Nupira straightens up in her chair at the knock, and he sisters, standing beside her, do the same. "Who dares speak to me?!" she snaps. "If you have no news, leave." She had been bothered numerous times the day before, simply for some soldier to tell her that there was, again, no news.

"I-It's General Shong Lee, Princess. I-I have news on the airbender's whereabouts..."

She releases a sigh of relief. Finally. "Enter."

The doors open and Shong Lee enters, bowing. "Speak," says Nupira.

"Yes, Princess. The airbenders and the firebender have returned to their camp, Princess."

"And the airbender?"

"Has bent the final element, Princess. B-But it does not appear that she is aware of how to control each in battle, Princess."

"Very well. Leave."

"Yes, Princess."

"She's learning fast!" exclaims Shalia once the doors have closed. "I wonder if the avatar is teaching her..."

Nupira scoffs. "She's bent each element. That doesn't mean that she knows how."

"Whoa, you're right! I guess she doesn't know how to fight with them..."

"It means," says Akunia, "that now that she knows she can bend all of the other elements, the avatar will begin teaching her soon. And that..."

"Will not stand," Nupira finished.

Meanwhile, General Shong Lee has marched down the hall, snapping at multiple group A soldiers who were lazing around. He can't believe they would be slacking off at a time like this! Taking a deep breath, the general calms himself and snaps sharply into the speaker, "All soldiers ready yourselves! They could attack at any moment!"

"Please!" Kuzon exclaims. "We won't find them like this!"

I bury my face further into my knees and shake my head. I can't face them. I can't face Aang. The image of his burns, of his scarred, scorched clothing burns into my mind like hot coals and sends a flood of tears down my face, soaking into my pant legs. "I'm sorry," I hear Aang whisper.

I try to respond, but my voice catches in my throat and I shake my head again. "Elian..." Kuzon mutters, placing his good hand on my shoulder.

Finally I glance up and see Kuzon looking down at me with the most pathetic smile he's ever used. Glancing at his slightly scorched sleeves, I burst into tears all over again, but he lifts my head by my chin before I can hide my face again. "I'm alright. See? I've had worse. Come on, you can't do this forever..."

I reluctantly let him pull me up by the arm, and watch as he moves over to Aang and begins speaking quietly. "You got upset, Aang, it happens. No one blames you."

"He's right," I say, stepping over to Aang as well. "Everyone gets upset, and this... This is okay to get upset about."

"There's more than one way to get upset," Aang mumbles through his knees.

"You're right. But none is worse than the other. I've overreacted too. Remember in Omashu? And plenty of times before that – before I was frozen. More times than I can count."

"See?" Kuzon says, smiling. "Like Elian said, this is something that's okay to get upset about."

Finally Aang stands and turns to face me, and for a moment we can't do anything but stare at each other. "I'm really sorry," we say, then grins replace our frowns. We spoke at the same time again.

Beside me, Kuzon sighs and mutters, "So..."

"We have to go after them," Aang says firmly.

"Definitely. But there's one problem – what do we do when we get there? I don't know about you guys, but I have no idea how to fight. Not them at least, those guys are ruthless. We've all seen that."

"I do," Aang says.

"So you'll teach us?" I say. Kuzon nods beside me.

Aang seems to be fighting something in his mind, and takes a while to respond. Finally, he answers, "I'll do it."

"So," I begin as we head away from camp, "do you think that maybe you could... I don't know, try and teach me the other elements?"

Aang stops abruptly, and Kuzon copies him, suddenly looking down. "What?"

"I mean, I know I'm an airbender, but that couldn't have happened on it's own. With the earth, then the water and fire today? That had to have been me. There's just no other explanation. And what about the wings? They're made of all four elements. That has to mean something, right? I mean, why would I, just a simple airbender, be able to form wings made of earth, water, and fire? I didn't want to admit it, but... I think I can bend the other elements."

Aang looks incredulous and disbelieving, and Kuzon just looks nervous. "Only I can do that... No one else should be able to. There has to be another explanation."

