The Return

by tubendo

The ice of the South Pole hides many things, and when Azula and Sokka are confronted by something far greater than themselves, the strength of their relationship is tested, and the Princess has to decide whose path she will follow: the path of her father or the path of freedom. (Sequel to Into The Fire)

33. Chapter 33

After spending so much time around the hulking mass of machinery that was the airship, Sokka felt a certain attachment to the craft, almost like how he treated his boomerang, if to a lesser extent. He loved his weapon dearly, though he guessed many warriors felt the same about their own. The airship's designs were worked upon and improved by Sokka alongside Major Chui and his subordinates, so much so that he felt somewhat responsible for its own failings.

The lack of munitions and ability to turn rapidly meant that the craft was rather vulnerable to ground attack. Unlike Appa, who could only airbend or move to defend himself, the airship was decked out with bombs and was meant to have a whole squad of firebenders onboard, ready to fire upon any enemies below, as well as their own weapons. He hadn't realised the vulnerability had been a serious issue until the gasbags were pierced by an attack, causing the craft to lose its delicate buoyancy, and careen to the ground. Luckily only one bag was pierced, so the descent was slow enough for the pilots to manage.

Upon inspection, he realised what the actual cause had been; a roof tile, or rather the fragments of one, which had been broken loose during the fighting in the streets, was thrown into the airship's canvas by the force of a firebending attack. He assumed it was from a tundra tank or a rather powerful firebender, which given the size of the enemy force they were facing, had to exist among the ranks. He wasn't thinking anyone as powerful as Azula was necessary to create such a lucky attack; just someone who might try and compete for the role of an Imperial Firebender or some special forces.

The scaffolding surrounding the airship made it look far worse for wear than it actually was; there had been some tears on the canvas, and a few boulders from the artillery pieces had actually struck the gondola and parts of the frame, causing them to dent and contort. However, the damage was fixable, with the metal being able to be hammered back into place, and some pipes replaced on the inside where they had been burst. He'd spent a few hours of that morning working on the airship with the engineers, making suggestions along the way for improvements they could make.

His first and most obvious thought was that the actual amount of munitions stored aboard needed to be increased. The potency of the explosives were already clear, but if they could be compacted, then more could be stored aboard. He did, however, consider the danger this might pose to the men aboard the craft. Though the munitions were stored under the craft, away from the engines, if they went off while the craft was in flight, the cockpit could be torn off the whole craft, and so could the platforms the firebenders were meant to use at the back of the gondola.

The next issue was the threat stray fragments or shrapnel might pose, able to pierce through the canvas and cut open the gasbags inside; the obvious solution to this would be some kind of light chainmail to cover the inside of the canvas, which might increase the weight of the balloon itself, but would certainly keep it safe from being pierced.

He had suggested this to Chui, but he rejected it immediately on the basis of cost. Though chainmail would certainly keep piercing objects out, it was just easier to layer more canvas instead of trying to have all the chainmail made, which would prohibitively increase the cost of the airship to reproduce. Sokka tried to give an alternative, which was only using chainmail on the underside, close to the gondola, where they'd likely be hit, and the Major agreed that they could look into it, though he seemed sceptical.

Despite that issue, he was pleased with the responses he'd received thus far, and Sokka felt useful; that was better than sitting around doing nothing in City Hall other than following around Azula. Though he did enjoy hanging around her, it wasn't like back in the village, when he would do that when he didn't have jobs to do, like fishing, hunting, or making food with his Gran-Gran. Now that those kinds of things weren't an issue, he found his day to be open, with a lot of free time.

He was presently helping one of the engineers, Sora, fix the exterior pipes on the gondola, which were meant to expel steam from the engines and out of the heating system, which was meant to ensure the firebenders didn't get cold. He hadn't really considered the issue too much, before he thought about what it would be like flying around on the outside of the airship with the wind and potentially even rain whipping up in his face. Not all firebenders were like Azula, who had a strong control over her inner fire to the point where she could still firebend effectively down at the South Pole, despite the issue of sunlight and warmth more generally.

The pipes were bent out of shape in some places, forcing Sokka to take them out and hammer them into shape; Sora, being a firebender, was able to help him by heating up the metal, making it more malleable. Because of the heat, he'd adopted the mask, apron, and gloves the engineers usually wore, which seemed more practical with every passing hour. Having to deal with hot spaces, and reshaping metal meant that they were forced to wear light clothing but also protective gear.

Once the pipe he was working on was put back into shape, he doused it in a bucket, cooling the hot metal, before giving it to Sora, who put it back into place above them; before he could turn his attention back to working the next pipe, he noticed someone pacing up in their direction from the entrance of the yard. Ty Lee had arrived, not recognising Sokka in his attire, with his face completely covered by a mask, as she walked over towards the door into the cockpit.

Sora must have recognised her, and tapped Sokka on the shoulder, "Are you gonna- uh, well, tell her you're here?" he asked, and the Water Tribesman cleared his throat, before whistling, catching the girl's attention.

"Wait, Sokka, is that you?" she asked, and he nodded, unfastening the bands that held the mask to his face, before pulling it off.

"Yeah, I've just been working these pipes back into shape." he explained, gesturing to the set of pipes beside him, which were still malformed.

"Oh, okay." she nodded, "I thought you were more the boss here." she added, and he just gestured to Sora beside him.

"I can do just as much work as the next guy. It's unfair to make them do everything while I just come up with ideas." he argued, before glancing back over to the entrance, "Uh, so, does Azula want me for something?"

"Uh, well, she wanted to do some sparring, and, well, I guess she probably just wants to talk." she explained what she knew, the warrior scrunching his lips up.

"Well, could I just do a little more work here, and then we can go. I've got to get changed back into my normal clothes, anyway." he gestured to the apron and layered pants he was wearing, which he'd have to exchange for his ordinary tunic and pants.

"Uh, okay." Ty Lee nodded, "I might just go have a look around then."

"Yeah, go ahead." he smiled, gesturing to the door she was going to enter otherwise.

He refastened his mask, before turning back to Sora, "I'll do a few more pipes, and then head out. Will you be able to do the rest in time?" he asked, and the engineer nodded.

"Yeah, don't worry about it. I wasn't expecting your help anyway." he admitted, and Sokka chuckled.

"Ah, I couldn't help myself." he assured him, before grabbing the next pipe with some tongs, "Heat her up for me."

With that request, Sora raised his right hand over the pipe before conjuring some flames on his palm, slowly heating up the pipe; once it was glowing dimly, the Water Tribesman began to hammer away, making sure to get rid of any bends he saw, before sticking the tongs inside the pipe, using them to pop out any dents he found. It wasn't all too complicated, even if the heat was getting to him; he only had to do that a few more times, bending, whacking, and dousing each pipe. By the time that was all done, Ty Lee walked back out of the airship, and paced back over to him.

"So then, are you done?" she asked, and he nodded, and gestured to a tent that lay nearby within the yard.

"Yeah, my stuff's over there, just give me a bit." he explained, the girl still following him over there, despite the fact he was about to get changed.

"The airship's looking better than before. They're pretty fast at this." she acknowledged the skill of the engineers, "How come you like this so much anyway? I didn't think they had machines at the South Pole." she asked him, and Sokka just shrugged.

"I've always liked to find out how things work. This is a lot more complicated than the things we have back home, that's true, but it's really just a bunch of little things working together." he explained it as best he could, "Plus, getting to fly without something like a sky-bison is pretty cool. It really shows how cool we humans are."

"Yeah, I guess it is pretty cool." she agreed, the pair soon reaching the tent, where he could see his things were all still sitting there; there were some divider screens that stood between them and the other side of the tent, giving him somewhere to get changed.

"Just let me get changed. Azula wasn't being too urgent, was she?" he asked, and Ty Lee shook her head, "Good. If she was, then something would have to be wrong." he argued.

Her eyes brightened, before she nodded, "Well, I guess that's good news then."

He strode inside, and pulled the apron, mask, and gloves off, placing them down beside where his own clothes were, before he took them with him behind the screens. Once covered, he quickly dispensed of his boots, then the pants, before he pulled his tunic and pants on; they were far more comfortable, though that was expected, as they weren't designed to be heat-resistant. He then put his boots back on, tightening them before he stepped out from the screens' cover.

"Already done?" Ty Lee asked him, sounding surprised.

"I am." he confirmed, grabbing his boomerang, which was sheathed in its holster with the rest of his things and tossed it over his shoulder, before making sure it was in the right spot; he hadn't bothered bringing any other weapons with him, given he wasn't expecting a fight.

"You really like that boomerang." she observed, and he smiled as he approached.

"Yeah, I take it everywhere. I don't want to lose it... that's like my greatest fear."

"Really?" she asked, sounding sceptical; when he actually thought on it, he realised that it was certainly outweighed by the potential loss of the people he cared about in his life.

"Okay, maybe not my greatest... it's up there though." he conceded, and paced over towards the entrance, "Let's get going. You hungry?" he asked, and she licked her lips.

"Definitely. Wanna get some lunch?" she asked, and he just smiled, almost giddy at the suggestion of food.

"I'd never say no to that." he admitted, "Azula would just force me to make stuff from the pantry back at City Hall."

"I know, she can be a miser at times." she jokingly addressed her thrifty attitude, which was a bit unbecoming of a noble, "Come on." she waved him along, and Sokka followed her out of the yard.

The stone walls Toph had made still stood tall around the airship, but beyond them, there were just fields, some of them with crops growing in them, and others with some livestock, though most were empty. Sokka wondered why they weren't farming as much land as before, and something told him that people had fled due to the civil war. Though prior to their first battle in Shengchang, there was little evidence of the war physically in the city, he realised that the lack of easy travel and access to goods would make living and working in Shengchang a risk, especially given their closeness to what had been Zhao's territory, before Azula took over it.

He and Ty Lee made their way into the city's outskirts, which were still in tatters. Though the part of the city they were in hadn't received much damage from the artillery, the fighting itself, with all the traps underlying the streets, tundra tanks and rampant firebending, had caused many of the buildings to get set alight. Luckily for the people of Shengchang, most of their houses seemed to be made of rammed earth, and brick, instead of wood. The only parts of the houses that were consistently wooden, from what he could see, were the roofs, floors, and internal framing.

The acrobat seemed to notice that he had his head off in the clouds, and nudged him, "So, Sokka, got any plans for what you're going to do when you go to the Northern Water Tribe?" she asked, and the Water Tribesman sighed.

"Uh, yeah, I guess I'll try and eat some traditional Water Tribe food when I'm there." he spoke the first thing that came to mind, though he realised, he probably ought to be thinking about his negotiations with Arnook and the council of elders that would likely be wanting a say in their dealings.

"Hmm, you really can't help but talk about food, huh?" she observed, the Water Tribesman awkwardly nodding, before his gaze turned down the street.

"Yeah, it's always on my mind." he conceded, "I really like the food back home... I'll never complain about it."

"But Azula does." she recalled, "What was it, stewed sea worms?" she asked, and he just laughed at what she'd tried to say.

"You mean stewed sea prunes." he corrected her, "Yeah, she hates them. Or, really just doesn't like them. She'd always want something else when they were in the pot."

"Did she get her way?" she asked him, and the Water Tribesman just shrugged; there weren't the resources available to really allow her to be picky, so she was forced to eat it.

"No. Maybe she doesn't like it because she was forced to eat them." he gave his best theory, then thinking how to try and solve the problem, like he would with any other issue, "I get they might be a bit weird at first, but if she chooses to eat them, maybe she'll like them."

"Dunno if that's something you can solve." the girl mumbled, before smiling, "At least she must like the other stuff."

"Yeah, she'd shovel down any of the meat we got. I think she was worried about losing her strength when we were down there... she didn't." he added, wanting to make that clear; he'd trained with Azula nonstop while they were living in his village, and she was just as strong as she was back at the Agni Kai by the time they left.

To begin with, after she'd been forced to lie around and recover after the Agni Kai, she did slack off a bit on the boat, but that they were forced to hunt, fish, and gather, even before they got back to his village. That meant Azula and he always were in shape. He wondered if she would ever take some time off, properly; perhaps she would be forced to stop training as much once she settled down as Fire Lord, and got down to the boring humdrum business he imagined she'd have to be dealing with.

"I guess she'll have some time to not train as much, once she becomes Fire Lord." he observed, Ty Lee nodding along.

Back before he knew her, he would have guessed the Fire Lord was always conniving, sending his armies to go commit atrocities purposefully, always trying to find a way to mess with the other nations; that might have been Ozai's mindset, but he doubted Azula would be consumed by such malicious goals. Her aims were lofty, that was clear, but she had the spirit to enact them; he hadn't really considered too much how much she had changed her mind on things especially concerning the other nations and the war. She might have still felt herself to be a crop above the rest, a superior individual with all her inherent skills and the less inherent training she undertook to apply them.

Suddenly, he heard her snicker and he scrunched his lips up, confused about what she found funny, "What?"

"I thought you were going to say, once she becomes a mother." she admitted, and he just let out a laugh.

"Ha! She'd never stop training because of that. I mean at this point she's already half-parenting Aang with Katara, and she doesn't spare time to be all... I don't know, cuddly?"

"Well she does with you." Ty Lee reminded him, and he snorted, both confused and amazed by the fact that he had the most powerful woman in the world sparing the time of her day to be intimate with him, a nobody from the far end of the world.

"I'm really not worth her time." he mumbled, "But she obviously doesn't think that."

"Hey, I'm speaking as a teenage girl, and as a friend... yeah, she has a reason to think you're worth her time." Ty Lee reassured him, and he snickered, immediately guessing her reason.

"What, is it, as you said, because I'm cute?" he asked, and she snickered.

"No, no, that's just one reason. The other is because you're considerate and actually stuck by her side. Supportive. Like a well made bed." she gave the oddest comparison, and he tried to smile back, somewhat appreciative, if a bit confused by what she was saying.

"Alright, this is the first time somebody's called me a bed. Just gonna roll with it." he mumbled, knowing she'd find his thoughts funny, and it'd break any awkwardness between them.

She did laugh, and he sighed, remaining silent as they made their way further into Shengchang. The streets had been relaid and fixed up, though only in the past day. He guessed some would still be a mess, but the earthbenders would likely be getting around to fixing it. He was sure they could scalp a lot of money off annoyed businessmen just to try and fix up a small bit of a street; though it was really Azula's fault for organising such a plan to use the streets themselves as weapons, he couldn't blame them if they tried to make some ban from those more fortunate than themselves.

"Is it stealing if they deserve it?" he mumbled, that thought having come to mind from his observations.

"I'm pretty sure that's what Katara was thinking before she snatched that scroll." she recalled, and he lurched forward, completely forgetting about that; having suggested the same mindset made him seem pretty stupid after he'd made fun of her for the thieving on a few occasions.

"Ah, I'm turning into her." he covered his face with his hands, and Ty Lee just pat him on the back.

"Hey, I think you've always been a righteous guy... I mean, we didn't have the best first impressions, but it was a joke, wasn't it?"

"I mean, Azula might have gone to..." he trailed off, not wanting to finish that sentence.

His girlfriend's ambitions had not been quelled by her brother's supposed death, but he imagined if those events had not occurred, she would have marched on the colonies, forced them to bend to her will, and taken her fleet of airships to force her brother to surrender. That was what he imagined was going on in her mind, and was what he was originally so afraid of; he knew that she could become the Fire Lord, even back then, though it would not be easy. He knew the path she wanted to take, and was just glad it was no longer an option.

"Yeah, I know. I don't think she would have done it." she admitted, "I think it was just posturing."

"Really?" he asked, and Ty Lee nodded resolutely.

"I mean, the old Azula, yeah, definitely. She could have gone on a rampage across the Earth Kingdom, gathered an army of people who mightn't have even liked her that much, and headed straight for the capital to bring him down." she described what could have occurred, but even Sokka understood the point she was making; even before the news about Zuko, that didn't seem likely, even if she might have claimed she had aspirations to seize the throne.

"Yeah, but that didn't happen. I mean... I can't tell what she would have done, because well, of what happened." he admitted; he didn't really know what Azula felt about Zuko's demise, but she clearly had mixed feelings, which told him that she mightn't have been as set on overthrowing him as she had told him she was.

"She doesn't hate him anymore." Ty Lee argued, "Maybe she never really did... she was angry, back in Yu Dao. I can't say what she was thinking, but you probably can."

Sokka sighed, knowing that he should have done more to stop Azula's foolishness; he had trusted she could defeat her brother, become Fire Lord, and give him everything he ever wanted. He wanted to have everything, without considering the true ramifications. Now they were more than obvious, he felt like things could have been so much better.

"I can't help but feel like this is my fault."

"You didn't banish, scar, and force him to hunt the Avatar. All that stuff with Zuko... it was going to happen eventually." she conceded, shaking her head, "I just wish... we could have done something. I wish she had come to me."

"After Ba Sing Se?" he asked, and she nodded; Sokka's gaze turned back up the street, knowing she was right- of all people, besides himself, Ty Lee was the one who could have actually persuaded the Princess against her foolish course of action, "Yeah, you could have helped... but then, would have she changed?"

The acrobat just pouted, though her expression shifted as she pointed down the street; there were a few stalls ahead of them, by the edge of the local market, "This is where I wanted to go. I found a place when I was going to get you."

"Really?" he raised a brow, "It better be meat related."

"Oh, it is." she smirked, gesturing towards one of the stalls; he looked at the name and it made him salivate- Uncle Gong's Five Meat Skewers.

"Oh this is what I'm talking about!" he exclaimed, raising his fists into the air, before he lowered them, realising his reaction was a bit extreme, especially in public.

The pair paced over to the stall, which luckily only had a single person waiting in line; after a few moments of standing there, the customer was handed two skewers, which were nearly as long as Sokka's arms, and paced away with them. There was a young woman standing behind the stall, who raised a hand to greet them.

"Good day, what can I get you?" she asked, and he scrunched his lips.

