Chapter 7: The Spirit World
Aang stood alone at the top of a tall, circular pillar, surrounded by clouds. The wind rustled his clothing and spun the clouds in slow-moving circles, but there was no other sound, no sign of and birds, bison, lemurs, or other living creatures. Holding his staff tightly, Aang stepped to the edge of the pillar and looked down; even where there were gaps in the clouds, he couldn't see any sign of land- just empty sky, gold rather than blue, stretching on forever.
"Where am I?" The young airbender called. "Is anybody there?"
Suddenly the clouds shifted and a figure emerged from them – a human figure in silhouette who seemed to be made entirely from mist, featureless save for its eyes, which were a brightly glowing blue. Aang thought that the figure's outline looked female, but it was so blurry it was hard to tell.
"Are you the Avatar?" the figure asked – yes, definitely a girl's voice. "Have you returned at last?"
"I'm the Avatar," Aang said. "Who're you? Are you one of my past lives?"
The figure raised her misty hands to her face and laughed quietly. "No," she said. "Not me. But maybe I'm someone who can help you."
"What do you mean?" Aang asked – and then he noticed that the world around him seemed to be shivering and breaking apart – even his own hands, as he held them in front of himself. The silhouette of the girl, however, remained constant. "What's happening?"
"You're dreaming," she said. "And now you're waking up. We can't talk much longer. The Winter Solstice is coming. As it approaches, the mortal and spirit worlds will come closer together. Then we can talk more easily."
"All right!" Aang called as the whole dreamscape began to collapse completely. "I'm Aang. What's your name?"
If the spirit girl had an answer, the Avatar didn't hear it.
/
Aang sat up suddenly and gasped. Glancing around the campsite, he saw Katara and Sokka in their sleeping bags, with Appa curled up like a small hill beside them. He heaved a sigh of relief and turned to see Momo, who had been sleeping next to him and now sat upright, a confused expression on the lemur's almost-human face.
"It's all right, Momo," Aang said, stroking his pet's long, furry ears. "Just a dream." Stretching, the airbender curled up again and closed his eyes. "Yeah… just a dream."
/
Zuko darted backwards as the jet of fire shot past his face, so close that he could feel the heat of it. Taking a deep breath, he lunged forward and shot out a fist, a fireball shooting from it and hurling directly towards his opponent, who merely laughed and deflected it with one hand. Gritting his teeth, the Fire Nation prince lunged forward, dodging his opponent's blasts as he tried to get close enough to bring his greater size and strength into play. Just before he reached her, however, she dropped to the ground and kicked out sharply against the sand so that an arc of it flew into the air and struck Zuko directly in the eyes. He fell to one knee, cursing and trying to rub the grit from his face, when he felt a hand, not on fire but burning hotter than human flesh normally did nonetheless, rest on the back of his neck.
"I win, Zuzu," Azula said lightly. "Though I'll admit, it wasn't a complete waste as a workout."
"Very funny," Zuko spat, clearing out his eyes and pulling himself to his feet. Not wanting to look at his sister's pleased smirk longer than he had to, he stalked a few feet from her and regarded the beach where they'd stopped to practice – the ship was anchored as close to shore as it safely could be, and their soldiers gathered further down on the beach, some of them practicing, others watching. Zuko's scowl grew when he saw that several of them were exchanging money - apparently, they'd been betting.
"Why did you do that, anyway?" Zuko finally demanded of Azula. "We were supposed to be practicing our firebending, not dirty fighting!"
Azula shrugged. "I saw an advantage and I took it. Sometimes, in order to win, one has to think creatively, not merely charge in blindly swinging fists and throwing fire. I'd have thought Uncle or Cousin Lu Ten would have drummed that into you by now."
"There's a proper way to do things, and using dirty tricks in a firebending duel isn't one of them!" Zuko snapped.
"Oh? Were we having an Agni Kai and nobody told me? In a real fight, do you honestly think that some earthbender or Water Tribe warrior is going to give a bent copper piece about your old-fashioned Fire Nation honor? We're fighting a war, Zuko, and if you don't accept that then you're going to die, and if you come crying to me for help, I'm not going to give it."
If they were any other pair of siblings, Zuko thought to himself as he fumed, that would have been an empty taunt. Unfortunately, he could imagine Azula all too well leaving him to a grim fate she thought he deserved, just to teach him a lesson. She'd probably have a smile on her face all the while, at that.
