When Katara woke the next morning, it took a moment for the anxiety to set in, the memories of the conversation she had had the night previous with Sansetsu coming back to her. It was light, and she was surprised to see that Aang was still asleep, curled up beside her and breathing steadily. It was not typical for the airbender to sleep in past her, it was perhaps testament to just how exhausted he was that he had done. She held off waking him for a moment, instead slipping past him carefully, stepping out into the morning sun as it gleamed off the emerald grass at her feet, feeling decidedly hesitant to look behind her. Whether Sansetsu had decided to leave them or not, she knew that they could handle it, but it would be better for Aang, and for the past-Avatar, if he had stayed. She took a deep breath, before looking over her shoulder.

To her immense relief, Sansetsu still sat where she had left him, his face looking in her direction. For a moment they just looked at each other, Sansetsu's expression somewhat dogged yet still the understanding passed between them and she could only manage the smallest smile.

"You should probably wake princess," Sansetsu drawled, getting to his feet. "We've got a lot to do."

She crawled back into the cave, her hands gently nudging Aang's shoulder, calling his name softly. He woke quickly, his hand reaching out and grabbing her wrist sharply, making the both of them jump.

"What's going on?" Aang demanded, his tone alert and concerned as he let go of her wrist, looking acutely around at them.

"Nothing, it's just time to wake up," Katara replied, and for a moment Aang still looked entirely confused, before he realised how bright it was out there.

"Monkey feathers, I really overslept," he grumbled, his shoulders sagging now as he pressed the palm of his hands into his eyes, trying to shift the remaining sleepiness.

"I think you needed it."

"Monkey feathers?" a voice called, and Sansetsu quickly peered down into their cave and making them jump, his expression leering. "You know, it's much more satisfying to just swear like everybody else."

"And bring myself down to your level? No thanks."

"Ohhh, well that told me, didn't it! What, no good down here in the dirt? You're missing out." Sansetsu disappeared from the entrance, and they heard him walking around the side of the cave, whistling to himself.

"He seems in a better mood again," Aang muttered to her, and she just shrugged. Aang didn't need to know about the conversation she had had with the past-Avatar that night, and hopefully Sansetsu would know to keep what they had talked about to himself, but in mind. The pair climbed back from their make-shift cave, Aang taking a deep breath and stretching, a light popping from his hip causing him to grimace, but otherwise he seemed decidedly less bothered by his leg than he had done since his injury had happened. She was relieved to see that, finally, it was starting to heal.

"We've got a lot to be getting on with today," Sansetsu repeated, before pulling the knife that Hakoda had given Aang from his pocket again and holding it out to him. Aang blinked, checking his back pocket, before snatching it with a frown.

"Will you quit that?"

"Maybe you should stop being so easy to steal from," Sansetsu shrugged. "Why do you have a Water Tribe knife, anyway?"

"Why do you still have that stupid Ba Sing Se braid?" Aang replied smartly.

"Any chance we can get five minutes into the day without you two bickering?" Katara sighed, interrupting Sansetsu before he could respond. Sansetsu snorted, rolling his eyes and looking ahead of them. By some act of mercy, perhaps, no spirits had approached them during the night, but they knew they were out there, and it was only because of this that Sansetsu had allowed them both to sleep in so long. Aang needed his rest, and to regain his strength, it would not be easy going for any of them from this point. But Katara's words had hit him last night, and he had spent the remaining hours before sun-up thinking about them, and it was time for him to finally step up.

"At this point, the only thing we have to go on is this Valley of Time, and I'm pretty positive that we're headed the right way," Sansetsu said, getting Aang's attention. "Tonrar's left enough of a trail."

"Doesn't that seem a bit, well, careless?" Katara asked, frowning.

"Only if you're assuming he doesn't want me to follow him," Aang replied dryly. Sansetsu scoffed.

"Pipsqueak's right," he said, ignoring the minute roll of Aang's eyes, "Assuming the very worst here and we can't save your world, you'll both still survive here. The last thing Tonrar wants is an angry Avatar out somewhere in the wilderness, better to lead us to him now so that he can deal with it."

Aang and Katara exchanged uncomfortable glances. The thought of them both being the remaining human's alive, trapped in the Spirit World, was no laughing matter.

"So, we're to assume that Tonrar is ready for you," Sansetsu continued, "or at the very least preparing for your arrival. And there's a huge elephant-koi in the room that we've all been avoiding. His daughter."

Aang shuddered at the memories of Innua, but the image forever seared into his brain was that of Koh wrapping his face around hers, the convulsing and pulsing, as her face was stolen, and her cruel smile on Koh's lips. Katara, however, seemed suddenly preoccupied, her fingers pulling at the sleeves of her dress and her face averting behind of them. Sansetsu noticed this, his eyes narrowing just a fraction before Aang spoke.

"We don't know for sure that Tonrar has his body back yet," he said, "but Katara did say that he took Innua's body with him when he ran in the South. My guess is that, if Tonrar has got his body back, then Innua has too."

"Agreed," Sansetsu sighed, dragging his attention away from Katara. "You think she's crazy enough to come after you on her own?"

"Oh, she's crazy enough," Aang laughed coldly. "And Tonrar's cold enough to let her."

Katara frowned, the images she had seen in the Spirit of Fortune swimming in her brain like some foul smell. She saw Innua's burned and flaky face, and her useless arm hanging at her side, and she wondered what it could all mean. Was her vision accurate? Were any of them? The portal requires a sacrifice. She shivered.

