by Nickelodeon
do his Avatar peacemaking routine. His suggestion
that the two tribes share the guide and travel across
together went over like a Fire Nation ship in a Water
Tribe village.
“We’d rather be taken by the Fire Nation than
travel with those stinking thieves,” said the Gan Jin
leader.
“We wouldn’t travel with you tyrants anyway!”
said the Zhang leader.
Finally Aang got mad. “All right, here’s the deal!”
he yelled. “You’re all going down together, and Appa,
my flying bison, will fly all the sick and the elderly
from both tribes across the canyon. Does that seem
fair?”
At first I was impressed by Aang’s skill. But then
I realized what this meant for me—I was going to
have to walk across the enormous canyon on foot!
And then came even more bad news. The guide told
us that no one could bring any food down into the
canyon because it would attract dangerous predators.
Sounded like this was going to be some fun trip!
We descended into the canyon, following a narrow
winding ledge that ran along the sheer rock face. When
we came to a huge gap in the pathway, the guide used
his Earthbending powers to extend large chunks of
rock from the canyon wall to complete the missing
pieces of the path. Later, when a rockslide almost
buried us, the guide Earthbended the avalanche of
stones completely away from us. Talk about a handy
guy to have around when you’re crossing a rock-filled
canyon! No wonder the tribes didn’t want to cross it
without him. Finally, we reached the bottom of the
canyon wall safely. Suddenly a giant monster that
looked like a cross between a spider and a crocodile
crawled down the canyon wall and snatched the guide
in its jaws.
I immediately grabbed my boomerang and flung it
at the beast. After all, I am a warrior, and someone had
to protect our guide. My weapon struck the creature
right in the eye, forcing it to drop the Earthbender. It
was an amazing shot! But before I could rejoice in my
skill, the creature turned
and charged at me!
Katara swatted the
beast with a Waterbending
move, but it didn’t work.
The creature turned its
big ugly mouth toward
her and snapped. Nobody
attacks my sister, no
matter how big of a pain
she is! As I reached back
for my boomerang again, Aang leaped in, blowing
the creature away with an Airbending blast, causing
it to cower back inside a distant cave.
“What was that?” Aang asked as we all hurried
over to the guide.
“Canyon crawler,” the guide gasped, obviously in
pain. “And there’s sure to be more.”
Both of the guide’s arms were broken, and without
his arms, he couldn’t Earthbend—which meant we
were trapped in the canyon. I knew coming down here
on foot was a bad idea! I was really mad. I thought the
whole point of not bringing any food down here was
so that we wouldn’t have to deal with creatures like
that. If I had known other people were bringing food
down here, I sure would have brought a snack. The
question was, who was the culprit?
“It’s the Zhangs!” cried the Gan Jin leader. “They
brought food with them!”
“What!” cried the Zhang leader. “If there’s anyone
who can’t go without food for a day it’s you pampered
Gan Jins!”
That’s when the two tribes started arguing again, each
one saying that they wouldn’t take one more step with
the other. I thought that Katara and I fought a lot, but
these guys were ridiculous.
“Stop!” Aang finally yelled to be heard over all the
shouting. “I thought I could help you all get along, but
I see now that that is impossible! We’ll have to split up.
Gan Jins, you travel on one side of the canyon, Zhangs
on the other.”
Then Aang asked me to travel with the Zhangs and
Katara to travel with the Gan Jins so we could try to find
out why they hated each other so much. That was fine
with me, as long as we just kept moving.
That night, I watched the Zhangs set up their campsite.
None of them put tarps on the tents. They said they
didn’t need to because it was the dry season. And they
told me that they like to use the tarps as blankets. Finally,
someone who understood me! I really liked these guys.
And I couldn’t wait to tell Katara that she was totally
wrong about the whole tarp thing.
Then, I liked these Zhangs even more when one of
them pulled out food and offered some to me! Man,
was it delicious. The Zhang leader told me that the Gan
Jins thought so poorly of the Zhangs that the Gan Jins
probably brought food along because they assumed the
Zhangs would—which is why the Zhangs brought their
food.
Whatever, all I know is I was hungry and that roasted
leg of something or other was really good! Anyway, as
I munched, the Zhang leader told me why the Zhangs
hated the Gan Jins so much.
One hundred years ago, a Zhang named Wei
Jin was traveling when he saw that a member of the
Gan Jins named Jin Wei had collapsed just outside
the village. Jin Wei was carrying an orb, sacred to
his people, back to their village. Wei Jin stopped to
help Jin Wei, who told Wei Jin to bring the orb to
the Gan Jin village. Wei Jin promised to send help
back for the injured Jin Wei. But as soon as Wei Jin
crossed the border into Gan Jin territory, instead of
thanking him for delivering their sacred orb, the Gan
Jins threw him into jail for twenty years! The Zhangs
never forgave the Gan Jins for this great injustice.
No wonder the Zhangs hated those Gan Jins. What
an awful thing to do. I’d be pretty mad too if they
did that to one of my fellow Water Tribe warriors.
Besides, they gave me food, so how bad could they
be?
The next morning the Zhangs and the Gan Jins
met near a tall rock.
“Sokka, Katara, will these people cooperate long
enough to get out of the canyon?” Aang asked us.
“I don’t think so, Aang,” Katara said. “The Zhangs
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named Wei Jin ambushed and attacked a Gan Jin
named Jin Wei just to steal the Gan Jins’ sacred orb.”
I was shocked. How could Katara believe such an
obvious lie! I tried to explain that Wei Jin was just
trying to return the sacred orb to the Gan Jins but as
usual, my sister wouldn’t listen to me. She had made
up her stubborn mind and that was that.
And we weren’t the only ones arguing. The Zhangs
and Gan Jins began shouting at each other again.
