Chapter 11: The Western Air Temple
It had been awkwardly silent once they had cleared the capital area and were left with nothing but clouds and rolling farmlands to keep their attention, and Rinzen found herself taking a seat inside the basket while Zuko focused on keeping the balloon afloat.
"Did you mean it?" she asked quietly, breaking the silence, and he started slightly at the sound of her voice, glancing back at her. "About joining us?"
"Yeah, I did," he admitted, closing the metal grate of the center compartment. "I know none of you really have much of a reason to trust me. But I wanted to at least offer to be Aang's firebending teacher."
She rubbed a hand over her face, exhaling slowly. "Don't get me wrong, I really appreciate the sentiment, but it's not going to be easy to convince them to let you in, even if I vouch for you."
"I know. But I owe it to you to try." The earnestness in his expression was overwhelming and she dropped her gaze away from him, unsure what to make of the situation.
"And what'll happen if they say no?" she pointed out.
He exhaled quietly. "I don't know. I'll start looking for my uncle, I guess. Not much else I can do." He paused. "You don't have to vouch for me, you know."
"I owe you for getting me out," she reminded him.
"That's part of me making up for putting you there in the first place," he argued. "That doesn't count."
"We're keeping score now?"
"My point is that you don't owe me anything," he insisted.
"Really?" She crossed her arms. "So you freed me just out of the goodness of your heart?"
"I freed you because I care about you!" Zuko flushed slightly, running a hand through his hair awkwardly when he noticed Rinzen staring at him in surprise. "I mean. Mainly because it was the right thing to do. But also because of that."
"You - what?" she managed to get out, bewildered.
"What did you think all of that in Ba Sing Se was?" he pointed out, frowning now.
"You mean right up until you betrayed us?" she deadpanned.
"Would you stop with the sarcasm for five minutes?" he sighed heavily. "I get that you're hurt, but I'm trying to be sincere here."
"Yeah, well, I thought you were being sincere before, too, and look where that got us," she retorted, but was startled when he knelt in front of her, his hand reaching up to press gently against her cheek. She did her best not to lean into his warm touch, although she was tempted to.
"I know I hurt you, and I'm sorry, Rin. I chose wrong in Ba Sing Se, and I can't begin to make that up to you. But I do care about you." When she realized he was leaning in, she ducked her head slightly so that his kiss landed on her forehead rather than on her lips. Even that felt almost overwhelming, with how close he was and how warm his lips felt against her skin. He drew back, his expression crumpling in hurt and confusion, and she did her best not to meet his eyes, focusing on a point just over his shoulder instead.
"I'm not gonna say I don't feel the same way," she said quietly. "Because I do, and I don't know how to feel about that with everything that happened. A lot of this is really confusing, and it's not a good idea to start sorting it out in the middle of a war." She bit her lip, waiting for him to pull away or lash out in anger, but after a moment, he nudged her chin up to face him properly. She was relieved to find him smiling faintly back at her.
"It's okay. I get that," he reassured her. "But if you change your mind, then I'll be here." He hesitated. "Can we at least be friends again, though?"
She managed a smile back at him, grateful that he hadn't taken it badly. "Yeah. I'd like that."
He relaxed a little, dropping his hand to lace his fingers with hers. "Me, too." He squeezed her hand briefly before getting to his feet to check on the flames in the center compartment again. "We're almost at the Western Air Temple."
"So what's the plan? We just stroll up to them and ask them to let you join us?" she joked and he rolled his eyes.
"They'd probably attack me the moment they saw me."
"Probably, but I'd still vouch for you," she answered with a shrug and he gave her a small smile.
"As much as I appreciate that, I don't think it'll help much with everything I've done."
"You never know, it might," she offered. "I mean, at least you're not Azula, so you've got that going for you."
Zuko huffed a wry laugh. "Can you imagine Azula trying to join you all?" He mimicked his sister's voice, snide and nasally. "'Listen, Avatar, I can join your group or I can do something unspeakably horrible to you and your friends. Your choice.'"
