Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

I’m Sokka. I’m from the Southern Water Tribe, and my life used to be pretty normal. Or sort of normal. Or… well, kinda. Actually, not really. I mean, it was normal for a while, but then the Fire Nation came and… whatever. Let’s just say that I have a pretty good reason to hate the Fire Nation.

What’s important is that one day, my sister and I found the Avatar. I know, crazy, right? He wasn’t even an old man or anything; he was just a kid named Aang. And after that we ran around, all the while chased by the Fire Nation, trying to get to the North Pole so my sister and Aang could learn waterbending. I was hoping to find my dad, who had left to fight the Fire Nation. And I had to protect Katara, ‘cause you know, she needs me.

I kinda thought my life couldn’t get any weirder, what with all the crazy kings and angry firebenders and giant spirit monsters.

Well, I was wrong.

The day started out pretty average. Or, at least, it was as average as life got for us. We were making good progress across the northern Earth Kingdom, but my sister constantly insisted on stopping to practice waterbending. You see, we’d just left the North Pole, where Katara and Aang had been training, and now she was a certified master. You’d think once she became a master she’d chill out for a bit. But no, not Katara. It was like she had to be better than anyone, even Aang!

By that point, we were really far into the Fire Nation territories, and evidence of war was everywhere. Ruined and abandoned towns and cities reared up from the ground, some of them so old they were already decomposing. Aang brought Appa down to one of these, next to a small dam and pool. Once, it was probably used to stock fish for a town but now it was covered with scum and smelled like rotting seaweed. Yuck.

But I guess smelly water is fine for waterbending, since we had no sooner unsaddled Appa than Aang and Katara went to it. They practiced their waterbending forms until nightfall, and by the end of the day, Aang’s legs were shaking and Katara could barely lift her dinner to her mouth. Obviously, they picked me to take first watch.

Frankly, I doubted that we even needed a watch. What Fire Nation patrol would be anywhere near this ruin? Everything valuable had long been looted out, and it’s not like it occupied a crucial military position. I thought it was a travesty that I wasn’t allowed to sleep, especially since I was the one who made dinner! I even made a vegetable dish for Aang! It was ridiculous…

I sighed and leaned back, gazing up at the stars. And the moon.

It’s a long story.

Anyway, I was thinking about the stars (and her eyes) and the constellations (and her hair) and the stories around them (and her lips). The stars in the northern hemisphere were different than the ones I had grown up with, and I wasn’t quite sure how to navigate by them.

After a while, my eyelids began to grow heavy. I began to think: Ah, what did it matter? How could you navigate with these stars? They move around too much, all glowy and colorful…

Wait a minute. Colorful, moving stars? Stars didn’t move like that, so unless I’d already fallen asleep and was dreaming, there was something definitely wrong.

Suddenly, I felt wide awake. I sat up and stared. No, I wasn’t imagining it. A huge blue star was moving around, flashing crazily right above me. My mouth dropped. What in the world was that?

“Guys!” I hissed. “Guys! Something’s happening!”

“Hwazza?” said Aang, yawning and rubbing the sleep from his eyes. “Fire Nation?”

“No, I… I have no idea.”

“Oh, wow,” said Katara, staring at it as she stood up slowly. “It’s beautiful.”

Aang got to his feet, staring at the light. “I… I think it’s coming closer.”

The three of us stood together, not quite sure what was going to happen. Aang picked up his stick and I scrambled for my boomerang. And as the glowing shape came closer, it was revealed as… well…

The only things I had ever seen that even came close to it were the Fire Nation warships, all shiny metal and thrumming engines. But other than that, I didn’t really have a reference. I had no clue what I was looking at.

It looked… sorta like a giant scorpion-bee. It had a body, I guess, and wings, sorta, though they didn’t flap. And it had a tail, like a scorpion bee. And it was all metal, with glowy blue bits.

By that point, I would almost have preferred that it was a Fire Nation machine. Because this… thing, whatever it was, was way freakier than anything I’d seen from them. Of course, being the great warrior I am, I was ready to fight it anyway.

As it got closer, all of my danger sensing hairs prickled. “It’s gonna land,” I whispered.

And it did land, touching the ground with a quiet crunch.

We stood there for another moment, waiting for it to do something. Aang was the one who stepped forward, staff at the ready. You know, ‘cause he’s the Avatar. Handling weird stuff is in his job description or something.

“Hello?” he called. “Hello?”

<Hello.>

I blinked. I knew I had just heard someone say ‘hello.’ But at the same time, no one had said anything. It was like a voice inside my head, with no sound. I looked at Katara. Her eyes were like saucers.

“Aang,” I said, and my voice was not strangled with fear (okay, maybe a little). “Maybe you shouldn’t go up to the weird flying mind-talky thing?”

“No, Sokka, I think it’s a spirit,” replied Aang, his eyes wide. “And it’s hurt. See, it’s burned.”

He pointed, and yeah, there were deep, melted burn marks on its… um… front-part. My first thought, which believe me made much more sense than the truth, was that it had been attacked by the Fire Nation.

“Are you okay?” called Aang. “I won’t hurt you.” He put down his stick and held out his hands, to show he was unarmed (not, of course, that it mattered with Aang).

<I know.>

“I’m the Avatar. Can I help you? What do you need?”

<Do not be frightened.>

“I’m not.”

Speak for yourself! I thought, because, alright, I’d seen a lot of scary stuff (like the Fire Nation attacking the Northern Water Tribe, or giant Canyon Crawlers, or Aang in the Avatar State), but this thing? It was terrifying not because I knew what it could do to hurt us, but because I didn’t.

A thin arc of light appeared, like a doorway lit from within, opening slowly in the smooth side of the thing. I stood there, thinking how I had to protect Katara and keep her safe from the whatever-it-was, so I stepped in between her and it. The opening grew, like a crescent moon at first, then a full, bright circle.

And out stepped a…

Well, I guessed it was a spirit. It wasn’t all that much stranger than Hei Bai, to tell you the truth. The weirdest part was that it had no mouth.

It had four legs with hooves, and a body like a foxalope, and two arms and a head kinda like a person, except for the lack of mouth and the three slits for a nose. Also, it had eyes on stalks like an octoslug, coming out of the top of its head, in addition to these big green eyes that were where you’d expect them to be. The spirit was blue, all over, and had a really long tail, with a sickle at the end. The sickle looked sharp. And you know… deadly.

Then, it staggered, and fell to the ground. Aang immediately went to its side, and I saw Katara run over and kneel down. “No! Katara!” I said. “That thing could be dangerous!”

“Sokka, it’s hurt! Look, its side is all burnt up.”

The spirit’s side did look pretty burnt-up, but frankly that wasn’t what I was worried about at that moment.

“But Katara…”

“It’s a spirit, Sokka! We need to help it!”

<You cannot help. I am dying.>

This spirit’s voice was not like Hei Bai’s. Hei Bai, at least, had the decency to roar out loud where I could hear it properly.

Aang gasped. “What? No, please! Let us help you. What… what should we do?”

“I’m a healer,” stated Katara without preamble. “Show me where it hurts and I’ll-”

<No. I am dying. There is nothing you can do.>

Then, just for an instant, I felt it. The pain, I mean. From the spirit. It was awful, and I found myself approaching the creature, even sheathing my boomerang. I guess… I felt sorry for it, but at the same time I figured that since it was so badly injured, it couldn’t hurt us. Much.

Katara quickly drew up some mucky water from the stock pond and pressed it to the spirit’s side. It closed its big eyes in what I assume was gratitude.

<Thank you. But please. I have to warn you.>

It sounded like bad news was coming, and, judging by the looks on Aang’s and Katara’s faces, I didn’t think any of us wanted bad news.

“What is it?” asked Aang, sounding like he didn’t want to know the answer.

<There are others coming. Yeerks.>

“Yeerks?” I said it out loud. It was a weird word, and it didn’t sound pleasant. “What’s a Yeerk?”

<They are aliens. Beings not of this world. From the stars.>

I frowned inwardly. He could have just said ‘spirits’ and been done with it. I mean, there was a time I wouldn’t have believed it, but a lot of things have changed, after meeting Aang.

“And the Yeerks are coming?” This was Aang. Of course, he would take it all in stride, being the Avatar and all.

<Yes. They have come to destroy you.>

There was a quiet moment, through which I could only silently curse. The Fire Nation was taking over the world, the comet was coming at the end of the summer, and now? Now we have a freakin’ invasion from the Spirit World!

“What do you mean?” asked Aang, his voice cut through with anxiety. How could I blame him? Spirit World stuff is his responsibility, after all.

<The Yeerks are different. They are not like you or I. They have no body. They live inside other species. They are…>

The spirit seemed to be at a loss for words. So it closed his eyes and seemed to concentrate. Suddenly a picture popped into my head. I saw a gray-green, slimy thing like an octoslug, only no tentacles. I grimaced. It wasn't a pretty sight.

<They are almost powerless without hosts. They- >

There was another blast of pain from the spirit, making me twitch. There was also a feeling of sadness, and despair. I felt another spike of pity for it. After all, Spirits were people too. Well, not really. But close enough.

“I’m so sorry,” babbled Katara, still intent on her healing. “I just- I’ve never seen burns like these before. And your chi is... different. I’m not quite sure how to even start.”

<I do not blame you. But please listen. The Yeerks are parasites. They must have a host to live in. In this form they are known as Controllers. They enter the brain and are absorbed into it, taking over the host's thoughts and feelings. They try to get the host to accept them voluntarily. It is easier that way. Otherwise the host may be able to resist, at least a little.>

“You mean they… possess people?” That was Aang again.

<Yes, in a sense.>

I groaned. An army of spirit monster slugs, taking over your mind? NOT what I had been expecting that morning, not at all.

<We had hoped to stop them,> the spirit continued. <Swarms of their Bug fighters were waiting when our Dome ship came out of Z-Space. We knew of their mother ship and were ready for the Bug fighters, but the Yeerks surprised us - they had hidden a powerful Blade ship in a crater of your moon. We fought, but... we lost. They have tracked me here. They will be here soon to eliminate all traces of me and my ship.>

“Okay,” I said. “Most of that made absolutely no sense, and… wait. Soon? They’ll be here soon? How soon? Like, right now?”

I drew my boomerang and looked around hurriedly, half-expecting the octoslugs to burst from the bushes ready to eat my brain.

<Soon. We do not have much time.>

Katara’s hands went to her mouth in horror, withdrawing her water for a moment. “What do we do?” she asked breathlessly.

The spirit smiled. Don’t ask me how I knew it was smiling, with no mouth. It was something with its eyes. <I sent a message to my home world. We Andalites fight the Yeerks wherever they go throughout the universe. My people will send help, but it may take a year, even more, and by then the Yeerks will have control of this planet. After that, there is no hope. You must tell people. You must warn your people!>

“Warn them that evil spirits are taking over? Oh MAN. You guys really could have chosen a better time for this! We’re kind of in the middle of a war right now, in case you haven’t noticed.”

Aang and Katara glared at me.

“What?” I objected.

I looked back down at the spirit, and was met with two pairs of strikingly green eyes. <Perhaps there is a way to better your chances,> it said. <Go into my ship. You will see a small blue box, very plain. Bring it to me. Quickly! I have very little time, and the Yeerks will find me soon.>

Ship? I looked up at the big, metal object. That thing is a ship? Like the Mechanist's airship?

Aang got up and walked in, while Katara went back to trying to heal the spirit. I continued to glance around, waiting for the Yeerks to arrive.

After a few moments, Aang came back out of the ‘ship,’ holding the box and looking pale. It was a very small box, not much wider across than Aang’s palm. I wondered what could possibly be inside.

“Here,” said Aang, handing the box to the spirit.

<Thank you.>

The spirit held out the box, and we all looked at it. To tell you the truth, other than its bright color it wasn’t much to look at. It was blank, except for some sort of writing around the top. I didn’t know the language.

<There is something I may be able to do to help you fight the Yeerks.>

“What is it? Some kind of spirit weapon?” I asked.

The spirit looked up for a moment, and I felt his confusion, but then he continued. <I know that your planet is undergoing war, and this will be difficult. But I may be able to give you some small powers that may help.>

We all looked at each other. Powers? I was no bender, but if he could help Aang…

<If you wish, I can give you abilities that no other human being has ever had.>

“You mean like… a new kind of bending?” Aang’s eyes were wide.

<No, this is not your ‘bending.’> answered the spirit. <This is a piece of Andalite technology that the Yeerks do not have. A technology that enables us to pass unnoticed in many parts of the universe - the power to morph. We have never shared this power. But your need is great.>

“Morph?” wondered Katara. “What’s… morph?” She looked at Aang, who only shrugged.

<To change your bodies,> the spirit said. <To become any other species. Any animal. You will only need to touch a creature, to acquire its pattern, and you will be able to become it. It requires concentration and determination, but, if you are strong, you can do it. There are . . . limitations. Problems. Dangers, even. But there is no time to explain it all . . . no time. You will have to learn for yourselves. But first, do you wish to receive this power?>

Before I could even process what the spirit was saying, Aang bowed deeply and said; “Thank you, kind spirit. We are honored to receive your gift.”

I looked at Katara, who nodded with fierce determination in her eyes, putting her water away.

“Wait a minute,” I said. “How do we know that this… morphing is even safe to do? You said there were problems and dangers! I’m not about to enter some spirit war without even knowing what I’m doing!”

“You shouldn’t turn down gifts from spirits, Sokka,” said Aang calmly.

<I am no spirit.> said the… not-a-spirit. <But time is short. We must->

The two stalk eyes floating above his head suddenly turned upward, and my gaze followed them. Two bright red stars were moving through the night sky.

<Yeerks,> said the not-spirit, and I could feel his hatred.

Then the not-spirit looked at me again. <There is no more time. You must decide!>

I looked at Aang and Katara, who looked back at me, their expressions hopeful. I groaned, and, though the rational, logical part of my mind protested, nodded. Sometimes, I’ve learned, you just have to accept the impossible.

<Each of you, press your hand against one of the sides of the square.>

I did, as did Aang and Katara. Then the not-spirit did as well, placing a blue, surprisingly delicate hand with too many fingers on top of the box.

<Do not be afraid,> the not-spirit said.

Something like a shock, only not painful, seemed to run through me. A kind of giddy tingly feeling.

<Go now,> the not-spirit said. <Only remember this - never remain in animal form for more than two of your Earth hours. Never! That is the greatest danger of morphing! If you stay longer than two hours you will be trapped, unable to return to human form.>

“Oh,” I said. “Great.”

Suddenly, I felt a wave of fear from the not-spirit. It was looking up with all four eyes now, searching for something.

<Visser Three! He comes.>

It was said with such vehemence and terror that I jumped. “Vis- Visser what?”

<Go now. Run! Visser Three is here. He is the most deadly of your enemies. Of all Yeerks he alone has the power to morph, the same power you now have. Run!>

Aang stood up, and Katara quickly followed. “I’m not running,” he said, his face grim. “You said these Yeerks are possessing people. So we’ll fight them!”

The not-spirit made the smiling eyes again. <No. You must save yourselves. Save yourselves and save your planet! The Yeerks are here.>

“But we can fight!” objected Katara. “I can waterbend, and Aang’s the Avatar! We can help you!” She gripped the lid of her waterskin. I crossed my arms, offended.

The not-spirit turned its large eyes on Aang. <If you are truly the Avatar of this world, then it is even more vital that you survive. You cannot win this battle, as you are. Wait, and you will find the right time. Now, you must go.>

“Aang!” I said, looking up. The two big red lights had been joined by something else. Something enormous and black, blocking out the stars.

Katara looked up, and gasped. She got to her feet and ran, stumbling over the rough ground. Appa was on his feet and bellowing, confused.

“We need to saddle him!” yelled Katara.

“Be quick about it!” I yelled back. I cast my eyes around desperately. “Where’s Aang?”

“I don’t know!”

“Look, see that wall over there? Get Appa behind it!”

Katara nodded and grabbed Appa’s reins, leading him over the rubble.

“Aang!” I called. “Aang, where are you?”

“Right here,” panted Aang. “Sorry, I… I got delayed.”

“Aang, quick, help us saddle Appa.”

The saddle was on him in about two seconds, and we got on.

“Yip yip,” I called, and we took off, Aang looking behind him at the strange not-a-spirit and his ‘ship.’

We weren’t too far away when a light, as bright as the sun but red, blazed into life back where we had left the spirit. Katara gasped.

“Turn around,” said Aang, his hands clutching the rim of the saddle.

I stared at him. “What?”

“Turn-”

“I heard you!”

“Sokka, I think he’s in danger. We need to go back and help.”

“Aang, he wanted us to leave! And when a spirit says ‘go away’ it’s probably a good idea to go away!”

“But-”

“I don’t want to get involved, Aang. This is spirit stuff.”

“No, he wasn’t a spirit.” Aang had that odd look in his eye, the look of being far, far older than he appeared. “He was something else.”

“But he said he was from another world,” objected Katara. “What else could he have meant?”

“He didn’t mean the Spirit World,” insisted Aang. “He meant something else. Something that wasn’t our world or the spirit world.”

“Well, like what?” I asked. The whole thing sounded ridiculous to me.

“I don’t know, but… when I stayed with him, he gave me a vision. He showed me a lot of things, about the Yeerks, and himself, all jumbled up. I’m trying to make sense of it, but… I think there are a lot of worlds. Not just two. And he came from one of those. Up in the sky.”

A shiver ran up my spine. Lots of worlds? How many could there be? Dozens? Hundreds? I suddenly felt very, very small. I didn’t like the feeling.

“Please, Sokka, he needs us.” Aang reached forward for the reins, but I held them out of reach.

I looked back. The red light was still shining, like a fire but unflickering and far brighter.

“Aang… it… it’s not our problem. Let’s go.”

Aang stared back at me, looking hurt as we soared farther and farther away from the strange… creature.

But running away wasn’t going to help.

Chapter Text

Water. Earth. Fire. Air.

Long ago, the Four Nations lived together in harmony. Then, everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked. Only the Avatar, master of all four elements, could stop them. But, when the world needed him most, he vanished.

A hundred years passed and my brother and I found the new Avatar, an airbender named Aang. And since then, we’ve been traveling the world, learning and training.

Then, not so long ago, a strange being from another world came to us and gave us a gift, and a warning. The gift was the ability to morph, to change into any animal we touch, and the warning was that a race of evil creatures, the Yeerks, were attacking our world, and they wanted slaves. Us.

The entire idea felt dreamlike, unreal. I had just been told that not only do I have to worry about the Fire Nation and Prince Zuko and Sozen’s comet, but also Yeerks and morphing and Visser Three. It was too much. I desperately wanted it all to be a dream, and when I woke up the next morning, much later than I normally did, I managed to convince my bleary self that it was.

Then I opened my eyes, sat up, and saw two Momos.

The two lemurs were play fighting, tumbling around on the ground and squealing loudly. They would stop and groom each other, then go back to wrestling, making quite a racket. They were probably what woke me up.

I swallowed the pit of dread that was building in the back of my throat, and forced a smile. “Hey, Momo,” I called in a cajoling voice. “Did you find a friend?”

<Katara! You’re awake!>

The pit of dread expanded inside of me, and it became hard to breathe.

One of the lemurs broke away from the other and scampered up to my sleeping bag, looking up with big green eyes. <Can you understand me?>

“Aang-“ I managed. And then: “Oh, spirits,” and: “It’s real.”

<Yeah,> came Aang’s voice from inside my head. <I guess it is.>

I covered my face with my hands and shook my head in near-despair. “You’re a lemur. How did you even…”

<(I just… pet him.> The Aang-lemur scratched his ear thoughtfully. <And I thought about becoming Momo, about what it would be like to be him. And then, I did. I became him. Hey, can I groom you?>

“You… what? I… I suppose you-”

Aang-lemur scrambled up to my shoulder and began picking interestedly through my hair. I couldn’t think of anything to say. I was talking to a lemur. To Momo, for all intents and purposes. Except it was Aang too.

<It’s weird,> said Aang-lemur after a second. <I’m me. I know I’m me. But I’m also Momo. I keep getting Momo-y thoughts, like wanting to eat a bug, or be groomed.> He made a ‘chrrrrrrr’ sound.

Then I remembered something. “Aang!” I gasped. “How long has it been?”

