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This chapter's a long one, so grab a blanky, a box of tissue, some popcorn and a drink and enjoy!


Chapter Twenty-Nine


The deck whined and groaned only a few feet from where Zuko crouched over the Waterbender's body. The toneless screech of metal-on-metal was followed by a staccato series of pop-pop-pops! And then the plating mushroomed open in a flurry of ice shards and curled steel shavings that fluttered down like shining tickertape and glittering confetti.

Iroh backed away hastily as a shimmering, long-haired woman emerged from the hole, her body buoyed ten feet up in the air by a corkscrew of water. Blank, glowing eyes took in the scene all around her, and the seas, which had been churning restlessly, suddenly seemed to surge and heave with greater enthusiasm, throwing wave after ardent wave against the side of the tilting ship.

Zuko stared up at her, a baleful look in his eyes. Wordlessly, he gathered Katara's body up bridal style and carried her away from the hovering being, crossing the slippery metal deck straight-backed until he seemed to lose all strength, stumbling and collapsing into a crouch with his back to the Avatar. Unable to go on, he cradled her head against his shoulder, resting her weight across his thighs, and began rocking the Waterbender like a baby.

The prince was in shock, Iroh realized. His unseeing eyes were wide and glassy, ringed with dark circles. He shuddered intermittently, as if he were trying to suppress a laugh rather than a forlorn howl, and his sallow face was carved with deep lines. And yet, he did not cry: he had submerged every emotion, his grief now as deep and silent and turbulent as the ocean currents. He looked absolutely haunted—broken, as if a part of him had stopped functioning after his spiritual tether with Katara had snapped.

Had Zuko sensed his soul connection the way the Water girl had? Perhaps it was better if he hadn't, Iroh brooded: the absence of such a profound bond would only accentuate the ragged chasm in the young man's torn soul.

On the port side, a hatchway clanged open and the old man saw Sokka emerge, glancing about dazedly as he clambered onto the deck. He blinked in the dark, his eyes adjusting to the glare of the torches flickering in the softly pattering rain. His owlish gaze hove up to the Avataress.

The eerie blue-white light the woman emitted was like a beacon illuminating the scene all around him. Gently, the corkscrew bowed down and released its hold, setting her onto the cleared deck, though her feet didn't quite seem to touch the ground. Now that she had rejoined her spirit with the living Avatar's, it seemed Iroh was no longer the only one cognizant of her presence: All eyes were on the radiant woman.

And her eyes were on Zuko.

Sokka followed the woman's gaze. He went very, very still at the sight of Prince Zuko, shirtless, his arms around Katara, her clothes burnt and torn, her body limp…

Iroh could see the alarm rising in the young warrior, wanted to run to him and hold him back before he launched himself at the Firebender, and give Zuko a moment to grieve before he had to give her up forever….

But the mighty Dragon of the West could not outrun or outmaneuver the comprehension dawning wide and wildly on the young Water Tribe warrior's face; could not catch the boy before he fell to his knees, a wordless cry caught in his throat. Too late…too late…

For a second time that night, an inexorable chill swept through Iroh's bones. Seeing Sokka crumble was like feeling the Waterbender's death all over again…another death of an innocent child…

And then, as if things couldn't get any bleaker, the very air began weeping.

No, not weeping. Crying. Screaming. Shrieking…

Cawing.

He looked up, the rain trickling down his face. His scalp prickled.

From the dark land came a phalanx of black birds, all flocking toward the ship, their shrill, rasping calls filling the air. Thousands upon thousands of crows blotted out the stormy night sky, winking midnight upon ebony, the rush of wings and the hoarse cries drowning out the patter of rain. The mass executed a tight arc en masse and began circling the ship in a whirling rush of feathers, churning the air and the sea into a froth.

The soldiers on deck shouted in alarm and scattered. Some of them scrambled back into the tower, others dived for the hatch Sokka had just emerged from, heedless of their escaped prisoner. The braver ones, including Jee, stood their ground, waiting to see what would happen as the birds began landing on the ship, covering every perch and surface they could find. Their bodies squashed together, tightly packing the railings and ledges until the whole ship looked as though it were trimmed in glossy black feathers. Thousands of bright, beady eyes dared the soldiers to retaliate, the malevolence radiating from these simple creatures as palpable as the cloying smell of death and carnage that trailed after the flock.

