Chapter Four

The Lesson

Aang awoke suddenly when he was splashed with cold water. Aang rubbed his eyes and looked up to see Khundes looked down at him. "What's the big idea!?" Aang shouted.

"Shh! Come with me," Khundes said, turned, and walked into the forest. Aang sighed, stood, and followed Khundes.

It was still dark when they stopped in a clearing. "Why did you bring me... way out here?" Aang said through a yawn.

"By the time the sun is setting you will have learned to make fire," Khundes lifted his hand and stretched it out, palm up, and a fireball formed in his hand. "By sunset you will be able to take this fireball from my hand," Khundes said.

"But that doesn't make sense. How am I supposed to take it from your hand when I can't even make fire," Aang said.

"Right you are. Aang, where does fire come from?" Khundes asked.

Aang thought about this for a moment then remembered the Guru. "Firebending comes from the stomach... right?"

"Thats right. Imagine there is a flame, forever burning, in your stomach. Nothing to put it out and you can draw unlimited amounts of fire from it."

"But doesn't it have to do with the sun?" Aang asked.

The sunlight began to make rays through the trees, illuminating the clearing.

"We gain power from the sun. If fire came from the sun this war would have been over long ago," Khundes said. "Now, give it a try, take the fireball."

Aang took a deep breath and stretched out his hand palm up. He closed his eyes and began concentrating. Imagine the flame, he said to himself. Aang opened his eyes to see the fireball still in Khundes' hand. "Ugh! What did I do wrong?" Aang asked.

Khundes smiled. "Nothing. I actually felt the fire move. You have the right idea, just concentrate a bit harder," he said.

"Ok... I'll try again," Aang said. He stretched his hand out, palm up again. He closed his eyes and began to concentrate. This time, however, was different. Aang actually saw a small flame burning. He could feel warmth on his hand this time. He opened his eyes. The fireball was still in Khundes' hand. "What? I felt the warmth of fire on my hand! It should be there!" Aang said.

"You are getting closer Aang. Give it one more try," Khundes said.

Aang sighed, stretched his hand out, and closed his eyes. This time when the vision of the flame came it was brighter and larger than ever. His hand had a comforting warmth on it. Aang opened his eyes and couldn't believe what he saw. A fireball sitting in his hand.

Khundes clapped his hand. "Congratulations Aang. But this is not all you have to learn. Theres much more," Khundes said.

Katara awoke and sat up. She stretched he arms and looked around. Aang was gone. She shot to her feet and looked around at where Khundes had fallen asleep last night. He was gone too. "Sokka! Toph! Aang and Khundes are gone!"

Sokka stood up and looked around. "That traitor! I knew we shouldn't have trusted him!"

"Look! There's some tracks. Come on!" Katara said and ran off into the woods.

"Katara wait!" Sokka yelled!

"Come on Sokka! We gotta go after her!" Toph said and ran after Katara.

"Oh come on! We don't even have a plan!" Sokka yelled and took off after Toph

Aang was twirling a ring of fire around himself now and Khundes was standing in front of him watching and clapping. "Aang you are doing well. Soon you'll be better than-"

Khundes was hit with a wall of water and then was trapped in a coffin of stone with only his head showing.

"Katara!" Aang said, letting the fire disapear.

Katara ran up to Aang and hugged him. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine Katara. Whats wrong?" Aang asked confused.

"He kidnapped you!" Sokka said.

"What?! No I didn't! I was doing what I told him I'd do, teach him how to firebend," Khundes said.

"So... he didn't kidnap you?" Toph asked, exasperated.

Aang shook his head. "No. He was teaching me firebending..."

"Oh sure! Wake me up for no reason!" Toph screamed, released Khundes, and walked off.

"I thought you were in danger... I'm sorry Aang..." Katara said.

"Its ok, but its not me that needs the apology. Sokka and I will meet you two back at camp," Aang said and he and Sokka walked back towards camp.

"Katara looked at Khundes and turned red. "I'm sorry... I should have jumped to that conclusion... You've given us no reason not to trust you," she said.

Khundes looked at Katara for a moment. "Walk with me Katara," he said and motioned for her to go first.

Katara hesitated for second then walked forward into the forest with Khundes at her side. "I understand why you are so protective of Aang. If the Fire Nation finds out he's alive they'll try to kill him," Khundes said. He stopped at at the edge of a pool with a waterfall flowing over the cliffs in the distance.

Katara gasped. "This place is beautiful."

"You know Katara, you and I aren't so different/ We've both lost someone close to us," Khundes said.

"How do you know I lost someone. Maybe I'm just opposed to the war," Katara said.

"But you wouldn't be out here in the middle of Fire Nation territory with the Avatar who is supposed to be dead. You can oppose the war from the safety of the South Pole. You can't tell me I'm wrong," Khundes said.

Katara knelt down and looked into the water. In her reflection she thought of her mother and how she had lost her. "You're right... Sokka and I lost our mother when the Fire Nation attacked the South Pole."

Khundes knelt down next to her and looked at her reflection. There was a tear sliding down her cheek. "I'm sorry... I shouldn't have pried," he said.

Katara turned and looked into his emerald eyes. They seemed too caring to belong to Fire Nation soldier. "Your eyes..."

Khundes looked at her. "What about them?"

"They just don't scream firebender. They look so caring..." Katara trailed off. She couldn't seem to pull her eyes off of his.

Khundes looked into her big blue eyes. So gentle. So warm. They began to inch closer to one another and finally their lips locked in a kiss. After a moment Katara pulled away and looked down. "I'm sorry... I shouldn't have done that," Katara said, stood up and ran off back towards camp.

Khundes just sat there for a moment them smacked himself in the head. "Idiot!"