Legal necessities: The Equalists said that they wouldn't let me own this.

Chapter 4: Destiny in the Swamp

We sat there under the hot Earth Kingdom sun, oblivious people strolling by without a – meaningful – care in the world. It made me sick that so many people had nothing better to do other than mill around a market, but I guess even in war life goes on. Life always continues.

As a vendor pushed along a cart full of masks, a flash of blue, and a white tusk caught my attention. "Spare a few coins for a weary traveler?" Iroh asked, snapping me out of my momentary trance. I watched as a man dropped a few copper coins in his hat, making him smile.

"This is humiliating," Zuko hissed to his uncle, "we're royalty, they should be giving us whatever we want!" In a flash, I quickly silenced him with a thwak to the head.

"These people are showing kindness to three robbed travelers," I snapped, "be grateful." He growled at me, but Iroh just nodded his head in agreement with a chuckle. I stuck my tongue at him smugly as he rolled his eyes, making my lips pick up in amusement. It seems that we had gotten along better since we were 'engaged.'

"Spare a coin for a hungry old man?" Iroh asked in a weak voice.

"Aww," a young woman cooed, producing a coin from her sleeve and placing it in his hat. "Here you go."

"The coin is appreciated, but not as much as your smile." The young woman's eyes met mine, and we shared a giggle, Zuko slapping his forehead in a Sokka like fashion. As she walked away, a man with broad swords wondered by us, and stopped.

"How about some entertainment… in exchange for a gold piece?" the man said with a cruel smile.

"I'm sorry, sir. But we're not performers." I responded politely. Hastily Iroh placed his hat down, standing up quickly.

"Not professional, anyways." He grinned, and clasping his hands together, he began to sing. "It's a long, long way to Ba Sing Se, but the girls in the city they look sooo prett-ay!

"Come on, we're talking about a gold piece here, let's see some action!" the man roared, whipping out his broad swords, causing my eyes to freeze into glaciers. "Dance!"

The moment he went to swing a blade down, I uncorked my water skin, and shot out a jet of water to encase his hands in ice. Suddenly, everyone who hadn't been paying attention was. I felt all of their eyes on me, and pulled the sparkling ice back into the water skin. "I think you should go."

The man just stared at me dumbfounded before his face contorted into anger, and he attempted to storm away. Unfortunately for him, another – larger – man stopped him, and starred down at him with disgust. "I believe you promised the lady a gold coin for some entertainment. And that was quite entertaining, wouldn't you say?" he asked, some nodding, others just looking on.

"The man with broad swords just snarled, but dropped the gold coin into Iroh's hat, none-the-less. As he stormed away, I smiled at the man who had helped us, "Thank you." I said.

"No problem little lady, men like that need to be taught a lesson every once in a while." He beamed, making me laugh as I placed a gentle hand on his arm in thanks.

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I turned a blind eye to The Blue Spirit mask and swords. I had determined it would be payment for when he saved me; I had saved him as well, but he had done much more to rescue me – even if it was for his own agenda – than I had to save him. So I turned a blind eye to The Blue Spirit mask and swords.

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We were walking down the road when I saw it, a flash of red in the trees. My heart sped up, adrenaline warming my blood and muscles as I drifted closer to Zuko. Carefully, I slid my hand into his, making him jump. I squeezed tightly when he tried to pull away in surprise, flicking my eyes towards the woods.

His gaze sharpened when he glanced back at me, and I ducked my head in a nod, as if embarrassed. "Uncle, don't you think these trees are wonderful," he asked suddenly, keeping my hand in his, "especially in the fall when they're red."

"Yes, but my favorite time of the year to watch leaves is when they turn gold." Iroh responded smoothly, allowing me to relax. Fire Nation colors, he'd noticed them too. We all shared a look between us, then moved. I tore from Zuko's grip, mounting the Ostrich Horse in a matter of seconds, pulling Zuko up, who quickly did the same to his uncle.

A blast of fire shot out from the trees at the spot we'd all been standing at moments before. Two Komodo Rhino's burst from the forest behind us to give chase, but the beasts the Fire Nation rode were for strength, not speed.

