Chapter 16: Convergence

"I want you to promise you aren't going to push me," Sen said.

Whistler backed a few steps away. Sen was holding her staff, and the two of them were standing on the edge of a rather large cliff. It was fairly reasonable for Sen not to trust her. He nodded approvingly as she backed away.

"And no airbending pushes either," He said. "I'll know."

Whistler raised her shaking hands in surrender and held them behind her back. Sen nodded, satisfied, and turned his attention to the cliff. He flipped a switch, and the glider unfolded. This was not going to be fun. He hated flying in general.

Whistler had insisted that he was ready to use the glider, but Sen was not fully convinced. It took him a few false starts to finally muster the courage to run over the cliff's edge. He assured himself that he knew enough about bending to stop himself safely if he should fall, nodded to himself, and then took the plunge.

For a while, the forward momentum of his dive carried him aloft, but he quickly began to veer downwards as gravity overcame momentum. After a brief moment of panic, Sen picked out a favorable air current and guided it around himself, raising his glider from the steep dive.

"That's right," Whistler shouted after him. "Try a turn."

Sen drifted forward for a while until he picked out a cross-breeze. Pitching to the side, Sen caught the wind and veered sharp to the left. It turned him a little farther than he wanted, but he was mostly on the right track.

"Okay, good! Now come back to me," Whistler instructed.

"I'm too low," Sen shouted back. His early dive had taken him several feet below the cliff's edge. "Can't I meet you on the ground?"

"No, it's fine," Whistler said. "Just take a dive, then use that momentum to swing upwards real fast."

Sen took a deep breath. He was not looking forward to taking an intentional plummet. He steeled his nerves and plunged into a steep dive. Barreling headfirst towards the ground was exactly as terrifying as he had expected it to be. He was quite happy to end the dive and begin an upward climb, using a surge of airbending to give himself an upward push. He overshot the cliff by a fair distance, and was forced into a sudden and awkward descent. A little air kept him from crashing too spectacularly, but it was still not a very good landing. Whistler came over to congratulate him.

"Alright, alright, you need a lot of work, but that was good."

"A lot? That was my first time! I did spectacular," Sen objected. He was mostly looking for a reason not to have to practice more. Whistler insisted that gliding was an important part of airbending, but Sen wanted to stay on the ground as much as possible.

"Don't get ahead of yourself." Whistler took her staff back and tapped Sen lightly on the head with it. "You over-steered, and you land like a brick."

"I'm an earthbender, I am a brick," Sen objected.

"Don't I know it," Whistler sighed.

Sen's airbending had improved dramatically in the past few days. He still had some difficulty with the amount of patience and reactivity that airbending required, but he was well on his way to mastering the art. Watching him progress had actually improved Whistler's mood as well. There was still a troubling darkness gnawing at the back of her mind, but it was hidden further away now. Sen considered that progress.

Hanjo was trying to applaud, but his hands didn't make any noise when they met. Stupid spirit form, he thought to himself, and then settled for some lazy cheering.

"Alright, fantastic," Hanjo said. He turned to Ada and Suda. "When are you guys going to take your turn?"

"See, you joke about that, but Ada weighs almost nothing," Suda said. "She could probably go pretty far."

"I have done enough plummeting for one lifetime," Ada said. She had taken a fall once in the Spirit Metal canyon, and she had no desire to do it again.

"You know, if more of you could fly, this would probably go a lot faster," Hanjo suggested. "Maybe you should've gotten yourself a sky bison before you ditched the airbenders."

Whistler's face took on a strangely sour look. Sen gave Hanjo a look that said he had messed up, and they all proceeded forward. There was not much time left before they exited the Spirit World. According to Hanjo, they were only about a day's journey away. Suda generally led the way, being the most eager of them all to leave the Spirit World. Hanjo and Sen usually took the rear, walking side by side. They knew that once Sen left the Spirit World, they would be separated once again. They were making the most of the time they had.

Even though he wanted nothing more than to keep talking to Hanjo, life had a way of making that difficult. The ground beneath his feet rumbled slightly, and then Gun clawed his way forth from the dirt. That was odd. Gun rarely left the ground unless he was called. The massive badgermole wandered over to Sen and expressed no small amount of distress.

"What's the furballs problem," Whistler grunted. Sen placed his hands on Gun's broad forehead and communed with him briefly.

"He can't tunnel," Sen said aloud. "There's something blocking his way."

"That's never happened before," Ada said. Gun had always followed them from below, even when they'd been driving a satomobile. He'd even tunneled through a mountain. Occasionally his path had been blocked temporarily, but he'd never been forced to stop tunneling completely.

