Gladiator

by Seyary-Minamoto

In a world where the Avatar wasn't found, the Fire Nation took over two nations and they strive to overcome the last one. Water Tribe warrior Sokka seeks to fight for his people's rights, but he's captured by his enemies. His life is no longer in his hands as he fights as a Gladiator, and his fate will eventually depend on the Fire Nation Princess, who needs him for her own ends...

281. Chapter 281: The swamp-Spiritual bond 3

The swamp/Spiritual bond

3

Sokka hardly remembered how he'd wound up in a puddle of mud, underneath many broken branches and the largest leaves he'd ever seen. His head spun, his heartrate sped up… his body shuddered, as he registered nothing quite as clearly as an acute, internal pain unlike any he had felt before.

It didn't belong to him. He knew it wasn't, that was all he understood… this wasn't his own pain. He felt it so strongly within his body, underneath his skin and bones, and yet he knew, somehow, that its source wasn't him at all. Instead…

"Azula…" he gasped anew, cringing as he pushed himself up with difficulty.

The reality of his circumstances returned to him upon attempting to rise to his feet: a strange tornado had chased them as they flew over the swamp. That was where he had to be now, the vegetation had miraculously slowed his fall, enough that the bruises on his body weren't as serious as such a fall usually warranted – his armor surely had helped matters, too. Where were the others, though? Had all of them been caught in the merciless winds, flung in directions different from his own?

The swamp, though… he hissed, eyeing his dark surroundings warily. He couldn't even tell if it was the middle of the day, if he had spent hours blacked out… for how long had he been lying here, helpless in the middle of such a hostile environment? This accursed place… he shuddered, rubbing his head with his fingertips as he climbed out of the mud, reaching for a nearby tree. He had his weapons with him still, his armor… but he had no food, no drinkable water, and no clue of where everyone else might be. Were the others together, by any chance? Maybe they had been luckier than him, in that respect… he would hope so, at least. He might find his way back to the rest of them more easily if they had somehow managed not to lose each other…

Yet all these rational thoughts were backdrops he could scarcely cling to or focus on: the strange pain coursing through his energy threatened to break him, and all he could do was hope for it to stop. What was happening? Was the swamp making it worse? The discomfort he'd felt before had been a needling, unsettling sensation, strong enough to wake him up, but not to the extent of causing him physical pain. Yet now, his entire body was overwhelmed by sheer agony. He didn't know if the swamp had anything to do with it, it might not… but his immediate, instinctive solution was to leave. To get out, escape this dreadful place… to hope he'd find the others later, somehow.

But if they were lost in the swamp too, somewhere… he shuddered, stepping slowly in the muddy waters, glancing about himself in uncertainty. There was no sign of civilization anywhere. No sign of a sky bison, or a flying lemur, or any of his friends.

He drew in a deep breath, then another… and then he shouted:

"KATARA!"

His heart, somehow, seemed convinced he was shouting the wrong name… he tried to ignore it, knowing that however desperate he was to call for Azula, there was no point in doing so here and now. He would achieve nothing by doing so, she couldn't possibly be here, she wouldn't hear him…

But judging by his tense, silent surroundings, neither would Katara.

"KATARA?!" he called again, with as much strength as he could put into his voice. Maybe someone else, then… "AANG! ZUKO! KINO!"

The sounds that answered his call were the rustling of leaves in nearby trees, as well as birds that took off in flight, abandoning the area because of the noise he'd made. He shuddered again, waiting to hear anything, to see anyone…

Nothing happened.

Either they had fallen elsewhere, or they were badly wounded, unable to respond to his calls.

He winced, bringing a hand to his forehead: he felt feverish, maybe he'd taken a worse blow after falling than he had thought… curses, how had any of this happened in the first place?

"Damn swamp… yeah, that's right, I can call you names all I want," Sokka huffed, stomping his way out of the mud, unsure of where to go. "Sure, you're all spiritual and magical, you irksome place… if you pulled me into the Spirit World or some batshit nonsense like that, I'm going to make it a personal quest to chop down every last one of your fucking trees, you hear me?!"

He might not have been in such a dark mood, flinging such threats at a whole ecosystem, if his heart weren't still racing with that pulsating misery he couldn't seem to shake off. His initial, urgent need to reach Azula upon their separation had eased into a natural longing, something he could live with, however badly he might miss her… until last night. Until today. More than ever, he needed to be by her side, even though he didn't understand why… even though he knew, objectively, that he wouldn't reach her anytime soon. But his instincts, his impulses, demanded that he tried… and so he would. The swamp stood near the desert… that was the only clue he had about how to find his bearings. Maybe he'd come by the tracks of his friends if he tried to reach the desert in order to sort out where he was… heck, maybe they'd be the ones to find him. But waiting for nothing would only worsen the anxiety that, as things stood, only flared up more intensely by the minute.

He set out then, weary, pained, alone… unsure that he'd find his traveling partners at all as he marched deeper into the dark swamp.

---

"Sokka! Aang! Kino! Zuko! Appa! Momo!"

Katara's voice rang across the expanse of vegetation, tinged with so much more fear than she thought she'd be feeling anytime soon. Waking up in the depths of a swamp had unnerved her already… but finding herself completely alone only made matters worse. She couldn't help but recall Guru Pathik's lessons: fear would block her first chakra all over again… she knew so, theoretically, but she had no idea if the others were alright. Had she been the only one to fall off the saddle? If so… were they looking for her?

She had to look for them too, then. There was nothing more to it.

In other depths of the dark swamp, another voice called for his companions as well: he snarled upon suspecting that, no matter how loudly he might speak, they wouldn't hear him. He had seen the size of that swamp in the maps, he had heard Sokka's wild tales about the properties of this place…

"Of all the places to get hit by some tornado…" Zuko scowled, shaking his head: a massive bog stood before him, and he sighed as he readied himself to cross it. It stank, and he'd certainly stink too once he made his way across it… but he was far too irate about this new, unexpected and unnecessary detour to care about hygiene and body odor, at least, not as his first priorities.

Another member of their traveling party managed to break out of the swamp by leaping upwards, from branch to branch, until he finally surfaced past the tall treetops: Aang breathed far more easily outside the oppressive atmosphere within the unsettling swamp. As much as he hadn't felt all that spiritually inclined in the past, or at least, he had been uncertain about having said inclinations, his experiences with Guru Pathik seemed to have opened his mind's eye… and so, a place as spiritually charged as this one had overwhelmed him quickly.

Yet his attempt to find any signs of his friends, or a trail to follow to the location where his bison had crash-landed, didn't pay off. He seemed so small in that sea of green, and the thick treetops were so large they as good as covered the land underneath them completely.

The only thing Aang saw that stood out within the greenery, to the north, was a bigger tree, much larger than the rest. Whether that was a safe place to make his way to or not, he couldn't be sure… but he'd try to get there, if nothing else, to find a better vantage point from which he might be able to observe the rest of the swamp safely.

Still, for good measure…

"Katara!" he called, with his hands on either side of his mouth. "Appa! Zuko! Kino! Sokka! Momo!"

He waited, patiently… until it became obvious that he was waiting for nothing. He let out a sigh, ducking back underneath the trees, hoping that, if nothing else, he'd bump into the others while he made his way to the largest tree…

Someone else had woken, in the distance, among plants that seemed entirely prepared to eat him: Kino screamed and ran away from the carnivore plant that had been salivating at the prospect of devouring him.

"AANG?! AAAAAAANG!" he screamed desperately, nearly tripping over his own feet, over the stray roots that twisted in strange patterns, that strengthened the large trees nearby. "ZUKO! KATARA! SOKKA! ANYONE?!"

His voice wouldn't reach them, he feared, but it didn't stop him from screaming as he continued to wade through the thick vegetation in absolute despair. The notion of becoming anything's dinner wasn't compelling at all, but becoming dinner for a plant? That was plainly unflattering. Humans ate plants, why would plants try to eat humans…?

"W-well, come to think of it, maybe it's only fair…" he conceded before shaking his head rapidly, speeding up further.

There was nothing but plants everywhere, everything was green and greener, and he suspected they would conceal about a thousand animals ready to eat him as soon as he lowered his guard… plenty of mosquitoes had tried to land on his bare hands, or his face, and he couldn't help but swat at them desperately, fearful of whatever strange swamp-bred diseases they might carry that could kill him in a matter of days…

"This is not the way any of this was supposed to go…" Kino whimpered, trudging awkwardly upon finally slowing down: he had reached a less humid area of the swamp, it seemed, and he stepped through a cluster of trees into what might have been deemed a clearing, if only the trees allowed actual brightness to drift through their thick branches. As safe as it might have felt, though, a strange mist appeared to be flowing into that very location… "We were going to save the world, we were on the right track. After everything we learned with that Guru, too… oh, it's so wrong, so wrong…"

He lamented himself with a sorry sigh, hanging his head, letting his shoulders drop too. He'd have to go back to calling for his friends soon, hoping they'd find him, but if they didn't… oh, what on earth would he even do? He hardly ever faced challenging situations on his own, he wasn't sure he could actually survive by himself…

When he raised his head again, however, he found he wasn't alone in that clearing anymore.

