"So, did you figure out what route we're gonna take?" Aang asked as Sokka laid out the map he had taken from Wan Chi Tong's library.

"Okay, we just got out of the desert, so we must be around here," Sokka pointed to their supposed location on the map. "And we need to go to Ba Sing Se which is here." He pointed to a large walled territory depicted on the northeastern corner of the Earth Kingdom domain. "It looks like the only passage connecting the south to the north is this sliver of land called 'The Serpent's Pass'."

Toph crossed her arms over her chest, doubting Sokka's plan. "Are you sure that's the best way to go?"

"It's the only way. I mean, it's not like we have Appa to fly us there—"

"Shush up about Appa!" Katara whispered angrily to her brother. "Can't you at least try to be sensitive?"

They all looked at Aang who had his eyes closed as if in meditation. While in Wan Chi Tong's library, a group of sandbenders had taken the sky bison by force. Toph was stuck between a rock and a hard place, trying to defend Appa and stopping the library from sinking in the sand and back into the spirit world.

Having lost his companion, Aang was devastated. And upon a confrontation with the sandbenders, Toph had identified one of the men responsible for Appa's disappearance. Unable to reign in his anger any longer, his Avatar State was revealed once more. Had it gone on for a few more moments, he would have wiped the sandbenders off the face of the earth. But Katara managed to get through to Aang, through all the anger and pain, pulling him out of the trance.

"Katara, it's okay..." He sighed and opened his eyes. "I know I was upset about losing Appa before, but I just want to focus on getting to Ba Sing Se and telling the Earth King about the solar eclipse."

The solar eclipse was perhaps the most vital information they have retrieved from Wan Chi Tong's library. The previous solar eclipse was dubbed the 'Darkest Day in Fire Nation History' because it was the day that the moon had blocked the power of the sun, rendering firebenders powerless. With the date of the next solar eclipse in their hands, they now have the element of surprise as well as the advantage of attacking while the enemy is vulnerable.

"Oh... Well, okay... I'm glad you're doing better..."

Sokka rolled the map up. "Then to Ba Sing Se we go, no more distractions—"

"Hello there, fellow refugees!" A man called out, waving at the group. With him are two women, one of whom was heavily pregnant.

Sokka rolled his eyes at the universe that always manages to mess with him. The travelers approached the group and Aang greeted them. "So are you guys headed to Ba Sing Se too?"

"Sure are!" The man said as he smiled at his wife. "We're trying to get there before my wife, Ying, has her baby."

"Great! We can travel through the Serpent's Pass together!"

At Katara's quip, the travelers gasped. "T-the Serpent's Pass?" The pregnant woman clutched her husband's arm. "Only the truly desperate take that deadly route!"

"Deadly route..." Toph punched Sokka's arm who was sent to ground upon impact. "Great pick, Sokka!"

"Well, we are desperate..." He reasoned.

"You should come with us to Full Moon Bay! Ferries take refugees across the lake! It's the fastest way to Ba Sing Se."

Ying nodded. "And it's hidden so the Fire Nation can't find it."

Katara pretended to think it over. "Hmmm... Peaceful ferry ride? Or deadly pass?" She looked at her brother who just glared in response.

They had arrived at Full Moon Bay after days of travelling on their ostrich-horse. Lily looked around the port. It was a large transport hub that housed five large ferries each with the capacity of at least a hundred per ship. The secluded cove hidden beneath a tall cliff was filled with refugees either waiting to get on the ferry to go to Ba Sing Se or using the port as a hiding place after being uprooted by Fire Nation raids.

Kai held her hand, led her through the throng of people and up to a platform where the passport attendant stood with a sour look on her face. "Hi," The young man gave his most charming smile to the lady. "We're looking for the Kyoshi Warriors. Is there any chance you can direct us to them, my Lady?"

"Oh my..." The elderly woman blushed, gawking at Kai's subtle manipulations. "The... Warriors, huh? They're over there, honey, the girls in the green uniforms and funny hats..."

"Thank you!" He winked and walked away, Lily following quietly, looking around for the girls the attendant had described.

They approached a woman who was currently helping out an elderly look for his passport. "Excuse me?" Lily asked as the woman fished the passport out of the man's satchel and hand it to him.

"Yes, how may I help you?" The woman smiled.

