༉˚*ೃ ¹³. 𝐌𝐄𝐃𝐃𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐒𝐏𝐈𝐑𝐈𝐓𝐒!

𝐋𝐔𝐋𝐈'𝐒 𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐑𝐎𝐃𝐔𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 𝐓𝐎 the spirits of their world had been... rocky. If someone were to ask her what she thought of them, her answer would be: terrifying and wonderful. Which was, of course, true, but also emphasis on the terrifying part, because everything that they'd learned of the spirits in the Fire Nation proved that despite how courteous the spirits could be, they were also notoriously ruthless.

          She certainly was not equipped to deal with them in the flesh in any capacity.

          The young firebender was currently sitting on the back of Appa's saddle as he soared through the air. Despite the initial uneasiness of constantly being off the ground, its comforting rocking motion had grown tremendously on her. Luli's hands were rubbing more salve into the minor burns littered across her skin from the prison break. A hiss escaped her lips as she laid the lotion over a particularly angry one on her wrist. They wouldn't scar. The same couldn't be said about the already twisted red lines decorating the insides of her palms.

          Fire lashes were a mean form of discipline.

          Aang and Sokka laughed about something up at the front of the saddle, as the six-legged sky bison whisked through the fluffy plumes of clouds. Katara, on the other hand, was looking curiously at the land spread out beneath them.

          "Hey," Katara breathed, staring somewhere behind Luli with eyes wide and unsure, "woah, what is that?" Even before the firebender could even turn around, Katara was standing up and walking past her, crouched low as she balanced on Appa's saddle.

          They were flying towards a patch of blackened land, where forest had been reduced to ash and soot. It seemed to stare back at them like a huge marred eye.

          Sokka's voice was horrified when he said, "It's like a scar."

          A scar. Luli could only agree with her mouth sealed shut. From the sky, the blackened patch against green looked impossibly evil. "I call it the Waste Land." Luli's voice was solemn as Appa's shadow, so small, grazed the blackened trees below—a ghost of a touch. The landscape looked like a corpse. Twisted trunks reached up towards them like charred bodies petrified as they stretched an arm towards the sky. Beneath, the plains and hills that must have once been blooming with green were painted with a sheet of fine grey ash. "The Fire Nation burns everything it touches. That's all that's ever left behind."

          Aang tapped his sky bison's head, and Appa swept towards the stretch of dead lands nestled between two mountainsides. "Why would anyone do that?" was all he said. The wind was like a ghost's breath as the gargantuan bison landed in the ashy waste. Grey soot plumed up around them.

          The young Avatar was the first to jump from his animal's back, landing in the thick layer of ash coating the once-forest floor. The rest followed, leaving Appa behind to nose around. It was even worse on the ground than could be seen from the sky. Who could have known when the Fire Nation had done this? Yet the smell of smoke and ash still hung in the air—made it feel thick to breathe.

          "Listen..." said Sokka. It was eerily silent—a ghost land. "It's so quiet. There's no life anywhere." Luli walked out past him, ears craning for noise. Nothing.

          "Aang, are you okay?" Katara's question was met with no response.

          Luli crouched low to the ground, inspecting the fine ash shifting beneath her feet. "This happened not too long ago. Look at the footprints." Her fingers grazed the boot-marks embedded in the layer of ash shed along the ground. Dozens of pairs, and komodo rhino tracks too. "The Fire Nation was here recently." She straightened her legs and stood—stared out at where the prints led out across the grey waste.

          Behind her, Sokka gave an angry shout. "The Fire Nation—those evil savages make me sick! They have no respect for any life!" He gestured furiously at the ashen hills, where blackened, broken tree stumps pointed out of the dead earth like tombstones. The boy's eyes stopped on Luli, who was looking at the damage with a despairing gaze. Her fingers—those firebending instruments—were tangling together anxiously. "Uh, no offense, Luli," Sokka interjected, making her face turn towards his. It seemed that she'd barely even heard what he was saying. Then his face scrunched, "Well— full offense because you're not really Fire Nation anymore, right?" It was half yelled, arms flying wildly to gesture at the destroyed land again—all of his anger at what the Nation had done pouring out into his voice.

