Duron awoke to the sound of wind whistling past his ears. He opened his eyes to see he was on Appa, alongside Katara, Sokka and Aang. He couldn't tell where Momo was, until he felt a furry tail run down his neck. Momo was curled up on his head, sleeping. Sokka was looking over a map. Duron turned his head ever so slightly to look upon him. Momo, disturbed by the movement of Duron's head, jumped off. Sokka heard the movement and looked over to where Duron was sitting.

"You're awake," Sokka stated softly.

Duron closed his eyes, trying to recall what just transpired. After his memory returned, he wished he hadn't made the effort. A sharp pain was piercing from the side of his head. He put his left hand to his temple, and felt the bandage wrapped around his head.

"Yeah, sorry about that," Sokka grimaced. "Try not to move too much, you may have a concussion."

Duron slowly retracted his hand from his head.

"Once Katara wakes back up, she promised she'd do another healing session," Sokka continued.

"She's a healer?" Duron asked.

"Yeah, one of the best, according to the waterbending masters at the north pole," Sokka replied.

Duron could tell by his tone that Sokka was proud of his sister's accomplishments. Sokka had flashed a smile for split second, before retracting back to a grimace when we relayed that fact. Duron had seen people act this way many times, especially his father.

His father.

His father would usually smile for a passing moment when he spoke of Duron's mother. Slowly, Duron began to comprehend the reality that he would never see his father's smile in any other form than his mind's eye. The same went for Calon and Tane. Why did they die, when Duron didn't? Could he have saved them? Duron replayed the fight again and again in his mind, trying to find the point at which everything fell apart. No matter how hard he tried, the point seemed to be the first second.

Sokka interrupted his thoughts by saying, "we're heading north. We're planning on laying low for a while. We're hoping to avoid the fire nation from getting on our trail."

Duron shrugged and replied, "seems like a logical choice. You have any place in mind?"

After a moment of thought, Sokka answered, "not yet."

Duron closed his eyes, trying to recall the numerous hiding places his father had drilled into him and his brothers. The village nearby was not an option, as the fire nation would surely go there. The forest was filled with carnivores and firebenders. The only place that would be safe would be the network of caves in the mountains. His father made him swear he would never reveal the hiding spots to anyone outside the family, but Duron doubted that that promise applied anymore. He couldn't get in trouble for it anymore. And besides, its not like they were going to be used by anyone else. Duron was the only one who knew about them, now that everyone else is... dead.

"Try to mountains to the east," Duron suggested. "My family discovered a large network of caverns years ago. They're about... ten miles from here."

"We've already been flying for an hour," Sokka replied. "We might of flown past them."

"Check on your map, I know where the caverns end," Duron insisted.

"We're west of the 'Ald'gean Mountains'," Sokka stated.

"The Ald'gean Mountains... Those are the ones, head for the lake at its end at the north," Duron directed.

Sokka crawled over to Appa's head. He was slow to avoid awaking Aang, who was in his path. Once he was on Appa's head, he grabbed the reigns.

"Time to east boy," Sokka slowly directing Appa to turn to his right.

Duron stared up at the night sky. Why did it calm him? One would think that after seeing so much devastation at the hands of fire, he wouldn't find giant balls of fire soothing. Yet, they did soothe him. The small, pulsating orbs of light gave him something to focus on: the light in the dark.