Work Text:
Despite being only a six-year old boy—and a relatively small one besides—at this moment, he feels bigger than all the other kids in the room.
"Do it again, Aang! We want to try it too!"
The fact that he is floating above them probably helps with the feeling.
"It's easy!" he exclaims as he lands back on the floor. For the fifth (or hundredth) time today, he repeats the motions that enable him to float as high as the room's ceiling. The other kids copy his movements, but none manage to achieve the same result.
Gyatso choose this moment to enter the room. He appraises Aang up and down and calls him to speak in private. The other kids let out gasps and 'oooh's and 'aaaah's as he leaves the room. "Where are we going?" he asks, his voice betraying his anxiety. "Did I do something wrong?"
His teacher places a hand on his shoulder and smiles softly. "No, Aang, you did nothing wrong. You are really talented for someone your age, so I want to test new tricks with you."
Aang's eyes go wide at that. "Oh, okay!"
Now that he knows he's not going to get an earful from his master, he bounces all the way through. He loves new tricks, especially when he learns them faster than his peers. The older kids usually avoid him, angry that he can do things they can't, but the kids his age and below look up to him.
They stop by one of the open gardens, the one everyone calls 'The Water Garden' due to its artificial lakes. Gyatso sits by one of the lakes and pats the place next to him. When he sits down, he gives his instructions. "I want you to try to pull the water out of the lake without touching it."
Aang frowns, but obeys anyway. He moves as if calling the water to him, and, slowly, it goes up in his direction. He struggles with it, though; it doesn't come as easily as airbending. Still, Gyatso nods approvingly at his side before raising a hand, signaling that he can stop. "It is as I thought," he says.
"What is it?"
"You are the new Avatar, my dear Aang."
He blinks. "Oh." He had heard once that people were looking for the new Avatar in Mossovy, as many babies were born there around the time the last one (Roku-something) died in Valyria. He didn't expect himself to be on the list of candidates, though. "What does that mean for me, master Gyatso?"
His teacher sighs. "It means we have to haste your airbending training, so you can go out there to learn the other bending arts."
He doesn't like the idea of leaving Mossovy, or even the Southern Air Temple, but he simply bows in obedience. It is what he was taught, after all.
The day he leaves Mossovy, a year after finding out to be the Avatar, he is gifted with a child flying bison. It is still learning to fly, but it already fits Aang comfortably, and he loves his animal companion already.
They travel south on Gyatso's own bison. He doesn't ask where they are headed to; he's already been informed, more than once, that his next destination is the Great Empire of the Dawn. He's curious about what is so 'great' about the place, but he's mostly relieved that his teacher is coming with him. Out of all master airbenders and teachers, Gyatso is the one who knows the world outside Mossovy the best, as he was the one to teach Roku Targaryen, the previous Avatar, in Valyria.
"What am I going to learn in the Empire?" he asks midway.
"All earthbending styles can be found there," Gyatso replies. "Also, since people from all over Essos trade with one city or another, we might not even have to leave it to find people to teach you fire and waterbending."
"But there are many kinds of earth, fire and waterbending, right? It's not like air." He's heard stories of a sinister airbending style, but he's fairly sure those are just scary stories used to threaten kids his age.
"There are, indeed, but I'm confident we can find powerful benders who can bend all styles. The Opal Emperor has already been informed the Avatar is coming to the capital, so it is only a matter of time until word of you gets out, and masters of all over the world will want the honor of teaching you."
"Oh. Cool."
In truth, he doesn't know what to make of it. He's known he's the Avatar for a whole year, and yet it's still a hard concept to grasp. Perhaps being out in the world will help him.
Looking from up above, he sees three light brown rings. "Are those city walls?"
Gyatso briefly looks down. "Yes. You are looking at the capital of the Great Empire of the Dawn, Ba Sing Se."
Aang gasps. "Wow. It looks big!"
"The largest city in the known world," he confirms. "Roku was trained there under the previous Opal Emperor. You shall be trained under his son's tutelage."
"Wait, he's the Opal Emperor too?"
"Yes. He can explain it better, though."
They land within the innermost wall, and several men dressed in red and gold greet them. While Gyatso's bison is forced to remain behind, Aang is allowed to carry Appa with him to the royal palace. They go up a high staircase covered in gold—in fact, everything seems to be adorned or covered with gold in some degree. Although he's been here for only a few moments, he can already see Ba Sing Se (and perhaps the whole empire) is very different from Mossovy and the Air Temples, marked by its humble constructions and calm atmosphere.
