Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender

Author's Note: Chapter 10 review responses are at the end. Please read the end notes because I'm asking for some reader input. This may seem to have some things from Secret of the Fire Nation in it, but I promise I came up with practically everything in the rest of the story before I read the spoilers. I was just influenced enough to add a few details here and there.

Breakthroughs and Discoveries

That's the great thing about love – it levels the playing field. Anyone can be humiliated.

--Louis Gardino, Due South

The following morning, Iroh went with Zuko to a barren, rocky area not far from their camp to keep his daily appointment with Aang. Toph was already there as well, munching on a peach and lounging casually, as though preparing to enjoy a show. Zuko sat down near, if not exactly beside her.

"Where are the other two?" Iroh asked.

"Katara and I thought this might be easier for me if she wasn't here," Aang told him. "I guess she took Sokka with her." Iroh was beginning to suspect exactly what had happened the last time Aang played with fire, and he appreciated the current arrangement. Now seemed like as good a time as any to tell the boy something he'd been thinking about for a while.

"You know, you aren't going to find another girl like that if you search for another hundred years," he commented. Aang looked at him as though he had just said something painfully obvious. And from the young Avatar's perspective, Iroh supposed he had.

"I know," Aang said simply. Then he grinned. "I had to sleep for a hundred years just to find this one!"

"Isn't there a legend about that?" Toph interjected.

"Yes, there's a story that an Earth Kingdom princess was cursed by a witch and had to sleep for a hundred years, until awakened by the kiss of her true love," Iroh told her. "Nonsense, of course. There's no such thing as witches."

"Uncle!" Zuko growled. "Could you get on with it?"

"Yes, yes, of course," Iroh tried to placate his impatient nephew and turned back to his pupil. "Firebending comes from the breath, but it is fueled by emotions, especially anger."

"Anger?" Aang seemed nervous all over again.

"Yes, is there a problem?"

"Well, it's just that, I don't get angry very often. I mean, really angry. But when I do…" Aang made an expansive gesture with his hands. "I go all…Avatar." Iroh lifted his eyebrows and had to force down a surge of fear. He had seen the Avatar State a time or two, and he was not at all interested in being the cause if it surfaced again.

"Is that what triggers it?" he asked curiously.

"It's a little more complicated than that, but basically, yes."

"Hm," Iroh considered. "Of course, if you can learn to channel your anger into firebending, it's possible you will have less need of the Avatar State."

"I never thought of that!" Aang brightened immediately. "I guess it might work that way. Okay, I'm ready."

"Take your stance and breathe. Focus on the air moving in and out. Don't close your eyes!" he added, as Aang had done so in order to concentrate. "You'll need them shortly." He ignored the snort from Toph at that.

"Okay, now choose a breath," Iroh went on, after allowing Aang to fall into a rhythm. He looked to make sure that he and the two spectators were well out of the way. "As you breathe in, gather your energy. When you breathe out, put that energy into making a small fire in your right hand."

Aang followed these instructions. Taking a deep breath, he focused on his right hand as he exhaled. Nothing happened, and he frowned in frustration.

"You must let go of fear," Iroh advised him. To his surprise, the boy in front of him burst out laughing. "Did I say something amusing?"

"Not exactly," Aang explained. "It's just that Katara reminded me last night that I told her the exact same thing right after we met." He recovered himself. "I think I can do this now." He held his right hand open in front of him, took a breath, and shot a three-foot jet of flame into a rock formation twenty yards in front of him.

"Um, oops?" he laughed nervously.

"Very good," Iroh replied calmly. "You can make fire. Now, let's work on control."

Two hours later, Aang was able to create a fire at will, exactly the size he wanted it. However, there was still the question of emotion to deal with. Clearly, Aang was not adept at controlling his emotions, and that was cause for concern. Iroh felt that Katara would inspire the strongest feelings, and he needed to see how Aang would respond to that in terms of firebending.

"Why don't you invite Katara to watch tomorrow?" he suggested casually.

"Yeah, I will!" Aang said excitedly. As Iroh had hoped, he took to the idea immediately and with no suspicions. "I think she'd like to see this."

