Once Sokka arrived, things moved quickly. Aang and Gyatso had worked out what exactly Gyatso needed to wish for and how to word it. Aang would take them to the Spirit Library for three hours, then bring them back to the hotel room.
"Why a time limit?" Sokka asked. "Why wouldn't we stay there until we find something useful?"
"A time limit allows me to bring you all back in the same wish," Aang explained, before he added solemnly. "And it's best that we not trespass too long in spirit territory. Djinni aren't the only type spirits in the world."
"Oh…" Sokka shuddered, but didn't ask any further questions.
"Well, I suppose there's no sense waiting any longer," Gyatso said. "Aang, I wish for you to take us to the Spirit Library for three hours." Aang nodded once and lifted his hands.
Zuko was prepared for the unsettling feeling of travel by djinn, but it still left him dizzy and disoriented. Sokka and Iroh were in even worse shape, but Gyatso seemed fine. He must have had more experience with travelling this way than any of them, Zuko reasoned with just a touch of envy. While his uncle and his friend gathered themselves, Zuko looked around him with curiosity. They were in the middle of a desert he didn't recognize. Sand stretched around them for miles around them, like an ocean under the baking hot sun. The only thing to be seen in the distance were dunes rolling across the landscape in windswept waves.
Before them, though, stood a building several stories high. Limestone bricks the color of the sand around them made up the face of the building. It was as bright and clean as if the capstone had been laid the day before, but Zuko knew instinctively that it was impossibly ancient. The Spirit Library of the Si Wong Desert.
"Woah…" Sokka's head had finally stopped spinning, and he stared up at the library in awe.
"It was a myth," Iroh breathed. "A legend from long ago when the nations were much more connected. This is…if the legend is true, then this library houses histories of people and events that we have never even heard of!"
"The spirit who guards this library is older than history itself," Aang said. "He was here before the first humans ever felt the sun on their skin. Only a handful of mortals have even seen this place, let alone set foot inside of it."
Iroh stared up at the soaring tower with something that looked suspiciously like tears in his eyes. As an archeologist, he has spent decades of his life devoted to uncovering the mysteries buried in the ancient past. He was about to enter a veritable heaven for passionate historians. Three hours may as well have been seconds. If he lived another hundred years and could spend every moment in that library, he wouldn't scratch the surface of the knowledge contained there.
"Uncle?" Zuko's concerned voice pulled Iroh from his reverie. Iroh smiled wanly at his nephew.
"I'm alright," he assured Zuko. "I'm just a bit overwhelmed." Gyatso placed a hand on Iroh's shoulder.
"I can't imagine what it must feel like for you to be here," he said kindly. "I wish we had more time, but we must find what we came for before our limited time here is done."
"Yes, of course," Iroh nodded, clearing his throat. "Please excuse me."
Aang stepped forward and led the group into the darkened doorway of the Sprit Library. After standing in the blinding desert sun, the inside seemed to be pitch dark for a moment. As their eyes adjusted, they saw the interior was lit with low burning torches lining the walls. The air was cool and dry, perfect for preserving the ancient tomes that lined shelves as far in each direction as they could see. The inside of the library must have been in the Spirit World, they decided, because it was far larger on the inside than even the impressive exterior suggested.
"Do you know what we're looking for?" Sokka asked Aang.
"Roughly," Aang said. "There's a section devoted to the Djinni specifically, but I'm not entirely sure where it is exactly."
"Fantastic," Sokka groaned. He looked to the right and to the left at the expanse of scrolls and books. There were placards marking each section, but some of the writing was so old, he couldn't even begin to guess what language they might have been, let alone decipher the scrawl.
"Perhaps there's a reference center, or an index?" Iroh suggested.
"Or perhaps you should ask someone who knows." The group, including Aang, let out startled yelps as the spun around to find the source of the voice.
