"Excuse me..." Rei looked up at the sudden voice. It was one of the boys who went with Appa. He was an Earth Kingdom boy in a wheelchair.

"Yes?" Rei asked. The boy smiled and struck out his hand.

"I'm Teo." Rei smiled and took his hand.

"Reiko, but just Rei is fine." Teo nodded with a smile.

"And I'm Haru," Another boy introduced, this one with a moustache. "This little sleeping guy over here is The Duke." He said, referring to the small boy sleeping.

"And that sleeping over there is my brother, Aron." Rei said, pointing her thumb in the direction of him. It was now night time as they travelled on Appa.

"You look tired. Get some rest." Haru told her. She shook her head.

"I can't. I'm worried," Rei's thoughts were mainly conducted around Airon and Nayla and the injured Blaze. "Besides, you guys look worse than I do." Rei said with a nod.

"We're keeping watch. Those guys managed to get some sleep so we should let them." Haru said looking over to Aang, Sokka, Katara and Toph. Rei nodded.

"Rei! Aron!" Was suddenly heard. Sokka sat up in one swift movement, on guard instantly.

"Who's that?! I'll kill you!" He yelled, clearly tired. Rei rolled her eyes and looked out to where she had heard the voice. Her eyes went wide at the familiar flying white stag, now with a small seven year old Fire Nation girl on his back. In one swift movement, Rei elbowed Aron in the stomach. He gasped in awakening and clutched his stomach.

"What was that for?" He whimpered in pain.

"Look!" Rei said, pointing towards the incoming figures.

"Who's that?" Teo asked in question.

"That's Airon and out little sister, Nayla." Rei explained.

"Wow, family reunion I guess." Haru shrugged. Sokka looked over with tired eyes.

"Is that deer man?" He asked. Rei rolled her eyes.

"Just go back to sleep Sokka." He responded instantly by flopping against Appa's skin. Airon was now next to them. Aron helped Nayla off of his back and onto Appa. Rei immediately jumped off of Appa and clung to Airon's neck. Her grip around his neck was the only thing allowing her not to fall the height. Airon chuckled and swung his neck around, allowing her to land on his back. She hugged him tightly around the neck, and no words were exchanged further that night.

The next morning, everyone landed and started searching for the Western Air Temple on foot, seeing as Appa had been carrying all of them through the night. It wasn't just the usual gang either. Teo, Haru, The Duke, Aron, Nayla, Rei and Airon were all on Appa's back as well. He deserved to rest.

"This is humiliating." Katara stated.

"You mean getting thoroughly spanked by the Fire Nation or having to walk all the way to the Western Air Temple?" Sokka asked. Katara looked up him momentarily.

"Both."

"Sorry guys, but Appa gets tired carrying all these people."AAng explained, petting Appa.

"I wonder how the rest of the troops are." Teo said.

"They're probably on their way to a prison. Seems like my dad just got out and now he's going back in." Haru said.

"I miss Pipsqueak." The Duke said, sadly.

"I miss not having blisters on my feet." Sokka said. Suddenly, Toph stomped her foot down before smiling.

"Hey, we're here! I can feel it!" She said. They were now at a cliff edge.

"Uhhh ... I think your feet need their eyes checked." Sokka said.

"No I think she's right." Rei said with a smile. Sokka tilted his head at him confusion.

"You've been here before, right?" Aron asked her. She nodded.

"You've been here before?" Aang asked in surprise. Rei nodded.

"Yeah, it was the first place we went after running away." She said. Everyone looked at her in surprise.

"Wow ... it's amazing!" Toph gasped. Rei chuckled and swung herself onto Airon's back. He started running before jumping off the cliff, making his way down to the temple before landing. Appa followed them, the rest on his back.

"It's so different from the Northern Air Temple. I wonder if there are any secret rooms." Teo said.

"Let's go check it out!" Haru said, running to explore. Teo and The Duke followed him. Aang wanted to but got held back by Katara.

"You guys go. I think we need to talk about some things." She said.

"I'll race you, Duke." Teo said.

"I told you, it's The Duke!" He said before the three headed off.

"Why can't I go?" Aang asked.

"We need to decide what we're gonna do now, and since you're the Avatar, maybe you should be a part of this." Katara said.

