A/N: Content warning: aftermath of suicide (minor character)

After five long days of painstaking tracking, steadily eastward, Koko found a campsite next to a river—or rather, what was once a river. It was barely more than a creek now.

"They stopped here," she said while carefully examining the area. "Probably the same day of the capture. There's a large blue sage stronghold upriver. I'm assuming that's where they went."

"Will you be able to get them out?" Valen asked hopefully.

"I don't know. Maybe." She knew he was probably thinking about that wanted sign in Makapu. There was a good chance now that she'd be recognized. Entering that facility would be incredibly reckless; it would be virtually impossible to get all three of them out together. And that was a big problem.

Saph should be her first priority. She wanted Saph to be her first priority. For the first time in a long while, her personal feelings clashed with her sense of duty. It seemed far more likely now that Zenya was the Avatar, and it made more logical sense to put her first. Her head believed those things; her heart did not.

"They must've drugged Zenya…" Valen murmured. "It's the only explanation. There hasn't been a single sign of her bending."

Koko refrained from verbally speculating that she might be badly injured—or worse. Instead, she voiced the theory she'd been stewing on all morning; the tracks she was seeing now seemed to support it. "They might have a plague carrier with them."

"What? Why would they do that? It would affect the blue sages, too."

"I've seen it before. They capture them and use them like a weapon. Look, here–" Buried under some dead leaves was a pile of metal chains. "This…is odd." She stood up and scratched the back of her neck, confused. "The ground isn't soft enough for me to know how many of them there were, but there were only two hounds, so there couldn't be more than two, maybe three adults in total."

"And are there tracks leading out of camp? Or did the hounds go into the river? It doesn't look deep enough for them to swim…"

Koko was barely listening to him, too busy trying to make heads or tails of what she was seeing. There was evidence of three separate sets of tracks leading away. "The hounds went in the river. It must've been higher then. I don't know why it's so low. But…"

Someone had gone southwest and she began to carefully follow the subtle evidence of faint boot imprints, broken twigs, and displaced leaves. It was a much greater challenge than identifying the deep tracks of eel hound feet.

Valen followed silently as they made their way through the forest until Koko spotted movement up ahead. She put her hand up in warning and crouched down behind a bush. Something…wasn't right.

"Can you sense any people up ahead?" she asked as softly as she could, right in his ear. Being so close to him was…uncomfortable. But practically necessitated such things.

"No."

The movement ahead was vaguely rhythmic, like something hanging from a tree branch and swaying in the breeze. Koko crept closer to investigate, but the stench hit her first.

"Spirits… "

"What?" Valen whispered. "What do you—" He coughed and gagged. "What is that smell?"

She knew exactly what it was and was filled with a moment of horrified panic that made her throw caution to the wind and fling herself forward. Please, please don't be her… Spirits, please…

But the bloated, rotting corpse was unfamiliar—a woman, she was sure, but not Saph. Not Zenya, either.

Valen's heavy footsteps behind her stopped suddenly and he started retching. Koko herself wasn't entirely unaffected, but she was more desensitized to this kind of brutality. Even so, her stomach churned as she climbed partway up the tree to cut the vines that held the unfortunate woman. It wouldn't be right to leave her like that.

"Please, please tell me—" Valen cut off with a ragged noise and fell to his knees, head bowed.

"It's not Zenya. Just some woman. She's been here a few days already."

None of it made any sense. Had the blue sages turned on each other? "She doesn't have a tattoo," Koko said, trying to work through it. "I'm thinking she must've been a plague carrier."

"Are we in danger?"

"I don't think so. Just…don't touch her."

"But why would they kill her?" He seemed to have regained control of himself, though his face was a deathly pale. The fading bruise on his cheek where she'd hit him stood out in stark contrast. "Or do you think Shylo did this?"

"No. He didn't do this. But… I've been around carriers before. They're broken people. Eager to end their own suffering."

"You– You mean she did this to herself?"

"It's the only thing that makes sense. She must've escaped somehow." Satisfied with that conclusion, Koko turned to go back to the camp. There was nothing left to see here.

But Valen wasn't done. He shifted his feet into an earthbending stance and the ground trembled faintly with his gestures. Koko glanced back to see a mound of disturbed earth where the body had been moments before.

Neither spoke on the way back to the campsite. She wasn't especially upset by what had happened—Saph was still alive, as far as she knew—and was already pushing the memory into a hidden corner of her mind, where it would live with countless other horrors.

But she knew the pain Valen was likely feeling, and she knew that the best cure for it was action. "There are more tracks going north along the river," she said, locating them.

"How many people?"

"I don't know. But it can only mean one thing: At least one person was left behind. Not taken on the eel hounds."

"Which way is the blue sage facility?"

