The quiet murmurs and intense stares grew louder and louder until someone started clapping. It spread quickly and suddenly everyone was cheering. Never in her life had Saph seen such enthusiastic joy from so many people.

Her mouth went dry and a tight feeling began to build in her chest. She was still on one knee, halfway to picking herself up but frozen in place now. The noise of it, everyone staring at her…

"Avatar! Avatar!" they chanted, laughing and grinning.

The noise was utterly overwhelming but it felt...so good. This was one of her oldest and dearest fantasies come true. That tightness in her chest remained, but now it was from pride rather than apprehension.

Suddenly the crowd surged towards her, reaching out with fervor in their eyes.

"Back up!" Koko shouted as she stepped in front of Saph, though her voice was nearly drowned out. She slashed her arms in front of her with an X motion and fire streamed from her fingertips to form a protective barrier, though it only lasted a few seconds. "I SAID BACK UP!"

Everyone who was close jumped back in fear; the cheers and murmurs died down to nothing. A small, empty ring formed around the two of them. Saph glanced at Koko, who was scanning the room with a deep scowl.

"Out of the way!" she ordered. "Move!"

Those directly in front of her obeyed, though they seemed a little confused, and a path opened up.

"Koko–"

"Don't say anything," she hissed, her hand now firmly gripping Saph's shoulder as they headed for the front doors.

Spirits, I'm in trouble…

The crowd seemed subdued now, quiet but not silent. Those closest to Saph tentatively reached out to brush their fingers on her arm. Goosebumps broke out all over her skin, though the light touches were't nearly as disconcerting as the awe in their eyes.

Koko still didn't say anything once they were outside. They ducked quickly onto a side street to avoid any potential followers.

"I'm sorry…" Saph muttered. "It was an accident."

"It was bound to happen eventually."

"You're– You're not mad?"

"Why would I be mad?" And indeed, she seemed quite calm now.

"Well, you were before!" Saph said with a helpless shrug, baffled by the sudden change in attitude. "Yelling and glaring."

"I was just being practical. I had to get you out of there as fast as possible. This wasn't part of the plan."

"What is the plan? No one's bothered to tell me. That meeting was just a bunch of arguing with no decisions."

"Well, it doesn't matter now, does it?" Koko muttered. "Now we need a new plan. We'll have to talk to the Council again."

"Right. My new parents." She rolled her eyes in a futile attempt to shrug off the worry. "Are they going to ground me?"

Koko glanced at her sideways, one eyebrow cocked. "Well, they won't be happy, that's for damn sure."

It was Saph's turn for a questioning look; Koko rarely swore, at least not in front of her. "What exactly can they do to me?" Despite the sarcasm that she injected into her voice, her concern was genuine. "Serious question, actually."

"Relax. I can handle the Council."

"Good for you. But it's not you they're going to be mad at."

Koko pursed her lips. "What are you worried they're going to do? Yell at you?"

The derisive question only made Saph feel worse. "Yes," she said in a small voice.

Koko took a second to respond, though with a less antagonistic tone than before. "Well… Then I guess you're about to have your next challenge as the Avatar. No one ever got a thick skin by avoiding conflict."

Much to Saph's extreme dismay, they went straight for the center of the city, to the tallest building whose tower overlooked everything else. There, Zhu Li could watch over everything from her office, like a hawk searching the forest for prey from the treetop.

"Do you have an appointment?" the receptionist asked.

"No," Koko said flatly. "This is urgent. She'll want to see us."

The woman sighed and picked up the telephone on her desk. After a brief pause, she said, "Sorry to bother you. Koko is here with a…teenage girl. She says it's urgent." It was clear in her voice that she didn't agree with that assertion. There was another pause, then her expression tightened. "Of course. Right away."

"Well?" Koko said impatiently as the woman hung up the phone.

"You can go up." With a petulant twist to her mouth, she added, "But be quick. She's very busy today."

Even having ridden the elevator once before, Saph was filled with discomfort by the sensation and her fear for what would happen next. Last time, Nani had calmed her nerves; Koko didn't have such a soothing presence.

