Yo everybody! I have to say that I've been getting annoyed at myself for the last month and a half. My writing muse has been going wild with all kinds of ideas. I've become compelled to write them while wanting to work on my preexisting stories. It's been very frustrating to say the least. Though I must say that I've got some interesting Avatar stories and have been thinking of compiling them together in a collection for your viewing pleasure.

Oh, and just to clear things, Sora is a female Sky Bison. That was just a typo I missed.

Chapter Ten: Hei Bai

Sora let out a loud yawn as she slowly began to drop. It wasn't all that surprising considering that they had been flying for a night and half a day. The Sky Bison was tiring. "We better set down soon," Katara said, leaning over to pat the beast's side.

"I believe that there's a small village near here," Tenzo commented, studying the terrain below them as Momo sat as his shoulder.

"But we're still in Fire Nation territory," Sokka replied from atop Sora's head.

Tenzo shook his head. "That shouldn't be a problem. It's too small and too remote. If my estimations are correct, it's a few miles east, beyond that hill."

"What's the village called?" Katara asked.

"Senlin Village if I recall correctly," Tenzo answered. "On the outskirts of the… Hmm… I can't remember what the forest is called. But it stands on edge of a rather impressive forest."

The waterbender nodded. "Sounds like a plan." She turned to the silent fourth member of their group. "What do you think Azula?"

The firebender didn't respond, seemingly lost in thought as Hisaki lay curled up on her lap.

"Azula?"

The girl blinked, coming out of her stupor. "Hm… What? …Fine. Do whatever you want."

Katara studied Azula with concern. The girl hadn't said a word since they escaped the Fire Temple. She hadn't even hurled an insult at her brother for what was an unprecedented amount of time.

She didn't like it.

Katara had hoped that whatever had happened to Azula within the private sanctuary of the temple, it would help her out with accepting her destiny as the Avatar. Instead, she had become quiet and withdrawn.

It seemed almost like she had given up on everything.

For the sake of the world, Katara hoped that she hadn't.

They had found the forest… or at least what remained of it. A vast fire had blazed through the forest, leaving nothing but scorched ground, ash and the brunt remains of trees. Katara knelt down; digging a hand through the ash and watching it slide through her fingers. She shook her head. Everything was dead in forest.

"Fire Nation!" Sokka angrily exclaimed as they stood amid a clearing of ash. "Those evil savages have no-"

"Why do you automatically assume that this was caused by the Fire Nation? By some footprints in the ash? Or perhaps because they're your enemy?" Azula snapped, cutting the teen off.

Everyone turned to the formerly silent girl, a little surprised that something had actually kicked Azula out of her apathetic state. Though considering that it was caused by Sokka, it wasn't really all that surprising. Regardless, Azula was visibly angered by the teen's words. "This fire could have been just as easily started by a natural cause," she continued. "And even then, a forest fire isn't entirely a bad thing. Of course, living in a land of snow and ice, I don't expect you to understand that."

"What? How can any of this be good?" Sokka shouted back, waving his arms in the air.

"Simple. Look under the ash," the firebender replied, walking past him.

Sokka looked down at the ground. But all he could see was ash. "Look closer Water Boy."

He let out an annoyed grunted but Sokka followed her words, kneeling down and studying the ground intently. Sokka reached out and brushed some of the ash aside, revealing a couple of acorns lying underneath.

"Forest fires kill the old and dead trees, allowing the seeds beneath the soil to grow unobstructed," Azula said, staring out at the burnt forest impassively. "Fire can destroy and usher in new life." Azula turned to face the others. "There's no point staying here. Let's get going."

Tenzo nodded. "The village should be in that direction," he said, pointing to the east. "Maybe twenty minutes walking and we'll be there."

"And you're sure that won't be any Fire Nation soldiers there?" a concerned Katara asked.

"The Fire Nation Army may control most of the eastern regions of the Earth Kingdom; they don't have enough men to have a presence in every tiny village and hamlet. They can only send troops to vital locations along their supply lines," the firebender explained. "Anything else would be a waste of good men. Backwater towns are usually ignored completely. There will be nothing there."

