The fire blazed softly warming the small cabin. A young girl leaned back sipping her hot chocolate. Her mind was just starting to wander when a loud rapping noise pulled her attention to the front door. Sighing in aggravation she pulled the door open to three people; two young boys and a girl.
"What do you want?" The shortest of the group glanced around nervously. He was bald and had strange markings covering his body. By the looks of it the boy was a monk.
"Uh we're looking for the fire bending master. Master Yuri."
"What is your business that requires you to see Master Yuri?" Again the boy glanced around nervously. She was starting to piece together who the strange boy was when he answered.
"I need to learn fire bending."
"Master Yuri has no interest in teaching the avatar." This time it was the girl who answered. Her blue dress ruffled in the wind as she stepped forward.
"We have it on good faith that he would help us." Yelling floated through the air and the girl quickly pulled the group into her cabin. Peering through the window she squinted her eyes trying to see.
"Were you followed?"
"It must be Prince Zuko!" Grabbing a cloak, she ushered the group through the back door.
"We need to leave."
"But I need to speak to Master Yuri!" The Avatar tried pushing his way back into the cabin, but she wouldn't let him through.
"Go! They'll catch you." There was a knock at the front and they could hear Prince Zuko yelling. Pushing the Avatar again, the girl pulled her cloak on covering her long red hair and face from sight. "Call for your Bison!"
The Avatar stared at her for a moment before doing as told. Taking one last look at her home, the girl shot a stream of fire setting the cabin ablaze. Seconds later Prince Zuko and his uncle rounded the back.
"Hand over the Avatar and you won't be arrested for treason!" Ignoring his demand, she raised her hands causing a circle to engulf the Prince and his uncle. The wall dropped just in time for them to see the Avatar escaping on his flying Bison.
"Who are you?" Turing toward the three the girl pulled her hood back down.
"My birth name is Yurina, but most people call me Yuri." The Avatar and the other boy stared at her in shock with their mouths open. It was the girl, who she'd come to assume was from the Water tribe, who spoke next.
"You're Master Yuri then."
"I am."
"Then why are you refusing to help Aang?"
"I may hate the Fire Nation but I didn't have any plans to publicly slap the Fire Lord in the face. It seems I don't have a choice now since I just attacked the Prince." The Avatar, Aang, started to jump excitedly.
"so you'll help me?"
"It would seem so."
The group flew for nearly three days not stopping until they were on the edge of the Fire Nation and Earth Kingdom. Sokka, the other boy who was also from the Water Tribe packed a few items and headed for town with his sister Katara to stock up on supplies before heading deeper in the Earth Kingdom. Yuri was sitting calmly on the ground quietly watching Aang fly around on his air ball.
"I cant wait to learn fire bending! Learning to water bend was super easy and I think I'll learn fire bending really quick. There was this trick I wanted to try. It was really really…"
When Yuri hadn't responded to any of his comments, Aang stopped talking and turn to her. She had closed her eyes and started meditating. Sitting in front of her, Aang imitated Yuri's actions. After several minutes of silence Yuri started to speak softly.
"The art of fire bending takes control. If you do not have control of yourself, you will not have control of the fire. Fire bending is the most dangerous of bending abilities. Air, water, and earth will not bend without a bender, but fire, when left to it's own devices will run wild and destroy everything in it's path."
Yuri pulled herself to her feet and silently circled around Aang. She observed his posture and breathing. Right when Yuri was about to speak again, a loud snore erupted from the young Avatar.
"Are you sleeping?" Aang jumped to his feet with a startled look on his face.
"It was only for a second, I swear."
"I can't believe I agreed to betray my people to teach someone who doesn't even care! If you want to defeat the Fire Lord, you need to learn this Aang!" Yuri stormed away from Aang passing Katara and Sokka, who had just returned. Glancing at each other, Sokka turned to follow Yuri while Katara spoke with Aang.
It didn't take Sokka long to find Yuri. She had set herself on top of a large boulder and she was meditating.
"Yuri come down. Aang didn't upset you on purpose."
"He's not taking this serious."
"He's just a child. Aang hasn't seen the effects of this war as we have." Taking a deep breath, Yuri went back to meditating. She waited until Sokka had walked away before sliding off of the boulder.
When Yuri made it back to camp, Sokka and Katara were cooking dinner while Aang sat on Appa. When he saw her walk into the fire light, Aang jumped down.
