A/N

Hello! As you may or may not have noticed, there will be a new chapter every two to three weeks. I know it may be a little slow but I hope you can bear with me on this.

Its obvious that this story will diverge from canon , but major events (and a few minor), will come up in this story.

This chapter may be slightly confusing given the different P. (Point Of View) and time, but I do hope you all will enjoy and follow all the same.

Enjoy

Zuko At Ten years old

Zuko fiddled his fingers together nervously and looked around. Then, he would murmur something to himself and his back would straighten with grim determination and he would take a few steps forward before remembering something and reduce himself to incoherent mumblings again.

Master Piandao was most amused by this display of nervousness that the ten-year old displayed. It was most unusual. Usually, when someone as young as him came to his institution, they would be turned out immediately because they were probably chasing ideal dreams and would come charging at him like a typical firebender, telling him things like – I want to be a great sword-master or I will be a great sword-master or, the worst offender, I am a greater sword-master than you.

They were quickly driven out of the door.

But this young man, he had potential. He could see it in his eyes. They weren't those of an arrogant wannabe, but of a determined young lad who wanted to pursue his goals.

Piandao wondered if, after five years of joining the White Lotus, he had finally found a student to train in this young lad who was the grand-son of the Fire Lord?

Zuko paced up and down. He was nervous, he knew that. Perhaps because in his previous time (Previous life? Whatever!), he had been ignored by Piandao quite brutally. He had had to try three times until Piandao finally accepted him as an apprentice.

Zuko, before, had thought that this was because of his status as a prince and the influence and will of his father that he had gotten the position.

But now, he wasn't so sure. Why? Because Ozai had disapproved, quite lividly, to his decision of learning the art of the sword. And Zuko knew that Ozai wouldn't do anything for his son out of the goodness of his heart.

So why had Piandao accepted him all those years ago?

Perhaps he would never know.

And then, he thought if he would get rejected again this time.

It didn't really matter now.

He just wanted to teach Sokka to use his space sword much better. He and Sokka, his surrogate older brother who annoyed him at every given opportunity, sparred all the time. But Sokka had never learnt everything. He was too busy with his Councilman duties and much more interested in politics to go for that branch.

But learning the sword would make it much easier to beat the Fire Nation without casualties.

So that's why, Zuko was standing outside Piandao's institution, fretting about the standards he needed to meet in order to please him. He knew how Sokka had gotten in, but plain pride stood in the way of him copying Sokka.

Besides, he wanted to do this his way.

And his way was to swing it.

To Zuko's credit, he did have a vague basis of a plan in mind. There were going to be a few activities. And if Piandao was in the White Lotus Society, this might work out.

At least, Zuko hoped it did.

He was ushered in by a man (was his name actually Fat?) and led towards Piandao. Along the way, the man (Fat?) whispered to him about not getting his hopes up and that he was too young and the rest Zuko tuned out. Because this exact man (Fat?) had given him this exact speech last time he had been here. And it did little to raise his confidence.

Master Piandao regarded him with a calculating gaze with Zuko scrubbing the back of his neck, unsure how to start the conversation.

"Uh… Zuko here," he started. Damn. His years as the Firelord had done little to improve his social ineptitude. He knew how to greet his subordinates (with determination and honour), and his equals had been very few as he was the Fire Lord. His peers had consisted of mostly his friends whom he had warmed up to. But a superior? This was rare.

His master cocked an eyebrow and Zuko flushed. Piandao cleared his throat, and realizing his ineptness at initiating proper conversation, started, "Zuko. A curious name indeed. I seem to remember that the Prince of the Fire Nation also has the same name"

Unconsciously, Zuko straightened up. This, he was more used to. Formal conversation with hidden meanings, subtle hints, suspicions and accusations all masked in a layer of politeness and lies. Zuko was much, much more comfortable with that. Years of dealing with politicians did that to people.

"I am the Prince of the Fire Nation," it seemed pointless to deny it now, "However, today; I am but a humble child seeking to learn the art of the sword."

"Your status as prince means nothing if you can't prove yourself"

Zuko knew that he was judging him. Assessing him. Testing his patience.

He had been tested on his patience far too many times by Sokka.