"Hey, you ok?"

She started, realising that Aang was watching her, concern etched across his features, and she quickly nodded.

"Yeh, yeh, fine," she replied, with a forced smile. But she saw Sansetsu looking at her too, his expression shrewd, and with a low growl she shook her head. "Ok, no," she sighed. She could hardly stand to look at Aang in that moment, looking for all the world like he was about to worry over her like a mother hen before she raised her hand to stop him.

"What is it?"

"I saw something in the Spirit of Fortune," she replied heavily. "It was only briefly, there was so much happening, but I saw Innua."

Aang's eyebrows rose clear off his forehead.

"You saw her? Why?"

"I don't know," she responded. It wasn't entirely untrue, she still wasn't sure why she had seen Innua in her visions, exactly, but she could not allow Aang to realise that she had seen the end of their journey. She wasn't ready for that. "But she didn't look good ... she looked burned, almost, and one of her arms was broken."

"Welp, here's your firebender," Sansetsu said, gesturing to Aang who looked back at him in alarm.

"Are you trying to say that I could have done that to her?" he asked, trying and failing to hide his disgust.

"Well, who else?"

"The point is, I think we're going to be seeing her," Katara sighed, rubbing her arms. "We should be prepared for that."

"If it turns out that Tonrar can't control the Avatar Spirit any more then he'll be relying on her more than ever," Sansetsu said. "I don't doubt Tonrar will have other spirits at his control, but it'll be Innua that stands between us and him, you mark my words."

"I can take her," Katara replied, her voice sounding grim and determined. "She's a good waterbender, but I'm better."

Sansetsu grinned at this, his eyes roaming across her appreciatively. "Now, that I can't wait to see," he leered. Aang swiftly pulled up a column of earth into the man's crotch, causing him to swear loudly. He just shrugged when the past-Avatar turned his furious glare to him.

"We don't know that being here won't have changed her," Aang said to Katara. "She's still half spirit, who knows what kind of powers she might have here."

"I don't have a spirit," Katara replied. "Even if she can do a little of what Tonrar can there's no way she can control me. Neither of them can. I'd say that gives me a pretty big advantage, if nothing else."

"Hopefully you won't have to get involved at all," Aang said, ignoring the irate look that she shot him. He knew she'd be angry about it, but it certainly did not change the fact that he had every intention to keep Katara out of the fight, especially after all the nightmares he had had involving her lying dead on the ground, a deep wound in her chest. Sansetsu, still grumbling over his stinging crotch, looked between the pair of them, eyes narrowed.

"Pipsqueak's right," he interjected, getting a surprised look from Aang and a furious one from Katara. "If this pans out right then no one other than Aang needs to get involved." Here it is, he thought to himself, better late than never. "So, this is where the next bit of your training comes in."

Aang glanced back at Katara, surprised.

"Next bit?" Aang asked. "No offense, Sunny, but I've kinda managed to sort out the issue with the Avatar State already-"

"I'm not talking about that," Sansetsu interrupted. He looked uncomfortable for a moment, rubbing the back of his neck in such a stark impersonation of Aang that it wouldn't have been hard to imagine for a second that the pair could be related. "Look, I was a shitty Avatar, I get that. But I had a damn good spiritual teacher, and she told me a lot about what the Avatar was capable of here in the Spirit World."

Curious, Aang sat down on the edge of the make-shift earth cave, looking at Sansetsu intently. Katara was a little shocked, she had not expected Sansetsu to really have anything else to teach Aang. She wondered if their talk last night had anything to do with this.

"I'm pretty sure I've already told you that the Avatar is pretty powerful here in the Spirit World," Sansetsu continued. "But it's more than that. The Spirit World is where the Avatar is most powerful, even without your bending, with the right training and understanding, you could still be the most powerful thing in this damn place."

"How?"

Sansetsu ran his tongue across his teeth, considering for a moment, wondering how best to explain it. "You've probably noticed it already, but your bending is stronger here now that you've reconnected with the Avatar Spirit, yeh?"

Aang thought back to the way he had drained an entire tree of it's water with just a simple flick of his wrist, and the way that he had been able to calm all those spirit's with his waterbending, and nodded.

"And, even before you had control over the Avatar State again, did you notice that the world ... responded to you? When your emotions run high. When you're pissed off, for example?"

Aang frowned at this, thinking back. The first painful memory that came to him was when he had slipped into the Avatar State when he and Katara had been together in the desert ... he had not realised it at the time, it was only as he came down from his high that he saw the billowing flames simmer, the high wind outside drop. He had almost created a storm outside of their little cave, and he had not even been aware of it. And then, there was that moment where he had lost his temper with Sansetsu, and how he had been able to grapple the past-Avatar using tree branches. He hadn't thought anything of it at the time, but now that he thought back to it, it was definitely weird. He wasn't sure to this moment if he had controlled the water inside of the dry vegetation or if he had just controlled the branches themselves.

"Yeh," he replied finally, still frowning as he considered these facts.

"In your mortal world, you control the elements," Sansetsu continued. "But, if what Gotami told me was true, and I've no reason to think that it wasn't, here you can control the world. The entire place is made from spiritual energy, though it might not look it, and a powerful enough Avatar can manipulate that to his whim."

Aang blinked, completely taken back.

