Book II: Earth
Chapter 8: The Rock
Whaletail Island - Ten Years After Sozin's Comet
Aang remembered Whaletail as an uninhabited island on the periphery of the southern Air Nomad territories, where they would occasionally stop to graze their sky bison on the way to and from the Southern Air Temple. But now, as they approached, he could see there were two settlements that hadn't been there in his time, one in the cove on the eastern end of the island, the other at the westernmost tip. The roofs of the houses were green, Earth Kingdom style. It seemed the Fire Nation weren't the only ones who had done some colonizing in the last hundred and ten years.
But, he supposed, it wasn't like anyone else was using the land anymore.
At Zuko's prompting, Aang guided Appa to land near the middle of the island, away from both towns. They touched down in a grassy hollow, and Toph immediately leaped to the ground. "Earth," she sighed with evident relief. "Sweet, sweet earth."
Aang dismounted with a graceful flip and some casual airbending, twirling his recovered staff in one hand. Zuko and Katara made their way to the ground more carefully. Once unburdened, Appa began to graze on the long grass. At least the sky bison remembered what this land was for.
"So, there's no one chasing us at the moment, right?" Aang asked. They had zig-zagged their way to their destination, just in case, but had seen no sign of any pursuers since they had fought off Azula in the forest.
"Nothing feels like danger to me," Toph replied.
Zuko nodded in agreement. "I don't know why Azula was traveling alone, but she'll need a ship if she wants to follow us off the continent." He looked away, towards the north, where the ocean lay just over the horizon. "The smart thing for her to do now would be to head back to the colonies and regroup."
Personally, Aang wondered if the woman who had nearly burnt down an entire forest trying to kill them could really be counted on to do the smart thing. But he figured Zuko would know best.
"It'll probably take another day or so for Sokka to get here," Katara pointed out, already rummaging through their supplies. "Toph, why don't you start working on earthbending with Aang while Zuko and I set up camp?"
"Yes!" Aang cried, punching the air excitedly. "Finally!" He couldn't wait to try bending a new element, and he had a feeling Toph would be a lot more fun as a teacher than Katara was. Not that he disliked his waterbending instruction, but Katara could be a bit fussy about doing things a certain way. He doubted Toph would be as conventional.
They headed a little ways away from Appa, towards an area where the grass was thinner. This seemed to be something of a rough track worn by travelers on foot or perhaps driving livestock. It ran roughly in the direction of the eastern town on the island, with a ridge sloping up on one side and the shoreline in the distance on the other."Perfect," Toph proclaimed, flexing her bare toes against the dirt.
"Isn't someone more likely to see us here?" Aang asked. The last few months had taught him habits of secrecy.
"So what?" Toph replied with an unconcerned wave of her hand. "They catch us earthbending, this is the Earth Kingdom. It's not a crime."
Aang wanted to protest that this was, technically, the Air Nomad territories, but he saw her point, and didn't bother to argue. He took up what he thought was a pretty good earthbending stance. "Okay, what's first?" he asked. "Rock-a-lanche? Or rock shield? Or do I have to start with feeling the earth?" That had been how Katara had begun his waterbending training a few months earlier, with just feeling the element.
Toph stamped one foot, sending tremors through the ground that knocked Aang off his balance. He stumbled backwards, arms spinning wildly. "You felt that, right?" Toph asked sarcastically. "An earthbender needs to be grounded. If something breaks your stance, you're at a huge disadvantage."
"Like the ice?" Aang asked innocently, remembering the final showdown with the Bandit back in Penkou City.
"Like ice," Toph agreed neutrally, apparently unbothered by the reminder of her own defeat. "Or like a better earthbender than you." She stamped her foot again, but this time Aang was ready, and with a burst of airbending he leaped into the air until the mini earthquake had subsided.
Now Toph clearly was unhappy. "Hold on there, Twinkletoes," she scolded. "Airbending your way out of the exercise won't help you learn anything. Keep those feet on the ground." She cocked her head to one side, considering. "While you're at it, take those shoes off. I want you to really feel the earth."
"Yes, Sifu Toph," Aang replied with an apologetic bow. She was right, of course, he realized as he tugged his boots off and tossed them aside. He was here to learn earthbending. He got back into the same stance as before, slightly adjusted. The dirt felt warm and dry under his bare feet. "Okay, I'm ready this time."
