AUTHOR APOLOGY BELOW

Yeah *coughs awkwardly* So, I'm sorry about my rant the previous chapter. It was a bad day. I was sick, tired, and in a fight, and I sort of took it out on you readers, and I shouldn't have. So, here's a nice juicy update for you. It was NightTeen and his/her review that slapped some sense into me, so thanks to him/her for making me pull my head out of my rear and get back to writing.

This chapter is a bit shorter than the last few have been, but I rather like it like this. Plus, I wanted to get it out as my 'apology chapter' so to speak. Bato is the next chapter and that's where we start hitting some real romance.

Kyuri couldn't see how anyone could place such blind faith in a fortuneteller. The man had been faced by an angry platypus bear that was doing its best to decapitate him with strong sweeps of its paws. But he had just stood there grinning, bobbing and weaving when appropriate, but making no move to flee, all because some old fraud told him he would be safe.

Kyuri paused as she considered that. Hadn't she done the same thing in the prison? Blindly trusted a man she didn't know, a man who proved to be an enemy, to guard her back in a fight and keep her safe? She wondered what on earth had made her trust him so. Normally she would have ripped his mask off immediately to see who he was. She refused to admit she might have been to shaken to think of doing that.

In the beginning Kyuri had simply followed because neither she nor Aang had any means to defend themselves beyond bending and because they didn't know their way around the prison. But she had found her weapons and still followed him, had even allowed him to go off with Aang without her. Kyuri shuddered at what might have happened had Zuko been knocked out. She might have let Aang out of her sight again, and then he would have been captured.

But then, if Zuko wanted the Avatar captured, why free him at all? It didn't seem like it was simple jealousy that it was Zhao who got them, even though he quite obviously hated the Admiral. So why? Shouldn't the prince be more concerned with the affairs of his nation and not his own glory? And if it was simple jealousy, why free her as well? She was no major prize. A prize, yes, but not one so great as the Avatar.

"Kyuri, come on!" Katara called. Kyuri snapped out of her thoughts to see that Katara was standing at a door beside a white-haired man in black robes. "The fortuneteller will see us!"

"I have no desire to have some fraud pawing at my palm," Kyuri deadpanned. "I have interest in how long I will live or how many children I shall have."

Katara's face fell as Sangilak nudged her with his wing. "Oh, go on. You may not believe it but it might be interesting to see what she says."

"I can hear it now. 'You will live a long, happy life with a handsome husband and wonderfully well-behaved children.'"

"I had no idea you had your future planned out to include a husband. I thought you intended to follow the dragon's example," Sangilak inserted slyly. Kyuri let out a low growl as she stomped through the door.

From inside the house a small girl in a pink and purple kimono emerged. Her hair was fixed in gravity-defying ponytails that stuck out straight from wither side of her head. She bowed respectfully, messy bangs falling over her eyes.

"Hello, I'm Mang," she greeted, straightening. "I'm Aunt Wu's assistant."

Kyuri could actually watch as the little girl zoned in on Aang and her eyes combed him up and down, getting wider as they went. A happy smile crossed her face, showing a missing tooth.

"Well hello there," she purred to Aang in a childish approximation of flirting.

"Hello," Aang greeted absently as the girl gestured to a row of four pillows placed out as seating. They filed over and sat, curling up on the cushions. They were soft and plush, quite a relief, Kyuri thought, compared to hard, rough dragon scales.

"You know as well as I that the scales where you sit are rather soft. That's why you sit there."

"Yet the rest of you is like a fortress. I think the adjective is appropriate."

An irritated humph sounded in her mind and she smirked slightly as Sangilak retreated. She could still feel him though and knew he was eating with Appa.

"So, can I interest you in some tea or one of Aunt Wu's famous bean curd puff?" Mang offered, and it was clear she was speaking only to Aang.

"I'd like a curd puff," Sokka said, but Mang cut him off, further proving it.

"Hang on," she ordered Sokka, before crouching a bit in front of Aang. "So, what's your name?" she asked.

"Aang."

"That rhymes with Mang!" the girl exclaimed with a delighted giggle. "And you've got some pretty big ears, don't you?"

Aang's surprised and hesitant expression pretty much summed up the mood of the group upon that little comment.

