7
Up in a puffy cloud covered sky, a messenger hawk comes out of the clouds. As it comes near Appa and the others, Appa roars at it which causes the hawk to dive down out of view. Appa is gliding so gracefully and beautifully that he seems to be jumping on some of the puffy clouds. As he jumps on the clouds, they break apart into smaller clouds that the gang could almost reach out and touch. Katara stretches out on her stomach looking over Appa's side, while Sokka whittles. "Those clouds look so soft, don't they? Like you could just jump down and you'd land in a big, soft cottony heap." Sokka takes no time to poke fun at his sister, "Maybe you should try it?" Katara rolls her eyes at Sokka, "You're hilarious." Aang stands from his position on Appa, "I'll try it!" He beams. He jumps right off Appa's side, laughing and hurtling down through the clouds with his staff. Sokka and Katara look over the side of Appa as he plunges through a cloud. A moment later Aang lands next to them with his glider, soaking wet, and laughing. "Turns out clouds are made of water!" He airbends himself dry. Sokka and Katara eye him strangely. Suddenly, Katara turns and looks ahead. Up ahead, the floor of the valley below around the river is black instead of vegetation green. on the floor of the valley in the damaged area. Burnt tree stumps dot the barren landscape. The three have dismounted Appa and are walking around. Sokka is the first to speak. "Listen, it's so quiet. There's no life anywhere." Katara, ever motherly, asks Aang, "are you ok?" as she notices Aang standing ahead. Sokka doesn't see Aang, just the burnt ground, trees, and surrounding areas. "Fire Nation! Those evil savages make me sick! They have no respect for –" Katara shushes him. Lowering his voice, he asks "What? I'm not allowed to be angry?" Katara points ahead and now Sokka sees what she saw. Aang is clearly upset. He sinks to his knees in the dust, sighing and running his hands through the burnt earth. "Why would anyone do this? How could I let this happen?" Katara knelt by his side, putting a hand on his shoulder, "Aang, you didn't let this happen. It has nothing to do with you." Aang starts shaking so hard, Katara was afraid he was crying, stating, "Yes it does. It's the Avatar's job to protect nature. But, I don't know how to do my job." Katara squeezes, "That's why we're going to the North Pole to find you a teacher." Aang hangs his head lower and knocks Katara's hand away. "Yeah, a waterbending teacher, but there's no one who can teach me how to be the Avatar. Monk Gyatso said that Avatar Roku would help me." Sokka started to scratch his head. "The Avatar before you?" His hand left his head and he started rubbing his chin, looking like a professor in deep thought. "He died over a hundred years ago, how are you supposed to talk to him?" Aang all but slumped into the dirt himself, " I don't know." Momo jumps into his lap and begins to chitter. Aang pets his back, slowly calming down and perking up.
Prince Zuko emerges from tall reeds into a clearing, yelling, "Uncle! It's time to leave! Where are you? Uncle Iroh!"
A fire soldier uniform and chef apron becomes visible hanging from the low branches of a tree. Iroh is in a hot bath, made out of rock and fed by a stream coming out of the rocks behind it. Happily, he replies, "Over here!" Zuko looks over at his uncle, sees that he's unclothed, and looks away flustered. "Uncle? We need to move on, we're closing in on the Avatar's trail and I don't want to lose him!" He sounded shy yet angered. Iroh sounded relaxed in his response, "You look tired, Prince Zuko. Why don't you join me in these hot springs and soak away your troubles." All of Zuko's bashfulness dissolves in an angry flash, "My troubles cannot be soaked away. It's time to go!" Iroh shifts position slightly. "You should take your teacher's advice and relax a little. The temperature's just right. I heated it myself." He puts his hands together and breathes steam from his nostrils. Zuko gets engulfed in steam and swats it away, all but growling, "Enough! We need to leave now! Get out of the water!" Iroh starts to rise, 'Very well." and Zuko puts his hands up strategically to block the view. "On second thought, why don't you take another few minutes, but be back at the ship in half an hour or I'm leaving without you." Iroh splashes back into the water and leans back happily. "Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!"
Aang is still kneeling in the wasteland, petting Momo who is now laying on Aang and chattering in an almost purr-like fashion. Katara is off in the distance, doing something by a clearing of tree stumps. "Hey Aang, are you ready to be cheered up?" Without waiting for an answer, she throws an acorn at Aang's head. "Ow!" He says and turns to look at Katara, who has another acorn and is bouncing it in her right hand. "Hey, how was that supposed to cheer me up?" Sokka giggles, "Hehe, it cheered ME up." who was promptly shut up but an acorn to the head too. "Ow!" he said indignantly, followed by what he knows to be true. "Yeh, I probably deserved that." Katara smiled at his admittance, then swung her arms wide on either side of her, "These acorns are everywhere, Aang. That means the forest will grow back. Every one of these will be a tall oak tree someday, and all the birds and animals that lived here will come back." In the background Momo digs furiously in the scorched earth, emerging with a double handful of acorns. Katara places an acorn in the palm of Aang's hands and closes it. He smiles weakly. "Thanks, Katara." At some point Momo just brings Katara most of the acorns that he dug up.
An old man in green using a walking stick approaching the group. He walks right up to Aang and puts his hands on either side of his face, turning his head from side to side, eyeing him down. Sokka speaks to the old man, who walked past him to approach Aang. "Hey, hey, hey… WHOOOO are YOU?" to which the old man simply turned his head to respond, "When I saw the flying bison, I thought it was impossible, but those markings…" He turns to Aang, still holding his face in his wrinkly hands, "Are you the Avatar child?" Aang turns to Katara, who nods her head. He turns back to the old man and nods his head in turn. He drops his hands from Aang's face and drops into a small bow, "My village desperately needs your help."
The sun is about to go down beneath hills in the distance. The group followed the old man into the village. Much of it has been burned up and destroyed. The part of the village still standing has bamboo made buildings that are either still fresh green from recent repairs or are a brownish tan color saying that the building has been around for awhile. Some of the buildings were a mix of repairs and old, showing that only part of a building was destroyed and they didn't need to fix too much of the building. Bamboo is normally a strong material that doesn't break easily BUT the destroyed buildings said otherwise. They said that something else stronger than it, that was NOT a sword, had burnt and crushed them. Something outside of their realm took life and beauty from them. They enter one of the buildings where some villagers are gathered. As the Old Man introduces Aang to the people, a man, probably the village chief walks over. He bows. "So the rumors of your return are true. It is the greatest honor of a lifetime to be in your presence." Aang returns the bow with one of his own, "Nice to meet you too." As he comes up from his bow, he asks, "So… is there something I can help you with?" the chief looks pained for a second, but doesn't answer. The old man does. "Our village is in crisis, he's our only hope. For the last few days at sunset a spirit monster comes and attacks our village. He is Hei-Bai, the black and white spirit." Sokka asked the elderly men, "Why is it attacking you?" to which both men just shrugged. The chief was the first to speak between them. "We do not know, but each of the last three nights he has abducted one of our own. We are especially fearful because the winter solstice draws near." The group looked confused at the last part. So the old man filled them in. "As the solstice approaches, the natural world and the spirit world grow closer and closer until the line between them is blurred completely." The chief took no notice of the kids' confusion of concerns for he was in his head full of his own concerns. "Hei-Bai is already causing devastation and destruction. Once the solstice is here there is no telling what will happen." He muttered more to himself than anyone in particular, even though everyone could hear him.
