Aang's mouth stretched into a wide yawn for what felt like the hundredth time that day as Appa flew lazily through the pale gray sky. From behind him, he heard a loud snore, and glanced over his shoulder. It seemed Iroh had been fast asleep the majority of the afternoon, and he couldn't help but be slightly envious.
Despite everyone's initial assumptions, it had been proving to be quite difficult to find a suitable earthbending teacher. It wasn't that earthbenders were difficult to find, per say—it was that none of them seemed to have what Bumi told him he should be looking for in a teacher. While Aang understood that he needed to choose his earthbending master carefully, he was beginning to grow tired of flying through town after village, wandering without any clear goal aside from finding an earthbender who knew how to "wait and listen".
As if this hadn't been enough to negatively affect his mood, he had also been feeling particularly restless lately about the lack of clarity regarding his relationship with Zuko. They had kissed in the Lovers' Cave, but the nature of their relationship had remained unchanged.
Aang had hoped that after everything that had happened in Omashu, there might have finally been time to talk about what had happened. However, to his annoyance, the universe had practically been unwilling to let either of them have a moment alone the entire two and a half weeks since they had departed the Earth Kingdom city.
As a result of this uncertainty, Aang's hopes that his feelings might be mutual begun to fade as of late. He felt there was something between the two of them... But did Zuko?
He squeezed his eyes closed and grimaced as he recalled how Zuko had referred to his original idea of the kiss as a joke, not to mention how much the Fire Prince had been shaking when they had actually kissed.
Thus, he was at odds with himself: should he give up on every being more than just friends, or cling onto whatever shred of hope he had left that Zuko might grow to view him in a different light someday? Despite his brain telling him to do the former, his heart seemed to be forcing him to do the latter.
If he was right, and their feelings were mutual, then that would be good. Great, even. Fantastic. But if he was wrong... Once again, their entire friendship was at risk.
He shook his head, and as his eyes slowly opened again, the expanse of woodland below them came into focus. The longer he stared at it, the more he found himself unable to look away.
Aang.
Within moments, his anxieties about Zuko began to fade into the back of his mind. There was something… unique about this place. Something inviting.
Aang.
It was, surprisingly, a familiar feeling. He couldn't quite place where he had felt it before…
Aang.
"Aang."
He felt a tap on his shoulder, and he snapped out of his trance. When he turned around, Zuko was right behind him, and he flinched, not expecting the Fire Prince to be so close.
"You're taking us down," Zuko said, brow furrowed. "Sokka's been trying to get your attention. Did you see something down there?"
"What?" Aang replied in confusion before looking down to see that they were indeed descending. "I… didn't even notice."
"Are you noticing now? " Sokka asked with a frown.
"Is something wrong?" Katara asked, crawling over to sit next to Zuko, an anxious expression on her face.
Aang blinked several times and looked back down at the forest again. "I know this is gonna sound weird," he murmured as his gaze continued to linger. "But I think the swamp is calling to me."
"...Is it telling you where we can get something to eat?" Sokka asked, holding his stomach.
"No, I…" Aang replied, shaking his head. "I think it wants us to land there."
"No offense to the swamp, but I don't see any land there to land on ."
"I dunno. Bumi said to learn earthbending, I would have to wait and listen, and now I'm actually hearing the earth. Do you want me to ignore it?"
Katara and Sokka exchanged an apprehensive glance before both looking over the edge of the saddle again, Momo mimicking them with a curious chirp.
"Yes," Sokka replied matter-of-factly.
"I don't know," Katara murmured unsurely. "There's something ominous about that place."
"Look, we've been wandering around the southwestern Earth Kingdom for almost three weeks now looking for an earthbending teacher," Zuko chimed in, also glancing down at the swamp. "Maybe Aang's… Avatar senses are telling him that his teacher is somewhere down there." Despite his words, the apprehension in his face was evident.
"Come on, Zuko," Sokka said, sitting back and folding his arms. "You really think people live down there? It doesn't look like there's any form of civilization for miles! Plus, it gives me the creeps…"
With a sudden anxious chitter, Momo darted over to Zuko and curled up on his lap, covering his head with his paws, and Appa groaned.
"See? Even Appa and Momo don't like it here!" Sokka insisted. "That's four against two."
Aang sighed and slumped his shoulders. "Okay. Since everyone feels so strongly about this… Bye, swamp. Yip, yip!"
With that, Aang whipped Appa's reins, and with another groan, Appa began to ascend again.
Suddenly, he heard a loud snort from behind him, and Iroh's voice cried out, "Wait! We shouldn't–"
"You better throw in an extra 'yip'!" Sokka interjected, his voice fearful. "We gotta move!"
As Aang turned around again to see what Sokka was talking about, Aang grimaced in terror when he saw what looked to be a large, violent tornado moving erratically in their direction. He pulled on Appa's reins as hard as he could, zigzagging the bison in an attempt to evade the tornado's path, but no matter what direction they seemed to go in, the cyclone followed.
"AAAAH! "
Aang looked over his shoulder again to see that not only was the tornado closing in on them, but Sokka was being sucked up into the air by the vortex. Katara and Iroh both reached out to grab him by his arms, while Zuko held onto Momo tightly.
Seeing that trying to get away from the tornado was now pointless, Aang made a split second decision. He jumped off of Appa's head and landed in the middle of the saddle, where he stretched his arms wide and began to create a barrier of air that surrounded the bison. While the stabilized air pressure allowed Sokka to fall back to the saddle, now that they were no longer trying to escape, the tornado fully engulfed them.
Aang grunted and squeezed his eyes shut again as he tried with all of his might to maintain the sphere of air, his heart pounding in his chest as he felt the momentum of them spinning around, faster and faster. However, even a master airbender was no match for a powerful weather phenomenon such as this, and he felt the winds outside continue to push against him until he no longer had the strength to fight. As soon as the barrier collapsed, he felt himself being thrown from the saddle with a violent jerk.
Before he knew what was happening, he was no longer in the tornado, but instead hurtling towards the swampy ground. He quickly waved his arms to slow his fall, holding up his forearms to protect himself from being battered by the foliage of the trees below as he crashed through the forest canopy.
