A New Path

In the garden on air temple island, there was a small alcove which housed some chairs and benches for sitting and casual conversation. From here you had a perfect view of the ocean, and it was almost time for the sun to breach the horizon, so the darkness of night was slowly fading. This is where Amell sat as he waited for Aang and Katara to arrive. Valerie was still asleep on top of Orlando, and Amell had given his partner the job to protect her until this all was taken care of.

'It can't be him, he would not bother going after some random girl related to my student. He would come to me directly.' Amell leaned his head back and closed his eyes. 'But, that energy. It was too familiar, are there others like me. People who made a deal with him as I did.' He snapped his head back up. 'No, I would know in that case. If someone else like me existed, I would know. This is something else.' Just as he was coming to a somewhat confirmed conclusion, they arrived at the alcove. It wasn't just Katara and Aang. Sokka also took the liberty to join in.

"I don't know your name, Sir, but I want to thank you for saving the life of my daughter," Katara said in all sincerity. She was calm and her mind was at peace, finally, after three weeks of walking through the fiery depths of hell, she could breathe calmly again.

"Amell. My name is Portgas D Amell. You do not have to thank me for what I did. When my student's child is in danger, is it not my duty as master and guardian to do everything I can?" He saw the gears in their heads turning slowly.

"Student? Is that how you know him, Aang?" Sokka, the ever-watchful and protective warrior asked. They had known each other since they were twelve, and he at least was sure Aang had no more secrets left to tell.

"He is my air bending teacher from the days before I met both of you. During my days at the Southern Air Temple, before the genocide."

"But, that was close to a hundred and fifty years ago." Katara looked back at Amell. He didn't look a day over fifty. At most, in his late forties.

"I've said this, maybe a thousand times at this point. I am old, very old. I know more about this world than the people living in it combined. So, now that we have that out of the way. Tell me everything Kya did on the day she got sick. Everyone she met, and everywhere she went." Amell ushered them to sit down. This would take some time to go through, and Amell needed them as relaxed and calm as possible.

"Master, not to be rude, but is it possible for you to explain what infected Kya in the first place?" Aang knew Katara very well, and getting an explanation for this would only improve her mood, and in turn, make it easier for Amell to extract information from her.

"I can only explain the basics of it." Amell waited until all three of them sat comfortably on their seats. "The reason I need to know what people she met on that day is because someone did this to her. This was not a sickness, more like a poison."

"Someone did this to her? Why?! To get to me?" Aang wasn't in short supply of people upset with him. The creation of Republic city, his changes around the world, there were plenty of people carrying grudges against him. The ones still loyal to the former Fire Lord was among the top of his enemies.

"Maybe it was the Red Lotus, they have been getting a lot more aggressive lately. We have had six attempts on Aang's life just this month alone." Sokka was among the top brass responsible for dealing with the Red Lotus. Since Amell had been gone for a very long time, he hadn't heard of this organization.

"Red Lotus? What happened to the White Lotus?" He looked at Aang. Not even Aang knew that Amell was a Grandmaster of the White Lotus, its most powerful member.

"They are still around. I made a decision a few years ago to make the White Lotus a more public organization. We handle everything from war criminals to politics. The Red lotus is a group created by former White Lotus members who weren't pleased with how we did things."

"I see! Well, I can say with absolute certainty that they are not responsible for this."

"How do you know that for sure? They are very resourceful, and they have powerful benders in their ranks." Sokka hated the Red Lotus with everything he had. But, he still wasn't naive, he knew their power, and he rightfully feared it.

Sokka slammed his hand down on the table so hard that cracks appeared on its wooden surface. "How can you expect me to sit here and do nothing while the person responsible for this walks around free. If what you say is true and Kya was poisoned, then I will find the person responsible and deal with it personally."

"Sokka, calm yourself. Master is stronger than even I. If he says we should stay out of the way, then he is saying that because he knows we would only be a burden." Trying to convince a hot-head like Sokka to sit still was almost impossible to do. Amell saw that stubbornness in him right away. So, before they had time to argue further, he released a

small portion of his killing intent directed at the three of them.

"We do not have time for this." They had all frozen due to the intense fear his killing intent brought forth. "That was only a tiny portion of the power residing inside my body. Hopefully, you now see the reality of this situation. I do not need nor want your help.".

"Master, I promise to keep people out of your way, but, I have another thing I wanted to bring up with you." Aang took a breath and calmed his nerves. Katara and Sokka were still trying to recover from the shock and fear of facing Amell's power.

"We saw you go into a state similar to the Avatar state while you were healing Kya. What was that? I think I sensed another spirit, similar to Rava who powers the Avatar."

"It is a complicated matter. I am the host of a powerful spirit, that much is true. Think of it as Similar to Rava, it's equal in power. But, that is nothing I want you to focus on, we will discuss it another time. What you need to do now is tell me everything that happened the day Kya got sick."

Aang nodded and began retelling everything as he remembered it. And he did exactly as Amell said, he started from the time he woke up to the time he went to bed. Amell listened with interest and Katara and Sokka jumped in and added details Aang forgot or didn't know of. After an hour of detailing that day as accurately as they could, Amell stopped them.

"You said Kya spent the afternoon with her friend. Where were they the majority of that time?"

"What is his name?"

"Lee. He and Kya have been best friends since they were very young. You can't possibly think he did it. He eats dinner with us all the time, he was here today visiting Kya."

"I will talk to this boy tomorrow," Amell saw the sunrise and he corrected himself, "I mean, today," He was sure that whoever did this to Kya stepped foot on this island personally. "You three should get some rest, and make sure the others also go to bed. While I am here, nothing like this will happen again. All of you need proper sleep." Amell said it as commanding instead of suggestive. It wasn't difficult figuring out just how extremely exhausted Katara was.

"You're right, Master. Thank you! What will you do now?"

"I will try and get to the bottom of this, and I have another long-overdue reunion to take care of. Now, off with you. After you have gotten some sleep we shall talk more."

They exchange a few more words before Aang and the two zombies walked away from the alcove. Those two were still not back to normal. They picked up small bits and pieces of the conversation between Amell and Aang, but they weren't present since their minds existed in a weird state of limbo.

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End