<Oh, you mean the two-hour thing? It hasn’t been that long. I think it’s only been…> Aang-lemur tilted his head to look up at the sun. <Less than an hour.>

“Aang… I think you should change back. We need to figure out what to do.”

<Huh? Oh, okay. But first, check this out!>

Aang-lemur jumped from my shoulder, just like Momo so often did, and spread his wings. He flew in a loop, his laughter echoing in my head.<I can fly, Katara! No glider!>

He landed right next to the real Momo, who leapt out of the way. <It’s so fun, Katara. You’ve got to try it.>

“What? Me?”

<Yeah. Elfangor gave the power to all of us. If I can do it, you can too.>

Then, as I got to my feet, he began to change back.

He sprouted upward, growing from Momo-sized to Aang-sized in a few seconds. The real Momo ran away squealing as Aang’s tail vanished into his back, making a disgusting shloop sound. His wings shrank into his arms, his ears shrank into his head and rounded, and his eyes went from green to gray. His face flattened, and a nose grew out. He was looking more like Aang, only covered in fur. He smiled. “Hey, Katara.”

“Aang!” I shouted, and covered my eyes. “You’re naked!”

“I- whoa! I am!”

“Well, put some clothes on!”

I heard the sound of Aang rustling through this bag, and then, “You can open your eyes now.”

I opened my eyes, and saw Aang, human again and wearing his usual yellow tunic. He was beaming.

“Wow, Katara, I can’t even tell you how cool flying is! And now you’ll be able to fly too! And Sokka! Gee, I wonder what it’s like to be Appa? I should try him next…”

“Hey, guys, I’m trying to sleep here!”

We both turned to look at Sokka, who stuck one irritated eye out of his sleeping bag. “Could you keep it down?”

“Sokka, get out of bed!” I shouted. Maybe my voice was a bit shrill, but this was huge! “This is kind of important!”

Sokka grumbled and sat up so slowly I could have sworn he was doing it on purpose. “What?”

“We need to talk.”

“I can turn into Momo, Sokka!” chirped Aang happily.

“Wait, you did what with Momo?”

And before I could say anything else, Aang had sprouted Momo ears.

“Yow!” screamed Sokka, and leapt out of bed. “Aang!”

Aang paused in his transformation, looking at Sokka with green eyes. “Oh, this is cool,” he noted. “I can stop halfway.”

“Oh, man,” said Sokka, looking at Aang with horror. “Oh man.”

“It’s okay, Sokka,” I said, feeling rather disconnected from the proceedings and barely understanding my own words, which sounded hollow and distant even to me. “He’s just morphing Momo.”

Aang grinned, then reversed the transformation, ears shrinking.

“I was really…” started Sokka, and he gulped. “I was really, really hoping that it was just a dream.”

“Me, too,” I admitted.

“Sokka, you were there. Elfangor gave the power to us.” Aang looked up at Sokka, frowning. “Don’t you remember?”

“Look, Aang, maybe you get weird powers from freaky spirit-ish things all the time. Maybe this happens to you every day. But please, please, take a moment to think how that must have looked to normal people. You know, like me.”

“Yeah, I guess it was pretty weird.”

“Pretty weird?!” echoed Sokka, a look of incredulity on his face.

“Yeah. And it feels weird, too. Like it should hurt, but it doesn’t. You should try it!”

“Aang, before we do that, we need to talk,” I interrupted. “About what happened.”

“Okay, talk.”

“So,” said Sokka, with a long sigh. “What happened last night was real.”

“Of course it was real!” objected Aang.

“And somehow,” continued Sokka, not looking at the Avatar. “Some weird… spirity… thing gave you the power to change into animals.”

“Not just me,” corrected Aang. “You, too. All of us.”

“Which is fine by me,” Sokka went on gamely. “Because any new power we can use against the Fire Nation is a good thing. It’s still really messed up though, and I don’t ever want to look at it again.”

“But Sokka, he gave us the power so we can fight the Yeerks!”

This time, Sokka seemed to hear. “Right,” he said. “Yeerks.” Suddenly, my brother looked very tired. “Look, Aang, I know you’ll want to get involved with this, but don’t you think we have enough to worry about? Fire Lord first, then Brain Slugs, okay?”

Aang shook his head. “We may not have that kind of time.”

“So what, you think we should fight two wars at once? One of which is against monsters that possess people? What kind of bending could help with that? Sokka shook his head. “It’s not our fight, and we shouldn’t get involved.”

Aang looked at me. “Katara, what do you think?”

I bit my lip. “Sokka, Aang is right. Elfangor said these Yeerks are attacking our world right now. Who knows what they could do?”

“They enslave you,” said Aang, looking haunted. “They crawl into your head and make you do whatever they want. Elfangor showed me.”

“That sounds pretty important, Sokka. I think we should fight them.”

Sokka shook his head. “Aang, you can fight the spirit monsters if you want. But I think it would just end up getting us killed.”

“But we’re all in this together. Right, Sokka? I mean, you can’t just…” Aang looked back at me desperately.

“Sokka, this is important! This is the fate of the world!” I cried. “We’re the only ones who know about this. If we don’t fight them, we could all be possessed! By Yeerks!”

Sokka groaned, and lowered his face into his hands. “This is crazy,” he said. “You’re both crazy.”

“It may be crazy,” said Aang. “But our world is being attacked. It’s something we have to do. Something I have to do.”

Then he grinned. “So, who wants to find out what it’s like to be Momo?”

“You’re crazy,” said Sokka. “I’m stuck here with two crazy people." He looked like he wanted to throw his hands into the air. I was a bit surprised he didn’t.

I had to admit, sitting there with Momo on my lap, that it seemed pretty unbelievable. If I hadn’t seen what I saw last night, and if I hadn’t seen Aang morph, I would have been right with Sokka. But I did see it. I couldn’t ignore it.

“You just concentrate. Just think about becoming Momo. Picture him in your mind.” Aang leaned forward earnestly. “It’s so fun, guys.”

“This is crazy.”

“I heard you before, Sokka.”

Momo was being very quiet, just sitting there calmly while Sokka and I pet him. I felt ridiculous.

“I think you can let Momo go now.”

Momo sat still for a few moments after I drew my hand away, but then leapt up with a chitter and ran over to Appa.

“Now,” Aang instructed. “Think about Momo again. About being him. Concentrate.”

I did, and I didn’t feel anything. “It’s not working,” I said, feeling oddly relieved.

That’s when my tail sprouted.

“Ah!”

“Katara!” cried Sokka. “Are you alright?”

It didn’t hurt, not exactly. But, like Aang said, it felt like it should hurt. I was so shocked by the sensation of my backside growing a tail that I stopped concentrating, and it stopped sprouting. The tail was long, and hairless, like an elephant-rat’s. It didn’t look like Momo’s at all.

I swallowed. “I’m okay,” I said. “Just surprised, that‘s all.” My tail twitched. I could feel it. “This is seriously weird.”

Sokka grimaced. “I told you it was crazy. Why did I even agree to this? We should stop now.”

I looked at my brother. Black fur was growing from his face. I almost laughed at the sheer weirdness of it.

“Sokka, it’s okay,” I said. “I’m alright” I looked at Aang, who nodded encouragement. I went back to thinking about Momo.

A prickling sensation swept over my skin, including the skin of my new tail, as black and white fur sprouted. I heard a creaking sound as two of my fingers twisted and grew longer and longer, stretching skin between them. It was horrible to look at, yet fascinating. I couldn’t believe that those long, spindly things were my own fingers.

“Eeei wrrr.” I said, which didn’t make much sense since my face was pushing out into a muzzle.

The world expanded around me, and then I was having trouble seeing, with huge blue sheets getting in my way. It was my clothes.

Then, I felt… different. It wasn’t a big change. A new awareness entered into my mind. It was keen, and curious, and interested. It wanted to see things, and why was it under all these sheets?

I pushed the sheets away with a white-furred hand, extracting myself from them. I was blasted with sound. So much sound! I could hear the birds in the trees, the clicking of insects underground, the rustling of far-off leaves. I could hear the breathing and heartbeat of something big behind me, a presence I immediately filed away as comforting and familiar and acceptable. Another heartbeat, faster and accompanied by scratching, scrabbling noises, came from in front, from another pile of enormous clothes with a lump moving around inside them. I breathed in, and scents tantalized me. No food was nearby, but I could smell a playmate.

“Chrrrrrrrrl!” I said, an invitation to play with the other lemur. It smelled like me, so it must be family!

“Hey, you guys okay?” I felt my ears flick in the direction of the sound, and turned to look at the presence behind me. He was big, but not scary. He was good. He was… Aang.

I blinked. Aang. Right. The Avatar. And I was Katara. How could I have forgotten?

I could still feel Momo’s mind there, next to my own. But I was me, too. I realized who the ‘other lemur’ was.

“Wrrr chrrrr.” I said, and panicked for a moment. Then I remembered how Aang had talked with his mind, and thought at the pile of clothes: <Sokka? Are you okay?>

<No, I’m not okay!> came Sokka’s voice in my head. <I’m Momo! How is that okay?>

<Well, you’re supposed to be Momo. Come out of there.>

<I’m all tangled up.>

“Guys? Talk to me, guys.”

I turned to Aang, and thought at him. <Sokka’s stuck.>

Aang walked over and lifted up Sokka’s shirt, revealing a lemur that was utterly tangled in a loincloth. The avatar broke out in a huge grin. “Hey Sokka! You did it!”

Sokka managed to extricate himself from the loincloth, the fur on his back bristling. <Yeah. Great. I’m a magical transforming freak. Just what I always wanted.>

Sokka looked at me. <Katara? Is that you? What are you doing?>

<Hmm?> Without realizing it, I had started combing through the fur on my tail. I dropped it, embarrassed. <I don’t know… grooming?>

<Don’t act like a lemur, Katara. You’re a human.> Sokka sounded odd. Frightened, almost.

“Actually, she is a lemur,” spoke up Aang. “I think when you morph, your mind gets a bit of both.”

<Wonderful. I have a lemur brain. Why am I doing this, again?>

“Because Elfangor gave it to us, to help us. And besides, now you get to fly!” Aang picked up his glider, and snapped it open. “Come on, guys!”

I looked at my arm. It was white, and furred, and the two long fingers were folded back. I extended them, and watched the wings as they unfolded. I took a deep breath. Well, here it goes.

I spread my wings, and jumped.

For a moment, I was terrified. I had jumped at least three times my height into the air, far higher than I had expected. I didn’t know how to fly! I was going to fall! But then my wings started flapping, and somehow… I just knew what to do. Or the lemur part of me knew what to do, since the human part of me was still going ImgonnafallImgonnafallImgonnafall!

How can I even describe it? The wind was rushing around me, blowing the fur back from my face while my arms worked up and down and the ground just fell away… It was a bit like gliding at the Northern Air Temple, but so much better. I wasn’t just going in circles, I was going up, down, twisting sideways and catching at the wind.

<Whoaaaaaaaa!>

“You go, Katara!” shouted Aang. I banked in a tight circle, and then Aang was in front of me, on his glider. He turned sharply upward, and I followed, changing the angle and tuck of my wings automatically.

We went higher and higher, and then Aang shouted: “Look around!”

I stopped and hovered, not even thinking about what I was doing. We were so high, the trees looked like sticks, and Appa looked like a mouse. The huge sky was open above me and the horizon stretched to all sides until it hit the mountains in the distance.

<Oh, wow! I can’t believe this!> I thought. My wings were getting tired of hovering, but it was just so beautiful, I didn’t care. <This is amazing!>

Aang grinned at me from his glider. “It’s flying. You're flying, Katara!”

A gust of wind rocked me, and I flew in a circle around Aang. I had never felt so… free. I wanted the feeling to last forever.

Then, <Where’s Sokka?>

We both looked down. I could see Appa, and maybe our sleeping bags, but I was too far away to make out much else. But I could hear something moving around down there.

Aang tilted his glider and started to slide back down, and I folded my wings into a steep glide. My stomach swooped as I descended, the ground rushing up at me in a way that should have been terrifying, but my lemur self saw as completely normal.

Aang reached the ground before me, and I landed lightly on his shoulder, gripping his shirt with the claws on my feet. It felt like the most natural thing in the world.

“Sokka?” Aang called. I looked, following his gaze.

There were two lemurs playing on the ground, much as Aang had been with Momo earlier. Only not quite. Aang and Momo had been playing happily enough, but now it looked like only one participant in this lemur pair was at all interested. The other was running in circles, trying to escape as the other lemur leapt after him.

<Gnnnngh! Get him off of me, Aang!>

Aang laughed. “He’s not going to hurt you. It’s a game.”

One of the lemurs (they looked and smelled exactly the same! How was I supposed to tell which one was Sokka?) stopped, and was immediately pounced on by the other. It squawked as the other lemur began chewing on its ear.

<You call this playing?? It’s more like murder!>

I thought-laughed and spread my wings, fluttering down to where Sokka and Momo were ‘playing.’ <Hey Momo!> I thought, still giddy after my flight. <Come play with me!>

The ear-chewing lemur looked up at me, then pounced. The next few moments were a blur of white and black fur, in which I was buffeted by wings and limbs. But… it wasn’t in earnest. It was a game. Momo wasn’t really trying to hurt me. So, I hit back, careful not to scratch.

A few moments later, Momo had leapt off me, and was running his fingers through the fur on my back. It felt really good. Calming, like when I was a very small child, and my mother would braid my hair. It was a good memory, and I ‘chrrrrrr’ed.

“See? Katara gets it,” Aang was saying. “You’re a lemur. You play like a lemur.”

<I am not a lemur, Aang.> Sokka’s thought-voice sounded angry. <And neither is Katara. I think we should change back now.>

“Huh? But you haven’t even flown yet! And we have plenty of time…”

<I don’t want to do this anymore. If we need to fight these… Yeerks, then we’ll fight them normally. As people. Not as… as lemurs!>

Aang sighed. I looked at him. He looked disappointed. “Alright. I just thought that… you would think it was fun.”

<Well, it’s not. Now, how do I change back?>

“Just… concentrate again. Only this time think about yourself as you.”

Sokka sprouted upward, his wings shifting into hands and his face emerging from a still Momo-ish body. He was naked, so I turned away, even as Momo still tried to groom my face.

After a moment, I heard his voice: “Katara, you change back too.”

I didn’t like that tone. <Sokka, you’re overreacting. We were given this gift, why don’t we use it? I’m not doing anything dangerous.> I glanced back over at Sokka, who was pulling his tunic on.

Sokka glared as he stuck his head through the shirt hole. “It is dangerous! If you stay a lemur for more than two hours, you’ll stay a lemur! Forever! I am not having a lemur for a sister!”

<Don’t be so pushy!> I thought. Maybe it was the Momo in me that was feeling so contrary. I couldn’t tell. <I’m fine!>

“Katara!”

I heard the thump, thump of Sokka’s feet coming over. I looked up at him, completely unfazed. <What?>

Two enormous hands wrapped around my middle and lifted me into the air. I pushed away from my giant brother, but he was far stronger. I looked into his face, which looked like it was the size of Appa’s. My fur bristled, prickling up my back. <Sokka! What’s your problem?>

“My problem? My problem?? I’m not the one who’s a lemur right now!”

“But, you’re talking to one,” pointed out Aang.

<Sokka, you’re freaking out,> I noted.

“Freaking OUT?? I- I- I’m sick of all this! Of giant monsters and talking lemurs and moon spirits and-”

<Moon spirits?>

Sokka took a deep breath, and seemed to regain some control. He put me down. “I…” he closed his eyes. “I’d really feel better if you changed back now.”

I paused. <Alright, if you feel that strongly about it.>

I concentrated on myself. And, for a moment, nothing happened. Then, my fur melted away. I was a hairless lemur. I was not pretty. <Turn away, you guys!>

After they did, my legs swelled, growing to human size, and my tail sucked in. I can’t even imagine what I must have looked like then, with a Momo head and body and these huge legs sticking out. As the rest of me caught up, I headed over to my pile of clothes, pulling them on as fast as I could. Being a lemur was fun, but the process of morphing gave me the heebie-jeebies.

“Okay,” I said, as soon as I was decent. “I’m good.”

Sokka turned around, frowning. “Alright,” he said. “We’re not doing this anymore, okay? We’re going to fight the Fire Nation, and forget this ever happened.”

“But-” started Aang.

“No buts, Aang! I don’t care if you think it’s ‘fun.’ It’s dangerous.”

Aang frowned. “But it is fun! And it could be really useful!”

“Look, Aang, what if we were inside when we morphed? How would we keep track of the time? I will not risk myself, my sister, or the fate of the world with some freaky spirit’s idea of a gift.”

Aang deflated.

“Have we decided, then? No more… ‘morphing?’”

Aang closed his eyes, and nodded.

I frowned. I didn’t want to agree. I wanted to fly again, to feel that rush… but then again, if Elfangor hadn’t told us everything about morphing… if there were other costs…

I nodded, looking at the ground. No more morphing.

And if we found the Yeerks… we’d fight them as ourselves.

Chapter Text

<Tell me. What is this… Avatar?>

“A being of great power. One with control over all the elements. The humans believe that he or she is a kind of god incarnate.”

<And yet this Avatar is a human?>

“Yes, but extremely powerful. The current one destroyed almost the entire Fire Nation naval fleet, which, though exceptionally primitive, was the most powerful one on this planet.”

<I want him alive.>

“Yes, Visser.”

My name is Aang, and believe it or not, I used to be a normal kid. I went to lessons and played airball with my friends and flew on my bison. All I ever worried about was whether it was going to rain and spoil the day’s flying or not.

That was like a lifetime ago.

That was a lifetime ago. Maybe even more than that.

You see, I’m the Avatar. Usually the monks would have waited until I was sixteen to tell me, but I guess they must have been worried about the Fire Nation, because they told me early. Everything changed, then. Everyone treated me differently. I couldn’t play with my friends anymore, and they thought my mentor, Monk Gyatso, was being too easy on me. They were going to separate us, and I… I couldn’t handle it. I was upset, so I ran away. It was the last time I ever saw the other airbenders.

I got trapped in an iceberg, and slept in there for a hundred years. And meanwhile, this horrible war started. I need to stop it.

But before I can face down the Fire Lord, I need to learn all four elements. I have air down pretty well, and I’m learning water. Earth is next, and I’m going to learn it from my old (really old) friend, Bumi. An Earth Kingdom general named Fong was going to escort us to Omashu safely.

We’d been flying southeast for several days, when Sokka suddenly yelled; “There it is!”

Appa rounded the mountain top, and Fong’s fort came into view. We were pretty far into the Fire Nation territories at the time, and seeing Earth Kingdom colors was a real relief.

The fort was round, with walls coming from four sides and a big tower in the middle. I guided Appa to the roof of the tower, where I could see some people waiting, including a man with a huge beard.

I got off Appa along with Katara and Sokka, grimacing. I’d been sitting in the saddle for ages, and my backside was really sore. I was so preoccupied with my discomfort that I almost missed what the man with the huge beard was saying.

“Welcome, Avatar Aang! I am General Fong.” The general bowed deeply. “And welcome to all of you, great heroes! Appa! Momo! Brave Sokka! The mighty Katara!”

“Mighty Katara?” mused Katara. “I like that.”

Well, it looked like our reputation preceded us! I gave the general a grin, and heard whistling and booms from behind us. Earthbenders were lighting fireworks that burst in the air, making a spectacular show. I was amazed that they’d made such an effort, just for us.

“Not bad, not bad!” remarked Sokka.

“Now, if you’re ready, we can get down to business,” said the General.

“Business?” asked Sokka. “You mean going to Omashu, right?”

“Of course, of course,” smiled the General. “Omashu will be waiting for you! But first, I would be honored if you would have a look at our underground fortifications.”

Fortifications? “Um, I really don’t know much about-”

“Ah,” he interrupted. “But I’m sure you’ll find them quite interesting.”

I looked at Sokka and Katara. They looked as confused as I did. “Well… I guess we could have a look.”

General Fong smiled. “Excellent! Please, follow me.”

We went with General Fong down a long, spiraling staircase, past one floor after the other. Behind us came Fong’s soldiers, walking in perfectly straight rows without speaking.

