Author's Note: Hey guys! Welcome back. Sorry if I dropped off the radar a bit over the past couple weeks - I took some time off over the holiday season to rest, and this chapter turned out to be wayyyy longer than I was expecting. But here we are - a new year, a new chapter. I wanted this one to feel almost like a classic A:TLA episode (with all the Kataangst we've come to expect still in there of course...) Thanks for all your support so far! Enjoy...

This chapter's song is 'Dionne' by The Japanese House ft. Justin Vernon...

The sun was rising above Republic City.

From the veranda of a house in the hills above the city, Kya sat, munching on a piece of mango. She had bid a quiet farewell to her dad earlier that morning and while Hakoda had spent the best part of two hours moping around, sad that Sokka had left, she was almost entirely unfazed. Growing up on the road as the daughter of the Avatar had its quirks. Even at her tender age, she knew the importance of what her father did. For the first seven years of her life, she had simply treated people knowing who he was wherever they travelled as nothing unusual - why should she have questioned it? It was all she'd known. Aang was all she'd ever really known.

Perhaps in a different situation she would have been more upset to see him leave. But currently she had more than enough to keep her distracted - the excitement of seeing the city for the first time, learning to bend and the fun of a friend her own age were just about the only things on her mind. As she took another bite, she stared out over the city and towards the sea, as her father had done just days before, lost in thought. She hadn't moved since she watched Appa disappear into the distance, Aang, Katara and Sokka smiling back at her. She'd waved. So had they.

She wondered what exactly her father was doing, what he needed to do. Why he had to go so suddenly. She had seen him talking to himself in his sleep over the past few days. That wasn't entirely out of the ordinary, but he was making more sense than usual.

Her time spent training under Katara had been cut short almost as soon as it had begun which she was, in reality, far more put out by than anything else. She was making progress, and Katara had handed her a scroll just before she had left which detailed the forms that she had worked on with her over the past three days. She had vowed to herself to practice every day they were gone. She liked Katara but couldn't quite grasp exactly why her dad seemed to seize up every time she mentioned her name. She thought she was nice.

'HAKODA! KYA! BREAKFAST!'

Suki's voice resonated from inside. Hakoda, who had perched himself on the grass not too far from where Kya was sat had seemingly forgotten all about the very existence of his dad and shot inside like a bolt from the blue.

The young waterbender took one last look out towards the horizon, silently wishing her dad good luck - and hoping he would be home soon - before quietly trotting inside. Though she wasn't quite as rambunctious as Hakoda, she too jumped at the idea of breakfast…

'I almost feel like I should be keeping a look out for Zuko…'

Aang let out what felt like his first real laugh since returning to Republic City. Even Katara couldn't help but giggle. He missed that.

The three of them began to relax as they kicked off what would be a long day's journey. It really was like old times, Aang thought.

His robe fluttered in the breeze as he looked back to the saddle, where Katara and her brother were sat. It was almost like no time had passed at all. Memories of their first adventures together began to drift through his mind as he straightened up and looked to the horizon.

His memory of that time was a little hazy - the long days of flying had a tendency to blur into a singular zoetropic memory: fly, rest, fight, eat, sleep, dream…

And dream he did. It almost felt like he had come full circle - he had dreamt about Katara back then and, as much as he was trying to suppress it, he dreamt about her now. But where his youthful fantasies of the two of them in love were full of hope and the kind of unsophisticated longing that makes hearts flutter and eyes widen with anticipation, his dreams now were more akin to mournful reveries - longing, yes, but for what had already come to pass and since, it seemed, evaporated into air.

There had been a time where she would sit alongside him. Where it seemed like he had got everything he wanted. The war was won. He was in love. And so was she. He found himself travelling back there, floating through time, his mind a leaf in the winds of memory.

'Ahhh! The open sky above us, a daring mission before us, and friends all around! Just like old times, isn't it?'

Sokka was kneeling at the front of Appa's saddle, arms outstretched, greeting the day.

'Even better than old times!' Aang replied. 'Before, I always wanted to kiss Katara, and now I actually get to do it!'

'Aw, sweetie!' Katara responded, unable to conceal her blushing, and gently giving him a peck. Aang couldn't help but grin.

'Aang?'

He was quickly snapped out of his memory by none other than Katara's voice.

'Yeah?'

'You wanna tell us where exactly we're heading?'

Of course. He'd not even told them. There was something about the way that they dropped everything to help him without even knowing where they were going that made him feel a little more at home. Maybe it really was going to be like old times.

'A few nights ago…I had a vision. Or a dream. I'm not really sure which. I'm honestly struggling to tell the difference these days.'

