Avatar: The Last Firebender

Book 1, Episode 9

The Winter Solstice Part II: The Blue spirit

OoOoOo

Katara held the small vial up to the light. It was actually somewhat surprising she could do this, given the tree cover. The braches seemed to stop right around the statue, leaving a small area where the moon and the stars could shine down. With one hand trembling, she moved to uncork the vial.

Drinking it was somewhat surprising, it tasted like….water. Somehow she had expected something grander, a surge of energy or an indescribable taste, but it just tasted like… water. Realizing she was wasting valuable time, she sat down and closed her eyes, trying to remember what her Gran Gran had taught her of waterbender meditation.

Focus on the heart beat. Focus on the heart beat as the blood flows through you. Calm down. Breathe deeply, and focus on the heart beat. Will it to slow down. Slowly, Katara was able to feel her heartbeat, fast at first. All the excitement had it beating like an Earth Kingdom drum. Then, slowly, agonizingly slowly, it began to slow down. Half as fast, a fourth as fast. It began to sink with her breath, far slower than any non-waterbender could hope to achieve.

The passage to the spirit world was noticeable. Katara wasn't sure exactly how to describe it. Like wind rushing through after opening a door, or the change from water to air. Opening her eyes she took her first look into the Spirit World. It was like the oasis water, anti-climatic. It looked exactly like the forest. Katara began to panic, worrying it hadn't worked. It was then that she realized her heart wasn't beating.

This didn't help the matter. Her grandmother had warned her that jumping out of heartbeat meditation instantly could cause your heart to stop… of course at that age she had also warned her that if she didn't eat all her sea prunes evil spirits would take her away. Then again, that too didn't see quite so unlikely now.

Reason quickly reasserted itself thanks to two separate, but equally important thoughts

1)She was acting like Sokka

2)If her heart wasn't beating, how was she moving?

Katara began to assess the situation. She noticed that the various chirps, growls, howls and other background noises for the forest had all but disappeared. She walked around, looking for some way to figure out if the Spirit World simply looked like the real one, or if her meditation hadn't worked, and just what was going on.

She got her answer when she turned around to look back at the statue. She gave a gasp of surprise as she saw her own body, slumped on the ground. Reaching for it, her hand passed right through. Yet as it did she felt a subtle tug. She instantly backed away; if she returned now, she'd never be able to get back.

It wasn't cold in the Spirit World, wasn't warm either, just…. Nothing. Nevertheless Katara wrapped her arms around herself as she set out to find Sokka… and Hei Bai.

OoOoO

"Are we there yet?" Zhao asked.

"We won't arrive till dawn, Admiral Zhao." Jamayang's response was noticeably absent of his usual Hmmm.

Zhao grumble "Ow, why did you poke me woman?" he turned to face Hama.

"I was checking your arms." Hama answered.

"What for? It's not like you have water."

Hama rolled her eyes. "I have no less than six waterskins on me at all times."

Zhao grumbled. "Then why aren't you healing me?"

"Why aren't I healing the great Admiral Zhao every moment of the day? Because it would be useless. Healing works by redirecting the Chi pathways. It takes time for them to be redirected, and once redirected they will slide back, but that takes time as well. Healing you now would simply be busy work. As long as I apply every few hours and once in the morning and night, you should be fine."

"Well we're going to be here until morning."

"Then I'll do it now."

Jamayang gripped the reins of the Sky Bison, and began mentally going over his prayers.

OoOoOo

The walk through the Spirit World was even creepier than the earlier walk through the forest. There weren't any unknown sounds noises, but somehow the oppressive silence was worse. The earlier walk had been almost completely dark, with only Azula's torch for light, and everything beyond it was utterly invisible. Here Katara could see crystal clear, her vision only blocked by the trees. This was comforting, until she realized there was no visible source of light, and even though she could see, it was still just as dark as before. The worst part was she could not shake the feeling that something was following her. She could swear she heard a rustle of leaves, or the sound of footsteps, or catch the sight of something moving…

Pressing on and hoping it was her imagination, she headed towards the spot they had fought the spirit. If it crossed the worlds there, then perhaps there was some sign of where it went. When she arrived at the road there was no sign of the spirit, but there was something else. The gravestone lay shattered on the road, surrounded by a red glow. Coming out from it were what looked like pieces of broken red string.

