Published September 4, 2017

Spoiler alert: this chapter contains content from several episodes of Avatar: The Last Airbender, as well as Aang's book Legacy and the comics "The Rift" and "North and South."

"Shades of Grey"

No, the world was not split distinctly like two wings on a bird: white and black, good and evil. There was gray, plenty of it—like Dubto, caught between his compassion and his loyalty; like the eagles of Skythunder, who thought it was right to disown their own prince; like Stormac, brave and loyal, but fighting the weaknesses that had, in the end, taken him to his death. Perhaps even like Maldeor. Wind-voice felt calmer then, as if he had passed a test.

Indeed, life is full of tests, he thought. You don't know what they are, so you must treat everything in life with the same care you would bring to a test on which your future rests. I realize that the most important test of all, Wind-voice marveled, in my quest, and in every bird's quest, is the test to be the master of fate.

~ Nancy Yi Fan, Sword Quest

"To get to the North Pole, we had to travel through the Earth Kingdom. We saw what the Fire Nation had done there."

The colors change from white and blue to brown and red as a new environment comes into focus: a forest whose canopy held an amazing complex of tree houses, rope bridges, and zip lines. Korra gapes as Aang explains, "We met a group of freedom fighters causing problems for the Fire Nation's occupation of their town. Katara and I became friends with their leader, Jet. But Sokka found out he wasn't all he seemed."

"Jet's a thug," Sokka told the younger travelers. "He's messed up."

The young Aang spoke up. "He's not messed up, he's just got a different way of life—a really fun way of life."

"He beat and robbed a harmless old man!"

Katara refused to believe it. "I want to hear Jet's side of the story."

The scene quickly changes to the interior of one of the tree houses. Jet, a tall boy with tanned skin and scruffy black hair, sat on a hammock and spoke to the others, his head bowed. "Sokka, you told them what happened but you didn't mention the guy was Fire Nation?"

"Fine! But even if he was Fire Nation, he was a harmless civilian."

"He was an assassin, Sokka." Jet pulled out a knife, and showed them a hidden compartment that held a vial of poison. Unable to convince them of Jet's guilt, Sokka stormed off, intent on packing.

"Tell me you guys aren't leaving yet," Jet said. "I really need your help."

"What can we do?" Aang asked.

"The Fire Nation is planning on burning down our forest. If you both use waterbending to fill the reservoir, we could fight the fires. But if you leave now, they'll destroy the whole valley."

Korra has a bad feeling about this, but all she can do is watch.

The next day, Jet led Aang and Katara to some geysers on the river bank. At Jet's instruction, they bent the water up from under the ground, and continued to do so after he left. When they were done, they headed to the reservoir. They looked down from a cliff and saw four Freedom Fighters unloading barrels near the dam.

"What are they doing?" Katara wondered aloud.

Aang recognized their cargo. "Hey, those are the red barrels they got from the Fire Nation."

"Why would they need blasting jelly?"

The speed with which the answer came to Aang was just as startling as the answer itself. "Because Jet's going to blow up the dam."

Katara was incredulous. "What? No—that would destroy the town. Jet wouldn't do that."

"I've got to stop him." Aang opened his glider and started to take off.

"Jet wouldn't do that," Katara insisted, but she sounded less certain now.

Just as Aang left the ground, Jet himself jumped out from the bushes, grabbing the glider with his hook swords. Aang nearly fell off the cliff, but saved himself with an airbending move that helped him get back on the ground.

"Yes I would," Jet said as he rose from his crouch.

Katara was horrified. "Jet, why?"

"Katara, you would too if you'd just stop to think. Think about what the Fire Nation did to your mother. We can't let them do that to anyone else ever again."

"This isn't the answer," Katara argued.

Jet looked at her dolefully. "I want you to understand me, Katara. I thought your brother would understand, but—"

That hit Katara hard. "Where's Sokka?" Tears formed in her eyes and started to trail down her face. Jet stepped up to her and put a hand on her cheek, but Katara opened her canteen and bent the water out, blasting Jet backwards and knocking him to the ground.

Aang was still determined to get to the dam, but Jet grabbed the glider again and kept it out of reach. In spite of the Freedom Fighter's betrayal, Aang did not want to fight.

He used airbending to run and leap on the tree branches, thinking he might devise an alternate route that way, but Jet followed him and continued trying to attack him. It was an intense duel, with both of them falling and having to improvise ways to stay on the tree limbs, until finally they both fell back onto the ground near the river.

Before Jet could attack again, Katara drew water from the river and sent stream after stream of water toward him, until he fell back against a tree trunk. Then Katara breathed deeply and turned the water into ice, trapping Jet against the tree.

"Jet, why? I can't believe I trusted you. You lied to me. You're sick and I trusted you!"

Korra can sympathize, but she can't help comparing their situations, and thinks that she has more reason to be angry than Katara did. The girl only knew the boy for a few days. On the other hand, Amon did not lie so much as hide the truth. He never tricked Korra into doing anything she would not have wanted to do. She was always aware of what she was doing to hurt people, and that almost led her to hurt the innocent as well as the guilty.

The fight did not end there. Someone hidden sent a bird-call signal, and Jet responded with a similar whistle. Aang tried to take off, but his glider had been damaged in the fight, and he fell to the ground.

"Sokka's still out there," he said to Katara as she helped him up. "He's our only chance."

