A/N: Hello readers old and new, we finally made it! Two years later, and we're finally on Book Three!

If you're new to this story, please be sure to check out Parts One and Two before getting started on this new journey. If you're not ... well, let's get started.

"You know, if you need to rest that's fine. I'm not going to be thinking any less of you."

It had been several hours since two young travelers found themselves in an altogether strange and unfamiliar world, even to the one who had been here before. He, dressed in a sleeveless tunic, a red robe thrown over his shoulder, using a long stick to compensate for the heavy limp on his right left, trudged onward with a somewhat grim determination. Beside him, her pace slowed to stay in line with his, a young woman with long brown hair walked, hands holding onto the straps of her pack sitting high upon her back.

"I'm fine," the young man replied, in a tone that suggested to the contrary. He shrugged his shoulder to settle his own pack higher up his back. The woman cocked an eyebrow, her eyes darting from the sweat beaded on his temple and the notable limp in his gait, her patience wearing thin.

"Yes yes, you've bravely soldiered on for much longer than you need to," she teased, trying to keep her tone easy. "Though personally I don't think that's admirable, just stupid." The man cast her a dark look. "Come on, we both know that this sign or whatever it is you're looking for doesn't have anything to do with how far we walk."

The man stopped, looking at their surroundings before letting out a submissive smile. Katara, at least, hadn't know what to expect when the pair of them had stepped into the decaying portal back in the South Pole, having never been to the spirit world before, but Aang had arrived full expecting to see some clear sign of what he should do next and where they should head. He had been disappointed, however, to find himself standing in what appeared to be a cave crafted entirely from ice, the blood trail that had been so prominent back in the Pole now completely absent. Though encouraged that he and Katara both had arrived in one piece, with their minds for the most part intact, he hadn't been able to fight the bitter disappointment that had settled in when he looked about them. Katara had turned, placing a hand on his arm, silently questioning their next move, and with a nod he had led them forwards, out of the ice cave and into the barren cold land beyond. Over rock and under and orange sky they pair had walked, Katara watching him with a growing concern, the words of the Air Acolyte they had left behind heavy on her mind, whilst the Avatar had simply prayed that some clue or sign would come to him.

"Look," Katara continued bluntly, reaching out and placing a hand on his arm, "I realised hours ago that you have no idea where you're going. And that's ok. We're both tired and you can hardly walk, so let's stop and gather ourselves before we go any further."

Beaten, Aang looked across at her. Though her tone was droll, her large blue eyes cast over with him concern. Her worry made him angry, an emotion he was becoming more and more familiar with, but he was able to gather himself.

"Alright," he mumbled, his shoulder slumping. Katara looked around them, searching for some form of shelter on the flat, dull landscape. Spotting some large jagged rocks forming an overhang not far ahead of them she grabbed his arm and pulled him forwards. If he wasn't so exhausted and so busy fighting back his desire to snap at her, he would have found her authoritative directing appealing, but instead he shuffled after her, no longer bothering to hide the wince the came with each step. As they reached the overhang, the pair pulled their heavy packs from their backs, dropping them to the ground. Aang didn't wait for Katara to pull the sleeping bags from her back before he too dropped to the ground, groaning as he stretched out his leg and resting his back against the rock. Holding one of the sleeping back, Katara looked at him with worried eyes.

"You've taken on way too much too soon, Aang," she said, and though her tone was soft the irritation flashing in her blues was not missed. She draped the bag over him, and he looked up at her with a pained smile of gratitude before she once more looked around them. "There's some water over there. Stay here and I'll see if another healing session can help with the pain.

Aang very much wanted to reach out and pull her back. Though he could see the thin stream not far from them on the flat rock he none-the-less felt very uncomfortable with her going anywhere without him. They had yet to encounter any other life at all in their short journey, but he wasn't about to let himself be fooled into any sense of safety. The Avatar in the spirit world was one thing, but his very mortal and spiritless girlfriend was another matter entirely. But, before he could reach her, she had walked off, and he could only watch with baited breath as she made her way to the stream. Idiot, his cold thoughts said, in a voice like his, but not quite, idiot is going to get herself killed. His held his breath the entire time, exhaling only once she was back with him, a small cup of water in hand. She dropped to his side, glancing up to see the seething look on his face. She chose to ignore it however, reaching forward to pull back the sleeping bag.

