History of Katara (Spring 100 AG)

After mastering Waterbending at the hands of Master Pakku, Katara leaves the North Pole with Aang and Sokka. They travel to the Earth Kingdom so Aang can learn Earthbending.

Book 2: Earth


After the Siege of the North, Katara and the group leave the North Pole on a Water Tribe ship. Master Pakku says goodbye to the group but not before giving Katara an amulet containing water from the Spirit Oasis. He tells her that the water has magical healing properties. After leaving Master Pakku and the others, the group sets off to Omashu so that Aang can learn to Earthbend from King Bumi. Katara and the gang meet General Fong, an Earth Kingdom general, who believes Aang is wasting time learning bending and should just try to trigger his Avatar Spirit and go after the Fire Nation. After several attempts to trigger the Avatar State, Fong decides to do something foolish: trying to trigger the Avatar State by ordering his troops to attack Aang. When that fails, Fong uses his Earthbending to bury Katara. This enrages Aang, who falls under the Avatar State. Fong tries to explain that he had faked Katara's death to get him into the Avatar State; however, Aang uses a powerful wave of Earthbending to defeat Fong and his troops.

The Cave of Two Lovers
While the friends are relaxing a group of Earth Kingdom nomads appear, (Chong, Lily, Moku), displaying the characteristics of a carefree, nature-loving people. When the Avatar's group reveals their intention to travel to Omashu, Chong speaks of a short cut through a tunnel passing under a mountain. Although Sokka does not want to trust these new characters, the kids later follow the nomads to the tunnels after an unsuccessful attempt to fly over the mountains.

Just before our heroes enter, the leader of the nomads mentions that the tunnels form a labyrinth protected by a curse. Only those who put their trust in love can find the way through; those who don't will be forever lost. Sokka plans to create a map while traveling though the labyrinth, but gradually finds that the map is useless due to the fact that the tunnels are changing around them. The group then gets separated during a cave-in. Aang's quick action saves everyone from being crushed by the falling rocks, but the group is separated. Aang, Katara, and Appa are in one group, while Sokka and Momo are forced (to his great displeasure) to travel through the tunnels with the musical nomads, who assure him that he should not "let the falling rocks turn his smile into a frown".



After traveling for what is estimated at three hours, Aang and Katara encounter a large tomb designed for the "two lovers" spoken of in lore. By reading script around the walls, they discover the true story of the "two lovers". The final line in the script states "love is brightest in the dark." Katara is inspired by this to suggest a possible way to solve the labyrinth; perhaps by following the example of the lovers and kissing, she and Aang could find the way out. Although Aang (due to his unexpressed but growing affection for Katara) finds this idea highly intriguing, he attempts to reassure an embarrassed Katara that he could not imagine kissing her. When she seems put out by this response, he assures her that what he meant was that, in choosing between certain death and kissing her, he would definitely choose to kiss her ("It's a compliment!") This cools the ardor between them for a while, but later, as the torches are burning out, desperation (and possibly affection) led them to dare the unknown. As the torchlight fades, we see them leaning toward each other, closing their eyes. In the resulting darkness, Aang and Katara find out that the two lovers put glowing crystals showing how to get out of the tunnel, and these crystals only glow in the dark. Finally, the two (plus Appa) get out of the tunnel. Soon after the group is reunited. Concluding this, Aang, Sokka, and Katara finally get to Omashu. When the gang sees the Fire Nation has taken Omashu, they are devastated.

Return to Omashu
Despite the dangers of being caught, Aang decides to go off and try to find Bumi, although, Katara believes that it might be time for Aang to get a different earthbending teacher. Aang explains to Katara that Bumi is not just an earthbending teacher, he is a friend. Aang, Sokka, and Katara find their way into the city by going through a sewer and emerge from it unharmed except for Sokka who has several Purple Pentapi stuck to his face. These turn out to be harmless, and Aang removes them from Sokka's face. Not two seconds pass and they encounter a Fire Nation soldier who questions why they are out during curfew. Aang quickly covers the arrow on his head with a piece of cloth and Katara says that they were just on their way home, and the soldier decides to let them go. Just as they were leaving, the soldier notices the marks left by the Pentapuses and asks about them. Katara quickly says that he has "Pentapox," a very contagious disease. The soldier runs away in fear, thus they avoid capture.



