As usual I don't own Avatar.

This is the last chapter in the Air, Earth, Water, Fir and Steel story. This chapter is all about finding out who this "Spider" character really is.

I like this character and I want to do more with him; but please tell me what you think. Is he awesome? Does he suck? I want to know! REVIEW! Ahem, I mean, please review.

Ch3: Shielded Eyes

As the four flew over the Fire Nation capital, they stayed flat against the saddle; just in case someone decided to start lobbing fireballs at them. They sat up as Appa passed over the Gates of Azulon, "Keep going until you see the shore of the Earth Kingdom," said The Spider, "I'll tell you where to go form there." He rummaged through one of the two bags he had brought along, "Now for some field first aid!" he said holding up a container of burn salve and a large roll of cloth bandages.

Aang directed Appa in the general direction they needed to go and joined the other three in the saddle; he went immediately to Katara's unconscious form, "Hey…Spider…," he asked, "Is she going to be ok?"

"Just a second," The Spider replied, finishing smearing salve on Sokka's back. He handed the roll of bandages to the Water Tribe warrior, "Here, you know how to properly dress the wounds, right?"

"Yeah," said Sokka, cutting a section of bandage off with his boomerang, "Just make sure my sister's ok."

Their mysterious new ally walked over to where Aang was sitting, squatted down and checked Katara's pulse. Satisfied he listened to her breathing for a few seconds; he then placed his hands on her stomach and started to poke around.

Aang angrily slapped his hands away, "What do you think you're doing!" he yelled "I only wanted to know if she was ok!"

The Spider held his hands up in mock surrender, "And I'm trying to tell you; I'm checking to see if there's any internal bleeding. If there is she could die!"

"Oh," said Aang, "Never mind,"

The spider finished his cursory examination, "Well, as far as I can tell she's just unconscious; she should be fine when she wakes up."

"And when will that be?" asked Aang.

"Well. I could wake her up now but I think it's better to let her rest; she's been through a really traumatic experience."

"Okay," said Aang still frowning, "What's your name anyway? I can't just call you 'Spider' all the time. It sounds silly!"

"I'd rather not give you my real name," said the red coated boy, "but you can call me S if you wish."

"Ok," said Aang. Aang studied the swordsman as he helped Sokka tie off his bandages; he realized S couldn't have been more than five foot five, and he looked to be only about 16. Aang wondered how and why a 16 year old got so good with swords.

"You guys should get some rest," said S, "I'm sure you're tired from getting barbecued by Azula for the past three days." Sokka yawned, nodded in agreement and was almost instantly asleep. Aang took one last look at Katara and lay his head down.

Hours later, the two boys were woken up by a jostling. "We're here." aid S.

"Where?" asked Sokka groggily.

"At a doctor's house," came the reply, "I know what you're thinking' and this guy doesn't ask questions, he'll treat you and we'll be on our way. Even if he suspects who you are he won't tell a soul; I would trust him with my life."

"But why do we need medical treatment?" asked Sokka, "You already gave us some!"

"Yeah but it was just some rudimentary stuff to keep the wounds from getting infected."

They entered the hut and carried Katara with them. The old doctor was more than happy to treat them; he got Sokka and Aang patched up and seconded S's diagnosis that Katara would be fine when she woke up. The doctor also gave them some smelling salts to wake Katara up when they made camp. They thanked the man and S paid him a few gold pieces and they went on their way. Aang had Appa fly a few dozen miles and they made camp by a small ravine. S and Sokka set up the tents and got a fire started while Aang fussed over Katara. When they were finished, the sun was almost at the horizon; S uncorked the smelling salts and held the bottle under Katara's nose; as the pungent odor entered her nostrils she made a face and sneezed. "Achoo! Uh? Where are we? Where's Azula?" she asked sleepily.

"Dead," answered Aang glaring at S, "Our new friend killed her when he broke us out."

"What are you talking about?" asked S clearly confused.

"I saw you kill her! You slashed her in the head with that giant sword of yours!"

"Oh, I see; no, don't worry she's still alive I just hit her with the flat of the blade. She was just unconscious." Sokka brought Katara some water and food which she consumed ravenously. S gave her a cursory check up and satisfied that she was fine, sat down by the fire to eat some cooked rabbit that Sokka had caught. After he was finished he pulled out a rag and started to clean all the dried blood off his two short swords.

Aang glared at him from Katara's side, "It doesn't bother you at all does it?"

"Does what bother me?' asked S, slightly annoyed.

"The fact that you're cleaning blood off your sword like it's something you do every day."