Below him, he heard several splashes, and as he used airbending to slow his descent towards the watery ground, he sighed in relief as he saw that all of his friends seemed to have landed in the same general area. However, two members of their party were still nowhere to be seen.
"Is everyone alright?" Iroh asked as Zuko waded over to him and helped him to his feet. "Any injuries?"
"A little bruised," Zuko said. "But I think I'm okay."
"Me too," Katara added.
"Aye-aye," Sokka groaned.
"Aang?" Iroh asked.
"I'm fine… But where are Appa and Momo?" Aang asked aloud, a pit of anxiety taking root in his stomach as he continued to survey the area and confirmed that neither the lemur nor bison appeared to be in the vicinity.
Upon seeing the clueless looks on his companions' faces, he frowned and immediately used airbending to propel himself back up to the tree canopy.
"Appa!" he yelled out over the seemingly endless expanse of woodland. "Momo!"
No response.
He sighed, and reluctantly hopped back down to the water, landing next to Sokka and Katara.
"You couldn't find them?" Katara asked worriedly.
"No," Aang sighed, shaking his head. "And the tornado… it just disappeared."
"Uncle, what were you about to say right before that thing appeared?" Zuko asked, turning to Iroh.
Iroh pressed his lips into a thin line, an apprehensive look on his face. "It doesn't matter now. We're already here. I… suspected that we wouldn't be able to turn our backs on this place so easily."
"What do you mean?" Sokka asked, raising an eyebrow. "Do you know where we are?"
"Not exactly," Iroh replied. "But this entire forest is imbued with spiritual energy. I could feel it from above, and now that we're here, I feel it all around us. The veil between the mortal realm and Spirit World is very thin here."
Aang's eyebrows slowly rose in realization. "No wonder I felt it calling to me! This place is like Ausuittuq!"
"Ah, that's it!" Iroh said, snapping his fingers. "This swamp must be a Spirit Wild!"
"A spirit... what?" Zuko asked warily.
"Spirit Wilds are places where the line between the mortal and Spirit World is blurred," Iroh explained as he waded over to one of the gnarled, ancient-looking trees and placed his palm on it. "There are many scattered throughout the world. Even in the Fire Nation."
"Wait. Does this mean that we could get attacked by dark spirits at any moment?" Sokka asked nervously, pulling out his machete as his eyes darted erratically around the area.
"I don't believe so," Iroh said. "As long as we remain respectful and calm, we should be safe."
"Yeah," Aang added. "The reason dark spirits were a problem in Ausuittuq was because of the violence the Fire Nation committed on their sacred lands. But it's like you said, Sokka: it doesn't look like this place is inhabited."
Sokka's eyes narrowed as he regarded him with an uncertain gaze.
"Aang's right," Iroh said. "I doubt the Fire Nation will have dared to set foot in this place. I'm sure the Wild knows how to protect itself."
"And don't worry," Aang said, patting Sokka on the shoulder reassuringly. "I've got a lot more experience dealing with spirits now."
Sokka narrowed his eyes and frowned. "If you're referring to what happened in Agna Qel'a, I don't know if turning into a giant fish monster counts."
"That's not all I did," Aang argued, folding his arms. "I went to the Spirit World and survived a deadly encounter with a face-stealing spirit!"
"There's face-stealing spirits?!" Sokka replied, the pitch of his voice ascending as one of his hands pressed over various parts of his face, as if to check that it was still there.
"Sokka, Aang told us about what happened to him in the Spirit World months ago," Katara sighed.
"I… may have not been listening," Sokka replied, avoiding his sister's gaze. "Whenever you guys talk about spirits and Avatar stuff, I tend to tune out."
"So we know the swamp is a Spirit Wild, and it wants Aang here for some reason," Zuko interjected. "Enough to send a tornado to keep us here. The question is, what are we supposed to do now?"
Aang placed his hand on his chin. "Well, the swamp must need the Avatar's help with something. So I should help it."
"And how exactly are you going to do that?" Zuko questioned, raising his eyebrow. "You don't even know what it needs help with."
Aang squinted one of his eyes and rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "Well… I guess I'll just… ask?"
"Ask who? The swamp?" Sokka snorted.
"I mean… yeah?" Aang shrugged.
Zuko sighed and pinched his nose bridge. "Well, I think we should at least start with something we know is realistically achievable. Like finding Appa and Momo."
"Zuko's right," Katara said. "We won't last long out here without our supplies."
"And on the way, Aang can interview the swamp," Sokka joked, slinging his arm around his shoulder. "I'm sure it has a lot to talk about."
"It's almost sunset," Sokka grunted as he pushed his way to the front of the group. "We'd better speed things up."
Before anyone could stop him, the warrior brandished his machete and whacked into the layer of vines in front of them.
Aang winced. "Maybe we should be a little nicer to the swamp."
"Aang," Sokka grumbled as he continued to slice. "These are just plants. Do you want me to say 'please' and 'thank you' as I swing my machete back and forth?"
"No… but Iroh said–"
Just as Sokka lifted his machete up in preparation for another swipe, Iroh's hand shot forward, grabbing hold of the boy's forearm.
"Sokka, I suggest you listen to Aang," Iroh said seriously to the very taken-aback Water Tribe boy as he used gentle force to lower his arm. "We need to be respectful of the Wilds. Remember, we're trying to avoid encounters with dark spirits."
Sokka sighed dramatically. "It's not like I'm doing any serious damage. This is nowhere close to what the Fire Nation did to Ausuittuq," he argued. "Besides, I haven't seen any spirits the entire time we've been here. I personally don't think there's anything supernatural about this place. It's just creepy, that's all."
Iroh frowned. "Just because we haven't seen any spirits doesn't mean they aren't there."
A brief look of uneasiness passed over Sokka's features for a moment before he lifted his fist to his mouth and cleared his throat.
"Look, I understand your caution, Iroh. But if we're gonna survive out here, we need to find Appa as fast as we can. And we can't do that with all of these vines in the way."
"Sokka, there's not even a guarantee that we're even going in the right direction," Katara interjected irritably. "Appa and Momo could be anywhere ."
Sokka groaned in exasperation, slumping his shoulders. "Well, what do you guys suggest we do?"
