knightofthenewrepublic

[knightofthenewrepublic]

Harry: "So now that I'm marrying into the Raiths, I get access to the family loot right?"

Lara: "I suppose a little indulgence would be permissible. Just remember to use a proxy for purchasing weapons and substances not legal in Illinois; and if you go shopping for a judge or congressman, buying will be cheaper in the long-term than renting."

~~Later~~

Lara: "What in the white God's name is a 'glamdring,' and why did you need the original prop?"

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Mulch: "So there I am, minding my own business, when Artemis offers me twenty ingots, all I've got to do is walk by Foaly and go like this."

~slides finger across throat~

Mulch: "Artemis is a chump, I would have done that for anything. I've done a lot more for a lot less!"

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Mulch: "NO, no I won't do it! You can't make me!"

Juliet: "Alright, I guess these pictures of you picking pockets at Disneyland are going to find their way to the L.E.P."

Mulch, grinding his teeth: "Fine, you vile mudwelp, I'll do it."

~ L a t e r ~

Mulch, singing and dancing as Juliet streams the video:

I am a dwarf and I'm digging a hole Diggy, diggy hole, diggy, diggy hole I am a dwarf and I'm digging a hole Diggy, diggy hole, digging a hole

[knightofthenewrepublic]

A Three-Part Idea for Sokka's Master

Master Piandao might be my favorite barely-any-screentime character in Avatar; and I think a lot of people will agree that we should have gotten more of him. So I have been thinking recently about how Sokka's Master could have been written as a multi episode arc, and here is my proposal for it.

Episode 1 : Sokka's Master

This episode would go pretty much the same as the original, with the meteor shower bringing out Sokka's insecurities. Everything will go the same, until he arrives at Piandao's castle. Appearing unenthusiastic, he will put Sokka through a series of tests. They at first appear to be tests of skill, which Sokka will mostly fail; but are actually tests of maturity, meant to gauge Sokka's determination and humility.

The final test, will probably be Sokka being told to retrieve something important from the mountainside, with an emphasis that time is of the essence. Along the way he will encounter an old person in some kind of distress, and choose to quit the task to help them instead.

When he gets back to the castle, Sokka's will admit that he didn't finish the task, and he does not think himself worthy of being a student. Piandao will inform him that he passed, and he will now take him on.

Cutting away from this throughout the episode, we will still see Iroh doing his work out in prison, but expand on it more. In particular, we'll see more of Ming, the guard who befriended him, and have some hints of her backstory.

Episode 2 : The Spirit Hunter

After a time skip of several days, Sokka's training under Piandoa has continued, with most of the same lessons as the ones we saw, just going into more detail. Sokka will do the look-at-the-scene-for-one-second-and-take-it-all-in-and-paint-it lesson several times, with a variety of landscapes. Toph will tag along at least once, and talk to him while he paints. They'll have a touching little moment were Sokka tries to describe in words what seeing is like for Toph (maybe a call back to the meteor shower in the last episode, Sokka: "You've never not seen anything like this.") and she talks about what it's like for her.

(I've been wondering about Toph's concept of distance. We've seen things from her p.o.v, but only her immediate surroundings. How far can her senses extend; what does a landscape or a horizon look like for her? Does she just see a couple hundred feet in any direction, like some kind of videogame map?)

Toph will tag along when Sokka does the rock gardening lesson too; not helping him move the rocks, but being there for him to bounce ideas off of. Giving him advice on how to picture something in his head, and then form the earth into it. It will be at the end of this episode that Sokka starts forging his sword from the meteor.

Sokka's training will actually be kind of a B plot in this episode, as Aang and Katara have the main plot. While spending time around Shu Jing village, they witness a spirit attack, and learn that this has been happening for weeks. The villagers asked Piandao to slay the spirit, but he just said the spirit wouldn't be attacking unless it was angry, and they should try to find out how to appease it. The people weren't satisfied with this (I always got the impression that the war was a time when mainstream Fire Nation society was encouraged to disregard spiritual values, and view human ownership of the land as supreme.) So instead, the village hires a spirit hunter.

Now, I have two very different ideas for how this would go:

#1 The Spirit hunter is a young man who came from a half-Yuyan family, until they were killed in a spirit attack. Now he is a ruthless wandering bounty hunter, hellbent on revenge against all spirits, whom he sees as unthinking monsters. He will use the trademark yuyan archery, but augmented by bizarre alchemical weapons designed specifically to hurt spirits. Aang and Katara will struggle to show him that his black and white view of the world is wrong, and spirits are no more good or evil than the forces of nature. His pursuit of vengeance will almost cost his own life; until Aang realizes that the spirit is angry about it's sibling being trapped by a recent construction project. Once Aang and Katara free the other spirit, it then intervenes to spare the hunter. The hunter will finally give up his pain-fueled quest, and commit himself to finding his own personal balance. (It will be directly implied that he has figured out who Aang is, but now feels honor bound not to tell).

