Name:
Avatar TaruAge:
22Nationality:
Gaoling, Earth KingdomAffinity:
AvatarAs the second in the new line of Avatars, Taru has the potential to bend all four elements, but can only draw on the experience and memories of her predecessor, Avatar Korra. The lives and power of those who came before the last Harmonic Convergence have been lost. Despite this, Korra draws on her own memories and the faint residue of her former lives to give what guidance she can to Taru.
This also means that the Avatar state is not quite the force it was in Aang’s lifetime and Korra’s youth; it is still achievable, but is only comprised of Taru, Korra and the power of Raava, not the hundreds of former Avatars it once expressed. Conversely, this also makes it much easier to control, as there are not hundreds of conflicting thoughts and viewpoints in her mind while she is in the State. If Taru and Korra focus together, they can coordinate their power to devastating effect.
Occupation:Um… Avatar? The Beifong family ensures that she’s well-fed and comfortable, meaning she has little need for paid work, but that doesn’t stop her from mediating local disputes, protecting the city and being generally helpful (Avatar-lite responsibilities). As many in the city will profess, she also makes
very good tea, and always seems to have some on-hand.
Countless arguments have been resolved and tempers smoothed over by her calm, firm words and a hot cup of patented Taru Herbal Tea (grown by the Avatar herself in the Beifong gardens). Needless to say, the people of Gaoling will miss her greatly, and the feeling is mutual. Her closest friends have already promised to maintain her gardens while she is away, and a grand festival is even being planned to celebrate the beginning of the young Avatar’s journey! All of Gaoling will be there, singing the ancient songs and wishing her good luck… Which, for Taru, will be bittersweet in the extreme.
Personality:Taru’s original earthbending teacher was a man she called Sifu Banna. He was an unsung master, an apprentice of the legendary
Toph Beifong, and even had familial ties to old King Bumi, a similarly storied figure among earthbenders. When she was around seven years old, while they sipped tea and rested from a hard day of training, he told her a story - a lesson, really, passed on from his own youth. His uncle, who had lived to see the entirety of the Hundred Year War, sat him down one day and taught him of the “three jings”, how they related to the four bending arts, and the method he himself had practiced to become the powerful earthbender that he was:
Positive jing-Aggression, ceaseless forward movement and drive, expressing the body’s energy with power and force; this jing corresponded to firebending, taking action and overwhelming foes before they have a chance to react.
Negative jing-Pacifism, avoiding conflict, retreating, expressing the body’s energy by moving away from force, evading aggression; this jing corresponded to airbending, the most defensive of the bending arts, as the highly mobile airbenders resorted to violence only as a final resort, choosing mainly to avoid attacks rather than strike.
Balanced jing-Not a true distinction, but the method related to waterbending; push and pull, Tui and La, waterbenders maintain balance between positive and negative jing, fluidly shifting from defence to offence and back, redirecting energy back at their opponents without wasting their own.
And finally, the kicker, the most important jing for an earthbender to understand:
Neutral jing-Related to, but very different from balanced jing, neutral jing is expressed through alert inaction; waiting, listening, watching and feeling, but taking no action until the perfect moment presents itself. According to Bumi, that was the essence of earthbending. Since then, Banna had endeavored to follow that path, and through it, had become a very powerful earthbender. Thus, he wanted to pass it along to his student, in the hopes that it would lead her to greatness as well.
At the time, she didn’t realize how profound an effect his lesson would have, but as she grew in experience and earthbending prowess, it became a central focus of her life. Standing tall, approaching conflict with opened senses and calm, rooting herself to the earth like a great stone… Taru was a true practitioner of neutral jing, like her master, like King Bumi and especially like her idol, her master’s master,
Toph.