Rinzen couldn't stop a laugh from escaping at how spot-on his impression was. "Maybe don't lead with threats of murder."
He looked slightly pleased with himself for making her laugh even as he mused, "What would Uncle say?" He deepened his voice a little, making it slightly more gruff as he imitated Iroh. "'Zuko, you have to look within yourself to save yourself from your other self. Only then will your true self reveal itself.'" He wrinkled his nose thoughtfully as Rinzen snorted with more laughter, returning to his normal voice. "Even when I'm talking for him, I have no idea what he's saying."
"Stop overthinking it," she insisted as she got to her feet, nudging her shoulder against his gently. "Just be yourself. Pretend you're trying to convince me, as if I were everyone else."
He sighed, facing her and plastering a smile on his face. "Hello, Zuko here." She bit back a laugh at how awkward and nervous he sounded. "Well, um, I guess you know me already, sort of." He flushed slightly. "Uh, so the thing is, I have a lot of firebending experience, and I'm considered to be pretty good at it. Well, uh, you've seen it, you know, when I was attacking you?" He ran his hand through his hair, frustrated. "Maybe I should apologize for that."
"That'd be nice, yeah," she agreed, grinning a little.
"But anyway, I'm good now," Zuko pressed ahead, sounding flustered. "I mean, I thought I was good before, but I realize now I was bad and I - um -"
"Maybe breathe?" she suggested and he sucked in a deep breath and let it out, scrubbing a hand over his face.
"This is never going to work."
"Hey, it wasn't that bad," she lied and he gave her an unimpressed look.
"You're a terrible liar."
"Just don't start with 'hello, Zuko here,'" she conceded, unable to stop a giggle from escaping, and he buried his head in his hands miserably.
They landed the war balloon in a forest clearing at the base of the mountain where the Western Air Temple was nestled and Rinzen found a narrow stone staircase that she had almost forgotten existed, half-covered in moss from years of neglect. It wound along the side of the mountain almost all the way to the top, where she knew the temple was built upside-down under the ridge.
"I haven't been here in a long time," she admitted as they began to climb the staircase.
"Well, yeah, I figured it's been a hundred years," Zuko deadpanned and she elbowed his side lightly.
"I meant even without the years on ice. Last time I was here, I was getting my tattoos."
"Last time I was here, I'd just been banished," he answered wryly, following Rinzen as she hopped over a missing step that had crumbled over time. "We were both thirteen when we were last here."
"Huh." Rinzen paused, considering that. "I guess we were, yeah." She couldn't quite wrap her head around the fact that they had both been the same age, albeit a hundred years apart, the last time they had visited the Western Air Temple. She ran her hand along the wall as they walked, feeling the old carvings in the stone underneath layers of dirt and moss. "What was it like last time you were here? The temple?"
Zuko frowned slightly as he fell into step beside her, watching her fingers trace over the carvings. "Kind of sounds selfish to say it, but I wasn't really paying much attention at the time," he admitted after a moment. "I probably should've been."
Rinzen shrugged one shoulder. "Not that big a deal, just wondering." She stumbled over a step that had sunken slightly lower than the others and Zuko grabbed her elbow to steady her. She gave him a grateful smile before hopping over the step to the next one. "When Aang and I were at the Eastern Air Temple, I couldn't stop noticing how empty it was. These temples used to be full of people all the time." She paused just long enough to run her fingers over a familiar set of three swirls carved into the side of the mountain - the Air Nomad emblem. "I'd like to work on restoring them someday, after the war's over."
"I'd like that, too," Zuko agreed and she glanced back up at him to see him watching her consideringly, a small smile on his face. "It'd be nice to see how the temples used to look when you and Aang were growing up in them." He nudged his shoulder briefly against hers before nodding to the staircase. "Come on. We're almost at the top."
As they approached the top of the staircase, Rinzen could hear familiar raised voices above them and felt a twinge of relief to hear Aang's voice among them, despite how frustrated and upset he sounded. She hesitated on the steps and Zuko paused beside her, pressing his hand briefly against hers.