"Trousers."

Aang bit his tongue. "I sure hope a spirit doesn't waltz up about now," he growled, untying his sash. All of Sokka's old tunics may be sleeveless, but he found himself thankful that they were at least longer than his own.

Katara soon set to work, bending the water around his thigh, covering the fresh pink scars as it began to glow. Aang hissed and grit his teeth as the pain intensified at first, but let out a puff of relief as the sharpness eased into little more than a dull ache. Even his mood shifted, the anger gently sliding aside. For five minutes she worked on him, easing the water up his hip to try and lessen the impact his limp had on his joints, before skillfully dropping each drop back into the cup.

"Thank you," he said, retying his sash and leaning back against the rock wall once more.

"I just wish you hadn't pushed yourself so hard," she sighed in return. "If you don't rest and let this heal it might never get better."

"It'll get better, I'm the Avatar," he flashed her a crooked grin and she rolled her eyes.

"Glad to see you've got your humour back again, at least." She reached into her pack and pulled out some kindling, holding it out for him as he gladly obliged and lit the end of one of them. Walking into the spirit world with their physical bodies certainly had it's advantages. He watched as she set about making them some dinner, his stomach suddenly churning with guilt.

"You don't have to do that," he said, leaning forwards and offering to take the pot of rice. She pulled it away from him.

"Didn't I just tell you to rest?"

"Well, technically you said if I didn't rest then my left might not get better," he quipped with a grin. She shook her head, continuing to set up a cup of rice and water over the fire to boil. "Seriously, Katara, you've done more than enough today already."

"I don't have a problem cooking us some dinner, Aang." She grabbed a couple bowls and placed them between them. "But if it really bothers you you can make breakfast, deal?"

Aang sighed, relenting, leaning back against the rock. He watched her as she worked, stirring the rice in the pot, her movements so elegant and strong, a slight crease to her brow. He knew that something wasn't right in him, he had felt strange, colder, since the moment he had awoken after his attack, and the feeling had only grown stronger since he had been in the spirit world. But as much as his fury threatened to take hold, as he looked at her, pushing her hair back behind her ears, he still somehow felt peace. He smiled, wondering how so simple a movement could ease him this way.

"Grubs up," she announced, spooning rice into their bowls. Aang looked away quickly, hoping she hadn't caught him staring at her, though the slight blush on her cheeks suggested otherwise. Gratefully he took his bowl and chopsticks, his stomach growling in anticipation. Neither of him, in their confused states, had realised quite how hungry they were. It had been two days, at least, since Aang had eaten anything.

"So, what do we do?" Katara asked, her blue eyes flickering towards his. He avoided her gaze, suddenly finding his bowl of rice very interesting. He stabbed at his food a few times before she repeated his name gently.

"I don't know," he admitted, his throat constricted. "It was supposed to make sense once we got here. I thought maybe if we kept walking we'd find Tonrar's trail, or one of the past Avatar's. But instead, we've just found rock. Rock and more rock." Bitterly he looked out at the stony landscape, nostrils flaring. "What a joke that was."

"So, what about the past Avatar's?" Katara urged, leaning forwards. "What if you try contacting them somehow?"

Aang scoffed. He knew that was not possible, he knew that he could not open himself up in any way whilst in the spirit world, not in the state he was in. The Avatar Spirit was angry, he felt that, and waiting for any opportunity to take control. Katara watched him, biting her lip.

"Well, you said that you think the past Avatar's made contact whilst you were unconscious. What did they say?"

Aang looked darkly down at his food. "I don't remember what they said, exactly. I just remember that there was someone ... someone who was supposed to tell me what to do about Tonrar ..."

"Sansetsu?" Katara placed her empty bowl on the floor, grabbing her own sleeping bag and shuffling closer. He looked up at her, wondering how she could possibly know the name. "You mentioned him, after you came around." She frowned. "It seemed familiar somehow ... like I had heard it before."

Aang remembered now, the memory that had eluded him since he had woken so dazed after fighting Tonrar. He recognised the name too, he had read it before.