"I can control the world?" he repeated, before shaking his head. "Look, I don't wanna go against your spiritual teacher's words here, but how could she have known that for sure? It sounds ... unbelievable."

"Gotami spent more time in this world than anyone else from my time," Sansetsu replied. "I'd say more than anyone else before her, too. She spoke to a lot of the spirits here, saw things that no other human had seen, I'm pretty confident that she knew what she was talking about." His tone was restrained, but Aang did not miss the frustration. Aang knew that he had admired Gotami a great deal, however, and he couldn't help but wonder whether the past-Avatar's affection for her blind-sided him.

"Even if she's right," Aang continued, and he didn't miss the way Sansetsu's nostrils flared at this, "I don't know where to start. The only times I've been able to do anything even close to that was when I was angry or ..." he hesitated, knowing that he didn't need to finish that sentence. "I don't want to have to rely on anger any more."

"You won't need to," Sansetsu replied. "You can go into the Avatar State again now, that's all your anger was ever pushing you towards. Now that you can complete clarity and awareness in the Avatar State you can start to test the boundaries, see what you are truly capable of."

Aang felt unsure. He knew that he should be excited about this news, it could be what enabled him to beat Tornar, after all, and could it also be a way for him to fix the tear between the two worlds? He wasn't sure on that point. And yet, he found he felt mostly fear at what Sansetsu had revealed. He did not want to have that much power, he still didn't trust himself with it, and how could Sansetsu or Katara possibly trust him either after all that he had done to both of them? Having this much potential power was not exhilarating, it was terrifying.

"Maybe you should take it slow at first," Katara offered, as if she sensed the reason behind his trepidation. "I know you're afraid of losing control again, but Sansetsu is right. You can do this now."

He glanced up at her, flashing her a small appreciative smile before sighing heavily, rubbing his temples.

"I'm not comfortable with this," he admitted, to both of them. "I've only just learned how to control the Avatar State again and you're telling me I can be more powerful? It's risky."

"Of course it is," Sansetsu said honestly, shrugging. "But I wouldn't be telling you all this if I didn't think you were ready to hear it."

Aang looked over at Sansetsu, stunned and moved by his admission.

"We'll start small," the past-Avatar continued. "Without the Avatar State to begin with."

Aang took a long deep breath, before nodding. "Alright, where do I start?"

"We start by finding something that you wouldn't be able to bend in your world," Sansetsu replied, looking about himself for some inspiration.

"Ooh!" Katara grabbed their attention, her eyes wide with excitement. "Aang can't metalbend back in our world, why doesn't he try that?"

"Really?" Sansetsu looked back at him. "I thought you said your earthbending teacher had invented metalbending ... how come you didn't learn?"

"It just never came up," Aang replied honestly, with a shrug. "After the War and everything there wasn't really much time."

"Huh. Well, that's a great idea, Katara, but you're not going to find any metal out here."

But Katara was busy untying her belt, bringing the fabric to her teeth and tearing it so that the round metal loop fell loose. She tied the strips of fabric in a knot around her waist again before holding the hoop out to Aang.

"That'll do."

Almost apprehensively he took it, holding it out flat in his palm. It wasn't that he hadn't wanted to learn to metalbend, he had always meant to ask Toph to teach him, but now that he was presented with an opportunity he felt nervous. Toph herself had said that she thought only one in a hundred earthbenders were capable of metalbending, and being the Avatar didn't make him that one in a hundred.

"Well, go on then," Sansetsu said impatiently. Aang shot him an irritated glare.

"Give me a minute," he snapped. He looked back at the hoop, taking a deep breath. What was it Toph had said about metalbending? It was about finding the trace elements of unpurified earth that remained within the metal. He was sure that this small piece of metal was supposed to provide less of a challenge for him, but without utilising his seismic sense he wasn't sure how he was meant to find any pieces of unrefined earth inside of it, and he frowned.

"This might be too small," he said.

"What, you want a whole fucking ship?" Sansetsu said, incredulously. "This is all we've got. Why can't it work?"

Aang sighed. "Because I can't feel the earth inside of something this small! I need to use my seismic sense for that."

"Seismic what? Are you just making shit up now to annoy me?"

"No, it's an earthbending technique," Aang replied, rubbing his temple tersely. Sometimes it was easy to forget just long ago Sansetsu had lived, and how much bending must have changed since his time. "I'll show you." He got to his feet, putting the hoop into his pocket, before slamming his heel down into the ground beneath him, eyes shut as he reached out around them.

"There's a small rock, shaped like a 'c', in that direction," he said, pointing to his right. Sansetsu narrowed his eyes, doubtfully, before walking where he had pointed. "Under that bush," Aang called, and sure enough Sansetsu reached down picked out a muddy 'c-shaped' piece of rock.

"Damn."

"It's much harder to that with something so small," Aang continued, pulling the metal hoop from his pocket again, looking at it dejected.

"Just try," Katara urged, reaching out and placing her hand on his shoulder. "I mean, you did master three elements in a year. You can do this."

"Yeh, quit being a baby," Sansetsu agreed, calling over to them from where he was stood.

"Alright, fi- ouch!" Aang was interrupted by sharp pain on the back of his head, swinging round to see Sansetsu grinning deviously at him, having just thrown the little rock hard at him.

"Hey, I might not be able to bend anymore but I've got good aim."

