They glided down towards Senlin Village by late evening—Appa's weighty feet pawing for something solid to rest on as he let out his signature mournful bellow. Lanterns lit one by one in the fast approaching distance, and the cautious villagers were rather quiet and reserved in their business.
Aang was up front, one hand on Appa's reins, the other still on Arzayanagi.
Katara craned her neck to verify from the back of the saddle—crowded closer to Sokka than either would usually put up with—and she gave him the same displeased `he's still holding it!` expression she had been refining to perfection since they awkwardly left Omashu, having expected the Fire Nation army there to be far more of a bother to them personally than how things actually panned out.
"Okay," Sokka muttered, "I also think it's weird now. It's probably cursed," he sighed like it was just a tiresome sort of problem he'd dealt with plenty of times before.
"Probably? He hasn't let go of it for one second since Omashu!"
Aang leaned back, his face aimed at them upside down. His eyes were wide, rolled back, and he left his mouth gaping wide open like a corpse. "Ooooh, I'm possessed by the spirits of the spear! I'm gonna ge-e-e-et you!"
Katara was not impressed. "Then set it down for just a little bit, Aang," she fiercely stated. "Why not, huh?"
Sokka's gaze narrowed. "If that's really even him in there anymore." He stroked his lack of beard for good measure.
Despite not even acknowledging Sokka, Aang's dopey expression pursed thin and flat, and he righted himself to turn towards them both more properly to say. "Well you keep bugging me about it, so now I don't wanna."
"Oh, am I BUGGING YOU about the CITY DESTROYING SPEAR full of as you said yourself CRAZY VIOLENT ANGRY FIREBENDER GHOSTS? Well, maybe it would make annoying little me feel better? You're seriously scaring me," Katara damn near pouted, but she was just too mad to come across that pathetic.
Aang sighed like he'd been over it a million times—he hadn't—and argued, "I don't even know how Lord Arza made them come out! They're not, like, whispering in my ear, Katara." It was Aang's turn to look not impressed. "And you don't sound scared, you sound like you're mad I won't do what you say."
"When you get us all killed, Aang," Sokka breathed out and grinned like he was clever. "And like, the spear eats us. Katara is going to give you the most powerful 'I told you so' of all time. Are you sure you're willing to risk that?"
Katara raised an eyebrow at Sokka, seeing he was trying to help, but...
Aang deflated a bit. His expression softened a bit. The sass backed off a step. But he glanced forward again as Appa bellowed out a mild warning. "Well, we're landing anyway. I'll set it down once we have a place to stay, okay?" But he was already hopping with both feet stuck out over Appa's head to airbend himself gently down to a smooth stride, nearly right into an older and fairly serious looking man.
The man's relief was evident. "Are you the Avatar?"
"That's me!" Aang happily reported, but glanced at Arzayanagi held point down and stuck into the dirt, as if to ground it. "Well, sort of, unfortunately I was possessed by this evil spear of doom." His tone suggested it wasn't a very big deal, though.
He didn't even gesture or look to Katara, but she snapped anyway. "I didn't say it possessed you, Aang! Sokka said that! I just think you're being weird about it." But she suddenly halted herself, walked up to the man deliberately on the far side of Aang from Arzayanagi, and put on a nearly flawless polite smile. "Hello sir, I'm Katara, that's my brother Sokka, and Aang really is the Avatar, don't worry he's usually not this much of a jerk!" Her head cutely tilted sideways with her pleasant tone.
"O-oh..." The man, clearly the leader of Senlin village, seemed ready to assume that was all a joke. "Well, I believe you may have been sent to us by fate. Our village is in dire trouble, and only the Avatar could possibly help us."
Sokka tossed down a well-cushioned bag of their dwindling belongings. "Don't worry, I'll just get all this by myself." He flatly said.
"Thanks, Sokka!" Katara and Aang instantly replied, and both flashed a glare at each other.
The poor man scratched the back of his head, wanting very much to not stoke whatever teen drama was brewing before him. "Uhh... you see, there's this spirit..."