A year ago, Aang would have enjoyed the crowd around the palace, but a year spent on intensive training and meditation leaves a mark, and he no longer feels the same pull to bursts of activity.
He identifies the Opal Emperor by his extravagant green-and-gold attire, as well as the shining crown on his head. He expects a cold welcome, but the man smiles. "It is an honor to have you here, Avatar," he says, bowing. Even though Aang has never seen an emperor before, he thinks this is the first time this one ever bowed for anyone.
When they are inside the palace, he asks about his title. "My teacher said your father was also the Opal Emperor. How does that work?"
He chuckles. "Oh, that's just a title that passes from father to son. My ancestors and I belong to the Opal Dynasty, so we all call ourselves Opal Emperor. It will probably confuse people centuries from now, but it's how it's been done from the time of the Gods-On-Earth."
"Gods-On-Earth."
"Yes, this is how the emperors of the first dynasty called themselves. They claimed to descend from the gods we worship, the Lion of the Night and the Maiden-Made-of-Light. When they fell, the next emperor decided that title was a bit too arrogant and named himself Pearl Emperor, thus beginning the Pearl Dynasty. Since then, we had the Jade Dynasty, the Tourmaline Dynasty, the Onyx Dynasty, the Topaz Dynasty, and now us, the Opal Dynasty." He hums. "Though it might change soon, if my daughter decides to change the title as she plans to do."
The Emperor looks contemplative at the mention of his daughter, so Aang draws his attention back by asking, "What is your real name, though? You do have one, right?"
The man laughs. "I do, I do. My name is Kuei. What is yours, Avatar?"
"Aang!"
"Nice to meet you then, Avatar Aang. What do you say, shall we begin to train tomorrow?"
Earth is air's polar opposite, meaning it is the hardest element for Aang to learn. The Opal Emperor is a master of earth and sand, but he's mediocre at metalbending, and apparently there is something called plantbending he can't teach either.
Not that Aang is complaing about not learning all four earthbending styles at once. Two are difficult enough already.
Whenever Kuei isn't available, his daughter, Hou-Ting and heir steps in. She's twenty years old and takes after her father in every way, physically speaking. In opinions too, though this might be less about her upbringing and more about the local culture. When she lets it slip that she has a young brother, he asks where he is. "Oh," she replies with a dimissive hand-waving, "he spends most of his time away, traveling around the realm. He left a month before you came for the lands east of the Bleeding Sea."
Although some fire and waterbenders drop by to offer themselves to teach him, he decides to focus on Kuei's lessons and postpone the rest. His choice pays off when he manages to master earth and sandbending at the age of nine.
After he finishes his lessons with the Opal Emperor, he travels to Omashu, where he meets Jeong Jeong, a Valyrian who left his birth home after resigning from the Navy. As the subject of his past seems to unnerve him, Aang never asked many questions, instead focusing on what he had to offer. A skilled master, he is able to teach him not only firebending, but lightning and lavabending as well. He master all three arts in less than year, shortly before his tenth nameday.
When he does turn ten, Gyatso bids him goodbye. "You've grown much in these last three years, Aang," he says solemnly, "in stature, in skill and in spirit. You are more than capable of finding your path on your own, and such is the duty of the Avatar."
Such is the burden of the Avatar, he thinks sadly. "I'll go visit," he vows.
"Yes, do, but I only want to see you when you master the Avatar State."
After they part ways, Aang pick the Chin village as his next destination, from where he goes to Leng, the island where earth and waterbenders coexist in relative harmony, according to the stories he's heard. When he stops by the village, though, he is informed there are two siblings from the Summer Isles who have been there for two months, waiting for him. Curious, he allows them to take him to a small house, where he is first met with a girl of dark hair, dark sking and striking blue eyes.
"Are you the Avatar?" she asks in rough YiTish. He nods. She smiles; her white teeth shine against the sunlight. "My name is Katara, and this is my brother Sokka. We are from the Southern Water Triba in Jhala, one of the Summer Isles."
He nods. "I'm Aang," he replies, rather lamely. "I'm from the Southern Air Temple in Mossovy."
Katara hums. Her brother Sokka steps ahead. "We came here because our Princess had a... what was that she had, Katara?"
