Lots of different Point of Views for this chapter, including more Kian.

GAHH SO MANY CHANGES TO THE SITE!

Disclaimer: I do not own A:TLA

Year Thirteen

Kian started to dream about being the Avatar. She had never been much of a dreamer, but now they were vivid, almost as if they were real and she could feel things. She would feel things like joy and ecstasy, and intense love, and then she felt things like anger and pain. She knew anger and she knew love, those were emotions she felt regularly, but she didn't know much about pain. At least, not like the pain she felt in her dreams. She suddenly knew what it was like to drown, unable to see and feel the surface even though she clawed for it, and she knew what it was like to be burned alive. That was the worst dream. She dreamed of being trapped against rocks and someone-she didn't see their face-was holding a flame terrifyingly close to her neck.

She woke up crying after that dream. They were silent tears and she wiped them away before snuggling closer to Ipitok, her brother, and they curled around each other with Taji lying next to them. They were safe, she decided if they had each other.

She began to see other people in her dreams, and even though she had never seen them before, she knew them all by name. She knew Yangchen, who was serious-faced and calm, and she knew Kuruk, who was Water Tribe like her. And Kyoshi and Roku. She knew them all and they smiled sadly at her. She could see them, but she saw Aang clearly. He would look at her and smile, and then shake his head while he apologized to her.

Kian didn't know why he was apologizing to her, but she figured that it had something to do with the whole world. Kian hadn't seen the whole world-she had only seen some parts of the Earth Kingdom, Shintashi, and the Northern Water Tribe, but she didn't remember anything about that. Ipitok told her about their mother, though, when he was nice. He told her that their mother-Mom-was the most beautiful woman in the whole world. She had been prettier than Katara, Suki, and Toph combined.

As she brushed Taji's fur, smoothing the wayward tufts between the animal's ears, Kian wondered if she looked like their mother. She wished she could look at her reflection, but they had stopped for a break in the middle of a clearing and there was no still water in sight. She would never be as beautiful as her mother, or as good-hearted. Kian thought that there were a lot of things she would never be. She would never be as kind or loving as Katara, or as strong as Toph, or as proud like Suki was.

Part of Kian wondered if she would even be a good Avatar, because even though she had pretty much mastered water and was gaining on earth, she would never look or be as proud as the other Avatars she dreamed about. Not even Aang, who was scrawny and goofy looking because he was the same age as her. He reminded her of Anil back in Shintashi, but she tried not to think of him because thinking of him was starting to make something in her stomach flutter. It had done the same thing once before, when the Southern Water Tribe warrior Tartok had played with her.

"Kian," That was Suki, "Make sure you have all of your things put up neatly. You don't want to lose anything." She was pulling a bag closed, tugging on the string tightly as she tossed it back onto Appa's saddle. Suki, Kian thought, was a real warrior. Kian wished she could be as nimble as Suki, because even though she could move quickly and gracefully when she tried, she still felt awkward.

Kian nodded. "I know," She said and gave Taji one last pat, pressing her forehead against her pet's. "Um, Suki, I'm going to see if I can find a spring or something. There has to be clean water around her to drink." Really, she had just wanted to walk off by herself, away from the adults. She loved them and they loved her, and they never made her do anything that she couldn't do, but she needed to get away from them. At least for a little while.

If Suki replied, Kian didn't hear it.

Taji lifted her head, growling lowly and Kian turned around just long enough to motion for the animal to stay. She moved to the edge of the clearing quickly, breaking into a run when her feet brushed over the wild grass that led into the forest that surrounded them.

She wasn't quite sure where she was going, but she didn't really care. She ran and stumbled over a rock once or twice, nearly scratching her face on a low hanging tree branch. Suki had probably wondered where she had run off to, but the others had probably said she needed some alone time. They were so good to her, Kian thought and she wondered if she deserved a family as wacky and loving as the one she had. They weren't related by blood, but they might as well been.

Something in her blood tingled and sang, and her fingers itched. There was water nearby. She knew the feeling of water calling to her, like how the earth underneath her feet seemed to hum or her skin seemed to warm when she needed to firebend. She wondered what airbending would feel like, but she probably would never know.

There was water close, but it wasn't running. It was probably a small pool or pond, Kian decided, hidden deep in the trees where no one would bother to look. She let the feeling overtake her, guiding her feet to the source, and closing her eyes. She couldn't bend with her eyes closed. She had tried, but it hadn't worked out. Toph was trying to teach her to see through the earth, but Kian wasn't sure if she understood it. It just didn't come easily.

Water. Kian could hear and feel the gentle lapping over the pool as it licked at the soles of her shoes. She opened her eyes, then, and smiled. It was a small pond, clear in the center and murky at the edges. There were ferns on the other side, seemingly undisturbed, and Kian watched them for a moment. There was breeze to make them sway and Kian wished she could airbend, just to watch them dance. But she couldn't airbend.

