Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Issaaaa,” Siffrin whined playfully. “You don’t need to help me the whole way there!”

On the path to the Favor Tree, Siffrin hadn’t told Isabeau exactly why they wanted there, ‘just to check for loop!’ they’d said.

Isabeau had offered to check by himself, but Siffrin was insistent on coming along,

‘We can see how well I can handle walking?’ Had been their excuse.

“Nope! You’re still sick, Bud.”
Isabeau countered, though it was late, they could see his smile.

What they’d said wasn’t a complete lie. So what’s there to be concerned about? Progress was being made!

“I don’t feel that bad!”
Siffrin pulled themself away from Isabeau to demonstrate, but without the support, they’d nearly collapsed before being grabbed again.

“And that’s exactly what I mean!” Isabeau laughed. “Why’d it need to be so late, though?”

Siffrin hesitated, thinking over why they’d actually wanted to come out past sunset. He wouldn’t see them as clearly, he couldn’t figure out what they were doing before they were done, but they needed an answer that didn’t make Isabeau take them back to the clock tower.

“It’s…quieter, at night,” Siffrin spoke slowly. “Not as many people out, Y’know?”

Isabeau didn’t seem to entirely believe it, but didn’t push for the real answer.

Siffrin was thankful to the universe for giving them that much.

The Fighter and Traveler continued their path towards Dormonts Favor Tree in mostly silence, only broken by the occasional snap of a fallen branch, or hooting of an owl.

The Stars shone above, their faint light filtering through the dense canopy of leaves and branches the Favor Tree held, the glow of the celestial objects accompanied by the near-full moon.

Siffrin sat at the favor tree, where they used to sit when speaking with Loop.

Isabeau sat next to them, momentarily confused, before visibly realizing why and looking away from them.

The loops had ended…Siffrin hoped, they weren’t sure, and didn’t want to test it.

The wind was strangely stagnant For Dormonts usual, but who were they to judge when they’d been stuck first during a windy day, then inside for days?

It’d been two weeks(or three? They probably forgot a few days, and it was embarrassing to ask) since Siffrin escaped, Isabeau wasn’t keen on letting them sit up, let alone walk, but they were persistent and got their treacherous body to comply eventually.

Isabeau wasn’t doing much, but neither was Siffrin. Waiting, as though if they sat there long enough their mirror self would appear.

Siffrin could almost trace Loops silhouette; they'd seen Loop nearly a hundred times, sitting in the exact same place, not often the exact same way, but close enough to it, to be memorized.

“How long had it been?”
Isabeau asked, catching Siffrin’s attention.

“Hm?”
Siffrin hummed in question, picking a leaf from the tree, the one they would’ve used were it not for the loops, it had wilted a lot since they broke out… haha! What a cruel sense of humor~!

“Like, the loops. You’ve never opened up about how long you were… trapped?”

Siffrin inhaled, that wasn’t something they… wanted to share, it hurt to think about how their fa—party might react. They shouldn’t be worrying them, when they’d already done so much for him.

”that’s a uh…” Siffrin stared at their leaf. “…I’m not ready to answer that yet.” They settled on saying.

Isabeau wouldn’t want them wishing…but they needed to, he wouldn’t recognize that it was the ritual, Siffrin could manage it before he realized.

“I wish to see a loop again” thrice, very, very quietly. gently fold the leaf, watch it catch a new wind blowing past the favor tree.

It was draining for their already overworked body, but they had to, even if Loop tried to kill them last time they met, they had to see them again.

Isabeau reached for their shoulder, drawing in a sharp breath.
Just a light graze against their cloak, and it was gone.

“Isa?…”

Was he…gone?

Silence.

“ISA!?!”

HE WAS GONE!

They twisted their head to see him, but were met with…weird shades what “Color Theory” talked about?

Maybe? something like…what they’d seen when the universe was breaking apart.

They screamed until their voice started to break, then they sobbed, curling in on themselves, and hiding from the nightmare that surrounded them in their cloak.

It hardly worked, the colors were trying to engrave itselves in their head the moment they saw it.

Everything was dark, yes, but distinctly not Shades.

Chapter Text

Aang was excited about the fortunes, sure, Sokka didn’t believe in them, but it was fun!

He’d been expecting most of it, but not exactly the extra detail she noticed in the bone crackings, a traveler waiting in the forest? She said it would be a good idea to go find them, so why not?

And so, that’s what they were doing now, searching the forest for the “traveler” in his prediction. Katara waited back at the village while Sokka and Aang looked.

Sokka was keeping Aang close enough to avoid getting lost, or ambushed, when the two picked up on the distant sound of hoarse crying.

Sokka wasn’t one to believe in fortunes, he made such very clear, and was clearly taken aback by an indication of someone actually being there.

“Shh” Sokka held up a hand, Aang nodded, following his lead towards the source.

Hidden among trees, they found the source. What appeared to be a child, curled into themself.

A white cloak concealed their body, strangely colorless, but that wasn’t not possible, just…odd. Their hands grabbed at their hair with what looked like a painful amount of force.

Sokka had his machete at the ready, slowly approaching the kid.

Aang went ahead however, they didn’t want the kid to feel threatened! They were alone for who knows how long, and were clearly not okay!

“Hey lil’ guy, you okay?”

Aang crouched, holding out a hand to them.

They flinched, hands releasing their hair and returning beneath their white cloak.

unlike most, it was made of a single connected piece of fabric, the ends stitched together precisely.

It had a collar of sorts, spread wide around their neck, with two safety pins connecting just under the collar.

A single eye stared at them, glittering with fresh tears, the other concealed by a piece of black fabric that fit well across that side of their face, a tailored eyepatch.

Their hair was white, with the ends dyed black, knotted like it hadn’t been brushed in weeks, with two very distinct clumps of hair on either side of their face, and a messy matted tangle of hair behind their head.

Tears still dripped down their cheeks, they’d been crying for a while…

They looked Aang up and down, before slowly bringing a hand out from underneath the cloak hiding their body, to shakily hold Aangs.

Their hand…aside from being freakishly cold, wasn’t just pale, it was devoid of color, it was nearly white, so were their arms and face..

Aang was okay without getting a response to his question, maybe they didn’t want to talk? Their throat was definitely sore, if their scratchy sounds of confusion and fear were anything to go by.

He slowly stood up, trying to bring them to stand with him. And they did! But they were shaking…a lot, maybe they were hungry? Or cold? Their arms felt colder then what should’ve been possible here.

Their arms were shockingly thin, even for someone their age…how long were they alone?

“Come on kid, there’s a town not far from here, where you can rest!”

He was doing his best to be encouraging, gently leading them back through the forest Sokka and he had been going through.

“…kid?” They muttered, voice cracking, but the edge of exasperation was evident.

Sokka walked alongside the two, eyeing them cautiously, staying on their blind side.

“y-yeah? You’re a kid, right?” Aang felt a bit uncomfortable now, did they guess their age wrong? Some people were just short…but they were so small…?

“I’m—I'm an adult! I’m 27!” They snapped back, followed by a violent shudder throughout their body, they leaned away from Aang, and jumped with a yelp when they bumped against Sokka.

Their index and middle fingers remained outward, while their other fingers closed into their palm, before they settled into a relaxed position.

They slowly took Aangs hand again, twisting their head back and forth to look between the two on either side of them.

They looked nervous. But they just needed to get back to town, and then they could relax.

They got back to the village in one piece—despite the attempts of the trees and thorny bushes—And Aang brought them to the local doctor to see what was wrong—why they were so thin, and shaking so violently.

Malnutrition and sleep deprivation were what they were told, Aang brought them back out, and gave them something to eat—an Apple Pear he’d grabbed from a nearby tree during their search.

Aang believed they could probably fare for themself, being supposedly 27 and in a quite lively village.

And after a quick goodbye, the two parted ways.

Sokka had something he wanted Aang to help with, then they took a detour to find a panda Lily—on the rim of the volcano.

“I can’t believe you’re dragging me all the way up here, for a stupid flower!” Sokka complained.

Aang hopped effortlessly up rocks, turning back to look at Sokka. “Not just any flower, a panda Lilly! I’ve seen it in action, and boy does it work!”

Sokka was climbing the rocks, finding footholds to grab and pull himself up with. “Flowers are fine, once you’re married. But at this early stage, it’s critical that you maintain maximum aloofness.”

“But my heart is telling me to get this flower! And aunt Wu told me if I trusted my heart, I would be with the one I love!”

“What!? Don’t tell me you believe in that stuff too!”

“Well...aunt Wu hasn’t been wrong yet, why should she be wrong about love?” He turned back, hopping higher. “There! On the rim!”

Aang hopped up a few more rocks to the flowers.

the petals were shaped more like claws, white petals outlined by black stripes. Each flower had little more than two leaves, and they were all quite crisp, perhaps due to the heat emanating from the volcano?

Aang noticed a second after that thought how close the magma was to the rim, smoke steadily billowing out.

Aang dropped the flower, staring in disbelief. “Oh no… aunt Wu was wrong…”

Sokka climbed up a moment after Aang finished his sentence, gazing at the interior as he processed Aangs statement. “Those people all think they’re safe! We’ve gotta warn them!” 

Aang grabbed his glider, with a light tap against the ground, the wings opened. Aang wasted little time, grabbing Sokka’s arm and pulling him along into the air. “There’s no time to walk! Grab on!”

With a short-lived scream, the two started their way back to the village.

Siffrin didn’t recognize this place, anyone’s accents, or the style of clothing anyone had. The closest he could relate it to was… Nathiel, even then it wasn’t this everywhere.

So no wonder they didn’t recognize craft sickness. He knew this place wasn’t normal, if only because of the “colors”, No one seemed to be taken aback by it?… he felt weird, still being in shades. He was supposed to be part of the rule, not the exception…

Siffrin stared down at the dagger in his hand. If he had the strength to wish, maybe he could still loop?…no, no they’d have looped the moment they knew he was ripped away from Isa, and their wish to see loop had brought them here, it wouldn’t let them leave. maybe he can wish himself back, somewhere, while not risking his health in any manner! He was getting better!

A violent shudder caused them to drop the dagger.

They picked it back up with the lack of hesitation one wouldn’t normally have with a knife, and sheathed it with minimal issue.

They raised their eye to the sky, cloudy…the volcano was wreathed in smoke.

