A/N: Thank you so much for all your support so far on the story! Next chapter might be slightly more than a week away but it'll remain within a fortnight. This chapter is a lot of canon stuff (for reasons I'll highlight below) but there are changes and character moments throughout. Hope you enjoy and as always, let me know what you think!

Word Count: 5359

9. Piandao's Student (An Agni Kai, Maybe Not So Cool)

Azula found herself, once again, at the base of her father's throne.

The fire raged around the shadow of the man seated there. The room was, as per usual, cold and empty. The princess could feel the disappointment emanating off of the Fire Lord.

She was bowed, deeply, as he addressed her.

"You were weak, daughter."

Azula didn't dare move. She lay, knees into her chest, arms extended forward on the floor and head pointed down. She was too numb to feel if her hands were shaking or not. Her father's words seemed to just pierce through her and out the other side, straight into the bitter, columned space behind her.

"Rise."

The princess sat up, through no thought of her own, to kneel in front of her father. As her arms came up to her sides and into her lap, she could almost feel them shaking, but her paralysed form couldn't be sure.

"The man is not dead."

He spoke with such distain for that being true that Azula could almost see herself fulfilling what her father wanted. The quiet voice, pushing her to think of the Avatar and sparing the man's life, was the barest of whispers. The fire surged even higher.

"He was dishonourable and lost, and he shall be punished accordingly. But you, I cannot have my daughter show any weakness."

Even whilst numb, the aggressive voice that always seemed to overwhelm her mind in the throne room screamed at her that her father was right.

"I will be having meetings with some advisors. You will not be coming. Not anymore."

That morning, she would've felt like she should protest, like she should tell him how important it was that she was there, by his side, throughout. But she couldn't find it in herself to do so. Not just because it would most likely incur more punishment, she wasn't really feeling anything.

She just sat there, numb to the world around her, as her father continued speaking.

"You will be on Ember Island, far away from the capital. And I hope you find some strength before you return."

He waived his hand dismissively, and Azula bowed once more, before exiting the room.

Her feet took her to her room and she collapsed. Crashing into the fur blanket as broken as she'd ever been.

Piandao squinted as the sun rose high enough to land on his face. The old swords master sat calmly on his cushion, drawing with ink and brush, as his butler came in with a scroll from behind him.

"It's a message from a Grand Lotus. On a messenger hawk. I believe it's from the capital." Fat said, handing off the tied-up parchment.

The sword master opened it.

Keep a look out for a young man of the name 'Percy'.

He seems to be a very knowledgeable and experienced man for his age. He practices tenets from all corners of this world.

From a short interaction, he seems well versed in the art of the sword, a master waterbender, and some other unexplained gifts. He has a spirituality to him that, again, I cannot quite fathom.

The young man sees the world with the realism of an old man, and with little of the cynicism. He sees everyone with the idealism of a parent for their child, with none of the naivety.

The order would do well with his inclusion. And I have a feeling that he might teach us a thing or two as well.

Grand Lotus Iroh

Piandao was taken aback. Iroh was a generally optimistic man, but he'd never heard the old general talk about anyone in such high regard.

A master swordsman and waterbender. What else was he?

This 'Percy'. Such an odd name as well. He'd never heard of it in any of the nations, and the White Lotus prided themselves on understanding the nations on a deeper level. But 'Percy' wasn't a part of any of those cultures.

Well, I'd like to meet him, that's for sure.

There was a distant, muffled knock on the front doors to his estate. Piandao turned to look at Fat. The man declined his head, before turning to answer the door.

A few seconds later, he heard some more muffled knocking. Almost immediately, there was repeated much faster and louder knocking.

Well, whoever it isn't really isn't patient.

He went back to his calligraphy, holding his sleeve and dancing the brush around his own parchment. Piandao dipped his brush as he heard the Fat come in with whomever it was that thought they deserved training from him. The swordsman thought, for a second, that this could've been the Percy he'd been told about.