A monstrous roar spilt the sky. Everyone looked up again as the squall of black wings drew apart.

That six-legged mass of pale fur with his big, square teeth and horns was unmistakable. The Avatar's flying bison charged towards the ship, those trunk-like legs pumping for speed, the foam at the corners of his massive mouth indicating this was not a happy creature. Just barely, Iroh could discern Appa's comically tiny pilot perched on his head—the Avatar's gregarious lemur and Zuko's former captive, Momo.

A larger, unidentified passenger rode on the wide saddle. Iroh felt his skin crawl unpleasantly as she leveled a look at him.

The beast landed on the deck with a resounding thud, the listing ship jouncing underfoot. The bison didn't attack immediately, but growled a staunch warning at the wary soldiers, who weren't sure which foe to be more afraid of: the shaggy mammal, or the shaggy woman riding atop it.

With one hard-eyed pass, the malkin took in the scene and her steely stare pinned the prince. "Out of the way! Out of the way!" She lithely jumped down and hastened toward Zuko, her moldy, wet rags flying out behind her. Jee and a group of five soldiers immediately put themselves between her and their young commander. She snarled, her haggard face twisting into an even uglier visage.

"You would dare attempt to stop me?" Two rusty hand scythes abruptly appeared in her grip, drawn discreetly from the volumes of her grey, tattered clothes. "I will kill you all where you stand if you do not move away from that girl right now!"

The crows flapped noisily, screeching in challenge, and the Firebenders recoiled, suddenly aware that they were completely surrounded.

"Stand down!" Iroh shouted over the cacophony. "Everyone, stand down and let her pass!" He wasn't entirely certain what was going on, but that spark of something he saw in the raggedy woman told him she meant his nephew no harm.

Jee hesitated for only a second before he dropped his hands and backed away. The others followed suit, and they parted like a curtain.

Zuko clutched Katara's lifeless body as though she were some kind of oversized rag doll. The woman trudged right up to him, scythes disappearing back into her clothes, her eyes narrowing as she frowned down at the prince.

"Idiot child," she spat remorselessly and shook her head. "What a mess. She had no idea what she was doing."

Zuko looked up at her as though she'd just popped out of thin air. The rain pattered softly over his pale, pale face.

"And you!" Witch hissed, pointing at him with an accusing finger. "You did this to her!"

He gaped helplessly like a fish, the furrows between his eyebrows deepening until he looked back down and held Katara closer, awaiting the punishment for his crimes, it seemed.

It came all right. A large-seeming hand grabbed Zuko's bare shoulder. Iroh couldn't move fast enough as his nephew glanced up just in time to receive a savage right hook to his jaw. He went sprawling to the ground.

"I told you to stay away from my sister!" Sokka shrieked, wrestling Katara's body away.

Zuko picked himself up slowly, one hand lightly holding the side of his face as if he'd only been slapped. He absently wiped at the little trickle of blood at the corner of his mouth, but made no comment as Sokka struggled to right his sister.

"Katara…Katara! Wake up!" The Water boy tugged at his sister's tiny hand, his face twsting with concern as he felt her stiff, icy fingers. He reached out and touched her face, her chest, her shoulders, searching for the hurt, the boo-boo he could make better because that's what big brothers did…

"Come on, Katara…" his voice strained and he shook her. "We're free now. Appa's here. We can keep going to the North Pole—"

"She's not breathing," Zuko told him, so softly he barely heard him. He was kneeling close by, as close as he dared to sit by the body and the brother.

"SHUT UP!" Sokka snarled, and just as quickly, his voice softened. "C'mon Katara. I promise I'll make dinner for the next two weeks if you help me get Aang up onto Appa's back…I can't do it on my own…"

"She's not breathing," the Firebender repeated hollowly. He was barely breathing himself.

"No. No, that's not…c'mon Katara…." The Water boy jostled her playfully, but she was limp and unresponsive. "Wake up. Wake up. C'mon—"

But she was so cold, so heavy. It was as if her spirit had made her light like a feather, and now that it had left her, she was just a dead, leaden thing…

"Katara…Katara…wake up…please…please…oh, gods, please…."

His words cut off abruptly, replaced by the mute shaking of his shoulders. An inhuman moan started in Sokka's gut, low and bleak, erupting from his mouth as he threw his head back, his keen echoing off the mountains.

