Chapter 8: The Visit

Miyani told him that the electrocution was nothing to worry about. It had been a weak thing, not likely to do any long-term damage, and Sen would recover perfectly in time. Never once did she show any emotion, any sign that she really cared.

Sen was getting so very tired of dealing with Miyani, Hayao, and the quiet of this godforsaken island. There were several other people on Hayao's island, but nobody would speak to him. Miyani and Hayao only spoke when they wanted to teach him something. The longer he stayed here, the lonelier he felt. It was starting to drive him mad.

He had been here for several weeks now, stalling out completely under Miyani's tedious training. In less time than he had spent learning nothing at all about firebending, he had met all of his friends, learned Earthbending, and had several adventures. Now he was spending his days sitting on rocks and breathing a lot. Occasionally Miyani had him run through some stances. He was doing so now, repeating the same motions he'd repeated over and over again.

Miyani was observing him now, not demonstrating. Sen had memorized these stances weeks ago, he no longer needed her example. Her observations were just as frustrating as her lessons; her face was so expressionless Sen could never tell when he was doing well or doing poorly. The blank amber eyes just stared him down without any kind of emotion.

"What would you think of me doing some study on my own?"

"What exactly do you mean, Sen?"

"I mean, I want to go off on my own for a little while. Head to the other side of the island for a few days and meditate on my own. I feel like it would help me a lot."

"Wisdom can be found in introspection. If that's what you want, feel free to do so."

Miyani and Sen hashed out the details of Sen's departure. Sen wanted to do it as soon as possible. Obviously he wasn't really going to go that far out of his way just to sit on a different rock. He figured if he did it right he could spend a few days with Suda and Ada and be back before Miyani noticed.

He looked out at the foggy coastline. It wouldn't be hard to fool the apathetic Miyani. Getting there would be the hardest part.

Ada was really glad to have a roof over her head again. Before departing from the city, Fire Lord Goto had helped them acquire some decent accommodations. He'd also left his two agents behind for security reasons, but Ada had seen very little of them. The duo had gone incognito, watching over them from a distance. Ada didn't mind at all. Their dialogue had gotten a little tiresome after a while.

Ada got out of bed and got dressed. She had always liked the Fire Nation fashion sense, so she was glad she got to make it her wardrobe. She was dreading the day they got the Water Tribe. The thought of all that fur made her skin crawl.

Despite the fact that they had a place to call their own now, Ada and her companions still spent most of their time on the beach. It was secluded enough for them to talk openly, and it made a good practice area for Ada and Sorikami's sword lessons. It was also where Gun spent most of his time, although his appearances had been rarer and rarer lately.

Gai Zhu was a lively place at any time of day, even in the early morning. Tahu Island was the last major island before the Fire Nation mainland, so Gai Zhu was an important port. As Ada walked down the sidewalk towards the beach she saw all sorts of things and people. A lot of people had gathered in front of the local electronics store for some reason. Ada crept her way through the crowd, which was not a difficult task given her small size.

The TeleVarrick in the electronics store window was the main draw of the crowd. Ada had been hoping for a news broadcast, but it was just a Republic City pro-bending match, broadcast as ever in blurry black and white. The sport had gotten a little more interesting ever since they'd officially integrated airbenders, but Ada still had better things to do with her time. She wormed her way back out of the crowd and headed for the beach.

With the crowded city streets behind her, Ada picked up the pace. All the sword exercises she had been doing had gotten her into excellent shape physically, at least. She still had a very troubled mind, and Sorikami's lessons were causing her no small amount of stress. She often went to the beach early to practice on her own, so that she could try to remember the skills she had without Sorikami constantly dismantling her

She hopped the beachside fence to find that Gun was above ground, pressing his face into something. Probably some subterranean animal he'd dug up and was eating. Ada kept her distance from the badgermole until she began to hear muffled cries of protest from underneath Gun's massive body. She examined the edge of Gun's stomach and saw a leg sticking out from under the mass of fur. Gun was pressing his head against something and nuzzling it less than gently.

Ada pressed her arms against the badgermole and pushed. She had absolutely none of the strength required to move Gun, but he had a tendency to avoid anyone who wasn't an earthbender, and as he sensed Ada get closer and start to touch him, he backed away from whoever he had pinned. Ada was shocked to see Sen gasping as he was released from Gun's weight.

