Katara's second day of training without Aang at her side was much more enjoyable. A spiritual retreat. Why hadn't she thought of that? It was a great idea! She could relax now and focus on her own training, confident that the spiritual retreat would solve everything.
So she was rather frustrated that this was the morning Master Pakku chose to end class early. "Morning class is dismissed," he told them, easily half an hour or more before the moon was at its height. "I have an appointment to keep." He pointed to one of the other students and told him to spread word that the junior class was cancelled.
The other students left to do as they were ordered. Katara was curious. "It must be one important appointment to make you cancel classes."
"It is," Pakku answered. "I am going to meet with someone wise in the ways of the elements. Nothing can be more important than that. Now go home and do whatever it is you women do in your spare time."
Katara turned and went down the stairs. Her brow furrowed. She came to a sudden stop. "Someone wise in the ways of the elements?"
.
Zuko rose up from a deep sleep, feeling very refreshed. Mm. Comfy. It's kind of light in here… He lay there for several more seconds. Then his eyes flew open and he literally threw himself out of bed, rolling over onto his feet and entering a defensive stance.
"Nephew!" Iroh exclaimed. He abandoned his game of cards and stood up, raising his hands. "There is nothing to be afraid of."
Zuko glanced all around and saw that the light was moonlight, shining in from somewhere outside. I took a daytime nap. How long was I asleep? He straightened.
"In fact, I have wonderful news," Iroh continued. "I have found someone very knowledgeable about many things. He can help you with the water spirit."
Zuko's eyes widened. "Really?" Iroh seemed serious, so he gave his uncle a hug. "Thank you, Uncle."
Iroh hugged him back. "You are welcome, Zuko."
Zuko drew back. "How soon can I see him?"
"Today at lunchtime, which it looks like it is!" Iroh gestured for Zuko to follow him. "I know the way."
Maybe he does care about me, Zuko thought as they walked. He's been spending his free time trying to help me, and I had no idea. Maybe I judged him too quickly. He thought about all the ways his uncle had come through for him in the past and felt a warm glow in his stomach. He's my family. If I can't trust my family, who can I trust?
Iroh led them to a small diner. He walked directly to a seat against the side wall. Zuko sat in the seat next to him. The opposite side of their table was empty. Someone came over and sighed. "No Pai Sho today?"
"No," Iroh told him. "We're waiting for someone." The person nodded respectfully and walked away.
Iroh ordered appetizers for them to eat while they waited. Between five and ten minutes passed before Zuko turned and saw Master Pakku walk in the door, his elbow interlinked with that of a much older man who walked slowly and seemed to be partially leaning on him for support. Pakku and the old man took nearly a full minute to make their way over, in part because the old man kept looking around. He didn't seem to even notice Zuko and Iroh until after he finished sitting down. Then his old face was transformed by a delighted smile that spread over it like a sunrise. He looked from Zuko to Iroh and back again. "It's you! What an honor!"
In a quiet voice, Pakku performed the introductions. "This is Mushi, the one who learned so much from your wisdom. And this is Lee, the young man I told you about who has been having problems with a water spirit."
"What?" Zuko asked. "Uncle, you've been to the Northern Water Tribe before?"
"No, but I got my hands on some of their documents a long, long time ago." Iroh, too, spoke quietly. Nobody beyond their table could have heard him.
"This is wonderful. I am very grateful for the chance to meet you!" Zuko noticed that the old man was staring at him, enraptured. "It's truly an honor."
Who does he think I am? Zuko ignored the question. It wasn't important. "I heard you know things about water spirits," he told the old man.
"Lee here has an unusual request," Pakku said to his friend. "He does not like having a water spirit around and would like to get rid of it."
The old man's face fell. "Get rid of a spirit?" He looked completely flummoxed by the idea, flabbergasted, unable to conceive of the words as representing a meaningful sentence.
"Why is that so hard for you people to believe?" Zuko asked. "Yes, I want to get rid of it. It's been nothing but a pain in my rear. Can you help me do that?"
The old man blinked slowly for a while before he found his words. "No, I can't. It's impossible. The will of the spirits is not to be defied."
