117 th day of our journey We have reached General Fong's fortress, an impenetrable stronghold set deep in the mountain range on the Western coast of the Earth Kingdom. It is the only remaining one in this part of the Earth Kingdom, for most of the coastline here is occupied by Fire Nation.

General Fong, a tall, robust Earthbender who is very zealous in his task, gave us a hero's welcome that we hadn't quite expected. But it seems that the story of the Avatar's single-handed defeat of Admiral Zhao's fleet has reached far and wide, and this has prompted the General to plan an invasion of the Fire Nation using the Avatar, as , in his own words, 'the ultimate weapon'.

There were even fireworks! We hadn't realised, being at sea all this time, how the news had travelled. It was kinda flattering to land and find ourselves given a hero's welcome (I mean: 'mighty Katara?! Who would ever have imagined I'd be called that?!)

However, later, when we were given a private audience with General Fong in his huge and imposing office, things got complicated, and I realised that General Fong wasn't only interested in organising a welcome party for us.

He has a private agenda of his own.

The fortress being the one and only possible stronghold large enough to stage an attack on the Fire Nation, he wants to re-create what happened at the siege of the north and have Aang lead an invasion right into Fire Nation land!

'With the kind of power he possesses—'General Fong said, animatedly, his eyes glowing with a fanatical light '- power enough to destroy hundreds of battleships in a matter of minutes—he could defeat the Fire Lord now!'

I started having serious doubts about this General Fong. I could see that he was an ambitious and driven man. Tall, broad-shouldered and bearded - every inch of him, from his rock-solid stance, to the determined gleam in his green eyes, proclaim him to be someone used to giving commands and seeing that they are obeyed: a man who brooks no opposition to his plans and ideas.

We clashed immediately of course.

'We already have a plan. Aang's pursuing his destiny his way,' I said, already irritated at his high-handed way of sweeping our arguments and plans away as if they were of no matter.

But General Fong had a manipulative streak in him: he took Aang to the window and showed him the Infirmary. There were hundreds of Earth Kingdom soldiers there, maimed and broken: the ugly flotsam and jetsam of a long war that many military commanders took pains to hide from the general public.

Those who could walk by themselves slouched dejectedly outside the Infirmary buildings; others were being carried on stretchers. None of them seemed interested in what was happening around them: their expressions were blank and inward-looking…

I felt my stomach clench painfully, for they reminded me of the Water Tribe men at old Yagoda's Infirmary. Yet there was something different: at the North Pole, many of the injured bore their hurt with a pride enhanced by the victory over the Fire Nation. Here, the soldiers had a defeated look… the 100 years of war had worn their spirits.

'Every day the Fire Nation takes lives,' General Fong was saying 'People are dying, Aang! You could end it - now!'

Aang looked distraught at the sight of the broken men below, and an expression of guily passed fleetingly across his face. General Fong was right of course, yet still, I somehow had the impression that he was just saying that to put pressure on Aang, and that he wouldn't hesitate to sacrifice those self-same men and many more, in some foolhardy attempt to invade the Fire Nation.

General Fong's plan was to figure out how to trigger the Avatar state. But all my instincts were screaming that it was not the right thing to do. It was just a foolhardy shortcut that would not work! Since the beginning of time, the Avatar had to master all four elements to be truly an Avatar. There must be some very valid reason as to why this has always been so…

However, General Fong told Aang to think about it and then we were shown to the guest quarters in the main central tower of the fortress: after sleeping in a hammock for so long on board a crowded ship, I must say these beds are really comfortable: they're recessed in the solid wall of our room with curtains in front. The ever-glowing green lamps provide light, and off to one side, there's a huge bathroom .

While I was unpacking some of our stuff I noticed Aang had disappeared.

'Where's Aang?' I asked Sokka, who was stretching out luxuriantly on his bed.

'Dunno,' Sokka shrugged 'Perhaps visiting Appa'.

I have a feeling that Appa isn't what is on Aang's mind. Ever since General Fong spoke to us, Aang's been really subdued. I hope he doesn't give in to the pressure. Much as I, myself, would like to end this war as quickly as possible, I would rather put my faith in the old legends and only when he has mastered all four elements can an Avatar truly be called that. Attempting something so crazy at this stage will only lead to grief: for Aang, as well as everyone else suffering from this war. I suspect that General Fong is only seeing an opportunity for fame and glory, in spite of his words about the dead and dying. The attraction of being credited with a victory over the Fire Nation even greater than the one at the North Pole, is hard for someone of his military mind to resist.