"Uh, thanks?" he tried.

"Oh, don't be modest, they're huge!" Sokka teased. Aang slapped his hands over his ears and glared at him.

"Well, it's very nice to meet you Aang, very nice," Mang beamed as she bowed and left, eyes watching Aang until she was out of sight.

"I can't believe we're in the house of nonsense," Sokka grumbled as he lounged on his pillow, stretching out his feet.

"Don't be like that Sokka," Katara rebuked. "There are some things in the world that just can't be explained. Wouldn't it be nice to have some insight into your future?"

"It would be nice to have a curd puff," Sokka humphed.

A woman in green came rushing form behind a screen just as Mang appeared with a tea tray.

"Oh Mang!" the teenager gushed as she emerged. "Aunt Wu said I'm going to meet my true love! He's going to give me a rare panda lily!"

"That's so romantic," Mang said wistfully. She looked over her shoulder at Aang. "I wonder if my true love will give me a rare flower."

"Good luck with that!" Aang wished, completely oblivious.

"Is that the big ear boy Aunt Wu predicted you'd marry?" the woman whispered to Mang, who immediately blushed and pushed her towards the door. The giddy woman left as Mang approached with the tea tray. Her foot caught on the end of her kimono though, and she stumbled. Aang caught the tray before it could hit the ground, unintentionally covering her hands with his. Mang looked up at him, star-struck.

"E-enjoy your snack," she stammered before fleeing.

Sokka immediately seized the tray and pulled it towards himself, snatching up and entire handful of bean curd puffs. However, before he could bight into it, an elderly woman with a lined, motherly face and grey-streaked hair appeared. She wore rather expensive yellow and red robes and Kyuri supposed they were probably mostly for show, to maintain the illusion that she was truly seeing the future.

"So, who's next?" Aunt Wu asked cheerfully. "Don't be shy!"

Sokka turned away resolutely, munching on bean puffs determinedly. Aang looked nervously to Katara, who shrugged.

"I guess that's me," she said, rising, and Aunt Wu escorted her into the back room.

"These aren't half bad," Sokka said contemplatively as he shoveled more into his mouth. He offered them to Kyuri, who took one and popped it into her mouth curiously. He was right, but she wasn't a big fan of pastry unless it was some sort of sugary dessert. A guilty pleasure.

"I'm good on puffs," Aang said, declining. It was silent for a moment before he asked slowly, "So… What do you think they're talking about in there?"

"Boring stuff I'm sure," Sokka shrugged, downing a glass of tea and slurping it. "Love, who she's gonna marry, how many babies she's gonna have. Dumb stuff like that."

"Yeah," Aang agreed, twitching nervously. "Well, I gotta go find a bathroom."

Kyuri watched, eyebrow raised, as he scampered off. She was positive that's not at all what he intended to do. She suspected he planned something more along the lines of eavesdropping. He returned a short time later looking pleased, and she assumed he'd heard something in Katara's reading that he liked.

"Looks like someone had an enjoyable bathroom trip," Sokka observed.

"Yeah. When I was in there-"

"I don't want to know!" Sokka protested, holding up a hand.

"Alright, who's next?" Aunt Wu asked as she escorted Katara out.

"Alright, let's get this over with," Sokka grunted, heaving himself to his feet.

"Your life will be filled with strife. Most of it self-inflicted," Aunt Wu deadpanned.

"But- You didn't even read my palms or anything!" Sokka argued.

"I don't need to. It's written all over your face. You then," she said, pointing to Aang, who rose eagerly and followed her inside.

"You wouldn't believe it," Katara said excitedly, sitting down next to Kyuri. "She told me so many things! Like, apparently I'm going to have three children, and I'll be highly respected, and I'm going to marry a very powerful bender, and…"

Kyuri tuned her out with a small smirk. So that was what had Aang in a tizzy. She could quite plainly see that Aang adored Katara, while Katara thought of him more as a friend or even a brother at this point, and had said as much before. But there was no more powerful bender than the Avatar and Aang appeared to be taking comfort in that fact.

Aunt Wu stepped out a few minutes later, preceded by an enthusiastic Aang. The fortuneteller herself looked a bit shaken, but otherwise fine.

