Chapter XIV: Bitter Work
The next morning, Jin awoke with a feeling of muted excitement. He supposed, perhaps, that he should have been more excited- after all, he was going to start learning airbending, and after that, there would be only one element left to master: water. He climbed out of bed and stretched, wondering how his lessons would go. He looked around; the others were still sleeping. Then, someone said to him, "I didn't think of you as an early riser." Jin looked at the source- somehow, he had overlooked Yu, who was sitting on the one free bed. Jin said to him, "And they complain about me waking up early. So, are you ready?" Yu stood up. "I'm ready, and I found the perfect place for us to train, too. The question is, are you ready?"
"Of course! Let's get going." Yu and Jin left the room as quietly as they could. After they exited, Yu began to lead Jin through the temple. As they walked, Jin asked, "So what exactly are we going to do?" Yu thought for a moment, and then replied, "I guess we'll start with the basics. I have to admit, there isn't much to airbending- once you first figure out how to move the air, everything else is pretty easy." A few minutes passed, and Yu and Jin entered a large open space outside the temple. The space was a large, flat field, and would have been otherwise unremarkable were it not for two very tall posts ending in rings that stood at each end of the field. Before Jin could ask, Yu said, "This place is a flying bison polo field. Those poles with the rings way up there are the goals. Nobody really uses this place since we don't have any flying bison here, but it'll be perfect for training." As Yu stretched, Jin asked, "No flying bison here? Are there flying bison at the other temples?" Yu replied, "I don't know. I heard some of the elders talking one time about how there might be flying bison at the other temples, but no one here's gone to see." Yu shook his head. "Sorry, need to focus on the lesson. Right, where to begin?" He rubbed his chin and thought for a few moments, mumbling something Jin couldn't make out. Then, Yu said, "Okay, this is the most basic of basic techniques. You just push the air and make a breeze. Like this."
Yu readied himself, pulled his arm back, and thrust it forward- when he did, a strong wind emanated from his palm and blew across the field. The wind blew for a few seconds before dying away. Yu stood straight, and then said, "Now you try it." Jin nodded, and readied himself. He focused, pulled back his arm like Yu, and thrust it forward. But nothing happened. Confused, Jin tried again; again, nothing happened. Yu noticed and said to Jin, "You can't expect to master this right away. Your best chance would be to take this slowly." Jin tried again a few more times, to the same effect as before. Yu thought for a moment. "Hmm… Maybe we should try something else." Jin looked back. "No. Let's keep trying with this. I'm sure I'll get it eventually."
"Hold on. That's part of your problem: you're not thinking like an airbender. The monks told me that the philosophy of airbending is that there's never just one way to do something- a lot of techniques can be done with different ways, but they'll still have the same effect. Why don't you try this?" Yu readied himself again, but this time made a swiping motion with his arm- this made a large arc of air that flew a short distance away from him. Yu stepped aside; Jin readied himself, focused, and repeated Yu's action, but as before, nothing happened. Jin swung his arm several more times, focusing as hard as he could, but still nothing happened. Yu was silent in thought for a few moments, before saying, "You know, it might help if you add more movements. Part of airbending comes from building up inertia, and the more inertia you build up, the stronger the airbending techniques become." To demonstrate, Yu whirled in a wide circle before thrusting out his arm like the first time. A powerful wind blew across the field, and quickly died away. Again, Yu stepped aside to let Jin try. "Do I have to?" Jin asked, "It looks ridiculous." Yu said nothing, but motioned for Jin to try. Jin sighed, stepped forward, and copied Yu's actions. It came as no surprise to him when, yet again, nothing happened.
The remainder of the lesson was much the same way. It seemed that no matter how many movements Jin made, he couldn't force the air to work for him. He went to bed that night feeling frustrated at his lack of progress. He didn't understand- for a fleeting instance, he supposed he wasn't, and would never be, an airbender. He quickly shook off such a ridiculous notion- he was the Avatar, the master of all four elements- and that meant he was an airbender just as much as he was an earthbender and a firebender.