We eventually came to a stone door, which General Fong grabbed and slid smoothly to the side. Behind the stone was a short passage and another door, a metal one. This was a little strange, since earthbenders can’t bend metal, and they usually like to build with what they can bend. Which makes sense- after all, why do more work than you have to?

General Fong waited for all the soldiers to file inside the space between the two doors. One of the soldiers slid the door closed behind us.

Even then, I wasn’t at all scared. I assumed they were just being cautious. Military people are like that, sometimes.

The light was dim, only coming from the glowing crystals set into the ceiling. General Fong smiled. “Do not be alarmed at what you are about to see, Avatar,” he said. “It is a revolutionary new concept, one that will advance the security of the Earth Kingdom like no other.”

“Okay,” I replied, slightly confused.

He pressed his hand to a metal plate, and the door opened.

That was when I started to worry.

Inside the door was a small, raised pool of some kind of liquid. It was not water, definitely not. It was dark and sludgy and seething. A pit settled in my stomach. Something was wrong.

“Please step in, Avatar Aang,” said General Fong, every word seeped with respect and graciousness.

“General Fong? I don’t understand. What is this?”

“It is a Yeerk pool.”

At this point, the alarms ringing in my head became deafening.

I heard Sokka swallow a yelp, and Katara gasped.

“A Yeerk-”

“Let me explain. The Yeerks are our allies from another world.” General Fong’s voice was gentle, like one of the Monks at the temple explaining the rules to a stubborn student. “They have given us the technology and know-how to win this war, once and for all. They will help us, and we will finally defeat the Fire Nation. Isn’t that wonderful?”

Maybe I should back up a bit here. You see, just a few days earlier, we had found a strange creature in a big, metal, flying machine, and he had warned us about this. Not about General Fong specifically, but about Yeerks. He told us that they were creatures from another world, and they were coming to take over our bodies and use us as slaves.

His name was Elfangor, and to help us, he gave us a power, to turn into any animal we touched. He called it ‘morphing.’ We… haven’t used it much. Sokka thought it was too dangerous, because if you stay as an animal for more than two hours, you get stuck that way. So, we agreed not to do it anymore.

Anyway, after Elfangor gave us the power, we had to leave. I don’t know what happened to him after that.

I was backing away from General Fong, my head spinning. This couldn’t be happening. Wasn’t General Fong supposed to help us?

But as we backed away, we hit the wall of soldiers behind us. One put a hand on my shoulder. I looked up at him. He did not return my gaze.

“So what do they want?” spoke up Sokka. “In return for helping us? What’s the catch?”

“Just a small thing,” said General Fong, still calm, still smiling. “Their own bodies are very weak. They need to share ours, or they won’t be able to do anything. If you allow them, they will be able to end the war for us. And we don’t have to do anything!”

“No,” I said.

General Fong’s smile faltered. “No? But why not? Don’t you want to win the war? Don’t you want peace? I thought we were allies, Avatar Aang.”

“Not like this. This isn’t right.” I felt my stomach clench. These Yeerks… they had gotten to General Fong, somehow. Elfangor had warned us about this, too. The Yeerks could posses people and turn them into what he called ‘controllers.’ General Fong could be a controller.

“Are you certain I cannot change your mind?” General Fong continued. “Katara? Sokka? Surely you want to defeat the Fire Nation?”

“Not if it means giving up our freedom,” stated Katara, standing straighter. “And not if it means making pacts with evil spirits.”

General Fong sighed. “It’s a pity you feel that way. Take them.”

Two meaty arms wrapped around me, and bodily lifted me up. My eyes went wide. They were manhandling me!

The soldier grabbing me began walking toward the pool, so I inhaled a deep lungful of the stagnant air and blew down, hard. The soldier and I rocketed upwards, and I curled down to brace for the impact. The soldier was taller, so he hit the ceiling first, cushioning me. As his grip weakened, I slipped out, bending the air beneath my feet to float down to the floor.

Back on the ground, Sokka and Katara were having a harder time of it. Katara was struggling, but couldn’t get her hands free to open her waterskin, and Sokka was trying to fend off a soldier with only his boomerang. I moved to help them, but two more soldiers rushed me.

They were wielding swords, so I slipped around them, then answered them with a blast of air that sent them reeling.

“Don’t kill him!” General Fong was shouting. “Don’t kill him, don’t kill him!”

The soldiers swiped at my feet, and I quickly flipped out of their way, looking around desperately for a way out. I’d left my staff with Appa, so my airbending was limited, and there wasn’t any water!

Wait.

Once, Katara had bent perfume by manipulating the water in it. If that black stuff was partly water…

I reached out to the pool with my bending, and grabbed it. My feet shifted into a waterbending position and I let loose with a graceful water whip that –

“Stop!”

The soldiers immediately fell back, though I noticed they were still guarding Katara and Sokka. I frowned. What was going on?

Then I noticed. They were all staring at the ‘water’ that I held suspended in the air. I looked at it too. It was oily and dark, almost like liquid obsidian. And then, as I watched, something dropped out of it with a soft plop. It looked like a large slug.

It was a Yeerk.

I looked at General Fong, aghast. He looked terrified.

“Step on it, Aang!”

I looked up in surprise. It was Sokka, who was pinned to the floor. “Aang! Step on it! Show him you mean it!”

“Be quiet, Human!” barked one of the soldiers, and kicked Sokka in the head.

I shook my head. I wouldn’t do it. The Yeerk - and it had to be a Yeerk, it looked exactly like what Elfangor had showed us – was helpless. I couldn’t just kill it, even if it was an evil creature. But… maybe General Fong didn’t know that?

I lifted the orb of yeerk pool liquid higher. General Fong took a step closer.

“Nuh- ah!” I said, and made as if to drop the liquid. He stopped.

“You don’t know what you’re dealing with, Avatar,” growled General Fong. “We have powers that you can’t even imagine. Don’t make us your enemies.”

There was another plop as another Yeerk dropped out of the liquid. General Fong flinched.

“Let my friends go,” I demanded. “Let us all go.”

General Fong swallowed, then, looking defeated, nodded.

“Let them go.”

The soldiers released Katara and Sokka, who held his head and groaned. Relief washed over me. It was going to be okay!

“Come on guys,” I said, still hovering the Yeerk liquid. “Let’s get out of here.”

“Let ours go as well,” said General Fong.

I paused. “What?”

General Fong pointed at the Yeerk liquid. “Them. Let them go.”

I supposed that was fair, and moved to let the liquid flow back into the pool. But Sokka's hand on my arm stopped me. “Don’t, Aang. That’s our only way of knowing they won’t kill us as soon as we step out.”

I looked at General Fong, who was gritting his teeth. Another Yeerk plopped out of the liquid.

Sokka was right. They didn’t want us hurting the Yeerks in the liquid, so they wouldn’t hurt us as long as we held them hostage. The whole situation made me feel uneasy.

We backed out of the room, the soldiers opening the doors behind us. I had to really concentrate on keeping the Yeerk liquid suspended while climbing the stairs.

We emerged into the light, followed closely by General Fong and the soldiers, to where Appa was still waiting. He was looking agitated, and flared his nostrils at me.

“Hey, buddy.” I called out softly. “How are you doing? We’re going to leave now, okay?”

Appa snorted, and turned his head to look over the edge of the tower. I looked too, Sokka and Katara guarding my back. On the other side were-

My breath caught in my throat. They were giant metal machines, vaguely insectlike, with spears coming out from the front. What were they? How had we not noticed them before? Had they been brought up while we were down below?

But I couldn’t gawk for long. I climbed onto Appa carefully, trying not to spill the Yeerk liquid. It was very difficult, and I almost lost it several times, which elicited gasps from the gathered soldiers each time. Katara helped me keep it steady.

I felt as though it was time to say something. “Okay,” I said. “We’re going to go now.”

Another Yeerk fell out of the liquid, into the saddle. All the soldiers watched it as it flopped.

“First, the Yeerks, Avatar.” General Fong’s voice was firm. He tilted his head, and one of the soldiers ran over with an empty bucket. “Just put them in there, and we can both be on our separate ways.”

I looked at Sokka. He bent down and picked up the Yeerk that had fallen out earlier, a look of disgust on his face. “Give the rest back,” he said. “We’ll keep this one.”

“Are you sure that’s-”

“Come on, Aang. Let’s go.”

I poured the rest of the liquid into the bucket, and slid over to Appa’s reins. The soldiers just stood there, watching us as we took off. I allowed myself a sigh of relief. We’d made it.

Then, as we crested the wall of the fort, Katara gasped. I whipped around to see what she was looking at.

One of the machines had lifted into the air, and was following us. It flew smoothly, levitating without any movement. I had no idea how it could do that.

“What, it can fly?” gasped Katara. “What is it? They agreed that we could go!”

“Maybe they decided that capturing us was worth losing one Yeerk,” mused Sokka, glaring at the octosluglike creature he held. Then he stood up.

“Hey!” he called. “Hey!” He waved the Yeerk in his hand around.

“Sokka?” I frowned. “What are you doing?”

“I’m letting them know we mean it.”

Sokka leaned over the saddle and held out the Yeerk, threatening to drop it.

“Sokka, don’t!”

Sokka’s face was grim. “They need to know what they’re risking.”

The Bug Fighter still hovered behind us, matching our speed easily and silently.

I felt tense. I didn’t want Sokka to drop the Yeerk. It was just a slug. It couldn’t hurt anybody, not like that! And if he dropped it from this height, it would die. But was just threatening to drop it so bad, if he didn’t actually do it? I wasn’t sure.

Then, the decision was made for us.

Momo, who had been pacing around the saddle during our getaway, looked up at Sokka as he waved the Yeerk around. Then, in a flash, he jumped onto his arm and scampered down it, grabbed the Yeerk out of Sokka’s hand, and ate it.

We all stared. “Oh, no,” whispered Sokka.

The Bug Fighter sped up, and then it was flying directly above us. I could look up and see the intricate mechanical workings of its belly.

A door opened, where there had been no door before. And out came a monster.

It stood upright, and was covered with what looked like Dao blades, on its arms, legs, long tail, and snakelike neck. It had a beak, and glaring red eyes. I’d never seen a spirit monster like it before.

The monster dropped into the saddle, its huge, horned head less than a foot from my face. “Give up nrreknesh,” it said.

In response, I blasted it in the face with wind.

The monster reeled back, thrown off balance, and Katara water-whipped it, drawing a line of yellow-green blood. It whirled around, swinging its long, bladed tail, and in Appa’s saddle, there was nowhere to dodge. And Katara… her arm…

“AHHHHHHHH!”

No! Not Katara! Not her not her not-

I reached out to the air around me, spun it just so, tightened it and swirled it until it held the force of a typhoon, and threw it at the monster. It was flung bodily from the saddle, limbs flailing as it tried to grab on to something that wasn’t there. As it flew over the side, it slashed down with its arm blades, tearing a chunk out of the saddle. And then it was gone.

I immediately ran to Katara, along with Sokka. She was still screaming, and oh spirits there was so much blood!

“Katara!” Sokka was screaming. “Katara, heal yourself! You’ve got to heal!”

Katara moaned, and fumbled with her waterskin. She was having trouble opening it with her left hand, so I helped her. She gloved one hand with water and pressed it to the wound (oh spirits, her arm was barely attached), but was shaking hard, and the water wasn’t staying still. I suddenly began wishing fervently that I had studied some healing in the North.

I felt it more than heard it, a displacement of air above me, and looked up. Appa had been weaving from side to side, trying to get out from under the flying machine, but now it was peeling back. I hoped that that was the end of it; that we’d won, it was leaving.

Then I saw the second machine, and the third, coming right behind it.

“Oh no,” moaned Sokka, following my gaze. “Katara? Katara, are you… will you be okay?”

Katara was breathing in gulping, shaky gasps. But she had managed to staunch some of the bleeding. “I don’t know. I- I can’t move my arm.”

I felt sick. Katara was hurt badly, and the flying machines were gaining. Making a decision, I scooted to the front and grabbed Appa’s reins, bringing him down.

“Aang! What are you doing?” asked Sokka.

“The machine might not be able to follow us into the trees,” I explained. “We might be safer down there.”

Appa touched down between the trees, and I jumped off. I looked up. The Bug fighters were larger than Appa, but not by much. They were circling, and descending. Had they seen where we’d landed? I wasn’t sure…

“I have an idea,” I said.

Sokka, who was still with Katara in the saddle, stared. “You have an idea?”

“Yeah,” I replied, and put my hand on Appa’s flank.

I’d only morphed one animal before, and that was Momo. All I’d had to do was concentrate on him, picture the lemur in my head and focus. It was a bit like meditation, actually.

Now, I meditated on Appa.

The first thing that happened was that my arms began to swell, inflating like they were being filled with air. My face bulged and my bones creaked, and a tail began to swell from the back of my spine. It didn’t hurt, but it sounded like it should.

“Aang?” came Sokka’s voice. “Aang, what- what are you doing?”

“Nrraaaaeeeeennnn mmmmmmmruh!” I replied. It wasn’t exactly what I’d meant to say, but that’s what came out.

As my body grew, my clothes grew tight around me, then ripped along the seams. Whoops. Forgot about that. I’d have to try to fix those later. Horns grew from my forehead, and white, fluffy fur sprouted all over my body.

“Aang!” Sokka was shouting. “Aang!”

A pair of legs, just like Appa’s, sprouted out of my middle, growing out of me like branches from a tree. The world changed around me, becoming duller in color, and somehow wider. I breathed in, and the scents of the forest swirled through me. My ears twitched. I was Appa.

It was different than being Momo. I felt less excited, more calm. But there was power underneath the peacefulness. If my herd was threatened, I would defend it with all my strength.

“Aang!”

Oh right. Sokka. Wow, he was small.

<I’m okay, Sokka,> I thought at him. <I’m going to lead them away from you guys.>

“This isn’t a good idea, Aang! They could kill you!”

<I’m not letting you get hurt.>

I lifted my tail, and shoved the air down. And just like that, I was airborne.

When I had flown as Momo, it had been different. I’d had to constantly flutter my wings, staying up by muscle power. But Appa flew by bending, by moving the air with his tail and legs. He flew like I did.

As I crested the treetops, I could see the flying machines had landed in spaces between the trees not far from where I had brought Appa down. Monsters were coming out, both sword-blade monsters and another kind, like septapedes the size of tree trunks, with bloblike red eyes and a huge mouth full of sharp teeth. They reminded me of Koh. I flew directly above them. They looked up at me.

C’mon! Follow me! I knew better than to think it at them, of course.

I circled around, and bellowed, just for effect. One of the blade monsters lifted its arm, and there was a beam of red light, and-

Ow ow ow ow!

Whatever that light was, it hurt! It was like they’d shot fire at me! They were trying to shoot me down!

But I could still fly. I could lead them away…

But the monsters didn’t seem interested. They were still going towards `Katara and Sokka. And Katara was hurt. She wouldn’t be able to waterbend well, and there was no way Sokka could fight them all.

They were helpless.

I turned and flew back to where the real Appa had landed, getting there before the monsters did. Sokka and Katara were still in Appa’s saddle. Katara was terribly pale, and looked like she might faint.

“Aang! What are you doing? You can’t just leave!” Sokka looked furious and terrified, all at once.

<They’re coming! They didn’t follow me.>

Sokka groaned weakly. “Oh. Great. Wonderful.” He withdrew his club and boomerang, and, with one last glance at Katara, slid down from Appa’s saddle.

Appa himself was eying me warily. Unrelated male sky bison don’t usually get along, but I smelled just like him, so he should be fine, right?

csh

My ears flicked, and I turned to face the noise. <What’s that?>

“What? What’s what?”

<That sound. It->

Then, the first blade monster burst through the trees.

Without a pause, Sokka threw his boomerang, whistling through the air straight for the monster’s face. But the monster swung its arm, a blade catching the weapon and knocking it uselessly to the ground. Then, it leapt forward, kicking at the air with its leg-blades.

Startled, I reared up before I knew what I was doing. A septapede monster and another blade monster were coming now, and their strange, acrid smells filled my bison nose. Sokka had a drawn, bug-eyed look, even as he let out a war-cry and charged the foremost blade monster. The creature swung one arm at him, which Sokka blocked, and then swung the second.

Sokka was being attacked. My herd was being attacked.

“Grrrrrruhhhhhhhhhhhhnnnnnggggghhh!”

I charged. One moment, the blade monster was in front of me. The next, it wasn’t. Simple as that. The lumpy, sharp thing under my feet? What did it matter?

I saw Sokka out of one eye, looking shaken. He was part of my herd. I would protect him.

“Mmmmrrrggghhh!”

I looked in the direction of the distress call. Another bison was being threatened by a septapede monster and a blade monster. He wanted to charge them, but a rider was in his saddle and he didn’t want to hurt her. I understood this instantly.

I had to protect them. My herd.

I charged again. The septapede was not as lumpy as the blade monster had been, and simply splattered underneath my feet. But the second blade monster was more agile, and leapt up. It landed on my back, and I reared, even as its blades bit into me. I rolled onto my back, and the monster was crushed.

More were coming. I could smell them. I swung my tail as they emerged, blowing them back into the trees.

I roared. They ran.

It was safe now. The herd was safe. I-

I…

I had killed them.

Oh, oh spirits. I had killed them.

“Aang! Aang!”

I’d killed them. Just crushed them, under my feet. I could still feel the stickiness of their blood between my toes.

I felt sick, and my legs gave out. Dimly, I felt my side hit the ground.

“Aang! You’re hurt! Aang, talk to me, buddy!”

Sokka ran into my field of vision, waving his hands frantically. “Oh man,” he said. “Oh man, Aang. Please say something.”

<Sokka?> I thought finally. <What happened?>

Relief was clear on his face. “Thank goodness! Aang, you fought them off, but you’re hurt. The spiky thing got… it got you. Your back is…. It looks pretty bad.”

<Oh.> So that explained why I felt so lightheaded, at least partly. I hadn’t realized he’d hurt me that badly, though.

“You should change back. I’ll get you on Appa, and we’ll find a village or something to help you and Katara. Okay?”

<Sokka, I killed them. They’re dead.>

Sokka paused, and glanced over to the side. “Yeah, you did. And a good thing, too. I wouldn’t want that thing to get back up.”

Of course Sokka wouldn’t understand. He was a warrior, not a monk.

I felt something nudge my side, and with a great deal of effort turned my head to look. It was Appa. I understood. He saw a wounded herdmate and was trying to help them get up. He would do anything for his herd. Even risk his life. Even kill.

I closed my eyes, and pictured myself– bald, pale-skinned, short, tattooed. Did I even deserve those tattoos, after what I’d done? Did I even deserve to call myself an Air Nomad? I hadn’t even been in the Avatar state or anything. I’d been Appa, though. Was that an excuse?

No, I had to concentrate. I was too tired to fly, and vaguely aware now of a warm, wet stickiness down my sides. I had to let Sokka help me.

I felt myself shrinking. It was like a free-fall, only while still standing on the ground. My bones creaked, and my innards squished and shifted. And oddly, the pain in my back faded. Strange.

I opened my eyes, and I was me again, my hands on the ground in front of me. I turned around and looked at Sokka.

“Oh,” he said.

I reached around with an arm and felt my back. I felt something sticky, but there was no wound. “I’m not hurt.”

Sokka blinked. He looked at Appa, then back to me. “You know what? I’m going to get you a blanket.”

He quickly scrabbled into Appa’s saddle, and threw me down a blanket to cover myself with, seeing as how my clothes had been shredded. As soon as I had it around my waist, I jumped into the saddle with Katara. She was still managing to hold the bleeding, but was pale and looked exhausted.

Oh spirits, I thought. Please don’t let her die.

“Katara?” I asked. “You okay?”

“Hurts,” she replied through grit teeth.

“Katara,” said Sokka. “Listen to me. Do you think you can keep it up until the next village? It could be a few hours away.”

Katara moaned, and her head fell back.

“No?” I looked at Sokka. He looked very sad. “Then I want you to morph Momo. Right now.”

I stared at him. What was he talking about?

“No, really! Listen, Aang got hurt when he was Appa, really badly. But when he morphed back, he was fine. So I don’t think injuries carry over when you change. If you morph Momo, you might be fine. And then we’ll have two hours to get to the next village before you change back. Do you hear me, Katara?”

“You sure?” asked Katara, her voice quiet.

