Author's Notes: Axxonu's Distorted Reality webcomic has updated! Big news, please check it out if you haven't already! There's a link in my profile or you can just google "Distorted Reality Axxonu" and the whole thing will come up on deviantArt or webcomic websites like Tapas, whatever you prefer.
Also, I've made edits to "The Academy" (twice!). Check it out!
Book 3: Water
Chapter 3: The Southern Air Temple
"Aang, do you remember anything about your parents?"
Aang poked his head out of the apple tree's leafy branches and twisted his face in concentration. "Like, a mom and dad? No, I guess they must've left the temple not long after I was born." Of course, that wasn't unusual. Nuns and monks raised children communally after their nomadic parents came to the temples to birth them. "The closest thing I have to a dad is Gyatso, I guess!"
Sangmu readjusted her grip on her basket and plucked some more apples from the tree. Something about her seemed withdrawn today, Aang thought. Her question had come out of the blue after a long day of staring into the sky, as if it occupied her mind all day and she could only now voice it by plucking it from the clouds as they did to the apples. As they walked together through the temple's apple orchards, Aang danced among the treetops and chased after temple lemurs in an attempt to cheer her up, but she didn't prove too responsive to it. "So you don't know anything about them, do you?"
He considered her question, hanging upside down from a tree branch and tapping his chin. "Nope. I don't think I ever really wondered." He dropped from the tree, landed on his hands, and rolled to a standing position when the purpose of her questions started to become clear to him. "Wait, do you remember yours?"
Sangmu rolled her shoulders, straightening her shawl after she bent down to place the apple basket in the grass. "I wasn't born in the temple," she said, wringing her hands together. "And I was dropped off here a little older than most other kids. So I remember them a little."
He sat in the shade of an apple tree, patting the ground so she would sit next to him. "Do you miss them?" He had a suspicion that she'd finally tell him what sometimes weighed on her when he sometimes caught her staring at nothing with an introspective look on her face.
She accepted his unspoken invitation and hugged her knees, pulling her robes tighter around herself. "I don't know. Sometimes, I guess. I just wonder why they decided to give me up to the temple after keeping me for as long as they did."
Aang smiled, but it didn't come across as joyous or encouraging. Just reflective of her sadness. "Long enough to feel their absence."
She nodded and leaned back against the apple tree, the sun's rays dappling her face through its boughs and bouncing off her sky blue circlet. "My mother was a waterbender," she said. "Maybe when it turned out I could bend air they decided I should stay here."
Aang focused on that - the best case scenario, and one that they could easily spin a happy tale out of. "Yeah! I bet since she wasn't a nomad they settled down somewhere together, but your dad just wanted you to have a chance to take after him and be a nomad! Or maybe they're building your family home somewhere and they're waiting for it to be finished before you can go back to live with them!"
"A family home... Somewhere like where the Water Tribes live?" Sangmu asked, rocking in place. "I don't know. I just wish we could be a family again, I guess. It doesn't matter where."
He remembered the last time she mentioned family - when she had told him that together with Kuzon the three of them could be one as they searched for Aang's bending masters. He wondered if that meant her parents would be part of their family, too. Or maybe Aang and Kuzon were only meant to fill a void they left behind.
As his thoughts wandered to penguins and snowmen, the monks' warnings from before he left his home rang in his mind like temple bells. He had to become the Avatar early because of the gathering darkness, they said. War brewed with the Water Tribes as the High Chief began to expand his sphere of power beyond his unification of the southern clans. Aang wondered what might happen to people like Sangmu's parents if a war did break out.
Sangmu crawled forward on her knees, her face lighting up in a smile accustomed to pushing pain away for a later time. "Oh, wow, look at that!' she said, emerging from the shade to get a clear view of the sky. "It's snowing! And in the sun like this… I thought it was too early in the spring for snow."
Aang felt a chill that had nothing to do with the cold when a flurry of snowflakes danced by, a portent carried on the wind.
"The Southern Air Temple? Why?"
All three of his friends and Katara stared at Aang after he notified them of their new destination, but he didn't back down. Sokka was the first to vocalize everyone's thoughts, leaning over the edge of the saddle to stare at Aang as he sat at the reins.
Azula draped her arm across her knee. "It'll take us even further out of the way. That's to the southwest, and we need to go southeast to get to the eastern peninsula."
"I know," Aang said. "But the monks knew the ways of the Spirit World. Thanks to Xai Bau, we know how we're getting there but not how to find Toph and the others once we cross over. And not to mention how we're getting their faces back." He knew so little - too little - about the Spirit World and though he knew the monks were gone, he hoped to find some sort of knowledge tucked away where they kept their manuscripts and written teachings, the poetry of ancient gurus. Maybe he could find out about Koh the Face Stealer or the portals themselves, which he wished he knew about back when he was still in his own world.
But, secretly, he also wanted to show his friends his home. His connection to his life a hundred years ago, a place special to him in all kinds of ways - he'd been raised there, but the Southern Air Temple was also where Katara and Sokka first told him they were his new family. And maybe - just maybe - it would be the start of something new with the Katara and Sokka of this world, too. He could handle the desolation of it now, the memories of his loved ones. He was ready to see Gyatso again.
"That's a good point," said Sokka, rubbing his chin in contemplation. "I do like the chance of getting extra knowledge."
Zuko nodded, tightening the laces of his boots. "We could use every advantage we can get."
"Is it a good idea to bring this one to your old home?" Azula asked, nodding her head to indicate Katara, who rolled her eyes and tugged at her shackles.
"What am I going to do, jangle these at ghosts of long dead airbenders?"
Appa dipped below the clouds and the peaks of the Patola Mountain Range stretched out before them as if rising out of their own clouds. Momo spread his wings and leapt from Aang's shoulder to glide among the currents twisting through the mountains. Snow whitened every summit like a crown, but the grandest crown of them all, the Southern Air Temple, emerged from the fog and the anticipation of his return gave him a tight feeling in his chest.
No matter how much things changed, this place would forever be home.
Their traveling party had grown and Mai wasn't sure if she liked this new arrangement yet. They traveled on foot to the Chameleon's Tail, the easternmost part of the Earth Kingdom and the peninsula that made up half of Chameleon Bay.
Jet had fallen into a bitter, angry silence and snapped at anyone who tried to talk him out of it, which was just fine with Mai because she preferred his surliness over his cocksure facade of a charming rogue. His quiet solitude was the least of her worries. His Freedom Fighters were a rowdy bunch and thankfully he left behind all the youngest of them in Ba Sing Se, but she doubted the capabilities of all those he brought along for this dangerous mission. They had fighting skill, but she didn't know if they had everything necessary to infiltrate the North Pole without a hitch so she could take down High Chief Arnook.
Except for the one named Longshot. She could respect him. Like him, even.
But before they left, Iroh had gathered Mai, Jet, Ty Lee, and Haru together. His words puzzled her, even a day later.
When Iroh requested her presence on the beach separate from the rest of Ozai's encampment, Mai didn't know what to make of it. She knew next to nothing about the man except that he was Zuko's respected uncle and Ozai's brother. Perhaps he had need of her particular skillset, she thought, but that idea washed away with the surf when she saw Jet, Haru, and even the Golden City princess - Ty Lee, her supposed best friend in another world - sitting with him in the sand.
"What'd you need from us, old man?" Jet asked Iroh as Mai approached the circle. "We were getting ready to leave for the North Pole soon."
Iroh spread his arms wide, giving them a welcoming smile lit by moonlight from his seat upon a piece of driftwood. "I wanted to formally meet all four of you."
Jet leaned back and propped himself up on his arms. "Why us?"
"Because I think destiny brought us here," he answered. "And the river of destiny will carry the four of you along with it - together, I think."
Mai's eyes narrowed, skeptical. "What do you know of our destinies?"
