Chapter 2: Brothers and a Library

Toph landed on the ground, her feet giving her a view of everything around them. Beside her was Aang, pulling out an instrument, and Sokka, arms crossed. Appa was the largest lifeform around. At least they had gotten a new saddle fixed for him; the only feeling worse than flying was flying without any sort of security, the intense feeling that one's grip would slip and one would fall to their deaths at any moment.

She liked Appa well enough. But flying on him saddleless was not an experience she wanted to repeat.

Aside from her friends, though, Toph could feel hundreds of tunnels in the area, brimming with life. Little creatures, scurrying around. Was this what Aang had brought them out here for?

"What's out here?" Sokka asked. Of course, he couldn't 'see' what she could.

She placed her hand on the ground, trying to get a better sense of the creatures. "A lot, actually," she told him. "There's hundreds of little—"

"Shh!" Aang interrupted her. "I know you can see underground, but don't ruin the surprise. Just watch." Aang blew a note on the flute. To Toph's surprise, one of the creatures sprung from the ground, echoing Aang's note with its own voice. "Yeah!" Aang played another note, which the creature also echoed. "I'm putting an orchestra together."

But Sokka wasn't impressed. "Orchestra, huh? Well, la-di-da." As if to mock him, three of the creatures echoed his sounds. Aang began playing new notes, which the creatures tried to echo, but Momo, realizing their presence, leapt after them, chasing them when they came out of their holes. Aang attempted to play another note, but this time, Sokka plugged the end of it. Toph could feel the two boys staring at each other for a moment before Sokka spoke again, his tone unamused. "This is great and all, but don't we have more important things to worry about? We should be making plans."

"We did make plans," Toph reminded him, coming to Aang's aid. "We're all picking mini-vacations."

"There's no time for vacations."

Aang spoke for himself, defending their decision. "I'm learning the elements as fast as I can, Sokka. I practice hard every day with Toph. I've been training my arrow off!" It was true, Toph noted. In the days since he had first learned to move a rock, he and Toph had spent hours each day training. He was a good student, once he learned to stand his ground. He absorbed the knowledge like a sponge did water. He also spent many hours practicing waterbending. He was entirely set on learning all four elements by summer. It sounded ridiculous when he first said so, but Toph was beginning to wonder if he wouldn't actually manage it.

"You know we've been training hard," Toph said, crossing her arms. "Aang is making good progress. And everyone needs to get out and have some fun sometimes. We have time to get to Ba Sing Se."

But Sokka was not persuaded. "Even if you manage to master all the elements," he said to Aang, "then what? It's not like we have a map of the Fire Nation." He made exaggerated motions as he spoke. "Should we just head west until we reach the Firelord's house?" He made a knocking motion. "Knock, knock. Hello, Firelord? Anybody home? I don't think so. We need some intelligence if we're going to win this war."

He had a point, maybe. But Toph couldn't agree that it was so pressing. Aang still had to master three elements. What was the rush to plan everything out?

Aang put the flute aside, crossing his own arms for a long moment. Then, quietly, "Maybe we could ask Zuko?"

There was a pause. "No," Sokka said bluntly. "We can't ask Zuko for help. He's the enemy."

"Is he though?" Toph couldn't help but ask. "He didn't exactly seem to be on good terms with the Fire Nation."

Aang nodded. "Katara said that Zuko and his uncle are fugitives from the Fire Nation now. Maybe, if they had a falling out with the Firelord or something…"

"No!" Sokka said. "Look, just because they somehow managed to get in trouble with their relatives, doesn't mean that they are on our side. They're still Fire Nation."

"But it's not like everyone from the Fire Nation is evil, Sokka," Aang said. "You know that. Or why did you stop Jet's plot?" Toph frowned. Who? Ugh. So this is what happens when you join the party late. Was she ever going to catch up with all these past adventures?

Whatever happened with this Jet guy, it certainly didn't seem to sit well with Sokka. "This is nothing like that, Aang." He let out a frustrated breath. "I'm just saying, Zuko and this uncle of his are Fire Nation royalty. Old men with walking sticks and little kids may not be our enemy, but Zuko certainly is."

"Your sister disagrees," Toph said. "Look, I may not have the same history with this Zuko as you guys did, but from what I do know of him, he doesn't actually seem that bad." She heard a scandalized squeak from Sokka. "He saved Katara, remember? If it weren't for him, your sister really would be dead. And then he didn't hurt her, or she wouldn't have wanted to help him and his uncle. Not to mention, he did help us fight his sister." She shrugged. "I'm just saying, asking him and his uncle for help seems like as good an idea as any."

"It's different for you," Sokka said, quieter than before. "You didn't get chased all over the world by him." But she felt him glance towards Aang, who looked down at the ground.

"I don't know," Aang said. "Maybe I'm just being optimistic because Katara befriended him. But sometimes I feel almost connected to him. I don't understand it, really. I guess I just wish that I could somehow work things out so we wouldn't be enemies." There was a silence lingering over them for a few long moments before Sokka sighed. Toph could feel him pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Connected," he said slowly. "And, of course, this 'connection' can't be any clearer. Is this more spirit stuff?" Toph had no experience with their spirit world experiences. Sokka had mentioned being abducted by a spirit and taken to the spirit world. The Avatar was the bridge between their world and the spirit world. But Toph had never had any experience with it herself. "Have you considered that Zuko could just be another enemy?"

"Well, he never felt like just another enemy," Aang said. "I just don't know, Sokka. But now that he's on the run from the Fire Nation, and Katara's his friend, I thought, maybe he had a change of heart. Or something."

"Or maybe it's just because of what happened at the North Pole. With…with Yue, and Zhao." More unfamiliar names. They realize I have no clue what they're talking about? Never mind. If it's important, I'll learn about it.

