Harry! Sokka!" Katara blurted out when she saw Harry and Sokka suddenly appear.
"What the..." Was all Sokka was able to get out before Katara jumped towards him and pulled him into a tight hug just as several other people returned along with him. "Katara!" Sokka said happily, hugging her back.
"I missed you both!" She said before trying to hug Harry who stopped her by placing a hand on her forehead.
"I'm not much of a hugger." Harry told her apologetically before lowering his hand. "I..."
"Harry!" Aang cheered before rushing over and pulling him into a hug. Harry let out a long sigh before turning to Katara.
"Go ahead then." He said, gesturing her to come closer. Katara grinned before coming over and joining Aang in the hug.
"So, what happened?" Sokka asked once the two let go of Harry.
"You were both trapped in the Spirit World for 24 hours! How are you feeling?" Katara asked.
"Like I need to use the bathroom." Sokka said, earning a disgusted look from Katara.
"In his defence, there were no bathrooms there." Harry shrugged. "I just went in a nearby bush."
"You did not!" Katara gasped.
"What happened there?" Aang asked. "You know…besides the bush."
"Not much." Harry shrugged.
"Except that weird horse thingy that you met." Sokka replied.
"Weird horse thingy?" Aang echoed questioningly.
"It was like this weird skeleton-looking dark horse with wings." Sokka replied, shivering slightly.
"It wasn't that weird." Harry frowned.
"Hmm, yes it was." Sokka responded. "Anyway it talked with Harry for a bit before the two walked off and left me." He said, glaring at Harry.
"You're a big boy now," Harry said, rolling his eyes. "you can stay on your own with supervision."
"Asshole."
"Dickwad."
"Please stop." Katara half-demanded, half-begged.
"What was the horse thingy?" Aang asked.
"It was called a theeestrel." Sokka answered, sounding confident enough to make you believe that he had studied the animal in question for the majority of his life.
"It's called a thestral." Harry corrected him.
"What did it talk to you about?" Aang asked in an interested voice.
"Nothing important." Harry said dismissively.
"Oh come on, tell us." Aang begged.
"No."
"Why not?"
"Because it is something personal and I don't have to." Harry replied. "Now, tell me what happened here?"
"Well," Aang looked disappointed at not being able to learn more but decided it wouldn't be wise to keep pushing Harry to reveal more. "the spirit was actually just mad at the forest being burnt down, I was able to cheer it up by letting it know that the forest would grow back, then it left and brought you guys back."
"Hmm," Harry hummed thoughtfully. "so we're done here then?"
"Thank you, Avatar!" The village leader said in a happy voice as he approached. "You've helped save our village and brought back our people, how can we ever repay you?"
"Let's start with a bathroom." Sokka said hopefully, bouncing up and down on his feet.
"Oh, of course." The leader said before gesturing Sokka to follow one villager, Sokka nodded gratefully before rushing away.
"Second, we need food, money and supplies." Harry replied.
"Harry!" Katara admonished.
"What?" Harry rolled his eyes. "If you want to bring balance to the world without those things then feel free, meanwhile I will be realistic enough to remember that we will actually need these things."
"It would be an honour to help." The leader said, bowing his head before he walked off and began instructing the villagers on what to bring.
"So, you solved this all on your own?" Harry asked. "Not bad."
"Yeah, I'm so proud of you Aang." Katara told him, smiling brightly.
"Thanks," Aang said, blushing slightly. "But I hadn't really done it all on my own. I had a little help, which reminds me, there's something important I need to do."
"What is it?" Katara asked.
"I need to speak to Avatar Roku, and...I think I have a way to contact his spirit."
"That's great!"
"Contact his spirit? How?" Harry asked.
"Well, there's a temple on a crescent-shaped island and if I go there on the solstice, I'll be able to speak with him." Aang answered.
"But that...that's tomorrow!" Katara pointed out.
"Where is this island?" Harry frowned.
