Chosen by the Spirits | A male reader x Avatar the Last Airbender story

Chapter 10- Banished

Tears started to stream down Kyana's face, and she looked down towards the ground. A new feeling washed over me: emptiness. I felt truly empty, like nothing mattered anymore. Kyana was to be expelled from the Northern Water Tribe, and who knows what would happen to her outside of the tribe. Would she be able to survive? And what about me? My life was to become complete misery. My parents were ramping up my training sessions, and now I would have no friends to make things easier. I watching Kyana sob, and something twitched inside me. This wasn't right. I had taught her how to waterbend, and now she was paying the consequences for my decision. There was only one thing for me to do now, and I knew it.

"No!" I shouted as I ran from the front of the crowd. The elders look shocked as I placed myself by Kyana's side. Kyana herself seemed stunned, and I saw confusion in her blue, tear-streamed eyes. I took a deep breath and readied myself for what I was about to say.

"It was me who taught Kyana to waterbend," I confessed to the chief, and I saw the elders murmur amongst themselves. Master Pakku had a stern look plastered on his face, though he didn't look shocked or particularly disappointed. There were whispers within the crowd from behind me. I looked at Kyana, and saw the look of astonishment in her eyes.

"(Y/N), is this true?" the chief asked me, as if he were giving me a second chance.

"Yeah, I've been teaching Kyana for years," I double-downed. There was no going back now. There was disappointment on every crevice of chief Arnook's face. I could tell that he was looking for any excuse not to banish me. After all, I was the waterbending prodigy of the Northern Water Tribe.

"This is your second offense of this kind," Arnook explained to me. "Teaching waterbending to a woman, even if it is your fiancé, is forbidden," he described as if everyone already didn't know it.

"Oh yeah, and that's another thing: Kyana and I aren't a couple," I explained, and I heard a few gasps in the crowd and amongst the elders. "Arranged marriages are unethical and stupid," I told them all to their dismay.

"Well, I'm afraid you leave me no choice," the chief muttered regretfully. "We will vote on if you should be banished from the tribe. All in favour of (Y/N) being able to remain in the Northern Water Tribe,". There was a moment of silence, with none of the elders budging. Then, suddenly, master Pakku raised his hand into the air. Even after everything I had said about the tribes customs and traditions, my master was still on my side. My vision went slightly fuzzy as a tear formed in the corner of my eye.

"And all in favour of (Y/N) being expelled from the Northern Water Tribe,". As I expected, all the elders raised their hands and, after a brief moment, chief Arnook hesitantly raised his arm. Even though I knew it was coming, I still felt a pain deep inside. "(Y/N), it has been decided with an overwhelming majority that you will be expelled from the tribe. A transport ship will be arranged for you within the next hour," the chief told me glumly. "Kyana, with this confession, you have been pardoned," he added. And with that, the hearing was over. The crowd, still muttering with amongst themselves with interest, slowly filed out of the ice palace, as did the elders. Within a few minutes, just Kyana and I were stood in the spacious room. Without words, she embraced me tightly in a hug, her head on my shoulder.

"Take me with you," she cried into my shoulder. I patted her back in comfort.

"No, your life is here," I told her, and she remained silent. She knew that she couldn't leave the tribe and her family.

"Where will you go?" she asked me.

"I'm not sure," I admitted. "I guess I have the next hour to decide," I joked, and she chuckled softly, still weeping into my shoulder. "I suppose I should probably make my way to the transport ship," I told her.