"Fair enough. So, what's the new plan?" Aang asked, sitting down.

"Well, if you ask me, the new plan is the old plan! You just need to master all four elements and confront the Fire Lord before the comet comes." Sokka said matter-of-factly.

"Oh, yeah. That's great, no problem. I'll just do that." Aang said, sarcastically.

"Aang, no one said it's going to be easy." Katara said.

"Well, it's not even gonna be possible! Where am I supposed to get a firebending teacher?" Aang asked. Sokka coughed into his fist before making exaggerated arms movements towards Aron and Rei.

"To uncontrolled." Aron immediately said.

"I suck myself." Rei said with a nod. Sokka looked at them with eyes that yelled 'are you serious?!'.

"We could look for Jeong Jeong!" Katara said.

"Yeah... right. Like we'll ever run into Jeong Jeong again." Aang said, shooting the idea down.

"Who's... oh, never mind. If it's important I'll find out." Toph said, folding her arms.

"Oh well, guess we can't come up with anybody. Why don't we just take a nice tour around the temple?" Aang said before he and Momo flew off.

"What's up with him?" Toph asked.

"There's gotta be someone who can teach him firebending," Sokka sighed and turned to the siblings again. "Can you seriously not do anything?" Rei rolled her eyes.

"I ran away before I even unlocked my firebending. I had to teach myself and I hurt many people in the process, including Airon." Rei said.

"And I hurt Rei." Rei suddenly kicked him in the shin.

"No excuse!" She yelled as he hopped around on one leg.

"Yes it is! Your back still looks as hideous as Zuko's face!" Rei suddenly jumped and did a roundhouse kick to his stomach, causing for him to fly a distance.

"Awesome! Teach me that!" Rei frowned and turned to Nayla.

"Uh...no," Nayla frowned. Rei rolled her eyes. "Come on Airon." He trotted over and Rei climbed onto him.

"Where you going?" Sokka asked.

"There's some delicious mountain peaches here. I'm gonna see if I can get some." She said and Airon flew before they could say anything else.

"That's not all, is it?" Airon asked. She shook her head.

"I want to talk to you about something. Besides, I could really go for a mountain peach." Airon nodded and dematerialized them both. They reached the forest above where they started walking around.

"What is it you wanted to talk to me about?" Rei nodded.

"You remember what Master Bernings said? That he gave the push and that my gems will inform us of when I become a Master Soulbender?" Airon nodded. "Well, something funny happened. When we went to visit your siblings in the forest and me and Ferre went outside, the gem on my forehead suddenly materialized and glowed before disappearing." Airon frowned.

"Did anything happen?" Rei nodded.

"I could walk on water." Airon's eyes went wide.

"Wow. Nothing of the sort has happened to me."

"Maybe because you could already walk on water even before." He nodded.

"Maybe." Rei sighed.

"I'm worried, Airon. I really am worried. My brother and sister are here with us now, at a time where we're supposed to unlock new powers from within. It's dangerous." Rei said, worry laced in her words.

"You don't need to worry. You're a lot stronger than that now," Rei sighed but nodded, not wanting an argument. "Why do you think Aron won't teach Aang firebending? He's clearly qualified." Rei hummed.

"I'm not sure. I'm pretty sure that about me was only an excuse. I think he doesn't exactly trust them yet." Airon frowned.

"Why do you think that?"

"Well Airon was taught that the Avatar was evil from the very start. It's logical that he won't trust them immediately, even if he seems he does. Just like Katara and Sokka." Airon frowned.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, they don't trust us either. Fire Nation destroyed their home, took loved ones away. It would make sense if they don't trust us immediately as well."

"Even if you helped save Appa and travelled with them?"

"Whilst lying to them about my entire being," Airon said nothing but nodded. Rei sighed. "Mountain peaches grow right at the peak. There must not be." Airon nodded and turned around, heading back in the direction of the temple. As they reached the temple an interesting scene entered their visions. Appa was licking Zuko. Rei frowned as Airon moved closer, still dematerialized so no one could see them.

"I know you must be surprised to see me here." Zuko said.

"Not really, since you've followed us all over the world." Sokka said.