Toph repeated the drill, and Aang, determined not to use any airbending at all, fell flat on his backside. "Well," Toph said. "That was an improvement."
Aang scowled up at her from his position on the ground, legs splayed out in front of him and arms propping him up from behind. Belatedly he realized she couldn't see his facial expression, which only irritated him more. "Look, I get that the sarcasm is your thing," he complained. "But you don't have to make fun of me."
"I'm not making fun of you, kid," Toph replied in a gentler tone. "That time really was better, because at least you tried to do it the right way."
Aang got to his feet and dusted off his hands. "Yeah, but I failed," he pointed out.
Toph shrugged. "So try again," she said simply.
Aang still wasn't convinced. "Maybe I need to start with something else," he suggested. "Or try a different stance?"
Toph placed her hands on her hips. "No, you just need more practice," she insisted. "There's no secret trick to this, no sneaky way out of it. It's just going to take some work. Now, show me your stance again."
Reluctantly, Aang did as she asked. They repeated the exercise, over and over, until Aang was starting to feel like his whole body was black and blue from falling down. But Toph wouldn't let him quit, no matter how much he complained, and eventually, he was able to stay on his feet.
"Good job, kid," Toph offered by way of curt praise when he had kept his stance through five straight repetitions of the drill. "You've got your roots. Now let's see if you can move a rock." As she spoke, she thrust one fist upward with a sweeping gesture from the hip, and a large grey stone erupted out of the earth between them. "Like this," she said, with a forward thrust of her fist, sliding her foot forward at the same time. The rock sailed through the air, landing with a thud several yards away. "Now you send it back."
Aang ran eagerly after the rock, but took care to settle into the correct stance he had just mastered. He glanced over the rock - it looked a lot bigger now that he was thinking about trying to move it - then looked back to Toph. "Now?" he called out to her.
"Anytime you're ready, Twinkletoes," Toph called back.
Aang imitated Toph's movements - fist out, foot following through. He tried to visualize the rock moving, willing it to happen. All he got was a blast of air, which ricocheted off the surface of the rock and knocked him over yet again. The rock itself went nowhere.
"Less airbending, more earthbending," Toph scolded. "Try again." With a groan, Aang got to his feet and obeyed.
The rock stubbornly refused to move for the rest of the morning. Unlike the first exercise, Aang didn't feel like he was making any progress, either. All he had to show for his efforts were bruised knuckles from his fist hitting the stone. And no matter how many times Toph demonstrated the move again, or reminded him to be more "rock-like," he still couldn't get it. By the time Katara found them to tell them she had lunch ready, Aang was more than happy to call it quits.
"So how is earthbending going?" Katara asked as they walked back towards Appa, Toph trailing behind them.
"It's not," Aang said miserably. "I can't do it." Maybe all those years frozen in the ice had messed up his bending abilities, or maybe he was just the worst Avatar ever, but at the moment it felt like he would never be able to earthbend.
"It's just your first lesson," Katara reminded him, putting an arm around his shoulders. "I'm sure you'll get the hang of it."
"Yeah, sure," Aang agreed. But he didn't really believe it.
Eastern Earth Kingdom - Eight Years Earlier
When they got back to the inn, Katara immediately headed up to her room to stow the supplies she had bought at the market. To her surprise, Zuko followed her, shutting the door behind them, and tossed the bedroll she had given him at her feet. With the canteen and other gear bundled inside of it, it hit the floor with a solid thud.
"I didn't ask for that," Zuko insisted.
Katara resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "But you need it," she said again. "And I had enough money to buy it, so what was I supposed to do, just let you keep sleeping on the ground every night?"
"Why does it even matter to you?" Zuko scoffed, crossing his arms over his chest. "I thought you'd be going back to the camp now anyway."
He had her there. She knew that the refugee camp was where she was supposed to be. But if she was being honest, ever since she had left after her argument with the captain, it hadn't felt that way anymore. The fever had passed, thanks to Zuko, and they still had Nivi. Katara's old feelings of restlessness had returned.
"You still haven't told me what your goal is," Katara deflected. "I'm not just going to leave you to wander aimlessly by yourself."
Zuko was far from satisfied with that answer. When he spoke again, it was through gritted teeth. "Why. Not."
"I don't know!" Katara exclaimed in frustration, throwing her hands in the air. She paced the narrow room and threw out all the answers that came to mind. "Because I don't turn my back on people who need me? Because you shouldn't have to be alone? Why do I need a reason to help you?"