There was nothing at first, but a large, round face emerged from the shadows, pure white with sharp, luminous eyes. The men drew close to each other, shrinking away from the figure unconsciously. As it got closer, the shape of it became easier to see, and they realized that the uncanny face was attached to a large body covered in deep black feathers. The end of the spirits wings dragged along the ground almost soundlessly. A pair of pale yellow feet poked out from the bottom, scaled and sharply taloned.
"Wan Shi Tong," Aang gasped. He gathered himself quickly and stepped forward with a deep respectful bow. His companions copied the move hurriedly.
"A djinn," the owl spirt noted with distant interest. "It's been a while since I've seen your kind in here."
"We have come seeking wisdom from your collection, Most Ancient of Spirits," Aang said. His tone was oddly formal.
"I know why you're here," Wan Shi Tong said. "I know what information you seek."
"Will you allow us to look?" Aang asked. The tops of Wan Shi Tong's wings lifted and dropped in what seemed to be a shrug.
"Ordinarily, I would require an exchange," he explained. "Knowledge for knowledge. However, I am curious to see what will happen now that bending has been reintroduced to the world. It could be interesting. I like interesting."
"So…we can look?" Sokka asked nervously. Wan Shi Tong regarded him for a moment with his unnerving predatory eyes before he nodded. He lifted one wing and pointed behind them. There was a stiff breeze and the swishing sound of papers as the stacks rearranged themselves.
"The section you want is just there," Wan Shi Tong said. "You may look through any of the scrolls you'd like. You may only look. Nothing leaves this building, or none of you will. If you have any food or drinks with you, you must keep them closed as long as you are inside of my library. And flash photography is strictly prohibited. You may, however take as many notes as you like." The spirit lifted his wing again and a pile of blank paper and pens appeared on the table.
"We thank you," Aang bent over in another deep bow, and again his companions scrambled to follow him. With an imperious nod of his head, Wan Shi Tong disappeared, melting into the shadows with a barely audible rustle of feathers to mark his departure.
"Well," Gyatso said, rubbing his hands together. "I suppose we should begin our search." Sokka went to the nearest shelf and grabbed an armful of scrolls and books.
"What exactly are we looking for?" he asked.
"Anything to tell us how to find a djinn's vessel I guess," Zuko said. He grabbed an armful and led Sokka over to a table near a sconce.
"There's so much here," Iroh commented. "I didn't know that djinn had such a long documented history."
"This probably isn't even a fraction," Aang said. "I've been a djinn for a thousand years, and even I don't know everything there is to know about us."
"A thousand years?" Sokka gapped at Aang. "Wow…you look good for your age." He leaned over and nudged Zuko's side. "So…you like older women, eh? How old's Katara?" Zuko shoved Sokka back with an irritable huff.
"Knock it off," he muttered.
"Hey, nothing wrong with a cougar-lynx," Sokka teased him. "Suki's a year older than me, you know."
"I'm sure she'd appreciate you calling her a cougar-lynx," Zuko scoffed.
"Djinn don't get involved with mortals," Aang said, his voice frosty. "It's pointless. You're like morning dew to us." The group fell silent, and Zuko thought he saw a slight blush on the spirit's face in the dim torchlight.
"O~okay," Sokka drawled. Gyatso cleared his throat and picked up a dusty scroll.
"Why don't we get started," he said. "Three hours is less time than you think."
"Wan Shi Tong said that flash photography wasn't allowed, but maybe if we're careful, we can take pictures by the torches," Iroh suggested. The older men's attempts at breaking the tension didn't quite work, but their companions were willing to pretend it had. Aang picked up scrolls seemingly at random and passed them out.
"These will probably be the most helpful," he said quietly. "I can't give you any more of a hint than that."
"…thanks." Zuko accepted his scroll hesitantly, as if Aang had put a curse on it. Nothing happened as the parchment met Zuko's palm, though.
