The Avatar’s Library was an intimidating building. It wasn’t particular;y large- especially compared to the towering skyscrapers of republic city framing it, and the colorful pillars and gold trim weren’t exactly foreboding, but the building seemed to radiate a sense of prestige and importance- and despite knowing that the building was open to the public with a reservation- I couldn’t help but get the sense that I wasn’t allowed inside. Certainly, there were people more deserving of the library’s precious resources than a highschool student just trying to not fail history class. But I had exhausted my resource, and this was my only option left.

I was surprised to find the library empty when I entered it. Almost everything about the place surprised me. Instead of a grand entrance of gold-plated ceilings and majestic pillars and halls lit with genuine fire, I found myself in what looked like a normal library. The floors, ceilings, and fixtures all looked rather expensive, but the air of wealth was severely undermined by the fact that the lights were off- the library staff instead opting to use natural light from the floor-length windows on either side of the entry hall. On top of that, nearly everything was coated in a thick layer of dust- as if I was the first person to step in the building in years.

Directly in front of me stood a round desk, illuminated by the afternoon light coming in from the windows. Sitting at the desk was a woman- older than me but too young to be my mom, reading a thick, hardcover book. On the desk were stacks of similar books (she must’ve been reading them as a series or something), a computer that wasn’t turned on, and an array of mugs with catchphrases ranging from ‘Book it to the library’ to ‘World’s Greatest Spirit Bridge’ (I assumed the latter was an avatar historians’ inside joke). Behind her, I could barely see a maze of bookshelves, filled with boundless amounts of knowledge.

I approached the desk. “Whatcha reading?”

“Szeto.” The woman replied. “Dude was pretty cool but his records get really boring after the fifth Keohso tax fraud incident.” I had no idea what any of that meant, so I nodded and replied, “Cool.”

The woman bookmarked her page and took a sip from the spirit bridge mug, then immediately grimacing and deeming it cold. She turned to face me and I could’ve sworn I had seen her face before- her hooked nose and downturned eyes were all so distinct, yet I couldn’t exactly place it. “Do you work here?” I asked.

“You could say that.” The woman responded. I looked at her chest for a nametag- something to confirm her vague answer- but found nothing. I returned eye contact with the woman.

“You got a reservation?” She asked, turning on the computer.

“Yeah,” I responded, still studying her facial features.

“Name?”

“Kirima Thao.”

The woman smiled. “Once knew a Kirima. Small world, eh?” She browsed the computer some. “Ah, here you are. Right on time. So what were you looking for?”

“I need to know about Avatar Kuruk for a school presentation.” I said. “I was gonna pick Korra until Hana got first choice…” I added under my breath.

“Don’t worry, Kuruk’s a perfectly cool Avatar.” The woman stepped stood up from her desk and walked over to where I was standing, she was barely taller than me. “Even though he barely recorded anything and only lived to be thirty-three.”

“You can call me Haruko, by the way. Follow me.”

As Haruko led me through the bookshelves, I noticed that instead of being organized like a normal library, the books were categorized into shelves by name. Some shelves only had a few books each, while names had so many books they spanned multiple shelves. I recognized a few of the names from history class, even Szeto, whom Haruko had mentioned earlier. Eventually, Haruko stopped in front of a small shelf, with only a few blue-bound books. On the right side of it were a few shelves of yellow books labeled ‘Yangchen’ and on its left, green books labeled ‘Kyoshi’. The blue shelf was labeled ‘Kuruk’ and housed the least amount of books I had noticed so far.

“Here we are, Avatar Kuruk,” Haruko announced. “It’s not much. Since he lived such a short timethere isn’t too much he did in those years. He was only the avatar for about 17 years. Plus he kept his personal life extremely private. Like ‘only me and my future incarnations will ever know this’ private.” Haruko laughed at some sort of joke I didn’t pick up on.

I went to inspect the books. They all seemed relatively normal aside from the fact every author was credited as ‘Avatar’. “Are they all…”

“Primary sources? Yep!” Haruko said. That’s the thing about our library, we only house books written by the avatars themselves, whether it’s about them or their past lives. Kyoshi wrote most of the books in Kuruk’s section, but Aang wrote a few too, I think. All the first editions are housed in museums and stuff because they’re extremely old, other than Korra’s and a few of Aang’s.”

I marveled at the books, tracing the golden lettering upon the spine. The Spiritual Chronicles of Water Avatar Kuruk, recorded by his immediate succecessor, Avatar Kyoshi the title read.

“That’s a good one,” Haruko commented. “Gets real in-depth about the context of spiritual conflict during that time and the political ramifications of Kuruk’s death. Though if you want a fun one-” Haruko pulled a thinner book from the shelf and handed it to me.

“The life of Avatar Kuruk- as recorded by himself.” I read the title.

“Ok it’s not all fun, it gets super sad around the middle and you end up feeling absolutely terrible for the guy, but it is a good read. And if you’re doing a project about Kuruk, there’s no better journal to read than his own.”

After helping me pick out a few more of Kuruk’s books, even including a collection of Yangchen’s poetry he recorded during his lifetime, Haruko directed me back to the front desk.

“Now, these are due back in two weeks,” Haruko explained while carefully wrapping my books. “They are historical, important texts so try not to mess them up too bad.” She gave me a playful smirk as she handed me the books.

I nodded back at her, said goodbye, and turned to leave. It was only after I was a mile away from the library did I realize what made Haruko so familiar- she was the avatar.