Author's Notes: There is now a DR-related Discord channel created by avenger9394 on Reddit (SenseiLokiNovels over on AO3)! If anyone is interested in joining you can check out the DR subreddit page or look at my profile for a link.

Last time: After defeating Xai Bau and transferring the invasion force through the Spirit World to the South Pole, Aang finally reunites with Zuko, Sangmu, Sokka, and Azula. After rallying together Team Avatar once again and talking out their feelings, they resolve to face their future troubles together.

Book 3: Water

Chapter 20: The Drowned

Sozin's Comet blazed across the sky like a second sun, searing the world below in shades of red. Its tail cut a swathe through the clouds, a glorious and sublime blade from the heavens that filled Azula with more power than she could ever have imagined. She wished the royal artists were here to capture the moment in her official painting to celebrate her ascension to Fire Lord, her dominion over the Earth Kingdom.

But instead, all she had was her dear, stupid brother and his peasant friend.

Zuko had managed to ground her airship with his enhanced firebending, and she gleefully met him on the field of battle. She couldn't remember what they had said to each other that day, only the feeling of power surging through her veins, the ease of firebending and even the flight it allowed. To her and her brother, the waterbender was an insect, even with the lake they thought to fight Azula near to try for an advantage.

Zuko protected the waterbender from Azula. But Zuzu couldn't be everywhere to protect everyone at once. As much as she wanted to kill them both right here and now, she knew it would be better to cause him pain in a different way.

In the next free moment she had, she kicked them both away with an eruption of blue fire and flew with jets from her feet across the battlefield. Below her, infantry marched across the Earth Kingdom like a cleansing wildfire that spread to devour everything in its wake. The aerial fleet had split to cover more ground, but Azula followed in the wake of her father's airship toward Ba Sing Se, a blue comet below the red one.


Among the bustle of activity that constantly pervaded throughout Camp Crystal, the White Lotus Society had their own sequestered chamber as an island of relative quiet and peace within the maze of the former Laogai prison. Even now, the vast majority of the people in the subterranean camp lacked knowledge of the White Lotus, and simply viewed them as an extension of either Ba Sing Se, Ozai's contingent, or a group of independent old people who joined the cause. Even Aang still felt partially in the dark as to their true purpose and their scope as he sat with the old masters in their chamber, the sole person able to sit in on at least a portion of their official meetings - in this case, the new arrivals of members.

With Iroh away at Aniak'to with Toph and Sangmu, Bumi acted as the primary spokesman as the new arrivals came and took their seats. Of the four, Aang only recognized two - and one of them was someone he was meeting for the first time in this world.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Avatar Aang," said Huu the swampbender. Aang wasn't even sure if Huu was a member of the White Lotus in his world. As thankful as he was to see the old man wearing White Lotus robes rather than a complete lack of pants, he did think it looked a little unusual on him. "Sorry we're late. We'd been sailing for quite a long time from the North Pole, and rather than crossin' through the mainland we figured it was easiest to sail around and come to camp from the south."

Aang grinned. "We're glad to have you."

The second person he recognized, Spriggy the herbalist, stared at Aang with bugged out eyes while Miyuki purred away on her lap. "Wait a minute, I remember you. You're really the Avatar!?"

Aang went to scratch his head out of habit before he remembered he was bald again. "Uh, I thought you knew."

Spriggy lifted up Miyuki to look her in the eyes. "Grand Lotus Miyuki, you were right all along! Nothing gets past you, old girl." Miyuki only mewled at her in response.

"Ooh, I like her," said Bumi in a side comment that everyone heard. He elbowed Jeong Jeong next to him, who looked mortified. "Anyone know if she's single?"

"Depends on who's asking," said Spriggy, fluttering her eyes coquettishly at him.

Aang blanched and looked at his oldest friend, who looked back at Aang with an innocent shrug. "What? I ain't getting any younger - just because I'm ninety it doesn't mean I can't make a new love connection! Rumor around here is that you have. How is that fair?"

Aang's face burned and he sank into his chair up to his eyes. "Bumi, you're a hundred and twelve!"

"Well don't tell her that!" he responded, bursting into laughter. "I have the vigor of a man half my age!"

Spriggy fell into the same snorting laughter as Bumi. "Well, well, we'll have to see if you can keep up with me. I'm pretty spry for sixty!"

Next to Aang, Pakku rubbed his temples as if a headache was coming on. "Just ignore it," he said to Aang. "I know for a fact that she's older than I am, and I'm eighty."

Piandao smiled at them with the utmost patience but cleared his throat. "Moving on… Huu, has your pirate crew settled in?"

Huu nodded and smiled back. "They still don't like the cold, but they are getting settled here. And to my understanding, Avatar Aang, I brought along a group of kids who claim to be friends of yours. The Freedom Fighters, they call themselves, though we had to leave a couple behind in the North Pole. They insisted on stayin' for a mission, and all."

Aang sat up straight again and beamed, curious about who would be here and who might have stayed. He worried for Mai and Jet all over again behind his smile. "It'll be good to see them again!"

Before the last two arrivals – a pair of twins Aang didn't recognize – could be introduced, Lu Ten and Azula appeared at the doorway, the former saluting but both of them anxious about something. "Sorry to interrupt," said Lu Ten, folding his hands neatly behind his back as if to give a report. "Uncle – I mean, Lord Ozai sent me. I'm here to notify Avatar Aang of a missing person."

Aang frowned. "What is it? Who's missing?"

"Zhao," Azula answered, her face grim. "It seems he had another episode and wandered off. We've searched all through Camp Crystal for him but no one can find him anywhere. Zuko thinks he went out into the tundra."

A current of tension rippled through the chamber, dispelling any levity that remained. Wu's bangles jingled as she pushed her chair out to stand. "If the Water Tribe finds him, our position will be compromised."

"Indeed," said Kanna, her face as grave and unforgiving as the tundra itself. "He must be found. This meeting is adjourned."

As the elders and Aang all moved to stand and move out, Azula's eyes caught Aang's but then widened in recognition when she saw the last two arrivals. "Lo? Li? What are you doing here?"

Aang stood at Azula's side as the two old twins came over to them. Like all of the other White Lotus members, they wore matching indigo robes with a white lotus-patterned mantle around their shoulders. Aang wondered where all the robes came from.

"Azula!" said one of the twins. "We can ask the same of you."

"Never did we expect you to be a companion of the Avatar or the White Lotus," said the other.

"That dreaded princess isn't with you, is she?"

"I heard we just missed little Iroh. What a shame!"

"There'll be time for questions later," said Azula, warding off their questions with more patience than Aang expected from her. "Katara isn't with me. But I thought you two were headed home, and that you didn't want to fight anymore."

"Well," said one.

"About that…" said the other.

Aang's eyes jumped back and forth between them as they picked up the other's sentence just as one twin put it down, a juggling act to rival anything Ty Lee could have done. "We sought our old White Lotus connections to make our way home, safely and quietly," one of the twins continued.

"Without the Water Tribe knowing," said the one on the right. "But it had been many, many years since either of us had contact…"

"So their passcodes were quite a bit outdated," said Huu, joining their conversation. "Regardless, I recognized our own, and knew they needed help. But I was headed this way, and they decided to join me."

"You inspired us," both twins said together, to Azula.