They both looked out over the cliff. They watched helplessly as someone shot a flaming arrow at the blasting jelly, causing it to explode. The mighty dam collapsed, and the water flowed out with swift, overwhelming force, quickly flooding the village.

"Sokka didn't make it in time," Aang murmured. It was the second time he had unintentionally contributed to the deaths of a great number of people; but this time, his responsibility stemmed from his actions rather than his absence.

"All those people," Katara moaned. She turned around to face the Freedom Fighter again. "Jet, you monster!"

"This was a victory, Katara. Remember that. The Fire Nation is gone and this valley will be safe."

"They will be safe," a familiar voice said. "Safe without you." Appa rose up from below the cliff, with Sokka at the reins. Korra feels just as relieved as Katara and Aang did. "I warned the villagers of your plan, just in time. At first they didn't believe me. The Fire Nation soldiers assumed I was a spy. But one man vouched for me: the old man you attacked. He urged them to trust me, and we got everyone out in time."

Korra's esteem for Sokka rises significantly. Though he has a statue in Republic City, and is sometimes mentioned in history books and news media, Korra has never thought much about him in comparison to the other players in the Hundred Year War. Now she sees that he truly was a hero.

Jet could not have been more outraged. "Sokka, you fool! We could have freed this valley."

"Who would be free? Everyone would be dead."

"You traitor!"

"No, Jet. You became the traitor when you stopped protecting innocent people."

Korra wonders whether those words apply to her at all.

Jet appealed once again to the waterbender. "Katara, please. Help me."

"Goodbye, Jet." With that she climbed aboard, and at Sokka's command Appa took off, leaving Jet still frozen against the tree.

"That was the first time we saw that our paradigms of good and evil weren't true to life," Aang says to Korra now. "Jet's hatred was indiscriminate. It so consumed him that he hurt people on the side he claimed to be on."

Korra recognizes the parallel. "Equalists hate benders the same way."

Aang nods. "If you nurse hatred for even one person, you may end up extending it to everyone like them. You can even become the very thing you mean to fight."

"I think I've already done that," Korra says gloomily.

"There was one time when I thought I might lose Sokka and Katara's company on the journey. They ran into a friend from their tribe, and found out they might have an opportunity to see their father. He had been away, fighting in the war, for two years. I didn't trust them to stay with me as they had promised. Instead of talking to them about it, I betrayed their trust and hid the information they were waiting for. When I told them the truth, we split up, but then Zuko tracked them down in his effort to find me. I came back to save them, but after we beat Zuko, I didn't know what they would decide."

Appa flew through the atmosphere with Aang at the reins and the two siblings in the saddle. "So … where do we go?" Aang asked apprehensively.

"We're getting you to the North Pole," Katara replied.

"Yeah," Sokka agreed. "We've lost too much time as it is."

Aang was surprised, and turned around to face his friends. "Don't you want to see your father?"

"Of course we do, Aang," Sokka answered seriously. "But you're our family too. And right now, you need us more."

"And we need you," Katara acknowledged, smiling affectionately.

Korra glances at the adult Aang. "You didn't feel guilty about keeping them away from whatever else they'd be doing?"

"Not after that."

"And … I shouldn't feel guilty about involving my friends in what I'm doing?"

"If it's what they want, then no."

Korra looks around, trying to make out the next memory, but Aang thinks it necessary to skip and summarize parts of his story. "To make a long story short, we made it to the North Pole and found a waterbending master. Katara progressed much more quickly than I did, so she took over my waterbending training from then on. After a few months, we returned to the Earth Kingdom in the hope of finding an earthbending master."

Korra remembers one of the memories she saw before. "You thought it would be King Bumi."

"Yes. After leaving him in Omashu, I had a vision of a young girl. I later found her at an earthbending competition, doing exactly what Bumi said my teacher would do: she waited, and listened."

Korra recognizes the young girl in pajamas, Toph Beifong. Judging by the night sky and the luxurious garden, this seems to be the same time and place as the conversation Korra witnessed. "Haven't you shown me this already?"

"Not all of it," Aang answers.

Toph walked on the railing of a bridge with perfect balance while Aang walks on the ground. "Even though I was born blind, I've never had a problem seeing." She leaped to the ground and explained, "I see with earthbending. I feel the vibrations, and I can see where everything is. You, that tree, even those ants."

Aang looked around, and spotted the anthill he had not noticed before. "That's amazing," he marveled.

"You've seen the rest of that conversation," Aang tells Korra, "but I thought you should hear her explain how she perceives things."

"Did you learn to be that sensitive?"

Aang smiles mysteriously. "You'll see."

"So, how did she end up helping you, if she was so reluctant about leaving?"

"The Earth Rumble arena's owner kidnapped us and held us for ransom. She rescued me, and revealed her double life to her parents. They decided to put even greater restrictions on her freedom. That night, as we were leaving, she ran away and joined us."

This is news to Korra. "She ran away? You could have mentioned that when I was under house arrest!"

"You needed to wait for the right moment." The pristine gardens of the Bei Fong estate fade, replaced by a dirty neighborhood, urban but not industrialized. "I think you saw my memory of finding out Appa had been stolen, didn't you?"

"Yeah, I remember."

"We heard he would probably be taken to Ba Sing Se, so we went there to look for him. Unfortunately, the Dai Li prevented us from finding out what we needed to know."

Korra raises an eyebrow. "Really? Kind of ironic, considering Kyoshi was the one who founded them."