They found the village, but it was in as bad a shape as the forest. The gates had been torn open, revealing damaged and outright crushed houses, only the buildings furthest from the gates had remained unscratched; the village hall among them. Sora laid down by the gate and began to sleep as they entered the village, people peered out of the windows of the hall and some of the still standing houses, the distinct look of fear in their eyes. Four men emerged from the hall, approaching the new arrivals. "Please leave while you still can," the man leading the four urged. "It's not safe here."

"What do you mean? What's happened here?" Katara asked.

"Is it the Fire Nation?" her brother added.

"None of that matters now," the man replied. "You must get out of here before nightfall!"

"Why?" the young waterbender inquired. "What's going to happen tonight? And you did this to your village? Maybe we can help you."

The man shook his head. "No one can help us."

"Do not be too hasty Quan," a breaded old man said as he approached them. "We are in desperate need of help. Who are we to refuse anyone's help?"

"But they are just children," Quan exclaimed. "How could they help us?"

"We can start by explaining what has happened," the elder replied. "If they can do something to help, they will. If not, than they will know way they should leave."

Quan let out a sigh, a look of utter desperation on his face. "Very well," he said, turning to the teens. "It all started nearly two weeks ago, after the attack and the wild fire that followed it-"

"See! I knew it was the Fire Nation!" Sokka gloated, cutting the man off.

"Not exactly," the elder replied. "While a group of people from the Fire Nation were involved in the attack, they were the victims."

Most of them were taken back by this. Sokka blinked. "What? They were the victims!" he exclaimed in disbelief.

Quan nodded his head. "Yes. It was a caravan of Fire Nation traders and merchants that was attack by a group of guerrillas," he explained. "You see, the caravan had made camp in the forest for the night when guerrillas attacked. The caravan had no firebenders or even warriors among them." Quan shook his head in shame. "They didn't have a chance."

There was a momentary pause before the man continued the story. "After they had killed most of them and loot what supplies they found useful, the guerrillas set fire to their camp and fled. A local woodsman stumbled onto the camp as the fires began to grow out of control and carried the sole survivor of the merchants back to our village. He explained what happened to us. Sadly, he did not survive his wounds."

The Village Chief than gestured towards the burnt forest. "For five days, the fire raged before the rains came and put it out. It was that night, when the fires had died that it came, Hei Bai, a terrifying spirit-monster that has senselessly attacked our village night after night, taking our family and friends. But on the night of the Solstice, it brought even more terrible destruction and took nearly everyone in a single, horrible night."

The elder gestured behind him at the handful of villagers and children that had begun to gather just beyond the group. "We are all that is left of our village," he added.

The teens just stood there for a moment, unsure of what to even say to all of that. What could they do against a rampaging spirit? It was said that there were only a few things that could stop a spirit, fewer that could actually harm one.

But the silence was quickly by Katara, who turned to the other girl in their group. "Azula, you can help them," she said, earning surprised looks from everyone around her.

"What?" Azula said, her confusion echoed by many others.

Quan raised an eyebrow questioningly. "I don't understand. Could you please explain?"

"Our friend here's the Avatar," the smiling waterbender replied.

Some of the villagers gasped, others shook their heads but all of them stared in disbelief and hope. "The Avatar? She's the Avatar?" one asked.

"Impossible. The Avatar abandoned us long ago," another bitterly stated.

"This must be some kind of trick."

"Why would someone pretend to be the Avatar?"

The old man took a step towards the two girls. "Is it true? Are you the Avatar?" he asked, almost pleading. "Are you the one that can save us?"

Katara's grin widened and she nodded. "Yes. She can confront this Hei Bai and stop it," the dark skinned girl said.

Azula blinked. "I can?"

"She can?" Sokka added just as confused as the firebender.

But Katara ignored and continued to speak, "And I bet she can even rescue all those people that have been taken."

"What?" both her brother and the princess exclaimed together.

Tenzo rubbed his chin, contemplating Katara's words. "She does have a point. Azula is the Avatar and the Avatar is supposed to able to commune with the Spirits," he pointed out. "She should be able to stop the rampaging spirit and get it to release all the people it has taken."

