[X] We should stay until Aang finds a satisfactory answer for why the Earth was calling him, or determines no answer can be found. It can't have been nothing.
Agni-Kai (AtLA Quest)
- Thread starter TheNine
- Start date
- IC Fantasy
- Location
- The UK
Sulfur isn't a gas at or near room temperature. Gases like propane only smell like sulfur because gas companies lace them with chemicals that smell, like mercaptan, so that you know if there's a gas leak.
In nature they wouldn't smell.
TheNine
I’ll compromise with the skeletons
- Location
- The good ol' US of A
- Pronouns
- He/Him
That's interesting. I knew Kakaze was misinformed about how sulfur worked (it's not a gas, and the air isn't flammable, just the swamp peat), but it seems I, too, was misinformed. Well it would change too much of the plot to fix it, so I'm gonna sweep it under the rug by saying this is an alternate universe were sulfur just smells like that naturally. Hooray for being God.
- Location
- the point is of no return and you have reached it!
The Spirits of the Swamp could be another explanation depending on how you want to characterize them. They might be tying the smell to Sulfur in the area so that it serves as a warning sign rather than killing intruders outright.
Solarstream
It's all in the cards
- Location
- Zombie World
- Pronouns
- He/Him
[X] We should stay here for a while. Give the Fire Nation some time to look around, find some incorrect leads to follow, get distracted, lose interest in hunting the Avatar, or otherwise lose the trail. In the meantime, you can explore the swamp, stay encamped, do some training that doesn't involve firebending, or maybe some firebending training that doesn't involve fire. Plus, who knows what you'll find?
- [X] A few weeks
- [X] A few weeks
just a minor nitpick, sulfuric compounds do actually smell like that. the thing is, those gases arent sulfur nor contain lots of it, so they don't smell of it. the gas companies add sulfur for its smell.
actually thinking of it, in the episode in the north air temple(think it was 16) there is a room filled with natural gas, and the inventor living there whose name I don't remember has the problem where he can't detect the gas leaks. during the episode Sokka proposes a similiar idea of using rotten eggs to give the gas odour
or perhaps the spirits of the swamp are using lots of epoxy
Last edited:
Chapter 13: Haunted
TheNine
I’ll compromise with the skeletons
- Location
- The good ol' US of A
- Pronouns
- He/Him
"I don't love this place either- I especially don't love not being able to firebend. But Aang got called here for a reason, and maybe that also has something to do with why I thought of this place? I don't know, but I think we should stay until we get to the bottom of it or it's obvious that there's no bottom."
Aang nods his agreement. "I don't just want to walk away so soon. I'm sure we'll figure out the reason for it all soon, and then we can leave, or stay here if we change our mind about this place by then."
Kakaze shrugs. "Looks like I'm outvoted. Well I hope whatever cryptic force wants your attention shows itself before we all catch some sort of swamp disease. Oh, oh crap!"
With an expression of horrible realization, he runs over to Appa, frantically looking through his saddle bags before taking a deep sigh of relief. "Thankfully these bags are tough, and Appa didn't take too much of a dunk, it looks like our food supplies and stuff are fine- they are running low, though. Aang, you don't mind if the rest of us hunt or fish, do you?"
Aang frowns. "No, I guess not, just don't do it right in front of me, and I'll be getting my own food."
You raise an eyebrow. "You gonna be OK looking for plants in a place like this?"
Aang brightens a bit and nods. "The Air Nomads are experts at foraging in almost every environment! I can definitely take care of myself, but thanks for worrying!"
Wow, even with Aang's earnestness you struggle to read a comment like that as not being sarcastic. You shrug and turn back to Appa.
"We should spend today figuring out what we're gonna eat, finding somewhere dry and flat to set up camp, and making sure there's nothing actively dangerous. For tonight, we can make do with our dried foods, but if we need to cook meat later, Aang, can you do some airbending thing to get this "sulfur" stuff clear so we can start a campfire without blowing up?"
"Yeah, I can try. We don't need to right now though, right?"
"Nah, just wanted to make sure it's an option. Anyway, next step is finding somewhere to set up camp."
You look around. Currently, you're standing on a tremendous root, bigger around than most entire trees you've seen in your life. It's high and dry, but it's curved in shape, and thus easy to roll off of, not to mention made of uncomfortable bark. All the dirt you can see from here is totally soaked mud, but you're sure there's some high ground somewhere, you just can't see it past what's effectively curtains of vines all over the place. "Kakaze, can I use one of your swords? For the vines."
He hesitates, but eventually draws and tosses you one of his curved blades. You weren't expecting him to throw a sword at you, but thankfully you're able to avoid panicking and successfully grab it by the handle. Sliding down the root, you make it to a thick wall of vines that you begin cutting your way through.
"Hey," Aang shouts from above, "I'm not sure you should do that!"
You raise an eyebrow up at him. "Why do you say so?"
He leaps down to you. As always, it's unbelievable how Aang manages to fall like a leaf, landing from heights that would break your limbs with the effortless casual ease of an animal born to do it. "I mean, the swamp invited us here, I don't think we should hurt it unless we really need to."
You grumble, not sure what's more trouble, arguing with Aang on this or navigating this swamp without ever cutting vines. "I really don't think we're really hurting the swamp. These vines are dozens of meters long at least, and I'm only cutting the very tips."
"Yeah," says Kakaze, stopped right before he started cutting himself. "It's up to you if you think it's a really bad idea, but it's not really big damage, and it's either cut through the vines or swim through that water."
He points down at the muddy, moss-covered muck you landed in earlier, and Aang sighs. "Alright, like I said, I won't make you follow my beliefs just because we're traveling together. But I still don't think it's a great idea."
You frown. Maybe he's right, but even Kakaze agrees with you, and you get the impression he's kinda reluctant to do that today for some reason. You resolve to stop if any other signs show up that it's a bad idea.
Signs are not forthcoming, and about four hours later, you, Kakaze, and Aang finally sit on dry land, the former two of you exhausted to the bone from chopping. You'd found a nice mossy hill of raised earth, and as worn down as you are, even just laying on that bare ground is nice. You realize quite suddenly that you really miss beds, but you don't particularly sense any in your near future.
The trip was long and tiring, but thankfully not particularly harrowing. The scariest thing you encountered were some sort of whiskered swimming reptile that none of you could identify, and which Appa quite easily scared off with his impressive bulk.
"OK, Aang, time for you to do some work. Kakaze, what specific smell in the air is sulfur?"
"It's the, uh," he waves his hands in the air as he tries to bring it to mind. "It's the eggy smell. I guess you Air Monks don't know what eggs smell like, though, right?"
Aang shakes his head, grinning. "Nope, we're allowed to eat eggs, since they can get taken and eaten without hurting anything, and the goatfowl would be laying them whether we at them or not. I guess what I'm saying is yeah, I smell the eggy smell."
You nod. "Cool. Can you like, er," you unconsciously imitate Kakaze with your gestures, "do some airbending thing and see if you can filter the air where we can't smell it anymore?"
Aang nods and raises himself to one foot, spinning his arms like a windmill, in opposite directions so the momentum sends his shoulders rolling, a motion that spreads to his hips, and then his one planted knee. After he keeps his balance for a truly abnormal amount of time on one foot, the winds around him raising, he swaps to the other, taking a step back as the gale and his movements accelerate until there's an orb of air big enough to fit all three of you and Appa surrounding you, with him at the center.
He steps back onto both feet, slowing his motions but still slowly moving his hands and shoulders, maintaining the visible sphere of air. "OK, almost everything in here should be basically totally pure air."
You nod, raising your palm. "You totally sure, Aang?"
He nods, and you release your chi as confidently as possible, a blaze rising in your hand. As it flickers there, steady as a campfire, all three of you release a breath of relief to have not been consumed by an inferno. "Aang, how long can you keep that up?"
"A couple hours, maybe, but I sure would be tired afterwards. I'll do it if you need to cook at a campfire, but I won't do it just so you can train or something, unless it's really important."