"Sokka…" Aang walked closer to his friend.

"It's fine. Just…just take your vacation. I'll still be working on a plan."

It was all quiet for a moment. Toph was divided on whether to ignore the exchange or ask what else had happened at the North Pole. But Aang turned back to her, offering her what she could only assume to be a map. "Forgetting something?" she asked, trying to diffuse the mood of the last few minutes. She waved at her own face.

"Oh, right." Aang sounded embarrassed. "Uh, how should we…?"

"Just start listing places," she told him. "If you know any good spots, let me know what there is to do there."

Aang did as she said, pointing to various places nearby, telling her anything notable about each place. Toph listened patiently. Finally, he reached a town near the Si Wong Desert. Lu Sai. "A few cantinas, and lots of gambling," Aang said, quickly moving onto the next one. But Toph was grinning.

"Sounds like fun."

"Really?" She felt Aang looking at her, then looking back to the map. "You mean Lu Sai?"

"Sure! You know, I saw these games in my Blind Bandit outings. I never really took the time to play back then, but I did see how the games work."

"Badly," Sokka interjected. She could feel the disapproval rolling off from him. "Maybe things were different for you, considering your parents' wealth, but we have a very finite amount of money, Toph. We can't squander our money on gambling."

"I know," she retorted. She smirked. "But I also know that most betting games are rigged. I can see them—I can beat them. So let's go to Lu Sai, with your finite bag of coins. We can leave with twenty."

Lu Sai was a small town by Earth Kingdom standards. There wasn't much to say about it. It wasn't a great stronghold. It was not any great achievement of architecture or city planning; buildings were boring and bare. There was no wise king ruling over it. The population was small—not too surprising, considering that the town bordered the Si Wong Desert.

What the town did have was gambling.

Yes, they certainly had that.

Sokka wasn't sure what to think of Toph's chosen vacation. At first glance, it was a pretty terrible idea. They didn't have much money to begin with. And then to go around betting it? It was asking for trouble. Sokka was certain that Katara wouldn't approve in the slightest. Oh man, he thought as he hung out and watched Toph and Aang swindle another of the gambling gamemasters, how am I ever going to explain this one to her?

On the other hand, Toph had been entirely correct about her ability to cheat the cheaters. She had taken their pouch of money and turned it into ten pouches. Sokka couldn't help but smirk. It was good to not be in a worry over their budget. Plus, the men they played were jerks. He knew they took one look at Toph, at her eyes, and thought they had found an easy target. Yeah, it was pretty satisfying to see them knocked down a peg. Not to mention how much Aang seemed to be enjoying it, too. It was good to them getting to be kids. He was older than them when his father had told him to stay home with Katara and Gran-Gran.

He let out a breath, shaking his head.

He looked over to his friends again. Past them, he saw one of the men they'd scammed glaring at them, and speaking to another man. "Oh, great," he groaned, slapping his forehead. Trying to be discreet, he walked over to his friends, glancing again at the men. Another of their past opponents had joined the conversation, pointing at them. Reaching them, Sokka put a hand on both of their shoulders. "I think it's time to leave," he said quietly, nodding his head over to their audience.

"Huh?" Aang asked, looking over. "Oh."

"Yeah. Come on."

"But we bet a bag on this game," Toph argued quietly.

"So we cut our losses," Sokka told them. He felt a bit of a headache. Were he and Aang this much of a handful for Katara? "We have enough problems without getting into fights over gambling, okay?" Toph still grumbled, but both of the twelve-year-olds followed Sokka outside.

The sun reigned down oppressively; though they weren't technically within the Si Wong Desert, it was only by strict technicality. There weren't any clouds that Sokka could see. He looked to Appa. He turned to Toph, holding out on of the bags. "Could you get us some water and rice before we leave? Be careful."

"Right on it, Dad." Sokka scowled at the sarcastic appellation. He shook his head, looking over to Aang. Aang, in turn, was looking out to the entrance of Lu Sai. "Is everything okay?" He turned to look at what Aang was looking at.

There was a man sitting on the ground. He had the typical long, dark hair or the Earth Kingdom, worn in a messy top knot. His clothes were coated in the desert's sands. His face was in his hands, and Sokka could see him shaking his head to himself. "That man's been there since we got here," Aang told Sokka, concern apparent on his face. "And he looks really upset about something."

Sokka let out a breath. "And you want to go over and solve all his problems." It was exactly the sort of thing Aang would do. It was sweet. Annoying sometimes, but sweet.

Aang smiled. "If I can." He went over to the man, Sokka just behind him. Now that they were closer, Sokka could see that the man was close to his own age, perhaps just a few years older. He looked up as they approached, light green eyes widening. At once, he tried to regain his composure, but Sokka could tell that he had been crying before anyone had come up to him. "Hi. This is Sokka, and I'm Aang. I'm the Avatar." The world's youngest miracle-worker.

The man eyed him, raising an eyebrow incredulously as he listened to Aang's introduction. "That's…uh." But he just shook his head, groaning. "That's good for you, really. But if you don't mind, I'd really rather be alone right now." He looked around, perhaps for a more private place to mope.

"No," Aang said. "Don't you get it, I can help you with whatever your problem is!" Aang was grinning. Sokka folded his arms; sometimes there was no miracle cure. But he didn't want to upset Aang with that harsh lesson.

The man scrunched his eyebrows. He let out a frustrated laugh. "That's nice. But I really don't think my problem is the sort you can solve. I've heard the stories about you. But there's no Fire Nation maniac, no spirit world miscommunication. Just one brother dumber than the rocks he bends."

Sokka snorted. "He's not trying to kill you, is he?"

The man's eyes widened. He clenched his fist, standing up. "No, Rahen isn't trying to kill me. But if he's alive, and I ever find him, I just may kill him myself! Does he have any idea how worried I am about him?" The man clenched and unclenched his fists, glaring at the sky.