Zuko flushed red with rage. His hopes had been so high, and now they were crushed. What?! He can't help me? He's just going to give me the same useless advice everyone else has? Why did I come here! This was a waste of my time! "If you think that, you know nothing about my will," he declared.
"Nephew, this man is an -"
"Utter waste of my time!" Zuko snapped. Other people in the diner looked over. "He doesn't know anything I don't know about spirits. I'm not going to learn anything here." He put his hands flat on the table and stood. "I have better places to be. Have fun with your friends." He stormed out of the diner, giving nobody a chance to change his mind.
As he stood outside the diner, Zuko remembered how happy and hopeful he had been just twenty minutes before. His fists clenched. That was my best chance to get rid of the water spirit, and it failed. Now what? There's nobody else I can ask, nowhere else I can go. I'm on my own. I've got to figure out a way to get rid of an elemental spirit, all by myself, and do it before my father thinks I've completely turned traitor and disowns me. If he hasn't already. He despaired. But he had to do it, so he would! Somehow!
He walked off to his training ground as fast as he could, for his body was still weak. But my will is strong. I meant what I said. I will get rid of that spirit, no matter what it takes.
.
Aang paced back and forth in front of Appa. "I just have to trust Roku. What he said seems impossible, but he's old and wise. He must know something I don't. If I'm not angry, what am I?"
Appa yawned. Aang had been pacing like this for a while. "I am angry, though," Aang said. "The only thing I want to do is punch him in the face! How can that not be anger? Maybe Roku was wrong." This, too, was an old argument. He was going in circles. "Ugh! Why can't I just trust myself? What's wrong with me?"
Appa stood up. Aang continued to pace, lost in the storm of his own feelings. Appa watched him for a while. Then, the bison reached out with one great big foot and caught Aang in the chest, knocking the boy flat onto his back. He placed his foot on Aang's chest to keep him there and sat down.
Aang tried to move Appa's foot, but couldn't. He was forced to look up at the sky. The sight of clouds drifting across it calmed him. He realized for the first time how tense he had been. "Thanks, buddy."
He lay there and watched the clouds. Sky meditations were a popular form of meditation amongst the Air Nomads. He watched the clouds and remembered his people. He let his mind loosen its grip on the problems of the present and drift away, back to the mountaintop of his childhood and all the memories he had from there. Aang's eyes filled with tears. He missed his people, his home, and his beloved mentor. It was all gone. He was alone.
That reminded him of Zuko, and in a flash all of Aang's sadness turned to rage. "I can't believe he turned around and betrayed me like that!" Aang yelled, throwing off Appa's foot and sitting up. "After everything I did for him! After that talk we had on the tower! I thought we had a bond, but it was a lie. How could I have been so stupid?"
His fists shook and he wanted to punch Zuko in the face more than he ever had before. But, to Aang's surprise, tears dripped off the end of his nose. Why was he crying? He sobbed, a sob which he could not have predicted and did not expect. He wiped his face clear and understood what Roku had tried to tell him. He was angry. But he was angry because he was sad. He was sad because all of his bonds with his home and people had been shattered, and just when he'd begun to hope that he might have another bond which transcended worldly concerns and linked him directly with another spirit, that hope and that bond had been shattered too. Aang gave himself over to crying. "How could I have been so stupid?" he whispered. "I should have known. I shouldn't have trusted him. I shouldn't have bothered."
Now Aang knew, truly and without doubt, that he was alone in the world.
He didn't notice when the sky grew dark and snowflakes began to whirl around him. It seemed appropriate. Appa nickered and stood up. Aang stared at the ice of the glacier, lost in misery, until Appa roared. He looked up and noticed that a storm was moving in. "Okay," he said dully. "We'll find some other iceberg." He mounted Appa's head and gave the command to fly, which was all that Appa needed to leap into the sky and race for safety. The wind howled behind them.
.
Zuko gave up and let his wave splash on the ground. In its drops, he saw the shattered fragments of his dreams. "This is pointless!" he yelled. He kicked a pile of snow. "This isn't going to help me get rid of anything. All it will do is make me more dependent on you. I can't believe I let you convince me to do this!"