"Yes. It evolved into something very different from what she intended. They kept the Earth King ignorant of the war and silenced anyone who mentioned it. We tried distributing fliers asking for help finding Appa."

After splitting up to cover more ground, Aang, Sokka, and Toph found Katara on the offensive, having just pinned someone to the wall of an alley. "Katara, what it is?" Sokka asked. He and Aang recognized Katara's ostensible opponent.

"Jet's back," Katara informed them. "We can't trust anything he says."

"But we don't even know why he's here," Sokka said.

"I don't care why he's here. Whatever the reason is, it can't be good."

"I'm here to help you find Appa!"

Aang looked at the poster Jet carried. He could not forget what Jet had done, but in order to find Appa they had to investigate any lead they could find. "Katara, we have to give him a chance."

"I swear I've changed," Jet said earnestly. "I was a troubled person, and I let my anger get out of control. But I don't even have the gang now. I've put all that behind me."

Katara did not believe him, but Toph vouched for his veracity by feeling the stone wall. She could tell from his breathing and heart beat that he was not lying.

Still, Korra feels as incredulous as Katara was. "You agreed to work with him, after he betrayed you and tried to use you?"

"He was our only lead. As it turned out, he was being used, too. We ran into some of the other Freedom Fighters, and they made us realize something was amiss."

"He got arrested by the Dai Li a couple weeks ago," a female Freedom Fighter exclaimed. "We saw them drag him away."

Jet was genuinely bewildered. "Why would I be arrested? I've been living peacefully in the city."

Even Toph was confused, feeling the earth beneath their feet. "This doesn't make any sense. They're both telling the truth."

It was Sokka who figured out what was going on. "Toph can't tell who's lying because they both think they're telling the truth. Jet's been brainwashed."

Korra is taken aback. Somehow she thought brainwashing was more like indoctrination, or manipulation. "Whoa. And I thought I had a hard time figuring out the truth. What did you do?"

"Katara used her healing abilities to help him remember what happened. He remembered going under Lake Laogai, so we went there, and were confronted by the Dai Li. Jet and I followed their leader, Long Feng, but he had a greater advantage than we realized."

Long Feng used earthbending to seal the door through which Aang and Jet had entered. "Alright Avatar, you've caused me enough problems. This is your last chance, if you want your bison back."

Aang was outraged. "You do have Appa. Tell me where he is!"

"Agree to exit the city now, and I'll waive all charges against you and allow you to leave with your lost pet."

Jet raised his swords, glaring at the earthbender. "You're in no position to bargain."

"Am I not?" Long Feng taunted.

"You're definitely not!" Aang spat.

Long Feng stood unfazed, and then said something strange. "Jet, the Earth King has invited you to Lake Laogai."

Those words had a strange effect on Jet. "I am honored to accept his invitation," he said in a sullen tone. Then he spun around slashing his swords toward Aang, who leaped away in horror.

This fight was completely unlike their last one. Jet took no pleasure from it; he seemed tired by determined, panting and sweating as he attacked again and again.

"Jet, I'm your friend!" Aang shouted. "Look inside your heart!"

"Do your duty, Jet," Long Feng commanded.

Aang hated seeing this happen to someone who, like him, put such a high value on freedom. "He can't make you do this! You're a Freedom Fighter!"

Hearing that name made Jet reel back and straighten up in shock. His eyes were wide but unseeing; he seemed to be in another time and place.

"Do it," Long Feng urged. "Do it now."

Snapping back to the present, Jet made his decision: he spun around and flung one of his swords at Long Feng. The man stepped out of the way so the sword landed harmlessly on the wall; then he performed an earthbending move that sent up clouds of dust. When the dust cleared, Aang saw Jet lying on the ground, injured and immobile. Long Feng rose up on a pillar to escape through a pipe high in the wall. Aang let him get away, focusing on Jet instead.

Jet looked up at him with regret in his eyes. His voice shook as he spoke. "I'm sorry, Aang."

"Don't be," Aang said gently.

Their friends came into the passage a moment later. Katara assessed the wound, and gave a grim but vague prognosis. Smellerbee and Longshot urged Aang and his friends to go ahead and find Appa while the two of them stayed with Jet.

"Don't worry, Katara. I'll be fine." Jet actually managed to smile at her.

Katara did not waste any time: she stood and left the cavern with her friends. Aang heard Toph confide in Sokka, "He's lying."

They four teammates found a cell where Appa had been held, but the bison was no longer there. Then they went back to the surface, but found themselves surrounded by Dai Li on three sides. As they tried to think what to do, the very creature they had planned to rescue came swooping in to rescue them: Appa flew down out of the bright sky and smashed through the earthbenders' walls. From there it took less than a minute for him and Aang and Toph to drive the Dai Li away.

"Talk about good timing," Korra marvels. "How did he escape?"

"We later found out that Zuko was there that day. He had planned to steal Appa, but instead he set him free."

"Incredible. ... But what happened to Jet?" It feels odd, being concerned about someone she held in contempt a short while ago.

Aang bows his head somberly. "We saw his friends about a year later. They confirmed what we suspected. He died that day."

"Oh. I'm sorry."

"He redeemed himself. I was glad for that." As the scene changes, Aang explains, "A few days later, our paths crossed with the Fire Nation royals again: Princess Azula infiltrated the city, and captured Katara and Zuko. Iroh came to ask for our help."

