Book 2: Earth

Chapter 18: The Second Guru

I knew I could never hide the truth from you, Bumi.

A huge part of me is glad you were able to pick it up so quickly. You're the only person in the whole world who knew me all those years ago, knew how much I had changed since then. Appa, too, I suppose. I think it makes him sad sometimes but it's not like he can say anything.

Years ago, Toph told me never to change. That's like telling the wind to be as unyielding as a mountain. I broke that promise. I didn't mean to. But wasn't some part of me always like this? In my world, when I lost Appa in the desert, I was so full of rage and helplessness. I took the life of an innocent creature for the first time. On other occasions, I've raged at my friends for things I didn't actually blame them for. Thinking back, a lot of those times were to defend Appa or some other part of my culture.

The anger inside of me was always there. It's just that now I'm long past hiding it.

"So now you're hiding the kid inside of you, who you really are?" you asked.

I didn't have an answer for that.


"What gives? Why was I arrested too? I didn't have anything to do with the attack on the palace!"

Sokka pulled against his bonds in vain, holding back his curses for the Dai Li. They held him in a dark room that smelled of mildew with walls and floors of wood to hold Ghashiun's earthbending in check. Metal bars split the room in half and separated them from the three Dai Li agents on the other side. Sokka's brain worked in overdrive as he tried to think of a way out of the situation - he had no one to blame but himself for getting arrested, but he didn't think of the possibility of his plan backfiring this badly.

If they found out he was a waterbender…

Ghashiun's metal chains clinked as he struggled and writhed against Sokka's back. "I didn't, either. It was just a stupid ploy. I want to see my sister."

One of the Dai Li, a man with a brutal scar across the bridge of his nose, sneered at him. "We'll see about that. A pending investigation suggests sandbender involvement in the palace attack. And we're not completely ruling out Water Tribe culprits, either," he said, shooting Sokka a victorious smirk.

Sokka glared right back at him.

"He's not Water Tribe," Ghashiun said, his defense taking Sokka by surprise. "He ran away from one of their colonies when he was a kid."

"Oh, so he's a mud baby," said the Dai Li agent. "Just as bad, if you ask me."

Ghashiun's voice broke and his head fell. "Just let me see Nagi, please."

The agent chuckled. Sokka wanted nothing more than to give him another scar. "Begging now? Well, it's your lucky day. I happen to know Nagi - she used to work here until she got promoted up to the palace. Won't she be disappointed to see her dear little brother involved in an attack on the palace she fights to defend?" He turned around to depart. "Might take some time. Who knows if I'll even be able to get a hold of her? I haven't decided yet if I want to."

After he left, Sokka nudged Ghashiun in the arm. "Thanks for defending me," he said.

Ghashiun scoffed. "Is that some of your infamous sarcasm coming through?"

"No," Sokka said. "Really."

Ghashiun had the opportunity to out him and Katara and the whole invasion force beneath the city, but he didn't. Sokka supposed that had to count for something. His eye scanned the room beyond the metal bars, trying to formulate a plan and adjusting for Ghashiun's involvement. He suspected the Dai Li used this as a headquarters and a makeshift prison until their prisoners could be transferred somewhere else - from what Sokka could tell, it was a simple one room building in the Lower Ring, perhaps one of many for each neighborhood. The two Dai Li left in the room with Sokka and Ghashiun sat on plain wooden stools with a shipping crate as their table, upon which they played a bone dice game in boredom.

They waited through the better part of the night before the door opened to admit a new arrival. Another Dai Li agent, this one a young woman - perhaps a year or two older than Sokka and Ghashiun - who wore a brown cowl beneath her conical hat and an unadorned copper circlet across her forehead. She had a thick, black braid that poked out of it and fell to the base of her throat and eyes as dark as Ghashiun's. Sokka's first thought was that she was really pretty.

"Ghashiun!" she exclaimed, pressing right up to the bars to examine him more closely. Her face hardened. "How could you do something so foolish?"

Ghashiun recoiled as if stung by a scorpion-beetle. "I haven't seen you in so long… I missed you, sister."

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, turning to her colleagues. "Might you two leave us? I'll be fine."

Only one Dai Li agent got up to depart, but the other remained. "No can do, Nagi. You know the rules."

She sighed but then turned back to Ghashiun. "You're lucky that Kong likes to brag to me about anything he can. I never would have learned of you otherwise." She snapped her fingers. "Really bad timing to get arrested, Ghashiun. The people of Ba Sing Se are really distrustful of our people as it is, and some rumors are beginning to arise about Si Wong's involvement in the attack on the palace."

"We had nothing to do with it," Ghashiun said. "This was just an idea we had to find you."

Nagi's shoulders fell as if she had deflated. "I'll see what I can do. I may have gotten promoted recently but my standing among the Dai Li is tenuous at best and you jeopardized that. You may be able to walk free but there will still be an investigation and if you're lucky, a trial. And I dearly, dearly hope you entered the city through legal means."

Ghashiun averted his gaze. "I don't know why you're so determined to be part of a group that looks down on our people. They don't care about Si Wong."

"It's all fine," Sokka said, putting on a cocksure smile. "We didn't do anything wrong, so there's nothing to worry about. So, how 'bout getting rid of these chains?"