"Lucky us," Aang snapped, rolling his eyes, before holding the hoop out on his palm once more, shutting his eyes and taking a deep breath.

He tried to focus on the feel of it, the cold metal warming quickly on his palm, but quickly found that focusing on the feel of the entire thing wasn't helping him at all. It remained a hoop of metal in his hand, nothing more, and he took another deep breath. He closed his hand around it, squeezing it, feeling the pressure of it against his skin and it was then that he sensed something. It was like a torch had been lit in his mind, as at once he felt the metal vibrate as the earth inside of it gravitated towards his finger tips. He opened his eyes, his grin triumphant as he opened his hand, the hoop stretching out into a long cylindrical shape, before he compressed his hand again and it formed a solid ball. Katara cheered and clapped, and Sansetsu was at his side in an instant, his face close to Aang's hand and the metal as he looked at it with wide-eyed interest.

"I mean, it's not as impressive as my airball, of course, but it'll do," he muttered, and Aang laughed. He could metalbend. He wondered briefly if he'd be able to do it in his world too.

"Wait 'til I show Toph," Aang said eagerly to Katara, before he felt a sharp pain in his chest. He couldn't allow himself to think about his world and his friends right now, not when he knew that there was still a chance that they may not see them again.

"Metalbending is a start," Sansetsu said, "but it's not going to help much with Tonrar." He stood tall, looking around them, before seemingly coming to a decision. "Ok, new plan, we stay here for the day and we focus on your training. It seems to be relatively safe here and there's plenty of space, we don't know when we might have either of those things again."

Aang initially was unsure. He wanted to get moving again, he knew that every day they remained in the Spirit World could cost their friends, could cost the world, and could give Tonrar more time to recover his strength, to prepare. But he couldn't argue that Sansetsu was right. This was a good place to train, and there was no way he could face Tonrar unprepared.

"Ok," he said. "What do you want me to do next?"

"Let's see how far you can push this," Sansetsu said, before grabbing Aang's arm unceremoniously and starting to drag him to the center of the clearing. Bemused, Aang followed, glancing back at Katara who shrugged. "You'll be using your surroundings to your advantage," Sansetsu continued, "we don't know exactly what Tonrar is going to be capable of in this world, so we should just assume that he has some degree of hand-to-hand combat skills he can utilise."

"And if he doesn't," Aang added, "then Innua and his spirits do."

"Exactly. You need to think quick and, more importantly, you need to move quick. The daughter is a waterbender, right?"

For a moment, Aang wasn't entirely sure who he meant, before he was reminded of Innua again and nodded.

"Katara," Sansetsu called, before frowning she approached. "As much as I'd love to be the one to beat the ever-living shit out of pipsqueak here, I can't bend, so you need to be the stand in for Innua."

"Wait," Aang objected quickly, "I'm not going to fight Katara!"

"Why not?" Sansetsu balked, and Katara rest her hands against her hips. "You heard her, she reckons she's better than Innua, who better to train against?"

"He's right, Aang."

Aang bit his lip. He wasn't comfortable getting Katara involved in this, not least of all because he was still not one hundred percent confident that he wouldn't lose control again. He had drained that tree without so much as a second thought, not even intending to use bending that powerful, there was every chance that he could hurt Katara by mistake.

"You have control now," Katara said, as if reading his thoughts and concern worn on his face. "And I can handle myself, you know that."

"I don't doubt that!" Aang protested. "But what if I hurt you by mistake?"

"Then we take it easy to start," Sansetsu said with an exasperated sigh. "You wanna learn to fight Tonrar or what?"

Aang shifted uncomfortably, but Katara had clear made the decision for him, taking a few steps back, her hands braced either side as, with one swift circular motion, she drew all the water from the grass around her. Sansetsu grinned at this.

"Look, have a safe word or something if you're so worried," Sansetsu said, and Aang did not miss the clear excitement in his voice. "Make it monkey feathers." Aang shot him an irritated glare.

"Right." He looked back at Katara, raising his eyebrows in question, but she just nodded, looking back at him resolutely.

"The point here is to use the environment around you to block her," Sansetsu said. "You know you can bend the trees, so bend the trees! And you know you can kick up a storm, so kick up a storm!"

Aang swallowed. He knew he had done those things in the past when his emotions had run high, but he certainly didn't know if he could do them now. Especially when he knew he would be holding back so as not to hurt Katara.

"Katara, don't take it easy on him," Sansetsu called, as he backed up to a safe distance. "He's the Avatar, he can handle it."

Katara nodded. Aang opened his mouth to ask her if she was sure, to check that she was comfortable with this, but before he could make a sound she made her move, whipping out the water in front of her in stark imitation of Innua. Aang had only an instant to react, bring the earth up before him to break her attack.

"Good!" Sansetsu called. "Now push it further!"

Aang did not enjoy the experience at all. Sparring against Katara was nothing new to either of them, but even when they had been training to fight Ozai there had still been a degree of enjoyment between the two of them, but this spar was different. He saw no pleasure on Katara's face, just grim determination, and for the first time he could imagine what it was like to truly have to fight against her. She didn't want to hurt him, he knew that, but she was also clever enough to know that taking it easy on him was not going to help him, and so she attacked with almost all that she had. Aang did not lash out at her, instead keeping his focus on defense. At least this way he could go all out without less risk of accidentally hurting her.