My other idea is a bit different:

#2 The spirit hunters will be frauds. Think of those cable tv ghost hunter shows, where people comb through a house with fancy looking equipment, and act like every slight change in temperature and faint sound is a ghost. Now imagine if one of those teams of jokers actually ran into a malevolent entity. The hunter team will go all over town with old-timey versions of ghost detecting equipment, and come up with ridiculous theories about what is causing the spirit to attack. Aang and Katara will have to actually get down to the bottom of it; all while preventing these idiots from getting themselves killed. (There will be a running joke about Katara sounding and acting more and more like Sokka, as she berates the spirit hunters for not using More! Scientific! REASONING!)

The first idea is probably the better one overall, and more in line with the kind of stories ATLA tells. But I can't help but like the second one better; and it might have less of a risk of overshadowing Sokka's plot.

Episode 3 : The White Lotus

The episode will begin with Sokka having finished his sword, and finally dueling Piandao in a way that uses all his lessons. The match will go back and forth, until it is suddenly interrupted by a stranger pounding on the castle door and begging for help. The man is a member of the White Lotus, who urgently needs to escape the Fire Nation. This will be the episode were the Gaang finally learns about the White Lotus, and the audience learns a bit more about it's mission and history.

(The show never really explains why the Order didn't take more active steps to oppose the war before the series. I think the best explanation, would be that when he started the war, Sozin deliberately purged the Order from the Fire Nation, killing or exiling all of it's members. It is only recently that the Order has started to be rebuilt in secret, with it's members starting to do little acts of rebellion. Piandao will talk about how he was inducted into the Order by a former general he had known from his time fighting in the war, who had become disillusioned with it just like he had. (Although he never says the name, the audience will understand he is talking about Iroh)

Piandao and Sokka will help the man get to a boat that will get him out of the country; but they encounter the patrols out looking for him, who recognize Piandao. Master and student will both work together to neutralize every soldier; but Sokka will be so focused on getting the last one, he won't see the messenger hawk the man has released until it's too late.

They will rush back to the castle, and Piandao will order the Gaang to run before more Fire Nation troops arrive and discover them. Sokka will be devastated, believing that this is all his fault and he has failed as a student. Piandao will tell him that it was a honor to be his teacher, and instruct him to keep learning. The Gaang will be forced to flee the castle in an earthbent tunnel. The last thing they will see before they close the tunnel is Master Piandao, surrounded by a dozen soldiers, calmly raising his sword into battle stance.

This will be the last time the Gaang sees Piandao, until they find him alive and well with the other members of the White Lotus in the final. In the meantime, Sokka will be thinking back to the lessons he learned from him. When Hakoda is knocked out during the Day of Black Sun; Sokka will look down at his sword for a long moment, before declaring that he will lead the way (the implication being that he thinks he failed a previous father figure, and is determined not to do it again!)

[knightofthenewrepublic]

[knightofthenewrepublic]

Achren & Gwydion

[knightofthenewrepublic]

Was Aang Rich?

While listening through F.C. Yee's books; one of the things that occurred to me a few times is how wealthy an avatar could become, because of the large amount of valuable gifts they often receive from across the Four Nations.

During the era of Kyoshi, "avatar" Yun received so many gifts from the notables of the Four Nations seeking to curry favor honor him, that Kyoshi and Rangi would have to help him sort them. Avatar Yangchen made an official visit to the Northern Water Tribe, and when she left it was with a great amount of ceremony, and a "vast array" of gifts. Things like that happened often enough that she was able to use them to fund a refugee settlement at the Northern Air Temple.

It is quite possible that this tradition died down by the time of Aang. After a hundred years absence of the avatar, it's likely only the most tradition minded of notables thought to resume the costume. And with the world still recovering from a devastating war, those who did probably didn't blow a lot of money on it. Though I could imagine a rush of gift giving right after the end of the war; both to Aang, and even the other members of the Gaang.

I think it's likely that whatever gifts Aang did receive, he put them toward rebuilding the air nation. Restoring the temples and supporting their new acolyte communities probably wasn't cheap. In the case of the Northern Air Temple, he even had to recruit a team of earthbenders to reenforce the the base of the cliffs, and undo the damage of the gas explosion.