Aang looked even more confused than his friends, now racking his brain, trying to figure out how he's needed. "So…" He started as he straightened up and rubbed the back of his head, "What do you want me to do exactly?"
The old man answered with more confidence and enthusiasm as the group has seen him have, "Who better to resolve a crisis between our world and the spirit world than the Avatar himself? You are the great bridge between man and spirits." he says while giving Aang jazz hands. Aang clears his throat, clearly lacking the same confidence the old man had, "Right… That's me!" he finished with a halfhearted smile.
Katara, upon seeing Aang's reaction, calls him over. "Hey. 'GrEaT bRiDgE gUy.' Can I talk to you over here for a second?" She then walks over to a nearby window. Both the boys follow her, and they can now converse in private. "Aang, you seem a little unsure about all this." Katara starts. Aang sounds slightly exasperated as he starts, "Yeh, that might be because I don't know anything at all about the spirit world." As he continues, he starts sounding more and more exasperated. "It's not like there's someone to teach me this stuff! I have to try to help these people, don't I? Maybe whatever I have to do will just... come to me." He sounds more defeated than exasperated toward the end of his statement. Momo jumps onto Aang's shoulder and chitters. Aang is surprised, but then smiles. Katara sees this, and smiles serenely at Aang, "I think you can do it." Aang looks over to Sokka, who is also looking at Aang, smiling serenely, "Yehhh, we're all gonna get eaten by a spirit monster."At that, Katara just hit Sokka in the head with another acorn since she still had some on her.
Iroh snored peacefully in the bath. A noise startles Iroh into wakefulness. "Uh? Who's there?" He asked, clearly scanning back and forth over the forest in front of him. A small rodent jumps onto the lip of the bath. He lets it jump onto his outstretched hand. "A meadow vole! I should have known. You startled me, little one." He lets the vole go and leans back in the bath, putting his hands behind his head. "Ehh, it seems I've dozed off and missed my nephew's deadline, but it was a very sweet nap." The vole starts hopping up and down on the lip of the bath and making chattering noises. Suddenly it stops, the ground starts shaking from deeper in the forest. It flips around to see dust clouds rising from the forest and then hops away.
The ground disturbances move. Soon it reaches Iroh's bath and we see that two other shock waves have approached the bath from Iroh's left and right. The old general has been caught by surprise. When the shockwaves reach his tub he is quickly held fast by three triangular stones that have been pushed into the tub. A second later, three earthbenders appear next to the tub behind each of the three stone projectiles that are holding Iroh imprisoned. An Earth Kingdom soldier takes Iroh's uniform off the tree while another walks up to the bath and talks. "He's a Fire Nation soldier… Not just any ordinary soldier. This is the Fire Lord's brother, the Dragon of the West, the once great General Iroh, but now, he's our prisoner."
Iroh is squinting, obviously unhappy at his ignominious capture. The sun has nearly set.
Aang in preparation for that evening was trying to think of what he would need to do, as an elderly lady was bringing soup to each of the children so they could have something to eat that was fresh. "So Aang how are you going to approach this?" Katara asked, not yet messing with her soup. "I really don't know, maybe it will leave if I tell it to go away." Aang said while playing with his soup. Sokka between bites of his soup thought of something important, "What will you have to do if you have to fight? You can't just tell it to go away if it wants to fight." "Sokka, you know Aang doesn't like fighting to hurt people!" Katara said, throwing another acorn at him. "Where do you even have these acorns!" Sokka asked, rubbing his head again. "Why should I tell you?" Katara countered. Aang started to eat his soup as he watched them now argue about where Katara was hiding these acorns that she was throwing at Sokka.
In the setting sun, Aang exited the meetinghouse building where he had met the chief. The doors close behind him. Aang begins to walk through the village towards the village gates, hands defensively wrapped around his staff. "Hello? Spirit, can you hear me? This is the Avatar speaking. I'm... here to try to help stuff."
Sokka and Katara watch Aang from a window of the same meetinghouse. Normally, Katara would be worried, but it is in fact Sokka pacing, wearing a rut on the floor, and saying, "This isn't right. We can't sit here and cower while Aang waits for some monster to show up." The old man stands behind the siblings, seeing the same thing they are, and confidently says, "If anyone can save us, he can!" Most of the village is cowering in fear in the meetinghouse. None of the other villagers are as confident or militant, but some of them are daring enough to nod in support. Sokka sighs, understanding the villagers' fright, but still mumbles to himself, "He still shouldn't have to face this alone."
Outside, the sun sets and the world darkens. Aang is standing at the village gate now, like a gunslinger, shouting into the darkness, "The sun has set. Where are you, Hei-Bai? Well, spirit, uh, I hereby ask you to please leave this village in peace!" He twirls his staff like a marching baton and then plants it in the ground like a flag, expression resolute. "Okay. Well, I guess that's settled then." Aang turns and begins to walk back to the village. Spirit whispers begin to be heard. Suddenly a massive shape emerges from the forest, its huge feet making large thudding sounds each time they hit the ground.
Aang is still walking placidly up the village street, unaware that Hei-Bai is following right behind him. Hei-Bai is as big as a house, with six legs and black and white orca-like markings all over his body. He is vaguely mammalian and has razor sharp teeth. Aang realizes something is amiss and stops. He turns, looks up at the monster, and smiles. "You must be the Hei-Bai spirit. My name is…" Aang is cut off by a blast of air and blue energy from the mouth of the creature. Aang doesn't move a muscle,but his staff is blown to the ground. The spirit rears itself up on its hind-most legs and bellows, releasing another jet of blue energy from its mouth. It gets back on all six legs and then charges into the village, ignoring Aang and leaving him behind. Aang turns to address the monster as it moves in. "My name is Aang! I'm the Avatar and I would like to help! Hey, wait up!" The spirit destroys in rapid succession two houses and a watchtower using its brute strength and blue energy. The monster continues to destroy buildings as Aang follows it around trying to get its attention.
At the meetinghouse, Katara and Sokka look out the window, with Sokka poised to jump out the window to join the fray. The village chief behind them says, "The Avatar's methods are… unusual to say the least." He finishes as he ducks some debris flying in from outside. And noticing Sokka's stance, says, "Calm down, young one. In the darkest times, hope is something you give yourself. That is the meaning of inner strength. The Avatar holds not just his own hopes, but our hopes as well. His inner strength will shine when in his darkest moments. And only he stands a chance against the Hei-Bai." Katara sighed, ready to jump into action just like her brother, but containing herself and sitting ladylike in the window. "Aang will figure out the right thing to do, Sokka." She said while fidgeting with an acorn in her hands. Momo appears to Sokka's right in the window, his eyes blinking widely.
