50 Interlude #2

200 power stones equal an additional chapter

***

The Avatar team, consisting of two people, had to endure a lot. Somehow, they always managed to find adventures for themselves, even without seeking them. Sokka's death hit them harder than it might have appeared to an outsider.

Katara was able to come to terms with it after a week, yet she cried every evening, as memories of her brother, memories of that day, would wash over her again and again, whenever she allowed herself to relax.

Then they found themselves in that strange swamp. They lost Appa and Momo and were left alone in the midst of the swamp, reminiscent of their time in the Cave of Two Lovers. There, they began to see peculiar visions. It seemed they were seeing the deceased, and Katara thought she saw Sokka, trying to tell her something; his mouth moved, she saw it, but couldn't hear his words, couldn't grasp the meaning of his gestures. Only fragments. "Be cautious. It's him. Now an enemy." And when he tried to show her something more, she could no longer see him, as if he was swept away by a gust of wind. Who was he talking about? What did he mean? Katara shared with Aang what she had seen, but he too was unable to understand.

Then they had no time for further contemplation, as they had to fend off an enigmatic monster, which actually turned out to be just a waterbender who had learned to manipulate plants. Katara remembered that Freo had told her he also possessed such a skill, which made Katara marvel once more, realizing through her own experience how challenging it was. She asked him to teach her too, but during the few days they spent in the swamp with the local waterbenders, she made no significant progress, barely managing to stir the plants.

Their journey continued more smoothly until, on the shore near Kyoshi Island, they arrived in a village where a festival called Avatar Day was being held. Everything would have been fine if the village didn't despise the Avatar and didn't burn their wooden effigies on this day. Katara didn't understand what overcame her, but the sight of the Avatar effigies being burned kindled an unprecedented fury and anger within her; she immediately extinguished the flames and was ready to confront the villagers when Aang stopped her, placing his hand on her shoulder. She looked at him and saw him shaking his head. His face was filled with sorrow and sadness, but despite everything, he still had no intention of harming the villagers.

Katara ceased and then withdrew the water back into her flask. They didn't linger in this inhospitable village, flying away on Appa.

Then they stopped in one of the numerous cities of the Earth Kingdom. Aang was constantly somber, while Katara tried to forget what had occurred, to detach herself from all of it... then she remembered the peculiar meditation that Freo had taught her and Aang. It involves renouncing everything happening in the world and focusing on the element. Maybe it was worth a try? Aang often uses this meditation and says that it really helps him feel the energy in the water, his own energy, and the water responds to him better...

And the next day, Aang found out that underground earthbending fights were soon to be held there, and he thought that teachers of earthbending might be found there.

That indeed happened. A girl, small in comparison to the other benders, demonstrated such a level of bending that she managed to defeat all her opponents!

But integrating Toph into the group was challenging... however, eventually, she agreed to accompany Aang and Katara. Katara, hoping to find a friend in Toph, someone besides Aang who could help her stay strong, found Toph initially reluctant to engage. But as the saying goes, water shapes its course through persistence.

Several days passed, after which their relationship gradually improved, and Toph and Katara became friends, even best friends, after sharing their life stories one night, which brought them closer and laid the foundation for their enduring friendship.

Thus, Toph learned about the history of the Avatar team, about Katara's older brother, about Freo, about all their adventures.

To some extent, these adventures could not but be judged by the blind girl, as she could understand the motives of one of their former team members. Moreover, how could she not empathize when her friend, according to her own words, starts experiencing similar emotions, feelings, desires.

Teaching Aang earthbending was a challenge, and then Toph also learned about the unusual method of learning bending through special meditation. Initially, it seemed amusing to her, but stories about a guy who managed to learn both waterbending and earthbending without being the Avatar, plus Aang's personal sensations... all this persuaded Toph to give it a try herself. It wasn't immediate, but she managed to do it quite rapidly. At least the sensation of the earth's energy, as Aang described that feeling, she felt in just four days. And then Toph herself realized that this method of learning bending truly works because just the feeling of one's element, one's power, and the power hidden in the earth... it already made Toph stronger. No, not stronger - better!

Then she began to inquire about who this Freo was, what was known about him...

And she got a comprehensive answer, just by learning one of the nicknames of the former member of the Avatar team. The Blood Monster. Chimamīn Monsutā. A person, rumors of whom had reached her family and Toph in particular.

Then from Katara, Toph learned about his abilities, their diversity, and the mastery he achieved in each area. And according to Freo himself, as told to Katara, all this was achieved through meditation alone.