“Yes. I– I’d rather have a lemur for a sister than no sister at all.”

Katara began to change.

And, as she did, she began to heal.

As Katara’s face bulged into a muzzle, her arm began to knit back together, the bone and muscles reconnecting even as I watched. As she grew fur, the wound closed up, and my heart leapt.

Thank you, I thought, praying to Elfangor, even though he wasn't a spirit. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Chapter Text

My name isn’t Toph Bei Fong.

Yes, I know that’s what my parents named me, but frankly I don’t give two elephant-rat droppings what they want. They don’t know me. They don’t matter.

My life sucks. You might think I’m some pampered princess, living in my manor with gazillions of servants, food, money, blah blah blah. But believe me, it’s no walk in the park. You probably couldn’t do it.

It’s like… like being bound up in rope with cotton down your throat. It’s like suffocating. Having to act just so and say just the right thing. It takes lots of training when you’re little to learn that kind of restraint, and it makes me feel like bursting. Screaming.

Earthbending training was the only real concession my parents made to my real self, and it’s a joke. They made it so that I never learned anything but stances and breathing. And now? I don’t even have that. Now, all Master Yu does when he comes is ‘talk business’ with my parents.

I suppose I've never lacked for attention. When my parents weren’t around, the servants and maids and guards were. Giving them all the split is a freaking art.

Though I have to admit, it’s gotten easier lately. The servants still watch me and all, but they seem less concerned when they lose track of me. Actually, they show the same amount of concern my parents do, which is none at all.

My parents have had it, I think. They’re tired of having such a useless heir, and so they’ve stopped trying to pretend like they care about me.

It’s been a few weeks now, but there’s a definite difference. They barely talk to me during dinner, they don’t buy me things or sit with me in the garden. Not that I liked sitting in the garden, but still… it’s strange. And it hurts, a bit.

They still say ‘I love you.’ But they don’t mean it. They’re lying.

But whatever. They don’t matter.

All that matters is this. Right here. Right now.

The roar of the crowd. The beat of my opponent’s heart. The earth under my feet, and the stones shattering in my hand.

The excitement, the exhilaration of battle. The ecstasy of victory, the crush of defeat.

This is everything.

The Blind Bandit is the victor, and always will be.

Chapter Text

This was dangerous. I was being stupid.

But it could be so useful. I mean, have you seen a badgermole? They're huge! Big as a penguwhale, and much meaner. And those claws! Each one was nearly the size of me!

I licked my dry lips, hid my clothes under a bush, and concentrated.

The fur came first, a pattern on my skin like warpaint, quickly growing thick and bristly. The claws, which I had so admired, sprouted from the ends of my fingers and shot out, growing longer and longer like trees. My arms grew shorter, then expanded outward, muscle piling on top of muscle until I could no longer support my weight upright. I fell forward with a thud and an oof.

Morphing is really weird. It feels like it should hurt, and oh spirits, it looks like it should hurt, but it doesn’t. So even though I could feel my skull twisting and bending, it didn’t hurt as much as if, you know, someone was actually twisting and bending my skull.

Anyway, my overall shape was became more badgermoley and less horrifying, when suddenly the world blurred, then went dark.

I waited for it to come back into focus.

And waited.

Well, crap.

They had eyes! They moved around like they could see. Why didn’t anybody tell me that badgermoles were blind?

Well, this experiment was a failure. If I couldn’t see anything, what was the point of turning into a badgermole? Unless, they used some other sense…

I sniffed the air. I could smell a lot. It’s kind of crazy, actually, how much you miss with a human nose. All the little creatures that had passed through that clearing in the past few days, all the little dramas of death and life and change. I could smell the blood of a jackalope, shed a few days previously, killed by a platypus bear. I could smell Appa, and Aang and Katara more faintly, just through the trees there. I could smell the trees and the earth. But even my badgermole sense of smell wasn’t quite good enough to tell where I was going.

What about hearing? I perked my ears and listened, and although I could practically hear the worms crawling underground, I still couldn’t tell whether there was a tree in front of me or not.

Well, if I was a real badgermole, I probably wouldn’t care. A badgermole can pretty much knock down anything that gets in its way, either with earthbending or sheer-

Wait.

Earthbending.

Badgermoles were earthbenders. Did that mean I could…

I tapped the ground with a massive foot. Nothing. Remembering what I'd seen the badgermoles do in the cave, I picked up a forelimb and scraped it along the ground, feeling my claws dig great furrows into the earth. Nothing. I wasn’t even sure what I was expecting, but nothing happened.

I was getting antsy. I couldn’t see the moon to keep track of the time, and though I hadn’t been morphed long, I didn’t want to push it. So, I morphed back. To me. Myself. Sokka.

Dangerous? Stupid? Yeah, prbably. Just another day in the life of Team Avatar.

I wondered if I could morph a human being. I wondered if I acquired another bender, if I could bend a different element.

“I don’t think so,” said Aang. “Bending has to do with your spirit. I mean, someone like you wouldn’t really make a good firebender.”

I frowned slightly. Was that supposed to be an insult or a compliment? “So, you mean, if I acquired say, I don’t know, King Bumi, I wouldn’t- hey! Stop laughing! What’s so funny?”

“I’m just imagining you as Bumi,” giggled Aang.

“No, I mean, if I were King Bumi, would I be able to waterbend or earthbend?”

Aang frowned. “I don’t know. We’ll have to try that.”

“Well, once he’s free.” I paused, wondering if I’d gone too far. But Aang didn’t seem upset.

“Yeah. Once Bumi frees himself, and the war is over…” he trailed off.

“We’ll see him again,” I reassured Aang. “And we’ll have all sorts of crazy stories to tell him.”

Aang let out a small smile. “Yeah. Really crazy. I bet he’d love this morphing thing. Imagine all the pranks you could play!”

“I was actually thinking that it would be good for a lot of things, I mean besides fighting and playing pranks. Remember my arm?”

Aang’s face immediately became clouded with worry. “W-what about it? It doesn’t still hurt you, does it?”

“What? No! No, I mean, the morphing healed me. Didn’t even leave a scar.” I put my hand on my shoulder, remembering how I had cried with relief when my human arm grew back, whole and healthy. “I think this was Elfangor’s real gift. That of healing.”

Aang nodded, but he now looked very solemn. “He gave us a lot of gifts. I just wish we’d had a chance to repay him.”

I put my hand on Aang’s shoulder. “We do. Every day we fight, we do.”

(Help me)

Light, chaos.

(I am here. Help me)

Falling… falling…

(I cannot last much longer)

The ocean stretches below me.

(If you can hear me, come.)

I’m falling into the ocean…

(If you can hear me, come)

My eyes snapped open. I groaned. That same dream again.

I rolled over and looked at the stars. What did it mean? “Dreams,” Gyatso had said, “say more about the dreamer than the outside world.” But even in my case? I’d had visions before. I’d seen Roku speaking to me. What if this was like that?

Ever since we’d left the swamp, I’d been falling into the ocean nightly. And a voice… was it a spirit? Was La the ocean in trouble? No, it hadn’t felt like La. I should know. For a little while, at the North Pole, I had been La.

Hue had told me that everything was connected. Somehow, I was connected to whoever was calling me, that was clear. But who were they? What did they want me to do?

I sighed, and closed my eyes, running my fingers through Appa’s fur beneath me. We’d reach the southern ocean soon. Hopefully, whoever was calling would leave another sign, and tell me what to do then.

I drifted back to sleep, images of the sea flickering behind my eyes.

Chapter Text

I have to admit, Omashu being taken by the Fire Nation put a real dampener on our plans. And while Aang may have had some crazy ideas about ‘listening to the earth,’ just listening wasn’t going to get us an earthbending master. So, we were heading to another safe place we knew, Kyoshi Island. Maybe someone there could help us.

We brought Appa down in a clearing down the road from a town our map called Chin. We wanted to restock before heading to Kyoshi, and we quickly located a produce booth outside the town. Well, an empty produce booth.

Katara frowned. “Why would they be closed? It’s midday!”

“Maybe there’s a local holiday?” suggested Aang.

“That’s ridiculous,” I replied. “Why would a store shut down for a holiday? That’s when they get the most business!”

“Well, it looks like they’ve been closed for a while,” noted Katara, running a finger through the dust on the wooden countertop.

“Then let’s go into town. There’ll be more shops there,” said Aang, adjusting his hat. With his hat and drab, new Earth Kingdom clothes, you could hardly tell he was Aang anymore. Which, of course, was just the point.

But the town was empty. There were no vendors, no children playing, no women haggling for goods, no soldiers on leave. No people in the streets at all. It was very strange, not to mention creepy.

“What happened here?” wondered Aang, peering into an empty shopfront.

I looked around, searching for the telltale scorch marks. But there was nothing. “I… don’t know. Can the Fire Nation make a town disappear without burning it?”

“Towns don’t just… vanish.” Katara shook her head. “Maybe they evacuated? Maybe there was some sort of disaster… or plague…”

My danger senses prickled. “If that’s true, we really shouldn’t be here. Forget supplies. We can fish for the next few days.”

“But guys, I don’t eat fish.”

“Fish isn’t meat, Aang. How many times do we have to go over-”

“Ah! I thought I heard something.”

We all turned at the voice. A man was standing there, dressed in green so pale it was almost white. He was smiling faintly.

“Don’t be afraid, children. I merely wanted to know who had entered our village.”

“Well, it’s good to know someone’s here,” said Katara. “Is there something wrong with the village? Why haven’t we seen anybody?”

“Wrong? Why, nothing is wrong! To the contrary, something is very, very right. We are all under the blessing of most powerful spirits.”

“Powerful spirits?” Aang looked confused.

“Yes, they are judgment spirits, great beings with marvelous powers.”

“What are their names?” asked Aang carefully.

“The judgment spirits are called Hork-Bajr,” said the man. “They punish Fire Nation soldiers, and reward the faithful.” He smiled serenely. “If you go to them, they will purge you of all evil and vice, and leave you a better person.” The man leaned forward earnestly. “It’s like being born anew!”

Katara and I exchanged glances. Neither of us had ever heard of spirits doing anything like that.

“Would you like to try it? As soon as they are done exacting sentence on some Fire Nation prisoners, I’m sure they’d be happy to see you.”

“I guess I could check it out,” said Aang.

The man smiled. “Certainly. Come, follow me.”

I wasn’t so sure about it, to be honest. I didn’t see how being blessed by some sort of judgment spirit would make you just abandon all your buildings. Something was really fishy.

The man led us down the main road, when a blade monster stepped out of a side street and looked at us.

I gasped and recoiled. I’d seen that kind of creature before, when we had been chased by Yeerks. It had hurt Katara.

“W-what-” started Katara.

“Don’t be afraid,” said the man smoothly. “This is one of our judgment spirits, a Hork-Bajir. It can help you.”

This was not the kind of help we wanted. "Run!" I shouted.

We turned around and ran as fast as we could towards the town gates, but I guess the Yeerks had already known we were there, since the blade monsters, the ‘Hork-Bajir,’ were waiting for us by the entrance. There were also some people, all wearing that same greenish white, and one or two giant septapede monsters. They each held some sort of metal device.

A woman stepped forward, and held the device up. “Stop,” she said.

I unsheathed my boomerang, cocked my arm back, and-

There was a flash of red light, and the ground in front of me disintegrated.

Katara, Aang, and I all tumbled over each other, thrown off balance. I quickly scrambled back to my feet, trying to determine what had happened.

The woman was smiling. “Do you believe us now?” she called. “We, who are in service to the judgment spirits, who wield power from beyond the stars, proclaim you guilty! Spirits, do you agree?”

“Hrrunkunsh. Yes,” called out one of the Hork-Bajir.

“Then we shall take them to their punishment.”

I scanned around for a way out. It didn’t look good. The Hork-Bajir now had us completely surrounded, and their blades gleamed in the light. I looked at Aang, who was already blowing on the bison whistle. But Appa was a long way away…

Strangely, the Hork Bajir weren’t advancing, but rather standing back and allowing the humans to line up in front of them. Were they earthbenders?

I could feel the wind start to pick up as Aang stirred the air with his staff. Katara uncorked her water skin and withdrew a stream of water. I hefted my boomerang, changing the grip in my hand. Then a red beam of light lanced at me from one of the handheld devices, almost too fast to see. Far too fast to dodge.

It hit me in the leg, and it burned. It felt like my entire body was getting punched at once. My muscles seized up, and everything went dark.

“Guhhhhhhgnh. My heeeeeeeeeead.”

I felt smooth metal underneath me. I opened my eyes, and saw the bars of a cage. My head pounded like it had been hit with a hammer, my leg hurt like it was still burning, and everything else felt sore. What had happened?

“You humans are so primitive.”

I turned my head to face the sound, my skin unsticking from the ground, where I had been drooling. A man was there, and standing behind him was a Hork-Bajir.

“You never expect the dracon beams, do you? Such foolish primitives.”

I wasn’t sure I could trust my voice to work properly, so I simply grunted in what I hoped was an irate manner.

“That was just ‘stun.’ I’ll leave it up to you to imagine what the higher settings are like. So don’t try anything.”

I turned away, examining my cage. I was in a metal cage, one of several in the same room. Katara was in my cage, and I scooted over to check her. She was breathing fine, but seemed to be unconscious. I could see Aang chained up in another, with – my gut clenched- his hat removed, and his arrow clear for the world to see. The last cage was a bit more crowded, with five very large men stuffed inside. Their armor was black trimmed with red, and I was surprised to see that the Yeerks hadn’t lied about capturing Fire Nation soldiers.

The center of the room was something I’d seen before. It was a small pool of black liquid, like ink, but seething and frothing. It was a Yeerk Pool.

Aang had told us about Yeerk Pools, after the disaster at Fong’s base. Elfangor had told him about them. They were like… food, for Yeerks. They had to go feed in them every three days, or they’d die. They ate something called ‘Kandrona,’ but don’t ask me what that is. Even Aang had no idea.

Also in the room were several Hork Bajir, and a few humans. One man was standing off to the side. He was talking to himself, and was holding something small and metal in his hand.

“No, we can’t infest them now. Yes, yes, I know we were before, but that was before we knew he was the Avatar. Visser Three wants to use someone of rank, and he’s going to oversee it himself. So we’re keeping- Yes? Yes, alright. We can do that. May the Kandrona shine and strengthen you.”

The man strutted up to one of the Hork Bajir and told it something. The Hork-Bajir opened the cage holding the Fire Nation soldiers, who immediately charged the monster. As they did so, I noticed that one of them was chained from head to foot and could barely move. He must have been a firebender.

But despite their attack, all the soldiers had were their fists, and one of them, a dark-skinned man with mutton chops and a long dark braid down his back, got a cut on his scalp for his trouble. The rest were muscled aside, and the Hork-Bajir grabbed the chained man and dragged him out.

The man who had given the order looked furious. “Don’t damage them, you fool! That host is valuable!”

“I gruunkl hunve!” snarled the monster.

“Well, try harder! The Visser isn’t going to like it if he sees us damaging hosts.”

Meanwhile, the chained-up soldier was protesting as well. Very colorfully.

“Let me go, you fucking demons! Do you know who you’re dealing with? I am a colonel of the Fire Nation! The Fire Lord will have your blood! You’ll burn for this! You’ll be boiled in oil, and they’ll take a spear and shove it up-”

I didn’t get to hear the rest, because the Hork-Bajir pushed the man’s head into the Yeerk Pool. I watched in horror as he thrashed around, certain that I was about to see the man drown. But he had only been down for a few seconds when the Hork-Bajir let him back up and stood him on his feet.

The soldier’s mouth gaped like a fish, and his eyes rolled in his head. “Rrgh,” he said. “What.” He didn’t say anything else for a while, just stood there, staring vacantly at nothing. Eventually, after several minutes, he spoke again.

“You can let me go now. I am in control.”

The man in charge took out a key, and removed the soldier's chains. The soldier brushed himself off and saluted. “Nerisk four-seven-nine, reporting. Host’s name is Mongke. Colonel in the Fire Army. Firebender. Leader of weapons specialist team. Primarily subdues Earth Kingdom towns on the borders of Fire Nation territories.”

I stared. It was incredible. I mean, I’d heard about it, but I hadn’t seen it before. I had just watched a man become a Yeerk-possessed puppet body. A ‘Controller,’ as Aang said they were called.

And even though he was Fire Nation, I felt sorry for him.

“Oh Spirits…” came a voice in my ear, and I jumped. But it was just Katara, who must have woken up while I was distracted. “What are we going to do?”

I patted my waist, and found that my boomerang was missing. One look at Katara confirmed that her water skin was gone as well. My mouth was dry. It didn’t look good. I couldn’t pick the lock without the Hork-Bajir seeing me, and I didn’t have any weapons to fight them with anyway. Katara could try bending the Yeerk pool liquid, but could she do that without the Hork-Bajir attacking us?

Meanwhile, the Hork-Bajir was taking the next man out of the cage, this time a short-haired man with a red tattoo on his face. The same thing happened to him as the first guy. And the next one, too. And the next, and the next.

After all the men were possessed, they left. Going off to do Yeerk things, I guess.

My mind swarmed with ideas, none of them good. If I morphed Momo, I could slip easily through the bars of the cage. But the Hork-Bajir guards would see me morphing, and kill me or hit me with that red light again. There were multiple guards in the room, so waiting for the shifts to change wasn’t a possibility. If I played dead, would they take me out of the cage? They wanted me alive, right? No, no, that’s stupid. They’d never fall for that… would they?

And meanwhile, Visser Three was coming. Visser Three, who Elfangor had told us to flee from instead of fight. A Yeerk who Elfangor told us could morph.

I could assume he wasn’t a nice guy.

My gut clenched. This was it. I was siting here like a cowpig waiting for slaughter, waiting for my body to be taken over by a brain slug. Next to me, Katara was shivering. I tried to stay strong for her.

I was beginning to reconsider my ‘play dead’ idea, when he came in. Blue. Four legs. Two arms. Scythe tail. No mouth. Freaky spirit monster. Elfangor?

As soon as he stepped in, all the Hork–Bajir and white-robed humans stood to attention.

“V-V-Visser Three,” stammered the man who had been talking at a piece of metal earlier. “It’s an hon- an honor to have you here. This is sooner than we expected you. But where are your guards?”

Wait a minute. Elfangor was Visser Three? Or did they just look really similar?

Visser Three narrowed his eyes. (It is not your place to judge who I choose for my company, Vernish one-two-five, and if you do so again, you will regret ever having been spawned. Now bring him out.)

A Hork-Bajir went into Aang’s cage and grabbed him. “Let him go!” shouted Katara. “Don’t you dare…! Don’t you know that he is the Avatar? You have no idea what kind of imbalances you’ll make if-”

“Quiet, garshrik!” snapped the Hork-Bajir, and I put my hand on Katara’s arm. I felt sick. We’d lost. I didn’t want to watch, but it was as though I couldn’t look away.

Visser Three’s eyes glinted with malice. (Give me the keys, Vernish one-two-five.)

The Controller did. I guess he was too frightened of crossing Visser Three not to.

Then, the Visser unlocked Aang.

Aang is a kid. I mean, he’s goofy and fun-loving and uses his incredible bending might to play in the snow. But I’ll give him one thing. That kid is fast.

No sooner had the shackles around his arms clicked than Aang leapt directly upward, easily reaching the ceiling. The Hork-Bajir and humans seemed to gape at him for a moment, and then he twisted in midair and came down with the wind following him. I was a good distance away, but I was still nearly blown onto my back by the force of the gust. It was much worse for the Yeerks, and for Visser Three.

I saw the Visser fly backward from the blast, letting go of the keys as he went, and hit the stone wall of the building hard enough to leave a dent. And then, almost too quickly to notice, he flickered like a candle flame, and vanished.

I don’t know how else to describe it. It was like he wasn’t there, then he was, then he wasn’t, then he was. And when he wasn’t there, in his place there was something made out of metal… And then he was gone completely.

You’ve got to realize, by this point I was so freaked out I almost didn’t care how weird things got, so long as I got out of there.

“Aang!” I yelled. “Over here!”

“Kinda busy, Sokka!” Aang leapt up on top of a Hork-Bajir’s head and used it as a springboard, easily clearing the Yeerk pool and landing on top of the cage next to us. Jumping down, he whipped out the keys that Visser Three dropped, and unlocked the cage holding my sister and me.