Iroh's palms turned face up. "I don't know your destinies, but I know that destiny is a funny thing. What may have once been cut short now has another chance to continue its flow. Those who were once enemies can become allies and strangers the dearest of friends. And even those who were already closely bonded can gain a new understanding of each other."
Ty Lee tilted her head. "I don't get it. You think we should do something together?"
"Follow our destinies," Haru said, pounding his enclosed fist into his other palm. "That sounds great, but how?"
Mai fixed Iroh with a stare. She might have imagined it, but based on the way he looked at her and Ty Lee when he mentioned close bonds, she wondered if he knew about the other world. But that was impossible - from what she knew of the old man in Aang's world, he had died, just like her. The other Iroh would be silent just like the other Mai, assuming her theory about their dead selves was even correct.
He returned her gaze and she knew what he was about to say before the words even left his mouth. "I think you should all go to the North Pole. Only by working together will you succeed in your endeavor to rescue your friend."
Ty Lee's face fell into a thoughtful frown and she played with the end of her braid. "I dunno… I have to go back to the Golden City. My people need me now that Jie Duan fell."
"Maybe so," Iroh said. "But that is up to you to decide. How can you help the most? Which path does your heart tell you to take?"
"I want to help, I do," said Ty Lee. "But this kind of mission… assassinating someone. It just seems wrong to me, y'know? Like, Chief Arnook is someone's father, I bet."
"Yes," said Mai. "Princess Yue's. I have no time for sympathy when they'll show us none."
Ty Lee frowned at her in response but Jet chuckled. "For someone who plays with sharp knives your words can come out really blunt," he said.
Iroh gave Ty Lee a gentle smile. "Then it can be your duty to keep them on the right path," he said. "Wherever you think that path may lead them. And besides, you still have a friend who needs saving, as well."
"How will we even get to the North Pole?" Haru asked. "It's not like we can walk."
"You will travel by sea," said Kanna, approaching their gathering with the Freedom Fighters Smellerbee and Longshot accompanying her. Mai did not know when she arrived at Chameleon Bay. "I am acquainted with a pirate captain who will grant you safe passage there…"
Jet cut her off, his face twisted in hatred. "There's no way I'm gonna trust the word of a waterbender or a pirate. What're you even doing here?"
Smellerbee stepped in front of the old woman as if to protect her from him. "Jet, she helped us. Back in Ba Sing Se. She's a good waterbender!"
"No such thing," he said with a snarl, standing with his swords in his hands as if about to attack Kanna. His sudden change brought tension and alarm to the gathering.
Mai stood and blocked his way before anyone else could do anything, clenching the front of his shirt in her fists. "Aang trusts her, so that's good enough for me," she said, channeling all of her authority as leader of the Roku Warriors with her eyes locked to his. "You want to hear blunt? If your anger turns to stupidity and you get in the way of this mission - in my way - you're off it. Understood?" Her words came out with every word carefully intended, her voice raised no higher than her usual volume and tone.
Jet wrenched free of her grip. "I'm really starting to doubt Aang's judgment in people," he said, edging past her to stomp back toward the encampment. "We leave tomorrow."
Jet could be dangerous. Mai knew that. But she hated the Water Tribes as much as he did - she only hid it better. But Haru seemed competent, at least - easygoing and level headed enough to keep them steady on their objective to reach the Northern Spirit Portal if she had to ditch them all.
Ty Lee, meanwhile, kept picking up pretty seashells and giving them to the other Freedom Fighter children who followed along in their wake, distracting them with a bright smile and cartwheels. Mai could only imagine what the pirates they journeyed to meet would say when a crowd of over a dozen teenagers approached bedecked in seashells. Not for the first time, Mai wondered how on earth the two of them could be best friends in any world. Then again, her smiles sometimes brought Xiao's confidence to mind.
Without warning, the princess sidled up next to Mai and lowered her voice into a conspiratorial whisper. "I know you're with Zuko and all, but that Haru guy is a total hunk, isn't he?"
She had only one response for that. "Ugh."
Appa trudged through the temple grounds with only Katara still sitting in the saddle as Aang gave them a tour of his home. He introduced them to the statue of Gyatso, showed them the airball court, and pointed out where he and the other kids used to play on air scooters. He allowed the nostalgia to seep in but wouldn't let himself get consumed by it, wouldn't let himself get lost in the memory of times long past. He had long ago accepted that he was the last airbender. This wouldn't be like last time.
His companions - even Katara - stayed quiet as if in reverence and respect to Aang and his people. They had all donned their parkas to ward off the cold of the mountainous winter, stepping around the snowdrifts that had claimed the temple just as the snow had a hundred years before. He wondered how much evidence of a waterbender attack the snow concealed, how many rotting spears or bone arrowheads or frozen leather helms had been buried in the snow. Sabi curled into the hood of his parka, a reassuring warmth at his back.
At the temple entrance, he turned back to his companions as they followed him up the steps. The statue of Monk Gyatso watched over them all as they ascended, and for a moment Aang wondered if Gyatso would have objected to any of them entering the temple - most of all Sokka and Katara. But when he pictured his father figure and his rejection of tradition, his easygoing ways and capacity to forgive, Aang dispelled those doubts and turned to Sokka.
"Can I have the key?" he asked, palm held out.
Sokka fixed him with a perplexed stare, one eyebrow raised, but fished through the inner pockets of his parka and handed a tiny iron key over to Aang with a shrug. "Sure, I guess."
"Wait a minute," said Azula, massaging her temples. "Sokka had the key to his sister's shackles all along?"
Aang expected that reaction from Azula. He contemplated for a long time over who would bear the two keys to Katara's shackles, assuming that Katara would think Aang himself held it and that they wouldn't yet trust Sokka with something so valuable. Eventually, he decided that Azula would bear one. But Aang had secretly given his key to Sokka, even knowing that Azula would object to it. "Sokka has the best chance of resisting her bloodbending," he said.
She frowned at him. "I suppose I can't deny that logic. But why reveal that now?"
In response, he leapt up to Appa's saddle and held Katara's gaze as she said nothing at his approach. He knelt down and freed her hands, his face set into a grim warning. "This isn't permanent," he said. He stood so they could all hear him. "This is something you all need to see. And we all need to help find anything of use to help Toph and Yue." Saying her name, he felt Toph's absence more than ever now that her strength wasn't there to support them. He didn't know if she'd agree with this decision, but he would have felt more comfortable about it nonetheless.
Katara stood. "You trust me enough to walk free?"
"Not at all," he said, and he meant it, remembering the way she made him feel in the tent at Ozai's camp. Her effortless manipulation of that conversation made him realize he was out of his depth wherever Katara was involved. But Azula could handle her. He had few doubts that she could handle anything. "But we're in a remote mountain range, so even if you would do something to harm any of us or try to run there's nowhere you could go, anyway. You'd doom yourself, too. But it's wrong to lead someone in chains to a sacred place where my people valued freedom."
"Fair enough," she said with a shrug, sliding down Appa's tail. "I suppose it is pretty significant to be the first outsiders to come to this temple in a hundred years. I won't deny that I've always been curious to see what an Air Temple is like."
Azula exchanged a glance with Aang. She looked livid, nostrils flared in a way that told him she held back everything she wanted to say in response to this arrangement. "Fine," she said, acquiescing after releasing a sharp breath. She rounded on Katara. "But you're not leaving my sight for a moment."
"I trust you, Azula," Aang said, hoping it sounded reassuring. She crossed her arms. "Really. The two of you can go to the reliquary hall, where the monks kept all the spiritual artifacts. Maybe you'll find something we can use." He turned to Sokka and Zuko. "We'll go to the manuscript room. We'll all meet back up in the temple sanctuary when we're done."
Zuko's gaze followed Katara and Azula as they proceeded to the upper levels, toward the spire where the temple relics had been kept for thousands of years. After the echo of their footsteps faded, Zuko let out a frustrated sound through grit teeth. "I hate the idea of Azula being alone with Katara while she can bend. I'm going with them."
