The further and further they descended, the stuffier the air became. A putrid odor grew thicker as they walked. Aang coughed and covered his face with a hand, but that did little to hide the stench. And the spiritual energy he felt earlier was also growing stronger. It was unlike anything he had felt before. Something about the energy made him anxious.

"Gah, what's that smell?" he heard Zuko mumble beside him. He had his sleeve pressed against his nose. "It's like some kind of natural gas. And it stinks!"

"Maybe that's what we were warned about," Aang said. "It could be flammable."

"Yeah, maybe. How far underneath the surface do you think we are?"

Aang looked up, trying to imagine the tons and tons of soil and stone that separated them from the sunlight. "No idea. The thought of it is making me a little claustrophobic," he admitted. Suddenly, the crystal illuminated a stone doorway. Both of them stopped. It was a little odd seeing a manmade structure at the end of this eerie tunnel.

"There's no handle," Zuko said, inspecting the thick, rocky door. "I guess it's only supposed to be opened by an earthbender." He stepped back. Aang opened a palm and shoved it through the air. The door slowly slid open. Aang dug his heels in and pushed harder. Finally, the doorway was completely open.

Beyond was what seemed to be an open chamber. It was too large to be completely lit by the crystal. Zuko peeked in but remained behind the threshold. Aang closed his eyes. He didn't need to listen very hard to hear the spirits. They were practically screaming.

"They're in agony," Aang realized out loud. "These spirits. That's why they're so strong." He opened his eyes to see Zuko giving him an annoyed look.

"Not exactly what I want to hear while we're standing in the doorway to hell," Zuko remarked.

"This is the source of their energy," Aang said. "You ready to go in?"

"No. Not at all." He straightened up and beckoned towards the door. "After you, Avatar."

Aang hovered the crystal above his head as he walked through. He could hear them all. Choruses of crying and screaming. The moment he stepped through the doorway, they all stopped. Aang felt fear stab his gut as he continued walking through the chamber. He was the bridge between humans and spirits, he reminded himself. There was nothing to fear. He was, after all, here to help.

"I can hardly breathe in here," Zuko whispered behind him. "That smell is overwhelming."

Aang looked around, moving the crystal from side to side. Either they were standing in the center of the room, or the room was so large that they were not close to any of the walls. Breaking off a piece of the crystal, he held it out to Zuko. "Here, take this. We're looking for the general, remember?"

Zuko looked at the shard in his hand. "This thing is so dim. What I wouldn't give for a little fire," he hissed. "All right, let's search this place from wall to wall and get out."

"Sounds good." Aang and Zuko turned back-to-back and began splitting off in their separate directions. As he walked, Aang couldn't help but feel uneasy at the silence. While they had gone through the tunnel, the sounds had never faded. Why did they stop now? Aang looked over his shoulder at the little pocket of light that was Zuko. When he turned back, he stumbled to a stop before he ran headfirst into the wall. Finally!

It was nothing but bare rock. Aang put a hand on the wall and walked along it. Then, something entered into his ball of light. As he continued forward, he found himself staring down at the limp body of General Jing Yin. She was stuck to the wall, her entire body from neck down encased in a rocky cocoon. Aang was so shocked he nearly dropped his crystal.

"Zuko, over here!" Aang called out. He broke the cocoon with a quick sweep of his hand and caught the general as she fell to the ground. He placed his hand on her neck. There was still a pulse.

Who knows how long she had been here? And who trapped her? All Aang knew was that she was probably weak from the lack of oxygen. Raising his hands, he pulled a tiny bubble of oxygen-rich air from the thick air and hovered it over Jing Yin's face. After a few seconds, her eyes flickered opened. She pulled in a few more weak breaths, and then whispered hoarsely, "A-avatar?"

"Can you move?" Aang asked. Jing Yin took another haggard breath and then shakily sat up with Aang's help.

"Avatar, something terrible has been happening here. Have you seen them?"

"Seen what?"

Suddenly, they heard Zuko cry out in terror. There was a clatter that echoed in the chamber as the piece of crystal was dropped Aang jumped to his feet. "Zuko, what happened?" Jing Yin pulled herself up. "Where is he?" Taking Aang's crystal, she hovered it high into the air. With an abrupt gesture, she made it glow bright enough to shower the entire chamber in light.

