Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: the Last Airbender, Nickolodeon, or any thing having to do with them, including transcripts. I just write cause its fun

Chapter 3

Zhao

I got up early in the morning to go see Jeong Jeong, but when I got there, I saw that Aang had already gone in. I sat down in front of the hut and waited. It was a while before Aang came out, by which time both Katara and Sokka had gotten up and came over to the water. Sokka started fishing and Katara started waterbending. When Aang finally did come out, it was with Jeong Jeong, who said,

"I will train Aang, but only in the basics of firebending." I stood up, and Aang got on the rock I was on previously. He started "concentrating" on the warmth of the sun while squatting. Sokka and Katara started giggling but abruptly stopped when Aang looked over at them.

I meanwhile, went over to another clearing and started practicing firebending. After a while of practice, I saw out of the corner of my eye that Katara had wandered over and started watching me, but had stayed in the shadows of the trees. As I noticed this, I became very sloppy, and almost set another tree on fire,

"Sorry, I didn't mean to distract you," she said, coming over and looking genuinely sorry.

"No, it's alright. I was finished anyway." I replied, sitting down on a rock. It was a lie, but it wouldn't matter.

"You looked pretty good, you know, doing that." She said as she looked at the singed tree, and sitting down next to me. I don't know why, but something about her being that near to me made me feel uncomfortable, yet elated.

"Well, that's not really why I'm here. I wanted to talk to you about you're metalbending, and how you got it." I was somewhat taken aback at how forward she was being, but my answer was calm.

"I already told you, things in my past made me like this."

"I know, I didn't mean to pry. It's just, if you are going to go with us to the North Pole, then I should at least know a little about you." Everything in this conversation so far had only served to confuse me so I asked the obvious question,

"How did you-"but I was cut-off by her reply.

"Jeong Jeong told me, he said to talk to you about it though."

"Well, I now know that you must know if you are to accept me." I took a deep breath before proceeding. I had never talked about it before to anyone, not even to the DWs,

"I've never told anyone what really happened back then, because it so painful, but I sense you will understand.

My mother died because of me, because I could not defend her. I swore I would do whatever it took to bring justice to the men who killed her."

"My mother was taken from me by the Fire Nation; I know what you're going through." I was almost pried out of myself, hearing the similarities echoing in the tone of her voice and my story.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know," was all I managed.

"No, this is your story; I think I should hear it." I looked up at her. She was looking at me in a way I had never seen anyone look at me before, but then I realized. In all of the years I had gone around to save the worlds of thousands of millions of different creatures, no one had ever looked at me with pity and understanding. They had looked up to me as a figure of mystery, never knowing what lay underneath. But I continued,

"Well, in my desperation I turned to my Father. He was a high-ranking Fire Nation general, but somehow he always had time to teach me firebending. I admit, his techniques were not encouraging, but I didn't suspect-. He thought he had gotten away with it, that I'd never find out."

"Find out who killed your mother."

"Yes. Nevertheless, eventually I found out who it was… He did it; my own father killed my mother." Katara gasped and put her hand to her mouth.

"What?!" she exclaimed, but I hardly registered her actions, too absorbed in my memories.

"When I found out, I challenged him to an agne kai. He immediately accepted, knowing he would win. He took me to a cave made completely of metal for the duel." My left arm had started to burn, but I hardly noticed.

"What happened?" Katara asked, almost as immersed in my past as I was.

"It was over within minutes, but he did not kill me. He stood over me and said 'you are the son of a Fire Nation general, I expected better.' Then he left me there to die." my voice was in a monotone, at complete contrast to my burning body.

"How did you survive?" she said, but by now her voice was hardly a whisper.

"I fell unconscious and for some time, I slept. When I awoke I found myself in the middle of a burning village with no memories of moving or with any idea how long I was unconscious. I later learned that I had destroyed that village, because of this." I held out my left arm, which was covered in a glove and by my sleeve. Without saying anything Katara reached over and pulled off the glove. She gasped again as she saw the gleaming metal arm.

"This is my curse; it gives me the ability to metalbend. It is the solution to your question and the question of my life." I felt something break as I lost control, and I stood up. I was not the one who punched the tree next to me, I wasn't the one who saw splinters flying through the air and the crack that ran up the tree, threatening to topple it. No it wasn't me, it was the metal, which in that instant had gained control and caused my left hand to do it. I told none of this to Katara, I merely said,

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to lose control like that. You must understand that my past was difficult for me, and I've never talked about it with anyone else before." I looked over at her face. There was a tender expression on it, one of a concerned parent, like I had just given a sincere apology for breaking a vase.

"I know how you feel; it's okay to feel confused or sad. I think you would be a perfect addition to our group by the way." I don't know why, but I obeyed her outstretched hand as she led me back to the camp. When we got there, I took my hand back, and noticed at the same time that Aang was apparently still on the rock, while Jeong Jeong was just coming out of his hut.

"I'm going to take a walk," I said to Katara. I don't know why I told her this, but she acknowledged me and I still left. As I walked, I thought. I thought about what I had just said to an almost complete stranger.

