Sifu Something or Rather

It was about two weeks after they had gone undercover in the Fire Nation. Aang spent all his time worrying about Appa and Momo, who had been successfully dropped off and hidden among the chaos of Hakoda and Bato's camp, and Katara spent her time trying to coax Aang into finally venturing out of the slums to try and find a beginner's fire bending class. This left Sokka to deal with the impossible task that is Toph, making sure she kept her shoes on and acted blind. And no, Toph, bad. The Fire Nation is a very good example of a place not to break rules.

The problem was, no matter how they dressed or what way the cut their hair, Sokka and Katara couldn't help that they had the tan skin and piercing blue eyes of the Water Tribe, and Toph couldn't help that she fit the description of "that blind Earth Kingdom girl who traveled with the Avatar" and Aang couldn't help the fact that the wind would sometimes toy with his bangs, causing the very tip of an arrow to show up, or that he would get unbearably hot in the high collared shirts that hid the tattoo on the back of his neck.

But no one would really take notice of Toph, for her eyes were to be covered up with a cloth every time she was to leave the shack, and as for Aang, a lot of people wore high-collared shirts in the Fire Nation, and Katara and Sokka did a wonderful job in playing the part of servants from the Water Tribe. It was only all of these things put together, and people began to speculate the similarities, and grow suspicious. Therefore, the safest route for the four was to stay inside the tiny shack, and if they must leave, only two go at a time, and Sokka and Katara must always be in the presence of their "masters".

Of course, if there was any need for someone to go out, it would usually be Sokka and Toph, seeing as how Aang was a monk, and the one time he and Katara went to the market he almost blew their cover by nearly bending some dude into next week for making some snide remark about Katara and the Water Tribe and giving her a good shove in the back, and now Sokka won't let him go out anymore ("That's it Aang, you could've had us all killed, I'm sentencing you to house arrest.")

So it must have been a coincidence or fate that a willowy woman knocked on their door that day, telling them of how she went door to door and taught one-on-one fire bending lessons to anyone who needed them. And although it sounded suspicious, Aang told everyone he had good vibes about this lady, and they should give her a chance, and since it was nice to see Aang being optimistic again, they all agreed, though Sokka was going to put Toph in Katara's care for a while and keep a close eye on these lessons, and Katara still suspected this all had something to do with Aang not wanting to go out into the Fire Nation (he had said something about not wanting to see how the war affected the enemy).

Aang was glad to find that this new teacher (Sifu…something or rather) skipped all the breathing exercises and went straight to teaching him how to control the fire, and when Sokka asked why, she replied with "Because he already learned that."

On the second day she shows up when the sun has reached its highest point in the sky, and teaches Aang a new move. Although he has been going under a fake name, she accidentally calls him Aang, and his eyes go wide, and she throws her hands up and begs for a chance to explain. Sokka allows this, not because he trusts the woman, but because he doesn't trust her and he needs to know if she's a spy, and if so, if there are there more.

They call for Katara and Toph while the woman tells them her story:

The room was silent. When Toph and Katara heard Sokka call they had rushed in from the kitchen, and Toph, knowing that the cat-weasel was out of the bag, had immediately pulled the cloth off her head of kicked off her shoes, while Katara rushed to Aang's side, as if he had been burned rather than called by name.

Now they sat, all facing this fire bending teacher, who faced the floor. Sokka had this amazingly fuelled death-glare, as if he had known this woman was trouble all along, and he was just waiting for her to admit it, while Toph stared blankly at a wall directly over said woman's shoulder, face completely void of emotion, and momentarily wondering if she had ran away from her home and took this whole adventure just to end with a noose around her neck. If Toph looked calm, then Katara was just the opposite, feeling as though she was about to throw-up, and clutching Aang's hand to the point where she knew it hurt, but it didn't matter, because he was already numb and drowning in a sea of guilt.

"I have always known my place in this war" Looking up from the floor, the woman was the first to speak. "When I was just a child, it came to me in a dream. I was told I would have to abandon my family and life to live in the slums of this city, and teach the Avatar Firebending."

Katara's hand relaxed its grip, and Sokka slowly uncurled his fingers from his boomerang.

"I know all of you, but I believe it is time you learn my name. I am Ursa, the former Fire Lady of this wretched Nation."

Katara gasped. "You mean, you're the mother of Zuko and Azula?"

At this Ursa looked up, eyes containing a startling amount of desperation. "You know my children?"

Another silence engulfed them, this one worse than the first.

Note: Yay! I have finally gotten the chance to write out my brother's theory that Ura will be the one to teach Aang fire bending!

Let's play a game! If you review (please do) you can give me a request for a one-shot, then i will pick one out of all of the choices and dedicate it to that lucky winner!