"So, you're saying that three ordinary humans prevented a village from being destroyed by a volcano? Not the Avatar or a powerful spirit, but three humans?" In a dimly lit room, faintly illuminated by a candle, a Dai Li figure spoke toward a completely darkened corner.
"Come on, you must have verified this through other means, right? I'm not your only source of intelligence. There were those rats who call themselves nobles of the Fire Nation and the guy who sold out with them." The person who replied did so with equal parts sarcasm and anger. However, the Dai Li ignored those irrelevant comments because his focus was on another matter.
"Even if he's a so-called sage who has attained enlightenment! How could Shisui have cooperated with others to achieve something like this? The last time that happened in history involved an Avatar," the Dai Li muttered. He seemed to doubt everything he believed, but his training and life experience soon helped him regain his mental stability.
His face showed hardly any change as he spoke and turned away, his back to the hidden figure. Then, he pulled a scroll from his wide sleeves and tossed it backward.
"Haven't you wanted to interact with Sage Shisui and the Avatar? You have a chance. We believe there are certain key locations that group plans to visit. You can't go near Omashu after your failed attempt, but there are places where they won't mind your presence," said the Dai Li, prompting the hidden figure to reveal himself.
The soft candlelight illuminated the face of a young man with a wheat stalk in his mouth that he chewed absentmindedly. His narrowed eyes radiated incredible coldness. Together with the scars on his face and the two strange swords sheathed on his back, he appeared extremely dangerous.
"Haha, do you want me to sabotage their vehicle? Delay their journey somehow? Gather people with a grudge against them and organize a suicide attack to put mental pressure on them?" the man asked. The Dai Li shrugged and walked toward the door with the intention of leaving.
"Do whatever you want, Jet. Try to assassinate them? We don't care. We've already tried many ways. Do you think that you, a non-bender, and a few more peasants could accomplish anything? No, but miracles do happen. Who knows?
Delaying their journey sounds more feasible, but they have an entire nation behind them that wants them to make that journey. Jet, I just want you to be a thorn in their side for a few days. Nothing major," the Dai Li said, turning to stare intently at Jet's contorted face. No one likes to be underestimated or treated as insignificant.
"I've heard that the Sage Shisui is particularly ruthless when people cause him trouble, so try not to get yourself killed at the first opportunity. You're still useful because of the support your image brings among the lower classes." With that cutting final remark, the Dai Li finally left the room under the moonlight, leaving Jet alone and lost in his thoughts.
Suddenly, the young man began to breathe heavily as he leaned against a wall, letting the cold stone calm his mind. He could feel his heart racing and blood pulsing in his temples. It took him quite a while to regain his composure.
Then, for no reason, Jet began to laugh. His expression turned venomous as he glared with hatred toward the door. He knew he could only resort to these vague gestures to express the intense hatred burning in his heart.
He has a widespread hatred for all figures of power in this world. Jet was once an ignorant young man. However, he was born with great intelligence and exceptional charisma, which allowed him to survive the most turbulent era in the history of the Earth Kingdom.
An orphan of the most recent great war, he knew little about it, but he always sought to learn as much as possible to survive and achieve his goal.
He learned to fight, hunt, make explosives, kill, steal, and burn settlements. Gradually, he went from an innocent young man to a dangerous person. His thirst for knowledge never ceased, no matter how terrible it might be or what he had to do to obtain it.
Jet touched the scars on his face, the result of one of his many failed attempts to organize an attack on a Fire Nation camp. The explosive he was going to use had detonated prematurely, wounding him.
Over the years, he'd had a lot of bad luck, as if something beyond his control were deliberately hindering him. He suspected there was a saboteur among his own people, which is why the repeated internal purges he organized left him alone.
However, he kept failing. He could never pull off the big heist he had in mind. Small-scale attacks on lone or unprotected Fire Nation citizens went smoothly, but he failed again whenever he tried to make his big move.
A few months ago, though, he had a strange feeling that he could try something; that he could take it a step further; that he would finally succeed. It was at that moment that he heard the Sage would visit the South Pole, where he was supposedly visited by several ancestral spirits.
The Sage had that painting on a scroll, too. He didn't know why, but he had a vague feeling that many of the strange things he'd noticed were somehow related to Shisui. Had the Sage done something? Was he the source of his curse, or the one who had freed him from it?
"I need to meet with him in person. I need an answer. But why is this happening to me?" Jet growled under his breath. His voice was hoarse, and the whites of his eyes had turned red from the blood rushing into them.
"If you had agreed to fuse with me, you wouldn't be in this situation, my dear Jet," a female voice echoed through the room. Soon, the air grew thick with dense spiritual energy accumulating in such a small space.
"And entrust my life to a spirit? I'm not an idiot!" Jet shouted, glancing to his left where a translucent, feminine figure had appeared. However, her features were anything but human.
Her face was as white as porcelain, with only two crescent-shaped hollows revealing tiny points of light that moved independently. Her slender body was covered in strange tree bark, yet it was full of young shoots that were constantly sprouting and dying.
Though she had a figure worthy of one of the most beautiful women in the world, Jet felt nothing but terror whenever he saw her. He had felt this way ever since he was a child, when this spirit had begun to haunt him.
Sometimes he thought they were hallucinations and that he was born with a defect, but the years had proven him wrong. The being who called herself 'Nascent Lady' was real and had a particular interest in him.
"Come on, Jet. We've known each other for many years. I've never betrayed you. I've always stood by you through thick and thin. I understand your motives, your grievances, and your crimes.