"He's one of the airbending Avatar's before me ... maybe the one before Yangchen, maybe earlier, I don't know. But I read about him in one of the scrolls we found at the Eastern Air Temple." At that, Katara's eye lit up, as she clicked her fingers.

"Yes! Oh, Aang, I forgot to tell you with everything that went on ... back in the Southern Air Temple I found something in the room the top of the dorms-"

"You went up there?" Aang interrupted sharply, rounding on her so suddenly it almost made her jump.

"Yes, I-"

"Why would you do that?" Aang snapped, brow furrowed. Katara, initially confused by the attack, made to defend herself, but she remembered Xing Ying's words once more, and the twisted nature of his chi as she had healed him just moments before. Aang was not himself.

"Aang you need to calm down," she said, her tone gentle yet firm. One of Aang's eyes twitched, as he made to lash out at her again, but he seemed to regain control, breathing slowly through his nose.

"I went up there because I wanted to see," she said. "I wanted to see how many, because I know once this is over we need to go back there, and we need to bury them properly."

Aang's face softened, and he looked away. "I'm sorry."

"It's ok ... I get it." She rubbed her temple. "At the top I found a book, it had the names, birth dates, and death dates of what I could only assume was all the airbenders born at the Temples."

Aang looked back at her, eyebrows raised. Even in all of his time growing in the Southern Air Temple, he had never had a chance to look at this book, which was always held up in the room of the Master Air Nomad, a man as private as he was wise. That Katara had found such an incredible item left him feeling both excited and mournful.

"Really?" he gasped. "That's amazing ... I knew it existed but I didn't know it would have survived the fires."

"You were in there," Katara continued, eased at Aang's rising mood again. "With the names of your parents, and theirs before them." Aang made a strange face, almost like he was going to ask a question but thought better of it. It was then that it dawned on her that perhaps even Aang did not know who his parents had been. "Did ... did you know who they were?"

Aang shrugged. Like any child not brought up by their parents, he had wondered, but it was part of his culture not to know. The airbenders did not marry, like other cultures, they were raised by monks to keep themselves elevated above worldly desires such as family. As a child it had seemed freeing, but the longer he spent away from the Nomads, the longer he was a part of Katara's world, the more he realised how very limiting it had really been.

"We weren't supposed to know," he replied. "Air Nomad culture was ... different from yours. My birth father could have been in the same temple as me and I wouldn't have known."

"But that's-" Katara stopped herself. They were heading off track, but she had to admit she was curious. Aang had always been such a free spirited and loving person, and yet it seemed their very relationship was so different from what the Air Nomads had had. To not know who his parents were ... would he too have been expected to have children that would be raised by monks never to know who he was? It baffled her.

"We were all family," Aang explained, sensing her curiosity. "Gyatso was my father, as much as any of the other monks, and my friends were my brothers. The family unit wasn't the same as what it is in the rest of the world."

"I can understand that," Katara continued. "I mean, Toph, Suki, Zuko ... they're my family too, even if we're not related. It's kind of beautiful. But what was there to be lost by knowing who your parents were? Did ... did Air Nomads not fall in love?"

"They did," Aang replied. "But we're getting of subject," he added, causing Katara to frown slightly at his unwillingness to talk more on the matter. "You said you found the census?"

"I did," Katara sighed. "I was flicking through it when I came across something that stood out. It was a name, but there was no date of death, and it had been crossed out."

"Crossed out?"

"Yes, and that name never appeared again ... there are some names that are common among the Air Nomads, and most seem to appear more than once. There was another Aang that I saw, too. But this name never appeared again, almost like no one wanted to use it."

"Sansetsu," Aang said, frowning. He suddenly rubbed his temple, grunting. "There was something about the way the past Avatar's spoke about him ... or maybe about how he talked. I don't think he was a great Avatar."

"I suppose that would be enough reason to have him removed from the census."

"But the Air Nomads didn't do stuff like that," Aang replied. "Unless he did something really bad ..."

"Well, if he's the one we're supposed to be looking for, I guess we'll find out."

Aang fell silent, frowning out across the stony plateau. Katara nudged him gently, a smile on her lips.

"Whatever it was, it can't have been that bad. He was an air nomad, after all."

Momentarily cheered by her positivity, yet still not convinced, Aang nodded. "I suppose you're right."