"Look, why don't we just find a place to make camp for the night?" Zuko posited. "We can start up the search again tomorrow morning."
"I don't know if you've noticed, but there's not exactly a good place to sleep around here," Sokka countered, putting his hands on his hips. "Everything is covered in either water, mud, or slime… Or all three…" He shuddered.
"Then let's try a different way, and see if we can find somewhere that isn't ," Zuko replied pointedly, turning back around and gesturing for everyone to follow.
Aang and Katara shared a nervous glance.
"Appa! Momo!" Katara shouted as the group climbed up a giant root that led to a large, hollowed-out tree stump amidst the dimness of twilight.
"There's no way they can hear us, and no way we can see them ," Sokka sighed. "We'll have to make camp for the night."
"This looks like a good enough place," Zuko said as he placed a hand on the tall walls of bark. "It's probably the closest thing to shelter we're gonna get out here."
"What was that?" Katara exclaimed.
Aang came to a stop next to the Water Tribe girl and surveyed the area around them, spotting several streams of vapors rising from the marsh below.
"Nothing, just swamp gas," Sokka said, gesturing towards the vapors. "Look, there's nothing supernatural going on here."
As the gas floated up towards them, the smell that hit Aang's nostrils was worse than even that of the Omashu sewers, and he grimaced.
Suddenly, a piercing scream echoed from somewhere nearby, and he, Katara, and Sokka each screamed in terror in response. While the Water Tribe siblings clutched one another tightly, Aang jumped to cling to the person nearest to him—which happened to be Zuko.
Wide-eyed, Aang's eyes searched for the source of the scream for several moments before landing on a rotund white bird, which sat on a branch several feet away. It stretched its beak open, and the same terrifying scream sounded from its tiny mouth.
As he felt himself breathe a sigh of relief, he abruptly realized he was still holding tight to Zuko, who hadn't moved a muscle. Their wide eyes met briefly for a moment before they both quickly separated, Aang chuckling awkwardly, looking away as he felt his cheeks burn, while he heard Zuko cough.
I probably just made him really uncomfortable, Aang groaned internally.
Realizing that Iroh was no longer next to them, he turned around to see where the old man had gone, and spotted him on the other side of the large tree stump. He appeared to be surveying the area with an intrigued expression yet again.
"...I think we should build a fire," Sokka said, his voice shaky as he darted over to a small patch of roots and began to hack at them with his machete again.
"Sokka," Zuko chastised irritably. "Did you listen to anything uncle said earlier?"
"Yeah," Aang agreed. "The longer we're here, the more I think you shouldn't be doing that."
"No, I asked the swamp!" Sokka replied sarcastically. "It said this was fine. Right, swamp?" he asked, grabbing hold of one of the roots and shaking it. "'No problem, Sokka!'"
With that, he swung his machete again and chopped off another piece of root, and Aang felt his face twitch with slight annoyance.
"Uncle, can you please do something?" Zuko asked, and Aang watched the Fire Prince sigh heavily as he turned to see that Iroh appeared to be preoccupied with studying their surroundings again.
"Uncle."
"Hmm?"
"Sokka's slicing up the swamp again."
Iroh's brow furrowed as he looked over to Sokka, who was now returning to the group with a pile of roots in arm.
"Well, it's too late now," Zuko grumbled.
"Right," Sokka said, looking back and forth between him and Iroh. "Which one of you two wants to be our fire starter tonight?"
Zuko glared at the warrior with a deadpan expression for a moment before snatching the kindling from his arms.
Aang pressed the heel of his palm to his forehead. It seemed that this was just one of those days where Sokka was determined to irritate everyone.
As Zuko got the campfire going, he couldn't help but shiver as he sat down next to it and pulled his knees closer to his chest. He wasn't cold—even if the temperature was cold here, he could always just regulate his breathing anyway—but now that it was nighttime, the eeriness of the swamp had somehow increased significantly.
"Does anyone else get the feeling that we're being watched?" Katara asked, breaking the silence, her wide blue eyes darting around the area.
"...I didn't want to say anything, but I've felt it all day," Zuko replied quietly as he stared into the campfire, the light of the flames illuminating his features.
"Please," Sokka scoffed, waving his hand in annoyance as several flies buzzed around his head. "We're all alone out here."
When one of the flies wouldn't leave him alone, the Water Tribe boy grunted and swung his machete it at the insect several times.
Suddenly, the fly morphed into a blinding white ball of light, and Aang held his hand up to shield his eyes. The ball of light drifted up and away from them, and as it floated, it illuminated the darkness surrounding them to reveal dozens of pairs of glowing eyes in the darkness.
"Except for them ," Aang murmured anxiously as he, Sokka, and Katra huddled together.
"R-right," Sokka stuttered. "Except for them…"
"Dad's going to kill you!"
Zuko shot upright in his bed as he heard Azula's sing-songy voice echo from somewhere nearby. Surely enough, his little sister was there, leaning against the doorway as an amused smirk tugged at the corner of her mouth.
"Really, he is."
Zuko immediately felt a surge of irritation ripple through his body. "Ha-ha, Azula. Nice try."
"Fine, don't believe me," Azula shrugged innocently. "But I heard everything. 'You must know the pain of losing a first-born son. By sacrificing your own!'" she declared in a deep voice, raising her small fist into the air.
"Liar!" Zuko snapped.
"I'm only telling you for your own good," Azula said, a slightly annoyed look appearing on her face. "I know! Maybe you could find a nice Earth Kingdom family to adopt you!"
"Stop it!" Zuko shouted. "You're lying! Dad would never do that to me!"
Before Azula could say anything further, a tall silhouette appeared in the doorway behind her. It was Ursa.
"Your father would never do what to you?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. "What is going on here?"
"I don't know…" Azula replied innocently, her tone of voice growing higher in pitch as she looked up at their mother with wide eyes.
Ursa was not convinced. With a frown, she grabbed hold of Azula's wrist and began to drag her away from Zuko's bed. "It's time for a talk."
Zuko continued to stare at the doorway for some time after they'd left, his stomach twisting with anxiety.
