They didn't take me with them.

"Please, Aang. I want to go. I want to see a dragon."

"No," Zuko said for Aang. "Aang, please get on Appa. I'll deal with her. Aang nodded and climbed away from us.

"Zuko, I want to see a dragon." I gripped his shirt. His cold fingers wrapped around my wrists.

"You are still such a child, just like when I first met you."

"That's not a bad thing."

"It is a bad thing."

"Then why do you like me?" I said coyly, and he scowled. I tried winking, but he shook my wrist gently to get my attention.

"You're not coming, end of story."

"Fine," I said, letting go of his shirt, but he didn't let go of my hands. I stood on my tiptoes. "You have to promise me one thing, then."

"What?"

"I'm going with you on the next trip." I gave him a little kiss, making him sigh. "Now get out of here." He climbed Appa. "Stay safe," I called, waving as Aang said the magic words, "yip-yip", and then they were off. I sighed.

"Why does he do that?" Sokka asked.

"Do what?"

"Act so caring when he's around you. We literally saw him as a killer half the time, but as soon as he's standing next to you he's as harmless as a baby badgermole."

"He wasn't that bad," was all I could say, cheeks heating up. "You just need to focus on his good sides to see it."

"You really wanted to see a dragon, didn't you?" Sokka put a hand on my shoulder.

"Yeah," I sighed again, glancing at him out of the corner of my eye. I sighed deeper.

"Too bad," he teased, and I swatted his arm.

"Thanks," I rolled my eyes. "I have to go practice my bending before I lose it."

"You do that," he nodded.

🔥🔥🔥

Spiritual connections came from peace. I sat in front of the stream and closed my eyes, gently moving my hands. A bubble of water formed, and I slowly turned my wrist in a circular formation. The bubble elongated, wrapping around me like a clear ring. I took a deep breath in, let it out.

Focus. Calm your nerves.

I let go of everything I was feeling. Everything.

Slowly, I started forgetting everything. My butt hurt just a little, but soon that stopped bothering me too.

And then I was flying.

I was scaling the ocean like a shark, drifting like a raft. I was moving. I was floating.

Where on earth am I?

And then there was land under me. I stopped abruplty, tripping and slamming into the ground with a thud. The impact caused me to bounce up, rolling again and again again, over and over till I slammed into a giant tree and stopped. No, this was a tree root. A giant one. Wait, what was I doing?

I groaned, getting to my feet weakly. My arms and legs ached, my clothes dirty. I leaned against the tree root and stretched, hearing my neck crack multiple times.

"Hello?" I heard a voice. I looked around, confused.

"Who's there?"

"Look down here." I looked down to see a rabbit-like creature at my feet. It had tiny stubs for horns on it's head, and extra long front to teeth.

"Who are you?" I asked, getting down on my knees.

"You're pretty," the creature said in a lovely voice.

"Thank you. You're quite beautiful yourself."

"I know what you're here for."

"You do?" I asked in wonder. "I kind of forgot. Will you remind me?"

"I know where your mother is."

A pain shot through my chest and I was on all fours, gripping the ground and trying to breathe. "What's happening to me?" I whispered.

"Stay. Don't leave yet," the creature said. It was a spirit. Aang had told me about them. "Whatever you do, don't leave my side." And then it took off.

It was so fast.

I ran as fast as I could, but my legs felt like lead. After what seemed like an hour of useless tramping through the never ending forest, I leaned against a tree for rest. And then I felt sleepy. There was this giant hollow tree with an entrance in the trunk. So I got up and walked right in, sitting inside. After a couple minutes, a heard a slither.

"Hello?" something went, clack clack, clack. I panicked.

"You move your face, I take it," a voice hissed, and I was surrounded by a giant centipede. "So move. I'm hungry."

I froze. It was behind me. Aang had mentioned dangers in the spirit world before-if that's where I was.

"Who are you?" My voice came out terrified.

"I'm Koh, the face-stealer." I was right. "You move, your face is mine." He was slithering in front of me. The only thing I could do was keep my damn face straight. "Boo." A clown's face appeared in front of face. I tried so hard no to cry out or cover my face with my hands. I gulped, but I didn't move a muscle after that. I was going to cry. For the first time, I was genuinely afraid. I didn't want to cry. I hated crying. But here was a giant centipede, about to steal my face, and my eyes started burning. There were tears in them, but I did not dare move. One of the centipede's claw-like leg touched my shoulder. "You're good at this," he said with scorn. "The Avatar was good, too." I didn't even reply to him. Don't flinch, Ayame.

I blinked, and a tear slid down my cheek. I tried not to gasp, my breath catching in my throat. My lungs felt bruised. I realized I'd been holding my breath.

I didn't move when he crawled in front of me, slid behind me, or swung upside down. I didn't show surprised when he stood behind me, the hairs rising on my neck. Nor did I wince when he circled me.

And then he disappeared. "You're no fun," he complained, and then I was running away from him, outside, and I collapsed under a shady tree. I hugged my knees and cried into them for a long, long time, until something touched my shoulder.

"Why didn't you follow me?" the tiny spirit asked.

"I got lost," I sniffed.

"Come on." It went slowly this time, taking me through everything, until we reached a tiny clearing in the center of the swampy land.

"Where are we going?"

"You'll see."

Finally, the creature stopped in front of another tree. Behind it, a large cloth lay on the floor, checkered like a picnic sheet.

"What is this?" I asked. "What do we do?"

"Now, we wait." And we sat on the picnic mat and waited, waited, waited. Slowly, a giant rabbit with large ears, but eyes, and giant feet jumped towards us. It had a limp.

"Are you also patients?" he asked.

"Patients? For what?" I asked. Slowly, more animals gathered around us. "What are you all doing here?"

"We are waiting."

We waited. The silence was eerie.

And then I heard soft, heavenly footsteps behind me. They seemed almost familiar. In my mind, a sudden picture flashed of a room, where I slept. In the hallway, footsteps so similar to what I'd just heard softly touched the floor. Rain pattered on the ceiling.

Thunder boomed. I hid under the covers, and then arms held me. Familiarity.

I was back, the memory ending as suddenly as it came. I knew what was happening, but I didn't want to turn around.

"Who are you?"

This wasn't happening. It was all happening too, too fast.

"I haven't seen many human-like spirits around here," the woman laughed.

This was . . .

"Mom," I choked out. I slowly stood up, turning around. "Mommy."

"Ayame?" She gasped. "Oh, my. Oh, love, what are you doing here?"

"I came to see you," I whispered. "I-"

And then the familiar arms were around me, the ones that held me the night of the storm. I breathed in the smell of apples. Apples. That's what she smelled like. The scent of my mother.