A/N: Sorry guys for the huge delay. A lot of stuff came up at work and life. I'm planning to publish in 2000 word chapters from now on. That way chapters can get out faster instead of huge clumps. Sorry again for the inconvenience.

This definitely isn't the Milky Way galaxy Aang thought to himself as he twirled his newfound staff. Sokka had managed to find it ledged underneath Appa's couldn't wait to start using it.

He had spent the last few hours staring into the night sky, and while he was no astronomer, he could tell this was a different part of the universe. For one thing there were too many stars. On any given night a person could only see about four thousand stars and yet there were ten to twenty thousand by his estimation. From the central band of stars that ran through the sky he could tell they were on the edge of whatever spiral barred galaxy they were in. But the band was frayed at the edges at angles he had never seen before. They had to be in another galaxy.

Perhaps we're just in a different part of the Milky Way Salviati noted.

Maybe, but then how would the Earth have moved? Simplicio replied. What power could move it here?

Aang sighed as questions kept on piling up in his mind. As a scientist he should've been excited. After all, it wasn't often that one's worldview was shattered. But the puzzle seemed unsolvable. Something monumental happened in the past, something that was lost to time, and he didn't know how he could uncover it.

Aang looked at the two children sleeping behind him and gave an even deeper sigh. Was it kidnapping if they ran away with him?

It can't be kidnapping, you're twelve! Simplicio said.

Physically perhaps but not mentally, Salviati retorted. How do you think it looks when a hundred-year-old man is traveling with two teenagers?

Well you heard Katara. Her grandmother said it was their destiny to travel with us.

And you believe her? I never knew you to be so naïve as to take children at their word. What grandmother would send their grandchildren off to run away with a boy?

One who thinks that boy is the equivalent of this world's messiah? Simplicio said. Seriously, what the hell is the "Avatar"?

And now they had reached the issue Aang had wanted to avoid thinking about. Apparently, he actually was the Avatar, a godlike being who could bend all four elements. The Trickster, the Will of the World, the Arbitrator of the Heavens, all titles the Avatar was supposedly called. Aang was ready to refute each one but he remembered seeing the damage he had supposedly caused to the ship.

The ship had large spikes of ice jutting out of its deck and sides while the bow of the cruiser had been completely encased in ice. It was an impossible scene made even more impossible by the fact that he remembered being shot in the leg. But now he couldn't find any sign of the wound. It was almost as if it never had happened. Being the Avatar seemed to be the only explanation. It would explain why the Fire Nation was chasing him, why he was missing for a hundred years, how he ended up on Appa instead of the bottom of the sea.

What the hell are we doing again? Simplicio asked.

What do you mean? Sokka said if we follow this direction, we should be at the Southern Air Temple by morning.

Not that! I mean in general. What are we doing? We're a hundred-year-old Briton in the body of a presumably twelve-year-old Taoist monk god who's destined to stop a hundred-year war in a world we've never seen before. There's a whole country chasing after us and all we've got is two teenagers who've, more than likely, run away from home.

There's a good chance we can save Cynthia and Emily Salviati said.

How do you figure?

We had the schematics of a working time machine noted. We met a strange woman who knew way too much about us. And now we're on a different Earth in either a completely different part of the galaxy or in another galaxy. Suffice it to say, I think we time traveled.

I suppose… Simplicio said after he spent some time overlooking the chain of logic with a healthy dose of skepticism. But then where does that leave us?

We find out where we are, where we can get a time machine, and when to travel back to.

And defeat the Fire Nation along the way? Simplicio asked incredulously.

If we get a time machine, that goes without saying.

The odds of that happening are astronomical.

The odds of being here are astronomical, Salviati retorted. Besides winning a war can't be harder than making a time machine, right?

"It's beautiful isn't it?"

Aang turned to look around to see Katara crawling along Appa. "What is?"

"The night sky, I saw you staring at it."

"It is. It's prettier than the sky in my world. There are many more stars here."

The two gazed at the stars in silence each lost in their own thoughts. Only after a sudden chill from a gust of air did Katara remember her question. "Are you really a time traveler?"

"I thought I was, now I'm not sure. This is definitely Earth. But the stars are different. They were never this many or ever this bright."

"Couldn't the stars have just moved?"

"Not by this much," Aang shook his head. "They're too far away for us to notice when they move. From here they should just look like points in the sky. Why do you think the stars moved?"

Katara shrugged. "Gran Gran told me a story once about the stars dancing and singing when the world was created."

"What?"

"It was part of a story on how the world was created and the roles of spirits and humans."

"Oh wow," Aang replied. "Is it a famous story?"

"Yeah everyone knows it. Gran Gran first heard the tale from her grandmother."

"Really?" Aang raised an eyebrow. If the Earth had moved through the universe that could have explained the stars dancing, but then what was the singing? "I wonder if the airbenders have a similar story."

"Oh, damn it," Katara said in wide-eyed horror. "I knew I was forgetting something important."

"What's wrong?"

"Aang I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner," she said as all the color drained from her face. "There was the attack and then you got kidnapped and we had to rescue you we—"

"Katara calm down," Aang said before she started to cry. He could already see the tears welling up in her eyes. "I understand, it's not your fault. All you've ever done is help me since we met."

"Thanks," she whispered. She took a moment to calm herself before speaking again, but her hands still trembled. "Um, remember when I said that no one has seen the Avatar in a hundred years?"

"Yeah?"

"That was also the last time we ever saw the airbenders. You're the first airbender I think anyone has seen in a century."

"What? That can't be right."

"The hundred-year war started when the firelord attacked all the airbender temples at once."

"Why would he—"

"Because he was trying to get to you," Katara interrupted, ignoring the growing lump in her throat. "He killed all the airbenders in the hopes of killing the Avatar."

"He killed all of them?" Aang asked his jaw hanging in shock. "But th- there were thousands. He couldn't have killed them all."

