Outside Roku's chamber, where Aang was meeting with him finally, the temple felt like it was holding its breath. The walls surely demanded a reverent, focused, skin-crawling silence. But instead they would have to make do with fresh trauma, stale incense, and a rambling story of two frantic teenagers talking over each other to catch Katara up.
Sokka finished his explanation in a hoarse rush, waving his hands in a trembling little circle like he could rewind reality if he moved fast enough. "…and then she was like, 'give me the spear,' and Aang was doing the whole wide-eyed noodle thing, and Raven went absolutely feral on the door—"
"I used the spear!" Raven made sure to clarify, getting a stink-eye from Sokka. "I didn't chew on it." she insisted somehow unconvincingly, before giving the same eye back with a sharp, "weirdo."
Sokka just sighed, eyes rolling only mildly. "ANYWAY. She slammed it shut, creepy lady went poof, but like... her mask just… plopped there on the floor like we won a prize." And he just looked down at it and shrugged.
Katara nodded very slowly, like she'd agreed to understand beforehand, but thought she might still want to back out. "Okay," she said, voice gentle and far away. "So... we beat her. Or she didn't win. Right?"
Raven looked like she had to think about it, and started unevenly nodding, but it eventually became a full confident motion, although her expression still said she was utterly lost. "Mmm-hmm, definitely those things," she hummed out, not even trying to sound convincing.
Sokka looked a bit hurt. "Hey, I'd call it a win! Why not? Nobody even die—" and he stopped himself. "Er, nevermind. Keep an eye out for that psycho sage," he corrected to, hoping to squash any offense he may have caused Raven, and the three of them did indeed start being more aware of what was around them all at once.
After an awkward moment, Katara's eyes drifted to Raven. Really looked at her, and she looked oddly well.
"You… look better?" Katara said softly, like she was afraid the words might tear unseen stitches.
Raven blinked, then actually noticed her own body for the first time since mind-blowing terror stopped being the main activity. She flexed her shoulder and didn't feel the sharp protest. She shifted her weight and… no limp. No sting. No bruised ache.
Her face tightened in disbelief. "What the…" She swallowed. "My injuries are gone." And quieter. "Like they never happened..."
Sokka's eyebrows climbed. "See? This is why these big fancy temples are so great, it's the spiritual healing!"
Raven gave him a look that said I will throw you into the volcano, but it landed half-strength, because she was too busy staring at her own hands. There was still warmth in her veins that wasn't hers, like she'd been standing too close to a bonfire that refused to cool down after.
Katara's shoulders eased in visible relief. She didn't try to hide it. "I'm glad," she admitted, and it wasn't just politeness. It was that raw, sincere kind of glad that made Raven's throat feel stupid. But it was obvious she was still biting down on something else to say.
Raven watched as Katara's gaze slid to Arzayanagi. Unwrapped completely now, the spearhead's gold catching every torch like it was greedy for attention. The corner of Katara's mouth said enough already, but she still chose words like they might burn her tongue. "Raven… should you still be holding that?"
Sokka looked between them, then at the spear, then at the floor like maybe the floor had advice. "Yeah. Like. She might… you know. Be mad. Or… regroup. Or… do something creepy with the mask, it's totally gonna be something with the mask, I'm calling it now, if we touch it, we're doomed. So don't."
Raven couldn't hide a slight smile. "I agree, don't touch the mask, but..." Raven's grip didn't loosen. Her shoulders squared a fraction, and her chin lifted like she comfortably pinning fear under her boot heels. "If she was going to take revenge right now," Raven said, voice clipped, "she'd be screaming in my head already."
Katara didn't look convinced. She nodded, but nobody believed her. That nod was a blatant lie. "I hope you're right," Katara further incriminated herself.
They all tried to settle into "waiting" again, and it became a brief contest of who could frown hard enough to make one of the others say something else. Until, of course, there was a sudden noise.
"Watch out, he's gotta knife!" Sokka blurted as he lifted up boomerang and watched frantically for Shyus lurking in ambush.
"Shh!" Katara and Raven agreed. Katara pointed to the headdress. Silence.
The golden mask was propped at an angle like it had been tossed aside in a tantrum. The dragon-whisker mane spilled across the stone in a white-gold fan, absurdly luxurious, absurdly wrong to see lying there like discarded rinds.
And then it clattered. All three of them jerked so hard it looked choreographed. There wasn't even space to share a look of horror. It shifted a couple inches. The whiskers dragged with a soft rasp. Then it clattered again, like it was trying to sit up straight and look at them. They all would have accepted a painless death, for a breath there, if it were offered.
Katara yelped and jumped back as it slightly, suddenly moved again. Sokka made a sound that definitely wasn't heroic. Raven's cry was just as lacking in dignity, but she resolutely snapped Arzayanagi up in a clean motion, spearhead leveled toward the mask like she was about to pin it to the obsidian brickwork.
