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Chapter Text

"You think...that I'm the Avatar?"

The Air Nomad, Kelsang, seemed unsure. But the Earth sage, Jianzhu, drew himself up and gave the child a serious look.

"I don't think it, Yun. I'm sure of it."

The fourteen-year-old trembled. A strange mixture of emotions was warring in his stomach. A lot of it was fear. But a greater part of it was excitement.

That wasn't even the right word for it. He had been excited when the two rich visitors had first invited him to their inn to play Pai Sho. He figured he could swindle or steal something useful out of them. But ostensibly all Jianzhu had wanted was a good game, and Yun, even without the promise of profit, had been willing enough to provide it.

When Yun had pulled off one of his daring, spectacular wins, Jianzhu hadn't seemed shocked—thrilled, but not surprised. In their next game, Yun was the one in for a surprise when Jianzhu pulled off a counter-strategy. But then Yun had countered that counter, and even Kelsang, watching from behind, had gasped softly.

So the games continued for several days, and as they did, the two of them talked. Jianzhu asked Yun about himself. Was he a bender? Showoff that he was, Yun had answered by closing his eyes and levitating a piece of chalk behind the innkeeper's counter, writing out haikus in beautiful calligraphy from across the room. Bonding over the game, he had even allowed himself to reveal a few details of his background. He had come to like Kelsang, but Jianzhu proved to be a kindred spirit.

And then, they revealed their real motive.

Yun hesitated. His soul ached with longing, but his brain rebelled.

"I'm not an idiot," he said. "You two are trying to scam me."

Jianzhu spread his hands. "Scam you of what? With all due respect, Yun, I don't take you for a boy of tremendous wealth.  What could we want from you?"

"The thing that most rich men want when they take street kids back to their inns."

"And what—" Jianzhu began, and then scowled. No wonder the child had refused to go farther than the inn's lobby and declined any food that they offered him.

Kelsang, usually just an observer, spoke up. "If you had ever met Avatar Kuruk, you would understand. The moves you've showed us—your earthbending, done with no formal training—even your smile is so much like his. Meeting you...it certainly feels like seeing Kuruk in the body of an Earth Kingdom boy."

"Yun," Jianzhu said—his voice, normally brusque and serious, quavered with emotion. "I don't know why it's taken so long to find you. But the world, and the Earth Kingdom especially, has been falling apart without an Avatar. You are a young man of remarkable talent. No—of destiny. If you don't think that you're the Avatar, tell me that you don't feel that. That your spirit isn't filled with a thousand voices telling you to fix the world."

That's what did it. Not just the sincerity in their voices, but the words that they said. They weren't trying to bribe him with food or money—the usual things that would draw a desperate kid into a stranger's bed. He would get those perks, but they weren't the selling point. They offered him meaning. They told him who he was and what he was meant to do.

He wasn't excited at the thought of being the Avatar. He felt...called, like this is what he had been meant for his entire life, but he hadn't realized it until they came and put the pieces together.

He could be the person to fix the world.

Tears came to his eyes. He looked down at the Pai Sho board, gripping the table until his knuckles turned white.

"Thank you," he whispered. "Thank you."

Yun really did think about killing them.

In the moment, the desire came entirely out of anger. Later, as he replayed the scene in his head, he would think of ways to justify it. They saw a poor kid, dirty and hurt and thirsty, and chose to mock him instead of help. If they were willing to kill him, why couldn't he respond in kind? Amak and Hei-Ran and Jianzhu had all said that you only show as much mercy to someone as they show to you. And Gow especially—he owed his life to Yun. What was to stop him from taking it back?

But in the end, Yun's better nature won out.

Mostly.

He destroyed the tea shop. Then he went outside and destroyed the well, above- and belowground. He left all four of his tormentors unconscious and bleeding in the dust, along with two other guards who tried to stop him.

He damaged the town's other buildings, but they were still standing when he stormed away, the fearful cries of other residents in his ears. He raised up a wall of stone behind him to keep anyone from following.

One thing Yun didn't do was get any water.

It was a conscious choice. It felt like surrender, somehow, admitting that he really did need these people's charity. So he contented himself with destroying their own supply. No water for him, no water for anyone. Let this whole town and its stupid mining operation die out for all he cared.

He raised a platform of earth under his feet and rode away, into the mountains, channeling his rage into his bending and the occasional wordless scream.

For a while, his fury was enough to sustain him.

But he was still so thirsty. His body ached. He was still weak from his battle with Father Glowworm, and it took a lot of energy to earthbend an entire town into submission.

After almost an hour of surfing the earth, heading nowhere in particular, he stumbled and fell from his mound of stone.

He lay panting in the dust or a minute, then climbed to his feet. He took a few steps, swayed, and then fell onto his knees.

He was so tired. And so hot. Was it actually that hot out, or was his body just overheated?

A sound halfway between a laugh and a sob escaped his burning throat.

He was going to die out here. He had killed an ancient, powerful spirit, one who had fought an actual Avatar to a draw, only to wander off and kill himself from exhaustion and dehydration.

Auntie Mui was right. He finally had worked himself to death.

He lay down on the ground. Curled up into a ball. Felt the earth beneath him like a hard, dusty bed. Feeling it was a comfort, even now.

The earth loved him, even if nobody else...

No. This wasn't the end. He just needed to rest for a minute. Then he would...then he would do something. He'd earthbend into the ground until he hit water. He'd go back to that mining town and salvage what he could from the ruined well. He would...

His eyes closed.

He just needed to rest.

Yun wasn't sure if he passed out right away. He was drifting in and out of consciousness, remembering that he needed to get up and then falling back into a stupor.

The last thing he noticed before definitely losing consciousness was a shadow passing overhead, along with the wonderful feeling of wind on his burning face.

Yun felt something being taken off from his face. He heard the tinkling of water, mixed with a voice humming. Then the item was replaced, now cooler and wetter.

Wet.

"Water," he murmured.

"Ah, you're waking up," a voice said. "Ready for a little more?"

Yun felt a canteen being pressed against his mouth. Wonderful, delicious water flowed out. He sipped it desperately, but after a few seconds the canteen was removed.

Yun licked his lips, desperate not to lose a single drop. "More. Please."

"Not too much at once," the man—Yun was pretty sure that it was a man—said softly. "When you're dehydrated, you can't drink too fast or you get sick."

Yun opened his eyes a crack. He saw a blurry image. A large man wearing red-and-orange robes.

"Kelsang?"

"Sorry?" said the man. The voice didn't belong to Kelsang.

Yun opened his eyes wider, then sat up slowly; the wet towel on his forehead fell onto his lap. The man kneeling next to him was not Kelsang, though the mistake was understandable. He was dressed in Air Nomad robes, and he had broad shoulders, but he didn't look as tall as Yun's airbending teacher. He had a beard, but it was short and neat. Most notably of all, he had hair. And, Yun noticed after a closer look, no tattoo on his forehead.

He glanced at his surroundings. He was in a tent, with a collection of blankets under him and a pillow where his head had lain. He was still wearing his filthy, disheveled clothes, though his shirt had been unbuttoned, presumably to help cool down his body. He put a hand to his head, closing his eyes tightly.

"Where am I?" he asked. His mind was having a hard time catching up to the present.

"The Xishaan Mountains," the man said carefully. "Do you know how you got out here?"

"Yeah. Kind of." Yun shook his head. "It's complicated."

The man only "hmm"ed. Then he asked, "Do you know who beat you up?"

He flinched. For a moment Father Glowworm was writhing in front of his eyes, blocking his view of the tent.

"Sorry?" he asked in a tight voice.

The Air Nomad chuckled humorlessly. "Well, it doesn't take much to see that you've been in a scrap," he said, gesturing to him. "And the ground outside is a mess—I hear most daofei aren't benders, but—"

"No. That earthbending is mine," Yun muttered vaguely.

The man's bushy eyebrows shot up. "All of it?"

Yun spoke carefully. "I'm a...pretty strong bender. But I overtaxed myself."

The Air Nomad let out another "hmm." He seemed to realize that Yun wasn't telling him the whole story, but thankfully he didn't press the issue.

"Well, you're just lucky that my daughter glanced down as we were flying by, otherwise..." He shook his head, then handed his canteen to Yun. "Here. Drink slowly. Ah, but where are my manners?" he said as Yun sipped. "My name is Truc."

Yun lowered the canteen to his lap. "Thank you, Truc. I'm..."

He faltered.

Over the last two years, as he had flown around the world meeting world leaders and famous sages, he had gotten used to introducing himself as "Avatar Yun." Now the words died in his throat once again. His memory of the mining town blazed in his mind, and the helpless fury that he had felt when the teashop owner tested his Avatarhood. Even if he just said "Yun," what would Truc say in response? "Oh, you mean like the Avatar?"

No. Not like the Avatar. Not anymore.

"I'm..."

Truc stared. Each second seemed to last an eternity.

And then, without warning, Yun's face screwed up. He choked, failing to keep a sob from escaping his throat. It was followed by another, and the next thing Yun knew, he was crying into the shoulder of a man whom he had met two minutes before.

"Hey!" Truc cried, though not unkindly. "What's the matter, son?"

Yun couldn't have answered even if he had known what to say. He took a gasping breath, then kept crying, spilling the tiny amount of water that he had regained onto his savior's clothes.

Meanwhile, all Truc could think to do was pat the nameless boy on the back and let him sob.

Chapter Text

Truc waited until Yun was done crying, then gently tried to ask him some more questions. All Yun could do was shake his head. He had wowed world leaders, negotiated with the Fifth Nation and even managed to manipulate an ancient, man-eating spirit, but now he didn't even know how to tell people his name.

In the end, Truc gave him a weak smile, patted him on the shoulder and exited the tent. Yun was left alone.

He laid back down in his makeshift bed and tried to think.

The tent flap opened a while later. "Hello? Are you alright in here?"

Yun sat up. There was a boy crouching in the threshold of the tent, with a canteen hanging over his shoulder. He looked a little younger than Yun, with a round, earnest face and gray eyes. Again Yun was surprised by the presence of hair. Truc had been the first male Air Nomad that Yun had ever seen without a shaven head, and this kid had a ponytail.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"Good." The boy smiled nervously, holding up the canteen. "My dad sent me to bring you more water. And my mom wants to know if you're hungry. She says you can join us for dinner, or if you're sick, you can—hey!"

Just then, a girl of about ten rushed under the boy's arm and took the place where Truc had sat before.

"Hi!" she said cheerfully. "I'm Dechen! I'm the one who found you, so you kind of owe me your life. What's your name?"

"Get out of here!" the boy said, coming inside and trying to pull her away.

Yun gave a short scoff. "It's okay," he said weakly. "She can stay."

The boy reluctantly released her. "You're gonna regret that," he murmured.

He was immediately proven right. "I heard our dad tell our mom that you started crying when he asked you your name," Dechen said. "What's that about?"

"Dechen!"

The boy's face went red, though Yun's was redder. He looked down and started buttoning his shirt, if only to distract himself from that line of conversation.

"What? I'm just saying—"

"He's our guest, you can't just—!"

"—start crying when people ask you your name, that's kinda weird, isn't it?"

"I'm so sorry," the boy said, trying to pull her out of the tent again. "She's just—"

"It's okay." Yun was smiling when he looked up. If there was one thing that he was good at, it was charming his way out of awkward situations. "You're right, Dechen—that was weird. I guess I was still a little delirious from the thirst, and it was making me act funny. And thank you for finding me." He clasped his hands together and bowed, as if the little girl was a sage whom he was meeting for his Avatar duties. "Without you, I would have been a goner."

The boy scowled at his sister's praise. Dechen beamed.

"So what is your name?"

Yun hesitated for just a second. Then he saw the canteen that the boy had put down. He picked it up, took a long swig, and swallowed it as loudly as he could, smacking his lips as he finished.

"Trishna," he said, grinning. "Do you know what that name means?"

"'Thirsty!'" she giggled.

"Yeah! Guess it was a good choice for me, wasn't it?"

Dechen's laughter was interrupted by a voice calling from outside the tent.

"Dechen! You could help me for a minute?"

She groaned, then yelled, "Coming, Mom!" She stood up, clasped her hands and bowed back at Yun. "I gotta go. See you, Thirsty!"

She ran past her brother and out of the tent. The boy cleared his throat and took her spot on the floor.

"I'm sorry. She's always being a pest." He glared after her, then turned to Yun. "I'm Norbu, by the way."

"Pleased to meet you, Norbu. I'm Trishna. As you've probably heard."

"Is that really your name?"

Yun flinched. Norbu hunched his shoulders, then cleared his throat and looked away.

"Anyway, do you want dinner? We'd be happy to have you."

