Chapter 21
Firebender

We sat on Appa in silence deep in thought. It was Aang who spoke first.

"You should tell us if anyone dies." I took a deep breath and nodded.

"Foe or friend? Or would you like both?"

"I'd say friends," Sokka stated after a moments thought, "you're telling us stuff we want to change right? So if anyone who is or becomes an ally dies you should tell us before time." I nodded. Sokka had a point, we could save Jet that way, he was the only good guy I could remember who died.

"What about if we get lost or trapped?" Katara suggested, "Maddi could tell us the quickest way out of there."

"Your overestimating my knowledge." I told her, "I won't know anything more than you know, less probably. I don't know whether you'll make a right or left turn in a forest. Besides, I think that might be too small. If someone got fatally injured or never made their way back, sure I would tell but the fact is, every time we get lost we get out sooner or later."

"What about if we lose someone for a long time, would you help us find them?" I bit my lip. Appa, Appa got kidnapped during Wa Shi Tong's library. If I could change that... would that change for the better or worse?

"I might take action for that one, I don't think I should tell you directly."

"How about bending masters." I looked up at Aang and frowned deeply.

"What do you mean?" I asked confused. Where was Aang going with this.

"You could tell me who all my bending teachers are right away, then we could go and find them. You know who's going to be my water, earth and firebending masters right?" I nodded, then paused as a name hit me. Jong Jong. I had forgotten Jeong Jeong and now that time was coming up fast.

"Yes I do... I... I don't know if it's a good idea. Some of your masters aren't ready to teach you yet Aang, some of them need time to realize that they aren't your enemy."

"That makes sense," Sokka stated. Katara, Aang and I all turned in surprise, raising our eyebrows in sync.

"What? Think about it, you're going to need a firebending teacher eventually, it might take some time for a master firebender to realize that his nation needs to get some sense knocked into it." I smiled, Sokka knew how to make a tense situation into a light situation. It was one of his charms.

"Still, I don't see why knowing who my bending teachers are is going to hurt any." Aang suggested, "That way the second they're willing we can find them instead of wasting time. Besides that's my firebending teacher, my water and earthbending teachers should be excited to help me."He turned to me and stopped.

"Aang," I sighed, "you... don't have the easiest time with teachers. You do eventually get all three but it takes time and it follows the order that your supposed to learn from." We were silent again for a moment.

"What would you like to change?" Katara asked softly. I turned in surprise to the waterbender as she looked at me solemnly.

"If there was nothing holding you back, what would you change about our future?" I closed my eyes and thought. I would rescue Appa from the sandbenders, I would stop Aang from having to become scared of fire because of Jeong Jeong, I would help Katara learn how to heal using waterbending, I'd knock some sense into Jeong Jeong, I'd save Jet's life, I'd save Yue, I'd get Zuko to join us sooner, I'd stop the firenation from getting the war balloons, I'd get Sokka his space sword and boomerang back, I'd stop Aang from promising Zuko that he would kill him, I'd stop Zuko from listening to his father, and I would make sure that none of my friends would be left behind.

"Now change it." I blinked in shock and returned my gaze to Katara. She gave a small smile and shrugged.

"I'm not upset anymore, I still don't like the fact you kept your secret hidden instead of telling us. You could have trusted us more, we're your family just as much as Aang. We made that promise on the Southern Air temple... but you didn't believe it." I smiled then reached over and pulled Katara into a hug. Next second I felt arms wrap around my back as Sokka and Aang joined in from the sides.

"From now on, we are family and we do everything together. Okay? No more secrets from any of us."

"Okay." I agreed before pausing, "And anyone else who joins our group. They're family too."

"I wouldn't have it any other way."


It was time for dinner when we landed, Appa began happily munching on some bushes and tall grasses while Momo bounced about, picking up fruit and berries.

While the animals were enjoying themselves Katara noticed a pillar.

"We can learn about what the town below has from here." Katara explained to me as she began to read the various posters. I ignored most of them, instead walking up to the one announcing the Fire Festival.

"Come one and all to the great fire festival, parting with autumn and remembering beloved summer. Filled with fire bending demonstrations and fun for the whole family the Fire Festival is a must-see." I chuckled, the similarity to the TV infomercials from home was not lost to me.

"That sounds great, a fire festival! We can go see some real firebending."

"Yeah! That's a great idea!" Sokka pointed out sarcastically "We can see some real firebenders too, including ones who want to kill us! Yay!" I snorted in laughter.