The idea that he may have gotten a lot of gifts and donations at least makes more sense than my old theory for how Aang paid for it all; that Air Temple Island was a tax haven!

[knightofthenewrepublic]

[knightofthenewrepublic]

[knightofthenewrepublic]

Tolkien in the Leviathan Trilogy

One of my favorite aspects of the Leviathan trilogy, is imagining how more things from real world history would play out in that world. The idea of Tolkien still writing his books might be the best; because the fact that World War 1 inspired his works makes more sense in that world!

Tolkien's magic system includes a kind of genetic engineering, and it's almost exclusively evil. The darks lord Morgoth, and Sauron after him, both create vile and un-natural monsters, orcs, balrogs, dragons, all so that they can spread war and chaos across the world. It is explicitly stated that they are not creating life. Only Eru Iluvatar, God, has the power to actually create life; and these dark lords can only change life that already exists, making hideous and inferior copies.

I could definitely see a Leviathan Tolkien, disillussioned after the war, writing this as a thinly veiled critique of darwinism, and it's imperial applications. It would probably take off among the monkey luddite crowd.

But it wouldn't just be the darwinists. While Middle Earth is usually magical, there are times when it has a level of technology that approaches steampunk. When Sauron allows himself to be captured by the numenoreans, and eventually worms his way into their leadership, one of the things that he uses to manipulate them is his knowledge of more advanced technology. Under his influence Numenor enters and industrial age of imperialist expansion. They build powerful new weapons, ships that sail through the air; ugly ships that move through the waves without sails, and carry powerful projectile weapons.

This charge into what is essentially the steam age is directly paralleled with a collapse in moral values; and it leads to an unjust period of oppressive imperial conquest. And the end result is that it all leads the numenoreans to self destruction.

TL;DR ~ Tolkien's experience in the war made him and anti-darwinist AND and anti-clanker!

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YANGVIK WEEK 2025: FREESPACE - "IN-LAWS"

“So,” Kalyaan leaned back in his chair. He looked completely at ease, giving his brother the same vaguely smug grin he remembered well. “How is the whole Avatar business going?”

Across the room, their parents were occupying a loveseat, with little toddler Kaito giggling between them. The grandparents had been beaming with happiness all day; overjoyed by a rare visit from their prodigal son and his family.

For their sake, the other two couples were making every effort to pretend nothing was wrong.

“Fantastic,” Kavik put on a less convincing smile. He didn’t want his brother to think he was important enough to deserve his best performance. “Just when you think it’s over, another spirits-forsaken corner of the world decides to catch on fire.”

“The Four Nations always seem to think bashing their heads together will accomplish something,” Kalyaan nodded. “They always seem to let the dimmest people be the ones running things.”

His words earned a sincere grimace from his younger brother. “It’s like running a daycare, that caters only to the most spoiled!”

“Perhaps we would have been better off with something new,” Kalyaan’s tone seemed to have lost some of its levity. “A system, a new nation even, where talent was rewarded more than birth.”

Kavik’s brief feeling of agreement was gone. He’d known his brother still wasn’t over Unanimity’s crash and burn. He was surprised he’d made it this far into the week before he ran his mouth about it.

“A system that would put people’s lives at the mercy of anyone greedy enough to get rich,” Kavik retorted. “A pretty rotten idea, if you ask me.”

“And now that we’re going back to the old ways,” Kalyaan kept talking, and pretended he hadn’t heard his brother. “The shang city’s might end up under the thumb of somebody really merciless,” His smile was designed to cut, and draw blood. “Like Bin-Er is.”

Kavik understood the insult immediately, and almost started seeing red. “Watch your mouth about Yangchen,” he leaned forward to growl in his brother’s face. “I’m not going to hear it from you! Besides,” He gave his older brother a smile that had no goodwill in it. “Even mom and dad won’t forgive you if you insult the Avatar under their roof!”

“Hey, easy now Kavik,” His brother put his hands up in mock protest. “I’m not trying to start anything. I just want my family to have a chance to enjoy a few day when we’re all together again. Why can’t we just joke around like we used to, like brothers?”

“Sure,” Kavik remembered how things used to be between them, and he had never really appreciated the kind of “joking” his older brother seemed to be a fan of. “Just like brothers.”

“So, tell me,” Kalyaan leaned in closer, and gave his brother a sly wink. “One man to another; what’s the Avatar like in the sack?”

