1.5 The fortune Teller (Scene 2)

AN: In case anyone was curious about how I imagined Aang to look since I've aged him up! Believe it or not, this is canon from, I believe but don't fact check me, LoK. 


"Not bad. Not bad!" Sokka lets out a hum of satisfaction as he offers a puff to Aang, who pushes it back with a grimace. 

"I'm good on puffs. What do you think they're talking about back there?" 

Katara eyeballed the nervous bender who kept glancing at the doorway. The one where Aunt Wu led Asha.

"Boring stuff. I'm sure. Love. Who she's going to marry. How many babies she's gonna have." Sokka eats  another puff. 

"Yea, dumb stuff, like that." 

Katara gives Aang a knowing smile and nods her head towards the doorway. Aang smiles back, standing up quickly and blabbering out an excuse before shuffling off to the doorway.  He crept along the wall, before getting to the door he needed slowly peeking inside. 

Meanwhile, Asha was over this fortune telling business, rolling her eyes as she watched Aunt Wu mash together a mixture of berries and herbs, soon passing the mortar she was using to Asha, who give an unimpressed look.

"You must drink it if your going to get you fortune." The older woman smiled. 

Asha letting out a long sigh, reluctantly grabbed it before chugging, hoping she wouldn't have to actually taste it. Aang grimaced outside of the door, feeling bad for the poor girl when she gagged. 

Asha reeled as she took the bowl away, regretting ever coming to this village. However, before she could even think, her head stiffened upward and she was pulled into a vision. 

Aang watched as Asha's eyes glowed a bright blue, along with the arrows on her neck, hands and legs. It was like she was in the Avatar state, which made Aang anxious. He knew what could happen when people were in this state, even if he wasn't sure why she was in that state. 

Asha watched from a distance as an older woman, who looked like an older version of  herself, held onto small bundle tightly. It was wrapped in a grey blanket and she looked so tired; Yet a smile was on her sweat drenched face as a male was finally let in the room. He ran over to the girl, who looked up at him with so much love and adoration, it made her kind of ill. The man was bald (surprise surprise) and had tattoos that looked much like Aang's. The two embraced in a kiss as the bundle let out a small cry. The man separating and bringing a hand to the infants head as he chuckled, leaning to give the child a kiss on the forehead. 

"Look whose got her mothers jealousy already." The man chuckled, the woman rolling her eyes in mock annoyance. Asha's head snapped over when two smaller children ran into the room, yelling about how there was a new friend to play with, quickly crawling onto the bald man (Who laughed good-heartedly) while helping them see said play mate. Another woman, this time looking like an older version of Katara, ran in after them, stopping to give the new mother a hug with some soft words.  Then two males entered the room. One in traditional fire nation clothing and a scar the took up half his face (Asha mused this was what Zuko would look like if he had better taste in hairstyles), and the other looking like Sokka. 

Finally, a raven rushed in, pushing the one (It was the Sokka one) hugging the mother out of the way. 

"If you go into labor on a mission again, I will personally destroy you. " The raven muttered, holding the new mother close. 

"She shouldn't have been out there anyway." The bald man grunted from the other side of the bed mat, eyeing the mother. 

The man with the scar finally got towards the new mother, giving her a hug and caressing the child's head. "I'm proud of you, Ash." He muttered, the mother, 'Ash', hugging him back while the older looking Sokka, now seemingly recovered, walked to the bald man. 

"Congrats, Aang." 

Asha snapped back to reality, feeling her body, checking to see if she was still herself. Aunt Wu letting out a small laugh at the girl. 

"Your going to marry a powerful bender, Asha. You two will be some of the strongest in history. However, there are going to be obstacles in the way.  You must be there for him, even when he's not there for you. Eventually, he'll be there for you when you face your deepest, darkest demons." Aunt Wu held Asha's hand, the girl still reeling from the vision. She muttered out a thanks anyhow, she still had manners, rubbing her temples as she steadied herself. 

Meanwhile, Aang give a slight air bump. Aunt Wu said she was going to marry a strong bender; whose stronger than the Avatar?

By the time Asha got back, she had collected herself, Aunt Wu already taking Katara into the room she was just in. 

"How'd it go?" Aang asked, as if he didn't already know. 

"Nothing much, who I'm going to marry, a voodoo potion. The works." Asha sat beside Aang, Sokka seemingly finishing off the bean puffs.  They delve into comfortable silence before Katara, who looks pleased with her fortune, comes back. 

Sokka stands with a stretch as he readies himself to go next only for Aunt Wu to cut him off.

"Your future is full of struggle and anguish, most of it self-inflicted." She deadpans, making the air benders burst into laughter. 

"But, you didn't read my palms or anything!" Sokka yells at the lady who rolls her eyes.

"I don't need to-- it's written all over your face. You, then come with me." She points to Aang, already walking away. Leaving Sokka, Katara and Asha alone.

"So, Asha, what was your fortune about?" Katara leaned over, smiling as the air bender rolled her eyes.

"Tell you mine if you tell me yours?" Katara pushed, the other bender relenting with a huff and smile. Katara smirked as hers wasn't anything special.