There was a lot she couldn't do.

The young Avatar sank to her knees, daring to move closer to the water. She blew a calm, cool breath and the water closest to her shifted to hard ice. The center of the pool was still liquid, still clear, and Kian inched closer to it. She could see her reflection, staring back at her with the same wide eyes and half-gaped mouth.

Kian sat up and looked at her face, prodding it with one finger. She traced her jaw, trying to get the general feel of it. It was made of sharp edges and curves, and hard lines. If someone tried to draw her face, they would use heavy, angry strokes with a mixture of gentle curves. She had an average nose, nothing particularly special and pouting lips. Those were nice, she decided, and tried on a smile. She tried to make it slow, mysterious, but it seemed fake and unattractive. So she frowned instead. Her hair was dark and thick, and she pulled it from her warrior's wolf tail.

There, now she looked more like a girl. Not a girl, she decided, a young woman. That was good; she wanted to look like a young woman. Maybe if she piled her hair up, it would look mature. Or she could leave it hanging around her shoulders. That would look nice.

But it wasn't her.

Then again, sometimes Kian didn't know who she was. Sometimes she felt like a thousand years old and other times she felt like she was barely two. She was the Avatar; she had lived ten thousand times and would live for ten thousand more. She was the Avatar, but she was a person, too.

Her gaze flickered to her reflection once more and she decided that a woman so beautiful as the mother she imagined would never had given birth to such an awkward girl. Kian decided she was ugly and her mother-the woman Ipitok told her about-had raised her out of pity after finding her on the street. She had a bad personality, too. Well, she didn't have much of a personality. She wasn't smart and witty like Sokka or Ipitok, or independent and strong like Suki and Katara and Toph. Or brooding yet caring like Zuko.

Nothing seemed to fit her.

Kian looked at herself, at her hands, and she hated that she was ugly. She didn't hate herself, she just the fact that she would never be beautiful or smart or funny. She wasn't good at reading or writing like Ipitok, even though she wished she was. She had never tried cooking-she would rather be the one hunting for food-and other "womanly" activities didn't come very naturally.

She tried, she really did, and she had tried telling Katara and Suki, but they didn't really understand. She didn't like digging in the dirt, but she didn't like cooking either. It was just…hard. Sometimes she felt the words coming-the confessions-but they would never roll off of her tongue. Her mouth would seal shut and she would forget what she had to say.

Pulling her hair into a topknot, Kian looked at her eyes. They were blue, but looked more like gray, and she remembered that Aang in her dreams had gray eyes. Maybe some part of him had crossed over into her when he died, when she had been chosen as the Avatar.

When she thought about Aang, she thought about the dream of fire. She could see a face now, wrinkled with a snarl of rage, and gold eyes that seemed to burn into her. She could imagine the horrid face speaking, saying, "Nowhere to run, Avatar" and then she wanted to scream. But her mouth wouldn't open.

It was Aang's memory, she decided, and through him it had become hers. She wished that it hadn't, but there wasn't much she could do about it now. She was the Avatar and with being the Avatar came the onslaught of ten million memories and four thousand remembered dreams. Some were good and brought feelings of pride and happiness, but some were painful and brought feelings of sorrow and guilt. Like once, when she dreamed about splitting the earth and feeling so angry but so sad at the same time.

Kian moved back to the earth, shifting the water back to its original state with a wave of her wrists. Waterbending was her natural element, but she found that enjoyed earthbending, too. Firebending was nice, even though she had to ease into it slowly. Reckless firebending was dangerous. As far as Kian knew, that's how Zuko got that scar on his face.

She commented on it one day, when she was still twelve, and they had looked at her. "It wasn't an accident," He told her and that was the end of it. Kian wondered why someone would burn their own face, but she didn't question it. Kian wasn't good with other people's feelings sometimes, but she knew enough to know that Zuko didn't want to talk about it.

Avatars, Kian thought, were supposed to be able to read other people's feelings. She wasn't a good Avatar. She would never be as great as the ones she dreamed about, who were proud and solemn. They knew all the elements. Kian had a good grasp on two-soon it would be three-but after that, she would be useless.

An Avatar had to learn airbending and in order to that, they had to learn from a master. Anil was an airbender, but he wasn't a master. He could barely make a gust of wind and Kian couldn't even make that.

Kian sighed as she moved back towards their campsite. She had liked life in Shintashi, it had been where she had made most of her memories. She thought about Anandi and Anil, and she hated that something in her chest fluttered at the thought of her friend. Then she smiled a little, too.

If Father-Ozai- suspected that one-fourth of the Fire Lord's riches were being used to power a rebellion army, he certainly didn't comment on it. Azula decided it would be best to tread gingerly on the unstable ground. It was better if fewer people knew of her actions and her motives.