I'm the Avatar. I'm the Avatar. No one else, only me. I have the strongest Spirit ever living inside me. She might be really deep in there, but she's there. I can handle this.

The pep talk didn't do anything for her sweaty armpits and shaking hands, but running her fingers over her pocket rock gave her the strength to at least stand up straight when the elevator doors opened. Zhu Li stalked right over, visibly concerned.

"What's happened?"

Koko didn't answer. Instead, she crossed her arms and turned to Saph with an expectant look on her face.

I hate you, Saph grumbled silently. She turned to face Zhu Li, though unable to meet her eyes. "Um– I accidentally airbent in front of a few people…"

"Saph." Koko somehow managed to inject reproval into that single syllable.

"Okay, okay, fine. Lots of people. At the gym. While we were training…" She finally dared to glance up from the floor at Zhu Li's impassive face.

"So. You haven't even been here for a full week and already the secret is out. That's what you're trying to tell me?"

Saph cringed at her harsh words, desperately wishing an earthquake would open up the floor beneath them and swallow them all whole. She didn't trust her voice to answer, so just nodded instead.

Zhu Li sighed. "I'll call for another emergency Council session."

"How could you be so careless?" Lemon Face said critically.

"It was an acci–"

"How are we to entrust you with any kind of responsibility if you can't even manage to keep your identity secret?"

Saph didn't try to answer this time; keeping her mouth shut was the only way to hold back tears.

"This greatly upsets our plans," Droopy Mustache said gravely. "The city is already in an uproar. Journalists camped outside, hounding us for confirmation. We'll have to assign guards to patrol your residence at all times."

The barrage of disapproval continued for another minute or so until Saph was on the verge of running out into the hall to escape from it.

"Enough!" Koko shouted suddenly, firmly grasping Saph's shoulder as if to keep her in place.

All five members of the Council, with their wizened faces and dignified manners, went quiet and looked at her in shock and disapproval.

"Who do you think you are?!" Lemon Face spluttered.

"I'm the person you all chose to protect the Avatar," Koko growled, "and right now, I'm feeling a powerful urge to do some protecting."

"You dare threaten us?!"

"Oh, for Spirits' sake," Zhu Li said. "Everyone just calm down. There's no need for aggression." She turned to Saph soberly. "You seem to grasp the seriousness of the situation. There's no more to be said. The Council will discuss this privately to figure out what's to be done. In the meantime, you're not to leave your home without an escort. Is that understood?"

Saph just nodded, unable to speak. But she was grateful that it was over.

"You're dismissed."

Koko led her out a back door to avoid attracting unwanted attention, though a few people still did see them. They pointed and stared like Saph was some kind of roadside attraction. Clearly, word had spread. They might not recognize her yet, but certainly, they could identify Koko and put two and two together.

"That was just awful," Saph said as they walked. "But, um– thanks. For what you said."

"Well, you looked like you were about to wet yourself. Anyway, I didn't like how they were ganging up on you."

Saph decided to ignore that first comment and focus on the fact that Koko was on her side. A faithful ally. "Silver Hair and Moldy Prune actually aren't so bad…"

"Moldy–?" Koko looked at her sideways, eyebrow cocked. "What?"

"Heh… I gave them all nicknames."

There was a long pause and she figured Koko was doing that thing where she just stopped talking because she had nothing more to contribute to the conversation. When she finally did speak, the words that came out of her mouth were nothing Saph could've anticipated.

"Yanyu was once a high-level politician in Republic City, and she attended a lot of the same social events I was dragged to. I used to call her Crab Apple."

Saph turned to her with a delighted laugh. "Because her face is all pinched like she just ate something sour? I call her Lemon Face!"

"Word of advice," Koko said. As usual, her expression remained stoic, but Saph had learned to hear the amusement in her voice, and see it in the way the corners of her eyes crinkled. "Don't call her that to her face."

The next day, Saph arrived at school—with a uniformed escort, of course—to find it eerily empty. The officer had to use a key to get in.

"Where is everyone?" she asked him.

"It's the weekend. School's closed today and tomorrow."