"That stopped being fun after fifteen minutes," Sen mumbled. He spat out a lump of badgermole fur that had gotten stuck in his mouth. Immediately afterwards, he threw his arms open wide and grabbed Ada in a bear hug that was significantly more bear-like for the massive amounts of fur stuck to Sen. As he released a surprised Ada from his grasp, he apologized for the mess and started brushing the hair off of both of them.

"What are you doing here? Did you finish training?"

"No, I actually- Well, I just came to visit. I need to talk to someone. I mean, someone I actually like."

Sen gave her a weak smile as he said the last few words. The smile warmed Ada's heart, but his act of defiance against Hayao's orders was more important. Hayao was trying to teach Sen to make his own decisions, and breaking away from his teacher and directly disobeying Hayao's orders was very decisive. Maybe Sen was closer to being done than she thought.

"So, where are you, then? How's your firebending coming?"

"I haven't done anything at all," Sen moped. He sat down on a rock on the beach. Gun placed his head at his masters heels, sighing contentedly. Ada sat down on another nearby stone and listened to Sen. The fact that he hadn't learned any firebending was a bit of a damper on Ada's hopes of change, but there was still a chance that he was making progress in other ways.

"I haven't made so much as a spark. Except for the time the Fire Lord talked me into electrocuting myself, of course."

"What?"

Ada had thought Fire Lord Goto was a bit of a jerk, but she hadn't imagined that he would cause anyone, least of all the Avatar, to come to any real harm.

"He convinced me to try making lightning," Sen groaned. "It's practically my fault for falling for it, but still. It didn't end well."

"Are you okay?"

His skin still felt crispy in some places, but overall Sen was fine. Ada was glad to hear that. She was well-acquainted with the side effects of electrocution. Permanent nerve damage was not something she wanted Sen to be dealing with.

"I just really thought I could do it," Sen sighed. "He made so much sense, talking about how I was being pulled two different ways."

"How so?"

Sen took a minute to focus. The events immediately surrounding his self-electrocution had been rendered somewhat fuzzy. It took him a minute to remember the exact details of the Fire Lord's lessons. Even when he'd done so, he got interrupted. Any further attempt at discussion was cut short by an exuberant cry from the distance. In a few short seconds, Suda had vaulted over the fence and onto the beach, slamming down on a seat next to Sen and putting his arm around the Avatar.

"Sen! Good to see you, Avatar. How's it going?"

"I got electrocuted," Sen said. He then reiterated the whole story of Fire Lord Goto's visit to Suda and Ada. They winced at his vivid description of the pain of electrocution. Suda especially. The cut Ada had given him had healed long ago into a rather neat-looking scar, but he distinctly remembered the pain of the electric shock.

"Training has been kind of awful over all," Sen moped. "All I've gotten out of it so far is boredom and pain."

"Is it really that bad? What's that Miyani person doing with you anyway?"

"Not much," Sen said. "I've got the stances memorized, and I'm pretty good at the breathing stuff, but I haven't made any progress in firebending yet."

Sen's frustration was obvious. Suda could practically hear his teeth grinding. Gun got up and pawed at the ground, clearly sensing his masters frustration.

"It's been weeks. Why aren't you doing any real bending?"

"Eh, I think Miyani's the monk type. She's been removed from the world for so long she forgot that some people have deadlines. I can't really tell her I'm the Avatar, so she doesn't think there's any hurry."

"What's she like, anyway," Ada asked. "Why would Master Hayao partner her with you?"

Their last chat with Hayao had led Ada to believe that he was a schemer. Ada hoped they could figure out what the masked master intended for Sen to learn from Miyani.

"She doesn't do much. She doesn't really have emotions, or opinions, or anything. She's really tall, though, and she wears wraps around her arms and head. And her shoulder too, almost forgot."

"What, like bandages? If she's got scars, that would explain why she's so slow on firebending. Maybe she's afraid."

"Well, it depends," Ada said. "If they were burn scars, those can be an accident. Cuts, though, that would mean someone was trying to hurt her."

Sen put his head in his hands. He didn't know for sure if Miyani really was scarred at all, but if she was, it might explain her hesitation in firebending.

"Someone like that probably has a lot of issues," Suda said. "You should try to be a little more understanding."

"Yeah, like I don't have issues," Sen said. He sighed forlornly. "Maybe that's it. Maybe I'm meant to be like her. I should just stop caring."