He and the others set to work reading through the scrolls. Iroh sped through his pile, occasionally recruiting one of the others- usually Aang- to hold up a scroll so he could take pictures of the sections that seemed most promising with his phone. Zuko couldn't imagine what those sections could have to say. Most of what he was reading had to do with the rule the spirits had to follow. He learned nothing of value, except that Katara may have broken several rules in her time with him. That discovery he kept to himself.
At nearly forty minutes into their research project, the torches dimmed. It was the only warning that something was about to happen when Katara suddenly appeared beside Zuko.
"Katara!" he cried. He his arms were halfway raised to embrace her, when he saw the look on her face. It was a mix of fear, anger, and distress.
"I'm so sorry," she said. "Azula wished for me to bring you to her."
"What-?" Iroh gasped. It was the only reaction anyone had time for. Katara took Zuko's hand and in an instant they were gone again.
"Why do people keep vanishing?" Sokka yelped.
"We have to go after them!" Iroh spun wildly towards Aang. "We have to get my nephew!" Aang shook his head.
"I-I can't," he stammered. "The wish specified three hours. I can't take you back before then."
"She could have killed him by then!" Iroh insisted. "What if she wishes for Katara to-to…" He couldn't finish the thought. Gyatso put a comforting hand on Iroh's shoulder.
"Wishbringer spirits are forbidden from killing," he assured Iroh. "Whatever your niece wants Zuko for, I'm sure there will be plenty of time to get him back."
"Katara isn't going to make things easy for her new master," Aang said. "She'll do whatever she can to keep him safe."
"What if…" Iroh's voice broke before he could begin to give voice to his fears. He knew, perhaps better than anyone in that room, what terrible things a person could survive.
"She's his friend," Sokka said. He met Iroh's gaze and held it steadily. "I've seen how close they are. She won't let anything happen to him if she can stop it."
"If Azula wishes it, she may not have a choice." Iroh held up a scroll he had been reading earlier. "There are deeper laws than friendship at play here. If Azula makes the wrong wish, Katara may have to-"
"Then we should keep reading and figure out how to get to them," Gyatso said. He picked up another scroll and motioned for the other to continue their own search. "The answer is here somewhere, isn't it, Aang?"
"If the answer is anywhere it's here," Aang confirmed.
"That settles it," Sokka said. "We keep looking until we run out of time, then we go find Zuko and Katara." He picked up a new scroll and swept his eyes over the ancient texts.
Iroh picked up the scroll Zuko had been going over with trembling hands. Two hours and twenty minutes, he thought. Zuko only had to survive that long. Iroh had to believe that he could.
The time passed agonizingly slowly; it passed far too quickly. Finally, though, the three hours were nearly up, and no one had come up with anything terribly useful.
"There's way too much!" Sokka complained. "It's worse than cramming for finals. We barely touched a third of the stuff here."
"We knew we'd have to work fast," Gyatso said. "There must be something here we can use."
"Aang, can't you give us a clue?" Iroh pleaded with the spirit. Aang shook his head sadly.
"I've given you all that I can," he said. "Think about what you've read."
"This scroll said that an elder djinn can intervene under certain circumstances," Sokka held up a piece of thin parchment. "You're a thousand years old. Doesn't that count?"
"A thousand years is nothing compared to some of the spirits," Aang said. "The djinn that turned me was many millennia older than that. I'm a child by comparison."
"Well, can you contact him?" Sokka asked.
"Her," Aang said. "And that is up to Gyatso." He turned to his master with a sad smile. "You're down to one last wish, my friend. Is this how you want to use it?" Gyatso glanced at Iroh and Sokka for a moment before turning back to Aang.
"It is," he said firmly.
.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.
"I don't know what she wants with you," Katara admitted. They were on the roof of Zuko's building. Beneath their feet was the penthouse apartment that had been Zuko's family home for nearly a decade.
"She didn't say?" Zuko asked. Katara shook her head.
"She only wished for me to bring you to her," she said. "She knows I can't hurt you."
"You can hurt me," Zuko reminded her. "You can't kill me, but you can hurt me." Katara's brow drew down and she bit her bottom lip hard.
