Book One: Water
Chapter Two: Sixteen Years Later

“Spirits, Kain, you are the worst fire bender in the history of ever!” one of the twins chuckled.

“We should say his name Cane, instead of Kai-en!” the other cackled. The first twin looked at his brother skeptically in response. “Uh, because it's like he’s so old he can’t bend, even a tiny flame?” the second attempted to explain.

“First of all,” Kain hissed, attempting to keep every ounce of his focus on the small, warm flame in the palm of his hands. Unfortunately, his anger snuffed out the tiny golden fire. Again. “Age doesn’t slow benders down. Ever heard of the Dragon of the West? How about the friggin’ Fire Lord? And second – I don’t need to fire bend to silence the both of you!” Kain’s grey eyes flashed as he dove at the twins, knocking them easily over while he remained on his feet. One fist connected with a chin, the other was pulled back, poised and ready to—

“Boys, that’s enough,” Master Rin sighed. These fights were a daily occurrence. She might try harder to stop them, but those three all got on her nerves so often, she didn’t care who beat up whom. Boys would be boys, and she couldn’t change that. “Fire bending lessons are over today; go home.” At least her other students were more practical – though, being a fire bending teacher in the Earth Kingdom, she didn’t have too many others.

The twins stood and dusted themselves off in identical movements.

“That ‘Dragon of the West’ is a load of Fire Nation lore crap. Anyway, that was a long time ago. Just give up, Kain,” the older of the two said, walking off.

His brother stuck his nose up at Kain, behind the teacher’s back, before following.

“May I have my sword back now, Master Rin?” Kain mumbled grudgingly, because those were the only words Master Rin would accept. He’d bowed his head, attempting to avoid her eyes, but he was taller than her and she could still see into his face. She had taken his sword from him at the beginning of each lesson, afraid he might be tempted to frighten his fellow students with it. Or maybe because it let her control his behavior, make him more manageable.

She placed the heavy sheath into the boy’s outstretched hands, palms toward the sky, without comment.

Once his prized possession, his only possession besides the clothes on his back, was safely in his hands, Kain visibly relaxed. His hand clasped the hilt and slid the blade slowly from its home, revealing only an inch of the weapon, as if to make sure it was really there. The black blade reflected back into his eyes, seeming to ignite something deep within him.

His master noticed.

“You are a very talented swordsman,” she complimented him.

“I know.” He turned to leave.

His teacher watched him, letting only a moment of silence pass.

“Kain, if you wanted to take private lessons—”

Sword now across his back, he whirled on her. “No!” he all but yelled. There was a fire in his eyes no one could deny. It startled even the master. “I will not hide!”

“I’m not asking you to hide!” she insisted, but there was resignation in her voice. “Just a few one-on-one lessons…” the end of her sentence died away as Kain disappeared around the rocky doorway.

**

That’s it, Kain thought violently. I am so out of here.

No more loser duo, no more teacher pity, no more being surrounded by stupid rocks. He was a fire bender; he should be in the Fire Nation. He could find a proper teacher there. Master Rin was alright, for the Earth Kingdom softies she taught. Well, he was no softie. He’d show them all what a real fire bending master was capable of.

The only reason he hadn’t left sooner was because he had no money for the ferry ride that carried people to and from the Fire Nation. He still didn’t have any money, but he wasn’t going to let that slow him down this time. He’d stolen before, but for much small necessities - food and clothes. For some reason, the thought of just taking money hadn’t occurred to him.

He laughed at it now. It was such a simple solution, he should have thought of it earlier.

But where..?

Kain ran his fingers through his dark, shaggy hair. It must have been nearly a year since he’d cut it.

His feet had been carrying through the town automatically. Now he realized where he was. Now that night had fallen, the circle was empty. The fountain was alight with candle flame, almost as bright as day. The fiery reflection in the water somehow calmed him.

He walked to the water’s edge and pointed a finger at one of the candles. He could feel the tiny heartbeat as the flame became part of him. He moved his finger to the adjacent candle, and the fire split and jumped, following his movements.