You nod. "If it gets cold, I can release heat without setting anything on fire, but…" You sweat as you snuff your flame, looking up at the beating sun peeking through the forest canopy. This clear, breezy orb that Aang is already dispelling is the first time all day you've been free from the thick humidity. "I don't think getting too cold will be a problem."
"OK, we'll focus on looking for your Avatar stuff tomorrow. For now, Shuji, let's go out and scout what there is to eat, and if we can find some clean water. If not, we can always boil it."
"I might be able to boil water without an open flame, but I'll have to try to find out. Aang, while we're gone, do your firebending forms. Don't focus your firebending chi, since you won't be able to release it."
"Is that dangerous?"
"Very," you say sagely, as if you hadn't only learned that fact within the last 24 hours.
Aang bows cheerfully. "Understood, Sifu Shuji. Don't get lost."
"If we do," Kakaze jokes, "you'll be able to find us by my terrified screaming. Let's get out of here, Shuji."
You nod, taking the sword he offers and starting to cut a path through the vines once again. At least now you'll have an easy path to find your way back.
A few minutes later, as you've swapped to a two-handed swing to rest your weary arms, Kakaze breaks the silence.
"So, what made you think of coming to this place?"
You shrug. "I was thinking of good hiding places, I thought of forests that could be good for hiding in, and wet places where firebending won't work very well, and it just occurred to me I'd heard of a place that was both of those. I don't know if not being able to firebend at all is a good or bad thing."
Kakaze chuckles. "Yeah, hopefully if any Fire Nation bozos show up, they won't try to burn us and wind up blowing the whole swamp sky high. Guess the good news is that it'd an equalizer for me, anyway. I could actually beat you in a fight right now."
You laugh. "Don't say stuff like that while you're swinging a sword around, I might get nervous."
"Speaking of fighting, you said you were training when those Fire Army guys showed up all of a sudden. What kinda training?"
"Honestly, Aang's pacifist firebending talk kinda inspired me. I wanted to see if I could figure out more ways to use my firebending chi other than just shooting fire."
Kakaze grunts. "Find anything useful?"
You cringe at your bruised and burned arm. "Not yet, anyway, and I can't keep doing the training here, it's too risky."
Kakaze gives you that weird look again. "Well that's inconv-"
He stops mid sentence, looking down at his ankle. You follow his eyes there to see a vine looped around it. He must have just almost tripped on a-
The vine instantly pulls taught, throwing him to the ground on his face. "Wha-"
You step forward to grab hold of him, but another vine takes your arm before you can, squeezing your battered wrist hard enough to make you drop his sword in pain before a few vines snaking supernaturally around your wrist drag you screaming away from him and deeper into the swamp.
You wrestle against the vines, but without firebending, the best you can do is maybe rip one or two, which is more than insufficient as more and more join the first few, dragging you literally kicking and screaming through the swamp until they gag your mouth and tie your legs. Eventually and suddenly, they all release, dumping you like a sack of cabbages onto some root.
Even more sore than before, you struggle to your feet and raise your guard, glancing around. What just happened? You were attacked by vines, was it some sort of monster? A spirit? A human attack, somehow? You grind your teeth, cursing your own stupidity. As silly as it sounds, you feel this must be the swamp itself attacking as vengeance for your ruthless chopping.
"Hey, Swamp Spirits, I'm sorry I didn't take Aang seriously and cut off all your tips! I promise I won't do it again!"
No response, except- a laugh? Something haughty, and arrogant. Your eyes snap to where it came from and you see- a Fire Nation soldier? Here? Now!? He wears gaudy red armor, covered in spikes- the armor of a high-ranking officer or a royal, but his build is wrong for Zuko or Iroh, too broad for the former and too tall for both. He turns away from you and begins stepping away. Is the swamp messing with you, or were you actually so astronomically unlucky as to immediately encounter a Fire Army officer less than a day after reaching Foggy Swamp?
[] Follow the officer. If he's real, you need to stop him before he reports your presence. If he's an illusion well… if the swamp wanted to hurt you, it had its chance with the vines.
[] Head in the opposite direction of the officer. If he's real, him and his companions will be more than your match in your unarmed, exhausted, and bending-less state. If he's an illusion, then you want to go in the opposite direction of where the swamp wants you to go.
[] Pause, take a deep breath, and try to orient yourself. There's no need to be hasty.
- Try to navigate back to Kakaze. The last time he saw you, he was getting assaulted by vines, he could use your help.
- Try to navigate back to Appa and Aang. Aang has the easiest time moving through the swamp, so he can help you get to Kakaze. Plus, it can't hurt to have all hands on deck.
- Stay here. The swamp can't lead you into a trap if you just refuse to engage with its nonsense. Kakaze, unlike you, had a sword for vine chopping, so no doubt he was able to escape, no need to worry about him. Once he returns to Aang, those two can find you.
[] Write in…
Aang nods his agreement. "I don't just want to walk away so soon. I'm sure we'll figure out the reason for it all soon, and then we can leave, or stay here if we change our mind about this place by then."
Kakaze shrugs. "Looks like I'm outvoted. Well I hope whatever cryptic force wants your attention shows itself before we all catch some sort of swamp disease. Oh, oh crap!"
With an expression of horrible realization, he runs over to Appa, frantically looking through his saddle bags before taking a deep sigh of relief. "Thankfully these bags are tough, and Appa didn't take too much of a dunk, it looks like our food supplies and stuff are fine- they are running low, though. Aang, you don't mind if the rest of us hunt or fish, do you?"
Aang frowns. "No, I guess not, just don't do it right in front of me, and I'll be getting my own food."
You raise an eyebrow. "You gonna be OK looking for plants in a place like this?"
Aang brightens a bit and nods. "The Air Nomads are experts at foraging in almost every environment! I can definitely take care of myself, but thanks for worrying!"
Wow, even with Aang's earnestness you struggle to read a comment like that as not being sarcastic. You shrug and turn back to Appa.
"We should spend today figuring out what we're gonna eat, finding somewhere dry and flat to set up camp, and making sure there's nothing actively dangerous. For tonight, we can make do with our dried foods, but if we need to cook meat later, Aang, can you do some airbending thing to get this "sulfur" stuff clear so we can start a campfire without blowing up?"
"Yeah, I can try. We don't need to right now though, right?"
"Nah, just wanted to make sure it's an option. Anyway, next step is finding somewhere to set up camp."
You look around. Currently, you're standing on a tremendous root, bigger around than most entire trees you've seen in your life. It's high and dry, but it's curved in shape, and thus easy to roll off of, not to mention made of uncomfortable bark. All the dirt you can see from here is totally soaked mud, but you're sure there's some high ground somewhere, you just can't see it past what's effectively curtains of vines all over the place. "Kakaze, can I use one of your swords? For the vines."
He hesitates, but eventually draws and tosses you one of his curved blades. You weren't expecting him to throw a sword at you, but thankfully you're able to avoid panicking and successfully grab it by the handle. Sliding down the root, you make it to a thick wall of vines that you begin cutting your way through.
"Hey," Aang shouts from above, "I'm not sure you should do that!"
You raise an eyebrow up at him. "Why do you say so?"
He leaps down to you. As always, it's unbelievable how Aang manages to fall like a leaf, landing from heights that would break your limbs with the effortless casual ease of an animal born to do it. "I mean, the swamp invited us here, I don't think we should hurt it unless we really need to."
You grumble, not sure what's more trouble, arguing with Aang on this or navigating this swamp without ever cutting vines. "I really don't think we're really hurting the swamp. These vines are dozens of meters long at least, and I'm only cutting the very tips."
"Yeah," says Kakaze, stopped right before he started cutting himself. "It's up to you if you think it's a really bad idea, but it's not really big damage, and it's either cut through the vines or swim through that water."
He points down at the muddy, moss-covered muck you landed in earlier, and Aang sighs. "Alright, like I said, I won't make you follow my beliefs just because we're traveling together. But I still don't think it's a great idea."
You frown. Maybe he's right, but even Kakaze agrees with you, and you get the impression he's kinda reluctant to do that today for some reason. You resolve to stop if any other signs show up that it's a bad idea.
