Kelsang
It was a rather nice affair to catch up with her junior sister, Laya. They passed the hour conversing about how their travels through the world had been. Laya shared that she had spent most of her time traveling the eastern parts of the Earth Kingdom, eventually visiting the Eastern Air Temple when the Yangchen Festival came around.
Kelsang, in return, regaled Laya with tales of her own journeys. Prior to returning to the Western Temple to take on an apprentice and begin this next stage of her life, she had spent a good portion of her years as an Airbending Master traveling wherever her studies took her.
After all, even if she was a master of the thirty-six tiers, the world was bigger than simply mastering airbending—an opinion Laya chuckled at and heartily agreed with.
As the two stopped and stood a few igloos down away from the one they left, Laya was the one to stop first before she spoke. "So…" Her eyes searched elsewhere but directly at Kelsang, as she tried to search for the right question, "How has your year been with your apprentice?" she seemed to idly ask, before looking back at her with a small smile. "I mean, this is new for me, you know…" she shrugged, "Being a master for an acolyte is new for both of us!" She thinly smiled.
Kelsang raised a brow at that. It wasn't an odd question at all; if anything, the way Laya worded it made it feel as though she were simply looking for advice from a fellow master who had also just accepted an apprentice for the first time.
Letting out a chuff of amusement, Kelsang smiled. "Well, it's been quite a journey for me and Tanza, I can say that much," she answered.
Shifting on her feet, she turned to look in the direction where she knew her young apprentice was likely leading Laya's student—always training, always exploring her airbending like a gift to be cherished. "Tanza has been less of a handful and more of an ever-learning student. She never stops seeking knowledge, chasing methods to bend the air until it's completely second nature to her." A smile crossed Kelsang's face.
She faced Laya once more, noting the thoughtful look on her junior's face before the younger master nodded.
"I… I see!" Laya giggled softly, covering her mouth. "That's good to know. Remembering what a maverick you were at the temple, I was just curious what sort of teachings you'd pass down once you finally took on a student of your own," she remarked.
Kelsang softly smirked back, "So what about you?" she asked, earning Laya's full attention now, "By my own memories, you were more spiritual with your studies." She remarked, "Has that reflected well for your first year as a master?" she asked.
Laya let out a long, dramatic sigh, though the corner of her mouth twitched upward. "Spirituality requires stillness, Kelsang. Neli does not know the meaning of the word," she said, rolling her eyes playfully. There was no real annoyance in her gaze; if anything, it was filled with deep fondness for her student.
Still, her expression fell slightly as she rubbed her temples, remembering the chaos of the last year. "The first three months were a disaster," she admitted, shaking her head with a dry chuckle. "I tried to have her meditate at dawn, and she fell right out of a tree because she was trying to catch a spirit-fly in her sleep."
She looked back at Kelsang, her eyes bright with a proud warmth. "But… I've learned to adapt. She has so much passion. I just have to channel her wind into moving meditation rather than sitting still."
Kelsang offered a supportive smile, genuinely happy for her junior sister's growth. With that settled, the conversation drifted toward a more intriguing matter.
"By the way…" Kelsang shifted on her feet again, tilting her head in curiosity. "Leaving the topic of our students aside for a moment, how goes your own personal studies?" she asked, her voice dropping slightly.
Laya blinked, prompting Kelsang to expand.
"Ah, forgive me," Kelsang remarked with a dry chuckle, shrugging. "I'm just curious. I have my own pursuits, of course, but I remember overhearing a conversation between you and Sister Pemi years ago. I didn't want to eavesdrop, so I left before I could hear more."
"Oh…. oh!" Realization dawned on Laya, and she let out a soft sigh. Looking down in thought for a moment before meeting Kelsang's gaze, she asked, "What exactly did you hear from that conversation?"
Kelsang coughed awkwardly into her fist. "Well, the only reason I want to know is to admit I heard a piece of it. Something about an astral... form?"
When Laya gave a subtle nod, Kelsang raised an intrigued eyebrow. "I'll assume you went to Sister Pemi for help on how to astral project? It's a remarkably rare skill. It hasn't really been heard of since Avatar Kyoshi's era."
