Chapter Three:

One of Tetsu's servants walked down the hall to the sparing gym. Their he heard sounds of rocks slamming into the wall punctuated by boisterous shouts and yells. The servant opened up the door to find Tetsu practicing Earthbending.

He lifted up chunks of the floor and threw the around. The chunks hurled through the air at amazing speed and shattered on impact of the walls. "Master Tetsu!" the servant called out.

Tetsu put down the rocks and dashed over to the servant. "What is it?!" he asked.

"Their is a visitor." the servant replied.

"Hmm, its nice to have a fan over." Tetsu remarked. "But could they have told me their where coming ahead of time."

"It's a girl from the Eastern Air Temple." the servant said. "She said she was looking for the Avatar."

"Well if she came from across the world it must be important." Tetsu said. "Let her in."

The servant walked away, and soon a girl zoomed down the hall with an air scooter. "Hi there my name is Kaze!" she squealed. "I'm here to look for the Avatar!"

"My name is Tetsu Bei Fong." he replied. ""It's nice of you to come out here! Still I'm not sure you can find the Avatar here."

Tetsu's servant walked down the hall with a the two halves of a broken bust. "Sir this girl broke..." he tried to say.

"...No harm." Tetus interrupted and he patted the statue on the head fixing it. "You should be more careful though, Kaze."

"I understand." she replied.

"So what brings you here to search for the Avatar here." Tetsu asked.

"I heard rumors around that he was here." Kaze replied.

"Well there's Kokei, but I don't think he's what you're looking for."

"What do you mean?"

"I'll show you."

Tetsu and Kaze walked through the town and eventually they came across a building with a man shouting to advertise the place. "Come one! Come all! Come and see Avatar Kokei master of all four elements!"

Tetsu and Kaze walked into the building and there was a medium sized room, lined with benches. In the middle was Kokei, standing between a bowl of water, a brick, and a large candle. "Everybody" a man announced. "Get ready to see Kokei bend all four elements."

Kokei lifted his arms and the candle flared up. He repeated this with the bowl and brick. Everybody in the audience cheered.

Kokei did this again, but when Kaze looked closer she got suspicious. She noticed a slight delay when ever Kokei "bended". "That not real." she complained.

"It is real." an audience member replied.

"It's real, but Kokei isn't doing it."

A man stepped out into the arena. "I would like to duel the Avatar."

He and Kokei lifted up the brick and pushed on it with earthbending. For a while they were evenly matched, but then Kokei lifted up the water and threw it at the man.

The man stumbled over. "Alright, I admit defeat."

Tetsu and Kaze walked out of the building. "That wasn't the Avatar." Kaze said.

"I highly doubt it." Tetsu replied.

"How is everybody fooled?"

"Well, the crowd was not that large. Most people in town don't believe him, or just don't care. Still, I'm surprised that they have stayed in business for how long they have."

"That's sounds funny. Maybe I should check the place out."

Later that day, Kaze crept up to the building of the so called Avatar. She saw a man walking up to the building with a bag of money. This seemed good. She decided to follow him.

She boasted herself up into the air, and into a window. Kaze walked down the hall, using airbending to pad her steeps. This made her virtually silent as she walked. Kaze heard footsteps coming around the corner, and she jumped up to the ceiling and watched the person crawl under her. It was the man with the money.

Kaze dropped down and followed the man down some hallways. He walked into a room with four men. Kaze put her head against the door and used airbending to enhance her hearing.

She heard the bag thump down on the table. "Here's the money." the man said.

"Right on time." a voice replied.

"It's great we get paid like this." another voice said. "This job is getting a bit repetitive."

"You have to continue." the man said. "You can't let anyone know the Avatar is around here.

The people continued to talk, and Kaze listened in. When the man finished, Kaze headed back up to the ceiling, and followed him out of the building.

After going across town, the man climbed onto a Sky Bison. Kaze crawled onto the underbelly and hung on tight.

The Bison flew threw the air, and Kaze clung to it's fur as hard as she could. Anyone else would have fallen off, but Kaze could cut down the airflow with her bending.

I pulled my arms up and the dirt lifted up into the air. I tumbled it around in the air loosening it up and sorting carefully for any gravel. Then I pulled some water out of the through and mixed it in with the dirt, enough to let crops grow, but not enough to turn it into mud. I never go the memo that being the Avatar meant I just had extra chores.

My parents died when I was young and I grew up at an orphanage, what a tired old story cliche. Most people there treated me decently, but for some people that was more out of fear.

I continued to plow and irrigate the dirt, and I got increasingly tired. Thank goodness it was the night, and I was almost done with my job.

