Communing with the Waterbending Wolf

Zulera Joanna Tallarico

"please do," Zulera chuckled, "while I doubt many people would complain about the view, I don't want to have to grope my way through the mess of brambles again and get my clothes all torn off." she then turned back to the statue. "well... I guess I should get started, hmm?" she sat down, crossing her legs to meditate. it took her a while to traverse the two worlds due to her subpar spirituality, but she eventually made her way in, or so she believed, anyways.

Mood: Amused Condition: Normal

Link:

[isn't to say she didn't or anything though.]

The illusions of the world melted away and gave to the mist of the nether. The spirit realms surrounded the Avatar and she found herself in an ancient city, deserted yet grand. It's great stone structures were nothing short of breathtaking and everywhere, the crescent moon and waves of the ancient Water Tribe engraved everywhere. This was a memory of the bones of the Water Tribe's past...

The city drifted away as the mist carried her north, across the great waters to icy shores. She was set down on a small cape, a stretch of ice which led out across the water to a field of icebergs. But that wasn't the interest. The interest was the singular figure standing on the ice's edge, peering across the water at a tall wall of ice. It was a memory of the days before the Northern Water Tribe, when the great city of the north had not yet been forged. The ice wall which had become it's nest was still in it's primordial state.

The man stood six feet tall and was dressed in robes of elegant fabric dyed the most subtle and beautiful shades of blue. His gray hair fell to his waist and beyond, as did his beard, though that was not clear from where Zulera had been placed. He seemed to be deep in thought...

(OOC: Sorry. Semi-god-modding. Had to move things along. Aowaka is the speak when spoken to type in general.)

"I did not think to meet you, Zulera..." said the man slowly, not turning. He just continued to stare off into the distance. "It is not often such an ancient Avatar is called upon by a spiritual successor so distantly removed..."

He fell silent. In the distant south on the horizon, a shadow grew into a great storm. Lightning struck the air and all beneath it. It was an ominous presence. Yet no sound of it could be heard and the man paid it no attention. He continued to look at the great ice wall, at the very spot that the great city of the north stood in the present.

"Tell me, child," he said finally. "What brings you to this place?"

"And yet, here you are." the man said, still not turning. "It is not easy to commune with such an ancient past life. You sell yourself short, young Zulera. You are the first Avatar to speak with me in over nine-hundred years. This is no small feat."

At long last, he turned slowly. His was an aged face, carved, it seemed, of a craggy stone. Once, he had been a handsome man. Yet many years of war and hardship had drawn deep lines in his features, left vicious scars as tokens. He had a beard and mustache which flowed down past his belt and his mane of silvery hair matched. Yet his sapphire blue eyes were strong still and were alive and powerful. They were the eyes he had passed down to his daughter, which she passed to her sons, and they, to their sons for a thousand years. Now, they lived on in Hakano, Tako, Kanoei, and all the other Sons of Aowaka and Daughters of Enama. He wore a somber expression on his face that belied a great sadness...

"You have come here a reason, young one." he said, peering at her benevolently. "Search your soul and you will find it..."

His eyes seemed capable of piercing the strongest steel at that moment, where he looked into hers as though he was gazing upon the page of a book. A powerful bolt of lightning struck down from the sky, striking some point in a far off land under the shadow of the dark clouds in the distance. For the first time, he looked out across the ocean, watching as the bright bolt split the sky. Yet still, there wasn't so much as a sound. The air was still and the sun shone brightly where they stood, tamed only by thin, wispy clouds of white holding back it's blazing rays.

"Avatars are ultimately all failures." he said finally, looking slowly back around at Zulera. "Ours is the task of maintaining justice and curbing the rule of evil. It is a never-ending task in which no Avatar has found true success. Every tyrant brought to their knees by the power of the Avatar only paves the way for the next. Such is the cycle. This is why the spirits pass the power of the Avatars down through the ages. With each Avatar, the incarnations grow more powerful to balance the escalation of the power of those who would make themselves the enemies of the freedoms of all.

"You must understand, young Zulera, that the time has not yet come for you to face your ultimate challenge. The trials of your time are far off, unseen even by your wildest cynicism, your deepest fears, your most inspired foresight. Do not dwell on your shortcomings, for they do not matter. You have the wisdom of countless ages within you. Though you may have squandered it in the past, you need only use it in earnest to find your path..."

"The wise man does not seek war and thus does not judge himself by his ability to conduct it, Young Avatar." Aowaka said serenely. "You must learn to shape the hearts and minds of those around you without the use of force. For victory through force is hollow and fragile, it does not endure and begets only more violence."

Blasts of lightning as brilliant as the sun struck down in the distance, lighting the horizon to the south. Silence remained, yet the furious downpour of energy continued relentlessly, striking at the earth vengefully. It was as terrifying as it was beautiful, yet to look at it was nothing but sorrow...

"In my time," Aowaka continued, watching the display of dancing lightning. "I led my people from slaughter, from the City of Blue Stone to this place of cold and ice. For generations, we lived in peace with our brothers and sisters of the Earth Kingdom. Side by side, we uncovered the mysteries of the universe. But Bao the Destroyer, a ruthless and tyrannical leader of the Earth Kingdom of the old world came to power. He conquered the Blue City and drove us from our homes. He chased us across the seas and burned all that was left of us in his realm. If it were not for the spirits themselves, all that we were would have been lost. In the North we found the protection of the cold, a cold which no Earth Kingdom army could endure.