In Omashu, a Fire Nation Governor, Governor's Wife, baby son, and daughter Mai find out about Aang's presence in Omashu. The trio wonders where all the earthbenders have gone and an Earth Kingdom General, General Yung, reveals that King Bumi surrendered to the Fire Nation and that the rest of the Omashu Army were mad at him for not telling them to attack. Aang devises a plan to give all the citizens "Pentapox". The Fire Nation General orders all citizens to be evacuated. Once Aang finds Bumi, Bumi explains to Aang that he can not leave and that he must go and find a new Earthbending teacher.

Katara shows a great love of babies in this episode, cuddling Tom-Tom and bullying Sokka into letting him have his way. When the leader of the resistance warns her 'he'll be a killer,", Katara responds, "Does this look like the face of a killer to you?!" holding Tom-Tom up.

After recieving a note, they're to bring Tom-Tom back to his family in exchange for Bumi. When the trio go to the meeting place, Azula, Mai, and Ty Lee are waiting for them. A fight breaks out when Azula recognizes Aang as the Avatar. While Azula and Aang are fighting at the mail chute, Katara takes on Mai, freezing her arm in ice. Ty Lee heads to attack Sokka who had narrowly avoided Tom-Tom from falling to his death, but Katara uses a whip of water to catch Ty Lee by the leg and pull her back. When Katara is about to strike again, Ty Lee hits her with some jabs to the arms, and when Katara tries to attack, her bending water just falls. Mai asks "How are you gonna fight without your bending?", and is about to strike when Sokka stops her and saves Katara. Later flying away from Omashu, Katara talks about her encounter with Ty Lee.

Visions in the Swamp
Sokka and Katara are flying on Appa above a giant swamp. Aang stares at the swamp in a sort of hypnotic trance and starts lowering themselves into the swamp. When Sokka starts explaining what is happening to Aang, he comes out of his "trance" and starts telling Sokka and Katara that the swamp is "calling him." Sokka tries to convince Aang that there is nowhere to land and to move on, but Aang is still interested because of what King Bumi told him about listening to the Earth. Sokka, who is being usually stubborn, says to ignore it. Aang starts to leave once Katara, Appa, and Momo start to complain about the swamp. Unfortunately, an oddly located tornado comes right toward the gang and they fall down with much force.



Aang, Katara, and Sokka are separated from Appa and Momo due to landing in different places. Aang begins to search for Appa and Momo. Aang returns having not found Appa and Momo. He also says that the tornado just disappeared. The trio led by Sokka try to find their animal friends with Sokka chopping everything in sight with his machete. Aang tells Sokka to be "Nice to the swamp." Katara agrees with Aang, as she feels some supernatural qualities in the swamp. She claims that it feels "alive." Sokka keeps chopping around anyway. Aang says that the longer they stay there, the more he thinks he shouldn't do that. Though Katara and Aang still believe something supernatural is going on in the swamp, Sokka dismisses their concerns. They later see strange glowing eyes and get a little scared. The strange thing that was looking at Aang is shown again, still unseen. This time it grabs each of them with its vines. They wake up from their sleep, and each manages to escape from the vines using their styles of fighting. The trio all end up in separate places.

Katara, who is now looking for Sokka and Aang, sees a strange figure in the distance. She identifies it as her mother and she begins to run up to it. However, when Katara gets there, it is almost like a mirage. Katara sees a root and breaks down into tears. After the trio is reunited they discuss their visions. Sokka thinks their minds are just playing tricks on them. They reach the center of the swamp which is a giant tree. Aang believes that the swamp was calling them there. All of a sudden, the giant monster who earlier had grabbed Aang appears. There is then a huge fight.



