It’s been more than a week and Taeyeon, the one who was supposed to be the all great and powerful Avatar, was still not able to bend a single rock—not even a little pile of dirt on this anthill. She stared at it with all her focus and energy and tried some of Queen Hyoyeon’s tips but nothing was working. Hyoyeon kept telling her to toughen up and not be so easily shaken physically and mentally but that was harder than she thought. At the same time, Yoona was teaching her something else: loosen up and don’t stand too still. Maybe learning earthbending and airbending at the same time was a bad idea… Even Queen Hyoyeon was getting frustrated with Taeyeon. Finally Hyoyeon realized the problem: You are emotionally unstable, and that is keeping you from earthbending. You should keep yourself together, look your fears in the eyes, and tell them that you don’t flinch! Although Taeyeon could not directly admit to herself, she was honestly scared of many things. Finally in frustration she kicked the anthill with her foot, causing ants so suddenly flow out.

          “Arrrghh!!!” she cried out in frustration and burned all the ants with a big blow of fire from her fist. “Why can’t I do this?! Why can’t I earthbend?! I can bend the other three elements just fine!” Yeah, I can bend them just fine, no matter how emotionally problematic I am.

          Meanwhile, Yuri was doing really well with training, and the Avatar was even getting jealous. In fact, she was getting so annoyed by everyone under the Queen’s training. All of them were very skilled except her. She tried cheering herself up by telling herself that she was a master firebender and a skilled waterbender and airbender, but she always ended up wondering why she can be so bad at just this one element.

          “Taeyeon, just stand firmly on the ground and then tada!” Yuri lifted up a rock and set it back on the ground.

          “I am standing firmly on the ground, Yuri,” Taeyeon grumbled.

          Yuri sat down on the ground and began to stretch and fold her body as if she was the most flexible person on earth. “I honestly don’t know what you’re doing wrong. I thought that training with you will make me look pathetic because you’re the Avatar and your fire bending is amazing, but I guess the Avatar also has struggles.”

Later…

          “Here’s your cold noodles,” Soo-Young said as she served Taeyeon, Yuri, and Sica at the Xiah Dragon Noodles. Training was done for the day and the two apprentices decided to just relax for now. Taeyeon decided to bring Princess Sica along, who was still pretending to be her servant. Sica actually insisted to go because she felt suffocated being in the orchard garden villa with Seohyun and Yonghwa being all mushy with each other.

          Soo-Young sat beside Yuri, ate some meat balls and asked, “So how’s the training going?”

          “I’m learning a lot! I’m so happy Queen Hyoyeon made me a trusted apprentice!” Then Yuri continued in a softer voice, “Your brother is still watching Amber’s every move while I’ve been on the watch for anything strange with the twin princes. So far, nothing has happened about this so-called plan to steal King Eunhyuk’s place on the throne. Even Amber is not doing much. I wonder if the people planning treason cowered back or something…”

          “How’s Kibum doing? Junsu’s still worried about him.”

          “He’s actually feeling much better and even playing with Yoona often when she’s not busy teaching AvaTaeng,” Sica answered.

          As everyone continued having light chats during the meal, they noticed that Taeyeon hadn’t talked at all. Finally Sica asked, “Hey Taeng, you okay?”

          Taeyeon sighed and leaned her head on her waterbending teacher. “Can I stay at the orchard garden villa tonight?”

          When Taeyeon and Sica came back to the orchard garden, Taeyeon was met with greetings from her friends. How’s earthbending? You still can’t? Well that’s too bad… You’ll get it soon; you’re the Avatar! You're going to be good at it like waterbending and airbending! That was what they all say every time. She’s honestly sick of it.

Refusing to believe in what Hyoyeon told her, Taeyeon went to Seohyun and asked her for a favor, “Can you check if my energy is blocked or something? Maybe there’s something physically wrong with me that stops me from earthbending.” As a nurse, Seohyun did her job with her waterbending, but apparently, nothing was physically wrong with the Avatar. Is it really just emotional instability?

