Disclaimer: We are now three... fear us (and we own nothing)


Authors note: Ello peoples! Knight here. I am building my empire. I am raising my forces. Soon it will be time to overthrow the establishment. Resistance is useless.

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Next... We Believe the "M" chapters will begin with chapter 16. Look for confirmation later, and move with us!

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Beta Note: Hi everyone! I'm Kitty, the new beta...not to be confused with Genzou. I'm excited to be on this team of amazing (yet a bit more than slightly crazy) authors, even if I have to get out the white coats every so often. Sigh. I hope you guys enjoy this chapter as much as I did!

Enjoy!

-Kitty

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k... I think thats it for now.

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New Topics added in the Forums; The Jenkotsu, the Henkotsu and the Ger-ghanim; who are they?. and The Incarna. Check them out!

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Curtain Up!


Sokka: Master of the Black Sword

Author: The Jade Knight

Co-Author: Richard Caine

Beta: Kitty (A.K.A. kathykatinahat)


-The Resistance Saga-

Chapter 13

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The Story of Mai

Part 5: Conclave

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I was floating in dreams, in the spaces between waking and the deepest of sleep. A long life of training had taught me to be a lucid dreamer. The realm of dreams was one of the greater strengths of the Gel Hassad. We didn't exactly rule there, but we did so much more than any others save perhaps the Gods themselves. I was suspended in what looked like water, light streaming down from a distant source; from where, I couldn't say. I appeared to be drowning, but I didn't struggle for breath. I simply floated. Around me curled a kind of solid mist that caressed and felt warm to the touch. A gradual movement caught my eye and I turned to see something moving through the mists. The form of an armored serpent wove through the empty space in which I hung. Its body plates glinted in the distant moonlight before it twirled around me, winding tighter until we were face to face. It was a creature I had seen before, and around its neck it bore a seal of divine authority-the curved teardrop of Yang in a stylized fashion and set into a bronze disk, hanging on a chain that dangled loosely in the false dream-ocean.

"The Masters call a conclave," the armored serpent hissed to me. I nodded at it. So, the creature was one of the Elders' messengers, then. It continued after my nod. "The Masters request your presence; they divined that the cause of the recent disturbance passed through your area."

"You could say that," I replied, hardly believing I was about to banter with a snake, even this one. I narrowed my eyes. "When will this conclave meet?"

"Soon," the serpent responded. "Within the next six hours, they will converge upon the Archive to meet and plan. Many have been taken by surprise by this; many more who have suspected such difficulties might arise have been roused from their stupor. Tread carefully; many powerful Gel Hassad will be in attendance; including the Haiyahi and your august mother."

Haiyahi was the auditor of the Archive and my mother; what a great combination. Those two got along like sodium and water-they both usually ended up wet and on fire whenever they met. I knew that this was going to go downhill fast. They agreed on basically nothing except the secrecy of the People.

"Tell your masters I will be there, as tradition and honor demands," I replied. Maybe I could stand towards the back of the Archive. If I were lucky maybe they wouldn't notice that I was there. I felt my consciousness being drawn back out of the realm of dreams, and the snake bobbed once before swimming away through the liquid air much like an eel.

I awoke to the novel sensation of someone gently running calloused fingers through my hair. I released a shaky breath and leaned into the hand scratching my scalp. I liked the sensation; it was remarkably pleasant. As I slowly arrived back into consciousness, I marshaled my thoughts and struggled to remember.

I had just finished working over that idiot Jun, and I was walking back down the hallway when I ran into something out of a fireside horror tale. I used my magic on it… and I started screaming. I remember the guards getting me back to my room and then passing out from the strain. Good, memory intact. I opened my eyes to see Zuko looking down at me with a concerned expression. His strong fingers were tangled in my hair, and tightened when he saw me look up at him.

"Are you okay?" he asked in a rough voice.

"Yeah," I winced a little, sitting up in my cot. "I feel like I just got hit by a rampaging komodo-rhino, but other than that I'm fine."

"Good," Zuko said, standing up and brushing his robes off a little. He gave me a sidelong glance with his good eye. "Do you know what happened?"

I shook my head. I could have really told him a lot of things, but honestly I didn't know what had happened to me. "I don't. I was just walking down the hall after chewing out our favorite little bunch of 'contractors' when I just felt something."

"You weren't the only one who felt it," Zuko said with a grimace. "Ty Lee and the Black Twins had fainting spells, and Azula got almost seasick. Even I could feel it, kind of like moving in heavy water or something. The whole crew is complaining about being watched; and I believe them."

I nodded. Zuko was much more sensitive to spirits than I'd thought previously, if he felt anything at all. Either that or it was something that knew Zuko personally. The only entity I could think of that knew of Azula's trio and Zuko at such a personal level was the Avatar, or his traveling companion who could be the next Incarna. Either of them could have that effect if they traveled through the spirit world in a clumsy way, and neither of them appeared to be masters of it to my limited knowledge. The things around the eye though… that experience was going to give me nightmares for a week to come.

"We think it was a spirit, but we don't know for sure. There are all those ghost stories about ships vanishing in this area. Maybe there's something to that."

"And you actually believe that?" I asked, incredulous. Zuko gave me a withering look.

"I saw Admiral Zhao get eaten by the Ocean," he said, and I recoiled a little from the acid in his voice. "I'm flexible when it comes to strange things. I've seen weirder with my own eyes."

Fair enough. I'd heard through the grapevine that the Ocean Spirits could verify that the pitiful few escapees' tales of the final battle of the siege of the northern water tribe were indeed accurate. Military Lesson number forty-six; don't piss off the local deities when invading a country. They might become a giant koi monster and shatter your fleet like a bundle of twigs.

"Sorry," I muttered. "I'm still a little out of it."

Zuko's expression softened a little bit. "It's okay. I thought it was a bit much at first too, but the reports and feelings have been too consistent. Whatever it was, it's gone now. I brought you some tea."

I gratefully took the cup from him and let the feeling of steam on my face clear my mind. Even the Conclave was worried about this. Something must have happened in the Archive, too, or this wouldn't be happening. This was bigger than some ancient ghosts terrifying random ships in the night. This was full on spirit upset of some kind. I looked at Zuko.

"Thanks," I said, taking a sip from the cup he'd handed me. "I feel a little better. But I think maybe I should rest a little longer. I still feel dizzy."

"Whatever you say," Zuko said, leaning forward to give me a kiss. I grabbed the front of his tunic and pulled him in a little deeper. When we separated for breath, I relaxed back into my bed and smiled at him. I watched as he walked out of the room with a thoughtful expression on his face. I wondered what he was thinking. Oh well, nothing for it.

I began the hour-long trance state that would take me to the Archive when I was by myself. I had a meeting to attend.

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Katara

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Katara of the Water Tribe was a person of singular will; yes, she was still a fourteen-year-old girl, and she had inevitable lapses of focus. However, for a girl of her age they were few and far between. She was occasionally wrong, but never in doubt. She could count her true doubts on one hand; Jet's redemption, Zuko in the cave beneath Ba Sing Se, and here in front of a campfire in the middle of a devastated oasis.