Katara reached for them and was surprised by how… substantive they were. When she had tried to touch them her hand had passed right through. The trees were "real" but the string…. It was like she was fog, and they were solid. It was as if they were more solid than her. Katara tried to pick it up, and could barely move. It wasn't that they were heavy, just immobile.

"What are these things?" She asked as it began to crumble into bits in her hand. Regardless, this wasn't helping her find Sokka. She once again set out into the forest.

OoOoOo

Azula walked to one side of the gate. Azula looked out towards the forest. Azula walked back to the other side of the gate.

This pattern had been going on for…. Well she wasn't sure, but for far too long. She hated this, hated waiting, hated being here, hated so helpless. Doing absolutely nothing while all the action was going on, somewhere else.

Sukara pawed the ground and growled and Azula felt a moment of kinship. "You too huh? Funny isn't it? You and me are the only decent fighters, and we're both stuck here."

OoOoOo

Katara had been walking around forever, but still hadn't found anything. Not too surprising, it was a big forest.

"Hello? Hei Bai? Mr. Forest Spirit? I was wondering if you could tell me why you're angry, and maybe I could help?" She felt stupid even as she was saying it, but she was running out of ideas.

'Thunk'. The noise was small, but given the silence of the forest it stood out. Katara whipped around, looking for the source, it had come from the tree branches but she could see anything there. "Is there anyone out there?" she called.

A second thunk came, further away. Katara ran to it. Years of living on the frozen ice had taught her that strange noises were usually something to run away from, but it wasn't like she had any other ideas.

The noises were barely audible, and several times Katara wondered if it was her imagination playing tricks on her. Some sort of false hope. Still, she followed them and was eventually lead to a small hill. On the side of the hill was another gravestone. This one was much more impressive. Where the other had had a small red glow around its edge, this one's bathed the surrounding area in red light. Again several red strings came out of it. Though given how thick they looked, "rope" would have been a more appropriate metaphor.

"What are you?" Katara asked, moving forward. She had had no idea graves looked like this in the Spirit World. Slowly she leaned forward to get a closer look. Examination of the stone was put on hold thanks to the intrusion of i2 tons of angry forest spirit.

Hei Bai melted from nowhere in between the trees, giving a roar of rage. Katara gasped and took a step back, her boot heel catching on a loose stone. She staggered, pinwheeling her arms, but fell down on her butt.

While Hei Bai's markings and coloration were the same in the Spirit World as in the material world, there was one noticeable difference. The red "rope" was all around it, each tread seeming to pierce into its very skin. It looked incredibly painful. Any further thought on that subject stopped it advanced towards her. She quickly scooted back as fast as she could before turning around and getting up to run.

As it began to chase her around Katara found herself somewhat grateful for the ordeal with Flopsy. Sure Flopsy was smaller, and hadn't actually been trying to kill her, and didn't have a mouth beam, but the basic idea was the same. As is unleashed another swipe Katara dodge around a tree. Rather than simply tearing through the tree, it went sort of made sense, forest spirit and all that… then again when it had been in the material world it had ripped through them just fine.

Regardless, Katara weaved between two large trunks, then doubled back as the spirit was forced around. Running towards the hill, Katara headed back to the gravestone. Desecrating another grave wasn't what she wanted, but she wanted to get caught even less. Katara reached for the stone with both hands and could barely pick it up. Maybe it was the lack of adrenalin… though she thought she was just as frightened as she had been the first time. Maybe it was the Spirit World. Maybe it was the stone. Regardless, she could barely lift.

Hei Bai had finally got around the trees, and was now charging forward. She desperately tried to lift the stone higher, maybe using it as a shield would work just as well-

As Hei Bai was about to bear down on her, a brown figure jumped down from the trees. It struck he Bai with either a spear or staff-- from the roar she guessed it was a spear. Hei Bai charged forward and swiped at the figure, who nimbly rolled out of the way. The next few seconds Katara watched in amazement as the figure went toe-to-toe with Hei Bai. Dodging all four of its arms and occasionally attacking back with the spear.

"QUICKLY! Destroy the stone!" The figure shouted. The voice wasn't harsh, but did carry the weight of someone used to being obeyed.

Katara snapped out of the amazed trance. "How?"

"How did you do it last time?"

"I don't know, I just got so angry I threw it."

"Of course…" The figure murmured as it dodged one of Hei Bai's beams. "Can you pick it up?"