“Let’s get out of here!”

We didn’t need to be told twice. The Yeerks were confused, apparently having realized that the Visser was missing. But that wasn’t stopping them from pursuing us. Aang blasted the door of the building off its hinges, and we were outside! Ah, sweet freedom!

Then Aang stopped, and I nearly ran right into him. “What’s wrong?” Katara asked.

“Uh, guys? Do you know where we are?” wondered Aang.

I looked around. Lots of cottages. Nothing special, but… “Doesn’t matter! Yeerks behind us! Keep moving!”

We ran through the twisting city streets, but we could hear the Hork Bajir behind us, and I would have been willing to bet that those monsters were fast.

“I need my whistle! I need to call Appa!” panted Aang.

“Well we don’t have that!” I replied, frustration mounting. “Which way is the city gate?”

“I don’t know!”

“I think it’s this way,” said Katara, pointing.

“No, I’m pretty sure the ocean’s that way,” I responded.

“Guys, we can’t argue right now, the Hork Bajir are-”

“Avatar?” came a different voice.

We pulled up short as a man stepped in front of us from a side street. Aang readied an air blast for battle, but the man held out his hands. “I am not one of them, and I am not your enemy. I can help.”

“Wait a-” I started, but I didn’t get to finish. The man vanished, and in his place was… um… it was…

It actually looked kind of like Momo. I mean, if you took Momo, and stood him on two legs, made him larger, and then sculpted him out of metal and ivory, you might get close. Then, without moving its mouth, it spoke.

“Do not be alarmed. I am a friend. Follow me, and stay close.”

I heard footsteps behind me, and whirled around, heart in my throat. The Hork-Bajir and the human Controllers had caught up, but they weren’t coming for us. They were looking around, confused.

“They can neither see nor hear you,” said the metal thing. “I have created an illusion, and masked our presence. Now follow me.”

I looked at Aang and Katara. They looked just as nonplussed as I felt, their eyes bulging. Aang was the first to recover, and followed. Katara and I exchanged a glance, but we followed as well. It’s not that I trusted the metal thing. I just didn’t see that we had much choice.

“What are you?” Aang breathed, after a few moments.

The metal thing turned its head towards him. “The human name I take is Eri. I am a Chee.” He didn’t say anything more, simply led us down a side street, and into an otherwise nondescript building.

There was a septapede monster inside, but before I could scream or grab for a weapon that wasn’t there, Eri said; “Tisgal four-zero-three reporting to examine the captured weapons.”

The septapede hissed and spat something unintelligible. It was so close I was literally getting hit with drops of its spittle. It was disgusting. But surprisingly, it let us pass. Eri opened let us to a door, and inside were our things!

“Boomerang!” I cried joyfully. Oh, I had missed that little flying piece of metal!

“Appa’s whistle! And my staff!”

“My waterskin!”

Aang turned to look at the metal creature called Eri, and bowed. “Thank you, Eri. I can’t tell you how grateful I am for what you’ve done for us.”

I looked at Eri again. There was something about him… it clicked. “You were using your… illusion powers… or whatever… to look like the Visser, weren’t you?”

Aang gasped. “You did? I was wondering why he let me go…”

Eri made a sound like a sigh. “Yes, I did. And it was a great risk. Still, I knew I could trust an air nomad to not harm the Hork-Bajir.” A look of guilt and sorrow passed over Aang’s face.

I looked at Eri’s face, but it was made out of metal, and showed no expression. “What do you mean? It was in Aang’s every right to hurt the Hork-Bajir. They were going to hurt us!”

“We Chee are nonviolent in all things. We cannot harm another.”

Oh, great. I looked at Aang, who was avoiding looking at Eri.

“But… what are you?” asked Katara, staring with fascination. “I’ve never seen anything like you before. Are you a spirit?”

“No. We Chee are the creations of a people from a far distant star. They are dead now, and we, their companions, have chosen this world for our home. But that is a very long tale, and we must leave before the Taxxon guard suspects us.”

Eri led us out of the town, and suddenly, he wasn’t a metal creature anymore, but a normal-looking man. “This is as far as I can take you, Avatar,” he said, his mouth now moving like a normal human’s would. He looked up, and I followed his gaze to the shape of a black axe in the sky, coming closer. “Wind speed to you. We Chee will be your allies as long as there is hope for the air nomads in this world.”

And then, just like that, he was gone.

Chapter Text

It had been a long time since we’d last been to Kyoshi Island… three months at least. No doubt they remembered us (we basically caused their village to burn down), but would they welcome us? Were they even… safe, anymore? We’d thought Fong’s base was safe. We’d thought Omashu was safe too. We’d even thought Chin Town was safe, and that was so nearby…

“Sokka, maybe we shouldn’t go to Kyoshi?” I said. “I’m sure we could find an earthbending master somewhere.”

“I know.” Sokka, who was sitting at Appa’s head, didn’t look at me, instead gazing down at the white-capped ocean. “I know but…” he swallowed. “But I have to know what happened. For myself.”

It was strange. Usually, Sokka was the one who urged caution in these kinds of situations. Now, it seemed like we'd switched. “But what if there are Yeerks there? I mean, I don’t want to think about it either, but…”

“Well, maybe there are Yeerks, but maybe there aren’t.” spoke up Aang. “I mean, Kyoshi Island has been staying out of the war, so maybe the Yeerks don’t care.”

“The Yeerks aren’t the Fire Nation, Aang,” said Sokka quietly. “I don’t think they care about the war, so long as they get slaves.”

“So why are we going?” I persisted.

“Look, we can’t know where is safe anymore. We can’t know anything. But we have to check. If Kyoshi Island’s okay, we can use it as a safe haven for a while as we try to find an earthbending master. If it isn’t safe, we leave. And we can check it out morphed, just to make sure.”

I looked up, quirking an eyebrow at that last. “So you’re all for morphing, now? What happened to ‘it’s not safe?’ ”

“It isn’t safe. We should use it, but cautiously. One of us will morph Momo and check it out, then come right back once they know if it’s safe.”

“What about the two hours?” asked Aang.

“We can watch the sun, and blow the bison whistle when the time’s half up and almost up. We’ll test now to make sure Momo can hear it.” He paused, and glanced at me. “So, I guess I’ll be the one doing it. We can’t risk Aang, and you’re…”

“I’m what?” I frowned, feeling insulted. “What am I?”

“You’re my sister. That means you’re my responsibility.”

“Oh please. I’m not your responsibility, Sokka. I’m my own person.” I poked him hard in the chest with a finger. “Actually, I should do it, since I’m better at acting like a lemur than you. If there are Yeerks there, they might suspect you.”

“I can act like a lemur!” objected Sokka. “Eek eek! I’m hungry! Give me a bug!”

Aang laughed. “Yup! That’s right on!”

I shrugged. “I don’t know. I think it lacks a certain panache.”

“Panache!?” shrieked Sokka.

“Guys, guys, why don’t you just do four elements to decide?”

I nodded at Aang. “That sounds fair.”

Sokka frowned. “Fine.” He held out his hand. “Ready?”

“One-two-THREE!” said Aang.

I lay my hand vertically on its side, and wiggled it like a fish. “Water!”

Sokka made a fist. “Earth!”

“I win.”

Sokka gaped. “You… you chose water? But you’re a waterbender!”

“So?”

“So? It’s so predictable! I mean, I thought you might choose water, so I’d choose air, but then I thought, no, you’ll be expecting that, and choose fire! So I did earth. But you chose water after all!”

I sighed, and rubbed my forehead. “Look, can we just do this?”

So, as it turned out, lemurs can hear bison whistles (spirits, that sound is annoying!), and our plan was settled. I would go down to the town as Momo, and keep an eye out for anything Yeerkish.

When the dark blot of land appeared on the horizon, we brought Appa down low, his toes barely skimming the waves. As we approached closer, we veered to the back of the island, coming down on a rock-strewn shore. And as I climbed down from the saddle, Sokka caught the sleeve of my tunic.

“Be careful.”

I looked up at my brother and nodded, giving him a small smile. “I will. Just keep an eye on the sun.”

Aang looked like he was going to add something, but then his mouth shut.

I stepped behind a bush, slipping off my clothes. So annoying, I thought. Why couldn’t the Andalite have given us the ability to morph our clothes too?

Then, I thought about Momo, and my fingers began stretching into wings. It was very, very strange, but I had done it before. I basically knew what to expect. Wings. Tail. Fur. Muzzle.

And of course, Momo’s mind, the ‘lemur me’ I guess you could call it. The lemur me didn’t care about Yeerks. He was much more interested in the insects he could hear burrowing through the ground, and the smells of the flowers and fruits in the trees above. In fact, there was a particularly big, sweet-smelling bunch of berries right there, and-

No. Focus. I needed to find the village and look around.

<Okay guys, I’m going!> I called out in thought-speak. Of course, they couldn’t answer, since they weren’t morphed. But they could hear me.

Then I was off, flying, leaping, and climbing through the trees. It was automatic, in a way. If I thought too much about it, there was no way I would be able to work Momo’s wings properly. But when I just sort of set what I wanted to do in mind, my lemur body almost seemed to do it on its own.

It wasn’t long before the woods turned into farmland, and I knew I was getting close. Please let them not notice me, I thought. Please.

You have to realize, we’d been basically taken by surprise by Yeerks twice now, and escaped mostly by accident. We didn’t want it to happen again. I had worked myself up into such a paranoid state of mind that I was honestly expecting a whole army of Hork-Bajir to be waiting for me in the village.

But no. Instead of Hork-Bajir, I saw men and women in the plaza selling goods, children playing, and couples strolling. I saw fishmongers, bakers, and carpenters. I saw happy people, sad people, bored people, busy people. People living their lives, laughing, fighting, flirting, working. It was a world apart from the emptiness of Chin Town.

I sighed inwardly, and closed my eyes.

Kyoshi Island was safe.

“The Avatar!”

“Hurray for the Avatar!”

“He’s here!"

“Aangy!”

I smiled down at the gathered people, trying to ignore the village idiot foaming away in the middle. Even though all the fuss was about Aang, I was still happy to see some friendly and welcoming faces, for a change.

I looked at Aang, who was grinning and waving enthusiastically, then at Sokka, who was gazing around, looking concerned. I wondered what was wrong.

As we landed, Oyaji came to greet us. “Welcome back, Avatar Aang! We are honored to once again have you visit our island.”

Aang smiled and bowed. “I’m glad to be here.”

Oyaji returned the bow. “So, what business brings you to Kyoshi?”

“Well, I’m looking for an earthbending master,” said Aang. “I was wondering if you had any suggestions on where to look?”

Oyaji frowned. “I’m afraid if you’re looking for earthbenders, you’ve come to the wrong place. We of Kyoshi are of mixed blood, and while we take great pride in our warriors, we have not produced a bender for generations.”

I frowned. That wasn’t good. “Well,” I asked. “Are there any places nearby that might have a good master?”

Oyaji stroked his beard. “Well, we do get traders from a town called Gaoling. They say that the earthbenders there are of high caliber.”

“Great,” Aang said. “We can go there, then.”

“You’re not going to stay? We were going to throw a feast in your honor and-”

“Okay, we’ll stay!” interrupted Sokka.

And, I have to admit, the feast was delicious, though I noticed that Sokka was much more subdued after hearing that the Kyoshi Warriors had left to join the Earth Kingdom Army. He only ate three servings of stewed pork!

“Avatar,” said Oyaji, as the feast began to wind down. “There is a matter here on the island that may require your attention.”

Aang swallowed his food. “What is it? Is something wrong?”

“Not exactly wrong so much as strange. An odd artifact was recently netted by a fisherman, not far offshore. Our clerics believe it may have some spiritual significance, but they cannot tell whether it is good or evil.”

“Sure, I’ll take a look at it,” said Aang. “Show me.”

“It’s in our temple. We can go first thing in the morning.”

The next day, we got up and went to the temple, just on the outskirts of town. There, in amongst the shrines to ancestors and local spirits, was the mysterious object. And truth be told, it didn’t look like much. It was a sheet of flat metal, no longer than my arm, inscribed with unknown runes. It had uneven sides, like it had been ripped off something larger.

I felt a funny twinge in the back of my head, like you get when you know you’ve forgotten something, but don’t know what. I frowned, and looked at Aang. “What do you think it is, Aang?”

Aang was staring at it, transfixed. His hand went to his pocket, and rested there for a moment. Then, without so much as a gasp, he fell over.

“Oh spirits!”

“Oh no oh no oh no…”

“Aang!”

I rushed to his side, taking out my healing water in the same motion. I looked around desperately for a wound, and, not finding one, I pressed the water to his head, searching for an imbalance of energy. But, other than a nasty bruise forming where his head had hit the ground, there wasn’t one.

“What did we do?” worried Oyaji. “What is wrong with the Avatar?”

I closed my eyes, visualizing the chi meridians that ran throughout Aang's body. They all seemed to be in order…

Aang opened his eyes.

Sokka breathed out a long breath, and Oyaji put his hand to his chest. “Aang!” I gasped. “What happened?”

“I…” Aang looked up at Oyaji. “I’m fine. Really.”

“Are you certain, Avatar? Should I call for a healer?”

“No, really. I’m fine.” Aang got to his feet and brushed himself off, wincing only slightly as he touched his head. “See? I feel fine.”

Oyaji didn’t look convinced.

“It’s… um… I had a vision, that’s all.”

We stared. “A vision?” asked Oyaji. “What of?”

“Um… the metal is from a spirit. A good spirit… from the sky. He said that evil spirits are coming. They’re called Yeerks, and they possess people.”

I exchanged a look with Sokka. Aang had already known this. Why was he only warning Oyaji now?

Oyaji’s brows furrowed. “That is grave news indeed. Were you told of any way we can avoid or defend ourselves against these… Yeerk Spirits?”

Aang’s hand again brushed his pocket, and he looked at the ground. “No. I don’t. But you have to warn everybody. And watch out for people talking about letting spirits into their bodies.”

Oyaji nodded. “Of course, Avatar. Right away. And thank you.” Oyaji bowed and left the temple.

Sokka whirled on Aang. “Aang, what-”

“I needed to tell him,” said Aang. “The Yeerks are in Chin, and they could come here any day. Elfangor told us to warn people. So that’s what I did.”

Sokka was frowning. “But are we sure everyone here is safe?”

“I think so. It doesn’t feel like Chin Town, or like Fong’s base.”

“So, you fell over just to get Oyaji’s attention?” I asked, feeling a bit confused.

Aang shook his head. “No. I really did have a vision, and I think it’s important.” Aang reached down into his pocket, and brought out a small object.

“Look.”

It wasn’t very big, no larger than his palm. It was shaped like a box, and was colored the purest pale blue. It was the object Elfangor had used to give us our morphing powers. His gift to us.

Aang simply held it out, silently. And, as if for the first time, I noticed that around its rim was some sort of script. Script that had a pointed resemblance to that on the metal shard that Oyaji had found.

Aang told us then about his dreams. The ones about the ocean, and a voice calling without words. And when he had seen the piece of metal, it was as though he’d had a waking dream, only much more powerful.

“It was calling for help. I think it was Elfangor.”

“Elfangor?” Sokka stared. “What would he need us for?”

“I don’t know. But he needs us.”

Sokka frowned. “It could be a trick.” He lowered his voice. “Remember when Eri disguised himself like Visser Three? He also looked just like Elfangor. What if it’s him?”

Aang shook his head. “It’s not him. It’s something good.”

“And you know this because...?”

“I just feel it.”

“Wonderful. Great. You feel it.”

“Sokka, Aang’s feelings are usually right,” I pointed out.

“Not in the swamp! That was just a bunch of swamp people being creepy!”

“Well, I thought the swamp was very spiritual.” I paused, and my hand went to my necklace. “I saw Mom there.”

“That was probably just swamp gas.”

“Guys, guys, we’re losing sight of what’s important. How are we going to get to Elfangor?”

I blinked. “Well, did your vision tell you where it was?”

“Not really. Only that it’s in the ocean.”

Sokka’s eyes bulged. “Oh man. Oh man. The ocean… the ocean’s a big place, Aang. Even if we morph we probably won’t find it. We should just go to Gaoling.”

That was it. I straightened. “Sokka. You were there. You saw what the Andalite did for us. What if this could help pay him back somehow? Are you really going to ignore a spirit calling for help?”

“He’s not really a spirit-“ started Aang.

“Well, close enough.” I turned to Sokka. “It might be something that can help us.”

“Or,” he countered. “It might be something that could kill us.”

“It’s not,” said Aang. “It’s Elfangor.”

“I agree with Aang. And if Elfangor has been giving visions and dreams to Aang, it’s probably important.”

Sokka looked like he was ready to tear his hair out. “But how will we even keep track of time, if we’re in the water?”

I gulped. “We’ll just… have to be careful. And surface a lot.”

“Great,” muttered Sokka. “Great.”

Aang had once said that riding the Unagi was not fun. So, understandably, I was not looking forward to it.

“We shouldn’t morph the Koi,” Aang had explained. “The Unagi eats them, and I don’t want to get eaten.”

“I can get on board with that,” added Sokka.

So there we were, treading the freezing cold water and waiting for a sea eel to come and try to eat us. “L-l-look for Elephant Koi,” chattered Aang. “I think the Unagi f-follows them.”

Of course, no Koi were in sight, nor did they appear at all that day. Or the next. But early in the morning of the third day, by which point I was sure most of Kyoshi Island thought we were crazy, a large school of Elephant Koi arrived, surfacing like barges out of the sea, painted in gaudy oranges and yellows. They swam over to investigate us, close enough to touch. And then, so predictably it could have been scripted, a fin.

Spirits, the Unagi was huge! The head alone must have been the size of Appa! Was it even possible for us to morph something that big?

The Elephant Koi fled instantly, and frankly, I felt like fleeing too. But no. We had to get close to the Unagi. Close enough to touch.

“Wait,” said Aang, as the fin approached. “Wait. Waaaaaaaaaait.”

Sokka grimaced. “How long are we going to keep waiting Aang- Ahh!” The water swelled before the Unagi, breaking over our heads.

“Move!” screamed Aang. “Move move!”

We scattered away from the dark shape and arching fin, Aang and I bending the water to the side in our haste. Sokka wasn’t as fast, and for a horrible moment I couldn’t see him, and was certain that he had been swallowed. But then he appeared in the billowing froth that followed the Unagi, gasping and sputtering.

The Unagi twisted easily, coming back for a second pass. It was now or never.

I took a deep breath, then submerged my head and pushed the water away from me as I moved towards the Unagi, increasing my speed. Go for its whiskers, Aang had said. Those are sensitive.

I whizzed past the Unagi’s head, past its enormous eye and its bright yellow gills. But it turned so fast! The eel’s head was right behind me, and, even as I looked, its coils moved in front, hemming me in. It was trying to trap me!

Then it was opening its mouth and- oh no. No! The current from its mouth was pulling me, sucking me in with the water.

I kicked my legs desperately, pushing at the current. I tried to bend. But, funny as it sounds, most waterbending forms don’t presuppose that you will be immersed in water. I mean, the water is so cold at the poles that hardly anyone swims. Only the young men, really, when they want to prove something.

Time seemed to slow. That mouth… it was like the cracks that open in the ice in springtime, lined with icicles each the size of my leg. I could see no end to it. It was so big, so much larger than myself. It could swallow me, everything that was me, and still have plenty of room to spare.

And then, just as my lungs felt ready to burst and my legs burned from exhaustion and the jaw began to close around me, I remembered something Aang had done. . . a way he had swirled his legs to move through the air… it was impossible, I mean, that was an airbending form, but…

I turned and twisted my legs, moving them like I was stirring paint with my feet. And the water swirled around me, propelling me up! up! up!

I burst out into the air, the Unagi’s jaws right behind me. I had so much momentum that for a crazy, breath-starved moment I thought I was airbending. But then I was falling. I didn’t have far to fall.

I hit the Unagi’s snout with a smack, feeling too exhausted to move. All I could do was gasp in the sweet, sweet air.

“Katara!” someone was screaming in the distance. “Katara, Katara!”

The snout under me tilted, and I fell. Grabbing wildly, a slippery, thick tendril seemed to find my hand, and I clung on tight. The whiskers?

