"Hey, Dad, a letter came in for you today. It's from Zuko," Sokka said as he entered his father's throne room.

Even though it had been a few years, he still wasn't used to his dad having a whole throne room. The walls and floor were made of packed snow with the pelts of Hakoda's prized hunts strewn about. The throne was the centerpiece to the room, set before a fire pit in the center of the floor, although Hakoda preferred to spend his time at the desk in the corner near the windows, where he could look down over his expanding city while he worked.

Sokka held the scroll up for his dad to see, its red silk tie dangling. "I wonder what it could be?"

"If you hand it over, I'll probably find out," Hakoda said. He and his son laughed.

Bato, still his second-in-command, rolled his eyes. Like father, like son, he thought with a smile. "It's probably got to do with the trade agreement the Fire Lord wants you to sign off on. I sense Zuko's getting a little impatient."

"I've agreed to it, and I said as much to our diplomats in our last message," Hakoda replied. He used a small knife to break the dragon seal on the scroll. "I'm sure this is his acknowledgment of that. I expect to get a much thicker parcel outlining the contract before too long."

"What's it say?" Sokka wanted to know as he leaned over his father's shoulder.

Hakoda read over the neatly-printed characters. With a curious expression, he looked up at his son and his most trusted friend. "Fire Lord Zuko wants me...to travel to the Fire Nation for a summit."

"What's a summit?" Sokka quipped with a curious frown.

"What?" Bato exclaimed. "Why would he need you to do that?"

Hakoda held the scroll out to his long-time friend. "It seems King Kuei and Chief Arnook are still not sure about this trade agreement so Zuko is calling all of us for a summit."

Bato took it and read it quickly. He looked up. "He wants you there by midsummer. That's a month away."

"I'll be there, then," Hakoda said. He stood up resolutely. "He wants to convince Chief Arnook and the Earth King to agree to this. He knows how I feel. He wants to convince the other two himself."

"So then why do you need to go?" Sokka asked, a bit puzzled.

Hakoda smiled knowingly at his son. "Because if they won't listen to him, they'll listen to me. Zuko is smarter than most people give him credit for, I'll give him that."

Sokka's eyes lit up. "So you're going to the Fire Nation? I'm going too. I can finally see Suki!" His face melted into a warm, longing smile.

"And perhaps on the way back we can stop and see Katara and Aang," Hakoda said. "It's been too long since we've seen your sister. And to be honest, she wasn't looking that well last time."

Sokka nodded.

Bato stood up and set the scroll on the chief's desk. "I'll get things in order for our travels then, and a small group of dignitaries, Hakoda,. I'll also get a response out to the Fire Lord confirming our arrival. We'll be in the Fire Nation at midsummer."

With that, Bato left the room, leaving just father and son. Hakoda looked at Sokka. There was a thoughtful, knowing expression on his face. "Things are quite serious with Suki, aren't they, son?"

"We write all the time. At least once a week, thanks to Hawky. He's a good bird." Sokka smiled dreamily. "She's amazing, Dad."

"Do you love her?"

"I do."

"And?" Hakoda pressed. A father's instinct told him there was more.

Sokka looked down at his feet, scuffing one boot against the floor. "Well...I've been thinking about proposing to her. I carved a necklace for her and everything. Honestly, I've been trying to come up with an excuse to go and see her so I can ask her to marry me."

"Then this is your perfect opportunity, son. I'm happy for you," Hakoda said. He clapped Sokka on the shoulder proudly. "It'll be an honor to call her my daughter-in-law."

Sokka beamed. "Thanks, Dad."

Hakoda looked at his son, who had grown up so much since that long-ago day he had departed their humble village to fight against the Fire Nation. He still hadn't quite reached his father's height, but he had filled out from long hours helping with the construction. "And what do you think about your sister?"

At the mention of Katara, Sokked frowned. "I'm worried about her...but you know how she is, Dad," Sokka said. "She won't accept anyone's advice, or help. So I just stay out of it."

He didn't like it, but what else could he do?

The young man had left his father's throne room and now walked along the ice walls of the palace. It wasn't something he'd ever gotten used to. Sure, it didn't really compare to the Royal Palace of the Fire Nation, but it was a far cry from what it had been.

The small village that he'd left behind four years ago had consisted of a few animal pelt huts and one igloo as the community house. Now it was a growing city with homes made of ice, built by the waterbenders who had come from the North Pole with Master Pakku. His home had expanded in the time he had been gone, but once the war was over and things were back to normal he had come home and helped build upon the Southern Water Tribe.