Katara once again grabbed the stone and lifted it with all her might. Slowly the stone began to lift off the ground. She could barely hold it a few inches before it felt life her arms were going to drop off.

"Now! Drop it!" He ordered.

Letting go of the stone was a relief. The stone fell down the hill, shattering into several pieces as it hit the ground. When it shattered several of the string protruding from it snapped, and Hei Bai gave a roar of pain before seeming to claw at itself. Katara found herself grabbed by her rescuer . Who picked her up, threw her over its shoulder and began running away.

As she was being dragged away, Katara was able to get a better look at the figure. It was wearing a brown robe. The design didn't particularly resemble anything Katara had seen. It was a one piece, with sleeves the extended over the hands and a hood covering the head. Given way she was being helped she still couldn't make out the face.

The spear was… crude, there was no other world. Compared to the spears in Azula's armory her father's spear could be argued to be crude. (Katara would have disagreed - they were well made and good at their purpose, even without much metal)This spear, however, looked as if someone had simply taken a pole, and tied a chipped piece of rock at the end.

"There, I think we're far enough away." It declared, setting her down. Katara quickly looked up to get a better look at the face. When she saw it she gave a yell and began backing away, it was an Oni. According to the stories they kidnapped either kids or maidens. Katara didn't really consider herself a maiden yet, but she certainly wasn't a kid.

"What?" the figure asked as Katara backed away. It turned to her, the black eyes staring while the ever present grin remained just as wide as ever. "Oh! The mask! Calm down, it's just a mask," said the figure lifting one of its sleeves and knocking on the mask, revealing it to be wood. "I'm human, see?" He said, showing the palms of its hands out from under the sleeves of its robe. The hands were those of a full grown adult, not worn by age, but not young either. By the voice and hands Katara would guess he was about her father's age.

"Oh" said Katara, feeling both relieved and a little silly. "Could you, um, remove it?"

The figure turned around. "Sorry. I'd rather not reveal my face here."

"Why not?"

The man hesitated. "Let's just say I have some enemies in the spirit world, enemies I would rather not see my face. Now come, we don't have much time." The figure began to walk off.

Katara rushed to catch up. "Hold on, time for what? What's going on? Who are you?"

The man laughed. "One question at a time. My name is of no importance, you can call me…. The Blue Spirit. As for what's going on, we're freeing Hei Bai."

"Freeing Hei Bai? You mean this isn't about him being angry?"

"Angry? No, Hei Bai is not angry." The Blue Spirit paused, as if to consider the last statement and gave a dark laugh. "Well actually I suppose he is, but his anger is not the reason for the attacks. Nor is it even a problem. The real reason is those." He pointed at the gravestone they had just arrived at.

"The gravestones?"

The Blue Spirit turned to her, and even though his face was hidden by the mask, Katara swore he gave the impression of blinking in surprise. "Gravestones? Is that what you thought they were?"

"Um, well…." Now that she had time to think about it, after what she'd seen that didn't really make much sense. "What are they?"

"An abomination. The stones, like many shrines and temples, serves as anchors between the worlds. However, they have been modified to tie themselves to Hei Bai, allowing their creator to control the forest spirit."

Katara stood there, looking at the stone. "So… now what?"

"Now what?" The man laughed "You destroy it, of course. Take out enough and we should be able to free the forest spirit."

"Me? Couldn't you? I mean you're a lot stronger-"

He shook his head sadly. "If I could break them, they would have been long broken, and Hei Bai would have never been enslaved. Alas I cannot."

"Why?'

"The stones were designed as a means to entrap spirits. They are all but invulnerable to spirits. You are not a spirit, merely a visitor, and are not affected by that aspect. However, when I came to the spirit world I choose a much more…. permanent method."

Katara gasped, "You mean you're a ghost?"

He stopped, considering this. "I suppose, depending on your definition, I could be argued to be. I can't return…. Still, it would be a mistake to confuse the realm of the spirits with the realm of the dead." The figure added, echoing what Azula had said.

"So how did you-"

"Both the how, and why of me coming to the spirit world is a long and fascinating tale, but right now I really need you to destroy the stone before Hei Bai finds us." Katara walked over to the stone, once again struggling to lift it, and dropping it with a satisfying shatter. A piercing roar was heard throughout the forest."

"Come. Onto the next."

They had barely walked out of the clearing before another roar, this time much louder, leting them know Hei Bai had found them. Before Katara knew what was happening The Blue Spirit had picked her up again and fallen into a dead run. From her uncomfortable viewpoint over his shoulder, she was treated to a full view of a furious Hei Bai bearing down on them.

