This one's kind of short, and also kind of melodramatic at the end, but Appa had to be kidnapped, and with Sangilak there, I had to find a way for the sandbenders to get away with him, and thus, the ending was born. Don't hate me. I really struggled with how to play this chapter, because Appa not being there and the gaang having to walk is part of a lot of the upcoming episodes, and I didn't want to just skip over them, so this happened.

Kyuri had seen many places during their travels. She'd been in prison, crawled through swamps, soared through the tundra. But none of them had she hated quite so much as the site of Katara's 'mini-vacation.' Kyuri had politely declined her turn, privately agreeing with Sokka that they had more important things to do, and Katara had picked the Misty Palms Oasis.

It was a ramshackle town of daubed houses and a rough plank wall as its only defense. The heat was oppressive, even by the 'natural glacier' which was little more than a sad puddle of icy slush at this point. The locals were all tan-skinned, with a hardness to their eyes that came from living in such mean conditions. The entire setting made Kyuri want to turn around and attack something. As it was, she wore her sword openly across her shoulders, one hand pointedly on the hilt of one.

The only relief from the heat to be found was inside a small restaurant. It reeked of sweat and rotting produce. The man making cool smoothies behind a counter explained the source of the rotting smell. Apparently not all the unused produce was disposed of in a timely way. Still, it did have a fan, and that was a step up from outside.

She watched from the corner of her eye as Aang conversed with a Professor he had bumped into. This place made her edgy, and the clientele, most of whom were passed out or well on their way, reeking of alcohol, were not helping her opinions. She was jumpy and uncomfortable, sweating in her leather, beads of liquid rolling down her back, and everyone looked suspicious suddenly.

Sokka spoke up and asked if he had a map more current then theirs. The Professor, Zei, obligingly spread one out on a bare table after brushing off the crumbs of a past meal. However, this map only covered the nearby locations, with several inked-in additions in the form of trails out into the desert.

"You seem to have made a lot of trips into the desert," Katara commented.

"All in vain, I'm afraid," Zei sighed. "I've found lost civilizations all over the Earth Kingdom, but not the crown jewel of my career. Wan Shi Tong's Library."

"You've spent years wandering in the desert looking for some library?" Toph said skeptically.

"It's more than a library, it's a vast treasure trove of knowledge! And knowledge is priceless!" Zei said, impassioned.

"Hmph. Sounds like good times."

"Oh, it is! Legend says it was built by the spirit of knowledge, Wan Shi Tong, and his foxy knowledge seekers!"

"Oh, so he had some attractive assistants?" Sokka grinned.

"I think he means they looked like actual foxes," Katara said, nonplussed.

"Wan Shi Tong collected books from all over the world and displayed them for man to read so that we might better ourselves," Zei said, pulling a piece of paper from his pack and spreading it on the table. It was an old, inked drawing of the library that left them in no doubt that, if it did indeed exist, it was a grand, ornate building.

"All over the world…," Sokka repeated slowly.

"They might have maps of the Fire Nation there," Kyuri nodded, picking up on his trail of thought.

"Then Aang, I've picked my vacation. The library!"

"Hey, when do I get to pick!" Toph protested.

"You've got to work here a little longer before you qualify for vacation time."

"Sangilak, do you know anything about Wan Shi Tong's library?" Kyuri thought to him. He was waiting outside with Appa.

"Hmm, yes. I went there with Hanh a few times. We're close by, if I recall."

Kyuri blinked. "You remember where it is?"

"I do."

"Can you take us and a professor there?"

"To the general area, yes. I'm afraid my memory's not exactly precise, but I know the general location."

"Sangilak knows where the library is," Kyuri burst out.

"Yes, he does, and he'd appreciate it if you'd get out here quickly. The locals are getting curious and I'm not entirely comfortable with the looks Appa and I are getting."

"What's a Sangilak?" Zei said blankly.

"My dragon," Kyuri said shortly.

"A dragon!" Zei burst out. "You have one? You're a Dragora?"

"I am," Kyuri said shortly. "Aang, the locals are harassing them outside," she said. She and Aang turned and hustled outside while Sokka explained to Zei about Sangilak and Appa.

"Fascinating! So you say they really do have arrows?"

