Kelsang
She had made sure to follow the astral path that her apprentice was sent away through. Once she felt her spiritual projection arrive within the realm, she quickly located the familiar chi nearby while settling her meditation. When she opened her eyes, however, the chi of her student felt not young, but old, by her estimate, older by at least two lifetimes.
That made sense, considering Master Paaru and the other elders had always insisted Tanza was an old soul of the wind. But as her sight came into focus, she was greeted by the sight of a woman in monk robes who held her student's exact chi within her.
The woman sat across the clearing in a seated position, her legs crossed. An expression of annoyed expectation was prevalent on her face, though it quickly disappeared the moment her eyes locked onto Kelsang's.
The stranger's wavy, silver-blonde hair perfectly framed her face, the rest flowing down past her shoulders by a few inches. Her facial features showed a certain grace, but her sharp bangs hid any sight of a possible airbender master's arrow tattoo.
A heavy, absolute silence fell over the warm clearing.
As the two sat separate from each other by several paces, Kelsang finally spoke. "...Tanza?" Her voice finally left her lips with a tone of some uncertainty and the rest realisation as the woman narrowed her eyes at her when she spoke her apprentice's name.
The woman on the other hand, who seemed to silently be weighing something in her mind, spoke after several seconds of silence had passed after Kelsang spoke the name 'Tanza'.
"...that is the name you know her by," the woman murmured. Before Kelsang's eyes, the form began to ripple and shift. The gender changed in a breath, the physical frame expanding while the rhythm of the chi mutated to Kelsang's spiritual senses.
Gone was what looked like a war-hardened woman, replaced by a clean-cut man in monk robes. He kept his eyes narrowed, his gaze sharp and his dark hair slicked back smoothly, while also showing no signs of an airbender's master tattoo that should have indicated any possible mastery of the nomadic teachings.
Though, then again, during her studies of her people's history, the tattoos were never originally an indicator of a master but to honor their bison companions. Perhaps these two were far older than the current tradition of airbenders?
That, or these two past lives of her student were failures of becoming a master, but that did not make sense if she were able to reincarnate with the wind though.
Her student's soul then must be really old before the tradition of arrow tattoos, and her past lives had simply disregarded the tattoo for one reason or another? Too many questions piled up in Kelsang's mind.
But as Kelsang gazed at the male airbender's face, he struck her as a very rules based man, as she's met quite a few strict airbender men like him. What sort of lives did her student live?
But the fact that her student's form changed, meant the spirit realm was still reflecting her student inner self, her thoughts, her emotions and many other faculties of her mind. While Kelsang had trained herself enough to keep her form stable to reflect her current self, her student mind must be truly out of sync.
The male airbender spoke now, breaking her out of her thoughts, "I presume, judging by your wandering eyes over my form, you must have many questions, most of which I am unsure if I can answer them all…" She nodded at his words, which he thinned his lips and frowned, "..." His lips opened again, hesitating on his words before he finally spoke again, "The elders were not wrong, that my soul is old…" His eyes drifted to the side with a snarl, which caused his form to shift back to his adult female form.
She let out an annoyed growl, and looked back at her with a sharp gaze, "I'd rather this not have happened, but in my…" She made a grousing look, "-haste and anger, I made a fool of myself…"
Kelsang nodded at that. "I can safely say you're not the first. Considering the Avatars and other rare, old souls..." She quirked a small smile, she supposed her student Tanza's body and spirit was young, but her soul was old. The fierce, childish attachment to her bison calf had completely overpowered her adult restraint, causing her to lash out at Bou You Va.
But now that she thinks about it, her student has been acting like everything is new to her, but yet, at the same time, she's adapted quite well to everything she's been taught and capable of watching and learning from others faster. 'Perhaps her reincarnation is more complicated?' she thought. If her theory held right, that these past lives were from centuries ago, before master tattoos became common practice, then the current era was completely alien to them.
Afterall, bending elements by its very nature changes over the centuries with new ideas, methods, forms and so many more.
But like she thought before, so many questions, but for now, it would be best to get her student back to her present form. "...do you…" She paused, earning a critical look from the male airbender, "Do you remember how to meditate? From your previous life?" She asked earnestly. "We need you to get you to control your physical form, if I am to help guide you back." She held her palm out in a gesture of 'help'.