"I won't let her," she swore. "I don't care if she wishes it, I won't hurt you." Zuko sighed and shook his head.
"You can't stop her," he said. "Katara, I read about the laws the spirits have to follow. You…you've broken them already, haven't you?" Katara's eyes widened and she took an involuntary step backward.
"I…I might have bent a few," she confessed. "But I never broke any of the laws."
"You gave me the files," Zuko reminded her.
"You wished for those," Katara took another step backward. Zuko shook his head.
"I wanted to see what was on my father's computer," he reminded her. "I never wished for you to give them to me."
"Same difference," Katara shrugged. She drew her arms around herself protectively. "You never got to actually see your father's computer. That counts as a part of your wish."
"You brought us home from the cemetery," Zuko pressed gently. He reached out and caught Katara's arms, just above her elbows. She put up a weak struggle, but didn't actually pull away.
"I needed to get back, too," she told him. "It wasn't like it was out of my way."
"There are consequences to breaking the rules, Katara," Zuko said. "The scroll said you can be stripped of your djinn for breaking the laws. It's a death sentence. I don't want anything to happen to you because of me."
"I don't care!" Katara shouted. Now she pulled herself violently from Zuko's grasp. "I never wanted this life! I don't care about the rules, or what could happen to me. There are worse things than death, Zuko! This- this shadow of a life is worse than death! You don't know what it's like…Every time I wake up, everyone I know is dead. When I wake up next, you'll be gone. And even if you aren't, I won't see you again. So what if I bend some rules? So what if I break them? They can't do worse to me than this. If Azula wishes for me to hurt you, I won't do it. I don't care what happens to me.
Katara had put several feet of distance between them. Her body quaked with pent up anger…no, not anger, Zuko thought. Despair. She was ready for a fight she knew she would ultimately lose. And she would fight, Zuko knew. She would protect him, but it wasn't just about him. She was fighting for the piece of herself she hadn't lost the day she made her last wish. Her stubborn mind was made up, and Zuko was caught up like a lost ship on a stormy sea.
"Alright, then," he said resignedly. "I guess we have to go see my sister." Katara squeezed her eyes shut and took a deep breath. When she opened them again, the despair had vanished beneath icy cold resolve.
"Let's go."
Azula sat behind Ozai's desk, looking every bit the young queen in her castle. Mai and Ty Lee stood behind on either side of her chair. Her chin rested on one graceful hand, and her lips curled into something between a smile and a sneer. The wide picture window framed her with the dying rays of the setting sun casting her in an eerie glow.
"Hello, big brother,' she drawled in her saccharine tone. Beside him, Zuko felt Katara tense up with angry energy.
"Geeze," Zuko said. "Dramatic much? I'm surprised you didn't have Katara magic up some lightning for you." Katara let out a snort of laughter.
"I'm sure she would have if she'd thought of it," she said. "But your sister's wishes haven't been nearly as creative as yours."
"I can be creative," Azula snarled.
"You can try," Katara countered. "You haven't made a wish yet that's worked out for you. By the way, how many high-ranking employees have bailed on Sozin since this afternoon? Two? Three dozen?'
Katara expected Azula to get angry, but the young woman's smile just grew sweeter. It was not a pleasant sight, Katara decided. Azula leaned forward, resting her elbows on the desk.
"I wished for my brother to be here," she said. "And here he is."
"What do you want with me, Azula?" Zuko demanded. "I was in the middle of something important." Azula leaned back in her chair looking very self-satisfied.
"You're here for leverage," Azula told Zuko.
"Leverage?" Zuko's nose wrinkled in confusion. "What do you mean leverage?"
Azula turned to Katara, her smile taking on a cruel edge.
"You said that you can't kill anyone," she said. "There are a lot of unpleasant things you can do to a person that won't kill them. Or rather, a lot of unpleasant things I can do."
"What?" Katara took a step forward, placing herself between Azula and Zuko. "What idiotic plan are you cooking up?" Azula's mouth curled into a cruel smirk.
