I felt cold air stabbing me at all sides and an unbearably bright light drilling into my eyes. Dozens of voices all around me in a confusing cacophony. I felt like I was being lifted up and felt the strength to voice my displeasure only to find my tongue felt too thick. I blinked and let out a wail at the tre-
Wait.
No. No way was this happening.
Where was my peaceful oblivion you lying so called god!
I blinked my eyes open again looking at the overly bright room only to find myself looking up at a man with a neatly managed goatee.
“Hello there Tenya, Its wonderful to finally meet you.” That unimaginative, lying, bastard! I clenched my fists and let out a frustrated scream!
“Strong lungs, she is a healthy child.” And I was a woman again! Honestly at this point I was used to it but it was the principle of the thing!
“I can’t wait to see if she is an Airbender!” Wait that was new?
“Again.” I danced back allowing myself to fall into a rhythm that I hardly needed to even think about. My feet dancing across the worn stone as I manipulated the air around me into a raging tempest. Soon the conflicting currents in the uneven mass of howling wind began to pluck sheets of thick paper laid out across the ground.
When the air was filled with the fluttering sheets I shifted away from the last form and dove into the next feeling a smile form on my face as I forcibly cut though old currents with blades of air with a rhythmic grace.
I spun about and bowed my head letting my hands come together under my chin as my manipulation of the air ceased. Slowly the paper drifted into place to form a semi neat stack at my feat. Falling exactly as I intended.
“Magnificent. Y-you are truly ready.”
“Thank you Father.” I gave him a warm smile as his voice cracked and he looked ready to burst into tears. It was an important event for him and I did not want to ruin it by not appearing excited. Well, that part was not particularly hard. I was excited to get recognition for my hard work after all.
“I am so proud of you.” I rubbed my eye and shifted in place to look around at the tranquil garden we were using for the demonstration. It had not been easy getting along with him over the years but he was a good man. I will confess to having my own mild bouts of childishness but to be fair I was technically a child at the time. It was a much healthier environment this time. Plenty of food, tranquil estates, loving family and lots of hard work, this life was shaping up to be much more peaceful then the first few.
All the guards around never hurt either.
“Without your help I would not have managed any of this.” I said honestly. Creating a new airbending technique had taken years of experimentation and a long time to work out a means to present the technique itself.
“Tenzin! Tenya! It’s time for dinner!” I turned towards the sound of Pema calling out and smiled as Tenzin quickly called out that he was coming. We shared a look at being interrupted before rushing off to see what had been prepared for today.
As it turned out Pema was feeling experimental and had attempted a Fire Nation dish with the meat removed. It was an interesting attempt but I had tried the full dish in secret and honestly without the honeyed turtle duck it felt like half a meal despite the portion size.
“Congratulations Tenya! I hear you did amazing today.”
“Thank you Pema.” I gave the woman a polite smile as she reclined holding her midsection. I could hardly imagine what was driving her to fuss about a kitchen as heavy with child as she was.
“Are you going to go bald like Dad now?” I smiled at Ikki and shook my head. The girl was a bit of a chatterbox and had exactly none of the grace that would no doubt come with time.
“I fully intend to grow my hair back after the ceremony.” I said with good cheer. I had come to appreciate longer hair over the years after all. I had considered quite seriously if I was interested in becoming an Airbending master and come to the conclusion that the lifestyle was agreeable given I could bend a few of the rules and it was a small price to pay in order to prevent a culture from disappearing from the world.
“It’s going to be a busy few weeks getting things ready.” Tenzin said setting his bowl down. I turned towards him with a frown.
“A few weeks? You have to travel south soon Father.” The White Lotus at the south pole had finally requested airbending training for the Avatar, that of course meant that Tenzin had to put his current position in the city council on hold.
“We can push things back to make sure you get the full ceremony.”
“I don’t think that will be necessary.” I began. “A smaller ceremony with would be fine you don’t need to push things back for weeks just for me.”
“Tenya. You are becoming an Airbending Master. This is a great achievement and it should be celebrated.”
