༉˚*ೃ ¹⁴. 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐁𝐋𝐀𝐂𝐊 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐖𝐇𝐈𝐓𝐄 𝐒𝐏𝐈𝐑𝐈𝐓!

𝐋𝐔𝐋𝐈 𝐌𝐔𝐒𝐓 𝐇𝐀𝐕𝐄 drifted off to sleep, because she recognised her dream as just that, as she stood on the edge of a precipice between day and night—split between the sky in the middle. A gleaming divide of light and darkness. Luli's feet teetered on the great mountain. No, not a mountain. A volcano. It was hot beneath her soles, but Luli barely paid it any mind. Hot magma was boiling, bubbling inside. Orange and red and yellow.

          Where was she? Was this supposed to be some unknown volcano across the Fire Nation or Earth Kingdom? Was it just something she'd conjured up in her sleeping mind? But, no. Luli recognised those hillsides spanning the outskirts of the volcano. Those tree formations and jagged rock-side. Because she had stared at them from the city's high points for hours and hours.

          It was the Caldera, all filled with lava again. The volcano active after hundreds of thousands of years. There was the peak of a yosemune-zukuri rooftop pointing out of the roiling magma, once a home. The melting statue of Firelord Ozai that decorated the shopping district's street was visible by only its face—a glint of metal amongst a fiery sea. Other signs that Caldera City had recently been inhabited were flags burning up, poking from the magma. Other shards of rooftop just visible out of its roil. As if everyone had been caught inside.

          Surely the world would think that was better off, but all Luli could think was, what did those people to do deserve that?

          And there was the Royal Palace, covered completely except for its top floor. From its highest point, the onigawara statue made to save its inhabitants from evil was beginning to melt. Its magnificent roof ornaments had all dripped away, its windows had shattered. It was starting to sink into the churning fiery abyss.

          From the sky swooped two dragons, gigantic, gleaming in colours of blue and red. They swept over the magma and back up out of the volcano towards the sun, twisting, mirrored, in their eternal dance. Their wings grazed the magma as if it were a body of water, their long, lithe bodies arched up towards the sky. In that split precipice of light and darkness, they were doused in night and then sun with each weave. Their bodies silhouetted against the expanse of horizon.

          "What does it mean?" she asked them, but there was no reply. The lava rose and rose, enveloping the windows of the royal palace in its bubbling of orange. Its walls crumbled. They glowed as if they were breathing fire from within, started to melt in sagging droves like raindrops. It tilted uneasily of one side. An entire section of palace roof split and fell into the sea. The other half leered to the side, just grazing the magma that rose and rose. When Luli thought, is this really what it's destined for?, only the protector onigawara stared out of the lava. Up to its stone throat, then its head, and then it was gone. Only a sea of toiling hot magma left living.

          Luli awoke to Momo's fingers poking at her face. They pressed at her nose, smushed her cheeks and jabbed lightly into her forehead. Groaning and half asleep, Luli's hand gently pushed the lemur away so he flopped down softly in her lap, like a satisfied possumcat. "Not now, Momo," she sighed sleepily. Luli yawned and cracked her eyes open. The sunlight was dawning down on them—blinding through long slats in the trees—, and Katara's head was still slumped on Luli's shoulder.

          Luli hadn't exactly meant to fall asleep.

          The Water Tribe girl was breathing softly in her sleep, eyes closed, blanket pulled higher up around her and clutched in one hand. The full weight of her was leant up against Luli's side—limp. As the firebender's eyes blinked through the morning light and stared out at the woods beyond, she saw no sign that anyone else had stepped out of there. And they were alone.

          So, Aang and Sokka weren't back yet. That was a problem.

          As if on cue, with Momo purring in her lap and her fingers scratching behind her ear, Appa shuffled over them on his heavy footsteps—perhaps hoping for a rub or a snack. His gaze was fastened on her. Warm breath huffed out of his nose as he lumbered towards the two slouched girls, one still fast asleep. The great animal was not known for being silent.