An eruption was due, he needed to find a way out of the area before it popped.

Where did they learn to tell if there was an oncoming eruption?…

Siffrin ended that thought when the headache started. Home, then.

The clouds moved…weirdly, two twisted around each other, mixing together in unnatural swirls.

He watched in awe, the rest of the clouds moved normally? This looked like something intentional, but there wasn’t a way to control the clouds from what Siffrin knew! Then again, it could easily be normal here, if colors were…

…was there something moving in the clouds?…

“Aunt Wu! Look!” A voice drew their attention, one of the kids who found him out in the forest earlier, they think.

Siffrin smiled at him briefly, before turning their gaze onto the old woman he was talking to. “Something’s happening in the clouds!”

“That's very strange? It shouldn’t—” a gasp of fear that reminded Siffrin too much of her. “Oh my!”

Siffrin turned back to the clouds, more curious then scared.

They’d formed a skull, definitely intentionally made then…somehow.

There was no way clouds would naturally form into such a dense shape.

A moment later, the other kid showed up, followed by another similar to the first. They liked the one in…he didn’t know what those colors were called, he thought of fire. He was nice, helped them out of the forest and cared enough to check if they were okay.

“We could still save the village if we act fast! Sokka has a plan!” The second called out upon arrival.

“Lava is gonna flow downhill to this spot. If we can dig a deep enough trench, we can channel all the lava away from the village, to the river!” Sokka explained.

“If any of you are earth benders, come with me!” The second called.

“I’m an earth bender!” A child called,

“I’m not!” Their twin spoke in the same tone.

Identical twins! Always fun to watch, when they weren’t intentionally getting mixed up.

“Everybody else, grab a shovel!” A loud rumble of the volcano indicated the short period of time remaining. “Come on! We’ve gotta hurry!”

And thus, the trench was being dug out. Siffrin watched in awh, fear, and confusion as people manipulated the earth, shoving, pulling, and pressing large pieces of rock and dirt out of the way without even touching it.

Siffrin was deemed unfit to help, whether it be due to their small size(they had kids helping?), their sickness, or just no one remembered they were there…

Taciturn as always…

Ash rained down as the trench was finished, magma dripped and boiled and shot up from the rim, brightening the sky in a firey light. time was quickly running out.

Siffrin doubted he was making it out with what looked like a decently sized eruption this close, well…one way to test if the loops were still in effect.

They could right their mistake in the last one, get their perfect, happy ending with their family this time.

They’d never died to anything hot before, they wonder how it feels!

Siffrin walked up the main path of the now desolate village, towards the kids as Lava pooled into the trench, watching it build up with anticipation of the death to come.

“It’s too much! It’s gonna overflow!” The sister(?) called.

The ground shook, magma and smoke were expelled in a violent display of the power the volcano held, confirming her statement.

The two in similar clothing(siblings?) started running back, stopping to look at Siffrin as he passed them, then their friend as the kid leapt into the air.

Siffrin couldn’t see anything happening around the kid, but they could feel the air pulling towards him, sucking, tugging…

There is no tug on your stomach.

Siffrin backed away, watching lava burst over the trench, and accepting that he was going to die here.

The kid was definitely doing, something, as the lava in front of him was thrown back and around, before the towering spikes of overflowing lava around the edge of the trench…cooled.

He stood still in front of the spikes around him, silhouetted by the light of magma and thin veils of steam.

Siffrin watched in awe of the spectacle, was…was he manipulating the air? They supposed that wasn’t too big of a stretch if people could more the earth so easily.

“Man, sometimes I forget what a powerful bender that kid is.” The brother(?) mused.

His sister(?) turned to him. “Wait! What’d you just say?”

“Nothing, just that Aang is one powerful bender.” He repeated.

Siffrin was curious about what was going on with these kids, but who was he to judge? He would like to know what “bending” was, though, maybe a different kind of craft?

“I suppose he is…” she turned to face the kid(Aang?) silhouetted by the gases of lava still rising from the trench.

Siffrin started back into the village, coughing with the fumes the volcano was spreading into the air, passing out not too far from the kids.

Siffrin had woken up in an infirmary of sorts, and remained there for what felt like an hour, before getting up, explaining to the few people there that he was fine(liar…), and walking out to witness the crowd outside.

“By the way, we kind of…borrowed your book.” Aang confessed.

“So you messed with the clouds, did you?” The elder accused, followed by amused laughter. “Very clever!”

Siffrin watched the four from a distance, he didn’t like big crowds like this too much, but he could stand watching from afar.

“No offense, but I hope this has taught everyone a lesson, about not relying too much on fortune telling!” Sokka shouted to the village.

“But, aunt Wu predicted the village wouldn’t be destroyed,” a member of the town informed “and it wasn’t! She was right, after all.”

Sokka was in that guys face in an instant, clearly ticked off. “I hate you…”

“It’s okay, Sokka. Everything’s gonna be alright!”

The siblings(?) walked out of the crowd, leaving the other of the trio alone.

Siffrin zoned out during the rest of the conversation, but clicked back in when the sister was calling out goodbyes. He went up to the weird… six-legged creature the trio of kids were riding, as quickly as he could with a body still suffering from craft overuse.

Sokka looked down at him, curiosity and caution clear in his eyes.

“I’d like to…come along, I don’t want to be near an active volcano, and you kids shouldn’t be alone traveling!” Siffrin reached up, paused, and thought for a moment how to get up.

Aang peeked back down at him, “Sokka? Katara? Do you two mind?”

Sokka was clearly displeased with the thought, grumbling, but nodded.

Katara gave a hum of approval.

Siffrin debated for a moment longer, and decided to jump up.

He landed awkwardly in the saddle, leg bent in a way that would’ve sent pain through his body if not for hundreds of loops desensitizing him to pain.

Katara signaled the creature to take off, startling Siffrin. As what had looked like a terrestrial herbivore took into the air with a slam of its wide tail. Siffrin laid flat on the saddle, not wanting to get caught up in the wind that was surely blasting this high up.

Chapter Text

“First time flier?” Sokka teased.

“…Yeah, didn’t know this thing flew…”

they responded in a still hoarse voice. Screaming and crying really wasn’t the best thing to do…

“Do you mind introductions?” Aang asked.

“Mmmph..”

Siffrin yawned, jaw popping as he, holding onto the saddle, raised their head to see him.

“Names Siffrin.”

With a little flourish of their free hand, Siffrin flattened themself back to the saddle. Resisting the urge to zone out, knowing nothing about these people, and place, wouldn’t do them any good if they wanted to find a way back to their party, would it?

They had to be here because of their wish…right? Loop was here, somewhere?

“Names Aang!”

The one who’d helped him through the village. Were pronouns not a common part of introductions? That’s fine.

“Sokka…”

his tone was certainly skeptical, suspicious? That’s fine, they didn’t plan to stay here long, and he certainly wasn’t as bad as Odile had shown herself to be!

“Katara.”

her voice was surprisingly easy to hear, Siffrin had expected the wind up here to be more intense.

And thus, the questions began.

“Are you a spirit? If not, why are you devoid of color??”

Aang asked, the shift in tone indicated some form of confusion, whereas the beginning had been innocent curiosity.

“That…isn’t normal here, then, is it?”

He’d expected this, and countered with a question of his own. Met with Aang shaking his head.

”Well it.. it is where I’m from, We call them Shades. Your…“colors” aren’t normal to me, I suppose it’s the same for you all with me then.”

Siffrin didn’t know what a ‘spirit’ was, so they couldn’t quite say no to that, without further explanation.

“You said you were 27, you certainly don’t look it.”

Sokka squinted, crossing his arms and leaning back against the edge of the saddle.

Siffrin gave a humorless laugh. They’d been teased about that before, during the loops it’d been brought up a couple times.

“Genetics, amirite?”

A not entirely direct answer, but it worked perfectly, carrying the message needed.

And now, it was Kataras turn.

”Where are you from?”

Siffrin blinked, grabbing the edge of the saddle, sitting up, and holding back the urge to laugh.

“…Vaugaurde, sound familiar at all?”

A lie. He knew where he was from, but his home was in Vaugaurde now, his country was broken, it failed, rotting from the inside out.

The boys shook their heads, Katara kept most of her focus on directing the creature through the air, but gave a confused noise to show that, no, she did not.

Their turn to ask a question.

“So… what’s the… “bending”, thing, you guys were doing?”

They all looked at him like he was crazy! Stars, Bonnie would be jealous of those expressions!

“…you, don’t know, what bending, is?”
Aang asked, slowly, as if speaking to someone who had trouble understanding him, though they’d proven already they spoke this language, it was like Vaugaurdian! Just different accents, or was that something related to their wish?

Siffrin shook their head,

“no…is it like Craft? I would give an example, but I’ve been told I’m not supposed to use it, it will just make my condition exponentially worse.”

Which they’d already done, it was marvelous that they could still move, the effects would probably take hold soon, though.

Aang blinked in stunned stillness. Sokka squinted at them, nowhere near as piercing as Odile ever was.

“Katara? You’re probably better suited to give an example, air bending is hard to see.”
Aang suggested.

She shrugged,

“switch places then?”
Aang gave a hum of agreement, making his way from the creature's saddle, to its head, taking the reins, and allowing Katara to take his place in the saddle.

“Here, watch.”

She opened a flask tied to her waist.

Siffrin tilted his head, curious to what she was doing.

With the motions of her hands, the water in said flask came out, hovering in a shifting Potato-shaped blob.

By sheer instinct, Siffrin reached out to touch it.

It warped around his hand, but didn’t crawl up his body like the Tears did…

She pulled it back, the siblings gave him matching looks of confusion.

“So…not like Craft, then. How’s it work?”

Siffrin didn’t like speaking right now, but he needed answers before he inevitably passed out.

“Uh…”

Katara’s focus moved between him and the water she manipulated, bending to her will. That would explain the name a bit.

Like a puppet on strings, almost, he could see what areas were being tugged—

Siffrin shut down that thought, pushing it into the back of his head.

No, no! Not now. It’s water!

“Like…sensing the energy inside it, and using it?”

She explained, unsure of her words. Uncertain of the answer herself, then.

“There’s four types of bending, Water, Earth, Fire, and Air.”

She explained, focusing on the basics of it, it seemed.