Aang and Katara finally defeat the swamp monster who is really a Waterbender, named Hue, bending the water in the vines. He says the swamp is just one big tree, stretching out its roots for miles. He also says that the whole world is one organism like the swamp. If you listen carefully, he explains, then you can hear everything breathing together because everything is connected. He goes on to explain each person's visions. In the swamp, people have visions of people they have lost, though they are not really gone because everyone is connected. Aang's vision continues to perplex him because he is certain he has never met the girl, but realizes he will meet her in the future. Aang realizes if he listens to the earth, then he can find Appa and Momo. Aang goes into a semi Avatar State, and a glowing line draws him straight to Appa and Momo. Aang and Katara confront the natives to free Appa and Momo, and the natives (Tho and Due), revealed to be Waterbenders.

The Blind Bandit
Aang and the trio go to the town of Gaoling to continue his search for someone to teach him earthbending. While searching, he gets a free earthbending lesson from Master Yu, but he finds that Master Yu cares more about having him pay for lessons then he does about teaching him earthbending. Afterwards, they hear from a pair of students about Earth Rumble VI, a Lei Tai tournament featuring several powerful Earthbenders. The boys are not very inclined to help Aang with the location, until Katara uses her "feminine charm," which involves freezing them to the walls, to convince them to tell.

At the tournament, they see a powerful Earthbender named ‘The Boulder’, who defeats every challenger he comes across. Sokka completely gets into it, but Aang is not very impressed, saying that the Boulder is "just listening to his muscles". The Boulder defeats several other contenders, until he works his way up to the current champion, The Blind Bandit, a blind Earthbender who happens to be Toph, a 12 year-old girl. Aang notices the Bandit's techniques, especially how she waits and listens carefully to the movements of her opponent, and realizes that she is the type of person that Bumi said would make a good earthbending teacher. He also realizes that she is the girl in white he saw in his vision in The Swamp.

The announcer of the tournament, Xin Fu, offers a large sum of gold to whoever can defeat the Blind Bandit in a fight. Seeing an opportunity to talk to the Bandit, Aang challenges her. While Aang wants to talk, the Bandit is ready for a fight, and she refuses to engage in conversation. Unfortunately, she is not ready to face an Airbender, and is defeated when Aang blows her off the ring. The Bandit takes badly to her loss, and storms off, refusing to even listen to Aang.



Later, Aang and the others return to Master Yu's school to try to find out where the Blind Bandit lives. Asking the same boys Katara "asked" about the tournament (who are now quite intimidated by her), they do not get much information, until Aang remembers the flying boar he also saw with the girl in his vision. The boys tell them that the flying boar is the symbol of the Bei Fong family, the wealthiest family in the town.

Aang and company travel to the family's house, where they are accosted by the Bandit, now wearing the same dress Aang saw her wearing in the Swamp. The girl, Toph, does not want to help them, and calls the house guards to chase them off.

That evening, Aang uses his name to gain a formal audience with the entire Bei Fong family. He tries to get her father, Lao Bei Fong to talk her into helping him, but Toph uses her earthbending to keep him from saying anything revealing. Her parents and teacher are completely unaware about her true skill, and she wants to keep it that way. After numerous earthbending interruptions, Aang retaliates, bringing the dinner to both a premature end and into everybody's face.

After dinner, Toph and Aang get captured by Xin Fu and his gang thinking they stole his money. After Katara and Sokka get help and free the group, Toph shows her talent. She singlehandedly beats all the enemies and the group gets away. As Katara and the others get ready to leave, Toph runs up to them, saying that her father changed his mind, letting her travel with them. Sokka wisely offers to leave quickly before her father "changes his mind again." Toph is ready to go, but she wants to show Aang one thing first. Aang hops down, and she promptly launches him into a tree. Toph, declaring them even, demands to have her championship belt returned.