But none of these, apparently, were the right thing to say either. If anything, Zuko looked even more angry at her. "Because you have plenty of reasons not to," he replied hotly.
It was a strange thing to say, and Katara thought it sounded vaguely self-pitying. "You know, you're hardly the only person who's fallen on hard times," she reminded him, one fist planted against her hip. He had to be aware, from his time in the camp if nothing else, that there was no shame in anyone needed help these days.
Zuko turned his back to her. "You don't know what you're talking about," he said dismissively.
"Please," Katara scoffed, unimpressed. "You may love your whole 'mysterious brooding firebender' act, but your life can't be that complicated that no one could possibly understand." She certainly wasn't about to admit just how much that very mystery surrounding him had intrigued her - he was probably just a deserter from the Fire Nation army. Nothing that special.
Zuko stood still for a moment, still facing away from her, shoulders tense. Katara silently dared him to explain himself, to tell her what was so terrible about his life, what curse the spirits had placed on him, that he was doomed to be a solitary outcast forever.
But he didn't. Instead, he just muttered under his breath, "Forget it," and reached for the door to leave her room.
"Maybe you should have been an earthbender!" Katara shouted after him as he escaped into the corridor. "Because you're as stubborn as a rock!"
The door slammed shut behind him. Katara sat down on the bed in a frustrated huff, and realized he had left all the supplies she had bought for him in her room. The bundled bedroll lay innocently on the floor, mocking her for all her naïve attempts to help someone who didn't want it.
Well, she'd let him cool off on his own for a while. But Katara wasn't about to let this argument be the end of it. Eventually Zuko would have to realize how stupid it was for him to refuse her help.
When she went back downstairs to the tavern a little while later, Katara was unsurprised to learn from the tavern keeper that Zuko had not left his room yet. "Your friend there doesn't seem like the most sociable fellow," the old man observed as he served her another steaming plate of fish stew. It was a good thing Katara was used to eating a lot of fish back home.
"He's not," Katara agreed. She stirred the stew in her dish - it was still too hot to eat. She might not have as much control over heat as a firebender, but she could still try something. Carefully holding one hand over the dish, Katara felt the water in the broth, then wiggled her fingers.
An ice cube formed in the middle of the dish. Well, she thought, stirring the stew again so the ice melted into the rest of the hot liquid, that would have to do.
The tavern keeper eyed her cooled food curiously. "Waterbender, huh," he said under his breath. "Handy, that." He shook his head. "Anyway, not that it's any of my business, but he must like you a lot."
"Zuko?" Katara asked in surprise. "I think he tolerates me more than anything." And barely even that, at the moment.
"Zuko? That's his name?" the tavern keeper said, scratching his chin. "That's strange…"
Belatedly, Katara remembered that Zuko's name was distinctly Fire Nation. "He's from the colonies," she lied with a shrug. They should have discussed a fake name for him before they came into town.
To her surprise, the tavern keeper laughed. "Oh, I see," he said, clapping his hands. "His family must've tried to make a point of how good and loyal they were. Serves them right they saddled him with the worst possible Fire Nation name, the poor bastard."
Now Katara was just confused. "The worst possible name?" she asked. "How's that?" Surely having any Fire Nation name was bad enough as far as people in the Earth Kingdom would be concerned.
"Did the stories not make it all the way to the Water Tribes?" the tavern keeper replied, sitting down across the table from her. "The Phoenix King had a son named Zuko."
Katara shook her head. "I've never heard of him."
The tavern keeper leaned back in his chair, hooking his thumbs into his belt. "Oh, I figure he and your friend were born around the same time," he speculated. "And the poor boy's parents thought it was a good idea to name their son after the Fire Nation's new prince."
"I guess that could be," Katara agreed. It might be even more likely in the heart of the Fire Nation, where Zuko was actually from, than in the colonies.
"To bad for them, Prince Zuko wound up getting himself banished and declared a traitor," the tavern keeper continued with a chuckle. "So now your friend is stuck with a name that'll win him no favors anywhere."
That would explain Zuko's reluctance to share his name, Katara thought. Of course, if it was really so bad, he could just take a new name. But another question was nagging at her. "What ever happened to him?" she asked. "The prince, I mean."
The tavern keeper shrugged. "I heard Ozai killed him on the day of the burning," he said, all mirth gone from his voice. "Just goes to show what a cold son of a bitch the Phoenix King is."
