Ok so I will make a start on this as I do not like to over plan things to much.
I have my main, big scenes as markers. The inbetween bits will just come as I write.
The setting is the time of the Earth Avatar before Kyoshi.
Prologue – Time
“It’s over, Finished!” said Sarin firmly looking at the two groups in front of him. The leader group of Earthbenders to his left glanced from him to the group of Firebenders facing them and eventually ordered his men to retreat with a deft hand signal, Sarin was pleased that his own people, those of The Earth Kingdom were sensible enough to stand down and not make any more of this, he continued to monitor the situation as the group of firebenders and their overly aggressive leader had not moved since Sarin had interfered in this conflict. The conflict in simple terms came down to money, it was not even these men’s fault, it was the leaders of their nations: The Fire Lord and The Earth King, both of whom Sarin had met on multiple occasions. The Firebenders had arrived on a ship which was bringing goods to the Earth Kingdom, the issue was that The Fire Nation always overpriced their goods and to make up for that The Earth Kingdom had to increase taxes on goods coming in, a deal which did not help either nation, it all came down to both Earth King Sidu and Fire Lord Iru being very stubborn men, unwilling to deal or compromise. These men were just following orders and were getting heated over the unfair money exchanges.
Sarin had begun to expect conflicts like this to happen almost every time goods came and and so was always waiting when the good arrived, just in case, being the Avatar this was his duty, to keep balance among the 4 nations. This time though tempers had flared much more than usual and the two groups had squared up to each other courting battle, Sarin was forced to step in, going as far as to erect a barrier of earth between the two groups to stop any cheap bending shots being thrown either way. He took his eyes off the Fire Nation group to check where the Earthbenders had gone to, thankfully they were walking back to their posts, it was then he felt a foot impact the ground forcefully, he spun to see the Firebender leader stepping forward and launching a fireball at the unprotected back of the group of Earthbenders walking away.
Sarin reacted instantly using his Airbending training to his advantage by leaping quickly in front of the blast and then punching through the fireball with ease dispersing it. He then slammed his fist into the ground, the earth rumbles for a second before the ground underneath the Firebender who had attacked opened and then closed trapping the man’s feet. He stood frozen as the others fled back to the ship and Sarin approached. The earhbenders had since turned around and were heading back to give the firebenders a piece of their minds,
“I will deal with him, you must now return to your jobs” Sarin said in an authoritative voice. Seeing the intense look on his face they did as they were told. Sarin walked right up to the man he knew was named Riyu based on what the fleeing men were saying as they ran
“You really are a fool, do you have any idea what you could have started had you actually hit that man, the relations between the 4 nations right now are tense and that is putting it lightly. Were you trying to start a war?” he said in a harsh, but not angry tone, Riyu startled at these words paused before he spoke,
“Things are really that bad, I did not know”
“Sadly, it is true, and for your stupidity I will make sure you are reassigned to a position where your bad attitude will not be a threat to peace” Sarin replied as he opened up the ground, letting Riyu free. Riyu stood still eyeing Sarin who was startled that the man was actually considering attacking him, Sarin gave Riyu a look that said “Don’t even try it” and he soon backed down,
“Sorry…..Avatar Sarin” he got out as he sprinted off after his group.
Another conflict averted, Sarin thought to himself as he walked to where he had left his faithful animal companion, Ten Tu, a Badgermole. He then realised he was panting a bit and was very tired, he had not even overexerted himself or used much bending, Ten Tu came to meet his master and knelt down infront of him, Sarin lifted his leg and jumped on Ten Tu, even mounting Ten Tu had taken a lot of effort and he may have even pulled his right hamstring in the process. It was odd as Sarin had always kept himself in good shape, with his bending training and eating well, it was then that the answer to his fatigue and aches hit him, he was growing ever older. At 65 years old he was no longer middle aged, some could say he was now old. As he rode his loyal badgermole back to his home, he thought about this more and more, he quickly realised that his body was just gradually breaking down with age, today was just the first time he had noticed it fully, his 49 years of being the Avatar had just flown by, but when he really thought about it he had seen signs of his ages showing for years, from having to use much of his Airbending sparingly to having to adapt all of his bending styles to be less movement focused. Then a single thought that came into his mind shook him to the core
“What happens when I can no longer be active as The Avatar?”
The relationships between the nations were tenuous at best, at most he had a few years left where he could actively travel the world and deal with the situations, what if he could not heal these ties before then. His thoughts then turned to previous Avatars, and he reminded himself to commune with them on their own experiences with growing old as the Avatar. It was now all he could think about.
A few minutes later in Gaipan Ten Tu stopped and Sarin realised he was at home already. He was instantly greeted by his 15 year old Daughter, Ping
“Dad, I am glad you are back, did you solve this issue?” she enthusiastically asked just before hugging him, he hugged back before answering
“Of course I did, though a firebender tried his best to stop that” he replied with a smile,
“You had to fight a firebender !” she exclaimed her eyes wide with excitement “I wish I could help be the Avatar with you and help the world” she said both with excitement and sadness as she knew she could never be the Avatar, Ping looked at her father who had not replied and saw that he looked very distracted
“Are you there?” she said waving her hands infront of her fathers face to get his attention,
“What, oh, yes I am, what do you say we go inside and have lunch together and I can tell you all the details of that silly Firebender” he replied snapping out of his thoughts.
“Yes that would be great” she said and ran inside. Sarin followed her inside, his thoughts on what his young daughter had said about helping to be the Avatar, could that be the solution to the future problem that had just come to light just moments before, someone else under the same philosophy of the Avatar doing the exact same role while the actual Avatar is unable to do it. His daughter had always had the intelligence that his late wife had had, in the 5 years since her death, caused by an incurable illness she developed, he had seen Ping become more and more like his wife, very smart and caring while developing some of his own traits like the want to help people and explore. Perhaps her dream could come true, she could help him to be the Avatar, in fact could she be even more suited to the role than himself. Sarin walked inside and saw Ping setting out some food on the table and caught a glimpse of a look of determination in her eyes and in that look he could see that she felt strongly about what she had said earlier on,
“I wish I could help be the Avatar with you and help the world”
Maybe you can, he thought to himself as he sat down to eat.
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