          Later that night, Taeyeon woke up when she felt something light and feathery moving over her chest. “Ginger?” Taeyeon quickly got up and ran her hand over the feathers of her faithful little bird. Then she checked the cylinder case and pulled out a densely rolled up letter that had more than five pages. The pages were a bit damp and the handwriting was more on the awful side, but it looked very urgent. She then lit up the candlestick beside her and began to read.

“…this is Minhyuk…?” Taeyeon read. “Wait who is Minhyuk again? Wasn’t he one of Yonghwa’s friends?”

The long letter was filled with a great deal of information written by a simple boy. The Chief is dead. Friends were framed. Some even died. The truth of the polar bear dog incident was revealed. Fire Nation people were planning to take over the world. Changmin and Kyuhyun are part of it. “What in the world? The Fire Nation plans on taking over the world? Why would the Fire Nation do something like that?” Then she remembered something Yoona told her about a month ago concerning her ability to “see” the future (Chapter 18):

“No, but seriously, I’m sure of something though. The Western Air Temple will definitely be attacked by fire benders. Many female air benders from the Western Air Temple will die, and some of them will surrender to the fire benders’ allegiance. You don’t think I’m crazy, right?”

“Why would fire benders just attack the Western Air Temple like that? That doesn’t make any sense. The Firelord would never allow it, and punish the attackers right away,” Taeyeon tried defending her nation.

“Oh, but it’s true. I have a strong feeling about it. In fact, the Firelord will personally send his soldiers to do it,” Yoona said so animatedly. “And since those monks don’t believe me, I’ll just wait around until it happens so I can save the day and say, ‘Ha! I told you so!’”

Taeyeon shook her head to forget about those thoughts. Yoona said that the Firelord will personally do it. The Firelord can’t possibly do something as to take over the world. I know him! He’s my new father!

Then she remembered something else that Yoona told her at the time:

“I heard it in the wind. Something bad will happen to you. You will be betrayed by someone very close to you soon.”

“No, no, no, that can’t be,” Taeyeon mumbled to herself. Then she woke up Yoona, who was sleeping in the bed next to her. If what Yoona said would come true, then maybe it really is the Firelord—the one she respected so much—that will be causing the problems of the world. She has to make sure though.

“Eonni, what now?” Yoona asked groggily.

“You said that the Firelord was going to attack the Western Air Temple. Is that true? Are you sure about this ‘future sight’ of yours?”

It took a while before Yoona could answer. She was half-awake. But then she also remembered something about those visions (from Luhan) and the Firelord: the Firelord who she met at the Fire Nation was not the Firelord she saw in her visions.

“So if it’s not Father Soon-Jae, then who is it?” Taeyeon demanded an answer. If they can find the root of this problem before it get worse, then they may be able to save the world from what Minhyuk elaborated in the letter.

“I don’t know,” Yoon answered. “It’s not like his name was in my vision. But I can tell you how he looks like.”

“Well?”

“He looks so much like Firelord Soon-Jae. But he is a different person, I tell you. By the way, why are you asking me this again? I thought you never wanted to hear this from me because you didn’t believe in my powers.”

Instead of answering Yoona, Taeyeon yanked her out of bed and told her to help with something. Since this news from Minhyuk was so important, Taeyeon (with the help of Yoona) quickly woke everyone up and gathered them in the living room of the orchard garden villa. Without further ado, she let Secretary Yoochun read it aloud for everyone to hear.

As expected, the Jungs reacted terribly to this news. Yonghwa just found out that his friends were controlled by the ones trying to kill him all his life. How could he not feel devastated by that? Even Krystal began to cry when she found out that she was used to hurt her brother and that she was also close to danger every time she played with Minhyuk. Sica also was furious just knowing that the polar bear dog attack was not an accident. She still fully remembered everything from that day. Seohyun and Yonghwa got injured and Taeyeon almost drowned in the glaciers because of the vicious beast. As expected from her icy cold bluntness, she began cursing at her brother Yonghwa for being friends with questionable boys who once put them in a near-death experience at the glaciers.