If that meant banishing a Fire Sage to a distant island, then so be it. She banished him, but she learned that he had made other transgressions, as well. Back in the days of her father's reign, he had lined his own pockets. She suspected he was a loyalist to the old Fire Nation, to the Phoenix King and it was better to do away with him.

Azula stroked Kaz's ear as she looked over the plans she had written. Perhaps, she thought, it was madness. Perhaps the dark thing that had once wreathed itself around her mind was creeping back up, ready to sink its claws into her again. She was doing a horrible, treasonous thing.

She did terrible, treasonous things. She was a terrible, treasonous woman.

Was it treason, Azula thought, to openly oppose her father when she was the lord of her country? He was the emperor of the world, but she held country over her own domain. Was it treason to speak against him within her own borders?

Because Azula was ripping apart the last of her ties with her father, now, by officially joining the resistance. Enough of this, she would tell the people, enough of this war with ghosts.

She knew enough about ghosts. She knew that you couldn't win a war with ghouls and goblins.

The Fire Lord cleared her throat and opened her hand upwards, looking down at the lines in her palms. Enough with the swords and spears, she thought, send tanks. There was an organized resistance in the western part of the Earth Kingdom, she had been told. They would need the tanks and if she could get away with it, she would have sent a troop train.

Blue fire jumped to life in her fingertips and Azula smirked. If she couldn't win a war against ghouls and goblins and insurgents, then she might as well become one. That was good, she decided.

That was perfect.

To Hakoda, something seemed to have finally clicked. There was restlessness in the Earth Kingdom now and whispers. Whispers of a rebellion in a city called Garsai and another in a place called Han Tui. The people of the Earth Kingdom seemed to have come to their senses and were gathering to fight. There were others, too, other smaller groups that were clustering together.

One of those groups, he learned, was a group called the Freedom Fighters. Their name sounded familiar when his warriors came across them. They were led by a sharp looking woman who walked almost like a man and screamed like one, too. She led an army of barely-adults who all looked to her as their leader and their mother, too.

Her name was Smellerbee and Hakoda realized why they were so familiar. A long time ago, he remembered, he had met two boys from the Freedom Fighters. They were men, now, and were soldiers in an army of sixty.

"We're not just aiding the rebellion," Smellerbee told him that day they encountered each other, her fingers laced together. "We are the rebellion. We've been going to cities and sparking unrest." She smirked when she said that, her eyes flashing, "Dirty, I know, but who said we were clean fighters?"

The man beside her didn't talk, but Hakoda thought he saw a brief smile cross his lips.

Hakoda nodded and beside him, Tartok fidgeted. He was probably aching to speak to the silent man, to ask him about his bow. "The last time I saw the Avatar," The Southern Water Tribe chief said, "she was ten years old. She would almost be fourteen, now. My children, Katara and Sokka, are helping train her." He told the woman and she inclined her head. "Until she's ready to fight, we'll help you wreak more havoc around the world."

Smellerbee threw back her head and laughed. She leaned forward, her elbows resting on her thighs as she held her face in her hands. "I heard that in the west, some unknown helper has been sending weapons and supplies. Fire Nation weapons and supplies." She shrugged, "At first, I thought it was a trap, but this has been happening for years." Hakoda noticed the knives on her belt, on her gauntlets, and strategically placed on the side of her shoes. "I'd like to get a few supplies from them, but I like to play it safe."

"You don't seem very precautious," Hakoda said slowly. "You seem very straightforward." Tartok laughed a little at that.

Smellerbee laughed again before rising to her feet. "You know, Chief, I like you already!" She said to him and waved her arm at their campsite, "Make yourself at home and ask if you want something." She smiled as the silent man rose after her. "The Duke will help you."

The boy from years ago, the one that wore the oversized helmet, moved towards them with a grin on his face. He had grown into the helmet over the years. He was a man now, no longer a little boy. "See, Smellerbee," he said and threw his arm around her shoulders, "I told you that you would."

A rebellion, Hakoda thought. They were officially joining the rebellion. He remembered the child Avatar, the little girl, and he wondered about his children. They were part of the rebellion, as well, and at the heart of them was the little Avatar. She had been the catalyst for it all, he thought, and she was just thirteen years old.

Year Fourteen

They were heading west, towards the Fire Nation and the Western Air Temple. They were going to gather an army of ten thousand soldiers in two years and there would be war. After there was war, there would be peace. Kian would lead them. She would only be sixteen when it happened, but Katara had hope. She had never really lost that.

