I inhaled deeply, ignoring the all-too-familiar ache in my wrists and ankles. It seemed that Zhao had been planning for my recapture: when his men had taken me aboard his ship, I had found that a special cell had been constructed for me. I was bound in the "X" I had come to know and hate, the clinking of the chains rebounding gently off the steel box I found myself in. While the pain of my numerous recent beatings had all but disappeared over the past twenty-four hours, my manacles dug into my limbs every second of the day, chafing at the raw skin. It was a wonder that my arrows hadn't rubbed off.

I brushed the pain from my mind with practiced ease - spirits knew I'd seen worse - and returned to my meditating. I took another deep breath, letting it out slowly as I concentrated on the faint, otherworldly noises echoing around inside my head. As I listened, my eyes changed as my spirit half manifested itself, adopting a fiery orange-gold color while the pupils stretched into slits. A blistering itch sprang up on my shoulder blades, and I had to resist trying to scratch them heartily through my metal bands.

I maintained the state for almost five minutes, astounded at how easy it was. I breathed slowly, almost gingerly, as though any disruption to the pattern would snap me back down to earth. My imagination roved, listening to the faint, inaudible voices from the side of my mind that was always connected to the spirit realm, however tenuously. As I prodded with my thoughts, I found something I'd only ever come across once, more than a hundred years ago: a small nub at the back of my skull, almost buried by my human consciousness. Intrigued, I pressed against it subtly.

Immediately, the tattoos on my chest began to glow, filling my tiny cell with ruddy light. My skin began to crawl feverishly, and my spirit-induced eyes widened in surprise as my chi coursed suddenly like a fantastic drug through my system. Even as my jaw clenched with the unexpected pain, my lips pulled back in a harsh smile while I watched my arrow tattoos begin to glow like my chest. A slow roar built up in my mind, and suddenly I was certain: I was going through the change. I was finally achieving communion with my spirit side!

As soon as I realized this, the bands on my chest sprung to hissing, crackling life, arcs of blue lightning zipping across their metal surface. The runes grew white-hot, practically searing my flesh as an agonizing wave raced over my body, quelling all of my otherworldly symptoms as quickly as they had manifested. The nub in the back of my mind disappeared, and I was left shaking and dripping sweat while I hung limply in my chains, numb with disbelief. 'They… They work…' I thought, hardly believing it. 'These damn things actually work. That's got to be why I haven't ever been able to reach my spirit side!'

I spent the next hour repeating my experiment. But each time, as soon as I reached the brink of my body changing, the same thing would happen, and my accursed bands would drag me back to the corporeal realm. 'So why now?' I pondered absently, panting haggardly at the end of another failed transition. 'Why can I, all of a sudden, get so close? I've only ever been able to change my eyes, and I nearly had to kill myself to even get that far! So what's changed?' But try as I might, I couldn't think of anything that would suddenly wake up my normally-dormant spirit side.

A creaking in the corridor outside my cell alerted me that someone was coming; like before, there were still bars on the front of my cell. Voices and footsteps made their way toward me, and I pricked up my ears to hear.

"-down in the engine room," a muffled, flat voice was explaining. "I need to check one of the valves in here. It shouldn't take long."

"Do what you need to. Holler when you're done," said another voice. I strained forward in my chains, trying to look around the corner of the bars. A moment later, a familiar figure strode into view; even with the gas mask obscuring his features, I knew immediately who it was.

"Shun!" I hissed elatedly. "Over here!"

His head jerked toward my voice, but he casually removed a wrench from his tool bag and made a big show of examining a pipeline that ran right in front of my cell. "Dao?! What the hell happened?!"

"It's a long story," I answered sheepishly, "but we'll have plenty of time if you get me out of here. So how 'bout it?"

Shun cocked his head, and I could tell that he was giving me his signature guard look. "Dao, look at me!" He gestured to his getup, bare-chested and with a short braid at the back of his head. "I'm an engineer, not a prison hold guardsman. I don't have the keys!"

"Can't I, like, break a pipe or something here that you have to come in and fix?"

Shun's goggled face glanced over his shoulder quickly. "Why don't you try to think ahead for once?" he suggested as he replaced his wrench and removed some other tool I didn't recognize. "Even supposing I could get you out of here, what are you going to do, then? You do know we're on blockade duty, right?"

I frowned, puzzled. "Yeah, I heard Zhao say something about it. What is it, exactly?"

"The Fire Lord came up with it almost a decade ago. The only way into Fire Nation territory is through a Fire Navy blockade. From what I've heard, it's basically two rings of ships that patrol the edge of Fire Nation waters. They protect against invasion and help control the flow of goods and troops to the rest of the world."

I made a face. "Why would Zhao be going there? He just conquered Omashu almost single-handedly. What's the point of leaving all that glory to go sail in circles around the Fire Nation?"