The scholar in Kelsang was deeply curious about the technique. Of course, because she was already investing her time into mastering Energybending, she knew she couldn't overextend her studies. A master she may be, but that did not mean she should stop learning, after all.
Laya let out a soft sigh, nodding in confirmation. "You hit the nail on the head. I am trying to learn it, but it has been incredibly slow going. The technique demands a heavy spiritual toll, and honestly, it's exhausting." She shook her head in dismay.
"Have you managed to separate from your body at all yet?" Kelsang asked, her interest genuinely piqued.
"Only once," Laya admitted, looking around a bit, before she looked back at Kelsang. "I managed it briefly when I was visiting the Northern Water Tribe during the winter solstice. But since leaving the North, I haven't been able to replicate it."
Kelsang nodded slowly, understanding the breakthrough immediately. "That makes perfect sense. The solstice naturally thins the veil between our world and the Spirit World. It provides a natural current for your soul to ride." Laya quickly put her attention to Kelsang, "My advice? Focus entirely on replicating that feeling, and focus less on the concept of earthly attachments."
Laya blinked in surprise, turning back to her senior sister. "What do you mean? Total detachment is the entire foundation of the technique." she reasoned back, confused, "It is taught that we must actively cast off our anchors."
"Yes, but if you fixate too much on the act of destroying your attachments, the struggle itself becomes a new anchor holding you down," Kelsang explained with a knowing smile.
Laya opened her mouth to argue, but stopped, processing the words.
"Earthly attachments are far more elusive than our masters in the temples lead us to believe," Kelsang continued softly, her voice carrying the weight of a seasoned scholar. "It is not always a physical object, a place, or a person. Sometimes, Laya, the strongest attachment you possess is simply an idea you refuse to let go of. The desperate desire to be a perfect, unanchored monk can be a tether all its own."
After all, Kelsang knew firsthand how difficult a lesson it was to grasp; it had taken her years to truly understand that concept herself. While it was simply her own philosophy on the matter, the deeply thoughtful look on Laya's face suggested it was better to leave it at that. It was best to let the young master sit with the advice for now and see if it eventually bore fruit.
Laya let out a soft, defeated breath, thankful for the distraction from her own heavy thoughts. She adjusted her heavy winter robes, a wry smile returning to her face.
"Alright, I suppose that is a fair point," Laya conceded, looking up to meet her senior sister's gaze with a playful spark. "But if we are trading secrets about our personal master studies, it's your turn to pay the toll. How is your own training faring?" she asked.
Kelsang blinked, caught slightly off guard, but she kept her expression completely relaxed. "Mine?" She paused, weighing her words before letting out a soft breath. "Well… it is hard to explain easily. But it is a very unique path, one that I have studied throughout my journeys across the world."
Her lips thinned slightly as she briefly looked aside, gathering her thoughts. "Well,...To put it simply—" She looked back to meet Laya's gaze, finding the right words now. "—My journey took me to discovering the very root of all bending." she nodded a bit for herself, "While the technique itself has me learning more and more every time I practice it… I am still but a beginner at what it is truly capable of."
Laya's eyes widened in genuine wonder before she giggled softly to herself. "That sounds so much like you," she mused, covering her mouth in amusement. "Always discovering something completely outside of our traditional teachings."
Kelsang let out a soft chuckle, glad that her cover story had satisfied the younger master's curiosity. "We all serve the world in our own ways, sister," she murmured.
Before Laya could respond, a sharp, resounding crack echoed from the frozen cliffs outside, followed immediately by a bright, breathless burst of childhood laughter. The sound drifted through the air.
Shifting her gaze toward the direction of where she knew Tanza and Neli to be, Kelsang gestured with a faint smile. "Speaking of outside our teachings... we should probably check on our apprentices before my student's unending curiosity collides with your little hurricane."
Laya stretched her arms, a relieved smile crossing her face. "A wise choice. Let us see how they are managing."
Tanza
A week passed. In the days following the surprise reunion with her biological mother, Tanza had continued her life as usual, playing her part to perfection to show that she saw Laya as just another temple master shepherding a student.