The Chase
Not long after Toph joins the group, she starts a feud with Katara. As the group sets up camp, Katara notices that Toph is slumping lazily against a rock. Katara informs her that they usually divide the work among the group, implying she would like Toph to help them set up camp. Toph tells her not to worry, as she feels she can carry her own weight, suddenly earthbending a trianglar, earthen, makeshift tent with two slabs of stone. Katara rephrases her last statement, telling her that they all have a job to do, including Momo, who then appears on her shoulder with berries. Toph refutes that she does not feel she has to help anyone else, because no one needs to help her. Katara attempts once more to suggest to Toph that she help out, but all this does is further irritate her. Katara finally gives up and walks back to their campsite. Later on, Katara tries to rectify with Toph for the previous argument, apologizing and noting that she thinks that they're all just a little tired and getting on each others' nerves. Toph, rather than sharing the blame and accepting her overture, simply agrees that she does seem a bit too tired and lays down to sleep. Katara, though clearly incensed by the insulting retort, brings herself to half-heartedly tell Toph goodnight and walks back to her own tent.



During the night, Toph awakens suddenly. Feeling the ground, she senses something approaching and alerts the rest of the group. When asked exactly that something is, all she can say is that it feels like an avalanche, but also not like an avalanche. After they leave the camp, the two grumpy girls continue to fight. Eventually Toph picks up her belongings and leaves the group.

Wandering through the forest, Toph stumbles across Uncle Iroh, not knowing who he is. Iroh gives her tea and advice, and eventually convinces her to come back.

Not long after, Toph comes back and rejoins the group.

The Library
Each of the members of the group decides to take a little "mini-vacation," as a way to unwind after all the work they've done; Sokka, on the other hand, thinks the group should be working on getting intelligence on the Fire Nation, most specifically a map for when Aang must hunt down the Fire Lord. The group meets Professor Zei, who tells them he is searching for a legendary library said to be in the middle of a nearby desert; the library, said to have been created by the spirit of knowledge and his fox servants, has more valuable tomes than any other place in the world. Sokka, believing he may be able to get information on the Fire Nation there, dedicates his "vacation" to finding the place.

Using Appa to fly, the group soon finds the library, which is buried in the sand, except for its single, highest tower. Aang, Katara, Sokka, Momo and Professor Zei use a window to enter the library; Appa stays outside, of course, as does Toph, who cannot read since she is blind. Toph also mentions that, because of the desert sand, she cannot feel the vibrations in the ground as well as she normally can, making her lose her usual advantage.

When the group enters the library, they meet the spirit, Wan Shi Tong, who constructed the library; taking the form of a large owl, the spirit initially does not trust them. The spirit, apparently, dislikes the fact that humans only use knowledge to get an advantage over other humans; he brings up the last human to have discovered his library, who happened to be Admiral Zhao (Zhao mentions a library in "Siege of the North"), and believes the group only wants to get information to help them defeat their enemies (which is, of course, true). But they convince him otherwise.

Sokka finds a burned paper that mentions "the Fire Nation's darkest day;" it has a date but no other information. It also turns out that Zhao, before leaving, apparently destroyed every other bit of information about the Fire Nation, probably to prevent exactly what Sokka and the others are trying to do. However, a fox (one of Wan Shi Tong's animal helpers) finds the group, and leads them to a room dedicated to astronomy. There, a date can be entered on a stone wheel, which then shows the heavens on that particular date; when Sokka enters the date of "the darkest day," it shows a solar eclipse occurring. The group realizes that solar eclipses must weaken or take away their Firebending, in the same way lunar eclipses affect Waterbending; they realize they can use this information to plan an attack on the Fire Nation forces.



Soon, however, Wan Shi Tong finds out their plans, and decrees that he will no longer allow humans to misuse his beloved information; he attacks the group, while the library begins to sink, that way it will be completely underground forever. Outside, Toph begins to hold up the tower using her Earthbending, so that the others can escape; however, at the same time "Sandbenders" attack. Desert tribesmen, they travel in boat-like materials, using their Bending to travel; they come and begin to abduct Appa, while Toph finds it impossible to hold up the tower and simultaneously fight them. They make off with Appa and escape.