          Right. (Right?!)

          She sat down in the ash. The soft wind shifted particles of the grey onto her legs and into her lap—Luli dropped her head into her hands and scooped some ash between her fingertips. "I wish I could fix this." The fine fragments of what was left of the forest slipped between her fingers, floated back down to the earth. "I don't understand how anyone could quench out so much life." She sighed out—a half groan—and buried her face in her knees. Sokka was right. It was so, so quiet. No animals rustling about. Not even any birds. The only sound was the creaking bones of trees, like trapped souls, as the wind whistled through their twisted husks.

          Luli peered up from where her face was pressed into cloth when she heard Katara say, "Aang?"

          The Avatar—logically, Luli knew he was the Avatar, the only person in the world able to master all four elements, but really, looking at him, he was just a boy; just a boy—was standing there with slouched shoulders and his arms hanging at his side. Looking defeated. Just one kid, one splash of orange and yellow, in a graveyard of grey.

          With a defeated sigh, the young boy fell to his knees. A soft cloud of ash rose up around him at the impact. His hand sorted through the sooty remains as Luli rose to her feet, next to Sokka. "Why would anyone do this? How could I let this happen?"

          Luli's feet shifted forward in the sand-like ash, but Katara was the first to approach the airbender. "Aang, you didn't let this happen. It has nothing to do with you." Her tone of voice was soft and concerned, hands clasped together.

          "Yes, it does." He slumped back into a sitting position, staring up towards the sky. "I've been gone for a hundred years and all this time the Fire Nation has been destroying the world. If I'd never run away, none of this would have ever happened." Katara and Luli shared a look. This time when the amber met blue, it was a solemn exchange. The firebender's gaze dropped and she started towards him as Aang continued, "It's my job to stop this kind of stuff from happening. But I don't know how to do my job."

          When Luli spoke, the tone of her voice was the same that she'd use to coax small animals out of Fire Nation traps. "It's not your fault Aang." Apparently, he didn't believe her, by the way he turned his face away from her when she approached. Luli laid her hand on his shoulder. "You're just one kid."

          "I'm the Avatar. The Avatar is supposed to protect nature." He looked at her woundedly. His big grey eyes were upset, brows pointed up in distress. He looked utterly hopeless. And guilty. Luli knew a lot about guilt. "I can find all the waterbending and earthbending and firebending teachers I want—but there's no one who can teach me how to be the Avatar. I don't know what I'm supposed to be doing." Katara's feet trudged closer in the layer of ash behind them, and Luli sunk to her knees beside Aang. Her green pants were being dusted grey. "Monk Gyatso said that Avatar Roku would help me." Aang stared out over the grey waste of ash and twisted trees.

          Avatar Roku. He was the one person who'd been in the Fire Nation's way of starting the war.

          Sokka stepped closer behind them. "The Avatar before you? He died over a hundred years ago, how are you supposed to talk to him?" His raised arms showed signs of genuine questioning.

          "I don't know," Aang said, clutching his head in despair. Luli kept her hand firmly held on his shoulder. As the two sat there, motionless, a chirping Momo ran along and perched himself in Aang's lap, letting out small chittering noises. One of Aang's hands stroked over the lemur's fur.

          Luli's legs crossed so she was sitting next to the Avatar rather than kneeling. "Listen, Aang, I know this is a lot to take in. The Waste Land is a despairing place if I've ever seen one." She exhaled through her mouth evenly. "And it's a lot to process—a hundred years. But we're going to fix it."

          "I don't know how."

          A small smile pulled across Luli's face, she squeezed her fingers comfortingly against Aang's shoulder. Slowly, he turned to look at her. "That's what we're here to help you with. I understand that the Avatar's journey is one you have to take on your own, but our jobs now are helping you get there. Sokka, Katara and I—we're going to make sure everything turns out okay." It has to. "Besides, between your Avatar-ness, Katara's waterbending, my firebending, and... and whatever Sokka's doing—" the boy appeared to be smacking a tree with a charred branch as if it were a sword fight, "—we're bound to win." She grinned at him with her teeth.