"But what about the statue?" I continue. "That statue in the palace. Every other statue was of an avatar – someone who can bend all four elements. But the one in the middle had you and me. I'm not saying I'm a second avatar, but..."

"Then what?" Kuzon says. "I've seen firsthand that the other elements act weird around you, but are you really sure you're bending them?"

"Why else would they have done that, Kuzon? That earth didn't move until I did, and water doesn't do that on it's own. And how it obeyed me when I wanted to move? It's just like bending."

"It did look a lot like bending with that fire... and what the earth did didn't look natural. There can't be a second avatar, there can't." There's a long silence, and finally Aang mutters, "Let's just practice fighting for now. Maybe... maybe we'll try later."

"Okay..."

"But –"

"It's going to hurt them, I know. But it's you or them. We just have to get the rest of the team out, and it'll be over."

"You fought those guys when they tried to take you to train for the army, didn't you? It's just like then. They want you on their side, you have to fight them!"

"They don't want me on their side, they want to kill me!"

"Just pretend I'm one of those men who attacked your village. Pretend I'm telling you to join them, and fight against your family. Your mom, Kuzon, your dad... Remember what they did... "

Tears well up in his eyes and he screams and tears for me. 'I knew that would get him,' I think. 'Oh no...' I shoot myself back just in time. "Remember what they did to your family!" I exclaim, firing an air blast at him. "Remember what they did to you village!" Fwoosh! Another near miss. "These could be the exact same people who killed your dad!" WHAM! He lands a kick on my stomach that sends me flying. "Think about that!" He fires a blast above me so I can't sit up, walks up to me, and aims straight at my face, breathing heavily. "Keep that up," I smile, "and they'll have no chance against you."

Finally, his face breaks into a smile and he gives me a hand up. "That was perfect, Kuzon!" Aang exclaims. "If you do anywhere near that good, Elian, we'll be fine."

I nod and turn to him. "I'm ready."

"Not quite," he responds. "You said you think you can bend the other elements, right? Toph did this with me when she was teaching me earthbending." He slips off my belt and quickly ties it over my eyes. "Remember how Toph sees – she senses vibrations in the earth. If you're an earthbender too, you should be able to do the same thing. Try and hit me."

I take a deep breath. 'Sense the vibrations in the earth...' I think. 'I can do this.' I take another deep breath and reposition my stance, dig my feet into the dirt. 'Sense the vibrations...' Wait. Is that...? 'It's working!' That's a tree over there, I think... Something's moving! No, someone. But... I can't tell who it is... Maybe... 'Okay, Elian, think... How are they standing? How are they moving? The footsteps, the footsteps... they're fast... they're kinda shaky, they're... way too heavy to be Aang! That must be Kuzon! Okay, he's gotta be here... Wait, does this mean I can earthbend?! Stop, you have to concentrate. Aang... Aang... Where are you?' I shift my feet again, digging them as deep as I can into the tough soil. 'Where are you? Is this really what it's like for Toph? Does she... really see like this? Come on, Elian, concentrate! Sense the vibrations... Okay, Aang... I can do this... I can do this... Aha!' Suddenly it's as if a light is turned on and I feel something moving... Something the size and shape of a person... Someone light on their feet... Someone... I send a blast towards the airbender and feel him hit the ground. Pulling off the blindfold, I see Aang standing up about fifteen feet away.

"You did it, Elian!" he exclaims, running up to me. "You did it!"

"But that means..." Kuzon mutters, stepping up to me and Aang.

"That means I actually did earthbend then..."

A long moment of silence makes us solemn. "That's impossible," Aang says.

"That's what we would have said about the wings," I say, and he looks directly at me.

"Did you really find me through seismic sense...?" Aang asks. "Maybe I was too loud, and..."

"Well, I wasn't sure at first, and then I thought I felt Kuzon, and then... Suddenly I felt... really powerful... and I felt exactly where you were right away."

"That was when your wings formed!" Kuzon exclaims.

