AUTHOR'S NOTES—Enter the chapter in which we learn about 's incessant repetition of annoying errors and me using them as excuses for not posting chapters. Nevertheless, that's over.

Also, the power of gold [aka AU] strikes again, and thus shots at a future Avatar are made, and a few questionable aspects of spirit shenanigans are also made. It's somewhat of a comic relief chapter, mostly because the parts where we focus on the Avatar's hunters (Zhao and Azula), are in their own chapters, so I had to think of some filler stuff—and being serious too much is boring. So sue me.

Also, be comforted in knowing that there is plot advancement. So no worries.

AVATAR: THE LAST FIREBENDER

BOOK 1: WATER

CHAPTER 7-2: WINTER SOLSTICE 1—THE SPIRIT WORLD, PART 2

The Spirit World; shortly after Aang's pursuit of Hei Bei

Somehow with all of Aang's pursuit of the spirit monster, he wound up in the spirit world itself.

"I suppose the questioning of such phenomena might be a relational idea, except that this is all spirit-world related confusion anyway. What's the point?"

However, he ran into quite the shock upon seeing the spirit form of a dragon approach him. His normal instincts would have told him to run, but for some reason he knew to stand his ground. The dragon stopped in front of him, and by that time it was close enough for him to notice that a girl was riding it. She clearly looked Water Tribe, however, and so Aang raised an eyebrow when she jumped off.

"I recognize this dragon," he commented, looking at the girl, "but… who are you? You're certainly not Roku. What happened to him?"

"I ask that myself sometimes, Aang," the woman replied, "whatever the case though, he told me to get you, and I got to ride a dragon. Firebenders got it lucky."

"It's a pity there's none of them left." Aang frowned.

"There is at least one," the woman replied, "so you are not devoid of a potential teacher. Nevertheless, I digress. Come with me."

The woman jumped back on the dragon, with Aang behind her. The dragon let out a satisfied roar and shot through the sky.

"So who are you?" Aang asked,

"Kyla," the woman replied, "the same one you had in your party earlier."

"Are you serious?" Aang's eyes popped open

"'course not," the girl laughed, "I'm an Avatar. If she was one, she'd be dead. 'Name's Korra."

"I don't remember you."

"I'm not from your past. I'm from your future."

"I swear if Toph's cracks about me being reincarnated as a woman are true, I'll…"

"Hey, I don't make the rules either. Besides, is there only one Water Tribe Avatar in your future? If anything, the Water Tribes will be the last nation standing."

"So where are we going?"

"Fire Temple; apparently even though I am so awesome that I can harass people in spirit whenever I please, you have to go there in order to talk to Roku—you know; past life communication, all that jazz."

"So why am I getting counseled by a future incarnation? That seems… out of place."

"How many other Avatars can you name that get to master the elements in under a year?"

"Crap. You got me there."

"Besides, I'm not even here to give you sage words of wisdom. That will be for my Earth Kingdom successor. I'm just here to be Roku's messenger girl. Fang here helped me."

"So why can you and Fang come see me, but Roku can't?"

"Well, I'm not sure why Fang could, but I do because I break rules. If you're the orthodox type, you'll hate me once I'm born."

Aang had no reply for this, and so remained mostly silent until Korra took them to the Fire Temple. There was an Air Warrior flag flying over it, but Korra paid no attention to it. They passed through the walls of the building with no trouble (being spirits and all) until they were in the central chamber that held a massive statue of Avatar Roku.

"So, apparently this is my fancy-pants way of telling you that you need to come see Roku here. Apparently this is the easiest time for you to reach him. Come here tomorrow—at the peak of the winter solstice. There is some news he has for you. However, that's all I was sent to do, so I suppose I can either take you back or let you wander the world in spirit form till you find your body."

"Take me home—but can't you just tell it to me if you know he has news?" Aang asked as Fang flew him back towards Senlin Village.

"Hey, if I had my way in spirit world politics, I'd do things a lot differently. Apparently my only job is to look awesome and to whip anyone at an arm wrestle who challenges me. For the record though, he didn't tell me what it was."

