he’d feel relieved, not having to worry about Dorpal.

He only felt guiltier.

Like he was letting people down.

Legosi started nervously, “Coach?”

Gon returned, “Can I help you, Legosi?”

Legosi fussed with his hands a moment. He felt ashamed for even asking, “Can we … not tell the others?”

The old tiger hesitated. He explained, “Your classmates deserve to know what happened, Legosi. They all know what happened to Ellen. Many already know that you and Dolph have spent the night in the clinic. They deserve to know her killer was caught.”

Legosi shifted on the bed. “Y-yeah… I get that. I didn’t mean that part. Just … the part about me. The spirit parts, I mean…”

Gon asked to clarify, “The guard’s theory that you were possessed by a spirit?”

Legosi felt himself tighten. 

Could he really call it that?

The avatar spirit was always inside him, even if he locked it up and barricaded the door.

The moment he needed it, it was right there, and so were the ones who came before.

When he focused, he could still remember the look of that old mole from last night - like he’d been looking in a mirror.

And that woman’s voice? The one that stood out from the many?

She sounded like she was trying to comfort him.

It was so hard trying to get his head around it, that they weren’t someone else, that they were him - that he was them, he had been them, for just a little while.

He didn’t ‘have’ the avatar spirit. He was the avatar spirit, draped in flesh.

What was the point of trading lives and faces? Why couldn’t he just be whole and one? What part of that is necessary for a spirit of balance?

The sages would probably know, but Legosi was scared to ask.

Legosi was still scared. He was always scared.

He admitted slowly, “…I don’t want people to look at me differently, sir.”

Gon nodded to himself, not that Legosi could see that. He tried to sound encouraging, “…I understand. I can’t stop the guards from saying what they want, or Dolph … but I won’t be the one to tell your classmates. ‘You were saved by a spirit.’ ‘Dolph has been captured.’ I can be content with that story. And with any luck … we’ll see you - and you’ll see us - soon enough.”

The old woman interrupted, “He’ll see a lot sooner if I can start my work…”

The old tiger gave a weary laugh. “Point taken, madame. Be good to him.”

Legosi heard them both moving around, but he added softly, “Coach?”

“Yes, Legosi?”

“…Thank you for being here…”

“…Always, Legosi. Get better soon.”

……  

Legosi spent a lot of the day asleep.

At least, he thought he did. It was hard to tell time without working eyes. The pain medicine might have affected that, too.

The clinic provided some vegetable juice mix for lunch. It was supposed to encourage recovery - but it also tasted awful. Legosi gave his thanks even if it was a challenge to drink. 

Maybe there was medicine in that, too, cause he ended up sleeping a lot after finishing it as well.

And when he woke up? It was to someone’s hysterics.

It took a second’s sniff of the air for Legosi to realize it was Jack, but much longer for Jack to stop sobbing and stammering unintelligibly, hugging the wolf, tail wagging so hard, it was shaking the whole bed.

Blindfolded Legosi tried to assure him and stammered back, “I’m fine. I’ll be fine, it’s okay. The doctor’s fixing my eyes.”

The labrador sniffed heavily, still audibly crying, “I - I thought you just ran away! I thought you just left, and - and I thought, you - you wanted space. I didn’t come after you! I should have come after you!”

Somehow, Legosi’s chest just … felt a little lighter.

Happy?

Did he dare to be happy?

The wolf warned him softly, “Jack, you’re not a fighter. If you’d been with me, Dolph would have killed you first…”

Jack’s voice was still thick with all his tears, “You don’t know that! I could have - I could have done something! I could have helped! I could have - healed you or - or distracted him or - I could have - !”

Legosi’s heart was beating happily again. He was smiling despite himself. Pleased.

Legosi mumbled half-heartedly, “There are things I have to do alone, Jack…”

Legosi felt the shift, the sudden intensity in the silence.

Jack insisted, “I didn’t believe that before, and I don’t believe it now! So just - you get better, and I’ll get better, and we’ll get better together!” 

And in the dark of the blindfold, Legosi didn’t want to disagree. “Sure, Jack… We can do it together…”

…… 

Jack was the first visitor, but not the last. 

Gon had explained things to his pro-bending teams at the start of practice: what happened to Ellen, Dolph, and Legosi. Jack had barely heard Legosi was at the clinic before running like mad.

Collot, Durham and Miguno arrived a little later. They asked permission to leave practice early. They didn’t plan to be gone long, but they wanted to check up on Legosi, too. 

Voss, with the small-breed team on the other side of the school, didn’t get the message about Legosi till dinner. He had very pointed words for the rest of their roommates, for not bringing him along to see Legosi. 

Haru showed up to check on him afterwards. She was trying not to make her concern (and their connection) too obvious, but she brought along some flowers. Legosi thought they smelled really nice, whether he could see them or not. Just having them - and her - still made him happy. 

Haru wondered if they should be accelerating his ‘other training,’ whenever he was able to start again. Legosi thought they should decide that later, when he was ready for any training at all. The old woman didn’t really give him a timeline on his recovery.

Juno and Aoba showed up, too - with Bill. They might have had to drag Bill along. The tiger was grumbling a lot about the whole thing: Dolph, Ellen, the game, everything.

Strangely, as much as Bill did talk, Legosi got the feeling that there was something they weren’t saying. 

Aoba assured Legosi that he should just relax, because they started training more with Mina today. The long-limbed giraffe had a very … unique style of earthbending. It wasn’t terrible. With a full swing of a limb, she could throw the disc incredibly hard. In terms of raw force, she was probably a stronger bender than Legosi - she just wasn’t as good a player as Legosi. Slower. And she was a much bigger target.

Juno insisted Mina was going to do just fine, and Aoba was great on defense. He’d just stick close. He was planning to do that with Legosi anyway. And Bill would play like Bill: a firebender ready to burn down the opposition on his own. It didn’t matter if that was with Legosi or Mina.

The most unexpected guest arrived last, maybe at nightfall.

“Hey,” Louis started curtly.

Legosi would have blinked in surprise, if his eyes weren’t blindfolded shut. He swallowed. “Um … hi. H-hello, Louis?”

Uncomfortable silence went on another ten seconds. 

Legosi stammered, “C-can I help you?”

The red deer said flatly, “Your face looks terrible.”

Legosi suddenly reached up to touch his forehead, his cheeks, his snout. “Oh… It does?”

Legosi hadn’t paid it much attention before, but he felt more skin than fur. The skin already felt like it had been fixed by the healers, but it might take a few days to regrow the lost fur. Maybe longer.

Louis said analytically, “The white parts anyway. Sand, was it? That’s not a burn or a cut.”

Legosi acknowledged the painful memory, “Yeah. Sharp sand…”

Like getting hit with a thousand tiny spears in a single second.

Louis complained, “Dolph said you’re the one who put him in the clinic.”

The wolf felt his shoulders tense. “L-Louis, I…”

The red deer cut him off, “Which sounds hilarious now that I’m actually seeing you. He was always good at sneaking in head-shots during the game.”

The wolf moved to grip his wrist instead, hoping for some security there. Being blindfolded and stuck on a bed suddenly made Legosi all the more self-conscious. He mumbled, held back, “The guards said it was a spirit…”

Louis laughed. 

It was the first time Legosi ever heard Louis laugh in his life.

The red deer sounded like he’d be rolling his eyes, “Of course it was. Going out that far in the woods is a stupid idea. You never know what kind of monsters you’ll run into out there.”

Legosi fussed with his big hands and muttered, “Sometimes I just want to be alone…”

The red deer didn’t reply for a moment.

Legosi started tentatively, “…Louis?”

Louis drawled, “Spirit or no, you’re safe. Clan Artio has no love for murderers, and Clan Perisso is already going to want reparations for Ellen - and things have always been tense between Artio and Felidae; we have no interest pissing off Clan Canida, too. I’ll have my father tell the clan you’re off limits.”

Legosi’s ear flicked once. He hadn't even considered that part. Legosi struggled to speak up, “…that’d be really nice, thank you…”

Louis snapped, “Just get better fast. Mina’s not ready. B-team’s going to lose without you.” 

Legosi swallowed hard. “I’ll try…”

Chapter Text

After another two days of terrible juice blends and intermittent healing sessions, the old woman was finally going to take the blindfold off of Legosi’s eyes. He could finally see her, today. 

It felt like he’d been waiting a lot longer. 

Jack had visited the second day, and read him the lecture notes from their classes. Legosi wasn’t a great student, but Jack was insistent he not get too far behind anyway.

Haru came again, too, and they chatted for a long while about airbending. She thought that might brighten his mood.

To be safe, they just had to watch their language and treat it like it was all theory and entertainment, something Legosi liked hearing about but clearly, definitely couldn’t do.

It might have doubled as lying practice. 

Haru thought it was a good opportunity to touch base regarding some of the more advanced concepts, like how to actually pull things with air, not just push them with a gust.

Haru explained it like a science teacher, “If an airbender bends the air from point A to point B, then some of the stuff at point A could get pulled along, too. It depends on how much energy you use, how forceful and fast. A talented airbender can even do this from a distance. Things immediately want to fill the space where the air left - but usually, that’s just more air. So it has to be fast.”

Legosi was confused by that initially. “The air … leaves?”

Legosi was hardly a scientist.

Haru’s voice made it sound like she nodded, “Oh, yeah! The air around us isn’t empty space. You know how people call earth the element of substance? Well, it’s hard to tell for most people, but air is a ‘substance,’ too, just like earth and water. It’s just … softer. Lighter. It moves easier, more freely, but it’s always around us. It takes up its own space. It fills our lungs. The air ‘leaves’ our lungs when we exhale.”

Legosi recalled excitedly, “Like, like blowing bubbles in the river!”

That was a cute memory with Jack, back when they were really little. 

Haru giggled, “Oh, totally! It’s totally how you get bubbles underwater. That’s air taking up space. But airbenders have figured out that air, just like water, can exist at different pressures. If you go up really, really high in the sky, the air is thinner - just like how if you swim really deep, the water is heavier. By bending the air, an airbender can manipulate air pressure down here. Pulling the air away from something fast enough reduces the air pressure, and that can pull along other stuff, too.”

The wolf was all confused again. “…You lost me.”

Haru laughed, “Okay, science later, bending tricks now. Just, suffice to say, if an airbender pulls at the air with enough force, they can yank around some objects. I’ve seen a small carpet, completely flat on the ground, get pulled up into the air. I’d show you myself, but, well, you’re blindfolded. My mom can do lots of advanced things with airbending like that. Doing it from a distance with a backwards flick of your wrist or foot, that’s a great way to subtly curve the path something would take in the air. You just give it a little tug, off to the side.”

“A little … tug?” Legosi frowned as he suddenly realized, “Wait, backwards?? A backward flick?! Is that why you’re so great at pro-bending?? That’s sneaky!!”

Haru said playfully, “Oh! Oh! So shocked! My scandalized fan. I’m great for a lot of reasons, thank you very much, not just one trick.”

Legosi fussed with his hands, all embarrassed and trying to defend himself, “I didn’t, I didn’t mean it like that! It’s just always thrown me off! There are times I think you’re doing something on the field, but your movements didn’t make sense to me! You’re pulling air instead of pushing it!”

“Earthbenders,” Haru sighed dramatically. “So direct, so straightforward.”

The wolf groaned. 

Then she leaned in, “I’m teasing, Legosi. You've got to stay light for this stuff! Relax. Let go and have fun. Actually do what you want. Air is the element of freedom after all. And yeah, you’re an earthbender, but still: you need to lighten up.”

Legosi puffed a breath once, deeply, like he should have realized she was joking around. 

Legosi shook his head, “…I don’t get to do what I want. I can’t get too light . You know that.”

Haru nudged his arm and tried to cheer him up. “Fun airbending fact! Go fast enough or fall far enough, and you’ll encounter what’s called air resistance. The air, as a substance, can actually slow you down - like trying to run through water. So advanced airbenders practice how to subtly bend the air around our bodies to run or fly even faster. It’s faster than just using the wind alone to push you along.”

Legosi rubbed his head above the blindfold, “Airbending is a lot more complicated than earthbending…”

Haru giggled at that. “Don’t worry, little leaf. That’s not until the big leagues. You just focus on having fun.”

“Fun,” Legosi muttered. “Right…”

Fun for him was pro-bending. He spent a lot of time in bed just thinking about it, imagining it, trying to hold on to the flow of the game, and the players. 

It was hard to recall specific moments on the field, there was always so much going on, but now that he knew the theory behind pulling air? He was trying to work out Haru’s movements in his head. He’d watched Haru do a lot of bending in the last few weeks.

He just had to … focus.

By the third morning of forced bed rest, he was already missing the real game. It was like a longing, to be back in the middle of it all, all the styles and energy. The crash of water, the flash of flame… 

Every so often, his imagination shifted from pro-bending and people he knew, to people he didn’t. Other benders. Other memories. 

He supposed, if he was stuck ordered to a bed for two and a half days with nothing to do, at least it was nice he got the occasional glimpse at avatar memories.

And then, after noon on the third day, the old woman was finally going to take off the blindfold and warning him, as always, “Don't look at the light.”

Legosi sat up on the edge of the bed.

She stuck a wide-brimmed hat on his head right there, indoors. It had two little holes for his ears to poke through.

That’s how he first saw her: Madame Yeoh, an elderly goat woman … with a surprisingly long beard. 

Supposedly that was a sign of great wisdom among the goats of Clan Artio. 

She kept the window curtains drawn for now, so just a little sunlight was filtering in around the edges, but this was the first real time he’d seen much of anything around the room. Every time she’d taken off the blindfold before, she usually covered his eyes with her hands and healing water right away.

She asked him cautiously, “How does it look?”

Legosi’s eyes still had to adjust, once-injured irises trying to focus - and they could… sort of. He told her, “…I can see…”

Madame Yeoh wanted a better answer. “How well can you see? Can you read that scroll on the wall?”

Legosi hesitated to give an answer. “…It’s … blurry, over there. Just, just a little…?”

The old goat grimaced. “I was afraid of that.” She took the scroll off the wall, and brought it to his arm’s reach. “And now?”

Legosi rubbed his palm. “…Better…”

Madame Yeoh nodded. “Good. That’s good at least. That you can see at all is a testament to spirit water. You barely even had eyes when you came in. For what it’s worth, since this isn’t a birth defect, more spirit water might be able to fully restore your vision, but … we can’t actually afford to use any more for your current condition. We have a very limited supply. I hope you understand, we need to prioritize life-threatening or crippling injuries. Spirit water is a very precious resource…” 

The wolf’s ears were drooping. “…Right. Of course. That makes … sense…”

The goat offered, “But, who knows? Sometimes you can buy some on the open market. Expensive trade, that. My associate was lucky to broker a deal for the occasional jug of spirit water. There are other sacred places, others who have made their own deals with the spirits. The spirits are particular and fanciful, but few are inherently malicious - always dangerous, not always evil.”

The wolf swallowed. “I don’t, exactly, have much money…”

She grimaced again. 

Madame Yeoh patted him affectionately on the shoulder, “It’s just a little blurry, yes? At a distance? Many people are still able to live full, productive lives with some visual impairment.” 

Legosi nodded lowly, “I know… My friend, Miguno, he has a little trouble with things that are close up, but he can see distances alright…”

She tried to be encouraging, “You are young, and an earthbender. I am sure you will adapt. You might yet master that seismic sense! Though, I hear there are firebenders working on this wonderful technique to curve glass. I hear it can help a person’s eyesight…”

Legosi rubbed his arm self-consciously. “…Do you know where it is?”

She blinked. “The glassmakers? Not offhand, no. Glasswork is more commonly practiced along sandy beaches, places like Rokuma and Indre. Indre has the most amazing coastline. Beautiful place.”

“No,” Legosi corrected timidly. “The spirit oasis. You said your friend goes there…”

The old goat stiffened, serious. She warned him, “Listen, young man … you already got very, very lucky with the spirits. It isn’t wise to test that luck further. My friend is a sage, and he knows how to work with them - and even then, it’s dangerous. Very few people are ever allowed into their sacred domains, and those without permission are afflicted most heinously.”

Legosi wanted to hope, “I, I know. I got ‘lucky.’ But … but if my vision is really bad … I can’t afford to buy anything like that. I’m on my own. I’m not sure how soon I can even pay you back for all you’ve done already.” 

The goat gave a confused face. “Your friend already paid for your treatment.”

Legosi took her confusion as his own. “My what? Who? Jack? Jack and Haru would have -”

Madame Yeoh stated, “Louis the red deer. Angry young fellow? He said Artio was covering the cost. ‘Our responsibility,’ because of Dolph.”

Legosi wheezed, “ Him ?”

Carnivore hater extraordinaire?

What?

The old goat shrugged, “I wasn’t about to debate with Oguma’s son, even if we are from the same clan. They probably want to avoid hostilities with Canida. I make a point of being neutral in clan matters. Too many people need help. But that doesn’t change the fact that going to a spirit oasis is dangerous . It only takes one spirit to harm your body irrevocably; an oasis can be home to dozens.”

Legosi shook his head to focus. “I know. I know, just… I wouldn’t be going now. I’ll give it time, like you said, but …just in case? Please? …Could you point out the oasis on a map? Maybe I could make a deal with them myself.”

Unsaid: maybe they’d make a deal with the avatar?

Entering the avatar state had somehow entertained that witness to no end… Maybe they’d all enjoy a laugh and have a bit of pity on the near-sighted wolf?

The old woman sighed heavily. “I would like the record to show, I think this is a terrible idea.”

It was Legosi’s turn to grimace. “Please? I promise, I’ll be smart about it. I’d just feel better, knowing where it is…”

The old woman came back with ink and paper, to fashion him a crude map. Call it mercy. “Can you read this well enough?”

Legosi nodded gently after glancing it over, heart a little lighter like he was holding a treasure map instead. “Yeah. Yeah, it’s fine…”

Madame Yeoh said, “Perhaps it’s just distances… Regardless, I want you to remember what I said. Go very easy on your eyes, for a few weeks. Wear the hat. Avoid bright lights, campfires, torchlight, the full light of day… firebending, obviously. That sort of thing.”

Legosi felt a new crunch in his chest.

The wolf lied poorly, “Right. Firebending. I’ll avoid … firebending…”

…… 

Legosi trudged towards the school for his afternoon classes. 

Even wearing the hat, he kept his head down and his eyes closed more often than not. Actual daylight was … slightly painful. 

But out on real ground, Legosi could manage well enough. What ability he had for the seismic sense was crude, fractional, but he got by. He could feel the rumble of a cart, being pushed along by an earthbender. He could guess how far away it was.

He could feel the footsteps of a pair of students, chittering on their way off campus. Skipping class, sneaking away?

More importantly, he avoided tripping over his own two feet. A major accomplishment, for Legosi.

He squinted at the distance every so often, to double check landmarks around Cherryton, so he was going to the right building. He had to stop at his dorm first, to get his materials for class.

He arrived partway through their afternoon history lessons.

The well-dressed teacher was a stork. She was writing something on a chalkboard, and stopped when he cracked open the door. She said warmly, “Ah, Legosi! You’re back already!”

Legosi gave a low bow to apologize and his hat fell off. He scrambled to pick it up, plop it back on his head, apologizing even more.

The stork insisted, “Quite alright, quite alright. Have a seat. We were just talking about the long-standing treaty between Clans Aves and Canida, the popularly-called ‘egg treaty’.”

Jack was trying so hard to remain a perfectly composed student, all still and controlled - but the moment Legosi showed up, Jack’s tail was wagging up a storm. Good thing he wasn’t an airbender or he’d be airborne.

Legosi took his usual seat near the window, next to Jack. He gave the labrador a weak smile.

Voss used his small size to sneak over, and give Legosi’s leg a big hug while the teacher was writing on the chalk board.

Legosi’s tail might have wagged a bit more, too.

The stuff on the chalk board was just … a little harder to read today.

Maybe he shouldn’t sit by the window anymore.

The stork went back to teaching, “Among other things, Canida leveraged their more significant physical aptitude and services as nocturnal guards in exchange for the right to purchase eggs. Historically, Aves has also had more skilled medical practitioners. It’s one of the more symbiotic treaties between carnivores and herbivores. Yes, Aves has since established a wider egg market to the public, but Canida retains favorable access to eggs. In war, Canida serves as front line troops while Aves provides air support. Now, let’s talk historical dates.”

…… 

At practice that afternoon, Legosi didn’t know how to explain things to the large-breed roster. That so many of them were excited for his return, only made it worse. 

He kept quiet about his condition, didn’t mention things about the blurrier vision or the doctor’s directive against bright light.

Getting shot at with firebending would count. Hell, maybe even looking at it from off sides? Louis’ flames were so powerful… 

The world kept giving Legosi reasons to quit, but … if he was honest? 

He didn’t want to.

If it was a matter of want , Legosi knew what he wanted.

Legosi held on to the fact that Mina had been training the last two afternoons with the large-breed B team, and the match with Dorpal was just a few more days away. Mina had time. Mina could handle it. She could play against Dorpal, and win or lose, avatar secrets would stay under wraps. 

Legosi was back, just to play and have fun and enjoy himself, like before. 

Things could be right again.

And then, of all the people happy for his return, Mina just had to be the one to say something.

The tall giraffe came over to Legosi quickly and grabbed him by the shirt, “Legosi! Legosi, you’re back! You have to save me! Saaaave meeee!”

Legosi shrunk below the towering herbivore. He held his hat on tighter. “F-from what? What’s wrong?”

The giraffe whispered in terror, “ Louis! ”

The red deer wasn’t around yet. But Bill overheard and laughed, “Oh come on! He’s no more aggressive than usual!”

Mina scoffed, “No more than usual for you !” She twisted Legosi’s shirt in her hands, “He’s trying to kill me! To kill meeee! Please take your slot back! Pleeaase!”

Like Legosi needed any more guilt. His head drooped, he fidgeted, and his hat covered his eyes. And then Louis did show up and it was all Legosi could manage to say, “I - We’ll - need to see … what Gon says…”

When Gon arrived, he, too, was surprised to find Legosi there - even more so with Legosi in his pads and armor, as if ready to join the roster for practice.

The tiger cleared his throat, “Legosi? I’m very glad to see you out and about. However … a word, please?”

No more words, he didn’t want words, it was getting harder to even be there and he was feeling all the more conflicted inside.

Why couldn’t things ever just be simple?

‘Lift rock, throw rock,’ end of story.

Gon took him nearer to the trees, in the shade, and whispered, “Legosi … what are you doing here?”

Being stupid.

Legosi fussed with his hands in front of him. “…I’m here to play.”

The old tiger stayed quiet, “You know you can’t do that. You nearly died. You almost went blind. You’re supposed to be avoiding bright lights - at bare minimum! The doctor was very particular about that with me. We don’t want to overwork your eyes this soon. The strain could damage them further.”

Legosi’s ears drooped a little where they fit through the hat. 

Give in. Just give in.

Legosi asked, “Please? This is the only thing I get to enjoy…”

Gon promised, “There are many other forms of entertainment, Legosi. You don’t need this one.”

What’s a ‘ need ’? How do you define that?

He almost died, without getting to do what he wanted.

Legosi mumbled, “It’s not a need… It’s just … a want…”

Legosi needed to stay hidden.

Legosi added weakly, “I want to play. I don’t get to want things for myself. And, and people keep saying they need me. I have to do something, don’t I? Don’t I have an … an obligation to help?”

Louis the red deer was trudging over to them, dragging his feet, fists tight at his sides. He looked ready to gore someone.