"Go on," he insisted. She managed a brief, grateful smile at him before taking a deep breath and climbing to the top of the stairs, stopping in her tracks when she saw the group gathered in the center of the large, open hall of the Western Air Temple. Katara and Aang were facing away from her while Sokka and Toph stood in front of them, their expressions serious as they argued. Appa was curled up behind them, his warm brown eyes somber as he licked at his paws, Momo nestled between them.
"We went through nearly every hallway of that bunker!" Aang complained.
"I'm just saying, we never even found the Fire Lord's chamber, who knows how many hallways we missed while trying to find-?" Sokka broke off as he noticed Rinzen over Aang's shoulder, his expression breaking into a wide smile. "Rin!"
"Yeah, that's who I'm talking about," Aang pointed out, confused, but then followed Sokka's gaze and spun around, his eyes widening. "Rin?" His voice trembled slightly, as if not daring to believe she was really there.
Rinzen felt her throat tighten at the sound of her brother's voice even as she took a few tentative steps forward. "Hi," she managed to get out, but before she knew it, all four of them were running forward and she found herself enveloped in the tightest hug she had ever received. Aang was closest to her, his head burying itself into her shoulder, and she clung to him as tightly as she could, doing her best not to break down then and there. It was one thing to know Aang was alive, but seeing him in front of her was almost overwhelming. With a soft rumble, Appa climbed to his feet and joined them, his nose nudging at the top of Rinzen's head while Momo wiggled into the clustered group to curl against Rinzen's chest.
Almost too soon, everyone was pulling away, still beaming widely, even though Aang still looked somewhat bewildered. "Rin, how'd you even get here?"
"I had help," Rinzen confessed, settling Momo on her shoulder. "Please don't freak out." Almost immediately, everyone's expressions shifted into anger and shock as they looked over her shoulder and she knew Zuko had made his appearance.
"Uh, hello, Zuko here," he offered tentatively and Rinzen grimaced inwardly.
"I told you not to start with that," she reminded him, glancing over her shoulder, and he shrugged helplessly back at her.
"What's he doing here?" Katara snapped, her voice far more venomous than Rinzen had ever heard it before as she drew a wave of water from a nearby fountain in preparation to strike Zuko.
"He brought me here," Rinzen explained quickly, stepping between them so that Katara wouldn't attack. Momo hissed at the sudden movement and took off from her shoulder, clambering onto Appa's head instead.
"I know you must be surprised to see me-" Zuko began.
"Not really, since you've followed us all over the world," Sokka interrupted dryly and Zuko flushed slightly.
"Right, um. Well, what I wanted to say was that, uh, I've changed, and...I'm good now. And I wanted to, um, join your group, and, oh, I want to teach you firebending." He said it as quickly as he could, flustered and embarrassed by everyone's eyes on him, and Rinzen winced when she saw the angry glares aimed at him.
"Are you serious?!" Toph exclaimed first.
"You can't possibly think that any of us would trust you, can you? I mean, how stupid do you think we are?!" Katara snarled.
"Yeah!" Sokka agreed. "All you've ever done is hunt us down and try to capture Aang!"
"That's not true, I've done some good things!" Zuko argued, casting a desperate glance at Rinzen, who nodded in agreement.
"He got me out of prison," she reminded them. "And he freed Appa from the Dai Li." As if to prove her point, Appa growled and then nuzzled Zuko fondly, licking his cheek. Zuko grimaced slightly at the sticky bison drool covering his cheek, but patted Appa's nose gently all the same.
"Appa does seem to like him," Toph said thoughtfully.
"That doesn't mean anything, he probably covered himself in honey so that Appa would lick him," Sokka grumbled goodnaturedly.
"I can understand why you wouldn't trust me, and I know I've made some mistakes in the past," Zuko admitted.
"Like when you attacked our village?" Sokka snapped.
"Or when you stole my mother's necklace and used it to track us down and capture us?" Katara added with a scowl.