He blinked once, then twice… then he rubbed his eyes quickly, puzzled by this strange, confusing sight in the middle of a misty scenery.

Maybe he'd taken a worse hit to the head than he had initially thought… maybe he'd actually been eaten by that crazy plant, and this was the afterlife! Or maybe he was simply manifesting an imaginary presence before him because he was scared of being alone…?

Whatever the answer might be, though, he wasn't sure his perfectly plain and simplistic mind could have evoked the regal, eerie and inexplicable sight of a beautiful lady like none he'd ever seen before, clad in flowing clothes, offering him a tender smile as her hair danced in the air.

"U-uh… hello?" Kino called, swallowing hard as he gaped at the lady before him in dazed wonderment. She was truly beautiful… and inexplicable. What on earth was someone like this doing in a weird swamp full of flies, mosquitoes, killer plants and ungodly smells? "Are you lost too? Uh… sorry if you are! I can't really help you, but… we can work together! I have friends, they're really strong and tough and… and they'll help protect you! So, um… if you want, we could…"

The lady's kindly smile strengthened… and then she turned around. Without a word, she started to walk between the trees, undeterred by the mist flowing around them, and Kino gasped, scrambling to follow her and ensure he wouldn't lose sight of her within the trees.

"Oh, then you do know where we are! Great!" he decided, beaming: the woman's confident, flowing gait, her ease to navigate the trees… all of it suggested she knew this swamp thoroughly. "I guess you're… uh, a local? Well, if you are, I'm really glad to meet you! If you can help me find my friends, we can all get to someplace safer than here, there's so many strange animals all over this swamp, but I guess you're used to it? You probably are, haha! Must be so strange, being raised in a swamp… oh, but I'm not judging! It's really neat, actually, really neat! I bet you guys have some sort of fancy, gilded palace hidden somewhere in here and that's why you look so, uh… w-well, I guess lovely is the right word? Hehe. I… uh, was that too forward? I'm sorry if it was…!"

The lady didn't say anything: she turned her face towards him and smiled. Kino's heart leapt in his chest, delighted to receive something other than rejection from a beautiful woman, for once.

"W-well…! You are very lovely, yes! I bet you already know it, but if you didn't, guess that's why I'm here: to tell you as much," he grinned, cheeks red as he paced awkwardly next to his new friend.

Well, he had been terrified, that much was true… but this didn't seem like such a bad situation anymore. He had found a beautiful woman in a very strange swamp, and she was helping him find his way: that no creatures had attacked them ever since she'd showed up, not even mosquitoes or flies, was a bonus to finding agreeable company, as far as Kino could tell. He wondered what the others would say once he and the beautiful lady finally found them all…

Upon descending from the treetops, Aang took to skipping from branch to branch, aided by his bending, glimpsing a strange cloud of mist that seemed to rise from the swamp's grounds. Navigating his way through the swamp by bending across the treetops would have been ideal, he had thought an aerial view of the place would be more helpful when tracking down his friends… until the swirling mist had blurred his visibility anyway. Even so, he surfaced above the treetops on occasion to keep a keen eye on the horizon, while also hoping for any signs that his friends might be nearby: however big this place was, it stood to reason that they'd have fallen close to each other. There was no way that tornado had somehow tossed them all in wholly different directions, was there?

A sudden movement, deeper in the trees, brought Aang to smile instinctively: finally! It was too small to be Appa, but it had to be one of his friends anyway…!

Or so he thought, until the figure finally came into view.

He wasn't sure he had ever seen a dress as opulent as the one worn by the dark-haired young woman who seemed to be laughing at him, not even during the days before the war, but…

Wait. She was laughing at him?

"Hello?" Aang called: the young woman set him on edge with her dismissive laughter. "Okay, I don't know what's so funny, but can you help…? Woah!"

A sudden gust of air picked up strength when a large, winged creature appeared, floating beside the young woman. She seemed to challenge Aang, waving a hand in his direction, and he scowled but followed, skipping across the swamp's trees to give her chase.

"Hey! Talk to me! Say something… anything!" he exclaimed, but his words fell on deaf ears.

Or did they?

The thought that he might be seeing a spirit of some sort only crossed his mind when he had already spent a fair amount of time following the young woman. If he wasn't mistaken, he was moving in the very direction he'd intended to go, all along: towards the largest tree. She was guiding him, then, with her flying boar? If so… oh, he could only hope the rest of his friends would be guided by spirits in that direction too, just as well.

After a few dangerous encounters with fearsome creatures that hunted each other fiercely – he would never approach a catgator willingly, he decided, after watching one devouring a squirrel-frog in a rather gory display –, Zuko opted for as much stealth as possible as he traversed the swamp. It was an unsettling place, and the sudden pouring mist that spilled over his feet did nothing to assuage his tension…

Said tension froze, though it wasn't dismissed at all, when his eyes fell upon a figure in the distance, clad in a familiar deep green outfit matched with a set of black armor.

"S-… Suki?" he blurted out, before shaking his head: no, this wasn't really Suki, this was… it was a weird spiritual place, this swamp. That was what Sokka had said, it was why they'd wanted to avoid it…

But suddenly it was so difficult to imagine a reason why he ought to avoid it at all, if it meant he could see his wife once more.

All thoughts and hopes of stealth forgotten, Zuko rushed through the trees, dashing fast to where that woman in the perfect Kyoshi Warrior uniform stood… she took off as well, though, once he was close enough, and she blended into the darkness of the swamp so easily he couldn't chase her any longer. His stomach twisted into unpleasant knots, and he glanced about himself in anguish.

"Where… where are you?!"

He didn't receive an answer, but he felt watched: he whipped his head around towards the source of discomfort… and he found another Kyoshi Warrior. Her hair had the same color as Suki's, certainly, but her headpiece was different, and her eyes seemed to be of a different color, perhaps…

Gold eyes.

Zuko's jaw dropped as he gazed at the figure before him: a surging sense of pride, of excitement, nearly overtook him as he reached for the new figure before him.

"Wait… wait, Mari!" he shouted: she took off, just as Suki had. He snarled, following his daughter, for it could only be his daughter, no matter how inexplicable this mirage was, deeper through the mist…

The next Kyoshi Warrior he saw had dark hair, and her violet eyes were just like her mother's.

It was absurd, wasn't it? It was stupid that he'd be swept up by these illusions, because that was all they could be: those grown women weren't his children, they couldn't be, and yet… yet his heart soared, rushed, beat so fast and hard he wasn't sure his chest could contain it. He gave chase again, as desperate to connect with them, to reach them, just as he had been desperate to find his friends before… and so he sprinted through the swamp, following the three women through the thicket of vegetation without the slightest hesitation.

The swirling mist strengthened around Katara, further threatening her weak attempts to retain her composure in the midst of this chaotic situation. No sign of Appa, no sign of her brother or Aang… her fear peaked the more she walked through the drier spots of land in the area she had fallen in. Sokka had talked about dreams, eerie dreams… this was supposed to be some spiritual location. Perhaps she was already caught in the net of the strange spiritual happenings in the swamp, and she simply was unaware of it…

When she raised her head next, she could only hope the spirits were finally being kind, for once.

At first, she thought it was Sokka. Then, upon rushing closer, she found the person she'd spotted was, in fact, a woman…

A familiar woman. Too familiar.

Her heart clenched, her jaw dropped, her entire reality was as good as thrown out of focus: it couldn't be, and yet…

"M-mom…?" she blurted out, eyes wide. "Mom!"

She rushed faster, desperate, all sign of rationality lost entirely…

Upon splashing loudly in a puddle, a group of nearby birds fluttered into flight, startling Katara and forcing her to cover her face with her arms protectively.

The woman was gone when the birds disappeared too.

Katara snarled: yes, this was a spiritual place, no doubt, but… her mother? Of all things, giving her visions of Kya? It was utterly cruel to do something like that to someone, to show such material illusions of their greatest regrets or their biggest fears… to show them the people they wanted to reach but never could. Tears spilled down her cheeks furiously as she resented the place deeply, wishing she could be anywhere but here…

The shape of her mother appeared again: this time, she faced Katara.

