Disclaimer: I don't own ATLA

"normal voice"-'thought'-"whisper"-"higher being"-sound

Chapter 3: The Old Water-Ways

"Now then," Said the figure looking down at Azula, "Shall we start over."

The princess merely looked up, while rubbing her throat, and just silently glared at the cloaked one. Getting a closer look at the figure she could at least it was as tall as her father, and for some reason the new fire in her right hand couldn't illuminate its face.

"I didn't hurt you that much now did I," chuckled the figure in its deep raspy voice, "I always forget that meatb-uh, humans are just as fragile as us." The cloaked one proceeded to put its hand on its chest in a theatric way.

"I am fine, but you owe me an explanation." Asserted the princess pointing a finger at the figure.

"Me, what did I do? I have committed no wrong, after all you attacked me first." The figure scoffed, while pointing a finger back at her.

"Well, if you didn't sneak up on me I wouldn't have attacked you." Accused Azula.

"I doubt that," the figure waved off with its hand, "But how about a deal, I answer some questions, and in return we forget who started what, deal." Azula nodded.

"Good, now what would you like to know." The figure inquired.

"First, what are you, and second who are you?" The princess demanded.

"For the first one, I am what is know as a starved. It is what we call ourselves down here," The starved remarked, "for the second, I am know as the Seer." He pointed to his one glass eye.

After hearing his answers she stood there trying to think of more questions, but with so many she couldn't decide which one to ask first. During this period of indecisiveness, the Seer turn away and began to walk back towards the other path in the alley that he came from.

She was going to ask why he was leaving, until he turned around to ask, "Well, are you not going to follow?" He seemed a little annoyed to even say those words.

The princess, annoyed a bit herself, responded, "And why would I follow you".

"Because the secrets of the living are the same as the dead."

"what?"

"It means that your reasons and goals, are not so different from the dead." the Seer answered, while pointing to a skeleton with his cane.

"That still does not answer my question." Azula pressed

"I can help you survive down here, and help you escape from here. But only if," he raised up a finger to punctuate his point, "you listen to me." he then pointed to himself.

And with that ending statement, the princess, though not trusting of him, cautiously caught up with the cloaked one and followed him into the path she didn't take earlier. This path wasn't nearly as cluttered as the other, but it slowly growing more, and more narrow to the point they had to walk single file. Eventually the Seer paused in front of a large metal grate, which sparked a question out of the princess.

"So, out of curiosity, why exactly did you lead me here?"

"The old water-ways," he pointed down to the grate, "they are the quickest form of travel down here, with them we can get to the castle far faster the we would by walking, and it is far safer to, kind of." He whispered the last part to himself.

The Seer bent down to pick up large metal grate, and proceeded to prop it up on the wall. He then flattened himself up against the wall, "Ladies first." he said, as he gestured down towards the hole in the ground.

The princess, still a bit wary of the Seer, didn't move.

"Well."

"It's just that, how do I know it's not a trap," She stated, "and are you not the guide, shouldn't you lead and not follow?"

The figure let out a sigh as he pinched the bridge of . . . where his nose would have been, "I was just trying to be a bit chivalrous."

The Seer got away from the wall and quickly went to the hole, and slid down a ladder that the princess couldn't see due to her angle of view.

After Seer went down the hole, Azula proceeded down the ladder herself. It was not hard to go down the ladder, but it was a bit slow when you are trying to maintain a small flame for light. When she got to the bottom of the ladder she was greeted by the Seer, who seemed a little dazed, just staring at the princess.

"Where to next?" asked Azula, with a slight frown on her face.

"What," the Seer shook his head while coming out of his daze, "Oh, oh yes, follow me; my raft shouldn't be that far."

The figure turned around and proceeded to go find his raft, with Azula following from behind. It was not a very far walk for the raft was tied to a makeshift dock. As they both got on the raft Azula decided to ask more questions about where they were going, and more about the city as well.

"So, where exactly are going?" asked the princess.

"Well, the castle in it is all the stuff we need for the ritual," the Seer said, while untying the rope that held the raft to the dock, " and with you I will finally finish it to free my most wonderful king."

"What exactly is wrong with him?"

"Well at the end of the war with the spirits, and the siege of the city. The greater spirits bound my liege to his throne, and with your help I can break the bindings."

