Somber air choked the healer hut, deep and melancholy. The victims who had been discovered the night before drained of their spirits now lay throughout the hut, each resting on a mat on the floor. Some of the city's best healers had been brought in to treat them, for what little could be done. With no physical injuries and no way to return the lost spirits to their bodies, the healers could do nothing more than keep their patients' chi flowing to extend how much time they had left. Unless the victims were reunited with their spirits soon, they would eventually perish, whether they had healers watching over them or not.

Kya knelt beside one of the mats, drawing a glowing hand of water across her mother's head. Any hope she might have had when she started treatment had long since faded throughout the day, dwindling into quiet despair as every healing technique she attempted ended in failure. With a frustrated sigh, she hung her head and pinched her fingers against her eyes, exhausted.

"I don't believe this..." Bumi stood next to his sister, watching her try to heal their mother. His gaze shifted briefly towards Tenzin, whose family knelt close at his side. "I should have been there. I could have done something to help."

"Don't beat yourself up," Kya replied, with a subtle frown. "I was there, and we couldn't do anything to stop it. Whatever spirit orchestrated all this, it's powerful."

"Well, when I get my hands on this spirit, I'm going to make him wish he'd never been born!" Bumi punched his fist into his open palm, a scowl deepening across his face. He paused a moment, and pushed his eyebrows together. "Are spirits even born? Or do they just sort of appear? Bah, it doesn't matter, I'll make him pay!"

Meelo looked up from Tenzin at his aunt and uncle. "They'll be alright, won't they? They'll get better?"

Jinora gave him a doubtful frown. "Their spirits are gone, Meelo. This isn't just some injury they can heal from. Their bodies are still alive, but there's no telling for how long. A person's spirit can only be separated from their body for so long before—"

"Don't say that!" Ikki snapped. "Dad and Grandma will be fine! Right, Aunt Kya?"

"I..." Kya stared back at her niece with as positive an expression as she could muster. For all the good it did. Her smile was forced, struggling to maintain against the sinking dread in her heart. "I hope so, Ikki."

Kneeling next to her husband, Pema gave Tenzin's hand a tight squeeze and held it against her cheek. "Honey, just hang in there. Please? No matter what happens, I'm here for you, just like always. I promise." She managed an encouraging smile, but could do nothing to stop the tears from streaming down her cheeks.

Rohan came to her side and wrapped his arms around her, hugging tight. "Don't cry mom. It'll be okay."

"I'm sorry, I just..." Pema sniffled, and wiped her eyes. Further words escaped her. She remained there at Tenzin's side, doing her best to stay strong. If not for herself, then for her children.


On the other side of the healer hut, the entire Beifong family had gathered around Toph. She might have been old, but none of them had ever imagined this kind of scenario for her. 'Too stubborn to die' was how Lin had once described her. As apt a description as there ever was, and yet here they were at the old woman's side, watching her lie there motionless, spiritless, and almost lifeless.

"I don't understand..." Opal said, with a solemn shake of her head. "How could this happen?"

"I was there and I'm still not sure," Lin muttered. "Whatever spiritual nonsense this is, I don't like it. We need to find this spirit and stop it."

Bolin, now mostly recovered from the previous night's conflict, shifted baby San in his arms and leaned close to his wife. "We'll figure this out, I promise. Somehow."

"Do you think she'll be okay?" Huan asked.

Almost immediately after he said it, Wing elbowed him in the ribs. "Dude, of course she'll be okay."

"Yeah," Wei added, with a pointed glare. "What are you even saying?"

"Grandma Toph has always been a fighter," said Baatar Jr. "She'll be fine."

Baatar Sr. gave his family a long look, before taking Lin gently by the wrist to pull her aside. When they were out of earshot from the others, he sucked in a deep breath and stared expectantly at his sister-in-law. "So, is it true? About Suyin? Korra told me earlier, but I'm not sure if I can believe..."

Lin rubbed her forehead, easing a heavy sigh. "Yes, but we still don't know the extent of what we're dealing with. She's come back, that's for certain. Younger than she was, but still. Being controlled by this spirit, though... She's not how you remember."

Baatar's expression sank with a solemn frown, although the accepting glint in his eyes suggested he'd already expected that response. With a look towards his family, he said, "I haven't told them yet, because... well, you know. I don't want to get their hopes up. Mine are already too high. Lin, please, if there's any way you can help Su, any way you can make her her again..."

