The old, singed forest gloomily rose before Zuko as he walked along a dirt road in an obscure, evacuated Earth Kingdom village. Beside him was his uncle, who was taking him off the warship for some "firebending training," the nature of which he had not disclosed. As they slowly walked along, the only sound to be heard was the padding of their feet on the gravel. It was a lonely place. They stopped at a small clearing toward the center of the burned trees.

Zuko broke the silence. "Now that we're here, can you tell me what we're doing?"

"It is time that you learned to put out a fire."

"WHAT?" Zuko shrieked. "I thought you were going to teach me something I haven't done before! I need to learn something that will help me in combat, help me capture the Avatar. Why practice putting out a fire?"

"It is something every firebender must master if he wishes to be truly excellent," Iroh remarked in his calm, wise way. "I have found this skill essential to protect things and people. I had a feeling this was not a main focus in your childhood training, so I brought you to practice here, where any damage will make little difference."

"Alright, then. When do we start?"

Iroh made no reply, but set the charred trees on fire. The dry wood cracked, and soon it was blazing strongly, and spreading. "You must not let it reach the green grass," he said, pointing to the edge of the wood, about 75 yards away. "Act quickly."

As Zuko began, he continued coaching: "You must be calm. Inhale and draw the fire from the wood. Fire is a stubborn element. Be firm." The prince made a grasping motion with his hands and pulled his arms backwards, as if pulling an imaginary ball on a rope. Some of the blaze was drawn out into the air, where with no fuel, it dissipated.

But the forest fire was very strong now, and the young prince was not accustomed to removing fires of this size. He put more effort into it. He began to feel angry at the assignment, angry at the flames that kept licking closer and closer to the green boundary. But as he strained, the fire only seemed to get bigger. "I could use a little help here, Uncle!" he shouted, teeth clenched.

Iroh simply said, "Be calm, Prince Zuko. Anger is an emotion of heat; it will make the fire grow."

"I AM CALM!"

The flames licked one blade of grass, then another. As soon as he saw this happening, Iroh took over. The tendons in his fingers and arms were visible as he made a pulling motion, as if drawing the fire out, as he inhaled deeply and calmly. The huge blaze was gone just as rapidly as it had spread. Prince Zuko put out the last few smoldering twigs and branches, and the fire was gone without a trace that it had ever existed.

Zuko's words fell like stones. "I'm sorry, Uncle. I failed."

"Zuko, you did not fail. I set this test up to be too hard for you on purpose," he said with a stoic, expressionless face.

"You WHAT?"

"You needed to learn the importance of caution when firebending. You can lose control if you don't act wisely, or do unwanted damage. Why, I used to get your grandmother so angry when I would singe her roses." He laughed at the memory, belly slightly shaking.

"I guess I'll practice more often then, Uncle."

"That's the spirit. You know, they should teach more of this to young firebending pupils. It would make for less wear-and tear on the facilities," he jovially remarked. "I'm thinking of a motto to promote being careful. 'If you don't want to hurt yourself, use caution.' …No. 'Go ahead. Be stupid and burn the woods down.'… No. How about this one: 'Only you can prevent wildfires.' "

"It'll never catch on."