Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Water.

Earth.

Fire.

Air.

My grandmother tells me stories, sometimes, about the days Before; when the Water Tribe, Earth Kindgom, Fire Nation, and Air Nomads lived in harmony and the Avatar, master of all four Elements, watched over them to keep the balance. That all changed when the Fire Nation attacked. The Avatar was the only one who could have stopped them, but, when the world needed him most, he vanished.

Two years ago, the men of the village left to assist the Earth Kingdom in this war, as well as my mother. I was left to watch over the rest of the women and children, including my brother, the last South Pole waterbender.

I’ve heard whispers, rumors that the Avatar wasn’t reborn, that the cycle was broken. My brother insists that it’s not true, that we can’t lose hope but I— I just don’t know. . .

Chapter Text

It was cold out. Of course, being in the South Pole, that was to be expected, but still. And it didn’t help to be floating out on the ocean, with a lot of ice surrounding you, instead of inside, under a few furs, in the warmth.

Urgh. Oh hey, that was a really big chunk of ice, little chunk, bigger chunk, and close enough to touch but tiny chunk. Hey! If you tilted your head juuuuust right and squinted, that one looks like a polar-dog! Kinda, okay maybe just a little bit. Or maybe not at all.

Aang let out a gusty sigh and allowed his to chin thud down on the edge of the canoe in between his forearms. Sneaking a glance at the front, Aang watched his brother Zuko lean over the side of the canoe with a spear in hand; ignoring him.

“Hey Zuko,” Aang groaned, flopping back against the opposite side of the canoe.

“Let me guess you’re bored and want to go home,” Zuko said dryly, finally looking back at him.

“Yeah,” Aang admitted. “So, when are we going home?” he added hopefully.

“Soon,” Zuko promised. “Just a few more fish. It’ll go faster if you help, you know.” With that, he turned back to scanning the waters around him.

Aang sighed and started looking around himself. Almost immediately a flicker of movement caught his eye. Looking out, he saw it, a fish! He opened his mouth to shout to his brother and alert him when a thought occurred to the young waterbender, and he paused a moment, before deliberately tugging off his gloves and turning back to the fish. Carefully, he started to swish his hands back and forth, tongue sticking out of the corner of his mouth as his brow furrowed in concentration. Slowly, with a few false starts, a bubble of water rose out of the ocean, with the fish inside.

Excited, he whipped around. “Hey Zuko—!” splash! “. . . Sorry,” he apologized.

Zuko glared at him, dripping wet and annoyed. Slowly and deliberately he reached back to squeeze the water out of his wolftail. “I thought you were going to be more careful,” he said carefully. Trying not to yell at Aang, even though he really wanted to, Aang knew.

Aang deflated. “Sorry,” he said again. “I just wanted to show you the fish I’d caught. With my waterbending,” he added, with a touch of pride. It just went to show, Waterbending could be used for more than just splashing people!

“Next time, don’t show me by shoving it in my face,” Zuko advised irritably, and then let out a sigh. “Well, I’m soaked; it's freezing, so we'd better start heading home.”

Maybe Aang could help them get home faster with his waterbending! He started to open his mouth to suggest that, when Zuko cut him off before he could even start. “No, no more waterbending for today. It's bad enough that I’m soaked; we don’t need you swamping the canoe on top of that,” Zuko grumbled, switching out his spear for a paddle and swiping it through the water.

Aang sighed and leaned back, crossing his arms and scowling. How was he supposed to get better if he didn’t practice? Humph. Maybe, if he was careful Zuko would think he was just helping paddle. . .

First, Aang set to watching his brother as he dipped his oar in and out of the water in smooth, even strokes. Carefully, so as not to start bending yet, Aang figured out some movements that should move the water in the same way Zuko was. Now that he had it, Aang grinned and leaned over the side and gave an enthusiastic shove.

A bit too enthusiastic, in fact, as the canoe spun slightly, slamming into a nearby ice floe, and knocking them into a fast flowing current.

Whoops.

Aang gripped the sides of the canoe, feeling his heart pound as Zuko frantically tried to keep them from slamming into the chunks of ice they were hurtling towards.

“Aang! What did I just say about waterbending!” Zuko shouted, hurriedly paddling away from any nearby ice mass.

“Can we talk about this later?!” Aang yelled back, flinching as they barely evaded scraping along a particularly sharp ice floe.

“NO!” Zuko bellowed back, still using the suddenly more breakable paddle to keep from crashing into the ice, sending them fishtailing into another berg with a crunch. Thankfully the canoe held... for all of two seconds until the other one came smashing into the other side of the boat. The two boys scrambled up on top of it, just in time to see their small boat snap into two. Aang found himself falling on his face and sliding, giving out a cry of surprise and fear before stopping just before landing in the icy water below.

He scrambled backwards sitting next to Zuko and panting from exertion. They sat in silence for a moment, catching their breath from the frantic rush of a few moments ago.

“Well, this is wonderful, how are we supposed to get home now?” Zuko finally asked, one part annoyed, two parts tired.

Aang gave a nervous laugh. “Maybe I could bend us home?” he suggested timidly.

Zuko glared at him. “Waterbending is what got us into this mess, and you want to use it again to get us out?”

“. . . Yes?” Aang ventured carefully.

Zuko looked at him for a second longer, before switching to gazing out over the ocean around them thoughtfully, before giving a gusty sigh. “Just don’t splash me,” he grudgingly said.

Aang smiled brightly and got to his feet, looking around to get his bearings, and then faced towards their village. “Here goes!” he announced, using the same motions he had to move the canoe earlier.

Nothing happened.

Crack!

Until the glacier behind them broke.

The brothers turned to stare at the glacier, jagged cracks starting at the top and going down, down, branching off to the side and snapping a large chunk of it off, which slid down into the ocean below.

There was a moment of silence.

“Now you’re breaking glaciers?!” Zuko exploded. “This was a horrible idea, whoever thought it wasn’t is an idiot and deserves whatever they get!”

“Sorry, do you want me to stop?” Aang asked, slightly dejected that his bending was still causing problems.

“No!” Zuko snapped back, crossing his arms and scowling darkly.

His brother was so changeable, Aang decided as he faced forwards again. Maybe he hadn’t put enough effort into it last time; here, he’d do it better this time.

The glacier completely shattered this time, sending out a large wave in every direction that nearly sent Aang off their ice floe. As it was, Zuko had to grab him to keep him from falling off.

“Okay, no more waterbending for today,” Zuko announced, practically growling at his sheepish younger brother. “And I mean it this time!”

“I guess we could just paddle our way back,” Aang conceded reluctantly.

Zuko was about to answer him, when a blue light began to glow from beneath them, bubbling slightly, before exploding into the glowing blue glacier right in front of them.

“Whoa,” Aang murmured in shock as the glow settled and he could see inside of it. Two shapes were inside it, and one of them looked like a glowing person! Wait a minute, it was a person! And they just opened their eyes too!

“Zuko look!” Aang cried, leaning forwards. “We gotta help him!” Before Zuko could react, Aang had grabbed his club and was bounding across the ice lying in a convenient path from their little floe to the giant glacier nearby.

“We don’t know who that is! He could be dangerous!” Zuko shouted after him, before reluctantly following his little brother, not wanting him to go alone. Aang ignored him, pounding away at the ice until seconds after Zuko arrived behind him it exploded in a giant ball of blue light.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

It was peaceful. Calm and still. The wisps of heat were in front of her, rising and falling in time with her breathing. Not the air around, lacking in any warmth. Not the wooden deck, holding slight warmth that was gone from the freezing rails. Not the masses of energy moved about, a steady ba-bump, ba-bump sending flushes of energy throughout their bodies. Not the mass of heat and energy just beyond that, sitting across from her and mirroring her pose of sitting strait with crossed legs, hands resting on knees.

The Fire Princess Toph took a deep breath along with her uncle, General Bumi. The candle flames leapt higher, and she ‘saw’ the cold from the air flow inward, circulating inside them before it was warm enough to be indistinguishable from the rest of them. Exhaling, she saw the warmth from inside them hissing out from their mouths, quickly dissipating in the cold air.

Just as she was inhaling once again, something very strange tickled the edge of her ‘sight’. It was large explosion of energy, but there was no heat to it. “Uncle?” Toph broke the silence of their meditation. “Did you see that?”

“The bright blue glowy beam shooting up into the sky? I do now,” Bumi said, leaning towards it curiously. “Hm, strange light, glowing, in the South Pole. . . Must be a new super-secret Water Tribe weapon!” he declared, nodding.

“Ha! If those peasants have made something that can do that, I’m Earth Kingdom,” Toph scoffed. “But, it’s worth investigating, wouldn’t you say Uncle? Helmsman!” she barked, “set course thataway!” while pointing at the strange energy. She grinned, leaning back and placing her hands on the deck. “It might even have something to do with the Avatar!” she let out a little laugh of excitement. “Wouldn’t that be something?”

“Oh, it certainly would!” Bumi agreed, his life-heat kicking up slightly. Probably from excitement, like hers was.

“C’mon,” Toph said, getting to her feet, “Let’s put this away and do some training. I want to be ready if I’m going to have to fight,” she added with a vicious grin.

Her Uncle let out a snorting cackle, and Toph joined in with her own clear laugh. Today, she would kick butt!

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Once the light cleared, Zuko and Aang had gotten to their feet cautiously, Zuko shoving Aang behind him as he grabbed his spear. Whatever was going to happen, he wanted to be ready. They looked up, Aang letting out a small gasp as the boy from the iceberg stood above them, staring down at them with glowing eyes.

And then he collapsed at their feet in a boneless pile.

Zuko stared at him as Aang peered around him. “Do you think he’s okay?” Aang inquired, worried.

The boy snored and Zuko jumped.

“He sounds like it.” Zuko grit his teeth; that had come out a lot shakier and nervous than he’d meant. Didn’t want Aang to think he couldn’t handle this. He was the last warrior in the South Pole, he had to be able to handle it.

Aang either didn’t notice, or didn’t react. “Maybe we should wake him up?” he asked, starting to take another step towards the boy before Zuko stopped him.

Zuko nodded reluctantly. “But you stay back,” he warned, edging towards the strange boy. Too strange! Glowing, exploding icebergs, with people alive in them! And he glowed too no less! Ugh, he’d almost rather Aang swamped the canoe than to deal with this. Almost, since if he had, they’d probably have frozen to death.

Cautiously, Zuko poked the strange boy with the blunt end of his spear. The boy snored. Zuko poked him again, and this time a groan came from the awkward pile of limbs, causing them both to jump back.

“No more fruit pies, Appa’s gonna get sick,” the strange boy mumbled deliriously.

Zuko and Aang glanced at each other, and then back at the boy. Zuko poked him again, electing a giggle and “Stoppit, tickles.”

Zuko blew out an exasperated breath, crouching down to shake the boy’s shoulder. “Hey, wake up,” he said. A loud snore was his answer.

“HEY!” Zuko bellowed irritably, and this time, he got a response. The strange boy shot upright— ten feet in the air! — before landing back down on his butt, flailing about.

“Who— what— PIES!” he screeched incoherently before finally noticing Zuko and Aang.

Zuko had fallen back on his own seat and the sudden flight of the strange boy. They sat there for a moment, staring at each other, with the strange boy occasionally looking over at Aang.

“Hi!” Aang greeted, giving a bright smile and wave. “So, I’m Aang and this is my brother Zuko. Who’re you?”

There was a beat of silence, the stranger switching to staring at Aang. Aang continued to smile, although it started to seem more stiff and awkward as the seconds ticked by.

“I’m Sokka,” he finally answered, standing up and brushing the snow off his pants. “Where are we?” he asked, looking around with a frown.

“Where do you think?” Zuko muttered sarcastically, getting to his own feet.

“I dunno, the North Pole maybe? I don’t remember!” Sokka snapped back, flailing his arms in the air. “And furthermore— Appa!” he suddenly cried, turning to run back up the snow bank, giving little whiney grunts as he climbed up and over.

Zuko paused, blinking at the sudden change of subject. “What’s an Appa?!” Zuko yelled after him, scowling as he was ignored. “C’mon Aang, let’s go see what he’s up to,” Zuko suggested, suspicious, heading around to a gap in the snow banks close by.

Guardedly, Zuko edged around to look into the open space and froze, clutching his spear as the biggest monster he’d ever seen tried to eat Sokka alive.

Some strange noise registered over the pounding of blood in his ears. It took another second for him to realize it was laughter. Sokka was laughing.

“Who’s a good giant fluff monster?” he baby-talked. “You are! You are my big fluffy monster!” he said with a big dopey grin as he hugged the man-eating monster.

“Cool!” Aang said, darting out from behind Zuko. The elder brother frantically tried to grab his coat, to keep him away from that thing, but he was out of reach before Zuko could. “What is it? I’ve never seen an animal like this before,” the younger asked, reaching out to pet it.