Katara looked back at the girl, guiding Taji forward. She wasn't really a girl anymore, Katara decided. She was a teenager and soon she would be a young woman. Katara suddenly felt very old, she had watched Kian grow up from when she was a baby, and she had held her when she had had nightmares as a child. She wondered if that was what motherhood was really like and if Kajika would approve of her. She thought about her own mother and she wondered if Kya was proud of her.

Of course, of course, the trees seemed to say, and Katara smiled softly.

"It's hot." Ipitok commented and Katara looked back at the teenager. He wiped sweat from his brother, his face wrinkled in a frown. It was hot here. There was a hot spring nearby, off of the trail. "Waterbenders are lucky; you don't have to wipe sweat every five seconds."

Kian made a face. "Oh shut up, Ipitok, it's already hot and the more you talk, the hotter the air gets." She said, narrowing her eyes and Katara remembered that the two of them had never experienced heat like this. The Fire Nation would only be worse, once they reached the outer islands.

Toph laughed at that and Suki smiled lightly.

Ipitok wrinkled his nose at his younger sister and lunged at her. Kian darted forward a few steps and laughed before sidestepping her brother. Katara took a step back as the two teenagers chased after each other, always staying a few steps ahead of each other.

"This place is pretty uncharted," Sokka said and Katara looked back to see her own brother holding up a map. "There aren't any large cities or towns for a while on the other side," He told them and stumbled over a root that was sticking up from the ground. Suki caught him by the arm before he fell, grinning. "There's not much here."

"Except for dirt and trees, just the way I like it!" Toph said and put her hands behind her head. She dug her toes into the dirt. "You know, I hadn't realized how long we've been at this until now. It's been fourteen, almost fifteen years since we've been fighting the Fire Nation. We've grown up in the wild."

"We're wild children?" Hattori asked and the earthbender nodded.

Kian darted off ahead of them and Ipitok followed. Katara opened her mouth to shout after them, but Zuko put a hand on her shoulder. They were teenagers; they knew how to fend for themselves. Ipitok, Katara thought, would rather die than see his little sister get hurt, even though they went at each other's throat every waking moment.

Taji, Kian's pet, lumbered after her master. Kian and Taji shared a bond that didn't need words, Katara thought, and the only thing she could compare it to was Appa's relationship with Aang when he had been alive. Perhaps it was something that came with being an Avatar, with being connected to the whole world and its past, as well as its future.

"We have to take Kian to Wulong Forest." Katara said suddenly and Zuko looked at her. The others paused, looking at her. "We have to."

"Wulong Forest?" Sokka asked and then his face fell. "Oh," he said, "I almost forgot about that for a moment." He scratched the back of his head, exchanging a look with Suki.

Fourteen years ago, Aang had tried to face the Phoenix King. Fourteen years ago, Aang had entered Wulong Forest with the intent of returning victorious. He had lost and his successor had been born in the Northern Water Tribe. That was fourteen years ago.

Suki nodded, "Katara's right. We have to. Kian needs to know what's at stake if she loses. She has to know what we're fighting for and what happened…it can't happen again. She has to." She was silent for a moment, as if she was remembering the battle and Katara remembered that Suki had been there. So had Sokka and Toph, when that happened.

When Aang died.

Even though that was fourteen years ago, Katara still found it hard to believe sometimes. She found it hard to believe that the gentle, goofy twelve year old boy had been reincarnated in the brash, sharp tongued young woman. Aang had always been careful about his words, but Kian let her thoughts come out as they occurred to her.

Not exactly suited for diplomacy, but they could worry about that when the time came.

Toph was the one who sensed the soldiers first. That didn't surprise Katara, because Toph was the most perceptive of them all. The blind earthbender froze and let it out a wordless shout that almost sounded like a laugh. Her eyes lit up and she dug her toes deeper into the earth. "Finally!" She said rather loudly, "Some action!"

There was the sound of someone running through the trees and Katara popped the cap of her canteen off, drawing the water halfway out. She could hear shouting, indistinct voices that merged together as they grew closer.

The first Fire Nation soldier emerged from the trees in a blast of fire, throwing herself into the air and landing just feet away from the group. She looked up at them with blazing eyes-Katara noticed they were not quite green-and wrinkled her nose. "No one is supposed to be in this area!" She snapped and narrowed her eyes, "Rebels."

Katara looked up as six other soldiers rolled out of the undergrowth, all Fire Nation. One looked alarmingly young, almost Kian's age, and Katara clenched her teeth. She was reminded of the Equalists in Shintashi, who had really just been a group of children who thought they could change the world with violence.

"It's been a long time since we've had a good fight!" Toph said and launched a boulder at the Fire Nation soldiers. It was true; Katara thought as she formed a water whip and lashed out at the female firebender. They were fighting against the Fire Nation, but their last battle had been had been a long time ago.

