Water, Earth, Fire, Air

When I couldn't decide what to do regarding an assignment for my art club as the deadline quickly approached, I drowned into the Avatar: The Last Airbender world... literally! According to the Spirits, there is only one way for me to return to my own world: Through making A Thousand And One Drawings. Though that seems easy to do with what the Spirits have given me, there is a catch. I have to do it before the end of the storyline.

But do I even want to leave this dreamlike world?

Book 1: Water

Chapter 14: The Fortuneteller

Emilia waded into the waters. She was over waist-deep in the spring.

"I don't understand... What's happening to me?" she asked, clasping her hands together in a prayerful manner. "The bracelet evaporated into my skin, and now my arm is quite numb. Aang and the others seem to have noticed... how do I fix it? Please answer..."

Emilia was interrupted when a rush of heat surged through the place. She turned around and saw Aang in the Avatar State... about to kill Zhao at the Spirit Oasis.

"What?!" Her voice cracked when she said it. She KNEW this wasn't how the story was supposed be o go.

"You failed, Emilia..." a voice said from behind her. She looked and saw her drawings torn apart. "You failed your mission. Now you must pay the penalty for your failure!"

Emilia woke up in a fright. She had slept in, and Aang was right next to her, staring at her with great confusion. Emilia sweatdropped, realizing she had screamed because of Aang's startled gaze, a look she only sees as the first thing after she does something like that...

"Sorry..."

She looked around their camp, seeing Sokka trying to fish without a line, Lily watching him from the other side of the river whilst trying to lift water, and Katara taking care of Appa and Momo.

"Uh... Emilia," Aang began. Emilia got nervous all of a sudden. She was worried Aang would ask about her nightmare/Spirit World thing/something she wasn't even sure of.

"...yes...?"

"I made this for you." He held up a necklace. "I thought... since you lost your other one..." From what Emilia remembered from the story, Katara was supposed to get a necklace from Aang. But Katara still had her necklace, so there was no need for Aang to give her one.

'I can't accept this...' Emilia thought. 'It just wouldn't feel right! But then again... it does look different from the story...' She looked up at Aang, who smiled at her shyly while holding out the necklace to her.

"I... uh... Okay..." Emilia wanted to slap herself on the face. Was that seriously the only thing she could think of to say?

Getting over herself, Emilia accepted the necklace from Aang and got ready for the day. After tying her hair, she put on the necklace, which unlike the original story, was yellow that was edged with white on each petal.

"How do I look?" Emilia asked, turning back around to face Aang, putting her hands behind her back. Aang seemed a little... hesitant?

"Um... all of you, or just your neck?" He asked. Emilia realized those were the same words he said to Katara in the original storyline and her face turned a bit red with embarrassment. Was she really robbing Katara of such moments just because she existed?

"Smoochie, smoochie. Someone's in love," Sokka remarked. Emilia glared at Sokka, her voice raised as she snapped out of her thoughts.

"I AM NOT!" She didn't even notice her own voice cracking. Lily sat down on the rock she was practicing on and whispered to Sokka.

"Wow Sokka," she began. "I think you're right."

Emilia's face turned even redder when she realized the teasing remark was targeted at Aang, who was a little embarrassed himself.

"We're just great friends. Nothing to see here!" And then Emilia packed up her stuff and threw both it and herself onto Appa.

They later encountered a man being attacked by a wild platypus bear, who then told him about some Aunt Wu lady, a fortuneteller.

'Not this episode...' Emilia thought to herself.

"Aunt Wu is expecting you," a man said when they walked into town. Katara and Aang practically ran in while Lily stayed behind Sokka and waited for him to dry off from the rain they were in. Emilia herself was wet, because she didn't walk under the umbrella like Katara and Aang, and wasn't under Appa's head like Lily, Emilia attempted to walk right by the place, but the guy that spoke to them suddenly grabbed Emilia by the back of her shirt and threw her inside. She knocked Aang over with her crash landing, as he was right in front of the closed door, and that incident interrupted Meng's introduction.

Emilia rubbed her head, pained by the events that just happened.

"I didn't break any of your bones, right?" she asked her friend.

"Please get off me."