It was no longer some peasant village. It was a formidable city, one that could rival its sister tribe in the north.

Sokka only wished that Katara was here to help it grow, too. The siblings exchanged letters often, and Sokka got the sense that Katara wanted to visit home. He knew they were busy with Aang's overglorified fan club, but he wished they would come visit too.

He made his way down to his rooms. They were ample in space and richly decorated, a far cry from the simple bedroll and small animal skin bag he'd had when they had all lived in one tent: him, his dad, Gran-Gran, and Katara. He had his own bedroom, sitting room, and washroom, decorated to his taste. He could imagine Suki here with him, adding a splash of Kyoshi to the room. And one day, he imagined, there would be children here too.

Sighing happily, Sokka fell backward onto his bed. Within a month he would be seeing the love of his life, and asking her to marry him. Sokka's eyes widened.

"I need to tell Aang and Katara!" he said aloud. "They'd kill me if I proposed to Suki without telling them! Toph, too. Oh, man."

With slightly trembling hands, Sokka sat down at his desk and penned letters to Katara and Toph. Hopefully the blind bender would be able to find someone to read it for her. As he wrote, his excitement grew. It had been too long since he'd seen his friends, and what better reason to gather them than a betrothal? He was sure Zuko wouldn't mind if they crashed his summit.

Speaking of Mr. Flameo himself, I wonder when he'll be getting married, Sokka mused. He knew things had gone south with Mai, but he surely had some other girl he was courting by now. Eh, he'll get hitched eventually.

Blissful, Sokka sealed his letters and slipped them into Hawky's carrier before sending his faithful messenger hawk on his way.

Sokka turned his eyes to the moon. He couldn't help but feel as if Yue was smiling down on him, telling him she approved.

"Sokka. Sokka." Her voice called to him, drawing him away from a dream where he was hunting a saber tooth moose. Suddenly Sokka found himself on a white sand beach, a full yellow moon glowing in a black starless sky.

"Yue?" Sokka asked the moon.

A great white beam of light shone down from the moon and cast a perfect circle on the sand. Sokka watched, awestruck, as his first love materialized before him. Her wise, ocean-blue eyes looked at him forlornly. He reached out to caress her cheek but Yue raised her hand and stopped him.

"Sokka, you must listen to me. I don't have a lot of time."

"What's going on, Yue?"

"A storm is gathering on the horizon, Sokka. You must be ready to defend the ones you love. You must be ready to accept that which is meant to be. Can you do that?"

"I don't know what any of that means. Can you quit talking in riddles? Maybe try a haiku?"

"You will know what to do when the time draws near," Yue said elusively. "You must protect the Princess at all costs, Sokka. Nothing is more important."

"What princess? Do you mean you? Or Katara?"

"Whispers from the spirits in dreams, Intertwined destinies be warned. Lord Sieshin is awakening. Liberation is blue and gold."

Yue began to dissipate before his eyes. Sokka lunged for her but his fingers passed through her as if she were made of mist. "Wait, Yue! What does that even mean?"

But the spirit of the moon was gone, and everything faded to black.

Katara of the Southern Water Tribe looked out over the grassy knoll on which Aang and the Air Acolytes gathered each day. Their numbers had swelled greatly since they had first come across the Avatar Aang Fan Club, as it was known back then. The club started in the Fire Nation colony of Yu Dao where they now resided. What had begun as five women and girls had expanded to include forty people of all ages and nationalities who had come together to learn the culture of the Air Nomads, taught by the last Airbender himself.

Aang's main duty was to teach them about his people to keep the culture alive. It had been gone for a hundred years, reduced to little more than a small part of history, but with the Air Acolytes, who lived as the Air Nomads once had, it was now a revival.

Katara was fiercely proud of Aang and what he was accomplishing. It was an incredible feat, and she could tell that Aang was truly happy. The loss of his people had been a deep wound that he hadn't been able to heal. They had been too occupied with defeating Fire Lord Ozai and restoring the balance of the world for Aang to have time to grieve or to cope. Once the dust had settled, Aang had found the Air Acolytes. While he grieved those he had lost, he had a rebirth with those he had gained. Katara couldn't help but feel a little left out.

She was Southern Water Tribe, through and through. The spiritual teachings of the Air Nomads was not something she aligned with, although she deeply respected it. She and Aang had conflicting opinions on many things that affected their day-to-day life, but none were quite as big as their different feelings on spirituality and their place in the universe.