But the next two days would shake his faith. For over those next two days, he again made no progress. Which meant three days had passed. Three days without results. On the third night, he laid in his bed, unable to sleep. He listened as the wooden bed of one of his companions groaned as the weight of its occupant shifted to a more comfortable position. He tried to will himself to sleep, but it didn't work; Jin simply lay in his bed, not so much resting as he was waiting. Finally, he could stand it no longer. He sat up, and as quietly as he could, climbed out of his bed, and slunk out the door.
Yu glided silently into the room early the next morning. The air was cold, and the surrounding mountains were bathed in the pink light of the rising sun. Yu landed, snapped his glider shut, and looked around the room. He noticed something was off, and counted to himself, "One… two…" And that was it. Other than himself, there were only two other people in the room. And it didn't take too long for him to figure out who was missing. He went to Toph's bed and tapped her shoulder, saying, "Toph. Toph wake up." She curled up and mumbled, "Go away, Jin. It's too early" Yu ignored this and said bluntly to her, "Jin's missing."
Toph immediately sat bolt upright in her bed. "What?" She asked incredulously. "But he was here last night." She got up, crossed the room, and roused Nina. "Nina, wake up," she said. "Jin's gone." Nina grumbled back, "Has it occurred to you that he might have just went to the bathroom?" before she rolled over and tried to go back to sleep. Toph shook Nina. "Nina. Get up. This is serious. We have to find him."
Nina sat up. "Fine. So what are we going to do?"
"I don't know. We should probably split up."
"That sounds like a good idea," Yu said. "Toph, you should check the west part of the temple. Nina, you take the north part. I'll check out the east part of the temple. We'll meet up here again in an hour if we don't find him." Yu then unsnapped his glider, and tossed it out the window- he leapt after it, grabbed hold of it, and adjusted himself before flying away. Toph and Nina looked after him other wordlessly and left the room as well.
A few minutes later, Toph stood at the edge of the courtyard, pondering where she should look for Jin. She was brought out of her musings by a small clattering noise- had the courtyard not been deserted at this hour, it otherwise wouldn't have drawn her attention. She looked down at the source- a small stone. As she bent down to pick it up, there was another clattering noise and another stone bounced into view. She looked around, and noticed for the first time that her half of the courtyard was littered with small stones. She looked up to see a few stones falling from above. They seemed to be coming from a large balcony near the top of one of the central towers. So, Toph stood up straight and began to make her way to the source.
Crack. Crack. Crack.
As Toph climbed the stairs up the tower, she became aware of a periodic crack that echoed down from the top. Eventually, she reached an open door near the top of the tower; as she approached a particularly loud crack reverberated from beyond. She peered around the door frame; beyond was a garden- the very same garden Jin had showed them only a few days before. But more importantly, beyond the door was Jin himself. He was turned away from her, overlooking the temple grounds. He held a large stick; he stomped the ground, a small stone shooting up in response. As soon as it reached a certain height, he swung at the stone- it hit dead on, sending the stone flying and emitting a resonating crack. Toph finally stepped out into the garden and said, "Jin." He looked back, revealing his eyes were bloodshot. "Hey," he said in reply, and launched up another stone. Crack. She walked over to him. "Yu told us you were gone. The others are looking for you." Crack.
"Is that right?" Crack.
"Jin, something's bothering you, isn't it?" Crack.
"I don't want to talk about it." Crack.
"You do know that's your problem, right?" Crack. "Yu told me about your lessons yesterday." Crack.
"Did he tell you that I haven't accomplished anything over the last three days?" Crack.
Toph sighed. "Yeah." Crack. "Look, I know things are hard for you right now, but Yu's just trying to help. You know that, don't you?"
"I know, I know!" Jin stomped, raising a stone, and swung especially hard at it, but rather than being sent flying, it lodged itself firmly in the stick. He dropped it and said, "I know. Yu told me I had to 'let go.' But how am I supposed to do that? I don't even know what that means!" Toph though for a few moments, then said, "Let me put it this way: if water and fire are opposites, then what would the opposite of earth be?"
"I guess it would be air."