"Good. We'll continue then. If you keep progressing at this pace, I should be able to train you and Zuko at the same time before too long."

"Uncle!" Zuko shouted, leaping to his feet. "You can't be serious!"

"Are you questioning my judgment?" Iroh's tone was mild, but there was a hint of steel underneath.

"Of course not," Zuko retreated slightly under his uncle's sharp gaze. "It's just that I've been training my whole life. How could he possibly be up to my level in a few weeks?"

"He is the Avatar. He has already mastered all the elements a thousand times. In a way, he only needs to be reminded of things he already knows. Besides, he must achieve mastery by the end of summer, so he will. In the end, we all do what we must."

"I don't even know what that is anymore," Zuko complained.

"Oh, sit down, Sourpuss," Toph instructed. She banged on the ground and knocked the prince's feet out from under him. He landed unceremoniously on his rear end and glared at the girl. Iroh chose to ignore all of this.

"When the time comes, you will know what to do," he gently told his nephew. "Now, are you ready to have your lesson?" Zuko nodded and stood up again, carefully watching Toph for any sign of foul play. The earthbender, however, was also rising.

"That makes it my turn, Twinkle-toes," said Toph with an evil grin. "Iroh is much too easy on you. I hope you're ready for some real work." Aang cast an almost pleading look at Iroh, but the old man just shrugged helplessly. The Avatar sighed and went off to face his next ordeal.

"So, why are we doing this again?" Sokka wondered aloud as he went off into the woods that lined the river near which they'd set up camp.

"I wanted to help Aang by being out of the way during his lesson this morning," Katara explained patiently. "We could use some fresh fruits and vegetables, anyway. You're coming because I don't think any of us should go wandering off alone. There are a few villages nearby, which means there might be wanted posters."

"In that case, hold up a minute," Sokka told her. He bent down to the ground, pulled some twine out of the bag he wore over his shoulder, and began to set up a few snares. As he worked, he decided to bring up a subject that had been on his mind a lot lately. "You know, I've been wanting to tell you that there is one time I was glad you didn't listen to me."

"Only one time?"

"Very funny. I know you hardly ever listen, but the only time I'm happy about is when you broke Aang out of that ice."

"Well, yeah," Katara said in a tone that indicated this should be obvious. "He's going to save the world."

"You really believe that, don't you?" Sokka paused in his work to ask.

"Of course. I always have," Katara looked at him strangely, almost as though she didn't recognize him. "Don't you?"

"I guess, but you know me," he shrugged, returning to his task. "I never object to a backup plan. Anyway, that's not why."

"What? Why else could it be?"

"After Mom died, you got really quiet and serious. That's when you started practicing waterbending every day. It was like you forgot how to be a kid."

"So did you," Katara accused, crossing her arms. Sokka stood from his last snare and gave a rueful grimace.

"I guess we both lost our childhood that day," he acknowledged. "But it was different for me. When Dad and the others left, I was the only warrior our village had. I felt like I had a responsibility to become a man because there was no other choice. There were plenty of women, though; you didn't have to become one of them yet.

"Then we found Aang. Right away, you started smiling and laughing again. These last few months, in spite of all the dangers and running for our lives, I don't think I've ever seen you happier. So whatever else happens, Aang gave me my sister back. I'll never forget that."

"Oh, Sokka," Katara exclaimed, throwing her arms around his neck. In his own mind, Sokka was letting her go again, preparing for her to end up with Aang, but he couldn't tell how much of that she understood. He'd been watching her pretty closely over the past week, and he'd noticed that something in her had been gradually changing. When she was apart from Aang, she wore a sort of perplexed and lost look. When they were together, she looked at the Avatar with a longing expression Sokka knew well.

"So, on with the foraging," Sokka said when she released him. "With luck, we'll also have some trapped animals by the time we get back."

The siblings walked amiably through the woods, collecting berries and edible roots, leaves, and flowers. Suddenly, Katara stood still, listening.

"Did you hear something?" she asked.

"Wha --" was all Sokka had time for before a figure jumped out of the bushes beside him and knocked him over. His reflexes took over, countering his assailant's moves while the back of his mind recognized that this all felt somewhat familiar. Instinctively, he dug one hip into the ground, wrapped the opposite leg around the other person, and rolled, ending up on top of the girl who'd attacked him.

