Chapter 30: The Secret Tunnel

Inside the Eastern Air Temple there was a council room meant for the head nuns, which was being used for the first time in a century. A round table was in the middle, large enough for a dozen people to stand around. Pathik had a map of the northeastern Earth Kingdom spread across the table, stretching from the temple at one end to the mountains near Ba Sing Se in the other. Katara and Suki stood on the side of the table facing the mountains on the map, while Haru and Sokka were standing by the side with Ba Sing Se on it. Pathik faced the side with the air temple displayed, and Toph was sitting by a wall since she couldn't see the map.

Katara bended a small chip of ice onto the map near the mountains. "Aang is located here," she said. "We need to get him out of there before the Fire Nation moves him somewhere else."

Suki stuck a knife into the map at the mountains. "Qin said there's a tunnel here that leads right to the center of the military base holding Aang. We'll go in there, get Aang, and get out."

Haru raised one hand for a question. "What if Aang doesn't want to leave? We have no idea what lies he's been told since we lost him."

"You need to restore him first," Pathik advised. Leaning onto the map he thought about the vision he had of past Avatars dying. "The Avatar Spirit was separated from Aang when mindbending control was attempted in he was in the Avatar State. He no longer has the connection to his past lives. Restoring the connection should restore Aang's memory. To do that someone will need to enter the spirit world and find the Avatar Spirit there."

"How do we do that?" Toph asked. "It's not like we can just walk into the spirit world."

"He can," Pathik said, pointing at Sokka.

"You can't be serious," Sokka objected. "As the 'logic and reason' guy I would be the last person that could ever go into the spirit world."

Pathik chuckled at Sokka's honest description of himself. "That would be true, but you have been given a means to enter the spirit world at will."

"He has?" Katara asked, raising one eyebrow.

Sokka tugged on the string around his neck and pulled out the vial of spirit water from beneath his shirt. "You mean this thing?" he asked. "What am I supposed to do? Drink it?"

"You are learning," Pathik commented. "But not yet. Crossing over here would get you lost in the spirit world."

"Then where am I supposed to cross over?" Sokka asked, putting the vial away.

"In a place connected to the Avatar," Pathik answered. "That will place your own spirit near the location of the Avatar Spirit, where you will be able to find your way to him on the other side."

"And what happens when I find him?" Sokka asked.

Pathik shook his head. "That is something you'll have to find out on your own."

"Where do we find the right place?" Haru asked.

"Umm," Katara interrupted. "This may be a wild coincidence, but Qin mentioned a temple to the Avatar beneath the Fire Nation base."

"Oh yeah," Toph said, remembering what Qin had described. "He said something about it being about a Fire Nation Avatar."

"Does anyone else think that's a very convenient coincidence?" Sokka asked.

Pathik shrugged. "The spirits work in mysterious ways."

"I hate that phrase," Sokka said, putting one hand on his forehead.

"Still, this can work," Katara said. "We'll get what we need to restore Aang, then rescue him on the same trip."

Invigorated with the plan to rescue Aang from the Fire Nation, Katara and the others got on Appa and flew for the mountains by Ba Sing Se. Pathik was left behind at the temple, as he was too old to travel anymore and could not assist in a fight. Flying close to the ground and Appa tried to avoid being spotted by anyone. When they reached the area around Minara Katara guided Appa far around the military base, worrying that if anyone spotted the sky bison then Aang would be immediately relocated.

Arriving at sunset Appa landed at the base of the mountains, and on the horizon everyone could see Minara's central tower on the horizon. There was also a large tent closer to the mountains, illuminated by bright lamps in the distance. One at a time everyone climbed off Appa, then had the sky bison hide in a thick group of trees nearby.

Toph crouched on the ground and used her vibration sight to search for the underground tunnel. "Got it," Toph said. She earthbended a shaft straight down and created spiraling steps to climb down. "I'll have to leave this open, the air down there must be really stale."

Haru walked up to the shaft and raised the ground around it into a small hill. "That should hide the hole unless someone walks up here."

One at a time everyone climbed down the shaft, entering a dark tunnel below. Nearly fifty feet below the surface barely any starlight made it down the shaft. Only Toph could see in the dark, even after everyone else's eyes adjusted. Slowly they walked down the tunnel with Toph leading the way, traveling for what felt like miles. Along the way Toph and Haru had to earthbend away cave-ins that blocked the tunnel, some of which appeared to have happened recently.

"How much farther is it?" Sokka asked, stumbling down the tunnel behind Haru.

"I'm not sure," Toph answered. She abruptly stopped and crouched with one hand on the ground.

Katara and Haru barely stopped themselves from walking into Toph, while Sokka bumped into Suki. "What is it?" Katara asked.

"This secret tunnel's not so secret," Toph said. As if on cue a dim shone from behind a distant corner, getting brighter as the source moved closer. "Hide!"