Yun considered. While thirst had been the more immediate concern, he realized that he hadn't eaten anything in about a week. Well...except for one thing, and he didn't want to think about that.

"I would love to, as long as I wouldn't be imposing." Then he looked down at himself. He was covered with dirt and blood, with tatterdemalion clothes. "Though I'm not sure if I'm presentable."

"There's a stream not far from here if you want to wash up."

To Norbu's surprise, Yun groaned.

"Seriously? I almost die of thirst, and it's within walking distance of a stream?"

"It's not a very big stream," Norbu said quickly. "And it's not too close. About a quarter-mile, maybe?"

Yun nodded vaguely, then began to stand. Norbu climbed to his feet as well, looking like he expected Yun to faint from the effort.

"I'm alright," he assured. "Really."

"If you're sure..."

They exited the tent. Yun blinked in the afternoon sun. There were two other tents set up, each a little smaller than the one he had just exited; Yun could see the product of his earthbending on his left, forming a sort of wall on the border of the campground. On the other side, outside the circle of tents, Truc was brushing a sky bison, which was lying on the ground and seemed to be asleep.

In the center of the camp was a tall, thin woman with long, braided hair; she wore Air Nomad colors like the rest of her family, as well as a necklace of wooden beads. She was stirring a pot over a fire while Dechen sat next to her, babbling endlessly. Another girl, who was about five, saw Yun emerge from the tent and hid herself on the woman's other side.

The woman looked up and smiled. Yun's first thought was that she had a very nice smile.

"Well, looks like our guest is up and about. Aparna? Say hello to our new friend."

The youngest girl peeked out, hesitated, and then wiggled her fingers in Yun's direction.

He bent down and smiled. "Hi, Aparna."

Aparna hid behind her mother's robe again.

"Mom, this is Trishna," Norbu said, motioning to him. "Trishna, this is our mother, Jamyang."

"I already told her that his name is Trishna," Dechen announced. Norbu rolled his eyes.

"Pleased to meet you, Trishna," Jamyang said. "How are you feeling?"

"Fine. And please, let me thank you." He put his hands together again and bowed. "I would have died without your assistance." He thought back to the mining town, to those people's awful, indifferent mockery and added, "I needed it more than you could ever know."

"He also wants to stay for dinner," Norbu added. 

"Well, we'll be happy to have you." Then Jamyang frowned, looking Yun up and down. "Although..."

"I was just planning to go wash up in the river."

She smiled again. "You read my mind."

"It's not much of a river, to be honest," Truc said. He used a cloth to wipe fur off his hands as he approached. "Though there should be enough to take a bath. Do you want me or Norbu to fly you there on Mipung?"

"No, thanks." Remembering his earlier breakdown, Yun chose to look past Truc toward the sleeping bison. "I'm good to walk."

He pointed up the mountain, advising Yun to turn west at a certain tree. Unlike his daughter, Truc seemed to be pretending that the crying incident hadn't happened. Yun was willing to go along with that.

Norbu offered Yun some clothes to change into after his bath, and Jamyang let him borrow an earthenware pot. He walked off with it floating behind him, which Dechen found hilarious. She followed him as he left the camp, with him lowering and raising it as she tried to snatch it out of the air.

Jamyang went back to her cooking as he left. "So. The thirsty boy is named 'Thirsty.' That's an interesting coincidence."

"Yeah," said Norbu, in a tone that made his skepticism perfectly clear.

"What happened to your hand?" Dechen asked. "Is it just dirty, or are you hurt?"

He glanced at it. "No, more like...accidentally tattooed. It's a long story."

"I like long stories."

He stopped and turned to her, arms crossed over his chest. "Well, no offense, but I was kind of hoping to take my bath in private. Maybe another time."

She looked up at his smirking face, smirked back, then turned and ran back to the camp.

Yun exhaled, finally able to drop his fake smile. The rest of his walk was taken in an almost eerie silence.

As Truc had said, the stream wasn't very broad or deep; it barely rose higher than Yun's knees. Still, he washed his dirty clothes as best he could, laid them out to dry, and then sat cross-legged in the water, scrubbing himself clean as the pot repeatedly emptied itself over him.

This wasn't the first time that he had done this stuff since being declared the Avatar—he had gone on long excursions with his teachers, which sometimes required camping. But he was used to servants at the mansion doing his laundry, and getting to relax in a bathroom of his own—with hot water, as Kyoshi had recently quipped. Now that he was no longer the Avatar—or never had been, he reminded himself—bathing in a river no longer seemed like a fun way to rough it when he was out and about. It reminded him of his days in Makapu, when a shower meant standing under the eaves during a storm.

He dipped his head into the shallow water to try and shake all the dirt out of his hair. No wonder Truc guessed that he had been in a fight—he was covered all over with bruises and cuts, and his reflection showed that he had a black eye. Worst of all, when he cleaned his back, he felt a cluster of raised scars and instantly remembered where they came from.

Father Glowworm's teeth.

He shuddered, and his stomach clenched. He felt the dull ache of hunger. It wasn't nearly as bad as it should have been, though, given how long it had been since he'd eaten anything but...that. He wondered again about the side effects of that meal. 

Yun was just about to climb out when he paused. He sat back down, closed his eyes, and took several deep breaths.

From his reading and a few conversations with Master Amak, Yun knew the most basic aspects of waterbending. The techniques were different, but fundamentally, all bending was the same. Extend yourself and feel the water, the same way that you would feel the earth. 

He raised his hands slowly, silently begging the water to rise, to prove that Father Glowworm had been lying all along.

He opened his eyes.

Nothing had happened, because of course it hadn't.

Miserably, Yun climbed onto the bank and pulled on his borrowed Air Nomad clothes.

When it was time to eat, Yun casually raised a table-sized slab of stone and six smaller pillars to use as chairs. His hosts were more impressed by this than he had expected, and Dechen in particular insisted on taking the seat closest to Yun's.

"I hope you don't mind vegetarian food," Jamyang said as she poured some soup into his bowl.

"No problem." Yun had gotten used to that during his stay at the Southern Air Temple—though he had always sneaked a bit of gemsbok-bull jerky in with him, just to be rebellious. He picked up his chopsticks and began fishing out the vegetables. It tasted good, and it sated his aching stomach, though with his poor mood he didn't really enjoy it as much as he should have.

The six of them ate in silence for a moment. Eventually Truc said, "So, Trishna..."

Yun looked up. He was consciously keeping an ear open for that name, worried that he would slip up at some point.

"Are you from around here?"

Yun tensed up. In Earth Kingdom terms he could say yeah—Yokoya was only a short bison ride away, and he was used to longer trips. But it was Avatar Yun who lived there. He was homeless.

"Not really."

"Where are you from?" Dechen asked.

He considered his words carefully. He wondered how much this particular family knew about the Avatar's backstory.

"North of here."

"What brings you down here, then?"

"It's a long story," Yun said, his eyes on his food. He didn't have to look at Truc to feel the way he was watching him. Even Dechen seemed to notice how closed-off he was acting.

"Are you headed anywhere in particular?" Jamyang asked. "We'd be happy to give you a ride."

Yun shrugged, still not meeting their eyes. He had thought about it long and hard, as he lay alone in that tent, and had only come up with places he couldn't go. There was no place for him in Yokoya now that Kyoshi was the Avatar. If he showed up on the doorstep, it would be as a beggar. What was he gonna do, ask if he could take a job as the butler for his former maid?

And of course, it wasn't Kyoshi that he would have to ask. It was Sifu. Jianzhu.

CRACK!

The Air Nomads jumped. Yun's hand had balled into a fist, sending a thin fracture down the length of the makeshift table. The parents and Norbu looked at him in surprise, while Aparna spilled her lychee juice.

"Sorry." Yun unclenched his fist, forcing an awkward laugh. "I just—got distracted there for a minute."

"Don't worry. Norbu messes up his bending a lot too," Dechen said. "Once he sneezed in his sleep so badly that it blew down his whole tent!"

Norbu growled and glared at her.

"Anyway...I'm not sure where I'm going. I guess you could say that I'm a nomad too."

"But you sound so sad about it."

Yun, who had been trying to inject a wry tone in his voice, blinked. Norbu was giving Dechen another indignant look, while her parents simply looked uncomfortable, trading glances between her and Yun.

Norbu turned back to Yun and said, "If you're not headed anywhere in particular, you could just travel with us for a while."

"No," Yun said quickly. "Thank you, but you've all done enough already."

"No we haven't," Dechen said brightly. "We like traveling companions!"

Truc exchanged a silent look with his wife, then turned to Yun. "We'd be happy to have you, if you want to come. Right now we're headed to meet some people on Qidong Island—it's part of the Fire Nation, technically, but not far off from the Earth Kingdom coast. We could drop you off anywhere between here or there. We don't keep on too tight of a schedule, either, so it's no problem if you need us to fly you a day or two out of of our way."

Yun looked up and gave him a weak, noncommittal smile. It sounded too good to be true, the experienced swindler in him thought, though he had never known an Air Nomad to pull a con. 

Jamyang gave Yun a long, thoughtful look, as though she could see the thoughts fighting in his mind. He turned away as casually as he could.

After dinner, Dechen grabbed Yun's hand and dragged him off so that she could show him her airbending skills. Part of this involved accidentally-on-purpose sending a huge gust at Norbu as he was trying to write a letter, which led to him chasing her around the camp, punching blasts of air as he went.

Despite his mood, Yun didn't have to fake laughing this time, even as Truc came out of the biggest tent and started calling at them to play nicer.

As Yun watched all this, smiling to himself, he felt something pull on the hem of his tunic. He looked down and saw Aparna, who smiled shyly.

"Can I show you my airbending, Trissa?" she asked, speaking to him for the first time. 

"It's Trish-na. And sure."

Unsurprisingly, Aparna only knew the most basic moves, and could only send out mild gusts from her hands. Still, Yun made a big show of being impressed, and the older kids finally stopped their fighting to join the audience.

"Now show us some of your earthbending!" Dechen demanded.

"Don't be rude. He doesn't have to perform for us."

"Yeah," Yun yawned, stretching his arms out. "I'm kind of tired. I'm not sure if I—"

He flicked his wrists, and all three siblings shot into the air, each standing on a small platform of earth. Aparna screamed in fear, so Yun lowered hers until she was whizzing a few inches above the campground; Dechen, however, howled with delight as she rose ten feet up, and Norbu, who had fallen to his knees in surprise, chuckled nervously as Yun put them all back down.

"Wow. Are you, like...an earthbending master already?"

Yun shrugged, his smile a bit sheepish. He probably shouldn't be showing off this much, but he had been flaunting his earthbending long before anyone claimed he was the Avatar.

After that, Truc called his children over to meditate before bed. Yun was surprised, in a way, precisely because it was something that he recognized from his time with Kelsang and the other monks. This whole day had been a new experience for him. Somehow he had never thought much about Air Nomad families, even though he had realized, dimly, that a race couldn't perpetuate itself if all of its members were sworn to celibacy.

"Would you like to join us?" Truc asked, as the four of them took their places in a circle. "It calms the mind and helps you sleep."

"No, thanks," Yun said. A dull chill crept over him as he remembered the last time that he had tried to meditate. Anyway, he wasn't going to find inner peace tonight.

He wandered off toward the edge of camp, staring up at the darkening sky. It had been decided, without anyone actually saying it, that Yun was going to spend the night with them. And in the morning? They would leave on their bison, and Yun...wasn't sure what he would do. Where he could go. Who he even was anymore.

It was funny, really. He had spent the last two years traveling all over the world, meeting people from every nation. He could have rattled off the names of the fifty most important people in the Earth Kingdom, and had met at least half of them. He was on first-name basis with Fire Lord Zoryu. And now...

Now he had nothing.

He felt tears come to his eyes again. He took a slow, ragged breath.

"Trishna?"

He turned, hoping that his eyes weren't wet enough to be noticeable in the dim light. Jamyang stood at the entrance to the biggest tent, the one where Yun had been resting earlier in the day. He realized that that was probably where she and Truc slept.

"If you're not busy with anything, you could help me for a minute?"

"Sure. Just a second."

She turned and went back in. He took a quick moment to wipe his eyes before following.

"I just need to get some sewing done," she said as he took a seat across from her on the floor. "Could you hold this thread?"

"Um, okay."

He took it, and she got to work. A few moments of silence passed. Yun was very conscious of the fact that he wasn't actually needed for this task, which clearly meant that Jamyang had another motive for calling him.

In the distance, Dechen burst into laughter and Norbu screamed in frustration.

"I don't think they're meditating right," Yun said.

