I.
It wasn't easy, but the others had managed to find pieces of tumble weeds and dessert trees among the rocks to use as fire wood. Bruce was able to create a small fire pit as they all sat around the fire, a good distance away from the raiders that had attacked them earlier. Each of them were warming themselves by the fire as the chill of the night began to set in the dessert. Every so often, Sokka would glance up at their new companion as he kept to himself quiet a lot of the time. He sat in the same spot the entire time, almost like he was meditating. Soon, Sokka began to feel more of the cold and tried to creep a little closer to the fire.
Aang was the first one to break the silence, and asked what had been on everyone's mind.
"I'm curious about something. Where did you learn to Air Bend?" Aang asked Bruce.
"I can't really say. It was far from here, but there's no point in saying where." Bruce said.
"Why's that?" Toph asked.
"Because it isn't there anymore." Bruce said to them.
They remained silent for a moment as they saw Bruce add a few more scraps of wood to the fire.
"A Fire Nation attack?" Sokka asked him.
"I'd rather not talk about it." Bruce said as he looked into the fire.
"So, you're from Ba Sing Se?" Katara asked, trying to change the subject.
"Yes, I am. Are refugees still heading there?" Bruce asked them.
"Constantly. We keep encountering a few every so often." Katara told them.
"I was afraid of that." Bruce said to himself.
"How long has it been since you were at Ba Sing Se?" Aang asked him.
"I've been away for five years." Bruce said as he warmed himself.
"Five years?" Katara asked him.
"Yes." Bruce answered.
"Why were you gone for so long?" Aang asked him.
"There was something I needed to do." Bruce said simply. The way you're taking on the map will take too long, even longer if you try to go around the chasm. If we take a course to the North West, we'll come to a ferry that takes refugees to Ba Sing Se."
"No offence, but how can we trust that you're telling the truth?" Sokka asked him.
"You can't." Bruce said.
For a few minutes, nobody said anything. Sokka glanced up and saw Bruce was just sitting there with his eyes closed. Sokka figured he was asleep and edged closer to his sister.
"He doesn't say much, does he?" Sokka asked them.
"He probably has his reasons." Aang said.
"He's still a little creepy. He doesn't talk about anything. Maybe he's a raider himself." Sokka said.
"You know, it's rude to be talking about him like this." Katara said as she stood up.
"Like what?" Aang asked.
"Like he isn't here." Toph told the young Air Bender.
"Why is it rude?" Sokka asked.
"Because he's not asleep." Toph said as she formed her tent around her.
"And I heard every word." Bruce said.
"Sorry." Katara said.
"I'm used to it. I'm not much of a social person." Bruce said as he opened one eye and looked at them. "So tell me, Avatar; how do you plan to gain an audience with the Earth King?" Bruce asked.
"With the information we have, we thought he would want to know as soon as possible." Aang told him.
"Good luck trying to tell him, then." Brice said.
"What do you mean by that?" Sokka asked, his muscles tensing.
"Even before I left, people rarely saw the Earth King. Sometimes, the only time you could see him was when he threw one of his idiotic parties." Bruce said.
"Well, he'll see us. The knowledge we have could help in stopping the Fire Nation once and for all." Sokka said with pride.
Hearing this last part caused Bruce to raise one eyebrow in curiosity. He wondered if what Sokka was saying was true. He would think about it later. It was too late in the evening to think.
"I think it's about time for everyone to get some sleep. We've got a long day ahead of us, and we'll need all the energy we can get if we're going to be up before dawn." Bruce said.
"Why so early?" Sokka asked him.
"Because once that sun rises, swimming in a pot of hot tea will feel like swimming in the oceans of the North Pole." Bruce said as he moved away from the fire, and formed an earth tent around himself.
"This has got to be the weirdest thing ever." Sokka said.
"Why do you say that?" Aang asked him.
"From what I've heard, only the Avatar can control all the elements, right?" Sokka asked.
"Yeah." Aang said.
"So how does an Earth Bender learn how to Air Bend?" Sokka asked.
"He does raise a good point, Aang. We don't even know if he's really from Ba Sing Se." Katara said, voicing her concern.
"He wasn't lying about that part." Toph said, poking her head out of her earth tent.
"How could you tell?" Aang asked her.
"When people tell a lie, their heart beat and breathing changes. He's from Ba Sing Se, but it feels like he's trying to hide something about why he left. I felt the same thing when he was talking about his training." Toph said.
"Maybe something bad happened to him. And if that's what happened, then we shouldn't push him to tell us." Katara said.
"Katara's right. We should all get some rest." Aang said as hhe tried to make himself comfortable, with the others soon following his example.
II.
They traveled over numerous rocks as the wind blew sand through the air. Bruce had cut his cloak into separate pieces as masks for the others to keep the sand out of their faces. As they forced their way through the harsh winds, they began to feel the harshness of the flying sand against their skin. Bruce knew he had to find shelter, and quickly. He couldn't use his Earth Bending in this storm, he couldn't concentrate with the sand hitting the parts of his face that were exposed to the storm.
