i.
The castle is right-side up and bright as a beacon when Aang's glider breaks through the tree canopy. Its spires remind him of the prayer towers when the Air Nomads held their call for afternoon chants, ancient songs he can only hum now. And, architecture aside, he can see how it is like the air temples left behind. Aang repositions himself in mid-air and stares wide eyed in the shadow of his new perspective, waiting for the similarities to vanish. Or the castle itself.
When he lands on the parapets and slips into the corridors the sameness doesn't go away; however, he feels it is only familiar as he knows the temples now. Graveyards. Catacombs. Mazes that hide secrets long held when their secret makers passed.
The glider retracts into a staff and Aang leans against it more than he needs to. He doesn't trust the walls, doesn't even really trust the ground he's walking on. But he needs to see this place, he thinks. Because he ran away once and became a witness for everything that was destroyed and this castle is the same even though its ruins still look bright and everlasting.
He moves quietly so as not to disturb anything. Quiet as death, quiet as a breeze. Except it's stiller than that because he can hear a fluttering and the flap of cloth that is not his robes and not his hair (as if he had any). Then he forgets all caution and is rolling, flying on the air, chasing after it, calling out—
Wait!
Please I won't hurt you...
Wait I'm—!
The fluttering stops and he can hear a wide, cavernous echo as the wind blows through the hollow places under arches and down hallways. But he knows in the currents that there is something between him and the wind. The size and shape of a young boy standing in wait.
I'm the Avatar. An Air Nomad, we lived in places like these.
The spirit turns slowly. There is a face but not its features. Regardless, Aang cannot help but feel an overwhelming sadness from him. The trim of a white cape is the only thing that moves.
I've been asleep for so long...
He can't help but think it stares through him as the spirit turns and vanishes into thin air. Or not even the air because Aang sucks in a breath and suddenly it feels stale and stagnant in his lungs. The castle is less real to him now more than ever. He wants to cry.
...I thought I was the last one.
ii.
"You're not pulling anything out of my chest!"
"I'm not the one who drank my water supply on the way here!" Katara snaps back, and her finger is sharp and accusing against Sokka's stomach. "On the way to a duel, you're the one with our best weapon in your belly!"
"There were a billion stairs to climb! How was I supposed to know we'd almost die of dehydration before reaching the top!"
Across the arena, Nanami flips her hair dismissively. "Big Brother, are you sure they're worth dueling?"
Touga smiles, staring at Katara. "Don't underestimate them. They may be new but they hold a power that interests the Ends of the World. At least the girl does..."
There is a purr in his voice that makes Sokka snap to attention and glare at the older Kiryuu. "Hey! Back off my sister!"
"Big Brother wasn't doing anything of the sort!" Nanami retorts, just as defensive. "He wouldn't show any interest in her at all if it wasn't for this duel."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Why would he care about her when he has me to duel for him. You're siblings, you should know about how that bond is special..."
"...uh," says Sokka.
Katara understands more and slowly asks, "Is that what you meant by Rose Bride?"
"Not all the pairs are siblings but it helps," Touga responds, gracious and smooth. "A duelist needs a second after all. And he makes a fine Rose Bride for you, being the protective type."
"I'm not anyone's bride!"
"Sokka..."
"Katara, are you listening to these crazies?! Look, I know you can bend and have all this girl power and stuff, but let me fight them! I have a boomerang!"
"Please don't take this the wrong way or their way but..." Katara doesn't finish as she puts out her hand and Sokka swoons in expert motion as she pulls out her weapon for the duel. She's going to beat Touga Kiryuu at his own game, she thinks in silent resolution, and prove him wrong.
Except for the part where Sokka makes an excellent Rose Bride. That's something even she can concede.
iii.
"So these help you see better?" Toph mutters disinterestedly as her grubby fingers slide over curved glass before handing them back.
"Something like that."
Toph doesn't like the way Anthy speaks. There's something in her voice that is meant to be false but her heartbeat doesn't change. Her movements are as deceptively calm as her words, where whatever she says is a truth but not the truth.
There's a rustle and Toph knows Anthy is pulling out her handkerchief to wipe away the dirt she left on the lenses. "You said you see through the ground."
