There were important things that Aktuk knew. Most of it was inconsequential to the Spirit, but he knew where the Waterbender went after leaving the South Pole. He had objects that would be useful in tracking her. He knew important names. Sitting in an airship, combing again through Aktuk's memories, the Spirit roused for a moment. Moving Aktuk's hand away from his face slightly, the Spirit looked through his eyes and the broad window to the ground below. Spiritual energy rippled through a forest and the Spirit could almost taste it. It brought back memories of battle; memories of its own powerful jaws and the fragile mortals that stood against them. For a moment, the Spirit rushed to break free and fly as itself, as it had in the South Pole.

The thrill ebbed and the Spirit relaxed Aktuk's body. Now that the egg was in the physical realm, residing once again with its twin, a beacon had been lit. Spirits of all sorts would try to find it, as long as they had a way to pass through the veil.

The eggs could be used to create a portal, reopening the damage wrought by the idiot Avatar Wan. They were physical things born of Spirits and were powerful items to control. Of course, that wasn't why the Spirit in Aktuk was searching for them.

The locks on the poles required keys, but the eggs were only a part of it. Mortal midwives were required, and so two humans were vitally important. So important that they were linked with the eggs they had touched.

Touching the egg had marked the Waterbender, and what the egg suffered, so did she. The Spirit concerned itself with this fact only.

When the airship docked in Republic City, Aktuk moved quickly. His face was being sought after by the White Lotus, and neither his master nor the Spirit wanted to deal with that. Being in a borrowed physical form dampened the Spirit's sensing, and any delay in tracking the Waterbender would be costly. And, despite how some humans thought of it, the Spirit was not inherently an evil creature. Stories could be told and meetings in the darkness could end poorly, but the Spirit was not evil. The lives of humans were simply unimportant.

The apathy didn't help, but that was beneath the Spirit's concern.

Moving away from the dock, the smell of the city assaulted the Spirit and made Aktuk recoil. After being surrounded by the stench of metal during travel, it was stunning to have new versions of it attack. Metal of all sorts hung in windows, stood up from the ground, and studded almost every face of every building. Electricity crackled around wires in the air, snapping with artificial teeth. Then there was the smell of the mortals and their filth. They had managed to corrupt everything beautiful about energy and nothing pure was left.

Benders acted as pockets of clean air as the Spirit could feel the honest energy swirl within and around them. Aktuk drifted to a group of humans and the Spirits could feel the gritty energy in its teeth. Earthbenders.

"Excuse me." Aktuk said and the group turned. "I'm looking for the Beifong Metalbending Academy."

His blue eyes may have confused them, but one gave directions nonetheless. Aktuk thanked them and moved on, hurrying up the hill to escape the smell.

When he reached the school, the sun was high in the sky and his body had begun to sweat. Habit took over and after knocking on the door, Aktuk smoothed out his clothing. He paused when the door opened, revealing a thin man in black clothes.

"Yes?" He asked and Aktuk smiled.

"Hello, my name is Pilip and I'm looking for Master Katara." He said. The man relaxed and opened the door wider.

"Oh, sorry, she's been gone for awhile." He answered. Aktuk frowned and the Spirit restrained itself.

"That's unfortunate. I've come from the South Pole with a message and it's very important I get it to her. Would you be able to tell me where she is?" He inquired. The other man narrowed his eyes.

"Who did you say you were again?" He questioned.

Aktuk made a show of sighing and reached into a pocket, producing a small pai sho tile.

"My name is Pilip and I'm from the South Pole. I assume you're one of Toph's students?" He asked. The man took the tile and examined the white lotus. Obviously, such a token could be recreated, and the man grasped it.

"Why don't you come in?" The man said, stepping aside. Aktuk smiled and entered, feeling the change in temperature.

"Thank you. May I have some water?" He asked.

"Are you a bender?" The man asked.

In response, Akutk only smiled and kept walking. Ahead of him were the sounds of fighting and the Spirit could feel bending energy. Metalbenders. It was such a unique energy it almost made the Spirit giddy.

In the main room, two men sparred as a young woman watched. The man with Aktuk went to her and tapped her shoulder. As she turned, her eyes went to Aktuk but the man leaned in and whispered to her. She looked past his ear as he spoke and her eyes narrowed. She nodded as he leaned away and they both turned to Aktuk.

"You're with the White Lotus?" She asked

"No." Aktuk said and held up his hands as the woman and man went rigid. "I was sent by them! There's been concern over the Fire Lord and I was tasked with speaking with her."

The pair looked at each other just as the sparring men approached.

"What's going on?" One asked.

"He's looking for Katara." The first man answered.

