Azara walked through the swamp, calmer after her slight breakdown back at the mirage of her mother. Shaking her head, Azara sighed and continued pushing her way through the vines when she heard a familiar voice from behind her. Turning around, Azara spotted Sokka walking towards her. She narrowed her eyes and raised her hands, prepared to unleash a volley of fire blasts at another mirage. "Stop with the stupid mirages, swamp!" she yelled as Sokka slowed down, his hands raised in surrender.

"Hey, it's me," Sokka replied softly, causing Azara to relax slightly, but her offensive form remained with her shoulders tensed.

"Prove it! Say something that only the real Sokka would say," she demanded, her eyes staring deep into his own.

"Uh . . . what would the real me say?" Sokka contemplated, rubbing his chin in contemplation. "Uh, boomerang? No, no, that's not good enough. Uh, meat? No, that's too easy." Azara relaxed as Sokka continued to argue with himself over the best phrase to use. Chuckling to herself, Azara shook her head lightly and stood up.

"Alright, you convinced me," Azara replied, trudging through the mud towards him.

"But I didn't come up with a phrase yet," Sokka pointed out as Azara moved to stand next to him.

"That's the point, scatterbrain," Azara spoke sarcastically, crossing her arms over her chest. "Also, what the hell happened back there?"

"I don't know, one minute we were sleeping and the next, the vines pulled us away. And I've seen some weird stuff out here," Sokka noted, blinking repeatedly as memories of the mirage reappeared in his mind.

"I hate this swamp," she sighed in agreement, staring down at the mud.

"Did you see a vision too?" Sokka questioned as Azara turned to meet his gaze.

"I thought I saw . . . my mom," Azara supplied, wrapping her arms around herself. Sokka's eyes widened in surprise. From the limited glimpses into her past that she had provided him with, Azara's relationship with her mother was difficult to define, or rather difficult might be its best descriptor. Sokka could definitely sense a tone of resentment, but Azara seemed to have some fond memories of her mother. And she was very clearly shaken up by the vision.

"What about you, did you see anything?" Azara asked, turning to Sokka. Blinking, Sokka looked to the ground, flashes of his mirage reappearing. Turning back, Sokka released a breath as he reminded himself that Azara was alive and safe.

"Uh . . ." Sokka trailed off, not sure how to explain to Azara that his nightmare mirage was of her dying. Again. As he trailed off, Azara assumed that he had seen something horrifying, perhaps his mother or someone else close to him that he had lost earlier in his life.

"We don't have to talk about it if you don't want to," Azara replied, resting a hand on his arm. As Sokka opened his mouth to reply, they were suddenly slammed into by Aang and Katara.

The group tumbled through some more swamp before falling in a heap. "What do you guys think you're doing?! I've been looking all over for you guys!"

"Well, I've been wandering around looking for you!" Katara retorted as Azara rubbed her head in pain. Pulling down her hand, Azara sighed as she noticed the blood on her hand.

"That seems about right," Azara grumbled, holding her hand in front of her chest.

"I was chasing some girl," Aang admitted sheepishly as he walked over to help Katara up.

"What girl?" Katara questioned as she accepted Aang's hand. Sokka turned to Azara, who was still sitting on the root they had fallen onto. His heart leapt into his throat when he noticed Azara's blood-covered hand in front of her chest.

"You're bleeding!" Sokka exclaimed, cutting off Aang's explanation.

"Relax, it's just a small cut," Azara assured him, pointing at the small cut on her forehead. "What's got you all freaked out?"

"Nothing," Sokka replied quickly, too quickly. Azara raised an eyebrow but didn't push him as Katara moved to heal Azara's cut.

"So, what girl did you see, Aang?" Azara asked, steering the conversation away from herself.

"I don't know. I heard laughing and saw some girl in a fancy dress."

"Well, there must be a tea party here and we just didn't get invitations!" Sokka huffed sarcastically, waving his arms around.

"I thought I saw Mom," Katara admitted, causing Sokka to straighten.

"I thought I saw my mom too," Azara replied quietly, her and Katara sharing a similar traumatized look on their faces.

"Look, we were all just scared and hungry and our minds were playing tricks on us. That's why we all saw things out here."

"You saw something too?" Katara questioned, causing Sokka to look away for a moment, his eyes glancing at Azara for a second, before retraining on Katara.

"I thought I saw Azara," Sokka stated plainly, causing Aang and Katara to look at Azara in surprise, who herself was flabbergasted at his admission.

"You mean before Katara and Aang ran into us?" Azara asked quietly, her eyes focused on Sokka, who shook his head.