Katara solemnly nodded. "Fire Lord Sozin thought you were the only one who could stop him from taking over the world. Over the century the firebenders killed or captured any airbender they could find."

"But wouldn't the Avatar just reincarnate? He'd be a waterbender next right? Wait no," he said, speaking as quickly as his thoughts took form. "Jesus Christ. Is that why they took all the waterbenders?"

"Yeah," Katara whispered.

Aang couldn't speak as he was too shocked to form words. He almost didn't believe Katara. Maybe she was misinformed, or this was an awful prank. But the evidence that she was right was great. All the villagers being excited by his presence, the firebenders knowing he was the Avatar, even the general's hesitance at explaining how he found him. It all, unfortunately, made too much sense.

"Are you alright?"

"I should be asking you that," Katara laughed as she dried her tears. "You just found out all the nomads have been wiped out and you're worried about me. You really are the Avatar, aren't you?"

"I guess the shock hasn't hit me yet," Aang replied feeling a little guilty. He had all these memories but felt no emotional connection to them. Was he an imposter living someone else's life? Then again, he couldn't imagine living a life without Appa. Maybe I have to see the memory in real life to trigger an emotional response? he reasoned.

"Do you think there's an afterlife?" Katara asked after some time had passed by.

"If you had asked me when I was in my world, I would have told you no. I would have said it's impossible and even more I would've been certain of it. You wouldn't have been able to convince me otherwise," Aang said before laughing. "But then I died and wound up here in this strange world. I think now I would say it's possible."

"I also thought it was impossible," Katara said looking at the moon. "There's another story that everyone in my tribe knows, a story of what happens after you die. When a person died a kayak would come down from the moon on the night of their death. They would get on the kayak and paddle through the moonlight into the afterlife. After my mother died, I spent almost every night I could staring at the moon trying to see any spirit or kayak in the sky, but I never found any."

"What changed your mind?" Aang asked, a little choked up.

"You did."

"What?"

"Did you know you were a story?" Katara smiled. "Everyone in the village knew the stories of the Avatars and their vow to bring balance to the world. There was Avatar Kyoshi and her battle against Chin the Conqueror and Avatar Koruk and his battle against Koh the Face Stealer. But I never believed them. If the afterlife had been a lie, why should I believe any other story? And then, because the world can't make up its damn mind, we find you stuck inside an iceberg of all places."

"You're welcome, I guess," Aang said scratching his head. It was strange to see someone putting so much faith in him.

"If you're real," Katara continued, oblivious to Aang's embarrassment, "then I figure maybe the afterlife is real. Maybe one day I'll see mom again and maybe you'll see all your friends."

"I sure hope so but isn't that a lot of maybes?" the airbender asked.

"Maybes are all we have," the waterbender replied.

Hey, you still asleep? Black asked, but no response came. She waited for a couple of minutes before trying again. I know you can hear me.

What do you want, you wretch of a woman?

Ah, there you are. Did you wake up on the wrong side of your chamber?

I'm not in the mood for games. Why have you called me?

I'm bored. It's already afternoon and they haven't sent anyone in.

Black, I will kill you for your insolence.

If this boredom doesn't kill me first, Black sighed. While the room was pleasant with its paintings and large bed, she still found it too spartan. In some ways the "master quarters" as the girl had put it, was just a large prison cell. There were no windows and the only exit was sealed by a large metal door. The only light source were the two oil lamps.

What year is it? Oil lamps were reminiscent of the eighteenth century, but the solid metal door suggested otherwise. The only time period where the two technologies could coexist was the late nineteenth century. So, we have steamships at least, that's good. I can just use that.

Leave then, there's nothing stopping you. Steal one of these steamships of theirs and escape.

You can't operate a steamship by yourself. Besides,I can't really negotiate with them if I escape, especially if I need to speak to their king.

You're negotiating from a position of weakness. You are trapped in their prison and so they will assume they have the upper hand. They have no obligation to help you.

Perhaps you're right, Black considered. If negotiations fail then, I'll think of a counter plan. I should be able to gather some infor—

Before she could complete the thought the door opened and in stepped a large, but thin, man. He had light skin and unlike the soldiers he wore no armor or mask Instead he adorned a fancy crimson robe.

Oh good, some entertainment. What surprised her were the two individuals behind him. She had never expected to see one of the sisters and the princess here.

"Good afternoon," the man said before taking a seat opposite her bed. His voice was commanding, but she could hear the slight shock. Have none of them seen a European before? "Can we get anything for you? Water? Tea? I hope everything has been to your liking."

"You have been more than accommodating. Breakfast was excellent. I am a little hungry for lunch however."

"Apologies. Lunch will be ready momentarily," Sugano said. "We had no chef on the base and so we had to bring him here from the city."

"I see," Black smiled. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed the other two moving along the perimeter of the room. Azula guarded the door while the elder stood guard at the left wall. "Princess Azula what are you doing down here?"

"It's not every day we get such an interesting visitor," Azula replied. "I'm afraid my curiosity got the better of me and I simply had to attend."

"I hope I can sate your curiosity then," Black replied giving her the bird.

"I don't understand. Why are you lifting your middle finger?"

"Sorry, force of habit." Great, the translator's damaged, Black thought as she conducted the wellness check on the engine. "It's a universal custom to show gratitude."

"I am Sugano Koin," the man said, slightly bowing, "emissary of the Fire Nation, agent of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and subject of Fire Lord Ozai."

"And I am Black, Goddess of the Night Sky and traveler of the stars, but I'm sure you already knew that," she said, slightly approving that the country would send an emissary. She was a foreigner after all. "Now what questions do you have for me?"

"What?"

"You've kept me locked in this room for the night and better part of the day. Surely you've had enough time to come up with some questions."

"Yes," Sugano said clearing his throat. "What is your purpose here?"