"I know how you must feel about my nephew," Iroh said to Sokka. "But believe me when I say there is good inside him."

Sokka was not convinced. "Good inside him isn't enough. Why don't you come back when it's outside him, too?"

"Katara is in trouble," Aang insisted. "All of Ba Sing Se is in trouble. Working together is our best chance." Sokka was still reluctant, but the necessity of saving his sister made him relent.

They split up in an attempt to save different groups of people: Sokka decided he and Toph would warn the Earth King while Aang and Iroh rescued Katara and Zuko. Aang earthbent a tunnel to the catacombs while Iroh bent a flame in his hand to light their way.

"So, Toph says you give good advice. And make great tea."

Iroh smiled. "The key to both is proper aging. What's on your mind?"

"Well, I met a guru who wanted to help me control the Avatar State and this awesome power. But to do it, I had to let go of the people I love, and I just couldn't."

"Power and perfection are overrated. I think you were wise to choose happiness and love."

"What happens if we can't save everyone and beat Azula? Without the Avatar State … what if I'm not powerful enough?

"I don't know the answer," Iroh admitted. "Sometimes life is like this dark tunnel. You can't always see the light at the end of the tunnel. But if you just keep moving …"

Aang moved the earth in front of them, and this time found more space ahead, letting in light and a gust of wind that blew out Iroh's flame. The old man smiled. "… you will come to a better place."

"He seems like a nice guy," Korra observes.

"He was," Aang agrees. "He helped Katara and me escape from Azula and the Dai Li, even though it cost him his freedom, and meant fighting against Zuko."

"So, Zuko sided with Azula?"

"Yes."

Korra is confused. "But I thought he ended up being your ally."

"We'll get there," Aang assures her. "He still had some growing to do, and so did I. After I recovered from that battle, we traveled through the Fire Nation, getting ready to invade on the Day of Black Sun. On the summer solstice, Avatar Roku called me to his home island and showed me his life."

"Oh. So this is kind of a tradition?"

"Not officially. The solstices are the time when the spiritual and physical worlds overlap. I had to learn how the Hundred Year War had started, in order to know how to end it."

"Do I need to know that too?" Korra wonders if she will have to go even further back in time.

"You'll have a chance to read about it. There are books for teaching schoolchildren about it. I put a copy in the book I made for Tenzin, to teach him about our legacy."

Katara, Sokka, and Toph were gathered around Aang, who sat on a slab of rock and told them what Roku had seen. He was shirtless, and he had a crop of black hair covering his tattooed head. His friends seemed incredulous.

"You mean, after all Roku and Sozin went through together—even after Roku showed him mercy—Sozin betrayed him like that?" Katara asked.

"It's like these people are born bad," Toph said.

"No, that's wrong," Aang stated. "I don't think that was the point of what Roku showed me at all."

"Then what was the point?" Sokka asked.

"Roku was just as much Fire Nation as Sozin was, right? If anything, their story proves anyone's capable of great good, and great evil. Everyone, even the Fire Lord and the Fire Nation, have to be treated like they're worth giving a chance. And I also think it was about friendships."

"Do you think it's true that friendships can transcend lifetimes?" Toph asked softly.

The Aang took her hand, smiling fondly. "I don't see why not." Katara grasped Toph's other hand, and when Sokka did not followed suit she ordered him to do so.

They were so sweet, but watching them makes Korra sad. Aang's friends all outlived him and have probably waited for news of the new incarnation of the Avatar. Have they hoped to know her, maybe even be friends with her? She should probably answer those messages Lin mentioned.

The next scenes are set in a Fire Nation inn. "Thanks for letting us stay here tonight," Katara said to the old woman hosting them. "You have a lovely inn."

"Aren't you sweet? You know, you should be careful. People have been disappearing in those woods you were camping in."

"What do you mean, disappearing?" Sokka inquired.

The old woman's answer was ominous. "When the moon turns full, people walk in, and they don't come out."

Korra raises her eyebrows. Aang reveals the thoughts of the troubled teenagers. "We could tell Hama was hiding something. When she caught us snooping around her home, she revealed that she was a refugee from the Southern Water Tribe, and a waterbender."

"Really?" Korra intuitively puts the pieces together in her mind. "Was she a bloodbender? Is that why people disappeared at that time of the month?"

Aang looks surprised, and then disappointed. "You ruined the surprise."

"Well, it seems obvious to me!"

"This was the first time any of us learned of it. Before this, none of us knew such a thing was possible. She told us how she and the other waterbenders of the Southern Water Tribe were captured in the Fire Nation's raids and imprisoned for years. She didn't say how she escaped, but she offered to teach Katara what she knew about waterbending."

Korra is alarmed. "Is Katara a bloodbender too?"

"Hama pretty much forced her to learn it, in self-defense" Aang says grimly. "Sokka and I arrived when they were dueling."

Hama quickly took advantage of the interlopers' presence. They could not withstand her bloodbending the way Katara did under the full moon. "Don't hurt your friends, Katara—and don't let them hurt each other!" She bent Aang and Sokka toward each other, with Sokka's sword pointed at Aang's chest.

"NO!" Katara screamed, and stopped them from colliding in the only way that made sense: she bloodbent Hama, who immediately lost control of Aang and Sokka.

