The grass whispered in a breeze they didn't feel as they crossed the field toward the willow tree. It wasn't the Willow; Aang knew that. But it was similar, and it exuded a similar sense of power and old magic. Its boughs spread far and wide, casting a circle of shadows at its base. The air surrounding it hummed with its old magic. It seemed to go right through them, permeating their spiritual forms.
As they drew deeper into the field toward the willow, sepia-tinged light bled from the sky, leaving behind a melancholy bluish-grey. Aang was reminded of smoke. It threw the world around them into stark, contrasting hues of silver, grey, and black, and cast deep shadows where creatures could lie in wait, ready to strike.
Aang tried not to think about the energy that swirled around and through him, or the way he could feel unseen eyes boring holes into the back of his neck, or the way his spiritual energy was a livewire, coiled tight and ready to snap.
When they were mere feet from the shadows, a voice spoke. "So, the Avatar has finally come." The voice was soft and quiet, but Aang could feel the power in the speaker's words. It kicked his fight-or-flight instincts into gear.
Aang stared into the inky darkness, trying to find the source of the voice, but unable to see. He squared his shoulders. "I have. I'm here to learn how to defeat the Conduit."
Red eyes appeared in the shadows, inches from Aang's nose. With a startled gasp he took a step backward.
From the darkness, an imposing figure came striding out, his hair and clothing whipping in a wind that Aang and Toph couldn't feel.
Instinctively, Aang knew that this was the Sieshin Lord. His power felt similar to that of the Mother Willow, ancient and all-encompassing. It reminded him of the power he felt when he went into the Avatar State, but this was...different. Older. It was even older than the power the Lion Turtle had given him. Was that even possible?! Aang wondered.
Aang appraised the Sieshin Lord, his mouth set in a tight line and his brow furrowed. He wasn't sure what he had been expecting. After seeing Vaantu and Nianzu, he hadn't quite expected this.
The Sieshin Lord was some hybrid between man and fox, with alabaster skin and crimson-colored eyes. He was dressed in regal white robes adorned with gold embroidery on the collar and hems. His silver-white hair fell to his waist. A silver fox's tail swished behind him, and two silver fox ears were perched atop his head. His features were slim, cunning, foxlike, and his eyes shone with intelligence and wisdom.
The Sieshin Lord turned to Toph. He studied her with a placid expression on his face. Toph wanted to shy away from the spirit, from the terrifying power he held within himself. She could feel it in the air all around them. Every fiber of her being was telling her to run from this creature, run fast and far, but she rooted her feet to the grass and remained steadfast.
She would not show fear.
"It has been a long time since anyone has sought me out," the Sieshin Lord said, sounding almost thoughtful, as he turned his eyes back to Aang. His voice was light and melodic and almost pleasant. The corner of his lips pulled up into something that resembled a smile. "But desperate times, am I right?"
"Something like that," Aang said curtly.
The Sieshin Lord eyed the Avatar. "Once, a long time ago, your teachers used to come to me to test their mettle. But that was a century ago or more. It is my understanding that they're extinct now." He paused and cocked his head slightly to the side. "You know of the Warriors Guild, I presume?"
"I've heard of them," Aang replied coolly.
The Sieshin Lord nodded. "Once, they were a formidable guild of warriors. Their fighting skills were legendary. They were, of course, aided by me. They were born of my bones, my gift to humanity." He chuckled, a wholly unnerving sound. "To prove to me that they were worthy, they would seek me out here in the Spirit World to fight in a duel. And since I've never been one to turn down a fight, I would always accept. Those I deemed satisfactory were allowed to return to your world. For those who were weak...well. Let's just say I reclaimed my power from them." His sharp, milk-white teeth flashed in a dark smile. "Those who failed had proven themselves unworthy to carry my power inside of them." He sighed. The sound was nearly forlorn "The victors were eventually taken out, of course. Annihilated by the Kage Noshi." He rolled his eyes at that. "Vaantu and Nianzu's gift to humanity."
Aang felt a shiver of fear run through him as he thought of Katara and Zuko being hunted by the Kage Noshi. If the Warriors Guild had been taken out by them, what chance did Zuko and Katara stand?
The Sieshin Lord saw it, and his lips turned up in that deadly smile again. "Oh, I see you're already familiar with the Kage Noshi." His eyes flashed dangerously. "I could have hunted each and every one of them down and picked the flesh clean from their bones. I could have scourged their existence from memory, but I've learned to trust my instincts. I suspected they had a greater purpose at some point in the future. So, I allowed them to continue to live their miserable lives." He slowly turned to face Aang again. "It would seem like that time is now. After all, here you are."
