A/N: So, I have some bad news and some good news- and some in between.
Good: I'm updating/finishing Falling Rain before I post anything else. (Most likely)

Bad: This chapter is 'much' shorter than I had originally planned. But I got lazy, and stopped thinking of traps to throw at Aang- especially since I let him figure out how to get around all of them with the first big one. :P

Not so bad, still not good: I don't know exactly when I'll be updating next, but this 'is' my main and only project now. (I'm still writing other things once in a while, but this is the one I'm focusing on)

Not as good as I'd like it to be: I'm working much more than I'd like to be, but just barely scraping by money-wise. Unfortunately, that means I can't write as much as I'd like, either. But sooner or later... this story'll be done.

Gray news: Plot-wise, it's just about over. Zhao's in the camp along with his army, and they're about to get a beat-down. (But from who remains to be seen... by you, at least) That being said, the battle will probably take a couple of chapters, or one long one, and then there'll be a few more to tie up loose ends. One long one, at the least.

Great news: The next chapter is also mostly written. But I still can't promise when it'll come up. But at least you have some for now, right? :)

Chap. 4 Puzzles in the dark

In Avatar Aang, last of the Airbender's humble opinion, this was taking entirely too long. Racing forward with the speed of the wind, he should have been able to overtake the crawling speed of an army forced to move underground- even if the tunnels were wide enough for twenty men to walk abreast- in less than two days. But by his calculations (judging by how often he'd slept), the young man had been in the long, almost unbroken tunnel following after the traitorous army for over a week.

And I bet Toph's furious. She'll probably knock me out again before I get a 'welcome back' hug. And I'd deserve it, too. I can't believe this!

Of course, there was little he could do. No sooner had he dashed off after his wife had sealed him in, the way illuminated by lichen and fungus, and the occasional use of his bottled Light Bugs (harvested very carefully and cared for even more carefully from the Cave of Two Lovers a two years before), than the first of many traps had been sprung. That first he'd barely escaped with his skin intact, a judicious- and lucky- super-powered burst of air from his mouth had pushed the fireball backwards, and a quick sphere of stone created around him immediately afterwards had kept the flames from returning until the gas, or whatever it was that had powered the trap, had run out.

But that wasn't the last.

Indeed, Aang had run into at least twelve traps a day, each one cunning in it's design, and almost unnoticeable unless he spent great care watching the ground, ceiling, and walls of the tunnel as he went. And it was that, combined with the delay in figuring out how to get past some of the traps, which was taking all the time.

And of course, this particular trap.

He'd been standing here for what felt like hours, watching, waiting, looking for a way through. But it seemed impossible.

In essence, the trap itself was simple. Every few seconds, one of the blades would sweep across the corridor from top to bottom along it's narrow path. That, in itself, should have been easy for an agile man- much less a master Airbender- to navigate. Even many blades, stretched out across thirty feet, or so, should have been doable if he was careful.

This trap, though, took that basic idea and turned it into a behemoth of deadly edges. Instead of a few blades, there were what looked like a hundred or more, though they were moving so rapidly and the mixture was so dense that it was impossible to get an accurate count. As well, they were moving from side to side, in both directions, and up and down, as well. To make matters worse, every once in a while, it looked like some of the blades moved diagonally, as well.

And there's no way through! Every time I see an opening, it closes. Every time I think I see a pattern, it changes. And there's just so many! How am I supposed to get through this? I could just Airbend my way through, destroy all the blades as they come. I could use any element to do that. But that'd alert them to my presence for sure. They have to have left some kind of sentry, or machine, or something to watch their backs besides all these traps. And how did the traps get here, anyway? They're all built into the walls. There's no way Zhao's men put them here, not with this kind of craftsmanship, not in a hurry. I don't understand this at all!

The Avatar continued to stare at the blades for another hour or two, until his frustration finally broke through his monumental self discipline. "Monkeyfeathers!"

While most would consider the word laughable as an oath, for the mild-mannered young man, it was about as vehement an objection to the state of the world as you could get. He pulled one hand back and cocked his half-open glider, and prepared to send a gale powerful enough to shred the entire trap down the corridor, when it hit him.

I'm... thinking like an Earthbender. I don't have to force my way through the trap... I can just go around! How? Using Earthbending, of course! An Airbender must think like an Earthbender, but an Earthbender must also think like an Airbender...

Aang looked down with a faint smile while the ground below him sank in a circle, allowing him to descend into the floor.

* * *

On the surface, Toph and June were having problems of a different sort. A messenger hawk had arrived the day before, having apparently flown around half of the Earth Kingdom looking for the giant Sky Bison. The message had been short, almost perfunctory, but it's message all to clear.
Avatar, Lady Toph.

We have a problem. Open revolt has begun in the Fire Nation, and there is fighting in the streets. My spies and agents report that similar events are happening throughout the world. Zhao has broken the agreement and attacked early. Please, send word. Tell me what you want me to do.

-Zuko, Firelord

On the one hand, they still hadn't heard from Aang. And while Toph (and June) had little doubt they would be appreciated in helping to maintain peace wherever they went, if asked, doing so without the Avatar's presence or blessing could be disastrous at worst. Even an act of war. As well, Toph missed her husband and wanted him by her side. Almost as much as she wanted to see her twins again.

On the other, like Aang, both women felt they had a duty to do their part in ending the conflict. The Earthbender, because that's who she was. As a person, the wife of the Avatar, a mother, an Earthbending master. For the former Bounty Hunter, it was a way to make amends for the decisions in her life she'd come to regret. Unfortunately, both had too many reasons to go, and too many reasons to stay, as they continued to fly north under the night sky.

"It's been nine days, Toph," the taller woman was saying, sprawled out across the front of Appa's saddle, yelling forward to her companion, ignoring the old man sleeping below her, "We can't keep searching forever. When he comes out, he'll find us."

But Toph ignored her, just as she'd done every time June had said something along those lines. I won't break the plan. Aang said he'd show up, and every time we land I can still feel the tunnel beneath us if I look. So he's here. He's either gotten ahead of, or behind us. But sooner or later we'll meed up.

After the dazzling, full moon had finally set behind the western mountains leading toward Omashu, the two women switched places, the bounty hunter now fully capable of directing Appa. Like Aang and Toph, he now trusted the woman completely, and for her part, she'd always had a particular skill with and fondness for animals many times larger than she was. Might have to get me a Sky Bison if I ever get another pet...

The bounty hunter was shaken from her reverie when the crested the last mountain in the chain to see a sea of stars below her. She pulled Appa's reigns and whispered, "Hold on there, big guy," and then back to Toph as loudly as she could and maintain a whisper, "Toph! What's that?"

The sleepy woman's voice floated up to the front immediately, "I don't know, June. I can't see it. What do you think it is?"

She was a long time answering.

"Campfires. We've found Zhao, but there's still no sign of Aang."

A/N2: So... in closing, I have to apologize (again) for the long wait between updates. At the first, I just had no/little inspiration, then I got distracted by work, then got distracted by my Naruto story Late Blossoms, (set 6-years post-Shippuden, a Saku x Naru x Hina story) which quickly reached epic length. It's longer now than all three of these will be at completion, most likely, topping 640 novel-spaced pages. On the upside of that, it's done- and some of my best work ever.

So, sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry, I'll try to do better next time, master/mistress, please don't hate me- and I'll (hopefully) be seeing you soon.
Until then, thanks for reading and reviewing- and your patience. :)