It took them several days of driving to reach the Northern Air Temple, and then they had to make their way up the mountains into the ruins. “Are you sure this is where he said he wanted to meet us?” Kimiko asked, in a hushed voice, upon seeing the tall, precarious temple.

Yí Xīn helped her up one of the steeper inclines.  “He said a place with a profound connection to the spirit world.  This one is the closest.”

“Okay,” she said, accepting this. “…So, now what do I do? I mean, I’m here, where he wanted me to be…”

“I think we actually need to get inside.  I heard tell of rooms within the temples, that only benders can open.  Probably inside one of those.”

She nodded. “All right, that makes sense.”

“Let’s just hope nobody’s beaten us here.”

“Yeah, definitely.” She followed him into the temple. “So, how do we find this special room?”

“You’re the airbender.”

“Yeah, but I’ve never been to one of these temples. I don’t even know where the Air Nomads cross my bloodline, exactly. Only the core line is kept track of, and my mother was also Shirokora. The core line always marries Shirokora.”

“…that sounds disturbingly incestuous, but whatever.  I guess we’ll just have to explore.”

“Mom and Dad were, like, nine degrees apart,” Kimiko pointed out, picking a hallway to wander down. “It’s not as gross as it sounds.”

“Well, given that I can technically only trace my family line through the women, I really have no room at all to talk.”  He followed after her.

Eventually, they came to a large door. “You think that twisty pipe thing is the lock?” she asked, in a hushed voice.

“Might could be.  Why not try to open it?”

She nodded, braced herself, and sent a jet of air through the pipe.  As the two of them watched, the wind turned three plates, emitting three different tones, and then the doors creaked open.

Kimiko took a deep breath. “Do you come in with me, or do I go alone?”

“I  think you should go it alone.”  He eyed his hand.  “I kind of punched the Peacemaker in the face the last time.”

“…why?”

“Apparently one of my preincarnations knew him.  And they didn’t have compatible personalities.”

“…Oh. Okay, then… I guess I do go in alone.” She stared at the open door. Why am I so nervous? Well, gee, maybe it has something to do with the fact that he’s been held up to me as the Ideal since I was born…

“… I don’t want to go alone,” she said, in a very small voice.

He looked at her, and smiled.  “Then you won’t go in alone,” he said, offering her his hand.”

She gave him a relieved smile of her own, took his hand, and stepped into the room.

He walked with her; and behind them, the doors closed.

The room started humming slightly, and a shadow passed over Kimiko’s face. Her eyes went wide and blank, and she slowly sank to the floor.

“Kimiko!”  Yí Xīn cried, catching her and kneeling on the floor.  He looked at her face and closed his eyes.  “I guess he wanted to talk to you alone after all.”  Suddenly, he felt very alone.

 

Some time later, the shadow passed over Kimiko’s face, and her eyes lost their blankness. “What’d I miss… ?”

The mechanic was still holding her; he seemed to have fallen asleep. His expression, however, was worried.

“… How long was I there… ?” She carefully extricated herself and went to the window to check.  The sun had set long ago and the moon was on the rise.  “Um. Ok, so, a long time,” she answered her own question.

Behind her, Yí Xīn murmured something and slumped further down the wall.  Kimiko watched him sleep, and debated what to do next, thinking over all her ancestor had told her. She still didn’t quite believe him that it was her choice how things went.

Yí Xīn murmured again, but now it was more of a frightened sound.  Apparently his dreams were not pleasant.

She bit her lip, debating waking her companion up. Nightmares were no fun, but they were probably better for him than no sleep at all…

His head jerked to one side, violently, as if he’d been slapped, and a pained cry escaped his lips.

She bit her lip. Okay, waking him up now. She walked over and shook him slightly. “Yí Xīn?”

His eyes snapped open and he yelled, a hand coming up and nearly striking her.

She backed away a bit. “You were dreaming. It sounded bad. I woke you up.”

His eyes met hers, and then he slumped, dropping his hand.  “It was bad,” he said softly.

“Want to talk about it?”

“No,” he sad flatly, getting to his feet.  “Did you have a nice chat with Zuko?”

“It was… interesting,” she said. “And kind of weird. He’s not at all like I expected.”

“How do you mean?”

“Well… I mean, we’re taught that… I mean, my family’s always said that… well… I don’t know. It’s hard to explain.”

He nodded.  “What did he want?”

“Just… to talk. And give me some advice, I think.”

“You think?”

“It’s… well, the whole thing was really weird, okay?”

“All right,” he said soothingly.  “We should probably head out on our way.”

She nodded. “Yeah, makes sense.” Then she frowned. “…Except I don’t really wanna try climbing down the mountain in the dark.”

“Neither do I.”  Yí Xīn looked around.  “No more do I want to sleep in here again.  No way no how.”

“Well, people used to live in these places, right? That means there must be, like, dorms or something. Why don’t we try and find some?”

“Sounds like a plan.” 

 “Okay, so, um… my textbook doesn’t say much about the temples except that they were razed at the beginning of Sozin’s War.”

“Good for Sozin.  We’ll just have to explore.”

She nodded. “Your turn to pick a hallway.”

Yí Xīn nodded, and glanced at the hallways, then pointed to them in turn.  “Inky binky bonky…”  At the end of the nonsense rhyme, he nodded to the hall he was left pointing to.  “That way.”

“Okay.” Kimiko started down it.

The tall mechanic followed, checking behind them as he went.