"Master, my name is Sokka,"

Ahh so it is not then. Although Sokka is a Southern Water Tribe name. What would he be doing all the way deep in the Fire Nation?

"and I wish to be instructed in the way of the sword." Whoever it was continued.

"Sokka. That's an unusual name."

"Oh," He heard nervous shuffling. "uh, really? Uh where I come from, the Fire Nation colonies, it's a pretty normal name… for Fire Nation colonials."

Well, the way of the sword has never been only a Fire Nation pursuit.

The White Lotus member knew he'd give this young man, whoever he was, a chance.

"Let me guess." He continued his brushwork. "You've come hundreds of miles from your little village where you're the best swordsman in town. And you think you deserve to learn from the master."

"Well, actually, I've been all over the world."

"Yep, here we go."

"I've gotten a little training by another sword master, and I know one thing for absolute certain."

Based on the change of his voice, he could picture the person behind him hanging his head.

"I have got a lot to learn." Sokka finished. "I had an accident with a weapon, and I don't want that to ever happen again."

That intrigued Piandao to no end.

Who was this master? And that is the kind of humility I can work with.

"And who was this swordsman?"

"Oh… um, he was just a friend we found on our travels. He's off doing his own thing now."

"Ahhh. You're not doing a very good job of selling yourself."

He looked at the young kid for the first time. And he really was that, a young kid. Piandao was slightly surprised to see someone at such an age being so well travelled in a time like this. It was quite impressive.

"I know. Your butler told me that when I met you, I would have to prove my worth. But the truth is… I don't know if I'm worthy. In my one lesson, I learnt a lot, but I couldn't do anything to him. I also don't want to be caught unawares again. It was hard knowing that my lack of ability caused someone's death."

"Hm, I see."

Very interesting, I'd very much like to meet this swordsman. But that is very noble and the best of beginnings. We can go a long way with humility and perspective.

"Well, then, let's find out together how worthy you are."

Piandao took his sheathed sword and slammed the scabbard down onto the floor, standing tall in front of the boy.

"I will train you." He finished.

He saw the large smile come across Sokka's face.

Piandao strode outside to the training area. The boy followed and Fat stood on top of the stairs, looking down at the two.

He gave Sokka some training clothes, fit for one of his students, before pulling out his sword from its sheath.

"The first thing you must learn is that your weapon is an extension of yourself."

He pointed the sword away from himself, extending out, keeping his balance through his other arm extending the other way.

"You must think of it as another part of your own body." The master continued.

Piandao closed his eyes, focusing on his other senses as he swung his sword.

"Like, part of your arm?"

"Yes, exactly."

"Huh, that's what Percy said." He heard Sokka mumble, almost imperceptibly.

The master appreciated the work he'd done for himself, training his other senses to be able to be at their best, because he heard the boy well enough to catch the name. Piandao did his best to react inwardly.

So, it is this 'Percy'. Well, let's see what he can do, teaching wise.

He continued speaking, deciding not to bring up his hearing of the boy's whispers.

"The sword is a simple tool, but in the hands of a master it becomes the most versatile of weapons."

He swung his sword around and sheathed it once more.

"And just as imagination is limitless, so too are the possibilities of the sword."

He moved around, switching between stances.

The young man sat, enraptured and smiling.

(-)

Sokka had just failed to write his name in calligraphy, and Piandao was just beginning to question this 'Percy's methods. The kid had very little mastery of the deftness required for swordsmanship. The 'colonial' boy had put his identity on the page, but in the most literal possible way.

Maybe he's a better practical teacher. Although that would mean Percy hasn't really mastered fighting with the sword.

In an effort to test him, he set up Fat to fight Sokka. Giving them each wooden training swords and sufficient padding, he just left the young boy to whatever he'd learnt before.

"So, you too shall spar. I want to see where you're at before we begin the training."