Signs are not forthcoming, and about four hours later, you, Kakaze, and Aang finally sit on dry land, the former two of you exhausted to the bone from chopping. You'd found a nice mossy hill of raised earth, and as worn down as you are, even just laying on that bare ground is nice. You realize quite suddenly that you really miss beds, but you don't particularly sense any in your near future.
The trip was long and tiring, but thankfully not particularly harrowing. The scariest thing you encountered were some sort of whiskered swimming reptile that none of you could identify, and which Appa quite easily scared off with his impressive bulk.
"OK, Aang, time for you to do some work. Kakaze, what specific smell in the air is sulfur?"
"It's the, uh," he waves his hands in the air as he tries to bring it to mind. "It's the eggy smell. I guess you Air Monks don't know what eggs smell like, though, right?"
Aang shakes his head, grinning. "Nope, we're allowed to eat eggs, since they can get taken and eaten without hurting anything, and the goatfowl would be laying them whether we at them or not. I guess what I'm saying is yeah, I smell the eggy smell."
You nod. "Cool. Can you like, er," you unconsciously imitate Kakaze with your gestures, "do some airbending thing and see if you can filter the air where we can't smell it anymore?"
Aang nods and raises himself to one foot, spinning his arms like a windmill, in opposite directions so the momentum sends his shoulders rolling, a motion that spreads to his hips, and then his one planted knee. After he keeps his balance for a truly abnormal amount of time on one foot, the winds around him raising, he swaps to the other, taking a step back as the gale and his movements accelerate until there's an orb of air big enough to fit all three of you and Appa surrounding you, with him at the center.
He steps back onto both feet, slowing his motions but still slowly moving his hands and shoulders, maintaining the visible sphere of air. "OK, almost everything in here should be basically totally pure air."
You nod, raising your palm. "You totally sure, Aang?"
He nods, and you release your chi as confidently as possible, a blaze rising in your hand. As it flickers there, steady as a campfire, all three of you release a breath of relief to have not been consumed by an inferno. "Aang, how long can you keep that up?"
"A couple hours, maybe, but I sure would be tired afterwards. I'll do it if you need to cook at a campfire, but I won't do it just so you can train or something, unless it's really important."
You nod. "If it gets cold, I can release heat without setting anything on fire, but…" You sweat as you snuff your flame, looking up at the beating sun peeking through the forest canopy. This clear, breezy orb that Aang is already dispelling is the first time all day you've been free from the thick humidity. "I don't think getting too cold will be a problem."
"OK, we'll focus on looking for your Avatar stuff tomorrow. For now, Shuji, let's go out and scout what there is to eat, and if we can find some clean water. If not, we can always boil it."
"I might be able to boil water without an open flame, but I'll have to try to find out. Aang, while we're gone, do your firebending forms. Don't focus your firebending chi, since you won't be able to release it."
"Is that dangerous?"
"Very," you say sagely, as if you hadn't only learned that fact within the last 24 hours.
Aang bows cheerfully. "Understood, Sifu Shuji. Don't get lost."
"If we do," Kakaze jokes, "you'll be able to find us by my terrified screaming. Let's get out of here, Shuji."
You nod, taking the sword he offers and starting to cut a path through the vines once again. At least now you'll have an easy path to find your way back.
A few minutes later, as you've swapped to a two-handed swing to rest your weary arms, Kakaze breaks the silence.
"So, what made you think of coming to this place?"
You shrug. "I was thinking of good hiding places, I thought of forests that could be good for hiding in, and wet places where firebending won't work very well, and it just occurred to me I'd heard of a place that was both of those. I don't know if not being able to firebend at all is a good or bad thing."
Kakaze chuckles. "Yeah, hopefully if any Fire Nation bozos show up, they won't try to burn us and wind up blowing the whole swamp sky high. Guess the good news is that it'd an equalizer for me, anyway. I could actually beat you in a fight right now."
You laugh. "Don't say stuff like that while you're swinging a sword around, I might get nervous."
"Speaking of fighting, you said you were training when those Fire Army guys showed up all of a sudden. What kinda training?"
"Honestly, Aang's pacifist firebending talk kinda inspired me. I wanted to see if I could figure out more ways to use my firebending chi other than just shooting fire."
Kakaze grunts. "Find anything useful?"
You cringe at your bruised and burned arm. "Not yet, anyway, and I can't keep doing the training here, it's too risky."
Kakaze gives you that weird look again. "Well that's inconv-"
He stops mid sentence, looking down at his ankle. You follow his eyes there to see a vine looped around it. He must have just almost tripped on a-
The vine instantly pulls taught, throwing him to the ground on his face. "Wha-"
You step forward to grab hold of him, but another vine takes your arm before you can, squeezing your battered wrist hard enough to make you drop his sword in pain before a few vines snaking supernaturally around your wrist drag you screaming away from him and deeper into the swamp.
You wrestle against the vines, but without firebending, the best you can do is maybe rip one or two, which is more than insufficient as more and more join the first few, dragging you literally kicking and screaming through the swamp until they gag your mouth and tie your legs. Eventually and suddenly, they all release, dumping you like a sack of cabbages onto some root.
Even more sore than before, you struggle to your feet and raise your guard, glancing around. What just happened? You were attacked by vines, was it some sort of monster? A spirit? A human attack, somehow? You grind your teeth, cursing your own stupidity. As silly as it sounds, you feel this must be the swamp itself attacking as vengeance for your ruthless chopping.
"Hey, Swamp Spirits, I'm sorry I didn't take Aang seriously and cut off all your tips! I promise I won't do it again!"
No response, except- a laugh? Something haughty, and arrogant. Your eyes snap to where it came from and you see- a Fire Nation soldier? Here? Now!? He wears gaudy red armor, covered in spikes- the armor of a high-ranking officer or a royal, but his build is wrong for Zuko or Iroh, too broad for the former and too tall for both. He turns away from you and begins stepping away. Is the swamp messing with you, or were you actually so astronomically unlucky as to immediately encounter a Fire Army officer less than a day after reaching Foggy Swamp?
[] Follow the officer. If he's real, you need to stop him before he reports your presence. If he's an illusion well… if the swamp wanted to hurt you, it had its chance with the vines.
[] Head in the opposite direction of the officer. If he's real, him and his companions will be more than your match in your unarmed, exhausted, and bending-less state. If he's an illusion, then you want to go in the opposite direction of where the swamp wants you to go.
[] Pause, take a deep breath, and try to orient yourself. There's no need to be hasty.
- Try to navigate back to Kakaze. The last time he saw you, he was getting assaulted by vines, he could use your help.
- Try to navigate back to Appa and Aang. Aang has the easiest time moving through the swamp, so he can help you get to Kakaze. Plus, it can't hurt to have all hands on deck.
- Stay here. The swamp can't lead you into a trap if you just refuse to engage with its nonsense. Kakaze, unlike you, had a sword for vine chopping, so no doubt he was able to escape, no need to worry about him. Once he returns to Aang, those two can find you.
[] Write in…
ElenaIsCool
Super Sipper
- Location
- Obscure Area
- Pronouns
- She/They
[X] Follow the officer. If he's real, you need to stop him before he reports your presence. If he's an illusion well… if the swamp wanted to hurt you, it had its chance with the vines.
[X] Follow the officer. If he's real, you need to stop him before he reports your presence. If he's an illusion well… if the swamp wanted to hurt you, it had its chance with the vines.
[X] Follow the officer. If he's real, you need to stop him before he reports your presence. If he's an illusion well… if the swamp wanted to hurt you, it had its chance with the vines.
my first thought was Zhao, but visions of Zhao makes no sense. now I wonder who us it
my first thought was Zhao, but visions of Zhao makes no sense. now I wonder who us it
Solarstream
It's all in the cards
- Location
- Zombie World
- Pronouns
- He/Him
[X] Follow the officer. If he's real, you need to stop him before he reports your presence. If he's an illusion well… if the swamp wanted to hurt you, it had its chance with the vines.