"Look, I admit I've done some awful things. I was wrong to try to capture you, and I'm sorry that I attacked the Water Tribe. And I never should have sent that Fire Nation assassin after you. I'm going to try and stop-"
"You sent Combustion Man after us?!" Sokka shouted angrily.
Zuko frowned. "Well, that's not actually his name, but-"
"That guy locked me and Katara in jail and tried to blow us all up! Multiple times!" Toph protested and Rinzen felt a stab of fear as she glanced at Zuko, suddenly nervous that she had put her faith in him again too soon.
"I thought you said you didn't hire him to kill them."
"I didn't!" he insisted, turning to her with a wide-eyed look of panic that convinced her, albeit only slightly, that he was being sincere. "I swear, I told him not to hurt them!" He turned to Aang, who had been watching silently until then. "You once said we could be friends," he pleaded. "You know there's good in me."
Aang bit his lip, glancing between the others' angry expressions and Rinzen's worried one, before exhaling quietly and turning a steely gaze on Zuko. "There's no way we can trust you after what you did." Rinzen felt her heart sink in disappointment as Aang turned to her with an apologetic look. "I'm sorry, Rin. I know you believe him, but we can't let him join us."
"If you won't accept me as a friend, then maybe you'll take me as a prisoner," Zuko offered, dropping to his knees and raising his wrists in surrender.
"No, we won't!" Katara threw a jet of water at Zuko, knocking him back towards the edge of the cliff.
"Katara, stop!" Rinzen hurried between them, dispelling the next wave of water with a blast of air. "He's not trying to hurt us!"
"Then he should get out of here and we'd better not see him again," Katara retorted angrily and Rinzen looked over her shoulder to see Zuko picking himself up gingerly.
"It's okay," he reassured her when he looked up and met her worried eyes. "You know where I'll be if you change your mind." He retreated down the staircase and Rinzen turned on the others once he was out of earshot, her own anger rising now.
"What is wrong with all of you?!"
"What's wrong with us?" Katara echoed furiously. "What's wrong with you?! Are you seriously telling me you believe that - that ash-maker after what he did?!" Rinzen had never heard the insult before, but she knew from the way Katara spat it out that it was a horrible slur.
"That's uncalled for," Aang cautioned, stepping forward with his hands raised, but Katara shouldered past him, her fists clenched as she glared at Rinzen.
"Are you really that stupid that you're going to fall head over heels for him every time he starts pretending to be a real human being?!"
"Excuse me?" Rinzen felt her temper flare in response. "I'm not the one who just threw away Aang's best chance to learn firebending!"
"To be honest, I'm with taller Twinkletoes," Toph admitted. "We were just talking about how Aang needs a firebending teacher. Now one just shows up on a silver platter and you won't even consider it?" Katara still looked angry, but somewhat chastised as she dropped her gaze to the ground.
Aang shook his head. "I'm not having Zuko as my firebending teacher," he said stubbornly.
"Darn right, you're not," Sokka agreed.
"Well, I guess that settles it," Katara said, sounding satisfied as she took a seat on the edge of the fountain and crossed her arms smugly.
"Ugh," Toph muttered, stalking off as she grumbled, "I'm beginning to wonder who's really the blind one around here."
Rinzen glowered at Katara, who purposely turned her head away with a scowl, but Aang grabbed her sleeve to gently tug her along. "Come on," he insisted and she grudgingly let him lead her into the dark hallway of the temple. "Look, I'm sorry, Rin," he apologized once they were out of earshot from the others. "I know you believe him, and I want to believe you. But we can't take that risk again. Even if I was okay with it, none of the others would be."
Rinzen opened her mouth to argue, but found herself sighing heavily instead. "I know. You're right. I don't even know whether I should believe him as much as I do. It's not that my feelings about him are getting in the way, I swear-"
"I know," Aang reassured her quickly. "Of all people, I know you'll be the most objective about this. And you wouldn't let him near me if you thought for even a second that he'd hurt me. But we can't trust him. At least not yet."
