A/N: Hello everyone. Sorry it's been so long. Life and moving and everything (enter excuses here) but basically I have felt really bad about just leaving the story hanging here so I've decided to start up again. Hopefully there will be frequent (I hesitate to promise weekly but weekly would be awesome!) updates. Thank you for reading and as always, ENJOY!

Chapter 10

"According to the map there should be a village right over the edge of this hill." Sokka said leading Azula and Appa towards the crest.

"Do you know where we are?" Azula called out as she truged along, "Because you said the same thing yesterday!"

"I'm pretty sure." Sokka rolled the man up, "I mean, I think that this all looks familiar. I think Aang and I came here once."

"So you really knew Avatar Aang?" Azula asked stepped up next to him, "What was he like?"

"Oh, you know. Just like an ordinary kid, I guess." Sokka shrugged, "He was always joking and smiling and making us stop to do random, silly stuff."

"I can't even picture that." Azula hugged herself as they walked along the grey dusty road, "The stories I heard growing up. They said he was like a creature of destruction. He would travel, like he was looking for something, or someone, and then suddenly he'd begin to glow blue and would destroy whole towns and villages."

"No way, not Aang!" Sokka said as they finally reached the top of the hill and looked down on the valley, "Oh, no."

Below them there was a black gouge across the earth. The trees were burnt. The rivers were muddy and grey. And a thick layer of black ash and soot covered everything. A dark black path flowed like a river between massive boulders and at the very top split around a small house. They walked to where the path appeared and saw the statues of two little boys, huddled up as if they were trying to cover their faces from something. Sokka didn't know why but he was suddenly feeling sick to his stomach.

"What is this place?" Azula whisperd, "I thought you said there was a village here."

Sokka closed his eyes, "There was. There is."

"Where? I don't see anything." Azula looked around confused.

"All around us." Sokka sighed and got up, walking along the path, "Those large boulders. They're houses. Those statues were two bodies."

"What?" Azula held her mouth and looked like she was ready to throw up, "What happened? Was it Avatar Aang?"

"No." Sokka looked up at the last lonely house, the only survivor and saw the old woman standing outside it, her head hanging, "I think this is what happens when Aang wasn't here to save people."

"Welcome, travelers." The old woman opened the door to her home, "I have waited so long for you two to come. To come set me free. Welcome Azula, Fire Lord of the Fire Nation. And Kuzon. Or should I rather call you Sokka?"

"How did you know our names?" Azula was immediately on the defensive.

"Because, child." She smiled her coy smile, "My name is Aunt Wu. And I know many things that have been, that are now, and even some things that may still be. Come in, and let me read your fortunes."

"Why have we stopped?!" Demanded the Captain as she hopped down off of the back of Nyla.

"Because, they stopped here for awhile, possible to weather out that storm where we almost lost their scent." June spoke as she petted the shirshu. "She'll need a rest herself for a bit before we can move on anyway."

"We can't stop now!" The Captain paced, "They may be in danger!"

"Don't get your armor in a knott." June winked, "It won't be for too long. In the meantime we can make some food, go for a swim."

"No, thank you." The Captain said dry and levelly, "What is it with you and wanting to take your clothes off!"

"What's it with you and wanting to rescue the Fire Lord and her husband as soon as possible?" June threw back as she gathered some kindling, "I didn't think they were into that sort of thing. Do you mind lighting this?"

The Captain knelt down scowling and scraped her flint across one of her knives and set the small heap ablaze, "They're not."

"Now, that's interesting." June purred, "How does a young woman become the senior Captain of the Palace guard without even being able to fire bend?"

The Captain had June pinned against the side of the cave wall, a shurken an inch from her throat as she hissed, "Shall I show you?"

"Nyla." June whistled and the next moment the shirshu's thick pink tongue slapped meatily against the side of the Captain's neck.

"What have you––" She gritted her teeth as she sunk to the floor.

"Relax, hun." June kissed her on the cheek and then patted her like a small child, "I promised I'd find them for you. I didn't promise you'd be in any kind of condition to welcome them when I did. You just focus on your beauty sleep and let mama take care of the rest."

"What do you mean they escaped! Where!" Katara threw the scroll at the young General Song.

"I am sorry about your distress, Madame." Song looked at her levelly, "But that is all we know. Our last sighting occurred when they fled from the flotilla."

"And where did they go?" Katara clenched her first, making several containers of water explode nearby.

"Enough of that." The boy who entered the room was being wheeled by an old Watertribe woman, "So you're one of the Moon Witches."

"Bloodbenders." Katara says levely at him, noticing the old water tribe woman look disapprovingly. "What is it to you!"

"Waterbending for women is forbidden!" Yugoda shook her head, "This is why! Too much alignment with the moon."