"Orders," Shun answered simply. "Apparently, the Fire Lord's heard the rumors of his greatest enemy's return. He wants extra security around the homeland, just in case the Avatar decides to try something during the Solstice."

"Wait, what?" I turned an ear toward him as if I hadn't heard correctly. "The Solstice? The Summer Solstice is coming up?"

"The Winter Solstice," my friend corrected. "It's just two days from now. Less, actually."

I nodded to myself in satisfaction. 'That must be why it's so easy to reach my spirit side now,' I posited. 'The spirit world and the natural world practically touch during the Solstices. That just might be my ticket out of here…'

"Earth to Dao?"

"Sorry." I reviewed what Shun had told me. "So if we're just here as reinforcements for the Solstice, we should be leaving right after it's over."

Shun sucked his teeth. "Probably not," he confessed, causing me to look at him sharply. "Blockade duty is never that short. We may be here because of the Solstice, but there's no way we're only staying for a few days. A commander doesn't get reassigned on a whim, even by the Fire Lord."

"This sounds like an awfully long posting, then," I ventured unhappily.

"Exactly my point," Shun confirmed. "What's the point of helping you break out if there's nowhere for you to go for months on end?"

I chewed my lip while I tried to think of a way out of my predicament. I hadn't realized the situation was this bad. Every day spent as a prisoner was one less day that I could be out finding Aang. Being stuck in the middle of the open ocean didn't help matters, either. Shun was right; even if I got out of my cell, there was nowhere for me to go. "Shun, you've got to understand: I can't stay here. I need to find the Avatar."

Shun's breath huffed out in a rush from his mask. "For spirits' sake, Dao… Wait right there." Turning away grumpily, he strode out of sight. I heard him call to the prison hold guard, and for one split second, I thought that my old friend had finally given up on me. But a moment later, there was a stifled gasp, followed quickly by the clang of the hold's thick door. Footsteps returned down the hall, and there was Shun pulling off his mask, the relief evident on his red-lined face. "Thank the dragons," he said, trying to rub away the marks from the gas mask.

"What'd you do?"

"Told him there was a gas leak. Now, listen to me," he commanded, looking sternly at me. "You have got to drop this Avatar thing. At least for now," he amended quickly upon seeing my incredulous expression. "You need to concentrate on getting away from the Fire Nation and staying away. Looking for the Avatar is just going to get you hurt."

"Shun, how can you say that?" I asked gently. "He's the only hope for the world now! He's the only one who can stop the Fire Lord and bring back balance! It's worth a little pain on my part."

Shun was getting frustrated; I could tell by the way he was wringing his hands every so often. "This much pain? A hundred years of being a prisoner is worth it? He's the whole reason you're in this predicament, isn't he?" he reminded me, and I felt a sudden surge of unreasoning anger. "If he hadn't asked you to be his decoy-"

"Who said he asked me?" I retorted hotly. "Your damn country is the whole reason I'm in this predicament! The Fire Lord and the Fire Nation are to blame for what's happened to me, and for what's happened to the world. No one else."

Shun raised his hands a little, trying to pacify me. "Dao, that's not what I meant. I'm your friend, remember?"

"It doesn't matter," I sighed angrily. "You may be the only friend I've had in a long time, Shun, but at the end of the day you're just another soldier for the Fire Nation. I don't expect you to understand."

Shun's face fell, then suddenly tightened with hurt. "Is that so?" he asked icily. Then he donned his gas mask roughly and spun on his heel. "In that case, this soldier has duties to attend to."

And just like that, I'd once again alienated my only ally for miles around. Guilt welled up in the pit of my stomach immediately, but I shoved it away, too frustrated to deal with it right now. He was wrong, and I was right; I needed to get to Aang, help him bring down the Fire Lord and restore balance. Why else would I exist? I'd make it up to Shun later, one way or another.

He had brought me one piece of good news, though: the Winter Solstice was almost upon us, and with it a very real chance to get out of the Fire Lord's clutches for good. 'On the Solstice, the spirit world and the natural world are at their closest. Hopefully, if I try hard enough, I can reach communion with my spirit side.' Then, hopefully, it'd be a cinch to break my bonds and escape. And just like that, I'd be free to search for the Avatar.

'But what about Shun?' asked a small voice in my head. 'If you escape, he'll be alone on the ship.' I brushed this thought away, too; he liked being an engineer. He'd told me himself. He'd be perfectly happy to stay hidden in the engine room until the ship next made port; plus, Zhao had given up on finding him a while ago, so there shouldn't be anyone looking for him. 'You don't need a friend like him, anyway. He supports the Fire Nation's conquest, the Fire Lord's thirst for power. He can't be trusted,' said another voice silkily, and I found myself nodding uneasily as I thought it over. 'He's been a good friend, but what's more important: one man, or the whole world?' I nodded again, more firmly this time, and my fists clenched in anticipation.

