A/N: Sorry about the delay in updates. The holidays have been CRAZY so far and plus I've been doing a lot of work on my NaNoWriMo. But that's no excuse for laziness so as promised here's the next chapter. And as usually I don't own these characters. Obviously. And yeah, hope you guys enjoy.


It was early morning before the storm finally passed. The word was bright and light of the dawn sun caught in

each orb of water that glistened over the tall, golden grass that covered the sandy beach. Massive logs had been washed up far on the beach, tangled with seaweed and brachen. The door of the small hut inched open with a creak, and Jet stepped outside.

"Finally. The sun's getting up and we can leave soon!" He called back into the smokey darkness.

As Kazo and the man in armor stepped out as well, the two bowed to each other formally before the man in armor spoke, "Thank you for sharing your hut with us."

"It is an honor to share comfort with good people on a stormy night." Kazo replied.

But before anyone could say anything else, there was a loud moaning call followed by the sound of a voice yelling "Yip, yip". And then they could scarcely believe their eyes. A massive Sky Bison soared over them and wheeled once before zooming northward along the beach.

"What was that?" Jet looked up, "It almost looked like––"

"It probably was." The man in armor said in his metalic voice, "Leave them. We're still recovering. Once we have enough strength we are heading back to the main headquarters of the Horde."

"Well, I must be leaving too. I have an appointment that I cannot be late for." Kazo picked up his pack and bowed once more, "Thank you kind strangers. May the spirits smile on you, wherever your journeys may take you."

And so Kazo left the two on the beach with the small hut as he began his hike inlands over the harsh terrain. He would walk for two days before he would come to the cave and another third day before he would emerge from the other side of the tunnel on the valley. The place the Moon Spirit sent him. The place where he would meet the Fire Lord and the boy. The boy. His mind kept turning to the boy. He had so much in common with Kazo's son. Could he possibly be the key to healing the Avatar? Kazo could only hope as he marched on through the terrain of boulders and pebbles.


Sokka and Azula were making good time as the coast twisted and writhed below them. He had found an old map that had probably belonged to Aang, and quickly unrolled it. There were several black xs on the map that he didn't understand, but what he could see beneath it was several names he recognized. Specifically the Northern Air Temple.

"That's it!" Sokka hefted the map, "We'll go to the Northern Air Temple and then on to the North Pole!"

"Why are we going to the North Pole? I thought we found the girl you kissed first." Azula still looked skeptical.

"Well, I assumed it meant Suki. But..." And Sokka squirmed uncomfortably under Azula's gaze, "I think it might have been Yue."

"What, you mean you don't even know which one you kissed first?" Azula laughed, "Well, I guess I shouldn't feel too offended then that you can't even remember all the times we kissed."

"It's not like that!" Sokka yelled standing up, "Listen, I never told Suki and Yue about each other. So if the message was sent by Yue she'd assume she was the first one I kissed."

Azula didn't say anything and deep down inside Sokka got the feeling that he hadn't understood a word of what she was really trying to say and that he'd ended up defending the wrong thing again. But she couldn't expect him to be a mind reader, he told himself, and she should just have told him what she really meant out right. And so they flew on in the frosty silence that had nothing to do with the temperature of the air as they moved closer and closer towards the North Pole.


The lone soldier hidden in the cleft of the mountainside lowered his telescope. He moved like a shadow between branches and logs carefully placed to conceal his route. He moved to the other side of the cliff and picked up the piece of mirror and sent out the flashing message.

On the side of a different mountain top the flashing message was received before being relayed again. Over and over again, the mountain ranges of the North lit up with blinks of messages sent through mirror shards literally at the speed of light. It was a few hours later that the sentry at the top of the highest tower saw the blinking and scribbled down the message.

He grabbed the hollow tube and spoke into a few times, relaying the message down to the main war room of the Scorpion Horde where all the war leaders were sitting in council, pieces moving across their boards as new intel came in through the pipes. One of the aides scribbled the message down and handed it to the general nearest her, a retired earth kingdom general who had fought at the last battle of Ba Sing Se. His eyes grew wide and he walked over the raised dias where the boy sat in his chair, his eyes bandaged.