Gon glanced at the approaching deer, but told Legosi, “Legosi, as your coach and principal, it’s my job to look out for you. I’m responsible for you, for all of you. It’s practically my fault that Dolph targeted you! You’re a young man with your whole life ahead of you. I am unwilling to risk your eyesight further. We need to make healthy choices right now. …Louis, I’m sorry, but this is a private conversation.”

Louis complained, “I’m bribing him.”

Legosi froze quiet at the sudden shift. 

The red deer was gripping something in his right hand.

Gon raised his voice, “Louis, that wouldn’t be appropriate under normal cicumstances! It’s not appropriate now! I need to talk with Legosi privately.”

Louis glared at them, “It’s not private, we all know what you’re talking about, and this matters to the conversation! Call it reparations then!”

The red deer held out a glass flask, refusing to make eye contact with the wolf. “Take the fucking thing. It’ll make you feel better. Clan Artio doesn’t want conflict. The clan owes you, and now they don’t.” No response came quick enough. “Put your hand out! I’m not putting it in your pocket!”

Legosi promptly submit, and cupped both hands in front of him.

Louis put the flask in Legosi’s hands fast, then pulled back faster before Legosi could close his clawed fingers.

It was a very pretty flask, stylized and detailed. Clear liquid sloshed inside.

Gon observed the exchange in confusion. 

Legosi was extra careful about grasping the small flask with his big fingers, like it was a piece of art. Legosi said awkwardly, “Thank you? I’ll … Do I drink it now, or after practice?”

The red deer ordered, “Don’t drink it! It’s spirit water!”

The wolf blanked. It took him a moment, “Wait, it’s what?? How did you - Where did -?”

Louis grunted, “Ugh! Come on! You can’t be that dumb! It’s water supercharged with energy from the spirits, from a spirit oasis! It massively amplifies a waterbender’s healing powers. Yeoh said your eyes were going to be screwed up. We can’t win if your eyes are screwed up. Have your dog friend use it to heal them; they’ll be good as new. Clan Artio owes you, I hate owing anyone, much less carnivores, and now they don’t. Satisfied?”

Louis was addressing that last question to Gon. 

The old tiger had gone from curious and wary to outright suspicious. Gon asked, “Where did you get a thing like that?”

Louis huffed, “Where do you think? Some trader. My father is fucking rich. We buy some when we can, for our own people. Gon, you’re witness. Artio doesn’t owe Legosi anything else. He’ll be all better. He can play on B team against Dorpal. Everyone wins.”

Gon was still looking at the angles, concerned and cautious. He pointed out, “Mina doesn’t. It’s Mina’s slot right now. We’d have to ask her.”

Louis snapped, “She can’t handle it! She doesn’t want it anymore!”

Self-conscious and shrinking by the moment, Legosi muttered, “She did, actually, ask for me to take it back…”

The red deer grumbled, “There! Everyone wins. Legosi, you have no further claim against Artio.”

Legosi wasn’t planning to make a claim against Artio, but… 

The wolf held tight to the pretty flask, hesitant and guilty and compelled to double check, “Louis… This is … This is really expensive, isn’t it? The doctor, she said - Are you -?”

Louis complained, “Yes, I’m sure! This is a bribe! Reparations! Our clans are even! That’s all it is!”

Legosi brought the flask closer to his chest, almost cradling it. His tail dared to wag, all hopeful and impossibly happy for the cure in his grasp, “…It’s amazing, is what it is… Thank you…”

Louis crossed his arms and snorted. “I refuse to owe carnivores. Just tell me one thing.”

Legosi’s tail stuttered. “…Tell you what?”

Louis glared, “Do you want to play , or do you want to win ?”

Legosi frowned. His open lips didn’t have time to answer.

The red deer grunted, too impatient, “That’s what I thought. Forget it.”

Antlers high, Louis marched away again, apparently satisfied in some balance that only he was keeping. 

Legosi looked again to Gon. 

The old tiger had a strange mix of relief and exasperation on his face. He rubbed his eyes, saying, “Have Jack attend you first… I’ll go talk to Mina…”

…… 

Tao actually squeaked while Jack was performing the healing. The panther - like most of them - had never even seen spirit water, much less seen it being used to heal someone. He looked at the tiny flask in awe, like the glass was gold instead.

Then Gon gathered the roster for a talk, when practice and people were actually ready to start. He gave them the update regarding Legosi’s return to full fitness. 

Bill actually swore, “Yes! Fuck yes!! Thank you!” 

Louis was already regretting it.

Gon gave him the usual ‘Shut up, Bill!’ glare, but Gon was adamant as ever that they needed to be safe, and smart. 

They were out of time. They could not afford any more changes to the teams. The teams needed to be ready to face Dorpal in just a few more days.

Gon made a special note, “I would also like to take this time to honor Mina, for her wisdom and maturity in stepping aside, and Legosi, for stepping up after such a harrowing ordeal. I would like to honor Louis as well, as a representative of Artio, for helping Legosi make a speedy recovery.”

Arms crossed again, Louis snorted and looked away.

Gon actually smiled, “You know… I suppose I don’t say this often … but … I’m proud of you all. You all have so much potential, and I’m proud to see you all working together as a team - the whole roster. I’m proud of how we can all come together for this sport. I’ve always loved how pro-bending is a way for the whole community, for people of all clans, of all elements, to join in the energy and spectacle. It gives something for people to enjoy, to aspire to, and on some level, to express their aggression in a healthy way.”

Emergency medic Tao raised his hand sharply, “I’m sorry, what?? How is it healthy? The teams are practically trying to kill each other!”

Kibi hushed him softly, “Tao! Quiet!”

The old tiger paced side to side, “It’s an aggressive sport. It’s a team sport, there are many rules for safety, but it is aggressive. There’s no getting around that. And we must acknowledge that our aggression is also part of being mortal. It’s something we all experience. It’s natural, but people need to learn safe, constructive ways to manage their aggression. Part of the game is modulating how much force you actually use to hit someone off the field. I have always said we are here to learn control of our element, and control of ourselves…”

“…Such control will serve you well now, and for the rest of your lives. You all represent the future of the clans. None of you have been alive for a clan war, but it wasn’t too long ago when they were happening all across the world. I grew up in the era after the last great clan wars, when people were still rebuilding their homes and lives. We always used to have the avatar to restore the peace in the past, to enforce some semblance of justice or balance, to bring people back to the talking table…”

Gon seemed nostalgic, “Apologies. You don’t need me talking about the lost reptile. That’s old news to you. But my point is … My point is, we may not have an avatar right now, but we do have each other. There are other ways to unite the clans, through customs and culture. We’re doing it right now, with pro-bending. Our cities, our clans, they still argue and fight over many things … but our peoples look forward to the inter-city matches. I think there is something cathartic in pro-bending, to see our young people playing side by side, regardless of their clan…”

The tiger sounded hopeful, “They play, they fight, they salute each other’s victories - and then we all party. I find something meaningful in that. And I’m not alone. On the same day clan leaders can be arguing about trade good taxes, they can look forward to the games. They can chat and talk and, yes, even talk shit. And then they get to see you all as a united front. It may seem small … but I promise you, this point of connection matters. It helps our peoples be less divided. But maybe this is just the rambling of an old, sentimental feline… I see something significant in this little sport of ours.”

Gon glanced at Legosi. 

Legosi felt his throat getting tighter again.

Gon hesitated, like he had to stop himself from saying something else.

Gon told the roster, “Just … try not to let what happened with Ellen and Dolph affect your feelings for the game. There’s still something good here, and it’s worth defending, and … I think it’s worth enjoying. So let’s get back to practice … and let’s enjoy ourselves?” 

Gon whistled once, and everyone scattered to their positions.

Legosi joined the field with the rest of B team.

Chapter Text

Louis had a reputation. 

He knew that. He embraced that. Hell, he had cultivated it himself for years, to make sure every last carnivore in the school knew he was the strongest, the fiercest, unassailable, invincible. 

Unity?

Hahaha. 

No. 

After Gon’s little speech, Louis needed to re-establish the order of the universe, and that meant putting carnivores in their place. There was no taking it easy on Legosi or his team, no playing ‘safe and smart.’

Louis came out ready to destroy someone. 

B team was packed full of carnivores. All Louis had to do was point and shoot. 

Between Louis, Dom, Sheila and Riz? Louis and Dom could at least hold the A team at 50% herbivore together - not that Louis thought he could actually rely on the bird’s waterbending in a match. Louis could rely on one person, one person alone, and that was himself.

He took every opportunity he could to teach the B team a lesson of his own: one gift-wrapped in flames.

Gon randomized the other teams as usual. He kept B team whole, because they needed the extra practice as a unified front. 

For the long-standing A team, Gon switched out one or two members of their members to challenge them. 

The first time around, Louis practically wiped the floor with B team. The rest of his team barely needed to do anything. B team wasn’t expecting Louis to be this ferocious, like he was twice as mad as usual. Louis’ flames kept bordering on being bigger than legal.

The second time around? B team was more prepared. But just a little. 

They held their own, but Louis had Riz backing him this time.

B team could knock the other two members of Louis’ team off the field, but Louis and Riz? They were monsters all on their own.

Louis targeted Aoba first this round. Aoba was the best defender on B team, the most important in giving B team a fighting chance. 

Legosi thought he’d be glad to not be the focus of the red deer’s rage, but Aoba couldn’t keep up with everything being sent their way. 

Legosi realized now, from studying airbending with Haru, that Aoba did have a weakness: while Aoba’s bending had more width from his wings, he didn’t have the same physical agility as the others. Sheila and Haru were just way better at dodging. 

Bending took spiritual energy, and a person only had so much energy to burn. Haru would have sidestepped the attacks that Aoba deflected.

Louis was burning himself out, too, burning himself up, but he kept attacking, faster and faster. 

Bill got a flurry of fire blasts off, pushing Riz further and further back on the field.

Riz guarded against it, braced himself against the barrage with his own sturdy bulk and armor, and then fired a pair of discs in return.

Bill blew up one, took the second straight to the stomach and got thrown out of bounds.

Legosi tried to move in closer, to help Aoba, only for Louis to arc another blast at the wolf.

Legosi blocked, got smashed back half the playing field, and he was dazed, but still in the game. 

Louis’ team actually stopped trying to attack at all while Louis kept blasting away. 

Another volley was headed right at Legosi, when Aoba cut in between. 

The airbender held his ground, slashing and deflecting every concussive flare, but it was barely enough. The raw force was driving him back. 

Louis only attacked faster. 

Where was he getting all that energy?

Juno shouted over, “Legosi, attack with me!”

The gray wolf was too ragged to disobey. 

Juno launched two huge helpings of water toward the red deer. 

Legosi moved to the right of Aoba, stomped down, floating a bunch of discs up - and shot them all rapidly toward the red deer. 

The water canceled out part of the flames, made an opening for two of the earth discs to slip through Louis’ barrage.

Rock hit hard against Louis, sending the red deer flying backwards into Riz.

* Into Riz. *  

Louis ended up with his back against the giant carnivore, stunned. 

Riz moved to protect him. He wrapped his huge arms around the thin red deer.

He pulled Louis back, interposed his own body between the other team's attacks and the slight herbivore. 

Juno and Legosi, they kept firing, trying to knock the other two off the field - it was their only chance to win the round. 

Louis wasn’t aware of that. 

His entire being was drawn to that one giant of a carnivore looming over him. 

Louis felt the hot, panting breath of a predator above. 

He felt the tight, impossibly strong grasp of those massive arms, caging his small body. 

He saw the glint of the bear’s blade-like claws. 

Louis exploded. 

His whole body flinched down, a firebender’s reflex, and a huge column of fire burst up around him.

It was a massive red-orange spiral that blasted the giant bear away - straight toward Aoba.

Aoba gave the airbender’s equivalent of a flinch, an air cushion to defend himself against the airborne bear. 

It slowed Riz a little, but he still crashed hard into Aoba and they both got knocked off their feet. Aoba almost went splat.

The explosion silenced everyone else. 

Everything stopped. 

Then their airbender, Pina, shouted, “What the hell was that?! Louis!! He’s on our side!!”

The Dall sheep ran over the dividing water troughs to help Riz and Aoba, both now dazed. 

Good thing they all wear armor, helmets, pads.

Juno splashed some water on Riz, to stop any residual fire from spreading on cloth or fur. 

The medics - Tao and Jack - both ran over to help, and more people were yelling. 

Even Gon was blowing his whistle, from where he’d been helping the mid-breed teams, crying out, “Louis, what was that?!”

Legosi felt frozen in place, unable to decide what he should be doing. He glanced back and forth between his own team, and Louis. 

Louis’ body looked frozen, too; gripped by something, hissing steam out between his teeth. 

Sheila ran over and grabbed Louis’ shoulder, “Louis, come on! That could have really hurt them!”

Louis lashed out at her with his flames. 

Sheila jerked back, air shield for protection. She swore at him.

The red deer snarled, “Carnivores! All of you fucking carnivores! Stay away from me! You don’t get to touch me!”

Gon whistled again, “Louis, get off the field! Go chill out!”

Louis yelled back, “I know!”, before marching away, leaving a trail of steam in his wake. 

Legosi felt frozen for a little while more.

…… 

The mood was still sour when Legosi caught up with Haru and Jack in the woods, for Legosi’s secret bending lessons.

Haru was trying to get him to loosen up his upper body now, get him more used to twisting and leaning and turning away from an attack. 

But Legosi couldn’t focus on that. Seeing the way Louis responded … something felt off. 

Something felt really, badly off. 

Legosi didn’t know how to word it right. They were practically kids.

It was the same feeling he had when Haru got hurt bad.

He asked them while dodging, “Do you think it was me? Was it me, on the field? Juno had us attack him together. I hit him hard. Louis gave me the spirit water, and - and I shot back at him anyway.”

Jack immediately gave his support, “What? No, of course not. Louis’ always been like that when it comes to carnivores.”

Haru scoffed, “Honestly, you could stand to hit Louis more, not less.”

Legosi fussed with his hands, “But he’s been even more mad since we lost Ellen, and then all that stuff happened with the team and Dolph… and spirit water is really precious, but he still got it for my eyes…”

Haru was dismissive, “It’s Dolph’s fault, not yours. He chose to attack Ellen, he chose to attack you. He deserved way worse than a spirit beat-down if you ask me. Louis just has so much pride in his clan’s superiority over carnivores, and it makes him act all crazy. He’s prejudiced. Honestly, I’m not sure if he’s much better than Ellen and Mizuchi. But it wasn’t a carnivore that axed Ellen; it was Dolph, his own clanmate. Dolph being the murderer and having to help you probably just pissed him off. Plus, it was Gon who chose you over Dolph; you haven’t been in control over any part of this, so no, it’s not remotely your fault. It's not like you’re even responsible for what happened to Dolph!”

Legosi hesitated. His tail twitched, an ear flicked. 

Jack squinted at him, “Wait, are you?”

Haru turned, “Are you what?”

Legosi kept his gaze away, murmuring under his breath. “No…”

Jack insisted, “You are responsible, aren’t you?? You’re a terrible liar!!”

Legosi replied, “I’m an okay liar!”

Haru snorted, “While you were healing my ribs, you tried to convince me your clear water was mud and you were blondie here. Your lying sucks. We need to work on that.”

Jack jumped at him, “Legosi! Why would you say something like that??”

Legosi fussed, “I panicked!”

Honestly, it was a miracle that Legosi had kept his secret this long.

His saving grace had always been that no one in a million years would ever consider a hybrid, ‘an abomination,’ as the lost reptile.

Legosi grumbled more and started pacing in a circle. He opened and closed his mouth several more times, then finally just said it all in a rush. “I had to use the avatar state! Dolph tried to kill me, I was blind, I was about to die, I had to let the avatar state take control! I think a mole avatar used earthbending to squish him! But some other spirit was watching us and probably knows what I am, but it told the guards I was saved by ‘another spirit,’ while laughing, like it was totally some spirit joke, so the guards and Gon think I was just possessed and it wasn’t me!”

Haru started cackling hysterically.

Legosi insisted, “It’s not funny! He sandblasted my eyes! I thought I was going to die!”

The rabbit kept laughing, choking, trying to hold her stomach because she, like the spirit, thought it was hilarious. She was stammering out every word, “You squished him? You fucking squished him?? He tried to kill you - of all people, the avatar - and even blind , you squished him??”

Legosi went back to groaning and pacing, “It wasn’t me, it was the avatar state!”

Haru was heaving, cackling, “Oh spirits! Oh! Oh, spirits, no! The fucking bad luck of that guy! He attacked the one guy! The one avatar in the world!! ‘Oh grrr, I’m a grumpy hippo, I’m gonna stomp a little doggo’ ‘No, please, no! AVATAR POWERS, HOOO’!!!”

Haru started making sound effects and pretending her fingers were fighters.

Legosi laid down flat on the ground, hit the ground, and made a little tent around his entire body with earthbending.

He could still hear Haru laughing. 

Jack came over and knocked on the stone covering. He said loudly, “Don’t worry, Legosi. I’m sure that whatever problems Louis has, they have nothing to do with you. So there’s no need to worry about him. We’ll worry about, uh, Dolph! He’s a much more realistic concern! Wait, that came out wrong.”

Jack heard Legosi’s muted screaming coming through the stone of his emergency mausoleum. 

…… 

Louis was back to killing them tomorrow afternoon - but it was the normal amount of murder, not the condensed homicide of the day before.

Legosi wasn’t sure if that was better. 

Louis’ moves were all completely legal, and as intense as a firebender’s should be. 

But Louis was also quiet.

Today, the red deer was detached, and Legosi was even more confused about the whole thing. 

Maybe it was his avatar senses tingling, but … something still didn’t feel right. Legosi’s insides still felt all twisted up, guilty and worried. Something about Louis felt off-balance. 

Legosi felt like he was missing something obvious. 

But by the time practice was over, when the players were getting out of their armor and pads in the locker room, Legosi had formed some small semblance of a plan. 

As they were leaving, Legosi made a point of asking Jack while Haru was sort of close, “I’m going to head into town for a bit. Do you need anything?”

Jack frowned, “Not today, no. Did you want me to come along?”

Legosi shook his head, and noted Haru was listening. “I’ll be fine. It’ll be better if I go without you. I just wanted to tell you I’d be back later.”

It took a few seconds more for Jack’s expression to harden. Jack pulled a few droplets from a drinking gourd, and flicked them at the wolf. “No! No alone! Bad idea!”

Legosi put his arms up against the flicking water, “Jack, stop it! I’m not going into the woods! I’m just going into town!”

Jack continued his protest, flicking more water at Legosi, reminding him of what all just happened this week. 

Haru finally interrupted, “Oh, come on. I’ll go with him. I need to pick up some things in town anyway. I’ll play big wolf’s bodyguard, big wolf can carry my shit. How’s that?”

Jack still had a grumpy frown for a face, but if it was Haru? “Fine,” he complained, “But if you guys aren’t back after the sun sets, I’m coming after you.”

It was nice that Jack cared at least.

Legosi sighed heavily, “It won’t take that long, I promise.”

A rarity for him, Legosi made a point of wearing his only set of nice clothes. They were a little small now, kind of old. He so rarely could afford new things.

Haru stayed just outside his room. She didn’t seem bothered in the least about being in a carnivore dorm. She always seemed ready to chat about anything, to fill the silence with conversation.

But when the two were further on their way from the school, she asked him calmly, “So where are we going that you don’t want to bring blondie? Cause you’re with him everywhere. I’m assuming it’s an herbivore place, isn’t it? Or are you finally going to see the sages?”

Legosi kept his head low. “No. No sages… Do you ever have a feeling, where you just … have to do something? Where something feels wrong, and maybe you’re not even sure what, but you have to do something about it?”

Haru nodded as they walked, “Yeah, of course. We all do.”

Legosi was wary of the other people they passed on their walk toward the middle of town. He talked softer, “I felt this way when you got really hurt. I feel like … something’s wrong with Louis…”

Haru snorted, “Legosi, I can not count how many things are wrong with Louis.”

Legosi insisted, “I’m serious, Haru…”

Haru laughed, “And that’s your first mistake, little leaf.” 

Legosi grumbled to himself with unhappy canid noises.

Haru conceded, “Okay, okay. I’ll be serious. I know when to jump and when to duck. So, what, are we going to a medic or - his family? You said no sages.”

Legosi admitted, “I thought I’d check on his family, yeah… if they even let me in. I figured, if I just pass along the message that something is wrong, they’d probably know how to help him. You don’t have to come if you don’t want to.”

Haru half teased, “Nah, I said I’d be your bodyguard, and I meant it. We need you safe for the game - and Wolf of the West things. So I’m here, for your body.”

Haru slapped the wolf on the ass, nearly making Legosi fly up into the air. 

She giggled to herself like an imp.

Legosi glared at her, choking on the audacity. 

Haru stretched out her arms, “I know, I know. I’m terrible… Serious rabbit time, starting now.”

Officially speaking, the school wasn’t actually separate from the town; it was just on the outskirts. 

The school did have some stone walls for the student’s protection, but in a world of wings and claws and elemental bending, a wall did only so much good.

The patrolling guards helped.

The markets and business buildings sort of jumbled together in the city of Cherryton, particularly along the water, but much of the city was still separated into districts by clan lines.

Legosi knew where Clan Artio lived, they had the richest buildings, and he knew that the biggest, largest home would be for Louis’ family. 

They’d have to identify themselves to the local clan guard. You can’t just waltz into another clan’s neighborhood. 

A big carnivore around the homes of herbivores? It was sketchy at best, and it would look worse if another canid like Jack was with him - but Haru was with him instead, and that gave him a bit more legitimacy. 

Haru asked him as they got closer, “Do you at least know what you’re going to say? Cause, on the subject of lying? Planning it out ahead of time can make it easier…”

The wolf slouched a bit more, but took out a piece of folded paper from his pocket. He mumbled back, “I wrote an introduction between matches…”

He still felt a bit unnerved presenting himself to the gate guards of Clan Artio. They were … serious. Dangerous. Big metal weapons for chopping and stabbing.

Legosi gave a full bow, bent all the way over at the waist, to formally give his request of the guard. He read his little paper, “I am Legosi the gray wolf, an earthbender from Clan Canida. I attend the school with Louis the red deer. I am concerned for him and would like to seek an audience with his family. Could you pass along this request, please?”

Legosi got somewhere between a stink eye and outright suspicion, but if it concerned the scion of the clan? They had to let someone know. 

Legosi added awkwardly, “And, and this is Haru. She’s an airbender.”

Haru gave them two thumbs up, “I’m his bodyguard.”

The guards squinted more.

This was a weird day. 

A fluffy sheep came out after a few minutes, to escort Haru and Legosi inside. 

The huge mansion had its own array of guards, mostly deer and buffalo, and though they weren’t marked or color coded, Legosi kind of assumed they were benders. Louis’ family could afford the best.

The guards led them into a large, ornate chamber. Legosi felt like he was being led before the throne of a king, or an emperor, and the great, old red deer was dressed to match. 

Oguma. 

Louis’ father. 

Like most people in Cherryton, Legosi knew him by reputation only. Legosi didn’t expect to be talking to him - maybe a sibling, or his mother. Legosi didn’t actually know much about Louis’ family. 

Legosi thought it was strange that Oguma looked so different from Louis. 

The wolf felt a cold shiver in the red deer’s presence. Oguma’s throne room seemed designed to make you feel small before him. 

Haru remained indifferent. She was glancing around, at all the other guards that stood ready to defend their lord.