'It's settled. On the Winter Solstice, I'm busting out of here. And spirits help anyone, engineer or otherwise, who gets in my way.'

The next day and a half passed in a blur of meditation, chi, and crappy meals from the galley. When I wasn't embroiled in a connection that was half-battle and half-conversation with my spirit, I was listening to the idle chatter of the guards that would occasionally stand inside the prison hold, hoping to glean any information about when we met up with the rest of the blockade ships and where we were exactly. As the hours wore on, the ethereal murmurs grew stronger, giving me glimpses into the spirit world from time to time. Once or twice, I even saw the faint outline of a spirit floating happily down the hallway outside my cell. But when I tried to talk to them, they always disappeared instantly. I guess they weren't used to a human being able to see them, even so close to the Solstice.

At some point of indeterminate time, a feeling of otherworldly energy swelled within the room, interrupting yet another meditation session. Suddenly, the nub of power in my skull seemed to protrude from the front of my brain, practically begging to be acknowledged, to be used. Just thinking about it caused my eyes to change to their rarer slit-pupiled form, and I could see strange multicolored ribbons snaking gently through the air, unconcerned by the constraints of chains or walls. I bared my teeth fiercely.

'At last.'

Even as I crashed through the barrier in my mind, the runic bands on my chest began to pulse, matching my tattoos as they began to flash with bloody red light. I flinched despite myself, waiting for the icy pain of the glyphs to start, but nothing happened. My relief was short-lived however: a few moments later, as I was reveling in the power coursing through my brain from the spirit world, my markings glowed with searing heat. I gave a soundless bellow, my mind scrambling to resist the excruciating pain; it made the frigid, burning cold of the bands seem like a cool breeze.

I screamed again, for real this time, a sound so agonizing that, in the tiny aware corner of my senses, I heard the guards come running. They stood helplessly in front of my cell, probably wondering what to do with me, when my tattoos' flashing became a solid glow of bright red. The soldiers gasped as my tattoos began to writhe and crawl across my body, burning new patterns down my arms and legs and following the path of my red arrows. My incisors twisted and warped, growing into dagger-like points, and an inhuman growl of pain echoed up through my throat. That damned itch started up between my shoulder blades again, quickly building to an unbearable crescendo; it was like the worst case of pins-and-needles crossed with a terrible sunburn. There was a sudden explosion behind me, slicing clean through the chains linking my arms to the ceiling.

I fell bonelessly to the floor, shivering in both body and mind as the change finished. The guards were long gone by this point; lucky for them. I don't know how long I laid there, but when I'd recovered, I sat up and scooched back against the wall to take stock. Or, rather, I tried to, but it's hard when you suddenly find yourself sporting a pair of nine-foot leathery pinions from your shoulders. I tentatively stretched one out as far as I could manage, then the other. The scales on the arms creaked faintly as I did, the skin stirring the close air.

I could scarcely contain my excitement. 'It worked! I've finally gone full spirit mode!' I laughed lightly, jumping to my feet with unbridled energy and enthusiasm. 'Thank you, spirits. Now I'm really going to be free.'

With a fierce grin, I turned to the bars of my personal prison. Flexing one hand and focusing my chi brought talons of flame popping into existence on my fingers with a whoosh. I gave an experimental swipe at the bars. My fiery claws passed through them like a super-heated knife through butter, turning the steel bright orange where they touched. Laughing freely now, I carved my way through the bars with ease and stepped out into the corridor, banging a wing as I did so. 'Oops,' I winced. 'This is going to take some getting used to.'

"Hey! Stop right there!"

I turned around and saw the squad of guards, weapons drawn, inching carefully down the hallway toward me. I rolled my shoulders, which caused my wings to flare a little. "Why don't you come down here and make me?" I challenged, baring my pointed teeth and hissing superheated steam at them. "You'll find it's a much fairer fight when I'm not chained!"

Turns out, I was wrong: it wasn't fair at all. They never stood a chance against me.

I sprinted through the ship, the route to the deck burned into my memory. I wasn't quiet about it, so I was unsurprised when I kept running into groups of panicked soldiers. I slaughtered everyone I came across, taking a century of anger out on the unlucky men. I didn't care; as far as I was concerned, they deserved it.

As I got closer to the deck, my enhanced ears pricked up, picking out the telltale whump of Imperial trebuchets. Apparently, Zhao wasn't taking too kindly to someone who was no doubt trying to run his blockade.

I slid to a stop underneath the forward hatch; Zhao was screaming "Fire!" just above me. "Hmmm… Make a grand entrance, or just get the hell out of here?" I wondered aloud. While I was wondering, the ship came to a sudden halt, causing me to bang my other wing as I almost fell over. 'What the hell?"