“Aang!” Zuko tried to yell, but it came out a quiet squeak that no one heard. Okay, that was kinda embarrassing. Zuko cleared his throat, and then started edging towards Aang, very cautiously, angling so he could stay as far from the monster as possible.

“This is Appa, my sky bison,” Sokka introduced. “Appa, this is Aang.”

“Hi Appa!” Aang greeted brightly, giggling as the monster gave a magnificent roar and tasted him.

“And that’s Zuko,” Sokka added, gesturing towards him. Zuko froze, hand inches away from grabbing Aang’s coat as both the beast and his brother turned to face him.

Man and mammal regarded each other for a short eternity, gauging each other’s strengths and weaknesses. Zuko projected an air of calm certainty. Don’t mess with me. Or my brother, he conveyed with his eyes, his demeanor. The monster seemed to take note of this, his head rearing back slightly. . .

. . . and then it sneezed. On Sokka.

“Ew! Appa!” he whined, thoroughly covered in bison snot. “That was disgusting! Erg,” he groaned, settling into some sort of stance. Aang glanced back at him, eyes widening as he ducked. Zuko watched him, confused: what had him startled like that?

He got his answer as a mixture of wind and snot emanating from Sokka blasted into him. What was it with people and soaking him with stuff today!? Okay, to be fair it was only a little on his parka, most of it was scattered on the surrounding snow, but still. Zuko glared at the strange bender, who let out a small, nervous laugh.

“Hey! You’re an airbender!” Aang interrupted the (mostly) silent stare down, popping out from behind his makeshift shelter.

“I sure am,” Sokka bragged, puffing out his chest and planting his hands on his hips. “In fact, I am one of the youngest masters ever!”

“That’s impossible, airbenders are extinct,” Zuko protested, crossing his arms.

“Um, hello,” Sokka said derisively. “What is it that you would call . . . this?” he declared, brandishing a spinning ball of air in his palm.

Zuko started to retort, but paused, and then started to say something else, before slumping in defeat. Okay, apparently they had found the last airbender in existence. He could accept that. He could.

Sokka grinned, smug in the knowledge that he had won. “So!” he announced, clapping his hands together and sliding them back and forth, “Now that that’s settled, which way to your village?”

“Why?” Zuko asked suspiciously, just as Aang pointed and said, “That way.” The two looked at each other a moment, Aang puzzled and Zuko annoyed. Why couldn’t his brother follow his lead for once? Urgh.

“And how are you planning to get there?” Zuko added, crossing his arms and glaring at the airbender.

Sokka looked at him incredulously. “Um, on Appa?” he suggested, like it was the most obvious thing in the world, flapping his hand at the fluffy monster. “You know; my sky bison.”

“Hey, do you think you could give us a ride? Our canoe got kinda smashed,” Aang queried, smiling sheepishly.

All right, enough was enough. Zuko grabbed Aang’s arm and marched him away from the stranger. “Would you stop blabbing so much?” he hissed, casting a mistrustful glance over his shoulder at the bewildered airbender. “We don’t know anything about this guy!”

“Actually, we know he’s an airbender,” Aang pointed out.

“Aside from that,” Zuko ground out. Did Aang have to be so particular? “We don’t know how he got in that iceberg, why he was in the South Pole in the first place, or anything. He could be working with the Fire Nation for all we know!” He tried to keep his tone down, observing Sokka once again.

“You don’t really think that, do you?” Aang wondered worriedly, unconsciously reaching over and gripping Zuko’s arm, casting his own fearful gaze back.

Zuko halted, thinking that over for a second. “No, I don’t,” he finally answered, to Aang’s obvious relief. “But still, we really don’t know anything about him, so let me handle this, okay?”

“Okay,” Aang agreed, nodding. “But, we’re still going to get a ride home from him, right?” he inquired cautiously.

“Might as well, we won’t have any way to get home if we don’t, after all,” Zuko rationalized. Aang nodded, back to his normal cheerful self, and together, they turned back towards Sokka.

“So what was that all about?” Sokka demanded, crossing his arms and glaring at them skeptically.

Aang shifted his weight and looked up at Zuko out of the corner of his eye. Zuko gazed strait ahead. “Nothing,” he responded shortly. “It’ll be dark soon, we need to head out,” he quickly changed the subject.

Sokka stared at him a moment longer, before deciding to just go along with it. “All right then,” he announced, and a gust of air carried him up and deposited him neatly on Appa’s head. “All aboard the Appa Express!” he declared, grinning madly down at the two Water Tribe boys below.

Zuko almost thought about reconsidering. But, they did need a way to get home, even if it was from an apparent madman. Aang was already halfway up to the saddle on Appa’s back, and Zuko reluctantly followed.

Soon both were seated in the saddle, and Sokka called up from the front, “Hang on, this can get pretty intense! Appa, yip. Yip,” he declared dramatically, snapping the reins. The mighty monster roared, leaned back, and flew. . .

. . . For three seconds, after which they fell into the water with a mighty splash!

Zuko had to stop and catch his breath, and also make sure Aang wasn’t about to fall out of the saddle, before he could speak. “Wow,” he said sarcastically,” that was truly intense.”

“He must be tired,” Sokka defended. “Aren’t you?” he continued to Appa. “Once you’ve rested up, you’ll show them, won’t you?”

“He sounds like old lady Visola talking to her polar-dog,” Aang commented softly to Zuko. Zuko tried to suppress the sudden laugh that came out, ending up making a strangled snorting sound. Sokka continued to make cooing sounds at the giant fluffy beast they were riding, which did not help. This was going to be a long ride.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Later that night, Toph was gripping the railing of her ship, listening to the lapping of the water as they steamed through it, trying to ‘see’ with the scant heat around her, but unable to even get a picture of the deck around her. The door behind her creaked open, offering a glimpse into the warmth of the indoors, but her attention was focused on the life-heat of her uncle.

“Exciting, isn’t it?” Bumi commented, coming to stand next to her.

“Yeah,” Toph agreed quietly. “Just think, it’s been over a hundred years that my family has been searching for him, but after only three, I’m the one who finds him. Dad’ll really respect me after this. He won’t have a choice,” she added tightly, gripping the rails a little bit harder.

Bumi’s life-heat pulsed for a moment. “You really will have earned it,” he said, his mouth stretching wider, grinning. “Shown him that just because you’re blind, doesn’t mean you can’t kick butt!”

“Yeah!” Toph agreed enthusiastically. “I’ll kick the Avatar’s wrinkly old butt so hard; he won’t know what hit him!” She let out a laugh, joined by her uncle’s snorting cackle. They stood there in silence a moment, Toph smiling, enjoying the moment. Things were about to change, big time, and she couldn’t wait. But, if she was to be in top form tomorrow, then she needed her rest.

“Hey, Uncle, could you help me back inside? It’s too cold out here for me to see,” she requested.

“It would be my pleasure, Princess Sparky,” Bumi responded with a bow, offering Toph his arm.

Toph accepted it with a laugh, and if she didn’t let go as soon as they were in the heated hallways were she could see, if she didn’t let go until they were at the door of her room and Bumi was kissing her forehead and wishing her a good night’s sleep, then what of it? She was the Fire Princess Toph! Soon-to-be butt-kicker of the biggest thorn in the Fire Nation’s side for the last hundred years! No one could say she was weak or helpless, especially not after tomorrow.

Nope, no one at all.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

It was dark out, the chill in the air only getting more of a bite to it. Zuko was staring off over at the horizon, frowning slightly, probably thinking something over. Aang shifted slightly, glancing up at the front where Sokka was, out of sight from where he was.

Aang had been thinking for a while now, about some things that maybe Sokka could clear up. If Zuko thought it would be okay. “Hey Zuko?” he called quietly.

Zuko turned to face him, “Yeah Aang, what’s up?”

“I was just wondering, do you think Sokka knows anything about, you know, the Avatar?” he asked, finishing in a whisper.

“What’s that about the Avatar?” Sokka asked, popping up from where he’d been relaxing on Appa’s head and climbing into the saddle with them.

Zuko shot Aang an exasperated look, and Aang looked away. He hadn’t meant for Sokka to overhear! It was just; if Sokka did know anything Avatar, they had a right to know. After a hundred years, then, maybe they- and everyone else- could have some real hope again.

He heard Zuko sigh, followed by a reluctant, “We were wondering, if you knew anything about the Avatar?”

Aang gazed up in time to see Sokka pause, before guardedly asking, “Does this have anything to do with why you insist airbenders are extinct?”

Now that was confusing. Why would Sokka ask that? Everyone knew the airbenders had been wiped out a hundred years ago, shortly after the Avatar disappeared. Zuko seemed to think so too, giving Sokka an incredulous look.

“Because no one has seen the Avatar since the Fire Nation wiped the airbenders out a hundred years ago!” he insisted.

“But I was just at the temple a few days ago! It was full of monks!” Sokka protested, looking about as confused as Aang felt.

“Well you must have been in that iceberg a lot longer than you thought then!” Zuko shot back, and everyone froze.

It . . . made sense. Sokka didn’t know anything about the war and airbenders being gone. Being trapped in an iceberg for a hundred years. . . It was horrible to imagine. The scariest part was the world as Sokka knew it was gone. Things had changed so much since then.

“Or you could both be lying to me,” Sokka said abruptly, staring at them both with narrowed eyes.

“But we’re not!” Aang protested. “It’s true!”

“Prove it then,” Sokka challenged, crossing his arms and staring him down. Aang tried to think, there had to be something they could say! But, Sokka’d just think they were lying about that too. They didn’t have any physical proof, all this was common knowledge!

“I can,” Zuko broke in, almost distractedly as he contemplated whatever it was he was thinking about. Raising his eyes to meet Sokka’s he added, “Not until we get back to our village, but we do have proof.”

Aang let out a little gasp, his eyes widening, surely he couldn’t mean. . . But it was the only thing they had to prove what they were saying. “But we’re not supposed to go there, it’s dangerous!” Aang said worriedly.

“It’ll be fine,” Zuko reassured. “We’ll be careful and won’t stay too long, nothing will happen, I promise,” he said with a small smile.

It didn’t make the knot in Aang’s stomach go away, but it did lessen. With a nod, he accepted it; Sokka did need to understand, after all.

Sokka had been taking in everything with narrowed eyes, hiding his mouth behind his linked fingers. “Fine,” he conceded, “I’ll wait till you can show me this ‘dangerous’ thing your ‘not supposed to go to’,” he said sarcastically, the audible quotation marks accompanied by actual ones.

Sokka could be a jerk sometimes, Aang decided, scowling at him before turning his back on him and lying down. It was late; he was going to get some sleep before they arrived home. Just as he started to drop off, he felt a blanket spread over him. Night Zuko, he thought sleepily, before falling into the soft welcoming darkness.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Storm clouds everywhere. Rain lashed at his face, thunder cracked and lightning cut jagged paths through the sky.

He was falling, screaming. Appa was too; crashing into the freezing water and struggling to the surface, only to be dragged under again.

They were sinking, only connected by the grip Sokka had on Appa’s reins, but he was feeling light-headed. . . Dizzy. . .

And then something came over him, something he’d never felt before. He felt like he was drowning in a sea of voices, and power. Together they could do anything, but he didn’t know how to make his own voice heard. He felt his fists slam together without his directing them, and a bubble of air surrounded them. Distantly, he saw the air around them beginning to be encased in ice, before everything went black. . .

Sokka shot upright, choking back what would have most certainly have been a very manly shout of surprise. For a second, he didn’t recognize his surroundings, until the events of yesterday came back to him. Right, froze in an iceberg, they insist for a hundred years, and now they are going to prove it.

Pulling on his shirt and boots and grabbing his staff Sokka then wandered outside, looking around at the tiny village. Something seemed off about it, and not just the second looks he kept getting. It was like there was something missing. . .

“Good to see you‘re finally awake,” a dry voice from behind him spoke.

Sokka jumped, whirling around and pointing his staff at the suspicious person who snuck up on him. A little old lady, who didn’t even react to Sokka’s antics. Grinning sheepishly, he lowered it, sliding out of his defensive stance. “Sorry,” he apologized, “little jumpy I guess.”

“Guess you might be, after being frozen in an iceberg for a hundred years,” she replied, with not a single change in her tone or expression.

“I haven’t seen any proof of that yet,” Sokka said, crossing his arms and turning away slightly.

This time, he got a sigh out of the old lady. “My grandsons are over that way, training.” Best get the whole thing out of the way. Just be careful,” she advised, reaching up and patting Sokka’s shoulder briefly before walking away.

Huh, that was Zuko and Aang’s grandmother? Interesting. But unimportant, right now he needed to see their ‘proof’. He marched off in the direction she’d gestured too, hearing his two new acquaintance’s voices as he got closer.