As time went on, she had felt less and less like Aang's equal. Being with the Avatar had reduced her from a warrior in her own right to being known as "the Avatar's girlfriend". The Air Acolytes did treat her with respect (and some of them, admittedly, were definitely jealous of her) but she felt like an outsider in her own home. And, a quiet part of her always whispered to her, reminding her of how she missed the thrill of travel and adventures, and of helping people who needed her.

Katara felt guilty at her unhappiness. Everything should have been fine. They had a comfortable home with space for the two of them plus room to accommodate a handful of Air Acolytes for overnight visits at a time. Their home was an eclectic mix of each nation: an Earth Kingdom home with green and brown tones, with Water Tribe animal pelts (that Aang pointedly avoided touching), and a kitchen straight out of the Fire Nation, so industrial she never would've imagined it could be hers.

The past five years they had spent living in Yu Dao had been peaceful. Once it had been decided that the Fire Nation colonies could stay, things in the world had been harmonious. They received letters from their friends that kept them updated on the current events, and everything seemed well. Aang had resigned himself to the fact that the world didn't need him as much as it had when he'd emerged from the iceberg, and he was content to spend his days enriching the Air Acolytes to his culture.

With an unhappy sigh Katara turned away and disappeared back into their humble home. She had been wanting to broach the subject of going to visit her family in the South Pole before winter came, but she'd been reluctant to do so. Aang rarely left his Air Acolytes these days. They seemed to be more important to him than anything.

He loved her; that Katara knew for sure. But she wasn't sure if he loved her more than his new people.

Katara settled in to work on some sewing she had been putting off. While she mended their clothes, her thoughts drifted, calling up memories from the years past. Although it had been scary and tense, traveling the world with her friends had been an exciting experience. Hailing from the South Pole, Katara could never have dreamed of visiting the places she had or doing the things she had done until she found Aang in the iceberg. She smiled a little forlornly as she pictured their faces in her mind. It had been some time since she had seen them.

After the Yu Dao Conflict, they had gone their separate ways. They saw Toph the most, who lived in the city as well. She owned her own school, the Beifong Metalbending Academy, where she taught earthbending prodigies the challenging bending form. The three of them had dinner once a week or so. As for Sokka, it had been around a year and a half since she had last seen her brother. He was hard at work expanding the Southern Water Tribe. He had come by and seen them on his last trip to the Fire Nation to see Suki, who, along with the other Kyoshi Warriors, had become Zuko's personal guards.

Katara hadn't seen Zuko since the Yu Dao Conflict had been resolved.

Thinking of her friends and brother, Katara felt a strong sense of loneliness come over her. She missed them so much it hurt. Her mind conjured up images of her father and Gran-Gran. She missed them too. Katara blinked away the burning sensation in her eyes. She didn't need to cry. But her mind lingered on Gran-Gran's kind, warm face, and she wished she could talk to her grandmother.

Especially now. For several nights, Katara had been plagued by an unsettling dream.

Each time, the dream was unvaryingly the same. In it, Katara knelt before the pond at the Spirit Oasis in the North Pole. She could see Tui and La, the spirits of the moon and ocean, swimming their endless dance of push and pull. Katara could not pry her eyes from the black and white koi fish. As she watched them in their eternal dance, a chill would come over her, sending shivers through her that made her ribs ache. Gooseflesh would prickle across her skin, and a sense of ominous foreboding would smother her. And then she would awake, feeling cold and unsettled.

She sensed that the dream meant something, but she couldn't fathom what. Katara had meant to bring it up to Aang, but he was so preoccupied with the Air Acolytes that she never felt like it was the right time. She assumed it had to do with her own inner turmoil, and that as soon as Katara figured out what she was going to do, the issue would be resolved.

If I ever figure it out, she thought abysmally.

Once the sewing was done Katara started to make dinner. Sometimes a few of the Acolytes would stay for the evening meal, but tonight it would only be her and Aang. She prepared a meal of rice, tofu, and roasted vegetables, with a small serving of roasted duck for herself. Aang had long since given up on trying to convert her to vegetarianism; eating meat was as much a part of her culture as not eating it was to his.

Katara leaned over the balcony and called, "Aang, dinner is ready!"

He looked up at her and smiled broadly. "Thanks, sweetie! We're almost done down here. I'll be up soon."

"No problem." Katara went back inside and sat down at the low table in the dining area. Her stomach rumbled as she smelled the aromatic food before her. She hoped Aang would be quick. She was starving!