"Also north."

"So…they followed them?" Valen asked, voice thick with uncertainty.

"Maybe. Maybe not, though. There's a village upriver."

His face lit up with hope. "Someone there might've seen them!"

"I'm counting on it. Let's go."

Saph had cried when they were first captured. She'd spent some time on the back of that eel hound—forced to cling to her dirty, stinking captor—with poorly suppressed sobs ripping from her throat as pitiful whines.

She'd cried a little after Seven had kicked her, though it was more out of pain than fear, and again when he and Ming had taken a screaming, crying Zenya with them on the eel hounds after returning from the hunt without the plague carrier.

And she'd cried once more, two days ago, when a familiar warm feeling coursed through her veins and the fire returned to her. It was bittersweet relief. There'd been some small hope that Shylo might get his bending back, too, and she felt awful for him that it had yet to happen. And might not ever.

For his part, he was handling it well. All throughout the long, hungry journey to the village by the river, he'd kept her going while she limped along with her bruised leg. When her bending came back and she finally admitted it, he'd been happy for her. The only hint he gave of his own inner turmoil was that night; as they tried to sleep with empty stomachs, Saph could hear him sniffling faintly in the dark.

Now they were past the village with their bellies full and a satchel with more food in it, thanks to a kind woman who'd taken pity on two starving teenagers.

Originally, the plan had been to stay in the village and hope Koko and Valen would catch up so the four of them could go after Zenya together. However, a curious development had pushed them onward.

"What's wrong with the river?" Saph had asked the woman who fed them and let them sleep on a pile of blankets on the floor of her home.

"We don't know. That blue sage came up on his eel hound and the next day, the river went down to almost nothing. None of us want to go looking for trouble, so we'll just deal with it, I guess."

Saph glanced at Shylo, wondering if it had something to do with Zenya. She would've gotten her bending back by now, most likely.

"We could at least walk a little ways and see if we can find anything," Shylo suggested that night. "We can come back if we don't."

Saph had agreed, reluctantly, and now they were padding along the next to the river—or what was left of it. Suddenly Shylo stopped, abruptly enough that she bumped into him.

"What?" she asked. "What's wrong?"

In answer, he took a deep breath and shifted his feet, then thrust his palms forward. There was a sharp whoosh of concentrated air.

Saph had never seen anyone so happy before and couldn't help but throw her arms around him joyfully. "You can bend! You can bend!"

He hugged her back tightly and, when they separated, there were tear stains on both of his cheeks. But he wiped them away, chuckling. "I've never been so relieved."

"It sure took a while!"

"Maybe because I was so close to her for so long."

Saph couldn't contain herself and hugged him again, laughing happily. "Hey! Now you can fly and see if there's anything upriver!"

"Alright, I'll have a look!" he said with a silly grin, as if he hadn't realized that himself yet. It took him a minute to adjust his flight suit, then he launched into the air, Saph once again watching with envy.

With a regretful sigh, she distracted herself by creating a flame and holding it in her palm. Sometimes it was nice to just stare it, to feel her chi flow through her and watch the graceful dance. Knowing she'd made it. Feeling its tingly warmth. It was beautiful and comforting, but wild in its own way.

The exercise often made her think of Yin, whose shimmering form resembled fire and smoke. I'll find you. I'm still looking.

How long had it been since their last dream together? Probably around a week, but it felt like so much longer than that. Saph had been thrust into a new life that her best friend was barely a part of, and she had new friends now. But aside from Shylo, they were all scattered.

Her reverie was interrupted when he dropped to the ground ahead of her. He looked…worried.

"What's wrong?" she asked. "What did you see?"

"Three things. There's a big—like really big—fortress up the river. It's pretty far away, but I could see it from the air. And I know what's made the river dry up. There's a dam, like someone earthbent a bridge or something. All the land upriver is flooded now. And there's this…line, where the ground is all torn up, on either side of the dam."

"Zenya! I bet Zenya did that! She must've got her bending back and run away! Oh, Shylo, she must be so scared! We need to find her."

She expected him to say they should go back to the village and wait, but to her surprise, he nodded.

"It won't be hard. She left a clear trail. But we need to be ready for the possibility that someone else has already followed her."

"All the more reason to hurry."

They set off with renewed vigor, all thoughts of waiting for Koko and Valen gone. It took a couple of hours to reach the bridge-dam; by then their boots had begun to squelch through the waterlogged ground.

The land to the east, across the river, was an open, rolling plain. The damage done to the ground was more obvious there—a sinuous line of upturned earth that continued on into the forest on the west side of the river where Saph and Shylo were.

