The inhabitants of the Northern Water Tribe had looked on in wonder when the grey snow first appeared. Katara had simply gripped the pendant at her neck, closing her eyes to block out the sight. She remembered the phenomenon of the grey snowfalls from her childhood, a blend of soot and sleet that had always resulted in blood. There was only one explanation for such an occurrence: the Fire Nation was coming to invade, and that meant the small measure of peace she, Aang and her brother had found within the city walls would soon be reduced to ashes. She should have known the idyll could not last. The Fire Nation always did ruin everything.
Her eyes narrowed as she looked out across the ocean to where the fleet of steel monsters waited to start their assault. The last time she had seen the Fire Nation navy attack, she had been too young and defenceless to make a difference. This time she swore she would not stand by on the sidelines. For days she had trained with Aang under Master Pakku, learning offensive waterbending techniques and perfecting her skill with her element. She was not that weak little girl anymore. She would fight, and she would make sure her enemies were defeated.
Katara tightened her grip on her necklace, feeling the carved patterns on the stone dig into her palm. I won't let you take anyone else away from me, she silently promised. Not this time.
The drums were still reverberating from within the city, pounding with the rhythm of a hundred heartbeats as they called the warriors to arms. Katara released the necklace and turned to meet her brother's gaze. The three lines on his forehead glowed in vivid red, a mark of his courage for volunteering to join a team of recruits on a dangerous mission. Her heart clenched as she remembered Chief Arnook's warning that many of them would not return, but she knew better than to ask her brother to rethink his decision. Like her, Sokka was willing to risk everything to protect the ones he loved. He could not be with Princess Yue, but he could fight for her. He could save Yue's people. Katara knew that their father would have been proud.
"You ready?" Sokka asked, placing a hand on her shoulder.
Katara nodded. "I know what I have to do."
Together, they turned to face the oncoming ships. She tried not to flinch when she saw the first ball of flames soar towards the wall, shattering ice and burning through flesh with sickening ease. There was no room for fear on the battlefield. She had to be strong like the wolf; she had to stand her ground and be prepared to defend her pack.
I won't run this time.
The Fire Nation had already destroyed her family once. She would not let them do it again.
oOo
Zuko drove the paddle into the water with swift, determined strokes, forcing the kayak to go faster. The screams of battle had finally died down, but, try as he might, he could not get his uncle's words out of his mind.
"Ever since I lost my son ... I think of you as my own."
He gritted his teeth. Now was not the time to get distracted by personal feelings. He had to focus on capturing the Avatar. This could be his last chance.
Careful to avoid the direct path of the watchtowers and outer wall, Zuko weaved his way through the icebergs and headed towards the rough expanse of shore he'd circled on the map he'd snatched from Zhao's cabin. He dragged the kayak up onto the ice cap so that it would not float away, then looked up at the wall to scout out a good place to start climbing. A low hiss escaped his mouth when he saw the warriors patrolling the upper rim. Apparently, he had been wrong in thinking this section would be less guarded.
Frustrated, he looked around for another way into the city. A group of turtle seals dived into an opening in the ice not far from him. His uncle would have told him he was crazy for even contemplating to follow, but Zuko knew that he was running out of options. If there were warriors patrolling such a useless part of the wall as this one, there were bound to be even more guarding the other sections. He would just have to take his chances and hope that the underwater tunnel would lead to the city. Besides, the turtle seals had to be coming up for air somewhere.
In hindsight, his plan had been really stupid. Turtle seals had a lot of blubber on their bodies to protect them from the stabbing, death-trap iciness of the water. Zuko did not. He was crippled by shivers, felt his heartbeat slow to a sickeningly weak flutter, and it was only his breath of fire that stopped him from becoming completely useless. That he might die in these caves had become an all too real possibility. It was so impossibly cold and his body was getting so impossibly tired.
Keep moving!
He took a deep breath and headed back under the freezing water. It wasn't like he had a choice in the matter. He had come too far to turn back now. Death-trap or not, he had to get inside the city.
oOo
Aang clutched a hand to his heart, collapsing to his knees in the muddy Spirit World swamp. It was that feeling again, the awful one that made him feel like something cold had reached inside of him and snatched away a part of himself. He breathed in deeply, allowing the dizziness and urge to retch to pass, but a faint throbbing in his shoulder remained.
"Zuko," Aang murmured, touching the spot where the arrow had pierced his flesh.
He wanted nothing more in that moment than to return back to the world of the living and make sure that Zuko was alright. The ache in his chest told him that something had happened. It physically pained him to think that, even now, Zuko might be out there suffering with no one to help. Except Aang was currently stuck in the Spirit World, and as much as he wanted to help Zuko, he also knew that he had to find the Moon and Ocean Spirits first. The Northern Water Tribe was counting on him.
