Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: the last Airbender.

Pretending

Chapter 4

Earth, Fire, and Air

It took several weeks before Jet was ready to really acknowledge and accept his observation.

There was no doubt in his mind, Sparks was the Avatar.

He had been watching the other closely, though he tried not to make it obvious, and he had noticed several things that he would have taken for granted before.

Whenever one of the children complained about the cold within earshot of Sparks, the fire would flare up just enough to shed more warmth on them. When it was too hot, wind would brush through their treetop camp gently, bringing a cool breeze with it. If no one was watching, Jet had seen Sparks sink into meditation, similar to a practice done by earthbenders but slightly different.

They were all clues. Clues pointing toward one thing: Sparks was the Avatar.

Now the question was: What was Jet going to do about it?

0~o~0

Zuko contemplated silently as he stared into the swirling dance of the flames in the fire pit. The colors twisted and stretched elegantly before disappearing as the reached to far from their source, the bright, burning coals. He had come to appreciate fire. It gave life and warmth. It was care and hearth.

But it also brought destruction, grief, desolation, and greed. He had seen it consume many Firebenders, their hunger for power driving them to do things that any other would find abominable.

Fire had two sides. Life and Death. It all depended on how you used it. One way equaled the care and protection of many, while the other brought only suffering. Like the flickering flames the emotions of Firebenders often burned brighter than any other people. If not carefully controlled those fires could kill anything in their path, and that was the problem with the Fire Nation. They were not in control. They did not bank the fire, but instead continued to feed it, turning it into an unstoppably, raging inferno.

There were some days that he wished that he had been born a Firebender. Days that he longed for his family who he had been forced to leave behind. Sometimes he would even ignite a flame over his palm and wonder what it would be like if he could actually feel the fire, instead of how it just ate at the air around it.

And then he would remember what the Fire Nation had done, what fire had done to the people who had been blessed with it.

They didn't understand. There was both beauty and danger in fire. Safety and death. Everyone else only saw the aftermath.

"Bowl of soup for your thoughts?" Jet's voice startled Zuko out of his musings as he glanced up at the other boy.

Jet was carrying two bowls of slightly steaming stew, most likely the dinner that had been cooked up from whatever the traps had caught.

Zuko took one gratefully as well as the spoon as Jet settled down on the log opposite of him. There was silence for several moments before Jet shifted slightly. Zuko had noticed how jumpy he had been around him lately and wondered if he had done anything to make the other suspicious. A chill ran down his spin. He hoped not.

"So?" Jet asked, leaning forward slightly and making Zuko blink.

"So what?" Zuko had no idea what Jet was getting at, but it looked as if the other was expecting some kind of answer. With a start he realized that he and Jet were the only two around this fire pit.

"What were you thinking? It looked like you were lost in your mind, there," Jet replied, hesitated slightly as if he had been about to say something else.

Zuko debated with himself for a moment. Should he tell the other?

After several beats he sighed slightly and slouched, "I was thinking about fire."

Jet quirked a brow, as if the reply surprised him, which it probably did, "Fire?"

Zuko nodded, taking a sip of his soup, "It's just that, well," he took a deep breath, "No one sees fire for what it is. They only see what it can do. Even Firebenders are blind."

"And you can see?" Jet asked, a sense of intrigue in his voice, as if he weren't going to brush Zuko off, as if he actually wanted to hear his opinion.

Zuko shrugged, "Take this fire, for example. It is what keeps us warm at night, just like the sun keeps up warm in the day. It provides light so that we can see, and shadows that we may hide in."

"Shadows?"

"Um," Zuko turned his eyes away slightly, "Yah, without light, there can be no darkness. Without darkness there can be no light. Shadows are a production of both light and dark, fire and the absence of fire."

"And they make a good place for hiding," Jet said, his eyes suddenly lighting up in new understanding as he glanced over Zuko's dark clothing, "I'm guessing that you've had experience with that."

Zuko ignored that last comment, turning the thoughts that popped into his mind that that comment away. Now was not the time to be dwelling on the past.

Hiding behind a curtain as his father asked the Fire Lord that he be made heir over his brother. The flickering shadows cast by the fire the only reason that they had not been seen yet . . .

"The point is," Zuko continued, "Is that fire isn't everything that people think that it is. Yes, it destroys, it tears apart, it brings grief, but it also brings comfort, warmth, and hope," he paused, heat creeping onto his cheeks as he realized that he had been ranting, "and, well, I guess that you didn't really understand that."

Jet shook his head, but there was a contemplating look on his face, "Not all of it, no, but your words deserve consideration," Jet stood up, stretching slightly and holding his hand out for Zuko to take.

"If you even need to talk again, Sparks, don't be afraid to come to me."

As Zuko walked away to wash his bowl and put it with the rest he couldn't help but wonder what had just happened.

0~o~0

"Can you bend?" Jet asked spontaneously one day as he and Zuko were perched on a large branch, watching the road for any firebenders that might come their way.

Zuko was so startled that he nearly tumbled off of the branch, "What?"

Jet shrugged, "It's just, your talk about fire and how people see it was very passionate. I could help but think that only someone who knew fire would be able to describe it in such detail, so differently from everyone else."

"Oh," Zuko blinked owlishly for a moment.

"So are you?" Jet asked again, turned his piercing gaze on the other, "A fire bender, I mean?"

There was silence for a moment before Zuko replied with a soft, but honest, "No."

The topic wasn't brought up again.