“I’m a water bender, last one of the southern Water Tribe…”

Siffrin perked up, forgetting to stabilize himself in the saddle as he stared at her.

“Last? Why? What happened?!”

Was this like their home? No, she remembers, she knows…

“The fire nation attacked.”

Sokka hissed, venom dripping from every word.

Siffrin could see Aang squirming out of the corner of their eye.

Fire nation? So…

“Fire…benders, did they…”

Siffrin pulled back, understanding the siblings' shared look of grief and anger.

“…I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have brought it up, it’s…I can tell it’s not a good memory-”

they cut themself off.

Deep breath in, and out.

Siffrin ignored the urge to share his own experiences, they didn’t need the kids’ pity, they just needed somewhere to wish, and they could forget this.

And there was the ping of fatigue and drowsiness they’d been expecting.

“Can…can I sleep?”

Siffrin winced, realizing only now that he wasn’t anchoring himself to the saddle.

“Is that okay?”

Sokka laughed, most of his tension releasing with the sound. Katara failed at disguising it, giving a nod as she returned the water to the flask.

“Yeah, you’re good!”
Aang confirmed, glancing back at the three, and giving a thumbs up.

Siffrin laid back against the saddle, knowing what was gonna come next.

“good night!”

Aang called. Audibly amused by them deciding to sleep in the middle of the day.

They didn’t mind, at least someone was enjoying this.

Siffrin stared,

It stared back.

Any crafted attack was useless here, and it was out of range. so it was simply a staring contest until either of them approached the other.

“All out of tactics?”

It asked, using Odiles voice as its own.

“You always were adverse to learning anything new.”

“Not like you ever tried to teach me.”

Siffrin retorted.

It wasn’t true, Odile had always been trying to teach them, but they never really remembered enough for it to be useful.

It didn’t need to know that though, and if it did, it had shown that it liked these types of arguments.

“Can’t even go two days without Wishcraft going wrong.”

It continued.

“Maybe try learning from your mistakes for once!”

Its face remained neutral, but its mockery of The Researcher sounded simultaneously tired and frustrated.

“I am, but it’s not like you’re of any use in that.”

Siffrin laughed, forced and spiteful.

“Couldn’t even do what you’re asked, Stardust.”

Loop…

Siffrin had to bite their tongue, lashing out when it’s using their voice would show a weak point that it could, and would exploit.

Something to follow an argument, but not show how much it hurt to hear it using their voice.

“I’m not gonna kill myself. My self hatred isn't that bad.”

It smiled, stepping through the void toward him.

“Pathetic, weak Stardust. You deserved to forget, not like anyone would’ve missed you.”

Siffrin grabbed his knife, glaring at its still neutral expression.

“The little kid that ran away because they didn’t want to eat dinner, you were right to disappear from their lives.”

Deep breath in, and out. It isn’t worth the pain.

“You know why the Universe gave you your wish that way?”

Its neutral expression finally shifted.

“It wanted you gone, you useless failure of an Actor.”

It hissed out, smirking. It’s voice was a distorted mimic of his own, using the same tone and venom of his conversation with Odile at the start of the final Loop.

“The Stars found your performance annoying, didn’t they? Running back and forth, only sticking to a script you made. That’s why they took Loop away! Why they abandoned you in a scriptless, colorfilled, broken world. You had one job, Actor, and you ruined it.”

And then it broke script, going from argument, to fight.

It drew its own dagger, a Lightless mirror of his own.

Siffrin ducked to the side, only to be hit with some imitation of a Crafted attack.

Even if this void wasn’t real, it hurt. If anything that’s why it hurt, the void that it made, controlled, just to torment him.

It grabbed him by the throat before he could recover from the attack, still smirking down at him.

It may control this place, but he could still fight back.

Siffrin twisted his body, loosening its grip enough to allow him to bite its hand, slashing his dagger up, from its wrist to its elbow, watching the honey-like liquid drip, drip.

The imitation of Blood tastes like Cinnamon!

It shrieked, an ear-piercing mockery of the sadnesses in The House, recoiling, and in the process tearing a bit of ‘flesh’ off it’s hand.

Siffrin had tried before, it didn’t allow him to craft attacks, but buffs were possible.

Make Up The Time was his intended Skill right now.

A snap, and Siffrin launched towards it, dagger striking at its chest.

It twisted out of the way, dragging its own across his arm.

The battle continued relatively similar, a back and forth with the two mirrors of the dagger, and the occasional blast of Rock Craft.

Although it was usually a vocal Sadness, preferring to dig at its victims minds to find a weakness before striking, however it’d already found such in nightmares prior, it just liked to torment him before the fight.

It’d knocked him down, dark blood staining a Darkless torn cloak, trickling down his arms.

it reached to grab him, but he rolled away, sliding onto the heels of his boots.

The void that would make up the floor shifted, coiling like vines up its legs, spreading further up its body as it approached at a walking pace.

Siffrin shifted from attacking to evading, he’d experienced those before, and though that was how it ended, he’d rather avoid it.

But it was done for now, it wanted to leave, and this was the fastest way to do that here.

This nightmare was a common occurrence, it started the same, always played out differently, ended usually the same.

Craft knocked into the back of Siffrins head, even if it was in front of him, allowing it to grab him by the throat.

It held him down, its hands were warm, despite the rest of its body being freezing cold above him.

With one hand wrapped around his throat, it took his blade, momentarily inspecting the mirror of its own.

The Pristine Blade was thrown across the void, then engulfed by it once it lost interest.

Disarmed and vulnerable.

It stared down at him, disappointment.

the Vines stretched across it’s arm.

“If we can’t trust the one who’s supposed to lead us this early, this won’t bode well for later.”

It pulled from the script, its expression twisting into amusement as it grabbed his wrist with one hand, pulling him up.

The vines clawed from its arm to his neck, nodes along the Lightless stem growing into Leaves or Blossoms.

The leaves were Copper Gray, with Darkless veins branching out across the arrow-head shaped foliage.

The blossoms were a much more friendly Sky Light, but he knew this wasn’t something friendly.

The woody plant twisted, wrapping around his throat.

The blossoms widened, darkening, transitioning into that Universe Forsaken color the Sky had become during his freak-out.

It stared, unblinking, neutral.

“Stardust…”

sympathy?

This thing could feel sympathy?

..no, it was just mocking.

“Hezferdei raklefermel gejfermel cilfer pycilferoi zikcil.”

That blinding language.

Siffrin glared back at it.

“Stars die before I do that.”

He snapped back.

It breathed in, and out. Staring silently as the vines around its own arm bloomed.

Looking back down at his impending ‘death’, Siffrin grew curious of the blooms.

Siffrin hesitated, the vines were constricting, growing and tightening.

It wasn’t long, but if he was going to die, why not see what it tasted like?

He briefly met its gaze, amusement shown in its little smirk.

He carefully grabbed a blossom from the vine around his throat, brought it to his mouth—teeth still faintly stained with the liquid it had as blood—and ate it.

Tastes like Cherries!

It withdrew its hands, the warmth it’d once given dissipated in seconds, absorbed and stolen by the Vine.

It leaned down, what would be its pupil shifting into a spiral, twisting endlessly around itself.

It was entrancing, and perhaps a method of trying to make it end faster? Make his perception of time shorter than it was?

Strangulation by plant, however that works, it was not fun.

Drawing in full breaths grew more difficult, he was surprised it took so long to set in.

“Quick to react, aren’t you Actor?”

There’s the needles-and-pins sensation that hinted it was almost done.

An attempt at responding came out as only a low whimper.

It set a hand against the vines strangling him, moving up slowly to cup his cheek.

“Let me take you.”

Siffrin screamed as the cold pressure of its body over him and the vines that'd been strangling him fell away.

[You Got Memory of Nightmares!

When Equipped, Gain Control Over Its Void!]

Chapter Text

It wasn’t all too unlikely the new addition to the group was having a nightmare.

Breathing unevenly, twitching and shivering, occasionally making a few whimper-ish noises.

They’d landed approximately an hour earlier, Katara had gone off(with momo) to find somewhere better to camp out, while the other two stayed with their new friend at the beach.

Sokka had to confiscate her knife so she didn’t hurt herself, with how much she was grabbing at it.

He had to figure out how to unlatch the sheath from her belt without making her lash out, as she’d done when one of them tried to touch her before.

…well, it was certainly a nightmare, and it…wasn’t very likely they could wake her from it, without something going wrong.

So they were instead, looking at the knife.

The blade was curved at the end, a groove at the base running up, and branching out, meeting the same angle as the slightly worn-down but still sharp edges.

A very, very weird person that joined them.

“It’s quite the well-cared for weapon…”

Sokka stated, casting a glance over at its restless owner.

“…hey, Aang.”
Sokka held the knife by the pommel, careful to avoid touching the blade directly.

“Yeah?”

He leaned closer, inspecting the grooves, trying to make sense of why they’d be there.

“Do you recognize these?”

Sokka asked, staring at something…written, on the handle.

Small symbols carved into what Aang assumed was leather—based on the texture of it.

It…looked like writing, some symbols repeating, sections spaced out, but it wasn’t one Aang recognized by any means.

Almost everyone spoke the same language, but some on more isolated sections of the world did have their own.

They didn’t speak a different language, though, they had an accent, but they spoke pretty clearly.

Sokka winced, slipping the dagger into it’s sheath, and rubbing his temples.

“You alright?”

Aang asked, moving his attention from the handle to Sokka.

“Yeah, just a headache.”

Sokka grumbled, turning to Siffrin with a scowl.

“So, do you recognize the…”

Sokka trailed off, blinking. Before snapping his fingers.

“The language.”

His face scrunched up, showing clearly that it was more likely a migraine than a headache.

Aang shook his head,

“not one I’ve ever heard of,”

he sighed.

“maybe we should ask her about it when she’s awake?”

Sokka blinked.

”Ask her about what?”

Aang blinked back.

“The writing on the knifes handle?”

Sokka squinted,

“writing?”

He muttered, slowly turning to watch Siffrin.

“…huh…?”

Did he just…forget what they were talking about, completely?…

There was a long moment of silence, ended by a scream of undefined emotions from Siffrin, followed by them lurching forward, and vomiting.

They whined, almost like an injured cat, as they shuffled backwards, wiping at their mouth.

“Are you okay!?!”

