A/N: I was able to make this chapter longer and get it out much faster due to having a lot more creative freedom on this one. At this point you can tell the story is beginning to diverge a bit more, though I want it to still retain some of the major story beats.

It had begun to get dark, and Appa still had yet to take off into the air. Zuko had already decided to get some shut eye, falling asleep while still seated with his back straight and arms crossed. Impressively, it looked like he might even still be awake to the untrained eye.

Azula regarded the moon for a moment before sliding over to where Aang sat. Even though he looked a bit tired, he remained awake, taking in all the sights.

"So, Aang," Azula ventured, waiting for Aang to respond. He did so, turning slightly to acknowledge her.

"Hey, Azula! What's up?"

"Seeing as you're an airbender and all, do you know where the Avatar could have gone?"

Aang seemed to wince at the mention of the title, which Azula found a bit suspicious.

"Uh, well I didn't know him," Aang quickly replied. "I mean I know people who knew him..." Aang turned towards Azula, who looked unconvinced. "I never met him."

Aang was sure that Azula didn't believe him, especially when her eyes narrowed.

Then she shrugged. "Oh, okay," she said, as if she'd already lost interest in the subject. "Good night," she added, shuffling back over to the edge of the saddle. Once Azula turned around to fall asleep, Aang released a breath he didn't realize he'd been holding.

Aang decided that Azula was a tad bit intimidating. He rested the side of his head on a palm, the recent exchange weighing heavily on his mind. He wondered if maybe he should have told the truth.


"Again!" Pakku ordered, his arms crossed as he watched Sokka face off against two other watervenders.

The two crew men stood at the front end of the ship, arms raised in offensive stances.

Sokka bent his knees slightly, arms raised and palms open.

As if by some unseen cue, the two guards motioned their arms fluidly toward Sokka. The both of them were in sync as a large wave of water rushed towards the Prince. It's volume was easily three times his size.

Adjusting his stance just slightly, Sokka stepped to the side, at an angle toward the two guards. Moving his arms as if to catch the massive wave, he stepped forward, spinning on his heel.

The wave followed suit, guided in the direction Sokka willed it. He stepped forward once more, chopping his arms horizontally toward both guards. The massive wave split into two smaller streams, careening towards them. His attackers caught the waves, bending them back towards the ocean.

"How was that?" Sokka asked, dropping his stance. "Impressive, I know," he added before Pakku could speak.

"No."

Sokka's expression comically dropped. "Oh, come on, what did I do wrong that time?"

"You are waterbending too aggressively," Pakku critiqued, arms still crossed. He spread his arms wide before drawing them in slowly. A massive wave answered his call, rising from the ocean only gently ebb back into the sea. "Waterbending comes from fluidity and control, not from strength."

He again raised one arm, water materializing out of the air as he fluidly thrust his arm towards Sokka. "You only guide the building blocks of water," he continued, as ice collected around Pakku's fingers as he stopped short of Sokka's face, and the ice immediately melted into water, dripping to the floor. "And it manifests as control over water."

He crossed his arms again. "You are too rigid. Run it again," he instructed.

Sokka's shoulders sagged as he groaned melodramatically.

The exercise began again, and this time, Sokka impatiently redirected the water thrown towards him, causing it to hit the two guards from the back.

"Sorry!" Sokka yelled to them. One of the face down guards offered a thumbs up.

The prince turned face Pakku, who maintained an unimpressed look on his face.

"Grandfather," Sokka ventured formally. Pakku raised a brow. Sokka only referred to him formally when he was looking for something.

"The shamans tell us that the Avatar is the Last Airbender," Sokka shrugged. "He's had a literal century to perfect his mastery of the elements. If I'm to beat him, I need to know more than just," Sokka waved his arm like a noodle. "Pushing and pulling."

Pakku groaned inwardly. So that's what this was about.

"So you want to advance your training?"

Sokka's eyes seemed to have a cheery glow about them. "I mean if you insist-"

"No," the older man bluntly shot him down. Sokka sighed. "You still don't have a complete grasp of the basics."

To Pakku's surprise, Sokka dropped to his knees, his face bowed. Then he raised his head, hands folded in front of him.

"Pretty please..?!"

The two guards behind Sokka had finally recovered at this point, glancing at each other. One of them shrugged.