The Fire Nation soldiers turned away as the young man's whole world fell apart.

"You!" Sokka glared up at Zuko murderously. "YOU KILLED HER!" He shoved at the banished prince with blind, fumbling hands, huge sobs wracking his chest. He didn't have the strength to land another blow, though the prince would not have tried to stop his assault. Zuko just sat there, staring at Katara's brother as the blackness of despair overflowed and pooled all about him. "YOU STUPID FIREBENDER! YOU KILLED HER! YOU KILLED HER! I HATE YOU! I HATE ALL OF YOU!"

The prince gawped. Rain flowed in icy little rivers down his face, fat drops sparkling in his lashes as he watched Katara's brother grieve, rail and cry the way a man should when someone he loved passed.

"I'm sorry," Zuko mouthed. But Sokka didn't notice. He was nearly hysterical with anguish.

"Katara…Katara…I'm sorry, I'm so sorry…why…why did you do it…" he moaned.

"She's not dead," a soft, feminine voice broke in.

A desperate surge of hope sliced through the collective malaise and they all turned to look at the Avatar. The rain stopped abruptly. "What?"

Avatar Karanna's nebulous spirit glowed around the Airbender's tiny form. She drifted forward and said, "I am holding her spirit and tethering it so that it does not enter the Spirit Realm."

"You have to save her," Zuko rasped. He stood up, chin raised. "Let me change places with her."

Iroh gasped. "Zuko!"

"You keep away from my sister!" Sokka roared. "You've done enough damage!"

"Sacrifice isn't always what's called for in these cases," the old crone said sagely, her animosity now toned down to a dark shade of disgust. "Even during the most desperate times, the greatest victory you can ever achieve is to let go, to move on and adapt. To live."

"Please," Zuko breathed. "I'm begging you..." His eyes were lowered to the ground.

"Oh, Zuko…" The Avataress smiled sadly. "Noble as your offer is, even your love isn't enough to bring her back."

Sokka glared at him, the pure condemnation in his eyes nearly shouting See? You're not good enough for her!

But the prince refused to listen. "I've committed a grave wrong," he said lowly. "I have to fix it."

"There is nothing you can do, Firebender." The old woman in rags inclined her chin at him. "You are not strong enough to bring Katara back."

The prince's eyes flashed and he turned on her. "Then I'll get stronger. There is nothing I won't do to save her life. Nothing." Desperation crept into his voice. "I am responsible for all this. I swore on my honour that no harm would come her, and I let this happen. I did this to her. I killed her. It's my fault. My fault! I—"

"Stop being so melodramatic!" Sokka screamed at him, cradling Katara's head in her lap. To both the strange women, he shouted, "If there's a way to save my sister, just tell us how to do it! I don't care what it takes, just bring her back!"

Witch's face blanked. Her lips pursed into a thin, cracked line. Her pale eyes skated away...

And then she burst out in a maniacal cackle, hooting and slapping her knee, her startling outburst splitting the somber night air.

"Well, at least someone in your family is smart enough to ask these questions sooner rather than later!" She sent the bewildered Sokka a wry, appreciative look. "Good on you, boy. With a quick mind like yours, your ragtag band of do-gooders might just have a chance of saving the world after all."

She turned her face upwards, stuck her fingers in her mouth and blew a shrill, ear-splitting whistle.

The crows covering the ship started a throaty bleating, a symphonic trumpet call heralding the new arrival. High in the sky, a dark shape wheeled. It spiraled down, its huge wingspan filling Iroh's watery vision as it alighted on the hag's outstretched arm. The enormous crow shifted wobbly as it somehow found its footing on the tiny-seeming woman's shoulder, then turned its glossy head and regarded the retired general curiously.

He blinked. He saw the huge bird, but in the same space, he could also see a masked man, or a man-like shape, garbed in white, shoulders hunched slightly. The ghostly man acknowledged him with a short bow. Iroh gaped.

"Ah, so it is you," Witch said thoughtfully to the startled old general. To the bird: "Bai-Bai, meet the infamous Dragon of the West." She gestured at him with feigned cordiality.

"A Spirit bird," Iroh intoned. He bowed reverently to the creature. "Things are either becoming more clear…or less." He frowned lopsidedly, and considered the crone. "You'll have to forgive me if I've forgotten in my old age…but have we met?" he asked with all the courtesy due a duchess.