Azula blinked. "I did? But… I thought you just wanted to go home. And that you hated being around waterbenders. Being a member of the White Lotus is not really something I ever imagined about you two…"

"Not all waterbenders," said one twin. "For the first time, we decided to put our considerable power to good use against our true enemies."

Azula furrowed her brow. "That's not what you originally told me."

"We know Huu had nothing to do with our predicament. But we did have to do some soul-searching, we admit," the other twin said hurriedly, glancing nervously at Huu.

"And we came to the conclusion that the only ones deserving of our ire were the Wolverine-Skunk Clan."

The twin on the left held up her hand again, her face set into a scowl that looked all too at home on her. "And, of course, the Drowned."

"And the emperor," added the twin on the right. She tilted her head and counted on her fingers. "And I suppose the northern high chief. Perhaps the Wolf's Skulls as well, they sound like a nasty bunch. And lastly, any of those evil spirits we've been seeing so much of."

Aang frowned. Something about the way she gave a name to one of her various targets made him pause, spat with vitriol reserved only for them. "The… Drowned?"

"The ones who took us from our home in the first place," said the twin on the left.

The White Lotus members had mostly finished filing out of the chamber when a disturbance near the door caught Aang's attention. Piandao, wincing, massaged his toe as if he had stubbed it. "Well, that was rather ungraceful of both of us," he said over his shoulder to Pakku, the last to leave.

Pakku waved him off as they exited. "My fault entirely. Apologies."

"Listen," said Azula, narrowing her eyes in the direction of the doorway and then turning back to them. "We can talk later. I am sure we'll have lots of catching up to do."

"We hope, after this is all over, we'll have all the time in the world," they said, perfectly in sync with each other in such a bone-chilling way that Aang backed away from them.


As they made their way down the halls toward one of the grander meeting chambers, Aang glanced sideways at Azula. "Well… they were a little creepy," he said. "How do you know them, exactly?"

"I think they tend to have that effect on people," Azula said. "They're less ominous than they seem. They taught me during my time with Katara."

Lu Ten led the way. People in their path parted to let him through without him even asking or gesturing to them. "Firebenders from our village, huh? And they knew Father. What are the chances?"

"Quite miniscule," said Azula. Her eyes drilled into her cousin's back and her tone changed as swiftly as a lash. "About as miniscule as Zhao's chances should have been for escape! What happened? If he really was a danger to us all, why would my father bring him along with the invasion force?" Aang found himself wondering the same thing, but he didn't want to bring it up to Lu Ten.

"Zhao has his moments of lucidity," Lu Ten said, rubbing the back of his neck as if he felt her heat. "Uncle Ozai thought it would have been better for him to stay among his people. That it'd give him the opportunity to heal better. Zhao had already been left behind by our forces once. He didn't want to let it happen again."

"Of all the times for Father to choose the compassionate approach," Azula said under her breath. She rubbed her forehead, an expression of pain that only Aang saw. "Someone finds the notion hilarious."

Lu Ten looked at her over his shoulder, his eyebrow raised as they approached the doors to the grand meeting chamber and heard raised voices behind it. He must have thought Azula was referring to those voices. "General Zhang? I… sincerely doubt that."

Zhu Zhang did not, in fact, find it hilarious.

"Listen, I understand the man was spirit-touched like a third of the soldiers around here," she said as they entered. She stood over Ozai's chair, who calmly stared ahead. "We need the numbers and can't afford to turn them all away. But from what I heard, that guy was a raving barrel of hog-monkeys! Why weren't there eyes kept on him at all times!?"

Azula stiffened next to Aang and stood almost behind him. Aang could only assume that Fire Lord Azula was not pleased about the way Zhang addressed Ozai, and how he took it without protest.

Bumi, Kanna, and Wu had beaten Aang and the others here, and already took their places around the chamber to represent the Creeping Crystal, the White Lotus and other independents, and the other leading branch of Ba Sing Se, respectively. Kanna held up a hand to keep the peace. "Now, now," she said. "Let us focus on what to do next instead of dwelling on what could have been. Has a search party departed yet?"

Ozai turned to her, unblinking. "No. We needed the agreement of all present before we sent others out into danger."

Sokka edged into the room behind Aang and Azula. "Actually," he said, announcing his presence. "Master Pakku just went outside. He said a waterbender would be able to cover the most ground in the snow, and that there was no time to waste."

"In that, he isn't wrong," said Ozai, glancing up at Zhang. Aang had the impression of a volcano about to erupt. "We do not have the time to squabble here."

Zhang scoffed and waved a hand. "Fine. Send a team out to find him. The rest of the camp is on lockdown!"

Aang stepped forward to volunteer. "We'll go," he said, gesturing to Azula and Sokka. "And we'll bring Zuko. Between his tracking skills and Sokka's, we'll find Zhao in no time. Especially if Pakku is out looking, too."

Kanna folded her hands. "I wish you a successful hunt," she said, her voice laced with worry. "But be sure to avoid any settlements."

"Zhao is lost and confused," Bumi said with surprising tenderness. "If he is captured, he is a danger to everyone here. But in the snow and cold he is in plenty of danger on his own."

Wu clasped her beringed hands together. "Something tells me your troubles won't end once you find him. This morning when I read my tea leaves, I saw - of all things - the moon in danger. I fear this moonslayer, a ravenous wolf, and a tower struck by lightning all await in the near future. Grave portents, all of them."

"Well that doesn't make me feel good," Sokka said, putting a hand on his hip.

Aang looked at Azula and Sokka, already turning toward the hall with Wu's words at his back. Zhao had tried to slay the moon once before. "Let's go."

They found Zuko near Appa's chamber and told him what he missed before heading out to the ladders going aboveground. Aang decided to leave Appa and the lemurs behind for this mission - in order to track Zhao, they needed to be close to the ground, and that ran the risk of them being seen. Besides, flying too high on Appa was dangerous with all of the violent spirits still about. When they made it outside, they saw no signs of Pakku ahead of them.

"Wow, Master Pakku didn't waste any time," said Zuko, as they made their way to the snowdrift border of the camp. High above, the skies were clear but continued shifting with streaks of light, visible even in full daytime, a bouquet of flower constellations. Beyond the snowdrifts, it was mostly flatland, and no indication that either Zhao or Pakku had passed through other than loose snow to the northwest; Aang guessed that Pakku had disturbed it by surfing across the fields. "I think we should go southwest, along the water. We know Zhao took this exit from the camp and that he broke the snow wall to the west. Pakku went north so we'll cover the south side."

"Good idea," said Sokka. "We'll look like four friends on a fishing trip if anyone finds us."

"It's as good of a start as any," Aang said, shouldering his pack. All four of them had previously put together packs full of supplies in case they needed to make a quick getaway.

They set off across the snow as fast as they dared while Zuko and Sokka kept an eye out for tracks or signs of Zhao's passage. The only noises through most of the morning were the crunch of their footsteps in the snow, the waves crashing against the bottoms of the cliffs far below, and the wind over the landscape. Fox burrows and snow rat nests were the only breaks in the monotony of the snowfields. Without much of anything else to do while Zuko and Sokka did the tracking, Aang worried for Azula.

"You've been quiet," he said, falling into step with her. "Is it the Fire Lord?"

Azula shook her head, her gaze fixed on her feet so that he couldn't see her face beneath her fur-lined hood. "No. It's just something Lo and Li said. Did you see Pakku's reaction when they mentioned the Drowned?"

Aang tried to recall the moment; he had been mostly distracted by the twins themselves. "You mean when he accidentally stepped on Piandao's foot?"