"Well...um...it's kind of...sort of...in the Fire Nation." Aang admitted. A fearful expression appeared on Katara's face while Harry let out a string of very colourful curses.
"I cannot believe we're doing this." Sokka muttered as the team flew on Appa towards the Fire Nation temple.
"You mean going to a temple so boy wonder over here can speak to a past life or going into the bloody Fire Nation?" Harry sighed, feeling much the same way as Water Tribe boy.
"Both," Sokka snorted. "there are so many ways that this can go wrong."
"Undoubtedly." Harry agreed. "It'll be worse for me and Aang though."
"How do you figure that out?" Sokka asked.
"Well, Aang's the Avatar so naturally the Fire Nation wants to catch him. Meanwhile I am a Fire Nation traitor, guess what...the Fire Nation doesn't like traitors." Harry answered.
"Guys, relax, it'll be fine." Katara said confidently.
"What makes you think that?" Sokka asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Well, for one, we have the Avatar on our team." She grinned. "And if that's not good enough then we also have the 'Emerald Dragon'," She added, gesturing to Harry. "if anyone has a chance at doing this then it's us."
"You are quite optimistic, you know that, right?" Harry asked in an amused voice before looking around, only to blink when he noticed a small Fire Nation ship in the sea, following them. "Ah, we've got trouble."
"Nephew, this is undoubtedly the most foolish thing you have ever done." Iroh said with a sigh of deep suffering.
"I don't have a choice, Uncle." Zuko replied.
"Sailing into Fire Nation territory?" Iroh asked with disbelief, ignoring Zuko's reply.
"I have no choice." Zuko repeated through gritted teeth.
"Have you completely forgotten that the Fire Lord banished you?" Iroh demanded to know, looking quite angry or a moment before calming down. "What if you're caught?" He asked in a worried voice.
"I'm chasing the Avatar! My father will understand why I am returning home!" Zuko said, looking into his telescope.
"My brother is many things but understanding is not one of them." Iroh snorted.
"Then we'll knock them down before they get there." Zuko declared. "Ready the catapults." He ordered some of his men, they nodded and quickly got to work.
"A good plan but if they're not killed then what exactly do you plan to do when you catch up to them? Huh?"
"Capture the Avatar." Zuko said simply.
"The Avatar, however young or inexperienced he might be, is not a warrior that should be taken lightly." Iroh lectured.
"Neither am I." Zuko replied.
"Perhaps not," Iroh agreed. "but should you in fact manage to get through his friends and then defeat him, what do you plan to do when you end up face to face with Harry?" Iroh asked, causing Zuko to look away from his telescope and face the older firebender. "I was an adult by the time people had started calling me a dragon, Harry was less than half your age when he became the Emerald Dragon."
"He won't go full out when fighting me." Zuko said confidently. "And I'm willing to do whatever it takes to capture the Avatar." He said in a voice that made it clear he was done with this conversation, he turned his attention back to keeping an eye on the Avatar, ignoring the sigh from Iroh.
"Incoming!" Sokka yelled as a large fireball flew towards them.
"I've got it." Harry said jumping off of Appa's saddle and onto the flying bison's back. Harry took a deep breath before he waved his arms to the side, using airbending to push the projectile away so it didn't hit them.
"Nice!" Aang called out to Harry.
"Thanks, airbending's a lot easier up here." Harry grinned as he looked back at Aang, only to freeze. "Oh crap."
"Blockade!" Aang gasped when he and the others saw where Harry was looking. They saw a two-row line of Fire Nation ships stretching across the ocean as far as the eye can see, the majority of them armed with catapults.
"Well, this'll be fun." Harry said in a dry voice just before the Fire Nation ships began firing at them. "Aang, you focus on piloting, I'll get the projectiles." Harry said as he jumped back into the saddle.
"Got it." Aang nodded before making Appa move to dodge a fireball.
"Atta boy." Harry said before he began using airbending to move the projectiles out of the way.