Witch grinned, her stained and broken teeth glistening with spittle. "Only in your worst dreams and fondest nightmares, General Iroh." She preened, but did not elaborate. "But for the sake of simplicity, you may address me as Witch."

"Um, hello? I hate to interrupt your little reunion or whatever, but MY SISTER IS STILL DEAD." Sokka's voice cracked.

With a quirk of her lips, Witch proceeded, tilting her head to one side. The large crow speared his dagger-like beak into her matted hair and whispered into her ear.

"Katara's spirit has no anchor," she explained for all to hear. "In the moment she realized her death, she let go of everything she held dear, preparing herself for the afterlife. She has no way of keeping herself in her body if she doesn't have a reason hang on, and the lure of the Spirit World is a strong one. It is calling to her even now."

"It's Mom…" Sokka murmured, the tiniest smile curling his lips as he smoothed a lock of hair away from Katara's face. "She's missed her ever since…" The words died away.

Witch puzzled over the Spirit crow's dialogue and grunted. "She needs a purpose that's true and meaningful. A reason to live. And I don't just mean some silly notion that she's going to help 'save the world'." Witch wrinkled her nose, and listened to Bai-Bai some more. "Her attachments have always been to people…so we will need someone to be an anchor."

"I'll be her anchor!" Zuko and Sokka said together. They glared at each other.

Karanna tilted her head. "We all will be." They could hear Aang's boyish lilt beneath the woman's sonorous voice. "Together, our love is strong enough to hold her here until the right time comes to let go once more."

"But…she's hurt," Sokka said, a hand passing over his sister's forehead. He couldn't see her wounds, but he knew, could sense deep within himself, that inside her body, something was wrong.

Karanna drifted forward. With a pass of her arm, the water pooling around the siblings glowed, congealing around the Waterbender's body. For a second, Katara was entirely cocooned in cold light. Sokka held his sister perfectly still, watching in wonder as the radiance seeped into her skin and faded away.

"Her body is healed now," the Avataress declared gently, and Sokka could see that a little colour had returned to his sister's face, though she still wasn't breathing. "Now we must heal her spirit."

"Well, then, what are we waiting for? Let's do this thing!" Sokka urged.

Witch frowned deeply. "It's not like netting fish, boy. You can't just all hold hands and chant and think it's done." She made a face. "'Anchor' is a misleading term. A more apt one might be…" she thought a moment "…soul fusing. We're talking about braiding your fates together so Katara's soul can't drift away—we're weighing her down in the real world. The process is almost as painful as breaking a tether is—" she eyed Zuko archly "—and you don't want to go through it while you're awake."

"I don't care! Just save Katara already!" Sokka cried.

Witch snorted derisively, but she looked impressed. "This will not be an easy task. And—" she paused to listen then flinched "—there's an added complication. If we are going to do this, you will not be permitted to remember anything about this affair."

"What? Why?" Zuko and Sokka shot each other annoyed looks. They were really getting tired of echoing each other.

Witch explained patiently. "Bai-Bai here is one of the Keepers of Dreams and Memory." She gestured to the crow. "He is a guardian of the forgotten, the gatekeeper for the thoughts and dreams and nightmares that would otherwise plague us day and night." She stroked the bird's throat with a forefinger. "He tells me that Fate and the Spirit World are in conflict right now. Since Karanna's return, a great rent has been made in the fabric of destiny, and our interference has only been making things worse."

"Each of your lives is a fiber in the Great Web of Life—Fate's grand design," Karanna said. "It is a tapestry She weaves according to the universe's pattern, and the way each of your lives intersects and reacts with others' lives is integral to the weaving.

"By fusing your souls together to save Katara, we are weaving your threads together and deliberately altering the Great Web. According to the universe's plan, you must each divert in the Web's pattern. You must experience all the things the universe has in store for you, meet and influence the people you are destined to encounter; and it must all happen uninfluenced by otherworldly beings such as myself and Bai-Bai and the events we've engineered."

"But shouldn't all this be a part of the universe's plan?" Sokka asked, gesturing widely about.

