(A/N)- Eyyyy, it's ya girl!

Writing goal for this year is to try and have a chapter of this baby out once a week. Hopefully I can stick to it.

I won't keep you. Let's dive right in!

Disclaimer: Ha, right.

Solstice

Katar was still sleeping, slumped against the lintel frame of the village gate, the elder's cloak draped over his shoulders.

His face looked haggard. Worry was worn into every line. She wanted so desperately to reach out and touch him, grab his shoulder and shake him awake, let him know she was there, let him throw his arms around her and wrap her in his familiar scent.

Angka stretched out her hand, palm up, and sighed at her transparent blue fingers.

"What am I gonna do?" she moaned.

She had tried looking for Hei Bai again. Tried sitting down and meditating like the monks had showed her. Tried closing her eyes and just wishing to be corporeal again.

Nothing had worked. She was stuck. Stuck partway in the Spirit World where no one could see or hear her and she was all alone.

Sitting here by Katar was the only thing she had left. Even if he couldn't see her, she didn't want to leave him.

But I have to, her mind argued at her. I have to figure this out. I have to find a way to get back or...

She cast a despairing glance at him.

...or he'll have waited all night in vain.

She bit her lip. Summoning up a cheerful smile, she spoke.

"I'll figure this out, Katar, I promise. Like they said, I'm the bridge between worlds, right?"

The words felt hollow in her own ears. Last night's floundering had certainly proved what a failure of a mediator between spirits and people she was.

"All I have to do is... figure out what I have to do," she went on, hoping some of her encouragement was reaching him. Giving him hope. "But once I do that, no problem."

A rumbling huff sounded. For a moment her heart lifted.

"Appa!" she called. She stood up, using her staff to get to her feet. "Hey buddy, I'm right here!"

The bison had no reaction to Angka's call. He leaned down, blowing air into Katar's face.

Angka's eyes fell. "But I guess you can't see me either," she sighed, disappointed.

She watched as Katar woke, groggy eyes fixing on Appa, tired smile stretching his mouth.

"Hey," he greeted the bison, patting his nose. "Guess you didn't get much sleep either."

Appa gave a mournful moan.

"I know, I wish she was here too." His hands were soft as they brushed over Appa's face. "It's okay, Appa. Don't worry, I'm sure they're on their way back."

He straightened, getting up, rubbing under his eyes.

"C'mon, let's get some food and then let's go out and look for our girl, okay?"

Appa rumbled in agreement, shuffling after Katar as he trudged back towards the main house—one of the only ones still left standing after last night's rampage.

Angka's head was screaming in frustration. Katar passed so close to her and yet he was maddeningly far away, and he was going to leave to look for her but she was right there and she didn't know where to go and—

She smacked her staff against the ground.

"What am I supposed to do?" she cried. She looked towards the sky, eyes pleading. "Avatar Roku? Hello? Anyone? Please... please help me!"

Her breath caught. She heard something... something coming closer.

She peered into the dense forest, squinting.

A glowing light resolved into a winding shape. Rippling. Graceful.

A dragon.

Eyes widening, Angka took several frightened steps back, but couldn't bring herself to turn and run as the great beast came straight for her. She knew she couldn't airbend; she'd already tried long ago, a last-ditch effort to make herself known to Katar. Could she reason with it? Maybe it was more willing to listen than Hei Bai?

No more time to think about it. The dragon landed heavily in front of her, long neck towering over her head. Angka gave a fearful inhale, gripping her staff in her right hand tight, but standing her ground.

"H—hello?" she called timidly.

The dragon's keen eyes bored into her. It lowered its great head, the tendril of its mustache snaking out and reaching to tap her head, right between her eyes.

Her vision flashed suddenly with a vivid image. A man on a crimson dragon, bearded and ancient, with kind eyes and a golden crown.

She gasped with understanding as the contact broke.

"You're Avatar Roku's animal guide! Like Appa is to me!" she exclaimed. A thread of hope was beating in her heart again. Finally there was something, someone else with her in this waking void. Someone connected to the very person she wanted to talk to. "I need to save my friend, and I don't know how," she explained quickly. "Is there some way for me to talk to Roku?"

The dragon shifted, lowering its back, curling around her.

Relief shuddered through her. She clambered on, tripping over herself.

One last anxious look was paid towards the village, where Katar's back was slowly fading from view.

"I'll be back, Katar," she promised, her voice a whisper. "I'll find Sokki."

The dragon lifted off and took flight, leaving the village far behind.

-ATLA-

His eyes were beginning to burn from constantly straining towards the horizon. A thousand anxious thoughts danced around his head. And the ever-familiar guilt.

Here he was, waiting helplessly, while his sister and Angka were both gone.

He shook himself, his fist clenching, tightening the water spiral he'd been nervously curling and uncurling for hours.

With a sigh he let it drop into the dirt. Katar took a last look towards the setting sun, peering through the rays for some kind of glimpse of... something.

Reluctantly, he started to turn to go back inside.

Then his ears caught a sound. There was a flutter of something on the air.

Katar whipped back around, a sudden lightness shooting through his heart. He gasped as his straining eyes caught sight of a familiar floating air glider.