"I guess he'll walk with us for now," Sen said. He rubbed Gun's snout and carried on his way. He looked around, and found Hanjo suspiciously absent.

"Did Hanjo disappear again?"

"I guess he did," Suda said. "He does that sometimes, right?"

Whistler scowled. She had a strange feeling in the pit of her gut. They were once again distracted, though, by a new arrival.

"You lose your friend?"

The sound of a strange voice made them all jump. Nearly everyone they'd met in the past few months had tried to kill them, so it was justifiable paranoia. They calmed quickly when they saw the strangers uniform. He was wearing a Northern Water Tribe security uniform, complete with the insignia of the Chieftain on the chest. Other than a glove on his left hand, he was as proper a security guard as you could hope for.

The sight of him was actually a welcome relief. If people were wearing Northern Tribe uniforms now, they were probably closer to the portals than they thought.

"Uh, no, we're fine actually," Sen said. "My, uhh, pet here, is just having a little trouble."

"Yeah, makes sense," The guard said. "This whole area is a motherload of Spirit Metal. Your 'mole probably can't tunnel through it."

Sen frowned. Spirit Metal. Every time they'd come across Spirit Metal, they'd found Seventh Kingdom, and after that, General Rahm.

"My names Soku," The guard said. "Can I help you folks?"

"Yeah, if you could just point us towards the Spirit Portals, that'd be fantastic," Suda said. "The sooner we leave the better."

"No problem," Soku said happily. He gestured to the north with his left hand. Sen's right hand twitched. "You can follow me right this way."

"It's alright, we can find our own way," Sen said. He had a bad feeling about this stranger. "We don't need to bother you."

"Well, I have to go that way anyway," Soku joked. "So unless you walk much slower or faster than me, we're walking together."

Sen hardly liked it, but it would be easier just to play along. Despite Sen's gut instinct, nothing about Soku seemed directly threatening. He had no intention of hurting them at the moment, at least.

"What're you doing all this way out here anyway," Ada asked.

"I work for the Northern Water Tribe," Soku explained. "We watch the road near that Spirit Metal quarry. The North wants to keep an eye on it, in case they ever find out how to use it."

Many groups had tried and failed to work with the nigh-indestructible Spirit Metal, but only one person had ever succeeded.

"Doesn't that get boring?"

"Oh yeah," Soku said. "Mostly we play cards."

Soku gestured to the right. A small cluster of shacks stood alone amidst the Spirit World. Ada found them vaguely familiar in an unsettling way.

"So are we very close to the portals or what," Suda asked impatiently. "We've been here way too long."

"It's about a days walk down the road," Soku told them. Suda breathed a sigh of relief.

"We've put up with way too much garbage," He said. "I'll be glad to put all this garbage with spirits and fog and Rahm behind us."

The shaking of the metal shack made it harder for Sen to read heartbeats, but there was no mistaking it. Soku's heart stopped for a moment. The Northern guide bit his lip.

"Rahm" He asked nervously.

"Yeah, that's a long story," Suda said. He probably shouldn't have mentioned that.

Soku's hands flexed anxiously. Sen looked at the glove on his left hand. Some of his fingers weren't moving quite the same as the others. They were unreactive, almost like they were fake.

Sen's right hand twitched, and the bracelet on his wrist shifted slightly.

In a rapid flurry of moment, Sen lunged forward, grabbed Soku by the arm, and pulled off the glove that covered his hand. Sure enough, his fingers were false. The pink and ring finger on his left hand had been completely removed, and his entire hand was covered in a red scar. Sen pulled up the sleeve covering his forearm. The scar extended nearly all the way up to the elbow.

"Excuse you," Soku shouted. He tried to cover his exposed hand. "What's gotten into you?"

"You're Lokus," Sen said. Miyani had described her prisonkeeper in great detail, including the accident that had scarred his left hand and cost him two fingers. It was one of the few details that she remembered about her captivity in the Seventh Kingdom.

Lokus gave a half-hearted chuckle, and shook his head dismissively. He seemed to find the notion that he was Lokus amusing. Sen didn't. Lokus saw the look of intensity on Sen's face, then tried to run. Suda didn't let him get more than a few steps. A metal cord wrapped around his waist brought the last General of the Seventh Kingdom to a dead halt. Suda dragged him back to face their judgment. Whistler took a few steps back. Her last encounter with the Seventh Kingdom had ended poorly. She didn't want to be reminded of what she had nearly done.

"What are you doing here," Sen asked.

"I don't have to answer to you," Lokus spat.

"Oh, right, you only answer to physical strength."

Sen clenched his fist, but hesitated slightly. He looked to Whistler for a moment.