She shuddered a little in the deceptively cold air, looking at the body of the Avatar resting across her lap. The fight she had seen today shook her; it made her doubt again. Katara hated doubt. She stole a sidelong glance at her brother, the brother that she had known her entire life. He was goofy, caring, and had the worst sense of humor she'd ever run into (aside from her own father).

He could also fight like Ocean itself. She knew what that meant too… she'd seen what Ocean had done to the entire Fire Nation fleet, swatted aside like so many toys by an angry god.

The changes had come so fast, for all of them. The last year of her life had been unlike anything she'd ever expected. The Avatar; who would have thought that she would become his teacher? She took a brief moment to examine her own hands; hands that had shattered war machines and scattered dozens of men with a single strike. She was a bender, perhaps the greatest water bender in the world, though she'd be damned if she would say it aloud the way Toph constantly bragged. It was just unseemly. Still, she could control the very blood of another; move them against their own will. It was an awesome power, yes, and one that came with responsibilities that scared her just as much as they excited. She knew that she wasn't the only one experiencing changes: Aang had discovered he was the last air bender; Toph had abandoned her family and a life of riches. Change was a constant with them and that was why she valued the steady things she did have. They were her little family, no matter how strange, that she fought tooth and bloody nail for to keep together and fighting for the world's salvation.

She especially valued Sokka, her stupid brother, with his kindness and sense of wonder, with his determination in spite of his own lack of bending ability. He had been a constant for her, for all of them really. He was the planner and plotter, the dogged hunter, and the sarcastic relief when life crushed down on them with the weight of their task. He was so solid to her, just a few weeks ago, someone she felt she knew right down to the bones.

But today…today he had moved in a way no human could, stuttering so quickly that he looked as if he was in more than one place at once. She had sparred with Toph herself, and they were pretty even as far as she measured it. Toph was a genius earth bender, as well as the only metal bender in the known world. Yet her brother, her 'powerless' brother, had fought her like she was a minor irritation; unarmed. She couldn't suppress the memory of him hurtling through the sky. He had screamed in a thousand voices at once while he clashed with the ghost of Avatar Yasuragi, wielding that damn black sword that ate light. It was a performance that would have made anyone gawk, with Gods fighting a battle from a legend so old that she'd never even heard of it before. It was as if she had never known her brother at all.

She honestly wondered if she really did know him. She watched as he tended the fire, Toph sitting as close to him as she dared to. Her brother would look over at Aang with those kind eyes of his every so often, waiting for him to awaken. The kindness was still there, the worry about his friend; however, there were differences now. Before, where there would have been the anxiety of the unknown, the powerlessness of not being able to do anything, now there was only a grim certainty in his gaze.

It hurt, she realized, looking at him. Why couldn't she have seen it as it came? Had they been so blind to his 'handicap' that they couldn't see how he'd grown, how he'd turned into something more than any of them had ever dreamed he could be? She was his sister; this was her job to know. It was her job to protect him, just as he felt he had to protect her.

The thought hit her like a solid slug to the gut. For the first time in her life she understood what Sokka must have felt when he watched her and Aang spar. She had been powerless during that fight, waged with tools and techniques she couldn't begin to fully understand. Sokka had tried to explain some of it, but it was like he really didn't know the best words to explain it, and he tripped over himself. Toph seemed to understand a bit, but she said it was his business.

"If he ain't going to tell you, then I'm not going to either," she'd said. Katara had accepted that, because she had to. She still hated it.

Katara started as she felt Aang's dark head begin to toss and turn on her thigh. She smiled down at him with a sense of relief, a weight off her shoulders.

"Katara?" Aang asked in a dry whisper.

"I'm here Aang," she replied quietly. "We're all here."

"Is everyone safe?" he asked, and his gray eyes bored into hers with intensity that she'd almost never seen him have. She hugged him closer on instinct.

"Yes Aang, we're all safe," Sokka said, standing up gingerly with the aid of a piece of palm that he'd carved into a makeshift staff. "I disabled her."

Aang closed his eyes and smiled a little. "You know, it sounds really weird when you say that Sokka."

Her brother looked slightly crestfallen until Aang opened his eyes and his smile became wry. "But good weird; you know, like you learning to fight in Kiyoshi makeup."

For a second everyone around the campfire gawked at Aang, until Sokka fell back into the sand with a loud laugh. Once he started laughing, he didn't stop. It wasn't even that good of a joke, but once he started to release the tensions of the day he couldn't stop. Finally after a good minute of cackling, Sokka sat up, wiping a tear from his eye. Katara passed Aang a water skin, which he drained slowly.

"What are you talking about Twinkletoes?" Toph asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Well, the big man here," Katara spoke up, smiling at the memory, and taking the small water skin back from the Avatar. "He decided that women weren't such great fighters when he was back at the South Pole. It wasn't until we went to Kiyoshi Island and he got his butt kicked by a girl named Suki that he learned to take women seriously in a fight. She trained him in their style, you know the war fans?"

Toph nodded, and Katara felt her smile spreading further across her face. She doubted Toph would ever forget her first kiss at the Serpent's Pass. "Well, he lost a bet, and he had to train in their full gear; dress, white face paint, and all."

"Snoozles wore a dress?" Toph asked, mystified.

"He looked good in it too," Aang said with an evil grin. He sat up slowly, and his grin faded a little as he looked into the fire. "But I guess that isn't what's on everyone's mind right now."

"No," Katara said. She wrapped an arm around Aang's shoulder and pulled him close. "Are you okay Aang?"

"No," he said in a whisper. He looked at Sokka across from him, who looked straight back without blinking. There wasn't any harshness on Sokka's face, but there was tension. Toph laid a hand on his shoulder and he looked to her for a second before relaxing just a little. The unnerving silence continued on for almost another full minute until Aang spoke up again.

"The monks told me about you, you know," Aang said, his eyes unfocused, remembering. "They said that once upon a time there was a greedy man, who tried to destroy the world. They said his spirit would come back; it always did. It had terrible powers, and a drive that was beyond any human. He and I had always fought, they said; since the beginning of time. They told me that I would know what I had to do when I met him; that I always had."

"But they were wrong, weren't they?" Aang asked, looking up from the fire. "That's not what you are, is it?"

"No," Sokka said quietly. "It's not who I am."

"And I don't know what to do," Aang continued. He twisted his mouth in a deep frown. "I really don't."

Silence once again descended, and the tension rose again, just a little. It felt to Katara like an eternity as she looked at her brother and her… well Aang, caught in some kind of invisible tug of war. Once again Aang broke the silence.

"We weren't always enemies were we?" Aang asked again. Sokka gave a smile, a distant expression crossing his face.

"No we weren't," Sokka said. He closed his eyes and let out a slow sigh before continuing. "A long time ago, we worked together. We protected the world, and between us nothing stood a chance. The world was a better place then, healthier, more balanced. Until we decided to fight it out because of our greed and pride."