"She left weeks ago." The other man started and froze as the woman hissed at him.

"Please, I understand things are tense, but I can prove I'm on her side." Aktuk said. He went back into his pocket and pulled out a folded paper. Even after being smoothed out, the deep creases crackling over it revealed that it had been crumpled up with heavy intent. Burns pockmarked it but the message had been reluctantly kept. It was a letter that should have never been written but once it existed could not be thrown away.

"It's fairly personal, but should explain why it's so important that I find her."

The woman took the letter and the three others crowded around her to read it. She finished first and looked up at him.

"We know something is happening in the Fire Nation." Aktuk stated.

"How do you have this?" The man who almost gave him information asked. He was angry.

"When the Fire Lord left for the South Pole, it was left among his things. The former regent Iroh allowed us to use it as its sensitive nature is the only reliable thing that we can use to know each other." Aktuk explained. Of course, the White Lotus had never even seen this letter. Aktuk and his people had thoroughly searched through the Fire Nation's things the same day the group had left for the South Pole. To know that the Fire Lord was in love with the Waterbender, and what he was willing to give up for her, was more useful to Aktuk's master.

"My sister would be the one to have this. Why isn't she here?" The same man demanded. The sister could only be Rin, the ambassador Aktuk knew. She had come when the Fire Lord invaded the north with his golden face.

"Your sister refused to be trained as a White Lotus apprentice. She wouldn't let anything undermine her oath to the Fire Lord." Aktuk smiled gently. "That letter is important, and I think we all know what her loyalty would have made her do with it."

"And why shouldn't we destroy it?" The man in black asked.

"I think Master Katara would want a chance to read it herself first, don't you?" Aktuk retorted. The woman neatly refolded the letter as the man in black grunted.

"You have to understand that this isn't easy to believe." The woman said, tapping the letter against her palm.

Aktuk began to answer but was interrupted by a knock at the door. The group all looked at each other and then at Aktuk, who shrugged. The man in black sighed heavily and moved forward to the door.

"May I please have a cup of water? It's very warm outside." Aktuk asked. The woman grumbled under his stare and looked over at the two other men. The one related to the adviser, Rin, moved into another room.

Aktuk listened as the front door opened and voices immediately broke in. The Spirit smiled at the voices, but did nothing till the man returned with a cup. More Earthbenders, and they were angry.

"Hey!" The man in black yelled. The visitors, two men wearing Earth Kingdom uniforms, barged in.

"We demand to know the whereabouts of Master Katara under the order of the Princess of Anyan." One guard barked.

"You'll have to wait your turn." Aktuk said.

"Excuse me?" The other guard demanded. "We have royal orders to find her."

"Yet neither she nor I are citizens under your jurisdiction." Aktuk replied.

"Under treaty code 54-" The first guard started but was choked off by a thin ribbon of water circling his neck.

The other guard tried to fall into an attack position, but the Spirit had already called for more water. Aktuk's cup barely hit the floor before water from the outside well rushed through the kitchen window and slammed into both guards. The man in black, stopped on the other side of the water column, looked like a fish with his mouth agape.

Pinned against the wall by the swiftly churning water, the guards flailed.

"You'll drown them." The woman yelled.

"No." Aktuk said and waited for the guards to stop moving. "I know what drowned men look like."

As the guards stilled, the Spirit pushed back the water and returned it to the well, drawing it out of the guards' lungs. They each gave a soft cough but laid prone on the floor, bone dry.

"I think it's fair to say that I could have easily done that earlier." Aktuk added.

"Yeah, we got that." The man in black replied darkly.

"That doesn't make us friends." The other brawler continued. Aktuk turned, leaving the man in black behind him.

"I only want to know where Master Katara is." He said. "Nothing else matters."

"Fine." The woman said. "She left for the Fire Nation palace a few months ago. Whatever happened while she was there, allegedly she ended up in this port two weeks ago. She didn't come here and she was with some Firebender woman. A friend at the Air Temple told us that she's heading to Ba Sing Se to meet up with the Avatar."

The Spirit growled, but Akutk nodded. The Avatar was one the Spirit wanted to avoid.

"Thank you." Aktuk said before bending down and picking up his cup. As he stood, he held it out and extended his other hand.

"I'll take the letter and tile and be on my way."

The three looked again at each other before the woman handed him the letter and took his cup. Aktuk turned, replacing the letter to his pocket while waiting to receive the tile. The man in black squeezed it in his fist, but dropped it in Aktuk's open palm. Aktuk stepped over the limp guards' legs and strode to the front door. With no further farewell or action, he opened the door and stepped out into the sunshine.