"Well, if you're so clever, then can you explain why we haven't captured the Avatar yet instead of standing here on some beach in the Earth Kingdom arguing with each other!" Zuko finally managed to say.
Azula had turned away and walked some distance from him and was now being served tea by one of the small group of female soldiers she'd insisted on bringing along as her personal guards and attendants. The cup was half-way to her mouth when she heard Zuko's words; she stopped cold, shoved it back into the woman's hand with barely a backward glance, and spun to face her brother.
"I am tired," she hissed, "of your complaining and your incompetence, and your lack of a proper firebender's attitude holding me and this mission back. Keep practicing here for the rest of the night if you want – it's not as if it will do you any good!" The princess spun on her heel and stalked out of the beach, towards where the sand gave way to forest.
"Where do you think you're going?" Zuko demanded angrily.
"To seek the company of the one intelligent person on this expedition!" Azula shouted back. "Myself!" Moments later, she was gone.
Zuko put his head in his hands and sighed. "This is going to be a very long day."
/
"Hey, what's that?"
Katara and Sokka stuck their heads over the sides of Appa's saddle to get a better look in the direction Aang was pointing. "I'm not sure what you're talking about," Katara said, "but wait… oh."
"I see it too," Sokka said. "Looks like war damage – take us down!"
Appa swung lower over the forest, vast tracks of which were interrupted by thick strips of scorched earth. In other places, though, the trees and other plants looked dead with no visible cause. "Something's wrong here, Aang," Sokka said. "Very wrong. Some of this damage looks like it was probably the Fire Nation – those areas of burned trees look too ordered to be natural. But a lot of the trees don't look burned at all, but they're still dead."
"Could it be disease?" Katara asked. "There could be something around here that's making the trees sick."
"That doesn't explain why the Fire Nation tried to burn it out, though," Sokka said, scratching his chin. "At the moment, all of my formidable mystery solving ability is telling me that I am stumped."
"The damage is getting thicker as we fly on," Aang said. "Maybe, when we get to the center of this, we can figure out what's happening."
They flew on in silence for several more minutes, as the devastation below them became more intense – all burn scars now, not dead trees. Finally, an empty clearing came into sight that had a large metal structure in the middle; a wall built around a great pit in the earth, with a tall tower on one side. A Fire Nation insignia decorated one side of the tower, but it was damaged somehow – like something had raked huge claws across it. Aang gulped at the sight, more for the damage than the building, which looked like it had been abandoned for some time.
"I think it's some kind of mine," Sokka said. "Wonder what the Fire Nation was digging up here?"
"I'm more worried about why they left – and what did that," Katara said, pointing at the claw marks.
"Maybe we can figure it out," Aang said as he pulled on the reins to guide Appa in for a landing.
"Wait, we're actually going to land next to the creepy abandoned mine that got attacked by something so nasty even the Fire Nation bailed?" Sokka demanded. "Look, I like mysteries as much as the next guy, but I have my limits."
"I think this is important," Aang said. "Something tells me it's tied to my being the Avatar somehow. Besides, I'm curious." As he finished speaking, Appa landed beside the mine – albeit at a fairly healthy distance, and with no indication of wanting to go closer even as the three humans dismounted and approached.
There was a large metal door at the base of the tower, but it had been broken off and hurled to one side. Aang stepped inside slowly, staff held out in front of him, with Sokka and Katara close behind – the former with his boomerang in one hand and a knife in the other, the latter with water wrapped around her hand, ready to begin a healing. Momo perched on Aang's shoulder, unusually subdued.
"Hello!" Aang called to the empty metal room. "Anyone home?"
"Me!"
Aang, Sokka, and Katara screamed and grabbed hold of each other as the speaker stepped out of the shadows, then let out a sigh of relief when they saw him. He was an old man, bald but white-bearded and dressed in red rags that might have once been a Fire Nation uniform. He waved and gave a toothless smile when he saw them.
"Guests!" the old man said. "Haven't had any for so long! Shall I put on tea for everyone? Maybe make some snacks? I love snacks!"
"No tea, please," Sokka said in a small voice, still breathing heavily. "We were just trying to figure out what happened to this place."
"Oh, want to know that, do you?" the old man asked. "Well, it's a strange story, is what it is. Still don't know what to make of it. The Fire Nation came here oh, about three years ago and set up this mine - apparently the whole area is rich in ore, but don't tell me how they knew that. I just dig the stuff up; I don't think hard about it. Anyway, I was one of the miners here, and things ran pretty smooth for a year. That's when the trouble started."