"I need to know how to defeat the Conduit," Aang said. He didn't have time to hear this spirit prattle on about things that had happened in the past, or things that wouldn't help him now.
"You know the price you must pay," drawled the spirit. He held his hand out toward Aang, palm-up. A dagger, with a white handle carved from bone and a pearly blade, materialized there. Aang stared at the dagger but made no move. "I know that Mother has told you what you have to do."
"There has to be another way." Aang looked up at the Sieshin Lord. His brow was furrowed deeply. "I took an oath, and I plan to uphold it. I can't take a life. I refuse."
"You foolish monks and your precious oaths," the Sieshin Lord sneered. The blade disappeared and the spirit tucked his hands behind his back. "If you refuse to accept, then you won't learn what you came here for. I do not impart my knowledge for free."
"Aang," Toph said, her voice tight. She wanted to take his hand, but she didn't. She didn't need to make this any harder on him than it was already going to be. "You have to do this. We don't have a choice. Just do it, alright? I'll be okay."
"It's not polite to lie," the Sieshin Lord scolded her, wagging his finger at her as though he were reprimanding a naughty child. "We all know you will be far from okay. You will be dead." He spoke the last word in a harsh whisper. His milky teeth gleamed in an evil smile as he looked at her with hunger in his blood-red eyes.
This spirit, Toph decided, had some problems.
Aang winced at his callous words. "There has to be something else I can give you," he insisted. He struggled to keep the pleading tone from his voice. He spread his hands wide and dared to take a step closer to the spirit. "Anything. I'll do anything but that." He glanced over at Toph. "I can't do it, Toph. I'm sorry."
She shook her head sadly and refused to meet his gaze. Aang, don't do this, Toph pleaded with him mentally. We can't afford to deal with your beliefs right now.
The Sieshin Lord sighed and inspected his cuticles as if he were bored. "You airbenders are all the same," he remarked. "But your predecessor, Avatar Yanchen, knew that sometimes you have to sacrifice your own convictions for the greater good." He cocked his head. "But you've struggled with that in the past, haven't you?"
Aang bristled. He knew his mistakes; he owned them. He didn't need them to be thrown back into his face. He knew Toph thought he was making another mistake, but Aang didn't think he was. Something deep inside of him was telling him that he was doing the right thing. Toph was not meant to die here.
The Sieshin Lord looked at Aang, his eyes flickering back and forth between the Avatar and Toph. "You must care about her a great deal if you're willing to risk the balance of the world to spare her life."
"She's my friend," Aang retorted from between gritted teeth. "I would never hurt her. No matter what the stakes are."
"Is that so? Tsk, tsk, tsk...such a fool you are. And you call yourself the Avatar?" Another sigh. Suddenly the Sieshin Lord sat down, cross-legged, in the grass. He rested his chin in his hand and looked up at them. He waved his other hand toward the grass at their feet. "Well, sit down. I'm not going to strain my neck to look at you."
Obediently, the two sat, exchanging a puzzled glance. Aang didn't want to get his hopes up, but things were definitely not going the way he expected them to. If he was reading the situation right, the Sieshin Lord might have been starting to acquiesce.
The Sieshin Lord fixed his crimson gaze on Aang. It seemed as though he was trying to communicate something through his eyes, but Aang couldn't quite figure out what it was. He stared back. It was like looking into a void; cold, endless depths that stretched beyond what he could comprehend. It was unnerving.
"I am very old, Aang. I have been around since before the birth of your world. I have seen many things in my long life," the spirit said. "I saw the Harmonic Convergence that led to your creation. I saw the Disharmonic Convergence that led to your counterpart. I have seen Avatars and Conduits alike come and go. It's interesting," the Sieshin Lord paused, tapping one long finger against his pale lips. "how the world is constantly being pushed and pulled by unseen forces. Why, the Avatar and the Conduit have been doing this dance for ten thousand years, similar to Tui and La's eternal dance, mostly unaware of their true sway on the balance."
Aang sat silently and as still as a statue. He didn't know what to make of this. The Sieshin Lord was imparting knowledge onto him. Was it some sort of ploy or trick? Or was the Sieshin Lord willingly telling Aang things he needed to know? He didn't know, but he watched the fox-man closely, waiting for any signs of deceit or danger.
The smile was back. "But I have said too much already," the spirit said, his blood-colored eyes twinkling in amusement. "It's amazing how a century of solitude encourages one's tongue to run away from them."
"Why don't you just keep talking and tell us what we wanna know then? You know, get it out of your system." Toph remarked bitingly. "Then we can get out of here."
The Sieshin Lord laughed. The sound was jarring in the silent air. He pointed at her again. "I like you. You've got a fire that burns within you, as bright as the sun." He considered her. "I wonder if, in another life, you could have been a firebender. You've certainly got that spark."