Oguma regarded the two of them another moment. His narrow eyes were dark and suspicious. To either side of him, there were large desks filled with writing, and writing implements. He’d probably been working right before.

Oguma asked imperiously, “They say you are concerned for my son.”

Legosi bowed at the waist again. “Yes, sir. I wasn’t sure how to help him.”

Oguma inquired, “And why do you think he needs your help?”

Legosi stood up a little, but kept his head down. He didn’t want to risk correcting him, just explained, “Louis has been very upset lately, sir. He’s angry.”

Oguma gave a bass rumble of a laugh. 

Oguma stated, “Louis is a firebender,” as if that was its own explanation. 

Legosi hesitated. “This feels different, sir…”

Oguma asked, “How different?”

His bluntness made Legosi waver.

Haru nudged the wolf. She whispered encouragement, “Don’t panic. Breathe. Just tell him what you feel.”

Legosi fussed with his big hands. He said reluctantly, “Louis and I … we aren’t friends, sir. But we train together, in the afternoons. I’ve known him for several years now. Lately… something hasn’t felt right with him.”

Oguma didn’t reply for a moment. 

Legosi glanced up for a second, saw Oguma stroking his jaw. 

Oguma wondered, “And you are a perceptive wolf, what was it, Legosi?”

Legosi swallowed hard.

Haru tried to help, “Legosi is not the most aware wolf, but he is pretty sensitive in his own way.”

Legosi acknowledged, “It is Legosi, sir, but … no. Actually… people keep telling me to pay attention more…”

Oguma pressed the question, “Then why are you concerned for Louis? What has led you to this concern?”

Legosi felt his throat tighten again, now with embarrassment. “I’m sorry, sir. I don’t know how to explain it. I don’t mean to waste your time. It’s just a feeling I have. It feels like something is wrong.”

Oguma’s voice hardened, “Your concern, albeit misguided, has been noted. Louis has always been able to handle everything on his own. Unless you have information of actual value, my guards will see you out.”

Louis’ words were echoing in Legosi’s memories.

There was so much Louis didn’t say, to anyone. Like Louis was reading from a script?

What was he missing?

This weird feeling Legosi had, that something was out of place, off balance: was this part of being the avatar?

Was there something else left behind from entering the avatar state?

Or was it just Legosi, his eyes always watching the other players? 

Thinking about that made him feel uncomfortable. 

Legosi breathed softly, “Sir? Was Louis… Was Louis hurt by carnivores?”

Oguma didn’t answer. He just sat there, stroking his jaw. 

Then Oguma gestured to the guards, “Escort them outside.”

And that was the end of that.

Chapter Text

Legosi didn’t really sleep the night before the intercity matches, between Cherryton and Dorpal.

He tossed, he turned, he was filled with anxiety.

He was groggy and drained all morning, even as excitement was spreading like a fire through the city.

A whole lot of visitors had already shown up by cart and carriage and boat (pushed along by benders, of course). Most were from Dorpal, but they got visitors from the other close cities, too - like Warden, Insiger, and Indre.

The earthbenders had made an even bigger stadium for this occasion. More and more people were showing up the whole afternoon, taking their seats. Food vendors were trying to get people’s attention, sell some snacks or dinner for people watching the games. A few carts were offering tea of various kinds. Several merchants were even then trying to make sales to all the travelers, offer Cherryton crafts.

Legosi kept bouncing back and forth between too sick to eat, and too sick not to eat. He threw up only once, and Jack tried to help steady his nerves with a waterbender’s healing touch.

Gon tried to give them all a pre-game pep talk, something about teamwork, keeping your cool, playing smart, but Legosi was too anxious to remember it. He forgot it by the time they actually took their seats on the playing field sidelines, behind the safety chain netting.

All the benders had slightly nicer uniforms, nicer armor for this sort of public spectacle.

Legosi would have liked it if his team could have gone first, just got it out of the way sooner rather than later, but the matches were organized by size and ability.

The mid-breed B teams were up first. 

An airbender with an old-fashioned megaphone did announcements, loudly introducing the players on both sides - all eight players getting ready to knock the other team off the playing field.

Best 3 out of 5, first to claim 3 rounds wins the match.

A referee whistled the start, and elements started flying every which way.

It was a fast-paced game, more dexterity than power - smaller targets for each other to hit.

Kibi and Tem played a close game to each other, in the center. 

Kibi was a fairly strong earthbender, but not very mobile. Tem tried to protect him with his airbending. Legosi loved their technique, their teamwork, but it was clearly a struggle out there.

Since Mizuchi the harlequin quit the roster, Els moved up to the A team and Legom the chicken took Els’ place on B team. Legom joined the roster out of a desire for physical fitness. She never really expected to make a team (Legosi knew that sentiment), but she was still a solid waterbender.

Kai the mongoose was one of the dodgiest firebenders on the roster, when his temper didn’t get the better of him. If he could keep his cool, he’d be one of the better players on the team. Gon kept trying to work with him on that.

Kai … did not keep his cool. 

Kibi and Tem ended up alone together a lot over the match. They won the first round for Cherryton, lost the second, won the third … but then lost the next two rounds. 2 to 3, Dorpal claimed victory from the first match.

It was the mid-breed A teams next, and that? That was some bending.

Legosi found his eyes drawn to Haru again and again. It was like watching a master at work, the way she moved on the field, weaving and turning, cartwheels and twists. She was showing off today. Without having to worry about a teammate’s sabotage, she could fight with her eyes forward. 

She practically outclassed Dorpal all on her own, and the rest of her team stood strong.

Sanu the pelican? He  was very good at arcing his firebending with those wings of his. He was a trickier player, an old soul, and had a tea-drinking calmness about him that a lot of firebenders could learn from.

Mokichi the badger was a faster earthbender than Kibi. He didn’t need as much protecting as the anteater. He could stand on his own just fine, guarding and attacking in equal measure. 

Els had expected to play as the B team’s waterbender, not the A team’s. She was good, but she was clearly pushing herself to keep up with the rest of A team. Haru helped keep her safe.

Airbenders. Even with the rules about just deflecting and blocking, they could change the field of battle so much.

Haru led the team to a full shut-out; they won three rounds in a row.

Legosi was having so much fun watching them out on the field, he forgot he was going to be playing out there next.

It was time for the large-breed B teams… 

The announcer started introducing them.

Juno led the way onto the field, taking the leftmost position. Bill and Aoba followed, took places in the center, and Legosi awkwardly took the final rightmost position, keeping his head down.

They’d have to shuffle around the field, over the course of the game, but this was how they’d start.

Don’t look at the people, don’t look at the people, don’t look at the -

Legosi looked.

The stadium had to be bigger. There were so many people in the stands. Legosi didn’t remember ever seeing this many - but he’d never been on the field for a big game either.

Legosi’s heart was beating too fast, and things hadn’t even begun.

The referee whistled the start, Legosi flinched, and got fire blasted off his feet by Dorpal’s firebender, a buffalo.

Aoba took to the wolf’s defense, blocking for him even as he yelled, “Legosi, come on!”

Legosi grit his teeth, scrambled back up on his feet, and unloaded with a fast salvo of earthen discs back. 

With some irony? The Dorpal team tried to focus on Legosi (they sensed weakness, it was the rookie’s first game), only for Juno and Bill to take Dorpal out from the left side. The first round was Cherryton’s.

Dorpal got their revenge in the next. 

Legosi didn’t flinch this time, went right on the offense.

Dorpal went after Aoba, their defensive core. 

Bill was firing away, Legosi launched one strike, realized that Aoba was about to take an elemental combo from the other team, and neither Aoba or Legosi could block it all in time.

Aoba went down, knocked back off the playing field, and Dorpal went after Legosi immediately.

Legosi tried to block, got two discs in front of himself, and the Dorpal waterbender - a lizard - just slipped a stream right past them.

If you hit someone with enough water, fast enough? Yeah, it could send a person flying. Legosi got knocked out of bounds.

1 to 1. First to claim 3 rounds wins. 

It was anybody’s game.

But Dorpal won the next one, too. They went after Legosi again. 

He tried, he really did, but this time it was the earthbending gorilla who knocked him out.

1 to 2, Dorpal almost had it in the bag.

The stadium was screaming.

Next round, everybody held their own. They all had a feel for each other, started reading how the other team attacked, moved, blocked.

They ran out the clock; everyone was still standing at the end of the round.

The referee flipped a coin for the one-on-one sudden-death tiebreaker. Cherryton won the pick of element for that.

Aoba stepped forward, “We pick air.”

Everybody else stepped off the field as Aoba and the Dorpal airbender, a puma, stared each other down in the center.

There was no mandatory defense for this. The airbenders could attack each other here, hard and fast. 

This was a rare opportunity, for an airbender to release the raw pounding pressure of air on the playing field, to leap and dodge and lash.

Legosi couldn’t even blink, the two airbenders were so fast, palms thrusting, bodies twisting, trading blows, the conflict of it whipping up a gale that everyone in the stadium could feel.

Aoba threw a wave of air with a huge right hook, the puma bent it aside - and missed Aoba’s roundhouse kick right after it.

Hurricane force blasted the puma off the middle of the field. 

The puma broke his fall, he caught himself on a cushion of air and landed fine, but the referee still whistled. ‘Out of bounds.’ Aoba got the win.

Aoba made a point of shaking hands with the cat, because the eagle hadn’t had the chance to let loose on the field like that in a long time.

On the sidelines, Bill was clapping, laughing to Legosi, “That’s one way to put on a show!”

2 to 2, all.

The stadium was electrified, cheering, yelling.

It was anyone’s game again.

The final round.

The very last chance to take the win.

Legosi swallowed painfully hard.

He wanted to throw up again. 

The referee blew the whistle, round start.

Everyone started off fierce, desperate, blasting and dodging - and tired. 

Aoba had pushed himself too hard, won the tie-breaker right before, but he was slower now. 

Dorpal was focusing their assault.

Aoba went to block for Bill, pushed him out of the way in time, but Aoba took a double hit of water and earth, and it knocked him out of the game.

Bill battled back, angry and powerful, roaring as he unleashed a volley of attacks, a huge flurry of fire blasts. 

Bill took out the Dorpal airbender right there, put the others on the defensive - and their waterbender snuck an attack under Bill’s barrage.

Bill was thrown off the field. 

Three Dorpal benders against two Cherryton benders - and the two were divided on the field.

Too far away, Legosi and Juno tried to get closer, to support each other while shooting back, but the Dorpal waterbender lashed out with a water whip every time they drew near.

Too far. 

Just too far, and then all three Dorpal benders turned on Juno at once. She dodged away from two elemental attacks, got clipped by a third, and then a fourth hit dead center.

Things slowed down for Legosi as he watched, in sudden terror, as his last lifeline was being launched off the playing field.

Juno was out.

Aoba was out, Bill was out, Juno was out. 

It was just Legosi. 

It was all Legosi, and three Dorpal benders.

The crowd was screaming.

His team was screaming.

A few thousand voices made a chaotic chorus, and somewhere in there, Legosi could have sworn he heard people yelling his name to not give in. 

All noise and battle and rage and Legosi was trying to stand his ground, to block whatever he could, as a stoic earthbender, but he could only take so many hits. He wasn’t built like Riz.

Fire hit his shoulder, water pounded at his core, an earthen disc struck his side, and it was all he could do to just stand and endure, his fists were clenched so tight, all he could do was … stand …

‘Do you want to play , or do you want to win ?’

It had seemed like such a simple question, when Louis asked it the other day.

But it was so hard to answer, to say what he wanted, because he couldn’t. He couldn’t want those things.

It wasn’t safe. He couldn’t be too much, couldn’t do too much, and it was beyond him. He couldn’t even say what he wanted, to enjoy being the avatar. It was all beyond him. 

To be him, what he wanted … it’d start a war.

To be him … he had to be … quiet.

He had to. 

It was the only way. 

Legosi unclenched his fists. 

Legosi put his palms up in front of him.

The stadium didn’t seem so loud.

He was practically surrendering. 

Legosi dropped the earthbender inside.

Legosi the earthbender couldn’t do it.

Legosi breathed out.

Two blasts of fire came at him.

Two blasts of fire were all it would take, for it to all be over, to give in, be done, be the stupid failure he had always accepted he’d be, the one they all knew he’d be.

Legosi shifted his weight on his feet.

He leaned one way.

The flames went sailing by.

Water followed - another arcing shot - Legosi walked right around it like it wasn’t even there.

I want to win.

Just - just once!

Legosi walked the circle, left from fire, right from water, didn’t block the earth disc thrown his way - he deflected it.  

No air. Legosi wasn’t using air, he was just earthbending, and he bounced the next disc back towards the waterbender.

The lizard wasn’t expecting that and took a crippling shot to the stomach.

Legosi didn’t stomp like an earthbender so much as tap with his feet, to float more discs up from the ground for his counterattack.

Legosi shot two more discs at the waterbender, with open palms, and it sent the lizard flying off the field.

There was an explosion - not of elements, but of people, of screaming and yelling, and Legosi had to drown it all out and focus because he still had the gorilla and buffalo to deal with.

The Dorpal benders went on the offensive, even if they were tired, another flurry of rocky discs and shooting flames.

Legosi wasn’t tired. Legosi had energy to spare. Legosi used the earthbender’s attacks as his own defense, thrusting with his hands to deflect earth back into fire’s way, creating a huge cloud of dust. 

Legosi grabbed and flicked the last two discs right back at the Dorpal earthbender who sent them, through the dust cloud. 

The gorilla yelled, hit. 

One more bender down, knocked out of bounds.

Just Legosi now. Just Legosi and the Dorpal firebender, the buffalo, and the screaming of a city. The dust thinned.

Fire was mad, fire was angry, this wasn’t right, it was three benders against one, the weak one, they should have won already. No time to be tired. Fire kept attacking.

Legosi had to twist away, to rely on his training with Haru for balance, for flowing with his whole body, to use his feet in just the right way to keep moving, keep standing - to accept the pull of gravity and shift the legs and suddenly he was standing again, still in the game, and chucking earthen discs back.

No stone, no mountain, no sturdy earth movements - a billowing reed, a willow tree, a falling leaf in the screaming hurricane of spectators. 

Legosi felt ancient. Legosi felt strong. Legosi felt like himself, like he wasn’t holding back, like for once in his life, he wasn’t worried about who was watching him. 

He was having fun.

He walked the circle, left to right, stopped a foot short of another fiery missile. 

He backtracked, reversing the momentum like it was nothing, ducked under another fire blast - reached wide, gathered a disc from the ground and slung it at an angle.

It hit the buffalo, but didn’t take him out. 

The Dorpal firebender just got angrier. He renewed his assault like a wild spirit, burning everything he had at once.

But Legosi had seen worse. 

He’d seen Louis mad.

Legosi tried to weave through it. He levitated two discs close to his forearms, like shields. They deflected the flames aside, to the left and right. 

Legosi blocked and shifted and shot back and fire was still full of rage and murder and Legosi needed an opening, needed the firebender to wear out, burn himself out, needed the right moment before Legosi could strike - and the whistle blew.

The last crash of fire broke against a disc in the middle of the field. 

Everything was silent.

Legosi didn’t realize until then how much he was gasping for breath, shoulders heaving, nostrils flaring, and the Dorpal firebender was the same, about to fall.

Legosi glanced at the referee, who was shouting, “The round is a draw! Players, approach for the coin toss!”

Legosi felt a blankness inside of himself and he wasn’t sure if that was good or bad but the audience screamed even louder at whatever the hell they had just witnessed.

The rest of B team came running back on the field and Bill was yelling and grabbed Legosi in the biggest hug and swung him around off the ground because, “WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT?!! WHAT THE FUCKING FUCK WAS THAT?!!”

Because there was ‘moving like an airbender’ and there was whatever Legosi just did, making it look that effortless, and no one saw that coming from the rookie earthbender.

Legosi had never heard Bill swearing so happy and astonished and that only confused Legosi more and he was panting too much to reply and Aoba was saying something about masterful footwork and Juno was cheering on the hidden strength of a wolf like she knew it all along and the referee had to whistle several more times for the crowd to quiet down because the game wasn’t over, they still had the sudden-death tiebreaker.

Dorpal won the coin toss. 

Their firebender was completely drained, Aoba had already beaten their airbender once, and who even knows what other secret moves that wolf might have, so their earthbender wasn’t going to risk going one-on-one with Legosi.

That left water.

Dorpal had a very good, tricksy waterbender on their side, that lizard who’d been turning the tide of victory all game.

And in a one-on-one fight, Juno knew how to demolish a waterbender like that in seconds.

Legosi didn’t even see how it happened because he was off to the side, losing himself in a big gourd of drinking water.

And then firebenders were blasting off explosions into the sky in firework celebrations, and Legosi didn’t understand why Bill suddenly picked him up, or why others were getting involved, bouncing him up and down, or why he thought he heard people cheering his name.

Legosi didn’t think anyone would celebrate him ever, and that?

He wasn’t prepared for that.

For any of that. 

… And it was such a nice feeling to have … 

……

The referee had to call for order eventually. 

There was still the last match, the large-breed A teams. 

Louis, Riz, Sheila, Dom … they were some of the best benders Cherryton had to offer.

Louis just … didn’t seem like his head was in the game.

Legosi had planned to stay, planned to watch it all, but in all honesty, by that point, he was overwhelmed and overstimulated. 

Haru sneaked over to him when he was getting a snack, and nudged him in the side.

Legosi looked down at her.

Haru was smirking shamelessly as she said, “Let me do the talking.”

The wolf frowned. “The talking?”

The rabbit was swelling up in pride. She still whispered, “You’re still a bad liar and I’m your teacher. Tonight was a win-win for me. So when they start asking you questions about your training, you refer them to me. Got it?”

Legosi’s tail swayed hesitantly. “…You don’t mind?”

Haru grinned, “Well, I might have just secured two victories for Cherryton tonight. So. Yeah. I don’t mind.”

Legosi’s tail definitely wagged faster. “You’re a great teacher, Haru.”

Haru stretched her arms, “Please, please: shower me with your praises.”

…… 

Legosi had some sentiment of the party that was going to happen. A lot of people used game day as a reason to celebrate, to carouse, and to get very drunk. It was a close game, but Louis’ team actually lost in the end, so Cherryton and Dorpal both had two wins to be proud of. It seemed like a lot of people were going to get drunk tonight.

Legosi was never much one for the party aspect of it. He enjoyed watching the game, then going back to the dorms. 

The only thing actually keeping Legosi around with the rest of the Cherryton teams… was the job offers.

Somehow, Legosi hadn’t really been around for those before. 

Shipping Company X, the personal forces of Lord Y, even the city guard was asking what his intentions were after he graduated. Some members of Clan Canida were even getting a little possessive about it, like he was their personal pride and joy and belonged to them.

Legosi thought he did okay, but not that good. He was just a novelty.

But Legosi had to admit, he didn’t really have any plans at all. 

‘I don’t know, thought I might intern as incarnation of universal balance. I heard there’s an opening.’ Yeah, he couldn’t say that out loud.

Legosi just pointed them to Haru when they asked how he learned to move like that. Haru stretched the truth a bit, said she’d been tutoring Legosi on the side for a while. 

It was like a whole new style of earthbending, all smooth and evasive like a desert dust cloud.

Haru said it merrily, “Oh, Legosi kept getting his ass beat in practice. It was just too much, you know? I hate to see a person suffer - and I wagered he could improve a lot if I drilled him on some fundamentals. And now here we are! I’m so proud of him.”

There were certainly plenty of other students who could confirm: Legosi’s skill level was a fairly recent accomplishment… 

And everything, all the accolades, all the cheers, all the shaking hands - Legosi wouldn’t have needed any of it at all for his one favorite part of the night.

An older komodo gentleman, all rustic and weathered, finally made it through the crowds, the parties, to finally get within earshot of that one large wolf. 

The old komodo looked so amazingly, unabashedly proud. Legosi wasn’t sure, but the way his eyes glistened? The komodo might have been crying earlier.

His face was radiant. He told Legosi, “You were incredible out there.”

The komodo offered to shake his hand, and Legosi shook it with a warm heart.

They couldn’t get away with more.

Legosi’s tail hadn’t wagged that much in ages. Legosi had to clear his throat first to talk, “It just seemed like the right time.”

Another tear slipped from the komodo’s left eye. “I bet you made your family proud.”

Legosi swallowed hard, and his ears made that drooping, flicking motion. “I hope I did.”

His tail was stuck wagging that way all night long.

Chapter Text

Legosi didn’t think to ask until later, when night was bringing everything to a close, “It was you, wasn’t it? Who told Gosha to come?”

Jack started smirking slowly. He was trying to be nonchalant on their walk to the dorms, but his tail was wagging faster anyway. “I may have spent an afternoon walking along the rivers… to tell him in person.”

Legosi’s tail was still wagging, too. Legosi said, “Thank you, for that… and thank you for not telling me.”

Jack knew, “I had a feeling it’d make you even more nervous. But you were great out there! You were better than I’ve ever seen you. So it all worked out for the best.”

Jack gave the big wolf an affectionate pat on the back.

Legosi tried to force a smile, “Yeah. For the best… it all worked out, for the best…”

…… 

“What else are you hiding?”

Legosi twitched at Gon’s words. 

Legosi slurred, “S-sir?”

Gon just smiled, equally amused and suspicious. “Well, I had a feeling you’ve been holding back, but I didn’t realize you were holding back that much .”

Legosi swallowed hard. 

The teams weren’t meeting the day after the big game. They didn’t have classes on sunday either, but principal Gon still called Legosi in for a private chat in his office. 

Legosi fussed with his hands, “I’m, I’m not hiding anything, sir.”

The obvious lie was obvious. 

Gon laughed once, “You’re a teenager, Legosi. Everyone has secrets, especially teenagers. I’m just wondering what yours are.”

Legosi tried to reach for excuses and stammered, “Haru said I’m not allowed to talk to people about it. That was the rule she gave me.”

Technically true, not a lie. Still sounded like one though. 

Gon was still smiling and looking at him like he didn’t believe it. “Yes, she said she’s been training you for months. But that’s not true, is it?”

Legosi grit his teeth. “Sir?”

The tiger explained easily, “Your growth as a player has been relatively stagnant for the last year or two, then in the last few weeks, you showed a significant improvement. I always thought it was curious how you played better whenever I put you on a better team. But maybe I’m wrong. Maybe you weren’t holding back.”

Legosi glanced aside. “…It just took time for me to get it…”

Gon wondered, “Do you realize how hard it is to do what you did on the field?”

Legosi shifted his weight from one foot to the other, looking downwards. “It wasn’t easy, sir. The players from Dorpal are really strong.”

Gon gestured with a hand, “No no. I don’t mean pulling a draw out of that round - though yes, that was quite impressive. Dorpal’s firebender pushed himself so hard, trying to keep up with you, that he was ready to pass out at the end. I mean shifting styles like that.”

Legosi briefly nodded up. “That wasn’t easy either, sir…”

Gon explained, “It'd be one thing if you used something from a firebending style. Earth and fire have some similarities in their techniques. But you switched to air . Earth and air are expressly contradictory. You have to overwrite years of practice, instinct, and muscle memory. Many people have made such an attempt before, and few ever succeed - much less someone your age - and you did it beautifully out there. I’m not the only one who noticed. How many job offers did you get?”

Legosi couldn’t quite look Gon in the face anymore. “I don’t know. I didn’t think to keep count…”

He stopped counting after four. 

A lot of people wanted him as a guard, a soldier, a warrior. 

