Anticipation

Aaron appeared at the edges of Grandfather's groove, peeking in through the dense fog coverage. He saw a group of Phantoms talking and bowed when he came close enough.

"It's good to see you, Aaron," Grandfather smiled. "Given how much time you spent at the training grounds, I feared you'd never leave."

Aaron let out a nervous laugh. The blood in his veins had turned to Ice. "I just wanted to make sure I was ready."

"Are you?" Grandfather asked, stroking his long beard. The smile he'd always effortlessly faded from his face.

Aaron nodded. "I think I am."

"You think?"

Sweat trickled down his body back in the physical world.

"I am," he spoke again, this time more forcefully, all the while chastising himself. 'You spent over a month trapped in your own mind and have mastered secrets only the most powerful benders know, you can't squirm every time your Grandfather bats an eye.'

Yet, a pep talk could not undo 14 years of programming. There was just something about his Grandfather that unsettled him deeply.

Grandfather Paku scrutinized him for a long moment before he smiled, his face soft. "It's good to see that your student's betrayal is not enough to break you. You're a stronger man than me. Historically, I've always been terrible at handling betrayals."

"I still very much hold a grudge," Aaron assured him. "It's why I'm here." He licked his lips. "I heard you've captured him."

"Aye, they roped him in this morning. The little git's overconfidence was his downfall," Uncle Harlan's voice boomed. "He didn't even see it coming. Ha."

"Who took him down?" Aaron asked, hungry for the details. The entire situation was surreal. He couldn't believe they already had him in hand.

"The ghosts did," Ren said. "It took poison and basic subterfuge. As Harlan eloquently put it, he was underwhelming."

"Huh…" Aaron muttered. He'd expected more. Perhaps some climatic blowout, a cathartic ass-whooping. He hoped that somebody at least enjoyed taking down Samir, at least for his sake. Still, it reminded Aaron that swords were not the only way you could kill a man.

"I suppose the war is coming to a close then, Aaron concluded. "It'll be easy to lure Samir out with Mark in custody."

Harlan grinned. "And negotiate with that fucker? He made his bed, now he's about to learn first-hand why we're the most dangerous faction in the world."

"What's going on?" Aaron asked.

"I'm leading a team of freedom fighters based out of the Fire Nation on a mission to retrieve the Moon spirit." Uncle Wang revealed.

"How-When," Aaron blinked. Uncle Wang working with the Fire Nation? He supposed it wasn't entirely unexpected, considering how much time he'd spent there. "But you're not after Samir himself? Will you be even able to get close enough without risking the Moon spirit?"

"We have somebody in his guard who can get us close enough." Uncle Wang's face twisted into a slight scowl as he uttered his next words. "As for Samir, we will make a play if the opportunity presents itself."

Aaron briefly wondered who his Uncle's spy in the Fire Nation was until he connected the dots. "It's jon jon, isn't it. Your spy on the inside."

"Sharp as a tick," Harland smiled in approval.

"We rescued his son during the invasion of the north and have an understanding," Yara explained. "He's going to help us take down Samir in exchange for his Son back.."

"If all goes well, we'll have solved our traveler problem before the day is out," Grandfather announced.

"Fucking finally," Harlan said. "Those fuckers have done more damage to the world than the Fire Nation did in 100 years. We should've killed those boys the moment we laid eyes on them."

"Be thankful we did not. We still don't know what the aftermath of killing them would do to the world. Given what they're already capable of, I'd hate to see how their patrons would react," Grandfather said. "When we have them both in custody, we will toss them in a pit and put an end to this madness once and for all.

Grandfather stroked his beard, then sighed. "Although I would be lying If I said I wasn't tempted to kill them both and be done with it."

While the solution Grandfather arrived at was less than ideal, he could not complain. Regardless of who won, they'd both be out of their lives. He did hope their battle was long and dreadful, however. He hoped they threw everything at each other and the winner came out bruised, preferably with a limb or two missing.

---

Wang's eyes opened to the insides of a tent deep within the Avatar of Fire's camp. They were at the edge of a battlefield, facing what remained of the Earth Kingdom's armies and the phantoms. Harlan, Yara, and Ren led the armies, but Samir was confident he'd win despite the odds. He'd recruited more soldiers into his Dark fire guard and was quietly chipping away at the soldier's minds. Chi scans had become routine, and it had everybody on fucking edge. It was just like Omashu again, but much worse.

'Never let it be said that those travelers were harmless,' Wang scoffed.

A soldier stepped into his tent decked in full armor, but he was considerably lankier and smaller-statured than the average Fire Nation grunt. "Are you ready?" he asked.

Wang nodded and drew in a deep breath, activating One-With-The-World. His senses spread over the mile-long camp, and the sheer information threatened to overwhelm him, but then he locked onto the spiritual and Chi signature of Samir, and everything else faded. It was an advanced Chi technique that implemented a basic spiritual sense.

Working outwards, he broadened his range, allowing him to pick up on the brightest Chi signatures surrounding Samir. Several of them rivaled bending masters. Wang guessed those were his Dark fire guards. He counted fifteen of them but didn't put much stock into this method of threat assessment. There could be Dark fires that were considerably weaker or a few more guards that were indisposed. You could never be too cautious. He preferred to rely on jon for the complete layout of the base.

Speaking of which, he sensed Jon heading toward the meet-up point they'd earlier discussed along with some other members of the white lotus.

"They're ready for us," he said to the only other person in the room with him.