Merry Christmas! Does this count as a present?

Moving on, I do not own Avatar. It is the property of its respective owners.

Enjoy!

The vine monster tried to first capture Zuko and Iroh by trapping them in its vines. Unfortunately for it, vines were not fire-resistant. They both shot blasts of flame at the vines, rendering them into ash.

But that didn't stop the vines from coming. The three of them had to separate to keep themselves from being caught. They were sitting ducks the longer they stuck together.

"Zuko! Find the root! Burn it!"

That made sense. If they could find and set fire to whatever was making the vines move the way they did, then they could potentially kill it.

"Druk. Go look from above. See if you can find a root."

The dragon did as he was told and soared above. He did his best to find something useful.

"Zuko. The vines."

Iroh was right. The vines were massive. They could give them both a nice vantage point. So they both jumped on top of them and ran around the vine monster. That made it so the creature would have to choose one of them to focus on.

It chose Iroh. Probably thought he was slower.

The vine monster lifted one hand and bought it crashing down near Iroh. The old general was barely able to dodge the blow.

"Leave him alone!"

Zuko shot out a blast of fire directly at the monster's hand. The tendrilled fist was set ablaze quickly. Unfortunately, the moist and wet vines made the fire hard to maintain.

"That might be trouble."

As if to add to the problem, the vine monster then decided to cut off its own arm. Literally, it chopped it off and let it fall into the water. In then instantly grew a new arm made of more vines.

Are you kidding me?"

The vine monster launched its arm at Zuko this time. The new Avatar had to jump over many branches to avoid being caught. And the more he had to drudge through mushy water, the more he lamented.

"Why couldn't I have found a waterbending teacher before coming here?"

Zuko kept dodging the vines, shooting fire at the ones that got too close. But his real problem was that he was forced on the defensive. Maybe it was time to make an offense.

Zuko took in a deep breath and blasted out a wall of fire. It covered his entire body and kept the vines from getting close. But the flames wouldn't last forever in this environment, so he had to act fast. Zuko planted his feet into the muddy earth and tried to connect. There was so much moisture and water in the area that connecting to pure was slightly more difficult than it should be. But since his earthbending teacher was Toph, Zuko had no choice but to succeed.

He took control of the earth beneath the monster's feet. He formed a stone column right underneath it. And once the flames around him died down, Zuko lifted the column on its side. The monster was forced to fall on its back.

"Druk! Now!"

The growing dragon heard the call and dived down. Druk kept his aim firmly on the vine creature as he descended closer to the ground. Once he was close enough, he opened his maw and unleashed a flurry of flame. The fire plummeted towards the ground, intent to burn the vine creature to ash.

But it missed.

The monster was able to quickly turn its entire body, avoiding the fires entirely. All they did was hit the water and turn to steam. The monster retaliated by swinging its vines, smacking Druk out of the air.

"Druk!" Zuko yelled.

The small dragon landed in the water next to a tree. He didn't move.

Enraged, Zuko started to blast the vine monster with reckless abandon. He didn't notice that not all the fires he shot were put out.

"Zuko! Stop" Iroh yelled. "The plants are burning!"

A few trees were in fact catching ablaze. If they stayed that way, then the swamp may end up losing part of its land.

In response to that, the vine monster turned away from Zuko. It turned its attention to the burning trees.

Zuko was about to fire another blast when Iroh stepped in front of him.

"Uncle? What are you..?"

"Wait, nephew. I think we should see this."

The vine monster started to wave its tendril hands and circular motions. They were smooth and calm motions.

As the monster moved, the water started to rise. It lifted itself from a dormant state and started to envelop the burning trees. The liquid served to undo the flames, mitigating any damages they may have caused.

Both Zuko and Iroh frowned. They had been fighting the creature, only for it to ignore them once the swamp itself was endangered. What exactly was it?

"What's going on Uncle?"

"I do not know."

Suddenly, the monster turned around and shot out its hands. Zuko and Iroh were not able to react in time. They were both enveloped in the tentacle hands of the swamp monster.

The monster then lifted both of them off of the ground, holding them right above it. It then did something that neither of them had been expecting. It began to unravel itself.

Where there had once been a wooden mask, there now stood a plump man who wasn't wearing pants. Did no one in the swamp know what leggings were?

"Why are you here? What business do you have against the swamp?"

Both Zuko and Iroh shared a look.

"We didn't come here to mess with your swamp. We only came here because I needed help."

The man frowned. "What sort of help?"

"The spiritual sort," Iroh explained. "My nephew was having difficulty connecting to his avatar spirit. We believed that the heightened spiritual energies of the swamp could help him strengthen his connection."

"Avatar Spirit?" The man studied Zuko. "You're the Avatar?"

"An avatar," Zuko said. "The other one was merged with Raava, the light spirit. I connected with the other one."

"Vaatu. The chaos spirit."