Saph didn't say anything, but she was seething on the inside and barely spoke during the four-hour math lesson. Even at home during her lunch break, she sulked in stubborn silence. Lia was in a bad mood too, apparently—throwing a tantrum and making cracks in the stone tile that Mara had to fix.

My two-year-old sister can earthbend without even trying. And here I am, useless. What's the point of spending every single day training if I can't even figure out how to earthbend in the first place?

Once she was able to express herself through firebending, all of that frustration came exploding out of her.

"It's so unfair!" she complained to Koko, every motion accented with an angry word. "Why don't I get a day off?! This is all I do, every single day. Study and train, study and train. I know you hate fun, but does being the Avatar mean that I have to miss out, too?"

Koko stood there with her arms crossed, lips pursed. "This isn't fun for you?"

A derisive scoff erupted from Saph's mouth, but she quickly adjusted her reaction when she realized the question hadn't been sarcastic. "Oh– You're serious."

"I know the studying is boring for you, but I thought you loved bending?"

"I do. I just don't want to spend hours and hours doing it every single day without a break. I'm exhausted. All the time. Plus there's homework, meditation, therapy, chores…" She listed them off on her fingers. "I never have time to do anything fun and relaxing, or hang out with my friends, or—I don't know—actually make some new ones."

Koko didn't say anything for several seconds. Finally, she gave Saph a short nod. "Alright. I'll talk to the Council about you having the weekends off."

"Wh– Really? Just like that?" It seemed too easy. What was the catch? The trap?

"I can't make any promises, but I'll do my best. But today's not over. Now go run five laps around the room."

Saph ran into Shylo two days later in the hallway at school, much to her surprise. They hadn't seen each other in a while, thanks to her busy schedule.

"What are you doing here?"

"Ugh," he complained with a grimace. "Koko's making me go to school. Apparently, it's 'the law' or whatever."

"Are you going to be tutored with me?!" she asked excitedly. That would definitely help make her lessons much less boring.

"No." He smirked and gave her arm a light jab. "Little ol' me doesn't get the royal treatment. I've gotta be imprisoned with the rest of the commoners."

"At least you get to talk to people. But how will you even know what's going on in class? Have you ever been to school before?"

"When I was little, yeah. But it's been a long time. Anyway, I don't think they actually expect me to catch up. Or care if I do or not. I've just gotta sit in my chair and go through the motions." He rolled his eyes dramatically. "At least I got my own place now."

"Yeah, I heard. My mom was complaining about it, how you're staying there alone. I don't think she's very impressed with Koko's parenting abilities," Saph added, snickering at the ridiculous thought.

"Hah! Please. She's nothing like a parent. I'll be seventeen in a few months, anyway. Couldn't very well spend the rest of my life sleeping on Nani's sofa, could I? But there's only one bedroom at Koko's apartment. She's gonna keep staying at Nani's, so I've got the place to myself."

"Lucky. I still have to share a room with Lia. Though apparently we're going to be getting a house or something, once the Council finds one–"

Someone cleared their throat loudly and Saph turned to see today's tutor standing in the doorway of their private classroom with an impatient look on her face.

"I better go," she said with a sigh.

"Wait." Shylo pulled out a scrap of paper and quickly scribbled something on it. "Here's the address and how to get there, in case you want to come visit."

"Thanks. They've got me all booked up though, so don't hold your bre–"

"Oh my Spirits, it's her! It's the Avatar!"

Saph jerked her head up to see three girls around her age hurrying down the hall toward them.

"I saw you on the front page of the paper," one of them said with a rapt expression. She was tall and thin, with clothes that accentuated her curves and a full face of makeup. "Your name's Sapphire, right?"

"It's Saph."

"I'm Tao. This is Karila and Lumiko. Hey, do you want to hang out with us after school?"

Saph glanced at her tutor, who was now tapping her foot, then back at the girls. Her desire to do something besides study and train battled with borderline panic at the prospect of trying to get to know three new people at the same time.

"Sorry, but I have to train all afternoon," she mumbled. "They don't really let me have any free time…"

"But you're the Avatar! You can do whatever you want!" Tao sighed wistfully and straightened her ponytail. "It's so cool. I can't believe the Avatar goes to my school! Just like a regular person!"