"Right. Well, uhhh ... anyway ... what I wanted to tell you about is that I've changed, and I, uhhh, I'm good now, and well I think I should join your group, oh, and I can teach firebending to you," The gang looked shocked. "I, uhhh ..."

"You want to what now?" Toph asked, surprised.

"You can't possibly think that any of us would trust you, can you? I mean, how stupid do you think we are?!" Katara yelled.

"Yeah, all you've ever done is hunt us down and try to capture Aang!" Sokka yelled.

"I've done some good things! I mean, I could have stolen your bison in Ba Sing Se, but I set him free. That's something!" Appa licked him again, much to his surprise. Rei chuckled, but of course, no one heard. She climbed off of Airon.

"Appa does seem to like him." Toph said.

"He probably just covered himself in honey or something so that Appa would lick him. I'm not buying it." Sokka said.

"No really, please! You can ask Reiko if you want, she was there!" Everyone frowned. Rei and Airon materialized, shocking everyone.

"Don't bring me into this." She stated.

"But can't you just-."

"No, Zuko. This is not my battle." Zuko sighed.

"I can understand why you wouldn't trust me, and I know I've made some mistakes in the past." Zuko said to the gang.

"Like when you attacked our village?" Sokka replied.

"Or when you stole my mother's necklace and used it to track us down and capture us?" Katara said.

"Look, I admit I've some awful things. I was wrong to try to capture you, and I'm sorry that I attacked the Water Tribe. And I never should have sent that Fire Nation assassin after you. I'm going to try and stop-." Zuko was cut off.

"Wait, you sent Combustion Man after us?" Sokka said, taking out his boomerang.

"Well, that's not his name, but-."

"Ohhh, sorry. I didn't mean to insult your friend!" Sokka replied sarcastically.

"He's not my friend!" Zuko replied, angrily.

"That guy locked me and Katara in jail and tried to blow us all up!" Toph yelled, angrily.

"Why aren't you saying anything? You once said you thought we could be friends. You know I have good in me." Zuko said to Aang who proceeded to look back at the gang, Sokka shaking his head.

"There's no way we can trust you after everything you've done. We'll never let you join us." Aang said.

"You need to get out of here. Now." Katara stated.

"I'm trying to explain that I'm not that person anymore!" Zuko yelled.

"Either you leave, or we attack."

"If you won't accept me as a friend, then maybe you'll take me as a prisoner." Zuko kneeled down, bended his head, and raised his arms in surrender.

"No, we won't!" Katara said as she blasted water at him. "Get out of here, and don't come back! And if we ever see you again, well, we'd better not see you again!" Zuko got up and walked away. As soon as he left, Katara turned to Rei.

"You know Zuko?" She asked accusingly.

"He was my prince, yes; and I came from a noble family. I knew him as a child. But besides that, I only met him once more. It was actually with Appa. I followed him because I thought he was going to use Appa as bait or blackmail. In the end, he rescued him." Rei explained.

"And how don't we know you're not on his side? That you're helping his case? You, your brother, your sister... you're all Fire Nation after all." Sokka said, pointing his boomerang at her. She raised an eyebrow and pushed away the boomerang with her finger.

"I never said you had to trust me," Rei said and examined each of them before continuing. "I admit I did lie to you, but who won't when you first met someone? Yes, I am Fire Nation and I ran away when I met Airon when I was six year old. Aron is my big brother, and Nayla is my little sister which I never knew about. There's also Dai, the oldest brother. I ran away because what happened to Aron's eye was my fault, but he feels it's his fault because of what happened to my back. Our lives are confusing and I would rather go back to fix what I have done to the family, but if I did that then nothing would've worked out as it is now. I would've never met Airon and I never would've gotten to see the world. The world which the Fire Nation ruined." Rei spoke determined before turning around and entering the temple to find Nayla and Aron, Airon following behind.

"I understand what you meant now," Airon said. Rei nodded, not responding in words. "Why do you think Zuko was here? You think he lied just to get close?" Rei bit her lip.

"I'm not sure." She said silently as she walked into a large chamber where the group was. The Duke and Nayla were talking, The Duke giving a large explanation with big arm movement as Nayla stared in amazement. Haru and Teo were talking with Aron, amusement on all of their faces. Rei smiled at this. Aron stood up when he saw her enter and ran over to her.