His feet were already moving, propelling him down the stairs and across the space towards her as she dropped to the ground.

His arms flung around her, drawing out a strained grunt.

"You're back!" he cried happily, enveloping her small frame in his arms like she was the most precious thing in the world to him.

She was safe. She was here. Things would be okay.

He almost never wanted to let her go, but after a moment his joy dimmed. He released her, stepping back as he realized she'd returned alone.

"Where's Sokki?" he asked, the worry creeping through his heart again.

Angka's face fell. "I... I'm still working on that," she said. "I'm not sure... yet."

Katar's chest panged but he pushed it down with an optimistic smile and a soft, quick touch to her cheek. "Well, I'm still glad you're okay. I took Appa out to search for you and you weren't anywhere."

Angka scratched at her cheek. "Yeeeaaah, I kinda got stuck in the Spirit World for a bit," she said sheepishly.

His brain latched onto that. "Do you think that's where Sokki and the other villagers are?"

She pursed her lips in thought. "Maybe." Her eyes lifted with conviction. "But I think I'm going to have to confront Hei Bai again to find out."

Katar sighed heavily, a million objections and anxieties chasing each other inside his skull.

Aloud he said only, "I was afraid of that."

-ATLA-

He hated this, he hated this, he absolutely hated this.

His hands gripped the edge of the windowsill, staring out after her as she waited, alone, for the spirit monster to reappear.

He'd wanted to go with her. Desperately. Feverishly.

But she'd insisted.

"I have an idea," she'd told him. "Someone I met in the Spirit World taught me a trick that might work."

Her eyes had borne into him, convicted.

"But if it doesn't work I..."

She'd swallowed, hesitating.

"...I don't want you to get taken too," she'd finished softly.

Katar was jolted from his memory by a sudden fearful crash! His heart spiked into his throat as he saw the black and white creature smashing through a building to Angka's side, bellowing its awful cry right in front of her.

For a split second the spirit monster wore pointed red armor and loomed over a female figure in blue and he was tiny and helpless and—

And then it was gone, as Angka pushed herself up into the air, launching towards the creature's head, palm outstretched.

Its skin glowed white where her hand made contact. And all of a sudden... it stopped.

Angka dropped to her feet in front of it. Her voice carried faintly across the distance. He couldn't hear what she was saying, but she drew something out of her pocket, placing it on the ground in front of the creature, who picked it up and looked at it quizzically.

The sight of it grew blurry.

Katar blinked and its form had changed. Now it seemed no more than a large, lumbering panda, placid smile on its face.

Hei Bai turned and padded out through the gates, bamboo springing up in his footsteps.

A moment or two later, people started wandering out from where he'd disappeared. And among them...

"Sokki!" he called, darting out from inside the building.

His sister looked dazed and very confused but unhurt. She even hugged him back a little when he flung his arms around her.

"What happened?" she asked.

Once again, Katar found it difficult to detach from his tight hold, so relieved that she was alive and well. He would never complain about her bad breath or insults again. "You were trapped in the Spirit World for twenty-four hours!" he explained breathlessly. "How are you feeling?"

Sokki got an uncomfortable look.

"...Like I seriously need to use the bathroom," she gawped, her eyes wide, quickly excusing herself.

Katar made a face as he watched her go, then turned to gaze in awe at Angka.

She stood in the midst of the returning villages, small but straight-backed. She looked almost as amazed by what she'd done as he was.

He walked over, reaching to put a hand on her shoulder.

"I'm... I'm so proud of you Angka," he said, reverently. "You figured out what to do all on your own."

She turned her head aside with a smile. "Actually, I did have a little help." Her smile faded. "And... there's something else."

The way her tone turned sent tingles of apprehension through him.

"What is it?" he asked.

She scraped the dirt with the end of her glider. "I think I found a way to contact Roku," she said. "There's a crescent-shaped island, and if I go there on the solstice, I'll be able to speak with him."

Katar's eyes widened slightly. "That's... that's good!"

Her serious expression didn't change.

"Isn't it?" he added uncertainly.

"Creepy, but definitely great," Sokki piped in, walking up, having returned from the bathroom. She stopped, crossing her arms. Her eyes turned severe. "Except the solstice is tomorrow. Where exactly is this island?" she demanded.

Angka sighed heavily. "You're not gonna like it," she warned them.

-ATLA-

She was right. They didn't.

But they followed her into the borders of the Fire Nation nonetheless.

"All right, I think they're coming," Sokki said, peeling her ear away from the corner, around which they could hear the frantic footsteps of the other Fire Sages. "Hurry everyone! Get in position!"

Angka darted to the large door, lifting Momo up and letting the lemur crawl up through the brass pipes, making his way into the chamber beyond. Shyu waited anxiously to one side, ready to play his part in the ruse.

As Angka rushed back towards the pillars to find a good hiding spot, she slowed, skidding on her feet and stopping in front of Katar.

"If this works—and even if it doesn't—thank you," she told him. Her eyes shone with emotion. "For coming with me."

Katar nodded once, sharply. "I wasn't going to let you do this alone," he said. "We're with you to the end."