"Yeah," Katara agreed. She couldn't imagine what sort of terrible crime a Fire Nation prince would have to commit to be banished, but even so, a father killing his own son was horrible. She knew Ozai was a monster, but somehow that made him seem even worse.
"Well," the tavern keeper said, slapping the palm of one hand against the tabletop. "Sorry for the less than cheerful conversation. I'll let you eat in peace." Katara nodded as the old man got up and went back into the kitchen.
Katara finished her stew, and still Zuko didn't come down from his room. Maybe he wasn't hungry, or maybe he really was just that stubborn. He had said he was used to going without food, but would he really starve himself just to avoid her?
Katara thought about the bedroll still sitting on the floor of her room and concluded he might.
She paused in front of his door as she headed back to her own room. She thought about knocking and trying to sort things out between them again, but her hand halted halfway through the motion. It was rather dark in the corridor now, and she could see the gentle glow of light under the door, steadily growing and shrinking. He must be meditating. She could leave him alone until morning.
But when morning came, and she did knock on his door, it turned out to be unlatched, and swung open. The room was empty, and there was no sign of Zuko downstairs, either. He had left, alone.
Fuming, Katara packed up her things, tying the extra bedroll to her pack. Rocks had nothing on him when it came to stubbornness, but she had every intention of finding him and letting him know just how ridiculous he was being. And if he tried to brush her off again, she would keep doing it, until he got it through his thick skull.
She wasn't going to give up that easily.
Whaletail Island - Ten Years After Sozin's Comet
After lunch, when there was no sign of Sokka, but no sign of anyone else to give them trouble, either, Toph insisted Aang should pick up right where he had left off. Seeing how the boy's face fell at the idea, Katara suggested they do some waterbending practice first. Sure enough, their time down by the shore working on the octopus form lifted his spirits, though Toph claimed her turn again after less than an hour. This time, Katara decided to stick around and watch the earthbending lesson.
Apparently the exercise that was giving him so much trouble was just moving a rock. On his first try, Aang pulled his punch, and nothing happened. Toph scolded him for his half-hearted strike, and told him to try again. Katara couldn't help but wince as she saw Aang dash his knuckles against the rock on the second try. He certainly hadn't held back that time, but to no greater success.
"Let me see your hand," Katara said, stepping in with healing water at the ready. Aang muttered an embarrassed word of thanks as she repaired the scraped and bruised skin.
"If you're done coddling him?" Toph said pointedly.
Katara glared at the younger woman as Aang yanked his hand out of her grip. "It's not coddling to treat his injuries," she protested.
Toph made a dismissive gesture. "He won't keel over from bloody knuckles. It's just part of the learning process."
"Maybe that's how you learned," Katara allowed. She could see how a young girl from an aristocratic background might have felt like she had something to prove when it came to being tough, and how that might shape her attitude towards things like this. "But I think Aang would benefit from a different approach." She heard Aang whine her name in protest, but ignored him.
To her surprise, Toph didn't argue. "Actually, that's not a bad idea," she said with a nod vaguely in Katara's direction, then pointed at Aang. "If you can't make the rock move, let's see if you can stop it from moving." Making it look effortless, Toph bended the rock to the top of the ridge herself, then leaped up after it, bending the earth beneath her feet as a springboard.
"Stop it?" Aang asked in alarm. "You mean you're going to - hey!" He was cut off as the rock came rolling down the ridge towards him at far greater than natural speed, and he had to dodge out of its path.
"Toph," Katara protested. "He wasn't ready!"
"Well, next time he will be," Toph replied, returning the rock to her side at the top of the ridge. "Come on, Aang! Show me that stance you mastered!" She set the rock rolling once again, and it hurtled towards Aang, who this time was in a solid stance with a look of determination on his face. But at the last minute, he faltered, and leaped out of the way again.
"Isn't this exercise a little dangerous for a beginner?" Katara spoke up before Toph could scold Aang again. Aang gave her a pleading look, and she realized his two teachers arguing wasn't going to do him much good. She had thought they were past this. "Why don't you start him with some smaller stones," she suggested, trying to be helpful instead.
Toph was silent for a moment. It was hard to tell, with her blank stare, if she was considering what Katara had said, or just ignoring her. "Aang," she said at last. "You need to stretch your legs. Go for a run, and no airbending." She pointed emphatically down the dirt track, and Aang reluctantly jogged away. Then Toph slid down the ridge as if she were surfing a wave, coming to face Katara. "If the kid can't move a boulder when it's coming at him, he can't move a pebble," she declared.