"And I will. Master Piandao, I would like you to duel me, to assess my worth"

Master Piandao's eye shot up. As if he couldn't believe that he, a master swordsman, had been challenged by a child! A twelve-old child no less!

Agni, his expression would be funny if Zuko wasn't so nervous.

"Very well, Prince Zuko"

"However," Zuko continued, "Before the spar, let us both have a game of Pai Sho"

Piandao raised his eyebrow in interest, replying, "I am surprised one as young as you knows to play the game of complex wits and strategies"

Zuko chuckled at that, "True. I had had a distaste of the game for a few years before warming up to it. I am, in no means very good, but I hope I can provide a good challenge"

"Okay, my Prince. Let me bring the Pai Sho board"

"I will make us both a cup of tea"

Piandao wasn't even surprised at that. This twelve-year old had just challenged him to a spar and offered to play Pai Sho with him. Why wouldn't he know how to make tea?

Meanwhile, Zuko was smirking as he boiled the kettle. Oh yes, this was much, much better than last time.

When Azula is seven

Azula had found and made two best friends in the Royal Academy for Girls.

Although the young girl was a lot more empathetic than her previous incarnation, her cynicism, rationality and mind hadn't dwindled. Each step she took was precise, calculative and decisive; reaping the maximum benefits in the least amount of time. It would be profitable to only her, unless she deemed it otherwise.

And the only exception to this rule had been Zuzu and mother.

Father had been an exception once, but Azula had long since forgotten any affection she felt towards the man. She had not missed the loathing that both her mother and her brother had towards them. She, herself, was impartial. She didn't hate their father, but she didn't enjoy his company either. He would push her with constant criticism as she grit her teeth, performing the kata with perfection and precision, yet forced to perform over and over again without praises or any words of encouragements.

The only things that kept her sane during those lessons was Zuko. He was going through the same thing as her. Agni, had she really been jealous when he wanted to join? She didn't quite remember and was sceptical even when Zuko told her the story of how she cried that day. But if she had ever felt that way, well, much had changed.

She knew that training Ozai's way would be much more profitable to her, with much more rewards than the lax firebending training that her Uncle and her brother taught her. Still, although efficient, she would much rather spend her time learning with her brother. He was harsh in his words, but gentle with his demonstrations. Gentle in the way he would guide her hand and fix her stance if she was doing anything wrong.

As for Uncle, Agni help her. Uncle Iroh with his tea and confusing proverbs, which seemed to annoy her brother to no end (much to her amusement), while she was not readily up for it all, was something she somewhat understood perfectly. Moreover, she became more appreciative of it all. She had grown distant and weary of her father, his criticisms and thirst for perfection. That didn't mean she didn't strive to be perfect. Her determination to succeed could only rival Zuko's and the dagger which they both shared, Never give up without a fight, represented a promise. A testament of their ideals, and a sacred blood oath between siblings.

They would both strive, work hard and thrive in their successes.

And she did. At the Royal Academy for Girls, she was the very best. She was gifted in politics. Her calligraphy was like her combat, graceful and perfect. She dominated every subject and often drove others to frustration at their own lack of ability. She was beautiful to look at albeit her social skills weren't so great, but that wasn't a problem since she was a princess and a princess is supposed to treat others as she would a subordinate. And Azula knew exactly how to treat subordinates.

Nonetheless, she wanted to be like her brother. Her mother had told her that she should get friends, the kind who she could see as her equal and peers, and who could guide her if she ever went wrong. When she had asked her mother how she should treat her friends, her mother had replied,

"Treat them like you treat your brother"

And thus she began her search for these so-called "friends" who would be her peers and equals. Azula wasn't a naturally trusting person, so she had handpicked a few individuals who would have unwavering loyalty. She had researched their backgrounds, observed their personalities. It wasn't easy to make friends when you were a princess. Most people who wanted to be 'friends' were looking to gain favour in the court. Her mother had said that her friends should love her for who she was and not because of her title or fame.

Thus she found the two girls who would accompany her for the rest of her life.

Mai was the perfect noblewoman, with her polite demeanour, her ability to pick subtle hints, messages, vibes and threats in conversation rivalled her own. She had the poker face of the century and Azula would have dismissed her as a puppet of her parents if she had not seen her best friend.