"Right... sorry... one moment." Emilia was sitting on her left ankle and her left knee was on top of her right ankle as well, so she couldn't really get up. Lily noticed the situation and pulled Emilia to her feet. After that, Aang got up and they all acted like nothing just happened.

Katara insisted on going first for her fortune.

"Would it be okay if I stepped outside for a moment?" Emilia asked Meng. Meng nodded and Emilia went out of the building, only to be tossed back in by the guy outside.

"Don't you remember what Aunt Wu said?" he whispered to the young assistant. Emilia could still hear though. "That girl is the one we need to be careful about."

'Oh COME ON!!!' Emilia internally screamed.

When it was finally Emilia's turn to get her fortune read, Aunt Wu had quite the struggle.

"That's strange..."

"What's strange? Everything about me is strange! Be more specific!" Emilia didn't like where this was going, but maybe she was just being judgmental.

"You're the kind of being that defines the very aspect of fate itself."

"Okay, I'll admit it. That's a little strange."

"You have many futures that can result from your struggles... but I do see a tough decision ahead of you. One that shows things as what they truly are. It will disappoint and break you, unless you are readily prepared... and I see a decision that you will have to make very soon! One that could alter the very means of time!"

"...Okay."

Emilia got up and left, but Aunt Wu wasn't done.

"Such a shame. She left before I could get to the part about love..."

Emilia sat back down with the others, Aang was in a rather pleasant mood and Lily was glancing at Sokka every five seconds with an unbearable sadness in her eyes. Sokka was only interested in the food and Katara was staring off into space. Meng was staring at Aang.

'I wonder if my existence changes their fortunes at all... Katara's is probably very similar, if not the same. I'll find out soon about Sokka's. Aang's... I'm not sure. And Lily is here because of my existence, so I guess that counts?'

Sokka's fortune hadn't changed, as Emilia found out, when Aunt Wu predicted the rest of Sokka's miserable life that was "written all over" his face aloud to everyone in the room.

Though Emilia didn't believe Aunt Wu, she realized that the universe was in fact sending hints to her. First with her nightmare, then with her prediction. She'll have to alter the storyline to prevent something from going horribly wrong...

But what?

Emilia noticed the volcano behind the village.

'That's it. That's what I need to change.'

"Hey Lily," Emilia began, pulling her friend aside.

"Yeah?"

"I was wondering... what did Aunt Wu predict for your fortune?"

"She said I'd always be overlooked because of my weaknesses..."

"What does that mean?"

Lily looked over at Sokka.

"I'll always be a side salad. A pillar of emotional support. A typical woman... but without the romance..."

Emilia nodded. She assumed Lily had misfortune in her reading... and that was perfect for her plan.

"Why don't we try to prove Aunt Wu wrong?"

"What? How?"

"How does another waterbending lesson sound?"

"Well... if I'll be able to actually waterbend..."

"You won't have gravity against you this time."

"Okay. I'm in."

The two girls climbed on Appa.

"Yip yip."

Appa took flight and Lily then got a little nervous.

"Where exactly are we going?"

"Up. I'll be teaching you how to waterbend with the clouds."

"I can do that?"

"Yea-huh." Emilia's eyes widened when she said that. What kind of a word was that?

Emilia eventually managed to teach Lily how to bend the water out of the clouds, but the moment it materialized, it splashed onto the saddle.

'Right... moving clouds requires air bending too...' Emilia remembered. 'This whole thing was pointless.'

"Emilia! I'm doing it!" Emilia looked up to see Lily with a halo of glowing water above her head. "It helps! The altitude helps! I can bend small amounts of water on my own here!"

'Maybe it wasn't completely pointless after all...'

"I'm so happy for you, Lily!" Emilia said, closing her eyes like an anime character and plastering a wholesome smile on her face. "You're one step closer to being the greatest water bender ever!"

"Thank you!" Emilia's eyes opened and widened when she noticed Lily was crying. Lily didn't notice it herself, but the water she was bending... it wasn't just from the air... her tears were being added to it.

'That girl is going to be one powerful bender someday... she just grows slower than others... like a flower.'

Emilia was near silent after they returned. Aang showed a lot of concern, because Emilia wouldn't draw, write, or do basically anything. That was because Emilia didn't know what to do. She was stressed out.