He watched as Sokka took a stance. It was… oddly perfect. His weight was spread between his legs nicely, his feet were a proper width apart, he had a solid foundation with a good opening position. The odd part, it was one that he had never seen before. In his extensive studies, Piandao had never come across a stance like it. The bending of his knees, the casual looseness that he held his sword, it seemed to go against all of what he taught, yet seemed too natural.

Piandao almost didn't want to train him out of it, but he didn't know that particular style of sword fighting, so he couldn't really expound on it.

Percy, huh? Interesting.

Sokka also lost all his silliness as soon as the sword entered his hand. Whatever had led to the death seemed to have affected him deeply.

He watched as Sokka came at Fat and it became very clear he still needed a lot of training. He was slow and predictable with his moves. While he held a strong body position, he seemed to be not as strong in performing any fluid moves, either offensively or defensively. There was no strategy behind his strikes that he'd tried, as his butler blocked effortlessly.

The sword master saw the boy focus though, directly on the hilt of his opponent's sword. With the quickest move he'd seen Sokka make, the tip of his wooden sword went in between the cross-guard and hand of Fat. Twisting his own sword, Fat's clattered to the ground. It wasn't a move that Piandao taught, although it was similar to his own array of disarming techniques that he did.

Both the men stood, wide-eyed, along with Sokka who looked almost as surprised as them.

"I did it?" He said, in disbelief. "I did it! I actually did it!"

Sokka began jumping and 'whooping' around the training area.

Piandao gestured to Fat's sword, still laying there not one foot away from him. His butler picked it up and moved closer to the student. As Sokka ran around, he was met with a wooden sword flush to his neck. He froze and looked down at it.

"Oh, right. His first lesson." Sokka said, before shrieking and trying to run away.

His? Percy's?

Fat struck the wooden sword right out of his hand and then proceeded to chase Piandao's trainee around. The master was too distracted thinking about Sokka's mix of ability and inexperience, not to mention what he'd just been shown, to think to call off his butler striking him on the rear with the weapon.

Let's see how his perception of a battlefield is.

Iroh sat in his prison cell, in the darkness of the night. He'd been working out almost constantly for the past few weeks.

The door to his cell was pushed open. He lazily raised his eyebrows, expecting the guard or hopefully his nephew once more. Things with Zuko hadn't ended nicely last time. Maybe even Azula, considering how she was last time. He did truly hope she'd managed to evade the betrothal.

"General Iroh."

He received a bow from the man he recognised.

"Fire Sage Saima." He responded with equal respect. "I appreciate what you've been able to tell me and do for me."

"Oh, that is nothing to worry about. The eclipse was something you needed to know about. And I feel those weren't the last letters you'll ask me to send."

He looked at the old general, knowingly.

"Yes, indeed. I have to deliver a particular scroll to my nephew."

"Anything in particular? Something similar to the letters to the other masters?"

"No, I don't think that will do this time. If you could get me some ink and parchment, I think I can do the job myself, if you can deliver it. And if you want to."

Iroh knew he was asking a lot, but he needed to do this. For Zuko.

"Anything for a Grand Lotus."

Iroh smiled appreciatively in response, bowing to him from his cell.

The rainbow landscape painting aside, Sokka was improving. Whilst he had been painting, and Piandao looked out over the beautiful surroundings of mountains and rivers, he'd heard the young boy mutter something about his methods being 'nothing like Percy's'. The master didn't quite know what to take from that.

After some focused training with sword fighting, his butler and student were back in the sword fighting ring with full training gear on. Sokka's movements were a lot more deliberate, with his body transitioning fluidly between defence and attack.

Now, let's see how he deals with a distraction.

"Sokka." Piandao said, from his cushion, looking down upon the spar.

The boy barely reacted. He gave a quick glance over to the master, but kept his focus on the fight.

Interesting.

Piandao smiled. The two fighters traded blows back and forth until finally, Fat outmanoeuvred him, twisting around and getting inside Sokka's guard. Sokka was sent sprawling after a rather long fight that impressed the swordsman.

