Letters from Avatar Mako to a friend (#31 - correspondence)
#31 - Correspondence
Letters from Avatar Mako to a friend
Sakiko -
my voyage to Omashu was an uneventful one unless you count the fact that Kirikuru was mistaken for an ostrich horse twice; my calcon wasn't too pleased about that, naturally (both times she scratched the offenders badly; her front talons are just as sharp as her back claws).
Omashu is huge. Gigantic. It has got to be the biggest city in the whole wide world! And there are so many people! I can't even begin to put it into words. I don't think I know enough words to describe Omashu. It is... bizarre. You'll have to see it for yourself (I still wish your father would have agreed to let you travel with me; it gets lonely with only Kirikuru and me) someday.
I found a Master fairly quick. His name is Wei. Master Wei said that my earthbending is very good already (Grampa Kang used to say the same) but he thinks that there is still room for improvement. He says that after a month under his tutelage, I'll be an Earthbender Master. Tops. He won't be instructing me for another two weeks, however.
I have thought your words over and you are right. I will visit the Earth Temple and pay my respects to the past Avatars. They sort of are my ancestors, after all. The treck there will take me a couple of days since I'll be leaving Kirikuru with Master Wei's daughter (although I am relunctant - Kirikuru doesn't seem to like Miss Hana much). Master Wei himself will accompany me. It's a good chance to get to know each other, he says.
I'll write again when I arrive at the temple.
Kirikuru & Mako
*****
Sakiko -
I trust that all is well at home. Has your sister given birth to her first child yet? I remember you saying that the baby would be arriving in mid-summer.
I am a bad friend, Saki. I have to apologize to you: I never did write that letter at the Earth Temple. But the past few weeks have been very tiresome and now I no longer have a master to teach me.
Master Wei and I got along fine on our way to the Earth Temple, but he kept making strange comments during our visit and they confused me. I fear that I might have given him the wrong impression trying to be polite. On our way back to Omashu he more or less asked me to marry Miss Hana. I refused and in turn he refused to teach me. I don't know what to do now. I am thinking of returning to the temple. It seems to be my best option since I can't really afford to rent a room at a tavern for longer periods and Master Wei has forbidden other Earthbending Masters from teaching me. He's got quite a lot of power in Omashu, it seems. (I honestly never suspected he was the kind.)
The priests were very kind. They also said that I was welcome to return to them anytime. Come to think of it... Father Zuke's wording was a little cryptic. Maybe he suspected that something like this was going to happen?
I will wrap this up for now. It won't take long to reach the temple but I want to get there before night fall.
Take care, Saki and send my best regards to everyone.
Kirikuru & Mako
PS - I found these scrolls at the market place and I thought you might like them. One contains the story about Oma and Shu, namesakes of Omashu and the other is a calligraphy that I want your younger sister to have.
*****
Sakiko -
staying at the Earth Temple was the best decision ever!
Father Zuke and Father Ran make training so much fun. And they adore Kirikuru. She even lets them feed her, although they may not pet her yet. That privilege is still reserved for the two of us.
Most of my days I spend training and improving the moves I already know (Father Zuke says that it is important to learn the things you know). Sometimes Father Ran challenges me to a duel. They both say that judging by the level of skill and the repertoire of moves and techniques that I have, I am technically already a master earthbender. They say I lack the mind-set and flow, but Father Zuke also says that I am a quick learner and that I all I need is there, I just need to let it happen.
I meditate in the evenings. There is a room where the statues of all avatars can be seen; it is my favorite place. The same goes for Father Ran. The other day we talked about the past avatars. Father Ran knows all of their names. He also told me that one of the avatars is the reason why he became a priest, namely Avatar Aang. Father Ran once had the chance to read an extinct from a travel account that related parts of the youth of Avatar Aang when he was a soldier in the stationed in the Fire Nation and it impressed him so much that he left the army and became a priest. We spend hours talking about Avatar Aang and his life.
Aang was one of the last airbenders (they hid for a hundred years during the Great War and were thought of as extinct) and he survived Fire Lord Sozin's attack merely by chance: he fled the temple where he lived shortly before the Fire Nation attacked but somehow got lost in a storm and ended up being frozen into an iceberg for an entire century! He was 12 years old - well, 112 - when he was freed by a waterbender and a warrior of the Southern Water Tribe. (I don't think I would've done that if I had been them; you never know what strangers are capable off. See Master Wei and Miss Hana.) They travelled with him to find a Waterbending Master for him (I don't understand why the waterbender couldn't teach him) and eventually defeated the last of the Warring Lords, Ozai, and destroyed the weapon that would have made the Fire Nation unstoppable. They weren't alone though: according to Father Ran there was a blind Earthbending Master (how can you bend earth if you are blind, I wonder?), a warrior from Kyoshi Island and also an exiled soldier from the Fire Nation.