"I have none. I crash landed here after my battle with the monsters."

"But of all the places in the heavens you landed in this world?"

"It was the closest one."

"How many of these monsters were there?" Sugano asked.

"Two. My ship was damaged, and I landed here."

"We find that hard to believe. Your ship is half the size of our warships and twice as wide, but you're the only one onboard?"

"Ships voyaging through the stars are much more advanced than ships in this world," Black said. They didn't show it, but Black could tell the three were hooked on every word she said. "My ship is fully independent and can sail through the starry seas on its own."

"That's a bold claim," Sugano said incredulously. "Could you show us?"

"My ship is too damaged to be of any use right now. After it somewhat repairs itself, I'll show you then."

"Repairs itself?"

"Well the ship is alive after all," Black said, laughing at the emissary's shock.

"What did these monsters look like?" Azula asked before Sugano could get his next question in. The idea of a living ship had broken her suspension of disbelief. The woman was clearly lying about something.

"Black wings, green body, and claws that can slice through flesh and bone like butter."

"How large were they?"

"Three meters tall."

"Where are they now?" Azula asked the next question in rapid fire succession. Sugano by this point had slowly moved aside, allowing Azula all the room she needed to tower over the "goddess".

"Reduced to ashes," Black replied.

"How far is your world from here?"

"Too far for you to imagine."

"Try explaining anyway," Azula smiled. "I think you'll find I have quite the imaginative mind."

Black simply stared at Azula. It was strange, she never felt competitive before now. Her eyes shifted between the elder who hadn't spoken a word and the emissary who seemed slightly miffed that the interrogation had been taken over by a teenager.

"Well?" the princess asked.

"It's about a hundred fifty quintillion kilometers away from here."

"Why would you chase these monsters such a distance?" Azula asked, ignoring the increasing absurdity of her answers.

"They were that dangerous."

Azula continued her barrage of questions much to Black's pleasure. Sometimes she would ask details about the ship and other times switch back to the supposed monsters. She would even ask the same question twice but was left disappointed when Black would answer it correctly.

"Is that all?" Black asked, but the princess didn't respond. Instead she simply paced in front of her bed back and forth.

"For all of your statements," Azula finally said after a minute or so, "you provided no evidence. How do we even know you're a goddess?"

"What?"

"All we have are your claims and a building you say fell out of the sky. What's your evidence?" Azula smirked, finally gaining the upper hand. "Now that I think about it, if you were from another world, I doubt you'd look human."

"It would be unwise, Princess Azula," Black said in a plain voice, "to assume humans only exist in this world. The heavens are vast and the number of worlds countless. And as for your distrust in my godhood, perhaps a demonstration is in order."

"That would certainly go a long way, goddess," Li said for the first time, ignoring Azula's visible fury at being interrupted.

"But if I succeed," Black said to Azula, "I want an audience with your father."

"What for?"

"In order for me to leave this world, I need to get to the North Pole. I will need a ship or airplane to get there quickly."

"What's an airplane?" Sugano interjected.

"Never mind then, ship it is," Black said.

"I can't make any promises," Azula chose her words carefully, "but I'll see what I can do."

"It'll do for now I suppose," Black shrugged. She took in a deep breath, audibly inhaling for dramatic effect, and let it go. "Prepare yourselves."

For the first few seconds nothing happened, Black simply sat there, her legs crossed lotus style. But then Azula noticed Black's robe slightly start to rustle and before she could say anything Black was floating off the bed. She rose higher and higher until her head scraped the ceiling. "Tell me, can any of you fly?"

"How are you doing that?" Lo asked in shock, her weapons already drawn.

"As simple as it is for you to breathe, it is for me to fly."

"Are you an airbender?" Azula growled. She refused to give the enemy the satisfaction of seeing her surprised. Instead she resolved to concentrate all her attention on figuring out how she did it. She can't be an airbender, Azula thought. If she were then there would've been a gust of air. Or can they simply levitate?

"I'm not sure what that is, but probably not," Black said before frowning. "I can't help but notice you all look like you're ready to attack."

"Forgive us goddess," Li said sheathing her saber. "We've never seen anyone fly before."

"No worries," Black laughed. "Have I proven myself?"

"No," Azula said. "You could've used thrusters or wires to pick yourself up. Just because you can float doesn't mean you're a goddess."

"Thrusters or wires?" Black asked. "Really?"

"Unlike others here, I shall remain a skeptic."

"Then, what would be a sufficient test to prove I am one?" Black asked.

"We don't exactly have a working definition," Sugano said. "You would be our first encounter."

"Then all I can do is keep providing evidence," Black said as she pushed the robe around her right arm down to her shoulder. In a twinkling of light what seemed to be a normal human arm shimmered into a metallic replica. "In a previous battle against those monsters I lost the use of my right arm."

"And you were given a prosthetic?" Sugano asked his jaw hanging open in shock. When he had been told about the goddess falling out of the sky, Sugano had readied himself for any kind of supernatural occurrence. He had some experience with spirits before at his grandfather's summer residence. It was why he had been chosen for this meeting. But this afternoon was just a series of surprises one after the other.

"It's more than a prosthetic," Black moved her fingers around in demonstration. She showed off the display scene and the silver metallic coils that ran up and down the arm. "It's a work of art."

"But your arm was a normal one a few seconds ago," Azula said in hidden awe.

"A trick of light," she said as the hologram of a normal arm crept up the metallic one until it had completely vanished from view. "I believe, I, at the very least, proved I have powers you don't have."

At that moment three rapid knocks came from the door. Sugano, at first alarmed, opened the door to reveal a masked soldier carrying what seemed to be quite a delectable lunch. On the silver tray was what looked like tomato soup with a side of rice and purple meat. "Lunch has been served," Sugano said placing the tray and glass of water on the table beside her bed.

"Excellent," Black said as she smelled the spices from the meal. "I'm quite famished. My compliments to the chef."