Sokka put a hand on his hip and gave Aang a sidelong glance. "Yeah, seems pretty stupid to leave Katara alone with anyone right now. I know airbenders like freedom and all that, but…"
"I'm not asking you guys to agree with me," Aang said before Sokka could finish. "It's just for this once. But I agree with you, Zuko."
Zuko nodded and departed from their company without another word, putting up the hood of his parka as he went.
After he left, Aang and Sokka shrugged at each other and descended through the winding halls of the temple depths. As a child, Aang disliked coming this way because it always meant he had long hours of study ahead of him. It felt unnatural for an airbender to spend so much time sequestered away in unadorned halls deep beneath the temple with all the older monks when there was playtime to be had outside. It felt like a cave, and even a hundred years later when the wooden door of the manuscript room at the bottom of the staircase had long since rotted away, not much had changed except for the occasional wolfbat droppings and remains of a lemur nest. Momo scampered ahead of him and Aang wondered if the lemur remembered this place.
Aang lit a fire in his palm and held it aloft, casting light to the distant corners of the manuscript room, upon shelves piled with scrolls that had been preserved in the cold, dry air. His breath caught in his throat when he spotted the skeletal remains of a monk at the foot of a writing desk - who had perhaps made a last stand protecting the airbenders' knowledge from the raiding waterbenders - but he pushed aside the fear and shock. Careful of the heat in his hand, he approached the shelves and started peering through them while Sokka discovered a wax candle and lit it for his own light source.
He found scrolls detailing airbender forms and depictions of the heavenly trigrams. Poetry by unnamed monks long forgotten by history, guides to enlightenment and writings by gurus from every nation that he skimmed through and pushed aside. Teachings of one Guru Laghima caught his interest briefly, which led to discovery of a mention about a heretical contemporary of his called Shoken, whose actual writings had been forbidden. Following those texts, he learned a little of ancient beings that were neither spirit nor creature known as lion-turtles, but when he didn't find what he was looking for he disregarded it all. But after sifting through a pile of scrolls that all preached leaving behind the trappings of a material life he sighed and stretched his aching neck.
"Any luck?" he asked Sokka, leaning his head against the writing desk. The remains of the monk seemed to laugh at him, as if taunting the boy for blowing off his lectures back when he lived here and the information he sought had been contained in them.
"Not really," Sokka said, rubbing his eye with his fist. "This stuff is all so heavy. Are all the Air Temples like this?"
"They all have writings of monks and nuns throughout history, but none of the others have a repository of knowledge like this one," Aang said. His eyes felt strained trying to read in the dim lighting. "Maybe we could take a little break."
Sokka's shoulders slackened in relief. "Closest I got was one monk's account of meditating into the Spirit World, but all he did was talk about the weird flowers he found there." He leaned back in his chair and glanced toward Aang's sheathed sword. "I read a lot of stuff about how airbenders prefer nonviolent approaches to conflict, too. And, well, swords are pretty violent."
Aang adjusted the weapon so that its sheath hung across his back, like Sokka's, since it was too long to comfortably hold at his waist. "Yeah, well, I haven't really acted like a monk in a pretty long time. Things change."
Sokka held the meteorite sword across his lap, partially unsheathing it so that the black iron reflected the candlelight. He stared into it as if transfixed. "Why did you give this to me, anyway? It was yours. And this isn't a Water Tribe weapon, so I can't see why you'd think it'd be a good fit for me. I'm not complaining, though - it's a great sword."
Aang twined his fingers together on the desk and stared at them. A weight dropped into his stomach at Sokka's question and it occurred to Aang that this might finally be the time to tell Sokka the truth. Traveling with them, he was bound to find out eventually. He took a deep breath. "Because you're meant to own that sword," he said. "In another world, where everything happened differently, it belonged to you."
Sokka's brow furrowed. "What do you mean, 'another world?' What happened differently?"
"Ever since the day we've met I've had memories of us being friends," Aang said, exhaling. He felt heavy, rooted to the stone floor of the manuscript room. "Us fighting together against the Fire Nation. Against an evil Fire Lord Ozai and Azula. You were… you are like my brother. Katara even said it here, in this temple, that we were family."
"Katara said that?" Sokka scoffed. "Hard to believe."
"It's true," Aang said. "She was different. You were different. But you have to believe me. Doesn't the sword feel like it's part of you as much as your boomerang? I asked you on Kyoshi if you've heard any voices or anything."
Sokka snapped the sword back into its sheath and turned back to his pile of scrolls. "You're spouting off Avatar nonsense again. None of that makes any sense."
Aang stood, pushing his chair back. "But it's true! You and me and Katara. Toph. A different Zuko, a scarred Zuko. Even Suki. We were best friends, all of us. A family who fought together in the war even when there was no one left to fight with us." His throat felt strained, his voice shaking with conviction. "I need you to believe me. You were our idea guy. Our meat and sarcasm guy. And even when we were at our worst… after we lost Suki… you still wanted us to be happy, to laugh. You even told me we'd be real brothers one day when everything was over and you finally came around to supporting the idea of me marrying Katara when we got older."
"Just stop talking, okay?" Sokka's arms quivered and Aang noticed that he had clenched his fists, hunched away from Aang as if ready to spring to action at any moment. "I don't want to hear you. That's crazy. We'd never be brothers. I dedicated my life to hunting you down and even though that's been put on pause for a little bit it hasn't changed anything. I don't know if spirits or swamp gases or something gave you weird visions of us being friends but it'll never happen."
"Your grandmother believed me."
"Yeah, well, I don't think she'd be grossed out by the idea of you wanting to marry my sister. That's weird."
Aang dropped back into his chair and slumped forward. The skeleton in tattered robes continued to taunt him. "The other you was grossed out when he first found out I loved her, too. But that's who you were - a brother who was overprotective of his little sister even if she didn't need protecting."
"And that's the hardest part to believe," Sokka said, his expression dour. "We were all family? Don't make me laugh. None of us - you, me, or Katara - are capable of being a family. I'm getting this crash course on airbender culture and from what I've learned, how would you even know what a family is?"
His words hurt, but Aang only shook his head. "That's the thing. In that other world, you two were the ones who taught me what it means."
At the very tip of the Chameleon's Tail, where Kanna had directed them, the coarse beach sand made way for a rocky shoreline battered by winds from the eastern sea. To the south, across the water, Mai saw the silhouette of mountain peaks emerging through distant clouds. Somewhere up there, the Eastern Air Temple stood and Mai briefly wondered if the guru Aang met still meditated in solitude before she turned away, back to the situation at hand.
"We have to go in that cave?" Jet asked, stopping and crossing his arms. After they passed an outcropping of stone, they found a shadowy entrance to a series of sea caves that supposedly led to the pirates' hidden cove. "I don't like it. That'll give those pirates a ton of opportunities to ambush us."
Ty Lee frowned. "But they're not gonna ambush us. Kanna said they'd be on our side."
"What don't you people understand? I don't trust the word of a waterbender, especially when they're trying to get me to trust pirates! And didn't you say you fought her once, too?"
Ty Lee scratched her cheek. "Well, yeah, but she also helped save my life. What do you have against pirates, anyway?"
Haru peeked into the yawning mouth of the cave that descended into a tunnel beyond their sight. "Uh, well, I don't really want to take his side, but pirates do have a bit of a reputation. Ruthless, seafaring pillagers and all that. And more often than not they form a partnership with the Water Tribes for control of the sea. My father and I have warded off their attacks from Jie Duan's shores a few times."
"Yeah," said Smellerbee. "It's beneficial to both of them. As long as the pirates are loyal they get to sail wherever they want and steal whatever they want."
One of the other Freedom Fighters, a freckled boy with soot staining his cheeks, stopped chattering with the younger ones and readjusted his goggles. "Some of 'em are used by the Water Tribes for threatenin' villages, too."