Aang questioned, focusing intently on the very clearly disturbed Siffrin that was trying to curl into themself.

“I-I’m fi-ine.”

She wheezed, leaning back against the edge of the saddle, and staring upwards, taking in deep breathes, steadying her shaking body bit by bit.

“…you woke up, screaming, and vomited. I don’t think that counts as “fine”!”

Sokka objected, standing up and staring at her.

She turned her head slowly back down, staring at Sokka for a moment, before bristling.

“Did you take my dagger!?!”

She accused.

Sokka glared at her, she glared back.

“Give it back.”

Siffrin demanded.

“You kept grabbing at it in your sleep.”

Sokka defended.

“And now I’m awake,”

she tapped at the saddle impatiently.

“Give it back!”

He sighed, giving up, and handing it back to her.

Aang hesitated, the dispute was over, maybe Siffrin would be willing to explain.

“So, what’s with the writing on the handle?”

Sokka looked at him, confused.

“What writing?”

Aang blinked a couple times, trying to puzzle out a reason for why he wouldn’t remember.

Siffrin raised her hand, watching Aang.

“Don’t worry about him, people forget that a lot…”

She squinted.

“Speaking of, how do you remember it’s there?”

Aang opened his mouth, closed it, and repeated a couple times.

“I’m sorry, people forget the writing on your knife??” 

She sighed.

“You wanted to know what it says?”

She asked instead, avoiding the prior question.

Aang wanted to know why it was weird he remembered, but

”yes, please.”

She looked at the handle, reading with a growing baffled expression.

“…it—it just says where it’s made…”

…huh!

“…so, if we…could get back to my question, maybe.”

She clapped, eyeing Aang curiously.

“You remembered that it was there?”

“Uhm… yes?”

Aang fiddled with a piece of volcanic rock that’d broken off from the hardened magma, in a nice Star shape!

She turned to Sokka,

“and you did not?”

He shrugged, answering with a simple

“nope.”

She drew in a breath, held it for 5 seconds, and let it out.

“Jezaru…”

she sighed, rubbing at her temples.

“Okay, anything special about you?”

She pointed at Aang, glowering at him.

Sokka huffed, drawing her attention back to him.

He glared at her, she scowled back at him.

She softened,

“ah…yes, that does seem quite out of nowhere, doesn’t it?”

Sokka scoffed,

“yeah, it does.”

Aang held up his hand,

“can we not start arguing?”

Sokka’s face scrunched up, but he looked away with a grumbled

”fine.”

Aang turned back to Siffrin, finding her already watching him.

“…yeah, avatar!”

He gave a thumbsup, accompanied by a nervous smile.

She squinted, tilting her head.

“And…that is?”

Sokka laughed, a hollow humorless sound.

“You really aren’t from here are you?”

She drew in a breath, held it for 5 seconds, and let it out. Keeping her focus on Aang.

“The Bridge from our world, to the spirit world?”

Aang tried, already trying to think of how to explain it better if she didn’t understand that.

She clapped, eyes momentarily lighting up with recognition.

“Ah, wait. Spirits? If I may ask, what are spirits?”

…that’s not what he was expecting to be asked.

Aang stuttered, thinking through an explanation.

“Like…uhm… personifications of concepts, or beings that essentially are their home places?”

He decided on saying, recalling what he’d been told.

She slowly nodded.

“…to answer the question of if I’m a spirit…no, probably.”

“Probably?!”

“Please stop interrupting Sokka.”

She grumbled.

“You still haven’t said what your nightmare was about!”

“Yeah…actually, what was it about?”

A disappointed sigh.

”Never can escape explaining…”

She drew in a breath, held it for 5 seconds, let it out, and repeated a few times.

“A sadness, mirror of myself.”

She tilted her head from side to side to an unheard, unfelt rythym, passing what looked to be an earring from hand to hand, eye glittering with what Aang assumed were unshed tears. She repeated the breathing exercise again.

“It uses the voices of my friends to make its jabs at me sting worse.”

Siffrin leaned back against the side of the saddle, sticking out her tongue at the salty sea air.

…she really stood out, not just for her lack of color, her mannerisms were a bit…weird, to say the least.

The earring she still fiddled with was a simple rounded Rectangle. She paused, staring at it.

Her hands started shaking, a burnt caramel smell permeating the air for a brief moment, before she shot upright, eyes flitting around and never landing on any one location for more than a few seconds.

“Hey! Hey! What’s wrong?”

Aang worried, watching her.

The smell of burning Caramel filtered out, and she visibly eased, though still shaking.

Sokka winced.

“What was that? Why did everything smell—sweet!?!”

He asked, though trying to show annoyance, concern laced his voice.

She drew in a breath, and slowly let it out. That same breathing exercise.

“Y-you kids don’t need to know. Okay? It’s nothing to worry about.”

She laughed nervously.

Adjusting her hold on the earring, she secured it to the higher of two safety pins on the neck of her cloak, allowing it to make a “ding-ding!” noise against the lower pin, muffled by the fabric of the cloak.

Such a nice sound!

Almost nice enough to make him forget what just happened.

“…we should go find Katara, she’s been gone for a while.”

Sokka suggested, also ignoring what just happened.

Aang and Siffrin nodded together, both standing up, though Siffrins mirror of Aangs actions faltered considerably when it became clear she wasn’t very stable walking.

So, she decided to stay back with Appa, telling everyone that she’d be fine and she can handle herself.

Aang had wanted to make sure they’d be okay, but Sokka more or less dragged him into the forest to find his sister,

Conifer branches lashed and swayed wildly overhead, far above the searching duo.

The terrain itself was rough, sudden inclines hidden by the plants bordering them, fallen trees that’d rotted from the inside and crumbled when any pressure was applied, thorny bushes that snagged at their legs and arms, sometimes tearing off that section of plant was the best option to continue moving, rocks protruding from the ground at sharp angles, weathered enough to be nothing but a fun obstacle to jump over.

Sliding down one of the steep, exposed rocky inclines lead Aang to a long-handled sword,

“hey look!”

He picked it up, examining the blade.

“A sword made out of a whales tooth!”

He turned to show Sokka,

He grabbed the sword himself,

“let me see that!”

walking a bit past Aang.

He stared at it for a moment, carefully tracing the indents and ridges of the tooth.

“This is a water tribe weapon!”

He turned back to Aang,

“see if you can find anything else!”

Aang nodded, Sokka went off to one side of the path, rummaging between trees and bushes, while Aang stayed on the other, searching close to the ground, carefully avoiding the Raspberry thorns.

Nothing of much note was located for a while, but Momo perched on Aangs shoulder, signifying Katara was close.

“…did someone lose something?”

Katara asked, her voice edged with curiosity.

“No, we found something!”

Aang announced, momentarily stopping his search to look at Katara, confirming she was okay. He opened his mouth again to explain, but was cut off.

A quiet “tsch” sound from Sokka’s side of the path drew both of their attentions.

“It’s burned.”

Sokka observed.

From a distance, it looked like a branch, but upon drawing closer, it looked more like a charred Arrow.

Sokka turned to the tree beside him, the bark was a bit scorched, along with two noticeable but small gashes above the burns.

“There was a battle.”

Sokka ran his fingers along the burns.

“Water tribe warriors ambushed a group of fire benders!”

He announced, turning his attention to the burnt grass, glaring at it like it had personally offended him.

“the fire benders fought back,”

then further down to the rocks separating the beach from forest.

“But the warriors drove them down this hill!”

He glanced at Katara and Aang, and ran down, faltering when he picked up too much speed, and hopping from the sides of the larger rocks to propel himself onto the beach, running across the sand.

“…so then what happened?”

Aang asked between breathes, stopping a few long strides away from Sokka.

Sokka shook his head,

“..I don’t know, the trail ends here.”

He sighed, staring out at the ocean.

Katara snapped her fingers,

“wait, look!”

Sokka and Aang looked at her, then where she was pointing.

A beached boat laced with what could be described as scars zig-zagged across its side, whale bone covered the front of it, a harder exterior to protect the wood beneath. A water tribe ship.

Aang hesitated just a moment to long to follow the siblings.

“Is this…dads boat!?”

Katara asked, somewhere between disbelieving and excited.

Sokka felt the whale bone, inspecting the groves and subtle markings from ice scratching it.

“No, but it’s from his fleet!”

Sokka confirmed, turning to face her.

“Dad was here.”

He stated simply.

Katara stared at it, likely trying to identify whose boat it was.

“..hey,”

Aang piped up, hesitant to break their delicate silence as the two investigated.

“It’s starting to get dark.”

He continued, ignoring the unsettling sensation that came from being watched. He waved toward the setting sun, halfway between the horizon and its peak.

Sokka nodded,

“this should be a good area to sleep, right, Katara?”

He suggested, already starting the walk across the eastern side of the beach to get Appa and Siffrin.

She nodded

“it’ll work, the sand’s damp enough to stick to itself, but that means it’ll stick to us, too.”

She joked.

Aang chuckled, taking the lead primarily because he was just, simply a faster walker then the other two, and didn’t want to interrupt their back and forth joking.

However…it left his slightly intrusive thoughts to stew, knowing he didn’t have the same thing they had, but it was fine! They had different cultures. Families, they were different between nations!

It was just a bit…sad, seeing what he could have had, in another nation. Away from the avatar responsibilities, able to live a normal life, without the weight of an entire world on your shoulders, you could easily thrive. But like this…

It was awkward, not to mention frightening.

There was definitely something wrong about their new friend, the knife, that wasn’t just “where it was made” was it?

Why did she have what was clearly an earring, but not even wear it?

How did Sokkka forget so quickly, what does she mean it happens often?

Appa huffed, snapping Aang out of his thoughts as the trio arrived back with the Sky Bison.

Siffrin was able to be heard, but not understood from this distance. Going to sit herself up, and after a moment looking around, stare at the three.

It still, very reasonably, felt very weird to look at a person lacking color, but that’s what she is, he’ll get used to it.

She waved,

“welcome back kids.”

She blipped her tongue out, in a way that he would normally have seen as mocking.

But, well, different cultures, that could been part of normal greetings where she’s from.

“We found this.”

Sokka said, holding up the whale-tooth sword for her to see.

She leaned over the edge of the saddle, squinting.