[X] Pause, take a deep breath, and try to orient yourself. There's no need to be hasty.
- Try to navigate back to Appa and Aang. Aang has the easiest time moving through the swamp, so he can help you get to Kakaze. Plus, it can't hurt to have all hands on deck.
- Try to navigate back to Appa and Aang. Aang has the easiest time moving through the swamp, so he can help you get to Kakaze. Plus, it can't hurt to have all hands on deck.
Chapter 14: Cracks
TheNine
I’ll compromise with the skeletons
- Location
- The good ol' US of A
- Pronouns
- He/Him
You grit your teeth and begin running towards where the officer began walking away. If there really are Fire Nation soldiers here, you can't risk your position being reported. Of course you're not sure what you plan on doing if you catch them. Are you gonna wipe out a whole squad without using firebending?
That's a problem for future you. For now, you just need to catch up, and you make quick progress sprinting and jumping from root to root, mercifully uninterrupted by vines, either animated or not. Eventually you catch sight of him again, red armor starkly visible against the greens and browns of the swamp. He's standing still now, facing away from you for a reason you can't comprehend. You rush towards him, raising your fists into a fighting pose as you get close.
"Hey!"
He twitches, and turns toward you, and as he does so he shifts before your very eyes. His armor is changed for a long, flowing, regal cloak, his bare hair covered by an excessive, dramatic helmet in the shape of wings, bird-themed gold pauldrons springing from his shoulders.
His change in outfit, though, is swiftly forgotten as you recognize his face at this distance. His sharp features, his merciless eyes, the distinctive long, pointed beard that had been much shorter just a moment ago. In shock, you almost throw yourself backwards off of the root you're on, landing on your tailbone.
"And YOU," bellows Fire Lord Ozai, your heart exploding out of your chest. You can't understand why, or how he's here. "The worst of them all! Such potential, and yet you betray your nation, your people!"
Boneless and utterly mortified, you try to crawl back away from him, before bumping up against something behind you. Tearing your eyes from Ozai, you turn to see none other than Captain Ixis, the officer who nearly captured you and Aang back in the Fire Nation. How!? Did he follow you? Did he bring the Fire Lord with him? Your confusion and terror impotently well in your stomach, and you're filled primarily with shame and helplessness, fighting back worthless, childish tears.
"You worm! You had every opportunity to do something great, yet you attacked your own people instead!"
You can't breathe, forcing yourself onto shaking legs. You're not sure if you want to run or kneel, begging forgiveness, but you know you can't fight. You turn away from them, but step instead directly into Mr Oji, whose presence at this point you don't even question as he thumps your chest with a disapproving finger. "What a waste! What a shame that you grew up to be a traitor, boy!"
You helplessly back away, not even surprised to be interrupted by the scarred-faced Prince Zuko, scowling his hate at you. "You've thrown away your honor," he spits, his voice rough and full of vitriol, "and you think that gives you the right to dishonor the rest of us!"
You're shivering as if in cold, falling to your knees, closing your eyes, unable to continue taking this. If they're here to punish you, you'll just accept it. The dam finally breaks and you're wracked with painful sobs. But as you wait for the pain of your coming incineration, none comes, and all you hear is someone else crying. You open your eyes and see-
"M-mom?"
She, too, is on her knees, tears in her eyes. You find your ability to move slightly renewed and crawl toward her. "Mom! Are you OK, I-"
She looks up at you, betrayal in her shining eyes, a deep, sorrowful frown on her face. "Shuji… how could you? How could you shame me like this and leave me alone?"
You choke. You gag and taste bile. You don't even notice as your fingers grip your hair with agonizing force, you face up to the swamp's canopy, and you let out an intensely-loud scream, your horror, confusion, fear, and guilt all exiting together with a spectacular flare of unearthly-powerful fire, rising all the way to the top of the swamp. After a moment, you fall onto your back, gasping for air, your eyes still wet with tears but your sobbing at its end, interrupted by that panicked release of your emotions.
There is no sign of Ozai, nor Ixis, Oji, or Zuko. Your mother, too, has vanished. An illusion? A hallucination? They were so real… In spite of your enormous involuntary release of flame, the swamp hasn't combusted. Was Kakaze wrong, or was he lying?
You roll over onto your side, weak as a kitten. Just how much of what you saw was real? You could feel their presence, they could touch you. Those vines that brought you here, they certainly seemed real, but could your mind have been fooled even then?
A nagging voice in the back of your head tells you that perhaps your mind has been fooled all this time, but you tell it to shut up. You're in too deep. There is no undoing what you've done. If what you're doing is wrong, then you'll just have to be a villain, because you can't go back to your life before.
You try to get to your feet, but you can't. Your muscles feel like someone spent a few hours working them over with a meat tenderizer, and even your ki center feels utterly depleted. You think for a moment of focusing your breathing, but before you can, you feel your last remaining strength slip from your body, and your vision blurs, loses color, and goes black.
You snap to attention at the sound of a bloodcurdling scream, your fingers already smoking in response to your tension. All your muscles are sore, but at the very least this time you've managed to avoid any broken bones, head injuries, or serious burns.
Your eyes snap around looking for the source of the scream, but since you were unconscious when you heard it, you're not even certain what direction it came from. Before you can reconsider your position, the scream repeats itself, close and above you. You nearly lose your balance as you turn to face it, and see… a small, fat bird, balancing idly on a vine. You blink.
After a few moments, it opens its mouth a third time and once more repeats its cry, indistinguishable from a human in agony. You shudder, glad it happened to be close enough that you could tell. You've heard there's birds in the world that can imitate sounds, and wonder if this is just repeating the sounds of some violent death it heard here some time ago.
Well, this place just keeps getting stranger. First, you're assaulted and captured by vines, then assailed by what you can only hope were hallucinations or illusions, and now a bird is screaming at you like a human. You don't have time to chew on what happened earlier, or your feelings about it, until you can reunite with Aang and Kakaze and make sure everyone's safe and in one piece, including yourself.
The sky has gotten dark above the canopy, and moonlight barely filters through, so you can only see vaguely by colorless silhouettes. You realize with something like dismay that you have no clue even in which direction to travel to find your previous location.
As you glance around, a voice from behind you, this one surely not a bird, spooks you enough to make you nearly jump headlong off of your root, and barely land on the edge with your knees as is.
"Yer lookin' fer the other two strangers?"
You look to the source of the noise, a human shape leaning casually against the tree, sitting on the same root you had been on. His frame is tiny and his voice is high-pitched. You think he may be Aang's age or younger.
"Who are you?"
"Name's Mukk. I met yer friends, they were lookin' for you. Come with me," he drawls lazily as he gets to his feet, his small frame wrapped in loose scraps of what looks like leftover cloth sewn together, "I'll take you to em'."
You try your best to stay defensive, despite lacking either the mental or physical energy for fighting. "Where are they!?"
"At the center of the swamp, the Great Banyan Grove Tree, talkin' to ma friend Huu. Ya can see it from anywhere high up or with a good view."
You grit your teeth. "If I can see it from here, then I think I can probably find my way there."
"Guess y'might," Mukk says with an air of casual indifference that might infuriate you if you were more capable of strong emotional response right now, "but it'd be a lot easier with a swambender helpin' you. I'm a waterbender, but I mostly just move mud around- trust me, helps a mighty lot with travel."
[] Ask for directions to the Banyan Tree and make your way there yourself. You don't need the help of a mysterious stranger from the nightmare swamp who was probably just watching you sleep.
- [] You don't need ANY of his help, don't even get directions, just find a good vantage point and find it for yourself.
[] Take the twerp up on his offer. He may be obnoxiously casual about the situation, but he seems to mean well, and someone who can bend the swamp would be very helpful with navigating.
[] Get a little more direct, or even a bit hostile if it's necessary. Pry more details out of him before you make the decision of if you want to trust him even temporarily.