"It has to be her. Who else would do this? She was probably panicked. Poor thing…" Saph herself was no stranger to abject terror and crippling despair, so she was desperate to find Zenya. It was hard to imagine what must go on in her head. Being so far removed from everything she knew—not to mention all alone—must be a nightmare.

"We'll find her," Shylo said confidently. "I wish I could see through the trees from the air. I'd like to scout around a little to make sure there's no ambush waiting for us. But…we'll just have to be careful."

"At least we've both got our bending back. I've learned a lot from Koko and I think I could put up a real fight now." She didn't dare give life to her current fear by speaking it aloud, but she knew there was a possibility of another plague carrier at the end of this trail.

Don't think about that. Just keep walking.

Another couple of hours passed while they wound their way through the trees along the somewhat chaotic trail. The sun was high in the sky now, a pleasant and warm autumn day, but Saph's anxiety was mounting. Every muscle was tensed, ready for an attack at any moment. She half-expected that sick feeling to settle over her and sap the chi from her body.

"Stop," Shylo said suddenly.

"What? Did you see something?" Her eyes darted around frantically, heart suddenly racing.

"I think the trail stops up there. Look."

He was right. She'd been so focused on their immediate surroundings that she hadn't noticed.

"I don't think there's anyone here…" he whispered with a thoughtful frown.

Saph was tempted to call out Zenya's name but restrained herself out of fear of lurking enemies. So they crept forward as quietly as they could until the churned earth stopped rather abruptly. There was nothing after it. The forest was quiet except for the faint sounds of birds and insects.

And…something else? She strained her ears, trying hard to listen. There was something else underneath it all, but too quiet to identify. "I hear something," she whispered. "I think– I think it's this way."

"Careful."

Even slower than before, tiptoeing along, they followed the faint noise around the base of a steep hill. A small cave came into view and Saph stopped at the edge of it. The sound had a different quality now—a slight reverb.

Whimpers. Sniffles.

"Zenya?" Saph called, though not loudly. "It's me, Saph. And Shylo."

The noise cut off abruptly and there was only silence.

"I doubt she knows our names…" he murmured.

His comment made her bristle on Zenya's behalf. "She isn't stupid. Now be quiet and wait here. I don't want to scare her." Slowly, she crept into the cave alone. "Zenya? It's okay, you can come out. I won't hurt you."

Firebending even just for a light seemed like a bad idea, so she refrained. It took a minute for her eyes to adjust, but when they did, she spotted a muddy foot sticking out from behind a rock.

"It's just me…" Saph crooned. "Please don't earthbend at me, for the love of the Spirits. That's the last thing we need."

The foot disappeared as its owner scrabbled backward, further into the dark. Saph froze when a faint tremor rippled through the stone floor of the cave, but nothing else happened.

Maybe she tired herself out and she can't bend… It was an encouraging thought. After a moment's consideration and a deep breath, Saph crouched down, made a tentative flame in her hand, and held it out.

"Look, Zenya. It's me. Can you see me?"

It was definitely her, though she was a mess—dirty, ripped clothes, tangled hair, the ripe smell of body odor. A spark of recognition appeared in her eyes, the firelight reflected in them, and she crawled out of the shadows. Then she lunged forward and tackled Saph to the ground.

It knocked the wind out of her and the flame in her palm went out. Zenya was sobbing now, clinging tightly, while Saph just lay there gasping in pain. She was going to have a nice lump on her head, she knew.

"Saph?" Shylo called from outside. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," she managed. "More or less…" Zenya wasn't letting go, so Saph just dragged her upright, supporting a good deal of her weight. "Spirits, you're heavier than you look." It took some coaxing but she was eventually able to get her to walk out of the cave, still clinging.

"Is she okay?" Shylo asked.

"I think so. Just terrified."

He wrinkled his nose. "She could use a bath."

"Heh. No kidding. I didn't think little kids normally stunk this bad."

"Valen said she's older than she looks. I'll bet she's not much younger than us."

Saph figured he was probably right, but it was hard to internalize. Zenya just seemed…younger, somehow. Childlike. Maybe she would always be that way.

The stench really wasn't great, now that Saph was thinking about it, so she let go. But Zenya just slumped to the ground and curled up in a ball.

"Oops…"

"She must be exhausted. Actually, I think she fell asleep."

"We can't stay here," Saph fretted. "The blue sages will find us."

"Yeah. Alright." He appeared to think for a few moments, then crouched down and hoisted Zenya onto his back. She roused just enough to latch her arms around his neck. "We just need to get far enough away from the trail that they'll have trouble following us."

"I hope Koko is good at tracking…" Saph muttered as they set off.

It took nearly an hour for Koko to find anyone in the village who was willing to give her a straight answer, even with her tattoo covered.