Inside the library, Aang and Sokka hurriedly try to use the astronomy room to find the next date of a solar eclipse; it turns out the next one is in a few months. They plan to give this information to the Earth Kingdom armies of Ba Sing Se to help in the war. The group then quickly escapes, except for Professor Zei, who says he would rather spend eternity in the Library, than see it vanish forever; the others have no choice but to leave him. They escape before the Library vanishes into the sand; however, the episode ends with Toph telling Aang that Appa has been stolen by sandbenders.

To Ba Sing Se
While the group was in the desert, they visited the library of the spirit Wan Shi Tong. Toph stayed outside to watch Appa, while Aang, Katara, and Sokka went in with Professor Zei. Sokka discovered information about an eclipse, but this warlike use of the information in the library infuriated Wang Shi Tong. He caused the library to begin sinking into the ground. Toph used her earthbending to keep her friends alive. When Sandbenders arrive with the intent of stealing Appa, Toph cannot save them both and the group loses Appa. Aang is so impacted by this that he goes into the Avatar State; Katara embraces him and soothes his anger.



After leaving the desert, they met a refugee family traveling to Ba Sing Se. The group helps the family to an underground ferry way that leads to the city. While there Sokka and the others are reunited with the Kyoshi Warrior Suki, who was there helping war refugees. Later the family loses their documents so Aang, Katara, Toph, Sokka, and Suki agree to help them cross the Serpent's Pass.

As the group travels along a sheer cliff side of the pass, Suki points out Fire Nation forces patrolling the water, telling them that they are rumored to be working on a secret project. As they continue, Tahn falls when the ground under him crumbles. Toph saves him, but the falling rocks draw the attention of the patrol ship, which launches a fireball at them. Aang leaps into action, knocking the ball back and striking their engines. The ship returns fire, hitting the rockface above them, and sending debris falling towards Suki. Sokka pushes Suki out of the way, and Toph saves him by deflecting the rocks. Sokka is too worried about Suki's safety to be thankful to Toph for saving his life, which annoys Toph. The group runs to the shelter of an outcropping wall of rock, leaving the ship behind to tend to its damage.



That morning, Aang's group comes to a large setback: A portion of the pass is currently underwater. Katara steps forward, parting the waters to allow them to pass. As the path gets deeper, Aang helps her, forming a bubble of air for them to walk underwater safely. Momo, seeing the fish swimming by, jumps out into the water to catch one, but quickly jumps back in when something huge swims by. As it turns out, Serpent's Pass is named (and feared) not for its shape, but for the gigantic sea serpent that swims in the surrounding waters. The serpent attacks the bubble, forcing Toph to raise the seafloor under their feet to bring them up to the surface. This strands them in the middle of the water, with the serpent circling around. Aang attacks the serpent, telling Katara to get the others across while he distracts it. Katara creates an ice bridge for the others to cross, then leaps to help Aang without a second thought. Together, Aang and Katara manage to drive off the serpent, using currents to slam it into the cliff. The group finally crosses the Serpent's Pass, just in time for the mother to go into labor. Katara, who's had experience in birthing children, quickly takes charge.

The baby, a girl, is born with no complications, thanks to Katara. Aang, seeing the family coming together, renews his hope, which is what the family decides to name the baby (Hope). Aang decided to go on ahead to find Appa, but before he goes, he tells Katara how he feels about her. Aang flies over to the wall of Ba Sing Se, where he makes a terrible discovery: A massive drill, escorted by Fire Nation tanks, is approaching the wall.

Life in the city
The group, mostly Katara and Aang, destroy the drill and save Ba Sing Se. Riding the Earth rail, the group finally enters Ba Sing Se. Sokka is confident that they will easily find Appa, but the city is bigger than they imagined... much bigger. Soon after they arrive, Aang and his friends are met by Joo Dee; a cheerful, incessantly smiling woman assigned to guide them around the city. Attempts by Sokka to try and get their guide to talk about the war and a possible audience with the Earth King are invariably ignored.