118th day of our journey and the second at General Fong's Fortress. The Avatar has told General Fong he'd help him with his invasion plan. The first step is to understand how to get in and out of the Avatar State. General Fong intends to exploit the immense power the Avatar can summon when in that state. Today has been spent in trying to trigger the Avatar State using different methods.

When Aang came back yesterday and said he'd help General Fong by going into the Avatar state I was really mad at him. How can he listen to that stupid General's advice and not mine?! After all, Fong is just seeing Aang as a means to get what he wants - selfishly ready to sacrifice him in order to fulfil his own ambitions. Doesn't Aang see how dangerous it is to invade the Fire Nation when he isn't yet ready to do so? What if something happens to him?

After we've come so far….

And even if he managed to enter the Avatar state, he has no control over what he's doing then.

My stupid brother encouraged him: 'Glow it up and stop that Firelord,' he told him.

I called them both a couple of meatheads and stormed out of the room in a temper, ignoring Aang's plea that he had no time to do it the right way.

Of course we had time – not a lot of it, given it's already the beginning of spring– but still, we have many more months ahead of us which could be spent doing some serious study and practice: I know I can teach Aang waterbending, and that would leave only Earth and Fire. We could do this! And yet he's throwing away all we've worked for!

I spent a couple of hours on the wide terrace outside our room, cooling off. It was a clear night and a crescent moon was just peering behind the mountains. As usual, it had a calming effect on me and I was sorry for snapping at Aang (though not for snapping at Sokka: my brother should stay out of certain things!).

I knew that Aang was acting out of nobler intentions than General Fong, and that the pressure to do something about the war is heavier on him than it is on anyone else, but he has done a lot already, and we just need as much time as we can to get ready!

As the moon climbed higher in the night sky I found myself dreading the next day. What if General Fong actually succeeded in finding a way to trigger the Avatar state?

I felt a shiver of fear pass through me and my eyes turned back to the darkened door of our room.

I knew then that there was another reason why I was so against the idea of trying to get Aang into the Avatar state…. It was something I did not like to watch. The dreadful memory of one such occasion is still fresh in my mind, and in every other time I saw Aang in the Avatar State, the eerie change in personality always shakes me more than the raw power he can command.

I went back inside then, feeling sorry for my earlier outburst and thinking, not for the first time, how unfairly complicated life was becoming for Aang ….for all of us. Tiptoeing softly in the darkened room so as not to disturb the guys, I saw my brother lying spread-eagled on his bunk, snoring softly, but Aang's bunk was in deeper shadow and I could see nothing.

Throwing off my shoes, I sat down on my own bunk, loosening my hair for the night, when a soft rustle made me look up. Aang was sitting up in the bunk across from mine. I could only see the pale outline of his face and chest, but I knew he was looking at me.

I sighed and let my hands fall to my side for I knew that look, even though I couldn't see his face.

'I'm sorry, Aang' I whispered 'I didn't mean to snap at you – '

'It's ok - you're right about the discipline and study and stuff . I wish I'd practised more– and I know that the Avatar has to master the four elements – the monks were pretty clear about that too, but I can't ignore what General Fong has said, either.'

'He's wrong, Aang. I've got a bad feeling about this! You're not ready. What if something terrible happens to you?'

My voice quivered, but there was silence from the direction of Aang's bunk, and I could see his pale shadow motionless within.

'There's a long way to that yet,' he whispered back finally, 'Before, I've got to learn about the Avatar State. After those nightmares, anything I knowabout being in the Avatar State will help. Don't you think it's a good idea if I can get in and out of that state whenever I want... and ...and control what I do when I'm in it?'

No, I wanted to shout, No it's not! I don't want to see you like that! But I was silent for a bit. What he said made sense. This had haunted his dreams ever since we left the North Pole. He had to know more about the Avatar state. But I hoped any explanations we arrived at would disperse his nightmares and not increase them.