Ah, right, the abnormality of color, and the lack of color, is mutual. Only she’s surrounded by it.

If she didn’t have colors, Aang wondered what else was different about their respective homes.

“…tooth??”

She guessed, pulling herself a bit back from the edge, avoiding the risk of falling off onto the sand.

Aang nodded,

“a whales tooth!”

He announced proudly, more so about the fact he found it, and ignoring the feeling of envy in his head as he grabbed appas reigns.

He waited for the siblings to station themselves, before hopping up himself. Having Appa walk the way, he still needed to rest some from flying that long.

Siffrin was back to fiddling with the earring, having detached it from her safety pins again, while Katara and Sokka were theorizing on who the boat might’ve belonged too.

Siffrin stayed quiet unless spoken too, but that didn’t really come as a shock, she was like that the first time too.

The spirit world engaged Aangs attempts at bending, and with Siffrins lack of knowledge on it, sharing the black and white of spirits, and very clearly not belonging…it was suggesting they were some form of spirit, or, maybe there were people that adapted to the spirit world?

Either way, Siffrin wasn’t supposed to be here, and she probably wanted to find a way home.

Something rang out behind Aang, sounding like it came from somewhere around Siffrin.

‘Pathetic, you think your cries are gonna be answered again? A third time, Actor? How about you learn, this time, and stop?’

Aang swiveled his upper half, staring at Siffrin for a moment.

She did her breathing exercise, noticing Aang was watching her a second after she finished.

“…what?”

She asked, staring back at him.

He waved his hand, trying his best to put on a casual smile.

“Nothing! Just…”

come on, don’t just say you heard something speaking with her voice!

“…what was your home like?”

Yeah that works.

She hesitated, and shrugged.

”Friendly, more then you might think?…what’s a good example…”

she looked down at the earring, then back at Aang.

“Like…as long as you aren’t killing people, you’re perfectly fine.”

She clipped the earring back onto the safety pin, likely figuring it’ll help her focus on the conversation.

“And here? I don’t want to figure out this is like Ka Bue the hard way.”

She snickered a bit, like it was a joke, but…without context, there wasn’t anything of interest that might’ve been funny.

But! Aang was lacking context, maybe if he asked a bit more about that, he’d get it?

“Kind of just…don’t steal, don’t trespass, don’t hurt anyone…the basics, probably?”

He supplied.

She nodded,

“okay, yeah that’s what i expected.”

There was a slight sadness to her voice, maybe because he didn’t get why she was laughing.

From the emphasis, maybe a pun?

The sun had fallen past the horizon, allowing the moon to shine, the glittery stars accompanying it.

She stared upwards, light gray eye reflecting the sky overhead beautifully.

“Boat!”

Aang clapped, mainly just to get everyone’s attention.

Siffrin flinched, eye wide from the sudden sound, uncertain how to react.

Sokka grabbed the matches, ready to set the fire while everyone else got settled.

Katara grabbed the sleeping bags, bringing up the pretty important matter of the fact they didn’t get anything for Siffrin.

“No, I’m fine,”

Siffrin smiled, waving it off.

“Already proven it’s comfortable up here.”

Well…that wasn’t the full issue, but they should be able to handle a night like this.

The nightly routine went normally, Siffrin stayed in the saddle, but was still clearly awake when Aang fell asleep.

Chapter Text

Siffrin stared, not at anything in particular, just…up, somewhere.

He’d been trying to sleep, but insomnia wasn’t very easy to overcome during this stressful of a time, seeing that he wouldn’t get sleep, he switched out memories, equipping Memory Of Family.

Their new companions were asleep, well, two of them were. The third was tending to the fire.

The stars were closer to what he remembered then nearly everything else, only a slight hint of color within their speckled shapes.

If they zoned out, they could almost trace the shapes within them.

The sky around them though, was pretty visibly colored.

Footsteps drew their attention, approaching; not leaving. Sokka hadn’t left recently.

Siffrin sat up, reaching for his dagger, when—

“Who’s there!?!”

Sokka shouted, echoing, standing up and facing the western side of the beach.

Siffrin squinted, faintly making out the silhouette of a person.

“Sokka??”

The person froze for a second, before stepping into the fire light.

Siffrin hesitated, and slipped the dagger back into it’s sheath.

“Bato!?”

Sokka exclaimed, an edge of excitement in his voice.

“Who the-what-now?” Aang inquired, sitting up on Appas leg, as though he hadn’t been asleep in the first place.

Katara shifted, halfway pushing off her sleeping bag, to see what was happening.

“Bato!”

She sounded in disbelief, with an underlying joy in her tone.

The siblings started running towards him.

Siffrin looked down at Aang, Aang looked up at him, and Siffrin slid down the creatures side to accompany Aang walking up to the three.

“Sokka! Katara!”

Yes, it’s been stated those are their names.

“It is so good to see you two!”

a light laugh.

“You’ve grown so much!”

Siffrin stayed behind Aang, hesitant to let themself be seen clearly.

“Hi, I’m Aang!”

He introduced, with a simple bow. He glanced back at Siffrin, then returned his gaze to the three when they didn’t introduce themself.

With closer inspection, it became clearer that, yes, this was a water tribe warrior. The general sha—color of clothing seemed to be probably common among their people?

However, underneath the clothing, he was…covered in bandages, part of the skirmish Sokka had filled them in on when the others had fallen asleep probably.

“Where’s dad?!”

Sokka inquired,

“Is he here?!”

Katara followed.

“No,”

Bato replied simply.

“He and the other warriors should be in the eastern earth kingdom, by now.”

Sokka looked downcast, Katara looked at him sympathetically.

Wind blew past, the three shivered, Aang remained as unphased as Siffrin, something to ask him about later.

Bato shuddered,

“this is no place for a reunion,”

the siblings started walking forward, Bato followed soon after, one arm around either sibling.

“Let’s get inside.”

Aang looked back at Siffrin as Bato gestured for the two to follow along, he gently took their hand, leading them across the sand with him to follow the water tribe members.

Both Aang and Siffrin hung back, giving the three space to get their reunion over with.

“After I was wounded, your father carried me to this abbey,”

bato explained,

“the Sisters have cared for me, ever since.”

Sisters?

“Superior!”

He called, three women—of all near identical attire—turned to face the group.

“These are Hakodas children, they’ve been traveling with the avatar!”

The woman in the center spoke first,

“Young avatar,”

she bowed her head, a formal greeting.

“It gives me great joy to be in your presence,”

she stepped forward,

“welcome to our abbey.”

Aang returned the head-bow, the flying squirrel-lemur-thing chirping in interest as its ears twitched.

“Thank you! It’s truly an honor to be here.”

Aang responded, the lemur released its grip on Aang, gliding over to instead perch on Siffrin.

“If there’s anything I—”

“What smells so good, Bato?”

Sokka interrupted, seeming unaware of Aang speaking, sniffing for emphasis.

Siffrin hesitantly walked up to Aang, and once his gaze turned to them, smiling reassuringly.

“The sisters craft ointments, and perfumes.”

Bato responded simply.

Ointments? Siffrin might snag some for later use.

“Perfume?”
Sokka’s voice was slightly more excited, Oh?

“Maybe we could dump some on Appa!”

He gestured to the very-weird-flying-bison-creature-thing,

“because, he stinks so much!”

…Siffrin snickered,

”am I right?”

It was a bad joke, but a joke nonetheless.

Everyone else remained silent, Sokka smiled briefly at Siffrin.

“…you have your fathers wit.” Bato sighed, clearly disappointed.

The lemur skittered from Siffrins shoulder to Aangs.

Siffrin was not introduced, it seemed Bato hadn’t even realized they were present, 

And when he did, it was right before entering a house-like-structure, giving a curious look, then sliding the door open.

“Bato! It looks like home!”

Katara was clearly excited, along with Sokka, both entering and looking around with visible nostalgia.

“Everything’s here!”

Sokka announced, crouching down on what looked to be a bearskin rug.

“Even the pelts!”

The pelts…did look like home, and not just for the siblings, well, aside from the color. A common Forest bear.

Aang was a bit tense, holding the lemur up against his chest.

“…yeah…nothing’s cozier than dead animal skins…”

ah, so Aang wasn’t a fan of it, understandable.

The lemur hopped off from Aang, whacking at the bearskin’s face, managing to make the formerly open jaw drop closed, startling itself into skittering back to the safety of the back of Aangs head.

“No way!”

Katara gasped, lifting the lid off a boiling pot.

“Stewed sea prunes!?”

The two siblings had already sat down.

“Help yourself!”

His smile was audible, watching as Katara began dishing it up into bowls.

Sokka scoffed,

“Dad could eat a whole barrel of these things.”

Siffrin watched as Aang took the offered bowl from Katara, sniffed it, grimaced, and put it down.

“Bato, is it true you and dad lasso’d an Arctic hippo?”

Katara inquired.

Siffrin took his offered bowl, hesitantly taking a sip.

Huh, it didn't taste like prunes… they were more salty than he thought they’d be this place is weirder than Vaugaurde…

“It was your fathers idea. He just dragged me along!”

He briefly paused…

“Well, the hippo did the dragging.”

The lemur was investigating the pelts lining the wall, and returned to look at Aangs discarded bowl, briefly licking it, before coughing and whacking at the bowl.

Siffrin chuckled at the lemur, continuing to eat his own.

“Hey! I ride animals too!”

Aang seemed upbeat now.

”One time, there was this giant eel! And I—”

“So, who was it that came up with The Great Blubber Fiasco?”

Aang’s upbeat mood shifted into something more agitated.

“You knew about that?”

“Everyone does!”

Aang leaned forward, “what’s that story?”

Sokka brushed him off. “It’s a long one, Aang. Some other time.”

Siffrin hesitated, and bumped up against Aang. He turned to look at them, Siffrin tilted their head toward the far corner,

“You and dad had so many hilarious adventures!”

Aang reluctantly stood up with Siffrin.

“Not all of which were hilarious, at the time. But… Everything's funny with hindsight!”

Aang had taken one of the pelts…something Siffrin didn’t recognize, placing it carefully over his head.

“A-Aang!”

Bato stuttered,

”please put that down. It’s ceremonial, and very fragile!”

Aang sighed, and put it back on its hook.

The lemur returned once again from investigating things, perching on Siffrin’s hat, sniffing at it curiously.

