After about a day's flight, Fang's makeshift wing develops a tear in it and we land in a small non-bending town to repair it. There's a hotel nearby so we decide to just stay the night and fix Fang's wing in the morning.
The landing is a bit rough but he manages to land alright.
As we're walking into the decently big wooden hotel, with Fang resting at a nearby stable, Katakan seems to be in pain.
"What's wrong, love?" I ask, grabbing her hand with one hand, and arm with another to help with her balance.
She does not muster a word, the only thing she can manage is pointing to her belly, where our son lay.
I immediately know what's happening and help her lay down on a couch in the lobby. The man tending the front desk quickly runs to a few rooms in a seemingly random order. All I know to do is stand with Katakan, holding her hand.
"It's going to be alright." I whisper, trying to soothe her pain as best I can.
Heido scrambles to look through her medicine book but finds nothing that we can use for numbing her, at least nothing that we have access to right now.
Just as I think I'm going to have to deliver the baby myself, the man who was running the desk comes running down the stairs with a man who seems to be a water bender. "He's a doctor!' He shouts as the doctor immediately starts asking questions, things like "How long has she been pregnant?" and "Does she have any sort of background in medicine?"
I nod, and say it's been about nine months, excluding her time in the spirit world.
The doctor seems a bit confused by my comment about the spirit world, but continues on anyway.
The rest of the night seems to go by in a flash, after everything calmed down it was just a matter of getting Katakan into a bed and the doctor delivering the baby. Of course everyone helped as much as we could.
A few minutes after the baby is born, Katakan gains the ability to speak without wincing in pain again. A soft sigh of relief runs through the room from everyone present.
"He looks just like you." She says, holding him.
"Maybe, but he definitely got your beautiful brown eyes."
"What should we name him?" She asks.
I think about it for a second, looking back on all the experiences I've had and people I know, and eventually coming to a decision. To name him after the man who delivered him, Loki.
"Loki sounds amazing." She says before falling asleep in the silence to come.
We end up staying another day, postponing our arrival to the air nomads yet again. I don't mind though, it's worth it to see my baby safe and sound.
Katakan wakes up at around noon and walks down the stairs of the hotel and into the lobby where I'm sitting on a chair across from the doctor, sipping tea.
"Yeah, I was actually in some of the same classes as your wife back in med school." He says before suddenly seeing Katakan coming down and rests his tea on a small table.
"Good morning." She says, the light emanating from the windows gives her a certain glow that just makes her all the more beautiful.
"Is Loki doing alright?" I ask.
"Yes, he's just taking a nap." She replies, sitting next to me.
I smile and see Heido and Ursu walking down the stairs.
"How long do we plan on staying?" I ask Heido.
"As long as Katakan needs." He replies.
"Thank you, but I'm fine to leave whenever you three want to. I can sleep on our way there if I need to." She says kindly.
"Alright, I've already been out and sowed the tear in Fang's wing." Heido says.
Katakan silently walks upstairs and comes back with Loki.
"I admire your ability to give birth and simply walk it off in the morning." Ursu says to Katakan.
Katakan smiles. "Something about the pride and love I have for him cancels out a lot of the pain, or at least makes it manageable. Most of the pain is gone by now anyways."
Ursu smiles and we walk out to see Fang sitting near the hotel. Everyone climbs onto the saddle and we take off, with Loki still asleep.
The long ride to the air nomads is quite nice. The beautiful scenery of the ground below puts me at ease.
When Loki wakes up, he crawls to the small spot between me and Katakan.
I can't help but wonder what element he'll be able to bend. Most likely earth, but a child of an avatar can end up bending any of the four elements, and Katakan can't bend any.
Laying down next to Loki, I start to see the clouds come closer and closer until we're fully above most clouds and it becomes a little bit harder to breathe, but still manageable. I guess it's better to be as high as possible for a trip as long as this. For a second, I worry about Loki and if he'll be able to breathe, but he looks to be doing just fine. And I'm sure Katakan would know if there's an issue, and she doesn't say anything.
