"Get inside, it isn't safe out here." Lu Ten took the child's arm and dragged him through the door.
"Who's this?" Ayeshi asked as she took the teapots from Lu Ten.
"I don't know. He says he needs help."
"Who needs help now?" Miyo came around the corner in her dressing gown. "Ayeshi, you can't keep bringing in people you find on the doorstep because they look cute." her face softened when she saw how young the boy was. "Oh. Ayeshi, there's leftover noodles in that bowl if he's hungry. But you deal with him. I am too old and too tired to be dealing with kids at this hour."
"Mom, you have three kids."
"And you three are capable of taking care of yourselves. Goodnight."
"He spotted me fire bending outside." said Lu Ten.
"You were fire bending outside?" Ayeshi asked. "Babe, you know that's dangerous."
"I just heating up my tea! But he saw me do it, then told me he needed our help."
"Gah. You can be really dumb sometimes." She turned to the kid. "What's your name, hon?"
"I'm Ton Yu."
"And how old are you?"
"I'm ten years old."
"Are you hungry? We have noodles."
Ton Yu nodded. Ayeshi moved to grab him a bowl of noodles while Lu Ten stared him down. "Ok, Ton Yu. You saw me fire bend. What's your deal?"
"I need a fire bender's help. You see, I'm a fire bender too. But I have no one to teach me."
"Oh. You need me to teach you?"
"Yeah. I also need food and a place to sleep, at least for a little while."
"We can give you some help there." Said Ayeshi, reappearing with a bowl of hot noodles. "Do you have any family? Are you ok?"
"Nah, I'm an orphan. It's ok though, I've gotten along for three years on my own. It's just, someone mugged me yesterday and now I have no money. And someone beat me up the day before that because I fire bended by accident. I can't control it, which is why I need a teacher."
"I've never taught anyone, but I'm a pretty good bender." said Lu Ten. "I'll show you what I know. If you're gonna be a fire bender in Ba Sing Se, you'll need proper training."
"Cool! Can you show me now?"
"Uh . . . it's late. We should sleep. But I can show you in the morning. Ayeshi . . ."
"We should probably put him up with you in the basement. There's an extra bedroll down there. I don't know if Mom's happy about taking in another fire bender, but we've helped out orphans before."
"He's so young."
Ayeshi shrugged. "People are poor here. I keep telling you." She turned and looked at Ton Yu, who had a belly full of warm food and was starting to nod off. Lu Ten felt a pang in his chest looking at the boy. He reminded him a little of Zuko.
"Ton Yu. C'mon buddy, let's go to bed. We can start training tomorrow."
"Ok." The child muttered sleepily. "Sounds good."
Lu Ten took him downstairs and dug out the extra bedroll Ayeshi had mentioned. "Ayeshi and I are gonna be busy working in the shop for a while tomorrow, but in the afternoon I might have a pocket of time to start your training then."
"Ok. I can entertain myself until then."
"What are you gonna do?"
"I have my ways."
Lu Ten didn't like the sound of that, but it was too late to argue. "Fine. Goodnight, Ton Yu."
"Goodnight."
True to his word, Ton Yu disappeared early the next morning while Lu Ten, Miyo, and Ayeshi were busy opening the shop. People were in and out talking about the party last night and Lu Ten tried to forget about Ton Yu as he served tea. These people didn't need to know that there were now two fire benders sleeping in the basement below the shop.
That afternoon Lu Ten cleaned up the basement a little and got a bucket of water ready, just in case. Ton Yu rolled in a few minutes later, carrying a small purse full of coins. "Where did you get that?"
"Found it." Ton Yu quipped.
Lu Ten was pretty sure Ton Yu had actually stolen the purse, but he decided to let it go. "Ok. For starters, let's just see what you can do. Show me a few moves."
"I told you, I can make fire just fine. I just can't control it." Ton Yu lifted his hands and blasted an arc of fire across the basement. "Like that."
"Wow." Lu Ten was pretty sure his eyebrows were singed. "You do have a lot of power. Good thing I have that bucket of water."
"I made lightning once, too. Maybe if I—"
"Do NOT lightning bend in here! Geez. Ok, you're right. You're a powerful bender, you need to get this under control. Sit down."
"Sit down?"
"Sit down. I'm gonna tell you a little bit of fire bending theory. See, fire bending derives its power from anger. Also passion, but anger's easier for a lot of people. So if you're having trouble getting your bending under control, it might because you have a lot of anger. To get your bending under control, we'll have to start with getting your emotions under control. Which I know isn't easy for a kid your age."
"I try to be calm, but there's so much to be angry about!"
"I know. I get that."
"Like, sometimes I'm mad at my mom for dying, and sometimes I'm mad at my dad for disappearing, and sometimes I'm mad at Ba Sing Se for sucking so much, and then sometimes I'm mad at my buddy Sticky Fingers for being such a weak punk!"
"Uh . . . is there something you want to start with?"
"Well, right now I'm mad I got mugged a few days ago."
"Ok. How did that make you feel?"
"Mad! And frustrated, because it meant I'd have to get money a different way and I might not be able to get food."
"I see. And you decided to get money by stealing."
"Well what else can I do?" Ton Yu snapped. "I can't make an honest living as a kid, no one'll hire me. No one has much money to feed an extra mouth either, in the lower ring."
"Hmm. Maybe Ayeshi and I can help you out a bit. We have to get you in a more stable living situation, and then you'll be more emotionally stable and have better control over your fire bending."
"Ok. So if I'm calm, my fire bending is calm?"
"Pretty much."
"That's it? That's the secret I needed to learn all my life? Why couldn't someone have told me that earlier?!"
"That's pretty basic fire bending stuff. Have you never had a fire bending teacher before?"
"If I had, I wouldn't be here with you, would I? Besides, I've lived in the Earth Kingdom my whole life. No one here bends fire."
"If this war ever ends, you should come back to the Fire Nation with me. You could learn more about your heritage. I'm assuming you have Fire Nation heritage, if you're a fire bender."
"I never asked for my Fire Nation heritage." said Ton Yu darkly. "I just want to get my bending under control. I'll see you later." He turned and stalked out of the basement.
"I wish I knew how to help him better." said Lu Ten, later that night while he and Ayeshi washed dishes. "The thing about fire bending is that we draw our power from strong emotions, usually anger, so getting your emotions under control can help get fire bending under control. He threw out a lot of things that he's angry about and I want to help him, but I don't know where to begin. He doesn't even want to acknowledge his Fire Nation heritage."
"He might've had a bad experience with the Fire Nation. Kind of like you finding out what they did and choosing to walk away from it. Bad experiences with Fire Nation are everywhere here."
"I know. I just wish I could change that."
"You can't change the past." said Miyo bluntly, walking by with a heavy pot. "You can only change the future."
"I know, I know." Lu Ten leaned against the counter. "We can't fix the past. I never thought I'd be teaching fire bending here. We can't fix the past, but it still follows us."
A/N: I've bumped the rating up to T because we'll be hitting darker themes soon