"Thank you. I'll let him know," Sugano replied as he dismissed the soldier.

"Do you have any other abilities?" Azula asked.

"I do, but I think I shall keep them secret. As for the rest of the interview we'll have to place it on hold until after I'm done with my lunch."

"What? Why?" the princess asked.

"I like to eat my meals alone," Black replied. "I'm sorry. I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to leave."

"Of course, goddess," Lo said as she hustled the reluctant Azula and the all to eager to leave Sugano. "When should we return?"

"In an hour or so if you want," Black said. "Oh, and Princess Azula?"

"Yes?"

"Can you schedule your father to meet me around the same time as today?"

"I'll make sure to let him know," Azula smirked.

"Thank you. I'm looking forward to it."

"Well then, we'll leave you to your meal," Sugano said before Azula could retort.

As soon as the three had left Black hovered her prosthetic right arm over the soup. A little probe whirred to life as it took a sample of the each of the water, rice, meat, and soup making sure there was no poison in anything. As she took the first bite of her meal, she smiled. Tomorrow was going to be fun.

The last twenty-four hours had been an unusual one for Zuko. He never thought so much could happen in one day. First the Avatar escaped on a six-legged giant flying bison after an assassin tried to kill him using some sort of sound weapon. That sentence alone would've been absurd enough for a week let alone a day.

But then the Avatar froze the bow of the ship and punctured the hull. Melting that mountain of ice alone took two hours. His uncle meanwhile split his time between investigating the corpses of the two firebenders and convincing the rest of the crew that Akane had been trained in the legendary variant of firebending: explosive bending. Thankfully the art was rare enough that none of the soldiers knew that it was only the Okuhaman monks that practiced it.

After the ice had been cleared, his uncle began an immediate investigation of the events onboard. The two of them spent the better part of the night interrogating everyone, collecting all witness testimony, and searching all the crew member's rooms, especially Akane's. Unfortunately, the assassin had kept the room bare leaving almost nothing behind.

He should've been sleeping considering he had stayed up all night, but his paranoia kept him wake. Zuko had finally appreciated his uncle's fear of the Red Lotus. To think a secret order had the resources to leave an assassin hidden within the crew for three years on the off chance they'd encounter the Avatar was frightening. How many assassins were on his ship? How many had he met as a child? He had wanted to badger his uncle with his questions, but he knew better than to ask now, not when his uncle had suddenly become so busy.

Zuko had decided to spend his time studying about the Spirit World, but that only lasted for about an hour. Almost all the books he had on it were children's fairytales either designed to teach morals or scare kids. The remaining few blamed anything supernatural on spirits, so it was difficult to remove fiction from fact. They all, however, seemed to echo one truth, a truth that everyone already knew. The North Pole was the official entrance to the Spirit World, which seemed fitting considering no one had ever been able to reach it.

And so now Zuko had decided to do the one thing his uncle said never to do: investigate those strange characters the Avatar had written.

Zuko was too fascinated to resist exploring the words. Even his paranoia of the Red Lotus has been overwhelmed by his curiosity. By the time Iroh had burned the paper that the Avatar had given him, the words in turn had been burned into his mind.

I don't know what 'F' is, but I know what 'FIRE' is, how is that possible? Zuko thought. This language made no sense to him. In the normal language, or more specifically, his language, each character had its own meaning. When these characters were combined, they would form new words. But here these words were formed by characters that had no meaning. "I" was used in FIRE and in AIR and "E" in FIRE, WATER, and EARTH, but what did "I" and "E" exactly mean? Whatever this was it seemed to be a new form of thinking, which made sense considering the Avatar had called it the language of the gods.

Fortunately, Zuko knew what to do. He took a deep sigh as he thought back to his younger years, when he first started his training. There are four steps to solving a problem, Zuko remembered his uncle saying. Understand the problem, Make a plan, Execute the plan, and Review what was done.

He understood the problem alright: advance his current understanding of the language. It was the second part he was stuck on. What exactly would he do with these words? The question wasn't a spatial one or else he would have already started drawing shapes. Guess and check would take too long. In the normal language, there were thousands of characters, each character a different meaning. There was no way he could use the four words to create new words.

It was then a stray thought came flying into Zuko's head. This language has characters that have no meaning. There couldn't be that many characters if each one had no meaning or else it would be too hard to memorize. If we assume that humans, and not gods like the trickster says, use this language, then there couldn't be that many characters. That's why the characters repeat, because there are only so many.

Zuko wrote the word "FIRE" down on the page again, enthusiasm overflowing, but caution told him to keep his expectations low. There's no way it could be this eas—

He cut himself off as an image, no not an image, the knowledge of anger appeared and disappeared in his mind. Zuko looked at his finger covering the character "F" that, to his awe, created a new word "IRE". "It can't be that easy," Zuko laughed.

Instead of writing words again, he wrote the unique individual characters down the page: "F", "I", "R", "E", "W", "A", "T", "H". He spent the next hour or so experimenting with the characters, combining them in all sorts of ways to create new words. One would expect the work to be monotonous, it was anything but. Every time he discovered a new word images, descriptions, feelings started appearing in his head. Where are they coming from? he thought, but it was a question for another time. Right now, he was thankful for all these words that he had created.

Of the one hundred words he created such as "FATHER", "WRITE", "WHITE", and "FEAR" his favorite would have to be "EAT". It was as simple as it was complex. It took only three characters to create, but rearranging those characters produced other words like "TEA" and "ATE". There were even some strange words, words that produced no images or descriptions. Words like "AT" or "IT". He didn't know what they meant, but there was something telling him they were words. But what was that something?

"Prince Zuko," Lieutenant Jee yelled as he knocked on his door. "Are you awake?"

"Yes, what is it?" Zuko replied. He looked around his cabin and saw what a mess he had made. His bedsheet hung around his chair and papers from his research were scattered all over.

