#teo atla

On her way further into the temple to establish herself, she nearly bumps to a boy in a wheelchair.

“Oh! Hello there,” he says. “You new around here?”

She nods tersely.

“We don’t get new people super often. Probably for the best,” he says. “Name’s Teo. What’s yours?”

“I’m Lian,” she says.

He offers his hand for a handshake. She takes it.

“Why here?” he asks.

“I heard some rumors about a mechanic that lives here. I…was a bit of a prodigy in that field, so I was curious. My home was destroyed recently. I thought here would be no better than anywhere else.”

“Oh. I’m sorry that happened,” he says. She leaves out the part where she’d been the one doing the destroying. “Well, if you’re looking for him, that’s my dad. I can take you back up to meet him, if you want?”

“I…that would be rather nice, if it doesn’t trouble you.”

“It’s no problem at all,” he says, rolling his way back up. “Getting around here is a breeze. Literally, sometimes.”

As he says that, someone soars above them from a glider.

“He built those based on the airbender ones we found,” Teo explains. “It’s designed so that anyone can fly around on them. Even someone like me. I have one in my chair.”

Lian studies his chair now with a closer eye. It’s very well-made — in good condition, despite how frequently it must be used. She wonders where the mechanisms for the glider would be hidden — where she might consider hiding them, if she were building something like it.

“Fascinating,” she answers.

“It’s pretty cool, yeah,” he responds sheepishly. “I could show you sometime?”

She considers the offer. So far, his company hasn’t been the worst she could ask for, and he seems to at the very least understand what he’s talking about, even if he doesn’t share his father’s interests to the same degree.

“After I get settled in,” she settles on responding.

***

Settling in doesn’t take her too long. Even as a newcomer to the community, they welcome her with open arms. None of them know what she did, but she doesn’t think she’d be rejected on that basis anymore.

And, most critically, the Mechanist has decided to mentor her. It’s a win-win — he needs some hands helping with maintenance of all the machines around the temple, and she gets critical tutelage for the future.

“I heard you were captured by the Fire Nation,” he says one day, while they tune up one of the steam engines heating the temple. “I empathize deeply. I had no choice but to work with them once. It was either them or the safety of this community.”

“At first they were forcing me. But then…as I was developing the machines for them…I realized they could be used against the Fire Nation just as much with them. And that’s exactly what I tried to do.” She sets her wrench down. “It resulted in quite a bit of unintended collateral damage. Plants will recover. I’m not as certain about the people.”

“It is just as important to think about the environment when building any invention,” the Mechanist intones. “What did you build?”

“I designed machines meant to replace benders,” she admits. “Even one in the hopes of recreating the Avatar, but that one required benders from the other elements to work. It’s simple enough to build a machine that can spray out fire or jets of air. But the issue comes with the other elements.”

“I see.” He tilts his head, considering it. “Perhaps we can tackle the problem in some other regard. I can see how that would be incredibly useful, both against and for the Fire Nation. It would also keep important soldiers off the front lines…”

Alongside, rather than against. She wonders if it could really work.

“I’d given up on the idea,” she admits. “I…had a confrontation that forced me to flee. It’s how I truly ended up here.”

“Lian, if we punished everyone who screwed up, I’d long since be an exile,” he says, offering her a smile. “You’ve done a lot of good for this community since you came here.”

She smiles. She’s always just wanted to do right by people, in the end.

***

And then the news reaches them.

The Avatar is dead. The Earth Kingdom has fallen.

Despite everything, Lian doesn’t know how to feel. She has mixed feelings on the Avatar, but to a lot of people, he represents hope. And those people just had all their hopes dashed in a single blow.

The Earth Kingdom is a bigger loss. The Fire Nation at this point has practically won the war — aside from some holdouts like them. It puts them in even more danger.

Lian knows they’re going to have to find some way to defend themselves. And she’s prepared to fight for her new home. Whatever it takes.

***

The next few months are filled with uneasy tension.

“You made a prototype version of these before you came here, right?” Teo asks, rolling up next to her as she works on Machine 2.0.

“I did,” she answers. “But the materials we have here are better. I didn’t realize the harm I was doing…”

Until it was too late.

But it’s not too late now. She can still do what she wanted all along — and this time, she won’t be hurting anyone by doing it.

“You have improved as a mechanic, haven’t you?” he challenges.

“Of course I have,” she bites back. “Your father has been instrumental in that process.” She doesn’t even know where to begin expressing how grateful she is that she came here after everything. For the progress she’s made since she was building her machine alone on that secluded island, both as a person and as a mechanic. “I know better now. Back then, I was angry at everyone. But getting angry at all benders doesn’t help at a time like this. We have bigger problems.”

She can’t work towards her goal of making the world a world for everyone regardless of “magic powers” if everyone’s being suppressed by the Fire Nation. She hasn’t given up her distaste for bending, but she’s accepted she’ll have to work with benders in order for there to be peace in the war against the Fire Nation. In her case, she’s not going to gain ground on her own. Movements are built one person at a time, one seed at a time. And who knows…maybe in the future, when they do get to establish what the world will look like after the Fire Nation’s conquest has eased…she’ll be able to make a difference.