Jamyang nodded calmly. "You see why I don't join them. It's very dangerous to my sense of serenity." She looked up, meeting his eyes. "I don't mean to pry, and I hope that you don't take offense at this. But you're not some kind of criminal, are you?"

Yun blinked. "No!" Even as he said it, though, it occurred to him that he had assaulted six people and destroyed half a town earlier that morning.

"I'm sorry to ask that. I just have to be sure that I'm not putting my family in danger." She kept her eyes on her sewing and said, "But if you don't have anywhere else to go, then we really would be happy if you came with us. I would hate to leave and think that you were stuck wandering around the mountains by yourself."

Yun took a deep breath. He felt a dull ache, like his whole body had been hurting for a while and he only now noticed it.

"Thanks, but you really don't have to worry about me. I'll be alright." He forced more cheer into his voice. "I've been on my own before."

"That doesn't mean you have to be."

Yun took a deep breath. Yeah, he wanted to say. I started to think that, too. Now I know better. 

As he was lost in thought, Jamyang put down her work, reached behind her and pulled out a blanket, rolled up and tied together with some vines. She handled it to Yun.

"You can sleep in Norbu's tent tonight. Just think about it, would you?"

Yun took the bedding without another word. He just nodded, stood, and left.

He made himself a bed in Norbu's tent, curled up under the covers and closed his eyes. Norbu came in a few minutes later and whispered "Trishna? Are you awake?" Yun didn't answer, just listened as the younger boy got into his own blankets and went to sleep.

Yun stayed awake for a long time, thinking about his options—or rather, his lack of them. He couldn't go back to Yokoya. He couldn't stay with anyone who knew "Avatar Yun." Two years of his life had been wasted. He was back to being a street kid from Makapu, except that he didn't even have the streets of Makapu anymore.

Every time his mind wandered back to Jianzhu—his sifu, his savior, his—his killer—he had to restrain himself from shattering the entire mountain to rubble. He panted as he lay in bed, frightened by his own rage. Even now, Jianzhu was probably parading his new Avatar to all his associates, while Yun was what? A blemish on his record? Ha ha, I sure am embarrassed that I got the wrong kid for two years. Anyway, look! It's only been a week, and unlike that reject, Kyoshi has already learned to bend fire!

Kyoshi...

Yun turned over onto his side, a sick, twisted feeling in his stomach.

He wasn't ready to think about Kyoshi yet. Or Rangi. Or—

His eyes watered. Stop it, Yun. Don't get distracted. Think about your next move.

But still, he closed his eyes and thought about his friend, and knew, in some way that he couldn't explain, that she was in the Taihua Mountains. Jianzhu was probably taking her to Ba Sing Se. Maybe she was going to see the Earth King—the most important person in the world whom Yun had never met.

He did consider the family's offer. It seemed like his only good option, but it made him uneasy for other reasons.

Yun didn't want to be a charity case. On the streets of Makapu, he had swindled and performed for every copper piece that he got, and he had put his sweat, tears and yes, even his blood into being the Avatar. Sure, maybe that forty-fifth Pai Sho board had been excessive, but nobody could claim that Yun hadn't worked for the luxuries that came with that lifestyle. Accepting some water and a meal was fine, but he wasn't planning to make a habit of that. He'd wander off and starve rather than live on their pity. 

There was also his breakdown in front of Truc. That affected his decision more than he wanted to admit. He didn't want to be around anyone who had seen him like that.

He thought long into the night. He would go with them. He wouldn't. He would. He wouldn't.

He wouldn't.

It was just about dawn when he rose from his bed, dressed in his tattered Earth Kingdom clothes, and crept away from the camp.

The sky slowly brightened as Yun stumbled along the mountain path. He still wasn't sure where he was going, and he struggled to keep his eyes open after a sleepless night. He would find somewhere to rest where the family couldn't find him, then figure out plan once they had flown off.

"Hey, kid."

He looked up and blinked. Two men in uniforms were walking toward him. Their outfits reminded him of the man guarding the well in town, as did the clubs that they carried.

Yun froze. He suddenly realized that, as he half-sleepwalked down the mountain, he had unconsciously been following the raised ground of his own earthbending—meaning that he had been heading back toward the mining town. The one that he had heavily damaged after assaulting six people.

He looked down at himself. It had seemed wrong, sneaking away with Norbu's borrowed clothes, but he suddenly wished that he was dressed as an Air Nomad.

"We need to ask you some—agh!"

Yun struck! Both men suddenly found themselves waist-deep in the ground. He turned and began to run away, only to trip as his own ankle suddenly disappeared into the earth. He pulled it out just in time to see one of the guards rise out of the hole that Yun had created, his lower half hidden in a pillar of dirt.

The guard scowled down at Yun before striking.

Still, Yun had knocked out three guards the previous day without any problem. The fight didn't last more than ten seconds.

The second guard, who was apparently not a bender, was still struggling and growling as Yun deposited his unconscious companion beside him. 

"When I get out of here, brat, you'll be—"

"Long gone. But don't worry. I didn't hurt your friend too badly. He should be up soon." Despite himself, Yun tittered, feeling woozy. "I'm surprised it took you guys so long to find me. I didn't do a good job covering my tracks. You're probably not stationed in town, right? They had to call you from somewhere else?"

The guard just glared at him. Yun sighed, blinking the tiredness from his eyes.

"Anyway...sorry to leave you like this, but I gotta go. Hope you don't get fired."

"Hey! Come back here, you—daofei trash!"

Yun winced at that one, but kept walking, then started to jog.

"Hey!"

Norbu, who had been taking down the tents, looked up in surprise as he saw Yun round the earthbent wall. Truc paused in the act of loading Mipung, standing on the saddle with a hand blocking the sun from his eyes.

"Trishna!" He jumped down from the sky bison, using airbending to flutter safely to the ground. "We weren't expecting to see you again."

"Yeah. I woke up and you were just gone." Norbu's tone was wounded.

Yun had tried to come up with a good excuse as he ran back to the camp; failing that, he put his arms to his side and gave a deep bow toward Truc. "I'm sorry. It was rude of me to leave without saying anything, or to thank you again for everything that you've done for me." He hesitated for a half-second before adding, "But if the offer is still open, I would be honored if you would let me travel with your family."

He kept his waist bent and his eyes on the ground as he spoke, so he was surprised when Truc scoffed and gave him a painless knock on the head.

"No need to sound so formal, son. We'd be happy to have you, as long as you're not afraid of heights." As Yun straightened up, Truc glanced away and called "Hey! Look who came back after all!"

The girls were coming back from the direction of the stream, Jamyang with a large bowl full of plants that she had collected, while Dechen and Aparna were carrying an assortment of canteens and water skins. The former let out a squeal of delight when she saw Yun, dropping them and racing over to tackle him in the stomach.

"Thirsty! Does this mean you're coming with us?"

Without thinking, Yun put a hand on top of her head. "Yeah. If that's alright with everyone."

"As long as you don't make it a habit of wandering off without saying goodbye," Jamyang chided.

All this attention was making Yun's face heat up, so he was happy when Norbu called him over to help pack up the tent.

Chapter Text

Yun glanced over Mipung's side, just to confirm that they were flying away from where he had left the guards. That would have led to awkward questions. Smiling faintly, Yun scooched himself across the saddle and leaned against a bag of clothes, hoping to catch up on his missing sleep.

A minute passed in silence.

"Have you ever been on a bison before?" Norbu asked.

Yun roused himself enough to realize that that was a loaded question.

"Why?"

"Normally when we give people a ride, they don't turn around and take a nap."

Yun kicked himself for that slip. For that matter, he realized that he shouldn't have just climbed onto the saddle like it was something that he had done dozens of times before.

Figuring he had lost plausible deniability, he tried to sound casual as he said, "I know someone from the Southern Air Temple. He's given me a ride before."

Truc, who was sitting in front with the reins in his hands, nodded. "Hmm. Kelsang, I assume?"

Yun sat up. That was definitely a loaded question.

"Yeah. How did you...?"

Truc chuckled. "You called me that when you woke up yesterday, remember? It's a pretty common Air Nomad name."

Yun calmed down a hair. "Oh." He sat back against the makeshift pillow. "I thought you might know him or something."

"Not too acquainted with the Southern Temple. Haven't been there since...oh, before we had Aparna, I think. I have an aunt who lives in the Western Temple, though. We'll probably stop there for a few weeks when we're in the Fire Nation."

"Can we stop at the Southern Temple now?" Dechen asked. "It's close by, isn't it?"

Yun's spine stiffened fearfully again, as Norbu said "That would be cool. And we could meet Trishna's friend."

"I don't think he would be there," Yun said slowly. "He was living somewhere else, last I heard."

Jamyang said, "If we want to get to Quidong Island on schedule, we don't really have time for a pilgrimage. The Temple is days out of their way in both directions."

Dechen groaned, but Yun relaxed. He would have to part ways with this family before they went to any Air Temple: he had been to all four and met with all the abbots and elders. They would recognize him, and then...

He laid back down, closed his eyes, and tried not to think of the end of that statement.

After Yun's nap, Dechen took out her glider and rode it alongside Mipung, despite her mother's mild protests for safety.

"Watch this!" she called to Yun, doing a flip in the air. He whistled enthusiastically as she swept in for a landing, stumbling a bit but extending her arms like a gymnast.

"Wow!" he said, though he had seen Kelsang perform much more amazing feats all the time. "You must be pretty close to getting your tattoos, huh?"

"Norbu can't do a flip without crashing."

"I can, too!"

"Nuh-uh!"

"Yeah-huh!"

Truc called back, "Dechen, stop teasing your brother. Norbu, put your money where your mouth is."

"Truc," Jamyang said, but Norbu, scowling, had already opened up his rucksack and was opening his glider. Yun heard him mutter something about "one time and they never let you live it down," then jumped off of Mipung's side like it was the most normal thing in the world.

As it turned out, Norbu could do several flips in a row without a problem, and landed back on the saddle without Dechen's clumsiness. He quickly cast a look over to Yun, who couldn't help but snort at how uncharacteristically smug he looked.

"Nice!" Yun said. "I wish I could do that." He meant it, too; he had been really looking forward to Airbending, and felt a pang knowing that it would never happen.

"No fair," Dechen whined. "You cheated."

"How did I cheat?"

"You've had years more practice than me!"

"That's because I'm older."

"Being older is a kind of cheating!"

Yun snickered as Norbu sputtered.

Aparna was getting her hair braided by her mother, but watched Yun with large eyes. He smiled at her. "Do you have a glider?" he asked.

She shook her head, while Jamyang said "We'll be getting her one soon. She's had a little practice flying, but I'm not letting her try anything this high up."

Aparna's expression made it clear that she was fine with this.

They landed in the mid-afternoon, set up camp and started to make dinner. Yun kept offering to help with anything. He was desperate to feel useful, and anyway, he didn't know what else to do with himself. He was used to hours of training and study, and having to sneak off to spend any time with Kyoshi or, more rarely, Rangi. Even when Truc or Jamyang did give him chores, Yun could do them in less time than it would have taken him to fail at one of Hei-Ran's firebending lessons.

When he wasn't doing that, he spent a lot of time off to the side, practicing his earthbending. A lot of it was the same exercises and motions that Jianzhu would have him doing back in Yokoya. It passed the time, but in his lower moments he wondered why he bothered. He was already a master, and it wasn't like he needed to be any better. An Avatar could never stop growing, but for him...

He tried not to think like that. It helped when the others would watch him. Norbu, Dechen and Aparna were easy to entertain, and it cheered him up a bit when they treated even his relatively simple tricks as though they were something special.

The three of them were fun in general. Norbu was only a year younger than him, so he was easy to relate to and also easy to annoy. Dechen was an entertaining ball of energy. Aparna was, obviously, a kid, but Yun got some amusement watching her slowly warm up to him and then randomly go back to acting meek and nervous.

He liked all three of them. He liked Truc and Jamyang, too. It was nice traveling with them, even if Yun still had a nervous dread brewing in the back of his mind.

All this went on for a few days. Though they occasionally saw small towns from the air, so far they had spent all their nights in the wilderness, so Yun was a little surprised when Truc announced that they were stopping in Gaoling for a few nights.

"Gaoling?" Yun repeated.

Truc grunted from the front. "You ever been?"

"Yeah, actually." Yun remembered the Beifongs and their lavish mansion. He had a calm smile on his face, belying the bead of sweat snaking down the back of his neck.

"Have we ever been here before?" Dechen asked. She was lying on the floor of the saddle with Aparna, playing with their dolls.

"Once, when you were maybe three years old. Do you remember, Norbu? The week we spent in Gaoling?"

