Chapter 19 - Centennial Friends
Black cumulus clouds were lit up by long, dividing streaks of electricity. Lightning bolts striking the ground shattered the sound itself, causing the people of the kingdom to close their windows more tightly and bring their children inside. The rain turned the ground to mud, and the few wise men said that the heavens were angry. But despite the situation below, there was perfect calm above the clouds. Flying above, Appa heard only the anger of thunder, which did not prevent the people on his back from falling into a deep sleep. At least, he was not the cause of the commotion.
"Mhm... m-m-m-a-a-a!" The young monk, lost in a world of dreams, tossed and turned and seemed to be talking to someone unintentionally. In his quiet, almost delirious speech, words such as "heaven is angry" and "we must prepare" could be distinguished, cold sweat dripping from his forehead, until at one moment he jumped up with a cry. Appa's fur beneath him was soaked, as if a bucket of water had been poured over it, and of all those who could be awakened, he had roused Tof from his slumber. "I'm sorry. Lately, it's as if spirits are trying to talk to me. Very, very evil spirits.
"Don't worry about me, quick feet, I haven't slept since the rumbling started. Your talking and moaning in your sleep were actually quite soothing," Aang responded sheepishly to the smirk and, trying to collect his thoughts, moved closer to his earthbending teacher.
The only thing that made the little boy happy now was being accompanied by a skilled and powerful mage. He could still amuse himself by remembering how this beautiful — and it was hard to argue with that — rebel from the Beifong family had begged her family for permission to travel. Such a thing could only be seen once in a lifetime!
Who would have thought that young Beifong would obey the city guards and her own family's security? As she herself said, it was a good reason to do something before Dagoth himself, because he had been offered the position of head of security in his time, but he had refused. At first, she simply chatted with the city guards, but after a couple of invitations to underground fights, they were inspired and used for her own purposes. For example, in revealing the important fact that the Beifong family has a daughter, Toph worked out this plan long and carefully, as if composing a game of Pai Gow, and played it out perfectly.
Then the Beifong family guards themselves were recruited into a small Lotus mini-order, which she formed single-handedly within the city, subordinating them to only one thing: the ability to use her family's connections to the fullest, just as their mutual acquaintance had taught them. Showing her father the power she now wielded was a piece of cake, everything was done cleanly and competently.
Now she had truly replaced her older brother, even despite the strange fact that she was the youngest in the team.
"I understand that this question will be unusual for you, but without Dagoth, I have no one else to discuss this with," Aang said, hugging his knees and staring blankly at the clouds rushing by. "I spoke with Avatar Roku not long ago, on the day of the Winter Solstice.
"Have you told anyone else about this?"
Toph immediately narrowed her eyes. She only knew in general terms that this schizophrenic was fighting a thousand personalities inside himself, although only some of them were actually active and could even interfere in some ways. Their team had even teamed up with some of Aang's personalities to help against... other personalities. Wasn't that madness?
"Roku didn't try to convince me of anything. He said I didn't have to listen to him... that I didn't even have to listen to Kioshi and everyone else who was trying to change my views on the world, even if they thought I was seriously mistaken.
"He seems like a nice guy. Although I'm still bothered by the fact that you were talking to yourself.
"However, he advised me to listen to the spirits, just as the nomads taught me. If they start to oppress them, I just need to follow my conscience and never stray from my principles, because the common good is incompatible with the desires of the spirits. And recently, something strange has started happening to them... Holy places are becoming harder to calm, and the heavens seem to speak to me in my dreams, asking for help. It's all so strange... so frightening.
But when I turned to Tof, I saw only complete incomprehension in her. Unlike Dagoth, she knew very little about spirits and the affairs of the Almighty; after all, the mages of the earth were indeed down-to-earth, and there were very few exceptions among them. But she still gave me advice. It was as down-to-earth as she was, but simple.
"Don't listen to those voices in your head, make your own decisions. What do you like better - building a common world or living with spirits? When you answer, then you'll be able to sleep properly... now go to sleep.
Lifting her leg and kicking the Avatar himself in the back, pushing him away from her, she began to relax again. Aang returned to his place, thought about these words, and came to only one conclusion:
"A shared world is impossible without spirits, they are all part of a single system... no one can be oppressed.
He travelled the rest of the way with greater confidence. Be that as it may, the question of spirits was unlikely to affect him in Omashu. Due to the absence of Fire Nation troops, they were able to fly safely over the mountains and reach one of the greatest cities of modern times, a giant fortress that was as solid as a mountain itself. Life was bustling even outside the city, with people building new structures and laying trade routes, welcoming everyone who wanted to come.
Among the guards, you could even see ladies in strange uniforms and makeup on their faces — looking at them from above, the team recognised Kioshi's clothes. The flying bison, in turn, was greeted with great enthusiasm, as news that the Avatar had restored peace to the lands had already spread to all corners of the continent.
They had no trouble getting into the city. In fact, the team noticed that after Dagoth's departure, they had fewer problems, as if difficulties had ceased to arise out of nowhere, although they attributed this to the end of the war.
Inside the city, they were greeted like heroes. Many saw the Avatar for the first time, but were already impressed by how quickly he had dealt with the problem since his arrival.
"Welcome, Mr. Avatar. I am the captain of the Kioshi squad, you can call me Suyuki," and a group of three young ladies came out to the square where the real heroes of the modern age were being cheered. Their focused but pretty faces, their respectful manner, and their Kioshi uniforms even made the young and inexperienced Avatar a little wary. After all, Kioshi personally did not have the best reputation with him. "Although we may call ourselves that, we are now under Dagoth's command, so we are on the same side. Now please, we will take you to the King.