'What of?'

'Do you remember Guru Pathik?'

'The old spirit-y guy with the big bushy beard?'

'Who helped you open your chakras before we fought Azula in Ba Sing Se?'

'Yeah. Him.'

'Is he even still alive?'

'I'm not sure. I didn't think so. Though he did wait a hundred years for me last time, so I don't see why he couldn't hang on for a decade or so longer.'

Sokka chuckled.

'So, what, you spoke to him? In your vision, I mean.'

'I think so. He told me to find him. I'm not sure if he meant to literally go and look for him or to "look inside myself", but I figured it was best not to waste any time either way. I think he can help me figure out what's going on in the city.'

'So - where are we going?'

Aang paused, and looked up ahead, but before he could respond, he was cut off by a shout from Sokka -

'AANG! LOOK OUT!'

Aang looked around, bewildered, and managed to swerve Appa out of the way of an enormous plume of blue flame just in time to avoid getting singed.

Appa grunted, furiously, and made a rush for ground level, trying to get a better view.

'Blue fire… surely it can't be…'

'No - it's not.'

'Phew. Whatever it is couldn't be worse than that…'

'I'm going to get us in closer, try and get a look at wherever that came from!'

Sokka let out a beaming smile as he gripped the handle of his boomerang -

'Oh, I have missed this.'

Appa swooped low, and as they passed over what they could now see was a small town Aang peered down to the streets, trying to find the source of the flame. That, he couldn't see, but what he could was a crowd of no less than fifty, desperately running from something obscured by smoke in the distance - a cloud of smoke that was sporadically ejecting bright blue flame.

'Take us down, buddy.'

Before Appa had even made contact with the ground Aang was already sprinting towards the smoke.

'Aang! Wait!'

Ignoring Katara's shouts from behind him, Aang stormed round a corner, and found himself almost entirely blinded.

Oh for - where's Toph when you need her?'

Smoke filled the air as he focused, attuning his senses. Placing his hand to the ground, he tried to get a 'look' at his surroundings.

From outside the cloud, Sokka worked to funnel the townspeople away from the danger zone, while Katara struggled to get a read on Aang's silhouette inside the smoke.

'AANG! AAAANG!'

No use. She steeled herself and ran in after him.

Aang was struggling to get a read on anything. Every time he thought he was getting a handle on his situation, he found himself having to dodge a bolt of blue flame. The noise, somewhere between the roar of a fire and the roar of a terrifying beast was

Strange. For all the smoke and noise, the heat and the occasional flash of blue illuminating the smoke, Aang could feel nothing at all. Nothing except…a small figure, blurry in form and moving at a lighting pace, and a man. Running.

The man passed him in a flash, screaming in terror, and collapsed just outside the cloud of smoke, into Sokka's awaiting arms.

Enough is enough, Aang thought, and quickly began to create a large vortex of air with his staff, channelling the smoke up and away from the town, the cloud dissipating to reveal…nothing? But…but there was something else!

The street, save for a few burn marks and the odd smouldering roof beam, was completely deserted.

Aang was left standing there, alone.

Confused, he turned back towards the man, who was now on his feet and appeared to be fielding questions from the town's residents, who had slowly streamed back towards the scene.

'Aang!'

Before he got a chance to make any ground towards the man, he quickly stopped and turned to face the voice that had just called his name. It was a voice that he knew all too well, a call he had heard a thousand times before. Katara was sprinting towards him, slowing as she reached him. Is she- he thought for a moment she was about to throw her arms around him in relief, but she stopped just short of where he stood.

'Are you ok?'

She looked genuinely concerned.

'Yeah. I'm fine.'

'Don't do that again.'

'What?'

'You might have spent the last however many years on your own, but when we're here we work together. I don't…I don't want you to get hurt…'

Aang spoke softly -

'Katara'

'Just promise me you'll wait next time.'

She turned away.

Aang moved to put a hand on her shoulder, but stopped just short of it, instead balling his fist and frustratedly tapping it against his thigh.

'I will.'

She was right. He'd forgotten in his time away how they used to work. They were once a well-oiled machine, moving in perfect synchronicity. Now they were, well, rusty.

He jogged over to the crowd, touching the man lightly on the shoulder. He turned and faced him. Tall, with a sour face that looked oddly familiar, the man shot a glare at Aang, so as almost to say "how dare you deign to touch me!".

'Did you manage to get a look at what was causing all that smoke?' Aang asked, gently.

The man's response was no quite so gentle…

'And who do you think you're supposed to be?'

'I'm-'

'He's the Avatar.'

An old voice had called out from the rear of the crowd, which hushed quickly.