"What?" the two said again.

The firebender stood in center of the village, staring at the open gate as she waited for the sun to set and the spirit to appear. "Fight a dangerous spirit monster, stop it from taking more peasants from the village and then somehow rescue everyone they've taken," Azula muttered to herself, annoyed that she had gotten dragged into this. "How did I let her talk me into to this? Why am I even doing this to begin with? It's not like I'm going to actually gain anything from this. Some supplies?" Azula shook her head. "This isn't worth it."

As she complained to herself, the last crimson streaks of the sun disappeared, ushering in the night. For a few minutes, there was nothing. But then, the sound of heavy footsteps came from the distance, growing louder and nearer by the second. Finally, footsteps began to appear before the gate. But there was no sign of what created them. The footsteps crossed the threshold and Hei Bai appeared.

It was a huge hulking beast with black and white skin, hunched over on two stubby legs and two large arms. Two smaller arms emerged from near its neck. Its eyeless head ended with a short, tooth-filled maw.

Hei Bai moved through the village, snarling as it approached. It stopped before the firebender, craning its head down at her. "Spirit! I demand that you stop and that you return all the people you've taken!" Azula called out.

The large beast leaned down, coming face to face with the firebender. Then it roared at her. Azula stood her ground as what felt like a gale force wind hit her. "Of course that didn't work because that's just my luck," she muttered the instant the roar stopped. "No matter. We'll just do things the other way."

Fire struck Hei Bai's face but had little effect on spirit, save for annoying it. The beast swung its fist, hitting Azula with phenomenal speed. The firebender hit the ground while the raging spirit turned its attention to the buildings of the village, wildly attacking them.

Azula picked herself up as Hei Bai continued to roar and smash the wooden structures. Now, she was becoming angry. She unleashed a series of rapid punches and kicks, throwing fire at the spirit. But it still did nothing to the spirit.

Hei Bai turned to her once more and roared before charging at her. Azula dove out of its path, narrowly avoiding being hit. However, the beast continued moving, heading for the hall where everyone else was.

People screamed as Hei Bai's fists smashed into the wood, its hands grasping for more victims to take. A black hand shot out through a hole, reaching for the Water Tribe girl. "Katara!" Sokka yelled, throwing himself at his sister.

He knocked Katara to the ground before the hand could touch her. However, while she had been spared, Sokka wasn't so lucky. Hei Bai grabbed her brother instead, lifting him up into the air.

Unbeknownst to Hei Bai or any of the others in the hall, Azula had climbed atop the roof of one of the nearby buildings, rope with a stone hastly tied to one end wrapped around her chest. Sprinted towards the edge, she leapt onto the back of Hei Bai. Pulling the rope from her body, Azula swung the end tied to the stone down its left shoulder, sending the rope around Hei Bai's neck and up past its other shoulder. With robe bound across its neck, Hei Bai let out ferocious howl as it violently shook its body, trying to shake Azula off. But she held on with all of her strength.

Suddenly, the spirit spun around and took off with Sokka still in its grasp and Azula clinging to its back. It didn't take long for them past through the gate and into the small portion of the forest that had survived the fire before moving into the charred and scorched lands beyond it. But as Hei Bai was running, it didn't stop trying to throw Azula off, shaking and bucking wildly. Yet despite its violent attempts Azula did not let up, trying to exert some form of control over it like a trainer breaking a wild Komodo Rhino.

Hei Bai then made a sudden, hard right turn. Azula tried to hold on but she was sent flying, losing her grip on the rope in the process. Pain shot through her body as she hit the ground, darkness quickly taking her.

The sun had risen once more but there was no since either Azula or Sokka. While the villagers went about their daily activities though far more depressed than the day before, Katara nervously paced up and down the main thoroughfare of Senlin Village, waiting any sign of the two. Nearby, Tenzo was searching through one of the destroyed houses for something.

"We can't sit around any longer!" Katara proclaimed, unable to wait any longer. "We have to find them!"