"Ummm... We're actually looking for the Kyoshi Warriors from Kyoshi Island..."

"That's us!" She held out her hand. "My name is Suki."

Lily shook her hand happily. "Hi! I'm Lily, and this is my friend, Kai."

"So why were you looking for us?"

She looked to Kai for help and he explained everything to Suki. "My sister found her on the beach unconscious, and without her memories. By the time she had recovered, she remembered that she used to have this... white face paint, and she was holding two golden fans. We figured that she might be a Kyoshi Warrior like you."

Suki stared hard at Lily, trying to place her in her memory. But she failed and shook her head. "I'm sorry to say, but as the leader of the Kyoshi Warriors, I know each and every one of my sisters. I know their names and their families... but I'm afraid I don't know you, Lily... I'm so sorry..."

Lily released a breath she didn't know she was holding and her shoulders slumped. "No, it's alright. Thank you, Suki..."

"Don't lose hope, Lily!" Kai ruffled her hair to cheer her up. "Like Oyaji said, we can still go and check out the records in Ba Sing Se University. I'm sure we'll find what we are looking for there!"

"What if we don't?" She looked down at the worn out earth of the cove, frowning. "What if we came all this way for nothing?"

"And what if things go right, exactly how we planned them? What if we succeed and find what we are looking for?" He countered her pessimism with a smile. "We are going to Ba Sing Se and we are going to find out who you truly are, okay? I'll help you." He lifted her chin up with his fingers so she would look up at him. "Now stop frowning, you'll get wrinkles fast."

Lily smiled back at his comforting words. Somehow, they sounded so familiar, as if they had been said to her once before.

Fake passports in hand, Zuko and Uncle Iroh entered Full Moon Bay. They hid themselves among the refugees until it was time to get their tickets for the second ferry of the day. The grumpy attendant scrutinized their passports thoroughly, making them fidget a bit, before stamping two tickets approved and handing those to them.

Iroh thanked the attendant and they turned around to set off and find the second ferry.

"No passport, no ticket!" The attendant shouted to the people who were next in line after them.

"But we came all this way, ma'am! It's important! We have to get to Ba Sing Se University!" The male voice pleaded with the attendant. "We'll be there just one day, and we'll go back!"

"Even so! Here in Full Moon Bay we have strict regulations, sugar... No passports, no tickets! Don't make me call security!"

"Let's go, Kai..." The woman said softly to the man. "We'll just find another way to go to Ba Sing Se."

"You look so different without your makeup!" Katara commented while giving her a once over. "And the new outfit!"

"That crabby lady makes all the security guards wear them." Suki gestured to the passport attendant. "And look at you, sleeveless guy! Been working out?"

Almost automatically, Sokka started flexing. "Eh, I'll grab a tree branch and do a few chin touches every now and then... nothing major!"

"Are the other Kyoshi Warriors around?"

"Yeah. After you left Kyoshi, we wanted to find a way to help people. We ended up escorting some refugees and we've been here ever since." Momo flew over to Suki, waiting to be petted, and she did. "Hi, Momo! Good to see you, too!" She turned back to the group. "So why are you guys getting tickets for the ferry? Wouldn't you just fly across on Appa?"

There was an awkward silence before Katara broke it. "Appa is missing... We hope to find him in Ba Sing Se."

"I'm so sorry to hear that... Are you doing, okay?" She asked Aang.

"I'm doing fine!" He snapped. "Would everybody stop worrying about me?"

"Avatar Aang! You have to help us!" The group looked down from the pier to find the refugees they have been travelling with. "Someone took all of our belongings! Our passports, our tickets..." The pregnant woman cried, clutching her husband. "Everything's gone!"

"I'll talk to the lady for you!" Aang said, determined to help the refugees, not knowing that his attempt will be futile against the crabby passport attendant.

"Next!" The attendant barked and sent Aang away.

He wiped the woman's saliva that somehow managed to reach his face and turned back to the refugees. "Don't worry. You'll get to the city safely." He took a deep breath. "I'll lead you through the Serpent's Pass."

They all surrendered their tickets back to the lady and decided to help the refugees through the Serpent's Pass. Sokka trailed behind, grumbling. "I can't believe we gave up our tickets and now we're going through the Serpent's Pass."

"I can't believe you're still complaining about it!" Toph snapped back.