Just beyond, a huge pile of debris gets blown above the building. Aang is running to the building, hoping to get there before the monster. "Please, would you stop destroying things and listen?" He jumps on top of the building between them. He sees Hei-Bai pounding a building into the ground with his fists. "I'm just trying to do my job as a spirit bridge. Excuse me, would you please turn around? I command you to turn around now!" At this the monster does indeed turn around, swatting Aang backward off the top of the building. Aang flys through the air and hits a nearby roof, slides off, and collapses on the ground. Sokka starts to hop out of the window, shouting behind him to his sister, "That's it! He needs help!" Katara starts to run for the door and is stopped by the old man, "Stop. It's too dangerous, young lady! Just let the Avatar do it." Momo had followed Sokka out of the window and had landed on his shoulder.
From where she's standing, Katara can see out the window and see Sokka, hefting his boomerangs, while Momo throws one of the acorns that Katara threw earlier at Sokka, having just emerged from the meetinghouse. "Hei-Bai! Over here!" He lets loose one boomerang that rotates into view, hits the creature's butt, and bounces off with a few small tufts of butt fur.
Aang sees this and tells Sokka to stop fighting. "I don't want to fight him unless I- HUH?!" Hei-Bai comes in a flash and snatches up Sokka and Momo. Both are gone in an instant, cutting off Aang in mid-sentence, and leaving him there, alone and speechless. Aang shakes off his bewilderment, opens his staff into glider mode, and takes off. Katara finally makes it out of the building, and is unable to catch up to Hei-Bai and her brother. "SOKKA! MOMO!" She screams, looks down in sadness, and in moments is surrounded by sympathetic villagers.
Zuko lowers a tree branch from eye-level so he can move forward, a Fire Nation soldier behind him. He barges into the clearing with the ruined hot tub. "Uncle. UNCLE! Where are you?" The soldier with him didn't shake in fear, but also didn't stand with confidence as he spoke. "Sir. Maybe he thought you left without him…?" that angered Zuko deeper than he cared to admit. "Something's not right here. Threats or not, Uncle knows better than to think I'd leave without him. I'd leave without you though." He said so offhandedly that it DID make the soldier quiver. Zuko examines the hot tub, now with the stone projectiles embedded in it. "That pile of rocks…" The soldier straightened up so he could see better, "It looks like there's been a landslide, Sir." Zuko squinted his eyes, anger seething in them, "Land doesn't slide uphill. Those rocks didn't move naturally. My uncle's been captured by earthbenders!" He looks over at the soldier that accompanied him, and his expression is one of a palatableness that Zuko can't stand, so he adds, "First we lose our chef BECAUSE OF HIM, and now we lose our chef BECAUSE IT IS HIM. YOU!" Zuko points to the soldier with him, "Your company is now the kitchen crew… And no getting out of it! This is a direct order! GO! NOW!"
The soldier ran back to the ship, and told Zhang, the soldier assigned captain whenever Prince Zuko and the great General Iroh were away. Zhang gave them each a starched white apron, so crispy clean that the folds in the fabric were visible, and sent them on their merry way, each declaring their own slew of swear words and animosity as they made their way down to the kitchen. Zhang turns away from the men, returning to what he was previously doing before. Addressing the men he turned to, he points to the men he just dismissed to the kitchens, and says, "If you don't like the hand that fate's dealt you with, then fight for a new one." And he takes up a firebending stance, challenging any soldier willing to spar for the title of temporary captain.
Aang is gliding at breakneck speed through the forest in pursuit of Hei-Bai, Sokka, and Momo. A side view of the monster shows where it is clear that Aang has pulled even with it and is beginning to pass, but he hits a branch and slows down. Sokka yells out to Aang, and he continues to play catch-up again. Hei-Bai enters the wastelands that upset Aang deeply earlier. Aang is following close behind, Sokka is screaming for help, and Katara is back at the village gates, hoping for the best.
Aang glides in closer, stretching his hand to Sokka, who is able to grab it. Just as Aang begins to pull Sokka and Momo free, however, both of them and the monster vanish. Aang falls out of the sky in surprise. Aang is now laid out at the base of a stone statue of a bear.
When Aang awakens, he bolts to sit straight up and take in the scenery. There's a crescent moon overhead, and Aang is bathed in moonlight. It's officially night. "I failed!" He sits and wallows, feeling sorry for a moment. Then, as he sat in the moonlight, he muttered to himself "Failing doesn't give you a reason to give up, just a reason to try harder and believe more firmly." He raised his fist close to his face, with a renewed feeling of hope.
Across the treetops, about a mile away now, Iroh is being led by soldiers on war ostriches, a lantern hanging off the point soldier's mount. Of the four mounts, an almost naked General Iroh is chained on the mount in the middle, surrounded by the three earthbenders on mounts. The practically naked Iroh asks, "Where are you taking me?" To which one of the armor-clad earthbending kidnapers replied, "We're taking you to face justice." Iroh just looked stone faced for a second before replying almost sarcastically. "Riiiiigggghhhhtttt… But where specifically?" to which the captain that was just speaking replied, "A place you're quite familiar with, actually. You once laid siege to it for 600 days, but it would not yield to you." Iroh shook his chains a little while looking off into the distance wistfully, "Ah! The great city of Ba-Sing-Se." The captain scoffs. "It was greater than you were, apparently." Iroh stopped looking wistful, and now looks defensive and guarded. "I acknowledged my defeat at Ba-Sing-Se! After 600 days away from home, my men were tired and I was tired," yawns, puts face in the back of the soldier he is riding with, "and I'm still tired." Iroh falls off the ostrich, and is now laying on the ground, chained up tight, and smiling. They shine the light on him to pick him up, and don't see Iroh's sandal on the trail. Iroh smiles again, this time back on the back of a war ostrich.
Katara sits at the village gate, looking into the forest. The old man comes up behind her while the noises of the night fill the air. "I'm sure they'll be back. You should get some rest." The old man says, as he gently places a cover over Katara's shoulders. He notices Katara holding onto a boomerang, almost in tears. "It's human nature not to realize the true value of something until they lose it." She looks up at him, trying to sound hopeful, "Everything's gonna be ok." The old man softly smiled. "Yes. A smile is the easiest way out of a difficult situation." She smiles softly back at him. "And the Avatar always has one. Your brother is in good hands. I would be shocked if the Avatar returned without him." In the midst of the Old Man's comforting words, Aang appears along the forest trail leading up to the gate. In this light it is clear now that he is not just illuminated by the moon. He is in fact colored a light blue, as if he is glowing slightly in some surreal fashion. Aang comes up to Katara, his head hanging almost as low as hers. "Katara, Katara. I lost him." Neither she nor the old man react to Aang's voice. As Aang comes closer, the sun rises behind her and the old man. The old man takes notice. "The sun is rising. Perhaps he will return soon." Aang looks discombobulated at this statement. "No. I'm right here. What do you mean?" Aang puts his hand in front of the old man's face, and he takes no notice. He puts his hand in Katara's face, only to get the same non-reaction. He stopped waving his hand in front of Katara's face, and noticed that they were glowing blue. "I'm in the spirit world!"
