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]

"I don't know," he sighs.

[roc_on]

Beila takes his hand and squeezes it. "You live a pretty ordinary life, plus, you just helped prevent an angry supervolcano spirit from going unappeased," she points out. "I don't think that adds up bad."

[thinklikethis]

"...okay, yeah."

[roc_on]

"You don't look completely convinced."

[thinklikethis]

"I'm not not convinced."

[roc_on]

"You sound kinda not-convinced."

[thinklikethis]

"You're very convincing. I think maybe I just... don't know what being convinced would be like."

[roc_on]

"Hmm."

[thinklikethis]

He shrugs.

[roc_on]

"What is it like to - feel like whoever has your soul next will automatically be doing a better job with it? I mean, I would instantly press a button that made me immortal, stopped the entire Avatar Cycle right here, I would not feel a moment's conflict over it, if I talk to Random Waterbender Boy assuming I fail at producing such a button in my lifetime I'm probably going to mostly want to say 'give me my soul back, jerk'. I don't know what the other way of thinking is like at all."

[thinklikethis]

"...I don't know what your way of thinking is like at all," says Dao. "Well, it's not hard to imagine you thinking like that. But it's hard to imagine me thinking like that. I just - I've been like this for a long time."

[roc_on]

Beila squeezes his hand. "It's like you don't even like yourself. If there were two of you would you just sort of stare resentfully at each other wondering why they were taking up space?"

[thinklikethis]

"...If there were two of me we'd probably make out," he says, and then blushes.

[roc_on]

"Ooh."

[thinklikethis]

Dao laughs.

"Storing that one for later?"

[roc_on]

"Maybe. If there were two of me we wouldn't make out. We'd probably plot."

[thinklikethis]

"I think you'd definitely plot."

[roc_on]

"There would be so much plotting! It'd be great. But if you'd get along with another one of you - so to speak - why don't you get along so great with just the one?"

[thinklikethis]

He shakes his head. "I don't think it works that way."

[roc_on]

"Why not?"

[thinklikethis]

"Because it doesn't?"

[roc_on]

"I am enlightened."

[thinklikethis]

He snorts.

[roc_on]

"Not liking yourself sounds really uncomfortable."

[thinklikethis]

"It is."