======= 62 - Calming the Volcano ==========
Striking skill and power were concentrated in the hands of one woman, whose virtuosity echoed in my mind and was unlikely to fade anytime soon. Keeping every movement of her qi in the back of my mind and clearly remembering how she used her truly legendary style, I could say with all my heart that I would soon copy each of these tricks.
I would adapt her wind magic and reproduce it using mud techniques with snow, become even faster, and even compile a separate book on fire magic techniques! But all that would come after I extinguished the volcano and dealt with my current problems...
As it happened, Kioshi allowed herself to lose focus only once during the entire battle, during her final attack. She probably thought she would clean up the battlefield when everything was over, and couldn't even imagine her defeat. Unfortunately, now the burden of cleaning up fell entirely on me. I had to return the magma to its place and prevent it from creating a branch of death at the base of the volcano, prevent the rising geysers from hurting anyone, and somehow figure out how to bring sleep back to this inanimate creature, preferably for a long time.
"Hey, are you out of your mind? - While I stood there with my hands behind my back, fans were spinning in front of me with the help of telekinesis, all to control the magic I had just discovered - there was a rustling behind me. Zuko noticed that I was distracted and that there seemed to be no threat, so he sent his few remaining accomplices after the unconscious Avatar.
Fuu-yu*
Unfortunately for him, although there was practically no snow left in the area, clouds were still present and could easily condense moisture. Zuko himself did not understand how an icy stream descended from the sky, pressing them to the ground and creating a kind of prison. And above the bodies hung a very dissatisfied Katara and Sokka.
"Zuko, stop!" shouted Grandfather Airo to his incredibly annoyed nephew. "Don't you care how many people died following you?
"It is precisely because they died that we must put an end to all this!" He roared loudly like an exhausted beast and breathed a stream of flame towards Katara. It did not reach its target, as a boomerang hit him in the face faster.
"I'll cut off your head if you do that again. And rest assured, I only refrained from doing so because our elder brother is protecting you all for some reason.
"Hey, don't hit me, okay? I don't belong to the Fire Nation," said the black-haired woman with the sniffer dog, tensing up.
For a brief moment, silence reigned, and no one understood what was going to happen next. Avatar's group focused on me, followed by the enemy soldiers and Airo, whose gaze was filled with shame. Apparently, he was ashamed that he had failed to calm his nephew down.
"...You're not telling me something, uncle," said Zuko, staring at the ground, slowly focusing on his prey... no, it was Tai Li, whose pupils narrowed sharply as she realised she was exposed and that her childhood friend had recognised her very quickly. And then he turned to me," the circus monkey and her companion, who, who would have thought, turned out to be the Sandbender. I remember you two talking about something for a long time.
Excellent observation and deduction. What can I say, Zuko examined me very closely when we first met. Even though I was wearing makeup, it didn't hide my physique, the shape of my face, and other details that I, as a complete novice in the art of stealth, might not even have noticed.
After that, silence and misunderstanding arose between absolutely everyone. Questions were eating away at everyone inside, but since we were literally facing a rumbling volcano and the temperature was becoming unbearably uncomfortable, no one was in a hurry to share them.
"I'll try to just divert the lava away from the village, but if it explodes seriously even once, it's all over... damn, it burns.
"Let me go, I'll help divert the heat," began Airo, as Sokka immediately tried to cover him. But my words stopped him in his tracks, and my order to release him from his bonds caused a wave of surprise. Nevertheless, I simply did not allow anyone to disobey me — the ice melted, and my uncle approached the edge of the volcano, pointing his fingers from the cliff, after which a powerful stream of heat along with black smoke immediately rose into the sky, allowing the lava to cool faster. This was truly excellent help, thanks to which it was gradually possible to reduce the chances of a cataclysm.
Some of the magma managed to flow down the channels created underground, while the rest spewed out of the holes that had formed. The only problem was the poisonous fumes, which were easy to breathe in, so a couple of sandstorms drove away any glimmers of smog. But even after such methodical work, which allowed us to curb the danger, we were all exhausted, and several hectares of forest near the volcano were completely burned out. The spreading fire would surely cause the animals to flee, and there, perhaps, some spirits would go mad, but I considered it a miracle that we managed to stop everything. In addition, Katara was summoning rain profusely in an attempt to stop the fire from spreading. It was a pity that nature itself did not help; rain never comes when it is so badly needed.
"Hey," he said, turning his sweaty neck towards the barely standing Airo and waving him towards the settlement. "Let's talk."
***
Whatever the consequences of revealing our true identities, since Anubis didn't warn us about this in advance, it's quite possible that this is exactly how it was meant to happen. In fact, I can't bring myself to say that Airo could have done nothing all this time and had no influence on his nephew's character. He is too wise a man, so I still had faith in the best.
After leading the whole group to the settlement, which was slightly frightened by the volcano incident, I asked to stay at Aunt Woo's house and, using my charm, managed to get a temporary room from her. Meng's assistant quickly brought us water and food, and then went to help Aang.