'Yeah, I s'ppose so,' I sighed, 'Get some sleep now. The power Fong wants to harness always drains you. I'll be there to help you tomorrow.'

'Thanks, Katara. Really.'

It was much later that I managed to fall asleep, for the dreaded anticipation of what I had to help Aang do the next day kept me awake.

But I needn't have worried.

Nothing worked.

General Fong and the wisest and most knowledgeable men of the fort had no idea how to induce the Avatar State. We even went to a herbalist guy on a nearby mountain so that Aang could drink a chi-enhancing tea, and within the Fortress' temple, their priest solicited nothing more than a humongous sneeze from Aang with his hocus pocus and concoction of mud (representing the four elements). Throughout it all I went along quietly with their crazy ideas on how to trigger Aang's avatar state – I was even the one to cover Aang's eyes with my hands when Sokka tried to shock him into it, but as the morning wore off, nothing had happened, and Aang's tattoos remained a stubborn pale blue, and his eyes the usual clear gray.

By late afternoon I was getting increasingly annoyed with General Fong and his attempts. I finally left halfway through a chanting session that the Priest at the temple had invented for the occasion. It wasn't working anyway: Sokka looked bored, and Aang, who was lying on a mat surrounded by objects representing the four elements, was nearly asleep, lulled by the chanting.

They were all ignoring one crucial fact, (even though I wasn't about to tell them what it was): every time Aang had gone into the Avatar state he had been in distress – genuine distress, or danger. I don't think that this can – or should - be recreated. So although my initial fear that the Avatar state is going to be triggered at any time soon had lessened, my chagrin at the waste of time when we could be on our way to Omashu, has increased correspondingly.

But it was when I overheard some soldiers talking about General Fong's next idea to trigger the Avatar state that I really flipped.

'General Fong's orders were to triple the amount!' one soldier was telling three others in the yard below. They were carrying boxes of what looked like small stones.

'This is going to be one big bang, sir,' one of the soldiers complained, 'Are you sure the outer buildings'll stand up to the blast?'

I recognised the small round stones as the Firecrackers they had let off when we arrived.

'Tomorrow they'll be placed in the training grounds,' the soldier replied.' They're for the Avatar.'

'The Avatar? But we already -!'

'Don't question your orders!' the first solder exploded 'Or you know what happens! General Fong will give us the details tomorrow. He mentioned a 'surprise'-'

'Some surprise…' I heard the other grumble, but the rest of his words were an unintelligible mumble under the glare of his superior's eyes.

I shook my head in exasperatedly. Would General Fong stop at nothing?! His ideas to trigger the Avatar state were becoming crazier …and more dangerous. I figured then that he might actually, though unwittingly, succeed. And suddenly, I knew I would not – could not - let that happen. Not now – not here. General Fong knew - or cared - nothing about the Avatar state except to exploit it for all the wrong reasons.

I resolved to speak to Aang as soon as he finished the chanting thing. He had to listen to me this time.

The sun was setting when I finally found him. He was leaning against the railing on the terrace outside our balcony, looking despondently at the fiery sky. There was no need for him to tell me that it was another failed effort.

By now the idea of understanding what the Avatar State had really taken hold of him – I could see that. And the repeated failures were getting to him. He seemed so determined to do this. What could I tell him to dissuade him? What argument could I use against General Fong's cold logic?

As Avatar he needs to know what the Avatar state is, and how to use it, but after a hundred years with no Avatar, it's difficult to even find anybody still alive who remembers living under the protection of an Avatar, let alone someone who could shed some light on the Avatar State… Perhaps we should have lingered a bit more at the Southern Air Temple: Aang said there was a huge Library there. I'm sure there would've been scrolls and books about Avatars and their powers … Then perhaps we wouldn't be wasting our days in General Fong's fortress, trying to understand something that is beyond the General's power to explain or use.

The Southern Air Temple…

As I came up to Aang I felt that there might be one argument he would listen to…

'Do you remember when we were at the air temple and you found Monk Gyatso's skeleton?' I asked gently (and with some trepidation- he had never wanted to talk about that), 'It must have been so horrible and traumatic for you. I saw you get so upset that you weren't even you anymore.'

I paused as the sting of those words set in, and I saw him stiffen.

