Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar: The Last Airbender and I am in no way associated with the creators of the show.

Author's Note: (Edited 8/18/20)The biggest change in this chapter is the beginning dream scene - originally, it depicted Aang's very first meeting with Ozai. In returning from my hiatus I decided to hold back on that for now (though this new one just makes me sad). Otherwise, I did my usual changes of fixing up some sentence structures to make it flow better, but I also changed Sokka's plans around a little bit so that this chapter wasn't a complete carbon copy of the episode. Looking back, this was one of my worst chapters in that regard, so hopefully it's a little better. Sokka's more like Sokka this time.

Book 1: Fire

Chapter 9: The Firebending Scroll

"Congratulations," said Zuko, pressing a closed fist to his palm and bowing. "You're a firebending master."

Aang returned the bow and smiled. "Thank you, Sifu Zuko."

And just like that, he had mastered all four elements. The world was still in ruins, his past lives were out of reach, and the Avatar State might have been gone forever, but one part of his Avatar journey had been done right. He felt like he had accomplished something, even if it took about three years, far past his deadline of Sozin's Comet. But that didn't matter anymore.

Sokka jumped down from the fallen log he used as his vantage point to watch their training session. He bit his lip in his usual way that meant a snide remark had been brewing. "Can you really say if he's mastered firebending? I thought you weren't even a master, Zuko!"

Aang laughed but Zuko crossed his arms. "Like you would know, Sokka!"

Katara emerged from the underbrush and came into the clearing with a drawstring bag in her arms and Toph at her heels. "Oh, Sokka, leave him alone," she said, and then she looked at Aang and he felt like he could shoot rockets from his feet. "You know what? I think this calls for a celebration. Here, everyone! Reach your hand into the bag for a surprise!" She held it open, grinning expectantly.

"I mean, I already know…"

"Shush, Toph, don't spoil it!"

All four of them did so and pulled out garishly painted, hand-carved masks one by one. Zuko even cringed when he got a blue demon mask that bore more than a passing resemblance to his old Blue Spirit mask.

"You got us masks?" Aang asked.

"Yes! There's a festival in the nearby village. I think we could use some good cheer for once."

Zuko groaned. "Oh, yeah. The Fire Days Festival. It's that time of year, isn't it?"

Aang frowned and a long-forgotten memory swam to the surface of his thoughts. "Katara, is that a good idea? We went to that festival once and it didn't end well."

"It's a special occasion," she said, circling behind him to tie his mask to his face. "The beginning of the Era of Avatar Aang! Which deserves a moment of fun, if you ask me. I insist."

Aang didn't have the heart to remind her that just mastering the elements didn't make him a fully realized Avatar, but they went along to the village anyway.

Despite being a colony, it felt like they stepped into the Fire Nation proper. Splashes of all different colors assaulted their vision from flags and banners and flames that burned different types of powders and came out in a rainbow. Citizens of all ages rushed by with streamers or sparklers in their hands and masks on their faces, laughing and cheering as if the world outside their town hadn't changed at all. Noodles cooked in street stalls and the smell of spices reached Aang's nose even through the mask. He had to dodge out of the way of a bearded dragon dancing through the streets, its golden paint shining in the firelight of all the lanterns. They passed a puppet show and firebending demonstrations.

Sokka and Zuko shared a bag of fire flakes, but for the most part, Team Avatar didn't partake in the revelry. They enjoyed the anonymity, five ghosts drifting through the celebration, watching and wishing for better times. They found a bench on the outskirts of town far from the heart of the crowds that gave them a decent overhead view of the ceremonial torch in the center of town and the clear night sky. After the torch had been lit - an effigy and offering of flame to Fire Lord Azula and Phoenix King Ozai - fireworks whistled and bloomed in the sky. The booming sounds made Toph stiffen at Aang's side, pressed together as they all were, and he entwined his hand in hers to comfort her.

She let out a grunt. "I don't know what's so special about fireworks," she said. "No different from regular old bombs to me."

Aang wanted to say she was right, but it was important to Katara that they try to find small enjoyments like this. To keep smiling even when it hurt.

They all fell silent, leaning into each other as they watched. They ignored it when someone twitched or shuddered or gasped and just held on tighter in response. The bench was just big enough for the five of them to sit side by side. No room for Suki or Haru or Iroh or anyone else who should have been there with them to ring in the beginning of a new era, who they missed so fervently regardless. Historians would only record the day as any other in the era of the Phoenix King.

Behind the anonymity of his mask, Aang let the tears fall as explosions ripped apart the sky.


Aang shot up from his sleep, his eyes wide with fear as sweat streamed down his face. His dark hair clung to his head, damp with sweat. His breaths came out in long gasps.

"What's wrong?" Azula asked, startling him. Apparently, he had fallen asleep under the sun on the back of Appa's saddle. The wind blew his shawl over his head, tickling his face. Aang pushed it down and rubbed his eyes, loosening his tense muscles with a sigh.

"It was just a bad dream," he said to her. He sat back against the side of Appa's saddle, letting Zuko fly the bison for a while. Their detour to Kuruk's Temple had them essentially starting their journey over, returning to the Outer Islands of the Fire Nation as they went back on course to the Golden City. Aang briefly considered changing course to the Earth Kingdom, but Zuko had informed him that route would likely be dangerous, since it would require following the Earth Kingdom's shoreline to the northern reaches and most of it was likely to be under control of the Water Tribes.

"You've been having those very often lately," Azula pointed out to him, crossing her arms and staring inquisitively.

"What, are you worried about me? It's nothing," he said, dismissing her with a wave of his hand.

"You are worried that you'll fail the whole world and that it'll be flooded completely on the day of Seiryu's Moon, completely destroying all civilization as we know it, right?" she asked, her voice precise and calculating. Aang stared at her with wide eyes, his mouth slightly hanging open. Even Zuko halted Appa for a moment to stare at her.

"Uh-um, yeah, sure," Aang stuttered. The awkward moment passed and Appa continued flying.

"Still... it must be very difficult and daunting to have to learn all four elements before winter's end..." Azula said. What was she hinting at?

"Yeah, and you're not helping," Aang said, rolling his eyes.

"And you're surprisingly not very nervous about it. But I was obviously able to tell that you were from your nightmares. You're hiding your feelings. What are you keeping from us?" She crawled toward him with every sentence, her eyes widening. Desperate for information. Aang pushed himself against the edge of Appa's saddle. "It's got to be something else besides this 'Seiryu's Moon' business."