We left them easily in our dust, but in a matter of minutes our warhorse began to slow, he wasn't meant to carry so much weight! My eyes caught on the corner of the trail a hundred yards away, yet I wasn't focused so much on the turn, but rather on the forest. No, the swamp.

If we could get to the swamp, than we' be safe from everything, I knew it. My hands slackened, eyes drifting lazily halfway shut. There was a light throbbing at the base of my skull – though it wasn't at all unpleasant – as quite voices whispered in my ears. Let us show you the truth.

"Kana, what are you doing?" someone shouted, snapping me out of my stupor as the Ostrich Horse rammed past the trees, and into a marshy terrain. I tugged at the reigns, but he just kept running with renewed vigor, as if the swamp had given his strength back. It took five minutes of jerking and pulling to finally get the beast to stop, and when I did, Zuko immediately began to snap at me.

"What's wrong with you? Why would you bring us into this spirit forsaken place?"

"I didn't mean to!" I shouted back viciously, "I just thought it's be a good idea!"

"In what way was this a good idea?" he scoffed, making my cheeks flush in anger.

"Enough!" Iroh roared, causing our mouths to drop open in surprise, "If one does not wish to sink their own ship, then they must be united, here we have only each other to rely on, so there will be no bickering between the two of you!"

"Yes, Uncle." We both muttered, sounding like scolded children, which in a sense, we were.

"Ba Sing Se is north of here," I said changing the subject, and lept from the Ostrich Horse into the calf deep water. "If we use this little pin and leaf, we should be able to tell what direction to travel in." Crouching on my haunches, I place the pin on the leaf, both on top of the water, and watched as it twisted to the right. Or in other words, North.

"Very resourceful, Kana." Iroh grinned in approval.

"We need to head out," I said tossing a triumphant smirk at Zuko, "you two can stay on the horse, I know how much Firebenders are afraid of the water."

"If I can jump into an ocean to save your life, than I can handle walking in a swamp." He snapped, dismounting. I hid a smile of delight, it had been easier than I'd thought to get him off the beast. I hid a chuckle in a cough, I loved to mess with them.

"Well I'm staying on!" Iroh chuckled, "I prefer not to get my socks wet."

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One thing I admired about Zuko is he never complained. We had been walking for a few hours – a regular thing as of late – but what should have been a major discomfort, seemed nothing more than a spider-fly to him. It was admiral – if not stubborn – that he didn't ask for help, even knowing I could do things better and faster than he could.

Yet he kept tromping on, ripping and tearing anything that got in his way, instead of being sensible. It made me wince when he would yank the vines from our path violently enough to break them, but I didn't say anything. He was already in a grumpy mood; he's probably start using fire to dispose of obstacles, just to urk me.

So we walked, and walked, until I suddenly felt a tingle on my skin, making a sigh escape my lips. "It's a full moon tonight," I murmured, glancing at the darkening swamp. "We should find somewhere dry to camp." My two companions nodded in agreement, and we continued on a little further until reaching a giant slab of dry land, that was very possibly a giant root.

We quickly settled down for the night, Zuko starting a fire, and Iroh pulling out some food for dinner. We were all relatively quiet as the sun went down, taking with it any light that seeped through the thick foliage of the swamp.

We were all rather tired – except for maybe Iroh – because of how far, and fast we had traveled. It would take us awhile to get out of this swamp, I was sure, but it would at least keep us safe from anyone trying to hunt us. Like Azula. Or the Fire Nation. Or the Earth Kingdom. Or bounty hunters. Or dutiful citizens.

My mood soured at the turn my thoughts had taken, that was too many or's for me. Thinking about the predicament we were in, made my eyelids droop in exhaustion. It reminded me that I should have left these two a long time ago, and that just gave me a headache.

I plopped down; not even bothering to say good night to Zuko or Iroh, even though I knew it was rude.

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It felt as if something was pressing down on me. Trying to crush me, and tear the air from my lungs. It was overwhelming, to much of something, but I didn't know what! I couldn't escape, it was everywhere, it was crawling up my leg! Encasing my entire body, and squeezing, squeezing, squeezing. I didn't understand how I didn't pop.

