Chapter 16
Title: Tales Of Traveling (4 Finale)
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Third Person POV.
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Timeline: 98 AG (22nd of March - 8 days left till present timeline)
At the shores of the Islands that used to house the Western Air Temple, with tall mountains that's over the clouds, a single figure is seen sitting near the shores, waiting for the arrival of a ship that would take him back home
This is Iroh, the first prince of the fire nation, and somone who was supposed to ascend the throne. He wishes that he had gone on this journey earlier, maybe then he would be enlightened much earlier and wouldn't lose his change to become fire lord. Then he'd have a better chance at stopping the 100 years war. Maybe then the world wouldn't even need to wait for the Avatar's return to bring balance to the world
Alas, that is no longer possible. Iroh has lost his chance to ascend the throne, and to his eyes, Ozai may be evil, but he is just following in the footsteps of Azulon and Sozin. Even if Iroh wanted to, he couldn't bring himself to become fire lord through usurping his younger brother. 'No, never again will i stain my hands with the blood of another' Iroh has learned his lesson. He has learned that, to bring balance to the world, there should be other ways than only through violence
As Iroh is lost in his own world, in the distance on the Mo Ce Sea, he's able to see a vessel aproaching. The black smoke being expelled from the top of the ship makes it obvious which nation it belongs to
After 10 minutes, it approaches the shore and comes to a stop near it. The front part of the ship hisses open, and from within the first person to bold out is his dear son Lu Ten
Following him is his brother's second born, and his dear niece, Azula. And behind him an entourage of other people come down
Iroh gets up from his sitting place, opening his hands in an inviting gesture. Lu Ten hugs his father tightly, having become taller than him for a long time now, standing at 1.82 cm (6 ft) , with Iroh being 1.63 cm (5.4 ft)
When they seperate, Lu Ten is smiling brightly at his father while starting to tell him all about his travels to get here
Azula also gets closer, smiling brightly at seeing her Uncle again, "hello Uncle. Glad to see you still alive and kicking. We though you got swallowed up by some sea creature at this point" She says, earning a laugh from the 52 years old man "hahaha! Good one my dear, but I'm afraid you can't get rid of me that easily" He smirks, before opening his arms again
Azula hugs her uncle too while wispering "it's good to see you again, Uncle" She says, earning a smile from Iroh. They then seperate, azula leaving the duo to chat and turning to the others. "Right! So, who's ready for breakfast? " She asks, earning nods and cheers from the others
They quickly make a makeshift table area for breakfast near the shore, before breakfast is ready and get served
For today they will have deep-fried dough sticks, steamed buns, tofu pudding and two varying noodle of wheat and rice, for breakfast. Along with cups of Jasmine Tea to go along with it, Iroh's favourite tea
The chatter is lively during breakfast, with Uncle Iroh telling stories of his travels around the world these past few months
Azula and friends also add a few stories from their own travels around the islands of the fire nation, and before they know it, breakfast is finished and they are free to do as they want. Which brings us to the present
"Sooooo. Do we explore or go back guys? " Asks Azula, her eyes already on the tall mountain areas and distant forests on the Island
Seeing her excitement, the others decide to go too, some curious about the ruins of the place, some just wanting to explore the islands. "Alright! It's decided then! Lets goooo! " Shouts Ty Lee, before bolting towards the ship to get some essential stuff for the trip, coming out minutes later with gigantic bags full of camping equipment and a grin on her face
"Ty, no. " Says Azula, making Ty Lee's head droop like a puppy being refused treats. "We'll only be around for 1 day or so. We're not gonna explore all the islands. Heck maybe we'll only go to the famous inverted temples before setting sail tomorrow" She says, earning nods from those around and a reluctant Ty Lee, who drops 4 of the 5 gigantic bags -how did she even hold all those up? -
Then, after giving the soldiers the necessary orders of guarding the ship and stuff, Azula, Ty Lee, Mai and Kuzon are ready to go explore the temples
And before that, "so, i guess this is where we part ways for now" Says Azula, having come before the father and son duo, who are getting ready to head home via the tiny ship that Azula's ship can expel from its bottom. -a convenient method of traversing areas that the massive ship wouldn't be able to pass-
"Yeah, " Lu Ten says, "thank you for coming with me to get father" He says, before giving Azula a little hug. "Good luck on your journey, cousin. I hope that what your looking for is found on your travels" He says, getting a nod from Azula
"Don't worry, I'll be back before you guys know it" She says, getting a nod from the duo, "send my regards to Zuzu and Mom. Stay safe, you two" She says, hugging the duo once again, before they say goodbye and head to the tiny ship, boarding it and going on their way back to the capital, back home
The remaining crew spends one day on the island, exploring the ruined temples of the western air temple before they decide to head out the following day. Planning to get to Yu Dao city, a former earth kingdom territory that got taken over and became part of the Fire Nation Colonies
They plan to get there before heading the rest of the way to Pohuai Stronghold via land
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[Present Timeline]
"And so, we got to Yu Dao the following day and stayed to explore the city for a day before continuing on our journey"
Azula, within her room, has documented her journey until now inside the message she's about to send back home, a message that she promised she'd send every month of her travels
She continues on the message:
" After that, we crossed a valley named Chima, before getting to Tienhaishi. A place near the shores of the ocean, where we got into some interesting situation"
Azula recalls her journey there, the abandoned city they came across while on their travels, and a certain duo of spirits she got to meet