A haunted expression crossed the old man's face. "We dug too greedily, too deep. Something was sleeping deep underground, something old, something strong. We woke it up and one night it came raring up out of that hole and into the camp, making an awful noise and attacking anyone in sight. I never got a good look at it, but I'd bet a year's pay it was some kind of spirit. Anyway, the garrison fought back for weeks, making the biggest flames that you've ever seen, burning out big chunks of the woods, but the thing itself wouldn't catch alight, and it shot this green light from its eyes that withered anything it hit – trees, animals, people. Finally, the garrison gave up and ran off, took most of the miners with 'em."
"And why are you still here, exactly?" Sokka asked. "I mean, what with the giant spirit monster at the bottom of the pit and all?"
The old man pulled on his collar nervously. "Well, y'see, I might have been hiding in a cupboard while all this was going on, and when I came out, everyone was gone! If I go back to the Fire Nation, they'll take me for a coward and a deserter for sure!" He leaned in close. "And between you and me, between a giant monster and whatever Prince Ozai would do to me, I'll take my chances with the monster!"
"So, is the monster still there?" Aang asked.
"Far as I can tell," the old man said. "Haven't seen it since the garrison pulled out. I don't bother it and it don't bother me, but sometimes at night there's weird sounds and flashes of light down in the pit. Don't know what it's doing, don't want to."
"Can we have a minute?" Sokka asked, and then pulled Aang and Katara aside. "All right," he said, "we know what's going on here now, and I think it's a little over our pay grade. I say we get out of here, drop the oldtimer off at a nearby village if he wants to go, and leave this place behind us."
"I don't know," Aang said. "This situation just feels wrong to me. There's some sort of spirit that's been causing this, and the monks taught me that the Avatar is the bridge between the mortal and spirit worlds. I think I'm supposed to be here, now."
"Besides," Katara put in, "the winter solstice is coming up. I don't know if you know, but Master Sisiko once told me that on the solstices, the mortal and spirit worlds overlap with each other. If that spirit is getting ready to do something, I bet that's when it'll do it."
"Looks like you're outvoted again, Sokka," Aang said.
"Fine, fine," the young warrior said. "But let's not make this into a habit, okay?"
/
Azula lay on a large tree limb more than ten feet off the ground, with her back against the trunk and her eyes staring up at the canopy above her, and contemplated her existence.
This mission, secret though it might be for now, was an honor – she knew that deeply. That his children had captured the Avatar – and Azula had no doubt that they would eventually succeed, no matter what difficulties they encountered in the short-term – would bring tremendous honor and prestige to her father and his bloodline, enough to allow him to finally step out of his brother's shadow. After that, who could say how far his ambition might take him, and by extension, their immediate family? After all, it was not unknown for the throne of the Fire Lord to change hands under questionable circumstances…
Unfortunately, there was a problem that stood scowling between Azula and her pleasant fantasies, and that problem was her brother Zuko. He was a solid firebender, she would admit to herself, and certainly an excellent swordsman, but he was a blunt instrument and was far too focused on his outdated notions of morality and honor above simply and expediently getting things done. He had been a dead hawk hanging around Azula's neck since they were children, and the princess knew that he was holding the expedition back now.
Birth order, she decided. That's what her problem came down to. Everyone knew she was Father's favorite, but Zuko was still two years older than her, and that, unfortunately, was a fact that neither of them could ignore. For a brief moment she entertained the idea of what a Zuko who was younger than her might be like – a Zuko who admired his older sister and was willing to follow her lead. That Zuko, Azula thought to herself with a small smile, would almost be tolerable. Certainly he'd be more tolerable than the one she currently had to deal with, who apparently thought that his quaint ideas were actually relevant and important.
Something rustled in the forest below her, snapping Azula out of her reflections. Quickly, she leapt to her feet and pressed her body against the tree-trunk while searching for the source of the sound. There… it looked like a tall but muscular man in ragged clothing pushing his way through the underbrush. He paused under a tree not far from the one in which Azula perched, and leaned back against it. A few moments later, several more similar figures, men and women both, arrived as well – slightly over a half-dozen in all, assuming Azula could see everyone from her position.
"Were any of you followed?" the first man asked.
"No," a woman replied. "And we were successful. We got what you sent us for, and nobody saw us." She held up a long scroll, and Azula's eyes widened when she saw it was sealed with a Fire Nation insignia.