"What?!" I exclaim, looking behind me. "My wings are there?!"

"Not anymore," Kuzon says quickly.

"They disappeared the second you took off your blindfold," Aang explains.

"Do you think that was connected?" I ask. "That my wings showed up right up when I suddenly could sense you perfectly?"

"It has to be," Kuzon says. "That must mean that you're more powerful when your wings are formed!"

"That's just like the avatar state," Aang says. "Are you... really a second avatar?"

"I don't know," I say. "But..."

"That's the only explanation," Kuzon says quickly. "She couldn't have gotten it from you."

"No way!" Aang agrees.

"Whether I am a second avatar or not, I really think we should go. You were right about one thing, Aang – we've wasted too much time. We have to go after them, now. I'll manage."

Aang nods. "Are you ready, Kuzon?"

"As ready as I'll ever be."

When we get back to the camp, we find the path the masked-men took almost immediately – it's hard to miss a path as wide as two sky bison – and begin following it after Kuzon grabs Sokka and Zuko's weapons.

"You know, Aang, I was thinking..."

"Yeah?"

"I was just wondering why we never met each other. I mean, we both knew Bumi, and the other Kuzon, and had the same teacher, and we both lived in the Southern Air Temple for a while. We should have spoken at least... Or heard about each other from our friends, but... Nothing."

"You're right... Now that you mention it, we practically lived with each other! Even though you lived on your island, you lived at the Air Temple at least until you were eight, right? And we had the same friends... Why didn't anyone ever talk about you with me? We could have been friends long before now..."

"Hey, we're here!" Kuzon exclaims suddenly, sounding very relieved.

Well... we're somewhere. "This can't be it. Do you really think they could hide two sky bison in there?"

"This is where the path ends..." Kuzon says confusedly.

He's right, of course. The path definitely stops here. At this small, broken temple. It's tall, but definitely too small for some secret base. "Maybe there's a secret entrance or something," Aang suggests.

"Let's go see."

Seeing the sight inside surprises us. "It's an avatar temple."

"But look," I exclaim, running to the middle, "our statue isn't here."

"Hmm... I wonder if it's only in the palace. Or was..."

"Maybe it just showed up because you woke up," Kuzon says to me.

"Maybe," I say. "Let's just focus on saving the others for now."

"Yeah," says Aang, then he steps into the middle beside me and closes his eyes. "There," he says after a moment, opening his eyes and pointing to the back wall. We all step up to it and he presses his hands against it.

"What is it, Aang?"

"Stand back," he says, then he shoots his hands down and the entire back wall of the temple opens up, revealing an enormous tunnel.

"Whoa..." We enter it, walking down a steep ramp into a large room with a single torch in it and only one other thing, in the middle of the room – a circular stone platform with a small black hole in the center.

"Are there any more secret passages?" Kuzon asks, but before Aang can answer, a huge blast of fire shoots out from the center and Kuzon lets out a strangled cry and stumbles against the wall – and immediately is encased in a block of stone.

"Guys!" he cries. "Aang, Elian!"

"Kuzon!" I scream, but a cry is released from my own mouth as a strip of water wraps itself around my middle and yanks me back against the wall – and stone walls close around me. Almost immediately, I hear a scream from Aang. He must be stuck too now. Quickly, I hear a grinding shift, and another immediately after.

"Someone's controlling this from above!" Aang exclaims. Suddenly, there's a loud groan of stone and I see the back wall of my cage open up.

"Whoa! My box just opened up! There's a tunnel!"

"Same here," came two voices.

"Okay," I call nervously, "just follow the tunnel, okay? I'm sure they all lead to the same spot..."

"Okay."

So I turn to the pitch-black tunnel ahead of me and enter it. Nearly ten minutes later I pause and lean against the wall. "I think this tunnel goes on forever..." I moan. Suddenly I hear a muffled gasp behind me and I copy it and turn around. Pressing my hands to the wall, I call out, "Hello?"