Out of the corner of her eye, Katara could see Sokka and Suki fighting in unison. On her other side, Zuko threw an arcing kick, spewing flames from his heel. The female firebender came at her, propelling herself forward with a blast of fire. Katara dodged, narrowing her eyes.

"Oh, so now you have even more firebenders working with you?" The woman hissed, her eyes sparkling. She launched barrage of fire at Katara. "Well, no matter. The Phoenix King's going to treat you all rather nicely, you know. You did bring the Avatar to him. I think it's funny, that the Avatar was found just a few minutes away from the Phoenix King's new prison."

Time seemed to stop then and Katara dropped her arms. Kian! "What are you talking about?" She snarled and her friends gathered closer to her, allowing the firebenders to form a half-ring around them. They could have defeated them in minutes, if they really tried. Katara knew that they could.

The lead firebender, the woman, doused the fire in her hands. "Oh, you really don't believe you could outwit us, did you? That girl, the Avatar, was captured by more of my soldiers up ahead. The boy and that beast were, too. As we speak, they're being taken to the prison. What an honor, to be the first inmates! The cells are practically shining! Don't think you could fool us, rebel."

Kian. Kian had been captured.

Katara held out her forearms, looking away. "Then arrest me," she said and exchanged a glance with Zuko. Do it, she willed her eyes to say, trust me. The soldiers didn't know who they were exactly, but somehow they had figured out Kian was the Avatar. "I surrender."

"Sukoshi," The woman snapped and the child soldier straightened, "Arrest the non-benders." Katara looked at him as he pulled what looked like rope out of the bag strapped around his back. He wasn't a bender, she hadn't seen him firebending. "Li, get the earthbender and the waterbender. I'll get the firebending traitors."

One of the men, Li, produced rope out of his own pack and moved towards Katara. She looked down at the ground before raising her head, looking over at Zuko. Trust me, she wanted to say and she hoped her eyes said enough. The soldier wrenched her arms behind her back, wrapping the rope over her wrists and tying a knot.

After a moment, Li pushed her forward and she stumbled for a few steps before she caught herself. She looked over at Suki, who smirked as the soldiers pushed them into the trees. They had Kian. The Fire Nation soldiers had Kian and Ipitok and they were going to get them back.

"So, who's your leader?" The woman asked them, narrowing her eyes. "Who was foolish enough to bring the Avatar into territory owned by the Phoenix King? Is your leader from the Fire Nation, is that it?" She asked, leaning closer to Zuko. "It was probably you…you look familiar."

"Why would we be Fire Nation rebels?" Toph retorted and Katara could see that she wanted to earthbend. She was digging her toes into the dirt, as if waiting to split the earth, but she couldn't. Not yet, not when they didn't have Kian and Ipitok.

Li chuckled, "Don't act stupid. You know that your people have been getting Fire Nation support from within. Everyone knows what the Fire Lord is really doing. But she won't get away with it, not for long. The Phoenix King is probably going to do away with her soon, if you know what I mean."

Azula?

Azula was helping the rebellion?

Azula?

The world was coming to an end.

"Ipitok," Kian whispered through the bars of her cell. "Can you remind me to never try to firebend metal ever again?" She asked and held her burned hands close to her chest. She had tried melting the metal, but she had made the stupid mistake of touching it afterwards.

In the cell next to her, Ipitok nodded. "Yeah, sure thing." He looked up at the bars above their heads. "This prison is made for earthbenders and firebenders." He said and turned his attention back to his younger sister, "They had wooden cages for earthbenders and metal cells for firebenders…they were smart. Are your hands okay?"

Kian flexed her fingers and winced. "Yeah, I'll be okay." She snarled then and lashed out with her foot, kicking the bars. "I wish I could metalbend like Toph." She said and sighed. "Do you think Katara and the others are going to come after us? What if they get hurt?"

Down the corridor, there was the sound of a door opening. Ipitok was silent for a long time and Kian wondered if he had even heard her. "They wouldn't get hurt. They're too strong to get hurt," he said finally and paused at the sound of footsteps. They faded after a long heartbeat and he released his breath.

"Ipitok," Kian whispered softly and pressed herself closer to the metal bars. "Do you think it's true that you can always run, but you can't hide?" She asked. She remembered the dreams that still haunted her at night, of trying to escape a fate that was inevitable. She tried to bottle up that part of her because she was the Avatar and Avatar's weren't supposed to be afraid of nightmares and half-forgotten memories.

Before her brother could reply, she heard the sound of boots against the hard floor. A Fire Nation soldier appeared before their cells and in the dim light, she saw his face. He looked young, almost Ipitok's age. "So," the boy said with something like wonder in his voice, "I can't believe the Avatar's younger than me. Man, just wait until I tell my family this!"