I looked down, and found myself swinging from an impossible height. I could see little dots floating below, dots which might have been Sokka and Aang.

I was no airbender. If I fell from this height, I would die. But, I realized suddenly, I was touching the Unagi. So, I did the only thing I could think to do.

I concentrated on it.

As I did, a change seemed to come over the eel. It had been tossing its head agitatedly, but now it stopped. It relaxed. It lowered its fin, and its head began to drift back down towards the surface. When it was close enough, I let go, bending the water back up at me to cushion my fall.

Aang and Sokka had swum around to the body of the Unagi, their hands on its sides. “I think it’s in a trance,” said Aang.

“Well, let’s get out of here quick, before it snaps out of it!” I couldn’t agree with Sokka more, and we quickly bent our way back to shore, Aang hauling my brother.

That night, back on land and safe, I couldn’t help but look at the sea and wonder at the might of the creature that had nearly killed me. Did I really have a piece of its essence inside me now?

Could I really become the Unagi?

Chapter Text

“This was the spot.”

I peered over the side of Appa’s saddle into the dark water below. It was such a deep blue, bluer than the sky, bluer even than Katara’s eyes. I couldn’t see anything below the surface.

“Thank you for bringing us here,” Katara said to the fisherman.

The fisherman looked up at us from his boat. Appa was just swimming, but we were still sitting higher than him. “Of course,” he said. “But this water is very deep. I was using my longest net when I brought up the artifact. Do you need it?”

I shook my head. “Uh, no. I don’t think so.”

The fisherman looked concerned. “But Avatar, this water is far too deep to dive, and the currents are strong. How will you find what it is you’re looking for?”

I swallowed nervously. I didn’t want to tell him about our morphing. I felt like that was something that should be kept a secret between us and the Andalite.

“Aang has his ways,” said Katara. “Thank you for your help, but we’ll be fine from here.”

The fisherman blinked. “Well, anything to help the Avatar.”

We watched carefully as he left, not moving from atop Appa’s back until he was a mere dot on the horizon.

I looked back at the ocean. It was so dark. I wondered if I’d even be able to see anything under there.

“Well,” said Sokka eventually. “Are we going to do this, or what?”

I scratched Momo behind his ears, then took off my shirt and pants. “Yeah. The visions have been getting weaker lately. I just hope that we’re not too late.”

“We’re not too late,” said Katara firmly, putting her hand on my shoulder. “We’ll find it… whatever it is.”

I smiled, trying to ignore my heart’s fluttering at her touch. “Yeah. Let’s go.”

I jumped off Appa’s back into the water, shivering in my underwear. Sokka soon joined me, and Katara got off on the other side.

I swam up to Appa’s ear. “We’re going to change now, okay buddy? It might be scary. But we won’t hurt you. Just wait here until we come back.”

Appa grunted what I assumed was an affirmative, and I kicked away, making sure there was a good deal of space between Appa and me, and between me and Sokka.

After all, the Unagi is big.

Have you ever heard one of those old stories, the legends about transforming spirits, like foxes or dragons who become human? I had always imagined that the spirit changed in an instant, going from one form to another in the blink of an eye. Well, it’s not like that. At least, not for us.

First, my skin changed. Blackness bloomed over my pale skin, and I could actually feel it go damp and sticky.

Then, I heard a crack, crackle, crack as my spine shifted and grew longer, then longer and longer. I was stretching out like a noodle! My kicking feet were sinking lower and lower, and soon I began to go under, unable to tread water anymore.

I was sinking! Memories of cold ice and rushing power flickered at the edge of my thoughts, and I began to panic.

No! I couldn’t do that now. I needed to concentrate, needed to finish morphing. I thought of calmness, of the peace I felt while meditating, and felt my panic begin to ebb. Ignore it. Just concentrate.

I looked up at the surface, at the sunlight playing on the barrier between water and air. I thought of the Unagi, and not how my lungs burned, or the tickling sensation of my arms and legs withering away like last year’s hay. I even tried to ignore it when a snout swelled in my field of vision, big and black and making it nearly impossible to look directly in front of me.

Then, I noticed that my lungs weren’t burning anymore. Instead, the water was flowing into my mouth, and through slits in my neck. My gills.

Oh, I thought. I must be done. I-

Hungry.

So hungry.

I looked down. Nothing. I looked up. A shadow! Something on the surface! I could feel it moving, in trembling vibrations that rippled up my whiskers and down my body.

Prey.

I undulated my body and moved, shooting towards the surface. I opened my mouth. This prey was big, and might take more than one bite.

And, as I got nearer, the shadow focused, showing the big head, the six legs, the broad tail, the- Appa!

No!

I veered off at the last second, arcing my back sharply and turning back towards the depths.

Oh spirits, I’d almost eaten Appa! I’d wanted to! I’d nearly-

Vibrations coming through the water! My whiskers could feel them. It was something big.

I turned my flexible body to face the incomer, and saw an Unagi. It looked oddly diminished, much smaller than the one I had faced the previous day, though of course it only looked that way since I was the same size.

<Aang? Is- is that you?> came Sokka’s voice in my mind.

<Yeah, it’s me.>

<Are you okay?>

<I’m fine. I’ve got it under control.>

<Where’s Katara?>

I felt a third presence move through the water, and saw another Unagi approach. Its fin was raised, and its mouth was gaping, showing its teeth. My Unagi mind immediately registered this as aggressive.

<Katara! Snap out of it!>

<It’s us, Katara!>

The Unagi paused, and then its fin lowered and its mouth closed. <Oh. S-sorry guys. I guess I got a little carried away there.>

<It’s okay,> I said. <I did, too>

<Alright,> said Sokka. <We need to keep track of time and direction. I’m going to surface to get a heading on the sun. And hopefully Appa will be here when we get back, because it’s a long swim back to shore.>

I watched Sokka rise to the surface, feeling uneasy. But not about what we were doing. I knew that we needed to answer this vision I kept getting, whatever it truly meant. I felt odd about being the Unagi. Before, I’d only been Appa and Momo, and though they were different, they were both at heart peaceful animals. The Unagi was different. The Unagi wouldn’t just fight to defend itself or its friends. The Unagi wanted to kill. It was such an alien feeling that I hadn’t known how to control it.

Sokka came back down. <Well, I think I might have scared off Appa by accident. You’d think he wouldn’t be fazed by a giant sea monster, but I guess not.>

<Oh, great,> said Katara. <What do we do now?>

<We’ll have to swim. We can morph back to ourselves on the way back, if we need to.>

<I hope Appa’s okay,> I said.

<Aang, he’ll be fine. He was just spooked. He knows the way back to Kyoshi.>

There was a pause, and the Unagi that was Sokka tilted its head away. <Come on, we don’t have that much time. Let’s look for this… thing.>

I tilted my body downward, and wriggled. It was weird, moving with no arms or legs. All I had was my body, pushing the water back. It was almost like bending.

The water was just as dark as it had looked from the surface, and murky. I couldn’t see Sokka’s head, only the end of his tail as it flapped around ahead of me. But I had more than sight. I could feel the water moving, the tremors tickling my whiskers. The currents were moving constantly, just like the wind did above the ground. And in the currents, living things swam, slicing through the water and displacing it. I couldn’t see them, but I knew they were there.

It was really neat.

<Spirits, this water is murky,> said Katara.

<No kidding.>

<Hey guys?> came Sokka’s voice. <I think I’ve reached the bottom.>

I swam forward a few undulations, and soon saw the bottom come into focus, a dark expanse of mud punctuated by the occasional rock.

<Wow,> I said. <So this is what the bottom of the sea looks like.>

<So, Aang. Anything look familiar? Any new visions, maybe? Daydreams, perhaps?>

<I’m not sure. Let’s look around.>

I wound my way along the bottom, my whiskers out straight and feeling the way ahead. Spires of rock emerged from the gloom, jutting up like trees but decorated with crinemones and scallops instead of leaves and bark.

Then, through the dimness, something caught at the light.

It was very small, and my Unagi eyes couldn’t make it out very well. But when I turned my head to the side and looked at it with one eye, I could see that it was a twisted shard of metal, still shiny and not yet encrusted with algae and barnacles.

<Guys, come look at this.>

<Where are you?> Oh right. Mind-talking wasn’t like regular talking. You can’t tell where it’s coming from.

<Over here.>

<Oh yeah, that’s helpful,> muttered Sokka.

<Um. I’m by the rock that looks like a fist.>

After a few minutes, two Unagi emerged from the murk and looked down at the metal shard.

<Do you think that it’s like the first one?> asked Katara.

<It looks like it. But I can’t see well enough to make out the writing. Come on, there might be more.>

<I can’t believe this,> muttered Sokka. <This is by far the craziest thing we’ve ever done.>

<No way! We’ve done way crazier things! Anyway, this isn’t so bad. Think of it as a game of ‘find-the-shard!’>

<Wonderful. I’m going to go up and check the time.>

Sokka lifted up to swim to the surface, and Katara and I continued to search the sea floor together. <Hey,> she said, after a few moments. <I found another one!>

<Great!>

<And here! Another!>

<Hey! I see one too!>

<Wow, there’s a lot of them…>

The metal shards shone like sparks in the grey-brown dust, and they were becoming more frequent. I swam faster, searching for something, some greater clue.

<Katara, I think we’re getting- Whoa.>

The ground dropped away. Just… gone. There was an edge, like on a cliff, and then it was gone. I looked out into the void, and there was nothing. The water wasn’t even blue down there. It was black.

<Its… what is it?> wondered Katara.

<I… I’m not sure. It looks like an underwater canyon.>

It was so big! Unagi are huge, but this canyon made us look like caterpillars perched on the lip of the Great Divide.

<I didn’t know this kind of thing was in the ocean. Did you?>

<No way.>

<Hey, guys! There you are! We have less than half our time left, and- Oh wow.>

We hung in the water, overlooking the chasm. Even Sokka couldn’t think of anything sarcastic to say.

<Do you think it’s… down there?> said Katara, her thought-voice a whisper.

<I dunno. It might be.>

<What do you want to do, Aang?> Sokka asked.

<Um… we can swim along the edge a bit, maybe? Then… we might have to go down.>

But all we found along the rim were more shards. So, on Sokka’s suggestion, we surfaced and demorphed back to ourselves, so we’d have a fresh start for time when we went into the canyon. Shivering and completely naked, I turned away from Katara and gazed at the horizon. There was no sign of land.

“We- we went pretty far,” I sputtered.

“I guess Unagi swim fast,” replied Katara from behind me. “Brrrrr.”

I swallowed seawater as Sokka said; “It’s r-really cold. Let’s morph back.”

Morphing is tiring. Doing it just once feels like I’ve just run uphill for an hour. Doing it twice is really draining.

Once I was fully eel, I dove down, into the yawning chasm. There was no huge change as I went over the edge, but it seemed to get quieter, and the water even darker.

<(Hey Sokka,> I said, feeling like I should say something to break the silence. <What do you want to do when we get back to Kyoshi?>

<I dunno.> he replied. <Maybe get something to eat.>

<To eat!> cried out Katara, disbelieving. <Ooh, how exciting!>

<Hey, this Unagi is hungry! Why, what were you planning on doing?>

<Hm… practice waterbending, maybe. I have some ideas for new techniques.>

<Psh. Like that’s much better. That’s all you->

<Do you see that?> I interrupted.

Katara and Sokka stopped arguing and became quiet.

<Oh man, yeah, I do.>

There wasn’t much to see in the chasm. The light was dim nearly to the point of utter blackness, but I could see something along the side of the canyon, like a tiny orb of light.

<Let’s check it out.>

<Oh, sure! We’re hundreds of feet underwater, and we see something glowy and weird? Yeah, let’s approach it!>

<Sokka, we’re Unagi. What would mess with an Unagi?>

<I don’t know. Something big.>

As we approached, I could see that the object: an immense glass dome, perched on a ledge jutting from the side of the canyon wall. It glowed eerily with its own inner light. And what was inside was even stranger.

<Whoa, what is that?> Sokka said.

It was a grassland, like what you find in the eastern part of the Earth Kingdom. Except underwater, and beneath an immense dome of glass. It was eerily beautiful, and didn’t look like it could be real. It looked like a painting, or a glass sculpture.

<Aang,> said Katara. <Do you think that’s it?>

<It must be. It’s got to be.>

I drifted closer, barely twitching my bodies to move forward. I pressed my snout up against the glass. I could see something moving inside, something tiny, and blue. Something that was barely larger than my Unagi eye, but that had four legs and two arms and a long tail. I couldn’t see it clearly from where I was, but I knew that tail was tipped with a scythe.

<It’s Elfangor!> gasped Katara <I can’t believe it. It’s Elfangor.>

<Or it’s Visser Three,> noted Sokka.

<What do you think we should do?> Katara wondered.

<I don’t know,> I replied. <I mean, we can’t get in.> I circled the dome, looking for some kind of entrance. There was an opaque part sticking out at the base that had what might have been a door, but it was far too small to let even one Unagi in.

<I have an idea.>

I looked up at the Unagi I assumed was Sokka. <What is it?>

<We can thought-speak, right? And so can Elfangor. So, we’ll just talk to it.>

<Oh, that sounds->

<HELLO? HELLO!>

There are two kinds of mind-speak, we’ve found. You can ‘talk’ to only one or a few people with it, or you can ‘talk’ to everyone around with it. Sokka was doing that second kind.

<HELLO WEIRD SPIRIT CREATURE!>

<Who is there?>

The new voice seemed faded, like mind- voices do when they are far apart. It wasn’t Elfangor’s voice. But it wasn’t the voice En Rek had used to sound like Visser Three, either.

Still, I thrilled. It worked! Even if they weren't Elfangor, we were talking to them!

<HELLO! NICE HOME YOU’VE GOT HERE! HAVE YOU BEEN SENDING VISIONS TO US?>

<Yeah,> I added. <Visions asking for help?>

<Visions? You heard my call? Who are you?> The voice sounded confused, and I noticed the Andalite below us had stopped running across the grass.

<Uh, well, I’m Sokka, and my friends here are Aang and Katara.>

<You are not my cousins. You are not Andalites. What are you?>

<No we’re not,> I said. <I’m the Avatar. My name is Aang.>

<Avatar? What are you the Avatar of?>

I paused. What did that mean?

Sokka spoke up again. <He’s THE Avatar. The divine medium that has descended on the mortal world? You know, the link between the mortal and spirit worlds? The glowing bendy guy? Do you know what I’m talking about?>

There was a pause. <I apologize, I do not understand. What planet are you from? Are you allies to the Andalites?>

<Planet?> wondered Sokka. <How can you be from a planet? Aren’t those just a kind of star?>

<We’re from the Water Tribe,> tried Katara. <And Aang is an Air Nomad.>

I frowned inwardly. Something wasn’t getting across. But Elfangor had said he was from another world…

<We’re from the mortal world. This world.>

<You are from this planet? You are humans?>

<Humans, yeah.>

<But how? Your species is primitive! You have no knowledge of the universe, no technology of note, no ability to leave your planet! How did you receive my mirrorwave call?>

<Hey, what do you mean, ‘no technology of note?’> objected Sokka. <I helped to develop a war balloon, you know!>

<I’m the link to the spirit world,> I explained. <That might be why.>

There was another pause. <Where are you?>

<Oh, that one’s easy,) said Sokka, (We’re the giant eel monsters right outside this dome.>

<I see you. You are aquatic creatures?>

<What? Oh no, we’re just morphed right now.> I explained.

<Morphed! How did you acquire the morphing technology? Only Andalites have access to it!>

<An Andalite gave it to us,> said Katara.

<He did? But such a thing is never done! Who was it who gave it to you?>

<Well, the first part of his name was Elfangor,> I recalled.

<Elfangor? Prince Elfangor -Sirinial-Shamtul?>

<Yes! That was it!>

<That is impossible! Elfangor would never-!> The Andalite sounded shocked, appalled even..

<It’s true,> Katara said. <I… he gave it to us, then told us to run.>

<Your need must have been great, for him to give you this power… Where is he? Is he with you?>

<No, I… we don’t know what happened to him.> I said, guilt welling again in my heart. <He said this guy Visser Three was coming, and->

<The Abomination!> The hatred in the Andalite’s voice was incredible. I don’t think Sokka even sounded like that when he talked about the Fire Nation.

There was a pause. <Have you come all this way, simply to rescue me?>

<Yes,> I said. <I mean, I heard you calling for help, but I didn’t know it was you. But we’ll definitely help you out.>

<What is your name?> asked Katara.

<I am Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthil.>

<Aks… Aksi…> tried Sokka.

<Can we just call you Aximili?> I asked.

<Aks… Aksimlee Esgoot…>

<That would be acceptable.>

<Can you swim?> asked Sokka, giving up on pronouncing the Andalite Aximili’s name. <It is a long way back to shore, and we’re very deep.>

<I have acquired one of your animals that swam close one day,> said Aximili. <I can morph into it to swim.>

<Oh, good. You better hurry, though. We’ve been under for a long time, and we need to swim to the surface to check.>

<You cannot keep track of time?>

<Well, not without the sun or stars or something.>

<I will keep track for you, then.>

<You can do that?>

<Of course.>

<Huh,> Sokka sounded slightly incredulous. <New surprises every day.>

The Andalite inside the dome ran over to the opaque projection near the bottom, and vanished from view. A minute later, what swam out into the water was-

<Oh, nice choice, Aksimlee.>

I looked into the face of the Elephant Koi as it wriggled through the water, backlit by the unearthly glow of the dome. It looked so small to me; small enough to be bite size.

<Have I done something wrong?>

<It’s fine,> I said. <It’s just that Unagi- that’s what we are- usually eat Elephant Koi like you.>

<I see. It seems I still have much to learn about this world.>

<Well, here’s a tip,> said Sokka. <Big fish eat little fish. Now, let’s go.>

We swam up for the surface, three enormous Unagi and one bite size Elephant Koi. I can’t even tell you what that was like. It was like swimming beside the biggest, ripest moonpeach imaginable. Even the smell was driving me crazy. I’d never wanted to eat an animal before, but the Unagi did, really badly. It wanted to swallow Aximili whole.

<Have the Yeerks invaded your world?> asked Aximili. <They were in orbit around your moon, and they took us by surprise. We were unable to ascertain whether they had begun their invasion yet.>

<Yes,> I said as I swam. <They have. We found a whole Earth Kingdom village that was taken over.>

<They may be attempting subterfuge,> said Aximili. <Insinuating themselves with minimal losses of hosts.>

<Hosts? You mean like slaves? Controllers?>

<Yes. Have you fought the Yeerks?>

<We did the best we could, but we barely escaped with our lives,> said Katara. <They had these little metal weapons that shot burning light.>

<Dracon beams,> said Aximili. <An advanced technology, adapted for Yeerk purposes.>

<Oh,> I said, wondering at what the Andalite called ‘technology.’ I thought I knew what ‘technology’ meant. It meant big, complicated machines like the war balloon and the Fire Nation tanks. But Aximili called those little light-weapons ‘technology.’ He even called morphing a ‘technology.’ I didn’t fully understand what he meant.

I could see the surface far above me, a hint of glittering light. <So,> Sokka was saying. <What about you? What’s with that dome thing?>

<It is the main part of an Andalite dome ship. The engines and the war bridge are in a long section that sticks out from the bottom, with the dome perched on top. The dome is where we live.>

<A ship?> I tried to imagine a ship looking like what Aximili described, but I had a hard time visualizing it. Wouldn’t a dome that large on the top make the ship capsize?

<Yes. A spaceship.>

<A ship in space?> wondered Katara. <That’s possible?>

<It is possible,> replied Aximili, and I thought I heard some hesitation in his voice.

The water was lightening. I began to feel anxious. Had we spent too much time under? What if we couldn’t change back? What if we had to live the rest of our lives as Unagi? Hungry, flesh eating Unagi…

Then, the surface! Light! Air! Which I couldn’t breathe, as I was, but close enough. I immediately began demorphing, and was relieved as my snout began shrinking and my arms sprouted out of my body. Aximili circled around us, not having been in morph as long, watching as we demorphed. It was a bit strange.

<These are your true bodies?>

I sputtered and coughed in response, the waves breaking over my head.