Minutes passed while she waited for Aang. Her stomach complained loudly. The food was going cold. Irritated, Katara went out to see what was taking Aang so long. Down below he was showing off some air bending techniques to the Acolytes.

Frowning irately, Katara turned back to her dinner table. She served herself a bowl of food and ate it alone. It wasn't the first time. Aang often got carried away when he was with his Acolytes. Katara tried to be as understanding as she could; she knew what it was like to be the last of an entire people. She was the last waterbender of the Southern Water Tribe after all. But sometimes her patience wore out.

An hour had passed by the time Aang had finally come in for dinner. He found Katara in the sitting room reading. He smiled sheepishly at her as he grabbed a bowl.

"Sorry I'm late, sweetie. I got a little caught up showing the Acolytes some airbending." He brought the bowl up to his nose and inhaled deeply. "Mmm, it does smell delicious!"

"Thanks," Katara murmured. She didn't look up from her reading.

"What are you reading, Katara?" Aang asked. He settled himself onto a cushion.

"Oh, it's Tales From Ba Sing Se." She still didn't look up.

"That's a good one. I haven't read it in a while but it's one of my favorites."

"Mm-hm."

Aang frowned. "Are you okay, sweetie?"

Katara snapped the book closed and looked up at him. Her expression was dark. "Am I okay? No, Aang, I'm actually quite the opposite."

"What's wrong?"

"Dinner has been ready for an hour but you were so busy with the Air Acolytes that you blew me off, as usual. So now you get to eat a cold dinner."

Aang shrugged. "I'm okay with that. Your cooking is good warm or cold. And I can just heat it up again!" He inhaled deeply and exhaled hot air. The food began to steam again. "See? It's just like it's fresh!"

Katara balled her hands into fists. "That's not the point, Aang! The point is that you spend all of your time with the Air Acolytes and you don't even seem to consider my feelings about stuff like this. From dawn 'til dusk, you're teaching the Acolytes. And I love that you're keeping your culture alive, I really do. But I'm tired of feeling like I'm less important."

Aang set his food down, rubbing his shaved head in confusion. He didn't know where she got that from. "Katara, you are just as important to me as the Air Acolytes. But keeping my culture alive is important, too. I'm the last Airbender. It's my duty to my culture to pass on our teachings and knowledge."

"And what about your duty to me?" Katara demanded. Tears filled her eyes.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Aang frowned.

Katara shook her head. She got up and crossed the room, headed for the door. "It doesn't matter, Aang."

"Katara, where are you going?"

"Just leave me alone!"

The door slammed behind her, shaking the framework of the house. Aang sank onto his knees and sighed.

Girls didn't get any less crazy with age, it seemed.

"Okay, you lily-livered sissies! You call that bending? I say it feels like you're dancing! You'll never move metal like that! Where is your driving force? You've got to take that chunk of metal and show it who's boss!"

To demonstrate, Toph thrust her hands out and twisted her wrists in opposite directions. The metal before her contorted under her command and she grinned in fierce satisfaction. The metal twisted until it split into two and formed two metallic balls. With a flick of her wrists the metal balls went flying across the courtyard before connecting with the cliff face beside her academy. Rock and dirt crumbled around it.

Five years had honed her craft into an art. The metal bent to Toph's will as easily as the earth did. She could warp metal into detailed statues with one quick movement. And because of her skill, her students had improved too.

Her students had come a long way from the bumbling dorks who couldn't even budge a coin. As news of her academy had spread, more earthbenders had journeyed across the Earth Kingdom to try their hand at metalbending. She now had twenty students who could metalbend.

She was still the best, though.

"Now that is how you bend metal!" Toph dusted her hands off dramatically on the front of her tunic and turned to her students, hands planted on her narrow hips. "Any questions?" She felt them shake their heads. "Good. Now get back to work and at least ACT like you deserve to be here!"

Toph turned on her heel and started for the building. Her students were improving greatly, but they still had a lot to learn. They were lucky enough that they were being taught by the greatest earthbender of all time. The least they could do was at least make it seem like they trying, damn it!

A bird squawked over her shoulder. Toph turned and recognized the sound of Sokka's messenger hawk. She smiled; it had been a while since she'd heard from her friend—which made sense since she couldn't read his letters or write one of her own. She held up her arm and Hawky landed on her. The sharp pricks of his talons pressed through her shirt sleeve.

"Hey, Botan, come read this for me!" Toph yelled to one of her students. She took the scroll from Hawky's pouch and held it out to her student.

