A New Path

It was in the middle of the day, and Amell was seated on the stone pavement in front of the temple. He wore simple white temple garments that Aang had gifted him. The mid-day sun sat high in the sky with almost no clouds passing by overhead, this was a day of true peace and tranquillity. He was in the middle of meditating when he heard several loud and hurried footsteps from inside. The plain wooden floors made it pretty easy for him to deduce who it was. "Everyone slept well I presume?" A smile grew on his face as he heard them stop just a few meters behind him.

"Dad, they asked if they can see my bending, can I show them." Valerie performed a graceful skip over his head and landed with absolute perfect control. These were the traits of an air bender. Graceful and perfectly controlled movements.

Amell took a look behind him at the people he already knew standing there. Toph's two teenage daughters, Kya and Katara and Aang. The happiness exuding from Aang, Katara and Kya were almost too sweet to look at. Like when you eat so much candy you can not possibly even handle looking at more, Amell almost felt uncomfortable from their gazes of gratitude.

"How are you feeling, Kya?" He asked. This was the first time she had been out of bed in two weeks, so she required the occasional support from Lin to help her stand.

"I feel incredible, almost more alive than I did before I became sick." Kya bowed her head in gratitude, "Thank you so much for saving my life. For a second there I thought I might have actually died, in the end, it didn't even feel real. The touch of other people felt hollow and distant."

"Nasty stuff, a sickness like that. Also, you don't have to thank me, I've gotten enough of those to last me several lifetimes. Just, promise to stay out of trouble." Amell felt a chubby little finger press against his cheek, and he heard his daughter sigh out tiredly.

"Are you guys done with the boring stuff already? Can I train with them, dad? Please!!" Valerie tried the puppy eyes, and as usual, they worked perfectly.

"Sure. You guys, be careful!" He looked at the three teenage girls.

"We promise to be careful, we would never hurt her," Lin said respectfully.

"Oh, it seems you have misunderstood me slightly. Be on guard or she will beat you faster than you can blink."

"R-Really?" Lin was especially taken by surprise. Why would he warn them about someone so much younger than them? If going by looks alone, she would be right in being a sceptic. Thanks to her bloodline, Valerie looks younger than she is, and she is only nine years old so she looks really young.

"Oh yes. Valerie is quite the talented little bender. "Why don't you show off some of what you've learned. The Avatar is an air bender, so, show him how it's done."

"Sure!" With a spring in her steps, Valerie ran up in front of the group. She started by getting in the stance for air bending, and after that, the show was on. Her performance was beautiful, and every move she made showed Aang just how talented this little girl was.

"I would expect nothing less from her. She must have been trained even more strictly than me." Aang would still have the clear upper-hand if they fought. But, he understood why Amell warned them about her.

"In some regards, yes. But, overall, you two had almost the exact same training in the basics. I only adjusted the training a little to fit her better." As she finished her little performance, his gaze turned slightly to the left, and a little smile crept onto his face. He tapped stealthily on the ground with his finger and the ground a few meters ahead of them exploded and up flew a man. He looked to be in his late twenties, and he landed right in front of Amell. "Hello there, youngster."

"What the hell just happened? Why did the ground suddenly explode, and who the hell is this guy?!" Suyin asked. Neither she or Lin felt any earth bending happen, so they instinctively looked over at Aang. The only other person who could earth bend among them, or so they thought.

"I believe this man belongs to the organization you refer to as the Red Lotus." Amell picked the man up by his collar. "You do, right?" As he brought the man's face closer, his eyes lit up in bright silver.

"Master, let me take care of this, I and Sokka will take him to Toph back in the city. There we could get some answers." Aang stepped up, and Sokka almost immediately afterwards came rushing out of the temple with his weapon in hand, it seemed he had heard the explosion.

"Toph?" Amell looked back at Aang.

"Our police chief. Suyin and Lin's mother, and one of our oldest friends." Katara said..

"I should meet her sometime, I have never met a police chief before," Amell said with a chuckle. This would be one of the most exciting meetings since he came here. He and Toph parted on relatively good terms, and he had been looking forward to how she was managing now.