"Yeah," Sokka said. "I know that feeling."

Aang frowned. "So…you lost your brother? I mean, actually lost him, and now you can't find him?"

The man waved to the side. "Rahen got himself lost," the man said, irritation in his voice. "He insisted on pursuing some crazy Fire Nation officer out here. I couldn't talk him out of it—spirits know, I tried. Over and over. But he was dead set on following the man out here."

"Out here as in…" Sokka looked outside the town.

"In the desert! What was he thinking?!" The man closed his eyes, frustration still written on his face. He sighed, looking dejected. "At least he used to come home. But not anymore. Over the past year, he never returned. And I don't know if he's just lost, or if he's…if he's…"

"We can help!" Aang said, a grin appearing on his face. Sokka even found himself nodding. After all, he knew a thing or two about disappearing siblings.

The man's eyes widened. "What?"

"We have a sky bison." Aang pointed to Appa.

"If we fly over the desert, we'll cover more ground than you could ever hope to on foot," Sokka told him.

"I…you would do that?" The man straightened himself, and bowed to Aang. "Thank you, Avatar. I never even introduced myself, did I? My name is Li Han." He tried pushing some loose hair from his face. It was obvious now that he had attempted to find his brother in the desert himself.

"Come on!" Aang waved him over to Appa. Toph had returned and was frowning at them from afar.

Sokka looked at Li Han. "You heard him. Let's go."

Li Han walked beside him, looking slightly apprehensive at the sight of Appa. He let out a breath. "I hope this isn't taking you out of your way. I know the Avatar has far more important things to do than look for my brother…"

"Hey. Aang likes to help people when he can," Sokka told him. He stopped beside Appa, looking at Li Han for a moment. "And I've had my own experience with a missing sibling, so I know how it is. We'll find Rahen if we can." He climbed on top of Appa, helping Li Han get onto the saddle.

Toph was already there, sitting and frowning slightly. "This is going to end up being one of your crazy adventures, isn't it? This how it tends to start?" But Sokka thought he heard some amusement in her voice.

Sokka gave her a half-smile. "I'm glad you learn fast." He should have known their vacation would get complicated somehow.

In moments, they were off the ground, soaring towards the desert.

Aang guided Appa through the desert, his own eyes attentive as they searched for Li Han's lost brother.

The Si Wong Desert was a beast of little comparison. Aang could feel the dryness of the air. He licked his lips; it almost felt like the air had drained the water out of his own skin. There were few clouds in the sky, and what few clouds were present were tiny, fragile little things. Far below them, Aang could see endless sand dunes. It would be easy to get lost, they all looked the same to him. Li Han's brother was crazy to try exploring it on foot.

There had yet to be any sign of Rahen.

As Aang and Sokka looked, Toph talked to Li Han. It wasn't as though there was anything else for her to do while they searched.

"So what's your brother's deal, anyways? Why would he follow some Fire Nation guy all the way out here?" she asked him. Aang listened, curious about it himself.

Li Han glanced at them, before turning back to look for his brother down below. "He commanded an attack on our village, many years ago. I was just a child back then. Rahen was older. He wasn't skilled enough in his earthbending yet to put up much of a fight, though he was old enough to drag me out." Li Han was quiet for a moment. "The commander was so…so destructive. It wasn't enough to take our town—no, he burned it all to the ground. There were so many people lost…so many trapped in flames. He took no prisoners. Our parents…" Aang looked back at Li Han sympathetically. Even though it had happened many years ago, it was clear that the young man was still scarred from the experience. After a few moments, he let out a breath. "Rahen dragged me out, and we watched from the trees on the outskirts of town. But we had to flee, too, unless we burned with the town and surrounding forest. It was just us then. For many years, as we grew up. I've tried to move on. But Rahen remembered that Fire Nation commander. And he has been obsessive in his search out here."

"Why here, though?" Sokka asked him. "There's nothing out here that the Fire Nation would be interested in."

"I have no idea," Li Han said, his voice turning to a baffled whine at the end. He put his face in his hands for a moment. He looked up again. "He just said he found that the commander spent a lot of time out here. For…whatever reason somebody might want to be here. I've had no real leads for my brother until now. And I'm not exactly a master tracker," he admitted. "I'm an architect, or a student architect anyways. I have no bending ability, or military experience…I spent the last few weeks going out to try to find him, but I could never make it far into the desert before I'd run out of supplies, or get lost." He took a deep breath, shaking his head. "I can't thank you enough for your help."

They continued looking, the sun slowly moving across the sky. Perhaps an hour later, Sokka pointed below. "There's someone down there!"

Li Han moved over, looking down where Sokka was pointing. He squinted for a moment. "That's him! That's Rahen!" Excitement and relief rang through his voice. He turned to Aang. "Can you please take us down?" But Aang was already moving Appa downwards.

Rahen paused in his steps, looking up at them in awe as they landed. He was older than Li Han, in his mid-twenties. His hair was cut short, and he sported a short beard. His eyes widened as he recognized Li Han. "Li? What are you doing here?" He walked up to Li Han, who quickly embraced his older brother. Aang grinned at the brothers' reunion.

After a moment, though, Li Han stepped back from the hug, glaring at Rahen. He poked Rahen in the chest repeatedly as he spoke. "You stupid, stupid son of a—what were you thinking? Have you seriously been out here the entire time? Do you have any idea how worried I've been about you?!" Li Han scowled at his brother, making to poke him again.

Rahen caught his wrist before he could. "You shouldn't have come out here," he told his brother. "It's not safe."

"Yeah," Sokka said. "That's kinda why your brother had us look for you."

Rahen turned to glare at him, ignoring his brother's own look. "I don't need your help. I need to find whatever it is that Commander Zhao was looking for." Aang's eyes widened. He looked at Sokka.