Ty Lee, the cheerful acrobat contrasted Mai so much that it wasn't even funny.

And yet, they were best friends.

Ty Lee was cheerful, bubbly and jumpy. Mai was dark, brooding and melancholy. Ty Lee was great at acrobatics and her body was as flexible as a snake. Mai was clumsy and sucked at hand-to-hand martial arts. Her grace was in her fingers and mathematics, for she could calculate distances, vectors and angles and her long, nimble fingers could reach her target in a matter of seconds with precise calculations that was intimidating and deadly.

As Azula continued to observe them, she noticed things.

Mai, on the outside never dared to mouth off and have fun. She was shy and didn't like making conversation. But, when alone with Ty Lee, she seemed to be a completely different person. She was wryly sarcastic and a little grumpy. She would smile slightly at Ty Lee's antics and was blunt and honest.

Azula knew that she could buy both of their loyalties quite easily. She had seen that both of them were not really interested in politics, although Mai excelled at it. They would not go out of their way to befriend her unless ordered to by someone. They probably didn't think they stood a chance. Azula's moves were always intricate, complex, carefully planned and profitable. It didn't matter that she felt a kinship with Mai for overbearing parents. She didn't care that Ty Lee's bubbly personality made her giddy in the stomach and her desire to learn acrobatics from the snake.

Nope, emotions had nothing to do with it at all.

She held out her hand to the two girls.

"Hello, I'm Azula of the Fire Nation."

When Zuko is Ten

Piandao arranged the tiles of Pai Sho in front of him, sipping on the jasmine tea that his would-be pupil had provided. His eyes scanned the board, mentally dictating in his mind how he wanted to the game to proceed.

He would win. He was certain of that. But he never played Pai Sho for the sole purpose of winning. His ingenious mind and years of experience had already conjured up a million possibilities, all leading to either his victory, if the young man lost the psychological test or the prince's victory if he won.

Piandao wanted to assess the young man. Perhaps, in the deepest of ironies, the Firelord's own son would be the one to defeat him and end the war once and for all.

And Piandao was looking for a pupil.

He made the first move.

When Azula is seven

Just as Azula, the Princess of the Fire nation disappeared around the corner, the young girl's mouth twitched up. She performed a handstand as she looked at her best friend.

"Mai", she gushed, "Mai, Mai, Mai, can you believe what just happened?"

The other girl was in a bit of a trance as well. Her narrow eyes had opened up slightly, the only indicator that she was surprised.

"No", she admitted.

"The Princess of the Fire Nation just talked to us!"

For once, Mai didn't have a sarcastic retort for her best friend.

"Yeah", she said slowly, "She did, didn't she?"

Ty Lee twitched excitedly, "Do you think she wants to be friends? Do you think she does good acrobatics? What kind of boys do you think she'd be into? I mean, I've heard a lot about her. She's beautiful, smart, confident and just so amazing! Everybody talks about her"

Mai nodded absentmindedly; her mind lost in thought of all the reasons that the Princess of the Fire Nation would want to talk to them. Ty Lee was obviously ecstatic by the idea. Then again, she would probably be enamoured by a water tribe peasant, so her opinion didn't count for much. She would do anything to be noticed.

Mai knew that her parents would be pleased by her trying to make friends with the Princess. But that wasn't the reason why she had this gushy, giddy feeling in her chest and felt like doing handstands like Ty Lee.

Perhaps Mai's life would turn out not to be boring after all.

When Zuko is Ten

Zuko hunched over the cursed board, thinking things through for once. His primal instinct was to attack, and right now, he felt like demolishing the game and banning it from the Fire Nation. Even after joining the White Lotus Society, he still carried distaste for the game; it forced him to think things through. But his time, his greatest weapon was that his Uncle had taught him well.

Deep calming breaths were taken, as he studied the position of the tiles once again. Piandao's fire tiles were aggressively attacking his air tiles. He could sacrifice the air tiles, for a chance at victory and his hand hovered over his fire tiles hesitantly wondering if he should retreat or attack.

But then he noticed the one Air Tile placed strategically to weaken his strongest Fire Tile (Air couldn't destroy, but could slow down his movements) and behind the Air Tile was a Water Tile, ready to decimate his Fire once it had been weakened.

