The Mentors

"The Mentors" is the twelfth episode of Book Three: Water  for the second group,  The Lotus Progeny.

Previous episode: "Plan B" Next episode: "The Missing Piece"

Summary
''The Lotus Progeny find themselves on the fire nation in seperate cells. While some are less than happy with this and try to escape their confines they eventually all succumb to unconciousness. The last of which is Keidanai who has been struggling with claustrophobia. She wakes suddenly to the storm and her aunt Rai Kana standing above her. Raikana invites her to leave the cell and when Keidanai does so she attempts to find her companions but the cells near her are empty. When she looks for a light source, she looks up to see the ceiling open to the sky and a crack of lightning leaves her standing on a hill with the rest of the Lotus Progeny.''

''They subsequently are offered help by their mentors, who are not really their mentors but a projection of how they see their mentors, in a place they feel most comfortable. As each member talks with their mentors, one of the party leaves with a token in hand. except when they talked with Ayiana and Yasuo's mentors who were Xian and Fu Zen, respectively. Those two gave them no tokens.''

It ends with the party having 8 tokens to the 10 mentors they met.

Synopsis
The episode begins with the Lotus Progeny trapped on a Fire Nation ship without their clothes and valuables in seperate cells. The cells, all metal like the boat, are about the size of a large closet, the only light, if any, that can come in is by a grilled window that is slightly bigger than one's head. Various members attempt to escape their cells, but do not succeed, and eventually every member either sleeps or meditates into unconsciousness.

Kei, whose claustrophobia prevents her from being able to sleep or meditate effectively, resorts to chanting a turn of phrase Raikana was fond of, "Fortune favours the brave", in order to take her mind off the enclosed space, and is interrupted by the door opening and the presence of Raikana herself. Keidanai and Raikana banter over the subject of escape, with Keidanai fruitlessly searching nearby cells for her teammates, until she attempts to look for the rooms light source and while looking up, sees a lightning bolt in the night sky.

Keidanai then finds herself with the rest of the party on a hill during a storm, in what seems to be the spirit world. Raikana, who is present, offers to help Keidanai but is cryptic about the nature of the help she can offer, stating that she doesn't care and it doesn't matter to her if they want her help or not. Keidanai becomes visibly angry and yells at Raikana, telling her that she is lying and that she doesn't care, she cares too much, and the reason she distances herself is that she cares so much about others it hurts that she cannot fix them, and the reason they both are healers is that they share this trait: they feel things so deeply that they can't help but react to pain and injustice by finding a window to fix it. Raikana disappears in a bolt of lightning, leaving Kei with a token.

(My memory of some of the mentors is better than others as I was running sort of low on spoons that night and a lot of the specifics slipped through the cracks. If anyone would like to fill in or tell me what went on with their mentor then that would be splendid. --Zari)

The group follow Fi who tells them to be quiet as she leads them to the next world. Ayiana remains behind as her brother, Yasuo, has not yet moved in this world, he is still as hazy as he was when they first arrived. She tries to pull him along and as she does, Yasuo glows gold and disappears, but at Ayiana's hip there is now a golden sword.

The next world is snowy and ahead of them there is a drift where a man in Southern Water Tribe clothes is holding a spear and indicating for them to be quiet also. He appears to be hunting something on the other side. Fi recognises the man as her father, Terhal. And when she tries to talk with him as such, he tells her that he isn't her father, and yet Fi tries to tell him of the passing of his younger son, Taidan. Terhal asks her if that was hard and Fi agrees, the person that Fi recognises as Terhal tells her she will have to do it again. Terhal also asks if she would like the others there. When Fi nods, two more figures appear, both women who  are both dressed for the Southern Water Tribe, one holds a baby and has air nomad tattoos, it is Ailis, and the other looks a lot like Fi except shorter, it is  Tara. Fi gets very agitated talking to her mentors.

It is Ayiana who recognises the strength in Ailis, that there is a time to wait. Ayiana receives a token from Ailis.

