Wan and Raava were lying on a sheet of dead leaves. As itchy as it was, it was better than the snow that covered the floor of the dying forest. Raava was gazing up at the stars with Wan next to her.

"And that one looks like Mula," he was saying. She squinted her eyes to try and see it.

"I can't see it," she told him. He lifted his finger to the sky.

"Look. Right there is her head. Those two that are closer together are her eyes. And then there is her body."

"And those ones branching off are her legs?"

"Yup."

"I see her now." She moved her head to look at Mula and pointed up. "Look, Mula. It's you." Mula nuzzled her face, and Raava giggled. Then, Mula's head whipped up.

"What's wrong?" Wan asked her. She stood up and growled. Wan stood as well and turned in the direction she was looking. He could not see anything. "Mula, what is it?" In the blink of an eye, rock rose out of the ground and encased Wan and Mula.

"Wan!" Raava screamed. She saw men move out from between the trees and crawled, which was her new ability, to the rock trap holding Wan and Mula. She slammed her fist against the stone. "Wan!" The men came up behind her and grabbed her under her arms. "Let me go!" One of the men produced a large sack and held it open while the other two shoved her into it. "Stop!" They tied the opening together so she could not escape. Her muffled screams filled the air as one of the men tossed her over his shoulder.

"Raava!" Wan shouted. He banged on the rock with his hands and hurled himself against the wall. His shoulder was aching, his hands raw. "Raava!" He did not know what else to do. Nothing he had done made a mark to get him out. Then, the rock shook and lowered back into the ground. He burst out and glanced in every direction. Raava was gone and so was whoever took her. He heard a chirp above him and saw a small blue spirit hovering above him.

"I was passing by when I saw you," it said. Its voice was like wind chimes.

"Thank you," Wan gasped.

"Are you looking for something?" Wan was trying to find a clue to where Raava went.

"I think someone took my friend." The spirit sunk down to float by his head.

"I saw some humans running in the direction I was coming from."

"Which way was that?" The spirit pointed.

"Thank you!" Wan ran up to Mula but halted just as he was about to climb onto her back. At his feet was a piece of bright red cloth laying on the pristine snow. Slowly picking it up, Wan clutched it and wrapped it around his neck in one swipe of his hand. "Let's go, Mula."

"Can I help?" the spirit asked. Wan turned back to it.

"I appreciate your help," he answered politely. "I can take it from here." The spirit nodded and rushed off. Mula sprinted through the trees.

Raava rolled out of the sack onto a wooden floor when the men turned it over. Small columns of rock rose out of holes in the wood, imprisoning her in a cell. Her hands wrapped around the bars; she pulled as hard as she could. "You can't get out." Turning around, Raava saw a familiar face. "I've tried to get out already."

"Who are these people?" Raava asked. The girl buried her face in her hands. "What's wrong?"

"It's all my fault," she whimpered. "My brother was right, and I didn't listen. One of the men was my boyfriend."

"I'm sorry." Raava pat the girl's hand and smoothed down her wild hair. "We will get out of here though. Trust me."

"At least you aren't here alone," the girl told her. "While I was alone, I did all I could to escape." She showed Raava her hands, which were scraped and raw. Raava spotted drops of blood on a few of the bars.

"What's your name? I'm Raava." Raava held out her hand, a friendly thing she had seen humans do.

"Hi, Raava. My name is Enna." Raava smiled.

"Can I ask you something, Enna?" The girl nodded. "What is a boyfriend?"

The snow flew whenever Mula's hooves hit the ground. Wan stopped her when he heard voices. He dismounted and walked carefully to the line of trees of which he could see a building. He kept his back to the tree trunk and bent over to peer in. Three men, one big and two smaller, stood beside a fire. One of them was stroking a small animal that rotated above the flames. Another was removing something from his belt, a knife.

"Make sure you cut off enough for profit," the cook mentioned. The man with the knife grunted and entered the wooden shack behind them. The other man sighed.

"How much do you think we could get for this?" he asked opening his hand for the cook. Wan tried to see what was in his hand. It was hair, long, dark hair.

"Not much," the cook mumbled. "That new girl, though, she will be worth a lot." Wan ducked back behind the tree. "If he cuts off enough of that white hair, we can get food from the markets and our own home. That doesn't even count what we will get if we sell her!" Wan's hand went into fists and burst into flames.