Aang said nothing for another few seconds. He looked up and he met Sokka's eyes without as much as a flinch. He got to his feet and extended his hand. "Then I'm willing to let bygones be bygones. I screwed up as the Avatar. I figure I can't hold a grudge for something you remember from forty thousand years ago."

Katara had a strange sense that she was watching history, right in front of her, as Sokka leaned heavily on his stick to stand up and gripped Aang's arm with his own. Her brother's blue eyes seemed watery in the firelight, even though he was smiling.

"I can live with that," he said quietly. "It's been too long, Brother."

There was something in the way that Sokka said the word that was different than how she used it, and how she'd heard others use it. Aang gave a brilliant smile, the kind that gave Katara more doubt. That smile pulled at a part of her she had thought Aang was outside of, and it made simple things complicated in a way she hated. When Aang spoke again his tenor voice was low and filled with authority.

"You're right, it really has been too long," Aang said and there was something in the air that crackled like static. "We've got a lot of work to catch up on."

"Yeah, now you have even more People of Mass Destruction to boss around. Ozai will be thrilled, I'm sure," Sokka said with a grin. Aang snorted.

"You're right," Sokka replied to the unspoken comment. He turned and stuck his tongue out at Katara. "Bossing is the women's job."

Aang's laugh was cut off when Katara stood and bonked him upside the head. Sokka's ended when he suddenly sank three inches into the ground and lost his balance to fall flat on his face. Just like that, all the strangeness of the day faded away, and there was her family again. Her stupid chauvinistic family, but hey, you don't get to choose your brother. You love him in spite of his extremely obvious and glaring flaws.

After the tussling had died down and the boys were appropriately chastised for their unmanly behavior, they all settled down around the fire again. Aang pulled out his dried tofu and Sokka his seal jerky, a special leftover treat courtesy of Hama, the insane blood bender. The rest of them quietly ate bread and cheese. They were all happily munching away when Sokka spoke up again.

"I'm going to need another teacher," he said. Sometime during the meal, he'd gotten out the Pai Sho tile that Piando had given him and was twiddling it between his fingers with a thoughtful look on his face.

"That could be hard," Toph said. "We haven't exactly been tripping over people who can do this kind of thing."

"I don't know," said Aang after a second of consideration. "Maybe we were; we just weren't looking for them."

Sokka nodded in distraction, as if he were trying to think of something. His eyes got wide and he snapped his fingers. "The fortune teller!"

"What, you mean Aunt Wu?" Katara asked with a raised eyebrow. "I thought you said she was full of nonsense?"

"Yeah," he muttered, looking unhappy. "But the last few weeks have convinced me that my definition of science isn't exactly complete."

"You mean you're actually admitting that you were wrong?" Aang asked with a mischievous grin. "Katara, write that down somewhere. We need to record this for the history books."

"Hey," Sokka said defensively. "I admit that I'm wrong all the time!"

"You do, don't you," Toph pondered thoughtfully. "Hey, does that mean you're wrong most of the time?"

Sokka's answer was a deep growl. "Look, I'm serious here. How did she perform her… I dunno, scrying?"

Katara thought long and hard about it. She called up every memory that she had about that time, and laid out what she remembered in all its spooky detail. Aang filled in a few details of his own; ones that made Sokka narrow his eyes to slits.

"Well I'll be a seal-penguin," he muttered. "She's the real thing."

"I thought only Gel Hassad could scry like that," Aang said. Katara looked between her brother and Aang.

"Nah," Sokka said with a shake of his head. "Humans can learn Spirit-shaping and prophecy. That kind of stuff is basically like bending. If you do the right movements with your chi, things can happen. It's just that they're so hard to learn for your average human that most would never bother. Not to mention that I think both sides in the war suppressed as much knowledge as they could. Still, I guess some people just have the gift."

"Alright," Toph interjected, just before Katara. "You two are talking about all this like it's the freaking weather. How about you tell us what exactly you're talking about? What are the Gel Hassad? And what about that thing Yasuragi kept calling us...Henkotsu, or something?"

"The Gel Hassad," Sokka began with a frown, leaning back against a downed tree trunk. "I guess they are like people who have the real gift for bending, only with the tricks that I use. Most of the time they look like people, and I guess they're pretty human, but a long time ago the same people who made the Incarna spirit and helped to make the Avatar the bridge between the spirit world and ours created them. Most of the time they spend around people, they wear masks to remain undetected. I don't know if I could describe what they look like, but trust me. If you ever saw one unmasked, you'd sure as heck remember it."

Aang nodded. "When Yasuragi was… going crazy, I got a good look at a lot of her memories. I know what they look like, and he's right. Until you've seen one, they're kind of hard to describe. They used to serve the Incarna I guess. They were pretty scary guys. They used to be able to walk through walls, and they were pretty sneaky. When they could look like just a normal person they were pretty hard to spot. You sort of had to sleep with one eye open if they were mad at you back then."

Sokka looked a little sheepish. "Yeah. You might still, they're a lot of them still around."

"Really?" Aang asked in surprise. "I thought they were mostly gone."

"No," Sokka replied with a firm shake of his head. "There aren't millions of them, but they're still around. You met the Yu Yan archers once, right?"

"Holy bison," Aang cursed with his eyes wide. "You're right! I didn't even think of that. They fought just like Gel Hassad!"

"Because they are," Sokka said grimly. "They're a clan that must have thrown in with the Fire Lord. Their Gel Hassad name is more like Yelem Ye'ghan. I recognized those red tattoos from my new memories. The ones you described are Gel Hassad designs. The Old Ones liked red tattoos. Their skin was brown, almost black, so normal ones didn't work very well."

"So," Aang said in an attempt to change an uncomfortable subject. "What makes you think Aunt Wu was right on?"

"Her methods are right," Sokka said with a grim look. "Other than the cloud reading; that's just nonsense."

"So her other prophecy might be right?" Katara asked slowly. Sokka nodded.

"Probably is," he said regretfully. "Why, did she tell you something?"

She was sure Sokka caught her sidelong glance at Aang before her eyes snapped back. "Nothing that important."

Unfortunately her nervous giggle made Sokka look between her and Aang once and shake his head. Toph had a smirk that said she knew Katara was lying. She probably even suspected about what. Sokka sighed. "Whatever. She's too far away, and I don't have time to find her. Besides, I don't trust prophecy much anyways. It's too easy to interpret, to bend however you want to. I'm more interested in my other skills- I'm not even sure what they are."

"What about those Henkotetsu things?" Katara asked, desperate to shift the focus away from herself.

"Yeah," Aang said suddenly. "I'd never heard of them until Yasuragi started talking."

"Hmph," Sokka said, looking into the fire and visibly marshaling his thoughts. "The word is Henkotsu. Aang, have you ever wondered why Katara and I found you when no one else had? How you were able to find Toph? Why monk Giyatsu had such an interest in you and treated you like his own son?"