Admittedly, it was a clever move, designed to trap firebenders with their philosophy of always attacking. Zuko, although never one to give up, understood the importance of a retreat; long lessons with Iroh and Aang on Pai Sho had taught him that sometimes, it was okay to run away.

Years ago, after he had fought Ozai, the voice had whispered in his ear.

Every battle you evade is a battle you have won.

Agni, how he missed that voice. The cheerful, sometimes incoherent mumbles, shouts and complaints of the young twelve-year-old as he attempted to train him in Fire bending. It had been way too long.

He moved the Air Tiles away, back to safety, prolonging the game.

When Azula is Eight

"Mum?" Azula grinned down at her brother and mother, both in similar hunched positions towering over the turtle ducks, "Can I borrow Zuzu today? Mai and Ty Lee are both visiting."

Her brother raised an eyebrow to that and her mother looked visibly distressed.

"Zula," Zuko started, "Wasn't Mai supposed to be in a meeting with her parents?"

"Oh," she shrugged innocently, golden eyes wide, "The meeting was… ah… delayed for complicated reasons"

"Uh huh. And you're absolutely sure that you weren't one of those reasons?"

Azula grinned menacingly, "Why would I ever threaten anyone? You know me better than that."

"Azula," her mother chastised, trying –but failing- to keep a knowing grin from gracing her features, "Those meetings are important. You can't just - "

Azula's brow furrowed, which was her equivalent of pouting, "But Mai didn't even want to go! She says that the nobles are all stupid, polite, law abiding wolves who would prey on -"

"Azula!"

"Fine, I won't do it again" She looked over to her brother, who was watching this exchange with an amused smirk on his lips.

"Come on Zuzu, I know you're free. Let's go play with Mai and Ty Lee! Mai especially wants to see you," Azula winked at him.

"But -"

"We would be honoured to have you"

There it was, Zuko's favourite word which Azula had found out and used shamelessly whenever she wanted her brother to do something. He smiled, he knew of their game. If Azula really, really wanted something, she would always use the word honour in creative ways.

"Mum, I'm going with Azula"

Mother let out a long suffering sigh, "As long as you don't threaten anyone else, Azula"

Azula grabbed her brother's arm and dragged him to their usual spot, where Mai and Ty Lee were waiting for them. Mai visibly blushed upon his arrival and looked away. Ty Lee engulfed them both in a choking bear hug.

"So, what should we play?" Ty Lee asked.

"Hide and Explode," Zuko suggested.

"Throw at the Target," Mai droned.

"Blind and Find," said Azula.

Ty Lee frowned, "Hmm, I wanted to play Ice and water myself but…"

"Let's have a race," suggested Azula, "Whoever wins will decide the game"

She briefly noticed her brother smiling at her, almost proudly.

Azula went on one side of the courtyard and charred the grass beneath her into a line. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Zuko do the same. "This is the start point", she announced, and pointing at Zuko's line, "That is the finish line."

The race ended in Zuko winning, Ty Lee second (only because she kind of sort of cheated by swinging across the vines), Azula third (even with her fire propellers), and Mai fourth.

"Zuko's the tallest," Ty Lee piped up, "He had long legs, of course he would win."

Azula nodded grudgingly, a little sore about her defeat. "Okay, fine. You cheated though", she pointed to Ty Lee.

"Did not"

"Did too"

"You used your fire propelling"

Azula scoffed. "Fine, but only because I'm not a sore loser. I'm being it in Hide and Explode though."

"No!" all three of them exclaimed in unison.

"You'll use firebending to cheat," Zuko pointed out.

"You'll just detect our body heat and find us out," Ty Lee said.

"Especially Zuko. You can detect his inner flame!" Mai added.

"You were the one who taught me that trick," Azula told her brother, "Of course I'm expected to use it, aren't I?"

"But this is a game," Zuko protested, "It should be fair to everyone!"

"Oh?" Azula said haughtily, "Then you can't be it either."

"I would be honourable about it. I wouldn't use my firebending."