You will never go home as long as you are so easily fooled. Who would ever want someone like you to be in charge of anything? You are unfit to lead a mouse. The voice had finally found him even in this refuge. Zuko gripped his head and sank to his knees, groaning. Stupid, lost little boy. You belong to anyone who will take you. Of course you can't be trusted. Nobody with such reversible loyalties can be.
"Aagh!" Zuko got to his feet and ran. He left behind his spot and his training, the only things that gave his life form and meaning, and called them useless the whole way. His heart ached when he reached the tunnel entrance, and not from exertion. I am no good. I've been tricked and misled, again. He turned back for one last look at his training grounds.
Instead, he saw a snowflake whirl directly in front of his nose. Snow? Then he looked up and saw the storm. The clouds were thicker, darker, and most importantly, closer than they had been that morning. Snow was beginning to fall. Everything under the clouds looked curiously blurry, like it was enshrouded in fog. One could go in and never find their way out.
This sight did not fill Zuko with fear. He took a step away from the tunnel and stared at the blurred landscape. He couldn't take his eyes off of it. His heart ached more sharply than before. He wanted to go into the blizzard and disappear.
Zuko bit his lip. Uncle would be so worried. I can't. But he wanted to. If I could disappear… Then he would not be part of the human world anymore. He would forever give up his father and his country.
Zuko turned and threw himself into the tunnel. He scrambled downwards. Any observer would have thought he was running from something. He was, but it was something he could not outrun. He had always tried as hard as he could, but he never managed to outrun the breaking of his own heart.
.
Katara needed something to occupy her thoughts. She couldn't have said why; she only knew that she must not give in to thinking. Not yet. So she went to the only place in the entire village where she was guaranteed to find something. It was a place she never thought she'd see again.
Yagoda was in class. She brightened as she saw Katara walk in the door. "Katara! It's good to see you again, my dear! I thought you had abandoned us." Before her sat the same group of girls Katara had seen last time. They cheered and welcomed her back.
"Thank you." Katara sat down. "Master Pakku let us out early today, and my healing could use some work."
Yagoda returned to her lecture about how to turn different kinds of medicinal plants into different kinds of remedies. Today, she seemed to be mainly covering poultices. She also had a bag full of bandages that she passed around. She showed them how to properly tie the bandages around wounds on different parts of the body. Katara couldn't help but wonder if this was part of a series of lessons inspired by Zuko.
She got so absorbed in the lesson that she lost track of time. With a jolt, she realized it was the afternoon. Master Pakku must have already started his second class. Katara bit her lip and debated whether she should interrupt whatever she was doing in order to run and interrupt the waterbending class. Two interruptions; she didn't like the sound of that. Katara applied herself even more seriously to learning how to combine water healing and traditional medicinal healing. It could be very important someday.
After telling them how to combine water healing and medicine, Yagoda asked four of her girls to bring in the training dummy. Then she asked them all to pretend this was a critically injured patient. The rest of the class closed their eyes for a moment to imagine this. Then they jumped up and gasped. "Mistress, he's hurt!" one of them exclaimed, pointing at the dummy. "We have to do something!"
It was eerily familiar. Katara blocked out all thought and began moving on automatic. It was her body that moved without her to clean the imaginary wounds Yagoda described, use water healing on the wounds that needed it, bandage the ones that didn't, and always keep track of the other girls. The last was the hardest. Katara was used to working with her grandmother to heal injured people, but not a whole healing team at once. Yagoda mostly barked at the younger girls to stay out of her way, treating Katara as the most experienced doctor present. Katara wiped her brow and recited to herself, "Rinse, heal, disinfect, rinse, apply poultice, bandage," to remember the proper order amidst the chaos. Even so, sometimes Yagoda told her she'd missed a step, and she had to go back and practice the whole sequence over. It was quite straining!
When the hut began to grow dark and the class was pronounced done, Katara did not feel like she'd wasted her time. Who knew healing was so much like battle? She stayed behind after the other girls left. Yagoda probably thought she would rather be learning to fight, and that learning to heal was only her second choice. Yagoda would be correct if she thought that, which made Katara feel guilty, which was why she stayed. She wanted to make it clear that she wasn't disrespecting the value of healing by choosing not to do it herself.