He let out a soft scoff, before sighing. "Meditation was not my forte in that life," he groused, his male voice carrying a sharp, dismissive tone., "Let's just say, this body's lifetime was not… met with a good end…" He reasoned back, while surprising Kelsang.
'Then how had he achieved reincarnation without a lifetime of meditation?' Kelsang quickly deduced that his soul must have been so bound by regret and anger that the cosmos granted him a rare second chance.
After all, he did just mention not meeting a pleasant end… which made her feel sentimental for her student's first or second life. What sort of man was he to have a bad death?
She shook her head, she'd help her student through this!
Relaxing her hand back to her lap, Kelsang relaxed herself and gave her student a calm smile, "You should at least remember yourself as Tanza then, and how she was able to meditate, we can start with that, and I'll guide you back to the living world."
Tanza
It was a given benefit that he did not need to disclose everything about his past lives, if anything, he only needed to give the bare minimum of the surface level of vague facts. He did not need to go into detail about anything about himself, for right now, the priority was indeed getting himself back to his present body, and getting out of this world.
He nodded, "I remember." He responded with a clipped tone,before letting out a flare of annoyance at his own lack of control. The sharp spike of anger instantly caused his frame to snap back into the form of Tanya, perfectly reflecting her warring internal emotions. "I quite enjoyed the life of the Western Temple, I will admit…" Her strict face finally paved the way for a small smile, while her form glowed a bit and her size diminished, before she closed her eyes.
"Hm. So that woman's life was at the Eastern Temple," her master mused aloud. Tanya kept her eyes shut, refusing to break her rhythm.
As she felt more serene and practiced her airbending breathing techniques, she felt the faint wind flow over herself as she remembered her early years as a toddler, the first time she airbended as a baby. And the growing interest she had towards the monk lifestyle of self improvement.
It was the most peaceful life she had compared to her second life, and the least stressful from her first life as Tenya. "Tanya-" She felt her Tanza's voice escape her lips, which caused her to snap her eyes open in realization, to see the kind smile of her master who gave her an amused look from her eyes.
She licked her lips, adjusting to the sudden, familiar feel of her six-year-old vocal cords. After a brief pause to process the smooth transition, she spoke again. "Tanya is not from the Eastern Temple…" she began to choose her words carefully while she looked her master in the eyes. "She was an orphan prior to a war…" Her brows furrowed.
Kelsang let her amusement fade, a solemn frown fully taking its place. "...I… I am sorry to hear that…" She gave Tanza a sympathetic look, but the young girl simply shook her head to dismiss the pity.
"Don't be sorry. She… I made it out of that war just fine…" Tanza lightly scoffed before letting out a soft sigh. Her small face hardened into a resolute expression. "Now, let's drop my old lives and let the past stay in the past. I'd rather move on and experience this one."
She then tilted her head slightly, her large blue eyes locking onto the Air Master. "And I must insist, can we keep this between us, Master?" she asked earnestly, her tone entirely serious. "The elders were right that I am an old soul. But what you saw today doesn't need to be talked about, right?"
At that, Kelsang let out a soft chuff, her warmth returning. "Such is the way of time, my apprentice. It flows like a river, but the memories are like a rockbed—always there, even as the waters wash over them." She nodded, a knowing, playful look entering her eyes. "But this changes things between us… you know?"
Tanza scoffed playfully, a small, genuine smile finally forming on her lips. "I still need to learn airbending, Master. My previous lives were a far different lifestyle, and I never once adhered to the ways of a monk. So really, this is my first time experiencing what it is actually like to learn these forms." She insisted, successfully keeping the exact details of her past vague.
Kelsang chuckled softly, the golden aura around her spiritual form flaring gently. "Fair enough, Tanza. A teacher's job is to guide the soul in front of them, no matter how many miles that soul traveled before reaching the temple."
After that, Kelsang stood up from the soft spiritual earth, brushed the pink leaves off from her winter coat, before she looked around the landscape of the spirit forest; shortly after, she turned back to look at her apprentice. "Since you were brought here in your physical flesh, we do not need to wake up your body." She began explain,
"Bou You Va sent you deep into this pocket of the world, hiding the boundary line." She gazed about after that, and gestured with her hand, "In this realm, the paths change based on what you feel…" she looked back at her, "If your mind is running in furious circles, the exit will remain hidden from your eyes."