Suda sensed that this line of thought was going to go south very fast, so he changed the topic. He sprang out of his seat and hopped across the rocky beach, grabbing up a stone and circling it around himself.

"I learned some new earthbending moves," Suda said. "I figure I can teach you a few more things."

"Wait, I thought I was done with earthbending."

"Not hardly," Suda said. "You're good enough that you can learn firebending, but you've still got a lot of work to do. You're not a master yet, kid."

Ada stepped up and pushed Suda's rock out of the way. He didn't like that, so he pushed the rock right back into place. Ada was not going to play this back-and-forth game with him, so she stared him down until he dropped the stone to the ground. Gun sniffed curiously at the earthbending display.

"Sen shouldn't do any earthbending this close to town. We've been snuck up on before."

Sen nodded his head, agreeing with Ada. Suda picked the rock back up anyway.

"Well, there's nothing stopping me from demonstrating, is there?"

Ada shrugged. As long as Suda was the only one earthbending, it should be fine. He was obviously from the Earth Nation anyway, with the way his skin and hair looked. Sen and Ada had a healthy dose of racial ambiguity on their side.

Suda demonstrated a few of the moves he had picked up. He chose a few rocky pillars to act as his targets, and then unleashed a volley of arcing attacks at them, explaining the methodology behind them as he did. Everything he'd learned recently was oriented towards using small, tactical strikes to control the opponents motion. Sen was unfamiliar with the techniques, but Ada was more cultured.

"Suda, have you been pro-bending?"

"Yeah, I've been going to the local gym a lot," Suda said. "I don't have any mysterious master like you two, so I figured I'd keep myself in shape. Turns out there's a big demand for earthbenders in the local pro-bending groups. I help the teams practice."

Suda had been a complete amateur a few days ago, but as soon as he'd lifted a rock while a crowd was watching, he'd gotten a dozen offers to join practice teams and scrimmage groups. There were plenty of firebenders to go around in Gai Zhu, but far fewer earthbenders and waterbenders. Anyone who wanted a complete team had to do a lot of searching. Suda had never been so popular before.

Sen was a little interested in Suda's new pastime, but something else he'd said also deserved some attention.

"Speaking of training, how's yours going, Ada?"

He and Ada had parted on oddly awkward terms, and though he suspected that they had both gotten over it in the intervening weeks, he needed to show Ada he cared. It would be the first step in patching up their fractured friendship.

"Very slowly," Ada said. "I'm having to learn everything all over again, like I'm an amateur."

"Nothing wrong with that," Suda said. "Even I lift pebbles now and then, just to work on the basics."

Suda was a little disappointed they weren't talking about his pro-bending antics, since he had a lot of stuff he wanted to brag about, but he knew Ada needed to talk as much as anyone. He took a seat once again and listened while Ada bared her heart.

"I know that practice is a good thing, but I can't shake this feeling," She began. "It's like I never really knew these things in the first place. I thought I was so fantastic, that I was really ready to learn from a master like Sorikami. Now I can see what a real master is, though. I'm not even close."

Sorikami's lessons had focused much more on what Ada was doing wrong than teaching her to do things right. Every time Ada moved, Sorikami pointed out some flaw in her stance, some error in her footwork. It was wearing Ada down, being treated like an idiot at every step. In all the weeks they'd been training, Sorikami had never once given her anything resembling praise.

"Hey, of course you feel bad when you compare yourself to Sorikami," Sen said. "I mean, imagine if an amateur had to compare themselves to you. They'd feel the same way."

Suda raised an eyebrow, and Sen suddenly had a bad feeling in the pit of his gut. Somehow he could feel an idea forming in Suda's head.

"So, let's work with that. Ada, give Sen one of your swords."

Ada gave Suda a wordless stare. She couldn't imagine why he would suggest that.

"Come on, you need a confidence boost. Once you see Sen flail around a little, you'll feel a lot better."

Sen actually liked that idea. It would be a good chance to make Ada feel better, and it might even be a little bit fun. He walked over to Ada and held his hand out. She rolled her eyes and handed over one of her two swords. Sen grabbed it by the blade and waved it around, pointing the pommel at Ada.

"Am I doing it right?"

It got a chuckle out of Suda, but Ada only seemed slightly amused. Sen took hold of the sword, the right way this time, and tried to mimic Ada's stances. Ada seemed more entertained by his amateurish stance than his joke.