"I don't pretend to understand everything about Fate or the Spirit World," Witch interjected, "but I can tell you that this is not the first time a being from the Spirit World has interfered in mortal affairs—" she sent Karanna a sidelong glance "—or that a mortal has tried to influence the Spirit Realm to tailor destiny to suit his needs." She cut a narrow-eyed look to Iroh and his gaze skittered away. "In some cases, it's justified. But the damage to the Web of Life is sometimes too much for one Spirit alone to repair, and too much for the universe to ignore. If we let it alone, the world would descend into chaos and reality would unravel."

"But we make our own choices; we choose our own paths, make our own destinies!" Sokka proclaimed righteously.

"Don't be an ignorant whelp," Witch snapped. "There are forces at play we cannot begin to comprehend; rules we can't imagine ever trying to follow." Her silver-grey eyes swiveled to pierce him with an arch look. "We're just tiny pieces on a great big Pai-sho board, boy. We can move ourselves, certainly, but there are only so many ways we can maneuver legally." She studied him as the bird whispered to her and glared at Sokka contemptuously. "A word of advice—" she pierced him with a look "—don't play games you don't understand…especially with the Spirits. They hate cheaters, and they hate to lose."

Sokka swallowed dryly. It sounded like good advice.

Iroh regarded the Spirit bird steadily. "You knew something would go wrong when Karanna finally broke free from the girl and my nephew, didn't you?" His voice was full of reproach. "I've never known a Spirit to be so actively involved in our affairs. That's why you're here, isn't it?"

The bird and his ivory shadow watched him. The old general's brow furrowed as understanding dawned. "Something big is going to happen… Something that will involve all of us…" he enunciated slowly "...and the Spirit World. That's what this is all about..." He paled slightly.

The crow stared him down, then bobbed his head once in affirmation.

"Uncle, what are you talking about?" Zuko asked, exasperated.

"We have more pressing issues to deal with right now," Witch interrupted. "If we're going to save Katara and keep the universal pattern from falling apart, you cannot remember anything about how you are all connected. For destiny to stay on track, all of you have to go on uninfluenced by everything that has happened here. We will have to remove all of your memories of Karanna and of these events of the past few days."

Sokka blanched. "But why?" He clutched at Juno's faceplate and Ching's bloody note tucked inside his shirt. "How can knowing anything about a long-dead Avatar possibly affect our mission? How can knowing anything about all this change fate or the Spirit World?"

Karanna explained. "Centuries ago, I made my own prison on Lian Island, binding myself to the water on the island so that I could exact my terrible vengeance upon the one who wronged me. When Katara and Zuko came, I saw in them both the spark of attraction, and their infinite capacity for love. Their situation was so like mine…" She trailed off for a moment. "It reminded me of what it had been like to love…and I realized then that I would see my Zuko again in the Spirit World, where he'd been waiting for me for so very, very long. But if I wanted to go to him, I had to let go of my anger, my hatred…I had to embrace love."

She addressed Prince Zuko. "I used Katara's body to remind me of what that love was like. I'm sorry if I offended you, but her attraction for you was very strong…. Ultimately, making her kiss you helped me let go."

Zuko swallowed dryly, his cheeks heating.

"And I did let go. My curse on the island was lifted…but I did not anticipate that Zuko and Katara's tangle in Fate's Great Web would ensnare me so effectively. By interfering in their natural attraction, I became bound to these two young people. I had invested too much of myself into their relationship, inadvertently intertwining their fates."

"Just by making them kiss?" Sokka asked incredulously.

The Avataress nodded. "Once I realized what I'd done, I convinced Katara to help free me by interacting further with Zuko. I didn't realize just how much a relationship between them would change their path and alter destiny. And so you see the situation we've reached now."

"But what does that have to do with my memories? Why not just wipe their brains of all this…this mushy stuff?" Sokka cringed, gesticulating between Zuko and his sister.

"Sokka, you, your sister, the Avatar," she turned, "and you, Prince Zuko…all of you have a great task ahead of you, one that will equally affect your world and the Spirit World. The grand design has already decreed it, and we cannot foul it up. Everything that has happened here—the connections you've made with these people and each other, the growth of your spirit and understanding of the world…it will change how you behave, change how you deal with certain situations…it will change destiny. If the grand design is to be maintained, then you must not be allowed your memory of this time. You've all been influenced too much. None of you can know Karanna because knowing about her will ultimately lead you to remember the time you've spent here, the relationships you formed, your opinions and feelings..."