Glancing over, he checked the prices; they seemed to have different sizes, but the biggest was only twenty ban, while the smaller ones went down to fourteen, ten, and six. Even the smaller ones seemed to be big, good enough to sate him for a few hours, if the illustrations given were any indication. He pulled the coins from his bag, and dropped down thirty, getting a big one for himself and two smaller ones, which were for Ty Lee and Azula. The Princess would have the honour of eating such a great snack, no matter if she didn't want it.

"A big one, and two mediums." he requested, the young woman behind the stall letting out a chuckle; she obviously knew who was getting what.

"Don't eat them all." she warned him, and he just placed a hand on his chest.

"I would never steal food from my friends." he assured her, before she turned around.

"One big, two medium." she addressed the cook, who had to be the so-called Uncle Gong, who was a middle-aged portly man with thinning grey hair and a big bushy beard; he reminded him a little of Azula's uncle Iroh, though he was far more well-groomed and dressed.

He proceeded to stab some pieces of meat with the skewers, sliding the meat up before putting more on; once each skewer was done, he handed them to the girl, who then gave them to Sokka and Ty Lee. The acrobat looked just as hungry as him, and he gestured to one of them.

"Save one for Azula, okay. I know it'll be hard to hold back." he acknowledged the challenge of not scoffing both of the skewers down; the acrobat just looked at them both, before taking a bite out of one.

"Mmmm..." she let out murmur, sounding satisfied with the skewer, "It's crispy, spicy, and soft at the same time."

"That's what I like to hear!" he exclaimed, before taking a bite out of his own; her description was quite astute, and he almost moaned from the delicious mix of texture and flavour that found itself heading right for his stomach.

"That hits the spot." he almost whispered, glancing back to the stall and giving them a thumbs up, seeming to please the man who was cooking, who gave a thumbs up back.

The two of them then continued on their way, and Sokka began to eat away at his massive skewer; by the time they reached the city walls, he'd gotten through about a third, and Ty Lee was about half way through her own skewer. He decided to slow down and let himself savour it, knowing that once it was gone, he wouldn't be going back to get another any time soon. Azula wasn't handing out ban to him like he was a beggar, after all; the money he had he had mostly found in City Hall, swiping it from the Governor's office after they took over.

"Hey..." he spoke up, feeling that something was worth discussing with her, beyond the deliciousness of their meal; earlier, she had briefly given her opinions about 'the old Azula' and what she would have done, and that made him think about how Ty Lee was the person he knew that knew the most about the Princess.

He could make the claim he knew her in and out, but he truly was more in the dark that he'd like to admit; the Princess briefly mentioned things about her childhood, her mother, father, and about all the conspiracies she could imagine were going on, such as her mother's disappearance and her grandfather's death. He knew Ty Lee would have her own thoughts to share, but not about any of that politicking; she knew Azula as a person, not just the Princess who served her country dutifully and intimidated all who faced her.

"Yeah?" she prodded, still chewing on a piece of her skewer as she awaited his question.

"Uh, yeah, I wanted to ask. You know Azula... I mean, we both do, but you really know her." he acknowledged, and she blinked a few times, her expression becoming less calm with each passing moment.

"Wait, did something bad happen?" she asked, sounding almost frantic, "Are you two not talking?"

"No, no, it's nothing like that." he reassured her, gesturing towards the gates that they were nearing, "Here." he indicated that they needed to turn.

"So, what is it then?" she asked, the Water Tribesman eyeing the metal plates of the wall beside him, trying to focus on her instead of any pedestrians, guards, or odd trinkets he might spot.

He was left out of Azula's past, before she met him; he couldn't judge anything she did, because he truly didn't know her then, what she had done, what she wanted.

"What was she like back then?" he asked, and Ty Lee's expression softened, seeming not to reminisce, but feel a pang of sadness.

"She wanted respect, more than anything." she admitted, before glancing down at her feet, "I think I know what hole it was meant to fill. Back then I just thought she wanted to assert herself, because it was her right, but that wasn't it."

"She wanted to prove people would do what she wanted." he realised what she was saying, making him chuckle, glancing down at the red clothes he wore, and the curved tips of his steel boots, "Well shit, I guess she's pretty good at it."

"Yeah, she is." she agreed, and they paced through the gates, receiving some salutes from the guards, who were familiar with them now; he'd even seen people threading banners to celebrate their victory, which featured grand impressions of Azula, the group, and her guards, all standing triumphant in victory.

He recalled it was never like that; after both battles, he'd felt completely exhausted and wanted to do nothing more than fall face first on a mattress and let the night take him. No romantic gesture to his love, nor proclamation of victory over their foes; every person had their needs, and could only muster to fight for so long.

Once they had moved past the gates, Ty Lee tapped him on the shoulder, "So, did you want to ask more about her?"

He narrowed his eyes, "I mean, I just want to hear what she was like. I mean, she wasn't always trying to make elaborate schemes and conquer cities." he made what he thought was an obvious observation; the Princess had once been a little girl, perhaps with the same kind of aspirations he had had when he was little.

He'd wanted to be a warrior, but he'd always been interested in seeing how the world and things worked, and wanted to see if he could improve things. That's why he felt at home working on the airship; it might not have really been his own creation, but he felt like if he could make it better, that would make him just as fulfilled as any victory in battle.

"No, she wasn't." Ty Lee confirmed, "She was much more... well, I guess she just wanted to conquer school, not Ba Sing Se."

That made him snicker, telling him that she hadn't really changed all that much, even if her goals were quite different; fundamentally, they were still similar, though that said nothing of her aspirations with their own relationship. He thought if he knew more about what she was like back then, he could try and see forward, to know what challenges they might face together. Azula's greatest enemy, from what he could tell, was not Ozai, but herself. Her arrogance, and her self-doubt, two competing maelstroms that coveted control over her will, trying to make her into a great conqueror and a recluse, unmotivated girl at the same time.

"What kind of stuff was she doing? Besides the firebending, of course." he asked once more, wondering if that would clue him in a little more.

"She liked scary stories, and learning about... dark things." she recalled, not seeming to like the memories, though she put on a smile, "She'd make her own. They were pretty good, actually."

"That sounds about right." he mumbled, "What about things she didn't want Ozai finding out about?"

"Oh... well, I do know a few things, but I don't think it's my place to say." she admitted, probably not willing to spill any secrets, though she looked eager to say something, "We got up to some stuff. Pranks, mostly."

"On servants, guards, or Zuko?" he asked, guessing the likely culprits, and Ty Lee snickered.

"All of them." she confirmed his suspicions, and Sokka shook his head.

"Yeah, that's Azula." he noted, finding her responses not all that surprising, "When did she get... serious?"

"When Zuko left." she explained, though she cringed at her own words, "What am I saying? Left..." she mumbled, chiding herself, "Once he was exiled, she was Crown Princess. She had a lot of new responsibilities."

"That tracks." he nodded, knowing that she had mellowed out quite a bit after they arrived at the South Pole, and before she found Aang, though she hadn't returned to the same kind of stuck up, constantly paranoid mindset she formerly held, "So, maybe she needs to take a break every once in a while."

"Do you think it's getting to her?" she asked Sokka, whose gaze turned up the street, noting the roof of City Hall quickly approaching.

"Being the boss?" he guessed what she was specifically referring to, and she nodded.

He knew that Azula had issues with actually dealing with her emotions and all the stress and expectations that came from her position; now that he thought about it, he was unsure if she was going to stay on top of it.

"I think so." he admitted the truth, "But, she's confident. It's better than that... well, not." he conceded, "Last time she wasn't confident, she had you chi-block me, tried to outsmart a mass-murdering sycophant, and ended up ramming a battleship into the walls of a city."

"Uh..." she mumbled, "I feel like I should have done more about that."

"You can't change her mind. Nobody can." he admitted, knowing her stubbornness was both a blessing and a curse; he loved her for it, and it kept them hopeful, but more often than not, it could lead them into dangerous situations.

"You did, didn't you?" she reminded him; the Water Tribesman just shrugged.

"I might have, but maybe she just realised my ideas were really good. I don't think I'm an idiot, even if she calls me one."

"She's a student in denial." Ty Lee joked, "You're her sage."

"I'm wise with... uh, war, not spirits." he clarified, not finding her wording very accurate.

"You know what I meant." she warned him with an accusing finger, before they turned around the corner, making they way along the exterior wall of the City Hall, over towards the entrance.

When they reached the garden at the front, Azula was standing there with crossed arms, leaning against the wall beside the doors, "Oh, took you two long enough." she commented, not pleased by their tardiness, though she took note of the skewers, "Is that for me?" she asked, and Ty Lee nodded with a grin, offering her the skewer Sokka bought.

She accepted the skewer, and took a bite, "Hmm..." she mumbled as she chewed, before her eyes met Sokka's, "You chose the right place."

"Uh no, she did." he clarified, pointing to Ty Lee as he moved to take another bite from his skewer, which he'd been mostly ignoring since he started talking with the acrobat about the girl in front of him.

That conversation seemed a little improper in hindsight, though he was glad he had it; he wanted to learn more about Azula, because despite all the time they spent together, he couldn't really say he knew what kind of person she had been before they met, and before she had been forced to follow in her father's footsteps.

"So, how are the repairs going?" she asked him, and Sokka gave her a thumbs up as he chewed on the meat.

Once he swallowed, he decided to actually give an explanation, "We've mostly fixed up the holes and dents. We have some plans to make it a little less prone to getting pierced. But uh, yeah, more bombs are needed."

"As if that wasn't the most obvious answer." she rolled her eyes, "And where would you store them?"

"Yeah, that's gonna be a bit of an issue. Make the gondola bigger, maybe?" he suggested, before shaking his head, "We can worry about that when we make more airships."

"Speaking of which, I've received another report from Yingang." she spoke up, "I hear that the shipyards will be able to start working on our designs within a week. So, you have... I say five days to finalise any plans, and two for the messenger hawk to get there." she gave him a timeline, Sokka nodding, thinking that was more than enough time to make the plans, though his mind quickly turned to the other plan for making airships.

"What about Mister Takumi?" he asked, and Azula crossed her arms.

"His factories should be able to produce parts for airships, though assembling a whole one will require more construction than it is worth. I have told him that we will move the bare crafts here to arm them and fit in any extra parts that can't be mass produced in the Yingang steelworks." she explained her plan, which Sokka approved of; though he'd prefer to have the airships being produced in more than one location, he understood that they needed to make as many as quickly as possible.

"Enough about that, how about we go finish these skewers." Ty Lee prodded her, and the Princess just let out a sigh.

"Yeah, alright." she agreed, taking another bite from her skewer.

Sokka just stood there, wondering if there was anything he could say to her, or do for her; if he wanted to make sure she could relax, and stay on top of all the issues she had to deal with, he'd have to be a little proactive.

"Uh, did you want a massage or something?" he asked her the first question that came to mind; Ty Lee snorted, nearly spitting out the meat she was chewing on, while the Princess's cheeks flushed red.

"Why are you asking me that?" she questioned him back accusingly, pointing a finger on his sternum.

"I mean, don't you want to relax?" he suggested, and she crossed her arms, seeming annoyed, but her lips told him that she didn't dislike the idea as much as her reaction had suggested.

"Maybe I should leave you for just a moment." Ty Lee suggested with a purse of her lips; she pushed the doors open, and left them to speak freely without her having the opportunity to make fun of the Princess.

"Why did you have to ask that in front of her?" Azula asked him with grit teeth, and he just snickered.

"Hey, do you want it or not?" he asked, and the Princess slouched over, eyeing him with contempt.

"Yes, savage, I do." she grumbled, and he pointed his right ear toward her, cupping it with his hand.

"Sorry, could you speak up?" he prodded her, and Azula looked ready to burst, grappling his tunic with both hands.

"I want it." she made her opinion clear, "So stop being a pigheaded arse, and let's go back inside. I won't have you trying to embarrass me any longer."

"But in private... we can be as embarrassing as I like, right?" he asked, and she just rolled her eyes, pushing the door open.

"Stop talking if you know what's good for you."

---

As Appa flew around their destination, Katara felt a sense of unease; it was not because she saw anything that felt outwardly foreboding or intimidating, like a gaping cave or chasm, or some frightening beast, but because of the state of the village before her. Chunxi seemed not too unlike the other Earth Kingdom villages she had visited on her journeys across the country, with the same general plan, forming a square shape centred on a village hall that sat at the centre of a path, leading out to a gate, between which lay homes on either side. There were a few barns, pens, and hovels outside of the walls, lying closer to the stream that ran down beside the village.

The village, however, did not seem lively, but the exact opposite; homes were in ruins, the walls breaking apart, and everything close to the river was clearly abandoned and dilapidated, though they seemed to have been abandoned relatively recently. The villagers were still around, though they were unlike anyone she had seen so far on their journey; they reminded her of her home, but not in a nice way. Every man was trained as a warrior out of pure necessity, and in Chunxi it was worse; all the adults, and even some of the children, all walked around with spears on their back, alongside makeshift shields.

When Appa drew to land outside of the village gate, some of the villagers approached, having seen them flying around, and already had their spears ready, presuming them hostile; they were led by a young man, who reminded her a little of her brother, if at least in the way he presented himself to his foes, with gusto and confidence that was unbecoming. Sokka at least had trained for years, and was clearly far more skilled than he had been even a year prior; this boy seemed weak in his footing and unfamiliar with his weapon, even if it seemed to be well-used.

"Who are you people?!" he questioned them accusingly, "Why have you come to our village?"

"We seek you no harm." Katara tried to reassure him, raising her hands up to show her non-hostility before she jumped off of Appa's saddle.

Momo jumped off after her, and scurried around the ground, frightening the villagers, who mustn't have seen a creature quite like him before.

"What is this rat-monkey doing?" one of the villagers almost shouted, pointing his spear at the flying lemur frantically.

"He's just curious." Aang tried to dissuade any fears they had about the basically harmless creature, "I'm Aang, and I'm the Avatar." he identified himself, gesturing to the arrow tattoos that lined his body.

"The Avatar?" one of the boys questioned him, sounding sceptical, before he turned to their apparent leader, "That's... wait..." he began, seeming unsure of himself.

"Yes, we've been expecting the Avatar." the leader confirmed, before hammering his spear into the ground, "But sooner than this! It's nearly two months!"

"I know... I'm sorry, I was on a journey to find my earthbending master." he defended his tardiness, "And I didn't know I was needed here until a few weeks ago."

"A few weeks ago would have been better than now." a girl commented, her spear still pointed their way, clearly agreeing with the leader; the villagers were in need of his help, and any delay would offend them.

"You're right." the Avatar nodded, before glancing at Katara, seeming uncertain what to do next, "Could you take me to your... uh, leader?"

"The headman, you mean." the leader of the villagers corrected him, "He'll be pleased to see you. You're here to get rid of the spirit, right?"

"Get rid-" he began, clearly surprised by the way they were thinking about the situation, "No, I'm here to make sure it leaves you in peace. I want to make sure spirits and humans don't fight... it's not right that it's been hurting your village." he reassured them, obviously not wanting to paint himself as an ally of the spirits, but not their enemy either.

"Well, get rid of... peace. That sounds like the same thing." the leader commented, before he gestured down into the village, towards the hall, "The headman's probably in the hall. So... go ahead. We'd all like this done sooner rather than later."

"You said it." an older man agreed, "I can't stand being this vigilant all the time... the Fire Nation and bandits were bad enough, but a damn spirit? What are we supposed to do?"

"That's why we're here." Katara gave as reassuring a smile as she could muster, feeling bad that the villagers had been forced to wait, and deal with a force that must have been beyond their comprehension; it was certainly beyond hers, even with Aang trying to explain to her the kinds of things spirits did in the human world.

Aang gestured for her to follow him, and she did, pacing her way through the village; the villagers remained vigilant, despite understanding their peaceful intentions there. Many of them seemed cautious and guarded, even within their homes, though many of them were curious, stepping out of their houses to see what was going on. As they approached the village hall, the headman stepped outside, presumably having caught them through a window.

He was a tall, gaunt man, whose robes were fine looking, but had clearly been repaired and remade multiple times, showing a variety of fabrics of varying qualities; his face was long and solemn looking, though he seemed pleased to see them. As Aang approached, he gave the pair a bow, and gestured around himself.

"Good day, young Avatar. I welcome you to Chunxi. I only wish you had arrived under fairer circumstances." he addressed him, before pointing to himself, "I am Headman Jianding. We have been expecting you for a long time now."

"Yes, I'm sorry it took so long." Aang acknowledged with a grimace, "I'm Aang, and this is Katara." he introduced them, before he let out a sigh, "We were... going places, I guess you've probably heard about the things that have happened."

"The Fire Lord was killed, Shengchang fell to the Princess, and a few battles took place in our province. It's not been a kind few weeks." he admitted, seeming frustrated with the turn of events, "Things must be looking up if you could spare time to aid us, Avatar."

"Uh... I guess they are... but I'm not sparing time. This is my job, and I'll do it." he reassured him, before looking at Katara, seeming unsure what to say next.

She took the initiative, knowing what they were there for, "So, Headman, what has the spirit been doing to your village?"

"For the past year we've been attacked, on and off, by the spirit that lives in our stream. It is usually docile, and hasn't caused much issue as long as we gave it offerings." he explained, raising a hand to stroke his goatee, "The Fire Nation came through here about a year ago, demanding that some of our young men go help them with their infrastructure project. They were told they'd be paid, but we didn't see them for months... and while they were away, the attacks began."

"What does it do?" Aang pressed, and Jianding grimaced.

"We draw from the stream for water. Every once in a while, when we'd go to draw some water, the spirit would attack, throwing people around, even taking them into the stream. Everyone who got taken for long enough never came back. We still don't know where they are... dead... the Spirit World. This isn't a matter that we know well... we asked a wandering sage, but he could not find a way to soothe the spirit's anger."

"You think it's angry?" Katara asked, "Did you stop giving it offerings?"

"No, the opposite. We gave it more once the attacks started, hoping it would give up and leave us be. It got only worse, and destroyed the watermill, where we used to grind out grain. Now we've had to make an ostrich horse push a manual grindstone around... or grind by hand when it's too tired. It destroyed houses too, those that were built by the stream especially." he explained, sounding more exasperated and solemn after each sentence; he sounded just about ready to give up, and Katara wouldn't blame him.