"Thank you for the lesson," she told the old woman. "There's something I have to say. I know I fought hard to get into Master Pakku's class, but that doesn't mean I think any less of healing. I don't think it's any less valuable or less difficult. I have nothing but respect for the girls you're training, and I just want to say -"
Yagoda shushed her. "I understand."
"You do?"
Yagoda smiled. "I wondered what Kalika would look like if she learned to fight. Now I know."
Katara was stunned. "She's one of the best doctors you've trained. You think she could just as easily be a great fighter? I thought healers and fighters were different kinds of people." Even as she said that, she remembered what she had just been thinking about the similarities between a hospital and a battlefield.
Yagoda shook her head. "There is very little difference between a doctor and a warrior. Both require a strong and compassionate spirit." She smiled proudly at Katara. "He's lucky to have you."
Katara blinked. "Who?"
"The young man who gave you that necklace, of course!"
Katara's hand flew to her neck. She saw in her mind's eye the young man who had given her her necklace. The whole scene came rushing back - the vulnerability they shared, the trust, the gratitude. Katara's throat squeezed. She'd been deliberately avoiding thinking of that ever since he'd turned around and told her all of it was a lie.
"Whoever he is, he has very good taste in women," Yagoda went on. "May the spirits grant you their blessings for a happy marriage."
What?!
"Thank you," Katara said. Her voice seemed to echo. "Um, and thank you again for the lesson." She bowed and left the hut.
Her hand wandered back up to her neck. Katara took off her necklace and looked at it under the remaining moonlight. It was more than her mother's necklace. It was a lesson. The way to get what she wanted was to be the kind of person she wanted to be. No exceptions. If that meant opening herself to danger, so be it. If that meant letting go of her most cherished ideals of justice and fairness, so be it. Which was more important: punishing a wrongdoer, or showing compassion? She knew what her mother would say, and she knew which of those options had gotten her necklace returned to her. Both answers agreed.
Katara stared down at her necklace for a long, long time.
Eventually, she realized night had fallen. Aang would be back from his spiritual retreat. She put her necklace back on and headed home. Her confusion could wait.
.
No it couldn't.
Katara stepped through the doorway into their house, expecting to be greeted by a cheerful Aang ready to talk her ear off. She received no such greeting. Momo flew up to her, chattering urgently. He flew right back to the shoulder of a silent and sullen Aang.
"Aang? Are you alright?" Katara wondered if he'd caught something from being out on the cold ocean.
Aang closed his eyes. "No." He scratched loose a chip of ice and threw it into the fire. "It didn't work."
Katara's shoulders sagged. "The spiritual retreat didn't work?"
"Not even a little. I think it made everything worse."
"Oh no." Aang had to return to Master Pakku's class. He just had to. If a retreat hadn't worked, what else was there to try? There had to be something.
Momo rubbed his head against Aang's shoulder, trying to cheer him up. Meanwhile, Katara automatically started to make dinner. She looked through their meager supply of fresh vegetables and decided on a stew. They still had a little bit of dried seal jerky.
Sokka came in shortly after the water started to bubble. "Good news, everyone," he announced. "Sokka has started warrior training. The other guys tell me I'm already pretty good with a sword. No need to agree with them; I already knew it. You'll just make me blush."
"Nobody is in the mood for blushing," Katara told him. "Aang's spiritual retreat didn't work. He's nowhere near ready to return to Master Pakku's class."
Sokka shrugged and sat down. "You know what I think? Master Pakku's just being a huge jerkface. We'll talk to the king again in the morning. He won't let Master Pakku hold the entire world hostage just because he and Aang don't get along."
"You said Yue told you he was going to do something," Aang muttered. "That means her dad knew what he was planning to do, and gave permission for it."
Sokka's relaxed demeanor fell apart. "Oh. The world's doomed, then."