"Having fun?" She asked, amused.

"They were just telling me about their old homes... and what the Fire Nation did to them. Haru was thrown into a prison because he's an Earth bender and Teo's dad had to create war weapons for the Fire Nation as surety. You were right before. I'm sorry." Rei smiled sadly and looked over to Nayla.

"They seem like good friends." Aron looked back and nodded.

"It would seem so." Rei sighed.

"Sokka and Katara have suspicions about us, so please don't do anything rash. And watch over Nayla, I'm a little worried about her." Aron nodded. Rei then exited the room. Airon followed behind and they searched through the temple until Rei found what she was looking for. A library.

"It's big." Airon commented. They walked through until they found a large round red carpet with old coaches on top of it for reading.

"Come on; let's get these heavy saddlebags off," After getting them off and placing them down, Airon collapsed against the dusty coach. Rei took her back pack and sat against him, taking her three books from Wan Shi Tong's Library. She took Avatar Wan's biography and opened it to her last bookmark.

"Getting interested again?"

"Getting my mind off everything else." Airon nodded slowly and signalled to the book about Harmonic Convergence. Rei took it and placed it in front of him, opening to his last bookmark. They both started reading and later fell silently asleep.

"There you are! I've been looking everywhere for you!" Katara said as she shook Rei awake to no success. Rei and Airon were sleeping like boulders. Katara sighed and looked down at them again, this time noting the two open and one closed book in front of them. She picked them up and read the titles. 'The Biography of Avatar Wan', 'Harmonic Convergence – Raava and Vaatu', and 'The Spirit World and the Physical World'. She frowned and wondered why they would be interested in such topics. Unless they're planning an attack on Aang, Katara's mind raced. She placed two books down and kept the biography. She opened to the first page.

In the beginning, there was no such thing as bending. Only the people, the animals, the spirits, and then there were the Lion Turtles. With help from the Lion Turtles and the Spirit of Peace and Light, Raava, Wan later became known as the very first Avatar.

Katara frowned and gently closed the book. She placed it down on top of the others. These books are then all about spirits...I remember Rei mentioning researching Airon's heritage when we were in Ba Sing Se... Katara sighed and walked over to Rei once more. She shook her shoulder.

"Come on Rei, breakfast is getting cold." I don't know if I should trust them, but when I talked with Toph last night, she said that she trusts Rei. Rei helped save Appa, and she helped save us from the Fire Nation. I'm not sure about her siblings so much, but I think that Rei... no, I don't know what to think, Katara sighed and picked up one of the books. She aimed it over Rei's head and dropped it. Rei sat up very swiftly with a cry of pain.

"Katara? What was that for?!" She screeched as she rubbed her head.

"You were completely passed out. Now come on, breakfast is getting cold." Rei sighed and nodded, standing up. She reached down and shook Airon awake. When he didn't budge, she leaned down and whispered something to him. Airon sat up swiftly with an accused face on his face.

"It wasn't me, Master Bernings! It was Rei! I swear!" Rei's mouth dropped.

"You were willing to sell me out that quickly?!" Rei said accusingly. Airon laughed sheepishly and stood up. Katara smiled slightly and exited the library, Rei and Airon following behind. They made it outside where everyone sat around a large pot. Katara handed two bowls to Rei for herself and Airon once they were seated. She placed one in front of Airon and began eating herself. She handed one to The Duke.

"Has anyone seen Toph?" She asked.

"I haven't seen her since she stormed off yesterday." Sokka commented.

"Maybe she's just exploring the air temple. There are some pretty fun spots to practice earthbending." Haru suggested.

"I think we should go look for her." Katara suggested.

"Let her have fun with her rocks. I'm in no rush to have her yelling at us again." Sokka said.

"We can go check for her!" The Duke suggested.

"Yeah! I want to ride that tunnel down to the Hall of Statues again. It will work a lot better now that I fixed my brakes." Teo said excitedly. Haru, The Duke, and Teo exited, Nayla wanting to join but Aron held her back so that she could finish her food. A large rumble occurred. A hole suddenly formed in the wall and Toph fell through.

