Carved In Rock || ATLA

Centuries

The Library Continued

"Some legends are told, some turn to dust or to gold but you will remember me, remember me for centuries. And just one mistake is all it will take. We'll go down in history, remember me for centuries." - Fall Out Boy

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Ghashiun kept his eyes trained on the sky, never letting the giant flying beast out of his sight as he and his men followed a safe distance behind it on their sand sailors. His heart beat in equal parts nerve and excitement. This could be the big break he and his people needed.

Life in the desert was hard, people weren't meant to live like this, but despite it all, his people had. The Si Wong tribes had settled into the barren land hundreds of years ago, sometime after the beetle-headed merchants had assumed dominance. Descendants of traditional earthbenders, they learned to bend the fine particles of the sand, making the style their own. But still, it was a brutal existence. Near constant drought, few livestock, and even fewer crops, not to mention the dangerous beasts that preyed on humans whenever the chance did arise.

Ghashiun and his people were struggling every day just to survive. As the seventeen-year-old son Sha-Mo, the chief of their small tribe, it was his duty to think of the future. In his mind, the only real future he wanted was to get his family and his people out of the desert. After losing his mom to the same skin disease the sun cursed so many of their people with, he had grown resentful towards this hellish land. He wanted as far away from here, somewhere green, and he needed money to take his people with him and settle down in whatever village would take them.

The beast was going down, drifting out of the sky.

"Keep on them!" He called out to his men. "We were right, those people and that thing aren't built for the desert."

"They made it farther than we thought." One of them called back. "If we're lucky they'll already be in the early stages of heat exhaustion, and won't put up much of a fight."

"We can only hope," Gashiun muttered under his breath. He was a lot of things - determined, brutal, even a thief and a liar at times - but the truth was he wasn't a fighter.

He watched as the beast landed beyond the dunes just out of sight, and caught a glimpse of the rider on its head before they disappeared. He had seen a lot of things in his life, but he had never seen tattoos like that before.

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Out of all the places Aelita had seen with her own eyes, she had to say this library was easily one of the most impressive. Sokka had tied off another long section of rope to a torch mount bolted into the walls near the window they climbed in through and the team began their careful descent down into the massive structure. They entered directly above what looked to be the top floor, but peering down over the suspended hallways that ran connected the large room no one could see just how far down the library went. It was painted primarily in a deep, earthy green with ornate gold and white detailing. The roof vaulted high and books in every color of the rainbow lined the shelves along the walls from floor to ceiling, strong pillars holding the whole place up.

"Oh, it's breathtaking!" Zei exclaimed, the last one making his way down the rope to drop onto the floor a few feet beneath. "The spirit spared no expense in designing this place." He pointed to an arch between pillars. "Look at those beautiful buttresses!" He heard the Avatar and the Southern Water tribesman laughing behind him. "What's funny?"

"Nothing." Aang insisted. "We just like architecture."

"Bullshit," Aelita whispered to Katara.

"As do I." The professor took the boys honestly. "My word!" He continued to ramble when he noticed a beautiful depiction of an owl on a wall nearby. "The exquisite mosaic handiwork of this tile-rendered avian symbol..." He stopped when he finally noticed the looks of boredom and confusion his younger friends were giving him. "Uh, nice owl."