"It's probably nothing," Azula said. "But he seemed in a hurry to get out of there. And the fact that he seems so concerned about finding Zhao is a little unusual for him, don't you think? To run out of camp without really telling anyone who mattered?"

Sokka was close enough to hear them. "He told me where he was going."

"Anyone who really mattered?" Azula amended.

"Hey!"

Aang shrugged. "It was a bit weird, I guess. Maybe he just wants to help."

Azula pulled her foot out of a particularly deep patch of snow. "The more I think about it, the more I feel like something about him is… familiar, in a way," she said. "I had that feeling even when we first met him back in the Water Gardens."

Sokka let out a sigh. "I didn't really want to tell you this," he said. Aang could only see his scarred side, like he was trying to avoid looking at Azula. "Because I don't think it matters anymore, but… the Drowned is a band of raiders that have been in our tribes for hundreds of years. Only the best waterbenders from the North and South get recruited into it. They would attack any nation - even the Water Tribes - and take their riches or prisoners or just leave devastation in their wake. It was during my granddad's rule that they were absorbed and made an official part of the Water Navy. My guess is that's why Pakku seemed distracted when you mentioned it around him."

"So they took Lo and Li from our home when they were young," said Azula, as even Zuko slowed down to listen.

"Pakku was famed as the leader of the Drowned at one point," Sokka continued. "Until he deserted three years ago. But I don't think Pakku is old enough to have been the leader when Lo and Li were taken."

"I see," Azula said, and she quickened her pace to walk ahead of them without another word. Aang and Sokka looked at each other, perplexed. Aang wasn't sure how she took that information – Pakku was just another waterbender with a dark past, trying to atone for his mistakes by joining the White Lotus. Or did it hit too close to home because of Lo and Li?

Zuko scowled, his footsteps coming down heavy. "Maybe not old enough to have kidnapped Lo and Li," he said. "But if it was the Drowned who attacked our village when we were kids…"

Sokka straightened his shoulders, realizing his mistake. "Oh…"


Zuko huddled with Azula under their blanket fort while he brushed his fingers over the clay tablet pressed with their handprints earlier that day; it had finally dried, sealing the image of their hands in stone. He looked at the flame she held with an arm just outside of the blanket with distaste. The moon was bright enough tonight that they could admire the clay tablet together near the open window, but she just couldn't shake the opportunity to show off her firebending. The night was already warm enough.

"Maybe we're both earthbenders now," Azula whispered, grinning.

"That's impossible," Zuko shot back in a voice barely above a whisper.

"No it isn't," she retorted. "Maybe I'm the Avatar and you're really from some Earth Kingdom family."

He was about to respond when a scream shattered the night, and then was abruptly cut short.

Movement from elsewhere in the house made Azula suffocate her flame. Mother appeared at their door just as shouts started coming from outside. She hugged them both close.

"Mom, what's happening?" Azula asked. She didn't sound afraid.

"Ursa, stay here," said Father, taking his swords and disappearing outside.

"It's okay, my loves," she said, trying to soothe them as much as herself. "We'll be safe."

"Aren't the Twins supposed to stop them?" Azula asked. Zuko didn't know how she was able to find words; it was as if she didn't understand the danger of the situation, or worse - didn't think it was worth worrying about. But Zuko knew the stories. "Who's attacking? Can't we burn them?"

"Shh, Azula," said Mother. "We must be silent."

They heard a crash right outside their window. The sound alarmed Zuko enough to drop the clay tablet he didn't realize he was still holding, which cracked in two. He and Mother both froze, but Azula wiggled free of their mother's embrace and lobbed a fireball outside of the window, burning through the protective bug screen and dropping a flaming net on someone below.

A man's unfamiliar voice shouted out in pain. Zuko looked up at his mother, whose eyes had widened in terror. Azula didn't seem to realize what she had done. Mother gripped Zuko's shoulder. "Both of you, sneak out the back window in my bedroom," she said. "Quickly, and quietly. Flee to the jungle and hide as best you can. Do not come back until your father and I come find you. Promise me. Go on, I love you both. Be safe."

Azula finally seemed to realize what she had done. Wide-eyed, she looked at Mother as she stood and strode purposefully to the window with the fire outside, and Azula didn't resist when Zuko took her hand and ran.


"I should never have run," Zuko muttered.

"I didn't mean..."

Zuko waved off Sokka's stammered apology after he finished his story, but when Aang tried to offer a word of comfort to Zuko, he held up his hand and called Azula back to them. Zuko veered off into a different direction and crouched in the snow, the ermine tails of his parka dangling forward. "Tracks," he said, once the others gathered around him. "It's a pointed boot, like the uniforms my father's men wear."

Sokka turned around and gazed back the way they had come. "That's gotta be him. He headed in this direction from camp, but instead of going to the sea he cut further west. It looks like he's dragging his feet, as if he's wounded."

"But there's no blood," Azula pointed out. "Perhaps his movements are just… erratic. If he's wearing his uniform he'll be noticed immediately."

Sokka squinted in the direction the tracks headed. A gentle slope cut off their vision so they couldn't see what lay beyond it, but all four of them ascended it and kept low as they crested the hill. Aang and the others pressed themselves flat when they saw the village on the other side of the slope, a cluster of huts and igloos nestled between two hills and around a river that fed into the sea. Smoke drifted out from the tops of the igloos and huts; the people huddled inside to escape the bitter cold, making it look like a sleepy village, even peaceful. Mountains loomed further to the west, like teeth.

A dark blotch wandered just at the outskirts of the village, on the north end further away from them. Aang recognized the figure's black and red cape even from this distance and pointed him out. He couldn't see the man's features from here, but it could only be Zhao. He stumbled toward the village and it spurred Aang and the others to action as they rounded the perimeter and prepared to pull him away before he could be seen - it was a miracle he hadn't been already.

Something rumbled near Zhao and it took Aang a moment to recognize it as a growl. He heard the snap of metal just after that and Zhao flinched away from the village, falling backward in alarm. Zuko hissed; the growl came from a massive gray wolf chained to a post, a guard to watch for dangers to the village. Any second now, someone would be coming out to investigate. The wolf's jaws snapped and slobbered toward Zhao's direction, and as they neared with increasingly frantic urgency Aang could see the terror and confusion in Zhao's eyes; he had frozen in fear.

Other noises popped up around the village. Doors opened. "Shut up that mangy wolf!" someone shouted.

Snow converged around Zhao's body and condensed, encasing him inside it and yanking him over the hill. But Aang and Sokka were too far away for it to be either of them. All four flattened themselves to the ground again, hearts pounding against the snow.

"Did someone see him?" Sokka whispered as they slid to the side of the hill away from the village. "We'd be lucky if they didn't see us."

"What's got ol' Kvichak all riled up?"

"Probably just some fox wandering too close, as usual! Or maybe just some spirits this time. Come back inside!"

Sokka looked at Aang and Zuko incredulously. "They named their wolf after my grandfather?"

"Come on," Aang said, leading the way in a crouching gait toward where Zhao had been pulled. When they rounded the next low hill, they saw Pakku standing above Zhao, who was pressed to the ground by the snow. Aang breathed a sigh of relief. "Great timing," he said to Pakku as they approached.

Pakku gave no indication of surprise that they had come. "We have to hurry back," he said. "He's cold. Too cold. And his mind is lost in rage right now."

