Can you hear me? Piper swore she heard a distant voice, but it sounded fuzzy; it was hard to focus on it. She swore she heard another voice, too; one that was far too distant for her to make out, saying something to the other voice. Piper, can you open your eyes for me? Feeling her face contort into a slight grimace, Piper tried opening her eyes, but her eyelids felt heavy. The far-too-distant voice said something else. C'mon, Piper, please wake-up. Letting out a noise that sounded like a combination of a whine and a groan, Piper's heavy eyelids managed to open, thought it was a struggle to do so. Slowly blinking a couple times, Piper looked around, trying to understand where she was.

"Piper, are you OK?" Rei's head popped into Piper's line of vision, making the young girl's brows furrow in slight confusion.

"Why wouldn' I be OK?" she slurred. A grimace came across her face. She tried clearing her throat, but it felt too dry.

"A bunch of people saw you pass out in the street," Imani exclaimed, jumping into Piper's vision. "Old Man Rhen said you looked as pale as death."

Rei shot her youngest daughter a heated look. "The important thing is you're safe," she said, placing a comforting hand on Piper's shoulder. "Your cousin, Kaia, got Dr. Chen to come check on you. She said you were burning up, more than usual that is." Rei's hand gently squeezed Piper's shoulder. As a Firebender, Piper's body temperature was a little higher than normal, a natural thing amongst Firebenders.

"But I'm OK, right?" Piper asked, blinking back the bleariness in her eyes. Rei and Imani shared a look, one that Piper didn't like in the slightest. "What?"

"All that Dr. Chen said was that you had a slight fever," Rei said slowly. "But she also said that she was going to have to contact the Capital, to get in touch with the Fire Sages."

Piper's brows furrowed, her mouth opening slightly, but no words came out. The Fire Sages? Why would they need to get involved? Fainting spells happened all the time, what was so different about Piper's?

"I don't understand." Piper looked between her mother and sister anxiously. "What does me passing out have to do with the Fire Sages?"

Rei looked over at Imani, the two of them having some kind of silent conversation, before Imani let out a sigh and walked out. "Dr. Chen believes that what happened to you may be...something more than just a typical fainting spell," Rei said hesitantly.

Slowly sitting up, Piper felt a wave of dizziness before it slowly went away, then she realized she was in her bedroom. Rei quickly tried to help Piper, but Piper wouldn't accept it.

"Can you stop being so vague!" Piper snapped. "I don't understand what's going on; what aren't you telling me?"

Rei let out a defeated sigh. "I don't entirely know either," she said solemnly. "But it looks like it's important enough for the Sages to be involved." Piper swallowed thickly, trying to push down the overwhelming feelings that were rising inside her. "I'd say the Sages will be here in at least a week, maybe longer."

-0-0-0-0-

Piper wasn't sure what she was supposed to do. After her fainting spell, Piper felt...different. It was difficult to explain, but Piper felt as if she were supposed to be doing something, going somewhere. Her home―that Fire Nation colony she was born and raised in―just didn't feel enough for her anymore. But the one thing that stood out the most since the fainting episode was that Piper could actually sleep at night. Those dreams about the glowing eyes and that terrible freezing feeling went away, but whether or not she was actually dreaming, she couldn't remember.

I'd take not remembering a dream than the freezing one any day, she'd think, mentally reassuring herself that things were probably looking up.

But that feeling still couldn't explain Piper's sudden need to change. Sighing, Piper tucked some of her auburn hair behind her ear. It had only been three days since the episode, and everything that happened afterward felt...tedious. Episodic. Piper couldn't understand how she hadn't seen it sooner.

"Hey, Piper!" Turning, Piper saw her cousin, Kaia jogging toward her. Despite Rei's objections, Piper decided she needed some fresh air. Dr. Chen said that it was OK for Piper to at least get some fresh air once she had enough strength, and after a day, Piper had enough to go walk for a little while outside.

"What is it?" she asked, watching curiously as Kaia came to a skidding halt in front of her. Piper's cousin was only a year and a half older than her and one of the few Firebending cousins she had. All of Piper's family had lived in the Earth Kingdom colony, born and raised. Her grandmother, Loa, was the only one originally from the Fire Nation. Piper saw Kaia pull some of her dark brown hair out of her face, her amber eyes wide and almost wild.