"Would too"

"Would not"

"Would too"

And before they could continue their banter, Mai popped up. "I'll be it, you have twenty seconds. Go hide. And don't hide in the mud"

With that she promptly began counting, snapping the siblings out of their banter as they scrambled to find themselves a place to hide.

Zuko won in the end, not that it was surprising. Zuzu had always been good at hiding for some reason. His footsteps light and almost soundless, he seemed to move in the shadows and almost always managed to slip away without anyone noticing.

"I'm sorry it has to end this way, brother," she said, in a mocking way, "I will beat you next time for sure."

She punched him good naturedly on the shoulder, saying, "However, I will acknowledge your skills this time"

Her brother smiled, no doubt smug about his victory. She didn't notice his eyes wide with pride and his gaze soft, very unlike how someone should look like when revelling in his victory.

"Now it's my turn, let's play Ice and Water," Ty Lee piped up, "I'm it!"

Zuko at Ten

"Most people who ask to spar me are arrogant in their claims," Piandao stated, as a young boy's head jerked up from the game. It had been two silent hours since they had been playing the game. You could hear a pin drop. It was relaxing and comforting, and Zuko had found himself slouching in his bench, enjoying the game which the two were currently playing.

He stared, as the swordsman continued, "What makes you think you're any different?"

Zuko didn't reply immediately, quietly framing an answer in his mind. It wouldn't do to reply immediately since he had never been as eloquent with words as his sister.

Once again, he found himself being attacked. He mused silently to himself. The fire bender strategy of attacking would be a brilliant move; it would eliminate some of the swordsman's strongest Fire and Water Tiles with minimum losses.

But, he noticed another way as well.

The fire bender way was good, but it wasn't the best for the endgame.

No, the best way to deal with it was like water.

Turn your defence, into your offence.

He moved the Water Tile, trapping the army amidst their own tiles while simultaneously taking care of defence.

Piandao smiled knowingly.

"Perhaps I am not," Zuko said carefully, "Perhaps I am as arrogant as they are. I will not deny that I am weak, I've always been weak. But, the fact that I admit this, does it not make me different? Does it not refute the fact that I am not arrogant, but merely want to prove myself to be worthy. I would not have come here if I hadn't known that I was weak."

"You are wise for a child"

And the room elapsed into comforting silence once more.

Ty Lee pulled her hands away from her eyes, grinning. "Ready or not, here I come!"

The young acrobat glanced around, searching for her friends. Her ears picked up a slight rustle from the top of the trees and within the branches. Most probably Mai because Zuko or Azula would never make such a sound. She was hiding alongside Zuko, because why else would Mai, who hated getting herself dirty and wet be up on the thorny, uncomfortable branches of the trees?

Ty Lee's hand reached up to grab one of the branches and she climbed up. Faintly, she detected two red auras. Her mouth twitched into a smile. Mai's aura was never red. It was usually grey, black or slightly greyish white on a good day. She wondered why it was red, the colour of passion, anger or love today. She probably knew why.

And sure enough, she heard the grumbles of her best friend's brother.

"Mai!" the raspy voice complained, "Why did you follow me? You should have just stayed down"

"Zuko!" said another voice, strangely not monotone and bored. In fact, Mai sounded flushed, embarrassed and accusing, "Get off me, you're way too close."

Zuko grumbled, "And whose fault is that?" Then, his eyes widened as he saw Ty Lee approaching and he cursed. Mai looked at him in surprise.

"Zuko!" she chastised, "It's unbecoming of a noble to use such peasant -"

"Ty Lee is here"

Mai let out a few curse words of her own, before clamping her mouth shut. Ty Lee looked at them both with disapproval. How did they learn those words? They were eight! Ty Lee knew them because of her six sisters but-

She took off after them.

In a few minutes, they were lying chi-blocked on the ground.

Ty Lee smiled at them with glee as Mai glared at her.

"And how do you suppose Azula will turn us to water?"

"She won't!" Ty Lee said cheerfully, "Ima catch her before she does. She's coming right now. I sense her aura!"

"We don't believe in auras," chorused Zuko and Mai together before looking at each other. Mai looked down blushing while Zuko's eyes darted around nervously.

"Ooh, there she is!" said Ty Lee before heading off to the direction she had just pointed at gleefully.

