"What do you mean you told it to?" Aang inquired. How could someone tell a spirit what to do? This was not included in his Avatar training. He desperately wanted to contact one of his past lives, but there was no time.

"I guess I should rephrase this in a why your mortal brains will understand. You see, my family and I were never from the Northern Water Tribe. We are actually from a small Fire Nation colony. After the war ended, my family was ripped apart when Fire Nation citizens were ordered to depart. My older brother died while he and my father were forced to retreat."

Zuko interjected Nuka's monologue. "There was a peace treaty signed soon after. Families were reunited."

"My family lost a member. There was no reuniting us," Nuka hissed in anger.

For a brief second, Katara took pity on Nuka. She knew what it was like to lose a family member. At the mere age of fourteen, she also sought revenge on her mother's killer. "You've come here for revenge," she stated in a calm voice. Things were finally starting to make sense.

"Yes. We were devastated and could no longer live in the place we once called home. The memories were too hard. Somewhere along the way, we stumbled upon a village with an alchemist that also resented the war ending. She was a brutal, old woman that promised us a solution, and we had nothing left to lose.

"We wanted revenge on the Avatar and the Firelord. First, we decided that the best course of action was to lure the Avatar somewhere. After listening to many, many rumors, we learned of the Avatar's long, lost love- Katara, Princess of the Southern Water Tribe. So, we came here. I was to convince you to marry me and then torture you until the Avatar arrived."

"Well you didn't do a very good job." Katara said, mocking him. She crossed her arms over her chest. This story was becoming unbelievable, and she hoped to hear the end of it soon.

Nuka shook his head. "No, my efforts were useless. Just like all the rumors said, you were only interested in one person. Oh, it was miserable watching you sulk around the tribe for two long years."

Katara felt her face heat up at his words. All along, she knew that Aang was the only man for her, but she didn't want him to hear it. She had always imagined that she would play hard to get if she ever saw him again. Now, her truth had been revealed. She snuck a quick glace at the side of Aang's face, and she could tell that he had a small grin on his lips.

Nuka fearlessly continued. "So, I had to call on an old friend for help. The alchemist sent a potion with specific instructions. My family and I were to drink it and become immortal, and doing this lead to us being able to contact spirits."

"You're like a spirit whisper?" Sokka joked.

Slightly offended, Nuka narrowed his eyes at the man. "If that's what you want to call it. The alchemist also sent the poison. All we had to do was find an angry spirit and convince it to attack Katara. You were supposed to get wounded, not die."

It was Katara's turn to narrow her eyes. "I'll consider myself lucky."

"How did you know that we would send for the Avatar?" Sokka asked. He and Suki debated involving Aang at all. There was no guarantee.

"I didn't, but it was a chance I was willing to take. We knew that you would ask the 'bridge between the two worlds' for help or your friend, the Firelord. Either way, it progressed our agenda."

Scratching his chin, Sokka told Nuka, "This plan had a lot of flaws."

"Yes, but you are a predictable group. We also predicted that I could stall you while my mother and father activated the poison."

The group gasped and looked to Katara in concern. She scanned her own body in concern. She was still standing and seemed normal. Since she hadn't dropped dead yet, she gave the others a small shrug.

Feeling a final wave of confidence, Katara knew that she had to get Nuka talking if she wanted to live. He was too smug to keep the details hidden forever. The man loved to talk. "If I am truly about to die, can you at least tell us how?"

Nuka raised an eyebrow at her. "You want to know how you're going to die?"

"Humor me."

Nuka chuckled at her ignorance. "Very well. The poison has to be activated in the Spirit World."

Aang interrupted whatever Nuka was going to say next. "You're a long way from the North Pole."

Tilting his head to the right and smiling, Nuka teased, "Did you forget that there is a portal here in the South Pole?"

Without a second though, Katara took off through the large wooden door and ran as fast as she could through the snow. After a few seconds, she could hear the footsteps of the others behind her. They all ran as fast as they could to the stables for Appa.

They had to get to the portal as fast as possible.

Katara's life depended on it.

Mai had stayed behind to make sure Nuka didn't escape. The other's quickly boarded Appa without as much as a jacket. If they flew straight there, they predicted that it would take a few hours to fly to the mountain range. The last time, they had taken breaks and were searching the land.

They didn't have time for breaks now.


The night air was cold as it rushed past them. Sokka and Katara were huddled beside Zuko as he held a medium sized flame in his hand. Not a word was spoken for hours until they could see the mountain range on the horizon.

"We're here," Aang announced in a rapsy voice as he looked back at his friends. Their teeth were chattering, but they were awake and alert.

"Hey Aang," Sokka called out between shivers. "Do you think Appa could fly us into the mountain range this time. My legs are already numb."

With a light smile, Aang replied, "Sure, Sokka. I think Appa can land in the clearing."

And that's what they did.

Appa landed quietly, and they quickly jumped off. Then, Appa took off without a sound.