Nagi switched her gaze to him. "Who is this?"

"Tseng," Ghashiun said quickly. "A friend of mine. He helped me find you."

She pressed her palm to her forehead and shook her head. "I'll see what I can do to get you out of here. But it may take time."


The morning came, and with it the songs of crested birds with russet plumage. Aang rose from bed early despite staying up through the long hours of the night, his sleep troubled by constant planning and thinking in circles, so after the sun rose he decided to go outside into the garden outside of their house to watch the birds and hopefully settle his mind enough to meditate. He didn't bother to put on a shirt, but he did reach for a plain brown robe that he hung over his shoulders.

He slipped through the back door, his bare feet soft against the lacquered cherry wood that lined the outside of their house. Wooden pillars made of the same wood held up a pergola upon which hung twisting vines. Tiny white flowers sprouted along them, snaking along the ivy and coating much of the back of the house. He sat underneath the ivy and looked over the koi ponds just beyond a coating of white gravel that covered the ground and layers of slate that formed the border around the still water. A sparrow landed near the water's edge, but one of the crested birds squawked and scared it away. Appa calmly munched on a bundle of hay off to Aang's right, just outside the fence of the koi pond gardens, and gave off a low rumble of greeting.

Aang closed his eyes and sat in a lotus position, listening to the far-off sounds of the Upper Ring as nobles and government officials began their day. He focused on the more pleasing sounds - the birds in the sky, the wind in the trees that disturbed distant chimes, running water in the canal that flowed through the streets beyond. He smelled the overpowering lacquer beneath him and past that to the earthy aroma of the soil and trees, the algae stagnant upon the pools.

He thought of plum blossoms and fireflies and Azula, but that picture in his head also brought to mind Princess Azula and the revelation that she had been there all along, behind this Azula's eyes. Preying on his friend. Watching him and everything he did.

The sound of a lemur chattering pulled him from his musings. Literally - Sabi had jumped on his head and tugged at his ears. "Sabi, not now," he said, stubbornly keeping his eyes closed. But she insisted, prattling as she moved to his back and pawed at his robe. Aang sighed and opened his eyes, only to see Sabi the lemur sitting in the gravel in front of him with her head tilted in something like confusion, her floppy ears pressed back against her head. "What?"

He jumped up and twisted around, but whatever creature that had clung to him had ducked under his arms and coiled up to his shoulder. A ringed tail slapped against Aang's face and he reached up to grab it but it flicked just out of his reach. Tiny, furry hands wrapped around his head and nuzzled into his hair, but he pried the creature from his head and held it in front of him, eyes wide in disbelief.

"Momo?" he asked, his voice tentative. The new lemur looked at him with wide eyes and started flapping and screeching, struggling against Aang's grip. Startled, he let go, only for the lemur to launch at Aang again and climb around his torso. Sabi arched her back and hissed, but flew directly at Aang in what he could only assume to be protectiveness, and suddenly Aang found himself caught between a whirlwind of two screeching, fighting lemurs. "Hey, wait! Both of you, cut it out!"

"What's happening?" The sliding door behind Aang pushed open and Azula came out, her hair in disarray and clothes bedraggled. "I do not like being woken up so early by all this screeching."

Zuko and Toph came out right after her, the former with his blades at the ready. "Where did that come from?" Zuko shouted above the din.

Aang's efforts to calm the fighting lemurs were in vain, but they finally stopped when Appa trudged over and unleashed a deafening roar that was sure to wake up all of the Upper Ring. Both lemurs promptly disengaged, Sabi curling around Aang's legs while the new arrival flew over to Toph's head.

"Finally," Toph said. "But this isn't Sabi on my head, is it?"

Aang peered closer at the other lemur now that it sat still and nuzzled against Toph. Something inside of him tugged at the lemur, a tendril of energy that connected them both, and Aang remembered the words of the swampbender from ages and ages ago. We are all connected. Aang's face split into a grin. "It's true. It is Momo, it has to be."

"The lemur from your world?" Zuko asked. "Like, physically? The same exact lemur you knew?"

"I don't know," Aang said. It might've been impossible to tell for sure, but he found that it didn't matter. It felt like a piece of home had come back and found him. Sabi sniffed the air, hesitantly approaching Momo.

"Did you see this?" Azula asked. She held up a rolled piece of parchment tied with string. "It was on the ground."

"No," Aang said, brow furrowed. "I guess Momo must have brought it with him?"

She unrolled it, briefly scanned its contents, and handed it to Aang with something like a frown marring her features. "It's for you."

He accepted it, confused, and read the tiny scrawl aloud for Toph's benefit.

"Avatar Aang,

I hope this letter finds you well. You may recognize this little lemur as an old friend of yours - I found him quite recently. What a bundle of energy he is! His intelligence and loyalty are nothing to be scoffed at. Just like another, in another time and another place, I have no doubt that he will make his way to you with this letter. You are connected, after all.

But I also wrote this letter to deliver grave news. The Spirit World is in disarray, as I am sure you know, and it is only getting worse. As the Avatar, it is your duty to do something about this, first and foremost. We will work through this conundrum together. I am sure you remember where to find me.