Legosi didn’t want to fight at all.

Gon just leaned back in his chair, and closed his eyes. He had a certain happiness on his face as he recalled, “I’ve mentioned the avatar to you kids before. I had the opportunity to see her once, and I’ll never forget it. The avatar’s ability to connect with each element and style is part of what made them strong, helped them keep the balance in the midst of this world’s chaos.”

Legosi felt an uncomfortable sensation sliding into his skin, down his shoulders.

Gon shook his head and smiled, “But you don’t need to listen to me rambling. You’re no avatar, Legosi - but I do think you have a talent, and it’s worth nurturing. We’ll be facing Indre next month. I’d like you to keep using both styles in practice. I think that’ll be good for you, and good for the roster, too. It’ll put some pressure on them to expect the unexpected.”

Legosi didn’t like that. “…Are you sure that’s a good idea, sir?”

Gon laughed, “I do! But I wouldn’t be surprised if more people start paying Haru for lessons, or want to watch you train. The two of you had best be careful.”

Legosi winced, “Careful?”

Gon smirked, “You’re both important to the teams. Cherryton took those wins in part because of you two. You have an obligation to stay healthy for them, and Cherryton. I don’t want to hear you strained yourself - or hurt each other - and can’t play in the next intercity games.”

Legosi nodded quickly, “Of course, sir.”

Legosi started to head out, but Gon called him again, “Oh, and Legosi?”

Legosi wanted to run away.

Nervously, the wolf faced him again. “Yes, sir?”

Gon was still looking pleased. “Thank you for not holding back. You made a lot of people happy last night.”

Legosi nodded, just a little more modest about it. “I’m glad, sir. Thank you.”

…… 

Legosi, Jack, and Haru had to be a lot sneakier about getting to their secret cavern. 

Gon’s comment about ‘people wanting to watch them train’ suddenly made Legosi paranoid about every last person who even looked his way (which, considering the game last night, was a lot of people).

As if Legosi wasn’t self-conscious enough…

Legosi could take a note from Dolph though, and use his earthbending to swim part of the way beneath the surface. That was a bit disorienting at first, with no sight or scent to rely on. The seismic sense helped. This was different from just sensing vibrations with his feet, but he was slowly figuring it out, with enough practice. 

He got stuck in tree roots only twice, thank you very much.

Haru could be sneakier above ground. She was a fast small animal, and with her airbending, she could bounce through the treetops as fast as any bird could fly. 

Jack couldn’t be sneaky if he tried, but few people cared about him. 

To be safe, Jack just didn’t head to the cavern for a few days. He figured they should let the heat die off a bit first.

In the meantime, Durham and Voss were particularly vocal about their wants. They were both yelling about the match all weekend, trying to get Legosi to show them those moves again, long after they were supposed to be asleep. 

Collot and Miguno had to get the pair to knock it off, because Legosi had to be beyond exhausted. 

The weekend was their only real chance to sleep in, and Legosi wasn’t the only one who wanted to go to bed. They’d have plenty of opportunities to play with Legosi later, now that they were past Dorpal.

…… 

Legosi was not expecting the applause when he stepped into their first class monday morning. He was especially not expecting people in class to actually get up from their seats, congratulate him, want to shake his hand or ask him to sit by them because, “That game was so crazy! You wiped the floor with them!”

The anxious wolf didn’t actually feel it was worth all that, but he didn’t want to put a damper on their spirits. His fur fluffed up, embarrassed. He thanked them, and tried to redirect people back to their seats because class was going to begin any moment.

Their afternoon probending practice started in a similar way. The A and B teams got a lot of their comments out on the night of the games, but the roster was filled with a lot of others who still wanted to talk about it, ask about it, wonder how long he’d been keeping those moves to himself.

Louis didn’t ask at all. Louis was still… quiet. He’d been aloof ever since his explosion last week, and that hadn’t changed after the games. It might have gotten even worse since the large-breed A team lost, and Legosi’s team won.

‘Team Carnivore.’ Legosi wanted to slap Bill for that.

Even now, when Legosi looked at Louis, he still felt something was deeply wrong. Something was out of balance. But Legosi couldn’t do anything else. He’d already told Oguma, and Oguma brushed it aside. He definitely couldn’t talk to Louis. Louis might kill him. Legosi would just have to … keep it to himself.

And then came the bucket of cold, harsh reality.

Kai joked, “Man, you might be the strongest canid in the school now.”

Crunch.

Legosi tried not to wince, tried to hide the slight panic, tried to come up with something else to say because, “No. That’s Juno. She’s way better, I just got lucky.”

Legosi was saved by Gon’s arrival, calling order to the roster.

Because that was always the problem, wasn’t it? The ‘strongest canid’? He didn’t qualify.

Legosi the gray wolf was not just a wolf. 

And his strength?

It didn’t come from being a gray wolf either.

‘Got lucky.’ He meant it. Bad luck, more like it. Being the avatar was a freak accident. It wasn’t right. It wasn’t fair. And Legosi had to keep that secret, or people were going to war.

Luck was a vindictive monster thrown around by the spirits.

He had to be ready.

……

When Jack finally made it to the cavern, the labrador had to blink. 

“Wow,” Jack started. “You’ve been … redecorating?”

The training room was a lot bigger. Over the past few days, Legosi had hollowed out a bigger space in the cavern, and the river didn’t just pass through it - Legosi had made a reservoir to collect some of it. 

They had a decent indoor lake now. 

Legosi rubbed the back of his neck. “I figured we’d need more water…”

Haru was smirking and proud. 

Jack laughed softly, “Getting thirstier, Legosi?”

“No,” Legosi corrected awkwardly. “We’ll need more water, so I can learn more waterbending.” 

Jack did a double-take, looked at Haru again, then back at the wolf.

Jack was clearly not expecting that. “I can teach you a few more things. I’m not a master or anything like Haru, but … I thought you didn’t want to learn more forms? You always said you were afraid of slipping.”

Legosi fussed with his hands. “I know… I did, but … I changed my mind. And we did all the groundwork before - between you and the avatar spirit, I’m great at healing - but there are a lot of forms and moves I haven’t tried to do myself. People already know I’m studying airbending forms, so … it doesn’t matter as much if I slip up and use a water form. And who knows? …Learning that stuff could come in handy when we play Indre…”

Haru giggled to herself. “You see what’s happening here, right, Jack?”

Legosi’s ears drooped, “What? What’s happening? Where?”

Haru smirked over at the labrador, “Legosi here is the positive reinforcement type. He got all that cheering the other night, and now he’s hooked.”

Haru nodded to herself. Jack giggled a little, too.

Legosi gestured with his hands and stammered, “It’s not like that! I just - It - Haru’s footwork made a big difference in the game! And everybody knows that! And, and the Dorpal waterbender was really dangerous on the field!”

Haru rolled her eyes playfully.

Jack teased him, “Heh, Legosi, you’re such a bad liar…”

The wolf paced a few times, trying to rationalize it, “I just mean, if just the airbending footwork could make such a big difference, then the other styles could, too! And not just for pro-bending, but other things! If I hadn’t let the avatar state take control, Dolph would have killed me! I may not want to be the avatar, but I definitely don’t want to be dead!”

Jack and Haru couldn’t really argue with that. Both of them got serious fast.

Legosi insisted, “Haru called me that, that silly thing: the Wolf of the West! I could be that! I could play it off as just learning the styles, no avatar business about it. Even if I only use my earthbending in the games, there are still a lot of things that I can learn!”

Jack put his hands up, “Legosi, you don’t need to convince me. I’m pretty sure I’ve told you the same things before…”

Haru chimed in, “Nah, I think Legosi is trying to convince himself. And honestly, Legosi, there’s nothing wrong with enjoying some positive attention. We all do. Most people have an innate desire to be liked. Er, well, I suppose I mean herbivores do; I’m actually not sure if it’s the same for you guys, since you’re … well, carnivores.”

Jack simply stated, “No, canids are very companion-focused as well. Before the creation of the clans, they used to form groups called packs. Legosi may be part komodo, but he’s mostly wolf. And Legosi is also the avatar, and his spirit is one that innately wants to help people. The other night, he got to help a lot of people - and make a lot of Cherryton really, really happy.”

Legosi scratched at his own head, “Can we please stop talking about my brain? I just want to learn things! I’ve finally talked myself into it! Please don’t talk me out of it!”

Haru gave a salute, “Yes, sir, avatar, sir. Shutting up now.”

Legosi groaned even louder and rubbed his eyes.

…… 

For Legosi? Airbending had been a foreign language. It’d taken a few weeks just to get circle walking, but once he had the fundamentals, a lot of other things fell in line. He was progressing pretty fast with Haru, and working with her was still the bulk of his secret training. He was learning to do more than just push the wind. 

But water? Water was an old friend.

Water was coming back to a part of himself that he’d sealed up and locked away. 

Legosi felt nostalgic and happy about learning from Jack again, like they were puppies again, playing in a pond.

And maybe they also splashed each other a little, allowing themselves to be young and careless for a little while longer.

The work he’d done with Haru helped a lot with his waterbending, too. A lot of waterbending was about shifting your body weight through the motions. Earthbending was solid, hard, immovable. Waterbending and airbending, they had a flow.

They had a whole month of prep time before the next game, against Indre.

Now that Legosi had his metaphorical feet wet? He was actually really excited to pick up some waterbending. 

He’d been putting it off for so long.

And there was just something fun about training with Jack. Waterbending motions were calming. Soothing.

For the first time, in a very long time… Legosi was actually enjoying being the avatar.

……

Voss woke Legosi suddenly out of an afternoon nap. 

The fennec fox jumped on the sleeping wolf’s stomach. He didn’t weigh much, but Voss was definitely digging his heels in, bouncing on him because, “Legosi! It’s Indre! You guys are playing against Indre!! Why didn’t you tell me?! You have to bring me, Legosi! You have to!”

Legosi wheezed - and nearly shot the tiny fox across their bedroom with airbending. He choked instead, “Voss, cut it out! I was sleeping!”

Legosi caught Voss in both huge hands and held the small fox up off of him.

Voss started struggling, but not really trying to escape. “But it’s Indre!! Legosi, it’s Indre!!”

Legosi’s right ear flicked. “What about it? It’s just a port city like Cherryton.”

Voss scoffed, “Legosi, come on! That’s like saying Riz is just an earthbender! Indre’s supposed to be gorgeous! The mountains, the beaches! They’ve got some of the best waves in the country!”

Legosi sat up and put the tiny fox on the floor, “So what’s the problem? Just pack a bag.”

Voss complained, stamping his foot, “But Gon won’t let me come! Only the mid-breed and the large-breed players get to go on away games! The school always says it’s a safety issue, that the rest of us are too small, that we’re too vulnerable!”

Legosi was trying to finish waking himself up, “…Sorry, Voss. I forgot about that…”

The fox grumbled, “But it’s a bullshit reason and you know it! It’s all cause nobody cares about the small-breed league! We’re too small to put on a big show! But I used to be just as strong as you, and you know it!” 

Legosi blinked a few times, like he misheard him. “…But you are a better bender than me.”

Voss scoffed, “Yeah, right! I saw you play Dorpal. I know you’ve gotten way better.”

Legosi tilted his head. “I’m getting confused now. Do you want to come or not?”

Voss huffed, “I do. I just don’t like your fake modesty!”

Legosi gave a small laugh, “I’m not faking anything, Voss. You’re a great earthbender. You always have been. …But I don’t know if I’m comfortable lying to Gon.”

Voss begged, “Legosi, please!! This could be my only chance to go ever!”

The wolf reminded him of the unfortunate truth, “You know I’m not a good liar, Voss…”

The fennec fox looked defeated, groaning in that practically puppyish way.

“But,” Legosi added quietly, “I’m also kind of oblivious … and you weigh like nothing to me. So if my bag happens to be a little heavier when we leave, I probably won’t even notice. And once we’re there, it’s not like Gon can send you home by yourself…”

Earthbender or not, Voss’ tiny tail threatened to wag so fast, he’d fly off the ground.

Chapter Text

Legosi had never actually gone to the other cities for an away game. After all, he’d never been on one of the competing teams before. They left friday right after class, would have their game late on saturday, and then return sunday evening - just in time for classes on monday.

It wasn’t exactly a vacation, but they did have room between traveling and the games to enjoy the coastal city.

They wouldn’t need to take much - which was good, because their game armor would account for the bulk of their luggage.

Indre was on the opposite side of the country. Thankfully, it wasn’t a very large country, all things considered, but all the mountains and rivers did make some travel difficult. Earthbenders had made a good series of roads to get through some of it, so people could travel by cart and carriage. 

Conveniently, one advantage to having a bunch of trained benders meant they didn’t need to pay a company to ferry them from one place to another. Getting to Indre could have been pretty costly otherwise. 

The school had its own carriages and ships. The carriages even had special sails for the airbenders to fill, just like a boat.

Gon thought of it as a training exercise, to build up stamina. If they were going by land, their earthbenders and airbenders could take turns pushing them all along.

But Indre was a port city, like Cherryton.

As such, more of the teams’ benders could take on the duty of sailing them across the sea - and quickly at that. Even Jack and Tao could take a turn. 

So they took two boats. The waterbenders pushed them along the waves, and the airbenders could fill the sails when it was their turn. 

Since they didn’t have to worry about burning the landscape? Even the firebenders (once secured to the back) could take a turn speeding them along.

Bill may have gotten a little too excited for his turn. Legosi nearly fell out of the boat when the tiger started rocketing them forward.

Louis, accelerating the second boat, caught up to Bill and the others with ease. 

Bill tried challenging Louis to a race, and that was a BAD IDEA. Gon had to axe that plan before everyone had to swim the rest of the way.

Legosi found, in short order, that he wasn’t so keen on boat rides. That might have been his inner earthbender talking. He felt so disconnected and weird on the ocean. 

He’d spent so much time trying to figure out the seismic sense in his day-to-day life, and the waves were totally screwing that up. At least he wasn’t the only one feeling off. Mokichi the badger was trying to meditate through it, and a few others were borderline seasick. But Kibi seemed happy about not having to push the cart for once, and napped away most of the ride. If being separated from the ground had any effect on Riz, the smiling bear didn't show it.

There was one point in the ride, when Legosi was lazily looking down into the ocean depths, that he thought he saw something.

He squinted, and the shape moved, and then he definitely saw something because the glowing thing was rushing upwards towards them.

Legosi felt his heart lurch inside his chest as he saw the face - the alien, monstrous, glowing face of a spirit just below them - and he fell backwards in the boat.

The wolf shouted at the others, “There’s something in the water! Something’s in the water!!”

Tao shrieked and sped the boat faster away, making wheels of his arms even as others groaned.

The spirit was already gone by the time Legosi looked below again.

Gon ordered, “Tao, slow down! Relax! Legosi, it’s the ocean. Of course there are things in the water.”

Legosi tried to insist, “No! I’m serious! It wasn’t a person! It was a - a … a dragon-eel spirit!”

Legosi didn’t know that was a thing until right that second; another weird avatar memory. 

Gon said calmly, “Yes, the ocean has spirits, too. I know you had a bad experience with a spirit, but it’s alright. We are all alright. We're on a well-traveled route far away from any sacred waters. It was probably just curious. Just keep us moving, and nothing down there will really care about us up here.”

Legosi wasn’t sure if he believed that. The dragon-eel spirit had been heading straight for them a few seconds ago.

Bill started looming closer to the wolf, “No, Legosi’s got the right idea. We should all be afraid. I hear there are even abominations in these waters, the cursed and afflicted! They’re contagious! They’re going to get you, Legosi. An abomination will slink right up to you, all friendly-like, and -”

A sudden gust of wind knocked Bill off the boat.

The stripey cat started struggling like mad in the water, splashing wildly, spluttering.

Gon complained, “Bill, knock it off! Get back in the boat!”

Bill yelled, “Something touched my leg! Something brushed my leg!!”

Gon groaned even more, and the atmosphere changed quickly as people started laughing instead.

Legosi glanced at Haru, who was looking as innocent as ever. 

Tao and Juno used their waterbending to pick Bill up and put him back in the boat.

Everyone else got right back to the boat ride like nothing was wrong, and Legosi tried to surrender to their ease.

A lot of the students were already talking about what they wanted to do when they got to Indre, their plans for the afternoon, and the day that followed. Most of them were talking about the beautiful beaches, and as much as Legosi had heard about them, he didn’t expect to care.

They came around the southern ridge, the huge mountainous walls, and then … and then he saw it… 

Legosi wasn’t sure if he was even looking at the same country anymore.

The sandy beaches were warm and bright, like there was something radiant about them, something magical. 

Some people made their homes right along the shoreline, most of them wooden, but others had the telltale stonework design of an earthbender.

Just a little further inland, there were forests, and then sharp mountains beyond.

The forests themselves seemed alive, dancing with the wind off of the sea.

Cherryton had a few sandy places, but nothing like this. Cherryton was more like a bay, surrounded by forests. Most of Cherryton’s shoreline was covered in wooden docks, stone and buildings - not a beach. 

They sailed a little further along the shore. Legosi was staring the whole time.

The mountains split apart for one huge river, pouring out into the sea. 

The city of Indre rested on both sides of that river, flanked by the mountains, maybe half a kilometer from the shore. 

Some of the city was on land, but a lot of it was floating on the river itself. Some of it was built on wooden docks, others from stone pulled up from the riverbed by earthbenders.

Most of the trade in the area had to go through Indre, to follow the rivers further inland.

The Cherryton waterbenders were more careful about guiding their boats up to the docks, avoiding traffic. A lot of other boats were about, much bigger than the ones they were using, and Legosi got the feeling that a whole bunch of those boats might have doubled as people’s homes, too.

Gon handled the fees for docking their boats, and for their rooms at an inn. Gon insisted the students all handle their own luggage, and what few clothes they took for the three days they’d be in town. They could leave their uniforms and armor at the inn.

(Oh no, Voss was hiding in Legosi’s bag, who could have seen this coming.)

(Gon was going to have to watch him like a hawk.)

And as soon as bags were down and swim clothes were changed into, the teams were running back towards the beaches, to the soft sands and cool breezes.

Legosi was just a little slower about that, but Jack practically dragged him along with the rest. 

A lot of them jumped into the waves immediately, enjoying the water, the lift and the pull. Legosi found himself laughing along with them, even if the salt stung his eyes a bit.

Legosi started smiling before he even knew it.

Legosi thought that Sheila had a pretty scandalous outfit for swimming, but then Legosi saw Bill . 

Bill dropped his pants. Legosi wasn’t even sure if Bill’s skimpy swimsuit even counted as clothes. It had to be illegal to some clans.

And of course, Bill was like, annoyingly good-looking.

Legosi felt like he was 50% fur without a shirt.

But Riz had to be 75% muscle or something ridiculous like that, so Bill didn’t gloat. The cat just sauntered around, looking sexy.

There was just so much to do there, Indre seemed to have their own little business regarding tourism. People were selling things right on the beach. There were even salesmen offering food and drink, from handheld baskets or under the shade of shacks.

Some of the Indre locals were renting out surfboards. Juno and Tao and even Els got one. Even Bill and Aoba wanted a go. 

The waves were something special. They were way bigger than anything Cherryton had. It was intoxicating to watch them build up and crash on the shore.

Haru somehow didn’t even need a surfboard to get in on the fun. She made a sphere of air, and was somehow riding that through the waves. 

Tao even got an extra long surfboard, so that Kibi could get on the board with him.

Legosi watched with some amusement as Kibi held tightly to Tao’s leg, while Tao deftly maneuvered them through the curling waves with his waterbending.

The other earthbenders, Riz the bear and Mokichi the badger, were making their own game on the shore. There were a lot of families and kids on the beaches, some making tiny sandcastles. So Riz tried it out with his own earthbending. 

His ‘sand castle’ was more of a two-story sand house, hardened earth into a little playground for the kids.

Mokichi got into the fun, and he seemed to have a lot more finesse to his earthbending. He started adding little elements to Riz’s structure, adding features here, trimming parts there, until it really was looking like a two-story castle. The kids were ecstatic.

Legosi joined them for that later, after shaking the water off his fur. Getting hit by the waves was actually pretty draining, physically, so he needed a break anyway. 

He tried to copy the movements the badger was making, but the sand he bent didn’t look the same at all. It wasn’t coming out right. Legosi asked, “Hey, Mokichi?”

“Mmhmm?” the badger smiled while sculpting little sand statues for the kids.

Legosi was curious, “How’d you get so good at sandbending like that? Cherryton barely has any sand around.”

The badger laughed, “It’s not about the sand, Legosi. It’s about your energy.”

The wolf frowned. “I’ve got a lot of energy. It’s just not working right. I can’t bend it like you.”

Mokichi hummed, “You’re probably thinking of it differently than me. Cause whether it’s dirt or stone or sand, bending is only half about your body, you know? Bending is a two-fold process, physical and spiritual. The energy is inside you, and bending puts it out there, in the world. Your limbs help to apply power and strength, but it's your mind that guides the subtlety and specifics.”

Legosi murmured, “Oh… so it’s like waterbending that way.”

Legosi had to concentrate if he wanted to heal someone, or change the state of water.

The badger laughed, “I guess. I haven’t really studied how they do things. …Is that going to be your next trick? Pulling off a water style tomorrow?”

Legosi coughed, lied, “I’m not that good. Haru just taught me some fundamentals…”

Mokichi smirked, “We’re all going to be suspicious of you now, Legosi.”

Legosi grit his teeth. “I’m a normal wolf, I swear.”

Mokichi laughed louder, “Oh, Legosi… we all know you’re nothing of the sort.”

Louis, meanwhile, was angrily training off to one side of the beach. He didn’t seem to care about the sand or the waves. He kept his clothing on, picked up his own little spot away from other people - and then just repeatedly blasted at the waves with huge pulses of flame.

Those attacks were totally illegal in pro-bending - way too huge, way too dangerous - but this wasn’t a game. Louis was just training. And possibly showing off.

Tem sighed loudly to Dom, “Is Louis still mad? The match against Dorpal was a month ago!”

Dom sighed with him, “Yeah, probably. But it’s practically his own fault we lost… His head wasn’t in the game… But, it’s Louis, so… he’ll probably keep being mad until we win or something.”

Haru started rubbing her hands together conspiratorially. “Oh ho ho… I think I know how to change that…”

Haru sneakily ran up to a bunch of the other benders, and in short order, two teams had been prepared and all they needed was Louis.

The red deer was still training, still shooting at the waves.

Haru whistled, “Hey, Louis?~ We’re gonna play some volleyball! With no-rules bending to make it interesting! But we need another player.”

Louis kept punching fire at the ocean. “Not interested!”

Haru toyed with his pride, “But we need you.~ It’s herbivores versus carnivores, and you’re the best!”

Louis shot once more at the next wave, and hesitated. The red deer was grumbling under his breath, “Is this some kind of trick?”

Haru joked, “Oh, totally! But how can you resist the chance to smack Bill in the face?”

Louis’ shoulders tightened. “I hate you.”

Haru teased, “We know.~ Now come play!”

Louis stomped his way over to the volleyball field, eager to inflict some violence on his least favorite carnivore.

…… 

Haru had tried to get Legosi in the game, which Legosi thought was laughable. Jack, too, chose life. Louis could kill someone else. 

Even Riz turned it down. The bear didn’t want to get engaged in something like an herbivore / carnivore pissing contest.

Dom, Tem and Haru were on Louis’ side.