<Ah, my apologies. I did not realize you could not use thought-speak.>

“I guess we’d better- Ack! Ptoo! –better remorph?” Sokka managed. But he didn’t sound enthusiastic.

Well, I didn’t feel enthusiastic either. Morphing is tiring, and I’d just swum to the bottom of the ocean and back!

“Wait –Guhk! –I have a better idea. Aximili!”

<Yes? What is it?>

“Could we *cough* ride you?”

<Ride me?> He sounded surprised.

“Yeah! I’m not trying to –Hk! – insult you, it’s that I’ve ridden Elephant Koi before, and you’re an Elephant Koi. And we’re all really tired.”

<I suppose it would be acceptable, if you cannot summon the strength to remorph.>

“Alright. Stop swimming around for a moment.”

Aximili stopped swimming, and I did a few breaststrokes over to him, then grabbed a hold on his dorsal fin.

“Sokka, Katara, come on!”

Sokka climbed up with me, muttering to himself. “This is crazy. This is crazy, why are we doing this, this is crazy.” Katara climbed up behind us, and I really, really focused on not looking at her.

I gotta say, if I didn't have Appa, my second choice for transportation would be riding on Elephant Koi. It’s such a thrill, the whoosh when you’re in the air, and the spla-whumph! when you hit the water. It was so exhilarating that I almost forgot about Katara being all... you know… naked. Back there.

Well, there is one drawback to riding on Elephant Koi. You can’t tell a normal Elephant Koi where to go. But this wasn’t a normal Elephant Koi.

“ACK! Uh! North! North!” gasped Sokka. I had a feeling he wasn’t enjoying the ride as much as I was.

We finally got back to shore, Sokka slipping off multiple times on the way. Once the water was shallow enough, we got off Aximili. I was still focusing on not looking at Katara.

“Thank you so much for the ride, Aximili,” I said, bowing to him. “We really appreciate it.”

<You are welcome.>

Aximili started to demorph, and let me tell you, watching people morph is one thing, but watching the Andalite morph was another thing entirely. His legs came shooting out of his sides, his back twisted, his tail grew long, and his golden scales melted into blue fur. It was kind of gross, and kind of fascinating.

<You are a very strange species,> he said as we waded back to shore, looking at me with his two front-facing eyes and his stalk eyes turned towards Katara and Sokka. <Only two legs, and no tail! How do you balance?>

“I dunno,” I said. “We just kind of… do?”

“Okay, well,” said Sokka. “We saved you, Aksim… Aximili. Now, what should we do with you?

<Who is your Prince?> asked Aximili.

“Our Prince?” wondered Katara, and I had to stop myself from naturally turning to look in her direction.

“Well, our dad’s the chief,” said Sokka. “But he’s not here.”

<You don’t have a Prince? No one you answer to? No leader?>

“Oh, that’s me,” said Sokka, before either Katara or I could explain that we didn’t really have a set leader.

<Then I will follow you, Prince Sokka, until I can return to my cousins.>

A smug grin spread across Sokka’s face. “Oh, well, Prince, huh? Um, thanks, Aximili. But… when will you be able to return?”

<I do not know. It may be two of your years before my cousins return.>

“Two years?”

My mouth fell open. Two years before he would be able to go back to his own world? That was a long time… the comet would have come and gone by then, and the war would have been over. None of us had even planned that far ahead.

“Is there anyone here you can stay with?” asked Katara, from somewhere I wasn’t looking.

<If we can find Elfangor, then I can stay with him. He is my brother.>

“We’ll help you,” I said. “You can stay with us.”

<Thank you.>

“Um, Aang,” interjected Sokka. “There’s a bit of a problem. He’s a big blue foxalope thing. People might freak out. And the Yeerks might, you know, notice.”

<Yes. I must morph,> Aximili said.

“Into what?” wondered Sokka. “I mean, I guess we could always use another Appa, but…”

He trailed off as Aximili put his hand on Sokka’s forehead.

<With your permission, Prince Sokka.>

Sokka didn’t say anything, just sort of stared into space as Aximili acquired him. Then, the Andalite moved to me. It felt weird, like I’d been given some sort of calming herb, and the rest of the world got a bit faded.

A few seconds after he moved to Katara, my mind cleared, and I saw him morph plainly. Morph into a human.

His tail sucked in, as did his front legs, and he flopped onto the gravelly beach. I stepped forward to help him, but he was already getting back up, steadying himself with hooves that were changing into human feet. A nose grew from his face, his font eyes shrunk and his eyestalks sucked in completely. A mouth opened on his face, like a gash at first but soon growing lips and teeth. His fur sucked in, revealing olive skin. He was human.

I blinked. “Wow.”

He wasn’t exactly me, not exactly Katara or Sokka. He was like a mish mash of all three of us, with eyes not quite as deep blue as Katara’s but close, and skin not as dark as Sokka’s but a bit paler. His hair was short and dark brown, his build lanky. His face was not quite as round as mine. His features were definitely more Water Tribe, but he could have been my relative as well. In fact, he looked like…

“Oh man,” said Sokka, looking at me, then Aximili, than even at Katara, who I was still carefully avoiding. “He looks like what would happen if you and Katara had a kid.”

I froze and turned cherry red at the words, mortified that Sokka had said them aloud.

Katara just laughed. “Does he really?”

“Yeah, he does. But let’s get some clothes, huh? No offense, Aang, but I’m kind of sick of looking at your butt.”

“Why? W-w-w-w-w-” I saw Aximili’s eyes go huge, and remembered that he hadn’t had a mouth before. He’d never spoken aloud, only in our heads.

“Wha- wha-yuh? Uh. Wha-yuh?”

Sokka blinked. “Uh, ‘cause we’re all naked? And it’s really not fair for Katara to have to cover her eyes all this time.”

“Yeah, I want to see him too, you know!” spoke up Katara.

“Nay-ay-kid. This is wrong? Wron-guh. Ong. Onnnnnnnnng.”

“Yeah, well, you can’t just walk around like that,” said Sokka. “We’ll have to buy you some clothes in town… you look too small for mine, and probably too big for Aang’s.”

Aximili was twisting his lips around, puckering them and sticking out his tongue. “Very odd. Aw-duh. This mouth thhhhh is aw-duh.”

“Yeah, mouths are really something,” deadpanned Sokka. “Can we head back to the village now?”

Aximili tried to take a step forward, and fell over. I rushed over to help him up. “Two oo legs,” he said. “Very shaky. Ki. Shaaaaaaaay. Shay-KI.”

“It’s okay,” I said. “You’re used to four. Just one foot after another, like this see?” I walked forward, demonstrating, and he seemed to get a better hang of it.

I morphed Momo and flew back into town to find Appa (and our clothes). He was at the back of the house we had been staying at, and I dodged Momo’s attempts at playing as I demorphed, put on my clothes, and brought the rest back to the shore, plus some extra for Aximili.

“Thanks, Aang,” said Sokka, and threw Aximili a cloak. “Hey, put this on.”

A flash of tawny skin caught the corner of my eye as I turned away, and I stared resolutely at the ground. I was not going to look. I was absolutely not.

“No, it- it’s not a hat! Don’t… look, it goes on like this, around your shoulders… crap, it isn’t long enough. Just wrap it around your waist. That’ll do. You look like a freak, but it’ll do.”

Once my own clothes were on, I looked back at Aximili. A black traveling cloak was wrapped around his hips. Katara was also there, and I felt a jolt of panic before I registered that yes, now she had clothes on too.

“What wha-tah is the purrrr rrrrrrrr pose of the coverings? Ings?”

“So that you don’t go around naked,” said Sokka, exasperated. “I already explained this, Aximili. People get upset. I get upset.”

“Upset. Up! Up! Upupupupupupup!”

“That also makes me upset. Stop, please.”

“Yes, Prince Sokka.”

Sokka’s chest swelled.

“Okka. Aaaaaaaaaaaaw-kuh.”

And deflated.

Chapter Text

Here’s how it probably happened:

The people of Kyoshi were walking around, just living their lives. The excitement of the Avatar’s visit was fading, even amongst the local fans. Oyaji was probably doing something governmental… or maybe seeing to the training of a new batch of warriors, seeing as Suki’s squad had left.

Anyway, a man knocked on the door, came in, and started asking lots of questions. Questions about the Avatar. Oyagi didn’t know the man, which was unusual in such a small town, and grew suspicious. He told the man to leave. The man pulled the usual line, that he was working for great spirits, and the island could benefit from an alliance. Oyagi, remembering Aang’s warning, told him to leave again, this time more firmly. The man told him that the consequences of ignoring him would be severe. At this point, Oyagi may have reached for a weapon.

So, the man shot him with a Dracon beam.

While he was stunned, the man forced a Yeerk into the mayor’s ear. The Yeerk read his memories, and determined that the Avatar had recently been there, had taken great interest in a piece of metal that the Yeerk recognized as Andalite in origin, and then suddenly appeared in the company of a Water Tribe youth everyone described as ‘bizarre.’ They would also know that he was now heading to Gaoling.

Within the week, a Yeerk Pool would be set up in a hollowed-out hill. Within the month, every person on Kyoshi Island would be a controller.

Now, I’m not sure about this. I wasn’t there, and by the time the rumor mill told me that Kyoshi had opened its borders to refugees, we had almost reached Ba Sing Se.

But I’m getting ahead of myself.

“So,” I said. “You were attacked by the Yeerks, in space, and dropped out of space and landed in the ocean? And you’re the only survivor?”

<Yes,> replied Aximili. <The others were in fighters or the main part of the ship.>

“You weren’t with them?”

<I… I am young. Too young for battle, by the laws of our people.>

“We’re young too,” said Aang. “We’re just kids. But we have to fight, however we can. We don’t have a choice.”

<That is brave of you.>

We hadn’t had much chance to just talk to Aximili, after rescuing him. We’d been around people, most of the time, and he had to act like a human. Our cousin Aksi, Katara and I had said. Our… mentally challenged cousin.

We left Kyoshi Island pretty quickly after what he did to our dinner.

“Rice! Ri-suh! Fish ish ish issssssssshhhh. Nooooooodles!”

Yeah, that hadn’t been pretty. I’m sure he still thinks soy sauce is a drink.

<This is a fascinating creature,> said Aximili, one stalk eye looking down at Appa from his place in the saddle. I can’t even tell you how weird it was to have him sitting in the saddle like that, as if he was a normal person, only blue and with four legs. <How does it fly without wings?>

“Oh, Appa can airbend,” said Aang cheerfully. “Sky bison were the original source of airbending, you know.”

<I do not understand.>

“Yeah, I don’t get it either,” I confessed. “Nothing about bending makes much sense. I mean, how much does Appa weigh?”

<What is ‘bending?’>

Aang stared. “You don’t know?”

<It is not a phrase I recognize.>

“Oh, well, I’m an airbender…”

“And I’m a waterbender,” spoke up Katara. She uncorked her waterskin and drew out stream of water that hovered in midair. “See?”

Now, all four of Aximili’s eyes were focused on Katara. <Fegul,> he said. <I learned about these things in school, but I did not realize you were capable of it.>

“Does no one in your world bend?” asked Aang. “How do you survive?” He was staring at Aximili like he had no head (well, Aximili already looked pretty strange, but you get the point).

I frowned, insulted. Katara had been the only bender in the South Pole, and we’d been getting along fine (okay, sorta not, but we had lots of problems, other than no benders). I mean, it wasn’t like bending was the only thing keeping civilization together! And to be honest, I sometimes felt that bending caused more problems than it solved.

<Only very primitive sentient species have been known to use fegul,> explained the Andalite. <And even then not always. Andalites may have at one point, but we have long abandoned it.>

I bristled. Again with the ‘primitive’ thing! What was the matter with this guy? Just because we didn’t have ships that traveled in space didn’t mean we were primitive! “Hey, we’re not-”

“Why would you abandon bending?” interrupted Katara, sounding disturbed.

<The use of feagul allows Ellimists to control you,> explained Aximili, like he was talking to a baby, or someone really slow. <It binds you to them. It is better to be free from such beings.>

“Ellimists?” wondered Aang.

<Beings of great power.> For once, Aximili’s voice seemed to hold a bit of humility. <The laws of reality, of time and space, are as nothing to them. They often manipulate other species to their own ends.>

“Do you mean spirits?” asked Aang.

<You may call them that.>

Manipulate other species to their own ends. I was reminded, unpleasantly, of the story of Princess Yue’s birth, of how the Moon Spirit saved her life. Only to have her give it back.

Suddenly, the spirit’s gesture didn’t seem so altruistic.

I rubbed my chin and thought. Bending, binding you to spirits? Or spirits to you… Hei Bai, terrorizing a town for something the Fire Nation did… The Ocean Spirit, destroying an entire fleet of ships… Aang’s description of Koh the Face-stealer…

What would life be like, without spirits? Aximili seemed to know.

“But you need spirits to keep the balance!” Aang was insisting. “They’re what keep the world the way it is!”

Aximili looked at him with huge green eyes. <Have you never wanted the world to change?>

Aang and Katara exchanged a glance. “Of course we want the world to change… for the better,” Katara said. “But interfering with spirits only brings pain.”

<A common primitive belief,> said Axmili dismissively.

Aang began to look angry. “Look, there was this admiral from the Fire Nation, Admiral Zhao, who thought that spirits were going to get in his way. So he tried to kill one. But that went really badly. For him and for everyone.”

“Anyway,” said Katara. “There’s Aang, too. He’s the bridge between the mortal and the spirit worlds. He’ll be able to help if the spirits try to control us.”

Aang looked nervous at that last. “Right,” he said. “Yeah.”

<You are a link?>

“Yeah, I’m the Avatar,” Aang replied. “It means I can learn all four elements, and I need to keep the balance.”

“It also means he has to end the war,” I spoke up.

<The war against the Yeerks?>

I blinked. “Uh, no. The war against the Fire Nation.”

<You humans are at war amongst yourselves?>

“Basically, yeah.”

<Andalites have not fought each other for millennia.>

“Well, whoop de do for you,” I muttered.

“Tell us more about your world, Aximili,” said Katara, leaning forward as she changed the subject. “Are there no humans there?”

<No, none. It is a different planet.>

“What does it look like?” asked Aang.

Aximili closed his front eyes for a moment. <It is beautiful. It is open and full of grass, with miles and miles of space to run. There are three moons and two suns in the sky, which is painted with great works of art.>

“Wow,” said Katara. “You must miss it.”

<The memory reminds me why I fight,> said Aximili. <To protect it from the Yeerks’ desecration.>

I nodded. That made sense. After all, what do we fight for, if not to protect our homes? But something bothered me.

“What do you mean, ‘desecration?’ ”

The Andalite looked over at me. <You don’t know? The Yeerks would destroy our home utterly, if they could. As they destroy other worlds.>

“They destroy worlds?” gasped Aang. “How… how can they destroy worlds?”

<It is the usual Yeerk pattern. They remake the worlds they conquer to be barren like their own. They eliminate most of the species that are unnecessary to the survival of their hosts, and remake the surface of the planet in their own foul image.>

Aang looked aghast, Katara looked disturbed, and I had to admit, the idea of destroying every other species in the world was pretty distasteful.

“That’s horrible,” said Aang. “You mean all the animals…”

<Yes. And most of the plant life as well. You truly did not know this?>

“No…” whispered Aang. “I had no idea.”

I swallowed. They destroy whole worlds… and we’d seen what they did to people. How could we even hope to fight them? How could we defeat the Yeerks, when at the end of summer a comet was coming that would give the Fire Nation victory? Which was worse- enslavement or incineration?

Heh. Maybe, the Yeerks would defeat the Fire Nation for us.

Yeah. As if that would help.

I can’t say exactly what it was about that bag. It was very spacious, and I liked the cloth and- oh screw it. I just plain liked it. It was very well crafted, and had a price to match.

Gaoling, we had been relieved to see, was a normal town, with normal Earth Kingdom people in it. We stopped to spend some of the money we’d gotten in Kyoshi on supplies, and the bag caught my eye.

As I hemmed and hawed over it, I was interrupted by Aximili, or rather, I should say our cousin ‘Ak si.’

“What is that smell? Smell-luh?”

“Oh, they’re street vendors!” said Aang enthusiastically. “They sell food. We could get some, if you’re hungry.”

Now, that was enough to distract me. “No food for Aksi, Aang. Remember what happened last time?”

“No food fuh ood?”

“No. Not for you.” I sighed. “You know, maybe I won’t get the bag. It’s really too expensive.”

“Then don’t,” said Katara, and turned to leave with Aang and ‘Aksi.’

I gave the bag one last look as we left, thinking of its yellow inlay and felt sides. Then, I ran back. These opportunities don’t come twice, after all!

I shouldn’t have left them alone.

“Mmmm! MM! What is this is isssssssss?”

“They’re candied ginkgo nuts, young man.”

“MMMMMM! It is the greatest taste!”

The vendor laughed. “Now, this boy has a healthy appetite!”

I ran up to the food stall, where Aximili was gorging himself on the nuts like they were going out of season. “Hey! Hey, uh, Aksi! Aksi, what did I tell you about food?” I grabbed the stupid Andalite’s shoulders and steered him away from the stall, his cheeks and fists full of nuts like he was a squirrel-lizard or something.

“Eh-hem?” said the vendor, holding out his hand.

Groaning in exasperation at the world, I sighed and plunked a few coppers into his palm. Why did I have to be stuck cleaning up after Aximili?

“Aksi, what happened to Aang and Katara?”

“’ey wet o’er ‘oo shpee’ wit’ ‘ak ‘wahn,” garbled Aximili with his mouth full. He pointed.

I looked up. Aang and Katara were down at the end of the street, talking with a widely smiling man next to a big sign that said: ‘FIND YOUR PEACE, JOIN THE SHARING TODAY.’

“-teachers?” the man was saying as I walked over with Aximili. “Well, many prominent earthbenders are members. Have you perhaps heard of Master Yu? He is one of our chairmen. I’m sure he can help you with anything you need, bending-wise.”

“That would be great!” said Aang. “How can I speak with him?”

“Come to one of our meetings,” said the man with a wink. “He’s sure to be there. We’ll be meeting tomorrow night at the earthbending school for food and drinks. We might even get some local dizi and guqin players to come play some ballads. It’ll be a lot of fun. What do you say?”

Aang and Katara exchanged an excited look. “Sounds great,” said Aang.

The man handed them a few flyers, and they walked up to me, smiling. “So, what was all that about?” I asked.

“He’s in some kind of social group,” said Katara. “He said they bring people together to try and solve their problems. It’s apparently pretty widespread in this part of the Earth Kingdom.”

“And we thought it would be a great way to meet some earthbenders!” enthused Aang. “He said an earthbending master would be there.”

I shrugged, adjusting the strap on my new bag. “If you think it would be good, sure.”

“We’d better find an inn, if we’re going to be staying here for a while,” said Katara.

As we wandered around the town, looking for a good deal, we passed a tavern, a bunch of half-drunk young men milling around outside and blocking the road. “The Badgermole is totally gonna win!” one was saying. “I mean, he’s like, underground and stuff. No one can see where he is!”

“Psh, no. The Spider is where it’s at. Guy can climb.”

“Nah! Hippo can take ‘em all.”

We tried to weave our way through the sake-scented throng, which was becoming more boisterous by the second.

“Well, we’ll see tonight!”

“To the Boulder!”

“To Earth Rumble Five!”

“It’s Six.”

“What are they talking about?” wondered Aang.

Aximili sniffed the air. “What is that sme-lluh?”

“I don’t know, and NO, Aksi!”

Aang walked up to a red-faced man. “Excuse me, but what’s the Earth Rumble Six?”

The man blinked. “It’s only the greatest earthbending tournament in the Southern Earth Kingdom!”

Aang and I exchanged a glance. “So, a lot of really good earthbenders will be there?”

“Only the best!”

“Like the Leopard-Monkey! He ROCKS!” spoke up another man.

Aang smiled. “So… where is this Earth Rumble, exactly?”

“The way I see it,” Aang had said. “We can look for an earthbending master both at Earth Rumble and at the Sharing meeting.”

“We're really lucky that there's so many earthbenders here,” said Katara, and Aang nodded in agreement.

Me, I was pretty excited about this earthbending tournament. I’d never really seen earthbenders go at it before… or at least not in a not-deadly-to-life-and-limb way. I grinned. This would be so. Cool.