Kian bared her teeth and the soldier took a step back. He looked at her as if she was a rabid new specimen, something newly discovered. She let out a breath of fire that rolled off of her tongue, heating the bars in front of her. "Stop staring at me."

The boy-soldier ignored her. "You know, we caught those older rebels, too. I think they're going to interrogate them. You know, because first firebenders were rebelling, and then they starting getting new weapons. It's worse in the west, you know. Of course, you're the Avatar. You were orchestrating it all, weren't you? What's it like, bending all four elements? I can't bend anything."

"You're not a firebender?" Ipitok said and to Kian, it seemed more like a question than a statement. He moved closer to the front of the cell, lacing his hands together. "I'm a non-bender, too. Do you ever feel like benders steal away the things we work hard for? Do you ever feel like they outshine us and that we're fighting their wars?"

Kian's eyes widened and the Fire Nation soldier looked at her, his mouth agape. "The Avatar's right there!" The soldier said and pointed at her.

Ipitok's gaze slid over to her and she found that she didn't recognize the person that had replaced her brother. "And? What is she going to do? She's in a cage and can barely bend water." Ipitok extended his hand through the bars, "Come on, and let me out. I know all the secrets of the rebellion and then, we can push for equality. Trust me."

The soldier's hands twitched and he looked warily at the Water Tribe teenager. He reached for the keys at his belt and picked one out, holding it to the lock on Ipitok's cell. Kian felt her stomach plummet to her knees. Had Ipitok lost his mind?

Then, Ipitok sprang out of the cell and went at the Fire Nation boy, grasping the back of his neck and spinning on his heel. The soldier let out a cry of surprise, dropping the keys. Ipitok wrinkled his nose and slammed the other man into the cell bars face first, stepping back at he slumped to the ground.

Stooping to pick up the keys, Ipitok looked back at his younger sister. He smiled softly as he unlocked the cell door and stepped aside when she sprang out. "You didn't really think I was going to help him, did you? Have you never read adventure stories?" He smirked, "I forgot, you don't read."

Kian rolled her eyes. "We have to find the others," she said and fire sparked at her fingertips. They took off down the corridor and she looked over her shoulder at her brother. "You never answered my question," she said.

Ipitok ran behind her in silence and Kian wondered if he was ignoring her. "No, you can't hide." He said at last and clasped the keys on his belt. "And there's no point in running, either."

Stop running and face your destiny, a voice said in Kian's head and she thought it sounded like Yangchen. When she dreamed, she always hoped that it was Yangchen that she saw. Her image was always blurry and wispy, as if it would blow away if the wind blew too strong, but Kian held on to it when she could. It's time this has ended.

Long overdue. That was Roku.

You can do it, Kian. Aang, the one that came before her. I know you can.

At some point, Ozai allowed a servant to hold a mirror up to his face. He took note of the sprinklings of gray in his hair and he slapped the glass away, letting out a roar when it shattered. In his mind, churning with plans of grandeur and flawless victories, he thought of Iroh. He thought of Ursa and Lu Ten, and Zuko. He damned Zuko. He thought of Azula, who was too much like Ursa, and he damned her too. He thought of the Avatar and its ten thousand reincarnations, and the uprisings that he couldn't stamp out fast enough.

He looked out at the city that was once called Ba Sing Se and he wondered what it would look like if he burned it all to the ground and build it all again from the ashes. His thoughts traveled to the Universe and he decided he didn't need acts of providence handed to him.

The world was his and would bend to him, including the Universe. He was the king of everything and master of all. Not even the Avatar could stop him, and he had tried.

"I can't see!" Toph shouted and she willed her voice not to shake. Wood, she decided. She couldn't see because she was in a cage of wood. She couldn't see or feel and the heartbeat of the earth was lost to her. "I can't see!"

"I do believe that's the point." A woman's voice said and to Toph, it seemed to resonate around her. She couldn't pinpoint it, even when she turned her head to the side. "I'm right here." The woman laughed softly, darkly, and Toph bared her teeth. "You don't have to see me anyway."

Toph curled her hands into fists, grinding her teeth. "Why don't you let me out of this cage so I can get a good look at you," she hissed. Footsteps moved around and Toph followed them with her ears. Behind her, the woman was moving behind her. "Coward."

For a long moment, there was silence and Toph wondered if the woman had left. But then, her voice came again. "I would, but there are restrictions. Wooden cages work especially well on your kind, you know. I mean earthbenders. Wood makes them powerless, but on you…it makes you blind."

The earthbender spat.

"Where are my friends?" Toph snapped and closed her eyes. "Where's the Avatar?" She tried to focus on the world beyond her wooden cage and she could feel the earth around it. It pulsed and moved, but she couldn't quite touch it. Perhaps, she thought, if she tried hard enough. She had no doubt that she was strong enough.