In the end of the long discussion, Secretary Yoochun insisted on going back to the North Pole to save his sister (a personal matter), look for Minhyuk (Yonghwa’s order), and spy on the situation (Sica’s order). He planned on lying to Changmin. He will pretend that Kyuhyun convinced him to join him into killing the Jungs to gain Changmin’s trust. That way, everyone will think that the Jungs are dead so that their pursuers will have to stop looking for them.

“I’m going to the Fire Nation,” Taeyeon spoke up. “I’m going to find their leader and destroy him for good! I know I can find him!”

“You’ve got to be kidding, Taeng,” Sica said in a mocking tone that greatly disappointed Taeyeon. Before Taeyeon could explain her ideas, Sica continued on with more disappointing words. “I know you’re working hard and you are getting stronger, but you’re not going anywhere without your mentors’ consents, and you’re not getting mine. If what Minhyuk wrote is true, then there may be lots of stronger benders there on the same plot. And if Minhyuk really is scared of disobeying whatever cult he was in, then you probably can’t just waltz into their leader’s office like that! We don’t even know who it is we’re dealing with here! For someone to plot an insane secret world invasion, he’s probably not an easy man! Even though you’re talented, you haven’t completely mastered waterbending or airbending yet! Not to mention you can’t even earthbend—”

“Don’t tell me what I can’t do,” Taeyeon said, getting frustrated. She didn’t want to remember how weak she was again. “I’m the Avatar! I can’t just do nothing! If this conspiracy is true, then I need to move whether you allow me or not! ”

“It’s not that I’m stopping you from being the Avatar. But as your mentor, I know that you’re not ready for this and I won’t let you jump into things that might end up being your demise before you can be the Avatar! We can wait, make specific plans, and make our move accordingly. Do you remember that day when you almost drowned in the North Pole because you headed straight to the glaciers without even thinking straight? Or do you remember when you just ran after some guy in the northwestern Fire Nation ports? I don’t want that to happen to you again! I don’t want to lose you and I’m sure the world doesn’t want to lose you too early in this fight!”

By now Taeyeon was getting mad at Sica, but she cannot answer her anymore. What Sica said was right—she can’t just recklessly do anything when she’s not even sure if she can do it, even though she’s the Avatar. Most past Avatars trained for many years before they actually become fully realized Avatars. Taeyeon may already have the title, but right now, she’s nothing but a teenager who can’t even figure out how to earthbend. In frustration, she just left them all in the living room and locked herself up in the bedroom she shared with Yoona. There she began to cry, feeling angry at Sica for being so brutally honest and feeling angry at herself for her lack of strength and confidence. But she can’t just do nothing. Time will run out if she doesn’t do something…

Driven by her unstable emotions, Taeyeon grabbed the bamboo glider that Yoona made for her and escaped through the window.

          The next day, Yoona knocked at the door of the bedroom she shared with Taeyeon. Taeyeon locked it last night after getting upset over Sica, so Yoona just slept at the living room. Now it was morning and it’s still locked.

“Avatar Eonni can’t still be here,” Yoona thought to herself. “She’ll be late for training with the Queen.”

Finally she yelled, “Yah! Eonni! Wake up; it’s time for training!”

There was no answer. She yelled again, but there was no response. So then she forced her way in by practically wrecking the door with her airbending.

“No one’s here…”

***

Taeyeon flew with her glider and Ginger following her close behind until they were out of the city. By the time she landed on some bushy field outside Ba Sing Se, the sun was already up and she was tired. She only had a few hours of sleep after all. After feeding Ginger some berries and eating some herself, she continued her journey on foot. Later she realized that she doesn’t even know where she was going.

“Sheesh, I can’t possibly fly all the way to the Fire Nation with just a glider…,” Taeyeon complained to herself as Ginger listened. “Sica’s right; I should have thought this through first.” Then she shrugged and stubbornly said, “But I’m not going back to them. If they won’t let me do my Avatar stuff my way, I might as well quit being the Avatar and see how they fare off. But that doesn’t seem like a good idea, right, Ginger? Ugh, maybe I am wrong after all… But still Sica is waaay to overprotective!”