Zuko and Azula knelt with fire in their palms to warm him as best as they could, but Aang frowned when he saw that Zhao had been gagged by a strip of leather. Zhao glared at Pakku with hatred in his eyes. "What's this for?" Azula asked, peering up at Pakku. "If you're concerned about the cold, get this snow off of him."

"I was worried he'd make too much noise," Pakku replied. "We can take the gag off of him once we get further from the village. But the snow was so he wouldn't attack me."

Aang pushed the snow away with a single gesture and Zuko and Azula helped him up, but Zhao pulled the gag away himself. "I recognize you now," he said in a wheezy voice, as if his throat had been constricted. "Zuko, Azula… this monster – this waterbender – attacked our village the night your mother died. I saw him around the camp and couldn't place it. But now… now… it's all coming together."

Still supporting Zhao, both Zuko and Azula glared at Pakku. "I knew it," said Zuko, his voice low and threatening in a way that reminded Aang of the other Zuko with startling recognition; he imagined Zuko with his scar and a snarling attack, the anger he had from when they had first met. "The Drowned did attack our village. It was you."

Sokka stepped between them. "Guys, I know this is a really big deal and I completely understand how you're feeling right now, but we need to get away from here. Can we talk this out once we go back to camp?"

Zuko didn't look away from Pakku, his voice a dagger cutting through Sokka's attempt to make peace. "Stay out of this, Sokka. You have your mother back. I don't want to hear how you could possibly understand us."

Sokka backed away, hurt. Azula only watched while she tended to Zhao.

"You killed our mother," Zuko said, and when Zhao stepped back Aang thought Zuko would free his arms to grab his swords. But his hands didn't go to his swords; his mittens twitched like he was about to firebend instead.

"I did," said Pakku, who did nothing to react to Zuko's aggression. He didn't take a stance, didn't look away in shame; instead, he stared right at Zuko, accepting his rage. "I finally realized why I found you familiar when I first met you kids."

Aang stood beside Sokka. He tried not to look at Pakku. It was as if the sanctity of the White Lotus had been defiled. "Zuko, Azula. Please. We need to get Zhao to safety. Sokka's right. Now is not the time."

"No," Azula said, and for a moment Aang thought she would dismiss him the same way Zuko had dismissed Sokka. "You didn't kill our mother. You may have been there that night, but I saw who did it. It was a different man."

Aang whirled to look at Pakku while Zuko and Zhao gaped at Azula, their rage turning to shock.

Pakku sighed and turned away from them, walking a safer distance away from the village. As if he decided Zuko was no longer a threat. Or that he welcomed an attack while his back was turned. "No," he affirmed. "I didn't do the deed. But I may as well have."


I viewed the world differently, then.

I had felt the helplessness of more powerful men taking my life from me and in my anger I wanted to make others feel the same way. Over the years I devoted myself to water, to my training, and I rose through the ranks of our navy until I was personally selected for the Drowned. I was the river beating down my enemies, the deluge sweeping fire and earth, but it wasn't until I came to one tiny village in the Fire Nation that I realized I never stopped being the helpless boy I had been all those years ago. The river picked me up in its current, ripped me along its path, dragged me against the rocky bed until it wore me down to a husk of a man, and it spit me out in that village.

My men, those who had also given themselves wholly to water, attacked in the night. Our mission was to find the last firebender among those islands before she could flee to the Golden City and join her flame to theirs. And I was to take her home with me, away from her people, a weapon reforged and turned against them. This village was a treasure in the valley that stood untouched by the current for two generations. They had enjoyed their peace for long enough, we were told.

I watched the panicked villagers flee into the shelter of their jungle and get snatched up by its vines. I almost called to my former student, Bato, out of habit before I realized he had left us. One of the few who managed to rise above the current and force his own way.

There was a battle, or maybe a scuffle. There weren't enough fighters in the village to call it a true battle. I didn't partake - all I wanted was to go in, do what we came for, and leave with our prize and as few casualties as possible. It should have been easy. A warrior yelled and rushed me with his sword but at a gesture my water enveloped him and the force of it knocked him out. A fire started somewhere, one of their homes ablaze, but I didn't think it was the firebender; just flames licking at the mayhem.

I turned to one of the men accompanying me. "Where is the boy?"

"I just saw him run into the jungle, Master Pakku."

He had found prey. "Where?" I asked again, more urgent this time. When he pointed away from the village, in the trees, I went that way at once. I tried ignoring the screams. I brought these horrors upon these people. I was doing my duty. With the Drowned, I'd fought in many battles. But never like this, never against the truly helpless.

I found the boy in a clearing, next to a lake, the full moon shining above us. A woman floated face down in the water, her hair like shadows rippling. Camellias drifted from her pockets, buds and petals forming her shroud. Here in the trees, the sounds from the village had been muted.

"What have you done?" I asked him, my voice breaking through the quiet of the night. "Tell me, Yakone!"

"I found our target, Master. Aren't you glad?" My newest student beamed, proud of what he'd done. I wish I had seen his bloodthirst months before. I could have stopped it. But I had been blind to it. "That was the last firebender. She won't be a threat to us anymore."

"The last firebender is a child." I remember how my voice shook with horror and rage, but most of all I despaired. What would Kanna have done if she had seen me now, all these years later? I was old, and bitter. And I had unleashed a murderer. "That was an innocent woman!"

Yakone only tilted his head. A minor thing, no more guilt than if he had broken a toy. "Oh," he said. "Is that really so much worse than kidnapping a child from their home? I did her a favor, Master. She has been blessed beyond measure, granted a greater boon than any of the other unclean people of this village. She's now one of the Drowned."

"Let's go," I said. It wasn't much worse, after all. "We're leaving this village. Forget the mission. I want to put this place behind us."

At the edge of the clearing, the leaves rustled. And the current ripped my feet out from under me again when a little girl appeared, her eyes wide. "Mom?"


Once he finished his story, Zuko lunged forward and grabbed Pakku by the collar. "You brought that monster to our village," he said through gritted teeth.

"I did," Pakku said, staring him in the eyes. "Do what you must. I deserve it. I should have deserted from the Water Navy earlier than that. Even after that night, I waited too long. I should have dealt with Yakone, but I was too weak for it. All I could do was run away, and do whatever I could to make amends ever since then. That is why I joined the White Lotus Society."

Aang had frozen. Pakku had done something inexcusable and part of him wanted to defend the old waterbender, someone he had always respected. But the other half of him understood Zuko's pain. The wind around them picked up, scattering a dusting of snow across the fields now that they were out in the open again and away from the village. Bright lights shone above them, light spirits that had drifted low out of the sky, like snowflakes.

Zuko didn't let go of Pakku. "I always wondered what I would do if I ever found myself in front of my mother's killer."

"If you want vengeance, take it," said Pakku.

Azula, who had been supporting Zhao alongside Sokka during their trek, stared ahead across the snowfields. "Your vengeance would be misplaced, Zuko," she said. "Pakku didn't murder our mother with his own hands. You should be asking where this Yakone is."

Aang looked at her, taking a deep breath that filled his lungs with bitingly cold air. "What about you, Azula? Is that what you want?"

"Petty revenge for something that happened years ago is beneath me. It's done with. No use dredging up the past," she said. Something about her airy dismissal of it bothered Aang, even though he didn't want a violent outcome. "But if Zuzu wants it, I won't try to stop him."