Curiosity overruling my sense of theatrics, I popped my bald head out of the hatch and peered around. Zhao was standing on the deck along with a party of firebenders, staring at something on the water. Frowning, I carefully pulled myself onto the deck and crept behind one of the trebuchets to the rail. My eyebrows nearly jumped off my face as I saw Zuko and Iroh on the deck of Zuko's old steamer, watching Zhao passively as they sailed unopposed between a gap in two warships.

'What's going on here?' I thought. 'Why would Zhao let Zuko into the Fire Nation? For that matter, why does Zuko want to sail here in the first place? Unless…' Eyes widening, I scanned the sky for the only thing that would cause Zuko to return early from his banishment. Sure enough, my spirit vision picked out a faint blue trail through the sky that led to a swiftly-receding white dot among the clouds. 'Aang!'

Shouting snapped me out of my elation and told me that I'd been discovered. Whirling, I saw that I'd already been surrounded by Zhao's boarding party. "Well, well, well, what have we-" Zhao's smug voice died in his throat as he looked at my spirit form.

"Nothing clever to say?" I taunted him, letting my claws flare into life. "I'm disappointed, Commander."

"FIRE!"

Zhao put word to deed, shooting a double-fisted fireball at me. His firebenders followed suit, billows of flame bursting from their hands. I chuckled and split the fiery stream down the middle with one hand, my firebending boosted tenfold by my newfound energy. "Is that it?" Grinning, I inhaled deeply and bathed the deck in flame from my jaws, sending Zhao and his cronies flying away to crash against the trebuchets or the opposite railing.

Much as I would've liked to stay and thrash it out with Zhao's whole crew - and despite how good it would have been for my blood pressure - I knew I shouldn't. Even in this form, I still had limits, and I needed to conserve my strength for finding Aang and possibly rescuing him from Zuko. I gave my wings a good stretch, then spread them to their full twenty-foot span before bidding the ship a not-so-fond farewell and diving headfirst off the railing.

I nearly landed in the ocean before I snapped my wings out and began to beat hard; it'd been a century and some change since I'd last flown under my own power, and it was definitely going to take some practice to get back into the swing of things. Still, my old, long-forgotten muscles remembered their job, and I was soon skimming along a few yards above the water's surface, too intent on following the thin, wavering blue ribbon that marked Aang's passage through the sky to enjoy any feeling of freedom.

That would come later.

'Agni above.' I gritted my teeth and beat my wings again, struggling against the pointed soreness in my chest and back. As glorious as it was to be airborne, it was a serious workout, one that I clearly wasn't prepared for. A couple of hours after I left the ship, I couldn't bear to stay so close to the ocean's surface any longer; it required far too much effort and focus than I was willing to expend, and I didn't know the limits of this form very well. Rather than risk falling into the ocean, I'd climbed high into the sky and slowed my breakneck pace, mostly relying on thermals from the sun-warmed water below to keep me aloft while I followed the Avatar's tell-tale trail of energy.

Now, the sun was setting in the west, casting a blazing reflection across the waves. For a while, I was worried that the Solstice would end before I could reach Aang, but then I saw the great plume of smoke and ash that curled almost lazily into the sky on the horizon. I knew then that I'd found the Avatar's destination: the eternally-active volcano of Crescent Island, home of the reclusive Fire Sages.

I frowned. 'Why would Aang go to the Sages?' I'd learned that the Fire Sages had been corrupted by Fire Lord Sozin long ago from a deserter who'd been caught hiding out in the Avatar's temple. 'Surely he knows they can't be trusted… And if he doesn't, why is he only now seeking their counsel?' My frown deepened as my confusion did. Whatever the reason, it was clear that Aang was most likely flying into a trap. I ignored the ache in my muscles and beat my wings again, cupping the air with the membranes and forcing myself forward.

It wasn't long before the island itself came into view, lava spilling down the sides to slip hissing into the ocean. As I got closer, I could see the tiered red and yellow roofing of the temple and the elevated walkway down to the tiny dock. With a grateful gasp, I angled toward the island, being careful to soar around the back of the grumbling volcano. I landed roughly on a crag of black volcanic glass, stumbling a few steps before skidding the last few feet on my knees. I winced, but wasn't concerned; in full-fledged spirit state, the missing skin should regrow in a few minutes. I took a moment to orient myself, then took off at a brisk jog across the uneven ground, heedless of the rocks and glass that stabbed into my soles with my objective so close.

I crested a cliff, the sun beginning to sink behind me as it threw my shadow across the streams of lava. Just a few dozen yards away, the magnificent temple rose up on its outcropping of volcanic stone. I squinted, my eyes picking up movement through the windows of the lower floors. 'That's either Aang or the Sages. Either way, it's time I introduced myself.' I set my jaw and took a running leap off the cliffside, snapping open my wings and surfing the hot air of the lava below directly toward the temple.