Aang tried to make a water circle. He couldn't even close the loop before the water stopped flowing, twisted, and ultimately splashed on the ground. He flopped down and sighed. "I still don't know what I'm doing wrong. Why is waterbending suddenly so hard? It was easy before. Maybe I've lost my feel for the water."
"Someone wise in the ways of the elements," Katara whispered under her breath.
"What was that?"
"Nothing."
Sokka leaned toward her. "It sounded like something, and that's what we need right now."
Katara looked at Aang. He glanced up at her, not quite daring to hope. He was desperate. They all were. Now was the time to try everything, no matter how crazy. "I have an idea. But you're not going to like it."
"I'll try anything," Aang pleaded.
"Okay. Wait here." Katara stood up. "Aang, watch over the stew." She turned and left the house.
Outside, snow was falling. The wind blew into her face in gusts. She had to pull her hood tight around her face. "I must be losing my mind," she muttered as she walked. "Either that, or going sane." She climbed the stairs to the palace and asked the guards if Tarao was in.
"He and Ola came in just a little while ago," one of them said. "Shall we send a messenger in?"
"Yes. Tell him I need to know where our guests, Lee and Mushi, are staying."
A messenger was sent inside. He soon emerged, frowning. "I saw no sign of him in the audience chamber."
"He has to be somewhere," the guard to her left responded. "We've been alert at our posts this whole time, and he hasn't come out."
The messenger went back in to search. It seemed to take forever. The snow thickened, flakes clustering on the furs of Katara's hood. "I hope you guys aren't going to be out here all night in this blizzard," she said to the guards.
"Oh, no. We're getting off soon. I feel bad for the night watch though," said the guard to her right.
They waited, and waited. At last, the messenger emerged. He had a strange look on his face. "Your two guests are staying in the palace's auxiliary lodging." He gave her directions to the neighborhood and to a specific building within, the strange look never leaving his face.
"Thank you," Katara said, and left. She glanced back and saw the messenger speaking with the guards before a burst of snow obscured the top of the stairs. She briefly wondered what that was about.
She also wondered why two dishonored guests had been given much fancier lodging than the Avatar. The "auxiliary lodging" was clearly places for high-ranking rich people to stay in where they could be close to the palace. Why would Zuko and Iroh be kept so close to the palace in such a spacious building? That made zero sense. Katara stopped before the door. She took a deep breath and gathered all of her courage. This was going to hurt.
She went in.
Zuko wasn't there.
His uncle was, and Kalika. The two healers stared at each other in surprise. "What are you doing here?" Katara asked.
"Waiting for Lee," Kalika answered. "What about you?"
"The same. He's not here?" Katara swept her eyes over the scene. Dinner had been served. Iroh had already eaten some of his.
"He hasn't come back yet," Iroh said, worry in his voice. "I haven't seen him since lunch."
Come back? From where? Nobody should be traveling in this blizzard. If he'd gone and gotten himself frozen to death, Katara would have to punch something. "I'll look around," she said. "I'll come back in fifteen minutes if I haven't found him."
"Be careful out there," Kalika said. "It sounds bad."
She was right. The storm was falling fast. In just the minute or two that Katara had been inside, the snow had already thickened. She had to raise her feet over the snow piled on the meager sidewalk. She went to the nearest corner and stopped to think. If she was a prince with the instincts of a fugitive, where would she have gone?
Katara looked up at the rooftops. No; in this city, people lived on the rooftops. He wouldn't want to be seen. Somewhere dark, secluded, where he could have privacy. Katara looked around for alleyways.
In her search for alleyways, she nearly missed it. Two buildings, separated by the thinnest of cracks, just wide enough for one person to fit in. The space was filled with shadow. Within the shadow, she could see something light. Zuko in his new, white clothes.
She crept into the crack slowly, quietly, not wanting to provoke him. He was pretty far in. Halfway to him, she heard something over the much-diminished sound of the wind. Was he crying?
He looked up at her as she approached. She expected him to ask what she was doing there. He did not. Without a word, he buried his face in his knees. Katara knelt beside him, slowly, carefully. Instincts she didn't know she had screamed at her. She found herself putting a comforting hand on his shoulder.
