Chapter 7:

The Southern Air Temple

Some months had passed before Zuko stood before the Southern Mountains once again. The clouds still kept the temple from view, but now Zuko had a chance of reaching the frosted mountain peeks. A chance at righting the wrongs of his father and his country.

Druk lay curled on the deck of Hakoda's boat, letting the gentle rocking of the waves lull him into a light slumber. Although Druk was blissfully unaware of the war, he could tell that the anxious anticipation he had sensed among the people of the southern village where he had lived in since birth was replaced by determined spirit. It was as if the embers within the small people had finally ignited into a proper flame.

As Druk dozed off, Katara stroked the smooth scales on his head absent-mindedly. Despite her excitement over the possibility of finding the avatar in the mountain temple, she was tense and frustrated over the spat she had with her brother over the trip. He had refused to let her step foot on the boat, let alone get anywhere near the docks. He had said that it was for her safety and she was to stay and watch over the tribe instead, but Katara wouldn't stand for it. They had argued until they were both red in the face, unable to come to an agreement.

Sokka was surely being unreasonable she thought. Their was no reason to distrust Iroh and Zuko for they had been decent company during their stay in the village. Besides, everyone loved Iroh: he was a charming old man with a heart of gold, and Zuko, well, he may have looked like an angry villain at first, but Katara could tell he was just a tortured soul looking to do the right thing.

It was Hokoda who broke up the fight, and with his chiefly charisma, he cooled down his children and had them come to an agreement. They were reluctant at first, but as every water-tribesman knew, the chief's word was absolute. Katara would go on the journey, but she and Sokka would have to stay together. Hakoda knew that there wasn't much to worry about out on the remote waters of the South Pole, but Sokka was a cautious boy. He had already come up with multiple possibilities of their trip becoming a deadly trap—some of which included gigantic sea monsters or vengeful ghosts of the dead nomads. Sokka wasn't happy with Hakoda's decision, but he trusted his father's judgement, and would do the best he could to keep everyone to the agreement.

"Katara!" Sokka cried, "don't pet the dragon! He might try to eat you!"

Katara sighed at her brother's overly cautious behaviour. "He hasn't eaten me yet," she said begrudgingly, "but I'll tell you when he starts drooling."

She thought steam was going to burst from Sokka's ears, yet he attempted to keep his head and chose to sit on the opposite side of the deck to keep a suspecting eye on the napping dragon.

Hakoda watched his children glare at one another, and turned to Iroh. "I think we're close enough to the mountains," he said, "do you think Druk will make the flight."

"It is hard to say," Iroh responded, stroking his beard in thought. "Druk is still young, but if he is not overburdened, he will be strong enough to reach the temple."

"How many do you think he can carry?"

"It will depend. I, for one, may count as two whole people," he laughed.

Sokka perked up at his father's conversation. "You can't possibly let the firebenders go to the temple," he said, "the Fire Nation was responsible for its destruction!"

"Relax Sokka," Hakoda said as he gave his son a stern glance, "Korra has shown herself to these people. You need to have more faith."

"Well, they can't go alone," he argued, "someone needs to keep an eye them to make sure they aren't doing anything suspicious."

"Alright, Sokka, since it was your idea, why don't you go up to the temple."

"W-what? Really?" He gaped at his father.

"That's right. I trust that you can keep an eye on our guests, but under one condition." Hakoda paused to let his words sink in, or perhaps just for dramatic effect. "You have to bring your sister."

"Oh no," Sokka groaned, "I am not bringing Katara. She's just going to play around with her waterbendy tricks. She's not mature enough to go to the temple."

Katara glared at her brother from across the boat. "I heard that!"

"Sokka," Hakoda sighed, "either you take Katara, or neither of you get to go."

"Fine," he declared, "I'll take Katara, but if she does anything weird, I'm never letting her leave the South Pole again."