Korra gapes at the scene, amazed that Katara would do the very thing she said she would not, and impressed that she proved stronger than Hama. Katara, too, looked amazed by her own actions; then she closed her eyes in acceptance, lowering her hands to force Hama to her knees. Then Toph arrived with the townspeople Hama had imprisoned. They put her in some of the same handcuffs she had used on them.

"You're going to be locked away forever," one of the villagers said. Korra finds it ironic: Hama had used bloodbending to escape prison, and it had gotten her back in prison.

But Hama did not seem upset. "My work is done." She turned her head to look at the teenagers. "Congratulations, Katara. You're a bloodbender."

Katara covered her mouth with her hand, closing her eyes in shame. Hama let loose a sickening stream of triumphant laughter. The villagers led the old woman away, while Aang and his friends tried to comfort a sobbing Katara.

"Poor Katara," Korra says softly. Now she knows that the waterbender knew—knows—what it is like to be ashamed of an ability. "So that's why she outlawed bloodbending."

"Yes." As the scene shifts, Aang explains the transition. "We tried invading the Fire Nation on the Day of Black Sun, but we lost. The youngest of us retreated to the Western Air Temple. That was where Prince Zuko asked if he could join us."

"Wow. After everything he did to you … that must have taken a lot of courage. Not just to risk being embarrassed, but to risk being attacked in self-defense."

Aang nods seriously, but then adds with a crooked smile, "Saving us from the assassin he had sent after us also helped."

"What?"

Aang hushes her so they can watch Zuko approach the group for the second time. "Listen, I know I didn't explain myself very well yesterday," the Fire Prince said. "I've been through a lot in the past few years, and it's been hard. But I'm realizing that I had to go through all those things to learn the truth. I thought I had lost my honor, and that somehow my father could return it to me. But I know now that no one can give you your honor. It's something you earn for yourself, by choosing to do what's right. All I want now is to play my part in ending this war. And I know my destiny is to help you restore balance to the world."

Zuko paused and looked at Toph. "I'm sorry for what I did to you. It was an accident. Fire can be dangerous and wild. So as a firebender, I need to be more careful and control my bending so I don't hurt people unintentionally."

Aang looked surprised at this addendum. Then his expression hardened with resolve. "I think you are supposed to be my firebending teacher. When I first tried to learn firebending, I burned Katara. And after that, I never wanted to firebend again. But now I know you understand how easy it is to hurt the people you love." He bowed to Zuko. "I'd like you to teach me."

Aang speaks to Korra. "Zuko and I were similar in that we both made mistakes, and both of us had to restore our honor. Our lessons didn't start out so well."

"I know you're nervous," Zuko said on the morning when they began training together. "But remember: firebending, in and of itself, is not something to fear."

Aang took a deep breath. "Okay. Not something to fear."

"But if you don't respect it," Zuko warned, his voice rising in volume, "it'll chew you up and spit you out like an angry komodo rhino!"

Korra identifies with Aang, who yelped in fear. But when they began trying to firebend, neither of them could produce a significant flame.

When they told the others about it, Toph suggested drawing their motivation for firebending from a different source, preferably the original source. "For earthbending, the original benders were badgermoles. One day, when I was little, I ran away and hid in a cave. That's where I met them. They were blind, just like me, so we understood each other. I was able to learn earthbending, not just as a martial art, but as an extension of my senses. For them, the original earthbenders, it wasn't just about fighting. It was their way of interacting with the world."

Korra feels just as amazed as the teenagers were, but for different reasons. She is not just impressed, like them. She has never thought that way about bending, as a sixth sense, a method of interaction with the environment. But, that does not mean bending cannot be perverted by the people who have it.

"Zuko and I went on a journey to learn about the Sun Warriors, the first humans who learned firebending from the dragons. We thought dragons had gone extinct during the Hundred Year War, but it turned out there were still two alive."

"All this time, I thought firebending was destruction. Since I hurt Katara, I've been too afraid and hesitant. But now I know what it really is. It's energy, and life."

"Yeah," Zuko agreed. "It's like the sun, but inside of you. That's why my firebending was so weak before." He turned to address Aang. "Because for so many years, hunting you was my drive; it was my purpose. So when I joined you, I lost sight of my inner fire. But now, I have a new drive. I have to help you defeat my father and restore balance to the world."

Korra envies the sense of excitement and purpose they both felt, especially when they succeeded in producing big, beautiful fire from their hands.

"It took Katara some time to fully accept Zuko as an ally. To earn her trust and ask her forgiveness, Zuko offered to help her track down the firebender who had killed her mother, when she was eight years old."

Zuko defended the decision when Aang and Sokka questioned it. "She needs this, Aang. This is about getting closure, and justice."

"I don't think so," Aang said. "I think it's about getting revenge."

"Fine!" Katara said angrily. "Maybe it is. Maybe that's what I need. Maybe that's what he deserves."

"Katara—you sound like Jet."

"It's not the same!" Katara insisted. "Jet hurt the innocent. This man is a monster!"

"Katara, she was my mother too," Sokka said. "But I think Aang might be right."

"Then you didn't love her like I did!"

Korra is almost as surprised as Sokka was. At the same time, she remembers something Amon said to her, just a few days ago: "It is easier to forgive someone for wronging you than for wronging someone you love."

Aang broke the silence after Katara's outburst. "The monks used to say that revenge is like a two-headed rat-viper. While you watch your enemy go down, you're being poisoned yourself."

"That's cute," Zuko said. "But this isn't air temple preschool. This is the real world."