          His eyes were so large and young when they look at her, so unsure. With a worried expression, he said, "You said you've seen the Firelord before. Do you really think... we can bring back all of this?"

          No, thought Luli, doubt tugging at the back of her mind. We're just a couple of kids. Her expression softened and she sunk further into the sea of ash. "With time, I think we'll be able to do anything."

          Footsteps in the soot behind them turned Luli's head towards the sound. "Hey, Aang, are you ready to be cheered up?" Katara was standing there with a coy expression on her face. Her hands were full of acorns. As Luli watched, her expression grew suspicious—amber eyes narrowing and lips pouting as Katara grinned towards her.

          Aang sighed. "No," he moped. Just as quickly as his words had come, Katara's hand was flinging an acorn at the side of his head. It struck home with a clonk and Aang shouted, "Ow!"

          Luli saw the same coming for her with Katara's reeled back arms, and as the tiny seed came soaring for her, Luli sent her own tiny little burst of fire towards the projectile—hoping that it would burn the acorn up before it hit her. It missed by a lot. Perhaps not an excellent marksman firebender just yet. The now scorching acorn nailed her painfully in the forehead. "Ouch!" With the seed falling into Luli's lap, she rubbed at the spot where it had struck her skin with vigour. "What was that for?"

          "Yeah!" Aang also massaged his head. "How was that supposed to cheer me up?"

          Katara was grinning at them, tossing another acorn up and down almost threateningly in her right hand. From behind them, Sokka began to laugh, "Cheered me up." He got the same treatment with one pelted right at his face. Lesson learned: never give Katara throwing knives.

          As Luli picked up the acorn that Katara had thrown at her—mildly charred at the edges—, the Water Tribe girl walked over to them. She crouched down at Aang's side. "These acorns are everywhere. That means the forest will grow back." The seed rolled around in Luli's palm, so tiny. It was hard to imagine that something so gigantic could grow from such a small thing.

          But Katara was right. It might take five or ten or fifteen years, but someday these acorns would take root in the earth under the ash and flower into something new. A new beginning, even for the forest itself. "It'll be green again," she murmured, cupping the acorn in her hands like it was precious.

          Katara nodded at her, speaking to Aang directly now. "Every one of these will be a tall oak tree someday. And all the birds and animals that lived here will come back." As she knelt in front of the young Avatar, who was watching the waterbender with big eyes, she dropped an acorn into his hands. Closed his fingers over it.

          Coming to a sudden realisation, Luli nodded adamantly and looked up from her own acorn. She turned her face towards Aang, gaze wide with earnest. "There's a lot that the Fire Nation can take away. But the planet will find a way to grow back. The Firelord can conquer whatever he wants, but he'll never have the trees." Luli let her own acorn fall into Aang's other hand. "We just have to help the planet do that."

          Aang stared down at the acorns, his face going peaceful. A smile pulled at his lips. When he glanced back up, he looked from Katara to Luli to back again. "Thanks, you guys."

          The sound of another set of footsteps coming towards them in the ash made Luli raise her head. Approaching the group was an old man, from a trail between crooked trees. His back was bent with age, beard grey, and he walked with a stick to help him. The others seemed to notice him too, because soon all four kids had stood. "Hey, who are you?" asked Sokka, taking a step back towards the three others.

          The old man seemed to disregard any caution the children might have, and walked right past Sokka. "When I saw the flying bison, I thought it was impossible." With his cane stabbing through the ash, he approached Aang. "But, those markings... Are you the Avatar, child?" Compared to Luli and Katara, Aang was remarkably short. He looked younger still when the old man pointed a crooked finger at the boy. When Aang meekly nodded, the man continued. "My village desperately needs your help."

          Aang, who seemed extra determined after basking in the horror of what the Fire Nation could do to a landscape, accepted the invitation almost immediately. "Lead the way," he said, picking up his staff. While Sokka and Katara exchanged a look, the old man seemed to delight in Aang's agreement. And with Aang dropping the acorns back to the ground, they gathered their things and began to follow the man. Luli hung back with Sokka and skirted some blackened tree stumps.

