Understanding and feeling understood is an integral part of sharing. It's why I will always feel set apart from the other humans in this world. Because in a substantial way, I am separate. By choice or not, I am not one of them. I never will be.

...

I'm certain Katara senses some of this, and refuses to attach herself to someone who might as well drift away, if it meant answers. I am not a secure entity and what she seeks is, in essence, safety. She has it in her brother, in Aang and she will have the same in Toph. They will be bound together, so long as they allow it.

Bonds are something precious.

Yes, they can restrict, restrain, chain, cage, but in reality, we need them. They ground us, but there is nothing keeping me on the ground.

It's why I am capable of what I am capable of. It's what Katara wanted me to teach her, but it's nothing that can be taught. You're either entirely free, unbound and lonely, or you're not. And when you're not, you are free to explore other avenues. I did that, in my first life.

I loved and was loved. I hurt and was hurt in turn. I mended and was mended.

This is perhaps why I bend as well as I do. Water is not restricted by anything. Certainly, there are obstacles, but with enough time they are ground into nothing and carried along. Which is why time is so important as a constant. If it were fluid, as water is, nothing would (be) matter (to us).

Are Spirits matter? They can certainly choose to be, as they have done in the case of Tui and La, Moon and Ocean. Cause and Effect. Matters of Fact.

My facts are that I was killed either by accident or not in my old world that had a cartoon series Avatar the Last Airbender that I watched and knew well enough to remember it when I was born into this new world which has something called a Spirit World that at least one person can communicate with.

And, if Bumi is to be believed, Spirits will sometimes visit this plane and have not-conversations with him that they don't enjoy. But, if only he can see them, and he says that they will visit me of their own accord, he must believe that I am capable of seeing them, too. It appears to be a skill.

Whether it is learned or not, I have no idea

So, until either I find another spiritual dwelling, a Spirit comes by for a visit, or Aang is free to learn about the Spirit World and I can ask him for help, I will have to wait.

I dislike it that this isn't up to me. That it's not within my power. But, as of now, I have no way of changing that.

I could see about getting into that big library Aang and his friends will either destroy or not destroy in a few months. But, and I would try to be humble here, but it would be a futile effort, or too much of one to bother with, I don't think anyone would have put any useful thoughts on this to paper.

And, if they did, there is no guarantee that I would find it. There is no guarantee that I would be able to read it.

So, and I wonder how many possibilities I am killing from here on out, I won't visit that desert library.

But putting thoughts to paper… it's a compelling idea.

To document. I do wonder, however, how much of this desire is conditioned into me through my own society. Social media was… instant, and seemingly real. Non-virtual because the people who were using it were non-virtual. We were real and always there.

But I remember the freedom that came with switching off my phone.

I remember the power I suddenly had over my own desires. I wasn't influenced constantly by what might as well have been some unfeeling machine equipped with just the right phrases for responses. I was no longer constantly monitored, analysed and offered products that I might like to buy.

The desire to put down my experiences, hold them fast on something less flimsy than a stream of memory that only I can access. (Hopefully, they are mine. I've become a little possessive.)

But there is danger in it, too. Anyone could take this seeming security in writing down my thoughts from me. Stolen or destroyed, I would lose this…

Is it a risk I want to take?

Perhaps, when I have more time. When there aren't invasions going on all over the place, when the war is over.

It's a good thing that Team Avatar has already left. If I'm quick enough, I can catch up with the others in no time. I decide that I'll have to see if I can't find the wellspring of hot water beneath the city on my own, since even with the model right in front of me, I don't trust my memory enough to keep these details, these twists and turns accurately.

I might get lost in thought, and then in a maze.

So, I stretch my senses. Earth is only a block to me, unfortunately lifeless to me. Certainly, I know of its slow, slow movements, its power, but I cannot connect with it. Water, however, is always eager to communicate with a waterbender. It welcomes, beckons and I am barely aware of how I get to my feet and follow its call.

So far, I have managed not to think about it, but all this time spent underground, without sunlight, without fresh air that carries the smell of sea with it, has made me desperate for water, be it open or not.

...

I've not been journeying through the tunnels for very long when I begin to catch up to some of the stragglers who are dragging an unconscious Prison Warden with them. Well, we can't very well leave him behind in a place where he could find a way to allow the Fire Nation entry into the tunnels. They aren't being closed off as of yet, in case of an escape.

Cautiously, I pull my mask back over my face. He could only be pretending. But they are lagging behind with the weight of him. Why they don't have a bender with them, I have no idea. And, they are all injured. Miniscule, but enough for them to be more of a burden than a help, except for tasks such as this one. Even though I should reserve my strength, after the day I've had, I decide to freeze the places of his body where he comes in contact with the ground. "There you go", I say, as they stumble with the sudden lack of drag.

"Thanks", one says, and his high-pitched voice makes me do a double-take. A woman, barely recognisable under that uniform. Pretty, too.

If we weren't about to invade a city, I'd suggest a bath in the hot springs.

I wonder whether I should bother with erasing the signs of our passing, but it would probably take too long. I would have to be thorough, and I don't have the energy for that, I think.

What I could do is bolster the entire floor with ice and make it a slippery slope, ever deeper underground. Or a slide! Oh, there is fun to be had here, and I intend to have it. The part of me that always cautions is thankfully silent, just this once.

With a mad grin, I form a sledge for the Warden and the one with the limp, shove them on it, and make skates for everyone else.

"What in-", they all begin to shout and curse, grabbing each other's arms for support, and it's all terribly amusing.

"Get ready, this will be fun!", I shout and concentrate on coating the ground beneath and ahead of us evenly with ice.

And, off we are.

...

Don't forget to throw some power stones :)

...

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