"Now that I know he's out there," Katara said, "now that I know we could find him, I feel like I have no choice."

"You do have a choice: forgiveness," Aang insisted.

"That's the same as doing nothing," Zuko argued.

"No, it's not. It's easy to do nothing. It's hard to forgive."

"It's not just hard," Katara said darkly. "It's impossible."

The scene shifts to just a few hours later, in the same location, but at nightfall. Aang and Sokka found Katara and Zuko preparing to leave on Appa, but Aang did not try to stop them. "This is a journey you have to take. You need to confront this man. But when you do, don't choose vengeance. Let your anger out, and then let it go. Forgive him."

Korra looks at the adult Aang. "You think I should forgive Noatak, after what he did to my parents?"

"I think, ultimately, it would help you to heal."

"What would that look like, though? Should I stay out of the fight? Or capture him, and ask the Council to pardon him?"

"Forgiveness, like love, is an act of the will. It's both mental and practical. Once you forgive someone in your heart and mind, you have to decide how to let it shape your actions."

Korra sighs, and resigns herself to the fact that Aang will not give her straightforward advice. "So, what did Katara do?"

"They ambushed the leader of the Southern Raiders, and under the full moon, Katara used bloodbending to paralyze the man while they interrogated him. But then she realized it wasn't the man who had killed her mother."

Korra gasps. "She bloodbended the wrong person?"

Aang nods. "After that, she never used it again. She was able to find her mother's murderer, and she learned the full details of how she died. But when the moment came, Katara couldn't bring herself to take revenge on him. Zuko picked the rest of us up so she could have some time alone."

Zuko brought the team to the island where Katara was waiting for them. Aang and Zuko immediately went to check on her.

"Zuko told me what you did—or, I guess, what you didn't do." Aang smiled gently, though Katara could not see it with her back turned to him. "I'm proud of you."

Katara continued to look out over the ocean. "I wanted to do it. I wanted to take out all my anger on him … but I just couldn't. I don't know if it's because I was too weak to do it, or because I was strong enough not to."

"You did the right thing," Aang affirmed. "Forgiveness is the first step you have to take to begin healing."

Katara stood up and turned to face them, her expression still angry. "But I didn't forgive him. I'll never forgive him." Her eyes shifted to Zuko, and her face softened. "But I am ready to forgive you." She stepped forward and hugged the Fire Prince, briefly but warmly.

Korra thinks fleetingly of Mako, and realizes he may be to her what Zuko was to Katara: the first firebender ever counted as a friend.

Zuko spoke to Aang as they watched Katara walk away. "You were right about what Katara needed. Violence wasn't the answer."

"It never is," Aang agreed.

"Then, I have a question for you." Zuko turned to look at Aang and said, "What are you going to do when you face my father?"

Aang looked extremely troubled. Korra's thought now is, What am I going to do when I face my father?

"In the days before the Comet, I became more distressed about what to do."

The young Aang paced up and down while his friends ate their dinner. "This goes against everything I learned from the monks. I can't just go around wiping out people I don't like."

"I consulted my four previous lives. What I really wanted was for one of them to tell me that I should not kill anyone. But they all gave me open-ended advice."

"Like you're giving me," Korra points out.

"You have to understand … we all lived in different times, under different circumstances. None of us would have handled the same situation in quite the same way. All we can do is try to pass on the lessons we learned and the wisdom we cultivated."

Aang met a lion-turtle, a massive, ancient creature, full of more wisdom and power than any other living creature. "Maybe you can help me. Everyone, even my own past lives, think that I should take someone's life. But I don't know if I can do that."

The lion-turtle spoke in a deep, raspy, majestic voice, but he only seemed to answer Aang's request with riddles. "The true mind can weather all lies and illusions without being lost. The true heart can tough the poison of hatred without being harmed. Since beginningless time, darkness thrives in the void but always yields to purifying light." He touched Aang's forehead and chest with the tips of his claw. A green light lit up both of their eyes. At that moment, something happened that irrevocably changed Aang. Some knowledge, some skill, something ancient and forgotten but still viable, providing a way to peace through peace.

Korra can hear what Aang heard, the lion-turtle's voice echoing in her mind just as it did in his. "In the era before the Avatar, we bent not the elements, but the energy within ourselves. To bend another's energy, your own spirit must be unbendable, or you will be corrupted and destroyed."

The lion-turtle carried Aang to the coast and placed him on one of the stone pillars. "Wait for him. He will come."

Aang bowed again, and waited. As soon as the Fire Lord and his airship fleet arrived,

"No. I'm not going to end it like this."

"Even with all the power in the world … you are still weak." Ozai started to lunge; but Aang could feel the vibrations of his movements through the earth, and knew exactly where each limb would be. He bent the earth to catch Ozai's wrists and pull them to the ground, immobilizing him. Then Aang placed his hands on Ozai's forehead and chest, and recalled the words and wordless teaching of the lion-turtle.

The energy inside Ozai came out as red light, while the energy within Aang manifested itself as blue light, a shade that reminds Korra of the Avatar State. Ozai's red energy seemed to spread, overtaking Aang's blue energy until it seemed like it was about to disappear completely within Aang's eye; but suddenly the blue light rebounded and pushed away the red light.

Aang and Ozai both groaned when they parted; but Aang held himself aright even as Ozai fainted. The Fire Lord tried to bend a fire blast at the Avatar, but nothing came from his fist. "What ... what did you do to me?"