When Terhal asks if Fi has taught her friends to hunt, Shengyin immediately says he can. He finds himself alone with Terhal on a featureless plane with only a spear in hand. Eventually, he sights the wild polar bear dog, Terhal warns Shengyin that if he does not strike the animal in the eye on the first blow, it will kill him. While Shengyin is unfamiliar with Southern Water Tribe hunting techniques, his aim is true and as the polar bear dog rears he strikes the animal in the eye. Shengyin receives a token from Terhal.

Finally, Fi understands what her mother has been on about and turns to leave without saying goodbye, in her hand appears a token from Tara.

The group follow Dreg who had been trying to edge away into the next world. Here, it is Dreg's world, and they are in the Fire Nation where a woman stands before them. It is Primah.

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The woman asks the group if they hate Dreg. Most respond with no. Yukika is fearful, and Fi is worried for Dreg. Then the lady attacks Yukika with fire, Fi tries to stand in the way, both become spiritually damaged.

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Dreg realises that he was taught to fire bend reactively not positively as he has been trying to fight. Dreg receives a token from the woman.

They then find themselves above Omashu on the highest roof top. Ayiana realises that she has only ever known one person to be up here, her mother, and, indeed, Xian stands with them also.

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Ayiana finds herself alone on the streets of Omashu and remembers this as a game/training she would do with her mother. She tracks her mother through the city until she reaches Xian and the rest of the group around her.

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The next world is a forest, watching them is an arrogant fire nation man he wears the mark of the Yuyan archers. Shengyin introduces him as his mentor, Xinfeng. His mentor responds in pointing out that Shengying thinks that he would not want to kill Dreg and Ayiana, but he would want to kill Yukika, Keidanai, and Fi, he would also want to kill Piper but thinks it would cause a diplomatic incident. Xinfeng, also, reminds the group that he is an extension of Shengyin, what he thinks, is what Shengyin thinks. Most of the group seem derisive of the fact.

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Ayiana receives the token.

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There world shifts again and they are surrounded by beautiful ice structures. There is a Northern Water Tribe man looking disappointedly at Yukika who introduces the man as her father.

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The man reminds Yukika that this is not how the argument will go, it is only going how she thinks it will go, and that there will be more yelling involved.

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The man asks Yukika to prove what she's learnt. She finds herself on a small iceberg surrounded by the fire nation on the land, in the water, and in the air. All at once they attack, those on the land attack with fire and earth, those in the water attack with water, and those in the air attack with air.

Yukika tries to raise a wall but it is insufficient. Suddenly there is Keidanai and Piper strengthening her walls, Dreg has added an extra wall of fire around the outside, Ayiana and Shengyin have her back, and Fi creates a ceiling to protect them from the aerial assault.

It works and Ayiana receives a token from her father.

Then they are in a dimly lit room and there is a gorgeous, drunken man in there too. He attempts to hit on the girls as if throught the eyes of a nine year old, the attempts are unsuccessful. Piper introduces him as Tulio, his street dad, the man who helped Piper when he wasn't in the palace. He ruefully points out that Tulio's flaw was that he didn't take things seriously.

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Piper receives a token from Tulio.

Finally, Yasuo faces Fu Zen. Yasuo appears ill-defined and hazy, and Fu Zen thin and papery. The two enter combat, until both Ayiana and Kei point out that Fu Zen did not fight as the mirror image of Fu Zen does-- Fu Zen was unorthodox, an innovator, the books he wrote were nothing more than a springboard for a swordsman rather than a rulebook. To prove this point, Fu Zen lets his guard down, adopting an open "come at me" pose more reminiscent of Raikana goading an opponent than any orthodox sword form. Yasuo is confused by this, and Fu Zen replies with a metaphor regarding the writing of stories-- you can stick to the script, or you can write your own ending to the story.

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Fu Zen hands Yasuo Sword/a sword.