"Um, sir." He said bowing even though he knew the boy couldn't see him, "Sir, there is a matter that has arisen. It seems that Avatar Aang's Bison was spotted coming up the Northern coast."

"Are we sure of this?" The boy spoke with an air of command that said quite plainly that he was used to being feared and obeyed, "Who sighted it?"

"One of our best." The general said, "Longshot the Archer."

The boy seemed to ponder this for a few moments before he spoke, "Prepare the outer defenses. And ready the long range rockets."

"Sir?" The general looked perplexed.

"Isn't it obvious." The boy snorted, "We attacked the Fire Nation Palace. And then suddenly the Avatar's Sky Bison is seen flying directly towards us. That is no coincidence."

"But what if it is the Avatar?" The General asked wearily.

"We all know Avatar Aang died in battle with Fire Lord Sozen on the Desolate Waste." He spoke as if explaining something to a child, "And we know they killed the reincarnated water tribe Avatar. And that they possibly killed the reincarnated Earth Kingdom Avatar as well. So even if it were some incarnation of the Avatar he'd be the Avatar of the Fire Nation and therefore an enemy. Though it's unlikely. Because my sources say the Fire Nation Avatar is dying of the Fever. So, more than likely it's a decoy, possibly they've finally figured out how to tame the beast and they've loaded it up with explosives and sent it to us."

There was a look of horror shared by the room as they all caught up with the boy who was already scribbling something down even though he couldn't see. He handed a parchment to the nearest General who half fell out of his chair to take it.

"So, it's very simple. Don't allow that Bison within a league of here. Send out our ships and patrol the skies with our flyers." And then as if that was settled he turned to a different general and spoke, "General Song, has my tutor returned yet?"

The young girl spoke up, "No sir, but General Long Feng has sent us word that he took part on the failed run on the walls of the Palace so he may not have made it."

"No, he did." The boy said dismissively, "When he arrives send him and Yugoda the healer to my private quarters."

The room emptied as general left to take command of their fleets and flyers and prepare the lockdown of the Scorpion Horde's base at the Northern Air Temple. The boy's fingers tapped lightly on the wooden table as he thought through the various tactics and stratagems at play. And as a thought occurred to him, he smiled, revealing a single glistening canine. He wrote a note and sealed it and left it on his desk before he wheeled away in his chair.


The whistle of the wind ebbed as their speed slowed down. Sokka looked at Azula and sighed. This wasn't going to be easy. He knew that. Especially with her remembering him as a whole other person.

"Listen." He said as he licked his dry lips, "I know it's hard for you. And everything. And it isn't any easier for me. Not knowing who I am here. Everything so different from where I came from. But maybe if we can find Yue she can help me get back and help you get Kuzon back too."

"She's not going to try and kill us like that other girl did." Azula sighed and stretched. Then she just shook her head and smiled at Sokka and couldn't help herself because when he spoke like that and his smile made those adorable dimples she couldn't stay mad at him for long.

"No, she's the moon." Sokka said matter of factly.

"Sorry, what?" Azula raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, she's was this girl I knew and she died so the spirit of the moon could live and so she kinda... became the moon." He shrugged as he said it, looking up at the faint white waxing moon visible in the daytime sky.

"But if things are different here she may not be the moon anymore." Azula said also gazing up towards it, "How will you know?"

"I don't know." Sokka replied honestly, "But I know the location of the moon spirit's physical body. If it is Yue she'll be there."

"But why hasn't she contacted you yet if she's a spirit?" Azula looked down at the snaking sea below them and the distant gleam of the Northern Air Temple ahead.

"Well, maybe she needs the full moon." Sokka motioned to the sky, "Or maybe she can't leave the Spirit Oasis, or something."

"So, we'll only know when we get there." Azula sighed and crossed her arms, "Alright fine, then let's get this over with."

They didn't see the soldier who watched them with his telescope. They didn't know that he sent a message to the war room of the Scorpion Horde telling them that there were two people on the Sky Bison dressed in Fire Nation clothes. And they didn't hear the general say to launch the attack anyway. What they did hear was the high pitch whistle as the first rocket sailed towards them. Sokka turned, saw the rocket curving in its arch. Time slowed down and he placed the pieces together. They were being attacked.