Sokka and Momo find themselves in a bamboo forest that looks to reach the sky, if they could even see the sky. Sokka was trying to see if there was an indication of what time it was around them. Momo was trying to fly up to see if he could reach the sky, yet the higher he flew the taller and taller the Bamboo forest seemed to grow. Before Momo crashed back to the ground from exhaustion, he flew back down to Sokka. He chitters sadly at Sokka as he wants to get back to Appa and Aang. "I know Momo, I want to get out of here too." Sokka picked Momo up and Momo laid on his shoulder as Sokka started to walk towards the North to see if there was a way out of the bamboo forest. It just kept going on and on, getting foggier and foggier, until soon they were just surrounded by a shit ton of fog. Momo, once in the fog, made a loud noise to see if the sound would travel and it didn't, it just made Sokka cover his ears. "Alright Momo that was uncalled for." Sokka said glaring at the Flying Lemur-Bat. Momo made a sound that sounded like an apology. Sokka sighed and scratched Momo's head, "I can't stay mad at you bud." Sokka kept walking hoping that they could get out of the fog and find anything that looked familiar to them. As they wandered, Sokka got more and more worried. As his worry showed, Momo began to shiver and chatter. "Katara is probably thinking Aang found us and that we are on our way back. Yet I don't think even Aang knows where we are." Sokka sighed. Momo nodded in agreement as he continued to shiver from the immense cold that surrounded them from the fog. "I guess the best we can do is try to get ourselves out of here." Sokka takes Momo off his shoulder and wraps him in his coat. "I'm sorry you got dragged into this, little buddy." As Sokka starts walking, almost aimlessly, he begins to hum. "I know every mile will be worth my while. I would go most anywhere-" he starts singing softly, just loud enough to calm Momo and himself. As he sings, he sees the fog part, only just enough to see a clearing in the distance. The clearing has trees full of luscious looking fruits of all shapes and sizes. GROWL* "Well." Sokka says to Momo. "How could we save ourselves on an empty stomach?" As soon as his words departed his lips, the fog sealed the vision of paradise for the boys. Sokka, still scared, but with a new sense of hungry determination, treks forward, unaware of where he's going, but knowing his destination. FOOD!
The sun starts to peek over the horizon. It shows beautiful reds, and pinks across the lightning blue sky. The blue jays chirp and the cat owl yowls one last time before settling down for a sunlit nap. The villagers arise, and most start their day by getting ready to continue rebuilding half the village. The others start their day by heading out of the village, to hunt or fish for tonight's various dinners.
The morning light shines on the sandal that Iroh left behind. Zuko picks up the sandal and sniffs it, a look of disgust spreading over his face. "Yup. That's Uncle alright." He makes his way back onto his war rhinoceros. When he gets on the rhinoceros he asks himself out loud, "Why in the world would I have sniffed that!? Remind me to tell Uncle he needs to get his feet checked out by the ship's doctor. Hopefully he won't get them to leave too."
Katara now stands next to the village gates in the morning light, looking dejected and downtrodden. Blue Aang is sitting next to her, smiling, talking. I'll figure this out, Katara, I promise. Like they said, I'm the bridge between the worlds, right? All I have to do is... figure out what I have to do. But once I do that, no problem!" Aang looks to his right and sees Appa walking along the outside of the wall, towards Katara and Aang. He grunts and puts his nose up to her. Aang casts his eyes downward, but still has a small smile on his face. "Hey buddy. Guess you can't see me either. It's ok." He gets up and puts a hand on Appa's muzzle. Appa can't see this, but he can feel it. He closes his eyes, feeling the moment, still grunting at Katara, until she finally looks up at him. Then, he licks her cheek. She gives Appa a small, sad smile. "It's ok, Appa. I'm sure they're on their way back. I bet they even found you a bunch of moon peaches for a treat." She walks back into the village, Appa in tow, leaving Aang all along at the gates of the village.
Aang turns to look back down the forest path after watching his friends leave him. "What am I supposed to do? Avatar Roku, how can I talk to you?" He gets no response at first and looks down in despair. Then, he notices something and looks back down the path, elated. "Sokka?" A light shines from down the path. a blue spirit dragon flies toward him. "Totally, definitely… NOT Sokka!" He opens his glider and takes flight back into the village, but he hits the ground again a few feet away. He gets up and tries to airbend the glider off the ground, but nothing happens. Aang looks down at his hands in disbelief. "What? I can't airbend in the spirit world?"
Not long after they started to look for a way to the food, they ended up back in the fog. In the fog they started to hear voices. Voices of people talking, like they were saying who they were and what they have done. Sokka and Momo start looking around to see who or what is talking. They see multiple silhouettes of what they assumed to be people. They had no clue if they really were seeing people or not so they headed towards one of the silhouettes. As they got closer they could make out what the silhouette was saying. "I am YanDao. I am the leader of the Earth Kingdom Army. I had the perfect plan to get the colonies in line. I destroyed five of the mixed colonies, freeing the Earth Kingdom from the Fire Nation!" As they got closer to the silhouette of YanDao it ran at them full speed grabbing the sword at his side. Sokka and Momo scream. When YanDao reached them, hilt in hand, he let out a primal war cry and shoved the hilt into Sokka's solar plexus. Sokka felt a cold rush as YanDao vanished in a cloud of smoke around him. He felt even colder when he materialized again behind him, preparing to attack again.
The blue dragon, wreathed in radioactive blue fire, bears down on Aang. Suddenly the dragon is upon him and Aang cowers beneath it, fear framing his young face. "You don't know where Sokka and Momo are, do you?" In response, the dragon bends its head down and touches Aang's head with one of its whiskers. Aang's eyes glow with a blue fire when touched. A flashback begins of an old man riding the dragon the way Aang rides Appa. "You're Avatar Roku's animal guide! Like Appa is to me. I need to save my friends and I don't know how. Is there some way for me to talk to Roku?" The dragon bends its neck and Aang jumps on. "Thank you." Aang and the dragon take off.
Katara is left in the village, stroking Appa sadly, with her brother's boomerang attached to her waist.