"Excellent concentration, Sokka."

The boy beamed at his praise.

After some efforts at rock gardening that mimicked his ability to paint landscapes, he was watching the two spar once more. Although Piandao wasn't complaining about the drink he'd managed to gain out of that, he wasn't quite sure Sokka had gotten the lesson he was trying to ingrain in him.

The full day of training had come a long way for the Water Tribe boy. He really did have the spirit of a swordsman. No matter how many times he was knocked down by Fat, he kept jumping right back up. It was quite honourable, and it showed. He was sparring for longer each time, and wasn't getting knocked down as much. Piandao was having to call time on their fights, much to the disgruntlement of his butler.

This time, however, Sokka looked much more in control. Deflecting and parrying strikes left and right, not giving Fat any chance whatsoever to come underneath his guard. For the first time, he managed to get inside the man's space.

Sliding to the side of a missed blow, Sokka slipped his wooden blade under Fat's hand and pulled up. The perfectly executed technique, that Piandao chose to teach him first due to his seemingly apt knowledge of disarming moves, made Fat's own wooden blade fly off to the side.

Within seconds, the boy's blade was resting on the neck of his butler, much to his surprise and the appreciation of the swords master. Piandao took a sip of his drink, lemon sticking out of it, as Sokka bowed in front of him.

A while later, after the sparring had been completed, he sat with Sokka, meditating in the training ring.

"You've had a good first day of training."

"I have? But I thought I messed most of the things up!"

"You messed things up in a very special way. Not to mention, your work with the sword was surprising from the beginning. You are ready for a real sword."

Sokka looked up to him, with a bashful pride.

"Are you giving me one of yours?" He asked, excitedly.

"No."

Piandao responded flatly. Sokka's shoulders slumped down in disappointment.

"Your sword must be an extension of yourself. So tomorrow, you will make your own sword."

That got the young man to grin happily. They both rose, and the master guided his student inside to a rack of swords. On the table, a collection of different bricks of steel were laid out for him to choose from.

"Choosing the correct material is the most important step in crafting a sword. You must trust your steel with your life. Choose carefully."

Piandao watched as Sokka perused the options. He never settled on one, making some truly interesting attempts at figuring out which one to use like sniffing and biting. After all that, he seemed to have some form of an epiphany and turned to him.

"Master, would it be possible for me to leave and bring back a special material for my sword?"

He smiled.

"I wouldn't have it any other way."

The two men watched Sokka leave.

"What an intriguing young man." He pondered, hearing a huff of annoyance from Fat. Piandao tried not to chuckle slightly. "He was trained by Percy."

"Who?" His butler asked him.

Piandao picked up the scroll from the Grand Lotus that he'd left in the room he'd first met Sokka and handed it to Fat.

"This Percy? The one the Grand Lotus speaks of?"

"It would seem so." Piandao replied. "How many other 'Percy's do you know? And how many that could teach a sword move like that one?"

It seemed Fat had to concede both of those points.

"Very interesting indeed. I'd like to meet this Percy." Piandao said, more to himself than anything else.

(-)

The next morning, there was a knock on the doors once more. Piandao was up early, as always, and stood right behind the door as soon as the insistent knocking began. Opening up one of the doors and stepping out, he saw three other kids with a rather large boulder of some kind.

It became all too clear to Piandao that at least one of them must've been an earthbender based on the large gash the boulder had left in the pathway. It would've been impossible for four kids to move it on their own. And taking into account the specific placement of a certain headband on one of the kids, it didn't take too much detective work to figure out this was the Avatar's group.

Well, that explains the Southern Water Tribe name.

"Who's this?" He asked, almost rhetorically, as he'd figured a lot of them out.

"Oh, these are my friends. Just other good Fire Nation folks."

They all bowed to him respectfully and he bowed back.

"Do you think we can make a sword out of a meteorite?" His student continued.

Piandao walked up to the big rock and placed his hand on it.

A meteorite, very intriguing.