And then Toph pondered.

If Freo did the impossible and became the greatest waterbender, as he is now rumored to be, at least the strongest for sure, then why couldn't Toph do the same? No, not to become famous as a bloodthirsty monster, but as the strongest and greatest earthbender...

A smile appeared on Toph's face and transformed into a full-blown grin. The greatest earthbender, the first to conquer metal!

Traveling further, stopping, and constantly learning, the Avatar team reached a vast desert. In one of the cities where the team stopped, they stumbled upon an explorer who was waiting there in the hope that someone would dare to go with him in search of the Great Library. Professor Zei, as this explorer was called, offered them help in his search, but Toph was against it, saying that it would just be a waste of time! She was not eager to stay in the desert any longer than necessary, as she could not fully use her vibration sensing abilities there.

However...

Having reached a new city on the border of the desert, where they planned to spend the night, the entire Avatar team was captured when their food and water were drugged with a sleeping potion before bedtime.

When they woke up, they were in cages...

And a strange, unusual feeling haunted Aang since his awakening. He couldn't understand what it was, having never felt it before, but soon he sensed the absence of something... realized that something had been taken from him...

"Where's Appa!?" Aang yelled, jumping up in his cage, but the people managing the strange sailboat for traveling across the sand paid no attention to him.

Aang's desperation was short-lived. Appa had always been with him since childhood, ever since he was a little bison; they had never been apart!

Never! And this feeling of loss... that feeling awakened new sensations, new emotions in him, which, if they had been present in Aang before, were insignificant, only occasionally turning into a raging, all-destroying hurricane.

Now, Rage, Anger, Hatred, Malice, Resentment, Sadness, Despair... all threatened to become an incredible frenzy, but unlike before, these feelings grew gradually, step by step saturating the Avatar's mind.

And they reached their climax.

A bright glow burst from the Avatar's eyes and mouth, his tattoos illuminated with an otherworldly light, and the air masses within hundreds of meters around, previously still, came into motion.

On a calm, windless day, the sand began to move. Grains of sand moved in a huge circle, but still barely noticeable. But with each second, huge masses of air began to move faster and faster, carrying more and more sand with them.

The boats stopped, the sandbenders, who were the main driving force of their transport, felt the terrifying power, the desire to Destroy, Tear apart, Scatter, Incinerate, Crush. The desire to KILL!

All the sandbenders turned to the source of these feelings and saw Him...

The bars of the cage simply bent from the sphere of super-fast rotating air and, eventually unable to withstand, just burst apart, releasing the enraged Avatar.

Hundreds of tons of sand, lifted into the air, already blocked out all sunlight, cutting off access to it. Everyone present was trapped in a Storm Ocean of multi-meter walls of sand moving at incredible speed.

If anyone were caught there, their flesh would be sanded away by the particles, leaving only a skeleton in the air within a few minutes...

The fear experienced by the sandbenders is indescribable, a large part of them turned gray that day, witnessing this all-destroying power.

Aang's fury subsided very quickly. He simply took control of his emotions, and soon the Avatar state left him. It left, but the feelings that awakened it remained, simmering in the Avatar's mind, finding support in Aang's memory. The arguments of a young sandbender, backed by such emotions, could no longer be ignored and completely suppressed.

The sandbenders answered all questions. Soon Aang knew where they had sold Appa. Just the thought of it again made that cocktail of emotions and feelings tremble, threatening to explode again.

But arriving at the location yielded nothing. The moving caravan that had bought the captured flying bison had left no traces and disappeared in an unknown direction.

Apathy completely enveloped Aang, and the further journey didn't register much in his memory. An attempt to board a ferry but they were stopped, meeting an old acquaintance Suki, telling her about Sokka's death. Shock, disbelief, anger, tears... Aang understood what Suki felt, accepted it... but it did not elicit any response in him. As if all emotions had burned out in that torrent of feelings.

Not boarding the ferry, they met a family with no choice but to cross the deadly Serpent's Pass.

They completed their journey through this dangerous place without losses... but towards the end, the refugee family's woman went into labor, which had to be delivered right there, on the spot, but Katara had the necessary knowledge and abilities, so everything went well.

The birth of a child... new life... the beautiful moment of new life's arrival... it was this event that allowed Aang to shed the veil of apathy that had enveloped his mind.

However, his happiness was short-lived - as soon as they emerged from behind the rocks, they... encountered an old acquaintance...

"Katara, be careful!" Toph suddenly shouted...

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