Yaosen had a dream, not of spirits or past mistakes, but of flying above the clouds, golden strands of sunlight dancing around his face. It was the last blissful feeling of unconsciousness before he woke up.

Pain came crashing down around him. He rolled to the side and vomited, realizing halfway through that the bones of his hand that he braced himself with were crunching beneath his weight. He quickly shifted in the undignified posture as that new wave of agony hit him and threatened to redouble his nausea.

When he was done, he found himself sitting up in a foreign room of light gray stone. Thick hides were stitched together to cover one wall, and the entire room teetered and spun with the throbbing of his head.

Yaosen closed his eyes, trying to master himself. He found himself running energy through each of his chi points, trying to clear them of whatever ailed him. It was difficult as his focus pulsed and wavered with each pump of his blood, but the light monk also found that there was plenty of warmth to draw on, rising up through the floor of stone.

When he opened his eyes again, it was with new clarity. His body was bent and broken, his heart sad, but his soul was unburdened.

He rose from the pelt-lined bed and quickly clutched at the blanket when he realized he was naked. He held the furs about his waist as he, ever so slowly, ever so gingerly, rose and hopped over to the corner of the room where light peaked through.

He pulled the hides back, revealing a wall of blinding light. Yaosen cowered before it, holding a hand before him and squinting hard. He tried to blink his way past the light and let his eyes adjust, but they were sluggish.

Eventually, he was able to look out on a vista that beggared any view the Four Nations had to offer. Fields of blinding white ice stretched out before him like an ocean of diamond. So high up was he, that it was as if he were sitting atop Gama’s back, herds of some unidentified animal trekking across the surface like tiny white spiders on a crystal mirror.

He looked straight down to see that he was inside the peak of a mountain, at least twice as tall as the peak of Shadow Ridge. Where the snow and ice clung to the mountain in uninterrupted walls, they glistened with sunlight.

Surely if there was a temple built to the element of light, it did not belong in a caldera in the Fire Nation. It would not be made of wood and plaster and opaque rice paper. It did not have zen gardens or twisted little trees and shrubs for studying in the shade. This was the true Light Temple and it was somewhere in the Farwilds.

The room went dark as a hand snatched the hide curtain and snapped it closed.

“You shouldn’t be up,” said a voice, “And you certainly shouldn’t be looking into the sun with a head injury.”

Yaosen’s eyes adjusted and he saw Torun standing before him. But no, his eyes must be playing tricks on him, because this Torun seemed to glow with an ethereal light.

Torun? A spirit? There was no way.

Yaosen blinked.

Eventually the man came into focus, and Yaosen realized that it wasn’t Torun standing before him, but a man that looked very much like him. The man was much older, much frailer, and where Torun’s hair had been jet black shot with iron at the temples, this man’s hair was stark white. He had a beard to match that would have suited a much older Torun.

“You can stop looking at me like that,” said the man, “It’s me and I’m alive.”

“Torun? But how?”

“Back in bed and take your medicine,” commanded the older Torun, “I told you that you shouldn’t be up.”

Yaosen collected his thoughts and noticed the weeping bandage poking out of the older man’s robes. “Neither should you, by the looks of you.”

The man grunted in a way that proved that it was in fact Torun, only much depleted by his injuries and a lengthy healing process.

Yaosen chose not to return to his bed, but selected a chair near the window and Torun settled gingerly into the one opposite.

“How long have I been out?” asked Yaosen, noting that the chair still smelled of pine tar and freshly-cured leather.

“All the others that were going to wake up already have,” said Torun.

“How many?”

“Fifty-two, counting you and me.”

“Fifty-two??”

“Is that more or less than you expected.”

Yaosen scowled. It was a good question. “I guess… there was a moment there when I thought none of us would make it out. But still… so many dead. Is Duu alright? And Rook and Fenri and Halvard? Grunt and Headbutt? I saw a baby on Gama. And a little girl with half her face covered…”

Torun held up a hand. “They all made it thanks to you. I’m sure they'll all come by soon enough to thank you, now that you’re awake.”

Yaosen nodded absently.

“Rook’s the avatar, you know,” the monk said after a moment.

“I know,” Torun smiled, a rare occurrence if Yoasen knew the old Meteor Knight.

“We did it. We completed our mission.” Yaosen had to state it plainly.

Torun’s smile faded. “Why do I think that’s not as important as it once was?”

Yaosen thought it would take him a while to put it in words, but he was surprised to find that, posed with the question so directly, the answer came easily. “Because I’m not going back. Everything I ever wanted is here in the Farwilds and these are my people now. I realized that much when I decided I would die for them. I had a mission from the Fire Lord, but now I have a purpose. But if you wanted to go back-”

Torun grunted. “There’s nothing for me in the Four Nations. I had hoped you’d stay but if you wanted to go back I would have gone with you.”