"One lesson I learned from my dear father is the importance of leverage," she said. "I can't do anything to you, as you keep reminding me, but there's plenty I can do to him." Katara glanced over her shoulder at Zuko, then she scoffed at Azula, folding her arms.
"What makes you think doing anything to Zuko will make me do what you say?" she asked.
"Everyone has a weakness," Azula told her. "And I've finally figured out yours. You care about him, but there's nothing you can do to stop me if I choose to hurt him." Katara shrugged carelessly.
"I like Zuko," she said. "Certainly more than I like you, but at the end of the day, he is a mortal. You are all ephemeral to me. His death would be sad, but it wouldn't hurt me as much as you think." Azula raised an eyebrow at her.
"You expect me to believe that?"
"You can believe what you'd like," Katara told her, throwing her hands up to the sides. "I'm having a lot of fun messing with your wishes." Azula opened her hand and called up a ball of flame.
"Fine," she said. "I guess we'll see what my dear brother looks like with both sides of his face scarred."
"You'd do that to your own brother?" Katara asked, keeping her tone disinterested. "That's a level of evil you don't come across often."
"It's best not to get too attached to anyone," Azula said. "As long as people are expendable, they can't be used against you. And since we seem to be on the same page, I guess there's no reason to keep dear ZuZu around after all." The ball of flame engulfed her hand and she shot it at Zuko in a motion almost too quick to follow. Beside her Ty Lee let out a startled gasp and Mai shut her eyes tightly. Azula's smirk widened into a maniacal grin as the Zuko was swallowed up in the blazing hot fire. After a moment, she let the fire die, expecting to see her brother's charred corpse lying in a heap on the carpet. Instead, the flames dissipated, leaving Zuko standing in the middle of the circle of ash that was once carpet, unscathed and staring at his sister in disbelief.
"What?" Azula leapt to her feet. Mai and Ty Lee fell back a few steps, but in Azula's rage, she seemed to have forgotten that either of them existed. Her furious glare landed on Katara. "What did you do?"
"Me?" Katara clutched her hands to her chest, feigning wide-eyed innocence. "Nothing!" Azula looked between Katara and Zuko, trying to decipher the conspiracy. Her flames had had no effect on him.
"You just tried to kill me!" Zuko finally found his voice. He gaped at Azula in horror. "You really just tried to kill me! What is wrong with you?" Azula didn't seem to have heard him. She was staring at her hands intensely. Then she laid her hands down on the desk in front of her and incinerated it.
"So, my fire works the way it's supposed to," she said. "Did you make it so it won't work on people?" Azula turned and looked over at Mai and Ty Lee. The two girls grasped at each other's hand and they paled with fear.
"Stop, Azula!" Zuko said. He took a step forward and held his hands up. Azula's eyes widened in shock.
"You…" she gasped. "You wished for…?" She could hardly form the words at this point. Katara just smiled at her innocently and shrugged.
"Well, you did ask for firebending to be hereditary," she reminded her master. "And had bending remained in the world, Zuko would've inherited the ability, too." Azula's face went pale, then red by turns. She balled her hands into fists and with an enraged shriek brought them down on the burnt desk, causing a portion of it to crumble into ash.
"You tricked me!" she howled at Katara. "You tricked me!" Katara put her hands behind her back and rocked on her feet with a smug grin.
"I only did what you asked," she reminded Azula. "Is it my fault you didn't take time to consider what the word hereditary meant?"
"I didn't mean for him to get the power!" Azula shouted. "You know that isn't what I meant!"
"Maybe it's not what you intended," Katara said placidly. "But my job isn't to interpret your intent. I just grant your wishes as you tell them to me." Azula breathed out a plume of fire. She moved around the still smoldering desk and glowered at Katara.
"Fine, then I'll wish his firebending away," she said. Katara shrugged.
"I can't do that without reversing the hereditary part," she warned Azula. "I gave you your ability based on your lineage, too."