'I'm not saying the Avatar state doesn't have incredible—and helpful power,' I added hastily, seeing the pain in his eyes as I voiced his own nightmares, 'But you have to understand, for the people who love you, watching you be in that much rage and pain is really scary.'

There – I had said it! All my secret fears and my real reason for not wanting to see this through…

It was such a silly reason, compared to the grand scope and scale of events in General Fong's plans for invasion, but they were his fears too, and I didn't want to watch him turn into his own nightmares!

He looked at me for a minute, the dying sun reflected, fiery red, in his eyes. There was a fleeting expression of something vividly unexpected in his eyes

'I'm really glad you told me that,' he said, with a strange light in his eyes.

However, it must have been a trick of the setting sun, for the dejected expression returned. 'But I still need to do this,' he added sadly.

'I don't understand.'

'No, you don't! Every day more and more people die. I'm already a hundred years late. Defeating the Fire Lord is the only way to stop this war. I have to try it,' he said, his voice rising vehemently.

I was stunned into silence by his outburst. I should have expected it, I guess. I knew he felt guilty about the Hundred Years War, and no amount of reasoning will ever make that go away entirely. My argument hadn't worked, and I felt hurt and defeated.

'I can't watch you do this to yourself. I'm not coming tomorrow,' I said, quietly, 'Goodnight.'

I left him standing there, looking even more dejected than before. Going straight to bed I climbed in and drew the curtain across the recessed space.

I don't want to speak or see anyone right now. I feel too upset and I don't know when, or how, this is going to end. If by some miracle they manage to trigger the Avatar State, I'm not going to stay there to see it.

I tried my best to change Aang's mind. I thought, stupidly, that he might come round when he saw how scared I was for him, that I certainly care more for him than that stupid General Fong does…

Only now, as I'm writing this, am I realising what I've just told Aang:

'…for the people who love you,' I told him.

Well ….it's true. I wasn't thinking when I said that – I was intent only on getting him to stop. Aang's part of my family, and that's what I meant…

I think.

I don't care what I meant! That's not important now: I just want to stop him from doing something stupid!

But he's going ahead anyway.

I guess I expected him to care for me enough to listen to me and stop all this. I guess that's why I feel …well…offended as well as apprehensive and scared.

I suppose he doesn't, and I was silly to expect him to. Perhaps my reasons are selfish. The chance at stopping the Fire Lord, slim though it is, is far more important than either of our feelings and opinions about it, and that's what Aang was trying to tell me.

Sokka has just come in, and I'd better blow out the lantern and stop writing.

119 th day of our journey. We have left General Fong's Fortress. I'm writing this on Appa as we head in a south-easterly direction, towards Omashu. Our departure was not as happy an occasion as our arrival.

General Fong realised from the Avatar's words, that the Avatar State could only be triggered when he was in genuine danger, and he therefore tried to recreate that situation by attacking Aang. As he and his soldiers set upon the Avatar, Sokka and I tried to help him, but General Fong, obsessed with his plan to harness the Avatar's power, further exacerbated Aang's distress by attacking us: he caused the earth beneath me to swallow me up, an earthbending move that buried me alive.

This did trigger the Avatar state, and in the ensuing chaos, most of the Fortress was severely damaged and many of the men and their ostrich-horses injured. In the end, Sokka knocked out the General and we refused any further help or escort from his men. We will go to Omashu alone.

When I woke up, it was late morning. I couldn't get to sleep the previous night, for I kept going over and over my conversation with Aang. My curtains were drawn, but eventually, he come noiselessly in and sat down in his bed, for I heard the rustling of the bedclothes. It was a long time later, when all was silent, that I finally managed to fall asleep out of sheer tiredness. It was a disturbed night, and I thought I heard Sokka and Aang talking at one time, but was too tired to join in.

When I woke up, it was late morning. Neither Aang nor Sokka were in there. The memory of the previous day came flooding back and something inside me trembled nervously as I dressed, remembering that I had told Aang I would not be part of any more 'Avatar state' antics, and that, even more importantly perhaps, I had unwittingly betrayed what had been gnawing away at the back of my mind ever since we left the North Pole ... or even before, for that matter: that I cared for him more deeply than I was willing to let on.

