Chapter 28: The Eastern Air Temple

Katara and her friends left Ba Sing Se without a destination in mind. They all climbed into Appa's saddle and let the bison fly wherever he wanted to go. No one said a word while in the air, in denial about just how badly matters had gone in the city. The only stronghold left against the Fire Nation was leaderless and in turmoil, vulnerable to the Fire Nation if the outer wall was breached. And without Aang to give the Earth Kingdom people hope to continue fighting, the war might as well be lost.

Sokka considered taking everyone south to rally the Water Tribes, hoping that Pakku and Yue had met Gran Gran and integrated the two tribes into one by now. Suki thought about returning to Kyoshi Island and gathering the rest of the Kyoshi Warriors and leading the charge to rescue Aang. Haru believed that they should find as many Earth Kingdom rebels as they could find and make a stand against the Fire Nation. Toph just wanted to get back on the ground, hating being in the air.

Over the course of a week no one seemed to notice that Appa was taking them southeast past Chameleon Bay, heading to a place that none of the passengers had been to before. It was a small island chain with mountains on it shrouded in clouds. Hidden in the clouds was a temple, spread across three mountain peaks. It was a painful sight for Katara, as it made her miss Aang even more.

"Where are we?" Toph asked, truly blind in the air.

"An Air Temple," Suki answered.

Appa landed at the base of the temple and waited for everyone to get off. Once the saddle was empty Appa wandered into the temple, roaming the areas that should have been filled with young sky bison. One room had an old honey feeder, now filled with slime and dust. While exploring the temple everyone picked their own room, as there were dozens left empty from a century of neglect.

In one bedroom Katara was alone with Toph, as the others were trying to make their own rooms livable. There was only an old bed and a rotting empty bookshelf inside, but Toph didn't mind. Katara had picked a room next to it for herself, but wanted to talk with the blind girl. "Hey Toph, I have to ask. Are you and Sokka an… um…"

"An item?" Toph finished.

"Yes, that," Katara asked.

"No," Toph answered. A wide grin spread on her face. "But he did find a girlfriend up north."

"What?" Katara said, not expecting that response. "Who?"

"Some Princess What's-Her-Name," Toph said. "I forget."

"Right," Katara said, thinking that Toph was messing with her now. She turned for the door to leave Toph alone. "Well goodnight then."

Toph laid back in the old and stiff bed, barely better than being on the floor. Right when Katara was almost out the door Toph sensed an unfamiliar set of vibrations on the edge of her range. "Hey wait, there's someone else here!"

Immediately Katara's thoughts turned to the worst, that a Fire Nation spy had seen and followed Appa to the temple. "Where?" Katara demanded, seeing Toph already getting up and running out of the room. She followed Toph to a balcony outside, illuminated by the moon and stars above.

Sitting there was a bald, bearded, old man facing away from the temple, his dark skin partially covered by orange clothes. He didn't seem to notice Katara or Toph, focusing on his meditation. The girls slowly walked up to the man, but still got no response. Katara walked in front of him, seeing his closed eyes and his long white beard.

"Hello?" Katara said.

The old man opened his eyes and saw Katara, smiling at the sight of company. "Hello, I am Guru Pathik."

"Do you live here?" Toph asked.

"Yes, until I can fulfill my purpose in life," Pathik answered.

"And what is that purpose?" Katara asked.

"I had a vision many years ago of helping the Avatar," Pathik explained.

"Aang!" Katara interrupted.

"You know the Avatar?" Pathik asked. "My vision didn't show any companions with him."

"He's not with us now," Katara said, hating to face the truth. "Aang's lost his mind."

For a moment Pathik didn't say anything, taking his time to interpret the news. "Troubling," he muttered, thinking of several ways a lost Avatar could harm the world's balance. "What happened?"

"We were in trouble, and Aang went into the Avatar State," Katara described.

"But Sparky brainwashed him earlier," Toph interrupted, remembering that Zuko and the masked girl had gotten to Aang first at Lake Laogai. "He said some magic words that messed up Aang's mind."

Pathik twisted his body to look at Toph behind him, desiring more details from her. "Was the Avatar in the Avatar State when this Sparky person brainwashed him?"

"Of course not," Toph answered. Having witnessed the power of the Avatar State firsthand Toph knew that it was impossible to imprison. "Aang would have busted himself out if he was in that state."

Stroking his beard Pathik pondered the implications of someone attempting to control the mind of an Avatar. Decades ago he had heard stories of the mindbending art practiced in Ba Sing Se, passing by the city on his journey to the Eastern Air Temple. It was originally intended for the rehabilitation of criminals, to make them law abiding citizens without the need for prisons. "An Avatar's mind changes in the Avatar State, as I'm sure you've noticed as his companions."

"He does get a lot more violent," Katara answered.

With a nod Pathik continued his speculation. "In the Avatar State his consciousness is shared by all of his past lives, which are not affected by changes in the current incarnation. Only Aang would be altered by the brainwashing, and in the Avatar State his mind is just one voice among many."

"Question," Toph interrupted, raising one hand. "How do you know all this?"

"Avatar Roku once described it to me," Pathik answered.