"Yuri I'm so sorry. I should have listened better."
"It's fine. I need to remember that you're only twelve. You'll just need to try harder Aang. Do you want to try again?" They set themselves away from the other two and went back to meditating. After twenty minutes Yuri motioned for Aang to stand up.
"Alright Aang, we're going to work with fire now."
"What are we going to do! Make a wall of fire? Play catch with the fire? I want to try that trick I told you about before."
"I'm going to give you a small ball of fire and you need to control it. Keep it small and smoldering in your hand. Concentrate on controlling the fire Aang." A ball of fire appeared in Yuri's hand. She reached forward and softly dropped the ball onto Aang's outstretched hand.
"When I come back Aang, I want that ball to be the same size." Walking back over to the fire, Yuri found the siblings sitting around it. Katara turned at the sound of her footsteps.
"How's he doing?"
"Just fine. He's taking it serious this time. Is dinner almost ready? I'm going to wash up."
"It'll be done when you get back." Yuri hummed softly to herself as she walked to the river. She was just bending down to wash her hands when something in the distance caught her attention. Black smoke covered the sky soon followed by a small fire bending ship.
"Zuko." Yuri continued to stare at the ship until a scream interrupted her thoughts. Running back to camp, Yuri found Sokka yelling at Aang and Katara was kneeling on the ground holding her hands.
"What happened?"
"He was showing off and he burned my sister!" Jumping to her feet Katara ran towards the river as tears ran down her face.
"Katara come back! We have to go, Prince Zuko is coming. I saw his ship when I was washing up." The three ran after Katara in hopes they would beat the Prince to the river. Yuri pulled her hood up concealing her identity just as the river came into view. Katara had backed up into the trees when she saw Prince Zuko and his uncle walking onto land.
"They say he'll be looking for a Earth Bending Master next. We will check this area out, it's the first bit of Earth Kingdom land." Sokka motioned for his sister to quietly step towards them but after taking one step, she'd snapped a twig.
"Come out Avatar!"
"Get to Appa, I'll meet you there." Aang opened his mouth to argue but was silenced by a wave of Yuri's hand. "Just go."
Stepping from the shadows, Yuri pulled the attention of the two fire benders to her while the others ran for Appa.
"Where is he!" Smirking underneath her hood, Yuri stayed silent only shrugging her shoulders. "Don't lie to me! You're the one who helped the Avatar escape and you're betraying your nation by teaching him to fire bend!"
The Prince shot a streak of fire toward her but Yuri only calmly stepped to the side. Again he shot fire at her and again Yuri stepped away allowing the blaze to fly past her. They continued this game until the Prince's uncle set his hand on his nephew's shoulder.
"He's trying to tire you out Prince Zuko. Don't you see, he's playing with you while the Avatar escapes."
Glancing to the side Yuri could see Appa hiding among the trees. Using the distraction of the Prince's uncle to her advantage, Yuri raised her arms causing a wall of fire to separate her from the two fire benders.
Running to the flying Bison, she chanced a glance back to see the Prince running after her through the wall of fire. Jumping on Appa's tail Yuri started to climb quickly as Aang ushered the Bison into the air. A yell from below indicated that Prince Zuko had not moved quick enough and they'd gotten away. Sighing with relief, Yuri pulled her hood down and turned toward Katara.
"How're your hands?"
"They're fine. Completely healed. The perks of water bending." Yuri examined Katara's hands with mild curiosity.
"I'm really really sorry. I shouldn't have been showing off like that. I wasn't ready to yield fire like that. I'm sorry for hurting you Katara and I'm sorry for disrespecting you Yuri." Yuri stared at the young boy for several minutes before speaking.
"You've learned a valuable lesson tonight Aang. Fire is unpredictable and must not only be controlled but respected. I expect you to remember that next time."
"There won't be a next time. I'm never going to fire bend again." Aang turned back to steering Appa. Katara placed her hand on his shoulder.
"You have to Aang. The Avatar has to learn all the elements." When he didn't respond, Katara turned to Yuri with a pleading look.
"Explain to him that he has to learn fire bending."
"He does, but he's not ready. There will come a time when Aang will learn to fire bend, but until that time comes he must focus on Earth bending. He won't benefit from us nagging him. I'll be here when he's ready."