Avatar: The Fifth Element

3. The Forest Village

"This place gives me the creeps," Sokka mumbled, crossing his arms.

Aang shrugged, "It's not too bad, and at least the people living here haven't been said to be violent."

"Pff, yeah it's not too bad if you can get passed the murkiness and cobwebs everywhere!" Sokka scoffed, earning a judgemental look from Katara.

"Oh, quit whining, we should be there soon."

As Katara spoke, the group came to a clearing in the forest. In the clearing, there was a small village. Though gloomy in appearance, the place seemed functional.

"Who's there?" a loud voice boomed from
the distance.

"W-we're just a group of travellers!" Sokka shouted.

"Don't lie," Katara hissed at her brother, "We're here with the Avatar! We're uh, doing Avatar stuff!"

"Nice going, real convincing," mocked Toph. Katara scowled at her.

As the man approached, they noticed he was a firebender. He was strong and tall, looming over the group, obviously the leader of this village.

"Once again," he spoke more softly this time, "who are you?"

Once everyone was properly introduced, they learned that the intimidating mans name was Osamu, and that he was the leader of the village. As the group expressed their interest in Etherbending, Osamu guided them around the small village. It was dark and gloomy, but the torches lit along the sidewalks gave it a quaint, cozy glow.

In the center of the village there was a small market, with only a few shops for food, tea and clothing. Houses were fairly small, but each built and decorated differently, depending on the kind of bender that resided there. There were even treehouses. It was quite the diverse place.

Eventually, they got to a small inn. Osamu turned to them.

"We accept all kinds of money here, but seeing as you're the Avatar, I can let you all stay for free. Get yourselves settled in, and when you're ready to learn more, follow the path behind the inn. It leads deeper into the forest where Nima lives. She's the wisest in our village, she'll tell you more about Ether," Osamu nodded to the innkeeper, and turned to leave, but he was quickly stopped by Zuko grabbing his arm.

"Wait! Aren't you gonna tell us who the Etherbender is? At least how we can find her?"

Osamu easily shoved Zuko off of him and shook his head, "She doesn't like people knowing of her abilities, only I and one other knows. I won't just tell you, you'll have to find out discretely. You'll soon learn that it's difficult to keep secrets around here."

The group settled into their rooms with a sense of uneasiness. Once they were all ready, they met outside at the back of the inn.

The pathway to Nima's house was crooked and wonky-looking, leading into a dark part of the forest thick with trees. They soon got to a small ; the house of a waterbender.

"Excuse me," Katara spoke through the doorway, and an old woman emerged. She said nothing but gestured for them to come inside.

There was a small fire that looked like it was about to go out in the middle of the little home, which acted as the only light source. It felt cold and dark.

The woman looked at them knowingly, and Aang spoke up, "We're here because Osamu told us that you knew about Etherbending. Would you be able to tell us how to find the Etherbender?"

She smiled softly, "You're much too eager to learn about this, it's not so simple."

"Please, just tell us what we need to know," Zuko said, trying to contain another outburst.

"You know about chakras, don't you?" She was specifically looking at Aang, who nodded.

"Ether is the throat chakra, directly above air. You must understand that Ether is part of all the other elements, they are derived from it. It is within everything. Whoever wields it would only be able to be defeated by the Avatar, it is nearly impossible to contain. Because of this, someone who has the ability to control Ether, often lacks the ability to contain it. They easily lose control.

"If you want to try and spot an Etherbender, they may have small scars scattering their body. Without letting out their power, it does anything to try to escape as it expands within them," she explained, weariness in her voice.

"So what do we do when we find her? Do we confront her?" Aang asked.

Nima shook her head, "I suggest you just try to keep the peace around here. Keep your eyes open, and if you think you find her, don't confront her. She must be calm or else the result could be detrimental to our world."

Sokka looked like he was deep in thought after Nima finished, "I think we should try to find her, and when we do we just play it cool. This is a peaceful place, she's obviously not wreaking havoc as we speak."

The others nodded in agreement and Katara turned to Nima, "Does that sound like a good idea?"

Nima hesitates at first, and then spoke, "Yes, but you must be careful."