" Er– I am just a regular person."

Her tutor finally stalked over and took her firmly by the wrist. "Hardly. Now come along. We have a lot of material to cover today."

"Bye…" Saph muttered to Shylo and the girls as she was practically dragged away. But she couldn't help but think about what Tao had said: 'You're the Avatar! You can do whatever you want!'

Saph yawned and picked at her dinner. Despite the fact that she was actually very hungry, she couldn't seem to make herself eat.

"What's wrong?" Jojin asked her.

"Hm?"

"You've barely eaten anything."

She shrugged and glanced over at her mom. Life had gone back to normal since the Big Fight. More or less, anyway. in any case, she'd witnessed several affectionate moments between her parents. Quiet words in a shadowy room. Evenings on the couch, cuddled up together.

"Well, don't waste it," Mara said, not looking up while she cut some roast pork into small bites for Lia. "We might be better off here than we were in Dao-Shu, but no food should ever go to waste."

A few months ago, Saph would've agreed. She'd grown up always eating everything offered to her, even things she didn't like, because there hadn't been much of it. But her life was different now. With no worry of going hungry, it was easier to be picky.

At the moment, she didn't think she could eat another bite.

"How was school today?" Jojin asked her.

"Fine. Boring. I did see Shylo, though." She pulled the paper out of her pocket and showed him. "He gave me these directions to where he's living now. Maybe you can take me to visit him sometime?"

"Sure." He smiled, but there was an odd look in his eyes that Saph couldn't interpret. "Are you alright? You seem a little down."

"I'm so tired. Airbending is a lot different than firebending. And Sherabi– I mean Opal. Ugh. I can't believe I have to learn all their names again. Anyway, she's not quite as gentle and reserved as I thought she'd be."

He chuckled softly. "She's a Beifong. You've heard the stories. What did you expect?"

"I dunno. Not this. She's a really tough teacher. Not as tough as Koko, of course, but still…" With one more baleful glance at the food on her plate, she finally gave up on it and pushed to her feet. "I'll just put it away and eat it later." How quickly she had adapted to those modern conveniences—to electricity and indoor plumbing. They'd even gotten a television, courtesy of Nik, though Saph didn't have any time to enjoy the limited amount of programs. "I'm gonna go meditate."

That turned out to be easier said than done. Lia was put to bed soon after, which was distracting until she fell asleep, then she constantly made soft noises that kept Saph from fully focusing. After a couple hours of trying and failing to access the Spirit world, she gave up and daydreamed instead of doing the homework that sat in a satchel at the foot of her bed.

Only thirty minutes into her training session earlier that afternoon, an unfamiliar woman had shown up and told Koko that she was needed for something mysterious. Saph was initially ecstatic, thinking she'd get the rest of the day off. Unfortunately, Opal was summoned to finish the lesson.

Because Spirits forbid I have a few hours to myself , Saph grumbled, cross-legged on her bed. She was exhausted and hungry, yet couldn't bring herself to eat or sleep. There was yet another need that was being neglected, and it filled her with indignation that the adults who now controlled her couldn't see it. I'm just a tool to them. Not allowed to have fun anymore.

'You're the Avatar! You can do whatever you want!'

The voice echoed in her head on a loop, then new ones joined in—those of the council members berating her for one little mistake. Saph valiantly fought against angry, embarrassed tears. Sitting there in the dark with nothing but her poisonous thoughts to keep her company, she began to feel a rebelliousness rise up in her.

How dare they try to control me? What have they ever done for me? I'm just expected to do exactly what they say, no matter how miserable it makes me.

Her eyes popped open to survey the shadowy room. She'd been in there long enough to be able to make out the crinkled paper sitting on her bedside table.

Filled with an impulsive urge that she didn't care to think too much about, she pushed to her feet, snatched up the paper, and headed for the front door as stealthily as possible.

A quick glance down the hall told her that her parents had gone to bed. Their light was out and she couldn't hear any voices, so they were probably asleep by now. The only problem was that she didn't have a key, so she'd have to leave the door unlocked.