"Have you heard?" Kaia exclaimed, bouncing a little where she stood.

"Heard what?" Piper exclaimed. "I have no idea what you're talking about!"

"The Avatar's returned." Kaia bounced on the balls of her feet, looking at Piper expectantly.

Piper's eyes widened. The Avatar?! she thought weakly. But...the Avatar hasn't been seen in a hundred years...How...?

"From what I've heard," Kaia whispered, leaning in a little to make it easier for Piper to hear, "the Avatar was found in the South Pole, with the Water Tribe people."

Piper felt one of her hands rise up to cover her mouth, the other one pressing against her chest. Oh spirits..., she thought.

"A hundred years, and the Avatar's actually back," Piper murmured.

Kaia frowned a little, taking in her cousin's expression. Those of the Fire Nation―whether they be from the colonies or not―were starting to panic. A hundred years had gone by, and so much had changed in that time―the genocide of the Air Nomads (when Fire Lord Sozin was alive, he knew the next incarnation of the Avatar would be an Air Nomad, so he had them all slaughtered); the Fire Nation's invasion of the other nations; the Hundred Year War... In all that time, there was no one to stop the fighting or the killing. It was just the world against the Fire Nation. So when Kaia looked at Piper, she didn't see fear or panic on her cousin's face; she saw a glimmer of what looked like...hope. But a word like that didn't seem entirely right, it almost looked like hope.

"Piper, are you OK?" Kaia asked slowly, frowning deeply.

Looking at her cousin with a look of confusion on her face, Piper nodded. "Why wouldn't I be?" she asked.

"It's just...," she started. "Never mind, it's nothing. I should probably go."

-0-0-0-0-

By the end of the day, Piper was back home having supper with Rei and Imani. They weren't saying much, much to Piper's displeasure. Normally there was always something to talk about.

"I visited Gran today," Piper said, hoping to start up some kind of conversation. "Aunt Winn was with her." Rei murmured something too soft―or too unintelligible, Piper couldn't quite decide―to be heard. Imani continued eating without a sound. "Gran's looking better. Aunt Winn managed to get some medicinal herbs for her. I think Gran'll be better in no time."

When neither of them made a sound, Piper let out a sigh and continued eating, giving up.

After dinner, Rei told Imani to go wash up before heading off to bed. When Piper went to wash up, she paused for a moment, looking over at her mother.

"Mom?" she said hesitantly. Rei, who'd been cleaning, paused from her task for a moment before continuing without so much as a sound. "You heard about the Avatar, right?"

"Everyone's heard, dear," Rei murmured, her voice sounding tired.

"You're upset." It wasn't a question so much as a statement.

"If you mean by the Avatar, yes, a little." Rei turned and looked at her eldest daughter with exhausted gray eyes and an equally exhausted frown. "But..."

"But what?" Piper's brows furrowed a little.

"When the Sages come, I'm afraid of what they'll say."

"I still don't understand why they need to come here," Piper grumbled. "What's so important about a fainting spell? If they want to see me so badly, why don't they send me to the Capital?"

Rei studied her daughter in silence for a moment, not answering any of Piper's questions. With a slightly defeated sigh, Rei wordlessly turned and finished her cleaning.

She could only hope.

(A/N):

Heya, everyone! Hopefully you enjoyed this chapter; let me know what you think!

Nothing in ATLA is mine. All I own are my characters and the socks on my feet.

In case there's any confusion in this chapter: Piper is going through some sort of transformation, nothing major right now; at this point, Aang's already gone back to his native Air Temple and found out about the Fire Nation's invasion there, and about Gyatso's murder; the Fire Nation's having a bit of a panic about the Avatar being alive; Piper's cousin, Kaia, found Piper's reaction of the Avatar being alive a bit strange, since most of the Fire Nation is not taking it well; Piper's fainting spell in the last chapter happened the same time Katara freed Aang from the iceberg; something's going on with Piper and the Fire Sages have been contacted to investigate. Hopefully that makes sense.

If you've got any ideas on what could happen in this story, don't hesitate to let me know. If you've got subplots or OCs you'd like written into this story, don't hesitate to review or PM me.

Let me know if there's anything I can improve on.

Many blessings,

Indigo Callahan