"You were right about me," he whispered. "I'm no good. I can't be trusted. I don't do anything right. I blow every chance I get. I am a failure."
Katara couldn't believe what she was hearing. Was this the arrogant, entitled prince Sokka was glad to be rid of? "Zuko…"
"My father was right about me," Zuko continued. "He was right to banish me. I'm bad. Something's wrong with me. I just wasn't born right. I wasn't meant to have any place in this world." He was curled up against the wall, hugging his knees like a little boy. He hugged them tighter.
Katara was shocked. It was not right for any person to say these things. "Zuko. Look at me."
He glanced up at her miserably. He looked just like Aang. Katara shook her head. "These things you're saying aren't true. Yes, you've made mistakes. You blew your first and second chances. But you still have a chance to change. It's not too late."
He closed his eyes. "I'm a bad person. I hurt all of you. My anger makes me dangerous to everyone around me."
"You can learn to control your anger," Katara told him. "It's a skill. You can get better at it. You can become a better person. It doesn't matter how you were born."
He opened his eyes and stared back at her. A long silence stretched between them. The outside world fell away, the muffled wind acting as a shield. Katara tried to look as serious as she could. She meant every word.
He looked away. He shrugged. Katara's first reaction was to get indignant. She'd gone out of her way to look for him in a storm, and he didn't even believe her?! But then she remembered what Iroh had told her. Men and women learned differently. A woman could be told she was qualified and believe it. A man had to see for himself. No matter what he was told about himself, good or bad, he always had to test himself to prove it. Of course Zuko didn't believe her. He hadn't done anything kind lately.
Katara lowered her head in shame. Part of that was because he hadn't been allowed to. "What was that offer you wanted to make?"
.
Aang and Sokka had nearly finished dinner. Sokka's jokes prevented them from completely finishing it. Currently, they were speculating on the wild and crazy youth Master Pakku might have had before he became a grumpy old sourpuss. "I bet he rode turtle seals," Aang said.
"I bet he flirted with all the ladies," Sokka countered.
"I bet he played pranks with all his friends."
"More likely, they played pranks on him! Before he had a real beard, they gave him one made of ice." Sokka stroked an invisible ice beard. While his hands were thus occupied, Momo dragged his bowl away and finished the stew for him.
Aang giggled. That was a use of waterbending he'd never imagined! Sokka had improved his mood greatly. "If I learn to make harnesses from water, I could ride the unagi with no problem!"
"Or make yourself a necklace made of diamonds, or go sledding anytime you want." Sokka sighed wistfully. "It's been so long since I went sledding. How I wish I could make a sled out of ice."
"I can make one for you," Aang offered. "I might not be able to make water into a circle, but I can do that."
"Do you think Princess Yue would go sledding with me?"
"I thought you two weren't dating because you don't want to get married?"
"We still hang out. It's hard, but we can just be friends. So, can we hang out with you and go sledding?"
"Sure!" Aang's confusion was cleared up. They hung out just the same way he and Katara hung out. Aang understood how he and Katara managed to have lighthearted times together, despite how much he wished for more. Everything made sense. He barely noticed Momo stealing his bowl.
Sokka was just launching into another joke when Katara walked in. He shot her a pout for interrupting his joke. Aang jumped up. "Did you find a way to help me with my waterbending?"
"Yes," Katara said. She was acting very strangely. The tense way she stood, with her shoulders hunched and her hands clasped in front of her, was at odds with the current mood. She glanced at the two of them as if…afraid? That couldn't be right.
"Is everything okay?" Aang asked.
"Yes. But I meant what I said earlier. You're not going to like it." She gave both of them a stern look. "Do not react. That's an order."
She then turned and went back outside. Aang and Sokka looked at each other. What was that about?
Their question was soon answered. She walked back in…and she was followed. Every muscle in Aang's body went rigid. The lightness in the room evaporated like morning mist. Momo squeaked. He looked at Zuko, then down at the bowl in his hands, then back at Zuko. Nobody moved, so he finished what he was doing: stacking the two bowls in a corner for cleaning. Then he hid behind Sokka's back.