Despite knowing it was a mirage, an illusion, Katara's heart jolted, sped up recklessly, at the sight of her mother's face again. At the warmth of her eyes… and the tranquility of her stance. She stood further away now… deeper in the mist. Katara blinked, her tears spilling faster down her cheeks for it…

"Earthly attachments…" she spoke to herself, frowning upon reminiscing on the guru's lessons.

She could lose sight of what mattered if she allowed emotion alone to rule over her. She had allowed it to overwhelm her right now, to the point where she had failed to see through the illusion for what it was… yet now, fully conscious of the game she had been dragged into, Katara's heart could only beat faster, flooding her with a comforting feeling she hadn't felt in so long…

"Y-you're not… not really my mother," she concluded, swallowing hard. "But you're here because… you have to show me something? Take me somewhere? That… that's it, isn't it? That has to be it…"

Katara smiled, despite her previous outburst. She wiped the tears off her face quickly: this time, the woman didn't fade away… and this time, Katara wouldn't fail to follow.

Would Kya's strange illusion guide her to Sokka, perhaps? Would she help her find her brother, her friends…? Katara didn't doubt Sokka would be moved profoundly if he could see their mother again, even if just this way…

Perhaps that wasn't what this spiritual guide's duty would be, in the end, but Katara couldn't help but hope so. Though, if she had a spiritual guide of her own, surely the others had theirs too… surely her brother would find his way through this mist as well, wouldn't he? Maybe another mirage of Kya would be the one to guide him, surely the swamp's spiritual properties would still see to reuniting all of them eventually…

With that hope in mind, Katara set out after Kya's figure with a heartfelt smile.

---

He had to keep moving, he had to do something… anything to chase away the debilitating anxiety eating away at him, for even if his body hurt after the fall, even if his feet throbbed and were unpleasantly soaked, he had no other choice but to keep moving. If he stayed put, if he didn't keep going… if he didn't do anything, the dark, swirling swamp would be sure to consume his weary mind. The swamp had already proven its power to him once before: would it do so once more? Would he be trapped by illusions, by waking dreams, or rather, nightmares…? He had to get out before it came to that. He had to get out, at all costs…

But what would he do if he succeeded at getting out? How would he go about it, to begin with? And why, curses, why did his pained heart insist on longing desperately to meet the one person he knew was out of his reach…?

"Fucking hell with this place…" Sokka scoffed, glaring furiously at his surroundings. In a fit of childish outrage, he spoke with strength he surely would be better off preserving, instead: "You've got one hell of a sense of humor, if that's what it's supposed to be, creepy-ass rotten swamp! The hell is wrong with you, huh?! Bad enough that you made such a mess of us when you did back in the day, you're fucking with my head now, too?!"

He strode angrily through the puddles, sorely tempted to hack away at the vines and branches that might get in his way. It felt like he was traveling in circles, guided by whatever strange formation the vegetation had gathered in… was this a maze? On top of everything that already ailed him, would he fail to find a way out of this damn place?

"You think I'm not aware that Rhone only found out about the fucking Bloodlust Spear because of you?!" Sokka exclaimed next, pushing past a few branches with unnecessary aggressiveness. "Of course he did, his sponsor had to drag him to the White Lotus after they got away and…! And it was nearby, wasn't it? You had to fuck with his head and show him where he'd find the spear! Oh, but then you tried to fix it by showing me he'd try to kill Azula, huh? Well, he wouldn't have done anything at all if you hadn't showed him the spear's location in the first place! Want me to commend you for solving problems you caused yourself? Well, fuck off with that shit! I'm… so not in the mood… so not in the mood, because she's in pain, you hear me?! She's going through hell knows what right now, and maybe none of that would've happened if…! I-if you'd just never done what you did. If I had been able to protect her better, then… shit, I… I know I'm supposed to let go of all these twisted feelings in my gut, I know I am but…"

He couldn't do it anymore, not as he had in the Air Temple: he had to stop on his tracks, clinging to a tree, hunched over as he struggled to breathe. If this dark, twisting feeling was truly a connection between their souls, just as it seemed to be… goodness, she had to be okay. She had to be alright, she couldn't be in mortal danger right now, could she…?

"You… you messed with her head too," Sokka snarled, still holding himself upright with the tree. "You fucked with everyone, but with her… you just showed her something that made no sense at all. Something impossible, instead of… instead of warning her of everything that would come? Unless… that's what you considered a warning, somehow? Pretending her mother would hurt us both, but it was her father, not her mother, so… so what the hell were you even playing at, huh? What the hell…?"

He couldn't even hold himself upright anymore: he dropped on his knees, breathing heavily, closing his eyes so tightly it hurt. His fists tensed, and they hurt too when he slammed them, desperate, on the ground beneath him… not enough to distract him, however, from the swirling pain in his very soul.

"You should've done your damn thing…! Y-you should've helped her…! You should've…" he whimpered… before a mad idea crossed his mind: he pushed himself up again, shivering. "Wait. Help her. You can… you can help her. The illusion of separation is the greatest illusion of all… she is with me, and I am with her, so… help me. Help me find her. Help me! That… if that's why I'm here, if that's why you've brought me here, then take me to her!"

He had no idea what he was doing anymore, guided by absolute impulse rather than any sign of rationality. While he had thought he only had his weapons with him, he remembered now that wasn't the case: her necklace nestled in his pocket, and he drew it out, raising it in desperation. He had to look and sound like an absolute madman… but he was desperate. He'd do anything it took to help Azula… he had to help her for good. He had to reach her before whatever danger looming upon her could claim her soul, for that was what he dreaded was happening to her right now…

Even through the tears that surged in his eyes at that thought, Sokka glimpsed a sudden change in the scenery: a thick, white fog poured upon him, so thick he couldn't see the trees, the ground, any of his surroundings anymore.

He trembled where he knelt, breathing in the cold air sharply once, then twice…

Then his brow furrowed, and he rose to his feet.

Without another moment's hesitation, he marched into the white mist in front of him, clutching the necklace tightly.

---

After traversing across the thick trees, chasing the laughing voice of that strange, elegant young woman, Aang lost sight of her just when he finally reached the most remarkable tree in the entire swamp. It had seemed daunting at a distance, but it was even more impressive up close: his jaw dropped as he gazed at the massive trunk, at the widely spread branches, at the green glow of dappling sunlight that drifted through the leaves. As confusing as everything had been so far, he couldn't help but notice how beautiful this tree was.

"Guess this is where I had to be?" he asked, closing his eyes and smiling at the blowing breeze around him. "This was where we were supposed to come… though, if the swamp wanted us here, maybe it should have started that tornado when we flew right over the tree, huh?"

He couldn't help but worry about his friends, regardless of the beauty in his surroundings. He had seen no sign of Appa so far, to his chagrin, even though the large bison would be expected to leave large tracks wherever he went. The swamp had to be truly massive if he hadn't found any evidence of his bison's presence across the many miles he'd already crossed to get here.

"Well, then… what do I do now?" he said, stepping forward, glancing about himself with uncertainty. The girl in the fancy robes was gone and she had left no hints for him to follow in her wake…

Just when he readied himself to climb the tree and find his friends by overlooking the swamp as best as possible, he heard a familiar, chatty voice at the other side of the massive tree trunk:

"… So we came here by accident, really! I didn't think it would be that crazy, traveling with my friends, but it looks like we get stuck in one pickle after the other, huh? Oh, we should be close to our destination now, but I guess we're not there just yet…? I mean, unless this big tree is what we're looking for! Wouldn't that be a shocker, huh?"

Aang smiled as he rounded the tree as quickly as his feet could carry him: he almost danced across the tree roots, knowing exactly who that voice belonged to.

"Kino!" he called: the ongoing rambling of the former soldier was interrupted with a happy gasp.

"Aang?! Aang! Oh, finally!" he exclaimed, and just from the sound of his voice, it was clear he was rounding the tree, much as Aang was.

Aang reached his friend after a few more leaps over massive roots. While he seemed to be tired and slightly unkempt, Kino also appeared to be in surprisingly good spirits as he ran towards him, arms outstretched in the joyful hug he offered the Avatar. Aang sighed in relief, patting his friend's back.

"Good thing I found you. For a moment I thought…" Aang said, but he contained the words and replaced them with a smile as he pulled away from Kino. "I'm glad you're okay, or at least, you look like you are."

"I'm fine! Everything looked awful and bad and there were creepy plants that wanted to eat me, but then I found this lady and…!"

When Kino turned to find the woman in question, however, he found there was no one anymore.

He blinked blankly for a moment, then he glanced around himself in a slight panic: there was no sign of the gracious lady who had smiled and encouraged him to keep on talking as she walked with him to this large tree…

"Guess you saw a spiritual vision, too?" Aang asked. Kino winced and turned to him again.