The days go by nicely, Fang seems to have found a way to keep us in the air whilst being half asleep, and Loki is growing at the rate he should be. He's spent more of his life in flight than on solid ground by now which is absolutely crazy.
After a while, I fall into a dreamless sleep.
*, *, *,
When I wake up, we're nearing the air nomads. I can see many young airbenders flying off in the distance using their gliders. It reminds me of the day after Katakan's supposed death, when I woke up and saw a similar sight.
Landing on the massive floating islands that the air benders reside on, a familiar looking airbender welcomes us. He seems to be around my age, maybe a few years younger than me.
"Hiragan!" He exclaims. My hand moves to my dagger, ready to draw it in case he attacks.
"How do you know my name?" I demand.
"You don't recognize me?" He asks, backing away a few steps. "I'm Kana."
The memories of my childhood come flooding back, memories from before I became a dog of Ba Sing Se's government. For a second, I'm transported to my childhood.
Back then, me, Katakan, and Kana were inseparable. Every day we would spend hours playing and talking about our possible futures. None of us had even thought about the possibility of what I would do or who I would become. At the time, I had wanted to join the army, not to fight though. Instead, I wanted to help develop new kinds of technology for weapons. I didn't realize the implications of designing war machines at the time. I didn't realize they would see my power and use it to their advantage.
"What brings you here?" Kana asks, it's enough to bring me back to the present.
"I want to learn air bending." I say, shaking his hand.
"You're an earthbender though, right?" He asks, very confused.
I explain the entire ordeal to him, with being the dark avatar and Heido being the light avatar.
"Really? The dark avatar?" He exclaims in astonishment.
"I indeed am the dark avatar." I say, shooting a flame out of my hand.
He leans closer to me and whispers. "You could get arrested here, never leave a prison cell for the rest of your life."
"I know." Now my voice is in a whisper matching his tone. "I had hoped someone would see past that and teach us."
Kana grabs my arm and rushes me into a small cave, instructing everyone else to stay put and talk to locals.
The cave is small and desolate. The perfect place to talk without others knowing. A fire is lit with my bending and we sit down to discuss everything.
"I'll teach you air bending here. I trust you." He says. "I'll get Heido."
The wait for their arrival is long, but it gives me time to meditate. I'm sure airbending takes plenty of chi build up. I'm very excited to learn how to use a glider, they've always fascinated me.
His arrival startles me, however I settle quickly as he comes in and starts teaching me.
"Airbending doesn't take much chi, contrary to what I'm sure you both expected." He says. "The reason we spend so much time of our lives meditating is because we want to get closer to Hylia, of course any bending takes chi, but airbending is not very chi heavy relative to other types."
This is one of the biggest shocks of my journey. I've always seen the airbenders meditating constantly and just assumed it was to fuel their bending. Although, it is a relief to train mostly in physical movements again, rather than the heavy chi of fire and water bending. I can see the discomfort in Heido though.
His instructions are fairly simple, although it's more flowy compared to the strict and sternness of earthbending. I'm surprised when I see a current of air follow my hand and lead into my next movement. I've seen airbenders airbend countless times and never seen a current follow their airbending. "Why can I see it?" I ask Kana.
"You're the one airbending." He replies. "Only the person controlling the air can see how it moves relative to themself"
Never in a thousand years would I imagine that's how it works. Truly a unique bending style, with an even more unique culture surrounding it. It really is an honor to be trained in it.
A few hours pass of training and meditating before Kana decides it's time to let us go and instructs us to leave as soon as we can gather everyone else.
"It was really nice seeing you again." I tell him. "I'd imagined you were dead in the years I didn't hear from you."
"Not at all, airbenders just like to keep quiet and focus on their religion. If the stigma ever lightens up around the dark avatar, pay me a visit." He says.
"Will do." I say simply as he gives me and Heido gliders.
"If you press this button, a scroll will unfold in the body of the staff and you'll be able to study even more airbending movements." He says, rushing us out of the cave and before I know it, he's gone.
Heido takes on finding Ursu and I search for Katakan. If I know her, she's probably watching the natives fly in the clouds.