Quickly Haru and Toph earthbended hiding places into the wall of the tunnel, and once they were all inside the two earthbenders closed the wall but left small eye holes to see through. The light moved down the tunnel and past the people hiding in the wall, which Suki saw as a handheld flame from a firebender. Katara saw three people walking with the firebender, each carrying a pickaxe and a shovel. The miners kept walking down the tunnel, not even looking at the walls on their way to work.

"This complicates things," Sokka muttered.

"They're going to find out we've been here," Haru said.

Toph removed the rock wall hiding everyone and started following the strangers. "We need to take them down now."

"All of them at once," Katara whispered, keeping pace with Toph. "If even one of them gets away we fail."

Everyone followed the strangers a short distance down the tunnel, just until they reached the remains of a blockage that Haru had opened up earlier. The firebender paused as he recognized recent earthbending, until Toph's bending made him sink into the floor. Darkness took back the tunnel as the firebender sank up to his head and his flame went out, leaving the miners blind and confused.

Just before the light went out Katara had started waterbending at one of the miners, hitting him with water and freezing him to a wall. At the same time Sokka had thrown his boomerang and hit another miner's head, knocking him out instantly. The last miner was hit by a stone block thrown by Haru, falling onto his back unconscious. Before any of them could recover Toph started burying the miners until only the eyes and noses were exposed, leaving them alive but completely silenced.

"We need to hurry," Haru advised.

"Yeah, before any more of them show up," Sokka said. He heard the ground move and then felt his boomerang hit his foot, prompting him to pick it up. "Thanks Toph."

"Don't mention it," Toph said.

Picking up the pace everyone hurried down the tunnel, keeping their eyes peeled for any new lights in the way. The tunnel widened as they got closer to the other end, and brighter lights shone in a spot resembling a cavern. Peeking around a corner Suki saw a few dozen miners excavating ore in the cavern, and on the opposite end the tunnel continued. But on a wall in between was the front of an ornate building, the sides and roof hidden in sedimentary rock. Dozens of torches were spaced out in the cavern, giving miners all the light they needed to mine away the rock blocking entry to the temple.

Suki frowned at just how bad the odds of success had gotten. "I think Qin's information may have been just a little bit out of date."

Sokka looked into the cavern, trying to think of a way to defeat all of them without anyone sounding the alarm. "Toph, can you sink them all at the same time?"

"Not alone," Toph answered. She turned to Haru and jerked her thumb to the left side of the cavern. "You and me, we go deeper and you take those guys out from below."

"I can't see through rock like you do," Haru said.

"Let me take care of that," Toph said. She made a smaller tunnel in the floor and walked into it with Haru. Gradually Toph and Haru earthbended a path to get below the center of the cavern, then split off in opposite directions. They stopped beneath the two largest groups of miners, and Haru waited for Toph to signal him.

In darkness Haru had no idea where anyone was above him. "Okay miss sees through walls, where are they?"

Focusing on the vibrations coming from above her, Toph sensed where every person was. She could reach half of them at once with simultaneous earthbending. For the other half Toph used smaller earthbending to make little shafts in the rock, from beneath the feet of those people to Haru. Dim light from the cavern shone through the little shafts, showing Haru where he needed to earthbend.

"On three," Toph said. "One… Two… Three!"

At the same time Toph and Haru started earthbending, making the ground above behave like quicksand in select places. Most of the miners screamed as they sank into the rock, being silenced when they were completely buried. Toph and Haru left the miners inside their smaller tunnel, bound and silenced by the rock. But three people above had moved just before the earthbending, walking onto ground that wasn't affected by Haru's bending.

"Oh crap," Sokka muttered, seeing the few that slipped out of the earthbending by chance. He quickly threw his boomerang and hit one of the miners in the head, dropping him instantly.

While the two remaining miners fled Katara bended some water at them, freezing their feet and tripping them. Suki ran into the cavern and reached the tripped miners before they could break free of Katara ice. With two swings of her fans Suki struck the miners and knocked them out. Nearby Toph and Haru emerged from below ground and buried the unconscious miners with the rest.

"Are there any more?" Katara asked.

"None nearby," Toph answered.

Sokka grabbed a torch from a wall and carried it towards the temple. "Still, we better hurry before those guys are missed."

Everyone hurried over to the temple half buried in rock. The front doors had been blocked by rock formations that the miners had been excavating, which Haru and Toph cleared and opened the doors. Inside the temple was a long room with statues in each of the four corners. No one knew the names of the people the statues represented, only that each was from a different nation. They were a complete cycle of Avatar incarnations, one prior to Yanchen's cycle. At the other end was another pair of doors, with a visage of a Fire Nation Avatar engraved onto the metal.

Haru wiped his fingers on one of the statues, taking off a thick layer of dust. "Just how old is this place?"

"Got to be at least a thousand years," Suki said.