Aang stood up taller, and made out the owner of the voice. It was a small man, old but not ancient, with an inner fire that belied his age.

'I am.' Aang said. 'I want to help. Did anyone see what caused the fire?'

The crowd erupted into a cacophony of questions, but before Aang could answer any of them he was promptly shoved aside by the tall, sour man, who seemed more than happy to hold court with the villagers.

Slowly making his way back to Katara and Sokka, his eye was caught by the elderly man, who beckoned him over to a small corner, away from the crowd. Motioning to Sokka and Katara to follow him, Aang went over.

'My name is Lee,' said the man. 'There's a lot to explain. Why don't we have some tea…'

'Jasmine. It's the best I have. I save it for special occasions. I think this qualifies. To have the Avatar in my home is a great honour.'

Aang took the steaming cup gracefully and calmly seated himself alongside the others, facing the old man. Something about this place felt…different. The energy was unlike the rest of the village. It felt stronger. In the corner of the room sat a young girl, not much older than Kya, quietly scribbling on a piece of spare parchment. She had dark hair, and a disarming disposition. Outside the old house into which they had retreated, the sun had begun to slowly dip behind the horizon sending shards of deep orange light streaming through the windows that cut across the faces inside.

A small stove burned delicately in the corner, radiating a warmth throughout the room. Aang looked to the man as he lit it… but without any firestarter.

'So you know who I am?'

'Oh yes, I do. I have heard many of the stories, of course, but I never thought our paths would cross. I recognised your tattoos. I once met a man who had known the air nomads, when I was a small boy. He described them to me as a peaceful people. He told me not to believe the stories. He told me that they were…that what happened was a tragedy. That they were powerless to defend themselves.'

Aang shifted in his chair. This wasn't a line of cosnversation he was particularly comfortable with going down. Sensing his discomfort, Katara threw him a empathetic smile.

'You have a lovely home,' she said, 'thank you for letting us rest here.'

'Anything I can do to help the Avatar, I will.'

Katara smiled politely. Perhaps she thought about reaching out to Aang, giving his hand a gently squeeze of reassurance. She had even begun to move her hand slowly across the carpet to him before her better judgement restrained her. She settled for taking a lengthy sip of tea instead.

The man turned back to Aang.

'The stories, yes. People here seem to have forgotten your importance to our world. But I remember. Water Tribe…yes…you must be Sokka, and… Katara.' He gestured to Aang. 'You two make a beautiful couple, by the way.'

Both Aang and Katara immediately sat bolt upright. Oh no…

'Oh we're-'

'We're, u-'

'Not ac-'

'Uh-'

The old man chuckled and smiled kindly.

'Perhaps not all the stories are true…'

Sokka, practically dying from second-hand embarrassment sought to change the subject…

'Is that your daughter?'

The old man smiled.

'No. My granddaughter.' His voice softened. 'Her parents died before she can remember. I took her in. I've raised her as if she were my own ever since.'

Aang's gaze softened. She…

If Toph were with them she might have felt his heart quicken, ever so slightly. His mind, for a moment, drifted back to Kya, to the city.

'Mei? Come and meet our guests. Be polite!'

The girl looked up from her scribbling and strolled over to her grandfather, saying nothing.

'She's just a little shy. Mei, this is the Avatar. He's here to help our village.'

The girl managed a sheepish smile and the tiniest of waves, before scurrying back to the corner and carrying on with her drawing. Aang cracked a smile.

'Perhaps there is something you can do to help the Avatar.' Sokka chimed in.

The old man smiled.

'Yes?'

'The commotion in the village. The fire. Do you know anything about it? What could have caused it?'

The old man took a moment to sip his tea, before breathing a long sigh. He looked up from his cup, staring at the three of them with a mournful look in his eyes.

'I do know something. I am afraid I know exactly what, or rather, who is the cause.'

Aang leaned forward in his seat.

'Who?!'

The old man met Aang's gaze directly.

'Do you know the name of this village?'

Aang looked confused.

'No…'

'Its name is Kali. It is named after the spirit Kali-Ma, a dragon who has protected these lands for tens of thousands of years, since before the age of man even came to be. For many years, since the end of the war, we have enjoyed peace in our village. The people were happy. There was plenty to eat. We lived in a fair, and free society. We respected the legacy of Kali-Ma and respected her land.'

He paused.

'The man who spoke to you. The tall man.'

'Yes?'