"Well then, last is you I suppose," Aunt Wu said, looking at Kyuri. Kyuri met her gaze.

"I'm not interested," she said in a tone that brooked no argument.

"Oh, but there are so many things I can see that you need to know!" Aunt Wu protested.

"I doubt that."

"You've suffered a grave loss. A family member. A parents perhaps? Or maybe even both?" Kyuri's head snapped up, eyes blazing angrily. "Both, I see."

"How did you know that?" Kyuri demanded, rising to her feet.

"I know many things," Aunt Wu said, holding open the door into the back. "Come, let me tell you."

Very slowly, Kyuri put one foot in front of the other, and the seemed to steel herself. She walked into the room without a backward glance, Aunt Wu shutting the door firmly behind her.

"I don't appreciate having my personal life paraded in public places," Kyuri said coldly as the old woman nestled into pillows next to a blazing fire pit sunken into the floor. Kyuri folded her long legs under herself and dropped onto a pillow.

"Let me see your hand," Aunt Wu said, stretching out her own. "Your dominant one, if you please."

Kyuri stretched out her right hand and Aunt Wu grasped it firmly in one hand, the other tracing a finger along a line in her palm. "Ah yes, just as I thought. Shallow line, a guarded person, doesn't trust easily. Skeptical and logical. Your fingers are calloused my dear, you work very hard, and it will bring you much, I assure you. And here," she said, moving to another line. "Fractured twice. Two deaths. Your parents, I assume." She moved up and her finger settled on one final crease across Kyuri's palm. "My, one of the deepest lines I've ever seen! You, my dear, will have a great love story, one that will be told for ages. You will love deeply and be loved just as deeply in return. It is a truly heartwarming thing to see," Aunt Wu said with a smile.

"Who?" Kyuri asked, before withdrawing and slackening the muscles in her face, showing no expression at all. Aunt Wu looked at her knowingly.

"Interested? I see a powerful bender in your future as well, a man with a noble spirit. Beyond that, I cannot say."

"I see," Kyuri said in a monotone. "Thank you for your time."

"Not at problem at all," Aunt Wu said as the pair rose and returned to the front room where the others were waiting.

"What did she tell you?" Katara asked interestedly as Kyuri appeared. "Anything good?"

"I should avoid badgermoles and watch out for a man with a mustache," Kyuri said, stalking out the door. Katara blinked.

"I didn't mean to… Was she mad? Or upset? I couldn't tell."

"When can you ever with her?" Sokka shrugged casually. "Seriously Aunt Wu, what'd you say to her?"

"Something I'd have thought she'd be pleased to hear," Aunt Wu said, looking surprised as well. "A strange girl, that one."

"You have no idea," Aang said as they left after Kyuri.

"Fortunetelling is just a big hoax," Sokka declared as they walked through the streets, their animal companions drawing all eyes to them. It was hard to say which drew more stares, the sky bison or the dragon, but it was easy to tell who was enjoying it more. Sangilak had puffed up and was twitching his tail like a happy cat, tossing his head and prancing.

"Is something wrong with Sangilak?" Aang ventured as Katara and Sokka argued back and forth.

"You're just mad because you'll make yourself unhappy your whole life!"

"That woman is crazy!"

"The only thing wrong with him is his ego," Kyuri sighed, seizing a twisted ivory horn and jerking it roughly so that Sangilak's head dipped down beside her. "He's insufferable when he's getting attention."

"I am not!"

"You are so and you know it. Admit it, you're milking this."

"Of course. But that doesn't mean I'm insufferable. You suffer me quite well."

"I'm bound to you. I don't count."

"Well I'm happy with my predictions," Katara said, sighing happily. "Certain things are going to turn out very nicely."

"They sure are," Aang agreed, glowing eyes fixed on her happily.

"Why?" Katara asked interestedly. "What did she tell you?"

"Just some things," Aang grinned. "You'll see."

They moved further into town, towards the center, hoping to find a market where they might resupply and get more food. Instead, they found a group of anxious townspeople staring up at the sky in front of a raised pagoda.

"What's with the sky?" Sokka asked as they joined the crowd, looking up curiously. There was nothing particularly interesting going on. It was just a normal day, the sun shining, a few white clouds puffing their way across the sky.