He still wasn't sure entirely what Sansetsu wanted of him. He knew he could bend the earth, that was no new revelation, but he could hear the past-Avatar getting frustrated on the side lines as Aang drew up his defenses, demanding more. Katara favoured the whip that they had both seen Innua use, and though it was not a form that she was familiar with, she used it masterfully none-the-less, her agile body twisting as it coiled and sprung from around her waist. She split the whip into three as she kicked out, the water spreading wide and attacking him from either side and above, and Aang knew that she was trying to push him. Hands furled into fists he drew then sharply together, the earth creating a barrier over him. Of course, earthbending was easy for him now, he had mastered it long ago, but in the Spirit World he realised that it gave into his will so willingly it was like twirling his fingers in water, the world around him feeling almost fluid, and he decided to see how far he could take this. Instead of stepping out from under his barrier, or bring it down, he instead let his body sink into the earth beneath his feet like he was sinking into a hot bath, the earth falling flat down over him. From Katara's perspective he had simply disappeared, and she blinked, looking above her in some confusion, wondering if he had jumped and she had not noticed. For Aang, he suddenly found himself death and blind, only the vibrations from the earth around him giving him any guide as he all but swam through the earth, spiraling and breaking the surface behind her. The earth hardly made a sound, it was like putty in his hands, and he found the sensation exhilarating. Gotami had not been wrong, he was far more powerful here.

He gently blew a gust of air towards her, picking up her hair as she swung around, surprised to see him now standing behind her.

"How'd you do that?" she asked, even as she twisted on her heel, propelling the water whip towards him. He disappeared again, and this time she saw him sink into the earth, her eyebrows raising, before he appeared not a few moments later to her left.

"Good!" Sansetsu called. "You're pushing the boundaries, but it's more than just bending the elements. Remember, the Spirit World is made up of spiritual energy and you can bend that too!"

Katara gave him no time to steady himself, launching another attack on him, this time injecting some of her own bending moves into the mix. She drew yet more water from the grass around her, her body stepping into the forms with ease as she bent a spiral of water around him that tightened. The water didn't make contact, however, a bubble of air forming around him and blasting outwards, breaking her wave and scattering her water. If he was facing Innua, this would have been the key time to launch his own attack, using the water he dispensed as a projectile, and perhaps against Innua this would have been enough to disable her, but now was not the time to test that. The water shed around him, and he held out his hands out to freeze it, dragging the pieces back down to the ground and creating a ring of sharp ice around him. He saw a smile grace Katara's features for the briefest moment, hinting at the pride she still held for her best pupil, before she took the ice from him, firing it straight back at him. He knew that she wouldn't allow for it to make contact, she had incredible control over the water that she bent, regardless of the speed she attacked at, but he still felt a slight tug of panic in his chest, his instincts alerting him to the danger. Sansetsu was throwing his hands in the air in the side-lines, frustrated that Aang had taken to just bending the elements again, and in a flash of inspiration Aang took a deep breath of air and held his hands flat, before dragging them and making a pinching motion with his hands. He had to test his abilities.

In a instant the grass at his feet reached up, growing at an incredible speed as he bent the spiritual energy at his feet as easy as he would the earth, the blades of grass sharp as they sliced through the ice that Katara threw at him. It felt, he realised, not unlike going into the Avatar State in his world. He was used to feeling the hum and the pull of the elements, but here he could feel everything. If he reached out he could see further than even he could do with his seismic sense. Everything here, in this world, was just energy, just as Sansetsu had said. Katara had hesitated, taken aback. She had seen benders use the water inside of plants before, she herself had done it more than once, but Aang had done more than that. He had made the grass grow. She breathed heavily, looking at him as she saw the realisation dawn on him, his features lighting up with wonder. He caught her eyes, and she realised that she could not let his lesson end here. She had to push him further, he had to see just how much he could achieve in this world.

Sansetsu looked as though he couldn't quite believe it, he was more relieved than he could say, but that relief turned swiftly to confusion as he watched Katara launch a new attack, this time her movements fast and viscous. Aang was quick to respond, though truthfully he had not expected her to follow on from his defense, using the grass beneath him to break her attacks. There wasn't much else in his immediate surroundings that he could use, sure there was the treeline further off, but he would never be able to pull them to his aid before Katara's attacks hit him, she was much too fast, but he knew that she was expecting more from him. It was harder for him to reach out to the spiritual energy around him when he was trying to fend off her attacks, and he quickly found that he needed to rely on his air and waterbending again in order to hold her back. He realised that defense, perhaps, was not enough. He knew, as well as Katara did, that defense alone would not stop Innua, would not stop Tonrar. He needed to learn to attack too, and if he could not find the courage to use his abilities against her, how could he find it in himself to attack with intent to harm when it came to the final showdown? He growled low in his throat, frowning, not wanting to attack her but knowing he had little other choice. Katara, as perceptive as she ever was, could see the conflict in his eyes, and she grit her teeth, no longer allowing herself to hold back as she stepped sharply to her left, her hands held out flat as she whipped out at him with the freezing water whip with such ferocity that Aang was not prepared to defend, whipping at his side and catching his arm. He winced as he felt the whip break his skin, and it was like something clicked in his head.