“You gotta watch your balance better Aang! It shouldn’t have been that easy to knock you over,” he heard Zuko say.

“Sorry,” Aang replied as Sokka rounded a building and spotted them. The kid was lying on the ground, with Zuko standing over him and frowning. “I guess I’m just kinda distracted.”

“Yeah,” Zuko agreed quietly. “Well, if we’re not actually going to get anything done, why don’t you go put your spear away and start on your chores,” he said, holding his hand out to his younger brother.

“Aye aye, Chief Zuko,” Aang replied with a grin, accepting the help to his feet, and the spear Zuko handed to him as well.

“Don’t call me that,” Zuko shot back, the heat in the tone belied by the grin twitching at the corners of his mouth. “Go on, get outta here,” he teased, playfully grabbing a handful of snow and taking a threatening step towards the young bender.

“I’m going, I’m going!” Aang said, making an ‘easy there’ gesture as he backed away. “See you later Sokka,” he called as he turned to leave, and then after a beat, turned back and shouted, “and Chief Zuko!”

“Don’t call me that!” Zuko mimed throwing the snow in his hand at Aang as he ducked away, laughing. Zuko was grinning himself, until Aang was out of sight. Then the smile dropped and he was all business.

“C’mon, it’s this way,” he said to Sokka, gripping his spear as he turned away. Sokka fell in step behind him, the two walking in silence.

For a little bit, until Sokka suddenly realized just what it was that had been bothering him about the village. “There’s no men!” he suddenly blurted.

Zuko gave him an odd look, but nodded. “Yeah, they all went to join the Earth Kingdom in the fight against the Fire Nation two years ago,” he explained shortly, pain flickering in his ice-blue eyes.

“Right,” Sokka said skeptically. So; either they had drug the whole village into this hoax, or he was telling the truth. Sokka was inclined to believe the former; after all, who ever heard of someone being froze in an iceberg for a hundred years?

~*~*~*~*~*~

Aboard the Fire Nation ship, Toph was standing on the deck, watching her two opponents, as they watched her. Then, at some unknown signal, they all moved. With fluid grace, she leapt over one of them as they ducked, throwing fire out both hands as she was in the air.

She landed on her feet, noticing her wayward teacher Uncle Bumi had shown back up and was nodding approvingly. “Well done! I think you’re ready for the next set,” he praised, and Toph beamed. “But first, snack time!” Toph’s smile dropped. Her uncle had a fondness for weird food, and liked making her try it as well.

“What is it this time, Uncle?” she asked, resigned as he handed her a bowl.

“Stewed sea prunes!” he said, giving a wide, toothy grin. “It’s very popular in the Water Tribes, eat up!”

Toph sniffed at her bowl, pulling away and making a face at the stench arising from it. “Blech, it smells like someone poured vinegar on a fire!”

Bumi let out one of his snorting cackles. “Don’t know if you’ll like it until you try it,” he sing-songed.

“It’s not even cooked thoroughly or evenly,” Toph complained, lifting one up with her fingers, making a face at the patchy heat.

“It’s supposed to be like that! At least I think so, never had this before,” Bumi reassured, or tried to anyway. Toph made a face at him for that, just to let him know just how much she appreciated it.

With a sigh, she gave in. “And if I don’t like it . . . ?” Toph trailed off, even though she knew exactly how this was going to work out. She could smell it even over the burnt vinegar smell, and see it even though Bumi tried to hide it behind his back.

“I brought you some roast duck,” he said, presenting it to her.

Toph grinned briefly and turned back to her stewed sea prune. “On three?” she asked.

“On three,” Bumi agreed.

Together, they chanted, “One, two, three,” and simultaneously bit into their snack. And together, they spit it back out again, making disgusted noises.

“Half my roast duck if you never make me eat this again?” Toph offered.

“Deal,” Bumi agreed, taking the bowls and dumping them over the side.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The walked in silence for the most part after that, since Sokka had a few questions (“How far is it?” “Not far.” “What is it?” You’ll see.” “Do you have any other brothers?” “No.” “Sisters?” “Would you shut up already?!”) that he wanted answers to.

Finally, Zuko stopped. “We’re here,” he said gravely, and Sokka looked around him to see what the fuss was about.

It was a ship. But it was unlike any other ship Sokka had ever seen. For one, it was metal, and there was no sail! This raised a lot of questions in Sokka’s mind. Like: How had they gotten a metal ship to float? How did they get it to move, without a sail? Did it still steer like a regular ship?

“Well?” Zuko asked irritably. “Are you convinced yet?”

“Do you know how it works?” Sokka asked gleefully, rounding on Zuko with a big grin and eyes shining with delight.

Zuko stared at him incredulously for a second. “No I don’t know how it works! This ship was used to attack my tribe, we think it may be booby-trapped, and it’s Fire Nation,” he snapped at Sokka.

Well, if that was how Zuko was going to be. “I’ll just find out for myself then,” Sokka declared and headed for the ship, rubbing his hands together gleefully.

“Did you hear a thing I just said?” Zuko demanded furiously from behind him.

Sokka was already absorbed in thoughts about how this ship worked. Maybe they took giant turtle-whales and raised them from birth, training them how to pull ships like this! And maybe they would throw treats overboard in the direction they wanted to go, so the turtle-whales knew which way to go! Ooohhh, he wanted to ride on a metal ship pulled by turtle-whales so bad!

Behind him, Zuko sighed and stomped after Sokka, grumbling something about airheaded airbenders or something.

There was a hole in the hull, made by a waterbender, or a bunch of them, by the look of it. In fact, the whole thing was raised up on a sheet of ice, like they were trying to stop it in its tracks. Hopefully the turtle-whales were okay, they were kinda cute giant monsters.

Sokka climbed up into the hole, Zuko following him after a second of hesitation. Sokka immediately started poking his head in various doors. Most of the ones around here seemed to be full of pipes and large metal boxes.

“Sokka, slow down, it’s dangerous in here,” Zuko hissed at him, grabbing at his shoulder to make him. Too bad that Sokka was too quick for that! Ducking out of his way and poking his head in another room, Sokka scoffed. Feh, dangerous, he’d seen no signs of danger— oh.

That was a lot of weapons. Slowly, Sokka stepped in the room, looking around at the many, many instruments of sharp, stabby doom. Spears, swords, things that he didn’t know the names for! So much doom.

“Finally!” Zuko said, relieved. “Now are you going to— oh,” he said softly as he saw just what had pulled Sokka up short. “You found the armory.”

“Why? Why would they need so many weapons?” Sokka asked desperately. The Fire Nation didn’t need all these weapons, they were peaceful! Good! Like all the other nations were! He had friends there! Why would the Fire Nation do this?

“Because they were attacking us,” Zuko said quietly, sadly. “They’ve been whittling away at us ever since they wiped out the Air Nomads. You saw what they’ve done to us, there’s hardly anyone left now,” he finished, eyes flickering with pain as he looked off to the side.

Hardly anyone left? What did he— Sokka gasped in realization, knocking into a spear-thingy. It clattered to the ground, the sound echoing in the stillness of the air around them. Sokka didn’t notice, too wrapped up in his own thoughts. That tiny village was all that was left of the Southern Water Tribe? But, three years ago it had been a thriving city!

Sokka abruptly plunked down on the metal deck, the weight of everything crashing onto him. He had been in that iceberg a hundred years after all. So much time, so many things had happened. “You really are almost all gone. . .” he said quietly.

“What did you think?” Zuko shouted, stepping closer to Sokka. “That there were more of us just over the next glacier? We’re all that’s left! We haven’t heard from the Northern Water Tribe in years, and I don’t know if my mom’s even still alive!”

The pained words echoed like the clattering of the spear, only worse, as if the shadow of the Fire Nation was there, spitting it back out at them, mocking them for the pain it had caused. It gave Sokka the creeps.

“Let’s get out of here,” Zuko said after the echoes faded, and this time, Sokka agreed.

The two left the armory together, Sokka turned left, the way they’d come, and then Zuko turned right.

They paused, turned to face each other, pointed the way they were going, and said, “The exit’s this way.”

“No it’s not, it’s this way,” Sokka insisted.

“Uh huh, as if you’d remember with all the running around you did. It’s this way,” Zuko pointed back the way he was going.

“Fine, you go your way, I’ll go mine,” Sokka said, and marched off towards the exit.

“Hey! We shouldn’t split up!” Zuko shouted. Sokka ignored him, and with a groan, Zuko was following him.

Right, left, another left, a right and. . . . They were not out of the ship yet. Okay, so maybe Zuko did know which way they should have gone.

“Congratulations, now we’re lost,” Zuko said dryly.

“What? I thought you knew which way to go!” Sokka did not screech. He shouted, a very manly shout, in fact.

“I did! Before you took off the other way and I lost track of which way to go!” Zuko shouted back. “And stop screeching, it hurts my ears,” he added, rubbing at one of them.

“I do not screech!” Sokka defended in a very manly shout.

“Yes you do!” Zuko shot back, before pinching the bridge of his nose. “Urgh, just forget it. There must be another way out of here.”

After a moment of consideration, Sokka decided to go along. “You look on that side, I’ll look on this one,” he said. “Also, I don’t screech,” he added smugly, pleased to get the last word.

Zuko looked ready to argue it for a moment, before throwing his hands in the air and stomping down his side of the hallway. Sokka smirked, checking out the rooms on his side. He’d checked three, with no way out from any of them, when Zuko called from ahead.

“Hey! I found one!” he yelled, waving from halfway inside his room. Sokka jogged over, and Zuko pointed. There was a hole in the ceiling, but that was no problem for an airbender.

“All right, good work Zuko,” Sokka said, slapping him on the back and heading for the hole.

Zuko just scowled, fully stepping into the room just as Sokka set off a tripwire. Behind them, a grate slammed closed. The two froze, staring at it. It stayed closed.

“Hey, no problem, we’ve got the hole in the roof. All we gotta do is fly out and no one has to know anything went wrong,” Sokka said confidently.

That’s when the signal flare went off.

“You were saying?” Zuko asked dryly as they watched it arc up, up, up and explode in the sky.

“. . . Go go go!” Sokka yelled, running beneath the hole. “Grab on to me!” he yelled at Zuko.

“What? Why!” Zuko pulled back, looking disgusted.

“Because it’ll be easier to get us out if you’re holding on to me, now let’s go!” Sokka said breathlessly.

Reluctantly, Zuko did and Sokka was off.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

They didn’t know that someone could ‘see’ them, standing at the bow of her ship and watching the two distant balls of heat flying up, out of the ship and then running across the snow towards the village.

Toph grinned in dangerous excitement. One of those lives could be nothing other than the Avatar. Sure, there was the usual signs of life found in a normal human, but there was a touch of otherworldliness too, that same cold energy that had first caught her attention.

“You!” she barked, pointing at a nearby soldier. “Tell my uncle to get his wrinkly old butt up here. Helmsman! Set course for that village!”

Simultaneously, the two snapped off salutes, saying “Yes Princess,” as they did as they were told.

It was good to be the boss, Toph reflected as in short order her uncle came up to stand behind her. “What’d I miss?” he asked.

Toph linked her hands behind her back and faced towards the village, to her destiny. Lowering her head slightly, and feeling the breeze toy with her bangs, she grinned. “We found the Avatar.”

END CHAPTER ONE: THE BOY IN THE ICEBERG

Chapter Text

Zuko's mind was whirling as he and Sokka trudged back to the village with the flare they'd set off hovering in the sky as a testament to their utter stupidity. If he hadn't let Sokka go into the ship, if he hadn't gotten lost, if he'd seen the tripwire, if he'd just left the strange boy in the iceberg in the first place! Then he wouldn't have to worry about the Fire Nation showing up and. . .

Well, it was the same worry on the minds of the rest of the village. Must be why they'd all gathered to meet them. Their eyes were a sea of blue boring into Zuko's soul, harsh mutters like the cracking of ice sounding in his ears. Zuko ducked his head, ashamed.

As they got close, Gran-Gran stepped forwards to meet them. "What have you done?" she demanded, her dour face pulled into a frown.

"Is all this because of that flare?" Sokka spoke up before Zuko could. Zuko wanted to tell him to shut up, yell at him that this was all his fault. But he couldn't get a sound out around the lump in his throat. "Please," Sokka continued, "it's not like there's a Fire Navy ship lurking around the corner just waiting for someone to trip a century-old trap. Nothing's going to happen."

Oh, now he'd done it, saying nothing would happen. Next thing you know, there would be a Fire Nation ship sailing around the bend. And somehow it would be Sokka's fault too. Just in case, Zuko shot a covert glance at the ocean. Nope, they were in the clear, for now anyway.