"Yeah, I understand," she agreed reluctantly before glancing around the hallway they were in. "Can't believe we're back here."
"Yeah." Aang followed her gaze, a small smile tugging at his lips. "It's kind of surreal, isn't it? We should go exploring. See how much things have changed."
Rinzen nodded in agreement, although her mind was still on Zuko and how bitter and angry Katara had looked. "Yeah. I'd like that." Maybe exploring the temple would take her mind off what had happened, and maybe some time to cool off would help Katara, Sokka, and Aang reconsider their decision, since Toph seemed already on her way to taking Rinzen's side.
Katara refused to talk to Rinzen for the rest of the day, which suited Rinzen just fine since she was equally as upset with Katara for reacting so badly to Zuko's attempted apology. Even Sokka, once he had cooled down, seemed marginally more open to the idea of Zuko joining them while Aang remained torn between keeping his friends happy and giving Zuko a chance.
Toph disappeared in the late afternoon, deciding to get a feel for the grounds around the temple, leaving Aang and Rinzen to explore the temple, meet the other kids who had escaped the invasion, and catch each other up on what they had missed.
"A secret dance party," Rinzen said dryly as she nudged a tile on the giant Pai Sho board they had found in one of the rooms. "You guys threw a school of Fire Nation kids a secret dance party while I was imprisoned underneath the palace."
Aang flushed slightly, embarrassed. "Well, we had to do something to give them a little hope. We also cleaned up a polluted river and Sokka learned to use a space sword."
"A what?" Rinzen said, bewildered, but Aang moved another tile and successfully distracted her from asking further.
It was another few hours of playful bickering and Pai Sho games before she realized she had never really gotten an answer.
"Okay, but what's a space sword, though?" she demanded when they all sat down to dinner, a stew Katara had prepared, and Sokka grabbed a sheath from their pile of supplies to unveil the jet-black sword inside. "That's pretty neat, but what makes it a space sword?" Rinzen asked, raising an eyebrow.
"It came from space, obviously." Sokka rolled his eyes, grinning at Rinzen's confusion. "So a meteorite hit near us a while ago and I used the metal from it to forge a sword with the help of Master Piandao."
"You guys had some weird adventures while I was gone," Rinzen said, shaking her head.
"We also learned the dangers of gambling," Aang added cheerfully and Rinzen gaped at him.
"I should hope so!" she exclaimed, horrified, and Katara stifled a snort of laughter, still attempting to pretend she was angry at Rinzen as she passed out bowls of stew to everyone.
"Actually, speaking of things you missed-" Aang reached over Sokka's space sword to retrieve a familiar staff, tossing it to Rinzen. "We kept it safe for you for when we got you back," he explained as she laid her glider reverently across her knees, reaching over to tug him into a one-armed embrace. She knew his own glider had gotten destroyed when he had first woken up from his coma, so the fact that he had kept hers safe was all the more touching.
Even after all the others had gone to sleep, Rinzen and Aang stayed awake, leaning between Appa's front paws side by side while the bison's soft breaths warmed the tops of their heads.
"You have no idea how much I missed you," Aang confessed quietly, stroking Momo's ears as the lemur curled up in his lap, dozing quietly and chittering in his sleep.
"Not nearly as much as I missed you," Rinzen answered with a wry smile, knocking her shoulder gently against his. "I never really told you how much I love you, did I?"
Aang looked up at her, wide-eyed and startled. "You don't have to, I know you do. And I love you, too, more than anything."
"I know you do, you dork." Rinzen rolled her eyes fondly, tossing her arm around his shoulders to tug him close again. "It just got me thinking, while I thought you were dead, that I never actually said it. And I thought, at the time, I'd never get another chance to say it, and now I do."
Aang's eyes were suddenly much brighter as he turned slightly to hug Rinzen properly, burying his face into her shoulder. The movement dislodged Momo from his lap even a the lemur let out a sleepy hiss of protest and then crawled over to nestle into the crook of Sokka's neck where he slept in a sleeping bag on the other side of the open hall, Katara curled up in her own sleeping bag beside her brother.