"Aunt Wu said I'll marry someone with a scarred past; someone no one would've guessed. Now you." Asha looked as if Katara kicked a puppy, distraught at being duped so easily. 

Swallowing tightly, Asha let out a sigh. "She said I'm going to marry a strong bender. The i'm going to have to be there for him, even if it's not mutual. That eventually I'm going to need him to go against my deepest darkest demons. There was a vision too, but-." Asha took a breath before continuing.  "I saw what looked like an older version of all of us, at least what I think was us. Aang was there for sure, someone called him by name. He seemed to be married, or at least in a relationship." She stopped. 

Katara moved her hands in a go ahead motion, urging to nomad to continue-- which she did with a groan. "She had a baby in her arms and someone called her Ash. I just- What if that was me?" Asha looked at Katara who looked shocked, then happy before excitedly grabbing Asha's hands. 

"Of course it was you! You and A-" She was cut off by Asha's hand as Meng had peeked her head in and finally, Sokka looked over to them. 

Taking the hand down, Katara went quieter. "Ever heard of the Onsra, Asha? That could be you! Think about it! You and Aang are the last air benders!" She whispered into the air benders ear, excitedly bouncing up and down in her seat. 

"It- no. There has to be another air bender out there. I'm nothing special, I'm just...me." Asha huffed dejectedly, refusing to put anymore thought on the subject as Katara frowned.

___

Once the group was reconnected, they walked out only to find the town looking to the clouds. 

"What's with the sky?" Katara asked, craning her neck.

The man from earlier looked to the group. "We are waiting for Aunt Wu to come and read the clouds to predict the fate of the whole village."

"The one looks like a fluffy bunny." Aang pointed to the sky, nudging Asha who looked up as well.

"You better hope that's not a bunny-- that forecasts doom and destruction." The man explained. Sokka going on to yell at the man.

"The cloud reading will tell us if mount Makapu will remain dormant for another year or not." A woman furthered the explanation, looking to Asha before the man from earlier continued. 

"We used to go up there ourselves, but since Aunt Wu, we've stopped." 

"I mean I guess, it's less dangerous then going up there, but-" Asha started, Sokka cutting her off.

"I can't believe you would trust your lives to that crazy old woman's superstition!" Sokka waved his arms at the man, only stopping when his sister shushed him, gesturing to the said approaching woman.

Aang and Asha watch in silence, Aang keeping an eye on the girl who holds his lemur in her arms.  He had been keeping an eye on her since he got back, his own fortune a little disappointing in retrospect. 

"Hey Aang," Meng pops up, leaning way to close to the teen. "Doesn't that cloud look like a flower?" 

Aang looks up. "Sure I guess." He mutters before leaning over to his brunette counterpart. 

"Don't you think that cloud looks like a flower?" He points up, Asha's gaze following his finger.

"I can see it. Yea." Asha smiles as Momo nuzzles her hand, awaiting more pets.

A sigh of relief sweeps the town when Aunt Wu predicts the village will not be destroyed,

___

Sokka still has no idea how he got into this mess. Climbing a volcano for a flower. A freaking flower. 

"I can't believe you've dragged me all the way up here for a flower." 

"Not just any flower, a panda lily. I've seen it in action and boy does it work." Aang continues to climb the mountain, determined to find this flower. 

"Look, flowers are fine once you're married, but at this early stage it's critical that you maintain maximum aloofness." Sokka panted, laying on the black rock as Aang continued climbing.

"But my heart is telling me to get this flower, and Aunt Wu said if I trusted my heart I would be with the one I love. " Aang looked down at the village, knowing Asha and Katara were down there; Katara dragging the poor air bender to Aunt Wu.

"What? Don't tell me you believe in that stuff too!" Sokka groaned.

"Well, Aunt Wu hasn't been wrong yet. Why would she be wrong about love?" Aang points up, eyes widening. "Up there! On the Rim." 

As the two run up, they fail to notice the increasingly rising temperature.  It's only once they get to the top that Sokka realizes the volcano filled with Lave.

"Aunt Wu was wrong." The two look at the molten rock.

___

Asha stood against the wall to Aunt Wu's building, Katara huffing angrily. Truth be told, Asha wasn't sure how she felt about the prediction, nevertheless with what Katara said? What if she was the Onsra? She told herself she wasn't going to put any more effort into the thought, but it just kept plaguing her like a bad parasite.

She threw herself into a fighting stance when Aang and Sokka came crashing down, only to grumble to herself when she realized it was the two idiots she called friends.  

"Aunt Wu was wrong about the Volcano!" Sokka stumbled getting up, Asha catching him with a grunt and helping him stand. 

"You've already tried convincing me she was wrong before. It's going to take an awful lot to change my min-" Katara stumbles as the mountain spits out smoke and ash, igniting itself with an earth shaking rumble. 

"It's going to erupt!" Asha muttered as she connected the pieces together, Aang quickly pulling her closer to him while Sokka jumps onto a nearby box to address the villagers.

"Everyone! That volcano is gonna blow any second! Aunt Wu was wrong!" Sokka desperately tries, only for the villagers to sneer at him. 