I don't know what he thought of my words...

I hardly know myself. I gave a sigh of exasperation as I found my thoughts going round in circles again in my head as they had done the previous night. I took my time getting dressed, knowing there was nothing much to do for I did not intend going out of my room. It was so frustrating: I could have been teaching Aang waterbending, instead of wasting time...

I was mentally cursing General Fong and his stupid military ambitions when I first felt the ground shake. Worried, I sat up in bed. More shaking, accompanied by crashing noises... it was nothing like the noise of the fireworks 'surprise' either. It sounded like earthbending on a large scale – similar to what we had seen at King Bumi's training arena.

I knew I said I wouldn't go, but I couldn't let anything happen to Aang either. Perhaps General Fong had come up with some really crazy idea. I hurried out of our room only to meet Sokka running down the flight of steps at the base of the tower to the Fortress grounds, where the sound was coming from.

'The General's gone crazy,' he panted, 'He's trying to force Aang into the Avatar state!'

Earthbending soldiers were lined up in disciplined rows, attacking Aang with giant circular stones. Some of them were mounted on Ostrich-horses, carrying spears aimed at Aang, who was flitting across the space, dodging them.

My fears of yesterday had been well-founded: General Fong was re-creating a genuine battle to trigger the Avatar State. From the aggressiveness of the attack, I knew he might very well succeed.

Sokka and I ran to defend Aang, but I knew at the back of my mind, that it was going to be nearly impossible: we were vastly outnumbered: and these men were highly-trained soldiers and benders, not some rag-tag bunch of pirates or civilians!

I managed to disarm and dismount one of the soldiers, but what happened next was something I totally did not expect. General Fong suddenly turned his attention to me! His men formed a V-shaped wall around me, earthbending the giant stone discs in a wedge shape. I was trapped at the bottom of it.

'Maybe you can avoid me,' General Fong shouted at Aang 'but she can't!'

I felt a rising wave of fury at this man, as I realised what he was doing. How could he use me to taunt Aang? But I wasn't about to give up without a fight!

However, I underestimated the General's earth bending powers ( not knowing too many earthbenders, or their art): he had good reflexes and turned my whiplash into mud simply by earthbending dirt from the training grounds into the water.

Then, before I realised what happening, I was sinking into the ground, losing my balance: it was as though the ground had turned to quicksand: but denser than what I would've imagined quicksand to be.

'I can't move!' I yelled, sinking to my knees.

I struggled ineffectually: it was as though my feet were encased in clay. Battling a rising panic, I looked up.

'Don't hurt her!' Aang had stopped running and was looking at General Fong angrily.

What was Fong playing at!? Both Sokka and Aang attacked the General, but he withstood them. At that moment, I sank to my waist. I was desperately trying not to panic, but the helplessness of not being able to move, of not being able to help, was getting to me.

Aang had given up all pretence of fighting: he had run to the General, grabbing his arm.

'Stop this! You have to let her go'.

But Fong's hard face seemed to be carved out of stone, and it was set in angry, determined lines:

'You could save her if you were in the Avatar State,' he said, savagely.

My heart sank. Aang had escaped his attacking men, so he was using me as bait to trigger Aang's Avatar state. Aang glanced in my direction, his expression horrified and desperate.

I wanted to resist. I wanted to do something – anything – to get out of there. I didn't want Aang to have to plead with that brute of a general! But the inexorable pressure bore down on my body and I sank a few inches more. My rage was slowly turning into a primeval fear as I struggled to breathe, due to the weight pressing in on my chest.

Looking up one last time at Aang, the fear I was struggling to hide must have shown in my eyes, because Aang clung to the General's arm desperately:

'I'm trying... I'm trying!' he choked out, tears in his eyes.

Seeing that was the last straw for me.

I knew then, as Aang did, that this man would stop at nothing: he was going to kill me in a misguided attempt to trigger the Avatar State. In one chill, cold, moment, I realised that it was all over for me and any shreds of resistance or reason flew out of my head.

'Aang, I'm sinking,' I shouted, close to tears myself.

Then I sank further down, and terror blinded me, for only my head was above ground: I screamed and pleaded, the earth tightening around my chest, but Fong's mocking voice showed no sign of pity, and, when I saw Aang in despair at Fong's feet, I knew it was over.