"Eh, remind me, what's that one insult you're always repeating?"

"Get slagged?"

"Yes, that's the one."

Sen grabbed Lokus by the collar with one hand and punched him in the face with the other.

"Get slagged," He spat.

Sen was not the strongest individual, so it didn't hurt that badly, but the point had been made. Whistler was legitimately surprised that Sen had that kind of anger in him. She'd never taken him as the kind of person to engage in petty vengeances like a punch to the face.

"I'm just hiding, alright," Lokus said, his voice laden with obvious panic. "I'm not hurting anything, I'm just trying to stay alive. I even have a job!"

"Don't lie to me," Sen said. "We know you've been running the Seventh Kingdom for years."

Lokus sighed. It had been worth a shot.

"Fine," He said calmly. He shed his panicked demeanor and gained a sudden aura of cold intensity. "I've been organizing the Seventh Kingdom, yes. I use my post here to keep an eye on traffic in and out of the Spirit World, to make sure my people stay safe. Speaking of."

The door of the metal shack opened, and two other men emerged. They posed threateningly. Sen was unimpressed.

"Now you can answer a few of my questions," Lokus said, as if having two mediocre soldiers at his back suddenly put him in charge. "How do you know about us?"

"We've visited a few of your outposts," Sen said. "Just a little bit before Rahm got to them."

"Rahm is dead," One of Lokus' troopers said. "You're lying."

"Of course, because Lokus killed him," Sen said. "Why don't you tell them more about it, Lokus?"

Lokus started to sweat visibly. He glanced nervously between his own soldiers and Sen. Eventually, his proud shoulders dropped with shame.

"We needed a strong leader," He shouted, trying desperately to justify himself. "We'd lost our territory, our champions! We needed something to believe in! If I'd known Rahm would follow us all this time, I never would have-"

"You lied to us," One of the troopers said.

"I did what was best for our people," Lokus shouted back.

"I suppose that's how you justified torture too," Sen said.

"Oh don't patronize me, boy," Loksu snapped back. "You tortured me for information not a minute ago."

"Torture? I only punched you-" Sen stopped himself. Trying to justify his actions was pointless. Lokus deserved a good punch to the face, and everyone knew it. They weren't here to discuss Sen's flaws anyway.

"It doesn't matter," Sen continued. "I want you to know something. There is a girl out there, that you did terrible things to."

Lokus had personally overseen Miyani's "care" when she had been a prisoner of the Seventh Kingdom. Every scar she had was his fault. Lokus knew exactly what girl Sen was talking about. The combustion bender girl should have been his greatest achievement, a weapon to match Gohrman's power.

"All those things you did, all the ways you hurt her," Sen said. "They don't matter."

That had not been what Lokus had expected to hear. Sen stepped away.

"You tried to break her, but she didn't break," Sen said. "The things you did to her don't matter anymore. Not to her, and not to me."

Sen turned his back on Lokus and his solders. Whistler was surprised to see it. Sen had spoken before about how angry he was, how he wanted to do something, anything, to the people who had hurt his friend, but now he was leaving, with nothing between him and Lokus but a single punch and a few cruel words.

"If I were you, I would run," Sen advised. "Rahm will be coming for you, sooner or later."

And there was that, too. The constant thought of the black-armored madman who would pursue Lokus to the ends of the earth –and past that, even. Sen had little need to take anything into his own hands when Rahm was around.

Sen led them all away from the last remnants of the Seventh Kingdom. They were nearly at the Spirit Portals now, too close to get distracted by petty conflicts. Lokus and his soldiers watched the strangers flee. The leader of the fallen Kingdom contemplated his course in silence. All was quiet for a moment. The only noise was a barely audible thunder from the horizon.

Despite the fact that he walked away, there was still anger visible in the way that Sen walked, and the look on his face. Ada stepped to his side. She knew anger better than most.

"I'm surprised you're walking away," She said. She had been expecting a fight. Lokus and his minions were of the Seventh Kingdom, after all. Sen was the hero, and they were the villains. They were practically born to fight.

"We only hurt people when we have to," Sen said. "That's why we're the good guys."

Whistler twitched visibly. Sen glanced at her for a moment. She had been reacting like that to many situations, lately. Simple statements and actions seemed to strike a chord in her. Sen felt like he was gradually approaching an answer to the mysterious problem that plagued her, but he was not quite there yet.

"I mean, I wouldn't have been opposed to slapping them around some more," Suda said. "I'm sure Whistler would be in, right Whistler?"

"Shut up!"

Whistler snapped quite suddenly and rushed forward, towards the summit of the hill in front of them. She paused atop the ridge and froze staring at the terrain on the other side. Sen hurried after her.

