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The Sacred Flames
On the sunset of their seventh, shared birthday, Roku and Sozin were locked in the great sanctuary of the Fire Sages. They had been prepared and purified for this ritual where they would attempt to hatch their dragons for weeks in advance.
Still, even though what they had to do had been hammered into Roku and Sozin’s heads, the chief priest of the Fire Sages left them with a final warning to last until dawn’s early light pierced the temple windows.
“You must tend the flames sacred to Agni.” A sweeping gesture of scarlet-sleeved robe at the crimson-and-azure blazes encircling two dragon eggs the same hue as the nourishing, burning flames. “They must not die before sunrise.”
(Long ago, children of the Fire Nation chosen to give birth to dragons had been hurled alive into calderas if they disrespected Agni and allowed the sacred flames to flicker out before dawn. Now the Fire Nation was more civilized and less brutal, a child who failed to keep the sacred flames burning through the night and so failed to give birth to a dragon would only be disgraced. Disowned by family. Banished from home.)
The chief priest swished from the temple, leaving Roku and Sozin alone in a dark temple lit only by the dancing red and blue flames sacred to Agni. Flames that didn’t scare away the shadows that lurked behind the statues of the past Fire Avatars who seemed to sit in judgment all around them. Their eyes hard, chiseled marble but somehow glowing. Dead stone but somehow alive.
“Do the statues seem alive to you?” Roku whispered to Sozin, hushed voice echoing loudly in the empty, dark temple.
“No.” Sozin’s tone was a rough pinch waking Roku from a living nightmare. “It’s only a trick of the fire and shadows dancing with each other. Don’t let the Fire Sage’s prattle spook you.”
Together, they tended the sacred flames until dawn permeated the temple. As the sun rose orange, the eggs cracked, and Roku thought they had failed until two dragons emerged. One azure and one crimson. The azure one snaked around Sozin’s shoulders, while the crimson one coiled around Roku’s neck.
A tentacle pressed against Roku’s forehead and a voice sounded in his skull, dangerous and life-giving as fire. I am Fang, your animal companion and guide who will never leave you. Who will die before I leave you.