"So Sokka... you know some stuff about ladies, right?" Lily overheard Aang say later that day. She had sorta been stalking them since Sokka didn't seem to care one way or another that Lily could in fact waterbend. To say Lily was frustrated was a GREAT understatement... especially after Aunt Wu's prediction of much disappointment in life.

"Some stuff? You've come to the right place. What can I do ya for?"

"Well, there's this girl..."

"I think I know who you mean."

"You do?"

"Of course. And to tell you the truth, I've been picking up a subtle vibe that she likes you too."

"Really?"

"Yeah. She's crazy about ya." Aang was a little confused. "All you have to do now is not mess it up."

"Well how do I do that?"

"The number one mistake nice guys like you make... being too nice." Aang and Lily both looked at Sokka like he was crazy.

"You can be too nice?"

"Yep. If you want to keep her interested, you have to act aloof. Like you don't really care one way or the oth-"

"Oh ho ho NO," Lily interrupted, stepping between the two boys. "If yo so that, the girl either won't notice you at all, or think you don't like her and give up on you, moving on to find someone else for her and then you'll be out of luck." Aang recovered from his shock of seeing her there rather quickly.

"Then what do you think I should do?"

"Be yourself. Kind, compassionate... but let her know how you feel. That's the most important. Because, Aang, if you don't do that, she'll friend zone you. Not saying that's a bad thing, but if you get stuck with the label 'Just a friend,' you'll never get her. Be the kind of admirable person you are so that she loves you for you!"

"Wow. Thanks Lily."

"No problem."

Aang then left to go about his life or whatever.

That night, Emilia was the only one awake.

She couldn't stop worrying.

How could she stop something bad from happening?

She got out of bed and snuck away from the town. Appa was too loud, so she had to go on foot.

"Just what do you think you're doing?" a voice asked, startling Emilia. She was already halfway up the volcano.

"Uh... hi Lily...I was just going up the mountain for a walk."

"Uh huh. I'll buy that."

Lily watched as Emilia continued her climb, following from a distance. She eventually noticed that it was getting warmer the higher they went... that was different from normal. Normally it got colder with altitude in Lily's opinion.

And then Lily realized that Emilia was climbing the volcano for a reason... but why?

Emilia reached the top and looked down at the magma slowly rising up. She looked back down and saw a boulder. She groaned and ran back down. Lily watched as Emilia spent HOURS pushing the boulder up the hill. With a final push at daybreak, the boulder plummeted into the lava. Emilia cheered for a moment, only to see that it sank a second later.

"Aw come on!"

Lily noticed the smoke that was coming out of the volcano and realized Emilia was trying to prevent it from erupting... she was taking a burden onto herself...

'I need to buy myself more time...' Emilia thought. 'How do I prevent Sokka and Aang from coming up here?'

Emilia then noticed a panda Lily not far from where she was standing.

'That's it.'

Lily hid as Emilia picked the flower and ran down the mountain.

"Hey Sokka," Aang began. "Have you seen Emilia and Lily anywhere? I can't find either of them and they've been gone since this morning."

"Relax, Aang. It's probably just Lily wanting to play with water again."

"But Appa's still here!"

"Oh... maybe we should look for them."

"That's the best idea you've had since we got here. Honestly. I'm flattered." Sokka turned around and saw Lily right there. Sokka's eyes widened, wondering how long she'd been there. "Aang, can I borrow Sokka for a moment? I need to talk to him."

"Sure. Go ahead." Lily grabbed Sokka by the arm, nodded to Aang, and then walked away, starting a discussion with the non-bender.

Not long after Lily pulled Sokka aside, Aang felt a tap on his shoulder.

"Hi Emilia." Aang said before even turning around to face her.

"How'd you know it was me?"

"Well, since Lily just took away Sokka, I assumed you two were back from wherever you were this morning. Where were you anyway?"

"Um... well I... Here." Emilia held out a flower to Aang. He took it and looked back at his friend, who quickly looked away, trying to avoid stressing herself out by having to look at him. She didn't want him getting the wrong idea. "It's a panda lily... I got it myself... for you... Aang..."

"Thanks Emilia..." She looked back at him, a shy smile on her face.