"No, like this," Ada said, and she demonstrated the right way to do it. Sen had gotten uncannily good at mimicking other people, and he replicated the stance with surprising speed. Teaching someone else felt surprisingly good for Ada. Maybe Suda's idea wasn't so bad after all.

Sen was a fast learner, but the way of the sword was complex, and even hours of training wouldn't be enough to get through the basics. An impatient Suda demanded sparring, and Sen seemed willing to oblige. Ada restrained herself to basic moves, and went through a little bit of swordplay with Sen.

The Avatar was less than amateurish, he'd never held a sword before in his life. Anyone who could wield all four elements would have no need to wield a sword, but it was still amusing for Ada. She had never actually conceived it was possible for someone to be this bad. She casually flicked her wrist to deflect even the most skillful of Sen's blows. Was this what Sorikami felt like all the time? She could get used to the feeling.

"I don't even need my left hand," Ada said playfully. She held her arm behind her back just to rub it in.

Sen tried a thrusting blow, and Ada carefully spiraled her wrist to spin the blow away from her. It really was too easy. She'd almost had enough of this, but she let Sen get in a few more awkward attempts before shutting down the sparring practice. She did feel much better. Sen felt a little emasculated, but he could see a smile on Ada's face, and that made him feel better. He handed her sword back and they returned to their seats. Ada sighed, quite satisfied.

"That actually does feel better," Ada said.

"I know what I'm talking about sometimes," Suda said smugly. He looked at Sen, who looked a little tired, but otherwise happy. Sen was glad to see Ada smiling again. Something about her felt warmer than before. Suda had figured the experience would help him as well. The Avatar had a natural urge to help people.

Sen wondered where that urge came from. Was it something he was born with, as the Avatar? He couldn't really recall any life experiences that would give him that empathy, the desire to help people. In the orphanage he'd been fairly apathetic to everything, even the suffering of others. It was only after he'd met Hanjo that the urge to protect had come to him.

His heart sank. That had been the last thing Hanjo had ever said to him. "The Avatar's got to help people." Suda saw the sudden frown on his face and changed the subject rapidly.

"Hey, Sen, if you want, I could probably ask my pals at the gym to give you some firebending advice. If Miyani won't teach you, someone else might as well."

Sen shook his head. He wasn't willing to go that far. Even though he was visiting his friends in defiance of Hayao's orders, he still believed he should learn firebending at the island. Master Hayao was needlessly mysterious and Miyani was needlessly slow, but he felt he had something important to learn from them.

"If that's what you want," Suda shrugged. "But keep it in mind, alright?"

Ada scooted closer to Suda and whispered a word of warning to him. Hayao had advised them that Sen needed to stop relying on other people. If Suda and Ada were still holding his hand at every step, he wouldn't learn anything. Suda kept his suggestions to himself from then on. He changed the subject completely.

"Uh, yeah, maybe it isn't such a good idea anyway. If you could earthbend around town, you'd be real popular at the gym, but I don't think they need more firebenders."

"I'm surprised a pro-bending circuit found success here," Ada said. "If earthbenders are so rare, where are they getting airbenders?"

"Well, that's the thing," Suda explained. "When the Republic City league integrated airbenders, all the teams that couldn't find airbenders, or didn't like the new rules, came to the Fire Nation circuit instead. They all play the classic three versus three matches. It's still not as popular as the Republic circuit, but there's good money involved."

"Are you playing any real games," Sen asked. "Maybe we could come see one."

"No, games get a lot of media coverage, and I don't want my face on a TeleVarrick where the bad guys can see it. I've just been helping teams practice. They like opponents who aren't on the circuit, because then you can train without giving away your secret techniques."

Suda was glad to get the chance to talk about his bending, finally. He was having a lot of fun. There were some really neat people at the gym. Hopefully he'd get to introduce Sen to a few before they left town.

"Maybe I should see a game anyway," Sen said. "I've got to learn about world culture and stuff eventually."

"A buddy of mine is playing a game next weekend," Suda suggested. "You still going to be around then?"

"No, I told Miyani I'd only be gone a few days. She'll get suspicious if I'm out too long, or if I come too often."

He didn't really know that she would; she was likely so apathetic to the world around her that she'd barely notice Sen's disappearance. He knew he had to set some limits for himself, though, or he'd waste too much time. He couldn't allow his desire to spend time with his friends get in the way of firebending practice, even if that practice was coming very slowly.