"Valerie, you can go and play with those three, just be careful not to destroy anything." He glanced at Lin, the responsible teen, "She tends to get carried away, so have an eye on her at all times."

"Yes, sir!"

As the girl squad disappeared to who knows where they all looked at the Red Lotus member. Amell had knocked him out with the excuse that he was getting too loud. "You can take him into the city and handle all that. I can't leave the island yet, not until I know that it is completely safe to do so."

"You think whoever attacked Kya is still here?"

"No, I do not believe they are still present here themselves. This sad youngster sure isn't involved. But, there is a chance that I missed something, and I can't take that chance. I will also head to the city eventually. I just have to make sure that this place is safe first."

"Your ȧssumption is correct. There is nothing you can do, so focus on what you can deal with." Amell wasn't one for idle chit chat, so he closed his eyes and returned to meditating.

"Come on, you two. We should head out now, while we still have daylight."

"The council will want to hear about this, the Red Lotus is starting to get too confident for my liking." Sokka placed his weapon back into its sheath.

"They managed to place spies on this island without me noticing. That's a first, and I'm afraid this will escalate rapidly." Aang whistled for Appa, "This island made not be safe for much longer unless we do something about this."

"An emergency meeting of the city council, I'll call it in," Sokka said.

"You two, go ahead without me. I remember something that I and Master need to discuss." Amell raised an eyebrow and looked back at his disciple.

"Okay, just don't linger too long. Your word holds a lot of weight." Katara gave him a kiss on the cheek, and then she and Sokka jumped up on Appa and made haste towards Republic city.

"What kind of business do we have to discuss?" Aang went and sat down in front of Amell. He took a deep breath and formulated a plan on how to address what he needed to say.

"Do you trust me, Master?"

"Good. Then be honest with me!" Aang stared at Amell without blinking, "This threat you spoke of. It is more dangerous than you let on, right?"

"What makes you say that, boy?"

"First of all. I know you better than you think. Secondly, your behaviour. I have never seen you this upset since, well, never. You are the man that can stop a war on his own without a problem. You can travel across the universe, yet this enemy scares you. So, tell me honestly, will we die in the inevitable fight?"

"Aang, do you remember what you said to me when I left for home, all those years ago?" Amell said in complete calmness.

"Vaguely, what part?"

"You told you me you didn't know how to be the Avatar. But, look at you now. I just need to say how very proud I am of the man you have become."

"This sounds like a goodbye speech. Do you mean to say it is as I fear? This threat is just that dangerous."

"I am afraid so. I believe I am capable of killing whoever this enemy is. But, what I know for certain is that my chances of surviving aren't that great this time around. That's why I can't have any of you around, this is one fight where I can't worry about collateral damage. Any distraction, no matter how minor could be what kills me in the end."

"What are the odds of you winning?"

"Anything I can do to help in getting the enemy there? We could maybe lay a trap of some kind."

"No, against this enemy. A trap won't work. I will have to either ask that we fight there or forcefully drag them there myself. Both options are risky and have a low success rate."

"I don't like feeling this useless! I am the Avatar, this is the sort of thing I am here to prevent."

"No, this isn't on you. The Avatar exists to balance this world. But, like me, this enemy is not native to this world, that much I know."

"I guess you're right, as always. I hate it when you are right!" Aang felt utterly defeated and useless, but he knew Amell waws right so he couldn't argue with him. "Do you know when the enemy will show themselves?"

"No, I don't. But, that bug planted inside Kya had to be a bait for me. So, now that I am here, it shouldn't be long before they show themselves."

"Then all we can do is wait?"

"Unfortunately. You should go now. Appa has returned, the council is surely waiting for your arrival in the city." Amell's eyes picked up Appa far of in the distance approaching the island.

"Again, I hate that you are right." He stood up and dusted off his clothes, "I know I don't have to tell you this but keep the kids safe. We should be back by nightfall." Now Aang also saw Appa flying towards the island.

"Haha, understood, Master!" The burden on Aang's shoulders lightened slightly from being allowed the freedom to laugh.

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End