Capabilities:-
Earthbending:
A true daughter of the Earth Kingdom, Taru has been earthbending since she could barely walk. Banna taught her many advanced techniques of the (Chu Gar-based) “Beifong style” originated by his master, including her most profound (in his opinion):
seismic sense. Taru would spent days, even weeks at a time wearing a blindfold, having to rely on her other senses, and developing the ability to see through the earth, until (by the time she was discovered as the Avatar) it was second nature to her, and she combined it with her other senses, natural as can be. In fact, at around twenty she started covering at least one of her eyes at all times, alternating between left, right and both as she would, because she found she often achieved more clarity of thought through her seismic sense than through her mundane vision.
She is not so good that she can sense lies (a lofty ability reserved for Toph alone), but if pressed she thinks she could determine whether someone was distressed or calm, at least. There
are earthbending techniques that she is not as skilled in, however, the main one being metalbending. She can
do it, to an extent, but she is nowhere near a master, and doesn’t have the same appreciation for metal as she does for good, pure stone and earth. Other than earthbending, she has very few approaches to combat… But really, what else would she need?
-
Firebending, Waterbending and Airbending:
Though she has known for six years that she is the Avatar, Taru has not been trained in the use of the other elements. All that she knows of them is self-taught and
very basic, even though the Beifong family has acquired many scrolls to aid her over the years. She has simply never expressed an interest in developing these skills beyond small utilities, believing that she would be left in peace as a simple earthbender, and would never have to step up and defend the world as the Avatar.
In the aftermath of the newest message from Councilwoman Jinora, she is scrambling to prepare for the arrival of her teachers, and is running through the foundations of firebending as much as she can.
-
Tea Brewing/Cooking:
An ancient, subtle art, full of ritual and peace: the brewing and drinking of tea. Taru has always had a special place in her heart for tea, and along with meditation it is her go-to release whenever she feels stressed or frustrated. It’s soothing, not just for her but those around her, and tea happens to be her go-to for when someone
else is frustrated or angry as well. In addition, she isn’t half bad in a kitchen, and when the Beifong household eats, she can often be found assisting and bantering with the old cook (this is helped by the fact that the cook's her mother).
-
Gardening:
Taru believes there is something life-fulfilling about growing plants. Cultivating them, subtly guiding them, watching them travel through their cycles… It’s very philosophical, and the garden is where she does most of her reading, and has her friendly discussions with the elders of the town. There’s even a stone table for playing Pai Sho. Earthbending and her slight waterbending power allow her to keep the soil nutrient-rich, and unless there is particularly inclement weather, Taru’s garden is beautifully lush during the hot summers and gracefully recedes throughout autumn in preparation for the mild winters. Her favorite season, however, is spring. The emergence of the first buds of new growth, the early-blooming flowers…The beauty of life connects with a deep level of her being.
History:
Republic City, 189 AG“It is a sad day for the United Republic of Nations… and the
world. This morning, our beloved Avatar Korra succumed to her illness and died in her sleep. The cycle of the Avatar begins anew. Somewhere in the Earth Kingdom, or maybe even right here in our own city, a child will be born with the power to keep the world in balance…
But, aren’t we part of a new age? When he or she grows up, will the Avatar even be needed? Not if we are the
best people we can be, my friends. Not if
we, and all of our brothers and sisters of the Four Nations keep the balance ourselves. Can we do it? Do you believe in yourselves? I know
I believe in you. I’m certain of it. The next Avatar will be born into a world of
peace!”
-President Ansei
Beifong Estate, 194 AGAvatar Taru is the daughter of two humble non-bending servants of the Beifong family. They have never been...
destitute, but neither have they been particularly wealthy, so when little Taru started to show signs of earthbending talent, they were quite distraught. They didn’t have the money to send her to a proper academy in Omashu… Where would she learn how to earthbend? Who would be her master? As luck would have it, soon afterwards a
man (without the glowing eyes, obviously, just brown ones) visited the house, as he did every year, to pay his respects at the grave of his old master. Cho Beifong, Toph’s youngest child and the only one who wished to return to the estate of his grandparents, always welcomed Banna - they had practically grown up together.
