- Third POV -
Back in the Spirit World, Aang walks up a giant tree, seeing the entrance to the cave Koh can be found in. Aang stares and slightly steps toward the cave hearing creepy noises. He glances to his left noticing that the noise wasn't coming from the cave.
"You're just a curly tailed blue nose" Sighs Aang in relief while the monkey turns its head toward Aang, exposing that he has no face.
"Aaahh!" Shouts Aang terrified. However, he stops screaming and takes a deep breath.
"Show no fear. Show no emotion at all" Mumbles Aang as he steps into the cave with a poker face.
"Hello? I-I'm looking for a spirit named 'Koh'" As Aang says the spirit's name, some 'roots' on the ceiling begin to move. Aang looks around, sensing movement, but sees nothing. A moment later, a white face appears with gray patches around its eyes and luscious, blood-red lips. The face smiles at Aang, who remains emotionless. Suddenly, a huge centipede-like body arcs around Aang and appears in front of his face. The white, clown-like face of Koh is inches away from Aang. Around the spirit's face are eight additional legs.
"Welcome!" Greets the spirit while circling creepily around Aang, who keeps a straight face. The spirit hangs from the ceiling in front of Aang, who bows with his hands clasped in front of him in a gesture of honor.
"Thank you" Replies Aang in an emotionless tone. Koh wheels around Aang to look at him from behind. His voice is low and melodic, almost purring.
"My old friend, the Avatar. It's been a long time" Says Koh smugly.
"You know me?" Asks Aang.
"How could I forget" Chuckles Koh as he switches with a 'winking' effect, as if some sort of nictitating membrane closes briefly over the old face to reveal a new one. A mad face of a middle-aged, mustached man with thick eyebrows, long mustache, and beard.
"you? One of your previous incarnations tried to slay me! Nearly eight or nine hundred years ago" Exclaims Koh with his new face.
"I didn't know that. Why did he, or I, try to kill you?" Asks Aang dryly while Koh changes faces, this time it's Ummi's scared and sad face.
"Oh, it was something about stealing the face of someone you loved" Shrugs Koh as his face turns malicious and switches to a baboon's while laughing. Aang keeps a straight face while not taking his eyes off Koh, who's circling around him.
"Of course, that's all behind us. Why should I hold a grudge against you for something in a past life? After all, you're a different person now" States Koh.
"You've come to me...with a new face" Whispers Koh into Aang's ear. Aang closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. I can do this, just keep a poker face. Focus.
❀❀❀
"Don't worry, Prince Zuko can't be getting too far in this weather" Reassures Yue.
"I'm not worried they'll get away in the blizzard. I'm worried that they won't" Admits Katara upset.
"They're not going to die in this blizzard. If we know anything, it's that Zuko never gives up. They'll survive, and we'll find them. Besides, Mizuki probably already found them" Comforts Sokka.
❀❀❀
"It's been a long time since I've added a child's face to my collection. So...how may I help you?" Says Koh as he continues circling around Aang.
"I need to find the moon and the ocean" Informs Aang.
"Their spirit names are Tui and La, push and pull. And that has been the nature of their relationship for all time" Explains Koh.
"Please. Help me find them. An entire culture could be destroyed if I don't get their help" Pleads Aang.
"Oh, you think you need their help. Actually it's quite the other way round" Koh looks away for a second and changes his face into a scarier one. In an instant, Koh turns around and bolts towards Aang, stopping just in front of the young Avatar; with an angry blue ogre-like face, red eyes, and upright fangs.
"Someone's going to kill them!" Shouts Koh while Aang struggles to keep a poker face. That was scary...
"Or atleast, that's what Washi told us" Shrugs Koh as he continues to observe Aang's facial expression, in the hope that Aang will lose concentration and show emotions.
"What do you mean? How can I find them and protect them?" Asks Aang confused.
"You've already met them, actually. Tui and La, your moon and ocean, have always circled each other in an each other in an eternal dance. They balance each other, push and pull, life and death, good and evil, yin and yang" States Koh as he flipps back to his original white face. Aang's eyes open wide as he experiences a flashback of the white and black fish circling each other in the pond and the vision he had of them as they turned into the yin and yang symbol just before he entered the Spirit World.
"The koi fish!" Beams Aang. Hearing the emotion in Aang's voice, Koh quickly reels around to stare at the now expressionless face of Aang.
"I must be going now" Says Aang in an emotionless tone.
"We'll meet again" Replies Koh as he recedes into the shadows. Aang exits the cave and runs towards a tree, however, after a few seconds Aang stops walking and looks at the ground.
"The spirits are in trouble, I need to get back to the physical world" Exclaims Aang worriedly.
"A friend is here, to guide you back" Whispers Roku's voice. Aang turns around, only to see a panda-like spirit.
"Hei Bai!" Beams Aang happily while the spirit groans. Aang jumps onto his back and the spirit begins to run.
❀❀❀
Two fireballs are flying towards the city. Multiple Water Tribe members try to stop the Fire Nation's tanks. A waterbender faces a tank, submerging the tank in the snow and ice around it. The firebenders begin to attack the waterbenders. Pakku freezes and takes down eight oncoming soldiers. He dodges a fire blast, having become surrounded with tanks and soldiers. Unleashing a wave of water he slices tanks wheels off and freezes soldiers behind him in ice. Pakku lifts himself into the air with water while being fired upon by firebenders. Avoiding the blasts, he knocks the firebenders away using his water cyclone as a wave.
"We'll be following this map to a very special location. And when we get there, we're going fishing" Smirks Zhao.
❀❀❀
Back in the Spirit World Aang arrives at his starting location and jumps off Hei Bai.
"This is where I came in, but how do I get back?" Asks Aang. Hei Bai stands on his hind legs and sends a beam of energy at Aang, who disappears to the physical world.
"Momo!" Beams Aang the moment he notices the lemur. However, Momo doesn't reply.
"Momo?" Aang tries to pat the lemur, only to find out he's not in his physical body. His body is blue and the light shines right through him.
"Oh no, where's my body?" Exclaims Aang worriedly. Suddenly, Aang is surrounded by energy which leads him towards a cave, where his physical body is located.
To be continued
Word count: 1.179