          He moved right over to them, staring intently. "No," Luli hissed quietly with her right hand raised in a hushing motion at her lips, "shush, Appa!" The sky bison seemed to not understand what she was saying, or simply didn't care, before he blinked his large brown eyes at her, opened his mouth, and roared. Both Luli and Katara's hair flew back at the animal's low grumble, and Momo jumped up onto Appa's nose before scrambling towards the top of his head. Luli just blinked, hair now windblown. "Seriously?"

           Katara's head raised beside Luli, eyes lidded with sleep and mouth half open. She rubbed at her face. "What, is it morning already?"

          Shooting her a grin, Luli straightened up. "You fell asleep." She stretched her arms towards the sky with a proper waking yawn, cracked her knuckles one by one, then pointed accusingly at the sky bison in front of her. He blinked innocently at her. "This traitor decided to wake you." Appa made a rumbling noise again, and Luli stuck out her hand to rub over his large nose. The breath he huffed out was warm, she gave his fluffy face a big scratch.

          "Traitor," murmured Katara to the sky bison, reaching out her own hand to rub underneath his horn. "He must be missing Aang. Are they back yet?" She loosened out her body, straightening and relieving her weight from Luli's side. Her blue gaze wandered around.

          "I don't think so," Luli replied, standing. Her legs were a bit stiff from the awkward position she'd fallen asleep with, but she gave a good stretch. Her back cracked in several places as she twisted herself around. "I'm sure they'll be here soon, though." Luli hoped, at least. How were they supposed to fix anything if the Avatar had been taken by an evil spirit? Would it be left to one firebender girl and one waterbender girl to take down the Firelord?

          Katara giggled a little as Appa huffed up against her side, nudging her in the ribs with his nose. "Hungry, Appa?" Momo gave an approving chirrup from where he was sat on the floor, winged arms flying up towards the air in agreement. Another rumble came from Appa. "Don't worry," Katara said to the bison, rubbing his nose, "I'm sure they're on their way back." She, with Luli following behind, and Appa at her side, headed back inside of the walls of the village. "I bet they even found you a bunch of moon peaches, as a treat." Appa huffed out an exhale from his nose approvingly, and Luli found herself in agreement. She could go for some moon peaches right about now.

          The firebender's careful fingers raked through Appa's thick fur as the four of them trundled towards a trough full of hay in a small shelter that had been set up by the townspeople. It hung off of the building they'd all been huddled in the night before—protection from Hei Bai. Upon coming face to face with it, Appa made a low noise and dove right in, eating hungrily. Momo hung off of the sky bison's long horns and began doing the same.

          A smile picked up Katara's lips, she laughed. "I've never seen anyone as hungry as Appa."

          "What about Sokka?" teased Luli, sitting atop the small fence near the trough, with a leg outstretched. The Water Tribe girl was leaning on the post opposite from her.

           Exhaling in amusement from her nose, Katara said, "He's a close contender."

          Luli sighed in a smile, stood back on her feet, and turned towards the forest, her back to Katara. Even behind the wall, she could see its tall trees peeking over, stretched up towards the clouds with their lush green leaves and twisted branches. Alive. Content, Luli inhale through her nose. Exhaled through her mouth. Stretched out her arms in perfect view of the living trees. At least none of this was dead.

          From behind her, Katara pointed at Luli, "Your hair."

           Oh. Oh, yeah. Part of the issue about wearing a decorative hairstyle typically only adorned by court women was that it wasn't exactly fit for battle. Or sleeping in the dirt. Or sky bison breath. Luli had gotten used to tying the thick plaits around her head each morning as part of routine—just like her mother had—, but it had been a few days since she'd had the chance. Now, when she reached her hands towards her head, the braids were a mess of falling out strands, loosened curves, and frizz. She'd tried to spare the group of precariously doing her hair on the back of a sky bison, but now it seemed like there was no way around the situation. "Yeah, it does that," said Luli, fingers tugging at a thick braid that had completely loosened and was falling out of its tie by her neck.

          Luli's hands began to untie the braids so she could start again. One after the other they slipped away from their twisted formations into loose hair. Hung down past her face and shoulders and towards her tailbone in a sleek sheet of black. "Oh, wow," uttered Katara, "it's so long."

