Author's note: Happy holidays!

Fire Lady Azula,

At your request, I have located and compiled your husband's personal journals and formal diplomatic logs since your betrothal in 100 AG. My team and I spent the 3 days allotted to us indexing and summarizing as much as possible. Special attention given to long term diplomatic plans and your husband's personal entries during their development. As of this letter, I find no hint of foul play or "strange notions," as you termed it.

The loan of the typing machines was invaluable in speeding up or progress. Unfortunately, we were unable to meet your full requirements. With this letter, you will find the collated entries as well as the remaining journals and ledgers beginning in 148 AG. Kyala, having spent much time with us in the archives throughout her life, is on par with my best analysts. I am confident in her abilities to complete this task.

It is my hope that this information assists your husband in his speedy recovery. You are in all of our prayers.

Vika
Fire Nation Head Royal Archivist
[ROYAL SEAL]

Anyway, as I said, we traveled East. At least, we started by traveling East. There was naught but perfectly flat snow and ice as far as the eye could see with only the stars and moon to guide us. Thankfully, Katara seemed to have hear bearings even if I was completely disoriented. I followed directly behind her, matching her footfalls when I could. Something about her upbringing or perhaps just being a waterbender guided her to the safest routes where all I saw was just more ice and snow. Early in our journey I stepped deep into a snow drift - up to my hip. Katara, of course, came to my rescue. How embarrassing. Hah! I was mortified. Couldn't even take a walk without needing the assistance of youth.

When the wind picked up, we were blinded by flurries of snow and ice. All you could do was put your head down and keep on trudging forward. I bore Aang through it all. Perhaps it was the gravity of the situation, but be was not as heavy a burden as one would think. Katara protested the arrangement, of course, but I argued successfully that she should have her hands free to waterbend in case of an emergency.

And she did waterbend. There, under the stars, Katara explored her powers at first tentatively, then with growing confidence. Falling snow parted for us. The wind, at one point, suddenly lost its sting. Rivers of ice and snow flowed for our benefit, either out of our way or to reinforce our path. I could only watch in awe. She was very much an amateur, but she made up for it in raw potential. My awe turned to concern when she raised several man-sized piles of ice and, with one rage filled scream, swept her arms forward with a lunge and obliterated them. Katara stopped, breathing heavily as chunks of ice rained down around us. Somewhere out on vast expanse of ice a wolf howled long and low.

I knelt down and eased Aang from my back. My shoulders burned and my hips ached. Seemed like a good as time as any to take a rest break. I knelt down a took some deep breaths. Heavens it was cold. If there's one thing I'll remember from that night, it was the aching cold that just spread through you like a plague. Katara looked at me, but I could not see her face as it was obscured by shadow.

"How is he?" Katara asked, a hint of her own exhaustion bleed into her voice.

I cradled Aang's head in my lap and checked his vitals: weak. So weak. I shook my head. "He's hasn't been reincarnated, yet." I dribbled some water from my water skin into his mouth. He barely seemed coherent, yet somehow he managed to drink, anyway.

Katara circled us a few times, sweeping the horizon with each pass. I could barely make out anything against the ground and I was curious what, if anything, she was looking for. She froze suddenly and glanced at me over her shoulder. "We need to get moving," she warned and turned her attention to whatever she'd spotted. She seemed to straighten up - to appear as tall and imposing as possible.

"What do you see?" I hefted Aang onto my back again, a little less gentle than I'd hoped. Aang merely grunted.

"A pack of wolves. 4 or 6. It's hard to tell in this light."

"Perhaps they're just on the move?"

"No such luck, I'm afraid. They're spread out over a wide area trying to box us in. We need to get somewhere where we can defend ourselves easier."

I looked around and found nothing but flat tundra. No happy outcropping or ravine or cliff. A few areas that may be ponds during summer days, but were frozen solid now. "I see only ice and snow. Tell me your plan involves one of those."

"I think I can make a shelter with my bending, but they'll dig under it if it's on snow. Where's the closest patch of ice?"

And we moved quickly. Well, as quickly as an ancient woman hefting a 12 year old boy cajoled by a 14 year old girl. I could hear them before long. They noticed our change in direction or maybe it was just time. Out of the dark, another long howl echoed across the tundra. This time the howl was answered by what sounded like dozens of calls from every direction. We were well and truly surrounded. Boy did that light a fire under my ass. Hah!

I was moving so fast I didn't realize when we reached the ice. Of course, I slipped - barely kept my balance while I desperately tried to find my footing. Katara had better luck. She was in her element, that girl. She glided on the ice with ease and caught my elbow. With one fluid motion, we knelt down, Aang between us, and she wove a bubble of ice around us. The thick walls were clear enough to see through, though it warped the view of the outside world somewhat.

