Hakoda, Pakku, Sokka, Suki, and others sat in the waiting room of the healer's hut for hours while Miki worked on her. A small fire kept them warm while horrible thoughts flooded their minds. The men played the horrific scene over and over again in their minds.

Suki, on the other hand, didn't witness the accident firsthand. She had only seen the aftermath. Spared from the horror and because of her pregnancy, she had fallen asleep on Sokka's shoulder early into the night. He carefully carried her back to the hut they share and returned quickly. After that, he didn't move for hours. No one did.

Dawn was breaking when Miki emerged from one of the healing rooms. Her hair was a mess, and her blue robes were stained with blood… Katara's blood. "Please," she started with her voice full of urgency. "Come inside."

Sokka, Hakoda, and Pakku stood quickly, against their muscle's protests. After quickly shaking out their limbs, the trio walked into the room Katara was in. She laid there completely motionless in light blue gown. A blanket covered her to keep her warm. There was a collective sigh of relief when the men realized she was still alive.

Miki gave them a small smile before she gave them her report. "Katara's going to make it. The wounds barely missed her vital organs. We were able to repair most of the damage done on the inside of her body with Spirit Water from the North Pole. Without it, she wouldn't have made it since she was in really bad shape when she arrived here. Her wounds are bandaged right now to keep out infection, and she is going to require a lot of healing sessions before we can close the skin on the exterior of her body. Her body has gone through a lot of stress with these injuries, and I suspect that she will be unconscious for many days."

Sokka, Hakoda, and Pakku were relieved and hopeful. Katara was going to be alright. She would rest for a few days and be back before they knew it. After spending a few minutes with her, the three men decided that they didn't want Katara to be left alone in case she did wake up, so they would stay with her in shifts.

Hakoda would take the first shift because there was no way he was going to be able to sleep after his daughter nearly died. Now that he knew Katara was okay, he could get his shoulder looked at. Pakku left to give the tribe an update on Katara's condition. She was well liked and respected among the warriors and waterbenders. She was also the tribe's princess, and they would surely be concerned. Sokka begrudgingly left and returned to his hut to update Suki. She was going to kill him when she woke up, but Sokka was too concerned about Katara to care.

There was also the subject of what just happened on his mind. As the future Chief of the Southern Water Tribe, Sokka was going to have to step up during this awful time. His father was preoccupied until further notice, and Sokka couldn't risk letting that spirit attack the tribe again. Others could be hurt or killed. Unlike the North Pole, they didn't have an unlimited supply of Spirit Water. They only had a small supply that was a gift from their sister tribe.

After waking Suki up, Sokka took his scolding with a grain of salt. In fact, he could hardly hear what Suki was yelling at him about. He had too much on his mind. Once Suki calmed down, she saw the worry on his face.

"What do I do?" He asked her quietly.

Suki's heart broke for her husband. She honestly didn't know. "You did everything you could do, Sokka. Katara will wake up when she's ready."

"I know, and I know that she could be asleep for a very, very long time. When Katara used Spirit Water on Aang after he died, he slept for three weeks. Three weeks! I think I'll go crazy if she's asleep for longer than one week! Not to mention dad will also go crazy," Sokka finished his rant with a sad sigh and placed his face in his hands.

Suki placed a hand on his back to comfort him. "It will all be okay," she cooed.

"What do I do about the tribe? I'm basically in charge now."

Suki pondered this for a moment as her leadership skills kicked in. "Well, Pakku is addressing the tribe right now, so I think the next step would be to gather the Council and fill them in. Also, you're going to need to assemble a team to hunt this spirit down… and no one has more experience with spirits than-"

Sokka eagerly cut her off. "The gang! I need to write letters to everyone and ask them to come here and help us!"

Suki glared at him. Sarcastically, she replied, "I was going to say Aang."

Sokka's stomach dropped at the mention of the young Avatar, and all of the enthusiasm left his body. While the two of them had reconciled a few years ago at a diplomatic event, Sokka was still angry at Aang for hurting his sister. Neither Sokka, Suki, or any of their friends knew exactly what went down between the two, but they knew it was bad. Besides, Katara would surely kill him if she knew that he invited Aang to the South Pole.

"What about Aang?" Sokka asked with a slight hint of anger in his voice. He was going to regret asking that question.

Suki rolled her eyes at his naiveness. "Well, he is the Avatar. You know, the bridge between the Physical and Spirit Worlds."

Suki was right. As much as he hated her conclusion, she was right.

"You're right," he sighed. He could come up with dozens of reasons to not involve Aang, but he could think of double the reasons to reach out to him. For the safety of his tribe, he was going to have to reach out to the Avatar. For all they knew, he might be too busy to come. He was always too busy to come.

"Always am," Suki chirped happily. "But you should reach out to the others too. I'm not going to much help physically," Suki told him as he patted her round stomach.

"Hey, that's alright. You stay safe and grow my baby," he kissed her forehead while she giggled uncontrollably at her weird husband.