"We'll make a sword unlike any other in the world."

The whole group with his butler managed to roll the meteorite over closer to the forge. Fat brought out his sledge hammer and, with the help of Sokka holding the chisel, managed to cut chunks out of the dense rock. With some minimal lessons in the forge and bellows, Piandao left Sokka to his own devices to melt down the rock into a malleable enough liquid to craft into a sword. He watched over the young boy carefully, but knew that it would mean more, be more rewarding and be better experience for an inexperienced swordsman if he did so from a distance.

Once it had finished, Sokka poured the liquid hot metal into the blade's mould. It was a jian, or a straight sword, perfect for the wooden sword he trained with. The metal was hammered out until it was perfectly shaped. Piandao dipped the blade in a trough of water, cooling it to show it's all black finish.

Piandao took the sword, with its specially designed scabbard and brought them into one of the rooms in the main building for a sort of gifting ceremony.

"Sokka, when you first arrived, you were so unsure and worried. You even seemed down on yourself. But I saw something in you right away. There was a willingness to learn, including from an intriguing, mysterious master you'd had previously."

Sokka looked sheepish at that, but seemed to still be unwilling to talk any further about the man.

"I saw a heart as strong as a lion turtle, and twice as big. And as we trained, it wasn't your skills that impressed me. No, surprised me initially, but it certainly wasn't your skills." Sokka looked down, insecurely. "You showed something beyond that."

Piandao took the time to unsheathe the blade. The black sword sliding nicely out of its new home. He struck to the side, cutting through the air with the nicely balanced tool. He marvelled slightly at the quick work from the young Water Tribe boy.

"Creativity, versatility, intelligence… these are the traits that define a great swordsman." Piandao sheathed the blade once more. "And these are the traits that define you. You told me you didn't know if you were worthy, but I believe that you are more worthy than any man I have ever trained."

The master handed the sword to Sokka, only for the boy to lower his head.

"I'm sorry, Master. You're wrong. I am not worthy."

Interesting.

"I'm not who you think I am. I'm not from the Fire Nation. I'm from the Southern Water Tribe."

Piandao saw the Sokka's friends, the Avatar group, react shocked behind him.

"I lied so that I could learn swordsmanship from you. I'm sorry."

Sokka offered his sword back to the old swordsman

Piandao turned around, hiding a smile. Honesty, whilst not the trait of a good swordsman, was the trait of a good man and person.

"I'm sorry, too."

He unsheathed his own sword and swung it at the Water Tribe boy. He avoided the attack then blocked the second strike with his unsheathed meteorite sword. His student held up two fingers behind him, stopping his friends from joining in.

"No, this is my fight, alone."

The two moved out to the sword fighting ring, sizing each other up like he'd done in all his previous spars. The master thought, if the boy had been thinking logically, there would be no way he would've waited until getting out there to fight if this wasn't a test. But there they were.

Piandao lunged forward to strike first and Sokka deflected while backing away. He kept advancing on the younger swordsman, having each one of his movements parried. The old man wasn't really trying to injure him, it was purely to test how much he'd learnt. And also, for his own entertainment.

At Sokka's own lunge, the master ducked his head out of the way. His next thrust mirrored his opponents as the Water Tribe boy moved his head out of the way as well. Piandao went for his legs and Sokka leapt over it.

Obviously sensing an opening, Sokka lunged forward and hooked his blade into his hilt. Unfortunately for the kid, the curved cross guard of his sword meant that it slid off all too easily. Piandao used the butt of his sword to push him over near the pond and bridge off to the side of the fighting ring.

After a few more swipes, all which were dodged by a rolling and diving Sokka, Piandao complimented the boy.

"Excellent! Using your superior agility against an older opponent… smart."

He charged once more for his student and Sokka deflected some more strikes, a little more directly this time. Piandao had him backed against the wall and was swiping down and to the sides, leaving gashes in the stone wall where his sword missed the boy. Sokka jumped off the wall, forcing the sword master to deflect his stab and allowing the boy some more space.