-Guru Pathik"

"You know him?" Zuko asked, his voice low with suspicion. "How?"

"I do," Aang said. But more concerning was that Pathik seemed to know Aang. "And I need to go to the Eastern Air Temple."

"You do?" Azula asked. She clenched her fist in readiness. "Let's go, then."

Aang shook his head. "No. I think… I need to go alone."

"Who is this guy?" Toph asked. "I don't think I need to remind you guys about the last time we met a weird guru. And he kind of kidnapped Zuko. But he seemed to know something about your other world."

Aang moved the conversation indoors, lost in thought. Last time, when he left Ba Sing Se, he returned to find that everything had begun its descent towards disaster. But Pathik's knowledge might be too valuable to ignore, regardless of how much he knew about Aang's world. "Last time I met this guru, he taught me how to use the Avatar State," he said. "Even here, I haven't been able to control it."

Didn't he venture into the Spirit World, putting all of this into motion in the first place, to regain his connection to the Avatar State? Would Guru Pathik have all of the answers? Back in his world, he never heard from the eccentric old man again; it was like he had vanished off of the face of the earth after Sozin's Comet came. He barely heard his friends discussing things behind him until Azula put a hand on his shoulder.

"Why do you have to go alone?" she asked. He looked into her piercing golden eyes, hawk-like in their intensity. Calculating, but determined.

He put his hand over hers and removed it from his shoulder. "Last time I left to go meet him, Princess Azula took that time to infiltrate the city. I wasn't there to stop her, and Sokka and Toph also left for their own reasons."

That train of thought also brought him somewhere else. Toph's parents weren't alive in this world, so if things proceeded the same way she would have no reason to leave. But Zuko and Azula…

The front door opened and they all looked to see Mai standing in the doorway. She stepped inside and closed it behind her. "Good, you're all here," she said. "Word from the Creeping Crystal. Bumi says they're allied with a contingent of Fire Nation soldiers stationed in Chameleon Bay. A man named Ozai leads them and he requested help from the Creeping Crystal." She averted her eyes. "I remember you told me once, Zuko, that he's…"

Aang let out a lungful of air he didn't know he held. There it is... What timing.

"Father," Zuko breathed, eyes wide. "He's… nearby?"

"Aang, you don't seem surprised," Azula said, peering at him, her face devoid of emotion.

He crossed his arms, gooseprickles tingling at the back of his neck as he considered the idea of meeting Ozai in this world. Azula was one thing. Katara was another. But he didn't know if he could handle seeing the Fire Lord himself. "I'm… not," he said after a moment. "If… if you two want to go meet him, I'd understand."

Toph shrugged. "Yeah. I don't mind staying behind with Madame Dreary and whipping Katara into shape if she tries anything. I don't wanna work on getting the Council of Five or Wu on our side, though."

Mai rolled her eyes at the nickname.

"I don't know," said Zuko, frowning. He looked at Azula. "Father… Dad… It'd be strange to see him. And this might sound crazy, but I'm not sure if I'm ready to. And I know Aang wouldn't want to see him at all."

Azula put a hand on her hip. "Not surprised at all, Zuzu. Part of me might have jumped at the chance a while ago, but we've gone two years without seeing him and I don't feel the need to rush to find him anytime soon." She looked back to Aang again and snickered. "Besides, remember how Aang reacted when we tried to go leave with Zhao? He might get angry at us again."

Aang frowned. "I don't want to get between you and your family. Not again."

Azula scoffed at that. "We haven't really been a family since Mom died. Besides, as you said, we're needed more here."

"But we have Toph, Mai, the Roku Warriors, even Jet and the Creeping Crystal…"

"No, Aang," Azula said, her voice hard. "That's final. We're staying, so you go run along with that guru and do what you need to do." She looked away from him, then, as if in dismissal.

"Yeah. We'll keep an eye out for Katara and Sokka," said Zuko, clenching his fist. "How did the Fire Nation invade last time?"

"It was just three of them," Aang said, turning away from Azula. Something else seemed to be on her mind and he wasn't sure what. "Azula, Mai, and Ty Lee. They infiltrated the Kyoshi Warriors and took down Ba Sing Se from the inside. So maybe that means… they might try to take over the Roku Warriors?"

They all looked at Mai, who shrugged. "I guess that's possible. A bunch of my people are still stationed at Sanctuary Gate, or along the route from here to Lake Laogai, so we're kind of spread thin."

"All right," Aang said. He felt a little more comfortable now at the idea of leaving Ba Sing Se for a little while. "Then you guys start an investigation. Send word to Sanctuary Gate and make sure all of your people are still there. Toph should be able to find out if anyone's not where they're supposed to be, or if someone's in disguise…"

"Aang," said Toph, her voice brusque. "We can handle this. Just go."

He felt a rush of gratitude toward his friends, especially because part of him suspected Zuko and Azula didn't go see Ozai because of what they knew about the Fire Lord and respected his feelings about that. "But…"

Azula swiped her hand at him, her eyes like fire. "Go!"