The woman must have shrugged, but Toph didn't see it. "In their cells, I reckon. You know, if you talk, we'll let you go. If you tell us about your connections to the Fire Lord, I might be able to pull some strings and make sure you go free without so much as a scratch. Tell me, who distributes the Fire Lord's supplies?"

Toph bared her teeth. "I don't know anything about the Fire Lord, except that she's a flip-flopping psycho." She snapped and she thought she heard the woman chuckle. "And I wouldn't touch anything that's been near her."

"Oh?" The woman said softly and Toph heard a door open.

Metal. Toph smirked. The floor around her cage was made of metal and the door was, too. She pressed her palms against the bars of the cell, extending her fingers. The earth and metal beneath her pulsed and came alive. I've still got it. The earthbender closed her hands into a fist and brought the metal up.

"Toph!" A girl cried and Toph nearly lost her concentration. There was the sound of a fist meeting flesh and then Toph heard the jingle of keys. "We found you, Toph!" The cell door swung open and Kian pulled Toph out, throwing her arms around her neck. "Now we have to find the others."

Toph brought the metal up and clasped her hands together, forming a ball of the material. "Yeah, Kiddo." She sensed Ipitok and the woman, locked in hand to hand combat. "I didn't need your help, though. But come on!"

She could see again. Even though it wasn't natural earth, some part of her felt at peace. Inner tranquility, though, had always been something that Twinkle Toes yammered on about, when he had been alive. That, Toph thought, was a long time ago.

Kian's heavy, purposeful steps fell in line with hers and Toph remembered how light and carefree Aang had been. Toph thought about how she had lived to see and train two Avatars and as she ran, something in her twisted.

Mushy stuff was Katara's job.

They let her out, finally. When she first emerged into the bright, blinding light of the bitter, unyielding outside world, she forgot how long she had been out of touch with reality. The world around her was still cold, still unforgiving and Kuzana thought that perhaps that was what she liked about it. What she liked about the Northern Water Tribe.

People told her she looked horrible, like she had died and been revived. At first, Kuzana wasn't sure how to reply because it seemed pretty close to the truth. She had spent fourteen years in a freezing prison, but they had treated her well enough. Fairer than how her people would have treated them, had they switched places.

She was surprised to see that the defectors from the Fire Nation had forged their own lives in the Northern Water Tribe. She didn't get it, they had thrown everything away. But then she saw children that were Fire Nation and Water Tribe and she decided she understood it, just a little. No one was surprised to see her walking the streets, even though they probably knew about her trial, if they remembered.

She had spat in a Fire Nation defector's face. Kuzana remembered that in the very beginning, she had tried to starve herself to prove that she would never bend to them. Then she was reminded of Jianjun, drifting out to sea and she ate. When she thought about, Water Tribe food wasn't so bad.

Kuzana pulled her parka higher onto her shoulders and looked over at Tasuke, the old firebending commander. She had been there when they released Kuzana and she had taken her to meet others.

They wanted her to join their army. They were going south, to the Earth Kingdom, to join the others in their fight. They needed her, even though she wasn't a very valuable asset. There were plenty other people that could help her, ones that hadn't been imprisoned for fourteen years or had once been allied with the enemy. There were a thousand better choices, instead of a woman who had been in love with her commander and had been willing to go to the ends of the earth for him.

Loyalty, Tasuke had told her. Only the fiercely loyal would have done such a thing. Only the most loyal would do the things she had done. And she had done a lot of things.

"Yes," Kuzana said and looked at the bowl of sea prunes that Tasuke had set before her. "I will go."

"Suki," Katara whispered and looked across the corridor to see the Kyoshi Warrior pulling herself up by the bars of her cell. She was hanging onto the ceiling bars, flailing her legs before falling back into a crouch. "What are you doing?"

The older woman smirked, "Trying to get out of here. We have to figure out where they have Kian and Ipitok." She said and launched herself at the bars again. "You still alive over there, Sokka?" She asked and Katara saw her brother nod. "What about you, Zuko? Hattori?"

Zuko looked over at them from the cell that was across from Katara's. "I hear talking," He said and Katara remembered that Zuko sometimes had the best hearing of them all. She strained her ears and she realized that she heard it, too, the soft yet distinct sound of metal clinking.

There was an older woman's voice and at first Katara thought it was the lead soldier. But then, she decided that their speech was too informal to be a high ranking soldier. She thought she recognized the lilt in the woman's voice, as if they were smirking, but she didn't take the time to think about it.

Katara reached for her canteen on her belt, but her fingers brushed air. She remembered that one of the soldiers had taken it, leaving her without a weapon. "Zuko, Hattori," she whispered fiercely, "do you think you can melt the bars of the cell?"