"What does that mean?" Azula demanded. Katara smiled mischievously.
"It means that if I remove the firebending, you and he both lose it," she said. "Of course, you could wish for you and only you to have firebending, but then that would leave you with six wishes. Totally your call, though."
Azula looked equal parts mortified and furious. Her mouth opened and shut as if she were struggling to find words for her anger. Finally she gave up and raised her hands. This time she aimed at Katara with a massive ball of flame. Zuko jumped in front of her and bent the fire around them. When it dissipated, the room was on fire. Ty Lee and Mai hurried out of the door, and presumably out of the apartment with screams of fear. Azula didn't spare them more than a glance as they fled. She also didn't seem to notice the burning furniture or the flames licking up the bookshelf. Her wild eyes were fixed on Katara and Zuko.
"You didn't have to do that," Katara chided Zuko. "She can't hurt me."
"I know, I just…" Zuko shrugged sheepishly and put out the flames around them, choking a bit on the acrid smoke filling the room. Katara waved her hand and the smoke funneled out through a window. Azula's anger just seemed to grow by the minute.
Her chest constricted and each breath felt like she was inhaling sand. The fire in her core consumed her from the inside. She led by fear. She was, after all, Ozai's child. It had worked, too. Her entire life, she had never met any problem she hadn't been able to solve with a combination of money, intimidation and leverage. Even Zuko had been easy to control, though there was little Azula ever needed from him. Now, though…
Katara and Zuko weren't even paying attention to Azula anymore. It didn't matter that Katara belonged to Azula. It didn't matter that Azula now ran Sozin Inc. It didn't matter that she could control literal fire. She had eight wishes left, but she knew that Katara would find a way to ruin each and every one. In Katara, a glorified magical slave, Azula had found her strongest opponent. It wasn't fair!
"I wish to be stronger than you," Azula shouted suddenly. Katara's head snapped towards Azula. A strange look came over her face. Her eyes screwed shut and her jaw clenched tightly as if she were making a great effort to lift something heavy.
"Take it back!" Katara ordered Azula. "Take back your wish right now!" Azula drew back in surprise. She bumped into the desk, causing the edge to crumble. Zuko was staring between Katara and Azula in horror.
"Azula, take back your wish, please!" Zuko begged his sister. Azula's mouth curled into a smirk.
"Oh, I see," she said. "I've done it, haven't I? I've outsmarted the spirit."
"No, stupid!" Katara was doubled over in pain. That surprised both of the Kaji siblings. Zuko put his arms around her for support, but Azula watched her gleefully.
"Azula, you don't understand!" Zuko pleaded. "You'll be turned into a djinn!" Azula's grin widened.
"Good!" she said. "Then I won't need her anymore! I'll be as powerful!"
"That's…not how it w-works!" Katara gasped. Her body shook, and she felt feverish under Zuko's touch. "Take back the wish! I can't…Zuko, I can't fight it."
"Then you should stop." Zuko spun towards the door. His uncle and their friends stood in the doorway. With them was a young woman he'd never seen before. She was small, but stocky with milky grey eyes and dark hair swept back into a simple bun. She regarded the scene with detached interest. She was almost smiling. Beside her Aang stood with his hands behind his back, like a soldier. His face was grim, but he didn't seem surprised at the scene at all.
"Who are you?" Zuko asked. He kept his grip on Katara, who couldn't stand on her own anymore. The new comer turned her unnervingly blank stare to Zuko
"The maid, apparently," she said drily. "I'm here to clean up this mess. You can call me Toph, though."
"What are you doing in my home?" Azula demanded. "Get out!"
"Katara," Aang said softly stepping forward. "You can't stop this." He reached out to Katara, but she stumbled away. She was crying silently now.
"It hurts," she whimpered. She clung to Zuko's sleeve. "I'm so sorry." Katara took a shuddering breath and straightened as much as she could. Then, she granted Azula's wish.