"Think about it Sokka, this may be the only time I'll get to see firebenders who aren't trying to kill or capture us." Aang explained, his grey eyes shining excitedly.

"Or we might have an entire horde of firebenders on our tail, especially because you're a wanted man and all." I raised my eyebrow and blinked in surprise as Sokka pulled out the wanted poster of Aang.

"This was on the other side," he explained, "everyone in that town will know what you look like. Look at this, a thousand crowns for the capture of the avatar!"

"So we wear disguises, I think we should go. What do you think Pala?" I sighed.

"I'm both for it and against it at the same time. Yes this is the only time Aang will get to see some firebending that's not aimed at one of us for a very long time... but at the same time its stage firebending, none of it is going to draw on the common techniques or show him how to actually accomplish it."

"Does anything else happen that we should know about?" Sokka prompted lightly. I groaned, this was going to get annoying, fast.

"Yes and no. Aang and Katara both learn some important things from this trip... but I'd rather it they learn in a different way."

"Well how about this?" Katara proposed, "We go into town, if you think something is going wrong you can tell us to get out of there right away. If you want us to leave we'll listen." I paused then nodded my agreement. Sokka sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"I just know something bad is going to happen."


The trip in was actually surprisingly easy. We managed to sneak dark cloaks off a clothes line, even one that would fit Aang and get in. Upon entering we were able to get four free masks. Aang got a blue one with a happy face, Sokka a black and brown one with yellow and red highlights and a miserable expression. Katara a feminine one with a surprised expression and I got a green mask that was shaped like The Scream's face. It was a little disturbing but from inside the wooden mask I didn't have to see it. Still, just for fun I placed my hands on the sides, just to emasculate the famous painting.

Sokka ran and began picking various foods from venders, I was able to steer him away from the fire flakes and pick up one bag myself.

"They're really spicy," I warned, picking up one and carefully popping it in my mouth. The amount of spice was ridiculous and it took a lot of control to keep my eyes from watering. It reminded me of the one time my friends and I had played roulette with chocolates. We had all pitched in and ordered them via mail. When they arrived we were thrilled. Twenty bullet shaped chocolates, inside one a ghost pepper. I unfortunately was the girl who got the ghost pepper. Just remembering how bad that had been made the fire flake much easier to bear.

We wandered through, quite interested in everything that was going on. The fire lord puppet burning a puppet of the earth kingdom soldier was disturbing to say the least. Then we found ourselves facing the fire nation magician. A flash of fire and five doves flew away. It was incredible and he was quite good at his act. Still I was determined to keep my eyes out for someone else, someone I knew was following us.

I paid close attention to the crowd but I didn't see him anywhere. What was even more infuriating was that I had no recollection of the man's name. I remembered his cartoon appearance and therefore I could base my assumption on what he appeared as in real life.

"Oh! me me me!" Aang called. I sighed and turned. The excited airbender wanted to be part of the performance. I knew why, he wanted to get a close look at the bending forms. Not that I blamed him. Still the man ignored Aang and pointed to Katara.

"How about you pretty lady." Katara quickly backed up, raising her hands and shaking her head.

"Awe, look at that, she's shy folks." There was laughter and someone pushed Katara up close to the stage. There the magician pulled her up, and gently bound her to the chair with a strip of silk.

"You are my captured princess." He spoke, his voice projecting out over the entire crowd. It impressed me how he could make his voice heard even without a mic.

He proceeded to go through the motions of capturing, attempting to tame and the dragon escaping. He turned it towards Katara.

"We got to save her!" Aang yelped. I grabbed his shoulder.

"It's an act." I hissed, "he wont hurt her." Aang calmed somewhat, but remained tense. As did I. Luckily I was right. The man last minute created a sword out of fire and slashed it through the dragon. The dragon vanished in a flood of confetti. The performer let Katara down, thanking her for her cooperation and apologizing if he scared her. He finished by kissing her hand and helping her down from the stage where Aang, Sokka and I grabbed her and hurried away.

"Are you okay Katara?" Aang asked desperately.

"I'm fine Aang," Katara comforted, she was shaking slightly so I pulled her into a hug. It was a relief that she wasn't angry at me anymore.

"What was supposed to happen?" Sokka asked me curiously.

"Aang jumps on stage, destroys the dragon and the guards recognize him as the avatar. We're chased around the city and rescued by-" I cut myself off as I recognized the man who had been following us.