Sir?

"Yes, Cipher?" I said, hardly jumping at the sudden sound of his voice.

Was that true? What you said to that girl?

"Cipher, have you ever known me to lie?" there was silence in my head as Cipher, being who he was, was actually checking whether I had ever lied.

Well no sir, I guess not. Nevertheless, it was, touching and sad to hear. Again I knew that Cipher meant this, because it was usually very difficult for his species to exhibit human emotions.

"Thank you Cipher," what he said made me feel better, because I now knew that what I said did not sound like emotionless drabble, something I normally would have heard come from a shell-shocked victim of war. Just then I heard a distant scream in the direction of the camp. I turned and started running back towards the camp asking,

"Cipher, what was that? Is the camp being attacked?"

Um, not exactly sir. The boy Aang has accidentally burned the water tribe girl while firebending. It was odd, because even though I lost the tension of preparation for a battle, I ran still faster. When I got to the camp, I saw that Sokka had tackled Aang and was screaming at him for burning his sister. I also saw Jeong Jeong heading out towards the two; he saw me and pointed towards the clearing Katara and I had been earlier. I headed towards it as I heard Sokka yell at Jeong Jeong that it was his fault.

When I got to the clearing, I saw Katara sitting near the edge of the water. She was crying and had her hands held underneath her arms. As I watched, she placed her burnt hands in the water, and when she took them out they weren't burned anymore.

She has healing powers! Cipher suddenly exclaimed in my head. I repeated the words without really thinking, and Katara turned.

"What do you want?" I heard poison in her voice.

"I heard what happened, but what you did just then; it's not very common for waterbenders to have that ability." I paused for a second before continuing,

"Sometimes I wish I had abilities like yours, instead of my curses and burdens. We firebenders have powers only meant for destruction. We are forced to walk a razor's edge, between humanity and savagery. I now regret telling Jeong Jeong to train Aang."

"You told him to train Aang?" she had gone from icy to accusing, and I had a feeling I'd rather hear the icy side.

"I only told him to consider Aang as a student, the choice to train Aang was completely his own. Wait," I held up my hand before Katara could respond.

"I heard something," I heard a noise that sounded like wind moving through the trees, but it was getting louder. I looked up, and as I did I saw three fireballs falling towards us. Without thinking, I pulled Katara out of the way and under a tree, as the fireballs destroyed the area where we had just been. I saw Jeong Jeong come out from under the trees. He yelled at us,

"Go! Do not come back here, or you will be destroyed!" I started to head towards him, intent on protecting him from the mysterious boats coming out of the mist.

"Go with the girl! Make sure they are safe." I hesitated but then I nodded and went off through the woods after Katara. When I reached the camp, I saw that Sokka was still there, although Aang was not.

"Where's Aang?" Katara asked.

"He's in the hut, but he isn't talking. Are you alright?" Sokka asked in turn.

"I'm fine, Galon's coming with us, now." Katara said as she ran towards Jeong Jeong's hut.

"You're, coming. With us?" Sokka said, rather flustered.

"Um, yeah, I guess. That's what Katara said. We need to hurry though, we're under attack." I responded, not knowing what Sokka's reaction would be to this new predicament.

"But you're from the Fire Nation." Sokka said, still incredulous about that fact.

"Yes, I am. But I've proven myself to your sister, shouldn't that be good enough?" I thought I heard Sokka mutter a small "no" under his breath, but then he said,

"Well, I'll get Appa. You need to get your stuff."

I was already looking forward to getting away from this place, but also apprehensive about going to a nation of waterbenders. Before I could get my head exactly around my nervousness Sokka interrupted,

"I think it must be Zhao, he's been following us for a while now." He said just before getting out of earshot.

"Who's Zhao, Cipher?" I said as I ran towards my hut.

Apparently, he's a Fire Nation Admiral. He's also a very powerful firebender and a former student of Jeong Jeong.

"God, I just hope we can get out of here before he reaches us." I was running back towards Jeong Jeong's hut and I saw the ten ton bison coming down with Sokka. I also saw Aang running towards the clearing where Jeong Jeong and Zhao were.

"What's he doing?" I asked Katara as I reached her and the others.

"He's going to buy us some time. Don't worry, he'll get back." She assured me. I tossed my pack up to Sokka, who was on the back of Appa. As I was climbing up onto the bison's back I saw fire coming out of the forest in the direction of the clearing. Just as I started thinking we would have to leave without him, I saw him flying out of the smoke on a glider which had apparently also been his staff. I looked back as Aang joined us and we flew into the distance, the camp was completely deserted. I looked over at Aang's burnt clothes, and Katara said,

"Oh Aang you're burnt, here." She bended some water onto her hand and placed it over Aang's burn. When she took her hand away, the burn was gone,

"Wow, that's good water." Upon the end of Aang's sentence, Sokka started complaining about all the times Katara could've used her healing abilities in the past to help him. I watched the three laughing, and thought to myself. I thought about how lucky I was to be in the presence of the Avatar and to be a part of a group I knew would be epic.