((Sorry for the delay, been extremely busy lately! Not had a ton of time to write this but i'll definitely make time for the final chapters, which will be coming soon!))

Some Good News:

The group had been walking for a whole day before they came across another river. Running out of water had been their main worry over the last twenty-four hours but that was now solved. The remaining issues of Vehrin and the Red Lotus, however, hung heavy over their heads.

Jinora had been unable to locate the spirit. Her astral projection had apparently been almost perfectly accurate in the past and her disappointment was mixed deep with her frustration. Her temper was close to boiling point but both Jahn and Anik were less stressed. Admittedly, Jahn felt the pressure and did not want to fail, lest the world be thrown into chaos. He was taking every problem as it arose, dwelling on the things he could change, not that which he couldn't. The one thing he refused to deal with, however, was his mother's death.

Anik was loving it. He'd met two new friends who were deep in trouble. What better way to travel than solving a world-ending problem with the Avatar? Sure, having no water had sucked for the waterbender, but now they'd come across the river, they were alright again. The mood could be lighter but chasing an evil spirit wasn't exactly all fun and games, he guessed. Although he was under the nagging impression that something had happened before all this.

"So what happened before all this?" he asked bluntly with a smile on his face.

Jinora tensed slightly, looking sideways at Jahn.

The Avatar sighed. "My mother was killed by a group called the Red Lotus. They've taken over Republic City and captured Jinora's family." Saying out loud was even more painful than thinking about it over and over in his mind.

Anik gasped slightly. "The Red Lotus? Are you sure it was them?"

Jahn looked at the waterbender incredulously. "Erm, hello? Nothing about my mother? Seriously?"

"Yeah, bit cold there Anik," quipped Jinora.

Anik frowned. "I'm sorry to hear about that but if it was truly the Red Lotus, then I'm afraid you don't have much of a chance at stopping them. They number into the hundreds now."

The Avatar's eyes narrowed. Fearing the worst, he braced himself in case he needed to attack the waterbender. "And how would you know that?" he asked cautiously.

"My…ex-partner's sister joined the Red Lotus a few years ago. She had some big plans that he didn't agree with and so she abandoned the family. Not that it was a huge loss; she'd lived with her husband in the Fire Nation for years before that. Once they separated, she came back to the Northern Water Tribe and tried to radicalise us all. She took a number of waterbenders with her when she left and even a few airbenders that were stationed there. "

"That explains why some of the Red Lotus could airbend then. I'm ashamed that some of my nation became involved with that group," Jinora said sadly. Jahn put his arm around her and gave her a quick squeeze of encouragement, smiling sympathetically.

Anik looked upset. "I'm just sad she lost her way. She was always quite a fiery young woman growing up; her mother was a firebender but her father was from the Tribe."

Jahn stooped to fill up his waterskin from the river. "That's a shame. Still, they've been a powerful force ever since Avatar Aang. Korra had a lot of difficulty with them when she was alive."

Jinora sniffed. "You don't have to tell me. I was there to help stop Zaheer, remember?"

It was a strange thing to recount what was history to Jahn but Jinora was actually apart of those events. He had to shake himself to remember that Korra's time as the Avatar had not actually been that long ago at all.

Anik shook his head. "Well, one problem at a time. We need to stop this spirit first and then kick the Red Lotus outta Republic City after, right?" he said, perking up slightly.

Jahn smiled for the first time in a while. "Yeah. One potentially world-ending disaster at a time. All in a day's work for the Avatar….apparently," he chuckled ruefully. Standing, he took a long drink and sighed happily. Spirit water was the best.

"Hey! Don't drink from my river!"

Looking around, the group noticed a small, frog-like spirit submerged in the water. Shaking a webbed foot angrily, it did not move but continued to glower at them from the river.

"Oh, sorry! We've already got some water now anyway so we'll just be on our way…" Jahn said, backing away slowly, a slight grin on his face. He was realising that, as the Avatar, he could get away with quite a lot of spirit mischief.

Not this time. The frog-spirit hopped from the river and landed in front of him. It inhaled and inflated itself, growing larger and larger until it was fully the size of Jahn. "Just because you're the Avatar doesn't mean you can get away with breaking the rules!" it said in an extremely high pitched, squeaky voice. As it spoke, it began to deflate and Anik began to laugh.