"Do you think you'll be able to sleep?" she asked gently, nodding to his leg. Aang stretched it out more, relieved at only the smallest ache, and nodded.

"I think so." He cast a dark glare across their surroundings. "Though I'd feel a lot better if I stayed on lookout."

"Aang, Tonrar isn't going to sneak up on is here," Katara reasoned. "And if he did I'm sure you'd feel him coming longer before he reached us. Just get some sleep, you need it."

Truthfully, he was exhausted, and now that his stomach was full and the fire blazed he could feel his eyelids starting to grow heavy. He didn't care to admit to her just how difficult the past few hours had been, and the genuine fear that his leg had been damaged beyond any chance of repair, much like his mind. But as he sat in an almost silent landscape, his entire body a dull ache, he began to realise that staying strong wasn't always an option. Katara watched him closely, clearly aware of the conflict behind his eyes, and she reached out and placed a hand on his arm.

"If I hear or see anything, or even think I do, I will wake you up straight away," she promised. With a heavy sigh he nodded, before resting his head back and closing his eyes. Sleep took him almost immediately.

~

You can't stay here.

You can't hope to catch him.

Whilst you fight against the Avatar State you fight against us.

Keep searching.

You have to keep walking.

We can't come to you.

Come to us.

~

He woke with a start, his eyes snapping open with a sharp intake of breath. I don't know where you are, he thought as his eyes searched blindly. I can't use the Avatar State ... I don't understand what you want. Then, as his eyes began to adjust to the bright light, his fog of confusion passed and the voices became but whispers, replaced with understanding. He was in the spirit world, the orange sky swirling above him, and an endless landscape of hard rock below him. He raised a hand to his head, rubbing hard against his forehead to try and clear what remained of the fog. As he pulled his hand away, he grew aware of a weight across his legs and looked down. At some point Katara had fallen asleep, and she lay with her head across his lap, snoring lighting with her mane of hair across her face. Despite waking from what must have been a fitful nights sleep, his body aching terribly, a smile rose to his lips as he looked down at her and her somewhat in-elegant form. He'd never tell her of course, but he had learned early on that Katara, in all her beauty, was never a sleeping princess. She wouldn't lie delicately placed on top of her soft sheets, hair neatly placed around her with palms under her cheek. She slept deeply, sometimes with hair in her mouth and blankets screwed up underneath her, and if possible he found he only adored her more for it. Still smiling his reached forward, gently brushing her hair from her face and, with a small moan she began to stir. She yawned, stretching her arms forward, before rolling onto her back to look at him. For a blissful moment they just smiled at each other, peace filling their hearts, before she pulled herself up, running a hand through her thick hair.

"I'd ask what time it was but I'm not sure it really matters for much here," she said with a yawn, looking around. "Did you sleep well?"

"I think sleeping against the rock wasn't one of my better decisions," he replied, sitting up and groaning as he stretched out his back. "But I feel better."

"Good," Katara began to hunt in her pack, frowning as she pulled bedding and clothes aside. "So, what's the plan of action today?" she asked, somewhat distractedly.

"We keep walking," Aang replied, without any hesitation. Katara froze, looking back over her shoulder, her expression questioning. "I had another dream last night," Aang explained. "Well, I think I did. I don't remember much of it, really, but I have a strong feeling that we just have to keep walking."

Katara sighed, at last finding what she was looking for and beginning to drag the comb through her hair. "You and your feelings," she teased, rolling her eyes. He felt an unusual sense of daring at her sarcasm, his mood strangely elevated after his sleep, and he threw himself forward, grabbing her round the waist and turning so that she fell on his lap. She yelped in alarm, though soon began to laugh as he peppered kisses along her jawline.

"My feelings are usually right," he said through a wide grin.

"I'm trying to comb my hair," she said, placing her palm against his face and pushing him back with a giggle. Aang shrugged.

"It looks fine as it is."

Katara deadpanned. "My comb is stuck in it."

"Really? I thought that was some sort of hair clip-"

"Shouldn't we really be focusing?" she asked pointedly, though a smirk still played across her lips. Aang let out a heavy sigh.

"Yeh, I guess. It's just ..." he squeezed her tighter, "I missed being able to do stuff like this. I missed you."

Katara smiled, a little sadly, but honestly. "I know. I missed it too."