Wow, she's really perceptive. She doesn't miss a thing! "You miscalculated. I'm fine," Aang said to her, holding up his hands in a defensive position. Her face was uncomfortably close to his.

"Well, I guess since you so desperately need it, I can teach you some of the firebending I know," she said, pulling back from him and sitting back down. She spoke with an air that she was doing him a great favor and it was a hassle to her.

Aang saw the opportunity to get away from dangerous ground and took it. "Sure, that'd be... good."

"Alright, that's settled then!" she said, grinning. She clearly had some kind of ulterior motive, but Aang was too relieved to think about that at the moment. "Zuzu, land this bison. We're going to have a quick firebending lesson."

Aang didn't know why he couldn't bring himself to tell Azula that this wasn't the way things were supposed to be. He didn't think he could ever tell her, or Zuko, for that matter, that the Fire Nation ruled the world in another place, that they both once hunted for him, and that their enemy, Prince Sokka, was his best friend. Could he tell her that he kept seeing her as someone evil, someone who hunted him and his friends? Could he tell them that their father was a ruthless tyrant? Would they believe him? Would they shun him?

Wait, Aang stopped himself. Why did he even care about getting acceptance from Azula?

More importantly, he wondered if he was even going to be able to bend fire. Back when he first discovered he wouldn't be able to return back home easily, he tried to bend any element besides air with no luck. There seemed to be almost a sort of mental barrier that he couldn't pass no matter how hard he tried. At times, he had taken to wondering if he could even bend the other elements... but then he remembered that he was able to access the Avatar State. Would getting an informal lesson help him "relearn" the information? What would he do if he couldn't do it?


Aang looked long and hard at the spot that Zuko deemed appropriate for the quick firebending lesson. They situated themselves on a large patch of spongy, mossy ground in a clearing that was part of a wider, wilder jungle not unlike the one at Zuko and Azula's home. Aang wasn't very worried about losing control of his fire—once he had it alive, he assumed, he'd be able to control it like he used to. Besides, if anything got out of hand, there was a small pond nearby. They were a fair distance away from any forest, which was just on the outskirts of the pond, and a rocky crag shielded them from curious eyes. Zuko suspected that no waterbenders had been here in some time because the ground hadn't been dried out from their attacks.

Aang braced himself for his first lesson with Azula. He found himself wondering how she would compare to Katara, Toph, and Zuko's lessons.

"We'll start by making a ball of fire in our hands, like this," the girl said, holding out her hand palm up. A flame danced in her grip like a lantern on a dark night. It was a very common and easy ability. Aang knew from experience, even though he had trouble when he first tried it. He held out his hand like she did, but nothing happened. He didn't expect it, anyway. He had tried this before.

"You're not even going to tell me how to—"

She interrupted him with a curt interjection. "Make a flame!"

Aang rolled his eyes. "But how—?"

"Do it!"

Zuko, watching from the side, snickered.

"You've got to be kidding me," Aang mumbled. She's not a good teacher at all. "I can't make fire. You need to tell me how."

"You're hopeless. Fire comes from the breath," she said, rolling her eyes. Aang immediately knew the real reason why she volunteered to teach him what she knew. She enjoyed ordering him around for once, and being the one in charge. Aang complied anyway, taking a deep breath. He concentrated, but on what, he didn't know. There had to be something else he was forgetting!

"I can't do it. Something's wrong," Aang said after a moment.

"Zuko!" She called her brother tersely. "Get some firewood!"

Zuko jumped as if his seat had burned. "Why me?"

"Because you're the one watching," she said. "Now go get it!"

"I'll get it," Aang said, before Zuko stood.

Aang walked to the edge of the forest to receive the tinder required for the fire. He hoped that it was for Azula's lesson and not for one of her own pointless reasons to annoy him. He had thought Toph was bad but he preferred her lessons over Azula's any day.


The wooden hull of the ship creaked as it rocked in the waves and Sokka concentrated on the maps in front of him, trying to plan out the Avatar's route or current location. So far, he'd had no luck. He was the ship's navigator and it was his job to plan their destination, but ever since he returned to Fire Nation waters he couldn't find any clues as to the Avatar's whereabouts. He absently carved a piece of wood with his whittling knife to occupy his hands while his mind worked.

They currently sailed along the coast of the Fire Nation's eastern archipelago. They had departed from Avatar Kuruk's island with the utmost speed in an attempt to follow the young Avatar and avoid Bato. Part of him had to admit he was being childish, because Bato did have superior resources he could have used, but he wanted to prove he could do this on his own. Without having to rely on his father or Bato.

He cross-referenced his maps to the Avatar's routes that he had previously tracked, trying to discern a pattern. His movements seemed almost random, flitting from one island to another, with sightings across both the western and eastern skies. He'd been seen on Crescent Island and Jie Duan on the mainland. Ultimately, their destination seemed to be somewhere to the north - somewhere fortified and safe, like the Golden City. It had been his prevailing theory but he knew if that was indeed where the Avatar had been heading he'd have a slim chance of capturing the boy once he achieved their protection. Assuming the Avatar resumed this route after the detour to Kuruk's temple - a gamble, Sokka had to admit, but one he felt confident about - the eastern archipelago was the closest part of the Fire Nation from there, and thus where he must have made his first landfall again.

The airbender never touched down on the same place twice.

He tended to avoid towns and villages under Water Nation control. And when he did visit them, he caused enough of a ruckus to get noticed, like at the alchemical laboratories.

He'd have to restock soon. Sokka searched his maps for the nearest neutral port in the eastern archipelago and grinned to himself when he spotted one. Kakili Island, known for its jumble of docks and jungles where ancient Fire Nation temples and cave systems lay in ruins, said to be cursed by spirits that had been angered by centuries of explorers violating their sanctity. Despite being a port town the Water Nation had little interest in it - part of it was superstition but the predominant reason was an uneasy alliance with the pirate fleets in the area who frequented the island.

Sokka was interrupted from the rest of his planning by a loud knock on the wooden door. The sudden sound made his hand slip and he cut his thumb on his wood carving knife. "Come in," he said, letting out a hiss through clenched teeth. He shook the pain from his hand and sucked on the wound.

His grandmother entered with a sad frown on her face. "Prince Sokka, we need to get to a port."