"Guys, I literally can't get the saddle off by myself," Sokka insisted as he tugged on it, gave up, and nearly dumped a bag on his own head by trying to hop up and grab it from Appa's side.
"THANKS, SOKKA," Katara repeated.
"Er, I'll figure it out."
Aang seemed downright eager, however, as he asked, "a spirit, huh? I can definitely deal with that!"
"I am glad to see your enthusiasm! But let me explain," the village leader raised both palms, a bit cautious.
"Of course," Katara oddly forcefully interrupted like she was possessed of the notion she had to assert herself for it's own sake or she'd somehow 'lose' whatever was happening. "We'd definitely want all the details before we just try something random and hope nobody gets hurt, right, Aang?"
"Ab-so-LUTELY, KATARA!" Aang smiled wide to somehow cheerily reply in raw annoyance.
The man had no words for a breath, but finally said, "I have never seen such, ah, enthusiasm for safety, I suppose." He waited another breath, to see if the weird kids would blurt anything else to disrupt him, but they seemed quietly ready to see what he had to say to use it as further ammunition against each other, so he took on a more serious tone to finally explain. "There is a local spirit: Hei Bai is his name. He was peaceful and timid for as long as any of us has known, but in the last few days he has begun..." and he gestured to a partially collapsed building—a lovely design so it was a real shame. "...attacking our village—he has abducted some of our people, no trace of where to!"
Aang's grin held for a heartbeat like a stubborn habit, then softened. He glanced past the man at the quiet lanes and shuttered doors. The whole of Senlin was holding it's breath.
"The Avatar is the only one who can calm such a great spirit," the man went on, careful, like he was asking someone to step off a cliff. "As the link between worlds, you can speak to Hei Bai, and bring our people back."
Aang straightened, the end of Arzayanagi resting point-down in the dirt by his foot. "I've never done that before," he admitted, then his confidence surged right back in, too bright for the dimming sky. "But it can't be that hard. I mean, I was born to do it."
Katara made a sound that was half groan, half prayer. "Aang…"
Sokka tilted his head, peering out at the village like he expected the spirit to pop out and pounce Aang for the irony. "If the spirit has hostages, we kind of need a plan," he said. Then, with the least helpful cheerfulness: "Like you can't just kill it," and he gave a pointed gaze to Arzayanagi. "But also we don't want to get haunted forever if you make it mad." He quickly glanced again to the half buried spearhead with gentle wisps of smoke rising from a thin layer of liquifying around it. "Again, anyway. Haunted again. No offense, spear of doom."
As if to answer, a bubble of molten glass popped with a snap—quiet but audible between speakers.
"We're not haunted, Arzayanagi itself is haunted, Sokka." Aang rolled his eyes as if it should be obvious and the well out of his depth village elder of Senlin instinctively backed away a single step. Aang's fingers tightened around the spear's haft, an unconscious clench. "But I can handle it. I'm the Avatar, and I'm keeping it away from the people who would do evil things with it," he went on like he was a bit offended, but then brightened again. "Anyway, Avatar Kyoshi told me herself that it can affect spirits," he insisted. "If Hei Bai shows up, I'll just… talk to him. And if he doesn't listen…" He patted Arzayanagi like it needed reassurance. "This'll scare the pants off 'im!"
Katara's eyes narrowed. "Or he'll just get even more angry. Or you'll get hurt. Or, realistically, most likely you'll blow all of us up, perhaps including Hei Bai, if a spirit even can be blown up."
Sokka blinked. "I mean he probably doesn't have to actually use it, just shake it at ol' mister people stealer?"
Katara again was utterly dismayed at Sokka, but Aang chimed in, "yeah! I promise—" He cut himself off to mutter, "I mean I don't even know how to attack with it—not like whatever that Lord Arza guy did."
The Senlin leader raised a finger and asked, "er, Lord Arza? Fire Nation Lord Arza? Is that actually... his? He's not going to come looking, I hope?"
"He seemed to think I should have it too, honestly," Aang shrugged. "Everybody seems to agree—except Katara."
