Life of Air

Chapter 4

Battle of Trials

With the rise of the sun I was forced to wake for the morning, having drifted to sleep against the pillar Zuko was tied to. I looked over at him and noticed he was still sound asleep, so I raised to stand with a gust of air under me to keep my movements silent. I walked through the small camp the Avatar and his friends had made and noticed Katara was once again cooking for them. I thought about offering her my help but decided against it, knowing it was best to keep my distance and not push her. Instead I greeted Sokka who looked like he was just waking up.

"Oh, morning Iyashi." Sokka said with a yawn. "How was watching prince pouty last night?"

"I enjoyed listening to his stories. He's been so many places." I answered. "Is it alright if I relinquish guard duties for the morning? Besides, he may end up waking up with some needs it'd be best that a male member of the group escort him to."

Toph laughed from the other side of the camp, the first sound I had heard from her. I had actually believed she was still asleep like most everyone else. "Sokka's on prince potty duty!"

Sokka groaned at her teasing and I only giggled. "Yeah, yeah, I guess someone has to do it. I'm your man."

While everyone was slowly rising and moving about the camp, I decided to take a short fly around the canyon. Considering I was out here without an escort, which was a first, I had to take the opportunity to enjoy it.

Being able to fly like this was what it used to be like when my grandmother was still alive. She always insisted on exercises like this, even making my mother join us in the sky. It was the one thing we all did together and actually enjoyed. During those flights my grandmother and mother seemed so much younger, like their spirits could truly be free. I used to love the look on my mother's face when she would soar without a care in the world. She hasn't been back out here to fly since my grandmother died.

By the time I returned to the ground everyone was seated around the fire enjoying the breakfast Katara had fixed, even Sokka and Zuko. Though since Zuko wasn't able to feed himself with his hands behind his back they had changed his bindings to allow his hands to be in front of him so he was able to hold a bowl to his mouth and eat with the others. It was quite the sight, the Avatar and his friends eating with a captive who happened to be one of their most hated enemies. The bison, Appa, was also enjoying some food we had brought to them from our fields as he required much more to eat than his human companions and we were happy to help. Aang's lemur friend, Momo, sat on his shoulder enjoying a piece of fruit.

Aang waved over to me. "You want some breakfast, Iyashi?"

"I'd love some, thank you." I replied and took the empty seat next to him, placing Zuko on my other side. Aang gave me a bowl with his earthbending and Katara filled it with the soup she had made using her waterbending. I gave my thanks to them both and sipped at the soup, knowing that Aang was vegetarian and he was eating it so I was sure I'd be fine as well.

Just as I swallowed my first mouthful of breakfast I heard a large explosion which shook the entire temple. Everyone jumped to attention at the sound and looked for its source. On the building across from us a strange man stood, as soon as we all noticed him there he sent another explosion in our direction. Aang had to deflect it with a wall of earth which allowed everyone to take shelter further in the temple where he couldn't see us.

Aang and Katara were both trying to fight the stranger, sending out blasts of their elements to knock him off of his ledge but he continued to recover with incredible speed. Soon, even they had to take cover in the temple as the rest of us did.

"He's gonna blow us completely off the cliff side!" Toph yelled.

"I can't waterbend at him without getting blown up!" Katara yelled over the explosions. "And I can't get a good enough angle on him from down here!"

An idea popped into my head and I rushed out into the temple with speed only an airbender could afford. As I jumped off the ledge and took flight with my glider, circling around the strange firebender and sending a gust of air from behind him, hoping to knock him down. Instead my air wasn't strong enough and he only stumbled forward but turned around and caught sight of me. He directed his next blast at me and I had to swerve to miss it.

He continued to send his explosions at me which barely missed quite a few times until he changed his strategy and shot at the cliff above me. Before I noticed what he was doing, a group of large rocks and boulders came down on me. I dodge just enough to keep from being crushed but one of them tore through the wing of my glider and I was sent crashing down to the bottom of the canyon. In a last ditch attempt to survive, I abandoned my glider and used my bending to slow my decent. I still landed with a bit of a thud, but I was alright for the most part.

Though I had landed relatively safely I still wasn't out of danger, rocks and boulders continued to fall from the battle going on above me which I had to avoid and deflect. I didn't even have the chance to simply run up the wall of the canyon to escape the debris as I was too busy trying to avoid being crushed. It was terrifying, literally fighting for my life. For many years I had trained to hone my skills but, never had I actually needed to use them to protect myself. I had always thought I would have a leg up on any enemy because I was an airbender but this battle proved I was completely wrong.

After some time, the rocks stopped falling and the last thing I saw fall was the metal arm of the strange firebender. That told me he must have been defeated by the Avatar and his friends, so it would be safe to climb up the canyon to the temple. Just as I readied myself to take the vertical run up the canyon I heard Aang call above me.

"Iyashi! Are you ok?!" Aang landed on the ground close to me and ran to me the rest of the way. He attacked me with a hug. "I was so afraid you didn't make it! I'm glad you're ok!"

I patted his back and returned the hug. "Yes I'm fine, Aang. That enemy was just more than I could handle and I realized it too late. How did you defeat him?"

"It was Sokka who defeated him." He answered when he pulled out of the hug. "He used his boomerang and literally got an angle on him. He actually ended up blowing himself up."

"Wow," I said in complete amazement. "That's incredible, but umm... what's a boomerang?"

Aang gave me a confused look then burst out into laughter. He opened his glider and offered his arm to me. "Come on, Sokka will show you when we get back to the temple."