Aang and Sokka followed orders and didn't say a word. Aang's eyes bored holes into Katara. She had better have a good reason for bringing this traitor to their temporary home.
Katara turned to Zuko, who bravely looked at Aang and Sokka straight on. "Explain your offer," she told him.
"I would like to teach the Avatar things that will help him be a better Avatar," Zuko said. His voice was strained, like he had to force out each word. His face was flushed, too.
"...You really expect us to believe that, don't you?" Sokka said. He rolled his eyes.
"My uncle ordered me to do something to make myself happy," Zuko said. "He's been getting on my case lately about everything. He thinks all my problems come from the fact that I'm not happy, and that I'm not happy because I'm not spending time with other people. This should get him to shut up."
"Why should I learn anything from you?" Aang snapped. "You're the last person who gets to talk about making peace and keeping balance in the world."
Katara stepped in front of Zuko before he could react. "Let me talk to them," she told him. She crossed the room to where Aang and Sokka were. They got into a group huddle. "Aang, you need to learn waterbending," she whispered forcefully. "It doesn't matter how. The fate of the world is at stake. Master Pakku kicked you out of his class because you were treating the water like your enemy. Remember what Zuko said about fire? He can teach you the right way to treat water. I don't like having him so close either, but we're out of options."
"He doesn't know this, does he?" Sokka whispered back. "If he knew that all he had to do to keep Aang from defeating the Firelord is not teach him, he would not be making this offer."
"Correct," Katara replied. "He doesn't know about the troubles we've been having. My plan is to trick him into helping Aang. He'll find out what we're doing eventually. Let's milk him for everything he knows before then."
"You make it sound like he really can help me be a better Avatar," Aang muttered. "He's a rageaholic who can't even make peace with his own uncle. If I listen to him, I'll be the worst Avatar in history."
"Oh, no question, his people skills are terrible," Katara agreed. "But we're not talking about people. We're talking about parts of the natural world. He gets along great with those. Remember the platypus bear?"
Aang's fists were curled so tightly, his knuckles were white. "I'll give it one lesson," he muttered resentfully.
"He's told me what his plans for the first lesson are," Katara said. "Even if you stop after that, that should be enough to get you back into class."
The huddle broke up. Katara went up to Zuko. "You get one lesson to prove yourself," she told him. "And there are going to be strict ground rules."
"I was just thinking the same," Zuko replied. "I was planning on coming in, sitting down and starting the lesson immediately. I do the lesson. Then I announce it's over and leave. No lingering, no annoying conversation."
"Good plan," Katara agreed. "It starts…now."
Zuko immediately turned away from her and sat down near the fire. Aang sat down across from him. Zuko cleared his throat. "Your first lesson will be on manners."
"What? I don't need to be taught manners. I'm not rude to anyone." Aang couldn't believe he'd agreed to sit through a torture session of unknown length for nothing! Interacting with Zuko reminded him of their past, which brought back all the agony he had felt on his spiritual retreat.
"Yes you are," Zuko retorted. "You are frequently rude. You haven't been called on it because up until now you've only worked with Water and Air, who are easygoing and have no sense of pride. Fire and Earth are different. You're in for a world of pain when you start working with them unless you learn proper manners now."
This stunned Aang into silence. His mind emptied of all prior conceptions. Talking about the elements as if they were people was so unexpected, it destroyed his ability to expect things. He had no idea where this lesson was going to go.
Zuko smiled. "You are rude to the elements when you try to get them to be something they aren't. The way to show respect is to understand what they are and never expect them to be any different. We'll start with Air. Tell me again what the unique thing about Air is."
Aang blinked twice before he found his words. "Air can't be fully controlled."
"Because Air always does what it wants. If it doesn't want to do it, it won't. Air doesn't care about responsibilities or duties. You are rude to Air when you try to make it go along with what you want. You show respect by acknowledging that if it does anything to help you, that's because it wants to help you. Your airbending isn't something you own. It's a gift. Be grateful."
Aang was speechless again. He had always thought of bending as a person's ability. Zuko was saying the opposite - that bending wasn't an ability a person had, but rather the elements (which were conscious, apparently) allowing humans to ask them for help. That was such a bizarre idea that Aang couldn't think about it. His thoughts were nothing more than repetitions of Huh?