"I agree," he said. "Kakili Island. It's close. The Avatar's got to be there."

"Yes, but... I ran out of my cookie ingredients, and I wanted to make some for the crew..."

Sokka examined his hand to make sure the bleeding had stopped and glanced at the piece of wood he had carved. He hadn't been thinking about what shape he was making, but it looked a little bit like a bear or a fish, small enough to fit in the palm of his hand. "I do not want to stop my search for the Avatar for your cookies."

"But it's important. Someone needs to make some good dessert around here!" the old woman said. "It will be my gift to the crew for working so hard."

"I said no, we can't! If we're going to beat the Avatar to Kakili Island I have to set a trap for him. There's not enough time for shopping… as tempting as it is."


"I can't believe you talked me into this," Sokka said with a scowl, watching his crew lug tons of needless souvenirs onto the ship. All purchased at ludicrous prices from a pirate ship. "This is just junk!"

"No it's not! I have plenty of new ingredients for cookies now," his grandmother protested with her hands on her hips. She looked up at him, her wrinkles pronounced in a deep frown. "There's also my sewing materials and reading scrolls. But I was very lucky to find new, rare Pai Sho tiles! Oh, and take a look at this," she said, holding up a tiny, white whistle. "It's shaped like some kind of animal, but it seems to be broken..."

"All of it's useless old lady stuff that we don't need," Sokka grumbled, crossing his arms. His eye caught a glimpse of something red and gold sticking out of one of the crates as it passed by him and he plucked it from among the rest of the useless baubles - a firebending scroll. He bit his lip and smiled as an idea formed in his mind. "That girl with the Avatar is a firebending novice, right? And we've never seen him use anything other than airbending outside of his Super Glowy Mode, either." He had a feeling that it was called something else when the Avatar's eyes and tattoos glowed, but his primary concern whenever that happened was hightailing it out of there instead of sussing out what it really was. "Think they might like this little gift?"


By the time he was back, Zuko had a sort of fire pit ready, so Aang threw the twigs inside. Azula lit it easily with a trail of fire from her wrists. The two siblings sat down next to the fire.

"I'm ready to try again," Aang said. He stood next to the fire and took a deep breath.

Azula copied him. "Listen, Aang..." she said. Aang's eyes widened. Was she about to apologize again for her earlier actions? Azula and apologies didn't go well together. It unnerved him to see her act so human, even now, when he was finally getting to know her. She took a deep breath. "I'm sorry for being too rough on you earlier. I wasn't really teaching you anything about firebending." As she said this, Zuko caught Aang's gaze and smiled. So, Zuko is the reason for this, Aang thought, inwardly praising him. It seemed that he had some influence on his younger sister after all.

"It's okay," Aang said. "I've had my fair share of rough teachers." He thought again about his first lessons of earthbending with Toph. Now, he figured that Azula was still aggravated over the loss of her mother's headpiece, but he had a strong suspicion that Sokka was the one who somehow stole it.

"Alright," Azula said quickly, as if determined to forget about her apology, "We'll continue the lesson now. With a flame already alive for you to try and control, this should make it easier." She put her hand near the fire and the crackling flames moved closer to her, bending to her will. "You have to feel the heat of the fire outside of you and inside of you. You have to have the desire to control it. Firebending is all about control," she explained. With a slight movement of her hand, a piece of the fire went out to it, resting in her palm. "Now, you try to do that."

And then, it all made sense to him. As soon as Azula said those words and he saw the flame go into her hands, something seemed to click inside of his head. A long distant memory had resurfaced, and he suddenly remembered how to control fire and the basics of firebending. It was as if a block on his mind was removed. He found that he still didn't remember some of the more elaborate attacks, but now firebending seemed so simple. Instead of taking the flame in his palm from their campfire, Aang punched the air, letting out a small blast of the element.

Zuko fell back, surprised, and even Azula took a step away from him. "What was that?" the firebender asked.

"Wow, it turns out Azula's a good teacher after all!" Zuko exclaimed, shock written all over his face.

"How did you do it so soon?" Azula asked him. Her gaze was scrutinizing. She did not like to be surprised.

"I guess you are a great teacher," Aang said with a cheesy grin, in his opinion. "Thank you, Sifu Azula."

"You were holding back the whole time," Azula said, ignoring him. "That's the only thing that can explain it."

"The Avatar is the best bender in the world, isn't he?" Zuko asked her. "It's only reasonable that he can bend fire so easily." Aang felt himself appreciating the fact that Zuko stood up for him.

"What else can you do, Avatar?" Azula asked. "I want to see if that was just a fluke!" She used both hands to make the campfire into a ball, pulling her hands up into the air and thrusting her palms out, sending it at him. Pure reflex came to Aang and he jabbed his fingers into it, pulling it apart in two different directions. Aang felt strengthened by the light of the sun on his back, a distantly familiar feeling.

Aang grinned. If it's a challenge you want, you'll get it, he thought roguishly.

He decided to perform his very first firebending move on her. He held a tiny flame above his head and bent his knees. He let the fire fall into his hands where he spread it out and let it grow, creating a ring of fire all around him. Instead of burning Azula's hand, however, she swiftly chopped it in half. She ran toward him with her next attack, her fist wreathed in flames. She sent the punch at him, but he blocked her arm with his forearm. For a moment, stormy grey eyes met her amber ones, but Aang ducked when she sent a punch at his face.

Fire came to life between his fingers as he used his superior speed to get behind her, ready to attack again, but she bent down, twisting her leg up to kick him in the chin with the sole of her foot. Thankfully, she wasn't concentrating on firebending at that moment, but even so it knocked Aang to the ground. He rubbed his chin as Azula turned around, faintly surprised with her luck.

"That was pretty flexible of you," Aang said, sitting up with a frown. "If I used my airbending you would've been done for."

Azula smirked. "Yeah, I know, but that wasn't the point of our little training session, was it? You're just not on par with me yet in firebending. Too bad. Try again next time."

Aang's eyebrow twitched.

"You guys, stop fighting," Zuko said, chiding them like children. "I was just checking through our things, and we're out of supplies. We have to find a town and buy some more."

Aang picked up his staff and walked to the exit of the clearing with a slump in his step that wasn't there before. He couldn't place why, but the fact that Azula showed him up felt kind of irritating. "Alright, let's go."