"Wait!" Suki ran to the group. She had donned on her warrior uniform, complete with her face paint. Behind her were two other refugees. "We're coming too!"

Sokka looked at her worriedly. "Are you sure that's a good idea?"

"Sokka, I thought you'd want me to come... Besides, this is Lily and Kai. I want to help them get to Ba Sing Se as well!" She gestured to the two people behind her.

Out of courtesy, they bowed their heads to the group. "We won't be any trouble." Kai said, knowing that this was the only other way to get to Ba Sing Se. "You won't even notice we are here..."

Aang nodded and led the group with Sokka holding the map. Once they were out of Full Moon Bay, they headed for the Serpent's Pass.

It was quite a walk, but they reached the pass around noon. "This is the Serpent's Pass? I thought it would be more...windy, you know, like a serpent." Sokka looked at the uneven rock formation that provided a very narrow pathway for travelers. One misstep could lead you crashing onto the rocks and down the lake. "Hmm... I guess they misnamed it."

They stood under the archway that stated its name. Ying looked to her left and noticed an inscription on the wood. "Look at this writing! How awful!" She said worriedly.

"What does it say?"

Katara approached and read the marking. "It says, 'Abandon Hope'."

"H-how could we abandon hope?! It's all we have..." Ying turned to her husband and cried. She was worried for a lot of things but mostly, she was worried for the child in her womb. She held on to the hope that they can start a new life in Ba Sing Se.

"I don't know..." Aang mused as he looked at the inscription. "The monks used to say that hope is just a distraction. So maybe we do need to abandon it."

"What are you talking about?" Now, Katara fully realized that something was wrong. It wasn't like Aang to say things like that. He was the epitome of optimism and hope for her.

Aang looked away, far across the lake. "Hope isn't going to get us into Ba Sing Se and it's not gonna find Appa. We need to focus on what we're doing right now, and that's getting across this pass."

They started the long journey through the Serpent's Pass. The pathways became narrower that they had to move in a single file against the side of the rock formation. To help distract them from the possibility of falling, Suki decided to inform them of the current situation outside of Ba Sing Se. "The Fire Nation controls the Western Lake. Rumor has it, they're working on something big on the other side and they don't anyone to find out what it is."

The rock beneath Ying's husband, Tan, gave way and he fell. Toph managed to save him by earthbending a slab of rock to catch him and send him back up the pathway.

The commotion however caught the attention of the Fire Nation warship that had been patrolling the Western Lake and they commenced an attack, catapulting large flaming rocks at the pass.

Aang jumped high in the air and used his glider like a bat to redirect the trajectory back to the ship, but it had catapulted another flaming rock that landed above their heads, the impact causing the sharp rocks from the top to come raining down on them.

Sokka pushed Suki away from the crash site, leaving him vulnerable. Toph once again used earthbending to redirect the falling rocks away from Sokka.

They ran as fast as they could away from the warship and only stopped when the sun had set. They made camp in the middle of the pass. Ying rested on the mat, her husband massaging her sore tired feet.

Lily approached Toph and sat next to her. "Hi... umm... that was some awesome earthbending back there... Thank you for saving us."

Toph smiled. 'Finally, some vindication!' She thought. "You're welcome, uhh... What's your name again?"

"It's Lily." She smiled back. "And that one's my friend, Kai."

Toph propped her feet up on a rock, letting them rest. "So why are you guys heading to Ba Sing Se?"

"We need to get to the university there... The village leader from Kyoshi Island said that the university holds records of people and organizations. We were kind of hoping to get more information about me..."

"About you?"

"Well, you see... I lost my memories... That's when Kai's family found me and they had taken care of me since then."

"Oh..." There was a short silence before Toph resumed. "I hope you get to find the information you need there, Lily."

"I hope so, too. No matter what that inscription says, I can't abandon hope. In the darkest times, hope is something you give yourself..." Lily trailed off, but Toph laughed. "What?"

"Nothing, nothing..." She still giggled, laying a hand on her stomach. "It's just that you sound like this old geezer I met and had tea with a while back."

Lily pouted and crossed her arms over her chest. "I do not look or sound like an old geezer!"

"Eh, what do I know?" She waved a hand in front of her unblinking eyes. "I'm blind. I'll picture you however I want. From now on, you're 'Lily the old geezer'!"