While walking down a rugged, sloped path, Taeyeon heard some loud roars close by. The sound was deep and scary, and it certainly startled her enough to keep her awake like a shot of espresso. Even Ginger quickly huddled closer to her in fear of the loud growling sound. To comfort her feathered friend, she patted Ginger and slowly continued to walk on cautiously. Down the sloped path Taeyeon saw something unusual. There was an old bald man sitting on top of a rock with his eyes closed. He looked like he was sleeping and was not bothered by the loud beastly noise at all. Suddenly out of some shrubs came a huge ferocious beast that looked like a carnivorous moose with bear paws and sharp teeth. The beast was about to pounce and attack the old man.

“Hey, watch out!” Taeyeon yelled as she dropped her bamboo glider ran straight into the scene to stop the beast from harming the old man. Ginger just flew away to a nearby tree, cowering in fear. With one huge blow of fire, the beast’s fur got singed and its terrible temper was turned to Taeyeon. In anger, the beast headed straight for Taeyeon, who was now scared. But she didn’t panic. By her calmness, she was able to evade just in time and create a large fire wall that separated Taeyeon and the old man from the beast. “Go away!” Taeyeon said as she strengthened the power of the barrier of fire to scare the beast away. When the beast was gone, she turned to the old man and found that his eyes were still closed. He didn’t move at all.

“Ugh I don’t know if this is another conspiracy using savage animals, but that sure was close and scary,” Taeyeon said with a sigh. Then she ran to get her glider and Ginger flew back to her shoulder.

When Taeyeon approached the man with closed eyes, he took a deep breath and opened his eyes. Taeyeon continued staring at him. “Uh, hello, sir?”

The old man’s big eyes were wide open and he was now staring right back at her. This kind of creeped Taeyeon out a little.

“Uh, well, sir, a moose lion almost attacked you so… are you okay?” Taeyeon awkwardly asked.

Instead of answering her question he replied with, “I should ask you the same thing. Are you okay?”

“I guess…” Taeyeon answered, feeling even more awkward.

“If that’s so, then what is a young girl like you doing out here in the middle of nowhere? Shouldn’t you have better things to do while you’re young?”

“I honestly want to do something, but I don’t even know what to do anymore. And there’s this weird conspiracy going on that I have to stop… I just want all my problems to be over…”

The old man stared at Taeyeon some more and then he realized exactly who she was. “You are the Avatar, are you not?”

The depressed little thing just replied with an unenthusiastic “yes.”

Suddenly, a strong wind began to blow that slightly shook the shrubs and trees around them. Then the old man exclaimed, “Oh by golly, the Avatar!” Then he slowly descended down from the top of his rock by airbending. Apparently he was an airbender. This startled Taeyeon a bit. When he reached Taeyeon’s level, he continued to ask, “My good friend, do you remember me?”

Taeyeon even squinted her eyes and looked at him oddly. “Uh, I just met you, sir.” Gosh, are airbenders naturally always this strange?

“Oh.” The old man seemed disappointed. “I guess you are a new person after all. And you are very much different from him in many aspects too…”

“What are you talking about?” By this time, Taeyeon was very confused.

“Let me introduce myself,” the old man said as he got up and bowed a full 90 degrees to Taeyeon. “I am Choi Siwon, the longtime friend of Avatar Leeteuk. He used to call me Horse Boy back in the good old days…”

Taeyeon’s jaw dropped. “What? You’re Horse Boy?! Horse Boy is still alive?!”

“I am eighty-eight. Do I look old enough to die to you?”

“Uh, actually you do look quite old…”

A strong wind blew around them once more. “Sheesh, you have just gone back seventy years younger and now you mock me once again after eighteen years… But what are you doing here, my dear Avatar? If training is what you must do, do not procrastinate and wander about!”

Taeyeon just hung her head low and sighed again. “I don’t want to go back to Hyoyeon. Do you even know what it feels like to be there with a bunch of really amazing earthbenders? I can’t even bend a single piece of dirt while everyone’s a freakin’ pro! Of course, Hyoyeon is trying her best to be patient with me and encouraging me with her positivity, but I don’t belong in that training facility. Plus, Sica was being mean to me again…”

          “Avatar, it’s natural that one element would be harder for you to master. It may mean that earth is the complete opposite of your natural character. Earth requires stability and a strong will. You scared away that saber-tooth moose lion flawlessly and stood your ground when you could have just fled. If you keep that attitude, you will be able to earthbend soon. So, dear Avatar quit running from responsibility. Off back to your training, go, go,” the old man said, moving his hand as if shooing away a fly. “And also when your teachers say something, I suggest you listen well and remember them well if you don’t want to make decisions you might later regret.”