"But…but that means…"

"You will not remember being on this ship. You will not remember your encounter on Lian Island." The Lady Avatar turned to Zuko. "You will never have captured the Avatar. You will all awaken as if you have just stopped for the night."

"You mean, everyone here will forget? The soldiers, the crew… All of us?"

"No." Witch said, and looked sharply at Iroh, pointing. "He is immune." She chuckled lowly and sang, "Just. Like. Me."

They all stared at the old man, who slid his eyes away guiltily.

Zuko stared, confusion and betrayal flickering over his features. "Uncle, is that true? How is it possible?"

"Even if I told you now, you wouldn't believe it." He shrugged resignedly. "Besides, you would just forget it in the end."

"Can you bear the burden of remembering, Prince Iroh?" Karanna asked gravely, and everyone blinked at the use of his rarely-used honorific. "You can never speak of what has happened here, lest you jeopardize the grand design. Can you be the Protector of Fate and the Spirit Realm?"

"I have many titles already." He smiled wryly, shrugging his shoulders. "Adding one more will not break my back."

"What about Katara?" Sokka asked. "Will she be okay? Will she remember?"

"She will live, and remember nothing." Witch translated for Bai-Bai. He said something else to her and she rolled her eyes. "But there's something else."

Sokka moaned. "Now what?"

"Katara has been my vessel for many weeks," Karanna explained. "She has been touched by an Avatar in the most directly spiritual way. The Avatar Spirit has been activated within her twice now, and while it is not as potent as the Avatar's full spectrum of experience, there's no telling what my own powers have done to her."

"That's how she survived the fall off the cliff!" Zuko exclaimed suddenly. "Back when I was chasing her through the woods…" His words faded away. Karanna nodded in confirmation.

"I can't say exactly how long the effects will last now that I have evacuated her body, or even what will happen. It may be days, or even years before symptoms show up or go away. She may suddenly exert Avatar-like powers. Then again, maybe nothing will happen to her. Or maybe her bending abilities have been augmented—she is naturally gifted but with my experience added to hers….Well, no one can say what she might become."

"That's not exactly a specific prognosis," Sokka grumbled.

"This is a situation without precedent," Witch scoffed. "We don't have all the answers."

Zuko looked from his uncle to the Avatar, from the crow, and down to Katara. "So, if we do this, she lives." He looked to the Avatar for confirmation. Karanna nodded.

He swallowed, his voice softening. "But I'll…we'll never have…"

"It will be almost painless, Zuko," the Lady Avatar assured him gently. "You will sleep, and remember nothing about her upon waking, apart from what you already knew up to the day you landed on Lian Island. It will be like neither of you two had ever fallen in love."

His brow wrinkled and he made a noise that sounded like he'd stabbed himself. "Then you have to remove more than just the memories of the island," Zuko said sternly. "The Ho'Wan Island Carnival. If we're going to do this right, we can't remember being there." His lips pursed and he looked down, his fists clenched. "I met her at the carnival weeks ago and we…" The memories choked him, and he couldn't go on.

Witch listened to the Spirit bird briefly. "Bai-Bai agrees to your request. He will displace those memories, as well."

Sokka's fierce look made him look like a shriveled sea prune. "Okay, now I'm really grateful I'm going to forget all this." He squeezed his temples, sliding his hands over his ears so he wouldn't have to hear anymore.

Zuko ignored him, his features softening as he looked over at Katara. His fists clenched. "I don't want to forget," he said softly.

A hand squeezed his shoulder. He looked into his uncle's sorrow-filled face. "I will remember for the both of us, my nephew." He patted his back soothingly. "I'm sorry it has to be this way. You are being very honorable."

"No." He looked away. "I'm being selfish."

"So are we going to do this or what?" Sokka's eyes narrowed at the Fire prince. Zuko cut his eyes at him equally and nodded.

"We need to prepare," Witch announced. To Iroh she said, "Have your men clean up any evidence that the Avatar was ever on this ship. We don't want to confuse your crew anymore than in necessary."

"What about the damage in the hull?" Lieutenant Jee asked. The man had listened in on the whole conversation—he was imperturbable.

"And the brig," Sokka piped up. Iroh cut him a grim, questioning glance.

Bai-Bai cawed in warning.

"We don't have time for that," Witch said, shaking her head. "Katara's spirit can't be tied down forever."