“I wouldn’t have asked you-”

“You wouldn’t have had to. In fact, if you went back and told me to stay here, I wouldn’t have listened. My duty was to keep you alive long enough to find the avatar. My honor demanded it. But now that I’ve almost died for duty and honor, I think I’ve fulfilled my oath to my Fire Lord. Now I’ve got another oath to fulfill.”

There was a sad smile on Torun’s face, as his eyes went distant.

“Which is?” Yaosen pried when Torun didn’t elaborate.

Torun looked up as if realizing Yaosen were still there, and for a moment, he didn’t seem nearly as old as he did a moment ago. “None of your damned business that’s what!”

He punctuated the crotchety response by actually, literally shaking a cane at Yaosen.

***

Duu came by later that day, as did Fenri and Halvard. All the conversations these days started out much the same way. “How are you alive?” “How did you survive?” “How did you escape the Earthbreakers and how did we get here?”

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It turned out that Duu’s power was a pivotal component of nearly everyone’s stories. She held the ridge single-handedly. She blocked the tunnel alone. She healed each and every mortal wound herself. Duu was a hero, but somehow the praise bounced off of her. It wasn’t modesty, Yaosen thought, but something else that gnawed at her and prevented her from reveling in the newfound friends and sudden attention. He would have to get to the bottom of that, but not until she was ready to talk to him.

It also turned out that Fenri had only ever half-shifted. The gangly, strange half-human form that Yaosen had come to associate with the boneshifters, was in fact, a perversion of the boneshifting art or perhaps a misunderstanding, Fenri had explained. When the boneshifter smiled, he bared a mouth brimming with long canines in a nearly entirely lupine maw. He was even covered head to toe in glorious white fur, now, as if he were a walking wolf in truth.

It was the perfect color to hunt in this new biome, and the fur kept him so warm he had no need for heavy clothes, though he still wore a hide loin cloth for the sake of modesty.

Halvard had laughed at that, and it seemed there was a new understanding between the two men, perhaps forged in the crucible of the dark tunnels, or perhaps formed in the days and weeks thereafter.

When Yaosen mentioned their new rapport, Halvard and Fenri looked at each other with a smile before Halvard said, “Well, it turns out that I’m a boneshifter, too.”

Yaosen was taken aback, though he tried to keep a scowl of confusion from his face, lest it be taken the wrong way “That’s… Great! Another bender. And someone to talk things through with Fenri. But… one question. You’re not…”

Halvard laughed heartily, “I’m human. Completely human.”

“That’s not what I meant. Of course you are and so is Fenri. You just… haven’t shifted at all.”

Halvard shook his bald, bearded head that showed no traces of even vaguely bestial features. “Shifting is a choice, we’ve found out. And for many boneshifters like Fenri, that choice is taken from them. They’re forced to change to defend themselves or to survive or to protect a loved one or a neighbor. I’ve fought for my life more than a few times and I’ve always felt the power within me. It was Fenri here who taught me what that feeling was. In fact, I wouldn’t have even mentioned it if Fenri hadn’t told his story to the village.”

Halvard clapped Fenri on the back.

Fenri smiled.

Yaosen didn’t know a wolf could look… shy.

“Um, but he knows for sure that he’s a shifter, since…” Fenri grabbed Halvard’s wrist to display the bare, brawny arm of the unshifted man, “...no scars. And we figured if Halvard could heal himself…”

Now it was Halvard’s turn to look shy. It was a part of the man that Yaosen didn’t know existed.

“Halvard’s responsible for saving many of the people that are alive today. And you have him to thank for your ability to walk or use that hand.”

“You’re a healer.” Yoasen held up his hand, moving his fingers gingerly.

“Ah, but maybe you should take it slow,” said Halvard quickly, “I only set the bones and started them knitting. If I did more than that they could change shape. And I’ve only just started working with joints and ligaments so I didn’t want to try something as complicated as a hand.”

“No it’s great! I feel like it's been getting better everyday. It’s just,” Yoasen suppressed a laugh.

“What?”

“I don’t know,” said Yaosen, “I guess I’m just a bit surprised. For centuries only water-tribe women were healers, and all the fire nation chi cleansers I’ve ever known were old ladies. I guess I’m just glad things are finally changing. I’m glad that the Farwilds doesn’t have the same problems that come with some of the Four Nations’ traditions.”

Halvard smiled and shrugged massive shoulders that looked as likely to break bones as to reset them. He made to reply and then stopped as he turned toward the door. He looked to Fenri.

Fenri nodded toward the door as if to say they should get going.

Halvard nodded.

They parted as they left and Rook was suddenly standing there, face impassive.