"Whistler!"

He meant to ask her what was wrong. He lost that train of thought the moment he reached the peak of the hill, and saw what was before them.

"Oh you've got to be kidding me."

Spread out before them, as far as the eye could see, was a massive ocean of fog. Every nook and cranny was filled with the cold mist. Sen took a few steps back from the peak of the hill. There was just a few feet between him and the icy grip of the Fogbender. Ada and Suda reached the summit as well. Ada's jaw dropped.

"How is this even possible," She said aloud. "We left it behind at Aquila's village. How did it get ahead of us? How is it waiting for us?"

Sen clenched his teeth. That was the question of the day. The Fogbender had crossed their path like this one too many times for it to be a coincidence. Somehow, some way, it was always waiting for them.

They lingered briefly by the hill, contemplating their next course of action. Sen looked for a way around the ocean of fog. The Fogbender hadn't noticed them yet, so it seemed, so they had a little time to plan their next step. Sen knew that he was smart enough to figure a way around this. He just needed enough time and the right information about the situation.

The fog shifted slightly, and they retreated a few steps. As they took cover, Hanjo reappeared.

"Good timing," Sen said. Whistler's hands started to shake.

"You guys look like you're in your usual mess," Hanjo said. "Need some help?"

"If you don't mind," Sen said. Hanjo was filled in on the situation, and he quickly vanished in search of a workaround. Sen waited patiently while his best friend returned. Whistler watched her hands carefully. The famous sixth sense that had kept her out of trouble for so many years had been on the fritz for the past few weeks, but now it seemed to be working clearly again. But it hadn't clued her into the Seventh Kingdom, or to the Fogbender. Only one person had set it off.

Hanjo reappeared, and her hands started to shake again.

"Alright, I found just what you're looking for," Hanjo boasted. "Let me lead-"

"No," Whistler declared.

Hanjo looked wounded. Sen glanced back and forth between the two of them for a moment. Whistler stood up, wobbling slightly as she did so, and pointed accusingly at Hanjo.

"Every time you lead us somewhere, troubles waiting for us. It happened at the Undying Bloom, it happened the first time we met the Fogbender, it happened at Aquila's village, and it happened again today. We follow your directions, and we end up running right into trouble."

The air itself froze in that moment of tension. Hanjo was stunned by the audacity of her accusations. Gun shuffled backwards, away from the group, pressing his ears against his head. He was keenly aware that a fight was happening, and he didn't like it.

"What is wrong with you," Hanjo shot back. He was legitimately enraged now. "Sen is my best friend, and you think I'd try to get him killed?"

Sen took a few steps back. Whistler and Hanjo faced off, baring their teeth in angry scowls. Neither of the two blinked.

"Everything comes back to you," Whistler said, taking firm hold of her staff. The anger was helping to clear a head that had been clouded for weeks. "Every time we've crossed paths with the Fogbender, it's been because of your directions."

"You want to put this on me? I nearly died trying to help Sen, you idiot."

"But you got captured instead. I don't know why, or how, but the Energybender is using you," Whistler said accusingly. "Maybe you're not doing this on purpose, but you're definitely involved."

"You're just lucky I can't touch you," Hanjo growled. "Or I'd beat you senseless for talking to me like that. Sen is my best friend. I would never do anything to hurt him."

Whistler snorted derisively and made an about face. She started walking away from the group.

"Whatever. You can all follow the fruitcake into your graves. I'm done."

Whistler headed on her own direction. She had always intended on parting ways one day, she might as well make it now. She knew from the airbenders that she was never meant to be one of the good guys.

"Whistler."

She came to a halt. She had been worried that Sen would try to convince her to come back. What really worried her, though, was that she might listen.

"I'm not-"

"You're right," Sen said. The look on Hanjo's face shifted to one of absolute betrayal. Whistler slowly turned around.

"I'm sorry, Hanjo," Sen mumbled. His expression was one of profound guilt. "Sarin is…using you. To bait me."

Hanjo shook his head in disbelief. Ada and Suda found it hard to believe as well, but they didn't know everything that Sen knew.

It had to be the Hssk. The Mind-Eater was playing a part in Sarin's game, twisting Hanjo's mind somehow. It was the perfect crime, after all. All the Hssk had to do was devour the right memories, and Hanjo would betray Sen without even knowing he was doing it. That was what made it all the more painful. Hanjo had no idea he was even being used. There was no way that Sen could explain what was happening thanks to the Hssk's memory-erasing nature, so Sen was forced to simply watch as his best friend, still looking betrayed, vanished completely. Hanjo was gone again.