Katara was not convinced by this. "Doesn't it usually work the other way around?" Anything she'd ever learned, she'd had to start small.
"Oh, I'm sorry," Toph replied, pressing one hand to her chest in an affected gesture of contrition. "I didn't know you were the earthbending master around here."
"Of course you know more about earthbending than I do," Katara conceded, trying to be patient. "But I know how Aang learns. He might want to take on everything at once, but you have to rein him in until he's ready." Aang would have loved it if she had thrown ice daggers at him in their early lessons, but she had made sure he could handle the basics first.
"That's funny," Toph said. "It seems to me like he has the opposite problem. Aang doesn't want to do anything that doesn't come easy." She pounded one fist against her palm emphasis. "He has to be forced to face a challenge, or he'll never learn."
"How true that is, for all of us," a wistful masculine voice interrupted them.
Katara spun around in surprise. "Sokka!" she exclaimed at the sight of her brother a little ways down the road, once again dressed more like a Water Tribe warrior than a monk, but looking no less eccentric for it. She ran to him and hugged him, grateful for the diversion from arguing with Toph, and he warmly returned the embrace.
But when the younger woman joined them, and Katara turned to make introductions, Toph was frowning in confusion. "Where did you come from?" she asked, pointing accusingly at Sokka.
"Oh, that way," Sokka replied with a vague wave towards the western end of the island.
"I didn't feel you coming," Toph said. "Why didn't I feel you coming?"
"An earth spirit with a sense of humor," Sokka replied without missing a beat.
"A who with a what now?" Toph shot back.
Katara rolled her eyes. "Yes, Sokka the Great and Powerful is on chummy terms with all kinds of spirits," she said with mock reverence.
"Please tell me we're not relying on his spirit chums to tell us how to defeat the Fire Lord," Toph moaned in distress that sounded rather more genuine.
"Of course not," Sokka said reassuringly. "I have no idea how to defeat Azula." Toph's hand met her forehead with a smack, and Katara gave her brother a withering look. He took no notice of either. "But I do know where we should go next," he said in a far more cheerful tone, looping his arm around Katara's. "Let's find your Avatar and your husband and I'll tell you all about it."
"Brilliant strategist, huh?" Toph muttered as they headed after Aang.
"Just...give him time," Katara murmured in reply.
Eastern Earth Kingdom - Eight Years Earlier
Zuko didn't take anything with him when he left. He didn't have anything to leave behind either, and that bothered him - Katara had paid for the rooms at the inn, and their food, after all. Ideally, he would have paid her back, to properly settle their account. But he had no means of doing so, and if he didn't leave, she was just going to keep trying to force him further into her debt.
This wasn't pride, he told himself. This was pragmatism.
Leaving the town behind, he headed south by the earliest light of dawn. Fishermen were already setting out for the day, and if any of them paid him any notice, he didn't care. He was never coming back here again, so it wouldn't matter what they thought of him now. He was heading back towards Yaosai, and though he knew he would have to give the castle a wide berth lest he run into anyone who recognized him from his time there, the woods in that area were enough to give him cover, so he could put his plans into action.
Because he did have plans. First priority, forage. Second priority, hunt. Feed himself, and trade game for the other things he needed. And all the time, keep moving. Never settle in one place long enough for trouble to find him.
If these plans did not exactly rise to the level of the goal he had insisted to Katara that he had, he didn't dwell on that.
Stubborn as a rock, she had called him. Maybe he was. He was never supposed to give up, right? Never forget, never yield, not without a fight. And this was his fight, not hers.
He made it a little more than a week, heading steadily south, passing through small towns only to barter when necessary. Hunting in the underbrush that was dried out from the drought wasn't easy, but he managed to follow through on his plans enough to acquire a small knife, a thin blanket, a canteen, and, luxury of luxuries, a straw hat. In addition to keeping the sun off his face, this made his scar less obvious. He was still treated with cool suspicion in every town he stopped in, but people didn't immediately stare.
About a week later, at dusk, he was setting snares in the woods just a few miles from Yaosai castle. It was closer than he would have liked, but with the scarcity of game he had to cast a wide net, so to speak.
"Isn't that poaching?" came a voice from behind him.