"Good use of terrain… fighting from the high ground." He said, as the boy jumped up onto the top of the opposite stone wall.

After some more parries and strikes between the two, Sokka managed to trap his master's sword underneath his own, using his weight to keep it in place. Piandao stepped forward, leveraging his own body to flick his sword up. The boy stumbled back into the bamboo forest, landing hard on a particularly tall stalk.

Sokka ducked, leaving Piandao's sword to slice through the bamboo that had been behind his head. The master gave him a split second to get up and the Water Tribe boy obliged, running away through the paths of the forest.

His student sliced away at the bamboo either side of the path, leaving it to fall down in front of Piandao. He hid a smirk as he sliced through the grass, his two fingers on his non-dominant hand leading so that he cleared a perfect path for him to get through.

Just as he'd come out of that, a stalk that was bent back came flying at him. As he sliced through it, he struck out at Sokka. The boy parried just in time, and then went back to running away through the grass. He pulled two particularly elastic bamboo stalks that came springing back at the sword master.

"Yes, use your surroundings. Make them fight for you!" He said, as he sliced through them once more.

Sokka kept running, leaving the cover of the bamboo to run back to the fighting ring. Piandao followed, before running along closer to the wall. He climbed up the wall and stabbed his sword at the young boy, who slid underneath it just in time.

The Water Tribe boy, who was beginning to impress the master quite a lot more, stuck his sword in the ground and flung dust and dirt up into his face. He opened his eyes only to feel stinging, meaning that he couldn't open them.

"Very resourceful."

He knew he could just wipe it off, or open his eyes and deal with it, but that wasn't the point. He kept them closed to give Sokka the advantage that he'd earnt, but it wasn't as much as he might've thought. Piandao focused on his other senses, turning an ear directly to where he'd last seen the boy.

He didn't hear anything, which surprised him, the area was littered with twigs and leaves that blew over. Not until he heard the whoosh of a sword slicing through the air. Turning his head directly at the sound, he brought his own blade up and went to deflect the blow. Only, his blade was met with air. It seemed that Sokka had stopped his downward slice inches above his neck.

Sokka was still far too close, as Piandao felt him right next to himself. He swiped right across with the flat of his blade what would've been his chest, only to hear him fall back to his side. Piandao heard Sokka and his jian hit the ground, and as the boy pulled it up to the master's chest, the master held his blade at the boy.

The master could almost hear the wobbling and shaking of the sword from where he was standing. It was clear that, even though he'd trained, Sokka's accident was still affecting him. It was making him not want to use his blade to actually injure anyone.

The sword master heard his student's group of friends leap to his defence, only for him hold his sword to the side. As they all stopped, he assumed with very confused looks, he signalled to Fat to throw his scabbard. Hearing the metallic sound of it being released, he swung around to point his blade directly into it and sheath itself for him.

The man relaxed and spoke to them all.

"I think I'm a little too old to be fighting the Avatar."

"How did you know?" The Avatar asked.

"Oh, I've been around a while. You pick things up."

He wiped the dirt off of his face with a cloth, giving him the ability to look at his surroundings.

"Of course, I knew from the beginning that Sokka was Water Tribe. You might want to think of a better Fire Nation cover name." He paused. "Try 'Lee'. There's a million 'Lees'."

Fat handed him a drink, and he took a sip.

"But why would you agree to train someone from the Water Tribe?" The girl asked, he assumed also Water Tribe from her eyes.

"The way of the sword doesn't belong to any one nation. I have a feeling your mysterious trainer knew that too. Knowledge of the arts belongs to us all."

Piandao stepped forward and took Sokka's sword from his shaking hands before sheathing it.

"Sokka, you must continue your training on your own. If you stay on this path, I know that one day, you will become an even greater master than I am. I haven't had a fight quite that good in years."