The girl rolls her eyes. "You should let me do the talking, Sokka. Princess Xanda Qo, our great leader, had a vision in which I am meant to teach you waterbending, and Sokka and I are meant to aid you in future battles."
"Future battles? But we live in peace here!"
Sokka shrugs. "You are the Avatar, aren't you? You're meant to watch over the world. These battles may happen anywhere for all we know. Even Westeros."
Katara sighs and nods. "From what we hear, that wasteland is full of wars. People there seem uncapable of talking things through. But I guess this is for the future. We have things to deal with at the present. Do you know anything about waterbending, Aang—may I call you Aang?"
"Of course," he replies easily. The pretty Katara can call him anything she wants. "And... no. I lifted water once, years ago, but I was focused on training other styles, so..."
"I see. Do you know how many styles are there?"
"There is water, ice, fog...?"
"Snow, blood and mud as well. Admittedly, blood and snowbending are not styles I'm familiar with, but I was recognized as prodigy by Xanda Qo herself for mastering the other four styles at the age of fourteen."
How old is she?
"Sixteen," she replies with an eyebrow raised. Oops, he asked that out loud. "Anyway, although we are here due to a vision, the final decision is yours, Aang."
He has no idea who Xanda Qo is and why she's so important to the siblings before him, but he is not going to refuse a chance to be trained by Katara.
Chin is a true village, meaning there isn't much for them to do while Katara trains him, so they decide to travel east. Sokka asks if he's ever been to the shadowlands, which sparks his curious side, so they take a ship to Asshai.
("I mean, we could travel west to the Ghiscari Empire first—"
"How do you know so much about the world outside the Summer Isles, Sokka?"
It's Katara who answers. "He studied cartography in Walano, with the masters of the Northern Water Tribe."
With a piece of meat on his hand—much to Aang's distaste—he adds, "I almost wedded Princess Yue, but, if you ask Katara, she will claim I'm lying.")
Despite the lack of sun, the city bursts with life, illuminated by crystals he recognizes from his time in Ba Sing Se. Sokka is awed by the crystal lanterns and leaves him and Katara alone to explore the dark city and learn more about how they live without the sun that is so vital to his birth home.
Being alone with his waterbending teacher only makes his infatuation for her grow. He's fairly sure his affections are unrequited, though, considering their age difference. Indeed, Katara falls for a non bender Asshai'i soldier called Jet within their stay, and they end up leaving the city after he rejects her. As per Sokka's suggestion, they go up to Stygai, an underground city where shadowbending is practiced—it isn't a myth, after all. He decides against learning it when Katara panics over the huge labyrinth of caves. They take the Ghost Grass Coast to head back to Omashu.
(Sokka, the explorer, wanted to find out whether the Hidden Sea truly existed, but Aang told him they could do it after his training was done. What if the battles are there, he says. We should be prepared before going, right?)
As Omashu is close to the Bleeding Sea, Katara tells Aang to take them there after a year of training, so she can test his skill. Now that he's eleven, he thinks he can impress her if he shows to master all four waterbending styles she taught him. When he does, though, something else happens: he's transported to somewhere else.
He can himself floating above the sea, with Katara and Sokka watching him with worried expressions. "Don't worry about yourself," a male voice says behind him, "or them."
He turns and sees a silver-haired man with purple eyes. As he's learned over the years, he carries the typical noble Valyrian looks. "Roku Targaryen?"
"The one and only."
"Where am I? This isn't the Spirit World, is it?" He's learned about it initially in Mossovy, then furthermore in Ba Sing Se. He thought it was supposed to be another world entirely, but...
"No, it's not, but you are nearly in it. Look at yourself." He obeys and sees his eyes glowing. "You are about to enter the Avatar State, one of unlimited power. You heard of it, surely."
"I have."
"Now you are to live it. But remember, Aang, you must control yourself at all times. The Avatar State is powerful but dangerous."
Then he's pulled back to his own body, feeling like he's growing from inside out. Power bursts from his fingertips, his toes, his belly, his nose, mouth, his eyes... everywhere.
It takes a while to calm down and revert to his normal self. After the scare is over, Katara and Sokka congratulate him on his achievement. He hopes this means he can win Katara over.
It does. Despite his young age, Katara sees him as very mature, and allows him a kiss. "But I'd rather not start anything... real, for now," she says. "Not when we don't know what we'll face."
He has a feeling she's also postponing it until he's actually a young man, instead of a boy, but knowing that she wants him back is enough. He can steal some kisses every now and then if he wants, without fear of rejection.