With help from Sokka, Suki stood and began to get ready. "I'm going to go visit Katara. You should call a meeting with the Council… well, the Council without Katara and your father." Once again, Suki was right. The Kyoshi Warrior leader in her had awoken and was giving orders.

So, Sokka did just that.

The emergency Council meeting would take place in one hour in the palace boardroom. This gave Sokka time to write three very important letters and send them off.


The Council meeting was surprisingly short. At this time, there wasn't a lot of information available on the evil spirit, so there wasn't a lot to discuss. Sokka informed everyone that he had sent for the heroes of the Hundred Year War to defeat this spirit. The only objection came from Nuka.

When he heard the news, he scoffed loudly. "It'll take them days to get here. What if the spirit comes back before then?"

"Well, I watched Katara hit him between the eyes. For now, that's its only known weakness. Until the others get here, we will only defend the tribe. We can't engage with it or make it mad."

Nuka wasn't happy with this answer. "No, I think we should be hunting it down now before anyone else gets hurt."

There was a small mummer among the councilmembers, but no one rallied with Nuka. It was Bato that spoke up. "Nuka, have you ever encountered a spirit?" His voice was full of wisdom, undoubtedly learned during his time as a soldier.

Nuka glared at the older man. "I saw Avatar Aang defeat an entire navy fleet with a spirit help in the north."

"Then you understand how much power spirits possess. It is unlike a human or an animal in many ways. I believe that it would be wise to wait for those who are experienced with spirits."

The room flooded with agreement. "Then it's settled," Bato announced with a smug smile.

Sokka silently thanked the older man, and he was elated that the council agreed with him.

Nuka was still not impressed. "I am one of the best fighters here in the South Pole. I volunteer to help these 'experienced' spirit hunters."

Sokka glared at Nuka. What was his problem? Instead of saying what was really on his mind, Sokka politely replied, "Thank you for volunteering, Nuka. I will take it into consideration and discuss it with them once they arrive."

His statement made steam practically come out of Nuka's ears. For the first time since Sokka met the man, he got an uneasy feeling. It was more than his usual cockiness. Was this what Katara felt too? He quickly made a mental note to ask Katara once she felt better.

The meeting was adjourned without any more complaints.

The next few days were normal as there were no more sightings of the spirit. Although, they knew it was still lurking somewhere because the wild game was moving further and further away.

A letter from Zuko arrived one day after the attack. He and Mai were on their way, and they had left Iroh in charge of the Fire Nation while they were gone.

The same day, a letter from Toph arrived. She decided to stay away from the snow and ice because of her inability to see. She didn't think she would be very useful since there was no earth around. She did want to be updated frequently, especially when Katara woke up. She said she would be willing to come visit.

Katara slept peacefully in the healer's hut. With each healing session, she was growing a little bit stronger. Miki and the other healers were doing the best they could and were healing her almost three times day.

On the fourth day after the attack, Zuko and Mai arrived on a grand navy ship late at night. They were shown their typical room in the palace to rest. The next morning, they could visit Katara and be debriefed on about the spirit. Tired from their trip, Zuko and Mai agreed to this plan and went to bed immediately.

There was no response from Aang.


The next morning, Sokka and Suki met with Zuko and Mai in the palace. They shared breakfast together and caught up on new developments in their personal lives and in the world. Sokka had retired from being the Southern Water Tribe Representative almost four years ago, but he missed it every day.

Suki also missed being able to travel and fight with the Kyoshi Warriors, but she had trained the best of the best and decided it was time to settle down. She had accepted her snow filled days a long time ago, but she was fortunate to be able to visit Kyoshi Island often.

Zuko was thriving as the Firelord. It took a while, but the Fire Nation was no longer a negative connotation to the ret of the world. Their image was slowly being repaired, and the damage was slowly being corrected. Mai was still sharp with her knife skills and wittiness. She was content being the Firelady, but she was hardly ever bored. Zuko involved her in politics and the well being of their nation.

A year before Sokka and Suki got married, Zuko and Mai had also taken each other's hand in marriage. Despite being twenty-three years old, Zuko and Mai had no intentions of starting a family quite yet. There were still rebels in the Fire Nation that supported Ozai, and they feared a child would be an easy target. Once they felt like they could live in peace, both wanted to start a family.

After breakfast, they headed over to the healer's hut. Pakku walked a tired Suki home and left the other three to visit.

Once they went inside the room, they immediately spotted their friend lying lifelessly on the table. If it hadn't been for her tan skin, they would have thought she was dead.

Zuko sighed loudly. It hurt to see her like this. Despite their rough start, Zuko and Katara grew to be close friends. They felt each other's pain and understood the hardships the other had faced.

Sokka heard his friend's reaction. He had the same one every time he visited his sister. "I know. It never gets easier seeing her lie there."

"Then it's a good thing I'm awake," the body in front of them croaked.