Aang rushed forward, but then stopped and gazed around in horror. He hadn't noticed them when he first walked into the room, but they were everywhere. Scattered on the ground, pinned to the walls. Bodies. Abandoned for how long, Aang wasn't sure. But they were all dried, mummified. They had become nothing but skeletons with thin, papery skins stretched over the bones.

Zuko scrambled up from where he had fallen over from fright. He hurried over to Aang and Jing Yin. "Look how many there are!" he said, looking around. "I came face-to-face with one back there." He was pale. "I-I thought it was Seiya at first."

"Why?"

"Look at them," Zuko said. "They're all wearing those green and pink dresses." He was right. As Aang got a better look, he realized all of the corpses were girls. They wore the same dresses, and their skulls had long, dusty hair.

"And their neck cuffs," Jing Yin said grimly.

"They all have one too," Aang agreed.

"Not just that. You've talked to the girls that work in that inn. Have they ever acted funny when you mentioned their cuffs?"

Aang and Zuko looked at each other. "Seiya started bleeding from her neck," Zuko recalled. "She wouldn't let me touch it."

"And she panicked when I tried to take it off," Aang added. They looked down as Jing Yin crouched next to the nearest body.

"Take a look at this," she said as she propped the body up. Aang felt queasy. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Zuko hold his stomach. Fighting the urge to scream and run, Aang tiptoed closer to the body. He saw what Jing Yin was referring to.

The dead girl's neck had shriveled to her spine, even though the neck cuff held its original shape. On the back of the cuff was a long, thin rod that extended all the way into the spine. On a living girl, the rod would've been completely inside her neck.

"They can't take it off," Jing Yin whispered sadly. "The rod goes into their spine, but holds it together at the same time. If someone just took it off, it would sever their neck."

"But Seiya has one of those on!" Zuko cried. "Does that mean…?"

"Yes," Jing Yin said. "There's a rod in her neck, too. To take it off would kill her." She rested the corpse down. "I'm so sorry. This life was so cruel to you, and now you can't even rest."

What was she talking about? Aang was about to ask when suddenly he saw movement. His stomach dropped when he saw the body's skull-like head turn towards Jing Yin a few inches. He jumped back as Zuko shouted, "What the—!?"

"You probably felt them, didn't you, Avatar?" Jing Yin said as she raised herself up and looked around. "All of their trapped souls. Trapped in this room. There's something about these stony walls, this accursed chamber, that keeps them from passing on. They're stuck in purgatory, suspended in this air or in their withered vessels." She looked back down at the body. "And I was so scared I would join them."

"I heard them," Aang confirmed. "Back at the top of the tunnel. They saved our lives."

"Oh?"

"They told me to put out Zuko's fire. This air is filled with flammable gas, isn't it?"

"Yes. When these bodies decomposed, they let out methane gas. The air is thick with it from all these poor things." Jing Yin held her arms tightly against her body. "There's nothing we can do for them now. We should go."

They headed for the door. As Aang passed through the threshold, he looked over his shoulder at the chamber. He heard them pleading for help. As Jing Yin closed the door, their voices grew muffled. "Can't we collapse the chamber?" he suggested as they climbed the tunnel. "If we destroy the walls, maybe they can finally leave."

"I'd like to do that too," Jing Yin said. "But remember that this chamber is underneath the city. The surface might collapse as well. I have no idea how big the pothole would be, but we can't risk the lives of the people up above. Maybe once we evacuate the area, we can finally do something about the chamber."

"And speaking of the chamber, what kind of sicko would do that to all those girls?" Zuko demanded.

"Who do you think?" Jing Yin asked. "The same evil bastard who takes those girls and forces the neck cuffs onto them. It's that innkeeper. I got a glimpse of him before he knocked me out and stuck me onto the wall. And I finally realize who he is."

The last hour had been spent in heavy, uncomfortable silence. Katara leaned against the edge of the table, while Jangzhen sat with both arms resting heavily on the tabletop. His fingers had been incessantly drumming the table since Aang and Zuko had left.

Finally, Jangzhen asked, "Do you really think they'll be able to find her?"

"You have to trust them," Katara answered.

Jangzhen lowered his head. "If we never see her again, I don't know what I'll do," he said quietly. "I suppose I'll have to look after Shen myself." A thought suddenly came to him. "He never knew our dad… I don't want him to lose his mother too."