Wind whipped in Zuko's face as he sat just behind Druk's horns. The temple had yet to come into view, and he worried about having to double back if he could not spot it through the thick clouds. His unfortunate travel companion was having just as much luck.

"How did I get stuck with you," Sokka said from behind Zukko, sitting as far back as possible with his fingers tangled in Druk's mane.

"You were the one that said Katara should travel with my uncle in case Druk gets hungry and sees Iroh as a tastier meal." Zuko didn't particularly care who he travelled with to the temple, but Sokka would not have been his first choice. The boy was, understandably, wary of Zuko and his uncle, but he was irritably vocal with his protests. Zuko would have almost appreciated Iroh's proverbs if it meant he didn't have to listen to Sokka complain.

"Ugh," Sokka moaned, "but what if Druk doesn't even like the taste of firebenders—Oh! Hey, I think I see something!"

Long thin spires poked through the clouds until Zuko could see the central tower of the temple. Dull white walls and faded blue roofs blended in with the snow covered mountains, almost making the temple invisible. Thick fog settled between the buildings like shy spirits. All was quiet, and the air was still.

Zuko and Sokka dismounted Druk in silence. Their footsteps pressed into the smooth snow leaving a trail on the untouched landscape. Zuko felt as if he was trespassing on sacred land where he was not worthy of being.

"Looks like no one's been here in ages," Sokka said as he inspected a Fire Nation helmet buried in the snow. "Do you really think the Avatar's here?"

"I hope so," Zuko said quietly. He turned to Druk who stood still, staring at the tall central tower. "Druk, go get uncle."

The dragon looked at Zuko for a moment and snorted in irritation as if to say he didn't particularly feel like making the trip twice.

"Go on," Zuko urged, "if anyone is going to find the avatar, it will be Iroh." With one last look at Zuko, Druk spread his broad wings and took off into the clouded sky.

Sokka and Zuko made their way towards the central tower in silence.

When Katara set foot on the temple grounds, she was speechless. She couldn't have imagined anything close to the devastating state of the southern temple.

"Why did the Fire Nation kill all of the nomads," she asked, "they let the non-benders live in the South Pole, so why didn't they let anyone live here…."

Iroh was silent for a moment as he gave Druk, who curled up on the ground to recover from the long flight, a deserving pat on the head. "That's because all of the nomads were air benders."

"Really?" Katara said in amazement as the two of them followed the foot prints of her brother and Iroh's nephew. "How come?"

"The Air Nomads were a very spiritual race," Iroh said, "they had a deep connection to the spirit world and every one was brought up with their spiritual and pacifistic ideals. With the kind of spiritual history like they had, it is only natural for Air Nomads to have an unusually high number of children born with the ability to air bend. And because they lived separated from the rest of the world, there was very little airbending children born from outsiders."

"So the Fire Nation just killed off all of them…. That's horrible."

"Fire Lord Sozin sought power," Iroh continued, "so he was afraid of the avatar. He almost succeeded in eradicating the avatar back then."

"But if there's no airbenders, then the cycle will stop won't it!"

Iroh gave a solemn nod. "After the avatar born of the Fire Nation, there will be no one to continue the cycle and no one to face against the Fire Lord."

"We can't give up," Katara said with unwavering determination, "I'm sure the avatar is out there somewhere, but even if they aren't, I won't stop fighting. I can't let anyone else lose their homes and families to the Fire Nation!"

Iroh nodded. "Neither will I."

It wasn't long before Katara and Iroh caught up to Sokka and Zuko. The two of them were standing before a large ornate door that featured large brass tubes curled around the centre. The boys looked frustrated.

"What's wrong," Katara asked, "have you found the avatar."

"No, we haven't," Sokka grumbled, "we searched everywhere!"

"The only place we haven't been in is behind this door," Zuko said, "but it looks like it needs air bending to open the lock."

"Have you tried calling out to see if anyone's behind the door," Katara asked.