"A…. what, now?" he asked. "I… I did think it was weird that someone dressed so fancy would be here, but… that's what she was, Aang?"

"I think so," Aang said, scratching his bald head as he glanced about himself. "I saw her too, so I guess maybe… maybe she's the swamp's spirit? Somehow?"

"You think?" Kino sighed, pouting a little. "And here I thought we could be friends…"

"Well, I'm sure you can be friends with the swamp, Kino!" Aang grinned, patting Kino's shoulder gently: Kino scowled at him.

"Well, sure, but that's not the same as… well… ugh, never mind," he pouted, folding his arms over his chest. "How about the others, though? Did you come across anyone else so far…?"

"No, Appa's gone, same as Katara, Zuko and Sokka…" Aang grimaced.

"And Momo," Kino sighed, running a hand through his hair. "The poor thing. His very first adventure with us and he gets lost? He'll never want to hang out with us again."

"I hope he's with Appa, but seeing as none of us could stick together, maybe it's too much to ask…" Aang acknowledged, with a sad grimace. His oldest friend, lost somewhere in this swamp… how he wished he could reach out to him somehow, but how?

Just as he was resolving to climb the tree again, noise nearby caused both him and Kino to turn towards it: hunched over, dabbing at tears in her eyes, Katara stepped into the clearing and then gasped when her misty eyes fell upon her two friends.

"Katara!" Aang exclaimed: he and Kino rushed towards her right away.

"Woah! You okay?!" Kino asked, grimacing. Aang's hands went to her shoulders as he inspected her body with his eyes, mindful of any wounds he might spot, but Katara shook her head at his concerns and smiled.

"I'm fine, you guys… oh, I'm glad I found you. I guess… I guess she really was guiding me here, after all," Katara whimpered, wiping the tears with the back of her hand again: both Aang and Kino gazed at her with utmost confusion.

"The girl in the fancy robes?" Aang asked. Katara frowned and raised her gaze at him.

"Who?"

"Well… both Kino and I were led here by this girl in fancy robes," Aang said, with an awkward smile. "She had this flying boar with her…"

"Wait, what? She didn't have a flying boar!" Kino winced, staring at Aang in disbelief. Aang blinked again, puzzled.

"Wait… she didn't? Then… did we see two different girls? Katara saw another one, but… not one in fancy robes?" Aang asked, quizzically. Katara shook her head.

"I saw my mother."

Both men froze cold upon hearing those words. No longer did they need to ask why Katara had been so heartbroken, so tearful… Aang's grip on her shoulders trembled before he reeled her in for an embrace: she sobbed softly in his arms, clinging to his robes as she let her emotions pour out, supported and helped by the very man who had helped her find the courage to love again when she had lost her way.

Kino stood awkwardly beside them, ever aware of his status as their third wheel, unsure if he should intervene in any way. Being sad about his beautiful ethereal lady vanishing without warning seemed a lesser problem now upon finding out that Katara had been confronted by visions of her own mother…

Then, another sound, further to their right: the steady footsteps belonged to Zuko, who had finally crossed the many trees and dangers ahead, in pursuit of his own visions, until his eyes fell upon his friends, too.

"Zuko! Ah, you made it too!" Kino exclaimed, rushing towards the firebender: he seemed breathless, as though he had been running quite a lot over the last hours.

"Kino… good to know you found Aang and Katara. Makes it easier if it's at least the four of us now," Zuko said, letting out a deep breath as he glanced about himself. "Though I guess it really is just the four of us, so far? Where's Sokka?"

"No idea," Kino whispered, biting his lip. "Aang and I, we were led here by a vision of a lady in elegant robes, though his lady had some flying boar, mine didn't…"

"A what, now?" Zuko repeated, with an awkward smile.

"Beats me, that's what he said…" Kino shrugged, though his upbeat attitude upon finding Zuko faded once the Prince glanced at Katara. "She… saw her mother."

"Really?" Zuko frowned, feeling an unusual pang of empathy for Katara. As much as they had made enough progress in a few fronts, he could never deny that the one regard in which he always felt empathy for Katara was the death of her mother. The disappearance of his own mother still weighed on him plenty, as it was. "I'm surprised she managed to get all the way here, if that's the case…"

"I… I was crying the whole way, if you must know," Katara said, revealing she could hear them perfectly from where she stood, in Aang's arms – though she was pulling away, wiping her tears with her forearm, forcefully. "Though… I feel worse about it now because she's gone again, I guess, so…"

"She's not really gone," Aang whispered, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. Katara nodded in agreement. "You carry her with you, wherever you may go."

"Right… I do. I do…" Katara whispered, reaching up to touch the pendant of the necklace that ever decorated her neck.

"What did you see, Zuko?" Kino asked, glancing at the exiled Prince warily. "If you want to share, that is…"

Zuko let out a soft breath, stepping closer to Aang and Katara, with Kino by his side. He dared glance around him, as though hoping to catch another glimpse of his earlier vision, albeit knowing it was unlikely that he would.

"I saw Suki, in her Kyoshi Warrior uniform…" Zuko started, glancing over his shoulder now. "But then I saw two other warriors, too. I didn't understand it right away, but… they were Mari and Zi."

"Woah!" Kino gasped, eyes wide. Aang and Katara, as well, were startled enough to forget about Katara's sadness for a moment.

"Wait… as Kyoshi Warriors? They were older, then? Fully grown?" Katara asked, with a surging smile. "Or were they still children, but not as small as they really are, these days…?"

"I think they were teenagers, maybe. I don't know, but… this crazy swamp sure knew how to lure us to wherever it wanted us to go, with those visions," Zuko said, hands on his hips. "Guess Sokka was right to say this place was dangerous and weird…"

"They had dreams when they were here, was it?" Kino asked, scratching the back of his head. "About things that ended up coming true, or about impossible things…?"

"I don't think what we saw were things that would come true, though… were they?" Aang asked, puzzled. "I'll find some highborn girl with a pet flying boar?"

"Might be you will! Katara, you'd better get it together and marry him before the flying boar girl steals him away!" Kino chided her: Katara's lingering sadness shifted into full-blown irritation as Aang blushed and Zuko smiled weakly.

"Kino, I doubt this swamp showed him his soulmate or something like that…" Katara huffed, shaking her head… though just as she finished saying the words, the mood of the group darkened.

That Sokka would be the only one missing, out of the five humans in their group, didn't bode well. He knew the effect this swamp could have on people, he was the one who had warned them of it in the first place, and yet…

"You don't think he's… lost it over seeing her again, do you?" Aang asked, glancing at Katara uneasily. She grimaced and shrugged, as Zuko sighed and shook his head.

"I… don't think any of us can answer that with any degree of certainty. I know I nearly lost my mind when I saw Suki," he whispered. "I did figure out she was guiding me somewhere, but… Sokka might not have been able to see through the purpose of the visions if the one the swamp sent to him was Azula."

"Well… I know objectively you're right, Zuko, but it's still Sokka," Katara said, frowning. "He may be crazy in some ways, but even though he was impulsive as hell when he did it, he still was the one who figured out how to snap Aang out of his Avatar State destructive spree, right?"

"Heh. Like you said, impulsive as hell, considering he admitted he was just pissed off when he did that," Zuko sighed, shaking his head.

"But he's been smart about other things, right?" Kino said, biting his lip. "Like the battle down south, and he's tried to figure out the White Lotus's headquarters by brainpower alone. That's why we're here at all…"

"Yeah, but I don't know if he'll be able to stick to being smart about this, to be honest," Zuko sighed. "Even if he realizes what's going on… there's a pretty big chance he might just choose not to move from wherever he wound up at, all be it so he can still see visions of Azula."

"Maybe that's the problem, then. He could be way too smart about this, if anything," Aang sighed, casting a hopeless glance at the tall tree before them. "And even twist the swamp's intent and make it do whatever he wants it to? Not sure how he would go about doing that, but…"

"If someone might be able to do anything of the sort, it's Sokka," Katara remarked, grimacing.

"But it's not just him we have to find. It's Appa and Momo, too…" Kino glanced at Aang helplessly, and the Avatar, in turn, glanced at Zuko.

"What do you want me to do?" the Prince asked, puzzled.

"Well… I'm not the leader, am I?" Aang said, blushing.

"You're the Avatar," Katara retorted, immediately. Kino and Zuko nodded in agreement, and Aang flinched.

"I… I may be the Avatar, but that doesn't make me the leader! If anything, our leader would be…!"

All their faces fell upon realizing the answer to that question pointed, once again, to the very person who happened to be absent from their group right now. Kino snorted.

"Well, no wonder we have no idea what to do: our big leader's gone…"

"Oh, please don't start calling him that to his face when we find him. He'll get all stuck up about it…" Katara said, with a weak smile.