Mai pushed past the cluster of kids and led the way into the sea cave. "If you know of a better way to the North Pole, then go." She had no time for Jet's attitude. Nothing would get in her way of reaching Agna Qel'a. And if this was her only way around the Northern Water Tribe's ocean defenses, she would do what she must. She caught Jet glaring at her as she passed but ignored him as she entered the cave. "Come with me or not. I'll go alone if I have to."
With her shoulders hunched and fingers wringing together, Ty Lee followed after her first. Then came Haru. The Freedom Fighters lingered at the entrance and Smellerbee said something to Jet that she couldn't hear. Mai said nothing to Ty Lee or Haru and appreciated their silence in return. Eventually, Jet gave in and all the Freedom Fighters meandered into the cave and caught up to Mai and the others.
It didn't take long for Mai's eyes to adjust to the dim lighting inside the network of caves. The sunlight reached surprisingly far inside, but once that ended she saw faintly glowing plants along the cave walls and ceiling, snaking around stalactites and clustering in luminescent bulbs. It smelled like damp moss and saltwater and it felt so humid that Mai had a brief, wild thought that they stepped into a beast's mouth. Echoes of water dripping into shallow puddles they stepped through made up the only noise - nobody spoke, hesitant to warn the pirates of their approach.
After curving through a tunnel where a few of the children nearly lost their footing on the slippery slate, they came to a dead end. Moss and ivy covered the wall in front of them, a tangle of broad leaves that made a tapestry of green. Looking at it up close, Mai discovered that plants weren't the only light source in these caves, but faintly glowing insects, too, that crawled through the ivy.
"I've never seen anything like this," the boy with goggles whispered, peering closely at the wall.
"It's so pretty," said Ty Lee, her eyes wide enough to reflect the light she admired. "Like a bunch of twinkling stars."
Her words made Mai's stomach twist. Xiao had said the same thing of Ba Sing Se at night right before the attack on the city. "Haru," she said, forcing down the memory and turning to the earthbender - the only bender among them. "Can you make a path for us?"
"I could," he answered. "But it'll be noisy. Even if these pirates are supposed to be on our side they might think it's an attack."
Longshot approached the wall of moss and ivy and touched it. His hand sunk deep into the greenery and he turned back to them, shaking his head.
"It's not a wall," said Smellerbee. "It's just covering the way forward."
One of the other kids pumped a fist into the air. "Let's jump through!"
"No, Bugsy, we've gotta blow it up!"
"Nuh-uh, Rattletrap!"
Mai rolled her eyes and was about to go cut through them all when Jet beat her to it, using his hook swords to peel away the moss and ivy barring their way. The moment he stepped forward through the opening, however, the discarded ivy coiled around his legs and hoisted him up to the ceiling. Mai spun in place to pick out their attacker, but all of the other plants and moss coating the walls and ceiling fell from the stone and converged on them.
Mai cut through the ivy before it could constrict her. Their light source moved with the plants, flashing in and out of her vision to make disorienting shadows dance through the cave. She didn't dare to throw her knives out of the fear of hitting one of her allies. The ground rumbled with the sound of Haru's earthbending, but if he saw their foe she didn't know - she could only focus on slashing at any plants that came her way.
"Mai, look out!' Ty Lee called, flipping through a tangle of vines. She didn't stop moving as she ducked and weaved through the assault so Mai followed her example, dropping low to the cave floor and rolling out of the way of a moss bed that swept toward her. Part of her wondered if this could be some sort of spirit attack but then she reminded herself that Aang did something to stop spiritual interference in their world. Unless the spirit lingered down here to begin with, but what did she know of spiritual matters?
Smellerbee stood in front of Longshot with her knife held out in a defensive position, dancing and slicing around the attacks as she tried to make her way to Jet's wriggling form on the ceiling. Longshot stood behind her with his bow ready but, like Mai, refrained from firing anything. Haru burst through any attempts to bind him, pinning down the moss and ivy with slabs of stone in his attempts to free the other Freedom Fighters as they got dragged into the darkness with shouts of fear. Mai carefully aimed toward Jet in an attempt to cut him free, but before she could throw her knife one of the luminescent bulbs burst and coated her with a softly glowing gel-like substance.
"Yuck," she said, as the same thing happened to her companions. In short order, their only light source became each other, which almost literally painted a target on their backs.
"Ugh," said Jet, still suspended above them. "What I wouldn't give to be a firebender right now!"
In the dim light, Mai spotted a puddle of water slide across the smooth stone toward her and her eyes widened. "They're waterbenders," she said, just loud enough for the others to hear. It all came together - many waterbenders could pull water from plants and trees, but she had never heard of one controlling them until now. "You must be the pirates."
"We're not here to fight!" said Haru. "Lady Kanna sent us!"
Jet's response came out in a growl. "They're pirates and waterbenders? Maybe I am here to fight!"
A voice drawled at them from the darkness. "Kanna, you said? Well, who'd have thunk it? Tho, we've gotta bring these kids to Huu!"
The reliquary vault might have been beautiful a hundred years ago. Azula may have even called it majestic. The exaltation of the monks on display for anyone to see, the ultimate destination of many a pilgrimage to the temple arranged on podiums and pillars in the highest tower. She could only have imagined what it might have looked like back then and it made her glad that Aang didn't come here to see what it had become. The room had a single window at its high ceiling, far out of reach for those limited to the ground, which let in light and cold that made Azula begrudgingly and silently thankful for her parka.
It felt empty. She saw conspicuous spaces where airbender relics had once been which told her the waterbenders had looted it when they first invaded. Some of it had been left behind, perhaps judged to be worthless or too much to carry, and if the remainder of it was any indication of what the room once was, Azula might have found it fascinating back then. Without a word exchanged between them, Katara began her search for anything useful while Azula kept close and did not let her guard down for a moment. The statue of quite a large monk - perhaps a past airbender Avatar? - glared down at them both.
She didn't know what Aang expected them to find here but she searched anyway. Among the objects left behind, she found an incense burner made of jade and gold. Amulets with faded poetry of ancient gurus or idolatry of respected monks and nuns and Avatars folded away inside them. Prayer beads and glider staffs which had broken wings when Azula tried to open them. Hummingmoth-eaten robes from a monk that had gone stiff from a century of moisture and cold, neatly folded and adorned with wooden tokens to indicate the owner must have been a historic figure.
After she discovered her tenth pan flute, Azula sighed. "This is a waste of time. There's nothing useful here."
Katara's eyes wandered up the ramp spiraling toward the upper levels of the vault, which had been dotted with occasional statues or larger artifacts like singing bowls. "What did the Avatar expect us to find, some sort of weapon that could defeat the Face Stealer?" When Azula said nothing in response, unwilling to engage in conversation with the waterbender, Katara continued. "You know what I think? He just wanted you out of the way for a little bit."
Azula put down the jade statuette of the meditating monk she had been examining with enough force that she could have cracked it. "I think you have no idea what you're talking about. For what reason could he want me out of his way?"
"I'd say I'm pretty good at reading people," she said, folding her arms and giving Azula such a smug look that Azula wanted to add another burn scar to her face. "He's been quite chummy with Sokka lately, hasn't he? Just pushing you off to keep an eye on me while they go do other things…"
"Of course," said Azula, scoffing. "Sokka's his waterbending master now." Which she still didn't like, but Katara knew nothing about Aang's world and didn't know they had been close friends there.
"Which means he has no use for you anymore, does he?"
Azula narrowed her eyes at Katara. "If you're trying to manipulate me, sow discord in our little group, you're doing a poor job of it."
Katara shrugged. "I'm just saying, I think there's a piece of this puzzle that we're both missing. The Avatar confuses me a little." She turned toward a pedestal and lifted an amulet with a long, gold chain, but glanced at Azula through the corner of her eye. "Sometimes I think he has a little crush on me. Weird, right? I'm his enemy!"
Careful to temper any reaction to Katara's words, Azula gave her a clipped response. "I think you're just self-absorbed."