Pakku fumbled for words. "Gh-Stand up!" he ordered. He turned around as Sokka did so. "Fine, I'll teach you the more advanced sets." He distinctly heard a whoop of joy behind him. "But first, we will go over the basics, six more times."

Sokka groaned again, but at least he would finally be learning something new.


At Zuko's suggestion, they came to a stop at the first city on the outskirts of the Fire Nation capital. Appa exited the water, reaching a dry patch of grass. Once everyone disembarked, Appa shook himself, torrents of water splashed onto Azula and Zuko, who were not standing far enough away.

Zuko grumbled under his breath while both siblings raised the heat around themselves to vaporize the excess water.

"Sorry about that, should have warned you," Aang said good-naturedly.

"It's fine," Azula dismissed, waving a lazy hand. "Zuko, where are we?"

Zuko shook his head. "You would know if you bothered to travel more."

"That isn't what I asked," Azula reminded with enroll of her eyes.

"It's Ci Shan, a small city close to the capital. Aang says Appa needs some rest so I figured we could make a pit stop here," Zuko answered.

"This is perfect!" Aang agreed. "Once Appa is rested, the rest of the way should be no issue." Aang leapt off of Appa's head, his descent slowing before softly landing on the ground.

Azula noticed some residents stepping out of their homes, probably investigating the Sky Bison's rather loud entrance.

An elder man, looking to be in his mid-fourties, approached the group while some residents lagged behind. Recognizing two of them, he bowed deeply. "Prince Zuko, Princess Azula," it is an honor to receive you today. "He stood up. "Is everything okay?" he asked in concern, briefly glancing over to Aang and his Sky Bison. Aang waved excitedly to him, which he returned awkwardly.

"Hello, Uncle Ukano," she greeted, loud enough for Zuko to hear. He face palmed when Aang asked if the man was the "Uncle" he'd been referring to.

"He's not our uncle," Zuko explained to Aang. "This is Ukano, the mayor of this city and my girlfriend's father." Zuko shrugged. "Azula just likes to annoy me about it."

"Well, it does have a better ring to it than 'Father-in-law of my Brother'" Azula pointed out cheekily, eliciting a chuckle from Aang. Even Ukano lightly chuckled, taking no offense.

"We're not even married," Zuko cut in lamely. But by his tone, the unsaid 'yet' was as clear as if he'd decided to shout it at the end.

"Anyway, we're just here to stay the night before continuing on to the Capital," Azula said. Ukano nodded in understanding.

"Then please feel free to come to the estate. We have several guest rooms available."

The group followed Ukano into one of the larger houses. Once he pushed open the doors, Aang vocalized his surprise at all the antiques on display.

"Woah..!" He breathed, zipping over to the assortment of objects that stood on tables, the floor, and hung from walls. "Is that a tsungi horn?!"

"Your friend seems quite excitable," Ukano observed as he led them to the base of the steps.

"Yeah, I don't think he's been to the fire nation in a hundred years," Azula deadpanned.

Ukano blinked once, before realizing it might have been a figure of speech. "I see," he said, unsure. "Well, the second floor here is all guest rooms," he announced. "I'll leave you to it."

"Thank you," Azula said as he departed. She then turned to look at Zuko expectantly.

"What?"

"Aren't you going to elope with your 'not-wife'?"

Zuko coughed, and it looked like his face was redder than normal. "No!" he said, much too quickly. "She's probably sleep," he added, calming down. "It's late anyway and we're leaving in the morning. We need to meet Uncle as soon as possible."

Azula shrugged, about to climb the steps. "Aang!" She called, whispering loudly so as not to alarm Ukano's family. Aang poked his head around the corner.

"There's so much stuff in this place," Aang said as he neared the duo. "The Fire Nation armor on display looks state of the art."

Zuko and Azula shared a look. The armor he must have been referring to was one of Ukano's old soldier uniforms that his father wore before retiring. The uniform wasn't that new and was in the process of getting phased out in the military proper.

If Zuko had been thinking of commenting on it, he didn't say anything.

"I'm going to bed," Zuko declared, heading up the stairs. "We're leaving first thing in the morning."

Aang and Azula ascended the steps together afterwards.

"So what's your uncle like, if you don't mind me asking," Aang asked, hoping to kill the silence as they headed to the guest rooms.

Azula didn't mind, tapping her chin in thought.