"Elian?" The voice is nearly identical to my own.

"Aang!"

"Elian, it is you!"

In perfect sync, we exclaim, "It's so good to hear your voice!" and laugh. "Hold on," Aang says, "you might wanna step back."

I step to the other side of the hallway and, though I can see nothing, I hear a huge crash. "Aang?"

"I'm right here, follow my voice!"

Suddenly my outstretched hands hit something and I jump back. Aang laughs and grabs my hand. "It's me, Elian!"

"Aang! I was starting to get worried this tunnel would never end... Can you see anything?"

"No. But it can't be too much longer, can it?" He was right, of course. It was just a few short minutes and we saw a light coming from a turn up ahead. Glancing at each other excitedly, we rush around it and follow the tunnel around another quick turn – only to be faced with a huge room packed with masked-men.

"Oh no..." There are hundreds of them. Me and Aang glance at each other, and turn determinedly back to the fight ahead of us. "Go," I tell Aang, "I'll hold them back."

"There's too many of them. You can't fight them alone."

"Go find them," I respond firmly. "I may not be the best at fighting, but I can avoid them. I'll be fine. Go. Get her back."

Aang gives me one more, long look and leaps over the crowd, running on top of them and disappearing on the other side. 'Okay,' I think. "I can do this..." Suddenly it seems fifty of them are coming for me at once. Panicking, I surround myself with a bubble of air and shoot it outwards, knocking out a handful of men against the walls, floor, and even each other. My face breaks into a grin, and I pull out my glider, extend it, and smack another handful of them against the wall. 'This should be a piece of cake...' I shoot another group against the opposite wall, then clap my hands together, firing a few more into the hall. Just when I think I know what I'm doing, they start fighting back. WHAM! I'm narrowly missed by a large chunk of stone, then jump out of the way of a flame just in time, and get thrown against the wall by a water whip in midair. 'They have waterbenders here?!' Then I notice something – every one of them has a small pouch of some sort on their waist. Wait... that's -! They all have knives! As if reading my thoughts, nearly half of them pull them out and begin aiming. "Oh no..." SHINK! A knife slips right by my head and stabs into the wall behind me. Then another one flies by. Suddenly I find myself being pelted with attacks of every kind from every angle. Without a second thought, I jump, narrowly missing every blast, knife, and water whip fired at me. After a smooth flip, I land on two masked-men, knocking them out against the heads of the men around them. 'Four down.' I leap to person after person and, looking back, I find that they're hitting each other with their own attacks and grin. Unfortunately, "Ah!" They're catching on and start firing a little bit higher. 'Okay, time for a new tactic.' I race across the crowd and charge up the wall, sending a blast down as I run across the ceiling, then back down the other and blast every masked-man in the room against the opposite wall as I land. I pause, a grin once again on my face, but not for long. "Ah!" Man they're fast. A masked-man sends me flying, and by the time I sit up I'm completely surrounded. They're closing in really fast... 'Aang, where are you?!' I squeeze my eyes shut, preparing for the worst, when suddenly I feel a surge of power and open my eyes. They're all backing up... I look back and there, large and powerful, are my wings... I smile. Now it's on! Wham! Person after person is sent flying by my air blasts. "Aim, and..." I send one into a group, knocking them all over on top of each other. It looks like I can do this after all... Suddenly, FWOOSH! A huge blast of fire bursts forth from my hands, causing many of them to scream and stumble back. Something about their expressions is strange, though... It's almost as if they're afraid of being in danger simply by the fact that I bent fire. I wonder if they knew or not that I can bend the other elements... I wouldn't be surprised, of course. But the looks on their faces makes me wonder just what kind of a leader they have. Nevermind, I don't have time to think about that right now. Ah! Wham! I reopen my eyes to see the crowd all pushed back by my blast, and I close my glider and slip it back into my shirt. I won't need that anymore. Now let's try another element. Hmm... Let's try earth. Yeah... I watch the crowd close around me again, preparing a thousand strikes at once. This better work... Three... Two... One... Croof! A relieved laugh escapes me. I'm encased in a dome of rock from the bare floor. It worked! I just bent earth... On purpose... I shake my head again and use my dome as ammo against the masked-men. I notice suddenly that nearly half of them are unconscious... 'Good,' I think, 'the less the better.' WOOSH! Flinching, I see that seemingly every one of them left have taken advantage of my pause and thrown a blast, whip, or knife at me. Slowly easing my eyes open, I'm relieved to find that my small, panicked blast was enough to narrowly force every attack out of my way. I'm also relieved to find every masked-man thrown against the walls and Aang standing between the split with his glider held forwards.