And it was. Really cool. I mean, the Boulder lost, which was seriously disappointing (that guy was awesome!), and I had to drag Aximili away from the vendors, but Aang thought he might have found an earthbending teacher, though she showed no interest in teaching him. And I got a belt to match my bag, which was sweet.

Oh, and we got rich, too. Can’t forget that.

So, overall a good evening.

“How is the cherry crop this year?”

“This pork is delicious.”

“This is so fun! Why didn’t you ever tell me about the Sharing before?”

“-so then I said, ‘Well, don’t go bending over backwards for me!’ Ha ha, get it?”

The chatter of the partygoers surrounded us, as the citizens of Gaoling socialized, danced, and ate dim sum. And that guy was right. The pork was delicious.

“Dim sum! Dim dim dim di-muh summmmmmmmmmm!”

I guess Aximili agreed.

“How do you think they afford all this?” wondered Katara, staring around the courtyard as she sipped some tea.

“I can answer that,” said a voice. We turned to see a man with long, dark hair, a thin mustache, and a narrow goatee. “The Sharing's events are run on food and funds generously donated by the Bei Fong estate.”

We stared, and the man laughed. “My apologies, I did not mean to interrupt or eavesdrop. But Han told me that some children were here looking for earthbending lessons.”

“Yeah, that’s me!” said Aang, adjusting his hat. “I really need an earthbending teacher.”

The man smiled. “My name is Master Yu. I would be happy to help you. New students are always appreciated in my dojo. And I’ll tell you what.” He leaned in, and I swallowed my food. “If you decide to become full members of the Sharing, I’ll throw in the first few lessons free!”

“Full members?” wondered Katara. “What does that mean?”

“Yeah,” I interjected. “How much does it cost?”

Master Yu winked. “No cost. It’s free! All it requires is becoming a part of our larger purpose, helping people overcome their problems and find inner peace.”

Aang blinked. “Well, actually, I was wondering if you knew where I might find an earthbender called The Blind Bandit?”

Master Yu paused. “I am not familiar with anyone who goes by that title. And in fact… that sounds like a stage name for one of the underground tournament fighters.” Yu’s lip curled slightly. “The underground fights will be abolished soon.”

I stared, horrified. “Abolished? But- but they’re awesome!”

“They are not conductive to a healthy, productive society. You’ll be much better off with us. We can offer community support and structure.”

“Well, maybe,” said Aang. “I’ll think about it.”

“Of course. Please, don’t feel pressured. Enjoy yourselves tonight! Still, my offer stands.”

Master Yu gave another wink, then turned to go greet someone else.

“Well,” I said. “That was weird.”

“Yeah,” agreed Aang. “He was nice, but I don’t think he’s the teacher for me. He sounded like he was selling something.”

“Yeah, well, it feels like everyone here is selling something,” I muttered. “What an idiot! I can’t believe they’re going to shut down the Boulder!”

“You guys are being too harsh,” said Katara. “They’re trying to help people! And we might just not be able to find this Blind Bandit.”

Aang sighed. “Maybe you’re right. Maybe I should just train with Master Yu.”

Aximili walked up then from the buffet, clutching his stomach. “Prince Sokka, I think that my body has been poisoned.”

Katara quickly withdrew the water from her cup of tea and pressed it to Aximili’s stomach. After a moment, she withdrew it and shook her head. “You just ate too much. You have a stomach ache. Some tea will help.”

“Sto-mach ache,” said Aximili. “I did not know there was a limit to food that can be consumed.”

I slapped my hand to my forehead. I mean, I love eating, but even I knew that!

Then, I saw Aang, who was staring open-mouthed at the cup Katara held. I followed his gaze, and saw that the porcelain was imprinted on the bottom with green curlicues, surrounding the shape of a winged boar.

“That symbol…” Aang said. “It looks exactly like my swamp vision.”

Katara looked up from getting Aximili some tea. “It does?”

I frowned and stroked my chin. The teacup, and all the food, had come from the Bei Fong estate. What if there was a connection?

Aang was thinking along the same lines. “We’ll check out the Bei Fongs. Maybe they know something.”

Katara nodded. “And if worst comes to worst, we can always take lessons from Master Yu.”

Aximili took a giant gulp of tea. “Ah! Ah ah hot hot!”

I sighed.

The next evening, we knocked on the door to the Bei Fong estate. A servant opened it, and smiled widely. “Welcome to the Bei Fong manor, Avatar Aang and companions. It is an honor to have you here, though it is on short notice.”

“Yes, well, I’m happy to be here.”

“The Lady and Master are going to dine soon. Would you care to join them?”

“Sure!” I spoke up. “That would be great.”

I had to admit, this was a much nicer welcome than our foray onto the estate that morning had been, when the Blind Bandit, or rather Toph, had earthbended us onto our faces, then called the guards on us. Yes, a fancy dinner was much better.

It was delicious, and as Aang made small talk with the Bei Fongs, I took full advantage of the spread. I mean, on the road it’s hard to get such nice meals! Who wouldn’t go to town? Not me, and I guess not Aximili either.

The food was so good. Incredibly good. Why, I was already feeling sleepy and full, even though I had barely begun to eat. So very, very sleepy and full…

As my limbs began to go slack, I realized something was wrong, but before I could yell out a warning, the world faded to black and I was gone.

Chapter Text

I seethed inwardly as Avatar Twinkletoes began to hint at my earthbending career. I was seriously considering bending him into the floor when, out of nowhere, the boy Sokka, who had been eating like a cowpig, suddenly collapsed into his soup.

Everyone paused to stare, and the girl, Katara, stood up, her pulse racing. “Sokka!” She was beside him instantly, running her hands over him.

“I’m sure he’s fine,” my father lied. “Perhaps he is tired after your long journey?”

“No,” said Katara. “He’s not fine. There’s something weird in his system.”

“Stomach ache?” said the boy Aksi, who I suspected wasn’t all there in the head. He opened his mouth wide in a yawn, then faceplanted.

That was when everyone began shouting.

“He’s fine! We’ll call for the physicians-”

“Aksi! Wake up!”

“Will everyone be quiet? I’m trying to heal!”

“Well, this is unexpected,” said my mother, but she was lying too.

I frowned. This was weird. Dad was lying, which meant that he knew Sokka wasn’t fine. Which meant he’d known it would happen. Which meant he’d done it. Well, I wasn’t worried. The boys weren't dead. I could feel their deep breathing. They were just asleep.

“Won’t everyone just calm down? I’m sure everything will be fine!”

“No! My brother and cousin are unconscious!”

I quirked my brow. That last part was a lie. He wasn’t her cousin. What was he?

The guards rushed in, hearing the commotion, and walked up to Aang and Katara. “Please calm down,” one said.

“Why? What did you do?” Katara was quickly becoming hysterical.

The Avatar was facing my father. “What did you do?” he echoed.

Then, the guard reached out and touched Aang, a small, almost undetectable piece of metal in his hand. The Avatar gasped, then his pulse slowed, and he collapsed.

“Y-you!” started Katara, and her hand reached towards the table. Then the guard touched her too, and she fell.

I pressed my feet onto the floor, not believing what I was feeling. There were four prone, unconscious bodies lying around the dinner table. It was surreal.

“Dad?” I asked finally. “What just happened?”

“I’m sorry you had to be here for that, Toph,” he said. “But the Avatar is too dangerous. He is a threat to us, to our family.” He straightened. “Guards, please escort Toph to her room.”

As I allowed the guards to lead me out, I tried to process what had just happened. My father had just attacked the Avatar. And won. Well, it wasn’t like it was a fair fight, but… why?

As soon as the guards had left me in my room, I sunk my feet into the floors of the manor, feeling out what was going on. The Avatar and his friends were being carried down into the cellar, being tied up. Something was really weird. Was my father going to sell them out to the Fire Nation? I hadn’t thought he was like that… but who knew, anymore? He lied about everything, he could easily be keeping secrets.

Well, I’d had enough. I was going to find out what was going on.

I walked over to the corner of my room, behind my bed. There, clear as anything, was a portion of the floor that had been cracked and reformed so many times that stress fractures were etched deep into the stone.

I stomped, breaking it open and revealing my personal tunnel network. From here I could go anywhere in Gaoling, from the outskirts where the badgermoles lived to the bending arena. I jumped in, sealed the top, and skated through the tunnels until I was underneath my parents’ room. I pressed my ear to the ceiling of the tunnel, and waited.

Eventually, my parents walked in. “We need to notify Visser Three,” said my mother.

Visser Three? What?

“Yes, and make sure they do not escape this time,” agreed my father. “We must be vigilant. It is possible that some Andalites have survived the crash, and are giving the Avatar their aid.”

“Andalites!” spat my mother, with more venom than I thought was possible for her. “How is it possible?”

“Nepthil one-three-two tells me that the Avatar had aid from an unknown source in Chin Town. An Andalite may have been masquerading as Visser Three to free him. And pieces of Andalite metal were found in Kyoshi.”

I frowned. What were they talking about? Was this some kind of code?

“Ugh! I hate those Andalite scum!”

“As do we all,” growled my father. “But I shall call the Visser.”

My father walked over to his drawer, and withdrew a complex metal device that lay inside. I had no idea what it was.

For a few moments, there was nothing as my father fiddled with the device, then a voice said, out of nowhere: “Gresh nevelet huvvel Visser Three?”

Yes, I know that’s nonsense. But that’s what it said. And when I say it came out of nowhere, I mean it. There was no one else in the room, yet there was a voice. It was unnerving.

“Escref one-four-six reporting,” said my father. “We have important news for the Visser.”

“Dargif tithrel?” More nonsense from no one.

“We have captured the Avatar.”

There was another pause. And then, a fourth voice came, also out of nowhere.

“Escref one-four-six. This had better be worth my time!”

I guessed that this voice was that of the mysterious Visser Three. And let me tell you, it wasn’t a nice voice. I can tell. He sounded like he stomped on kittens for fun, and ate babies for breakfast. Seriously.

“Visser," my father said quietly and humbly. Which was weird, since ‘humble’ wasn’t a tone my father often took. “Escref one-four-six of the Ibith Markep pool submits to you. May the Kandrona shine and strengthen you."

“Get on with it.”

“We have successfully captured the Avatar. We hold him hostage and unconscious at this very moment, and await your instructions.”

“Excellent. Infest him immediately with any Yeerk you have; we can use a more important individual later.”

“Yes, Visser.”

“I will be arriving shortly.”

“Yes, Visser.”

There was a pause, and my father again fiddled with the metal device. Then he turned to face my mother.

“We have another problem.”

“What is it?” asked my mother.

“Toph. She was present. She may suspect.”

I frowned. What might I suspect? Suspect that they were working for some weirdo named Visser Three? Who was he, anyway? How did he speak without being there?

“What should we do? We cannot infest her. It is a part of the agreement.”

My father paused. “We cannot. The thought angers my host greatly. And she is blind. Useless as a host. But she can still speak, and warn other humans. We may need to kill her.”

Kill her.

I felt like my blood had turned to ice. I couldn’t have heard what I thought I'd just heard, could I? My parents weren’t going to kill me. No, they-

“True. No one outside the household knows she exists. She will not be missed. We shall kill her.”

Oh, crap.

I was frozen in place. I didn’t know what to do. I felt like I was trapped in some awful nightmare.

Then, something in my father’s vibrations changed. He began to twitch like he had been drinking too much chi-enhancing tea, or like he was sick. His hands were trembling, and his face contorting.

“Agh!” he said. “My host is- is fighting me!”

“He is?” My mother leaned forward, then her head abruptly snapped back. She cried out. “Mine too! Ah!”

“No, Lao!” snarled my father. “No! You will not win. You will never win. No host has ever fought off a Yeerk. I- will- win! I-will- break you!”

My parents had gone mad. This was the only explanation. They were talking to themselves, gasping and jerking, stumbling. I felt sick, but I couldn’t stop listening.

“Poppy, I will destroy you,” said my mother. “You will be nothing! You- ack!”

Now my mother was strangling herself, her own hand around her throat.

But it didn’t last long. In less than a minute, they had regained control of themselves, their shaking had ceased, and they were standing straight, breathing heavily. Without another word, they both left the room.

I sunk to the ground, feeling tears run down my cheeks. My parents were insane. They wanted to kill me. What could I do? Where could I go? My tunnels could take me away. Far, far away from Gaoling. But after that, where?

I only could think of one option.

“Hey! Twinkletoes! Wake up! Up! Rise and shine, weenie!”

I kicked the Avatar, and he didn’t react. Oh come on! What had my dad drugged them with, anyhow?

Fine. We’d have to do this the hard way. My parents were coming, soon.

I ripped up the floor beneath the unconscious teens, and they fell down into my tunnel. I quickly resealed the hole above us, and began the process of pushing the ground beneath them to get them out of the house.

I stopped in my room only after making sure it was empty of guards or parents, and only long enough to grab my earthbending uniform. I then slowly made my way towards the outskirts of town, where the badgermoles lived.

I would be safe there.

“Ugggghhhhhnnnnn.”

I sighed and reclined against a rock. It was about time! Too bad the first one to wake up was the idiot.

“Welcome to the waking world, Crazypants.”

“It is night time!” Was it just me, or did he sound a bit panicked?

“Uh. Yeah. You were out for a while there.”

“For how long?” Yeah, definitely panicked. His heart was going crazy.

“I dunno. An hour, or forty-five minutes, maybe?”

“I have very little time left. Do not be alarmed.”

“Alarmed at what? Wait- whoa! Whoa whoa whoa what the-”

Right there, in front of me, he was changing. His bones were shifting around, his weight and density were changing. Extra legs were coming out of nowhere and- oh by the ghost of my long dead grampa, a tail!

My mouth hung open. I had no idea what this was. It was something completely new.

<Thank you for saving me.>

Now there were voices in my head. Obviously, my parents’ crazy was contagious.

“Okay,” I said. “Okay. What are you?”

<I am an Andalite.>

Andalite. There was that word my parents had used. They hadn’t liked Andalites.

Then, the other boy, Sokka the cowpig, started to stir. “Ooooooof. Oh boy. What was in that soup?”

The ‘Andalite’ walked over to Sokka and knelt down, touching his shoulder.

“Oooh yeah. No kidding, Aksi.” After a several-second pause, the prone boy sat up and turned towards me. “Uh, Aximili? Toph is right there.”

There was another pause, and Sokka turned his face towards the 'Andalite,' as though it was talking.

“Um, well, she’s blind, Aksi. She wouldn’t know if you were-”

“I can see you just fine,” I grated, getting seriously annoyed. “And I can also hear you, if you don’t mind.”

“You can see…?”

<Are you truly blind?> the voice of the Andalite asked in my head. It sounded... oddly strained. Even a little disgusted. <By birth?>

“Yeah, what of it? Were you a four-legged mind-talking freak by birth?”

“Aximili is… um… from somewhere else.”

“Yeah.” I raised an eyebrow and snorted. “Right.”

We were interrupted then by Aang and Katara waking up.

“Ooooooogh.”

“Aaaaaaaaaagh.”

Cowpig boy helped them to their feet, and they turned to face me. “Um, Toph, where are we?” asked Katara.

I shrugged. “Just on the outskirts of town. No one else knows we’re here.” I paused. Did I really want to go with them? They had a… thing… with them. But it was better than my other option, right? “So, my parents are insane, and want to kill me. I’m going to come with you instead, if that’s alright.”

For a moment, silence. Then, “They want to kill you?” asked Aang.

“Yeah. They’re totally crazy. But they knew about you,” I pointed at ‘Aksi.’ “They were talking to some weird voice without a body called Visser Three, and then they decided to kill me. They really need a healer.”

The three teens and one Andalite were very still. “Toph,” said Katara quietly. “I think there’s something important you need to know.”

They told me then, about the Yeerks, and the Andalites, and morphing, and everything. As they explained, a better sequence of the evening’s events came to me. My parents… they had tried to protect me, had tried to keep the Yeerks from killing me. They’d tried to fight off the Yeerks possessing them. But they’d failed.

They didn’t want to kill me. They loved me.

My hands clenched into fists, and I grit my teeth. All this time - probably ever since Master Yu’s lessons had stopped - my parents had been controllers.

It made me angry. Really angry.

“We have a lot of enemies, Toph.” Katara was still talking. “The Fire Nation, the Yeerks… they’re everywhere. Almost everywhere we meet one or the other. But we do need an earthbending teacher, and Aang thinks you’re the one. It’s really your choice. We don’t want to force you.”

“I’ll do it.”

I heard Aang gasp, and I lifted my face so they could see my expression. “I mean it. I’ll help you learn earthbending, and when we find those Yeerks, I want to help you kill them.”

<You are brave… for a vecol.> The voice in my head that time held… what? Curiosity?

I raised my eyebrow. “Vecol? What’s that?”

<A cripple. One who cannot heal themselves by morphing.> There it was. Disgust, mixed with an arrogance that would make any noble take note. I didn’t like that tone.

“Cripple, huh? Well, I guess I am just a poor, helpless blind girl. Can’t take care of myself, can’t help anyone, just a dead weight, right Aksi?”

I let myself smile sweetly, then dug my foot into the ground, twisting the earth under Aksi’s front hooves to the side and sending him to the floor.

“And I can kick your freaky butt any day of the week. ‘K?”

I turned to face the others. “So, how about this ‘morphing’ thing, huh?”

It wasn’t that hard. I opened up the mountain and walked through tunnels large enough to hold the entire Bei Fong manor. I sent down a pulse, a ‘hello’ call. Badgermoles are curious about new things in their tunnels. They would come.

And when the old female came over to get a good smell of me, I acquired her.

<This. Is. Awesome.>

My roar was the howl of a demon. My legs were pillars. My claws, lances. My head, a battering ram. I stomped, and rent the earth apart.

<Ohhhhhhhhh yeah!>

“I really don’t see the point of this. Why would I need to fly?”

I stroked Momo, who was being very quiet.

“It’s fun!” said Aang. “Flying is so fun!”

Uh, no. Flying on Appa was not fun, and I doubted flying with wings would be much better.

“It’s useful,” said Sokka. “Being small and less noticeable.”

“Fine, whatever.” I let Momo go, and he scampered off.

<It would be wise to prepare yourself. You may experience sensory input that you are not accustomed to.>

“Okay, Aksi. I think I can handle it.”

I stood up, stretched, and concentrated.

For a moment, nothing. Then, I felt my clothes get loose and big around me as I shrunk. I heard cracks as my bones changed, and my ears itched as they expanded. I rolled my tongue around the inside of my mouth, feeling the teeth change and the muzzle form. It was weird, yet cool.

I listened to Katara shifting from foot to foot nervously. What was she worried about? This wasn’t so bad.

I felt a bit more concerned when my earth-sight disappeared. That hadn’t happened when I’d morphed the badgermole. It was unnerving. I felt really, really blind, like I do in those few seconds when I jump into the air. I didn’t like it. How could I see?

Then-

<Ah!>

It was- how could I describe it? It was sharp, and hot, and harsh, and yet none of those things. It was an invasion, a burst, an explosion of sensation. It was motion and depth and form, and a million other things besides. It was overwhelming.

My eyelids flinched shut, and it disappeared. Gone.

Oh, man. Was that sight? No way was that sight. Were people all in a fuss over that… that chaos? How could you make sense of that?

“Toph?” someone- Aang- was saying. “Are you all right?”

<How do you do it?> I wondered. <It’s too much!>

“Do what?” wondered Katara. Spirits, they can be oblivious sometimes.

<Handle all the- the sharp in your eyes?>

“Sharp in your-”

<She is seeing,> said Aksi. <And, as a vecol, she has never seen before. Experiencing a new sense can be overwhelming.>

“Like you with taste?” asked Twinkletoes.

<Yes, like that.> He sounded uncomfortable.

I took a deep breath, as well as I could with my tiny lemur nose. All right. Let’s do this.

I opened my eyes.

I had to learn these things. They made no sense to me, and while Momo could react to them, he had no words to describe them.

Blue. The quality of Aang’s arrow, the sky, and Aksi’s fur.

Green. The quality of the grass, the leaves of the trees.

Red. The quality of blood, and fire.

Yellow. Aang’s robes.

White. The clouds, and Appa’s fur.

Brown. The earth

I closed my lemur eyes, and saw Black.