[] Write in…
That's a problem for future you. For now, you just need to catch up, and you make quick progress sprinting and jumping from root to root, mercifully uninterrupted by vines, either animated or not. Eventually you catch sight of him again, red armor starkly visible against the greens and browns of the swamp. He's standing still now, facing away from you for a reason you can't comprehend. You rush towards him, raising your fists into a fighting pose as you get close.
"Hey!"
He twitches, and turns toward you, and as he does so he shifts before your very eyes. His armor is changed for a long, flowing, regal cloak, his bare hair covered by an excessive, dramatic helmet in the shape of wings, bird-themed gold pauldrons springing from his shoulders.
His change in outfit, though, is swiftly forgotten as you recognize his face at this distance. His sharp features, his merciless eyes, the distinctive long, pointed beard that had been much shorter just a moment ago. In shock, you almost throw yourself backwards off of the root you're on, landing on your tailbone.
"And YOU," bellows Fire Lord Ozai, your heart exploding out of your chest. You can't understand why, or how he's here. "The worst of them all! Such potential, and yet you betray your nation, your people!"
Boneless and utterly mortified, you try to crawl back away from him, before bumping up against something behind you. Tearing your eyes from Ozai, you turn to see none other than Captain Ixis, the officer who nearly captured you and Aang back in the Fire Nation. How!? Did he follow you? Did he bring the Fire Lord with him? Your confusion and terror impotently well in your stomach, and you're filled primarily with shame and helplessness, fighting back worthless, childish tears.
"You worm! You had every opportunity to do something great, yet you attacked your own people instead!"
You can't breathe, forcing yourself onto shaking legs. You're not sure if you want to run or kneel, begging forgiveness, but you know you can't fight. You turn away from them, but step instead directly into Mr Oji, whose presence at this point you don't even question as he thumps your chest with a disapproving finger. "What a waste! What a shame that you grew up to be a traitor, boy!"
You helplessly back away, not even surprised to be interrupted by the scarred-faced Prince Zuko, scowling his hate at you. "You've thrown away your honor," he spits, his voice rough and full of vitriol, "and you think that gives you the right to dishonor the rest of us!"
You're shivering as if in cold, falling to your knees, closing your eyes, unable to continue taking this. If they're here to punish you, you'll just accept it. The dam finally breaks and you're wracked with painful sobs. But as you wait for the pain of your coming incineration, none comes, and all you hear is someone else crying. You open your eyes and see-
"M-mom?"
She, too, is on her knees, tears in her eyes. You find your ability to move slightly renewed and crawl toward her. "Mom! Are you OK, I-"
She looks up at you, betrayal in her shining eyes, a deep, sorrowful frown on her face. "Shuji… how could you? How could you shame me like this and leave me alone?"
You choke. You gag and taste bile. You don't even notice as your fingers grip your hair with agonizing force, you face up to the swamp's canopy, and you let out an intensely-loud scream, your horror, confusion, fear, and guilt all exiting together with a spectacular flare of unearthly-powerful fire, rising all the way to the top of the swamp. After a moment, you fall onto your back, gasping for air, your eyes still wet with tears but your sobbing at its end, interrupted by that panicked release of your emotions.
There is no sign of Ozai, nor Ixis, Oji, or Zuko. Your mother, too, has vanished. An illusion? A hallucination? They were so real… In spite of your enormous involuntary release of flame, the swamp hasn't combusted. Was Kakaze wrong, or was he lying?
You roll over onto your side, weak as a kitten. Just how much of what you saw was real? You could feel their presence, they could touch you. Those vines that brought you here, they certainly seemed real, but could your mind have been fooled even then?
A nagging voice in the back of your head tells you that perhaps your mind has been fooled all this time, but you tell it to shut up. You're in too deep. There is no undoing what you've done. If what you're doing is wrong, then you'll just have to be a villain, because you can't go back to your life before.
You try to get to your feet, but you can't. Your muscles feel like someone spent a few hours working them over with a meat tenderizer, and even your ki center feels utterly depleted. You think for a moment of focusing your breathing, but before you can, you feel your last remaining strength slip from your body, and your vision blurs, loses color, and goes black.
You snap to attention at the sound of a bloodcurdling scream, your fingers already smoking in response to your tension. All your muscles are sore, but at the very least this time you've managed to avoid any broken bones, head injuries, or serious burns.
Your eyes snap around looking for the source of the scream, but since you were unconscious when you heard it, you're not even certain what direction it came from. Before you can reconsider your position, the scream repeats itself, close and above you. You nearly lose your balance as you turn to face it, and see… a small, fat bird, balancing idly on a vine. You blink.
After a few moments, it opens its mouth a third time and once more repeats its cry, indistinguishable from a human in agony. You shudder, glad it happened to be close enough that you could tell. You've heard there's birds in the world that can imitate sounds, and wonder if this is just repeating the sounds of some violent death it heard here some time ago.
Well, this place just keeps getting stranger. First, you're assaulted and captured by vines, then assailed by what you can only hope were hallucinations or illusions, and now a bird is screaming at you like a human. You don't have time to chew on what happened earlier, or your feelings about it, until you can reunite with Aang and Kakaze and make sure everyone's safe and in one piece, including yourself.
The sky has gotten dark above the canopy, and moonlight barely filters through, so you can only see vaguely by colorless silhouettes. You realize with something like dismay that you have no clue even in which direction to travel to find your previous location.
As you glance around, a voice from behind you, this one surely not a bird, spooks you enough to make you nearly jump headlong off of your root, and barely land on the edge with your knees as is.
"Yer lookin' fer the other two strangers?"
You look to the source of the noise, a human shape leaning casually against the tree, sitting on the same root you had been on. His frame is tiny and his voice is high-pitched. You think he may be Aang's age or younger.
"Who are you?"
"Name's Mukk. I met yer friends, they were lookin' for you. Come with me," he drawls lazily as he gets to his feet, his small frame wrapped in loose scraps of what looks like leftover cloth sewn together, "I'll take you to em'."
You try your best to stay defensive, despite lacking either the mental or physical energy for fighting. "Where are they!?"
"At the center of the swamp, the Great Banyan Grove Tree, talkin' to ma friend Huu. Ya can see it from anywhere high up or with a good view."
You grit your teeth. "If I can see it from here, then I think I can probably find my way there."
"Guess y'might," Mukk says with an air of casual indifference that might infuriate you if you were more capable of strong emotional response right now, "but it'd be a lot easier with a swambender helpin' you. I'm a waterbender, but I mostly just move mud around- trust me, helps a mighty lot with travel."
[] Ask for directions to the Banyan Tree and make your way there yourself. You don't need the help of a mysterious stranger from the nightmare swamp who was probably just watching you sleep.
- [] You don't need ANY of his help, don't even get directions, just find a good vantage point and find it for yourself.
[] Take the twerp up on his offer. He may be obnoxiously casual about the situation, but he seems to mean well, and someone who can bend the swamp would be very helpful with navigating.
[] Get a little more direct, or even a bit hostile if it's necessary. Pry more details out of him before you make the decision of if you want to trust him even temporarily.
[] Write in…
- Location
- The UK
[X] Take the twerp up on his offer. He may be obnoxiously casual about the situation, but he seems to mean well, and someone who can bend the swamp would be very helpful with navigating.
- Location
- Lasha Tumbai
[X] Take the twerp up on his offer. He may be obnoxiously casual about the situation, but he seems to mean well, and someone who can bend the swamp would be very helpful with navigating.
Not sure if this is intentional or not.
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ElenaIsCool
Super Sipper
- Location
- Obscure Area
- Pronouns
- She/They
[X] Take the twerp up on his offer. He may be obnoxiously casual about the situation, but he seems to mean well, and someone who can bend the swamp would be very helpful with navigating.
[X] Ask for directions to the Banyan Tree and make your way there yourself. You don't need the help of a mysterious stranger from the nightmare swamp who was probably just watching you sleep
[X] Take the twerp up on his offer. He may be obnoxiously casual about the situation, but he seems to mean well, and someone who can bend the swamp would be very helpful with navigating.
[X] Take the twerp up on his offer. He may be obnoxiously casual about the situation, but he seems to mean well, and someone who can bend the swamp would be very helpful with navigating.
