cyclicality | Spirit Wilds Vagabond Catch-All

Entry tags:

Spirit Wilds Vagabond Catch-All

Who: Anyone that's taken up residence near Wan's abandoned apartment in the Spirit Wilds + their friends
What: Catch-all for threads happening in that general living area
When: Oct 4th-Oct31
Where: The Spirit Wilds Vagabond Hippie Commune (not actual name of neighborhood)
Warnings: None!

Post a Top Level for people who are living or temporarily crashing here to tag your character for any reason. It's open to all, not just people wanting to punch/arrest/visit Wan.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"That... doesn't sound anything like how dragons actually are," he said with a confused raise of the eyebrow. "How did he defeat the water spirit?"

Zuko folded his arms. "How do you know what dragons are like? Anyway, it's just a play."

And it was a nice story. He liked it, okay?

"With firebending of course."

Duh.

Wan shrugged and answered without thinking, "I learned to firebend from a Spirit Dragon. I guess if the Dragon Emperor was a Spirit Dragon the story sort of works. Not that Dragons have Emperors or Courts the way humans do, but... well, I guess it is just a play."

Written by humans, for humans. And who knows, maybe Dragons enjoyed it, too.

"Wait, you learned firebending from a Spirit Dragon?"

Zuko paused to stare at Wan in awe and disbelief. That... would make sense he guesses considering Wan lived when there were still plenty of dragons around. But, wow, there were not many people from his own time that could say they learned out to firebend from a dragon.

Wan cringed a little at the question before nodding, "Yeah. I did. I've been trying not to say anything because there don't seem to be many dragons around anymore."

Zuko still didn't know he was the first Avatar, but he had already shared that he was from a time long before Zuko's. Admitting where he learned his bending from probably wasn't revealing too much. After all, from what he'd read, the dragons dying out was a fairly recent thing. Within the last several hundred years. Being from a time before that left a lot of centuries open for the possibilities.

Now it was Zuko's turn to cringe.

"Yeah, my people used to hunt the dragons."

Causing the near extinction of the dragons certainly wasn't one of his nation's finest moments. Among many not fine moments.

"When I lost my firebending. Aang and I found the last two dragons, and learned it from them."

Technically he wasn't supposed to tell anyone about that. But considering his older self rode on a dragon, and Wan was from a different time anyway, there was probably no harm in it.

"Your people. The Fire Nation," he repeated to himself before his interest was piqued by the next thing Zuko said, "You lost your firebending? Did a Lion Turtle take it from you for mis-using it?"

Zuko blinked in confusion at Wan.

"What? No. I've never even seen a Lion Turtle."

There aren't many of those left either.

"My firebending was fueled by anger. When I left my country and joined Aang and the others, I couldn't bend anymore. I didn't want to be filled with rage like I used to be. So the dragons taught me the true meaning of firebending."

Wan had not known that about firebending. He'd learned how to control it as an expression of his inner fire, his own light that brought life, from the start. He knew he could control it without that. But the kind of control that the hunters, the 'fire-tossers', had was not the same as what he'd learned from the Spirit Dragon.

"I didn't know firebending could be effected like that," his voice was somewhat awe-filled in his surprise. "You must have had a lot of anger if losing it made it so you couldn't control it anymore."

"I did," Zuko said quietly, a look of shame crossing his features. There were... a lot of regrets tied in with that.

"It's not something I'm proud of."

He then shook his head, not really wanting to burden Wan with more sob stories from his earlier years.

"Anyway. That's all behind me now."

"Sure," Wan offered a quick smile of apology. He hadn't meant to hit a nerve. "But if they taught you, then you must have learned to dance with dragons already, right?"

It wasn't Wan's fault, so there was no blame there. But Zuko was interested when the dancing with dragons was brought up.

"Yeah. That was part of the test they used to decide if we were worthy."

An eyebrow was raised at that, "So they taught you the dragon dance and then tested you to see if you were worthy of learning from them?"