On the ship, a couple miles away, the five man crew assigned as temporary chefs argue over what to make. One of the men outscreams the others, he tells them that he only knows how to make potatoes. They all agree that whatever they make, they'll have potatoes with it, and set him to work on peeling. He happily whistles as he peels, glad to be out of the now escalating fight over what to cook. One of the men mumbles to himself in the middle of watching the other three fight, "We should have killed the Unagi. We wouldn't have had to worry about what to cook for weeks." This angered one of the other men, who shot a flame about the size of a pea at the man in question. "We'd all be dying for something else BY NOW if you did, Stupid!" "Hey! I don't like that tone! And I especially don't like that you burnt my apron!" He fired a full sized fireball at the other man, and missed. The fireball hit some purple pentapus that was sitting outside the barrel on the counter. "This looks like enough. Why don't we just make this?" The man peeling potatoes introduced himself, "I'm Yhu Wy, by the way. Now I have a question." Everyone looked at Yhu Wy. "Does anyone know how to cook those?" He asks as he points over to the purple pentapus. "UUUUUUMMMMMMMMMM…?" They all stare at the barrel. "How hard could it be? The General does this all the time!"
Sokka made sure to tighten his grip on Momo and started to make a run for it before YanDao could make another attack. They didn't hear any other voices near them but they kept seeing many silhouettes. "Let's just stay away from those silhouettes from now on." Sokka said, catching his breath, and hiding behind what looked like a tree. Momo chitters in agreement and tries not to nom at Sokka's coat because he was so hungry. As Sokka and Momo are standing there, a delicate flower nearby ruffles its petals, begins to glow, and changes to take the shape of a beautiful woman. The woman looks at Sokka and smiles. She was glad to see her son again. She slowly approaches Sokka and Momo and lightly touches Sokka's shoulder. Sokka feels a chill, not like that of YanDao, a much softer, cleaner chill, like a fresh breeze through a meadow. He jumps, startled, and turns around. The woman smiled at him while he looked at her confused. "Who are you? What do you want?" He said guarded, not trusting anything in this world at the moment. The woman's smile falters but traces of it stay on her face when she realizes that her own son does not recognize her. "My name is Kya. I was from the Southern Water Tribe. You remind me so much of my son." She replied gently. "Wait you said 'was' as in 'you are dead?' But what about the others? They were saying 'am' are they dead too?" He asked. "Yes I died a long time ago protecting someone I love who is probably just a bit younger than you. And the others in this fog are Lost Souls. They do not know they are dead." Kya replied to his question as honestly as she could hoping that would get him to trust her.
The four war ostriches trod along a winding mountain path. Iroh in the center of his captures, like always. He looks up and is startled to see the blue dragon and Aang whiz by overhead. They pass right over the heads of the procession, but it is clear that only Iroh has seen anything. The captain sees Iroh staring overhead, and asks, "What's the problem?" to which Iroh snaps back to reality. "Nothing. Actually, there is a bit of a problem. My old joints are feeling sore and achy and these shackles are too loose. The cuffs are loose and they jangle around and bump my wrists. It would help me if you would tighten them so they wouldn't shake around so much." The captain looked shocked for a second, for prisoners never complained about the cuffs being too LOOSE. Then, he left out a soft chuckle that didn't even change his facial expression. "Very well. Corporal, tighten the prisoner's cuffs. You mustn't have done it right in the first place."
The corporal gets off and he touches Iroh's handcuffs, Iroh breathes on them. They become red hot and Iroh grabs the corporal's hand and puts them on the hot iron. The corporal screams in pain and Iroh hops off the ostrich. He launches himself into the air and fires a blast of flame from his feet at the other soldier's on their ostriches. He rolls off the path and down the hill during the ensuing uproar.
Aang and the fire dragon swiftly approach a volcanic island. It has a beautiful Fire Temple on it, which they enter and fly straight towards the ceiling. Aang starts to freak out on the back of the dragon. "Hey! What are you doing? Aaaaaaahhh!" They rapidly approach the ceiling, which they pass through harmlessly. The dragon alights on the floor of a secret chamber at the top of the temple. It is empty except for the statue of an old man in the background. Aang dismounts and walks toward the statue. "I don't understand. This is just a statue of Roku."
Aang looks back at the dragon, which touches him on the temple once again. Aang's eyes light up blue, and this time the vision is of a huge, flaming comet rocketing through the sky. The vision ends as the dragon breaks contact. "Is that what Roku wants to talk to me about? A comet? When can I talk to him?" The dragon lowers its head in response. The sun shines through a tiny window high up in the ceiling. The shaft of light, previously blocked by the dragon, now hits the wall near Roku's right shoulder. The dragon touches Aang again and a vision of time passing at the Fire Temple begins.
Aang finally realizes what the dragon is trying to tell him through visions. "It's a calendar, and the light will reach Roku on the solstice!" Turning to the dragon, "So, that's when I'll be able to speak to Roku?" The dragon grunts. "But I can't wait that long. I need to save Sokka and Momo now." Aang and the dragon depart the volcanic island at terrific speed.
Sokka looks at Kya for a second thinking that he is looking at his sister then shakes his head. "Alright, so you are a spirit then because you are dead?" Sokka asked, trying to get this straight. "Yes, I am a spirit here in the Spirit realm." Kya replied, nodding as he was understanding bits of things now. "WAIT! I AM IN THE SPIRIT WORLD! I AM NOT DEAD, AM I?! MOMO ISN'T DEAD EITHER, RIGHT?!" Sokka said, freaking out. He then started to give Momo a once over, turning him over awkwardly, looking at Momo in all random angles to make sure that Momo wasn't dead. "No! Please just calm down! You are not dead, nor is Momo. You are very much alive." Kya said, hoping to calm him down. It didn't seem to work, because he looked like he was on the brink of hyperventilating. But it did do something. "How about I take you back to the Bamboo forest that you were in? You will be safe there until the Avatar can save you." Kya said, placing a caring hand on Sokka's shoulder. Sokka just nodded as he was slowly starting to calm down. He felt a motherly type of love from her touch, something he hadn't felt in years.
Iroh rolled down the hillside, still chained. The earthbender soldiers watch him from over the lip, earthbend a torrent of dirt and rock after him and then slide down the hillside in pursuit. When they catch up to him, Iroh is almost buried. One of the soldiers addresses the captain. "He is too dangerous, Captain. We can't just carry him to the capital. We have to do something now." To which the captain agreed. "He must be dealt with immediately and severely." He leans in close to Iroh's face, and Iroh spits out a burning hot stone. It hits the captain square in the middle of the forehead, and leaves a small crater in his forehead. The captain falls to the ground, without a sound. One of the soldiers checked on the captain. "He's… He's dead. What do we do now?" Iroh gives the soldier a look of pity and disdain, but said not a word.
The kitchens are in complete disarray. There's flour on the ceiling, bones littering the floor, and potato skins filling three barrels, and overflowing in the corner. The five men are covered in something slimy and a bluish-purple color. Maybe purple pentapus blood? Maybe blueberry guts? Who knows? Certainly not these men. They take off their dirty aprons and somehow their clothes and arms are dyed to match. "Well." Yhu Wy started, "We could put on a play for tonight, and all be waterbenders. HAHAHA!" He looked around to see if anyone else took to his joke, and he was met with the sound of crickets, not a giggle or peep was made. Yhu Wy slumped his shoulders and fell into line with the other men who were wheeling carts full of trays of food upstairs.