'Hm… so it's heavily a mind thing in this realm, makes all sense…' Tanza thought while she adjusted the sleeves of her parka, as surprisingly enough, she did not feel hot wearing it in this realm. She looked down at her mittened six-year-old hands, "so I have to find and concentrate my mind to the right rhythm and frame of mind to find the exit?" She asked.
She looked up, and saw her master nod gently, "Exactly." she said before holding out her hand, "Afterall, the solstice veil is at its thinnest right now." She looked up while hold her arms up and palms facing upward, "The hangar is overlapping right where we stand through the veil between the worlds…" she looked back down at Tanza with a calm smile, "-separated by nothing but a whisper of energy."
Kelsang gestured at her with both hands, "To make that boundary show itself again, you must stop fighting this place. You need to focus on your internal chi, let your breathing smooth out, and feel the physical cold of the South Pole that is still trying to bleed through the air."
Memorizing and repeating her master's words in her mind, Tanza took a deep breath, dropped her small frame back into a lotus position on the moss, before she closed her eyes. She let go of the lingering anger towards Bou You Va, the irrational childish anger she had against the owl, and focused entirely on the physical memory of the blizzard outside; the biting chill, the howling wind, and the warmth of the caribou parka she was physically wearing.
While focused on what her master was helping her with, Kelsang continued guiding her, "Good, practice your airbending breathing, like that." She encouraged her, while stepping over to stand by her like a steady anchor, "Don't fight the spiritual energy around you, match! Let your chi flow until it hits the frost of the living world."
Tanza exhaled a long, steady breath. As the air left her lips, gone was the warm sweet air of the pink forest, and soon replaced by the sudden prickle of freezing air brush against her face.
Before shortly after, she heard the soft rumbling of bisons snoring, and the soft outside wind beating outside the room she was in. Upon opening her eyes, she found herself sitting in front of her master, with a room that no longer had any glowing moss; and when she looked around, she too noticed that it was no longer nighttime, and in fact the early next morning.
The entire solstice night had passed in the blink of an eye.
Tanza looked back at her master, who was currently sitting motionless, before Kelsang slowly opened her eyes to gaze at her with a small, proud smile. "Congratulations on your first spiritual journey… my apprentice," she remarked, which Tanza nodded at slowly. "And I have to say, you did quite well for your first time…"
Her words were suddenly cut off by the waking grumble of Juun. The massive adult bison opened his eyes, let out a tired yawn, and stood up to sniff at Kelsang. He leaned down and gave his master a giant, sloppy lick right across the face, making Kelsang laugh playfully. "Down boy! I'm here, all is well!" She stood up, affectionately brushing her hands through her bison's thick fur.
While her master was busy attending to Juun, Tanza picked herself up from the cold ice floor. She spotted a now well-rested Hachi nearby. The calf had previously been snuggled tight against Juun's massive flank for safety; now, he was curling himself into a tight ball to stay warm, prompting Tanza to walk over to him.
As she approached Hachi, she knelt beside him in the frost. His size was obviously much bigger than her current six-year-old body—at least three or quadruple her size—but size aside, Tanza gently brushed her mittened hands through the calf's thick fluff. Hachi leaned his massive head into her touch, leaning in as she rubbed his head like the loyal dog she had always wanted back when she was Tenya.
After being her constant companion since she was five years old, Tanza had found Hachi to be incredibly willing to relax during her off-times, while also happily playing 'fetch' whenever she could procure an occasional apple or some other local fruit.
It was an investment in companionship that she fiercely wanted to see through to the very end. The intense distress she had seen Hachi in yesterday had made her irrational child-self act first before her logical adult mind could stop and think. But looking at him now, safe and warm in the morning light, she knew she would make the exact same choice again.
She'd just have to plan better and hold back on any irrational behavior.
But as the atmosphere sobered to a calm tone, Tanza heard Kelsang cease her petting of Juun. Shifting her steps, her Master walked toward her. "Now… I know you wanted this to be left alone, my apprentice, but I must ask this…" she started.
Tanza stopped her petting of Hachi to face her master. The baby bison let out a small, disappointed whine at the sudden lack of attention, leaving Tanza to gently scritch behind his ear to calm him down.