The leader took the scroll and grinned. "Excellent work, Jing," he said. "With these Fire Nation plans, we'll be able to carry out our raids right under the garrison's nose. They'll soon wish they'd never set foot in our Kingdom."
Azula's mind spun. Earth Kingdom guerillas, clearly, and they were planning to inflict serious damage on the local garrison – something they now seemingly had the means to do. The princess scowled. People called her cold – heartless, even – and she supposed she was, but if there was one thing she considered herself devoted to, it was her Nation. Could she stand by and allow these rebels to accomplish their plans? Certainly not.
The leader slipped the scroll into a pouch that hung over his shoulder, and then turned to leave, the others following behind him. Azula's scowl deepened – she wasn't going to have time to return to the ship and get reinforcements, and certainly not to find this garrison they were talking about. The rebels would be back in their hideout long before she returned. It looked like she was on her own.
Well, she could still handle that. Stepping out as far onto the limb as she could without breaking it, Azula drew a deep breath and began to pull her hands through a familiar kata. Sparks trailed from her fingertips, and then she levelled her fingers sharply and released the charge. A bolt of lightning lanced from her fingers and struck the ground immediately in front of the lead rebel, exploding with enough force to send him and his closest companions flying.
"Fools!" Azula shouted with her hands around her mouth. "The Fire Nation has eyes and ears everywhere. Your plans will never succeed!" Once she was certain she had their attention, she turned and leaped into another tree, as if she were fleeing.
"A spy!" the lead guerilla shouted as he clambered to his feet. "After her!"
The sound of the rebel band crashing through the forest behind her reached Azula's ears, and she smiled as she leaped to another branch. Just as planned.
/
The sun slipped down to the horizon as Aang, Katara, and Sokka stood inside the walled Fire Nation compound, on the edge of the great pit that was the abandoned mine. The crumbling ruins of what must have been mining equipment lined the edges, but apart from that and the metal walls themselves there was hardly a trace of prior human habitation. The old miner was nowhere to be seen.
"All right, Aang," the Avatar said to himself, "you can do this." He stepped to the edge of the pit and looked down into its depths. "Spirit!" he called. "I'm the Avatar, the bridge between our worlds. Show yourself, and let's talk this out!" He waited several moments, but nothing responded.
"I don't think it's coming, Aang," Sokka said, slipping his boomerang back into its holder. "Probably overslept. Now, you've done your part as the Avatar and let's get out of here." He turned and began heading back towards the tower.
At that moment, the sun passed the horizon, and a terrible roar echoed up from the pit.
"Sokka," Katara said, stumbling back, "I don't think that sounds like something that's sleeping!"
Aang stared down into the mine in horrified fascination, unable to look away as a green light built in its depths – and then the spirit monster emerged. The creature somewhat resembled a serpent, though it was far more huge than any snake that the airbender had ever seen, and it had legs – seemingly dozens of them, all along its body. Its head was shaped like a crocodile's head, though it had rows of eyes, three along each side of its face. Its flesh was black, but wasn't solid, more like constantly shifting shadows, and its eyes burned with the terrible green light. When it reached the lip of the pit, it perched for a moment and then threw back its head and roared to the night, the same glow pouring from its throat.
"Help," Sokka said in a small voice, drawing his boomerang again and holding it up, though it looked worse than useless against this foe. From the building behind them came a high-pitched scream as the old miner fled, having apparently gotten one good look at this creature too many and deciding to take his chances elsewhere after all.
"Spirit!" Aang called, trying to keep his voice from shaking. "I'm glad you came. Why did you attack the mine? What do you have against people? Maybe we can help you!"
The spirit turned its head in his direction and roared again. Its eyes glowed brighter and then bolts of green lightning burst from them; Aang dodged aside, but where they struck they left scorched furrows in the earth. Whatever this thing was or wanted, it looked like what it didn't want was to talk.
Grabbing his staff, Aang began to spin it in front of him, creating a small tornado of wind that slammed into the spirit's face. It reared its head back, annoyed, but if there was any actual damage that the attack did, the creature showed no sign. Rearing back, it raised its two front limbs and struck out with them, swiping down towards the Avatar with claws extended. Aang dodged each blow, but noted nervously that he was being backed closer and closer to the wall. He didn't want to try flying against something big enough to pluck him out of the air, and he certainly didn't want to call Appa to face this thing, but it looked like he wasn't going to have much of a choice before long.
Suddenly the spirit reared, and over its side Aang saw Katara bending water into small projectiles that slammed into its side, while Sokka let his boomerang fly, knocking against its hindquarters. "Over here, you big snake!" the waterbender called.