In the upper ring, Aang and his group are finally taken to their new house. When a possible audience with the Earth King is finally mentioned, it is revealed that they will have to wait at least a month. It soon becomes apparent that within the walls of the city, no one wants to talk or even think about the war raging in the rest of the world. Even Aang's attempts to find Appa bears no fruit as no one seems willing to divulge any information to them, thanks to some meaningful glances from Joo Dee. Along the way they also see members of the Dai Li — elite guards who safeguard Ba Sing Se's culture and society.



When a notice arrives about a party being held at the Earth King's palace, Katara decides it's a good way to reach the Earth King. Toph says that since the gang is mostly commoners, they'd be spotted right away if they went to the event. In the end, Toph decides that Katara can pass off as a high born girl, and both of them dress up in formal attire. They then head for the palace while Aang and Sokka wait and enter as servants. The girls are initially refused entry by a guard, who rejects even Toph's family seal. They eventually get inside by tagging along with an official named Long Feng, but their attempts to sneak Aang and Sokka inside are stymied by Long Feng himself, who seems determined to personally help them out. Soon the Dai Li bind and gag Katara and Toph with earthbending. They then go and have a meeting with Long Feng and learn that Ba Sing Se is really controled by him rather than the Earth King.

The episode opens at the location of the gang's house in Ba Sing Se, the whole group busily cleaning themselves up for the day aside from Toph who has yet to wake up. When Katara wakes her, Toph presents herself with her hair a mess and her body covered in dust (or, "a healthy coating of Earth!") considering herself ready. Katara suggests they have a "Girl's Day Out," and takes her to the Fancy Lady Day Spa. Toph agrees, as long as they don't touch her feet. This request is denied and Toph sends one of the attendants through the wall during a pedicure. The girls then take a mud bath where Toph uses her Earthbending to make creepy faces with the mud and scare away the attendant. The two then relax in a sauna, using their Bending to both feed the fire and create the steam.



The girls leave the sauna now with make-up on their faces. As they cross a bridge, a girl named Star and her friends make fun of Toph's make-up. Toph is upset by these remarks and Katara tries to urge her to ignore them. Toph, however, laughs back at the girls and then Earthbends the rock of the bridge from under them, dropping them into the water. Katara finishes with her own parting shot by waterbending the girls downstream.

Katara tries to console Toph as they continue walking on. Toph claims that because she is blind, she does not have to worry so much about personal appearance or the approval of others, the words of the girls still hurt her all the same, and she sheds a few tears. Katara compliments that Toph is not only confident and self-assured, but also pretty. Toph proclaims she would like to return the compliment but has no idea what Katara looks like. Katara laughs at this and the story ends with Toph giving her a friendly (although hard) punch on the arm.



Out in the city, the gang is setting up more posters for the lost Appa when Katara runs into Jet. He tells her that he wants to help, but Katara distrusts him and attacks. Jet tries to prove his honesty by dropping his hook swords, allowing Katara to pin him to the wall with ice spikes. The others arrive, drawn by the noise, and Jet tries again to explain himself. Then Jet shows them a flyer. Toph, reading Jet's heartbeat and breathing patterns, pronounces that he's telling the truth. Katara is distrustful, but agrees. Jet leads them to a large empty warehouse, where he says they may have been holding Appa. Toph confirms it by finding a tuft of Appa's fur, and an old cleaning man says that Appa was sent off to Whale Tail Island, down near the South Pole. Aang immediately wants to set off, and Jet offers to come along. Toph asks Katara whether Jet was her boyfriend. She gets mad and says no, but Toph teases her by saying she can tell she's lying.

On their way out, the group is sidetracked when Smellerbee and Longshot happen to come across them. Katara once again turns on Jet, as he had claimed to have left the gang behind. Jet insists that he's been living alone in the city, but Smellerbee claims that he was dragged away by the Dai Li. Toph realizes they are both telling the truth, even though their stories don't match. Sokka quickly figures that Jet has been brainwashed by the Dai Li. Katara uses her healing to try to soothe it. Jet remembers that he was taken to a secret facility under a lake. Sokka remembers what Joo Dee had said about her "vacation", fully jogging Jet's memory. The base is under Lake Laogai. The group makes their way to the lake the next day, and Toph quickly finds and uncovers the underwater entrance. They go inside, quietly making their way through the dark corridors.