Now that he's a fully realized Avatar, Aang wants to explore more of the world he is supposed to watch over, especially now that Appa is large enough to hold three people in flight. Katara and Sokka dutifully follow him as he goes west. After visiting the few cities of the Empire he hasn't been to yet, they go to Moraq, where Sokka is disappointed by the lack of people truly living there. ("It's a land of pirates and lost travelers," he declares forlornly.)
After, they spend a few days in Qarth, then travel to its colony cities—Qarkash, Qolahn, Port Yhos and other three towns of odd names. They proceed to Slaver's Bay, fulfilling Sokka's wish to see the Ghiscari Empire.
When he introduces himself as the new Avatar, the slave masters are eager to be hospitable, to the point there is a loud discussion on where he will stay. He picks the house of a quiet family in the corner, the Beifongs.
On his first night in the Beifong state, he has the first of many odd dreams.
First, he is in a greyish desert, although the sun is weaker than he's used to seeing in the Dawn and than what he saw in the Red Waste. Shadows dance around him, looming over him as if ready to attack. He feels himself glow, activating the Avatar State, but there is a huge pain at his back. The last thing he hears before waking up is a manic laugh.
In the second night, the shadows take form, either human or animal-like. The maniac laugh can be heard from the distance again, and the shadows attack him like last time. Before he opens his eyes, he sees five huge buildings in the middle of the sand.
In the third night, he and Appa are flying above the black buildings. The shadows crawl and float in his direction, but the buildings are untouched. If he stays where he is, none of them can touch him.
In the fourth night, he sees a girl in green robes running around the buildings. She's also untouched by the shadow demons.
He quickly finds out the Beifongs are a mix of earth and metalbenders, much like the other Ghiscari nobles. Katara urges him to stay over for a while to train, and Sokka agrees—though his reasons are clearly more selfish—but, a few days later, something happens that changes his mind.
The head of the Beifongs has a daughter his age, Toph. She's blind; at first glance, she looks like a helpless girl. However, Katara caught her sneaking out of her home one night and followed her to an arena, where she saw Toph defeat men thrice her size as the Blind Bandit. When Aang asks her why she fights in secret, she confesses her damsel-in-distress act is forced by her parents, who truly believe her to be uncapable of functioning normally due to her blindness.
"I have a deal," he offers, thinking of one of his dreams. If memory serves him right, Toph is the girl who'd run near the shadow demons, unafraid of them. "If you teach me metalbending, I'll take you out of here."
Toph hums. Clearly, she heard he isn't over with his offer, so he adds, "If you help me with a project, I'll talk to the Opal Emperor to grant you a noble title and lands of your own."
Her eyes go wide. "Opal Emperor? You want to take me to the Dawn?"
"Yes."
"My family will never find me there. Yes, I accept your whole offer. What is this project you speak of?"
He finds the perfect place to have the forts built near Omashu and the Bleeding Sea. "This is near the Land of the Shrykes," Sokka warns. "Are you sure you want to build a huge military outpost near a place full of lizard men?"
"I very much doubt there are lizard men anywhere in the world," Katara counters, and of course Aang agrees with her.
Sokka rolls his eyes and lists all the fantastic and scary stories he's heard about the lands beyond the Dawn. None of them really listen.
Convincing Kuei to send men to the forts takes most of the time Toph promised to build them. Despite being the Avatar, the Emperor is not keen on rearranging his armies based on prophetic dreams. It's Hou-Ting who does half of the persuading, using her brother as argument. "He hasn't been back in years," she reminds him. "What if there are dangers out there, dangers that killed him? The Shrykes, K'Dath, Bonetown, Grey Waste and beyond? The shadowlands?"
Aang doubts the forts will hold against the shadowlanders, but he's not going to argue the woman who's in his favor. Eventually, Kuei approves. After, convincing him to grant a noble title to Toph is easier. "There is place in Omashu for her," he says, "if she wants it."
"The further from Ghis, the better, so yes."
"She's a runaway from Ghis? Oh, all the better. I love when the Ghiscari decide our Empire is a better place."
When Toph finishes the forts, he doesn't really know what to do to make them a real shield against the shadow demons he saw in his sleep. So, he medidates in order to get inside the Spirit World and find answers with his past lives.
Roku is the first to show up. "There is a form of bending called energy," he says.