"Hold on!" He grabbed the reigns and sent Appa flying in a tight right angle away from their current path and the trajectory of the rocket.

But no sooner had they escaped the first one then the second one was flying towards them. Sokka steered hard to the left and then further up. That was when the cluster bombs started exploding in the air around him, filling the sky with smoke and fire as the flyers and gliders above them dropped the packs of explosive powder around them.

"I'm gonna try to land! Grab on to something!" He called around the explosives.

"I am!" Azula yelled in return.

They careened sharply out of the way of another cluster bomb and banked sharply to the right to avoid another rocket as Sokka wrestled with the reigns to get Appa turned back. They had traveled several miles before the bombardment stopped and they had a good look at what they'd just flown through. As the clouds of smoke were pulled back by the strong northern winds they saw the flotilla of armored ships and the rows and rows of gliders carrying heavy munitions on board.

"I don't think we can go that route anymore." Azula said panting as they slid off of Appa and climbed up a small hill to get a better view.

"I don't understand it. Why would they attack us. Wouldn't the Mechanist have helped us?" Sokka asked scratching his head.

"I told you, remember," Azula slid back down the hill to where Appa was chewing on a branch of elderberries. "The Mechanist is no longer in control at the Northern Air Temple."

"Well, we need to get to the North Pole somehow." Sokka scratched his chin as he thought.

"Preferably without getting blown up." Azula dusted her clothes off.

"And we can't take the sea route cause it would be too long for Appa to fly continuously without landing." Sokka dusted his clothes off too, "So we'll have to find a land route to the very northern part of the Earth Kingdom and fly from there."

"But how do we get there? We're both dressed in Fire Nation silks. People could spot us a mile away!" Azula shook her head, "If we're gonna head north through the Earth Kingdom we'll need disguises."

"You're right." Sokka took heaps of mud and began rubbing it over himself and then over Appa, "Come on."

"You can't be serious." Azula raised a well manicured eyebrow.

"It's all we've got for now." Sokka scooped up a big heap of mud and placed it in her white hands, "Rub it all over and once we get to the nearest Earth Kingdom Town we'll liberate some clothes as disguises."

"Fine." Azula made a face as she spread the sticky filth across her dress, "But when we get back to the Fire Nation you owe me a new dress!"


Kazo walked out of the tunnel in the lava tubes and closed his eyes. He knew what had awaited him but the sight still caused his stomach to turn whenever he'd come this way. He opened his eyes and walked past the bodies of the two young boys encased in stone. He had arrived.

The path he was on was smooth stone and wound up past several massive boulders. Kazo knew what they really were. They were graves. The people buried alive. Kazo pulled his cloak around himself tighter, almost feeling the heady presence of the angry ghosts around him. At the top of the hill he came to the only house visible. A large round door framed the front and the path he'd been walking on encircled the house. He knocked on the wooden sliding door.

"So, you've finally decided to show up, have you?" The old woman asked as she pulled the screen back.

"Madam, I was wondering if––" He began but she had already pulled him inside.

"Yes, yes. I know why you're here. But you're too early to meet them. And too late to escape the fate that you must now face." She said cryptically as she led him inside.

"I think it has been too late to escape my fate for a long time," Kazo spoke as he thanked her for the cup of tea she gave him.

"Ah, but you misunderstand." She smiled coyly at him, "Your fate is not tied to your birth as you assume. No, there is something far deeper. Darker. Would you like to see?"

"Sometimes too much foreknowledge can be a hinderance and an unneeded burden." Kazo said placing the tea cup down, "Thank you for the tea. I shall only need a room until they arrive."

"Very well, you may take the first one at the top of the stairs." She motioned behind her, "Dinner will be promptly at sundown."

And as he thanked her again and disappeared up the stairs she picked up the cup and looked at the tea leaves stuck to the bottom.

"Yes, your fate is dark indeed." She bit her lip, "And yet you could still escape it. But you won't. You will do whatever it takes to save your son. Even if it means destroying yourself and the very fabric of time itself. Fool of a man."