There was a moment of silence on the ridge. Sen stared at the empty space where his friend had once been with a forlorn look on his face. Gun sidled up to Sen's side and pressed his furry forehead against his masters arm, trying to comfort him.

Whistler's hands wrung a tight grip on her staff. She still stood on the outskirts of Sen's group. There was still time for her to leave, if she wanted. She wasn't sure she did.

A long time ago, she had abandoned Air Temple Island, because she had felt she could never belong. She was selfish, rude, and aggressive, something no other Airbender was. The Airbenders had tried to make her a part of their group at the expense of her individuality and freedom, and she had refused it violently. She had thought that because she could never a part of that group, she could never be a part of any "good" group. She wasn't cut out to be a good person, she thought, so she had become the worst kind of person.

Whistler bowed her head, to hide the sudden look of shame on her face. She realized her mistake now. She had been controlling herself just as much as the Airbenders had ever wanted to control her. She'd been forcing herself to play the role of the villain, even when she didn't want to. Even when fighting Chanchai. Whistler sighed and lifted her head.

"Time to move," Whistler shouted. She walked up to the Avatar and tapped him on the back with her staff.

"We're still caught between a rock and a hard place here," Whistler said. She was eager to get a move on. She had a lot of lost time to make up for. "We got the Fogbender in front of us, and the Seventh Kingdom behind us. What's the plan, Sen?"

Sen shook his head. Whistler was right. They still had a mission that needed to be completed. He could apologize to Hanjo some other time. Right now, their focus had to be getting out of the Spirit World. He thought about what she'd said, and, for a moment, he smiled. Whistler didn't see a reason why he'd be smiling, but then, she hadn't realized her own slip up. For the first time since they'd met, Whistler had actually called Sen by his real name.

"Give me a moment to think," Sen said. He knew he could find a way. As many times as Hanjo had gotten them into trouble, Sen had gotten them out of it. He could think of a plan. Tunneling was out of the question, with all the metal beneath them. The fogbank stretch out to either side of the horizon, so walking around was impractical as well. Sen figured the first step would be to work backwards a distance, to give themselves more room to maneuver.

"Uh, Sen, we may not have a moment," Suda observed.

The forces of the Seventh Kingdom had not taken kindly to Sen punching their leader in the face. Though they had been scattered across the area at Sen's arrival, they had amassed rather quickly. Sen looked over the approaching forces.

"Looks like not even a hundred of them," Sen said.

"Not even? There's no combustion bender here, we've-"

Sen held up his hands for silence. Suda promptly shut up. Sen had a smile on his face.

"Wait a moment," He ordered. "Let them catch up. Then we're going into the fog."

The forces of the Seventh Kingdom would follow them into the fog, unaware of the Fogbender's presence, and give them cover. With a hundred extra bodies in the mix, it would become difficult if not impossible for the fogbender to track them. Hopefully the distraction would last long enough for Sen and company to make it through the fog unharmed.

The Seventh Kingdom army was close enough now that Sen could see Lokus' face clearly, leading the head of the charge. Sen smiled and waved.

"Now!"

With a sudden turn, Sen and the rest plunged into the fog-filled valley, vanishing into the layer of mist. The cold air clung to their skin, chilling them to the bone as the mist enfolded them. Soon the Seventh Kingdom charged in after them, bringing with them noise and motion and confusion. The chilling fog shifted slightly at the disturbance.

Sen led a blind charge forward. He had no idea where he was going, but he knew that so long as he was going somewhere, he would escape the fog eventually. His allies packed in close around him, always staying near enough that they could see him through the mist. The tight-knit group of four, with Gun charging closely behind, made a mad dash across the barren terrain of the Spirit World.

From behind, an unfamiliar voice screamed, and then was silent. It seemed that the Fogbender had found their distraction. Confusion filled the air behind them as the mysterious Fogbender worked its way through the noisy Seventh Kingdom.

Sen bit his lip. He was tempted to say he was glad this was working, but so long as the fog encircled them, the plan had not gone off without a hitch. He could brag when they had escaped entirely.

Their pace slowed gradually, as fatigue set in. The expanse of the fog was wide and spacious; it would not be easy to run the distance. Sen allowed himself to slow. It didn't matter how fast they were moving, so long as they did not stop. All they had to do was keep going, and they would reach safety eventually.

It distressed him, then, that Gun suddenly came to an abrupt halt. Sen grinded to a halt himself, wondering what had become of his badgermole.

Sen tapped his heels against the ground firmly, his method of shouting at Gun. The badgermole responded with his own series of impacts. A warning. Sen focused on the ground, trying to see what his badgermole saw. It couldn't be the Fogbender; the ice he layered in the soil would block Gun's seismic sense. There was something else approaching.