In a few moments, Azula lay crumpled to the ground glaring at her friend muttering the curse words that she had learnt from Zuko.

"Zula!" Zuko said, in a tone that was meant to be stern but instead came out more like a whine. "You should go for the other girls also. They're literally beneath the trees, sitting and chatting."

Then, he wondered why he even cared. He was in his twenties for Agni's sake! He shouldn't care that his eight-year old sister was winning the game. It was petty.

He backed up, as his sister walked towards him with quick, confident strides. She was blindfolded, and she had to catch everybody until the Sun was high up in the sky. Despite her supposed inability to see, she never faltered in her steps, never tripped on the rocks, never walked in the wrong direction.

Agni, he should never have taught her how to see when she was blind.

It had been Toph's idea really; she had suggested to them that they should all try to see with their respective bending, when she had been trying to get Aang to master seismic strength. It could be useful, she pointed out, if they were to find themselves in a situation where they couldn't see.

And thus, they had invented the game, Blind and Find. Katara used to sense the blood and water in the air and body to determine where objects and people were. He, himself had navigated by detecting body heat and he sometimes even heated up his surroundings so he had a better idea of where all the objects were. Zuko had introduced the game to the Azula before Mai and Ty Lee had arrived into their group and she absolutely adored it. It showed off her bending prowess.

"Aw, come on. Consider this my revenge," she said, jabbing him as he dodged, his hands bound behind his back backing up with quick, short steps, as much as his bound ankles would allow without tripping. It was one of the rules, albeit one that Toph had scoffed at, that the players must be restrained somehow to give the blind one a chance at winning.

Azula seemed to know exactly where he was, and he had to suppress a jealous pang in his chest, before feeling guilty. He had sworn himself that he wouldn't be jealous of his sister anymore and really, he wasn't. He was happy that she was strong and undoubtedly on his side. The jealousy pangs were instinctual. After all, it had taken him the longest out of the three benders to master seeing while being blind, months.

While eight-year old Azula had only taken three days to grasp the concept and execute it almost as perfectly as Toph could.

Distracted in his thoughts, letting his instincts guide his body, Zuko didn't notice his sister's strategy. Without looking at him, she crouched down and swept her legs in a circular arc. He was unable to jump in time, and fell. His cheeks reddened realizing that he had just been beaten by an eight-year old.

How had he survived as the Fire Lord for those many years?

"I won," Azula declared, before skipping off to catch the others.

It was so weird, watching Azula be nice instead of giving out death threats. Watching her be a good sport when she lost. Watching her not shove Ty Lee when her acrobatics was better, or watching her not harass Mai for her crush on him.

"My turn. We're playing Targets," said Mai in a monotone voice, "Pick out your preferred weapons."

"Tell me, young one, do you believe that everybody should be taught the art of the sword?"

"No," Zuko replied.

His master's expression frowned slightly. "So, do you believe that only the Fire Nation should be taught to wield a sword? Do you believe in their superiority?"

Zuko tilted his head just a little, contemplating his answer, eyebrows furrowed. He was trapped, in major trouble. His weaker Water tiles were being attacked by a single, strong Fire Tile. He could either let Piandao kill ten of his weaker water Tiles or capture one of his stronger Air tiles. Since Piandao's Fire Tile and Air Tile were almost equally matched, he would have a chance of escaping if he could manage to get his Water tiles to rescue them.

He defended the water tiles with the Air Tile.

"No. Although the Fire nation is the best nation by far, I do not believe that any nation is inferior or superior. Indeed, if we were superior to every nation, would we not have conquered Ba Sing Se? Why do the Northern water tribes give us so much trouble? I feel my nation is the best only due to personal reasons, not because I mean to disrespect others. That is one point where my father and I do not agree"

"Ah," Piandao nodded, "I share your beliefs."

His Air tile was saved by two Water Tiles. Piandao smiled briefly, as he set the Fire tile to follow the Air tile around.

His Water Tiles in the north of the game were getting much more powerful. As luck would have it, he had lost most of his Fire Tiles, while Piandao had lost almost all of the Tiles of the other nations

He moved the Air Tile and two Water Tiles to Kyoshi islands, in hopes to get shelter. Most of the Earth tiles there were high levelled and one of his water tiles gained a level as well.