He stepped hard to his left, his heel hitting the ground, and with his seismic sense and his ability to see the world through the spiritual energy that spread out around him his awareness grew. He could sense the blood pumping around Katara's body, her sharp breaths, and he could feel Sansetsu most acutely, his entire being just as much spiritual energy as the world around him and suddenly it made sense to him. If he wanted, he could control Sansetsu, too. Could he control other spirits? Was this how Tonrar was able to control the spirits? He launched an attack on Katara, the grass shooting up and grabbing her around the wrists, pulling her down to her knees. It may have been enough to immobalise a weaker opponent, but Katara was not weak, and he could sense her reacting, reaching out to the water within the grass even as it wrapped around her wrists and up her arms. He pulled the earth beneath her feet up as it spiralled around her body until, finally, she was left unable to move, her hands pulling against the bindings, grunting with the effort. But she was beaten, and he dropped his stance, taking a deep breath.

"Are you ok?" he asked, hurrying up to her even as he dropped his control of the grass, it wilting and dying, the earth cracking and collapsing back at her feet. She stood unsteadily, holding her wrists, but nodded, out of breath.

"I'm fine," she said. He quickly took her elbows, kissing her against the temple before inspecting her wrists. They were pink, but he was relieved to see he had not caused any damage.

"That was pretty good," she said to him. He could see the pride in her eyes, but her smile was pained, and he knew it wasn't because of her sore wrists.

"I can't fucking believe that actually worked."

The pair looked over to see Sansetsu, a little wide eyed, walking towards them looking at the destruction they had caused. "What?" Aang cried. "This was your idea!"

"Yeh, but I still wasn't certain you could actually do it," Sansetsu replied. Aang felt a gentle tugging on his arm, and looked down to see that Katara had set to work healing his cut.

"Your faith in me, as ever, is inspiring," Aang sighed. Sansetsu just shrugged, a self satisfied grin on on his face as he eyed Aang in an expression that could be described as little other than greedy.

"You could actually do this, you know," he said keenly, "we might actually stand a chance of beating Tonrar after all."

"There's no denying that Aang's power here is great," Katara said, "but we've still got Innua and all of Tonrar's spirits to contend with."

"Right, but any bending spirits he might have can only bend the elements. Trap Tonrar in some gnarly old tree and we'll be laughing."

"Right ..." Aang frowned, thinking over Sansetsu's words. "The option is still there, then. To trap Tonrar, not ..." he hesitated.

"Kill him?" Sansetsu finished, and his tone was vehement again, his upper lip curling. "Don't you fucking flake on me again, pipsqueak. We're here to kill Tonrar, you got that? That's the only way any of this ends for good!"

But, Aang knew what he had felt when he had been fighting Katara. He could still feel it now, the spiritual aura eminating from Sansetsu as he stood so close to him, and he couldn't help but wonder if he could use this. Could he control Tonrar? Could he find a way to stop him without killing him?

"There's more to it than that," Aang said, softly. He was alarmed to see frustration on even Katara's face. "I think I can do more than just control the spiritual energy here."

"What do you mean?" Sansetsu snapped.

"I ... well, I wonder if I can control the spirits, too."

A silence fell at this, Katara's sharp intake of breath the only thing to be heard as they stared at him with wide eyes. He wasn't sure what they were thinking, and he avoided their gaze, looking down at the grass as he thought over the possibilities.

"What makes you think that's the case?" Sansetsu asked, his voice quiet as he looked at him.

"It's just a thought," Aang said hurriedly. "I don't even know if it's possible, but the spirits are just spiritual energy too, right? If I can calm them, can I also control them?"

Sansetsu bit his lower lip, his expression darkening.

"As I said, it's just a thought," Aang repeated, trying to push a lightness to his voice once again. "I know you said we should spend the day here, but I think we'd be better off if we keep going now. I've learned enough."

"Right," Sansetsu said, though he seemed decidedly distracted. "Sure, let's make a move."

The minds of the three travellers were heavily burdened that day as they walked. As much as Aang was encouraged by his achievements these last few days, from mastering the Avatar State again to learning that he could control far more than just the elements in this world, he was still troubled. Sansetsu still fully expected him to kill Tonrar, and he was sure that he expected him to kill Innua too if she decided to face against them, and as much as he felt he had accepted that fact, he could not deny that what he had felt when feeling the spiritual energy around them had changed things. But, testing that theory would be difficult, not least of all because the idea of controlling any spirit disgusted him. Would it make him no better than Tonrar? Could he justify taking away the autonomy of a spirit just for his own gain? It would be better than taking their life, he thought darkly as he walked. But when he considered how it had felt to be controlled, how much it had torn at his very soul, he wasn't sure that it was any kinder than death.

For Katara, she could not see the conflict going on inside of Aang's head, and as such could not stop the panic that had risen every since Aang had brought up the subject of controlling a spirit. She could see the clear parallel between that ability, and one of her own ... bloodbending. The spirits, as she had long learned and seen in this world, were not thoughtless, unintelligent animals that wandered this world. They had their own thoughts, feelings ... they had a soul, near enough. Sure, if anyone deserved to have their control taken from them it would be Tonrar, but she was certain Aang could control Tonrar no more than she could have bloodbent Azula or anyone else. And yet, their world was at stake. Would Aang push himself beyond his own morals? Would he have any other choice?

Sansetsu remained quiet as they walked. His thoughts were dark, and they were his own, and for once Katara felt no inclination to pry.

