7 years later…
"So Sokka…what's for dinner?" Asked Katara, as they journey through the deserted Air Nation on their way to the North Pole, Sokka emptied a little pouch he'd taken with him, "We've got some mushrooms, edible…I think, some nuts, some rock-shaped nuts," then he looked sadly at himself and said, "I wonder why I even bother."
"Don't worry Sokka, you tried your best…no one's blaming you." said Aang.
Katara nodded in support when she saw something strange, out of the corner of her eye she thought she saw a shadow move amongst the trees, but when she turned to look it was gone. "Katara, hello…anybody home?" asked Sokka, waving his hand in her face.
"Oh sorry, I just thought I…" she started to say, then trailed off. "Something funny is going on around here." she thought to herself, for this was not the first but the third time she thought she'd seen something move, as if someone, or something was following them.
"Hey Sokka…you don't mind if I use some of those mushrooms to make a soup, do you?" Katara asked.
"Go ahead." Sokka replied.
Later that night Katara made the soup plus one extra bowl, though Aang and Sokka asked why she had, the only response they got was "I have my reasons."
As soon as everyone was asleep (except for Katara, who kept one eye open a crack to see if she was right), there came a rustling in the bushes, Katara watched as a lone figure in a grey cloak came forward, he had beige pants and a black tunic. She recognized the pants as something an Air Nomad might wear, but the tunic looked like the make of the Fire Nation. The person picked up the bowl and took a spoonful of the soup, flinched and then looked at it, then set it down and took out a small traveling purse. From it he took some weird looking leaves, grounded them up in his hand and threw them in the soup and stirred it, then the strangest thing happened, she saw him conjure fire to reheat the bowl, only it wasn't an orange flame but a purplish-black color, the stranger then took another spoonful and nodded his head at his own doctoring of the soup.
When he finished he got up and walked over towards them, he crouched down and looked at Aang and Momo first. Katara swore she could hear him whisper something that sounded like "The Avatar."
Then he stooped over Sokka and examined him, and last he hovered above Katara, her heart went racing, she felt his hand go over her eyes as he said, "Time for the dreamer to sleep….time for the dreamer to dream….sleep my child, and dream of lands you once knew." His voice was that of someone her age, it was gentle and yet seemed to echo a great inner power. She tried to stir, but with his voice she found it harder to move, "No child, the moon is waning…the night is failing, now is the time for your sleep."
When she awoke it was morning, she didn't see any foot prints on the ground so she believed she must have dreamt the whole thing, "But his hand the way it felt, it felt so real."
"Well look who's finally awake." Said Sokka with a smirk. "Woke up found you still deep asleep."
She looked and saw Momo playing with an empty soup bowl, Sokka looked at it, "Yeah, little guy found it out…it was dry, but I found a spoon next to it."
That's when it hit her, that she hadn't been dreaming, "Then it was real…he was really here." she said to herself.
"Who was here Katara?" asked Aang.
She looked at her surroundings, she knew someone was still watching them, "I don't think we're alone out here."