Book 2: Earth

Chapter 9: Bitter Work

A/N: Hello dear friends, I've missed you! I've decided I should probably stop apologizing for the length of time between these updates; those of you who have been with me since the beginning have been here a good long time now. If you are still here, you have my greatest thanks. If you're new, welcome. I've loved this story for years and years now, and I hope you will too.

I hope life is treating you all right. Enjoy!


Uncle drifted in and out of sleep for the rest of the night, never regaining enough consciousness to have a conversation with them like he had before. It worried them both, and so they'd decided to sleep in shifts to watch over him. Emi tried to convince Zuko that she should take the first watch, arguing that he hadn't had a decent night's rest in days. There were many things Zuko bested her at; being stubborn was one of them.

Instead, she laid on her side with her pack tucked underneath her head like a pillow, watching Zuko with sleepy eyes as he tended to Uncle. Despite the unideal situation they found themselves in, she was content. She was sore from the fight earlier in the day, but the night air was steadily warming with each passing day, and with the food Ying had given them, they were all more well-fed than they'd been in quite some time. And besides, when were they ever in a situation she could describe as ideal? Certainly not since General Zhao had taken their crew and blown up their ship all that time ago. Had it been so long already? The day they sailed away from the Fire Nation seemed like a lifetime ago. Everything had changed the moment they had seen that bright blue beam of light shoot into the sky.

"Do you remember that day we took Aang from the South Pole?" She asked suddenly, her voice echoing in the quiet space around them. Her musings had brought the memory of that day back to her, along with the pit in her stomach. Her explanation was long overdue. Zuko paused in his movements, his lips pressing together as he nodded and moved so that he sat closer to her. She tucked her face further into her pack. "That was the start. At least, I think it was. He was their last hope, you know. The last hope for everyone in the world, except for the Fire Nation." Zuko looked at her thoughtfully, his eyes tracing her face. She couldn't be sure what he thought he was going to find, other than a tired girl looking back at him. One of her hands laid curled in her red silk blanket, and Zuko ran a finger across the back of it.

"You think?" His statement made her frown. She tried to remember how she felt about the Fire Nation when she first got there. She could remember the anger she felt at losing her parents and her life, the bitterness, but it was so faint. It had all been encompassed by the fight to survive, and by Zuko. Trying to recall a time in her life before she'd started to cling to him like he was her only lifeline…it gave her a headache. Her brows furrowed as she continued. "When we left three years ago, all I wanted was to accomplish the goal that we set out with. There was nothing else." Her eyes flicked back to his, wide with sincerity. Whatever existed within her now, it had not been there in the beginning.

Zuko ran a hand over his short hair and blew out a sigh. "But that's changed now." He stated, though his words should have been a question. She shook her head.

"It hasn't. I want to be with you and Uncle, Zuko, or I wouldn't be."

"That isn't it." He argued, but Emi was already shaking her head again, lifting her hand to press her fingertips against his lips, her eyes falling closed.

"It's all that matters."


By morning, Emi was feeling much better. She had finally gotten some rest, and the bags beneath Zuko's eyes were fading. Uncle was doing better too. He hadn't woken yet, but his breathing was deep and even. As if waiting for the thought to pass through her mind, his eyes drifted open and he let out a pained groan.

"Uncle!" Zuko was at his side in an instant, helping him to sit up and prop himself against the crumbling wall. Emi jumped into action as well, wincing through the soreness that came with sleeping on a hard wooden floor to reach for the bowl of water she'd refilled that morning. Water laced through her fingers as she pressed her hand against Uncle's shoulder, and she searched for remnants of Azula's lightning as Zuko tried his hand at making tea. That made her wince too.

"You two," he muttered in exasperation, but Zuko cut him off.

"Do you remember what happened?" Zuko asked, glancing up from the tea to see Uncle give a short shake of his head. "It was Azula. A surprise attack. You were awake for a little bit, but you've been unconscious all night."

"Somehow I'm not at all surprised." Uncle replied dryly. Emi rolled her eyes, but the fact that he seemed to be in high spirits put a smile on her face. As did the fact that no residual lightning remained in him. Finally, she'd be able to heal some of the damage Azula had done. He'd be sore still, but he was out of the woods, and for that she was grateful.

He seemed less stiff already, reaching for the cup of tea that Zuko handed to him. "I hope I've made it the way you like it." Zuko said hopefully. Emi already knew he did not. Sure enough, she shook her head as Uncle grimaced his way through the first cup, and tossed the other one over his shoulder, shushing her all the while.