          She did not tell Aang that even though the land one day might heal, it could not bring back the lives that had been lost amongst the smoke and haze.

༉*ೃ༄

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐖𝐀𝐋𝐊 𝐓𝐎 the old man's village took them out of the Waste Land and into a forest blooming with deep green. Back to the chittering of animals in the undergrowth and birds—spirits forbid—chirping overhead and flapping their wings. Luli grimaced and ducked under Sokka's arm as a particularly large type of crane swooped overhead.

          "What?" he smirked at her, letting her hide beneath his bicep. His finger poked annoyingly into the side of her temple. "Scared of birds?"

          Luli's head snapped towards him with a murderous, but also blatantly frightened, look. "Birds," she hissed to him with wide eyes, "are evil." He gave her a smug expression, and her face carved into a glare—eyes narrowed, brows all sharp. "Don't tell anyone."

          Laughing, Sokka slung his arm around her shoulders. "Your secret is safe with me." His grin told her that it definitely wasn't.

          Luli's side-eye was unimpressed. Her lips pouted. "I sincerely doubt that."

          "Do you think there are any evil spirit birds that we'll have to fight?" Mystically, Sokka wiggled his fingers in front of them with a long, "ooooOoooooOooh", a poor imitation of a ghost.

          A shiver ran down Luli's spine. "Don't jinx it! You're going to give us bad luck." She glared around uneasily with a tremble of premonition. Sokka snickered and pulled her closer with his arm curled around her neck, until she groaned against his side. "Get off of meeeee."

          "Sokka, leave her alone, you oaf," interrupted Katara, pausing in her footsteps ahead to shove her brother off of Luli. He shouted and fell back into a bush. "I don't know what girl would want your sweaty arm around her." Katara grabbed Luli by the wrist and pulled her forward, catching the both of them up to the older man leading them through the woods.

          As the two girls walked side-by-side, Luli couldn't help but look around them. "It's good to see that this place is alive." Green flushed against tree trunks and damp soil, leaves were still sprouting from the earth and roots lay out beneath their feet. Luli's eyes grazed it all. "It's easy to lose hope sometimes and think the Fire Nation has taken everything."

          "You can say that again." Katara sighed. "Ever since I was a little girl the Fire Nation have been taking from me. But I think now I finally have the chance to start helping other people." She looked at Luli with a soft kind of grin.

          Luli exchanged a smile with the younger girl and looked around. Her gaze dragged from the brown earthen floor beneath them to the great sturdy trunks of healthy trees. "When Aang defeats Firelord Ozai, maybe everything will be green again." Luli could imagine it—like a sparkling dream on the horizon. A world of green. She looked up at the sky, how the tree branches wove over them to block out the clouds. To soak up the sun. Luli thought she might like to be a tree. Then she couldn't hurt anyone. "I can barely imagine that. I'd love to see it." No more Waste Land. Just green.

          Katara's arm was still over Luli's shoulders. "He can do it. We can do it." She squeezed Luli tight—then seemed to realise exactly who she was talking to. Her arm dropped. "I know it." The Water Tribe girl didn't look back as she moved forward and caught up with Aang, walking side-by-side with him. Luli let out a sigh.

          That's fine. This is fine.

          When Luli looked back up, the wooden walls of a village were looming in front of them, parting the great tall trees of the forest. Yet, as they followed the man inside, the young firebender noticed twisted skeletons of houses—just broken woodwork left behind—and a potent lack of people in the village square. As if the town had been attacked. "Is it the Fire Nation?" Luli asked the man, caught up to his pace. He just looked at her woundedly and shook his head.

          "No, something much worse."

          Luli almost stopped in her tracks. What could be worse than the Fire Nation?

          She held her tongue as the man led them up into the lavishly decorated building at the end of the village. Its red doors were opened wide for them. Inside crowded frightened villagers of all ages. Young and old. When the man paused, the rest of them skidded to a stop too. Momo, on Luli's shoulder, chirped. Introducing them to the group, the old man who had led them out of the forest gestured a trembling hand to Aang, "This young person is the Avatar."

