The computer fired up and sure enough, the lights were out again. I waited, my eyes searching for Hermit's hologram. When it did appear, there was a soft glow behind me, and I spun around. Hermit was not alone—Azula was there, her arm wrapped around Hermit's abdomen, holding her awkwardly. She had a knife to my dog's throat, Hermit whimpering and whining in desperation. Azula taunted me, her unsteady grin flashing at me while her hand was shaking, the knife wobbling below Hermit's jugular. It took everything in me not to burst into anger and fear again. Hermit squirmed and Azula held her tight, triggering my fear, but I breathed in and out, watching Azula's crazed eyes on me, her hand pushing the knife deeper into Hermit's fur.

I slowly opened my spiritual pathway. The power rushed through me, but I kept it tamed, focused on the objective. My fingertips tingled. I opened my eyes to find Azula's knife slicing through Hermit's fur slowly. I gasped and caught my breath in my throat, careful not to lose control again. Azula cackled and threw her head back. Quickly, I bended a whip of water around the holographic blade and swallowed it in water. With a snap I turned the knife to ice and cracked my neck to the side, breaking the frozen knife into tiny pieces. Azula's grasp tightened around Hermit's abdomen but I drew her deeper into the Earth, her legs sinking. Her expression stiff, she flashed me a deathly glare. I began raising the temperature of the ground and turned it to magma, her feet scorching beneath her. She cried out in agony and released Hermit, who dropped to the ground with a whine. The threat of harming Hermit gone, I bended ice picks from the nearby waterfall and gripping my fists tightly, aiming them directly for Azula's eyes. When I released them, I screamed outwards—but before they reached Azula, the computer shut off, claiming defeat.

"Nicely done," Eerie said over the intercom, but I felt numb. I was consumed by heartache, the guilt of leaving Hermit now pulled back to the front of my mind and no longer hiding behind other anxieties. I walked back to the watch room and sat down, Toph joining me. Muffled voices filled the air around me, but I was mentally checked out. Aang approached me and asked a few questions but I gave him single worded answers, too fatigued to hold a real conversation. When he left to begin his training, I rested my head against the wall behind me, watching the group's figures move throughout the room. My eyes were heavy, and I released some of the tension in my jaw, allowing my body to rest. I was close to dozing off when Zuko sat with me. I noticed just how close to me he was, sending a wave of affection over me.

I cleared my throat in an attempt to compose myself. "Hi," my voice scratchy. I swallowed hard and gave him a thin smile.

"Just wanted to check in on you," Zuko said, running his fingers through his hair. "You look exhausted."

I felt my spirits drop. "Glad to hear I look like shit," we both laughed casually. Zuko asked if I felt well enough to go for a walk and I agreed, thinking some fresh air would be good.

When we reached the edge of the temple, I was certainly feeling more like myself. I sat on the stone wall and gazed out towards the forest below. "I got your note," I said, breaking the tension. "I appreciate your honesty."

Zuko's left shoulder shrugged and he leaned one hip against a nearby column, crossing his arms. "It didn't need to end in bad taste," I eyed his jawline, feeling a curious part of myself light up again, but I held back. Zuko noticed and breathed in quickly, sitting next to me. "Nira, don't do that."

"Do what?" I asked playfully, my lip curling in a smirk. He sat with my gesture for a moment before scoffing, shaking his head.

"This," he said, wagging his finger at me. "It might sound like something we both want right now," his voice lowered, "but it just won't work out."

My grin wiped clean off my face, I looked away towards the canopy. "Yeah. I don't care, to be honest," I stole a side-eye towards Zuko but saw nothing. "I still want to be with you."

"I know that. And I want that, too. But I see you and him together," Zuko shot a glare at the tunnel we'd just walked through, "and it hurts. You can't see it, but the rest of us do."

Somehow my chest felt heavier the longer I talked to Zuko. I couldn't take it anymore—first the heartache of Hermit, and now the rejection from Zuko. It made me want to glide off the side of the Air temple, land in the treetops and sit there for hours until my body went numb. I pulled my legs up and wrapped my arms around them, stifling the shudders that tried to escape from my throat.

"Don't you love him?" Zuko said softly. "I can't stand there and watch you two and not think that. It just radiates off of you guys," he made a disgusted sound, "it's getting old to look at."

"I'm tired of people saying that to me," I answered outright. "Like I don't know what's going on in my own fucking head. I feel like I'm going crazy."

"Well, maybe you'll—"

"I need some air, and some privacy," I interrupted Zuko, the mental block in my head inching its way forward as an emotional defense mechanism. "It's been quite the day," and I stood up from the stone wall and walked swiftly towards the furthest section of the temple I knew of.