'He is the village's magistrate. His father was a merchant who almost singlehandedly regenerated the economy of our village. It brought him wealth, and respect. But his son… He is cruel. He is senseless. He takes what he wants from the people, when he wants it, and they are too afraid of the consequences to speak out against him. He has offset the spiritual balance of this place, tipped the scale too far. He has angered Kali-Ma. This is why we spend our days repairing homes. Salvaging food. He has taken his father's legacy and spread nothing but fear, and ruin.'

'I see.'

'You can help us, Avatar! You are the great bridge between the worlds of man and spirit. You are the only one who can do this for us. The people are too weak. You must show them strength.'

Aang furrowed his brow and took a moment to compose himself. He looked to Katara. Why? Was that still his instinct after so long? Was that wise, after everything that had happened? Regardless, it seemed as if she had done the same. As if she knew. As if she had read his mind. She met his gaze, and he softened. She nodded. He smiled.

'I will do what I can.' He said. 'I promise you that.'

'For now, though, we need sleep,' Sokka said. Is there anywhere we can stay for the night?

The old man turned to him.

'Of course! I have a room in the back that would fit you three just fine. Follow me…'

Aang awoke, disorientated and bleary. What time was it? He looked over to the window - still dark. In fact, the moon's position indicated it was still the dead of night. His eyes were drawn from the sky to the shape of Katara, lying on a mat similar to the one he was currently occupying on the other side of the room. The moonlight, filtering in through the window caught the outline of her figure as she slept, and cast a long shadow across the floor that almost reached him. He extended his fingers slightly to touch it, but she shifted in her sleep just as he caught it, pulling it just out of his reach.

Suddenly, his attention was pulled away by a noise outside. It was Appa, sounding disquieted. Silently, he made his way out of the small door that led behind the house.

'You ok buddy?' He said, enjoying the smell of the damp grass underfoot.

Appa grunted. He seemed to have quietened down. Whatever it was that had spooked him had left. Aang took a moment to look out towards the town. It seemed quiet. Good. He needed sleep if he was to be ready for the day ahead of him. Something told him he might have a fight on his hands.

Wait - he turned sharply. Strange. He could have sworn he felt something move behind him, spotted something out of the corner of his eye.

Must have been my imagination.

'Night, buddy.'

He slipped back inside, making sure not to wake anyone, and lay down once more on his mat facing Katara. As he drifted off to sleep, he studied her face, tracing lines in his head that he had memorised carefully over the years. They were burned into his memory, permanently. He could never see her face again and still remember it for the rest of his life.

'You ready?'

Katara was stood facing Aang, close, but not too close. The two of them were getting ready to leave the house to confront the magistrate. Aang wasn't nervous. But he didn't exactly relish this bit.

'Yeah. Let's do it.'

She smiled wordlessly, and gave him an encouraging squeeze on the arm. The mere presence of her hand on his skin sent shock waves through his body. He tried to keep his cool, but could feel his cheeks beginning to redden, and the tiny hairs on his forearms begin to stand on end. He looked to the floor.

'GUYS!'

The silence was broken by Sokka's shout from the next room.

The two of them quickly snapped out of whatever daze they had found themselves in, and sprinted through to where Sokka stood, pointing out the open front door.

'Oh no…'

Thick plumes of smoke were rising from the town in the distance, the smell of charred wood beginning to carry over and into their nostrils.

'It came again.'

Lee was sat across the room in an old rocking chair. He had said nothing until now. Aang hadn't even noticed he was there at all.

'He is responsible for this. He has angered Kali-Ma. Please, Avatar. Do what must be done…'

Though made more than a little uncomfortable by Lee's implication, Aang nevertheless nodded, and made his way out of the door.

As the three of them walked the long path through the village's centre that found its conclusion at the front door to the magistrate's office, the damage from the previous night's attack only became more apparent. Though the villagers had worked hard, and fast, to save their property and themselves, two buildings that had stood proudly the day before were now reduced to nought but a pile of dust and blackened beams. People scavenged the burnt remains, desperately searching for trinkets, valuables, heirlooms or anything else that might have survived the blaze.

Aang shook his head. This was senseless. And cruel. Something felt off, though… Whenever he found himself in a spiritual place, or even one where the spiritual equilibrium had been thrown off balance, he was overcome with a feeling of something beyond his physical comprehension. Beyond his senses. A feeling in his gut that something was just…there. And yet in this place he felt nothing at all. It felt empty. Cold. As if this great dragon spirit was not fighting for her land, but had instead abandoned it long ago, driven away, never to return.

He approached the door at the end of the road. It was large, red and had emblazoned on it a large sigil reading 'MAGISTRATE OF KALI'.

He took a breath and knocked.

'Enter.' A voice rasped from inside.

He did.

'To what do I owe this pleasure, Avatar?'