"Elian! Are you okay?"

"Yeah! Did you find them all?"

Blasting the men back again, Aang replies, "They agreed to stay in the hall while I take care of these guys, but I couldn't find Zuko, Tiki, or Appa."

"Got it. Can you handle these guys alone?"

"Yeah, no problem."

I nod firmly and rush into the hall to an awful sight. No wonder they agreed to stay back. All three of them are collapsed on the floor, looking nothing short of exhausted. They have innumerous cuts and wounds, and their clothes are spotted with blood. Cosmo and Momo scramble onto my shoulders and immediately start chirping madly, and Katara's voice, weak and desperate, interrupts them. "Aang... He can't –"

"Don't worry," I say gently, crouching in front of her. I glance meaningfully at Sokka and Toph and continue. "He knows what he's doing. They stand no chance against him." Standing, I say, "I'm going to find Zuko, Appa, and Tiki. I'll be back." With that, I'm off.

"Zuko? Tiki? Appa?" I call again, turning another corner. I haven't met a single masked-man walking through these hallways. They must all be where Aang is... I'm suddenly very nervous about him, despite what I told Katara and the others in the hall. I was nearly struck a hundred times. I hope he hasn't been hurt. Katara'll never forgive me if anything's happened to him. I would never forgive myself. Suddenly a fury-ridden scream catches my ears. That has to be Zuko! Right? I slowly ease towards where the sound came from, straining my ears to hear more. I can hear muffled conversation. I'm getting close. It must be coming from around this corner... Slowly, I flatten myself against the wall and peak around the corner, shushing Cosmo's chirping. Another empty hallway. Cautiously, I step around the corner and walk up to the first door I see, and after pressing an ear to it, I can hear the conversation clearly. "Unfortunate about our Uncle, isn't it? I heard you two were very close."

"SHUT UP!"

"Aw, you don't really mean it, do you?"

Did she say 'our uncle'? It can't be... Aang said they locked her away...

"Leave him out of this!"

"I thought you loved that fatso. Now you don't even –"

"Don't ever insult my Uncle again, do you hear me?!"

"What are you gonna do about it, huh? Try your best... Ha! That's what I thought... Well, I'll see you later, K?" Then I hear the distinct sound of footsteps growing louder, closer...

As soon as she's around the corner, I fall off of the doorframe and land with a solid thud. I immediately go for the handle, and slip through the door as quietly as possible. "What do you want?!" Zuko shouts.

He's chained to a metal chair in the center of an otherwise empty room, tears staining his face and clothing. "It's just me, Zuko, it's me!"

His face slacks and his head and shoulders drop visibly. "Elian! I never thought I'd ever be this glad to see you."

"I'm getting you out," I say, laughing as Momo hops onto his shoulder and flicks his tail contentedly. "Aang already got the others, I just need to find Appa and Tiki. You alright?"

"I just want to get out of here." Nodding, I crouch behind his chair and examine the chains. "Got any ideas? Hold on... Oh, right, if... Ah. If only I had some water..." Surprisingly, Zuko says nothing, though he does turn his head to try and look at me. I wonder if he thinks he's hearing things. Nevermind, think... Wait, wait, I think Aang said something about this before... Something Katara did... Wait, that's it! I brush my fingers across my forehead and... This has to be enough. Quickly, I shape the shred of sweat I collected around one of the chain links and freeze it with a careful blow. Chink! It snaps with one hit and the chain collapses to the floor. I grin. "Come on, let's go."

