Chapter 10

Kura looked around curiously, standing up. The area around her seemed slightly similar to where she'd been in the North Pole: She was on a little island, only now it was of stone, not grass, in the middle of some sort of area of water. Except now, instead of a pond, it was a vast swampy land. She crossed a little bridge to the main land, and saw a baboon-type creature meditating.

"Excuse me...?" she ventured.

"Go away." he said flatly, his eyes still closed. Kura stood there, not sure what to do. After a moment, the spirit peeked one eye open. "You're still here." he pointed out, both eyes now open.

"Well, yes...I'm not quite sure where I should go..." she said, "I'm looking for-"

"Ooomb!" the spirit said, angrily cutting Kura off.

"But-..."

"Find a spirit who cares, girl." he said, beginning again to meditate. Kura sighed and walked on.

She wandered aimlessly through the swamp, not seeing any other spirits except an enormously large fox walking in the distant fog. Eventually, she came to a dead-end pool of water. She kicked a rock into the water and plopped down irritably. "This is impossible!" she cried.

"Perhaps I could help?" a voice suggested, and Kura looked down into the water to see the reflection young boy sitting there with nothing on his head but a blue arrow.

"Aang?" she asked excitedly.

"Yes. Hello, Kura." he said, smiling. His reflection melted upwards to a three-dimensional form sitting on the surface of the water in front of her.

"Um...hi." Kura said, not bothering to wonder how he knew her name, "So..." She trailed off, not knowing what to say.

Aang chuckled. "It's alright. I was a bit lost for words when I first met my past life, too. Of course, he'd sent me a vision, so we already had a topic of interest. But that's not our case. So why don't we begin by me telling you what you need to accomplish on your journey." he said. Kura nodded dumbly. "You already know, of course, that you need to master first water, then earth, fire, and air. And once you've done that, you must face the Fire Lord. But...I suppose you and your friends must have figured out that this simple plan has got more than a few holes."

"Uh, yeah." Kura agreed exaggeratedly. The two children laughed. The young girl liked this boy; he just seemed...joyful. That was the only word Kura could come up with to describe him, and it seemed to fit him absolutely perfectly.

"The main problem, it seems, is airbending?" Aang asked.

Kura nodded. "They're all extinct." she said, hoping she didn't just hit a pressure point. It wouldn't do well to upset her own past life. However, she would have to later.

Anyway, Aang raised his eyebrows mischievously and said, "Not anymore!" The girl gasped, and almost fell backwards.

"What do you mean?" she said incredulously, "They've been gone for over a hundred years!"

"And I was the last one left." Aang said. Kura nodded curiously, wondering where he was going with this. "When I died, I spoke with Roku here in the Spirit World. He told me that there had to be four elements in the world. That was just how it had to be. So he said that a few old friends of mine would be granted the power of airbending that night while they were sleeping. I visited their dreams and told them the news. There is now a small population of airbenders in the Northern Air Temple. That is where you must go." the boy explained.

"Wow..." Kura breathed. "So...after I learn firebending, that's where we'll go." Aang nodded. "Um, Aang? Sp-speaking of firebending...there's something you need to know about Zuko."

Aang sighed sadly. "Katara...?" he asked knowingly.

"I'm sorry, Aang." Kura said gently. Aang sighed again.

"I suppose there's no use being sad about it. I can't expect her to never love anyone again just because I died. ...But I don't think she ever knew I even loved her."

"Aang, she does!" Kura reassured him, "She knows it, and she misses you so much! It's just...she loves him too." She trailed off.

The deceased Avatar seemed to brighten a bit. "She really still likes me?" he asked, and Kura nodded. She somehow just knew it was true. It had to be. "I can't really be mad at Zuko, can I? He hasn't really done anything wrong." Aang said.

"Uh..."

"What?" Aang cocked his head.

"Aang, he has. He's done something horrible...to me. And Sokka." she said quietly. Aang's eyes widened with concern. "What happened was..." and Kura told Aang everything that Zuko had done since they'd arrived at the North Pole. "And Katara knows nothing about any of it. She totally buys anything Zuko tells her once he puts on the sweet act." she finished. Aang was shaking with rage.

"Come." he said simply. He stood up and walked back the way Kura had come. The girl followed, a bit afraid of what Aang might do, but a bit glad all the same. Zuko's rein of terror was about to end at last.

Eventually, the two Avatars arrived again at the place Kura had come to the Spirit World. "Time we went back." the boy said.

"We?"