Aang blinked. "Hmm…"

"It isn't random, and it isn't 'destiny'," Sokka said, making a curving quotation symbol when he said destiny. "It actually works like science. You guys are all special, not just Aang. Each of you is a part of what makes the Avatar. Every Avatar needs people to help him, they always have. Every time an Avatar is re-born, there are four people called to him, one for each element. They're special people, they learn things no one else can, faster and smarter than anyone else in their generation. They can do the impossible; bend metal, bend people's blood. I remember what they used to be able to do. Katara, the last version of you I remember could control entire armies with her water bending. At high noon."

Katara felt her breath catch as Sokka continued. "Toph, you could lift tanks from a distance and throw them like toys. Without using the ground beneath them. I watched you crush… gliders, I guess you'd call them. You just crumpled the metal they were made of while they were in mid air."

Toph had her head tilted to the side, and Sokka sighed. "They are able to use the same thing that gives the Avatar power, but they are uniquely suited to teaching him. Sometimes they express their connection in strange ways, like taking after their element really strongly in their physical appearance. I don't know how it works; it's too complicated for me to understand. I don't even know how they made the system. But it does work, and it always had."

"So our strength isn't our own," Toph said slowly. Sokka shook his head fiercely.

"That isn't the right way to think of it," Sokka replied. "It is you, it always has been, just the 'you' that is strong willed and gifted, that part of you has always been around to help Aang out when he needed it. You guys are a lot like him, returning to the world over the years to help out."

Toph seemed mollified by this, and sat back crossing her legs and looking deep in thought. Katara turned towards her brother with a hopeful tone in her voice. "Are there anything like that for you?"

"They're called the Ger Ghanim," Sokka said. "One for each of the greater Arts, just like the four elements. There is one for Void, Pattern, Fate, and Dream. Each of them can teach me things about how to use the gifts that I've been given. Problem is I have no idea how to find them."

"Maybe it'll be like it was for me," Aang offered with a hopeful grin. "Maybe they'll just land in your lap. How do you know they aren't looking for you too?"

"After what I pulled today," Sokka muttered. "I'd be surprised if someone didn't show up really soon hunting for me."

"You mean the big explosion?" Katara asked. Sokka shuffled his feet in the sand.

"Not exactly," he replied after a moment. "More like the things I used to help beat Yasuragi made a lot of… noise I guess you could say, in the spirit realm, especially where the Gel Hassad tend to spend their time. I kind of sent them a rude message while I was fighting with Aang."

"You left a hidden race of people who walk through walls a rude note?" Aang asked with a lifted eyebrow. "What did you say, exactly?"

"Er," Sokka rubbed the back of his head. "Something about how I was fighting the Avatar to save my life and they should call back later. Now please get out of my library? Sort of like that, but a lot more rushed and with more curses."

Aang looked slightly ashamed until Toph started laughing uproariously. The other three gave her a look as she wheezed. "That's brilliant! You showed up out of nowhere and stole their Archive thingy without even bothering to tell them you were back. I bet you made them wet their pants."

Even Aang laughed a little at the image, especially since he knew exactly what a scared Gel Hassad looked like. It was pretty absurd. "So they'll be looking for you now?"

"Yeah," Sokka said with a shake of his head. "But I'm not interested in their wars or what I saw of their plans. Yasuragi isn't the only one with a forty thousand year grudge. The Gel Hassad nearly went extinct when the last war ended. It's only because they hid that they managed to survive. I think they're still pissed about that."

"Oh well," Toph said, supremely unconcerned. She pillowed her head on the arms she crossed behind herself on a nearby tree trunk. "It's not like we had any shortage of enemies before. Just put them on the list. Besides, with the four of us, who's really going to want a rumble?"

Katara sighed, but nodded. "That's true. If they really know who you are, they aren't going to want a fight."

"No more than a Fire bender wants to fight the Avatar," Sokka countered. He didn't seem convinced. "They'll be scared as hell, but they might do it anyway. Remember, I've been gone a lot longer than Aang. There are still stories about him; pretty much everyone's forgotten about me. The only things left about me are myths that have become so twisted around and re-worked who knows what in them is real? Even after looking around in the Archive I'm not sure what I can do. I mean, I have a vague sense, maybe, but Aang can do stuff none of us has ever thought of before. Remember what happened at the spirit oasis?"

"Yeah," Aang said quietly. He gave Sokka a rueful smirk. "At least you can ask someone about how to do this. I don't have your Archive thingy, all I've got is Avatar Roku and his advice, and he can be really hard to understand sometimes."

"At least Roku is trying to help you," Sokka countered. "The Archive has all the personality and well wishes of a granite wall. It does what it does, no more or less. Stupid thing can't even understand some of the things I ask. It just told me to change what I was asking because it couldn't understand. On top of that, there's so much info there I could spend the rest of my life just looking for the details of what I could do. No, I think I need a real teacher."

Katara was silent for a second. "Aang, Sokka, why... why did she hate you so much?"

"Yasuragi?" Aang asked quietly.

"Mmm hmm," Katara hummed. Aang closed his eyes and turned his head to Sokka. Sokka looked very troubled as looked at his hands, flipping the Pai Sho tile around with a nervous speed. Neither of them said anything for a very long time.

"We need to know," Katara whispered. "If she comes back, maybe we can talk some sense into her."

She expected many things, a sarcastic comment from Sokka, Aang to simply avoid the question. Hearing Aang laugh so hollowly and Sokka sit so silently was outside of her experience. She'd never heard Aang sound like that, and her heart prayed she'd never again hear a boy so full of life, hope, and strength sound so utterly broken.

"It isn't that easy," Sokka said, drawing his sword from his lap and staring at his reflection in the blade. "Nothing I will ever do will make up for what she suffered. She can't be reasoned with. Only disabled."

"There's a good reason for that," Aang said. He looked at Katara and his gray eyes were suddenly ancient. She felt a small shiver of fear as his gaze weighed her. "Katara, what would you have done if you'd met the perfect man? A water bender who could teach you things that you never even suspected you were capable of? A man who was strong and wise. Who took you as his student, as his lover? The man who was the center of your world and who you believed thought the same of you."

"Then," Sokka picked up. "In an instant killed everyone else you knew, in a terrible storm of power and almost assassinating you in your own bedroom after... well you can guess. To this day I'm not sure how she got away and back to the human resistance forces. That first strike crippled the benders' attack power. Only the Air Nomad's fleets were undamaged, because the Gods protected their temples through an old deal."

"She was the best Avatar that ever lived at using her power," Aang said softly. "She loved him more than anything, more than her calling, more than her life, and he betrayed her. So she struck back, and she's been striking back ever since. She saved the world from Mouretsu's tyranny, but she didn't do it to save the world; she did it because she hated him Katara. I've never felt that kind of hate before. It makes me sick."

Aang looked at Sokka. "What makes me even more sick is that if I were her, I'm not sure I would have felt any differently."

Aang was quiet for a moment but when he spoke again his voice was firm with resolve. "But I'm not her, and Sokka isn't Mouretsu."

"Not at all," Sokka said with a strong voice. Toph's hand rested on the small of his back, and he slumped forward. "But today I remembered; and I don't think I'll ever stop wondering."