"Sir we arrived at Zuroch base ten minutes ago. General Iroh requests your presence on deck. We're about to be boarded."

"Boarded? Who's boarding us?"

"Captain Zhao and his soldiers. He says he wants to check the damage of the ship and assess the situation."

"I see," Zuko sighed as he had gathered the last of his papers. Any excitement that he had for his discoveries had been deflated by the mere mention of that fool's name. That arrogant tyrant thought he could board his ship? He gave one last look to the papers of research he had generated and set them on fire, making sure to burn every last piece of paper. There's no way I'm going to let that asshole get his hands on this.

"Let's go Jee," Zuko said exiting his quarters. "Maybe if we get lucky, he'll fall off the plank and drown."

"I've never seen these kinds of flowers before," Katara said as she rushed over to examine the pink flora.

"Yeah this place is amazing," Aang said as he took a deep breath of fresh air in.

It was around dawn when Aang saw land in the horizon. Even from that distance he could see chains of mountains piercing the sky. When the three got closer to the islands did they saw the beauty the geography had to offer. The dawn sun filled the sky with shades of orange and pink. The mountains, as green as they were, reflected these colors turning the entire region into colors Katara and Sokka had never seen before.

"Why didn't dad bring us here before?" Katara asked.

"I'm not sure," Sokka said sitting on top of a tree branch. "I think he got called to war before he had a chance to bring you along. He brought me here when I was around six."

"Really? You got to explore the islands? That's so not fair," Katara grumbled.

"No," Sokka laughed, "I mean he took me fishing around here, but we never actually got to set foot on the land."

"Oh," Aang said, "so that's how you knew where the islands were."

"Yep. So, are you ready to explore the temple?"

"Only if you guys are. Do you want to spend more time here?"

"I'm good," Katara said. "We can come back to explore later."

"All right then," Aang said as they all climbed back on Appa. The sky bison had spent the past hour eating as much grass as he could. A hundred years in slumber would've made anyone hungry.

"So where exactly is the Southern Temple?" Sokka asked.

"You won't be able to find it from here," Aang explained. "The plateau is too low for us to see it."

"So, it's really high in the sky?" Katara asked.

"Unbelievably so," Aang said solemnly, remembering their conversation from last night. Would the temple even remain standing after so long? He wasn't sure the airbenders were known for their architectural prowess. "Do you both have your safety ropes on and secure?"

"I'm good," Sokka said.

"What about you Katara?"

"Yeah I've got it on."

"Good," Aang said. "The ride to the temple can be a little bumpy."

"Why is it bumpy?" Sokka asked.

"Appa can only get to the temple by rushing it because it's so high. He can't make it there if he rose slowly."

"What do you—" Katara never got to finish her sentence as Appa literally jumped into the air and started elevating quickly. The rush of air that came down roared past them. Katara had her share of heavy winds during blizzards but this was on another level. Her whole world was nothing but wind as all sound was drowned out to the point she couldn't even hear herself scream. Just when she thought the ordeal would never end there was an abrupt pause.

"We're here guys!" Aang said. "If you look down there that's the Patola Mountain Range." Below them were chains of mountains that stretched as far as the eye could see. The white tipped mountains reflected the sunlight turning the sea of clouds below them a light yellow and pink.

"Aang," Katara said taking in deep breaths, "can we please never do that again?" She had wanted to throw up but managed to suppress the feeling. Sokka unfortunately, couldn't.

"Aang what's wrong with you?" He asked between barfing. "I think a bug got in my mouth."

"Sorry guys," Aang said sheepishly. "I should've given you more of a warning."

"No kidding!" Sokka said, gulping as much water as he could to wash the taste out. "I have a half a mind to— woah…"

"What?" Aang asked. He turned to the direction that Sokka had gestured and saw his dream realized. Atop the highest mountain was a temple of blue and white. Even as far away as they were, they could see the size of the complex. There were towers of white stretching into the sky with spires of blue adorning the top.

"Aang that's amazing!" Katara exclaimed. "I can't believe it's still here."

"Yeah, looks just the same as I remembered it," Aang said. It was strange to see reality actually meeting and even exceeding one's expectations. Usually it was the other way around. I wonder if anyone's there…

Five minutes of light traveling and the three arrived at the front entrance of the temple. At the entrance were two large pillars covered in snow that stood on each side of a path that curved behind the central mountain. From up close, he could see that the large brown gate between the pillars had suffered through erosion, but the inscriptions were somehow still legible.

"Hey Katara," Sokka whispered.

"What is it?"

"Does he know about the airbenders?" Sokka asked. "Should I tell him?"

"I told him last night," Katara replied.

"Oh," Sokka said, "He seems to be taking it surprisingly well."

"Yeah it's weird. Maybe he's just suppressing his emotions."

"That can't be good."

"Hey guys!" Aang yelled. "Can you come here for a second?"

"What did you find?" Katara asked as they approached the gate. Aang currently was crouching as he studied the inscriptions, his nose almost touching the gate.

"Can you read this for me?" Aang pointed toward the four characters surrounding the airbender symbol.

"Why? Can't you read it?" Sokka asked.

"Just read it. I want to make sure I'm not getting it wrong."

"It's just the airbending motto. Understand. Plan. Execute. Review," Sokka said pointing to each character. "Why do you ask?"

"Motto?"

"Yeah," Katara chimed in. "Everyone knows the four steps to solve a problem. It's been known for thousands of years".

"Jesus Christ, what's going on?" Aang muttered under his breath. How could the airbenders know about Polya's problem solving method? The steps to solving a problem were easy and intuitive enough to create by yourself, but those four words were the exact words he used. What if, he reasoned as he grew more horrified, my memories are leaking into each other? But just as quickly as the thought came up, he dismissed it. He could remember two different sets of memories regarding the steps. He distinctively remembered the first time he found Polya's book. But he also remembered as a young monk seeing the inscriptions on every gate and doorway of the temple. The phrase was as ubiquitous as air itself.