"Oh, slag," Sen said aloud.

"Actually, that's not how you use it, it's more of a verb," Whistler corrected.

Whistler's attempted pontification on the usage of made-up swear words was interrupted by a sudden shockwave through the ground. Only one thing could make an impact like that.

Far behind, lost in the fog, Lokus shot gouts of flame into the cold mist. Something in the fog was preying on them, costing him his men. What remained of his forces stayed in a close circle around him, never losing themselves in the fog. Though the lies of Rahm had called his leadership into question, he was still the de facto commander here, and they needed some kind of coordination.

Any semblance of organization came to a brutal end as a massive black lump of metal hurtled downwards from the sky, raining down on the men to Lokus' left and crushing them beneath. Lokus backed away from the impact in fear. The black ingot was unmistakable; it was the very Spirit Metal they had been seeking to mine all these years. He had no idea how anyone could have moved it, though.

Another black stone rained down, and the Seventh Kingdom scattered. The area was consumed in a crushing hail of Spirit Metal. Lokus was knocked to the ground by an all too close impact. He scrambled backwards and came to a sudden halt as he backed into another wall of black metal. He rested against it for a moment. What were the odds of two stones landing in the same place, he thought.

Then the wall of black metal stepped forward.

Lokus turned around just in time to watch an ironclad fist swing through the air and slam into his torso. He couldn't even hope to count how many bones were broken by that single impact. He was thrown to the ground, wheezing and gasping for breath.

Rahm stepped forward, drawing his blade. The hail of Spirit Metal had done its part to cull the Seventh Kingdom, but this war had begun with his blade, and that was how it would end. Lokus could see him, just barely, like a living shadow in the mist. For Lokus, he was nothing less than the shadow of death itself.

The air was cold, but there was nothing more chilling than the quiet sound of metal cutting through the air as Rahm's goliath blade slowly found its course. The sword larger than some men came to a halt just above Lokus' neck.

"Please," The Seventh Kingdom torturer begged. "The war is over-"

"No."

Rahm's blade made a dull thud as it reached the ground below Lokus' neck.

"Now it's over."

Rahm replaced his blade. A disappointment to the end. None of the Seventh Kingdom had even come close to matching his might, but it had been his sworn duty to eradicate them and eradicated they were. Rahm was a beast of unstoppable purpose. Not all were so dedicated, however. Rahm turned his thoughts to those who had not followed through on his glorious crusade. There were many traitors in the world who had abandoned Rahm's army before the end of the war.

Rahm returned his blade to its resting place and set out for the material plane. The traitors would have to be dealt with, after all.

Nearer to the Spirit Portals, Sen and his allies were still charging towards safety. Sen knew that with Rahm battling the Seventh Kingdom forces, their distraction would not last much longer. They were running out of time.

Sen and Whistler felt the same shift in the air. They turned to Ada at once.

"Above you," they cried out together.

Ada stopped suddenly and ducked low, letting the tendril of water flail overhead. Suda used a metal cord to slice the watery tentacle in half, but it accomplished very little. The water dissipated back into the fog, ready to reform for another attack.

The two airbenders worked side by side to push the fog back, but that only made the Fogbender redouble his efforts. It was fully aware that they were close to the portals now; it would not get a second chance. The chilling cloud of mist was more aggressive than it had ever been before, and Whistler and Sen were strained to hold the fog back. Sen's airbending was still unrefined; he was not cut out for this kind of effort.

With his airbending not up to the task, Sen switched focus to his more developed skills. He slammed a foot down, sending a discernible ripple through the earth. The Fogbender, as usual, had placed a layer of ice in the soil to block Sen's seismic sense, but Sen's shockwave shattered that layer and enabled him to see again. It was still very difficult to read, but Sen could get a general sense of where the Fogbender was. He looked to the right. He could feel a faint heartbeat from that direction.

It was too far for the Fogbender to be able to see them directly. As a waterbender, it wasn't possible for it to use any kind of seismic sense, so there had to be some other kind of workaround for its visibility issues.

Sen watched another coiled limb of water strike out, hunting down Sen and his friends. He had an idea. The Fogbender used the airborne fog just like Sen could use the earth. It could see empty spaces and feel motion in the fog. Sen could use that, somehow. He just had to buy himself time to think.

He called out the position of the Fogbender, giving his allies a concrete target to aim at. Bolts of air and earth launched into the fog, to little effect. Whenever they struck, the fog solidified into a wall of water that brought their attacks to a dead stop.