Kyuri and Aang stepped outside to find several men who had sent them lingering glances on their way into the restaurant creeping cautiously towards Sangilak and Appa. Appa was groaning and backing away, tossing his head. Sangilak had reared up and had his head tilted back, fire spewing from between his jaws, a dull rumbling growl coming from his gut.

"Hey!" Kyuri snapped at the men. They whirled to face the irritated pair marching towards them. "Get away from my dragon, before I have him roast you!"

The backed off grudgingly and took off into the dunes on strange contraptions powered by bending sand.

"Delightful!" Zei squealed.

They flew over the desert. The terrain was boring and bland, just shifting dunes of reddish sands. The sun beat down oppressively, and Sokka had already ditched his shirt.

"So you say Sang actually knows where this library is?" Sokka asked. Kyuri nodded from slightly ahead of them.

"He went there several times with a past Dragora, Hanh," she explained.

"That's convenient," Toph observed.

"Not really," Kyuri shook her head. "Many Dragora served as warrior-monks, like Aang's people. They traveled through villages and did what they could to keep the peace while also learning whatever they could. Hanh was one of those."

"Hanh?" Zei repeated, his head perking up. "Then… this is the Living Glacier!"

"I am Sangilak, the Living Glacier," the dragon greeted, his mental voice echoing around. Zei stiffened and then clapped his hands happily.

"Delightful!" he giggled. "So, you also served Fire Lady Yoshio, is that correct?" he asked. "She was your last Dragora?"

"Wait, wait," Sokka said, holding up his hands. "You served a Fire Lady? Sang, how could you?"

A wave of irritation rolled into Sokka's mind and he widely went quiet.

"Yoshio's name was removed from all records," Kyuri said tensely. "How do you know she was Fire Lady?"

"Huh?" Toph blinked. "Removed? What'd she do?"

"I find documents," Zei shrugged. "That's what I do."

"Yoshio married Sozin, the man who began the war," Kyuri sighed, rubbing the bridge of her nose. It was beginning to peel in the sun. "When he began to show his true colors, she turned her back on him and ran off with a General that she had fallen in love with. She went to the Southern Tribe to hide, and died of the cold. That's how Sangilak came to be there. He never left."

"Hold on," Katara said slowly. "So that means that Sangilak's last Dragora… was Zuko and Azula's great-grandmother?"

"Yes," Kyuri nodded.

"That's… weird."

"We're here."

"Sangilak?" Kyuri questioned, frowning around them. There was no ornate building, no spires jutting into the sky, no smooth domes. Just what seemed to be an old watch tower down below them and slightly to the right.

Sangilak dipped suddenly under her, jeering down and towards the watch tower. Aang gave a startled cry at the abrupt shift in direction and then turned Appa, following them down.

"Kyuri?" Katara questioned as they landed.

"What's up?" Toph pressed. "Why are we stopping?"

"We're here…" Kyuri said uncertainly.

"Uh, no offense to the ten ton fire-breathing lizard, but this isn't a library," Sokka pointed out.

Sangilak growled and sent Kyuri an image of the library sitting where they were standing, and then a giant wave of sand washing over it, leaving only the top spire exposed. Kyuri blinked.

"He says that this is the library. It's just been completely buried in the sand."

"No!" Zei protested. "My life's ambition, buried in sand! Oh well, time to start excavating."

"Actually, that won't be necessary, "Toph said, walking forwards and placing her hand firmly against the wall of the tower. "The whole thing's still intact. Just buried."

"But how do we get in?" Aang asked.

"The windows," Kyuri said slowly, squinting up the wall towards the windows high at the top of the tower. "Everybody get on."

"Delightful!" Zei said, eagerly clambering up onto Sangilak behind Kyuri, who dropped off.

"Kyuri?" Sokka asked as he and Katara got on. Aang just opened his glider and stood waiting.

"We'll climb down his tail," Kyuri explained as she sat down astride the little tuft of fur there. "I'll go in first and make sure there's no drop." She proffered a coil of rope over her shoulder that she had hastily pulled from one of her packs. "If there is, I'll tie this off so we can climb down. Everybody ready?"

"Okay," Katara nodded. Sangilak's wings flapped and they rose up into the air. Kyuri dangled below him. Sangilak however up by the windows and carefully draped his tail through one opening. Kyuri glanced down. Sure enough there was a long drop inside. She tied the rope to a spur of rock and then began climbing down, gesturing for the others to follow her.

