video; 001

[warfan]

[The camera is steady, though it's filming at an odd angle, as though it's been propped up against something that's not really meant for the job. Which is fine, it does what it needs to, which is to show a young woman seated at what is - given the background - is probably a desk in one of the hotel rooms used to house offworlders.]

There's something I've been wondering about.

Has anyone run into someone you're sure is from your world, but who you don't have any personal connection to? Either directly or through someone else?

Comments

[sulit]

[She definitely looks lost, trying to process that. It's so wildly different from how she's lived. Magic is... everything for her.]

So... So you just have this elemental magic. And these... benders? They get one element. And this Avatar person gets more?

[A pause.]

How do you pick who gets to be the Avatar? Do you take turns?

[warfan]

We don't. Pick them, I mean. There's only ever one Avatar, and when they die, they're reincarnated into the next nation in the cycle.

[She huffs out a quiet, humourless laugh.]

Which is probably a good thing - the Avatar is meant to bring balance between the nations, and between humans and the spirit world. That wouldn't work if they were chosen.

[sulit]

But it works if they're not chosen?

[Her brow furrows. Gently she eases the chair down onto all four legs proper, and she sets the phone on the table. Her elbows rest on the desk as she leans over it.]

Balancing the world sounds like a lot of work. What if they don't want to do it? Do they get a say?

[warfan]

Better than it would if they were - if they were chosen, then one nation or one faction would be able to engineer it so they had an advantage.

[She glances away from the camera.]

And no, they don't really have a choice - there's no one else. But they do get a choice in how they do things.

[sulit]

[That doesn't really sound like a working situation to her. The idea of more magic is naturally appealing, and she could see why that might be good. But not having a say in what they do with their life... Mmm.]

Sounds like a lame deal. Why do they have to be the one to do all the balancing? Is no one else capable of balancing themselves?

[warfan]

Individually, maybe. But between nations? The last hundred years would say otherwise.

And with the exception of the Avatar, people are powerless against upheaval in the spirit world.

[sulit]

[Well... She can't exactly argue with that. She's not unfamiliar with the fact that nations are bad at balancing themselves without going to extremes. She just sort of hoped other worlds might be different.]

[Though something else does catch her attention:]

The spirit world... You mentioned that before. What is that exactly?