What if we constructed our own memories? Salviati asked.

No! Simplicio replied. We're not going down that stupid road. We'll just end up questioning everything,

We already do that anyway!

"Aang?" Katara asked.

"Yeah sorry," Aang replied snapping out of his mental argument. "I just remembered seeing the 'motto' before in my world and wondered what it was doing here." He got up and started walking up the center path before Katara or Sokka could get a word in.

It was a grim walk up the path as an air of death surrounded the temple. The only sounds that could be heard were the crunching of the snow and the howling of the wind. The once proud pillars that lined along the pathway stood ruined showing the many years of erosion that had taken place. There was no mistaking it. A battle had definitely taken place here. Even after a century they could see scorch marks on the pillars, clear evidence of a firebender incursion.

How powerful were the firebenders? Aang thought as he looked at some of the granite pillars that showed sign of being melted. Granite had a melting point of about 1300 degree Celsius. This pillar, however, was almost melted straight through to the center. As the three climbed up the steps a swift icy gust ran through them. Somehow it was colder here than in the South Pole.

"Hey Aang?" Sokka asked.

"Yeah?" Aang grunted through his shirt. Even though the jacket Katara provided for him protected against the elements, he really wished he had a scarf.

"What's that over there?" He pointed in the distance toward a small plot of land at the bottom of the mountain to the left of the central path. It looked like a small bamboo garden as myriad of bamboo sticks jutted out of the ground, all the same height.

"Oh, that's the bamboo football court!" Aang said excitedly.

"The what?" Katara said.

"It's where we played football. You see that wooden post in the center over there with the hole in the middle?".

"Yeah I see it."

"That used to be one of the two goal posts. Each team would try to shoot the ball into the opposing team's goal."

"So, how's it any different from football?"

"You would have to play by jumping from bamboo to bamboo and airbend the ball to the goal," Aang smiled as he recalled buried memories.

"Sounds like it was a lot of fun," Katara commented.

"You have no idea. Every year we had these tournaments between the temples. All the airbenders would gather at the host temple to watch it. If you look over there," Aang pointed to a small courtyard on the right, "that's where they had the food carts and games. They had so many booths it spilled into the inner floors of the temples."

"Damn, the food must've been delicious," Sokka said.

"Ehh… you wouldn't have liked it," Aang chuckled as he started walking again. "It was all vegetarian."

After another fifteen minutes of climbing the stairs, the three walked through the entrance and into the main courtyard. A hundred years of weathering had obviously taken their course on the stonework. The walls that had once stood strong had been almost reduced to large mounds of stone. The main steps to the temple and beyond had degraded into what resembled a bumpy ramp. Even the towers themselves were damaged. Some of them had their walls completely caved in making them impossible to explore. Others unfortunately had their roofs torn open exposing the interior to snow.

"That's where the men lived," Aang said pointing to the three towers on the right, "The apprentices lived in the right tower, the master monks in the middle, and the elders on the left."

"If the men sleep there then where do the women sleep?" Sokka asked.

"See those four towers over there?"

"Yeah, but why are they all the way over there?" The towers, unlike the men's quarters, were located on a different mountain separated from the temple by a wide chasm.

"Not sure. Maybe it was for defensive purposes. You'd have to be an airbender to get there quickly," Aang said. "Though I do remember the monks saying the women had always lived by themselves.."

"That sounds sexist," Katara commented, crossing her arms. "If I had to guess it was the elder male monks who made these rules right?"

"Obviously," Aang laughed. "But those views were from a lifetime ago. Maybe they would've changed by now. Anyway, let's explore the main tower."

"What about the other towers?" Sokka asked.

"We can explore them later if you want, but they're just living quarters. I doubt you'll find anything interesting."

Of all the towers in the temple the main one seemed to be the widest and stood taller than others. It also seemed to be the least damaged by the erosion. Sure, there were a few cracks here or there, but that was just the wind and snow chipping at the surface.

"In here," Aang said excitedly as he opened the door, "all the apprentices came to learn from the masters and elders."

"Whoa," Katara said. It was the first time she had ever seen a room so large… or so dark. The first floor had to be at least twenty meters wide, but the walls were decorated with cobwebs. The only light in the room came from the entrance they came through. It was from this light that Katara could make out that there were eight rooms around the circumference of the floor. "What did you guys learn?"

"Oh, a bunch of subjects. Math, physics, philosophy," Aang said before he summoned his chi into his staff and blasted air into one of the rooms clearing the cobwebs. "In here we learned history. Each master taught their own group of apprentices."

"Who was your master?"

"Elder Gyatso," Aang recalled immediately as memories filled his mind. He pictured a tall bald man with a horseshoe moustache, orange robe, and large mala beads.. "He was a kind and wise teacher. If you ever had a question, he always had an ans—"

Aang interrupted himself when he saw the state of the room. It had been completely ransacked. Scorch marks covered the walls and ceiling. Even the ancient blackboard hadn't been spared. Any trace of paper had long since been burned or had withered away.

"Aang I'm so sorry," Katara said placing a hand on his shoulder.

"No, I should've expected this," the airbender said. Each classroom they explored had been similarly plundered.But if there was an attack then where are the bodies? Indeed, no room they had visited contained any corpses. They couldn't have escaped. If they had, then where had they been hiding for so long?

"Guys, you should stay down here," Aang said before he climbed the stairs.

"No, we're going with you. You don't have to do this alone," Katara replied.

Aang looked from Katara to Sokka who merely shrugged. "I'm not leaving."

"Fine, but don't say I didn't warn you," Aang said with a steel in his voice that he couldn't help. He knew what he was going to find, and it wasn't going to be pretty.