Aang's answer was calm, carrying a solemn kind of conviction. "I took away your firebending. You can't use it to hurt or threaten anyone ever again."

"Wow. I don't know what else to say." Korra glances at Aang. "When I found out you neutralized his power, instead of defeating him in combat, I thought that was kind of cheating, but that … that was incredible. You really were powerful, in more ways than one."

Aang smiles, and inclines his head toward her. "So are you." He touches Korra's shoulder, his hand resting above her heart. "You have power that's all your own, as well as access to the powers of past Avatars."

"Here is something that happened a few years later. I had to settle matters with a factory run by Toph's father and some spirits from Avatar Yangchen's past."

To save Toph and her three metalbending students from the giant, Aang sent a blast that bore a huge hole in General Old Iron's chest. Aang was immediately horrified at what he had done. Even as he tried to apologize, the spirit rasped, "Too late … too late … for my kind …" He sat up, glaring at the metalbenders in the distance. "Long ago, I was much more powerful than you humans. Now, look at me. And look at you." He not stood to his full height. "Lady Tienhai refused to acknowledge it, but I was right all along. My agreement with your predecessor only staved off the inevitable. There is no longer a place for spirits in this world."

"No! Don't you get it? That's why I'm here! It's my job to maintain balance between the spirits and the humans!"

"You repeat those words over and over like a mantra, but you are only fooling yourself. Whenever the border between our two worlds grows into a rift, the Avatar will always side with the humans. The Avatar is, after all, a human."

"It doesn't have to be like that, General! Stay! I'll prove to you that balance is possible!"

"At the core of human nature is the the will to dominate. Look into your own heart and you'll see that it's true. There can be no balance between the spirit world and the human one." General Old Iron stopped when the water reached his knees, then turned around, faced Aang, and bowed to him. "I pay homage to you, young human, for you have vanquished me." Aang watched in sorrow as the spirit descended into the sea.

The next day, Aang and Katara found the statue of the spirit Lady Tienhai had been destroyed.

"General Old Iron believed that the spirits no longer have a place here," Aang said dolefully. "What if he's right? What if the spirits are … are just relics of the past, with no future in the human world?" He was thinking of more than just spirits; he was thinking of his culture, which he had been trying to revive in a world that had progressed far ahead of it.

"That can't be true, Aang," Katara insisted. "I believe in the Avatar. I believe in you. You're between the spirits and us. If you have a part in our world's future, then the spirits must have one, too. Maybe you ought to talk to one of your past lives about it."

"I don't know. We're talking about the future, and they're my past lives."

"I don't think the past and future are separate. They're connected, you know? By today. By us."

Aang took her advice, and sat down to meditate. The cranefish who had previously perched on the statue gathered around him. He did not think much of them, but then they started to flap around him. "You aren't normal birds, are you?"

They seemed to gather into one unit, merging together and forming a large spirit who looked like a human woman.

"We are—I am—Lady Tienhai. I was once caretaker of this place. Under my watch, the seashore was beautiful, but also stagnant, characterless, and unchanging. That is, until a small group of humans built a magnificent city here. After my friend General Old Iron left me, I began a new tradition. Once a year, I would take the form of a human for a night and stroll through the city's streets. I marveled at everything the humans created. On one of these visits, I met the city's precocious young prince. His curiosity was endless, and so was his energy. He made the most beautiful things—machines and books, sculptures and building designs. I wanted to always be near him. I willingly accepted my human form as permanent, even though it meant that I would eventually die a human death. We married. My prince eventually became king, and we lived in happiness for many years. When I died, however, the king blamed himself. He believed he had seduced me into giving up my original, immortal form."

"But you didn't die," Aang pointed out, as if to affirm what he perceived. "You're here right now."

"Yes. My dear king was brilliant, but he was wrong. Spirits don't die. We simply take on new forms. General Old Iron was wrong as well. It is not human nature to dominate, but to create."

Aang looked around doubtfully at the now desolate area. "I don't know, Lady Tienhai. We promised to preserve and protect this place, and we failed."

"Yes, humankind falters every now and then, but you know how to learn from your past mistakes. You've done it before, and you can do it again. I believe that ultimately, you will create a civilization that preserves and protects even as it grows. Do you understand? The spirits will always have a place in this world, as long as you—and humans like you—create one for us."

"But how can you be sure that we'll do that? How can you know?"

The flock of cranefish rematerialized and started to fly away as Lady Tienhai answered. "I don't know, young Avatar. I hope."

Korra feels overwhelmed by emotion, but not in a bad way. In the physical plane, tears leak from her eyes. In the spiritual plane, she feels Aang's comforting hand on her shoulder.

"A few months later, Katara and Sokka went home to their tribe, and I came to visit them. There was … tension between the Southern and Northern Water Tribesmen. The North was helping to rebuild, but many in the South felt their home was being invaded. Unfortunately, these different perspectives and prejudices still haven't been fully resolved. But something interesting happened with some young waterbenders Katara and I met."

Aang and Katara entered the building, whose sign declared it Pakku's Waterbending School, just as the teacher was saying, "Well, if you won't listen to me, maybe you'll listen to our guest. Sura and Siku, I'd like you to meet the Avatar."

Aang got into a stance and bent the water into a large ring around him. "Hey, kids! You can call me Aang."

The little girls were stunned. "Wow! No way!"

