Here's the rewritten story with magic/fantasy terminology replaced by *Avatar: The Last Airbender* terminology, as requested:
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The inhabitants of this town turned out to be descendants of people who once lived in the city of Tienhai. At that time, it was the most significant and prosperous city in the world, with an invisible patron—a humanoid spirit named Lady Tienhai. The spirit herself appeared as a towering and beautiful woman.
Back in the era of Raava, when spirits roamed the earth freely, Lady Tienhai encountered another spirit in the place where the future city would stand—General Old Iron, who matched her in size. Of course, the name is nothing special, worse only than the pompous and overly long names of techniques in the Xianxia genre. Over time, they fell in love and decided to remain in the human world. The male spirit protected his love from all dangers, which he managed well thanks to his ability to control iron.
Their happiness didn't last long. One day, a tribe of humans settled on their territory. The General knew all too well how ungrateful and deceitful humans could be. To protect his beloved from their corrupting influence, he decided to destroy the settlement, but Tienhai wouldn't let him. She saw not only the bad in humans but also the good, and there was plenty of that. In the end, the General left his partner, who didn't understand his motives, and continued to help the tribe.
Over several millennia, the small settlement grew into a large city. Once a year, Tienhai took human form and visited the people she had grown to love. Then came her encounter with the local king's son, followed by the usual tale of love.
To be with her beloved, Tienhai decided to remain in human form forever, even if it meant giving up immortality. She married the prince and lived out her human life with him. Tienhai died and was reborn as someone else when Avatar Yangchen had just mastered the four elements. That is, all these events took place five hundred years ago, since after the lovely Yangchen came the lazy Kuruk, the stern Kyoshi, the volcano-defeated Roku, and the ice-frozen Aang.
Upon learning of Tienhai's death, the General sought revenge on the city's inhabitants. A fierce battle ensued between Yangchen and General Old Iron, who was truly enraged! For spirits, a separation of a couple of millennia is like a week-long argument for humans—he had genuinely waited for the woman to come to her senses and realize what kind of people humans were. But instead, they put horns on him, deceived his beloved, causing her to turn into a bag of bones, and now he had to search the world for her reincarnation! The man is truly pitiable…
The Iron General knew he was no match for the Avatar's power, but he wanted to vent his anger, at least on this city. After losing to the Avatar, he agreed not to trouble the people again, as long as they stayed away from the ruined city and honored Tienhai's memory every year. As a symbol of their agreement, a life-sized statue of Lady Tienhai in her spirit form was erected. Her statue still stands on a steep cliff by the sea, gathering people from across the province every year. Before their genocide, the Air Nomads also attended the festival, in support of their fellow tribeswoman Yangchen's decision.
As the mayor told me, people sometimes spotted a massive spirit face resembling the General among the clouds, gazing tenderly and lovingly at the statue. And I fully agree with his words! Maybe others lacked the sensitivity to feel his presence, but I was on edge the entire festival, ready to spring into action at any moment. Only the aura of peace and kindness radiating from the statue helped calm my nerves. I'll attend these spirit-related festivals when I'm on equal footing with them—until then, they're not for me!
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"What are you doing here, dear? Has a whole year already passed?" came the slow, elderly voice of the old woman, the sole inhabitant of the ruined town of Taku and the last herbalist of the local school. She was the one who advised Team Avatar to suck on a frozen frog, which sounds disgusting, but hey, it's better than inflating it through your backside—they entertained themselves as best they could, and I didn't do that, I just watched…
"No, I'm just about to leave, I'll be back in about a year," I replied calmly, though inside I was already on edge. I've heard this question more than ten times today! And it's not over—the more you talk, the more you'll have to repeat it all, over and over! The first few times, forgetting about her frequent memory lapses, I tried to explain in detail my interest in herbalism, offering to exchange our knowledge in the field. Some time would pass, and just as I was finishing my explanation, she'd ask who I was. Today, I've learned a lot about patience. My respect for people who work in such institutions—Jedi don't even compare to you.
I got what I wanted: knowledge from the former school, though I had to piece it together myself from her scattered notes. Now I'm a bit more informed. These notes contained what every inhabitant of the Earth Kingdom essentially knows—frozen frogs are recommended for treating various ailments, and this information is already known in every household. Such small details show that you're one of them. Besides, there's no such thing as too much knowledge; it's not stored in my brain but on a deeper level, closer to the spiritual part, and from there, as I understand, once something gets in without my knowledge, it never disappears.
On blank sheets, I wrote down everything I learned from our capital's library and healers, hoping she'll stumble upon them someday…
While piecing together the puzzle, or rather connecting scattered knowledge, I came across messages from various people. For example, on one sheet, someone asked to check the roof of a building, saying it needed repairs, as they couldn't do it themselves. Below was the date and name. There weren't many of these unnoticed messages, but there were enough. Apparently, there are still people helping her; the school grounds look well-maintained, at least compared to Taku itself, which resembles the victim of a carpet bombing.
Most of the tasks left behind were already done. All I had to do was reinforce the foundation with earthbending—it had started to sink—and push away the already collapsed houses that could damage the greenhouse. After that, I could leave with a clear conscience. I must remember to visit her in a year; she asked me to gather some seeds of rare plants.