If he plans on screwing us, I doubt we'll be in any better shape to take him on over the mind-fucking swamp.
If he plans on screwing us, I doubt we'll be in any better shape to take him on over the mind-fucking swamp.
- Pronouns
- He
[X] Take the twerp up on his offer. He may be obnoxiously casual about the situation, but he seems to mean well, and someone who can bend the swamp would be very helpful with navigating.
Wow, that vision was intense.
Wow, that vision was intense.
TheNine
I’ll compromise with the skeletons
- Location
- The good ol' US of A
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Not sure if this is intentional or not.
God fucking dammit
Solarstream
It's all in the cards
- Location
- Zombie World
- Pronouns
- He/Him
[X] Take the twerp up on his offer. He may be obnoxiously casual about the situation, but he seems to mean well, and someone who can bend the swamp would be very helpful with navigating.
Chapter 15: Mud
TheNine
I’ll compromise with the skeletons
- Location
- The good ol' US of A
- Pronouns
- He/Him
You sigh, rubbing your temples. "Alright, kid, I appreciate the help. Before we go, do you know why I was attacked by living vines, and why I had a bunch of insane hallucinations?"
Mukk shrugs. "I do, but Huu will be better at explainin'. Plus, I ain't in the mood."
You frown, but don't press the issue.
"Alright, you said you bend mud. What, are we gonna ride on a wave of it till we get to your tree?"
He gets up from his position sitting against the tree without using his arms. "Good guess. How's your balance?"
You blink. "About average, I guess."
He takes a step forward, turning his hands in a bending form that you've never seen, but which is so fluid and seamless that you can only assume it's some form of waterbending. He raises his hands a few times, raising and lowering, as though he were struggling to lift something, and soon the surface of the swampy water begins to bubble, eventually bursting open to reveal a flow of mud that rises to his level. It forms itself into a thin, almost blade-like shape, and with a swift moment he shears off some of the bark of the tree he's on, leaving him with a disc of bark about a meter in circumference.
He takes hold of the disc and tosses it down into the water, where it comfortably floats. Once he's done, he turns to the de-barked section of the tree, bending his mud to coat it densely, covering the raw wood.
"A'right, once that board rises up to you, climb onto it and don't fall off."
He turns back to the swamp, his flowing motions this time grander somehow, and in line with this, when the surface of the swamp begins to rise again, it is a much greater wave of mud that emerges. As per his warning, the wave rises to your level, carrying with it the disc of bark. He steps forward, leaping with bare feet into the wave of mud, only sinking about an inch in. Uncomfortably, you climb onto the "board," your balance a bit shaky. To your relief, Mukk seems to be carefully bending the wave to keep you from falling.
"Ready?"
You waver for a moment, realizing with a mixture of pride and existential dread how you've begun to take such truly ridiculous events in stride. You lower yourself to one knee, taking hold of the edge of the surprisingly-sturdy disc. "Ready as I'll ever be."
Mukk nods, making a deceptively-small gesture that starts the wave of mud flowing, at first only at a walking pace, before gradually accelerating as you flow across the river, gracefully taking turns so smoothly that you don't even struggle to stay on your board, even as the speed increases to be perhaps even comparable to Appa's pace in the air. Mukk skillfully avoids flying into tangles of vines, the height of his mudslide adjusted on the fly to dodge roots that appear in your path. You have to admit, while you don't know what's average for a swampbender, this kid has some real skill, especially considering his age.
Finally, in the distance, you make out the menacingly-titanic form of what can only be the great Banyan grove tree. You saw it far in the distance as you arrived in the swamp- its proximity now means you must have travelled a great distance- you're glad you didn't try to find your way to Aang and Kakaze on your own. Its size is hard to comprehend as you catch glimpses of it through the canopy. You can say without exaggeration that it is truly mountainous, reaching such heights and with such impossible breadth that to compare it to the swamp's other trees, gigantic in their own right, is to compare an average tree to a blade of grass.
"Wow."
"Yep. T's somethin' special, ain't it? Nothin' like it in the world."
"Yeah… I can't imagine there is."
Frankly, though you saw it in the distance before, at the time it was hard to fully appreciate. Before now, you wouldn't have believed any living thing of such a colossal scale could exist under the sun.
You simply watch in silence as Mukk brings you closer to its belief-straining bulk, entering the shadow of its kilometers-long branches and leaves long before you approach its trunk. It doesn't take too much longer, though, before you reach its twisting roots, Mukk's wave dwindling to nothing as the shapes of three humans and a flying bison become visible in the distance. You wave, and begin rushing up toward them. Mukk follows, but he seems very uncomfortable on the solid ground of the tree's roots, and falls behind. You, on the other hand, feel right at home, as the tree is just another mountain to scale.
As you approach the group, Aang detaches from it to approach you, and soon the two of you have met in the middle.
"Shuji! I'm so glad you're OK! Huu said he could sense you through the tree and that you were OK, but I couldn't help myself worrying."
You pant, grinning. "Yeah, some crazy stuff happened, but I made it out alright. Never could have found you without the kid, though. You met Mukk?"
You turn back to look at the aforementioned kid, who is slowly catching up to you, Aang waving at him as you do.
"Yeah! He was here with Huu when Kakaze and I got here."
You blink. "Right, I guess I haven't asked how you got so far from where we landed."
"Kakaze and I both got led here by visions. We expected you to come too, but you didn't, so after Huu found you, he sent Mukk to get you."
You frown. "Visions, huh?"
You close your eyes for a moment, trying to ignore the images of your countrymen that appear when you do- most of all, the tear-stained visage of your mom's face. "What about," you choke.
Aang seems excited enough to see you safe and eager enough to discuss that he apparently doesn't notice your emotional state. "Kakaze saw his dad, but I'll let him tell you the details if he wants to. I saw a girl, one I've never met, and I figured out that either it's someone I'm going to meet, or maybe someone one of my previous lives knew that I don't remember. This swamp is all one big living organism, and it's full of spiritual energy. It shows people visions of the past and the future."
The past and… the future? "Did the visions talk to you?"
Aang shakes his head. "The girl I saw just laughed and waved for me to follow her as she ran away. Kakaze's talked to him, but I'll let him tell you the specifics. What about you? Did you see something too?"
You nod, but before you can speak, Mukk catches up with you, panting. The moment he reaches you, he flops down on his butt, rubbing the soles of his feet. "Always hate climbin' this thing. 'Eya, Aang."
Aang kneels down to be on his level. "Hi again, Mukk! Thanks for finding Shuji!"
Mukk looks up at Aang's bright smile, and although you spot a transparent attempt to hide it through an expression of indifference, he can't help but smile slightly in response. "Thanks. Wasn't nothin'."
"Hey, don't say that, kid, I'd have probably gotten swamp madness if I stayed out there much longer without your help." You phrase it as a joke, but you're not certain that's untrue. "By the way, Mukk, how old are you?"
"Eleven. Theresabouts. Don't know exactly when I was born, but more'r'less eleven."
You nod appreciatively, glad you guessed closer to his real age than you did Aang, with whom you were 2 (102??) years off. "You're a strong kid. Let's get going up to the others."
Mukk nods stoically, but if he was trying to hide his discomfort, he failed quite drastically.
"Here," offers Aang, before you have a chance to suggest carrying him, "let me put a little pep in our step."
Aang slowly raises his hands as he conjures an updraft at your backs, making the path up the banyan tree much easier. At its trunk, you see Kakaze, Appa, and an older man wearing only a leaf loincloth with wild hair and beard that makes Kakaze look downright civilized in comparison. Swiftly, with the wind at your backs, you three reach them.
Kakaze looks at you silently for a few moments, his face unreadable, before smiling and nodding. "Glad to see you in one piece, Shuji. I was worried you'd get yourself strangled by those vines."
You chuckle. "Yeah, I was a little concerned about that too."
You turn to the bulky older man. "Huu, yeah? Mukk said you know what caused those vines to grab us.
He grins and chuckles. "Why of course! That was me. Bendin' the water in the vines."