He put up his hands in a gesture of surrender. "Okay, okay, let me go get changed first…"


Zuko sighed in a way that would have made Mai proud as he worked through his morning rituals to prepare for the day ahead. Ducked over the washroom sink, he splashed his face with cold water to wash away the remains of shaving cream - a necessity, since the soft peach fuzz on his face did not make for convincing facial hair so he kept his cheeks smooth instead. Cold droplets dripped down his bare chest when he stood upright and examined himself in the mirror. Focusing on his breathing, he tended to his inner flame like Azula taught him and watched as the water turned to steam and drifted away.

He grinned at his reflection. He never realized gaining the ability to bend would give him small joys like that. How much did his sister and Aang and all the other benders take for granted? He must have been the first person in history to develop bending after not being born with it. Strangest of all, it felt natural - like a part of him had been missing and had returned to him. He promised himself that he'd never take his new gift for granted and offered silent thanks to the prince who had bequeathed it to him.

For just a second - long enough for Zuko to think he imagined it - he saw a nasty burn scar imposed over his eye in the mirror. He brought his hand up to his face, startled, and let out a breath of relief when he felt smooth skin beneath his fingers.

He shrugged into his red and yellow sleeveless vest and tied it shut with a sash across his waist, leaving his hair artfully tousled. It felt good to wear Fire Nation clothes again after Aang had insisted to the point of paranoia that they blend into the Earth Kingdom. He left the washroom and felt a familiar weight on his shoulder as soon as he got to the main hall - Sabi drifted down from the rafters to land on him, purring softly into his ear. She stayed behind while Aang brought the new lemur, Momo, with him to the Eastern Air Temple.

"Looks like it's just us, Sabi," he said, scratching the lemur behind the ears. "All the girls left me behind because none of them wanted to head to the palace. Now how is that fair?" Somehow, it had fallen on Zuko to find a way to convince the generals to go to war while they investigated the Roku Warriors. Azula had said that it was because he would never give up.

He supposed she was right about that. He had even drafted up talking points for his argument to bring forth to the Council of Five, tucked safely under his arm.

As soon as he opened the front door to head out, he found himself face to face with Jet, of all people. "Jet? What's going on?" Sabi ducked behind his head, crouched low.

The Freedom Fighter strode inside, a surly look on his face and a posture so taut he seemed ready to spring into action at any moment. "Where's Aang?" he asked.

Zuko scowled, still bitter over how easily he had fallen to Jet's manipulations in the past. Just because he counted himself among the Creeping Crystal now it didn't mean he was trustworthy. "He's not here. What do you want?"

Jet turned back to the door sharply and let out something of a growl. "Sokka's in town. I saw him. Did you guys just let him get away from you?"

Zuko's eyes widened. "Seriously? He's not… in hiding or anything? Disguised like a soldier?" The others needed to know about this immediately - if they caught Sokka in time, they could stop Aang's prediction from coming true.

"That's not a bad idea, actually. I'm kind of upset I didn't think of that."

The voice came from the doorway and Zuko felt fire in his veins when he saw Katara leaning against the doorframe, arms crossed. She wore Earth Kingdom clothing but there was no denying who she was, the coldness in her eyes. "Katara!" he exclaimed, holding a stance with an open palm and fist.

"Huh?" Jet said. "That's June."

Zuko sent a flurry of punches at her, his movement causing Sabi to fly up to safety. Fireballs erupted from his fists, but Katara swiped out a hand almost lazily and water met them in a hiss of steam. "Sokka's sister," Zuko grunted, focusing as he tried to stay on the move, avoiding her water that slipped across the floor.

Jet, to his credit, leapt into action with his hook swords without a word of protest - just a snarl of anger. Katara ducked underneath his blows, her face the picture of perfect ease, flowing like water. Zuko rushed in closer to engage with unsheathed blades, and for a moment he and Jet sliced at only air despite surrounding her from both sides.

She bent backwards beneath a double horizontal swing from both of them, their swords locking for just a moment, but Katara conjured water from thin air and froze them together with a breath. Zuko lurched forward when Jet tugged on them so Zuko let go, fire burning in his palm as he brought it up to Katara in an uppercut. She gripped his wrist and redirected it out of the way in one fluid movement, towards Jet, who wrenched his sword free to avoid it only for Katara to hit him in the gut with a globule of water.

The attack sent Jet back to the wall where she froze him in place and Zuko almost stumbled before he realized she had somehow frozen his feet to the floor. He let out a yell of frustration as he freed himself with kicks of fire, going on a furious offensive of attacks to do anything he could to shake her.

He knew it was hopeless. He knew he was outmatched, still only a novice firebender. But he couldn't give up.

His muscles tensed, painfully, and then stopped moving. Zuko saw his veins clench, prominent on his pale skin, and against his will his arms clamped at his sides. Eyes wide and heart hammering with fear, he watched as Katara stood before him with fingers splayed like claws. He knew at once what this was, what she had been capable of, but he was not prepared for the horrifying feeling of his limbs leaving his control.

The ghost of a smirk passed across Katara's face. "That was slightly more fun than I expected," she admitted. "And I wish I could have drawn it out for longer, really, since I owe you for the little mark on my face." For the first time, Zuko saw the shadow of a burn scar under her left eye and swelled with pride that he had managed to do that to her. "But there's not enough time for that."