          Glancing back at her, Luli ran through the length of her hair with her fingers, ridding it of any knots. That wave of black cascaded as she did so. "Oh, yeah." It blew out slightly in the wind, like black crane's wings. Luli shook her head, letting her scalp breathe for a few seconds. She heard Katara's footsteps approach behind her before the Water Tribe girl's hands grazed the long locks, the softness and sleek blackness of them, maybe a bit mesmerised.

          "Can I help you with it?"

          "Oh." The last person who'd helped Luli braid her hair up was her mother—and that had been a long time ago. Now, Katara's fingers sifted gently through the thick dark sheet hung across Luli's back, and it felt hauntingly, comforting familiar. Soothed, her lips pulled up at the edges in a gentle smile. "I'd love that, thank you."

           Luli sat back, letting herself relax. Her shoulder unwound of their knots; her jaw let loose of all the tension she hadn't even realised she was holding. Katara's fingers were lithe, and smooth, and gentle as they stroked through the locks of the firebender's hair, all the way down to the ends at the lower-half of her spine. If Luli let her eyes close for even a moment, she might think it was her mother. "Your hair is so beautiful," said Katara, and the illusion was shattered. This was a fourteen-year-old child, not her mom. Just a girl. "It's really soft."

          "Thanks, I try to keep good care of it." She remembered her first few times clumsily picking up her hair to braid it, without the guide of her mother for the first time. Little and alone in the world. It had been a mess for a while. Now, Katara gently started at the roots, by the base of her scalp, and began to weave. Her hands were a lot steadier than Luli's were, even after all these years of practice. The braids she twisted together, though thick, were immaculately tight and secure. Once she got to the ends, Katara twisted it up over Luli's head just before her forehead, tucked it around. Luli started on the other side. She typically plaited them in front of her shoulder. When hers was finished, she too put it up over her head, crossing over Katara's.

           There was an intimacy in braiding hair. For Luli, it had always meant love and kinship; for Katara, it had always meant family and culture. There was something special about taking someone else's hair and twisting lock around from finger to finger, carefully turning it into something intricate and beautiful. Something harmonious in weaving all your hopes and dreams into it. Like a confidential rhythm between just the two people. Rarely had Luli ever had anyone touch her hair in this way. The epitome of utmost trust.

          "Mom and Gran Gran used to tell me stories while they braided my hair," said Katara after a moment, and it seemed that she was hyperaware of the loss of her necklace, which left her throat bare. Her fingers deftly wove another long braid into Luli's thick locks. "Like about the spirits, or my tribe, or their childhoods." Luli, who Katara had given a break, sat still with her hands in her lap.

          She sighed out a kind of smile. "My mom used to tell me stories too. Or, I guess not all the time. She used to talk to me a lot while she did them. About—... I don't know, anything." She smiled happily as Katara's hands worked through her hair. It had been a really, really long time since anyone had helped her with it. When she'd gone out on her own, Luli hadn't even had that anymore. "She used to sing me old Fire Nation and Earth Kingdom songs."

          "You know any good ones?" Katara mused, her lips tilted upwards at the edges.

          Luli huffed out a laugh. "Oh, no, I can't sing. I didn't get her voice." She didn't even think she'd be able to remember all the lyrics. Some had faded out of her mind.

          Katara's tone was gentle when she said, "I guess not everything in the Fire Nation was bad, huh?" It was a simple, soft observation. Nothing with malice. Just an observatory comment as Katara twisted another of Luli's braids up onto her head and laid it with the rest.

          In her lap, Luli's fingers twisted. One over the other, over the other, grazing, a constant rhythm. "No," she said. "I guess not." She sat still and silent as the Water Tribe girl finished the job, finished weaving the last strands of Luli's hair and twisted them up over her head in the same way that Luli had done for years. Despite the concise neatness of Katara's braiding, they didn't pull at her scalp at all. An impressive feat.

           Then, the Water Tribe girl stepped back, hands dropped at her sides. "There, all done. I think." Katara's brows frowned and she tilted her head. "I tried to just copy what it looked like before." Luli stood from the fence and took a peek in the pail of water a little bit in front of her. With the reflection that rippled back at her, Luli could have mistaken herself for a Fire Nation woman of unmistakeable status and wealth.