"You must be the ones they were waiting for," a middle-aged woman said, sitting out on her porch with her husband, who had dozed off in his rocking chair. "They mentioned you. Said if you came through here, to tell you they'd gone on to look for their friend."

"Dammit," Koko muttered under her breath, despite the fact that she was relieved Saph and Shylo were still together and unhurt. "I thought she was smart enough to stay put."

"They were gonna wait, I think. They seemed interested in the river getting stopped up. Wanted to investigate. Guess they must've fixed it because the water started up again about an hour or so ago."

"Hm…" Valen mused.

Koko glanced at him curiously. "What are you thinking?"

"It was probably dammed. With earth bending."

They stared at each other for a second until Koko broke the eye contact with a brisk nod, then turned back to the woman. "When did they leave?"

"Yesterday morning."

Knowing there was nothing left to be gained there, the two of them soon made their way out of the north side of the village.

"We're catching up," Valen said with a chipper note in his voice.

But Koko was reluctant to become too hopeful. Hope was a dangerous thing—a double-edged blade. Instead, she asked something that had been on her mind. "The blue sage took Zenya but left Saph and Shylo. Do you have any idea why? Does anyone know about her lineage?"

"No. I mean, I don't see how anyone could. And I've been wondering this myself. All I can come up with is that someone saw her bend and wanted to…recruit her. I know they're always looking for strong earthbenders in that age bracket, for obvious reasons."

Once again, Koko wondered just how much he knew about blue sages and how they operated. And she hoped to the Spirits that Zenya wouldn't be subjected to that. Death would be better.

It would be all the worse if she were the Avatar.

"If she's the one who dammed the river," Koko said aloud, "she might've escaped once her bending came back."

"They would chase her."

"Yeah. They would."

Neither said anything more until arriving at a sinuous line of disturbed earth that stretched east and west on either side of the river. Many, many footprints—all heading west into the forest—decorated the muddy ground, overlapping each other beyond Koko's ability to count.

"What is she doing?" Shylo asked.

"I'm not sure…"

He and Saph stood side by side, watching Zenya closely as she stomped around, paused, then stomped some more.

Upon waking up after a few hours of sleep, she'd marched off on her own with Saph and Shylo following—both confused—until they reached a stream. Then she took a long drink and shamelessly began stripping down right in front of them. Shylo had instantly walked away and Saph sat down to wait, keeping Zenya just on the edge of her peripherals until she was finished.

Now she was clean and stomping around the forest. All evidence of her earlier distress seemed to be gone. She was calm and determined. Exactly what she was determined to do, though, was unclear.

Suddenly a small blur flew through the air toward her. It was enough to make Saph fall into an attack stance, but Zenya just reached out and grabbed it.

"It's a gopher rabbit…" Shylo mused.

Saph could see now. There was a thick stone ring around its floppy, broken neck. Zenya bent the stone away and—with a single swift gesture—fashioned it into a crude knife, then sat down to begin the process of skinning the animal.

"Efficient," Shylo said approvingly.

"Where's ours?" Saph joked as she approached Zenya to set up a firepit nearby. "Find a roasting stick, will you?"

Before the fire was lit, Zenya shocked them both by burying her face in the raw meat.

"Stop!" Saph cried, horrified. "We've got to cook it first!"

Zenya did pause, but it took some doing to get her to hand over her catch. She seemed quite put out, actually, until they skewered it, lit the fire, and began cooking. At that point, she finally perked up.

"Can you find more?" Saph asked, receiving only a blank stare in return. She tried again. "Catch more?" She pointed to the animal, then at herself, then Shylo, then back to the animal.

Zenya made a few hand gestures—just like how she had with Valen—and Saph wished she knew what they meant.

"I'm sorry, I don't understand."

They tried a few more things with no success until Shylo finally got up and mimicked Zenya's stomping around like before. She fell over herself laughing at his antics, but soon joined him until 'they'd' caught two more.

While they ate, Saph pulled out the stone Zenya had given her back inside the volcano. It had sat in her pocket all this time, a constant reminder. As she turned it in her fingers, thinking of the last few days, she realized that having someone to look after had made her stronger. Braver.

And even Zenya herself seemed tougher. Of course, only Valen really knew her. The oddest thing was that he seemed to think she was a shy, timid child, and she clearly wasn't that. Was her softer behavior an act she put on for him? Did she even think about such complex manipulations?

Or had her experiences over the last few days forced her to adapt? Perhaps being back among familiar faces was such a relief after being captured that she was able to relax. Maybe this was how she normally was with Valen, and her timidness had just been a temporary thing upon meeting new people.

Although…Valen clearly hadn't expected her to leave the volcano. Maybe he didn't know her as well as he thought he did. It was a depressing thought; he was basically her dad, but clearly, it was a daily struggle to effectively communicate with her. How lonely it must be for both of them…

"What do you think we should do now?" Shylo asked, interrupting her thoughts.