I find that I was right when I see Katakan sitting near the ledge with Loki. She notices me and walks over.
"Kana said we have to leave." I say grabbing her hand to help her up.
"Alright." She says getting up.
"Do you want me to carry Loki? You've had him all day, you must be exhausted."
"No thank you, you've had a longer and harder day than me." She says.
An unexpected smile comes across my face, her undying kindness is what made me fall in love with her in the first place and it's never slowed down, not for a second.
Heido jolts in, sprinting at full speed with Ursu just behind him, trying to keep up. "We have to go now." He says.
He's right, but it seems his reasoning may be different than mine. In any case, we swiftly climb up onto Fang and take off with little issue. "What happened?" I ask Heido.
"Some people attacked me and Heido came just in the nick of time to save me." Ursu answers before Heido gets a chance to say anything.
"You were defending yourself just fine." Heido says. "I just kept them at bay with a rock wall so we'd have enough time to run away."
"Well either way, I'm glad everyone's alright." Katakan says.
The way Heido talks about Ursu, and the way Ursu talks about Katakan makes me realize how much they really do love each other. Neither has confessed yet, but I can sense a strong love between them, and Heido has outright told me he loves Ursu.
"How far is ba sing se?" I ask.
"About a week, but your house is a day's flight away from ba sing se." Heido answers.
"Sounds good." I tell him.
This month has truly been amazing. From being devastated at Katakan's death, learning a few bendings, her being revived, and having a child! I am truly the luckiest man alive.
*, *, *,
Just then, Fang starts to plummet without rhyme or reason and I find myself instinctually lunging towards Katakan and Loki and using airbending to try my absolute best to keep them from hitting the ground at dangerous speeds, knowing it won't do much if anything.
The dark den my eyes open into is a shock, but at least it doesn't hurt my eyes like a bright blue sky would in the condition I'm in. To my left, I see a pot that seems to hold a strange liquid, and to my right I see a dark woman who is wearing clothing of which I'm not familiar in the slightest.
Before I can say much of anything, my focus on her blurs and I start to see a bunch of these strange people huddle around Fang, looking at my body and taking my glider and clothes. This is a strange place, but if I can prove that what I'm seeing now is true, I'll know for sure that I can read memories of people when the time is right.
There's not much time to focus on that right now though since my eyes pan over to what seems to be farmland where a lot of people are lifting massive rocks over their head with one hand as if they're oversized feathers.
And with a blink, I'm back in my own body, staring blankly across the room, sitting up. For the first time, I get a chance to get a good look at the room. A small tent built mainly out of straw and sticks. Not much bigger than a jail cell, and not much more welcoming either.
"Good morning." The lady sitting next to me, holding what seems to be a book says. "Are you feeling well?"
"Just fine." I reply. "Where am I?"
"You're in the aether tribe. My name is Ryutia."
"Well then, lady Ryutia, where are my friends? The ones I came here with?" I ask.
"How about you see for yourself." She says, putting down the book and opening the cloth door to the outside world.
The blue of the sky blinds me for a second as my eyes adjust to the brighter area. The cool breeze hits me with a chill as my eyes pan around, searching for my love. Amidst the ocean of tents, I spot Katakan holding Loki. Although I can't help noticing the tribal people holding the same massive rocks as in my vision. Yes! I was right, I can read memories. I have no clue in the world how I get the ability, but it's certainly there. It's happened too many times and too accurately to be simple coincidences.
"Hey Hiragan." Katakan says, waving her hand in front of my face. I must've looked like a statue, standing there in my own thoughts and excitement.
"Oh, hey Katakan." I reply, kissing her quickly. "Are you okay?"
"I feel fine, the people of this tribe have been very kind and welcoming to us, although I haven't seen any non natives here other than you, Heido, and Ursu."
"The place seems very secluded, yeah. We will have to leave at some point though." Katakan nods and Ryutia grabs my arm. "Our chief wants to speak with you."