"I'll do everything I can to help her," Lin said, holding a reassuring hand to the man's shoulder. "She's my sister, after all. I want her back just the same as you do."


In another corner of the hut, Korra knelt next to her mother at Tonraq's bedside. Senna had said little since arriving, only able to stare down at her husband with tears brimming at the corners of her eyes. Strength seemed to drain from her expression, as though she had never known hope before and would never know it again. Shattered and broken, the way her eyes glossed over in her grief.

"Honey?" Senna managed to speak, her voice cracking with a pained hoarseness. "Can you hear me? I just want you to know I love you. No matter what happens, I..." Her words caught again in her throat, stifled by another round of choked sobbing.

"Mom, we'll fix this," Korra assured, wrapping a comforting arm around her mother's shoulder. "I promise. Whatever it takes."

Kuvira stood beside them, looking down at her wife with a worried frown. "I don't suppose you have any ideas?"

Korra glanced up at her briefly, and then back to Senna. With a quiet sigh, she stood up and led Kuvira away so they could speak in private. Only when she was sure they were out of her mother's earshot did she reply. "No, I don't. I've been trying to think of something, anything, I can do to find this spirit, but so far I've got nothing. He left behind no trace of himself last night, and talking to Su is pointless. She doesn't know anything more than what she already told us." With a frustrated groan, she raked her fingers back through her hair and closed her eyes. "I hate this, not knowing what to do. My dad, my friends—they're all in danger and I can't do anything to help them. I mean, I'm the Avatar! I should know what to do!"

"Maybe I can help?" said a voice from behind her.

Korra blinked her eyes open and spun around to face the young woman standing there. "Oh, Jinora... What do you mean?"

"Well, with as strong a connection as I have to spirits, I might be able to pick up a trail," Jinora said. "As strong as this spirit is, he can't have left no trace of himself. No spirit can, not in the physical world."

"But I've already tried that," Korra insisted. "I haven't found anything."

"Maybe not, but I have a few tricks up my sleeve. I am the Air Nation's spiritual leader, remember."

Korra sighed, giving in with a simple shrug. "Well, can't hurt to try."

"I just need to meditate in a place where we know the spirit was," Jinora said. "Somewhere he would have concentrated his spiritual energy."

After a moment of thought, Korra nodded. "I know just the place."


Azula stared into the darkness. Nothing there. Only shadows, and fog. A lot of fog. No matter which way she looked, she saw only those pale wisps floating adrift in an empty void. A void that raked her backside with cold, trembling dread. The longer she wandered through this void, the harder her heart pounded. The stronger the dread became. This wasn't real. Couldn't be real. Last she remembered, she had gone to sleep after a long, exhausting, and horrifying night. So, that would make this... a dream? Yes, a dream. Why couldn't she ever have normal dreams like everyone else? Instead, she had to have unnerving dreams. Nightmares.

"Azula..."

The voice crawled into her mind like some kind of demonic ear worm, paralyzing her where she stood. She knew that voice. She'd heard it before somewhere. It lingered there at the edge of her memories, distant and nameless. "Who is it? Who's there?"

"Azula," the voice called again. So familiar. So damn familiar. Why couldn't she remember where she knew it from?

"Show yourself!" she shouted, her voice echoing into the void

The fog in front of her parted enough to reveal a stern, rigid figure standing there with his arms folded behind his back. "Hello, Azula."

Her gaze locked with a pair of dead, white-burned eyes, and everything clicked into place. This was Shin Tsang, the man who had pledged himself in service of Sen, the Spirit of a Thousand Faces. "You? What are you doing here?"

"You've gone unpunished for your crimes for far too long, Azula," he said, with a scolding shake of his head. "It's time you pay for them."

"No," she countered, taking a step backwards. "You have no reason to torment me anymore. I don't have Sen's essence. Yula does, and she's locked up in a secret prison. You'll never get it."

The man sneered at her. "Who is it you think you're speaking to?"

Azula paused with a quizzical stare. That was an odd response to her question. "You're Shin Tsang. Aren't you?"

"You're so sure?" He quirked a brow at her, and deepened his smirk. "Look closer."