"Toph, do you sense anything we can use until the storm passes?" Bruce asked her.
"Not really, wait. I think there some sort of hole not to far from here. I can't tell because the ground isn't solid enough." She said.
"Let's hope it has a bathroom." Sokka said to himself.
The hole Toph had sensed was only a few yards, but it might as well been a few leagues away with the brute force of the storm baring down on them. All of them, except Toph, had to push their vision to their limits in order to find the hole. Until Sokka fell through it.
"This is it. It's a small cave system, but it deep enough to hide us from the storm." Toph told the group.
"Is there anything in there?" Katara asked.
"Not that I can tell off hand." Toph said.
"Then let's get in there before the storm peels our skin off." Bruce said.
As Bruce began to move, he saw a shadow on the sand. He couldn't make it out at first, but he recognized the familiar shape of the wings. When he saw the wings of the shadow, his eyes widened as his breath caught in his throat. He spun around, aimed, and shot a ball of air at the creature's location, only to have Momo land on his head; quivering from the sudden attack.
"Momo! Are you okay? What was that for?" Katara demanded as she took the frightened lemur from the top of Bruce's head.
"I –I thought it was – something else. I apologize, I didn't know he could fly." Bruce said as he went into the cave, with Katara giving him a questioning look.
"You know, the storm's going to have been long gone by the time you get that thing lit." Toph said as Sokka squatted over a few pieces of wood he had kept from their fire last night.
"Listen, we don't know how long we're going to be in here. So we need light, so just back off and let me do my job." Sokka said.
"Sokka, if you just let me," Katara started.
"Hey, this is the man's work! And I am the man of the group." Sokka said as he looked up, and saw the puzzled look on Bruce's face. "Not counting you." Sokka said.
"You know, Sokka. It's real easy to do this. You just," Bruce said as he sat next to Sokka over the pile of wood.
"HEY! I've done this plenty of times. I'm practically an expert. So why don't you just go sit and be moody." Sokka said, getting angry at all the interruptions.
Bruce didn't move from the spot as he kept looking at Sokka's bumbling attempts to start a fire. Bruce popped his knuckles and lowered his right hand close to the pile while keeping an eye on the so called leader of the group. Bruce placed his hand closer to the pile and snapped his fingers.
Sokka leaped backwards with a loud yell as a sudden blast of fire erupted from the pile and quickly settled into a smaller blaze to light the cavern the group sat in.
"See? Told you I knew what I was doing." Sokka squeaked as he padded the front of his pants, making sure they were dry.
"Sure, Sokka. Sure." Katara said as Aang and herself laughed.
Toph kept her head turned toward their latest member of their band as he sat against as wall and rest his head against it. She heard the fingers snap, and knew it was odd that the fire suddenly started like that. Sokka might be a clutz and have dumb luck, but both never clashed like that before. Their rescuer had shown he could bend Air and Earth, but could he? She shook her head. She had sensed stranger things before, but she didn't even want to begin to think about the possibilities of the lone stranger. Besides, it felt good to see Sokka's own words backfire on him again.
"Uncle, how much longer until we get there?" Zucko asked, his patience wearing thin as it usually did.
"Not much longer, nephew."
"Which means?"
"We will get there when we get there, Zuko. When a leaf does not fight the wind, its journey to find its place in the world is much easier. You must learn to keep your patience. If you don't, you could lead yourself into a battle where retreat is not an option." Iroh told his nephew.
"I think I already learned that lesson." Zuko said bitterly as he touched the scar that covered his left eye.
"I hope so, nephew." Iroh said, knowing he hadn't.
Iroh loved his nephew as if he was his own son, but he knew that his nephew's want for his father's love and forgiveness was more powerful than his common sense. Repeatedly, he had shown he had not learned that lesson from their recent encounters with the Avatar. As a result of this, Iroh's selfish brother had sent his daughter, Zuko's own sister Azula, to capture them and bring them home as prisoners. That young girl was too much like her father, especially when it came to her attitude towards her own family and the goals of the Fire Nation.
Iroh wondered if his brother ever truly cared about his children at all. The Fire Lord was his brother, and he had looked out for him while they were growing up all those years ago. And from all those years of loving his brother, he was certain about one thing. His brother's main love was for power and using whatever it took to get it. And it seemed, to his fear, that he would even use his own children as pieces in his game. Iroh just hoped they were not in the role of pawns.
"Uncle? Are you all right?" Zuko asked.
"Hmm? Oh, yes. I am fine, nephew. I was just merely thinking." Iroh replied as they journeyed onward. "I hope they have tea ready, I have never gone this long without a cup of tea before." Iroh said
"Not even when you tried to take the Earth Kingdom?" Zuko asked.
"Not even then." Iroh replied.
III.