"That's why this is so hard for you. You're working with your natural opposite." She walked up to him and put her hand on his shoulder. "I'm sure that if you keep working at it, you'll get it eventually."
Jin's face reddened slightly. "You really think so?"
Toph smiled at him. "Of course I do. You're a talented kid." Jin smiled back and quickly looked away, blushing. There was a wind-like sound, and Yu flew down into the garden, snapping his glider shut when he landed. Toph quickly let go of Jin's shoulder when she saw him. Yu walked over, saying "So you managed to find Jin. Good." He then said to Jin, "We need to start your training. Are you ready?" Jin turned to him, straightened up, and replied, "I'm ready." He was surprised- the few words Toph had said to him couldn't possibly have warranted the confidence he felt now… could they? Yu readied himself and said, "Remember the first thing I taught you." He repeated the first movement Jin had learned- he pulled back his arm and thrust it forward, creating a gust of wind. Jin repeated his actions, focusing as hard as he could, but when he thrust out his arm, nothing happened. Jin felt incredibly disappointed; even after all his effort, still nothing had changed. Yu shook his head. "Still nothing? That's a shame." He walked a short distance away. "If you can't learn anything from me…" he stopped. "Then I suppose you are of no use to me."
He immediately turned and swung his arm, sending a large arc of air toward him; Jin immediately raised a rock wall to block it, and then shoved the wall at Yu. He bent the air currents around him, and pushed himself upward, jumping over the wall, and launched several more air swipes at him. Jin jumped out of the way, taking a deep breath, and when he righted himself, launched several fireballs at Yu. Yu spun his arms in two large circles around himself, the air following, and the fireballs immediately dispersed. Before Yu could recover, Jin raised several rocks and launched them- however, Yu created a large sphere of wind around him and the rocks bounced off it harmlessly. Yu moved hands in a small circle and thrust them forward, launching a small cyclone at Jin. Jin raised another rock wall, but the cyclone punched through the wall and hit him squarely in the chest. He flew back and hit the ground hard. Jin quickly sprung to his feet, and the battle continued.
Jin thought furiously, trying to figure out how he was supposed to gain the upper hand. The techniques he knew were powerful, but were no match for the sheer speed of Yu's techniques. Jin then remembered something- Yu had told him that airbending techniques relied on inertia… He figured it out. He somehow had to get Yu to stop moving. He watched Yu, waiting for an opening- finally, Yu began to whirl his entire body around, building up for a powerful attack. It was Jin's chance. He raised up a rock, grabbed it, took a deep breath, and concentrated all the energy he could muster into his feet. Finally, Yu unleashed a powerful blast of wind- at that moment, Jin stomped, igniting a jet of flame at the bottom of his feet that launched him into the air, over the air blast. He reached back, and hurled the rock at Yu. Rather than blocking it, Yu simply jumped out of the way, but the effort threw him off balance. It was all Jin needed. He clenched his hand into a fist, and immediately the earth Yu stood on gripped his feet. Thrown off balance by the sudden stop, he fell onto his stomach, where the earth gripped Yu's wrists as well.
Jin landed, and was about to take another deep breath to charge a firebending technique when he noticed that Yu wasn't struggling. Yu said to him, "Excellent work, Jin. That firebending technique you used to dodge my attack was amazing. But that's not all." Jin asked, "Really? And why is that?"
"If you let me go, I'll tell you." Jin unclenched his fists; the earth holding down Yu's limbs sank back into the ground. Yu stood up, massaging one of his wrists, and said, "I remember you used that technique before, but just now you used it in a completely different way. Using techniques in new ways, and to your advantage, shows flexibility and imagination- traits absolutely vital for airbending. You have what it takes. Do it."
"But-"
"Do it!" Jin recoiled, but quickly recovered and readied himself. He took a deep breath and focused. He held his arms in front of his chest, moved them in the circle he saw Yu make, and thrust them forward; a small cyclone flew from his hands and continued for a few feet before dispersing. Behind him, he heard Yu applaud. "Congratulations, Jin. You're an airbender."