"Well, he's the most powerful firebender I know," she answered, clenching a fist triumphantly. "Second only to my father, of course," she leaned closer to Aang's ear. "Don't tell Uncle I said that." Aang snorted in amusement.

"There's only two guest rooms," Aang noted as they reached the second floor. There were two sliding doors, one on either end of the short hallway. The closest door was already shut, which Azula knocked on. It slid open a quarter of the way, revealing half of Zuko's face.

Before Azula could get a word in, Zuko cut her off.

"Good. Night," Zuko enunciated before abruptly sliding shut the door.

"Rude much," Azula muttered before turning around.

"Looks like we'll both be using this room," she said, stepping into the room with the opened door, followed by Aang. The room looked quaint enough, with a vanity table with a mirror and stool and a bed with multiple sheets and pillows. It looked barely large enough to fit two people. Azula made for the dresser next to the bed, checking for any spare night clothing.

"I can sleep on the floor," Aang offered, raising a finger as he closed his eyes. "As nomads, we're very close to nature. We can sleep anywhere."

As soon as he finished, a blanket and pillow collided with his face, the sheet having landed on top of him.

"Good," Azula answered, smirking. "I was taking the bed anyway."

Aang chuckled, pulling the blanket off of him and setting it down with the pillow. After wishing good night to each other, he removed his shirt, setting it next to his pillow. He fell asleep rather quickly.


Still asleep, Aang was suddenly in Appa's saddle, as the Sky Bison drifted through the clouds. The same clouds began to stretch and darken though, and it seemed as if the temperature was dropping too. Aang fidgeted in his nap, groggily remembering he was supposed to have a blanket on him.

A peak of thunder jolted him awake. Opening his eyes, he saw nothing but dark sky, lightning, and rain everywhere.

"Ah!" Aang exclaimed, feeling his stomach drop as Appa suddenly began to descend.

Without moving, he was suddenly atop Appa's head with the reigns in his grip.

Struggling to keep his breathing under control, Aang tried redirecting Appa upwards, but the airbender could feel the wind forcing Appa towards the ocean.

The sound of the rain and raging wind suddenly became muted as they both crashed into the water, his separation from Appa only stopped by his loose grip on Appa's reigns with a single hand.

Then he felt an energy surge through him as his eyes opened and light suddenly filled the immediate area. His arms moved on their own as he slammed his fists together and a sphere of air expanded rapidly around him and then Appa. The sphere then began to freeze over and-

"Aang! Aang wake up!"

Aang gasped, jumping from his prone position, fighting the blanket for freedom.

"Aang, my impatient brother is ready to move on," she clarified as the boy calmed down, finally removing the sheets from his face. There's a bath downstairs," she announced, pulling back as Aang stood up, reaching for his shirt.

Unnoticed by Aang, Azula observed the exposed tattoos on his back with interest as he pulled his shirt back on.

Azula stepped towards the sliding door, pulling Aang along as soon as his shirt was on. "I'll show you where the bath is."

Once Aang had finished washing up and was dressed, he headed back outside to see that Azula and Zuko were already there, along with a modest crowd of residents.

He bowed respectfully, but the townspeople just observed him warily, blank looks on their faces.

"Uh, why is everyone staring at me like that?" he asked. He checked his clothing. "Did Appa manage to sneeze on me?"

"Well, we haven't seen an Airbender in at least 100 years," Ukano spoke up, answering Aang's question. "We thought they were extinct."

Aang shuddered at the answer. "Extinct?" Aang parroted, unbelieving.

Zuko took advantag of the silence to snatch Aang's staff out of his hand. "What is this, a staff?" Zuko took an experimental swing with it. "Feels much too flimsy to be a striking weapon."

Aang gestured with a hand, and for Zuko it seemed like the staff broke free from his grip as if delivered to Aang's open palm through a vacuum. Zuko blinked in muted shock at the display.

"Not for striking," Aang corrected, amused. "It's for airbending!" He held the staff out vertically, and wings popped out of either side of it, making the prince jump slightly in surprise.

"Woah, magic!" a little girl in the crowd exclaimed. "Do it again!"

"Not magic, airbending," Aang answered patiently. He simulated movement with his staff-turned glider. "It let's me control the air currents around my glider and fly."

"Huh," Zuko sounded, admittedly impressed by the statement.