Norbu shrugged. Yun supposed that the places must start to blend together for them. Gaoling was a nice town, but there weren't a lot of sights to make it stand out. At least, it probably seemed that way to an Air Nomad. To someone interested in the Earth Kingdom's politics and economy, the presence of one family gave it added importance.

Yun had never heard of the Beifongs before becoming―finding out he was...until two years ago. Now he had met with Lu Beifong himself and studied under his former student. Which made coming back to Gaoling now into a pretty miserable idea.

He tried to sound casual as he asked, "So, what do you do when you visit a city?"

Truc turned his head slightly so that Yun could see one twinkling eye. "What does anyone do when they travel to a new town? See the sights! And sell the lovely clothes that Jamyang makes."

She smiled wanly at her husband. Yun's eye quirked. Air Nomads doing business, now? He shook his head slightly, once again chiding himself on his naivete.

By noon they had reached the valley around the city, landing on the edge of the rocky hills. The Airbenders fluttered gracefully to the ground while Yun used Mipung's tail like a slide. As always, he felt a slight relief to feel his feet on the ground again. He liked flying, but returning to earth was like a little homecoming.

They headed into town, with Yun, Truc and Norbu all carrying bags of merchandise over their shoulders, and Dechen talking excitedly to Aparna near the back of the ground. Mipung gave a short roar goodbye, then fell down and started napping again.

"I hope nobody tries to steal her while she's sleeping," Yun said, glancing back.

"Somebody tried once. She bit his hand off!" Dechen said cheerfully.

Yun laughed until Norbu gave him a grim, serious look.

Yun noticed that their Air Nomad outfits were attracting a fair amount of attention from passersby. He ducked his head a bit, trying to hold his bag so that his face was covered from at least one side. He told himself that he was being paranoid. It was a big city―what were the chances that they would pass by somebody from the Beifong household? Especially since they were headed toward the marketplace, which was both crowded and a good distance away from the fancier part of town. And he was, you know, dressed as an Air Nomad. Nobody who looked at him would be expecting the Earth Kingdom Avatar.

They rented an empty stall in the marketplace. Norbu, Dechen and even Aparna helped lay things out with practiced ease, and Yun tried his best to help without messing anything up. With a pang he thought that Kyoshi would have been great at a job like this.

"Done! Can we go now?" Dechen asked.

"Alright, calm down," Jamyang said, in her usual serene tone. She bent down toward her youngest daughter. "Aparna, do you want to stay with us or go with the others?"

Aparna considered this question solemnly.

"Come with us! That way we can hang out with Trishna!"

Aparna hesitated, then bobbed her head in agreement.

Truc chuckled, then took a money bag from inside his clothes. "Alright, then. Norbu..." He counted a few coins into his son's outstretched hand; Norbu nodded in thanks. "Dechen...and Trishna."

"No, thanks," Yun said quickly, putting up his hands. "I really don't need any."

"Ah, but it's your pay! You'll be babysitting all afternoon," Truc said, forcing the coins into Yun's hand and giving him a sly look. "Now, everybody meet back at Mipung around sunset for dinner."

"And you kids hold hands," Jamyang added sternly.

Dechen and Norbu both groaned.

"I mean it! I don't want anyone getting lost again."

Yun was only mildly surprised when Dechen grabbed his wrist. "I'll hold Trishna's hand."

"Fine by me," Norbu muttered, taking hold of Aparna's.

"And have fun," Truc said. A Gaoling woman was approaching to look at their wares, which the kids took as a sign that it was time to leave. They wandered off the way they came, ignore the various stalls calling out for customers.

Dechen wrapped her other hand around Yun's and leaned her head against his arm. "Walking hand-in-hand like this, it's almost like we're on a date, isn't it?"

Yun swore that he could hear Norbu rolling his eyes behind them.

They emerged from the marketplace onto a side street. The first thing they decided to do was buy lunch, spending some of their money on a vendor who was selling pastries. Yun took a bite, giving an internal chuckle at what Auntie Mui and his teachers would say about such an unhealthy meal.

"So. What do you guys do when you're visiting a town?"

Norbu shrugged. "It depends. Just look around and see the sights."

"Fine by me." Yun's journeys throughout the Four Nations had been pretty hit-or-miss when it came to sightseeing―some hosts made it a point to show off the most impressive parts of their cultures and histories, but other trips had been spent locked in conference rooms, hearing dull lectures and negotiating treaties. Needless to say, Yun liked the former more.

But what he really liked, in the rare occasions when he had managed it, was slipping away to explore on his own. Not to see the beautiful temples or impressive palaces―he enjoyed those too, but the real treat, made special by its irregularity, was just...wandering around. Like a normal person. Pretending that he wasn't Avatar Yun and going back to his days as Yun the Makapuan street kid.

He smirked. Rangi hated when he did that.

Had hated. His smirk faded. He saw her exasperated face in his mind and realized that she would never give him that look again. In fact, he probably wouldn't see her again.

He would have plenty of time to wander around, then. He really was Tun the Makapuan street kid again.

Without thinking, he tightened his grip on Dechen's hand. She squeezed back, and then chirped, "Where do you think we should go, Thirsty?"

With great effort, Yun dragged his mind back to the present, as Norbu said "Just because he's from the Earth Kingdom doesn't mean that he knows this specific town, Dechen."

"You don't know that he's doesn't," Dechen argued. "He could be from here for all you know."

Yun forced a smile. "I'm not. Sorry, kiddo."

"Where are you from, then?"

"I told you. Up north. Hey, is that a theater?" Hoping to distract them, he pointed to a nearby building with a small crowd in front.

"Yeah, I think so. Do you want to go?"

"I'm good with it if you are." Yun didn't want to sound desperate, but he hoped that the others would agree―walking around the city had lost its appeal, and he hoped that a show would take his mind off things.

"I like plays! Let's go!" Dechen said, trying to pull Yun along with her.

Norbu stopped to address Aparna. "What about you?" he asked gently. "Do you want to go inside and see a play?"

"What kind of play?"

"Let's go see."

They approached the theater. A man out front was selling tickets; the crowd mostly seemed to be made up of younger people and parents with children. The only play that Yun had ever attended had been in the Upper Ring of Ba Sing Se, but this theater clearly catered to a more normal audience. The price was only one silver piece, which each of them would be able to afford.

Then he glanced up to the banner to see the name of the play.

He froze dead in his tracks.

"You've gotta be kidding me," he murmured, too quietly for the others to hear.

Norbu had bent down toward Aparna again. "Hey, Aparna. Can you read what the sign says?"

"Um..." She screwed up her eyes. "It says..."

Dechen answered for her, pointing to each character as she read. "It says, 'Avatar Yun and the Southern Pirates!'"

The lead actor did not look like Yun.

Well, that wasn't fair. They looked sort of alike. He had the same basic build, but he was at least twenty, with black hair and skin a shade too light. Yun remembered his talk with Zoryu about finding a body-double and wondered if this guy would have qualified.

Tagaka's actress was dark enough to look like a Water Tribeswoman, but she was way too young and otherwise didn't resemble her. The acting troupe had decided to play her for comedy; she wore gaudy makeup, cackled evilly and carried a little wooden scepter, which she mostly used to hit her dim-witted servants.

There was also a princess. Apparently she had been touring the Zeizhou Province on behalf of her father when the Fifth Nation attacked; she was thus used as a stand-in for all the captured people. She had a sad song, then another, rather romantically charged song with Avatar Yun. The Yun sitting in the audience didn't remember any of that from his recent adventure.

There was no version of Kyoshi in the play. Avatar Yun had a Fire Nation bodyguard, but he was an adult man named Zi and seemed closer to Hei-Ran than Rangi.

In fact, other than Yun and Tagaka, the only real person in the play was Jianzhu.

As soon as he heard the name, Yun's fingers tightened on the armrest of his chair. A soft growl escaped his throat.

Norbu glanced over. "Trishna? You okay?" he whispered.

"Yeah. Fine," Yun said shortly.

It was a comfort that Jianzhu didn't look much like the real Jianzhu. He wore the traditional Ganjinese white and gold, which Jianzhu himself only occasionally bothered with, and was clearly a younger actor made up to look like a generic "wise old mentor" type. He acted that way, too. He was way too...nice. Jianzhu could be―Yun had thought of him as kind, in his reserved way, but he wasn't how the play showed him, all warm smiles and comforting words and―

Yun and Jainzhu hugged, and Yun couldn't stand it anymore. He stood up and marched along the theater aisle without a word. Norbu, Dechen and Aparna watched him go, but none of them commented on his exit. They probably assumed that he needed to use the bathroom or something.

Yun leaned against the wall of the theater lobby, breathing fast. He shut his eyes, trying to center himself, trying...

He remembered lying there, half paralyzed, feeling Father Glowworm's teeth sinking into his flesh. He remembered his sifu flying over him, carrying Kyoshi.

He remembered being left behind, and dragged by the demon's tendril into the Spirit World.

Without thinking about it, almost without realizing that he was doing it, Yun spun around and punched at the wall. His fist went all the way through, knocking out the stone and leaving a hole a foot wide; you could see the alleyway and the neighboring building through it.

The ticket seller was the only other person in the lobby. He spun around, but the door to the theater was shutting before he had a chance to see who had been there.

Yun returned in time for the tail end of the play. Avatar Yun defeated Tagaka, throwing different colored streamers to represent each of the four elements that he could apparently bend. Then he and the princess had a brief reprise of their song, going their separate ways but hoping to see each other again someday. The other captives cheered, Jianzhu told his protégé how proud he was of him, and Yun bit his lip to keep from screaming.

"That was AWESOME!" Dechen said as they filed out of the theater. "Wasn't it awesome, Trishna?"

Yun was having a hard time maintaining his fake smile. "The effects were decent," he said finally.

"Is that story true? Did Avatar Yun really fight the Fifth Nation and save a princess and everything?"

Yun looked away. "I...heard something about that a few weeks ago. But I doubt it happened exactly like it did in the play."

"Why not?"

Norbu answered for him. "It would take a while for them to interview people, then write a whole play and have it ready so quickly. So they probably took the basic facts and made the rest of it up."

"It wouldn't be that hard! They would just need to ask the Avatar―"

"The Avatar doesn't have time to―talk to some actors in a small-town theater troupe!" He shared a sarcastic look with Yun, who was trying really hard not to throw up.

Aparna, usually so quiet, started to pepper Norbu with questions about the Avatar―where did he live? How long had he been the Avatar? How long until there was another Air Nomad Avatar?―and Yun did his best to tune them out. He had suggested that stupid play to stop thinking about things, and he was very annoyed at Fate for the repeated laughs that it was taking at his expense.

He glanced at his new friends and wondered, How long before they find out that "Avatar Yun" isn't even the real Avatar? How long until everyone else in the audience, in this city, in the world found out that he was a fake this whole time?

And if they found out that he was that fake...

Thankfully, Yun was startled out of those thoughts by a ball smacking him in the side of the head.

"Hey!" he snapped, rubbing his face as the ball bounced off and rolled across the ground.

The projectile had come from their left, where a group of kids were playing in a vacant lot between buildings. The oldest looked like he was maybe thirteen, while the youngest was maybe seven. Yun picked up the ball and scowled at them.

"Sorry," one of the kids called. Then, "Are you airbenders?"

"Uh-huh! Except for Trishna. He's an earthbender."

"Then why is he dressed like that?" another kid asked.

"Because I was adopted, obviously." Yun threw the ball back. The first kid caught it.

"Come play with us!" a younger girl called.

"Okay! C'mon, Trishna!"

Dechen dragged him after her, with Norbu and Aparna reluctantly following.

After some furious debate about their values, based on size and bending ability, it was decided that Yun and Aparna would be on one team while Norbu and Dechen would be on the other. It turned out to be pretty fair―Yun was very good at the game, while Aparna was, understandably, not, and decided to watch from the sidelines after she fell and scraped her knee. Norbu was pretty awkward on the ground, though marginally better when he airbent himself up. On either field, Dechen's raw enthuasiasm was equally likely to benefit or hinder her team.

The rules were pretty basic―the two opposite walls were goals that each side had to defend from the other―but Yun and the other earthbenders threw up walls of dirt while Norbu and Dechen used their Airbending. The next few hours were spent in the simple pleasure of entertaining some kids with a game at which Yun far outclassed them.

"One more game!" Dechen begged when the oldest boy took the ball to go home.

"Can't. Maybe tomorrow?"

"Okay! See you then!"

The other kids said their goodbyes and began to drift off toward their respective homes. Dechen waved after them, while Norbu, his round face rather flushed and sweaty, pointed west and said, "We should be heading back, too. The sun's going down."

"I'm hungry," Dechen said. "I hope we have something good for dinner."