Her master now showed a concerned look, a heavy frown fully placed on her face. "Prior to our departure from the Southern Air Temple, Master Tashi spoke to me. He informed me of some deep concerns he had for you…"
'Of course he'd inform my master about what we talked about during our Pai Sho match!' Tanya groused inwardly. Accepting the reality of her situation, Tanza looked up with a calm expression. "And?" she encouraged her master to speak more.
Kelsang expressed an uncertain, searching look. "Is the real reason you have been worried—why you are constantly studying maps and observing the hostile actions of the Fire Nation—due to Tanya's past life?"
A heavy silence rang through the hangar afterward. 'Of course.' Her master had incorrectly connected the dots after hearing what Tanya had experienced in a war-torn world. But once again, Tanza realized she could use this misunderstanding to her complete advantage. She nodded slowly and silently, prompting Kelsang to adopt a deeply pensive look.
"I see…" Kelsang noted softly, her eyes turning unsure.
After a few tense moments passed with Kelsang lost in her own thoughts, Tanza spoke up. "Master, at the very least, we should only worry if they send assassins to our temples to find the next Avatar once Roku passes."
Kelsang's face instantly twisted into a pained expression at the word 'assassin.' She was clearly still getting used to the fact that her young apprentice was no longer just the innocent child she knew her as. Through these spiritual misunderstandings, Tanza was dealing with an adult mind wholesale, and she fully intended to capitalize on it.
Tanza looked back down at Hachi, imagining having to possibly put this gentle creature through dangerous military situations—something she fiercely hoped would never come to pass.
"...From what I can best assume from our travels and my studies…" she continued, looking back up at her master, "...the Fire Nation should not have enough resources to attack the entire world simultaneously. The most they can do is launch a localized invasion along the coast of the Earth Kingdom." she reasoned.
Kelsang didn't nod in agreement, but she turned to look at Juun, her eyes deeply contemplative as she weighed the words of a child soldier from another life.
But soon the tense atmosphere was broken by a familiar voice outside, "Look! The moss is gone!"
Lohoni's faint, surprised voice echoed from outside, the sudden exclamation instantly brought the master and apprentice's private conversation to a close. The heavy crunch of rushing footsteps through the frozen drifts outside signaled their approaching company.
Lohoni arrived first, aggressively hauling back the triple-layered hide flaps of the seal-skin entrance. The crisp, pale light of the morning poured into the hangar, revealing Tanza and Kelsang standing safely in the center of the stable.
Seeing that they were completely unharmed, a look of immense relief broke across the teenager's face. Lohoni sprinted across the ice floor, threw her heavy mittened arms around Kelsang, and pulled the monk into a tight, frantic hug. Who chuckled, before she let go and looked up at Kelsang.
"You're okay!" Lohoni yelled, her voice thick with the exhaustion of a sleepless night.
Behind her, Valik stepped fully inside the hangar, holding back the frost-bitten door flaps with his towering frame. He pulled off his carved bone snow goggles, revealing heavy dark circles under his eyes as he looked over the Air Master and the young child.
"We've been checking in on this stable every few hours in hopes that everything was alright," Valik remarked, his gruff voice carrying a deep sigh of relief. He crossed his massive arms against his chest. "When the blizzard finally broke an hour ago, the spirit-moss was still locked tight. We were just about to rally the other masters when the vines suddenly withered into nothing!"
Kelsang offered the scarred chief a gentle, apologetic nod. "Time moves differently on the other side of the veil, Chief Valik. I apologize for the worry we caused your family. But as you can see, the threshold has released us, and the bison are safe."
Valik rubbed a thick mitted hand over his tired face, letting out a heavy yawn. He looked over at his daughter. "Lohoni, go run back to the communal dome. Alert the other visiting Airbenders and the elders that everyone is accounted for and safe."
"On it, Dad!" Lohoni nodded quickly, offering one last bright, relieved look toward Tanza and Kelsang before spinning on her heels and rushing back out through the hide flaps into the pale morning.
Once his daughter was gone, Valik let out a low grumble of pure, physical exhaustion. He walked over to a nearby wooden crate, the very same one Bou You Va had landed on hours prior, and sat down heavily, his broad shoulders slouching as the stress of the night finally caught up to him.
Tanza quietly watched the tired hunter, stepping closer to Hachi's warm flank as she let her thoughts wander. Out of all her extensive travels across this new planet so far, the South Pole was truly proving to be above it all.