WARNING: GRAPHIC LANGUAGE AND GORE

The group had woken up early the next morning to get a start on the mountain range. They quickly and quietly ate breakfast before packing up their campsite. They loaded Appa and climbed on. Appa flew them to the base of the mountain range. From there, they would cross a rope bridge on foot.

Before hopping off of Appa, Aang had an announcement to make. "Last night, I contacted Avatar Mora, the last Avatar that was from the Southern Water Tribe. She also helped me heal Katara the other night." Aang slightly blushed at the last part.

"I learned a lot about the Avatar and Spirit World, but I'll only give you guys the highlights. She confirmed what Mai said about the Glacier Spirits Festival. She also confirmed that during her time, this mountain range was used to banish criminals in the South Pole. It's so cold, that it is almost impossible to survive in there, and most people didn't." As if on cue, a chill swept down everyone's spine.

There was more. "Inside this mountain range, there is giant, frozen forest that is home to a portal that enters the Spirit World. It was sealed by the very first Avatar, and only the Avatar can entire it on a solstice. It is the source of the Southern Lights."

"Wait," Sokka interrupted. "The winter solstice was last month. We can't wait months for the next solstice."

Aang nodded at him. "We don't need a solstice because I'm not going into the Spirit World. I can do that on my own. What we need to do is figure out which spirit has become a dark spirit since all of the South's spirits live in that forest. As we know, spirits still manage to cross between the two realms."

For several moments, everyone was silent. They were absorbing all of the information Aang had just given them, and they were contemplating the task he was asking them to perform. If most the spirits had light in them, then they shouldn't bother the group. But, if they were too late, there could be more than one potentially dangerous spirit ready to attack.

"Are you guys sure you want to do this?" Aang asked them because of their hesitation. One by one, they all agreed to continue the mission. Then, they left the safety of Appa's saddle, who flew off to safety per Aang's orders.

As they crossed the rope bridge, the wind threatened to knock them over. It was blowing so hard, that they could hardly see in front of them. Aang was in the front and created a giant air shield around their bodies. This allowed them to move faster.

Once they were off the bridge, the wind died down. It was replaced with a frigid cold that made them all shiver. Quickly, Aang and Zuko created a flame in the palms of their hands. Mai clutched Zuko's arm for warmth while Sokka and Katara clung to each side of Aang.

Having Katara so close to his body make Aang naturally heat up. He blushed at their current position. She was closer than she had been to him in three years. She was still the same height as she was he when left, but somehow she wasn't the same person at all. The Katara he knew would have frozen him to a wall the first time she saw him. Luckily for him, she was wounded.

This new Katara confused him. She was bolder and calmer. Her teasing was sexy to him, even if she didn't mean for it to be. She made Aang feel bolder too. He expected to be a blubbering mess around her, but he was smooth instead... well kind of. He sort of blew it when she asked him to unlace her dress. But how could he have prepared himself for that?

It was easy to be around her. Almost as easy as it was three years ago. While they were both very different now, they were still the same together. He silently prayed to the spirits that it would stay that way once the mission was over. He needed all the help he could get to win her over.

Inside the mountain range was... creepy, or so Katara thought. The only sound was the crunch of their footsteps in the snow. Everything was stark white. It wasn't until Sokka tripped that they were made aware of their actual surroundings.

"Are you okay, Sokka?" Katara asked him while trying to hold back her laughter.

Her brother sat up from his face plant in the snow. "Yeah, I'm fine," he muttered as he began to brush off the powder.

"Trip over your own two feet?" Zuko laughed at his friend's misfortune. Sokka would surely be cold after that.

"No," he muttered as he racked his hand through the snow, looking for what made him trip. Once he found it, he pulled it out. It was a femur bone. "AH!" He exclaimed and threw it several feet away from him.

"Was that what I think it was?" Aang asked Katara, who clung harder to him.

"Yes," she muttered. Looking around, the group spotted several other skeletons buried in the snow. "Sokka, come on. Let's keep moving." Sokka complied. As they continued on, they saw less and less skeletons.