Their route had brought them to a ramshackle port town composed of a series of crisscrossing docks extending into the sea from the jungle taking up most of the island. Homes floated on the surface of the water or elevated on wooden planks above the docks with enormous palm fronds sticking out of the top of thatched roofs. In addition to the floating homes, merchant ships docked on the outskirts of town and peddled their wares right on their decks and under the sun. Hawkers shouted to get people to come aboard and peruse. As a whole, the town made Aang think of a combination between the Jang Hui fishing village and Ember Island.

He didn't look at the clear seawater as they walked above it, didn't admire the gentle surf or the swaying seaweed forest under their feet. It had occurred to Aang that he was no stronger than he was the first time around in his world, and it made him wonder what might have changed in his world if he had been stronger and more focused on his training to begin with. He couldn't keep up with Azula's firebending. Was that because he was younger now? He had been fifteen or sixteen (they'd lost track of the days) before he came to this world, a master of all four elements. It had taken him too long to do so that time, but now he could train harder. Smarter. He could become a stronger Avatar. Maybe make a difference this time.

"Hey, you kids!" a street vendor yelled at the three of them, grabbing their attention. Aang turned to see a small, wiry man who looked just as suspicious as everyone else in the port city, trying to lure in customers for his shop on the boat behind him. "Come to this shop! We have all kinds of interesting, exotic things!"

"Wanna go, Aang?" Zuko asked, turning to the younger boy. The store vendor came up and put his arm around Aang, and immediately the young boy was hit with his smelly, putrid breath. These guys weren't good news.

"You guys don't happen to be pirates, do you?" Aang asked, unhappy about seeing these particular people again. He remembered his run-ins with them very well - it had been exciting at the time, but they'd been able to capture Aang with ease.

"We prefer to be called 'high-risk traders,'" the man said with a clever grin.

"So I've heard," Aang said with a sigh. "Let's get out of here, guys." Zuko started to walk away with him, but Azula didn't move.

"Well, I want to go," the firebender said, walking onto the ship while waving her hand dismissively. "See you later, boys."

Aang slapped his forehead and Zuko grumbled to himself, crossing his arms. By the time the two of them went inside the shop, Azula had already been searching through the numerous shelves. Resignedly, the two boys took a look around for themselves. He found all kinds of items for sale tucked into nooks and crannies that he'd expect pirates to plunder - old pieces of jewelry, strange statuettes, gems of dubious quality, weapons for ceremony rather than function - but one thing in particular caught his eye.

Behind a glass case, an open scroll depicted a figure in black ink that moved through a firebending form, the flames themselves made from gold leaf that looked almost real in the light of the lanterns. The name of the ability was the "fire funnel" - and a scribbled note advertised that the rest of the forms could only be seen with the purchase of the scroll. Underneath the display scroll, on a shelf, he spotted a copy of it rolled up on a plush cushion as if the universe itself offered Aang the scroll.

"Nice..." Aang said quietly to himself, snagging the scroll. "Okay guys, let's go. I've seen enough here."

"I haven't looked at everything yet," Azula muttered to him. He let her catch a glimpse of the scroll with the emblem of the Fire Nation on it, and slipped it into his clothes. Her eyes widened. "Okay, suddenly I've had enough of this place. Let's go, Zuzu."

"What? Why?"

"Just come on!" Aang ushered him quietly. He froze when the pirate captain appeared in front of him, blocking his way with crossed arms. The parrot on his shoulder cawed at him, and Sabi, on Aang's shoulder, cowered behind his head.

"Not going to buy anything?" the pirate asked him, raising an eyebrow.

"Sorry, we don't have any money," Aang said to him with a straight face, looking him right in the eye. The pirate nodded and let him pass.

"Off you go, then," he said, gesturing for them to leave. Aang breathed a sigh of relief and quickly walked off of the boat with Azula, Zuko following behind at a hurried pace.

"What was that about?" Zuko asked, once they were almost out of sight of the boat.

"Just keep walking," Aang said.

"Hey, you kids! Get back here!" the pirate vendor yelled to them.

"Run!" Aang shouted to the other two. He took off at Zuko and Azula's speed, choosing not to abandon them with his airbending. He heard more pirates jumping off of the ship and drawing weapons behind them, their growls threatening and their feet hammering on wooden planks more than enough to urge the trio into flight.

Looking back at the pirates, Aang didn't notice until it was too late that he plowed straight into Sokka.


"Hmm... Prince Sokka's ship is docked here," Bato thought with a grin. He rubbed the golden artifact of the Fire Nation between his fingers. It was truly a beautiful thing, and he knew it would make an excellent gift for the young Princess of the Southern Water Tribe. With this, he knew, he would be able to capture the Avatar. "And since Prince Sokka is here, the Avatar must not be far..."

A troop of soldiers followed him off his ship.


Sokka squeezed the bridge of his nose in annoyance as his grandmother held up the white, animal-shaped whistle admiringly. The Avatar's friends kept running in the direction of the jungle.

"You know, I just realized," his grandmother said to the Avatar, staring at the broken whistle with wide eyes. "Is this meant to be the same shape as your bison?"

The Avatar wrested himself from Sokka's grip, blowing a mighty gust of wind from his gullet that tore the helms off of Sokka's men behind him and almost ripped Sokka off of his feet. He managed to pull up the water underneath the docks in an attempt to bind the airbender, but he leapt too high and hurled a fireball down at the dock. The wood went up in flames that separated Sokka from his grandmother - with her on the side closer to the Avatar - and even though Sokka extinguished them quickly, the Avatar had taken the time to make his retreat, speeding off in pursuit of his friends as little more than an orange and yellow blur.

"Yes, it is!" he shouted back at them, presumably answering his grandmother's question. "Thanks for this!"

Sokka paused for a moment and stared after them, annoyed at his failure to fully set his trap for them in time - he hadn't expected the Avatar to arrive so soon. He cupped his hands over his mouth and shouted after the Avatar. "Enjoy your brand new firebending scroll!"

"Now did they really have to take my whistle?" Kanna asked him, pouting.


Aang grinned childishly and pocketed the bison whistle, running right past the unrecognizable old woman that was with Sokka. He didn't care that he just ran right past his old friend—he knew Sokka would be joining the chase in a moment, if he was any bit as determined as Zuko used to be.

