Chagatai looked up at the bag that was pumping some clear liquid into him. He didn't understand it. It looked like water. He didn't understand why the doctor needed to put holes in his skin so he could drink water. Why didn't he just drink some water? He didn't feel thirsty anyway. He was hungry, though. He wondered when they would feed him, and if he would have to pay for it. He didn't have any money on him; he was going to save the little money he had that Chinngis had given him.

Chagatai didn't like charity, and was determined to pay Chinngis back in a way that the Rhip tribesman would approve of. Hopefully busting the Koh den would meet Chinngis's expectations. Then again, Chagatai did need a doctor after it, and he'd heard stories of how a doctor visit was prohibitively expensive; some tribes had lost all their money when a child grew suddenly ill.

Money ill spent if all a doctor does is pump water into their skin.

Doctor Tilaq was a plump man of Polar descent, with dark skin and brown hair. He was taller than Chagatai by almost half a foot. He had round glasses resting on the edge of his nose.

"How are we feeling now, Chagatai?"

"I wouldn't know, I can only tell you how I'm feeling," Chagatai replied. The doctor paused and smiled.

"Well, I'm feeling fine. You tell me how you're feeling and we'll know how we're feeling, won't we?"

"I guess. I'm kinda nauseous. How come you're pumping water into me? Can't I just drink some water?"

"Because you're nauseous," the doctor said, "The fluid drip will keep you hydrated. Otherwise, if you drink, you might throw the water up. It's known to happen with those experimenting with Koh for the first time. You took a whiff of it."

"I didn't take any Koh!" Chagatai insisted, and Dr. Tilaq smiled and shook his head.

"Jampa told me what happened, it's quite all right. Your opponent used some new kind of the drug that he used as a weapon or a distraction. That's why I took a blood sample and had you spit into the cup earlier."

"How much is this going to cost?" Chagatai asked, and the doctor stared at him as if Chagatai were growing a second head.

"Not a thing, my boy."

Chagatai grumbled. He really didn't want to accept more charity.

"Is there any way I can pay you back, doctor? I want to pay my debts."

"Boy, if you don't accept charity once in a while, you will never pay off your debts. But if you insist on volunteering, I can use someone to clean my equipment. We'll talk about it later."

"How are Cahaya and Hue?"

"Hue is fine. Cahaya is awake, and we have her in treatment. She should be fine. Are you feeling up to visitors?"

Chagatai confirmed, and Jampa, Sonam, and Chinngis entered. Chagatai smiled at them; none of them returned the smile, and Chagatai's expression waned.

"That was a foolish thing you did, Chagatai," Sonam said, "Attacking a den of Triad. You could have been killed."

"Cahaya would have if I hadn't been there," Chagatai insisted.

"You should have called for the authorities," Chinngis huffed.

"They said that the police already knew about the den, and did nothing!"

"Those two also posed the Avatar to take people's moneyand they left you alone in the streets," Sonam said, "Their word doesn't mean much, Chagatai."

"They went after the Koh den, didn't they, like they said? I did the right thing."

"You did the stupid thing by running away like that!" Chinngis growled, "Chagatai, I am absolutely livid with you. I'm furious! I'm supposed to be responsible for you, and you ran off like that! I don't even know why I care! I haven't even known you for a week! I barely know you! And that makes me even angrier! I'm so angry, my anger is self-perpetuating, making me even more furious! My rage has an exponential growth factor! ALL. BECAUSE. OF. YOU."

Chagatai clutched the mattress of the bed he was laying on, shrinking into the pillow. Doctor Tilaq grasped a magazine from the dresser, rolled it up, and hit Chinngis on the back of the head.

"Don't stress out my patient, or I'll have you leave!"

"I'm sorry," Chinngis let out a long sigh, "I was just worried."

"You needn't as it is, Chinngis. As I said, your responsibilities towards Chagatai have come to an end. He no longer requires your care. Noboru has agreed to give Chagatai an apprenticeship and a room. You may go about your life as you had planned," Sonam said to Chinngis, whose mouth shrunk into a snarl.

"No."

"What?"

"No. I'm not going to give my responsibilities up just because you say so, Sonam. I made a promise to Chagatai and to my grandfather, and I intend to honor that promise. I came here as Chagatai's guide and his guardian. Besides, if it wasn't for you, none of this would have happened! This is your fault!"

Jampa stood between them, glaring at Chinngis, "And I was tasked with keeping him out of trouble. I lost track of him. If you're going to blame anyone, blame me, but don't talk to my grandfather like that."

Chinngis took in a deep breath through his nose, and he calmed down, his color going from purple back to brown. He kept his glare on Sonam.

"Chagatai stays with me until I can contact his family and we sort this all out," Chinngis said, "But I don't see any problem with him working for Noboru. But for the next two weeks, Chagatai? You are grounded."

Chagatai blinked, "Uh…Grounded? I mean, I'm an Earth Bender, so…"

Chinngis and Jampa looked at each other, and both fought back a laugh. Chinngis shook his head.

"No, it means you aren't allowed out of the house. Not without my permission. You're going to have a tutor come by every day for five hours. Then you will go to Noboru's for glassmaking. Then you will come home. You will do chores, you will take care of your lizard, and you will do what I say. After two weeks, you can go out during your free time. Am I understood?"