The vines dropped both Zuko and Iroh. The man then performed hand movements to cause the other vines to settle down. Seeing that made Zuko pause. Was he bending the plants?

"Did you manage to do it? Reconnect?"

"Oh. Uh, yeah. He's talking to me again," Zuko said. 'But we did meet a guy named Due. He said we should follow him to a tree. But then we got separated."

"Due is always taking people to the tree. He thinks that's how you're supposed to greet people," the man chuckled. "My name is Huu. I should ask though, have you seen the tree yet?

Zuko and Iroh shook their heads.

"Follow me then."

Zuko frowned. "Weren't you attacking us a minute ago? Why do you want to help us now?"

"No, no. That was just the illusion of conflict. Come along now."

Zuko frowned. "Hold on a minute. You hurt my dragon. Don't think I'm just going to..."

"Nephew. You may want to look."

Zuko glanced to where Druk had landed when he had been hit. He was not floating in the water on his back. He was also chewing on what seemed to be a rat-squirrel.

"I didn't intend to hurt your friend. I just tossed him there so he could get some food," Huu said quickly. Zuko wondered whether that was true, or if he made that up to avoid conflict. It didn't seem to bother Druk though.

"Come on now. The tree is waiting."

Zuko wasn't sure whether to follow him or not, but he had already wasted a large chunk of his day wandering aimlessly through the swamp. He might as well see what was so special about this tree everyone was talking about. So he, Iroh, and Druk followed behind the pantsless man.

"What is this place?"

"This is our tree? Didn't Due tell you anything about it?"

Due had indeed told Zuko about a tree. But he never mentioned the sheer size of it.

"See, this swamp isn't actually a normal swamp. It's all this tree, spread out over miles. Right now, we're just in the heart of it."

"The heart of the tree," Zuko repeated as he gazed towards the distance. From the branch he was standing on, he could see for miles around. Every single tree. Which apparently were all extensions of the tree he was standing on.

"Due mentioned something about this place being important. Said we should come here," Zuo told Huu. "Do you know why?"

"Of course. See, the swamp is a mystical place. Why I reached enlightenment when I decided to spend some time under it. Right under banyan grove."

"Enlightenment?" Iroh asked. In his mind, he was already trying to figure out what sort of tea to share. "Of what sort?"

"The connective sort," Huu explained. "See, the tree is one giant living organism. Branches spread out over miles. Just like the entire world."

Both Zuko and Iroh frowned.

"I can understand the tree being one connected thing. But what do you mean about the world?" Zuko asked.

"Do you think you're any different from me? Or your uncle there? Or that flying lizard that's been following us? Or this tree?"

Zuko could think of a plethora of differences. But he felt that Hu had a different point to make.

"If you listen hard enough, you can every living thing breathing together. Living together. You can feel everything growing. We are all living together, even if most folks don't act like it. We all have the same roots. And we are all branches of the same tree."

Iroh wished he could add some wisdom. But for once, he was stumped. Every single word that Huu had said was in direct opposition to everything he had learned growing up in the Fire Nation. And yet, he did not disagree with a word he had heard. After his experience at Ba Sing Se, he could not deny the wisdom.

Though Zuko was still having some difficulty grasping it.

"What do you mean? Everyone comes from a different nation. They have different lives. How are they all the same?"

"Well, like I said before, they have the same roots. Every person is descended from other people, and humans as a whole started from a common ancestor. I can't tell you where, but we all share the same origin. You could be a painter, a fisherman, or a warrior, but we all have the same root."

Zuko had... never considered anything like that. Growing up in the Royal Palace, he was always told that the people of the Fire Nation were superior to everyone. And that, because he was a Royal, he was supposed to be even greater.

But if humans did come from the same place, then why was there so much difference? And besides, growing up with Azula and Ozai never made him feel like he was better than anyone.

"You've never thought about it like that, have you?" Huu said to Zuko. "I can tell by the look on your face."

Zuko deadpanned. "I am that obvious?"

"A little bit, yes," Iroh agreed. "Zuko, he is not wrong in his observations."

Zuko raised a brow. "You're taking this well Uncle. We were always taught the opposite."

"And I learned the truth from experience. After Ba Sing Se... After Lu Ten..." Iroh had to take a moment to compose himself. "I realized that very few differences exist between the people in this world. And they are often superficial."

Zuko's eyes widened at the mention of Lu Ten. "He didn't mention anything like that."

Iroh frowned. "Who?"

"Lu Ten. I saw him earlier."

Iroh's eyes became the size of plates. 'You saw my son?"

"Yeah. We kinda just talked for a while. We didn't know what to say to each other."

"But... you saw him? You heard his voice?"

"Yeah. Why? Did you see someone?"

"Yes," Iroh said reluctantly. "I met my father. We had a... heated discussion."

"Your father... Fire Lord Azulon?"

Huu grunted. "Um, Fire Lord?"

