All right, I just want to say this: I KNOW that Aang is a vegetarian, but this journey to Araden is necessary to the plots of both this book and the third book. I thought long and hard about it, but there's just no way for him to survive the journey without eating meat. It's not like I just wrote the chapter without knowing the characters. I know ATLA like the back of my hand. There's just NOT another way. :(

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"Look mommy, there it is!" I look up from the water I've been playing with to see Lia at the bow of our little skiff, pointing off to the left a bit. I look where she's pointing, letting my gaze roam over the mountainous terrain that surrounds Chameleon Bay. We've been drifting past the same shores for nearly a week, searching for the entrance to the canal that will take us to Ba Sing Se.

Sure enough, Lia's spotted the telltale rush of water that leads into the canal. I stand and throw my arms back, doubling our speed. We're so close! Two days at most to get through the canal, past the junction for Full Moon Bay and down the narrow waterway that leads into Ba Sing Se's ferry port.

I can feel excitement pounding through my chest--it will be so good to see Uncle again! I know he'll write Zuko and tell him I'm there, but I don't care. I'm sick of hiding and running. Uncle is my family, and I've missed him. I won't let Zuko take him or Lia away from me.

I'm stronger than that. I feel a smile twist my lips upward as we shoot through the entrance, my arms moving quickly to steady us in the current. I can feel Lia's power as well, keeping the waters around us calm. Outwardly she gives no sign of it, leaning over the bow with her eyes on the horizon.

She's as excited as I am--over the past month of traveling I've told her much about Uncle and Ba Sing Se. She can't wait to see the city, and I can't wait to show it to her.

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Aang was jolted awake, though for a moment he didn't know why. Then he realized--they'd stopped moving. Twila pulled the lever that opened the Beastian's front, and climbed out. Following her into the frigid air, Aang stretched his arms and blew fire out his mouth to warm himself.

"Where are we?" Aang stuck his hands in his armpits to keep them from freezing, and looked at Twila. She glanced at him, amusement crinkling the corners of her eyes. "We are here."

"Really? But..." He looked around, seeing only an endless sea of ice. They'd been traveling across this frozen ocean for nearly two days, and hadn't seen so much as a gopher-rabbit or a snow-eagle-hawk. The place was all icy air and slippery ground and winds that shoved snow into every crevice of his body. Twila chuckled, and closed her eyes. A moment later, the ground in front of them began to glow with a faint blue light--then a section of ice collapsed inward, revealing a sloping tunnel leading down into the frozen sea.

"Are you sure that's it?" Aang was doubtful, and more than a little wary of venturing under an entire ocean of solid water. What if they got crushed? Twila just laughed and walked into the gaping hole, leaving Aang with no other choice but to follow.

They walked forever, or so it seemed to Aang. It was warmer under the ice, but not by much. The folded down Beastian floated behind them, held aloft by Twila's strange mind powers. He'd tried to get her to explain them to him, but she'd been vague and changed the subject quickly.

Apparently it was a secret.

Aang walked slumped over with his hands in his armpits, trying to stay awake. The tunnels were a maze--one would turn into two, then three a few feet later. Or they'd hit a dead end, only to slide through a narrow crevice into a huge cavern-like area with up to ten tunnels branching off it. Aang didn't know how Twila kept from getting lost, but the Araden girl kept going with unerring purpose.

Aang knew that they were descending through the frozen sea, but during the walk it felt more like they were walking through a netherworld, going nowhere. There was no sound but the echoing sound of their footsteps, no sight except the near translucent blue ice that surrounded them.

A faint blue light pervaded everything, and Aang could almost believe this was a path to the spirit world. Even the bitter chill in the air lent credence to that theory--or so it did, until they stepped out of a tunnel and onto a cliff. There was no sign to indicate that the tunnel had changed, no way to tell where they were. But when Aang looked down, he saw a sight that took his breath away.

An endless city stretched out from the base of the cliff, carved into the rock and coral reefs that were once the seabed. The icy sea arched overhead like a protective dome, and from this height Araden looked like something from a story.

Pale blue lights shone like stars throughout the city, and Aang could barely make out people, all dressed in snow-white furs, walking along streets carved out of rock and coral and sandstone. A multitude of faded colors seemed to reflect the blue glow, lending the ancient city an ethereal feeling.

Twisting towers and beautifully carved spires rose above the lights, graceful bridges arched over flowing crystal rivers; in a few places, incongruous gardens bloomed, the bright colors of spring out of place beneath a frozen sea.

Aang could do nothing but stare--and for the first time, he really, truly believed that these people were descended from spirits. For who but the spirits could have built a place like this?