In the kitchen, the avatar in question sat at a small table, across from her former nemesis from Jonduri.

Chaisee did not look like a woman who had been living on the run for the better part of two years. Though she now dressed more humbly, and was affecting a more casual air compared to her former authority, her beauty seemed in no way diminished by her new reality. She wore motherhood particularly well.

Her husband had actually cooked breakfast for the entire house, with Chaisee helping so she could make a point to ensure there were enticing vegetarian dishes included. Yangchen took this to be an unspoken gesture of thanks, for the avatar had gone through a lot of trouble to make sure that this little family holiday could happen safely. Whatever their previous disagreements, the former Zongdu wanted her to know that she was very grateful.

Yangchen trusted that as much as she would trust a rattle-cobra.

 “I suppose I should congratulate you, avatar,” the older woman spoke before the silence could become too awkward. “I heard about your handling of the provincial dispute south of the Taihua mountains. A simple but effective solution.”

“Thank you,” Yangchen accepted the compliment with a straight face. “I admit I was surprised the governors of Sheim and Shiam were amenable to coming to a compromise over the silk town as quickly as they did.”

“When the alternative was to have you all but endorse the Earth King taking direct control over all that tax revenue,” Chaisee sipped her tea. “It is good that you and Feishan have such a trusting and respectful relationship, or you would have been in a great deal of trouble if they had called your bluff.”

“Very fortunate indeed,” Yangchen had not been looking forward to a whole week of this verbal sparring. She had been half tempted to let Kavik visit his parents by himself; but it hadn’t seemed very safe to have him stay alone in the same house as his mendacious brother and sister-in-law.

“I suppose you have a similar strategy,” Chaisee continued as if they were discussing the weather. “To bring the other Shang cities back under heel?”

Yangchen made a face over the rim of her cup. The former Zongdu was staying remarkably well informed on events.

The Avatar had only just begun to implement greater control over the other shang cities, when their leaders finally started to consolidate against her. Chaisee’s “retirement” had led to one of her most vicious lieutenants ascending as her replacement; after several other high-ranking operators suddenly disappeared mysteriously. Ashoona was as tepid as ever, but one of his daughters had begun to take a firm hold of his association, and breathe new life into it. Both of these new players were pursuing ambitious agendas of their own; and had decided they had a common enemy in the meddlesome Avatar.

And they were receiving no small amount of help from Iwashi, who never forgot a slight.

“There has been some resistance to the reforms Feishan and I have begun to implement,” Yangchen talked about it as if the Earth King had been an entirely willing recipient of her proposals. “We have a conclave in Jonduri in a months time to smooth over the . . . miscommunications.”

“I suppose you have a team that is already infiltrating the city,” Chaisee asked casually, as if she were only absently curious.

The Avatar’s face gave away nothing. “I’m confident the situation will be resolved through open diplomacy.”

The former Zongdu took a thoughtful sip of her tea. “It would be a great benefit to you,” she said, “If you could find a way to utilize the association already set up in Jonduri.”

“If is a word for the idle, and the discontent.” Yangchen repeated the old maxim with a casual shrug, but her mind was tense.

She thought she knew where the former Zongdu was going to go with this.

“There are operators I still know in the city,” Chaisee abandoned any pretense of coyness. “And I know the right leverage to put on them them.”

The avatar returned her favor with equal bluntness. “I doubt I would be able to afford the price that will cost.” If you think I’m going to trust you . . .

“A refugee will not turn up her nose at a simple meal, if it is nourishing,” Chaisee was staring down at her teacup, as if trying to decipher valuable wisdom from its leaves. “I am tired of living on the run; and it’s not the life I ever meant for my son. To live on borrowed time is to taste a bitterness in every breath you take.”

The older woman’s voice was flat, carefully emotionless; and Yangchen could not tell if her words contained any hint of accusation, or promise of vengeance, towards the Avatar who had put her family in this position.

So that was it; she wanted the Avatar to help take the heat off of her family. Forever.

The offer was a tempting one. But did she dare trust the architect of Unanimity?

When Chaisee looked back up, her carefully crafted smile had returned. “But perhaps talk of business can wait.” She raised her teacup. “This week is for the family, and should not be sullied by disagreements. Past or present.”

“Yes,” Yangchen picked up her own teacup in reply, forcing an almost convincing smile to her lips. “Let us always have harmony in the home-“

Her words were interrupted by a sudden shout from the living room, and the unmistakable sound of a wave of water crashing down on someone.