The pirates continued to chase after him, Zuko, and Azula as they twisted throughout the spider web of docks, pushing past shoppers and street vendors with as much haste as they could manage. The pirates behind them bowled over all of the people. Aang's eyes widened as an old man pushed a cart full of cabbages right in their path, but Aang jumped over it with airbending as Zuko and Azula dashed around him. The old man sighed with relief, but Azula turned around quickly and released an arc of flame on the cart to bar the pirates' path, burning the load of cabbages.

"My cabbages!" the old man shouted in agony.


Sokka, Kanna, and the other pirate waterbenders put out the second fire blocking their way in a hurry, but by the time the flames cleared, the Avatar was gone.

"Captain Sekun, how did you let the boy escape?" Kanna asked the pirate captain.

"He was right on board! And you let him get away!" Sokka exclaimed, turning to him. The crew of the Silver Moon was a group of independent Water Tribe soldiers that claimed villages under the name of the Water Nation, even if they were technically also pirates.

The captain's voice came out gruff. "I thought you had a plan to capture the kid. A trap of sorts."

"That kid is the Avatar. We need him," Sokka said. "And yeah, but how was I supposed to know he'd show up so soon? I didn't have enough time to get it all ready!"

"And he stole my whistle!" Kanna interjected. The old woman was ignored.

"We can work together to get him back," the prince said, scratching his chin. "We'll easily outnumber him. Maybe I don't need such a convoluted plan."

He could adapt easily. This would only be a minor setback - they still had the real firebending scroll.


"Aang, you scared me for a second there. I never thought that stupid whistle would work. It barely made a sound!" Zuko said with relief, recounting their tale as Appa landed back in their previous campsite. "I thought we were surrounded."

"Bison have very sensitive ears," Aang said with a smile, patting Appa on the head. "Good job, boy." The bison moaned in agreement.

"Let's take a look at that firebending scroll," Azula said directly, getting close to Aang as he struggled to get it from beneath his shirt. She tried to look over his shoulder as he unfurled it. "I don't care that you stole it from pirates, they deserved it." Aang smiled to himself. Katara would have been proud of him.

"Give me some room to breathe!" Aang complained to her, but she didn't move. Aang sighed and peered at the scroll's contents. He could already control the fire inside of him—all he needed to do was learn the more complex style of firebending all over again. Considering that Azula's lesson of the basics jogged his memory, he figured that it wouldn't be too hard.

"Okay, hold it up. Let me learn it first, and then I'll let you have a go," Azula said, taking a step back from Aang.

"Wait…" Aang said, frowning. The parchment was nowhere near the quality he had been expecting, and when he opened it, he saw a crudely drawn stick figure in blotchy black ink with a massive tongue sticking out of its face. Below it, he saw a simple message.

"Fooled you."

He threw the scroll up in the air, the paper rustling as it fell to the ground. "Ugh! It's a fake!"

"A fake? What do you mean?" Azula asked, brow furrowing.

He stared at the mockery with contempt. "Sokka planted this there to trap us. I know it."

Zuko groaned. "You mean we just did all that for nothing?"

Aang clenched his own hair between his fingers, annoyed and not completely surprised that Sokka had managed to outsmart them. He should have seen it coming - the scroll sat in such an obvious place, its cushion offering it up as temptation, while the open scroll above had been meant to just grab their attention…

"Wait," Aang said. "This one may be fake, but there was a real scroll there. Right above it, on the wall."

"There's no way we're going back for that," Zuko said. "They'll expect it."

Azula clenched her fist as if in victory. "Yes, but you got a good look at that real scroll, right, Aang? Can't you just imitate what you saw of it?"

Aang put his hands on his hips, trying to recall the memory of it. "Well, it was only one form. The fire funnel. And I don't know, I didn't really study it that closely…"

Azula frowned. "Are you serious? One glance should be all you need to take in every little detail."

"Sorry my memory isn't as good as yours!"

She groaned and waved her hand at him. "Ugh, fine, fine. Just remember what you can and we'll try to figure it out together."

Aang rolled his eyes, but complied. He pictured the scroll in his mind, tried to imitate the form only instead of calling forth flames. He repeated his movements and Azula followed. It felt clumsy at first, and a little stiff, but with each repetition they eased into what felt like a proper firebending form.

He hoped it wouldn't be a repeat of last time, with Katara. Azula took a solid stance, circling her arms to rest in front of her for a moment, and closed her eyes and concentrated. Zuko and Aang watched intently. She turned away from Aang and opened her eyes, a spark of gold shining through them.

She slowly and steadily placed her right hand above her left, palms facing each other, and pulled them away with a snap. Fire roared to life and shot out of her hands in a steady wave, but Aang immediately knew that it wasn't the correct result when the flames fizzled out without taking shape. Azula knew this, too. She was livid.

"You obviously remember it wrong," she told him.

"It's not my fault! You could've looked at it, too. The fire is supposed to spiral," Aang noted. "The fire spirals outward so that it can't be blocked easily by other benders." It was a penetrating, offensive attack. Aang found it odd that Azula couldn't perform the ability on her first try—he didn't think the girl could fail much of anything. "Let me try."

The Avatar stepped forward and adopted the firebending stance. His face was set and ready as he gathered the warmth inside of him, taking a deep breath. Firebending is all about the breath. He stepped forward, spun once, exhaled, and ripped his arms apart. The orange flames released, twisting through the air in a loose spiral that expanded as it burned further away from him. They dissipated in the air moments later. Aang smirked as he felt the heat on his face. He was one step ahead of Azula.

"You'll get it sooner or later," Aang said to her.

Azula sent a narrow-eyed glare at him.


Her amber eyes flicked open, the fire from their camp reflecting off of them. The girl sat straight up and took one look over her sleeping comrades, and with silent, sure footing, she walked out among the ring of trees and into the jungle that wasn't unlike the one in which she was raised.

She moved a safe distance away from camp, intent on going where they wouldn't hear her and wake. She slowly inched away from them, and when she judged that she was safe, she turned to look in front of her to walk at a normal speed, but jumped slightly when she saw the large, round eyes of the lemur staring at her. Sabi purred.

"Quiet," Azula hissed at her, sending her scampering away. She resumed her stealthy walking through the overgrowth, thankful for the heavy moss that stifled the sound of her footsteps.