Appa and Katara are flying reconnaissance over the forest. "It's no use, Appa. I don't see them anywhere. Sometimes, the right path is not the easiest one. Our best hope is to go back to the village and wait. It seems the easy answer, but if we can't find them anywhere, it feels like the right answer." She turns Appa to fly back to the village.
A huge reptilian foot slams into the ground where a clear trail of the war ostriches can be seen. Atop his war rhinoceros, Zuko looks over his shoulder and sees Appa flying in the distance. "The Avatar!" He yanks the reins to turn the beast back, but then he looks down the trail that leads to his captured uncle. He looks back again in the direction he saw Appa, indecision marking his face. As he stands trying to decide where his rhino's feet should take them, he mutters to himself, "For every to, there is a fro. For every stop, there's a go. Where should I go?"
Aang and the dragon fly through the wasteland at the edge of the forest. Up ahead the bear statue can be seen, rapidly growing larger. Aang's body sits crossed legged atop it. Aang braces himself for impact, but he rejoins his own body as the dragon disappears into the statue. He wakes up, now back in the material world. He jumps down off the statue and turns to stare in wonder at it. After staring at the bear statue for a minute, Aang opens his glider and flies back toward the village.
Upon reaching the village, Aang can see that Katara looks downcast. She is standing on the porch of the meetinghouse. Out of the sunset Aang comes into view and lands near her. She rushes to hug him, crying softly. "You're back!" She lets go of the embrace and holds his shoulders at arms distance. "But where's Sokka?" Aang looks downcast. "I don't know. I didn't find Momo either." The sun sets and both look over their shoulders to the forest.
Kya, once Sokka was calm, led them both back to the bamboo forest. As they were walking, Momo wiggled his way out of Sokka's coat and jumped/glided over to Kya's shoulder and nuzzled her. It was his way to say that he trusts her. She laughs as both of their stomachs rumble. "I am quite sorry, little ones. If I knew you were hungry earlier I would have offered these to you before we started traveling again." She pulls out some fruits and nuts from the bag on her side. Momo makes a delighted chittering sound as he grabs one of the fruits offered. Sokka looked at the nuts in disdain but knew he needed to eat so he took some nuts and the other fruit that Momo hadn't taken. He said "Thank you" politely, and quietly stuffed the nasty nuts in his coat pocket, thinking that Katara would like these to throw at people other than himself from time to time. "You are quite a polite little one. Your mother must have been a kind woman and taught you well." Kya said to Sokka with a small smile. Momo once he got to the seed of the fruit he looked at it for a second the seed looked like a heart. He chitters and shows it to Kya. "Oh, you never saw a seed like that before? Well there is a fascinating story behind it, if you both care to hear it on our way back to the bamboo forest." Kya explained. "There is a story behind everything, right? I think I remember my mom telling my sister that one night before bed." Sokka replied. "Sounds like a smart woman because there is. So do you want to hear it?" Kya replied with a soft laugh. "Sure I wouldn't mind and I don't think Momo would either." Sokka replied as Momo nodded.
After a full day's work, no breaks, and no breakfast or lunch, dinner was finally prepared. The crew above deck waited to be served, tired and worn out from the day's activities. The crew was served their trays and looked at the grayish-purple slop with dismay and apprehension. Nobody wanted to eat it, some even looked scared that the gloop would attack them if they got too close. But the potatoes looked pretty darn delicious.
Iroh and his captors are in an earthen pit. Iroh is stretched over a large rock in the center of the pit, his hands spread before him. One of Iroh's captures stands before him, "These dangerous hands MUST be crushed." He then raises a huge boulder from the ground and moves it to hover over Iroh's hands. He drops it. A moment before it crushed Iroh's hands and arms, Zuko enters from the left and kicks it out of the way. He lands and breaks the chains holding Iroh's hands bound with a kick. Iroh rises with a smile. "Excellent form, Prince Zuko." Zuko flashes a small smile. "You've taught me well, Uncle." One of the guards shouts out, "Surrender yourselves. It's five against two. You're clearly outnumbered." to which Iroh simply replied, "FOUR!" And threw a fireball in his capturers direction. This confused the soldiers for a moment. They assembled themselves and remembered that they were down a man as of this morning. "Fine! Four!" All remaining earthbenders launch stones at the pair. "We may be outnumbered, but you're outmatched!" Iroh swings his chains and breaks them into pieces mid-flight, while Zuko blasts the two nearest him with fire. The two soldiers behind him have just shot two large rocks at him. Zuko is about to be hit when the stones are wrapped in Iroh's chains. He swings them around his body and releases them back at their captors. They are hit in the stomach and are both knocked out. Zuko and Iroh turn to face the two earthbenders burned but still standing. One of them turns to the other and says, "I'm sweating like a sinner in church!" In response, his buddy just continued to launch several rocks at Zuko, who dodges them and returns fire. "Hot? Maybe I should turn up the heat." The capture who spoke raises two huge sheets of rock and Zuko looks afraid, but then chains wrap around the Captain's feet and he is pulled to the ground by Iroh. The rocks land on top of him. Three of the four Earth Kingdom soldiers that started this battle now lay in a pile, groaning and half buried in the dirt. Iroh and Zuko stand over them smiling. Zuko puts his hand on his Uncle's shoulder. "Now would you PLEASE put on some clothes!" he said as his face turned almost as deep a red as his scar.
"A long time again…" Kya started.