They dropped down to the ground and Kyuri stared around, awed. She loved to learn, loved to read, but the only books she'd ever had access to were the ones Yoshio had brought with her to the tundra, and they were dull reading after a while. This place though, was filled to the brim with books and scrolls on a variety of topics, all scattered amongst the grandeur of columns, buttresses, and carvings. Mosaics of owls were everywhere.

The sound of beating wings echoed in the stillness and Kyuri looked up, frowning at first, thinking Sangilak had somehow followed them, but that was impossible. The opening was far too small. For the sake of caution, they all darted behind a nearby pair of columns, pressing close to keep from exposing themselves.

There was a strange sound, like a scrape followed by clicks. Kyuri recognized the sound. A clawed animal, walking across stones. She looked up at the owl mosaics and mentally berated herself. Of course. She had foolishly assumed that Wan Shi Tong would be a human. But humans weren't symbols of knowledge, were they?

"I know you are there." The voice was masculine and deep, echoing with power.

Professor Zei rushed out, heedless of Aang's grasping hands. "Hello!" he greeted. "I'm professor Zei, Head of Anthropology at the Ba Sing Se University!"

"You should leave the way you came," Wan Shi Ton said coolly. "Unless you want to become a stuffed head of anthropology." He glanced pointed at a column decorated with several stuffed heads of animals long since extinct.

"Are you spirit that brought this library to the physical world?" Sokka asked, emerging from behind the column with the others.

"I am Wan Shi Tong, He Who Knows Ten-Thousand Things," the owl said. "And you are obviously humans, which, by the way, are no longer aloud in this library."

"What do you have against humans?" Aang asked innocently.

"Humans only bother learning things to get the edge on other humans," Wan Shi Tong huffed, ruffling his feathers. "Like that Firebender who came here several years ago, trying to destroy his enemies. So who are you trying to destroy?" he demanded, leaning towards Sokka abruptly. He backpedalled frantically.

"Us, destroy? We're not into that kind of stuff!"

"Then why have you come?"

"The pursuit of knowledge interests us," Kyuri said, stepping forwards. She folded her hands and bowed deeply to Wan Shi Tong. "It is an honor to meet such a well-respected spirit outside of memories."

"A Dragora," Wan Shi Tong said, looking at Kyuri. "Your kind love knowledge for the sake of knowledge."

"As does the Avatar," Kyuri said, seizing Aang and ragging him forwards.

"Uh, yeah," Aang said awkwardly. "I love knowledge. I vow we won't abuse anything we learn here."

"Hmm," Wan Shi Tong mused. "I will let you peruse my collection, on the condition that you contribute something to my library to prove your worth as scholars."

Zei immediately stepped forwards, producing a book from his pack.

"Please accept this humble contribution," he said.

"First addition," Wan Shi Tong approved, swiping his wing across the book. It vanished from Zei's hand.

"I have an authentic Waterbending scroll," Katara offered.

"Masterful brushwork," Wan Shi Tong approved, vanishing it too.

"Aha!" Aang said, producing one off his wanted posters from inside his shirt.

"I suppose that counts," Wan Shi Tong sighed.

"Check this out!" Sokka grinned, stepping forwards with a piece of string. He tied it deftly into a knot that, in all honesty, looked like a dragonfly.

"You're not very bright, are you?" Wan Shi Tong said, but he took the offering.

"I have no knots or written words," Kyuri said, bowing once more. "I have only what I myself know."

"Your kind have developed many secret techniques. Show me one, and I shall consider you welcome," Wan Shi Tong bargained. Kyuri hesitated, and then nodded. She gestured at Katara's flask and she handed it over.

"This is known as the Flight of a Thousand Ice Chips," Kyuri said with a small wince. Humble, the Dragora were not. Nearly any technique they invented had a highly dramatic or flowery name.

She opened the flask and handed it to Katara. Katara took it, confused. Kyuri took a low stance and held out her hands, fingers held gracefully. She flicked her hands back, out, and up over and over, each time pulling tiny streams of water into the air and turning them to ice, leaving them hovering around her. Sokka poked one and gaped as he realized it was patterned like a tiny feather.