Aiming for a window on the second floor, I tucked in my wings and streaked downward, folding my arms over my head at the last moment. I smashed through the window like a meteor, rolling across the floor to dissipate my momentum and causing a hoarse shout of alarm from someone down the hall. Jumping to my feet, I saw the tail end of red robes disappearing around the corner. Folding my wings tightly against my spine, I ran after the sage, quickly catching up and bearing him to the floor.

"Got you!" I growled, grabbing him by the throat and slamming him against the wall. "Where's the Avatar?" I demanded. "Tell me!"

"Gone!" the man choked, his white beard splayed crazily across his chest as he batted ineffectively at my tattooed arm. "Gone for a hundred years!"

Snarling, I thrust him against the other wall, knocking the wind out of him. Then I lifted him as high as I could and willed the other arm's talons to flaming life, the tattoos glowing and giving off fits of sparks every so often. It might have been slightly more impressive if I was a bit taller - as it was, the sage just had to stand up taller on his toes - but I'm sure I was plenty menacing. "I don't have time for your games," I informed him, staring him down with a demon's eyes, "so unless you want to take a bath in the volcano, I suggest you tell me where the Avatar went!" I lit up the arrow on the hand around his throat, casting bright red light across his face to give him a little more motivation.

But the old man shook his head as best he could. "He just… got here… Mystery… Must stop him…" he stuttered, trying helplessly to gulp air. I let go and ran for my window, telling myself I didn't have time to terrorize the traitorous Fire Sage further. Turning the corner, I was dismayed to see only more corridors, gently lit by red lanterns. I realized I'd gotten lost in the maze-like temple while chasing the sage, and I growled in frustration, smoke leaking from between my teeth.

Suddenly, a great explosion from far above rattled through the walls, my enhanced senses picking out the individual booms. Figuring that the other Fire Sages had found Aang, I headed down the longest corridor, taking the left turn when I came to it. By sheer luck alone, it dead-ended into a balcony overlooking the center of the temple. Straining my ears, I heard the sounds of the remaining sages calling to each other - they'd heard the explosions, as well, it seemed - and the fainter noise of wind whistling angrily through the upper reaches of the temple. Spying a spiraling staircase to my right, I darted that way, determined to beat the sages to the top. If I was lucky, maybe I'd meet a few on the stairs and have a couple choice words with them.

They must have been several floors above me to begin with, though; that, or they had some damned secret passage or something that they used. Even with my spiritual endurance and stamina, I still arrived after they did, and all hell was breaking loose. I hit the landing at full-tilt, only slowing down to take in the scene before me. Two sages were standing in front of the open door to what I could only assume was the sanctuary, hands held ready for bending. Another sage was chaining two familiar blue-clad teens to an intricately carved column, and the sage I'd already met looked to be holding one of his own brothers captive, wrenching the poor man's arms up behind his back. Even as I watched, the doors of the sanctuary started to close.

I conjured my spirit claws, fully intending to deal with the sages before interrogating Aang's friends, who'd evidently stuck by his side since the South Pole. But before I could do more than take a few steps forward, movement in my peripherals drew my attention: Aang, hauling ass toward the closing sanctuary doors while one of the sages shot a fireball at him.

I didn't even stop to think, sprinting for all I was worth before opening my wings and kicking into the air, skimming just below the ceiling. I roared like an animal, trying to keep the sages from attacking Aang. It worked; when they saw me, their mouths dropped open, their muscles paralyzed. Aang, too focused on getting into the sanctuary, jumped into the air and hopped on the sages' heads to shoot past the sanctuary doors to safety.

'This is going to be close,' I realized offhandedly as I banked hard around a column, diving after Aang and folding my wings in. The doors boomed shut behind me, and I flared my wings out again vertically to dump speed before I ran into the massive golden sculpture of Roku dominating the opposite wall. Landing heavily, I grimaced and reached up to massage one shoulder; the kink in my wing promised that I was going to pay for that stunt later. I examined the Avatar's chamber; floor-to-ceiling curtains of red silk lined the high-ceilinged room. The dark marble floor reflected the strong pink light of a great gem set above the door Aang and I'd just come through, though the center was dominated by a massive red-and-gold mural of an intricate calendar. Just behind me, Roku's statue stood watching impassively against a backdrop of frozen golden flames, its chest lit up with the beam from the gemstone.

A sharp intake of breath drew my attention away from my surroundings. I turned to look at the boy I resembled so much. "Who are you?" he asked, taking up a bending stance. Then his eyebrow quirked slightly. "And, uh, why do you have wings?"

I smiled widely at him, forgetting my overgrown fangs in my excitement at seeing him again. Then I remembered my manners. "Avatar Aang," I said formally, putting my hands together and bowing in the fashion of the Air Nomads. His eyes widened, and I knew he recognized the style. "It's an honor to see you again after so long."