There was a woman and her two children out on an island that was covered in beautiful green grasses and a river that was coming towards them from some mountains a few ways off. The woman and her children were waiting for someone to come back from hunting. The woman's husband and the children's father left just after dawn to go and hunt for dinner. As time passed the man had yet to come home. It was close to time that the children would be asleep now. The woman went and put her children to bed in the small hut that was behind them. The woman had gone back outside to wait for her husband. She started noticing some branches of trees moving. Thinking it was her husband, she was excited and also ready to lecture him. Yet, it wasn't her husband at all, it was a group of bandits. The bandit leader knew this was the place that man they killed was talking about. Saying that he had someone waiting for him. "So what the rat said was true, he did have a wife who would be waiting for him." the leader said. "What did you do to my husband!?" The woman asked, as she was very angry and distraught not to see her husband. "Oh don't worry about that, you all will join him very shortly." The bandit leader said, laughing. The woman was a bender while these men weren't. Her husband knew that she was a bender and so was one of their children. As the men went to attack her with their swords and clubs she used her Firebending to take down at least three of the men. Which left the Bandit leader and one other bandit. The children at this point had woken up hearing the fighting. They both came running outside to see what was going on. One child had grabbed a boomerang when he came out to use it for defence. The leader noticed the children and was heading over for them. The woman had stopped the other one from going after the leader and had burned him to the point that he ran away quickly. The mother then heard a cry from her children as the leader came at them. One of the children threw the boomerang he had and it hit the leader in the head, which dazed him enough for the mother to put herself in between him and her children. The leader had his sword out and sneered when he saw the woman in front of the children. "You are a stupid woman to sit her and protect those too weak to fight!" He sneered. "It is a mother's job to protect her children. I will protect them with my life." The woman replied. The bandit struck her with his sword just as she burned him to death. The children went and hugged their mother as she stood there. She was gravely wounded and would soon pass on. She knelt down and hugged her children. "Remember this, both of you. Many things that seem threatening in the dark become welcoming in the light, and everyone has a light and peace within them. Let yours out and you can change the world." She didn't want her kids to see the life drain from her eyes as she bled out onto the beautiful flowers. So she squeezed her children in her embrace one last time before sending them to collect flowers from the surrounding areas and setting her own self ablaze. The children saw the smoke fumes coming from their mother's direction and ran to her, with flowers in hand. The last thing they saw was a plume of smoke as their mothers fire died out. And what was left in the ashes was nothing more than a hard stone-like object in the shape of a heart. At first, the daughter thought of wearing the stone-like thing as a necklace, in honor of her mother. But after a couple of years, the necklace didn't bring her peace, it brought her nightmares and memories. So, one day, she takes it off, and throws it in the river. She goes about her day, feeling a sense of regret for throwing her mothers necklace. That night, she falls asleep. When she awakens, the necklace is back around her neck. She didn't have nightmares that night, but she awoke more scared than ever. "Who could have done this?" she thought aloud. After a year or so of her trying to get rid of it, like throwing it into a fire, throwing it into another river, giving it to a traveller, burning it, and other ways, and it somehow coming back to her every time the next morning, she was terrified. She moved from her family, worried that whoever this person was would hurt the ones she loved. One day, as she cried in front of her home, she yanked off the necklace and shoved it into the dirt, burying it. A thought she hadn't had until she had a mental breakdown. After she buried it, she started crying, not thinking of the past year or so, but instead thinking of her mother, and all the wonderful times they had, like her teaching her to sew or bake or her hugging her children. She cried. She cried for a long time, until she eventually ran out of tears and passed out, tired and sad, right there. When she awoke, there was a beautiful tree in front of her. "What IS this?" She thought. "I haven't been passed out THAT long." She looked up at the tree, and somehow, the knots and branches looked familiar, calming, and the tree produced its own aura, something that made her feel warm inside, and it produced fruits. Not just any fruits though, this tree produced a different fruit for each branch of the tree. There was a branch for apples, one for bananas, one for plums, one for bacui berries, chili peppers, mangos, papayas, and so on and so forth. And as she gazed upon this tree, she could swear she could hear her mothers laugh. That day, she regained her life, revived her spirits, and renewed her faith and love in her mother.
Ending her story, Kya gently placed a hand on Sokka's shoulder, and spoke softly. "All stories hold truths, some hold magic. I need you to know that" she cleared her throat and started speaking soft but dramatically, as if proclaiming a secret prophecy. "The things that are most important aren't written in books. You have to learn them by experiencing them yourself."
To this, Sokka almost rolled his eyes, but stopped himself in time. Instead, he simply muttered, "It feels like all I'm ever doing is experiencing stuff." Kya simply smiled softly once again, and squeezed Sokka's shoulder before letting go and taking the heart seed from Momo. She closed her hands and inside there was a soft glow. When she opened her hands, the heart seed was on a necklace, surrounded by small flowers. She held it out to Sokka, and he bowed gently to accept it being put around his neck. "Thank you." He said graciously and sincerely. He didn't know why, but he liked and trusted this woman. When Sokka looked up they were in front of the bamboo forest. "Thank you for helping us." Sokka said as Momo jumped back onto his shoulder as they headed into the forest. "You're welcome, my little warrior." Kya said as she watched them disappear into the forest.
Cleaning up after dinner, Yhu Wy and his crew noticed that ALL the potatoes were gone. "Tomorrow, I guess I'll make more." He said proudly, thinking that everyone ate his potatoes, not because the purple pentapus was inedible, but because they were delicious. As the men cleaned the kitchen, only Yhu Wy was in any kind of disposition to hum as he worked. Everyone else in his crew just groaned and swore at their rotten luck.
It's now night. Darkness has fallen and stars dot the otherwise bleak looking village gate and surrounding forests. The chief and Katara are looking out of the meetinghouse window at Aang, the wind blowing dead leaves past him. Some time has evidently passed, and Aang's begins to walk back into the village. As he approaches a building with a wind chime that is sounding in the wind, the monster appears. It roars in triumph, releasing blue energy from its mouth. Aang cries out and begins to make an energy shell like the one he created by accident at the Southern Air Temple. Katara sees this and immediately freaks out. "Aang! Not again. What are you doing? RUN!" The creature roars and runs toward another building, but Aang runs underneath its legs and then jumps up onto its forehead. His hand glows light blue, and Aang sees a vision of the monster blur and is replaced with that of a panda bear. This is the monster. Aang jumps back to the porch of a nearby building. "You're the spirit of this forest. Now I understand. You're upset and angry because your home was burned down. When I saw the forest had burned I was sad and upset. But my friend gave me hope that the forest would grow back." The spirit stood still for the entirety of Aang's speech. When he is finished, he shows Hei-Bai the acorn that Katara gave him. The spirit smiles and Aang places the acorn on the porch. The monster picks up the acorn and transforms into a panda, who turns and walks away from the village. The panda exits the gate. Behind him a thicket of bamboo grows to man height in seconds. A moment later, Sokka, with Momo on his shoulder, and a few villagers exit the thicket looking confused. Katara runs to hug her brother. "You were trapped in the spirit world for 24 hours." She releases her death grip "How are you feeling?" Sokka looks troubled, pained even. "Like I seriously need to use the bathroom!" At this, Katara takes an acorn out of her pocket, and tosses it gently at Sokka's head, giggling.
The men finally finished cleaning the kitchen. Two of the five men go to take out the trash. As they're dumping bones and potato peels overboard, they see something floating in the water. It's large and lumpy, but floating and not attached to anything. One of the men thinks it's just a giant rock, and suggests a contest to throw the trash on the floating rock. They agree to do so. They dump both their barrels and hear a definitive thunk. They know they've hit the rock. The next thing they hear from the rock is a "HEY!" This startles the men so much that they fall backwards onto the ship's deck. One of the men jumps up immediately, holding a fireball for light and a possible attack. "Who goes there?" He asks over the side of the ship?" "ME" comes a response. "I'll be happy to introduce myself to you, as soon as I'm lifted from these waters." The two men think it over for a second, then call the temporary captain over. The three men then hoist up the rock, and its inhabitants. It's the warden from a prison brigade not too far from here. "Why is he here?" The temporary captain asks him indirectly, more directed towards one of his shipmates, while never breaking eye contact with 'the warden.' He noticed that the warden was wearing a Fire Nation captains uniform.