Kyuri paused when hundreds of the chips floated around her. She straightened and then leaned to the right, extending her left arm delicately, trailing the fingers of her right hand down it. Half the ice chips floated towards her left arm, aligning themselves perfectly along the limb and sealing together to form one glimmering wing. Kyuri did the same to the other arm.

"Pretty," Wan Shi Tong allowed.

"I'm not done," Kyuri said. She walked to the edge of the platform and threw herself off.

"Kyuri!" Katara screamed, running to the edge. Kyuri shot up again, arms extended, and landed lightly on the platform, panting hard.

"Pretty, but useless," she panted. "The amount of energy expended to manipulate the water through the air while keeping it in place makes it not worth using."

"Interesting," Wan Shi Tong nodded. "Enjoy my library."

"I don't like this spirit. He's too arrogant."

"I never much liked Wan Shi Tong either."

Despite her personal feelings about the spirits though, Kyuri couldn't resist the pull of the books in the library. There were so many sections, so many topics. She couldn't decide where she wanted to start, what she wanted to learn about in the short time they were there. She walked down the aisles, fingers trailing along the spines of books, eyes scanning titles.

"Two rows ahead and to the left."

"What?"

"Just go," Sangilak said.

Kyuri walked forwards two aisles and found herself in a wide aisle between section. The aisle lead to an open doorway. Over it hung a quartered banner. One section was colored red, the others yellow, green, and blue. Over it was emblazoned a black dragon curled into a ring, its tail in its mouth. The banner of the Dragora.

"Go in," Sangilak encouraged. "Fourth row on the right, second shelf up from the bottom on the left, and halfway along."

Kyuri followed his directions, turning right and going down four aisles. She walked to the second shelf on the left side and looked halfway along the shelf. The found a small, leather-bound book. Her fingers coaxed it delicately from its place crammed between two thick history books and she turned it over in her hands. The leather was soft under her fingers. On the cover, stamped in gold, was another coiled dragon, with tiny blue gem eyes. It was bound shut by a string of blue dragon scales. Familiar blue scales.

"What is this?"

"Open it and see."

Kyuri uncoiled the scales and examined them for a moment before setting them aside. Sangilak's, she'd bet her life on it. She flipped open the cover. The parchment was yellowed with age and the ink was faded slightly, but it was still easily readable.

I can scarcely believe the turns my life has taken. Only three years ago with a blacksmith's daughter in a small Fire Nation town no one had ever heard of. Now I am a Dragora, chosen by the mighty Living Glacier. I call him Hao, and he seems to like the name. I remember the way my heart pounded when I saw him, when he chose me, throughout the Sankole. Losing the brown color of all my hair is a small price to pay for such an honor.

But oh, the changes don't end there. My heart races whenever I think of him, and I find myself blushing the color of my country. He showers me in courting gifts so lavish I can scarcely believe it. Silk robes, jewelry, rare books, and yesterday, a pair of beautiful katana, the likes of which I've never seen before. I always swore I'd never be one of those foolish girls who lost their heads over a boy, but I find myself quite willingly parting company with my senses for him, for the Fire Lord, for my Sozin.

"Yoshio," Kyuri whispered.

"Yes. Her diary, left behind for future generations to know her story as she fled to the South Pole."

"This was what Sozin did to her," Kyuri said, reading further down the page. "Dinners, boat rides, walks in the palace gardens, gifts…"

"She didn't think of it as something that was done to her then, I assure you," Sangilak growled. "She changed her mind after their marriage, when Sozin showed his colors. That comes later in the diary. But perhaps this can serve as a mentor to you in areas where I can't."

"Where could you not be my instructor?"

"Matters of the heart."

Kyuri froze. "Just what are you insinuating?" she hissed.

"I'm insinuating Kyuri, and you'd be wise to listen to me, that when it comes to love, you are woefully unprepared. So read the diary."

With that, Sangilak withdrew, leaving Kyuri holding the diary. She stared at the cover, wondering. Why did Sangilak want her to learn about love? She was aware of what the emotion was. She had loved her parents. She even had to admit to loving her friends.

She snarled and shoved the diary into her sash, turning resolutely to the shelf and grabbing a volume at random, dropping to the ground and opening the book. Oh, she'd read the diary all right, if Sangilak really wanted her too that badly. But she'd do it in her own time.