Jet stumbled to his feet behind Katara and she held out a hand to him as well, grasping control of his body. He bent down in jerky movements to pick up his swords, tuck them into Katara's belt, and stand at Zuko's side. The look on Jet's face must have mirrored Zuko's own. "What… what is this? What's happening?" he gasped out.

Rage bubbled in Zuko's gut when she held them both under her thrall with one hand, almost casually, while Katara bent to pick up Zuko's dual blades, admiring them as if she were a collector carrying out an appraisal. "I think you should have stuck with using these," she said to Zuko. "Your firebending is pretty pitiful."

His jaws opened wide and he yelled in anger, unable to do anything else, and the rage that churned inside him uncoiled like a dragon, slithering up to his chest and then his throat. Flames burst forth from his tongue in a wave of red and orange that he saw reflected in Katara's wide blue eyes for just a moment until she managed to summon enough water to defend herself from the attack. Zuko felt feeling return to his fingers just long enough to throw himself in a tackle at Katara, but she regained her composure quickly enough to halt his movements after he knocked them both to the floor.

Zuko stared right into her eyes, his limbs locked like stone again but feeling oddly satisfied to have her pinned on the ground under him. "Still think my firebending is pitiful?" His voice came out in a lower rasp than normal. He felt like he had fried his vocal chords and didn't think he could muster up the energy for another attack like that anytime soon. "That's… twice now I took you by surprise."

She pushed him off of her, both hands trained on the boys to hold them as still as she could. "You'll never get another chance."

The room felt several degrees colder as she rose to her feet, all mirth gone from her eyes. She swept her hands toward the back of the house and both Zuko and Jet dragged their feet to the back door and out to the koi gardens. A canal passed through the back of it, cutting off their property from the rest of the Upper Ring, far from the eyes of any onlookers. Before this, Zuko liked the privacy it had given them, but now there was no one around to see Katara holding them both under her control.

"What are you doing to us?" Jet asked, grunting and struggling against her bloodbending to no avail. "How are you doing this?"

"I'm taking you two where no one else will find you," she said from behind Zuko. He watched Jet bodily throw himself into the canal and Zuko's feet followed disobediently after. Cold water embraced Zuko as Katara submerged them both completely and dove in after them, the current and her waterbending carrying all three of them away with all the force of a raging river. His lungs burned for air and he grasped at his throat, not even realizing that he could move his limbs again, but it didn't matter because he couldn't do anything else. His fingers couldn't find purchase on the stone that passed by them too quickly.

His body slammed into Jet and they were a tangle of limbs, both struggling and writhing and completely at Katara's mercy. He couldn't see her anymore - the current was all he knew, and it swept them away until his chest convulsed with breaths never taken and his vision went blurry. Darkness claimed him and his last thought was the agony that his mother once suffered through the same pain he did now.


The morning brought Sokka and Ghashiun's release from the Dai Li, something Sokka wasn't sure was going to happen at all. But Nagi pulled through, letting them free with a warning and a promise that there'd be an investigation into everything about their arrival in Ba Sing Se and activities since then.

Sokka wasn't concerned. He knew they'd never get the chance before the Water Tribes took over.

Sokka returned to the apartment without Ghashiun, leaving him free to enjoy his time with his sister that Sokka wanted no part of. He found Suki, who informed him that their warriors had slowly and cautiously moved back into positions around the underbelly of the city, coordinating along with Yue. More warriors had vanished overnight, dredging up fear and tension among the men, but still they pressed on.

However, he'd come to learn that no one had seen Katara all through the night Sokka spent in the Dai Li's clutches, which worried and infuriated Suki to no end (especially once she had found out what he had been up to). Sokka tried not to think too much about it. Katara ran off in a temper the day before, but he figured she probably just stewed over it and she'd come around eventually once she cooled off. He'd long ago learned that there was no stopping her anger; once the floodgate opened all he could do was let it drain away.

The smell of meat cooking in a street cart wafted to his nose, and while he couldn't identify the meat itself it made his mouth water with hunger. Another street cart had fish simmering in an oyster sauce that gave him an unexpected feeling of nostalgia for home, for the hot meals his mother and grandmother prepared together.

At first he thought he'd imagined it when the little old woman he bumped into looked like Gran, easily explained because she swam at the surface of his thoughts. But when her blue eyes locked with his, he tensed every muscle in his body.


Kanna had come to the Paper Lantern Neighborhood to visit Piandao at his calligraphy job, intending to drop off a basket of lunch - rice noodles and chickenpig. So it was only coincidence that she bumped into her grandson on her return home.

She saw his jaw clench, his eye wide with surprise. He was truly here, just as the Avatar suspected, which meant that Katara couldn't be far. Every instinct in her along with her sense of duty cried out for her to alert Piandao. Aang. Even the Dai Li. But her duty meant nothing right now; it had caused her nothing but trouble in the past. She knew what she should have done but above all she also knew she loved Sokka - in no world could she ever turn in her own grandson, her blood, no matter what he did.

Her lip quivered and she reached out a hand as if to cup his cheek. "Sokka…"

His eyes were hard, like ice. "What are you going to do now, Gran?" It was clear to Kanna that he knew she had all the power in this situation. She couldn't say what he would do with that knowledge - whether he would spring into action or run away and hide, but neither of those things were in Sokka's nature.