“How about we have a small family ceremony now and then have a big one later!” Jinora put on her big girl face as she rushed to provide a compromise to the situation. She was just ten years old and was as dedicated to the Air Nomads as our shared Father. Speaking of Tenzin, he looked conflicted so I quickly pushed for a somewhat desirable solution.
“That sounds like a very smart solution Jinora.” The girl seemed to inflate with the slight praise and soon it was decided. There was of course the elephant in the room when it came to inviting family but I doubted said elephant would show up with Tenzin and Pema both being present even if tempers had cooled considerably.
Well, I would make the attempt at the very least, it gave me an excuse to go to the city and eat something with meat in it.
“Tenya come forward.” I resisted the urge to scratch my head as I contended with a hood that fell so far forward it obscured everything but my mouth. The small shrine we were using had several small bowls of incense lit with pillows scattered about for the dozen or so people in attendance. One gloomy soul was in the back leaning against a bust of some ancient Airbender.
“Today we welcome the first Airbending master in a generation. Tenya has distinguished herself in the ancient art of our people and has gone far beyond what previous generations required for mastery. There is a time for humility and a price for pride but you have more than earned the right to stand tall for all you have accomplished.” There was clapping and cheering after that short speech, mostly from my half-sisters and brother as I stood up and pulled back my hood to display the prominent tattoos upon my head.
“Thank you Master Tenzin.” It honestly felt a bit overwhelming looking at the smiling faces that had become so familiar over the course of this life. Mastery had been a goal I had the time and peace to slowly work towards. I had been slower than most with Aang having accomplished this in just ten years and Tenzin having earned his mastery at thirteen. It seemed even in this life I was mostly average but seventeen was still an acceptable age. I had in fact passed the basic requirements for mastery years ago but Tenzin had seen flaws in my understanding of the art and had put off my promotion until I had corrected them.
“Now that you are a fellow Master you will learn just as all the masters before you that you have just as much to learn as you do to teach. As Monk Gyatso once said, there is only a fool who thinks they have learned enough. Well, I for one can say I have learned so much from you Tenya, I can’t wait to learn more.” I mirrored his bow as the crowd quickly stood up and begin chatting now that the ceremonial stuff was over with.
I quickly extracted myself from having my siblings rub my temporarily bald head and made my way over to the figure at the back.
“Congratulations kid, honestly I was waiting for when they would get it over with and stick an arrow on your head.”
“Thank you for coming, I know that you might feel a little awkward…” She shook her head.
“Its fine, I got over it a long time ago.” She glanced over at me then decided to reconsider what she said. “I mean, as long as you were happy.” Ah it was that again.
“You don’t need to feel guilty, you know I have a high quality of life and Republic City needs you.” She scrunched up her face and rubbed the back of her neck.
“I don’t feel guilty I just… Ugh, I just want you to know I am proud of you for reaching enlightenment or whatever.” No point needling her I supposed.
“I don’t think I have reached enlightenment just yet.” I said with a laugh, at least I was closer than a certain spirit playing at godhood.
“Well, if anyone was going to it would be you.”
“Speaking on more material matters, since I am a master now, I will be sitting in on the council meetings on Tenzin’s behalf.”
“What? Why? What is that old goat doing pushing his work onto you?”
“Don’t you know?” Honestly, she should have known weeks ago. “He is going south to train the Avatar in Airbending. You should have been informed of this by now.”
“I was never informed, honestly with my workload at the moment a shakeup like this is a terrible idea. Tenzin for all his faults is good for the council, I hope you are up for the task kid.” That was odd.
“What do you mean? Is there a crimewave or something?” She winced and looked around for an exit strategy.
“I don’t want to bother you with complaints about paperwork today. Sorry kid.” Well, I could take a hint. Honestly, she could be so awkward to talk to sometimes. She did not join the rest of us at dinner but I hardly expected her to go that far all things considered.
The island was quieter then normal with just some security milling about. The entire estate was filled with gardens and shrines designed to allow a thoughtful Airbender to reach enlightenment but It seemed more apt to say that the place was simply comfortable. Decorated walls raised in the right places to catch the sea winds and turn it into a gentle breeze combined with carefully managed treelines to segregate sections of the estate created one of the must luxurious homes in the entire Republic.