They were just about to enter the tree line when Katara suddenly stopped.

"Katara? Are you okay?" Aang asked her as he brought his own flame closer to her. It was hard to see her face in the moonlight.

Katara couldn't respond. Her stomach was turning, and she feared that she would vomit. Then, she couldn't hold it back anymore. She ran a few feet away and vomited into the trees.

"Katara!" Sokka yelled after her in worry, but he couldn't follow her. He had to stay beside Zuko or else he would freeze to death.

After a few moments, Katara reemerged and took her place beside Aang while clutching her stomach in pain. Her face was pale in in incredible pain. In the light, they could see that her vomit she had gotten on her dress was not normal. In fact, it was red... like blood.

They knew that they had to keep moving.


It was difficult to make it to the center of the forest because they could not see the roots they were walking over. Sokka fell multiple times, and even Aang stumbled once or twice. When they could finally see the glowing light, they knew that they were almost there.

They stopped just short of the clearing to address the situation. Katara was panting and could hardly walk without Aang holding her up. There was no way they could take her into battle, so they made a small fire and set her down beside it. Her face was pale, and her eyes weren't shinning like they used to. It killed the men to see her look like this.

While Sokka and Zuko were spying on Nuka's parents, Aang took the time to say something encouraging to Katara. "Katara, I need to you fight this."

"I'm trying," she replied in a weak, low voice.

Aang's heart plummeted at the thought of this being the last time he saw her. He could leave nothing left unsaid. "I held that necklace every night for the last three years. I dreamed of seeing you again and giving it to you. I can't wait to marry you, Katara. Please, fight for me... Fight for us."

Shakily, Katara reached out a hand and caressed Aang's cheek. "I'll do everything I can."

He took her hand in his and kissed her knuckles. He didn't want to leave her. He especially didn't want her to be alone while she died, but he was her best chance at stopping the poison from fully killing her. She needed him to go. He leaned in and gave her a passionate, but soft, kiss on the lips before tearing himself away from her.

He swiftly rejoined Sokka and Zuko without looking back. They were watching as Nuka's father used firebending to unthaw the portal. His fire was weak and taking too long. Aang thanked the spirits for that. Nuka's mother had stuck her arm into a small thawed section.

"Only her arm has entered, and she has incapacitated Katara," Sokka stated. "We need to move fast."

"Aang and I will take care of Nuka's father. Sokka, you get his mother away from the portal," Zuko instructed.

When they were all clear on the plan, they broken into the clearing. The sudden commotion startled Nuka's parents. Four black eyes turned in their direction.

His father stopped his firebending and took a fighting stance. He was a short man, and Aang guessed that he probably reached his shoulders. He was not a master firebender, so Zuko and him should have an easy time defeating him.

Nuka's mother was a different story. Despite being interrupted, she did not stop trying to enter the portal. She removed her arm and tried to hastily pull away the ice. This resulted in her hands bleeding, but she was making good progress. By Sokka's judgment, she could probably fit her head inside the hole now.

Aang made the first move. He sent an air blast towards the couple to push them away from the spherical portal. Nuka's mother was blown back and into a tree while Nuka's father only slid back a few feet.

Nuka's father sent a weak stream of fire from his palm towards Aang, but Aang easily deflected it. Then, Aang leapt into the air and did a flip over Nuka's father. While in the air, he managed to dodge a few more streams of fire.

Meanwhile, Sokka hugged the tree line as he raced towards Nuka's mother. Once he got to her, he realized she was unconscious. He ripped off one of his sleeves at the shoulder and tied her hands behind her back. When he was done, he stood and watched the scene in front of him unfold.

Nuka's father had clearly never used to firebending in a battle. This was obvious because he was too distracted with fighting Aang. He didn't even notice Zuko quickly advancing on him. All too easily, Zuko was able to sneak up on the older man and incapacitate him with a move he learned from Ty Lee. He tied his hands together with a piece of rope he had retrieved from Appa's saddle.

Once both of the traitors were taken care of, the men turned their attention to the portal. There was a head-sized hole in the ice, and blood was dripping from it.

"Do you need to go in there to get the poison out of Katara?" Sokka asked Aang while shivering again. His one sleeve was not providing much warmth, and his adrenaline had run out.

Aang shook his head. "No, I can cross into the Spirit World on my own."

"Maybe you can reseal the portal?" Zuko suggested. He also wanted to get out of the forest as soon as possible. It creeped him out. He also knew that a mere rope was not going to stop the firebender from escaping, even if he was a novice.

"Maybe I should open it..." Aang trailed off in thought. The portal in the North Pole was open, and bad things rarely happened there with the spirits. He truly didn't know what would happen if they left it like it was.

"Maybe we can do that another time," Sokka suggested with a slight whine in his voice. He was hopping from foot to foot to keep warm. "Katara needs us right now."

At the mention of Katara, the opening the portal was forgotten. With a wave of his hand, Aang grew ice to cover the hole. Then, he went to find Katara.