BOOK ONE: VOID

CHAPTER TWO: CAIRNS

Nourma staggered over a dune. She had lost count of how many she had climbed that morning. She had also lost her footprints leading back to the village; the wind had taken care of that. She had also lost her identity. Nourma was no longer a Hami tribe member, nor a chieftain's daughter. By bending one foreign element, she became an outsider. By bending two foreign elements, she became something much worse. She was a freak, she was a monster.

She was lost.

After discovering her predicament the previous night, Nourma remembered what her father had taught her should she find herself stranded in the desert. She set up her undershirt as a water catchment in a hollow between two dunes. She had slept near the top, but not at the top, of a nearby dune, in her rough robe,with the hood cinched tightly around her head. Upon waking, she found that her undershirt had collected a mouthful of dew, which she drank greedily, without abandon.

But now the sun had fully risen and waves of heat slammed into Nourma. She had not seen any landmarks, any sign of civilization. Endless stretches of sterile sand stretched as far as her eyes could see. With her footprints erased, there was no hope of rescue. Nourma's legs gave out, and she tumbled down the side of the dune into a shady hollow. The sand felt cool and soft against her cheek. The blood thrumming in her head was lulling her to sleep. It would be so easy, she thought, to calmly nod off, to enjoy a few moments of rest.

"Excuse me!" a voice cried out. Nourma looked up. There was no one in sight.

"I appear to be lost. Do you happen to know the way out of this sandy wonderland?" The voice was old and weary; it seemed to be laden down with decades of toil. But underneath the surface, Nourma sensed a great enthusiasm, hidden behind a deadpan delivery. She could still not see the source of the voice.

"Failing a way out, do you happen to have some ice cordial?" the phantom voice continued. "Judging from your appearance, I would guess no, but I have been trying to be more optimistic."

Nourma stood up and looked behind her. Coming down the dune was the most peculiar man she had seen in her life.

He obviously wasn't native to the desert. His wrinkled skin was pale, almost translucent. Instead of a homespun, thick brown robe, he was wearing a fine orange robe, with a white sash hanging across his chest. Strangest of all, Nourma could see a blue lined tatoo curving up his arms. The tattoo came up the back of the neck, over the bald head, and culminated in a little design on the man's forehead. The design was difficult to see, because the stranger had a lone curl of white hair that grew from his forehead and extended to just above his eyes.

"Who are you?" Nourma asked, stepping back a pace.

The strange man frowned. "Back in my day, the youngsters introduced themselves first."

"When was 'your day'?" Nourma inquired, sardonically.

"Oh, about ten thousand years ago," the man replied, nonchalantly. Nourma reached for the small dagger hidden in the sleeve of her robe.

"Put that away, young girl!" the stranger snapped. "It won't hurt me, at least not any more than your rudeness."

Nourma stood her ground, hand on the dagger. "Who are you?" she repeated.

The man spread his palms skyward and looked up. "Oh joy," he said, "I've finally found someone as irritable as me." He looked down at Nourma. "To answer your question, my name is Linus. I'm an Airbender. And you should have known that if you'd studied history, instead of knife-work. I'm pretty famous." Nourma stared at him, eyes furrowed.

"No big deal," Linus continued, "I was just the second Avatar."

Mehdi told Pasha and Aisha of Nourma's disappearance, of how she had run off into the desert. He told of how he tried to follow her after coming to his senses, but it quickly became too dark to see, and he retreated back to the village to ask for help. At this point, Pasha rushed out, ordering men to start up the sandcruiser and calling for lights.

Aisha stayed with Mehdi, questioning him further.

"But why would she run away?" she asked, trying unsuccessfully to hide the fear in her voice.

Mehdi hesitated, biting his lip, looking away.

"Please," Aisha pleaded. Mehdi looked up and saw the tears in her eyes.

"She…" Mehdi began, "she bent air. She made an airblast and sailed right over me. I couldn't believe it."

Aisha released a small gasp, then covered her mouth, restraining herself. "My poor child."

Mehdi suddenly felt extremely uncomfortable, and embarrassed for Aisha. He murmured, "Please, may I go tell my parents that I'm alright?"

"Of course." Aisha put a trembling hand on Mehdi's shoulder. "Thanks you for telling me. I will come see you if I have anymore questions."

"Thank you." Mehdi took his leave and exited the house, pausing briefly by Nourma's empty room.