"Check this out!" he shouted, breaking into a run before jumping. A guest of wind followed, making Azula and Zuko shield their faces from the turbulence.

Aang didn't come down. He began soaring in the air as if gravity was a concept he chose to ignore.

Collective gasps came from the townspeople, and more children ran to the front of the crowd, cheering.

"He's flying!"

"He's a bird!"

Aang grinned broadly, wishing he could impress the townspeople and Azula more, but thought better of it. There weren't any safe spots for him to pull off any cool tricks. So with a flourish, he landed back where he took off from, retracting the wings and spinning his staff unnecessarily.

"Very impressive! You must already be a master at airbending," Azula commented, a bit envious of the sheer skill he exhibited. Aang waved off the praise.

"I'm alright," he said modestly.

"Alright, people, that's enough gawking!" Ukano said to the city's residents, waving them back towards the houses. "Lets afford the royal family and their friend some privacy," he said, herding them away from the group.

"I can tell just by looking at you, you must be amazing at firebending!" Aang said to Azula.

"Well, of course," she shrugged, as if it were obvious. "However, with Father off in the Earth Kingdom and Uncle being so busy as Fire Lord in the meantime, our training's been put on indefinite hold."

"Well, that's not right," Aang said simply. "A firebender should master fire," he said as Zuko walked over to them.

"Hey, what about the legendary temple of the ancient firebenders?" he asked, encouraged to continue by Azula's raised eyebrow. "I don't know the name, but my mentor told me of a secret society that taught a special form of firebending; somewhere near the western air temple."

Zuko shook his head. "We don't have the luxury of fairy tales and traveling the world while a war is going on. We need to get moving."

Azula frowned at Zuko. "But Zuko, aren't you the least bit curious of what Aang said? We could complete our training!"

"First off, father forbid us from leaving. Second, we don't know if these 'legendary firebenders' even exist," he countered, complete with air quotes.

"He didn't forbid us," Azula retorted. "He just...asked us not to leave.

"Wait, hold on!" Aang spoke up, drawing their attention. "What war?"

Zuko looked at him blankly. "You can't be serious. You know, the war with the Water Clan that's been raging for 100 years?"

"Water Clan? If that's the Water Tribes, I have friends in the Water Tribes. All over the world, in fact."

"Exactly how long were you in that volcanic rock?" Azula questioned, crossing her arms. Aang scratched his head.

"I don't know, maybe a few days?"

"Try 100 years," Zuko cut in.

"What?" Aang rounded on Zuko. "That doesn't make sense," he said, slightly accusing in his tone. "Do I look like a 112 year old man to you?"

"Be that as it may," Azula added. "It would explain a lot," she said, looking Aang up and down.

"That would answer why you've never known about the war, and how long you've been stuck in that volcano."

Aang looked around before walking over to Appa, slumping to the ground as he leaned on Appa's fur. Azula and Zuko followed him over.

"Can't believe it's been 100 years," Aang said once they were in earshot.

"Well, it can't be all bad, right?" Azula attempted to comfort him. Zuko glanced at Azula questioningly from hearing her lame statement, and she shrugged, wincing at her own comment.

"Well, I got to meet you," Aang said after thinking it over. "And Zuko too!" he quickly amended at his own slip up. Azula smiled at his renewed cheerfulness.

"We should probably get going," Zuko reminded, climbing back on Appa. Aang agreed, airbending himself onto Appa's head before helping Zuko pull Azula into the saddle.


Sokka lowered his telescope after observing the flying bison as it soared through the air towards the fire nation capital.

"I've finally got him," he said in anticipation. From what he could tell, the beast was able to fly for about 1 hour non-stop before resting. The Fire Nation Capital was still half a day away and according to his map, there were a few towns and villages in between the journey.

"At the speed we're going, we can intercept him before he gets too close to the fire nation capital. Most of their army is away from their mainland, so this should be a piece of cake."

Pakku stood at the railing an arm's length away from him, observing the metallic frame of their ship as it cut through the water. "I must also remind you we only have this one ship and crew," he said drily. We're not exactly equipped for a drawn out conflict if it were to come to one."

"Like I said, piece of cake," he said, inclining his head towards his grandmother's fiancee. "We cut him off at one of the small towns. Mission accomplished!" he said confidently. "We go back home, and everyone lives happily ever after."

Pakku didn't answer, only stroking his mustache in deep thought.