They felt like they had been walking for forever when Mai finally spotted a few trees on the horizon. "I think we're here."

Everyone followed her, and they too saw what they had been searching for. Their pace quickened until they were standing outside the tree line.

"Are you guys ready for this?" Aang asked one final time. They could still turn back, but no one wanted to turn back. They wanted to find the dark spirit and head home to their safe and warm beds.

Slowly, they headed into the forest. They stayed close together, but the trunks of the trees were thick. Occasionally, they had to be separated, but they could easily see the other's bright colored clothing. Because of their pace, it took them awhile to make it to the center of the forest. When they did, they were greeted with an interesting sight.

The trees lead to a clearing with a glowing blue orb in the center. Icicles hung off of it and on the surrounding tree limbs.

"That's the spirit portal," Aang told them.

"It looks like it's frozen," Sokka commented.

Before anyone could reply, a low rumble made them all freeze. Then, the dark spirit they were hunting broke from the tree line behind the orb and snarled at them. The group was terrified, but it was nothing they couldn't handle. They all assumed their fighting stances.

"I need to get close enough to touch it's forehead," Aang told them, but the others weren't listening. They were too busy focusing on the giant black figure that was racing towards them. It jumped over the orb and snarled again. This time, it was in Katara's direction.

But Katara didn't back down or cower away. She had been dreaming about this moment for the last two days. She was ready. Gathering water from the snow around her, Katara created a water rope and wrapped it around the spirit's neck. she pulled it down, and the spirits neck followed suit.

Aang took this opportunity to create an air tornado around his feet and carried himself into the air towards the spirits head. Unfortunately, the spirit was smarter than that and used Katara's water rope to fling her across the clearing with a quick fling of his neck. Ultimately, Katara's flying body collided with Aang's in the air. They both fell to the floor with a hard thud.

While Sokka ran to check on them, Zuko distracted the spirit with a fire balls. A quick series of punches sent miniature fireballs at the feet and hands of the spirit. Sensing the warm attack, the spirit retreated a few feet. It obviously did not like fire.

With the extremely cold temperatures, Zuko's bending was slightly limited. Although he used his breath of fire like he did when he infiltrated the North Pole, he could tell his bending was not at it's normal strength.

Mustering all that he could, he used a wall of flames to block the spirit from advancing towards him and Mai in retaliation. The spirit recoiled with a loud hiss.

Meanwhile, Sokka had helped Aang and Katara back to their feet. The three of them watched as the spirit retreated from the wall again. While it was distracted, Katara began to encase the spirit in an ice prison, a technique that she had used to win her battle with Azula.

The spirit resisted at first, but Katara managed to encase its entire body, including its neck, except for its head. Quickly, Aang pushed off the ground and jumped several feet into the air near the spirits head. He levitated for a moment as the connected the palm of his head with the space between its glowing green eyes, like he did when he confronted an angry Hei Bai.

Aang was transported to a vision. There he saw people dancing in ancient water tribe clothing at night to the beat of heavy drums. The spirits were dancing along with them in the sky, creating streaks of light. Suddenly, the vision changed to the setting of an ancient feast. It was a lot like the feasts Aang had attended. Then, something Aang had never seen before happened. A man, who Aang presumed was the Chief, slit the throat of a giant buffalo yak. It's blood was captured in a decorated glass by another man. Then, the glass of blood was poured into the a designated spot in the snow.

Aang snapped out of the vision when he heard a ferocious roar. He pushed off of the spirits forehead, did a backflip, and gracefully landed back in the snow. During his exit, the spirit managed to break free of Katara's ice prison and retreated into the woods without any further conflict.

When the fight was over, the group reassembled and headed back into the forest without a word.

The trip back through the forest was quiet as no one wanted to pressure Aang into sharing what he had learned. The reason for this was how pale the Avatar's face had gotten. It was paler than normal, and he wore a confused expression. At first, Katara had called his name to him lightly, but he didn't respond.

Aang was in a daze. He was trying to sort out what the visions he saw meant. He was so deep in thought, that he simply let his friends lead him back through the forest, across the bridge, and onto Appa. Sokka took control of the reigns and steered them to a safer location.