"Yeah, we have," Sokka sighed, "either their deaf or they really just want to see us struggle."

"Or there's no one here at all," Zuko sighed.

"Hmm, you could be right," Iroh said.

"Great," Sokka groaned. "There's nobody here and we've all been on a wild penguin chance."

"Perhaps the person we are searching for is not here in the physical world," Iroh continued, "but the spiritual one."

"The spiritual world?" Katara wondered, "but how can we find someone who not even in the same world as we are."

"There is a way, but there is no guarantee that it will work."

"What do we have to do?"

Sokka felt like an idiot sitting in an abandon temple with his knees crossed trying to "find" his inner peace. Like that was supposed to get him to this "spirit world" Iroh talked about. It all sounded like seal jerky to him.

"Ugh, my nose is itchy," he whispered.

"Stop talking, Sokka, I can't concentrate," Katara hissed.

"This is ridiculous."

"Sokka," Zuko said sternly, "if you don't shut up, I'm going to set your pony tail on fire."

Iroh sighed. "Have patience. Disconnect yourself from your physical body and let your mind drift like a lotus flower on a crystal clear lake—

"Uncle, that's enough about Lotuses."

"Well," Sokka said as he got up from the ground and stretched, "this has been fun and all, but I really, really need to pee."

"We didn't need to know that, Sokka!" Katara shouted after her brother and he left the group seated on the floor. She closed her eyes again and tried to concentrate. She tried to ignore how every beat of her heart and every intake of breath sounded so much louder in the silent space of the abandoned temple. The cold from the stone floor seeped into her clothing and skin which kept her rooted to to the physical world.

She wondered if Iroh and Zuko were having better luck. Surely Iroh was the one most likely to drift off into a meditative state. Zuko, on the other hand, was more impatient. Katara opened her eyes to see that both of her companions were still and silent.

"Zuko?" she whispered, "are you awake?" Zuko didn't respond. She turned to his uncle. "Iroh? Are you there?" Not a single hint of movement. She sighed. "They didn't get there without me, did they?"

Zuko didn't know when it had happened, but even with his eyes closed, he knew that his surroundings had changed. The silence of the temple was replaced by the whistling of a light breeze, and the cold stone floor sprouted soft grass and wildflowers which filled the musty air with a sweet aroma. It reminded him of the palace garden where he would spend time with his mother, so he kept his eyes closed and just absorbed the tranquil ambience. When he opened his eyes he almost expected to see the garden, but what he saw was nothing like he had ever seen before.

Colossal lily pads towered above him, reaching towards a vibrant, cloudless sky. Strange creatures of various sizes and colours populated the foreign landscape without so much as batting an eye at the new visitors.

"It has been a long time since I have seen this place," Iroh said as he looked out into the distance. "After Lu Ten's passing, I came here for guidance and spiritual enlightenment. I cannot say whether I had found what I was looking for, but perhaps we will be fortunate in our search for the avatar."

Before Zuko could respond to his Uncle, a human figure emerged from the behind the lilies along with her polar bear-dog.

"You don't have to go looking," she said, "I'm already here."


After what probably felt like a billion years, I've finally released Chapter 7. I feel like the ending really needs work, but at least I've hit a major plot point to make the chapter worth releasing. I wish that I could have fleshed out the atmosphere of the spirit realm, but it's such a difficult setting to describe and I'm sure you all are familiar with it from both The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra.

Well, I hope you guys are excited for Chapter 8 because I've got a lot planned. I can't start it yet because I have an exam I need to study for, but my summer vacation is starting this coming Friday. The bread and butter of this story has finally been covered, and I'm excited to finally reveal what happened to the Avatars and why they could not end the war. You'll have to wait until the next chapter, but I promise that it won't take four months to release (this year has just been horribly busy, and I have nothing anywhere close planned for the summer months).

Now I have an exam to study for, so I hope you enjoyed this chapter even if it took forever and a day to release.