She spoke with humor, despite she barely felt it. Sokka had been acting strangely the whole day, far too strangely even for his standards from before their chakra-unlocking adventures. He had seemed troubled, even in pain… and now, he was the only member of their team who was still missing. She thought their circumstances couldn't possibly seem more ominous… though she regretted thinking so right away, knowing that was practically an invitation for fate to do much worse than it already had.

"We have to find them," Kino grimaced, shaking his head quickly. "Maybe we can all split up, and meet here again! Leave marks across the swamp's plants, maybe? So we can track our way back here?"

"I don't know if that would be a good idea, not in a place as spiritually charged as this one," Aang said, grimacing before turning to the tree with a heavy frown. "If anything… if it really is that spiritually charged, it means… we're here for a reason."

As much as he had been unwilling to take a role of leadership, Aang seemed to slip right into it unconsciously when he walked across the tree's roots, or rather, leapt over them, flittering from place to place with the help of his airbending. The other three exchanged a worried glance before they began climbing over the tree roots, hoping to keep up with the Avatar's pace.

He slowed upon reaching the trunk itself, gazing at it reverently for a moment before placing one of his hands upon it: was it his idea, or had his hand's arrow sparked upon touching the tree with his palm…?

"Aang? You figured anything out yet?" Kino's voice reached him, still distant from the place where Aang had stopped. He hummed, closing his eyes.

"Maybe I will soon, if I'm lucky," he said.

He was supposed to be the Avatar, the bridge between humans and spirits… and this, he knew, was a very spiritual location. It stood to reason that he should be able to understand it, to unravel its intent… and it seemed to him that what Guru Pathik had taught him had been done for the purpose of helping him see to his duties as the Avatar.

"Say… do you think it's really possible that Sokka hijacked the swamp's powers and is really smooching a spiritual image of Azula right now?" Kino asked Katara, who shuddered at his careless wording.

"Kino…"

"I know, I know! I'm just saying, though… I know he's great and all, but is that possible?" Kino asked, glancing at Zuko warily too. "I don't know the first thing about spirits, but I don't think they're supposed to obey any human logic or reason, right? If the swamp wants to mess with us by bringing us to its core… don't you think it wants something from us? Aang said it wanted us here for a reason, but what if its reasons aren't, well, anything good…?"

"Well, maybe the swamp is nice and generous and it wants to help us selflessly," Katara suggested, smiling in a sweet manner at the branches above them before shooting Kino a reproachful glare. "Really, now, are you trying to get us all killed here, Kino? If the swamp is alive somehow, do you really want to insult it?"

"Well, damn, I was just saying…"

"He may have a point in ways he doesn't realize, though," Zuko pointed out: he finally had climbed the root Aang was at, and he offered a hand to Katara first, then to Kino. He only continued climbing once his two friends were safely on the thick root near the base of the tree. "What I mean is… maybe Sokka can't really do that. Maybe we're giving him too much credit…"

"Then what, he decided to loiter around and not follow the vision out of sheer stubbornness or something?" Katara asked, skeptical and dismissive. Zuko snorted and shrugged.

"Wouldn't put it past him, I admit it," Zuko said, glancing around himself as though to check that Sokka wouldn't happen to show up exactly as he spoke dismissively about him. "But that's not really what I was thinking right now. I was wondering if… if maybe the swamp called the four of us here and called him elsewhere."

"Wha-…? Elsewhere?" Katara frowned. "Why?"

"And why only him?" Kino flinched. "That'd be really mean of the swamp, splitting him off from his friends just because…"

"There might be a reason for it," Zuko shrugged, but Katara scowled at the notion, glancing about herself with uncertainty, hoping Sokka would suddenly stride past the last lines of trees before the large banyan one they stood at now. "I mean, it's just a guess, but hey, aren't you guys capable of understanding the forces of the universe or whatever?"

"You want us to talk to the swamp to figure out if it sent Sokka away for a reason?" Katara repeated: Zuko shrugged as Aang turned towards them with a slight frown.

"For that matter… shouldn't we figure out why it brought the four of us here, in the first place?" he asked. "If the tornado was the swamp's doing, somehow… it means it knocked us off-course for a reason, too."

"If everything so far didn't happen willy-nilly… then yeah," Kino agreed, biting his lip and tapping his chin. "But how does it make any sense that it sent those visions to us so it could bring us to this big tree? I mean, that only solves a problem the swamp caused in the first place. We were together before, right? And then we were apart, and now we're together again: if it had left us alone, the outcome would be the same as it has been so far. Right?"

Had Sokka been with them, he might have had some opinions in regards of Kino's thoughts, but in his absence, the rest of the group was left to ponder the purpose of their presence by the large banyan tree. It seemed to be the very center of the swamp, as far as any of them could tell…

"You don't think the White Lotus headquarters could be anywhere around here, do you?" Aang said, tapping his chin. "I know Sokka said it's bound to be closer to the coast, but…"

"But he could be wrong about that, for all we know," Zuko pointed out. "Still… I don't think it's reasonable for it to be in here. Just a few hours in this place and all of us have seen strange visions, come across serious dangers, been split off from our friends… it doesn't sound like a safe environment to gather an army."

"Maybe the environment itself protects them?" Aang asked, with a shrug.

"So… what, they're hiding underground, like I suggested before? Below this tree or something?" Katara blurted out, glancing at the massive roots skeptically. "Not that I can see a way to find them if they are, though. Not short of tearing the roots apart…"

"That sounds like a terrible idea," Aang winced, and Katara smiled weakly at him.

"I wasn't being serious, I don't even know how we could… Aang!"

The Avatar's eyes immediately snapped in the direction Katara's own gaze had drifted off towards. The panic in her voice meant they were in danger, or she'd realized something important, maybe…

He understood it was the former when a hobbling mess of vines and tree branches, twisted in a strange, humanoid pattern, reared its… head? Was it a head just because of the mask-like tree bark that dangled before it? Was it really the time to ponder such things just when yet another strange happening befell them in this swamp?

"What in the…?!" Kino gasped, stumbling back: Zuko dashed in front of him, spreading his arms protectively before his friend, sparks of fire dancing around his fingertips as he glared at the approaching creature.

Katara hadn't been able to react aggressively at all, shaken as she was by the utterly perplexing sight before her, so her hands lingered limp at either side of her body. Aang grimaced as the strange creature rose to be at least thrice the Avatar's height, but as daunting as it could seem… that strange vine-creature was unnatural. While widely inexperienced with spiritual matters still, Aang had one guess regarding what the vine creature might be:

"Don't attack! Don't do anything!" he told his friends, glancing meaningfully at Zuko, who gritted his teeth, yet the flames vanished moments after Aang spoke. "It… it could be the swamp's spirit!"

"Woah! The what, now?!" Kino winced, eyes wide. "It looks terrifying! You think this is… the swamp's big boss, or something?!"

"It's… not impossible," Aang said, raising a placating hand in the creature's direction. Its vine arms struck a defensive position, ready for battle if the newcomers became hostile. Aang shook his head reassuringly. "It's okay… we're not here to hurt you, or your swamp! We've lost our way and we want to find our friends again, that's all! Visions brought us here, but we don't really know why, so… so please, help us, if you can!"

The silent creature stood in stern, glum displeasure before them: even from below, it was easy to tell through the eye-slits of the mask that nothing truly hid behind it, only more vines.

"I thought spirits would be, uh… you know" Kino mumbled to Zuko, who glanced at him with a frown. "Less… misshapen?"

"Ugh, didn't Katara already tell you not to anger spirits by saying stupid things about them?" Zuko growled. Kino shrugged, though he fell silent anyway.

The vine creature seemed to weigh them for a moment that extended forever. As much as she was slowly regaining her senses, as much as reality was finally returning to focus for Katara, she still found herself utterly shaken by the sight before her. Suddenly, it was much easier to believe Sokka's strange stories about spirit owls thrice his height in the depths of a desert-sunken Library…

"Did it listen…?" Kino finally spoke. Aang shrugged.

"I hope so. It's not attacking us, so…" he started… then the creature moved.

Everyone was alarmed, on edge immediately, when the strange vines started to relent, dropping slowly, gradually, as the creature appeared to come undone. Yet it became apparent soon that the movements of the vines obeyed a purpose, as the masked vine monster came undone… revealing the mastermind behind its motions.

An older man with a round, wide, bearded face and straw-like gray hair that spread as a hat might, stood before them amid the fallen vines, with an awkward smile. His thick, stout body was bereft of any attire besides the loincloth, topped with leaves, that covered his groin.

"The… the spirit was just you?!" Aang gasped, and Kino snorted before cackling in mad glee. Katara now froze, surprised by her own disappointment upon understanding she hadn't been standing before an unthinkable miracle, as she had assumed before… though, wasn't she?