"Just hold still." Raava squirmed. The man tightened the rope keeping her arms to her body and knotted the handkerchief around her mouth. "This won't take long, and it definitely won't hurt." She saw the shine of the blade in her peripheral vision and shuddered. She heard a quick noise of static and a tug on her scalp. "That's a good girl." Her head was getting lighter. "There. All done." He untied her before tossing her back in the cell. She stared in horror at the shimmering white hair in the man's hand. She buried her head in Enna's arm and cried. The man exited and left the two of them by themselves.

"It's alright. Shhh," Enna cooed. She ran her hand up and down Raava's back to comfort her. "It will grow back." Raava nodded and brought her head up. Her hand reached for the frayed edges of Enna's own hair, cut just above her shoulders. "He took mine too-" Enna startled and blinked rapidly. "R-Raava, you-" It was Raava's turn to be confused.

"What is it?"

"You're younger!"

Wan listened as the man that entered the building strode back out. The man held something up in his hand like it was a prize. "It's beautiful," he said, mesmerized. "Just look at it." The cook and second man crowded around him. Long, white hair was bunched up in their hands. Wan had had enough.

He surprised them when he came jumping out from behind the tree and hurled fire at each of them. Mula charged at the cook as he tried to escape and knocked him into a tree. Wan fought the other two men, watching as the precious hair slid onto the snow. He quickly finished the two off and glared at the three unconscious faces on the ground. His hand rested on the door of the shack. He pushed it open and peaked in to see two girls sitting in a cell made of wood and rock.

"Wan!" Raava hopped up onto her knees and held the bars with her hands.

Wan took her in. "Raava, you look younger, smaller." She looked down at herself.

"I don't understand," she whispered, shaking her head.

"Well, Raava, I never expected you to do something so rash." Wan and Raava were startled and searched for the voice. The roof collapsed, and Raava quickly reached for Enna. Wan stood up from the debris around him, dust covering his body. He looked up to see Vaatu floating above him. "Such a weak form!" the evil spirit laughed. Wan glanced in Raava's direction wondering if she could return to her spirit form in Vaatu's presence, but he could not see her. The rubble was scattered in the small cell. He grit his teeth and turned back to Vaatu. "I wonder, Raava, if there is any need to wait for the Harmonic Convergence before destroying you!" She was silent.

"Leave her alone!" Wan hissed. His hands were clenched at his sides, his chin up.

"What will you do?" Vaatu teased. "Will you fight me, human?" He flew in circles. "How very bold of you, Raava, to make a worthless human fight for you!" Still nothing. Vaatu appointed his attention to the cell. There was no movement or noise from beneath the piles of wood that was part of the roof. "Hm."

"Raava?" Wan asked. He inched closer to the cell and then gripped the bars. "Raava?" Something yanked Wan back, and as he was still holding the bars, he felt a sharp pain in his shoulder. Then, he was slammed against the bars. His cheek pressed into one of them uncomfortably. Beneath his sudden alertness, he could hear what sounded like the muffled yelling of a girl. "Raava!" He was pulled back again and flew through the air before landing on his back. He sat up quickly to find that he was now outside and that Vaatu stood between him and the door to the shack.

"Fight me, human," Vaatu bugged. "Let us be finished with this before it could begin." Wan stood carefully. He winced as his right arm moved. Vaatu did not give him any time. The spirit used his tendrils to grab at Wan and hurl him into a tree. Wan groaned at the pain in his arm. He sat hunched over at the base of the tree, just like the men he had fought only minutes before. He could feel his heart beating fast, too fast.

"Raava," he mouthed. He breathed in the fabric of the scarf. It still smelled like her. Light. He wanted to close his eyes and just sit there breathing her scent in. He forced his eyes to stay open though. Raava was not in the scarf.

His legs picked him up, and he stood in front of Vaatu, ready for more. Vaatu accepted. Wan flung fire from the one arm that worked and watched it miss Vaatu. He kicked and did everything he could to hit Vaatu, but the spirit was too fast. He could do nothing. Vaatu's tendril wrapped around Wan's neck and shoved him back into the tree. Wan tried to pull away but was distracted. He looked behind Vaatu to the wooden building where Raava was. He took the only air he had been able to get in before Vaatu cut it off and gasped out fire. Vaatu, momentarily surprised, released Wan, who took off running toward the building. Vaatu laughed after him.

"Raava," he mumbled to himself as he picked up a broken board of wood and plunged it between two of the rock bars. He pulled down on one side with his good arm. One bar cracked but did nothing more. He lit a fire on the edge of two of his fingers and heated up the rock. Then, he tried with the wood again and managed to break enough bars for him to squeeze through using the process.