It doesn't matter. I'll be back in a couple of hours.

But the second she slipped into the hall and saw the patrolling guard, she kicked herself for forgetting. His back was turned as he paced down the hallway and she fled in the opposite direction like Koh himself was chasing her.

Saph somehow managed to reach the stairs without being caught. She shakily sat down on the first landing to catch her breath and tried to still her pounding heart. Now would be a great time to suddenly become an earthbender , she mused silently. Then I could get out easy.

Once she worked up the nerve to do so, she crept to one of the building's side exits and slipped into the shadows of night. They were profound—much more so than when stars and moon provided light—with the small pools from street lamps like bubbles that made isolated little worlds inside themselves. Their hard edges didn't mix or overlap at all, and Saph was able to get well away from the apartment building without encountering a single soul.

Finding Shylo's place took quite some time. The street signs were hard to read and his instructions relied heavily on recognizing certain landmarks, which wasn't exactly easy to do without light. She wandered around in circles for at least an hour before finally finding a tall, narrow building whose roof was lost in darkness.

Fortunately, his apartment was on the ground floor, just around the first corner. It wasn't until she'd reached the door that she realized he'd almost certainly be asleep by now. Still, she knocked, anyway. Several times. She'd made it all the way here, against all odds, and there was no way she was going to give up now. He was just going to have to wake up.

The door finally opened and he stood there, rubbing his eyes. "Saph? Wh– What are you doing here? Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. I was just–" This was all beginning to feel incredibly stupid now. Stupid and reckless. "I'm going crazy, Shylo," she blurted. "All I do all day is study and train and it's making me crazy! Ugh. I'm sorry, I don't know why I came here. I just couldn't sit at home anymore so I snuck out and I'm probably going to get in huge trouble but I just couldn't take it anymore!"

Her rant cut off as the heat rose in her cheeks. Never had she felt more like a child throwing a tantrum. But Shylo—after a moment of confusion—burst out laughing.

"Wait 'til I tell you about the day I had," he said, gesturing for her to come in. "I promise it'll make you feel better."

Saph's stomach growled as she looked around the apartment, which was much newer and nicer than her own, fully furnished but with almost no decor. "Do you have any snacks?"

"Sure. Sweet or salty?"

"Whatever. Both. I barely had any dinner, so I'm starving."

Shylo proceeded to load up his arms with a bunch of stuff from the cabinets and dump it all onto the tea table in the living room. They sat on pillows, facing each other, and gorged themselves like children.

"You're living the dream," Saph said around a mouthful of mochi. "I hardly ever get to eat sweets."

He shrugged. "Koko gave me some money for food so I just buy what I want. But I'm gonna get a job, I think. School is such a drag. Which brings me to my very eventful day…"

"Oh, yeah, you mentioned that. What happened?"

"Did you hear that they're making Zenya go to school, too?"

"My dad mentioned that. He said she's in some kind of special class or something."

"Mm," he confirmed, cheeks bulging with a huge mouthful of fire flakes. "'Cept that she's, well– She's Zenya. You know. Apparently, she decided she'd had enough of sitting at a desk. Which I don't blame her for." A mischievous grin quirked up the corners of his mouth. "I was taking a little break, myself, when I found her wandering around. I guess following me was more fun than whatever she'd been doing before, so we went out to the yards. Get this— I actually taught her how to play tag. It's her new favorite thing now, I think."

Saph sighed wistfully. "That sounds like fun. I used to watch the other kids in Dao-Shu play tag, but I was too nervous to ask to play with them. And anyway, my mom didn't like me wandering around alone."

"Sadly, our fun was short-lived. One of the teachers found us and hauled us off to the principal's office. Actually, I was surprised Zenya came along willingly. I think maybe she thought it was part of the game. I dunno. But anyway, the best part of all of this was when Koko and Valen showed up and got lectured for our misbehavior."

They laughed until they cried. Every time she pictured Koko and Valen sitting there being scolded, she cracked up again.

"So that's why she left in the middle of our training session today!" Saph managed finally. "Oh, Spirits. I haven't laughed like this in ages. You were right. I do feel better now!"