Katara put a hand to her mouth to cover her laugh. "Sorry. It's funny, I thought the same of you, Azula." When her smile faded, she put her hands on her hips. "Either way, I don't think the Avatar trusts you as much as he says he does."
"Trust is for fools. Fear is the only reliable way."
Princess Azula's voice lanced through her mind and she grit her teeth. The princess had been silent, mostly, ever since Aang fought Wan Shi Tong, and Azula didn't know if it was because of what Aang had done or if Azula had managed to stave her off herself. "Shut up," she said, to both princesses. "Of course he trusts me."
They were supposed to be disconnected from the Spirit World. How could she still be here? She tried to bring Aang to the forefront of her mind, to picture his face, but his body jerked and spasmed with agony, struck by lightning that coiled around him like a snake. Flames clawed at the backs of her eyes but she forced them back.
Of course breaking the connection to the Spirit World did nothing to stop Princess Azula. She wasn't a spirit. She was part of her.
"Does he?" Katara asked, and then she looked up. "Then why would he send your brother to spy on us?"
She narrowed her eyes. "What?" Her gaze followed Katara's, up the ramp that coiled around the tower to the upper levels where the statue of the rotund Avatar stood sentinel. Zuko emerged from behind him, crossing his arms while he leaned into the statue's shadow. "Zuzu, what are you doing here?"
Azula saw blue.
"I wasn't spying," he said, glaring at Katara. "I just didn't think it was wise for anyone to be alone with you."
Katara shrugged, her voice light and airy. "Well, pardon me for assuming, but it looked like that from down here."
"I figured keeping an eye on you when you thought you had the advantage would give me the best idea of your actual goals. And you know what? I was right. You're trying to drive a wedge between us."
Azula shut her eyes. Whether or not Aang put him up to that, she felt heat burning at the back of her head, the sting of betrayal clutching at her throat. She tried to push it away, tried to find the logical explanation, but something in her knew betrayal well, had been intimately acquainted with it. Traitors and liars nearly became the princess's undoing, all her enemies and supposed allies conspiring together to eliminate Azula as the biggest threat. The other Azula's feelings overwhelmed her explanations or Zuko's reasoning. Anger swelled in her gut - anger at Zuko, at Katara, at Sokka, at Aang. Herself, most of all. How could she be so stupid? So reckless? She didn't deserve their trust.
"It's terrible when you can't trust the people who are closest to you." She heard the words in her head but surprised herself when she said them aloud.
"What's going on with you?" She heard Katara's voice through the din, unsure and perhaps even with a tinge of fear, like she regarded Azula as she would a rabid animal liable to strike at any moment. Good. Maybe she would. Katara should have feared her.
Azula realized she had clenched her fists with enough force to singe the inside of her gloves. "Where did my brother go?"
"He left already," Katara said, looking at her with a raised eyebrow. "Went to go find the Avatar."
Azula straightened. "I have no doubts about Aang's trust in me." A lie. Just one single doubt, only a momentary lapse, had allowed the princess back in. It had been so easy. "He has no reason to distrust me." He had a whole devastated world's worth of reasons to distrust her.
She was so tired of this constant back and forth with her other self. She wondered, briefly, if it would just be easier to sleep and let someone else take over.
Even if Aang did trust her, did he need her?
For a while, Sokka didn't say anything further and instead reached into his bag for a handful of jerky before he went back to researching. Aang's eyes scanned over more of Guru Laghima's teachings and he was about to suggest giving up and moving on to the Southern Water Tribe, but Sokka spoke again.
"You had feelings for Katara all this time?" he asked. "Y'know, if anything, I thought you and Azula had something going on."
Aang had been leaning back in his chair and almost fell off of it. "Azula? No, well… It was awkward at first, because in that other world she was my enemy. But now she's become a really good friend." He pictured her in his head, once again surrounded by a ring of fireflies and plum blossom petals. How come when I picture her in my head she's always at Wu's party? "Well, family now, too."
His fire felt warmer. It felt right to say that, that she'd become as important to him as Sokka. Zuko. Toph. Even Katara.
But, unlike with everyone else, it wouldn't last… He'd lose her when he went back, and he didn't want to think about that now. He pushed those thoughts away.
"That's all?" Sokka asked, frowning. "You're crazy. She'd do anything for you, y'know? It's like, I dunno… she's your number two. She's got your back. A partner like that's pretty good to have around, if you ask me."
Aang tilted his head. "Are you trying to give me advice about girls? Or are you trying to deflect me away from your sister?"
Sokka actually chuckled at that. "Bit of both, really. But seriously, I know my stuff about women. And I think you've been taking her for granted."
"Says the guy that wouldn't really acknowledge women as warriors or even equals until recently."
Sokka put his hands up defensively. "I know, I know. But I'm starting to see otherwise."
Aang wondered if Mizuka the Kyoshi Warrior had something to do with that. "But I don't… I don't take Azula for granted. She's, well, scarily efficient at pretty much everything she does. And I know I can rely on her. I just can't be with her, can't feel things like that for her. That'd be crazy." His flame flickered and lengthened, licking at the cobwebs hanging above him and he quickly blew them out before they could start smoking. He focused on thoughts of going back home - to his other home, the other world. It hurt to think of losing Azula that way.
"Can't? Or don't?" Sokka pushed his chair back and stood, stretching his hands over his head. He looked at Aang and shook his head, as if reminding himself of who he was talking to, and his whole demeanor changed. "Never mind, just forget it."
Aang clenched his fist over his flame and stared at his palms through the flickering firelight from Sokka's candle. "Hang on, what's the difference? I guess I can tell her thank you more often."
"We should probably head to that sanctuary. I've had enough of staring at ancient monks' texts," Sokka said, yawning. "Hopefully Katara didn't do anything too bad."
"You didn't answer my question," Aang said, frowning. "What did you mean by that?"
Sokka groaned and dragged his hand down his face. "Listen, kid. I probably shouldn't have opened my mouth. I don't care what you do with your little friends. It's a little bit concerning that you have a thing for Katara for all sorts of reasons, but whatever. Do what you want."
"So you believe me?"
"I didn't say that."
"It's not this Katara I feel that way for," Aang said. "It's the other one."
"Okay, still weird. Maybe even weirder. But you're really good at denial, I'll give you that."
"Huh? What do you mean?" Aang made a groan to match his when Sokka didn't answer and kept walking. He should have expected Sokka to react like this, ever the skeptic, but decided not to push it. They made their way out of the manuscript room with Momo trailing at their heels. Sabi stirred from Aang's hood, waking from her nap with a catlike yawn. Up the spiraling stairs and down a series of corridors, they stopped in front of the massive wooden doors to the Air Temple sanctuary, where they found Zuko sitting and waiting for them in front of the complicated airbender locking mechanism.
"Where are Katara and Azula?" Aang asked him, frowning.
He sat against the door with his head hanging on his knees, exuding his typical broody aura and a surly expression. "They should be coming soon. Katara sort of figured out I was spying on them."
"Spying?" Aang asked, brow furrowed.
Zuko pushed himself to his feet. "Well, y'know. On Katara, just to make sure she wouldn't try something when she thinks she's got one of us alone."
Aang crossed his arms and tapped his foot, trying to picture how that played out. "I guess that's a good idea. Did it work?"
"Kind of," Zuko said. "Katara was playing head games."
"And Azula's a master at those," Aang said, sighing with relief. Nothing to worry about.
"Katara can be too, you know," said Sokka, directing a glare at Momo as the lemur climbed all over him. "I should also mention that your lemur should learn to stay away in case I realize I'm getting pretty hungry."
"Momo's not for eating," Aang said, snatching the lemur away from him with a disapproving glare. He turned back down the corridor at the sound of footsteps approaching just as Azula and Katara came into view. Azula had her arms crossed in annoyance but otherwise looked fine.