Eventually, after a long day's walk, they decided to rest. The grassland was starting to grow sparse, the ground beneath their feet dryer and harsher, and they found that there were less spirits here, fewer of them wanting to haunt these desolate looking plains. It was to their advantage, however, and Aang was able to preserve much of his strength, only needing to calm a small handful of spirits as they had travelled. Aang quickly set up camp for them beneath a lone tree, as limited as their camp was. Tall rocks either side of them provided some privacy, though little security, and with the sky growing orange above them it felt like the last oasis that they would find before all vegetation gave way to rock yet again. He started a fire, using the old dry branches from the tree that overlooked their little camp, noting again just how cold it was starting to get.

Sansetsu stayed quiet as they quickly ate some of the fruit that they had gathered back in the forest. They were running low on supplies yet again, and with the forest far behind them they knew that it wouldn't be long before it started to cause an issue again. Somehow, Aang was sure that this wasn't the cause of Sansetsu's concerns, casting a look in his direction as the past-Avatar sat down on a rock, watching the fire. He caught Katara's eye, and she just shrugged weakly, as if to say that whatever was on Sansetsu's mind was likely the last of their concerns at this point. Aang was half inclined to agree, but he could not help but notice that Sansetsu's new state of disturbed contemplation had started as soon as he had mentioned controlling spirits.

Sure enough, Sansetsu finally broached the subject, taking both Aang and Katara both by surprise as they decided to settle down to sleep.

"What made you think about controlling spirits?" he asked brashly, his gaze falling heavily on Aang even as he looked up in surprise.

"I told you," Aang replied evenly, "they're spiritual energy too, right?"

"Right, but it seems a strange time for a thought like that to come to you."

Aang frowned. He wasn't sure, really, why Sansetsu was as bothered by this as he appeared to be, but he decided that the truth was probably best in this instance.

"It just ... came to me," he said, rubbing the back of his head in discomfort. "When I combined the seismic sense with feeling the spiritual energy around me I realised that I could feel your energy too, just as strongly. Maybe more so."

Sansetsu just hummed, his face a grimace as he looked back into the fire. Katara glanced between the two Avatar's, wary.

"I don't know that I could," Aang continued. That in itself was a lie, in fact he was sure that he could have done if he had tried in that moment. "But I think if I had wanted to I could have tried to control you." Sansetsu winced, and Aang swallowed. "I suppose that's how Tonrar does it, right? He manipulates the spiritual energy inside of the spirits? Inside the Avatar Spirit, too."

"I'm sure that has something to do with it," Sansetsu grumbled.

"It doesn't matter, either way," Aang assured, keen to put an end to this discussion. "I'm not Tonrar, and I'm not willing to manipulate any spirit just to see if I can. And, even if I could, Tonrar is too powerful."

Sansetsu didn't respond, simply picking at his nails and focusing on the fire. Aang watched him for a moment longer, but just as he became confident that the conversation was over, Sansetsu took a deep breath.

"Try it," he said, "on me."

Aang blinked, immediately affronted that Sansetsu would suggest it.

"No," he replied immediately. "I don't want to, and you don't want me to, either."

Sansetsu scoffed, looking back at him. "Well, ain't that a fucking surprise."

"You might not give a damn about yourself any more," Aang retorted, his words coming out far more vehemently than he intended, "but I've got to go on living after all this. I'm not doing it, Sansetsu."

Katara looked cautiously between the two.

"Well, you want to know if you can, right?" Sansetsu countered, his own voicing raising in response. "You really wanna wait until you're standing in front on Tonrar to find out?"

"You wanted me to kill Tonrar," Aang cried, exhasperated. "So, what is it? Make your mind up!"

"I want to be sure that he's not coming back!" Sansetsu yelled, getting to his feet suddenly and glaring down at the younger Avatar, his grey eyes stormy. Aang grit his teeth, biting back his own angry retort, willing his heart to stop hammering so furiously. "I need to know that, if you fail to kill him, you've at least got an ace up your sleeve to stop the bastard."

Aang looked away. "Why would you even consider this?" he asked, his voice sounding tired. "Isn't it bad enough that you've had to go through it already with Tonrar?"

Sansetsu's nostrils flared, and for a moment his resolve seemed to falter, a shadow passing across his face. Katara could see the hurt clearly in his eyes, the slither of fear that seemed to cross them, before his brow settled into it's familiar frown, lips curling with little less than disdain.

"How I deal with it is no damn business of yours," he said shortly.

"This isn't a good idea." Katara spoke now, getting both of their attention. "You saw it, Aang, how much that control changed Tonrar. This is too big a risk!"

"Right, but it's better than killing Tonrar, huh?" Sansetsu sneered, waving his hand as if her comments were of no importance to him. "Or his daughter too?"

Aang shut his eyes. He knew it, as well as any of them did, if killing Tonrar was going to be difficult for him, them Innua even more so. He had not been able to kill her for Koh, he could not kill her now.

"Fine," he sighed. Katara stood up, eyes wide.

"What? You can't be serious-"

"He's serious, now drop it," Sansetsu interupted, his expression grim despite winning the argument.

"Don't you dare, Sansetsu," Katara hissed, before rounding on Aang. "Aang, you can't do this."

He looked up at her, his expression pained. "Look, he's right, Katara. I keep trying to find a way out of this, you know? A way where I don't have to end Tonrar's life ... what if this is it?"