          "Wow, it's great." Luli's hair had always had a mess to it. She'd struggled to keep the plaits tight and secure—even with her improvised attempts and twists and turns to do keep them up without pins or jewellery—, and there had always been loose braids hanging down. Now it was all concise and neat, none of those extra falling strands or frizz. Luli touched the braids lightly with her fingers and grinned. "It's way better than I do it."

          Katara laughed, leaning back. "No way. Yours have more character."

          Turning, Luli looked at her playfully. "You mean because mine are messy?" she countered teasingly, stepped away from the pool of water. She stuck her tongue out at the other girl, who returned it childishly. Then Luli's eyes flickered to the village square behind Katara, and saw an orange blur coming towards them through the air on a glider. He landed on the dirt on his feet, glider flipping into a staff clutched tightly in his left hand, and looked dismayed. "Oh, Aang."

          The Water Tribe girl in front of her turned immediately, her blue eyes going wide. In the midst of all the hair braiding, Luli had almost forgotten about their missing friends and the spirit that took them. Well, at least if the spirit did show up looking for a fight, Luli had her new neatly braided hair to kick ass with. As Aang trudged up towards them, his staff loose in one hand, he just looked... defeated. That grinning from earlier was vanished.

          The two girls ran down to meet him, Katara stumbling a little over her own feet. "You're back!" exclaimed Katara with a grin, and threw her arms around the boy. He went easily—hugged her back just as tight, staff hung limp in his hand, forgotten. Luli paused short beside them and looked around.

          "Where's Sokka?" the words spilled from her lips, her eyes big as she stared at the way Aang had come. That seemed to catch Katara's attention, who let loose her arms and watch the Avatar with a frown.

          Aang just looked dismayed. His head tilting in shame towards the ground, he said, "I'm not sure."

          Silence passed by them. Luli knew nothing of the spirit world—had no idea where Sokka could possibly have been taken or how they would get him back. If the Avatar had no idea, how were the other two supposed to figure it out? Luli put a hand on his shoulder, so he turned his face towards her. "You were gone a long time, did you figure out how to solve the spirit problem?" Maybe that would lead them to where Sokka was.

          With Katara looking worried, and Luli frowning with concern, Aang nodded. "I think I have an idea." His eyes turned between both girls, and just the hint of a smile began to show at his lips. "What you both said, back at the burned forest, it reminded me of something. I think it can help us."

          It made the Water Tribe girl smile too. "Really?" Aang nodded in earnest, and then her face went all confused again. "Where were you, anyway?"

          "I was with Roku's spirit guide—a dragon!" His grin was wide now, but Luli's body stiffened up involuntarily. "It was a spirit dragon, and it showed me what I need to do next. I have to speak with Roku."

          None of this Avatar or spirit business made any sense to Luli, but she was willing to learn, and she smiled at Aang despite it all. "Great, we'll go talk to Roku then." Luli straightened out the collar of his Air Nomad shirt which had wrinkled up. Then she grinned conspiringly. "But for right now, let's deal with this spirit."

༉*ೃ༄

𝐖𝐇𝐄𝐍 𝐈𝐓 𝐆𝐎𝐓 dark, both Luli and Katara retreated back inside to the same window they'd stood at before. After Sokka's disappearance, Luli wasn't going to take any chances outside—nor was she going to let Katara. It was the same kind of eerie silence that set over the village, when the spirit monster would come and steal people away. Wind blew crinkled dried leaves across the dirt paths.

          "Do you really think Aang can deal with Hei Bai?" Katara asked her, from her spot at Luli's side. Momo was on her shoulder, watching the scene unfold with big green eyes.

          Luli stared out at the empty village, with Aang standing alone by its great gates, and nodded slowly. "He had some weird experience with the spirit dragon of his dead past life, he'll be up to it." She shrugged as she talked.

          "What was that he'd said about the burnt forest?" the other girl whispered back, feeling the increased need to be quiet as the sun further sank behind the distance mountains.

           "No clue," replied Luli in the same hushed breath.

          Aang stood out on his own for a while, before he once again hung his head and turned to walk back towards them like he had the night before. It was like the spirit was waiting for him. Maybe it liked dramatics. With Aang's shoulders slumped and deflated, he didn't notice the spirit apparate behind the building he was walking past until it was too late. "Aang!" yelled Luli in warning, before the black and white spirit smashed through the house with a roar and a blast of white light from its mouth towards the sky.