'You don't have to do this!' Aang cried.

I don't know what General Fong answered, for at that moment everything went black and silent. I couldn't breathe, I couldn't move and there was a distant muffled sound in my ears. I thought I was fainting from shock, but there was a strange vibration in the earth surrounding my body, that seemed to be getting stronger, as did the muffled sound. I struggled not to lose consciousness, but I knew it was a losing battle: my lungs were screaming for air and sooner or later, I'd give in. Vaguely, as my senses became fuzzier, I wondered what it would feel like to drown in earth: buried alive. There were so many things I wanted to do, so many things left unsaid... Aang would never know that I started to think of him as more than just a friend... and he'd feel guilty about my death: his desperate tears would be the last thing my dying eyes had seen. But I was too young to die ... then again: perhaps I could see my mother again, somehow, somewhere...the spirit world is a mysterious place. But Sokka and Aang still need me, and Dad... well, Dad never needed me as much as I needed him.

These thoughts chased each other disjointedly in my head, becoming slower and more incoherent, as it became more difficult to focus, as the dusty earth pressed against my lips, my eyelids ...

Suddenly I felt the earth around me heave and press against me, and I was pushed upwards. Startled out of my resolve not to breathe in, I opened my mouth and sucked in a mouthful of dirt, instead of the air my lungs so desperately craved. However, the next instance, as I coughed reflexively, I was breathing in blessed, sweet air!

Air that buffeted me and knocked me to my knees: a gale-force wind that screamed and whistled around me even more loudly compared to the silence of a second before. I struggled to get my bearings as bright daylight assaulted my eyes and I realised I was not dead but had been earthbended by Fong back to the surface. I couldn't have been under for more than half a minute, but I coughed and blinked, breathing deeply to recover from the brink of a dead faint.

The screaming fury of the earth-laden wind was familiar: looking up, I saw Aang at the top of a swirling dirt vortex, and he was in the Avatar State!

With a shiver of dread I saw that his expression, unlike other times, was not merely grim and other-worldly: it was the expression I had seen only once before: at the Southern Air Temple, when he had discovered that Monk Gyatso and the others had been killed! It was what I had been dreading, what I had been scared of seeing again!

Strangely enough though, even as the howling rage of the dirt hurricane whirled around us, even as the noise reached an unbelievable pitch, and I saw soldiers and men running and limping for cover; even as General Fong took a fearful step backwards, realising his stupidity only too late; I knew that somewhere, somehow, beneath the incandescent rage and the personality change, there was Aang. It didn't scare me as much as it had the first time. I knew now, that I had been the cause of this: it was Aang, not the Avatar state, that was hurt and in pain ….

Aang thought me dead!

Yet even as I realised this, I thought I'd seen the merest hint of a change in Aang's strange expression. Next instant, there was an explosion of sound as the vortex collapsed in on itself and a blast of earth aimed at General Fong blew clean off his feet : the dust cloud expanded and I dove for cover, my heart thudding in my chest as broken stones dirt and other debris flew past at deadly speed. Huge stone discs whistled over my head, as though they were nothing more than pebbles and I could hear men shouting and ostrich-horses screaming from amid the huge dust cloud. The ground beneath me heaved and strained like a live thing, and I was momentarily blinded and choked by the debris.

When it finally cleared, I saw that the whole base had been practically destroyed by the blast of whirling earth Aang had unleashed. Aang was standing on the ground, surrounded by a sphere of fast-whirling air, his eyes and tattoos still glowing, but the deadly rage in his eyes was gone, replaced by an expressionless mask.

Even as I got to my feet, the glow subsided and he slumped forwards, drained, and fell onto his knees. As I ran up to him, I could see him looking astounded at the destruction all around: not one building was in one piece, and in the relative silence of the aftermath, the groans of injured men and beasts could be heard. Aang pushed himself back to a sitting position as I arrived and knelt by his side, his face a weary mask of shock and remorse. I put my arms around him and hugged him tight, letting him know I was still alive in spite of Fong's crazy attempts.

'I'm sorry, Katara,' he whispered, looking pale and wan, 'I hope you never have to see me like that again.'