His tone was sharp, grating, like the auditory equivalent of chewing on fine grit sandpaper. Aang almost winced.

'I've come to ask you to leave these people in peace.' Aang said, trying his best to sound authoritative.

The Magistrate, who until now had been stood facing the back wall, turned to face him.

'The people are peaceful… The people are happy!'

The words slithered out his mouth in a way that practically made Katara's toes curl.

'How can you say that? How can you say they are happy?! People are losing their homes, their livelihoods! They're losing their lives.'

The beginnings of a vicious snarl began to form on the Magistrate's lips.

'I don't know who you think you are to come here and meddle with the business of our town. But nobody has asked for you here. You have no remit. No jurisdiction. No justification.'

'Aang is the bridge between the worlds of man and spirit. This damage is the work of a spirit. That seems like a pretty clear-cut case for his involvement if you ask me.'

'I'm sorry young lady - I don't remember asking you.'

'Look, there must be some way-'

'Enough. These fairy stories of 'the great Kali-Ma' are nothing more than that. Stories. Fancies created by doting parents to spook their children into behaving. There is no spirit here, I can assure you of that.'

Katara was losing patience.

'Are you blind?! Have you not seen anything that. Has happened here in the last two days alone?!'

'I assure you that my eyes are functioning perfectly well. I won't speak anymore of this. You cannot simply walk into my town and harass me in this way. I won't have it. We do not want you here. You may stay one more night. If you are not gone by morning, Avatar, and your 'friends' along with you, we will be having a very different kind of conversation. Goodbye.'

'But-'

'It's ok, Katara. Let's go.'

'But Aang, he c-'

'It's ok. Trust me.'

He shot her a disarming look. She stopped. Stuttered. Then nodded in concession.

'Sorry for taking up your time.'

The magistrate huffed, as the three of them turned and quietly left the building.

Almost the second they got outside, Katara had rounded on Aang -

'What are you thinking?! You see the way these people are treated! What's happening here!'

'I know. But that's not something I can change. We came here to help, not to overhaul their entire way of life. I can't save everyone…That's something I've learned…'

For a brief moment he found his mind back in the forest all those years before, with a baby girl and her dying mother cradled in his arms.

'Sometimes my duty is to accept the things I cannot change. These people, they look to that man for leadership. For strength. He may be cruel, but he's all they have. If he were gone, another opportunist with an inflated ego would only step up and take his place. Besides, we were getting nowhere with him anyway.'

The years had taken some of the relentless idealism out of Aang. He was wiser, more pragmatic than the young man Katara had once known. She knew he was right, but it didn't make it any less hard to hear him sound so defeated.

'But-'

'They will realise that they need change. But they must do it in their own time, and on their own terms. I can help them with the immediate danger, sure, but I can't cure the world of cruelty. It might be what I want to do, but more violence isn't going to change anything. It will only perpetuate the cycle. And…'

'And what?'

'…And I think he's right. Somehow, I believe him. I think whatever is causing these fires…it isn't a spirit.'

'How can you be so sure?'

'I can't, Sokka. All I have is my feeling. My gut. This place, it feels like it was spiritually dead a long time ago…'

'Then what is causing all of this…?'

'I…I don't know. I have an idea…but if it is something spiritual that's causing all this, then I have no choice but to intervene. I'll wait it out. When the next attack comes, I'll see if I can at least try to communicate…'

Aang slowly pushed the door to Lee's old house ajar, as the three of them wandered in, dejected.

As he entered, he saw Lee sat happily on the floor, playing with Mei. She was watching, wide eyed, as what looked to be a tiny blue dragon snaked around her, before flying right up into the air, and vanishing in a flash of light. She giggled. So did Lee.

'You're a firebender.'

The old man looked up, startled, but smiled upon seeing Aang.

'Yes. I am.'

The two men stared at each other for a moment. Aang looked down to Mei. She smiled back up at him. He looked back to Lee, who's attention remained squarely on him. Aang smiled politely. Something about the way Lee smiled back at him just didn't feel right. It was as if the spirited old man who had proved so welcoming yesterday had somehow been replaced with a very different person altogether. One who carried an air that was…not exactly threatening, but uneasy. Aang couldn't explain it, but he all of a sudden didn't feel comfortable.

'I'm just going to…' He said breathily, gesturing to the back room.

'Of course.'

As Aang walked away, he swore he could feel the old man's glare boring into the back of his skull.