There was a tiny flash of fire and then Katara saw Zuko wrapping his hands around the bars of his cell. The bars began to turn orange as he applied heat to it, but then he jerked away, wincing. "It heats up too quickly," He reported, cradling his hands close to his body.

"Too conductive," Sokka concluded from his cell. "If he can't shape it while it's melting, it could cover the lock on the cell and he'll be stuck. Any other ideas? This is when we really need Toph." The Water Tribe man said, "And Appa or Taji. Maybe even Momo."

"Momo doesn't do very much lately," Suki commented and then snorted, "We're sitting here making small talk while our friends and family are locked up on the other side of the prison." She leaped to her feet and lunged at the bars of her cell before falling back, narrowing her eyes. "My girls have spent fourteen years like this. What kind of leader lets their team down like that?"

Katara looked sympathetically at her friend. Suki had escaped from the Boiling Rock, while the rest of the Kyoshi Warriors remained trapped at another prison. She wondered what it was like to be in Suki's place and she wondered if the auburn haired woman felt any guilt or regret, even though it wasn't her fault.

The wall exploded.

Ipitok was the first to rise from the floor, followed by Toph and lastly, Kian. Toph smirked and when Katara pressed herself against the bars of her cage, she saw what looked like a pile of moaning and groaning Fire Nation soldiers.

"Sorry you guys missed out on all the action," Toph said as she approached the row of cells, putting her hand over the locks. "But you just happened to be too far away." She removed her hand from the lock on Suki's cell and the door swung open. "We gotta hurry, though."

"Oh, Toph, I'll never doubt your awesomeness ever again!" Sokka said as he leaped from his cell, throwing his arms around the smaller woman. Katara smiled as Ipitok came to her cell door, holding up a set of keys. "

Toph shook her head as she pulled the bars of Hattori's cell open with her bare hands. "Don't give all the praise to me. Kian and Ipitok busted me out." She threw her arms around the firebender's neck before pulling away, "We've got to get Appa and get out of here."

"And Taji," Kian said rather fiercely, fire flickering at her fingertips. "I'm not leaving her behind." She looked at them all then and smiled.

Ty Lee wondered how Azula would react, if she ever learned that she was betraying her.

Well, when she thought about it, she decided it wasn't really betrayal. She was helping her Fire Lord in the rebellion against the Phoenix King's empire and giving mercenaries a reason to side with Azula. It wasn't really betrayal, she thought, because she was just helping Azula without her knowing it. Perfectly legal.

She had already employed ten bounty hunters and mercenaries. Some of them really hadn't gotten much pay since the crime rate was low and criminals had either gotten better at hiding or stopped doing bad things. She paid them upfront sometimes, with money from her own family-the bit that her sisters hadn't already used- and made sure they got where they needed to go.

At some point, she started adding former soldiers into the mix. There was one man who was missing three fingers, but he had a brilliant eye for strategy. She had played Pai Sho with him, once, before she lost interest in the game. She deployed him to a rebel army in the Earth Kingdom. It was all coming together, Ty Lee thought, and it was as if they were all moving in unison, even the rebels.

Azula's father wouldn't like that, Ty Lee thought, but Azula's father really didn't like a lot of things, his children included. His opinion didn't really matter anymore, and Ty Lee thought that was a good thing.

Azula was bending like she used to, and Ty Lee thought that was a good thing. She didn't know much about spirituality or the likes, but she knew about auras. Sometimes Azula's aura was a brilliant, deep red that you could drown in, and other times, it was a pale yellow. Both were good, Ty Lee decided, and though she didn't say it, she was proud of Azula.

Mai would be, too.

"What are you doing?" Ipitok whispered fiercely from where he sat on Taji's back. Kian looked over her shoulder at her brother as she bent the earth, splitting it on both sides. "Come on, Kian, we have to go!"

Kian pushed her hands outward, forcing the earth back to form a small ravine. They were away from the prison now and she was sure that down there, the prison guards were still struggling to comprehend what had happened to them. Kian wasn't so sure herself, but that was different. "I'm making sure no one stumbles up this place ever again."

"How are those Fire Nation soldiers going to live?" Ipitok asked and looked at the adults, who were watching from Appa's saddle. "Kian…what are you doing?"

The young Avatar paused for a moment and turned to her brother. "I'm being precautious," She said, "And they'll live. They have food they can survive on for a while." She drove the earth up into wall, digging her feet in the dirt. "Trust me. Now move over," she said, "I'm finished here."

Ipitok looked at his sister as she climbed onto Taji's back in front of him, urging the beast forward. "Kian," he said softly, "What kind of Avatar do you want to be?"

Kian's shoulders tensed and she looked over at her brother, her eyes glittering. "The good kind," she whispered and then turned back around. "But I'll never compare to the others."

This can be seen as an interlude chapter. Year Fifteen is going to have it's own chapter, then back to the format of before.