"Toph! What happened?" Katara yelled as she and everyone else ran over.

"My feet got burned!" Toph said.

"Oh no, what happened?" Katara asked.

"I just told you, my feet got burned!" Toph snapped.

"I meant, how." Katara rephrased.

"Well, I kind of went to see Zuko last night." She explained, shocking everyone.

"You what?" Aang asked in disbelief.

"Zuko?" Katara questioned.

"I thought he could be helpful to us. And if I talked to him, maybe we could work something out." Toph said as Katara started to heal her feet.

"So he attacked you?" Sokka asked.

"Well, he did, and he didn't. It was sort of an accident." Toph explained. Nayla looked confused but Aron just shook his head at her.

"But he did firebend at you?" Toph sighed at Aang's question.

"Yes."

"See? You trusted Zuko, and you got burned. Literally!" Sokka yelled.

"It's gonna take a while for your feet to get better. I wish I could have worked on them sooner." Katara said as she stopped healing.

"Yeah, me too." Toph said sadly.

"Zuko's clearly too dangerous to be left alone. We're gonna have to go after him." Sokka said.

"I hate to go looking for a fight, but you're right. After what he did to Toph, I don't think we have a choice." Aang explained.

"He's crafty, but we'll find a way to capture him." Sokka said.

"Maybe just invite him back here. He's already offered himself up as a prisoner once." Toph said as Sokka and Aang went to pick her up.

"Yeah, get him to come back and say he'll be our prisoner, then we'll jump him and really make him our prisoner. He'll never suspect it!" Sokka said as he and Aang carried Toph away, Rei and Airon following.

"You are a master of surprise, Sokka ..." Katara shook her head. Toph was placed down at the fountain and dipped her feet into the water.

"Ahhh, that's the stuff. Now I know how the rest of you guys feel. Not being able to see with your feet stinks." Rei chuckled lightly and leaned down next to Toph.

"Can I see your feet?" Toph hesitated a little before swinging around her feet towards Rei who examined them.

"Is something wrong?" Toph asked.

"I might be able to heal it, but you might not like it." Toph frowned.

"What do you mean you can heal it?" Sokka asked, confused. Rei sighed and nodded.

"Can you really heal it?" Katara asked with a raised eyebrow. Rei exhaled and nodded.

"But what did you mean by I might not like it?" Toph asked. Rei bit her bottom lip and sighed.

"Never mind. Forget about it." She said as she placed Toph's feet back into the water and stood up, walking over to Airon as she remembered her training.

Rei cried out in pain as she suddenly rolled onto a rock. Her back stung and blinded her, her old wounds reopening. First born suddenly sat up and frantically got to his hooves and ran over to her. Rei sat up slowly, blood beginning to roll down her back onto the cave floor. She reached forward and hugged first born around the neck.

"It's okay, I'm fine." Rei said, reassuringly.

"I don't think you are." She turned and saw Master Bernings making his way to her.

"It's okay, I really am fine." Rei said with a pain filled smile.

"Although it's been a month, second degree burns are nasty things to look out for. You've been concentrating on your training so much that you haven't focussed on your healing process, which only made it worse. If you had only told me about your burns we could have done something early in time." Rei scoffed.

"What am I supposed to do now then? Nothing?" Master Bernings hesitated in thought.

"You managed to activate your firebending a little while ago and can now create a soul filled fire. I think I can teach you how to use it now." Rei frowned.

"Use it? Use the fire?" He nodded.

"It can be used for many things and healing is one of them. Come, I'll teach you how."

An explosion suddenly went off, causing everyone to scurry around and Aang and Sokka to pick Toph up again.

"Stop! I don't want you hunting the Avatar anymore! The mission is off. I'm ordering you to stop." They suddenly heard Zuko shout and looked up to see him standing there in front of a rather bolder looking man. The man shoves him away.

"If you keep attacking, I won't pay you!" Zuko tried to firebend at the man but got quickly stopped. "All right, I'll pay you double to stop!" The man shot but Zuko kicked him, causing to miss. He turns around and shoots at Zuko who made a firewall to protect himself. Rei was suddenly grabbed and Aron pulled her away to safety.

"Who is that?!" She yelled.