Sokka's eyes narrowed, his fist clenched. "Sorry—did you just say Zhao? As in Admiral Zhao?"

Rahen stepped towards him, ignoring everyone else. "He was a commander, the last time I'd seen him. You know of him?"

"He's dead," Sokka told him. "But not before wreaking havoc on the Northern Water Tribe." Aang frowned. He knew that Sokka had more on his mind than just the destruction caused to the northern tribe. Yue. Of course Sokka wouldn't be happy for Zhao's name to come up again.

"He is dead, then?" Rahen said. He looked to the side for a moment.

Li Han walked up to him again. This time his demeanor was less upset. "He is dead," he repeated his brother's words. "It doesn't matter why he was out here, Rahen. There's no reason for you to keep searching. We can go home." It would be the easiest thing to do, Aang thought.

But Rahen's eyes hardened. "No," he said. "I can't go home yet. Not until I know what it was that drew Zhao here for so long." But when had they ever done things the easy way? Aang glanced at Sokka, but his friend was frowning absently. Aang wondered what he was thinking.

"I hate to break it to you," Toph said from Appa's saddle. She had jumped down onto the sand momentarily, before quickly getting back onto the saddle. "But there's nothing out here. It's a giant mass of sand. Maybe this Zhao guy was just crazy."

"No." Sokka finally looked up to them, a determined expression on his face. "Zhao may have been crazy in his own way, but he was good at achieving his goals…no matter how bad they may be. If he was out here, there was a good reason for it." He stopped, looking over to Aang. His eyes softened for a moment. "I think Rahen's right. We should look into what Zhao was doing out here."

Li Han gave an undignified squeak, while his brother grinned victoriously. "I'm glad you see the importance of this."

Li Han shook his head incredulously, looking back and forth between Aang and Sokka. "Shouldn't we leave the desert?" he asked Aang. "I brought water, but it will only last so long out here. We can't spend our time looking for the mysteries of a dead man." His eyes implored Aang to put his foot down, to take them out of the desert.

But Aang looked to Sokka, whose own stare pleaded with him to let them do this. Aang paused, thinking of how Sokka had fallen so quickly for Yue. How Zhao had killed the Moon Spirit, resulting in Yue's sacrifice. He thought of how heartbroken Sokka was, how he would stay up on the nights of full moons to stare at them. Aang nodded. "It can't hurt," he said. "To spend a little time searching for…I don't know. Anything out of place. And we can search far better on Appa, anyways." One by one, they got onto Appa, Li Han looking apprehensive. Rahen was more fascinated by Appa, and by Aang as he introduced them.

"Ugh," Toph said. "Do we really need to look for whatever this Zhao guy was doing out here?"

"Yes," Sokka told her, taking Appa's reins. Aang stayed by Toph in the saddle, ignoring the quiet argument between the brothers in the back of the saddle. "We do." He looked back at them for a moment, face falling. "Think of it as my vacation. We're doing those, right?"

"This is your idea of a vacation?" Toph asked him, disbelief in her voice. She sat back against the edge of the saddle. "Aren't vacations supposed to be fun?"

"Toph," Aang said, turning his attention to her. "This is personal."

She was quiet for a moment, face scrunching slightly. "You mentioned a Zhao, earlier. Same guy?"

"Yeah," Aang told her. "It didn't end well."

"Obviously. So what's got Sokka so dead set on finding out what he was doing in the desert?"

Aang winced, looking over to Sokka. He was flying Appa, focused on searching the desert, rather than what his friends were saying in the saddle. He turned back to Toph, speaking very quietly. "He fell in love with Yue, the princess of the Northern Water Tribe. But Zhao sort of killed her." He rubbed the back of his head. "It's actually way more complicated than that, but the point is that Zhao's actions caused her to die. Sokka was really torn up about it."

Toph was quiet for a long moment as she processed it. "Wow. You guys really did have a bad time at the North Pole. So, this Zhao guy died there, too?"

Aang frowned, a sick feeling forming in his stomach. "Actually," he said. "I'm not entirely sure he's dead…"

"But Sokka said…what happened then?"

"I did. Or the Ocean Spirit did." Aang let out a breath. "It's like we merged for a little bit. I remember the Ocean Spirit grabbing him, dragging him off…"

"Underwater?"

"No," Aang said. "It felt deeper than that." He shivered. "Whatever happened to him, I don't think we'll ever see him again." But he wasn't dead. Aang wasn't sure how he knew it, but somehow he was sure that La hadn't killed him. He was still alive…

Somewhere.

In the back of the saddle, Li Han argued with his brother.

"Ever since our parents died, you've been obsessed with this man," he accused him. He glared at Rahen. "He's dead. Whatever he did out here, it didn't help him in the end. And it can't help our parents."

"Zhao killed our parents!" Rahen whisper-shouted at him. As if that were somehow news to Li Han. "You can't expect me to forget that." His bushy eyebrows emphasized his scowl. Li Han was not impressed.

"I expect he killed a lot of people's parents. But you don't see a horde of angry orphans wandering the desert. Just you. Why can't you let this go?" Rahen didn't answer him. Li Han let out a breath. "You know, I've tried to build a life for us. Me. Why did you leave me to try building this without you? So many times, while you were off getting into trouble, and I'd do all the work. I won't blame you for wanting some sort of closure. But have you ever considered that I may one day get sick of waiting for you? You haven't kept in contact with me at all for the past year. Why do you think I'm out here? I had to know if you were safe, if you were even still, still…" He struggled to say the word, shaking his head. He looked out at the infinite desert. Just what did his brother hope to find?

Rahen's eyes softened. He let out a breath, placing a hand on his brother's knee. "I'm fine, brother. I've had a lot of experience surviving out here. I'm not going to leave you just yet."