"Hm?"

"Should we wait here for Koko and Valen, now that we've found her? Or keep going in case the blue sages are looking for us?"

"I wish we knew how to find the river again," Saph lamented.

"Well, even if we could, we'd risk circling back behind Koko and Valen."

"True."

Neither seemed to have an answer but apparently, it didn't matter. Once they were done eating, Zenya got up and thrust her bare foot into the ground, causing a shockwave that made Saph's hair stand on end, then she looked at them expectantly before heading off.

"Zenya! Where are you going?"

She ignored them completely and Shylo got up with a sigh.

"Guess we better follow her," he said. "Not like we can stop her… For someone who was just kidnapped, she sure is acting reckless."

"Maybe she can see Valen and Koko with seismic sense. Maybe they're close!"

It was an encouraging thought and they hurried after her. There were still a few hours of daylight left and Zenya seemed determined to use them. But after only about ten minutes of walking, the trees thinned to reveal a tiny village. It was eerily quiet.

"I don't see anyone," Shylo said as they approached.

"Maybe they're all inside having dinner…?"

But Zenya just kept walking, straight through the center. Saph glanced in each window as they passed, seeing no one. It was unsettling.

"Do you hear that?"

His question came at about the same time that she did hear something. "Is that…music?"

Zenya was grinning now, a cheerful pep in her step. The further they walked, the louder the music got—through the village, down a path, and finally to a clearing. At the edge of it, she stopped and crouched behind a bush to watch with fascination.

"It looks like a party," Saph murmured. There were a few dozen people of all ages milling about—laughing, talking, eating, drinking. And dancing. The music was coming from a group of three that stood off to the side with instruments. No one seemed to notice the newcomers.

Zenya watched raptly, eyes sparkling. Her gaze darted back and forth with the movement of the dancers as she tracked them across the low wooden platform. After a minute or so of that, she suddenly stood up straight and marched boldly into the clearing.

"Zenya!" Saph hissed, pointlessly.

A few people stopped what they were doing and looked at her warily, but the dancers were oblivious until she jumped in and joined them, much to Saph's shock.

It was like she'd known the steps since birth, her movements graceful and sure. The others faltered for only a moment before hollering with enthusiasm and encouragement. Saph watched her with amazement. So many times Zenya had surprised her. Who was this child? What must it be like to be in her head?

Some of the other villagers finally seemed to notice Saph and Shylo, and beckoned for them to come over. "What are three young'uns like you doing out here all alone?" a middle-aged woman asked.

"We're lost," Saph said. "We got separated from our…uh…parents. But I think they'll find us."

"Poor dears. You should stay put. That'll make it easier for them to find you."

"S'pose you could sleep in Lito's shed," another older woman said. "No beds, of course, but it's warm and dry."

Saph frowned in thought. If the blue sages tracked them here, it would put all of the villagers in danger. On the other hand…it would be easier to hide here.

The situation was impossible. They needed to give Koko and Valen a chance to find them, but they also needed to stay ahead of any enemies that might be following. What were they supposed to do?

"We'd appreciate that, thanks," Shylo said before she could respond.

The first woman glanced over at Zenya with a curious expression. "Your sister's a good dancer. She picked that up right quick. It's a unique dance here—a wedding tradition. Don't see how she could've known it."

"She's special," Saph said with a smile, watching Zenya enjoy herself.

It was mesmerizing. Face flushed, grinning, wild hair spinning with every turn. The music picked up, gradually at first, until it reached a frenzied pace—but she kept up without faltering for even a second.

Then, quite abruptly, her feet fell still on the wooden platform and she leapt off, back onto solid ground. Instantly, her expression changed from mild concern to flat-out panic.

"Zenya? What's wrong?" Saph went to her but Zenya had already begun to come over. She grabbed Saph's wrist and pulled hard, trying to run.

The music cut off and was replaced by the sound of many footsteps approaching. The villagers screamed and fled as dozens of blue sages appeared and began to spread out around the perimeter of the clearing—fierce men and women, their tattoos glaring evilly at Saph, Shylo, and Zenya, who were now trapped. The three of them stood back to back, pacing in a slow circle.

No one said anything. No one attacked. The blue sages just…stood there. Watching. Waiting.

Saph was frozen. Petrified. Heart pounding in her throat. She couldn't breathe, much less scream. Who would come help them, anyway? All of the villagers were gone.

She saw a woman put a long, thin tube to her lips but couldn't make her mind understand what it was. But Shylo raised a whirlwind of air around them and kept it going.

"Shirshu darts," he said in a tight voice.