0~o~0

What is the best way to hide among firebenders? Bend fire.

What is the best way to hide in the Earth Kingdom when your features are those of the Fire Nation? Be a non-bender. They are not a threat, most of the time, and beneath other people and benders' notice.

Jet's eyes narrowed in thought as his gaze turned to their resident golden-eyed comrade.

To do otherwise would mean death, from both sides.

0~o~0

Sparks approached Jet while he was talking with his inner circle. Jet dismissed them and turned to talk to him, his eyes curious.

Sparks took a deep breath as if to steady himself and stood straighter, "It is time for me to move on."

Jet paused and then nodded. He had seen this coming. His and the band's journey may be here, in the tree tops hunting down stray firebenders, but Sparks had yet to find where he belonged.

No questions were asked and Jet gave his permission.

One couldn't hold another from their destiny, after all.

0~o~0

"You don't have to go, you know," Jet said, gripping the hand offered to him with sorrowful eyes. Even he had come to like Sparks over the last few months. The rest of the camp was gathered behind him, all there to send the young man off.

Sparks shook his head and smiled slightly, his eyes tired, "I know. It's just . . . this isn't home."

He understood. He really did. Loosing a home, a family, left one adrift, searching for something that one could never get back. It left a gaping hole where there had once been companionship. Jet understood this all too well, as it had happened to him too, but probably not to the extent of what had happened to Sparks. The band of children had managed to sooth that ache left behind, but it wasn't what the boy was searching for.

That and Jet suspected that Sparks had other reasons to leave.

From what he had seen Sparks knew only firebending and a little bit of airbending. He still had water and earth to learn and would need a teacher.

It was something that the band of children could not provide and as much as Jet wished that Sparks would stay, he knew that the other had responsibilities elsewhere.

He had stayed hidden for too long to be recognized.

"I understand," Jet nodded, letting go of the hand and stepping back respectfully, "Just know that if you ever need anything, we will be there."

Sparks hesitated, a slight, rare smile turning the corners of his lips slightly and crinkling the sides of his eyes, "Thank you."

He nodded respectfully to the rest of the band and then turned and began to walk away, the forest swallowing him up as he melted into the falling darkness.

A Fire Nation boy born with the powers of the Avatar and an outcast from his own people.

Jet couldn't help but feel that he had made the right choice.

0~o~0

Zuko didn't know where he was supposed to go after he left Jet and the rest of the Freedom Fighters. He had no plan, no direction, only his feelings and the way the wind pushed him.

He certainly hadn't expected to meet a young blind girl while seeking shelter in a cave not even a month later and getting encased from neck down in a mound of earth.

"Well, this is unexpected," Zuko said, blinking in slight confusion as he looked down at the girl's tinny form. She couldn't have been more than nine years old.

She crossed her arms over her chest with a scowl, her eyes unfocused as they stared at a spot just to the side of his head, "You said it twinkle toes. This is my cave."

Zuko's eyes narrowed, "Twinkle toes?"

"Yah," she stamped her foot, a chair forming out of the earth behind her as she sat down, "Cause you're so light on your feet I couldn't sense you until you popped up behind me. So, yes, Twinkle Toes."

Why does everyone insist in calling me names according to my characteristics?

"Moral of the story: Don't sneak up on you, even when not trying to. Got it," Zuko replied, "Can you let me go now?"

She leaned back a laugh on her lips, "Let you go? I think I like you, Twinkle toes," if she could see her eyes would have been sparkling with mischief, "but, no, I am not going to let you go. You caused it, you get out of it."

Zuko felt like scowling. Why did these things always happen to him?

"By the way, my name is Toph."

There was silence for several moments as a look of concentration crossed over Zuko's face. Slowly, carefully, he reached out to the air around him, searching.

If he could do it with fire, than why not earth?

He found was he was looking for.

The ridged structure of earth hold him capture trembled for a moment before disintegrating to nothing more than sand around his feet. Zuko grinned as he stepped away from the somewhat razed pile of dirt that had surrounded him, enjoying her baffled expression.

"And I go by Lee."

0~o~0

I hope you all enjoyed that chapter. It took me quite a while to get it written.

I am sorry for the amount of time that it takes to update some of my stories. I don't plan on abandoning any of them, but I find that if I want to update anything I have to go with the story that my idea generator is currently producing ideas for. In other words, the factory for this story isn't working very well and I need ideas from an outside source. Something original? I like to take well used ideas and . . . twist them, as can be seen in my other story They're Us. Common theme, dimensional travel, and same characters, but a little assumption and boom, big misunderstanding the likes that has never been written in that section of fanficiton!

So yes, I'm hoping to a good twist to throw in here, and soon. If you don't like having to check this story so often without gratification of another chapter, than stick it in your bookmarks or save the location somewhere where you can easily find it again when the fancy hits you. It's what I do.

Another thing that I am going to be doing is book recommendation. I have seen other author's doing it and have found it interesting so I'm going to try it out myself. The book for this update is The Rule of Three by Eric Walters. It is one of my favorite books and sucks you right in. Oh, and it's not a fanfiction story, just a warning. Just imagine it, though, everything with computers shuts down, how long until society crumbles and the ideals that we hold so high are tossed aside in the rising panic? Who will survive? Will they want to?

If you like dystopian novels then read it. It is amazing.

Anyway, thanks for reading and I hope you continue to follow this story!

Review?

(Updated: 12/8/15)