"Azula always lies. Azula always lies… "
He repeated the familiar mantra to himself over and over again as he slowly laid back down, pulled his blankets up to his chest, and closed his eyes.
The next thing he knew, he felt a gentle hand on his shoulder. He opened his groggy eyes to see Ursa sitting on the edge of his bed. She was dressed differently than usual, and he blinked in confusion when he noticed the serious expression on her face.
"Zuko, please, my love, listen to me," Ursa whispered. "Everything I've done, I've done to protect you."
Before he had the chance to process what his mother was saying, she pulled him into a hug, squeezing him tightly.
"Remember this, Zuko," she whispered in his ear. "No matter how things may seem to change, never forget who you are ."
Zuko's groggy vision blurred in and out of focus as he tried to stay awake. He reached out his arm as he watched his mother look back at him one last time, a sorrowful smile on her lips as she pulled the hood of her cloak over her head and disappeared through the doorway.
As soon as Ursa had disappeared, Zuko's drowsiness seemed to fade almost instantly, and he rapidly shook his head.
"Mom?" he called out, throwing his blankets to the side. "Mom? Where are you going?"
He nearly tripped over himself as he jumped out of bed and ran into the hallway. However, it seemed that the faster he ran, the more the end of the hallway seemed to stretch further and further away.
After what felt like weeks, months, years of running, he somehow finally managed to reach the end, where he was abruptly blinded by sunlight. When his eyes adjusted, he was now standing in front of the turtle duck pond in the palace gardens.
His mother was not there.
Instead, his father stood next to the pond, back facing Zuko.
"Where is she?" Zuko demanded, tears filling his eyes.
"She's gone."
Zuko blinked in surprise. For some reason, he hadn't expected him to answer.
"What do you mean she's gone? " Zuko demanded again, this time feeling a blaze of anger ignite within him. "What did you do to her?"
This time, Ozai did not respond. Instead, he slowly turned around.
The dark, disdainful look in his father's eyes pierced Zuko straight to his core.
The scene in front of him began to flash several times as Ozai began to take slow steps towards him. He was somehow both in the palace gardens and in the Agni Kai arena at the same time.
Everything within Zuko screamed at him to run, to fight, to do something. However, he found himself unable to control his own body as an unseen force pulled him to his knees and he kowtowed in front of his father again.
He wanted to keep his head down. He knew what was coming next.
Against his will, his head slowly lifted to see his father standing over him, a ball of flame hovering in the palm of his hand.
"You're just like your mother," Ozai said, his lip curling into a sneer. "A traitor. A disgrace. And she's not here to protect you anymore."
The only thing Zuko could do was close his eyes and wait for the searing pain to come.
However, it didn't.
"Zuko! Help me!"
He gasped heavily as his eyes shot open, his mother's voice still echoing in his mind. He sat up and felt his forehead, which was covered in a thin layer of cold sweat, with the back of his hand, his eyes darting erratically around the area as he struggled to return to reality.
It was just a dream, he realized with an exhale as his eyes adjusted to the dim early morning light. He saw that his uncle and each of his companions appeared to be fast asleep on the ground next to him, scattered around the dying embers of the small campfire. We're still in the swamp.
He took another deep breath to calm his still rapidly-beating heart, the memories of his dream still flashing in his mind.
It had been quite some time since he'd had this kind of nightmare. It was always some version of the same thing: Azula chanting "Dad's going to kill you!", Ursa disappearing, Ozai burning him.
"Everything I've done, I've done to protect you."
If you wanted to protect me, then why did you leave? Zuko thought, squeezing his eyes shut again as they began to sting with tears.
This was a question he had been asking himself for almost three years now.
"Zuko? Are you alright?"
He turned around to see that Aang was now sitting up as well.
Zuko shook his head and turned away to wipe the tears from his cheeks with the back of his hands. "It's nothing. Just a nightmare. You can go back to sleep."
He flinched when he felt a gentle hand on his shoulder. As he turned to see that the Avatar had crawled over to him, he felt a tug of longing in his heart.
"It doesn't sound like it was nothing," Aang whispered in reply, removing his hand. Even in the dimness of the early morning light, the concern in his bright gray eyes was evident. "Are you sure you're alright?"
Before Zuko had the chance to reply, he spotted a small movement out of the corner of his eye, and his eyes widened. A vine, moving on its own, had slowly begun to curl around Aang's leg.
"Aang!" Zuko exclaimed to the confused airbender, jumping to his feet and attempting to unsheath his broadswords. However, just as he grabbed their hilts, he grunted as he was yanked backwards by his own foot, landing on his knees as his hands gripped the ground as tightly as they could.
"Zuko!" Aang shouted back, eyes wide. He reached out one of his hands, and Zuko attempted to grab hold of it, but was prevented by doing so when the vines pulled Aang into the mist.
"No!" he yelled as he fought against the strength of the vines with all his might. However, he could only watch helplessly as Katara, Sokka, and his uncle were dragged in opposite directions as well. Despite his best attempts to fight, eventually, his strength gave out, and he too was yanked into the thick fog.
Beginning to panic, he shot a blast of fire down at the vine tendril wrapped around his leg, separating it from its source and ripping it off of him. Several more vines shot out of the murky water, and he was forced to use a combination of firebending and evasion tactics to avoid being entangled by them.
Eventually, he was able to dart off into the mist, running as fast as he could through the shallow, muddy water until he abruptly felt a sharp pain in his ankle. Wincing in pain, he tripped forward, landing into the swamp water with a loud splash, and quickly maneuvered himself around, fully expecting another set of vines to come hurtling towards him through the mist.
Surprisingly, none came.
After he had waited a few more moments, he slowly pushed himself out of the water, taking care to not put too much weight on his throbbing ankle, and studied his surroundings. While it seemed that the fog had cleared, it also appeared that he was now somewhere that looked completely unfamiliar.
"Aang?" Zuko called out, cupping his hands around his mouth. "Uncle? Sokka? Katara?"
No answer. In fact, it was eerily quiet.
Zuko tried to steel himself as he felt a wave of dread begin to rise within him. He was now completely alone out here, in a spirit swamp, with sentient vines trying to kill him.
It probably didn't help that I instinctively used firebending to protect myself, he thought as his hand gripped the hilt of his broadswords again. I'll have to be more careful.