Suddenly there was a sudden yanking sensation on my entire body, and I could practically hear the bending of my ribs as they were squashed. My eyes snapped open, and I screamed. I was blind.

I don't know how far I allowed myself to be pulled by whatever had taken me, my mind blanketed by the fact I couldn't see anything but swirling colors. It was only when I felt water cut off my air supply that everything exploded, literally. Even though I couldn't see it, I could feel ice shards burst from everywhere, making a spiked dome.

Whatever had been wrapped around me went limp, and I rolled choking onto my hands and knees, the ice dropping back into water. Radiating blotches of color were the only things that I could see. Shining blue, glowing green, misty white, and pulsing red. I raised my shaking hands in front of my face, different shades of scarlet shifting around lazily, were I was certain, my skin should be.

I let them fall back down, and felt the splash of water against my skin, the blue slightly coating red. Realization dawned on me, and frantically I pulled up a bit of green color, and shifted it between my fingers. Plants. I splashed in the blue. Water. I felt the red. Blood. And I took a deep breath, feeling moisture coat the inside of my mouth. Mist.

This was all water! The energies of different forms of water! My eyes shifted around, and suddenly I could see clearer. The slight rippling, swirling, rushing, all of it I could see, I could feel… the moon. And then it hit me again; I wasn't blind, I was seeing through my element. The pure power of the moon, mixed with the power of the swamp had tripled my own, letting me see through the eyes of a water spirit.

My muscles relaxed, and it became the most beautiful thing I had ever seen or felt, I was the water. So when I rose to my feet, wobbling from the strangeness of a different sight, I wasn't worried. I wanted to stay where I was and just revel in this new bending experience, but I knew I couldn't. I wouldn't be effective like this. I wouldn't be able to find my way back to Zuko and Iroh.

I took a deep breath, the moonbeams filling me with a soft power that had the strength to move the ocean. I found the edges of that power, and tried to fold it inward, but it wouldn't budge. I tried again, but the results were the same. The moon was keeping me strong.

A spark of anger lit in my belly, and suddenly my vision wavered almost back to normal. I realized it was that flickering flame that resided in my body, a gentle reminder that it was there. My legs shifted into their Firebending stance, and I took another deep breath, this time focusing on stoking the flame.

The tiny sun that lived in every Firebender rose – if just slightly – and even with the throbbing moon on my skin, it freed me from the night. The colors faded, and everything was back to (almost) normal, there was just a slight tinge of bright color on everything. Or that was what I thought until I saw them. Two people ran side by side along the tree branches, disappearing into the foliage. I stood there stupefied, before reacting.

"Hey!" I shouted, dashing after them, but I only heard a childish laughter echo back at me. "Stop, where'd you go?"

Another laugh sounded, this one different from the first, and a girl who looked as if she were Katara's age darted in front of me. I caught sight of her Fire Nation tunic, brown curly hair, and bright gray eyes, then she disappeared, me hot on her trail. I don't know how long I ran after these two girls, just that the moon kept me strong enough to never stop.

Finally a bought of luck brought all three of us to a clearing, and they had their heads between their knees as they breathed hard, trying to get their breath back. My own lungs were on fire, but it appeared my will was stronger than theirs, so I let out a small victory shout.

Dashing forward as fast as I could, I reached out to grab the shorter of the two girls, the one with black hair and moss green eyes who wore a white dress. But right as I touched her shoulder they all faded away, leaving only a dead stump in my hand. Confusedly, my head whipped back and forth searching for them, but my eyes caught on something else instead.

A baby Otter-penguin. The color drained from my face as it stared at me, and I stared right back it. It flapped its wings at me, making me recoil. A black diamond sat squarely on its side, a diamond that shouldn't exist any more! The last time I had seen a penguin with that marking was a hundred years ago!

Father had gone to business, and Yue was assigned the task of looking after me. At the time I was but five, and she was seven. We were at the healing huts, and my sister was so busy making new friends that she ignored me. I was so bored that I slipped away from all of them, healing came easily to me, missing a day wouldn't hurt.