"How did you do that?" Zuko asks, following me to the door.

After checking that the coast is clear, we enter the hallway and I mutter, "Waterbending. I'll explain later." I turn down the hall blindly. "Any idea where they might be?"

Zuko shakes his head. "Somewhere big."

Sighing, I continue silently.

We've turned about twenty corners, and are currently turning another one. I'm really worried about Aang now. It's been a long time. I hope he's okay... I'm beginning to think that Appa and Tiki might not be here. We've been searching for a while now and there's been no sign of them. Where are they...? What did they do to them?! Where is Tiki?! I take a deep breath. Beside me, I notice that Zuko looks on the verge of tears. What did they say to him in there? Could it really have been Azula? Is that who I saw? I'm not going to ask him. He looks hurt enough as it is... We turn the next corner to a short hall with large double-doors at the end. I glance at Zuko with a huge smile on my face. "This has to be it!" I race to the end and yank open one of the doors while Zuko tugs open the other one, then I race inside and exclaim, "They're here, Zuko, they're here! Appa! Tiki!" I rush up to each and give them both hugs, then stand back to examine the chains binding them by a cuff around one foot each. "Ugh... Chains again. Okay, think Elian..." Hmm... I can't use waterbending again... I doubt I have near the firepower to melt it... I wonder if I could smash it. Snap it maybe with enough force. Nodding to myself, I ready my stance to the best of my memory and perform one of the simple moves I remember from my adventures. A medium sized rock should the trick. WHAM! I glance back. Zuko says nothing, but his face is stained with disbelief. WHAM! I turn my attention solely on the chain, now twisted and bent. WHAM! One more hit should do it... SCRING! Now that Tiki's free, I turn my attention to Appa, but drop the rock in surprise as Tiki rears and slams down on the chain, making the whole room shake and freeing Appa, and making both lemurs screech. "I guess that works. Come on, we gotta get back to Aang." But Zuko seems frozen in place. "I'll explain later. We have to go now." Finally, he nods and runs with me back into the hallway, both bison close behind us.

"Aang! Aang, I found them!" Appa and Tiki charge past everyone and into the room where Aang is still fighting the masked-men, and I hear about fifty screams. "Come on!" I shout to the four behind me. "That'll keep 'em busy for a while! Run!" I help a few of them to their feet and we all run together through the room, Appa and Tiki well keeping the masked-men distracted. I make sure everyone is safely to the other side of the room, then stand guard over the others while Aang and Toph merge the two tunnels into one to make room for Appa and Tiki who, after everyone else has entered and started on their way, refuse to go into the tunnel.

"Come on!" Me and Aang moan. "It's not that long!" I add. "There's no other way to get out of here!" Just then a masked-man shoots from behind and lights Tiki's tail on fire. I blow it out immediately, but it still does the trick and sends them both into the tunnel, which Toph quickly blocks up behind them.

As soon as we get outside, both bison collapse onto the ground and Aang and I ask, "Is everyone okay?"

"We're all in one piece," Toph responds.

"Yeah," I say, sending Aang a meaningful look. "We are." Suddenly, seeing Zuko glancing at me, I remember something. "Aang, we should tell them."

He nods firmly and says to the others, "We discovered something about Elian while we were going back to camp."

"I had another bending incident. Two more actually," I continue. "And we found out that I have a lot more power when my wings are on. Enough to bend the other elements at will."

"No," Katara says, "that's impossible."

"That's what we thought, but..." I lift my hand in front of me, take a deep breath, and a flame erupts atop it. I quickly close my hand and extinguish it, but everyone's mouths are gaping at this point.

"There can't be a second avatar," Zuko says firmly, "right?"

"I mean, there's never been more than one before," Toph agrees.

"What else could it be...?" Aang says, and my eyes go downcast.

Before anyone can answer, Sokka says, "Hey, where's Kuzon?"