An Echo of Legends: An ATLA Mystery Story (on hiatus)

Chapter 16: Aang

Okay, so in this chapter I give Aang an ability that isn't exactly canon. Even though he's never shown to have this ability, I don't think it's a stretch to say that he does. Anyways, enjoy this chapter.

~~~

Earlier

When Aang, Zuko, Mai, and Katara reached the beach house on Ember Island, they were greeted by a happy Su and a distraught Ty Lee.

"I am so, so sorry," she said, her voice sincere, "I just- I didn't-"

"You didn't know," Mai suggested angrily, "That maybe helping Azula might end badly?"

"That... was not your best move," Aang said cautiously, "But I'm not going to hold it against you. Right now we should start searching for leads. Ty Lee, you should take Su back to Republic city. I think it's better if she's home right now." Ty Lee nodded. 

Meanwhile, Aang and Zuko searched the town for any hints about where Bumi and Izumi went. They asked every passerby, every shop keeper, and every street vendor. Most of them just wanted to meet the avatar and the fire lord, and none of them had any valuable information. 

"Hi," Zuko said to a fruit vendor, "Have you seen a woman, who looks a lot like me, amber eyes, black hair..."

"Yeah, I actually saw someone like that yesterday morning," he said chopping a watermelon in half with a what looked like a meat cleaver, "She was talking to these two kids, they each looked kind of like you two."             

"Really?! Did you hear what they were talking about?!" Aang asked excitedly, but he was also confused. Zuko seemed bewildered that the fruit vendor didn't seem to care about who they were.

"Nope," he said, "I didn't pay attention to them. You're holding up the line." 

"Oh," Aang and Zuko hastily left the fruit stand. It was evening, so they decided to meet up with Katara and Mai at the beach house.

"Why would they be talking to Azula," Mai asked, "None of this makes any sense." 

"What if they went with her willingly," Katara said, more to herself than the rest of them, "But they know better than that, right?" She and Aang's eyes turned to Zuko and Mai.

"Well," Zuko started, looking away from them.

"Are you kidding?! She's 18, Zuko, you can give her the 'Your family members are war criminals and your great great grandfather started that war' talk!" Katara shouted.

"No, we've given her that talk," Zuko said, "We just haven't told her all the details about Azula, which, might have been a mistake."

"Let's just get some sleep, and we can try again in the morning," Mai sighed, and they agreed. 

~~~

The next morning, or it was more like the early afternoon, Aang woke to find everyone outside, a messenger hawk on Zuko's shoulder.

"It's from the fire sages at Bhanti Island," he said in astonishment, "They say that Izumi and Bumi are on the island."

"What?!" Katara said, "That's a relief! What about Azula, did they say anything about her?" Zuko shook his head.

"The message was very short. But we should get going and see," Mai replied. It took the four of them very little time to pack up the few things they had brought and leave Ember island behind. The next few hours were spent in silence, Aang just trying to get to Bumi and Izumi as fast as possible. Appa was getting to be older, and he wasn't as agile as he used to be, but the bison was still determined and fast, and that was all that they needed. 

It was dawn when they got to the island. Bhanti and Ember Island were similar in a lot of ways, but Ember Island had dark sand, while the latter had pale beaches. They were greeted by the fire sages, five of them standing in a close cluster near the shore as Appa landed. Their expressions were somber. 

"I'm sorry," said Zhi Ruo, the head fire sage at the temple, "But you're too late." Aang looked at Katara, puzzled.

"What do you mean," she asked, "You sent a message, you said our children were here."

"They were," Zhi Ruo replied, "But we couldn't stop them from leaving with her."

"I don't understand," Zuko said, shaking his hand. The fire sage sighed.

"Princess Izumi came here for the spirit waters, in the temple," she explained, "She said she wanted to fix her fire bending." Zuko and Mai looked shocked.

"Her... firebending?" she said.

"Wait, I'm confused," Aang said, "What about Izumi's firebending needs to be 'fixed'?" They were spared an answer, because Zhi Ruo continued. 

"We were suspicious of her arrival, so we searched around and found Azula, we tried to defeat her, but she escaped, and the children went with her. And from what we saw they went willingly.

"So they're gone," Zuko sighed.   

"Willingly?!" Katara questioned, "That- I just- None of this makes any sense!"

"So what if it doesn't?" Mai said, "We'll figure out the details after we find them," she turned to the fire sages, "Do you have any ideas of where they went?" They apologized profusely, and said that they didn't.   

"Just another dead end," Aang muttered, before he was struck by an idea. Apprehensively, he said, cross-legged, on the sand, palms facing up. He breathed deeply, and focused on the trifecta of people and energies, that was Bumi, Izumi, and Azula. He knew them all fairly well, although Azula he knew in a very different way. When someone struck you with a lightning bolt and almost killed you and all your past lives, that person is going to be unlike anyone else in your life, although Aang had never felt any sort of need for revenge or retribution against Azula. Bumi on the other hand, Aang wished he knew more. They had been so much closer when he was younger. Bumi's free spirit matched his own. But at some point along the way, maybe he spent more time with Tenzin, rebuilding his culture, or maybe it had something to do with the growing pressures caused by republic city, but it was like a switch had been flipped. 

I'm proud of you, that was all Aang wanted to say, but why couldn't he find the right time and place....

And suddenly, he was somewhere else, somewhere very familiar. At the top of a mountain, as if from the outside looking in, Aang saw an herbalist's institute, and he saw Oogie, chomping on hay outside the greenhouse. Then, just as quickly as he had seen it, the mountain vanished, and Aang was back on Bhanti Island. It would take a few days, especially with Appa having just made a relatively long journey, but at least...

"I know where they are," he said breathlessly.

~~~

Thanks for Reading!