Not willing to let go just yet, he rubbed her arm, just enjoying her warmth on his lap, and the familiar scent of her hair in his nose. But, as he held her, he felt her body stiffen, the discomfort obvious, and he looked up. She was looking down at her lap, her brow furrowed.

"What's wrong?"

Katara glanced back at him, and he was alarmed to see a slither of fear in her expression, before she looked back down. She bit her lip, her fingers playing with the comb in her hands.

"Katara?"

"Do you think ... shouldn't we talk about it?"

"About what? Us?"

"No, well, not exactly. About you. Aang, what's going on?"

He blinked at her, for a long moment not sure what she was getting at. She knew what was going on, they were looking for Tonrar, what more could she want?

"I don't know what you mean," he replied honestly. But as her eyes narrowed, flickering between each of his as if searching for something, he felt a cold dread in his stomach. She knows. Idiot, she knows.

"Aang, I know something isn't right," she said. "I get that this is a lot to deal with and you're going to be feeling emotional, but it's more than that. Xing Ying spoke to me before we left."

At this, he frowned. Xing Ying? What could she possibly know?

"She told me about how she could feel the energy around certain people. Around you."

And now his cold dread deepened. The one thing he had wanted to keep from her, the one thing that had terrified him more than Tonrar, and he had already given himself away.

"And then whenever I heal you, your chi feels different." Katara was breathing heavy now, looking at him as though she was terrified to continue, to tell her exactly what she had felt, what Xing Ying had seen. But she knew, and Aang felt his panic rising, palms sweaty as his heart began to race. What was he supposed to tell her? Especially when he had no idea what was going on himself.

"Aang ..." she grabbed his hands, staring into his eyes. "Please, talk to me."

"I ..." he swallowed, choking on his words. "I don't know how," he finished lamely. "I don't understand what's going on let alone how to explain it to anyone."

"I just want to know if you're still ... you," Katara said. "Whatever Tonrar's done, however the Avatar spirit has reacted, we can deal with that."

"I'm still me," he replied softly. But how could he tell her that it felt like there was someone else in his head with him? That the more that voice spoke the less like himself he felt? How could he tell her this without scaring her when it already terrified him? "The Avatar spirit is angry, and it's getting harder and harder to fight her back. It's why I can't go into the Avatar State, or use my powers to try and contact my past lives here. I'm scared if I give her even an inch in this place I won't be strong enough to stop her from taking over."

Katara nodded. She understood, and it was what she had suspected for some time. She reached out and took his face in both hands, and she felt his posture soften.

"Well, I know you can fight her," she said. "And I'll do everything I can to help. If you feel like it's getting too much, or the Avatar spirit is getting strong, you tell me, promise me you won't keep it quiet."

He looked back into her confident deep blue eyes, and nodded. Encouraged by the swooping sensation of hope that her words brought to his chest, he leaned forward and pressed his lips against hers. She returned his affection in full, before after a deep breath they pulled back, foreheads still pressed together.

"We should probably get on with that walking thing you were talking about."

Aang let out a puff of air, showing his disappointment, before nodding. "Yeh, I guess we should. Though I've got to be honest I'm getting a little peeved that my past lives are having us walk so far, it doesn't make sense."

Katara smirked. "It's all spirit mumbo jumbo, it never made sense." Aang made to argue, before shrugging in defeat.

The pair walked for another full day after that, both relieved when the rocky landscape began to slowly morph into something much more green and sheltered from the oppressive orange sky. This greenery, however, offered a new hurdle that only proved to make their passage that much more difficult; no longer had they a flat surface to walk across, but steep jumps and fatefully hidden stones and cracks that they had each tripped on at least once, Aang certainly more so. They had also begun to notice a growing heat as the vegetation grew longer and denser, and before long they had discarded their robes into the back of their packs, sweat beading on their foreheads as they part walked, part climbed. For Katara it was difficult, for Aang it was torment. The longer they walked the more pain returned and the greater his limp became, his mood becoming more sour each time the stick he used for support stuck in the ground. As they neared their fifth of sixth hour of walking Aang had come to a halt.

"Is your leg hurting too much?" Katara asked, stopping a little ahead of him when she realised she could no longer hear his stick hitting the ground. She had asked him several times already, and each time Aang had insisted that he could go further, but when she looked back at him she knew there was no chance they'd be moving onward after a short rest.