"Yeah, I worked up an appetite..."

Yun walked behind them as they headed toward camp, then did a double take as he saw something in a nearby window.

It was a florist's shop, with fire lilies on display.

He stopped walking. After a few steps, the others noticed and turned to him.

"Trishna?"

Yun turned, then hesitated. He could justify buying lunch and the play―after all, he and Norbu had been watching the kids―but he felt bad about using Truc and Jamyang's money on himself, especially for something that was...well, private. But then, maybe he could present a bouquet to the family. Jamyang would use it to decorate the dinner table, and Yun alone would know that it had a secret, bittersweet meaning.

"You go ahead. I want to pop in here and see something."

"You're sure? We can wait."

"No, it's fine. I might be a minute."

Norbu shrugged, and the three siblings went off toward the edge of town. Yun waited until they were a bit away and then ducked into the flower shop.

The florist was an older woman with plaited gray hair. She was turned away when Yun, tidying a few things on the shelves behind the counter.

"Ah, Shun. I was just―" She blinked when she saw Yun. "Oh! Sorry, dear, I thought you were someone else," she said, looking him up and down. "What can I do for you?"

"Uh―fire lilies," Yun said, feeling uncharacteristically nervous all of a sudden. "I'd like to buy some, if they're not too expensive."

The florist smiled slyly. "They're the most expensive thing we have, actually, and that display is all we have left. It's two gold per flower."

"Oh." Yun felt in his pocket; after lunch and the theater, he only had one gold piece, plus some silver and copper. He shouldn't have been surprised; fire lilies only bloomed for a short time, and any that you found in the Earth Kingdom had to be imported. He shrugged. "Never mind, then."

"Well, wait a minute. I might actually have something for you. Be right back."

She headed into a backroom. Yun smiled nervously, leaned against the counter and looked around, breathing in the heavy, too-sweet fragrance of the many flowers on display.

The door opened. Yun looked up vaguely at the new patron, who jumped and stared at Yun with wide-eyed disbelief.

"Avatar Yun?"

Yun's heart stopped beating.

He missed a breath. It took every ounce of willpower not to jump out of his skin.

He stared at the man. He was in his late twenties, pretty normal-looking, and Yun thought frantically to place his face, and figure out who he was that would recognize him. Then he noticed a winged boar sewn over the left breast of his shirt.

Yun exhaled, thought quickly, and then frowned at the man, pointing at himself in confusion.

"Are you talking to me?"

He spoke more softly than usual, and gave himself a light accent, sort of like the ones that he had heard spoken in the southern islands of the Fire Nation. It was something that Master Amak had taught him: change your clothes, change your voice, and it was surprisingly easy to pass yourself off as someone else.

The man looked confused now, glancing up and down at Yun. "Is that you...Avatar?"

Yun forced a chuckle. "I'm sorry, I think you're confused. What's that about the Avatar?"

The man blinked hard, then shook his head. It was his turn to laugh awkwardly.

"I'm sorry. You just―my name's Shun," he said quickly, extending a hand for Yun to shake.

"Nice to meet you, Shun. I'm Trishna."

Yun used his gray right hand to shake Shun's. The other man frowned at it with confusion. 

Yun smiled. "It's a birthmark. Looks odd, doesn't it?"

"No, I...um." Shun cleared his throat. "I work at the Beifong household," Shun continued. "They've hosted the Avatar before, and you...look a lot like him."

"Do I?" He tried to sound interested, as though this was a neat little surprise.

"Yes! You could be twins." He paused, giving Yun a closer look. "Except for that birthmark. And you might be a bit taller, actually."

Yun was legitimately curious if Shun was trying to convince himself, or if he had indeed had a growth spurt since the last time that he'd visited the Beifongs.

Yun shrugged. "I guess everybody has a double. I hear the Fire Lords even hire people to impersonate them at events. You know, to prevent assassinations." He shuddered for effect, as though the thought of murder hurt his delicate Air Nomad sensibilities.

Shun nodded vaguely, then suddenly cast his eyes around the room.

"Are you here alone?"

"Yes," he said, a bit too quickly. Then, "I mean, my―family are in town. But I'm here alone. You know, in this flower shop."

Slowly, Shun smiled. "Would your...'family' happen be one monk? A big guy with a beard?"

Kelsang. Yun shook his head. "Sorry?"

"Well, it's just―you seem to be an Air Nomad," he said, gesturing to Yun's clothes. "And I just heard that Avatar Yun is on some sort of―spiritual quest with his Airbending master. A monk named―Kessang or something?" He waved his hand dismissively. "They're traveling around alone, doing the Air Nomad sort of thing. So it would make a lot of sense to stumble across Avatar Yun dressed in Air Nomad attire. I'm not sure why in Gaoling, but..."

Yun started to feel cold as the man spoke. His look of confusion was genuine now. "When did you hear all this?"

"Just the other day. Master Jianzhu―the Avatar's guardian―was here, visiting my boss for a party. We expected the Avatar to come, but..."

He trailed off, giving Yun a sidelong look.

"Look. Are you Avatar Yun?" He lowered his voice to a conspiratorial whisper. "Just between you and me. I promise, I won't tell anyone."

Yun took a deep breath. He was going to make him say it, wasn't he? Yun smiled at Shun's earnest, eager face and felt a flash of hatred for the man who forced him to say those awful words.

"I swear...I'm not the Avatar."

Shun nodded, but still looked at him shrewdly, as though he didn't quite believe it.

Just then, the florist came out. "Oh, Shun! Just a minute, I've got Mistress Beifong's moon flowers ready. As for your fire lilies, young man..."

She opened a small bag. Inside was a collection of dried red petals. Yun caught a whiff of a familiar smell.

Instantly he was back at the mansion in Yokoya, in the library, remembering that conversation. The one where he and Kyoshi made up, and the last one they had before they took that fatal trip.

"Left over from the lilies that have already wilted. I know it's not the same as a living flower, but―"

"No," Yun said, and he was surprised by the lump in his throat. This was lucky, because it helped disguise his voice even as he forgot his fake accent. He cleared his voice and, deliberately not looking toward Shun, quietly asked, "How much?"

"Oh, you can just take it, dearie. I know Air Nomads don't carry much money, so consider it a gift."

Yun felt a little bad about that, but decided not to object with Shun still in the room. Instead he bowed toward the florist―the way they did in the Air Temples, just to spread the "fake Airbender" shtick on thicker―and then exited as calmly as he could manage. He could feel Shun giving him a last look as he went.

Yun walked quickly toward the edge of town, thankful that it was in the opposite direction as the Beifong mansion. Eventually he slowed, taking out the little bag and giving it another whiff.

He immediately thought of Kyoshi, and he felt her again. She was still in the Taihua Mountains, maybe a little west from where she had been before. He sort of...basked in her for a moment. She made him feel both calm and jittery, and he shook his head, trying to come back to his own body.

But what was she doing up there?

And more to the point...what was she doing up there, when Jianzhu was in Gaoling, spreading lies about Yun?

Chapter Text

“Trishna?” Norbu paused. “Trishna?”

Yun didn’t answer. Norbu scowled and waved his hand at him, ruffling his hair and clothes with a blast of air. 

“Trishna? ”

“Huh? Oh, sorry,” he said, flashing Norbu a toothy smile. “I was just…lost in thought."

In fact, Yun had been in a daze since the night before, when he had returned from Gaoling with no real explanation for his delay. And this morning, when the family had gone into town again, he had asked if he could stay in camp with Mipung. He had claimed to feel sick, but Norbu thought he was lying. He seemed more nervous than ill.

Part of Norbu had worried that they would come back to find him, and at least some of their possessions, gone. He didn't want to think things like that. He liked Trishna. But he didn't know anything about him, and what he did know seemed awfully suspicious.

He coughed nervously. “Well, Mom says that dinner won’t be ready for a while. Want to do something until then?”

Yun shrugged. “Like what?”

“I dunno. Bending practice? Maybe some Pai Sho?”

Yun looked interested. “You have a Pai Sho set?”

“Yeah. Do you play?”

“I mean, I have before,” he said, a note of hesitancy carefully worked into his tone. “I guess it’d be something to pass the time.”

“Great! I’ll go get it,” Norbu said, and ran off toward the sacks where the family kept their less-used items.

Truth be told, Norbu had some ulterior motives for this game. On the one hand, he wanted to cheer his new friend up a little. But more than that, he hoped that the experience would give him a chance to find out what, exactly, had Trishna acting so weird. So far he had dodged all questions about himself or his past, but Norbu figured that a meandering conversation over the Pai Sho board might slip out a detail or two.

Besides, he thought with a little smirk, it had been a long time since he’d played Pai Sho. He always destroyed Dechen, and even his parents couldn’t beat him anymore. Maybe Trishna could offer a little bit of a challenge.

“What? No! ”

Norbu watched in horror as Yun casually skipped his tile over three of his, then wiped them off the side of the board.

“You—a diamond piece can’t move that way!”

“We agreed to Chenbao rules. Yes it can.” His tone was even, but the corners of his mouth were curled up in a grin.

Norbu slumped over the board, then cast a dark look at his opponent. “I’m starting to think that you’ve played this game more than you let on.”

Yun laughed.

"You can make a lot of money betting on a Pai Sho game.” He eyed Norbu slyly. “And I hate to tell you, but you’re an easy mark.”

Norbu flushed. He moved a red diamond and asked, “Is that what you did before you met us? Scam people by pretending to be bad at Pai Sho?”

“Among other things.”

Norbu hesitated. Then he said, "At least you're in a good mood again. You've seemed cranky all day."

Yun's mouth snapped close. "I haven't been cranky," he said, though he sounded that way now. 

"Well, why didn't you come into town today?"

"I told you, I was sick."

Yun definitely sounded cranky now. He slid a piece across the board, hesitated, then sighed.

"Yesterday, when I stayed in town for a few extra minutes? I...found out somebody was in Gaoling recently."

"A friend of yours?"

"No," Yun said, and Norbu was taken aback by the vehemence in his voice. "Not a friend. Someone who—I don't want to talk about it. Your move."

Norbu looked down at the board, thought for a minute, and then moved a tile. Strategizing for the game and the conversation were hard to do at once.

"So, what's the problem? Are you afraid of running into this guy?"

"I'm not afraid." Yun frowned in a way that seemed strangely uncertain. "I don't think he's even in town anymore. He's not supposed to be here. Why would he..."

He trailed off. He was thinking about Kyoshi again, up in the Taihua Mountains. Was she with Kelsang? Was the whole "Air Nomad journey" that Shun had mentioned true, just attributed to the wrong Avatar? But it just seemed so odd. Sure, Kyoshi was probably way behind on spiritual training, but she was behind on basic earthbending, too. Even if she was doing Air Nomad stuff, why wouldn't she and Kelsang just fly to the Temples? The Taihua Mountains were way off-course. 

And more to the point: Yun had never been on an Avatar trip without Jianzhu. No matter where he had gone, in all four nations, his sifu had accompanied him. Why was he changing his pattern now?

Maybe he couldn't go on this trip—he was needed here in Gaoling, attending functions. Maybe he didn't want to introduce Kyoshi yet, and reveal his mistake with Yun. But if that was the case, why wasn't Kyoshi waiting for him in Yokoya? 

And then, as he thought of all that, Yun began to wonder other things. How was Kyoshi feeling as the new Avatar? Was she as excited as Yun had been? Was she as scared as Yun had been? Did she miss him? Did Rangi miss him? Did sifu—did anybody miss him? Or were they happy to see him gone? 

Was Jianzhu looking for him? Maybe he hadn't meant for him to be taken by Father Glowworm. Maybe he was trying to bring him home.

Yun wanted to believe that, but he knew it wasn't true. First of all, how would Jianzhu even know where he was? And secondly...

He had left him. Grabbed his new Avatar and run. He didn't care about Yun.

Did anybody? 

"Trishna?" 

Yun snapped out of his daze. Norbu was looking at him nervously. Yun forced himself to relax, realizing how anxious he probably looked.

"Sorry. See?" He chuckled. "There I am, getting distracted again."

He made a move. Norbu hesitated, then took the piece that Yun had just played.

Huh. Yun hadn't seen that coming. He frowned, studying the board.

Norbu, meanwhile, was studying him just as carefully. He wanted to ask more, but "Trishna" already seemed so agitated. He was beginning to realize that his two goals—cheering him up and getting information—might be mutually exclusive.

"Well..." Norbu said finally, "if he's not in Gaoling, you don't need to worry about him. And even if he is—you know. We won't let anyone hurt you."

Yun looked up, his brow furrowed.

"Thanks. That's good to know."