He turned around and swallowed nervously as his eyes continued scanning the swamp. The best thing he could do was try to go back the way he came.
Hopefully the others aren't too far.
"Uncle! Aang!"
Zuko's voice was beginning to grow hoarse from how much he had been yelling. Judging by the level of sunlight filtering through the canopy above him, it had to be at least afternoon by now.
At this point, he was sore, tired, and extremely hungry. But he couldn't give up. He'd been through much worse situations before, and had gotten himself out of them just fine. He just needed to keep going a little longer.
Unfortunately, Zuko was smart enough to know that if he didn't stop to rest soon, he might actually faint from exhaustion. And he really did not want to end up drowning in the shallow swamp water as a result. That would certainly be an embarrassing way to die.
He pressed the palm of his hand into the side of his head as he lowered himself into a sitting position on a nearby root.
Just a few minutes' rest. Then I've got to keep going.
But keep going where? He was completely and utterly lost. He wasn't even certain he was going in the right direction anymore.
Zuko sighed heavily, hanging his head as he leaned forward, elbows resting on his legs.
As he lifted his head and his eyes landed on a person through the vegetation in the distance, his first reaction was to nearly jump out of his skin. His second reaction, however, was an overwhelming sense of relief.
"Hey!" he shouted, standing up and waving his arm in the air. "Hello?"
No response.
"Excuse me?" Zuko called out again, undeterred as he waded closer to the person, taking care to be gentle with the vines and hanging moss as he pushed them out of the way. "I'm lost and need to find my friends. Have you seen–"
As he stepped into the small clearing, he froze.
It can't be…
"Mom? " Zuko murmured softly, shaking his head in disbelief. Sure enough, as clear as day and illuminated by the soft rays of afternoon sun that filtered from above, was Ursa herself.
Is this a dream? he thought, afraid to move a muscle in the event that it was. How could mom be here ?
"Zuko," Ursa said, her kind eyes crinkling as a warm smile appeared on her face. "Look at you. I am so proud of you."
With those words, the "how" and "why" of the situation did not matter in the slightest to Zuko right now. All he wanted was to run into her arms.
Tears fully streaming down his face, he laughed as he ran forward, ignoring the pain of his injured ankle. It had been so long since he'd heard her kind words, since he'd felt her warmth.
"Mom, you have no idea how much I missed–"
His arms wrapped around nothing. In the blink of an eye, Ursa had disappeared.
No.
He fell to his knees, tears still streaming down his face as he stared unfocused into the distance. The sunlight above him faded, and the swamp grew dark.
"Zuko."
No. She wasn't really there. He was going crazy from being stranded in this place for so long. That had to be it.
That, or the swamp was playing cruel tricks on him...
He didn't know which option was worse.
"Zuko, listen to me," his mother's voice said softly from behind him.
He refused to turn around.
"You're not here. You're not real," Zuko replied hoarsely. "She's… gone." He couldn't bring himself to say what he truly feared had happened to her.
"I'm not gone, Zuko."
"You're not her."
There was a moment of silence.
"Do not lose heart. She is not lost to you yet."
The voice that had replied to him was no longer that of his mother's—instead, it almost sounded… childlike. Childlike, yet somehow, at the same time, ancient.
It was then that he jumped to his feet and spun around.
No one was there.
"Wait!" Zuko exclaimed frantically. "What do you mean? Where is she?"
Instead of an answer, a bright, white ball of light appeared above him.
Before he could say anything else, the light zipped away. Zuko immediately stumbled after it, now filled with much more energy than he should have been given his circumstances, and only barely feeling the pain of his ankle injury. He hopped onto root after root, pushed his way through vine after vine. However, he was no match for the speed of the ball of light, and his body was still too weak to allow him to get far.
"Urrgh!" Zuko grunted, falling to his knees again and striking the water with his fists, completely out of breath. He watched helplessly as the ball of light continued floating, up and away until it was out of sight.
Suddenly, his ears perked up as the eerie quiet of the swamp was broken by the noise of something nearby. It almost sounded like…
Humming? Zuko thought, his eyes studying his surroundings again.
The tune sounded strangely familiar. Nostalgic.
Zuko pushed himself to his feet again and made his way towards the source of the humming. It definitely sounded like Iroh, that much was certain… But was it really him, or another trick of the swamp?
"Uncle!" Zuko called out. "Uncle?"
"Prince Zuko?"
As Zuko pushed aside a cluster of hanging moss, he at last caught sight of his uncle, sitting on a nearby tree stump. The old man stared at Zuko in disbelief, and Zuko stared right back at him.
"Uncle…? Is that really you?" Zuko asked apprehensively.
Instead of answering, Iroh stood up, strode over to him, and wrapped him into a tight hug.
"It's me, nephew," Iroh murmured, his voice shaking. "I'm here."
Zuko stood frozen in surprise for a moment before he felt himself relax and return his uncle's embrace, patting him gently on the back.
"Are you alright?" Iroh asked as he pulled back to survey Zuko for injuries. He couldn't help but notice that the former general's eyes appeared to be quite red. Was that due to fatigue?
"Um, well, I tripped on a root while I was running away from the vines…"
Iroh's eyes widened.
"But I can walk just fine I swear!" Zuko added quickly, hoping to avoid his uncle fussing over him. "What about you?"
Iroh's eyes narrowed slightly, though he thankfully did not question Zuko further. "Physically, I'm alright," he replied at last with a heavy sigh. "I just… I thought my prior experiences with the Spirit World would have prepared me better for a situation like this."
Zuko had a nagging feeling that Iroh had experienced something significant while they had been separated, but felt reluctant to press him about it.
"I'm… assuming you haven't run into any of the others?" he asked instead.
Just as Iroh shook his head, a chorus of yells sounded from somewhere nearby, accompanied by a myriad of splashing sounds.
Zuko and Iroh exchanged a wide-eyed look before they both took off towards the source of the commotion.
"Aang!" Zuko shouted, once again pushing through his ankle pain as his stomach twisted with anxiety. "Sokka! Katara!"