"How is it a good thing if you're doing what that psycho wants, he would have killed thousands of people if you didn't save the day, Aang... which is great, but you're so, so weird since you got that horrible thing," Katara just vented openly as she physically gave up, just hunching forward with her arms hanging loose to dangle. "I really wish you'd just throw it in a hole where nobody will find it."
"We'll all agree after this, I'm sure!" Aang confidently said, but there was a hint of 'I know better' she picked up on and scowled back at. "You'll see."
The leader swallowed. His gaze flicked once to Arzayanagi's golden spearhead, then away as if their eyes awkwardly met. "Well, however you can do it, if you can help," he said cautiously, "we will be forever in your debt."
Aang's chest puffed up a fraction. "Okay," he said firmly. "Everybody get out of sight, I got this."
The sun was already sliding behind the thick ribs of the forest, staining the low clouds dull violet and bruised orange. Lanterns in Senlin brightened as the light died, little trembling suns that felt like they helped but weren't strong enough to protect anyone. Doors shut. Windows latched. Mothers swatted their children gently over the head for lingering outdoors at dusk, and dragged them inside.
Aang stood near the ornamental front gate where the path from the woods met the village edge, a perfect location for meeting two other worlds, he figured. The wind brought the smell of damp ashes and old smoke from the scorched trees a distance beyond Senlin.
Katara hovered out a window behind Aang in the village hall, tense and sure something awful was going to happen. Sokka lingered beside her with forced bravery and boomerang in hand, eyes darting everywhere like he was trying to catch the spirit sneaking up behind them.
"Sokka," Katara said quietly. "If it comes after us, all we can do is run."
Sokka just shrugged, like he might as well try.
Aang lifted his chin toward the dark tree line. "Hei Bai!" he called, voice carrying into the dusk. "It's me, your ol' friend the Avatar, probably! Were we friends in a past life? If not, it's not too late! Let's talk!"
Nothing answered but a wind rustling through branches.
Aang looked back at everyone, lifting his hands and unsure if just being there in Senlin might have spooked the spirit.
Then the air felt wrong. Not cold, not hot, just… thin, like the world had retreated away just a bit, but it did so to make room for something else. The space at the village gate rippled. Not like water, but cloth bunched up, then pulled taut.
Hei Bai stepped through in sileence.
He was huge, even bigger than Appa, and towering over the gate. He had the coloration of a panda, but the shape of him was wrong in a way that made Aang's skin prickle. His limbs were too long. His shoulders too narrow. His skull too prominent beneath a stretched, pale panda-mask of a face, like he died ages ago and never noticed he had rotted away but for skin and bones. His eyes were lost somewhere in the black patches, if he had them at all.
Either way Aang could sense expression more than see it: the hollow fury of terrible loss. It's presence was so intense that even as a true spirit, usually invisible to anyone but the Avatar, it could be seen by all, and the people quailed as they hid away further.
Katara sucked in a sharp breath. Sokka muttered, "Nope," as if that was a complete plan.
Aang stepped forward anyway, even if he had a little inkling that this... thing... might swallow him whole before he could react if it had a mind to.
"Hei Bai," he said, calmer now. "There you are, uh, did you come to talk—"
Hei Bai didn't even look at him. The spirit turned, lifted his head, and exhaled light. A ghostly breath poured from his mouth. Not fire, not smoke, but a pale, pulsing force that made the air wobble. It struck the wall of a nearby home and the stone and wood eroded as if ages passed instantly.
The wall collapsed inward with a crack and groan, roof sagging. Pots clattered. A lantern swung wildly and sputtered.
Aang's stomach dropped. "Hey!" he shouted. "Stop that!"
Hei Bai didn't stop. He took another step, moving with eerie smoothness, and drew in another breath.
"Oh no," Katara whispered, and her voice wasn't angry now, it was thin with fear. "That thing is gonna kill him!"
"I'm trying to talk to him!" Aang snapped back to Katara, and the sharpness in his tone startled even him for half a second. He lifted Arzayanagi like a pointer, like a warning. "Hei Bai! No need to fight, we can be friends!"
Still no attention.
Something hot, unreasonable, and bright flared in Aang's chest. Not the Avatar State, or his usual naive bravery. Something more… petty. More human. More angry. Hei Bai was ignoring him.