Azula did look closer. She blinked and narrowed her gaze, focused intently on him. Nothing changed, at first. Nothing out of the ordinary. That's when she saw it. A certain gleam, a gleam that shouldn't have been there in those dead eyes of his, the way it flickered and danced as he watched her. That hadn't been there before. It was a mocking gleam, a sinister one. A powerful one.

Azula's voice choked in her throat. "Sen...?"

His grin widened. "Precisely."

"No, no, no that's impossible!" Frigid claws of ice wrapped around her heart and squeezed, choking her with a panicked gasp. "This is a trick. You're trying to fool me!"

"Oh no, Azula, no tricks. Just me." Sen took a step closer, slinking his way through the fog like a viper poised to strike. "You've done a great deal to spite me, you know. I haven't forgotten."

"No, you're lying! You can't have done all this. You can't be free. You're not... you're not free."

"Oh, but I am, and I did."

Azula shook her head back and forth, reaching up to clench her fingers tight in her hair. "No, no, you're not. Even if you were, why would you...?"

"Be doing this? Because I can, for starters." Sen crept closer, circling her now. "But that's oversimplifying it. Now that I'm free, I have much to accomplish. My goals only begin with stealing human essences. Once I have enough to break free of my physical vessel, the material world will fall to me. In the meantime, I do so enjoy watching you pathetic humans twist like leaves in the wind."

The spirit chuckled and leaned closer, bringing his lips next to her ear. The sound of his voice collapsed her to her knees. She clenched even tighter at her head, as though it might explode at any moment. "So simple it is to break you down, especially when faced with ghosts from your past. The pain, the fear, the distress, the absolute despair, oh, it is to die for. But you, Azula..."

Sen's figure undulated and changed shape, no longer taking the appearance of Shin Tsang. Within that waking nightmare of hers, he took his true form. From human vessel to monstrous gejigeji, he coiled around her with a chortling laugh. "You, most of all, I will see shattered. Your fall will be slow. It will be excruciating. I will take everything from you, everything you hold dear in this world, everything that holds your fragile mind together. Your boyfriend, your daughter, your sanity..."

"No, no, no, no! Stop! This isn't real! It's not real!" Azula shrank downward, pressing her forehead against the ground. "Just a dream again. A nightmare. Just... just my mind playing tricks on me. This is in my head. It's all in my head. It's just in my head!"

For so long, she'd thought herself free of this nightmare. Free of Sen and his torturous hauntings. No longer. Here he was, invading her mind, tormenting her once again. And that laugh... Oh, that laugh. Over and over it cackled in her ears.

That horrible, disgusting, bone chilling laugh.


Azula awoke with a scream. She bolted upright in bed, cold sweat pouring in buckets down her face. Tears stung her eyes. She attempted to calm herself with a deep inhale, but found her breaths short and rapid, uncontrolled. Momentary panic over not being able to breathe properly made her lungs throb and burn from lack of air, only making it even harder to calm herself.

A gentle touch seized her arm, and instantly a calming warmth pulsed through her. She stuttered a deep gasp, causing her breaths to even out and steady. The pounding in her ears faded, and the tightened grip around her heart released. Everything returned into focus. Everything cleared.

"Mommy, are you okay?" Kanna asked, giving the sleeve of her mother's robe another tug. "You were yelling in your sleep."

"Kanna..." Azula looked over to see the young girl sitting next to her in bed. She stared, eyes wide and unblinking. The memory of her nightmare roared back to her. The memory of Sen threatening Kanna. With a frantic cry, she reached forward and hugged the girl close, burying her face into Kanna's shoulder. Spirits damn her, she couldn't stop herself from sobbing.

Just a dream. That's all it had been. Just a dream.

Dream or not, she never wanted to let Kanna go.

"It's okay, Mommy, don't cry." Kanna hugged her tight in return for a long while, before gently pulling away. She turned to grab the stuffed bison next to her, and pushed it firmly into her mother's grasp. "Here, Juno will help you feel better."

Azula blinked at the stuffed bison. A sobbing chuckle burst from her throat as she hugged the silly toy with one arm, and with her other arm continued to hug Kanna. "Thank you, Kanna. Thank you." After several more long moments, she finally released the hug and slid out of bed to get ready for the day. "Come on, let's get up and find your father."

Kanna grinned and hopped out of bed to follow her mother. "'Kay!"