Tenzo shook his head as he climbed to feet. "No we don't," he replied, cleaning his hands off.

"But they're somewhere out there with Hei Bai!" the waterbender exclaimed.

The Earth Kingdom teen started to approach her, stepping over debris. "Don't you remember what the village chief said? Hei Bai attacks at night then disappears with number of people back to where he came from," he said, pausing to study a pile of rubble. "Obviously he takes them back to the Spirit World which happens to be a place that we can't get to."

"But-"

"Just relax Katara. Azula is the Avatar. If anyone can fix this mess, it's her," Tenzo added, cutting the girl's protests off before they could begin. "Have faith in the Avatar, Katara."

Doubt and worry still filled Katara's heart. "But how can you be so sure?"

"I grew up on stories of the past Avatars and they kept the peace and protected the world. To be honest, when I was younger the Avatar and all of their past lives was my hero. In fact, I actually wanted to be the Avater as a little kid so I could save the world." Tenzo chuckled for a moment before continuing. "I've grown up since then but I still believe that the Avatar will end the war and bring back peace. If Azula is the Avatar as you have said then she will overcome this. Besides, Momo and Hisaki aren't worried."

Not far from them, the two animals were once again fighting over a piece of fruit. Momo had stolen the fruit from the young wyvern and was now gliding around her with it in his paws. Hisaki was vainly flapping her wings, trying to chase after the lemur.

Tenzo chuckled at their antics but Katara just stood there, her mind on other matters. She believed what he had said as well but it was still her brother out there in the clutches of a fearsome spirit. Katara was confident that Azula would be fine out there, but Sokka…

"Yes!" Tenzo suddenly cheered, startling the girl as he pulled out a large round object from the debris. "A Pai Sho board!"

"Pai what?"

"It just so happens to be my favorite game," the young man explained as he carried the board out and set it up on the ground. "Wanna learn how to play? It'd be a great way to get your mind off things."

Katara didn't answer immediately. Truthfully, she had no desire to play a game yet at the same time, she desperately desired to do something to take her mind off her brother and Azula. "Alright," she finally answered, sitting down across from him at the board.

Tenzo proceeded to explain the rules of Pai Sho and the basics of the game to her before they set up and began to play. Naturally, he was going easy on her rather than playing as he normally did. "So tell me about yourself. Where did you grow up? Who are your parents?" he asked, moving one of his pieces.

"Sokka and I are from the Southern Water Tribe," Katara answered, thinking about what was going to do. "Until recently, we had lived there all our lives."

"Until you met Azula I take?"

The waterbender nodded as she pushed a piece across the board. "Yes. I knew that we had to do everything in our power to help her fulfill her destiny," she admitted. "What about you? Where's your home?"

"Need had a single place that I called home. My parents were archeologists, working for the University of Ba Sing Se. Their team was always traveling from dig site to dig site. Because of that they took their families with them so they could be with them while they worked. In a way, we grew up as one large," a grinning Tenzo replied. "They taught me everything they knew."

Katara returned the smile, thinking of her own family and all the good times they had. "Where are they now?"

The teen paused for a moment, the smile slipping from his face, before he answered. "…They died a few years ago."

Katara paled, realizing that she may have just stepped a sensitive matter for him. "Oh… I'm so sorry."

"Don't be. They lived a good life," Tenzo said, a small smile returning to his face. "And I got a chance to see them in the Swamp. Of course, from what I heard you had your own encounter with a lost loved one."

Memories of the vision of Azula in chains, betrayed by her to the Fire Nation returned to Katara's mind. The fear that she was going to betray the Azula in future had begun to haunt her nightmares. It was inconceivable to her. Why would she help them capture Azula? They were the people that started this wretched war that had yet to end after almost a hundred years. It was because of them that her father had left them to fight in war. It was because them that her mother… was gone. So why would she help them?

"Is something wrong?" Tenzo asked, pulling her from her thoughts.

Katara shook her head and stood up. "I'm sorry but I'm just too worried about Sokka and Azula to play," she said before leaving him to wander the village some more, trying to get the image of the shackled Azula out of her head.