Highly unsatisfied with this situation, Ada began to dig around in her pack. Her swords were not much use against an enemy made of mist, but perhaps there was a tool to be had that would let her join the fight. Ada's hands closed around one specific object, and she smiled broadly.

"Sen, you usually have a plan," Whistler said. "You come up with anything yet?"

"I'm working on something," Sen declared. "Just let me-"

Sen's plan was interrupted by the arrival of Ada. She was eagerly clutching a small orb of metal. She held it out to Sen.

"Very Dangerous, Do Not Build," She said.

The last invention of Varrick was held in her hand. Ada had been carrying it around for months, unaware of what it even did. Now was as good a chance as any to test it out.

"We don't know what it does," Sen said.

"We know it's dangerous," Ada suggested. "Very dangerous."

"It doesn't matter," Whistler said. "The Fogbender will never let us get close to it."

Whistler demonstrated her point by launching a surge of air flying into the depths of the fog. The mist solidified and blocked the attack completely. Wisps of air scattered around the wall of water.

Whistler heard an audible grinding as the gears in Sen's head stopped turning. He had an idea. The Avatar snatched the Very Dangerous Do Not Build from Ada and turned to Whistler.

"Follow the way I move," Sen ordered. "And keep attacking."

Whistler nodded. Sen set out into the fog. Whistler tracked his progress with rushing blasts of air, sending the fog scattering around him. He felt the air moving around him, and he moved with it, following the scattered, random paths of the aimless air. He rolled gently around every obstacle, spiraled with every twisting current of air, slowed and quickened his pace randomly. His motions followed no pattern, no predictability; he was formless, directionless, and weightless, like a leaf on the wind.

With Sen's motions indistinguishable from the air around him, the Fogbender had no way to realize that the Avatar was rapidly approaching. Not until Sen's silhouette became visible in the fog did the minion of the Energybender realize what was happening, and by then it was far too late. Sen caught sight of the cloaked figure. Even with the Fogbender in his sights, Sen was uncertain as to what it truly was. It wore thick robes and a mask obscuring its identity. Sen ignored the mysterious being's appearance for now. What it looked like didn't matter much to Sen anyway.

With his enemy in sight, Sen was quick to attack with overwhelming force. He unleashed everything he had, striking out with fire, earth, and air in equal amounts. He would not allow the Fogbender to slip back into its foggy shroud. He'd been frustrated for months, unable to strike back at the problems that plagued him, and he unleashed all that anger in a furious assault on the Fogbender.

Despite all Sen's skills and all his anger, he wasn't quite a match for the Fogbender. Whoever it was behind the mask and cloak, they were obviously a master waterbender. Sen's skill were great, but he was not the equal of the Fogbender quite yet. Fortunately, he had the advantage of numbers.

The Fogbender was forced into a sudden defensive as he was struck from all directions at once. Ada, Suda, and Sen boxed the Fogbender in with their attacks, while Whistler struck from above and Gun attacked from below. The cloud of fog suddenly withdrew, closing into a shell of ice that surrounded the Fogbender, shielding it from all attacks. The icy shell exploded into a blast of splinters that forced Sen's allies backwards. Sen held his hands in front of his face to shield his eyes from the sudden blast.

He felt a few splinters of ice bounce off his skin. To his surprise, a few struck and didn't bounce off. He felt sharp tips of bladed icicles dig into the soft skin of his neck. He was quick to roll away from the blows, letting the blades of ice cut across his unshaven chin to little effect. The icy splinters continued their hunt, seeking out the Avatar.

The hail of bladed frost came from every direction at once, but Sen was not concerned. He felt the air warp around the icy blades, sensing in advance how they cut through the sky, and dodged them with ease. He hoped Whistler wasn't looking. She'd never let him live it down if all those hours of tossing Pagu-Pagu cards at his head turned out to be worthwhile.

Whistler had her own problems at the moment. The bladed ice was seeking her as well, and she had not been sleeping well recently, making it harder for her to move quickly. She silently cursed herself for all her emotional confusion as she barely stayed abreast of the spears of ice.

It only took one stumble across uneven ground for Whistler to lose her footing, lose a step, and come dangerously close to being caught by one of the blades flying through the air. Before the lance of frost found its mark, Whistler was struck from behind by something that was decidedly not an icy spear. Ada's quick tackle knocked Whistler out of the way as the blade of ice sailed just behind them, slicing through Ada's pack.

Whistler hit the ground hard, but it was better than being hit by a spear. As they hit the ground, Gun took place between them and the Fogbender. His hide was far too thick and tough for the Fogbenders paltry icicles to pierce, so he made for an effective shield as the two women recovered.