"So you're over a hundred and twelve years old?" Toph asked.

Pathik chuckled for a second. "One hundred and fifty."

"Right…" Toph said, not believing the age Pathik claimed to be.

Wanting to get the conversation back on track Katara cleared her throat. "So the Avatar State doesn't mix with the brainwashing?"

"That may be correct," Pathik said. "Tell me, what do you mean by 'lost his mind?'"

"Aang didn't remember us," Katara answered, feeling guilty for not trying harder to stop Zuko from taking Aang away from her.

"But he knew Sparky," Toph said. "Aang must have thought he was someone else."

"Perplexing," Pathik said. "I don't have an answer for that. But I will meditate on this, and maybe the spirits of Avatars past will show it to us."


Meanwhile Suki was exploring other parts of the temple, finding herself unable to sleep. Wandering into a half destroyed shrine, Suki found statues of Air Nomad women still intact. There were plaques at the bases of the statues, but most of the names on them had been erased by a hundred years of erosion. A larger statue was still intact at the head of the shrine, though Suki could barely read its plaque in the moonlight.

"Avatar Yangchen," Suki muttered, hoping that she read the half erased words right. The statue reminded her of the memorial statue of Avatar Kyoshi on her home island, and made her wonder how the other warriors were faring after she left them. Now Suki wished that she had a means to contact the Kyoshi Warriors and get their help in rescuing Aang.

Suki was yanked out of her thoughts by a nearby wall collapsing, and when the dust cleared she saw Haru coming through the new hole. "Hey," Haru said.

"Why did you do that?" Suki asked.

"I got lost, needed a way out," Haru answered. He looked up through the broken ceiling, noticing how late it was by the moon's position. "You couldn't sleep either?"

"Obviously," Suki said.

Looking around Haru saw the statue of Avatar Yangchen and read the name on the plaque. "Do you know anything about this Avatar?"

"Only that she came before Kyoshi," Suki answered.

Footsteps stopped the conversation, until Haru and Suki spotted Sokka wandering into the shrine. "Did I intrude on something?" Sokka asked.

"No," Haru said.

"Okay," Sokka said, walking toward his friends. "Have either of you seen Katara or Toph anywhere?"

As if on cue the earth moved beneath Sokka's feet, making him fall flat on his face. "Found them!" Toph yelled.

Grumbling under his breath Sokka got back on his feet. "You know, there are other people to pick on now!"

Toph entered the shrine with a grin on her face, while Katara was beside her and trying to suppress a snicker. "But you're just so easy," Toph said.

"Guys, we found someone already living here," Katara said. "Some guru named Pathik."

"So we have a landlord?" Haru asked.

"He might be able to help us get Aang back," Katara said.

"Might?" Sokka questioned.

"Well we don't have any other ideas," Katara said.

Suddenly a loud bird's screech interrupted the conversation. "Unless one drops out of the sky," Toph commented.

A red bird flew into the shrine and landed by the statue, and on its back was a cylindrical container. "Is that a messenger bird?" Haru asked.

"How'd it find us here?" Suki asked.

Sokka shrugged and walked up to the bird. "I'm not an expert on the species." He opened the container and pulled out a rolled piece of parchment. Handing the parchment over to Katara he took the bird and held it on his wrist. "But I think he's a keeper."

Wondering who sent the bird Katara unrolled the parchment and started reading it. "It's a message… for me?" she muttered, surprised to find her name at the top.

"What does it say?" Toph asked.

Slowly Katara started reading the message aloud. "I have obtained information regarding your leader. Bring water and food, come alone." There was a crudely drawn map after the message, and below that was a signature. "Qin!"


In his hideout ravine Qin struggled to suppress the pain in his burned arm, but it was difficult as there was nothing else to do while waiting for the waterbender to arrive and heal it. His patience was about to run out when he heard the roar of a sky bison above him, and he slowly crawled out of the ravine into the forest around it. Qin saw the sky bison land in the forest, and three girls climbed out of the saddle.

"I told you to come alone!" Qin complained, recognizing Katara and Suki but having no idea who the blind girl was.

"Like we would blindly trust you?" Suki said.

"Start talking," Katara demanded. "Where's Aang?"

With his free hand Qin pointed at the burn on his arm. "Fix me up and maybe I'll tell you." When Katara didn't move Qin figured that a different choice of words was necessary. "Have sympathy, I'm badly burned."

Still not walking towards Qin, Katara only crossed her arms. "Then speak quickly. Where's Aang?"

"A Fire Nation base," Qin answered.

"Which is located where?" Suki demanded.

Qin sighed before becoming specific. "About a mile west of here by the mountains, it has a tower in the middle. But you'll never fight your way in, even with that sky bison."

Toph stepped ahead of Katara, sensing no danger from Qin. "Then how did you pull it off?"

"I was a war minister, remember?" Qin said. He tapped one finger against his head. "I designed the layout of that base and many others like it. The method I just used won't work now, for obvious reasons, but there here is another way to get inside the base that only I know."

"How do we get inside?" Katara asked.

Qin tapped his burned arm again. "That secret stays with me until this is healed."

