"When the Avatar chose to close the portal, he came to me to persuade me to leave." The Mother's voice retains its sharp note, and the water of the fountain ripples in response. "I chose not to. I remained here, in the human world. Out of . . . what? Perhaps some sense of duty. I remember how it was before the Convergence -- humans in their cities, clinging to the lion turtles like fearful children, lashing out at the spirits whenever they came into contact. I remember what came after -- the spirits slowly being all but forgotten, reduced to figments to frighten children in their beds. Humans spreading throughout the world, claiming it in its entirety. What do you believe happens when human beings discover that their nightmares are reality?"

The water lashes suddenly against the stone, and all voices are speaking again in a trumpet of harmony and rage. "Perhaps more than that, why is it a single human who decides our fates in a whim that cannot be undone for ten thousand more years?"