Chagatai nodded, not looking at him. Chinngis let out another long sigh.

"I'm glad you're okay. Don't worry, I'm not locking you in the basement. We'll still see Republic City," Chinngis said.

"Chagatai, I am sorry about this. I was charged with keeping an eye on you, and I lost you," Jampa said, but Chagatai shook his head.

"No, I shouldn't have run. It was a stupid mistake."

"Decision," Sonam corrected. Chagatai looked at him, confused. The Airbender master continued, "It was not a mistake that you made, Chagatai, but a decision. You chose to run from Airbender Island in the heat of your emotions. You didn't stumble off of it. To say it was a mistake is to say that you were not in control of yourself. Chagatai, part of growing up is learning that you choose decisions, and how to accept responsibility for your decisions, and mend your mistakes."

Chagatai nodded.

"Chagatai, I would like to extend my sympathy to you and your new…Friends. I would also like to offer additional education to all three of you. I know many Benders, many, if not most, are masters of their Element. You are an extremely talented Earthbender, one of the best young Benders I've met. You aren't the most disciplined, you aren't the most powerful, but you are one of the cleverest. I can't teach you Earthbending, but I can teach you discipline and control."

"I would like that," Chagatai said. He glanced at Chinngis, "If that's all right…"

"I can't teach you Bending," Chinngis shrugged, "And you've got to learn and develop your talent. I don't see any point in you going out of your way to learn a few novelties."

"I'll drill with him," Jampa said, "He'll be in my house anyway for a few hours every day. Bending is bending, practice and meditation is paramount to any martial art."

"I don't have a problem with it, so long as he doesn't lose sleep or short on his chores," Chinngis threw up his hands, "I just don't see much point in him going to Airbender Island every day."

"All right, Chagatai needs sleep," Dr. Tilaq insisted, "I'll release him in the morning."

"One more thing," Chinngis said, and he stepped out the room and picked something up off the floor, holding the jar with the Gilacorn lizard Jochi's neighbor had given Chagatai, "Someone else was worried about you."

Chagatai smiled, accepting the jar, "I haven't fed him yet."

"I fed him a bit of the jerky you had earlier. He ate all of it. Just remember to clean his jar tomorrow, he's been in there for a while."

"He should get a proper den. Made out of rock and sand. It's only proper we make accommodations for him! We took him away from his home! He won't get very big. Giant Gilacorn lizards have been extinct for over two hundred years."

"We'll see. For now, you're grounded," Chinngis reminded him, and the three left, leaving Chagatai to relax and fall slowly to sleep.

The next morning, Chagatai woke up just before noon, as he'd been exhausted from the previous day. Dr. Tilaq had made a house call; they were in Chinngis's home. The smells of lunch was what had brought Chagatai to his feet, despite Chinngis having been awake for several hours and walking around. Chagatai first visited the bathroom to clean out the lizard's jar, using soap and water. Soap was still a new concept to Chagatai, and so it took him a while to remember how he'd gotten the lather out of the bar. The lizard disliked being on the cold marble counter, and jumped off, landing on its hind legs, and running out of the bathroom.

"Hey!"

Chagatai chased after the lizard, which was not used to running on the unmoving carpet, and did not move as nimbly as Gilacorn lizards are known to. Chagatai was similarly unfamiliar, however, and he nearly stepped over the lizard as he chased after his pet. Chagatai scooped up the lizard, which did not fidget, taking a liking to the warmth of Chagatai's hand.

"You didn't like that, did you? I'm sorry. Here, you can hang out here on my shoulder. You should be comfortable there, right? I still need to clean your jar. I can't keep you on my shoulder all the time."

Chagatai became aware that he was not alone when he heard an unfamiliar laugh. He looked up, slowly, to see Chinngis wearing a white suit with another man, who was wearing instructor's robes of green with lots of laces keeping the robes tight on his figure. He was older than Chinngis, but not yet middle aged.

"This is him, then?" the stranger asked.

"Yeah. I told you food would wake him up. This boy can eat. You should have seen him back in Si Wong. Chagatai, this is Wen. He's the tutor I told you about. He'll be teaching you how to read and write, and world history and the like. When I came to Republic City I was as uneducated as you were. Wen here found me working as a valet for a speakeasy, illiterate and stupid, and took me to his school."

"School! Hah! That was a shack! He paid me back, too. Chinngis here bought an entire block of condemned buildings and is building me a proper school."

"Well, a school is where you learn. The building won't be ready until later this year, so Wen has been tutoring in the mornings. I bought out his entire morning schedule just for you, Chagatai, and he will come here unless he wants to do something out of the house. So you better not run off."

"Don't worry, I don't use the yardstick much. But I won't just be teaching you your numbers and characters. History, etiquette, that sort of thing. I hope that you'll stay in Republic City long enough to attend the school. It's the biggest thing happening that doesn't involve booze or drugs these days in Republic City."

Chagatai nodded, making a tent with his hands in front of his nose, and brought it to his sternum as he bowed.

"I will do my best, Master Wen."

"Master is for Bending teachers. I don't teach Bending anymore. Just call me Mister Wen."

"You're a Bender?"

"Yeah, that's a long story, though. Sit down, Chagatai, and we'll figure out what you know."