“Yeah but about Avatar Leeteuk…” Taeyeon calmed down and looked up respectfully to the monk. “If you’re really his friend, can you tell me more about him? If I leave now, I might not see you again. By the way is it true that Avatar Leeteuk befriended a dragon?”

“Yes, yes, it’s a famous story back in the day of Avatar Teuk taking care of a dragon’s egg… But if there is anything you want to know, you can always asked Teuk himself! He is your past life after all.”

“Yeah, but, I can’t communicate with him for some reason,” Taeyeon dejectedly said. “I don’t know how. I tried everything. He appears in my dreams sometimes, but there’s not much information in those dreams. Sometimes I even forget what they are about.”

Monk Siwon scrutinized her again and said, “You seem to be stopping yourself from communicating with him because you are scared of something. Try for yourself again to communicate with him. Don’t hold yourself back this time.”

The last time she tried to communicate with Avatar Leeteuk was in the North Pole’s Spirit Oasis (Chapter 14). Her efforts were a failure though, because she was distracted by a vision of a dragon. Then she began dreaming about the dragon again too. For some reason, she always feared that dragon because it was huge and scary. Maybe now she shouldn’t fear it and break off her concentration. So then she concentrated well and in a few seconds, she saw Avatar Leeteuk standing before her. Oddly, the dragon did not appear this time.

“Hello Avatar Taeyeon,” Avatar Leeteuk greeted. He looked exactly like he did in the old paintings she saw of him. He was really old, yet his spirit form still had the same charming dimple noted in history books. However, instead of wearing an armor suit like the ones in his paintings, he was wearing a golden silk robe with green embroidered Earth Kingdom leaf designs on it.

“Avatar Leeteuk!”

***

          That morning, the whole villa was turned into chaos. When Yoona went to the Queen’s training grounds, Queen Hyoyeon told her that Taeyeon was not there either. Sica then frantically yelled, “Everyone, look for Taeyeon! Ugh, she can’t have possibly just went off like that!” Seohyun and Yonghwa went to the Lower Ring to look with Seohuyn’s cousin, Sulli. Yoona took off on Yoongsan’s back to took from up in the sky. Yuri informed Junsu and Soo-Young in the Xiah Dragon Noodles to keep a look out.

          “But Eonni, what if she really ran away to the Fire Nation?” Seohyun asked Princess Sica.

          “Don’t think of the worst yet!”

          “Maybe we should just let her be,” Prince Yonghwa suggested. “It’s her job to fix things in the world anyway.”

          “It’s my job to train her well too! I won’t let her do reckless things!”

***

          Taeyeon stood before Avatar Leeteuk and cried, “I think the world is starting to get taken over by a secret society that wants to take over the world governments! What should I do to be the Avatar? I don’t know how to save the world from something this big and it’s happening soon!”

          “In my day, the world was at peace,” Avatar Leeteuk proceeded to explain to her his life. “However, at the very end of my life, I failed to stop someone…”

About 18 years ago…

          Seventy-two year old Avatar Leeteuk, all dressed in golden silk, arrived at the Fire Nation’s Royal Palace for his regular visits to the world’s different kingdoms. As the Avatar, he maintained the peaceful relations with the world leaders and made sure that small scale local problems were resolved before they turn into huge world problems. People who plan evil were examined by him and were judged by him. He was also an incredibly powerful bender as he liked to demonstrate in certain festivals. Because of this, the world was in order.

          “Welcome, Avatar Leeteuk!” greeted the aging Firelord. By this time, the Fire Nation’s ruler was none other than Firelord Sooman, Princess Sunny and Princess Fany’s grandfather. He was years younger than the Avatar and was still quite strong and happy. His nation was enjoying prosperity at this moment. He was free of worries.