I was startled, but thankful when I heard a whistle. That was the nightly whistle. It meant I could finally come in and get some well deserved sleep. While coming back I was stopped by the headmaster. "You only plowed forty yards today!" he complained.

"That's more than anyone here." I replied.

"That's not the point." the headmaster said. "You are the Avatar! Your supposed to do more than everyone else!"

"Look Headmaster, if you keep me up all night yelling at, I'll won't get a lot of sleep." I said. "I won't be able to work if I'm to tired."

"Okay." he replied. "But be sure to work all the harder tomorrow."

I went to my room and lied down on my bed. The mattress was hard, the blanket was scratchy, and a few people in the room were snoring like crazy. I wrapped my pillow around my head and tried to get some sleep.

After a couple hours of on and off sleep, I saw a figure that I did not recognize slip silently into the room. At first I that it was a boy, based off the lack of hair, but when I looked closer, I saw it was a girl. "Who are you?" I whispered.

"I'm Kaze, and I'm an Air Nomad." she replied. "I'm here to find the Avatar. I heard he's in this room."

"He's me."

" Really?!" Kaze remarked.

"Keep quiet."

"I'm here to find you."

"Find me?"

"Well of course. You're the Avatar. There's more to the world than this dump, no offense."

I sighed. "None taken."

We walked out of the room and into the hall. From a better look I could see that she had a blue arrow on her forehead "So where are you taking me?" I asked.

To the Order of the White Lotus. But for now, to Gaoling."

"How do you move so quietly?" I asked.

"With airbending."

Kaze taught me how to use her stepping method. It was rather awkward at first, but it did make me quieter. After walking out of the building and though the fields Kaze pulled out a whistle. She breathed in as hard as she could and blowed out. I couldn't hear anything but loud breathing noise, of a broken whistle. "What was that?" I asked.

"You didn't hear it but my Sky Bison did." she replied.

After a couple minute we saw a shape fly towards us. It was a large creature with six legs, a beaver tail, and a arrow on its forehead like Kaze's. When it landed Kaze jumped aboard and grabbed the reigns. "Come aboard." she said.

I grabbed at its fur and tried to pull myself up. "Let go." said KAze.

"Huh?"

"Just to it."

I let go and Kaze used airbending to lift me up the the saddle. We began flying through the air. I was very tired so everything was a blur. After flying over some mountain we landed in a small town. Kaze lead me into a house, to a bedroom, and I soon fell asleep.

The next morning I woke up feeling better than ever. It was great that I could sleep on a comfortable bed, in my own room. I dressed up and walked down to the living room. There a large bald muscular man was sitting on the couch. "Good morning Avatar!" he remarked. "My name is Tetsu Bei Fong. Welcome to my house."

"My name's Arata." I replied. "It's nice to meet you."

We had some breakfast, and talked. "So you say that the orphanage hired some men to pretend someone named Kokei is the Avatar."

"Yeah, I though his bending looked off." replied Kaze.

"Sounds interesting. Can I see this guy."

"After you're done eating." Tetsu said.

We finished eating and walked through town. We came into a building where Kokei was demonstrating his "bending" with a some bricks, a candle, and a bowl of water. I raised my hand. "I want to duel this "Avatar". I said.

"Okay." he replied. "Step right up and lets go at it."

I got onto the platform and Kokei lifted up a brick and pushed it towards me. I waited for a sec, then hit it with an open palmed strike.

The brick shattered into pieces and Kokei lifted up some water and through that at me. I repeated the same move, and the water splashed across my hand.

Kokei looked at me in shock. He threw water and fire blasts at me, but I dodged the fire and threw the water back at me. He panicked for a second but the water splashed before it hit him. Something looked suspicious.

I kept the pressure on Kokei. He continued to block my attacks but the timing seemed off. Soon Kokei got desperate he "threw" the elements at him in a wild uncontrolled fashion. I was certain he was no bender, because the flailing did not match the attacks at all.

I coated my fist in water and lunged at Kokei. I punched him in the stomach and swept his leg with a kick. He fell down to the ground.

Four men jumped at me, and prepared to attack me with air, water, earth, and fire. "So you guys are doing the real bending."

Before they could do anything, Kaze and Testu attacked. Tetsu pulled the ground up under the earth and water benders knocking them of the platform, and Kaze blasted the air and fire benders flying with a tornado.

I looked at them with amazement. "Woh! You guys are great benders!" I exclaimed. "Can you teach me to bend?"

"Sure thing." Tetsu remarked.

"Maybe we can start a Pro-Bending team?" Kaze said.

"If we can find a fire or water bender." I pointed at the ones of the ground. "Not you two."

"We need to pack up." said Tetsu. "And I'll need to tell my servants I'll be gone."