"Good. You looked pretty miserable this morning. Oh! By the way, that girl that talked to you— Tao? Well, I found out that she's kind of a bully, and so are her two sidekicks. I'd steer clear if I were you."

"Great," Saph said sarcastically. "The first new person I meet here just wants to hang out with The Avatar so she can get 'cool points' with everyone else." The good mood from before started to fade a little and she sighed in resignation. "I guess most people will probably think that way."

"I don't. To me, you'll always be the awkward dork in Jupa who couldn't form sentences longer than two words."

She threw a piece of mochi at his face, though couldn't help but smile. "Shut up."

"And I was the annoying klutz who almost died from stepping on a stick."

"This is true."

They reminisced about their travels for a little while longer until the mood inevitably grew more somber.

"Can I ask you something?" Saph said tentatively when their conversation began to deepen.

"Sure. What is it?"

"...Well, everyone from Jupa is here now, right? But Koko's still…in charge of you. Or whatever." She started to feel bad about asking this question but couldn't stop herself from pressing on stubbornly. "So…does that mean you didn't have any family in Jupa?"

"Nah. I lived there with my grandparents, but they were really old, and they're both gone now." He gave her a pitiful smirk that wasn't the slightest bit convincing.

"I lost my Gran a few years ago," Saph said with a tight feeling in her chest. "It was really hard. I miss her a lot." When he just nodded, she sought her mind for something else to say. "Do you know why Koko wanted you to come with us?"

"I started asking her, whenever she came to Jupa, if I could come with her. Help her with whatever she was doing, just to have some excitement in my life. She always said no. But then this time she asked me if I still wanted to come and I wasn't gonna question it." He sighed and made a face. "I haven't been as useful as I thought I'd be. Kinda felt like I was just making more trouble for her instead of helping."

"Well, you helped a lot by scouting around with your flight suit. And we never would've escaped from that blue sage if you hadn't picked those locks! I thought that was really brave. How'd you learn to do that, anyway?"

"Heh. I was a bit of a troublemaker back in my hometown, you might say."

Saph cocked an eyebrow, intrigued. "Oh?"

"There was this group of kids and we were always pulling pranks on the blue sages that infested the town. Just harmless stuff. And we had a secret bending club where we'd practice with each other, so that's how I learned. My boyfriend at the time wanted to play a prank on one of the blue sages with me, but it went wrong and we barely got away, and then the blue sages went kind of crazy. Luckily for us, Koko showed up and, well…did what she does best. That's how I met her."

He said it all too casually and Saph was left with an empty feeling in her gut, despite the queasy fullness from stuffing herself with snacks. "How old were you?" she asked faintly.

"Thirteen." He gave her a little crooked smile. "Hey, don't worry. It's all good. She saved almost everyone. It was just a little scary. No big tragedy."

"What– What about your– um– your parents?"

"Don't remember them. They died when I was a baby."

"And your boyfriend?" she asked, only a little surprised by that revelation. Certainly, he'd never shown any interest in her, which was a relief. That kind of unwanted attention was the last thing she needed right now.

"Ah, well, he and his family went somewhere else. Jupa didn't have room for a lot of new people." Shylo leaned back on his hand and popped the last piece of mochi in his mouth. "Maybe I'll meet someone new, huh? It's the only reason I'm putting up with school, to be honest."

"Yeah, I bet you will!"

"Well," he said with a yawn, "it's pretty late. We should probably get you home."

"Yeah. I guess so. Ugh. There's a guard right outside our apartment. He's gonna catch me for sure!"

"Maybe. But it was worth it, wasn't it?" The devilish grin he gave her was a testament to his troublemaking boyhood. Then his eyes lit up. "Hey! I know how to make it even more worth it!"

"How?"

"Be right back!" he said as he scrambled to his feet and disappeared into the bedroom. A couple of minutes later, he emerged fully dressed, wearing his travel clothes and a conspiratorial smile. "Follow me."

To Saph's surprise, they went up instead of outside. She got to experience an elevator once again—this one much faster and smoother. They went all the way up to the top floor, where a narrow staircase at the end of the hall led to the roof. From the edge, which had a wrought iron safety rail, she could see all of downtown, still bright and busy. Above, the faux stars twinkled, separated from the rest by an empty void.