“Was it you, or dad, that put an octopus on your head,”

Sokka began,

“and convinced Gran-Gran that you were a water spirit?”

Siffrin briefly snickered at that.

“Your dad wore the octopus, but…”

he paused for a brief moment,

“I did the spooky voice~”

Siffrin sat down in the corner, Aang joined them.

“Here, we can exchange our own stories!”

Siffrin proposed,

“while those three are doing their own things.”

Aang hesitated,

“I-i don’t want to drag you away from any fun.”

He shook his head solemnly.

“No, no, I’m fine.”

For real this time!

”Besides, I’d like to hear some of your stories!”

Siffrin reassured, leaning against the wall.

“There’s something I should tell you, kids.”

Bato started, drawing Aang and Siffrins attention.

“I’m expecting a message, from your father.”

Ah, for the siblings.

Aang looked up, paying attention anyways.

“Really?”

“When?!”

The duo exclaimed.

“Any day now.”

Bato confirmed.

“Your father said he’d send a message, when they found a rendezvous point. If you wait here, until the message arrives. You can come with me, and see your father again.”

Aang pressed his knees against his chest, unshed tears glittering in his eyes against the fire light.

“It’s been over two years since we’ve seen dad!”

Sokka announced, unaware of Aangs expression

“that would be so incredible!”

He leaned back, hands on the back of his head.

”Katara!”

“…I do really miss him,”

she agreed with some reluctance,

“it would be great to see dad.”

Bato nodded. Aang turned away.

Aang stood up, walking to the door. Siffrin hesitated, and joined him.

“It’s been far too long, hasn’t it?”

Bato more stated than asked.

“I’m not sure when word will arrive.”

Siffrin followed Aang outside, looking up at the dark sky.

The lemur joined them, watching Aang.

“But when it does—”

his sentence was cut-off as Aang closed the door.

Aang glanced at Siffrin, and started walking from the abbey, to the beach.

Siffrin stayed close beside him, watching over the kid as they walked.

“So…you, uhm…”

Aang hesitated, still walking, following Appa’s foot steps, retracing them to the boat. Siffrin nodded curiously, prompting him to continue.

“Color is new to you…right?”

Siffrin nodded again.

“Everything I used to see was in some category of shade.”

Siffrin explained, keeping their voice light, so Aang could interrupt if he felt like it.

“Darkless, light, grey, dark, and lightless.”

They elaborated.

The lemur coiled itself around Siffrin’s hat, trilling quietly.

Aang slowly nodded.

“Sounds…a bit weird?”

Siffrin chuckled,

“we all knew the differences there, shades are hard to tell apart, but well, they’re there, not everyone needs to know every different shade,”

They walked peacefully, though Siffrin kept glancing into the dark, listening for any sound that hinted to a sadness nearby.

The lemur remained curled around Siffrins hat, potentially asleep.

‘How long are you going to be so aggressive? The King's dead Stardust~! You won, there’s barely any sadnesses anymore.’

Siffrin held back a sigh, it was annoying, but it was right. Any sadness that remained was weak, enough that a new crafter could take it on.

But there was a near constant feeling of something prying into their senses, so instead they focused on the ding-ding of His earring against their safety pins, what would normally be an incessant annoyance, was to them a comfort, reminder, 

The boat the group had been originally sleeping at remained beached, Aang walked up to the side, jumping up to sit at the bow

Siffrin followed him right up, weight shifted from their hat.

They looked out at the ocean.

They remembered what they were doing, prafercilgeisajir had prepared rations, jiaveno waited, wanting to perch up on the Crows Nest but knowing they weren’t going to set sail until Kledeisasoothuk had brought in the supplies to trade.

“The Sea is usually blue.”

Aang noted,

”But in some areas, it’s more green, or even red.”

“Jirsacra?”

jiaveno asked,

keeping their voice steady, patient, friendly.

Aang blinked, staring at them.

“…geisasifer? Hezferdei cilgeisajirsa?”

They         paused.

“…Fergei…”

they thought for a minute, remembering, reminding.

”Ah…ah! S-sorry, you—you’re head okay?”

Aang blinked,

“I’m…fine? Was that your language?”

They nodded, tilting their head curiously.

Siffrin opened his mouth to respond, but snapped to attention at a sound similar to that of a horse and seal put together, accompanied by quick foot-falls.

Siffrin unsheathed their dagger, ready to fight.

Some kind of ostrich-ish creature, armored, saddled, someone held its reigns.

Aang sat up straight, the Lemur darted to perch on Aangs shoulder.

Siffrins sheathed their dagger, but kept a hand on the hilt.

The creature came to a halt,

“I’m looking for Bato, of the water tribe.”

A messenger?

Aang hesitated,

“uh… I know Bato!”

Siffrin walked closer, staring at the new person, waiting for them to leave, to ask Aang a question.

“Make sure he gets this!”

He handed Aang something—a rolled-up Scroll. Aang leaned down to accept it.

Watching the thing run off, Siffrin looked up at Aang.

“Hey, what was that?”

“Huh?”

Aang startled, turning to face them.

“The animal, I haven’t seen anything like that.”

He elaborated.

Aang blinked, confused.

“...it’s an ostrich horse, common transportation.”

He supplied.

Siffrin nodded, looking at the scroll.

“What’s that?”

Aang slid down the bow, sitting down next to Siffrin, and cracking open the seal.

Siffrin leaned over Aangs shoulder, squinting in the low light. A Map, landmarks written in a language he couldn’t read. A lake with Criss-crossing rivers to the right and what looked like paths to the left.

‘It’s the map, to Sokka and Kataras dad!…”

Aang glanced at Siffrin, making a face they knew better than they’d like, and balling up the map,

“…I can’t show this to them…”

he admitted, quiet and guilty.

Siffrin blinked,

“why not?”

They asked softly, trying to mimic the way Isabeau spoke to calm them down when they woke up crying. They leaned further to better see Aangs face, watching tears run down his cheeks.

“They—they’ll leave me…”

he stared down at his hands, avoiding their eye.

Siffrin blinked, glaring at the map like it’d just cursed the both of them.

“…I can help convince them to stay.”

Siffrin stated, one hand under their cloak, fiddling with Loops coin in their pocket, while the other rested on Aangs shoulder.

‘Gems, you can never take your trauma seriously! You should at least acknowledge what you make us deal with!’

Siffrin drew in a steadying breath as Aang gave them a puzzled look.

“I know what you’re feeling, kid.”

Siffrin assured, breaking eye contact.

“And I’m willing to help you convince them to stay.”

They repeated, ignoring the almost burning feeling in their chest.

Aang swayed briefly, and nodded.

“Okay,”

he stood up, smiling at Siffrin, they returned the smile, hopping off the boat to follow him back.

“Hey, everyone!”

Aang slid the door open,

“sorry we were gone so long…”

Siffrin walked in alongside Aang, sitting down.

“Hey Aang!…I didn’t notice you left?”

Katara turned to face the two, before noticing the scroll in Aangs hand.

“Yep, and now we’re back.”

Aang shared a hesitant look with Siffrin, before handing the scroll to Bato.

“A messenger gave this to us, for you.”

The three shared an expression or excitement as Bato opened it, laying it flat against the Matt, far enough from the pot that it wouldn’t start burning.

“The map!”

Bato exclaimed.

Siffrin held a hand up to Aangs opening mouth, whispering

“let them speak, we might not need to.”

After a moment staring at it, Bato folded the map back up, standing.

“You kids have no reason to stay here, I can handle the journey.”

Siffrin’s eyes widened a fraction, looking between Katara and Sokka, expecting some form of betrayal at the fact he told them to leave, but instead they were smiling.

Perhaps the three of them had already discussed it then. They lowered their hand, smiling at Aang, watching his uncertain expression fade away, realizing the same thing.

Katara stood up,

“safe trip!”

She nodded, walking around the pot of still boiling stew, grabbing Sokka’s arm and pulling him up.

“We should stay for a bit longer, get supplies.”

Sokka stated, making his way to the door.

Aang stood up, following the two out.

Siffrin remained seated for an extra minute, staring at Bato,

“you already talked about it?”

They asked him after the kids were out of earshot, wanting to confirm.

He nodded,

“they said that it would be too long of a detour.”

Bato confirmed, staring back at them with cautious optimism 

Siffrin stood up, nodding.

“Thank you for the stay.”

Bato waved as Siffrin left, running to catch up to the others.

The four walked through the abbey for a while, Katara and Sokka wandered off to socialize, while Siffrin and Aang stuck together.

Siffrin watched Aang giving Appa some hay, which it happily start eating.

“So, what…is it?”

Siffrin asked Aang, cautiously running his hand over its front leg, soft.

“You mean Appa?”

Siffrin nodded.

“He’s a flying bison!”

Aang grinned, happy to explain.

processed for a moment, before, once again, nodding

“Things really are different here.”

They smiled.

“Siffrin! Aang!”

Sokka called, and the two turned to face him.

“Bato wants to show us something.”

Aang nodded, running after Sokka when he turned and left.

Siffrin followed the two, slower, but keeping them in sight. Ignoring the soreness in his legs.

The three maneuvered through the woods, hopping down some pointed rocks and onto the beach, the boat dead ahead.

“This boat is sentimental to me.”

Bato stated once he saw the three approaching, Katara stood next to him, looking up at the mast.

“It was built by my father.”

“Is this the boat he took you icedodging in?”

Sokka inquired, running a hand along the wood.

“Yep! And It’s got the scar to prove it!”

Bato chuckled.

Siffrin promptly ignored how much Bato kept glancing at them, knowing it was just confusion at the lack of color,

“How about you, Sokka?”

Bato asked.

“You must have some good stories from your first time icedodging!”

Sokka and Katara shared a look of sadness.

“…he never got to go,”

Katara explained,

“dad left, before he was old enough.”

“Oh, I forgot…”

Siffrin could hear the grimace,

“you were too young…”

“What’s icedodging?”

Aang asked.

Siffrin didn’t see the need to ask, the name seemed self explanatory.

“It’s a rite of passage, for young water tribe members.”

He explained.

“When you turn 14, your dad takes you…”

He set his hand on Sokka’s shoulder.

”You know what? You’re about to find out.”

The two smiled at each other.

Aang looked at Siffrin with an excited smile, while Siffrin remained simply curious.