The spirit turned to face them, blasting more bolts from its eyes. The Water Tribe siblings were quick, but they weren't airbenders; though they managed to dodge, they didn't do so in time to escape the force of the blasts, which knocked them to the ground. The spirit bent over them, and Aang felt panic build inside of him – he saw what had happened to the trees those blasts must have hit, and he knew that if he didn't do something now, his friends would share their fate.
The green light built in the spirit's eyes once more, but before it could unleash its blasts Aang flipped over its body and landed in front of it, between the monster and Sokka and Katara, his staff pointed at its face. "I'm the one who called to you!" he said. "It's me you want, not them!"
The spirit seemed to regard him for a moment, and Aang got the sense of some terrible, alien intelligence behind its green eyes. It leaned over him and sniffed loudly, and then suddenly drew back. It reared its head to the sky and then spoke in a voice far too deep and vast to have ever come from a human throat. It said a single word that Aang didn't know, and then it turned and vanished back into the pit as suddenly as it had come.
"Can we not do that again, please?" Sokka said once it was gone. Momo emerged from where he'd been hiding in the tower and landed on the young warrior's shoulder, chattering nervously.
"I'm with him," Katara said. "My waterbending annoyed it, but didn't seem to hurt it at all, and I don't think your airbending was much better."
"I know," Aang said in a weary voice. "I felt powerless against that thing, but we can't just leave it here. I saw its eyes before it left - it was thinking. Whatever that spirit is, it's not some animal – it can plan, and it's already done so much damage."
"It can talk, too," Sokka pointed out.
"Wish we could have understood what it said," Katara added. "I wonder what a 'Raava' is. Might be important."
"It probably is," Aang agreed, "but unless that thing comes back, we'll probably never know."
"Maybe I can help you," a feminine voice suddenly said. Aang sat up straight and turned towards its source, eyes widening as he recognized the silhouetted figure.
"Hey!" he said. "You were in my dream last night! You're real!"
"I am," the spirit girl said, "and if you want to solve the problem of this spirit, I might be able to give you some advice."
/
When night fell and Azula still hadn't returned, Zuko paced back and forth on the deck of the warship, occasionally pausing to look inland. "This isn't right," he finally said. "She should have been back by now. I can't imagine Azula wasting a whole afternoon just to pout. Something else must be going on."
"What are you going to do, sir?" a soldier who stood nearby asked.
Zuko sighed and made up his mind. "She could be in trouble. I'm going after her. Saddle a rhino."
The soldier bowed and moved to carry out his prince's orders, but as he did so he muttered something under his breath that sounded like "but she wouldn't do the same for you."
Zuko grabbed the man's shoulder and spun him around. "This isn't about her, or my feelings," he said. "Whatever else Azula is, she's still my sister, and I'm not leaving her if she might be in danger. Now I'll kindly pretend I didn't hear you say that if you go and do as I command."
"Yes, sir!" the soldier said, quickly turning and hurrying away. A short time later, Prince Zuko descended from the ship's ramp onto the beach, mounted on a war rhino with his swords sheathed at his side, as he headed out to determine exactly what – or who – was keeping his sister.
/
"What do you mean, give me advice?" Aang asked. "Who are you, anyway?"
"Umm, Aang?" Sokka said, "why are you talking to the empty air? It's really creeping me out."
"I'm not talking to empty air, I'm talking to the person who just showed up, who was in my dream last night!" the Avatar said, gesturing towards the newcomer. "See! She's right here."
The Water Tribe siblings merely stared blankly.
"They can't see me," the spirit girl said sadly. "Most people can't, when I'm like this. You can see me because you're the Avatar, and I've found that very powerful benders and other spiritually attuned people can, but to most people I might as well be empty air. Maybe I can convince them, though." She suddenly dissolved into a formless cloud of mist and floated behind Katara. Reforming back into humanoid shape, she reached out one hand and lightly pulled on one of her hair loops, while running the fingers of her other hand along the back of Sokka's neck. Both siblings flinched, and Sokka's eyes went wide.
"I felt something!" he said. "Katara, did you feel something too?"
"I more than felt it!" she replied, grabbing her hair loops protectively. "All right, Aang, I'm convinced that someone's there. How do we know we can trust her?"
"Well, she seems nice," Aang said, shrugging. "Who are you, anyway? What's your name?"
