IV: Desert Spirit Library

Just before sunrise, Katara woke up and found Zuko sitting in front of a small campfire, meditating.

"Oh, good morning Zuko. Are you feeling any better?" She asked him.

"Yes, thank you." He replied… his voice was surprisingly tranquil… At least, as far as Katara was concerned. He was quieter the past couple of days, but there always seemed to be an element of aggression in him; this was the first time she saw him as completely gentle.

She took a look at the fire and saw that it rose and fell with his breathing.

"So, what is this exercise supposed to do for you?" Katara asked.

"It deepens my connection with the element and helps me to keep it under control." Zuko replied. Katara sat down and Zuko asked her: "Is there something on your mind?"

"It's your sister… She's also has two other girls fighting alongside her, and I was wondering if you could tell me anything about them."

"I think I know whom they might be, but you're going to have to describe them."

"Well one has the darkest hair I've ever seen, she throws knives, and she seems a bit gloomy and sighs a lot. The other, she seems more sweet and innocent, not threatening at all, but she's swift and agile, and with a few jabs she blocked my chi and took away my bending."

"Yeah, those are her friends, they've known each other since they were children. They're Mai and Ty Lee… Mai and I've gotten along, but I never did get to know Ty Lee too well." Zuko replied.

"What can you tell me about Azula as a fighter?"

"She's a Firebending prodigy and can bend lightning. However, that's her only fighting style. If she couldn't bend, then all she'd do is evade other attacks. She's fast, agile, ruthless, persistent, and she'll even resort to playing dirty tricks if it meant winning. You saw in the ghost town that she said that she surrendered but then struck our uncle."

They sat for a while as the others were getting up. Sokka got right to packing the bags, when he noticed something among Zuko's things. He pulled it out and found that it was a pair of swords.

"Uhh, Zuko…?"

He looked over to Sokka and saw him holding the swords. After putting out the small campfire he said: "What, haven't you seen me swordfight before? I've been training with Master Piandao since I was just a kid."

"No, we haven't, you've always preferred throwing fireballs at us… but you're saying that you can fight without your bending?"

"Master Piandao is one of the greatest masters of the sword in the Fire Nation, so yeah, I'm quite skilled with those dual swords."

"Wait, I remember those, you used these to break me out of that prison." Aang stated. Zuko nodded, and Sokka approached him to ask: "Do you think that you can show me how to fight sometime?"

"Well your skills could use a little refining." Zuko replied.

With everything packed up, they hopped into the saddle, took off, and Zuko asked: "Sokka, do you even have a sword?"

"I have a Water Tribe machete that should serve me well, and my trusty boomerang!"

"Yeah, that I remember, it's not fun to take that thing to the head." Zuko replied.

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Aang rested Appa in a savannah where he sat before a field of holes with a little flute in his hands.

"Aang, what are we doing here? There's nothing here." Sokka questioned. Toph put her hand on the ground and told him: "Actually there's a lot going on down there, there's many-"

"Toph, I know that you can see underground, but try not to ruin the surprise please." Aang spoke up. He blew a note on his flute and a gopher-mole came up and sang the same note, and as Aang continued to play more on his flute, more gopher-moles came up to sing along.

"See, I'm putting an orchestra together!" Aang declared. He then played a tune on his flute with the gopher-moles singing along before showing Katara his map and asking her where she'd like to go.

"How about the Misty Palms Oasis? That sounds refreshing." She told them.

"Oh yeah, it's a pristine natural phenomenon, an iceberg, and I don't normally used the word 'pristine'." Aang replied.

However, upon their arrival, they found it to be a really seedy looking place with a Sandbender that spat at Sokka's feet as he passed. He looked like a half-dead, sickly, mummy. Zuko took a look at a notice board and saw wanted posters of himself with his uncle, his Blue Spirit alter-ego, and Aang. He quickly took the poster of he and his uncle and Aang and singed them into ash with his enclosed fists. They went inside what appeared to be something of a tavern, filled with shady characters, but the man working the counter was preparing refreshing fruit beverages using dual swords and serving them in bowls of ice. The group bought some, Zuko hiding his face under his hat. He turned, saw something, and slapped a hand over his face.