He relaxed slightly, but didn't straighten from his stance. "I'm really sorry," he said sheepishly, "but I don't really know you, and I'm kind of in a hurry. So if you're here to stop me-"

I cut him off; with the formalities and manners out of the way, I could be my usual self. "Look, Aang, all you need to know is that I'm a friend; I'd never hurt you. And I'm definitely not here to stop you. What are you doing here, exactly?"

"Well…" Aang seemed to mull over my words for a second, his eyes flicking between my wings and devilish eyes and back again, then decided to take me at face value. "I'm here to talk to Roku."

I had to keep from snorting as I jerked a thumb over my shoulder. "To him? I hate to say this, but I'm not sure if he's going to answer." I walked over to Aang, keeping my distance to try to make him more comfortable around me.

Aang glanced at me for a second, then looked worriedly at the statue. "Well, the light hits the statue, and I talk to Roku."

I frowned. "If that's the case, then why isn't anything happening?"

The muffled roar of fire reached my ears from behind the door. "They're trying to get in," I realized. "Do your Avatar thing. I'll watch the door."

As the beam of light crept up to Roku's face, Aang began to look panicked. "But I don't know what I'm doing!"

All I could do was shrug, though. "Well, the light is hitting him. I guess try talking to him!"

Aang looked unconvinced, but he turned to the statue, nonetheless. "I don't know what I'm doing," he repeated earnestly. "All I know is airbending! Please, Avatar Roku, talk to me!"

As the light hit Roku's face, the eyes of the statue began to glow the same shade of red as my tattoos did. Aang gasped, then a curtain of smoky mist swirled up from the floor, effectively blinding me. "Aang?" I called worriedly. 'I can't lose him now!'

Running forward through the fog, I tried to reach Aang at the foot of the statue. Instead, the mist parted at the last moment, and I nearly pitched headlong off the side of the mountain top that I was suddenly standing on. I pinwheeled my arms for balance before backing away from the edge. 'What the… Where am I?' Great white-capped mountains stretched out before me as far as I could see.

A great concussive thud sounded suddenly, shaking the very air, and a massive red dragon burst from the clouds below the summit. It gave a great roar, flames billowing from its mouth with such strength that I could never hope to match it. Then, with another beat of its massive leathery wings, it landed mere feet from where I stood, its ivory claws grinding stones to gravel as it settled itself. It curled its feather-tipped tail about its snake-like body and sat, its long neck holding its long horned head up as it gazed at me imperiously. Astounded by such obvious power and ferocity, as well as humbled to be in the presence of such an awesome firebender, I knelt and bowed my head low, my wings flaring out parallel to the ground in respect.

One of the thin tendrils waving around the dragon's maw snaked out and gently tapped me on the forehead. 'Rise, Dao,' a great voice reverberated in my mind; it could only be the dragon himself speaking to me, despite the surprising smoothness of his tone. No other voice would contain equal amounts of savage animal ferocity and noble human sentience. 'It's good to see you.'

"You seem to know me, Great One, but I don't know you," I told the dragon carefully, keeping my eyes low.

The beast's eyes glinted, and it sounded amused. 'Now you know how the Avatar felt just a few moments ago.' I didn't know what to say to that, so I just kept my mouth shut for fear of insulting the dragon. 'As for your earlier question,' it continued, 'I am Fang. In life, I was Avatar Roku's animal guide and familiar. Here, I am simply his greatest friend.'

Recognition shot through me like a lightning bolt; Fang had been what Appa was to Aang. "And great you are, my lord."

Fang snorted, smoke curling gently from his scaly nostrils. 'Enough flattery, Dao. It does not become you, and we are short on time. I have something very important to tell you. I led Aang here at Roku's request so that they might speak. But now that you are here, Roku and I feel that it is only right to tell you, as well.'

'When I brought Aang here, I gave him a vision of a returning comet. That comet is what enabled Fire Lord Sozin to begin the war one hundred years ago.'

I nodded gravely. "I was there. I remember seeing this huge fireball soaring through the sky, and feeling the incredible power it gave my firebending. I was terrified…"

The dragon nodded solemnly, his tendrils waving. 'Yes. Sozin and his firebending army used it to deal a deadly first strike, wiping out the Air Nomads.'

I looked away, struggling with repressed memories. Rooting myself in the present, I said, "But that happened a hundred years ago. What does the comet have to do with Aang and the war now?"

One of Fang's tendrils snaked out to touch my forehead, and in my mind's eye I suddenly saw the world burning: great cities reduced to ash and rubble, entire forests baking in a whirlwind of flames, rivers and lakes boiling with heat. 'Sozin's Comet will return by the end of the summer, and Fire Lord Ozai will use its power to finish the war once and for all.' Fang withdrew his whisker, and I gulped, my heart racing from my awful vision. 'If he succeeds, even the Avatar won't be able to restore balance to the world.'