He had his father's wits, and despite everything he retained his mother's compassion. Both traits Kanna couldn't help but be proud of. Kya's light still remained within him, the exact shade of blue shared in both of their eyes. She had to tell him now before it was too late - running into him like this could only be the work of the spirits deciding to bless her with good fortune. A small window of opportunity.

"I'm going to tell you the truth, my grandson," she said, taking his hand in both of hers. He didn't pull away. The sea of people continued flowing around them, unknowing and uncaring of the reunion in their midst. "About what happened to your mother on that night seven years ago. It's time for you to know and I regret not telling you earlier. But it hurt too much to say."

His eye widened again, face slack with surprise, but he quickly recovered his mask. "You mean before you betrayed me to the Avatar?"

The icicle twisted in her chest, a familiar feeling. "Yes," she said. "Another regret of mine. I never wished for you to go through such an ordeal." She paused and released his hand. "Come with me, my grandson."

She led him back to the home she shared with Piandao and he followed, wordless, which suited her just fine because she wasn't sure if she could say anything else, like she would run out of words before she told him what she needed to say. She didn't even brew a pot of tea and instead sat down upon the cushions and told Sokka everything. He listened with rapt attention, unable to tear himself away from the truth he hungered for all these years. When tears fell from his eye, she wanted nothing more than to hug him. Part of her expected him to hate her, to decry her for her inaction, but she had to tell him the truth to make up for his loss of trust.

Her voice came out in a croak after she finished her story. "Can you forgive an old woman her mistakes?"

He wiped his eye, too proud to let his tears continue to fall. He cleared his throat before speaking. "So you've been a traitor to the Water Tribes all this time?"

"Ever since that day," she confirmed. If he saw her as a traitor, so be it. She looked toward the shuttered window at the sunbeams lancing through, casting them in the orange of sunset. "That part… I do not regret."

"Part of me has always blamed Katara," he said, burying his head in his hands. "It was childish. It was wrong. But I needed to direct those feelings somewhere."

She nodded. "I understand that well. If you keep your feelings behind a dam they either stagnate or burst through."

Both of them fell silent and Kanna wished she had wisdom to offer him, anything at all to help him sort through what she had just revealed. To help him come to a decision. "What will you do now?" she asked finally. "Will you tell your sister?"

Sokka let out a long sigh. "I don't know what I'm supposed to do. My mom, she… she could be alive. And I miss her so much."

She watched him closely, his hand clamped over his mouth and his eye staring at nothing in particular. "You are at a crossroads, my dear Sokka. And you need to do what you feel is right. You think too much."

He stood, fists clamped at his sides. "Well, I feel like I need to go." He walked to the door, hesitating for a moment before opening it, but he didn't look back. "Goodbye, Gran."

Kanna wondered if she just added another mistake to a life full of them.


His grandmother was right, he did think too much.

He thought about his mother. He thought about Katara, and how she still hadn't shown herself even as night fell and he descended into the undercity with Suki to meet up with Yue. He thought about his father and his grandmother. His grandfather, the previous emperor, a man he scarcely knew. He thought of his tribe and the Water Nation as a whole, and the plan to conquer Ba Sing Se that felt more and more reckless with each passing day.

And finally, the Avatar. The boy who tried to befriend him in the most misguided way for reasons he couldn't decipher. The boy behind whom his grandmother had thrown her support.

The practical thing, the logical thing, would be to tell Katara he had seen Gran. But was going to his sister with all his problems the right thing to do? That wasn't what he wanted, he was sure of that.

But what did he want?

He stepped aside to let Suki pass first through a particularly cramped stretch of the tunnels, the low ceiling forcing both of them to crouch down as they walked. Footsteps and low chatter echoed ahead, and when the tunnel evened out again Sokka and Suki found themselves in a small chamber with a high-arched aqueduct running through it. Here they found Yue waiting for them, standing a little away from Ghashiun and Nagi who currently engaged in a rather one sided argument.

"Did you tell father you were coming to find me?"

"No, sister."

"I can't believe you did something so reckless. I'm sorry for not reaching out but my promotion came so suddenly and I didn't want to send any letters to… you know. Just in case."

"I figured that would be the best case scenario. But I had to make sure."

"By getting yourself arrested?"

"By coming to find you! You should know that things are rarely 'best case scenario' with us."

"Like that thing with the Hami tribe? Your fault."

"They stole from us first."

"Or that time you tried to scavenge from a beetle merchant's caravan only to find that all of them were inside their sand sailers and simply asleep?"

"An easy mistake."

Yue shifted uncomfortably as the siblings argued but looked immensely relieved as soon as she spotted Sokka and Suki. "Oh! There you are. It's good to see you two." She walked over and pulled Suki into a tight embrace, who returned it. "After Sokka and Katara's constant arguing I thought I would be prepared for this," she added in a low whisper. "But they shift from one topic to the next when they argue."

One part of their argument did stick out to Sokka and he latched onto it. "So you could've sent your brother a letter all this time and you didn't?" he said, crossing his arms. "Why not? That could have saved a lot of trouble."