Of course it’d work now, when no one was around.

Palm open, he swung his fist downward, and fifty heartbeats went out, taking their warmth and light with them.

Kain stayed in the darkness for only a few minutes before heading toward what he now referred to as his bank, but what the rest of the world referred to as the Earth Sanctuary.

**

The majority of the trip was spent climbing the winding path around the mountain to the temple at its peak.

Okay, so it was more of a hill, but it annoyed the stuffing out of Kain anyway. He glanced over the edge, toward the surface of the earth far below, then looked up at the temple. Finally, he was almost there. Now that he was thinking about it, the bump in the earth was too large to be a hill, but too small to be a mountain.

It had been made by earth benders. Figures.

Kain paused to dump the collection of rocks out of his shoes. A few stubborn ones fought to stay inbetween his toes. The winding path would have taken much longer to hike, so Kain had gone straight up the mountain. Hill. Thing. Walking the circumference of the last circular path was the best decision now.

At the top, there was a simple stone building with an angled green roof. Intricate carvings adorned the door frame and the open windows.

He ignored the fancy artwork that held no meaning for him, and invited himself inside.

The temple had looked plain on the outside, as if it were only one room. Once inside, this was obviously not the case.

Rooms filled the hollow hill. A narrow bridge led from the door to the square platform in the middle. On the far wall, there was a painting of several Avatars. Other than that, the room was empty. There were no people, nor was there anything of interest to Kain. He wanted to explore the edges of the room, to figure out how to get down to the rooms below, but the eyes of the Avatars held him in a brief trance.

He almost felt guilty taking from their stores of treasure.

Almost, but not quite.

After all, the Avatar was all about keeping the peace. If the Avatar wanted the loser twins in one piece, it was best for Kain to use some of the treasure.

He walked away from the painting, back to the middle of the bridge and looked down. Earth benders must have used bending the stone walls to take them where they wanted. That didn’t help the fire bender, but the cracks left from their wake did.

Kain made himself comfortable on the floor, tapping his foot impatiently as he went to work. Stretching, he pulled his sword of his back, but instead of unsheathing it, he fiddled with the hilt. It slid off effortlessly when Kain put pressure on the right spot, revealing a hook he’d added himself.

The hook didn’t fit perfectly in the crack, but it was close enough. Plus, the fall wasn’t that far.

If Kain didn’t look down.

Luckily, it wasn’t a straight drop. Another room would break his fall before he reached the bottom, but the fire bender would rather not take that risk.

Everything secure, he let go of the bridge, and held onto his sword for all he was worth.

Which, apparently, wasn’t that much.

He’d made it past the first room on the left, which was the longest drop, but fell ungracefully to the floor of the second room.

Dust rose, choking him. Coughing and sputtering, he fought to regain his balance. Finally, the dust settled and his head stopped spinning.

Of course he’d hit his head.

Now he could see on what. He appeared to be in a dark and dusty library. There were dozens of bookcases (one of which had caused the lump on his head), all full of thick, dusty, leather spines, posters of maps on the walls, and a few desks here and there.

Boring.

But then a certain desk caught Kain’s attention. It was dusty, but less so than the other ones. There were marks on the desk like paper had been there, and there was some writing. It was none of his business, but maybe it tied to the reason behind the absence of the Earth Sages.

Kain froze on the way to the desk. Silver eyes searched the floor. There were no recent footprints. No one had been in this room for years. Upstairs was only free of dust because the wind blew through the open windows.

Where were the sages? Why had they been gone so long? Why didn’t anyone know about this?

And why did he care?

Unable to resist the strong pull of his curiosity, Kain walked over to the desk and studied where the layer of dust was the thinnest. A lot of the writing was smeared and hard to read, but he could decipher enough.

No sages, nor any friends of the Avatar had been able to contact him. They didn’t know if he was gone, or just watching the world in secret. The sages were searching for him, or for the next Avatar. Everyone who knew the truth was keeping it secret. They didn’t want an outbreak of crime or panic.

Because the Avatar had vanished sixteen years ago.

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