"What is it?" Aang asked him, Zuko pointed to his uncle, seated before another older man.

"Pai Sho… He's a fan of the game. When I was still travelling on my ship, he once redirected our course just to find a place to replace a tile! It was about that time when we met up with those pirates… Well it turned out that his tile was in his sleeve the whole time! Looks like we'll be staying here a while, we won't be able to drag him from the game anytime soon."

"Ah, I see that you favor the white lotus gambit. Not many still claim to the ancient ways." Iroh's opponent stated.

"Those who do can always find a friend." Iroh replied. They laid down their tiles until they formed the shape of a flower.

"Welcome brother, the white lotus opens wide to those who know our secrets."

Over at the other table, Toph's face went quizzical, and then she whispered: "Guys, I think I'm picking up some familiar vibrations, they remind me of Xin Fu and Master Yu."

"Who're they?" Zuko asked.

"Xin Fu ran a ring for Earthbenders to duel, I was his reigning champion, and Master Yu was my Earthbending teacher, although I've mastered Earthbending to the point where I could make him my student." Toph replied.

"Why would they be here?" Sokka asked.

"After I ran away, my parents may've sent them after me. They'll be trouble if they catch me." Toph replied.

"Hurry, go under the table, if they see you, we'll just have to deal with them." Sokka told her. Xin Fu and Yu looked around and didn't find anything worthwhile so they left the tavern, but Iroh had approached them and spoke: "My friend here has agreed to help us out."

"Great, does he have a more updated map?" Sokka asked. The Pai Sho player looked him right in the eyes and told him 'no'.

"I must speak with him alone, I'll be going to a flower shop with him in the next small town just to the east to discuss things. You kids can come along so long as you stay out of trouble." Iroh told them.

They were about to leave when a man bumped into them and spilled his drink on Aang, he looked quite shocked.

"It's okay, I clean up easily." Aang told him, and he blew the drink out of his clothes.

"Hey, you're a living relic! An Airbending Air Nomad!" the man exclaimed.

"Uh, thanks I try to be." Aang replied.

"I'm Professor Zei, head of Anthropology at the University of Ba Sing Se. Tell me, which air temple to you hail from?"

"The south." Aang replied as Zei buzzed around Aang, even taking measurements of his head.

"Excellent, now tell me, what was your main agricultural product?"

"Uh, do fruit pies count?" Aang asked. Sokka asked Zei if he had a more recent map to replace their dated one. Zei showed them his map only to find that there was no depiction of the Fire Nation on it.

"Doesn't anyone have a map of the Fire Nation?!" Sokka exclaimed. The others remarked about how many times he made trips into the desert, he said that he almost died every time and had yet to find the crown jewel of places to discover, the spirit Wan Shi Tong's Library. He elaborated that if there was any information to be discovered, it would be at the Knowledge Spirit's library. So Sokka declared that he'd like to spend his mini vacation at the library.

"It sounds like a good choice, my friend, but might I suggest that we stop at the flower shop before we head out?" Iroh spoke, putting a hand on Sokka's shoulder, and gesturing to his Pai Sho friend.

"Professor, we have to run an errand first, perhaps grab a couple provisions, and then we can head out on our flying bison."

"YOU HAVE A FLYING BISON!?" Zei exclaimed. They showed him Appa, whom was growling at some Sandbenders, but Zei chased them off.

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Iroh went into the flower shop for his meeting, another man allowed only him inside the back room, but he caught a good look at his companions.

Zuko pulled Aang in close and whispered: "Can you keep the professor busy for a while? There's something I need everyone to know but him." Aang nodded and offered to answer any more questions the professor had to ask about Air Nomad culture… He was ecstatic.