"You're not gonna lose me again," Aang promised quietly, clutching her tightly, and she let herself melt into the warm embrace as she pressed her face into his shoulder in return.
Rinzen awoke slowly, feeling warmer and safer than she had in a long time, and lifted her head just enough to find that her head had been pillowed by the top of Aang's head as he slept against her shoulder, curled up against her side. Appa was awake already, but seemed contented to just lay with his airbenders, rumbling quietly and nuzzling the top of Rinzen's head when he noticed she was awake. With a smile, she reached up to rub the bison's nose gently, careful not to accidentally wake Aang. It was the first time she hadn't had a nightmare since Ba Sing Se, which left her feeling far more rested than she expected. She stroked the fur of Appa's front paw slowly, soaking in the warmth around her for just a little longer, until Aang stirred, rubbing his eyes and sitting up sleepily before glancing up at Rinzen and smiling.
"Morning." He leaned back heavily into her side and she wrapped her arm around his shoulders, tugging him close. "I was worried yesterday was a dream, but you're really here."
"And I'm not planning to go anywhere," she reassured him, ducking her head to press her cheek to the top of his head fondly. The sounds of people moving around made her look up again to find Katara and Sokka wide awake and preparing breakfast, handing out bowls of porridge to some of the other kids who had joined them after the invasion. Rinzen recognized Teo, the boy in the wheelchair, as one of the people Aang had introduced her to the previous day, along with the Duke, who had been part of Jet's Freedom Fighters.
Katara approached Rinzen and Aang, two bowls of porridge balanced carefully in her hands. "You two hungry?" She didn't quite meet Rinzen's eyes, but there was far less hostility in her expression than there had been the previous day.
"Sure, thanks." Aang hopped to his feet to take one of the bowls from her, giving her a bright smile before heading in Sokka's direction.
Katara took a seat beside Rinzen, passing over the other bowl in her hands, and Rinzen took it to begin eating slowly, not sure what to say to her. "I'm sorry I snapped at you yesterday," Katara said after a few moments of silence.
Rinzen shrugged one shoulder. "It's not me you ought to be apologizing to."
Katara rolled her eyes. "I'm not apologizing to him. I can't believe you even let him near Aang after what happened."
Rinzen frowned. "Katara, he's changed. I'm not just saying that because of how I feel about him, I mean it. I was there when he stood up to his father and rescued me."
Katara pursed her lips. "I just don't want to make the mistake of letting him in and then getting Aang hurt again," she muttered, getting to her feet. "I'll trust your judgment, Rin, but I hope you know what you're doing." She took a few steps before pausing. "Hey, have you seen Toph since yesterday?"
Rinzen shook her head, now frowning in concern. "No. Has anyone else?"
Katara shook her head as well. "No, it's why I'm worried. I hope she's okay."
"Toph can take care of herself," Rinzen reminded her. "She's probably just exploring the area."
Katara chewed her lip anxiously before opening her mouth to answer, but a loud explosion of rock from the wall of the temple startled them both, Rinzen dropping her half-full bowl of porridge as they both rushed over to where Sokka and Aang were pulling Toph out of the newly-made hole in the wall.
"My feet got burned!" she complained, grimacing as she half-crawled out of the hole and let Sokka and Aang help her out the rest of the way.
"Oh no, what happened?!" Katara asked, horrified, and Toph turned a deadpan glare on her.
"I just told you, my feet got burned."
Katara rolled her eyes. "I meant how."
Toph looked suddenly sheepish. "Well, I kind of went to see Zuko last night."
Rinzen felt her heart sink as Aang exclaimed, "You what?!"
"I thought he could be helpful to us," Toph explained as Katara drew some water from the nearby fountain to start attempting to heal her feet, which Rinzen could see were burned and blistered painfully. "And if I talked to him, maybe we could work something out."
"So he attacked you?" Sokka demanded.
"Well, he did and he didn't," Toph hedged. "It was sort of an accident."
"But he did firebend at you," Aang clarified and Toph sighed heavily.