Botan, one of the newest additions to her academy (and something of a prodigy, if Toph were being honest) took it from her sifu's hand. "It's wrapped in blue silk. Do you think it's from Sokka or Katara?"

"It's from Sokka. I'd recognize Hawky anywhere." She ruffled the bird's neck feathers affectionately. "What's it say?"

"'Dear Toph, I really hope you can find someone to read you this letter. I've got some really exciting news. I hope you're able to go to the Fire Nation with Aang and Katara, because I'll be there and I'm going and to ask Suki to marry me.'" Botan pressed the letter to her chest. "Aww, that's so sweet!"

Toph made a disgusted sound in the back of her throat. "Hmph. What else does it say?"

"'Our dear friend the Fire Lord is hosting a summit with all of the world leaders, so that should be interesting. I'll be there by midsummer. Hope to see you and the rest of Team Avatar there too. Love, Sokka.'"

"That dolt is really gonna marry Suki, isn't he?" Toph mused. Her heart sank, but she kept her face composed. "Alright, go get me some parchment and ink. I need you to write a letter."

After her students left for the day and she had eaten, Toph spent some time metalbending as the last rays of the sun died out. She couldn't see it of course, but she could tell by the changes in the air that night had fallen. She'd been happy to hear from Sokka, but she was less than thrilled about the news she'd received. Even though it had been years, she still nursed affections for him.

He had saved her life. If it hadn't been for Sokka, Toph would have fallen to her death from that Fire Nation airship. She had never been so afraid. In that moment, suspended in mid-air, all she had been able to see was him. Moments like that bonded people.

Who are you kidding yourself? You never had a chance. You're just a blind little kid in his eyes, a mean voice told her. Suki is tall and funny and I bet she's beautiful. You're like a little sister to him.

With an angry grunt, Toph launched a wall of rock away from herself. It collided with pillars of rock she'd formed and it all crumbled to the ground. A tear rolled down her cheek and she rubbed it away, leaving a streak of dirt. She conjured up a pile of boulders and punched them away from her into the cliff face. She had no real reason to be upset.

And she really was happy for Sokka. He deserved happiness, and Suki gave that to him. She was just bitter (because she was alone, the voice whispered). Her feelings for Sokka were just a crush, and the gratitude for saving her life. I bet Zuko and Katara feel the same way, she told herself comfortingly. The mean voice whispered, but at least she has Aang.

Toph fisted her hands. "I don't need anybody!" she yelled into the quiet night. "I've always done everything on my own and I don't need anyone now either!"

Who are you trying to convince? The voice laughed.

In her dream she wore a fine green silk dress. She was bathed and fresh, and a flying boar sat near her feet. She was in an unfamiliar place. Her feet could see well, but she did not recognize the glade before her. In its center was a large willow before a pond of water. There was something in the water.

Toph approached cautiously, using all of her seismic sense to gauge the pond properly. But she couldn't see.

She knelt at the water's edge. The flying boar stopped beside her. Hesitantly she reached out for what she could sense there. Her fingers touched a smooth, cool object. She cupped it in her palm and withdrew it.

"It's a flower," she said to her animal companion. She fingered its petals. "A lotus, if I'm seeing right." Her mind drew forth a memory of her dear friend Iroh., with his wisdom, tea, and warm laugh.

"That's correct," said the flying boar. "He needs your help, Toph."

Toph turned her unseeing eyes on the animal. "Why does he need my help?"

"Treachery in the midnight hours. Who will be the saviors? The guardians of the White Flower will foresee the dangers." With that, the flying boar ascended into the air and disappeared.

The flower in her hand suddenly grew heavy, and Toph released it back into the water. "What does that mean?"

Katara didn't stop until she'd reached the heart of Yu Dao. The hot, angry tears had stopped and she'd wiped them away, hoping no one would be able to tell she'd been crying. The entire city knew she was the Avatar's girlfriend. The last thing they needed was for rumors to spread about trouble in paradise.

She walked slowly through the streets of the marketplace. It was a hub of activity in the late evening, with many people out and about shopping, eating at the number of restaurants and cafes, or just mingling amongst friends. She saw a pair of young lovers walking with their arms linked toward the central pond, their eyes misty with affection.

Katara sighed wistfully as she watched them go. That should be Aang and me. But it's not. When Katara had first realized her affections for the Avatar, she had hoped for a romance like that. She wanted bouquets of flowers and little trinkets to woo her. She wanted walks along the waterfront and easy conversation. She wanted to be courted. But Aang had rarely, if ever, acted toward her that way. He always treated her like a friend. He's still so young in so many ways. And maybe his conservative monk upbringing had to do with it. He was raised entirely around men except for the rare occasion female Nomads would visit the Southern Air Temple. How much romance had Aang actually witnessed? What did he really know about love? Katara knew she wasn't an expert by any means, but at least she had seen her parents' love. They had been happy, and their relationship was not like hers and Aang's.