Zuko narrowed his eyes at her and shoved Pakku away from him. "You want to make amends? Tell me where Yakone is now."

Pakku sighed. "If you believe that is what must be done, I won't stop you. As I said, I should have done something about Yakone a long time ago. I'd never met a waterbender - a bloodbender - as ruthless as him. After I left he rose through the ranks of the Drowned faster than anyone before him. He's the leader now."

Zhao gripped his head with both hands, a sudden movement that made Sokka jump away from him. He pointed at Pakku and Zuko. "You think you can take me? You're a pathetic old man and a pathetic little prince! I am Zhao the Conqueror, Zhao the Moonslayer. The Invincible. The Moonslayer. I know the secrets of the spirits! I killed those fish! Tui and La, I have the ancient knowledge..."

Once his outburst settled down into incomprehensible rambling and muttering, Sokka stared at him with pity. "We need to bring him back," he said. "Or, well… I can, on my own. The rest of you can go do what you need to. If I remember correctly, the Drowned are based not too far from here."

"A day or so, on foot," Pakku said, nodding. "Just past the western mountains, an ice fortress and port village called Blackstone Quay. You won't miss it."

Aang tried to soothe Zhao; the sight of a flame in Aang's hands seemed to calm him, or at least distract him. "You're not coming with us?"

Pakku shook his head. "The values of the White Lotus cannot be reconciled with an act of personal revenge like that. We're meant to be observers, impartial and balanced, interacting directly and openly with the world only in moments of great importance with the fate of many at stake. I must continue to atone in my own way, however long it takes. I can only guide you to the board, but you must make your own plays. Whatever they may be."

Zuko turned away from Pakku. "Azula, Aang, are you with me?"

His tempered rage made Aang worry for his friend. He didn't know this Zuko could be capable of it. He nodded along with Azula; like Pakku said, he could only guide Zuko. Keep him safe on his mission. For the first time in a long time, all three of them set off together.


Their trek to Blackstone Quay took them further west, past the village where they found Zhao, and through a mountain pass far less perilous than the East Ipik Peaks. They trudged up the slopes, venturing past frozen lakes and great pillars like in the Wulong Forest but shaped from ice rather than stone. Or they might have had stone underneath, but they had been covered with ice over the years of exposure to the frigid climes of the South Pole.

The most dangerous part of the journey involved the dark and light spirits. While the sky was clear of Spirit World weather, the two opposing spirits clashed above their heads or in the fields, wrecking parts of the mountain pass. Aang, Zuko, and Azula gave them a wide berth. Once, they came across travelers passing between Blackstone Quay and the villages from the snowfields, but Aang and the others hid in the snow until they passed.

"I think we're being followed," Aang said, keeping his head low as they walked. "Every so often I see a shape moving behind us, but it might just be a hungry animal."

"Maybe those travelers?" Azula suggested. "Perhaps they saw us and doubled back in suspicion."

"I don't know," Zuko said, and Aang suspected he didn't really care. He focused only on the path ahead of them. Ever since they learned about Pakku, he had been driven only to find the man named Yakone. Aang wanted to offer words – any words, comforting or supportive or even something to persuade him from this course – but struggled to find them even when they made camp for the night.

"Do you have a plan?" Aang asked. Part of his question went unspoken. Will you kill him? Or do you just want to face him and find closure? "For what you'll do when we get there?"

You should stop him, said Aang's other self, who had been unnervingly quiet this whole time. The monks would never approve of what he's doing. He's your friend, you need to guide him.

I need to keep him safe in this, Aang responded. But he needs to come to his own conclusions. I have my own beliefs about what I think is right, but I can't decide that for him. Maybe the other Zuko is helping.

"I'll think of something once I see their fortress," he said with a grunt.

By the afternoon, they found Blackstone Quay. From the edge of the mountain pass, they had a view of it from above. True to its name, it sat in a harbor formed naturally from solid black stone covered in white snow, jetties stretching out like crude teeth of a heavy key. Mostly wooden warships coated in ice docked here, but from their vantage point Aang could also see smaller catamarans, long canoes, junk ships, fishing boats, and even heavy trade barges. It bustled with the activity of dockworkers hauling crates, shouts and whistles echoing up from below as the harbormaster managed the coming and going of ships.

The fortress itself stood just beyond the docks, enclosed in a square ice wall about thirty feet tall, edged with spikes on top rather than any flattened path upon which patrols could walk. Instead, two of the opposite corners of the wall had a lookout station. Inside, it protected what looked like a perfect block of ice from the outside; an unyielding, solid, and unadorned bulwark against the sea. Crowning the stronghold was the tallest igloo Aang had ever seen, stretched into a cylindrical shape rather than a dome, with an opening that lookouts could use to survey the harbor below.

In the absence of Sokka, Aang turned to Azula out of habit. "What do you think?" he asked.

"It's well defended from the sea and the land behind it," she said. Aang still had trouble sensing how tense she might have been, if at all; he wondered if her troubles with Fire Lord Azula occupied her enough that the idea of vengeance for her mother was meaningless in comparison. "The fact that it is all made of ice would make it difficult for their enemies to pierce their defenses, but with a waterbender on our side that shouldn't be as much of an issue. Their sentries are also focused on the ground below and the sea - they wouldn't expect an attack from above."

"We'll sneak in," Zuko said. "Keep it quiet, find Yakone, and get out."

Aang frowned. He wondered if Sangmu would have a better chance of getting through to him. "What will you do when you find him?"

"I don't know yet," he replied, and he bent low and grabbed the hilt of his sword as if he intended to charge toward the fortress right then and there. "I'll decide when I meet him."

Aang heard the crunch of snow behind them before he heard the voice. "Wait."

All three whirled around to face the person who had come up the mountain pass behind them. Wrapped in a parka with broadswords on his back, Aang widened his eyes when he recognized Ozai. Both Zuko and Azula lowered their eyes; perhaps a habitual show of respect. "Father," Zuko said. "What are you doing here?"

"You were the one following us, weren't you?" Azula asked. "Didn't General Zhang leave the camp on lockdown?"

In spite of everything, Ozai showed the hint of a smirk at Azula's words. "I snuck out to find Zhao, since he was my responsibility," he said simply. But then he looked over the fortress and turned grave. "From the moment I first saw Pakku, I recognized him. I knew who he was. But your Uncle Iroh convinced me that he was no longer the man he used to be, no longer our foe, and like all other members of the White Lotus he had been given a second chance, free of judgment from his past life. And so I buried the issue until I ran into Pakku on his way back to camp with Zhao. He told me where you kids went, and then I followed."

Zuko clenched his hands. "You mean that you and Uncle both knew all along? Why didn't you tell us?"

Ozai's eye twitched, but he clenched his jaw and looked away from his son. "Because there were more important things. This war won't be won by fighting against our own allies. Your mother is gone, and there is no bringing her back."

Zuko scowled. "I know that. But that also confirms what I've always known. You didn't love Mom as much as I did."

Aang felt a chill unrelated to the cold; he hadn't thought of the events of the night Katara went to find her own mother's killer in a long time, and Zuko's words reminded him harshly of what she once said to Sokka. Again, Azula said nothing.

If Ozai had been hurt by the accusation, he didn't show it. "I am here now," he said. "And I will not let you storm this fortress alone."