A mystical creature that they couldn't physically harm was harassing them for doing nothing, though Katara was sure there had to be a reason. She didn't know spirits, but if they were just like animals, going around 'biting' people, then how could humans ever tolerate them, let alone worship them.

"That isn't... I will try and understand what's going on." Aang reassured the Headman, "You people couldn't have done anything wrong. You're just living... like how you would have a hundred years ago." he acknowledged, and Jianding's face shifted to a more sad one.

"Ah, yes... I forget that part, young Avatar... you're not that young."

"No, I'm not." he admitted, sounding solemn for a moment before he forced a smile onto his lips, "We'll figure it out." he reassured him, before glancing around, "I don't really know how. Maybe I'll have to meditate on it."

"Before you try that, maybe we should try and look around. Maybe there's an obvious reason for the spirit attacking the villagers." she suggested, and the Air Nomad smiled, seeming to approve of her idea.

"Alright." he agreed to the proposition, before waving to the Headman, "We'll be back as quick as we can. Hopefully I can figure out this spirit stuff."

"As do I." Jianding nodded resolutely, "Good luck, Avatar." he bid them farewell, before he gestured uphill, the way the stream was flowing from, "The shrine for the spirit is upriver. The Fire Nation stopped us from going near it for some time before they... uh, well, had their internal spat. I believe they were using the old road up there for some purpose." he explained, and Katara nodded.

"Hm, do you think they might have done something to agitate the spirit?"

"I couldn't guess what they did, but the Fire Nation does tend to be quite destructive whenever they go through our country... they have no care for the spirits." he acknowledged, Aang grimacing.

"Uh... I guess you're right there." he acknowledged, "She doesn't really care for them." he added, referring to the Princess' opinion on the spirits.

"She doesn't know much about them... neither do I. Most of what I know I learnt from just small talk at the North Pole." she admitted, feeling a bit embarrassed that that was the way she had started learning about the spirits, instead of from her Gran-Gran and the other elders.

They did know of the spirits, but they were of little concern to them; like Azula, and perhaps rightfully, they cared more about the material world and the physical needs of their community, rather than worrying about what any spirits thought.

The two of them began walking back through the village, where the villagers kept eyeing them, seeming both intrigued and concerned; she hoped the mood would shift once Aang made some kind of breakthrough. Maybe they'd learn what was causing the spirit to attack the villagers, or perhaps figure out the reasons for the individual attacks. There might lay, beyond their present knowledge, some way to deal with the spirit without resorting to violence; Aang and her both agreed that would be the worst outcome, even before they had arrived. Now that she knew where the spirit was, and how it was attacking the villagers, she had a feeling that angering it further might even force the villagers of Chunxi to abandon their homes entirely and move some place else.

Katara knew that the spirits were mysterious and dangerous; that was obvious enough to anyone who'd heard children's stories, which seemed to be more real than fiction. All she knew of spirits, at least those within the physical world, was what she'd heard from Sokka about Tui and La, who had taken physical forms at the Spirit Oasis; she doubted the spirit of Chunxi was going to be physical, like some kind of animal, because the stories they had heard spoke about it appearing out of thin air.

As they left the village gate, Katara turned to Aang, unsure what might truly be behind the spirit attacks that had been described, "What do you think is happening, Aang, really?"

"I- uh, I have heard about things like this before from the monks, and in stories I heard when I travelled around before the war, but it was never anything this bad. Attacking a village isn't normal." he admitted, before grimacing, "I hope that we can make sure it stops... it just sounds scary."

"Yeah, it does." she agreed, before grimacing, "Could they have done something to agitate it?"

"I'm sure the villagers haven't done anything bad." he argued back quietly, before glancing back towards the village, "What could have they done?"

"Maybe the stream is the spirit's... uh, place. So, if people mistreat the stream, they mistreat the spirit." she gave her best idea, and he turned back around to look at the stream, which lay downhill from them; she could see a watermill next to the stream, though the building was quite damaged and had been abandoned for some time.

"Maybe that?" he suggested, gesturing to the mill, before scrunching his lips, "But that doesn't make sense. Doesn't it just move water around?" he asked, and Katara shrugged her shoulders.

"I don't really know what those things are for. Grinding grain is what the Headman said." she admitted, as they didn't have anything of the sorts where she was from, though she had seen a few things like it on their journey so far.

"Huh... Well, if somebody's done something bad to the stream, it can't be that. It has to be something new." he realised, "Maybe the Fire Nation did something." he guessed, before raising his hand to his forehead, blocking the glare of the morning sun as he looked east, upstream, "Let's have a look. Maybe we might find the shrine as well."

Katara nodded, and followed after him as he paced up a trodden path, which ran parallel to the stream, leading them into a wooded area. She kept an eye out for anything that seemed out of the ordinary, but the forest was calm, with only the sound of birds fluttering or chirping earning her attention. As they moved deeper into the woods, the sound of the stream became louder and louder, and as the path drew closer, she understood why; the stream was flowing down some rapids, which cascaded down a sharp, rock-strewn slope.

The path they were taking became windy as it led them up the slope, Katara's eyes focusing on the stream; she still hadn't seen anything out of the ordinary. The water kept flowing, the birds chirped, and the sun reflected off the splashes of water, creating momentary flashes of bright light. In her opinion, it was quite beautiful, but she didn't dare to approach it. Aang remained cautious too, though he sped up as they reached a flatter area, and ran towards the water; she wanted to stop him, but wasn't fast enough to grab his cuff. She was ready to shout at him, until she followed him out to a clearing, when she realised what he was so excited about.

Before them lay a massive pool of water, wide enough to fit a few sky-bisons in comfortably, surrounded by rock faces and bushes. She guessed it had to be a spring, where the water would come out of the ground. They had visited a few of them on their initial journey towards the North Pole, as they were a good source of clean water; that very fact made her salivate, wanting to have a taste of the freshwater. However, she knew that despite the tranquillity of the water, it was dangerous if the spirit was waiting to pounce on them. Aang didn't get any closer, instead kneeling down before he crossed his legs.

"Maybe if I meditate, I might be able to talk to it." he explained his plan out loud, and Katara nodded, sitting herself down behind him as she eyed the pool.

Its beauty was overwhelming, and she wondered if that had something to do with the spirit. It would make sense that such a place would be the spirit's home. Her eyes darted around the water's edge, and she noticed that there was water coming down from the rockface, though it had an odd colour, muddier than the rest of the water. Following the trickle of water, her eyes moved up to note that it was coming down from a channel that seemed to be carved into the rockface, coming from further up; glancing that way she noticed that there was a clear, dirt-laden escarpment further up, though unlike the one at the pool, it didn't seem natural, like it had been dug out, or the escarpment had been blown up, as there was very little grass, bushes, or other flora she could see.

"Hey, Aang. I think I see something up there." she spoke up, the Air Nomad's eyes opening; she moved beside him, and gestured up to the escarpment she could see, "See the dirty water. It's coming from up ."

"Huh." he mumbled, before rising to his feet, "Guess I better check it out." he decided, opening up his glider staff before he launched himself into the air, gliding over the rockface to land in the higher part of the woods.

"Hey!" she called out, feeling a bit left out with him flying off.

She decided not to make a fuss out of it, and paced through the woods, moving to climb up the slope where she could manage it to reach the escarpment; it was rough, forcing her to climb up some rocks, but it seemed that the path was still decently trodden, telling her that the villagers would come up that way. Once she got up there, she had to make her way through a bit more of the woods, though she came across something interesting.

There was a large stone effigy of sorts, representing what looked like some kind of eel or small serpent; the stone effigy was curled up upon itself, with a small pool located in its centre, where water came out, presumably from the same source as the spring. There were flowers and incense, which she guessed were offerings to the spirit, the very same one that was harassing the village. Feeling curious, she reached her hand out to the water in the little pool, and tried to bend it. Doing so, she sensed the water down to its source, a cavern that lay beneath her feet; however, as she felt the water, she sensed a shaking as well, some motion deep in the cave.

"Is that it?" she mumbled to herself, unsure if she had roused the spirit, or if it was something else entirely.

She got back up and paced over to where Aang had gone with his glider; she only had to walk through a bit of woodland before she reached another clearing, quite different to the one at the pool. The trees were cut down and the land bare, and all she saw were lines of steel, laying upon pieces of timber; she had heard of something called a railroad from Azula, and she wondered if that was what she was looking at. Aang was eyeing the construction with interest, pacing along its length towards the end point, where she could see some machinery, clearly abandoned, along with many barrels of something. They were all sealed, sitting in what must have been tents, though the tarps had decayed, and had been ripped apart by the elements.

"What is this?" Aang asked, and she stepped over to his side.

"A railroad, I think."

"Oh... I remember Cheng said something about those. His village got demolished so they could build one." he explained, before furrowing a brow, "I wonder if it was this one."

"This isn't finished." she gestured towards the machine that lay at the end of the tracks, beyond which was just more forest, "I guess this was probably going to go to the base." she assumed, "Before the whole civil war thing, that is."

"Yeah... that makes sense." Aang mumbled, before glancing at the barrels, "Maybe these were leaking... but I have no idea what they are." he conceded, stepping over to the barrels, before he turned one upright and opened it up; the smell coming out of it was odd, though it did seem familiar, like she'd smelled it at the base at some point.

"I can't put a name to it." she admitted, before glancing back down towards the spring, "I wonder if they dirtied the water. Maybe that's what's got the spirit mad."

"That would... well, that'd be annoying." he admitted, "It's just the Fire Nation's fault... again."

"They do tend to cause issues." she agreed with the sentiment, before gesturing for him to follow, "I saw something interesting, you might want to look at it."

"More interesting than this?" he raised a brow, gesturing to the end of the railroad.

She nodded, and paced into the woods, "Follow me."

He did, allowing Katara to lead him back over to the spring, where the statue and small pool lay, which seemed to be a site of some spiritual significance. Aang must have realised this, as he eagerly paced over to the statue, examining its form and sitting down in front of it.

"This is a shrine." he explained, "They must give offerings to the spirit who lives in the spring. The railroad made it angry... so, I guess I've got to try and tell it to calm down. I don't think the railroad will ever be finished... and we can get the villagers to help clean up the mess the workers left behind. Once it's gone maybe the spirit will calm down and let the people it kidnapped free."

"What if that doesn't work?" Katara asked, nervous even if she was hopeful Aang's plan would work.

"Then I've got to figure out how to speak with it, or at least, get it to let those people go." he explained his plan, before he let out a deep sigh, "Let me just... meditate here for a bit. Maybe I can find a way to communicate with it."

"Alright." she nodded, before gesturing back over towards the village, "I'll go tell the villagers about what we found."

Aang had his eyes closed, but nodded to confirm he heard her, and with that, Katara made her way back down the way she originally came, trying to stay away from the water as she did so. She knew the spirit attacked people who came too close, and even if it wasn't a certainty it'd try to catch her, she wasn't going to risk it. It was bad enough they had to try and save people from the spirit, if she got caught, she wouldn't be of any use to Aang.

She made her way down the slope, and almost fell over, but she was able to grab a tree branch to help keep her balance. Once she got back down into the woods, she circled around the larger pool, before she made her way back down along the path, pacing towards the centre of Chunxi; as she drew closer to the gates, the villagers came out to greet her, obviously wanting to hear what she might have to say. She didn't say anything immediately, but just kept walking until she was a comfortable distance from the stream.

"So, did you figure it out?" an older woman asked her, "Has the Avatar found the source of the spirit's power?"

"Uh, I wouldn't say he's done that. We've just figured out what's probably making it attack you all." she clarified, the villagers drawing closer, crowding around her.

"Really?" a man asked her with an eager look on his face, "What is it?"

"The railroad." she gestured up the hillside, "The Fire Nation left it half-finished, and I think something they were using has been leaking into the spring."

"Hmph... now that you say it, the water was making some of the children sick, but that was a few months ago." the older woman noted, before Jianding parted the crowd, approaching Katara.

"Sorry, I missed that. What did you find out?"

"The Fire Nation's railroad is probably what made the spirit get mad, by putting bad stuff into the water. Aang's trying to talk with it at its shrine."

"Our offerings have given us no reprieve." Headman Jianding noted, "The spirit doesn't seem to care what we do. We don't try to dirty the stream, or the spring... it is as sacred to us as it must be to the spirit."

"Aang's the Avatar. Dealing with spirits is his job." she tried to reassure him and the other villagers, "If we have to... we'll fight it."

"I wish you the best of luck with that. There are no benders in our village... so we have never tried to face down such a beast." he acknowledged the issue they had.

"Huh... I guess my village would have had the same issue." she noted, realising that without any benders, dealing with an angry spirit back home would have been perilous.

"You have no benders too?" the older woman asked, before narrowing her eyes, "Where are you from, girl?"

"The Southern Water Tribe." she answered, the villagers looking surprised.

"We had heard that they were destroyed... but then we also hear of warriors who have been fighting the Earth Kingdom." one of the villagers noted, before stroking his beard, "I hear that the boy who aided the Princess of the Fire Nation was from that tribe."

"That's my brother." she clarified her own identity and relationship to Sokka, who was the person they were speaking about.

"Oh." the headman's eyes widened, "So, you know the Princess well then?"

"I do... for better or worse." she conceded, feeling that her and Azula had gotten off on the wrong foot, though their own issues with each other seemed to have been mostly resolved with time, and their journey across the world, which forced them to cooperate, "Anyway, I just wanted to ask if some of you could help us clean up the railroad camp. If we can get rid of the stuff there, maybe the spirit will stop."

"What about our friends and family... the ones the spirit took away?" a younger girl asked her, sounding angry; other villagers seemed to agree, and the spears they had made told her about their sentiment.

"That's what Aang's trying to deal with. If he can speak with it, then maybe the spirit will let your people go." she acknowledged, and the villagers looked uncertain.

"And if he can't?" Jianding asked her, Katara glancing at her hands, wondering what else they could do.

"If we can kill it, or banish it back to the Spirit World... we'll try that as well." she admitted, knowing that even if Aang didn't like it, it was an option; the lives of humans came before the whims of a spirit who clearly didn't care about them.

"Would that bring back our loved ones?" another villager asked, and Katara cringed.

"I don't know. I'm just as lost as you all are with this. If Aang can go to the Spirit World, maybe he could bring them back himself." she argued, before sighing, unsure if what she was promising was possible, even if she knew that if anyone could achieve it, it would be Aang.

Suddenly, she heard a low rumble, and the ground shook beneath their feet, like somebody had earthbent a boulder into the ground; Katara turned around, and saw birds flying away from the spring, squawking frantically. That told her all she needed to know, and she turned to face the stream.

"Stay behind me." she warned them, "I think Aang might have just roused the spirit."

The villagers didn't seem to listen, and readied their spears, assembling by the gate, and the Headman even drew out a jian sword, and gestured it towards the stream.

"It will not take another soul from this village. We cannot tolerate this torture any longer!" he declared, "Are you with us, Katara?"

She nodded, and watched as Aang glided down along the stream, flying right over to them with his glider-staff; he closed the staff's wings, and spun it around as he landed, ready to use it to ward off the spirit.

"It's coming... I tried to reason with it, but... it's mad." he acknowledged, "This isn't like any spirit I've seen before."

"What do you mean?" Katara asked, and he looked at her fearfully.

"It's colour. It's dark, and its eyes glow... it doesn't look friendly, or like it can even think straight."

"Like a wild animal, ay?" a man asked, "If it's a beast it's become, then a beast it shall die." he declared, "Help us, Avatar, you are the only one with the strength to do it." he declared, and he shook his head.

"No, I'm not." he corrected him, "Katara's just as strong a bender as I am. We can fight it together, if it comes here."

"If?" Jianding asked with a sceptical tone, gesturing his jian towards the stream once more, where Katara saw what Aang had been talking about.

The spirit was translucent, but with the sun pouring over the stream, it glimmered like it was itself made of water; the texture however, seemed dull, like some kind of mud or stone. It was dark, just as he said, and it was covered with specks of glowing light, not too unlike Aang's tattoos when he went into the Avatar state. Katara tensed up as it drew closer, its body moving out of the water, with various tentacle-like limbs lining its sides, though they lacked much form; the spirit let out a cry, before it began snaking towards them, making the ground rumble as it ripped up grass and broke fences.

"Get ready!" Jianding warned the villagers, who raised their spears and readied them.

When the spirit got close enough, Aang threw his staff forward, creating a gust of wind that forced the spirit to halt. It let out another cry, sounding more pained than anything, before its tentacles grew larger, peeling out from its torso; Katara only a few moments to react as a pair of them were flung down upon them. She drew water out of her waterskin and created a thin, but sturdy shield of water above her head, while Aang held off a tentacle with his staff.

She spun her arms around, and threw the water up onto the spirit, hoping she could try and ward it back to the stream; the water just slammed into its torso, before slipping through, reminding her of its non corporeal nature. Katara grimaced, not knowing what to do, but she decided that if her waterskin couldn't provide enough water to fight with, she'd make use of the stream itself. She thrust her right hand forward, reaching out towards the stream, feeling the water rushing down the slope, and clenched her fist, before throwing her hand upward, throwing the entire mass of the stream into the air.

"By the spirits!" one of the villagers cried out in shock, watching as she threw the water down on the spirit; even if it could make itself noncorporeal to avoid being harmed, it couldn't anticipate the whole stream coming down on it.

The water slammed the spirit down, and it let out a grunt, its head falling into the dirt in front of them, seeming to be unconscious, or at least dazed. With the spirit vulnerable, the villagers seemed ready to make an attack, three of them rushing forward with their spears, though Aang immediately stopped them with his staff, bending a powerful wind gust between them and the spirit.

"Stop!" he warned them, "I'm going to try and communicate with it" he warned them, and Katara held the water in place over the spirit as it remained in place on the ground.

