the mighty spirits / tolerate no impudence / and show no mercy

[roc_on]

Beila has been volunteering at the hospital for a week now. About four percent of the population can waterbend, and all benders have to be trained some just to control their powers instead of being plagued by constant accident, but most don't acquire significant skill, and most don't specialize in healing. There is always more demand for waterbenders than there are waterbenders to be had, so Beila's working alongside nonbending and other-element doctors and nurses and techs. They start her in the burn ward, because burns are easiest and Avatar or no she's a novice, and she washes away hurts and refuses to sign autographs and takes her legally required twenty-minute breaks at regular intervals and then heals more.

The school term ends. Beila withdraws from classes. She writes an open letter about that, thanking the teachers and so on for their time and attention, explaining her decision, and she puts it up on the public-facing official Avatar screenserver that the nuns set up for her. She divides her time between classes with Shifu Hayaka, volunteer work at the hospital, intensive meditation, reading, and Dao.

She's with Dao when the earthquake hits, sitting on her roof while he does homework and she reads.

The ground shakes like gelatin, and Beila's been airbending to keep from falling over too long to react with anything other than an instinctive shove of air; but the air is sluggish, reluctant, something is wrong.

The roof has a view of the sea, and the sea is bubbling - no steam, it's not boiling, it's just angry -

And the air is too warm.

Something has the elements spectacularly agitated.

And Beila doesn't know what.

Comments

[thinklikethis]

Dao yelps.

[roc_on]

The earthquake doesn't last forever. And Beila's house is structurally equipped to withstand it, although there is some ominous ongoing rumbling and trembling from distant parts of the city. The sea settles.

The air is still hot. And Beila experimentally blows a puff at her hand. It obeys, but not eagerly.

"Something's wrong," she murmurs.

[thinklikethis]

"I can tell that much by myself," says Dao.

[roc_on]

Beila chews her lip. "The earthquake is the most immediately dangerous part - if earthbenders weren't able to calm it, it must've - DAD," Beila calls, making with wobbly inadequately-supported steps for the stairs down. "Dad - that quake - did it feel normal? - you've been in quakes before, haven't you -"

"Wasn't touching the earth, little bird, and you know I mostly work in metal," says Chali, troubled. "...Bigger than most though. Didn't feel becalmed at all."

Beila tries another puff of air. She turns the faucet - nothing, apparently the pipes were disturbed in the quake - she spits into the sink and tries to bend that, and it'll go, but - not readily.

"Not just an earthquake - something else - has somebody been annoying a spirit, a big spirit - or several spirits -" she mutters.

[thinklikethis]

Dao trails around after her, looking worried and confused.

[roc_on]

Chali's pager goes off. He's supposed to go downtown and help with crowd control and rescue efforts.

"Little bird," he says as he picks up his armor from where the quake knocked it, "should you be at the hospital?"

Beila shakes her head, looking at her clenched hands. "I'm one more half-trained healer, there, they'll be triaging like mad and I'm not qualified to help with the worst of it - and my bending's not working right anyway -"

Chali nods. "Stay safe," he mutters, and he's out the door.

"I need to try to go into the spirit world and find out what's wrong," Beila tells Dao.

[thinklikethis]

"Um... okay," says Dao.

[roc_on]

"I need you to be - present, and sort of - look after me, because if this works I'm not going to be in my body and something could fall on me if there's another quake and I could die."

[thinklikethis]

"...okay," he repeats. "I guess I'll try not to let anything fall on you, then."

[roc_on]

Beila gives him a quick kiss, and assumes the lotus position on a cushion, and closes her eyes.

Breathe. (Though the air comes too slow, too hot, she's sweating now.)

Feel her heartbeat. (It slows as she calms herself, steadies.)

Reach for spirits.

There's a spirit!

She's never done this before. She doesn't recognize it till she's already reached out and touched it, and then she opens her eyes and this is not her house that she's in.

That they're in.

"...Oops."

[thinklikethis]

"Yeah," says Dao. "Oops is right. Well, I hope the roof doesn't collapse on us."

[roc_on]

"It shouldn't," says Beila uncertainly. "Earthquakes aren't uncommon exactly, just that was an unusually bad one, and the house survived that - I'm sorry. Figuring out how to put you back in your body could take a while, I know how to go back myself, at least in theory, but I don't even know quite how I brought you along for the ride. The spirit could start throwing around more power any moment and I need to find it now."

[thinklikethis]

"So what do I do? Follow you around and try not to get in the way?"

[roc_on]

"Or stay here by our bodies, up to you, but we could run into any number of things I have a better shot at defending against than you do so you might want to stick with me," Beila says uncertainly.

[thinklikethis]

"...I think I'll stick with you," he decides.

[roc_on]

Beila nods once, takes a step, and immediately falls on her face.

"...She told me, she warned me," Beila mutters, picking herself up with difficulty, "no bending in the spirit world, bending doesn't work in the spirit world, I did not think this through -" She gets on her feet, takes three more steps, and trips again and catches herself on a spirit tree only with great difficulty. "I've been using airbending to get around since before I could walk. Cinders, cinders and dust -" She tries again, gets a little farther, trips again. "I am apparently unable to walk without airbending. Do you suppose you can carry me or do I need to go get us out of here and find a way to bring Liqing in?"

[thinklikethis]

"I can probably carry you," says Dao.

He picks her up.

[roc_on]

"Thank you," says Beila. And she looks around, and thinks, and concentrates, and points in a direction.

[thinklikethis]

Dao goes that way.

[roc_on]

Beila is alert, and thoughtful, and tense in his arms. She redirects him a few times, following clues that are not obvious to anyone but the Avatar.

It's a long walk, and on their way, the world shakes - only visually; there is no instability under Dao's feet - and Beila winces.

[thinklikethis]

He has to put her down and rest once or twice, but mostly, he just carries her.

[roc_on]

Eventually, they come to a sort of... pit. While the spirit world looks like wilderness through and through, they are presently in the part of town that corresponds to a neighborhood of refineries.

From the bottom of the pit is a low-pitched rumbling moan that starts up when they approach and dies down a moment later.

"Put me down," Beila murmurs.

[thinklikethis]

Dao puts her down.

[roc_on]

Beila gets down on the ground and creeps forward - sensible of her, given that she can't walk very well and it's a long way down - and peeps into the pit.

"Hello!" she calls.

The moaning starts up again.

[thinklikethis]

Dao hangs back worriedly.