Li Han looked back to him. "Well maybe I'm ready to leave you. You're all I've ever had, you know. I can't remember our parents' faces…only yours. But if I can't rely on you to be around, then I think it's time I moved on. Built my life, find a partner, maybe, find what family I can. Without you."

Rahen winced. "You'd cut me out of your life? After everything?"

"How can I?" Li Han bit out, clutching his tunic with his fingers. "You already did."

Perhaps Rahen would have responded. But before either brother could say anything, Sokka pointed something out amongst the dunes. "Down there, what's that?"

Everyone beside Toph looked out. There, within the infinite dunes, was a lone tower. Li Han blinked. What was this building? To Li Han's knowledge, there were no significant outposts in the Si Wong Desert. And none of the tribes he knew of in the area built structures such as the one below.

"Take us down," the Avatar said to his friend. Within moments, they landed close to the strange tower. Li Han frowned. Something about the tower seemed almost strange to him. As the Avatar, his friends, and Rahen got off from the bison, Li Han found himself dismounting as well, squinting his eyes as he tried to discern what it was about the place that bothered him.

Sokka took the lead. "This is really out of place, isn't it? What's a tower like this doing in the middle of the desert?" The Avatar shrugged. Sokka turned to Rahen and Li Han. "Do either of you know about any outpost in the desert that would have a building like this?"

Rahen shook his head. "No. The Earth Kingdom mostly leaves the sandbender tribes to themselves. This is their land, nobody else wants it." He scowled. "I've never seen an Earth Kingdom tower that looks like this one, anyways."

Li Han's eyes widened. "The architecture," he murmured. He blinked, reevaluating the tower with a closer eye. Then, louder, "I've never seen a building with this architectural style. Not Earth Kingdom, Water Tribe, or Fire Nation." He squinted. "What is this place?"

"Uh, guys?" The Avatar pointed to a dune behind them. Li Han stared in shock as a fox trotted down, a scroll in its mouth. It went past them, ignoring the baffled humans as it ran up the side of the tower, and entered.

Everyone was silent for a moment before Sokka spoke. "Well. I think this is worth looking into."

Toph walked up to the building, frowning as her feet met with the sand. She placed her hand against the wall of the tower. "It's not just a tower," she told them. "It's huge." She pressed her hand harder against the wall. "There's so many rooms. And shelves."

"With scrolls?" Sokka said, an intrigued light in his eye. "But it's flooded with sand?"

"No, actually. It's still clear."

"We're going in," Rahen announced. Sokka seemed to agree, tying a rope to his boomerang. He tossed it up, and it hooked onto the side of the window.

"I'm not going in there," Li Han said, placing his hand on his hips. He glared at his brother. "You have no idea what you may find in there. You don't even know if this is what you've been looking for."

"There's nothing else out here," Rahen said, lining up behind Sokka to climb the rope.

Li Han threw his arms up in exasperation. "I may as well argue with this wall." He made no move to follow his brother, instead sitting down in the sand, arms folded.

The Avatar spoke to his sky bison for am moment, before moving to follow Sokka and Rahen. He walked over to Toph before taking hold of the rope. "Are you coming?"

"Books and scrolls don't exactly do much for me," she told him.

"Oh. Right."

"I'll just wait out here with Appa and Li Han. Let me know if you find anything in there I can use…or if anything goes wrong." Li Han couldn't help but groan as the Avatar nodded and began scaling the wall. He sat in silence for a few minutes before glancing at his companion. "You don't like it much out here."

"What's to like? There's nothing but sand." She frowned, folding her own arms. "I'll be glad when we're out of here."

To the side, the Avatar's sky bison let out a loud, deep groan, as if in agreement. "At least we're all on the same page," Li Han muttered, glancing up at the window once more. His brother and the others were all inside. He only hoped that the strange place's secrets wouldn't be a dangerous sort.

Sokka climbed down the rope, down into the library, followed closely by Rahen and Aang. A library, Sokka marveled. It really wasn't a bad way to spend his vacation. One by one, they reached the ground, taking in the sights of the grand building, Momo following soon after to land on Aang's shoulder. "Li Han would love this," he heard Rahen say to himself. Sokka frowned; he idly hoped that the brothers would work things out. Though they had spoken quietly, he had heard enough to know that they were arguing as they flew. Sokka hadn't meant to pour fuel on the fire of their split.

Sokka looked at a mosaic on a wall; it showed a great owl creature. "Hey, does this mean anything to any of you?"

Aang looked at it beside him. "I don't know. Something about this place is…odd."

"You mean spirit world odd, don't you?" Sokka asked him, a small mixture of dread mixing into his excitement. Whenever the spirit world stuff got involved, things always got more difficult. But before Aang could confirm his suspicions, they heard a sound behind them. A sort of ruffling, like…wings? Thinking fast, Sokka and Aang hid behind one of the pillars, Rahen hiding behind the pillar across from them. Taking a glance past the pillar, they could see a giant owl, just like the one in the mosaic, walking on the bridge.

The owl turned its head to look at where they were hiding. "I know you're back there."

Quickly, Aang got back behind the pillar, exchanging a nervous look with Sokka. But Rahen came out from the pillar, staring up at the giant owl.

"I am Rahen, of Yao Sho. I followed a man into this desert, who may have visited this place."

"Ah," the owl said. "And I assume this man you followed was not a friend? Yes, I believe I know of whom you speak. You and your friends had best leave the way you came, unless you wish to meet a similar fate as that one."

Sokka and Aang came out from the pillar, standing beside him. Aang tried to put on a smile. "Hello, uh, owl-spirit. I'm the Avatar, and this is Sokka. We didn't mean to offend you by coming in. We found this place, and our friend saw the shelves of scrolls. We were kinda curious. Who are you, and what exactly is this place?"