"I hope you're right, airbender." Gran-Gran's voice was colder than the ice around them, and cutting as a polar-dog's teeth. "Otherwise, it might be the end of us. Now, I believe it best that you leave."

"What, over a silly flare? You've gotta be kidding me," Sokka laughed, crossing his arms.

Without a word, Gran-Gran turned on her heel and walked away, followed by the rest of the village. Except for one.

Zuko's stomach sank as he spotted Aang, hidden by the crowd before now. His brother was rubbing his arm, body angled away from Zuko slightly. He wasn't even looking at him!

"Well, that was melodramatic," Sokka said as Zuko took a step forwards to check on his brother.

Whirling about to face Sokka, Zuko stared at him. Melodramatic?! He thought being upset over drawing attention to themselves was melodramatic?! When they were a broken people made up of mostly women, children, and elders whose best chance of survival was to not call attention to themselves and hope and pray some Fire Navy commander didn't get the bright idea to eliminate them once and for all?

"It's not melodramatic," Zuko hissed. "If someone comes, they could wipe us out. We'd be dead, Sokka," he emphasized, searching the airbender's face for any sign he understood. That he could get how serious it was.

"And I'm sure there's an entire fleet just past the nearest glacier, headed this way right now," he drawled. "Lighten up Zuko, nothing's gonna happen. Right Aang?" he chirped, turning towards him.

Oh no, he was not dragging Aang into this. "Get out," Zuko hissed.

"What?" Sokka asked, glancing at Zuko and blinking.

"Get. Out." Zuko repeated, stepping forwards. "You've been banished, so leave."

Sokka pulled back, startled. Without a second glance, Zuko turned his back on the banished airbender and went to check on his brother.

"Well fine, I'll just leave then!" Sokka shouted from behind him. "Since I'm sooo unwelcome!"

Zuko ignored him as he reached his brother. "Hey, you doing okay?" he asked softly.

Silently, Aang glanced up. Zuko followed his gaze to the fading signal hanging over his shoulder. Ah, right.

"Look, Sokka's an idiot," Zuko said, resting a hand on Aang's shoulder as he glanced back at the airbender. He was already on his way, back stiff as he kept it firmly towards the village. "But he's probably right," Zuko continued, "Most likely, no one will come."

Some of the tension bled out from Aang's shoulders. "You think so?" he asked.

"Yeah," Zuko nodded. "But," he started hesitantly, "maybe we should go keep watch, just in case." If he could have promised everything would be okay and let Aang go back to being the happy-go-lucky kid he was supposed to be, Zuko would have in a heartbeat. But . . . if someone had seen that flare, then they were better off with both of them keeping an eye out, instead of just Zuko.

Aang's face closed off for a moment, before his usual bright grin made its reappearance. "Sure!" he chirped. "Bet I can spot more tiger-seals than you!" he challenged, grinning.

"In your dreams," Zuko scoffed, flicking Aang's hair beads.

Together, the two walked back to the village. And if Aang's smile was a little strained around the edges, the corners of his eyes a little tight, if he'd never stopped gripping his arm; well, Zuko wasn't going to call Aang on it.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The entire Southern Water Tribe were jerks. Paranoid jerks that he didn't want to hang out with anyway! Except maybe Aang, he seemed okay. But he was the only one, and his brother was the biggest jerk in the whole village.

Sokka folded his arms, sinking back into Appa's fur. "Who needs them anyway?" he said aloud. "I've got the bestest friend in the whole wide world right here," he declared, tossing Appa a dazzling smile.

. . .

The Fire Princess Toph was getting ready for battle. With head held high, she allowed her attendants to buckle her armor on and settle the shoulder piece on top of that. Stiffly, she held out her arms to allow them to tie it on as someone approached with her helmet. Solemnly, she lifted it from his hands and settled it on her head. Finally, she allowed herself a slight quirk of the lips. Her quest was nearly over.

. . .

"And just what do you mean by that?" Sokka very reasonably and calmly inquired of his Sky Bison, hands on hips and tapping his foot. He was absolutely not shrieking like a little girl, nope. This was a very calm, reasonable discussion with his giant roaring fluff monster.

Appa chuffed, not even looking at Sokka. Rude!

"I am not being ridiculous," Sokka declared with wounded dignity. "I am the only sane one in the entire South Pole!"

At Appa's answering rumble, Sokka slumped. "Yeah, I thought so too," he sighed, breezing back up to settle on Appa's head. Idly, he scratched at the base of Appa's horn as he squinted out over the chilly landscape in front of him.

It hadn't changed in the last five minutes; there was still that funny glacier, there was that boring glacier, there was the Water Jerk village and there was the funky Fire Nation ship headed right for it.

Wait a minute.

There was a Fire Nation ship headed towards the village?! Maybe he could get someone to show him how it worked!

"Appa! Yip yip!" Sokka shouted gleefully, sitting up and grabbing at the reins. He couldn't wait!

But . . . what about that roomful of weapons? The Fire Nation were the Bad Guys now. And . . . everyone had been so scared of this exact thing happening when he and Zuko had set off that flare.

Sokka swallowed heavily. He had to hurry, the village was in danger and he had to protect them! It was his job!

He was the Avatar, after all.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

It was a lot quieter at the village than Aang was used to.

Usually the kids would be running around, laughing, playing and getting underfoot. Usually the women would be chattering as they went about their chores, calling to the children, clanging spoons against the sides of the pot, rustling hides and other small day-to-day noises that weren't noticeable.

Until they were gone, that is.

Now it was silent. No one was talking, or rustling, or clanging. Nothing penetrated the thick, suffocating fog wrapping around him like a thick, wet blanket.

Aang couldn't stand it! Forget having a 'larger field of vision', if he had to stand out here, he was at least going to be with his brother. With his footsteps ringing abnormally loudly in the dead air, Aang trod over to join Zuko on the other end of the wall.

Zuko met him halfway, somber but not angry. Neither one of them said a word as they stood side by side, not even when Zuko rested his hand on Aang's shoulder. Huffing out a breath, a brief flash of white in the sea of grey, Aang leaned against his brother slightly. At least he wasn't alone any more.

Suddenly Zuko stiffened, his grip on Aang's shoulder tightening painfully. Aang squinted against the mist, searching for what had caught his brother's eye. But he couldn't see anything but hazy grey.

Until out of the mist it came, looming above them like a steely eclipse, blocking out their hope.

"Aang!" Zuko shouted as he tackled him to the ground, just as the ship plowed into where Aang had been standing moments ago. A crack snaked its way into the village, beneath the feet of anyone unwary enough to be caught by it.

The village exploded into action. Mothers grabbed their children, frantically counting heads while running away from the treacherous ground beneath them. Girls dashed about, trying to save their most precious belongings; Aang saw his cousin running out of her collapsing home, carrying her unworn wedding dress. Some stopped to help the elderly get to safer ground. Wait a minute, Gran-Gran! She'd fallen and gotten her foot stuck!

Scrambling to his feet, Aang took off after Zuko to help their grandmother as the ship finally screeched to a halt. As most of the village stared up at it in silent fear, Aang and Zuko ducked under Gran-Gran's arms and helped her to safer ground.

Aang couldn't help but stare at the ship once they had Gran-Gran settled. It was a lot bigger than the old one by the penguin-sledding slopes, maybe twice as big in fact. Stepping in front of him –and blocking his view! — Zuko slid into a battle stance, spear at the ready.

Hey, he wanted to see! Aang huffed and stepped to the side slightly, peering around Zuko, just as the front of the ship detached with a hiss and began lowering into the snow. Aang's breath caught and he clenched his fists nervously.

And the ice around him cracked.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

It was time. Toph pulled her shoulders back and took a deep breath, locking her hands behind her back. It was time to show the world, show her father, what she was made of.

With a shudder, her ship stopped, and it seemed like the world stopped with it for a moment, before the front of the ship detached with a hiss and began its tortuously slow descent. She was going to have a chat with the engineers after this, because it took forever!

Impatient, Toph stepped out before the ramp had completely settled, only to stumble slightly with her arms flying out to steady herself as it did. Urgh, there went her dramatic entrance! She'd just have to make up for it in attitude.

Sauntering down the ramp, Toph took in the sight around her. The villagers were clumped together like wet sand, life-heat pulsing with fear. Good. Behind her, her uncle was following her down, heat radiating from him since he'd decided to forgo a shirt, and shoes for that matter, and keep himself warm with his bending. After them were six soldiers, benders and spearmen alike. As Toph set foot on the snowy ground, she smirked and cracked her knuckles.

"All right, you ash heaps!" she bellowed. "Where's the Avatar?"

The only reaction she got to that was confused murmurs. No sudden spiking heartbeats, no new flush of adrenaline, nothing that might indicate they actually knew what she was talking about. Urgh, he must have kept what he was a secret. Stupid Avatar, making her job so much harder.

"Okay, let's try this," Toph announced, pacing in front of the water peasants. "How about a guy who's, oh say about a hundred years old? Airbender, though maybe you flamebrains didn't happen to notice that?"

Well, that was interesting, one of the water peasants actually reacted to that one. Heartbeat spiked, flush of adrenaline, the whole nine yards. Toph focused in on it, him, a little closer. Hm, he was short, only a little taller than her. No, not short, young; about her age in fact, going by his body rhythms.

Really? The one person in the whole Southern Water Tribe that had a clue was a twelve(ish) year old kid? Grownups.

"You," Toph declared, pointing at him. "Where is the Avatar?"

The kid didn't seem to know what to think about that. He jumped, looking around.

"Yeah, you," Toph drawled, crossing her arms. "Who else would I be talking to, Granny?" she gestured to the old lady next to him.

"But I don't know anything," he protested, trying to hide behind somebody else, male, about sixteen-seventeen.

"Leave him alone!" the other boy shouted, stepping forwards and brandishing some sort of stick-thingy. Really, and what exactly did he think he was going to do with that? Whatever, she'd just blast him if he got to be too much trouble.

"Sorry, no can do. He hasn't answered my question. So if you would step aside, I might not feel the need to set your face on fire," she threatened with a bright, cheerful grin.

That had an effect. The guy stepped back and lowered his stick slightly. "Aang said he didn't know anything," he defended, but cautiously.

"I heard," Toph said flatly. This was getting annoying. "So 'Aang'," she called back, "something sparked in that head of yours, now what was it?"

Snow crunched as the kid shuffled his feet for a moment, before he finally stepped forwards to face her. "I don't know for sure, he never said he was the Avatar," he hedged.

Why couldn't anyone get to the point around here?! Toph stomped forwards; she was going burn it out of that boy if he didn't tell her what she needed to know right now!

Then Stick took a swing at her head.

Toph ducked, waving off her soldiers and uncle's instinctive surge to her defense. "You wanna fight, Stick?" she asked, smirking. "Then let's go." Maybe she'd get some answers once they saw what she was capable of. Not that Toph needed an excuse for a good fight.

Stick hesitated, fingers tightening around his weapon. There was something funny about the one end of it though, there was something there, but Toph couldn't quite figure out what.

Wait, the water peasants used bone on their spears, not metal. That's what that is. Toph, you dummy. Stick lunged. If she hadn't been watching the spear head, it would have skewered her. She slid to the side, only for Stick to slash towards her.

Toph blocked, trying to grab the shaft to twist it out of his hands. Stick was smarter than that though, jerking it back quickly and catching her hand in the back of the spear head. It actually knocked her off balance! And was she bleeding? She was! That flamebrain had cut her!

"We don't have to fight," Stick said. "Please, if you'll just leave my brother alone," he begged, spear tip dipping downwards.

Lowering her hands slightly, Toph cocked her head, "So you want me to just pack up and leave, with nothing to show for it?" she asked, and didn't even put any bite into her tone.

Stick tensed, spear coming back up and body shifting as he prepared to attack. Toph didn't let him get that far. A quick blast toward his foot sent him stumbling—right over Toph's waiting ankle. This time, she didn't give him time to recover, grabbing onto his spear shaft as he fell and pushing him down with all her might.

His heartbeat spiked in fear. Good. Baring her teeth at him, Toph growled "No way under Agni's great eye," and turned his stick to ash.

"You're a firebender," he said dumbly, their hands still hanging where his stick used to be, almost close enough to touch.

"What, like threatening to set your face on fire wasn't enough of a clue?" Toph snarked. "Now hold still," she said, pulling her hands together and forming a crackling ball in between. "Wouldn't want to miss," she added with a feral grin.

As she started to roast him her fire sputtered and died. Her hands were shaking. Stick didn't notice; he was scrabbling backwards with his arm over his face.

Then the snow reared up into a wave and soaked her. "Waterbender!" she shouted, the cold snapping her mind back in the game. Toph slid into a defensive stance, ready to fight with whoever had dared to attack her.