"Wait, you were bending those vines!" the waterbender explained, eyes wide as she pointed at the scattered vines around the man. Kino blinked blankly, stroking his chin in deep thought.

"Then he's a… plantbender?" he reasoned: the man laughed and shook his head.

"I am a waterbender," he answered, simply. "That is how I can move these vines and plants."

"You… what? You're a waterbender?!" Katara exclaimed: a wild grin spread over her face as she stepped closer to the man, arms outstretched. "Seriously? I…! I had no idea there were any waterbenders anywhere other than in the Poles!"

"Uh, are you sure that's what you should be focusing on right now?" Zuko asked, pointedly, breaking across Katara's delightful discovery of other waterbenders beyond herself. "Not that I want to rain on your parade, but we're pretty damn lost about why we're here, and…"

"And if he knows the swamp, he could be able to help us figure out why it drew us here," Aang finished for him, looking at the man before them intently. "I'm sorry if we're being rude, but… our friends could be in danger."

"Oh, it's true enough that the swamp's a mighty dangerous place, if you don't know how to navigate and understand it," the man said, hands on his hips. "But it's also a beautiful, extraordinary, mystical place. I achieved true enlightenment underneath the branches of this very banyan tree, you see…"

"Well, it can be as pretty as it wants to be, we just need to know why it wanted us here," Zuko blurted out, impatiently. "And if you know of a way to find our friends, all the better yet."

"Hmm, I do, of course," the man said, eyeing Zuko as though weighing him intently. "You speak as though you didn't wish to be here… yet you must have been nearby, at least, for the swamp to affect you at all. You're travelers, as I understand?"

"We are. We came here from the South Pole," Aang explained. "But, well… not all of us are from the Water Tribe. I'm Aang, and… I'm the Avatar."

"Should you just blurt that out to someone you've known for five minutes?" Zuko asked, scowling pointedly at Aang. The Avatar shrugged.

"He may have been hiding underneath all those vines, but I don't think he looks dangerous," Aang said. "Rather, I don't think he would be dangerous unless we meant this place any harm, which we don't…"

"Wait, does that mean that our friends who aren't here maybe did do something bad to the swamp…?" Kino asked, grimacing. Aang's eyes widened, and Katara turned to the waterbender with concern.

"That's… okay, I don't know if my brother did anything stupid, but if he did, it's just because he's been in a pretty bad mood lately and…!" she pleaded, despite not knowing for sure if there was anything to plead for. "If we can find him, he'd stop doing awful things, if that's what he's doing…"

"Well, good to know, though I don't know if he's doing anything wrong," the man said, with an awkward smile. "I mainly stay here, by the banyan tree. If the swamp wants me to go elsewhere to protect it, it directs me there. Or to save someone's life, as the case may be…"

"Really? How does it do that?" Katara asked, eyes wide. "My brother, and our sky bison, and a lemur we just met… they're all missing right now. It sounds a bit weird, I admit it, but that's truly who we're looking for. Surely you could find them in this swamp, right? If it can inform you of dangers and such, can't you locate things that don't belong here?"

"It's a possibility… and yet you would have much better odds at finding them than I do," said the man, with a careless shrug. "While it is certainly true that everything is connected, and that all our energy is one, I suspect the affinity the four of you have for your missing friends would help you find them much more quickly than I would, if only you let your spirits reach out and connect to the banyan tree…"

He smiled at the large trunk behind them, and as much as his words would seem nonsensical to the group under any other circumstances, they also seemed reasonable after their recent encounter with Guru Pathik. Aang swallowed hard and stepped forward, determination reflected across his dark eyes.

"What do we do? If this is how we might find them again… please, show us how."

"Oh, I have the feeling you already know, young Avatar," said the man, smiling kindly at him as he climbed over the roots of the tree.

The old man took his seat by the trunk, closing his eyes. His peaceful semblance did suggest he was an enlightened man, even though most of them weren't entirely sure of what that word meant… but his confidence, his tranquility, all of it suggested he existed in perfect harmony with the world around him, as well as the world within him.

"Let your energy seek that of your friends. Let it merge with theirs once you locate them… and then follow the path of that joint energy to find them."

For a moment, nobody made a move. Aang stood still, watching the waterbender before him, gauging his words, pondering how to fulfill his indications… he closed his eyes, drawing in stilling breaths before he turned towards the rest of his friends.

"Okay, then… I think we need to be thorough," he said. "We don't know what happened with the others. That means… we should plan for the worst-case scenario, right?"

"You mean… that they're all scattered and didn't find each other at all?" Kino asked. Aang nodded.

"You, Katara and I managed to open all our chakras. We should be able to do this, even if it's not easy," he said, nodding in their direction. "I think we should connect with each of our friends, based on the closeness of our bonds… so Katara, you'll try to connect with Sokka's energy. I'll try Appa… and as you liked Momo so much, Kino, that's who you'll seek to connect with."

"Oh! Cool!" Kino said, smiling, though he glanced at Zuko next. "Then… Zuko won't do anything?"

"I can keep watch or something…" he said, with a shrug, though Aang grimaced.

"I'm not sure about that," he said. "I mean, you could, but… we were just talking about the White Lotus headquarters, weren't we?"

"What about that?" Zuko frowned: Katara's eyes lit up when she seemed to understand Aang's thoughts before he voiced them.

"We don't have strong leads about where their base could be," Katara said. "But if Sokka is right, and your uncle is part of them… Zuko, you could connect to his energy! If you do…"

"We'll find the White Lotus base," Aang finished, swallowing hard. Zuko's eyes widened. "That… that must be why we had to come here. Maybe this is the only way we'll find it… I think, anyway."

"Come on, we have no time to waste," Katara urged them, yanking both the benders to the nearest, spacious tree root: Kino had already taken his seat there, legs folded in a lotus position.

"Had I known we'd be doing so much meditation these days, I would've tried to train for it through all those years in the Water Tribe…" Kino said, his eyes closed. Katara smiled, shaking her head.

"Something tells me you're not as focused as you should be, if that's what's going through your mind right now," she commented, sitting beside him.

"Exactly my point," Kino huffed. "We could've used more meditation training!"

His silly reaction garnered a few smiles and soft laughs from the others, who took their seats at the tree's roots. Zuko, sitting nearest to their newest acquaintance, cast a glance at the relaxed man before any of them could attempt to focus properly and reach out to their friends.

"Do you know of the Order of the White Lotus?" he asked. "It's… well, a group of people who oppose the Fire Lord. We're looking for them right now… and I will try to connect with their energy to find them, but if you happen to know where they are, I guess it could make things easier for us."

"Hmm, it might. But I fear they do not dwell within the swamp itself," the man answered, shaking his head. Zuko sighed. "Though some of their members do visit the swamp, from time to time."

"Really?" Aang asked next, glancing over everyone else's heads at the swamp-dweller. "Have you talked with them? Maybe you can tell us which way they came from?"

"I believe from the west," the man answered, stroking his chin. "Though I cannot say for sure. They usually only come here when they need to find that woman."

"That woman?" Katara repeated. The man nodded.

"I don't understand the circumstances very well. The swamp has helped me save her life sometimes, on occasion, whenever they don't find her first… she can be quite careless with her health when she visits the swamp, as happens with many who cannot let go of their grief. I do not know what the swamp shows her… but she clings to it so faithfully that, no matter how many times these White Lotus folks come here and take her away, she always returns. I have the feeling she's here now, too… but the swamp hasn't directed me to her just yet. Perhaps it isn't my duty this time. Perhaps they will find her first."

Zuko frowned: a woman, lost in this swamp? A woman the White Lotus saved frequently? If they happened to find her first, perhaps she could help them find the Order, so long as they helped her stay away from them, maybe, if that was what she wanted… but that warranted the question of why she would want to escape from them, in the first place. Was it reasonable to seek a group of people who might have terrorized someone into fleeing from them into this swamp frequently, from the sound of it…?

Yet maybe this woman had no relation with anything of note. Why would it be any of his business, in the first place? Perhaps she was a traitor to the White Lotus, or a prisoner who constantly escaped… whatever her story, how could it matter at all to their particular quest? Zuko himself had warned Sokka to be ready to commit to paths and choices that might not sit well with him completely… if the White Lotus proved to be an unpleasant group, as Sokka already believed they were, shouldn't Zuko stay true to the same demands he'd made of Sokka? He snarled, trying to set the matter aside, to focus on his uncle… that was what he had to do. If the White Lotus was good or evil, it would be something to worry about in the future, not now. Whether that strange woman would be alright or not, he had to focus on their priorities.