"I tell you this tale because I want you to understand, Young Avatar. I could have saved the City of Blue Stone. I could have destroyed Bao and removed the Earth Kingdom from this world forever. Such was the scale of my power. But I chose the exodus. I chose it because to fight is to fight forever. With the first blood spilled, the chain of violence is forged. It shall never be undone. Bao swept across the lands like a plague. Yet in the end, he died on the field of battle, fighting yet another enemy in a long line of enemies that started with us. We, who were his greatest allies.

"Young Zulera, Avatar of Water, I tell you this as your truest kin -- Once violence begins... it never ends. Even the the great spirits do not dare to engage in it, for it is treacherous."

He looked around at Zulera slowly. He began moving around her slowly, though he wasn't looking at her. He was considering something, it seemed, carefully.

"Dood Brenger," he said finally. "Your goal is no easy task. He cannot be defeated in the world of the spirits without the aid of a being far more powerful than the Avatar has ever or shall ever be. You need one of the three..."

[couldn't pass up the Zelda reference]

Zulera Joanna Tallarico

Zulera listened quietly. it was times like this that she felt inferior, both in her power, wisdom, and even courage. could she have stopped the Brief but Bloody War? could she have stopped the Conspiracies of the North? could she still stop the War of Tipped Scales? she decide to voice that. "then what about all these wars? could I have stopped them it I wasn't so... negligent?" maybe that wasn't the right word, but the waterbending wolf surely knew what she was trying to get at. it wasn't hard to see that Zulera's overall job performance as Avatar was basically shit in a basket. "one of the three?" she asked when he had finished. "one of the three what?" she had heard of Dood Brenger and knew that he was no cakewalk. those he approached were usually poor souls who became slaves to his will or faced his might. "and for that matter... where and how do I start?" her curiosity had her asking questions fairly often, but this time, it was from sheer ignorance of what to do.

Mood: Uneasy Condition: Normal

Link:

"The three are those who remain." Aowaka said simply. "Many great spirits existed at the beginning. In the great time since, most have become a part of your realm, though you would not know them to look at them. One took the form of a great tree hidden amongst many others. Two took the form of koi fish and reside in the north. One even formed itself into a cloud which ever floats upon the wind, unknown but all wise. These were the great spirits. Only three remain in the spirit plain.

"Panya, the Void. She is the greatest of the old spirits. But she will not help you. Ohm, of Ignorance. He is weak, but wise... He cannot aid you. There is only one who can help you. Heita, the Great Wolf. He is lord of cold and ice. Once, he aided me in destroying a great evil. He will aid you... for a price. It may not be one you are willing to pay..."

"He would ask much of you." Aowaka said bluntly. "When I came to him a thousand years or more ago, he demanded the fealty of my bloodline. For this reason... my descendants serve him still. Though he is a just patron by, he is a demanding one. He will no doubt ask for more from you, though. This task you would have him do is no easy one. Even for the Great Wolf, Dood's destruction will be taxing..."

He considered briefly.

"I gave him my blood. He will want more this time. No doubt, he will ask for the servitude of not only you and your kin, but also that of the Avatar spirit. I know his mind well enough to assure you of that. Yet even for the destruction of Dood, this is not a fair price... You must find another way. I know of one who may know the path, but he will not be easy to convince. But, of course... yours has been a path of difficulties, has it not?"

"You must go to the Wolves of the North." Aowaka said. "They care for an ancient relic, a shield made from the shell of a great beast. It will guide you to the island which does not cease. There, you shall find the great master who can tell you what Heita most desires. It is for this reason that he makes those he helps swear their blood to him. He has searched for it since the dawn of time, yet only he who you must find knows what it is.

"Find the eternal island and you shall find your answers..."

He turned away from her and all around began to fade and blur. She was pulled backward and all turned black. A moment later, she found herself sitting back in the clearing before the statue of Aowaka...

(OOC: Kano will enter the clearing in a moment.)

[OOC--and here I was expecting to hear Zayon's name. xD]

Zulera Joanna Tallarico	Zulera's questions didn't exactly all get answered, but it seemed that she was being dragged back to the real world before she could ask them. "wait!" she shouted, "the who? the where? whaaaaaat?" but it was too late. soon she was back in the physical world, which seemed oddly quiet in comparison to what she was just in. it was quiet, and she was alone. "dammit." she muttered.
Mood: Uneasy Condition: Normal	Link:

[/quote]

Kano arrived back at the clearing just in time to hear Zulera swear. He'd spent a good twenty minutes clearing a path. He was surprised that she was back already. Somehow, he expected it to take longer than that.

"You're back?" he said, looking around at her and moving slowly toward her. His steps were uncertain. He wasn't sure whether or not he should approach. "What did Aowaka say?"

He was probably more eager than anyone to hear her story. This was, after all, his ancient ancestor, the Waterbending Wolf. There weren't many records of his words or teachings outside the techniques handed down through the Aowaka Style. It was difficult not knowing...