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I look at the guide of the Great Divide and can't shake the feeling that I'm looking at Yakubovich—he's the spitting image.
"You want me to show you the habitats of canyon cockroaches?" he asked, looking at me like I was insane.
"A map will be enough," I replied calmly, adjusting the slipping strap of the bag holding freshly prepared food. I have six more just like it, each containing the most pungent dishes to attract the insects.
"Kid, you're young, everything will work out for you. Come on, let's have some tea instead," he tried to calm me, but I'm not trying to kill myself! This canyon is just the best place to practice earthbending, especially with live opponents. "If you really want to take a walk, leave the food at my place, and I'll gladly show you around," he persisted.
No, I need the food myself; these bugs can smell it from kilometers away, so I won't have to chase them. Oh well, I might as well show off my abilities once; anyway, I'm known in the Earth Kingdom as a very powerful earthbender.
What should I do? I can do a lot, but I need something big and flashy. There are plenty of rocks here; I can remove one. I take a stance, which I technically don't need, but it's for show…
Hearing the roar behind me, Yakubovich—er, the guide—turned around. Lifting the rock even higher, I slowly split it, then split the two smaller rocks again, and again. Finally, I sent them tumbling down the canyon, where they created massive craters in the rock. The guide watched my display of earthbending with wide eyes the entire time.
"I think that's enough for a warm-up. Now, what were you saying?" I've always wanted to say a line like that, in the style of an American blockbuster protagonist.
"Let's go already," the guide sighed, snapping out of his trance. "It seems I've fallen behind the times. Are there many earthbenders as powerful as you in our Kingdom?" he asked curiously.
"Not really, I just learned from the badgermoles; their standards are different," I replied calmly. I enjoy pretending to be otherworldly sometimes, and people have forgotten their first teachers. By the way, I should visit them again; I'm sure I'll learn something new.
"Bumi's not all there either. Maybe all powerful benders have something wrong with their heads? Some kind of balance, karma, or whatever," I heard the guide whisper as he walked ahead. I stopped playing the fool and thoroughly questioned him about the habitats of everything unwanted in this canyon.
The next hour, I perfected my earth platform riding, rolling toward the nearest cluster of canyon pests. Two kilometers before reaching them, they started coming to meet me—ugh, what horrors. I hope they breed faster; otherwise, the Fire Nation people would hardly have dominated the continent—they'd have wiped out all humans.
"Catch!" I threw one of the bags to them, waiting until more of these creatures gathered around it. Then I dropped rocks on them, burying them beneath. Now let's try something else. Manipulating the earth, I created a sphere around myself with sharp spikes on the outside—my original technique, the stone tank. All that's left is to roll toward the enemies.
"You're pretty weak," I shook my head in disappointment. They were too quick to finish, and they don't even use bending. I hope there are more of them at the next location.
"This is much better! Take this slipper!" And that's exactly what happened—a rock shaped like a slipper I created crushed an unsuspecting creature. The first creatures I encountered were from the youngest nest, so their numbers were small and their sizes modest. Now it's the fourth nest, and they're smarter than their previous kin.
I stopped only at sunset, when I started feeling nauseous from the sight of these incomprehensible chimeras—there's no end to them. According to the guide, there should only be seven nests, but I've already disturbed twelve, and the last one went too deep underground. It seems there are still many, many more down there.
These cockroaches haven't been touched for over a hundred years, which they're grateful for. The guide said their numbers used to be kept in check. Entire expeditions were organized by the rulers of nearby cities, and the most distinguished warriors could earn a cozy spot near the governors. Now, no one has time for that.
This canyon is a great training ground; maybe I'll bring the girls here to experience fighting real enemies.
One end of the canyon ends near the oldest Fire Nation colony, Yu Dao, which is where I'm headed. I've never been there, but I've heard various stories from traders about the city. They say its standard of living will soon match that of Ba Sing Se's middle ring, where the affluent middle class dominates. The city still has inequality between the Fire Nation residents and the native people of these lands, but the situation improves each year, thanks to the mayor, whose wife is a native of the Earth Kingdom.
The city has long been the most prosperous, with Fire Nation technology blending well with the abilities of earthbenders. It's also open to traders from both sides, which only stimulates the economy. The diversity of goods, mixed architecture, and peaceful coexistence of two seemingly warring nations set it apart from typical cities.
I'll arrive just in time for the circus, where Tai Lee will perform in the future. Even now, this circus is gaining popularity among the colony, where people aren't used to such entertainment. It's a bit frustrating—even here, the Fire Nation is ahead of the curve… Circuses, theaters, and various performances have long been commonplace in the archipelagoes.
Even in my past life, I never liked going to circuses. Once I peeked behind the curtain of merriment, I immediately lost the desire to sponsor such entertainment, where animals suffer in cages.
Should I become the founder of stand-up in this world? It's harmless entertainment where only your stomachs suffer from laughter. Besides, Sokka could already pull off something like that, whether you like it or not. It's worth thinking about in my free time.