Azula groaned as she woke up, her body aching all over. Slowly, she opened her eyes. All around her was ash and dead trees. She pulled herself back up to her feet. Nothing was broken, just bruised and banged up a little. All things considering, she was lucky that she hadn't been hurt worse. The firebender looked around at her surrounding, trying to figure out which way the village was. Clearly, the direct approach had failed her. She was going to need to come with another plan to stop Hei Bai.

Azula stopped. 'What am I thinking?' she thought. 'There was no reason to help these people in the first place. I have my own problems; I don't have the time to deal with theirs'. We should just move on and let them deal with Hei Bai.'

The princess shook her head and started to head in what she believed was the direction of the village. Of course, Azula knew that Katara would not leave without her brother and would demand that they stay until he was rescue from Hei Bai. And as much as Azula hated to admit it, she had no one else beyond those three.

She could either abandon and take her chances on her own or find a way to stop Hei Bai.

Needless to say, Azula was not pleased with either option.

The teen placed her hand on the side of a still standing dead tree, weighing her options. This would all be so much easier if she actually knew of a way of dealing with the spirit. Unfortunately, the ways of spirits were not something that was in most schools. Her own education which had been among the best in the world, had been lacking in that particular field. She did know that the weakest spirits were bound to specific places, such as lake spirits, forest spirits and the like. These places were not only their domains but the source of their power as well and should such a place be desecrated, their power would wane. But stronger spirits did not have that weakness. And if Hei Bai was such a spirit, her chances of defeating it were slim to nil.

Azula sighed and took a step forward, only to lose her footing in what had been a particularly dense pile of ash that had been a fall tree. She stumbled forward, landing on her knees. The firebender let out an annoyed grunt as she stood up, catching something in the corner of her eye. Azula turned to the tree that she had been standing next to. But it wasn't a tree rather it was a statue carved from a log. The statue had been cut into the image of some kind of beast that Azula had never seen before. It was similar to a Platypus Bear yet clearly different, missing the large tail and with a muzzle instead of a bill. Studying the statue, Azula notice an engraving near the base, covered in soot and ash.

"What is this?" she asked aloud, wiping off the gunk.

Azula froze upon reading the words. "Is that…" she uttered, rereading it twice more. "I don't believe it..."

She shook her head in disbelief. It was so obvious! Why hadn't she realized it sooner! "Of all the absolutely idiotic things!" she shouted in annoyance before beginning to dig into the ash at her feet, looking for what she needed to stop Hei Bai.

The sun had begun to set again when Azula finally found Senlin Village again. Already, most of the villagers had fled into the hall, praying for the coming night to end quickly. However, both Azula and Tenzo were still outside, undoubtedly waiting to see if she would return.

"Azula!" Katara called out, racing towards her as she stopped at the gate to catch her breath. "Are you alright? What happened to Sokka?"

"Get back!" Azula snapped. "I'll deal with Hei Bai!"

Wisely, both teens retreated back to the village hall with the others as the sounds of footsteps began to echo through the air. Once more, the rampaging Hei Bai emerged. Just as she did the night before, Azula stood in its path. "You know if you're supposed to be the spirit of this forest than you're absolutely pathetic!" Azula shouted as it drew near.

Hei Bai stopped its tracks. For a moment, it just stood there before letting out an angry roar but Azula stood her ground. "Your forest burns down and you just start throwing a tantrum like a spoiled child," she continued with a scowl as she held up her hand. "Did it ever occur to you that your forest will grow back, like any other forest after a fire? Have you actually taken a look out there? There are all kinds of seeds and acorns beginning to grow." Azula opened up her hand, revealing an acorn. "No. You were too busy throwing your tantrums and attacking a bunch of peasants who had nothing to do with what had happened!"

The spirit seemed at a loss, standing there in confusion. "Go! See for yourself!" the girl yelled. "Buried among the ash are countless seeds that will become a new forest. You've just been too blind to see it!"

Hei Bai let out a whimper as its shape changed into that of the creature from the status. It knelt down before her. Likely it was attempting to apologize for everything it had done. After a few seconds, the spirit stood up and grabbed the acorn with its mouth.