On the way back to his house, he overheard two elders discussing the disappearance.

"It's a shame about that poor girl," one of them remarked. "There's no finding her now."

Mehdi wheeled around and sprang to the elder. "Why not!" he cried.

The elder answered, eager to prove his knowledge. "Don't you feel that? The wind's picking up. It will have already covered her tracks. This is the harbinger of a huge sandstorm; it'll hit about two mornings from now. Ain't nothing will survive in that." He rubbed his nose. "Shame, really."

Mehdi resisted the urge to hit him for his callousness. But he began to think, eyes darting unconsciously. He made up his mind.

He ran back to his house, snuck into his room, grabbed his satchel, stole some fruits and two canteens from the kitchen, and snuck out again without being caught by his parents. He ran to the west end of the village, to where Nourma's crater still lay, rapidly filling with sand. Mehdi pulled his hood over his head and began to walk in a straight line. He knew where Nourma would be.

When Nourma drank her fill from the cistern, and Linus did not immediately disappear, she started to believe that he wasn't a figment of her imagination.

After Linus had told Nourma who he was, Nourma just stared blankly back, too tired to speak, too exhausted to think. Disappointed, Linus had sighed and started walking. Nourma followed with a sense of fatalism. After an hour, they came across a cistern hidden in a rock outcropping. The water was stale and brackish, but to Nourma, it was magical, and she drank deeply.

"Do you want any?" Nourma inquired after she had had her fill.

"How gracious of you to offer, after all this time!" replied Linus. "I was beginning to wonder if you had a hospitable side."

Nourma ignored his jibe. "You don't need water?"

"I haven't needed water in thousands of years."

Nourma shrank back. "Are you a djinn? A ghost of the desert?"

Linus chuckled. "A djinn! I wish. They get to have all the fun. No, I'm just a simple spirit. A reflection, if you will, of my past life." He sat down cross legged in front of Nourma. "Since your mental faculties seem to be returning, I'll lay it out straight for you. Unless you want to go back to roaming the sands?"

Nourma shook her head. "I recognize this cistern. It belongs to the Umara tribe. We have water and shade here, as well as sage roots; enough to last until help comes."

"Goodee." Linus intoned. "Let's try to figure out what you need help with, er…" he gestured towards Nourma.

"My name is Nourma, daughter of Pasha and Aisha, future chieftain of…" she trailed off. Her mother and father's names had reminded Nourma of her own unnatural abilities. Tears sprang unbidden in her eyes.

"Well, maybe," Nourma started. Then the tears and words came flowing, unstoppable, out of her. "But I bent air and fire yesterday. But I didn't mean to! It just...happened. Does that make me the Avatar? Anyways, I can't be the Avatar. The current one, Korra, I mean, is still alive! Isn't that how it works? Only one at a time! But what does that make me?" At this, Nourma collapsed, sobbing.

Linus looked pained. "Ah, Nourma," he said, "I don't want to be insensitive, but crying won't really help you, and you're low enough on water already."

Nourma continued crying unabated. "You don't understand! I'm a freak! I had my life all planned out. I was going to be a Hami chieftain, and after yesterday it's all ruined!"

Linus' eyes lit up. "I don't understand? Ah. That's what I call a perfect segue."

Nourma sniffled. "What's a segue?"

Linus wore an exasperated expression. "A segue is...well...you really have to...nevermind. Pipe down and listen…"

Linus of Bear Temple was born thirty-one years after Avatar Wan led the Great Spiritual Schism...

"I don't know what or who or where any of those things are." interjected Nourma.

Linus groaned. "Do they teach kids anything these days?" Nourma just shrugged her shoulders. The old man pondered for a moment.

"Okay, the only thing you really need to know is that Wan was the first Avatar. I was born when he died. I'm his successor. That's why I referred to myself as the second Avatar. I may have mentioned that before."

"But what about Bear Temple and…"

"Never mind about that," Linus said. "Just pretend that you know what they are. I've told this story five times before now, and I'm not changing it for you. Moving on…"

Linus of Bear Temple was born thirty one years after Avatar Wan led the Great Spiritual Schism. He never knew his mother or father, but trained with a group of other boys his age, as was tradition.