Zuko had everyone else gather in close and told them: "Listen, Uncle Iroh has a history with Ba Sing Se. It's the sight of his greatest military disgrace, and laid siege to it for six months before eventually withdrawing his troops. He's also known as the Great Dragon of the West. So if anyone of the Earth Kingdom asks, my name is Lee, and Iroh is my Uncle Mushi.

"Mushi, did you come up with that one for him?" Sokka asked.

"Yeah… I was a little bitter at him. He tried making a rare tea out of plant that turned out to be poisonous and had to be treated." Zuko replied.

"Well if you're going with false names, should we do something about your scar? I mean it's pretty distinctive and you have it in your wanted poster picture." Sokka asked.

"What, would you have me wear an eye patch?" Zuko replied.

"I could try healing it for you." Katara offered. She showed him her vial of spirit water and told him that it had special properties.

"No thanks, so far no one has identified me in the Earth Kingdom, besides something like that should probably be saved for a desperate situation." Zuko replied. He broke up the group, and then pulled Aang inside to tell him about his and Iroh's false names, and Iroh's history with Ba Sing Se.

Katara kept Zei busy by telling him about life in the Southern Water Tribe and collecting a few provisions, in her case some food and extra water skins.

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When Iroh emerged from the back room he showed the kids a passport to call their own to help them get around the Earth Kingdom, should the need arise, and he also told them that he knew of some correspondence. By that time, Katara and Zei had returned,

Before they went back outside, Sokka stopped them, saying that Xin Fu and Yu were outside looking for Toph, and she could hardly see in the sand. Sokka threw his boomerang and clonked them both in the heads in one boomerang slice. While they were reeling in pain, they ran and took off on Appa.

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They found that the library had been buried most of the way, save for part of a tower that connected it to the rest of the massive treasure trove of knowledge. They managed to scale the tower, but Toph stayed behind, saying: "I've held books before and never saw the appeal of them."

Right, blind.

Professor Zei went wild over the architecture, particularly at the sight of an owl mosaic, and soon enough the residing spirit showed up, and they took cover behind some pillars.

"I know you're there, come on out." The spirit spoke. Everyone emerged and the owl spirit looked down at them with curiosity.

"I often see humans come here looking to destroy their enemies, but this time, what a unified collection of misfits." The spirit spoke. He craned his neck around Iroh and added: "Particularly you, I've heard rumors and have read about you to know who you are, and I've heard of your journey to the spirit world."

"It's an honor to meet the great Knowledge Spirit, Wan Shi Tong." Iroh replied.

"Now what, or whom do you wish to destroy?" Wan Shi Tong asked.

"Rather my companions would wish to restore something that has been lost for over 100 years; and that you be the balance in the world." Iroh replied.

"I see… and I see that you respect the spirit world. Yet I am reluctant to let humans into my library after they have abused the knowledge from my library so many times… If you wish to continue through the library, you must donate to my collection."

Everyone managed to find something on their persons to donate to the library, Zei a tome of his works, Katara some scrolls, Aang gave his wanted poster, Sokka gave a fancy knot, and Iroh and Zuko provided demonstrations of new Firebending forms, but without actually bending, and so the spirit allowed them to pass and look over the scrolls.

Professor Zei split from the group; Sokka was quick to take some maps and star charts, Aang found himself enjoying tomes of animals, while Katara read up on some of Aang's past lives, and Iroh was brushing up on his botany. If there was any chance that he was going to find a rare tea herb then he was going to steep it!

Then Sokka came upon a glass case with a torched parchment and read off: "The darkest day in Fire Nation history… and a date!" He took out the parchment and brought it over to Zuko and Iroh and asked: "Could you two tell me what happened on this date?"

Iroh took the parchment and after looking it over he told Sokka: "It was a day of black sun. The Firebenders lost their bending on that day and it left us open for an attack."

"Is it possible for an eclipse to come before Sozin's Comet?"

"The eclipse is due for a return, but it is not easy to predict." Iroh replied.

A foxy knowledge seeker appeared and pointed them in a direction.