"No . . . you at the North Pole with the . . ." Sokka gestured to his chest, Azara realizing immediately what he was alluding to.

"At the Spirit Oasis?" she continued, causing Sokka to nod in confirmation.

"Whatever these visions mean, they all led us right here," Aang stated, walking around the roots.

"Ok, so where's here? The middle of the swamp?" Katara questioned, following after Aang. Sokka and Azara trailed after her, an awkward silence falling over them.

"Yeah, the center. It's the heart of the swamp. It's been calling us here. I knew it!" Aang exclaimed, walking towards the large tree.

"It's just a tree. It can't call anyone. For the last time, there's nothing after us and there's nothing magical happening here!" Sokka snapped as Azara caught sign of movement behind him. Her eyes widened in fear as a large vine monster appeared from the swamp water.

"Tell that to that thing!" she screamed, pointing at the swamp monster as the group huddled together, their yells echoing around the swamp.

As the swamp monster raised its arm, the group scattered, each running in different directions. Rolling under a swing, Azara sent several fire slashes at the swamp monster, who turned to face her. "Oh shit," she cursed before she turned and sprinted away. She yelled out as the swamp monster knocked her deep into the swamp.

Landing roughly in the water, Azara spit out the swamp water that had forced itself into her mouth before getting up and running back to the fight. Spotting Sokka in the grasp of the swamp monster, Azara glared and quickened her pace. "Put him down!" Doing a cartwheel, Azara released a strong fire slice from her feet, which caused Sokka to drop out of the swamp monster's grasp.

Standing, Azara rolled out of the way as the swamp monster swatted at her again. Katara returned to the scene, having been flung aside as well. "Aim for the arms!" Katara yelled over at Azara, who nodded in affirmation. Katara swings her arms repeatedly, which cut through the layers of vines. Azara released several fire slashes of her own.

"There's someone in there! He's bending the vines!" Sokka pointed out, causing Azara to narrow her eyes. She jumped forwards and spun to release a powerful slice towards the face of the swamp monster. The mask split, its pieces falling to the side. A moment of calm passed before the swamp monster returned with a vengeance, shooting out vines towards Azara and Katara, both of which soon found themselves stuck in the tangles.

Aang then jumped down with his staff, releasing a powerful air blast and blowing away the vines to reveal a man. "Why did you call me here if you just wanted to kill us?!" Aang demanded, standing up.

"Wait!" the man called out, shuffling out of the vines. Azara wrinkled her nose as she realized the man was wearing nothing more than a leaf loincloth. "I didn't call you here."

"We were flying over, and I heard someone calling to me, telling me to land," Aang replied, his offensive stance remaining.

"He's the Avatar. Stuff like that happens to us a lot," Sokka supplied as the man still looked confused.

"The Avatar?" the man gasped before turning. "Come with me." The group followed after him suspiciously as he walked towards the large tree in the center of the swamp.

"So, who are you then?" Azara asked, following after Aang.

"I protect the swamp from folks that want to hurt it, like this fella with his big knife," Huu replied, pointing at Sokka. The group turned back to look at Sokka, with Aang especially having an 'I-told-you-so' look on his face.

"See, completely reasonable. Not a monster, just a regular guy defending his home. Nothing mystical about it," Sokka shrugged, putting away his machete.

"Oh, the swamp is a mystical place all right. It's sacred," Huu corrected, moving to sit at the base of the tree. "I reached enlightenment right here under the banyan-grove tree. I heard it calling me, just like you did."

"Sure, you did. It seems real chatty," Sokka scoffed sarcastically, gesturing up at the tree.

"See this whole swamp is actually just one tree spread out over miles. Branches spread and shrink, take root, and spread some more. One big, living organism. Just like the entire world," Huu explained, as Azara and Katara shared surprised looks. The group took their seats, forming a circle on the ground with Huu.

"But what did our visions mean?" Katara asked, causing Huu to hum.

"In the swamp, we see visions of people we've lost, people we loved, folks we think are gone," Huu responded, causing Azara to look at her hands at the thought of her mother. Shaking her head, she knew she didn't have the energy to deal with that right now. "But the swamp tells us they're not. We're still connected to them. Time is an illusion and so is death."

"That doesn't make any sense. The person I saw is alive," Sokka stated, crossing his arms over his chest. Azara looked up at Sokka's statement, though he didn't meet her eyes.

"Really? You're sure?" Huu questioned, looking surprised.

"Pretty sure," Azara piped up sarcastically, leaning her head on her hand. Huu's gaze landed on her, his head tilting to the side.