[25th of march - 5 days till present time]
Azula and her entourage of friends, Mai, Ty Lee, Kuzon and a few soldiers, who were riding on carriages being pulled by Draon-Moose, a type of animal known for their labor power that can go for miles while pulling carriages
As they are within the carriage, the driver suddenly stops, making Azula curious so she looks out to see what's going on
"You're highness, we are currently near the Abbey close to an abandoned city named Tienhaishi. Do you wish to visit the Abbey, your highness? " Asks the driver, making both Mai and Ty Lee stick their heads out the window too, right besides Azula's
"Eh, couldn't hurt to visit i guess" Azula shrugs, getting nods from both her friends before the carriage changes course for the Abbey
Once they get there, they're able to see the abbey. The designs and texture of the place is reminiscent of Earth Kingdom buildings, having used to be from the earth kingdom before fire nation took control of this northwestern side of the earth kingdom, and the abbey became a part of fire nation colony territory
Despite this, the fire nation didn't lay seige on this settlement, because this Abbey is just a little area filled with Organic Perfume or Oil making by the Nuns that reside in it. The Nuns of the place then sells their stuff around the world. Specifically, the nobles and rich people of the Fire Nation Colonies tend to prefer stuff like perfume and such, buying alot from the settlement, thus making the place prosper a lot
As the carriage get near the doors of the Abbey, a few women in Nun garbs are standing before the doors, being in a line to receive these unexpected visitors
Azula and her friends get off the carriage, before going to the front. The head of the place, an older woman titled Mother Superior by the nuns of the place, an elderly with greying hair tucked under her shal and having dark green eyes
Mother Superior, upon seeing the ornament on Azula's hair, recognizes her of being royalty. She bows Azula's way, with the other nuns doing the same. "Welcome to our humble Abbey, your highness. May i ask as to the reason of this sudden visit?" The Mother Superioir, who is named Shaya is visibly unsettled by the presence before her
Azula, sensing the enderly's discomfort, tries to cool down the tension. "There is no need to be warry of me, Mother Superior. I don't have any plans or motivations against this humble aboad. I'm mearly traveling around this place and decided to visit" Azula informs. by now Shaya has straightened up and she nods, "very well, " She then get's an idea, "in that case may we be able to interest your highness in some of our fine crafts while you stay at the abbey" She motions for the massive door behind her, getting opened slowly for the entourage to get in
"Perfume? Maybe i should get a few for Ty Lao and Ty Liu. They always did fancy this kind of stuff" Ty Lee says, "I should get some for mother if their good too" Says Mai, wanting to get some souvenirs back home
The group head in the abbey, with the nuns showing them to empty quarters for if they want to stay, and for those interested, they take them to sample some perfume and to buy if they like them
As for Azula, ever since she's gotten near these shores, -where in the future the Republic City would be build around here-, ever since she's stepped foot on these earths, she's had a weird feeling in her stomach. The feeling is as if she feels at home with this place. It's hard to explain, it's as if she's home, kinda feeling
And the strongest concentration of this feeling is coming from the abandoned city of tienhaishi near the shores. Where in the future the Republic city would be built
Azula goes to Shaya -Mother Superior- and asks her about the place. "Excuse me, what can you tell me about Tienhaishi City? " She asks, getting a confused look from mother superior
"Oh, are you headed that way? Well, i can tell that the place is abandoned. " Shaya says, before she excuses herself, having remembered something
"Oh, please excuse me for a second, i think i had a book in the office containing recorts of what had happened there. Please take a seat while i retrieve it" Shaya says, before heading inside
Azula goes and sits on one of the tables, waiting until Shaya walks back out with a regular sized book in her hand
"I am not sure if the contents within it is real or not, but this is a book containing history about Tienhaishi until it's Abandonement during the era of Avatar Yangchen" Shaya informs, before putting the book before Azula
Azula opens the old, rusted book, it's title saying 'Tienhaishi' in bold letters, and begins reading on its history
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Long ago, before the era of Avatar Yangchen, a little place near the Shores of Mo Ce Sea was occupied by a local spirit. The Spirit's name was Lady Tienhai. She was a benevolent spirit who used to live on these shores
Later on, a tribe of Nomads would stumble upon this place, seeing the ripe soil, very good for farming, and the near seashore, easy for fishing, the nomads decide to take settlement here
Lady Tienhai at first got curious by the people who are taking settlement near her place, before becoming entrigued by their livelihood. So much so that she decided to let them stay, even interacting with them after a while and becoming their 'local diety'
Spirits of that time, before Avatar Kuruk's era, were vast and free within the physical world. There were alot of local spirits within the world, and Lady Tienhai was one such spirit that wished to live in the physical realm
ThoughLady Teinhai wasn't alone in her region. She had a spirit friend, a long time companion that she used to interact with a lot. The spirits name was General Old Iron. A mighty Giant spirit who's physical strength was unmached by the physical world dwellers. He was a spirit who could control Iron, thus gaining his name, General Old Iron. His garb was like the armors of an old General Samurai, thus also affecting on his name
On the other hand, Lady Tienhai was spirit of glowing white skin, like a beautiful maiden. Her gigantic size did not diminish from the beauty she exuded, in fact, it highlighted her instead. Maybe General Old Iron used to have feelings for her, after all, spirit couples like Tui and La exists, but Lady Tienhai would never know...