Caught off guard, Zuko whirled around, knife in hand. But his mind was already registering who the voice belonged to as he did so. Katara had found him, and she looked none to pleased. He returned her glare. "Did you come all this way after me to turn me in?" he asked. Technically, he might be poaching. He wasn't sure who, if anyone, owned these woods.
"No," Katara replied haughtily. "I came after you to give you this." She set her pack down, untied the controversial bedroll from the top of it, and threw it at his feet, just like he had done to her during their last argument. "I bought it for you, which means it's yours, and where I come from, it's extremely rude to refuse a gift like that."
Zuko stared at the girl. "A gift," he repeated. Gifts were things you gave to people you were close to, or at least liked. "Why would you give me a gift?"
"Why won't you accept it?" Katara shot back, avoiding the question.
Zuko clenched his teeth in aggravation. Was she really going to make him say it, how humiliating it was to be totally reliant on the charity of a near stranger? "I don't need it," he ground out instead, hoping she would get the idea and back off.
Katara rolled her eyes. No such luck, then. "That's ridiculous," she insisted. "Of course you need it. It's going to get colder eventually, and even a firebender has to have something between him and the ground at night when the frost comes."
She was missing the point. "By the time the frost comes," Zuko replied, "I'll have everything I need. And I'll have earned it on my own."
Katara's expression turned pensive. "On your own?" she echoed. Zuko gestured with his knife towards where his meager blanket lay rolled up, with his canteen sitting on top, where he had set them down nearby. "Oh," Katara said, noticing his rudimentary gear for the first time. "How'd you get those?" She glanced back at him and eyed his knife with vague suspicion.
"I didn't steal anything," Zuko defended himself against the unspoken accusation. "I told you I know how to take care of myself. It's all come by honestly."
Katara looked pointedly at the snare he had been laying. "Honestly, huh?"
Okay, so maybe not entirely honestly, if he really was poaching. But she must see now that he didn't need her help anymore. "Will you just leave me alone?" Zuko replied, tired and frustrated. "It'll be better for both of us."
Katara gave him a strange look, then bent down and picked up the bedroll again. "I think I understand," she said slowly. "You're right, you can take care of yourself. But just because you've gotten used to being on your own doesn't mean you have to give up."
"Give up?" Zuko repeated, confused.
Katara shrugged. "Insisting you have to be alone forever sounds like giving up to me." She held out the bedroll to him this time, rather than throwing it at him.
Zuko stared at her again. This girl had to be crazy. "Do you just want me to be in your debt forever?" he asked bluntly.
That did seem to take her by surprise. "Zuko," she said. "Do you realize what you did back at the camp?"
"Of course," Zuko replied. "I blew my cover, and forced you to leave…"
"No," Katara cut him off. "I mean before that. All those children who were sick. You saved their lives, Zuko." She looked down at the bedroll still gripped in her hands. "You saved them when I couldn't, and it's like you don't even understand…" She trailed off, then looked back up at him, eyes flashing. "If we start counting debts, I think I'd be the one who owes you."
Zuko agreed that he didn't understand, but it was her actions more than his own that mystified him. Yet at the same time, there was something he recognized in that unguarded blue gaze. "You're not going back to the refugee camp, are you?" he asked.
Katara shook her head, regaining some of her composure. "I really do have family near Gaoling," she replied. "I think I will head that way."
"So we'll both be going south, then," Zuko observed neutrally. He could see what she was getting at, and there would be advantages to having her along, as long as she realized that he wasn't a child for her to take care of.
"Looks like it," Katara agreed.
"Well," Zuko said, rubbing the back of his neck with his free hand. "I don't need a nursemaid or anything, but...it might be better to travel with a...companion." He met her eyes, and saw that this time, she understood.
"Of course," Katara replied evenly, still holding out the bedroll. "Equal partners."
Zuko reached out and accepted it from her.
Whaletail Island - Ten Years After Sozin's Comet
Zuko was looking over their maps, debating whether they would have an easier time evading Azula by continuing further south into the Air Nomad territories or returning to the mainland Earth Kingdom, when the rest of the group returned, now with Sokka in their company.
His brother-in-law greeted him with a hand clasp, then turned his attention to Appa and Momo. The lemur especially seemed glad to see him, which Zuko suspected had a lot to do with the berries Sokka slipped him. When he was done petting the animals, they finally sat down in the soft grass to hear what his plan was.
