Xhela flinched in her sleep when she felt something flick her in the middle of the forehead; she was slowly drifting back into reality. Cracking one eye open, the Earthbender found herself face-to-face with a big-eyed, flying lemur. "Go away," she snapped at the furry creature when it flicked her in the forehead again.
For a split second it seemed that Xhela had won when the lemur started to turn away, but then the white creature flipped back around and flicked her in the nose. "Why you little-" Xhela tried to reach out and grab the creature but she soon came to find out that her hands were bound. "What the-" she glanced down at her feet to see that her ankles and knees were bound together also. The lemur crawled up Xhela's bounded legs and sat on one of her knees so he could continue flicking the Earthbender in the forehead.
"Why are you helping the Fire Nation?" yelled a voice.
Glancing up, Xhela spotted the Airbender standing several feet before her with his hands smugly folded across his chest. "You'll have to re-word your question if you want a truthful answer from me..." I'm not helping the Fire Nation...just only one person from the Fire Nation.
Aang narrowed his eyes at the Earthbender, "Why are you helping Prince Zuko?"
"Yeah, why are you helping the enemy, huh?" Sokka chimed in an over-confident voice. The warrior's nose was bright red and two pieces of cloth were wadded up in his nostrils; Xhela had broken his nose when she had kicked him in the face.
"He is not my enemy," Xhela snarled when the flying lemur flicked her in the forehead again. "I'll turn you into a purse if you keep doing that!" she was pleased to see Momo's complexion turn pale when she had threatened to skin him. If she had not been bound, she would have been dancing when the lemur finally left her alone and went to sit on Aang's shoulder.
Patting Momo on the head for a moment, Aang tried to careful word his questions so he would get the responses he needed. "Where is the bounty hunter?"
"Hmmm..." Xhela bit down on her lip as she tried to remember, "I threw her into a river I think..."
"THEN WHY ARE YOU HELPING ZUKO?" Aang was finally losing his patience with her.
"BECAUSE HE SAVED MY LIFE!" Xhella yelled back at the Avatar to show that she did not appreciate being yelled at.
When Aang and Sokka were about to retaliate and yell more back at her, Katara came into the entrance of the waterfall cave with a basket of fruits in her arms. She had heard the last few minutes of the conversation from outside, "Why don't you boys go catch some fish while I chat with the Earthbender, huh?" She secretly winked to Aang when he was ready to protest about leaving Katara alone with the enemy.
"Be careful Katara," Aang muttered softly to her before he and Sokka left the cave with Momo still hanging on the Avatar's shoulder.
Placing the basket of fruit between herself and the Earthbender, Katara stood in front of Xhela with her hands on her hips. It appeared as if the Waterbender was passing her judgement on Xhela. Once she was done sizing Xhela up, Katara's stiff pose loosened. "I'll make a deal with you, if you answer my questions, I'll unbound your hands and let you eat something... You look like you're hungry," she added in a soft voice.
Xhela did feel extremely weak and like she had not eaten anything in days, "How long have I been in your custody?" Times and places were still a blur to her.
"Three days," Katara knelt down on the ground to be at the same eye-level as Xhela. "How did Zuko save your life?" the Waterbender asked Xhela in a simple voice.
The memory of her first falling in Zuko's open arms was almost like a dream now; she still couldn't believe that Zuko had taken pity on her back then. Her honey-colored eyes softened for a second when she remembered the first time he had said her name like he had actually cared for her.
Katara was carefully watching the expression on Xhela's face, especially when she spotted tears forming in the corners of the Earthbender's eyes. The Waterbender finally understood everything; she knew it would have taken the guys forever to figure it out. "Here," she slipped out one of her brother's blades and cut the bounds on Xhela's hands. Katara smiled sweetly at the heartbroken Earthbender, "Do you like mangos?"
"So you finally decided to come outside," Uncle Iroh commented loudly as he joined his headstrong nephew in watching the ocean waves and the dancing seagulls. He noticed that Zuko was holding a cracked walking stick in his hands, "Where did you get the stick? I looks very familiar..."