"We're waiting for Aunt Wu to read the clouds and predict the fate of the whole village," said a man standing nearby.

"That one looks kind of like a fluffy bunny," Aang said, pointing to the sky. Katara smiled and nodded, raising her hand to point at another cloud, but was cut off as the man gasped.

"You'd better hope that's not a bunny! The fluffy bunny cloud forecasts doom and destruction!"

"Do you even hear yourself?" Sokka demanded.

"The prediction tells us if Mount Makapu will stay dormant for another year or if it will erupt," a woman said, pointing to a volcano in the distance. It was a decent distance from the village, but the town would be in grave danger if the thing ever did erupt.

"We used to have a tradition of going up to the volcano to check ourselves," the man explained. "But ever since Aunt Wu moved here, we haven't needed to bother!"

"Are you seriously trusting your lives to that crazy old lady?" Sokka demanded, but Katara shushed him hastily, pulling him to the side as Aunt Wu appeared in the square. The crowd split down the middle to allow her to get to the podium. She was flanked by the white-haired man in black who stood outside her door. The people cheered as she walked, but Kyuri only narrowed her eyes and scowled.

"Are you okay?" Katara hissed, seeing her expression. "Did Aunt Wu tell you something you didn't like?"

"She told me many things… which I found to be useless guesswork."

Katara shushed her as Aunt Wu bowed and raised her hands, a chart in her hands. She consulted the sky before looking down at the small pamphlet. "Bending arrow crowd. Good crops, a fine harvest. Wavy moon-shaped cloud. Let's see… gonna be a great year for twins! And a cumulus cloud with a twisty tail coming off the end. The village will not be destroyed by the volcano this year!" Aunt Wu proclaimed.

"She's wrong."

"What?" Kyuri asked, turning to Sangilak, whose head rose high over the air, his nose turned in the direction of the volcano. "How so?"

"That volcano is anything but dormant."

"Did you see something hunting?" Kyuri asked intently. If the volcano exploded, the village had no chance. It was too close for evacuation at such a late stage, and these people trusted Aunt Wu so much that if she said the village was safe they wouldn't move until the volcano actually began to erupt.

"No, but I can sense the heat rising, the lava bubbling. I'm a creature of fire, after all."

"I'm going back to Aunt Wu's!" Katara squealed. "I've thought of something else to ask her."

"Katara, you can't tell me you believe everything this lady comes up with?" Sokka protested.

"She hasn't been wrong yet!" Katara pointed out cheerfully as she started back towards Aunt Wu's.

"That's it!" Sokka raged. "I'm proving to these people once and for all that Aunt Wu's predictions are nothing more than lucky guesses and lies!"

"Sangilak and I are going to fly up to the volcano," Kyuri said as she mounted Sangilak, who spread his wings wide. The people in the square gaped as membrane unfurled over their heads, coloring the light beneath blue.

"Okay," Aang nodded as he followed after Sokka interestedly. Sangilak kicked off and he and Kyuri flew up the side of the mountain to the volcano. As they rose, the air heated, which was in itself odd, as the air usually got colder the farther up one went.

"I told you," Sangilak said as they landed on the rim of Mount Makapu. Kyuri dismounted and strode to the edge, staring down at the bubbling magma, eyes narrowed against the steam and heat. The volcano was most definitely not dormant, as Sangilak had said. Perhaps ten yards beneath the opening was a field of magma, devouring rock as it rose. The strangest thing though, was the flowers that were growing around the rim, swaying in the breeze made by the rising heat.

"These must be panda lilies," Kyuri mused, plucking one up between two fingers and rolling the stem. It had wide, black petals decorated with a thick white stripe down the middle. It certainly wasn't as elegant or feminine as a red rose, but she could see why a girl would be happy to get one. They were pretty, she mused, absently tucking the stem behind her ear as she stared into the lava.

"We have to warn the village," she said decidedly.

"There, on the rim!" called a familiar voice. Aang appeared a little farther around the rim. He scooped up a panda lily delightedly and held it to his face, inhaling as Sokka stepped up next to him. Aang opened his eyes and it was then that he saw the tableau in front of him.