He stopped abruptly in his tracks when, at last, they pushed through another wall of vegetation and arrived at the source of the screams. In the water below them loomed what looked to be some sort of giant monster, seemingly made up of vines . Across from the creature stood a disheveled-looking Sokka and Katara.
"Is that a spirit?" Zuko questioned, a shaky hand moving down to grab the hilts of his broadswords.
"I'm… not certain," Iroh replied apprehensively.
Is Aang not with them? Zuko wondered, a feeling of uneasiness taking root in his stomach as he looked around for any sign of the airbender. If this was a dark spirit, he doubted the Water Tribe siblings could defeat it with physical force alone.
"Raaagh!"
Zuko's eyes widened as he spotted none other than Aang burst out of the forest. The Avatar landed an airbending attack on the monster from behind, knocking the creature over.
However, this seemed to be only a momentary deterrent. As Aang landed in front of the Water Tribe siblings, it lifted one of its arms and knocked the Avatar back into the forest.
"We have to get down there!" Zuko shouted, unsheathing his broadswords as he began to climb down to the forest floor to join the fight.
"Zuko, wait!" he heard Iroh shout from behind him. "Remember, if this is a spirit, attacking it will only make things worse!"
Upon hearing their shouting, Katara and Sokka both looked up with surprised expressions.
"Zuko! Iroh! You're okay!" Katara exclaimed with a relieved smile for a brief moment before she was forced to block an attack from the monster with a slice of waterbending, severing its arm from its body. Unfortunately, the creature only used more vines to replace it.
Zuko quickly began to slice through several clusters of vines as they shot out of the water towards him and his uncle. He tried to keep track of them as they continued reappearing, but he was still very fatigued, and his senses and reflexes were not as sharp as they usually were.
Meanwhile, Katara began to move her arms in wide circles, creating what looked like thin blades of water, and hurled them towards the monster, slicing into it over and over.
"I think you're slowing it down!" Zuko shouted as he attempted to slice through another slew of vines, grunting as he felt one wrap around his arm and pull him down into the water and onto his hands and knees. He winced again as a sharp spike of pain radiated from his ankle.
"Yeah, keep at it, Katara! There's someone in there!" Sokka exclaimed. "He's bending the vines!"
Zuko grunted as he attempted to pull both his arms out of the water, but was unable to move as he felt vines begin to wrap around his wrists. Despite still not having let go of his broadswords, they were useless now that his hands were stuck.
"Zuko!" Iroh shouted, and he heard several splashes behind him as his uncle ran over and attempted to free him, to no avail.
Zuko could only lift his head and watch helplessly as a now very irritated-looking Katara made one final slicing movement with her arms. After a moment, the entire top half of the beast slid off the rest of its body, landing into the swamp water with a wet thump.
The victory was short-lived, however; not a moment later, another cluster of vines shot up from beneath Katara, wrapping her in them and lifting her high above the water.
Just as the creature was about to make another strike, Aang landed gracefully in front of Katara and launched another powerful air blast at the monster. Due to its weakened state, the attack appeared to be successful, blowing apart the form of the creature until all that was left was a stout middle-aged man covered in vines.
To Zuko's relief, he felt the grip on his wrists loosen, and he was able to pull himself out of the water again, while Katara was lowered back to the ground and released from her restraints as well.
"I don't know what problems you have with us," Aang stated, arms still raised defensively. "But you should know I'm the Avatar, and I don't take kindly to people trying to hurt my friends."
The man's eyes widened as the vines slipped off of his arms and shoulders. "The Avatar? Come with me."
"So, who are you then?" Katara asked as they followed the strange man up to the base of the most massive tree Zuko had probably ever seen in his entire life.
"Name's Huu. I protect the swamp from folks that want to hurt it," the man replied, bending a small cluster of vines out of the way. "Like this fella with his big knife."
"Sounds like someone should have listened to Aang and Iroh," Katara said, folding her arms as she pointedly looked at Sokka.
"See, now this makes sense: just a regular guy defending his home. Nothing mystical or spirit-y about it," Sokka replied, shrugging his shoulders. "In fact, I'm starting to wonder if Iroh had this place pegged all wrong, because even after all this time, we still haven't seen any signs of these dark spirits that you guys seemed to be so worried about."
"Thankfully, dark spirits are rare here," Huu said. "That's why I work so hard to protect this place from desecration."
Sokka's nonchalant expression morphed into one of slight shock upon hearing this.
"Looks like you were right about this place, Iroh," Aang said, turning to the former general.
Huu's gray eyes moved to Iroh as well, who stepped forward and bowed politely in greeting.
"You've been to the other side, too, haven't you?" Huu asked, a warm smile spreading across his face. "I don't know why I didn't sense it sooner."
Iroh smiled as well. "I have. You hold a role of great honor as a protector of a Spirit Wild."
Huu chuckled and shook his head. "It may be a Spirit Wild, but it's also my home. It's in my nature to protect it from outside forces who'd wanna do it harm. So far, I've been successful." He gazed up at the expansive canopy above them for a moment before sitting down cross-legged. "I reached enlightenment right here under the banyan-grove tree. I heard it callin' me, just like you did." He nodded towards Aang.
"Sure ya did. It seems real chatty," Sokka replied sarcastically.
"See, this whole swamp is actually just one tree spread out over miles," Huu continued, ignoring Sokka. "Branches spread and sink, take root, and spread some more. One big, living organism. Just like the entire world."
"I get how the tree is one big thing… But the whole world?" Aang asked confusedly.
"Sure. You think you're any different from me or your friends or this tree?" the man replied with a smile. "If you listen hard enough, you can hear every livin' thing breathing together. You can feel everything growin'. We're all livin' together, even if most folks don't act like it. We all have the same roots, and we are all branches of the same tree."
"But what did our visions mean?" Katara asked.
"Visions?" Zuko interjected, regarding each of his friends with a quizzical look. "What do you mean?"
Katara's eyes lowered to the ground, and a shadow passed over her face. "I… thought I saw our mom."
"And I thought I saw Yue," Sokka added, folding his arms with a frown. "Did you guys see something, too?"
Zuko blinked several times in surprise. So I wasn't the only one who saw things out there?
"I saw my mom, too," he replied quietly.