"Uncle, listen. It's only a matter of time before we run into Azula again. I'm going to need to know more advanced firebending if I hope to stand a chance against her."

"Azula can't know I'm a waterbender." Emi added, watching Uncle with pleading eyes. "And I haven't been able to firebend in weeks, not without burning myself." Her hand flexed with the memory of the searing pain she'd felt just a few short weeks ago. "I have to train harder if I even want to come close to her."

"I know what you're thinking." Zuko continued on, his voice somewhat resigned. "She's my sister and we should be trying to get along with her." Zuko cast a sideways glance at her then, and Emi knew her displeasure at that particular idea was written all over her face. He patted her hand.

"No." Uncle said, groaning as he slowly got to his feet. Emi and Zuko rose along with him, both ready to catch him should he fall. "I think she's crazy and needs to go down." Emi sighed in relief; she'd known that truth about Azula for a long, long time.

"It's time to resume your training."


Uncle's first version of 'training' was making them antsy; she could tell by the furrow in Zuko's brow, the one that he got just before slipping into 'pissed off' mode. But still, Uncle continued to carefully stir the tea leaves he'd procured from the pack Ying had given them, blissfully unaware of Zuko's furrow and the way Emi tapped her fingers against her knee.

"Lightning is a pure form of firebending, without aggression." She sat up straighter as Uncle finally began his lesson, pouring his meticulously brewed tea into a cup for each of them. "It is not fueled by rage or emotion the way other firebending is. Some call lightning the cold-blooded fire. It is precise and deadly, like Azula. To perform the technique requires peace of mind." Emi frowned at that admission. Who had peace of mind, truthfully? Clearly Azula, though hers was in a 'I'll rule the world and I don't care who I take down to do so" sort of way. But not Zuko. She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye.

"I see." Zuko said, the calm in his voice sounding foreign and strange. "That's why we are drinking tea. To calm the mind." He took a deep breath and a sip of his tea, and Emi felt foolish as she followed suit. Despite what Uncle so liked to believe, problems simply weren't solved with a cup of tea. Even if it was a very, very good one.

"Oh, good point." Emi looked up at him in exasperation, and Uncle gave her a sheepish smile. "Oh yes, of course." Tilting his head to the side, he motioned to them both. "Come now. And finish that on your way out." Eager to get to the part that actually mattered, Emi pushed to her feet and downed her tea in one big gulp, Zuko hot on her heels.

Outside, Uncle stood near the drop off that overlooked into a small Earth Kingdom Village below. "There is energy all around us." He began as Zuko came up on one side of him and Emi the other. "The energy is both yin and yang. Positive energy and negative energy." Catching Zuko's eye, a small smile came to each of their faces. Emi had long since compared herself and Zuko to such things; like the sun and moon spirit at the North Pole. Opposites that were somehow explicitly connected to one another. It seemed the easiest way to describe what existed between them; that somehow, it was just always meant to be this way.

"Only a select few firebenders can separate these energies." Uncle continued, the clear warning in his voice drawing her attention back to him. "This creates an imbalance. The energy wants to restore balance, and in a moment the positive and negative energy come crashing back together, you provide release and guidance, creating lightning." Emi watched with wide eyes, as Uncle took a deep breath and began moving slowly through a series of steps as if he'd done it a million times. The familiar blue sparks crackled at his fingers, and the heat of the lightning he created washed over her even as he shot it away from them.

Zuko was watching with the same wide eyes. "I'm ready to try it!" Emi nodded her agreement.

Uncle took a few steps back so that he could watch them both. "Remember, once you separate the energy, you do not command it. You are simply its humble guide. Breathe first." Emi looked up at Zuko with a smile.

"Me first." She declared, and though Zuko rolled his eyes, she saw the small smirk on his face. Bringing her hands to a folded position against her heart, Emi closed her eyes and took a deep breath, trying to dispel with it the fear she held from her last few attempts at firebending. She traced the same path with her hands as Uncle did, her breath catching as a few flimsy blue sparks crackled at her fingers. As she moved to shoot what little lightning she had away from her, pain sliced through her again, sharper this time, running along her arms and down her fingertips. Gasping in pain, she flexed her fingers with grit teeth and shook her head.