I want to learn more about Avatar Aang. He sounds like he can teach me a lot. That is not to say that the other Avatars can't but Aang... maybe it's the statue, but he has this huge, friendly grin. It makes me feel calm. It's like he believes that I can be a good avatar, too. And I have to be a good avatar, because all of the others were so extraordinary and deserve our respect and I simply cannot dishonor them and their memory.
Tell Grampa Kang that I will study and train hard. I will not fail our village or the avatar spirit.
Kirikuru & Mako
*****
Sakiko -
I have finally done it! I am a Master Earthbender! Now I can move on to the next element!
Fire Nation here I come!!!
Kirikuru & Mako
*****
Sakiko -
so much for visiting the Fire Nation. Kirikuru and I were caught in a taifune on our third day over the sea. The wind and currents have taken us to the South Pole. Great going. Kirikuru is ill, too. The icy sea water didn't do her any good and now I will have to wait until she gets better. Pai-Pai says it'll be at least 2 weeks before Kirikuru can travel small distances.
Pai-Pai is a friend I have made here. Her father, Ren, is a merchant from the Fire Nation and his wife, Yumiko, is a water tribe healer. Yumiko is very kind: she took Kirikuru and me into her house during her husbands abscence. It's a surprisingly warm house considering it is made of snow and ice.
There's a huge statue of a waterbender at the center of Kannan. Yumiko told me that the woman is the Waterbending Mistress Katara. She's the waterbender that traveled with Avatar Aang!
Yumiko told me as much about Katara's history as she could. She is quite fascinating.
Katara was only 14 when she rescued the Avatar. Yumiko said that when Katara lived, the Southern Water Tribe was so small it was nearly extinct. During the Great War, the tribe consisted mostly of women and children, the men having gone to fight the Fire Nation. Katara was the only waterbender of the tribe, but she had no master to instruct her. She joined Aang and they traveled to the North Pole, only once there the Waterbending Master refused to instruct Katara on the basis that she was a girl and he made her study healing instead. (Apparently, in the Northern Water Tribe it is unheared off for girls to learn fighting - they ought to tell that to those Kyoshi warriors!) Katara wanted to fight, however and so she talked Aang into teaching her the moves he learned in secret. They were discovered and the Waterbending Master refused to teach Aang until Katara had learned her place and apologized. Get this: she challenges him to a duel instead!
Yumiko says that the outcome of the duel is unknown, but most people claim that Katara must have won. Whether she won or lost, though, she managed to impress the Master and he grudgingly taught her. She soon surpassed all of his other students and he declared her a Master. She then took over the job of instructing Avatar Aang.
After the war, Katara returned to the Southern Water Tribe. She helped found the tribe's capitol, Kannan, and she instructed other waterbenders that came here from the North (there actually is a waterbender academy here). One day a ship came from the Fire Nation bringing a message and Katara then left the South Pole. She never returned.
That's all that is known. Yumiko says that there is also a statue of Katara at the North Pole, but it isn't nearly as impressive is this one. She said that it would be best for me to study fire bending and then head straight north, but I think I will return here to learn Katara's style of waterbending. I've already noticed that it is slightly different from other styles.
I paid my respects to the avatars before me at the Southern Water Temple and thanked them for bringing me here. I learned a lot.
Mako
*****
Sakiko -
Pai-Pai has taught me penguin sledding. It's fun! First, you have to catch the penguin and then you mount its back and slide through the snow. You'd enjoy it. Pay-Pay says it feels like flying but I disagree: flying isn't even nearly as enjoyable as penguin sledding is.
Master Ren, Pai-Pai's father, has returned from his latest voyage and was very kind to Kirikuru and me. He offered to bring us to the Fire Nation - we can sail on one of his merchant ships. No charge, he says, because I kept his wife and daughter company. That's nice, isn't it?
I'll be leaving Kannan tonight and I can't wait. I've never been on such a big ship before.
Mako
*****
Sakiko -
the open ocean is boring. Very boring. Master Ren had us accompanied by one of his personal guards because apparently there is a high risks of pirates. The guard's name is Oda and he doesn't speak much.
Personally, I think that I don't need a protector. I am the avatar. Plus: every pirate out here has probably aldready died from boredom.
Kirikuru & Mako
(very very bored)
*****
Sakiko -
I am soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo bored it's not funny. I think I'd even welcome a pirate attack at this point.