Katara immediately put her hand on his shoulder, her dark blue eyes empathetic.
Zuko's gaze moved to Iroh, and upon seeing the look on his uncle's face, he realized who it was that Iroh had likely seen.
"Uncle…?" he murmured.
"I saw my son."
His suspicions were confirmed. If Iroh had seen Lu Ten in the swamp, no wonder his eyes had looked so red when Zuko had found him.
"In the swamp, we see visions of people we've lost," Huu explained. "People we loved, folks we think are gone. But the swamp tells us they're not. We're still connected to them. Time is an illusion, and so is death."
Despite the intended positivity of the message, Zuko's heart sank upon hearing this.
People we've loved, who we think are gone…
Each of the people Katara, Sokka, and Iroh had seen had been people he knew for certain were no longer living in this world. Did that mean his mother was… gone as well?
"But what about my vision?" Aang asked, interrupting his thoughts. "It was someone I had never met."
Huu smiled again. "You're the Avatar. You tell me."
"Time is an illusion…" Aang's gaze moved downwards as pressed his lips into a thin line, his brow furrowing in contemplation. "So, it's someone I will meet."
The Avatar looked back up at the swamp man, who nodded.
Zuko felt a small spark of hope reignite within him once more as the words of the spirit he had spoken with echoed in his mind.
She is not lost to you yet.
"Sorry to interrupt the lesson, but we still need to find Appa and Momo," Sokka interjected.
"I think I know how to find them." Aang murmured as he knelt down and placed the palm of his hand on the root of the tree. "Everything is connected…"
The Avatar closed his eyes for a moment and took a deep breath.
After a moment, he shot back to his feet. "Come on! We've got to hurry!"
As the rest of his companions began to move forward, Zuko took a step to follow. However, as soon as his foot hit the ground, he hissed in pain, doubling over, and everyone stopped to turn back around.
"Prince Zuko!" Iroh exclaimed, darting back over to him. "What's wrong?"
"My… ankle," Zuko grimaced, sitting back and pulling up his pant leg to see that his ankle appeared very swollen.
"You're hurt?" Aang exclaimed worriedly. He made a move to go to Zuko as well, but Sokka grabbed his wrist, stopping him.
"Don't we need to find Appa and Momo? They're in danger, right?"
"Iroh and I can stay here with Zuko," Katara said as she uncorked her waterskin and pulled the water from it before placing it on Zuko's ankle. "Aang, you and Sokka should go find Appa and Momo. We'll stay here, and you can come get us once you find them."
"She's right, Aang," Zuko said. "I'll be okay."
Aang's concerned gaze lingered on his own for a few more moments before he reluctantly turned back around, following after Sokka.
"You know, you could have said something sooner," Katara scolded as she worked on healing Zuko's ankle in the swamp village's healing hut.
"It wasn't that bad," Zuko replied, wincing slightly. "It's not like it's broken."
"Just because you didn't break it doesn't mean you were fine to keep walking on it like usual," Katara muttered.
If he was being honest, he hadn't even noticed how swollen it had gotten until he'd finally had a chance to sit down and relax once they'd arrived at the swamp tribe's village. Now that he wasn't running on adrenaline to dull the pain, however, he was surprised that he'd managed to make it all day without collapsing.
"Wow! Now where in the name of the banyan-grove tree did you learn how to do somethin' like that with waterbendin'?"
Zuko frowned. He was not too thrilled to have an audience of several swamp villagers gathered around his cot. The hut was already small enough.
"Well, I didn't really learn it," Katara replied with an awkward chuckle. "I kind of just… figured out how to do it one day. I could teach you, if you want. And maybe you guys could teach me how to plantbend!"
"That would be real useful for the next time ol' Slim mistakes your foot for a fish, Tho!" a skinny-looking villager said, slapping the back of the portly man standing next to him, who shot him an unamused glare.
"I'd say it's better to ask Huu about plantbendin'," Tho said, scratching his stomach. "He's the master around here. But I'll tell you right now, he ain't really one for sharin' secrets."
Zuko had a hunch that even if Huu refused to teach Katara the secrets of "plantbending", the waterbending master could likely figure out how to do so herself if she wanted.
"Now, now. Let's clear out and give the boy some space, everyone."
Zuko looked up to see Huu himself standing in the hut doorway, and breathed a sigh of relief as he ushered the crowd of villagers out of the room.
"Supper will be ready soon, by the way," the plantbender added with a grin before exiting the hut again.
"I never could have imagined there'd be waterbenders all the way out here in the middle of the Earth Kingdom," Katara mused, shaking her head slowly.
"Me either," Zuko replied. "They seem… nice."
Katara chuckled. "If a bit eccentric."
After a moment, the waterbender exhaled as she at last removed the water from Zuko's ankle.
"Okay. That should be good for now. If it still hurts tomorrow morning, we can do another healing session before we leave."
"Thanks," Zuko sighed.
"You don't have to thank me," Katara said with a smile as she pushed herself to her feet and turned to exit the hut. However, before she did, she stopped and turned around, her expression now sympathetic. "By the way… I'm… sorry you had to see your mom again, out in the swamp."
Zuko bit his lip as he studied Katara's solemn expression. He couldn't help but feel guilty being hopeful that his mother was still out there somewhere, while hers was gone forever.
"It's alright. I'm sorry you had to see yours, too."
Katara nodded, gaze moving downward. "It was a pretty painful experience," she sighed. "But Huu's right. She's not really gone. Not while I'm around to remember her." She lifted her eyes to meet his gaze, and smiled again. "The same is true for your mom."
"Knock knock."
Zuko peered over Katara's shoulder to see Aang standing in the doorway, waving at them both.
"Am I interrupting the healing session? I came by earlier, but it seemed the place was packed."
Katara's eyes moved back and forth between the two for a brief moment before another smile appeared on her face. "Not at all. He's all yours," she replied, patting Aang on the shoulder as she exited the hut.
Zuko was once again thankful that his hair was now long enough to fully cover his ears, because he could feel them burning.
Why did she have to say it like that?
Aang, however, seemed to not notice. Instead, his smile disappeared, and a guilty expression appeared on his face as he sat down on the stool Katara had been using.
"...I'm sorry, Zuko."