"We get it, Mr. Science and reason lover." A girl from the crown yells, gaining a few chuckles.

" If you won't listen to him, maybe you'll listen to me. I want to believe Aunt Wu and her predictions as much as you do, but my brother and Aang saw the lava with their own eyes!" Katara stepped in, hoping to help. 

"Well, I heard her prediction with my own ears." A man pipes. 

"Touché." Asha huffs before bending herself to the top of Aunt Wu's house, Aang following closely after. Her gut clenched as she noticed all of the eyes on her, urging herself to stand tall as she addressed the village. "You're all in grave danger, please! You have to listen to us!" 

Aang takes her hand in his before standing beside, quickly drawing attention to his taller frame while Asha blushes a bright red.

"You have to take fate into your own hands." He shouts, squeezing his fingers, only to stare dejectedly as the villagers ignore them. They jump back to ground level with a leap. 

"They won't listen to reason." Katara huffs as she walks up to the now ground level air benders. 

Asha shot up at an idea popping into her head. "But they will listen to Aunt Wu!" 

"That's the problem." Sokka looks defeated.

"No, listen! She's going to become our solution. We're taking their fate into our hands. We need her cloud reading book!" 

___

Tiptoeing through the presumably empty house, Aang huffs and grumbles as he tries finding the godforsaken book. Asha had explained a fairly well thought out plan in their short time span, giving everyone jobs and a task to do. She saddled up Appa, the water siblings stood guard, and he had to find the book. Simple enough of paper, right? 

Except for the fact that he could not, for the life of him, find the damn book. 

Angrily, he slammed a trunk closed, nearly falling back at the sight of Meng in the reflection of some metal. Whipping around, he holds a hand to his chest. "I didn't see you."

The girl frowns. "You don't like me. Do you?" 

"Of course I like you." Aang begins, nervously scratching the back of his neck before Meng sighs. 

"Not the way I like you though."

"I guess not." He avoids her gaze, peering down to his feet as he tries not to focus on Meng's frown.

"It's okay...Just hard when you like someone and they don't think of you that way." She shrugs.

"I know what you mean." Asha immediately enters his mind, his cheeks burning a slight pink as he remembers how soft her hand was when he held it earlier. 

"She's beautiful, by the way." Aang looks up.

"The girl with the arrows. I can see why you like her so much." Meng holds up her fingers. "She's a bender, sweet, cares for animals, and her hair seems manageable." Meng tries to brush her hair down, only for it to bounce back up.

"Don't worry, your gonna meet a great guy who's gonna completely fall for you. I know it." Aang places a hand on her shoulder, Meng finally meeting his gaze with a sad smile.

"Wait, don't you need this?" Meng pulls an old leather book from her robe when he turns to leave.

"How?" Aang furrows a brow, taking the book. 

"I've kinda been following you..." She laughs nervously. 

"Thanks,  I guess. " Aang frowns before running off.

___

"Clouds are made of water and air, so between the three of us, we should be able to bend them into any shape we want." Asha finishes her explanation, flipping through Aunt Wu's book as she rode on Appa, shouting excitedly when she finds what she was looking for. She hands the book to Katara, who holds the pages open for the two, while the two stand in bending poses. Aang bends the water in the clouds with his limited knowledge while Asha bends the air, the base of a skull taking place.

Sokka, hopefully, was on the ground, leading Aunt Wu outside, and they, hopefully, would be able to convince the villagers to leave before someone got hurt. 

And all went according to plan, with the village being evacuated as the group of four stand facing a trench made from the hard work of the village Earth benders. The volcano was bubbling angrily before lave, lots of it, began speeding down the mountain, filling the trench way too quickly. Boulders of all shapes and sizes begin spewing out of the volcanic mouth, splashing molten lava much too high for the trench to catch. And, as if the two were in perfect sync, Asha and Aang move. 

They jump as one, bending spirals of air around them in a glorious show before landing and cooling the lava with quick hands and even quicker wits, hardening it into a rocky shell around the town. Both taking a breath before facing each other and folding their hands, laughing softly. 

"Quite the powerful bender I am, hey?" Aang teases, watching Asha look shocked before rolling her eyes. 

"Sure. Right behind me."

___

"Can I ask you something?" Aang looked up at Aunt Wu, who stood beside him with a smile.

"Of course, honey." She looks down only to find the boy watching a brunette jump onto Appa.

"You didn't really see love in my fortune, did you? You just told me what I wanted to hear." Aang looks down. 

"When I told you you destiny, you were looking for love in someone else," She grabbed his chin, making him look back at Asha, who was tightening Gumi's saddle with her tongue caught between her teeth. "You need to look for it in someone who has always been with you. Just as you reshaped the clouds, you can reshape your destiny; but somethings won't change." Aang found himself smiling as a little kid ran up to Asha, jumping into a hug which she gladly returned. 

When they were finally ready to go, Appa took off with Gumi right behind quickly, the four waving their good byes. 

"Take care!" Asha waved back, surprised to see Meng waving back.

"You too!" Meng smiled, watching as they flew further away, only to growl lowly.

"Floozy." 


Bạn đang đọc truyện trên: AzTruyen.Top