Balance | Old Version

Chapter 54

Elua's POV.

We had fought the vine monster for a while, but it turned out to just be a water bender bending the water in the vines and protecting the swamp. He had brought us to the huge tree in the middle of the swamp, where we now sit.
"So, who are you then?" Katara asks the swamp man.
"I protect the swamp from folks that want to hurt it. Like this fellow with his big knife," The swamp man says pointing to Sokka.
"See? Completely reasonable," Sokka tells us. "Not a monster, just a regular guy defending his home. Nothing mystical about it," He states.

"Oh, the swamp is a mystical place, all right. It's sacred," The swamp man says. "I reached enlightenment right here under the banion grove tree. I hear it callin' me, just like you did," The man says to Aang and I.
"Sure ya did. It seems real chatty," Sokka says sarcastically.
"See, this whole swamp is actually just one tree spread out over miles. Branches spread and sink and take root and then spread some more, one big living organism, just like the entire world," The swamp man tells us.
"I get how the tree is one big thing, but, the whole world?" Aang asks in confusion.

"Sure. You think you're any different from me? Or your friends? Or this tree? If you listen hard enough you can hear every living thing breathing together, you can feel everything growing. We're all livin' together, even if most folks don't act like it," The swamp man states. "We all have the same roots, and we are all branches of the same tree," He explains.
"But, what did our visions mean?" I ask him in confusion.
"In the swamp, we see visions of people we've lost, people we loved, folks we think are gone. But the swamp tells us they're not," He answers. "We're still connected to'em. Time is an illusion, and so is death," He tells us.

"But, what about my vision It was someone I had never met," Aang states.
"You're the Avatar. You tell me," The swamp man says smiling.
"Time is an illusion...so, it's...someone I will meet?" Aang asks with a small smile, the man doesn't answer, he just winks.
"Sorry to interrupt the lesson, but we still need to Appa and Momo," Sokka says as he stands up.
"I think I know how to find them," Aang says as he places his hand on the tree root. "Everything is connected," He whispers as his tattoos begin to glow. He quickly stands up with a gasp and turns to us. "Come on! We've got to hurry!" He tells us as we all follow him down the tree.

After a little while, we see Appa being dragged through the water by some swamp people in two wooden boats. I send a blast of air at one of them, breaking one of the boats and knocking them into the water.
"We're under attack!" A man shouts as he begins to waterbend a wave of water at Katara and Aang, they waterbend it to a stop.
"Hey, you guys are waterbenders," Katara says as they both drop the wave back into the river.
"You too? That means we're kin!" The man says smiling.
"Hey, Hue! How you been?" The man in the boat asks the swamp man from before.
"You know, scared some folks, swung some vines, the usual," The man, Hue, says smiling.

That Night.

We all sit around a campfire in the middle of the swamp as everyone was eating giant bugs, which looked extremely unappetizing.
"How you like that possum chicken?" Hue asks Sokka.
"Tastes just like an arctic hen," Sokka says with a smile. "So why were you guys so interested in eating Appa? You've got plenty of those big things wandering around," He says pointing to a crocodile in front of him.
"You want me to eat old Slim? He's like a member of the family!" The man, Tho, exclaims.
"Where d'you say you're from?" Tho asks Sokka and Katara.

"The South Pole," Katara answers.
"Didn't know there were waterbenders anywhere up here. They got a nice swamp there, do they?" Hue asks them.
"No, it's all ice and snow," Katara tells him. They all look at her shocked.
"Hmm. No wonder you left," Tho says.
"Well, I hope you realize now that nothing strange was going on here. Just a bunch of greasy people living in a swamp," Sokka says, I roll my eyes.
"What about the visions?" I ask him.

"I told you, we were hungry. I'm eating a giant bug!" Sokka shouts as he takes a bite of a giant bug, I look away from him in disgust.
"But, what about when the tree showed me where Appa and Momo were?" Aang asks.
"That's Avatar stuff, that doesn't count," Sokka says as he waves him off. "The only thing I can't figure out is how you made that tornado that sucked us down," He says to Hue.
"I can't do anything like that. I just bender the water in the plants," Hue tells him.
"Well, no accounting for the weather," Sokka says with a shrug. "Still, there's absolutely nothing mysterious about the swamp," He states as he continues eating and we all decide to let Sokka be Sokka.

A/N—> 3000+ reads!? 😱🤯Thank you all! Like a month ago it was 1000 and now 3000!? Just wow, thank you for your support! I hope you all are enjoying the story and have a great day! -Lucy