The mask rotated slightly, away, and they craned their necks as if to follow. Then something blinked inside one of the eye holes. A glossy, enormous lemur eye pressed against the gold. Momo chittered cheerfully from inside, muffled and proud of himself, as if he'd just bought his forever home. There was a collective pause where all three of them had to decide whether to laugh or collapse.
Sokka bent over with his hands on his knees and wheezed, "I… hate… him… so much…"
Katara sagged with sheer relief, one hand over her mouth. "Momo! You can't just— you can't just wear the horrible haunted mask, get ooooout of there, you little rascal!" And her words became more like crying as they went on.
Raven lowered the spear half an inch, still glaring. "Vermin. Get out," she ordered.
Momo only chirped again, delighted, and the mask made a faint scraping sound as he attempted to waddle inside it like it was a turtle shell. Katara approached with cautious diplomacy and a few of Raven's fire flakes pinched between her fingers like bait. Paranoid noble eyes locked on them in instant judgment and sentence.
Raven's head turned slowly. Her eyes narrowed to slits. "Where... did you... get those."
Katara froze mid-step, innocent face snapping into place so fast it was possibly real, Raven wasn't totally sure. "What? These? Oh, I dunno. In a pocket, maybe?"
Raven glared upon her, fingers flexing, like she was receiving an unforgivable confession.
Sokka sensed danger, leaned closer to Raven, voice low and urgent, out of the corner of his mouth like he was in on a scheme. "It was Aang."
Raven didn't move. "What."
"It was Aang," Sokka repeated, completely solemn. "Katara is just… the fall guy?"
Raven was unimpressed.
Sokka winced. "Drop girl? I don't know. Something like that. Anyway, you've got the wrong perp, she's obviously clueless."
Katara straightened up sharply. "Excuse me? I'm WHAT now?"
Sokka's mouth opened. Closed. He tried to course-correct with the grace of a moose on ice as she tilted her head his way like a lance. "No, I meant, like, you're not— I mean, you're— you're very… not… snack-thief-y?"
Katara marched up like she was about to waterbend his spine into a pretzel, then stopped a foot away and smiled. Warm. Genuine. Bright enough that Sokka flinched anyway because it felt like a long game.
"I'm kidding," Katara said, soft, and then she stepped in and hugged him. "I heard you."
Sokka went rigid like a statue that had never been consulted about hugs before. His hands hovered uselessly, then settled awkwardly on her shoulders as if he was afraid he'd break her. "O... kay?" he tried.
Katara's voice dropped, just for him. It cracked a little. "And I heard you," she whispered. "When you thought I was… when you thought…" Katara sniffed, and Sokka could feel her just melt a bit, really relying on him to hold her up, and he was happy to, but she went on. "Anyway, it meant a lot. To me."
Sokka swallowed hard. His face went tight. "Yeah," he managed, like it was the only word left.
Katara pulled back, eyes glossy but smiling anyway, and then she did something deeply strange. She dropped to her knees in front of Raven, folded her hands, and bowed her head like a condemned criminal. Sokka and Raven both tried to gauge if the other had a glint of understanding.
Finally, Katara confessed solemnly, "I stole some of your fire flakes, Lady Arza. I understand the penalty is death."
Sokka stared.
Raven stared.
Momo chittered inside the mask, a sure sign he needed another flake, which Katara—head still down and ready for judgment—suddenly jutted her hand over to give him. A little lemur paw batted out of the eye hole, and finally got it, giving another moment of silence. Sokka cracked first, laughing in a helpless burst. Raven followed a heartbeat later, a sharp bark that surprised even her that was half way to her asking, "w-what?" But Katara shot up with both fists in the air like she'd won a tournament.
"I did it!" she exclaimed, giddy. "I was actually funny! I really did it!" But she still gave Sokka a quick look to make sure he knew she wasn't joking about the other part. He didn't need it, but he appreciated it.
For exactly three breaths, it was almost normal.
Arzayanagi quivered.
Not a subtle vibration, not a "maybe the floor is uneven" wobble. A living, angry shudder through the haft that crawled into Raven's hands like a warning bite. Raven's smile died so fast it looked snuffed, and she adjusted her grip instinctively, but the spear quivered again, harder. Not to escape, just to be known. Her eyes widened. She took a step back from Katara and Sokka, then another, spearhead angling away from them and toward the wall as if she didn't trust her own arms.
Sokka's laugh faded into a nervous cough. "Whoa. Way too soon for spear pranks, Raven. Let Katara have this one."
Raven didn't answer with anything but a look of dire concern. Her jaw clenched. Her head tilted a fraction, like she was listening to someone standing just behind her shoulder.
Katara's face drained. "Raven…?"
Raven's lips pressed together so tight they went pale, and when she spoke it came out strained, like she was talking over shouting no one else could hear. "I was wrong!" Raven said quickly, like it was hard to get out, her eyes locked on nothing. "She's… super pissed at me, and—"
She flinched, hard. Like a verbal slap.
Raven snapped her head aside and hissed at empty air, "Would you… shout quieter?! I can't understand you!"