That night at dinner he was quiet. Sokka had taken up his chosen role as the centre of the conversation and was busy regaling Lee and his granddaughter with stories of their youth, and the war. Katara was keeping up, interjecting now and again to temper Sokka's typical hyperbole, and to occasionally make an attempt to crack wise herself (though most of these would inevitably fall flat). Aang, though, was lost in thought. Despite his best efforts to stay even apparently engaged he couldn't help but feel off kilter somehow. He had had a thought going round in his head for the last few hours - ever since he returned to the house that afternoon - one of those niggling mental intrusions that would buzz around his head, never quietening, and only building in intensity the more he tried to resist it.

'Excuse me.' He said, getting up abruptly and leaving the house through the back.

'Aang- Hang on. Excuse me, so sorry.'

Katara, sensing something was up, had swiftly gotten up to follow after him, leaving Sokka bemused but more than happy to continue the conversation.

Feeling the chill of the air, Katara wrapped her tunic tighter to her body as she stepped outside. Aang was sat on the grass near Appa, apparently deep in conversation with the bison - or himself. She had found in years gone by that often the lines between the two had been blurred. She saw him flinch as he heard her footsteps crunch in the grass.

'Are you ok?'

'Yeah. I'm fine. I just need to get some rest. It's been a long day, and my mind is just going a bit all over the place. I'm fine, Katara.'

'Sure?'

'Sure.'

'Ok.'

She paused.

'You know if you have something on your mind you can al-'

'I'm good. Just tired. But thanks.'

'Ok… Sleep well, I guess.'

Aang nodded, and murmured something indecipherable as she walked away, back inside.

He flopped back on the grass, breathing in its aromatic sweetness. It was calming to feel this connected to the earth. To feel grounded. He found himself slipping into sleep and lacking the energy to even move himself inside the house, simply let the sensation wash over him, pulling him into rest.

Slowly, Aang began to drift back into consciousness.

'AANG! Wake up!'

It was late.

Aang startled as he felt himself being violently shaken awake by Sokka - was this a dream again? No. No it wasn't. This was real, and whatever it was seemed urgent.

'Wh- Sokka? What's going on?'

Sokka pointed over to the village in the distance - and the plume of smoke that rose high above it, illuminated against the night sky by the blue flames that burst from its perimeter. He stood, Sokka grabbing him by the arm and practically pulling him to his feet. He looked to him.

'Katara?'

'Up. She's the one that spotted it.'

'How long?'

'Can't have been going more than a few minutes. The villagers seem to still be getting out of there.'

'Then let's get going. It's time to meet this spirit. Whatever it is.'

He turned to Appa - only to see an empty patch of grass.

'Oh, yeah, I forgot to mention that…'

Sokka gestured over to the village, where silhouetted against the moonlit sky was the outline of Katara, aboard Appa's back and channelling water down towards the fire from the air.

'She left this behind.' Sokka said, as Aang turned back to find him stood, hand outstretched holding Aang's glider.

Aang grinned.

'In that case, you're going to want to hold on…'

'Don't you think we're a little old for th-WHOA!'

Sokka clung on to Aang's back as the two of them took off towards the town. From the front door of the house, little Mei, having been awoken by the commotion, watched them, wide-eyed.

Aang circled the smoke twice, failing to get a look at anything inside it, and swooped down, depositing Sokka on the road that ran through the town's centre.

'Get the people out of here. I'm going to try and talk with whatever's in there. If that's even possible…'

'Ok. Good luck.'

'Aang!'

Katara had called out his name and touched down on Appa not too far from where they stood.

'Katara!'

"Sorry for not telling you about that.' She mentioned, tilting her head in the Appa's direction.

'It's fine. Let's worry about this instead, shall we?'

She responded with a wry smile, and the two of them set off towards the blaze.

Katara got there first, arriving on a stream of water she'd lifted from a well by the side of the road. She was on damage control. Expertly siphoning the liquid onto the surrounding roofs, freezing them over to stop the spread of any fire in its tracks.

It would have been a relatively simple job, had it not been for the bolts of blue flame that seemed to fly her way every time she made any headway with putting out the blaze. She hadn't had to dodge fire like that in years…she found herself back in the fire nation capital years before, desperately evading the blasts of blue flame that threatened to incinerate both her and Zuko, injured and helpless on the floor. She took a deep breath. She'd dealt with much worse than this before - though not being able to see whatever it was that was shooting at her wasn't exactly helping.