Though I'm not sure I can believe it. Not long ago, he would have believed those same words coming out of Jianzhu's mouth. And even if Norbu meant them, could five Air Nomads, none of them masters and three of whom were children, protect Yun from one of the greatest earthbenders in the world?

But Jianzhu wasn't looking for Yun, either to save him or to hurt him. Yun was almost sure about that. He was more worried about Kyoshi. His fears for himself were more about purpose than safety.

He moved his white rose piece, and, trying to sound lighthearted, asked, “Do you want to keep going? My win in twelve moves.”

Norbu glared, set his jaw, and moved to take Yun’s white rose. 

He lost eleven moves later.

Chapter Text

Truc was meditating with the kids again.

“Come on! Do it with us!” Dechen had begged, tugging on Yun’s hand. Truc had joked that one day he was going to force him to join them. Yun had just smiled, even though the thought of meditating…or the memory of what had happened the last time…filled him with a cold dread.

It was a pity, really. He was seriously lacking in inner peace these days. 

Instead, he had gotten into the habit of visiting Jamyang in the big tent during these sessions. She would always be working on some clothes or craft to sell in the towns that they visited. Most of the time the two of them sat in companionable silence. She had a very calming presence that put Yun at ease. 

Today she was painting a thangka. “Sure there’s nothing I can do to help?” he asked, watching as she methodically moved the paintbrush across the cotton.

“No. But I could teach you how to paint your own, if you’d like.”

Yun only shrugged, watching as she worked. She was painting some sort of spirit-creature that he didn’t recognize. 

Jamyang began to hum, as she often did while she worked. Yun frowned. This particular song seemed familiar, but it took a long moment until, with a start, he suddenly placed the simple tune.

“Where did you learn that song?” he asked, as casually as he could.

“Hmm? My ayi used to sing it to me. Why?”

“No reason. It just…I’ve heard it before, where I’m from.” He shrugged, forcing a grin. “Guess your ayi must have traveled around there at some point.”

Jamyang smiled wanly. “Ayi never traveled. She lived in a village called Yongbao, near the fork in the Lonzeq River.”

“Oh.” Yun had never been there, but it was only a short trip from Makapu, so the musical overlap wasn’t too surprising. He frowned again, then asked, “Sorry, I’m confused. Are we talking about an Air Nomad, or do you have family from the Earth Kingdom?”

“She wasn’t my family by blood. She took me in after my family was killed by daofei. ”

“...Oh,” Yun said. Then, feeling that was insufficient, he added, “I’m sorry.”

His mind wandered back to the Fifth Nation, and the slaves that he had seen on that iceberg. “Daofei,” he murmured. “Someone needs to…”

He trailed off. To his own surprise, he felt a pang of guilt. He had to remind himself that Jamyang had been orphaned before he was born, and anyway…it was Kyoshi’s job to fix the daofei problem. Not his.

“So does that mean you grew up there? In Yongbao?”

She nodded. "Until I was about eighteen. That's when our tribe passed through the area. I went out to see them...and a few weeks later, I decided to leave with them."

"Your tribe? I didn't know Air Nomads had those."

"They're not quite like the ones in the Earth Kingdom. They tend to be pretty loose; people join and leave them all the time. Truc grew up traveling with them, but he and I decided to go off on our own a few years after we were married. We joined them again for a few years, back before Aparna was born." She put down the paintbrush and blew gently on the thangka. "They'll be on Quidong Island, for Avatar Zerdan's festival."

"Is that why you're going? To join them again?" 

"Not permanently. Just for a few days. Think of it as a family reunion."

She looked up at him and smiled softly. He smiled too, with a sense of relief. He had grown attached to this little Air Nomad family, and at least for now, he wanted to stay with them. A tribe of other Air Nomads would complicate that arrangement. 

Jamyang hesitated. "That song is a lullaby," she observed.

The smile slipped from Yun's face as looked down at the floor. "Yeah. My mother used to sing it."

He didn't meet her eye, but he saw her nod, slowly, at the periphery of his vision. 

"she died," he added bluntly. "A long time ago."

"I'm sorry."

"Yeah, well...now you know why you're stuck babysitting me." He tried to inject an ironic tone into his words, but the result was strained.

"Don't talk that way, Trishna," she said, and Yun was surprised by the firmness in her voice. "Look at me."

He looked up. Jamyang's dark eyes were kind but steely.

"Truc and I have come to care about you quite a bit in a short amount of time. And the kids love you. So don't imagine that you're burdening us." She paused. "As long as you're with us, you can consider yourself a part of this family. And whenever you decide to leave...you'll still be a part of this family, the same way that my ayi and our tribe are. Do you understand?"

"Alright. Thanks," he added stupidly. 

She smiled again. Yun cleared his throat and stood up.

"Anyway...thanks for the talk. I'm going to bed."

"Alright. Goodnight."

"Yeah."

He headed out and scurried quickly into the tent that he shared with Norbu, sitting down on his bed and exhaling slowly.

He felt exhausted, more mentally than physically. It occurred to him that that was the first time that he had talked about his family in years. People had asked about them, sometimes, but Yun didn't have much to say, and less that he actually wanted to.

He suddenly thought about Kyoshi, who had been similarly tight-lipped about her own parents. Given her hatred of outlaws, Yun's personal theory was that they had been killed by daofei. And then she had been taken in by Kelsang. Like Jamyang's story in reverse.  

He had always sort of wondered about that. The way that he understood it, Kelsang had met some random street kid in Yokoya and just decided to adopt her. Yun was kind of jealous about that. Nobody ever did that for him, until...Jianzhu...

He closed his eyes and clenched his fist. Then he laid down, still in his clothes and on top of his blanket.

Well...he had his own Kelsang now. A whole family of them. At least for a while. Until he figured out what to do long-term.

He listened to the silence of the night. Truc and the kids were still meditating. It would be a little while before Norbu came to bed.

Quietly, Yun began to hum, trying to remember that old lullaby, until he drifted off to sleep. 

Chapter Text

"UGH! I hate this job," Norbu said, spreading out his arms to survey his clothes. "The hair gets everywhere."

Yun shrugged, continuing to brush Mipung's fur. "Next time we'll do it naked."

Dechen giggled. She and Aparna were sitting on Mipung's tail, while Yun was levitating himself on a stand of earth to reach the higher levels.

He paused, moving his platform to look at the bison's sleeping face. "I've been with you for a while now, and I don't think I've ever seen her awake. Not on the ground, anyway."

"Dad swears that sometimes she sleeps while flying." Norbu gave up trying to get the hair off of his shirt and went back to brushing. "You could be helping," he snapped at his sisters. "Trishna and I are doing all the work while you two just sit there."

"We're helping!" Aparna said quickly, ineffectually brushing Mipung's tail. Dechen got up and began to work on her leg. 

After another minute of this, Dechen sighed. "When I grow up, I'm gonna have my own team of Sky Bison, and a team of servants to brush and wash them for me."

Norbu gave her a withering look. "Servants?"

"I'm going to be a princess," she said, as though this should have been obvious. "I'm going to marry an Earth Kingdom prince, and help him collect Sky Bison for our royal menagerie."

Norbu gave a strangled groan, but Yun smirked. "Interesting plan. Will you settle for a prince from Omashu, or will hold out for one of the Earth King's sons?"

"Aren't you a prince, Trishna?" Aparna asked.

Norbu gave her a look of disbelief. "No," Yun said. "Where did you get that idea?"

"Dechen said so. She said—um—she said you were a prince, but when your dad died your evil brother got to be king and made you leave, but one day you're gonna go back and fight him, and then you'll be king like you're supposed to be."

A moment of silence passed. Norbu facepalmed, but Dechen, a bit red in the face, straightened up with her arms crossed, tilting her head back defiantly.

"Well, if you won't tell us what you were doing before you met us, we'll just have to guess."

Yun started to laugh. Then he realized that being the former Avatar was even more ridiculous than her story, which only made him laugh harder.

"Sorry," Yun said, getting back to work. "Not a prince. Though I know a few if you want to meet one."

"Really?!"

"No, Dechen. He's joking."

Yun shrugged and kept brushing.

Aparna said, "Norbu said he's gonna be a monk when he grows up."

"I didn't say that," he objected. He glanced toward Yun and shrugged. "I've thought about it, because I like reading and learning about philosophy and stuff. But I don't think I'd actually like being cooped up in the Temples all the time."

"Sounds like you should be a scholar or something. Get a job at Ba Sing Se University, then travel around researching stuff."

"What about you, Trishna?" Dechen asked. "What do you want to do when you grow up?"

Yun only hesitated for half a second. "Fix the world."

The others blinked. "Like...all of it?" Norbu asked stupidly. 

Yun was back at that Makapu inn, remembering that fateful conversation with Jianzhu. Tell me that you don't feel that. That your spirit isn't filled with a thousand voices telling you to fix the world.

"Yeah," he said softly, feeling a pang in his chest. "That's what I...wish I could do."

Norbu stared at him for a moment, then turned slowly back to his task. "No offense, but I think that might be a tad ambitious." 

Chapter Text

"Alright," Truc said at breakfast the next day, moving his chopsticks through the air as though charting an invisible map. "We're past the Foggy Swamp. Today we'll stop west of the Kolau Mountains. Then we move along the coast, spend a few days in Seomun, and from there it's a stone's throw across the water to Quidong Island."

"We're not stopping in Omashu?" Yun asked.

"We weren't planning on it. Unless there's some reason you want to?"

"No. It's just...I don't know. Most people only pass through the Kolau Mountains to get to Omashu." If anything, Yun was relieved. The incident with Shun was still fresh in his mind; with his luck, he'd step through the city gates and walk right into King Buro.

"Is Trishna coming with us to Quidong Island?" Dechen asked excitedly.

"If he wants to," Jamyang said, glancing his way,

Yun shrugged, suddenly feeling awkward. "I don't have other plans, but I wouldn't want to intrude or anything."

"It's no trouble," Truc said, waving the objection away. "You won't even be the only non-Air Nomad there. My cousin Chimini's husband is from the Fire Nation."

Norbu kept his eyes on his food, but said, in a voice trying too hard to sound casual, "Do you think Gokarmo's family will be there?" 

"I imagine so," Jamyang said, with a small, amused smile. 

"Who's Gokarmo?"

"Nobody," Norbu said quickly. "Just a friend of Mom's."

Dechen gave an evil grim. "It's not Gokarmo he's wondering about. It's her daughter Kanda. MWA-MWA-MWA-MWA-MWA!"

"Shut up!" Norbu said, his face turning pink. "We're just friends!"

"MWA-MWA-MWA!"

"Dechen," Truc said seriously. "Stop it."

Dechen obeyed. Norbu shot her a look before returning to his food.

Truc picked through his bowl of fruit. "So, Norbu. Assuming Kanda does show up...are you finally going to propose to her? MWA-MWA-MWA-MWA-MWA!"

"MWA-MWA-MWA!" Even Aparna joined in with Truc and Dechen's teasing. 

Norbu jumped to his feet. "I HATE ALL OF YOU!" He grabbed his bowl and stormed off to his tent.

"Norbu!" Jamyang called over her daughters' laughter, then turned to glare at her husband. "That wasn't funny!"

"Well, it was."

"But you still shouldn't have said it!"

Yun snorted into his bowl to keep from giggling. 

An hour later Mipung was packed, roused and flying through the sky once again. Norbu sat across from Dechen, looking like he wanted to throw her off the bison without a glider. Dechen responded by sticking her tongue out at him.  

Yun sat back and tried to relax. He was slowly getting used to having so much free time. Back when he had flown on Pengpeng, jaunting around the world for important functions, he would spend the ride thinking about what was coming, getting drilled by Jianzhu, or at least meditating, hoping to gain insight from his past lives' memories. Now he just sat, and talked with the others, and tried not to think about the stressful situation that he was in.

Because back then, you actually had important things to think about, a nasty little voice in his head sneered. Now all you have is a big, empty future with no plans how to fill it.

He shook his head, trying to banish the thought.  

But still, as he sat there, he found his mind wandering back to Kyoshi again. She was still traveling west through the Taihua Mountains. Soon he would be over some mountains, also heading west. He scoffed. Maybe she was headed to Quidong Island too, he thought, though it made no sense, at least assuming that she had started her journey from Yokoya.

He suddenly realized how much he missed her. He swallowed painfully, hoping that she was okay. 

Aparna scooted across the saddle to sit beside him. "Trishna?" 

"Yeah?" he said, trying to put off his depressing thoughts. 

"Can you tell me a story?"

"Alright. What kind of story do you want?"

"Do you know any stories about Avatars?"