Zenya suddenly fell into a deep stance and thrust her arms down and out. The earth rippled outward, shifting and shuddering as it went, then turned from dull brown to bright red—a molten wave.

The blood-curdling screams were unlike anything Saph had ever heard before. She fell to her knees, squeezed her eyes shut, and covered her ears to block out the horror of it. But everything stopped rather abruptly and she opened her eyes to see a stone wall come up to enclose them. Zenya was working furiously to keep it up as their enemies tore it down. Stone shackles would reach up and grab them, only to be broken seconds later.

It was too much for her; Saph could see her strength waning, sweat dripping down her face. The wall finally fell to reveal a scene of blackened, torn-up earth. There were still so many blue sages…

Saph at last found her strength. An image of one of Koko's earlier demonstrations appeared in her mind; she took a deep breath and brought forth as much chi as she could hold, then unleashed it through her mouth alongside a fierce scream. The power of it shocked even her, and pushed back many of the enemies that were advancing on their position.

By that point, Zenya had fallen to one knee and was breathing hard, but the ground still trembled under their feet so she must be doing something. When several boulders shot up from the ground and hurtled towards them, Saph called her name frantically, but they exploded in the same second.

And that loud noise was immediately followed but a much more powerful one.

BOOOOM

How three teenagers had managed to hold their own against so many blue sages thus far, Koko didn't know. But she wasn't concerned with trying to figure it out—only with eliminating as many enemies as possible.

Valen seemed to have the same idea.

It was chaos once they showed up. What had been a ring of predators surrounding prey was now an all-out melee. Fire and earth—the most aggressive elements and favored by blue sages—predominated.

Koko lost track of Valen right from the start as she dodged and weaved in an effort to get closer to Saph's position, but one thing or another would constantly push her back.

It wasn't like her to be so unaware of her surroundings. Losing Saph had set her on edge; she was zeroed in on the one she'd sworn to protect, her own safety taking second place. As such, the knife that slid into her back was a complete shock and all she could do was suck in a surprised gasp that ended in a choked cough as blood poured into her lung when the knife was withdrawn.

She had just enough strength to turn and slit the throat of the woman who had snuck up on her, then look back at Saph, who was frozen in horror. Koko's knife slid from her grasp and she fell to her knees as the blood pushed its way up and out of her mouth.

"KOKO!" Saph screamed.

In the last moments before she collapsed forward, her heart stuttering as it struggled to continue beating, Koko saw something she wasn't entirely sure was real.

A light appeared in Saph's eyes—glowing brighter and brighter until they resembled two small suns—and the fear on her face turned to determined fury. The ground roared like thunder, but Koko's little patch of earth remained unaffected as she fell face-first onto it.

It wasn't supposed to happen this way, she thought—her heart full of deep regret—before the insidious fingers of darkness dragged her under.

Saph was momentarily blinded by the light and the overwhelming power that surged through her without warning. Impossible knowledge flooded her mind alongside the fear and rage.

She reached into the earth and made it obey her, made it blast away her enemies and take her to Koko's side faster than her legs ever could. Every motion was her own, yet not—like she was tucked away in a little corner of her mind while still being perfectly in control. A harmonious contradiction.

Saph knelt down and waved her hand through the air to pull the moisture from it. Somehow, water appeared there and she directed it into the wound to assess what damage had been done. It would take all of her skill, she quickly realized.

But who's skill? She could barely think—only act. She knew what she was doing. The information was there, and she knew how to use it. Somehow.

Punctured lung, now collapsed and full of blood. The heart was failing, stuttering at random intervals as it tried to keep beating. She pushed the water in and began to repair the cut, but not quickly enough. It was too severe.

Have to stop the bleeding. Saph found a rogue pocket of air inside the chest cavity and bent it away, then conjured a tiny flame within to cauterize the internal wound. Another for the outside. She rolled Koko's unconscious form over, cradling her with one arm while simultaneously mixing the water with the pooling blood to draw it out through her mouth.

That familiar face was deathly pale now. Looking at it, Saph felt a sudden outpouring of love from within herself. A mother's love, deep and endless—so foreign, yet oddly familiar. She would sooner die than give up.

More water was summoned from the air and pushed into Koko's damaged lung. Saph wove water and fire together without thought, soothing the wound inside and out while her free hand produced a tiny jolt of electricity to coax the heart back to its normal rhythm. Another. One more. Koko's body convulsed with each surge. Her heart finally began to struggle along with a weak but steady rhythm, but she still wasn't breathing.

Slowly, gently, Saph took hold of the air and bent it into the uninjured lung. In and out. Inhale, exhale. Push and pull. Endless rhythmic cycles until she lost count, spiraling further and further inside herself.