It was only somewhat hypocritical that its owners were meant to voluntarily cast-off earthly possessions. Well, that was the perception but the culture was actually a lot more sensible than that. There was of course an expectation that gurus and monks live selflessly for the community but the Air Nomads were an entire culture. Masons, blacksmiths, farmers, craftsmen, scribes.
Ownership over things was expected and protected even if there was the implicit communal economy. You could own what you liked but if someone needed it you were expected to share with disputes being solved by the monks who were thought to be a neutral third party. Honestly the Air Nomads were quite clever, earning influence and resources by offering blessings, guidance and acting as a messenger service or diplomatic core for the other nations. The Air Nomads were very wealthy when the Fire Nation attacked.
I looked out over the calm sea of the Yue Bay, it was rare to have something that was not named to celebrate Aang and the Avatars or the fact that it was a Republic. That it was a republic and more of an international project that only the rich parts of the city had any real say in how things would happen. Still the council were highly competent and had allowed for an incredible amount of economic growth by curtailing the guild monopolies that plagued the rest of the Earth Kingdom.
I rolled my shoulders and tapped my glider staff against the stonework before throwing myself into the air. The thundering excitement that built up inside of me as the world became small and distant and I became a distant speck in the sky made the years of slow mastery over Airbending worth it.
It was not quite as free as flight in my second life. I could not dance about the sky with as much grace as I could but it was a good substitute and I could relax as I slowly worked air currents up into the glider. It was the best way to start a day and I felt pity that so many people could not experience this.
I had plenty to do today otherwise I would have spent longer in the sky. I allowed myself a gentle decent into one of the many parks that dotted the city. It seemed that even as early as it was there were enough people milling about to take notice of an Airbender dropping out of the sky but no one seemed to want to bother me. I carefully returned my glider staff to its staff configuration and let it rest on my shoulder as I strode forward though the park.
“Are you tired of the benders looking down their noses at you?!” I looked astonished as a man stood on a stage with not a single soul listening but continued his impassioned speech though a Cabbage Corp “shout speaker”.
“For too long the bending elite have looked down their noses at non benders and treated us like lower class citizens!” I had to give him a point for dedication, there were still people sleeping and he was out and ready to spread his message.
“YOU!” Oh no he wanted audience participation. I looked around and found I was the only audience he had, poor guy.
“I bet you want to use your airbending to knock me off this platform for speaking the TRUTH!”
“No, I don’t” Why would I want to start a scene and help him ‘prove’ that benders were oppressing him?
“Oh yeah? Talking about your FAKE pacifism miss airbending master! You get to live in tranquil gardens and meditate all day while the rest of us have to work for a living!” He was read up on bending if he knew what the tattoos meant, honestly this entire situation was unwinnable given that his attacks against me had drawn somewhat of a crowd.
“Every day this city grows richer with new technological developments and industries that are bringing an unparalleled quality of life for even the most poor and downtrodden in our society. Downtrodden who include not just non benders but struggling benders too, there are so many people who work hard every day to earn a living and we should focus on bringing everyone up not just dragging one group down.” He let out an exasperated sound and jabbed a finger at me.
“So now the Air Nomads support industry? Just like benders to change positions on a dime! What happened to ‘Cabbage Corp and Sato Corp are polluting the very air we breathe’ huh?!” That sounded very much like Tenzin, I needed to wrap up this conversation or I was going to be late.
“Airbenders are not a monolith and there are many things we disagree on, but my fellow master is correct in that Industries need to be careful to not pollute the water and air in order to preserve the health of the citizens. A balance must be struck between progress and conservation.” With that I turned on my heel and marched off as he shouted out behind me.
All in all, I think I did okay in my first public appearance.
In a shock encounter between an Equalist representative and the new sitting Air Nomad councilwoman this morning implied the implementation of a new policy encouraging Industrial Development in the sections of the city that have not been zoned yet! We reached out to the Cabbage Corp spokesmen who have championed this new development as a sign that the ‘Airbending Masters are finally beginning to understand the importance of industry, if we get richer the profits will trickle down to the people at the bottom of society!’
This sudden shift in the council marks the end of decades of stonewalling from Master Tenzin preventing the expansion of industrial districts in the United Republic!
