Akuudan

Akuudan was a trusted warrior of the Water Tribes, serving in an important role for Chief Oyaluk during the Platinum Affair, along with his husband Tayagum. After being imprisoned in the Earth Kingdom when the international blunder began to unfold, Akuudan and Tayagum became trusted contacts and allies of Avatar Yangchen, and helped her investigate and bring an end to the Unanimity project.
== History ==
=== Early history ===
Akuudan was originally from the Southern Water Tribe, though he served in a high-profile, secretive military capacity for the Water Tribes that involved direct orders from Chief Oyaluk in the Northern capital of Agna Qel'a. At some point, he met and married Tayagum, a fellow warrior who hailed from the Orca Islands. They modified the traditional custom of giving a hand-carved necklace by both wearing betrothal armbands; Akuudan made Tayagum use all of his failed attempts at carving to use as stones on his own armband.
During the Platinum Affair, they served as expedition quartermasters, escorting the Water Tribe's payment of platinum ingots to General Nong under diplomatic pretenses. However, they were run down by Earth King Feishan's forces at Llamapaca's Crossing, along with the platinum they were guarding. The Water Tribe ambassadors could not get them released right away, and eventually, they stopped trying. The two warriors were disavowed by Oyaluk, and were only freed when Avatar Yangchen personally took it upon herself to negotiate amnesty for them. The husbands became firm allies of Yangchen, believing her to be a person who would help others without question. After being freed, they came to run a Water Tribe inn located in the shang city of Jonduri which could act as a safe house for the Avatar's allies.
=== Unanimity project ===
In year 17 of the era of Yangchen, Akuudan was introduced to Kavik at the inn when his husband picked up Yangchen's spy that she would be using in Jonduri, and had to smash his face into a hard surface so that he would not be recognized by Harbormaster Lee. Akuudan was shocked and went to bone set, jamming the wooden rods into Kavik's nostrils to realign his breathing passages. After Kavik woke up, Akuudan and Tayagum had a meal prepared for Kavik so that he could regain his strength. The young man started openly speculating about their past, wondering if they were Northern guard or Thin Claws, and both were dismissive. They explained that they thought Yangchen was too trusting, to the astonishment of Kavik, who thought she had no connection to her Air Nomad ways. They then explained their past and what Yangchen had done for them, and how they followed her out of a deal, rather than her being the bridge between humans and spirits. Kavik then explained his plan to steal information from Jonduri and how he had done this before in Bin-Er, but Akuudan and Tayagum warned him of Zongdu Chaisee's overwhelming influence in Jonduri compared to the other shang cities. They told him that they had been playing the game much longer than him, but then Kavik pointed out that one of them would have to break their assistant's nose tomorrow so that Lee wouldn't suspect anything. Akuudan growled that he would do it, and slammed his fist on the table.
For the next three days, Kavik helped Akuudan with inside chores, though Yangchen did not turn up. Akuudan was testy when Kavik finally pointed out that something was wrong, and explained to him that messages via hawk tended to go missing in Jonduri. He explained that he and Tayagum had found a good lead to get him in with Chaisee's association so that he could pull off the mission, with the window closing that night. Kavik then volunteered to go get recruited, pointing out that the Avatar would take the risk herself if she could, and Akuudan grunted in resignation.
Yangchen came to the safe house after a long detour to Ma'inka Island, and Akuudan and Tayagum were present to see her reunite with Kavik. Kavik began to pass out from the shock of disposing of Qiu and Sidao's corpses, and Akuudan told him that he had to stop passing out in the inn once Yangchen got her informant to his feet with airbending. Kavik confessed what he had had to do as part of the initiation process, and Yangchen stormed out the inn in shock, with Akuudan lamenting that they were not going to find her. After the incident had passed and Yangchen had gotten over what had happened, her companions planned for Kavik to infiltrate the primary storage facility for goods going from Jonduri to Bin-Er, and finding the logbook that had Unanimity's details. Akuudan reminded Kavik about the loading crews being unhappy, and told him that matters had come to a head, with workers staging lockdowns of warehouses used for sorting and rearranging shipments, with queues growing and growing, and all manner of cargo sitting there within.
Akuudan and Tayagum were there when Kavik met up with Yangchen, and told them that they were wrong about Unanimity, with it still being in Port Tuugaq. Akuudan asked what ship Unanimity was on, and Kavik lied that it was on the Sunbeam. With Yangchen planning to fly to Port Tuugaq or the Sunbeam itself on open water, the Avatar tasked the two Water Tribe warriors with keeping an ear out for the warehouse workers in case Chaisee tried to retaliate against them. Yangchen returned to Jonduri from Port Tuugaq, concluding that they had been wrong about the Sunbeam. She picked up Akuudan, Tayagum, and Kavik's associate Jujinta from Jonduri for their own safety and the extra help in dealing with Unanimity after being told to get back to Bin-Er as soon as possible.
When they came to Bin-Er, Yangchen and her team planned to take down the three combustionbenders ready to begin a great display of might that would put geopolitical power in the hands of the shang cities. They first conducted a raid on Xiaoyun's position, with Yangchen dealing with the man so effectively that Akuudan and Tayagum only had to pick up his unconscious form. They repeated the process for Thapa. After Yangchen began to remove the air from the room, Akuudan hefted the unconscious combustionbender over his shoulder and carried him away with his arm. The team then tried to apprehend Yingsu, but found that Kavik was in her line of sight; Akuudan, Tayagum and Kavik all screamed as she put herself in Yingsu's way near the gathering hall. However, the confrontation provided an opening for Jujinta to shoot Yingsu with an arrow, and the Avatar apprehended the last combustionbender after healing her. After meeting up with Yangchen to discuss what he had truly done, Kavik assumed that Akuudan and the others would have been told that he betrayed Yangchen in Jonduri by sending her to Port Tuugaq.
== Physical description ==
Akuudan was considered a "giant" to many. He had only one arm, said to be "bigger than some people's legs", and even his fist was described as being the "size of a brick".
== Abilities ==
Akuudan was a waterbender, and also skilled at field healing without the use of bending. He knew how to bone set, and had several smooth, polished wooden instances that he could use. He was a proficient warrior and very strong.
== Relatives ==
== Appearances ==
== References ==
Category:A to Z
Category:Characters
Category:Characters with disabilities
Category:LGBT+ characters
Category:Major characters (Yangchen novels)
Category:Southern Water Tribe characters
Category:Water Tribe characters
Category:Waterbenders
Category:Yangchen novels characters
Category:Yangchen's network