Book 1: Fire
Chapter 1: Dragon Flats is Burning
Bolin had managed to get right up to the police cordon. Even from that distance he could feel some of the heat of the fire. He didn't want to think how it must feel for the fire brigade. He snapped more pictures of the efforts to fight the fire. He concentrated on his camera to distract himself from the reality of the situation. Aperture, focus, shutter speed. Don't think about the people losing their homes. Don't think about how the firefighters had stopped talking about saving the building and had started talking about saving the block.
Suddenly a strange gust of wind made him stagger sideways. Cries of surprise ran through the crowd as other people were similarly pushed off balance. He did his best to ignore the jostling of those around him and regain his focus on the efforts to fight the fire. Another wave of shouts ran through the crowd, although this time Bolin couldn't tell what had disturbed them. He tried to tune it out.
"Hey, you!" cried one of the patrollers at the barrier. "Stop, you can't come through here!" This finally penetrated Bolin's awareness and he spun around, seeing at last what had caused the commotion. The strange gust of wind seemed to have opened a corridor through the crowd of onlookers, and the figure of a woman was sprinting down it toward the barricade. She was clad in a strange blue and white costume. A mask covered her face, decorated in a pattern that was oddly familiar. Instinctively, Bolin trained his camera on her.
The cop in the center of the line continued to shout his warning. Seeing the woman continue on heedless, some of the officers manning other parts of the line moved to help intercept her. Suddenly, just a few paces from the barrier, she launched into the air soaring over the heads of the surprised police.
*Click*
There were moments when Bolin just knew that he'd made the shot perfectly. When he knew exactly what he would see when the film was developed. The crowd pointing in wonder. The cop, hand still thrust out in front futilely ordering her halt, head bent back to look directly overhead. And the woman at the apex of her impossible leap, moving gracefully as if she were in the middle of one long slow motion stride along level ground. Whatever else he took tonight, he knew in that instant that this was the picture that would appear on page one.
Then she was on the ground on the far side of the barrier, running toward the burning building and the firefighters. The cops stared after her, too dumbfounded to pursue. Bolin kept snapping pictures. For the first time since he arrived on the scene he was starting to feel hope.
Jun raced through the burning building, the little girl clutched tightly in his arms. She was crying more than she was coughing, which he hoped was a good sign. He'd stayed in too long, and he'd get a proper dressing down for it if he got out safe. But it would be worth it if it also meant getting the child out.
Ground floor, yards away from the door. Jun heard the structure above him crack and rumble. He was too late. Jun started hunching over, hoping he could shield the girl with his body.
"Don't stop! Keep moving!" came a strange voice from the direction of the exit. He saw a woman silhouetted in the doorway. There was something strange in the way she was dressed and he could almost swear her eyes were glowing.
She raised both hands sharply from her sides to up over her head. At the same moment, two pillars of stone shot through the floor on either side of him, rising up to press against the groaning roof.
"Get out!" the woman yelled. "It won't hold for long." Jun sprinted in her direction. There was another crack overhead. The woman leapt backward, arms sweeping downward to make a pulling motion towards herself. A gust of wind hit Jun in the back, propelling him out the door moments before the hallway finally caved in.
She had him by the arm, pulling him and the girl further away from the building. He gaped at her. He was too young to remember anything but stories, but as a child he had read them voraciously. He would know the costume anywhere, and though it had always belonged on a man with a bald head, somehow he had no doubt of her right to wear it. "Are you…?" he began.
"Probably. No time for that now. I saw ambulances down that way." She pointed. "Get the girl looked at. Yourself too. I've got to see what I can do to help." She gave him a slap on the back and ran off toward the Fire Chief.
Jun stumbled off toward the ambulances in a daze. The name from his childhood echoed in his head. It wasn't possible, and yet it couldn't be anyone else.
Fire Chief Ito shouted orders to the men and women at the hoses. The tenement where the fire had started was a lost cause. It was going to be a hard fight to not lose the neighboring buildings as well. Thankfully, they had managed to get them evacuated. After six bad fires in Dragon Flats in the past month, fewer people argued when the fire brigade told them to move.
"Are you the chief?" said a voice at his elbow. He turned to see a young woman in an outlandish getup, her face covered by a strange mask.
"What the hell are you doing here? This is no place for civilians. Get out of here before I have you removed."
The woman made a sudden sharp gesture in the direction of one of the hoses and a slice of the stream flew out sideways. Then with smoother sweeping gestures she summoned the water to arc around to where she was standing. In a moment she was standing with one arm upraised, a sphere of water hovering above her hand, shimmering in the light of the fire.
"Listen carefully," she said. "I can help you. I can get the water wherever you need it. But I need you to tell me where that is. Do you understand me?"
Ito stared for a moment. Then he nodded. "Right. Here's what we need…"
The fires were out, but no one in the crowd seemed inclined to disperse. They still pointed towards the rooftops where the strange woman had disappeared once the threat had been dealt with, barely pausing to accept the Fire Chief's outstretched hand of congratulation. That had been several minutes ago, yet the people looked and waited, as if she would pop her head over the edge to give one last wave of farewell.
"Please tell me you got pictures of all that."
Bolin whirled to see Opal pushing her way through the crowd. He patted his camera. "Oh, yeah. You bet I did."
Opal ripped several pages from her notebook. "Great. Here's my notes. Get back to the Dragon, give these to Editor Moon, and get those photos developed. I'm going to see if I can get some eyewitness accounts. I'll phone in whatever I can get, so be sure to tell Moon that also."
"Roger," Bolin said and started through the crowd. He paused and turned back. "Opal, did we just see what I think we saw?"
Opal swept a hand through her hair. "If we didn't, it was an amazing imitation. Now get going, we've got a scoop to get in."
Bolin glanced down at the sheaf of notes in his hand as he jogged to where he'd left his car. On the top Opal had jotted down what he suspected would be tomorrow's headline.
Avatar Reborn?
A/N: Welcome reader!
The cover art for this story is by budgebuttons (find her on Tumblr) and was a lovely gift from the Korrasami Fanwork Positivity Campaign.