          From her spot at the window, Luli heard Aang shout as debris rained down on him. There was a vortex of air that he must have conjured whipping in a circle around him—protecting him from the falling wood and stone. Hei Bai screamed over him.

          Katara lurched forward and shouted, "Aang! What are you doing?! Run!" Despite Aang currently trying to recover, the black and white spirit turned its attention onto them. Realised that there were people in the building. It roared, light spilling from its throat with its arms spread, and then charged straight towards them.

          "Oh, Agni," said Luli, and then she was forcing herself in front of the body of Katara and conjuring a wisp of flickering flames in her hands, because if she was going to go down fighting a spirit doing it with fire was the way to go. Katara, most traitorously, did not run but instead clasped her hands on Luli's shoulders and peeked around her ribs to stare at the spirit charging straight for the building, choosing to not step back like any normal human would. Or maybe they were just in this together now.

          Momo seemed to not care too much about sentiments because he screeched and leapt off of Katara, skittering off into the back of the room with the other townspeople. Luli exhaled, stretching out her dominant palm in warning. The great spirit stopped in front of the building's doors, and Luli thought, well, it's now or never, isn't it? But then Aang, the picture of agility, was flipping over the spirit and pressing his hand against Hei Bai's forehead.

          It was like there was a change. Where the spirit's jaws had been opened wide for another blue-white blast, it slowly shut. Some kind of glow lit the air around them for half a second, and Aang's eyes went wide. Then the young airbender landed easily on his feet in front of the great monster. For a moment, the two—the Avatar, and the great beast-spirit—regarded each other in quiet, and Luli held her breath. Then, she heard Aang say, "You're the spirit of this forest," and it all made sense.

          Luli had not known that forests had spirits. Perhaps every single one did. Maybe the rocks and the trees and the lakes and rivers all had spirits within them. And that only made what the Fire Nation had done so much worse. She had hated it enough when she thought that all the Fire Nation was doing to nature was razing its life. She could not imagine being a spirit and having its body—or the thing it was supposed to protect most in the world—burned to the ground without a care.

          Was that blackened grove its home?

          Luli would be mad too.

          "Now I understand," said Aang, and the spirit just watched. The Avatar's big eyes turned up towards the great spirit, his voice laced with empathy. "You're upset and angry because your home was burned down. When I saw the forest had burned I was sad and upset." For the first time, Luli noticed the spirit breathing. Great big heaves from whatever lungs it had inside it that made its shoulders and torso rise and fall. So it was, in the end, just a living creature. Even if it was so different from the ones they saw day-to-day. "But my friend gave me hope that the forest would grow back." A grin came over Aang's face as he reached into his pocket and drew out the two acorns that Katara and Luli had pressed in his hand earlier. He held it up in his fingers towards Hei Bai's bared teeth, its gigantic face. Then, Aang placed the acorn on the ground in front of him.

          Hei Bai reach down and picked up the acorn, holding it in front of its face. Then, a white glow. Luli covered her eyes and Katara hid her face in Luli's shirt, and by the time it was dim enough for her to pull her fingers away—the scene was completely different. What stood in front of Aang was not a great monster of twisted limbs and teeth anymore, but a giant panda. The black and white spirit, with kind, sad animal eyes and a huffing nose, turned away from Aang and the building and the village, and walked back out towards the forest. To its decimated home.

          Katara was the first one to pull away—to open the building doors and step out next to Aang. She pulled Luli along by the sleeve, who'd been mesmerised in watching the spirit. The two stood beside the Avatar in the night as the great forest spirit passed back out through the village gates. Where it walked, bamboo sprouted up from the earth, tall and strong. A smile stretched Luli's face. So it wasn't hopeless after all.

          Then, the black and white spirit, Hei Bai, was gone.