          A younger man, who must have been the leader of the village, turned around. He was dressed in green, his hair drawn up atop his head. "So the rumours of your return are true." Smiling, the village leader bent in a bow, hands clasped together. "It is the greatest honour of a lifetime to be in your presence."

          Aang bowed in return, and smiled up at him. "Nice to meet you too." He then glanced around. "So... is there something I can help you with?"

          In concern, the village leader looked down and away. "I'm not sure."

          "Our village is in crisis, he's our only hope," voiced the older man, to which the leader nodded. "For the last few days at sunset, a spirit monster comes and attacks our village."

          Luli grimaced with her teeth exposed. "Eek. A spirit?"

          Sokka nudged his elbow into her ribs, grinning. "Told you about the bird spirits!"

          Luli shivered again. She stomped on his toe just like back at Omashu—trying to be discreet. Hissed, "Stop saying that!"

          "Yowch!"

          The old man telling the whole story levelled the two teenagers with a stern expression. Sokka looked guilty as he dropped a plait that he was undoubtedly about to give a tug, and Luli let go of his collar. Momentarily, their arms got tangled as they released their grapples on one another. Sokka started whistling and Luli glared, heatlessly. The man sighed, "He is Hei Bai: the black and white spirit."

           Sokka, who now seemed to be paying attention, frowned. "Why would a spirit be attacking your village?"

          "We do not know." The village leader walked forward, passing Luli and Sokka, towards the building's entrance. He stared out over the town. "But each night he has abducted one of our own. We are especially fearful because the Winter Solstice draws near."

          While Luli frowned, Katara leaned forward with clasped hands and softly asked, "What happens then?"

          "As a solstice approaches, the natural world and the spirit world grow closer and closer, until the line between them is blurred completely," explained the older man, at which Luli shivered. The absolute last thing she needed was being hunted by spirits. Especially when she could imagine a couple which would probably like to go after her.

          The man by the doorway turned back. "Hei Bai is already causing devastation and destruction. Once the solstice is here, there is no telling what will happen."

          Aang looked lost about the entire thing. "So... What do you want me to do about it exactly?"

          Luli played with the ribs of the tessen Suki had given her while the old man replied, "Who better to solve a crisis between our world and the spirit world than the Avatar himself?" He bent down on his cane so he was Aang's height. "You are the great bridge between man and spirits."

          Unfortunately for them, Aang seemed clueless as he looked back towards the village. "Right, that's me." His eyebrows were raised, and Luli snapped her tessen shut with a soft 'snick'. He's got absolutely no idea what he's doing, does he?

          Luli once again cursed the planet for leaving the last beacon of hope in their world so alone.

          When the firebender's eyes met with Katara's, they once again shared understanding. "Hey, Aang," offered Luli, at the same time that Katara said,

          "Hey, great bridge guy." The two girls made eye contact, and Luli nodded to her, shutting her own mouth. "Can I talk to you for a second, over here?" Katara pointed towards the window, out of the way of the villages' prying eyes. Aang shrugged and let himself get tugged along while the kids retired to talk in private—a group of four.

         When they reached the window looking out to the village square, Luli said, "Aang, are you sure you know what you're doing?" Her tone was gentle.

          "You seem a bit unsure," added Katara.

          Aang looked away guiltily, shoulders sagging. "Yeah, that might be because I don't know anything at all about the spirit world." As Luli tucked her tessen back into her hip, Aang caught the three staring. "It's not like there's someone here to teach me this stuff!"

          Sighing, Luli wracked her brain. She had about zero knowledge about the spirits except for the ones from the Fire Nation, and general worldly ones. She certainly had no clue what the spirit world was all about. Nor did she know any advice to give. "When Monk Gyatso said Avatar Roku would help you, what do you think he meant?" How could the Avatar contact somebody who was long dead?

          Aang sighed too, "I have no idea."

          "So, can you help these people?" asked Katara, her arms gesturing wide. The village people behind Aang were milling around worriedly.