During their shared training sessions, however, Tanza couldn't help but share a small piece of her discoveries. She had shown Neli how she could adapt the fluid, whipping motions of Southern Water Tribe forms into her bending, effortlessly shaping a high-velocity whip made entirely of compressed air.
Unfortunately, just as the air-whip snapped through the frost, Master Kelsang and Master Laya arrived at the training spot.
Neli immediately beamed, boasting loudly to her teacher. "Look, Master Laya! My sister Tanza is probably going to become a master early!"
Laya's eyes narrowed slightly, her gaze focusing on the lingering current of Tanza's unique form. "What exactly was that movement, Tanza?" she asked, her tone curious.
Before the tension could break, Kelsang stepped in to save her apprentice.
With a calm smile and carefully chosen words, Kelsang addressed her junior sister. "I have been allowing Tanza to explore the idea that wind can flow through other cultural forms, just as easily as it flows through the world itself. The wind is meant to be completely untethered, Laya. Therefore, our traditional Air Nomad forms are but a single facet of a much grander element."
Beyond that day, Tanza had periodically spotted her mother out in a cleared meditation area with Neli. She watched her sister squirm restlessly, clearly trying her absolute best to meditate under Laya's watchful gaze.
Later that evening, while eating in the communal hall alongside Neli and the other Water Tribe girls, Tanza decided to ask how the session had gone. She knew firsthand that her sister possessed far too much of an energetic streak to sit still for long.
Neli responded with a dramatic huff, though her eyes lit up with an eager spark as she clenched her fist. "It's so hard, Tanza! But you're already so far ahead of me, and I want to catch up! From now on, I'm taking my meditation seriously. I don't want to be left behind by you!"
Tanza had blinked in surprise. Before she could even respond, Neli gestured with her spoon over her bowl of lion-otter meat and steamed seaweed. "The next time we meet, I'm going to be so good at meditating that I'll master the rest of my tiers easily!" she boasted.
With that final declaration, Neli dug heartily into her meal. Such food would never have been served back at the Western Air Temple, but given their culture's emphasis on respecting local traditions, they had accepted the hospitality gracefully and without complaint.
And now, it was her very last day at the South Pole. She wondered if she would ever visit this place again in the distant future. Though, considering the uncertain timeline weighing on the back of her mind, she couldn't be entirely sure what the world would look like by then.
She walked alongside Kelsang toward the frozen docks, having already made her rounds to say goodbye to the people they had grown close to during their stay. Tanza had bid a fond farewell to Nalu and Renu, who both warmly wished her well on her travels.
Meanwhile, Lahoni and Zetida were busy lecturing Kelsang, telling her to visit sooner than ten years next time. Her master, of course, jokingly mused that she wasn't the one in charge of the future, but promised she would try to return sooner if she was able.
Tanza had even given Granny Kusede a private, well-meaning farewell. She was deeply uncertain if she would ever see the old woman again, even if she managed to return in a few years' time.
"Pah! When you get to my advanced age, time loses its meaning," Kusede had told her with a gummy smile. "The only thing you get to look forward to is seeing something new. So, it was a nice treat to teach an airbender how to bend with Southern Water Tribe katas."
The old woman had then shaken a stern finger at her. "Just remember, if you ever visit the North—" Kusede suddenly shook her fist furiously into the air. "—Don't let those chauvinist bastards push you around just because you're a girl! PAH!" She spat to the side, turning on her heel to stalk away with a disgruntled grumble.
Recalling that fiery goodbye brought a small smile to Tanza's face as she and her master finally reached the docks. Waiting for them by the platform were Juun and a noticeably larger Hachi, who had done quite a bit of growing during their year-long stay at the Pole.
Suddenly, Neli emerged from the side stables where visiting Air Nomads kept their mounts, brushing loose fur off her clothes. She had clearly just visited her own bison for the morning, and she quickly caught sight of them.
"Ah, Tanza! Are you leaving?!" Neli remarked, glancing anxiously between her friend and the packed sky bison at the dock.
Tanza paused near the building to speak with her sister. A few paces ahead, Kelsang stopped and turned, patiently waiting for her apprentice to finish her goodbyes.