You blink, opening your mouth to speak, but no words are forthcoming. As you do so, all your companions but Appa and Mukk burst out laughing, the latter even cracking a grin. "What? What!?"
Huu calms himself, letting out a few more hearty chortles before he shakes his head. "I'm the protector of this swamp. It's my job to make sure folks don't go around chopping up the trees willy-nilly like you were. Of course, I didn't hurt you, I just shook you up a little to remind you to be careful of the vines. That was before I met Aang and Kakaze here, of course."
You open your mouth again, but interrupt yourself as something more pressing comes to mind. "Didn't hurt me my foot! What was with those hallucinations? That was a complete nightmare, I nearly set your precious swamp on fire with myself in it!"
Huu frowns deeply as Aang and Kakaze look at you, equal parts confused and concerned.
"This swamp connects many things. It connects different people, and different places. It connects the past, present, and future. It connects the physical world with the spirit world, and it also connects the inside," he points at his head, "with the outside." He gestures outwards at, well… everything, you suppose.
"The visions the swamp shows are the truth, but the truth isn't always simple. There's the truth of the outside world around you, but there's also the truth of your mind. To you, both are equally true, and the swamp doesn't discriminate. If you think the visions were hurting you, it's because your thoughts were already hurting yourself."
You grimace as you break eye contact with him, staring down at your feet. Everything he's saying sounds like spiritual mumbo jumbo, and the idea that you might be seeing into the future sounds even more insane, but you can't deny that some of it seems to ring true. Perhaps you were feeling more guilt than you realized with respect to your betrayal of the Fire Nation, and were only trying to focus your mind elsewhere to ignore it.
Aang looks up at you, his eyes betraying his worry. "What… did you see?"
You shake your head. "I… not right now. I can't tell the specifics right now, just… I may have some things to work through. Give me some time."
Aang nods, and Kakaze remains silent.
"So, Huu. I'm… sorry about chopping up the vines." You resist bringing up that Mukk sliced off a large chunk of bark just to help carry you here, since you appreciated that. "Do you mind if we stay here? Are there more people around, like you and Mukk?"
Huu grins, nodding. "Apology accepted. And to answer your other questions, yes, and yes. You can stay as long as you like, if ya live in harmony with the swamp, and there's a whole tribe of swampbenders you haven't met, the ones who raised Mukk here."
The mentioned one nods his head. In the light of the fire by which Huu and Kakaze sit, you can get a better look at him. His skin is dark, surely in part for the mud that seems to coat every inch of him, but also very notably darker than most people you've met, that aside. He's a scrawny kid, a little shorter than Aang but similar in build. If you were his parent, you'd insist he eat more. His black hair, like seemingly everyone else's, is unkempt, unbrushed, and unwashed.
Self-consciously, you run a finger through your own, finding specks of dirt and wood, as well as a sheen of grease. You grimace, resolving to find some clean water to bathe and wash your clothes.
"Do you think anyone here could help Aang learn waterbending? I know we're in the Earth kingdom, but it sounds like you swamp people are waterbenders."
"Yep! Mukk's the only mudbender here, and I'm the only one who can bend vines well's I do, but if you go into town you'll meet a lotta other waterbenders, and I'm sure's it comes that most anybody'd be honored to teach the Avatar, myself not excluded."
[] Well forget those guys (for now). Here at the trunk of the Great Banyan Grove Tree, you can't smell the sulfur, and the campfire here proves that fire doesn't hurt the Tree, so this is the perfect place for Aang to continue his firebending training with you.
[] Huu was able to bend vines precisely at you from dozens of kilometers away at least, that skill is incredible. Aang should train with him to learn to bend the water in plants.
[] Mukk's abilities were pretty incredible, the ability to use the water in the earth to bend both at once, as well as the ability to use that mud to travel even faster than Aang can. Plus, perhaps it could help him when he eventually moves on to earthbending. He should learn mudbending with Mukk.
[] The Fire Nation isn't very garden-like, nor is it typically very wet, and you've heard much of the Earth Kingdom is desert as well. Bending mud and plants won't be useful in places like that- he should find a tutor in conventional waterbending with the swampbenders. Less specialized, perhaps, but more versatile.
[] The swamp may accept you, according to Huu, but that doesn't make it friendly. It's wet, stinky, loud, uncomfortable, makes you hallucinate about your own deep-seated fears about your own character and future, and is apparently literally explosive. You should find somewhere else to go and only return if you have a very good reason to.
- [] Travel somewhere else for Aang to learn earthbending or waterbending.
-- [] Where?
- [] Travel somewhere else for Aang to finish his firebending training with you.
-- [] Where?
[] Write in…
Mukk shrugs. "I do, but Huu will be better at explainin'. Plus, I ain't in the mood."
You frown, but don't press the issue.
"Alright, you said you bend mud. What, are we gonna ride on a wave of it till we get to your tree?"
He gets up from his position sitting against the tree without using his arms. "Good guess. How's your balance?"
You blink. "About average, I guess."
He takes a step forward, turning his hands in a bending form that you've never seen, but which is so fluid and seamless that you can only assume it's some form of waterbending. He raises his hands a few times, raising and lowering, as though he were struggling to lift something, and soon the surface of the swampy water begins to bubble, eventually bursting open to reveal a flow of mud that rises to his level. It forms itself into a thin, almost blade-like shape, and with a swift moment he shears off some of the bark of the tree he's on, leaving him with a disc of bark about a meter in circumference.
He takes hold of the disc and tosses it down into the water, where it comfortably floats. Once he's done, he turns to the de-barked section of the tree, bending his mud to coat it densely, covering the raw wood.
"A'right, once that board rises up to you, climb onto it and don't fall off."
He turns back to the swamp, his flowing motions this time grander somehow, and in line with this, when the surface of the swamp begins to rise again, it is a much greater wave of mud that emerges. As per his warning, the wave rises to your level, carrying with it the disc of bark. He steps forward, leaping with bare feet into the wave of mud, only sinking about an inch in. Uncomfortably, you climb onto the "board," your balance a bit shaky. To your relief, Mukk seems to be carefully bending the wave to keep you from falling.
"Ready?"
You waver for a moment, realizing with a mixture of pride and existential dread how you've begun to take such truly ridiculous events in stride. You lower yourself to one knee, taking hold of the edge of the surprisingly-sturdy disc. "Ready as I'll ever be."
Mukk nods, making a deceptively-small gesture that starts the wave of mud flowing, at first only at a walking pace, before gradually accelerating as you flow across the river, gracefully taking turns so smoothly that you don't even struggle to stay on your board, even as the speed increases to be perhaps even comparable to Appa's pace in the air. Mukk skillfully avoids flying into tangles of vines, the height of his mudslide adjusted on the fly to dodge roots that appear in your path. You have to admit, while you don't know what's average for a swampbender, this kid has some real skill, especially considering his age.
Finally, in the distance, you make out the menacingly-titanic form of what can only be the great Banyan grove tree. You saw it far in the distance as you arrived in the swamp- its proximity now means you must have travelled a great distance- you're glad you didn't try to find your way to Aang and Kakaze on your own. Its size is hard to comprehend as you catch glimpses of it through the canopy. You can say without exaggeration that it is truly mountainous, reaching such heights and with such impossible breadth that to compare it to the swamp's other trees, gigantic in their own right, is to compare an average tree to a blade of grass.
"Wow."
"Yep. T's somethin' special, ain't it? Nothin' like it in the world."
"Yeah… I can't imagine there is."
Frankly, though you saw it in the distance before, at the time it was hard to fully appreciate. Before now, you wouldn't have believed any living thing of such a colossal scale could exist under the sun.
You simply watch in silence as Mukk brings you closer to its belief-straining bulk, entering the shadow of its kilometers-long branches and leaves long before you approach its trunk. It doesn't take too much longer, though, before you reach its twisting roots, Mukk's wave dwindling to nothing as the shapes of three humans and a flying bison become visible in the distance. You wave, and begin rushing up toward them. Mukk follows, but he seems very uncomfortable on the solid ground of the tree's roots, and falls behind. You, on the other hand, feel right at home, as the tree is just another mountain to scale.