For a moment, the giant owl-spirit paused, considering what Aang had said. Then, "This is my library, the greatest collection of knowledge ever compiled. I am Wan Shi Tong, "He Who Knows Ten Thousand Things." And you are all humans, which, by the way, are no longer permitted in my study." Ten thousand things didn't actually sound like that much to Sokka, though he suspected the name was made more for the dramatic sound than by any actual count.

"What do you have against humans?" Aang asked the spirit. Beside him, Rahen crossed his arms, glaring at the spirit. No doubt, he still wanted to investigate what Zhao had found in the library, especially since Wan Shi Tong had basically confirmed that he had come. Sokka himself still wanted to know—though, the vast collection of scrolls and books offered far more to study. Perhaps there was information on the Fire Nation that could be useful.

Assuming, of course, that Wan Shi Tong didn't kill them and actually let them look through the library.

Wan Shi Tong did not look amused by Aang's question. "Hm! Humans only bother learning things to get the edge on other humans. Like the firebender who you followed here. He came to this place a few years ago, looking to destroy his enemy." Sokka frowned. His heartbeat quickened as the spirit leaned over him menacingly. "So ... who are you trying to destroy?"

The Fire Nation. "What? No, no, no, no destroying. We're not into that."

The owl blinked. "Then why have you come here?"

Sokka searched for something good and believable. "Um...knowledge for knowledge's sake?"

Wan Shi Tong was not impressed. "If you're going to lie to an all-knowing spirit being, you should at least put some effort into it."

Sokka grabbed Aang, pulling him to face the spirit. "I'm not lying," he told Wan Shi Tong. "He's the Avatar, remember? He's the bridge between our worlds. He'll vouch for me." Sokka just hoped that Aang was more convincing than he had been. He nudged Aang.

"Ow." Aang momentarily gave him a glare before he turned back to the giant owl spirit. "Uh, yeah, I'll vouch. We will not abuse the knowledge in your library, good spirit. You have my word." They both bowed to Wan Shi Tong. Sokka hoped that Rahen was playing along. Then again, if he had done anything overtly offensive, Sokka suspected Wan Shi Tong would have made it clear.

The spitit considered them for a moment before speaking again. "Hmm, very well. I'll let you peruse my vast collection on one condition." Please, please don't be that we can never leave, Sokka thought. "To prove your worth as scholars, you have to contribute some worthwhile knowledge."

The three of them stood for a moment, trying to think of anything they had to give to the spirit. To Sokka's surprise, Rahen stepped up first, though he looked dejected as he did so. He took out a piece of parchment from his tunic. A letter of some sort, Sokka recognized. "I have a love letter, written in renga poetry, in the sandbenders' dialect." Sokka blinked. Love poems?

But Wan Shi Tong appeared interested in the letter, taking it from Rahen's reluctant hands. "Rengas have rarely been written in the sandbender's dialect. This is a fine tribute."

Aang hesitated, then his face brightened. "Uh ... oh, I know!" He took out a wanted poster from his tunic—of himself. Why did he carry that around with him? And did that really even count?

"I suppose that counts," Wan Shi Tong said. Well, at least he wasn't being too strict…

It was Sokka's turn. He had nothing on him besides his own quick thinking. He could only hope that was enough. He pulled out a string. "Oh, great spirit, check this out!" He tied the piece of string into a butterfly knot, offering it to Wan Shi Tong. "Ta-da! It's a special knot. That counts as knowledge!" The moment felt long as he waited to see whether Wan Shi Tong would accept the string, or if he had provoked the spirit.

Finally, "You're not very bright, are you?" Sokka made an offended noise as Wan Shi Tong took the knot from his hands. "Enjoy the library." With that, the spirit jumps from the bridge, flying down to the lower levels. Sokka, Aang, and Rahen were left along in the library. Sokka could hear a relieved breath escape Rahen's lips. They turned to explore the library.

Sokka lingered for an instant, looking to where Wan Shi Tong had been. "Bright enough to fool you."

Toph spoke idly to Appa and Li Han as she waited for their friends to come back from the library. Appa, of course, did little more than groan in response. Not that Li Han was much better company. He'd mumble responses, and try to be friendly, but she could tell he was more preoccupied with his brother's absence. "You can stop worrying about him, you know. Your brother has survived this long, and he has the Avatar with him. I know Aang doesn't seem like much, but he can handle a himself in a fight."

Li Han let out a breath. She felt him moving, but she couldn't tell how exactly through the vibrations in the sand. "Don't you worry about your friends?"

She folded her arms. "Don't think I don't care about them. But I know they can handle this." She shifted her weight on the sand, frowning at the lack of clarity in her 'vision.' "I've never had such a lack of solid ground," she admitted. "Usually, I can see with my earthbending, but in this sand…everything is a big, fuzzy mess." She didn't like the feeling. It was a bit too close to the true blindness she had experienced when the Fire Nation girl had somehow blocked her bending. She stood in the sand, trying to better feel the movement. She knew that some earthbenders had learnt to bend the sand, but she had never had any reason to learn that skill. She took a breath, quickly letting it back out. She hoped the others would come back from the underground building soon.

Sokka and the others perused the bookshelves, looking at books and scrolls that caught their interest. Sokka had never seen such a collection in his life. In another time, when there was no war, he thought he may truly enjoy reading through some of the collections, satisfying every curiosity he'd ever had. But as it was, he was on the hunt for intelligence on the Fire Nation. Around them, Sokka would occasionally see foxes such as the one they had seen outside, taking scrolls and placing them back on the shelves.

"Hey, look at these weird lion turtle things," Aang said, and Sokka looked over to the book Aang was holding. In it, there was an illustration of a giant lion-turtle.

Sokka shrugged. "I've seen weirder." He continued looking through the shelves.