"So, priority number one," Sokka said, holding up one finger. "Obviously, we have to avoid Azula at all costs. If we're spotted heading towards Omashu, she'll attack the city. And Gaoling has already felt enough heat."
"So wherever we go, we're painting a big old target," Toph summarized.
"Even more than we were before," Aang muttered dejectedly, leaning back against Appa's flank. The bison gave a soft groan as if in sympathy.
"Exactly," Sokka agreed. "So I say we go somewhere that nobody in their right mind would have any reason to go: the desert." He leaned forward and pointed to an area of the map where the cartographer had left the light brown color of the parchment as it was.
"The Si Wong desert?" Katara asked skeptically, looking at where her brother was pointing.
"That's the one," Sokka confirmed, tapping the map for emphasis and then leaning back, hands settling on his knees. Momo chose that moment to leap up from Aang's lap and clamber onto Sokka's shoulder, rather spoiling the air of gravitas he had affected.
"Well there are no cities or towns to worry about endangering there," Zuko agreed, looking at the map again. "But there's no water, no food, and no shelter for us, either."
"Isn't that where you said the library is?" Aang piped up, sitting up straight again.
"You got it!" Sokka said gleefully, tapping his own nose and then pointing at Aang. "Which brings me to priority number two: Avatar training." He held up two fingers, then pointed them at Zuko. "Aang needs to learn how to control the Avatar state. You don't know how to do that, I don't know how, none of us know how." He gestured at each of them in turn, then made a sweeping gesture around their little circle as he said the last part. "But someone must have known at some point, and if that knowledge is anywhere, it's in Wan Shi Tong's library."
"Your brilliant plan," Toph said, folding her arms over her chest, "is to run off into the desert chasing after some spirit mumbo-jumbo that may or may not be found at a legendary library that may or may not exist?"
"Oh, it exists," Sokka said proudly. "I've been there."
Toph sighed, letting her head fall.
But Aang was far more enthusiastic about this plan. "Hey, maybe while I figure out the deal with the Avatar State, I can find something that will help me with earthbending, too!" he speculated hopefully.
"Wait," Sokka said, looking at Aang in alarm. "You're having trouble earthbending?"
"Yeah, I haven't figured it out yet," Aang replied with a shrug. "But a powerful spirit of knowledge has to be able to help me, right?"
"I doubt Wan Shi Tong can tell you anything useful that Toph doesn't already know," Sokka muttered, half to himself. Toph looked up with a grin nonetheless, and Zuko got the impression Sokka had just gone up several notches in her estimation. "I don't see why...how long have you been trying?"
"All day!" Aang whined.
"Yeah, one whole day," Toph confirmed. "The kid's just being dramatic, he'll get it eventually."
Sokka looked relieved. "Toph is right, Aang," he said. "You've barely begun to learn. Give it time."
Aang leaped to his feet. "How is time supposed to help me get better when I can't even do anything at all!" he cried in frustration. Then, grabbing his glider, he flew away before any of the adults could stop him.
"That right there?" Toph said. "That is exactly his problem."
Sokka nodded in agreement, but Zuko hardly paid them any attention, looking at Katara. "You go after him," she said, waving her hand in the direction Aang had taken off. "I've already tried today."
Zuko got to his feet and went after Aang. He didn't think the boy would have gone far, and certainly he wouldn't have left the island. But he had to admit Toph had a point. Aang running away was a troubling habit, for his own safety as much as anything else.
When the rough track heading towards the eastern town had turned into a more defined road, Zuko located the young Avatar perched in the boughs of a tall oak tree. He was leaning against the trunk, with one knee drawn up to his chest and the other leg hanging down, kicking lazily back and forth in the air. Gazing off into the distance, he didn't seem to notice Zuko had found him. Even when Zuko called his name, the boy merely glanced down at him, but made no move.
Well, if Aang wasn't going to come down, Zuko would have to go up. Cautiously, he tested the lower branches of the tree, found one that would hold his weight, and began climbing.
"When I was a child," he called up to Aang as he pulled himself off the ground and onto the first branch, "and I started firebending lessons, do you know how long it took me to be able to produce a flame?"
Aang didn't answer. Looking for his next handhold, Zuko saw him shrug.
"It took four months," he went on, reaching for a higher branch and tugging on it experimentally. It seemed sturdy enough. "I spent weeks just meditating, controlling candle flames, learning to find my inner fire." He pulled himself up again, but overbalanced and had to scramble to reclaim his footing on the first branch. "Sometimes it felt like I was going nowhere."