Aang looked closely at Ozai, almost as if trying to see through his face to find the Phoenix King he'd already met underneath in the Spirit World. He'd not been prepared to fight directly alongside Ozai, and he wondered how much the man knew of the other world at this point. Ozai glanced at Aang and somehow he knew that they were both thinking of Ozai's admission of weakness, his request for Aang to kill him if the Phoenix King ever took control. "Have you practiced your firebending?" Aang asked.

"Some," he said, examining his gloved hand. "My brother was able to spare some time to teach me the basics during our time in Chameleon Bay and Lake Laogai. Do not worry for me." With the way he looked at Aang, Aang thought he meant it in more ways than one.

Zuko turned back to the fortress, focusing on their objective with wordless acceptance of Ozai's aid. "If we make it in quietly, there won't be any dark spirits attacking to complicate things."

"I don't think it should be quiet and stealthy," Azula said, and she pointed her fingers toward the fortress, as if aiming. "In fact, quite the opposite. I'll cause enough destruction and noise that you three can take advantage of the chaos and confusion and get right inside. If dark spirits come, all the better – we're outnumbered, so we can use all the help we can get." As she spoke, Aang couldn't help but notice the glint in her eyes that told him some of her old confidence was back, and it made him grin. He wondered if it had to do with the fact that Ozai was there. Like she wanted to show off her power.

Ozai peered at her. "Not the cleanest strategy, but it will get the job done."

"Fine," Zuko said, starting the climb down the rocky slope. "You do that, and the three of us will break through."

As the mountain pass was meant to be used for travelers going between Blackstone Quay and the villages of the snowfields, a path meandered down into the port proper. Aang walked with Zuko and Ozai, masquerading as simple travelers headed to work. Rather than a mercantile port or a place for civilian passengers, Blackstone Quay seemed to be entirely meant for the transport of supplies and restocking for the Water Navy, occupied only by warriors, dockworkers, and sailors. As they neared, Aang watched workers unload heavy logs to be made into lumber, salt presumably from the north side of the continent and places like Peach Petal Island, and produce from the other nations that already looked as if it was just skirting the definition of edible.

As soon as they integrated into the crowd of workers, the sky flashed and exploded with a spear of lightning, striking the domed top of the fortress and shattering the ice. Panicked shouts erupted from the docks as workers fled for shelter.

"From a clear sky!?"

"It's the work of spirits!"

"The Everstorm is coming for us!"

Aang took advantage of the confusion to slice at the twine bundling the piles of logs together, cutting clean through it with water in one smooth motion. The logs tumbled, adding to the panic, and they made their way to the walls of the fortress while everyone scrambled.


The burning woman stood next to Azula as she watched the scene below, letting out a mournful cry that she forced herself to look away from.

She lost track of Aang, her brother, and father as they interspersed with the crowd. The blue dragon was jubilant for the first time in days, as if Azula casting lightning down below was like a leash she had slackened. Her time with Aang had been wonderful in dulling the bite from the Fire Lord, but now that her father was here she had been reenergized. While she circled her arms for another blast, she pictured herself on the platform of an airship high in the sky, raining destruction while the sky blazed red above her.

The second bolt of lightning struck one of the corners of the guard wall, underneath the watchtower. It took out enough of the wall that everything above it crumbled, taking down the sentries with it. Her lightning wasn't powerful enough to blast clean through the wall, but it made enough of a weak point that she spotted Aang heading toward the steam to wear away the rest with his waterbending. By this point, warriors emerged from the center fortress, rallying for a defense from their unseen attackers, and she knew immediately that Aang, Zuko, and her father would soon be discovered and surrounded.

The burning woman reached out to her, sobbing, and Azula shook her head. Her mother didn't burn. She drowned. And the man responsible for it was inside. She had not forgotten his face.

She came along with Zuko because she thought that finally confronting the man would give Fire Lord Azula some peace. But maybe it wasn't enough to watch it happen from a distance.

Azula raced down the path toward the port, sliding down over the snow. She made it close to the wall just as the warriors began to engage Aang and the others in a fight. Azula locked eyes with Aang just as he dodged the swing of his foe's club, and she leapt through the gap in the wall and into the fortress.


"Mom?"

Azula couldn't help the quiver of her lip as she watched the two strangers facing each other in the jungle clearing. One was a teenager; he couldn't have been much older than Lu Ten. It was that one who walked toward her first, but she barely noticed him, fixated instead on the dark shape floating in the water beneath the light of the full moon. She watched the camellias drifting. Her mother must have been working on a floral arrangement before the attack.

"Do not harm that child, boy!"

The older man's voice cut through her reverie, and the younger one crouched in front of her and looked her directly in the eyes. Any fight she had in her from earlier in the night had drained away. As they fled into the jungle, watching the vines grab the people she knew, she had been separated from Zuko. Now, she was alone.

"That was your mom?" he asked her. His voice was almost soothing. "Don't be sad, little one. She fought well. She picked up a spear and used it much better than any of the women I've ever met. I was surprised. There was a fire in her that made me think she was a firebender, I have to admit."

Her eyes burned. The other man in the clearing, further away, blurred through her tears and she didn't see him anymore. Just the one in front of her. "Did you… did you hurt her?"

"Of course not," he said, and he cupped her chin with his hand. "Your mother walked into this clearing and into the water all on her own. I didn't lay a hand on her as she drowned."

She didn't move. She couldn't move. Her tears fell down her cheek. It was her fault that Mother had to send her and Zuko away in the first place. Azula thought she could fight them. "Why? Why would Mom do that?"

"I don't know," he answered, putting his hand back on his knee and standing up straight. "Maybe she just didn't want to be your mother anymore."

"Boy!" the older man shouted. "I told you, we're leaving!"

The boy smiled at her one last time before turning away to follow his elder. "Goodbye, little one. Maybe we'll meet again one day."

Azula said nothing as they departed. She stumbled toward the edge of the pond and fell to her knees, sobbing. It wasn't until sunrise that someone found her.


Yakone didn't look so different from her memory of him.

As the leader of the Drowned, Azula correctly deduced that his quarters would be near the top of the fortress. She had fought her way through, made easier by the fact that few warriors saw her enter and most battled Aang and the others outside. She found him in the remains of the igloo-shaped room at the top, apparently a place where he met with his warriors and planned attacks. Maps and nautical charts clung to the parts of the wall that survived her lightning blast. Spears and clubs lined some of the other available wall space, and a hearth burned in the middle of the floor between them.

He was older now, but no more than ten years her senior, probably less. He wore a heavy overcoat rather than a parka, a waterskin hanging from his belt despite the ice forming the room. His hair had been tied back in a sailor's style rather than the usual wolf tail of his fellow warriors, a strand loose and draped across his forehead. He stood straight, the gash in the wall from her lightning behind him. Noises from the battle below floated up to them, but Azula focused only on him.

"Do you remember me?" she asked, falling into a stance. Her heart pounded. The blue dragon was silent – so silent that Azula almost didn't feel her. Would ending him give you peace?

Yakone tilted his head in the same quizzical way she had buried in her memories. But he settled into a stance, too. "You're going to have to help me out a little," he said. He spread his arm wide but peered more closely at her. "Ah… Wait, those eyes do look familiar. You're that Fire Nation girl."

"Acknowledge what you did," she said, her voice carefully measured.

He grinned at her. "Why don't you make me?"