"Uh… thank you for everything so far," Aang said, smiling at the old man, who turned a grin on him as well. "Like I said, I'm the Avatar… my name is Aang. You are…?"

"Huu," the man answered, with a gracious nod. "It's my pleasure to meet you, Avatar Aang."

"Likewise," Aang smiled, nodding. "And… now I'll focus. But thanks again!"

Huu smiled, and Aang closed his eyes, as did the rest of his companions. Now that silence had fallen between them, only broken by the rustling of leaves and branches above them, whenever the breeze played with them, it seemed so much easier to let their minds clear up, to let their energy vibrate against that of the world around them…

For the tree had so much of it that Aang, Katara and Kino were startled when, each in turn, sensed the tree's intricate network of energy with their own. It felt as though their minds had expanded, as though they had burst from their bodies and reached out to a higher consciousness… the tree expanded so far, so widely, with an energy unlike anything they had ever felt before. Wistfully, Katara let herself wonder just how far that energy could go… just how deep this spiritual connection might be. Could she reach for her mother's actual soul again by doing this? It was folly to ponder it, she knew as much, and yet…

Kino was dazed, baffled by the effect of the energy rush that seemed so much bigger than himself. A tug of vertigo surged in his gut when he wondered if his own conscience might flow downriver, if this flow of energy could be seen as a river, somehow… the thoughts, however, snapped him right back to his body, and he snarled at himself for being so careless. He breathed deeply and stilled himself: he wouldn't get lost. He would find Momo, and in doing so, he would save the little lemur from any dangers. That was all he had to think about, all he had to keep in mind…

Slowly, he calmed down and reached out, much as Aang did. The flow of energy overwhelmed them both, but Aang seemed much better equipped at handling unknown, external presences that suddenly poured into his body. He breathed deeply, throwing his head back as he let the flow of energy carry him away… and then he evoked the image of Appa in his mind, just as Kino did the same with Momo's.

The connection was almost immediate: Kino's lips parted when his mind's eye provided him with a visual of the small critter, chirping in some strange, urgent way…

But he couldn't see anything else, couldn't focus for another moment, when Aang's voice startled everyone else.

"Appa!" he shouted, jumping to his feet immediately.

"Aang?!" Katara glanced at him, worriedly. The Avatar snarled, glancing in a set direction down the thicket of hostile vegetation ahead of them.

"He's under attack! They're trying to hunt him!"

"Wait, what?!" Katara exclaimed: her own attempt to connect with Sokka hadn't gone so well. Thoughts of her mother kept interfering with her resolve, much like Zuko's doubts about the White Lotus had sabotaged his own.

"I saw them! They're trying to hunt Appa!" Aang exclaimed, eyes wide and anxious. "We have to go, I know where he is!"

"Aang!" Katara cried out for him, but the Avatar dashed off right away, leaving his three friends to stare after him, mortified.

"Oh, my. I suppose those might just be Due and Tho…" Huu said, scratching his belly, with a grimace. "They might not mean any harm if you talk them out of it, but…"

"Doesn't look like Aang is in a talking mood right now," Kino said, with an awkward smile. Katara nodded.

"That's his oldest friend they're trying to hunt. He won't hold back to defend him, that's for sure," she said, rising to her feet. "Come on, guys. Let's go, or we'll lose his trail."

"I think I felt Momo's presence around that direction, too," Kino said, pointing towards the area Aang had run off to.

"Could Appa and Momo have stuck together, after all?" Katara said, blinking blankly.

"Whatever is going on, we have no time to waste," Zuko sighed, glancing back at the tree. "Guess we'll come back when we've saved Appa?"

"I only hope Sokka isn't in danger too," Katara grimaced: she would never forgive herself if she had wasted her only chance at tracking down her brother while he was facing a dangerous battle of his own.

"Thanks again!" Kino told Huu, before he took off down the twisting, massive tree roots, followed by Zuko and Katara. It could seem strange for him to guide the other two… but he still felt a light pull, like a tendril that connected him to Momo's position. As long as he followed that feeling, they would be likely to find the lemur, whether he was with Appa or not…

Finding Sokka, however, would have to wait until later, and the thought weighed heavily on all their minds. As competent and powerful as he was, as intelligent and capable as he had proved himself, could the Gladiator overcome the temptations, the visions, and find his way back to his friends before he was lost to the darkness of the strange, spiritual swamp?

---

The trapdoor slid open slowly: trembling hands pushed it aside in the middle of the empty road… lonely as it had remained over the course of the last months. The area of the city, this very distant street, seemed cursed after it was stormed by soldiers on that dark night.

Slowly, gradually, Azula hoisted herself up to the surface. The night's air seemed cold, but again, perhaps the coldness came from within her. Perhaps every step she'd taken had been but another push past her limits… another way to lose the inner fire that had once burned so powerfully, so brightly, inside her chest.

It wouldn't burn again, though. It couldn't… not anymore. Not after everything she'd lost. Not after everything had come to the dreadful, untimely conclusion it had.

Her tearful eyes finally rose to greet the ravaged, destroyed haven where she had once found true peace. A powerful shudder shook her, and she had to clench the fabric of her sleeping robe, right by her heart.

His house… Sokka's house. The one they had found together, after a day of walking across the city, bickering every step of the way. He had been pleased with it… he had learned to live in it, to make the place his own, adapting to his circumstances like only he ever could. It was so easy to evoke those golden days suddenly, when bright sunlight had fallen upon a house that now lay shrouded underneath the night's mantle… closed off, barred to anyone who didn't have a death wish, Azula supposed…

Good thing that was exactly what she had in mind, then.

She didn't bother shoving the trapdoor back into place. Who cared, by now, if she were found? What would it matter once they found her? It would be over by then, everything would be over… just as it should be. She'd had enough, she couldn't handle the pain, the constant agony she had to live in… she had been lying to herself, pretending she could survive this way when she had barely lasted three months, as things stood. She'd let him down, yes, she knew so… but he had always been an extraordinarily understanding man. He had to know she'd been through more sorrow than she could endure… he had to know she hadn't meant to allow Ozai to push her as far as he had, but she had lacked the true insight to understand how dire her circumstances would be. She hadn't found enough strength to fight back when she had needed to do so most direly. So that meant…

That meant it was time to let go and say goodbye. No more need to find strength, no need to endure the grief that had overcome her senses, every last one of them…

Slowly, she stepped towards the house, her fingers worrying over the bone necklace she held tightly. The front lawn, small and simple, hosted overgrown grass and weeds that hadn't been there when she had last seen this place. She had seldom entered through this door… she always dropped by on her dragon, landing on the backyard, rushing to greet him whether in the backyard itself, the living room or his room…

Her tears spilled as she raised her free hand, placing it upon the door delicately. It had been damaged, badly, much like her own room's door. It whirred noisily when she pushed it open… she feared the crack, the burn marks, the bent shape, would mean it would come undone, but it didn't. Instead, it gave way easily…

He had wrapped her in his arms, held her as she cried, when she had visited him in this way, one night, upon seeing the inexcusable signs of what kind of monster her father truly was. He had kissed her passionately, carelessly, when she had thrown her arms around his neck and reeled him in, upon visiting him anew after their week on the road had ended. He had bid her goodbye, right before her birthday, with that heartwarming smile of his…

The memories only broke her further, but she relished in spilling those tears now: each one was but another reminder of the beautiful days she had shared with him. The glorious moments they had lived through… the partnership, the relationship they had strengthened and built up throughout each day they had shared with each other.

The house was dark, so much that she couldn't see much other than silhouettes… yet she knew the place by heart. She knew each floorboard, the crumpled rug, the kitchen in which Song had always worked so dutifully, the crimson couch on which she had taken her seat with Sokka a thousand times… that clever healer had poked fun at them once, encouraging her to massage Sokka's leg after his cramp, and she… she had done it. She had been massaging the wrong leg, too…

An unexpected laugh burst from her as she covered her face with her hands. Their anniversary… he had covered this whole place with flower petals, and she had been utterly unimpressed. Then they'd had that silly fight, petty as it was, and it practically had mirrored the one that had seen them falling into bed for the first time, in the backyard…

Oh, she had told him to never ask her to replace him again. To never let others, let alone the enemies they meant to defeat, to have any say upon his self-worth. The bathroom, the amount of mischief they'd been up to in there… even that brought another soft laugh from her, shaking her head as every memory she had locked away, every thought she hadn't wanted to acknowledge returned to her: he had brushed her hair, and she had poked fun at him over all the hair product he kept in that room. Then… then they had danced together to no music, because he wanted to cheer her up, and he had done such a good job of it that Azula almost had succumbed to temptation, right then and there. She had held back that day, and she had hated herself for it so much…

"I shouldn't have…" she managed to say to herself, as tears fell freely down her face… as that smile spread widely. "I shouldn't have held back at all. Not for a second, because you… you mattered more than anything. Being with you… it mattered more than anything, Sokka. You… you changed my life. You gave it meaning. You… you made me who I was. You helped me in ways I… I could never truly repay you for, no matter what you might have said…"

And now, she couldn't repay him at all.