"You've faced wolves before, I assume?" I asked, hopefully, "You seem pretty knowledgable on the subject."

"I only know the stories our dad told us. Stay in one spot and defend yourself. Make yourself look bigger than you are. Whatever you do, don't run. Whistle sweet songs and they'll go to sleep." She laughed at the absurdity of the advice. "What I wouldn't give to have him here."

We waited for what seemed like hours, but what was probably closer to 2 or 3 minutes. The wolves came from all directions. A sea of grey and white fur, snarling and panting. Warped by the ice, their visage and forms looked warped and unnatural. They scratched and bounced off the ice wall, testing its strength with their claws. They dug at the ice patch itself, but found little purchase. They howled and whined in their frustration. We just sat there. Both of us felt on edge.

A thundering bark like an oak trunk splintering caught everyone's attention: ours and the wolves. In unison, the wolves fled in a single direction only to return flanking the largest wolf I'd ever seen: the alpha. You could barely make it out in the dark, its fur was so black. It glared at us with crimson eyes. Leading with a sonorous howl that pierced my heart with terror, the alpha coordinated what started as a bobbing motion that rippled through the whole pack. Crouching, then leaping forward a bit, before returning to their original position. They moved in perfect harmony with each other. It almost looked like…

"They're bending!" Katara screamed and leapt on top of Aang and me.

The wolves leapt forward as one. I heard the deafening crack of the ice exploding followed by Katara screaming. The world whirled around me as I rocketed through the air before greeting the frozen earth with my left shoulder. I tumbled a few times and felt the sickening snap of my collarbone breaking, but somehow I felt no pain. Adrenaline is a hell of a drug. I struggled to move I was so disoriented. My limbs felt like they were made of taffy and they moved long after I told them to. I couldn't focus and had lost all sense of myself.

Katara's shrieking brought me to - crystalized my thoughts. I rolled to one side and saw Katara trying to fend off the pack. Grey shapes darted at Katara forcing her to defend her bend, only to feint while another made a dash at Aang. The wolf grabbed Aang by the leg and started to drag him away. He moaned and Katara shouted with defiance and attacked it, only for the wolf to run while another sank its teeth into her ankle from behind. Katara screamed in anguish and waterbent a spear of ice right through the wolf, pinning it to the ground. It squealed and struggled against the ice, strong paws kicking snow and ice before it slumped against the spear. Blood gushed from Katara's wound, but she hobbled over to Aang, anyway. The wolves fell farther back and circled her, wary of her bending, but undeterred.

I somehow found the strength to stand. What was my masterful plan to ward off our certain death? Truth be told, I had none. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I just knew that if I could get to Aang and Katara things would work out. I limped a few feet only to find my path blocked by the pack's alpha male which had its full attention on me. It advanced slow and snarled with teeth bared. Glistening, perfectly white teeth. That and the red eyes were all I could see of it.

I was wrong when I thought it had black fur. It had no fur. Nor a body, that I could discern. Nothingness bound to a wolf's shape - as black as a starless sky and bottomless as the deepest ocean. The snow that drifted on the wind fell into. Not as snow catching on fur, but falling into an endless chasm. It cast no shadow nor did the ample moonlight illuminate any features. A true unworldly horror stood before me and I froze. I'd seen my share of war and pain and suffering. On the rare occasion I've even interacted with spirits when the need arose. Yet this? Beyond my comprehension.

The alpha snapped its menacing jaws and lunged. All I could do was shut my eyes. My entire body went rigid, prepared for a quick death. I heard the thud of a powerful impact and felt a spray of snow on my face, but I was still standing. When I opened my eyes, I saw the most beautiful sight in days.

A large cat, white with black spots intervened. It gored the nightmare's side with sharpened antlers and fought to overwhelm the beast. The wolf howled in pain and snapped wildly at the snow leopard reindeer, but to no effect. Atop rode a masked warrior in a blue leather parka lined with polar bear fur. With one smooth gesture he called up a deluge of snow and sent the wolf tumbling end over end. I might've found the effect funny had I not almost died moments before.

The wolves that antagonized Katara and Aang left their prey and rushed to the creature's defense. Some formed a snarling and growling defensive line between it and our savior while others coaxed their fallen leader up. It stood, shakily. For a long moment, it gazed at us with those red eyes. Was it calculating chances of success or putting our faces to memory? Then, it barked and turned. The pack ran off in silence.

We watched the wolves depart in silence. The warrior's snow-leopard reindeer anxiously paced back and forth until they were well out of range. Finally, the warrior slid off his mount and approached me cautiously.

"Are you alright?" the warrior asked.

"No, but there's someone who needs your help more."