She read the emotions on people's faces with remarkable speed and led everyone away. Blinking, Sokka looked with interest at the captain's beautiful face and her seductive gait, but shook his head, remembering that he was already married to the princess of the North. Instead, he simply asked what their relationship with Dagoth was.
Sokka didn't quite realise that this question had pricked up the ears of Toph and Ty Lee, forcing them to listen to every sound the captain made. But maintaining the official line, she did not reveal anything special: they met, became friends, and moved in together, and that was how one of the most cunning and powerful squads of ancient times ended up in Dagoth's camp. The latter was confirmed by the fact that it was they who had identified the spies in the last attack and stopped any attempts to infiltrate.
Aang looked at the postal system with cheerful enthusiasm and told the team about how he had spent his time here a hundred years ago, and some even wanted to try it for themselves. However, Suuki's keen gaze followed their every move and did not allow them to disturb the peace of the city.
From the highest point, it was possible to see the entire mountain plateau, and it was here that the palace was located, which Aang simply flew into, wanting to finally verify the rumours that Bumi ruled the city. The team was led to a large banquet table laden with salads and rare pieces of meat. In some ways, the table was even poorer than that of the Beifong family — for some reason, they ate for two or even three. The guards at the walls consisted of both mages and Kioshi warriors, but... the most important person, the King himself, was missing.
"He will be here soon, he has received an important letter. He asked not to keep you waiting, you may begin the meal without him," Suyuki said respectfully, asking the guests to sit down at the table. Feeling somewhat strange, they accepted the situation and began to help themselves to the food. In complete silence and under the watchful eyes of the guards, they stuffed themselves to the brim. Most of the table was empty, but the only one they were waiting for never came.Desserts and many delicious drinks were brought in, along with a chocolate fountain with candies in a beautiful dish, but the Tsar was still nowhere to be seen. Then the servants came and began to massage their shoulders and knead their feet, but the Tsar was still nowhere to be seen.
"You know, this is strange... are you trying to distract us so we don't meet the Tsar? - but in the end, Katara, who was enjoying such a rest, began to lose her temper. Standing up and facing Suyuki, she looked at her with dissatisfaction, "Tell me, where is the Tsar?
"...
"Oh dear, I forgot I had guests," and at that very moment, the large, elegant doors leading into the hall dissolved. A hunchbacked old man appeared in the doorway, fanning himself with a letter folded into an envelope. Reaching his chair, he handed the folded note to one of the guards, asking him to deliver it to the address written on it. The old man glanced at them all with a crazy look. He squinted, looked at the table and the empty plates. Then he looked back at the satisfied, well-fed faces, and then at the plates. "What, you seriously ate everything without waiting for me?
"Um...
"But we were told~
The half-mad old man, looking shabby and deranged, looked unblinkingly at each visitor, finally stopping his gaze on Aang. He was the only one who did not seem frightened; moreover, he was looking at the familiar face, trying to understand whether this was the man who had once been his childhood friend or not.
"Do you have anything to say in your defence, Avatar?
"Just one thing... you won't be able to trick me, Bumi! Before the team could feel the litres of sweat dripping from their foreheads, Aang jumped to his feet, satisfied, having figured out the ill-fated show. Sokka, Ty Lee, and everyone else looked on in utter bewilderment as the two of them laughed loudly and hugged each other like old friends, reminiscing about stories from a century ago. Ordering more food, Bumi good-naturedly asked everyone to eat as much as they could.
Despite the rich table and seemingly luxurious life, the Avatar team was forced to note that the inhabitants were not living in poverty. Everyone looked healthy and content, and if there was any crime, it was completely invisible. Bumi had withstood a hundred-year siege on his own and waited for the very end of the war, which greatly increased his stature in their eyes.
"Boom, I'm certainly glad to meet you, but we can't stay here long. We would like to get some support and move on," said Aang, sitting down in his seat, completely confident that Boom would understand him and not be offended.
"About that..." However, the atmosphere in the hall changed somewhat at that moment. Soldiers stood at the exits, blocking the doors with their powerful figures, and the warriors of Ki-Aang strangely put their hands behind their backs. Toph felt that they had grabbed some kind of iron fans. "Dagoth wrote me a letter, and he mentioned you, Aang. You will have to stay in Omasu a little longer; only Tai Lee and Kioshi's squad will continue the journey. They need to get to Ba Sing Se urgently.
"Are we splitting up again?" Katara frowned as their gymnast calmly, as if she already knew everything, got up and went to another room. She didn't even say goodbye. "But why?!"
"The echoes of war can be heard again, and you'd better wait until Dagoth is done with everything. He said it would happen quickly... although in this situation, I'm not on anyone's side," he said with a smile, making it clear that he would not let them leave Omashu. A new war, a cunning plan, all this information filled them with fear, especially because they didn't understand the actions of their shared Elder Brother.
"But where is Dagoth now? Is he all right?" asked Sokka anxiously.
"Well, how can I put it... - Boomer's feverish mind thought for a moment, considered the idea once, and without a twinge of conscience gave his answer, "He's in the village of Makkapu. More precisely, in the place where it WAS.
The frozen children remembered with trepidation the place where they had fought Kioshi. The village with the fortune teller, a wonderful and cosy home for many people... at least, that's how it used to be.
"What do you mean, 'was'? Aang frowned and clenched his fists, while a single question reigned in everyone's minds: what the hell is going on here!