Zuko kept his gazed fixed on the scenic view, "It belongs to the Avatar," he whispered in an emotionless voice.
Sighing loudly, the elder Firebender gave his nephew a saddened expression, "I'm going to explain something to you Zuko...but only once. I want you to pay attention to every word that comes out of my mouth, understand?"
"Yes, Uncle," the Fire Prince bowed his head as he waited to hear an ancient proverb or another wise saying from his father-figure.
"Revenge does not last for very long, it is not a powerful enough emotion to live on forever, Prince Zuko. I know how deeply you wish to return home and see your father...I miss home too," he placed his hand on his nephew's shoulder. "But there is one emotion that will stand the sands of time...love. Revenge will come and go but love will only pass you by once..." Uncle Iroh watched Zuko lower his head slightly. "To put it simply Prince Zuko-a girl like Xhela does not come around every thirty years."
Stiffening up for a few minutes, Zuko thought about what his Uncle was telling him. He then thought about Xhela, all she had done for him these past few weeks. Then he thought about seeing her honey-colored eyes for the first time; how much joy it had brought him to know that he had saved someone's life...
Releasing his grip on the Avatar's gliding stick, the Fire Prince watched as it fell and slowly disappeared into the glistening waves. Zuko looked over to see that Iroh was beaming with happiness, "I promise I will get her back..."
"Do you want anymore fish Katara?" Aang offered in a kind voice to the Waterbender.
"No thank-you Aang," she blushed slightly when the Avatar had leaned over to hand her more food and their shoulders touched, "I'm fine."
Sokka jumped at the chance to eat his sister's fish, "I'll take it Aang!"
"Do you ever stop eating?" Xhela narrowed her eyes at Sokka from across the fire, "It's amazing that you don't weigh over nine-hundred pounds..."
"Shut-up! You're still our prisoner, remember?" the warrior grumbled as he ripped a piece of bread off with his teeth.
"And you're still an idiot-yes, I remember," Xhela sighed loudly and rolled her eyes about the entire thing.
Before a boisterous argument could pursue, Katara volunteered Sokka to go help Aang collect more firewood to keep the fire going for the rest of the night. She ignored her brother's sour expressions as he exited the cave with the Avatar. "You'll have to excuse my brother, he can be very rude sometimes..." the Waterbender explained quietly.
"He is very attentive when it comes to you," Xhela commented in a sly voice as she snapped a burnt twig from the fire to draw on the floor of the cave.
"Who? Sokka?" Katara did not understand by what Xhela was talking about.
"You know exactly what I mean," Xhela kept her eyes on the floor of the cave as she scribbled images down by her feet.
Katara nodded, "Aang has always been like that," she leaned over the fire see what the Earthbender was sketching. "Hey-what are you drawing? Those lines look familiar..." she was trying to jog her memory and figure out where she had seen those scribbles before.
"This symbol means water..." she pointed to three lines that appeared to be water ripples. "This symbol means earth," she drew a simple circle. "This means fire," she drew three lines that appeared to be rising from the ground into the air. "And this...means air," she drew one line that curled into a circle at one end. "It's from ancient text...my brother taught it to me," Xhela glanced up to see Katara's brown eyes widen with excitement. "Did I say something wrong?" she turned her head to the side in curiosity.
"You know how to read these symbols?" Katara was very interested in what the Earthbender was telling her now. She jumped to her feet when Xhela nodded curtly, "AANG!" Running outside the cave the Waterbender nearly ran into the Avatar and her brother, who had their arms full with wood to burn in the fire.
Sokka and Aang exchanged nervous expressions before Katara could explain what she had just discovered. "Do you remember those ancient ruins that we found a few days ago?" she waited for them to agree, "Remember all of the symbols carved into the stone pillars? She knows how to read them, she was just subconsciously drawing them!" She grumbled loudly when they stared blankly at her, "She can tell us what that image of the comet means Aang! She can help us read it!"