"And yet the moon is a Lady as well." Katara said levelly, "I know about the secret Oasis. I trained in the North for a while too with my teacher. We went to the North after the last great siege and we saw the destruction of the Northern Water Tribe."

"So you know the Oasis was destroyed too." Yugoda said with a look that spoke much more, "The spirits were lost to us."

"Of course." Katara returned the look, "Of course. Why don't you go back to heal your little cripple master. That's what you woman of the north do, isn't it. Just heal in the healing huts."

"If I may be allowed a word edgewise." And the look the boy gave the woman sent shivers down Katara's spine, "Unlike poor, backward Yugoda here I believe that there may be a use for the Moon Witches. I know you must have some contact with their leader."

"Maybe." Katara said levelly, "And what if I do!"

"I would like to pass her this message. It is for her eyes only." The boy handed a sealed envelope to her, "It concerns an alliance between the Scorpion Horde and her Bloodbenders. Can you ensure she receives it unopened? I would like her to know that this came directly from my hand to her."

"Fine." Katara pushed the envelope into the side of her bag, "Now, we've got to leave if we're going to catch that Bison!"

"Of course." The boy motioned to a side door, "We have ration packs ready for you and a flying escort that can take you safely to the Earth Kingdom coast. Once there my men can take you as far as the Great Eastern River. We have sentry oulooks throughout that territory that may have spotted the animal."

"My thanks. I'll make sure to get this to our leader." Katara spoke with a small bow.

"Thank you." The boy smiled, "And good luck."

As Katara and Suki left, Jet glanced back at them with an uncertain look before shaking himself out of it and walking to the boy, "Excuse me. But. My guide. The man in armor. Is he... is he alright... I think he was stabbed in the eyes."

"Ah, yes." And the boy turned to face the still fuming old watertribe woman, "How is the healing coming Yugoda?"

She glared down for a moment as if choosing her words wisely, "The... er, patient is doing fine...the patient will recover, though there may be some scarring. Unavoidable since the wounds were allowed to go days without being treated."

"And will he be able to see?" Jet asked nervously. "It would be all my fault. I should have pulled back."

"Yes, er, the patient will be able to... see... in a manner of speaking." Yugoda looked extremely uneasy, "And the burns on the body from the armor should be almost all but healed by now."

"Now, your guide will be ready to travel soon again, Jet." The boy spoke without missing a beat, "And I have a special mission for you."

"W-what mission?" Jet stammered unsure.

"I need you to find that Bison before she does." The boy took a different scroll from General Song, "This is the current coordinates of the Bison and its occupants. Find them and find out who they are. And if they are the Fire Lord and her companion, kill them."

"W-what?" He took a step back straight into a suit of armor.

"You heard him, Jet." The man in armor was standing behind him, "You and I are going to go fulfill your dreams. We're going to kill the Fire Lord."

"There now, gotten you two out of those muddy things." Aunt Wu said as she placed the warm food in front of Azula and Sokka, "Your favorites."

"How did you––" Azula began and then smiled, "Right, our fortunes."

"But I don't understand." Sokka said as he scooped the steamed sea prunes into his mouth, "I don't remember you being able to actually predict things."

"Oh, really?" Aunt Wu smiled as she poured a cup of tea at a fourth place at the table, "Well, sometimes there is more to us then we know. It takes adversity to bring those special talents out from where we have hidden them from ourselves."

"Okay. But if you can actually tell the future, then..." And Sokka paused to try and figure out the right words, "Why did the village get destroyed?"

Aunt Wu sighed as she lowered her cup of tea, "I was a fool. You see. Every year I would do the cloud reading. And I would tell whether the volcano would destroy the village or not. But when I read the sky I wasn't really reading for the whole village. I was just reading for my house. I figured, if the village gets destroyed my house would get destroyed too so it made it easy."

"Except that the boulder above your house diverted the lava around you." Sokka lowered his spoon, sick to his stomach, "All those people trusted you."

"Yes." Aunt Wu raised the teacup to her lips, "And you will never trust me because of that. The doubt of my vision will follow you. And eventually you will lose a companion because of your hesitancy to believe what I say. But in the end of the day your apprehension to my second sight will end up saving the lives of many. So, do not trust what I say, young water tribe boy."

"What did you call me?" Sokka nearly fell out of his chair.

"Ah, our last guest is up. Welcome, Kazo." Her eyes twinkled as she said it, "That is the name you prefer?"

"Yes, thank you Aunt Wu." He sat down and picked up his tea, "Thank you for letting me stay until they arrived."

"Well, you have much to talk about." She rose and gathered up the dishes, leaving the tea. "I'll leave you to it. But before you leave tomorrow I will read your fortunes. There is something coming that none of us are ready for. But maybe you three can save us."

And with that she disappeared behind the jade, beaded curtain and the room grew quiet except for the crackle of the fire and the heady steam that rose from their cups as they all looked at each other.