“Welcome to the council Master Tenya.” Councilman Tarrlok said politely as the rest of the council muttered much of the same while I settled into my seat. The council was made up of five people, representatives from the Earth Kingdom, Fire Nation, Air Nomads and both the Northern and Southern Water Tribes. That of course meant that in theory the Water Tribes had a great deal more influence over the city then the other nations but in practice the two tribes were often found to be in disagreement.
“It must be quite intimidating to be sitting in on this meeting while still so young.” The Fire Nation councilwoman said. “Thankfully things are quiet at the moment so you should have a chance to settle in.” It was rather absurd that they would let a seventeen-year-old sit in the government of an entire nation state but given that I was the only representative the Air Nation had I was in by default.
“Excuse me Councilwoman, what would be your preference to drink?” I turned to find an older man giving me a patent smile.
“Houli bean tea thank you. Black.” That raised an eyebrow but the man hurried away to get me my drink, it was the closest thing to Coffee in this world even if it was a lot sweeter.
“Well now we might as well begin.” Tarrlok cleared his throat and looked down at his notes. “There was recently a statue of War Minister Qin of the Fire Nation that was torn down by Equalist protesters in the old town. The statue itself was erected during the hundred years war. Currently it’s at the bottom of the Yue.”
“Dig it out of the bay and melt it for scrap.” The venom coming out of the Fire Nation Councilwoman was palpable.
“We can’t just let the Equalists vandalise statues even if it’s a statue of an unsavoury person, it’s part of our collective history.” The Southern Water tribe representative countered.
“I agree that doing nothing would be setting the precedent that the Equalists can do this with impunity and that would be unacceptable.” Tarrlok looked around the council before he continued. “We need to let the Equalists know that this is unacceptable.”
“We should remove the statue from the bay and restore it. But putting it back might just inspire escalation.” I said earning the ear of the council. “We should put the statue into a museum where it has a greater degree of protection while also remaining for future generations to learn from.”
“An excellent suggestion Tenya.” Tarrlok certainly was trying his best to get on my good side it seemed. “Now onto what to replace the statue with, I have a few suggestions…” I found a warm drink placed at my side and quietly thanked the council assistant as we worked though the docket that Chairman Tarrlok had put together. It was mostly things that had been decided already so my input was largely unneeded allowing me to relax into the chair.
Every hour or so the council would go onto a break and I could wander around the City Hall before returning for more talks. I was under no illusion that my workload was greatly reduced given that this was my very first day but I was getting a very good impression about my duties as a Councilwoman. Perhaps I would ask Tenzin about remaining in this position when he returned… I would consider that more when I had a better grasp on all the duties expected of me, I was not quite ready to give up the tranquil quiet of Airbending studies.
It was on one of the quiet walks though the city hall on the way back to the council chamber for the last sitting of the day when a brick flew through the window and I had the misfortune to be showered with glass. One of the secretaries let out a shout of surprise and backed away from the broken window as the hall was suddenly filled with chanting and shouting from outside.
I hissed in pain cursing the fact that pain doping and healing spells were a lifetime away as I looked at the shallow cut across my arm. Miraculously I had been almost entirely uninjured by the falling glass but the cut was spitting out blood. Perhaps this job was not quite as ideal as I had originally thought.
I rolled my eyes and took off my sash to press the cloth into the wound and stop the bleeding while walking calmly to the council chambers, hopefully a water bender who knew healing was on the staff or I was going to have to wait for the riot outside to calm down.
“Korra? Look at you, so big and strong. You’ve grown into quite the young Avatar.”
“Master Tenzin! I’m so glad you’re here! I can’t wait to get started.”
“Yes, well…” Tenzin looked away as his wife shook her head softly.
“You’re going to need to tell her sooner or later.” Pema said as Korra looked between the pair of them.
“Tell me what?”
“You’re not staying are you.” The venerable woman behind Korra spoke as Tenzin moved forward to place a hand on Korra’s shoulder.
“I’m afraid not, we are only visiting for the night. Then I have to return to Republic City.”
“No, but… Your supposed to move here, your supposed to teach me.” The young woman looked up at the Airbending master as he nodded.