"So," I began hesitantly, "that means Aang needs to take down the Fire Lord before summer's end?" Fang nodded again. "But that's crazy!" I threw up my hands. "The Avatar he may be, but he's only twelve, and the last of his kind to boot! There's no way he can take on the Fire Lord in less than a year!"

Fang growled gently, and I got the sense he wasn't pleased with my doom-mongering. 'That's why he won't be doing it alone; you already saw his friends from the Southern Water Tribe outside. Aang will have great need of you before his task is done.'

"I'll be there," I promised with only a moment's hesitation. "Aang is all I have left from my old life, my free life. Plus, he's the only hope for the world, and that's got to count for something. I'll do all I can to help him."

Fang's lips pulled back to reveal his fearsome fangs, and for a moment I thought he was going to eat me. But instead, he said, 'I know you will, Dao.' The dragon snaked his head to one side, as if looking over his shoulder. 'Our time is drawing to a close. The Solstice is ending, and we must go our separate ways.'

"Wait!" I cried, alarmed. "What about my spirit side? How do I control it outside of the Solstice?"

'Your spirit is not bound to your body, as you believe,' Fang revealed. 'During your meditations, you look only inward, to your own mind and heart. Strive, instead, to understand the world and the people around you, for they are your greatest strength. The spirit world is not just a realm of power, but of understanding and harmony. When you need the spirits most, you will find a way.'

I took this in for a second, then bowed. "I don't really know what that means, but I'll give it a shot. Thank you, Fang."

The dragon's great eyes twinkled, then he lowered his head to touch mine. Two images burst into my mind: of the temple's harbor, where three Fire Navy warships were moored, and of the antechamber just outside the sanctuary, where Zhao and a party of firebenders waited. 'A great danger awaits you at the temple,' imparted Fang gravely. 'Roku is merging with Aang for as long as possible, but you need to be ready to help him face the threat.'

"I'm ready," I promised, stepping back from the mighty beast and mantling my wings in anticipation. Fang reared high into the sky and spread his own giant wings. He flapped once, twice, and suddenly the mist below the mountain's summit swirled up to meet us, obscuring my vision. I blinked, and I was back in the temple sanctuary; the beam of light still highlighted Roku's face, and his golden eyes were blazing with power. In the center of the calendar stood Aang, but something was different about him. His eyes and arrows shone blue-white, and there was an image flickering to life over his body. I blinked, and suddenly Avatar Roku stood in Aang's place, face grim with anger and eyes glowing. I blinked again, and my spirit vision picked out the outline of Aang's body underneath Roku's spirit.

I took a step toward him, and he suddenly turned to me as the sanctuary doors began to hiss steam. "Guard him well," he intoned simply, but his words echoed with a thousand voices. Then he turned to where the door was inching open and took a bending stance; outside, I could see Zhao and his men gathering their strength. I wisely darted to the side and flattened myself against the wall. Getting between an angry past Avatar and his enemies was probably not a good idea.

"Ready…" I heard Zhao call, and I could pick out the shouted protests of Aang's trapped friends behind him. "Fire!" Zhao and his firebenders blasted Aang/Roku with all their might; nine blazing streams leapt forward. But against a fully-realized Avatar of ages past, they didn't have a hope. Roku gestured expertly and wrapped the flames about himself in a swirling furnace of red and yellow; even for me, the heat was nearly unbearable, but Roku didn't flinch. The cloak shifted, and Zhao's expression became one of sheer terror as Roku's savage face appeared in the stark light of his bending. "Avatar Roku," a chained sage uttered in shock and amazement.

Roku gathered the combined might of the fires and thrust it out in a great wave, blasting soldiers and sages alike off their feet, but leaving Aang's friends and the loyal sage - and Zuko, I was shocked to see - unharmed, instead melting their chains into oblivion. As Zuko pelted for the stairs, the blast continued on and blew a gaping hole in the temple wall. Peering out the door behind Aang/Roku, I was awestruck at the Avatar's skill and power.

But he wasn't finished yet. He turned his glare on the sages that had betrayed him and his line, and the old men recoiled before fleeing with Zhao and his men. Then he chopped a hand toward the floor with a grunt, melting a great cleft and splitting the thick marble with ease. Aang/Roku raised a hand ominously, fingers straining toward the floor, and the temple began to rumble and quake.

"Oh, that can't be good," I muttered, and I ran over to where the Water Tribe teens and loyal sage were crouching by a quivering pillar, covering their heads against falling debris. "Who are you?" the boy cried, and I recognized him from as the lone warrior who'd stood up against Zuko at the South Pole; the way he yanked the boomerang from his back and brandished it at me was uncannily familiar.

"No time for introductions!" I yelled. "You guys need to get out of here; it isn't safe! Avatar Roku is about to bring down the temple on our heads!"

