Avatar: Fire Emperor Chapter 74 74 Mother of Face, Only One Step Left

Kahn and the two Water Tribe figures on the opposite side remained on guard against one another, but after a long mont of tension, they both realized the other party carried no clear hostility.

Kahn noted that of the two, only the older woman appeared to be a Waterbender, while the man beside her seed to be nothing more than an ordinary Water Tribe civilian.

The man's condition, however, was deeply unsettling.

Not only did he wear a wooden mask that completely hid his face, but his entire deanor was hollow, lifeless, as though sothing essential had been stripped away from him.

While Kahn and the female Waterbender faced off, he did not react in the slightest, standing there blankly like an empty shell.

Although the woman was an unknown Waterbender, Kahn had no reason to fight her.

Seeing that she also showed no signs of aggression, they exchanged glances before both quietly lowering their bending stances, allowing the tension in the air to ease.

Then, the woman took the initiative, her tone calm but open.

"My brother and I ca here seeking the Face Mother's help. We have no intention of fighting anyone. Are you here for the sa reason?"

Face Mother?

Kahn responded in kind.

"I'm not looking for a fight either. Like you said, I did co here seeking the help of a spirit… but I don't know her na. I'm not even sure if it's the one you're talking about."

"I only heard in the nearby town that there's a spirit here who can take away people's suffering."

Their honesty and lack of hostility completely dissolved the earlier tension.

When Kahn spoke, the faint youthfulness in his voice caught the woman off guard, softening her attitude even further.

In this unexpectedly peaceful atmosphere, the two sides quickly ford a tentative rapport, and Kahn began to learn more about them.

The woman introduced herself as Misu, and the man beside her was her younger brother, Rafa.

They had co here in search of the Face Mother, hoping she could cure Rafa's condition.

Misu did not hold anything back, freely sharing what she knew about the spirit.

"The Face Mother is the na people here use," she explained.

"She's said to be an ancient and powerful spirit. The old texts describe her like this—"

"Her presence gives people identity. Her presence gives the world distinction."

"The records say she can grant people new faces. I thought… maybe she could heal my brother too."

Misu glanced at Rafa, who sat silently at her side, her voice steady despite the weight behind it.

Hearing this, Kahn felt his suspicions solidify.

Ursa might truly have been transford by this spirit… and perhaps had already begun a completely new life alongside her forr lover.

If that were true, things would beco far more complicated.

If Ursa truly wished to disappear, they might never find her.

Even as these thoughts churned in his mind, Kahn's attention shifted back to Rafa.

"Forgive ," Kahn said, "but what exactly is wrong with him?"

"To be precise, it's not an illness," Misu replied.

"He was hard by sothing… sothing unknown."

She did not shy away from the subject.

Over the years, she had repeated this explanation countless tis in her search for help.

Misu continued,

"It's as if his face… was stolen."

"Face Stealer?!"

Kahn blurted out before he could stop himself.

Just yesterday, he had been thinking about that very entity from the ancient records.

He never expected to encounter a victim so soon.

"You know what did this to him?!"

For the first ti, Misu's calm expression cracked, urgency flashing in her eyes.

Kahn recounted the story he had read about an Avatar who had crossed paths with a spirit that stole faces.

Misu listened in silence, her expression turning complicated as she whispered,

"So that's what took my brother…"

Even knowing the truth, what could she possibly do?

It was a spirit powerful enough that even the Avatar had failed to defeat it.

Still, the knowledge seed to settle sothing within her.

She thanked Kahn sincerely, which only made him feel slightly awkward.

"It's nothing," he said.

"You shared a lot with too. This helps more than you know."

After that exchange, the distance between them noticeably shrank.

Kahn asked whether she had ever seen Ursa or heard that na before.

Misu shook her head.

She and Rafa had only been here for half a year, and during that ti, they had not encountered anyone else.

Kahn felt a flicker of disappointnt.

He then turned the conversation back to the Face Mother.

If Ursa had truly changed herself through that spirit's power, then the only way to find her would be through the one who had helped her.

Unfortunately, that path led to another dead end.

"The Face Mother doesn't stay in one place," Misu explained.

"There are three lakes in this valley. Each season, she appears at one of them at random, only for a short ti."

"If you're lucky enough to et her, you can make a request."

"But this season…" she paused slightly, "…she's already passed through. We just chose the wrong lake."

"…That's incredibly inconvenient."

Kahn let out a quiet sigh, unsure whether he was speaking for Misu and her brother… or for himself.

For now, his search for Ursa had co to a halt.

Still, even without finding her, he had gained a great deal.

Perhaps he had already taken a step closer to the truth.

As long as he could find the Face Mother, everything might finally be revealed.

But Kahn didn't have the luxury of waiting until the next season.

After accepting Misu's invitation, he shared a al with them, a simple dinner prepared in the style of the Water Tribe.

Once it was over, he prepared to leave without delay.

The original plan had been to complete the entire mission within ten days.

Now, that tiline had already been exceeded.

During the al, Kahn took the chance to ask Misu about Waterbending.

He was especially intrigued by her ability to manipulate plant life, sothing he had never encountered before.

Just like his own heat manipulation branching from firebending, and the elusive lightning technique he still couldn't grasp, bending clearly held far more depth than it appeared on the surface.

Still, there was no ti to study it properly now.

He committed what he could to mory, intending to examine it later.

On the return journey, experience made all the difference.

Having already traveled the path once, the trip back was far smoother.

By pushing himself, he made it back to the capital in five days—one day faster than his journey out.

Including the ti spent investigating, the entire mission lasted twelve days.

Two days longer than planned.

So when he finally stood before Azula again, he was greeted not with relief, but with biting sarcasm.

"Oh? If it isn't Kahn."

"I was starting to think you'd collapsed in so ditch sowhere… or maybe you just experience ti differently from the rest of us."

Kahn didn't argue.

Instead, he cut her off with a single sentence.

"There's a new lead on Ursa."