Katara put one hand over her heart once they joined Aang and the others in front of the sanctuary door. "Any luck with you boys? We didn't really find anything, but I haven't given up hope! I still think we can save our friends, so let's get rid of those long faces, gang!"
No one else said anything. Aang turned away from her, unable to look at her when she put on airs like that. He had never seen her wear such a fake sentiment like a mask, so obvious in her insincerity that it almost made him mad. Maybe anger was the type of reaction she sought. "Stand back," Aang said to them all, ignoring her. "I need space. This door can only open with airbending."
Katara blew a puff of air from between her lips. "Wow. Tough crowd, huh?"
The waterbending pirates Tho and Due led Mai, Haru, Ty Lee, and all of the Freedom Fighters deeper into the sea caves, following the bioluminescent moss that lit a path through the darkness. Jet didn't lower his hook blades once, but their waterbending escort seemed too easygoing to care.
"He hates this," Smellerbee muttered to Mai as they walked. "I don't blame him. But you showed him up earlier, when you walked into the cave first. He has to save face. Show the rest of the gang that he's not afraid of some pirates."
"I really don't care," Mai said. "I'm just annoyed about that plant bulb juice getting all over my clothes. If it leaves a glow-in-the-dark stain I'm probably going to throw up." They'd pulled most of it off with their waterbending, but still.
Mai smelled the ocean again before she saw it. The cavern opened up into a secret cove, giving them a view of the eastern ocean from inside of the cave mouth. A pair of junk ships with a wide, open deck had been moored in their hidden harbor, while smaller boats bobbed next to them that would fit no more than a dozen men each. A village of sorts had sprung up around the harbor tucked away in the network of sea caves that reminded her uncomfortably of the crystal catacombs beneath Ba Sing Se. Algae clung to the damp walls of the cave and glowed like the moss further in the caverns, providing light along with man-made oil lanterns that hung on lengths of rope from the ceiling. Wooden planks covered most of the cave floor in multiple levels that led to staircases and branching tunnels. They even had doors leading to different sections of the cave village, whether for residences or storage or something else. Barrels lined the walls and normally Mai would have thought they'd be filled with plunder from the pirates' exploits but judging by what she'd seen so far she couldn't be sure. She saw some weapons - curved blades and bows or spears - but not as many as she'd expected, and they seemed more decorative than anything.
Men, women, and children dressed like no Water Tribespeople Mai had ever seen milled through the cove. Most of the townspeople wore green with clothes spun from seaweed, rope, and fish scales as if they'd simply crawled from the ocean. The pirates wore armor that looked like it had been taken from turtlecrab shells, pincers included. And it was truly a town - places like this must have dotted the shores of the whole Earth Kingdom if they'd managed to stay here without getting ousted by their enemies. Perhaps their distance from the Water Tribes allowed them to be more independent, or at least neutral.
And there were so many plants. Some, like the algae and moss, clung to the walls or the ceilings. Some grew out of pots and troughs filled with what she assumed to be freshwater. Some were broad and leafy while others had long vines or fronds and still more of them flowered into dark, shriveled-looking orchids or tiny white blooms that Ty Lee went to admire at once. Some of the plants glowed but most of them looked normal, but she never expected to find such an abundance of green tucked away in an underground cave.
"What is all this?" Haru asked, turning around to take it all in.
"This whole place has such a great aura!" Ty Lee exclaimed, throwing her arms out wide.
Jet scowled. "Don't be fooled. It's a pirate's den. They're just as bloodthirsty as any waterbender."
"I wouldn't say any of us are bloodthirsty," said a man who approached with a placid smile. Like his people, he wore a skirt made from seaweed, but no shirt and unfortunately no pants. A turtlecrab claw wrapped around his shoulder like an Earth Kingdom general's pauldron, holding up the rope net that hung from it like a cape that had bits of seashells and coral woven into it. "Welcome to Slim's Cove. Kanna's a dear friend of mine and she told me to expect some travelers."
"This is Huu," said the pirate Tho, gesturing to the older man. "Our cap'n and clan chief."
Ty Lee grinned. "This place really makes me want to be a pirate! I've never seen anything like it! How'd you get all these plants to grow in such a dim, dark place?"
Mai sized up the captain, judging him for herself while all of the Freedom Fighters silently did the same and checked out the surroundings. Huu certainly didn't seem like what she considered to be a pirate, and certainly not like any other member of the Water Tribe she had ever seen.
"These plants aren't from around here," Huu said, gesturing to the vines and moss that had curled around a stone arch like a trellis. "To be honest, none of us really are. Our tribe originated not in the North Pole or South Pole, but in the Great Foggy Swamp."
Jet narrowed his eyes. "There hasn't been a swamp there in decades. You waterbenders completely dried it out."
Huu's smile turned into a sad one. "That is true. None of us have ever been there. It was my father who migrated our people out once the swamp no longer became hospitable for humans. It rejected us, dried out and became the poisonous wasteland that it is today. But before he left my father took cuttings from plants deep within the swamp. It's a bit of a different environment, but they never got much sun under the Banyan tree's canopies anyway, so with a little bit of care and cultivation they've been able to grow just fine," he said, brushing his fingers against one of the orchids. "It's like a little bit of the home we never got to know, connected to us even from here across distance and time."
"Wow," said Ty Lee, bending down to sniff one of them. "That's amazing. And I gotta say, I love your beachy get-ups!"
"Thanks!" Due exclaimed. "You've got yerself some nice seashells, too!"
"Great, so you're pirate gardeners," said Smellerbee. "Why're you gonna help us?"
"We've always been a peaceful people," said Huu, shrugging. "We may be waterbenders but we're not like the others."
Due put his hands on his hips. "The emperor's always makin' us do this an' that. Takin' our boats. Makin' us break stuff or threaten other villages. I jus' wanna make the land grow again, be green like it used to be."
"Can you get us safe passage to Agna Qel'a?" Mai asked. She didn't need anyone's life story. "That's all we ask."
Huu scratched his beard. "Yeah, I'd say that sounds reasonable enough. We go up that way sometimes to trade…"
"No way, this is crazy." Jet's outburst got the attention of several passersby but he waved his hook sword so they'd hurry past. "I'm not throwing myself at the mercy of pirates on their ship so they could throw me overboard whenever they want! I can't believe I went along with you for this long. But I'm going another way." He pointed a finger at his subordinates. "Smellerbee, Longshot, you guys do what you want. But make a decision. Make a vote."
He stormed off. Smellerbee crossed her arms and Longshot put his hand on her shoulder, but when Jet retreated back into the caverns and no one else followed Mai rolled her eyes and went after him.
"Jet, you're being stupid," she said to his back. He stopped moving and turned to her, his eyes wild with something that looked like madness. Mai didn't stand down. "You won't go with Aang to the south. Now you're not coming with us north. You've been unreasonably angry ever since we left and I've had enough of it."
Jet tucked his swords into his belt with a metal clang. "You're the one who volunteered to come with me, remember? So what I say goes!"
"You're a child," she said, her voice low. "You throw tantrums like one. And the more you do it the further you'll get from saving Toph."
"What do you care? You barely know Bandit!"
She waved an arm in the familiar motion of throwing one of her knives. "You want to know the truth? I'm not here to save her. Aang and the others will accomplish that much better than any of us will. You think anyone here knows anything about the Spirit World?"
Jet narrowed his eyes. "You just want to assassinate Arnook. What is it? You wanna play hero? Trust me, I know what that's like. And it doesn't end well."
"No," she said, speaking with more conviction than she ever did in recent memory. Her voice shook with it, low and dangerous. "I want revenge. I want the Water Tribes to pay for what they did to my warriors. You don't know what you're doing at all, the way you lead them - if you keep doing what you're doing you're going to lead these kids to their deaths and I won't have any part of that. You're their captain. You better start acting like it."
Jet grit his teeth. "I didn't even do anything yet! You're the one getting us to work with waterbenders and pirates!"