Katara bent some water onto her hands and walked up to Qin, pressing the water against the burn and healing it. When Katara was finished healing only a light scar remained on Qin's arm, a result of leaving the burn unattended too long before treatment. "Now where's this entrance?"

Standing up and feeling the pain disappear, Qin stretched the healed arm. "A few years ago I conscripted some earthbenders to make a tunnel underneath the base, just in case it was every under siege and I needed an escape route. It leads directly to the central tower and some adjacent buildings, which was difficult to pull off considering the temple that was in the way.

"Temple?" Suki interrupted. "Why would there be a temple underground?"

"It was buried a long time ago, and the engineers that designed the tower were unaware of its existence," Qin answered. "I think it was meant for the Fire Nation Avatar before Roku, but that's not the point. The tunnel goes past it and comes out at the base of the closest mountain, well outside all security patrols."

"So that's our way in?" Suki asked. "Rescuing the Avatar by going through an Avatar's temple?"

"Sounds too good to be true," Toph said.

"Yes," Qin agreed. "It won't do you any good if the Avatar doesn't want to be rescued."

"Explain," Katara demanded, wanting to hear any news of Aang's condition. When Qin rubbed his belly to imply that he wanted food in exchange for more information, Katara used a fast water whip to retrieve a basket of salted meats.

Once he had the food Qin set it aside. "Well, he seems to have lost his senses. He's convinced that he is not the Avatar."

"Tell us something we don't know," Toph said.

"What?" Qin blurted out. "How could you possibly know that?"

Katara turned away from Qin and started walking back to Appa. "Let's go, we got what we came for."


Back at the air temple Sokka and Haru were walking towards the balcony that Pathik was meditating on. The messenger bird was on Sokka's shoulder, kept there by bits of meat jerky that Sokka fed it. Though the bird's red color clashed with his blue Water Tribe clothes, Sokka liked the animal. He thought it might make a good pet.

"I think I'll call him Hawky," Sokka told Haru.

"You shouldn't get attached to it," Haru warned. "If we have it deliver a message you might never see it again."

Sokka frowned at that thought, but another thought made him smile. "Unless we only send messages to people we know will send him back."

"Like who?" Haru asked.

The first person that came to Sokka's mind was Yue, but he wasn't going to say that to a person he barely knew. "I'm sure Gran Gran would like to hear all about what Katara's been up to out here."

"On second thought, maybe we should just save the bird for something important," Haru suggested. He led the way out to the balcony, seeing Pathik still meditating. "That must be him."

"Hello there," Sokka said, walking up to Pathik. When the guru didn't respond Sokka got in front of Pathik and waved one hand in front of his face. "Is anybody home?"

Deep in meditation Pathik didn't hear Sokka, as he was experiencing a vision into the spirit world. Only able to see and hear into that realm, Pathik could not interact physically or spiritually with the spirits. The terrain he saw resembled a city left in ruins, and human bodies lay everywhere in it. At first Pathik thought they were a metaphor regarding the outcome of the war, until he recognized the body of Avatar Roku. Only then did Pathik realize that he was surrounded by the bodies of all the previous Avatars, slowly dying again while the current incarnation was out of balance.

Startling out of his meditative trance Pathik scared Sokka, making the teenager fall backward. "Sorry," Pathik apologized. "I didn't… mean…"

"What?" Sokka asked, seeing Pathik staring at him and finding it a little creepy. "Is there something on my face?"

Sensing a strong spiritual connection, Pathik stood up and took a step towards Sokka. "Where did you get that?"

Having no idea what Pathik was referring to, Sokka pointed to his new pet. "You mean Hawky?" he guessed.

Ignoring the wrong guess Pathik tapped one finger below Sokka's neck, hitting something hidden under his shirt. "That," Pathik corrected.

"Oh," Sokka said. Tugging on a string around his neck Sokka retrieved the vial of water from the oasis in the North Pole. "It was a gift from Master Pakku."

"From the Spirit Oasis," Pathik claimed.

"Yes," Sokka answered, wondering how Pathik could know about that. "Why does that matter?"

"That water is connected to the Spirit World," Pathik answered. "The mystical properties it has are unique in both realms. "

Sokka removed the string from around his neck and offered the vial to Pathik. "Can you use it to bring Aang back?"

Pathik pushed the vial back to Sokka. "It was entrusted to you. I cannot use it."

"Okay," Sokka muttered, tucking the vial away beneath his shirt. "Well carry on with your spirit thing, I'll stop bothering you."

As Sokka and Haru walked away from Pathik they went back inside the hallways, having not much better to do while waiting for the girls to come back. Haru wandered off to explore the temple some more, while Sokka walked back to a room he'd chosen to sleep in. In his room Sokka studied the bird for a while, especially the wings. They just seemed like a more of a natural way for something to fly than a sky bison.

"Just how far will these things go?" Sokka wondered aloud. He wrote a quick letter to his grandmother summarizing everything that happened since he left, along with a small note asking for her to send the bird back later. Then Sokka put the letter inside the bird's container and sent it off through a window, and in the moonlight Sokka watched the way the bird's wings moved through the air. "Safe travels Hawky."