Piandao's Fire Tile attacked Kyoshi Islands, as Zuko defended with his Earth Tiles and moved the Water and Air Tile to safety.

One of his Earth tiles in Gaoling was at the highest level, so he made it join the two Water Tiles and Air Tile to give them an extra layer of defence. His Water Tiles in the North Pole were getting extremely powerful. But so was the army that Piandao's Fire Tiles were creating. It would only be a matter of time before they attacked one of his strongest strongholds.

He guided his two Water Tiles and Air Tile towards the North to level them up. Piandao's Fire Tile gave them a lot of trouble, but he managed to evade and level the three tiles up slowly with each miraculous escape.

The Air Tile found a very high level Air Tile and levelled up, as Piandao decided to have a much, much stronger Fire Tile pursue them instead of the Fire Tile at the start. Since it was left defenseless, Zuko captured the Fire Tile by one of his Earth Tiles. If Piandao didn't rescue the Fire Tile within twenty moves, the Fire Tile would become Zuko's.

Piandao opted to instead attack the Water Tiles at the north, but failed. There was only one casualty and his two Water Tiles were now extremely high level. In ten moves, the Fire Tile which chased them would become Zuko's.

Piandao chose to take a risk. He took his second strongest Fire Tile and maneuvered his way to Ba Sing Se and managed to capture the Dai Li, Zuko's strongest Earth Benders. He also decided to attack the Fire Nation Palace, where Piandao's strongest Fire Tile resided. If he managed to kill it, then the game would be over.

Unfortunately, the attack failed and several of his Tiles were captured. The Fire Tile that had chased his tiles at the beginning was now his.

Slowly, he rescued his Tiles one by one, with careful thinking and strategy. His Air Tile was now almost as strong as Piandao's strongest Fire Tile.

So, he decided to attack again.

And this time, he won.

Zuko bowed Fire Nation style to Master Piandao and he reciprocated the action.

"Well done, young man"

"Let us now spar"

"Pick out your favourite weapons," said Mai in a monotone voice as she picked up her various knives, all painted in red. It looked like blood, but it was just paint.

Azula smiled, "I'll keep my fire cool. There will be slight burns though."

All the others nodded. They were familiar with burns. No fire child wasn't.

"I'll use my dual dao," added her brother weighing his green painted swords in hand. They could use any weapons; there wasn't a rule against non-projectiles, "Dont worry, I'm skilled with them."

Ty Lee picked out various blue painted balls and juggled them. "Guess I'll use these then."

And the game began.

'Targets' was a game in which a person needed to mark the others as much as they could with their respective colors and weapons. All the children panted and sweated, and soon enough, all of them were pinned to the walls with their clothing while Mai calmly rubbed red all over their robes.

"Fine, fine you won"

They arrived in the garden, and both took their stances.

A whistle rang through the air, and after a beat, Zuko made the first move. He ran towards Master Piandao, clutching his weapon's hilt tightly. Master Piandao made a sweeping arc, which Zuko ducked and aimed for Piandao's stomach with the hilt of his sword, which he promptly dodged.

Master Piandao began a series of attacks, and Zuko began to notice a pattern. They weren't as vicious as they should be; only meant for the pressure points of his body in an attempt to not seriously injure him, but only to put him out of commission.

He grinned a feral grin. He could work with that.

Light on his steps, he made a show of faltering and tripping. The flat of Master Piandao's sword hit his head and he fell on his knees. He saw Master Piandao gazing at him distractedly.

He swept his feet in an arc, which made Master Piandao's balance falter. Taking the advantage, he reached for his hands…

Only to find that, in an inhumane motion, which shouldn't have been possible for a man that age, he had caught himself on one hand and did a back-flip which would have made Ty Lee proud.

Zuko was panting now. His ten-year old self would not be able to take much more. He had to put an end to this somehow.

Taking advantage of his tiredness, Master Piandao came behind him, and before Zuko could do anything, he had him in a headlock, his sword barely grazing Zuko's throat. His wrists were locked together in a firm grip. He swallowed.

"I yield"

Master Piandao let him go and regarded him curiously. "You are an interesting child. Yes, I will take you on as a pupil."

Thank you for reading!