"Wait, war with the spirits, how is that even possible; I mean those old stories of the spirits are just myths to scare small children into behaving, right?" Azula never really "believed" in spirits, the only person she knew who would talk about them was her uncle.

So hearing such a claim that this king lead a war against them . . . well there must be some artifacts, or forgotten knowledge that could quicken this century long war that her great grandfather started. Her father would greatly like to exploit such things once she is able to tell him of this place, she could only imagen how proud he will be of her, and what rewards she get as well. All she has to do is listen to this fool for long enough until she can get rid of him.

"Oooh, yeeees they are very real, unfortunately." the Seer's tone was full of loathing, which took the princes a little off guard due the shear amount of hate he had for them.

With that last statement Azula decided that she wouldn't ask anything else at the moment, wanting him to be a bit calmer before more questions. It was also at this time that the Seer found the oar to the raft, and proceeded to row them down the stream.

It took some time but the Seer did calm down, Azula could tell from his posture. Not long after the reigning in of his temperament the Seer started to regale to the prodigy the history of the old water-ways.

"And that my dear, is why the water-ways were built," He put his hand upon his chest, and tilted his head upwards as if he were some prestigious academic professor telling some interesting history. In reality, the princess didn't take to this as kindly as he thought.

"You mean to tell me that this place, that we are currently in, is the old sewer system."

"Yes." came the monotone response of the Seer.

Azula gagged, even going as far as covering her mouth with her hands, and while she wouldn't mind getting dirty to accomplish some training, or even a task from her father. But a sewer was the definition of pushing the limit.

"Hey, don't be like that I told you that it has all either rotted away, or was flushed out by the ground water." He seemed offended at her disgust.

The princess didn't responded.

"Fine, be that way."

In silence they continued down the water-ways on their small raft. Eventually they did cross a intersection, which caused the Seer to fight the current so that they stayed on the right path. But that alone would not be interesting, no what was interesting was the sounds coming from the right side of the intersection. It sounded like a group of starved all screaming in their tortured voices, but it was quickly over shadowed by a roar that sounded like a mix between the whistle of a steam gauge being pushed to its max, and the roar of a raging bull-moose.

After that came the sound of heavy metal boots charging down a stone walkway, and then came the cacophony of bodies and bones breaking. The screams of the starved became more pained, yet they still couldn't drown out the sound of the whistle. That is until they all became silenced one by one, with only heavy rhythmic foot steps being heard in the distance.

The Seer was able to get the raft back on track, though he seemed to be in a far more hurried state.

"Do you know what that was?" inquired the princess.

"It was a sentinel, specifically a new age sentinel," the Seer was looking over his shoulders as he spoke, "and it would be best not to talk about them."

"Why?"

"Because, if you talk about them too much, you're bound to come across one when you least want to," the Seer confessed, "though, while it is more of a superstitious view, you would be surprised how often it occurs."

"Well is there something you can tell me about these sentinels, like how to best them in combat?" she asked.

There was no response, or at least not immediately, for such a question would have a very obvious for any who lived down here longer then a day. Though Azula would not have expected the Seer's reaction even with said knowledge.

"Ha ha ha," he laughed, though it seemed a little forced to the princess, "you serious?"

"Yes, if these things are a threat I would like to know how to deal with them."

"Hmmmmm," he hummed while rowing the raft, "well then little miss important-"

"It is Princess to you." she interrupted.

"Princess?" he seemed both confused and agitated, "Uuh, either way the one piece of advice I can give is just run away."

The prodigy was still not buying it, "That is not all is there, you still not telling me the whole truth."

"Fine! fine, if you can hit them in the eye that should stun them, but it won't last long, during this state get behind them and hit in the glowing rune." the cloaked one confessed, though it was not the end of his rant.

"This is all easier said than done, however. These sentinels were made to be the most elite troops our king could muster, they put even the most well trained of war mages to shame," he ranted on and on, but something did stick out to the princess as he babbled, and no it wasn't the fact that they had reached a dead end in the water-ways.

"And that is why even I, an adept ranked light mage, can't even so much as scratch a sentinel. Why even a if I was a master the lore of light is not equ-"

"Silence! ugh, I wished you stayed the mysterious type when we first met, you talk more than Ty Lee." Azula sighed, but there was more important things see needed to ask. "Either way, I do want to know what these 'mages' are, I assume they are benders?"