"Yes."
"That settles it, Zuko's too dangerous to be left alone," Sokka said firmly.
"Wait, no, you heard her, it was an accident," Rinzen insisted, feeling a stab of panic. "He probably didn't even know it was her."
"No, Rin. I hate to go looking for a fight, but Sokka's right. After what he did to Toph, I don't think we have a choice," Aang agreed reluctantly as he helped Sokka carry Toph over to the fountain so that Katara could work on healing her feet properly. Toph sighed in relief as her feet sank under the cool water.
"Ahh, that's the stuff. Now I know how you guys feel, not being able to see with your feet stinks," she complained goodnaturedly.
"Maybe we could lure him back here by taking him up on his offer to make him our prisoner," Sokka mused as Katara knelt by the fountain, bending the water until it shone with healing power. "Then we could jump him and really make him our prisoner."
"You're a master of surprise, Sokka," Katara said dryly.
The hairs on the back of Rinzen's neck stood on end suddenly and she turned just in time to see a nearly-invisible jet of boiling hot air race towards them, hitting a spot just above the roof of the temple and exploding on impact. Aang reacted immediately to the attack, throwing a blast of air to shield them from the chunks of stone raining down.
"It's Combustion Man!" Sokka shouted and Rinzen raised an eyebrow at him even as she followed the line of fire to where a tall, imposing man stood, his right arm and leg made of shiny metal and an eye tattooed on his forehead.
"Combustion Man?" she echoed as she took the man in. "You really need to work on naming things, Sokka. That doesn't suit him at all."
"Could be worse, he used to call him Sparky Sparky Boom Man," Toph said as Sokka lifted her out of the water to hurry her to shelter, the other kids following them into the temple. The assassin on the ledge took a deep breath, preparing to fire again, but before Rinzen could react, Zuko leapt onto the ledge and tackled the man, sending the shot into the cliffside instead.
"Stop!" he shouted at the man, who shoved him aside easily with his metal hand. "I'm ordering you to stop!" Zuko tried again, attempting to push his way in front of the assassin. "I told you not to hurt any of them! You've got no business here!"
Katara and Aang froze, taking in the information, even as Rinzen hurried to grab her glider from where she had left it beside Appa, who had retreated further into the shelter of the temple and was now growling with fear. She could hear the assassin saying something in a deep voice, but it was too low for her to hear. She snatched up her glider and turned back just in time to see Zuko attempt to firebend at the assassin, who deflected the flame with a wave of his hand before grabbing the front of Zuko's shirt and shoving him back hard. He promptly sent a blast at Zuko, who created a wall of fire to try and absorb the attack, but the explosion pushed him over the ledge and out of sight, leaving a crater where it had made impact. Rinzen felt her heart stop as she clutched her glider tightly, fearing the worst, and then her heart resumed beating again when she saw a flicker of movement just below the ledge, where Zuko had grabbed onto a plant root to begin climbing to safety.
As Katara and Aang did their best to field away the volleys of attacks from the assassin, Rinzen snapped her glider open and took off, hoping to at least cause a distraction and get Zuko out safely. She was hardly able to appreciate the wind ruffling through her hair after so much time grounded as she flew up to the ledge where the assassin stood. She dodged an explosion aimed at her, snapping her glider shut as she landed neatly on the ledge and sent a funnel of wind at him. He hardly moved even an inch, his metal limbs leaving him immovable as he stalked forward silently, his eyes fixed on Rinzen, who backed up a few steps while holding her staff up defensively in front of her.
Before she could attempt to airbend again, however, Sokka's boomerang whistled past her, slamming directly into the assassin's forehead in the center of his eye tattoo. He shouted in pain, falling backwards, and a few pops of sound like fireworks emerged around his forehead before an explosion erupted around him, heat and smoke rushing around Rinzen as she leapt off the ledge and snapped her glider open on the way down. She held onto the glider with her feet, hanging upside-down off it as she flew down past Zuko and grabbed his hand just as he lost his grip on the plant root. He clutched her hand tightly as she sent an air current with her free hand to her glider to bring them back to the temple. Her footing slipped and the glider fell out of her grasp as they tumbled to the stone floor of the temple, rolling to a halt. Rinzen looked up to find that the ledge where the assassin had stood had been destroyed, only a crater remaining where it had been, as the remnants of a metal arm fell into the ravine below.