His home was Bear Temple, a mountain fortress built into the side of a cliff. The temple had begun as a series of caves, but the settlers expanded it into a network of labyrinthian passages and chambers, with the help of a few Earthbenders who were willing to trust outsiders.

For Bear Temple was isolated and hidden for a reason. The world had plunged into anarchy following Avatar Wan's death. Roving bands of benders roamed the countryside, preying on the powerless, taking what they wanted.

Linus, however, was sheltered from the chaos outside the temple. He buried himself in his studies, training and meditation. He was an Airbender, like the rest of his peers, and he quickly learned the air push, the wind cut, and the cyclone.

When the temple elders determined he had advanced sufficiently, Linus received the traditional tattoos of a Master Airbender: blue lines tracing up his legs, around his arms, and over his head. After the tattoos had healed, Linus called on the abbot. Standing next to the abbot was something Linus had never seen before: a woman airbender.

"I am entrusting you to Master Eru," the abbot said without preamble, gesturing to the female airbender. Linus looked at her. Instead of the orange robes universally worn at Bear Temple, Master Eru wore a woolen coat and pants of dark green. Her face was lined with age, and her eyes were cold and grey. Linus gulped.

"You will serve in her squad," the abbot continued, "dispensing justice, and protecting the helpless." He touched his left hand to his forehead and mouth in the traditional sign for farewell. Linus repeated the gesture.

"Go now, and may the spirits smile upon you."

Eru threw a bundle at Linus; Linus caught it and followed his new master down a side passage. Linus, struggling to keep up, called out: "What are my orders, Master?"

Eru snorted. "You have three orders. One, don't call me master. Two, put those clothes on. You look ridiculous in those robes."

She quickly turned around and looked at Linus for the first time. Linus shrank under her piercing gaze.

"Three: try not to die."

Linus was twenty-one when he left Bear Temple. The next six years were the best of his life. Eru's squad, seven men and women of varying ages and abilities, roamed through a vast swath of the lawless wilds. They lived off the land, subsisting off meru roots, buried in the springy turf, or sweet mushrooms, hidden in dark, cool glades. An airbender is always light of foot; and they sped silently over mossy rock and fallen tree, so that not even a boar-buck could sense their passing.

Under Eru's discerning eye they refined their airbender skills. Airbending is a defensive art, and properly suited to the squad's mission. They protected villages from the marauding bands of Firebenders and Earthbenders. The bandits attacked singularly: an errant burst of flame, a wildly chucked boulder. Eru's squad fought as one, sending massive gales into the attackers, driving them back into the dark forest.

There were losses: many times the squad arrived at a village only to find it smouldering, its crops and livestock taken, its inhabitants flung to the woods to either seek refuge at a neighboring village, or to join a bandit clan. The squad felt losses among their own ranks as well. Linus counted five comrades who fell during separate skirmishes. The dead were buried under cairns of river stones in a quiet clearing. Eru said that those under the cairns had returned to nature, that they had gone home. She replenished her numbers at the next Airbender temple they visited, and the squad continued stoically in its task.

One evening Linus was at a stream gathering prickleberries for dinner. The rest of the squad was setting up camp downstream. As Linus repeatedly picked from the bush and deposited the berries in his hip satchel, he felt a wet slap on his feet. Linus looked down. The stream had somehow leapt its run and deposited a sluice of water on his moccasins. Linus grimaced: wet moccasins in the evening meant cold and pruny feet the next day. But he resigned himself to that fact, took two steps back, and resumed picking.

Another splash. Linus frowned. He examined the stream, concluding the water could not have leapt the distance naturally. Panicking, he crouched and examined his surroundings. Linus had heard tales of Waterbenders inhabiting the southern coast, but they had never penetrated this far inland. There was no rustling in the foliage, however; and Linus heard no breathing of concealed watchers.

A fearful thought came into Linus' head. Hands trembling, he rose and turned towards the stream. He mimed the action of picking berries: moving his hands from right to left across his waist, his torso pivoting slightly. A wave of crystal clear water rose from the stream with each repetition, higher and higher. There was no doubt. Linus was a Waterbender.

A member of the squad, Avid, crept over the hill. Linus had lingered too long at the stream.

"Linus!" Avid hissed. "Are you in trouble?"

"Yes," Linus replied with a sigh. "I do believe I am."