The blue flames exuded a cold, calculated ruthlessness that she hadn't seen in a long time. She was trying her best, working fast, but the ferocity with which bolt after bolt of fire latched itself onto the buildings that surrounded her was becoming too much for her to keep up with. She had begun to feel desperate - these people were losing their homes, their lives. Everything rested on her and Aang's shoulders to stop whatever it was that was causing this, and she was struggling to cover all her bases. With a look towards Aang that said 'end it now!', she focussed all her energy, before releasing a burst of water high into the air above the village's centre. For a moment there was quiet. The village had become hushed, all of them wondering if perhaps that night's attack was finally over. Sokka noticed the magistrate, poking his head out sheepishly from inside his office, hearing the creek of the door as he did so, before hastily hurrying back aside and slamming it violently behind him as he breathed a sigh of relief. It looked like it was over for now.

But looks can be deceiving. Slowly, as she had turned herself away, the plume of smoke began to glow blue once more. The heat around it was so intense that it began to cause the air to ripple. Katara turned back, slowly, but just in time to spot the large ball of blue flame hurtling her way, at a faster pace than anything she had seen thus far.

"KATARA!' Aang called out, as he began to rush over to her position, reaching her just in time to crash into her on his his glider, dragging her out of the way of the fire. For a moment the two of them were lying there, tangled on the floor, staring at each other, completely lost in the heat of the moment, in an oblivious daze. Aang pupils dilated. So did hers. A shout from Sokka brought them back to the land of the living.

'Uhhh - guys?! The fire?!'

The plume of smoke was growing with every passing second and seemed to be set on engulfing the whole village. Aang and Katara shook themselves off of each other, exchanged an awkward little nod, and quickly got back to work.

As Katara laboured hard to put out the fires, and Sokka busied himself guiding villagers to safety outside the settlement's centre, Aang was calling out to whatever lay inside the inferno.

'Kali-Ma! Great spirit, can you hear me?! My name is Aang. I'm the Avatar. This violence is needless. If you would allow me to talk, then perhaps we can settle whatever it is that has angered yo-'

Before he got to the end of his sentence, he was knocked off his feet by a blast of water from Katara, just before a singular bolt of blue fire passed at lightning speed through the space where his head would have been. Aang looked over to her. They locked eyes, for a moment. He nodded. Thank you.

So much for talking. As Katara got back to work putting out a fire on a nearby rooftop, Aang walked slowly, calmly into the cloud.

He coughed at first, spluttering at the sensation of his lungs filling with smoke, his eyes burning as the hot gas and ash threatened to temporarily rob him of his sight. Not that he could see much anyway. That's fine. He didn't need his eyes…

As he had done the day before, he put his knee to the ground, closed his eyes and breathed. The smokey air made it difficult to properly draw breath, but he nonetheless persevered, touching his palm to the floor in order to 'see' what was going on. If he could find this spirit, perhaps he could talk it down, and stop it causing any more damage.

Strange… once again, he could see nothing. Nothing, that is, except a familiar sensation - one single man. But this time, he wasn't running.

Enough of this. Aang had lost patience. Taking his staff, he took a deep breath, lowered his stance, and began to create an upwardly expanding vortex of air, a tornado of his own making that would funnel the smoke away, allowing him to come face to face with whatever lay behind the burning shroud.

As the smoke began to swirl upward, Aang felt the air around him begin to cool. He found his sight slowly returning and his eyes begin to readjust, his surroundings now bathed in a clear blue light. He looked, hand half raised in front of his eyes, to the course of the light, which burned almost white in the centre of the street. What was initially a burning singularity of bright blue flame slowly clarified as his eyes adjusted, until he could make out the silhouette of a man. It was a shape that he recognised. Not one he expected to see, but one that despite all his better judgement, made sense to him.

Slowly, the flame began to die down, and as it did, Aang gently lowered his staff to the ground. As the villagers cowered in homes, behind closed doors or upturned carts in the street, some brave enough to peek out at the scene in front of them, some still frozen in place for fear of being destroyed in the blaze, Aang began to slowly walk towards the man in front of him.

By this point, the flames had all but died out, revealing a small figure stood in the centre of the road. His back hunched, arms close to his chest, he looked up, and into Aang's eyes.

'Avatar.'

Aang took a moment to return the man's gaze.

'Lee.'

The two men stood in silence, as the dust began to settle around them, the flames dissipating with each passing moment, blue light giving way to smouldering grey. The smell of burnt wood still permeated ever corner of the village, and the smoke-filled sky began to clear, revealing a tapestry of faintly blinking stars. Everything came to a standstill. Aang took a single, measured, step forward, still cautious. From a rooftop nearby, Katara watched, fists clenched, angry and scared and ready to step in in a split second.

'Why?'

Lee smiled.

'What else could I do, Avatar? What else was there to do. These people don't respond to reason. They don't respond to pacifism.'

He spat out that word, pacifism, with a renewed venom, as if it were a bad taste in the mouth. Aang tensed.