It was easy to tell who it was. The same stupid kid from before; standing there, arms outstretched, his only movements the quick, shallow rise and fall of his chest.

He bolted. "Get the Stick kid, I've got the waterbender!" Toph shouted as she chased after him.

The kid was fast, Toph would give him that. On top of that, he knew the village and he was a waterbender. In the South Pole.

He ducked behind an ice hut, Toph hot on his heels. Until she stepped in an ankle-deep puddle that promptly froze her foot in place. The kid was already turning on his heel as Toph realized what had happened. "Sorry!" the kid shouted over his shoulder as he ran. Right into her uncle. Both of them radiated shock, but Bumi snatched the back of the kid's coat before he could run again.

"Yeah, you get him, Uncle!" Toph cheered, punching the air. With a moment of concentration, she poured heat out of her foot, melting the ice around it until she could yank it out from its icy prison.

While she was doing that, the kid tried the puddle-and-freeze thing on Bumi. Toph's uncle was smarter than that though, jumping to the side and dragging the bender brat with him.

"Hold onto him!" Toph barked, but Bumi was ahead of her. Already he had twisted the boy's arm behind his back and was forcing him to his knees. The kid struggled, but Bumi was a lot bigger and stronger and kept him there easily.

Toph smirked, stopping in front of the boy and crossing her arms. "Now, let's get down to it, shall we?" she said and crouched down so their heads were level, even if hers was tilted down. "Where. Is. The Avatar?" she questioned, putting every ounce of menace she could into her tone.

"I don't know!" the boy cried, his heart racing in fear. Urgh, with all the stress in his system she couldn't get a clear view if he was lying or not. "We banished him! I don't know where he is!"

What, really? They banished the Avatar? Or was he lying? Toph didn't think so; she'd go with it for now. "Which direction did he go in?" Toph pressed.

"I— I don't know," the boy said. Hah! Now that was a lie. His head had turned slightly, like he was trying to avoid her gaze.

"I can tell you're ly-ing," Toph sing-songed, smirking. She had him now!

"He's my friend," the boy protested weakly.

Toph was about to push further, maybe throw a little fire around while she was at it, but Bumi beat her to it.

"He's your friend, you say?" he asked curiously. What was he up to? She leaned back, letting him take charge. Her uncle was crazy, but his schemes usually worked out.

"Yeah," the boy said slowly. He tried to squirm away, but Bumi twisted his arm a little harder and that was that. Heh, served him right!

"So then," her uncle said with a huge, bright grin, "if we take you prisoner, he'll come to rescue you!"

Oooooh, the kid did not like that. He froze up, didn't even breathe for a couple seconds! "Good idea, Uncle!" Toph crowed. Hm, now what kind of trap should she lay in order to catch herself an Avatar?

"You can't!" the kid protested, struggling wildly. Not that it did him any good. Bumi had a good grip and if the kid wasn't careful—yup, there he went, wrenching his shoulder. Letting out a moan of pain, the kid slumped.

Toph snorted. What an idiot. Well, they better get going; they had an Avatar to trap! "C'mon Uncle," she said, standing up and brushing the snow off her clothing, "let's get bait-boy back on the ship."

As she strode back towards the center of the village, Bumi pulled their bait to his feet— by his uninjured arm, she noted. Eh, if he wanted to be soft, that was his business. She wouldn't show weakness.

When they were in view of the rest of the water peasants, Toph gestured for Bumi to move on as she stopped. She had a speech to make.

"Listen up, ash heaps!" she bellowed. "We're leaving, and we're taking the Avatar's buddy over there with us," she jerked a thumb over her shoulder at uncle and the kid.

Of course, Bumi had to stop a moment and give a cheerful wave to the terrified villagers before continuing on his way. Toph snorted, suppressing a grin before she continued. "Now, I need you guys to do me a favor. I need you to tell the Avatar about this when he gets back. Otherwise," she summoned a small flame to crackle in her palm, "I'll come back and burn this place to the ground."

And then, because Bumi was a terrible influence, she plastered a bright, sunny grin on her face, said "Thank you!" and skipped up the ramp, leaving a trail of fear, destruction, and confusion in her wake.

"You!" she barked at the nearest soldier. "Tell the helmsman to set a course to the Fire Nation capitol!" He scurried off to do her bidding and Toph stopped to lean against the wall, listening to the ramp swing upwards, closing the ship off from the world. She allowed herself a small smile. She was finally going home.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

It was a strange thing, people and their relationship with fire. Cruel and greedy, devouring homes, belongings, even loved ones. Yet they depended on it to keep them alive in her people's frozen homeland. The firepit was a place to gather around during the evenings, and even with the evil beast at their heart they still laughed, loved, lived their lives as if it wasn't waiting to escape its prison and destroy them all.

Staring at the gleefully taunting flames dancing in their pit, Kanna allowed herself to hate them. But only for a moment, before she lifted her head and looked around at the wreckage of her home.

Every able-bodied woman and child was busy rebuilding homes and doing their best to patch up the cracks in the snow beneath their feet, and here she was stuck sitting by the fire with a sprained ankle. Waiting for someone they'd told to never come back.

"Mama, look! It's the fluffy land whale!" a little boy shouted, pointing and hopping excitedly.

Speaking of which, that sounded like him already. Kanna turned, peering at where the young lad was pointing. It certainly did look like the Avatar's giant whatever-that-was too.

"What's he doing back already? We banished him," someone hissed behind Kanna, setting off a wave of hostile mutterings.

"I'll speak to him," Kanna said, raising her voice above the crowd, which promptly fell into silence. "Now go on back to your tasks," she instructed.

Not bothering to watch as they went back to work, Kanna instead focused on watching the great lumbering beast come closer. In fact, it was just outside the village now and had stopped, and she could see the boy hopping down and heading her way.

"Hello, Avatar," she greeted once he was close.

Twitching, the Avatar gave her a guarded look. Kanna gave a tight, humorless smile. Yes, she'd figured it out.

"Hey, Zuko and Aang's grandmother," he drawled, leaning on his staff. "So, I happened to notice a Fire Nation ship hanging around here, you wouldn't happen to know anything about that would you?"

"No, I somehow managed to miss the giant ship crashing into my village and the vicious little fire brat that threatened to burn it down," Kanna said flatly.

"There was a kid in charge of this mess?" the Avatar asked, surprised. Taking a look around the village, he commented, "Wow, he sure messed up this place good."

Kanna closed her eyes, taking a deep breath. Shouting at the boy wouldn't do any good. She needed to pass on the important information and send him on his way. "It was a girl, perhaps twelve. I believe she was blind, but she had no trouble getting around. She was looking for you, wants you to follow her. Went that way," Kanna finished, gesturing.

"What, really? And why would I follow her? Is she gonna track me down and throw a tantrum if I don't?" he snarked.

"She took my grandsons," Kanna snapped, hands balling into fists. "She took the only family I have left and you have to go rescue them, Avatar."

The Avatar stared at her in stunned silence. So did the rest of the village. Well, even if she had gotten a bit loud it was still rude to stare. Kanna turned and met their eyes with a quelling glare, and soon her people were back to work. Finally, she turned back to the Avatar.

"You know, this is why I didn't want to tell anyone I was the Avatar," the Avatar said flatly. "All of a sudden it's 'now you must bring balance to the world Avatar' 'it is time for you to realize your destiny Avatar' 'please save my idiot grandkids Avatar'. No one ever wants to talk to Sokka anymore!" he complained, crossing his arms and scowling.

Oh spirits be praised, the Avatar was going to save her grandchildren. "Thank you," she croaked, clasping her hands together. "Thank you for saving my grandsons." Taking a shuddering breath, Kanna blinked a few times and let her clenched hands fall in her lap. "But before you go, I packed a few things for your journey."

"Were you actually listening to me?" the Avatar questioned as she passed him a bag, which he breezed up to secure on his creature before coming back down. "Because I didn't actually say I would go do that you know," he continued as Kanna passed him another. Once again he went up, came down, still speaking, "I mean, I am the Avatar, so of course I will." This time, Kanna got to her feet, careful on her throbbing ankle, and proceeded to pile the rest of the bags on him. "But you just kinda oof assumed that- okay this is getting kinda heavy- I would."

Did this boy ever shut up? No matter, he would be on his way soon and it would be her grandsons' turn to put up with him. "Avatar-" she started to say.

"Um, is this gonna be some sort of long speech? Cause I'd like to put these away first if it is," the Avatar interrupted, hefting the packs.

Only years of experience raising three sons and two grandsons kept Kanna from sighing in exasperation. "Yes, go on," she said patiently. Sinking back down to her seat, she stared back at the crackling flames as she waited for the Avatar to return.

This time, it was only a minute before he was plopping down nearby, resting his chin in his hands as he looked up at Kanna. "So, you were saying?"

"There is a reason my grandsons were the ones to find you," Kanna said somberly, still staring at the fire. "So as it is your destiny to stop this war, it is their destiny to help you."

"Riiiiight," the Avatar drawled. "So, are we done here?" he asked, getting to his feet and brushing the snow off his pants.

They were always difficult at this age, Kanna reminded herself. Zuko had been terrible. She'd wanted to strangle him, and his mother for leaving him with her. Just for that, they were on their own when Aang got to be that age. "Yes, we're done," Kanna drawled.

"Guess I'm off to save the world then. See ya, old lady!" the Avatar said cheerfully and lightly jumped up on his beast's head.

Kanna finally took her eyes off the now-dying fire to watch him go. Spirits help them, that was the Avatar. Well, there was no use worrying about it, he was off to do his job. Kanna turned back to the sputtering fire. For a moment, she thought about letting it die. A statement of faith.

Bah, she was too old for such flights of fancy. Kanna threw some kindling in the firepit.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

This was ridiculous. Here he was, off to rescue those two poor, helpless Water Tribe kids and they didn't even bother to give him a coat. Did they not notice it was freezing?!

"I can't believe these people," Sokka complained, thumping back against Appa's hump. "First, I'm welcome, then they kick me out, and now they want me to go help them out without un-banishing me. That's just shallow."

Appa rumbled deeply enough that Sokka felt it in his bones.

"Exactly!" Sokka agreed, nodding firmly. "They were jerks and now I've gotta go help them. If I wasn't the Avatar I wouldn't have to do this, but I've got the whole 'fate of the world' thing on my shoulders. You'd think that'd earn me a little more respect."

Which prompted Appa to toss his head in agreement. Sokka had to cling to his fur to stay on.

He just loved Appa so much! It made him wish Appa was small enough to squish to his chest and really show him how much Sokka cared about him. Well, he'd just have to make do with clinging to Appa's horn.

"I'm so glad we're on the same page," he told Appa happily, rubbing his cheek against the not-actually-all-that-huggable, in fact kinda hard and—ow! Sharp too!

As Sokka let go and slid back to his normal seat, Appa let out a low groan that kinda sounded like 'uuuuuuuhhhhhhggggggg'. What was that all about? Appa had a strong stomach, he usually didn't get indigestion.

"I mean what's making me go rescue them?" Sokka asked, rhetorically of course. "Nothing! I'm just doing it out of the goodness of my heart! And if I happened to decide. . ." he trailed off, hands dropping into his lap.

For a moment the only sound was the swish of Appa's swimming.

"Okay, on the one hand, rescuing Zuko and Aang is, objectively, the right thing to do, right?" Sokka said, balancing his hands as if they were a scale. "On the other, it's distracting me from fulfilling my destiny as the Avatar," he continued.

Appa snorted. Okay, he had a point there. "I know, but you know it's not like they're in any danger," Sokka pointed out. "Besides, Zuko could use some time to cool off. And then I could always go back later, when I'm better prepared, too."

With that groany-huffy noise that was one of Appa's favorites, the bison ducked around one of those floaty ice chunks. Well, that settled it.

"I completely agree. Appa, prepare for a rescue mission!" Sokka declared grandly. And just as he started to give the command to fly, it hit him.

He could find his people.

Groaning, Sokka thumped his head against Appa's hump. "I hate my brain," he announced sourly as the pieces began to click into place. The Southern Air Temple wasn't too far from here, and after he rescued the Water Tribe boys, he'd have to go to the North Pole for his waterbending training. There wouldn't be time to search. But if he postponed the start of the Avatar's journey, took some time for Sokka then he could at least drop by the Southern temple, find the hidden survivors that had to be there somewhere.

Sure, he felt guilty about abandoning the boys, but it would only be for a little while. They'd be fine. Right? Right.

Reluctantly, Sokka sat up again and tightened his grip on Appa's reins. "Change of plans, buddy, we're headed for the Southern Air Temple. Yip yip."

Moaning,—and it had to be because he was tired, no other reason at all—Appa slapped his tail against the water and then they were flying. Which was great! Flying was fun! It was awesome. All your troubles just melted away. Just you, your bestest friend and the sky. No cares, no worries, no way was he fooling himself. Can't quit thinking about Zuko and Aang, can he?