"Then let's get what we can out of the way. I will do what I can to…explain the rest." The old Firebender sighed, looking suddenly twenty years older. He talked to Jee briskly, and they quickly mapped out a plan to hide and plant evidence so that the retired general could facilitate the grandest performance of his life. The lieutenant then relayed orders to the soldiers snappishly, and the troops scattered.

Sokka gently placed his sister down on the floor and approached Iroh. He cleared his throat. "Two of your men were killed by the bounty hunters when they stormed the lower level." He hesitated, then took out the blood-soaked piece of parchment Ching had given to him. He held it out to Iroh. "One of them…Ching…he gave me this to give to his son."

Iroh's face sagged. He accepted the crumpled note and opened it up, smoothing the creases out and smearing blood on his hands. He read the note briefly, and Sokka saw his eyes fill with tears before he re-folded it carefully. "Thank you. I will make sure his son gets it." His gaze skittered away.

"He fought honorably," Sokka added abruptly. "They both did. They were good men."

Iroh's pained look eased a little. The Water boy dashed the water from his eyes with the back of his hand as he turned away, bringing his attention back to his sister's prone form.

Zuko was kneeling over her, looking intently into her face. He reached down and smoothed her soaked hair off her cheek, his fingers lingering against her skin, so dark compared to those ivory digits.

Sokka felt his gut clench, seeing the Firebender minister to his little sister with such tenderness. He could see the sorrow and longing plainly in the prince's hooded eyes. A perverse kind of sympathy stabbed through him for the Fire Nation royal—but Sokka stamped it out quickly.

"If I ever remember this," he growled, "I will never forgive you."

Zuko looked up, his face impassive. "I wouldn't, either." His eyes darted back down, and he just hovered there, staring, as though committing Katara's face to memory.

Sokka did not stop him, did not push the young man off his sister. He went instead to visit the pensive Appa, who lorded over the scene and kept vigil over his Airbending master's possessed body.

Soon, Jee returned with a report that the soldiers had done what they could to remove any evidence of their prisoners' presence on the ship. The remains of the bounty hunters they'd found in the brig were moved, and the Avatar's confiscated staff, which had taken a place of honour in Zuko's room, was brought out and put into Appa's saddle. Obviously, they could do nothing about the extensive damage to the ship, but Iroh was confident he could explain it away.

The rain was now nothing more than a ghostly virga, and the clouds scudding through the sky were quickly dissipating to reveal the cold, clear pinpricks of starlight on the black velvet night. A waxing half moon peeked surreptitiously down at them from her shadowy bower, and the eerie, silent crows all around them turned their faces to look up at it as one.

Appa and Momo observed the humans passively. It was very strange for Sokka to see them so solemn—normally, the Air beasts were a carefree duo, as happy-go-lucky as Aang. It was almost as though they understood everything that was happening. He wondered, would they forget, too?

On an impulse, Momo suddenly leapt from his perch on the bison's shaggy head and soared across the ship, landing on Zuko's shoulder. Startled, the prince jumped, but the lemur held fast. Unsure of what he'd do next, Zuko held still.

Momo purred then nuzzled the Firebender shamelessly behind his ear.

"Not you, too!" Sokka groaned in outrage. "Traitor!"

"Uh…you're welcome…" Zuko said quietly to the creature. He scratched the lemur's scruff, and Momo arched into his touch before taking off and landing almost apologetically on Sokka's shoulder. His enormous ears sagged as he gave a sheepish, inquisitive little chirrup.

The Water boy wrinkled his nose. "Uh-uh. I don't have treats or snuggles for you anymore. You have Firebender cooties."

"Are we ready, then?" Witch snapped huffily. "I don't want to have to spend any more time on this blasted boat than I already have."

"Wait," Sokka interrupted, suddenly nervous. "How is this all going to work? I mean…"

"How do you know I won't slit your throats while you're all asleep, or take the little Airbending monk to the Fire Lord myself?" The hag grinned menacingly, displaying a set of stained, rotting teeth. Sokka backed away and she laughed lowly. "You don't. But I wouldn't defy the Spirits, boy. Even with a whole ship full of Fire Nation troops I'd happily slice open for my brethren to feast on, I wouldn't dream of interfering with the games the gods and Spirits play."

Sokka gulped, grinning uneasily.