Scrambling back to his feet, Aang looked around for the orb of light that he had been following, but all he saw was a wall of trees. He sighed and started trudging in what he hoped was the right direction. A patch of swamp in front of him started to glow. Aang's eyes widened and he stepped back just as the form of an old man in Fire Nation robes appeared on the surface of the water.
"Avatar Roku!" Aang exclaimed.
"Hello, Aang," Roku responded with a kindly smile. "It is good to see you again."
Aang didn't bother to waste time with pleasantries and jumped right in to explaining his predicament: how the Fire Nation was invading, how he wanted to find the Moon and Ocean spirits to ask for advice. Roku listened thoughtfully, but the answer he gave was not the one that Aang had been hoping to hear. Apparently, the Moon and Ocean Spirits had crossed over to the mortal world and there was now only one being whom Roku knew might be able to help: Koh, a dangerous spirit who was known for stealing the faces of people who showed any emotion around him.
"Sounds like a great guy," Aang said, swallowing back a lump of fear.
Roku's brow creased. "I wish there was another way, but Koh is the only one who might know where the Ocean and Moon Spirits have chosen to reside in the mortal world. I am sorry, Aang."
"It's okay. I'll just be extra cautious."
Roku still didn't look happy, but both he and Aang knew it was the Avatar's job to take such risks. There was nothing either of them could do. That was when Aang remembered the awful feeling he had got earlier.
"Um, Roku?" he said hesitantly.
"Yes, Aang?"
Aang glanced down at his hands and twiddled his thumbs. "Well, um, it's just that I've been getting these weird feelings of late, and I was just wondering if—"
"Ah." Roku let out a deep sigh. "You are speaking of your spiritual connection with my great-grandson."
Aang blinked. "Prince Zuko is your great-grandson? But that's just—" A crease formed on his brow. "Wait, did you just say I have a spiritual connection with Zuko?"
Roku nodded.
"But how? I don't understand."
A sad smile curved Roku's mouth. "There was a time when the Fire Nation called them the Children of the Undying Fire, select sons and daughters of Agni who could commune with the very essence that gives us life. It was an incredibly rare gift. You were either born one of the Undying Fire or you were not. Not even the greatest firebending masters could hope to use their inner flame in such a way unless they had been born with the capability."
"Wait, are we still talking about Zuko?"
Roku nodded. "My great-grandson is a very special young man. He has the ability to heal, as you discovered for yourself when he used his power to save your life. In fact, I believe it is because he chose to heal you that you now feel this connection with him."
"I don't understand," Aang said, scrunching his face. "Katara has healed me plenty of times and I don't—"
"That is because Katara is a waterbender," Roku explained. "You have to understand, Aang. You weren't just wounded. You were dying from loss of blood. That is what makes the Children of the Undying Fire so special. They can use their inner fire to create life even if the spark that keeps a person alive has almost gone out. In Prince Zuko's case, he let his own energy flow into you so that he could restore the loss of your chi and replenish your blood at an unnaturally fast rate. I expect it was this fusion of energy that formed the spiritual bond between the two of you."
Aang's eyes widened. "So you're saying that he gave up a part of himself to heal me?"
"In a sense." Roku shook his head. "I do not have all of the answers. The Children of the Undying Fire were a rare kind of firebender whose power and history was lost to the world a long time ago—even before my time. What I can tell you is that what you are feeling now is a result of your connection to Prince Zuko. It is your body's way of telling you that your spirit is hurting. In reality, you've just been sensing that the spiritual bond joining you to him is about to be cut. It is a shadow of his pain as well as an echo of the wound that he healed."
Something cold settled in the pit of Aang's stomach. "Roku," he said in a small voice, "what does it mean if the bond is cut?"
The silence that followed was answer enough. Aang closed his eyes, feeling the cold spread inside him until his heart frosted with ice. That was twice now. Twice he had felt Zuko almost die.
"I am sorry," Roku said gently. "Such bonds have never been easy burdens to bear. I can see that you care for my great-grandson deeply. He is lucky to have you as a friend."
I don't even know if I can call him a friend, Aang wanted to say. Instead, he placed his fists together and bowed in the manner of the Air Nomads. "Thank you for telling me this, Roku."
He was grateful to understand why he kept having those awful feelings, but right now he knew that he could do nothing for Zuko. He had to find Koh and the Moon and Ocean Spirits before it was too late. That and he just really didn't want to dwell on the fact that the boy who had chased him all over the world had almost died twice and Aang had been right there feeling it with him.