Forget them! Sokka needed to find his people. Hey, some of his friends might still be around! One hundred and fifteen wasn't that old, right?

After one hundred years, or a week, depending on your point of view, Sokka was going home.

Chapter Text

Aang was sitting on a bunk, in a cell, on a Fire Nation ship. This was bad. He’d known something like this would happen! Now he and Zuko were in a cell and were gonna spend the rest of their lives in a Fire Nation jail and it was all his fault for finding Sokka in the first place!

“ Hey,” Zuko said, nudging Aang with his elbow. “It’s not your fault.”

“ Yes it is,” Aang mumbled miserably. He knew Zuko was just trying to cheer him up, but look at where they were! Not a very cheerful situation.

Ducking away from his brother, Aang flopped down on the other bunk and buried his face in the pillow. Squeezing his eyes shut, Aang tried to keep the tears from coming. He felt Zuko’s familiar presence settling in beside him, and his warm hand resting on his back.

“ It’s pretty terrifying, isn’t it?” Zuko said quietly. “But we’re alive, and for now at least we’re together.”

Yeah, but for how much longer? The firebender girl seemed to think Sokka would come back for them, and maybe he would, maybe he’d even manage to pull off a rescue. But, what if he didn’t?

Aang sat up, leaning against Zuko. “I just want to go home,” he said softly. When raids rarely happened, and everyone was there, and safe. Back before Mom left and- maybe even Dad was still alive.

“ Me too,” Zuko admitted. “Mom left me in charge of protecting the village, and now. . .” he fell silent, staring at the wall.

“ I’m sorry I got us captured,” Aang murmured. “I didn’t mean to call attention to us.”

“ It wasn’t your fault,” Zuko repeated. “You didn’t do anything, she just picked on you for some reason.”

Aang shifted and ducked his head. “I figured it out. When she asked about the Avatar, it clicked. And then she pointed at me and asked me what I knew,” he said slowly. “And she said she knew I was lying, later.”

“ What are you trying to say?” Zuko asked, his voice stiff.

“ You don’t think she can read minds, do you?” Aang blurted, staring up at Zuko with wide eyes.

“ Don’t be silly, that’s not possible,” Zuko dismissed. “You’ve been listening to Auntie Karra’s stories too much,” he scolded, frowning at Aang.

“ How else do you explain it?” Aang exploded, jerking to his feet and throwing his hands in the air. “She’s blind , how does she do it without being some sort of spirit?”

“ First of all, spirit’s can’t look human,” Zuko said calmly.

“ The Avatar does,” Aang pointed out mulishly.

“ The Avatar is the bridge between the spirits and humans, he doesn’t count,” Zuko countered. “Second, she probably just figured out some way to get around despite being blind. Grandpa did,” he reminded his younger brother.

“ Not to that degree,” Aang sighed, sinking back down beside Zuko. “She fought you, Zuko. And won.”

“ I’m not saying she’s not scary,” Zuko said softly, “just that she’s not some sort of mind-reading spirit.”

Aang let out a gusty sigh, leaning back against the wall. “I guess I was being kinda dumb,” he admitted.

“ It’s okay, I’m used to it,” Zuko teased, a grin twitching at the corners of his mouth.

“ Hey!” Aang protested, snatching up his pillow. “ I wasn’t the one to thought it was a good idea to try and get the fishhook in my thumb out with another one!” he protested, smacking Zuko with the pillow.

Snatching the pillow away and tossing it across the small cell, Zuko grabbed ahold of Aang and flopped down, pinning the younger boy to the bunk. “And who was it that couldn’t figure out how to say my name till he was six?” he asked, resting his chin on top of Aang’s head.

“ Zuuuuuko,” Aang whined, struggling to get free.

“ Yep, that’s right, that’s how you say it,” Zuko said, easily keeping Aang trapped with his larger frame.

Aang rolled his eyes and gave up, a grin threatening to split his face. They may be in trouble, but as long as they were together, then Aang couldn’t give up hope.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The sun peered down at Sokka like some sort sort of overly-curious neighbor watching him sleep. Sokka groaned, flopping to the side and throwing his arm over his face. The welcome embrace of his dear friend, sleep, awaited.

Then a wet, sticky and warm piece of flesh dragged over his head. “Aaaargh! Appa!” Sokka shrieked, shooting upright. Wiping the bison spit out of his eyes, he glared at the giant creature. “I was trying to sleep,” he whined. Now he was sticky and covered in sand. Which mean he needed to take a bath. In the ocean waters close to the South Pole.

“ You really know how to show you care, don’t you buddy?” Sokka drawled, propping his hand on his chin. Appa roared and licked him again.

Defeated, Sokka reluctantly got to his feet. “Here goes nothing,” he said, leaning his staff against a nearby rock. With that, he charged into the water. It was freezing! Sokka stayed in only long enough to completely submerge before charging out of the water and back up onto the beach, chanting “Cold, cold, cold, cold,” the whole way.

As Sokka stood on the beach, shivering violently, Appa gave a low rumble. “Oh you think this is funny? Well what about this !” Sokka cried, forming an airbubble and blowing the water away. Most of it landed on Appa, not that Sokka was trying to do that or anything.

However Appa didnt’ seem to get that, letting out a low ‘rrrrrrrrrrr’ and approaching Sokka with his tongue out. “Okay, okay, I’m sorry! No need for anymore baths okay buddy?” Sokka babbled, backing away with his hands out. “Let’s go ahead and get going, all right?” he cajoled.

Appa paused, and Sokka decided to take the opportunity to quickly gather his things and jump up in his bison’s saddle. “There, all done, time to go now, yip yip!” Sokka chattered, breezing up to Appa’s head. It seemed to be good enough for the bison, because with a dull roar Appa took flight.

They flew in silence for a few minutes, Sokka sprawling out on his perch, before he broke the silence. “You know, this is kinda fun. Just you and me and the open sky,” he reflected, scratching at the base of Appa’s horn. “No annoying Air Nomads or Water Tribesman to ask stupid questions, or boss me around, or ask me what’s for dinner. . .”

“ I’m so lonely, ” he complained, rolling over to stare at the sky. “But that’s okay! Not too much longer and we’ll meet up with our people! You’ll like that, won’t you buddy?” Appa huffed and Sokka laughed. “Yeah, that’s right. Then there will be plenty of talking and questions and food.”

Sokka’s stomach chose that moment to growl loudly. Looks like he shouldn’t wait till then. “You keep going, buddy. I’m gonna go see if we’ve got any snacks.”

As Appa rumbled in agreement, Sokka let himself float upwards, reaching down and snagging the edge of the saddle as it passed under him and brought himself back down. “Now, what have we here?” he said aloud, grabbing the snackchel-- ooohh, neat word, he’d have to remember that one!-- and opening it up.

The first thing he found was some sort of dry, brown strips of . . . he had no idea. Sokka sniffed it, urgh, smelled weird too. Maybe it was some sort of kindling? They didn’t have wood up there, so they had to burn something, right?

Well, one way to find out. Sokka ate it.

This was definitely not kindling. It was way too delicious! Sokka promptly stuffed the whole strip in his mouth. Then a couple more, just for good measure. “Mmf, dis’s good!” he exclaimed around his mouthful of tasty, but kinda chewy, treats. Really chewy, actually. Maybe shoving a whole handful in his mouth at once hadn’t been such a good idea.

Finally, he managed to get it all in his stomach. Grabbing one more, Sokka breezed up to dangle some down by Appa’s nose. “You wanna try some?” he offered.

Appa jolted to a stop, shaking his head and growling. Well he didn’t have to be so rude about it.

“ More for me then,” Sokka huffed, settling back on Appa’s head and biting into his whatever-it-was. Tying the bag containing the chewy treats to his belt, Sokka flopped back onto Appa’s head.

As he watched the mountains begin to take on a familiar shape, Sokka began to think. “Do you think the temple’s changed a lot?” Sokka wondered, staring at the thickening cloud cover. Appa gave a low whine, slowing down slightly as they entered the fog. Entered the unknown.

Sokka found himself leaning forwards, trying to peer through the fog. Gradually a shape began to form, becoming more and more distinct. The Southern Air Temple. He was home.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

It was a small port, some distance from the front but not quite close to the islands or the colonies. Only a few ships were stationed there permanently, with most of the ships being there to resupply, take a night or two of shore leave, and go. Not a very glorious posting.

Commander Yue liked it. It was a peaceful break from the hustle and bustle of the front lines, and allowed her to support her nation in a vital but overlooked capacity. This was her command, and she ran it to the best of her ability. She could say with pride it was one of the most orderly supply stops in the Fire Nation.

After serving thirty years in the Fire Navy, passing up any opportunity to have a family, watching her once-dark hair begin to grey, Yue was glad for the chance to rest. Yet when the infamous Princess Toph and General Bumi dropped by, Yue had to go see what had brought them to her little hole in the wall.

As Yue approached, she noted that the Princess was saying something to her uncle, and how she ceased once Yue was within earshot. Yue was curious, what did the girl have to hide? It was none of her business however. The General and the Princess were far above Yue in rank.

“ Greetings General Bumi, Princess Toph,” Yue said politely, giving a respectful bow.

“ Fancy seeing you here, Captain!” the general exclaimed with a broad grin. “How goes the captaining?” he asked, letting out a brief cackle.

“ I’m afraid you’ll have to ask someone else,” Yue said once he’d finished. “I’ve been promoted to Commander now,” she continued, allowing a note of pride to enter her voice.

“ Commander Yue,” the General said, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. “Now that’s got a nice ring to it!” he declared, winking and giving her two thumbs up.

“ Yeah, yeah, congratulations or whatever,” the Princess said with a dismissive wave of her hand. “We need to get our ship stocked up. I want to be ready to leave as soon as possible.”

The General met Yue’s eyes and gave an exasperated eye roll. Yue fought to keep from snickering, but couldn’t completely keep the grin suppressed. “My men are yours to command,” she deferred smoothly.

“ And while they’re taking care of that, you should come have tea with us!” the General said brightly.

“ Uncle!” the young princess cried. Yue frowned at the disrespect, she had no right to speak to her elder that way. “My apologies,” the princess said through gritted teeth, “but we will not be able to have you over for tea.”

“ Oh, nonsense,” the General tutted, flapping his hand at her. “Why don’t you go boss your men around while Yue and I catch up. Us old people do like our gossip you know,” he chattered, beaming at Yue.

“ If the princess-” Yue started to say.

“ It’s not good for the princess to get her way all the time,” Bumi interrupted. “Now come along,” he said, ushering her up the ramp.

Yue allowed herself to be steered, glancing over he shoulder to see the princess bark orders at the nearest crewman before falling in behind them. Something about the whole situation niggled at her, but she put it aside. Listening to Bumi chatter about how absolutely dull and useless the trip to the South Pole had been, Yue did her best to ignore the sulking princess behind her. She wouldn’t stick her nose into royal business, and they would surely mention it if it was anything important to the security of their nation.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Before Appa’s feet had even hit the ground, Sokka had jumped down and was headed for the temple. “Hey, everyone! The Avatar has returned!” he shouted.

The only reply was the echoes of his own voice. “Guys? It’s just me, Sokka, the Avatar!” he called again. Still no response.

“ Where do you think they went?” Sokka asked Appa, looking over his shoulder -and not finding him there. “Appa?” he asked, turning around. The bison was still where he had landed. “What are you doing over there? C’mon, help me look.”

Lowing, Appa shook his head and took a step backwards. Sokka huffed, planting his hands on his hips. “Don’t be such a chicken-cat and get over here!” he scolded. Appa snorted and refused to move.

“ Okay fine, be that way,” Sokka griped, throwing his hands in the air. “I’ll just explore by myself. Alone. With no fluffy friend beside me,” he continued, turning away and slowly edging away.

When Appa refused to move, Sokka scowled and marched towards the airball court. Fine, he’d find them by himself!

The airball court had always been one of Sokka’s favorite places. The fact he was an amazing airball player had, well, a lot to do with it if he was honest. Someone was always there, playing with their friends or just hanging out after a game. Except . . . for now.

Now there was nothing but a dead stillness. Weeds sprouted up wherever there was a crack in the stone floor- and there were a lot of cracks. Snow that should have been cleared away covered everything. But the absolute worst part had to be the silence. The only sounds were the echos of Sokka’s own footsteps as he wandered around the courtyard. No laughter, no shouts, no roaring bison. Everything was quiet.

. . . They must all be inside. The world thought they were all dead, so they must have hidden when Sokka showed up. Well, he’d just have to go in and show them he was an Air Nomad too!