Toph clenched her jaw, her hands balling into fists at her side. "Ugh! Why does everyone always assume that firebenders are the only ones with a so-called 'spark'? I could beat any firebender, any day. And I'm an earthbender, through and through."
"So you are, I do believe," the spirit demurred. His eyes turned toward the Avatar once again. "She is the Yin to your Yang, you know, the push to your pull. Balance. It exists everywhere."
"I know that," Aang snapped. "That's why we're here."
"And yet, you won't do what you need to do, Avatar." The Sieshin Lord's words were cold and sharp. "Does that make you brave, or a coward?" He nodded his head thoughtfully, as if he heard an answer that Toph and Aang didn't. "Hm, yes, I suppose it does," he mused.
"What will it take for you to tell me what I need to know?" Aang demanded, his patience wearing thin.
The Sieshin Lord suddenly stood, the movement fluid, as if he had no bones at all. He leered down at Aang and Toph. The dagger appeared in his hand again, and with a smooth flick of his wrist, the blade buried itself in the grass between them. "It's simple...kill her."
Aang jumped to his feet. "No! I have come too far, I've seen too much, to throw away all of my values and teachings!" He was trembling with emotion. "I defeated Fire Lord Ozai without taking his life. I found another way, and I'll do it again. And I'll find out how to fight the Conduit without taking their life, too!"
"And what will you do when you finally realize that there is no other way, Avatar?" the Sieshin Lord inquired. "Don't you realize you will have to kill her in order to keep the Balance?"
"I don't think I do," Aang countered hotly. "I don't care what the prophecy says. Nothing is set in stone. Nothing! That's why you're going to tell me what I need to know, so I can go save the world. Again."
"Aang…" Toph said as she got to her feet. She elbowed him. "You might want to show some respect to an all-powerful spirit who can kill you on a whim," she murmured.
"Your friend has a good point," the Sieshin Lord remarked. He turned back toward Toph and cocked his head, eyeing her curiously. "You've changed since you entered the Spirit World. Something about you...something you've left behind."
Toph swallowed hard. She didn't like the way he was looking at her, as if he could see through her skin, right to her core. To her surprise, the spirit lord reached out toward her. She tried to duck under his touch, but something like a cold wind wrapped around her and held her in place. Before Aang could even react, the Spirit Lord's fingertips pressed to her forehead. His touch was cool and dry, like a room that had been sealed for many years.
Toph's head spun and she squeezed her eyes shut as she lost all sense of direction. Her ears roared.
"Ah," he said, withdrawing his fingers. "Your earthly body is blind."
Toph swayed unsteadily on her feet. Aang looped his arm around her waist to keep her upright as Toph massaged her temples, her ears ringing. Once she had recovered, she glowered at the Sieshin Lord.
"I might be blind topside, but I'd still mop the floor with you," she spat.
The Sieshin Lord laughed, clearly amused by her. "Ah, but you're in my territory now, aren't you? And what are you without your bending? Sure, you can see now, but you are defenseless."
"But I'm not," Aang interjected, subconsciously pulling Toph closer. An idea was forming in his mind. It might have been crazy—it probably was. He didn't know if it would work or not, but he was running out of options, and time. He jabbed a finger at the Sieshin Lord. "You're going to tell me what I need to know, and then Toph and I are leaving."
"And how are you going to do that?" The Sieshin Lord laughed again. The sound twinkled on the air like a windchime, but it carried an undertone of malice. "You have nothing to offer me. And you have nothing you're willing to give to earn my knowledge."
"I know that," Aang remarked placidly.
"What are you doing, Aang?" Toph asked from the corner of her mouth. She turned her eyes up to him. "What's the plan here?"
"I'm working on it," he answered.
The Sieshin Lord heard their conversation and arched one silvery eyebrow as he crossed his wiry arms over his chest. Aang eyed him. He had one shot...one half-baked plan. He wished Sokka were there, with his strategies and planning. He would have come up with a way to subvert the Sieshin Lord's toll days ago, before they had even come to the Spirit World.
And he also wished Katara were there. She would support his crazy plan. At least, she would have...before she broke up with him. But Aang shook his head to clear thoughts of Katara from his mind. It was easier than he thought.
For the first time in weeks, dismissing the thought of her did not cause his heart to twinge painfully.
"Do tell," the Sieshin Lord drawled, sounding partly amused, and partly bored. "I'm dying to know what you've come up with."
Aang stepped forward, releasing Toph as he did so. He didn't know if the Sieshin Lord would go for it, but he would be damned if he didn't at least try.
"You say you never turn down a fight..." Aang began, his shoulders set and his brow furrowed as he tried to make himself seem larger and more imposing than he was.