"Yeah," Toph grunts and grabs a fistful of dirt. "You overwater your roses. Except those."
"The white ones?"
"Gee, I'd think they were green—whatever, the ones I'm pointing at."
Anthy smiles, in a way that Toph can feel even though she can't see it. "They lose their petals faster that way."
"You're the resident gardener here."
"Ah, but you would do well at gardening if you chose to," Anthy says. It's almost sweet enough to be tempting, even as Toph remembers the differences of the garden her parent's kept her in, the suffocating comfort. And then she discovered the harsh mountainsides that cut her bare soles where she first found the badgermoles and freedom.
Toph rolls over so her back is to Anthy, suddenly tired and very sick of being in the greenhouse. "Not my style."
iv.
"You may begin."
The elevator begins to slide and Mai resists the urge to reach for her knives. She doesn't like enclosed spaces, and she really doesn't like people talking to her in measured voices, as if they could control her better if they asked nicely.
"Oh joy." Mai deadpans. "Where to start. My dad gets this post to oversee a new colony which is in the middle of nowhere. Boooring. It's enough to make you wish for death. And one day Princess Azula shows up, so I think that's exactly what she's going to do. Only not. She wants me to bring back her brother and uncle to the capital for their failures, and anything's better than that dump so I go along with it..."
"Deeper. Go deeper..."
"She needs Zuko to take over Ba Sing Se, and she needs him to leave with her once it's done. But they never got along because it's Azula. So she sets us up because. Well, we liked each other. Maybe he'd leave for me."
The elevator door slides open and a figure stands in the light. "The path before you has been prepared. I suppose you have no choice but to revolutionize the world."
Mai sighs, dusting off her gown before shoving past him. "Whatever. You weren't listening anyway. The revolution's already been taken care of. Last time I ask for romantic advice..."
v.
When Ty Lee flips herself off the windshield and lands in a handstand on the front of his car hood, Akio Ohtori knows he's found someone special.
vi.
"You say they were working on a project?" Azula asks. "And it caught fire?"
Miki coughs politely and tries not to stare back at the girl's predatory gaze, instead turning to her brother. "Yes. Now it's been renovated into a seminar hall. If you'll excuse me, I have to get to my music lessons..."
Zuko watches him go and feels a stir of pity. Mostly for himself because it means he's left alone again with Azula, where he almost wishes he was still talking to Miki in their house and dealing with the vicious glares of ihis/i sister instead of Zuko's own.
But he does not have to suffer being alone with her long before a figure steps out from the dark hallways, and Azula's attention is turned on something else.
"These are not seminar hours," she says in accusation, as if they were not already visitors in this place.
The man has a manic look in his eyes that makes Zuko wary. If his sister feels the same she never shows it, even as he steps forward. "You two are not welcome here," he intones with grave displeasure. "Mamiya is not to be disturbed."
"We're just looking around," Zuko interjects.
"You're never just," the man responds and rubs at his eyes, like he is just stepping into the light or he's lost his glasses.
Azula's lips curl into an amused sneer. "Do you know who we are?"
"I know you, witch. And your brother. I know what you've done," the man says with a calmness that doesn't disguise he's still quite mad. He clutches his shoulder like it has been wrenched from its socket. He goes on as if they're not there, speaking of games and illusions and deceptions, all of which is met with silence by the two Fire Nation royals.
"You think you can keep the power of eternity away from me and Mamiya, but I am doing it for him. Even if I lost to the girl, I will achieve it one day."
Azula scoffs, "Really. If I had this power why would I ever bother sharing it with my brother?"
He looks confused at the concept, as if the gears in his mind had ground to a halt and been reworked suddenly. "Because you two are lovers."
"..." says Azula.
"..." says Zuko.
They turn to each other in full, abject revulsion and turn back to the madman.
And that is the second time the Nemuro Memorial Hall burnt down.
vii.
Zuko can't clearly remember how he ended up with a mouthful of green hair and a fist against his kidney, but he was fairly certain it had to do with honor. But then Saionji bites down in retaliation and he stops caring about anything except for kicking him square in the teeth.