"We've already had this conversation once today Snoozles," Toph said warningly.

"What would I do without you?" he asked with a hitching laugh. "Always there to kick my ass when I need it."

He couldn't see her face, but both Aang and Katara caught her blush in the firelight. She withdrew her hand from his back and sat quietly once more. The silence dragged out but as time went on, they all began to relax slightly. Aang stood up slowly and stretched as the moon finally rose in the distance. He seemed grateful for the distraction as he and Sokka looked up at it.

Aang gave Sokka a sidelong glance. "You can talk to her now, you know."

Sokka shook his head. "I figure she's a busy lady. I don't want to bother her yet. Maybe when all this is over, I'll say hi. I have a feeling that she knows just how much I miss her."

"Who's this?" Toph interjected, sounding a little nervous. Katara knew instantly when both Aang and Sokka looked up at the moon.

"First girl I ever really loved," Sokka said frankly. He closed his eyes and smiled. "She died to save the world. She became the Moon Spirit, sacrificed her soul without even a moment of hesitation. She was the bravest person I've ever known."

"The day the moon disappeared," Toph said quietly. Sokka nodded.

"You knew about that?" Aang asked curiously. Toph nodded.

"Yeah," she said. "I was out in the gardens when the moon disappeared. Mom and dad freaked out and had the servants come and drag me inside. The world, I dunno, it felt really strange for about an hour. It was like all the vibrations were muffled or something. Then everything was back to normal."

"That was Yue," Sokka whispered. "I do miss her, more than I really like to talk about, but she's up there and she's looking after us. I know it."

"How?" Toph asked curiously. Sokka smiled a little wider.

"Because she made me a promise once," he said.

"She is," Aang added quietly. "When I ran off while we were on the ship going to the Fire Nation, she saved me from drowning."

"That's my girl," Sokka whispered, pride in his voice. Katara could see Toph growing more and more fidgety until Sokka looked back at the fire. "Oh well, even with all this spirit…thingy stuff I don't think it would work out. The last person I want to piss off is a giant koi fish that can flatten cities when ticked."

"Yeah, he's kind of the jealous type," Aang said with a surprising amount of authority. Sokka nodded.

"Figures you'd know. He's one of your boys after all," he said with a sigh. He smiled though and gestured for Aang to follow him. "Come on, we've got some things to talk about, you know Yin to Yang and all that stuff."

Aang shook his head and the two of them walked off to a nearby dune. Katara turned to Toph and gave her a smile. "Don't worry about that, it's just an old hurt for him now."

"At least now I know why he looks at the moon every night," Toph said quietly. Katara shifted a little.

"I'm sorry about Aang today," she said. Toph waved her hand.

"Nah, he was out of his mind," Toph replied. Katara giggled a little.

"No, not that silly," she said with a shake of her head. "I was talking about when he started talking and you had to shove him into the hole."

"Oh," Toph said with a slight blush on her cheeks. "That."

Toph kicked the sand under her bare feet with a frown of concentration. "I dunno, maybe Twinkletoes is right. Maybe I should just tell him."

"You were the one who was worried about what might happen," Katara countered. After all, she knew just how dumb her brother was when it came to most women. Yue was probably the only exception she'd ever seen. "My brother can be a real meat head sometimes."

"I know that," Toph said, curling up a little in front of the fire, looking troubled. "But… I don't know. Today changed things, you know? He has so much to deal with. No matter how brave I was looking out there today, I was scared Katara."

Toph shuddered slightly in the cold desert air. "I could hear his heart when he saved us, threw us clear of that fire ball. His heart had almost stopped. It was struggling to beat. He was doing things that weren't just risky, they were nearly suicidal. He's okay now, but I have this feeling I might not have much more time with him. I don't want to sound depressed or something, but it was tough you know? We aren't exactly on a happy little picnic here, even without extra weirdness. I don't want to lose my chance because I didn't speak up when I could have."

"I understand," Katara said soothingly, putting her hand on Toph's shoulder as she sat down on the log next to Toph. "Whatever you want to do, Aang and I support your decision. It's yours to make. Besides after the last time I tried to make you do anything it didn't really end well. I've learned from it."

"Yeah, prison sucked," Toph commented, and then grinned. "Even if you are a sweaty, stinky genius."

Toph punched Katara in the shoulder while they both laughed a little. Katara took a little care to hide her wince. Toph still hit like an avalanche. The two of them sat in a companionable silence. Suddenly Toph began cackling like a madwoman for no apparent reason. Her smile had become truly evil. Katara saw Aang and Sokka walking back towards them, Sokka draping one arm over Aang's shoulder while expounding on something in a truly bombastic looking fashion.

"What is it?" Katara asked. Toph wheezed a little before explaining.

"Twinkletoes made the mistake of asking Snoozles over there about modern water tribe traditions. I think Sokka just got to what he's calling the 'courting rituals' or something. I guess Aang needs to ask him if he wants to really go out on a date with you or something. Snoozles is acting kind of clueless, but I'm beginning to wonder if he isn't doing his best to make Twinkletoes squirm. It sure sounds like it."

Katara snarled under her breath. "Why that little… I'll show him."

"Stow it Katara," Toph said, grabbing her arm as she burst to her feet in indignant feminine pride. "He's just jerking Aang's chain a little. Do you really think he'd stop you two from doing anything?"

"You don't know Sokka like I do Toph," Katara responded with a fierce scowl. "He's got this stupid overprotective side to him. Now that he can actually back it up with force, it'll be even worse."

"I think I know Sokka pretty well, actually," Toph said quietly. Katara started at Toph's suddenly very serious tone. "I never doubted what he could be once he got serious. Can you say the same? Besides, everyone needs to be humbled every once in a while; even Aang. Plus, when is a better guy than Aang going to show up, huh? I thought you guys weren't even involved 'that way' yet, or something."

"Well I just don't want him getting into my business," Katara huffed. Toph snorted.

"Like you get into his?" Toph asked dryly. "Sometimes I wonder who the blind one is around here. Look, let him have his fun. We won't have much more time for it. Life's about to get ugly and I don't think it's gonna get better any time soon. Save the worry for when we need it, Sugar Queen."

Katara shut her mouth with a clacking sound. Fine; she'd listen for now. But if Sokka did something stupid, she didn't care if he did have weird superpowers, she would hang him upside down with ice from his ankles for a week. That was a promise.

-

Mai

-

I stepped out of my body and ran down the hallways of the airship until I reached the open decks below. I threw my spectral body out into the open sky, relishing the feeling of flight in the spirit world. I curled up into a ball and let the wind blow my hair away from my face for a long moment before I completed the sutra that sent my soul hurtling towards the no-where that was the Archive.

The Conclave of the Archive was something that met rarely; usually once every year, and then only for a day or so. Mostly it was just a giant status update on what the People had been up to that year. As such it was horribly boring by and large as people exaggerated or emphasized their efforts in an attempt to win status from the Great Council.