          "I have to try, don't I?" He looked down, then up at them with his big eyes. There was still a palpable amount of confusion on his face, but then his expression seemed to lighten. "Maybe whatever I have to do will just... come to me." He smiled wide at the three teenagers. Spirits, Luli hoped so. She didn't feel like getting eaten by a monster today.

༉*ೃ༄

𝐁𝐘 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄 the sun dipped behind the trees, Luli was starting to get on edge. The four kids were positioned at the wooden window of the town's central building, staring out into the empty streets. All the townspeople had crowded in here, hoping they wouldn't get taken. She felt like she was in a ghost tale.

          There was no spirit in sight even as darkness did begin to fall across the land. "Don't tell a spirit this," breathed Luli, "but sometimes I really hate them." Her fingers grasped at the wood windowsill; shoulder pressed against the wall just adjacent. "Aang, if anything goes wrong, just shout for help, alright?"

          The others seemed mostly taken aback by her first statement. Perhaps Air Nomad and Water Tribe spirits were different from the ones the Fire Nation knew. Katara frowned at her, "You don't like the spirits?"

          "Clearly you didn't grow up on legends of the Kemurikage. I still wonder if they're going to hunt me down and abduct me one day." Luli risked another glance outside. There was no spirit in sight, but she could never be too careful. When she didn't receive a response from the others, Luli looked back. They were watching her blankly, confused. "Evil Fire Nation spirits that steal away misbehaving Fire Nation children?" All three kids blinked slowly at her. "Weeping mothers who are the embodiment of guilt and misfortune?" Another blink. No recognition. Luli sighed, "Oh, forget it." She turned back to peer out. "So, what do you think this spirit wants?"

          Sokka shrugged. "Maybe it's just angry. We never had any problems with spirits in the South Pole."

          "But what purpose could a spirit have stealing people away?" voiced Katara.

          Luli sunk lower as she peered out the window, until its sill was up to her nose, hissed, "Kemurikage," with a shiver.

          Scrunching in disbelief, Katara said indignantly, "There's no way a Fire Nation spirit is all the way out here."

          "Look, as a kid who literally rebelled against the Fire Nation, I still worry that the Kemurikage are going to come for me. Maybe they've been waiting for their chance."

           "I thought this spirit was called Hei Bai," counteracted Sokka with a finger pointed smartly towards the ceiling.

          "Avatar?" asked the old man who'd brought them here. He clutched the top of his cane as if it were a lifeline. "Are you ready to go vanquish the great black and white spirit?" Worriedly, all of the townspeople simultaneously turned their heads towards the young boy. He still looked rather lost, but hope was blooming across his features now. He's the Avatar, thought Luli, he can do anything.

          So when Aang nodded and grasped his staff, spun it faux-confidently into his hands, the village gave a large sigh of relief. "I'll, uh, free your village from the Hei Bai... um, as the bridge between our two worlds, and stuff." Aang stamped the end of his staff against the wooden floor and nodded seriously. Then the great red doors opened for him and Aang stepped through.

          "He's going to be okay, right?" Luli whispered to Sokka and Katara, as the three of them peeked out of the only remaining open window. The others had all been bolted tightly shut.

          Sokka's face was tight as they watched the twelve-year-old step away from the safety of the house and towards the village centre. The doors behind Aang swung closed with a thud. "I don't know."

           "I'm sure Aang's fine. He'll figure something out," Katara offered, but she looked worried. Where she was pressed beside Luli, her blue eyes were wide. She was toying with her clasped fingers nervously.

          The three craned their ears as Aang walked further and further away, announcing some kind of unconfident speech. "Hello? Spirit? Can you hear me?" Luli groaned, everything she learned about evil spirits as a child in the Fire Nation sending shivers up her spine. But, of course, this was the Avatar, not some regular human being enticing the anger of the spirits. "This is the Avatar speaking. I'm... here to try to help stuff."

          There was no spirit in sight. It was unnerving, Aang's young voice echoing around the empty village to no return.