Nearby them, Rahen looked through the shelves. He paused a few times, looking at some of the books. "Li Han would love this." He looked back to Sokka. "What did Zhao want here?"

Sokka let out a breath. "Knowledge he couldn't find anywhere else in our world. And that's what I want to find, too."

He strolled trough more shelves. A book on poisons. A history of Water Tribe trade. A short treatise on entering the spirit world. An anatomical chart of platypus bears. Finally, Sokka came upon a podium, upon which laid a burnt piece of parchment.

""The darkest day in Fire Nation history,"" he read. "It's got a date at the top, but it doesn't say anything else." He took his machete and pried open the podium, taking out the parchment. He ran through the library, followed closely behind by Aang and Rahen.

"Sokka, where are you going?" Aang called.

"I want to know what happened to the Fire Nation on their darkest day. This could be promising," he told them. "The information on the Fire Nation should be right up here." They entered the room.

But all that remained was ashes.

"Firebenders," Aang said quietly.

"Zhao," Rahen guessed, a deep scowl on his face. "It must have been. When he was here a few years ago, he must have found what he wanted and burned everything that could be used against the Fire Nation."

Sokka was quiet for a few moments before letting out a frustrated growl. "That's so unfair! Just when I think I may've found something useful, it turns out there's nothing left for us to use. Even after he's gone, Zhao still cost us…" He fell to his knees. "I need to know what happened on the darkest day." It was the most promising thing he had encountered. But the lunatic admiral had already scorched anything that could be useful. Sokka heard a whimpering sound, and he looked at the entrance. One of the strange foxes was there, standing on its hind legs. It was staring right at Sokka. "Hello, little weird fox guy."

The fox stood on four legs, pointing out of the room. Aang blinked. "Uh, Sokka? I think he wants us to follow him."

Sokka blinked, but he stood up. "Um, sure, I guess I'll follow you," he told the fox. So they followed the little creature out of the room, and through the halls of the library. Before long, they stood before a great, round door. The fox slipped through, and in moments, the door was open, with the fox waiting for them on the other side. They entered the room.

It was unlike anything Sokka had seen before. A dome, with the sky on it. In the middle of the room, there was a device with a lever. The fox pushed the lever, and the sky above them changed from day to night.

"Uh, this is beautiful, but how is it helpful?" he asked the fox.

"These dials can be used to set a date and time," Rahen observed, touching them lightly. He looked up to the dome, before looking to Sokka. "Give me the date on that parchment. Let's see what happens." Sokka did as he asked, and Rahen entered the date. The room began changing between night and day as it shifted the sky to how it had been on the Darkest Day.

"Wow, I got to hand it to you, Sokka," Aang told him while they waited. "You picked the best mini-vacation for sure." Sokka shot him a quick grin before the room turned dark. Sokka frowned; wasn't it still supposed to be daytime? His eyes narrowed for a moment as he looked at the sky. He grinned.

"It's a solar eclipse," he exclaimed. "It's literally the darkest day in Fire Nation history. Now I get it." He grabbed Aang's shoulders and shook him lightly. "Something awful happened on that day. I don't know what, but I do know why. Firebenders lose their bending during a solar eclipse!" He let go of Aang. "Sorry."

"You mean like what happened at the North Pole?"

Sokka nodded. "Except, without murdering a spirit and almost killing everyone." He heard another whimpering noise, and saw the fox on its hind legs, begging for a treat. "Fine, you earned it." He tossed the fox a piece of jerky he had stored, before turning back to Aang. "We've gotta get this information to the Earth King at Ba Sing Se. We'll wait for the next eclipse, then we'll invade the Fire Nation when they're totally helpless. The Fire Lord is going down!" And they'd have Katara back, too. They had been planning to meet at Ba Sing Se anyways; now they had another reason to be there.

Before anyone could say anything else, a dark shadow appeared in the room. They turned around to see Wan Shi Tong at the entrance of the room. "Mortals are so predictable, and such terrible liars," he said, and his voice carried a quiet fury. Sokka gulped. "You betrayed my trust. From the beginning, you intended to misuse this knowledge for evil purposes."

Evil?! "You don't understand," Sokka argued. "If anyone's evil, it's the Fire Nation. You saw what they did to your library. They're destructive and dangerous. We need this information."

Wan Si Tong was not swayed. "You think you're the first person to believe their war was justified? Countless others before you have come here seeking weapons or weaknesses or battle strategies."

"Such as Zhao?" Rahen asked, stepping away from the dials. He pointed a finger at Wan Si Tong. "You talk about us being bad liars—what about Zhao? How long did you let that madman go through your library, searching for new ways to cause mass destruction? Did you realize he was a monster before or after he set part of your library aflame?" He had a point, Sokka thought. But he very much doubted that Rahen was doing them any favors in his argument.

Aang seemed to agree, stepping up to try to console the spirit. "We had no choice. Please, we're just desperate to protect the people we love."

"And now I'm going to protect what I love," Wan Shi Tong told them. He began flapping his wings and the library began to shake.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm taking my knowledge back. No one will ever abuse it again." Back? Sokka thought. Back to…

There was only one place he could think of that a spirit would go back to. And he was not interested being a prisoner in the spirit world again.

"We have to get out of here!" Aang told them. Sand began pouring in from the ceiling.

But before any of them could do anything, Wan Shi Tong's neck elongated. "I'm afraid I can't allow that. You already know too much."

And he attacked.

There was a rumble beneath their feet. Toph frowned as she felt it, the sand concealing what it was she was feeling. An earthquake? Appa snarled, and she heard a horrified gasp from Li Han. "It's sinking," she said as she realized it. "It's sinking!" And her friends were still inside. She ran up to the tower, slamming her fists against it. She had to keep it above the sand for as long as she could. They would get out—they would. She just had to buy them enough time. He feet began to slip, and she had to solidify her stance. She slammed her fists back with a shout.