"So, you'll only stay for like a day or two, and then go back to the island, right?"

"That's the plan," Sen explained. "But I'll come to visit again, I think. Especially if Miyani keeps delaying my training."

"Well, maybe we should do something other than sit on the beach," Suda suggested. "You ever tried Fire Nation food? Stuff's spicy like you wouldn't believe. I don't know if it might be too spicy, but there's this place called Hakajima's-"

"I've eaten nothing but rice and dried fruit for weeks," Sen said. "Nothing can be too spicy."

Sen had been oh so wrong about the spicy. It had been three days and his tongue still burned. He had learned more about fire from one bite of Hakajima's Spicy Pork than he had from weeks sitting on a volcano. It was like an inferno but with meat attached. The bitter memory of the intense heat occupied his mind as he made the long slog back to Hayao's island. It was hard getting there without a boat, but with his earthbending he could make himself a decent path. It took nearly twelve hours, though.

He returned to the cavern in the dead of night, when no one would be around to see, and promptly collapsed on the ground. He was too exhausted to be kept awake by nightmares tonight, so he actually got a good nights sleep for once. In the morning he returned to the familiar, non-burning taste of rice, and had never been so glad to eat something so bland. And speaking of bland, Miyani arrived in the cave shortly. She sat down across from Sen and asked him how his meditation had gone.

"I feel like it was productive," Sen said. Though it hadn't been meditation, his field trip to his friends had helped him get a hold on himself. The burning inside his heart (though not on his tongue) had faded just a little. For a moment there, he had been forced to face Hanjo's memory, instead of avoiding it at every opportunity. Maybe it was time to face the issue head on.

Miyani nodded approvingly and ate her breakfast. Sen had been hoping she'd offer an opinion. As far as he could tell, she was not reacting at all. Sen tried an experiment. He had his bare feet on the ground, and as he ate, he closed his eyes and focused on Miyani. When he focused, he could just barely feel her heartbeat reverberate through the ground. It was calm and steady, just as he had expected.

He felt something else, too, something he couldn't quite put his finger on. It wasn't something he could feel through the ground, though, it was something higher up. He snapped his eyes open. All he saw was the same old Miyani, cloaked in bandages.

"Is something wrong?"

"I think," Sen said. He didn't know how to put this. "I think I'm ready to talk about Hanjo."

Miyani nodded.

"Then I am ready to listen."

Sen took a moment to choose the right words.

"He was clever, is how I'd put it," Sen began. "He could make plans, or jokes, really quickly. They didn't always work, of course. Especially not his jokes. I remember once he talked about 'bending the element of surprise'. Man that was terrible."

Sen shook his head. Miyani rested a hand on her chin, just slightly covering her mouth. Sen continued his story.

"His plans were pretty good, though. He got me out of trouble a lot, and helped me do a few important things."

It had been Hanjo's clever ideas that had gotten them both of trouble with the Weaver, gotten Ada to join the team, and led Sen to Bolin. Sen would've been in a much different place without Hanjo's guidance.

"But now he's gone," Miyani said.

"I mean –I don't know that for sure," Sen said. "He could still be…somewhere."

"But he isn't here," Miyani said. "Not entirely. You have your memories, at least."

"Memories aren't good enough," Sen mumbled.

"They're all you have. But you're destroying them. You're letting the pain corrupt the joy. You want to treasure those memories, but every time you call them to mind, all you remember is your loss."

Sen nodded slowly. Her words felt right. Miyani crossed her legs and took a breath. She was happy to finally make some progress in the training, but this was not about her. Sen was the one who needed help now. There was one more step.

"Take a deep breath."

Sen followed her orders.

"Hold on to all your happy memories. Never let them go. But abandon the negative. Let it be carried away on the breath. Let it go."

Her words sounded scripted, somehow, like she was just repeating something she'd heard from someone else, but there was wisdom in them nonetheless. Sen exhaled, and he felt a weight lift off his shoulders. All the regret, all the sadness, all the guilt, was carried away like steam rising from boiling water. The air hissed as the intense heat that Sozin Syndrome had been trapping within his body was released and dissipated into the air. Miyani nodded approvingly.

"You're ready to firebend."

Sen felt truly right for the first time in weeks. There was no more heat trapped inside his body, no more inner turmoil clashing within. He was more than ready.