Aang stepped closer to the spirit, and raised his hand towards its head, and tried to touch it, "Please, I don't know why you're attacking these villagers... but that railroad was built by the Fire Nation. These people didn't poison your spring." he addressed the spirit with a calm, soothing tone, though it didn't seem to work, and the spirit growled before rising back up.

The Avatar stumbled back, and Katara grit her teeth, not wanting to give it a chance to hurt anyone else; she threw her arms down, tensing the water over the spirit before she threw it back towards the stream, dragging the spirit along with it, before it became noncorporeal again, slithering around before it rose back up, the water behind it. She grit her teeth, and threw the water back up at it, but the spirit just spun around, using its tentacles like blades, slashing through the water, which splattered and fell down to the ground, splashing on the shoreline.

"How can we fight this thing?" she asked Aang, who shook his head.

"We can't... not with bending, at least." he argued, before throwing his hands forward, conjuring another wind gust, this time slamming into the spirit once more, forcing it back into the stream.

It didn't swim away, but remained there, roaring and making all manners of alien noises; the creature then rushed forward once again, and the villagers moved out in formation, forming a half-circle around the gate, Aang, and Katara. As the spirit rushed towards them, they readied their spears, while Aang and Katara moved into form; both of them had the water left over after her attempt at restraining the spirit at their disposal, and bent the water around them in streams, ready to fend it off.

"Why won't it leave?" he asked her, and Katara narrowed her eyes, knowing there was only one thing they could do at that very moment.

"We need to force it back." she declared, before the two of them threw their hands forward, bending the streams around the spirit, forming two coils that spiralled up its body.

When they tensed the coils, it held the spirit in place, long enough for the villagers to lunge and try to stab it with their spears; it seemed to actually make contact, the spirit letting out a long shrill cry as the spears made contact.

"Leave!" Aang commanded the spirit, which became noncorporeal again, and it curled around, turning away from the village gates, and slithered right back into the stream.

Before the villagers could try and follow it into the water, it seemed to disappear, fading into the flow of the stream, the darkness of its body melting into the shimmering water. Katara and Aang strode over, drawing the water back into streams around their bodies, ready to ward off the spirit again if it returned. However, the water continued flowing, and birds chirped above their heads, perched on the trees. It was if the spirit was never there to begin with. The trail of destruction it left over was more than obvious, and she was sure it would return again at some point. In the meantime, she knew that they had to at least try and address the cause of its anger.

"We need to clean up those barrels, and hope that's enough. The spirit can't stay mad at these people forever." Katara gave her plan, and Aang narrowed his eyes, a hard, serious glare forming on his face.

"We don't have any other choice. I don't know if we can hurt it... or force it to leave."

---

Sweat dripping from her forehead, Azula let herself smirk as she saw Sokka was just as exhausted as she was; he stood there, arms hanging down and his back bent, panting and staring her down. She wiped the sweat from her forehead and pulled herself back into form, aiming her left hand forward, ready for his next attack. His energy might have been sapped, but that did not make him any less dangerous an opponent; when he lunged at her, Azula threw her right fist forward, shooting a fireball square into his gut. He grunted but continued forward, nearly falling on top of her; she was just able to weave out of the way before chopping him on the back with her left hand, forcing him down onto the tiles below.

"Ack!" he cried out, his hands covering his face as he turned over, seeming a little annoyed by his slip up, "Come on, that was just mean." he grumbled, and she taunted him back with her tongue.

"Come at me, savage." she prodded the Water Tribesman, who swept his foot out, whacking her in the shin; it would have tripped her up, if it weren't for the fact that they were both wearing steel boots.

Thus, that only served to annoy her, and she threw her hand forward to try and shoot another fireball; if he wouldn't give up, she'd make him stay down. His gloved hand caught the fireball and then he opened his fist, jabbing her wrist with his fingertips. She would have cussed him out if she wasn't more worried about her now useless hand getting in the way of her actually winning the spar.

She spun herself around, sending a kick into his shin before she breathed out some flames, trying to get him prone; Sokka heeded the warning, and fell onto his back, before he thrust one of his feet back up, striking her right in the shin as she moved to try and jab him with a fire bolt. She grunted, gritting her teeth as she dropped her foot down on his right leg, before she sent out the attack from her left hand.

He surprised her by squatting the flames away with his gloved hand, before aiming a jab at her solar plexus. She fell backwards, knowing that a strike there would render her bending useless, and somersaulted back into form. Her boyfriend rose back to his feet as well, dusting himself off with a rather smug look on his face.

"What, you think just because you chi-blocked one hand that you've won?" she questioned him, before moving back into her fighting stance, "Try again, idiot!" she demanded, and he rushed her at once, taking a leaf out of Ty Lee's book by leaping forward into a somersault, dodging the fire stream she sent out as soon as he moved.

He then lunged at her legs, pulling her right off her feet before slamming her back down to the ground; the Princess let out a groan of pain as she realised she was pinned, trying to use her left hand to threaten him with a fire dagger. He didn't seem fazed, and instead moved a hand off her legs, instead holding her down with his own body weight, before he grabbed her fast moving hand by the wrist; the dagger was just off from his neck, and she realised that they were tied.

"Shit." she mumbled, hoping that the spar would lead to a better outcome; his eyes lit up, seeming excited by the result.

"Wa-wait, does this mean I won?!" he questioned her with a giddy look on his face, rising back up to his feet as he clenched his fists, looking ready to throw them up into the air.

"No, it's a draw. I couldn't hit you and you couldn't get away." she argued, and he scoffed.

"I'd still call that a victory!" he exclaimed, fist-bumping the sky itself in what she could only call a very odd victory dance.

"Please stop, you're embarrassing yourself." she requested, only to receive a pulled tongue as he continued his dance.

"No, no, I won't stop. I'm embarrassing you." he corrected her, before she lit some flames in her hands, finding that his chi-blocking on her right had worn off.

"Not for long, Sokka." she warned him, before moving back into form, "Don't you want to see if you can beat me?"

"You'd only say that if you thought you could win." he warned her, before pulling out his bone dagger from his belt, spinning it around in his right hand as he moved into a fighting stance, "Eh, you know me well. I can't resist the challenge."

She launched herself up into the air with a fire blast beneath her right sole, before trying to strike him from above with a fire dagger spurting from each fist. She landed right on top of his crossed arms, though he forced her to fall off to the side, the Princess somersaulting before she spun back around, shooting a fireball from her left sole, right into his back. He grunted from the hit, but didn't falter, making his own sweeping kick to knock her off her footing.

Falling flat on her behind, Azula found herself flustered and frustrated by his speed, deciding to take a different approach, beginning by sending volleys of fireballs towards him from her fists, as if she were punching an imaginary wall in front of herself. Rising back up to her feet, she watched as Sokka weaved and dodged the attacks, though he wasn't able to miss all of them; the training gear he wore was fireproof for a reason, but the hits forced him back and constantly kept his mind on his footing. If he fell over, he wasn't going to be able to defend himself as easily as she could with her bending.

When she saw an opening, she shot a fireball at his right foot, tripping him up, before she rushed forward, spinning her right leg around to kick him with a flame covered foot; that threw him back, forcing him to roll backwards, grunting as he struck the tiles. Azula pursed her lips, though as she lowered her leg, she realised that it had gone limp, at least below the knee; as she struggled to remain standing, her eyes darted to the Water Tribesman, and noticed his fingers had been pinched around on both hands, telling her that he'd actually caught the kick and chi-blocked her leg.

Azula grit her teeth, tried to steady her footing, and raised her hands up, "I'm still standing." she told him with as much confidence as she could muster with a half-limp leg.

"Not for long." Sokka forebodingly responded, before pulling his boomerang out, throwing the weapon towards her; she weaved under it, before she shot a fire stream out of her right fist, trying to get Sokka down so she didn't have to worry about both him and the careening weapon.

He jumped out of the way of the attack, and just watched as she was forced to duck once more to dodge the boomerang, which flew straight back into his hand, "Nice moves." he commended her, without any sarcasm in his voice, surprisingly enough.

He then rushed right towards her, throwing the boomerang once more; she hit it with a fireball, causing it to careen in the wrong direction. However, it still hit her shoulder, and she struggled to retain her footing. That was when he jabbed her square in the solar plexus, making Azula gasp out for air, before she sighed.

She couldn't rely on her bending to win anymore, so made the most reasonable decision she could. She threw herself forward, headbutting Sokka and grabbed his dagger hand; she twisted his wrist as she fell on top of him, dropping the weapon from his grip. With him unarmed and pinned on the ground, she made her victory clear by flicking his cheek with her left hand, making him snicker, surprised by the final 'attack', as it was.

"I win, savage." she declared victory, only to find herself jabbed in the shoulder, paralysing her whole right arm; with it inoperable, he just shoved her off of him before dusting himself off.

She couldn't get back up with one leg and an arm paralysed, so resigned herself to lying on the ground, waiting for the chi-blocking to wear off.

"Okay, admit it. Now." he demanded, offering her a hand up in exchange for her submission; the Princess rolled her eyes before she uttered the words he wanted to hear.

"You win." she accepted his terms, and he grasped her by the wrist, pulling her back up to her feet.

"Let's go get some tea. I'm exhausted." he suggested, and the Princess nodded, knowing that trying to spar again would only further strain her.

He put his arm around her shoulder, helping her walk back into City Hall, with two of her guards, who had been guarding the area, following after them; he pushed the doors open, and took her over to the wooden seats that were still damaged in the aftermath of their attack on the building. She would make sure they were replaced or repaired before she left, but she had far more important things to worry about than mere chairs. She sat down on one that was still upright, stretching her arms and legs out to see how well they could move; her right leg was still mostly limp, but had a bit of movement to it, while her right arm was still nonfunctioning.

"I am starting to regret teaching you that." she admitted as she leaned her head back, waiting for her limbs to start working again.

"Hey, you won't be complaining if I have to take down assassins for you." Sokka argued, and she tilted her head, recalling their spout with the bounty hunters.

"You basically already did that." she reminded him, before giving her boyfriend a smile, "Thank you for being competent."

"Oh, it's my honour." he gave her a mocking bow, sitting himself down on the chair beside her, looking out towards the damaged podium, "Hm, I wonder how our old friend the Governor is doing." he spoke his mind, and the Princess just scoffed.

"Hopefully regretting his poor decision making." she gave her own thoughts.

She knew that the Governor could have used his brain and sworn allegiance to her as soon as her brother was supposedly killed; as her base was located so close by, it was inevitable that she would come to Shengchang, so by swearing to her father he simply delayed what was already certain- the city would be hers, and now, it was.

"Yeah, I guess that was a pretty dumb move, though I don't think he had much of a choice. Didn't Gyoko's army come here first?" he asked her, and the Princess nodded.

"I recall that they did." she confirmed, "I can blame him no more than I can blame Mayor Morishita for bending to my brother's will." she admitted, knowing that even if the Governor himself was quite contemptible, many others would have made the same actions in his circumstances, and certainly had throughout the course of the civil war.

"Huh, well you can't blame me for doing your bidding, can you?" he asked, referring back to how they had met, and how he had found himself in her service.

"I don't... though that was exactly what I wanted. I'm not the right person to ask about it." she argued, "Perhaps Katara, or your father would be a better judge on that."

"They already have... but they know you're a good person." he argued, and she rolled her eyes.

"If I'm good, then most of the Fire Nation are misguided heroes." she argued, "I wouldn't use the word too lightly."

"But you are trying to do the right thing... not just something you were taught in school." he countered, "You're thinking for yourself."

"That doesn't make me good. That makes me rebellious, no better than my brother. At this point, we're two sides of a coin... he just happened to be the side falling into the mud." she gave an odd metaphor, though she thought it got the point across well enough.

Sokka seemed amused by it and tapped on his chin, "I guess he did... but you've had your turns."

"What, I don't think my exile was comparable to his own." she retorted; despite her misgivings about her brother, she knew that she had gotten off far lightly after her Agni Kai than he had from his own all those years prior, "I had to pretend I was dead, while he was forced to scour the world for someone he'd never find."

"Yeah, I guess he did get it worse." Sokka conceded, before placing a hand on her shoulder, "You did get stuck in the South Pole, and you did complain." he reminded her, the Princess getting ready to justify herself, before he began to snicker, "You had your reasons."

"Yeah, I did." she agreed, "Mostly your sister being stupid."

"Katara was just a little misguided. She just wants what's best for our tribe." he reminded her, and she leaned closer.

"Our tribe, or our tribe?" she asked, trying to clarify what he actually meant; her boyfriend just puckered his lips and narrowed his eyes.

"Well, I guess you're not in until we're married." he observed, and her eyes widened.

"Don't you dare propose to me on the spot." she immediately decided to warn him, "I do not want to think about marriage until this stupid war is over."

"You could use that excuse for a while." he warned her, sounding a little suspicious of her reasoning.

"I'm serious. You know what I'm having to worry about." she warned him, before raising a hand to her cheek, "Not to mention, if we fail, what are we going to do? Get married, start a family and get murdered by a mob of Southern Raiders who decide to come get rid of us?" she asked him what could result if they were just to try and give up.

"Well... that's why we're fighting." he reassured her, before resting his chin on his clasped hands, "Though, I'd say we'd be better off to go and hide out in the mountains. Preferably somewhere like one of the Air Temples. At least nobody could reach us there." he suggested where they would go in that worst case scenario.

"The airship exists, Sokka." she reminded him of what they'd help bring into the world; nobody could hide so simply by being physically out of reach now that the ability to fly was not just something of fiction.

"Oh yeah, I guess it's not as safe as I thought." he conceded, before shaking his head, "That's just the worst case scenario. It won't get that bad, I promise." he reassured her, the Princess appreciating his words, though she was unsure if they would do either of them any good.

She wasn't trying to rely on luck and fate to win her war, but on her strategies and diplomatic cunning; she knew for a fact that most of her uncle's supporters would prefer her on the throne under 'his guidance', as they might desire, and that the colonies were outside of her father's control, making it a good staging ground for her inevitable attack on the capital. Ultimately, it was a game of Pai Sho, and her father might have had more pieces, but they weren't in the right places to force her to forfeit just yet. That gave her the time to pull out her greatest weapon, the Earth Kingdom itself; though she knew the people would not trust her easily, she was sure they would trust the Avatar and a band of renowned rebels at his back, coming to liberate them from their corrupt and uncaring Dai Li overlords.

"No, it won't." she agreed, rising back up to her feet as she felt all sensation had returned to her limbs; Sokka followed suit, and the two of them then made their way to the staircase so they could head up to the kitchen.

"So, about the war, I've been thinking... can we even predict your father's next move?" he asked, and she shook her head.

"No. He has multiple avenues of attack... first and foremost would be an attack by sea, as that would be easier to achieve than wasting the resources of trying what Gyoko did again." she gave her thoughts, knowing that her father was not stupid enough to permit another general to take an army across the colonies to fight her, especially now that two had already been shattered.

Though Ozai likely had more men on the continent to mass against her, they would likely be spread around the whole Earth Kingdom, occupying far flung provinces that had not sworn allegiance to her brother in the first place. Those areas would be both hard for her to seize, but practically useless for any plans to attack her present position.

"Then if he's going to come for Shengchang, we better have some more defences." he acknowledged, and Azula nodded.

"I've already given Major Chui directions to set out plans for a new ring of walls to surround the city, which can be built with the employ of local earthbenders and metalworkers." she explained her plan that had already been set in place, "Those may take a few weeks to build, assuming the metal can be spared to build the walls."

"Why not just thick ones of stone, like in Ba Sing Se?" he asked, and she raised her chin.

"They'd have to work the dirt into solid blocks and then lay them out one by one. We're on a plain here, not in the mountains. Unless you suggest they drag boulders out of the mines and lay them out around the city." she gave him his plan, as she saw it; Sokka's expression immediately soured, and he sighed.

"Yeah, that sounds like a lot of effort." he mumbled, "And I guess we don't have the resources to spare."

"My soldiers will only be here for as long as is necessary. Even if I am not leading them into every battle, they will need to fight. Secure any bases and outposts my father's forces might use against us, and push what remains of his forces into the sea." she explained her plans, before they turned to climb the stairs.

"What about the east?" he asked, and she just raised finger to her temple, tapping her head.

"We are going to secure those territories on the way to Ba Sing Se. If we can pin Admiral Chan's forces somewhere, a detachment of our fleet will be able to secure all the ports along the northern coast, and ensure we can send forces easily between Ba Sing Se and the colonies.

"Can't we just go through the East Lake?" he asked her, knowing that was probably a more direct route.

"That's the other plan, depending on exactly how Chan's forces react to our plans. For all we know, the Admiral might kneel to me as soon as we take Ba Sing Se." she suggested a possible outcome; though Sokka wanted to be optimistic, he thought relying on the assumption they could take Ba Sing Se was foolish.

"We might not win Ba Sing Se that easily. We only have a small part of the Earth Kingdom supporting our plans... what if they refuse to support whoever your rebel allies want to rule, and instead want the Earth King back."

"Well Sokka, I have three solutions to that problem: we kill the Earth King and all his male-line relatives, and ensure that there is no way for the monarchy to be restored, we force the rebels to join us or face fire from the sky, or we simply placate them with positions of power in the new central government." she gave some options to solve the scenario he suggested, the first two coming off as absurd and counterproductive, while the last one seemed reasonable, though allowing for corruption to set in seemed like a surefire way to have a repeat of the Dai Li in a few generations time.

"Okay, none of those options sound very good." he admitted, and she just huffed.

"That's politics for you, Sokka. The least worst decision is usually the best one you can make." she gave a rather pessimistic view of the situation; he knew she was right, to a degree, given the political issues that were stacked up against them, first and foremost being the turmoil within the Earth Kingdom itself, "But I might ask, which would you choose?"

"Warlords becoming corrupt governors sounds like the most painless solution, but I wish that it wouldn't have to be necessary." he gave his thoughts, shaking his head in disappointment, "I just hope that some rules and expectations can be set out first, so they can't just abuse the situation for their own gain; we need more King Bumis, not more random corrupt governors."