She responded by punching forward with both of her fists, unleashing twin swirling masses of blue fire that spiraled toward him. Yakone dove to the side to avoid it, even with their limited space, and dug his fingers into the ice. When he swept his hand out toward her, spikes jutted from the floor and nearly impaled her, but she thrust out her open hands and spread them so that an arc blazed through the room, melting through the attack and knocking him against the wall.

"Blue fire?" he asked, bracing himself against the wall. "That's a first. Hey, do you want to know why we're called the Drowned?"

"No," she said, creating a lash at the end of her fingertips that she lengthened to cut off his escape toward the stairs.

He pulled part of the wall away to douse her flames, scattering his maps to the wind. "I think I'm going to tell you anyway," he said. "When a man joins the Drowned, we do a ritual of sorts. Our way to become one with water."

Azula moved throughout the narrow space, kicking and rolling to avoid his water and ice that came from every direction. She couldn't stay in one place for longer than a breath, or the very ice beneath her would pierce her defenses. She didn't care what burned in close quarters.

"We drown ourselves," he continued, pressing his palms to the floor. The ice rippled and the hearth fire went out in a blink of smoke as it sunk into the ice, the tables and weapon racks with it. "We let the water into our lungs, the sting of salt in our eyes. And at the moment just before death, we emerge from the waves, as if reborn. Of course, some don't manage to survive the ordeal."

"You're mad," she said. The blue dragon chose to respond to her question at that moment, the only time she momentarily let up her assault.

Would ending him bring you peace? You pretend this is for me, but you're just fooling yourself.

"And after that, on a full moon, some manage to unlock the darkest secrets of waterbending," Yakone said, smirking. "Some witch from a plains clan discovered it initially some few decades ago, but it has spread from her. Only through drowning can one wield the water within human bodies."

The water rushed up to envelop her, but she blasted through the grasping tentacles and pulled herself free from the puddle growing around her feet before he could freeze it again. "My mother didn't drown herself," she spat. "You used bloodbending to force her to do it. I figured it out not long after I first learned what bloodbending is."

Yakone spread his arms wide. "Wait, your mother? I thought you were a Golden City girl. Didn't I kill your lover?"

The idea that this whole time he had confused her for someone else angered her so much that she lunged forward with both arms outstretched, screaming as she pumped the room full of blue fire. Steam rose from the floor, scalding her hands. In response, he pulled down the ceiling on both of them in an act of desperation.

The snow melted around her in her rage. When she stood again, they both regarded each other under the open air and wind. Now, Azula could see a monstrous form emerging from the waves in the port, as big as a bloated whale-walrus but shaped more like a cat-gator, with a much more pointed mouth than normal, full of teeth. Wisps of light orbited its head, and when it opened its mouth she heard a high-pitched song. Dock workers fled from the creature. Rather than dark spirits like they expected, a monstrous light spirit had come.

Putting that aside for now, Azula turned to face Yakone again. He stood near the top of the stairs, panting. "You're lucky it's not nighttime, little girl. Then I'd show you fear."

She realized, then, why he hadn't used bloodbending on her through their whole battle. "You can't bloodbend without the full moon overhead, can you?" She wanted to laugh, but the mirth didn't come. "You're pathetic. I've faced much worse than you. A good waterbender doesn't need to nearly kill themselves to become a bloodbender."

She walked toward him, blasting aside the water whip he tried to strike her with, and then spun in a sweeping kick that knocked his feet out from under him. Once she stood over him, powerless beneath her, she knew right then and there that she wanted vengeance after all. And most of all, she knew that the blue dragon had nothing to do with it.

Yakone sat up, staring at her with fear in his eyes, but before she could finish him the point of a spear emerged from his chest.

Azula froze in place as her father rose behind Yakone, ascending the steps with the shaft of a Water Tribe spear in his hands. Yakone gasped and the movement lifted his body with it, but Ozai pulled the spear from his back and the waterbender slumped over, all life gone from his eyes. Azula gasped out a breath; it felt as if the spear pierced her lungs instead.

"What… what did you do?" she stammered out. "I had him!"

Ozai tossed the spear aside, staring down at Yakone. He looked pitiless. "This was the monster who killed your mother?"

Azula fell to her knees, clutching the snow in her hands. She lowered her head, fighting back tears as she heaved in deep breaths. "What did you do?" she repeated, quieter this time, her voice shakier. "That was my vengeance to take. Not Zuko's. Not yours. Mine… I saw him do it. I saw Mom..."

Her father knelt down beside her and she looked up at him. She had not seen such sorrow in his eyes since the morning he found her near the lake. "To me, this wasn't vengeance. It was justice. I wanted to save you from sullying your hands. This war was not supposed to touch you and Zuko."

She let out a sob as she recognized her own reasons for wanting to kill Hakoda. "It already has," she said, clutching his arm. The tears fell now. She couldn't feel the blue dragon at all. "I've already killed. Two people, maybe three, maybe more. And you didn't know… you don't know what we've been through, all along…"

Zuko emerged from the stairs with his swords drawn, eyes widening when he took in the scene. "He's… he's gone?"

"You took that from me," Azula said to her father, sobbing into his sleeve. He put his hand around her shoulder in the closest thing to an embrace she could remember him doing in a long time. Beyond the fortress, the light spirit started to vanish beneath the waves again, but she could still hear the panic coming up from below.

"I'm sorry," Ozai said, to both her and Zuko. His voice shook in a way she had never known it to before. "I've made such a terrible mistake in keeping myself distant from you two. I did it to protect you from the pain of losing another parent, but all I did was prevent myself from seeing how much you two had grown. And I couldn't protect you from the things that mattered."

Zuko's hands shook and Azula could see the tears falling from his eyes, too. "All that accomplished was making us lose a second parent," he said. "Except this time, we never knew why, or how. Or whether it was our fault."

Ozai sighed. "Your mother would be so ashamed of me if she saw me now," he said. "She really… held us together, didn't she?"

Azula's breaths started to calm. She couldn't find the words to answer him, her energy spent. She supposed taking revenge for Mother was something that belonged to all of them, or none of them.

Zuko answered for her. "She did."

A roar from the sky grabbed their attention, and to Azula's surprise, Appa flew toward them. As the bison neared, she stood, spotting Sokka at the reins. "Thought you'd need a quick getaway," he said, hovering above the ruin of the igloo at the top of the fortress. He glanced down at the body of Yakone, and the three of them around him. "Go find Aang so we can get out of here!"

Azula glanced once more at Yakone's body, just as Aang emerged to the top of the fortress as well. He took in the scene and his eyes found Azula's, but instead of saying any words he squeezed her hand as they departed, leaving Blackstone Quay behind them.


"As much as I thought myself above it, I really did want vengeance against him. Do you think any less of me?"

Aang and Azula sat close to each other with only the dancing light of their own flames spilling light as Appa snoozed in the chamber. After a day and a night of hard travel in the cold, they both appreciated the warmth of another firebender. Azula's eyes reflected the light of Aang's flame, making them seem a brighter gold than usual. Something about the way she held her shoulders made her seem less encumbered than usual.

While Aang was thankful that Sokka found them and got them out of there, he made an enormous risk in flying Appa over lands where he could be seen, but Sokka explained that he did everything he could to keep Appa and the location of Camp Crystal hidden. No light spirits had harried him on the way, or on their return trip.

"Of course I don't," Aang said to her. "You've been through something terrible. Are you… feeling okay?"

Azula hugged her knees. "The Fire Lord is still here," she said. "Quieter, but she's still here. Still always listening."