"A little," Aang confessed. He looked around at their surroundings, his expression undeniably irate.

"Ok, we've been walking long enough now anyway," Katara said. Then, as if to make him feel better, "I'm pretty tired myself, I could do with a rest."

They made a last climb towards one of the large trees that had managed to carve a place out into the rocky under-footing, and began to set up camp as they had the previous night. Aang didn't say much as Katara performed another healing session though, as promised, he had made them something to eat. No sooner had he finished, however, his head hit the pillow of his sleeping bag and he dosed away into blackness.

~

Keep walking. It's going to get harder.

~

"Aang! Aang wake up!"

Eyes snapped open as Aang was shaken awake, and he blinked wildly for a moment before finding Katara's face in the low afternoon light, her hand nudging his shoulder. "Katara? Wha-"

"Shh," she pressed her finger against her lips, leaning back. On alert Aang sat up, looking sharply in the direction she then indicated. He was surprised to find himself look over at a pair of gold rimmed eyes on an intensely curious face, blinking curiously at them.

"What is it?" Katara hissed.

The spirit, a dog-like creature with warm honey fur, and a dark mask around it's face with red feather like plumes fluffed up like a mane watched them, head cocked to one side.

"A spirit," Aang replied. He gently rose to his knees, wincing at the pressure in his hip, and the spirit instantly shrank down, plumes flattening across it's neck as it growled uncertainly. "I'm not going to hurt you," Aang said softly, holding out a hand. The spirit then barked boldly, placing a paw forward as Aang set himself back onto his haunches. The spirit's ears perked forward, watching them for a moment as if daring either of them to move, before it grabbed a stick from the ground. Hesitantly moving forward it placed the stick on the ground, the gold rimmed eyes watching them intently as it did so. Then, with a quick nudge of it's muzzle it rotated the stick, before glancing back meaningfully in the direction the stick now pointed. At that moment, before Aang could do any more, it barked loudly and turned tail, running off into the thick underbrush.

"What was that all about?" Katara whispered. But as she looked over at Aang she saw the childish hope and excitement shimmering in eye, his entire being practically vibrating with the urge to follow the unusual spirit. "We're following it then?"

Aang looked back at her. "It's literally the only sign we've seen in two days that the spirits even know we're here," he reasoned. With a shrug, Katara got to her feet, grabbing their supplies and bed rolls and stuffing them into their packs. She had hardly finished clipping her sleeping bag to the top of her bag before Aang had shouldered his and grabbed her hand, excitedly hurrying in the direction the little dog spirit had run.

They walked for the best part of an hour, eyes searching for signs of the spirit, yet the little creature seemed to have outpaced them by quite some margin. The difficult ground underfoot made their progress slow, and more than once one had needed the help of the other to stop themselves falling flat on their faces. Determined Aang pushed them onward, certain that one of the past Avatar's was trying to send him a message via this spirit, so focused was he that at first he didn't notice Katara roughly pulling on his hand, hissing his name.

"Aang!" He looked back, slowing his pace when he saw the uneasy look on Katara's face. "Aang, we're not the only ones here."

He froze, looking intently into the woods surrounding them. "Katara, I can't see any-" he was interrupted by a low growl, not unlike the one that the dog spirit had given, though this time much more threatening. Aang turned his attention to the direction the sound had come from, only to hear another growl to his left. He gripped Katara's hand tightly, stepping in front of her.

"Did that cute little dog thing just lead us into a trap?" Katara hissed. More growls followed her words, and from the thick treeline gold rimmed eyes began to shine, dark snouts poking out of the brush revealing rows of sharp, snarling teeth.

"That is entirely possible," Aang muttered back from the side of his mouth, refusing to take his eyes from the growling spirits, and beginning to slowly walk them backwards. "That, or my past lives are actually trying to kill me."

"An encouraging thought." Katara bent water from her hip flask, holding her water whip in place. One of the spirits barked at the sight, and the growling intensified, more of them coming from the treeline, surrounding them on all sides. In response, Aang raised some of the rock from the ground, covering their right flank whilst Katara covered their left. Then, with a howl, the first spirit charged.