"I guess it wants me to follow it." Sokka stated, he called for the others and the followed the fox to a room that showed the movements of the heavens. With a pull of the handle it showed the movements of stars, the sun, and the moon.

For some time, Sokka fussed with the dials to adjust the dates until finally he got a date for an eclipse, and he could hardly contain his excitement, the day of the eclipse was a mere few weeks before the time the comet was to come. It would be perfect for planning an invasion! Luckily, Iroh quieted him down before he said anything that he might regret, but Wan Shi Tong arrived in the planetarium and questioned: "Now why would you want to know about this eclipse." He looked down at Sokka with accusing eyes.

"Because of this." Zuko told the spirit, as he produced a small 'poof' of flame, and added: "We're traveling together and we've hit some rough patches along the way."

"I know you plan on using this knowledge for violence." Wan Shi Tong told them.

"We haven't lied to you, in the end our goal is to end this war and restore balance to the world, but we humans are still fighting, even though we're hoping for peace." Iroh explained.

"Please, great Knowledge Spirit, as the Avatar and an Air Nomad, I'd rather end this war as peacefully as possible, through delegations and negotiations with the Fire Lord for example." Aang told him.

"However, the Fire Lord has an insatiable hunger for power, a conqueror, and he will not step down without a fight." Iroh explained.

"I care not for human problems and I am reluctant to let you go, but I saw that you've brought someone of each of the nations, you're peaceful with each other, and I see wisdom in you. You also say that you must fight to protect your own and repair the damage of the mistakes of your people. I do not like violence, for the pen is mightier than the sword, but you are using this as a last resort… I'll let you go, and perhaps if you can convince me that you've used this knowledge for the best of reasons, I'll surface this library when this war is over."

"Thank you for being so understanding, great spirit Wan Shi Tong." Iroh told him.

"Yes, but now you must leave, I'll show you your way out." Wan Shi Tong told them.

As they moved through the library, they've found Professor Zei surrounded by a pile of books and scrolls, the spirit looked over to him and spoke: "You were truly here for the sake of knowledge."

"I could spend an eternity in here."

"Then you may stay but eventually you'll have to sate your thirst and hunger. You'll be welcomed back." Wan Shi Tong told him.

The others were shown to their climbing rope, only to find that once they've surfaced, Toph had balled herself up with tears in her eyes, and Appa was missing!

"Toph, where's Appa!?" Aang asked, alarmed.

"He's gone! Sandbenders snuck up on me and I couldn't fight back! My grip on sand isn't the same as rock and soil, and I couldn't feel their vibrations so I couldn't see them!"

"You still didn't fight hard enough!" Aang exclaimed.

"I've heard at least a dozen voices! How was I supposed to take on those numbers when I couldn't see them while trying to bend a form of earth that I've hardly bent before?" Toph retorted.

"Well which way did they go?" Aang asked. Toph pointed in a direction, and Aang took off on his glider to pursue his bison, leaving the others to walk and Momo to perch of someone's shoulder.

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As they were crossing the desert Katara bent equal shares of drinking water, but Sokka's hunger drove him to take his machete and slice off a chunk of cactus to try and eat it, although the juice was also rather thirst quenching: "Drink cactus juice, it'll quench ya, nothing's quenchier, it's the quenchiest!"

"Yeah, I think you've had enough." Katara told him

Momo started flying in wild circles until he got dizzy and crashed, and Sokka looked down at Toph and asked: "Who lit Toph on fire?" Then he glanced over to Zuko, got up in his face and shouted: "IT WAS YOU!"

"I haven't bent any fire since we left the library!" Zuko snapped back; he pushed Sokka aside and calmly walked past him.

"Come on lets keep going." Katara told them.

As they walked, Katara looked over to Zuko and Iroh and spoke: "You two ought to feel pretty comfortable in this intense sun and heat."

"Yeah, I feel like I could do pretty well in a fight right now, maybe even take on a small army, but I don't see how Firebending is going to help us." Zuko replied.

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By late afternoon, they felt a sudden gust of wind, and they saw a giant eruption of sand.