The waterbender wasn't sure what she was supposed to do. Maybe Aang was still too immature to give her the love she wanted. He was barely seventeen, after all. Maybe they had jumped into things too quickly. They had been thirteen and fifteen, still kids, reeling from the end of a war and looking for something to hold onto. She sighed in frustration. It would absolutely devastate him if she voiced her doubts to him.

"Katara!" Aang's voice called to her.

She looked over her shoulder and spotted him through the crowd, riding an air scooter. People dodged out of his way to avoid being run over. The air scooter dissipated from beneath him and he landed lightly on his feet in front of her. He held out a scroll to her.

"You got a letter right after you left. I think it's from the Southern Water Tribe." His voice lacked its usual enthusiasm and a pang of guilt pierced her.

"Thanks, Aang," she said sincerely. She broke the blue wax seal with her thumb nail. Her face lit up, hurt and anger momentarily forgotten. "It's from Sokka!"

"What's it say?" Aang asked, his own excitement overpowering his hurt feelings.

"He's going to the Fire Nation with Dad—he's going to ask Suki to marry him!"

"No way!" Aang exclaimed. He leaned in to get a look at the letter. "When are they going?"

"Midsummer. He wants us to pick up Toph and meet them there." She rolled her eyes, but she was smiling. "Quote unquote, he 'wants a Team Avatar reunion'."

Aang laughed. "Sounds good to me! Come on, let's go home."

Normally, Katara might have been upset that Aang was so eager to drop everything-including the Air Acolytes-for someone other than her, but she was too happy at the thought of seeing her brother and their friends to be bothered. Adventure awaited them, and she felt happier than she had in a long, long time.

She found herself in a tranquil garden. At least, she felt like it was a garden. The entire area was bathed in milky fog that obscured all detail. But she thought she could smell cherry blossoms, and it felt like dewy grass beneath her feet, and she could sense a small pool of water. She felt a sense of familiarity here, but she didn't know why.

For the first time she saw through the haze that three children sat on the pond's banks, their attention drawn to something in the water that she could not see. She could not see the faces of the children; their backs were to her. But she could tell that two of them were girls, one around age ten and the other one perhaps eight. One young boy sat between them.

She could make out no other discernible features. But there was something familiar about them, something she couldn't quite put her finger on. Before she could come any closer, the children dissipated like smoke on a breeze.

Aang lay in his bed that night unable to sleep. His fight with Katara bothered him. Even though they hadn't talked about it after they got Sokka's letter, Aang could tell she had still been upset by it. He mulled over their interaction to see what he had done wrong. She knew that teaching the Air Acolytes was important. If that carried over past dinner time, what was the big deal?

He thought she was jealous. Aang was able to connect with the Acolytes on a deeper level than he did with her. Maybe if she'd try to learn the monks' teachings more, she'd understand. But she had, for the most part, refused. And that bothered him too.

Aang might have only been seventeen, but his responsibilities were still his and he had to take care of them. He had found a home of sorts in the Air Acolytes. They were like his children (even if some of them were old enough to be his parents) and it was his job to nurture and care for them. He owed it to Monk Gyatso and the other Air Nomads to pass on their teachings, their culture, and their history. No one else was going to, so it had to be him.

Maybe he was a little unorthodox. Monks didn't have girlfriends. But Aang wasn't the most traditional airbender or Avatar, so bending the rules a little couldn't hurt. He and Katara had been through so much together. He loved her.

Still troubled, Aang fell asleep.

In his dream he stood on a broad rocky platform. To his right was boiling magma. To his left was only darkness. Sparks flew into the moonless night sky. The noxious smell of volcanic fumes burned his nose and grey-black ash rained down like snow.

Aang turned around and saw a shadowy figure standing on the far end of the ledge. They wore black from head to toe and a curtain of black hair obscured their face. A sword glinted dangerously in their hand.

"Who are you? I don't want to fight you!" Aang called out to the figure.

Violet eyes flashed and an arm shot out. A black cat launched itself from their shoulder toward Aang. Before his eyes the cat transformed into a ferocious, twisting black dragon with glittering amethyst eyes.

Aang screamed as the dragon swallowed him up.