I stared down at the Otter-penguin for another second before running as fast as I could. A root snagged on my foot, and I went down, the swamp water encasing me. I rose back up, a hand sticking in my face. I glanced up and there she was. My sister.

I walked away from all of the people, and out of the village, into the frozen tundra. As I tottered about I found the cutest little thing that could exist for a five year old. A baby Otter-penguin. I wanted to pet the little animal, but it leaned back when I reached out to touch it, spreading its wings to show a diamond.

I looked up at her dumbfounded, unable to speak as she just smiled kindly down at me. Without warning my mother and grandmother appeared behind her, the same gentle smile on their faces.

The little bird turned around and began to waddle away, making me shout. "Hey! Don't leave, play with me penguin!" it continued on its way and I took stumbling steps forward trying to reach it. "Hey!"

I rubbed my eyes with my fists, and when I looked back up, they were gone. All of them had disappeared, and I didn't know if I was happy about it or not. I blinked back the tears that were burning the back of my eyes, and got back to my feet. It was just a illusion.

As I chased after the baby Otter-penguin, I was so happy, I wanted to share it with my sister. "Yue, looky at what I found! Yue?" I called, but she was nowhere to be found, I had forgotten I had left her at the healing huts. The only ones that are around me were the Otter-penguins.

I continued forward, a little more warily. I could swear that in the corner of my vision I saw flashes of blue cloth, but I ignored them. I wouldn't be fooled by an illusion! But right as I thought that, a crack formed in my heart. "Hariti?"

The big Otter-penguins were curious about the human child, so they began to crowd around me. When they got close enough, they started to rub their feathery cheeks against my own, but I was so frightened, I couldn't move! They were bigger than me, and I couldn't move, they were crushing me!

My lips trembled as I stared ahead of me at the woman that I had spent the most important three years of my life with. She looked as she always had. Curly brown hair, and gray eyes, her features were rather stern, but still kind. A sob broke through my lips as I stumbled forward, hand reaching out. But she disappeared.

"Kana!" I felt a tug on my hood pull me back, and two arms wrap around me defensively. Yue had come and found me, she came for me! "Don't touch my baby sister!" she shouted at the on looking Otter-penguins.

My knees collapsed underneath me when she left, and I covered my face with wet hands, allowing tears to gather in my palms. They were all gone, everyone and everything! I couldn't stand it, I shouldn't be here, alive, when they were all dead.

"Don't cry, Kana," Yue said, voice quivering slightly, "I won't leave you! Even if they eat me, I won't leave you!" she shouted at the watching birds, who hearing her voice, began to waddle forward, towards us.

Suddenly, a warm hand was on my shoulder, and I jerked in surprise. Glancing up, I saw someone who I'd never met before, it was a boy. He had strong features, and black hair that was put up in a topknot, I had absolutely no idea who he was.

Yue's chin bumped into mine as sudden pressure pushed down on her head. She gasped, and looked behind us, me following her lead, and tears sprang to her eyes, "Papa?"

"So sad." He whispered, crouching down on his haunches to look me in the eyes. "Someone so pretty shouldn't cry. Especially when their goal is so close." He said gesturing in front of us.

Our father peered down at us with a warm, yet amused smile. He immediately saw our tears, and laughed, stomping around to scare away the Otter-penguins. He came back when they had all scattered, holding his arms out wide so we could crowd into them, which we promptly did.

"Wha-" I croaked, making his smile deepen. He took me by the arm, and pulled me to my feet, pointing at the tree line again. I glanced at it, and when I turned to look at him in curiosity he was gone like everyone else.

Dad picked me up in his arms, cradling me in one arm against his chest, and gave my sister his hand to hold. "You did a good job protecting your little sister, Yue. I'm very proud of you."

I sucked in a deep breath, and started forward at the fastest pace I could get to. Whoever that man was, he said my destination was close by, and if that meant I didn't see any more people, than that's where I would be heading.

"Thank you daddy!" Yue said happily, "I've decided to always look after Kana, because she's my baby sister, and I love her!"

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I kept walking, even when my legs were cramping with pain. I looked up at a mound of earth ahead of me, and slouched down in defeat. Surely I could rest for a moment. Just as I made up my mind to do just that, I saw the man that hold told me where to go. Anger suddenly flared in my stomach, and my jaw clenched in fury as I ran up the small hill.

