“Are you sure about this?” Zuko looks over at Twila uncertainly, and I can’t help but do the same.

            “Really, Twila, he seems kind of…”

            “Harmless.”

            She looks at us, her eyes hard. “Corr is not harmless. He is one of Araden’s fiercest fighters. He has the rare power of controlling his environment with his mind.”

            I frown. “So he can bend with his mind?” So… there are others like Lia? She’s not the only one? I feel a spark of hope.

            “No. He does not ‘bend’ as you humans think of it. He can move objects simply by thinking of moving them. He is very dangerous. If he is the one who has captured Aang, this situation has just gotten worse.”

            The hope crumbles, but I have to push it away. I have to worry about Aang right now. “So what do we do? You said this is where the thoughts were coming from. Maybe he’s just a dissenter.” Zuko looks hopeful as he says the words--despite our need to find Aang, I can tell he doesn’t want to go up against more weird Araden powers.

            But… “Koko.” He looks at me, his amber eyes going wide. I sigh. “I don’t want to fight these people if we don’t have to, but… this is our only lead. And we HAVE to find Aang.”

            He nods. “All right. We’ll wait until he leaves, then we’ll search the house.”

            “But that could take hours. I can simply search the house with my--”

            “No. Didn’t you say most Araden’s have blocks around their houses? He’ll know if you use your powers.” Zuko says, frowning at Twila.

            “And besides, I get that you’re super powerful or whatever, but I’d still rather search the house myself.” I cross my arms, leaning back against the pillar we’ve been hiding behind.

            “You do not trust me.”

            I don’t say anything, and Zuko sighs. “You’ve been a great help to us, but all this spirit power stuff is still new. Give us time.”

            Twila huffs and looks away, but she doesn’t say anything else.

**__**

            “I miss mommy.” Lia slumped into a chair across from Iroh. She looked so sad that Iroh’s heart hitched.

            “I know, little one. But she’ll be back soon, wait and see.” He sipped his tea and glanced out the window. The shop wouldn’t open for another hour, and the early morning sunlight gave the empty teashop a golden glow.

            “But it’s been so long!”

            Iroh reached over and put a hand on top of her head. “I know, little one. I know.” His mind strayed to the letter Kamil had sent. After all this time, could it be true? Could Ursa have lied?

            Was Zuko not his nephew after all?

**__**

            Aang breathed evenly, as always. Deep in the recesses of his mind, he floated on a sea of calm. He saw in his mind’s eye a ball of spinning light, and it kept his focus. It kept him alive. The light was his entire world, it consumed his mind.

            It kept his thoughts off his predicament. The man had left awhile ago--how long, the young airbender couldn’t have said.

            He focused on the ball, its pale green light entrancing him. It was the color of Toph’s eyes. It soothed him. He could pretend to himself that she was beside him, watching over him.

            That soon he would wake up from whatever horrible dream this was, and she would be there to laugh with him again.

            His body breathed. His mind revolved around the light, his thoughts scattered like leaves that blew on a gentle breeze. None of them relevant, all of them disappearing if he tried to grasp a single one.

            The leaves were his memories, and they made up all that he had left. Would this be his forever? Living only the past, watching the mistakes he’d made and the people he loved, unable to change anything? Aang didn’t know.

            The light shuddered--he was losing his focus.

            With intense concentration, he sent the ball spinning faster, drawing him in, keeping him--

            Suddenly, the ball shattered, and the young Avatar was wrenched back to the present. Back to the horrible feeling of being trapped in his own skin, back to the exhaustion that plagued his mind, back to the panic that gripped him every time he realized anew that he couldn’t move.

            Had the man returned? Was that what had pulled his focus away? He listened carefully, but heard nothing. Until--

            Footsteps. But they weren’t his captor’s steps…

            “Aang!”

            Katara’s voice. So that was it. He was dreaming. After all this time, had he finally managed to fall asleep? Or was he just delusional?

            Aang figured it was probably the second choice.

            A cool hand touched his forehead. “Aang, wake up! It’s me, Katara. Zuko’s here too, and Twila. We’re going to get you out of here. Wake up!”

            Those cool hands shook his body, and it flopped around like a rag. Aang wished he could open his eyes, so he could see her. He wished he could tell her he was already awake.

            It was funny to think that in this dream, Zuko and Katara were together. Wasn’t that his job? To bring them together?

            But now they were rescuing him. Aang wanted to return to his ball of light and his memories of Toph and the rest of the Gaang, back in the good old days. He didn’t want to be here, imagining that Katara was rescuing him, feeling the pain of hunger and his cramped body.

            He knew that he was starving to death, wasting away. But that was just his body. It wasn’t important.

            Was it?

            “Aang!”

            “Katara, stop. He’s not gonna wake up.”

            “What’s wrong with him?”

            A pale blue light flashed inside Aang’s head, but was quickly overshadowed by a deep red.

            Then, Twila’s voice. “He is in a mind-cell.”

            “What does that mean?”

            “It means he is trapped inside his own mind.”

            “So how do we get him out? Can he hear us?”

            “I do not know. I have only heard of this before, never seen it. Only a very powerful Araden can invoke this. We must get him out of here before Corr returns!”

            Strong arms lifted Aang’s body--he wished he could scream. The feeling of movement after so long, even uncontrolled movement, sent pain twisting through his body.

            “He’s so limp. It’s like he’s dead.”

            “He’s not dead. He’s breathing.”

            Zuko and Katara’s voices echoed in Aang’s head, and they were the last things he heard before the pain overwhelmed him, and he passed out.

______

Whoohoo! I'm sorry guys. But, I think... maybe... my block might be almost gone! This was almost easy to write! *dances happily* Five comments! I love you all, and thanks so much for putting up with me!