"King Bumi is but one man with a good conscience and distaste for rules and tradition; he is not every leader. I would even say that ruling like him might make others wary of cooperating... being as unpredictable as he seems to be." she gave her thoughts on the old king; Aang's descriptions of the man seemed favourable, if a bit biased, but how he was received by the general population, from her own understanding, told her that people were both impressed and fearful of him.

In some regards, he reminded her of herself, or at least, what she was aiming to be, though Azula only desired to use her unpredictability in battle; in the sphere of politics, being serious, reliable, and honourable would get her what she needed, which was a united Fire Nation. Brutality and ruthlessness could help, but they would not win the hearts of her people, nor those of the Earth Kingdom. To her allies, she had to be steadfast and reliable, not someone who seemed as big a threat to them as she was to their mutual enemies.

"Yeah, I guess I understand why you'd say that. You've got to do a lot of diplomacy to actually... well, rule." he made the same observation, the Princess nodding.

"Precisely." she confirmed, before they turned around, having reached the top of the staircase; they then made their way down the hallway towards the kitchen and canteen where they'd been eating and drinking since they'd started staying in City Hall.

The two of them reached the kitchen quickly enough, and Azula quickly moved to retrieve the teapot from a cupboard; once she had it in hand, she used the spigot to fill it with water, before setting a flame beneath it in her palm. The pot heated quickly enough, though she knew it would take some time for the water to boil, unless she wanted to increase the temperature of her flame and needlessly strain herself. She had just gotten back from training, after all, and didn't want to expend anymore energy.

Sokka strode over with a jar of tea leaves from the pantry; he popped it open and sprinkled some into the pot, which she took over with her to the table, where the two of them sat themselves down. Her boyfriend stretched his arms out and yawned, telling her quite obviously that he was tired; she guessed he would want to take some more time before they continued sparring, if they were to do anymore at all. She had some more plans to go over concerning the repairs of the railway that ran west of the city with Major Chui, and about the plans concerning the city's defences, which she'd already discussed with Sokka briefly on the way up.

"So, now what's on your mind?" he asked her, and the Princess shrugged, her eyes remaining on the pot as she waited for the water to boil, "Lemme guess, some random logistical problem with our plans?" he guessed, and she tilted her head.

"We're not planning to use the railways anytime soon, so I don't think that technically counts." she mumbled, and he laughed.

"Railways definitely count! That's what your soldiers need to get to the coast." he reminded her, before crossing his arms, "I'm sure that'll all be fine though. Chui's proven time and time again that he and his guys are able to deal with all the challenges you give them."

"Yes, and I'd prefer to make sure we never see them fail." she warned him, before glancing down at the pot, "We have been pushing our luck lately."

"It's taken a lot of hard work to get our victories... things are never easy, Azula."

"That's easy for you to say, Water Tribesman from the poorest nation in the world, with not even an igloo to his name. Every victory we have must seem glorious to somebody who doesn't understand the real scope of this conflict. The Fire Nation is a massive country, and the Earth Kingdom is even bigger." she warned him, not wanting him to get complacent thinking their victories were indicative of some greater trend.

"I'm not- I'm well aware that the Earth Kingdom's huge, and that we've only taken what... two provinces? We still are surviving... your father hasn't had a real victory so far against us."

Ozai's forces were only failing due to the fact they had to contend with so many obstacles, first and foremost being her brother's loyalists, and then the lack of infrastructure in the frontier as another; if they'd been able to land two armies on the mainland and pincer her base with the use of complete railways and paved roads, she would have never stood a chance, even with her fleet at hand. They were useful for a prolonged conflict where a blockade could mean life or death for a whole army, not for the kind of decapitation strike her father had been failing to enact against her.

She would give him credit though, as that was her own plan for him; she wouldn't have to worry about being swarmed by her father's loyalists if she killed her father and his entire ministry by fire bombing the palace out of existence. They would give up and immediately swear to their one and only rightful Fire Lord, unless some of them had the brains to declare her uncle the rightful Fire Lord.

"Uh... Azula?" Sokka spoke up, the Princess's eyes widening as she realised she had completely zoned out.

"Oh, sorry... just thinking how my father and I have the exact same idea... and that's why he's failed."

"What now... you mean he wants to reunify the Earth Kingdom too?" he asked, and she scoffed.

"Spirits no, unless you're trying to say he wants to prop up the Dai Li and their walled city-state as a boogeyman to justify his extreme policies against the native population. I could believe that." she acknowledged one thing she could see her father doing; it was suspicious though not wholly surprising that Admiral Chan hadn't tried to land forces and retake the city, perhaps by forcing her loyalists on the walls to return to the fold, "What I meant is that he's got a lot of ground to cover to even get to us. Over the sea, past my ships, past Zuko's loyalists, mountains, broken railroads, Earth Kingdom rebels, all the way here, to a colony most people haven't even heard of."

"Yeah, oh, I get that." he nodded, before scrunching his lips up, "That Dai Li idea is a bit far fetched though. They could be supporting Earth Kingdom rebels... doesn't Ozai want to get rid of them?"

"The rebels? Perhaps... but what he'd really like is a justification to destroy every Earth Kingdom settlement that remains out of his grasp." she stressed her earlier point, Sokka's face paling as he actually considered what she was saying.

"So, he'd just rather slowly wipe them out instead of actually... well, ruling the world?"

"I never said my father was a rational man... though I do understand his reasoning. The Earth Kingdom is as stubborn as an actual mountain. How long would it take the wind and rain to erode one?" she asked him, not really expecting him to give an answer; she didn't know the answer herself, but she guessed it would take an immeasurable amount of time.

"Uh... a long time. So what... he'll be dead by the time he succeeds... if it's even possible. Then you'll be the Fire Lord anyway." he argued, and she laughed.

"Yeah, he wouldn't just let me succeed to the throne, unless I had an army to back my claim up. That's why we're jumping to the chase. He'll fall, and I'll rule. It's quite simple... I will just finish what my brother started."

"Which part, specifically?" he pressed her, sounding a little amused; she just rolled her eyes and looked away.

"More parts than I'd like." she whispered, "I wish he wasn't right."

"I mean... he wasn't completely right. He should have done what you're doing. Fight Ozai on the field so none of his supporters could hide and plot against him." he argued, "All that secrecy and backstabbing is what has gotten your father so far... and we can't let him use that against us. I mean, you've already gotten rid of Zhao, those disloyal officers, but we still don't know who else there could be."

"Basically everyone who supports my father publicly now. There's no rational reason to support me unless one thought I was actually going to take enough land to be a threat, but not enough to take the throne." she argued, and Sokka placed his hands under his head, resting his chin on his knuckles.

"I hope you're right. I mean... maybe someone's trying to play the long game. They think they might get more rewards from Ozai if you expend all your strength fighting his forces, and then you could be betrayed at the worst possible moment."

"Aren't I blessed to have you here giving me all the thoughts I ought to be avoiding?" she jokingly, but bluntly addressed the matter at hand; he just laughed off her words and glanced away, "I doubt anyone is that dedicated. They could receive their rewards immediately... and if they're willing to support me for that long, then why not just let me win, and receive the rewards I'll give them." she suggested a counter to his idea.

"Do you really want men like that serving you?" he asked, sounding uneased by the idea.

"There are men like that everywhere. Opportunism is not about sides or righteousness, it's about putting one's coins with the side that will win." she argued, and smirked, "That is why we need to show a united front. That makes us look more likely to win, even if the odds at the moment are still in my father's favour." she explained her present rationale, before she glanced down at the pot, which was already steaming, "The tea seems warm enough." she observed, before pouring the two of them a cup each, placing the teapot down on the table.

Sokka took his cup and sipped from it before he let out a sigh, seeming pleased by the taste, "This is good."

"It always is." she agreed, and sipped from her own cup; once she'd had a taste, she placed it back down on the table.

"Anyways... Did you want to talk about the whole Northern Water Tribe thing? Because I'm going to have to deal with that pretty soon. The airship won't take much longer to fix up." he spoke up, Azula momentarily tensing up as she considered the fact he was going to leave, potentially for a whole week or even longer.

"Uh... sure." she accepted his proposition, "What's your issue? You don't feel confident speaking up to the Chief, is that it?" she asked, and Sokka shook his head.

"No, I just don't want to make enemies of the North... but I don't want them to walk all over us." he explained his thought, before his lips turned to a grimace, Yes, I know the whole Zhao thing was our fault-"

"My fault." she stressed, not wanting him to feel guilty over something he had no influence over; her arrogance had caused the debacle with the spirits, not Sokka's inability to defeat Zhao and his men.

The Admiral's own stubbornness was the only reason he got as far as he had, along with his own trickery, which the Princess had failed to foresee, at least in the form that it appeared. She might have expected him to betray her to Ozai, but to play her along all the way until they were about to leave for the spirits, that was a surprise. She was a skilled liar herself, and that made her feel like even more of an idiot.

"I mean, collectively." he clarified, his expression showing an ounce of pity that was washed out by his more serious glare, which he'd always put on when he was trying to discuss important matters, "We should have all thought of a better plan... an alternative. That's on me as much as it is on you."

"I'm the one who dragged you all along and then refused to actually let you come with me when you wanted to." she reminded him, "Don't try and make me feel better about it... because I don't want to." she stressed; the Water Tribesman seemed a little intimidated by her comments, and took a few moments to actually come up with a response.

"You were doing what you thought was the right thing. If it had actually worked, you would have earned Arnook's trust, and the North might have even come to aid us... they still might. That's what I want to try and find out." he explained his thoughts on the matter, obviously more focused on actually getting results than finding somebody to blame.

"I don't know if they will ever trust me, or the Fire Nation." she admitted, "But you aren't representing me, you're going there yourself."

"Yes, I am. If I really need somebody to speak for my tribe, then my father can go there and give them a mouthful." he acknowledged; Hakoda and the others would be coming to them sooner rather than later, and with that, they'd have a good group of representatives to send north, both from the Earth Kingdom and Southern Water Tribe, if they were unwilling to negotiate with Sokka personally, "I think they trust me enough. I put my neck on the line for their spirits."

"Those spirits are far more important to the world than they are to a single nation." she reminded him, before shaking her head, "That's what makes my plan sound so stupid in hindsight. I put everything in jeopardy."

"I know." he mumbled, "Don't get caught up about it. Everyone makes mistakes... and at least you're offering to help them in return. I mean, they don't deserve it, but it's the honourable thing to do." Sokka reassured her, making the Princess smile; she wanted to make sure she wasn't wronging every nation and group she came across, so to hear that she was actually doing something right for once was nice to hear.

She knew she'd been trying hard to fix the Earth Kingdom, but she could only do so much in two provinces; the people there had seen her, heard her words, and knew what she wanted for them. Whether they would truly accept her help was yet to be seen, but she was silently optimistic. The people had been faced with torment and disregard from her nation for decades, and now, she was giving them the chance to speak and rule for themselves, after they'd fought fruitlessly to protect a nation which had rotted away.

"I would hope so." she whispered, drinking some more of her tea, "What makes someone honourable, Sokka?"

"Doing right by your friends, and fair by your foes." he acknowledged, before narrowing his eyes, "Though you haven't always been honourable, you are now. You didn't try to kill me, or make me hurt people I didn't already oppose." he stressed his own willingness when it came to their prior affairs; the forest, Ba Sing Se, and their trek to Yu Dao, where he had shown time and time again his willingness to fight by her side.

That was despite his well-founded disdain towards the Fire Nation, and his fear of what she and her people might do to his tribe, if her father had gotten his way in the first place and remained on the throne with no interruption. Even at that very moment, she suspected he was plotting with the Commander of the Southern Raiders to finish 'the job', as they might have called it; Azulon had condemned the benders of a whole nation to internment and death, and it wouldn't be much of a step for Ozai to go for the rest of the people.

"I know that I was in the wrong." she stressed, "I wish I wasn't... I wish that I had been right, and that the other nations were rightfully under our boots... but I can't say that. Not after what I've seen, after all I have done to make amends. I could have gone for Zuko and not paid any mind to this shitty country, or ever returned to your tribe; I could have been the Fire Lord right now." she reminded him of the alternative path she could have taken.

He placed a hand on her shoulder and smiled at her, "It's... it's nice to hear you say that. I knew what you were feeling before we found Aang, and I'm proud of you. I know this isn't what you wanted. Your life was meant to be... easier than this." he acknowledged, before sighing, "But you're better for it, right?"

She turned her eyes away from his own, "Better doesn't describe it well. Am I really better than what I was? I would say I'm weaker."

"Weaker?" he raised a brow, "Like with your bending?"

"That's precisely what I mean." she stressed, before clenching a fist, "But it doesn't matter." she admitted; that was hard for her to say, but if she was going to say it in front of anyone, it was her bending-hating boyfriend, "Bending doesn't matter. Being strong doesn't matter."

"But you are strong." he argued, tapping on her sternum, "In there. You're stronger than ever."

"That isn't strength. That's a hole that I've filled." she admitted, before letting herself look at him again, tears falling down her cheeks, "I'm whole."

"So, hole or whole?" he asked her, the Princess sighing as she struggled to hold back a laugh.

"I'm trying to have a moment here, Sokka." she whispered, and he just kissed her on the cheek, and whispered back.

"Sorry... humour's how I cope."

"Yeah, that's pretty obvious." she whispered in return, before kissing his own cheek, "Thank you."

"Hey, I can't make you love me. That was a choice."

"Whether it was, it doesn't matter. I needed this." she acknowledged, grasping him by the arms, "So don't you do anything stupid, or let me do anything stupid. I won't let anything take this away from us."

He made a sheepish grin and nodded, "I promise to be as smart as you."

"Don't make promises you can't keep, savage." she pursed her lips, the Water Tribesman letting out a laugh.

"Oh, you say that now. When I'm the one destroying your family home and overthrowing the Fire Lord, you'll be singing a different tune!" he proclaimed, making her giggle.

"You won't catch me dead singing."

"But what if the little kids want us to do a play again?" he asked, and she raised a finger towards his chin, lighting a torch on it; the flames burned golden, but that wasn't on her mind as her eyes locked with his.

"Of all the things I'll do for you, that's the most mind-numbing."

---

Being unable to see the horizon, at least in the same way seeing people could, Toph was frustratingly unsure how far away she was from the naval base. They had been walking for nearly two days, and she was tired and bored; even with the use of earthbending to hasten her strides, she had to stay with the group, who themselves were accustomed to travelling under the cover of trees, instead of marching with haste.

She admittedly wasn't too familiar with long marches herself, the last real long journey by foot being her winding trip all the way to New Omashu, which involved her going from village to village, asking for directions and hoping she was walking in the right direction. Though her seismic sense was better than eyesight for viewing over distances, and she could, in theory, sense out indefinitely as long as there was solid earth between her and her target, the sense became muddied and unclear, only allowing her to grasp basic, large shapes, like whether there was a mountain, valley, or plains lying far off in the distance.

Toph knew that the base had to be close, but was clearly too far for her to clearly sense. She could sense the sea off in the distance, as it was always distinguished as a barrier; earth seeped with water felt very different to ordinary earth, similar to how sand was different to stone. She could sense it far off, away to what she guessed was the north, given that they were supposed to be walking east. The others seemed to be walking at pace, telling her that they hadn't gotten too tired, or noticed anything coming up, which would make them speed up or slow down.

"Hopefully we'll be able to see the base once we cross this hill." Hua mumbled beside her, Toph tilting her head.

"Really?" she asked, hoping that they didn't have to walk much further.

"Yeah, I recognise this area. We'd camp on that hill to look for signs of Fire Nation patrols." Hua explained, and Toph furrowed a brow.

"Huh, do you think we'll stop there for a break."

"We have some stashes hidden there, so we could." she noted, before glancing behind them, "These guys probably want to get to the base sooner rather than later though... they're not used to being out in the wilds like we are."

Jianren and his group weren't travelling alone, but with some refugees who had been living in Shengchang, and had elected to join them, wanting to help them set up what would be the beginnings of a town. Some of them were skilled workers: smiths, carpenters, tailors, capable of helping them prepare things, though what they'd really need were earthbenders.

It was just their luck that part of Jianren's group was already at the base: after they went to Gaochao, they brought back refugees with them, and some decided to stay at the base to protect them. It made sense given some of them were actually their kin, who they had been separated with before joining Jianren; families had been shattered by the war, but by bringing together refugees, they hoped to reunite some families, and help them build new lives.

"Toph, can you sense anyone out there? I'm not trying to be paranoid, but I know this is a place Fire Nation soldiers frequent." Hua suggested, and she stomped a foot down hard, using it to focus her seismic sense.

She could feel the usual shapes of rocks, boulders, and the dirt itself throughout the woods that surrounded them, but nothing seemed all too out of the ordinary; she could sense some heartbeats, and footsteps, but she guessed they were from animals given the small numbers she sensed, out in groups. She couldn't sense anything that felt like people, which aws both a relief and a disappointment; she was looking forward to something unusual happening on their trip. Maybe they'd run into a spirit, or some hunters, or a big wild beast, like a sabre-tooth moose lion.

"Just animals." she admitted, her tone telling Hua what she felt about that.

"So you want a fight?" she assumed, and her judgement was not off by much, though it assumed Toph was really that eager for combat; it was true that she enjoyed fighting, but she also understood the dangers of a real battle, especially with civilians under their protection.

"Nah, just something interesting. A fight is fun, but I don't want to frighten these people." she gestured behind them, "What if they get scared and run off? Then that's our problem."

"True." she agreed, "I don't want any more blood on our hands." she added, sounding frustrated; her heartbeat did not rise, telling her she might have been more sad than angry.

"You didn't hurt any civilians back in the battle, did you?" she asked, and Hua shook her head.

"No, but we could have saved more. The Fire Nation bombarded the outskirts to rubble; I don't know how many people died, but their lives, they could have been saved if we knew what was coming." she argued, before she coughed, stepping closer to Toph, "Not that I blame you."