"What do we do?" she heard Li Han asking her from behind her.

"Just stay back and let me concentrate!"

She could feel it sinking—though, it felt almost more like it was being pulled down. Beside her, she felt Li Han and Appa. She thought she may have felt something else coming, but everything was fuzzy, and she was too preoccupied with keeping the window above ground for her friends.

Rahen had acted the quickest, sandbending a hard sphere into Wan Shi Tong's eye, but they had little option but to flee. If the spirit hadn't been angry before, now he was in a rage. The library wasn't going under immediately, thankfully, but they knew they had little time left. They had to get out. So it was that they were running through the halls, Wan Shi Tong following at their heels. Aang and Rahen fought against him, trying to slow him down. They reached the bridge where they had come in.

But Sokka hesitated. Aang gave him a frantic look as he saw him stop. "Sokka, we've gotta get out of here!"

"But we still don't know when the next eclipse is gonna to happen." He had to get back into the planetarium.

"Sokka!" It was as much an argument as anything. As much a relief as it had been to learn that Katara was alive, they still didn't want to lose anyone again.

But Sokka was resolute. They would never get an opportunity like this again. "If we leave this place, we'll never get the information. Rahen, come with me to the planetarium, I need cover. Aang, take Momo and get out of here!" Aang hesitated for a long moment as Sokka and Rahen began running back towards the planetarium, before running. He wouldn't leave without then, though.

If she pulled this off, Toph thought, there shouldn't be any doubt that she was the greatest earthbender in the world. Ever.

She held the building up in the sand for as long as she could, feeling a slow scratchiness as it slowly slipped down her palms. She kept her stance as solid as she could in the loose sand. It would be alright. It would be alright, they would make it out before she lost the building. She could still do this for a few more minutes…

And then she heard noise behind her. Appa grunted agitatedly. She heard Li Han speaking, other voices joining his. Several large…boats? There was a large boat in the sand, and several people around Appa.

"Who's there?" she called.

"Sandbenders!" Li Han called out. She thought she felt him close to the sandbenders. A moment later, she heard a hard thwack and she vaguely felt him falling to the ground. He did not get up.

Uncontested, the sandbenders surrounded Appa. Toph could feel Appa struggling against them. Were they taking Appa? No, no, no! We'll be stuck in the desert! And Aang—

What would a bunch of sandbenders to with a sky bison, anyways?

"Don't make me put this down!" She let go of the building for a moment, trying to earthbend the sand at them. But she had never actually tried bending pure sand before, and she could bare see them anyways. She didn't need to feel them to know she had completely missed. But she could also feel the building sinking fast without her holding it up. She went back to trying to hold it up. "No! Stop sinking!" But she heard more of Appa struggling as the sandbenders began to move him against his will. She tried to attack the sandbenders several more times, but each attempt failed. She could feel the building being pulled underground. She couldn't help Appa. "No!" All she could do was try to save Aang and Sokka. She slammed her fists back onto the tower's wall. "I'm sorry, Appa." She closed her eyes.

Aang caught Sokka and Rahen as the rope was cut. They had arrived back from the planetarium in one piece, much to Wan Shi Tong's displeasure. Sokka had a victorious grin on his lips, and Aang knew he had found what he was looking for. Aang strained as he pulled both Sokka and Rahen to the window they had entered through. Wan Shi Tong was right behind; if Aang was just the tiniest bit slower, they would have been caught.

As it was, they just made it out of the window, landing hard outside. Aang heard Toph before he saw her, an exhausted release of her breath as she let go of the tower. That's why it took so long for it to sink, Aang realized. She held it up for us.

Before he knew it, he was being hugged by an elated Sokka. "We got it. There's a solar eclipse coming. The Fire Nation's in trouble now!"

Aang wanted to be happy, too. But he had seen Toph's dejected look and had seen Rahen's frantic run to his brother's side, who was motionless on the ground.

What Aang did not see, anywhere, was Appa.

He walked over to Toph, the only one who may be able to tell him what had happened. "Where's Appa?" But she just shook her head. For once, there was no laughter, no boast, no victory.

Aang's eyes widened as he understood, looking around frantically, desperately, once more. A tear escaped his eyes.

Appa was gone.

So...I'm not dead. Hooray!
But, seriously, I'm sorry to anyone who has been a longtime reader of this fic. I promise, I WILL finish this fic. I may disappear sometimes, but it will not be a total abandonment of this fic. It may take a while, but I will finish this fic.

Anyways. Life's been crazy. Law school has been quite the ride. I have one semester left, then I'll have the bar exam. (Yikes!) It's really kept me busy, at least during the semester. And over the past couple years, when I did get the chance to write, I mostly concentrated on original works of fiction. Which, I am happy to say, has finally started going somewhere: I recently finished the first draft of what I hope to be my first book. It's only a first draft. It still has a looong way to go, but it's a milestone I've never reached before, so I'm incredibly excited.

Back to the fic:

I hope the inclusion of these OCs didn't bug anyone too much. I know opinions vary on the inclusion of ocs.

ALSO:

When I started this fic, years ago, it had a very basic plot. However, in the intervening time I have had an alternate plot idea. It's not immediately necessary for me to decide on which of the two I will do. But, if anyone has an opinion on which you would prefer, feel free to let me know, by either review or a private message.

Plot A:

Closer to canon

Maximum Zutara interaction

Slower pacing

Lighter tone

Plot B:

Larger departure from canon

Significantly reduced Zutara interaction

Arguably, a better Zutara payoff

More character focus

Darker in tone

This isn't a poll. I will, ultimately, make the choice myself. But if you have an opinion either way, feel free to let me know, and I will consider what you have to say before I make a final decision.