Bill was the only one actually excited for a carnivore victory. Aoba and Juno joined for more altruistic reasons, since Louis could probably use the confidence booster.

Bill, thankfully, put his pants back on.

No, the only other carnivore willing … was Voss.

Bill actually complained, “Are you serious?! He’s in the mini league! He can’t keep up with us!”

Voss proceeded to stamp on the ground, move his little arms, and in seconds, enough sand was dragged upwards around him into a bear-sized golem. Only Voss’ tiny face was visible from the golem’s head - and now staring the tiger down.

Bill gulped. “Please don’t kill me. I’m an idiot, I swear.”

Even at a distance, Legosi could hear the maniacal cackling that slipped forth from the tiny fox.

The game was a huge, explosive mess - people on both sides using the four elements to jump high, smash the ball hard down, or smacking it back upwards.

Legosi was vaguely interested in watching. He absolutely did not want to play in it at all, but it was a fun opportunity to see some more techniques.

Louis could pull off this one trick, firebending straight down with his feet, and it blasted him upwards so he could spike the ball. Louis didn’t seem to go too far with it, but Legosi had only ever seen airbenders do something like that. 

Juno and Dom both took water from the ocean, and bent it around their arms like they had liquid tentacles, to snatch the ball at long range, and serve it back up. 

It wasn’t the first time Legosi had seen the fox’s golem, but Legosi still thought it was so cool the way Voss could control it with that much finesse. And he could move so fast! He could even stretch out the sandy arms, like the waterbenders, to save a ball and serve it up for Bill’s explosive strike.

It made Legosi think of Mokichi, and what he’d said before: about the body and the mind both being involved in bending. 

Legosi had been bending earth for so long, the only time he actually had to concentrate on his bending was when he was training with Jack.

Legosi glanced at the sea again. 

Tao and Kibi were still surfing along the waves. Jack was taking a break though, lying along the beach, enjoying the warmth and the air for a moment.

Legosi wondered, if he went far enough into the ocean … could he sneak in some waterbending? The waves were so different here, so big, and so broad. They were … tempting.

The wolf stretched his limbs a little, and debated it inside. 

It would be a risk … but how often would he get the chance to experience waves like this?

Legosi trudged slowly towards the edge of the water.

He got his feet wet … and the water drew back.

Legosi took a few more steps out, into the water again.

But the water was still going back out to sea.

Legosi frowned. He was most definitely not bending that.

But he looked around, and it wasn’t just him. The water was pulling back out far, like the tide was changing, faster than he’d ever seen. The sea flowed back, rushed back, leaving seaweed stranded on damp sand. 

Tao bent some water underneath his surfboard, to bring Kibi and himself closer to everyone else. 

A few other surfers were doing the same. One abandoned his board outright, and a lot of people were just looking out as the waves receded further, and further, and -

Legosi remembered something.

Legosi remembered something all at once, from another avatar, who had seen the same thing and they weren’t old enough to stop it then or the disaster that followed and all the fur on his body felt how it was Wrong.

Legosi yelled, loud as possible, louder than he ever had, like the air just exploded from his throat, “TSUNAMI!!”

Legosi shoved his arms forward, his whole body forward, hard as he could, earthbending as much sand as he could into a section of wall - meters high, as wide as he could make it. 

Other people were yelling it now, yelling and running. Several people screamed, families grabbing children and belongings, running away even as the call went up.

Riz ran forward, not back. He put his whole body behind huge swings of arms, to make the ground burst up in another section of the wall, connected to Legosi’s, several meters long.

Kibi copied them, so did Mokichi and Voss, so did two local earthbenders, trying to shore up some kind of defense, all of them trying to harden sand and yank up rock.

Gon yelled orders, “Aoba, warn the town!! Sheila, get the north!! Tem, the south!!

The eagle spread his wings, and shot away from the beach faster than any creature of land.

The other two ran, a burst of sand in their wake as they raced to alert all those homes that lived on the shore. 

Legosi kept working to make the wall longer, make another section of wall, then another, but the beach spread so far, and further inland, the river split the town in half.

Juno, Jack and Tao, Legom, Els and Dom, all the waterbenders ran to the huge river - the locals and the Cherryton folk. They tried to dam the mouth of it with ice, if that was even possible. 

Dom flew across its surface, freezing a path underneath him. The other waterbenders skated across, bending the ice down to the river bottom and further up into a barrier, meters high. The river kept flowing, more water for them to ice - a desperate plan. 

Kibi ran after Tao, to connect the earth wall to the ice wall.

On the other side of the river, more earthbenders were trying to do their part. Riz and Voss ran to help them, and Voss used his sand golem to throw Riz up on top of the ice barrier. They sprinted across it like a bridge. 

Bill, Kai, Sanu, Louis and Gon, they were trying to evacuate people. 

Haru and Mokichi were a huge distance apart but had an idea at almost the same time, their one close hope: the stone houses, built by earthbenders, near the shore. 

Mokichi bent sand up into a solid staircase, to one roof, and yelled at people to get up high. 

Haru used her airbending to lift others up on top of another house. Old people, children, small animals, anyone who couldn’t run fast enough. Haru was throwing whoever she could. 

No time. 

They had no time. 

Not enough time, they had patchwork defenses, they’d have seconds before the first swell hit, Legosi could hear the rush of water even that far out, and a sound, a sound like death gasping for breath. 

A sound that shook the blood in his veins. Closer. The rumble was getting closer, so close.

Legosi kept shoving up walls, kept running, kept trying to connect them, to make something, accomplish something. How far back were the mountains? Too far. 

Aoba flew by, yelling as loud as he could to all the earthbenders, “Get out! Get out, everyone, it’s too big! It’s too big, you can’t stop it!!”

Legosi looked back at the city nestled between the mountains.

The city on the river.

On the water.

The people there were trying to make ice walls. The people there were trying to drag mountain stone to the ice, to form a solid barrier.

Old memories were getting sharper, louder, agonizing in the screams, the ghosts of shredded buildings and still bodies. Legosi felt like he was being strangled by the guilt of a past life. 

He couldn’t do anything - that time. The avatar wasn’t old enough.

Legosi looked back at the earth wall they had made, its patchy structure, the cracks still unfilled, and the water was getting louder and louder and there was just no time.

Legosi felt it all the way down, deep into his spirit, that the approaching, roaring wave would not be stopped.

Legosi the earthbender couldn’t do it.

Legosi the earthbender could not stop a tsunami, no animal could, and his only options were to run or die.

Legosi swallowed all the bitterness and defeat, the agony of distant memories and imminent death, and he ran. 

Legosi ran with the others, with all the desperate defenders, trying to drag up a wall after him, to buy them another second, trying to race for one of the earthen homes, because they couldn’t finish the walls, couldn’t buy the town any more time but they could stay alive, if they got up on top, they could hold on. 

A flock of birds was flying up from the town, hurrying to help those on the shore. 

Legosi couldn’t even see Sheila and Tem, if they were still trying to warn anyone else in those beachfront homes, to save whoever they could. 

But he saw a red deer. 

He saw a red deer, far away, running towards the ocean. 

Legosi kept running, and squinted as Louis the red deer ran along their earthen wall.

Legosi kept running as Louis dragged some of his flames along the cracks, searing it, frying parts together, but there wasn’t enough rock for that. He couldn’t do that for the ice, and the gaps between - they couldn’t wall off kilometers of beachfront - Louis couldn’t do something about that, he was just a firebender.

Aoba was trying to follow Louis, screaming at him about suicide, but every time Aoba tried to grab him with his clawed feet, the red deer made a burst of fire, keeping him back.

The first swell hit. 

Water smashed and surged around the edges, through the gaps, a sudden flood, chasing them all down.

Legosi snatched up a raccoon that was racing for safety, carried them under one arm and kept running. 

Legosi stomped hard at the last second, for a pillar of earth to rise up underneath him and throw them the final distance to the stone building. The surge swept underneath. 

An orangutan on the roof grabbed Legosi’s hand in midair, helped pull the wolf and raccoon up, and Legosi looked at all the other animals clinging together on the roof, the ones who couldn’t run fast enough, could only hope they were high enough. The raccoon ran to cling to a friend, and Legosi looked outwards again, worried and confused because Louis wasn’t getting to safety.

Louis blasted himself through the air, rocketing fast and far to the biggest gap in the wall - where water punched a hole through a weak section.

Louis crashed down so hard, feet first, his legs buried halfway in the sand, burned into it for support, waist high in water, and he shoved both arms toward the sea to unleash more fire, more flames, than Legosi had ever thought possible. 

There was a flash of light, like Louis was holding a star in his hands, and all that energy was unleashed, a solid cone of burning wrath.

It was so big it sounded like an earthquake. It roared back in challenge against the second swell, a crashing wave. Even this far away, it was so bright it hurt Legosi’s eyes, and Louis focused all that energy towards the gap, as if he could somehow vaporize an oceanic onslaught all on his own.

A final, defiant scream in the face of oblivion.

Suicide. It was still suicide.

Aoba couldn’t even stay close, the heat was unbearable.

Aoba sped away, to help someone else caught in the flood. 

The final terror, Legosi saw the edge of another swell break over the wall - too high, too much, the wall wasn’t big enough, it only slowed it down. The ocean would not be denied.

The water was too strong, spreading through sandy gaps, hasty walls were crumbling, holes were buckling, earth was crashing, becoming an avalanche headed toward the distant town. Louis was stuck in the water that threatened to swallow him up from the sides and he was going to die.

He was going to die.

Louis was going to die.

Louis, the red deer.

He couldn’t -

He can’t -

Legosi reached for all the other parts of himself that he buried, and he screamed inside his head, {Save him!}

{They will see.}

The others on the roof were huddled and screaming, the raccoon was shivering with his friend, the orangutan was trying to hold them all, and Legosi commanded his body to move, to reach down as deep as he could, earthbending, whole body flexing, and he raised the stone house upwards on another two meters of ground. 

Riz and Voss were doing the same for another house, so did Kibi and Mokichi, trying to protect all the desperate stuck on those roofs. 

Seconds to spare, raging water crashed underneath them, passed around their brand new islands.

Haru made a swirling barrier out of air for another house, Gon made one of blue fire, for however long they could hold it against the flood. Sanu, Dom and Aoba, and birds of all kind, they were flying to help them.

Legosi looked over it all, to that lone red deer, trying to burn away the biggest part of the swell. 

Louis’ cone of fire was shrinking, losing, the ocean was too much, water was breaking all the gaps wider, it was smashing him from the sides, he was nearly submerged.

Legosi couldn’t breathe. He felt the drowning.

Legosi’s mental voice insisted, {I don’t care anymore!! We can’t let him die!!}

Legosi ran. 

Legosi ran to the edge of the roof, the orangutan was too slow to catch him, and then Legosi jumped off towards Louis, as far as he could, farther than he ever had.  

Legosi landed in the water. He was smashed in its flow, twisted and turned till he didn’t know which way was up, all murk and darkness.

But he dragged out that piece of him that was a waterbender, thrashed at the churning waters around him, and a new surge launched him even faster beneath the raging surface.

Louis’ flame died.

*

The ocean could not be denied.

It surged forward, it drowned down upon the red deer, under the crushing pressure and darkness and death - and then two shining eyes, burning like blue stars, broke through the deep. 

Through the raging salt and surf, Louis couldn’t make out the approaching shape - just a person, just those eyes, those eyes flooding with bright blue light and energy and everything just stopped.

The dark water just stopped.

It didn’t freeze, it just held, immobile.

No surge, no fury, no tidal wave, just complete stillness and through the murk, Louis saw the creature with glowing eyes moving, twisting, arms and legs pushing back in some kind of impossible, underwater fight, and the waves, the whole surge, the tsunami pulled backwards, pulled away, like time was flowing in reverse. 

It started slow and then it sped up as water was being put back in its place and Louis thought he still might drown but the blue-eyed beast was there with him and murky water bent away from Louis, replaced with good air. The earth rose up around them like a hungry maw, and suddenly there was no more light.

Louis was surrounded by earth and dark and air. He couldn’t see anything. But inside that dome of earth, he could breathe. Safe. 

Cocooned.

Chapter Text

Breathing … hurt.

Louis was choking out water, gasping for air. He would have fallen, but a pair of big hands were helping him in the dark. Someone strong was helping get Louis’ legs out of the ground, and helping Louis lay down.

His whole body felt bruised, crushed, everything hurt and dead and somehow Louis was alive and he didn’t understand what just happened.

Shining light from blue eyes… Had it been a spirit?

Louis didn’t see what happened to them.

Someone else was panting in the pitch black, and they managed to ask Louis, “Are you okay?”

Louis recognized that voice. He flinched back in the dark, holding flames up in his hand.

Legosi pulled back, but the wolf looked scared, too - not a predator, a frightened puppy.

A giant, wet, soaked puppy, in bathing shorts.

Louis barely even had the energy to scowl, “What happened?”

Legosi was still breathing heavily. “It was a tsunami. Something happens out in the ocean, and sends huge waves onto land. It floods and breaks everything.”

Louis snapped, “I’ve read about tsunamis! What happened in the water??”

The wolf swallowed hard. He was stammering, “I don’t, dont know. I saw you ran back out. I tried to follow. I, I, I dug underneath you. I made a dome over you.”

The red deer was still glaring, and he held his fire closer to the wolf. “Show me your eyes.”

Legosi flinched, “My eyes?”

Louis insisted, got even closer with his flames. “Yes, your eyes! Show me your eyes!”

The wolf held very still, and blinked rapidly. Louis made very intense flames.

Louis loomed in, uncomfortably close, but he didn’t see whatever he was looking for. Louis huffed and leaned back, “Forget it. Did you see anyone else in the water?”

Legosi slowly shook his head. “N-no. Yes. Maybe. It was dark. I, I barely found you. …Did - did you see someone?”

Louis wheezed softly, “I don’t know. I thought I did.”

It was quiet then, their small silence broken only by Legosi’s panting, Louis’ wheezing, and the dying crackle of flame in Louis’ palm. It was getting smaller by the second.

Louis complained, “Can you tell if we’re still underwater? I almost drowned; I don’t want to die gasping.”

Legosi replied, “Y-yes. Sorry.”

He was just about to check when sunlight peered through a big crack in the dome. 

Mokichi the badger was on the other side, prying the dome of earth open. 

Mokichi shouted to other people, “I found him! Legosi’s with him, too!”

Legosi actually smiled, “Oh, thank the spirits…”

Mokichi bent the rest of the dome away from them, returning them to the late light of the afternoon. Riz and Jack came running towards them.

Jack was ready to start healing immediately, hands aglow with water and energy. “Are you hurt?? Where are you hurt??”

Legosi was still breathing heavily, but he insisted, “I’m okay. Louis’s not. He’s all messed up.”

Jack tried to approach, only for Louis to lash out at him with weak cinders. 

“Back off!” Louis yelled, barely enough energy to even roll over but he still was trying to get away, “No carnivores! No fucking carnivores!”

Louis tried to say something else, but couldn’t finish his sentence. His body finally gave in, used up the last shred of energy on that fire. He winced, wheezed, and passed out on the ground. 

Jack promptly began treating him anyway. Juno was close behind. She wasn’t a trained medic, but knew enough to assist Jack.  

Legosi tried to stand up slowly, but he wasn’t running on adrenaline anymore. His limbs were weak and wobbly now. Riz helped steady him. 

Legosi looked around at the world, at the devastated shoreline. Most of the beachfront homes were just gone, wiped away. Debris was everywhere, some of it washing back from the sea with the now-normal waves. Some of the forests got hit hard, too.

Some parts of the earthen walls were still standing, but a lot of them were reduced to boulders, left as chunks here or there. 

Even the stone homes were barely standing. The first or second floors had all been flooded through. Other rescuers were still helping people get down from those roofs. Some people brought their boats closer downriver, to help ferry people back into Indre. 

The wolf suddenly panicked, and looked at the city. Legosi asked, “The town! Is the town - is the town okay?”

Riz pointed in the direction of the now-walled city, “I think they got a little wet, but … they’re fine. We’re all fine. The tsunami just … stopped.”

Legosi frowned. “It stopped? What do you mean ‘stopped’?”

Riz scratched at the wet fluff on his chest. “I don’t know how to explain it. A little after Louis went under, the tsunami just … pulled back.”

Legosi swallowed hard. “Was it … waterbenders? Did sea creatures help?”

Riz winced, “I’m the last person who would know about that. I couldn’t see anything going on under the water. People are still searching all across shore, and out to sea. A lot of people are going to be sleeping in town with their clans tonight, but it could have been a lot worse. …What did you do anyway? Burrow underneath him?”

Legosi grimaced. “Yeah. That.”

Legosi looked at the city again, with its rushed defense of ice and earth. Legosi murmured, “Hey, Riz?” 

“Yeah?”

“I’m going to fall now.”

The big bear laughed as he grabbed the wolf’s body, “I got you, dude.”

…… 

We stopped it.

That thought kept playing through Legosi’s mind. Legosi didn’t think it was even possible. Legosi hadn’t heard of a bender doing anything like that, couldn’t have hoped the avatar state could accomplish that much.

He thought, with the avatar state, he might be able to bend enough water to save Louis from drowning… but the avatar state stretched through his skin again, caught the tsunami, and sent it back out to sea before it could erase Indre and every life that called it home. 

The avatar state … hadn’t felt that terrible, this time. Not like when he fought Dolph. 

Jack ended up healing Legosi anyway. The wolf wasn’t too injured by the flood, comparatively, but like Louis, Legosi was just empty. He didn’t have anything left, no energy, physically or spiritually. Jack gave him enough for Legosi to get back to town.

One of the local waterbenders was kind enough to give Legosi a ride back on their boat, along with several other victims of the tsunami.

At the inn, the room he shared with the others was empty. Most of the Cherryton teams were still out there, searching for anyone trapped or lost or in need of medical assistance. 

Aoba helped Gon do a headcount. They made sure all the students were accounted for, including Voss. Sheila and Tem had both run really far, but Sanu and Aoba found them with other survivors on the shoreline. 

A lot of people owed their lives to Sheila and Tem - because they were in the right place at the right time, because they ran so fast.

Legosi wanted to sleep for days. He drew the curtains, even though the sun would be going down soon, and he let the darkness settle around him for rest.

He managed a few hours. 

And then Voss was actually jumping on him again and yelling, “It was the avatar! The avatar! It was the fucking avatar!!”

Legosi wheezed and pushed the tiny canid off because, “I’m not the avatar, I’m not!!”

Voss actually laughed, “Not you, moron!! The one who stopped the tsunami!!”

The wolf looked even more confused. “What are you talking about? Riz, Riz said he didn’t see anything.”

The fox scoffed, “It’s not about Riz, it’s about the sages! The word is already going out around the world! The temples lit up! The statues of the avatars, all over! Maybe all of them! There was some kind of huge spike of spiritual power! It was right around the time of the tsunami, when it turned back!!”

Legosi’s ears were drooping. “What does that mean? What’s happening?”

Voss pushed at the wolf, “It means they’re here! The avatar is here! In this city! Alive! The city already sent a message back to the nearest temples, and more sages are on their way! The sages are going to check all of Clan Squamata here, and Clan Artio, too, just in case!”

Legosi still breathed a bit heavily. 

Voss was honestly shocked, “How are you not excited about this!? This is probably the biggest news of our generation! The avatar isn’t going to stay lost!!”

Legosi grimaced, “Sorry, Voss. I’m still really tired.”

Voss sighed dramatically, “Fine!~ Go back to sleep. I bet Jack will want to hear the news. …Fuck! You might be alive because of the avatar!! How cool is that??”

Legosi forced a smile, “It’s great, Voss. Cool. Very … cool.”

The fennec fox ran to tell more people, and Legosi stared up at the ceiling again.

He wanted the dark to swallow him up.

……  

Legosi was paralyzed with indecision.

The curtains were still drawn, the door still shut. 

He was still on his back, staring up at the black ceiling, trying to come up with some kind of strategy to handle this, but every option felt terrible.

Skip town? Probably just confirm things at the worst. At the best, everyone in Cherryton would hate him for leaving B team out to dry.

Play in the game? In what way? He could be a good earthbender, but that wasn’t enough last time, and what if he needed to use Haru’s style again? He was already scraping by last time with Haru lying for him, but if he did it tomorrow? People would put 2 and 2 together.

Or he could play and not use Haru’s style, which could cost them the game, and piss off Cherryton for holding back and losing. Probably everyone in Cherryton would know he held back, too.

Maybe if he only looked like he was trying his hardest, he could chalk up his success before as a fluke.

And he’d love to run and hide, but they won’t find an avatar from Clan Squamata here, and if they look elsewhere? If people start checking the whole clan again, all over the world?

If they go to Gosha’s home … if they pay just a little too much attention…?

Legosi rolled over in bed, and wondered if any past avatars knew how to turn back time.

He risked it all for Louis, and he didn’t even know why.

In the back of his mind, a woman’s voice reminded him, {Because he would have died.}  

Legosi thought back, {And Louis would have been happy if I died instead.}

The voice corrected, {There have been and will always be people who wish harm upon the avatar. It is not our duty to fix that. It is our duty to help the world.}

{Did we?} Legosi asked outright. {Did we actually help anything? We stopped a flood, and now we’re even closer to starting a war.}

She replied, {Several thousand lives say yes.}

Legosi sat up in bed. {Excuse me?}

The voice explained, {In my time, Indre had a population numbering tens of thousands, and they hailed from many different clans. I do not think that would change in only twenty years. Some might have gotten to higher ground fast enough to survive. In all likelihood, many would have been caught in the flood and perished. Through you, and many others, that fate was avoided.}

Legosi was confused. He questioned, {…In ‘your time’? Are you not the avatar spirit?}

The voice laughed musically, {We are both the avatar spirit. But you have shut me out for so long. You were not willing to hear me before. …Did you not think I had a name?}

Legosi blinked a few times, looking around the dark room. 

He tried to stand up from the bed - but as he did, the room around him changed in a rush of clouds, surrounding him, like a sudden fog bank.

The clouds hung around the edges of the room.

There were no windows anymore.

There wasn’t even a door.

Candles were popping into existence all around, lighting themselves.

Legosi looked at the different room, and he wasn’t alone anymore.

A vague blue energy had taken ghostly form: a spectral figure sitting on the other bed. She was a smaller animal, a fruit bat, in a big bundle of blue robes. She was smiling broadly. 

She glowed like a spirit, another light in the dark.

This was … new.

Legosi didn’t recognize this. Or her.

She spoke with the voice from his mind, but he could actually see her now. She said, “It is good to see you, Legosi. Take a breath. Talk with me. You are safe here, I promise.”

Legosi looked at her weakly, self-conscious, embarrassed. His ears were still low. He muttered, “To be honest … I just thought you were … ‘it.’ Whatever ‘it’ was. ‘The avatar spirit.’ …I’m sorry. That sounds rude, now that I think about it.”

The fruit bat looked at him with ease and understanding. She said, “You need not concern yourself. I have heard much worse.”

Legosi felt bad about it anyway. “ …Can I - I’d like to know your name, if you don’t mind?”

The bat smiled, “You already know it.” Then she gave a slight bow in her robes. “My name is Jakhara, the flying fox of Clan Chiroptera. I was the avatar before you.”

Legosi tried to look away from her then, as if suddenly ashamed. He mumbled, “I imagine I’m not the avatar you were expecting…”

Jakhara sounded playful, “Because you are a wolf, a hybrid, or a bending fanboy?”

Legosi didn’t know how to answer that.