Is this real? Is this just a dream? It must be a dream…

Exhaustion began to take hold and she pulled the water out of the other side. It would have to be good enough. Both lungs needed air, but neither was working on its own yet. Saph had to stay conscious until that happened. And it would happen. It would. It had to.

Breathe, Kiriko. Just breathe.

C'mon.

Breathe.

XXX

"Mom…?"

Kiriko slunk from the shadows and approached her mother's favorite comfy chair. Korra was there in front of a crackling fire with a notebook in her lap, idly scribbling. But she glanced over upon hearing the small voice.

"Hey, what are you doing up?"

"I can't sleep. My thoughts are too noisy."

"Noisy thoughts, huh? Alright, come sit with me." She snapped her notebook shut and put it on the table next to her chair.

Kiriko climbed up into Korra's lap. "Where's Mama?"

"She had to run out to the warehouse to deal with something. She'll be back later."

"Usually it's you who has to go out late and fix somebody else's problems."

Korra laughed and wrapped her up, giving her a brief squeeze. "Yeah, I know. But I'm all yours tonight."

"Can you tell me the story?"

"Which one?"

Kiriko scoffed and rolled her eyes. "You know which one."

"Heh. Yeah, I guess I do. I still don't understand why you like it so much."

"It's sad in a good way."

"Hm. If you say so. But if it gives you nightmares, it's not my fault."

"It won't. Just tell it to me."

"Tell it to me…" Korra prompted.

"Tell it to me now."

"Hah. Try again, smart alec."

"Okay, okay. Tell it to me, please."

Korra was quiet for a few seconds, her expression becoming pensive and thoughtful. Then she launched into the tale with a new timbre to her voice.

"Sumanka, the first Queen of the Sun Warriors, before they were even called the Sun Warriors, appointed her daughter, Anku, to lead their army in a battle against their enemies—the barbaric Desert Crawlers. Like her mother, Anku was a fierce warrior and a legendary firebender. She had already won many battles and had no reason to think this one would be any different.

"On the day that Anku and her army went to confront the Desert Crawlers, a great cloud blocked out the sun, weakening the firebenders' power. Even so, they were skilled with regular weapons and lasted for three days against a horde that never seemed to get any smaller." There, Korra paused. "Are you sure you want me to tell this story?"

"Yes! Tell me, tell me, tell me!"

"Spirits, I've created a monster…"

Kiriko let out a dramatic, impish cackle. "Keep going!"

"Alright, alright. Where was I?"

"The whore wasn't getting smaller."

Korra snorted. "Horde! It's a horde! Like, there are a lot of them."

"That's what I said!"

"Heh. Anyway. The horde never seemed to get any smaller. Anku watched her last soldier fall and looked at the remaining enemy army. She stood there alone, surrounded, and dropped her spear and shield. She looked up at the black sky and searched for a crack in it. As the Crawlers approached, a single ray of light slipped through and pierced her heart, setting it on fire.

"The enemy soldiers rushed in but instantly turned to ash the moment they touched her. They all fell to her might until none remained. When the last one was gone, the clouds parted and melted away.

"Anku fell to her knees, knowing it was over. 'I have won, Mother,' she whispered. 'But I see only shadows all around me and I cannot go on.'

"Sumanka's voice seemed to blow with the wind and carry Anku as her spirit began to fade away.

"Rise from the ashes, Fireheart.

Turn your face to the sun and the shadows will fall behind you,

For where you walk, they cannot follow.

Chase the sun, my Fireheart, and return to me. "

XXX

Death felt just like her memories: Burning pain. Choking. Drowning. Koko couldn't see anything, so lost inside herself—not conscious, but not so lucky to have faded into oblivion.

But there was one thing she was aware of, besides the endless torture: an arm wrapped around her, holding her. Just that. It wasn't much, but it was enough to keep her from giving up completely. Maybe… Maybe it wasn't death, after all.

As she had so many times before, she bore the pain and despair until—very slowly—it began to fade. That comforting arm cradled her like she was a child, and it was with that sensation that she finally drifted off into a deep sleep.

"Wake up…" a small, tearful voice whined some time later. "Please, wake up."

Koko couldn't ignore it, as much as she wanted to. Sleep seemed better.

"No, please… Just wake up..."

A hand was shaking her shoulder now, and it hurt.

"Shit," Koko mumbled, though talking hurt much worse. Her voice was even rougher than usual. "Ugh… Ow… Stop."

A body suddenly flung itself onto her and started sobbing. Koko groaned in pain but was too weak to do anything about it. Everything hurt. Even breathing hurt.

"Saph…" she choked out. "Get… Off…"

"Sorry!" The weight vanished immediately, but her sniffles said she hadn't gone far. "I woke up and saw you lying there and I thought you were dead!"