His resolve faltered for just a moment, anxiety gnawing at him: what if I lose? Then he looked down at Toph, her wide green eyes staring at him, and he knew he had to do whatever it took. It was the push he needed, and he met the blood-red eyes of the spirit lord.
"Then I challenge you," Aang finished boldly, his voice ringing clearly over the open space. It seemed to carry with it the power within himself, the strength of the past Avatars, just out of his reach in this realm but still inside of him. "To a duel."
"Aang!" Toph grabbed his arm, her fingers digging into him. "You can't bend! You can't go into the Avatar State! How are you going to fight him?"
"Trust me, Toph," Aang said, looking back at her and flashing her a tight smile. He turned back to the ancient spirit. "I can't bend in the Spirit World, but I've still got the knowledge of the past Avatars within me, right here." He tapped a finger to his temple. "And a lot of them knew how to fight without bending."
"What an interesting development," the spirit drawled languidly.
Aang narrowed his eyes at the Sieshin Lord. "Yeah, maybe it is. So I'm challenging you to a duel. If I win, you give me the knowledge I need to defeat the Conduit. If I lose, you can kill me."
The Sieshin Lord's lips curled into a cruel smile. "Oh, I won't kill you. That honor is reserved for the Conduit, when you leave here without knowing how to defeat her."
"We'll see about that," Aang growled. He stepped in front of Toph. "Do you accept?"
The Sieshin Lord's lips curved into a wicked smile. "I accept, Avatar Aang. It's refreshing to see that you are not a complete coward. Foolish, perhaps. But at the very least, you aren't a total disgrace to your past lives." He cocked his head to the side. "Now, if you lose, let's say you owe me a favor. Does that sound fair?"
"To say that I would owe you a favor seems to suggest that I win the battle against the Conduit." Aang arched his brow. "Are you saying you know that I'm going to win?"
"Tsk, tsk, tsk." The Sieshin Lord shook his head with disapproval. "Now Aang, you should know that you won't be able to get such information out of me so easily." His eyes gleamed mischievously. "And who says that I know for sure anyway? No, my dear Avatar. Even if you do lose, it will only be your earthly body that ceases to exist. You will come here. So you see, you'll be able to assist me when I come to collect my favor, regardless of the form you're in. Now...do we have a deal?"
Aang and Toph exchanged a look. Then he turned back to the spirit and nodded once.
"Good. Now that that is settled…" The spirit lord held out his hand, palm facing the ground. A katana appeared in his hand, its blade as black as a moonless night. The silvery hilt gleamed in his hand. "Choose your weapon, Aang. Anything you want."
"A staff," Aang replied coolly. "I want a staff, made of ancient oak."
"An interesting choice." The Sieshin Lord held his free hand out. A fine staff, almost like Aang's glider, materialized.
Aang took it and hefted it experimentally. He could work with it, he was confident of that. He met the Sieshin Lord's cool gaze with a fiery one of his own. He pointed out to the field. "Out there, in the open. No shadows for treachery."
"Boo, someone's no fun." The Sieshin Lord gave him a dark smile. "As you wish, Avatar."
Iroh remained sitting in the garden, dutifully guarding over the hunched forms by the pond. When their spirits had evacuated their living vessels, their bodies had leaned forward until their foreheads had pressed together. The boy's arrows were glowing a blinding white in the darkness, but Iroh found it comforting, in an odd way. The white in the black night was a symbol of hope and goodness in troubled times. Spirits knew the world needed it.
He needed it.
Iroh trusted the spirits. He trusted the Mother Willow. He knew that they would guide those who needed guiding along the paths of their destinies. He believed in his nephew and the Water Tribe Princess. He knew that they would give their all to protect the world. And he knew that they would find their destiny along the way. He believed in the Water Tribe Prince and the Kyoshi warriors. He trusted that they would do whatever it took to keep Zuko's throne safe, and to take down Azula and her dangerous fighters.
Most of all, he believed in the young boy and the small girl that sat before him. While the others had a great weight upon their shoulders, it was these two that would make or break it all. The efforts of the others mattered little if Aang and Toph did not succeed.
The Grandmaster felt his heart pull painfully as he took in Toph's small form. Iroh knew that looks were deceiving, but without her lashing tongue and sharp wit, she looked fragile, like the delicate petals of a white lotus flower.
She had become more than just a disciple to him. She was a friend, someone he genuinely loved and cared for. Knowing her fate, and keeping it from them, had not been easy. However, Iroh had known it was necessary. But it did not stop him from grieving her.
He knew that when the Avatar returned, she would not be coming with him. Destiny might sometimes be a funny thing, but fate...fate could be so cruel.