There would be no chance for it… because he was gone.

The smile faded, as she shook again so powerfully with the strength of each sob. Even the tea table, the one she'd carelessly kicked at him that very day, outraged by his discouragement over the outcome of his fight with Toph… the closets by the wall surely still hosted the towels with which they'd dried themselves after their spat over their anniversary date. Oh, how stupid it all seemed now… how pointless of her to make a fuss for something like that instead of celebrating, cherishing everything she should have, for as long as she could have it…

All their training in that backyard… she had also watched him train Huiwen, his young apprentice, even if for a short period. His carelessness with preparing for that first lesson, which he had offered the child for her sake… he had done so much for her sake. He had worked with the Enforcers, he had stood up to Iroh, he had even punched her brother powerfully, all for her sake… all because of her…

"You… you said you never stopped to think about… about how much I loved you, was it?" Azula blurted out, hugging herself, her head hung. "So busy you were, trying to make me happy, that… that you barely slowed down to savor that you were already… already the happiest you'd ever been? With me? I… I don't even know, now, how I ever… how I ever earned your love, damn it. I know I sure as fuck don't feel worthy of it… not anymore, if I ever was. I'm useless, helpless, but… but you believed in me, Sokka. You… you truly believed in me, like nobody else ever did. Somehow, you… you found something in me, something worth treasuring, something worth saving… w-when no one else ever saw anything at all. You understood… and when you didn't, y-you still tried your best for my sake. In the end… wasn't I the one who was so busy trying to love you as best I could to really cherish how much you'd loved me, in the many ways you showed me you did? In the end, wasn't it me who… who was so stupid not to slow down and cherish every small thing… when those small things were the ones that mattered most…?"

His existence… all by itself, his existence had changed hers, shaped her life, just as she had shaped his. What mattered the most… it was him. It was them… it was the bond that had always made them better… the strength they'd learned to find in each other, even in dark days when she could do nothing but cry in his chest or hold him as he grieved over his worst mistakes. Then again, it was also the strength they'd found upon overcoming their greatest challenges, no matter how costly the success might be… the strength they'd nurtured at their best moments, so that it could carry them through the darkest ones, just as well.

How she wished she could still honor that strength… how she wished she could be the woman he had thought she could be. The woman she had been inspired to become because he had believed in her…

She swallowed hard, sniffing, knowing her tears wouldn't dry at all… not until it was done. Not until she had joined him, for good.

The stairs creaked as she climbed them… the stairs Renkai had said Sokka had been tossed down. Her chest tightened at the thought, and she had to cling to the railing for good measure as she wept: the very same stairs through which he had carried her, when he had first made love to her and the thousands of times that had followed, when he had chosen to do that simply because he could. The way he had smiled at her, with that giddy childish wonderment, as he marveled about having her to himself, as he delighted in knowing he was the man she had chosen…

The first room was Song's. The door was closed, firmly… and Azula moved past it, her hand on the wall as she stepped closer to the room she had frequented the most in that house. Her heart clenched as its contents came into view…

The balcony's curtains waved carelessly in the wind, unbound. The sheets on the bed, crumpled, a mess… perhaps even a charred mess, though with how dark it was, Azula could barely tell. The dresser, devoid of his armor and weapons… the nightstand, bereft of her necklace, as she knew it would be. Her lips parted as she took in the dream turned into nightmares, the beauty soured and undone… and she focused on what was before, rather than what she could see now. She closed her eyes… and she let herself remember his warmth, the way his lips kissed hers, the weight of his body atop her own, the feeling of surrender that had smoothed her every sharp edge, eased her turbulent soul and granted her true peace, at long last, once she had stopped fighting against him, against the feelings between them…

Not everything had been smooth sailing since… but almost all of it had been. Theirs… it had been a love story like the tragic ones people loved spinning into legends, she thought, with a weak smile. Perhaps she finally understood why the man with the fire lily had, presumably, leapt into a volcano… perhaps she understood, too, why Oma had nearly destroyed two villages when she had lost Shu. Perhaps, if she had any strength left, that was exactly what she would be doing now…

"She was… way stronger than me, for sure…" she concluded, with a sad smile. "I know you'd say otherwise, Sokka, but… you know I'm right, don't you? You do… s-so don't fight it, okay? Though… m-maybe you should fight it. Maybe you should… maybe you should come here, and tell me just how wrong I am, how wrong I was to… t-to think I wasn't as strong as her. I… I dare you, love, come on now… just do it. Just… just come to me, please, I… I beg you…"

The smile had faded by then, replaced by another torrent of tears she couldn't restrain any longer as she walked to the bed they had shared so many times. Her shoulders shook with each sob, her hand spreading to touch that sheet, the fabrics in which they had often rolled so recklessly, talking about the future, making all sorts of jabs at each other, sharing in the glory of their furtive, beautiful relationship…

"Make fun of me again…" she said, sitting by the bedside, letting her tears stain the turbulent mattress. "Make love to me again. Make me feel real… make the pain go away. Come for me and… and get me out of here. I can't take it anymore… I thought I could, I really did, but I… I couldn't do it anymore, Sokka. I'm not strong enough. I need you more than I ever did and now… n-now I'll never have you again. I… I'm the one to blame for that, I know I am, but I… I still need you. I still…"

She crawled over the mattress, fingers tightly fisting the sheets as she wept freely, recklessly… pouring her heart out as she grieved his death, as she grieved his loss… as she grieved their separation for the thousandth time. She had cried enough, it felt like, to overflow oceans and rivers, to bring down a whole flood upon this damn city… how she wished that were the case, so that, in the end, it would be water that took her, rather than fire…

But fire was all she'd get.

That had to be the meaning of her recurring dream, she knew so now.

After sobbing helplessly for what felt like hours, she rolled in the bed, breathing slowly, her gaze lost in the ceiling… in the familiar shapes of it. Everything was familiar… everything but his absence, even now. The darkness in the house, the emptiness… it was abandoned merely months ago, and yet it felt like ancient ruins to Azula, like she could as good as close her eyes and see its glory restored… like she could feel him, once again, right beside her, embracing her with that confident smile she had loved more than she'd ever told him. Oh, there were so many damn things she'd never told him… so many she should have said, knowing their time together could have been limited…

"I'm a real fool… aren't I?" she whispered: the hand that held the necklace fell above her head, the other right by her thigh…

She would ignite this place, and herself with it. The child… she regretted this for its sake, above anything else, and yet she knew it was what had to be done. A life like this one… a torment like this one? Her child's potential future was gone long before it had even existed. All that was left was misery, struggle, pain unlike any she could possibly fathom, much as she hadn't fathomed this one. It always got worse, and it would only continue to get worse if she let it, so… it was time. It was time to let go. Even if she wasn't sure of how to do so… it was time to let go.

She closed her eyes, evoking thoughts of him once more. Evoking his strong frame, his beautiful eyes, the hair he'd grown out just because she'd said she liked it… his kind heart, his compassion, his willingness to understand anything she shared with him, his serious side, his blunt honesty, his utterly terrible jokes…

He had embodied countless things she hadn't even realized she had pursued all her life. He was the heroic figure she had hoped to be… the charismatic leader she had always dreamt of becoming. The strong man who loved so passionately, so fiercely that he had taught her how to do so, too… Her trembling lips spread into a smile anew, as she lowered the necklace to her heart, as she tried to conjure a spark in her free hand, even if just that spark…

"I love you, Sokka," were the last words she meant to utter before channeling her strength through her body, in the ways she'd learned to since childhood…

She'd keep his image, his handsome face, his strong body, in the forefront of her mind. She'd close her eyes, visualize him and surrender. She'd let the sorrow burn as she joined him anew, in the next life, as they'd sworn they would…

The Sokka she envisioned gazed at her longingly… then twitched. He snarled, his face contorted with pain. Her heart clenched – no, that wasn't how she wanted to see him. She knew she was disappointing him, but that wasn't how she wanted this to end. The way he shuddered, his body no longer upright, his hair slowly growing more disorderly, more chaotic…

"I'm… I'm sorry…" she managed to say, knowing he wouldn't forgive her for what she was doing. For the choice she had committed to…

"… Azula?"

Her weak heart jolted.

He had called her name.

That was his voice.

She hadn't simply evoked that sound out of memories. The emotion in it seemed to break past every wall she'd tried to build over the past months, across the last few hours….

It truly was Sokka's voice.

And he had called her name.