Chosen by the Spirits | A male reader x Avatar the Last Airbender story

Chapter 24- City of Walls and Secrets

The next day, once we were all well-rested, we found ourselves on the Ba Sing Se monorail. It was essentially a train that ran across large, raised stone supports that snaked all across the city, making transportation easy. Interestingly, the monorail was pushed by two earthbenders from behind, making it sail smoothly across the track. We sat inside one of the sandy-grey carriages as the monorail transported us towards the inner wall, and therefore to the city. Outside the carriages many windows, nature could be seen flourishing between the two wall.

"I can't believe we finally made it to Ba Sing Se in one piece," Katara exclaimed happily as we relaxed on the carriage's comfy green seats. 'Speak for yourself' I thought in my mind, my left arm still occasionally aching with pain.

"Hey, don't jinx it!" Sokka stated with a paranoid expression. "We could still be attacked by some giant, exploding fire nation spoon. Or find out the city's been submerged in an ocean full of killer shrimp,"

"You been hitting the cactus juice again?" Toph asked, which made me snicker.

"I'm just saying, weird stuff happens to us," Sokka claimed nonchalantly, before a strange, large man, who was weirdly sucking on a piece of corn, sat next to him.

"Don't worry, Aang, we'll find Appa," Katara said to Aang, who had been rather quiet for the whole journey. Clearly he was still depressed about the disappearance of his best friend, and I didn't blame him.

"It's such a big city," the Avatar negatively muttered.

"He's a giant bison. Where could someone possibly hide him?" Sokka claimed confidently.

"Yeah, he shouldn't be too hard to find," I stated optimistically. Just as I said that, the monorail passed through the inner wall, presenting us with the view of Ba Sing Se. I had only heard stories of the city, and I had never even seen a picture. But it could be summed up in one word: big. There were houses as far as I could see. Smoke from chimneys and factories floated into the sky above yellow and green architecture. It was so big that you could barely see the other side of the inner wall across the vast amount of city. Above it all stood the monorail track, which led to a large white station in the middle of the city. The carriage stopped in the middle of the station, and the doors opened, allowing us to walk out. We stepped onto the tiles of the station, looking at the crowded city below us in the distance.

"Ah, back in the city. Great," Toph muttered as we exited the carriage, though she didn't exactly sound pleased to be back in Ba Sing Se.

"What's the problem? It's amazing!" Sokka said as he looked in awe at the urbanisation below.

"Just a bunch of walls and rules," Toph stated. "You wait, you'll get sick of it in a couple of days,". Despite her pessimism, I was rather excited. The only city I had ever been in was the capital of the Northern Water Tribe, where I was born and raised, so I was excited to finally have an experience in a different, larger city.

As the monorail pulled away from the station and started speeding up away from us, a lady approached us. She wore a sandy yellow earth kingdom gown, had long black hair that flew in the air as the monorail rushed off in front of her, and was sporting an unnaturally large smile. Something about her smile didn't sit right with me, but I ignored it. Maybe she had a medical condition or something.

"Hello! My name is Joo Dee," she introduced herself to us, still wearing the large smile. "I have been given the great honour of showing the Avatar around Ba Sing Se. And you must be Sokka, Katara and Toph," she added, before turning to me. "And you are (Y/N). The Earth King is rather excited to meet the Prodigy of the North. Welcome to our wonderful city. Shall we get started?". I was shocked to hear that the Earth King knew of my existence, and was apparently excited to meet me? But it was still strange to be getting recognised as 'the Prodigy of the North'. I didn't like the nickname. Nevertheless, Sokka quickly interrupted the polite Joo Dee.