"So, what does it mean?" Katara leaned over Xhela's shoulder as if her continuous questioning would somehow allow the Earthbender to understand the symbols better. "Why are there dragons carved into the walls with their mouths open?"
The heroes where standing behind the general as she examined the ancient temple's wall depicting the coming comet.
"Give her some space Katara," Sokka pulled his sister back with a stern look in his eyes. He didn't want his sister to get too close to the enemy just yet.
Gingerly reaching out to touch the stone fangs of one of the dragons, Xhela could see the dragon's eyes suddenly begin to burn red. "They are locks," she finally decided out loud.
"Locks?" Katara exchanged nervous glances with Aang and Sokka, "There is nothing behind this wall though... Why would they have locks on a wall?"
Xhela looked over her shoulder at Katara, "There are locks on this wall to keep something from reaching this world..." She pointed to the stone dragon that she had touched, "This dragon has the Earth symbol carved into its eyes...that's why it glowed when I touched it. There is a dragon here for each element."
"Does it say what is behind the wall?" Aang knelt down next to Xhela to touch the dragon for the element of air. He felt warmth enter his body as the dragon's eyes glowed, This place is very spiritual.
"I have somewhat of an idea," she bit on her lip as she carefully read the symbols on the bottom of the wall, just above the dragons' heads. "It says something about the Avatar's destiny...and I believe it says that the wall is a doorway to the Spirit World-"
The warrior snorted, "Aang can already channel into the Spirit World whenever he wants... Why would he need a doorway into the Spirit World, huh?"
"If you would let me finish," Xhela snapped at Sokka in a bitter voice. "The doorway is not for the Avatar – it is for anyone who is pure of mind and spirit wishing to retrieve the life of a lost loved one..."
"You could bring someone back from the dead?" Katara's complexion had turned pale when she finally realized that she had heard Xhela correctly.
Xhela nodded, "But only if the person's life has been wrongfully taken and has died that very day you try to retrieve their soul... Otherwise, their soul will become a permanent member-" she stopped in mid-sentence when she heard a twig snap nearby. "Someone is here," the Earthbender hissed to Aang.
The odor of something burning suddenly filled Aang's nostrils; Firebenders were here. Before the Airbender could open his mouth to tell Sokka and Katara to make a run for it, nets shot out of the trees and trapped the siblings. "Katara!" Aang leapt to his feet to help her break free but something knocked him down to the ground from behind.
"You're not going anywhere little boy," hissed the Firebender as he pressed the heel of his boot deeper into Aang's back.
Cutting through the nets with his blade, Sokka broke out of his trap to find himself surrounded by three Firebenders. "Who's first?" he growled as he slipped his trusty boomerang out of his seal leather belt. As Sokka charged towards the closest Firebender, Xhela quickly took care of the other two Firebenders who were going to kill Sokka from behind. After he took out the enemy, Sokka glanced around to find that the other two Firebenders were already down. "I don't need your help!" he snarled at Xhela.
"You're welcome," the Earthbender muttered under her breath as she went to help free Katara. Just as she quickly bent down to cut a hole in the Waterbender's net, she felt something sharp press against the back of her neck. Glancing over her shoulder, Xhela caught a glimpse of the tattooed bounty hunter before she was knocked unconscious.
"AANG!" Katara cried at the top of her lungs when she watched Xhela hit the ground. "AANG HELP!" she was helpless without water. The Waterbender tried to move as far away as possible from the bounty hunter's brass knuckles, "AANG! PLEA-" Katara's body sunk to the ground.
KATARA! Pushing up on the ground with all of his strength, the Avatar managed to throw the Firebender who was standing on top of him off balance. In a matter of seconds, Aang took him out by sending the Firebender head-first into one of the ancient stone pillars. Before he could reach Katara, he was blocked by several more Firebenders as the bounty hunter and a few of her men escaped with Katara and Xhela. Katara...