I was there when your luck was... Well, it's not appropriate to talk about that, especially while you're asleep. Didn't your eyes light up when you heard the legendary stories of those humans who had been touched by spirits?" Nascent Lady floated in front of Jet and placed one of her fingers on the young man's chin. Though she had no mouth, one could sense a smile on her peculiar face.
"Those are just myths. Those guys either went crazy or turned into monstrosities that were neither human nor spirit. I never asked for you to be by my side. I don't need you or those traitors. I don't need…" Jet's voice cracked as he thought of certain things. After slapping the Nascent Lady, he walked toward the candle that was struggling to stay lit. The wax holding it together was about to burn out.
"Jet, be grateful I'm not like my older brother, who would've stolen your face by now. Or like my mother, who would suggest erasing your memory and giving you a new face. Don't you understand how much I care about you? Especially when that guy...!" The woman shouted, but Jet, who had his back to her, only trembled slightly. He didn't turn around.
"Jet! I'll never abandon you. Why would I leave you? I know what you're thinking! You've clearly heard me hint that I know about your bad luck, but you've never asked about it. You've never wanted to find out the truth.
You think you're hurting the people close to you. But when you accused your friends of being traitors, it was because you didn't want them to get hurt, wasn't it? The Dai Li captured you and tried to poison your mind, but they couldn't, even when they resorted to drastic measures.
If it weren't for the Red Lotus, you wouldn't have regained your freedom so soon, or perhaps you never would have. But that experience convinced you that you bring bad luck not just to yourself, but to the people around you as well." This time, Nascent Lady embraced Jet from behind, wrapping her arms around his neck and resting her head against his. This gesture is usually reserved for lovers.
"You are intelligent, more so than many humans. You are aware of your own ignorance, but hatred, pain, and despair have filled your heart with unparalleled darkness. You feel you don't deserve to be with humans, which is why you associate with the beasts that are the Dai Li.
But Jet, I have seen you rise from the mud time and time again. I've seen you learn, devouring knowledge as if your hunger for it could never be sated. You're aware of your own ignorance and insignificance in the universe. Why won't you let me share your burden and pain?" The woman's question hung in the air for a few seconds. It seemed Jet would remain silent, but then he spoke.
"Because the path I'm walking will inevitably end in my death. I have no future, no redemption. Will those souls I took forgive me? What about those children I condemned to orphanhood, just as I was before I had any memories or self-awareness?
Many support me, but just as many curse me. If I'm reincarnated, I'll probably be the lowliest worm in a pigsty. You said your mother was an important spirit. Why are you willing to lower yourself to understand a simple nonbender like me?" Jet asked in a low voice. He really didn't understand why someone like Nascent Lady would be so concerned with him.
"Jet, you talk about reincarnation, but haven't you considered that you've already gone through that process? Yet, even though all of your lives are different, you still have that desire to change things on your own.
I don't know if I'll be able to find you next time. Those moments are always agonizing for me. Not everyone is like the Avatar, who is reborn shortly after the previous Avatar dies. Sometimes it can take years, even centuries.
Not all souls reincarnate. Merits in life are required to achieve it. Your merits outweigh your demerits. You always return to the right path. You always do, Jet. You don't need to be a Sage, an Enlightened one, a Conqueror, a Great Mind, an Avatar, or a Hero.
Just be yourself. I'll always be there for you because you remind me of that swordsman who fought tyrants, the pirate who saved people during the tsunami at the cost of his own life, and the soldier who was mortally wounded when he took arrows meant for his best friend.
You always manage to make your merits outweigh your demerits." It was the first time Jet had heard these words from Nascent Lady, and they left him speechless.
Not many people truly understood how the Cycle of Reincarnation worked. Some saw it as a good thing, especially because it allowed a figure like the Avatar to exist.
Others saw it as a curse or something negative. Jet didn't have a clear opinion on it, but he knew that the childhood stories about reincarnation he'd heard always portrayed those who'd experienced it as notable historical figures.
As the candle flickered out, plunging the two people in the room into complete silence, a sigh escaped Jet. This time, his eyes no longer exuded hatred or dripped with venom; they shone with determination.
That night, a man found peace, a spirit felt joy, and two lives merged in a way that was very different from the horror stories told to mischievous children and more in line with what adults knew.
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AN: At first, this chapter was going to be about the group heading to the desert. However, I saw in my notes that they were supposed to go to Omashu first, so I started writing about the Dai Li and Jet. Then, I realized that I had other things to write about before they got to Omashu. I also researched whether the Swamp Water Tribe was part of that journey or came after Omashu.
I was going to show more of Aang's training in the second part of the chapter, but I became interested in Jet and continued writing about him, which is why this chapter exists. I don't know why I'm writing this. No one has read this story since my four-month hiatus, and that's that.
Besides, I wanted to write about something other than just following the group. I've done that before. Other points of view are always good for a story's dynamism. This time, I went with the "I'll love you in all your reincarnations" trope. Please read this chapter as if it were a cheesy K-drama.
Also, the Avatar's reincarnation cycle has been explored very little. It should apply to all human beings, not just the Avatar. Remember, reincarnation isn't an overly complex theme in any story; it depends heavily on the internal rules of the story world and the author's perspective. Oh yeah, they ended up having sex, obviously. In case you didn't notice, I'm writing this note as I write the chapter.
Remember that spirits have "bodies," but Raava is essentially Aang. Therefore, a different body had to be created for her, one appropriate for humans.