'I should've come. Avatar state or not, I should've been there for you, today' I whispered, hugging him tighter, trying to tell him, without words, that I was still there for him now.

Then believe it or not, General Fong came up, pleased at what he had done and eager to set off to the Fire Nation with Aang in tow. What does he expect to do: attack Aang or me every time he wants to trigger the Avatar State? Then Sokka rode up behind him on an Ostrich horse and knocked the General stone cold: simple but effective.

'Anybody got a problem with that?' my brother asked, belligerently.

None did. Apparently the soldiers, too, have had it with General Fong's plans: the brief glimpse of what the uncontrolled Avatar state can do has opened their eyes: none of them want to experiment with that kind of power while on the way to invade the Fire Nation.

We refused the escort to Omashu and as soon as I had packed our stuff, we left. I didn't want to wait around for General Fong to come round. Besides, I had other reasons for putting some distance between us and the Fortress.

'The Infirmary wasn't too damaged,' Aang said, twisting round from his seat on Appa's head to see the Fortress we were leaving behind us.

He still looked pale and hadn't spoken much since we left, but I knew what was on his mind. While I packed he had spent the time going round the fortress assessing the damage, (or beating himself on the head with it, as my brother so succinctly put it). He was met with quite a few disgruntled expressions from the earth benders in the barracks. Many still did not know Fong had forced him into it, and thought he was an ungrateful brat: repaying their hospitality by destroying their fortress.

This attitude didn't help Aang at all. He already felt guilty at the destruction he wreaked when in the Avatar state.

'Nah, 'twas at the back,' Sokka said 'you smashed the place up real well, though.'

'Yeah. I didn't mean to...I think.'

'Quit worrying, arrow-boy. No-one died this time, did they?' Sokka replied baldly.

'Sokka!' I glared at my brother.

'What? They attacked Aang first, didn't they? They deserved it.'

'They were ordered to attack, Sokka,' Aang replied.

'Yeah, well. They should't've! Fong went overboard with his invasion ideas: they know that now! Still – they gave us plenty of supplies though,' Sokka added, eyeing the huge bundle tied to the back of the sadly smugly.

'Anything to get rid of us, I guess,' Aang said, ruefully.

'They're earthbenders, Aang. They'll rebuild the place in no time,' I comforted 'No-one was seriously injured, and, as Sokka said, I think none of the soldiers were too eager about the invasion plan.'

'There're not enough soldiers' my brother agreed, 'It's the only fortress from where to launch an attack on the Fire Nation, but still, you gotta have outside help and a good strategy…'

'Yeah. Not a half-baked Avatar who doesn't know what he's doing,' Aang gave one last look at the receding tower of the fortress then turned round and pulled the reins so that Appa turned to head in a south-easterly direction. I exchanged a look with Sokka.

'I think I know what you should be doing now' I said softly, leaning over the saddle with an encouraging smile.

''Study, practice and discipline'' Aang retorted, quoting my words with a wry smile 'You were right, Katara.'

'There're some really great rivers on the way to Omashu,' I said 'And the weather's really warm – practising waterbending won't even seem like studying!'

Aang brightened up considerably then. Even as I'm writing this, the mood in our small party has lightened as we head towards Omashu. It's back to being 'us three' again and now there's an unspoken agreement that it's better this way! From now on, we have to be wary of any other military personnel with big ideas, especially since the news of Aang's powers has spread far and wide. Very few people alive today know or understand the Avatar state, and until Aang has learnt more, I want to keep anyone from thinking they can exploit it.

I hope that we can put all that happened back at the Fortress behind us. After the scenes of horror during the siege of the North, we really didn't need the useless, wanton destruction General Fong forced upon Aang. Until we reach Omashu, I want Aang to relax a bit and focus on mastering waterbending – no more big, crazy plans none of us are ready for yet.

We still have a few days before we reach that city and Aang needs to be in the right frame of mind to tackle earth-bending with Bumi: it's the only element he has never yet tried to bend.

As for me, after the near-death experience ( I don't care if Fong said he never meant it: it seemed real enough to me at the time), the warm spring air and smell of cherry-blossom reaching us even here on Appa's saddle makes me feel born anew, and I'm looking forward to the next few days.