"So, you're Kazo." Sokka said. Azula was quiet. Kazo looked from her to Sokka, "Yes. I am glad you do not recognize me. It will make this easier."

"Why are you here?" Azula said bitterly.

"I was sent. By the Lady of the Moon." And he had barely said it before Sokka was on his feet.

"Yue sent you! What did she say!" Sokka knocked his cup over in the process, only to find a rag already on the floor waiting to catch the spilled tea.

"She says that it is not safe for her right now. She's waiting for you in some place called the Spirit Oasis. She says you'll know where to find it." He looked from Sokka to Azula who was looking miserable, "And she says that Azula must come with you. It's important. She isn't safe."

"Safe from what?" Azula finally looked up.

"She didn't say." Kazo spoke but couldn't hold her gaze. "She says she can save the Avatar's life if you go meet her."

"How... how is he?" Azula whispered.

"He was close to the end, before Yue sent something to help him. Brought him back from the edge." Kazo spoke and his voice almost broke, "I left him in good hands until I get back."

"You shouldn't have left him." Azula spoke levelly.

"I had to make sure you got the message." Kazo spoke, "It's getting more and more dangerous to cross between the physical world and the spirit world. But at the Spirit Oasis she can safely speak with you and explain what is happening better."

The group grew silent and Aunt Wu entered on queue with a long tapering candle in hand, "The night grows old. Let me show you to your rooms."

And she led them all to their own rooms. Sokka felt odd that it was the first time in a long time that he wouldn't be sleeping next to Azula. And for some reason he couldn't quite understand, that made him feel sad and cold.

"She needs to be alone tonight." Aunt Wu said as if reading his mind, "She can't cry if you're there. She feels that she needs to be strong for you."

"Aunt Wu." Sokka spoke with a whisper, "I–– I'm really sorry. Aang and I were supposed to be here to save your village."

"Ah, that magical other world that the bones keep speaking of." Aunt Wu smiled and her eyes turned to half moons, "Where I am nothing more than a charlatan and a fake."

Sokka looked at the floor unsure of what to say before he spoke, "Were there any other survivors?"

"Yes." And for the first time he heard emotion in her voice that sounded like she might break down before she recovered. "Yes. Just a young girl. My apprentice. But afterward, a spirit of great and ancient evil came and took her away."

"Why? what would a spirit want with a girl?" Sokka felt like it was his fault somehow.

"Because she has the second sight even clearer than I do. I would never have guessed from her plain appearance and unmanageable hair," Aunt Wu smiled sadly. "My little Meng. Well, we will be reunited again."

"Did the bones tell you that too?" Sokka asked as he stepped into his room.

"No, it's just a feeling I have." Aunt Wu spoke softly, "Have a good night, Sokka of the Water Tribe."

The night was cold as it's dark wings enclosed the globe of the world. Katara watched the twinkling stars come alive like small lights in a bobbing sea of ink. She watched their reflection pass as she pushed the ship forward faster, large waves bearing them up with a trail of white foam in their wake.

So you're the leader of the Moon Witches?" Suki had been silent as she dropped down from her perch above in the darkness. She indicated the open letter in Katara's hand.

"Yes." She spoke and turned to look out over the swelling ocean that stretched on towards the very shores of night. "My sisters and I have been eating away at the Pheonix King's empire for years. We were finally going to kill him too. We came so close."

Suki pulled out a wetstone and began to slowly slide one of her blades across the edge, "Well, we can always try again I guess."

"Yes. The firelord has to be dealt with first. She's much more powerful than the Phoenix King. I sensed it in her." Katara turned, "But there was someone else."

The two did not talk more as the stars twinkled into sight and the dusty smear of the milky way across the sky led onward like a path toward their final destination. They had long since lost sight of the flying escort they had, but they knew that the men in the strange flying contraptions were there, keeping an eye out of fire nation dragons that could appear at any moment. On one of the gliders Jet was looking down at the ship and wondering about the two girls onboard. Specifically the one with the blades who had glared at him especially hard. He caught sight of the man in armor on a different glider moving towards the distant shore. His glider followed and soon they touched down on the soft earth, the distant thundering and roaring splash of waves on the rocks filled his ears and his nose twitched with the salty air.

"We go from here. Inland for a half a day and then south. We should intersect with their trail. If our intel is correct." The man in armor waited for Jet to gather his pack, "Come on. We will have to march through the night if we are to catch them."

A/N: Thank you so much for reading this everyone! I'm trying to keep a queue of chapters up that way even if I miss a week or if things get busy the story will keep updating frequently and regularly. Thank you again for your comments, your feedback, and your reviews. I really appreciated that everyone mentioned that they wanted to know identities more, so in the next few chapters we find out several important identities in this alternate timeline. As always, thank you for reading. You're the reason I write! -X