[knightofthenewrepublic]

YANGVIK WEEK 2025: FREESPACE - "PRACTICE"

Yangchen sighed, and took a quiet, unenthusiastic sip of her tea.

Her bland, unremarkable tea.

Her companions had taken notice of her somewhat unhealthy daily drink; and after their increasingly unsubtle comments, she had begun to make an effort to cut back on the habit-forming meditation tea. It was as difficult as she had feared it might be; most especially in the morning.

She used to like mornings.

Forcing herself to take another sip, the Avatar tried to distract herself by focusing on the sound of the wind outside. They were staying in the mountainside village of Gaoling, and the weather had been stormy for several days. The airbender might have been the only person in town who found it somewhat enjoyable; going so far as to walk the most open streets before bed, feeling the wind pull at her robes until she almost felt submerged by her element.

The team was traveling incognito, yet again. The avatar might normally have called on the powerful Bei Fong family, and been a guest in their luxurious estate, but instead they were sharing rooms in a modest, but thankfully clean, inn.

Yangchen stepped through the thick curtain that served as a door between their twin rooms, but stopped short when she caught sight of her companion.

Kavik sat at a small desk, in the far corner of the room. He seemed to miss her entrance; partly because the constant wind had covered up the sound, but also because he was concentrating on the sight before him. The young man stared at a small mirror, and Yangchen could only see his profile.

But it had a look of such profound sadness, it took her aback.

The avatar almost dropped her tea. What was wrong? Kavik had seemed his normal, congenial, insufferable self for the whole trip. Could something have happened? Had there been some news from Bin-Er? Had something happened to his family?

But just as Yangchen opened her mouth to ask him what was wrong, Kavik’s expression changed completely. The lips that were almost trembling with sorrow turned up, forming a smile so pure it seemed to lighten the room. It was an expression she was more familiar with, though it was just as moving. It was more than just the crooked curve of his lip, and the flash of his remarkably white teeth; there was a joy in his eyes that made you feel like there was nothing more important for him than you.

She’d seen more than one mark taken in by that seemingly pure smile; but she still couldn’t help but feel lighter than air every time he turned it her way.

The next change of his features was more subtle, but no less profound. The curve of his lip became more crooked, almost sharp in a grating way. A slight shift of his brows gave him an air of insincerity, and his gaze was almost gleefully mocking. It was an expression that told you everything you needed to know about how little he thought of you, and what an inflated sense of his own capabilities he had. It was a look that just begged the recipient to correct it with a punch right to the nose.

“Are you practicing?”

There was nothing intentional about the look of surprise on Kavik’s face, as he finally realized she was in the room with him. His hand made an abortive motion to the mirror, as if he might hide it just by flipping it down. “O-oh, good morning boss,” he made a valiant effort to keep his tone level. “Sleep well?”

The Avatar wouldn’t been distracted. “Your faces, all those perfect expressions of yours,” she pointed at him with a broad grin of her own. “You rehearse them don’t you!”

“What? Don’t be silly,” he waved her accusation away. “I’m just an open book, I show people what’s in my heart.” His innocent smile was almost convincing, but he was betrayed by just the slightest bit of redness on his cheeks.

“Oh you liar,” Yangchen chuckled. “That was a bigger con than that ‘actually, I’ve never played sparrow bones before’ scam of yours last week!”

“Oh, like you’ve never done it,” he finally gave up the charade. “Or did the air temples have a class on lying?”

“Lying,” Yangchen gave him a look of shock. “Kavik, to intentionally deceive others is anathema to airbenders; just the idea is degrading to our teachings!”

Now it was her turn to show off. She dipped her head; giving a clear impression of deference, and allowing her to glance upward at him in a way that made her seem smaller, large earnest eyes almost childlike. Her lip trembled, as if the very idea that she might have disappointed him, or anyone, was a knife to her heart. All she wanted in the world was to br worthy of everyone’s approval; you couldn’t help but feel like a brute for having even suggested she had done wrong.

Kavik’s response to this masterclass of manipulation was to snatch a up a pillow from his bed, and throw it at her.

The look of obeisance was gone in an instant; and the avatar laughed as she turned the weapon back at him with a quick gust of air. As Kavik tore the pillow off of his own face, Yangchen took a deep sip from her cup.

The tea was suddenly tasting a lot better.

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YANGVIK WEEK 2025 DAY 5 - BABY/SCHEMES/RUMORS (All three in one)

“But my lady Avatar,” Earth King Feishan’s smile dripped with honey, enough to fool all but the best pai sho players. “I must beg your aid, for my throne and my nation. Without your help, it may be civil war.”