“Well, hey, they say ‘the enemy of my enemy is my friend’ for a reason, right?” he asks.

She nods. But as she turns back to her work, he interrupts her.

“Speaking of, as a matter of fact…we received a messenger hawk from a friend of the Avatar’s,” Teo says. “Apparently, they’re planning an invasion of the Fire Nation’s capital. On the day of the eclipse coming soon.”

“An…eclipse?” She frowns.

“Apparently, during an eclipse, firebenders lose their abilities entirely,” he explains. “And the Avatar is alive. In the initiative, the goal will be to get the Avatar to the Fire Lord. What happens next will be up to the Avatar.”

Lian frowns. “He doesn’t have the spine to do what it takes.”

“It doesn’t matter. An invasion like this will still destabilize the Fire Nation…at least that’s the thought process. And we’re attacking at their most vulnerable. Dad has already agreed to help them, but I wanted to talk to you. Because you’re my friend…and unlike everyone else, you didn’t really seem as sad when the news came out that the Avatar died.”

“You already know most of it,” she admits. “He represents what I don’t like most in this world. I can’t deny his power as a symbol of hope, though. So in that sense…I’m glad he is alive, because it means everyone will stop capitulating to the Fire Nation.”

“He’s not such a bad guy, you know.” Teo smiles. “So…what do you think about all this?”

“I’ll help with the preparations with the invasion,” Lian says. “In order to take down the Fire Nation. What you said is accurate. I must put my grudges against them aside. Every moment the Fire Nation maintains its rule, we are in danger. If this eclipse plan has even a chance of working…they’re going to need what we’re working on to bolster the numbers.”

“We’re coordinating with the Avatar’s team and some of their allies, at least.” Teo looks down. “I don’t know much about battle tactics or anything, but…the Fire Nation is going to be at a disadvantage without their bending.”

“Serves them right for relying on it,” she mutters.

“It works to our advantage that they do. And hey…if these really are effective…”

“I promise. They will be.”

(If she could see herself, she’d notice a determined gleam in her eyes — a new fire lit that hadn’t been there since well before she came to the temple.)

She takes a deep breath. “How long until the eclipse?”

“Not long,” he says. “If you need help, we’re all going to be helping Dad prepare too. And between all of us, I believe we can pull this off.”

***

And apparently, Sokka from the Avatar’s team had left them some blueprints as well. She finds the suggestions interesting, even though some aspects are…a little difficult to comprehend. Like the entire drawing.

Boarding the Water Tribe ship, Lian prepares to reintroduce herself to the group. Together, they’ve loaded everything on board the ship, including her own new and improved machines.

“Lian?!”

It’s…the earthbender that was with them. What was his name again? She doesn’t remember.

“Surprise,” she says dryly. “We don’t have time to explore what happened. I’m here to help. I know how it looks. But I’ve brought my inventions back — to help us this time. And alongside what you’ve devised…I believe we can succeed in this infiltration.”

She leaves no room for argument. None of them bother.

“Um, who is this chick?” one of them asks. Someone from the Earth Kingdom, though Lian can’t tell too much more about her.

“We’ll tell you about it later,” Sokka says. “We don’t have time right now. Right now, we need to…brief everyone on the invasion plan. Now that we’ve got everyone off the ships.”

***

It goes well at first. The submarines work like a charm — surprisingly, the addition of waterbending hadn’t ruined it all. Lian has ready a brand new version of the Ultimaton — one that doesn’t exploit other benders to use it, but works on its own power. It’d been difficult to get the terraforming functions working, but with the Mechanist’s help, she’d managed to get it done.

Now she’s going to be on the front lines of an invasion. Alongside the rest of their small platoon. Even though they’re bombarded, Lian has faith they’ll make it in — working alongside the earthbenders and waterbenders to get in, and spraying jets of fire and air.

And…the tanks they built are holding up really well too. She takes a deep breath.

It’s more important to protect the Avatar right now. The goal is still get the Avatar up to the palace. Lian keeps an eye on things as they advance, but it’s hard to do much from the ground. Her ranged attacks only go so far — and they’re being bombarded from every direction in the sky.

But it looks like the team on that sky bison have their backs. Soon enough, all the battlements are taken out.

The chaos is expected from war. She stays back to cover their behinds — she’s going to move slower than the others, she knows. It’s not going to be as fast for her as it is for some of the others.

And when Sokka takes command, she listens, lining up alongside the tanks.

She spots the Avatar gliding for the palace. Soon, the eclipse will strike, and the firebending soldiers will be rendered powerless.

Soon.

Appa takes off towards the volcano. Lian looks up at it.

Not much longer now.

For a moment, when the moon covers the sun…it feels glorious. With the eclipse glasses on…she can see when the exact alignment begins.

The invasion ends with failure, but it still mattered in the end that they were there. That she was there. When the time came, she chose to help.