          "This isn't right," voiced Sokka, sharing the other two's same sentiments. He was staring out determinedly, hand clutched on the windowsill. "We can't sit here and cower while Aang waits for some monster to show up."

          From behind him came the voice of the old man. "If anyone can save us, he can."

          "I hope so," whispered Luli. If what came out of the woods was really a bird spirit like Sokka had teased, there was no chance she was going out there.

          Sokka's frown deepened. "He still shouldn't have to face this alone."

          The sun dipped further behind the mountains in the horizon, until the village was bathed in purples and blues. Aang stood there as a tiny pinprick against the darkness, staff in one hand and his arms outstretched in waiting. Maybe the spirit just wasn't coming today. "The sun is set!" he called out to the forest. The villagers behind Luli cringed and inched back further in fright, huddled up against one another—clearly awaiting a terrible spirit to attack them at any given moment. Luli exhaled, clenched one of her hands into fists, and tightened her other fingers around the iron tessen. Even if it was a bird spirit, or the Kemurikage, she wouldn't let it take any of these innocent people. "Where are you, Hei Bai?" Aang continued. There was no response, and Aang laid his staff awkwardly across both hands. "Well... spirit, uh... I hereby ask you to please leave this village in peace."

          He fancifully swung his staff in a whirl above his head and planted it down steadily in the dirt in front of him. No response.

          "Okay... Well, I guess that's settled then." With a shrug, Aang turned around and began to walk casually back towards the building.

          The hair on the nape of Luli's neck stood on end as, unbeknownst to Aang, a mass of shadows from the forest behind him began to manifest into a being. It was tall, four—no—six-legged, and painted entirely black and white. Despite its terrifyingly shaped gaping maw and awkwardly curved spine sticking from its skin, it was decidedly not a bird. "Woah," breathed Luli, in anticipation, as her face peered out through the window. "That's a big spirit." She'd never actually seen a spirit before.

          Apparently recognising the hulking presence, Aang turned around—not nearly as terrified as Luli would have been. It stopped when he did, watching. "You must be the Hei Bai spirit," the Avatar addressed it. It sounded as if he were smiling. "My name is—" He was cut off by the great spirit rearing back its head and roaring directly in Aang's face, in a ray of blue light. Then it stood on its hind legs, spread all of its arms, and shrieked at the sky.

          Luli flinched back. "Oh, I don't think it's interested in talking." Its massive form stepped right over the Avatar's figure—notably not harming him—and continued towards the village.

          It was hard to hear what Aang was yelling at it as the giant spirit smacked apart the skeletal remains of a house. The entire wooden frame collapsed into shards under its arm. It split apart another perfectly good building, and then broke the village watchtower with a roar. Aang chased it around as the beast went on a wild rampage through the village square. Luli, Sokka and Katara just watched with wide eyes and parted mouths.

          They ducked as a handful of wood framing was hurled at them. "It doesn't seem to be listening to what Aang's saying," said Sokka in alarm. He turned his head between Luli and Katara. "Maybe we should go help him."

          The spirit, who by all means was absolutely destroying the village, didn't seem too interested in Aang, however. So Luli was partial to decline. "Hold on, Sokka—this isn't a fight."

          Behind them, the old man nodded in her agreement. "Only the Avatar stands a chance against the Hei Bai."

          "Look, if it comes at this building, it'll be a totally different story, but Aang's just trying to talk to it," added Luli with wide eyes.

          They all turned to stare back at where Aang was chasing one really angry spirit around the town. Smiling peacefully, Katara said, "Aang will know the right thing to do, Sokka," as Hei Bai careened through an empty house and sent wood shrapnel and roof panels flying everywhere.

          Over the sounds of crashing, one of Aang's shouts rose as he stood on a rooftop, "I command you to turn around now!" Hei Bai paused, turned towards Aang, and swung out a great arm. It struck Aang in the chest and sent him flying back through the air. As Luli gasped, he slammed back into the roof of the building across from them. When Aang slid off onto the ground with a groan, Sokka straightened himself immediately.

          "That's it! He needs help!" the Water Tribe boy exclaimed, before pushing out past Luli and Katara and making a break for the door.