However, there had just been a conclave a few weeks ago. My mother had attended it as our representative on the Great Council, the 'governing body' of the Gel Hassad. In truth they were much more like the inmates of the asylum than its wardens. They were fractious political schemers with plans that ran counter to one another at every possible juncture.

In short, they were very human.

I was expecting the usual nonsense. I was in for a bit of a surprise.

As I cleared the last archway, dressed in a seeming of gossamer cloth and walking about in my true form I stumbled onto something unheard of. The gently sloping floor leading up to the archive had shifted, parts raising and falling as if the entire room were made out of relatively uniform blocks that had been rattled about and left in a careless configuration. Pillars and depressions made the entire vaulted room a haphazard mess. With a curse, I climbed up and began to hop my way down to the lake. Of course, when I headed out towards the lake I realized with a start that it wasn't a lake anymore.

A perfect silvery sphere hovered in the center of the room. Ever few moments it would change color and one of the many pillars that had been the organically curved floor from before flashed in a colored sympathy before returning to wet black stone. A few others had arrived already, standing a respectable distance from the strange sphere of memory. I was so busy watching the whole process as I leaped from uneven pillar to uneven pillar that I nearly ran into the third great surprise, maybe the greatest one of all.

She floated there, white ribbons and sashes, tan skin, stark white hair, and eyes so blue that I'd never seen their like. Several other Gel Hassad were watching her warily, for she was not one of the People. Her form was translucent, occasionally flashing with white lights and crackling with the sparks and ozone scent of raw spiritual power. The only being who appeared to have approached her was a man that I recognized as the Master of the Archive, Haiyahi. He had no other Gel Hassad name, and was famous for his ability with a sword. They said perhaps he was the finest swordsman in the world. He was also the most intelligent man I had ever met.

I pulled aside at the last moment and landed only one pillar's width, perhaps ten meters, away from the strange woman. This close, she looked like she was almost my age. Her brilliant eyes, back lit by her own radiance, locked with mine and Haiyahi looked at me as well, his beard tendrils moving in a gesture of mild surprise. I felt a moment of fear as her gaze lingered, judging me. Finally she turned back to Haiyahi, as if I had never been there, with an enigmatic smile. Her soprano voice echoed even though it was soft enough that I barely heard her.

"It is true," she spoke. "He has begun to find himself. This is an inevitable response to his actions, to his will."

At this, the woman made a vague gesture at the floating sphere, and a hint of distant fondness entered her voice. "This is not without some precedent, even if it caught you off guard old man. Besides, my beloved has ever been a surprising man. I don't doubt he'll continue to cause you heartburn sensei."

"You may be right," Haiyahi responded. His long tendrils lashed about him in a shrugging motion. "Goodness knows that he was a handful for me, and I only had to put up with his presence for a few days. I wish I could have given him more."

"You gave him the Weapon," the woman responded, patting Haiyahi on the cheek. "With it he can challenge even the might of Azathoth itself. The Dark Sultan's pawns will fear him once more. How goes the other work?"

"Well, my lady," Haiyahi said. "But as with all things, time is not our ally."

"I have every confidence in your artisans," she said with a genuine smile. "Though your followers here leave much to be desired."

She whirled suddenly and waved her other hand. The Gel Hassad that had been sneaking up on her, that I hadn't even noticed, flew away from her towards the distant wall screaming and clutched his head in horrible agony. As he flew away I recognized him; he was a powerful shaper and no slouch with spirit forces, but the woman's sheer will hurled him aside like a toy, blasting through layers of warding and shields with a cracking of green hell fire and brilliant white light.

I had never heard a man scream like that before. He sounded as if he had lost his mind. Her soprano now echoed with an authority and volume that made me clutch my ears reflexively in pain. "Reign in your minions Architect or I will teach them something of the nature of the God they were fools enough to threaten, if only by proxy."

"A thousand apologies honored guest," Haiyahi said. He looked at the gathered Gel Hassad and spoke clearly, even though his accent was as deliberate and wifty as it always had been. "I believe no one else will trouble you."

There was nothing threatening in his voice. It was made all the more intimidating because of his lack of anger. I shifted nervously as the white haired woman swept that burning gaze across the entire room. Satisfied that the other Gel Hassad had completely frozen in their places, she turned back to him as if nothing had happened.

"There is the matter," she said, once again in her quiet whisper. "Of the gathering."

"We will compensate for it, I assure you my young friend," Haiyahi said. "What kind of teacher would I be if I let circumstance derail my lessons?"

"A poor one, which you aren't," the woman said with a nod. She smiled at Haiyahi again. "Tell him when you meet him next that I send all my love, and that I will be ready when the time comes, just as I promised I would be."

"I will do this My Lady," he responded with a deep bow. "May your divine will shine brightly on your travels and on the dreams of Man."

"And may your plans ever be fruitful," she responded. She turned to look right at me, and her dress, hair, and eyes flashed to a malevolent red. "We will have need of the Herald soon. Find them Architect, and teach them, lest they make a mistake for which there is no redemption."

Then the frightening teenage girl with the vague voice was gone and only Haiyahi and myself remained within fifty meters of the hovering sphere of shifting colors. The old Gel Hassad leapt over to me with the dexterity of a mountain goat-puma, landing on all fours beside me. "She's something else, isn't she?"

"Who," I asked after taking a second to master my voice. "Who was that?"

"What might be more accurate," Haiyahi mused. He looked distant for a few seconds, pointedly ignoring me, and turned back with another enigmatic look. "She is a friend; a powerful friend little Mai."

"A friend of whom?" I asked.

"Why us of course," he said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. He turned away from me before I could ask just who exactly this 'Us' was and Haiyahi gave a broad smile with his shark teeth at an approaching form that I knew depressingly well. "Lady Xiao, as always, it is a pleasure."

The old coot said it as if he actually meant it. With Haiyahi who the hell knew? My mother however, wasn't terribly impressed.

"Elder Haiyahi," mother replied. "It is so good to see you."

"My dear Miyun," Haiyahi smiled. "You lie as well as always. Well, I for one wish for this to be underway. My apologies for my earlier guest. She decided to stop by early, and I was not one to deny a Lady's request."

"She rated higher than a Conclave? One that you called personally?" my mother countered.

"My dearest Miyun," Haiyahi said, and his voice suddenly became cold and hard. "If you are foolish enough to slight a Celestial God, by all means leave me out of it. I for one enjoy my life, even in my old age. I would have thought you did as well."

He took advantage of my mother's remarkable imitation of a cat-carp to round up the rest of the attendees into a semicircle. He stood closest to the hovering sphere that the once placid Archive had become. He stood in silence watching a ripple of color play across the basalt around him before he turned to face the assembled dignitaries.

"Veth Rasa made a mistake this evening," he began. He looked back towards the Archive for just a moment. "I will do what I can to help him repair the damage, but I promise nothing. Lunarsa is notoriously short tempered, and I believe precious little but the Incarna or the Avatar could repair the full brunt of her wrath in the spirit world. He should have been paying more attention."

I gaped along with everyone else in the room. My mouth was working before my brain. "That was the... the moon?"