Katara hadn't thought the beast could ever get more terrifying than the first encounter, she was wrong. The red threads swarmed around it, some twisting and straining to hold on, while others had snapped and were merely being dragged. Other spots looked as if they had once held a thread, but now seemed to hold a wound.

There was no blood. Instead there pain, shown as a malignant light, a color that resembled yellow, or perhaps red, yet with a hint of green . At the same time was also like none of them. The idea of pain as a solid, visible thing was bizarre, but Katara found that she wasn't particularly surprised. She had grown somewhat used to the Spirit World's odd combination of bizarre, familiar masquerading as bizarre, and bizarre masquerading as familiar.

A look of complete madness and pain tore across the Hei Bai's, and while it's four larger limbs were all pawing the ground as hard as possible, the two smaller ones were tearing at the threads surrounding it.

Just as the Hei Bai was almost upon them, one of the smaller arms succeed, as the thread ripped out more of the visible pain shown from the wound. Hei Bai gave another massive howl, distracted long enough for the fleet footed Blue Spirit to gain ground.

After what seemed like forever, Katara found herself unceremoniously dropped on the ground. "Quickly, destroy this last one and Hei Bai should be freed." He said before running off.

Katara looked around a second to find the stone and quickly rushed to it. Gripping it with both hands she began to pull it out of the ground with all her might--

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" The Blue Spirit's shout drew Katara eyes back up. Rather than chasing after the Blue Spirit, Hei Bai had turned to follow Katara. Everything seemed to move in slow motion. Hei Bai's charge, the desperate spear throw, it bouncing off Hei Bai's skin, and finally the Blue Spirits Big No. Which despite being long and overdrawn still somehow managed to avoid sounding completely silly. Katara was saved by a last minute bit of survival instinct causing her to duck.

THUNK!

The sound rang through the clearing.

Opening her eyes, Katara saw the Hei Bai had hit the stone, stunning itself and knocking the stone loose. Had she been of a more inquisitive frame of mind, she might have wondered why the stone didn't crack from the impact, perhaps it was its spiritually resistant nature. Similarly she might have wondered why Hei Bai didn't dodge around it. Perhaps it was in too much pain to think strait, or perhaps, having wrested some control, it purposely hit it head on. Luckily for all involved (except Hei Bai's controller), Katara was not her brother, and instead simply picked up the stone and dropped it.

A final roar, loader than any before, tore through the forest. Several of the threads snapped instantly, and Hei Bai became an inwardly directed maelstrom. Its six arms flew around, tearing, scratching and attacking any remaining thread, while its mouth alternated between biting and blasting. Finally after what seemed like an eternity, Hei Bai subsided. Its body was covered in what Katara would later describe as "the color of pain". Giving an exhausted whine, it fell to the ground transforming into a creature Katara would later be able to identify as a bear.

Slowly the bear spirit rose, limping over to Katara it gave her a quick lick. Then, its strength recovering, it ran over to the Blue Spirit, bounding onto him and pinning him to the ground, it proceeded to deliver a vicious mask licking Katara heard the Blue Spirit laugh, and for the first time his voice actually sounded happy. "Okay, Okay, it's good to see you again too…." His voice became sad, and his shoulders hunched. "I'm sorry for what happened."

Hei Bai, gave a dismissive growl, as if to say, "It's not your fault." before running off into the forest.

"Come then, it is almost dawn." The Blue Spirit ordered, once again changing back to a commanding tone.

"But what about Sokka, and what if it happens again?" Katara protested.

The Blue spirit laughed again. "Sokka will be returned by the time you make it back to the village. As for it happening again… I don't think we have to worry about that."

OoOoOO

Hariti was currently panicking. The night had gone from bad, to worse, to full blown disaster. Aunt Wu had refused yet again he had ordered Hei Bai to do more than simply scare travelers. Not hurt them, of course, just abduct one. They would be fine, and he could "rescue" them as soon as Aunt Wu saw reason.

The battle had gone badly. His control wasn't fine enough to see what Hei Bai saw exactly, but he could tell that it was taking far too long. These travelers were obviously far more skilled that he had expected. Still, Hei Bai had abducted one of them. Then it had all really started to go wrong. One of the controller stones had been smashed. He had managed to keep Hei Bai under control, but it would have been weeks to remake the stone, and discovery was a serious risk.