Jakhara smirked, “I was not the avatar I expected me to be, so I can hardly expect you to fit my expectations. …I don’t think any avatar has had a good idea of who or what they are. Perhaps it comes with the territory, with growing up in a world where you are expected to be a hero. You hold such standards - such very high standards for yourself, considering that you are … still a very young man.”

Legosi breathed wearily, “And there have been avatars who have mastered all four elements by now, stopped clan wars, banished evil spirits.”

Jakhara just asked, “Is there a clan war right now?”

Legosi scoffed, “There hasn’t been one for 50 years - since your time. You stopped the last ones.”

She wondered, “And have you seen many evil spirits about? Terrorizing the cities? Haunting the woods?”

Legosi grumbled, “Not that I’ve heard about. Why?”

Jakhara pointed out, “Then there is no war to stop, no spirit to calm, no need for you to be a warrior.”

The wolf frowned and looked at her again. “But that’s the whole thing: being the avatar, that’s what it means. I’m supposed to spend my life fighting bad stuff.”

The fruit bat started looking around the dark room, “Does it? Really? Is there a sign for that somewhere?”

Legosi fussed with his hands and complained, “Are you trying to be confusing, or are you going somewhere with this? Because I’m already upset and confused. You’re not making this any easier!”

Jakhara giggled to herself, “It’s not my job to make it easier! I’m dead! But my identity is strongest in you because I was the last avatar.”

Legosi started pacing and growling to himself. Or at her. He wasn’t sure which.

The small fruit bat did not flap her wings so much as float along, ghost-like, in front of him. She asked him, “Do you have flesh?”

The wolf frowned, “Yes?”

“Does it bruise?” she asked. 

Legosi snapped, “You know it does!”

She asked more insistently, “And you must eat, and drink, attend school, fall in love. You do these things, too, yes?”

Legosi tried to wave his arms through her, make her go away, “Yes! Yes, double yes! I’m hungry a lot, I’m terrible in class, I don’t even know what kind of person I like! I can’t think about dating anyone! No one can get that close to me! Can you please stop talking, or start making sense??”

Jakhara stated calmly, “I would not be here if you did not want to hear me. It is you who opened the door. It is almost funny: for someone so resistant to being the avatar, you connect with your past lives with great ease. Or, perhaps this is a consequence of trying so hard to repress yourself. But, Legosi … you are not just the avatar. You are not some spirit. You are an animal. You are a wolf. You are a hybrid descending from both Clan Squamata and Clan Canida. You are all these things. To be the avatar does not mean you are cut off from them…”

“…They are all parts of you. Ten years from now, you will still be these things. They will be part of your strength, all of them. And when you pass on, your life will support the next. And the next. And the next after that. Your life will support the great whole in a way that only you can. The avatar will rise to the occasion, whatever happens; they must, and they will. It is our nature. And when there is need, your experiences will also help the avatars in the future. You will guide them yourself. That is not because you were born with power. It will be because you lived, and walked the journey that only you can…”

“…And whatever happens to you after today? It will still be your life. You want to be you, and you want to be the avatar, and you think to have one you must give up the other? This is not true, Legosi.”

The wolf muttered, “But I can’t be me. The clan wars … and my grandfather… What if -” 

The bat mused, “What if the ocean dried? What if a hurricane wracked the farmlands? What if fire consumed the forests, and stars fell from the night sky? ‘What if’ is a very dangerous sentiment, Legosi. You can imagine many dangers that might never come to pass.”

Legosi grit his teeth, “I’m not imagining anything! It will happen! The clans barely tolerate each other, and every year it feels like we’re one step closer to war! I don’t want to be the spark that gets people killed!!”

Jakhara spoke softer, “You are sensitive. I apologize. I am not saying you need run to the sages, to reveal your heritage, to accept whatever calamity may occur. It is good that you are being smart, and there is wisdom in your caution. But people have always found reasons for war. What I am saying … is that you, right now … need to be you…” 

Legosi insisted weakly, “I don’t get to be me. I don’t ever get to be me. I have to be something else.”

Jakhara corrected him, “You can only be you, Legosi. Right now, this is your life: not the life of an ancient spirit, but the life of a man. Enjoy your time as a young man, for as long as you can. The years will pass much faster than you think. So allow yourself … to just be who you are, right now. You will be called to fulfill your duty soon enough. But tonight … you are in a nice city, that still stands because of you - because you chose to jump in that water. Let yourself be happy, Legosi. You do not need to stop disaster to be worthy of living your own life. Go live it.”

Legosi was still struggling to process all that. “I don’t know how.”

Jakhara hummed, “Avatar Melati was fond of music. She formed an orchestra, and could play a dozen instruments. Avatar Bob was a botanist. Oh, you should have seen his garden! It was huge.”

The wolf’s brows tightened. “Avatar … Bob?”

The bat just smiled broader, “We’re people, Legosi. Not all of us were born with a fancy name. Bob was quite fond of his very normal name and didn’t want to change it. But, you were asking about living. Personally, I would start with food. Try the durians. They smell weird but taste nice.”

Legosi actually laughed once, quick and soft. “They smell weird?”

The bat insisted, “So weird! Sometimes it’s terrible. Oh! A noxious smell, yes. You can smell it far away. But then you eat a bit, and you find it tastes good anyway.”

Legosi started rubbing his forehead. “Is that supposed to be a metaphor?”

Jakhara teased, “No, it’s supposed to be dinner! I’m sure you have to be hungry after today, and here you are, all cooped up in a bedroom, wasting away. It’s amazing you aren’t skin and bones. Go outside, and eat! You’ll feel better, I’m sure.”

Legosi gave her a very weak smile. 

Then he asked her, “Will I be able to talk to you again?”

The floating fruit bat smiled optimistically. “I certainly hope so. You are the only one who can keep me away. We share the same soul, you and I and the many before us. And whatever happens tomorrow … we will always be here when you are in danger.”

Legosi swallowed a painful knot in his throat. “…Thank you for talking to me, Jakhara…”

The image of the fruit bat started drifting away. “Thank you for listening to me, Avatar Legosi.”

……

Clouds swirled around him once more, then vanished, and when Legosi opened his eyes, he was getting up from the bed again.

He was back in the inn. Or he never left.

That didn’t feel like a dream. He remembered it all. 

And he remembered … his stomach.

Legosi gradually summoned his strength to leave the room. He walked down through the mostly-silent inn (just a few older men drinking beer in the main hall), and then finally went outside. 

The sun had already fallen, but the city was still lit up with torches and bonfires. No one wanted to go to sleep. Everyone wanted to talk. 

Legosi started walking the streets. Jakhara hadn’t told him to do that expressly, but … he felt like he should look. 

It’d only been a few hours and things already looked … relatively normal?

Not normal for Cherryton, but normal for Indre, in the small time he had witnessed it. There was a strange atmosphere now, a swelling relief after terror, replaced entirely with excitement. 

It sounded like everyone was talking about the avatar, whoever it might be. 

He was already hearing theories, about this or that reptile, hearing all sorts of names. Some people were thinking about the reptiles that lived on the coast, or maybe one of those species that spent more time in the ocean. 

But most of them were talking about the red deer. 

When everyone was running away, that lone red deer had run to the ocean - and burned a fire unheard of. 

And then the ocean overcame him, and the ocean stopped, and the tsunami was pushed right back out to sea. 

Some of them even knew Louis’ name. They must have heard it from the other Cherryton visitors. They didn’t seem to know Louis was too old though. 

Legosi was pleased not to correct them. 

He was also pleased to try some of the local food. 

Like, a lot of food. 

So much. 

Jakhara was right about being hungry. He was starving after everything earlier that day. Throwing around a tsunami kind of takes it out of you. He just couldn’t get himself out the door. 

He’d saved up what little cash he had for this trip. 

He found a nice restaurant with tables and chairs out under the night sky. He was in the middle of a great soup when he heard a gasping shriek, nearly making him jump out of his seat.

Legosi fearfully looked all over, and noticed a raccoon running straight for him.

It was the raccoon from the shore. 

Legosi stood up right before the raccoon grabbed him in a surprise hug around the waist.

The raccoon’s voice was nearly cracking, “It’s you! It’s you, it’s you! I thought you died! You jumped in the water; I saw you die!”

Legosi grit his teeth, all the more self-conscious now that more of the diners were looking at him. Legosi tried to insist, “I’m, I’m fine. I was always fine.”

The raccoon stopped hugging for a moment, but held tight to Legosi’s wrist. He declared to some of the others there, “He saved me! He saved me and Johnny and Chiyo and Maurice and Tabitha, and, and lots more! He grabbed me and then he raised Maurice’s home, all by himself! It was incredible! And he jumped back in the water to help more!”

Legosi felt his nerves heating up before the raccoon was even done talking. The wolf was trying not to look at the others around the restaurant. His ears drooped, and he used his free hand to scratch at the back of his neck.

A few people started clapping, cheering, and another pair came over to clap his back and shake his hand.

Legosi still looked terribly uncomfortable. His tail did wag though, just a little. 

The raccoon looked at Legosi, excitement now weathered by confusion. “I thought you died! You should have died! I never saw you come back up!”

The wolf tried to use his earlier lie, “I just … dug underground?” 

The raccoon was still looking up at him in relief and awe. Then he reached inside his own shirt, and took an amulet off of his neck. He held it out, “I can’t repay you. I don’t have much of anything right now. But I was going to leave this at the temple for your spirit.”

The raccoon held it out, and when Legosi hesitated, the raccoon took his wrist again and placed it into the wolf’s hand. It was a small nautilus shell: the spiral shape was a warm, inviting cream color. The smooth interior caught the light, and the shell’s glossy inner surface danced with the colors of the rainbow. 

‘Mother of pearl,’ he suddenly recalled. 

The raccoon looked so happy to give it to a living person, not a ghost, and explained, “It’s a charm. It’s supposed to help your spirit find its way.”

Legosi’s tail started wagging a bit more. He meekly admitted, “I could use some help with that…”

The raccoon looked even more excited, shook the wolf’s hand again, then said, “I’ve got to tell the others! They’ll be so happy! Stay here! They’ll want to see you, too!”

The raccoon took off like a shot, running to get them.

He was so excited, he forgot to ask Legosi’s name.

Legosi glanced down at the amulet again, with its shiny, spiral interior. 

He looped the cord around his neck, let it hang against his chest, and sat back down to his soup. If he ate fast, maybe he could finish it before the others showed up.

Legosi frowned as he noticed someone else had left money right in front of his bowl. It was enough to pay for his soup and then some. He glanced around again, but whoever left it wasn’t saying anything.

Legosi held the amulet once, sighed, and then took another spoonful of his soup.

Legosi’s tail was still slowly wagging when Haru came bounding across the rooftops with her airbending. 

She was all smiles and glee as she bounced over, “Legosi! Are you ready for some great news?”

Legosi slurped down his mouthful of soup. He sighed, “Please. Please give me some good news.”

Haru grinned. “They’re going to put off the games for another two weeks. Since we were all at the beach trying to stop the tsunami, Gon argued it wouldn’t be fair to the players. Louis especially is going to need a few days to recover.”

Legosi frowned. “And that worked?”

Haru laughed, “Well, it helps that they think Louis is the avatar! They want to see him at his best!”

Chapter Text

It was a good news / bad news situation. 

No games meant no pressure. Legosi didn’t have to worry about faking or failing this weekend. He could focus on food, maybe even spend more time on the beach. 

Cause, what are the chances of two tsunamis in a row?

Even one was astronomical, a danger of legend alone…

But the bad news was that the sages were on the move. A place like Indre would have had several sages living in a local temple, with more temples across the county. 

By the time Legosi woke up the next day, there were already a dozen sages walking the streets, and even more were en route. People were even crossing the sea for it, showing up in boats and balloons. 

Some airbender avians were arriving from even further corners of the world, messengers. They wanted to be there to hear the news, to be the first ones to tell their people back home.

‘They found the avatar.’

Instead of preparing a stadium for pro-bending, the stadium was readied for mass testing of potential avatars. 

The sages had a whole series of methods and objects that were supposed to be familiar, or detect the avatar, somehow. Legosi never quite understood how those spiritual shenanigans worked - he’d always just stayed far, far away, just in case. 

Legosi knew he could bend water so long ago with Jack, when he was six. Most avatars were found before they were even eight or nine (though they usually don’t get told till they’re older). 

When Legosi was ten, and the sages were still looking the world over? People started getting nervous. 

When Legosi was twelve, and the avatar was still nowhere to be found? People started panicking.

That was around the time his mom went missing, and Gosha thought it best for Legosi to stay at Cherryton’s boarding school.

Now everyone was excited and hopeful, like today would answer all their prayers, soothe all their fears. 

Legosi tried to act natural in the streets - which of course meant acting like a nervous mess and then going into the ocean to scream underwater. 

He accidentally spooked a fish. 

And of course, because everyone wanted to find the avatar, Legosi couldn’t just stay away from the stadium. He had to go. Everyone was going. 

Gon had told Legosi and the rest of the Cherryton teams that they had to stay, despite having no games to play. Louis, Els and Tem were from Clan Artio, they needed to be tested - and the stories about Louis just kept enlarging the more Legosi heard them. 

Some people were saying that Louis did it all himself, put up those rock walls and ice barriers, too.

Jack and Haru gave Legosi the greatest kindness in being his emotional support buddies. Jack even used a bit of waterbending, to help slow down his heart and breathing, so Legosi wasn’t panicking so much. 

Special sections of the stadium were prepared for all the local members of Clan Squamata and Clan Artio, and so many people were milling about, chattering in excitement. 

Some of the locals were even cheering for certain names, Indre benders of reputed talent. 

The sages were using different techniques out there on the field. Legosi wasn’t sure what the collection of toys was for, but some of the sages were trying to coach reptiles through different elemental forms.

In true firebender fashion, some of the fire sages shot fire at people’s faces, to see what would happen. 

No one actually got burned … the sages knew exactly how to hold back from injuring anyone … but a whole lot of benders definitely flinched and lashed out. 

Legosi tried to make a note of that, because as jumpy as he was? That would probably work on him. 

Two hours into the testing with no luck, Aoba came flapping over to join the trio and the other Cherryton benders near them. 

The eagle landed carefully, “Hey, have you guys seen Louis?”

Haru frowned. “Wasn’t he with Tem?”

Legosi asked faster, “Wait, what’s wrong? Where’s Louis?”

Aoba clarified, “We don’t know! Gon was with him and the others, but Artio didn’t let Gon stay with them; he’s not in the clan. Tem and Els turned around and Louis was just gone!”

Legosi stood up sharper, “Is he okay? Was he alright?”

Aoba insisted, “I don’t know that either! But a bunch of us are gonna go look for him. Gon already left with Voss. Jack, you and Legosi have good noses, right?”

The canids nodded. Jack said, “Legosi’s is better.”

But Legosi was staring at Aoba, and he had a very bad feeling. “Aoba… what aren’t you saying?”

The eagle looked nervously around. He tried to keep his voice very low, “Enough people think Louis might be the avatar … that some of Clan Squamata might try to hurt him.”

Haru whispered, “What?? Why?!”

Legosi already knew, “Because Squamata got skipped. They didn’t get their hero, they got cheated out of their honor, so they’ll take it out on Artio’s avatar instead.”

Haru snapped, “That’s insane!”

Jack mumbled, “Honor wars always are…”

Aoba was still looking fearfully at the three of them. “Can you help us find him? Please, I know Louis is a dick, but -”

Legosi squeezed his fists tight. “We can all help.”

…… 

They split up. Aoba and Dom were covering the city from above, Haru bounced over rooftops, Jack went one way into the woods, Legosi went the other. Some of the others were looking, too - Bill, Riz, Sheila. They were large-breed carnivores; they’d be fine alone.

Legosi had smelled a lot of Cherryton animals over the years. Not in a bad way, of course - just in the way that one does when you happen to be playing a sport on the same field, resting on the same benches. 

He’d already been walking around a while when he caught a vague whiff of Louis’ scent on the air. Louis had been around this part of town, but so had thousands of others. 

It was still enough for Legosi to move faster. Legosi tried to follow it as best he could, through one alley, over a bridge.

He went past a few houses, then into the forest. 

It was easier then. 

There were other scents, but that was okay. The only fresh one was Louis. 

Legosi moved faster in the dark woods, concerned at all the damage still left by the tsunami. 

There were puddles all over, dead trees broken down, whole bushes and plants ripped free. 

The wolf passed around a big tree, looking, searching, and ran into a spirit.

For a moment, Legosi froze, already scared for Louis and now scared to move.

It was small, half of Haru’s height. 

Its glowing, spectral body resembled a lemur, but only vaguely - and bat-like wings were connected to its arms. 

It looked at Legosi with the hugest eyes, open wide.

The breath caught in Legosi’s chest.

The spirit stared at him, eyes curious and alive - like it was looking at something more than just the wolf in front of him. 

Legosi tried, ever so carefully, to glance behind him. 

It was just them. They were alone.

Legosi swallowed hard, “I’m … looking for someone.”

The spirit pointed a direction with its finger.

Legosi nodded, “Thanks.” 

He took a few tentative steps away, as if scared the spirit would jump at him when he turned his back. 

It took a few slow steps after him. 

Legosi started running.

There were more spirits about, wisp-like fragments drifting through the air. Some even had form, like the winged lemur spirit. They perked up when Legosi walked past, looking at him, and they tried to follow.

They floated after him, following as Legosi weaved through the wet, broken forest.

And there he was.

Small Louis stood in front of a broad pond, staring down at his empty hands. 

All the spirits suddenly vanished, hiding away in trees and rocks.

Legosi’s tail started wagging faster. He jogged the final distance, “Louis! You’re safe!! You had us really worried.”

Louis didn’t move. He just kept looking at his palms. “…I can’t do it again.”

Legosi was confused. “Do what again? You don’t have to do anything. Well, a few things, but they don’t look hard. They just want your clan to play with some toys, try out some moves.”

Louis turned, actually faced the wolf, and Legosi stopped outright. 

There was a glint of light off the red deer’s face. Tracks of water. 

Like he’d been crying. 

Legosi didn’t think Louis was even capable of crying, but he was right there, and the red deer’s tears just wouldn’t stop falling. 

Louis gestured again at the puddle, trying to mimic the movements of a waterbender. “I can’t push it. I can’t pull it. I can’t even freeze it. I’ve been trying. I’ve been trying over and over and I can’t get it to work again.”

Legosi said softly, “Well… of course you can’t. You’re not the avatar.”

Louis spoke louder, “But I am! I have to be! I have to be the avatar! The spirit came to me, I saw it in the water! It came just for me!”

Legosi tried to come up with something to say, “…I didn’t see anything in the water, Louis. It was just you.”

Louis scoffed, “Of course you didn’t see it! You can’t see anything, you’re just a dumb dog!”

The wolf stepped closer. “Yes. I am. I’m just a very dumb dog. But you’re in a lot of danger out here. Other people think you’re the avatar, too, and some of them want to hurt you. You aren’t safe out here. You need to see the sages as fast as you can. The sages can tell everyone else it’s not you.”

Louis yelled, turning away from him again, “I can’t!” He thrashed his arms over the pond, trying to gesture at it. “I can’t get it to work! I can’t bend the water!” Liquid refused to move, and he blasted it with fire instead. “I have to be the avatar! I have to! I deserve it! I’m owed it!!”

Legosi felt his chest tightening. “Being the avatar isn’t something anybody deserves, Louis.”

“I do!” Louis insisted violently, dragging fire into a huge bomb and throwing it down to incinerate the pond entirely, turn it into a steaming crater. 

Louis was gasping, “I’m supposed to be the best! I am the best! I’m the strongest! I can fight anything! Anything at all! I can take it all on, all on my own! Always alone!”

Louis threw his flames down again and again, scorching the dry ground, but it didn’t hide one simple fact:

Louis was still crying. 

Legosi didn’t move closer. He didn’t know what to do. 

The wolf stood there, and he gripped the little nautilus shell, like it could somehow help. It was a fight for him to even whisper, “But you are the best…”

The deer turned, furious, “Don’t mock me, carnivore!”

Louis lashed out with his flames again, and Legosi shuffled backwards. The heat of it warmed his body, but the fire didn’t touch him. 

Legosi took another breath.

Legosi said softly, “I’m not… You’re the strongest firebender in the school.” Legosi tried to look at him again. “Maybe the whole city! You just stood down a tsunami! No one else could have done that!! You could have died!!”

Louis screamed, “I wanted to die!! I wanted it over !! How are you that dense?! I wanted to go out doing something great! To stick it to all those fucking carnivores!! That this weak pathetic herbivore saved all their fucking lives!!”

Legosi finally raised his voice, “You're not weak or pathetic or anything like that!! You’re amazing! You’re so powerful, you were vaporizing a flood!! I wish I had your courage! If I had a fraction of your strength, I wouldn’t be living like this!! I would trade lives with you in a heartbeat!!”

Louis lashed out with his flames again and again, forcing Legosi back as he roared, “Don’t mock me!! Don’t laugh at me, don’t patronize me!! You want to eat me, just like them!!”

Louis brought both arms back, ready to incinerate the carnivore in front of him. 

Just like the carnivores he had to kill as a kid.

His flames shot forth in a huge, all-consuming blaze. 

Legosi put up a rock wall fast, but it wasn’t enough. Rock was shearing off under fire, blasting away, chiseling away, till there was nothing - nothing but Legosi and Louis and the fire between.

And Legosi stood there, with his hands forward, catching all that fire and all that fury and bringing it to a single point in front of him - until fire was put out and it was dark again and there was just Louis, and Legosi, facing each other in the dark forest. 

A new line of tears poured forth from Louis’ eyes, and his voice cracked, “ No! ” He cried even more because, “No! No, you can’t be the avatar! You can’t! It’s supposed to be me! I need to be strong! I need it! I can’t live like this! I can’t keep living at the mercy of carnivores, waiting for the bite!! ”

Louis was trying to cover his tears, to keep them back, but all that water was pouring forth, like a dam he’d been trying to hold back for ages. 

Legosi started to walk closer. 

Louis looked like he was about to fall limp. 

Eyes flooding over, Louis just begged him, “ Eat me. Just eat me already. Please. I don’t want to live anymore. It’s too hard. ”

The carnivore’s huge clawed hands lifted up. 

The wolf was breathing slow and steady, jaws open.

His claws passed by the red deer’s eyes. 

Louis squeezed his eyes shut, in fear.

Legosi bent all those tears from Louis’ face, gathered more liquid from the damp air, and drew them to the side of the red deer’s head. He put his energy into it, making the water glow, and Legosi stretched a part of his spirit against the red deer’s mind. 

Louis sniffled more, cried more, and his hands weakly grabbed at the wolf’s shirt. “ Make it stop. Make it stop already. ”

Legosi whispered, “Breathe… Just breathe, Louis… That’s all you have to do right now…”

No more strength, no more energy. Louis was so tired.

His knees started to buckle, and it was all Louis could do to kneel down. 

Legosi knelt down with him, and kept healing Louis.

The wolf’s hands were so gentle. 

Louis couldn’t comprehend how that could be.

Louis couldn’t see well. 

Louis’ voice cracked, “I don’t understand. What are you doing? Why aren’t you eating me?”

Legosi explained carefully, “Because you’re hurt. Your insides are wounded, inside your mind. The flow inside you, the way your energy is supposed to flow… it’s all out of balance, like … like the pathways are scarred or something.”

Louis sniffled, “You can’t fix scars with waterbending.”