"Yes. We are part of the Royal Family. Though we were exiled for... reasons."

"Oh," was all Huu could respond with. He was wondering what exactly the spirits had bought him to deal with today. "In any case, that's one of the powers of the swamp. Time is an illusion, and so is death. People we think are gone could very well show up here."

"You can see dead people here?"

"Yup. I actually spend a lot of time talking to my grandmothers and grandfathers when I get the chance. It's always nice."

Zuko's eyes widened. A culture where talking to these that passed on was possible? That sounded ridiculous. But when he compared it to the experiences he had during the past year, it actually seemed tamer than the rest.

Was that a good thing?

"Is it possible to choose who we speak to?" Iroh suddenly asked Huu. "Is there a ritual of sorts? Or should I make a specific plea to the spirits?"

Zuko was unsettled at seeing his uncle like this. Desperate and begging for answers. He knew why it was so important to him. He knew who his uncle wanted to talk to. But that didn't make it any easier to see.

"I- can't say," Huu answered. "The spiritual energies in the swamp have a will of their own. So do all the spirits that come by here. I'm just a simple waterbender."

Zuko frowned. "A waterbender? But I saw you moving the plants."

"I can do that with waterbending. See, I can manipulate the water inside the plants. That's how I make them move."

Using waterbending to control plants? That... actually sounded genius. The Water tribes couldn't do it because they lived their lives surrounded by ice. They couldn't even attempt it. But the people that lived here adapted to their environment.

While Zuko admired the unique bending form, a thought entered his mind. A memory from his last conversation with Vaatu.

"The only important fact is that this location is excellent for your waterbending training."

Zuko didn't know what the spirit had been talking about then. But now he had an idea.

"Um, Master Huu? Do you think you could teach me to Waterbend? I need an instructor."

Both Iroh and Huu blinked in surprise. But as Iroh thought about it, the more sense it made. Zuko would have an insurmountably difficult time finding a Waterbending instructor in either the north or south pole. The South had been ravaged for decades by the Fire Nation, to the point that their culture was on the verge of collapse. Their waterbenders were gone, and their army weaker because of it. The North, while still stronger than its sister tribe, was also attacked by the Fire Nation.

And neither tribe would be eager to teach their art to a firebender. Least of all one from the royal family. They might do it, but would be difficult to convince them.

By contrast, the Fire Nation was seemingly unaware of this Swamp Tribe. This entire place seemed to be untouched by the war. And Huu, a man who seemed to be a master Waterbender, seemed to have no issues with his guests. All he had to do was answer them.

The answer did seem clear as Huu contemplated. He considered Zuko, Iroh, and Druk before speaking.

"I suppose I could teach you. But you have to prove something first."

Zuko smiled. "What is it?"

"Waterbending is a spiritual art. If you want to learn, I need to know that you can connect with the spiritual energies in the swamp."

"How do I do that?"

"Try connecting with the tree," Huu said. "If you can do that, then I might be able to teach you."

Connect with the tree? Great. Another spirit thing he had to deal with without any sort of prior knowledge. That was actually how he had gotten into this whole mess, to begin with.

Zuko suddenly felt a hand on his shoulder.

"It is alright if you can't do this nephew. We could find another teacher for you."

Zuko shook his head. "This is our best option uncle. Vaatu thinks that this will be a good place for me to learn. I need to see if he's right."

Not having any other idea of what to do. Zuko closed his eyes and laid his hand on the branches of the tree. If the idea was to connect, then he had to clear his mind. Just like in meditation. So he took in and released a deep breath, clearing his mind of unnecessary thoughts.

The result was instant.

Huu had said that the entire swamp was one massive organism. And Zuko could feel all of it. He felt every flower that was growing and every branch that stayed static. He could feel every living creature that lived inside this swamp. He could tell where Toph was.

He could even feel his own energy, his chi, pouring out from his body and into the swamp.

"This is interesting."

Zuko opened his eyes. Iroh and Huu almost reeled back in shock. Druk just yawned. They were shocked to see someone floating among them.

Or more specifically, something. A black spirit with a body in the shape of a kite.

Vaatu looked at all of them.

"I'll be honest. Even I did not expect this to happen."

Huu nodded. "Me neither."

I can already imagine all the fun interactions I can write just by having Vaatu around 24/7. And he can actually talk to other people aside from Zuko. He's about to have the time of his life.

There are also other things I'm looking forward to writing. Zuko, Iroh, and Toph interacting with more dead people. Zuko learning waterbending, which will be slightly more difficult for him than earthbending. It requires a calm and smooth mindset, with a greater emphasis on defense than offense. Something Zuko will struggle with.

And Druk will be trying to eat every living thing in the Swamp. Everyone will have something to do.

As for Aang's side of the story, I'll get back to him eventually. For now, he's just playing around with Appa.

Anyway, please leave reviews, tell me what you think, and I will see you all next time.

Bye!