Ignoring the Avatar.
He was making Aang look like he was yelling at the wind, like he had no idea what he was doing. Despite the obvious danger, Aang took a step directly into Hei Bai's path, spear held forward, not thrusting, not attacking, just… blocking.
"Listen," Aang said, and his voice was too hard for a twelve-year-old. "You better pay attention, or—"
Hei Bai's head snapped suddenly, not to Aang's face, but to the spear. His massive claw lifted, slow and careless, like swatting a mosquito.
Katara's breath hitched.
"He's so dead," Sokka stated, and was attempting to vault the window sill to 'help', but Katara dragged him back.
"Don't be stupid!" Katara hissed, then cried out, "Aang! Get away from it!"
Aang didn't. He didn't even flinch, too annoyed to sense danger. Hei Bai's claw came down, and struck the golden spearhead.
There were no screams, there was no time. It was as if Arzayanagi was a loaded gun to its chest, and the trigger had been pulled. A blast of something like fire erupted, but it was already over. The pale, almost white, gold sheen of flames they saw was merely the aftermath, a translucent ghostly flame the likes of which had not touched the world, spirit or mortal, in over a thousand years. It didn't throw sparks or smoke, nor taste wood or mortal flesh, but it hungered for Hei Bai.
It had leapt straight into the raging spirit, a predator that was ready to pounce.
Hei Bai recoiled silently in shock, seeming weightless as it reared up taller than the highest roof and hovered inches off the ground. When it came down, there was a sound that wasn't a roar. A panicked, pitiful bleat. No anger, just hurt. And Aang saw licks of the ghostly fire clinging here or there to Hei Bai in furious sizzling wisps, but it just seemed to singe hairs.
Aang froze, mouth gaping at the raw beauty of the ghostly fire. Everyone was transfixed. Even Katara had eyes only for the shocking splendor of what she saw, giving her and the others a chill like finally making it to the magical vista of a hidden waterfall in the perfect light.
The flame didn't hurt the village or it's people, it didn't warm the air. All it did was bring tears to the eyes of mortals, and to Hei Bai... it brought pain like it was owed. Hei Bai staggered backward, paws scrabbling, eyes wide now visible and wide with fear, and as the motes of gilded fire persisted, his monstrous shape… faltered.
The too-long limbs shortened. The wrong angles softened. The skeletal tension eased like a knot loosening. Hei Bai shrank into an almost normal panda—still massive, still ethereal, but every ounce of threat was gone like a bad dream. Aang gave the spirit a raised eyebrow, tightening the corner of his mouth, like the dumb animal ought to have known better than to mess with him.
No one could speak. The fire was too beautiful in motion, the pale gold curling like silk in a wind mortals couldn't feel. And for one sick heartbeat, Aang thought: I am unstoppable.
Then Hei Bai turned. Aang's pride was gone.
A swath of Hei Bai's side was blackened, scored with red cracks, raw-looking even though it wasn't flesh exactly, as if the flame had peeled away the veil over that which was never meant to be seen by mortals. It throbbed, the agony of it so visible several onlookers clutched their own sides. The pale golden wisps still danced along the charred edge, slow and pitiless, refusing to let go until every last bit of harm could be done, the beauty of their light unable to mask their wicked truth.
Hei Bai's head drooped low, non-threatening. He huddled low, trying to make himself smaller, tail tucked, a pitiful animal noise catching in his throat.
Aang's stomach dropped through the floor of him.
"I… I didn't—" Aang whispered, and his voice cracked on the word.
Hei Bai backed away, the paw it swiped held aloft, charred so badly it was an unrecognizable stump. Limping, eyes fixed back on the spear now with terrified understanding, he didn't roar. There was no promise of retribution, only raw, helpless submission.
And he ran—vanished back into the forest like a shadow from the light.
As he disappeared, as if in a hurry to please, bamboo erupted from the ground near the gate in a sudden burst of bright green, fresh and alive against the grey darkness of the woods. And with it, figures stumbled into existence at lantern-light's edge, confused villagers blinking like they'd just woken from a bad dream.