Yaosen stared at her for a moment, remembering his dream of flying, and remembering that she was there. Then he shook himself as he also remembered what he had wanted to say to her, “You saved me.”

Rook snorted, “They saved you. And Duu.”

“They healed me. You saved me.”

She walked to his bedside and took the chair beside it, leaning forward to brace her elbows on her knees. Her mask of shadows slipped for a moment, and the furrow that normally creased her brow, making her as imposing and unapproachable as any chief the world has ever known, suddenly shifted into a rift of concern.

She sucked in a breath to speak but closed her mouth. She tried again, “I… I don’t know what I’m doing… now.”

It was Yaosen’s turn to scowl, “What are you talking about? You saved all of these people. You led them to a new mountain, not just one they could survive in, but one where no one can ever harm them again. You’re their chief and you’re leading them.”

“But so many died.” It came out breathy as if the words had to fight to come out.

“So many lived. Against all odds. Lu Gun came to kill every last Farwilder he could. Without you, there would be none left. Lay the dead at Lu Gun’s feet, but never stop fighting for the living.”

“But if I had listened to you…”

“If we had run at the first sign of danger, Lu Gun would still be hunting us. There would still be a whole Earthbreaker army marching after us. If we never stood to fight we wouldn’t know that you’re the avatar and I wouldn’t know that-”

Yaosen cut himself off abruptly, afraid at what he was about to let slip.

Rook scowled at that, “You wouldn’t know what?”

Yaosen took a deep breath and lept. “I wouldn’t know that my purpose… is you.”

“So you’ll train me?”

“What?”

“You said the avatar could wield all of the elements. You said if the avatar masters them, they can bring balance to the nations. Well I don’t give a damn about the Four Nations but if they come for me people I need to make sure we don’t get crushed beneath another Earth Kingdom boot. And what of the others in the Farwilds? Surely there are other benders and even I haven’t traveled far enough to know if there are others like me. And the voice! Yaosen, the voices…”

Whatever look was on Yaosen’s face, Rook noticed it and trailed off. In a hurry Yaosen snapped down the cold visage of the light monk.

“If I’m going to do any of it, I need to learn the other elements. Will you be my lightbending teacher?”

Yoasen didn’t reply immediately, and another furrow formed in Rook’s brow.

“That is what you meant?” she asked, “About your purpose?”

Yaosen forced a small smile past his facade, “Of course I’ll teach you lightbending. Though we might start with the basics of fire.”

Rook sat up in her chair, the picture of the chief once more, “Nonsense. I already know shadowbending. That’s basically lightbending already. What’s fire got to do with any of it.”

“Flame is the most basic form of energy manipulation, and the first step to mastering any form of output.”

“That’s not basic. There’s no first step. Light, shadow, and fire are like a triangle-”

“What about lightning?” Yaosen cut in.

“You can bend lightning? No way. It kills you the minute it touches you.”

Yaosen raised his eyebrows.

“Now they’re like a triangle…” Rook held up her hands and launched into her explanation of the known techniques of energy manipulation as they related to the concept of firebending.

Yaosen listened patiently, without interrupting or correcting. He heard what Rook was saying and took it to heart. He really did. But somewhere deep down, all he could think was, Here we go again; I’ve found myself another student to teach me.

***

Po and Kyokoh found themselves buried up to their necks in scree and solid rock. The lake of fire had cooled somewhat, but despite the black film of new rock that had formed upon it, the pair of Earthbreaker engineers were still close enough to the heat that they could smell their own hair burning.

“I didn’t sign up for this,” Po said, “My great-uncle saw an avatar in the avatar-state once, and he always said to me, ‘Po, never fight the avatar.’”

Kyokoh grunted from beside him, their heads a mere inch apart. “I didn’t sign up for this either,” she said, “Are you hugging me?”

“I was trying to save you!”

“You were crying ‘spare me!’ the whole time.”

“Fine,” said Po, “I thought we were going to die. No one wants to die alone.”

“We were going to die with a whole army of Earthbreakers. Why’d you have to go and grab me?”

“Well if I had known we’d be stuck in solid rock I might have reconsidered. Your breath stinks.”

“That’s the sulfur!”

“Why were you eating sulfur?!”

“I wasn’t eating it, it's from…”

The banter would go on for hours as the few earthbenders who hadn’t been blinded or consumed by stone or molten rock worked to free the other survivors.

When Po and Kyokoh were finally free, they stood atop the ridge, surveying the site of their last battle. There was no city to speak of anymore. There were no tunnels. There was barely even a caldera or a mountain peak spewing ash. The entire mountain had been nearly leveled, smoothed over, changed as if by a force of nature.

But it hadn’t been a force of nature. It had been the avatar. She was back. And she was angry with them.