"There he is." I added in a low tone, gesturing with my head in the man's direction. It didn't help that he stood out as he wore no mask but a red bandanna over his mouth. It made him stand out pretty clearly.

"Him, who is he?" Aang asked curiously.

"A fire nation runaway, he saw you and wanted to bring you to his master, an admiral who left the fire nation because he disliked what the fire nation had become."

"So I can get him to teach me!" Aang yelped and before I could warn him away zipped over to our stalker.

"He's going to get himself killed one day." I grunted under my breath before following the hyperactive bender along with Sokka and Katara.

"How did you know?" Our stalker asked Aang in shock, "Are you enlightened as Jong Jong?" Aang opened his mouth but stopped himself. Finally shrugging.

"I just knew." I heard the familiar smack of a hand hitting wood and Sokka's yelp of pain, remembering he had a mask on a touch to late. I couldn't help but snigger.


"I serve a man. More than a man really, he's a myth, but he's real, a living legend, Jeong Jeong the Deserter. He was a Fire Nation general, or wait, was he an admiral?" I groaned. Chey, the second runaway from the fire navy was a soldier who had come from one of the fire nation colonies. While he meant well he had never been educated to do anything other than fight and I was getting frustrated with him. I wasn't the only one.

"We get it he was highly ranked." Sokka replied in a dull tone as we followed the excited man.

"Yeah! Way up there! But he couldn't take the madness any more. He's the first person ever to leave the army - and live." Chey turned to look at us and shrugged. "I'm the second, but you don't get to be a legend for that. That's okay though. Jeong Jeong's a firebending genius. Some say he's mad - but he's not! He's enlightened."

"I doubt he's enlightened." I stated coldly. I was not a fan of Jong Jong, mostly because of how he took the deeds of the humans and saw those traits in the element itself. He believed that his own element was evil when it was merely the ones who wielded it.

"He is to enlightened." Chey replied in a snippy manor. I snorted. Great, now we were going to start playing 'is not'.

"I think we should see him." Aang suggested to me, turning with big eyes. I looked down at him and raised my eyebrow.

"No. Jeong Jeong is the wrong man for you Aang."

"He's the perfect person to train the Avatar! That's why I followed you into the festival so I could bring you to him!" Chey replied quickly.

"He may be the right man to teach the Avatar, but he is the wrong man to teach Aang." I replied harshly. Chey recoiled as if shot. Then confusion crossed his face. I could see a similar confusion in the eyes of my companions but I refused to explain.

We were quiet for a while, still following Chey to Jeong Jeong. Mostly because I knew that we were going to come across people who would stop us from turning around in the first place.

"Don't move!" There they were. Several tribesmen holding long spears pointed at us emerged from the bush.

"This way." The leader insisted. Slowly we began walking again, in single file... in the same direction. I was beginning to wonder about the genius who was bringing us straight to Jeong Jeong when we were already going straight to Jeong Jeong.

"Jeong Jeong told you not to look for Avatar." The lead tribesman stated. I sighed and ignored the rest of the talking, except the name of the leader, Lin Ye. Once again I had forgotten the name of a character. Not that it wasn't expected, I couldn't remember the name of every character who was given a name and showed up once. I allowed myself to become completely immersed in my thoughts. The only light came from the large moon that glowed eerily down upon us. It was cold, mist rose from the river below adding to the eeriness of the night. I guessed we were probably in mid to late November by now. That caused me to blink as I did the mental calculations. That meant that I was turning eighteen in two to three months. I had been born of February seventeenth 1995. That realization shocked me to my core. Two to three months and I would turn eighteen. I chuckled as it occurred to me that would actually place my birthday a little before or after meeting Toph. That made me wonder. I knew that Katara had her birthday just a little before I arrived but when was Sokka's, Aang's, Toph's and Zuko's birthdays? Would they too grow a year older? Did they just not celebrate them so it wasn't covered in the series? I could understand how Aang and Zuko wouldn't celebrate their birthdays during the journey. Zuko having been banished and to focused to care much and Aang... well if it was later in the storyline then he would have been too focused to pay much attention. Besides he had already missed a hundred birthdays. But what about Sokka? Was he born in an earlier month then Katara, and if so then it would have to be after August or early September so... late September early October perhaps?

"You go. You stay here." I blinked myself out of my thoughts to see Chey vanish down the slopes of the river to a small hut where I knew Jeong Jeong was.