“I am sorry Korra. Your airbending training is going to have to wait. I have a responsibility to Republic City as one of its leaders and the situation has become very unstable. There was a riot outside of the City Hall and my… One of the council members was injured.”
“That’s horrible!”
“And exactly why Republic City needs me right now. I know you have been waiting a long time for this but its just a little bit longer…”
“Well, if you can’t stay here, why don’t I come back with you? I can learn airbending at Air temple island!”
“Absolutely not. The city is much too dangerous. You need to stay here where its safe Korra.” The Avatar for her part simply looked sullen but let the conversation go as everyone moved inside to get out from the cold.
My brief stint as Councilwoman ended after just over a week with Tenzin returning to Republic City as soon as he heard about my injury. I was hardly hurt at all but he had been deeply ashamed that he had put me in a situation where I might get a little scratch despite my assurances that I was fine.
I had turned over my work to him as the Equalist protests started to pick up the pace, clearly the elusive leadership of the clearly astroturfed movement were whipping the non bender population up.
I was sitting in a little gazebo enjoying a little peace and quiet, this area of town was deeply middle class, shops filled with expensive goods. Equalists would show up to moan in the park but never took to the streets in no small part because the bender gangs that had entrenched themselves would put up a nasty fight if the papers were to be believed.
I was just enjoying some new tea infusion that the matron had cooked up for me when the entertainment of the hour showed up right on time. The Equalist had put up his stand and would bother everyone at the park for a few hours before the police would tell him to keep it down and he would then argue with them for an hour or so.
After the unexpected riot I had taken the time out of my day to learn about the Equalists considering that a group that had been dismissed in the papers had started a several thousand-person riot outside of the seat of power in the city. The more I learned about them the more worried they made me. They had a terrible absurd ideology based on an overblown inferiority complex that no one seemed willing to address or deescalate.
I did not have a proposal for how to deal with them because I hardly knew anything about them. My life on Air temple island was blissful and I rarely engaged with the city itself except to buy things or go to events with Tenzin. It was a lifestyle I deeply appreciated but one that could be undermined if an anti bender ideology took hold of the city.
“What are you talking about! Bending is the coolest thing in the world!” Oh, and there was the audience participation that my entertainment liked so much. I looked over at the newcomer, she was tall and sat atop the back of some kind of huge white wolf-dog thing. She clearly cared for herself if the lean carefully managed muscles she displayed proudly were any indication. Her blue clothes and light brown skin identifying her as likely a recent immigrant from the water tribes.
I sighed and collected myself as the woman made an implicit threat that she was going to attack him. With the rabid journalists about something like that would only inflame tensions and ruin any chance this girl had at getting a job in the city. The crowd beginning to turn on her and shout as her animal backed away slightly. Avoiding anyone getting bitten was also a concern.
“I-I’m not oppressing you! You… You’re oppressing yourselves!”
“Well now I think this has all gone a little too far.” My voice was carried across the air as I worked a little bit of power into my voice getting the attention of the crowd and the immigrant.
“You again! She threatened to attack me!” The lead protester shouted jabbing a finger at the woman as she held up her hands.
“I am sure she never meant that, you know how heated public debates can get.” I held up my arm and several of the other protesters looked a bit guilty. Most sane people were upset that anyone got hurt in the city hall protest and the papers and radio had ranted about my wound every chance they got. I was certainly not above using it for my own benefit. I turned to the woman and gave her a smile. “You look like you're new here, lets go for a walk.” She followed me away from the Equalists as they shouted out some half-hearted comments after us.
After a while the woman slipped off of her mount and led it by the lead. Even on foot she stood a full head taller than me. While I had escaped the curse of malnutrition in this life allowing me to fill out somewhat into a womanly figure, well at least a figure that could not be mistaken for boyish if one squinted. I suffered from a no less insidious curse.
I was just short.
“Thank you. I… You’re an Airbender?” Her eyes went wide as I nodded pulling back my hood.
“I am, my name is Tenya, it’s a pleasure to meet you miss?” She blinked and then offered her hand.
“Korra! Its so nice to meet you.” That was a bit forward. Wait, Korra? That must be a popular name in the water tribes.
