Ok, here is my next chapter, but you got to read this one all the way through. There are alot of little details that'll make the ending important, but you have to, have to read it all the way through. You can't scan this one over and skipread the ending. This one is all in the details.

Book 1, Chapter 7: "Desire and Hate"

"Some say the world will end in Fire,

Some say in Ice.

From what I've tasted of Desire

I hold with those who favor Fire.

But if it were to perish twice,

I think I know enough of Hate

To say that for destruction Ice

Is also great

And would suffice."

-Robert Frost, "Fire and Ice"

Part 1:

"What's with Tyrol?" asked a young woman to a fighter pilot.

The young pilot turned his head and looked across the barracks at the gray officer, grudgingly.

"Kami, I'm afraid your fiancé saw a soldier killed today. Zhe was his name, I think. Sucked right up into an air vent," The grim pilot made a thrusting motion with his thumb. "By the Avatar."

"The Avatar." That word. That word hung in the air. Kami shuddered at the thought of that word. "The Avatar" was a word that was rarely spoken, as if the mere mentioning of the word would bring about a plague. It had become a cursed word in recent days.

"I think you should talk to him," the pilot broke the silence. "I think it would help if you talked to him after he finishes his watch."

Kami nodded, smiled, and left the barracks.

Part 2:

Tyrol walked his old route towards the colony's command center. Past the galley where the cooks sautéed masterpieces while the slaves rushed through the kitchen with still sizzling delights into the mess hall next door. Ah. The mess hall. Many a good day was spent there. Tyrol gazed in as he past. He saw that today's special was chili, with imported spices all the way from the Gaoling System. A smile crawled onto Tyrol's face.

After I get through my watch, the officer thought, I might just stop by there and stuff my face silly with food. Chat with the guards. Have a beer with the pilots.

It was good to make plans. That was a lesson he learned in Ba Sing Se. He was just a lieutenant when General Iroh launch his siege over the city. My Gods... What a siege. You had to make plans in war. You had to tell yourself that you will make it home. You had to visit your ailing mother before she died. You had to mourn over your father's grave. You had to see your future wife's calm face. You had to do something. You had to find some reason to live; to go on.

Tyrol's was Kami. She was all he had left. His mother was an empty shell, her brain and body ravaged by disease. His father passed into the Spirit World long ago. Kami, and the future they had together, was all Tyrol had left.

He heard a whistle.

He turned around and saw nothing.

He was near the slave quarters; perhaps one of those water tribesmen was playing a joke on him. If so, someone was going to get whipped for it. Not necessarily the guilty party, but someone was.

Suddenly a sharp, cold motion filled his lower abdomen. It was quickly replaced with a searing, warm flow that pooled in his stomach.

Tyrol turned only to be struck again with the same sharp, cold motion. He fell to his knees, unable to feel his legs.

Now he could see his attacker. She had the most beautiful blue eyes he had ever seen.

End of chapter.

Guess who got him? No really, guess. And this is not the begining of a fanfiction ship. I hate shipping with original characters. Too artifical.

This guy and Sokka might get their own fanfictions when I'm done with Book 1. Tyrol's will be one that'll be set in the past, Sokka's in the present(-ish). Both (especial the Sokka one) will shock you.

Only a few chapters to go!

-Mikiel