Yangchen cursed the man’s false solicitude, as she felt the gaze of his entire royal entourage, crowding the largest chamber of the Caller’s Dormitory. Surely the avatar couldn’t think to refuse such a request; either she would join whatever scheme Feishan had, or word of her indifference to the plight of the Earth Kingdom would quickly spread throughout the world.

His agents would make sure of it.

The airbender did agree that it was critical to solve the power struggle that was once more threatening to plunge the world into conflict. But she had her own plan to deal with the matter; one that did not involve whatever bloody purge that the Earth King had in mind.

But how to hedge-weasel her way out of his game?

“My heart goes out to the plight of the Earth Kingdom,” she began, as the germ of an idea formed. But did she dare? “But it will be some months before I can leave the grounds of the temple.”

“What?” Feishan’s tone was perfect surprise, but Yangchen could see the barest hint of knowing smugness in his face; he had expected a feint. “What circumstance could require your sequestration? Surely you have not committed some transgression, or incurred spiritual disfavor?”

“Nothing of the sort,” the avatar felt the eyes of the other air nomads in the room on her back, as she prayed that none of them would feel compelled to expose her deception. She was asking a lot of her fellow monks.

But she looked the Earth King straight in the eye, and put a hand on her stomach as she lied through her teeth.

“I am with child.”

She was confident that she could get away with this. Air nomads had always been taciturn about the private traditions that governed the conception and delivery of their children. The other nations came up with no end of tall tales and wild theories (most of them indecent enough to make a dockworker blush). Feishan would not be fooled, but he would not be able to call her bluff.

For all the moral transgressions she was committing with this lie, the first concern she had, was what her companions would think.

One companion in particular.

______________________________________________________________

Kavik pushed the door open, rubbing the sleep from his eyes as he stepped into the ships small galley.

The whole team had been on the ship for several days; doing nothing but keeping their heads down as they sat in the harbor of Ember Island, waiting for Yangchen to get in touch with them. They would all have rather been enjoying the island’s famous beaches, but their instructions had been clear. She was working on some scheme to deal with the growing chaos in the Earth Kingdom, and they had to be ready to set sail as soon as she arrived.

He had been the last to wake up, and found the rest of the gang already hunched together around the little table. Tayagum and Akuudan sat together as usual, with Jujinta and Yingsu sitting across from them.

They were having an intense sounding conversation in whispers, that ended as he walked in.

“Morning,” he mumbled, picking up a bowl and spooning rice and fish into it. After a moment, he realized no one had answered him.

They all just sat there, staring at him. Tayagum and Akuudan were trying not to look worried; and doing a bad job. Jujinta gave him a glare that was, well, angrier than usual. But Yingsu was the one who got his attention. The tattooed firebender was grinning from ear to ear.

“Any word from Yangchen?” he tried again.

The silence dragged on for enough seconds that he was starting to get worried, when Tayagum finally answered. “Not a direct message, no. But there’s a, uh, a rumor that came in with a boat from the Western Air Temple yesterday.”

“It’s not anything bad, is it?” Kavik took a seat at the table. Something was wrong here. They were all used to taking bad news in stride, from an unfortunate amount of practice. But this was different.

“Not exactly,” Tayagum rubbed the back of his neck. “It’s not, well, it could be a complication.”

Yingsu put a hand over her mouth, to stifle a laugh. “That’s one way of putting it!”

“Is someone going to let me in on the secret,” Kavik asked irritably?

“Yangchen has announced that she’s pregnant,” Jujinta said, almost harshly. He could always be relied upon to cut to the chase.

“Pregnant?” Kavik’s eyebrows knitted together in confusion. He turned to the water tribe couple, who had been the last to speak with the avatar, and had a vague idea of her intentions. “Why was that part of the plan?”

“It,” Akuudan looked to the side, and then forced himself to look the younger man in the eye. “It wasn’t”

Kavik sat still for a long moment, the realization of what he was saying slowly spreading across his face. “You, you mean . . .”

“I suppose congratulations are in order,” Yingsu grinned at him.

“Yes,” Tayagum was trying to sound comforting, but not quite pulling it off. “T-this will be a wonderful thing. We’re all very happy for you.” As an afterthought, he turned to the others. “Of course we are!” He tried to make it sound like a declaration, but it came off more as a question.

After a beat, the was a round of halfhearted agreement from the table

“She couldn’t have picked a better man to sire her children,” Jujinta spoke in his normal deadpan tone; one that could make any compliment sound like an insult.