"Names have power, especially in the Spirit World," the girl said. "I prefer not to give mine away when I'm like this, but you can call me the Spirit Walker. I've travelled far from my people looking for hope in this war, and I finally think I've found it – the Avatar has returned."
"Your people?" Aang asked. "Are you a spirit?"
The Spirit Walker laughed quietly. "Not exactly," she said. "You might say I'm half spirit, though that probably gives you ideas that aren't really true. I do have a connection to a certain spirit, and have ever since I was very small. After Ba Sing Se fell, I began to experiment with what that connection let me do. We were afraid that if we didn't do everything in our power, the Fire Nation would soon swallow the whole world.
"I've learned a lot about the spirits and the Spirit World these past few years, and that's why I think I can help you. I don't think that the spirit in the mine is evil –he's just angry and confused, and he's lashing out at any human who comes too close. I think that the two of us can make him listen and convince him that what he's doing is wrong."
"Really?" Aang asked. "That would be great. What would we have to do?"
The Spirit Walker fixed him with her glowing blue eyes. "I'm afraid that we can't get through to him while he's attacking. We have to talk to him on his own ground. We'd have to go into the mine."
The Avatar's face fell. "I was afraid of that."
/
"Are you sure you want to do this?" Katara asked Aang as he stood on the edge of the mine with his glider unfolded. "I mean, I'm all for helping people, but I've got a very weird feeling about you actually going down there – especially on the advice of someone I can't even see."
"I think this is what I need to be doing, Katara," Aang told her, and then he grinned. "Besides, I'll have my glider – if the spirit gets angry again, I bet I can fly out of their faster than he can climb."
"Well, if you say so," Katara said. "In any case, I may not be able to climb down there with you, but trust me, I'll be waiting right here on the edge of anything happens."
"Thanks, Katara – I appreciate it a lot." Aang turned to the Spirit Walker, who stood silently nearby. "Are you ready?"
"I am," she said. Aang shot her a smile and then grabbed his glider and dove into the pit; moments later, the Spirit Walker followed him, floating gently like a feather down into the darkness. Her glowing eyes were soon the only clear light, and after what felt like an eternity Aang saw the bottom of the shaft. He folded his glider and made a light, airbending-assisted landing. The Spirit Walker drifted to the ground beside him.
"All right, then," Aang said. "Oh, spirit? Are you down here?"
For a long moment, there was silence, and then the spirit's six green eyes opened directly in front of Aang's face. The Avatar shouted in surprise and stumbled backwards. The spirit regarded its two visitors for a long moment with that inscrutable, glowing gaze, and then it spoke.
"Raava," it said, "I do not know why you have cloaked yourself in human flesh or why you have brought a companion with you, but know that you are not welcome here." It opened its mouth wide, revealing rows of jagged fangs and a throat that seemed filled with green fire. "Leave now, or I will devour you where you stand."
/
Azula mentally thanked the fact that one of her childhood friends had been a budding acrobat as she landed on another tree branch, pausing only long enough to shoot a fireblast at her pursuers before leaping again. She'd been leading them on this merry chase for what felt like hours, and night had fallen; every so often she'd pause either to attack or offer a taunt, and had managed to bring down two of the guerillas with well-timed attacks. That still left her five to deal with; hopefully she'd be able to whittle their numbers down enough soon to attack them head on and end this for good.
Pressing herself against the trunk of the most recent tree, Azula saw one man who had stepped out some distance from the others and was now standing almost directly beneath her. Smiling coldly, she charged another lightning bolt and released it at him; it struck the man directly in the chest and sent him sprawling to the ground, where his body jerked for a moment and then lay still. Satisfied with her work, the princess looked towards her other pursuers – there were two of them, a man and a woman, but where were the other two? There should be four left…
Suddenly the ground rumbled beneath her and then the tree gave a great heave as it was wrenched from the earth. Azula gave a surprised shout and leapt from it, bending jets of flame from her hands and feet to slow her descent. When she landed, she quickly leaped to her feet and held out both hands towards her attackers. She was backed up against the fallen tree, with the two guerillas she'd seen as well as the two she'd missed blocking her escape route. One of those latter two had to be an earthbender – possibly both – and one of them, she realized, was the leader she'd seen earlier.
"Well," he said, "you've run us a good chase, miss, and it looks like some of my soldiers are going to need a healer to pull through what you did to them, if they make it at all. You've got skills – I'll give you that. But it's over. You're too dangerous to live, and it's four against one. You've got nowhere to go."