'You came to me. I would have helped.'

'But you didn't. I could tell from the moment you stepped through my front door this afternoon. You had achieved nothing. I had to protect them. I did this for them. I had to protect the people.'

'You protect the people by destroying their homes? Their livelihoods? By taking from them what little they had to begin with?!'

Aang was trying his best not to be quick to anger, but it was becoming difficult.

'If that's what it takes? Then yes. I'd burn down every last home, turn whole lives to ash, to set them free. That's what you don't understand. It's only when people lose that which they have, that they begin to fight for anything at all.'

Something about Lee's words struck Aang. He found his mind drifting, his focus slipping. He didn't want to believe what he was hearing, but he couldn't help but suspect a degree of truth to it. He looked up for a moment to Katara, who met his gaze, and clenched his fist.

'I won't fight you, Lee.'

He raised his head and turned his back on the old man.

'That is why you will always lose.'

The old man spoke with a wry menace as Aang began to walk away.

'When I met that man as a boy, the one who knew the Air Nomads, he told me not to believe the stories. Not to believe that they had attacked. That they fielded an army to oppose Sozin. That the Fire Nation's war was justified because they were waging it in the name of prosperity and peace. I see now that he really was right. The Air Nomads died not because they were strong and fought, but because they were weak. You are like them, Avatar. Weak. When Sozin wiped them out it wasn't a tragedy. It was natural selection.'

With that last utterance, that poison tipped dagger aimed straight at Aang's very conscience, Lee let out a scream and moved to attack, unleashing all of his fury into one singular blast of hatred and grief - but before he could, he found himself immobile, and mute. Aang, who had turned, sensing the old man's oncoming assault through the earth, found himself not facing a wall of flame, but rather a man on his knees, with his hands bound by ice behind his back, his legs frozen to the ground, and Katara standing over him. He began to move towards him, but before he could reach the Lee, the old man had been jumped by the villagers. Katara stood aside, unwilling to fight anymore, as a gang of men led by the magistrate cuffed Lee, dragging him away, as the fire bender screamed in fury, his eyes burning with wild anger.

Katara and Sokka moved towards Aang, placing their hands on his shoulders.

'We should go…'

'In the morning. We can't leave them like this.'

The three of them climbed up onto Appa the following morning, having spent the night helping the villagers repair what they could of the damage and clear the debris left by the previous night's destruction, Aang felt a coldness come over him. As Appa lifted off, and the village grew smaller beneath them, Aang noticed a small girl standing in the crowd that had amassed to see them leave. It was Mei. She looked so…alone. She had been betrayed by her grandfather's lust for what he saw as justice. But she had also been betrayed by her people. Stood behind her was a woman, who he recognised as having lived near the house they had stayed in, with a hand gently resting on her shoulder. At least she wouldn't be left to fend completely for herself. Aang wished he could do something to help, but her place was not with him. With them. Her place was where she stood. With her people. As he looked at her, he couldn't help but think of Kya back in the city. He missed her.

He had done the right thing, but what had he changed? These people were still suffering, whether they saw it that way or not. The old man had done the wrong thing, but he was right. These people weren't helping themselves. He took a deep breath and shook off his guilt. It wasn't his place. He was the Avatar, there to keep balance, not to travel the world imposing his will, his moral code, on whoever crossed his path. If this was what these people wanted, then it was the way it had to be. He simply had to trust that in time they would find a better path. He wanted that for himself. In fact, right now, he just wanted a path. Though he had a journey to fulfil and a destination to reach, the road itself was obscured by clouds of doubt and regret, and he found himself unable to clear the fog. It seemed that he too would have to trust in time.

'Aang?'

Katara had moved to sit up next to him. She hadn't sat there in years. He couldn't help but bashfully smile, and twitch just a little as he felt her presence so close.

'Are…you ok?'

'Yeah. I'm fine. Just thinking. Are you…?'

'Yeah. I just… I don't know. I worry about you. Even after all these years. Especially after all these years. I lost you before. I don't want to lose you again. I just hope we can…you know. Be ok. After everything.'

Aang's heart soared and dropped like a stone all at once, threatening to rip itself apart in the process.

'Yeah… We can.'

He didn't know if that could be true. If he could ever stop feeling this way. The two of them sat in silence for a moment. Katara was the first to speak.

'About the other night… I'm sorry I didn't let you say what was on your mind. That we didn't get to talk. I guess I was so wrapped up in everything and tired and drunk that… I want to know. About Kya.'

Aang turned to her, subtly studying her face, silhouetted by the sunset and smiled.

'Ok. I guess we should start at the beginning.'