Kirikuru & Mako
*****
Letters from Avatar Mako to a friend
Sakiko -
my voyage to Omashu was an uneventful one unless you count the fact that Kirikuru was mistaken for an ostrich horse twice; my calcon wasn't too pleased about that, naturally (both times she scratched the offenders badly; her front talons are just as sharp as her back claws).
Omashu is huge. Gigantic. It has got to be the biggest city in the whole wide world! And there are so many people! I can't even begin to put it into words. I don't think I know enough words to describe Omashu. It is... bizarre. You'll have to see it for yourself (I still wish your father would have agreed to let you travel with me; it gets lonely with only Kirikuru and me) someday.
I found a Master fairly quick. His name is Wei. Master Wei said that my earthbending is very good already (Grampa Kang used to say the same) but he thinks that there is still room for improvement. He says that after a month under his tutelage, I'll be an Earthbender Master. Tops. He won't be instructing me for another two weeks, however.
I have thought your words over and you are right. I will visit the Earth Temple and pay my respects to the past Avatars. They sort of are my ancestors, after all. The treck there will take me a couple of days since I'll be leaving Kirikuru with Master Wei's daughter (although I am relunctant - Kirikuru doesn't seem to like Miss Hana much). Master Wei himself will accompany me. It's a good chance to get to know each other, he says.
I'll write again when I arrive at the temple.
Kirikuru & Mako
*****
Sakiko -
I trust that all is well at home. Has your sister given birth to her first child yet? I remember you saying that the baby would be arriving in mid-summer.
I am a bad friend, Saki. I have to apologize to you: I never did write that letter at the Earth Temple. But the past few weeks have been very tiresome and now I no longer have a master to teach me.
Master Wei and I got along fine on our way to the Earth Temple, but he kept making strange comments during our visit and they confused me. I fear that I might have given him the wrong impression trying to be polite. On our way back to Omashu he more or less asked me to marry Miss Hana. I refused and in turn he refused to teach me. I don't know what to do now. I am thinking of returning to the temple. It seems to be my best option since I can't really afford to rent a room at a tavern for longer periods and Master Wei has forbidden other Earthbending Masters from teaching me. He's got quite a lot of power in Omashu, it seems. (I honestly never suspected he was the kind.)
The priests were very kind. They also said that I was welcome to return to them anytime. Come to think of it... Father Zuke's wording was a little cryptic. Maybe he suspected that something like this was going to happen?
I will wrap this up for now. It won't take long to reach the temple but I want to get there before night fall.
Take care, Saki and send my best regards to everyone.
Kirikuru & Mako
PS - I found these scrolls at the market place and I thought you might like them. One contains the story about Oma and Shu, namesakes of Omashu and the other is a calligraphy that I want your younger sister to have.
*****
Sakiko -
staying at the Earth Temple was the best decision ever!
Father Zuke and Father Ran make training so much fun. And they adore Kirikuru. She even lets them feed her, although they may not pet her yet. That privilege is still reserved for the two of us.
Most of my days I spend training and improving the moves I already know (Father Zuke says that it is important to learn the things you know). Sometimes Father Ran challenges me to a duel. They both say that judging by the level of skill and the repertoire of moves and techniques that I have, I am technically already a master earthbender. They say I lack the mind-set and flow, but Father Zuke also says that I am a quick learner and that I all I need is there, I just need to let it happen.
I meditate in the evenings. There is a room where the statues of all avatars can be seen; it is my favorite place. The same goes for Father Ran. The other day we talked about the past avatars. Father Ran knows all of their names. He also told me that one of the avatars is the reason why he became a priest, namely Avatar Aang. Father Ran once had the chance to read an extinct from a travel account that related parts of the youth of Avatar Aang when he was a soldier in the stationed in the Fire Nation and it impressed him so much that he left the army and became a priest. We spend hours talking about Avatar Aang and his life.
Aang was one of the last airbenders (they hid for a hundred years during the Great War and were thought of as extinct) and he survived Fire Lord Sozin's attack merely by chance: he fled the temple where he lived shortly before the Fire Nation attacked but somehow got lost in a storm and ended up being frozen into an iceberg for an entire century! He was 12 years old - well, 112 - when he was freed by a waterbender and a warrior of the Southern Water Tribe. (I don't think I would've done that if I had been them; you never know what strangers are capable off. See Master Wei and Miss Hana.) They travelled with him to find a Waterbending Master for him (I don't understand why the waterbender couldn't teach him) and eventually defeated the last of the Warring Lords, Ozai, and destroyed the weapon that would have made the Fire Nation unstoppable. They weren't alone though: according to Father Ran there was a blind Earthbending Master (how can you bend earth if you are blind, I wonder?), a warrior from Kyoshi Island and also an exiled soldier from the Fire Nation.