“Icedodging is a ceremonial test, of wisdom, bravery, and trust.”

Siffrin nodded along, leaning against the bow, staring out at the water, there was no crows nest to sit in, sadly.

“In our village, it was done by weaving a boat through a field of icebergs.”

“How are we supposed to icedodge, without ice?”

Sokka asked sarcastically.

“You will be dodging those.”

Bato pointed to a field of rocks. Ships graveyard, this seemed much worse then ice!

“Sokka, you steer and call the shots.”

Bato instructed.

“Lead wisely.”

Sokka took hold of the steering mechanism.

“Katara, you secure the mainsail. The winds can be brutal, so be brave.”

She grabbed the rope, holding it tightly.

“Aang, you control the jib. Without your steady hand, we all go down, your position is about trust.”

Aang nodded slowly, taking his place calmly.

He walked to the bow,

“for this to be done right, I cannot help. You pass or fail on your own.”

And sat cross-legged away from Siffrin.

Siffrin continued leaning against the bow, watching the approaching stones as the ship picked up speed in the harsh water, spraying salt and water at them.

“Aang! Ease up on the jib.”

Sokka instructed.

“Katara, steady!”

A dead-on collision course between two.

“Aang! Less sail! Katara! Give him room!”

Siffrin knew what it was like to sail through these types of waters, Poteria always seemed surrounded by them, only a few outlets where ships came and went.

Sokka had been doing good so far, but this seemed…a lot for what was presumably a first time sailor.

“Aang! Helm to Lee! Helm to Lee!”

Sokka called, pushing against the steering with his entire body.

“What does that even mean!?”

Aang questioned, before pulling as hard as he could.

Siffrin winced, they’d come way too close to impact for their comfort.

The boat continued forward, Siffrin looked from Sokka, to the graveyard ahead.

“There’s no way through!”

Katara shouted.

“We can make it!”

Sokka countered.

Bato stood up, bracing himself against the side of the boat.

“Sokka! You’ve already proven yourself! Maybe we should-”

“Aang! I’m gonna need air in that sail!”

Oh thank stars he has a plan.

“Katara! I want you to bend as much water as you can, between us, and those rocks!”

He instructed.

Siffrin braced for impact, watching the water build upwards beneath them, raising the boat high enough to pass over the rocks.

‘…he, actually did it…?’

Siffrin was hyperventilating, a mix of adrenaline from the situation he just survived, and a hint of fear at the fact it acknowledged their surroundings.

“…we’re, alive.”

Siffrin breathed out a sigh of relief, sitting down carefully, listening to the faint ding-ding his movement created, forcing his heart to slow back down, as waves tilted the ship, and voices unlike his Haclayo were dampened by the ringing in his ears.

It was just the traders, it was just the traders. They reached Poteria, it’s just the traders.

Jiaveno shook in the wind, clutching His earring so hard it started to hurt, keeping themself aware, reminding himself where he was, that it was over.

Siffrin felt a hand on his shoulder, and flinched away by instinct, looking first at the hand, then up at Aang, who was giving them a decidedly concerned expression.

Siffrin registered everything around them, clutching Isabeau’s earring like a lifeline, the boat wasn’t swaying anymore, wasn’t moving.

“You okay?”

Aang asked carefully, crouching to meet their eyes.

Siffrin did their breathing exercise, leaning forward.

“I-I’m fine, it’s over now.”

He slowly released the earring, staring at the dark imprint in their palm, a shade that suggested a bruise would form in the coming days.

He, wouldn’t be surprised if he’d managed to bruise himself with that.

Siffrin stood up slowly, leaning on the edge of the ship to support himself.

‘There you go, Hulifur’vai.’

…despite what Siffrin would’ve expected, it sounded…gentle, almost. Caring.

That was, out of character of it, even calling them by a nickname for Stars sake.

‘Without you, we don’t exist, so excuse us for wanting you to be okay.’

Hah…Odile would’ve thought they were insane, believing it cared at all about them.

It huffed, falling silent again.

Siffrin slid down the side of the boat, staring down at the sand.

It looked familiar, but at the same time it was wrong.

______ was never this warm, this bright. There…there were always clouds, circling the mountains…

Color, the Sand wasn’t Dark, it had color, it wasn’t home.

“Sifffriiin?”

Katara asked, snapping her fingers in front of him.

He blinked, turning to look at her, and slowly nodding in acknowledgment 

He looked at the crescent marking on her forehead, before looking back down to meet her eyes.

“We’re going back to the abbey for some supplies,”

she gestured for him to follow.

They turned to look at the boat, grabbed His earring, and turned back to follow the group.

As planned, Siffrin managed to sneak a jar of ointment into their pockets, he could figure out what it was for, later, for now? It was just nice to have something new.

Siffrin and Aang were both sitting on appa—his saddle and head respectively—Aang asking Siffrin about their Language, which they remembered he heard and didn’t feel sick afterwards.

They were doing their best to explain what was wrong with it, that the others weren’t able to hear let alone understand them even if they tried too, that their language, knowledge of their home, was wiped from all memory.

Aang winced, and explained that his culture wasn’t wiped from memory, but that his home had been destroyed, and people killed off.

Siffrin blinked, reminding themself that he was talking to a child, And started blaming themself briefly for bringing up what was definitely a traumatic memory.

“Sorry! Sorry! I shouldn’t have brought it up, you, shouldn’t have to remember that…”

they apologized, turning to face the siblings, Katara watching the people of the Abbey making perfumes, and Sokka bantering with Bato.

Aang opened his mouth to respond, but Siffrin held up a hand,

“do you hear that?”

They asked, they didn’t only hear, but now felt heavy footsteps.

Aang perked up,

“yeah! What is that?”

He asked, before backtracking.

“N-not that I expect you to know, you’re new to this world.”

The gates broke open, a furred quadruped made a sound somewhere between a roar and growl.

Siffrin grabbed their dagger, watching it briefly sniff the ground, rear up with a snarl, and slash it’s tongue at Katara.

“KATARA!”

Aang shouted, already running towards the creature.

Siffrin jumped down, ignoring the way their leg twinged on impact, and aiming at the creature.

Three people were riding it, the one in the middle was old, hairs grayed and face wrinkled, the woman in the front was holding the reins and a whip, she seemed in perfect health, if a little thin, and the man in the back was, to say the least, maybe threatening, armor on his shoulders, a high ponytail, and a…scar on the left side of his face, over his eye.

Aang blasted the trio, succeeding in knocking the two farther back off. Aang dove below the creature, initiating combat with the two he’d hit.

Siffrin jumped, stabbing the Dagger into the creature's shoulder, and launching himself up, surprising the woman, and allowing him time to take hold of the reins, and twist them to the side, effectively knocking her off aswell.

He spared a glance toward Aang, saw that he was dealing quite easily with the Scarred One, while the Old One seemed to just watch from the sidelines.

Siffrin yanked his dagger out of the creature's shoulder, slid down its neck, and jabbed the tip into its snout, pulling up, and diving down to fight the Woman.

She glared at him, and snapped the whip, in reaction the creature snapped, attempting to hit him, but missing by inches.

He ducked closer to her, grabbing her wrist and yanking her farther from the creature.

Appa joined in the fight, slamming his tail against the ground, and knocking the creature into one of the walls.

Siffrin took advantage of her being more singled out now, as Appa dealt with the creature, and Aang dealt with the Scarred One.

She staggered to the side, clearly not used to any form of physical combat.

She wrenched her wrist out of his grip, snapping the whip against his side, and in the same motion, getting the creature back up, though it remained occupied with Appa.

Siffrin grit his teeth, drawing his Dagger across her arm, and ducking beneath her attempt at again hitting him in the chest, stepping forward and spinning to face her back, jabbing her in the Shoulder Blade(hah!) then criss-crossing the tip against her back.

She faltered, groaning in pain, but with another crack of the whip, his dagger went flying across the abbey.

Siffrin hesitated for only a moment, before trying to craft, one hand in The Scissors Position, the other stretching palm-open at her, using up whatever energy they had.

She staggered further back, blood dripping from her arm and shoulder, and after a second of thinking, he ran up to her, grabbed her hand, and bit full-force into her arm, drawing blood.

For a moment, everything was silent, her staring down at him in disbelief, him glaring back at her, before she screamed.

Siffrin moved his hand from hers to the whip, yanking it out of her already loosened grip, and with his own falter, retreating back some.

She took a few dazed steps away from him, before collapsing against the Old One.

Siffrin breathed heavily, their hands shook as blood dribbled down his face.

They turned to face the other fight, watching Aang and The Scarred one both staring at him in shock and terror respectively.

Siffrin looked at Aang, and after registering the whip in his hand, cracked it in the Scarred Ones general direction.

The creature snarled, though battered and worn from its conflict with Appa, it had prevailed, and with Siffrins command, snapped its tongue out at The Scarred one.

Siffrin blinked, for a moment questioning what the effects were, before letting go, and falling to his knees.

They were clutching the inside of their cloak, and leaning forward to prevent the blood dripping onto the Darkless fabric. Spitting out what they expected to be Blood Dark, before staring at the splatter on the ground, and feeling their heart start to race.

Shatter, sky, void, betrayal, home, darkness, stars.

Siffrin drew in a shaking breath, feeling the bile rising in their throat, and pulling their cloak as close to their body as possible, hunching forward, and vomiting.

They hadn’t eaten much, as they then realized, staring at what was mostly stomach acid now mixing with that cursed color.

They shakily stood up, supported by someone they didn’t perceive, and walked to the broken gate, and leaned against the wall. They blearily looked up, snapping to attention upon realizing it was the Old One.

They paused, thought for a moment, and forcibly relaxed, spit and blood still dripping down their chin.

Picking a fight wouldn’t be worth it, and from the looks of it, he wasn't much of a fighter anyways.

They closed their eye, flinching at the hand on their cheek, but once again forcibly relaxing as he wiped the bodily fluids from their face.

They kept their focus on breathing, ignoring how much their limbs were shaking, and how much light danced beneath their eyelid.

The Old Ones hand brushed against their forehead, comfortably cool, which as Siffrin learned, meant they had a fever.

“You should rest for a While.”

Siffrin’s eye snapped open at the voice, blinking rapidly as the light of what seemed both fire and Sun produced tried to blind them.