"How old is your brother?" Katara asked.

"Eight," Jangzhen answered. "In two months, he'll be nine."

Katara straightened up and turned towards him. "My brother and I were around that age when our father went off to fight in the war. We had to look after each other from then on."

"What happened to your mother?"

"Killed during a Fire navy raid."

"I'm sorry," Jangzhen raised his head. "My grandfather was killed in the war too. He was one of the Five, just like Mom. His name was General Shen Yin. My mom named my little brother after him. Grandfather died during the Seige of Ba Sing Se."

"The war took so much from everyone." Katara was a little surprised by this man. He didn't seem at all what she'd expect from a Dai Li agent. "But why don't you know your father?"

"I knew him. I was eleven when my mother and I fled from the city, from him. Shen was born five months later."

"Jing Yin left your father? Why?"

Jangzhen ducked his head away. "I'm sorry," he apologized, "but she didn't want me talking about him to anyone."

"Oh," Katara said softly, turning away. "Alright." She felt a little prickle on the back of her neck. The hairs on her arm stood on end. It happened too quickly. Suddenly, she caught movement on the edge of her vision. Before she could do anything, a cone of rock shot out from the ground and pinned her where she stood. The instant, crushing pressure caused her to gasp breathlessly. The teashop was instantly filled with Dai Li agents.

"What's going on?" Jangzhen cried as he leaped to his feet. His bewilderment seemed almost genuine—otherwise, Katara would've suspected him of being in on this trap. And to be honest, it was a suspicion she still hadn't completely dismissed.

The row of agents parted to allow their leader to step forward. "The avatar and his friends are encroaching into private Earth Kingdom business," he answered. "This is a matter of national security, so we are taking appropriate measures in response."

"You sound just like the idiot who used to be in your place!" Katara spat. She was too focused on the Dai Li to notice the quick glance Jangzhen gave her. "You and your agents are letting innocent Fire Nation people die right under your watch! And since none of you care to do anything, the avatar stepped in!"

"Agent, feel free to still her mouth with a piece of rock," the Dai Li head told Jangzhen with a mocking smirk. "Otherwise, get back in your place and await further orders." He stared at the boy with a hardened, unwavering glare.

Jangzhen lowered his eyes submissively and walked past the head, towards the other agents. Katara watched with wide eyes. She couldn't believe he'd tuck his tail between his legs so quickly. Suddenly, the meek steps stopped.

"No." It had been uttered so softly. The Dai Li head turned his head to the side. "What was that?"

Suddenly, the hat was ripped off and tossed aside. The Dai Li uniform was pulled over his head and also thrown to the ground. Underneath, Jangzhen wore a simple white tunic. Whirling around to face his commander, he stated, "My mother was right. You aren't helping anyone but yourselves!"

The head scowled at Jangzhen. "The general is a fool! And for your treachery, you will suffer!"

"You won't get the chance!" Jangzhen thrust his arm towards Katara. The cone shrank back into the ground. No sooner was her arm free, she guided a vine of water with her fingertips. In a flash, a pair of Dai Li agents was rendered unconscious from her attacks. The remaining agents each raised pieces of rock and launched them at the two.

Katara shattered a few of the boulders with her whip. Jangzhen redirected the others away. Suddenly, the ground bubbled up underneath the young man's feet, tipping his balance over. As soon as Jangzhen hit the ground the Dai Li head lifted the earth underneath the boy's wrists and shackled them to the ground. Katara threw her water whip at him, hardening the tip into an icy point. Instead of reaching the shackles, the ice sank into a rocky pillar that shot up. Then the pillar was split horizontally into disks that flung towards her. Katara flipped away to dodge them, but one of the disks curved in the air to follow her. Just before it hit her, it suddenly stopped in midair.

Jangzhen was bending it with a foot. Then, he kicked it straight back at the head. Another agent pulled more earth out and pinned his ankles down.

"Arrest her!" the head barked. Katara glanced over her shoulder as a tall wall rose behind her. She looked back at the row of agents advancing on her.

With a determined glare, she held her water out in front of her. She was ready to fight until the end. The bitter end.

Our world caves in on us

And makes us new

All our love came out of the woodwork

All our strength came out of the woodwork

We only know this light

And darkness crashes against it

We only know this light

Deep in the woodwork

"Woodwork" by Sleeping at Last