A/N: This chapter takes place prior to the previous one. I understand that may be confusing, but it's just how I happened to write them.


Jomei found Karida sitting on the edge of a cliff, looking down at the long fall off Sky's Edge Pass. It was the second day of their flight north from Teoro and night was falling swiftly. They had descended a long way from the high mountains, but the air was still bitterly cold and swirls of snow were already falling from the white void of the clouds overhead. Siensao and Zoukani were a good distance off down the trail, setting up camp in the earthbent cave meant to shelter travelers along the pass. The desert woman didn't move as he walked up next her and sat down, legs dangling out over the lethal drop. There was a dusting of snow on her head and shoulders and her breath was a white mist in the air.

"You shouldn't wander off," he said after a long silence. "It's dangerous up here for someone alone. Once this snow picks up, if you get lost, no one would find you until spring."

"I know," she said, still looking down, watching the snow fall away into the abyss, "I was hoping you wouldn't come after me. In the desert, it gets very cold at night. During the dry season, in some places, ice covers the ground in the morning. Outsiders have frozen to death there. Those we saved have always said that it was a very peaceful way to die, that it was…like drifting away into someplace warm and safe. I think I'd like that."

"I've heard the same stories," Jomei said, nodding, "But I can't let you do that. I need your help."

"Siensao can find you help," Karida said, shaking her head, "She can find you somebody better than me. You wouldn't even have taken me with you if I weren't a sandbender and a warrior. I slow you down."

Her words cut like the icy edge of the wind and Jomei winced. That's true enough. Teoro comes first. The Earth Kingdom comes first. Everything else doesn't matter. But for the first time in many months, he felt a twinge of guilt about that. Two days is all it takes for me to go soft? Pathetic. I can't let this get in my way.

"I don't trust Siensao," he said, "We have a deal, that's all. That's what I asked for and that's what she gave me. Maybe later, when she's proven what she says, it'll be different. But you helped me when I was just the other prisoner in your cell. Bones of the earth, you killed a guy for me. So yeah, I trust you more than I would anyone Siensao found for me."

"You can't stop me," she said, shaking her head. "Just go away and let me die in peace. I think I've earned it."

Jomei ground his teeth, hands tightening into fists. Dammit, what the hell am I supposed to do with a suicidal sandbender? I'm no good at this! All I can do is break things.

"All right," he growled, standing up, "You want to die, fine. Let me help." He reached down and picked her up with both hands as though she weighed nothing, swinging her out over the fog-shrouded abyss below. She screamed, the first time she'd done so since he'd met her, and clutched at his arms with manic strength.

"No!" she cried out, legs kicking madly at the air, "Please, don't!"

"What's wrong, I thought this was what you wanted?" he snapped. "Make up your mind!"

"No, I mean, yes, but, this isn't the right way! I don't want it this way! It'll hurt! What if I don't die from the fall and lay there for days with all my bones broken and wolves come and eat me alive? I can't take that chance! Please, just put me down! Please!"

"Did you ever actually try and kill yourself before?" he asked, ignoring her pleas. She shut her eyes, and he saw tears start up.

"No," she said miserably. "I…I was told not to…and everything I thought of would hurt too much."

"So that's what this is about," Jomei said, disgusted, "The world hurts too much. Well, that's never going to stop. I keep going forward because I'm going to make all that pain worth something. If I found a reason to live, so can you."

"There's nothing left!" Karida cried out, "You have no idea what she did to me! There aren't words for what I've been through! It was all so that I'd be like this, too afraid to even kill myself properly, otherwise I would have! I would! I want this more than anything I've ever wanted in my life and I can't do it! This is the only way. Just…just sitting here in the snow."

"Then you were wrong," Jomei said, swinging her back onto the trail and setting her on her feet, "I can stop you, and you know it. And I will, because like I said, I trust you, and I need your help. You don't get to die yet."

"I hate you," she whispered, wiping the half-frozen tears from her eyes.

"Join the club," he said with a shrug. Probably never going to be the right time to ask ,but I heard what you said. Maybe someday I'll find out who she is. And maybe I'll kill her for doing this to someone. That'll be an interesting day.