Tanza nodded. "I am," she answered. Her gaze drifted behind Neli to catch a glimpse of the younger girl's sky bison calf, before settling back on Neli's messy hands.
Noticing where Tanza was looking, Neli chuckled bashfully and shook her hands free of loose bison hair. "I just came down here to pet my bison, Jorn!" she explained simply. Then, her face fell into a childish pout, her tone turning a bit put-off. "So... you're really leaving already?"
Tanza rolled her eyes amusedly at the dramatic display. Stepping forward, she placed a hand on her sister's shoulder. "Neli, we've been here for an entire year. There's no use staying in one spot forever. We are Air Nomads, after all," she remarked with a dry, knowing smirk.
Neli's bright smile returned, and she bashfully rubbed the back of her head as Tanza retracted her hand. "Yeah, I suppose so…" she murmured. Then, she suddenly clenched her fist in eagerness, a burning look of ambition lighting up her eyes. "But just you wait! When we meet again, I'll make sure to be several tiers further into my training!" she declared.
With that final, fiery promise, Neli stepped forward and threw her arms around Tanza in a tight parting hug.
Once they broke apart, Tanza turned and followed Kelsang down the final stretch of the docks, heading toward the platform where Juun and Haxchi were eagerly waiting to take to the skies.
Down at the platform, Laya was already helping secure the final leather bags of provisions for her sister-monk, pulling tightly on the heavy cargo straps anchoring their gear to Juun's saddle.
Once finished, she hopped down with a gentle gust of wind, landing effortlessly on a soft air cushion. Straightening up, she paused to wipe her brow and caught Kelsang's eye across the bustling docks. The two masters shared a quiet nod of mutual respect.
A moment later, Laya's gaze drifted over to Tanza. The two shared a long, silent look as Tanza and Kelsang approached the platform.
"Take good care of yourselves, you two," Laya offered, a brief farewell paired with a small smile.
Kelsang nodded warmly. "And you as well, Laya."
As Laya looked down at her one last time, Tanza's mind flashed back to a quiet afternoon earlier that week. She had shared a lunch table with her biological mother. They had eaten their meal in complete silence, and Tanza was reasonably sure that beneath her disciplined exterior, Laya had probably been a nervous wreck on the inside. Whether she was or wasn't, Tanza remembered how the older master had given her a genuinely welcoming smile as she sat down, sharing that simple bowl of steamed seaweed before they parted ways.
Heads snapped toward the harbor entrance as a massive wooden ship cut through the slush of the early spring thaw. It was a jarring contrast to the peaceful waters of Wolf Cove; the hull was heavily grooved with jagged gouges and wore the unmistakable battle scars of a recent skirmish.
Standing proudly at the bow, steering the battered vessel into the stone slip, was a young teenager accompanied by several other young men.
As the boat finally pulled alongside the platform, one of the dock workers shouted out a greeting. "Horok!"
Horok offered the man a tired grin, hopping effortlessly onto the ice before the vessel had even fully docked.
"You little snot-nosed brat, what are you doing back?!" the worker yelled, chuckling.
Horok smirked as he approached, playfully bumping his fist against the man's shoulder. "Hey, is that any way to greet a man who just fought off a group of Water Tribe pirates on his way home?!"
Tanza narrowed her eyes at the revelation. She remembered hearing whispers about this. Outliers of the Southern Water Tribe had resorted to piracy for years now, frequently running afoul of their own people. In the conversations she had eavesdropped on during lunches and dinners whenever old sailors returned to port, these raiders were often called a 'miserable lot' and the 'poor sods of the snow.'
Meanwhile, the conversation continued on the other side of the docks.
The dock worker tsked at that, shaking his head. "I can understand times are tough living down here, but to prey on your own people is nothing short of awful."
As the vessel finally came to a complete rest against the stone slip, another crewmate hopped off onto the frost. He immediately slung a heavy arm around Horok's neck and shoulder, pulling him into a headlock.
"Hah! You should have seen how this loser beat up several waterbending pirates!" the man cackled, beaming with pride for his captain.