The question effectively silenced them both from arguing. "Well, you're refugees, right?" Nagi asked. Sokka shared a glance with Ghashiun, who kept his face impassive. Ghashiun still had not, apparently, shared that he worked with the Water Nation. "Then you may know about the other safe haven, Si Wong City. There aren't many of us Si Wong tribespeople among the Dai Li and they prefer that we don't maintain any connections to our homeland. The leaders of Ba Sing Se all feel threatened by it… and if a city like this feels threatened by you, you tend to do what they say."

Sokka swiped his hands in an X-shape. "Wait, wait, wait. Si Wong City? There's a whole city there?"

Ghashiun crossed his arms. Down here, he didn't wear his head wrappings and clasped his dark hair at the nape of his neck. "I told you that many tribes have gathered together over the years and even many outsiders have fled to the desert. But yes, there's a secret city that arose in the heart of the sands as a result of Water Nation expansion. Few in the Earth Kingdom know of it and the Water Nation knows even less." He gave Sokka a significant glare. "And I'd like to keep it that way."

"And Ba Sing Se feels threatened by it?" Suki asked, lips pursed. "Why?"

Nagi shook her head, her copper circlet reflecting the light of her torch. "I will not say. The Dai Li may not be like what they used to be five years ago but it is still dangerous to speak as freely as that."

Sokka filed that information away for later. Just another thing added to the pile of thoughts he had to sort through. "So why stay among them?"

"Part of it is because I can still do good here," Nagi answered. She turned away from him to stride down another shadowy passageway, her long robes and natural grace making it seem like she could glide. "But you'll see the other reason shortly."

Nagi and Ghashiun led the way while Sokka trailed a few paces back with Yue and Suki. Yue seemed the same as ever despite days spent underground, perfectly placid and determined to carry out the duties set upon her.

Even so, she turned to Sokka with her brow creased in concern as they walked. "The warriors are growing restless," she said. "They are determined not to disappoint but I worry that they are approaching their limit. They want to fight, and many fear the darkness down here even if they try not to show it. There is only so much I can do to keep them calm - they do not respect me the same way they do your sister."

"Soon," Sokka said. "Once we learn what we need to." He nodded his head toward Nagi's back.

"She… does not seem to know who we are," Yue said, her voice hesitant.

Sokka picked up on her unspoken question. Why would Nagi help them? She'd be suspicious if they kept their identities from her and asked about the various underground routes throughout the city. He didn't have an answer for his former betrothed.

"But how are you doing, Sokka?" she asked, her voice low. She tilted her head toward him, blue eyes wide and accepting and almost luminescent in the darkness. "You have something on your mind."

He scoffed and saw Suki give them both a sidelong glance. "Lots of things," he said. "I'm just… trying to figure out what I want."

Suki opened her mouth a little bit in surprise but clamped it shut as soon as he noticed. She looked away from him into the darkness.

Yue looked ahead and clasped her fingers together, stretching them out in front of her. "Well… if I may be so bold as to give advice, try your best to separate your own desires from what others may expect of you. And then think about what's more important."

Sokka scratched his chin, considering her words. His father wanted him to be the prodigal son, a strong successor. Katara was harder to tell, but she loved control. Gran wanted him to aid the Avatar. But he still had a hard time figuring out what he wanted for himself. He realized then that Yue would know much about what others wanted for her - she couldn't make her own life choices and joined the Water Sages of her own volition, to finally have some agency of her own. "What's more important… Thank you, Yue."

Yue escaped from her bonds of duty, the same ones that shackled the other women in the Water Nation. Gran did the same, in her own way. And his mother had been a victim of it.

She gave him a bright smile. "You're welcome."

Their descent continued. After a while, the stonework changed throughout the tunnels they traversed, shifting to softer angles and centuries of faded mosaic tiles on the floors and the walls. They passed by rows of statues older than anything Sokka had ever seen, long ago eroded by water and somehow possibly even wind, faded in a way that suggested exposure to sunlight. But how?

"Nagi, what is this?" Suki asked, voicing his thoughts. "Where are you taking us?"

"Ghashiun said you three were interested in the history of Ba Sing Se," Nagi said. "And I wanted to show you - think of it as a private tour. No one ever comes down here, not even the Dai Li anymore."

"Oh. Yeah," Sokka said in what he hoped was a convincing voice. "I love history."

Nagi beamed. "Well then I'll tell you all about it! Did you know that Ba Sing Se is likely the oldest city in the world? Scholars estimate it was founded around five thousand years ago. It started as a subterranean city and the people mined for the crystals down here, and over the years they kept building up and up. They eventually moved above ground but still kept building up in layers, which is why statues such as these have been eroded by wind and water. They were once above ground. Isn't that neat?"

"Wow," Sokka said, scratching the back of his head. "You really do know your history."

"It's all part of the cultural heritage I joined the Dai Li to protect," she said, continuing her walk again. "It's great that we have Si Wong City, but with the influx of people we've lost parts of our culture. Many people who live there now never even set foot in the desert before." She tugged on her long braid. "Don't get me wrong, I think the blending of different cultures is beautiful as long as people respect each other, but I came here to share parts of our tribe's culture with the people of Ba Sing Se so it would survive. And… I must admit, it isn't always what I expected. Not many like our food or music and some even look down on me for being a sandbender, or dismiss me as a scavenger…"

"I think you should have just enrolled at Ba Sing Se University," said Ghashiun, wearing a surly frown. "You could have studied all the culture you wanted there."

