Balance | Old Version

Chapter 62 (The Library)

Elua's POV.

We were all taking mini-vacations, everyone was finding it fun. I was going to pick a place first, but I couldn't decide where to go and I had found it basically impossible to not stress about everything and anything. They were all listening to Aang play the flute, while I was in my head thinking and not paying attention.
"Elua? Elua!" I hear someone yell, bringing me out of thoughts.
"Hmm?" I hum as I look up and see Sokka looking at me. "Oh sorry, what?" I ask him.
"We're here," He tells me. I look at him confused, but as I look around I realize we're in a small village in the desert.

 We walk into a small shop, we see someone ordering a drink, a few people were sitting at tables conversing with each other, and a few people were passed out on a table.
"I don't see anything wrong with having one of those fruity beverages while we plan our strategy," Sokka says as he watches the bartender make some kind of drink. "Excuse me!" He says as he walks up to the counter. We go to follow him, but a man holding a drink bumps into Aang and spills his drink all over his clothes.
"No worries, I clean up easy," Aang says as he airbends his clothes dry.
"You're a living relic!" The man says in awe.
"Thanks. I try," Aang says with a grin.

"An Air Nomad, right in front of me," The man says in shock. "Professor Zei, head of anthropology at Ba Sing Se University. Tell me, which of the Air temples do you hail from?" Zei asks as he looks at Aang's tattoos in wonder.
"The southern temple," I inform him.
"Are one too?" He asks me with wide eyes, I nod with a small smile.
"Oh, splendid! Now tell me, what was the primary agricultural product of your people?" Zei asks as he measures Aang's head with a caliper.
"Uh, are fruit pies an agricultural product?" Aang asks.

"Oh, truly fascinating. That is one for the journal," Zei says with excitement.
"So professor, you're obviously a well-traveled guy. Do you have a more current map? Ours seems to be a little dated," Sokka tells her.
"Certainly," Zei says as he hands Sokka a map. Sokka takes it from him gratefully and lays it out on a table behind us.
"What, no Fire Nation?" Sokka asks as he looks down at the map. "Doesn't anybody have a good map of that place?" He asks in annoyance.
"You've made a lot of trips into the desert," Katara says looking at the markings on the map, showing where he had gone and where he had not.

"All in vain, I'm afraid. I've found lost civilizations all over the Earth Kingdom, but I haven't managed to find the crown jewel...Wan Shi Tong's Library," Zei says, obviously desperately wanting to find this lost library.
"You spent years walking through the desert to find some guy's library?" Toph asks as she puts her feet on the table and taking a sip of her drink.
"This library is more valuable than gold, little lady," Zei says in a 'matter of fact' tone. "It is said to contain a vast collection of knowledge, and knowledge... is priceless," He says seriously.
"Mm, sounds like good times," Toph says sarcastically.

"Oh, it is. According to legend, it was built by the great knowledge spirit, Wan Shi Tong, with the help of his foxy knowledge seekers," Zei explains.
"Oh, so this spirit has attractive assistants, huh?" Sokka asks with a smirk on his face, I roll my eyes as Katara smacks him gently.
"I think he means they look like actual foxes, Sokka," I tell him.
"You're both right. Handsome little creatures," Zei says with a smile. "Wan Shi Tong and his knowledge seekers collected books from all over the world and put them on display for mankind to read so that we might better ourselves," He says as he shows us a picture of a huge castle-like building.

"If this place has books from all over the world, do you think they've got info on the Fire Nation? A map maybe?" Sokka asks Zei in hope.
"I wouldn't know, but if such a thing exists, it's in Wan Shi Tong's Library," Zei answers.
"Then it's settled. Aang, I do believe it's my turn," Sokka states. "I'd like to spend my vacation AT THE LIBRARY!" He says dramatically.
"Uh, hey? What about me? When do I get to pick?" Toph asks.
"You gotta work here a little longer before you qualify for vacation time," Sokka tells her. Toph scoffs as she crossing her arms.

"Of course there's the matter of finding it. I've made several trips into the Si Wong Desert and almost died each time. I'm afraid that desert's impossible to cross," Zei says sadly. We all look at each other with the same idea in mind.
"Professor, would you like to see our sky bison?" I ask him smiling.
"A sky bison? You actually have one?" Zei asks in amazement as we walk outside. We make our way over to Appa and see he is being cornered by people with strange things over their eyes.
"Sandbenders! Shoo! Away from the bison!" Zei shouts at the people, they look at us and slowly walk off.

Later.

We had been flying over the desert for a while now, but we had yet to find Wan Si Tong's library.
"There it is!" Toph suddenly shouts as she points to nothing, making Aang, Katara, and Sokka all look to where she's pointing. I hold back a laugh as I shake my head.
"That's what it will sound like when one of you spots it," Toph says as she waves her hand over her eyes, reminding them that she's blind and they all look at her annoyed.
"It shouldn't be this hard to spot a giant ornate building from the air," Katara says as she looks around at all the sand.
"Down there. What's that?" Sokka asks as he points to a tall sand-colored pillar in the distance. Appa lands so we can get a better look at it, but it just looked like a normal pillar.

"Forget it. It's obviously not what we're looking for," Katara states. "The building in this drawing is enormous," She says as she looks down at the picture in hand. We hear something to our left us and look to see a wolf-like creature holding something in its mouth and running over to the pillar.
"What kind of animal is that?" Sokka asks as the wolf-like-animal climbs the pillar and goes in through the window.
"I think that was one of the knowledge seekers," Zei says as he begins to smile wide. "Oh, we must be close to the library!" He says in excitement.
"No, this is the library. Look!" I say as I point to a tall pillar-like thing on the picture of the library.

"It's completely buried."

A/N----> Sorry I didn't update earlier, I woke up feeling a little crappy and I had to catch a flight. I hope you like it! Have a great day/night. -Lucy