Tale Of Two Avatars

The Siege Of The North Part 2

I open my eyes again, finding myself sitting beside Aang on a small wooden platform surrounded by swampy water, with a multitude of mangrove trees festooning and stretching out from where we were. In front of us and sitting beneath a simple wooden entranceway, was a robed creature of some sort, his eyes shut and his body in a meditative pose. 

I stood up, helping Aang to his feet. "You alright, Aang?"

"Yeah," he nodded slowly, his eyes darting in the direction of the creature. "Hey! Maybe he knows where the Ocean Spirit and Moon Spirit are!"

Aang rushes over to the creature and I follow suit, stopping just before the meditating creature, who I now realised was a baboon after closer inspection. 

Aang, as always, kicked off the conversation. "Hello? I'm sorry to disturb you. I just really need to find the Moon and the Ocean Spirits."

"Go. Away," the baboon ordered sternly, opening one of his eyes and staring at both of us a second later. "Both of you're still here?"

"Yes, we need-" the baboon cuts Aang off by chanting his meditative chant louder and out of nowhere, a glowing firefly appeared, flying in front of him lazily. "Perhaps that thing will help you two. Chase it."

"No Aang," I facepalm as he starts giving chase. I follow in pursuit, managing to halt myself just as he caught the firefly, not noticing that we were both perched precariously on a tree branch.

"Aang, this is why you don't listen to random spirit creatures in the spirit realm," I sighed. 

"I kn-" Before he could finish, I feel the tree branch giving way, screaming as both of us plunged into the water beneath the tree. Thankfully, this was the spirit world and no harm was done. The firefly manages to extricate itself from Aang's grips and flies away from him. 

Aang quickly rises, aimlessly grasping for it but to no avail. "Come back!"

I recompose myself, getting back up. "Forget that firefly, Aang. We have to find the Ocean and Moon Spirits, which almost seems impossible at the moment."

 The water surface in front of us suddenly rippled and the berobed figure of Avatar Roku suddenly surfaced, staring at us both, "Hello Aang, Suzume."

"Roku!" Both of us shout in unison. 

"Roku, the Water Tribe is under attack," Aang informed. "We need to find the Ocean and the Moon Spirits."

"The Ocean and the Moon are ancient spirits," Roku contemplated for a second. "They crossed over the Spirit World to the mortal world very near the beginning. There is only one spirit I know of who is old enough to remember." 

"Who?" Aang inquired. 

"The spirit's name is Koh, but he is very dangerous. They call him the Face Stealer," My countenance metamorphoses into that of horror. "When you speak with him, you must be very careful to show no emotion at all. Not the slightest expression or he will steal your face." 

I let my features betray my emotions, but understanding the situation at hand, I exchange solemn nods with Aang, both of us knowing what we had to do. 

After dispensing us with directions to where Koh would be, Roku wished us luck in our mission. "I wish you both luck in finding the Ocean and Moon Spirit." And just like that, Roku's figure vanished from the face of the water's surface. 

After what felt like an eternity of walking, we reach the giant ancient tree Roku was talking about, the entranceway to Koh's cave above us. 

Scaling the tree, we manage to make it to the entranceway of Koh's cave, an eerie noise already filling the air around us and scaring both of us immensely.