"Ok," said S setting his sword down and crossing his arms, "what is your problem? Ever since we escaped you've been extremely snippy with me."

"You're my problem!" said Aang angrily, "You killed fifteen people back there!"

"Well yeah," said S sounding confused, "It's not like they were going to let us waltz out of there; how else was I supposed to get you guys out of there?"

"You could have disarmed them or something; killing them was wrong!"

"So you'd rather be dead then?" S retorted, "Because I can guarantee that those guards were not going to were not going to show us any mercy."

"You don't know that!" yelled Aang springing to his feet.

"I did what I thought needed to be done to keep you guys alive; I had no choice." said S defensively.

"You always have a choice." said Aang.

S was about to retort but instead said "No, I done with this conversation we're out and that's all that matters; this argument is over." He turned away and started walking towards the west side of camp

"No. It. ISN'T!" yelled Aang accidentally sending a blast of air at S; it wasn't enough to knock him down but it knocked the dark glasses right off of his face. Almost immediately S screamed in pain and dropped to his knees clutching his eyes.

Sokka ran to his side, "Hey, You ok?"

"No," the swordsman replied, clearly in pain, "find my glasses."

Sokka only had to look for a few minutes, "Ah, here they are." He handed them to S who immediately put them on and stalked toward Aang.

"Are you alright? What happened?" asked Katara.

"I'm fine your boyfriend here-"

"He's not my-"

"Whatever, he knocked my glasses off just when I happened to be facing the Sun." he said angrily.

"So?" asked Aang

"In case it wasn't obvious enough for your little mind to comprehend, my eyes are extremely sensitive to light; I have to wear these at all times."

"Sorry," said Aang rather insincerely.

S snorted "Phh, no you're not."

As they sat down to finish dinner S explained that his pupils were permanently dilated, so they took in too much light, rendering them all but useless in the daytime unless he wore the glasses; the upside to this was that due to the amount of light entering his eye, he could see things in greater detail, therefore making his reflexes faster than most humans. He also explained that due to this he also had incredible night vision; Aang made a snide comment about how that must be of great help if he has to assassinate someone at night.

"Ok, you know what?" S said standing up, "I'm sick of this if this is how I'm going to be treated you guys are on your own tomorrow." He stalked off in the direction of the ravine. After a few minutes Katara got up and walked the direction that S had

"Where are you going Katara?" asked Aang, "its dark out."

"I going to thank him, which neither of you bothered to do." She said sternly. She found him sitting at the edge of the ravine with his legs dangling over the cliff; his head was raised up staring at the sky. "He doesn't hate you, you know," she said, he hates what you did."

"Hmm," S replied, somewhat disbelievingly.

"It goes against everything the monks taught him in the Air temples."

S sighed, "Yeah, I know,"

"Anyway," she continued sitting down next to him, "I just wanted to thank you for rescuing us from that sadistic bitch, back there."

"No problem," S replied, somewhat surprised at her use of language, "Someone needed to do it; and I was right there."

She glanced over at him and realized that h wasn't wearing his glasses; she saw that where the color of his eyes should be there was only black with a ring of brown, his natural eye color, around the edge.

He must have noticed her expression because he laughed humorlessly, "Unsettling, isn't it."

"Um, no- I mean," she stuttered, "I thought you always had to wear the glasses,"

"No, I take them off at night, provided there are no light sources around, like a camp fire."

"How good is your night vision?" she wondered.

He pointed to a small patch of sky, "How many stars do you see in that little patch of sky?"

"About a couple dozen."

"I can see a couple hundred." He replied, "These eyes are a blessing as much as they are a curse; with them I'm able to fight better than most humans are able, and I can see the beauty of the night sky like no one ever has before." They sat in silence for a few minutes just admiring the band of the Milky Way across the sky.

Then: "Why did you free us?" the water bender asked.

"Hm?"

"Why would you free three peasants you'd never met before at the risk of your life? I mean you had a job in the palace, and you were friends with the Princess, why would you give that up?"

"I rescued you because I was sick of what the Fire Nation was making me do and of what they were doing to the world. When I saw Aang in that cell, I knew that he was special; and I know that he had to live so he could save the world. I want the world to be at peace again; I don't want my children or anyone's children to have to go through what I did…"

"Why? What happened to you?"

"It's a long story…"

"I've got time."

He looked at her a small smile crossing his face. "Okay," he said, and began his tale.

I was originally going to have this be one big chapter but it was getting rather long so I decided to break it up. Next one up shortly!

Please review!