"Very clever, human," he heard Vaatu snicker above him. "But who can find her first?" Wan started to tear at the debris with his one hand. He listened for the muffled screams. He removed a block of wood with his foot and found the dark haired girl beneath it. She was crying and started to dig with Wan in their search for Raava. Vaatu's tendrils extracted the largest unbroken plank of wood and revealed a small, pale arm. Wan hurried over to it, but Vaatu had already yanked on the fragile arm and was holding up an unconscious Raava by her wrist. Wan unleashed a cyclone of flames on Vaatu. It smacked into the spirit, yelling and cursing at Wan. Wan whistled, and Mula appeared. Enna climbed up onto Mula and held Raava. Wan and Mula sprinted back into the forest before Vaatu could regain his senses. When they were far enough away, they stopped. Wan fell onto the ground in a gasping heap, and Mula let Enna down with Raava before curling up and falling asleep.

"Are- you- alright?" Wan managed to get out.

"I'm fine," Enna replied. "Raava must have been knocked out when the roof fell." She fingered Raava's white hair away from her face. Wan sat on the opposite side of her. Enna jumped up. "I'm sorry. I have to leave. My brother…" Wan nodded, and she took off. He only wondered after she was gone if he should have let her go alone, but it was too late.

"Come on, Mula," he told the cat-deer while rubbing her neck. "We have to move somewhere else." Wan bent down beside Raava and wrapped her arms around his neck. He held her leg with his working arm and started walking. The stars were in different places than they had been earlier that night. The sun would be coming soon. He saw colors dancing in the trees. He heard music coming from a far off place.

Everything swirled around him.

"Raava, wake up," he muttered. "I don't think I can walk anymore." He tightened his grip on her cold leg. He heard Raava scream his name as the men took her. He saw her face disappear from view by the rock that held him captive. He breathed in the light from his scarf. "Raava, I was so scared. When they took you, I didn't know what was going to happen, just that I had to get you back. When I saw your hair in that man's hand, I became so angry. I couldn't believe that he would do that to you." Wan's stride became slower and slower until he was stopped. "Then Vaatu came." He lowered his head to halt his hallucinations. "When he had his grip choking me, I wasn't scared for me. I just didn't want to think about what would have happened if Vaatu killed me. What would have happened to you?" He started walking again, and Mula followed in her own sleepiness. "Harmonic Convergence is so close. It's less than a week away." His eyelids drooped and he caught himself from tripping. "What if I make it out alive at the cost of you?" He felt movement and turned his head to see Raava lifting her own from his back.

"Wan?" she asked, dazed.

"It's alright," he said quietly. "I got you."

"Can you let me down?" Raava blinked into the sunrise as Wan let her down carefully. "What happened?"

"We got away from Vaatu."

"And Enna?"

"Ran off." She nodded. Wan's chest felt heavy, and the sun burned his eyes. He wobbled and saw the ground getting closer. He felt Raava's cool hands on his arms, lowering him down carefully. He winced away from the hand on his right arm.

"Wan, what is it?" She took his head in both hands to steady it from bobbing.

"My shoulder," he moaned. She placed his head on her shoulder for support and gently touched his shoulder. His teeth clenched. Her grip was careful as she delicately folded his clothes off around his shoulder. Only for a moment was she taken aback by the corded muscle wiring his arm, but then she got to work.

"Wan, I don't exactly know what to do," she panicked. "Tell me what to do." But Wan wouldn't answer. His breathing told her that he was asleep. She looked around, lost. Then, she remembered. She had seen a shoulder like this before; when she was searching for Vaatu after she had lost him the first time, approximately 5,000 years before meeting Wan, she had gone over a human city. A man had been attacked by darkened spirits. His shoulder had looked like Wan's. "I think this might hurt a little." She placed one hand on the back of his shoulder and one on the front. Quickly pushing with the front hand, she pushed his shoulder back into place. He breathed in sharply as she felt his eyelashes flutter against her neck.

"Raava?" he whispered. Her breathing was heavy. He lifted his head to look at her. She was paler than usual, her eyes round.

"Y-Your shoulder..." He pulled his shirt up to cover his bruised arm.

"I'm sorry." She faced the ground, embarrassed.

"You need sleep, don't you, Wan?" she asked. He rubbed the back of his neck.

"I'll be fine until tonight." He tried to grin but was not convincing. "We need to keep going." Mula trotted over to them. He pat her neck. "It's okay, Mula. You won't have to carry us." Raava looked up at that. "Come on, Raava." She shook her head.

"You're hurt. You need to rest," she insisted. "Both of you." Her hands twisted in the skirt of her dress.