Events progressed rapidly from there. Linus told Eru what had happened, and when seeing Linus waterbend for herself, she nodded without comment. Leaving her squad under the command of Avid, who was most senior, she and Linus traveled to Bear Temple and repeated the demonstration for the abbot, who was most impressed.

There they called a council of five abbots and four abbesses, culled from each of the Airbending Temples. They asked Linus to Waterbend, to Airbend, to Waterbend again. Then came the questions; hundreds of queries of the tired young Airbender. After a swift debate, the council made their decision known. Eru's squad was to assault the bandit stronghold. None of the bandits had even seen a Waterbender attack; their defences would be swept away. Linus and Eru nodded, and departed to do their duty.

After this part of the tale, Linus paused. The desert sun had reached its zenith, and shadows started to creep back again across the sand.

"What happened next?" asked Nourma. Her thirst and hunger had been absorbed by Linus' story: she now felt rejuvenated, eager for more.

Linus, however, looked even more aged and careworn. He opened his mouth, paused, then continued.

"I have never been able to bear talking about that battle." he started. "We took many losses, and many lives in return. In the end, it was me and Eru left, with a great many bandits who had surrendered, their warlord among them..."

The flickering torches cast long shadows across the rough-hewn wooden walls. Great beams lay splintered on the floor, along with other grim flotsam of the fresh battle. Eru limped over to the weapons rack, ignoring her burns and bruises, and pulled out a great axe. "Right," she muttered. "It's time to end this chaos." She dragged the warlord, rotund in decadence and clothed in furs, onto his hands and knees. He looked up at her, hatred blazing in his eyes. Eru raised the axe.

Linus glanced over, turning his eyes away from his prisoners, and noticed what Eru planned to do. He shouted in protest.

The axe stopped in mid-swing. Eru glared at Linus, and for the first time Linus beheld raw emotion on her face.

"You dare tell me what to do?" she asked. Her voice was cold and trembling.

"We don't kill prisoners." Linus recited. "It's not the Airbender way."

Eru laughed shrilly. "Linus the pupil!" she sneered. "Always reading from the scrolls and giving the correct answers. I would have thought years in the wild would have taught you better than that! This is the real world, and the only way to fight force is with more force. This scum here," she dealt a heavy kick to the warlord, "is the cause of all the violence we have been fighting against, all these years. Those cairns in the forest, where our friends lie, are all because of him!"

"It's not the right way." Linus said meekly.

Eru raised the axe again. "It's the only way."

"No!" Linus shouted. He shot a great blast of air towards Eru. Eru saw the attack,and countered with a much larger air blast, throwing Linus back into a nearby wall. The axe fell.

When Linus staggered to his feet again, the deed was already done. Eru stood, axe in hand, smiling, with tears rolling down her face. She turned to the assembled prisoners, who were huddled in terror.

"Get out!" she roared. The bandits stumbled towards the exits as fast as their legs would carry them. Eru turned to Linus. "You still have a lot to learn."

"Yes," Linus retorted, in a daze, "but not from you."

He staggered back, ignoring Eru's response, and ran, past the carnage, past the destruction, past the sorrow, into the dark woods. There, the wilds swallowed him.

There was a long period of silence. Nourma stared at Linus, transfixed. Linus sighed. "I must finish that tale another time. But there are two lessons I hope you picked up during my long winded story." Linus' face lost its melancholy as the dark memory faded.

"One: I think you can realize that I have a little first hand experience in bending strange elements. You are in good company." Nourma gave an encouraging grin.

"And second: everyone needs a good mentor, to shepherd them through the tough times. And it just so happens you have one right here! Wise, skilled, and dashingly handsome." He grinned and ran a hand through his lonely white curl of hair. "So together, you and I, we're going to do a bit of Airbender training. Right now!"

Nourma inwardly began to protest. I don't want to be an Airbender! she thought. All her life she had wanted nothing more than to be chieftan of the Hami tribe, like her ancestors before her.

But an inexorable part of her, buried deep down, wanted to explore this newfound power; to cultivate it, to use it, to master it. As if dreaming, she opened her mouth and heard herself say:

"Alright, let's begin."

Fatima, chieftain of the Umara tribe, gathered her daughters and sons into her conference room. They filed in around the polished obsidian table, their multicolored silk robes almost matching the elegance of their mother's. Six pairs of eyes looked expectantly at her.