I took his offer and wrapped my arm around his back which he did to me in return. Because we were both airbenders, we could share the responsibility of the glider. I used my other hand to hold onto it just as he did. We used our combined power to lift us off the ground and fly until we reached the temple. Our landing was a little rough, but we still landed safely.

"Sorry," Aang apologized with a sheepish expression, "it's been a long time since I've flown with another airbender."

I smiled at him and bowed. "I understand, thank you for coming to get me."

"Well, I actually wasn't the first person who came to help you." Aang said and gestured to Zuko who was standing away from the group and was no longer tied up. "As soon as you took flight Zuko broke free and went after you, he faced Combustion Man alone on that cliff when he shot you down, almost fell too." Aang looked at Zuko, his expression riddled with confusion. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but thank you, Zuko."

"Hey? What about me? I did the boomerang thing." Sokka asked.

"Oh yes!" I exclaimed. "What is this boomerang? I've never heard of one but Aang said you'd show me."

Sokka's expression changed to one of pure pride as he held up his weapon. "This, my naive Iyashi, is my boomerang. It's the greatest weapon among us."

Toph punched Sokka's arm, ending his display and explanation of his strange weapon. "I think Hot Head is trying to say something. Maybe we should listen."

Everyone's attention was turned to the firebender among us who had obviously been waiting to speak.

"Listen, I didn't really explain myself very well last time." Zuko announced. "I've been through a lot in the past few years and it's been hard. But I'm realizing that I had to go through all those things to learn the truth. I thought I lost my honor and that somehow my father could return it to me. But I know now that no one can give you your honor; it's something you earn for yourself by choosing to do what is right. All I want now is to play my part in ending this war. And I know... my destiny is to help you restore balance to the world."

After Zuko's speech he turned to Toph, placed his hand straight on top of his other that was balled into a fist and bowed. "I'm sorry about what I did to you while I was escaping, it was an accident. Fire can be dangerous and wild and, as a firebender, I need to be more careful and control my bending, so I don't hurt people unintentionally."

It was then that I noticed Toph had a rather fresh-looking burn on her arm. She must have been standing close to Zuko when he broke free of his bindings and been burned. Toph shrugged in response to the apology.

"It's not a big deal, Katara will heal it up quick, just know I'll be getting you back for it when you least expect it." She told him with a grin.

Aang took a step closer the firebender and looked him in the eye with a very serious expression. "I think you are supposed to be my firebending teacher. When I first tried to learn firebending," he gestured to Katara. "I burned Katara. And after that I never wanted to firebend again." Aang bowed his head, seeming to be taken over by a painful memory. When he lifted his head, he looked at Zuko once more. "But now I know you understand how easy it is to hurt the people you love." With the same hand position as Zuko, Aang bowed down to him. "I'd like you to teach me."

Zuko smiled softly and closed his eyes then bowed in return. "Thank you. I'm so happy you've excepted me into your group."

"Not so fast," Aang said suddenly. "I have to ask my friends first to see if it's alright with them. Sokka?"

Sokka gave a shrug. "All I want is to take down the Fire Nation, if you think this is the way to do it then I'm all for it. You know I trust you."

"Toph, you're the one Zuko burned, what do you think?" Aang asked the blind earthbender.

Toph bowed her head and shrugged. "Go ahead and let him join. I meant that comment about getting him back, this will just give me plenty of opportunity to do so." She ended with a fist to her palm and a smirk.

Aang then stepped up to Katara and asked softly, "Katara?"

She turned her head to the side and glared at the ground then returned her gaze to Aang, though softened a bit. "I'll go along with whatever you think is right."

"I won't let you down, I promise!" Zuko exclaimed with a determined expression.

I couldn't help but smile at the scene, knowing everything would work out for this group. Just as everyone started to relax after the battle, I saw my family come running from the temple.

"Iyashi!" My mother yelled as she wrapped her arms around me protectively. "I was so afraid something had happened to you what with all that noise! What went on up here? Did you fight? You know you're not a fighter!"

I patted her back and gave a sigh, comforted by the normalcy of my mother's over protectiveness. "I'm sorry, Mom, I didn't mean to worry you. I just couldn't run away in the face of battle."

She grabbed my shoulders and gave me a serious look. "You should have, you're an airbender! Airbenders don't fight!"

I gestured to Aang. "Aang is an airbender too and he fought."

She shook her head. "That's entirely different, he's the Avatar."

I sighed. "Mom, I can't just run away. You know that's not how I am, especially now." I looked behind her at my family, all four of my brothers and my father, each with their own worried or frustrated expression. Finally, I made eye contact with my eldest brother, Tanro, who gave me a reassuring nod. My eyes returned to my mother's gaze. "I don't have the same destiny as you, Mom, I have my own. And now that the Avatar has returned and is fighting to restore balance I want to help him. Together we can restore the airbender way of life on a much bigger scale than our family ever has. We can bring it out into the world for everyone to see!"

Aang came up beside me and addressed my mother. "Your daughter was one of the bravest of us here, she faced our enemy without a second thought and risked herself to protect us. She'll be an asset to our team."

I looked at Aang, taken completely aback by his words. "Do you mean that? I'm a part of your team now?"

He smiled to me. "Of course."

Finally, the adventure I've been dreaming of was right in front of me. I was going to travel the world with the Avatar and fight alongside him to bring peace to our world. I couldn't have been happier.

A/N - I've written another chapter so you're getting another early update! I guess I've just been so motivated because of how well received this story has been. :) I really can't wait for everyone to see where this will all go, it's an exciting ride and I'm glad I could take you there.

Let me know what you think!