"Combustion Man!" Sokka yelled. Katara and Aang went out to try and attack him.

"Hey hold up, where's Nayla?" Aron asked as he looked around frantically. Rei looked over the fountain and saw her standing in a dust cloud, frozen.

"Nayla!" She yelled and ran after her, Aron yelling in protest. Combustion Man took aim at Nayla. Aang went to interfere but Combustion Man shot just as Aang kicked him, causing the aim to go little off. Rei pushed Nayla away, ignoring the sudden pain in her lower right abdomen. Aron grabbed both girls and dragged them back behind the fountain.

"What were you doing? Idiot!" Arion scolded. Katara suddenly bended ice spikes at him, everyone running behind in the diversion. Combustion man was angered by this and started to blindly attack.

"He's going to blast this whole place right off the cliff side!" Toph screeched. Katara peaked from behind the wall.

"I can't step out to waterbend at him without being blown up and I can't get a good enough angle on him from down here." She said. Sokka thought for a moment.

"I know how to get an angle on him!" He said as he took out his boomerang and ran out. While everyone was focused on the attack, Airon stared at Rei who bit her lower lip in pain. Her body was trembling, threatening to collapse. She tried to stay strong but her pure white pale face gave away another story. Her world started to spin as she lifted up her right hand, seeing her blood. She heard the distant cry of her voice before it went blank.

Rei sat up swiftly as a wet tongue ran over her face. She stared at the amused Airon in horror. He laughed.

"What was that for?" She asked.

"You've been out for seven hours, and I thought you'd like to hear the good news." Rei frowned.

"Yeah?" Airon chuckled and looked over to a basket in the room.

"I found mountain peaches." Rei's eyes went wide and tried to make a grab at the basket, only for her lower right abdomen to cry out in protest. Rei winced and lifted her top, seeing the already healing injury.

"Katara." Airon nodded. Rei flicked her right hand, a flame appearing. She focused on the flame, colour swivelling into it. She slowly pressed her hand down onto her wound, the fire turning a bright white light. Unaware to them, Katara was staring with wide eyes from the door. Not long after, Rei removed her hand to see the faintly distinguishable scar, slowly disappearing. She smiled in satisfaction and grabbed at the basket aking a peach.

"So where'd you get them? There weren't when we looked." Rei asked.

"Wrong mountain." Rei suddenly felt stupid. It was then that Katara entered, a bowl of water and cloth with her.

"Oh hey Katara," She didn't respond, causing Rei to stare in confusion before sighing. "What did I do this time?" Katara snapped.

"You went out there and stupidly got injured!"

"I had to protect Nayla." Rei explained.

"So? You can't be so reckless! You should've gotten help!" Rei rolled her eyes and lay back down, folding her hands under her head. Katara sighed and sat on her knees besides Rei. "I'm sorry." She quietly apologized. Airon stared at them, amused. Rei didn't respond for a while before sighing.

"I'm sorry. All my life the only one I really had to protect was Airon, and I was alone so there was nobody to ask help from." Katara nodded.

"I understand..." There was hesitation before she continued to another topic. "Hey, can I ask you something? A few things actually." Rei frowned.

"Alright... go ahead." She said, unsure.

"Those... books you have, why do you have them?" Rei smiled slightly.

"You mean about Avatar Wan, Harmonic Convergence and the two worlds?" Katara bit her lip and nodded. "I stole them from Wan Shi Tong's Library."

"No but I mean, why are you interested?" Rei made an 'O' with her mouth.

"Ah I see. Well you know Airon's a spirit right?" Katara nodded. "Just doing a little more research about it."

"Oh I see... When you said you could heal Toph but that she wouldn't like it, was that what you did just now? With the fire?" Rei nodded and took another bite of the mountain peach, enjoying the savouring fruit. Katara looked down and fumbled with her fingers.

"You don't trust me, I get that, and your worried I might be planning something. But like I said earlier, if you want me gone, just say so." She told her before standing up.

"No, wait, it's not-!" Katara tried but got cut off.

"Would you trust me more if I told you guys about my past? Why I ran away and what I've been doing until now?" Katara froze and was left speechless. Rei sighed and shook her head. "I'm going to the library." She said and exited after picking up the basket, AIron following behind silently.