"Suki!" he exclaimed in surprise. She wasn't wearing her warrior makeup, but he'd recognize that fighting style anywhere.

"Hi, Sokka," she said breathlessly. Her eyes seemed to be almost laughing at him, though they also showed a certain grudging respect. "You've gotten better."

"So have you," he returned. "You're really pretty without your makeup." He winced at having been so blunt, but she smiled cheerfully enough.

"Thanks. Do you think you could get off me now?"

"Oh, right. Sorry," Sokka mumbled, blushing as he rolled to the side and allowed the girl to stand. She brushed herself off. Her six warriors were simply standing around, apparently having broken off the attack when they recognized Katara. One or two of them appeared wet, however, indicating that it may have taken a few seconds for mutual recognition to take place.

"So, Suki, what are you all doing here?" Katara asked, though the familiar gleam in her eye told Sokka he would be in for some serious teasing later. "We're not that close to the battlefront, are we?"

"Oh, no," Suki assured her. "Our unit heard rumors of some kind of machine terrorizing a couple of villages in this area, so the commander sent us to investigate."

"Sounds like Fire Nation," Sokka muttered, hand going automatically to the hilt of his machete. "Would you like some help?"

"First, we have to find out what it is, if there's even anything to it," Suki replied, neither accepting nor declining his offer.

"We should probably check it out, too," Katara put in with a sigh. "The odds are good that it's after us."

"Hey, that sounds like something I would say!" Sokka exclaimed. "I'm so proud!"

"You're right!" Katara returned, sounding mortified. "I must be spending too much time with you." Sokka just laughed.

"Anyway, why don't you all come to our camp?" Sokka invited them. "That way, our whole group can hear your story at the same time."

"Whole group?" Suki asked, falling in beside him. "There's more than just the Avatar, then?"

"Yeah, we've had quite a few additions since we last saw you," Katara answered. "And I think we'd better prepare you for a couple of them…."

Author's Note: Okay, just to let everyone know, the next chapter is going to definitely have some T-rated stuff, and that will probably be true from here on out, either with sexuality or violence. Now, I see Sokka/Suki as potentially being a very passionate relationship, so I need to know 1) how far you think it should go and 2) how much of it you actually want to read. I won't promise I'll go with majority opinion on this, but I would like to get a feel for what level of intimacy my audience will be comfortable with.

Moira, if you're reading this, it may seem like I've taken things from Breath of Silver, but like I said, we just seem to think alike. I also hope you are working on finishing that!

Review responses:

xenus: Well, thank you very much! It seems like the only reason I read my e-mail lately is to see if I have reviews!

SnakeEyes16: Well, unfortunately, I start school again tomorrow (going back to college in my 30s, yay), so I don't know how much I'll be writing. I am hoping to finish this story before the new movie airs, though, so the chapters will probably be coming a little faster the next three weeks.

SilvrImage: I'm so glad the scene turned out okay. Oh, and I like the videos you link to in your profile, especially the Someone Like You one. I think I've seen it four times now.

frozenheat: Yeah, more Iroh in this chapter. I can't seem to get enough! Someone help me…

denythefreshmaker: I'm glad I'm doing well enough at the sexual tension that it's getting to you, but please calm down. My husband did write the following for you: "Aang stopped watching the sunset, turned…and stuck his tongue down Sokka's throat." Hee hee. Now be patient and don't rush me!

MyrmidonGuy: Yes, I love Kataang. I think I love it even more as I write this fic, which is probably kind of twisted. I am particularly proud of that scene.

Kairuthefrog: Thanks a lot! As I mentioned above, I did particularly like that Aang/Katara scene, and I'm glad the Sokka/Yue deal went over well.

Jonnoda: Yes, I just adore men. Your review reminded me of how Aang crashed into a snowbank in the first episode because he was distracted by Katara smiling up at him.

fallenfox: Um, yeah, well, here's an update, and here's Suki! I guess we're on the same wavelength.

daydream11: Thanks! Here's your update!