The rest of the crew laughed as they finished tying the heavy mooring lines to the stone docks. Horok grinned bashfully, trying to wriggle free of the grip. "Ah, come on. They were wide open while Toral and Voback were distracting them with their waterbending!" he reasoned humbly.
His crewmate playfully gave his captain a brief noogie before shoving him away with a grin. "Yeah, sure. And I suppose I didn't see you throw a boomerang and knock it into five skulls consecutively? Stop being so damn humble and take the credit, you bastard! Hahah!"
A part of Tanza saw a reflection of her past in that display—a ghost of the fierce camaraderie she had once shared as Tanya von Degurechaff with her loyal 203rd Battalion. They had been disciplined soldiers who would charge headfirst into hellfire for her, frequently swapping dark jokes and challenging one another over who could mop up their sector first before the artillery fire ceased.
The memory struck her with a sudden, sharp wave of nostalgia. But those days were decades and an entire lifetime away. They were all dead, and she was here, starting entirely from scratch within a culture of monks with airbending powers.
Horok, on the other hand, fully spotted the group of Air Nomads and waved again. "Oh! Oh, hey! Did you guys just arrive?!" he hollered over the din of the docks as his crew shuffled past, leaving him to greet the visitors.
Kelsang turned, offering the young teenager an amused smile. "Sorry, we are actually just leaving!" she hollered back with a knowing smirk. "But it is a pleasure to finally meet you—assuming you are indeed Horok, son of Chief Dovru."
"Uh, yeah, I am!" Horok called back, looking entirely surprised and deeply confused at the same time. "But why do you ask?!"
Kelsang's smirk widened, and even Tanza felt a rare spark of amusement picturing the exact expression that would soon cross the teenager's face when he finally stepped inside his family's igloo.
"You'll see when you greet your mother and father!" Kelsang hollered right back, her voice bright. "But in advance—congratulations!"
Horok reached up, thoroughly baffled as he scratched the back of his head. "Uh, thanks? I think?" he muttered to himself. Shrugging off the cryptic riddle for now, he turned and took his leave to head toward the village.
With their final farewells delivered, Tanza and Kelsang wasted no more time. Summoning a coordinated gust of wind beneath their feet, they used their airbending to leap effortlessly onto the massive sky bison. Kelsang settled perfectly onto the back of Juun's head right behind his formidable horns, while Tanza dropped down into the deep recesses of the large leather saddle.
From her vantage point on the mount, Kelsang looked down at her junior sister. "It was both a blessing of the wind and a true pleasure to see you again. Farewell, until we meet once more."
Laya nodded back respectfully. Neli now stood right beside her master, looking up alongside her. Wiping a lingering trace of fatigue from her face, Laya smiled warmly up at Tanza, their eyes locking one last time.
"It was wonderful to meet you, Tanza. Take good care of yourself, and study hard," Laya remarked softly.
Her energetic student immediately chimed in, stepping forward to wave enthusiastically. "Yeah! And I bet you'll probably be working on your sixteenth tier or more by the time we meet again!" she cheered.
Tanza offered a formal nod to her biological mother first. "It was nice meeting you as well, Master Laya." She then turned her gaze to her sister, her lips curling into a dry, knowing smile. "And I am quite sure I will get somewhere far beyond that, Neli," she countered smoothly.
With that final exchange, Kelsang gripped the reins lightly, leaning forward over the massive saddle. "Yip-yip!" she called out, her voice cutting clearly through the crisp arctic air.
Juun let out a deep, resonant rumble that vibrated through the wooden docks, launching his massive frame into the sky with a powerful, concentrated blast of air. Right behind them, Hachi followed suit with a rhythmic beat of his own tail.
Below them, the battle-scarred ship, the waving figures of Laya and Neli, and the sprawling ice architecture of Wolf Cove began to rapidly shrink into the frozen landscape. As Tanza watched the distance between her and the docks widen, she saw Neli eventually run off to do something else, but her mother remained exactly where she stood, keeping her eyes fixed on the sky as her daughter vanished into the distant clouds.
Once the cove was completely lost to view, Tanza turned and leaned back against the leather padding of her seat. She watched the South Pole fade into a solitary speck on the white horizon as they climbed high above the cloud line, charting their course northward.