The Swamp

The skies felt awfully gloomy--thick gray and overhanging clouds seemed to be everywhere. For their rather boring

journey they were having, it seemed fitting. Azira's eyelids felt heavy as she tried to keep her gaze on the horizon.

"Az, move your foot, Katara mumbled, nudging at Azira with her own foot.

"You move yours" Azira said in a groggy tone, kicking back at her.

Sokka just let out a sigh, continuing to sharpen his boomerang. His gaze tore away from Azira and Katara's bickering to glance at his surroundings. "Hey, are you taking us down for a reason?"

His voice echoed in her ears and Azira pushed herself into a sitting position. "Aang, why are we going down?" She questioned, feeling much more awake.

Aang seemed to have been zoned out, eyes suddenly snapping back to attention. "What? I didn't even notice!"

Aang exclaimed in surprise.

"Well are you noticing now?" Sokka questioned.

It was true; they were still continuing to descend. The thick green and foliage of the swamp beneath them seemed to extend forever. At that, Katara got to her knees and looked over at the others.

"Is something wrong?"

Aang bit down on his lip. It was crazy, but-he had to just go for it. "This is going to sound weird, but I think the Swamp is calling to me."

Azira and Sokka exchanged the same weary look. Avatar spirit stuff, their usual Tuesday adventures.

"Is it calling you to food?" Sokka asked in a hopeful tone.

"l think it wants us to land there." Aang murmured, eyes locking onto the swamp again.

"Not to put a damper on those keen Avatar senses or anything Azira stated carefully. "But in order to land, there needs to be land to, you know, land on."

"I don't know, Az" Aang replied. "Bumi did say that in order to learn Earthbending, I would have to wait and listen.

And now I'm actually hearing the Earth. Do you want me to ignore it?"

"Yes-" Sokka said at the same time Azira said "No."

"There's definitely something weird about that place." Katara admitted.

Appa and Momo gave sounds of disapproval and Aang gave a deep sigh. "Well, if you all feel so strongly about it, bye Swamp.

Just as they began to redirect their flight upwards and towards a different stretch of land, a loud whistle of wind ripped towards them. Azira whipped around, eyes going wide at the sight of a tornado spontaneously emerging from the clouds.

"I think the swamp disagrees!" Azira exclaimed.

To his credit, Appa moved quickly. It just wasn't quickly enough to outfly a twister sent by the spirits of old. Sokka was the first one to go flying, with Katara grabbing onto his arm tightly.

Azira steadied Katara, clinging to the younger girl's arm. But the winds were just too strong. Their arms were torn away from one another and Azira fell, darkness entering her vision.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When Azira came to, there was a sharp pain in her left thigh. Blinking her eyes open, she was met with the sight of low mossy trees hanging overhead. And then suddeny, Katara's face invading her vision.

"You're awake!" Katara exclaimed.

"Unfortunately." Azira remarked dryly. Slowly, she sat up, feeling a dull ache in her bones. "Did I hit a tree or something?"

"Yeah, you hit it pretty hard. Almost impaled your leg too." Katara said. "Its neary dark now-

"I'm up, I'm up." Azira insisted, pulling herself to her feet. "Where's-

"You're awake!" Aang exclaimed excitedly, zipping over and hugging the older girl. Azira just gave a grunt in reply, patting him on the back. Sokka was close behind him.

"No Appa or Momo?" Azira questioned. The silence spoke for itself. She grimaced, eyes focusing on the thick swamp of trees ahead of them. "Oh goodie."

They hiked for as long as they could before dusk had fallen completely over the swamp. It wouldn't be much of a camp, but it would do. A small fire kept warmth central to their location.

The only light was the dim glow that illuminated their faces. "Does anyone else get the sense that we're being watched?" Katara finally asked in a quiet tone, almost afraid of the answer.

"Oh please" Sokka scoffed. "We're all alone out here."

For everyone's sake, Azira certainly hoped so. But then again, there were probably millions of creatures or spirit animals lurking in this swamp. They were never truly alone.