She didn't care that training by a river in the early hours of the morning was probably a bad idea, but she was so intently focused on mastering the ability that she couldn't think of anything else. Just the thought of Aang surpassing her in bending irked her, when she had been firebending her whole life and he had just started. She felt like she lost control of the situation. Azula hated things that were out of her control.


"Where would they be, sir?" Captain Sekun asked Sokka. They sailed along the river with one of Sokka's own patrol boats as the pirate ship followed close behind.

"Somewhere along here. Their bison couldn't have gone far," Sokka said, intently searching along the sides of the river.

"Do you think they'll give my whistle back?" Kanna asked him hopefully.

"Wait a minute," Sokka said, eyes squinting as he scanned the forest, "... What's that?" In the distance, right along the shoreline, he spotted smoke clouds rising above the trees, the telltale sign of a fire that burned on moist wood.


Fire streamed from Azula's fists as she sighed with frustration. Why couldn't she get this move? She tried everything, but the fire refused to twist to her will. It was supposed to twirl into a funnel-like shape, but she couldn't get the fire to spin consistently. She moved her bangs out of her eyes with her fingers, but they fell right back into place. The sounds of leaf-cicadas had begun to get on her nerves, frazzling her state of mind even further.

She sucked in a deep breath and tried the fire funnel three times in quick succession, but the flames spun through the air and dissipated when they were out of her reach. On her fourth try, a gust of wind blew just as she let off the attack, blowing the fire in the completely wrong direction and setting one of the trees aflame. Azula cursed. She directed the fire out into the river for a reason!

The fire quickly grew, lighting the whole tree up as a beacon for the world to see. Azula grasped at the flames, attempting to pull them back under her control, but one of the other mangroves caught them and its leaves quickly lit up, hot enough even despite the heavy moisture. She pulled some of the fire into a steady stream where she dissipated it into the air, but by that time, the smoke soon engulfed the area. Azula coughed.

She didn't think her flames would burn this hot - especially not hot enough to catch the jungle on fire. Her anger had gotten away from her and she hated it.

"Where's that little twerp when you need him?" she said under her breath. The heat rolled over her, making breathing difficult. She was covered in sweat. She had to get back to the others and warn them about the fire and made that her first priority. She tried to move forward, but a burning branch fell into her path, blocking off her escape. The only way to go was backwards, into the river. She was about to do so when a large wave of water washed over one of the trees, extinguishing the fire.

Great. Could the situation get any worse? I think I'd prefer the forest fire...

She took one of her more familiar firebending stances and turned her back on the fire as another wave of water crashed into the trees. There was a small group of Water Nation soldiers on the river's other banks, controlling the waves. They were trying to avoid hitting her. She had no time to think about that new development because strong hands enclosed around her neck. Her first reaction was to elbow the person's gut, making him let go of her with a grunt. She turned quickly to see one of the pirates from earlier. Pressurized fire came to life between her fingers and hit the man in the stomach, making him double over. She ran back towards the forest fire, which was slowly being put out, but another pirate blocked her path. She used both hands to shoot a jet of fire at him, knocking him backwards. She bit her lip. What did she get herself into this time? She had to get to Aang and Zuko. They needed to get out of here, and quickly.

As she took her first step into the trees, another set of rough hands grabbed her wrists, and the next thing she knew, she was looking into the fierce, one-eyed gaze of Prince Sokka. He spoke to her, his voice rough.

"I'll save you from the pirates."


Azula glared at Sokka as he stood in front of her flanked by a group of his warriors and pirates. An old woman she might have seen before was also with him. They had Azula tightly bound against one of the unburned trees, surrounding her.

"Now that you're here, tell me where the Avatar is," Sokka said. "Honestly, it'll be easier for all of us if you just talk."

"Do you really think I'll give in that easily?" she asked. She would not bow to him and let him take Aang.

"Listen..." he said, lowering his voice to be almost husky and walking towards her, peering at her with his one blue eye. He walked around behind the firebender and put his hands on her shoulders. She refused to follow him with her eyes as cold chills went up her spine at his touch. "I've lost a lot in the past few years and my warrior's pride hinges on the Avatar's capture. Now, tell me where he is. You're smart. You and I could see eye to eye."

She raised an eyebrow. "Putting me on a little guilt trip and trying to flirt with me won't work."

"That's too bad. The Silver Moon crew will have to take him forcefully then," Sokka said, narrowing his eye at her. He pulled a scroll with a flame emblem from his clothes. "And I can even throw this wonderfully authentic firebending scroll into the trade. And this one's actually real, I can prove it."

"You will never conquer Aang. I told you that last time," Azula said to him. Her eyes lingered on the firebending scroll for only a moment.

"Sokka, she has much faith in her friends. You would do well to take after her," the old woman said.

"Be quiet!" Sokka yelled to her. "I'll handle this. You'll ruin my image."

Azula rolled her eyes. "I didn't know you were such a loser," she said. Sokka then sent a glare at his grandmother. "You probably don't even have friends!"

Sokka was about to retort when one of his soldiers notified him of another patrol boat approaching, a larger one coated in ice and flying the Buffalo-Yak flag next to the Water Tribe insignia.

"Ugh, Bato," Sokka said, clenching his fists. He turned to his warriors. "Go find the Avatar, now."

"Yes, sir," one of them said, and they all dispersed into the trees.

"Tell your men to find him," Sokka said to the pirate captain, pointing into the forest. The numerous pirates heard his order and trampled into the woods while Captain Sekun stayed with the Prince.

Azula counted the foes before her—first, there was Sokka, who was distracted by the oncoming warship. Second, the old lady, who she didn't think of as much of a threat. The pirate captain was the last one there. She knew she could escape undetected. It would be too easy for her—it just had to be done before the other warship and more soldiers arrived. She began to rapidly heat up her hands.

The ship was approaching fast, and it was close enough so that she could see a Water Nation man standing on the deck, smirking knowingly at Sokka. He was obviously high ranked, but Sokka looked at him with deep hatred. She forced more heat into her hands, lighting a small fire in her palm.

The other man's ship docked and he confidently strode off of it with two lines of soldiers flanking him. The object that he was casually tossing up and down in his hand made Azula's insides freeze, and all thoughts of escape left her.

"My headpiece!" she shouted at him. "Why do you have it?" She tried to lunge forward at him, but the tight rope held her in place against the tree.

"Ah, so this belongs to you," the man named Bato said, examining the girl. "It is out of place for a woman to demand things of a man she hardly knows - in the Water Tribes, at least."