Yun winced. He looked up as Jamyang chuckled from her corner of the saddle. "I've been telling her stories about Avatar Yangchen," she explained. "She can't get enough of them, but I've run out. I don't know much about Avatar Kuruk, unfortunately." 

"Do you know about any other Avatars?" Aparna asked. 

Yun smiled sadly. "I know a lot of Avatar stories, actually." 

"Tell me one."

"Okay." He thought for a moment, trying to pick one out of the din. Then he came up with an idea that was irresistibly stupid.

"Once upon a time, a boy from the Earth Kingdom was declared the Avatar."

"What was his name?"

"I forget. Anyway, this Avatar lived in a big mansion, with wise teachers and lots of servants. One of these servants was a girl whom the Avatar had a crush on. And she had a crush on him too, obviously. Most girls did.

"So one day, the Avatar had to go to the South Pole to fight some pirates."

"Like in the play we saw?"

"Very similar to that, yes. Anyway, the Avatar wanted to bring the servant girl along. His earthbending master—" Yun suddenly tensed up as he remembered this conversation; he exhaled slowly, forcing his body to relax. "His earthbending master didn't want her to come along. See, it was dangerous, and she wasn't even a very good bender. But the Avatar really wanted her to be there. He just couldn't tell his master why."

"Why?" Aparna asked.

"Why?" Rangi had asked, when she first found out that Kyoshi was coming. Yun had hemmed and hawed for a bit before finally giving the reason.

"Because she was important to him. See—only important people came with the Avatar when he did missions like this. So if she came along, other people would think that she was important, too. Avatars aren't really allowed to date servants. But if she started to come along on his missions, she might get to stop being a servant and become his girlfriend instead."

Aparna thought about this solemnly. Yun was aware of the others listening in on the story, too, but he kept going.

"So they went to the South Pole, or close to it, and fought the pirates. And it turned out that the servant girl was a better bender than anyone thought! When the Avatar was in trouble, she raised this huge pillar of stone from the ocean—and that's really hard, bending earth through the water. So all the earthbenders were able to fight the pirates, and they won. The servant girl was really badly hurt, though, and the Avatar thought she would die. But they loaded her onto his Air master's bison, and flew home, and after a few days, she was all better again."

"And then what happened?" Dechen asked eagerly. "Did she and the Avatar get married?"

Yun hesitated for a long time before answering.

"No. Because the Avatar's was murdered a few days later."

A stunned silence greeted that declaration. "By whom?" Norbu asked incredulously.

Jianzhu's face, and Father Glowworm's eye, flashed through Yun's mind. "It doesn't matter. But he was gone, after only a few short years of being the Avatar. But...the servant girl was still alive, and because the Avatar brought her on that mission, she and everyone else realized how amazing she was. So she became one of the most important people in the world, using her bending to help everyone. So...in one way, the Avatar got what he wanted. He just didn't realize that she was more important than he was."

He shrugged. Aparna shook her head.

"That's a sad story. I don't like it."

Suddenly, Yun laughed.

"Yeah, sorry. That's just one that I've been thinking about lately. Hey—have you ever heard of Avatar Siqiniq? She rode a sea monster around the world, and if you go to the North Pole, you can see a magic tree that grew where she was buried!" 

Chapter Text

It was a year into Yun's Avatarhood when he first tried to say it. 

"Yes, excellent!" Jianzhu said with uncharacteristic élan, walking slowly around him. "Even Kuruk didn't learn this technique so quickly. You are easily the most promising student that I have had the pleasure to teach."

As always, Yun's heart swelled at his teacher's praise. He gave a grin which seemed to light up his face.

"Thank you. That means so much coming from you..."

For a second his statement hung there, incomplete. He wanted to say it. But Jianzhu turned to him, and he wimped out.

"...Sifu," he finished lamely.

Yun was having a hard time sleeping.

This had actually been happening for several nights, but this one was particularly bad. It felt like he spent hours drifting in and out of a hypnagogic stupor. In his waking moments there was a tight knot of fear in his chest, brought on by dreams that he couldn't seem to remember.

One thing he could remember was Jianzhu. Whatever he had dreamt, he was sure that his old guardian had been haunting his nightmares.  

Eventually he peeked out of the tent. It was still dark. He sighed, got dressed and stumbled out along the campground. He had too much nervous energy, he decided. Maybe he could sleep if he blew off some steam.

They were camping outside of Seomun, their last Earth Kingdom stop before flying to Quidong Island; the land to the east, away from the town, was rocky and bare. Yun headed that way, putting some distance between himself and the tents. Then he stopped, took a deep breath, and started with some simple earthbending moves.

There was a CRUNCH as small spikes of stone jutted up from the ground, then disappeared. Yun raised a fist to levitate a rock, then punched the air to send it flying.

He frowned. His earthbending felt off. Imprecise, when precision, more than power, had always been his specialty. It felt like he was trying to play darts with a hand covered in oil.

Yun raised another stone spire, then levitated a pebble lying by his feet. He shot it at the spike, aiming for a particular spot. He repeated the action a dozen times.

Only ten of the pebbles hit the rock at all, and three of those missed the target spot.

Jianzhu was still lurking in his former student's mind."What was that?"  he asked, in an incredulous tone that Yun had never heard him to use in real life.  

"Shut up," Yun muttered, and tried again, this time imagining that the target was Jianzhu's face. It didn't help his aim, though—the pebble only grazed the spire, flying so fast that it chipped a piece from the edge. 

Jianzhu snorted. "Inaccurate and unrestrained, like a toddler throwing a tantrum."

"Shut up." He levitated three pebbles at once, and was so agitated that he didn't even aim before shooting—two went wide of the spire, and the third hit far below, near the base.

Jianzhu's voice was sneering. "How did I ever believe that you could be the Avatar?"

"SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP!"

In a sudden rage he threw up his arms, causing every loose rock in the field to rise and then slam back into the ground. It rained stones for several long seconds, and Yun felt a few pebbles hit him on the neck and shoulder. He stared down at his hands, one normal, the other black in the dim moonlight. 

"What's wrong with my bending?" he croaked. "I can't lose that, too." 

He let his arms fall by his side and tilted his head back, looking up at the stars.

Then he screamed. 

"STUPID! Why did I EVER think it was me?!" And then, because images of Jianzhu were still floating through his mind, "It's YOUR fault! I was just your pawn, wasn't I?! Just a—tool for your stupid schemes! I HATE YOU! If I ever see you again, I'll—!"

"TRISHNA!"

Yun froze, turned, and realized that Truc was stumbling across the bare landscape, holding a lantern at arm's length.

He staggered over, held the light up to Yun, and looked him over with an incredulous stare. "What's going on out here? Are you alright? Hurt or anything?"

"No..." he said in a small voice. He suddenly noticed that his throat was raw from screaming. 

"Okay. Good." Truc nodded, exhaling slowly. "So if you don't mind me asking...what in the world are you doing out here, screaming your head off in the middle of the night?"

"I was just...I-I couldn't sleep, so...I thought I'd try some bending practice to...tire me out..."

Truc continued to stare. Yun felt his face burn. He hadn't felt this awkward since the time he was caught skinny-dipping in one of the Eastern Air Temple's sacred pools.

A long silence followed. Yun looked down at his feet. In the light of Truc's lamp, he was surprised to see that he was bleeding. One of those flying rocks must have hit him without him noticing.

When Truc spoke again, his voice trembled a bit. "Who were you talking to just now?"

"Nobody," Yun said quickly. "Just myself."

"I'm not a fool, son." Yun was surprised at the stern tone—for a wild moment, all he could think was that it sounded like Jianzhu. When Truc spoke again, his tone was softer. "Just because you were alone doesn't mean you weren't talking to someone."

Yun looked away. By now his face was so hot that it felt like he could firebend from his mouth.

"My old sifu," he said finally.

Truc nodded, as though that gave him any insight into the situation. "You...seem pretty upset with him. Do you want to tell me why?"

Yun didn't respond. Truc shifted his feet and looked away. 

"Was he the one who hurt you?" he asked quietly. "Before we found you?"

Yun began to laugh. He wasn't sure why. It was a harsh, humorless sound that hurt his throat. It turned into more of a sob when visions of Father Glowworm began to creep into his thoughts. He bent over, rasping painfully.

"He abandoned me," Yun finally managed to gasp. "Left me for DEAD, once he found out—once I wasn't useful anymore. But I shouldn't be surprised, should I?!" He kicked at the ground, voicing rising shrilly. "Gravedigger of the Zhulu Pass!"

"I don't—" Truc began, but Yun cut him off.

"You wanna know something sick? I wanted to call him 'Father!' I kept trying, for a whole year, but—I was too scared. Because what if he didn't feel the same way about me?" He gave a low, hysterical chuckle. "Sometimes I liked to think that he really was my father. And then he tried to KILL ME!"

Truc jumped as the entire field shifted under their feet, and a huge crack, as wide as a finger, suddenly split along the ground, running between Yun's legs and almost reaching back to their camp.

"Trishna, calm down!" 

But Yun had already staggered backwards, snapped out of his enraged trance. He stared down at the crack in confusion. Had he done that by accident? There really was something wrong with his bending. 

He barely noticed as Truc took a hold on his shoulder and turned him around to face him. "Trishna," he began, then faltered, unsure of what to say.

Several long seconds passed.

Yun laughed. It was a fake laugh, but it sounded happy, unlike the mad, strangled sound that he had made just a minute before.

"Sorry. I must sound crazy right now, huh? I'm really tired," he added, pulling away from the older man. "I should get back to sleep."

"Yes," Truc agreed slowly. He put an arm around Yun's shoulders and began to guide him back toward the tents. "You shouldn't be sneaking around at night anyhow." 

They were about halfway back to the camp when Truc said, "Trishna?"

"Yes?" Yun said tightly. 

"Whatever happened before—well. If you need to talk—"

"I know," he said quickly. "I'll keep that in mind. And Truc?"

"Yes?"

"The stuff I said...it would be great if you didn't mention it to Jamyang or anyone else. Please."

Truc didn't respond, and Yun kept his eyes away, not wanting to see his expression. 

"Anyway. Goodnight."

"Goodnight, Trishna."

He gave the boy a kind, if slightly awkward smile, but Yun was still looking away. He slipped back into Norbu's tent without another word.

Truc hesitated for a moment, staring after him, then slowly made his way back to the big tent.

Chapter Text

When Yun woke up the next morning, he was surprised that it was almost noon. Wandering out of the tent, he found that the camp was abandoned, except for Mipung still sleeping off to the side. 

The stone table that he had created for dinner the previous night was still there. There was a bowl of fruit left out for him, along with a note. 

Distinguished Elegant Shout (?)

Dad said you were up late last night and that we should let you sleep in. Hope you're feeling alright.

Then, in a messier scrawl, Come find us when you wake up!

Then, back in Norbu's script: Only if you want.

Yun chuckled, then looked back to puzzle over the first line. Finally it occurred to him to sound the characters out. "Trishna." He rolled his eyes at his own stupidity. 

"I can hear Master Amak now," he said, glancing at the sleeping bison. "'You chose a fake name and didn't even think how to spell it? Rooky mistake, Avatar.'"

Mipung ignored him. 

Yun grabbed the bowl from the table, leaned against Mipung's furry side and began to peel one of his fruits. Then he hesitated, and, with his free hand, tried to levitate some of the nearby stones by his feet.

They rose easily, with none of the awkwardness that he had experienced the previous night. He had them float in complicated patterns, and then, thinking back at the letter, spell out each of the three characters of "Trishna" in turn. No problem.

He let them fall to the ground. "I was just tired," he said, taking another piece of fruit. "Dumb to let myself get so upset. By now, Truc must think I'm a lunatic."

He shook his head as the conversation played over in his mind. It was more information than he should have given. Or rather...it was more personal than he should have gotten. He felt his cheeks burn. He told himself that Truc would be nice enough not to bring it up. Then wondered how many times this sort of thing could happen before Truc did bring it up. 

He finished eating, then said "So. Do I want to go into town and meet the others...or avoid any awkwardness by spending the day in your lovely company?" 

He gave Mipung's leg a light smack with his hand. She shifted as though trying to shrug him off. 

"Fine," he said, straightening up. "I know when I'm not wanted. But I'll charm you one of these days."

He pointed to Mipung as he walked off. She snorted and went back to sleep.

The three Airbending kids made their way through the town of Seonum. The older two were engaged in a bout of childish bickering, while the younger girl was clinging to her brother's robes.

A pair of bandits were watching them from across the street.

Zol clapped her hands together, a crooked grin on her face. "And the kiddies are off on their lonesome. No mama or papa around to protect them."

Yode made a face. "Wouldn't Mama and Papa be the ones carrying most of their money?"