"What is that?" Katara asked.

"It's a giant mushroom. MAYBE IT'S FRIENDLY!" Sokka exclaimed.

"I believe it's an enraged Airbender." Zuko stated. They weren't too fond of the idea of chasing Aang when he was in such an emotional state, so they carried on.

Aang returned to them at sundown, and at this point everyone was feeling exhausted and some of them even hopeless, but Katara pushed everyone to go on. Even though the Firebenders felt like they were in their element, they too were exhausted from all the walking, and the sun was no longer fueling their energy.

At nightfall, Katara said that they should rest for a while, and everyone just dropped in the sand. They rested for a few hours, waking up to see buzzard-wasps circling them before pressing on.

"Ow! Ugh, I am so sick of not feeling where I am going! And what idiot buried a boat in the middle of the desert anyway?" Toph shouted.

"A boat?" Katara questioned.

"Believe me, I kicked it hard enough to feel plenty of vibrations." Toph replied.

They started to dig it out, but Aang merely blew all the sand away with a swing of his staff.

"It's one of the Sandbenders, and it's got a compass on it! We can get out of here!" Katara exclaimed. They boarded the boat and Aang filled the sail with air, following the compass it didn't point north according to the star charts, but it led them to a giant rock and they stopped there. Katara hoped to find some water inside, Aang hoped to find some Sandbenders, Toph was just happy to be on solid ground again. She dropped down and started making a rock angel. Sokka also stated that his head felt like it was clearing up from the cactus juice.

The massive rock had a network of caves. They explored it a little bit, when Sokka decided to try and eat a substance off the wall he said that it tasted like rotten penguin meat.

"You've been hallucinating on cactus juice all day and now you eat something you just found on a cave wall!?" Katara exclaimed.

"I have a natural curiosity." Sokka replied.

"If your natural curiosity keeps driving you to do things like that, it'll be the end of you one day." Zuko told him grimly.

"Good to know that you care."

"Hey guys, something feels off about these caves, they're not natural, they've been carved. I can feel something buzzing… AND IT'S COMING FOR US!" Toph exclaimed. They ran out of the caves, as buzzard-wasps came out and attacked them! One of them snatched Momo, prompting Aang to chase after it and save the little lemur.

Another buzzard-wasp flew out and knocked Zuko off of the ledge.

"ZUKO!" Iroh cried out as he ran over to the edge in a desperate hope to catch him. He was too far down, but as he fell, he managed to figure out how to use Firebending to catch himself, and fly beak up to the ledge. He dropped right next to Sokka just after he swung at a buzzard-wasp he hallucinated.

Toph threw a boulder, and Zuko tackled Sokka out the way of its trajectory .

"Hey Toph, watch where you're throwing those things!" Sokka snapped.

"Sorry, I can't quite tell where they are in the air!"

"Thanks for the save, Zuko… but since when can you fly?" Sokka said

"Just now." Zuko replied, and he ducked from an oncoming buzzard-wasp, he glared at them saying: "I've had enough of them!" Then he started shooting fireballs at them from his fists.

Soon after Aang's return, they'd driven most of the buzzard-wasps away, but the rest were driven off by Sandbenders. They went down to meet them and they accused them of stealing their sailor, but Toph recognized the voice of one of them, and named him the man who stole, Appa.

Enraged, Aang advanced on the Sandbender: "You stole Appa! Where is he!? What did you do to him!?"

"They're lying, they're the thieves!" the thief cried out.

"You said to put a muzzle on him!" Toph called out. Aang began demolishing their sailors until rage made him give into the Avatar State, and with his legion of voices he ordered: "TELL ME WHERE APPA IS!"

By that time the thief confessed to his crime, telling them that he sold Appa to some merchants that were probably in Ba Sing Se by this point.

Sokka urged everyone else to run off while Katara entered his swirling bubble of air and comforted him in a sympathetic embrace. Once he calmed down, they used the last sailor to finally get out of the desert.

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There you go, a nice long chapter!

So please review!