1st Element ☲ Video

[actually112]

[It's helpful that so many people have been fiddling around with their lockets, and that Aang's given himself some time to try figuring the thing out. There are only three false starts before he manages to properly turn it to video.

A twelve-year-old bald boy with arrows tattooed on his head, arms, and legs sits in a lotus position. To those who would recognize it, his clothes seem similar to those of Tibetan monks.]

Is this thing on...?

[The locket's also upside-down as he works on it, his tongue sticking out with concentration, before he blinks.]

Oh! Hi!

[He puts the locket down upright and tries to look like he knows what he's doing, but the image is kind of ruined by his somewhat sheepish smile and the way he waves.]

I'm Aang! [He puts his hands in his lap, gray eyes bright and curious.] I don't really know many of you, but I'd like to! I kind of what to say something to everyone on both sides of this.

[The smile begins to fade.] In my world, there's been a war going on for a hundred years. I still don't know why it began. From what I hear, one nation attacked the others, and the others are now just trying to protect themselves. I've always wondered why that first nation attacked. [The smile's completely gone now. The eyes have lost some of their brightness.] But now... we have these lockets. So we can talk to each other, and we can find out why we're being told to fight each other.

So I came on here to ask... [He puts his palms together and closes his eyes. Just a twelve-year-old boy, trying to fulfill his duty to achieve peace and harmony.] that before we start fighting, that we talk first, and we compare what our separate sides have told us. That we try to learn about each other. I'll start.

[The boy unfolds his legs and picks up a wooden staff from the ground, using it to get to his feet and leaning on it while he speaks.] Like I said, I'm Aang. I'm an Air Nomad. That means I'm a monk, and I was taught to respect all life. [Perhaps conspicuously to those who know him, he doesn't mention his status as the Avatar. That seems like heavy stuff to tell people who don't even know what that is.] When I came here, I was told that I had to kill people who were chosen by the Unseelie to steal their Shards, and if we didn't do that, then everything I ever loved would be destroyed. They said that this is a kingdom that represents light in the world--things like honor, courage, love, justice... that kind of thing. And that the Unseelie are going to destroy all of it.

So... what about everyone else? Seelie and Unseelie? Who are you? Where are you from? Why did they tell to fight?

Comments

[devotedqueen]

Agreed.

[She clasps her hands together and the look on her face turns more thoughtful]

Gaining peace through words is very much preferable. However, if the faeries spoke the truth, then this has been a war that has been going on for a very long time. If that is the case, then the rulers of both sides will be very reluctant to negotiate for peace if not outright against it.

[So many times she had sought peace only to be rebuffed by rulers too obsessed with the idea of power or clinging desperately for the love of their homeland. It would not be easy]

Without their willingness to lay down their swords...

[actually112]

Without their willingness, we still don't need to get involved. They can't force us to fight. We don't have any proof that any of the stuff they say about what might happen to our worlds is true.

No matter what happens, a ruler can't continue a war if there aren't any soldiers who'll fight it.

[devotedqueen]

[She remembers the ferals under Ashnard's rule. Other soldiers, fighting only because there was no other way out. Things weren't always so simple. But for now, she'd keep those concerns to herself, or at least, until there were no other listening ears]

But how many people can dismiss their claims out of hand so easily?

[She couldn't, not when she had a kingdom to protect. She didn't want to make the same mistakes and allow her desire to avoid conflict overrule her ability to protect her people]

Well, regardless, I have seen what happens when the forces of order triumph and take away chaos completely. It is not something I wish to see again.

[actually112]

It's really up to them if they can or not. I can because I've met people who are from my world's future, after I'm already dead, and they know I was still around after when I remember the Seelie taking me. That means that I end up going back to my world. That either means the Seelie win, or they weren't right about our worlds being destroyed and us never going home if we don't fight.

Exactly. Order's good, but there needs to be disorder to balance it out. They need each other to be effective.

[devotedqueen]

If one were to fall to the other forever...well, I hope you are right and things don't turn out as they claim.

[It wasn't a pleasant thought. She shakes her head, distracted by what Aang had mentioned before. The curiosity was eating away at her and it was rare for her to be able to chat with people without her title getting in the way]

You mentioned you were an Air Nomad? Is that what your arrows are for?

[actually112]

Yeah. Air Nomads get their arrows once they've mastered airbending. There's a ceremony for it and everything.

Usually, you don't get them until you're older, but I got them early.

[devotedqueen]

Then you must be very talented and hardworking.

[Hmmm, airbending]

Would you say airbending is anything like being a wind sage?

[actually112]

Uh... maybe? What's a wind sage?

[devotedqueen]

Ah, wing sages magic users who are particularly skilled in the use of wind magic. They draw their spells from tomes, which are spoken in the ancient tongue.

[actually112]

We just take our power from our chi and the air around us. We don't really need to talk or have spell books or anything.