Aang put his hand over hers. "But how are you feeling?"

She paused, but let out a deep breath. "I don't know. I don't feel better after watching Yakone die. For a long time after he killed my mother, he made me think she hated me. That her death was my fault. And once I realized that it was his doing, it made me hate him more. But now, I suppose, I know my father doesn't secretly despise us, either."

"I think he loves you," Aang said, smiling. "Do you hear that, Fire Lord? Here, your father loves you."

Azula laughed into her hand. "Are you trying to antagonize her? Maybe you're right… but it'll be a long time before we are a big, happy family or anything."

"But it's a step in the right direction," Aang said. "You told me once that your love for me helped you ward her away. Maybe your love for your family will do the same."

"It's worth a try," she said, as Appa let out a heavy snore. "All this time, I've been using my mother as a shield from her rage. But maybe that was the wrong thing to do. I can't harm her, not physically. But I have to remind myself that I have what she lacks." She held Aang's gaze and he noticed the knowing and meaningful look in her eyes, and they smiled at each other.

Zuko knocked at the door to announce his arrival and walked in with both Momo and Sabi on his shoulders, Sokka trailing behind him, both with dry hay in their arms. "Uh… We came to feed Appa. Are we interrupting anything?"

Aang shook his head and flicked his fire toward the brazier on the wall, making the room brighter. Appa stirred at the mention of food, standing with such haste that it jostled Aang and Azula leaning against him. "Not at all," he said. "Appa looks hungry!"

While Appa happily munched at his meal and the lemurs joined him with nuts that Sokka fed to them, Aang and Azula stood and the silence dragged on with no one aware of how to fill it.

"How's Zhao?" Aang asked.

"He's fine," said Zuko.

"Anyone see those Freedom Fighters yet?" Sokka asked. "I know he's sorta your friend, but Jet's not with them, is he?"

"He wasn't," Aang said. "He's still up north with Mai and even Ty Lee." When Iroh first told him that both Ty Lee and Haru had joined them going north, Aang didn't know how to take it. But he was glad they weren't alone. Smellerbee had still been beside herself with worry, though, even when Aang found her with Longshot.

"Did you guys… get to talk with your dad?" Sokka asked, upending the bag he brought to feed the lemurs to show them it was empty. Both look disgruntled.

"Yes," Zuko said.

"No," Azula said at the same time.

"Kind of," they both responded together.

"But I did see Pakku," Zuko said, crossing his arms. His eyes wandered to the brazier. "I told him about Yakone. He got quiet." He bunched up his shoulders. "Then he walked away. I don't know what things will be like between us."

"It doesn't have to be anything," Aang said. "We're allies in this fight, and he's trying to do better. But you don't need to be friends with him or anything."

Sokka shared a glance with Aang. "Do you two want some time alone?" he asked Zuko and Azula.

"I'm okay," Zuko said.

"Me too," Azula added. She let out a deep breath. "But, Zuzu - if you ever need to, I don't know, talk. Or anything… I'm here."

Zuko smiled, and some tension seemed to leave his shoulders. "Thanks. Same here."

Zuko left shortly after that, and when he did, Azula leaned against the wall. "This didn't end neatly," she admitted.

"How so?" Sokka asked, without a tinge of sarcasm.

"I always thought it would be… more final, somehow," she said, crossing her ankles. "Meeting that monster again wasn't how I imagined it to be. Maybe it's because I wasn't the one to end it."

Sokka put a hand on his hip. "Well, here's my take on it: vengeance is a messy thing."

Azula pursed her lips. "What does that mean?"

Aang picked up Appa's brush and began working away at his knots. "I think what Sokka means is... It's impossible to know how it's going to feel or how you'll react to it. After seeing you and Zuko, even Sangmu… I know how it drives people to do the things they do. There are times I wanted it against others too. It's easy to say it isn't right when it's not impacting you, personally."

"Yeah, more or less what I was gonna say," Sokka said. "Maybe it's easier this way. You don't have to make that choice anymore."

Aang held out his arm and Momo perched on it. "But now that it's over you can look ahead, right?" he asked.

Azula stood up straight and smiled at Aang. "Right," she said. "I suppose it is."


Sangmu had come to know the Aniak'to Alchemical Institute well in her time researching the spirits and the barrier between this world and the Spirit World, with the guidance of Niyok and Nutha. It made it easy for her to find them and ask for their help. But when she went inside the institute and came out less than ten minutes later, Sangmu couldn't blame Iroh and Toph for their surprise.

She found them again posing as an old traveler and his granddaughter, perusing the wares sold in the Artisan's Quarter. They had both stopped at a woodcarver's stall with a collection of statuettes on display; Iroh fawned over the sillier spirits and charms for good fortune while Toph admired the larger and more monstrous ones, but both turned away when Sangmu approached.

"That was quick," said Toph. "What happened?"

"The princess is alive," she said in a hushed voice. "But she's not here. She was taken to lands belonging to the Crab-Spider Clan to recover."

Toph crossed her arms. "Isn't that...?"

"It is," said Iroh, rubbing his chin. "That's the same territory where our camp is."


Hakoda stood at an open portal in the walls of Winter's Heaven, embracing the cold as he gazed over the world below. Over his city.

He'd made the gap in the wall with his own bending, a massive, yawning hole that made it seem as if the fractured, pitch black sky would consume Winter's Heaven and everything in it. The cold helped to clear his mind. Only a few more distractions before his dreams could be realized.

But first, tomorrow was his wedding day.

Clouds passed over the moon, casting a shadow over Hakoda, and when he turned back to the room, a spirit made itself known.

It was a man with a long, serpentine body and no legs. In his arms, he held a longsword, but the naked steel was not bared at Hakoda. His long, dark hair was pulled up in the Fire Nation style, and he wore a robe of white around his blue, scaly body.

"You're Seiryu," Hakoda said. "The cold moon itself, come to visit on the eve of my wedding."

"This world and the Spirit World are joining as one," Seiryu said, his voice soft. "Allowing the great Seiryu to cross over at his pleasure. It is nearly time again for my moon to ride across the sea of stars."

"Indeed it is," said Hakoda. His fingers twitched. "Why have you come?"

His lower half slithered across the ice, his movements languid. He bent to examine the sea creatures carved into the wall. "Winter threw her lot in with the bridge between worlds. The night, with your counterpart in the north. Even the moon and ocean have involved themselves in mortal affairs for the first time in millenia. You could say I was inspired to do the same, as I once did with your arrogant ancestor."

Hakoda clenched his jaw at the implication that Arnook was his equal, but he swallowed his pride and smirked. "I'm listening."


Author's Notes: This was a doozy. I didn't mention this in my beginning notes on purpose, but I did make a slight update to "The Deserter." And I had to make two more of the very rare retcons in this story from my pre-hiatus writing: in the original version, Aang's initial waterbending training came easily, but when he picks it up again with Sokka in "The Last Kyoshi Warrior," he struggles. Now I changed it so that he struggled from the beginning and didn't know why. As for the other retcon, originally Katara was a former student of Pakku's, but she already had two teachers in Kanna and Hama, so I changed it so that she tried to become his student and he denied her, as stated in this chapter.

Fun fact: Blackstone Quay is not a canon location (to my knowledge), but the name comes from Varrick's full name, "Iknik Blackstone Varrick." I suppose we can assume his family comes from here. :)

Please review! I had a horrible day today and could really use some good vibes.