Kavik only half heard them, as his mind was getting farther and farther away.

A baby.

Yangchen was pregnant. Yangchen was pregnant with a baby. Yangchen was pregnant with his baby!

He had Knocked Up the Avatar!

He didn’t know if his parents would be ashamed or thrilled?

______________________________________________________________

Yangchen felt the sickly smell flood her senses, as she wretched into the healers pot.

“And you said this is the third day in a row?” The old waterbender was running her hands over the avatar’s belly, eyes closed as she paid attention to whatever clues her senses were giving her.

Yangchen had taken the long way to ember island, sailing from the Western Air Temple as a common traveler, aboard the most nondescript ship she could find. It had been a peaceful trip, on calm seas. But it hadn’t taken long for her current sickness to take hold, bad enough that she’d thought it wise to see a healer first thing when she arrived on ember island, before getting in touch with her team.

The spirits are punishing me for my lies!

“You said you came here by ship today?” The healer’s fingers poked her a little harder

“Yes, I just told you that!” There weren’t many waterbenders living in the fire nation, and she had been lucky that a healer of any skill happened to live on Ember Island. But Yangchen wasn’t in the right frame of mind to be properly grateful at the moment.

The older woman finally opened her eyes, giving her an annoyed look. “It was foolish to go to sea while you were with child,” she retorted

Yangchen took a moment remember all the details of her ruse, just in case someone’s agent would come around asking questions of this woman. But . . . her response died in her throat, as she remembered that she was not here in the guise of Avatar Yangchen, and this healer was not being influenced by rumors. “While, while . . . WHAT?”

“It did no harm to the baby,” the healer assured her. “But you had better keep your feet on solid ground for the next eight months; you’re well along in the first.”

The avatar could only lean over the pot, and wretch again.

The spirits ARE punishing me!

[knightofthenewrepublic]

Pik and Pak

Do their names have some other, inappropriate meaning I don't know about? Because I have had two posts that didn't appear on the searches, until I removed the "#Pik and Pak" tag from it?

Anyway, here is a meme I wasn't able to post awhile ago.

[knightofthenewrepublic]

YANGVIK WEEK 2025 DAY 4 - ALTERNATE UNIVERSE

Kavik sighed, as he lay back against Nujian’s saddle. “Is this supposed to teach me something already!”

The mighty sky bison let out a rumble that vibrated through the saddle, and his master turned from her spot at the reins to look back at her passenger. “Sometimes, exposer is the best teacher,” she said. “An airbender needs to be able to feel the currents of wind around them. The avatar isn’t simply a person who uses the elements. They are an extension of those elements.”

“I’ve read the textbook,” Kavik replied irritably. “You’re forgetting which one of us is the avatar here!”

Yangchen let out a sigh, resisting the urge to run a hand over her face. She’d known taking on a student would be challenging, let alone being a mentor to the avatar. But she hadn’t imagined the half of it.

“You can bend water in ways I’ve never seen before,” she got up from the reins to join him in the saddle. “And you’re already proficient at earthbending. Why do you think fire and air are proving such a challenge?”

“If I knew, it wouldn’t be a challenge,” Kavik snapped back. “Maybe monks just don’t know how to teach someone who lives in the real world instead of in a temple!”

Yangchen had to take a moment to gather her patience. As difficult as Kavik could be, this outburst wasn’t like him.  He was a very accomplished student in his preferred bending styles; and clever too. Too clever to be smart, unfortunately. He wasn’t used to hitting a wall he couldn’t weasel his way around. “Do you think the temple isn’t part of the real world?”

Kavik looked down with a sigh, rubbing the back of his neck in a little embarrassment at his own behavior. “Look, I’m sorry if I gave you any offense, I didn’t mean to. But some of the other elements just aren’t relatable to me.”

“The fundamental aspects of nature aren’t relatable?” Yangchen lifted an eyebrow.

“Not the way you do it,” Kavik scratched his head to come up with the right words to express how he felt. “Look, the fire nation is all about their goals and the great ambitions. And you air nomads live for your rules and spiritual values. And well, those aren’t what motivate me,” he shrugged. “When I was a kid, I worried about finishing a hunt before a blizzard could get me. And after I moved to Bin-Er, it was making sure my family didn’t end up on the wrong side of any of the gangs. I’m just a down-to-earth kind of guy.”

Yangchen crossed her arms, as she looked at the young man thoughtfully. “You don’t have a problem with water and earth,” she guessed. “Because you’ve had to rely on them for survival.”