Koko finally opened her eyes and found that she was flat on her back in a cave. No…not a cave—a stone tent that was open on one side, letting in just enough light to see by. Someone had put a folded-up blanket under her head as a makeshift pillow. Saph lay next to her with tear-stained cheeks but a big smile on her face.

"Still alive…" Koko croaked. She remembered, now. She knew what she'd seen and what had happened after. Only a symphony of the elements, woven together with expert precision, could've brought her back from the brink of death. She caught Saph's eyes and held them. "Thanks to you."

"Me?" She frowned in confusion. "What do you mean?"

One last moment of innocence. "...You don't remember, do you?"

Saph seemed to cower in on herself a little, a guarded look in her eyes, and Koko thought maybe a part of her did remember. But Saph didn't answer the question, or even say anything.

"You healed me."

"No… No, that was just a dream…"

"It was real. I'd be dead, otherwise."

Saph wiped the tears off her face and rolled onto her back to stare up at the stone of their little tent. Neither spoke for a few tense seconds, but there was a feeling in the air—a sense of things shifting. No going back.

"I'm the Avatar, aren't I?" she said softly.

Hearing it aloud felt…so strange. A grim declaration. "Yeah."

"You knew." It wasn't a question. It was an accusation.

"No. But…I did suspect the possibility, at times," Koko admitted. She had her head turned to study Saph, who was still staring up at the stone.

"You could've said something." The betrayal in her voice was palpable. "I had a right to know."

"And if I'd been wrong? Then what?"

Saph just shook her head slowly. "I don't understand. The Avatar is supposed to be an earthbender."

"I know. I can't explain it."

"I thought–" Her lip trembled and she swallowed hard, the next words coming out as a whisper. "I thought it would feel different."

It had never occurred to Koko that Saph might've harbored her own suspicions. "How does it feel?"

"I feel…so small. I don't feel strong or brave or powerful. I don't want to go out there. They know, don't they? Valen and Shylo. They saw?"

"I'm sure they did."

"They'll look at me differently now." She finally turned her head to make eye contact. "Even you're looking at me differently."

It was true, Koko knew. It was impossible to look at Saph without also seeing Korra now, lurking behind those eyes—blue, though not the same blue. But she shook her head; Saph didn't need to know that.

"I'm not. I'm just in pain from your effective but brutal medical care. Pretty sure you electrocuted me."

Finally, Saph smiled, which was the desired effect. "Yeah, I kinda did. Sorry. You seemed unconscious, though."

"Not as unconscious as I wish I'd been." She put a hand on her chest, which burned from the inside every time she moved, breathed, or spoke. There was no way she'd be able to do any traveling—much less protecting—in her current condition. Not that she was about to admit it. The truth was, she felt like an idiot for letting herself get stabbed, in the first place.

"Too bad I don't know how to do it again," Saph lamented. "I mean, with waterbending. Not the electrocuting. You look like you need more healing. I think I passed out before I could finish."

"I'll survive." Koko let out a slow breath and closed her eyes. That brief bout of forced consciousness had worn her out; time to sleep again. To heal. Just as she was drifting off, Saph picked up one of her hands, then pulled it over to hold her forearm like a child might hold a stuffed animal.

How many times had Koko fallen asleep with her mother's arm clutched like that? Knowing, even from a young age, how dangerous Korra's job was. Scared she might not come home one day.

It had been a valid fear—a nightmare that came true. And now she had that final, solid proof that the one parent whose fate had retained a sliver of uncertainty…had in fact been the first to go. There was no surprise in this revelation, but some scars never stopped aching.

She cracked her eyes open and looked at Saph, who was now curled up on her side, apparently asleep. Koko's mind dredged up memories of the infant she had unexpectedly bonded with, mere months after Korra went missing. A small, deep part of her had known the truth, even then, but refused to accept it. And that denial—that fear—had led to her ignoring Saph for years.

She was still so young. So innocent. Just a child. Not the savior this world needed—not yet, anyway. But she'd saved one person today. It was enough for now.

A/N: My deepest apologies for that gut punch at the end, regarding Korra. I just really wanted to drive home the idea that, through everything, Koko held onto a shred of hope that maybe she wasn't even aware of until the moment of truth. The good news is that she can move on now. She's already done so much to rebuild her life and she has good things ahead of her :D (in the next book :P)

Btw if anyone's curious about Koko's life, I do have a side project that consists of a three-part story that will go through her past, present, and future.

Also! I have this fic posted on AO3 (under Sanrielle), which has the ability to include links and embed images. For anyone that's interested, you can find a higher quality version of the cover art, as well as links to some extra goodies at the ends of a couple of chapters. Family trees for the Beifongs and Koko are at the end of ch 8, while a link to a clip that inspired 'Zenya's dance' is at the end of ch 10!