"Shut up," Zol grunted, and moved after the Air Nomads without another word.

"Hey—"

Yode ran after her, but continued to grouse as they walked.

"I'm telling you, Zol, this isn't worth it. They're Air Nomads."

"Yeah. Easy pickings."

"But they'll have, like, a few copper pieces at most. And besides—" He faltered.

She waited a few seconds, still gazing across the crowded street to keep the kids' orange-and-red robes in sight. "Yes?" 

"They're Air Nomads. Robbing them has to be, like...bad karma or something." In the back of his mind, Yode was thinking of the old folktales that he had heard as a kid. Several of them involved bandits attacking seemingly defenseless people who turned out to be powerful spirits in disguise. Air Nomad monks were a popular choice for that role.

Zol gave him a withering look, then turned back to their targets. 

"HEY!"

Norbu felt something collide with his stomach so hard that he stumbled into an alley, knocking over Aparna and nearly falling to the ground himself. Dechen gave a shrill and somewhat overdramatic scream.

When Norbu looked up, he saw a man and a woman in front of him. And behind them, a seven-foot stone wall that one of them had earthbent in front of the alley's entrance. 

Zol grinned, arms crossed over her chest, looking confident and menacing. Yode stood a bit to the side, holding a short club and trying to match his partner's bravado.

"Norbu—" Aparna said fearfully, but he ignored her, standing slowly and raising his arms.

"Uh—no need for any trouble," he said, his mouth suddenly dry. He reached carefully into his pocket. "This is all we have, but—"

"Don't give them our money!" said Dechen, despite her scream less than thirty seconds before. She struck a battle pose. "It's three against two! We can take 'em!"

Zol snorted as Norbu gaped at her. "Dechen! Ignore her," her added, turning back to the bandits.

"Yeah," said a voice from above them. "She can't even count."

Everyone turned. In Zol's case, just in time to have her nose broken by a fist-sized stone. 

"AGH!"

"Zol!" Yode cried.

"It's four to two," Yun said, grinning cockily as he balanced on top of the thin wall. 

"Trishna!" Dechen squealed, dropping her stance in order to clasp her hands together.

Zol roared, blood dripping from her fingers as she held her nose. "You little—"

Yun didn't wait for her to finish. He stomped down, and the wall collapsed beneath him.

Yode covered his face at the avalanche of dust and stone. Norbu, on instinct, summoned up a blast of air to protect him and his sisters, but he needn't have bothered—Yun pulled on the debris with his earthbending, keeping the majority of it around their attackers. Meanwhile, he was moving the bigger chunks of rock to make a stairwell, stepping from one to another until he reached the ground. He managed to look remarkably casual about this. 

Zol was trying to bend the dust away from her face, but it was too slight and insubstantial for most earthbenders to deal with. Yun used one hand to keep the cloud swirling around her head, and with the other, summoned a collection of smaller pebbles around his arm, making a rocky gauntlet halfway to his elbow. 

With Zol still blinded, he pulled his arm back and slammed a stony fist into her stomach.

He heard a gasp from inside the dirty fog, and the bandit fell to her knees. Yun grinned—just in time to get knocked in the back of the head with a club.

"YAAGGHH!"

"UGH!" He staggered, almost slammed into the female bandit, and spun around to snarl at her companion. Right—Yun had been so focused on her that Yode had managed to escape his own cloud. He raised the club again—

"Trishna!" Dechen cried, at the same moment that Yun shot the rocks on his arm into his attacker's chest. Yode let out a muffled gasp and slammed into the wall of the alley. The rocks flew back to Yun, reforming his earthbent armor. 

He spun back around. Zol was stumbling and trying to summon her own ammunition from the broken pile of wall. But Yun was faster, even with his head still spinning from Yode's attack. 

POW!

He punched his rock fist into the swirls of dust around her face, knocking her to the ground. 

Before she could recover again, Yun was kneeling on her chest and punched again.

And again.

"Trishna! I—I think she's unconscious?"

Norbu's voice started loud, then sort of petered off into uncertainty. Yun paused with his fist raised again. 

Zol was indeed knocked out. And her face was a real mess. Yun glanced at his fist, mildly surprised to see blood on the stones.

He let the rocks fall off and stood up. Part of him wanted to kick the unconscious bandit, but he shook the feeling away. Then his eyes shot to the alley wall, where Yode was still standing, now rather green in the face.

"I'd grab your girlfriend and run, if I were you."

He moved aside. Yode swallowed, and his club clattered to the ground. He grabbed Zol under the arms and began to drag her out of the alley. By this point he was pretty sure that the tall Earthbender in the Air Nomad robes was actually a dangerous spirit.

Yun and the others watched in silence as Yode dragged Zol over the pile of debris, threw her over his shoulder with difficulty, and ran off. Yun exhaled, then turned to his friends.

Norbu stepped back. He wanted to say something, but all that came out was "What's wrong with your eyes?"

"Huh? I dunno, what?" Yun felt around them, searching for injuries. 

Norbu tilted his head. "Never mind," he murmured, still looking unnerved. "Just a trick of the light."

"That was scary," Aparna interrupted, close to tears as she clung to Norbu's robe. He put a hand on her head protectively.

"Trishna was scary!" Dechen said. It was clearly a compliment. "Did you bend the dust? It was like you were Airbending!"

Yun smiled, twinkled his fingers, and casually brought together some of the particles still hanging in the air, making a little cloud above his hand. "Yeah—not many earthbenders can do this. You just have to think of each grain as a tiny piece of earth." He had a sudden, stupid idea and said, "Watch."

With a bit of effort, he tried to mold the dust into a character. It was harder than with pebbles, and a bit fuzzy, but then he asked, "Can you read that?"

"'Cloud!' It's a cloud that says 'cloud!'" Dechen giggled.

Yun grinned, waving it away. It was also the character that spelled "Yun," but none of them caught Distinguished Elegant Shout's little joke. 

Aparna was still shaken, and wanted to spend the rest of the day at the family stall. Norbu held her hand as they made their way back to the market, with Dechen and Trishna walking in front.

Norbu felt jumpy, and not just because of the bandits.

He stared at Trishna. Dechen was jabbering up at him, and he was showing her all of his usual attentiveness. 

He was such a nice guy. He had just saved them from getting mugged, after all.

But still. As he smiled at Dechen, Norbu remembered the snarl of rage on his face as he beat that unconscious bandit into the ground. It was a difficult contrast to reconcile. 

Chapter Text

Quidong Island was about the size of Seonum, but nobody lived there; the ground was too rocky to farm on, though patches of tall grass took up about half of the land, and a few scraggly trees managed to survive here and there. The only building was a small shrine, roughly in the middle of the island, with a pond in front of it. 

"Are we the first ones here?" Norbu wondered as he fluttered down from the saddle. 

"I guess we are," Truc said, looking around. "Well, we are a few days early."

"UGH! Boring," Dechen said, kicking at a rock on the ground. "I wanted to show Trishna off to my friends."

Yun (who had almost unconsciously deflected Dechen's rock from hitting Norbu in the leg) raised an eyebrow. "I'm not a pet, Dechen. I'm perfectly capable of showing off for myself."

"Ooh! Let me show you around!" Dechen said, grabbing his arm and starting to pull him.

"Dechen?" Jamyang said. "Have you forgotten something?"

She motioned to Truc and Norbu, who were starting to unload the tents. Dechen huffed, blowing her bangs out of her face.

After all of them had set up camp, Yun and the three siblings went for a tour of the island. "There's really nothing to tour, though," Norbu commented. "There's Zerdan's shrine, the pond right next to the shrine, and some rocks."

"What kind of rocks?" Yun asked brightly.

Norbu looked at Yun like he wasn't sure if he was serious.

They went around the pond and came to the shrine. It was a small, open structure containing only a statue of Avatar Zerdan. He was sitting cross-legged with his fists pressed together in the typical Air Nomad style. Most of the statue was made of simple gray stone, but a chunk of his face was smooth obsidian, and the Airbending tattoos were drawn on with chipped blue paint. 

Norbu bowed to the statue, with Dechen and Aparna following suit. Yun did too, but he felt a dull pang as he did so. Normally when he saw a past Avatar, he had a weird little thrill remembering that that had been him in a past life. He huffed under his breath.

"Is that Avatar Zerdan?" Aparna asked, eyeing the statue curiously.

"Uh-huh."

"Why is his face all black?"

"It's a birthmark!" Dechen explained. "That means he was just born with a weird splotch on his face. Back in the old days, that made people think he was evil. But then he got older and they realized he was the Avatar."

"Ooh." Aparna looked from Norbu to Yun. "Are there any neat Avatar stories about him?"

Norbu frowned. "I don't think so, other than that. But supposedly he was born in our tribe. That's kind of neat, isn't it?"

She pulled on Yun's hand. "Do you know any, Trishna?"

"Well, he lived in a pretty peaceful time—and he died in his sixties, which is young for an Avatar. So he didn't fight in any big wars or anything. But he wrote a lot. His Conversation with Yamantaka was a big inspiration for Yangchen's political treatises." 

"Bor-ing!"

"Dechen! Show some respect."

"What kind of stories did he and Yangchen write?" Aparna asked.

Yun smiled down at her. "Well, they didn't write anything together—only one Avatar at a time, right?" He felt another little pang as the words left his mouth, but he tried to ignore it. "Zerdan's story is about talking with a spirit, who told him that he actually was destined to be evil like everybody thought. But he didn't, because even though everyone is born with bad parts inside them—even Avatars and sages—they can learn to control them and become good." 

That seemed too advanced for Aparna, though she considered the matter gravely. Dechen asked, "Does it end with Zerdan and the spirit fighting each other?"

"No."

"Bor-ing!"

Yun smiled, then frowned back at the statue. He had never actually read Conversation with Yamantaka; there hadn't been a copy in the mansion. It had been on a long list of Avatar-related tracts that he had been meaning to get to. 

He realized that Norbu was eying him curiously. "I'm surprised you've heard of him," he said. "He's not one of the big-name Avatars."

Yun smirked. "I know a lot of Avatars."

"My favorite is Yangchen," Aparna said decisively. 

"Of course it's Yangchen!" Dechen said. "She was the best."

"One of the best, to be sure. But she's actually not my favorite," said Yun.

"Who is?"

"Guess."

"Salai?"

"Uh-uh."

"Avatar—Phramali, I think?" Norbu asked. "The last one from the Earth Kingdom?"

"Ah, Phramali was great! But no. It's not even an Earth Kingdom Avatar."

Dechen screwed up her face. "That Siqiniq lady with the sea monster? Or Yadav?"

"Nope."

"Not that lame Fire Nation guy before Yangchen, right? The one with the desk job?"

"Szeto, and no. Big in the Fire Nation, not too fondly remembered elsewhere." 

"Just tell us," said Norbu. 

"Kuruk."

Dechen frowned. "Oh. Should have guessed him."

Yun shrugged, a smirk on his face. "Nobody ever does."

"But why? He wasn't as good as Yangchen. I don't think he even did anything." 

"Well, he fought some evil spirits. Tough ones," Yun added, as his memory flashed back to Father Glowworm. "And...well. From what I've heard, he was a fun guy to be around. The kind of person I would have liked to meet."

He glanced at the statue of Avatar Zerdan and felt another ache of regret. He had been looking forward to when he would be able to contact his previous incarnations—any of them, really, but it was generally agreed that Kuruk would be the first. And ever since those days at the Makapu inn, he had heard how much he and Kuruk had in common. Jianzhu, Kelsang, Hei-Ran, even random nobles and sages had noted the similarities. Yun had been thrilled at the idea of someday meeting his other self, of being guided by another him who was older and wiser than he was. 

It wasn't like Yun didn't know Kuruk's faults. But still, he felt a kinship to the past Avatar. 

"Too bad I never will," he murmured softly.

"Yeah," Dechen said offhandedly. Then, "I'd like to meet Avatar Yun someday. That would be cool."

Yun let out a laugh so harsh that he choked on it.

"Yeah," he said when he'd sucked in a breath. "That'd be something, wouldn't it?" 

"Anyway, come on! I'll show you the rest of the island!"

"There is no rest of the island," Norbu said, taking Aparna's hand and following Dechen away. 

"There's that rock that kinda looks like a platypus-bear. Ooh! Trishna, could you earthbend the rock to look more like a platypus-bear?! Then when the others show up, we'll pretend we don't know how it happened!" 

He smiled wanly, staying behind for a moment to stare at Zerdan's statue. He would never meet this Avatar, either. Or Yangchen or Szeto or Phramali or any of them. 

He sighed, and gently patted the statue's obsidian birthmark with his stained hand. Then he turned and walked off after the others.