"For what?" Zuko questioned confusedly.
"For getting us stuck in this swamp."
Zuko snorted in disbelief. "How was any of this your fault?"
"If I hadn't gotten so distracted by it calling to me, I could have flown us away sooner..."
"Aang, you did what you could," Zuko replied. "And besides, everything's alright now."
"You're not alright," Aang said, his guilt-ridden eyes moving to Zuko's bruised ankle. "You got hurt. Why didn't you say something sooner?"
Zuko shrugged. "I told Katara the same thing… I honestly didn't think it was that bad of an injury. Plus, it seemed like we had more important stuff to worry about. What with the vine monster and Avatar stuff."
Aang sighed in exasperation and shook his head. "Zuko, you're important too—I care more about whether or not you're safe and healthy than I do about anything else."
Zuko blinked in surprise, feeling a slight warmth in his cheeks.
"And it's okay to ask for help," Aang continued. "You don't have to push through the pain when you get hurt."
"Okay, okay," Zuko sighed. " I get it. I'm sorry. I'll try to be better about it next time."
"Hey. I'm the one who's supposed to be apologizing here," Aang replied with a smirk. "And if I can help it, hopefully there won't be a 'next time'."
A small smile tugged at the corner of Zuko's mouth.
Aang returned his smile for a moment before looking away and clearing his throat. "You know, I feel like I've barely even gotten to talk to you since we left Omashu..."
Zuko suddenly felt like his heart was going to beat out of his chest.
"...Y-yeah," Zuko stuttered, his voice cracking slightly. "I mean, we've been pretty busy, so… you know."
Was this it? Was this the moment he'd been simultaneously dreading and yearning for ever since what had happened at the Lovers' Cave? Were they finally going to talk about what happened?
Aang's gray eyes met his own again, and the Avatar's brow furrowed.
"Zuko…" the airbender began.
As Aang's hand gently rested on top of his own, Zuko felt himself freeze, electricity surging through his veins at the point of contact. He held his breath as he waited for Aang to finish whatever it was that he was going to say, wide eyes staring directly into the Avatar's own.
Suddenly, Aang's gaze flitted downwards, and he quickly pulled his hand back, almost as if he had touched something painful by accident. As he sat back on the stool, hands in his lap, his eyes darted around the room, seeming to look anywhere but at him.
This reaction caused Zuko to feel a painful lurch in his chest. Part of him wanted so desperately to reach over and grab Aang's hand again, to finally tell the airbender the words he'd been yearning to say for so long now.
But after this reaction?
...He couldn't.
"So you… said you saw your mom in the swamp?" Aang finally asked, breaking the silence.
"Oh," Zuko replied, blinking several times as he released the breath he'd been holding. He had not been prepared to be asked about this. "Yeah, I did."
"You've never really talked about her before, have you?" Aang asked, his eyes returning to meet Zuko's again. There was now sympathy in his gaze.
Zuko smirked slightly. "You've never really asked."
"Were you close?" Aang asked, his eyes growing curious. "What was she like?"
"Yeah, we were close," Zuko replied quietly. "She was… well, we both were different from the rest of my family. She was kind, and gentle. She loved animals."
Zuko's smirk widened into a smile as he recalled the way Ursa had scolded him when he'd attempted to show her how Azula fed the turtle ducks in the palace gardens—by throwing the entire loaf at them.
"No matter how many times I failed, mom never gave up on me," he continued, staring at the foot of his cot. "She was always there for me. So when she left… it was hard."
"Left?" Aang repeated, his head cocking to the side in confusion. "Then she's still…?"
"My father would never tell me exactly what happened to her, so I always feared the worst…" Zuko murmured, wringing his hands together. "But today, in the swamp, I… I think a spirit spoke to me. It told me that she's still out there."
Aang's eyes widened. "Wait a minute—if she's still out there, we can try to find her!"
"Aang, for all I know, that could have just been my mind playing tricks on me," Zuko argued, folding his arms. "And if it was a real spirit… How would a spirit know what happened to my mom?"
"I don't know. But what reason would it have to lie?"
The Avatar did make a good point. "We've got more important things to do before we can even think about trying to find her," Zuko sighed, pressing the heel of his palm into his right eye. "Like focusing on your training so you can defeat my father."
"I know we still have a lot we need to get done before we could realistically start looking," Aang replied, his gaze earnest. "But as soon as we get the opportunity… We'll do it. And I'll be right there with you every step of the way. I promise."
Zuko felt his heart swell with affection for the Avatar, and found that he was at a loss for words.
"So, uh, you never said who it was that you saw in the swamp," he said, changing the subject.
"Oh. Yeah," Aang replied, an awkward expression appearing on his face as he rubbed the back of his neck. "Well, this is gonna sound kind of silly… But I somehow ended up chasing a girl."
Zuko did a double take as a flicker of jealousy burned in his chest. "A girl? What girl?" he demanded, immediately sitting up.
Aang shrugged. "It's just like I told Huu. I don't know who it was. I heard laughing and I saw some little girl in a fancy dress."
Little girl. This detail relieved Zuko's anxiety. "So… she's someone you're going to meet at some point in the future?"
Aang nodded. "That's what Huu said."
"Dinner's ready, guys!"
Zuko and Aang both turned to see Sokka's head poking through the doorway.
"Hope you like giant pit-roasted bugs," the warrior added, holding up what looked to be a steaming giant fly on a stick. He took a giant bite from the side of its thorax, crunching loudly.
"Uh… thanks, Sokka. We'll be out soon," Zuko replied slowly, unable to take his eyes off of the cooked insect.
With that, the Water Tribe boy nodded, mouth still full, and disappeared.
Aang and Zuko stared at one another in slight confusion for a moment before they both visibly shuddered in disgust.
"I hope the swamp tribe has vegetarian options..." Aang sighed.
"Me too," Zuko muttered. "And I'm not even a vegetarian."
Aang laughed, and as he pushed himself to his feet, he held out his hand.
"Come on, hotman. I'll be your crutch this evening. Can't have you messing up all of Katara's hard work."
"I already said I was sorry," Zuko grumbled, unsuccessfully attempting to hide his smile as he took Aang's hand.