The New Avatar - Eight Elements

Chapter Two: Meeting the Masters

Saturday, September 3rd, 2022

We sat in silence for a few minutes until Lee came back with Tami. Tami's short, dark brown hair was half pulled back into a puffy little pony tail; her forehead beaded with sweat. As soon as she saw me her face lit up,

"Eva!" She called, as we ran towards each other and hugged. "How've you been holding up? I'm so sorry I didn't tell you where I went, or anything really."

"It's ok, I got most of my questions answered." I replied, smiling.

When she saw Lee and Ezra, she pulled back and gave them both a fist bump. "Good job you two. I'm glad you met and helped Eva; I couldn't have done any of this without you two."

"It was really easy, I just told her that she was the Avatar, and she was all like 'What the hell is an Avatar?! That can't be me?!'" Ezra replied, re-enacting my reaction by flailing his arms everywhere.

"Oh, shut up Ezra, you keep over exaggerating everything." Lee said, "But it really was easy. We even got Mic to help us."

I sighed, and pushed the millions of questions back for a second, "So, now are you gonna tell me why we're here?" I asked, turning back to Tami.

"Well, I told you the short version earlier, but here's the long version. My bending just kinda appeared one day. It was about the middle of our grade 6 year, and I was scared; I didn't know anything about bending. Eventually, I got a hold of myself and practiced my new talent in secret. When my parents found out that I could bend, we fought. They had had enough of my retaliation; first coming out as pansexual, then wanting to quit all the extra dance they were forcing me into, and then this. They disowned me and I took everything with me when I left." She said, and I could see her tense up as she retold a part of her live that still wasn't sitting well in her mind.

"I went to my grandparents and lived with them for the rest of the year, but they asked too many questions. By the end of summer, I had gone to The Test, and I'd received my acceptance letter. In the progress of all of that, I met Hiyeni and once she found out my living situation, took me in to live with her and Kuna. I've been staying with her ever since, and I've slowly been catching up with all the training I've missed by spending weekends -and even entire weeks during the summer- on Atheara."

"Wow, that's ridiculous." I said, awestruck, "How did you keep this all in? I mean, I knew shit wasn't right at home but Tami, how come you didn't tell me any of this until now?" I asked, very worried for my best friend.

"I didn't wanna worry you, and besides, I didn't know you were the Avatar then, so I couldn't tell you about all this bending stuff anyways." She said, laughing a little bit. 

"But I'm not done yet," she continued, "As I kept catching up, Master Ursa took an interest in me, and Lee too I guess, because two months ago, she said we were ready to start our Sensei training. Neither of us believed we were ready enough to start yet, but she thought we were ready; she said she needed us to train someone special. Now I see she meant you, the new Avatar!" She said hugging me again, as Lee joined us and hugged the two of us. 

"I'm so happy for you, but you have a lot of weight on your shoulders." Tami said, as her and Lee pulled away from me, 

"Yeah, it's gonna be tough, but we'll help you through everything." Lee added,

"Which is why we need you, Shay-Lee and Tamika," Master Ursa said, turning to each of them, "You must show her The Academy and the new world."

I stepped back from Tami, "Wait, is this that "Atheara" you mentioned earlier?" I asked, confused for the fourth time that night.