"Aunt Wu was wrong," he said dimly, the lily slipping from nerveless fingers. It floated down into the lava and was destroying in a single puff of flame. Sokka looked up and saw Kyuri and Sangilak perched there.

"Those people all think they're safe," he said and Kyuri nodded. "We have to warn them."

"There's no time to walk," Aang realized, shaking his head. He opened his glider and held it out to Sokka. "Climb on!"

"Or we could take you," Kyuri offered, knowing full well how wild a ride with Aang was when he was trying to drag someone else along with him.

"You go ahead, you'll move faster without me," Sokka said. "I'll hitch a ride with Kyuri."

Aang didn't respond beyond a nod before he hopped onto his glider and was off. Kyuri mounted, stretched out a hand to Sokka and helping him up behind her.

"I really hate riding this thing," Sokka moaned as they took off. Kyuri supposed it probably had something to do with the serpentine way Sangilak's body rose and fell with the beat of his wings.

"Tell him I hate when he rides me. He clamps down to hard with his knees," Sangilak said with a mental wince.

"Perhaps later. We don't need him panicking and falling off."

They landed in front of Aunt Wu's where Katara was glaring at the shut door.

"After all the business I've given here!" Katara was raging to Aang.

"But she doesn't charge," Sokka pointed out as he and Kyuri dismounted, Kyuri with considerably more grace.

"Yeah, but still," Katara shrugged.

"Well, we have bigger news," Sokka explained. "Aunt Wu was wrong; the volcano is going to erupt!"

"Sokka, you tried to convince me Aunt Wu was wrong before and she was right!" Katara pointed out. "It's going to take an awful lot to convince me."

"Prepare for an awful lot."

The ground under them rumbled and a sound like thunder rolled through the air, carrying with it the scent of sulfur. Smoke rose up from the volcano, coiling thick and black into the sky.

"I'm convinced," Katara nodded. "Come on, we have to warn everyone!"

"That's what we're saying," Sokka agreed, relieved she'd come around. They turned and sprinted back to the square where many people were still gathered, discussing the prediction from earlier and making speculations about next year.

"Everyone listen!" Sokka yelled, cupping his hands around his mouth. "Aunt Wu was wrong! The volcano is going to erupt!"

"Yeah, we already know you don't believe in Aunt Wu's predictions, Mr.-Science-and-Reason-Lover!" some woman yelled back.

"If you won't listen to my brother, maybe you'll listen to me," Katara tried, stepping forwards. "I want to believe Aunt Wu as much as you all do, but my brother, Aang, and Kyuri saw the lava with their own eyes!"

"Well, I heard Aunt Wu's prediction with my own ears," the man from earlier said.

"Please, listen to me!" Aang said, leaping up onto the roof. "You're all in danger here. I know you all want to believe Aunt Wu but you have to take your fate into your own hands!"

The ground under their feet rocked as another gout of smoke poured into the air from Mount Makapu.

"Can your fortunetelling explain that?" Sokka demanded ,pointing at the volcano.

"Hmph, can your science explains why it rains?" scoffed a man wearing red shoes.

"Yes!" Sokka shouted, looking very much like he wanted to either punch the man or rip out his own hair. "Yes it can!"

There were mumbles, laughter, and a few dark looks directed at the small group as the crowd dispersed, clearly no longer interested in listening to what they saw as insanity.

"They just won't listen to us," Katara sighed.

"But they will listen to Aunt Wu!" Aang chirped, jumping down from the roof.

"That's the problem," Sokka snapped.

"It's about to become the solution," Aang grinned. Kyuri immediately saw where he was going and a slow smile spread across her face. Katara and Sokka watched nervously.

"She's scaring me," Sokka muttered.

"Kyuri?" Katara asked hesitantly.

"I'll be back with the chart in a minute," Kyuri said, jumping up onto the roof.

"Can someone explain to me what's going on here?" Sokka demanded as Kyuri scampered off. Aang complied while Kyuri returned to Aunt Wu's. Mentally, she rendered a picture of the inside and placed it over the outside, figuring out which window she needed. She slipped around the alley back to the rear of the house and pressed her ear to the rice paper screen. No voices came from inside so Kyuri opened the window and slipped inside easily, dropping to the ground with barely a sound.