"I didn't sense them... I mean, I could sense stuff going on at the mine, but it didn't feel out of the ordinary. What a great scout I am." she sarcastically lauded herself, knowing that her failings cost innocents their lives.

"I mean, it shouldn't be all on you." Hua acknowledged, "You're just one girl. There were soldiers... even some of our people, all out there trying to spot the enemy. Nobody did, not until it was too late." she argued, placing a hand on Toph's shoulder.

"Yeah." she mumbled, still feeling like she was inadequate; that was an odd feeling to Toph, who had only ever felt that way when she was faced with her parents' expectations, not as an earthbender, or as a soldier, "I hate this feeling." she spoke her mind, "It's what my parents made me feel because I wasn't the perfect little noblewoman."

"Heh, well, you're the best earthbender I know." she acknowledged, "Don't beat yourself up."

"Sorry, I'm not trying to lay all my crap on you. Most of my problems... well, they're pretty stupid and petty for somebody who's actually had to run from the Fire Nation." she realised, knowing that Hua had had a much tougher life than she had, a noblewoman that had lived a relatively comfortable life of privilege, and could have continued doing so; the only person who could reasonably understand how Toph felt was Azula, and even then, her father seemed to have supported her desires to become a powerful bender and master her element.

She was still forced to tow the line every moment of her waking life, however, until she'd been cut free by her father's apparent death all those months prior; she wondered what things might have been like if she had remained loyal to him, if she could have ever worked with Aang, or if Sokka would have tried to imprison her and stop her from helping a clearly evil maniac. Toph had only heard the stories- she wasn't there, so she didn't feel comfortable judging the girl for things she hadn't done.

"Everybody has issues." Hua mumbled, "Some people have different issues... and some people need help." she observed some general facts about life, "Do you need help, Toph?"

"I am always inclined to say no to that question." she bluntly admitted, knowing that Hua wasn't going to force her to do something, or intrude on matters she didn't want her to.

"Yeah, because you're strong. You can look after yourself... and others." she suggested, and her words struck true; she had spent a year fighting for New Omashu, protecting its people, the city, and their ideal of a free Earth Kingdom.

She wasn't there to get her ego stroked; after Earth Rumble was closed down, all she could think about was how boring her life was going to be. She didn't choose to fight for New Omashu because she just loved fighting, but because it was the right thing to do; she could have stolen from Fire Nation merchants and nobles because they could afford to lose things, even give the extras to peasants and those others facing misfortune. She went further, putting her skin on the line for a whole city, which represented everything she stood for as a person. Defiance in the face of the demands of fools, and the mistreatment by those who thought they were right just because of what they were told.

"Yeah, that's what I do." she confirmed with a smile, before she turned her attention back up towards the hill; Toph didn't know if they'd find anything up there, though she was unsure if Jianren was even going to order anyone to check.

As they made their way further along, up the road as it wound up towards a crest, Toph kept her senses keen, noticing a few animals moving about in the woods, presumably out of sight of the group as they made their way up the road; they were quick to depart upon hearing them march through, which was of no surprise to her. However, she noticed something odd, which was the planting of footsteps over in the woods, which were pacing off fast, and she scrunched her lips unsure whether to be concerned.

"Hua... did anyone go off into the woods?" she asked the woman beside her, "Like to go check the hilltop or something?"

"Uh, no, why?" she asked, before leaning in close, "Do you think somebody's watching us?" she asked, before letting out a snicker, "We actually first met the Princess around here... would be a little ironic for somebody else to try and jump us." she explained with a whisper.

Toph just nodded, knowing that it was better to be safe than sorry; Hua increased her pace, though not so much that it would be suspicious to anyone who might be watching them. If there were people watching, she assumed that they had to be the one place she would struggle to sense them: in the trees. As she sensed Hua approaching Jianren, she began to tense up, her own heartbeat hastening; she did not know what would happen if one side decided to react before the other. She was ready for a fight, as always, but being unable to sense her opponents, barring some random guy who was already running up the hill, too far for her to attack properly with all the trees in the way, that made her nervous.

She kept focusing on Hua and the man's footsteps, guessing that he was going to climb to the top of the hill, though for what purpose, she couldn't guess specifics; one was that the encampment they had just been talking about- anyone could be using it if they came across it. As he drew higher and higher, and Hua came over to Jianren, she clenched her fists, just hoping she was wrong; a fight in the woods was not usually an issue, but she realised that it was quite likely they were about to face firebenders, which could cause things to go out of hand faster than any of them could react.

She did not, under any circumstances, want to be stuck in a forest fire, especially without a waterbender, firebender, or airbender to snuff out the flames. She was just unfortunate that the element she and the fighters bent was completely useless against a forest fire, unless they wanted to overturn every trunk and douse the flames with the soil itself. In New Omashu, the parched mountains made a fire like that impossible, but in a place that was so full of trees, bushes, and a thick undergrowth, it was more than likely- it was certain.

Her mind lost any further opportunity to grow anxious over a fight, as she heard a low, rumbling horn in the distance, guessing the man running up the hill was responsible; she immediately moved into form, raising walls up along the sides of the road, hoping that might hold off any attackers, even if only temporarily. She wasn't as lucky as she'd hoped, as people jumped down from the trees, reaching the road before she could close off their way in. She grit her teeth, and turned a finger to the civilians behind her.

"If you can earthbend, hold them back!" she called on aid, and it was received, a few men and women rushing forward to pull out slabs of earth, which they tossed towards the assailants.

She bent out a few pebbles from the road herself, and shot them out at everyone she could sense, throwing a few of them straight to the ground; she guessed those were the ones without proper armour, as the rest seemed unfazed by the small rocks.

"Gotta go bigger." she mumbled under her breath, drawing out slabs of earth from the road, throwing a few of the attackers off their feet before she launched the slabs at those who were still standing, smacking them right back into the walls she'd made.

"Get her!" she heard the shout of a man, and immediately sensed a dozen people rushing towards her, making Toph purse her lips, before she pulled open a hole in the road in front of herself.

"Try me." she mocked her opponents, before jumping inside, and closing the hole over herself; the firebenders began moving into forms, trying to break the hole open with their bending, to no avail, only hardening the mixture of gravel and dirt.

She grinned as she moved into form, readying her hands down by her sides as she sensed around for where her opponents were standing, trying to note it with as much precision as possible.

"My turn." she declared, before throwing her hands up, shooting up pillars from the earth, striking the enemies before any of them could think to try and kick the hole open with their boots.

She didn't hit every single one, but the simultaneous strike was enough to distract the rest of them with the pure shock of it; she took that time to grab every foot she could sense in the vicinity with vices of dirt, hardening them to stone, before she launched herself out of the hole.

"Come at me, if you dare!" she prodded her foes, throwing up wall after wall as they tried to either firebend at her or charge at her; those that were lucky enough to not be trapped rushed up the street, away from the civilians, ensuring their safety for the meantime, though the rest of her opponents clearly wouldn't give up so easily, now they had no way to escape.

However, one man must have had a bigger ego than the rest, and ran right towards her, stepping around sporadically, presuming he could dodge her attacks with pure unpredictability; he was correct to assume that was an effective counter, but she could just make her attacks bigger. Before he was able to reach her, she lunged down to the ground, hammering her fists into the road, causing a wave of earth to erupt forwards, throwing the man off his feet. It turned out to be doubly effective, as she felt heat coursing above her head- a firebending attack she had failed to notice. She let out a quick sigh before she threw up more pillars, striking any of the men around her, who might have tried to attack her while she was momentarily distracted.

"Better luck next time." she addressed the man who'd tried to rush her, before punting him up the road with a pillar, which threw his splayed body into the air; she couldn't sense it flying, but she certainly felt it as he slammed into another attacker some way up the road, "Screw boulders... people are better." she declared with a smirk, before proceeding to repeat the strategy with the other men she had knocked down or restrained.

They let out cries and shouts, some screaming even before she'd had the chance to bend a pillar beneath them; behind her, she heard only cheers from the civilians who had accompanied her.

"Our hero!" she heard one woman proclaim, and Toph just smirked, turning around to point their way.

"It's my job." she reassured them, before she sensed outward, noticing that there were still people on the other side of the walls, trying to walk down and around, where they could try and encircle the now enclosed road, "Come this way!" she told them as she began to run down the road through the group, which parted to allow her to the end of the walls, where she pulled open a trench.

The attackers fell for it, and then into it; they hadn't been expecting a sheer drop when they came around the corner, and she just laughed at them, "What a bunch of idiots!"

Her humour was cut short when she suddenly felt a searing heat across her forehead, and then a forceful shove as she fell right on her back, grunting as her head struck the road beneath her.

"Ack!" she let out a cry, reaching her left hand up to her forehead, which was now aching from what must have been a fireball, "You're gonna pay for that." she mumbled under her breath as she pulled a sheet of earth over her, the mixture of gravel and dirt hardening into a set of armour; she pulled herself back up to her feet, and proceeded to shoot out parts of her forearm guards as bolts, smacking the enemies as they tried to climb from the pit.

That held them off for some time, but her disorientation made it harder for her to utilise her seismic sense, and she realised she was missing some of her attacks, and needlessly wasting the earth that was meant to be covering her arms. She quickly shifted to a more defensive strategy, throwing some of the road up, turning it into dust, which covered the whole area; she knew that as she could already see with seismic sense, only her opponents were disadvantaged getting dust in their eyes.

That seemed to help, as their firebending attacks started missing Toph, who slowly strode backwards, ready to pull up some more walls to try and hold them off. However, her attention was suddenly drawn to a man who was rushing her from behind; she would have noticed him earlier, but he had pushed his way through the mass of civilians, who she thought would have held that flank for her. She weaved down, dodging whatever firebending move he tried on her, before she hammered her foot down into the ground hard, shooting a pillar right into the man's chest, and throwing him back onto the ground. He gasped out, grunted and cried, clearly pained from the attack.

"How many ribs?" she mockingly asked him, before she realised the man had been a useful distraction from the men who were trying to climb out of the pit, and were now poised to rush right at her.

She quickly threw up some pillars, but they were fast enough to miss most of them, only a few getting tossed back; three men were within arms reach, forcing her to take an even more defensive position; she hated being on the weaker side, even if it was only for moments.

"I..." she mumbled under grit teeth, throwing her arms down so she could punch the ground at her feet, "I am the greatest earthbender in the world!" she declared, throwing up waves of earth in all directions, shattering the road, and the very walls she'd pulled up to protect herself and the civilians.

Trees were uprooted, and no man was left standing after that attack, though their firebending attacks had still glanced her stone armour, which was beginning to crumble from the heat; she returned to form, and drew up more earth to reform her armour, ready to go on the offensive.

"Have you learned your lesson yet, knuckleheads?!" she shouted at her attackers, who scampered away in fear, none of them even trying to attack her with bending, sword or pike; victory arrived, at the cost of a seared forehead and much frustration.

She turned her attention up the road, realising that the fight hadn't yet come entirely to her side's favour; Toph decided she would immediately get to changing that state of affairs, moving through the crowd of civilians.

"Earthbenders, on me!" she called on those who were able to fight, and with them by her side, she began pulling up blocks of earth, tossing them out in a quick, rhythmic succession.

Men fell one by one, the civilians getting even more strikes than herself, despite their clear lack of formal combat training; she liked their eagerness, and it spread to the rest of the fighters as they joined in on the assault, ripping the road and walls apart as they beat down on their opponents. It only took a dozen of them to fall before the rest decided to draw back up the hill to what must have been their base of operations.

"Ha, serves them right, a bunch of cowards." she heard Yami speak up as she neared him and his son, who were surrounded by half a dozen unconscious men, showing that they clearly were victorious in their personal fight.

"Wait!" she heard a fighter shout out, "A messenger hawk!" he exclaimed, and she sensed as the earthbenders began frantically launching boulders into the air, trying to strike the bird.

However, a lack of any cheery response told her that they failed to hit it, and she furrowed a brow, realising that the enemy must have sent out a report on their forces; they were clearly gathering intelligence, though for what purpose, she could only guess. Given their proximity to the base, she had a feeling it had to do with their intentions of seizing, if not outright destroying it.

"What are they planning?" she mumbled under her breath, not expecting any of the fighters to have the correct answer; they couldn't just predict the strategies their enemies would employ, at least on the scale of a whole campaign- a single battle, however, she could handle that herself.

She raised her hands up, and shot out as many pebbles as she could sense from the road, shooting them out into the woods, where she hoped to strike down some of their attackers; the sounds of grunts and the sensing of bodies striking the forest floor were only good tidings in her mind.

"Move in there, and push them out! Find whoever sent the messenger hawk... I'm sure her highness will love to hear what they have to say." Jianren ordered his fighters, and implicitly, Toph, even if she technically wasn't under his command, just joining along to aid him and his group in their efforts.

She accepted the command and began to run up the hill, bending the dirt and stone up out of the way to part any trees, logs or bushes so she would have an easier time reaching the peak; it also would help her comrades, who would be aided by a clear path up the hill. They followed Toph as she began shooting out more pebbles when she sensed them, striking any spot where she could sense the enemy moving. Their footsteps betrayed their positions, but they were protected by the trees that stood between her and them, forcing her to get creative, using any pebbles she could sense closer to them.

She did not have the time or focus to try and trap their feet or pull out pillars of earth, which required her concentration to solidify into useful weapons, rather than sending spurts of dirt onto her enemies. Her seeing comrades were far better placed to attack, and shot out slabs of earth, striking a few of them down as they ran up the hill; however, most of them were too fast, or had too much of a head start, already most of the way up, and she could sense a gathering of men by the peak, at what must have been their encampment.

When she got close enough, she could actually hear their firebending, telling her that there were a lot of them, all concentrated on attacking her; she pursed her lips, pulling up a slab of earth, and with it, the tree that sat atop it, using that as a shield against the firebending before tossing the tree through the air with the dirt beneath it. It struck the top of the hill, and the shouts and cries she heard told her it had done its job: providing a useful distraction while they climbed the hill and surrounded them.

"Fan out!" she ordered the fighters behind her, "Let's make sure they don't have a chance to run away."

However, it seemed that her plan was not going to be as straightforward as she hoped; the air was quickly becoming filled with the smell of smoke, and Toph had little choice but to stand back and throw slabs and pillars of earth at the encampment, given that the woods between them were now burning. However, the enemy was moving further back after each volley of earth hit their position, and quickly enough, they seemed to be trying to run away, down the other side of the hill. Though they could continue pursuing them, as long as they were unable to mount another attack, she didn't see any issue with letting them go. They didn't have the resources to take many prisoners, and they only needed one: the person who had sent the messenger hawk, presumably their commanding officer.

The smell of smoke was only growing stronger, and though she had carved out a path up the hill with her bending, she was unsure if it would be viable with all the smoke and fire; she decided to try and cover it up with walls and a roof, forming a tunnel-like structure that would give her and the fighters a way into the camp, but also provided their enemies with an easy target. She could sense that some of the fighters were already moving around the hill in a circular motion, ready to cut off the enemy as they tried to escape down the other side, but most of them were right behind her or by her side, tossing boulders up the hill.

"Follow me!" she called on the fighters behind her as she dashed into the tunnel, making her way through; she blocked off the 'exit' with some earth, making it harder for the enemy to attack them inside, unless they tried to cave in the tunnel with falling trees or some artillery piece that she'd failed to sense.

She doubted the latter was possible, though the former could occur without the firebenders' intervention, so she continued to build up the exterior walls and roof with dirt she drew up from outside, giving it an extra layer of protection. When she finally got to the end of the tunnel, she stopped, and checked behind her, sensing the rest of the fighters slowing as they entered the darkness- she didn't really understand light as she couldn't perceive it, but she knew that the tunnel was well away from any natural light, like the sun.

"Shit, I can't see anything." she heard Yami mumble behind her, before he laughed, "Uh... sorry, Toph."

"Don't worry, I get that all the time." she conceded, knowing that Yami was far from the first person to not consider her blindness, "Ready?" she asked the group, who just raised their fists.

She smirked, and placed a hand on the wall in front of her, before it shot out, smacking right into the firebenders who had been trying to break through it until that point; Toph let out a roaring laugh as she began throwing up slabs of earth from all around her foes, smacking them down one by one in quick succession, before she pointed her right hand forward, knowing who she needed to ensnare.

"Now, which of you is the commanding officer? Please, don't be shy." she asked with a devious grin, and the first man to run was the one she pulled into the earth below his feet, having only his upper body sticking out of the ground; the rest of the men seemed aghast, stepping back fearfully as Toph and the fighters surrounded them.

"This is the part where you run away." Hua spoke with a purposefully loud whisper, standing right behind the men, as she'd been one of the fighters to encircle the hilltop; the enemy turned around only to find themselves battered to the ground by a quick succession of boulders, and then ensnared to the ground with some earthen shackles.

Once they were dealt with, Toph strode over to the man she'd sunk into the ground, and knelt down beside him, "So, I need you to do two things: one, get rid of the forest fire so we don't all suffocate or burn to death, and two, tell me where you were sending that message." she requested, and the man just scoffed.

"Go fuck-" he began, only to be punched across the jaw; she didn't need her bending to make him shut up, especially when his hands were trapped in the earth below; she let his arms free, giving him the opportunity to bend, if he so wished.

"Now, choose your next move wisely, otherwise I'm going to have to break every bone in your body and ask one of the other guys who you were sending that message to." she warned him, and the man's heartbeat instantly hastened, telling her that he was far more afraid than confident, "Good, now please, the fire." she gestured to the growing forest fire behind them.

The smoke was almost suffocating by that point, and she didn't want to have to deal with it any longer. If she had to overturn the entire forest, she would, but that would be tedious and extremely tiring, all while she still had to walk to the base, which had to still be a few hours walk away.

"L-listen to what the little lady says... put out the fire." he ordered the others, who raised their hands up, bending the flames; she couldn't sense what was happening, but the smoke quickly began to dissipate, telling her that the trees were no longer burning.

"Good." she thanked him as bluntly as she could, before reaching a hand towards his face, "Where did you send it?"