"Fine! You want to stay?" He paused and waited for the warden to give a vigorous head nod. "Then you'll have to work." He tells the two men taking out the trash that their duties are done for the night. "Our friend here can take over for you all." He ripped the lapels off the warden's uniform and handed him an apron. "We'll get some quarters set up for you when you're done.
Sometime later that night, the chief went to visit the gang, flanked by two villagers on each side. "Thank you, Avatar. If there only were a way to repay you for what you've done." Sokka offhandedly shrugged and said, "You could give us some supplies and some money." Katara angrily threw an acorn at her brother this time. "SOKKA!" She screeched in anger. Sokka rubbed his temple where the acorn hit, "WHAT? We need stuff! And how are you so gotdang good with these stupid acorns?" Sokka sits up a little straighter, "Momo! Katara has food!" within seconds a small off-white blur whizzes by and starts patting Katara down. He finds several nuts in her pocket, takes one and bites into it to crack the shell, and throws one at Sokka, hitting him in the head, a few centimeters off from where Katara hit him recently. The chief smiles, giggles, and then bows. "It would be an honor to help you prepare for your journey." He then takes his leave.
As the kids sit there, alone, Katara speaks up. "Umm… Sokka. Where'd you get the necklace? When did you go to a market? You were lost in the spirit world, weren't you?" "Yeah well we came across a pretty Lady in the spirit world who helped us out after we got lost. And she gave us some food. Momo found a heart shaped seed in it and she then told us a really interesting story. After the story she fashioned the seed into a necklace." Sokka answered truthfully and offhandedly, with Momo nodding in agreement. "Umm… ok then." Katara looked wide eyed and skeptical at her brother. "Oh yeah also what did mom look like because that lady looked and reminded me so much of you." Sokka asked and this was the first time he had asked about their mother since she had died. "I don't remember what mom looks like, I just always had Grangran telling me that I looked so much like her. But I do remember that she always smelled like flowers." Katara answered sadly, wishing she could remember what their mother looked like. "Smelled anything close to as pretty as these flowers smell?" He shows Katara the rest of the necklace that he has tucked under his tunic, and reveals the assortment of small, beautiful flowers. Katara takes a big whiff and almost starts crying. "Well, sheesh Katara. I didn't realize you were allergic to the spirit world." "It's not that," Katara said, wiping her eyes, "They smell EXACTLY like mom." "Wait, then the Lady who helped us was MOM!?" At this, the two seemed to be sharing some beautiful grand memories, as they sat in quiet bliss for a few moments. Aang rubbed his hands against Appa's reins sadly. "Airbenders have to be raised in the temples. I can't remember my mother. Just the monks." Katara looks saddened by this news, at least she has memories. She puts a hand on Aang's shoulder and speaks with a small smile. "I'm so proud of you, Aang. You figured out what to do all on your own." Aang looked a little downtrodden, but otherwise still had the same happy go-lucky smile he always did. "Actually, I did have a little help. And there's something else." Aang starts to wring his hands, unsure how to tell his friends the news. "I need to talk to Roku and I think I've found a way to contact his spirit." Everyone is ecstatic momentarily, disrupted by Sokka saying, "Ok. Creepy but great!" Aang took the lull to announce the rest of his news. "There's a temple on a crescent shaped island, and if I go there on the solstice I'll be able to speak with him. But, the solstice is tomorrow. And the island is in the Fire Nation."
Sokka and Katara looked terrified in the moonlight.
The warden finally finished cleaning the rest of the kitchen. Even with Yhu Wy's help, it took most of the moonlit night to do. The warden found Yhu Wy's eagerness to help somewhat discourteous and was curt with the ever-helpful man. When Yhu Wy offered to help with the dishes, the last of the last of the things to do, the warden got pissed. "I've captained a ship for over a decade. I've been a warden on three ships. I've run my own warships and defeated three earth kingdom cities, practically by myself. If you don't think I can do dishes, you've got another thing coming, buddy boy!" He stood in the middle of the kitchen practically yelling. After a moment of seething rage, and breathing heavy, he then told Yhu Wy to get the fuck and go to bed, much calmer and a little nicer after he noticed the poor man on the brink of tears. After sending Yhu Wy off, the warden turned to himself, "Wow. Leave it to Zhang to pick these losers."
"ACHOO!" temporary captain Zhang sneezed on the main deck, surrounded by a company of men awaiting their orders for the night. "Hmm… Someone must be talking about me." He squints and thinks to himself. Shaking that feeling, he turns to his men, and starts giving orders. He comes across two of the men that were assigned kitchen duty and is reminded of the warden in the kitchen. He tells the ex-chefs, one of them being Yhu Wy, that, "Your efforts were… umm…" He starts awkwardly scratching the back of his head, "well… The potatoes were great." This pleased Yhu Wy more than being told that he was free of sentry duty tonight.
Late in the starlit night, upon Zuko and Iroh's return to the ship, Iroh immediately heads to the ship's kitchen, ready to cook for the morning or clean up the day's messes. Zuko joins him, berating him, questioning how he could be so happy for a man who was just kidnapped. "Simple, nephew. I am happy because I was not just kidnapped. I was also rescued. And that shows a great deal of bravery, loyalty, courage, and love." At this, Zuko blushes a little. He opens the door to the kitchen for his uncle, only to be met by some awkward guy in a half ripped uniform and an apron. "Who are you?" Zuko asks the stranger? "Well." The stranger starts, standing up dramatically. "I've captained a ship for over a decade. I've been a warden on three ships. I've run my own warships and defeated three earth kingdom cities, practi-" He starts his spiel but is cut off by Zuko, who impatiently slams the door behind him and Iroh. "I didn't ask what you've done. I asked who you WERE!" To which he shrugs and says, "I don't have to answer to you. The 'Captain' found me in the water, the 'Captain' gave me this job, the 'Captain is who I answer to." Zuko squinted his eyes at the man, grabbed his collar, and held his face close to his. "I'm only going to tell you this once. I AM PRINCE ZUKO! CAPTAIN AND COMMANDER OF ALL ABOARD THIS SHIP! AND YOU…" he shakes the warden in his hands, "You've pissed me off." The warden just looked at Zuko and gulped. "Is it too late to tell you my name?" He asked. Zuko only let go and said, "Yes. Yes it is. You said you were found in the water? Like kelp, yes? Yes. I'll call you Kel. and guess what, Kel? You get to have the best job ever. Following my uncle around, keeping him safe, and following his every order. And don't you EVER talk back to me like that again." Kel looks confused, but ultimately agrees. As Zuko leaves the room, Kel turns to Iroh and asks, "What? I'm supposed to listen to a child?" The answer to which he heard from the hallway as Zuko shouts, "NO! A TEENAGER!" Iroh just stood there and sighed, "Kel I do not envy your fate."