The spirit turned and hopped angrily towards him. "Just three humans breaking the rules. Unless you say otherwise! Do you have a spirit to vouch for you?" it said, adopting a lawyer-like persona.

The ground began to shake and a few yards away, it burst upwards as the lion-turtle surfaced. Shaking the earth from itself, it turned its baleful eyes on the frog-spirit, which rapidly deflated and backed away slowly. "Ah, Ancient One. I-uh, was looking after your humans. Don't eat me!" it squeaked and leapt back into the river.

Still laughing, Anik went to embrace the lion-turtle. "Whiri! Where've you been buddy?"

The lion-turtle looked slightly disgruntled as Anik hugged its huge shell but turned to look at Jahn. "Avatar," it said respectfully.

Jahn was equally awed. The other two had mentioned the creature before but this was the first time he had seen it with his own eyes. "Ancient One," he replied, bowing.

"Met. Spirit. South," it mumbled. It had practised the human words on the return journey but had not managed much practice; the humans had not actually been too far from the Soul Shaper's cave.

Jahn's eyes widened. Looking at Anik and Jinora, he was surprised when they both shrugged, both looking equally as shocked as he was.

"Help. Defeat. Vehrin," the lion-turtle said finally. Its eyes were locked on Jahn's and made him feel tiny. They were vast and sincere and Jahn then knew that it was aware of a way to help him.

"South? Can you lead the way?" he asked the lion-turtle. With the creature guiding the way, no spirit would bother them and they would quickly find their destination, what with the lion-turtle's knowledge and all of their bending covering all four elements.

The lion-turtle nodded. Digging downwards, it quickly disappeared within the earth and there was no sign of it.

"Well that's helpful Whiri! Can't see you!" Anik said loudly, throwing his hands in the air dramatically.

Jinora patted Jahn on the shoulder. "Use your earthbending to feel where it is. Seismic sense. Toph was brilliant at it when she was around."

Jahn nodded and slammed a foot into the grass. Sending waves through the earth, he detected the lion-turtle burrowing away. Smiling, he pointed in the direction and the three set off after the ancient animal.

"Down there? Really?" Anik asked, looking uneasy. Peering over the edge of the cliff, he looked as though he was about to be thoroughly ill.

"Scared of heights?" Jinora said smugly. She had already flown down to confirm the existence of a small cave at the foot of the cliff and had only just landed.

Jahn shrugged. "The lion-turtle has gone further down, I can only just feel it. There's definitely a large cave down there. Reckon we should go for it?"

"Not if I have to go over that cliff," Anik said, shaking his head.

Jahn winked at Jinora, who smiled. Anik looked between them, panic on his face. "Oh no. No. Ypu're not flying me down, you're not—" he protested.

Jahn kicked the ground hard and the earth around them plummeted downwards. Continuing to pound the earth with the sole of his foot, Jahn also bent the earth above them so that it did not collapse on them and bury them alive. It was worth the effort just for Anik's reaction; screaming all the while, his usual fabulous persona dropped to reveal a rather hilarious interior.

They burst through into the cave and fell towards the floor. Jahn waited for the right moment and then stomped on one side of the rocky slab they were falling on. It span sideways and Jahn pushed off, grabbing Anik as he did so. They shot sideways and landed on a smoothed portion of the cave, sliding heavily until the came to a stop. Standing, Jahn laughed at how smoothly that had gone, despite almost falling to their deaths. Anik remained curled in a ball, eyes wide.

"Well that was fairly pointless. Could have taken the front door like I did," Jinora said with a raised eyebrow. She pointed behind her, where a bright light illuminated the cave entrance.

The lion-turtle watched them all with careful eyes. It stood in a narrower section of the cave towards the back, blocking it from view. Once they approached, it moved towards them, revealing the spirit that had been hiding behind the creature.

Floating forward, the Soul Shaper inclined its head. "Greetings to you again, Avatar. You come seeking my help. I am the Soul Shaper and I have the power that you need to defeat Vehrin."

There was a silence.

"Great. Some good news for once," Anik said shakily.