"Yeah... no problem..." As Emilia walked away, Aang realized she was still wearing the necklace he gave her. He then looked down at the flower, smiling. The both gave each other something to do with flowers...

"Oh! A panda lily!" a woman exclaimed. Aang saw a man giving a woman a flower like the one Emilia got for him... it sorta made him do a double-take.

Emilia walked to the village gate so she could head back up to the volcano when Lily appeared out of nowhere.

"Emilia..." Emilia looked up and noticed her friend.

"Hi Lily... I didn't see you there..."

"What is it with you and Aang?" Emilia tensed up immensely.

"What do you mean?!"

"Don't play dumb. I saw what you just did. What is it with you two?"

"Nothing! There's nothing going on with us!"

Lily's eyes then widened.

"...You like Aang, don't you?"

"What?! I mean, of course I like him. We're friends."

"No no no. You like him as more than a friend. I'm sure of it!"

"No, I don't!!! And I thought you'd know better! Just asking this is like me coming to you and saying 'You like Sokka as more than a friend, don't you'!"

"Wh-what?!"

"I'm just saying... You really shouldn't be asking such embarrassing questions."

Emilia then walked past Lily, going up the volcano once more.

"I'll give her two hours... then I'll tell Sokka..."

30 minutes later...

"Sokka! Sokka!" Sokka looked at Lily as she caught her breath.

"What's going on?"

"Emilia... the volcano... smoke... erupting..."

"What?! Why would Emilia try to hide that the volcano is emitting smoke and will be erupting soon?!"

"She's trying to fix it all on her own! We have to do something!"

"I'll get Aang."

"I'll get Katara."

While the four of them hatched a plan to make the village listen to them, Emilia was struggling to keep the volcanic eruption from happening.

"Stop... lava..." Emilia was trying to pry off apiece of the top so she could dig a path opposite of the village. "I need... more time..."

But then, toxic gas spewed into the air.

'No!' Emilia put her arm in front of her face to protect herself. 'I won't let this end like it did for Avatar Roku!'

Magma splashed out of the volcano, and that was when Emilia realized it...

She had failed.

"Emilia!" She looked up and saw Lily on Appa, hand outstretched. "Take my hand!"

With one arm, Emilia protected her face. With the other, she reached out and let Lily help her. Appa flew up a little and Lily bend some water out of the clouds. The water splashed onto the magma, making it sizzle and stall for a fraction of a second.

"Here." Lily held out Aang's staff to Emilia. "Glide back down to Aang. He'll need your help."

Emilia nodded, standing up on Appa and taking the glider into her own hand. She opened it and jumped, racing the lava to the base of the mountain. She noticed Aang and the village already dug the ditch to keep the lava away from the village.

'That kid sure has a lot of perception...'

Emilia landed next to Aang, who was happy to see her alive and well.

"It's going to overflow!" Emilia warned. "Make an air blast or something! I'll enforce it with the staff!"

Aang nodded and the two repelled the lava. A bit of it splashed onto Emilia's arm, where she once had her Sprit Bracelet, but for some reason, instead of hurting, it made her arm feel more... normal.

"You didn't really see love in my fortune, did you?" Aang asked Aunt Wu the next day after returning her book.

"Let me tell you a little secret, young airbender. Just like how you reshaped the clouds, you can shape your own destiny... take it from your friend over there." Aang looked over at Emilia. "It's okay to form your own destiny, but don't stress too much about how your life impacts others. That is her main worry. My, if she wasn't here, I would sure be wondering how all this would've worked out."

"So Emilia... knows this?" Aunt Wu nodded.

"And unlike me, she knows what each of her choices prevents and enables..."

Aang then saw his friend in a new light.

"I guess so..."

He never realized all that could be going on in Emilia's brain, so this was quite a revelation for him.

"Aang!" Emilia called. "Come on! We gotta get to the North Pole!"

"Coming!"

~~~~~~~~~~

I'm FINALLY done!

That was hard.

Time for me to celebrate.

Chapter art:

Why did I make Aang look so weird?!

Anyway...

Fan art:

Fan art by KittyMoonGacha! Thank you so much, girl!

That's it for now.

Bye!