"Pala, help me with the sleeping bags," Sokka called from Appa where he was unloading our stuff.

"Sure." I replied as I walked over, "Why though?"

"How long are we going to be here?" I shrugged. I honestly didn't know, I just knew it was enough time for the companions to fall asleep which really wasn't much time at all.

"I have a feeling we might be here for a while."


Later I was woken by a cry.

"No, wait." I jolted upright. Sokka was asleep along with Katara. Aang wasn't there but Chey was.

"Where's Aang?" I asked, scrambling out of my sleeping bag.

"He went to see Jeong Jeong." Chey admitted. I grit my teeth and tore out of the door just in time to see Aang vanish into Jong Jong's reed cabin. I stood there for a second in shock. Hadn't I made it clear to Aang that he would get his teachers in order? That meant he needed to master water and earth. I grunted in frustration and hurried down. I was going to stop this before things came to a head. Then I would help Katara realize she had the ability to heal. As I drew closer to the door of Jeong Jeong's hut I heard the deserter speak.

"Water is cool and soothing, earth is steady and stable, but fire. Fire is alive, it lives and breathes. Without the bender the rock will not throw itself. But without the bender fire will grow and spread and destroy everything in its path."

"Your right, fire is alive. Your wrong about everything else though." I stated as I walked in. Jeong Jeong tensed and looked up at me.

"Who are you?"

"My name's Palartok, well in the water tribe. My given name is Madison." I explained.

"You do not appear water tribe... did your water tribe friends give you another name?" Jeong Jeong asked in confusion.

"Why does everyone focus on my name?" I snapped, "Besides, I didn't come here for a pleasant chat, I came here to take Aang back. We're heading for the Northern Water Tribe in the morning. We should be able to reach it within another four days if we push ourselves." I added, not mentioning the time it would take us to help Teo and his people free themselves from the fire nation's reign.

"Please." Jeong Jeong stated sweeping his hands out as if gesturing Aang away.

"Thank you, I'd thought you would understand that you weren't the right man to teach the Avatar." Jong Jong straightened, staring at me in shock.

"What?"

"Well as he put it... what was that thing you told Katara, Aang? Back in the South Pole when you were trying to get her into that ship? Ah, yes. To be a bender you have to let go of fear." I grinned viciously at Jong Jong. I understood his anger towards the other men of his nation. I even understood his disgust and sorrow for being part of such an ugly war. What I did not understand was turning his feelings into a fear of his own bending and yet still willingly firebend. It was hypocrisy at the best, downright delusional at the worst.

"I'm pretty sure learning from someone who fears his own bending would be a very negative experience. After all the student learns much more than just how to bend from his teacher. He learns how to look at life." I took Aang by the arm and helped him up.

"We'll be on our way now. Thank you very much for allowing us to rest here by your riverside."

"Maddi." Aang pulled his arm from my hand and looked at me in confusion, then turned and looked at me in confusion, "Is it true?"

"Yes. Jeong Jeong is fearful of his own bending and most importantly, that you lack the control or the will to control your bending. He had one very bad student who ruined his outlook on firebending along with seeing the horrors of war. He has formed a bias against his own bending. He no longer sees the destruction that all bending can cause. Air can form tornadoes and hurricanes, it feeds fire and allows the blaze to grow. Earth can have landslides and earthquakes. The earth moves all the time, we just can't feel it. Water can form hurricanes, tsunamis and floods. Each disaster is caused by one of the three other elements yet you don't see the benders of the other peoples fearing their own bending." I turned away from Aang again to face the elderly bending master.

"Fact is Jeong Jeong, you may not remember this but there has been at least one time in history that every bending ability has attempted to take over the world. Fire, earth, water and yes, even the peaceful airnomads were once as obsessed with war as the firenation itself. I may not be a bender myself but I see the beauty in fire. Without fire humans would never have survived, we would have never been able to make tools, learn to farm or raise livestock, make our own cloths. We need every element to help us survive and we need every element to have balance. And we need to see that every element has its darker side, not just the element that is waging war at the time. If we can see that then maybe this world will have peace." With that I turned, walked out of Jeong Jeong's hut. I didn't look back once.


A/N: Well Maddi is becoming braver and starting to actively make changes. What do you think are going to be the consequences of her actions. What do you think will happen now? I'd love to hear what you think. Thank you and I hope you enjoyed the chapter.

Princess Kassie Out.