"I almost forgot how precocious I was. I think I'll stay in Milliways for longer, this time... Oh, I wonder if Har is sufficiently my home, now, for me to get a door back to it? Worth testing, you think, Valanda?"

"Let's find out! Want me ready to kill anyone if it turns out it's the place you came from?"

"Your reaction time is longer than slamming the door."

He walks up to the door and - opens it onto an unfamiliar, run-down, rainy city street. "New York. Amazing place, really. I don't miss it."

He shuts the door and takes a deep breath... And opens it onto the Ira Sani wilderness outside his workshop.

"Huh. I have to think a certain way, but apparently half a year's residence and owning things there is enough. I don't have to stick to you or wander the halls of Milliways eternally, then, I can just go home when I'm good and ready. Convenient."

"Good. I would miss you if you were stuck in Milliways forever. What're you planning to do here this trip?"

"Spend some time away from depressing amoral people and being surrounded by high-power magic. I'm not going home, don't get me wrong, but Har gets old eventually. Also, books."

Someone familiar walks in from the backyard. A waterbender.

"Hey, Valanda! And his creepy, uh, his friend! Remember me, Varrin?"

"Varrin! How've you been?"

"Almost all the statues you did for me have sold. I'm kinda rich! It's a strange feeling! I wonder if Milliways put us together again so I can get richer?"

(Nik goes over to Bar, smiling slightly)

"I can ward more statues if you want me to!  I don't have a use for more but now you're rich you can pay in cash."

"I was thinking about buying stuff for my clan and heading back soon. Probably worth it to do a few more. Make a few more of the kinds that sold best, which was mostly animals and people, and sell them off while I shop for home. Can't thank you enough for the suggestion, by the way! Even though I'll probably make some silly choices in what to bring back, it's a heck of a lot better than bringing back nothing at all."

"Of course! I hope your people survive and conquer the Fire Nation."

"Yeah! I hope you don't have any wars! They're not fun!"

"We're avoiding them okay so far. Let me know if you want anything warded before you go, okay?"

"Definitely. I'll pay, of course. I know I want some harpoons and battle-robes and stuff. Robes are hard to customize when they're invulnerable, though, so maybe just 'fireproof' on those."

"Depending on how you customize them, if you alter the robes too much the spell might break. Now that I know you're planning to, I can do the spell a harder and more expensive way that will be a little more resistant but even then I can't guarantee that if you cut things up they'll keep their enchantments."

"I was gonna make it so there's different ways you can button it up. Bet Bar can make battle robes like that for me, she can apparently do anything. Dodges the problem nicely."

"Bar's pretty great that way! How long've you been here, subjectively, by the way?"

"Four days. Has it been longer for you?"

"Wow. Yeah. I left months ago, I found a door and came back, I left again without seeing you, you must've been asleep the whole time or something. And now here I am and it's been four days for you! I thought for sure you'd gone."

"Time running funny reminds me of scary stories about the Spirit World. They say you can wander for weeks and step out the same minute you went in. Or have a five-minute conversation with a spirit and turns out it's been a century. At least it's apparently being helpful to me?"

"Those sound a lot less... friendly... than the way time falls out of sync here. So far as I've seen, anyway."

"Spirits aren't friendly. A lot of 'em kind of hate humans. We muck everything up, apparently."

"Any way I could help with that?"

"That's the Avatar's job. Except nobody's seen him for decades. The current Avatar's supposed to be an Air Nomad, but the Fire Nation killed all the Air Nomads years ago. If they killed the Avatar, there would be a water Avatar by now, but there's not... I don't suppose one of your kinds of mages can answer the question 'where is the Avatar?'"

"There is. Hey! Dareni! Someone might have a job for you!"

It takes her while to tear herself away from her research and come ask Varrin what he wants to know.