What choice do I have but to follow her? These people seem very kind but I do sense a
small bit of hostility in them since they took our weapons and clothing. For that reason, my hands are ready to shoot a boulder at any moment. As the chief's house starts to appear from between a row of tents, the only wooden house in sight. I see a few people out of the corner of my eye creating what seems to be a purple sphere with a white center out of thin air, and see it explode in an instant doing no visible damage to the person casting it yet exploding five massive boulders. The rumble that comes from them is enough to be felt under my feet in the soil.
As we enter the chief's house, I see a man sitting in front of some cushions laid on the floor, with Heido sitting on the cushion to my left.
Ryutia leaves the room and the chief points to the cushion on my left. "Sit. We must discuss something."
Only when I'm seated do I realize how physically imposing he is. He seems to be a good deal taller than either me or Heido, and a great deal more muscular than either of us too.
"I am Callisto, the chief of the aether tribe. I welcome you to our small village." He says, pushing a bowl of rice across the floor to me. All I can think about are the million questions I have for him. Where are my things? Where's Fang? Why are we the only foreigners here? But most importantly, who were the people lifting heavy rocks and creating small explosions? I know it would be unwise to ask such questions, so I decide to keep my mouth shut.
In a breaking of silence, Heido speaks up. "What important matters are we here for?"
"Good question." The chief replies. "As we understand, you are the avatar, savior of our tribe many many years ago."
"I'm the avatar, that's right. However, I had yet to hear of this village until we crashed here." Heido replies in a very formal tone. He seems to understand just as well as I do that we may be in some sort of danger.
"I'm not surprised in the slightest." The chief says. "We're very secretive to the outside world, only our greatest allies and our greatest enemies know of us." He continues, sipping some tea.
"What was the force pulling us down from our dragon?" I blurt out. "And how were those people carrying boulders as if they were made of paper? And how were those same people exploding boulders with a snap of their fingers?" Instant regret hits my face as the words come out of my mouth. Knowing full well that he is powerful enough to hurt me if he wants.
The chief's reply is about as nice as I could've hoped for, considering the situation. "We practice a type of bending known as aether bending here. It is a bending that allows one to change something's weight or weight distribution on command, along with making small supernovas with the snap of their fingers."
That explains everything. The force that pulled Fang down was the aether benders making him heavier, the people moving the rocks were simply making them light as a feather for ease of carrying. It all makes sense now.
"Now I have a few questions for you two." The chief says, pointing to the gliders and clothing that are laying next to us. I hadn't noticed them until now with all of the tension and stress. "As we understand, you are the dark avatar."
"That's right. Does it matter?" I ask, trying to keep composure and resist immediately running as fast and as far as I can.
"Hundreds of years ago, there was a war on the very land you occupy now. It was between the light and dark avatar of the day: Astryn and Kyoshi." It takes me a second, but I recognize the name. Astryn was the dark avatar I met just before reviving Heido. The one that supposedly destroyed the reputation for us almost single handedly. I had heard many stories of her attacks on the lands of almost every kingdom, yet I have not heard about this attack until today. I can't be too surprised though since I hadn't heard of this tribe in general until today. "The battle contained a lot of bloodshed. The dark avatar essentially made us start over in our agriculture." He continues.
"So are you going to kill me?" I ask.
"No. The chief of the time, my great grandfather's dying wish was to make balance in the nations, we will cause no bodily harm to you. However, we cannot entrust you with our ancient bending style until you have proven yourself worthy to us."
"And what would make us worthy?" Heido asks.
"You'll find out on your own journey." The chief replies. "Now get your belongings and leave as soon as you can, we don't like visitors here all too much.
Neither of us protest the idea. After changing into my regular clothes, a green tunic with a crest of the water tribe engraved in it, we head out of the small house.
When Katakan sees us, she walks up to us. "Hey love, we're leaving." I say. "They put your things on Fang already.
She nods and we all start walking toward Fang, Ursu joining us in a similar manner when we pass her.
Just before climbing onto Fang, I look out over the tribe and wave. It's nice to see people acknowledge that I'm not the same person as Astryn for once.