"Maybe I'll manage to take a few of you with me anyway!" Azula snapped, taking a deep breath and then launching a thin bolt of concentrated flames at the leader, who quickly stumbled back and bent a pillar of earth in front of him to catch it. Scowling, he centered his stance and raised one hand, and Azula realized he was going to launch that pillar directly at her. She made a move to spring – and suddenly the roar of a komodo rhino echoed through the forest.
"Get away from her!" a human voice called, and then the beast and its rider came charging into view, scattering the four guerillas. Zuko sat on its back, one hand on the reins, the other raised to bend.
Azula didn't know what her brother was doing here, but for the moment, she'd take what she could get. "Looks like it's not four on one anymore," she called to her adversaries. "Still like your odds?"
"Take them both!" the leader shouted, but before any of the guerillas could react the rhino lunched forward, head-butting one of them and sending the man flying. The one woman, also apparently an earthbender, kicked a good-sized rock free from the ground and launched it at Azula, while the other man, who wielded a large hammer, confronted Zuko, who slid down from his rhino's back to face him.
Azula ducked lightly under the flying rock and began to launch fireblasts in quick succession, one from each of her fists and another from her right foot. The earthbender managed to dodge the first two and deflect the last with a shield of rock, but then the princess herself was on her. A quick kick to the face sent the Earth Kingdom woman sprawling unconscious. Looking up from her defeated foe, Azula saw Zuko disarm and bring down his own opponent.
Only the leader remained, his expression showing that he didn't like his odds against two firebenders and a war rhino, but that he was too stubborn to give up. With one foot he stomped the earth, unleashing a shockwave that sent both royals reeling, and then he fired a pair of large boulders, one at each opponent.
Azula ducked beneath the boulder aimed at her, and noted with some approval that Zuko managed the same. Before the earthbender could react, both siblings charged forward, angling outward so as to pin him between them. Raising their hands, both launched powerful bursts of flame directly at him; they smashed through the barriers he raised to protect himself and slammed him against the trunk of a nearby tree. He slid to the ground and didn't move.
Azula stepped forward and pulled the scroll she'd seen earlier from his pouch. "I think the local garrison will be wanting this back," she said lightly.
"What were you thinking?" Zuko asked, "going off by yourself and trying to take on a whole gang of earthbenders like that?"
"Relax, Zuzu – they weren't all earthbenders," Azula said. "I had the situation completely under control – as I think we established earlier today, clever tactics always defeat raw strength. I'd already taken care of several of them before you showed up."
"Yeah, I saw some of the bodies on my way here," Zuko said, grudging respect in his voice.
Azula was quiet for a moment longer, and then she spoke. "Why did you do it?" the princess asked. "Come look for me, I mean? After I embarrassed you earlier today, I didn't think you'd be much inclined."
Zuko shrugged. "You're my sister. Whatever we might… think of each other, it was the right thing to do."
The princess regarded her brother for a long moment. They didn't particularly like each other – hadn't even as children – and Father's attitudes towards them both certainly hadn't been conducive to a loving relationship. Still, Zuko had come to help her regardless of personal feelings, and Azula found herself realizing something very uncomfortable - that in spite of it all, she did trust him to watch her back, and the list of people she trusted to do that could be counted on one hand.
Perhaps there was some small value in those old-school warrior's values after all.
"Well, that's quaint of you," she actually said. "Now, let's get out of here. There's been more than enough excitement for one day, in my opinion."
"Agreed," Zuko said with a small laugh. Shortly thereafter, the royal siblings were mounted on their rhino, riding back to the ship, and their mission.
/
It wasn't easy to stand his ground while staring down the green gullet of the spirit monster, but somehow, Aang managed it. "Spirit!" he said again, "I'm sorry to bother you, but I don't know what you're talking about. I just want to know why you're attacking and if there's anything we can do to help you."
"I am not interested in talking," the spirit said. "Why should I listen to you?"
"Well," Aang said, "I am the Avatar. That counts for something – right?" He gave the creature what he hoped was his best smile.
The spirit snorted. "I do not know what this 'Avatar' is," it said. "But I do know that you smell of Raava. And you," it added, turning to the Spirit Walker and sniffing, "are also familiar. There is something about you – of Tui, perhaps, or La? A powerful spirit either way. Very well. I will hear you out – for the sake of the spirits whose power hangs about you, not for your own. If what you say is not to my liking, I will not hesitate to destroy you both."
"Well, that's progress, isn't it?" Aang asked. "So, can you tell us why you attacked the mine?"