Ten minutes later, Azula led her daughter into the palace corridor. From what she could recall when Anraq had woken her briefly earlier that morning, he had gone to help out in one of the healing huts in the city, where they had brought those individuals who had been drained of essences. She'd wanted him to stay with her and Kanna, but he had insisted on helping. There were only so many healers in the city, and he'd wanted to do his part while he could. If anything, perhaps she could steal him away to get some lunch together.

As they neared the main entrance of the palace, she noticed Eska and Desna standing nearby, speaking with what looked like a White Lotus sentinel. Hari stood with them, waiting off to the side in silence while the chiefs discussed matters with the sentinel.

"How did this happen?" Desna asked.

"We were assured that security had been improved," Eska said.

"It was!" the sentinel replied. "I don't know how it happened. One day she's there, the next she isn't. It's like she just... evaporated right through the walls."

Desna gave an unconvinced glance towards his sister. "Well, since such a thing isn't possible, we're going to assume that you White Lotus were simply incompetent."

Eska nodded in agreement. "This problem must be rectified immediately."

The White Lotus bowed his head. "Y-yes, Chiefs. Of course. We already have a team out looking for her. She must still be somewhere in the tundra."

Azula approached the group, eyes narrowed curiously. "What's going on?"

"Oh, Azula." Desna glanced back at the White Lotus and gave a simple nod, prompting the man to hurry off. With a look to his sister, he added, "I suppose we can tell her."

"Indeed, we'll have to tell everyone eventually anyway," Eska replied, with a quiet sigh. Turning to Azula, she explained, "It appears as though Yula has escaped her prison in the North."

Azula froze, paralyzed by a sharpened knife stabbing into her gut and twisting with a nauseous gurgle. "W-what?"

"The situation is not as dire as it sounds," Desna assured. "Yula is still a firebender in the frozen tundra, with no way to leave. We will find her."

The twins' assurances did little to quell the pounding in her chest. Her mind raced with a panic she hadn't experienced in ages, a panic that seared her nerves and pushed the sickened churning in her stomach so fierce she teetered on the cusp of vomiting.

"Kanna, come." Lifting her daughter into her arms, Azula ran out of the palace without even giving the twins a second glance. "Now."

"What's wrong?" Kanna asked, tilting a confused stare at her mother.

"We have to find the Avatar right away."


Jinora looked around at the ice sculptures at the center of the palace courtyard. "This is the place?"

"Yeah, this is where we found... everyone," Korra replied. The solemn hesitation in her tone brought Kuvira to step next to her, offering a touch of comfort to her shoulder. With a reaffirming breath, she added, "Which means the spirit who did this had to have been here."

"Alright, let me give this a try." Jinora sat cross-legged on the ground and pressed her fists together, eyes closed. Moments later, a second image of herself flickered into existence, this one blue and transparent—an astral projection.

Kuvira's jaw fell open, eyes widening at the sight. "Uh, okay, wow. That's a little freaky."

"It's just a high level airbender technique," Jinora stated, now with an echo to her voice. "With some spirity stuff thrown in for good measure. Nothing to be alarmed by."

"What? Who's alarmed?" Kuvira uttered a nervous laugh and took a noticeable step away from the ghost version of Jinora. "I'm not... I'm not alarmed."

"Do you sense anything?" Korra said.

"I think so." Jinora floated higher into the air and turned around, looking off into the distance. "There's a large amount of spiritual energy coming from that direction. I'll check it out."

Jinora's spirit flickered and faded into thin air again. When she reappeared, she found herself halfway across the city. The spiritual energy she sensed was stronger here, and pulled her onward. Again, she flickered and reappeared, this time somewhere outside the city, partway across the tundra. Over the years, her spiritual projection ability had grown stronger. No longer did she need to remain in close proximity to her body. Now, she could send her spirit miles away. Time to test exactly how far she could push it, as she continued deeper and deeper into the tundra.

Spiritual energy permeated the air, thick and heavy, as though physically weighing down upon her. She grimaced at the sensation. For her spirit to be affected physically like this, the energy had to be massive. With a focused thought of concentration, Jinora attempted to get closer to the source. Her spirit flickered, but didn't vanish. She tried again, and pushed harder. Something pushed back. A dark presence, sinister and terrifying, exploded around her. She screamed. The push became a pull, a firm yank on her spirit drawing her forward against her own will. Before it could latch on, she forced her spirit to fade back to her body. When she opened her eyes, she found herself still screaming, with both Korra and Kuvira poised over her in concern.

