The blue spirit walked slowly backward. Two dao swords held close to the neck of the young bald monk in front of him.

In a desperate attempt to escape with the child the blue spirit had grabbed the boy. They need him alive. Together the two walked down the road towards the tree line.

A single arrow flew towards them. The Yuyan archers were famous for their precious. It was only due to the avatar stumbling over a rock that the arrow missed its target's face.

The blue spirit made no sound as the projectile pierced his shoulder.

Aang, the avatar, the boy who's life hung in the blue spirits hands, panicked upon seeing the arrow protruding from his savior.

With a boost of wind, he grabbed the masked man and ran into the trees.

The boy didn't stop until they were very far away from the fortress.

Slowing to a standstill Aang let go of the blue spirit. He leaned against the nearest tree breathing heavily.

"You saved me!"

Aang remembered the arrow in the man's shoulder.

"You've been shot!"

The masked man looked down at the arrow as if noticing it for the first time.

He waved off the boy's concerns. The masked stranger's calmness did little to ease the avatar's anxiety.

"I can take you to my friends. They can help."

The boy's eyes widened.

"Oh no, my friends!"

He looked around desperately.

"They're sick! They need to suck on frozen frogs!"

The blue spirit cocked his head. The boy was amusing he couldn't deny that.

The blue spirit waved to him.

"Wait! You're leaving? But we can help you."

The blue spirit shook his head.

"No? Well, can't you at least come back with me? I want you to meet everyone."

The masked man paused in thought.

It's been so long since I've been with other people. I'm not doing anything anyway...

The man tapped his temple to signal to the avatar he had an idea.

"You're thinking something? What is it?"

He gestured to the clearing and pointed to the sun.

"You want to meet back here at... sunset?"

The blue spirit nodded his confirmation.

"Okay! I'll bring my friends! I need to hurry but you seem like you can take care of yourself. We'll talk tonight."

With that, the desperate boy ran off to find frozen frogs.


Sokka wiped his tongue frantically. He had a frog in his mouth! It touched my throat flap thingy! He was blaming Aang if he got throat warts...

"So what happened anyway," katara asked.

"Yeah! Why did you make us suck on frogs!"

Aang rubbed his neck sheepishly.

"Well I went to go see the healer and she said they would cure you, but on the way back I kinda got caught..."

"What!"

Socka wanted to strangle the kid at that moment.

"Well there were the archers and they captured me. They took me to Zhao and chained me up."

He wanted to scream at the boy.

"Hold on just a second," Katara said holding a hand up to him. "If you got caught how did you escape?"

Aang perked up immediately.

"This guy saved me! He burst through the doors with two long swords and this scary mask! He cut off the chains with a single swipe."

The boy motioned with his hands for emphasis.

"We were running down the halls and then the alarm went off! So we started climbing and we used stilts to get over the walls. He was awesome!

"I'd never seen anybody fight like him! It's like his swords were a part of him or something!"

Aang talked excitedly, socka couldn't help but remember just how young he was.

Katara was looking excited too.

"Well what's his name," she asked.

"Uhhhh," Aang rubbed his neck again, "I don't know."

Alarm bells were going off in socka's head.

"He didn't talk at all. Or make any sound really, even when he got shot."

"Wait! He got shot!"

Socks couldn't hold back his shouting anymore.

"Well yeah... with an arrow, but he seemed to be handling it and I had to come to help you guys and—"

"We get it," Katara said. "What do you know about this guy who saved you?"

Socka nodded.

"Yeah tell us."

"Well, you can meet him yourself. We agreed to meet back up at sunset back where we split up."

Katara and socka glanced at each other. They had to meet this guy.

Socka was worried. Sometimes Aang could be too trusting. A masked vigilante he never speaks... suspicious.

They came to a mutual agreement.

"Okay okay, I want to meet this guy. Just don't be too surprised if he's not as good as you think he is."

Aang frowned.

"You'll see. Maybe he'll even show you some fighting moves."

The siblings met each other's eyes again.

"Then we better get ready," socka said, "it's almost sunset."