          “It’s an honor to be here once again. Seeing your great rule over the Fire Nation makes me proud,” Avatar Leeteuk said with a smile. “It has been many years since I last visited.”

          For dinner, the Firelord held a huge feast. There was plenty of Fire Nation dishes that the Avatar greatly enjoyed. But as much as the Avatar was interested in the food, he was also interested in the men sitting next to the Firelord at the table. One was the first son, Crown Prince Eungsoo, sitting on the left-hand side, while on the right-hand side was the second son, Prince Soon-Jae—the one who actually became the Firelord. The two sons, now in their late-thirties, had always sat by their father’s side. However this time, the sides have changed, it seems. The Crown Prince was supposed to sit at the right-hand side. Why was he sitting at the left-hand side now? It could mean nothing, the Avatar thought and continued with his meal.

          As Taeyeon was in the sidelines watching Avatar Leeteuk’s memory play before her, she noticed something absolutely strange. Crown Prince Eungsoo’s face was more than familiar. She has heard of him from Sunny, but she had never seen him even in paintings. That familiar face not only looked a lot like his brother Soon-Jae, but he also looked very much like her father. But there is no way that he can be my father. If my father was a prince, shouldn’t I have known about it?

          Anyway, as the story progressed, Avatar Leeteuk later had a private meeting with Firelord Sooman in the throne room. The Firelord had something important to tell him.

          “I have decided something very important and I think that as the Avatar who watches over the world, you should hear about it,” Firelord Sooman announced. “I am planning on changing the position of Crown Prince.”

          This was unexpected. “May I ask why?”

          The Firelord hesitated for a bit and then said, “I feel that he is not competent enough for the position.”

          “But I’ve seen Crown Prince Eungsoo before in the past few visits that I’ve made. He seemed to be quite skilled and had great leadership traits even as a young man back then. What happened that made him incompetent?”

          “As Firelord, I would like to say that I want what is best for this nation. My second son Soon-Jae will take his brother’s place soon.”

          Avatar Leeteuk sensed that something was strangely off but he didn’t press on. “If you think that is best, then by all means do so. I am sure you know more about your children than I ever will.”

Days later, Avatar Leeteuk decided to travel to the mountainous area of the Fire Nation to look for his old friend, the dragon, who lived very far from civilization. Before he was able to find his old friend, he sensed that someone had been following him the whole time. It was Crown Prince Eungsoo.

“Your Highness, what brings you here?”

“Sorry to have stalked you all the way here, Great Avatar,” the man light-heartedly greeted. “I’ve always been fascinated by such a man—one who can bend all elements and keep the world from being a wreck!”

The Avatar continued to converse with the prince, pretending that he had not heard from the Firelord about plans of dethronement. As they talked together and rested by the woods, the prince prepared soup for the two of them. Then he slowly led the topic to something unusual:

“The Fire Nation is becoming more and more powerful lately. We are wealthier, stronger, and more advanced than the other nations. As the Avatar who travelled a lot, don’t you agree? I’ve done some travelling myself and I always think of home as nothing like any other place in the world.”

The Avatar silently nodded. “So it seems.”

“Don’t you think it would be a great idea to share these benefits with everyone else? If the Fire Nation would expand its influence everywhere else, don’t you think the world would be a better place?”

The Avatar was perplexed. “Expand its influence?”

Now that the soup was ready, the prince served some on a bowl for the Avatar to try. “Please do try this soup.”

The Avatar, who watched the cooking closely, realized that the soup was safe so he took a sip. It was delicious. “What do you mean by expanding the Fire Nation’s influence?”

“As the Avatar, I know very well that you of all people would want what is beneficial to the whole world. And I know very well that you of all people are the most frustrated when it came to messed up rulers who cannot raise up poverty in their own areas. You’ve seen for yourself the Fire Nation; our country is at its finest because of our great rulers. Don’t you think the rest of the world would be the same if they had better leaders like ours?”

“So what do you propose? Are you trying to say that you would rather have the Fire Nation take over the rest of the world to make it a better place?”