While they sat and reminisced about good times back in Republic City, the smallest inhabitant of the house was eavesdropping. She was curious about this man, with his muscles and his bare feet and his jewelry… Taru had seen him from afar on one of his earlier visits, but this time she managed to slip out of the servants’ quarters while no one was looking. The men, smiling and laughing with one another, didn’t seem to notice as she cracked the door to Master Beifong’s study open and looked through at them. Banna was levitating several smooth, shiny spherical stones above his hand, and as his fingers moved, they shifted fluidly in and out of various configurations and shapes. Before she even realized what she was doing, the child extended her own hand, and three of the stones floated slowly away from the earthbender and towards her.
“My, my,” came a kindly voice, as the bearded man watched the missing three come to rest in the child’s tiny hands, “You didn’t tell me there was a young earthbender in the house, Cho.” Beifong just laughed, and said “Come here, girl, don’t be shy. This is my friend, Banna. Can you tell him your name?” Suddenly on the spot, Taru turned red and mumbled something intelligible at her toes, and the three stones were much heavier than they had been a second before, falling out of her hands with identical
thuds. She made a little “eep” sound and scrambled to pick them back up, trying to replicate what she had done to make them float. After a few furtive seconds, she had them safely held up like before. “I’m sorry, Master Banna, sir. I didn’t mean to drop them… They just got so heavy…”
The earthbender continued to smile, saying “They’re very special stones, made to be small but heavy. They’re a... training tool, for young earthbenders like you. Now then, what
is your name?” Feeling more confident, now that she had been able to make the stones not-heavy again, she looked up at him and said “It’s Taru, sir. My mommy makes food for Master Beifong, and my daddy makes sure the plants are all pretty...” Cho, remembering her parent’s distress at not being able to afford sending her to an earthbending school, got a sly look on his face, and looked sidelong at his friend (himself looking thoughtfully at the young girl), saying “You know, Banna, Taru’s parents came to me a little while ago, wondering if I knew anyone who could…
teach her. You don’t have an apprentice, do you? What do you think?”
His friend gave a measured response. “To be this young... What is she, four years old? Five?” Taru proudly showed him five little fingers, saying “I’m five! My birthday was last month!” Banna laughed again, “Well, little one, you’re quite special, then. Most people don’t show any bending talent until they’re older… You know what, Cho? I think I
will teach her...”
Gaoling, 205 AG“Alright, Tava, how many are gonna be in there this year?” Now a teenager, Taru smirked at the thin boy across the table, who looked nervously back. “Listen, Taru, there are some
really mean-looking men who have signed up this year… I think they mi-”
“Let me stop you right there.
Every year we go through this, Tava, and
every year I come out of it just fine. How long will it take to get it through your thick skull that I’m good at this stuff? I know how to take a hit!” He looked away sheepishly. She’s probably right, he thought, she never lets herself get too injured… Those men didn’t look like the kind of people who usually sign up for this sort of thing, though. What was
with them? Reluctantly, Tava turned back towards the earthbender’s expectant stare, and flipped through his notes. “Um, only twelve contestants signed up. Honestly, all of them other than those three seemed… Well, pretty harmless. You’ll beat them no problem. When you get to them, though… -shudder- Just be careful in there, Taru. Okay?”
Obviously unperturbed, she just stuck out her tongue and said “Okay,
mom, I’ll be careful. I mean, seriously, with all these people around, what’s the worst that could happen?”
WIP
Beifong Estate, 211 AG (Present Day)WIP(The history isn’t done, but it’s four in the morning… So, yeah. It’s gonna have to wait, I think. To be very succinct about it, she discovers that she’s the Avatar, tries to keep it a secret, fails, she gets contacted by the President of the UNR and Jinora, who give her a choice, and she chooses to stay in Gaoling and continue her simple, peaceful life - which is how we got into this mess in the first place. They were arrogant, in a sense, and believed that they didn’t need the Avatar. There haven’t been any world-peace-threatening things since Korra died, so they let her choose, basically, to
not be the Avatar… But they fucked up. They
do need her now, and she hasn’t gone through her training, so the world might be fucked.)
I'll probably use that.