After an hour or two of exploring, they found a row of rooms with what looked like beds in them. “Looks like we found the dorms.”

“Yep.  Pick a bed.”

She picked the second room down the hall.  Yí Xīn nodded and wandered into the closest bedroom, where he promptly passed out on the bed, heedless of the dust that had collected.

Kimiko curled up on her bed, pondering what her ancestor had said. It was a long time before she slept.

 

*                       *                       *

 

 

“We’re not the first ones here,” Shí said, looking at the floor.

“What do you mean?” Yĭng asked.

“Footprints in the dust.  Recent, too.”

“I can hear conversation,” mumbled Kody.  “And snoring.”

“I move we stay away from the sounds,” Shí said.

“… I could go see who they are,” Yĭng offered.

“Or I could,” offered Kody. “I’m very personable.”

“No,” Shí said to Yĭng, “and hell no,” she added to Kody.

Kody grinned a bit at this. It was almost too easy to wind the soldier up.

“You’d hurt them. And we don’t know if they’re hostile, or if the situation can be diffused peaceably,” Yĭng shot at Kody. “And the only way to find out,” she said, turning to Shí, “is for someone to go talk to them.”

“I don’t see why we can’t just leave them alone,” replied Shí.  She frowned.  “I smell fire…”

Before Yĭng or Kody could respond, a thirteen-year-old girl in an oversized sweatshirt and a miniskirt came out of one of the hallways, lugging a pair of broadswords.  She clearly was only vaguely aware of which end was the one to hold, let alone how to actually wield them.

Kody had begun to tense up as he heard someone approaching, but froze when he saw what it was. An eyebrow went up.

Shí stopped in mid-reach for her sidearm; like Kody, she arched an eyebrow.  “That… was not what I expected,” she admitted.

“You said it, soldier-girl,” muttered Kody.

The girl froze and stared at the three of them, before turning around and fleeing back the way she came.  “Wait!” Yĭng called, and started to go after her.

When Yĭng caught up with the younger girl, she was in a small room, trying to shake a sleeping man awake. “Wū Fĕi! Wū Fĕi, wake up!”

The man sprang awake instantly and sat up; his eyes lighted on Yĭng and narrowed.  Yĭng spread her hands. “My name is Tŭ Yĭng, I am the youngest daughter of Tŭ Shu No, a Senator in the Republic of Fire. My companions and I don’t mean any harm to you, we didn’t even know anyone was here.”

“How lovely for you,” the man said, pulling the younger girl behind him protectively and drawing a lighter from his pocket.  “Now go away.”

“What a shame,” came a voice from behind Yĭng.  “Now let’s leave the nice people alone.”

“Kody, I told you to let me figure out if they were going to attack us first!” Yĭng snapped at her temporary bodyguard.

“You did. I ignored you.”

“Like benders listen to ordinary folk?”

She sighed. It was a long-suffering one. “And Shí didn’t listen to me, either.”

Kody winced at Shí’s comment. “I didn’t ask for it, you know!” he shouted at her.

The little girl pulled back a little further behind the other man, clutching her swords a little tighter.

“Of course not,” sneered the soldier.  “It’s something you’re born with.  Such a rare, destructive talent, bending—”

“You want destruction?” demanded the gold-eyed man the child was hiding behind.  “Try some!”  He flicked the lighter open and lit it, then cupped a hand around the small flame and threw it at Kody, turning it into a blazing wall; then he’d grabbed the girl up under one arm and was running down the hall.

Yĭng yelped and backed away from the fire. “Dammit, you two, now look what you’ve done!” she yelled, then tried to find a way around the wall to follow the two strangers.

Sighing loudly, Kody cracked open one of the flasks at his hip. With a flail of his arm, a spray of water blew out and extinguished a path through the flame.

Yĭng took advantage of this and pelted after the younger girl and her guardian.  Kody let out yet another sigh before running after her. “I should have stayed in the cardboard box,” he mumbled.

Shí, despite her wounds, was faster than Yĭng and Kody; she bolted past them and tore after the escaping pair.

 

“An Wei, quickly!” panted Yí Xīn.  “Open the door!”  He’d come to a halt at the place where Kimiko had met her ancestor earlier.  While he waited for her, he set up another fire barrier.

“O-okay!” the girl replied, and focused and blew through the tubes again.  So he really is a bender. No way the wall could've gotten that big otherwise. Well, he told me to be careful, and when he lied before, he didn’t know for sure he could trust me. It was the smart thing to do. Didn’t mean the lie didn’t hurt.

The doors creaked open just as Shí exploded through the fire.  “Kody!” the soldier cried, watching the two strangers bolt through the doors, which began to close.  She spun to one side.  “Don’t let those doors close!”

“Don’t think this sets a precedent!” he shouted, popping the cap off another flask, larger than the first. Water flowed out in a clear sheet.  Kody quickly directed it toward the doors and froze it solid, keeping the doors from closing completely. There was just enough of a gap for a person to get through.

Lightning-quick, Shí dove through the opening.  Yĭng followed the soldier through the gap.  Kody followed immediately after, and quickly pushed to the front of the line.  He was met by a blast of fire from the black-haired teenager; Yĭng yelped again and dove to the side.  Said blast of fire was quickly turned to vapour by a wall of water. “You are asking for it, flamer,” barked Kody, gathering more water into his hands.

Before either could make another move, the room started humming, and a slight, bald, tattooed man appeared between them. “I think that’s enough,” he said.