Responses to Reviews:

RonaldM40196867: I prefer the show, but the comics are good too. I'm not sure about your other question.

Zigzagdoublezee: Hopefully there will be one under better circumstances before too long.

Erikbassey: Oh, that would be so very angsty, wouldn't it? Who knows, it could happen. Or it could not.

As Always, Please Review!

Yue lowered her head and closed her eyes, trying to connect with the spirits.

She was sat in front of an altar in a room at the top of a tower in the palace, the South Pole's spiritual centre. At one end of the room, a mural depicted the circling Koi fish of Tui and La, and at the other, a solitary window allowed a moonbeam to flood in, illuminating Yue and the mural in a pale, dim light.

The deliberations over what to do about Zhao's peace offer had, it turned out, been very short. It had been generally agreed that even if Zhao could be trusted, to accept would be to bring shame upon the city, the tribe, the Royal Family, who would be little more than collaborators, and to Yue personally, who would be surrendering without a fight to the people who had destroyed her home, and abandoning the rest of the world to the eame fate.

This decision guaranteed a battle. So secret orders had been prepared for an early morning attack the next day, allowing the fleet time to organise itself without letting the Fire Nation know what they were up to, and then Yue had excused herself and come to this holy place.

She had been here ever since, praying and trying to make contact with the spirit that had saved her life once, long ago. She had not had much luck.

There was a knock on the door. Yue didn't move, still murmuring a quiet prayer to the Spirits, calling for their protection for the city and its inhabitants in the coming struggle.

The door creaked open.

"Yue? Are you in here?"

"Sokka?" Yue opened her eyes.

Sure enough, the Prince of the South was standing there. He had taken his armour and war-paint off, and was back to looking like the boy she had grown to know during the long trip south. He seemed to glow, faintly, in the moonlight.

"I was wondering where you went," Sokka told her. "Have you been here all this time? You haven't eaten."

"I haven't got time to eat," Yue declared, standing up.

"Said nobody ever," Sokka objected. He reached into his pocket and brought out a bundle of cloth.

"I had the cooks save you something," he explained. "You'll need it, for all of the kicking Fire Nation butt we'll be doing tomorrow."

"I certainly hope so," Yue replied, cracking a weak smile at the joke as she took the cloth package.

"Have you been praying all this time?"

"Of course," Yue nodded. "I think we need all the help we can get, and if anyone can get it, I can."

"I thought the Spirits didn't get involved in our world."

"Not usually, but they're there," Yue nodded.

"Obviously," Sokka agreed.

"But they've intervened before. I am stood here because I have been chosen by two spirits, imbued with a part of their very essence. One made me the Avatar, the other saved my life when I was a child. There must have been some reason why."

"They need you for something?"

"Maybe."

"Then it's destiny," Sokka decided, moving over to the window.

"To win the battle, or win the war?"

"Both, hopefully. But only the spirits know."

Yue followed him, and stood in the light of the full moon, looking out over the city. She could see soldiers moving softly through the street below, carrying something between them as they moved towards the coast. Further away, the dark shapes of the two fleets bobbed idly on the cold ocean, the dark cloud of ash that accompanied the Fire Navy wherever it went the only stain on a perfect, bright, cloudless night.

"The moon looks huge, tonight," she observed.

"Your prayers are clearly working."

"Mine, and half the city's," Yue said. "People will be scared."

"I don't blame them," Sokka responded. There was a pause.

"I'm scared," he admitted eventually. "Scared for myself, scared for my dad, scared for the city, and scared for you. I never wanted any of this to happen."

"So am I," Yue replied. "But that can't be helped, can it?"

She gestured to the sky.

"The moon gave me life," she told him. "It has been my constant companion every night of my life. And now all I can do is the same as all of us; commend myself to it, and do my best for the people. We in the North believe that the Moon and the Ocean, Tui and La, watch over us and protect us during times of war. They have done so in the past, and they are doing so now. Whatever happens is in their hands."

Sokka looked at her sharply.

"You're talking like you expect to die tomorrow," he observed.

"It's a possibility," Yue pointed out. "I am not a warrior, but I was always told that tends to happen in a battle."

"Not this one," Sokka replied with conviction. "Not you."

"Let's hope you're right." Yue shrugged. "I don't want to die. But for now all I can do is find comfort in my companions, both earthly, and spiritual."

"I don't want you to die either," Sokka confessed. Yue turned away from the moon to find him staring at her.

"This is just like the night we met," he said. "On that bridge, in the moonlight."

"Just before someone tried to kill us."

"Yes, that ruined the moment," Sokka conceded. "But before that..."

He took a deep breath.

"Look, you are right about what might happen tomorrow," he said. "So I should tell you..."

He trailed off again.

"Is it about the kiss?"

He looked at her.

"How did you know?"

"Educated guess," Yue replied.

"We thought it was the end then, too."

Nobody said anything for a long moment, the pair of them staring into each other's eyes, shining brightly in the light of the moon. For a moment, a mad moment, Yue thought about leaning in, about doing something to break the unbearable tension that had suddenly developed between them. She wanted to, Tui and La knew she wanted to. But she couldn't.

Then she took a step backwards, and turned quickly away.

"Yue?" Sokka asked, confused. "Where are you going?"

"We can't do this," Yue told him quickly. "Not now."

"Why not?"

Yue did not answer. She did not know what to say.

"Where are you going?" Sokka repeated, sounding smaller. Then he spoke again; "Go... but at least tell me why."

Yue stopped and turned back. He was still stood by the window, having made no effort to follow her.

"Like I said," she told him by way of explanation. "I'm scared too."

Then she walked away. There was a long, sleepless night ahead, and a war to fight in the morning.