Chapter 3

He didn't seem to feel a wind but there was a chill all the same. It set into his bones and perhaps his own soul. Or did the chill come from his soul itself?

A light came from a doorway ahead of him. From his angle he did not see it well but rather felt the warmth from it.

He pushed himself to stand and walked slowly, carefully to the door. The moment his hand touched the doorknob he heard a voice come from inside mad call his name. Varrick did not know the voice but it asked him to enter.

What struck Varrick first was the scents of the room. Heavy with smoke but laden with sweet incense. This was his room Varrick was sure, that was his bed that he really wishes he could sleep in right now. But he could hardly recognize it. All around the room were dishes of fine foods and ornate tea kettles and pots. Steam still rose from a majority of the pots. A great fire burned in the hearth illuminating a game of paisho well under way.

And there among the gleaming dishes the ghost stood. He looked to be little more than a man, and an old one at that. His hair was white and his skin showed lines from aging. He wore a long green robe that reached the floor and hid, what Varrick was sure was a fat guy, from view. In one hand he held a torch shaped like a horn that he held high even as he played his game.

"Come in," the spirit said, "come in. I have been waiting for you." The spirits voice was soft and kind and his eyes were bright and clear. "Have you ever seen someone like me before?"

"Only in stories." Varrick said as he recognized the spirit, "the dragon of the west,"

"But now I am the spirit of the present. Your present, everyone's present."

"General Iroh," Varrick said as the spirit stood, "take me where you have to. I already learned so much."

The spirit nodded slowly "touch my robe."

Holly, berries, mistletoe, and garland strewn all around the room disappeared. Game birds and apples and the many pots of tea vanished along side it. The bedroom and the fire all completely gone.

What existed instead was the morning of the Winter Solstice. The people were just as cheerful as they were the previous night if not more so. Corners were lined with people singing or playing music. Children played. Adults danced as though they were children. Serving boys passed through crowds carrying steaming pies and turkeys and mounds of spices wassail. Even the people working the streets, shoveling the snow from the streets or rooftops could not know grief.

Iroh led him through the cheerful city until he reached a small apartment nestled on the third floor of a complex. It had nothing worth mentioning to anyone, only a few small rooms and a kitchen and bathroom. If it hadn't been for the fact that the spirit had led him there Varrick probably never would have stopped to look in on the place.

In the house a wife and daughter set a table. The both of them, especially the mother,Varrick was sure he knew. Her olive green eyes, short hair, and slender frame had burned a place in his memory but not well enough to place where. The two sang a little solstice tune together as they worked. At the end of the song the front door burst open and Varrick's employee stepped in to finish the last line.

"What have you brought me too?"

"The home of your employee." The spirit answered simply.

The daughter ran up to hug her father. Bolin held her and spun her around the room. "Oh Tinley you're getting so big!" He laughed as he did

"Not nearly as big as you dad." The girl said poking his belly

"Hey I've cut back a lot you know." Bolin patted the girls head and took a moment to embrace his wife "And how's my baby girl?"

The wife, Varrick finally recognized her as Opal, smiled and kissed him "doing just fine. Your brother and the avatar are in the other room. She was tired so I let them rest."

"That's good. Where's Yonten?"

"Here father," the voice of a young boy came from down the hallway. What emerged was a young boy who walked painfully slow relying on a crutch. His breaths came in pants as though what had accomplished was a challenge enough.

"And how's my brave little man?" Bolin asked picking him up and throwing him a bit before setting him on a chair at the table. Yonten laughed as a response.

"Alright Bolin enough playing around," Opal said, "I've got a lot of work to do if we're going to be finished cooking by diner. Did you bring the-"

Bolin rushed to her side and took her hands before she could finish her sentence. "There isn't a bonus this year baby girl, so no turkey."

"What? Bolin we have guests. You could have told me this sooner."

"I didn't know until last night for sure."

"The avatar and your brother are here. What am I supposed to give them soup?"

"I know it's a little tight but I managed to get us a duck. It'll be alright baby girl. You'll see."

"Alright. I'll work with this." She kissed his cheek before waving for Tinley to join them in the kitchen.

An hour passed of Bolin playing with Yonten. After a while they were joined by both Korra and Mako, their fingers intertwined. When dinner was finished they all were called to the table. There were comments about how it was the best duck they had ever tasted, the juiciest and the cheapest. There was questions from the older brother about how he wasn't allowed to help pay for this Solstice banquet. Bolin had said firmly that this was his treat.