"Prince Zuko is strong," Roku said, understanding the reasoning behind Aang's reticence. "He will not be easily defeated."
"I know," Aang said quietly.
But that didn't stop him from feeling sick with worry. Zuko might be a powerful warrior, but Aang had seen for himself how reckless the prince could be. It didn't help that it was just a few minutes ago that he had felt their connection almost be severed.
You'd better still be there when I get back, Zuko.
Aang still had much he wanted to say to the prince of the Fire Nation. For now, however, he had to focus on saving the Northern Water Tribe, and to do that he had to put all emotion aside. There was no way he was going to let Koh steal his face.
oOo
The moon had reached its peak by the time Zuko discovered the small wooden door that led to the Spirit Oasis. Somehow, he just knew that this was the place where Aang was hiding. He had not been disappointed. Glancing around the lush trees and flowers, he spotted a familiar boy sitting cross-legged in front of a pool of water. Aang's eyes were glowing a brilliant white, as was the arrow on his forehead. Aang must have shifted into the Avatar State. That could pose a problem.
Zuko noticed two girls standing a few feet behind the Avatar, one of whom he recognised as the same waterbender who was always travelling around with Aang. He frowned. Something wasn't right here. He decided to wait and listen to see if he could gather any information regarding the situation.
"Is he okay?" Zuko heard the girl with the white hair ask.
"He's crossing into the Spirit World," Katara answered. "He'll be fine as long as we don't move his body. That's his way back to the physical world."
Zuko smiled grimly. If what those two girls said was true, the Avatar was currently helpless. It was more than he could have hoped for as now all he had to do was get the rid of the Water Tribe girls. That shouldn't be too much of a problem. He remembered how useless Katara had been at manipulating her element from when he had captured her with the pirates; the other girl didn't even look like a fighter.
"Maybe we should get some help," the girl with the white hair said, turning to leave.
Katara gave a reassuring look to her friend. "No. He's my friend. I'm perfectly capable of protecting him."
Zuko stepped out from his hiding place. "Well, aren't you a big girl now."
Katara turned at the sound of his voice. "No," she breathed.
"Yes," he responded in a satisfied hiss. He advanced towards her and his eyes narrowed as he stopped on the bridge that led to where Aang was meditating. "Hand him over and I won't have to hurt you."
For answer, she took up a bending stance. Zuko's jaw clenched. He did not want to fight. He was still exhausted from his swim through the underwater caves, it hurt every time he breathed, and he was quite certain that the stitches on his back had split open again. Even now, he could feel the sticky blood pooling down his spine and the sharp sting of flesh being tugged apart. Something in her gaze told him that she would not listen to reason, though, nor would she let herself be intimidated. She wanted to fight.
Zuko exhaled and compartmentalised every ache in his body to the far reaches of his mind. Then he attacked.
oOo
Katara couldn't believe how close she had come to losing Aang. Granted, it was the first time she had fought against Zuko in one-on-one combat. She had quickly discovered that engaging with a skilled firebender was very different to training with the other waterbenders while under Master Pakku's tutelage. Zuko had not hesitated; he had come at her again and again, releasing offensive attack after offensive attack in a relentless effort to wear her down. Still, she had managed to beat him in the end, if only by a fraction.
She cast an uneasy glance at the figure trapped in the ice. Zuko didn't even twitch. Good. The last thing she wanted was to have to deal with him again. She shifted her attention back to Aang and wondered how long it would take for him to find the Ocean and Moon Spirits. The sun was already beginning to rise. She knew the next attack would start soon, yet their one hope of stopping the Fire Nation was still trapped in the Spirit World.
"Please hurry, Aang," Katara murmured. "We need you."
The boy simply sat there like an empty shell while his spirit journeyed along unseen paths. Katara sighed. She turned just as a growl was heard from the direction of the cliff. Her heart jumped in her chest. She spun around and discovered flames soaring straight for, released from the palms of an enraged prince. She brought up a quick water shield, but the attack pushed right through her defences and hit her square in the stomach, knocking her back with a painful thud against a tree. Dizzily, she raised her eyes to see Zuko standing over her with one hand gripping the back of Aang's cape. From this vantage point, he almost seemed to be glowing with the golden shades of dawn.
"You rise with the moon," he said, looking down at her with a hard glint in his eyes. "I rise with the sun."
She blinked and watched him fade in and out of view. A flash of pale gold caught her attention. She focussed on the colour in an attempt to stay alert—anything to stop Zuko from getting away—but the pull of oblivion was too much. Her vision hazed over and she slumped to the ground. The last thing she remembered before she slipped into unconsciousness was the image of a pair of pale gold eyes. Prince Zuko's eyes.
When she awoke, both boys were gone.