The wolf whispered, “I’m not good with words, Louis. It’s like … being sick. That’s what this is. Something isn’t the way it should be. But I can heal a lot of things… and whatever you might think of your life, you’re worth healing. You’re important, Louis. Just as you are. You don’t need to be the avatar for that. You don’t even need to be a bender…” 

“…And I don’t know how you got hurt this bad… but we can heal this for you. I promise you, Louis, we can make this better… You don’t have to hurt alone. You can live and be amazing and you can do so many amazing things… You’re amazing, Louis. You are… I thought you knew that…”

Louis sniffled again, “It was you in the water, wasn’t it? With the blue eyes?”

Legosi tried to smile, tried to lie, “I couldn’t let you die out there… We’d never beat Indre without you.”

Louis choked on a single, weak laugh. “You’re such a dumb dog…”

Legosi managed a real smile then. “Most definitely.”

…… 

Louis was able to stand eventually. 

Legosi stayed sitting on the ground. He asked, “How do you feel now?”

Louis looked down at his hands again. “…Different. I have no idea what you actually did … but I feel … different.”

Legosi tried to explain, “Brains are really complicated, but they’re still flesh. They’re energy and organs and chemicals. And they can get hurt, too, on the inside. Or sick. I couldn’t tell before … but I could feel it when I used my waterbending. Your energy pathways were messed up because of it.”

Louis closed and opened his right fist. “…I feel lighter. Like I’m not carrying something. …Is it going to come back? That bad feeling?”

Legosi breathed slowly, “I want to say you’ll be fine… but I don’t know. This kind of thing can take time to stay healed… You’ll probably need more treatments in the future - but if you do, I can help you again. Or, or you could go to an herbivore healer, if you’d prefer that. Madame Yeoh could probably do it. It’s like how some people need treatment for arthritis, you know?”

Louis made a slight frown. “I don’t, actually.”

Legosi just took a deeper breath. He didn’t exactly have much energy himself, after yesterday. “It’s a medical thing. When people get older, sometimes they need to see a healer for joint pain, every so often. It’s like taking medicine. It just lasts longer. Nevermind. You should really go to the sages now.”

Louis asked, “Why don’t you introduce yourself? You’re the avatar, aren’t you?”

Legosi started touching the nautilus shell again. “Because… I’m not supposed to be…”

Louis wondered, “Why is that? The avatar isn’t supposed to come from Clan Canida for a long time.”

Legosi looked down towards the ground. “It’s just really complicated, okay?”

Louis realized, “You didn’t just learn yesterday, did you?”

The wolf shook his head. “Been bending earth and water since I was six… Grandpa taught me the first. Jack’s been teaching me the second.”

Louis added, “And Haru’s teaching you air, isn’t she? That was the story when we fought Dorpal. She said she’d been teaching you some forms for months, so you’d stop getting hit. …Was that a lie, too?”

Legosi gave a very tiny lift of the shoulders, “It wasn’t entirely a lie… It was just, more like a few weeks…”

Louis stared at him a moment. “You learned to move like that in a few weeks?”

Legosi murmured, “We just worked on circle walking the whole time… I focused all my time on that.”

Louis grumbled under his breath, “You’re kind of infuriating, you know that?”

Legosi’s ears drooped lower. “Sorry.”

Louis started to correct him, “Don't be sorry! The avatar is the strongest bender on the planet! You’re supposed to be … strong.”

Legosi started scratching in the dirt with the tip of his claw.

Louis looked at him, confused and feeling like there was something else going on.

The red deer asked again, “You really aren’t going to tell them? The world deserves to know that the avatar is alive.”

Legosi mumbled, “And I want to stay alive, but I’m not the avatar they want. I’m not ready to be one either.”

Louis stared suspiciously. “You reversed a tsunami.”

Legosi muttered, “That was the avatar state. That doesn’t count…”

Louis crossed his arms, “Could you do it again?”

Legosi fidgeted. “Maybe? I don’t know. I wouldn’t want to risk it. The avatar state is for emergencies only. I thought, maybe if I was really lucky, I could use it to save you. I didn’t know the avatar state could stop it all…”

Louis paced a little. “…Indre was lucky you were here. Showing up right before a natural disaster…”

Legosi frowned. “I guess…”

Louis sighed more heavily and shook his head, “Nevermind. I don’t know what you did to my head, but I don't feel … whatever pressure that was. Sickness? Let’s just go back to town. I hate being stuck around all those people. I want to get this over with. And I don’t want the praise you deserve.”

Legosi didn’t stand up. He just looked up at Louis, prepared to beg. “Are you going to tell them about me?”

Louis grumbled, “I don’t know. Maybe. Let’s just go.”

Legosi asked, “Louis, please… They can’t know about me…”

Louis rolled his eyes and started walking away. “That was a joke, Legosi. Come on already. I’ll buy you a sandwich or something.”

Legosi’s tail started wagging at the mention of food. “…Food would be nice…”

The wolf perked up slowly, then hurried to follow along. 

…… 

They didn’t run into any trouble on the way back into town. 

Legosi thought he smelled the other searchers, like Bill, but they only ran into Riz and Dom at the edge of the forest. 

They didn’t see any spirits either, though they were probably still watching.

Legosi wanted to go straight to the stadium, but Louis insisted on getting Legosi something first. 

A thank you present? An apology gift? Who knows. This Louis could be bad with words, too, sometimes.

There was a little food cart on the way. Louis had (what Legosi thought was) an alarming amount of spending cash on him. He bought two of the more expensive things on the menu. 

Legosi was in tail-wagging glee over its deliciousness. 

And then they finished making their way to the stadium, where the testing was still going on, and Legosi was in mid-bite of his food when some people suddenly got up and cheered. 

Legosi froze. 

And Louis actually … laughed. 

People were clapping, calling out for the avatar.

Legosi almost choked on his food. 

Louis just … smiled. “I better go clear this up.”

Legosi asked him, “Don’t mention me? Please?”

Louis started walking backwards to keep facing the wolf. “Mention what? You’re just a fancy earthbender.”

Legosi’s tail wagged again.

Chapter Text

The boat ride back to Cherryton was a lot more relaxing. Legosi was, on some level, rather glad to be leaving Indre and all the craziness that had happened there. 

A lot of people were disappointed to learn that Louis wasn’t the avatar. There was screaming, and yelling. A few death threats. You know how it is.

The sages insisted Louis go through several different tests, including something with the toys (Legosi still didn’t understand what playing with the toys was supposed to do). And Louis still couldn’t bend the other three elements of course, no matter which motions he was coached through.

Yet Louis seemed … okay.

And then someone pointed out that this ‘scrawny herbivore’ - with no connection to the avatar - fought back the tsunami for the sake of everyone. People still ended up giving Louis a lot of thank-you gifts because of it.

And then the last reptile and the last deer had finished the testing and … they still had no avatar.

The sages had to confer about that for a while, before they actually had to admit to everyone in the stadium that the avatar was not there.

There was outcry, outrage. There was nearly a riot, and for five minutes, Legosi was terrified he’d have to reveal himself to stop things from coming to blows right there.

But after eighteen years, the sages had an answer. One of the Air Sages shouted for everyone to hear:

“The avatar is alive! The avatar is present! And they are choosing … to stay hidden.”

Yeah, Legosi had a panic attack about that. Jack subtly helped to get him through it, but even the sages didn’t think to check the canids, or any of the other clans. A hybrid never even crossed their mind. That kind of thing just does not happen . 

A kid’s horror story does not become avatar. They don’t.

The sages just assumed the avatar had already left, perhaps back into the sea. 

There were some stories of amphibious and aquatic Squamata, who could spend most of their lives in the ocean if they wanted. 

The sages talked of recruiting some bilinguals to start searching underwater. That did a bit to quell the upset.

And now Legosi was leaving with all the rest of his Cherryton fellows … back out to sea. Sailing away. Legosi thought there was some measure of irony in that.

When it was Bill’s turn to push a boat along, Kai actually teased the tiger. “Hey, Bill! Aren’t you going to challenge Louis to a race?”

The tiger scowled, “Hell no! I have seen the face of the fire god, and it belongs to Louis! I want to live, thank you!” 

Even Legosi had to laugh a little at that. Louis did, too, and when Louis smiled? There was nothing mean-spirited or prideful about it today. 

Louis just looked happy.

Legosi stared at the red deer’s face a little longer, just stealing a glance at that smile.

Legosi’s tail might have thumped a bit on the wood of the boat.

…… 

Louis waited for the boats to get back to the docks at Cherryton, before he said, “Hey. Legosi.”

The wolf’s ears perked up, “Yeah?”

Louis stated, “I have way too many things to carry on my own. Help me get it to my room.”

Legosi frowned. “You want my help?”

Louis grumbled, “Yes, it’s heavy. Can you help me or not?”

Legosi gave a small murmur of a laugh, “Sure. It’s no problem.”

Well, it might have been for tiny Louis. The red deer was still pretty beat up and exhausted from the other day. Legosi grabbed the extra satchels - which, altogether, might have weighed as much as Louis himself - but it wasn’t so bad for the oversized wolf. He carried them over his shoulder. 

The tsungi horn was kind of heavy. That was a weird thing to gift.

Only when they were further away, nearer to the dorms and relatively by themselves, did Louis mumble something else: “You should keep that stuff.”

Legosi frowned, and almost stopped walking. Legosi protested, “But it’s your stuff. The people gave it to you.”

The red deer rolled his eyes more dramatically, “And it technically wasn’t for me, it was for the guy who stopped the tsunami. That’s you, not me.”

Legosi glanced around nervously, making sure no one was close enough to hear him say that. Legosi whispered as they walked to the dorms, “But … it wasn’t really me either. It was just the avatar state.”

Louis raised his voice a little, “Just take it, okay! My father owns practically half of Cherryton. I don’t need gifts, and I’ve never heard hide nor hair of your own family. What’s your dad, a cart pusher?”

Legosi felt that knot in his throat again. “…I don’t know. I never knew my dad.”

Louis frowned, “How do you not - what, are you an orphan?”

Legosi gave another weak little shrug of the shoulders, “Almost. Never met my dad. Mom used to be around, when I was little. She’s missing now. I hope she’s alive, but … I don’t actually know. It’s been years. My grandpa’s in construction. He taught me earthbending like him, but I’ve barely gotten to see him the last few years.”

Louis was frowning even more. “What’s that about? Is he working on a project away from Cherryton? A castle? A new road through the mountains?”

Legosi muttered, “It’s really complicated, Louis… I’d rather not talk about it right now.”

A few moments passed, before Louis admitted, “…I don’t have my parents either.”

It was Legosi’s turn to frown. “But you’re Oguma’s son. Everyone knows that. You’re the scion of your clan.”

Louis kicked a rock on the ground. “…Oguma isn’t my real father.”

Legosi stopped. “He’s not?”

Legosi thought they looked different, but… 

The red deer just shook his head. “Adopted. Sort of. It’s complicated. Lost my real parents to carnivores in the woods.”

Legosi swallowed painfully. A whole lot of puzzle pieces clicked very fast. “…I’m so sorry.”

Louis sounded flippant, “Yeah, well, I would have gotten eaten next, but I manifested my firebending at just the right time to save my life, but not theirs. Oguma was just passing through with his entourage. He found me with a bunch of burning bodies, thought I was a fearless four-year-old, so he told everyone that I was his. He made up a story about keeping me hidden, to ‘protect me,’ from the clan’s rivals.”

Louis paused for a second.

He started blinking, confused, and frowned a bit more at the ground. “…I don’t think I’ve ever told someone that before.”

Louis had an image burned into his brain, that split-second moment when a carnivore had their claws on him, when they were looming over him, fangs red and open for the kill. 

…The image felt more distant today. 

Legosi tried to be empathetic, “It doesn’t sound like an easy thing to talk about…”

Louis shook his head, trying to center himself. “Nevermind. Ignore me. It’s ancient history. In any event, I’m not sure if the whole clan believes him, but … I’ve got all the money and the titles, so legally speaking, I’m his son and heir.”

Legosi wanted to sound hopeful, “But you get to see him, right? Your clan doesn’t live very far from here.”

Louis complained a bit, “And I only really get one meal with him a month, and it’s usually to harass me on how well my studies are going.”

Legosi tilted his head, “You don’t talk to him about pro-bending?”

Louis scoffed, “He couldn’t care less about the games. I don’t think he even follows it. When I lost to Dorpal, he bought me my own boat of all things. The fact that I’m the best firebender at the school is only of marginal interest to him, and he only cares that much because he wants me to beat everyone and anyone that gets in my way. One day, I could lead all of Artio, not just here but across the whole world, if I’m strong enough.”

Legosi smiled, “Well, I can’t wait for him to hear how you stopped that tsunami. Do you think the messengers already reached him about that?”

The red deer pretended to be bored, “I don’t know, and I don’t care. Just dump this stuff in your room already. I’m not taking it. I owe you and I hate owing anyone, much less a carnivore, so either you take it, or I’m just going to start throwing money at you in public and then we’ll have to explain how you saved my life. Do you want me to do that? No? Then take the stuff.”

It was a curious reason to be threatened, and it made Legosi laugh. “If you’re sure, Louis. I’d hate for you to feel like you owed me again.”

Louis grumbled, “Don’t you get smart with me now.”

Legosi laughed, “Oh, no, Louis. I’m just a dumb dog, remember?”

Louis groaned, “I need another tsunami.”

…… 

Classes started again, and the avatar and the tsunami were all anyone could talk about. The teachers were even bringing it up in their lessons, historical tidbits, avatars presiding over this treaty, or defeating that villain at this location. 

Their science teacher even mentioned Avatar Bob’s garden. Apparently a whole town had grown up around it, to take care of it. It made great farmland.

So… Legosi’s talk with Jakhara was probably real after all.

For his part, Legosi was glad to have most people focusing their attention on Louis instead of the wolf.

The red deer was clearly irritated about the stories going around, all the gossip. Louis was insistent that the avatar saved Louis as much as anyone else - which only got people talking more because, “Oh spirits, Louis was saved by the avatar! The avatar!!”

(Legosi thought he could see the steam coming off of everyone’s favorite firebender.)

Practice was a little less intense though. Gon was trying to take it easy on the teams after their big scare, and thought Louis should spend a bit more time recovering before playing. 

The roster was constantly trying to ask them all about Indre, about the tsunami, about the tests for the avatar. 

Legosi actually did get to play more with his roommates, and that was nice. It was a much less intense experience, so Legosi could play for fun again. He got to watch the other benders more.

Durham was all fired up. That was to be expected.

But even Collot, the calm one, was airbending up a storm.

Talk of the avatar was bringing life to everyone.

Legosi wasn’t exactly avoiding Louis, but after that first day back, they didn’t really speak much. 

That changed around the end of the week.

The wolf had started heading for his usual secret practice with Haru and Jack when he stopped by a tree. A particularly large beetle was climbing up the side, and the wolf’s tail was wagging slowly as he watched it.

Louis cleared his throat, as if trying to sound aloof. “Hey.”

Legosi stood up straighter and smiled. “Hey. I mean, hi, Louis. Did you need something?”

Louis hesitated. He seemed uncertain at first, but then finally confessed, “I haven’t had any nightmares this week.”

The wolf blinked a little. “Oh. Okay… That’s a good thing then?”

Louis spoke a little softer, “No. You don’t understand. I haven’t had nightmares this week, at all. The entire week. Not one. Not since you … did that thing.”

Legosi’s ears started drooping. “Oh… Is that … something that’s been going on for a while?”

Louis actually looked nervous about admitting, “All the time … Every week, for the last two years. More days than not.”

Legosi fidgeted with the nautilus shell. “I’m sorry, Louis. I didn’t know that’s something you had to deal with.”

Louis kicked at the ground a little, “Yeah, well, I thought it was just something I had to tough out. They’re, they’re just nightmares. Everybody gets them. But, whatever you did … I’m really trying not to jinx this, that maybe it’s just luck, but I’ve actually been able to sleep through the night for the first time in ages and … and I wanted to tell you. Because … I owe you.”

The wolf gave a small laugh, “Louis, you don’t need to keep owing me things. Helping people is what I’m supposed to do. If anything, I should apologize for not helping you sooner…”

Louis huffed, “Well, you’re not responsible for something I never let on. I’m completely uncharitable when it comes to my own issues. I can’t let people know I have any problems ever. I have to be perfect.”

Perfect. Yeah…

Legosi murmured, “I’m definitely familiar with that sentiment…”

The avatar is supposed to be perfect, too.

Louis crossed his arms seriously. He double-checked that they were still alone, then asked softly, “Who’s teaching you firebending?”

The wolf blinked. “Um… no one?” 

“Wrong!” Louis declared. “I am.”

Legosi choked, “I haven’t mastered water much less air! I’m not supposed to start fire, too!”

“Details,” Louis said dismissively. “You tossed a tsunami like a frisbee, you can play with fire.”

Legosi spoke quickly and quietly and started counting on his fingers, “First off, no, I didn’t! It wasn’t remotely that simple! We nearly died! Secondly, that wasn’t me at all, that was the avatar state! That’s for emergencies! It doesn’t count! That isn’t my power at all; it belongs to the avatars before me! Thirdly, we all got lucky that day! That’s what it was, luck! You already gave me a ton of things that were supposed to be yours! I don’t even know what to do with it all; I don’t know anyone who plays pai sho. You don’t need to keep owing me things, Louis. I only did what I was supposed to do.”

The red deer stared at Legosi, appraising something in the wolf’s bearing. “Good. This is good, you’re already being more assertive. That’s lesson one. As soon as we find someplace safe, we can work on destroying your enemies.”

Louis started stalking away, satisfied and smiling, tail up, the pride of a red deer in victory.

Legosi watched him go. His head tilted to one side, and he asked himself, What just happened?

……

Legosi ran to meet Jack and Haru at their secret hiding place and didn’t even slow down before shouting, “I broke Louis!”

Jack’s tail went up, “Wait, what!?”

Haru punched the air, “Yes! Did you make it hurt? Was there crying? Please tell me there was crying. I want this image: Louis in tears.”

Legosi fussed with his hands, “Yes! There was a lot of crying! He was sobbing! Openly sobbing!”

The rabbit cackled to herself, “Yes! Yesssss! Please tell me there were witnesses?”

Suddenly catching her meaning, Legosi put his hands up, “He wasn’t crying because of me!”

The rabbit sighed, “Awwww…”

Jack snapped, “Haru, you’re not helping! Legosi, what’s going on??”

The wolf paced in a circle, “Louis’s been sick! He’s been really sick, in his head!”

Haru snorted, “Called that.”

Legosi insisted, “Biologically, Haru!! He was hurt by carnivores really bad, it made him sick, his insides were all out of balance! I didn’t want to embarrass him to you guys, but when he ran away from Indre, he was crying! He was crying because he wanted to die, he thought maybe he was the avatar, I told him he wasn’t and then he attacked me!”

Jack and Haru stiffened. 

The rabbit got serious, “Please, please tell me he doesn’t know -”

“He knows!” Legosi answered fast. “He knows, I had to heal him, he was falling apart, he was broken, I had to help him somehow! I fixed his head, he’s not even having nightmares anymore, he’s actually sleeping through the night now, but he wants to teach me firebending! He wasn’t even giving me a choice!”

Jack was statuesque, openly grimacing.

Haru just asked, “Wait, is that even possible?”

Jack cleared his throat, “The brain is an organ, same as any other part of the body, and it can get sick. But healing it can also be … complicated. You’re putting your energy in a delicate system. You don’t want to go overboard, you don’t want to overcompensate.”

Legosi got closer, insisted, “Louis wanted to die before! He wanted to die! I couldn’t let him suffer, I had to do something, but I think I broke him! He’s … happy!”

Haru snorted. “Wait. Wait wait wait, you think he’s broken because he’s happy?”

Legosi replied, “Yes, he’s happy! He’s sleeping through the night and giving me things! Jack already knows, Louis gave me the presents from Indre, but Louis still wants to pay me back more for healing him and wants to, to teach me firebending! He wants to spend time with me! He’s choosing to spend time with me, a carnivore, of all people, me!!”

Haru repeated, “So his current symptoms are … feeling fine, sleeping fine, not being a dick, and giving you nice things?”

Legosi hesitated. “…Yes!”

She asked, “Is he even blackmailing you?”

Legosi shook his head rapidly, “No! Well, he said I had to take the stuff or else he’d start throwing money at me and telling people I saved his life, but I’m not sure if that counts.”

Haru joked, “Yup, sounds terminal. We best put Louis out of his misery.”

Legosi fussed, “Haru, this is serious!! What if I ruined him?!”

Jack said, “Actually… I’m kind of with Haru on this.”

The wolf flustered more, “I’m not going to kill him!! We can’t do that!”

Jack choked, “I meant the other part, Legosi! He sounds fine! He sounds better than fine. It sounds like whatever he was going through, you helped - helped him a lot. Louis sounds like he’s, how do I put this … um, a recovered person now?”

Haru whispered, “Spirits, we can’t have that now, can we?”

Legosi scratched his arms anxiously. “But what do I do?! What am I supposed to do? This is Louis! We’re talking about Louis !”

Haru bounced up, grabbed Legosi by the shirt, and planted her feet on the wolf’s stomach. “Legosi. You need … to chill. Yes, it’s Louis, but you’re not thinking clearly! Maybe you’re too close to the subject, and yeah, Louis has always been off the deep end. So your perception of a ‘recovered’ Louis is going to be different from whoever Louis is when he’s sick and in pain.”

Legosi’s hands were unsure if he should even touch the rabbit holding on by his shirt. He just held very still. He replied, “But it’s still Louis. I didn’t want to make Louis … not himself. I didn’t heal him for my sake. I just wanted to help him.”

Haru stared at him closer up. “Legosi … did it never occur to you … someone might want … to pay you back?”

Legosi’s tail swayed. “…but I didn’t do much.”

Haru’s ears flicked dramatically, “Ugh, something that may be small to you is life-changing for a lot of others! They’re going to want to thank you! And you don’t get to choose how they do that! Sometimes it’s going to be gifts, sometimes it’s an awkward fruit basket, other times it's secret firebending lessons from the strongest firebender on campus!”

Legosi didn’t respond.

Haru just asked, “Legosi, do you or do you not want to see badass firebending up close?”

His tail wagged immediately. He mumbled, “Yes… of course…”

Haru explained, “Then you say, ‘thank you, Louis, I’d love for you to show me things,’ you lead his bushy-tailed bottom into this cave, and then you ogle the man for a few hours!”

Legosi’s fur stood out in embarrassment, “It wouldn’t be like that!!”

Haru teased, “Sure, Legosi. You keep telling yourself that.”

The rabbit dropped down, and stretched her limbs a bit. “But this has been way too much talking! Who wants to have fantastic bending funtimes?”

Haru did a little dance. 

Legosi’s tail wagged faster, and he admitted guiltily, “Me…”

Chapter Text

Legosi forgot to actually mention his concerns regarding the match with Indre. They had already used up one week before he talked with Jack and Haru about it in their secret cave. 

To use earth style or air, to risk failure and the disappointment of Cherryton … versus the glory and disaster of being seen as an earthbender who knew air movements - in the same town just saved by the avatar.

Haru said simply, “Why don’t you just do both?”

Legosi complained, “I just said I can’t! That’s the problem! I need to be one, just one!”

Haru gestured for him to stop, “No, no. I mean, just smash them together in your own way.”

Legosi stared at her funny.

Haru sighed heavily, “Legosi, you have two arms and two legs. Split them. Use airbending movements with your legs, use earthbending strikes with your arms.”