By the end of the diner Bolin raised his glass and said "To Sir Varrick, the founder of the feast,"

"Founder of the feast," Opal snapped "if he were here I'd give him a piece of my mind to feast on."

"Baby girl it's the Solstice. Please."

"Fine," she sighed "I'll drink to his health for your sake but not for his."

Bolin nodded, satisfied and they all raised their glasses. Little Yonten was the one to lead them saying "to Sir Varrick!" As brightly as any oblivious child would. But the general mood of the dinner had all but been ruined as the entire family went from being cheerful to filling an obligation in seconds. It wasn't until the conversation shifted away from Varrick did the family remember they were supposed to be happy.

The spirit led Varrick away then as they started into a round of games. As Varrick followed the last glimpse Varrick had of the family was of Bolin sitting beside little Yonten. He held his tiny hand tightly. His eyes were bright with humor and happiness but there was sadness behind his eyes that never seemed to fade.

"Spirit," Varrick asked, "that boy, is he well?"

"No. Medicine is expensive for his condition."

"Will he at least be alright?"

The firebending spirit rubbed his eyes. "I can see a crutch with no owner, and an empty seat at the table. If the shadows are unchanged by the future the boy will die."

"No. Say he will live. Find a way to save him."

"Why? Don't we need to decrease the surplus population?"

Varrick had no answer for the words he had said himself not so long ago. He followed the spirit out of the house in complete silence. He hardly even saw anything but his feet until he heard a voice he knew.

His nephew sat in a small home surrounded by something close to a dozen people. His nephew sat with his back to a fireplace as the gathered members asked him questions about what he had shown them in a charade. It was a sort of animal and it lived in the city. No one owned one and could not be tamed. It wasn't a polar bear dog or raccoon squirrel. It's was not a fire ferret or poodle pony or armadillo lion or turkey vulture or turtle duck. Finally one of the family stood and shouted,

"Oh I know! It's your uncle Varrick!"

His nephew raised his arms to welcome the answer and the room burst into a round of laughter. Only a voice stood against them. Varrick looked to see the owner of the voice but the spirit stood in his way and refused to move.

"That's hardly fair,"

"Oh it's only a little fun," the nephew responded.

"If he wanted to have an opinion he could have been here," he recognized the face of his father though it was worn and his skin dry like leather. Had it really been so long since he had seen his father?

"He's the only one who misses out honestly. And it was good turkey wasn't it?"

"It really was though." Someone else in the room agreed.

"But you're right," the nephew looked to the person Varrick could not see. "If anything he's given us something to laugh about. At the very least we could drink to his health."

"To Varrick." They said with no enthusiasm.

"And may he have a happy Winter Solstice. He didn't want it from me but may he have one anyway. And a happy new year too while I'm at it."

Varrick was prepared to make some comment or another but before he could the room was gone. His family gone. The fireplace and furniture gone. What replaced it was a crude and poorly constructed house. Te people in it he did not know and they are only meager bows of soup. But they were cheerful and laughed. The spirit took him many places. He saw both wealthy men and poor widows singing songs of the Solstice. Not a single soul was touched with anger or greed or hate as his own had been.

For a brief moment he had even seen Asami beautiful as ever. Everything about her was only an addition to her grace and elegance. And she smiled as the general bowed to her as a gentleman should have and kissed her hand. The spirit that led him could not have looked more proud. Varrick only wished that Hiroshi had the power to see this.

At the end of several hours they stood in an empty and unfurnished room. "I must leave you now," he said "I have a game to return to and wouldn't want to keep my friend waiting long."

"Wait. Before you go, what is that?" Varrick looked down and at the base of the spirits robe he saw a hand sticking out.

The spirit raised his robe and revealed two small children at his feet. Both were malnourished and he could see every one of their bones. Their skin seemed withered and dry and their hair thin like an ancient old man.

"These are spirits, like myself," he explained. "The boy is Ignorance. The girl is Want. No spirit is all good, or all darkness but these walk the line closer than any. You would do well to avoid them."

"Do try belong to you?"

"As far as any of us can tell they belong to man. They began when you did and have existed in this condition ever since."

"Isn't there anyone who can take care of them?"

"Are there no prisons?" The spirit quoted him a final time as he dropped his robe and began to fade away "are there no workhouses?"

And Varrick was left alone in the empty room. He heard the bell of a clock strike three times. The third hour had come. When he heard a sound behind him let out a cry. A great dark spirit came towards him.