Then they drew their weapons and began fighting.
Suddenly Aang broke up the fighting with a huge
Airbending move that flung the two leaders back to
their sides of the canyon and forced the food they had
smuggled in to fall to the ground. Aang was furious
about the food, but he didn’t have much time to yell
before a whole bunch of canyon crawlers showed up!
Katara took my hand. “Sokka,” she said, “I don’t
care about this stupid feud. I just want us to get out
of here alive!”
“Me too. I only took their side ’cause they fed
me,” I admitted.
There were times when I was really glad that
Katara was my sister. I knew deep down she cared
more about me than about being right. I half expected
a comment from her about me thinking with my
stomach and not my head, but she didn’t say a word.
We just ran for it.
We battled the canyon crawlers the best we could,
but it seemed hopeless. There was no way we could
beat them—but Aang came up with a plan so we
didn’t have to.
Aang jumped onto a crawler’s back, then guided
it over to where the food had fallen. He scooped up
the food and wrapped it in a sack, which he tied to a
stick. Then he dangled the food in front of a crawler.
When it stuck its head out to grab the food, Aang
covered its mouth with one of the empty sacks that
the food was in. Everyone else did the same thing.
Then we pointed our sticks up the canyon wall. The
crawlers chased the food right up the wall, carrying all
of us on their backs!
I have to admit I was pretty creeped out riding on
the back of that thing, but as long as I dangled food
in front of its nose it didn’t seem to be interested in
me at all.
When we reached the top, Aang shouted for
everyone to jump off and toss their food over the
cliff, back down into the canyon, where the crawlers
followed it.
“I never thought that a Gan Jin could get his hands
dirty like that,” the Zhang leader remarked.
“And I never thought you Zhangs were so reliable
in a pinch,” the Gan Jin leader said.
“Perhaps we’re not so different after all,” the
Zhang leader commented.
“Too bad we can’t rewrite history,” the Gan Jin
leader said. “You thieves stole our sacred orb from Jin
Wei.”
“You tyrants unjustly imprisoned Wei Jin!”
the Zhang leader cried, yanking his hand free and
grabbing his sword.
“Wait a second,” Aang said, stepping in between
the two leaders. “Jin Wei, Wei Jin? I know those guys,”
Aang said. “I might not look it, but I’m one hundred
and twelve years old. I was there one hundred years
ago on the day you are talking about. There seems to
be a lot of confusion about what happened. First of
all, Jin Wei and Wei Jin weren’t enemies, they were
brothers—twins, in fact. And they were eight. And
most importantly,
they were just
playing a game.
The sacred orb
from the legend?
That was the ball.
And the Eastern and
Western gates, those
were the goal posts.
Jin Wei had the ball and was running to score a goal
when he fell down and fumbled it. Wei Jin picked
it up and started running toward the other goal, but
he stepped out of bounds. So the official put him
in the penalty box for two minutes, not in jail for
twenty years. Don’t get me wrong, Wei Jin was kind
of a slob, and Jin Wei was a little bit stuffy, but they
respected each other’s differences enough to share the
same playing field.”
“I suppose it’s time we forget the past,” the leader
of the Zhangs declared.
“And look toward the future,” the leader of the
Gan Jins added with a bow.
“Then let us travel to the Earth Kingdom capital
together, as one tribe!” the Zhang leader declared, as
they set off toward the capital.
“That was some luck that you knew Jin Wei and
Wei Jin,” I said.
“You could call it luck, or you could call it lying!”
Aang said. “I made the whole thing up!”
Katara and I were shocked! But I have to admit,
I was really impressed with Aang. He really was a
great peacemaker. Even if it took a little white lie to
make the peace, it was still a great strategy. Hmm .
. . I wonder if he’s ever duped me and Katara into
forgiving one another with a made-up story like that?
No way, he could never dupe me! Anyway, from now
on I’m definitely going to make a point of not fighting
so much over stupid things—I mean, if we spend our
energy fighting against each other, how will we have
the strength to fight the real enemy?
Zhangs, and the Great Divide, the largest canyon in
the world.
Some people have said that the canyon is the
result of millions of years of erosion, but local belief
teaches that the canyon was carved into the ground
by Earth spirits who were angry with local farmers for
not offering them proper sacrifices. The narrow path
along the sheer canyon wall offers the only way down.
Fraught with carnivorous creatures and missing
sections of walls, the canyon is extremely dangerous
and should not be crossed without the aid of the
Earthbender guide. He is the only one who knows
the secrets of the canyon and can re-create missing
sections of the trail to allow people to cross otherwise
perilous paths.
The Gan Jins have always been better
educated, dressed, and mannered, as
well as cleaner, than their enemy
tribe. For hundreds of years,
they performed a sacred ritual
known as the Redemption
ritual, during which their
sacred orb was carried from
the Great Eastern Gate to
the Great Western Gate, a
journey that simulated the
rising and setting of the sun.
It was thought that this ritual purified the
Gan Jins’ connection to the spirits.
Ever since the disappearance of their orb at the
hands of a Zhang, or so they thought, they have
considered the Zhangs to be dirty, lazy, slovenly people
lacking in self-respect.
THE GAN JINS
THE GAN JINS AND THE ZHANGS
THE WESTERN GATE
The origins of the sacred orb are
unknown. With each passing year,
the story of the missing orb becomes
more and more blurred. It has been
discussed that the orb may not have
existed at all, or that if it did, it was
just a simple toy for children.
THE GAN JI
NS’
SACRED ORB
Historically, the Zhang tribe is known as a sloppy
and unrefined people. Much of this is due to their wild
professions as outdoorsmen and hunters. However, in
modern days the Zhangs have been involved in many
other industries as well. Since the feud began, the
Zhangs have viewed the Gan Jins as a stuffy, overly