The gang find themselves confronted by Long Feng and several Dai Li agents. A battle quickly breaks out. Long Feng escapes, with Aang and Jet in hot pursuit. After dealing a grievous blow to Jet, Long Feng escapes as the others enter the chamber. Katara tries to heal Jet, and realizes just how badly he was injured. Longshot, speaking for the first time in the series, tells Aang and his group that they should go and find Appa, and leave Jet to Smellerbee and himself. Jet tries to assure Katara that he'll be fine, but as they leave, Toph sorrowfully says that Jet was lying. Jet eventually died from his injuries.

After they exit the underground base, they finally meet back with Appa. Katara and Toph both want to leave Ba Sing Se, as they have found Appa and thus have no reason to remain there. On the other hand, Sokka wants to stay to inform the Earth King of all that is taking place within Ba Sing Se, as well as the approaching solar eclipse, as this was their entire reason for heading towards Ba Sing Se in the first place. Aang agrees with him. Ultimately, the others agree to do so, and all four ride Appa back to Ba Sing Se's upper ring, and manage to break into the palace, tearing their way through the Royal Guards despite a strong defense.



At the palace, Katara and her friends finally reach the Earth King's throne room, where they are encountered by Long Feng and the Dai Li, who stand before the Earth King as a last defense. Aang goes on to explain the various events going on that the Earth King is unaware of: a war outside Ba Sing Se's walls, Long Feng and the Dai Li's conspiracy, the imprisonment of Appa, and the brainwashing of Jet and countless other individuals. They decide to show the Earth King the outer wall, which was earlier penetrated by the Fire Nation's drill, but the King has had enough, and decides to return to the palace. Sokka quickly convinces him to continue the investigation, however, by letting him ride on Appa.

The Earth King arrives at the outer wall, and is shocked to see the remains of the Fire Nation's drill leading right up to and through Ba Sing Se's outer wall. Long Feng is then arrested. After the group splits up, and Katara forfeits an opportunity to see her father Hakoda again, deciding instead to stay and assist the Earth King.

The Crossroads of Destiny


The Council of Five is going over the invasion plan with Katara, who is accompanied by Momo. General How says that General Fong’s base will be the staging point of the attack, and they will send in troops, demonstrating the motion by Earthbending several stone pieces representing Earth Kingdom forces across a world map. Momo suddenly darts across the board, and knocks the pillars over. Katara laughs at the lemur's actions, and attempts to joke with the five generals, who are not amused. General How asks Katara to take a scroll detailing the invasion plans so that it may receive Seal of the Earth King, which will finalize the plan.



In Ba Sing Se, Katara and Momo, just before going to see the Earth King, decide to stop at a new tea house. As she enters, Katara hears and sees Zuko reciting an order for tea to Iroh in the back of the shop, and she gasps in surprise before running off to warn the Earth King. Katara rushes into the palace, and tells Azula, whom she believes is Suki, that Prince Zuko and Iroh have infiltrated the city. She tells how they need to inform the Earth King. As Azula calmly replies that that will not be necessary, Katara realizes her mistake- she recognizes the distinct golden hue of Azula's eyes. However, Katara's realization is too late- Ty Lee hurtles into the air and disables Katara. Azula and her friends stand over Katara's prone form, and she remarks that it is time she and Zuko encountered each other again.



Katara stands in a dark, crystal-lighted cave when suddenly a light shows: Above, the entrance opens and Zuko is thrown down. When he first comes in to the cave Katara becomes defensive. She is initially furious to see him. She tells him that all he cares about is capturing the Avatar, and how spreading war and hatred is in his blood. When she tearfully says that he does not know the pain of the Fire Nation killing her mother, Zuko apologizes, and says that this is something they both have in common, softening her slowly.