Kyuri had pulled down a mind-numbingly boring volume of history, so she quickly replaced it and found another book. She consumed herself in a volume about scale-forging, the art of making dragon scales into objects like armor, much like how the scales had been bound together to hold the diary shut. She focused intently on the techniques and the styles, as well as inventive ways of combining the scales into a number of objects, like sheaths, bands, and even a highly valuable fork.

Kyuri's head snapped up. Sand poured from the walls, the entire library shaking around her. She stood, shoving the book into her sash as well, and looked around. She could hear crashing and sawing. She closed her eyes, mentally cursing. One of them had found something and intended to use it against the Fire Nation. Wan Shi Tong knew now, knew they lied. And he was going to bury them within his library.

She ran, sprinting for the exit, hoping to meet the others there as well.

"Kyuri, sandbenders! They're taking Appa! Toph's trying to hold up the library!"

"Fight them off!"

"Kyuri, I can't! They cut my wings! It hurts, oh, it hurts!" Sangilak's consciousness was flickering with pain.

Kyuri froze dead in the middle of the library. Cut his wings… No… No! There were major arteries in the wings, he could bleed out! If they cut his wings… depending on how they cut them…

Sangilak might never fly again.

Kyuri screamed. Her eyes exploded in red light. Water leeched out of the walls and stone around her, being drawn in from the deepest parts of the surrounding desert. It squirted against priceless scrolls, reducing the paper to mush. Kyuri didn't care. Her arms flicked as she gathered the water around her feet, flying through the aisles on a disk.

"Kyuri!" Katara shouted when she saw her swing around a bent and head towards the dangling rope. She saw Kyuri's blood-colored eyes and paled. "Kyuri… what happened?"

Kyuri grabbed her, the disk expanding to carry Katara as they headed down an aisle and towards a wall.

"Kyuri, the rope's that way!" Katara protested.

"They better be gone when I get up there, or they're dead," Kyuri growled, her voice gravelly and low. Draconic, Katara realized, comparing it to Sangilak's mental voice. "We're making our own exit."

She stopped by a wall, the water dropping them to the ground. Kyuri swayed back, the water flowing with her, and then snapping forwards as she thrust forwards. The water drilled into the sand, carving a channel. A coat of ice covered the edges already covered, keeping the sand from immediately filling the hole.

"Come on," Kyuri snapped, grabbing Katara roughly and dragging her into the tunnel. Katara staggered behind her. The tunnel was pitch-black, but for the light coming from Kyuri's eyes. It made everything bloody. The ice reflected the light. Katara found herself surrounded by terrifying red eyes. She fought against her fear of the eyes, of Kyuri's current Melded state, of whether Aang and Sokka were okay, or the thousands of pounds of sand hoping to crush them.

They burst into the daylight and found Toph straining to hold the library out of the ground, Appa gone, and Sangilak crumpled on the ground. Clearly he'd been hurt while flying, because his legs were twisted awkwardly beneath him.

"Sangilak!" Kyuri screamed, going to his side, the glow fading from her eyes as she saw the blood. It was all over, glistening wetly on his wings. "No…"

"I'll be fine," Sangilak said. "They just… nicked the edges a few times. Stop me from flying for now… but I'll heal."

"Bastards," Kyuri said, sinking to her knees against Sangilak. "If I find them… they're dead. They could have killed you."

"Oh my god," Sokka said. He and Aang had emerged from the now-gone library only moments After Katara and Kyuri. "Sangilak… Is he okay?"

Kyuri's face was stone as she went to her packs and drew out lengths of bandages and several pots of healing slaves. She said nothing, only went to work on his wings. She smeared yellowish paste over the cuts, cutting off the blood flow. Bandages went on next, holding the salve in place. Over that she poured some kind of oil and smeared it over the lengths of linen, wetting them enough to mold in place.

The others watched in silence as she worked. Kyuri didn't so much as look away from Sangilak, not even when reaching for more bandages or salve. She was intently focused, and so were they.

But Toph hung back, shame-faced.

"Toph, what's wrong?" Aang asked, looking around, and seeing her. He glanced around some more. "Where's Appa?"

"Aang… I'm sorry…"