"What is it?" Korra asked, grabbing Jinora's shoulders to calm her. "What happened?"

Jinora sucked in deep breaths, slowly settling herself down enough to speak. "I tried following the energy, but there was a presence. I don't know how to describe it, but it... it saw me, or felt me, or... something." She swallowed, and lifted a horrified stare towards the Avatar. "Korra, it almost took me. It almost took my spirit."

"Avatar!" A voice called from across the courtyard, interrupting their conversation. "Avatar!"

Korra looked over her shoulder with a furrowed brow. Azula raced towards them, Kanna held tight in her arms. "Azula? What is it?"

"Avatar..." Azula panted in a deep breath and set Kanna down on the ground. "We have to go to the Spirit World right now. We need to check something."

"What? Why?"

"Please! Just come with me to the Southern spirit portal! We have to leave right now!"

The look Azula gave was one of terror and fear, the likes of which she rarely portrayed, so panicked and horror-stricken that Korra flinched under the gaze. That kind of fear was powerful, genuine. That kind of fear couldn't be ignored. "Azula, calm down. We don't have to go all the way to the portal, I can just meditate there."

"No, I have to show you the way," she insisted. "You'll never find it on your own, but I've been there before. Please."

Korra stared at her a moment longer. The desperation in Azula's eyes only grew fiercer, soon wearing Korra down with a relenting sigh. "Okay, in that case Kuvira and Jinora will go with you. I have to stay here in case that spirit decides to attack again. I can take Kanna to her father for you, if you like."

Kanna gave a questioning look towards her mother. Azula nodded, ushering her towards the Avatar. "It's okay, sweetie, go on."

With a soft shrug, Kanna hurried alongside Korra and followed her out of the courtyard. "'Kay, I'm coming."

"Alright," Kuvira muttered, folding her arms across her chest. "I guess we're going to the Southern spirit portal then. Care to explain why?"

"On the way," Azula said. "We have to leave right now. There's something we need to be sure of."


Jinora squinted into the empty void, waving her hand through the wisps of fog that coiled and entangled around them. "So, is this the place?"

"It's somewhere around here," Azula said, with sharp, quick glances left and right. Being back in the Spirit World did little good for her anxiety. Her heart raced to new heights, threatening to shatter her breathing into uncontrolled gasping yet again. The sooner they were done here, the better. "Yes, we're almost there. I remember now. This way."

"It feels so gloomy here," Jinora said. "Like there's a sadness in this fog."

Kuvira shuddered as she followed. "Tell me about it. I'm just glad we're not here for long."

They continued for another few minutes, until Jinora noticed something through the fog. She narrowed her gaze at it, squinting for a better look. "What is that?"

"What's what?" Kuvira said.

"That figure there, in the fog." Jinora pointed, and led the way closer. "It looks like... a person?"

As they drew nearer, Kuvira took the lead. With a flick of her wrist, the metal plates on her bracer extended into a solid blade along her arm—a precautionary measure, just in case. As the fog cleared, and the figure came into focus, her brow lifted with recognition. "Is that... Yula?"

No mistaking that face, nor those familiar round glasses. The figure they saw lying in the fog was indeed Yula, former Dragon Empress, flat on her backside with her eyes wide open, staring blank and empty at the dark sky above.

Jinora knelt at the fallen woman's side, studying her closely. "Same condition as the others. Her essence is gone."

Azula paid no attention to them. No attention to Yula. Her gaze fell upon the pile of rubble that lay just beyond. Scattered mounds of stone lay strewn about the fog, remains of what had once been a towering stone spire that stretched into the shadowed sky. A stone spire that had bore a round door with glowing glyphs upon its surface. A stone spire that had once served as a prison to one of the most ancient spirits in existence. A stone spire that was now nothing more than broken piles of rock and dust.

"No..." she uttered, as her brow lifted in horror.

Kuvira looked up from Yula, shifting her attention to the piles of rubble. "What is that?"

"That was Sen's prison." Azula's heart seized at the revelation. Everything made sense now. The stolen essences, the dead come back to life, the nightmarish torment... It was Sen. It had always been Sen. "He's free. He... he's actually free."