The companions split up: Moshi and Shizaku with Joji to Shujing to set up trade with Fire Iron Technologies, Toji and Layi with Bozan to the Misty Library to investigate the Air Nomad reliquary and specifically the journals of the guru Tribhuvan, and Dharma stays behind at camp to avoid the Fire Nation and (may)be an anchor for the community.
Dharma's Day: Deciding he's better off avoiding helping either thread of investigation, Dharma contemplates his own survival.While checking up on the camp, he's visited by Wu Hana. She laments that she was brought back from Makapu to "fight the good fight," but in her older age knows she alone can't tackle thr growing threat of Sozin (and Azulon's) ambitions. She regales Dharma with the tale of a mighty Earthbender, rumored to be at the end of a dangerous trip south. An ancient bender named Zato, the Unyielding.
Dharma decides a field trip with surprises might be more fun and plans with Wu Hana to go find Zato.
FIT Dealings: Aboard Gyara's ship, Moshi and Shizaku are stopped by a Fire Nation patrol. Led by Commander Kazu, it claims to search the ship and prevent issues entering the islands. Shizaku steps in as a business and, with help from Moshi, pursuades them to back down on a Fire Nation citizen and business owner. Kazu is wary and mentions he'll keep an eye on the suspect ship.
Meeting with Nue at Fire Iron Technologies, negotiations ensue about how to expand Fire Iron Tech into Shimoni Dhato's resistance without compromising the company. The final plan is to have FIT move their ships only into the Mo Ce sea instead of the guarded ports, and have Gyara pick up the contraband/supplies and move them in a more secretive fashion to the camp's mountain dock. For this, Gyara requests 20% of the profits made, and Shizaku mentions they could outfit her ship with one of his engines. This causes Nue to squrim, and he takes his boss for a more secretive and furtive meeting: they don't have the designs or models of his original engines - those were taken by the military when they started increasing their postures and attacks, when Shizaku began speaking out and was imprisoned months ago. Shizaku thinks he can rebuild the (or a) design from memory but it may take some time and effort.
Moshi and Gyara, in the meantime, meet and Moshi asks Gyara what she knows of the Fire Nation taking and hiding artifacts and historical objects from the conquered Earth Kingdom. Gyara mentions that there is a Fire Nation fort south of the Great Divide, nicknamed the "Treasure Hole" by people in her line of work. She knows the Fire Nation has amassed some of its spoils of war there.
Take a Look; It's in a Book: Met by Panha, the Guardian of the Library, Toji and crew are brought to meet with Jyoti. The Airbender is happy to meet his former comrade, but now hesitant as more people are brought into the fold. Toji talks him out of his hesitance over Bozan, and they go to look through the journals with renewed eyes. Layi, meanwhile, goes to find information on Taku to see if there's information (such as old tunnels/maps, etc) that can be used to push back against Okuru's oncoming assault. While investigating, she seeks guidance from Panha, who helps clear her troubled mind about her shortcomings in Taku's defense.
Toji begins copying information from Tribhuvan's journals as he, Bozan, and Jyoti go through more meticulously. Bozan mentions that killing the dragon on Mount Makapu earned a young Captain Yama his promotion to General,, but also changed him. The spirit of the dragon mentioned how it and Yama had been locked in a stasis, splintering part of the material realm. Toji finds info on the World Beyond the Clouds, an Air Nomad tale of a realm that Tribhuvan claimed linked the traditional Spirit World and the Four Nations.
When Bozan and Jyoti retire for sleep, Toji's restless work continues alone. At one point, he touches the reliquary, and is seemingly transported into a memory: a moment of a younger Jyoti carrying the box, escaping the Fire Nation. The Library around him disappears.
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