“ All right guys, I’m coming in,” Sokka called, heading for the temple. The temple that had once seemed so warm and inviting, now loomed above him, coldly imposing. Which, was nonsense! It was just the temple! Sokka’s overactive imagination was getting the better of him again!

Still, Sokka felt a knot of dread settling into his stomach as he pushed open the doors of his former home.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

What under Agni’s Great Eye possessed Uncle Bumi to think that inviting her onboard was a good idea?! Commander Yue was smart and observant, two things she didn’t need hanging around her Avatar-bait! This was her hunt, and she wasn’t going to let some Commander screw it up!

Bumi didn’t seem to get that though, chattering away with Yue as he poured her another cup of tea. “And then Sparky set it on fire!” he finished, cackling. Yue laughed as well, not a polite one, oh no. That was a genuine giggle, even if it was restrained.

And what was so funny about Toph setting things on fire anyway!?

"It sounds like you two are having quite the adventure," Yue said, turning towards Toph. Trying to draw her into the conversation, huh? No thanks. Toph just scowled irritably and slumped even further in her seat. She was here to keep her uncle from blabbing about something he shouldn't, not to socialize.

Maybe a reminder of that would be in order. Toph focused in on Yue’s teacup, the gentle warmth of the tea ever-so-slightly fading into the air. Not if Toph had anything to say about it. Leaning forwards slightly, Toph concentrated, forcing the tea to get hotter and hotter. There! If the Commander tried to drink that now, she’d burn her tongue.

While Toph had been doing that, Bumi had been talking about their recent trip to the South Pole. Toph ignored it, until-

“ -brought a couple souvenirs back with us,” Bumi whispered conspiratorially.

Had he just? He had! “Uncle!” Toph cried, sitting bolt upright. He was about to blow the whole thing! This is why she didn’t want Yue on board in the first place!

“ Oh, right, Sparky wants to keep that a secret, ” Bumi remarked. “Whoops,” he said with a small shrug.

That was it , Toph was cutting this off now. “Get off my ship,” she growled at Yue. “We are leaving! Now!”

“ Now now Sparky, don’t be so rude,” Bumi chided. “We haven’t even gotten to the tour yet!”

Tour? Tour?! “There isn’t going to be a tour!” Toph shouted. “I’m not going to loose the Avatar just because you wanted to have a tea party !” she screamed, gripping the table and heaving it to its side.

“ Aaaaaahhhh!” Yue’s voice rang out in surprise and pain. What? What happened?

“ That is quite enough of that Toph!” Bumi snapped. Toph froze. He- he snapped at her. He called her Toph. Uncle never did that. “Let me see,” he murmured gently to the commander, taking her hand.

“ Uncle?” Toph questioned. Oh, why couldn’t she keep the quiver out of her voice?

“ Some hot tea spilled on Commander Yue’s hand,” Bumi informed her, oddly serious. “It’s burned. I wonder, how did it get to be so hot?” he mused. But he knew. He knew and Toph knew, it was all her fault.

“ Uncle I-” Toph started to say.

“ Now then Commander,” Bumi remarked, completely ignoring Toph. “Let’s get you down to the medical bay.” His voice sounded normal, like nothing had happened, but Toph knew better. She could read his anger in every pound of his heart.

“ There’s no need,” the commander protested. “I can-”

“ Oh nonsense,” Bumi interrupted, chivying her out the door. “Our doctor will have you good as new in no time.”

They walked out the door. Standing in the middle of in the wreckage she caused, Toph felt utterly helpless. She hated it. “Wait!” she cried, following the two out the door.

What was she going to do? Toph had no idea. She just knew she had to fix it. Somehow.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Aang was going to do something, Zuko just knew it. He’d been pacing up and down the cell, mouthing something to himself. He’d done it twice each way before taking a look at Zuko’s face and meekly sitting back down on his bunk. That had been a minute ago, and he was already looking bored again.

On the one hand, Zuko was glad his brother was so easy to keep in good spirits. On the other hand, couldn’t Aang try to keep in mind they were in a Fire Nation prison cell ? The people that had almost completely wiped out their village, and had succeeded in eliminating their waterbenders, except for the a certain twelve-year-old.

Or maybe Zuko should learn to lighten up a little; they were being left alone. For now anyway.

Aang was staring at their cell door. Oh no. “Don’t,” Zuko growled, scowling fiercely.

“ What? I wasn’t even doing anything!” Aang protested indignantly.

“ You were thinking, and that’s bad enough,” Zuko countered. “Next thing you know you’d have some sort of half-thought hair-brained scheme thought up and be roping me into whatever it is,” he grumbled, lying down on the bunk.

There was no response. Sitting up, Zuko looked over to check on his brother. Shoulders hunched, clutching his arms, turned away from Zuko. Great, he’d upset the kid.

“ I didn’t mean it, Aang,” Zuko admitted. “I’m just stressed and taking it out on you, I’m sorry.”

“ I’m not that bad,” Aang retorted, not moving.

“ No, you’re not,” Zuko agreed. “Most of the time your ideas are pretty fun. Remember when we snuck that penguin into Rashi’s hut?” Remembering that incident put a smile on Zuko’s face.

“ That was pretty funny,” Aang agreed, glancing over at Zuko.

“ He walked in and the penguin went nuts,” Zuko reminded. “Kept tripping over everything before he managed to get out. The hut was a wreck afterwards.”

“ And we had to clean it up,” Aang complained, collapsing on the bunk beside his brother.

Success! Zuko had soothed his brother’s hurt feelings. “It was worth it,” Zuko replied. “Rashi finally started bathing after that.” Just the memory of the smell pulled Zuko’s face into a grimace.

“ Is that why we did it? I forgot about that part,” Aang hummed thoughtfully.

Crisis averted, Zuko ruffled his brother’s hair and lapsed into silence. He should think of something to keep Aang occupied though, otherwise-

“ I got an idea!” Aang burst out, eyes wide and sparkling.

Otherwise this would happen.

“ What’s your idea?” Zuko asked warily. When Aang told him, all he could do was stare in stunned disbelief.

“ Aw, c’mon Zuko,” Aang whined, sticking out his bottom lip and giving him the biggest polar-puppy eyes and- no, this was a bad idea, he should not go along with it.

“ Fine,” Zuko grit out.

“ Yay!” Aang cheered. And began to sing the most obnoxious, repetitive song in the entire South Pole. “Ninety-nine polar-dog furs on the wall, ninety-nine polar-dog furs!”

A beat later, and Zuko joined it. “Take one down, pass it around, ninety-eight polar dog furs on the wall.”

A little something known as common sense told Zuko any plan based on annoying the Fire Nation into doing something would not end well. But Zuko never could say no to the polar-puppy eyes.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Hello?" Sokka's voice echoed eerily in the dead air. The still, unmoving, stale air. In an Air Nomad temple.

Nope, that was fine, it was a hundred years after all, maybe- maybe his people just didn't bend indoors anymore! Sokka could see why, there had been a number of times where Monk Pasang had told him to 'go outside, Sokka!' He'd just been a kid, and it wasn't like he'd hurt anyone flying around the halls. Just himself when he lost focus and crashed into the wall. Appa, the traitor, had thought that was hilarious.

Didn't change how creepy this place was. With a shudder, Sokka stepped outside of the hallway and into a courtyard, full of . . . snow. And ice. And a statue of his teacher!

"Monk Piandao!" Sokka cried with a grin, running up to the statue. Smiling, he remembered the last time he'd seen his old friend.

“ Again,” his teacher had said. Obediently, Sokka had run through the kata once more. It was long and difficult form, requiring an intense concentration to remain light and flowing while still keeping the power hidden in the motions.

“ Excellent!” Piandao had praised. “A showing worthy of a master.”

Sokka had beamed. “Thank you, sifu Piandao,” he had thanked, honoring his maser with a bow. His fingers had brushed across the almost-healed tattoo decorating the back of his hand.

The older monk returned it briefly and gestured for Sokka to walk with him. “Now, remember that we informed you of your status of the Avatar early for a reason. Don’t rush your training, but don’t dawdle either,” he had warned as they walked through the hallway. Airbender children had darted around them, laughter in their lips and breezes beneath their feet under the watchful eye of another monk. They had exchanged cordial nods as they passed by each other before Sokka had replied.

“ Don’t worry Mon Piandao, I’ll have waterbending down in no time!” he had reassured.

“ I know you will,” Piandao had reached down and squeezed his shoulder. “You’ve worked incredibly hard these past few months at mastering airbending. I’m proud to call you my student.”

Sokka’s chest had felt like it was just about to burst from pride. “I won’t let you down, sifu,” he vowed, brandishing his staff for emphasis.

“ I know you won’t,” Piandao had replied as they had taken their final steps out into the courtyard. Appa had been there, saddled and waiting for their journey to begin.

The two airbenders had turned to face each other once more. “Now Sokka,” Pinandao began, “there are some out there who aren’t happy with the Avatar’s existence. So watch your back, and be sensible .”

What? People out there who didn’t like the guy bringing balance to the world? Phft, loonies. Still. “I will,” Sokka had promised. The two bowed to each other one last time. Sokka had glanced up at his master, wondering if he should give in to his impulse. Pinando had given a small smile, opening his arms. At that, Sokka had grinned, throwing his arms around his master and burying his face in his chest. “I won’t let you down,” he had promised. With that, he had broken away and breezed up to land on Appa’s head. “Next time you see me, I’ll be the fully-realized Avatar of the world!” he’d declared, grinning broadly. And with a yip-yip, they were off.

He’d never see Monk Pinando again. Sokka’s smile dimmed at the realization, and he sank down to sit with his back to it’s base. “I’m sorry I messed up,” he said, staring down at his hands. “I knew I shouldn’t have flown in that storm, but I was just so eager to get to the South Pole and get started on my waterbending. Ended up getting frozen for a hundred years and letting the world sink into chaos,” he confessed miserably.

A sudden breeze sprung up and tossed his words to the uncaring sky and cut through Sokka's robes like a cold knife. Shivering, he retreated to the scarce protection of the temple hallway.

"I shouldn't have come back," Sokka said aloud- talking to himself, but hey, who was around to judge? "I should have gone back to save my friends- urgh, stupid Sokka! Always messing things up!" he said, slapping himself on the head. "First you get yourself stuck in an iceberg for a hundred years while the world falls apart, then you don't even try to fix it when you get out!" With a sigh, he leaned his head against the stone wall. "I'm the worst Avatar ever," he said miserably.

Saying that sparked a memory. Monk Piandao, showing him the doors to the Sanctuary. "When the time is right, you will meet someone that will help you in here."

"But that was a hundred years ago," Sokka said, standing up straight. "He can't still be there." But yet, could Sokka really risk it? It's not like his friends would get into any more trouble in the time it took him to check it out.

. . . Okay that was way to similar to the logic he used to ditch them in the first place. This time it was different though. Totally. Yeah, he just had to keep telling himself that.

Pushing all thoughts of certain Water Tribe boys out of his head, Sokka headed down the hallway towards the Sanctuary.

The doors to the Temple Sanctuary had always impressed Sokka, even when he was little. The ingenuity that it took to design the air tunnels so that it was possible to activate, but yet difficult enough not just any airbender could was just amazing! And it was sturdy enough that a determined eight year old couldn't take it apart.

Hm, no one was around to make him stop this time. Maybe? No, no he had to go rescue his friends. And then the world. Later, Sokka promised himself.

The dead stillness of the temple creeped Sokka out, so he hurried on his way. He could have gone faster using his air scooter or glider but something about that seemed sacrilegious. So he continued on foot, the sound of his steps echoing in his ears. It still seemed to take forever before he got to the Sanctuary doors.

Sokka looked up at the doors and their fascinating tunnel system before taking a deep breath and sliding into a stance. Then he summoned the wind, stale and dead as it was, and sent it funneling through the air tunnels. It only took a moment for all three thingamabobs to turn and the doors to swing open.

Sokka started to hurry through before a thought struck him. What if the person he was supposed to meet had died in there? "Eep!" he cried, ducking to the side. He didn't want to see a dead body! Maybe it wasn't that important, and if the guy was dead then there was no use going in there after all.

Yeah, that's settled. The guy was dead, so this was a waste of time. He better get back to rescuing the two Water Morons. Sokka turned to leave, but then there was some sort of pull. He stopped, wondering what that had been. Nothing, so he shrugged and continued on.

It was more of a yank the next time. "Okay, so, apparently something really wants me to go in the room most likely containing a hundred-year-old dead guy," he said. The yank happened again, as if to confirm.

Sokka slowly turned around and faced the ominous darkness of the Sanctuary. "Weird yanky feeling, please don't be leading me to a dead body," he pleaded, easing towards the open doors. They didn't move. Slowly, Sokka slid one leg into the Sanctuary. Nothing happened.