"We're fine," he smirked. She was persistent.

"You're more tired than Mula. You had to carry me." She stood up slowly, keeping her balance. "If you want to keep moving, neither of you are carrying me." As Wan stood as well, she had to change her head position. He towered over her more now than he had before.

"Can you walk?" She glared at her feet and willed for them to work with her; then, she took a step and nearly fell. Wan reached out to catch her but she pushed away. "Hey, let's take it slow." She surrendered and grabbed his arm, both of them taking small steps.

They walked a long way. Raava insisted they eat meals while walking. She knew Wan wanted to keep going because of how close the Harmonic Convergence was and that she would not be able to stop him from doing so.

The moment the sun was below the horizon, Mula crashed. Wan sighed and brought Raava down to sit. He then unloaded the baggage on Mula's back. He spread a blanket out over her. He handed the other to Raava. "Here," he told her. "We should get some sleep." He took a deep breath that carried to him her scent from his scarf before taking it off. He kneeled down next to her and wrapped it around her neck. She held the blanket out to him.

"If I have your scarf, you should have the blanket," she mumbled. Her eyes avoided his. He took her hands and pushed them back towards her, the blanket still intertwined with her fingers.

"Not a chance." He scooted his usual distance away from her. She watched him turn over onto his side and fall asleep. Her eyes wide, she blinked and looked back to the blanket, where the heat from his hands still sizzled on hers. She wrapped the blanket around herself and curled up into a ball on the snowy ground. She just stared at Wan's back. She remembered the sight of his bare skin, of his muscle and strength, and the bruises. All her fault.

"I'm sorry, Wan," she sobbed. She sniffed and decided she would not cry. Her arms tightened around her legs. Her cheek was numb from the snow when she got up and placed the blanket gently over Wan. She looked at his sleeping face and could not help but think of how it looked earlier. The feeling of relief that had washed over his face when he had seen her in the cell, and then the confusion. She wondered what she looked like to him now. A child? She raised her hands and frowned at them. They were so small, fragile-looking, useless. She switched her gaze to his hands poking out of the blankets. His hands were so large compared to hers now. They were callused and marked with scars from years of hard work. Hers were unmarked by anything but dirt from the building. "You had to protect me because of how worthless I am. I can't do anything." A hand engulfed hers.

"Don't think of yourself like that."

"You should be sleeping." Wan sat up, keeping his hand on hers.

"And you shouldn't?" he asked. Raava buried her nose in his scarf. She breathed it in like she had every day. Wan. "If I see that you are going to sleep, I will." He handed her the blanket.

"Fine." Pouting, she pulled the edges of the blanket around her shoulders and fell onto her side. He just watched her silently, a slight smirk on his lips, but nothing in his eyes. "Your turn."

"Sleep well, Raava." He lied back down and was asleep before she knew it. Raava stared at him again. His chest was moving up and down, up and down. The rest of him was still like a statue until he would suddenly turn over. She moved her gaze to the open sky above her. The stars glistened in the calm pool of darkness.

"Wan…" He had gotten hurt trying to protect her. Or not for protecting her, because of her. Images of his damaged arm poisoned her mind. She thought of how much it must have hurt. The only reason any of it had happened was because of her selfishness. She had told Wan that she was sorry for losing his friends when she really had no idea what it felt like. Oh, how foolish she had been! Now, she could not change back into a spirit and that was sure to doom them during the Harmonic Convergence!

The Harmonic Convergence… Raava tried to see the celestial event but could not. These human eyes could only see as a human could. She did not need it anyway; it was the day after tomorrow.

She cowered within herself. Never- not once- had she ever been so terrified for the event. She had not cared for humans before this, so she had not cared much if they were destroyed by Vaatu. She only cared for her other spirits. But now it was different. Now she had Wan, and he was jumbled up in the tracks that Vaatu was traveling on. There was no way that he would not perish. "No," she croaked. Her throat was tight, her stomach twisting. Her heart pounded and ached. What is this? she wondered. This feeling was stretching in her. It spread out its wings to every point of her small body. Fear? No, something else, something more detailed. Anxiety? Yes, that was it, and the tension was just growing larger. She repeated what she had been thinking when the feeling arose to understand what she was anxious about.

There was no way that he would not perish.

Wan was going to die.

Tears started to slip down her face. She rubbed them away. It was all her fault. She allowed him to help her instead of just letting him go free. She should not have given in to his guilty face when he spoke to her following the release of Vaatu. "Hey, Wan," she uttered, "don't die on me."