Katara's arms rose halfway, then froze, not knowing whether to approach or run. Sokka's eyes widened with horrified recognition. He pointed weakly between Raven and the spear. "Oh, come on... already?! Can't I have lunch before she tries to kill us?"
Raven glanced at Sokka like 'shut up, please!', and her face twisted, fury blooming fast to cover something shakier underneath. "Me?!" she barked at the spear, voice rising. "You were going to hurt the Avatar! Don't even pretend you weren't!"
She stopped, listening again, breathing sharp through her nose.
"Borrow?!" Raven spat, incredulous, and then her voice turned vicious. "You can brand my ass, you ghoul, what do you mean borrow?!"
Katara swallowed, and slowly reached out from a distance. "You should… you should put it down, R-Raven?" she whispered, instantly feeling hopeless it'd help.
"Why does this sound like a stupid family spat..." Sokka hunched over to breathe out, just tired of the stress at that point
Raven snapped her glare toward him for half a heartbeat. "Shh!" was all she offered, then she was back to the spear as if it had stolen all her snacks.
"YOU'LL WHAT?!" Raven shouted, voice cracking with outrage. "He's not going to help you! And I'm the heir! The only one left, now!"
She jolted as if something screamed directly into her skull. Raven's fury actually faltered. Her eyes went wider, confused and listening, then startled. She was shocked in a way that didn't look like anger anymore, but just heartbroken.
"Asha?" Raven echoed, voice going small for a split second, and then she swallowed hard. "Who…?"
She listened again, and her face changed in slow, awful increments, like she kept wanting to get a word in.
"I... I didn't know you cared," Raven finally whispered, and it came out wrong, too raw. "I didn't even know you knew."
Another flinch, followed by a tense, shuddering breath. Raven's eyes flicked away, ashamed and furious at being seen. "I… uh… haven't been speaking to Dad much… lately," she muttered, already mad at herself.
Whatever came next hit her like a tidal wave, or more like several, as it just went on painfully long. Raven's breath stuttered. Her shoulders tightened. Her eyes shone suddenly, not with fire, but with something wet and too human, that she wanted to claw away.
"My Lady Arzaya…" Raven forced out, voice and spear trembling. "I… I'm sorry."
There was a moment almost like peace, so very brief.
Raven listened, then scrunched up and snapped, "oh, come on, I'm trying to apologize! Don't be a bitch!"
Katara and Sokka stood perfectly still, the way you do when a panicked animal is tiring itself out. But then it seemed Raven was listening very intently, like Arzaya had to be very careful or...
A dam blew.
"No," Raven choked, hot tears instantly shot down her cheeks. It was like a word was a warning. Her eyes squeezed shut, and instantly burned. "No, you're right. You're not my mother." She gravely stated, every bit of tension balled up in her chest, which puffed up as her eyes went utterly wild. And she burst out, howling in unbridled rage, "Because SHE died fighting for YOU!"
Fire swelled around her fists in a shimmering aura, not launched, not aimed, just leaking as if her body couldn't contain it. The spear was shaking now because Raven couldn't stay still. "Don't you dare talk to me like that," she snarled through tears, "or I'll throw you in the ocean! Nobody will ever have to listen to your bullshit again!"
She listened one last time, chest heaving. Then she snapped into motion.
"YEAH," Raven screamed, voice shredding, "GREAT FUCKING IDEA!!" and she hurled Arzayanagi.
The spear clattered and skidded, rolling away across the stone with a harsh metallic rasp, each echo possibly like stepping on a mine, Sokka and Katara scrambling away from it. But it sat still, and instead their attention went to Raven. Her hands clenched into fists as her fire surged, and she let out a smoky burst of flame from her mouth like she was exhaling a storm. Katara and Sokka recoiled instinctively, not from heat as they were more than carefully out of range, but from the sheer force of emotion filling the hall.
Raven stood there breathing hard, smoke curling around her like a cloak. She let herself have a croaking wail that made both Katara and Sokka wanted to curl up and cry too. Her tears still streaked down hot cheeks. Her chin trembled. She sucked in a shaky breath, then another, trying to pull herself back together by brute force. Once and twice she glanced at the spear, like she'd rather have it fight back then just... leave her like that. Finally, her voice came out small and broken, aimed at the people watching her fall apart. Guilt panged hard, they could see it make her lurch.
"Sorry, guys," Raven croaked. "I… I'm sorry."
Katara and Sokka both answered in the highest, gentlest voices they could find.
"It's okay!" Katara whispered quickly.
"Yep," Sokka squeaked, nodding too hard. "Totally okay. We're good! Still friends!"
Raven was dangerously close to a pout when, as if on cue, Roku's chamber door opened. Warm, gentle light spilled out, supernaturally calm and, unfortunately, horribly ironic. Aang strode out wearing a relieved but triumphant smile, like the world had finally decided to give him an easy one.
"Hey guys!" he said, bright as the fucking sun. "Roku's super proud of us all for kicking Arzaya's butt!"
He stopped. Raven looked like she'd just been told her turtle duck died and he'd ask her to apologize for it.
Aang's smile faltered. "what... happened?"