          The bamboo shifted, and then Sokka pushed through, looking rather confused and tired as he rubbed his head. Behind him, other men and women—who Luli could only assume were the other townspeople stolen away—emerged the same. "Sokka!" cried Katara, and ran across the village clearing to him. She tossed her arms around her brother with an exclamation, hugging him close. Luli let out a high laugh and threw herself at the boy too. Since she was taller than him by a bit, both of Luli's arms fit around him and Katara. Her arm shot out and fingers grasped Aang by the front of his shirt, pulled him into the hug with a quick yank. He fell against Katara and her and laughed as the four hugged.

          "You're okay!" exclaimed Luli, delighted. "You didn't get eaten!"

          Sokka, who still looked a bit disoriented, seemed alarmed at the prospect. "That was an option?"

          "I'm so proud of you, Aang," said Katara, breaking away from the hug circle to touch Aang's shoulder. "You figured out what to do all on your own."

          Aang turned to look at them, smiling. "Actually, I did have a little help." Then his face fell. His expression slipped into a frown and Luli found herself doing the same. "And there's something else... I need to talk to Roku, and I think I found a way to contact his spirit."

          Instantly, Katara's face lit up. "That's great!"

          "Do we get to meet him too?" asked Luli, her eyes wide and expression excited, hands clasped together delightfully. Her teeth were shown in a grin.

          Aang shrugged, smiling a little. He had Momo perched on his shoulder. "I don't know. There's a temple on a crescent-shaped island, and if I go there on the solstice, I'll be able to speak with him."

          At the same time that Katara said, "But the solstice is tomorrow!", Luli vocalised with pinched brows,

          "Hey, I think I know the temple that you're talking about." Despite Katara's extremely valid point that caught everyone's concern, Luli's was the one who everyone turned to. They stared at her with wide eyes. With her fingers nervously tangling together, Luli was quick to explain herself. "They taught it to us in school when we were learning about the fire Avatars. Avatar Roku's Island—it's still run by the Fire Sages, isn't it?" In school, they'd been taught that it was a great glory that the final Avatar had been one of fire. It was still unknown to most within the nation that the Avatar cycle hadn't been ended at all. Aang blinked at her, clueless, but there was that worry tugging at his features that frown. "That's why you're so concerned. It's in the Fire Nation."

          The surprise that came to Sokka and Katara's faces were immediate, mouths open and eyes wide. But Aang already knew. He just nodded dutifully. "You're right. It is."

          Sokka was quick to speak out, "The Fire Nation is way too dangerous. How are we supposed to get in?"

          Sighing out, Luli craned her brain. "I've never been there, but I'm sure that on Appa we could just fly in and fly out unnoticed." Still, concern tilted the edges of her brows down. All four kids mirrored expressions of unsurety. But Aang was right. If the fire Avatar really did want to speak to him, that was important. Aang look discouraged, but Katara gently put her hand on his shoulder. She exchanged a look with Luli, and some kind of mischievous agreement passed between them. "So..." said Luli, grinning a bit, hoping to cheer up the mood, "field trip to Roku's temple?"

          Aang still looked worried, but some of the tension relieved from his face at Luli's jovial tone. He looked up at her as Katara said along the same wavelength, "Field trip to Roku's temple." She and Luli shared a grin.

          "The Fire Nation is way out of our way to the North Pole. Not to mention dangerous." Sokka counted the cons on his fingers, looking unsure. Then he shrugged and smiled. "But if Aang needs to talk to some mysterious past life, then, sure, we can take a mild detour." Katara grinned at her brother at that. It did not let Aang up of his frown, even as Sokka peered curiously at Luli and pointed at her hair. "Your braids are different."

          "If by different you mean not a total mess, then, yeah, they are." Luli grinned lightly, tugging at one of the braids—which was a bad habit and tended to be why they got so messy in the first place. "Katara did them for me."

          The expression that Sokka gave her was nothing short of conspiratory, finger and thumb cradling his chin. "Wow, I had no idea Katara was that neat—" His words were cut off by his sister only half-lightly smacking the back of his head.

          "Says you! Back home you wore your dirty socks for like a month." She leaned forward pointedly with her jab, bent at the hips and her hands planted at her waist. The look she was giving her brother was a shit-eating grin. "Mr. Girls-do-the-laundry." She poked Sokka's temple in a very annoying sibling-like way.