"What DID he tell you?"

"Something along the lines of 'take my dragon, find Aang, tell him I want to talk with him, and buy me something to eat. He said I could keep the change."

"You know, I had almost had the spirit world thing figured out, and then you say that and throw all my elaborately pieced together puzzles out the window. This saddens me."

"Well, I'll kick a few things into a story if it is boring enough, kinda like what I just did."

"That makes a little more sense. Hey, speaking of weird things that don't exactly make sense, can you tell me anything about the spirit monster that took my friend?"

"The Fire Nation girl?"

"She's a firebender?"

"I couldn't say—you can't bend in the spirit world, remember? However, as the all-knowing spirit of awesome that I am, I can at least tell you that she is from the Fire Nation—that's what she told me, at least."

"Who else have you met?"

"I've met everyone," Korra chuckled, "the people that Hei Bei took were all there too. Regarding your friend however, if she's a bender, she certainly prefers other methods of fighting. To answer your question of the spirit—look back. It patrols a forest, half of which was destroyed. You saw it yourself. Frankly, I'd be a bit set off too if someone smashed half of my home."

"But that's exactly what it's doing to the innocent people of Senlin now."

"Spirits don't seem to differentiate humans," Korra frowned, "it sucks; I know."

"So what am I supposed to do?"

"Beats me—probably just tell Hei Bei that it will grow back—kinda like the Fire Nation. They're not fully wiped out, you know."

"The last time I tried talking to it I think it tried to kill me."

"Well, either you do it or you don't. whatever the case, you're back now."

And he was, and Korra and Fang had vanished. He appeared back in the village, where he was welcomed back by Zuko, Sokka and the other villagers.

"So," Zuko raised an eyebrow, "any word about Toph?"

"Actually," Aang started, refusing to mention this Korra woman, with the grudging thought that Zuko (and Toph, once Zuko told her) would never let him live it down, automatically assuming that because it was a Water Tribe Avatar, that she was Aang's successor.

"Let's hear it, Aang."

"well, a spirit told me that she was in fact from the Fire Nation."

"No wonder she's evasive." Sokka commented, "I'm surprised that she's not out to try and annihilate any and all airbenders as some sort of vengeance game. I met a few Fire Nationers like that."

"so," Zuko interrupted, "did you hear anything about her?"

"I have no idea where she is," Aang apologized, "but I know how to solve the spirit problem, which then will probably bring her back."

Aang explained it to them, as well as his objective to get to the Fire Temple to visit Roku on the solstice. They were fine with that part, but the plan to pacify the spirit was met with a little more opposition. This time Sokka was the skeptic.

"So you're going to show it an acorn and give it some words of wisdom, and hope that it doesn't blast you apart with that giant beam of death?"

"That's… one way to put it, I guess." Aang shrugged.

"Sokka," Zuko grinned, "let's bet on this."

"What is it with you and betting, Zuko?" Aang laughed, "you never win."

"I think your plan will work, Aang. He doesn't. This is easy."

"you mean you believe that when the spirit rampages through the city, I'll stop it by calling out and showing it the acorn?"

Zuko paused for a moment. "You know what, those spirits must think giant monsters like that are easy-sneezy. You're right. Your theory sounds stupid."

"Bet me against it then?" Aang offered.

"You are so on." Zuko grinned.

Korra's suggestion to Aang turned out to be spot-on, and Zuko found himself growling furiously at himself for letting Aang con him into entering a losing bet. Hei Bei was placated by Aang's words of rassurance that the forest would indeed regrow. From the four-armed beast that it was, it morphed into a panda, walked right out of the village, and left in its wake a clump of bamboo stalks. Out of these walked all the missing villagers, as well as the Kyoshi Warrior that was Toph.

"Toph, you're back," Zuko chuckled, "how do you feel?"

"Like I've gotta use the bathroom," she cringed, "there are a few conveniences that the spirit world could really work on…"

As she slunk away, Aang, Sokka, and Zuko simply chuckled.