She soon realized though that finding Aunt Wu's cloud-reading book may be harder than expected. The room was filled with boxes and chests that added to the exotic look of the place. She started methodically working her way through the room from right to left and being careful to leave everything exactly as she found it.

"And bring me some bean curd puffs, would you Mang?"

Kyuri dove behind a curtain as Aunt Wu stepped into the room, looking behind her. She withdrew the very book Kyuri had been looking for from her voluminous sleeves and placed it in a box she had just finished lookin through before returning to the door, leaning out and calling down the hall to Mang. Quick as a flash, Kyuri moved to the box, flipped it open and grabbed the book.

Aunt Wu turned when she heard a click, but there was nothing there except her open window swinging slightly. Frowning, the old woman walked over and stuck her head out, looking left and right. There was no one there. Shrugging, she withdrew back inside and closed the window. On the roof above, Kyuri let out a sigh of relief before leaping to the roof next door. She used the tops of buildings to return to where Aang, Katara, and Sokka waited for her.

"Did you get it?" Sokka asked interestedly. Kyuri held up the pamphlet.

"Then let's go!" Aang grinned.

"You get Aunt Wu. Bring her out. Make a big fuss so people follow along," Kyuri instructed as she, Aang, and Katara boarded Appa.

"Yip yip!" Aang said and Appa jumped into the sky, soaring up into the clouds. Kyuri combed through the pages, scanning quickly to see what symbol would suit their purpose.

"Volcanic doom," she read, looking at a picture of a giant, grinning skull. "Subtle."

"Clouds are just water and air, so between the three of us we should be able to bend them into any shape we want," Aang explained.

"What shape do we make?" Katara asked.

"A skull," Kyuri said, pointing to the picture.

"Everybody ready?" Aang asked as he let go of the reins and dropped into the saddle. Kyuri and Katara stood, Katara across from him and Kyuri facing the gap between the two. As one, they raised their hands.

Bending clouds was not an easy thing to do. The molecules of water were tiny and kept wanted to disperse and pull away from their hold. The Waterbenders had to move in sync with the Airbender or the cloud pulled apart and essentially shredded itself. Many times, parts that had already been formed drifted apart and had to be swiftly remade.

When they were satisfied with the skull looming out of a mass of clouds they dipped back down to the ground, hiding in the trees around the village. The trio made their way to the square quickly where they saw Aunt Wu standing on the platform with Sokka, looking horrified. She'd clearly already revised her prediction because the crowd was nearing hysteria.

"Everyone listen to me!" Aang said, mounting the platform with Katara and Kyuri. Aunt Wu stepped down, allowing them to speak. "Sokka has a plan!"

"Lava is going to flow down the mountain to this spot," Sokka explained. "If we can dig a trench we can redirect the lava to the river, but we don't have much time."

"If you're an Earthbender, come with me!" Aang called.

"I'm an Earthbender!"

"I'm not!"

"Everybody else, grab a shovel!" Sokka shouted, holding one aloft as the ground shook once more. "We have to work together to get this done in time!"

The people of the village scattered, doing as they were told. Aang formed the Earthbenders into trios while Sokka directed diggers into place. Appa was fastened into a rig suspending a net beneath him to move bounders into place, making a break wall along the top of the trench. He flew back and forth, dragging rocks into place. Sangilak put his claws and strength to good use, gouging into and shattering rocks that blocked the diggers. Kyuri positioned herself by the river, carefully directing the water up the trench and using it to wash away the dirt.

The dirt by the water gave way between the combined effort of Kyuri and the diggers just as the ground gave a particularly violent shake, bucking underneath them like a wild ostrich horse.

"Everybody needs to evacuate right now!" Aang yelled. "We'll come for you when it's safe!"

"Kyuri!" Sokka called, gesturing for her. She ran up to Sangilak and grabbed his ankle. He flapped twice and she dropped to the top of the trench, standing with the other three.

"Do you want me to stay?"

"No, you need to get away from here. We can't risk you being hit my any flaming rocks."

"We can't risk you being hit by any flaming rocks."

"Yes, but I don't have wings that can be burned through."

"Touche."

"Go with Appa. Get him out of here."

"I will. Stay safe."

"I will. You too."