"You have amazing abilities," said Airo, sitting with his nephew and our team, seeing how my mud-covered hands were slowly healing.
"I would show amazing abilities if you hadn't taken my magic away," Zuko said, clenching his fists and glaring at Tai Li. That was the whole problem: he was capable of expressing his anger in any way he wanted, even blackmailing our gymnast. After that, he would feel worse, but the fact itself... "Uncle, maybe you want to explain yourself? Why do you know the Sandbender and didn't tell us anything before?!"
Maybe I overestimated someone's wisdom and set my expectations too high?
"You yourself..." At that moment, an irritated voice rang out in the silence. Amazingly, Tai Li was angry. "It's you, monkey. And you're the same evil jerk you've always been."
I almost opened my mouth to stop her from saying anything else, but sensing the emotions she wanted to express, I realised it would be better to just trust her.
"You're always trying to get someone's attention, just like little Zu-Zu, which is why your sister always spoke of you with such contempt. You never wanted to fulfil your own desires, and you never even asked yourself what you really wanted — you called me a circus monkey, but at least that was my decision. And you'll always be little Zu-zu because you can't get over your childhood need for your father's attention. You should at least ask yourself if your father knows about your attempts.
I don't know how long this had been building up inside her, but her current level of sarcasm could rival the most toxic people I knew. But she had simply kept her promise and called him a "circus monkey," and she did it in such a way that he froze with an extremely angry look on his face, trying to open his mouth to say something. But all that came out was a wheeze.
"...I've always wanted you to ask yourself the same question, but perhaps Ms. Tai Li's words are more sincere," said Airo, lowering his head and taking a sip from his mug. "Zuko, the Avatar's power is unprecedented, you saw it yourself today. He can only be defeated while he is young. But he is protected by the Sandbender, which means Ozai's defeat is a foregone conclusion.
"So you're a traitor!
"The thing is, we're on the side of the Fire Nation," everyone who heard this for the first time looked shocked. "Heh heh, maybe I didn't express myself clearly. We want to make a deal with your father to halt the expansion but preserve territorial integrity. Ending the war on any other terms would result in casualties you couldn't even imagine. That's what we discussed at our last meeting, but it was pointless to say it until you saw the power of the Avatar and his bodyguard for yourself. Zuko, if I taught you anything, it was to look at the world objectively. So tell me, am I really a traitor, in your opinion?
I folded my arms across my chest and raised my chin. For the first time, Zuko and I focused on each other, putting aside our hostility and anger, leaving only confusion and curiosity. He didn't answer, just felt a lump in his throat, then leaned against the wall and lost himself in his thoughts, more lost than ever.
Sokka and Katara had a similar reaction; it was the first time they had heard such a revelation. But these words had an even stronger effect on the boy standing in the doorway. The bald boy with a stunned look on his face was being held by the girl Meng.
"You want to leave the territories as they are? What about... harmony? Now it's time for Airo to look at me with condemnation, as if I was the one who sat around and neglected my duties," Justice, it's when all nations remain in their territories.
"You sound like Kioshi," I pressed my nose.
"I know. I spoke to her a couple of minutes ago. And she said you were bad," damn it. You couldn't defeat the spirit and shut him up. But was there anything we could do? In general, yes, but every outcome I saw had something going wrong.
"Choose:
1 - Say nothing (Let a wiser person do the work for you. Aang will realise that he needs to intervene and calm the Avatar down. In this outcome, Aang will remain in limbo, torn between which side to take. In the future, you will have to convincingly prove your case to other incarnations of the Avatar so that they will take your side. Sometimes by force, but thanks to this, you will become stronger).
2 - A new word in philosophy (Deviate from your travel plans and show Aang a completely new state of affairs. Let him see the villages and cities where nations have already mixed. Aang will begin to change his worldview on his own, but the speed of your development will be significantly slowed down. There is a high risk that you will not learn to deflect lightning.)
In one case, I had to continue talking to crazy spirits, and in the other, I had even less chance of reaching the North Pole in a short period of time. And it seemed that I wouldn't be able to talk to Yangchen either, and the previous Avatar, born an airbender, was next on my list for a chat. I had no idea how she would teach me to deflect electricity, but I definitely needed to talk to her... Oh well.
"Everyone wants to live and develop freely, Avatar, the desire for the best is a natural human trait," Airo began as soon as I fell silent. "The philosophy preached by Kioshi is too outdated and only hinders the development of the world. You are still young and can lead the world into the future. You need to strive for new discoveries and rely on the experience of your friends, not repeat your own mistakes from past lives.
"...
It seemed like everything was fine. I don't know what happened with Zuko, he was still silent, but Aang was thinking everything through carefully. After all, it wasn't right to listen only to Kioshi; another incarnation had said that I was good. Who was right? That's what it meant to stay on the sidelines.
One thing is clear: I have absolutely no idea if I can push through Aang's opinion and remain on good terms with him. If something goes wrong... it will be one of those cases in history when philosophy and belief in something will have to be enforced by force, or even defended by any means necessary.