Kavik stood up, giving her a suspicious scowl. “I know that look,” he grumbled. “What are you planning?”

“I was just wondering if the best way for you to connect with airbending,” Yangchen mused. “Might be to put you in a position where you have to depend on it.”

Suppressing his suspicions, Kavik gave the idea a serious thought. “I guess that might work, but how-“

His question was cut off when the lady-monk stepped forward, right arm chopping upward with an upward facing palm. And a thunderous gust of wind picked the young avatar up off of the saddle, and threw him out into the open air!

[knightofthenewrepublic]

YANGVIK WEEK 2025 DAY 3 - JEALOUSY

Pik and Pak chittered at each other, as they rode the air of the clear moonlit evening. The great cavern of the Western Air Temple created some unusual wind currents, but the two lemurs had learned them long ago. As Yangchen’s companions they had been allowed to explore almost every place in the temple.

And the few places they weren’t allowed, they always found a way in.

Quieting their chatter, the two accomplices landed on the windowsill of the most isolated tower. The Caller’s Dormitory was a special annex of the temple proper, a place where visitors could be housed without any possible insinuation against the monastic principles of the lady airbenders. As a sister, Yangchen herself had no need to board in one of these rooms.  But she had perhaps gotten too used to the comforting presence of her companion.

Pak produced a small stick and, as quietly as he could, inserted it between the window shutters. With a quiet click he lifted the inner latch, and the two infiltrators were inside the room in moments.

They flew straight to the rooms two occupants. On a narrow bed, their master lay curled on her side, wrapped in a blanket she had pulled towards her when she rolled over. Kavik lay beside her; and the air of the open window made him shiver slightly, since the avatar was taking so much of the blanket for herself.

Pik immediately landed on the narrow strip of bed on Yangchen’s side, turned in a few quick circles, and nestled down against her stomach with a chittery purr. Pak circled above the bed for several moments, chattering his indignation that there was no good spot for him. They still weren’t used to this. They used to never be shut out of their friend’s room, until she started spending her nights with that water tribe boy.

Why she had started preferring Kavik’s company to theirs was beyond the lemurs. He wasn’t half as clever as them, and didn’t have nearly enough fur to be properly cuddly. With one more indignant chatter about their displacement, Pak chose his landing spot.

Kavik came awake with a start; his exclamation muffled by a familiar furry weight covering his face. He reached up and threw the lemur off without hesitation; he knew from experience they would land softly.

“Yangchen,” he blearily reached over to rouse his companion. “The rats got in.”

[knightofthenewrepublic]

YANGVIK WEEK 2025 DAY 3 - JEALOUSY

Pik and Pak chittered at each other, as they rode the air of the clear moonlit evening. The great cavern of the Western Air Temple created some unusual wind currents, but the two lemurs had learned them long ago. As Yangchen’s companions they had been allowed to explore almost every place in the temple.

And the few places they weren’t allowed, they always found a way in.

Quieting their chatter, the two accomplices landed on the windowsill of the most isolated tower. The Caller’s Dormitory was a special annex of the temple proper, a place where visitors could be housed without any possible insinuation against the monastic principles of the lady airbenders. As a sister, Yangchen herself had no need to board in one of these rooms.  But she had perhaps gotten too used to the comforting presence of her companion.

Pak produced a small stick and, as quietly as he could, inserted it between the window shutters. With a quiet click he lifted the inner latch, and the two infiltrators were inside the room in moments.

They flew straight to the rooms two occupants. On a narrow bed, their master lay curled on her side, wrapped in a blanket she had pulled towards her when she rolled over. Kavik lay beside her; and the air of the open window made him shiver slightly, since the avatar was taking so much of the blanket for herself.

Pik immediately landed on the narrow strip of bed on Yangchen’s side, turned in a few quick circles, and nestled down against her stomach with a chittery purr. Pak circled above the bed for several moments, chattering his indignation that there was no good spot for him. They still weren’t used to this. They used to never be shut out of their friend’s room, until she started spending her nights with that water tribe boy.

Why she had started preferring Kavik’s company to theirs was beyond the lemurs. He wasn’t half as clever as them, and didn’t have nearly enough fur to be properly cuddly. With one more indignant chatter about their displacement, Pak chose his landing spot.

Kavik came awake with a start; his exclamation muffled by a familiar furry weight covering his face. He reached up and threw the lemur off without hesitation; he knew from experience they would land softly.

“Yangchen,” he blearily reached over to rouse his companion. “The rats got in.”