          He grumbled something under his breath with crossed arms, but then he threw his arm around his sister's shoulder and dragged her in close by the side of the neck, forcing Katara's head against his chest as he rubbed the top of her hair with his knuckles. "You are so annoying."

          "Ow! Sokka! Stop it!" The edge to her voice was nothing short of sibling love. She elbowed him in the ribs and then when he didn't stop messing up her hair, flailed out one of her hands. A stream of water careened out of the pouch at her hip and hit Sokka directly in the face. The splash covered his features and hair, left him blinking through it.

          "Oh, now it's on!" Sokka tackled his sister in scrabble that reminded Luli of ones she used to have with her friends back in the Fire Nation. Back when everything was easy. Though neither was actually hurting each other, it was clear to see that even while on a probably life-changing adventure with the Avatar you still couldn't quell that familial urge to bite your sibling as hard as possible on the hand. "Ow!"

          As Katara totally doused Sokka in cold water again, Luli turned towards Aang. He wasn't even watching the amusing scene unfold. The Avatar just stared in thought at the forest, a divot between his brows. Lightly, Luli nudged him with her elbow, "Ready to meet your past life?"

          He looked like he was deeply contemplating something. "Actually... um..."

          "Hyah!" yelled Sokka as he launched a compact ball of dirt out of his hands and into Katara's face. She teetered backwards onto the ground. Apparently, without snow and ice, they had to make do.

          "What? Are you nervous? Don't worry, Aang, we'll be there the whole time." Luli was looking at him directly now, both hands placed on either of his shoulders. He didn't really have a choice other to look at her face. But even though her affirming words managed to relax him a little, that expression didn't go away.

          Aang seemed to falter. "Yeah..." It seemed that Aang was distracted by to their side, because he said, "Can we talk about it in the morning? Sokka looks like he's about to pass out." Luli followed Aang's concerned glare to where Sokka was slinging slow punches towards his sister, as if he was going to fall asleep where he stood. Like he was immersed in water. Katara just side-stepped them in amusement, hopping a few steps back with her arms tucked playfully behind her.

          Luli was instantly in alert mode. "He's been up for, like, twenty-four hours. He barely makes it five without taking a nap," she said in alarm, her eyes wide, before she was swooping in to save the day and throw his arm over her shoulders. As she carted him towards the town's central building where they'd sleep for the night, her head turned back to the young Avatar. "We'll discuss Roku in the morning, alright Aang?"

          Looking unsure, Aang nodded. Then his eyes drifted away and refused to make contact. "Yeah... Sure..."

༉*ೃ༄

hey everyone! i wanted to let you all know that i've made a ko-fi (sarahoppers), where you can basically send me real money if you feel like it. the currency is set to AUD! absolutely NO pressure to give me any money, i just thought i'd make it available in case, like, anyone was willing to pay me. it would really help me out considering how much i write for free! but also yeah there's seriously NO pressure if you can't or don't want to send me money — just comments are enough for me! <3 <3

the next chapter will be extra long and intense! be prepared for some angst and lots of action !!! also, apologies if these all feel a bit disjointed at the moment! book one of atla, especially the first half, was a bit all over the place and quite filler-y so it's hard for me to write!

for anyone wondering, i imagine luli's hair to be very similar to the eonjeun meori and eoyeon meori hairstyles from the joseon dynasty of korea. i initially picked that hairstyle because of how ta min and ursa (during ursa's wedding in the comics) styled their hair in the fire nation! i'm pretty sure what those two women were wearing were eoyeon meori styles, so i thought it was interesting. just wanted to clarify that it's those styles, and not cultural appropriation like box braids or something (in case people were worried). the styles are in korean culture and also canonically present in the fire nation in atla, and consist of thicker braids pretty much piled onto the head! ik that this hairstyle wasn't present in her faceclaim but it's hard to find animated images of this! (i might alter her faceclaim to reflect this later)

here are some real-life images of these hairstyles (though luli's is typically a lot looser and messier, and she doesn't wear decorations/jewellery in them):

eonjeun meori!

eoyeon meori!

for reference, here's how i draw luli in my own artwork to show what i mean (the strands and all of it are supposed to represent braids, i just couldn't be bothered drawing each individual braid in these sketches):

:)

word count: 6,210

11.01.2021.