Chapter Eight

They were risking it big time!

The comet was supposed to come in a matter of weeks and Aang still had not learned fire bending. They were risking it because of Zuko's little blow to the head; they thought he had suffered from a mild concussion. There was a pretty good chance of that, because he was walking and talking and even at the same time. But every now and then he would get brain dead headaches. The headaches would probably leave in a matter of days or so. The only strange or abnormal thing after the accident was that when Zuko widened his scarred eye, you could see that his pupils were slightly different sizes, and the oddest thing of all was that the pupil in his scarred eye was bigger than the one in his good eye. Unfortunately for them with Azula chasing them and all, they could not stop at an infirmary to see if that was too abnormal. Besides, Zuko would not have it. He even said that he did not want to bring attention to himself or to the group, and the group finally agreed.

Zuko had walked out with Katara; she was the paranoid one. She did not think he would be able to walk. Of course, he was fine. They walked over to the fire pit where they had rice.Zuko scooped up some rice and put it into a bowl. After the past several days of being there, the rice did not really have a taste. It was just rice; nothing more, nothing less. It was very similar to his times back at the palace. He would do the same things everyday thinking it was so great, but then after a while, he had gotten bored of his daily routines and that had given him some more time to think, which was then how he had thought of how bad the Fire Nation was and what goal the Avatar and his friends were achieving.

He sat down with the rice and took one bite, and then his exploring mind started to think some more. What had Katara done for him last night? He knew he had a headache all through the night and that Katara had kept with him through the entire night. She once put her water up to his temples trying to numb the headache and it worked. After ten of fifteen minutes of doing so, he had stopped thinking so and had drifted off to sleep… or was he unconscious? He did not know nor did he care because he woke up the next morning to find a sleeping angel atop his chest. He had smiled to himself and sang a little lullaby his mother used to sing to him when he was younger. It talked about two lovers who were separated in-between a mountain range and how they Earth Bended secret tunnels throughout the mountainsides. Anyone who tried to follow them would be lost in the caves forever due to the "curse". Then one day the boy was killed in a war between the two cities and as a rage of anger and melancholy, the girl bended powerfully and skillfully and ended the war. Together they made a new city, named after the two lovers.

Katara was familiar with the lullaby and smiled, "We heard that song on our way to Ohmasu," she said.

"Oh really? My mother always loved foreign lullabies," Zuko said. He twirled a piece of her long, lush hair around his finger. She giggled.

"Yeah…" she breathed, "But when we got to Ohmasu the place was controlled by your sister."

Zuko grimaced at the reminder of his sister, "She is nothing special,"

"She is a terrible person." Katara reminded him.

They cuddled together for about another twenty minutes… or until they both thought Sokka would soon get suspicious. Katara lifted her head and pulled herself up. She helped Zuko get up, or offered to, but as always he toughed it out and helped himself get up. That was when Katara noticed his abnormally sized pupils.

"Zuko! Your eyes!" she practically pried his scarred eye open. Zuko instinctively moved away.

"My eye does not open like that… anymore," Zuko said.

"Well just let me see!" Katara urged. She moved towards him and once more when he did not pull away. She gently pulled it open and saw that the pupil in his scarred eye was larger that the one in his good eye.

"What? What is it?" Zuko asked. When she did not answer he moved away from her again.

"Zuko, your pupil is larger than your other one. That could be a sign of something bad. I do not know what, but it could be something bad!" Katara said, franticly.

"It is probably nothing," Zuko said.

"It might be something," Katara said, "I say we take you to an infirmary,"

"Katara, Azula probably is controlling every single one! Who goes in… who goes out… who gets to live…"?

"Oh would you stop it?"

Zuko kept on, "… besides! We are out at the Western Air Temple! Where would the nearest one be?"

"Well if anything bad happens to you on your behalf I'll-"

Katara could not finish. The air was sucked out of her lungs as Zuko braced her in that platypus bear hug she loved about him. She squeezed back as much as the tears that were being squeezed out from her eyes.

"Why do you worry so much?" Zuko asked.

"I just do not want the prophecy to be true. You keep on saying you are going to die! Do you even know how much that kills me inside?" Katara asked.

Zuko was very silent for a moment, letting Katara calm down a little bit, "This is not about my abnormal eyes is it?"

"Oh shut up! Now you are sounding like my dad, and he is in prison!"

Zuko led Katara over to the bed so she could sit down. She was having an episode, "We will find your dad. They will not kill him there, that is at least some good news."

"What about the rest? Where would the rest be?"

"The rest could be scattered about in different prisons all over the Fire Nation so they couldn't communicate and try to escape. Your dad though might be at the boiling rock,"

"What?"

"It's the highest security prison in the world. I'm so happy my uncle wasn't there, but with and how my uncle broke free," he laughed, "They should have put him at the boiling rock. It is a prison in a volcano, surrounded by water, boiling water- yeah I can guess now that you know how they found the name,"

"We need to find my Dad…" Katara said.

"We will find him…" Zuko pulled her closer and played with her hair. She calmed down after a few minutes and they still did not move. They silently agreed to stay there as long as they could. It was Sokka's call for Katara that made them jump. They scattered about trying to find their place and made it to the Fire Pit.