I want to learn more about Avatar Aang. He sounds like he can teach me a lot. That is not to say that the other Avatars can't but Aang... maybe it's the statue, but he has this huge, friendly grin. It makes me feel calm. It's like he believes that I can be a good avatar, too. And I have to be a good avatar, because all of the others were so extraordinary and deserve our respect and I simply cannot dishonor them and their memory.
Tell Grampa Kang that I will study and train hard. I will not fail our village or the avatar spirit.
Kirikuru & Mako
*****
Sakiko -
I have finally done it! I am a Master Earthbender! Now I can move on to the next element!
Fire Nation here I come!!!
Kirikuru & Mako
*****
Sakiko -
so much for visiting the Fire Nation. Kirikuru and I were caught in a taifune on our third day over the sea. The wind and currents have taken us to the South Pole. Great going. Kirikuru is ill, too. The icy sea water didn't do her any good and now I will have to wait until she gets better. Pai-Pai says it'll be at least 2 weeks before Kirikuru can travel small distances.
Pai-Pai is a friend I have made here. Her father, Ren, is a merchant from the Fire Nation and his wife, Yumiko, is a water tribe healer. Yumiko is very kind: she took Kirikuru and me into her house during her husbands abscence. It's a surprisingly warm house considering it is made of snow and ice.
There's a huge statue of a waterbender at the center of Kannan. Yumiko told me that the woman is the Waterbending Mistress Katara. She's the waterbender that traveled with Avatar Aang!
Yumiko told me as much about Katara's history as she could. She is quite fascinating.
Katara was only 14 when she rescued the Avatar. Yumiko said that when Katara lived, the Southern Water Tribe was so small it was nearly extinct. During the Great War, the tribe consisted mostly of women and children, the men having gone to fight the Fire Nation. Katara was the only waterbender of the tribe, but she had no master to instruct her. She joined Aang and they traveled to the North Pole, only once there the Waterbending Master refused to instruct Katara on the basis that she was a girl and he made her study healing instead. (Apparently, in the Northern Water Tribe it is unheared off for girls to learn fighting - they ought to tell that to those Kyoshi warriors!) Katara wanted to fight, however and so she talked Aang into teaching her the moves he learned in secret. They were discovered and the Waterbending Master refused to teach Aang until Katara had learned her place and apologized. Get this: she challenges him to a duel instead!
Yumiko says that the outcome of the duel is unknown, but most people claim that Katara must have won. Whether she won or lost, though, she managed to impress the Master and he grudgingly taught her. She soon surpassed all of his other students and he declared her a Master. She then took over the job of instructing Avatar Aang.
After the war, Katara returned to the Southern Water Tribe. She helped found the tribe's capitol, Kannan, and she instructed other waterbenders that came here from the North (there actually is a waterbender academy here). One day a ship came from the Fire Nation bringing a message and Katara then left the South Pole. She never returned.
That's all that is known. Yumiko says that there is also a statue of Katara at the North Pole, but it isn't nearly as impressive is this one. She said that it would be best for me to study fire bending and then head straight north, but I think I will return here to learn Katara's style of waterbending. I've already noticed that it is slightly different from other styles.
I paid my respects to the avatars before me at the Southern Water Temple and thanked them for bringing me here. I learned a lot.
Mako
*****
Sakiko -
Pai-Pai has taught me penguin sledding. It's fun! First, you have to catch the penguin and then you mount its back and slide through the snow. You'd enjoy it. Pay-Pay says it feels like flying but I disagree: flying isn't even nearly as enjoyable as penguin sledding is.
Master Ren, Pai-Pai's father, has returned from his latest voyage and was very kind to Kirikuru and me. He offered to bring us to the Fire Nation - we can sail on one of his merchant ships. No charge, he says, because I kept his wife and daughter company. That's nice, isn't it?
I'll be leaving Kannan tonight and I can't wait. I've never been on such a big ship before.
Mako
*****
Sakiko -
the open ocean is boring. Very boring. Master Ren had us accompanied by one of his personal guards because apparently there is a high risks of pirates. The guard's name is Oda and he doesn't speak much.
Personally, I think that I don't need a protector. I am the avatar. Plus: every pirate out here has probably aldready died from boredom.
Kirikuru & Mako
(very very bored)
*****
Sakiko -
I am soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo bored it's not funny. I think I'd even welcome a pirate attack at this point.
Kirikuru & Mako
*****