"Not for me, then." She said softly, and Uncle gave her a sympathetic look as he placed a hand on her shoulder. Nodding to Zuko that she was fine, she watched as determination crossed her friend's face. She held her breath as she watched him flow through the motions they'd learned, but rather than lightning, the energy Zuko had held in his hands exploded in front of him, throwing him back. Stepping forward anxiously, she was surprised when Uncle's hand held her in place. She looked up at him, confused, but he only shook his head as Zuko stood to try again.


And again, and again. Failure after failure exploded in Zuko's face, and Emi watched his fury grow with each time. There was a time when she might have stepped in, but Uncle had given her pause before, and now she only watched. She could not solve every problem Zuko faced, no matter how bad she wanted to; not that she even knew how to solve this one.

Finally, Zuko threw his hands in the air. "Why can't I do this?" He asked Uncle, his anger not doing much to hide the desperation in his voice. "Instead of lightning, it keeps blowing up in my face. Like everything always does." Emi's heart twisted in her chest, and she did go to him then, putting a hand on his back.

Uncle crossed his arms and rubbed his chin, frowning. "I was afraid this might happen. You will not be able to master lightning until you have dealt with the turmoil inside you."

"What turmoil?" Zuko asked, annoyance crossing his features.

"Zuko, you must let go of your feelings of shame if you want your anger to go away."

"But I don't feel any shame at all." He argued, confusion in his voice. "I'm as proud as ever."

"Prince Zuko, pride is not the opposite of shame, but its source. True humility is the only antidote to shame."

"Yeah well, my life has been nothing but humbling lately." Zuko muttered, and Emi moved her hand to his shoulder to squeeze it. Uncle glanced between the two of them and held up a hand.

"I have another idea. I will teach you a firebending move that even Azula doesn't know, because I made it up myself." The smile he gave them then was almost secretive, and Emi's excitement was renewed. What better way to get an edge on Azula than a move even she didn't know?


Emi and Zuko sat on the ground, watching Uncle intently as he began to draw in the dirt in front of them. "Fire is the element of power." He began, tracing the insignia of the fire nation into the dirt. "The people of the Fire Nation have desire and will, and the energy to drive and achieve what they want." Emi smiled at Zuko; the description surely fit him to a tee. Moving to the space above where he'd started, Uncle traced another figure into the ground. "The people of the Earth Kingdom are diverse and strong. They are persistent and enduring. Air is the element of freedom." That insignia went opposite of the Earth Kingdom one. "The Air Nomads detached themselves from worldly concerns and found peace and freedom." Glancing up at them, he gave them a wide smile. "Also, they apparently had pretty good senses of humor!" Emi only tilted her head in response, and Uncle sighed before continuing.

The last insignia went opposite of the Fire Nation's, and Emi felt a pang of sadness as Uncle etched into the ground the symbol of the Water Tribe. "Water is the element of change. The people of the Water Tribe are capable of adapting to many things." Uncle smiled at just her then, but she could see the sadness in it. There were too many things she'd been forced to adapt to, one could easily argue. "They have a deep sense of community and love that holds them together through anything." Zuko's hand rested on her knee, and she felt the truth of Uncle's words deep within her. The love that existed between the three of them had held them together through all sorts of horrible things, and it would continue to, long past the end of this war.

"Why are you telling us these things?" Zuko finally asked, glancing away from her and up at Uncle.

Uncle drew a line that separated the four insignia's he'd drawn. "It is important to draw wisdom from many different places. If you take it from only one place, it becomes rigid and stale." Then, he added a circle around the entire drawing. "Understanding others, the other elements, and the other nations will help you become whole."

"It just all sounds like Avatar stuff." Zuko said, a hint of an argument in his voice. Uncle nodded in response.

"It is the combination of the four elements in one person that makes the Avatar so powerful. But it can make you more powerful, too. You see, the technique I'm about to teach you is one I learned by studying the waterbenders." Uncle winked at her then, and Emi straightened. A firebending technique that came from the waterbenders…well it sounded just like her.


They got started right away, and Uncle surprised her by asking her to show them a few of the waterbending moves she used most often. Pride sparked in her as she took her stance, pulling the water from her pouch and casting it away from her in a horizontal arch that easily cut through some of the discarded wooden boards that had been set against their little abandoned house. She twisted and twirled through a few more moves, her water being pushed from and pulled to her effortlessly. Uncle stopped her then, nodding in satisfaction.