"You're really the Avatar?" the younger one asked.

"Yep." Aang bent the water over to Katara, who continued to bend it.

"And you're his friend?" Siku demanded of Katara.

"Katara helped me end the War!" Aang informed them.

"How come you didn't tell us that when we met you at the festival?" Sura asked.

Katara bent the water smoothly over her shoulder and returned it to the basin without looking. "Would it have made a difference?"

"We would've been nicer," Siku said unashamedly.

"A lot nicer," Sura agreed.

Katara smiled and dropped down on one knee to look at the girls. "So now will you tell us the truth? Are you actually waterbenders?"

The girls reacted in a way Korra finds strange: they look frightened and uncomfortable, something like panic rising in their expressions.

After a tense moment, Siku let a stream of words burst out: "Look, ever since we were little, Mommy gave us one super-important rule we had to always follow!"

"Always!" Sura echoed.

"We couldn't ever let anybody know about the real us!"

"Ever!" Sura hugged her sister tightly, seeking reassurance.

"If we did, monsters from the Fire Nation would take us away!"

"Or worse!"

"But then three weeks ago, that cranky old man shows up in our village!"

"He does a few waterbending tricks and yammers on and on, and somehow that convinces Mom to send us with him!"

To Aang and Katara's shock, the two sisters turned and ran away, shouting over their shoulders.

"We don't care if you're the Avatar!"

"Or the Avatar's friend! You're not making us do anything we don't wanna do!"

"Well, that didn't go the way I thought it would," Aang said.

"Maybe they're just not ready, Aang," Katara suggested. "This is a big change, and they're so young. Maybe we shouldn't be pushing all this onto them."

A few weeks later, Aang brought the girls to see Sokka and Katara at the Water Tribe's old, unofficial burial grounds. Katara gestured to an unmarked spot. "Sura, Siku, I want you to meet my mom."

"Wait, so she's …?"

"No longer with us," Katara confirms.

"That's so sad! We're so sorry, Katara!"

"So sorry!" her sister echoed.

"My mom was a brave and beautiful woman. Just like your mom, she wanted to keep her children safe. You see, when I was little, the Fire Nation invaded our village. I still remember it … they really were like monsters. They came to wipe Southern-style waterbending off the face of the Earth, and I was the South Pole's last waterbender. My mom sacrificed herself to keep me alive. And not just me. She died to make sure our way of bending has a chance to survive into the future. Sura and Siku, I think that's why your mom sent you here. She wants you to be a part of this tradition that my mom helped save."

The two sisters looked at each other, and seemed to be thinking along the same lines.

"Well, if that's the case …"

"… then let's show her what we can do!"

They finally began to waterbend, lifting up water independently and with each other's help. Aang, Katara, and even Sokka watched in pride and admiration.

"That's sweet," Korra admits.

"There's one more thing you need to see," Aang says. "I tried to show you this day before, but all you remembered was a name."

Korra remembers how her search began, with a name from a dream. "Yakone? Is this about him?"

"Indeed. Watch."

Aang spares her from watching the bulk of the proceedings, skipping to the delivery of the verdict, delivered by a now adult Sokka sitting on the Council as the Water Tribe representative. Korra cringes, knowing what is coming. "Do I have to?"

Aang's answer is as firm as it is grim. "Yes."

Korra watches as the scenes she read about in the newspaper play out, more vividly and in far greater detail than the reporter conveyed. Her physical body feels nauseous when she sees how Yakone bloodbended everyone in the room. He forced Toph Beifong to unlock his handcuffs, then knocked everyone in the room unconscious, except for Aang. Yakone turned around to face the Avatar and made him rise up into the air, relishing the fact that the supposedly most powerful human being was helpless in his hands.

"Yakone," Aang gasped, "you won't get away with this."

The old man laughed. "Republic City's mine, Avatar. I'll be back to reclaim it someday."

He threw Aang against the stairs, and left the building; but then Aang entered the Avatar state, and began chasing him on a giant air scooter. He caught up to Yakone's ostrich-horse-drawn carriage and used airbending to cut the reins, causing the vehicle to fall on its side. As Aang came to a halt, Yakone emerged and immediately bloodbent him again.

"This time I'm gonna put you to sleep for good," Yakone snarled.

Aang gasped as his limbs were twisted; but then his eyes and arrows glowed again, and he entered the Avatar State long enough to earthbend the stone pavement, trapping Yakone.

"I'm taking away your bending, for good." It was the only nonviolent way to keep anyone safe from a bender this powerful. Both men sighed as Aang drew away his hands and stepped back. Aang bowed his head. "It's over."

Korra glances at Aang beside her. "It's not over, is it?"

"No," Aang agrees sadly. He places a hand on Korra's shoulder, but his touch feels less solid now, and the fog starts to rise up around and between them. "I never wanted my problems to carry over to the next generation." He lowers his hand and inclined his head toward Korra. For that, I am truly sorry—to you, your allies, and your enemies."

"But who are my enemies? What does this have to do with anyone I know? Aang? Aang!"

He is gone, faded into the fog. Korra feels alone again—doubly so after feeling so much kinship with her predecessor.

She can imagine Toph or Lin Beifong admonishing her. Get a grip. She wanted a trustworthy account of history, and Aang gave her one. He may not have been objective, but he was truthful.

"Thank you," she says, hoping she will someday mean it.

Music: "Shades of Grey" by Billy Joel