"But you kept trying and eventually you got it," Aang finished for him. "I get your point, but I'm not a little kid learning to bend for the first time. I've already mastered air and water. It shouldn't be this hard."
Zuko didn't respond for a moment as he made another go for the higher branch. This time, he was successful. He resumed his story as he kept climbing "My sister started her lessons two years after I did. She could produce a flame on her very first try. Soon she was as good at firebending as I was." He stopped and sighed, before pulling himself up to sit on a bough that was roughly level with Aang. "And then soon she was better. Everything came easy for her." He leaned towards Aang, wanting to put a hand on the boy's shoulder. But they were too far apart, and Zuko didn't trust his balance to lean any closer. "I think you're like her, in some ways," he said softly.
Aang gave him a look that was less than pleased. "Is that supposed to make me feel better?"
"I said in some ways," Zuko replied. Admittedly, it was not a flattering comparison. "Not anything bad, you're just...you're used to things being easy, at least when it comes to bending. But you can't just give up when something is hard for a change."
Aang shifted away from the tree trunk so he was facing Zuko, both his legs dangling now. "Is that what your sister did?"
"I don't know," Zuko admitted. She certainly seemed as relentless as ever in her pursuit of them, but some of her choices were so inexplicable, like why she was working alone rather than using all the resources she had at her disposal. "We haven't exactly had a heart-to-heart about it, but...when things didn't go her way, I don't think she knew how to deal with it."
"And you think that's my problem, too," Aang said skeptically. "I can't deal with things being hard."
"I think you'll never find out if you don't keep trying," Zuko replied.
Aang stared past him again. Then, in a very small voice, he asked, "What if I keep trying and I never get it?"
"That's unlikely," Zuko reassured the boy. "What's more likely is it's going to take a lot of time and hard work. It won't be as immediately rewarding as waterbending was. But when you do get it, it's going to feel that much more satisfying to see that hard work pay off."
Aang finally met his eyes. "Was that how it felt when you learned to firebend?"
"It was," Zuko agreed, because he knew it was what Aang needed to hear. And it was partially the truth. It had been gratifying, the progress he had struggled to make as a child, even if at every turn his father and his sister had reminded him that he still wasn't good enough. But right now they had to sort out Aang's issues, not his own.
Aang nodded, his gaze falling and his lips pursed in consideration. After another quiet moment, Zuko suggested they rejoin the others, and Aang agreed. The boy leapt from the tree and airbended himself to the ground. Zuko descended more slowly.
It was a quiet walk back to the camp. Zuko let Aang think over what he had said, but just before they reached their destination, he reached out and gave the boy's shoulder an encouraging squeeze, as he had wanted to do earlier.
Neither Katara nor Sokka commented on Aang's running off when they got back, but Toph greeted them with a sarcastic "Nice of you to join us, Twinkletoes."
Aang marched straight up to her. "I'm ready to try moving the rock again," he declared.
Toph nodded in approval, drew him a little ways away from the camp, and set the stone before him. "Show that rock who's boss," she said encouragingly. Zuko hung back, Katara by his side, though they were both watching with interest, as was Sokka.
Aang took up his stance, glared at the rock for a moment, and then thrust out his fist. His knuckles connected with the stone, but he didn't flinch. And the rock shuddered, rose a few inches from the ground, and fell down about a foot further away.
"Congratulations, Aang," Zuko said. "You're an earthbender."
Aang stood up straight, letting his arms fall to his sides. "That wasn't very much," he said uncertainly. He looked down at his hands, then clenched them into fists and grinned up at Toph. "But I did it!"
"And with more practice," Toph said pointedly, "you'll do it even better."
"At least nobody had to be in contrived mortal peril for you to unlock your earthbending powers," Sokka said half to himself.
Zuko exchanged a confused look with Katara. "Who said anything about mortal peril?" Katara asked her brother.
"Hm?" Sokka replied, raising his eyebrows. "Oh, nevermind. On to the library?"
"In the morning," Katara replied. "Appa could use some more rest."
"Fair enough," Sokka agreed. "I'll make dinner tonight."
Katara rolled her eyes. Sokka cooking would mean they would all be eating vegetarian. But Aang looked so happy with the idea, neither she nor Zuko said anything.