The second room was full of broken glass, some shards littered on the floor, others embedded into the walls. The rows of wooden desks had long rotted away. Even pieces of the ceiling had found their way to the ground.

"What is this place?" Sokka asked.

"It's where the apprentices and masters conducted their experiments," Aang replied as he searched across the room. Like the floor below there was almost nothing to salvage. If they did this the first two floors, then what about the library?

"Aang! Where are you going?" Katara yelled..

"The library!" Aang said as he raced up the stairs at a breakneck speed, almost seeming to fly with every step he took.

Katara was about to run after him, but noticed her brother had stopped and instead was staring out the window. "Aren't you coming?"

"Yeah," Sokka said slowly, squinting his eyes to make sure what he saw was real. "I'll join you guys later. I need to check something."

"What?"

"Just go without me!" Sokka yelled as he ran down the staircase.

"That stupid—" Katara muttered before deciding it was just best to ignore him.

Aang meanwhile had run past the floor where the elders would meet and the common room on the fourth floor. He only stopped when he reached the fifth floor and saw that all the shelves were completely barren.

"Shit!" Aang swore. "They took all the books."

The countless rows of bookcases that once filled the room had all been tossed aside as if a twister had torn through. There were as many as five bookcases lying on top of one another obscuring the view to the other side of the room. However, there were no signs of battle. Nothing had been burnt as far as Aang could see.

"I didn't know the library was so large," Katara said, her voice echoing across the hall.

"What do you mean?" Aang asked.

"Everyone knows the temples were centers of knowledge. I just never thought the airbenders had so many books."

"So it's safe to say they ransacked the other libraries too then."

Katara sighed. "The firebenders stole it all and used it to make their war machines."

"War machines?"

"You know, tanks, warships, catapults."

"Oh, I see," Aang said. The attack on the temples seemed much more reasonable now. Attack the only culture that was advancing scientifically, steal all their technological and scientific advancements, and use it to start a war for global domination. The air nomads were always going to be attacked eventually. Even if they were peaceful, they still presented a significant threat to both powers. Unfortunately, the Fire Nation had gotten the upper hand. "Where's Sokka by the way?"

"He said he saw something and would catch up with us later," Katara replied.

"He saw something?"

"I don't know," she shrugged, slightly annoyed, "but he can handle himself. Are there any other floors?"

"Just one more. Apprentices were never allowed up on the sixth floor so I'm not sure what's up there," Aang said.

The pair crept up the spiraling staircase carefully as the steps were much looser than the ones that came before. When they reached the top, they were greeted with the largest gate they both ever saw. The gate was six meters tall and made of solid stainless steel or at least that's what Aang assumed it was. He didn't know why, but he could feel something off with the metal.

"Looks like all the valuables are behind those doors," Katara said.

"Seems like it," Aang nodded. "Question is, how do we open it." The two spent inspected every inch of the gate they could access, but it was to no avail. There was no lever or hidden switch that could open those doors. "You find anything?"

"Nope," Katara sighed. "This is kind of strange isn't it?"

"What is?"

"The firebenders burned and looted all the floors below, but this one is untouched."

"That is weird," Aang agreed. "The firebenders would've noticed these doors and knew there was something valuable inside. They should've been able to burn through the door or at least damage it."

"So, what now?"

"I don't know," Aang replied as he inspected the surface of the gate. It was remarkable how there weren't any scratches on the surface whatsoever. A hundred years and not a single scratch or dent? What would it measure on the Mohs scale? he thought before placing his hand on the gate.

"Aang look," Katara gasped as she saw the silver-grey gate start to hum and glow blue.

"What in the world—" Aang said stumbling backwards. The metal gears bellowed their protest throughout the tower as they started to turn for the first time in a century. Slowly but surely the doors split apart until they were wide open.

"I think your hand," Katara said in shock, "opened the door."

"But how?" Aang asked staring at his hand, "I haven't even been here before."

"No, you just remember not being here before," Katara said as they both walked through the door only to be greeted by the glowing stares of hundreds.

"Who are these people?" Aang asked. Starting from the top of the floor there were nine concentric ledges of stone statues, each carved with great detail and care. Most of the statues had traditional Asian clothing or armor. There was a statue that seemed to depict a samurai, another of a female Taoist monk, a third of an old nobleman. But other statues, he believed, were of the Inuit as a few of them wore the same jacket that Katara was wearing. The most eerie part, however, were all their eyes. They glowed with the same color blue that the doors were glowing with.

"I think these are the past Avatars, your previous reincarnations," Katara said. "I can't believe there were so many."

"These are my previous reincarnations?" Aang asked a little skeptically, something which surprised him. In a land of telekinetic control over the four classical elements and magical flying animals, he should've been willing to believe anything. Then again it was probably the scientist within him judging everything.

"Yeah, see that's Avatar Kuruk," she said pointing to the fourth statue from the center.

"That might be, but how do you know they're my past lives?"

"I already told you," Katara said with fake exasperation. "All Avatars are reincarnations of each other and in turn, are all reincarnations of the world."

"Ok, but—"

"Look," she said grabbing the airbender's hand and pointing it to the closest statue. "What's his name?"

"Roku," Aang said immediately.

"And hers?"

"Kyoshi."

"Her?"

"Yangchen."

"Alright, I get it," Aang said after he named the tenth past life. There was no denying it. These were indeed his past lives. "Wait, how did you know I could do that?"

"A girl's got have some tricks of her own," Katara smiled. She was about to walk out when she saw a small desk just beside the open metallic door. "Hey what's in here?" She tussled with the drawer in the desk for a minute before it finally relented.

"Anything in there?" Aang asked.

"I found a book," Katara said stumbling her hand around a bit, "and I think a map."

"Really?" Aang asked, his interest piqued. They must have been terribly important secrets if they were locked behind metal doors for so long. Just as he was about to open the map, he heard a familiar yell echo through the halls.