"It's pretty," she said, "but in an eerie sort of way." Then, finally, her mind caught up with why he'd brought her here. "Wait– Are you going to teach me how to use your flight suit or something?"

"Hah! Nope! You're nowhere near ready for that. But I am going to take you home." He adjusted the flight mechanism, then jerked his thumb over his shoulder. "Now hop on. And don't look at me like that. I promise I won't drop you!"

"I– I dunno…" The fear began to rise and all that sugar she'd eaten threatened to come back up.

But Shylo came over and picked up both of her hands, giving them a squeeze. "Tonight, you snuck out to have some fun. It was bold and crazy and no way should you stop there! C'mon. Live. You're the Avatar and you have to forge your own path."

It was impossible not to feel empowered by his inspirational speech. "Okay…! Let's do it!" But she was still shaking a little as she climbed onto his back and held on tight with her eyes closed.

That last part turned out to be a bad idea because he launched into the air without warning. Saph's stomach seemed to be left behind and she struggled to push back the nausea. But it faded quickly as exhilaration took over.

One of the oddest things about Oldtown was the lack of wind. They could simulate day and night with that glowing orb, but there were some things that would always feel wrong , and the stagnant air was one of them.

However, with Shylo's air currents rushing back and forth to keep them aloft and moving forward, and Saph's hair streaming out behind her, it seemed like the last piece of the puzzle had fallen into place.

He glided above the buildings smoothly, doing a slow loop around downtown, and Saph didn't want it to ever end. She was still terrified, of course, but something new was occurring to her: Was it possible that she didn't need to stop being afraid in order to unblock her chakra? Maybe it was enough to act in spite of the fear.

This was so much different than riding on Palla, where a safe, solid surface had cradled her. Every small movement Shylo made could be felt, muscles rippling as the chi flowed through him. And Saph knew in her heart that achieving this on her own would be one of her absolute most favorite things about being the Avatar.

They gradually descended until finally alighting on a lower rooftop. Saph released her grip and slid off, muscles tense and aching. Her hair was windswept and messy but she couldn't care less. "That was incredible! My face feels weird, though. All tingly."

"Yeah, that happens," Shylo said with a laugh. "You get used to it."

"Now for the hardest part…" She found it was much more difficult to summon the nerve to sneak back inside than it had been to take a risk on something dangerous but fun. "Spirits, I hope I don't get caught."

"There's two staircases, right? Maybe we could come from opposite directions and I can distract him."

"That's a great idea!"

But their first challenge came sooner: The roof access door was locked.

"I got this," Shylo assured her as he pulled out his lockpick set. "Just gimme a minute…"

Saph was unpleasantly reminded of being captured and watching, with bated breath, as he tried to help the plague carrier escape. Ming had come back empty-handed and spoken quietly with Seven, then cut Saph and Shylo's bindings before leaving with Zenya.

At least that poor woman escaped… she thought, trying to cheer herself up; listening to Zenya scream and cry as they took her away was a memory she wouldn't ever forget. And at least we're all here together, safe.

"Got it!" Shylo announced triumphantly as the door swung open.

"I knew I kept you around for something," Saph teased.

At the top of the next staircase, they split up. He went down the other end of the hall while she waited for a ten-count, then crept down the steps as silently as she could manage. At the bottom, she peeked one eye around the corner but couldn't see anyone. A little further. The hall was empty.

She stepped out and looked around. Movement at the other end made her jump back, but she quickly realized it was Shylo. They met up in the middle and shrugged at each other.

"Maybe the guard went home," he whispered.

"Yeah, maybe. I guess I better get inside before someone else comes."

"Yeah."

"Thanks for tonight. I had fun."

Shylo gave her a roguish grin. "No problem. See ya later."

With a slow deep breath, Saph quietly turned the knob and pushed the door open. Expecting darkness, she was shocked to see light on the other side.

Oh no…

The light was coming from the kitchen. A chair scraped on the floor and she knew there was no escape.