Zuko took off his shirt and faced his front side of his body towards the sun. Aang was opposite the clearing, already shirtless from his previous lesson with Katara. Zuko turned to face him.

"Now, you see that sun?" he pointed towards the sun.

"Kind of hard to miss." Aang said.

"That is the main source of fire on this planet. We, fire benders, collect some of our energy from it. The rest of our energy comes from the breath. What I want you to do it breathe in through the nose, and out the mouth-"

"Zuko, I already know how to breathe! When can I-"

"Don't interrupt me! I'm not finished yet! Now, when you breathe out the mouth for the tenth time, press the energy out your fingers and you will produce fire- from what Katara told me, you have experience right?" Zuko asked.

"Kind of…" Aang said sheepishly.

"Don't worry. There are no trees to burn anywhere near here and if you burn me, I won't tell. Just give it a try,"

Aang squatted down and breathed in. He breathed out through the mouth and in through the nose. On the tenth time he gathered the energy and moved the energy through his fingertips. But un expecting, the fire exploded in front of him and sent him flying back. He ended up laughing through the entire time. Zuko was shaking his head, embarrassed.

"How can a boy who just messed up fire bending and was hurt from it laugh and think it was a joke?" Zuko asked.

"But I did it! I created fire!" Aang said cheerfully.

"No, you tried to create lightning. I could tell by your movements. They weren't precise, but they were enough to make it into the form of lightning, but backfired as you don't have enough experience. Trust me, if you knew how to control that and you weren't aiming, with your stance and they way you were facing, I'd be dropped on the ground!"

Aang giggled to himself then sighed. He faced Zuko again and tried once again. He inhaled, exhaled, inhaled, exhaled, and on his tenth exhale, he pushed the energy from his fingertips. At first he thought he had done it incorrectly, but proved himself wrong when a shot of flame shot from his finger tips, moving forward twenty feet through the air before disappearing. He heard Zuko's clap behind him.

"Very interesting. You seem to have a natural skill, Avatar," Zuko said.

"Call me Aang," Aang said politely.

Zuko nodded, "Now try it again..."

Aang breathed in ten times and burst the fire from his finger tips, creating an even larger flame. It was red, the coldest of fire if one were to call it that. It started to disappear farther away. Aang gasped when it almost touched Zuko's face, but Zuko just brushed it aside like it was dust.

"Very good," Zuko said, "Now, what I want you to do is to limit your breaths to five. Inhale through the nose, exhale through the mouth, on the fifth exhale, send the energy to your finger tips. If you can do this, then you will be about as good as I was when I was... about eight, maybe seven," he laughed to himself, "Let me see it, Avatar."

"Aang!" Aang reminded him.

Zuko nodded again, "Let me see it!"

Aang concentrated on the sun. He breathed in five times, and on the fifth exhale, tried to bring the energy to his fingertips, but was distracted by another upcoming process of air coming up his lungs. He opened his mouth, and you could hear the burp, and see the burp. A blast of fire came out of his mouth and streaked a few feet in front of him. He was stunned for a moment, trying to figure out exactly what had happened, then started to laugh. Zuko was looking at him again with that same look of embarrassment in his eyes.

"That was discusting, Aang" Zuko said bitterly.

"Sorry, Sifu Zuko," Aang said.

"Don't you dare call me that!" Zuko commanded.

"I am sorry," Aang said.

"Whatever, just try that move again!"

Aang concentrated on the sun again and focused on breathing. On the fifth exhale, he shifted it through his fingertips and it blasted in a heat of furry in front of him. It reached to Zuko and beyond, making Zuko have to put up a fire shield to block it. Aang had outdid himself for the day. Zuko came back panting and breathing hard. Aang rushed over to him.

"Are you okay, Zuko?" Aang asked.

"Yeah, I am fine, that had just, for some reason, brought alot out of me,"Zuko quickly redeemed himself.

"Oh, okay, Well if you are feeling up to it, could you show me how to make that fire shield?" Aang asked eggarly.

"Sure, sure. What is offence without defence?"

"Prince Zuko before Ba Sing Se?"

"Not funny!"

"Alright, just show me,"

"Okay," Zuko exhaled, "When making a fire shield, you are making a ring of fire, as my uncle calls it. It is basically a circle of fire created to block out everything that comes your way by burning it when it makes contact, which means that with fire, you want to create more fire than what is being shot at you, or if you are being attacked by my sister, I'd suggest that you try to create a blue flame, but don't try that now. Right now, just concentrate on doing it right. So put your hands in fists and bind them together."

Aang connected his fists.

"Then breathe in once, then exhale, and separate the energy so it exits both hands. After that, you'll have two balls of fire. Attempt to make them bigger by creating more energy and by doing so making it bigger." Zuko demonstrated.

Aang concentrated on having the energy reach both hands, but he just could not do so. He could not separate the energy.

"I do not know how you managed to create electricity if you can't seperate regular energy!" Zuko said.

"Maybe if I keep on practicing... maybe we should call it a day?" Aang asked.

"Yes, that would be best, keep practicing, and we will pick this up at dawn tomorrow morning." Zuko said.

Aang nodded, then bowed before his teacher.

Zuko bowed back then walked away from Aang.

Aang turned around and walked away too satisfied with his work, but exaution creeping in.

But deep down, he did not want to do that again.