The spirit stilled for a moment, as if thoughtful. "I am called Zhuyao De," it finally said. "I came to this world long ago. In those days, there were many spirits, and humans were rare and scattered, surviving only through the protection of great beasts. My kind sleep for many years underground and then are active for as long – I went to sleep, but something happened, and I did not wake when I should have. I slumbered for long ages until the miners woke me; I found a world overrun with humans, but with no other spirits to be found. I could not sense any of my people. I was filled with rage – what had they done to my kind? – and so I attacked. They fought back, but were no match. Now they are gone, and I was alone – until you came. Tell me, 'Avatar', what do you know of my kind? What has happened in this world?"
"Wow," Aang said sadly; to his surprise, he felt sorrow and an unexpected sense of kinship with this creature rising up within him. "If you don't know what the Avatar is, you must have slept longer than you thought." He looked at the Spirit Walker. "You wouldn't happen to know how long that is, would you?"
"According to the spirits I've spoken to, more than ten thousand years," she said.
"Ten thousand years," Aang said. "That must have been terrible for you. Believe it or not, I kind of know what that's like. I was trapped in an iceberg for a hundred years, and when I got out, I found out that all of my people had been wiped out. It's a terrible feeling of pain and rage and helplessness. But whatever happened to your kind, it wasn't the miners who did it. Violence against them won't bring your people back, and it can't be the answer you're looking for."
"Then what is the answer?" Zhuyao De demanded, grief evident in its inhuman voice. "I am alone in this world! What would you have me do?"
"I'm the last airbender," Aang said. "I can't bring my people back. But you're not the last spirit."
"He's right," the Spirit Walker said. "I've walked in the Spirit World, and it's full of all kinds of spirits. Maybe your kind are still there."
"How can I go there?" Zhuyao De said. "I can sense that the great portals are closed!"
"Maybe we can help you," the Spirit Walker said. "The Solstice is almost here, and the barriers are low. Aang, help me – place your hand on his forehead."
Zhuyao De lowered his forehead, and both the Avatar and the Spirit Walker placed their hands on it. Aang felt a surge of power rush through him, and for a moment his tattoos flashed, as if he was in the Avatar State, and he saw the Spirit Walker's eyes flare brightly as well. Zhuyao De gave a great sigh of contentment, and then he rippled and faded away.
Aang sighed deeply. "He's home now," he said. "Hopefully he can find his people there."
"I must return to my people as well," the Spirit Walker said; Aang looked at her, and saw that she seemed to have become less substantial. "That took much of my strength, and I need to return to my body and rest."
"Will I ever see you again?" Aang asked.
"We will meet again- I know it," she said, and though her face was featureless, she seemed to smile. "Goodbye, Avatar Aang." She raised her hands above her head, and suddenly was bathed in a ray of light that seemed almost to be moonlight. Then she was gone.
"Goodbye," Aang said to the empty air, and then he opened his glider and jumped into the air. He rose through quickly through the mine shaft and then emerged under the night sky. Katara and Sokka jumped to their feet when they saw him.
"Aang!" Katara called. "You're all right! What happened to the spirit?"
"He went home," Aang said, folding his glider. "He wasn't evil – just hurt and confused. He won't bother this place anymore."
"Well, that's good to hear," Sokka said. "Now, can we finally get some sleep around here, or what?"
"Wait," Katara said, pointing at the sky, "what's that?"
Aang turned in the direction she was pointing, and his eyes widened. Something was flying through the sky – something huge, with a serpentine body like the Zhuyao De, but with great wings and only four legs. On Katara's shoulder, Momo screeched at the sight.
"It's a dragon," Aang said.
/
A few notes here. First, all apologies to JRR Tolkien for some of the details of the story of how the miners found the spirit, though I tried to keep the spirit itself as non-Balrog like as possible. Second, the Spirit Walker is not an OC, and I wasn't particularly trying to hide her identity from the audience, so if you think you know who she is, you're probably right. Third, I'd like to extend a big thanks to the "Korra" two-parter "Beginnings" for giving me some cool spirit lore to work with here, in order to produce a spirit encounter similar to, but distinct from, the one with Hei Bei in canon.
Finally, I shifted the cliffhanger around a bit. I wasn't sure if Katara and Sokka should be able to see Fang, but ended up deciding that as an independent spirit, he can probably make himself visible to the world at large if he wants to, unlike Roku or the other past Avatars, who have to manifest through Aang. This is, admittedly mostly for convenience on my part.
-MasterGhandalf