As you approach the group, Aang detaches from it to approach you, and soon the two of you have met in the middle.
"Shuji! I'm so glad you're OK! Huu said he could sense you through the tree and that you were OK, but I couldn't help myself worrying."
You pant, grinning. "Yeah, some crazy stuff happened, but I made it out alright. Never could have found you without the kid, though. You met Mukk?"
You turn back to look at the aforementioned kid, who is slowly catching up to you, Aang waving at him as you do.
"Yeah! He was here with Huu when Kakaze and I got here."
You blink. "Right, I guess I haven't asked how you got so far from where we landed."
"Kakaze and I both got led here by visions. We expected you to come too, but you didn't, so after Huu found you, he sent Mukk to get you."
You frown. "Visions, huh?"
You close your eyes for a moment, trying to ignore the images of your countrymen that appear when you do- most of all, the tear-stained visage of your mom's face. "What about," you choke.
Aang seems excited enough to see you safe and eager enough to discuss that he apparently doesn't notice your emotional state. "Kakaze saw his dad, but I'll let him tell you the details if he wants to. I saw a girl, one I've never met, and I figured out that either it's someone I'm going to meet, or maybe someone one of my previous lives knew that I don't remember. This swamp is all one big living organism, and it's full of spiritual energy. It shows people visions of the past and the future."
The past and… the future? "Did the visions talk to you?"
Aang shakes his head. "The girl I saw just laughed and waved for me to follow her as she ran away. Kakaze's talked to him, but I'll let him tell you the specifics. What about you? Did you see something too?"
You nod, but before you can speak, Mukk catches up with you, panting. The moment he reaches you, he flops down on his butt, rubbing the soles of his feet. "Always hate climbin' this thing. 'Eya, Aang."
Aang kneels down to be on his level. "Hi again, Mukk! Thanks for finding Shuji!"
Mukk looks up at Aang's bright smile, and although you spot a transparent attempt to hide it through an expression of indifference, he can't help but smile slightly in response. "Thanks. Wasn't nothin'."
"Hey, don't say that, kid, I'd have probably gotten swamp madness if I stayed out there much longer without your help." You phrase it as a joke, but you're not certain that's untrue. "By the way, Mukk, how old are you?"
"Eleven. Theresabouts. Don't know exactly when I was born, but more'r'less eleven."
You nod appreciatively, glad you guessed closer to his real age than you did Aang, with whom you were 2 (102??) years off. "You're a strong kid. Let's get going up to the others."
Mukk nods stoically, but if he was trying to hide his discomfort, he failed quite drastically.
"Here," offers Aang, before you have a chance to suggest carrying him, "let me put a little pep in our step."
Aang slowly raises his hands as he conjures an updraft at your backs, making the path up the banyan tree much easier. At its trunk, you see Kakaze, Appa, and an older man wearing only a leaf loincloth with wild hair and beard that makes Kakaze look downright civilized in comparison. Swiftly, with the wind at your backs, you three reach them.
Kakaze looks at you silently for a few moments, his face unreadable, before smiling and nodding. "Glad to see you in one piece, Shuji. I was worried you'd get yourself strangled by those vines."
You chuckle. "Yeah, I was a little concerned about that too."
You turn to the bulky older man. "Huu, yeah? Mukk said you know what caused those vines to grab us.
He grins and chuckles. "Why of course! That was me. Bendin' the water in the vines."
You blink, opening your mouth to speak, but no words are forthcoming. As you do so, all your companions but Appa and Mukk burst out laughing, the latter even cracking a grin. "What? What!?"
Huu calms himself, letting out a few more hearty chortles before he shakes his head. "I'm the protector of this swamp. It's my job to make sure folks don't go around chopping up the trees willy-nilly like you were. Of course, I didn't hurt you, I just shook you up a little to remind you to be careful of the vines. That was before I met Aang and Kakaze here, of course."
You open your mouth again, but interrupt yourself as something more pressing comes to mind. "Didn't hurt me my foot! What was with those hallucinations? That was a complete nightmare, I nearly set your precious swamp on fire with myself in it!"
Huu frowns deeply as Aang and Kakaze look at you, equal parts confused and concerned.
"This swamp connects many things. It connects different people, and different places. It connects the past, present, and future. It connects the physical world with the spirit world, and it also connects the inside," he points at his head, "with the outside." He gestures outwards at, well… everything, you suppose.
"The visions the swamp shows are the truth, but the truth isn't always simple. There's the truth of the outside world around you, but there's also the truth of your mind. To you, both are equally true, and the swamp doesn't discriminate. If you think the visions were hurting you, it's because your thoughts were already hurting yourself."
You grimace as you break eye contact with him, staring down at your feet. Everything he's saying sounds like spiritual mumbo jumbo, and the idea that you might be seeing into the future sounds even more insane, but you can't deny that some of it seems to ring true. Perhaps you were feeling more guilt than you realized with respect to your betrayal of the Fire Nation, and were only trying to focus your mind elsewhere to ignore it.
Aang looks up at you, his eyes betraying his worry. "What… did you see?"
You shake your head. "I… not right now. I can't tell the specifics right now, just… I may have some things to work through. Give me some time."
Aang nods, and Kakaze remains silent.
"So, Huu. I'm… sorry about chopping up the vines." You resist bringing up that Mukk sliced off a large chunk of bark just to help carry you here, since you appreciated that. "Do you mind if we stay here? Are there more people around, like you and Mukk?"
Huu grins, nodding. "Apology accepted. And to answer your other questions, yes, and yes. You can stay as long as you like, if ya live in harmony with the swamp, and there's a whole tribe of swampbenders you haven't met, the ones who raised Mukk here."
The mentioned one nods his head. In the light of the fire by which Huu and Kakaze sit, you can get a better look at him. His skin is dark, surely in part for the mud that seems to coat every inch of him, but also very notably darker than most people you've met, that aside. He's a scrawny kid, a little shorter than Aang but similar in build. If you were his parent, you'd insist he eat more. His black hair, like seemingly everyone else's, is unkempt, unbrushed, and unwashed.
Self-consciously, you run a finger through your own, finding specks of dirt and wood, as well as a sheen of grease. You grimace, resolving to find some clean water to bathe and wash your clothes.
"Do you think anyone here could help Aang learn waterbending? I know we're in the Earth kingdom, but it sounds like you swamp people are waterbenders."
"Yep! Mukk's the only mudbender here, and I'm the only one who can bend vines well's I do, but if you go into town you'll meet a lotta other waterbenders, and I'm sure's it comes that most anybody'd be honored to teach the Avatar, myself not excluded."
[] Well forget those guys (for now). Here at the trunk of the Great Banyan Grove Tree, you can't smell the sulfur, and the campfire here proves that fire doesn't hurt the Tree, so this is the perfect place for Aang to continue his firebending training with you.
[] Huu was able to bend vines precisely at you from dozens of kilometers away at least, that skill is incredible. Aang should train with him to learn to bend the water in plants.
[] Mukk's abilities were pretty incredible, the ability to use the water in the earth to bend both at once, as well as the ability to use that mud to travel even faster than Aang can. Plus, perhaps it could help him when he eventually moves on to earthbending. He should learn mudbending with Mukk.
[] The Fire Nation isn't very garden-like, nor is it typically very wet, and you've heard much of the Earth Kingdom is desert as well. Bending mud and plants won't be useful in places like that- he should find a tutor in conventional waterbending with the swampbenders. Less specialized, perhaps, but more versatile.
[] The swamp may accept you, according to Huu, but that doesn't make it friendly. It's wet, stinky, loud, uncomfortable, makes you hallucinate about your own deep-seated fears about your own character and future, and is apparently literally explosive. You should find somewhere else to go and only return if you have a very good reason to.
- [] Travel somewhere else for Aang to learn earthbending or waterbending.
-- [] Where?
- [] Travel somewhere else for Aang to finish his firebending training with you.
-- [] Where?
[] Write in…