Down below in their prison, Katara apologizes to Zuko for how she yelled at him, and tells him that for a long time, whenever she saw the face of the enemy, she saw Zuko’s face. He turns away, touching his scar, assuming she was referencing his scar; a mark he feels that was once symbol to his banishment, and to his “destiny” of chasing the Avatar forever. However, he has gained Katara's trust to the point where she offers to heal his scar using the water from the Spirit Oasis. However, before she can do anything, Aang and Iroh show up, both of them embracing Katara and Zuko, respectively.



Zuko and Aang exchange glares, and Zuko grows angry that Iroh was with the Avatar, and Iroh sends Katara and Aang off to help Sokka and Toph. Iroh then explains to Zuko that he is a different and changed man, stronger and wiser than ever before. He tells Zuko that he is time for him to choose good. However, a mass of crystals entraps Iroh, and Azula emerges. She says that she expected this sort of treachery from Iroh, but not from her brother. She begins to feed him tales of how this is the most glorious day in Fire Nation history, and that if he joins her, Zuko will gain back his father’s love and honor. Iroh begs Zuko to not listen to Azula, telling him that the kind of redemption Azula is offering is not the redemption for him, but Azula continues to plot, telling Zuko how she has planned everything, and that they will only win if he joins her. Iroh begs even more, for Zuko to look deep inside his heart and see what he truly wants. Azula sends the Dai Li away, and tells Zuko that he can chose whatever he wants, and she walks away; leaving him to ponder the two sides of the coin.

Aang and Katara rush to save Toph and Sokka, however, Azula fires a bolt of fire at them. A battle ensues between Aang, Katara, and Azula, and just as Aang and Katara have her cornered Zuko shows up. After a brief moment of dramatic tension, Zuko begins fighting on Azula's side, to everyone’s amazement. Katara fights against Azula for a few moments and almost manages to defeat her by holding her arms with waterbending, but Azula is saved by Zuko. In the midst of the battle, the two pairs switch off, with Zuko now fighting Katara, both using element whips on opposite sides of a river. Katara expresses her angry disappointment in Zuko, how she thought he had changed. He replies inscrutably, "I have changed." Aang and Azula charge at one another, Azula sends a blast of fire, sending Aang soaring into the air.



Underground, the fight continues on, with Katara taking on both Zuko and Azula, before Aang manages to stand back up from being thrown earlier. He slams into the ground, creating a tidal wave of Earth barreling towards Azula and Zuko, but he is stopped by the Dai Li. Soon they are joined by dozens of Dai Li agents, and Katara assumes the Octopus stance. Horribly outmatched, Aang realizes there is no other choice and does the only thing he can think of---creating a quick crystal shelter with Earthbending, he meditates, and decides to try to release his attachment to Katara in order to enter the Avatar State. He then rises into the air, but before he can let go of Katara and gain control of the Avatar State, Azula shoots him down with a lightning bolt to the back. At that moment, the Avatar Spirit falls from the plane of existence. As Aang falls back to the ground, Katara creates a huge wave by Waterbending, and manages to scatter the Dai Li, Zuko, and Azula; and catch him before he hits the ground. Holding him in tears, she is defenseless, but Iroh suddenly appears. He tells the two to escape, and that he will hold off Azula and the others as long as he can. Once they escape, Iroh surrenders himself to the Dai Li and glances at Zuko, quickly turning his head in shame.



The entire group manages to escape and while flying away on Appa, Katara uses her Spirit Oasis water to heal Aang, who initially appeared dead. With a quick flash of light, nothing occurs, and Katara begins to cry and holds Aang close. Then Aang’s tattoos glow shortly and he opens his eyes and smiles at her. Overwhelmed and relieved that he is okay, Katara embraces him closer.

Aang survives the lightning. Azula is firmly in control of the city, and as the Earth King, Bosco, Momo, Toph, Sokka, Katara, and Aang fly atop Appa's back over the Outer Wall and out of the city, the Earth King looks back and sadly proclaims, "The Earth Kingdom... has fallen."