"Your cousin Nourma is missing," she stated. Concern registered on most of their faces. Fatima continued. "She ran away last night, heading west from the Hami village. I just received a transmission from her mother asking for our help."

"It's too late, surely," a voice sneered. "She would have dehydrated by now."

"Shame!" Fatima retorted. "That is my sister's daughter you speak of. We have an obligation to help our family, and we will meet that obligation. Furthermore," she continued, looking at each of her children, "and more importantly, there is the tribe's honor. We Umara are the most powerful tribe in the desert, so therefore we shall be the most helpful tribe in the desert. We will not bring dishonor on ourselves by leaving one of the weaker tribes helpless."

She unscrolled a map, holding one end down. One of her daughters held the other end. The rest clustered around her shoulders.

"Sil and Ida will take a cruiser up and down the Nef Canyon. Ali and Dashtu will patrol the borderlands, going from north to south." She traced her finger along the map. "While Mhare and Rega will start in the Deg Heights, making a spiral outward." She tapped her finger twice on the map for emphasis and stood up, her children mimicking her moves. "Check in every hour. I'll have someone on the radio if you need help. Go now, and represent with honor."

"For the Umara." came the murmured response. They filed out in their assigned pairs.

Fatima sat down in her carved wooden chair and rubbed her temples. She had warned her sister about marrying a chieftain of a tiny tribe. This is what happens, she thought, when you move away from the city to a backwards, dirty village. Her only consolation was that maybe this would be the push necessary to make Aisha and move back to Ky Shek. Fatima smiled grimly, and turned her attention to the weekly budget reports.

"Palms forward!"

A wall of air radiated out across the desert, whipping the surface sand into a frenzy.

"Slice! Down and left!"

A curtain of wind dug a shallow line parallel to the dune's ridge.

"Fists down!"

Nourma slammed her fists and knees into the ground. An explosion of air surrounded her, Linus, and the cistern with swirling eddies of coarse sand. Linus waited for it to settle.

"That's enough for now. Time to meditate."

Nourma looked up from her crouched stance, smiling. "Are you worried I'll make you look bad, old man?"

Linus snorted. "If the student performs well, the credit goes entirely to the teacher. At least, if I'm the teacher." His teasing tone hid a nagging worry in his heart. Nourma excelled at Airbending; she was almost too good, too talented. Am I that good a teacher? he asked himself. Yes, he answered immediately, I really am.

Nourma rose to her feet, brushing sand off her cloak. For the first time since she had run away, she felt happy. Her adeptness at airbending gave her a sense of belonging. Nourma felt an intrinsic connection with the moves Linus dictated to her. Despite doing them for the first time, the motions seemed fluid, practiced.

"Don't get cocky," Linus warned, trying to hide the satisfaction in his voice. "The moves are only a small part of being an Airbender. A larger part is meditation, looking inward. Does your mind feel clear?"

"Yeah. For the first time in a long time, it does." Nourma murmured, embracing the calmness in her limbs.

"Excellent! Then you are ready to begin. Now, proper position is the key…" Linus looked to the horizon, shielding his eyes. "Hello, what's this?"

Nourma followed his gaze. A sand cruiser was making its way towards the cistern. Nourma espied the markings on the sail: two crossed swords.

"That's the Umara tribe! They'll bring us to Ky Shek! From there we can radio my village and tell them I'm all right." She turned to Linus. "I don't know how I'll explain you."

Linus was unfazed. "I'm a spirit, remember? Only you can see me."

Nourma rolled her eyes. "I'm not sure how I was supposed to know that." She waved her arms, and cried out for joy as the sand cruiser altered its course and began heading towards the cistern. Nourma started walking down the dune to meet the massive vehicle.

A person appeared on the gangplank. "Nourma? What are you doing out here?"

"Cousin Ali!" Nourma exclaimed. "It's so good to see you!"

Ali and a few others jumped off the cruiser once it drifted to a stop. They seemed to take no notice of Linus. Ali ran towards Nourma, arms outstretched. Nourma jogged down to him.

Suddenly, Ali whipped his arm sideways, backhanding Nourma across her face. Nourma fell, sliding down the dune, too shocked to move. The sand felt cool and soft against her cheek. Linus cried out, but only Nourma heard him. Ali turned to his men.

"Bind her hands, put her in the cargo hold." It was done as ordered. The sand cruiser started up again, going up and down the dunes, carrying two new Airbenders.