The simplicity of it gave Legosi pause.

Haru groaned, “Honestly, Legosi: are you sure you’re an earthbender? Like, this feels like a straightforward answer to me.”

The rabbit tried to do her own emulation of an earthbender with her upper body, with closed fists and punching arms. She tried to add in circle walking simultaneously. 

Haru confessed, “Admittedly, this feels really disorienting for me, like I’m trying to pat my head and rub my stomach, but you’re the avatar here. If anyone can manage to put these two together, it’s you.”

Legosi kept staring.

Jack mumbled, “Um, Haru? I think you broke him.”

Legosi smacked his own forehead.

…… 

One week. 

Legosi had one week to prep for Indre, to combine what he’d learned of earth and air forms. Even with his supposed avatar-ness, it felt a bit like trying to look in two directions at once. Legosi kept defaulting to one pose or the other.

At least the Cherryton teams knew Legosi was weird, so he could be using pro-bending practice to further cement the new form in his own head, in his muscle memory.

And maybe because he was trying to do so many things at once that Legosi ended up with an extra twist in his bending.

No, really: it was a literal twist.

Riz bent two earthen discs in front of him like shields, blocking a fire blast, a stream of water. He was the only one left on his practice team, the only one from A team, and trying to defend against three.

Durham sensed an opening, their only chance to beat Riz. He kept throwing punches, throwing fire in quick pulses.

Miguno kept trying to snake a water shot around the fire, hit at the bear’s legs, his arms.

Riz had already won his team the last two rounds, but the fighting was catching up to him. 

He tried to throw a disc at Durham, only for Legosi to yank it out of the air, defend his roommate - and then throw it right back at Riz.

Fire and water didn’t leave Riz the chance to counterattack, he was stuck defending, blocking.

The bear’s heels were dragging underneath him with each heavy hit.

Legosi’s team was only going to win the round through brute force, trying to hit Riz further back and off the playing field.

And the Dorpal waterbender had been so effective at getting around people’s guard, and Mokichi had given Legosi the short version about sand bending and energy, the comparisons to waterbending…

Legosi was barely even conscious of thinking about that as he launched a pair of discs at the bear.

Riz would have blocked it easy. 

And then Legosi twisted his wrists. The discs twisted in midair, snuck right past the shield and hit Riz dead center. Power impacted that wall of a bear.

Riz was suddenly stumbling back, and Miguno’s water crashed him off the field at last. 

There was the tiniest moment of silence as Riz, the indomitable earthbender, had very clearly been knocked down by the rookies.

Durham suddenly howled in victory, punching fireworks into the sky. Miguno was laughing, roughly rubbing at Durham’s head, and even Collot jumped back onto the field to celebrate. 

Legosi went over to Riz’s side of the field, trying to ask him, “Are you okay?”

The bear was smirking though, and even laughing with them. Riz had an amused expression as he stood back up. “That was great, guys! Legosi, great trick shot! I didn’t even see that coming!”

The wolf’s tail started wagging. 

Mind you, it was just one round, and they’d largely gotten lucky - they had to take out the rest of the rookies that made up Riz’s practice team first - but it was a strange feeling for Legosi. He hadn’t even been thinking about it, and somehow the blend of styles just happened. It coalesced inside.

Legosi was not expecting to feel pride.

…… 

Legosi chased a little after Louis, when practice was over. He practically whispered, “We have a place.”

Louis smirked, “Oh, do you now?”

The wolf nodded fast. “Yeah. Technically, we made it a while ago. It’s in the woods, and I’m still training on the other two styles, but if you’re serious, if you want -”

“I’m serious,” Louis cut in.

Louis smiled.

Legosi’s tail wagged faster. 

When Legosi forgot to speak, Louis asked him, “When did you want to start?”

Legosi cleared his throat, “Whenever’s good for you? I’m still prepping for Indre this weekend. Haru’s helping me with that. We’re trying to make a blended form for me to use, so it’s not so obvious I know more than one style.”

“Cause you’re hiding,” Louis recalled, realized. “That’s a fair plan. I could always cover some of the firebending basics, leave the formwork till later. Hey, are you hungry?”

Legosi blinked at the abrupt segue. “Uh, yeah. But that’s normal for me. I’m a, uh, big carnivore…”

Louis gave a small laugh, “Yeah, I noticed. Let’s get something to eat first. We can talk over dinner.”

The wolf’s tail wagged fast again, “Great. Sounds great.”

He had some time, before his secret training. 

……

Legosi was expecting them to hit the school kitchen. That’s what he usually did with Jack after practice. But Louis ended up taking Legosi into town instead, to a little restaurant Oguma owned.

Legosi protested softly, “I know you gave me all those things, but I really don’t have much money to eat at a fancy restaurant. Most of my grandpa’s cash goes to the school.”

Louis just scoffed at it, “Oh, please. Oguma owns half of Cherryton; I can treat you to dinner.”

The wolf tugged once at the nautilus amulet around his neck. He said with some embarrassment, “I’m really not used to people giving me things, Louis…”

The red deer smirked, “Better get used to it then. There will be some advantages to your station.”

Legosi didn’t think he wanted to correct him there.

Louis bought them two big helpings of udon - and splurged and got extra vegetables for himself, and eggs for Legosi.

Legosi’s tail started sweeping the air, “Eggs! You’re getting eggs??”

The red deer laughed, “What? I thought Clan Canida liked those?”

Legosi nodded modestly, “Well, yeah. The clan does have its own treaty with Clan Aves, but they’re still pretty expensive for someone like me…”

Louis sat down at a table across from Legosi, and both began digging into their food. 

Louis did start explaining eventually, “So I know this is probably going to sound hypocritical coming from me, but … there’s a misconception that firebending is fueled by anger.”

Legosi hesitated. “What would you, uh, say it’s fueled by?”

Louis thumbed at his own chest, “Your breath, actually. Power in firebending comes from the breath. You use your breath to strengthen your attack, but also to control it. You connect yourself to the fire. On some level, you are the fire. It’s your spiritual energy that burns as fuel for the flame. A normal flame needs oil, wood, coal…”

“…but unless a firebender is actually lighting something on fire, the flame relies on the bender’s energy for life. We learn to pace ourselves early so we don’t burn up too much energy on any one shot. It’s a firebender’s energy that gives it concussive force, too, that lets us push or propel something.”

Legosi had to swallow a big bite to add, “Like how you could send yourself flying, on the beach!”

Louis looked like he was almost modest about that. He still grinned, “Oh. You saw that, did you?”

Legosi nodded rapidly, “Uh, yeah! I mean, I saw you do some jumps with it during the volleyball game, and that was already cool, but then you blasted yourself across the beach during the tsunami. That was awesome. I haven’t seen anybody do that before, in this town.”

Louis tried not to make a big deal about it. “It’s just something I read about in a book. Anyway… it is true that if you have strong emotions, or powerful emotions, that can strengthen a person’s firebending. Some people try to teach that first - to use anger as a shortcut to power - but that can backfire.”

Legosi wasn’t sure how to ask, “Is that… something Artio teaches?” Legosi still backpedaled rapidly, “Sorry! I’m sorry, that sounded rude. Sorry.”

Louis seemed playfully suspicious. “You really aren’t used to speaking your mind, are you?”

Legosi mumbled down into his food, “…It’s not safe, usually…”

Louis looked at the wolf thoughtfully. “I’ve had a lot of teachers over the years - and a lot of anger. So I was taught how to use it, as an extra kick to my power. On some level, I think your emotions can affect bending from any style, any element…”

“…Fire just happens to use them more dramatically than the others. And despite my small size and my breakdown last week, I have a strong spirit. So my firebending responds - and I can blow apart large carnivores like Bill with ease, no matter how lucky they were to be born that way.”

That didn’t feel right to Legosi. 

The wolf shook his head, “I don’t think size matters that much, big or small.”

Louis sounded jealous, “Have you been watching the same matches I have? Riz is one of the biggest, strongest benders in the school. His earthbending takes advantage of that. You had to gang up on him, three to one, and you still barely knocked him over. If I had a body like that, who knows how powerful I’d be?”

Legosi grumbled, “Yeah, but … Haru is practically a master, and she’s like a third of Aoba’s size. And my roommate, Voss, is smaller than all of us, but he’s a better earthbender than me. The avatar before us was a fruit bat, and she stopped whole wars by herself. And there are lots of small-breed benders on the other side of the school. They just don’t get to play any big games.”

Louis pushed around some of his udon, squinting at him. “Do you think your size doesn’t help your bending?”

Legosi wasn’t sure. “I don’t know. Maybe. But I’ve always hated being this size. My size frightens people all the time, and I’m always drawing attention to myself. I wish I could be smaller, not stick out so much. Going around Cherryton, I always feel like I scare people, like people are always watching me, waiting for me to bite. There are days I don’t even feel like a wolf. I’m still shocked that Haru wanted to train me at all.”

Louis insisted, “Well, you don’t scare me. You’re a big puppy with big paws, and occasionally strong bending.”

Legosi didn’t know why that felt embarrassing. He protested, “I just mean… I don’t think having a bigger body inherently makes you a better bender. It doesn’t matter that you’re leaner or shorter than someone like Bill. It wasn’t Bill that stood up to a tsunami, that was you. You look plenty fine already.”

Louis smirked, “I look fine?”

Legosi flustered even more, “I didn’t mean it like that! Just - your body is fine! I don’t want you to feel bad about the way you look. The girls all say you’re pretty! I’d trade bodies with you any day of the week.”

Louis leaned in closer and teased, “Ah-huh. Sure. Your body is fine, too.”

Legosi’s fur was distinctly puffing out with embarrassment. “We’re getting off topic.”

……

Louis and Legosi were at the restaurant a lot longer than they initially planned. They could have spent hours talking about bending, and Louis’ knowledge of firebending was practically encyclopedic. Oguma had his own personal library, and Louis had spent a lot of time there when he was young.

Legosi ended up running straight through the woods by himself. He gave a huge apology to Jack and Haru, for making them wait, for taking so long at the restaurant. 

Haru had a very bad grin on her face.

Jack was a little confused. “You went out for dinner … with Louis?”

Legosi admitted guiltily, “I didn’t really want to refuse him…”

Jack wondered, “How much did you end up spending? I thought you didn’t have much money after Indre.”

Legosi scratched at the fluff of his cheek. “…Actually … Louis paid…”

Haru looked ready to cackle.

Jack wanted to clarify, “So … he invited you to dinner … and paid for your dinner … and you … talked?”

Meekly Legosi tried to defend himself, “About firebending. We talked about firebending.”

Jack cleared his throat. “I see. So this was a personal dinner.”

Legosi choked, “No! It was … a work dinner. Avatar work.”

Jack sounded a little sarcastic. “Right. Of course.”

Legosi’s fur was fluffing up in embarrassment. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Haru fell over on the floor, and died laughing.

…… 

Breathing exercises. That was the name of the game.

Louis apparently hadn’t even done them in years, but he still knew all the principles. 

They didn’t want to interrupt Legosi’s special training too much before the games against Indre, with Haru trying to help Legosi blend his two forms. But breathing exercises? They could do those.

Legosi and Louis ended up sitting together a lot by a river, breathing slowly in, breathing slowly out. Louis wanted to make sure Legosi was breathing down deep into his body, filling his lungs from the bottom up - breathing with the diaphragm.

They listened to the sounds of the forest, the soft sounds of the river, and sometimes they talked. 

Legosi wasn’t sure how much the breathing exercises would help him against Indre, but having calm river time was enjoyable in its own way. Legosi always liked spending time by a river, and he liked sitting and talking with Louis. 

Legosi was expecting their firebending training to be aggressive, anxiety-provoking, dangerous. This was … relaxing. Pleasant.

Legosi was quite pleased to be wrong. 

Louis did give him a burning leaf one day, when they were walking to the caverns. He encouraged Legosi to keep the fire alive with his spiritual energy - and without consuming the leaf whole. It was a balancing act.

That was more complicated. Legosi might have been a bit more anxious dealing with that. He was fine, usually, but it only took an unexpected noise - a rustle of leaves and a burst of nerves - for the fire to get too big.

On the bright side? Legosi already knew how to put fires out. 

Legosi only set one tree on fire, thank you very much, and he was very apologetic about that.

And then the week had passed, and the pro-bending teams were once more sailing to Indre.

There was no sneaking Voss with them this time. Gon checked people’s luggage expressly so there were no more ‘surprises.’

Voss didn’t try anyway. 

(Voss tried the direct approach: clinging to Gon’s leg and begging to go again. He’d already been so helpful the last time with the tsunami. And Gon looked down upon him, and told him “…No.”)

There was, unexpectedly, a mouse hiding in Kibi’s bag. Kibi claimed innocence. Gon gave them all a stern lecture about the danger of long-distance trips anyway, particularly at sea.

Legosi didn’t feel so disconnected by the sea voyage this time. 

The boat ride gave Legosi time to practice his breathing exercises, and that might have helped, just a little.

And then they were arriving at Indre the second time, rounding the corner of the mountains, seeing that magical shoreline. Some of the houses had been rebuilt, some were a work in progress, but there was still a measure of debris here and there.

The walls at the beach had long since been cleared, all ice had melted, and ships could once more sail up the river mouth. 

But the city had kept the stone walls stretching from the mountains. It had even been refined into a sturdy, formidable barrier, with watch towers and parapets. 

Just on the off chance a tsunami happened again… Indre would be better prepared. 

Legosi didn’t know why, but he felt more hopeful about being back.

Chapter Text

Unfortunately, there was no fun beach time when they arrived that afternoon. A storm had already been approaching Indre when they got there, and the pounding rain meant walking the city wouldn’t be fun - and lightning could be a little unsafe. 

The teams had been planning to have fun around town or at the beach. Getting stuck at the inn meant they had few means of entertaining themselves.

There was a big hall on the first floor, practically a tavern, but few locals wanted to visit with the storm going on. 

There were really only two or three of the locals around, middle-aged men drinking alcohol at the bar, quietly soaking in the sounds of the storm.

Gon had fallen asleep in a comfy chair in one corner, near the fireplace.

Bill was tossing up a ball of fire when an idea came to him. He clapped his hands together, snuffing out the flame, excited to say, “Truth or dare!”

Louis scoffed, “What are we, twelve?”

Bill said, “Like you’re not bored?”

Louis sighed dramatically. 

Juno perked up, “I’m in! The right questions can be a lot of fun!”

Haru laughed, “I’m going to ask funny shit, I’m just saying.”

Sheila didn’t protest much, “Not like we’ve got anything better to do…”

Legosi didn’t comment. He just sat quietly in the corner across from Gon, the fireplace between them. A few others protested, or consented, but no one was outright leaving the hall.

Bill started playfully, “Hey, Juno! You’re eager! Truth or dare?”

She only needed a second, “Dare.”

Bill smirked as if he was running the perfect con, “Dare you to kiss the strongest bender in the room!”

Bill was expecting shock, outrage, taboo.

Juno just grinned back, mischievous and shameless. She said, “I would, but only if Haru says yes.”

Wild cackling lit up the room even as Bill sat aggrieved, horrified, scandalized. 

Haru - ever a tiny monster in rabbit form - bounced up to give Juno a kiss on the cheek, but it was Bill’s reaction that had the teams laughing.

Gon stirred for a second, grumbled something about ‘kids,’ and excused himself to his room for the night.

Most of the game was just silly stuff.

Juno dared Dom the peafowl to display a courtship dance - an elaborate affair for his species. He slipped in a bit of waterbending to make it personal, stealing rainwater for the dance.

Dom dared Aoba, “I've always wondered if you can whistle with a sharp beak!”

Aoba scoffed, “Of course I can whistle. You just, uh…” Aoba put two fingers in his mouth, and attempted to blow. He made two more attempts. Aoba was very confused. “I could have sworn I could whistle…”

People giggled anyway. 

Aoba asked Sanu the pelican if he ever kept food around in the pouch under his beak. 

The pelican balked, “Not since I was little!” 

Sanu then tried to get Legosi to play. The wolf was still sitting with his arms crossed and eyes shut. 

Legosi said flatly, “Not interested.” 

Sanu pleaded, “Just a simple question! It’s for the spirit of things!”

Legosi grumbled under his breath. 

Sanu asked, “What’s the most expensive thing you’ve ever bought?”

Legosi thought for a few seconds, and his fingers toyed with the nautilus amulet around his neck. He remembered, “I bought a bunch of eggs for my birthday last year. There’s this delicacy called egg salad. I wanted to try it.”

There were a few small giggles. 

Louis frowned, “That was it?”

The wolf gave a very slow, self-conscious shrug. “I don’t have much family or money. Grandpa can barely afford the boarding school, and he travels most of the time for work.”

Legom said, “Yes, but they’re not that expensive. They’re eggs.”

Bill said proudly, “Legosi hasn’t had a Felidae birthday. We know how to celebrate a carnivore’s birthday properly.”

Legosi didn’t want to comment on that. He crossed his arms again. He said, “Hey, Mokichi. I had a question.”

The badger sat up straighter on the floor, “I could answer one of those.”

Legosi wondered, “You’ve got a lot of skill when it comes to earthbending. Have you mastered the seismic sense?”

Mokichi said modestly, “Not all badgers can do that, you know… but, uh … I have, yes…”

More people played the game all silly-like, the usual assortment of questions and dares. 

Then Kai dared Els, “Dare you to kiss Bill!”

Els immediately covered her mouth, and even Bill was shocked. 

The tiger protested, arms wild, “Hey, come on! That’s - that’s so wrong! She can’t do that! She’s - she’s an herbivore!”

Kai leered at him, “And why not? You dared Juno!”

Tem intervened, “But it’s totally wrong! That’s - that’s messed up! Once was funny! It’s not funny anymore!”

Bill choked on more protests, trying to rationalize his decision, to set the mood before. Els’ face was clearly flushing, heating up in silence.

It was totally taboo, and even more awkward for both of them - and the subject of a bit more laughter.

Sheila teased, “Come on, Bill. Have a taste of your own medicine.”

The tiger grumbled and complained, until he outright covered his eyes. “Okay, fine, just do it!”

Els nervously kissed him as fast as she could, Bill and Els both wiped off their faces, then Els tried to change the topic even faster. 

Els dared Riz - the biggest, strongest man in the room - to take off his shirt and flex for them. Riz was bashful, but eventually obliging to the pressure. It was Kai’s turn to be scandalized. 

Juno and Haru gave the bear a whistle, trying to make it funny.

But Riz took things a little too far on his turn, too. Riz asked Tem, “Have you ever liked someone, romantically, from a different species?”

The room went silent.

Tem hesitated visibly, he nearly froze, because, “Even if I did - and I’m definitely not saying I do - that’s illegal. Ask me something else.”

Riz winced. “Uh. Sorry. Right. Um … have you ever tried to fly with airbending?”

Tem sighed nostalgically about that. “6 years old, jumped off my parent’s roof. …I didn’t break anything but my pride.”

Tem asked Sheila, who chose dare. Tem wondered innocently, “You’re an airbender, too, and a cheetah. You’re super flexible, right? Can you do a split?”

Sheila scoffed, “Seriously? That counts as a dare?”

The cheetah showed off, not only doing a split, but doing it by balancing on one leg and lifting the other straight up.

Sheila shot her own challenge at Louis, “Truth or dare?”

Louis scoffed, “Truth.”

The cheetah leaned in, joked, “Who are you and what have you done with the real Louis?”

Louis joked back, “Koh the face stealer. I wanted to try life as a red deer, this one seemed rich enough.”

More giggles from the room, but Sheila protested, “Hey, that’s not a real answer!”

Louis laughed, “But it’s all you’re getting! Now I choose Haru.”

The rabbit was already all smiles by that point. “Oh, this’ll be good. Dare! Gimme a good one.”

Louis was suddenly unsure. “I was going to say something about racing Aoba to the beach, but considering the lightning… it’s probably dangerous to fly. Maybe just see if you can lift Riz.”

Bill snorted, “Are you serious?? Mistress hoppy-hop can’t -”

Bill got cut off as Haru, in a rush of flowing movements, bent a tiny whirlwind underneath both Bill and Riz. 

Bill was bobbing clumsily on the wind. Riz was sitting peacefully as if floating on an invisible chair.

Haru kept her arms moving the air and teased, “I’m sorry, what was that? Mistress hoppy-hop can’t hear you.”

Bill growled, trying to wave his arms and grab the wall, “Okay, you’ve made your point! Now put me down before I start blasting!”

The tiger dropped down, and grumbled to himself, slinking away to the side.

Juno raised her hand excitedly, “Oh, oh! Levitate me! Me next!”

In very short work - and a quick dance of circular movements - and Haru had several of the Cherryton players bobbing along in mid air. 

Haru sighed happily as she worked, “It’s so nice getting to show off for once. Pro-bending is lots of fun, but we can all do way more than chuck stuff at each other.” Then Haru turned mischievously, “Now I choose Jack!”

The dog stiffened, “Me? What about me?”

Haru repeated the frequent question, “Truth or dare?”

Jack hesitated. “Um. Truth, I guess.”

Haru questioned shamelessly, “What’s the most embarrassing thing someone has asked you to heal?”

Several people were already groaning in mock pain. 

Jack eventually muttered, “I had a feline accidentally claw himself in an… uncomfortable place.”

Tao was a medic, too, and feared, “ Front uncomfortable or back uncomfortable?”

Jack was already covering his eyes. “Front.”

More giggling, more laughter. 

Jack admitted after a moment, “I’m not really good at this kind of thing, but I think I have a good question.”

Kibi put his hand up, “I can handle a question. I’m not doing a dare.”

The labrador’s tail swayed once in thoughtfulness. “If you were the Squamata avatar, what would you do with your power?”

Riz whistled, “Asking the hard questions now…”

Tem grumbled at the bear, “You don’t have room to speak. You asked me a hard one, too!”

Legosi tried to stay an uninterested statue. 

Jack noticed and immediately looked guilty. He looked to the others, “It just seemed relevant, you know? Everyone was talking about them the last time we were here.”

Kibi took a bit of time thinking, tapping his long nose, murmuring to himself. 

Tao was sitting next to him and playfully nudged the anteater. “Hey, don’t take too long! Other people want to play!”

Kibi complained back, “Don’t rush me! Being an avatar is a really big responsibility! The biggest responsibility on the planet! They’re the strongest bender of all! …So … I think I’d deal with the Shishigumi.”

Tao outright flinched at the name, “The Shishigumi?!”

Bill choked, several others went still. 

Els turned to ask, “Wait, what’s the Shishigumi? Is that a guild?”

Sheila said seriously, “They’re bad news is what they are. They’re yakuza back in Cherryton: meat-eating lions, and a bunch of them are benders.”

Bill uncharacteristically stammered, “You can’t ‘deal’ with the Shishigumi! They’re monsters ! They basically run crime in Cherryton. Not even the sages want to deal with them.”

Kibi spoke faster, “Yeah, well, I didn’t mean me! I’m tiny! I’m just an earthbender! But if I was the Squamata avatar, I’d have the power to actually fix things, wouldn’t I? Someone needs to stand up to them eventually - someone who actually stands a chance.”

Tao mumbled, “Even if I was the avatar, I wouldn’t want to go anywhere near them…”

Kibi pushed at the panther, “Well, what would you do as the avatar?”

Tao countered, “Hey, I didn’t choose truth!”

Kibi changed, “Then I dare you to be honest about your feelings for once!”

The panther was left stammering. 

Tao finally managed, “These intercity matches scare me!”

Kibi’s face softened fast. “Wait, what?”