"He saw you?" Huu looked to Sokka for confirmation before turning back to Azara. "In what way?" Sokka felt his mouth go dry but cleared his throat and spoke.

"She was, uh . . . dying."

"Did you actually die?" Huu asked, looking back over at Azara, who shrugged.

"I mean, apparently I didn't have a pulse and I wasn't breathing. So, I suppose I was technically . . ." Azara trailed off, not sure how to respond to the question.

"But you're alive. How?"

"The Moon Spirit saved me," Azara supplied, not really sure how else to explain that strange day.

"The Moon Spirit!" Huu gasped, before smacking his knee. "Well, there you go. Spirits meddling in the natural order."

"So . . . I was supposed to die there?" Azara questioned nervously, to which Huu shrugged.

"I don't know. I'm not a spirit, but if the Moon Spirit got involved, I would have to assume you have a greater purpose in this life."

"Yay me," Azara whispered sarcastically to herself, breathing in and out to calm her erratically beating heart.

"Well, what about my vision? It was someone I had never met," Aang interrupted, glancing worriedly over at Azara before turning back to Huu.

"You're the Avatar. You tell me."

"Time is an illusion. So, it's someone I will meet," Aang deduced, causing Huu to smile and nod.

"Sorry to interrupt the lesson, but we still need to find Appa and Momo," Sokka stated, standing up from his position next to Azara.

"I think I know how to find them." Aang kneeled down, placing his hand on the tree root. "Everything is connected." The group looked on as Aang concentrated for a moment, before standing up. "Come on! We've got to hurry!"

Aang led the way through the brush towards three small boats filled with more swamp people. Azara's eyes widened at the sight of Appa being dragged along. Aang swung his staff, sending one of the boats flying through the air. "Appa!" Aang called, sending an air blast at another boat to free Momo.

"We're under attack!" one of the swamp men yelled, holding onto his leaf hat. He stood up and sent a water blast at Aang and Katara, who held it back with their waterbending. Sokka, Huu, and Azara burst through the tree lining and glanced between the two waterbending groups.

"Hey, you guys are waterbenders!" Katara exclaimed in surprise.

"You too! That means we're kin!" the swamp man yelled back, looking excited. Katara wrinkled her nose as the swamp man turned to Huu. "Hey Huu! How you been?"

"You know, scared some folks, swung some vines, the usual," Huu shrugged, a calm smile on his face as always.

The group followed the swamp people back to their camp for dinner. Azara sat quietly next to Aang as the swamp people prepared the meal. Glancing around the camp, Azara's eyes widened at the large reptile that waddled past her. The catgator moved to sit next to Due, who was stirring some kind of stew over the fire.

"You know, I think this has got to be the weirdest experience yet," Azara admitted to Aang, who looked sick as one of the swamp people handed him some large bug.

"Agreed," Aang replied as Sokka and Katara fell into a conversation with the swamp people about waterbending and the South Pole. "Are you okay, by the way? You looked really shaken up by Huu's comments," Aang asked, turning to Azara as he pushed the bug off his plate.

"Yeah, I think I'll manage. I just . . . I'd rather not think that I'm serving some greater purpose, which I didn't even know about up until a few hours ago."

"Join the club," Aang joked as Azara sent him a kind smile.

"Sorry, I shouldn't be complaining to you of all people about that," Azara chuckled as they stared at the fire.

"It's alright," Aang smiled, glancing over at Azara. "Don't worry, we'll put this swamp and those weird visions behind us soon."

"Right, those visions," Azara sighed, thinking back to Huu's words.

In the swamp, we see visions of people we've lost, people we loved.

Azara's eyes suddenly widened in realization. "People we loved," she whispered to herself, feeling her cheeks inflame immediately.

"Did you say something?" Aang questioned, but Azara quickly shook her head and tried to keep her eyes from bugging out of her head. Glancing up at Sokka, who was busy arguing with Due about something, Azara tucked a stray hair behind her ear before returning her stare to the fire. Biting her lip in nervousness, Azara tried to rein in the rising fantasy. 

A.N. So here was the second part of the Swamp episode. It's probably the last update for a while though I am certainly NOT abandoning this story. I've essentially outlined the rest of the book, but haven't written it (obviously). I, as I'm assuming most of you guys are, am having some rough days with the pandemic and its impact on my life. And so, I won't be on here for a bit. 

Thank you as always to all my readers, voters, and commenters! The support you guys gave me really helped me in some dark spots, so I really do appreciate your support of this book. Stay safe and stay healthy everyone!