"Get off me, you stupid thing!" Sokka yelled making his way through the doors. "Where have you guys been? I've been looking everywhere for you."

"You've been looking for us? You're the idiot that decided to run off on his own," Katara said. "Wait, what is that?"

"I don't know," Sokka sighed. "I gave him some fruit and now he won't leave me alone."

"Oh, it's a flying lemur!" Aang said excitedly as the white lemur sat on Sokka's shoulder, its eyes studying Aang and Katara. It had stripes of brown and white along its large ears and the ends of its tail.

"You know what he is?"

"Yeah. They were a lot of them back in my time," Aang said. "Everyone wanted a lemur as their pet."

"Really? Why?"

"They bring good luck. I can't believe you managed to catch one."

"Well I didn't really catch it, more like it won't leave," Sokka sighed. Suddenly he didn't seem to mind the lemur's presence. "Anyway, you need to see something and—" Sokka said before he finally saw the glowing statues. "Uhh… what have you guys been up to?"

"Nothing just looking at the past lives of the Avatar," Katara said a little smugly.

"Right… Aang come quickly. I found something you need to see," Sokka said, his tone a little serious.

"Sure Sokka," Aang said following Sokka out the room. As soon as he did the massive steel doors closed behind him, ready to guard the Hall of Avatars once again.

The three made their way down the tower making sure to mind their step so as not to fall. As soon as they left the main tower, they were reminded again of the bitter cold that the tower had insulated them from.

"What are we doing here?" Katara asked.

"You'll see," Sokka replied. "I saw it from the second floor, and I had to make sure of what I saw."

They proceeded to the left side of the courtyard and made their way down a small alleyway to a hidden balcony covered by a white curtain. 'Aang before you see this, I need to warn you the sight is unsettling."

"What is it?" Aang raised his eyebrow.

"Something you need to see. I don't think you would have forgiven me if I kept it from you."

Aang moved through the curtain and audibly gasped at the sight. There had to be at least thirty bodies in the balcony, all of them firebenders. A hundred years of erosion had taken its course and the men had been reduced to bones, some starting to become dust. Their armor was different as well. Instead of the modern crimson and black these firebenders wore all red. It was only after a few more seconds of observation that he noticed the man in the center. Instead of crimson red, this skeleton wore all yellow and had a necklace of what seemed to be large mala prayer beads. The skeleton's right arm had been burnt to ash and his left leg was broken in two. Oh, shit is that…

"Aang are you alright?" Katara came in to ask.

The airbender didn't say anything only choosing to wipe his tears. He finally understood the enormity of what happened, the loss that the world suffered a century ago. The pain of it all came rushing in all at once.

"What's wrong?" Sokka asked, joining his sister.

"That's my master, Monk Gyatso," Aang said, clearing his throat. "If I'm getting this right, the firebenders were attacking Monk Gyatso and he managed to fight them all off."

"One airbender did all this," Sokka said, flabbergasted at the idea.

"Aang I'm so sorry. I know he meant a lot to you," Katara said.

"He did, they all did," Aang said softly. "Sokka, did you find any other bodies?"

"No," Sokka apologized. "I looked everywhere, but I couldn't find anyone else. I don't know where they could have gone."

"That's alright, it makes sense."

"What do you mean?"

"You couldn't find any other bodies because there are no other bodies to find," Aang sniffled. "They either burned all of them to ash or threw them down the ravine, probably the latter."

"How do you know?" Katara asked, horrified by the idea. It was one thing to kill a person, but to then desecrate the body like that was unthinkable.

"Look at Monk Gyatso. The firebenders broke his legs and were trying to throw him over the balcony. The firebender who has his arm burnt it until there was almost nothing left. If they could do that to Monk Gyatso, I'm not sure the others had much of a chance."

"Those damn bastards!" Sokka yelled, his fist tightened in anger.

"Let's go," Aang said solemnly. "We shouldn't be here."

"But what about the rest of the temple?" Katara asked.

"There's nothing left here but memories. The Fire Nation made sure of that."

Taisho, the western most military post, was a relatively quiet one. Sure, the soldiers trained every day, but nothing ever happened here. It was the west coast after all and there was nothing to the west but the treacherous never-ending ocean and the monsters that dwelled beneath. Besides any navy the Earth Kingdom had, which was almost none, was busy fighting along their coast.

It was, then, to Private Takko's great surprise when he spotted a lone dinghy with a large sail out in the sunset horizon. At first, Takko had dismissed it as an illusion. A ship that small couldn't survive the seas much less make it here. One minute passed, then five minutes, and then ten minutes, but the illusion refused to disappear. The dinghy was now halfway to the beach and he could tell no one was on it.

"Do you think it's one of ours Luhao?" Takko asked his fellow private as he observed the sailboat through his telescope.

"No, it can't be. We don't have wooden ships," Luhao replied.

"Then where did it come from? There's no one on the ship."

"Maybe from down south? A person could've tried sailing north or northwest, they drowned, and now the tide's carrying it back here."

"But it came from the horizon. Nothing can survive—"

A sudden blur of brown appeared right outside of Takko's periphery. If he had blinked, he would have missed it. Before the next second was over, he had realized what had happened. It was an arrow and it had managed to lodge itself directly into Luhao's neck killing him instantly.

"Ahh!" Takko yelled before immediately taking out his sword and crouching on the ground. He needed to protect his vitals if he was going to survive. Where was the archer? Did he camouflage himself within the beach?

He took a chance to glance at his friend and realized something was off, the angle of the arrow. The angle it hit Luhao's neck was too high for a bowman to shoot from level ground. He had to be at an elevated position. But this was a beach, there was no elevated position.

It was only when he gazed upward did he see the answer. As impossible as it was, ten meters above him stood a man in a solid black robe with blue arrows tattooed along his arms and head. "Tell me," the man said aiming his arrow at the soldier, "which way to the fire lord?"