The Seer, not too fond of being interrupted again didn't speak, but did take out of his cloak a bottle. In the bottle was a unknown liquid that sloshed around, though it seemed more viscous the water, and after balancing the the oar of the raft he took two bony fingers and popped the cork of the bottle.

He swished the bottle back and forth in a circular motion, after looking a little pleased with how the liquid flowed, he brought it up to the triangular pit that would be his "nose" and took a deep breath, inhaling its fumes. With a contented sigh he leaned back and downed a half of the bottle.

Azula just sat and watched with an eyebrow raised, she would have crossed her arms but she didn't want to risk losing the small fireball she was maintaining, which was her only source of light. And while yes, she could easily remake it, but it didn't change the fact that bending down here was three to four times as hard.

After the Seer finished his drink from the bottle he put the cork back on the bottle, he proceeded to put the bottle, now with only half of its contents remaining, back in his cloak. He then took one clawed hand and made a fist, and then pounded lightly on his chest. A horrible gurgling belch escaped his mouth.

Unfortunately, for the princess his breath was as bad as his looks. It smelled like a corpse left in a dark dingy cellar, though it was overpowered by the scent of fresh blood. Normally if anyone else was to get even the slightest of whiff of the stench they would have gotten sick. But Azula had a far stronger will, it may have saved her from embarrassment, though not from the rotten breath of her "guide".

"Ick, You petty corpse, is this how you treat a princess of the Fire Nation." she began waving her hand trying to fan it away.

"Heheheh, no your highness, that is just a side effect of drinking half the bottle, but in other news it seems that was the best potion of revivification I have made in a looonge while." He seemed to be admiring his hands for some reason, but upon closer examination his skin did seem a bit smoother and less like a corpse, and more like a well preserved corpse.

When he seemed satisfied with the changes, he took his hand and put it in front of him, palm facing upwards with fingers half-clenched. The Seer then started to whisper in a language Azula didn't know, but during the whispering thin wisps of dull light started to appear and swirl around his hand, with some of the wisps gracefully weaving between the fingers.

The wisps started to appear more and more, becoming brighter and more energetic. Until he posed his finger to snap them.

*snap*

The fingers snaped and with it the wisps coalesced into the form of a small, and bright, ball of light. And despite it not being much larger than Azula's fireball, it was far brighter. It also allowed her notice that they were still in a dead-end, but now she could also see a rope at the end that lead to the roof, or ground on a technicality.

"How?" the princess was breathless, after all she had never seen anything like this, nor has there ever been a historical record that had an account of this power.

"Magic." the shear smugness was palpable from the Seer, "I will explain it later though, because we have finally reached our destination."

The rope Azula saw early was now above them, not that high though but just high enough that she would need to jump to get a good grip on it.

The Seer was the first to start climbing the rope, then followed by the princess, who had to extinguish her fire due to needing both hands. Though she had to be careful not to look up, or else see a very unflattering view of her guide.

Once they made it up to the top, they were back in another alleyway. She followed the Seer as he traveled the alleyways, with the light of his magic illuminating their path. But it didn't last long, because after one last turn in the alleyway they stood in front of the monumental castle that was at the center of the city.

It was far larger in person than it was back at the gate, the seven spires were monolithic in size, with the central spire being the tallest. It hurt slightly for her to crane that far back, but seeing this structure was awe inspiring, and it was compounded with the fact that instead of a sky to pierce it was the stone ceiling of a gigantic cave.

But if that was all than it wouldn't have effected Azula nearly as much, yet there was more. The large pale green sphere that was hovering above the central spire. She had seen it all the way from the gate, it truly was massive closer up, it was like a miniature sun, yet it seemed to sap her of her strength instead of giving strength. Its light, while not strong out in the edges of the city, made it seem like it was day, though tinted pale green.

The Seer stood by her side for a while, letting her take it all in, but he was the first to break the silence not long after.

"Are you ready? Because after this everything will change," his mouth started to form into a twisted grin, "Ha ha ha, after millennial the rituals will finally be finished."

I always find dialogue somewhat hard to write, especially Azula who is a complex (and smarter) character than me.