"Waterbenders deal with the flow of energy." He said, turning to Zuko and leading him through a movement with the same push and pull motion she'd just demonstrated. "A waterbender lets their defense become their offense, turning their opponents' energy against them. I learned a way to do this with lightning."

"You can redirect lightning?" Emi asked, shocked. Uncle simply nodded.

"And you can teach me?" Zuko asked, excitement in his voice.

Uncle held up a hand to halt their movements, and both Emi and Zuko watched him intently.

"If you let the energy in your own body flow, the lightning will follow it. You must create a pathway from your fingertips, up your arm to your shoulder, then down into your stomach. " With two fingers, Uncle traced the path along his own body, hitting all of the points with careful precision. "The stomach is the source of energy in your body. It is called the sea of chi. Only in my case it is more like a vast ocean." Despite her own impatience, Emi smiled at Uncle's antics. Some things simply would never change.

"From the stomach, you direct it up again, and out the other arm." Uncle continued on, his movements reflecting the second part of the path. "The stomach detour is critical. You must not let the lightning pass through your heart, or the damage could be deadly. You may wish to try a physical motion, to get a feel for the pathways' flow, like this." Uncle nudged Zuko's hands and he started the movement as well. "Now, are you focusing your energy? Can you feel your own chi flowing in, down, up, and out?"

Concentration lined Zuko's face as he matched each of Uncle's moves with his own. "I think so." He said quietly. After a few more passes through the pathway he'd created, Zuko nodded in determination. "Great. I'm ready to try it with real lightning." He declared.

Uncle took a few steps back, shocked, and threw his hands in the air. Blowing out a sigh, Emi looked up to the sky, suddenly reminded of all the times in their past training that Zuko and Uncle had ended up at each other's throats.

"Are you crazy?" Uncle shouted, waving his arms. "Real lightning is incredibly dangerous."

Zuko's eyes flashed. "I thought that was the point! You teaching me to protect myself from it." Uncle just stared at him incredulously.

"Yeah! But I'm not going to shoot lightning at you!" Shaking his head, Uncle turned his back to Zuko. "If you're lucky, you will never have to use this technique at all." He added sternly. And as Emi watched Zuko, it was as if she could see what his decision would be as he made it.

"Zuko…" she warned. In typical Zuko fashion, he ignored her.

"Fine." He snapped. "If you won't help me, I'll find my own lightning." She stepped in front of him with a challenge on her face, but he only shook his head at her. "Don't." She huffed in annoyance, crossing her arms as he pushed past her, jumping onto their ostrich horse and riding away.


There was some time for Zuko to change his mind about his completely asinine decision, but not much. Emi paced anxiously as storm clouds roiled and rumbled above their heads. Swearing lightly, she ran both of her hands through her dark hair.

Uncle's eyes flicked from the sky to hers, a frown set deep on his face. "Go." He commanded, quiet yet firm. He didn't have to tell her twice. She broke off in a run, cursing Zuko for taking the ostrich horse with him. The rain began to wash away the tracks they'd left, but it didn't matter. She let the pull she always felt towards him guide her. Luckily for her, he hadn't gone far, but by the time she got there, rain was pelting against her face. Damn him for having to climb up a cliff too. Spirits forbid he try to get struck by lightning on the lower level of rock. She hissed as her hand slipped off of its hold, but she was still able to gain enough leverage by swinging her leg. Groaning, she pulled herself over the rock's edge and got to her feet.

Zuko was shouting, but she couldn't hear most of it over the wind that howled around them, and as a bolt of lightning shot across the sky, she shivered. Of all the wild ideas he'd had…well maybe this one had merit. "You've never held back before!" As his voice cut through the rain, her heart broke for her dear friend. He was right. LIfe had never once held back on him. It always came fast and furious, knocking him to the ground and kicking him while he was down.

"Zuko!" There were tears in his eyes as he turned to face her, and in just a few steps they stood face to face. She reached for him, putting her hands on his shoulders, and he wrapped his hands around her wrists, his eyes searching her face once more. She still couldn't figure out what he was looking for.

"My life has fallen apart." He told her brokenly. "Every single thing has gone wrong, except for you." Emi closed her eyes and said nothing, wrapping her arms around him and pulling him close to her instead. Because he was wrong. Everything had gone wrong for her too.

If it had gone right, she would have never been there with him.


A/N: Thank you, dear friends. Stay tuned.