"No," the girl said firmly, staring unflinchingly into my slitted eyes as if daring me to argue. "We're not leaving. Not without Aang!"

Massive geysers of searing lava burst through the floor near the doorway to the stairs I'd used, immediately raising the ambient temperature by about a zillion degrees. "I'll get him," I assured her. "You three go to the window, and I'll fly you all out of here." The boy looked at me doubtfully, then seemed to notice the nine-foot dragon wings mounted to my back. The girl, who must have been the warrior's sister, gulped, but the loyal sage nodded furiously and pulled the children toward the window as the temple began to shake ominously. Suddenly, the geysers of lava disappeared, leaving massive charred holes in the floor, and I whipped around to watch Roku close his form calmly.

Trusting the sage to get Aang's friends to relative safety amid falling debris and collapsing columns, I took a flying leap over a lava hole and made for Roku. Even as I watched, the smoke and dust of the crumbling temple cocooned around him, then receded to reveal Aang, looking momentarily exhausted. I caught him just as he collapsed to one knee. "Easy does it; I've got your back," I promised him, helping him up.

"Thanks," he replied, shaking the stars from his eyes. "Where's Shyu?"

"Who, the one good sage? He's over there with your friends," I said, pointing to the massive hole in the wall where two blue figures were looking, horrified, at the stairs. "Or he was, rather," I amended hastily. Where had the man gotten to?

Aang and I stumbled suddenly and nearly fell through a lava-hole as the entire temple began to lean to the side, its structural integrity ruined by an angry volcano activated by an even angrier past Avatar. Running for the wall-hole, we stopped short beside the Water Tribe teens. Bubbling magma was quickly climbing the stairs, ruling out that escape. "Shit, I really am going to have to fly you all out of here," I muttered. But there wasn't time to think, not least about the fact that a) I'd already been flying nearly all day, and b) I'd never even carried one person, let alone three. "Alright, Aang, you grab-"

"Watch out!" The boy pointed, and I knew instantly what must be happening. I gave all three kids a hefty shove, my enhanced strength nearly sending them out the window in my haste, then I dove backwards as far as I could. With a deafening crash, a massive pillar fell to the ground where I had been a split second before, cracking the dark marble with its impact. I looked at the ceiling, but there wasn't time for me to worm my way through the tiny space that remained.

I invoked a few choice curses and darted over to where rubble had knocked a head-sized hole in the wall. Sticking my head out, I was eternally relieved to see Appa heading right for Aang, led by a flying lemur that appeared to be wearing a Fire Sage's headdress.

"Hey!" called Aang's voice. "Can you get to us? We have a way out!"

"Get on Appa and go!" I instructed. "I'll be right behind you." Satisfied that the Avatar was safe for the moment, I whirled my arms for balance as the temple began to lean even further, threatening wholesale collapse at any moment. My fiery talons flared to life, and I set to work widening the hole in the wall, heating the stone red-hot and tearing off great chunks with my spirit-augmented strength. Soon there was a hole big enough for my body, and I dove into the empty air without a second thought. I flared my wings open and caught the thermals from the lava below, spiraling high into the sky as the Temple of the Avatar toppled and exploded. I searched the low clouds wildly, breathing a hefty sigh of relief as I spotted a small white dot in the red, darkening sky.

I beat my sore, bruised wings and started after them, sparing nary a glance for the harbor where Zhao's ships were still moored; I almost fancied I could hear his furious voice over the eruption of the volcano behind me. Chuckling at the thought, I pushed my muscles and was soon over the water.

I glanced again at the sky, a sudden thought striking me. 'It's going to be dark soon. Am I going to be able to track Aang at night?'

'The Solstice is ending...'

Fang's words echoed in my brain, and I whipped my head to the horizon so fast I almost got whiplash. Sure enough, the last rays of evening light vanished as the sun dipped below the horizon: the Solstice was officially over. 'Which means…'

A bolt of pain lanced through my wings as the fatal realization struck me, and I felt my eyes warp and return to normalcy. Wincing in fear, I could only watch with normal human vision while, even as I beat them one last time, my wings slowly turned to ash and sparks on the wind. My extended tattoos flashed, and I gritted my teeth as they agonizingly crept back up my limbs and disappeared as if they had never been.

Try as I might, there was no hope in restoring communion with my spirit, and I dropped like a stone. The air howled and screamed in my ears as I fell, and I swore I heard the spirits of the wind laughing at me, who had dared to think that I, a land-based creature, could ride their currents and get away with it. The ocean rushed up to meet me, and with a sense of finality, I knew I would be hard-pressed, indeed, to survive this; I consoled myself with the thought that I was dying a free man, but that was hardly cheering. Just before I hit the water, there was a great wrench in my soul. With a final throb of pain and loss, I was again in human form.

And, last I checked, humans couldn't fly. Not for real.