"No, we found these statues depicting the dance at the Sun Warrior's temple. That's how we learned it. When we met the dragons, we danced with them, and they judged us. After that, they showed us their fire."

Zuko had a distant expression on his face as he remembered. It had been one of the most incredible experiences of his life.

"I had never seen fire in so many different colors before. It was beautiful."

Edited 2014-11-10 23:22 (UTC)

Wan listened and a soft smile came to his face. He remembered his own wonder and pride at how his teacher had shown him the life within the fire.

"When I was first given control of fire, all I thought about was how much power it gave me," he admitted, amused at his own naivete. "But then I learned how much a part of the world it was. How much more it was. Life and light as much as it was destruction. It destroys to pave the way for new life. It burns to shine a guiding light for the whole of the world. Dangerous, but also helpful. Balanced."

All of the elements had a balance to how they could be used and what purpose they had in the world, of course. But they were talking about fire. And it actually felt pretty nice to be able to discuss that. He hadn't really been able to share his training with anyone before. Not with someone that understood.

Zuko's eyes lit up as Wan went on. He too hadn't had an opportunity to discuss something like this with anyone else, aside from Aang and his Uncle of course. It was amazing to find someone else that understood.

"Exactly. That's how it was for me too. When I saw their fire, it's like it just... clicked. It all made sense. And I couldn't believe I hadn't seen it before. I was so blind. To everything."

Very very few firebenders in his time really understood this.

And then something else clicked.

...

"Hold on. I thought you were an airbender."

Wan took three steps before he realized what Zuko had just said. Then he froze, shoulders hunching and spine stiffening. A long moment passed before he slumped in defeat. Why was he even trying to hide it when he was so terrible at doing so? First Iroh, then Toph, now Zuko...

"I am an airbender," he said, turning around to look at his travel companion sheepishly. "And a firebender. And a waterbender. And an earthbender..."

Yeah... Zuko had pretty much already pieced that together when Wan made his confession. Because Zuko is just staring at Wan.

"You're an Avatar?!"

He knew that Aang was here, and that Korra was the Avatar in this time... but there's THREE?!

"Yeah, I am. And I'd really appreciate it if you kept your voice down and not tell anyone," Wan sighed. "Please. Unless and until Korra says she's okay with Aang and I making it publicly known that we've been brought forward in time by the Spirit World, it needs to be kept secret. The decision to let the world know is hers. This is her era, not ours."

Zuko just continues to stare in disbelief. All this time, Wan had been an Avatar, and he had no idea. ... No wonder his Uncle had told him to be respectful to Wan. UGH! He feels so stupid now!

But Wan's words bring pause.

"I understand."

It... made sense really. That he would want to keep his identity secret. After all, wasn't Zuko doing pretty much the same thing? This wasn't his time either. He didn't belong here any more than Aang or Wan did. His older self lived in this time.

"I haven't even met Korra," he then admits quietly. This is kind of awkward now. He has to wonder if Wan knows anything about... how he used to be.

"That's okay," he said with a grin, relaxing when Zuko said he understood. "I met her for the first time at the Yangchen Festival. Both she and Aang are from after my time. Though, you probably figured that out already."

Overwhelmed, Zuko flopped himself down on a large piece of building debris with sigh.

"Well... yeah. Aang is from my time. But... I've never even heard of you. And I've studied the Avatars."

Rather unwillingly he might add, when they had paid a visit to the Fire Sages that one time.

Wan walked back to Zuko and sat down next to him. Not close enough to touch, but close enough to talk easily.

"My name has been lost to history for most of the world," he replied easily. "I think it's better that way. I don't belong here any more than you do. My time has passed. A new era of the Avatar has begun, started by Avatar Korra at Harmonic Convergence. An era where humans and spirits can finally live together again."

There's a blink and a frown.

"How can you say that? You make it sound like you don't matter anymore. That would be like saying Aang doesn't matter anymore. Your time might be passed, but you were brought here for a reason. We all were, right?"

It was hard to believe this was just some big cosmic accident with the huge spiritual barrier around Republic City like that. Surely there had been intent.

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