"Now return all of the people you've taken and leave," Azula commanded.

The spirit bowed its head then turned around and started leaving. As Hei Bai crossed the threshold of the village gates, it disappeared while a group of dazed figures appeared, stumbling into the village. Cheers began to fill the air as the villagers in the hall ran out to the newcomers, eager to reunite with their missing friends and family.

"Huh? How'd I get here?" a very confused Sokka asked as he wandered into the village.

"Sokka!" an ecstatic Katara shouted as she embraced him in a hug.

"Ah… Hi sis," the teen said, not understanding what was happening at all.

The villagers had been overjoyed at the return of their friends and loved ones, so much so that they had quickly arranged for a big feast that night. It wasn't much considering the state of the village, but it didn't matter to them. They were happy to be free from the terror of Hei Bai.

"Meat! Real food!" Sokka cheered seconds before grabbing as much as he could.

Tenzo chuckled as he began to eat his own meal. "No dry rations or swamp food for us tonight."

"You said it," the Water Tribe boy replied in between mouthfuls of meat, half eaten bits flying from his mouth.

Katara could only shake her head at her brother's manners or lack thereof. It was one thing for him to eat like a pig-cow at home but it was entirely different for him to do it in front of an entire village. She glanced over to here Azula had been sitting only to find that the firebender was no longer there.

The waterbender stood up from the table, excusing herself as she left to find where the princess had gone.

She found Azula sitting on what was left of a shattered house's porch, looking up at the night sky. The firebender didn't react as Katara sat down next to her. "Why'd you leave Azula? Aren't you hungry?" she asked, her voice full of concern.

For a moment, Azula just sat there before finally responding. "All my life, I knew what I was supposed to do. I knew my purpose, my destiny. Everything made sense," she bitterly said, her back to Katara. "I was Azula, Princess of the Fire Nation and Heir to Fire Lord Ozai. But now… now I've learned it's all a lie. My entire life was just one big lie." Her shoulders slumped as uncertainty filled her. "What am I supposed to do now?"

Katara put a hand on the princess's shoulder, rubbing it reassuringly. She knew it was hard for Azula but staying depressed like this would not help her or the rest of the world. "You're the Avatar, Azula. You're the one who's going to master the four elements and save the world," she said. "That is your purpose, your destiny."

Azula let out a bitter chuckle and shook her head. "It just sounds so crazy." She looked over her shoulder at the waterbender. "Can you actually imagine me learning the other elements? It's just so ridiculous."

"Oh sure," Katara lightly replied, pulling her hand back. "You may be a firebending prodigy, but you would just flail around and stumble trying to learn waterbending."

The firebender blinked while a look of annoyance slowly spread across her face. "What did you just say?"

Katara rose to her feet, ambling from Azula. "Admit it. You've learned firebending with ease but you won't be able to learn earthbending and airbending, much less waterbending, with that same ease," she said. "You're not good."

One thing that she had learned about Azula in the time they had been traveling together was that she was prideful, especially about her bending. Katara had figured that had she made a slight against her bending, Azula's attention would quickly change from everything that had happened to proving the superiority of her bending ability. Which was exactly she was reacting.

Azula quickly stood up and followed after her. "Oh really? Well then, why don't we just see how well I can learn waterbending?" she called out, forgetting about how she had been feeling a minute ago.

And done.

You know, one thing that annoyed me about A:TLA was that virtually every bad thing in the world was blamed on the Fire Nation. They basically painted the entire army of the Fire Nation as evil warmongering conquerors and the warriors of the Earth Kingdom and Water Tribe were desperate, valiant fighters. It seemed like the very idea of Fire Nation soldiers doing something good or those of the Earth Kingdom and Water Tribe doing something cruel or wicked was utterly alien to the writers. Barring of course Jet and Long Feng. That is something that I plan to change as I've just shown in this chapter. In the canon, the Fire Nation burned down the forest, presumably in battle. But there will be other instances of this down the road to show.

As always, I love to hear from you, my fans. So hit that button and leave a review.