"Are you ready?" Karanna asked soberly.

Zuko looked up into the faces around him, trying desperately to absorb the moment, the feelings whirling through him, the things he had come to understand about this girl, and about himself. And now he was going to lose it all.

"Wait."

Disregarding the Water boy, his men, his uncle, the birds, and the heavens all watching the proud, disgraced crown prince of the Fire Nation, he knelt down and scooped the girl into his arms, cradling her against his warm chest before brushing a long, sweet kiss on Katara's stiff lips. For the briefest moment, he thought he felt her life force flicker, her lips seeming to flutter for a breath. He pressed his forehead to hers, willing her to hear him.

"For you," he whispered, "I would have given it all up."

Karanna smiled.

Bai-Bai nodded his approval. On some unseen cue, the crows all took flight, sending a menacing rushing sound through the still night air. The mottled shadows soon became a sheet of darkness blotting out the sky, the sea and the land, until all around the ship, all anyone could see or feel was moving blackness.

Zuko stared around, seeing that whirling shadows all around him, feeling an odd sense of déjà vu as black engulfed the ship in a tornado of wings. The cyclonic mass of birds shrank in diameter, swallowing fore and aft sections first, the tower, then the port and starboard railings, and the deck, which all seemed to simply be swallowed up, as if it had never existed.

Appa barked in fear and shied away from the encroaching darkness, but as soon as the shrinking wall touched him, he was whipped up, snatched away without a trace.

Everyone backed away in terror.

"Don't be afraid," Witch cackled at the wide-eyed men edging away from the cyclone. "It's just a bunch of birds." She hooted and vaulted into the swirling fray.

Zuko saw one of the men staunchly extend a hand to touch the blackness. A sharp cry and he was suddenly gone. And then another, and another. One by one, the soldiers were plucked out of existence, unable to all fit within the rapidly closing space within the eye of the wing storm.

Fear and dread washed through the prince as stalwart Jee was sucked up in the deluge of black. Screeching, Momo tried to fly straight up, but just as it looked like he was going to escape into the sky, he simply vanished.

"What's happening?" Sokka shouted over the roar of the birds. "This can't be right!"

"Don't be afraid," Karanna intoned. "It'll be over soon."

"Trust in the Spirits, Sokka!" Iroh yelled back. "We have to return things to the way they were meant to be!" And with that, the old man closed his eyes and took a step forward into the abyss. He blinked out of existence.

"Uncle!"

Iroh was gone, leaving only Zuko, Katara, Sokka and the Avataress.

"Go, Sokka," Karanna said, and Aang's hoarse little-boy voice was distinct beneath her lilt. "When you wake up, everything will be okay."

The Water Tribe warrior looked from Zuko to his sister and back to the Avatar. His shoulders slackened. He sent Zuko one more long, contemptuous look then turned his back. Fists clenched, he stood his ground and let the blackness overtake him.

Only enough room remained for Zuko and the Avataress, with Katara held between them.

"Be brave, Prince Zuko," she addressed him with a smile. "Your part in the grand scheme is equally as important as the Avatar's. Whatever happens, do not give up." And then she was gone.

As the fast-spinning reel of crows blurred into a wall of ebony irising closed on him, Zuko clutched Katara closer, pressing his lips to the shell of her ear, breathing in her cold-in-death scent, praying to Agni, to Sedna, to Tui and La and all the Spirits to give this girl her life back no matter the cost to him.

This was the end. He knew it now. It didn't matter what Karanna or the strange bird woman had said—he'd handed control and absolute trust over to them, and now it was too late to turn back, to change things, to do anything except wait for the black to close in.

He had nothing left to lose…and it felt wonderful.

He closed his eyes, finally feeling the tears of grief and relief flow freely as he whispered his vow:

"I won't forget…I won't forget…Katara…Katara…I love you…Please don't let me forget I love you—"

The girl inhaled sharply and her eyes fluttered open, as if she were just awakening from a dream. Colour flooded her cheeks and once-blue lips. She stared up at the stunned young man, caught in mid-confession, her lips parting as if to breathe in the echoes of Zuko's words.

I love you… I love you… I love you…

She smiled broadly at him, her eyes sparkling.

"Hi, Zuko," she said softly.

Zuko felt his face break out into a grin just as the lightest brush of feathers grazed his neck.

And then there was nothing.