"Who are you?" I screamed in determination, charging him.

He turned, but it wasn't the man with the topknot, it was Zuko. I realized too late that it wasn't who I thought it was, and ran right into him, knocking him off the hill. He cried out as we went rolling down. I manage to see Iroh and the Ostrich Horse just as we reached the bottom of the hill, but the momentum made us knock him down anyways. We all landed in a pile at the bottom of a tree root, the warhorse peering down at us blankly.

"What do you guys think you're doing?" Zuko snarled, getting to his feet. "I've been looking all over for you!"

"Well, I've been wandering around looking for you two." Iroh responded.

"Right… I kind of forgot about you guys while chasing some people." I said, a little guilty.

"What?" Zuko shouted, "We were looking for you all night, and you were chasing after imaginary people?"

"I didn't know they were imaginary!" I yelled back, with a growl.

"I think we all need to take a breath, and figure out where we are." Iroh said, stepping between the two of us, and glancing about as if looking for something.

"It's the heart of the swamp, it must have called us here." I murmured, staring up at the largest tree I had ever seen.

"The swamp couldn't have called us here, it's nothing but a bunch of vines and water!" Zuko snapped, crossing his arms in distaste.

"The swamp is mystical, it's sacred." A fat, leaf-clad man said, appearing from the trees. All three of us jumped in surprise, immediately sliding into our bending stances.

"Who are you?" I growled.

"I protect the swamp from people who want to hurt it, but for now, I'm helping three lost travelers who have all been called by the beat of the swamps heart. Follow me." He said, walking away. We all glanced at each other, then followed him without a word, still on the defensive. He led us up the giant roots, taking as to the base of the tree.

"I reached enlightenment right here under the banion grove tree." He said, sitting. "I hear it callin' me, just like you did. See, this whole swamp is actually just one tree spread out over miles... Branches spread and sink and take root and then spread some more - one big living organism, just like the entire world."

"I get the tree, but the entire world?" I said skeptically.

"Sure. You think you're any different from me? Or your friends? Or this tree? If you listen hard enough you can hear every living thing breathing together, you can feel everything growing. We're all livin' together, even if most folks don't act like it." I glanced at Zuko as he said that, and caught him staring at me as well, causing both of us to look away at the same time, blushing. "We all have the same roots, and we are all branches of the same tree."

"But what did my visions mean?"

"In the swamp we see visions of people we've lost, people we loved... folks we think are gone. But the swamp tells us they're not. We're still connected to'em. Time is an illusion, and so is death. An old destiny, making way for the new."

"But what about the people I didn't know? There were four of them!"

"You're the Avatar, you tell me." He said, making all of us recoil.

"How do you know that?" I hissed, eyes narrowing.

"Colors." He chuckled, "You are a rainbow of colors." My two companions looked at each other in confusion, but I just relaxed, I knew about the colors, so I thought about what he had said.

"Old destiny, making way for the new... so, they're... people I will meet?" The man grinned at me while winking, making me smile slightly.

"This is all useless nonsense, we need to get out of this swamp, not talk about people who're gone, and people we might never know!" Zuko snapped, and the man laughed.

"I think I can help you get out of here!" the man laughed, "I got some friends – Due and Tho – that can get you across the rest of the swamp in no time."

Wow, another long chapter, haha! Did you guys like it, because I hope you did! I also hope you all liked Kana's POV. This should be the only one in the entire series, so love it. Give me your feed back on Kana's flash back, did it make you think any differently about her father?

Also, I was searching my mind for what I could get all of you for the holiday season, and I found it! I will be posting a one shot with any pairing (with Kana) you want on the 24th. So I'm starting up a poll of who you want the one shot to be about. I suggest you vote on this one non-voters, if you end up with a gift you don't want, it will be all your fault :D

Character questions answered

What did you all think of your cover names?

Zuko: …

Iroh: …

Kana: I loved them! Don't you guys just love them? No? Well too bad, it's to late to change them, because I won't let you! (Bursts into laughter)