Dai Li's Personal Spy

Chapter 23: Obligation

I crashed onto my bed, not even bothering to get undressed. I was so exhausted, hungry, and overwhelmed. But I could finally sleep knowing that Zuko was alive. I could barely get under the covers before I knocked out.

"Hello?" I called out. I was standing on a small island in the middle of a pond, surrounded by walls of ice. There was a spirit gate behind me, backdropped by endless bamboo. I noticed an even smaller pond at my feet. Two fish encircled each other, like Yin and Yang.

I felt a presence behind me, and I turned around to see Aang. I scowled at him, sick of him appearing in my dreams.

"Here to show me another horrific memory?" I sneered. He shook his head.

"You're here because you want to be." He told me, his arms at his side. I scoffed, "Don't try and twist this, you have been pestering me."

He shook his head again. "No, this is a connection you have sought out. A vision comes unwarranted, but I am not a vision. I am an embodiment of Avatar Aang. You seek me out the same reason the Avatar does."

I crossed my arms, laughing mockingly. "And what is that?"

"You are spiritually enlightened, but you know this. You were able to withstand two elements because of your spirituality. Before Avatar Kyoshi's time, dual benders were still a rare but celebrated occurrence. They were seen as an important connection between nations and the way the Avatar could unite, understand and form our four nations."

Suddenly, he sat down, legs crossed in a lotus. He looked up at me expectantly, and I gave in, sitting down and crossing my legs into a lotus, which seemed effortless, but I was dreaming, so I think my mind allowed me to be flexible.

"When Chin the Conqueror, a powerful tyrant in the time of Avatar Kyoshi, assumed power, a dual bender, Fire and Earth, like yourself, attempted to assassinate him. He suddenly feared not the assassin but the fact that they could bend two elements. He painted them as dangerous and determined to make a legion of their own. He made dual benders illegal in the Earth Kingdom by whispering his fears into the Earth King's ear. Soon the Fire Nation caught wind of this and began to share the same fear and the same law."

My head was spinning at all this history. But how could Aang know all of this? "But how do you know all of this?" I asked, staring into the Avatar's bright eyes.

"I know this because I am all the Avatars of every lifetime. This is not Aang speaking to you, this is all of his lifetimes. I take his form because you are connected to him. I'm afraid you are the only Dual bender of your time, but you wonder why you are so drawn and connected to the Avatar. Because you are meant to help him understand the world, ground him, detach him."

I furrowed my brows, looking at Aang, but technically not Aang. "But I'm just one girl? I can't help him understand, he's the Avatar! I don't know what you want, I don't have answers."

He raised his head slightly. "No, you have solutions. Too long, this gift has been killed and punished for existing, but if you join the Avatar and defeat the Fire Nation, you will be representing the good you are, the opportunity that you hold. It is in your best interest to join the Avatar. You seek each other out because you know that there will be restoration within your bond"

I buried my head in my hands, my mind reeling. I looked up from my palms. "I can't leave Zuko."

"Of course you can, you have betrayed him already by working against him. You know you can leave him because you know you are working for the greater good." His body looked as if it was being pulled back into the bamboo by an invisible force, leaving me alone. I let the dream come to an end.