"The wider Earth Kingdom's culture, maybe," she retorted. "We've been over this, Ghashiun. It's not what I wanted. There's only one professor who teaches about our culture, and he's knowledgeable and passionate, but he's not part of it."

She continued her tour of the catacombs and showed them ruins of ancient temples, terracotta soldiers that fought for a long-forgotten dynasty, and artifacts that Sokka couldn't make heads nor tails of. The whole time, he had the feeling they were being watched. Occasionally he caught movement in the shadows beyond their torchlight or heard soft footfalls, like an animal's, but every time he looked closer he didn't find anything. His patience started to wear thin after a while as the torch wax dwindled and he wondered how to breach the subject about their identities and the infiltration plan.

"What's this?" Suki asked, bending down to pick up something from the corner of what seemed to be an ancient burial chamber, a casket of rusted bronze taking up the majority of the room. "I found a pile of books and they seem to be in good condition."

Yue drifted over to her. "How interesting!"

"Let me see," said Nagi, appearing at her side in an instant. "Don't touch them, they could be fragile!"

Suki already had one in her hands, but at Nagi's words she held it an arm's length from her. "Oh… sorry."

Nagi frowned but gingerly took the tome from her hands, peering at the cover as if it were a great treasure and flipping through it. "Hm, this is strange. This book is a record of Fire Nation sages in service to different warlords, hundreds and hundreds of years ago. Some of the pages are charred, though. Unfortunate."

"What's a book like that doing down here?" Sokka asked. He joined them and brushed away sand and dust to inspect the cover of a different book. "This one's an anthropological study on a tribe I've never heard of."

"And there's a waterbending scroll!" Yue pointed out. Sokka saw a string of rope next to it that had been tied into a familiar butterfly knot - obviously done by a Water Tribesman, which verified the scroll's authenticity to Sokka more than anything else.

Ghashiun drew back, tense and alert. "Someone has been down here recently. We should leave."

"That's extremely unlikely," Nagi said. "We are so far from the city now and I venture down into the catacombs on a fairly regular basis. No one ever comes here. I suppose it's possible I just overlooked these in this specific chamber, but…"

Sokka's doubts that this plan would never work resurfaced in his mind. Nagi was someone who loved her people too much to turn against them and ally with the Water Nation. "This is a waste of time. I agree with Ghashiun on this, we need to leave."

Right now, he wanted nothing more than to find Katara and get out of there.


A cool spring fog enshrouded the white spires of the Eastern Air Temple as Aang approached. The temple stretched across three separate mountains connected by a series of bridges, clusters of green rooftops piling up to the sky. He steered Appa around the center spire, eyes peeled for the guru while Momo bounced back and forth from Aang's head to the saddle. He rounded the mountain and came to a meditation circle on a stretch of flat land, massive stone obelisks encircling it as a place of spiritual power. Appa fell to rest with a low moan of content while Momo curled around Aang's staff.

He found Guru Pathik sitting in the middle of it.

He had the same impressive white beard and the same threadbare clothes, drinking from a cup that Aang could only assume contained onion banana juice. The circle smelled of incense and damp moss and when Aang entered it he could feel the weight in the air that meant it was spiritually charged.

"Hello, Avatar Aang," said Pathik.

Aang bowed before taking a seat in the lotus position. "It's good to meet you, Guru Pathik."

The old guru smiled; an ancient, knowing look that Aang remembered well. "Come now, Aang. You know as well as I do that we've met before. In another world, another life."

"But how do you know that? How is that possible?"

"You forget that I am connected to the cosmic energy in this universe. I know that there are other worlds, countless worlds existing side by side with this one." His brow creased and his tone hardened. "And I also know that all the worlds are in grave danger, the delicate balance between them spiraling slowly but surely out of control. The Spirit World sits at the nexus of them all, and it potentially faces oblivion."

Aang leaned forward - Roku had already told him this, but did it get that much worse so soon? "What can I do? How do I fix it? I know I don't belong here, but… isn't there something I can do?"

Pathik shook his head. "Everything must go to its proper place for order to be restored," he said, and for a moment Aang felt the world stop. "Aang, it's time for you to go home."


Author's Note: I know, Kanna revealed her story to Sokka but not the audience and I hate that trope. Originally, I was going to include what happened to Kya in this chapter but there's simply no room and it deserves a whole chapter, anyway. I didn't have a "Sokka Alone" chapter so I'm squeezing the backstory in a few chapters from now. But please be patient, you will get it, I promise.

Also, as a side note, I rewrote parts of the first few chapters of Book 1("The Boy in the Volcano" and "The Avatar Returns," along with parts of Chapter 7, which is now called "The Coalition"). From here on out I'm going to be making edits to some previous chapters in an attempt to get the whole thing to flow better for new readers. Check them out if you like! I'll mention edited chapters with each update. Nothing major is changing, though, so don't worry.

Please leave a review if you have the time!