“Well, Korra it’s a pleasure to meet you.” She had a very strong grip and when she let my poor hand go her stomach let out a grumble much to her embarrassment.
“Hungry?” I asked.
“Sorry I just, never got to finish my breakfast.” She let out a sigh and I nodded. With a few coins in my pocket, I could do a good deed today. I was reasonably sure that Karma existed in this world so this was practically a freebee.
“Come on, I was going to pick up something myself, you can consider it a welcome to republic city treat.”
“You have money?! I thought Airbenders-.”
“Are moneyless nomads who live on air and sunshine.” I winked at her. “We need to buy things just like everyone else, come on I know somewhere we can go.” She smiled and followed me as I led her though the city peppering me with questions about the republic and what it was like to live on air temple island. Given Airbenders were so rare it was not a shock that she was so curious.
“Here.” I handed Korra a small basket of chicken and pork bites before setting two cups of refreshing tea on the table she had chosen. I had even managed to get them to give her animal a bucket of water on the house.
“Thanks, wait… This is meat?” I popped one of my own bites into my mouth and grinned at her.
“Don’t tell anyone.” She giggled and begin to demolish her food.
“I am glad I found you. This city is… It’s too much to get to grips with all at once.” I sighed at that.
“You might not have had the best impression of things considering. But there is a good city here, with good people. Stick it out and it might surprise you.” Immigrants to anywhere would often find themselves disillusioned, positive thinking should help her get though the struggle of finding work and sticking with it. Considering she was a water bender there was plenty available for her so she should be fine. She looked thoughtful as she slowly chewed though the meat in her overfilled mouth.
“Yeah, there have been some nice people here and there.”
“Well, you will have to excuse me for a bit.” I stood up to go to the bathroom. “I will be back soon, look after my food for me.” She nodded and looked over at an expensive automobile parking outside of a gramophone shop I made my way into the restroom at the back of the restaurant.
Perhaps I could give her some pointers, I knew that Cabbage Corp always wanted more water benders for manufacturing and there were high paying positions at the docks. Korra seemed fun and it was not like I had much planned to do today. One thing I had neglected was friendly contacts throughout the city. If I was going to be a political representative of the Air Nomads then I needed to expand my horizons a bit anyway.
I was finishing up and washing my hands when I heard shouting and a crashing sound from outside. By the time I stumbled out of the bathroom it looked like a warzone. The street had pillars of ice and some of the storefronts were weakly smouldering. The cobblestone streets had been ripped up by earth bending and there was a car that had smashed though the front of my favourite breakfast restaurant.
“What happened? Korra what did you do?” I said walking towards Korra as the woman looked smugly triumphant. Metal bending police landing just a few paces away. Korra smiled at me before turning to the police.
“I caught the bad guy’s officers!” The police looked at the trio stumbling out from the restaurant behind me.
“Arrest them!” He shouted, the metal benders rushing to arrest the three men before pointing at Korra and I. “You’re both under arrest too!” I never even did anything! I am an airbending master I can’t have a criminal record!
“W-wait there must be some mistake.” I began looking around at the utterly destroyed storefronts and chaos all about the place.
“What do you mean I am under arrest?! The bad guys are over there they were smashing up a shop.” The police officer glared at her and pointed to the street.
“It looks like you smashed up more than just that!” He looked over at me before noticing the tattoos. “Wait, Tenya? Oh uh, Sorry miss do you know this woman?” This was my chance!
“I have never seen her be-”
“I’m the Avatar! Tenya was helping me get to Air Temple Island.” WHY WAS SHE HERE!? She never said anything about being the Avatar!
“Then you.” He said pointing to me as I winced. “Are responsible for her.” I looked at Korra as she gave me a big smile.
“…I am yes. I am so sorry for her actions officer.” I bowed my head as he let out a sigh.
“Well then, I still need to take you both in to give a report and she is still under arrest.” Lin! She can save me!
“That is fine officer. I will make sure things are straightened out at the station.”
“W-wait why am I in cuffs! I never did anything wrong! Tenya tell them!” Korra protested as she was dragged along to the police station intent in causing a scene all the way there.
This was going to be difficult to explain.