"Prince Zuko, they got the ship!" The ship's engineer said after a stray fireball struck their ship.
"We're still in Earth Kingdom waters," Iroh pointed out. "we should go back. Please Prince Zuko, if we do then they will not be able to arrest us." He said, hoping his nephew would listen.
"No!" Zuko growled. "I will be the one to capture the Avatar, not Zhao! Keep going!" Zuko growled, to say he was not Zhao's biggest fan would be like saying a dragon's fire was warm, it was quite simply an understatement.
Zhao, as far as Prince Zuko was concerned, was a boot licker who had managed to rise up in power enough to convince himself he was far more important than he actually was. Zuko hoped that their last meeting had at least dimmed Zhao's ego, in that meeting Zuko and Zhao had argued with each other over the Avatar until they agreed to settle things in an Agni Kai. It had been close but Zuko had won, he had Zhao down on the floor and barely resisted the urge to burn the older man. When Zuko turned his back on Zhao, the man tried to attack him, only to be stopped by Uncle Iroh.
Zuko knew that Zhao wanted to capture the Avatar for the glory, the fame and respect he would get if he brought him back. He knew that Zhao wanted to capture the Avatar, but Zuko...he needed to capture the Avatar.
"We're on a collision course!" Iroh shouted out, the Avatar and his friends had made it past the blockade but their own ship had not.
"Keep going! We can make it!" Zuko shouted. His ship went faster and faster, as they got closer he realised that he had perhaps been wrong about if they actually could make it at all, given how close the blockade ships were. But then something unexpected happened, the blockade ships stopped and allowed the banished son's ship to pass through. "What is this?" Zuko asked suspiciously. "Why didn't they just arrest us?"
"Because he wants to follow you." Iroh said in a knowing voice. "He knows you'll lead him to the prize you're both after: the Avatar."
"Zhao wants to follow me," Zuko sniffed before looking at the ships engine, an idea popping into his head. "let's let him. If the imbecile wants to follow a trail of smoke, then let's let him."
"This had better be worth it." Harry said later once he and the group were inside the temple, the group hurried as best as they could since it was already evening time.
"Hopefully it will be." Katara replied.
"Where is everybody?" Aang asked.
"I don't know but if you can't hear anybody then that usually means one of four things," Harry responded. "the first being that there's nobody here."
"Possible," Sokka nodded. "the Fire Nation might have abandoned it years ago."
"The second being that whoever is here didn't hear you, the third being that they can't speak, meaning they could be injured, captured or dead." Harry continued, the other three adopted worried expressions. "The fourth being that they heard you and are willingly not responding."
"You mean they're planning to ambush us?" Sokka gulped.
"I don't know, like I said, it's likely one of these." Harry replied. "Keep your guard up."
"Halt!" A voice said, the group turned around and saw five men dressed in red with tall hats. "We are the Fire Sages. Guardians of the temple of the Avatar."
"That's great!" Aang smiled brightly. "I'm the Avatar."
"We know." One of them said before inhaling and firing a fire blast at the group, Harry moved forwards and backhanded the fireblast, causing it to disappear.
"The Emerald Dragon?!" One of the men gasped upon seeing Harry, his reaction caused the others to stop and stare at Harry before paling significantly.
"That'd be me." Harry nodded before his fists became covered in green flames. "Now, you gentlemen are going to tell us what we know, because if you don't then I'm going to make sure you'll never tell anyone anything ever again."
"P...please," One of them said in a pleading voice. "we...we can't! The Fire Lord...he would..."
"The Fire Lord is not the person that you swore your oaths to," Harry cut him off. "the Avatar is. Nor is he the one that you're currently trapped with. Now, get to moving, or else." Harry warned. The men gulped and exchanged looks before silently coming to agreement with each other.
"F...follow us, please." One of them said with a low bow before walking off with the others following after them, followed by Harry and his friends.
"Wow, people are really scared of you." Aang whispered to Harry.
"It comes in handy every now and then." Harry whispered back.