"Next is Water," Zuko said. "Tell me again what the unique thing about Water is."
"State changes," Aang repeated numbly.
Zuko nodded. "Water can be everything. It can be soft and hard. It can act like stone or act like the wind. You disrespect it by ignoring that. If you go around saying water is the most gentle and least dangerous element, it's so soft and fluffy and harmless, that's disrespectful. If you go around saying it's deadly and dark and should be avoided, that's also disrespectful. It's both. To show respect to Water, you have to recognize all of it."
In Aang's confusion, the only solid thought he could latch onto was that this piece of wisdom probably wasn't going to help him waterbend.
"Next is Fire," Zuko said. "Fire is the element of power and change. You disrespect Fire by treating it as though it's powerless, as though it can change nothing. Respect Fire by treating it the same way you would treat a master. Always."
"Wait," Aang said. "What about that stuff you told me before about size changes?"
"That was specific to firebending," Zuko said. "Fires of different sizes have different personalities. You need to control its size because you need to know who you're working with. You can't partner with someone whose personality keeps changing unpredictably; that's a recipe for disaster. But you only need to worry about that if you're trying to bend the fire. This lesson is about more general stuff."
Wait… Bending was working together? Partnership?
"Finally, there's Earth," Zuko said. "Tell me again what the unique thing about Earth is."
"Permanence. Everything you do will last."
"Earth knows this, which is why it needs a very good reason to do anything at all. It won't move so much as a pebble for something trivial. You disrespect Earth by wasting its time. Hinting at it, nudging it, 'we really should…,' 'it would be really nice if…' Those are not good enough reasons. To show respect for Earth, you have to be straightforward with it. Don't hint, order. It will only treat your will as a good enough reason to move if you do."
Aang's mind was starting to get back up to full speed. Only now did he notice how much Zuko had changed over the course of the lesson. He spoke easily, authoritatively, as if he knew exactly what he was talking about. Gone was the strained voice, gone was the flushed face. Zuko the cool teacher had come back.
"Lesson's over," Zuko declared. He stood up and turned to Katara. "How'd I do?"
Katara and Sokka looked just as stunned as Aang. "That was pretty good," Katara said. "You can keep doing this, if Aang agrees."
"I agree," Aang said.
"Good. Uncle can stop bothering me now." Zuko was true to his word. He left without another glance.
Sokka shook his head vigorously to clear it. "Wait a second. Did he just go on about how the elements are people? That's ridiculous. Katara, back me up on this. He was talking crazy, right?"
"Maybe he wasn't," Katara said. "Of course the elements aren't really alive, but thinking of them as if they are helps. It's just a useful metaphor."
"He was teaching me a new way to think about the elements," Aang said. "Bending isn't something I can force onto them; it's a partnership between us that I have to respect." His eyes widened. "Katara, can I have your water?"
He swooped the water from side to side. "Thanks for working with me," he said to it. "Help me with this next move, okay?" He lifted the water up into a stream and folded it back over itself. The water stopped flowing. "Come on - wait. No. Partners." Aang relaxed. The water began to move again. The loop closed. It bulged, not forming a perfect circle. "Make a circle, make a circle," Aang muttered. The loop did all kinds of things, but that was not it.
"Partners have to trust each other," Katara said gently. "Water forms circles all the time in nature. Trust it."
Aang looked up at his loop. It didn't look like a partner. It looked like plain old water. He took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. "I trust you," he told the water. That was all he did. He wasn't aware of relaxing. But suddenly, the loop relaxed into a circle!
"You did it, Aang!"
"Huh. Maybe the crazy talk was good for something."
Momo screeched and flew circles in the air in celebration.
Aang smiled up at his perfectly formed circle. Of course! It seemed so obvious now. Of course the water was to be trusted. How had he ever lost his trust in it? Wait… When had he lost his trust in it? Aang frowned as he realized he didn't know the answer. But Zuko had said water was easygoing. It would forgive him.
"This feels right," he told Katara.
She nodded. "Yes, it does."