"With the way you've been acting it's only a matter of time until you do something catastrophic. What if these people weren't so nice? What if the moment you badmouthed them they cut you down? They had the opportunity to do it, back in those caverns. But no, you have to be reckless and idiotic."
"Will you cut it out with the insults?"
"Are you done being hotheaded and deserving of them?"
"You don't know anything about me, Mai," he said, the tension finally releasing from his posture. "What I've been through."
"Something to do with pirates, I'm guessing," she said, bringing her voice back to her normal monotone.
"Pirates and waterbenders attacked my town when I was a kid," he said, turning away from her. "Cut down everyone important to me. So yeah, you could say I want revenge too. I've been looking for them, the ones who did it."
"These people aren't the same ones," Mai said. "They want the same thing we do. Not all waterbenders are the same, you know."
"Well I've never met a waterbender I've liked," he said, sighing. "You're right, and I hate it. I guess we need them but I don't have to like it."
"I don't like it either," she said, turning to go back to the cove with her hands in her sleeves. "I just hide it better."
When they found nothing at all of use in the sanctuary, Aang decided to call it quits. His past lives had no advice for him, no words or way to connect with him even though he visited their statues. But he knew that. Avatar Wan told him he'd be on his own, other than someone he called Raava - whoever that was. But that, Aang supposed, had to be a mystery for another day. They had a rescue to make.
After he shackled Katara back to the saddle, Aang spotted Azula walking down the mountain pass, stopping at an ancient, gnarled tree that leaned heavily against a stone outcropping. From there, she stared back at the temple, toward Aang and Appa and Katara, as if taking them in with the temple as their backdrop. He bit his lip, curious about her behavior.
"Where'd Sokka and Zuko go?" he asked Katara after making sure she'd been secured.
"They went back into the temple," she said, rolling her eyes. "Said they had one more place to check."
Conflicted for a moment between wanting to go talk to Azula and keeping an eye on Katara, he looked back and forth between them with a sigh. "Don't try anything," he told her. "Appa, you keep an eye on Katara for a minute."
The bison rumbled in response, to which Katara leaned back and rested her bound hands on her lap. "Now the bison gets babysitting duty. Wonderful." He jumped down from the saddle but she shouted after him. "I know you're just trying to avoid being alone with me!"
Ignoring her, he jogged over to where Azula stood under the ancient tree. She turned away from him when he arrived. "Is everything okay?" he asked, brow creased in concern.
"Of course," she said, though he couldn't tell if she lied or not. "Just thinking. Admiring the view."
"Can I admire it with you?" he asked. When she nodded, he sat down on the stone, kicking his feet. He tried to measure his words but couldn't think of the right thing to say so he just blurted them out. "Azula, just so you know, I never take you for granted."
She sat next to him but raised an eyebrow, confused. "What?"
"I stopped taking anyone for granted a long time ago," he continued, watching Momo and Sabi swoop through the air in circular motions back toward the temple. From here, they looked like two white birds. "You know? Losing as many people as I have, people important to me. And, well, you're important to me. I just want to make sure I say that enough."
Azula chuckled and leaned on her hands. "Where's this coming from? I know I'm important, dum-dum. But thank you."
He rubbed the back of his neck and couldn't help but smile. Looking at her made his chest hurt but he couldn't place why, so he looked the other way and his smile faded when he remembered what else he wanted to ask her. "Have you… heard anything from Princess Azula lately? I meant to ask earlier, but with everything happening… I've just been worried."
She stared ahead again, back toward the temple. A blue shape started walking through the temple grounds toward them, perhaps Sokka or Zuko. "Nothing," she said. She turned back to Aang and her golden eyes met his grey ones. "Whatever you did in Ba Sing Se worked. Maybe she's stuck in the Spirit World."
Aang felt tension that he didn't even know he had escape from his shoulders. "Glad to hear it," he said. On one hand, it made Sokka, Zuko, and Katara feel further away, but on the other… "Your dad and Zuko still have their firebending, so I guess that worked out for them. None of you have to deal with the other parts of it anymore."
"I suppose not," she said. She squinted at the blue shape coming toward them, which paused briefly at where Appa rested and continued on toward them. "Zuzu's back. With no Sokka, it seems."
Aang smiled again. "Good. Because there's something I want to tell you both, just the two of you." He also wanted to address Azula's feelings toward him, but with Sokka's observations fresh in his mind he didn't know what to say about that yet.
When Zuko arrived, he wore a contemplative frown but jerked his thumb back toward Katara. "She's okay on her own?" he asked.
"Yeah," Aang said, crossing his legs. "Listen, there's something I want to tell both of you." He paused for a moment to take both of them in. Both looked confused. "This might be a little awkward but it needs to be said. When I first came here - almost four years ago now, I guess, with Sokka and Katara - it was one of the worst days of my life. I learned my people had been wiped out. I thought I was alone, but Katara and Sokka told me they'd be my new family. And they were."
Azula examined her nails. "Let's not get all sentimental now."
"They still are my family," Aang continued. "And you two have stayed at my side this whole journey so far. I just want to let you know I'm really thankful for that, and you're both family to me, too. I don't know if I've ever told you guys that, but I wanted to say it. Make sure you knew."
He had a hard time reading Azula's expression. She pursed her lips and stretched out her legs. "We do know, Aang. But thank you for the reminder."
Zuko scratched the back of his head, a blush rising to his cheeks. "Uh, thanks, Aang, really. But there was something I needed to ask you. Sokka's still in the temple. We found the monks' living quarters… and memoirs from Gyatso."
Aang shot up to his feet. "What? Really?"
Zuko nodded. "His latest entries mention a visitor to the temple during Seiryu's Moon, before the attack here. What was the name of that girl you knew, the one you mentioned to us from a hundred years ago?"
He felt the melancholy grip him, feelings that didn't belong to him for a friend who was also a complete stranger. "Sangmu." He wondered if he should be running back to the temple. If he should read through Gyatso's final words. Did they matter, after all this time? A hundred years and a whole different world separated them. It wasn't his Gyatso. If he had a final message for Aang, it was for the other Aang.
"It was her," Zuko said, closing his fists as if to urge Aang back to the temple. "She was here!" When Aang didn't move, he faltered. "I just saw her name and thought you should know. Thought you might want to read what might've happened to her. She ran away when you guys escaped from the Western Air Temple, right?"
"When the other me escaped," Aang clarified, staring down at the ground. "Not me. And besides, it was a century ago. Even if she did escape there's no way she managed to survive all this time. My people were hunted down. Maybe she got away from the massacre at the western temple just to die at this one."
Azula looked toward the temple again, eyes narrowed. "Sokka's coming back," she said. "And he's in quite the hurry."
Sokka came at them at a sprint through the temple grounds, holding a letter holder in his grip and waving it through the air. Gyatso's memoirs, Aang guessed. The three of them ran to meet him at Appa's side. Something that felt like hope flickered in Aang's chest - there had to be something important in there for Sokka to feel the need to tell him with the utmost haste.
Doubled over, he held up the letter holder and caught his breath. "Ugh… too many stairs and towers in that temple," he said, huffing and wheezing. "But listen… I found this. He talked about all kinds of… boring stuff at first. But then Seiryu's Moon came, and on the morning of its third day a girl arrived, warning them about the attack. He knew her."
Aang held up a hand to stop him. "Wait, three days into it? How long does Seiryu's Moon last?"
"Three," Sokka said, gulping in a breath of air and standing up straight. "And my great-great grandfather used all that time to coordinate the attacks on each temple. On the first day, they took down the west. The second, they took down the east. That girl Sangmu must've traveled really fast to make it here in less than two days. On the third day the northern and southern tribes attacked the north and south Air Temples at the same time, so I guess even if she beat them here the warning didn't do any good."
Aang supposed he should count himself lucky that Ozai didn't have three whole days to burn the Earth Kingdom to ash. He ignored Sabi when she fluttered to his shoulder, too transfixed on Sokka's words. "Okay, and then what?"