Aang sat in Appa's saddle while the others began to set up camp where they had stayed the night before. Katara kindly sat up his tent. Once it was up and a fire was burning, Katara climbed back onto Appa and sat before Aang.

"Aang," she called lightly. There was no response. "Aang," she said louder. Again, there was no response. Frustrated, Katara crawled on her knees to get closer to Aang. In his ear, she seductively said his name again.

Luckily, this action resulted in a response. Aang flinched away from Katara while his face turned a deep red color. "Katara?" He asked frightened and confused by her closeness. "W-What are you doing?" He stammered.

Katara smiled at him and sat back on her feet. "I couldn't get you out of your head. Are you alright?"

Aang looked around at his surroundings. "When did we leave the forest?"

Katara cocked her head to one side at his question. "What do you mean? You don't remember leaving the mountain range?"

"No?"

"But you used firebending to keep Sokka and I warm."

"I don't... remember that," he confessed. "I remember seeing what the spirit wanted me to see, and then I was here."

Katara studied Aang's face and could tell that what he was saying was true. He really didn't remember the last hour or so. "I set up your tent," she told him trying to change the subject. "We're cooking dinner now if you want to join us."

He nodded at her and smiled. "Thank you, Katara, for everything."

Katara smiled back at him, but she was puzzled by his statement. What did everything mean? She carefully slid off Appa's back and lead Aang to the others.

When Sokka spotted them, he sarcastically announced, "Well, look who decided to join the living again."

"Sokka, knock it off!" Katara scolded him as she took her seat beside him. Aang sat beside her. "We've all had a rough day."

"Aang," Zuko called to his friend. "Are you alright? You've been pretty quiet since you connected with the spirit."

Aang sighed. "Yeah, the spirit showed me some visions, and I've been trying to figure out what it means."

"You could tell us about it," Katara suggested. "Maybe we can help you figure it out."

Aang smiled at her kindness. He quickly debated his options and decided that it would be better to get a water tribe members opinion on the vision. "I saw two visions. The first, I assume was the Glacier Spirits Festival. There were dozens of men and women dancing under the night sky to the beat of loud drums. Some were doing the same dance moves, but others looked like they were... waterbending, maybe. Above them, spirits were also dancing in the sky. Their bodies weren't visible to the people form the ground, so they looked like streaks of light."

The group pondered this for a second. "So, Mai was right," Katara offered. "The Glacier Spirits Festival helped create a harmony between the tribe and the spirits."

"And in return, they gave us the Southern Lights!" Sokka exclaimed like he had solved the mystery. His statement earned him glares from the rest of the group.

"That was m assumption too," Aang confessed.

"So in order to solve the problem with the spirit, the Southern Water Tribe needs to celebrate the Glacier Spirits Festival?" Zuko asked slowly. To him, that didn't seem like a big deal. In fact, it was a simple solution.

"Except," Mai interjected Zuko's wishful suggestion. "The Glacier Spirit Festival is held during or around the winter solstice. Holding the festival at the wrong time could anger the spirit even more."

"Mai's right," Aang said nodding in agreement. "If we're going to do these traditions, we have to do them correctly."

In an exasperated voice, Sokka replied, "But we can't wait another year to have the festival. The spirit could hurt a lot more people by then."

"Maybe we won't have to," Aang told an impatient Sokka. "I had a second vision. This one was... gruesome, especially for me."

In a concerned voice, Katara asked, "What was it, Aang?"

Aang starred directly into the fire as he told them about the second vision. "It was feast. I know it was because it was almost exactly like the feasts you have today. It was a grand occasion, and the entire tribe gathered to celebrate something. The Chief of the tribe slit the neck of a large buffalo yak. The blood was drained into a special cup, and then it was poured into a designated spot in the ground."

For several moments, the others pondered this strange tradition. But Mai and Zuko knew what it was immediately. Once he realized the others had never heard of this action before, Zuko felt ashamed of his roots. Growing up in the royal family, they had done his a lot... Although, it wasn't so barbaric. With a deep breath, Zuko told them, "Guys, it's a sacrifice."