“Now don’t make it sound like a despicable thing. When I become Firelord, I would like to share my prosperity and make the world a better place. With my leadership, the whole world would be a better place!”

“No,” the Avatar refused the prince’s ideals. “I know that you mean well, or that you think you do, but giving the whole world under one man’s control is a very dangerous idea, no matter what benefit you think you will bring. Once all that power is yours, you will soon be seduced by it and you will no longer be thinking of such benefits, but you will be a threat to everyone. I guess I now understand why your father is planning on replacing you soon.”

“He told you about that?”

Now the prince’s expression was turning dark. The more Taeyeon watched him, the more she started to see the resemblance between the prince and her father. Without hesitation, the prince attacked the Avatar and soon they were engaged in a long fierce fight in the woods. Even though the prince was clearly no match to the powerful Avatar, he wouldn’t give up. Before the Avatar was able to completely defeat the Crown prince, a huge dragon suddenly showed up and distracted both of them, especially Avatar Leeteuk. In an instant, the dragon opened up his mouth and devoured the old Avatar.

In shock and confusion, Taeyeon lost her concentration and has woken up back to the real world. Monk Siwon noticed that she was back so he turned his attention to her again.

“What… what the heck just happened?” Taeyeon asked, not understanding what she just saw. “Avatar Leeteuk was eaten by a dragon?!”

Monk Siwon sighed and said, “There were plenty of rumors concerning Teuk’s death, like poisoning by the soup, disappearing into the woods, and what not, but it is true that he was in fact devoured by a dragon.”

“B-but why? I thought the dragon was his friend!”

Then Monk Siwon began to explain, “The dragon who ate him was different. It wasn't our friend. It was the Fire Nation crown prince's dragon and it looked very identical to ours. When I arrived at the scene a little late, Teuk was alreayd dead, then I saw our dragon arrive and kill the crown prince’s dragon. The man then scurried away. Later there was news of the Firelord Sooman’s death and news that the crown prince was responsible and sentenced to death.  After that, no one really ever heard of that crown prince ever again. Some said he died, some said he escaped. Even I don’t know what happened to that man.”

“But Avatar Leeteuk said that he failed to stop him, in other words, Crown Prince Eungsoo is still alive and is still secretly planning the same world domination that he wanted!” Then she continued in her thoughts, Crown Prince Eungsoo’s ideals sounded a lot like the plans that Minhyuk elaborated in the letter: spreading the Fire Nation’s influence in the world… And I think I already know who he might be, but no, he can’t possibly be my dad… But whether he is my dad or not, I am still the Avatar and a Fire Nation Princess, and I cannot run away from this mess that began in my past life. I have to settle this for good.

Taeyeon then stood up from her place on the ground and stomped her foot, leaving a crack on the ground. She didn't notice it, but she was now able to earthbend. I can't let anything stop me this time.

          Later that midnight as she was heading back to Ba Sing Se to tell everyone what just happened to her, she saw some unbelievable news from a discarded newspaper. It read, “King Eunhyuk is Dead.”

          “What?!”

          Suddenly, she felt a huge beast land behind her. When she turned around, she saw a huge red dragon staring right into her eyes with its beastly features. Her heart raced as she remembered the night of the eruption. Now she remembered it clearly like it happened just a moment ago. Like that night, her fascination drew her closer to the creature. Then she said to him, “You’re Avatar Leeteuk’s dragon, aren’t you?”

***

          Somewhere far in the Fire Nation, the secret conspiracy group’s leader brought in two young men into his office for a meeting. The two young men were Jaejoong and Yunho, Taeyeon’s two favorite oppas.

          “I think it’s about time that we all get a promotion,” the leader said in a low rough voice. “We’re attacking the Fire Nation palace soon. Ready yourselves.”

          Jaejoong, who was still in conflict with himself at the thought of his little sister, asked, “Are we really killing all of the royal family, including the princesses?”

          “Why of course we are killing everyone,” the leader answered. “Soon-Jae, that bastard brother of mine, deserved to die from the start! No one should stop me from being the Firelord! And if I got rid of the Avatar once before, I'm sure I can do it again, this time for good!”