incandescent. 𝖆𝖛𝖆𝖙𝖆𝖗: 𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝖑𝖆𝖘𝖙 𝖆𝖎𝖗 𝖇𝖊𝖓𝖉𝖊𝖗

chapter⁹

"i'm y/n," y/n says, giving the older man a bow. 

"katara," the younger waterbender smiles. 

"my name is sai,"

💧

katara moves the paper off the table as sai props teo onto it. 

"what were you doing out there?" sai asks his son. 

"i just landed," teo states. "how was i supposed to know there'd be another bombing?"

"bombing?" y/n repeats. 

"you mean that wasn't an accident?" katara questions. 

"nothing the fire nation does is an accident," teo mumbles. 

"the fire nation?" aang looks at teo. 

"yeah," teo nods. "their spies are everywhere in the city,"

sai looks around, noticing the morale of the kids going down. 

"it's not safe anywhere these days," sai states. 

"'omashu can be a dangerous place'," katara mumbles to herself, remembering what that stranger had said to her. 

"more water, more water," sai mutters, getting a tea jug and walking over to their tap. 

"you're an airbender," teo says, looking over to aang. "do you realise what this means? we finally have a way to take the fight to the enemy. you could drop bomb on them. rain down destruction. air power is their weakness, and you...you are air power,"

aang stays quiet, unsure how to answer. he's never wanted to hurt anyone, or kill them for that matter. everytime he has used his bending, it's been to protect or defend. not to hurt or go on the offense. 

sokka opens the door, quietly, looking around as he steps in. 

"woah," he says, nodding. 

"pretty great, huh?" teo says with a smug smile. "dad's the mechanist to the king of omashu,"

"'mechanist'?"

"ah," sai says, walking back into the room. "just a fancy word for someone who wastes a lot of  time tinkering," 

sokka smiles, taking off his satchel and putting it on the floor. 

"don't listen to him," teo says. "he's responsible for maintaining the best parts of the city. like the delivery system. you've seen it, right? it's amazing,"

"i play but a small role,"

"hey, if everyone in omashu were as dedicated as you, this war would be over," now this hits y/n, harder than the more she thought about it. "the fire nation would be on their knees by now," teo says. 

"yes," sai says looking around uncomfortably. "yes, yes, yes, yes," he taps his son's shoulder, going to do something else. 

"well, we all have our own part to play in the war. right, aang?" katara says, getting the airbender's attention. 

"yes," aang says, looking over at teo. "yes, uh, which is why we have to go,"

"oh, right," teo says, with a small frown. sokka begins to play with the different contractions made by sai. "just promise me you'll really stick it to the firebenders. make 'em pay,"

aang gives teo a wearly look and an awkward smile. he didn't say yes, but he didn't say no either. 

"sokka," y/n says, trying to get her brother's attention. 

"i mean look at this," sokka says, holding some type of instrument in his hands. 

"those are for cleaning under your toenails," sai says, looking a sokka. the water tribe male has never dropped something so fast in his life. "it can get bloody,"

💧

"did you see the mechanism on that sorting machine?" sokka asks around as they exit teo and sai's house. "it's spring-powered," y/n has no idea what sokka is saying but he smiles at him, encouraging for him to go on. "ingenious. should've done that with our kayak racks back home,"

the three water tribe siblings walk on, aang slowing down and looking at the chaos around him. 

"aang?" katara says, noticing that the youngest hasn't followed them. 

"this place used to be incredible," aang starts. "a place i couldn't wait to see. a place were amazing thing were created, not destroyed. it's my responsibility to help these people,"

"how are you going to do that?"

"being the avatar isn't just about fighting," aang starts. "it's about helping people, like teo and his father and everyone in this city,"

"what about getting to the north?"

"yeah," y/n says. "did avatar kyoshi say something about stopping a tragedy?"

"yes," aang nods. "i'm going to do that, but i have do to that too. if i'm going to save the world, i have to do it one person at a time,"

💧

"that's why i'm staying in omashu," aang says to teo and sai, his found family behind him. "because i want to help, and i think i can. because i'm the avatar," the son and father, look at each other before, looking at aang. "now, tell me about these bombings,"