"Screw the Water Tribe! Give that back," she nearly hissed, glaring daggers at him.

"No, not until it fulfills its purpose," Bato said, striding over to her. "You're already here, but the Avatar was also supposed to be lured. I guess Prince Sokka couldn't perform the task correctly." He glanced over at the Prince at the mention of his name.

"What are you doing here?" Sokka demanded with barely contained anger. "I'm going to catch the Avatar. You stay out of this!"

"Are you so sure about that?" Bato asked him with a knowing grin. "Men, go search for the Avatar."

Azula turned her amber gaze to the forest as more soldiers stormed inside, hoping that Aang and her brother would somehow escape.


Zuko opened his eyes, hearing the uneven trample of feet on the forest floor. He sat up quickly, grabbing his broadswords.

"Aang!" he called to the younger boy.

"I know," he said, sitting up from his sleep. Water from the darkness of the forest around them shot out at the Avatar, but he quickly sucked his staff into his hands and stood, making a full circle in the air and swinging his weapon, unleashing furious winds on the people in the trees.

"Azula!" Zuko shouted to his sister, looking over at her sleeping bag. He gasped when she noticed her absence. "Aang! She's missing!"

Aang rolled his eyes at Zuko's words. "I have a good feeling about where she is."

Zuko looked over the top of the forest, where he could see the orange sun just beginning to rise, lighting up the sky. Aang quickly got up and rolled up his sleeping bag and the group's other things scattered around the camp while the enemy waterbenders were down. Zuko helped him by throwing all of it onto Appa's back. Sabi curled around one of the bison's horns, ready to leave the area.

"Appa, get out of here!" Aang shouted to his bison, once everything from their camp was gone. "We have to find Azula." The bison groaned and reluctantly flew into the air, just as more streams of water shot out at Aang. He blocked one of them with a punch of fire but was able to duck and dodge around the rest, pushing his fists together and expanding an air barrier outwards, throwing off the water. Zuko unsheathed his swords and followed Aang as he rushed off into the forest.

Aang swung his staff at one warrior and held it behind him while he used his other hand to make a wheel formation and blast another away with torrents of wind. A pirate with a bladed staff and waterbending rushed to him, swinging his weapon to match Aang's glider. Aang slammed his staff into the ground, throwing the pirate into a tree with stunning force.

Zuko, determined to not fall behind, dodged the spear point of one of the Water Nation soldiers by jumping into the trunk of a tree and pushing himself off of it with a strong kick, barreling into the soldier's side. The soldier, dazed, fell to the ground. Zuko dug his hands into the pouch on his belt and threw three of the needles Mai had given to him, pinning another soldier to a tree. He caught one of the pirates up on one of the branches, who was about to hit Aang with waterbending, by throwing kunai through his waterskin and dispatching him in close range after the initial distraction.

The swordsman spotted a bulky pirate with an odd contraption in his hands aiming his weapon at Aang while his back had been turned. He tried shouting out a warning as the pirate aimed the hand cannons with a net suspended between them at Aang, but it failed to reach Aang in time and the net enclosed him from behind and trapped him against the ground. A moment later, a similar net rushed out at Zuko, knocking him down with its force. Aang immediately tried blasting himself free with fire, but it didn't do any good.

"Nice try, but this is fireproof netting," the pirate said to him with a grin, dragging them off. Zuko felt hopeless. How was he going to save his sister now?


The sun was getting steadily higher in the sky, but it had been less than an hour since the pirates and soldiers had gone off into the jungle to search. Now, the pirates were returning, and to Azula's chagrin, Aang and Zuko were with them, totally bound like her. Sokka looked satisfied - and even preened - as Captain Sekun strode over to them with a confident smirk. Bato looked disgruntled.

"Keep the scroll," the pirate captain said, dismissing them all with a wave of his hand. "We've got the Avatar. He's much better than any piece of paper."

"What?!" Sokka yelled, infuriated. "You are disobeying direct orders!"

"I don't think the Water Emperor will mind when we turn in the Avatar to him," Sekun said. "The deal's off. We won."

Bato's soldiers returned from the forest, looking a little worse for wear. They lined up behind him. "This isn't over," Bato said. He seemed almost as angry as Sokka. "You pirate rabble. I'll get the Avatar from you myself!"

"Uh oh..." Kanna said quietly, inching away from the growing conflict. She put her hand on Sokka's shoulder. "Avoid direct conflict, grandson. Only the sneaky puffin-lynx catches the snow mouse. I will find your warriors in the forest. We'll need them before we can leave this place." Azula listened to them with interest. When the old woman scurried off, Azula turned her attention back to the growing situation between the pirates and Bato's soldiers. She caught Aang's eye. As always, he didn't seem concerned. He knew a way out—he was waiting for something.

The pirates hurried Aang and Zuko onto their ship as soon Bato ordered his soldiers to attack them. With their waterbending, the ship left the shore in seconds, going downriver. Bato's eyes thinned with anger. "Get back onto the ship, quickly, and chase them down!" he ordered, pointing at his vessel.

As they were all leaving, Sokka turned to Azula. It was just the two of them left at the riverside. "I'm going to propose a deal to you," he said quickly. "I know you want that flamed headpiece that Bato has. I'll help you get it. In return, you'll help me get the Avatar. Agreed?" Azula paused and stared him right in the eye, looking for any sign of deception or ulterior motives. Of course, he laid it all out on the table, but she had to make sure. She was not going to be manipulated.

She was going to do the manipulating.

"I don't have all day!" Sokka said through clenched teeth.

"Fine, I'll do it. But only if we get my headpiece first," she said. She needed to be sure about that.

He jumped back and forth between his feet. "Ugh, fine! We'll get your stupid headpiece!" He was about to go untie her when Azula spread her arms out, letting the rope fall to the ground.

"Use fireproof rope next time," she said, smirking. Sokka ignored her and stared out at the two ships in hot pursuit of each other. Waterbenders on board each were sending blocks of ice at each other, but it was doing nothing to harm the other ship.

"Follow me," Sokka said, rushing out to the water. Azula ran after him and gripped his shoulders just in time for him to jump into the river, skating along the surface of it with his waterbending. A board of ice formed underneath them, mostly for Azula's benefit. They sped over to Bato's ship and Azula grinned, her hair being whipped by the wind.