"Gyatso mentioned that Sangmu wouldn't stay. She had to fly south, toward the Water Tribe. He thinks she wanted revenge for what happened to her home. He tried to stop her, but… he didn't have any other entries after that."
Aang's dream came back to him with all the force of a komodo rhino slamming into him. "No," he said. "She had family there. Her parents might've lived in the Southern Water Tribe somewhere. Maybe she went to go find them."
Azula put a hand on her hip. "I get it, this is tragic and awful, but what's the point? I hate having to say this but there's even less of a chance that she survived in the land of the enemy. This was a century ago. Let's be realistic."
"An old story is coming to mind," said Katara from above, hanging over the saddle to regard them all. More than anything, she looked bored. "You remember, don't you, Sokka?"
"Peach Petal Island," he said, nodding. He fixed his gaze on Aang. "They say Emperor Seiryu - or Aniak, whatever you want to call him - fought only one airbender himself on the days of Seiryu's Moon. A child who confronted him alone while he directed his warriors toward the Southern Air Temple. He defeated her easily, instantly freezing her in ice before she could even attack. Since he was so powerful, it never melted, even when others tried to thaw her out. So they just... kept her there."
White hot anger boiled in Aang's stomach, threatened to spill from behind his teeth in a breath of flame. Winds circled around him and for a moment he thought Sokka's words had rendered him out of control of his emotions and into the Avatar State, until he reminded himself that he couldn't do that anymore. "Where is she?"
"It's just south of here," Sokka said, taking a step back. But he recovered once he realized Aang's rage wasn't directed at him. "The island isn't so nice as it sounds, though. It got its name from the pink salt crystals deep underground and someone must've thought it'd get a lot of people going to work there if they thought it was somewhere friendly and pretty. Nowadays it's just a salt mine with a port town above ground, mostly known for the airbender and the crystals."
Aang couldn't mask the disgust he felt toward Sokka's ancestors. "So she's just a trophy? My people are a trophy to be gawked at? Disrespected even after you wiped us all out?"
Sokka put his hands up in surrender when even Zuko and Azula leveled glares at him. "I never said I agreed with it! And others tried to thaw her out and let her rest in peace, but like I said, the ice doesn't melt. It never did, even to this day. There's no glory in beating a kid like that, so they tried to keep her out of the way and just put her underground, into the salt caves. It's sick and it's wrong, I know. I always thought so."
"Why didn't you mention this earlier?" Zuko asked, crossing his arms.
"I'm telling you now, aren't I? I had no idea the Avatar knew her. What'd you want me to say? 'Oh, by the way, one of your people might be underground in a random little island that's sort of out of our way, thought you should know!' We've got so many other things going on to make time for an airbender who died a century ago."
Aang leapt up onto Appa. "She wouldn't be the first person to survive in ice for a hundred years," he said. The hope that flickered to life burned bright in his chest. It might be nothing, might be a waste of time. But if there was a chance, just the slightest chance, that he wouldn't be alone anymore - the last of his kind - he had to take that chance. And even if she didn't survive in the ice without the Avatar State to support her like he once had, he knew he had to find a way to free her from the disgrace. She wouldn't be just a frozen trophy any longer. "Let's go."
"Right now?" Azula asked, climbing into the saddle. "She hasn't gone anywhere, she's not likely to move anytime soon. What about Toph? What about the people we can save?"
Thoughts of Toph dragged him right back down to earth. "I know," he said. He looked straight at Azula, willing her to understand the pain in his eyes, the hope. To take the chance with him that there could be another survivor. Another airbender. His other world didn't have this. This was new. This was different. "Toph is strong. The strongest person I know. I feel bad making her wait just a little bit longer but I know she'll hold on. She'll make it, wherever she is."
Azula broke his gaze. "Fine," she said. "But you'll be the one to tell her about all of our little detours."
Aang snapped Appa's reins once everyone came aboard, staring ahead to the southern skies. "I'm sorry, Toph," he said to himself, hoping wherever she was she'd be able to hear him. To understand. But Sangmu waited for him for a hundred years.
Kanna looked out over the waters of Chameleon Bay as the sun set below the horizon, her thoughts with her grandchildren. Unlike last time, when the Avatar took Sokka with him from the Golden City, she did not make plans to meet him again anytime soon to take Sokka back with her. She trusted the boy to look after both Sokka and Katara this time, that perhaps they'd all make the right choices.
Wherever their destiny brought them, she hoped it would keep them together.
"What a beautiful night for a beautiful lady," said a voice from behind her. She turned to regard the arrival, recognizing the man as one of her peers in the White Lotus Society, Iroh of the Fire Nation.
She gave him a coy smile. "You flatter me, dear. I do think I might be a little too old for you, though."
"Do you mind if I join you, Lady Kanna?" he asked. When she bowed her head in acceptance, he stood next to her and cast his eyes out over the bay. "It has been truly wonderful to reunite with my son again," he said. "I've missed him more than I can say."
"Has it been long since you've seen him last?" she asked. The sea carried a cool breeze that sent gooseprickles up her arms. It had been quite some time since she'd been to her home so she supposed the cold got to her more than it used to.
He folded his hands across his belly. "It feels like a lifetime ago," he said, his voice distant. Caught up in old memories, she assumed. "But it always does, when you are separated from your children."
Kanna nodded. "It's no different with grandchildren, I assure you."
They fell into a companionable silence, listening to the surf wash up on the sand while they enjoyed the view of a clear night with stars overhead. Another set of footsteps joined them on the beach and Kanna turned to see Xai Bau, her travel companion who joined her in her journey from Ba Sing Se to Chameleon Bay just the day before. The Sun Warrior strode toward them with purpose.
"Kanna," he said by way of greeting. "And Iroh, it is a pleasure to meet you."
"And you," said Iroh. "It is good to see a young one such as yourself devoutly follow our ancient ways."
"Indeed," said Xai Bau. "And it is good to see that our ancient ways are also followed in other worlds."
Kanna blinked at his words and stared at Iroh. "What does he mean? You're from another world?"
Iroh closed his eyes and took in a breath before opening them. "You are very in tune with the Spirit World, I see," he said to Xai Bau. He spread his arms. "I'm impressed. Though you're only partially right - I am the same Iroh I always was, but now I have something extra. Another part of me, sharing this body. At least there's plenty of room for both of us!" He chuckled at his own jape.
Kanna struggled to make sense of it, to remember what Aang had told her of his old companions. "Pardon me for being blunt, but I was told that most of Avatar Aang's previous allies had died. How is this possible?" She sometimes wondered about the other Kanna, who had mostly been silent in her dreams. She had no way of knowing for sure but she supposed the two of them must be too different - or perhaps even too similar - for her other self to try and influence things.
Iroh looked back up at the night sky. "You know, I am not that sure. I lost my life in that other world, but the mysteries beyond death are still as numerous and unknown to me as the stars above us now. Perhaps it is because I am more spiritual than most and driven to help however I can. Or perhaps it was just a quirk of fate. But either way, I can do my part to help now. To help again. Once the worlds began to merge together I journeyed to Jie Duan to find passage here."
"Your two selves have joined together just as the worlds have," Xai Bau observed, rubbing his chin. "Your self from this world didn't reject the intrusion? I wonder..."
"Why would I?" Iroh asked, beaming. "I've always wanted to be able to play myself in Pai Sho. Now I can!"
"Now we need to figure out our next course of action," said Kanna, clasping her hands together. "While the Avatar heads south and the Freedom Fighters head north, we must do our part to end this war."
Author's Note: Here's your reminder for the note at the beginning that the Distorted Reality webcomic has updated and now has scenes from "The Golden Siege"! Check it out!
Ugh, this chapter fought against me every step of the way. Writer's block hit hard, but I guess it's getting more difficult since I'm steering away from canon episodes as a guide. These are also getting longer and longer, oof. I hope this one worked out! Please let me know what you think!