The air bison droppings had really hit the airbending staff when the second stone had broken. Holding the keystone, he could feel the feedback as it broke. He nearly panicked as Hei Bai was unable to find the travelers. One of the spirit's most useful abilities had been its ability to sense any and all travelers in the forest. Luckily Jamayang's lessons had prevailed and he had realized the beast was trying to hide something. It took all his control, but he was able to wrest the knowledge from its mind. The attack had come from the spirit world. Obviously some other powerful spirit had shown up, or perhaps someone had found a way into it,. Regardless, he forced Hei Bai after them.

When the third stone shattered, he was barely to hold on as the waves of pain fed through the connection. He almost lost control, but he desperately held on, forcing the beast onward. When the final stone shattered the key stone exploded, sending shrapnel everywhere. Hariti was cut in several places, and his hands were bloody, but all the pain was ignored in his panicked rush. Ignoring the priceless tomes, the arcane components and precious mementoes, he grabbed his staff and leapt out of the tree house that had served as his home for the last year or so.

As he opened his glider, he found himself falling to the ground. Desperately he attempted to Air bend harder, getting out of the forest before the spirit could take its revenge. When he landed on the ground he remembered two things

The forest had become quieter than he had ever heard

You can't bend in the spirit world

OoOoOoO

Azula kicked the dirt. She could feel dawn approaching, and the idiots still hadn't returned. She needed to get out of here, even if Aunt Wu was telling the truth, the Air Nomad was still likely to come back. Azula sighed, she'd give them until dawn, and then she was going in there herself. Once she confirmed what happened to them, she could get out of here.

Sukara got up and began rushing to the edge of the forest. "Azula!" Katara waved, emerging from the forest edge. "I did it! I freed Hei Bai!"

"Freed?"

"Oh, right. You see Hei Bai was actually being controlled, that's why he attacked us. But with the help of the Blue Spirit- Wait, where's Sokka?" Katara asked.

"I don't know, I thought you were supposed to get him."

"Oh…" Katara's disappointment was obvious. "But he was supposed to-" Both Azula and her gave a gasp of surprise as several springs of bamboo sprouted from the ground, and out walked a very confused looking Sokka. "Sokka!" Katara shouted as she ran up to hug him.

"Ah…. what just happened?"

Azula began to answer, but her mouth hung open as she tried to think of what to say. Finally she threw up her hands, and gave a dismissive sigh. "Forget it. Just ask Katara."

While Sokka turned to Katara, Azula faced Aunt Wu, who had just come out of her house. "So…. Come to brag?"

Aunt Wu shrugged. "Why should I? This was as much a vindication of what you said as it was of fortune telling. Once that girl stepped into the Spirit World, she was making her own destiny. No fortune telling her she would or wouldn't win."

Azula gave a small smile. "So then why are you here? I hope you don't expect any pay."

Aunt Wu laughed. "Please. I don't need to be a fortune-teller to tell me that you're not paying for fortune telling, and threatening to tell the Air Nomads unless you bribed me would be stupid beyond belief. As far as I'm concerned you never came to this village. However…. I do happen to have a load of junk I wanted to throw away. Tents, a few food stuffs… I had always intended to go camping, but I've decided at my age that I really must face facts…."

OoOoOo

Hariti ran through the forest, hunted by Hei Bai. It was not the crazed hunt he himself had forced Hei Bai into. Rather this was the hunt of a real predator. Hei Bai was methodically chasing him, slowly but surely tiring him out. Intellectually the Air Nomad knew that it was only a spiritual exhaustion, and theoretically he could force himself on, but he was so tired. He began to slow down. Out of the tree cover came Hei Bai. It was no longer running, merely walking slowly, clearly enjoying his terror. Hatiri tried to run again, but tripped on a nearby root. He turned around to see Hei Bai still steadily advancing, while he desperately crawled away.

Just as Hei Bai was almost on him he felt an unbelievably painful tug and found himself rising into the air! With a start he realized someone had thrown a rope around him. Looking up he saw an Air Bison. He sighed with relief, it was a miracle.

Zhao grunted, pulling up the rope with all his strength. Two yells pierced the air. The first was a terrified yell from Air Nomad that had appeared on the rope once Jamayang had set it down. The second was a roar the reminded Zhao of a full grown moose lion.