They gained on Bato's ship fast, and in one quick movement, Sokka shifted his arms to send them both sailing through the air, where they landed on the deck of the riverboat. Bato, who was at the front of the ship, turned to them.

"You're working with this savage firebender to fight against me? Who'd have guessed you'd sink so low?" the man said, spreading his legs into a waterbending stance.

Sokka copied his movement. "Gotta make up for you trying to steal my prey, y'know?"

Azula hurled a blast of fire at Batp, careful not to slip on the icy deck. "You have something I want." Bato melted the ice along his deck and pulled up a sheet of water to block her attack.

Sokka hit the man with a stream of water, knocking him into the balustrade and then looked back at Azula. "I'm only helping you because I want to take him down myself."

"That's fine with me," she said offhandedly to him, switching her target to one of Bato's soldiers, who was advancing on her. She swept her hand out, hitting him with a trail of flames. The burning man threw himself overboard as another spear wielding soldier lunged at her. She knocked away the shaft of the spear with her foot and kicked a small ball of fire at him, tumbling him backward. A group of three more soldiers decided to attack her at once.

At that moment, she thought of only one attack that could take them all down at once. She straightened her posture and took a deep breath, circling her hands in front of her to rest under her chest, holding them one above the other. Her palms faced each other. She focused on the soldiers and the flames within her and abruptly ripped her hands apart, and a rapid, spinning inferno leapt out at them from where her hands were moments before, storming right through their weak water defenses. She smirked when she noted the success of the fire funnel as the three burning men jumped overboard.


Aang watched the disturbance on Bato's ship, spotting the fire funnel shoot off at a group of soldiers. Azula fought and sided with Sokka against a common enemy. Aang didn't think too much about seeing Bato for the first time—he realized that he was an enemy, and there was nothing else to it. Escaping safely was more important at the moment.

Aang judged that the ruckus on Bato's ship was a sufficient distraction, so he hit the pirate holding him with a blast of air, knocking him out as he flew into the balustrade. Aang jumped high enough to hit the other pirate holding Zuko with an air-powered kick to the face, knocking him unconscious. Aang cut the rope binding his wrists with the knocked out pirate's sword, freeing his hands. He picked up Zuko's broadswords to cut Zuko's own binds and returned the weapons to him.

More pirates on deck noticed that the two escaped, but Aang airbended his staff over to him too quickly for the pirate to reach the two, swinging it out at him and knocking him overboard. Zuko parried the blades of another pirate and jabbed his enemy in the chest with his hilts, hammering him backward. The young swordsman sliced at another pirate, cutting him deeply enough to keep him from fighting but not enough to seriously wound him.

Aang bended a funnel of air that pulled two pirates into it and flung them off the ship, hitting a third one immediately after with a fire funnel. Flames erupted from his staff as he swung it, causing havoc on the small pirate ship.

The pirate captain himself stormed up to the two, challenging them to a swordfight. Zuko was the first to meet the challenge head-on, swinging his swords recklessly at him. The captain dodged the blows easily and punched him with the hilt of his sword, sending the fighter off to the side. Aang did not want the fight to last long, so he jabbed the nose of his staff into the ground and hit the pirate with a burst of air from the back of it, sending him reeling. Aang took the chance and hit him again with an uppercut, launching him up into the air, where Aang jumped up to meet him. Before the pirate could realize where he was, Aang slammed him into the water with airbending. He landed safely on the deck of the ship a moment later, pulling his new whistle from his pocket and calling Appa.


Streams of water from both sides of the ship rose up to Sokka's hands, and he sent them as one to attack Bato. The enemy waterbender was knocked off of the ship and into the water, where Sokka raised his hands and sent a continuous flow of water upward, holding Bato suspended in front of the moving ship. He breathed outward, freezing the water and holding the clan chief in place.

Sokka smirked in triumph. He had gotten much better.

The next moment, Bato's ship crashed into the ice pillar that imprisoned Bato, ripping through the wooden bow. Bato just narrowly escaped being crushed by his own ship when Sokka barely managed to unfreeze him and let him fall into the river. Sokka and the firebender girl stumbled as the ship rocked even as she continued to fight Bato's warriors. She held up against them remarkably well, he had to admit.

The Avatar's bison flew close to the ship a moment later, with the Avatar and the clumsy swordsman on his back. The firebender looked up at him and nodded, and winds surrounded her a moment later. The Avatar used his airbending to pull her up to him, where she landed safely on the bison's back. Azula called down to Sokka.

"Sorry, the deal's off!" she shouted, waving at him with two fingers and a coy smile. Sokka stared after her coldly as the Avatar flew away. He looked down at his feet once the Avatar's bison flew out of his sight. It was then that a glint of gold caught his eyes. Bato must have dropped it.

Sokka picked up the firebender's flamed headpiece and clutched it in his grip, staring out at the horizon. The Avatar would yet be his.


Azula sighed with relief as she stretched on Appa's back. "Well, that was a long and eventful day," she mused.

"Yeah, all because of that firebending scroll," Aang said, sitting with them. "That was a mean trick you played on Sokka, you know."

"Yeah, but it didn't matter," she said. "I didn't really get what I wanted. What did you expect me to do, hand you over to him?"

"You wanted your headpiece, didn't you? Where is it?" Aang asked.

"I didn't get it. But it's fine, I didn't hold out on my part of the deal, either," she said, picking at her nails.

Zuko crossed his arms. "That was really dangerous, Azula."

"Yeah, I know. But no harm done, right?" she asked, reclining against the back of the saddle

"No," Aang said. He wished he could have been the one to fight alongside Sokka... but would his old friend ever want to? "Too bad we don't have that firebending scroll, though."

"Who says we don't have it?" Azula asked, waving it tauntingly at him.

Zuko perked up. "How'd you get your hands on that?"

"I snagged it from Sokka before I left," she said. "Now we can both learn more firebending together." She locked eyes with Aang. "Let's see who can learn everything on the scroll first."

Aang grinned at her. "I'm impressed. You're on."


Author's Notes: Whoo, that was the longest chapter I've ever written. That's the biggest reason why this one took a few days longer than intended to come out.

I'll keep my note short this time. Sorry, I had to do the "I'll save you from the pirates," scene, because as one reviewer mentioned, it would be a riot. It was fun to do my own little Sokka/Azula twist on the situation.

Next chapter—"The Academy," a new version of a different episode. Please review!