Gasps went up. Names were shouted. People rushed forward, crying, laughing, clutching each other so hard it looked like they might become one. The village leader fell to his knees, eyes wet, hands shaking. "They're back," he breathed. "By the spirits… they're back."
Aang didn't move.
Katara had both hands over her mouth, eyes fixed on the place Hei Bai had vanished, on the lingering afterimage of pale, beautiful, torturous gold flame. Her expression wasn't anger anymore. It was something heavier, and far sadder.
Sokka saw the moistness of her eyes and swallowed, voice quieter than usual. "Aang… didn't even attack him. He hit the spear himself."
"I know," Katara uttered, barely audible, and she didn't need to say it didn't matter.
Aang's hands were still clamped around Arzayanagi like he'd forgotten it, and now that felt disgusting. Instantly he threw it to the ground at his feet, where it clattered on flagstones and rolled against a damaged stone wall. That set Katara, then Sokka after her into a sprint to meet him, like a breath of relief just scarcely too late.
"I tried to talk to him," Aang said, barely audible. "I wanted him to just listen, and he... and I got mad." His eyes stayed on the bamboo, on the returned villagers, on the joy that felt too loud for the shape of what he'd just done. It was obvious the people were too happy to have any mind of what had been done. "And then he… I wasn't going to attack... even if he did... I'm... I don't know," he trailed off, not sure how to put it in words but devastated by what he had done.
From the houses, more people poured out, the fear drained into relief so fast it turned into celebration. Someone grabbed Aang's shoulders and shook him, crying thanks for their returned son. Someone pressed food into Katara's hands as celebration broke out. Even Sokka wouldn't immediately take it.
"Our Avatar!" voices rose. "The village is saved!"
Aang stood in the middle of it like a statue of the Fire Lord in Ba Sing Se.
Katara's eyes met his for a moment, and it felt like being seen too clearly. She didn't scold him. She didn't shout. He already knew. But she looked… disappointed. It hurt Aang to look her in the eye, but he didn't feel he deserved to look away.
Sokka tried to help. "I mean... yeah, that was pretty brutal. But did you see that thing? Totally evil. It was like... already dead or something." But even he knew something was deeply wrong, glancing over at Arzayanagi innocently sitting still against the wall. "Er... who knows what it would have done with those people. Probably eat them, but like, eat their soul."
Aang's throat tightened until it ached. "I don't think Hei Bai was evil," he said, and the words came out like a confession. "I think he was upset about something. And now…" He swallowed. "Now we might never know what. I..." and he was on the verge of tears. "I can't believe I did that."
Sokka opened his mouth, ready to insist again the spirit deserved it, ready to shove the world back into simple boxes where monsters were monsters and heroes did hero things. But the look on Aang's face stopped him. Aang looked over at Arzayanagi slowly. He knew he couldn't leave it there, he knew it would be a mistake to leave it anywhere, but now he also knew why Lord Arza didn't hide it, secure it, or even attempt to stop him from taking it. He had it, but he really, really didn't want it. No one who understood it would. Even Katara who sensed the wrongness of what happened still didn't understand. He couldn't say it yet out loud, but knew knew: Arzayanagi liked that it caused pain. And it liked it a lot.
He wrapped the spearhead in cloth with careful hands, covering the gold like it was something shameful to display. Katara's shoulders loosened a fraction, like some invisible cord had finally slackened. She stepped closer, not to the spear, but to Aang, who looked desperate for something from her. Her voice was quiet.
"I'm… glad you put it down," she said. "I just… I wish it didn't take that."
Aang nodded once, eyes fixed on the dirt. He felt the villagers' joy around him like heat from a bonfire he didn't deserve to stand near. Far beyond Senlin, past the smoking scar of a forest that hadn't finished grieving, Aang thought of Omashu's blackened tier.
"Lord Arza's soldiers cheered for him too," he said, distant and lost. Katara blinked, and tears marked her cheeks. He went on softly, "I don't ever want to be happy about someone else getting hurt." He took a breath. "Not even a monster."
He looked down at the wrapped spear, and had no idea what to do with it.