Azira had volunteered to take first watch. While she was certain they wouldn't run into any unsavory Fire Nation troops that wanted them dead out here, she had no idea what secrets this swamp was hiding.

It was better to be safe and alive than dead and wrong.

Aang, Katara, and Sokka had fallen asleep leaning into one another. She didn't really blame them for that. It was downright creepy in this swamp and though she felt prepared for a fight if it came down to it, that didn't mean she wanted to anger the spirits.

The embers of the fire were glowing dimly, with the fire almost burnt out. For a long time, it was just Azira and her thoughts that consumed the silence.

Then all at once, it happened. A vine slamming forward and wrapping around her legs, ripping her through the ground. She let out a violent shriek of surprise and anger-and then she was gone.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To say that Azira was annoyed would have been a deep understatement of the facts. Trekking through the muddy waters and slashing her way through vines, all without her friends? It hadn't left her in a very good mood to begin with.

This part of the swamp seemed darker than the rest. And that wasn't a figure of description. It was literal.

The very feel of the swamp here was wrong. The trees were black and decayed, with a disgusting rotting smell that wafted through the air. The water seemed a thousand feet deep and altogether green and shallow at the same time.

In short, this place was very wrong.

Something flickered in the trees and Azira spun, water splashing against her pants. "Is someone there?"

She fiqured it would be best to just call them out now. Let them know that they were not alone. After all, it wasn't her

that was afraid.

Then-

The laugh.

The sound of Hana's laugh chilled Azira to her very core, nearly making her scream in fear. She was rooted to the spot, voices whispering silvery against her ears.

"Just like me,"

Fated to be me

To made you into what you are. Did you forget?!"

"You are a monster! A bloodbender!"

The voices were loud, much too loud for Azira to even begin to comprehend them. She slammed her hands over her ears, tears pricking in her eyes. "No, no, no, no, no, no' she murmured to herself.

But it did not drown it out.

"NO!"

Azira did what she usually did when it came to Hana. When it came to her family. She turned tail and ran.

Thick branches slapped against her face as she ran, unable to keep the fear from overtaking her. She ran and she ran and she ran until she couldn't go anymore. And then she laid down at the foot of the tree and she cried.

She cried for the little girl that had been stolen away by Hana. That had been destroyed and killed the day that Hana

made her first kill someone.

She cried for the people that she had hurt. For the things that she had done in the name of survival.

Because if there was one thing that Azira was sure about, it was that there was no redemption for someone like her.

Even if she was helping the Avatar win the war.

"You look like you could use some help."

Azra looked up.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Hey! Why are you fighting Swampy?" Azira demanded, jumping down from a tree branch and focusing her gaze on her trio of friends.

"You know this-swamp hippie?!" Sokka demanded, eyes wide at her.

"Vaguely. He was helping me find you guys." Azira replied, forcing a tight smile onto her face.

"This swamp is sacred. I can take you to the center!"

In no time at all, the group had followed Huu to the main part of the tree. The swamp wasn't just an array of plants. It was one giant living organism. Quite a miraculous feat of nature, if Azira didn't say so herself.

"I reached enlightenment right here under the Banyon Grove Tree." Huu explained, gesturing at the tree. "I heard it calling me, just like you did."

"Sure. It seems real chatty Sokka remarked dryly.

Aang's gaze flicked around the many branches and leaves. "So this whole thing is just one organism?"

"Yeah!" Huu replied. "Just ike the whole world."

"What do you mean?" Katara blurted.

"You think you're any different from me or your friends, or even this tree? If you listen hard enough, you start to hear every living thing breathing together.

You can feel everything growing. We are living together, even if most folks don't act like it. We all have the same roots and we are all branches of the same tree."

Azira bit down on her lip. "And the visions?"

"In the swamp, we see visions of the people we've lost, people we've loved, folks we think are gone. Things that we are connected to. The swamp tells us that we're still connected. Time is an illusion and so is death."

"There goes my brain cells for the day." Azira deadpanned.

"Well let's get moving then. Sokka added.