"Oh yes," Haiyahi said in a conversational tone. He might have been talking about the weather. "At any rate, she gave me some insight into what had happened earlier this day, and gave me the information that you will need to pass on to your subordinates. As of noon today, the Archive has entered its standby configuration. I have it on good authority this has not happened in over forty thousand years. The last to observe this was recorded just before the rise of Mouretsu to Incarna Ascendancy. This means we have precious little information on what exactly is happening, or what the Archive will behave like once the Incarna has reached his full power."

"Thus far, the system seems stable, and we can retrieve information from the core. However, it seems to be retaining a tremendous amount of resources for itself, and whatever it is doing makes the going harder. Do not attempt to pull out any information by yourself, only in teams and with full protective rituals. Less than that and it will consume you. It almost consumed me when I made a simple inquiry this afternoon."

"So the Archive is essentially useless to us for the duration," mother said in a flat voice. I couldn't blame her this time. The difficulty of getting an entire team here at once and putting up the rituals was obscene. It would take more people than were in the room now for the meeting.

"Essentially," Haiyahi said with a cheerful nod. "The good news is that the Incarna has graciously chosen not to wipe the minds of anyone who uses his private library."

"This was always the purview of our people," one man argued. I couldn't see his face but I imagine he was as surprised as I was.

"No," Haiyahi said. He shook his head. "The Archive was put into our trust until the next Incarna manifested. It has been a long time since any have come this far, and frankly far too much has been forgotten about the process. While he is alive, we may never be able to use the Archive again. His mere thoughts might be amplified a thousand times by its structure. We don't know what's going on and even those powerful entities we can reach who may know aren't speaking. Even the Exile Koh says he knows not the process."

"You have spoken with The Exile," a voice called out. I would have recognized Jai Roh's booming bass anywhere. Haiyahi sighed.

"Yes, I have spoken with the Stealer of Faces," he said quietly. "He laughed me out of his sanctum and told me to ask the Incarna himself."

"Can we locate him?" mother asked. "Can we follow the signal back to his position?"

"Perhaps," Haiyahi said.

"Not if he desires that you don't. That fate is his alone to decide, and he does not trust the People," A young man said. I turned to see a figure dressed as a simple peasant with a longbow on his back and a conical farmer's hat upon his head kneeling just to the side of the sphere, well away from the gathering proper. His sense tendrils flared behind him in a significant mane, but it was his eyes that caught you. Unlike the eyes of everyone else in the Archive, they were a deep violet and his pupils were the sidelong hourglass shape of the symbol for infinity. His voice was hard and scratchy, as if he didn't use it often. "Nor do I."

"Who are you?" mother prompted as she whirled on the figure.

"The Chooser of the Slain," he said with a deep frown. "A duty I neither asked for nor desired, but keep just the same."

A month ago I would have said that it couldn't be. The Chooser of the Slain was a bogeyman, a legend. The stories said that once in a generation, a Gel Hassad was chosen by the Gods to watch over the ending and severing of the strands of fate. All Gel Hassad could learn to wield the power of prophecy to some extent. The prophecy was true and solid, even if the interpretations were usually pretty vague. Only the Chooser of the Slain could simply destroy fate itself, unmake destinies. He was the only force in the universe, so it was said, that could deny Inevitability, one of the great gods of our people, and only because Fate gave him his gift. Recent legends had him spotted several times in the Earth kingdom, particularly in Ba Sing Se since the fall. As I could care less about rumor, I didn't know much more than that.

Everyone knew someone who knew someone that had met him or her. However, there wasn't a single person that I'd ever met who had claimed to meet him face to face. Yet here he was. I would have scoffed, if I hadn't just seen the Goddess of the Moon drive a man into utter madness with a dismissive backhand pimp slap. Gods help us all, but I was starting to really loose my cynicism. You can only be confronted with the impossible so many times before you simply come to accept it.

From the fearful muttering in the Archive, I may have been the only one who'd been exposed to sufficient amounts of worldview shattering in the last few months. Everyone else save for old man Haiyahi and mother seemed to be terrified of him.

"You serve the resistance of Ba Sing Se," an older voice croaked in outraged recognition. I corrected my previous statement; they were either terrified or pissed. "You stand against my clan."

Ah, it was Yelem Ye'ghan himself. His clan were probably the most visible backers of Fire Nation hegemony and the old bastard was both wealthy and powerful among the People. Too bad the Chooser looked completely unimpressed.

"I go where death goes Ye'ghan," the man said. "And your archers have walked into the place where death walks strongest."

He looked straight at me. "I have a message for you all. Murder will come to Ba Sing Se, for the host of the Old Ones and for the host of Man. I care not. My duty is to bring an end, and I shall. Your time is ending Ye'ghan. Take care you choose your side carefully in the coming days. The order of things has shifted. Gods and monsters stir in their sleep and even Fate itself is twisted tight like a bowstring."

His smile became dark and violet light erupted from his gloved hands. "I haven't felt this way since the Avatar found me the first time. It will be... glorious. I come to warn you; if you value your life, avoid the City of Earth. Do not hunt the Incarna. He will come to us in due time. We have been patient all these years. A few weeks mean nothing."

Turning on his heel, the odd looking Gel Hassad hopped out of the Archive. The room watched him go in almost comical silence. Haiyahi cleared his throat a long minute after the Chooser was gone. "I believe the Chooser has spoken wisely. Perhaps it is best to leave the Incarna be for the time being. I am quite sure that he is in good health, and among the living, else the Archive would have reverted."

I figured that was fairly sound. I also figured the Moon... Gods that sounded strange- had given him some more information that the old man wasn't telling, and I began to wonder exactly why the Moon had tolerated my accidental presence when she'd broken the mind of the other poor fool.

"So we do nothing while this situation spins out of control?" mother prompted.

"I am following the forty second dao," Haiyahi said with a grin. "I do nothing. Sometimes that is best."

"Perhaps it is best for old fools who have lost perspective," mother spat. She looked as if she'd heard that saying somewhere before, and I mildly wondered who could tick off the power behind the New Ozai government so much. Maybe we should compare techniques. There were an awful lot of murmurs supporting her unusually harsh words.

"Have I then?" Haiyahi asked rhetorically. "Well, perhaps, but you cannot be rid of me so easily for now. By the time you've gotten rid of me, this will have resolved one way or another. It isn't worth your time Miyun. Leave it be."

More grumbles followed this, but no one could really argue with him. He had been the master of the Archive for more years than I'd been alive by a factor of four. He was nearly two hundred years old and only just past the prime of his health, and his mind was as sharp as ever. This would cost him political capital that was certain. However, I wondered what he knew or suspected that caused him to think this waiting game was wise.

"Now if that is all," Haiyahi said. "I must be off. I have appointments in Ba Sing Se that would be most unfortunate for me to miss."

"This conclave was solely about not using the Archive?" Jai Roh asked in confusion. Haiyahi raised an eyebrow.

"Whatever makes you think that I was the one who called this meeting?" he asked in an amused tone.

"But the divine seal!" Ye'ghan interjected. "The serpent brought the news with the divine seal."