"Hama! Take the reins!" Jamayang ordered. He leapt to the back of the Bison and pulled out a small scroll from the folds of his robe. Quickly he began chanting something Zhao couldn't identify. Zhao's attention was drawn back to the ground by an unearthly light that seemed to come from the forest itself. It was aimed at the Air Nomad on the rope, but seemed to curve around, hitting Jamayang's scroll. The Air Bison gave a cry of distress, and Zhao was nearly thrown overboard as it rocked.

"Calm girl, it's over. We're too high up now, callmmmm." Jamayang began petting it. Meanwhile, Zhao finally pulled the Air Nomad all the way up.

Hariti looked around. He had known Jamayang would be here, only he could have grabbed him from the Spirit World (It is much easier than traveling to the Spirit World from the material, but still no mean feat), and stopped Hei Bai's attack. The other two were more surprising; one of them looked to be Hama which was odd, but the other was some sort of Fire Nation man with the largest sideburns Haiti had ever seen. Obviously he had been gone too long, and would have to catch up.

Hariti noticed both the Fire Nation man and Hama were staring at Jamayang. Looking over to him he saw he was shaking and- it was then that he noticed the expression on Jamayang's face. It was fury, Jamayang's entire body was shaking with it, almost as if, after being calm for so long, it didn't know how to handle the anger. "Jamayang, wait I can explain-" Hariti found his breath cut off.

"EXPLAin?!" Jamayang voice had gone unnatural, arbitrarily rising and falling in tone, pitch, and volume. "EXpLAIN?! I SAW the Southern Road, NO ONE was on it. SOMETHiNG was terrifying them. And when I went to find you I SAW the broken keystone." Jamayang took a deep breath, and exploded again. "HOW DaRE yOU? HoW dARE You?! Use MY TEACHINGS and MY KNOWLEDGE to TerrIFY people TO to…"

"Jamayang." Hama put her hand on his shoulder. "Calm down."

Jamayang looked at her with fury for a second, then took a deep breath and continued. "You will be returned to the Southern Air Temple." His tone was not its usual harmonics, but neither was it the cacophony of before. "I am recommending you have your staff snapped for you actions here."

"What? But I-" Hariti again found his breath die in his mouth.

"Be quiet. You have no idea how sorely tempted I was to leave you for the spirit. Now then… let's head back." Jamayang snapped the reigns.

Behind him Zhao gave a little smile, this little excursion had been most informative.

OoOoO

Aunt Wu sat at her table, calmly drinking tea. Meng approached her cautiously.

"Aunt Wu?"

"Yes?"

"Um…I have question…" Meng's voice trailed off.

"Then go ahead a say it." Aunt said calmly.

"Well, you told me there would only be two coming back, and you were looking up Hei Bai a few days ago… did you know?"

Aunt Wu laughed. "Yes Meng. I knew it was Hei Bai, and I even knew it was Hariti who was behind it."

"The why didn't you tell them?"

Aunt Wu smiled. "Meng, one of the most important lessons of being a fortune teller is that the best way to predict a future is to make it yourself. While I knew he was controlling Hei Bai, I didn't know how. I needed someone who could travel to the spirit world."

"But why didn't you ask for help before? Katara was nice, I liked her."

"Yes, but what about her friend?"At this Meng made a rather nasty face. "Katara follows Azula, and if Azula had wanted to leave I'm not sure what she would have chosen. However, if her brother was at stake…."

OoOoO

It was midday by the time they got back. After instructing the other Air Nomads to guard Hariti Jamayang had simply looked himself in his room.

When Hama knocked on the door, there wasn't an answer. "Jamayang? I know you're in there!" Again there was no response. Hama was not the head of her village for nothing. As far as she was concerned words like "privacy" didn't apply to anyone who was in diapers when she was already married. Taking out one of her water skins, she began to seep water under the door. She then directed it upward till she felt the slight resistance that indicated something was in the way and slowly wrapped the water around the lever. She then froze it with a wave of her hand. Finally she gave a jerk, turning the lever and opening the door.

Stepping inside, Hama saw Jamayang with his head on his desk, the very picture of depression. Hama sat down on the seat opposite the desk, and waited.

Finally Jamayang spoke up. "Why do you still trust me?"

"Mmm? Why wouldn't I?"

Jamayang sighed. "Do you know what Hariti was doing?"

"The actual mechanics? No. But I think I have some idea. He was using the forest spirit to terrorize the people? Right? Then he was going to "stop" the monster when they agree to join up."