He heard a huff come from his butler which he smiled at. But looking into Sokka's eyes, he could tell that the boy was shaken.

"And learning the value of life doesn't make you any less of a swordsman. It actually makes you a better one. Knowing when and how to use your sword is one of the things you'll have to master, and I'm sure you'll be able to do that given time."

The whole group smiled happily at each other and master and student bowed to one another.

As the group was starting to leave, Piandao thought of something.

Well, this might be a good way to meet this mysterious Percy.

Sokka walked away from Piandao's estate and was feeling pretty pleased with himself after leaving that castle. A whole lot more self-assured and a heck of a lot more qualified with the weapon he was carrying.

I wonder if I'll be able to fight Percy again. See if I can challenge him a bit this time.

Percy's training on the pass had helped him quite a bit. The few lessons that he was able to teach the Water Tribe boy had all been useful. Along with never letting your guard down, he'd taught him to try and always be aware of your surroundings, especially where you're going to step, and that disarming move had come in quite handy.

The front gates were just about to close before Fat ran out after them.

"Wait!" He yelled. "The Master wanted you to have this, as something to remember him by."

He gave Sokka a very small brown bag.

"Piandao says the second one is for Percy."

He bowed to them and they bowed back reflexively, before the butler just walked back to the castle.

"Hey, wait!"

Fat didn't react.

"How did Master Piandao know it was Percy?!" He yelled at the retreating figure.

Seeing that he wasn't going to get an answer, he opened up the bag.

"It's two Pai Sho tiles." He said, very confusedly.

"The White Lotus. Huh." Aang said.

"What does it mean?" His sister asked.

They all looked back to the doors just as they closed. There was an odd lotus flower design surrounding the Fire Nation insignia on the door. It was incredibly similar to the Pai Sho tile.

"I have no idea." Sokka answered.

A/N: So there we have it! A bit of Azula and Iroh, with a focus on Sokka. As said in the intro, this is very similar to canon (I know) but it was the only way that I could see the story making sense to people who haven't watched the show and also involve all of the slight character differences between canon Sokka and mine. Every part that would've stayed exactly the same was breezed over as I don't like restating what you already know. But anyway, there is a little more of the White Lotus involvement in the story, that'll continue. Sokka's arc has continued but the set up in the beginning means that next chapter (between a week and a fortnight away), will be away on Ember Island. Hope you enjoyed, let me know what you think. See you for the next chapter.

Some review replies:

Snowbot/Iamironman15/HellRaiderS/UQJTA.../Death Fury/ Tom2801: Thank you all! Hope you enjoyed this chapter and see you for the net one.

HaywireEagle: Oh don't worry, there will be some classic ATLA humor during the invasion. I'm just not sure that him coming in singing is very ATLA or PJO humor, although still would be very funny.

WildMan98: I hope you enjoyed it, especially having not watched ATLA. Azula will continue to be conflicted although this wasn't a focus on her. This one was a little break to set up some other important stuff.

Gabe1234: Thank you! Not too much of the rest of the Gaang but a lot of Sokka. For a whole lot of reasons but that's how this chapter went. I hope the buildup will be worth it too! We'll also get more of Percy's psyche in a few chapters time.

Artorias78: Thank you so much! It's so appreciated and I'm glad you're enjoying that aspect of Azula and the story. It's exactly how I wanted it to be and it's awesome that's coming across. Ozai breaking her down will be a bit more difficult, but he's now using her political and power aspirations against her, because he's great (sarcasm). You'll be getting a lot more of Azula in the next few on Ember Island! Hope you enjoyed and enjoy!

Deeznuggets2121: That's awesome! You'll be getting a heck of a lot more of their interactions soon! I appreciate that it's your favourite and you took the time to binge it! That's so cool! I'm glad my story is still very bingable!

Blackhairedboy916: Thank you! That's awesome! I'm glad you're enjoying it and took the time to read it all of it in a day! Hope you continue to enjoy!

Thank you all! On to Ember Island!

-PS