The man in armor waited next to Jet. They watched as the fire nation ship grew closer. Hugging the side of the hill. He had known that they'd stayed too long. Now it was too late and the ship was nearly on top of them and if they spotted the smoke still rising wisply from the chimney they might investigate. And find the two who disappeared from the attack on the Fire Nation Palace undefended and wounded on a beach.

And to his horror the ship did come to a screeching stop. Though there was no puff of smoke as there usually was when the ship's engines were cooled. Which was the first thing that was off about the encounter. The second thing was when he saw the woman. She was all alone on the deck, looking at the chimney. She jumped down to the soft sand and proceeded to walk over to the shack, open the old door, and walk inside.

"What you suppose she is?" Jet whispered, "She doesn't look Fire Nation to me."

"You're right, she doesn't." The man in armor spoke slowly in thought, "But how did she managed to capture one by herself. She may not be alone."

"I don't see anyone else on the ship." Jet said getting up from the sand.

"That's because I'm not on the ship anymore." Katara stood behind them, her arms raised, coiling water along the length. "Now, you've got to the count of three to tell me exactly who you are and what you're doing here before I show you just how easy it can be to drown on land."

"Peace, waterbender!" The man in armor stood up holding his hands up, "We mean you no harm. We thought you were Fire Nation."

"Obviously we are not." Suki said from the dune above them, crossbow trained on Jet's forehead.

"We are with the Scorpion Horde." Jet raised his hands too. "We attacked the Fire Nation Palace and barely escaped."

"Why should we believe you?" Katara hissed, "I don't know why, but I don't trust you!"

"Well, what are you going to do then?" The man in armor said calmly.

"We could tie them up and leave them." Suki spoke out of the side of her mouth, "I'm sure they'd eventually get free."

"Not if I tie them up." Katara's eyes were cold, "Anyway, we're wasting our time. We need to see if we can get a lead on which way that flying Bison went."

"You're looking for a flying Bison?" Jet said enthusiastically, "Hey, we saw one two days back!"

"You did?" Katara glared at him, "How do we know we can trust you?"

"You don't." The man in armor said levelly, "But it flew out of the caves on the cliff. If you want you could check. It probably left droppings and fur there."

"Suki, go see if he's lying." Katara said flatly, "And if you are, I'll end you myself right now."

As Suki disappeared up towards the cliff, the man in armor assessed the young water bender. True she looked young but there was something about her eyes. Something that said she had seen plenty of battles and that she had killed her fair share of men and that she had some inner fire that had nothing left to lose. He dismissed the thought of trying to attack her while the woman was gone. They would just have to wait.

"So why are you chasing it?" The man in armor asked.

"That's none of your business." Katara snarled, then spoke levely, "I intend to reclaim my property and make the little thieves pay!"

And then it occurred to the man in armor, "You're a moon witch, aren't you?"

And Katara smiled dangerously in reply when Suki's call came from the cave, "They're not lying! There's fur everywhere here! And the imprint of where it slept! And remains of a fire, no more than three days old!"

"Where did they go!" Katara looked down.

"Take us with you and I'll show you." The man spoke again before Jet could answer.

"Why should I! You have no place to bargain!" Katara's eyes were ice cold.

"Because if I tell you then you have nothing to stop you from killing us or abandoning us here." The man in armor still hadn't lost his cool, "My friend is hurt and it occurred to me that they happened to fly in the direction we need to go. If you take us there, we can find them for you."

"How?" Katara was not about to give up ground easily.

"The Scorpion Horde monitors the Northern Seas very closely." The man in armor intoned, "If they flew that way we will know where they went. And I can get the information from the intel department. In exchange for safe transport."

"Fine. Get on the ship." Katara let the water flow back into her water skin, "But know if you try any funny business I will not hesitate to end you. The moon will be full in a week. You know what that means."

"Sounds like a deal." The man in armor shook Katara's hand as Jet and Suki looked on with mistrust.


A/N: Thank you again so much for reading. Next chapter is already halfway written so once I finish it, it'll be up asap. In the meantime thank you again for your kind comments and critiques. They really help to keep me motivated and to keep writing. FACT: The more comments I get the faster I write. So thank you all again.