“Mrrrmmph…”

Siffrin responded, not trying to form words, just a noise of acknowledgement, they felt something placed gently on their cloak, and closed their eyes.

The Old Ones breathing faded out, accompanied by much louder footsteps, growing quieter, causing less of a headache the farther he got.

Siffrin leaned most of his weight against the wall, and accepted that they were likely going to pass out.

Chapter Text

“Isabeau, he’s gone, we’ve been searching for the past three days, there’s no sign of him.”

“So I’m just supposed to accept that he vanished? I was next to him, Odile. One moment he was there, the next second he wasn’t.”

“He probably looped back in time again. We did all we could, but he’s not coming back, Isabeau.”

“…you’re probably right…”

Aang paced helplessly, watching his eerily still friend in what was potentially a coma, feeling incapable of helping, because what could be different? What if he did something wrong? Why had she been asleep for so long? How did she Airbend?

That last part Aang had puzzled over for a while, but at this point he decided to accept it, and focus his attention on worrying.

Siffrin was breathing, yes, but it was shallow. Clear, but light. And while he was curious to what kind of illness she actually had, there wasn’t anything he could do about it without knowledge.

She shuddered, seeming to curl up closer to herself, before laying back out flat in the saddle.

She’d been doing that off and on, shiver, tense, relax.

Aang, didn’t really notice her eyepatch too much before, it kind of just felt like a piece of her, normal, perhaps it was.

It looked like it’d been moved during the conflict, and he felt like just leaving it there might irritate her skin, so he made the, not so smart choice, to remove it.

Underneath was a scar, jagged and bursting outward from where her left eye should be, it looked like something carved the skin off and froze the flesh.

Aang recoiled, setting down the delicately stitched eyepatch, his first thought was that her eye might’ve been frozen and then burned.

Then making the connection that it could just be a normal scar, considering Siffrin being entirely grey.

Siffrin was a mystery, but his theory still stood that she might be a spirit, even if she denied it, even seemed confused by the idea, there was always the chance their strange black-and-white friend was a spirit helping them in some semblance of a human disguise.

But that…didn’t really explain why she was sick.

The lady with the xierxu had left with Zuko and Iroh to get herself medical attention after the fight was resolved, which gave the group time to recover from what happened and travel further from Zuko.

Aang could ask what happened to her eye later, even if right now it felt like she might not wake up at all.

Another shudder, she tensed up, then relaxed.

‘Actor?’

Aang jolted at the voice, though it wasn’t the first time he’d heard it, it was creepy, it sounded like multiple voices layered overtop each other, hissing words like it was trying to rip something apart.

‘Hah! Deserved, no? Honestly, what’d you expect?’

Aang remained silent, listening to its now almost teasing tone, fiddling with a star-shaped volcanic rock he’d gotten from the Fortune Tellers town.

The rock felt implicative of something, it was sharper around the edges of the spikes, but closer to the center it was smooth. Even after leaving, it remained warm, buzzing with something that felt like an invite somewhere. Beckoning, expectant, impatient, but friendly all the same.

Maybe it’s where the voice came from? It was a stretch, but with Siffrin’s existence came the chance of a world beyond The Spirits existing, even if it was unlikely the two things were even related.

‘…hello, stranger.’

Aang stared at the rock, testing how sharp the points were.

The voice had been cold and uncaring most of the time he heard it, but why was it hostile?

It took pressure to cause an indent on his finger, not sharp enough to cause major issues unless thrown then.

And why could Aang hear it like it was physically in his head?

Sure, he’s the Avatar, but this is weird, right? Hearing voices?

‘Hmmmph. Still dwelling? Pathetic, really.’

There was a distinct hissing to its voice, even if the voice itself shifted, that hiss remained, menacing and malicious.

Concerning? Yeah, but could he do anything about it?…not that he knew of, first Siffrin, then the weird rock, now The Voice.

…he should ask Siffrin about what she remembers of her culture when she’s awake and well, maybe it could help him figure the Rock and Voice out, knowing more about the only thing he can think of that could be correlated to them.

The rock? Just a weird thing he’d like to figure out.

The voice? Should probably figure out what it is and what it’s talking to, and try to stop it.

Hearing that constantly must be hard to deal with.

The Solstice was only about a week ago, Siffrin could’ve gotten stuck in the Human world, how she got there to begin with though was…debatable.

Maybe the group's objective aligned with her purpose, and something in the Spirit World sent her out to help before the border between became too hard to cross.

Aunt Wu called her ‘Traveler’, which could’ve just been how she chose to refer to her, but Aang still couldn’t prove or disprove her being a spirit, the idea was cool though, having a spirit helping save the world?

Spirit or not though, she didn’t know what bending was, yet she used it, but she mentioned something that she suggested might be similar, ‘Craft’?

She had her right hand in an odd position when she was airbending, pointer and middle fingers kept out while the rest curled in.

Like she was playing Scissors in a game of Rock Paper Scissors.

…Aang preferred to not think about her course of action immediately afterward that, though.

‘…I loved them. I loved them. I loved them! And yet, they didn’t recognize me… didn’t remember me…’

It singled out a single one of its voices, it was hard to tell gender from the voice alone, beginning solemn and growing bitter. The distinct hiss mixing with the sound of something crackling.

Siffrins eye was open, glazed over and staring into the clouds silently.

‘He’s getting better…not enough to handle the trip, but he’s recovering.’

A gruff male voice, quiet like he was trying not to wake someone up.

Ironic, considering Siffrins situation.

“…Siffrin?”

tested, watching her eye close, open, and stare at him.

That was confirmation enough that she was awake, her being aware was a whole different story though.

“She’s awake.”

Aang alerted, keeping his voice down in case it might hurt her head.

‘Isn’t it cool?’

The gruff voice again, the hiss quieter than before.

‘It’s nice…’

The hiss got more intense, nearly drowning out the sentence itself, causing the voice to be barely identifiable as a persons, 

‘Pretty, goes ding ding when we walk!’

A clearly feminine voice, sounding both joyful and amused. Although the hiss got louder, it sounded softer, less like it wanted to claw something out, more like it was protecting something fragile.

‘Kids, it is nearly midnight, sleep.’

It switched again, an older feminine voice, though it seemed to follow the same conversation as the others.

Siffrin shifted, yawning.

Siffrin grumbled something akin to a Snakefinch melody, a hissy rattle with intermixing clicks.

“…what?”

Aang blinked, watching as her eyes went from a bored glaze, to confusion.

“Piou!”

She smiled, giving no further explanation.

“Piou?”

Katara chimed in, voicing Aangs confusion.

Siffrin’s smile fell,

“is that…not, what bird calls are called?”

Her smile came back, wider.

Sokka burst out laughing, Katara snickered.

Aang held back giggles, watching Siffrin tense up, and forcibly relax, watching him in turn.

She chuckled, although she was quieter, and sounded more…cautious.

…Aang shouldn’t bother Siffrin with The Voice, she’s sick, she has her own things to deal with.

‘I don’t really need their help.’

It stated, in the same voice clouded by hissing.

‘Right! Because you got me!’

It responded to itself in a theatric, sarcastic tone, the hissing fading slightly.

The rock, still in Aangs hand, buzzed warmer, the laughter died down, Katara and Sokka returning to their respective roles for the current flight, Aang glancing between Siffrins eyepatch, and her still visible Scar.

Aang felt a spike of something cautionary, seeing the grey where he knew a scar was, having seen a scar not long before during the conflict with Zuko.

“…so, uhm…”

Aang hesitated, watching Siffrin focus back on him, he paused, and said

“so, what…happened to your eye?”

It was insensitive to just, ask. But it was a curious thing.

‘Y-yeah? You remember right, it was a while back… when you protected me from that other ————, you know?’

It spoke in a child’s voice, uneasy and hesitant, 

Siffrin looked back to the clouds, slowly raising a hand to her eye.

Aang could almost see the gears turning in her head as she realized the eyepatch was missing.

“So, y’see, I was playing tag with some friends in the forest, and i uh…didn’t see the low-hanging branch until I couldn’t anymore.”

Aang winced, but didn’t comment, figuring if she was very clearly lying, knowing her scar was in full-view, that she just had problems voicing that she didn’t want to talk.

Siffrin paused, lowering the hand from her eye to Appas saddle below her, slowly sitting up, arms visibly shaking under the cloak as she looked to her eyepatch, stabilizing herself just slightly before reaching to grab it.

She looked at Aang, and diverted her gaze.

“It’s…personal.”

She started quietly, fighting briefly with her mess of hair to get the black fabric to sit right, before lowering her hand to the earring clipped to her safety pins.

“I’m—”

she cut herself off, starting again with a less cheery tone.

“Mostly okay, sorry for what you saw during the fight, I was being irrational.”

Aang nodded in response, allowing the main topic to drop, slipping out into a different one.

“Speaking of what I saw.”

She shrunk back, trying to look smaller then she already was, grimacing.

“You were airbending?”

He tilted his head, sitting cross-legged next to her.

“B-before you…Y’know. the hand-sign was weird, but you were airbending.”

Aang was cautiously optimistic, he already knew she wasn’t of his culture, nor know what bending was three days ago, but he wasn’t the only air bender after all…?

Her eye glazed over, mouth slightly open, before blinking and turning to her hands curiously. She flexed her fingers, before thrusting her palm forward with a slow gust of wind.

She winced, holding her wrist in her other hand.

But she did do it, it was weak and without any semblance of stance, but it worked.

‘Aactooorr~!’

That one word dripped with amusement Siffrin couldn’t understand, sounding nearly like it was laughing.

Aang nodded, giving a gentle smile.

“Maybe don’t do that again for a while, looks like it hurt yeah?”

She shrugged, only the right corner of her mouth upturned.

“Wrist already hurt for a while.”

She explained.

Aang swayed briefly in the cold wind, Siffrin closed her eye and laid back down, arms out like a Starfish.

Aang hesitated, and turned his attention to the forest.

They’d been flying over the ocean for a couple hours, having left a bit past midday.

from the amount of altitude being lost, Aang could safely assume Appa was getting a bit tired of flying.

‘And that’s exactly what I mean! Why’d it need to be so late, though?’

Siffrin hummed to himself, ignoring what sounded more like a hiss then a response as he mentally prepared for walking through the dark too find somewhere safe to camp for the night.