"Is it the same as spiritbending?" The Opal Emperor is surrounded by spiritbenders, who serve the Avatar as well as they do the Empire. They claim he, as the Avatar, can only learn their bending after he masters all the rest.
"No. It is not required to master all the other elements to learn energybending, but it doesn't mean it's easier. In fact, I died without ever learning it. You'll have to be taught by another Avatar."
However, none of the other Avatars he meets—Wan, Salai, Szeto, Kuruk, Yangchen—have ever learned the art. It falls on a lion turtle spirit to impart the knowledge on him. When he understands it, he uses it to conjure an energy shield around the forts. He can feel something being repelled by the shield; perhaps the shadow demons will be kept at bay from now on.
Toph gets her mansion in Omashu and proudly calls herself Toph of House Beifong of the Dawn. She lets Aang, Katara and Sokka stay for as long as they like, and Katara finally lets him pursue her when he turns twelve.
Shortly after his nameday and his return from Mossovy—seeing Gyatso again was a delight, and he was revered by his former peers—he receives a letter from Hou-Ting, announcing her father's passing and her incoming coronation.
All four of them attend. He sneaks in the palace to ask her how Kuei died. "Greyscale," she says with a sad expression. "It came on a gift sent by my brother."
"Is Wu alive, then?"
"I don't know. The package looked old... It might be from months, years ago."
Aang doesn't know how it is to lose family, as Air Nomads in Mossovy grow up away from their parents, but he assumed Hou-Ting's grief is close to what he'd feel if he ever lost Gyatso, Appa or Katara.
Hou-Ting adopts another title, as her father predicted: Amethyst Empress, first of a new dynasty. Her new subjects bow before her and cheer on her name. "Long may she reign," they shout.
He doesn't know how things changed so fast.
Wu shows up dressed in grey and scarlet red not long after the coronation—Aang and his friends are still in Ba Sing Se. He comes with hooded people carrying knives and spears, and he tries to sweet talk his sister into giving him the throne. When she refuses, he boasts of knowing all the ways of the Shrykes, which include something that enables him to take over the Empire by force, and asks her to reconsider.
As the days go by, revolts show up everywhere in Ba Sing Se, Omashu and the whole Empire. Soon they realize it is not a coincidence, and it must be Wu's doing. After consulting with his past lives, he uses energybending to grant Hou-Ting the ability airbend, as it gives the best counter attacks against firebending (an ability Wu was not supposed to have). Besides, if the people realize the Avatar favors the Amethyst Empress, they may sway away from the so-called Bloodstone Emperor.
It doesn't work. The revolts grow in number and violence, and soon a civil war is declared in Ba Sing Se. The walls fall to the numerous earthbending attacks, and several important buildings are destroyed as well. Aang can feel something akin to what he felt in the forts, and he wonders if Wu brought the shadow demons along with him.
It all boils down to a second confrontation between the siblings a month later, in which Aang intervenes in hope of finishing Bloodstone for once and for all.
He fails. The last thing he sees is not Katara's lovely face, but Hou-Ting's, as she holds him down and stammers words of gratitude, comfort and despair all at once.
Sokka's everything hurts. Armed with a sword and a boomerang, he wasn't much a threat to the rebel benders. "Sokka, are you there?"
He opens his eyes upon hearing his sister's voice. She went out of their hideout after the noise calmed down, in order to get news of Aang. At his side, Toph sits up; she's been harmed as well, though not as much as he was. "Yes," he mumbles. "Where is he?"
A single tear falls from her eyes. "Gone," she says with a heavy voice.
He wants to reach out for his sister. Despite his young age, Katara liked Aang a lot, beyond friendship and mentor-student. Personally, Sokka thought the Avatar boy better suited for Toph, but who was he to give unasked input? His sister would only evoke his failed history with Yue—despite still not fully believing him about it.
Katara doesn't give him room for comfort, though. "We must get out of here," she says in a hurried tone.
"Where to?"
"Home, first, then north. There is no time to waste."
Toph grimaces, but nods. Sokka shifts on his sitting position. "When you say North, do you mean Ibben and the Thousand Isles?"
"At first, yes, but, if we don't find anything there, we'll have to go really North. Westeros. The Lands of Always Winter." She sniffs. "I think these are the battles Xanda Qo spoke of. We need the Avatar at our side, even if it isn't Aang."
He groans, but nods. They have a destiny to fulfill, and they can't let their grief stop them.