If I can stop one
heart from breaking,
I shall not live in
vain
-Emily Dickinson
Leaving them there had been necessary, no matter how Sokka complained. They didn't realize, but he knew. He knew what he was doing. He knew the possibilities. He knew a "few days" would stretch into something much more. And he knew what he had asked of her though she did not. He remembered it clearly.
"Aang, are you sure? He's so. . . dangerous."
"Not anymore, he just doesn't realize it and he doesn't hear his uncle. He needs a friend, Katara. Try to look past the past."
What had she meant by dangerous? The same kind of dangerous that Katara was to himself? He didn't want to think about it, didn't want to know. The thousand lives inside him were enough to tell him he was doing the right thing. If only to do penance for the 100 years he had left the world to fend for itself he would make the sacrifice peace required of him. His thousand lives burned with shame to remember his cowardice. But they understood. It was what each had wanted to do. So it was their penance too. With a thousand voices to support him he hoped to rise above selfish desires of the past to take his place as the soul of all the earth.
As the sun reached its zenith he closed his eyes to begin gathering the strength he knew he would need when he returned. Then he was lost to the world of the living.