"It is true that I have one of the four seals, given to me in trust as it has been passed down the line from one keeper to the next," Haiyahi admitted with a smile. "However, I only have one of the four. I was as surprised as all of you. I thought simply leaving a few warning glyphs would suffice."

"Then who called us here?" mother asked with narrowed eyes.

"The Chooser," I whispered. The attention of the conclave bore down on me at my words. I spoke louder, trying my hardest to sound bored and apathetic to hide my sense of impending doom. "It's obvious. Why else would a bogeyman just show up here? Because he was in the area? Come on."

"I believe young Mai to be correct," Haiyahi said with a small laugh. "It would match my own suspicions. So there you have it. Ba Sing Se will become a deathtrap. Now is there anything else we need to discuss?"

I then realized that Haiyahi used his soothing tone of voice like a weapon. By the time the crowd had registered exactly what he'd said to them, he let out a small sigh and clapped his hands together. The calm tone with which he discussed potential genocide threw them off so much they didn't bother to speak up until it was too late.

"Very well then," he said. "Thus I formally dissolve this conclave. You are free to go."

Stay, a voice whispered in my head. I jerked around, my sense tendrils flying about my head as I tried to narrow down the source, but everyone except Haiyahi seemed to be leaving as quickly as they could. People like my mother had things to do, and the rest were simply too creeped out to want to spend time in the now new and improved stranger Archive. My mother gave me one last look before she disappeared down the tunnels. When all the others were gone, Haiyahi turned to me.

"You will come to Ba Sing Se, will you not?" he asked. I nodded at him.

"Soon my ship will reach the city," I answered quietly. What game are you playing old man?

"Excellent," Haiyahi said. He gave me a very long hard look. "Meet me in the Lotus Garden, a Pai Sho parlor in the middle ring. I fear we may have much to discuss by the time you arrive."

Then he simply faded away, leaving me alone with the polychrome silver ball and the forest of mismatched pillars that had once been a lake and sloping cavern. I turned and walked away. Fine, if they want to play games, I can play games too. I flexed my fist. Hell was coming to Ba Sing Se; and now I was fairly certain that it wasn't just coming with the Fire Nation. Something was waiting for us there, and no matter what it was, I had to be ready.

I snapped awake to see Zuko sitting in a chair not far from my bunk. He had a distant look in his eyes as he stared out of the nearby porthole, but he looked directly at me when I sat up.

"What is it?" I asked. He shook his head with a smirk.

"You ever wonder if you sometimes see something that shouldn't be there?" he asked. I blinked. I wondered where he was going with this.

"Sometimes," I allowed. He closed his eyes.

"Have you ever seen someone who seemed to be in more than one place at once?"

"What?" I asked. I was winning the intelligence award for the day at this rate; and he was winning the cryptic one. Talk about a reversal.

"Back in Ba Sing Se, the first time," he said in a casual tone. "I had a nightmare when I was sick, very sick. There was something that I had to do, a choice I had to make. It was very difficult, and I didn't really understand it then. I'm not sure I understand it now."

I listened with rapt attention as my fists balled in my silk sheets. He continued on, looking away from me. "When I woke up from that dream... I guess I started noticing things I hadn't before. Little flashes out of the corner of my eye. Uncle said that sometimes when someone gets stressed out too much or sees something they shouldn't, they learn to see what others won't. Things like spirits."

Fuck.

"Earlier today I felt that... thing that was moving around. I've felt itchy ever since we started sailing over the Center Sea. I also thought it was very strange when I suddenly saw someone who looked almost like you running down the hallway," he said, looking back at me. Thank Agni he wasn't angry, but he did look concerned. "Of course when I checked, you were still here. I don't want to sound crazy, but you didn't get up or anything did you?"

I wanted to lie, gods I did, but I couldn't. It was like that part of my brain was on vacation. I shook my head numbly. Zuko let out a deep breath. "I just hope I'm not going crazy."

"I think I would have noticed," I said dryly, trying to change the subject.

"This felt pretty crazy," Zuko commented.

"This is nothing," I responded with a small smile. "I have an uncle who collects small plush toys. You know, the one who runs the prison? He has to be crazy to surround himself with colors that bright all the time."

Zuko gave a snorting laugh, and I got out of the bed and wrapped my arms around him from behind. "Maybe you just couldn't get my sexiness out of your mind?"

"I never get your sexiness out of my mind," he replied deadpan. "Trust me, I know the difference. You wear less clothes in my daydreams."

Cute; Zuko couldn't stop undressing me with his mind, even when I wasn't around. How utterly manly of him. "Do I now?"

"I thought you wanted me to be honest?" Zuko asked with an arched eyebrow. I smiled a little.

"Well it does give me stunning insight into how your mind works," I said, putting a finger to my lip. "It has the downside of making you sound like a pig."

"All men are pigs," Zuko said with a dismissive wave. "At least I'm honest."

I let that one go. Sleeping dragons should be left to lie. "Fine then. I will do you a favor and present you with an opportunity to see me with less clothing as a reward. Does that suit you Prince Zuko?"

"I find it acceptable," he said after a moment of serious thought. After that, the afternoon went by with remarkable smoothness. I figured mid afternoon make out sessions would vastly improve the temper and intensity of Fire Nation military commands. Maybe Azula should have tried it more often; she could use a little mellowing.


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Co-Authors Note: I rarely respond to reviewers directly but our friend Bluetiger asked some good questions that deserved an answer.

"There were a few concepts that I had trouble digesting though. I kinda thought that with Aang locked out of the Avatar state, he was effectively separated from the power and knowledge of his past lives, so I sorta struggled with the idea that Yasuragi could assert control over Aang in the way that she did."

Answer: We would have thought so too, except that Roku talks to him very directly in the Third Season episode "Avatar and the Firelord". Hence she could manifest but was only limited to Aang and not able to use the full might of the Avatar State.

"The way I had read the previous chapters, I had assumed that the Gel Hassad were the opposites of the benders, so I would have thought that the presence of their bloodline in a benders ancestry, would have weakened them, rather than making them stronger."

Answer: Ah... well ancestry is funny. Also Toph is much like the Avatar in that she draws her power from something beyond the scope of normal benders. To make a reference that you might get, they are much like a Solar Exalted compared to a Dragon Blooded. In less specific terms, Toph has an additional power source given to her by the Gods. She is another level of entity entirely. Just like Katara is and Giyatsu was. They're super people. The Gods really do love them.

"Lastly, if Yasuragi has been busy executing every Incarna that comes along, I guess she got lucky that its been over 200 years since the last one came along, what with Aang spending half that time frozen an iceberg, lol."

Answer: The Incara Spirit is not quite the same as the Avatar Spirit. For one thing the Incarna Spirit has a consciousness all its own, it can think and plan to some degreee. However it isn't perfect. Lying low the way it did was a defense mechanism. However, it is subject to a degree of fateful manipulation... and as you'll see later It resents this a little.

-Richard.

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(Knight: See, we are everywhere. The top of the page, the bottom of the page, behind you right now.)

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