"Are you insane?!" Zuko demanded breathlessly as he sat up, grabbing Rinzen's shoulders the moment she pushed herself upright. "You could've gotten yourself killed!"
"I had to do something!" she protested.
"And you thought facing one of his explosions head-on would help?!" He exhaled sharply before hauling her close suddenly, startling her. "Don't ever do that again," he muttered against the top of her head and she relaxed just enough to slip her arms back around him.
"I'm okay," she reassured him. As hurried footsteps approached them, she realized just how close they were and pulled back abruptly, climbing to her feet and grasping his hand to help him up as well.
"Rin!" Aang ran forward, throwing his arms around Rinzen, and she clutched him back tightly, keeping one arm around his shoulders as he drew back and eyed Zuko beside her warily. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but...thanks, Zuko."
"Hey, what about me? I did the boomerang thing," Sokka complained as he, Katara, and Toph joined them.
Aang shook his head fondly, but Zuko spoke suddenly, "I know I didn't explain myself very well yesterday, I've been through a lot in the last few years and it's been hard. But I'm realizing that I had to go through all those things to learn the truth. I thought I had lost my honor, and that somehow, my father could return it to me. But I know now that no one can give you your honor. It's something you earn for yourself, by choosing to do what's right." He glanced at Rinzen, who gave him a small smile, and took a deep breath before focusing back on Aang. "All I want to do now is play my part in ending this war, and I know my destiny is to help you restore balance to the world." He turned to Toph, who was thankfully standing of her own volition since Katara's healing had taken effect, and bowed to her. "I'm sorry for what I did to you. It was an accident. Fire can be dangerous and wild, so as a firebender, I need to be more careful and control my bending, so I don't hurt people unintentionally."
Toph waved off the apology, but Aang's expression was pensive. "I think you are supposed to be my firebending teacher," he said after a moment, hesitating before glancing at Katara. "When I first tried to learn firebending, I burned Katara, and after that, I never wanted to firebend again. But now I know you understand how easy it is to hurt the people you love." He turned back to Zuko, bowing to him. "I'd like you to teach me."
Zuko smiled and bowed back to him. "Thank you. I'm really happy you've accepted me into your group."
"Not so fast," Aang said, frowning now. "I still have to ask my friends if it's okay with them." He turned to Toph first. "Toph, you're the one he burned. What do you think?"
Toph shrugged. "I say let him join. Gives me more time to get back at him for burning my feet."
"Sokka?" Aang turned to Sokka expectantly.
Sokka chewed his lip, but then shrugged. "Hey, defeating the Fire Lord's all I care about. If you think this is the way to do it, I'm all for it."
"Katara?" Aang turned an uncertain look on Katara, who looked far less convinced than Rinzen hoped she would.
"I'll go along with whatever you think is right," she muttered sullenly after a tense moment, noticing everyone else's eyes on her.
"I won't let you down," Zuko insisted fervently, but the group was already dispersing, Katara still glowering at Zuko over her shoulder.
Rinzen knocked her shoulder lightly against Zuko's. "Give them time," she reassured him. "They'll come around. In the meantime, we can at least move your stuff here."
"Yeah." He gave her a small smile, clearly relieved that he had been accepted into the group despite their misgivings as they headed for the stone steps to pack up his makeshift camp and move his things to the temple.
Yay, Zuko joined the team! :D
It was a difficult decision for me to make Rinzen and Zuko break up - at least temporarily - but I figured it should be natural since they went through a lot and it seemed too sudden for them to just get back together as if nothing happened. I promise it's not permanent!
I hope you enjoyed this chapter! I look forward to writing everyone slowly warming up to Zuko, lol.