Sangilak flew away, herbing Appa with his buffeting wings. The sky bison was eager to leave though. The four friends stood on top of the wall and watched as lava swept towards the village, taking down gravestones and arches as it went. It poured into the trench, filling it halfway almost immediately.

"It's not enough!" Katara realized. "It's going to overflow!"

"Go!" Aang said. Sokka and Katara ran into the town but Kyuri scampered along the wall, going for the river. She took a deep breath, trying to breathe around the ash that was falling like rain from the sky. Like Aang, she raised her hands, but she jumped into the water, feeling it slide welcomingly around her like an embrace form an old friend. She rose out of the water on a column that swirled around her waist. Riding high, she began sending out frigid little streams with presice flicks of her wrists, trying to cool the lava. Most of the water evaporated, but it was enough to leave a shell over top of the rolling wave that slowed it down at least, if not stopping it completely in some places.

Kyuri turned to see Aang standing on the wall, a huge rock wall rising in front of him made of cooled lava, the patterns forever frozen in stone. It was a moving image to see him standing there surrounded by heat and smoke, bathed in red light. He looked so much older than his twelve years.

Kyuri didn't help direct everyone back into the village. Instead, she wandered the streets, still staggered. To defy a natural disaster was a rush like no other and her heart was still racing. The sheer power she had felt in the lava was like nothing she'd ever felt before. It was all heat and destruction and it was terribly beautiful.

"Excuse me?" said a timid voice. Kyuri looked up to see an older man standing in the doorway of a house, looking at her. She raised an eyebrow and he opened the door. "Can you come in here? I'd like to… erm, I want to… I have something to show you," he blurted. Kyuri's other eyebrow joined the first but she stepped inside, confident she could overpower the man if he tried anything.

She was surprised to find the room she entered smelled of paint and ink. All around were scattered drying scrolls and canvases covered in images. Some were meditative images of mountains or flowers, but others were full of color, almost explosive. That was when Kyuri realized that several of the freshest pictures detailed the eruption.

"You didn't evacuate," she said, turning to the man. Looking closer, she saw that his clothes were rumpled, clearly a day old, and he was sporting stubble and dark circles under his eyes.

"I had faith in you and your friends," he said, shrugging. "And… I wanted to see. I've seen sunsets that would make the Fire Lord weep and flowers that were so perfect they belonged in palace gardens, but I'd never seen an eruption. I wanted to capture it. There is one piece I did that I finished only an hour ago, that is my favorite. I want to show you."

"Why?"

"Because I painted many pictures of your party. I wanted to make sure you didn't object."

Kyuri paused, surprised. He had painted them? She looked around and realized that there were indeed people in some of the images. There was a scroll with Sokka directing the villagers, a canvas with Aang standing strong atop the wall, Katara watching in the background, another scroll with the four of them standing in the pagoda, Sokka raising a shovel. "I see no problem."

"Good," the man said, sighing in relief. He gestured towards a canvas leaning against a table and Kyuri walked over. He picked it up and set it on an easel. Kyuri's eyes widened and she let out a startled gasp.

This picture depicted only her. It was a startling mass of blue, red, and black. She rose out of a column of rushing, foamy water into a red sky. She hovered high over a bed of glowing lava and black rock, her hands raised and strong, hands delicate but tense and precise. Her face was lit from beneath, throwing shadows and giving her an harsh, ethereal look. But despite her determined expression there was an underlying softness to her features. The white shock of her hair stood out starkly among the wind-tossed black.

"You did this… of me?"

"I did," the old painter nodded. "I hope you like it?"

"I- It's… I've never seen..."

"Do you?" he asked, worried her speechlessness was brought on by fury. "Like it, I mean."

Kyuri quickly gathered herself, knowing precisely why the picture affected her so. It peeled back the layers of determination and hardness she kept in place and showed her in a soft light, despite the desperate, dark situation portrayed.

"I do," she said softly. The man sighed in relief.

"Good."

"I- I have to go," Kyuri said abruptly, turning on her heel and striding out of the house.

"What's wrong?"

Kyuri sent back the image of the picture she'd just seen and received a wave of awe and appreciation from Sangilak, undercut by understanding.

"You look beautiful."

"Hardly. I look soft."

"Exactly."