A/N: Man I've been reading the Dresden Files series and rewatching Avatar the Last Airbender and this really strangely dumb idea popped in my head. Ancient Mai...okay I'll take that as a stretch and make her into Mai. The calm knife throwing girl whose dead pan always made my day. What if, Mai was a witch? She didn't grow old as everyone else did, lived on as everyone else died.

Let's say that in the end, the air benders died out and with them the Avatar. They were unable to complete the cycle, and bending as a whole vanished, swallowed up by western magic.

But not all is lost. Time is fluid after all, and dangerous but it doesn't stop people from wanting the Avatar's power.

This is after Turn Coat and after the end of season 3 of Atla

Chapter 1: Introduction

"It's been a thousand years Avatar Aang, a very long time."

It's been a damn long day.

Hi, if you viewers are just tuning in my name is Harry Dresden. I'm a wizard.

And today I'm going to watch another confused youth get beheaded.

Now to bring you all up to speed, I'm part of a secret order of wizards that keeps an eye on all other wizards. I'm a beat cop, or a Warden. We wear grey cloaks and are the militant arm of the White Council. We've never really seen eye to eye, myself and the Council but we get along. Sometimes.

Anyways, I'm here, watching as the Merlin speak in latin listing all the crimes. Most of them were rather violent with clear intent to harm. No one sane was going to step in to save this kid. My apprentince shivered next to me. This was her first execution, it was meant to send a signal to her and to me. I was against it, there was no one I was going to let someone as sensitive as Molly get near an execution. In the end, she decided to go. She wanted to learn, and if she were to see the judicial system of the White Council on the side of the prosecutors, so be it. She already knew what it felt to be the defendant.

Molly Carpenter was still considered a warlock, and as her mentor if she were to put a toe out of line I'll get axed five seconds later after she gets beheaded. It was a risk I was willing to take.

Molly is the daughter of a dear friend of mine who pulled my ass out of fire more than I can count. I owed it to him to make sure his daughter learned the rules. Ignorance doesn't stay the hand of the righteous.

I would know.

The kid was no more seventeen, shaggy black hair and yellow eyes. Before they put the black hood over his head, I saw a horrific burn across his face. It reminded me of the same burn on my hand, the result of a weakness being exploited. I learned my lesson, wonder if the kid learned his.

Judging by how he spat fire at the Wardens from his mouth, I'd say no.

The kid spoke something that sounded like korean, something like that. It was Asian, okay? I was more worried about not getting incinerated.

After we managed to sedate the kid and drag him into the room.

Hell's bells the kid had power. And when I mean power, I don't mean the kind of power I have. He operated on a whole different level of magic, spewing fire at us with simple gestures. I have focuses, my blasting rod for example helps me shape my magic and focus it into a powerful point. I could spit out fire as well but not like this kid could. If he wasn't moving so erratically, like a person getting used to their new clothes he would have broken free and killed a few of us in the process.

Frankly it was scary and suspicious.

It was strange that he suddenly showed up on our radar. Someone like him would have popped up already, and someone would have gone over to give him the usual spiel. Do something stupid and you won't live to regret it. No one knew him, none of the Wardens stationed in the vastness of the Asian countries.

Suspicious in that the Warden guards had been tripled.

And that said something.

After a disastrous attack by the Red Court in which we lost a huge number of veteran Wardens, our numbers have been low and they were reduced to scraping from the bottom of the barrel. Most of the Wardens are now kids who are barely older than teenagers and in mind therapy to erase brainwashing.

Or it could be that, Ancient Mai was here and while she may not hold a grudge against me she scared the shit out of me. I won't ever say I understand what's going on in her head so I don't even try. It could be that she feared I would try to save this kid too and had Wardens on hand just in case, or that something dangerous might happen and she'd need the backup.

Ancient Mai is one of the Senior Council members. She's also a heavy magic thrower. She has the experience to back her up and make her a serious opponent to anyone who tries to match wills with her. There are other things about her that remain a mystery. It adds to the scary aura that hung around her. The fact that she looked worried-no apprehensive was freaky. There was something else up, something no one was telling me.

Whatever it was, I was on edge too.

See magic-all magic makes waves. It leaves behind a residual. If one is sensitive or taught, they could sense a spell being made or a veil. Sometimes you can also sense openings to the Way. It's like a sixth sense, and it saved my life more than I could count.

Probably the only thing that saved me from getting brained from behind.

I felt it first, a wiff of spring air. We were in a warehouse, a warded warehouse without any air conditioning or open windows. I dropped to the floor, dragging my apprentice with me. A figure dart above me too quick for me to guess who it could be. An orge? A farie? A vampire?

Hell's bells, I have way too many enemies.

A quick glance behind me revealed the opening of the Way and the Wardens converging on it and the intruder. I saw another figure walk through, bare feet stepping onto the concrete. The doorway closed up behind her. I knew it was a her, the face was too feminine. That and her hair style, how many guys could actually wear that..puff ball hair do? No one, that's what.

My gust twisted as my vision told me what I already knew. It was girl younger than Molly and a combatant. I had my staff up and ready, my will already shaping my magic. The ground suddenly softened and swallowed me up, sinking me to my neck. I could see my fellow Wardens were caught in the same attack. They like myself were quite unprepared for this.

What the fuck.

Seriously.

My mind worked furiously. Was the girls working with fire bug? Were they trying to break him out?

"AVATAR!" The loud howl broke through my thoughts like an ice pick to the brain. There was such dark magic in those words, it left a bad feeling behind. Even the skinwalker didn't have such an effect, a warbling tone that just sank into my bones. Whatever it was, it was bad.

I could feel the heat of flames roaring over head. I used my shield to keep myself, apprentice and anyone else I could alive. My new shield now deflected fire instead of just kinetic energy. I learned my lesson. I'll be damned if anyone else had to learn it the same way.

I twisted my head to the side, just in time to see the fight.

The boy with the scar on his face was fighting with a...old bald guy with a bright blue arrow tattooed on his face. A really short old guy who was out maneuvering the boy. I glanced at the kid.

There was so much anger in those eyes, and hate twisting up his face. It made his movements erratic, predictable. It didn't matter how many fireballs he threw, or how many times he yelled something. The old bald guy was taking him on and...it was hard to describe what he was doing. He was harmlessly distributing the fire, pushing it away, channeling all the energy to other places.

The fight was over in mere minutes.

In other words, this guy was good.

I could see the kid losing it, desperation overwhelming common sense. The way he looked at us, stuck in the concrete unable to do anything. His hands drew back, and he punched. A fireball the size of my car came flying at us.

Normally if I weren't stuck in the concrete I would be able to do something about it. But I was stuck, as was my stick, my gun and all sorts of fun toys that I have on hand. I didn't dare trying to blast my way out, too much risk of getting hurt or hurting someone else.

Well this sucked.