Because, in her pursuit and intrigue of the local Nomads who settled in her shores, she grew distant from the spirit friend she had, because Old Iron, unlike Tienhai, saw the humans settling there as them taking their soils!
In his attempt to destroy the settlements and driving the humans away, Old Iron broke his friendship with Lady Tienhai, who took the side of humanity
General Old Iron, heartbroken by her decision, went away into the sea, and never came back. But he always watched and looked out for his friend from the shadows
Later on, the settlement grew into a prospering village famous for their fishing, and later on even evolved into a thriving city that could rival nations, just like today's Omachu City. The city got dubbed appropriately after their local Deity, and became known as 'Tienhaishi city'
Lady Tienhai, in her yearly visits of the city, manages to fall in love with the city's prince, and in doing so, sheds her immortal spirit, and assumes a mortal form in order to live with him
She lives her life, becoming queen alongside her prince/king, and has babies with him. She lives her life fully, and later on passes away of old age, her mortal form fading away, and her spirit taking on the form of cranefishes that soar into the sky
Later on, General Old Iron, not knowing that his friend became a mortal and lived her life, assumes the humans had murdered her. And he takes on his armor once again to come back and avenge her by eradicating them
During this time, Avatar Yangchen has become a Full-fledged avatar and comes to stop the spirit from destroying Tienhaishi
After a fiece battle, where Yangchen learns of Old Iron's reason for attacking Tienhaishi, she Informs him of the actual truth, leaving Old Iron devastated
Old Iron though ultimately, still wants to destroy Tienhaishi and drive away the humans from his precious friends settlement
After a lot of fighting, where Tienhaishi became collateral damage and was mostly destroyed, the two combatants came to an agreement with each other
General Old Iron vowed to never take up his weapon and armor again, and forever cease to interact with humans, if in exchange there be no humans near these shores again. And Yangchen constructed a memorial in Tienhai's image and lead her people on yearly pilgrimages to the site to pay respect to the guardian spirit, the land being declared sacred so no one would think to develop the area, to prove to Old Iron that humans could protect and preserve nature, unlike what he believes
The people of Tienhaishi scattered throughout the world, never to return on these shores again
And so, years passed. Four generations later, after Avatar Roku passes away, war breaks out and the air nomads are wiped away, leaving behind no one to come and pay their respects to Tienhai's memorial
To this day, the memorial has been completely destroyed during the war, and General Old Iron has never set foot on these shores again
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As Azula finishes reading the story, she takes a deep breath before looking to the sky, where she sees a cranefish soaring the skies of the place
Azula's enhanced perception since her awakening looks closer, and sees the cranefish looking right at her
After it hovers the skies over the Abbey a little more, it changes directions and heads straight towards the ruins of Tienhaishi, as if she's inviting her there
From Azula's mouth, a single word is uttered, a single name, "Lady Tienhai"
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Author's note/ aaaaaand that concludes 'the tales of traveling'! We'll go the rest of the 5 days from now in 'the current timeline' before getting to 'the present moment' and then continue from there
So! The side story after the end of the series, Lady Tienhai and General Old Iron. I decided to include them to my story, maybe in the future I'll include other side stories as well
Anyways, that's it for this chapter. Guys! Please share your thoughts with this lowly Author!
Tell me what you think of the story, comment down your thoughts please! I have a lot of free time on my hand so I'll answer all of thelo
[Pictures]
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Thank you guys for reading my book and have a great day/night
𝓣𝓸𝓭𝓭𝓪𝓵𝓸𝓸~