"Thanks, Ada," Whistler gasped.

"Well, I did owe you one," Ada replied jokingly. Whistler grit her teeth. Gratitude was a foreign concept to her. Whistler made sure they were still hidden safe behind Gun before she looked around. The contents of Ada's pack had scattered across the ground, covering the soil in tools and supplies.

Ada's eyes narrowed. She took hold of a small metal orb and a small sheet of paper, inscribed with the words "Very Dangerous, Do Not Build". Whistler and Ada looked at each other.

"Do you think we should-"

"We don't know what it does," Whistler countered.

"There's only one way to find out," Ada said. She was just as eager as Sen to be rid of the Fogbender. If the Very Dangerous object could help them, then she was willing to give it a try. She had been carrying this small metal object since the day shed left Zaofu: it was time for the Very Dangerous Do Not Build to earn the space it took up in her backpack.

The instructions were simple: pull the pin, and run away. Ada diligently followed both steps, and shouted for her allies to do the same. The Fogbender was quick to notice the incoming object and attempted to block it. The Very Dangerous Do Not Build was captured in a small sphere of ice, seeming for a moment to have no effect. Then it went click.

Sen was sent flying backwards through the air as a concussive blast unfolded, filling the cold, misty air with a sudden wave of heat and fire. A booming shockwave travelled through the air, scattering the Fogbender's gathered water, and sending the mist-shrouded hunter itself flying backwards. Ada was knocked over by the explosion.

"Miyani?"

Suda flexed his jaw. The explosion had popped his eardrums. Once that injury had been set right, he looked at the newly created crater.

"No, no," He mumbled. "I think that was the Very Dangerous Do Not Build."

Ada's jaw was hanging low. Whistler gave her a concerned look.

"You've been carrying that in your backpack this whole time," She shouted incredulously.

"I didn't know! I didn't- Oh spirits, I think I'm going to be sick," She muttered. The thought of all the months she'd spent carrying an explosive filled her with a sudden dread. One errant pluck of the pin and she'd have been completely vaporized.

While the others were still shell-shocked by the sudden burst, Sen sprang into action. He had slightly more experience with explosions than most. Seizing the brief opportunity, Sen lunged at the disoriented Fogbender and struck hard. Sen's masked opponent barely managed a retaliation as Sen carried a hammer of earth towards the mask that covered the Fogbender's face. Sen moved to the side slightly as a blade of ice soared past his neck, and the Fogbender took a step back just as the hammer of earth came to rest on his mask.

The battle paused for a moment. The heavy boulder rested gently on the Fogbender's mask, and the icy sword lingered just below Sen's unshaven chin. The slightest twitch would be enough to end the stand off. Neither was the first to move. Sen stared into the blank eyes of the Fogbender's mask.

"Walk away," he said. The simple act of talking made the ice-sword dig into his neck slightly. The potentially lethal blade concerned him very little.

"We know your tricks," Sen said. "You won't be able to use Hanjo to ambush us again. Every time you fight us from here on out, it'll get harder for you, and you're just barely holding your own as it is."

The heavy cloak and mask the Fogbender wore disguised most of its body, but there were subtle shifts in its stance that betrayed its thoughts. The ice blade drifted slightly from Sen's neck.

"If you take off your mask we'll never be able to find you," Sen said. "You walk away now and you can live the rest of your life pretending this never happened."

The ice blade stayed in place for a moment. Sen's allies recovered from their brush with the explosion and approached the Fogbender cautiously. The mask shifted slightly from side to side as the Fogbender saw that it was rapidly losing what little advantage it still possessed. It had to strike now, or not at all.

The featureless mask stared into Sen's eyes for a while, looking past the boulder held before its face. Sen stared right back. The Fogbender was the first to blink.

The ice blade melted and vanished. Sen withdrew his hammer of earth from the Fogbender's mask. It withdrew, slowly at first, not taking its eyes off Sen, until it was a few steps away. With a sudden spiral of motion, a cloud of mist rose up and covered the Fogbender entirely. Suspecting treachery, Whistler leapt forward and unleashed a massive burst of wind to scatter the sudden cloud of fog.

The mist scattered, and nothing was revealed. The Fogbender was already gone. Sen stared at the empty void where it had once been.

"I hope we never see that prick again," Whistler grumbled.

"We won't," Sen said confidently.

Whistler sighed, and her shoulders drooped visibly. A heavy weight had been lifted today, for all of them. They'd finally rid themselves of the hunter that had pursued their footsteps for months –among other burdens, in Whistler's case. Sen was quick to wave them away from the battleground, towards the Spirit Portals. The problems of the Spirit World were behind them now. It was time to move on.