Jamayang threw his arms in his arms "THEN HOW CAN YOU-"

Hama cut him off. "I know he got the idea from what happened at my village. But you and I know they were completely different."

"But how do you know I wasn't-"

"Were you?"

"No!"

"Good enough for me."

"But-"

Hama sighed "Fine, you want some reasons? Let me give you three. First, from what I heard him say after you locked yourself up; he's only been scaring people and taking them to the Spirit World, not having them cut into pieces. The attacks in my village were too violent. Even if you were trying to terrorize us with a spirit, you wouldn't have been that violent."

"Secondly, you helped without asking for anything in return. It was months later before I went to the Air Temple on my own to talk about real diplomatic links. When you came we hadn't do anything to deserve help from you. Finally," Hama smiled and leaned forward. "If you had been down there controlling the spirit you would have remembered to bring something warmer than an Air Nomad robe when you came to help us."

"Hmmmmmm." Jamayang smiled with embarrassment. "I suppose…" he sighed. "Still to know my legacy will be so tainted-" Jamayang found himself slapped with a hand of water.

"Humph, talking about your legacy to someone twice your age. You've still got time. Make history remember this as Hariti's failure, not yours."

"The teacher and student are linked, had I focused more on a moral use of my knowledge, rather than the knowledge itself…. Still, thank you, may I ask one last favor?"

"What?"

"Could you please try to work with Admiral Zhao?"

Hama crossed her arms "Have you seen the man? He's a thug."

"He from a different culture…" Jamayang offered.

"Then his culture is worse than rotten fish. Besides his men are actually respectful. So don't try to blame this on culture, or military or something like that."

Jamayang sighed. "He's the admiral, and one of the few people to throw in his lot with the new Fire Lord. His men followed him, and that's not to be discounted. His fleet would be a huge problem if it turned to piracy…"

Hama gave another humph "Politics, still I suppose as the head of my village I know something of that. I'll make an effort, as long as you'll do me a favor."

Jamayang raised his eyebrows. "What?"

"Tell me the real reason you wanted a Waterbender. Your letter said "waterbending healer", not simply "healer". You wanted someone who could both heal and fight… why?"

"The Princess acquired a traveling companion in the South Pole…"

"A waterbender? If you don't think you and Zhao can take them, they must be powerful…"

"You have no idea. She created a wave that carried herself, the princess, at least one other person and a large part of the wreckage of the princess' ship all the way to shore."

"How far out were they?"

"By my estimates? Somewhere between a half and fourth of a mile."

Hama nodded "And you wanted someone to counter them?"

"Hmmmmm. Actually no, I was hoping one of your students could convince her that her best bet was to learn from you, actually."

"Are you crazy? I know you're idealistic, but people don't just change their views. Someone that dangerous, and besides they're probably already a master-"

"Given she's fourteen? I highly doubt that. Do you remember what you thought of Air Nomads at fourteen?"

Hama crossed her arms "…. Fine, I'll try. Just remember that the Water Tribes aren't as 'buddy, buddy' as the Air Nomad temples."

"Hmmmm. I'd hardly call the Air Nomad temples 'buddy, buddy'."

"You ever have one temple try to exterminate the other?" Hama's response stopped Jamayang cold.

Afterwards: Katara's meditation was semi-based on the real life. The heart beat concentration seemed like the appropriate thing for a waterbender. (Firebenders stare at a flame, Airbenders focus on breath). The lowering of the heartbeat may seem extreme, but given in real life people can lower their heartbeat to amazingly low amounts and Katara's a waterbender.

The "i2 ton" isn't a typo, spirits are weighed in imaginary numbers (duh).

Technically speaking, anyone who's a virgin is a maiden, however when people talk about maidens they usually refer to people who are virgins but about to get married/meat the prince etc. So Katara is a maiden, in the technical sense of the world. But doesn't consider herself a maiden in the story/cultural sense (she may be wrong in this, but that's another debate entirely).

I felt a bit bad about having Hariti live, as it felt a bit like "wimping out" on the nastier aspects of the story, but I really couldn't Justify Jamayang leaving him. No matter how tempted, it would have gone against everything he believed in. Also it allowed more development with Hama's background.

And finally Aunt Wu proves Azula isn't the only one who knows how to manipulate.

Thanks again to everyone who reviewed and my Betareader Avocadolove.