She breathed heavily, shaking her head and just willing for him to listen to her, but he averted his gaze before he, too, got to his feet. Sansetsu, for all his insistance, looked less than confident as Aang turned to face him. Aang did not miss the fear in his features, try as the past-Avatar might to hide it, and that just only made it harder for him. He swallowed, taking a deep breath. He didn't need to focus too much, he realised, he could still feel Sansetsu's energy strongly, and he reached out to it just as he had the grass. Sansetsu quickly took a battle stance, shrugging at the quizzical look that briefly flashed across Aang's face.

"Gotta make it real."

"Right."

Without warning, Sansetsu charged, hands clawed and ready to tackle the Avatar to the ground, and Aang found himself momentarily grateful that he had been able to reach Sansetsu's aura so easily, as he held his arm straight, palm up. If he had not been so caught up in his head he would have easily recognised the stance as one that Tonrar had taken against him so often, and Sansetsu on his part felt the terror run through him long before he felt his body grind to a halt. It was frighteningly familiar, he felt a pain spread across him as though his skin was being bitten my thousands of poison ants, his head bursting with pain, and despite no longer having his physical body he knew very well that the sensation was virtually identical to what he had experienced by Tonrar's hands. He stopped, yelling out in pain as his arms were sharply clamped at his side, his legs shaking and threatening to buckle beneath him.

For Aang, the power that had burst from his finger tips rivalled even his experiences with the Avatar State, an exhilerating rush of adrenaline coursing through his veins as, at first, he seemed unable to recognise the pain on Sansetsu's face, even as the past-Avatar yelled. He focused only on keeping Sansetsu from moving, before he felt the air forced from his lungs as he finally allowed himself to see the agony stretched across Sansetsu's features and he relinquished his hold.

Sansetsu dropped to his knees, gasping, holding one hand to his head as the other shook as it supported him. For a moment, no one could speak, Aang feeling the bile rise to his throat, anger at himself and at Sansetsu for convincing him to try this.

"Shit," Sansetsu managed finally, getting unsteadily to his feet.

"Sunny, are you-" but Sansetsu held up his hand, stopping Aang where he stood.

"I'm fine," he growled. "Quit coddling me for fuck sake."

Aang swallowed, recognising the shudders of pain that still jolted across Sansetsu's body, but he held back anyway.

"Katara was right, this was a stupid idea," he admonished himself. But Sansetsu threw him a dark glare.

"Oh shut up, you know you can now, right?" It seemed that Sansetsu reacted to this pain much like he did anything, his anger clear. "Just make sure you try and use it against Tonrar and we're square."

But Aang could see that Sansetsu was not ok. The pain was one thing, but the shadow over his face had only darkened, and he could see him, perhaps subcosciously stepping away from them, retreating into himself.

"Let me help, Sansetsu," Katara said, stepping forward and pulling a thread of water from her hipflask, but Sansetsu only directed his cold glare at her, his lip curling.

"I said I'm fine, didn't I?" he snapped. "Spirits, don't make such a big deal out of it. Go get some sleep or have some of your boring vanilla sex and leave me alone a bit, why don't you?"

He set his shoulders and marched past them, before jumping gracefully up into the tree under which they had set up camp, turning his back on them. Aang felt torn, sick to his stomach. He thought he was done making such stupid mistakes and hurting people, but it hadn't taken long for him to be convinced to try controlling Sansetsu. He felt a gentle tug at his side and looked down to see Katara gesturing for him to come lay down, a half-hearted shrug on her shoulders. He could see that she was disappointed in him, sad even, and that only lay heavier on his heart as, with one last glance up at the past-Avatar, he lay down beside her. It took a long time for him to sleep that night, lying so that he could still look frutively in Sansetsu's direction, but the airbender never moved, keeping his gaze out over the rocky plains before he finally fell asleep.

For Sansetsu, the sensation was torture. He knew that he shouldn't direct his anger at the kids. He had, after all, convinced Aang to do it, and he was sure at the time that he could handle it, but he had not been more wrong. He sat in the tree, his knees pulled up close to his chest, grimacing as the waves of pain still washed over him. He wasn't sure it was even possible to feel this much pain in the Spirit World, until now. Sure, his body still felt sensations, he'd taken enough beatings from Aang lately to feel that, but this was a different kind of pain. It brought memories with it, shakes of fear running over his entire body when he remembered the way Tonrar's red eyes and gleamed at him as he had held out his hand a pushed him into the Avatar State, just before he took his own life. He remembered raising his own hands, pulling the air from the lungs of a child, standing by and watching with such fury in his heart as the boy had died right in front of him, reaching out and gasping for breath. With a low snarl he pulled his body tighter in on itself, glancing down to see that the pipsqueak had finally stopped watching him and fallen asleep. It was then that he felt the fear fire like a dart to the heart as he looked at the younger man's face, and it was all he could do not to gasp. His body trembled, his mind making the unwanted yet fast connections between the boy below him and the pain that he felt, and he dragged his eyes away.

"Shit," he hissed.

He couldn't stay, he realised quite suddenly. He couldn't offer them any more help anyway, what more was there to teach him? Right now, he couldn't stay. It hurt, he was afraid, and he had to get away. He knew his leaving would upset the pipsqueak, and probably anger Katara, but his staying here would only cause more problems now. He had to go. He needed space. He needed to forget again. He cast one final look around, satisfied that no spirit's were around watching, before he dropped silently from the tree, starting his own slow journey back the way that they had come.