"That's a nice sentiment, Katar, but seriously—hurry!" Sokki hissed at him from her hiding place.

Angka and Katar broke apart. They quickly took up their hiding places.

The other Fire Sages piled into the chamber. Shyu pointed at the door, shouting about how the Avatar was inside. Momo's shadow creeping under the doorway reinforced the illusion and, just as planned, the Fire Sages lit up the pipes, unsealing the door for real themselves.

Katar sprang into action the moment they realized the ruse, leaping forward and yanking the nearest Sage's headdress panels over his face, putting him to the floor, holding him there.

Shyu called out to Angka once he and Sokki had subdued their own prisoners.

"Angka, now!"

There was no response.

A creeping anxiety scraped up the inside of his ribcage. Katar unstuck his throat, calling out.

"A-Angka, now's your chance!"

For half a second more there was still no movement from around her pillar.

And then she emerged, pushed into view by a familiar scarred face and royal armor.

His heart stuttered to a stop.

Zuka had hold both of the airbender's arms, keeping them pinned behind her back, almost doubling the smaller girl over. Her eyes were wild and fierce as she declared, "The Avatar's coming with me!" She shouted an order for the doors to be closed and started pushing Angka towards the nearby stairwell.

Katar couldn't hear past the roaring in his ears, barely registered the Fire Sage turning the tables on him and grabbing his arm, twisting it. All he saw was Angka. Angka in the grip of Zuka. Angka being taken away.

No no no no, repeated in his thoughts. Zuka was taking her. She was hurting her. Angka's face was screwed tightly, bravely. She was trying not to cry from the pain the pressure on her arms must have been putting her in.

Zuka was forcing her down the steps now. In a few moments Angka would be out of sight. Gone forever.

Just like—

A surge of adrenaline swelled through him. He slammed a hard elbow into the gut of the Fire Sage holding him and as his wrist was released used the same motion to lash his hand out, a lancing ribbon of water bursting from his hip canteen and snaking forward.

The tendril was messy, wobbling and breaking even as it stretched, but it was just enough, smacking Zuka across the back of her head, distracting her.

Her hold slipped for just a moment.

It was all Angka needed to slip her foot behind the princess's ankle and trip her up, send her toppling down the stairs as she shoved away.

Katar watched Angka run towards them, vaguely feeling hands on his shoulders, his back being shoved against the pillar.

"Go!" he shouted, as the pinch of a chain wound around him.

Angka checked herself, switching directions at once, frantically leaping on light feet and bursts of wind for the quickly-closing door.

Katar's heart screamed until he saw her slip through it just in time, the metal lock latching behind her.

He slumped against the pillar, sagging in the chains.

She was in. She was safe.

It didn't even matter what happened to him now.

"She made it," he breathed, exhaustion stealing the strength from his voice.

-ATLA-

The Fire Nation soldiers waited outside the chamber. Katar resisted the urge to scream and curse at them.

Leave her alone! he wanted to shout. After all their efforts he couldn't stand it if he had to watch her fall into the enemy's hands again.

The minutes stretched out, thick with tension. Nothing could be heard from the other side of the door, and Katar didn't know if that was a good or bad thing.

He wished their father were there.

The wind outside suddenly picked up. A rushing roar sounded and eerie light spilled from around the cracks of the door, near-blinding.

His heart was pounding. There was a familiar tingle on his arms. Spiritual energy was moving all around them. Even the Fire Nation soldiers gave pause.

The door cracked open.

For a moment all he could see was a pair of glowing white eyes.

"Ready..." barked the Fire Nation commander.

Katar's fear and panic nearly choked him. "No!" he cried. "Angka!"

"Fire!"

The soldiers spewed flames towards the gap and Katar watched in horror, wanting to turn away but unable to, his head shrieking. A memory threatened to press against his consciousness, echoes beginning to sound in his ears.

But then then flames swirled around and coalesced, then parted to reveal not the small form of an airbender, but the billowing red robes of an old man with a golden crown, and the breath in Katar was stolen away in awe.

Avatar Roku.

A casual motion of his hand sent the flames rolling back towards them and all of a sudden the chains were melting, and the soldiers were fleeing, and the ground was shaking, molten lava spewing up from the floor and Sokki shielding him with her arms.

Shyu telling them they had to escape.

"Not without Angka," he growled determinedly.

He strained his eyes.

The chaos quieted for a moment. The mists drew back, surrounding Roku, veiling him from sight and then vanishing around Angka's small frame as she tilted, weak-kneed, onto the floor.

His relief cooled through his whole body as he and Sokki ran up to take her arms and reclaim her.

She's safe, repeated in his head.

It would be okay.

(A/N)- The overarching plot arc has been established, we met Avatar Roku, we've gotten glimpses of Katar's traumatic backstory, and he seems to be getting awfully protective of his little airbender, lol. Also Angka is becoming quite concerned with Katar's emotional well-being and likes his hugs, apparently.

Katar finally gets to act to save her! I figured I'd let the boy catch a little break from constantly feeling useless all the time. I think that plot thread is going to slowly start disappearing the better he gets at waterbending. With occasional callbacks.

See you next week readers!