          Luli was quick to chase after him in protest, reaching out to grasp him. She could hear Katara's footsteps behind her. "Wait, Sokka! I don't think it's actually going to hurt him!" Just as Sokka threw the great double doors open and Luli's fingers were about to catch his arm, someone grabbed the back of her shoulder. It was the male village leader, stopping her just short of sprinting down the stairs.

          "It's not safe!" he exclaimed, grabbed Katara's wrist before she could get further than Luli.

          As Sokka disappeared around the corner with the shout of, "Hei Bai!", Luli pulled herself from the man's grip.

          "We'll be fine!" she assured the man, pulling Katara's hand and running down the stairs with the other girl. "Sokka's going to get himself in trouble!" With Katara's fingers in her own, the two girls sprinted out in Sokka's direction. Their feet skidded on the dirt paths. Sliding around the corner in the dark, Luli and Katara just got the chance to see Sokka get swiped up by the spirit's hand. Hei Bai turned and sprinted out of the village before anyone could even so much as shout.

          Instantly, Aang was flipping his staff into a glider and taking off after the spirit, while Luli and Katara were left on foot. "Sokka!" yelled his sister, but by the time the two girls got to the broken gate, Sokka, Aang, and the Hei Bai spirit were long gone. They stared into the blackness of the forest, alone. When the rest of the townspeople poured out around them, murmuring, Katara's face just fell.

          With Aang and Sokka gone, and Hei Bai vanished, there was nothing left to do but wait.

          Even after night had long fallen, Katara sat out with her back against the gate, waiting for their return. It must have been icy cold out there. And so after Luli was done talking with the town's leader about what happened—"Yes, the Avatar will be back. Yes, I'm sure he'll find everyone who's gone missing"—, she headed out towards where Katara was sat with her knees at her chest in lonesome. In her arms Luli had a bundled blanket that she'd gotten from the old man, and Momo was perched comfortably on her head. His small fingers held onto her plaits. She approached Katara slowly and sat down at her side.

          Katara was clutching her brother's boomerang in her left hand, hugged across her chest. Even when Luli sat down in the dirt beside her, she didn't glance over. Her eyes were focused on the forest where the boys had disappeared. After a moment of silence, where Luli lowered Momo into her lap, she lifted the fluffy blanket and said, "Here." Luli draped one half of the blanket over Katara's left shoulder, stretched it over their backs, and pulled the other edge over her own right. It was large enough to fit both of them.

          "Thank you," said Katara, still not making eye contact. Hoping that Aang and Sokka would come walking back through the woods at any second. More moments of silence passed. The night descended heavier and heavier.

          "I'm sure they'll be back soon," assured Luli, her eyes leaving the forest to rest on Katara's face. The young girl was hunched in despair. Her mouth was pulled into a small frown and her eyes, starting to look tired, were filled with worry. "Aang won't return empty handed." She barely knew the Water Tribe girl at all, but reassuringly, Luli put her arm around Katara's shoulders. She pulled the warm blanket up higher.

          Katara sighed and nodded. "I know." The air out here was cold, but under a heavy blanket with a firebender as a heat-source, the two girls could sit together comfortably. Then Katara's face fell into an even deeper frown, lips pulling down at the edges. Her brows drew together as if she might cry—but she held on, and turned her face down to hide it instead.

          The night went on, and neither girl moved from their spot. They shifted and stretched their legs as both of them grew tireder and tireder, Katara at some point letting out a yawn. The Water Tribe girl, despite clearly trying to stay awake for her brother, started to slump. The moon rose and started to dip overhead—Tui casting its white eye down upon them.

           When Katara's head, heavy with sleep, sunk down on Luli's shoulder, the firebending girl didn't make a sound.

༉*ೃ༄

helloooo i have had that last sentence waiting to go since i like started writing this story, luli and katara supremacy

also, officially happy new year! manifesting 2021 being better than the last year (if i'm wrong, you can all come back here and laugh at me)

not me just waiting for zuko to show up again

word count: 6,477

04.01.2021.