"The Eastern Fleet." he answered, and turned around, unsure where the Eastern Fleet was stationed; from the sounds of it, she expected the Eastern Fleet would be based near Ba Sing Se, in the waters past the East Lake.

"Where are they?" she asked the fighters, none of whom seemed to have a good answer.

"Somewhere Ba Sing Se-ish, I think." Hua gave her own opinion, and none of the other fighters spoke, telling her that they didn't have any idea better than that.

"Fucking spirits." she whispered under her breath, "Where are they?"

"I don't know." he admitted, "We were told we had to report to Admiral Chan concerning any movements around this region."

"You'd think they'd be sending it to the Western Fleet, given that it'd have to be closer by." one of the fighters, Ying, spoke up; that made her prisoner laugh, which didn't please her in the slightest.

"The Western Fleet is loyal to General Iroh, not to the Fire Lord, you stupid peasant." he retorted, and Toph smacked him over the head, though not as hard as she had the first time.

"Shut up." she warned him, "Where is the Eastern Fleet supposed to be?" she pressed a more specific question, hoping for an actually useful answer.

"In the Eastern Sea, East Lake, and the eastern halves of the southern and northern seas." he explained, and she sighed, knowing that was a wide area; the fleet could be massing in the East Lake or be travelling right up the coast to the base for all she knew.

"Wow, really?" she sarcastically feigned surprise, finding his answer barely useful, "Where have they been fighting?"

"Everywhere the usurper's forces remain." he clarified, and she raised a finger to her forehead.

"That's literally the entire western side of the Earth Kingdom." she reminded him, "You really hate being specific, don't you?"

"Do you think I'll just give up my fellow countrymen because of your threats?" he asked, and she shook her head.

"No, but after starving in a pitch black cell for a week or two, then you might start talking." she argued, before grabbing him by the collar, "Leave the rest, we'll take this idiot with us."

She grabbed the officer's hands, and bound them with shackles of earth, before pulling him out of the ground, liquifying it so she could toss him to the side. The fighters grabbed him and began dragging him away, while she looked at those who remained.

"I hope you don't forget my mercy." she warned them, before cracking her knuckles, "Because I don't do the same thing twice."

With what she thought was a suitable threat put in place, Toph followed the fighters down the hill, walking through the now blackened woods. There were only a few embers left, and if they did restart a real fire, the firebenders they had ensnared would likely put it out before it became any more of an issue; if they wanted to survive, they would need to make sure they could breathe.

She paced down over to Hua, who seemed pretty upbeat, just in the way she was walking, "Well, I think that was a success, even if we've only got one guy." she gave her thoughts, before placing her hand on Toph's shoulder, "You did a good job protecting the civilians. I'm sure Jianren appreciates you looking out for them."

"Yeah, he can thank me himself. I'd like somebody to carry me and my sore feet back to the base. That'd make my day." she gave a very unrealistic request, purposefully knowing it would amuse Hua and anyone else who heard.

"Bah!" she scoffed, "Like that'll ever happen... though you are pretty short, maybe somebody could manage it."

Toph was slightly insulted by the comment on her height, though she couldn't be mad; she was younger than any of the fighters, and was only a few months past fourteen, yet to reach her adult height anyways. She hoped she'd be taller by then, if only so she didn't have to get any more gripes about her being a petite, harmless looking girl; she knew that could have its advantages at times, but when she was out in the field, it was mostly just frustrating, especially with people she didn't know.

She had no idea how she'd get the people of Ba Sing Se to respect her when she got there, given that she would appear to just be some sheltered noblewoman, if they'd ever actually heard of her; those who had heard about the Blind Bandit mightn't take her seriously because of her crude and showy former profession. That wasn't really front and centre in her mind, but she wanted to make sure she was useful when they got there. Beyond being Aang's master, she wanted to be somebody who could help her nation, and she needed people to listen to her if she ever wanted to do that.

"You take me seriously, right?" she asked Hua, who didn't respond for a few moments.

"I mean, when you're being serious, I do." she answered, "But I mean, you are a kid."

"I commanded squads of earthbenders back in New Omashu." she reminded her, and Hua just chuckled.

"Huh, I guess you must be better at this soldier stuff than I am." she observed, "But you're pretty independent, aren't you?"

"That's why I lead." she argued, "I'm not... uh, the best at following orders."

"Huh, but you'll never get stuck, or indecisive." she realised, "That's a good thing."

"I know." she smirked, "I just want to be taken seriously when I go to Ba Sing Se."

"Get some armour." she suggested, "Fancy looking stuff, with big pauldrons. People might think you're just short, not a child."

"I mean I could go for armour." she agreed to the idea, "It'll probably keep me safe from any rocks the Dai Li toss at me."

"Don't you mean, at us?" she asked, and Toph raised her brow.

"Wait, are you coming to Ba Sing Se with us?" she asked, and Hua's heartbeat hastened.

"Well... Jianren hasn't said yes yet, but I did ask. I thought you could use the company."

"Thanks... I guess." she mumbled, surprised that Hua was willing to do that, "You don't need to do that. Don't you want to go back to your village?" she asked, knowing that because she was expelled by the Fire Nation, she'd be allowed back, assuming it was under the control of their allies.

"I mean, I technically could, but it'd be no good doing that with the job half done." she argued, "Our... well, I don't know what to call it, but the Princess has shown us a path beyond simply pushing our oppressors out of our land. We need to make the Earth Kingdom... stronger. Something better than what we had before."

"And who gets to rule?" Toph asked, the first question that popped into her head when she considered what would follow Azula's coup against the Dai Li.

"I don't know, but somebody with the interests of our nation at heart. Why does it have to be one person?" she asked, and that made her chuckle.

"I guess it could be a lot of people at once. Working together is the only way we get things done, after all." she admitted, knowing that it had taken her time to learn that lesson herself, but she had taken it to heart; though she was more than capable, if she wanted to make a difference, whether it was on the battlefield, or for the Earth Kingdom, she could not do it alone, "So, yeah, I think you'll be helpful there. You know what it's like to live on the land, fight for your people, not be burdened by stupid rules and authority."

"I certainly do." she nodded, playfully punching Toph, as she would frequently to do her own friends, "You're a smart girl... who said anyone needed eyes to understand the world?"

"Hah!" Toph grinned, thinking to the one thing that had always been held up as a constraint on her; being illiterate because of her blindness had never stopped her from learning, and becoming the greatest earthbender in the world, "What good is reading anyway?" she asked, and Hua cackled, raising her hands into the air.

"That's what I've been saying my whole life!"

---

The villagers of Chunxi, now with a goal in mind, seemed far happier than they had been when Aang and Katara first arrived at the village. They had spent the whole afternoon of the previous day and then the following morning clearing the barrels, and removing any soil that had been contaminated by the chemicals. The materials left over by the Fire Nation workers were still usable for the villagers, so they took it back to their homes, hoping to use it to repair their homes. Though Aang was admittedly a stranger to hard labour, he didn't want to tell the villagers what to do and then refuse to help them do it.

As he carried a barrel over to the pit that had been dug into the hillside, he grunted and groaned, realising that despite being the Avatar, that role did not confer on him any great physical strength; he was just like any other twelve year old, too eager to show off his strength to a girl. Katara was just amused by the sounds he made as he heaved the barrel along, while she had long since elected to roll the barrel she had collected over to the pit. The other villagers seemed to approve of his hard work, even if he was less capable than most of them; they offered smiles and thumbs up as he made his way past them.

When he had gone to Chunxi, he had been expecting to try and commune with a spirit, or fight it, and though he had tried those paths, neither had given him the results he desired. The missing villagers were still being held, presumably in the Spirit World itself, and the spirit did not stop attacking innocents. They were just lucky that after it had been beaten down by their combined strength that it had not reared its head again; he had felt the rumbles as he walked by the spring, and that told him it was still present.

When he finally reached the pit, he tossed the barrel down to join the others, and he realised that the pit was basically already full; because it had been dug with all the barrels in mind, that told him that they were nearly done. There was the issue of potentially unaccounted for barrels, but he hadn't seen any more evidence of contamination other than what had been coming down directly from the railway.

Katara quickly followed after him, rolling her barrel down into the pit, and she looked at him with a bemused face, "You do know you didn't have to carry it, right?"

"Yeah, but I've got to get a bit tougher. Maybe it will help with my earthbending... you know, facing my problems head on." he explained, and she tilted her head.

"Huh, I guess that means I'm using the strength of the barrel against it. It's shaped just right to roll."

"But what if it slipped?" he asked, gesturing down the slope they had been climbing.

"Well, somebody could stop it." she argued, before crossing her arms, "So, are we done now? I mean, with the barrels, at least."

"I think so." he confirmed, before stretching his arms up towards the sky, and letting out a yawn, "I think I've had enough hard work for the day."

"What about cooking dinner?" she asked, and he scrunched his lips.

"But didn't the villagers offer to give us food?" he asked, and she gestured towards the villagers who were aiding them, pushing or carrying the barrels along to the pit.

"These people have gone through enough. Accepting free food is a bit unfair." she argued, before smiling, "If this stops the spirit, then we might have a celebration."

"I do like parties." Aang admitted with a grin, "I can show off my dance moves!" he declared, though he quickly cringed realising he was being a bit too upbeat given the situation; the villagers were missing family and friends, and were under the constant terror of the spirit- he needed to take that seriously, "Sorry, I just got excited."

"Don't worry, Aang." she reassured him with a playful tap to his arm, "You're just a kid... you should want to have fun."

"Y-yeah." he nodded, before straightening his expression, "We should head back to the village. Maybe there's something there we could help with... unless you want to go straight to making dinner."

"We'll see." she mumbled, before she turned around, and began walking back in the direction of the village.

As they began walking back down the railroad, his mind went over what lay before him for the rest of the day. Though he was worried about the spirit, he admittedly was thinking more about dinner than it; he knew that the cleanup mightn't stop the spirit, but having dinner would sate him and make sure he was ready for another day of work, where he expected he would try and figure out if there was anything else they could do to calm the spirit.

"What is for dinner, anyway?" he asked Katara, who raised a finger to her chin, tapping it slowly.

"Some noodles, beans, and vegetables." she explained what she had planned, and he nodded, glad that they were having something vegetarian; though she wasn't as adamant about eating meat as her brother, he understood that she might not like missing out on at least a little meat in their meal.

"Sounds nice." he acknowledged, before glancing up to the sky above them, "I wonder how the others are doing?"

"Toph should be getting to the base pretty soon." the Water Tribe girl observed, "There's probably a lot of work to be done there, if they really want to make it into a town."

"Making a town from scratch would be hard." he noted, before tilting his head, "They have earthbenders... so it's a little easier."

"Yeah, I guess it would be easy to build things in the Northern Water Tribe because they have so many waterbenders." she added her own thoughts, and Aang scrunched his lips.

"Well, you can't make buildings out of fire or air. I guess the rest of us are getting a bad deal." he joked, and Katara giggled.

"Ah, Sokka would like that joke... though he's a non-bender, so maybe he thinks most people are getting a bad deal." she guessed what her brother might have to say about that.

"I wonder if the airship is fixed yet." he mumbled, "It didn't seem that damaged when we left."

"No, but I guess Sokka's going to want to make upgrades. He's really into improving things."

"Heh." he snickered with a smile, noting how he had basically made a job out of trying to help Azula improve, and then was trying to help fix the world with her.

"What, you thought of Azula, didn't you?" she asked him, and his smirk made her smile back, "It's true."

"She will make a good Fire Lord, thanks to Sokka." he argued, before his gaze turned back to the path, as they were about to move back off from the railroad towards the village, "Though, I don't really know if she'd be better than her brother."

"We don't really know much about him." Katara acknowledged, "But if the Southern Raiders were already his enemy, then he couldn't have been that bad."

"I wish they had actually had a chance to make amends." Aang added quietly; he mightn't have had siblings, but he understood the guilt of not having an opportunity to make things right with somebody.

"Yeah... well, if he's out there hiding, and not burnt to a crisp, then maybe she'll have a chance."

"If he's hiding... doesn't that make things worse?" he asked, imagining that the constant changing of allegiances would not help the Princess gain new supporters in the Fire Nation, "What if his people support Ozai over Azula?"

"I doubt they will. If there's anything I've learnt from her stories, it's that her brother is as different from Ozai as he could possibly be." she acknowledged, "Anyone who wanted him to be Fire Lord would prefer Azula... though they might not really know how much she's changed."

"Yeah, they wouldn't... but I hope they do." he gave his thoughts, before falling silent as they were forced to move single-file through the thick woods, making they way back down the slope towards the spring, and the village beyond it.

His mind turned back to the spirit, and the last time he'd tried to communicate with it; he didn't get any real information, only some weird feelings and a very angry spirit. He didn't know if he could succeed communing with the spirit if he tried again, but he felt now that most of the dirty materials had been removed, that the spirit might see that the villagers were not trying to harm its home. It would take time for the chemicals they had in the barrels to wash away, and for the grass, bushes, and trees to regrow in the land that had been tampered with in the process of building the railroad, but he hoped that the spirit would calm down and refrain from attacking the villagers anymore.

He decided as they made their way closer to the shrine that he could at least try it one more time before they were completely finished with the cleanup, "Katara... I've been thinking." he spoke up, getting the Water Tribe girl's attention.

Her head turned slightly, so she could side-eye him as they walked through the woods, "Yeah, what is it?"

"I want to go back to the shrine... maybe the spirit might be willing to listen to me." he suggested, and she shrugged her shoulders.

"I don't know Aang... it did seem pretty mad last time, and you didn't even try to go in the spring, did you?"

"No, I just sat there." he confirmed, and sighed, "I just feel like I should try something. All those people the spirit took, they're counting on us to save them, even if they don't know we came here." he acknowledged the burden that was on their shoulders, or more accurately, his own.

Katara was there to help, but he was the Avatar, making it his responsibility to deal with the spirit. He wished that he had gotten a little more training from the monks, knowing that if he could speak with them, they would tell him exactly how to pacify the spirit and make sure it let the villagers go. They were wise and attuned with spiritual matters, and he was just a boy; he respected the spirits and wanted to live in peace with them, but he had never considered them important in his own life until he learned that he was the Avatar.

"I can't stop you." the Water Tribe girl acknowledged, before sighing, "I'll come along... if it tries to attack you again, you're gonna need the back up." she warned him, Aang giving her a sheepish smile in return, scratching his hair awkwardly.

"Yeah, uh, I'd like that." he accepted her help, knowing that despite the recency of her waterbending training, she was a true prodigy, even more than he had been with his own airbending; she was attuned to her element and was eager to fight, unlike himself, so she could stand up against an angry spirit with little fear.

He admired her courage, and hoped that he could imitate it even just a little if he had to face the spirit again; every fibre of his being told him to run, but his responsibilities said otherwise, and as did the imaginary voice of Toph in his head. If she had been there, he would have gotten a beatdown if he'd dared to run off and not face the spirit like he was supposed to; he didn't know if fighting was the answer, but their past encounter told him it could work.

As the two of them walked towards the spring, they made their way past some other villagers, and Katara gestured away from them, "Aang's going to try and commune with the spirit again. Tell the others to steer clear of the spring." she warned them, and the villagers eagerly nodded, pacing away faster than they had been before she spoke; they were afraid, and he could not blame them, as he felt the same.

As they reached the clearing, he made sight of the stone shrine, and strode over to it calmly, not wanting to accidentally kick a rock or make some other kind of fuss that would get the spirit's attention; it seemed to be easily angered in its present state, so he tried to remain as calm as he could. If it could sense his feelings, then perhaps it might understand that he was not a threat. He slowed his pace as he approached the shrine, and sat himself down cross-legged in front of it; Katara stepped up behind him, and remained standing as he closed his eyes, where he would have otherwise been looking over the pool, and the stream that coursed out from it.

With his eyes shut, he tried his hardest to communicate with the spirit; it didn't help that Aang didn't know how to do it, but he knew that if he was the Avatar, then it had to come naturally to him. He could try and communicate with his past lives for help, but he didn't feel confident in doing that either. Aang began taking long, deep breaths, and pictured the spirit in his mind's eye; it was a dark, slithering creature, not at all how he imagined a spirit would look. The spirit's anger was palpable, and he could feel it beneath his feet, even if it wasn't literally there; its association with the place itself made sure that its feelings were known.

A normal person might have just dismissed it as a windchill, but he knew that it was the spirit telling him that it was displeased. He preferred if he could communicate with it directly, so tried to concentrate harder, hoping that his meditation would help him better connect with the strange creature. He felt a tingling sensation down his spine, and wondered if it was going to come out of the water again to attack him; he was sitting in almost the same spot, so he wouldn't be surprised if it did. Katara was ready to help him this time, so he felt a little more confident than he had the day prior.

"Are you there?" he asked out, and received no obvious response; Aang opened his eyes, and sighed, unsure if he would be able to get a response.

"I don't think I can get it to tell me anything... or say anything back." he spoke his mind, and glanced back at Katara, who winced, seeming disappointed.

"Maybe you need to meditate for a bit longer." she suggested, sitting herself down behind him, "I'll warn you if anything happens."

He nodded, and closed his eyes once more; he concentrated on the spirit, and then, he slowly was able to sense its emotions, just like before. However, the longer he focused on them, the more the emotions seemed to affect him; Aang had no real reason to be angry, but for some reason, the anger was filling his heart, making him grit his teeth and clench his fists.

"Aang, are you alright?"

"Just fine." he mumbled through grit teeth, and turned his mind back to the spirit, hoping that he'd get a little more than its feelings.

And he did, the spirit now sending images into his mind; he could see the spirit, but not in its present form, but what seemed to be its true form. The spirit looked more like a long, graceful serpent than some weird dark, worm-like creature, with a face, eyes and mouth, which seemed friendly and calm. It had horns and scales that were coloured all different shades and glinted in the light of the sun. The spirit was swimming in its pool, but he could see the cause of its rage; the dark, thick sludge from the barrels, seeping down into the spring, darkening the water ever so slightly.