Sokka reached the far doors and opened them. The chamber on the other side had a larger statue of the Fire Nation Avatar inside, unseen for over a thousand years. All color had long vanished over the centuries, making Sokka feel like he was entering a tomb. Ancient torches waiting to be lit were on the walls, and Sokka was surprised to find out that they could still burn when he used his stolen torch to light them.

"I really hope this works," Sokka said, taking the vial of spirit water out of his shirt.

Suki walked into the chamber and took Sokka's torch. "I'll guard your body while you're on the other side."

"Okay," Sokka said. He turned to the others still in the long room. "You three keep watch out there."

"Duh," Toph said.

"Just be quick," Haru said, closing the chamber doors.

When the doors were closed Sokka walked up to the statue inside the chamber, having no idea what that Avatar's name was. Setting aside that curiosity, Sokka uncorked the vial of spirit water. "Well, down the hatch." In one gulp Sokka drank all of the spirit water, noticing no taste at all. "I don't feel any-"

Suki gasped as Sokka collapsed midsentence, and she just barely reached him in time catch him. She carefully set Sokka down on his back, seeing that his eyes were unfocused. "So it does work," Suki said to herself.

After waiting half an hour Toph walked back into the cavern, checking to see if the imprisoned miners were still alive below the floor. Katara and Haru followed outside, figuring that if anyone new came down they would be in a better position to fight. They had no way of knowing if anyone in the base above would notice if the miners didn't return, but it was only a matter of time before someone checked in on them.

"Anything?" Katara asked.

"Trust me, if I see anything you'll be the first to know," Toph said.

"Mining crew, report!"

Horror spread on Katara's face as she recognized the female voice, coming from a metal pipe bolted to the cavern wall. Though the voice was distorted by distance, Katara still knew it as Princess Azula. "Oh not good," Katara muttered.

"Mining crew, your report on the escape tunnel is overdue!"

Despite fearing that they would be discovered, Katara still noticed that Azula sounded annoyed and frustrated. She guessed that Azula didn't want to be the person speaking through the metal pipe. "Haru, say something!"

"Why me?" Haru asked.

"Azula's heard my voice before and Toph's is too young to pass as a miner," Katara explained.

"Don't make me come down there and burn somebody!"

"Everything's fine," Haru said into the pipe. "We had a cave in down here, took us a while to clear it. But we're okay now. How are you?"

Katara slapped her forehead at Haru's stupid question, while his mouth hung as he realized his blunder. But to their surprise there was hesitation from the other end, and when Azula spoke again she seemed a bit confused.

"Alright, I guess." There was a pause for a few seconds. "I know it's thankless down there. Keep up the good work."

"Will do," Haru said. When there was no reply he backed away from the pipe and let out a sigh. "That was close."

"Yeah," Katara agreed. She looked back into the temple, where she hoped that Sokka would come out soon. "Come back soon Sokka."

Sokka found himself in a very strange place, needing a moment to take it all in. The statue of the Fire Nation Avatar was still there, but surrounded by a forest filled with thick vegetation. Above him both the sun and the moon were in a violet sky, which Sokka tried to rationalize as an illusion. Thick and humid air made Sokka dizzy while he adjusted to the new environment.

"Okay, now what?" Sokka muttered. He heard a voice in the distance, but couldn't tell what it was saying. Sokka followed the voice anyway, just to have a particular direction to go. Running through the trees and bushes Sokka found a clearing with a river flowing through it. Crouching at the bank was a woman in red clothing, chanting to the water. "Hello?"

The strange woman stood up and put on a wide hat, then turned around to face Sokka. She stared at him with inhuman eyes, while Sokka stared at the strange markings on the woman's skin. "This isn't a safe place for someone like you."

"Are you a spirit?" Sokka asked.

"I am the Painted Lady," she answered. She gestured to the river flowing by. "And this is my domain."

"Look, I need to find the Avatar Spirit," Sokka said. "Can you help me?"

"No," the Painted Lady answered. She pointed to the sky behind Sokka. "But she might."

Sokka turned around and saw the moon glowing brighter, as if it were getting closer. The glow seemed to fill the sky, before coalescing into a distinct shape. It took the form of a giant koi fish that stood upright, made entirely out of moonlight. The giant koi fish looked down upon Sokka, like a master would look down on a pet. Then it began to glow even brighter, filling Sokka's sight and forcing him to shield his eyes.

When the glow began to fade Sokka looked at it again, seeing that the giant koi fish was gone. In its place was a much smaller light, about the size of a person. The light shrank and conformed to the shape of a teenage girl, before it began to fade entirely into dark skin, long white hair, and blue clothes. When the light was completely gone the girl was startled, looking around until her gaze found someone she recognized. "Sokka?"

Not sure if he could believe his eyes anymore, Sokka recognized the girl. "Yue?"