"Aaaaaaahhhhhhh!" Sokka shouted a battle cry, charging into the Sanctuary. Eyes closed, just in case. He paused, staff at the ready, waiting for something to strike. Still, nothing happened.

Slowly Sokka peeled one eye open, only to come face to face with an enemy! "Aaaaaaahhhh!" he shouted another battle cry, jumping back and preparing to strike with his staff.

Only. . . It wasn't an enemy. It was a statue. At least nobody was around to see that.

"So, are you the guy that's supposed to help me?" Sokka asked the statue. The statue did not respond. Frowning, Sokka scanned the room. It was full of statues, and they all seemed strangely familiar somehow. The one next to the one that had startled him was even an Air Nomad. Then a Water Tribe, and then there was an Earth Kingdom, then- Fire Nation! Huh. And then it started all over again. And somehow, Sokka felt like he knew every single one. Like, if he wanted, he could probably guess every single one of their names. Weird.

Suddenly it dawned on Sokka. "You're all the past Avatars!" he cried excitedly. "You're supposed to tell me how to do my job! All right guys, I'm all ears," he said, plopping down on the ground.

The statues remained stubbornly silent. "Um, guys? Hello?" Sokka asked after a beat. Still no answer. Sokka got up and rapped the Air Avatar on the head with his staff. "Anyone in there?" The statue didn't respond, but some sort of annoyed feeling bloomed in Sokka's chest.

. . . Weird. He probably should lay off the moon-peaches, Piandao always complained they gave him indigestion.

Maybe one of the other Avatars would be more helpful. Sokka wandered down the line, but it was nothing but endless lumps of dead stone. "Well this is just great," he complained. "Here I am in a roomful of statues of my past lives where something is supposed to happen but- ack!" That strange something yanked at him again, pulling him to a stop in front of the last statue. Sokka glanced from side to side, wondering what was going on.

"I don't suppose-" Sokka started to say, but then he met the statue's eyes and knew no more.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“ I don’t suppose we could just leave and forget this whole thing?” Toph muttered, too low for her uncle to hear. He hadn’t spoken to her after escorting Yue to the medical bay, or while the doctor examined Yue’s hand and declared it a minor burn. He still hadn’t spoken to her and the doc was done bandaging it!

“ Now, I hope this won’t put too much of a damper on the rest of your visit,” Bumi chirped to Yue as the doctor got his stuff and moved away. “We’ve still got most of the ship to see!”

Toph’s head shot up. Rest of the visit?! Most of the ship to see?! “Uncle!” she started to shout.

“ Sparky won’t mind,” Bumi continued, with the only acknowledgment that Toph was even in the room was raising voice to be heard over hers. “It’s the least she could do after burning your hand,” he stated firmly, and even though he was facing the Commander, all three of them knew who he was really talking to.

Urgh, what was with Bumi and the stupid tour?! Couldn’t he just get Yue off the ship and be done with it? She should refuse, say she did mind and wanted Yue off her ship this instant. But imagining Bumi’s disappointment. . . “Fine,” Toph hissed, stepping aside to allow the old farts out the door.

Hopefully Bumi had enough sense to keep Yue away from the brig. And if not, Toph would step in. This was her hunt, and no one was going to keep her from it.

Of course, it never crossed Toph’s mind that the prisoners might pull something. Not until it was too late.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

When Aang had suggested singing, he really hadn’t expected it to lead to this. For one, Zuko agreeing to it was a shock in and of itself. Then some lady had come charging down the hall to stand in front of their cell, staring at them in shock. Following her was the crazy girl who’d tried to-- who’d fought Zuko, and then old guy who’d grabbed Aang had ambled up.

That set off the lady. “ Children, General?” she shouted, throwing her hand out at them and Aang’s vision filled with blue. He yelped, but it was just Zuko, and the lady was just gesturing.“You’re down to taking children , General?!” she continued as Aang peered around Zuko’s side.

Huh, that was interesting. Aang glanced over at the General, who was digging around in his ear with his pinkie. “This one was Sparky’s idea,” he said offhandedly, pulling his finger out and sniffing at it.

Urgh, Aang couldn’t see the girl with Zuko in the way. He edged out a little further to spot the tiny firebender. “It’s none of your business,” she snapped, crossing her arms.

“ Princess, their children,” the lady said, sounding sad. But that couldn’t be right. The Fire Nation were the bad guys.

“ That doesn’t matter! The kid is my age! And a waterbender!” the girl shouted back. “I think this tour has gone on long enough, get off my ship,” she hissed. “No excuses this time, Uncle!”

“ Fair enough,” the old guy allowed. “Commander, perhaps it would be best if we left.”

“ It’s not right,” murmured the-- lady commander? Commander lady?

“ Like you care,” Zuko muttered. Aang really hoped the Fire Nation people didn’t hear that.

The princess’s head whipped around, milky-white eyes boring a hole through Aang’s skull. “Nobody cares what you think,” the princess shouted. “You’re just two stupid prisoners! You don’t have the right to think!”

Aang could feel the temperature rising in the cell. “Stop! Please!” he cried, holding his hands up defensively.

Clang!

The girl slammed her fist against the cell bars. “I could do anything I want to you!” she screamed. “The only reason I didn't burn his face off already is cause I wanted to be nice. Next time you annoy me I might not be so generous!”

Aang flinched, ducking back behind Zuko. The girl was mad. For a long moment, the only sound was her harsh breathing. It was hot enough that Aang was sweating under his parka. Then the spell broke as someone stomped away. Aang peeked out from behind his brother to see the two old people still there.

“ I better go make sure she doesn’t set anything important on fire,” the old general said. “Have fun,” he said to the commander lady, and walked off, whistling a jaunty tune.

Again, silence descended upon their small cell. The commander lady stared at the two of them, her sad brown eyes taking them in. “For what it’s worth,” she finally said, “I’m sorry it has to be this way.”

Aang shifted awkwardly. Should he say something? He felt like he should say something. But saying- or, well, singi ng- was what started this whole situation in the first place. So maybe not? But then the commander lady walked off, leaving the brothers alone once more.

As soon as she was out of sight, Zuko whirled around and clutched Aang in a bone-crushing hug. “We are never doing anything like that again,” he muttered. Aang decided not to mention the quaver in his voice.

“ Yeah,” Aang agreed, wrapping his arms tightly around his big brother. Hopefully mealtimes would be less dramatic.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

There was a lemur in Sokka’s face. “Gaaaahhhhh!” he shouted, flapping his arms wildly as he jumped backwards. The lemur glided off his perch on Sokka's head, landing on the statue Sokka had just been staring at.

"Don't do that," Sokka scolded, planting one hand on his hip and shaking his staff at the lemur. "I could have gone into the Avatar State and hai, chia chia, pow!" he explained, with accompanying choppy hands and punchy fists, of course.

The lemur just churred at him and cocked it’s head to the side. Urgh, fine, whatever. “You know, I think this guy was the last Avatar,” Sokka said to it, studying the statue he had just lost a staring contest to. He was an old guy in Fire Nation robes, practically radiating disappointment as he stared down at Sokka. “Let’s get you off of there little guy,” Sokka said aloud, reaching up to grab the lemur. “Pakku doesn’t like that you’re sitting on his head.”

The lemur squawked and jumped off the statue’s head, gliding towards the open door. Taking Sokka’s snackchel with it.

“ Hey! Give that back!” Sokka shouted, running after the lemur. It shrieked, fleeing down the hallway and out onto a balcony, with Sokka hot on it's heels. Glancing back and seeing Sokka almost on top of it, it jumped, gliding down to the courtyard below. Sokka snapped open his glider and followed.

It was simple to twist the currents to follow the lemur and land lightly on the ground below. The lemur scampered into a building overgrown with vines. Sokka frowned. What had that been a hundred years ago? He couldn't remember, and it was too dilapidated to tell. Tentatively, he stepped through.

Something prickled at him, a quiet dread hanging in the air. Sokka frowned, trying to shake it off. It was just the ruined curtains hanging still in the dead air, the snow piles no one had swept outside, the tree roots allowed to encroach to the inside. Just plain, ordinary, neglect giving this place a creepy air.

"Hellooooo? Little guy? Come out, come out, wherever you are," he called, ducking through a set of curtains. “I’m not gonna eat you, I’m a vegetarian. I just want my snacks back please.” There was no sign of the lemur so Sokka ducked through the next set of curtains.

He froze, staring at the sight in horror. Skeletons littered the place, piles of dead bodies. All wore Fire Nation armor. Sokka dropped to his knees, staff falling with a clatter. This- this couldn't happen. It was supposed to be impossible to reach an Air Temple except by Air Bison! And this- this meant-

Sokka's gaze snapped up to the wall. In the center of the carnage sat a figure wearing Air Nomad robes. . . And Piandao's pendant.

"No!" the cry tore from Sokka's throat. "This didn't- this isn't-" denials echoed about the room. Slowly, Sokka stood, rage boiling in his gut. Firebenders! They come here, destroy his home and his people and for what?! A desire to destroy the Avatar?!

Well, they failed, and Sokka was going to show them what a huge mistake they'd made.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Leaning heavily against the railing of her ship, Toph let the last of the day’s warmth wash over her. It had been a long, grueling training session with her uncle and she was just now beginning to feel centered again. Just a few feet away, Bumi was also leaning against the railing, waiting for her to talk.

Huffing out a breath, Toph scowled. She didn’t want to talk, she just wanted this day to be done. But Uncle Bumi wouldn’t let that happen. Might as well get it over with.

“ What right do they think they have to ask me for anything?” Toph snapped, clasping her hands behind her back and pacing back and forth. “They’re my prisoners for Agni’s sake! I could throw one of them overboard and it would be my right!”

“ You’re absolutely right,” Bumi agreed, nodding. “Completely out of line.”

“ I should punish him for that,” Toph snarled, continuing her pacing. “Throw him in solitary confinement, or not feed him, or- or-” she paused, trying to think of a suitable punishment.

“ Or you could even execute one of them,” Bumi piped in cheerfully. Toph froze. “They’ve both attacked you, it would be perfectly within your rights,” he pointed out. His heartbeat sped up. Toph didn’t want to think about what that meant.

"Right," Toph said weakly. She was the Princess of the great and glorious Fire Nation, with her own ship and crew at her command. If she ordered it, her men would drag the peasant up from the cell, force him to his knees and she would- could-

“ Or, you could choose to leave them alone,” Bumi’s voice broke into her thoughts. A rare note of seriousness entered his voice, “You’re the Princess, you can choose the path you want to take.”

Yeah, yeah, that was right! Toph did get to choose what she wanted to do with them. And if she wanted to let them rot in a Fire Nation cell for the rest of their miserable lives, then she got to choose that!

"You're right, Uncle," Toph declared, "I do get to choose. And I choose to give him a pass, this time. But next time, I won't be so kind!" Toph nodded decisively.

"Of course you won't," Bumi said softly. "You're the great and powerful Princess Sparky!" he said, voice rising once again. "No one can stand in your way."

Toph laughed, facing out towards the seeping chill of the night. She was the Fire Princess Toph, firebending prodigy and soon-to-be the one to capture the Avatar. With Bumi by her side, there was no way she could fail.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Something was biting into Sokka's cheek. He should probably move his head and get rid off it. In a second. Or two. Maybe a minute.

Why was it so cold? Did he leave the window open or something? Sokka should get up and check it out. Or at least open his eyes.

Blearily, Sokka cracked one eye open. Well, no wonder it was so cold, his walls were missing. Wait, he was outside? What was he doing outside? Sokka sat up, rubbing his eyes and brushing the gravel off his face. How had he-?

Oh, right, he'd gone glowy after finding Monk Piandao and a bunch of firebenders. Looked like he'd moved out of the building. Sokka got to his feet, brushing the rest of the gravel off his clothes. He'd better get back to Appa and his Avatar duties. Now where was that fluff-monster?

Sokka turned, about to call for his furry friend, but the cry died unvoiced. He hadn't moved outside the building, he'd demolished it. Bits of wall, wood and cloth were scattered around the courtyard. Along with the bones of the firebenders.

Sokka felt sick at his stomach. That- that had been a grave site. And he'd- he'd desecrated it. Scattered their remains like dust.

"Appa!" he cried, running towards the main building. He had to get out of here, leave this nightmare right now.

A familiar bellow echoed off the cliffs and Sokka could have cried in relief. He slipped and almost fell as he turned the corner in his haste to get to his bison. There, right up ahead was Appa, right where Sokka had left him.

"Yip yip, buddy! Yip yip!" Sokka shouted, snapping open his glider and taking flight. Appa lowed, heaving into the air. Sokka swooshed in and landed on his bison's head and reached for the reins. His hands were shaking.

"They're all gone, buddy," Sokka said, staring blankly at his hands. "They really are all gone."

He swallowed, hugging his knees to his chest. "I'm the last airbender.