It made the spirit cry out and groan in pain, making Aang wince as he felt what must have been a fraction of the anguish the spirit itself felt; the spirit contorted, screamed, and changed colour and shape, becoming the dark, malicious thing he had faced the day prior. Then he saw images of the spirit attacking Fire Nation soldiers and workers, pulling them into the spring, and then, the sight of fires burning the woods and further polluting the water with ash and debris. After that followed what he had been expecting: the spirit's vicious outbursts against the villagers; some were taken, others were burned by the spirit's touch as it leapt into the fields, across the village walls, and attacked their homes.

These visions made Aang cringe, feeling its anger, and all that it had done; he knew the spirit had overreacted, but then again, it was its home. The spring was sacred to it, it gave the land life just as it did the spirit. He knew the spirit was not inherently bad, just as the Fire Nation wasn't; all the destruction and pain had been caused by a lack of understanding, but Aang still didn't know how to make it understand. He tried to delve deeper, hoping the spirit would actually start speaking, or at least try to.

But when he did that, he heard Katara scream, "Aang, get down!" she shouted at him; the Avatar opened his eyes, only to be greeted by the long, contorted body of the spirit, which had a glowing, gaping maw open in front of him.

It did not speak, and let out the same shrill cry, before lunging at him; Aang cried out in fear, throwing his staff forward to try and airbend it away, but he was unable to do so, the spirit biting down onto his left arm as he tried to cover his face. Aang felt a strange burning sensation, which only grew stronger with each passing moment, and let out his own shrill cry. He struggled to hold back the Avatar State which he knew would activate if he was in too much danger; he was more afraid for the spirit's sake than his own, as he could not tell what his past lives would do with it.

Before Aang could do anything, Katara leapt forward and bent the water of the spring up and around them, trying to attack the spirit; it just phased through the water, so she bent it closer, surrounding the two of them with spinning mass of water. He turned his eyes up to her, gritting his teeth as he tried not to cry from the burning pain that was coursing up his arm; when the spirit slipped away from his arm, he could see that there were burn marks coursing up the arm, as if it had been splattered with flames, though only lightly. That explained the pain, as if it was a real fire, his arm would have already gone numb.

"Stay still." she requested, and threw the water up and around them, freezing it solid to form a shield around them and the shrine, before she used what remained to coil around his arm.

He grit his teeth as the water began to glow, Katara trying to heal his arm as quickly as she could, while the spirit was aggressively hammering its body into the ice wall; it was still corporeal, meaning that they might have a chance to actually hurt it, and get it to go away. He didn't know what choice they'd have otherwise.

As the pain began to lessen his mind was drawn to the cracks coming from the ice surrounding them, and he raised his uninjured right arm to Katara's shoulder, "You- you need to bend the ice at it."

She nodded resolutely, before she slowly rose to her feet, moving her right hand up while her left remained by his side, bending the water around his arm to heal him.

"I'm sorry." she addressed the spirit under her breath, and when the spirit finally shattered the ice ball surrounding them, she threw the shards into the spirit, making it cry out in pain.

She funnelled the entire ball into the spirit, forcing it back slowly, and clearly damaging it as sparks of light came off its body, though it did eventually become non-corporeal again. However, there was only so much ice she could use, and once it was gone, the spirit let out a shrill scream and rushed towards them, Aang ripping his left arm free from her water, which was still glowing.

"Get it!" he shouted, and she whipped her left hand around, throwing the water around the spirit, almost like a massive shackle; however, it didn't stop glowing, and in fact increased in brightness, and Aang's eyes widened.

"Are... are you healing it?" he asked, his voice far quieter as he felt an odd sense of calm, the spirit's cry turning into a low groan as it recoiled from her bending.

"I- I think it's doing something." she admitted, and drew out more water from the spring to spread around the spirit's body, which seemed to remain physical as the water began to show some actual effects; the spirit's formerly dark body lightened, its scales returning, and its glowing wounds disappeared.

Soon enough, it no longer looked like a shrouded, smoke-like worm, but a beautiful serpent, which looked more confused than they were, glancing around as it seemed to be serene and peaceful once more. Aang's eyes brightened, and he let himself smile, watching as Katara let go of the spirit, and it fell down into the water below.

"What- what did I-" the Water Tribe girl gasped, confused by how she had just defeated the spirit.

It disappeared quickly, dissipating into the spring, and then, a few moments later, dozens of people surfaced from the spring, now filled with bodies. They all looked around frantically, wet and dishevelled; they began to try and climb out of the water, but many looked up, seeing Katara and Aang standing above them at the shrine.

"The Avatar!" one of them exclaimed, "He saved us!"

The people began to cheer, and Aang turned to his friend, more pleased that she had saved them all than anything else, "Th-thank you, Katara." he acknowledged her with bow, and she let out a snicker.

"You would have done the same for me." she replied with a smile, before she gestured towards the path they'd need to take to get down to the edge of the pool, "Let's get down there, I'm sure they're all a bit confused."

He nodded, and followed her down, still cringing from the burning sensation he had been feeling not a minute earlier; the injury was all but gone, but the pain lingered in his mind. He could see that not all of the people they had saved were villagers, but many seemed to be Fire Nation soldiers or workers, which he could tell either from the armour they wore or the colouration of their clothing and eyes. The rescued villagers surrounded them and began to cheer.

"Avatar!" they proclaimed his title, over and over again, and Aang cringed, knowing that he hadn't been the one to save them.

"I didn't stop the spirit, Katara did." he gestured to his friend, who looked a little flustered from all the attention, but was clearly happy to see all the people they had saved.

"Katara! Katara!" they began to chant the Water Tribe girl's name, and she made a sheepish smile as she was followed; she began walking back in the direction of the village while Aang looked over at the pool, wondering if the spirit had truly been healed of its anger, if that was what Katara had done to it.

"The Avatar, really?" he heard a voice ask out, a Fire Nation soldier, clearly an officer from his attire, asked him, "You saved us?"

The Fire Nation men hadn't gone off to follow the villagers, but were still standing there by the water's edge, looking upon him with shock.

"You've missed a lot." he admitted, knowing that many of them had been trapped by the spirit for months, before he had even left the iceberg, "Did you know I was back?"

"Well, I hadn't heard of that." one of the workers admitted, before glancing down at the pool, "How long were we in the Spirit World?"

"I got to the Earth Kingdom nearly four months ago." he clarified, "So, some of you have been there at least that long." he acknowledged, "It was after the civil war started, right?"

"Y-yeah, all of us know about the war." another worker spoke up, the men nodding along, "Why... why are you acting so calm around us... you know what the Fire Nation did to the Air Nation, don't you?"

"Yeah, I do." he nodded to confirm, glancing back towards the villagers who had surrounded Katara, and were now much further away, the thick woods obscuring them partially, "Wait... you don't know, don't you?" he realised, glancing at the men, "Who was taken last?"

One of the soldiers stepped forward, "Uh, my group, Avatar." he clarified, "We were sent east to try and scout out Admiral Zhao's base of operations... well, I guess it was the Princess's by that point. Are you really allies with her?"

He nodded, clearly surprising the soldiers, before he grimaced, "Are you all loyal to Fire Lord Zuko?"

"Of course." one of the officers confirmed, "He is the reigning Fire Lord... his father was deposed by an Agni Kai, so his reign is legitimate, even if Ozai lives."

"Zuko is dead." he told them something they mightn't like to hear; the soldiers all looked aghast, glancing at each other, as if they couldn't believe what they were hearing, "At least that's what Ozai's commands to the colonies were saying."

"So he retook the throne... It wasn't through an Agni Kai, right?" the officer guessed, and he nodded; he didn't know all the details, but he knew that Zuko had been supposedly killed while on a honeymoon after his wedding to Mai, who was Ty Lee and Azula's friend.

"Spirits save us all." one of the workers gasped out, before he eyed the pool, "Perhaps... perhaps that wasn't the best choice of words."

"I'm sorry for having to be the one to tell you all this, but somebody needed to." he conceded, wishing that Azula had been there, and could have given out all the details, and potentially, earned the men's loyalty, "Azula wants to reclaim the throne, and I'm helping her... she's in Shengchang right now. If you want to swear your loyalty to her, go there." he gave a suggestion, before raising a finger to his chin, "Or to what you called Zhao's base... yeah, that's probably closer."

"Our nation is falling apart at the seams." the officer lamented, raising a hand to his face, flicking some of the water off of it, "I can't believe you're really helping her."

"She's a different person to the one you would have heard about." he tried to reassure them, "She will be a good Fire Lord."

"I guess there's really only one way we can judge that." the officer acknowledged, "We best head west anyway... we have homes and families to return to. Not to mention our jobs."

"Uh, about that, is the railroad still being built?" one of the workers asked, and Aang shook his head.

"No, I think it's been abandoned ever since you guys were taken by the spirit." he told them what he knew, and the workers seemed pensive.

"Shit, are we gonna get paid?"

"I'm sure the Fire Lord might offer recompense despite our... absence. I doubt your employers will care to pay... they probably thought we were all dead." the officer conceded, before letting out a sigh, "Will we be welcome in Chunxi? Last time we came through... they weren't very happy to have us around."

"I'm sure they won't mind if it's just for tonight. It's not your fault you got stuck in the Spirit World." he reassured them, momentarily eying the workers, who he knew might have been inadvertently responsible for the whole ordeal, though he didn't blame them; there was no way they could have been aware of what their actions would lead to.

"Alright... that settles it, let's get moving. I'm starving." the officer gave a command, the others nodding along, all of them looking famished; he guessed that there was no food in the spirit world, but he assumed that they wouldn't have to eat there either.

He walked with the Fire Nation men, leading them back down towards the village; the officer remained by his side, presumably having more questions about the state of his nation. Aang might have known more than he did, but he was by no means informed about all that was going on. He had spent the good part of the last three months just travelling around, not spending all much time in any single place to learn about the local events and what was going on politically. He was twelve, and didn't exactly have a great grasp of everything that was going on, but he understood the fundamentals: Azula wanted to end the war and make peace with the Earth Kingdom, and Ozai wanted to destroy them all.

"So, Avatar... I am still surprised to hear you are working with our people." he admitted, "I mean no offence, but you must be quick to forgive."

"Sozin was the one who did it... a hundred years ago. Nobody alive has anything to do with that." he acknowledged the distance between the destruction of his people and the modern day Fire Nation, "And I heard that Zuko ordered you all to treat me not as your enemy."

"He did. We all received the orders before we were sent on this operation. I believe he wanted to make amends for the genocide of your people."

Aang grimaced, unsure what Zuko, or Azula for that matter, could do to make up for what had happened; the Air Nomads were gone, and he was the last of his people. It might have been possible that there were survivors who could have intermarried with the other nations, but he doubted that anyone would have remembered their heritage.

He knew that sometimes Air Nomads were exiled from their people, forbidden from the temples because of their views or misdeeds, but those Air Nomads were usually unable to access their airbending because of their differing mindsets. Aang admittedly found the idea a bit unfair at times, especially given that some people might have just been more materially minded, like those from the other nations, not vicious criminals or murderers who deserved exile. Those people might have had a chance to survive Sozin's terrible acts, but they probably had little interest in holding up the legacy of his people.

"I don't know what he could have done... I'm all that's left, I mean, other than the temples."

"Though you might not believe it, many people disagree with what happened a hundred years ago... I heard stories as a boy, but I never had anyway to prove them right or wrong."

"What do you mean?"

"Your people supposedly were a threat to our nation, at least, that's what we were taught at schools, but I heard from elders, or elders heard from their own elders, about how the Air Nomads never interfered with the matters of the other nations, and were all peaceful at heart." he acknowledged what was the truth as he saw it, though the people of the Fire Nation must have been taught some dark lie that justified their actions.

"That's true." he nodded, "I mean, not all Air Nomads were nice, and peaceful... Well, that's up to interpretation. We never wanted to hurt anyone."

"I imagined so." he acknowledged, "Many people held doubts... but nobody was ever willing to say much, because it would make Sozin out to be a monster. We treat him like he was the greatest man to live, a true beacon of progress and righteousness... but all stories have some lies to them."

"Why are... why are you talking to me about this?"

"Because you are the last airbender. You have the weight of a nation on your shoulders... and you're one of the only people alive from before the war. You know what the world was like back then."

"I didn't know anything about Sozin or his plans... but I guess the monks might have. That's probably why they were so serious about my training." he admitted, knowing that in hindsight, their attitudes could be explained by their fears about the Fire Nation; however, living in fear was not the way of an Air Nomad, and it made him so angry at them, even if they were right, "I just wish to make things better now. The world needs the Avatar."

"A few years ago I would have laughed at that... but you're right. Things are just... There's no order, no peace, no future, all we have is this stupid fight amongst ourselves." the officer admitted, and Aang furrowed a brow; though he hadn't seen the world before Zuko's rise as Fire Lord and the end of the war, he imagined that things were very different, with the Fire Nation united in purpose, and the other nations united against them.

Now, the Fire Nation stood divided, and the Earth Kingdom was poised to rebel, though who the rebels would side with remained to be seen; they might refuse to work with Azula, and he understood their reasoning, just as he did understand why those loyal to Zuko would have felt uneasy to side with Azula, even if she was certainly their preferred Fire Lord over her father.

"Yeah... I guess it must be weird. I hope you're... well, I can't imagine what it was like being stuck in the Spirit World." he admitted, and the officer let out a huff.

"Strange... strange is the only way I can describe it. It felt misty and directionless, like we could never find our way. There were plants, trees, mountains, all the things you'd see in this world, but everything was off... it just didn't feel right. We didn't need to eat, or sleep. It was truly alien." he explained what he had experienced, and Aang nodded.

"Well, I hope that is the only time you have to experience that." he admitted, "It must have felt like some kind of weird prison."

"It certainly was." he nodded, "The other men... the workers, they were getting a bit unsettled after all that time, but the flow of new people meant that we had others to talk to, even if they were just random Earth peasants."

"We're all people." Aang retorted, not liking his attitude towards foreigners; that just made the man laugh.

"You're one to say that when you're more god than man." he reminded him, and Aang glanced down to his hands.

"Y-yeah... I guess I am." he mumbled, before his eyes turned up, realising that they had made their way out of the woods; the walls of the village stood in the distance, and Katara had made her way from the group, who had gone to return to their loved ones.

He parted from the Fire Nation men, who waved towards him awkwardly as he walked off towards his friend; she smiled at him, clearly feeling a bit of an ego boost from the attention she deservedly received, even if neither of them understood what she'd actually done. He thought she might have actually healed the spirit, but he didn't know that waterbending could heal emotional ailments, let alone the emotions of a spirit.

"So... you were talking with those guys? Are they going to go join Azula?"

"Well, I think I made good impression, even if I might have scared some of them. A lot of bad stuff has been going on in their country."

"It's about time their suffering turned inward... maybe that'll teach them that war is wrong." she suggested, before shaking her head, "I know that's mean of me, but I just... well, they've been asking for it."

"Yeah... but revenge is never fair, Katara." he warned her, "Lots of people are suffering. Colonies isolated, soldiers stuck and people scared, not just Fire Nation people. What about all the people under their rule who are just afraid the fighting might come to them... Shengchang was lucky, until the reinforcements came over and ruined the outskirts and mines." he recalled what they had just been through over the past week.

"I know." she mumbled, before smiling at him, "You know, you're pretty wise for a kid."

"I'm a hundred and fourteen, remember?" he prodded her with an elbow, making her snicker.

"No, I think it's because you're a good guy, Aang." she admitted, before sighing, "The Air Nomads must have been good people if they raised you."

"Y-yeah, they were." he nodded pensively, before turning to Appa, who was sitting off in a barn by the village walls, "Let's go see Appa, I'm sure he'll be glad to leave this place after the spirit attacked."

"Yeah, he was a bit restless last night." Katara observed, "Momo was worse."

"Where did the little guy go, anyway?" he glanced around, the Water Tribe girl holding back a laugh.

"Knowing him, he's probably just stealing food from some of these poor villagers." she suggested, and he gasped.

"He's probably getting food in the forest. I don't think he's that bad." he argued the flying lemur's case, before pacing over towards the barn.

He pulled the doors wide open, glancing upon his sky-bison, who looked to be napping, though he blinked a few times upon basking in the light of the afternoon sun.

"Hey, buddy." he addressed his sky-bison, stepping over to his face, and pat his cheek softly, Appa nuzzling him in return, making him giggle; he was glad that his friend had had a nice rest and wasn't worked up or anxious because of all the fighting, "You seen Momo?"

The sky-bison didn't seem too interested, and let out a yawn, before he stretched his legs out, a set at a time, and then walked out of the barn, glancing around the fields, before he began to walk off towards the woods. He turned his gaze back over to the barn, eyeing the bags that were lying on the ground, with all their food and cooking equipment inside.

"So, dinner?" he asked Katara, who just grinned, patting him on the shoulder.

"We deserve it after a hard day's work... and actually solving a problem. The village is safe." she declared their achievement, beaming as bright as the morning sun, "I- I really just like it when we do something good like this."

"Yeah, I like it as well. These villagers won't have to worry again, and we know what to do next time... I think."

"Try and heal an angry spirit?" she asked, and he chuckled, scratching his scalp; he was unsure if he understood what had happened at the spring, but whatever they'd done, it had worked.

"It worked... and it wasn't really violent. It's my kind of thing." he admitted, glancing down at his hands, before he pouted, "Why didn't I ask to learn healing at the North Pole?" he chided himself, knowing that he certainly could have been helped by learning how to heal.

"Because you were too worried about mastering waterbending." Katara noted, and he shook his head.

"I know you like fighting, but I realise... it's just as important a part of waterbending. I want to try and learn it... I mean, I hope I don't have to use it, but I want to be ready." he explained himself, not wishing ill will on anyone just so he could train healing.

"When the opportunity presents itself, I'll make sure to show you how to get it done... then nothing can stand in your way."

"No..." he raised a hand, smiling at his waterbending master; he trusted her to fight by his side, no matter what, and that was more reassuring than any warm bed or congratulations could be, "Our way."