It was night again. The storm had passed, but everyone decided it would be a good idea to make camp since the storm took so long to pass. The fire was smaller, but still going strong. Some of them wondered if Sokka had packed the whole stack of firewood they had gathered the night before. Sokka, Aang, and Katara were softly snoring near the warmth of the fire while Toph kept an eye on Bruce. She made it looked like she was asleep, but she could sense his movements. He had been moving about, looking at some of the documents Sokka had 'borrowed' from the library and it sounded like he was writing on some others.
Toph decided no was her chance to try and get to know this guy some more, but thought she would wait a little bit more. Move when he wasn't expecting her to sneak up on him.
"If you want to talk to me, Toph, go on ahead." He said, surprising the young girl.
"How did you?"
"Your breathing isn't in the same pattern of a sleeping person. You've also have been moving around like you were trying to figure out what I'm doing." Bruce said.
Toph didn't know what to say at first, but slowly stood up and walked to where Bruce sat. She sat across from him, and slowly sat down. Bruce looked at her, and waited.
"So what's troubling you?" Bruce asked her.
"When Sokka lit the fire. I know he didn't do it, he isn't that lucky. I've just been trying to figure out how you did it." Toph said.
"Easy. I snapped my fingers." Bruce said, like it was an everyday thing.
"Only Fire Benders can do that." Toph said, getting ready to create an Earth tent around his throat if she had to.
"Not really, Toph." Bruce said as he reached into his pockets, and pulled out something weird.
He gently held Toph's hand and put the strange object into Toph's hand. She began to feel it, and was only puzzled more. It felt like three smooth rocks, but they felt as if they were carved to fit onto fingers. She could also feel the tiny straps on them to keep them in place.
"What are these things?" Toph asked.
"They're flint rocks. When you brush them together, they create a spark. I used them to start the fire." Bruce said.
"Then why did it flare up so big?" Toph asked suspiciously.
"In my travel's, I ran into a man who experimented with different things. In his life, he as able to create a substance that made a fire strong for a brief moment. I used a little of it to make sure the fire got started." Bruce told her.
"How do I know you're not lying?" Toph asked him.
"Has my heart rate or breathing changed?" Bruce asked bluntly.
Toph took a minute to gauge his body actions, and everything seemed to be normal. She couldn't find any normal sign of him lying, but that didn't mean he wasn't.
"I'll believe you, for now." Toph said as she went and sat back against the wall.
She tried to dose off into sleep, but she still heard him scribbling on parchment. It was starting to get annoying. Especially when the only other things to listen to was either the crackling of the fire, or the other three snoring.
"What are you writing, anyway?" Toph asked, annoyed.
"Nothing special. Just some ideas." He said as he looked don at the drawings he had been working on.
A few were of different types of armor and helmets while others were of strange machines.
"Well, others are trying to sleep you know." Toph said.
"Maybe it is time to get some sleep." Bruce said as he rolled up the parchments and placed them in his bag.
As Bruce laid his head on hat was left of his cloak, he began to dream and remember about his other adventures before he had met his new companions.
IV.
It had been six months since his test at the League of Shadows. Ever since then, he had been wondering the world in search of something that could help him save the city he had once called home. He knew the league was tricky, and he couldn't do it with only his hands and skills alone. That's when he heard of this inventor, a machinist that lived in what was left of the Southern Air Temple.
That's where he found himself now, scaling the mountain that the temple sat on. Most of the mountain side was smooth, but Bruce had scaled worse than this. And his Earth Bending abilities were coming in handy for creating pieces for him to put his weight on. He had noticed at the base that there were quite a few wrecks of Fire Nation tanks. Something had happened here recently. He looked up and saw he didn't have much farther to go. When he finally reached the temple, he was amazed to see that it had become a thriving community. Bruce could only assume that these ere refugees who had lost their homes. Well, he had business to take care of.
The machinist was over his sketches trying to iron out the latest design flaws. He had learned his lesson when the Avatar had been here, but he also knew he had made an enemy with the Fire Nation. That meant he had to find a way to make sure they would be ready in case they decided to attack again. He had spent days trying to find a way to fight against the machines he had created and designed, and had been examining the original plans with a fine tooth comb. So far, he didn't have any luck.
That's when he heard the door open, and a young and very exhausted man walked into the room.
"Can I help you with something?" he asked the young man.
"I hope so. I understand you are the machinist?" the young man asked.
"Yes." The man answered.
"Good. I need you to teach me your knowledge of machines." Bruce said as he slowly took a few steps toward him.
"Son, I have too many things to worry about and do to take on an apprentice at the moment. If you hadn't noticed, we barley survived a Fire Nation attack not too long ago. So I need to make sure we're ready in case the attack again." The man said.
"I know. It is because of the Fire Nation that I seek your knowledge." Bruce said.
"Excuse me? Who are you?" the man asked.
"My name is Bruce Wen." The young man said.
"Bruce Wen? Wait, I've heard of you. Your father and mother were killed by a soldier of the Fire Nation. Listen young man, I'm not in the mood to help anyone seeking revenge."
"No, it's not that. My home of Ba Sing Se is fixing to be attacked. I only have a few months to try and stop it, and I need your help." Bruce said.
"What are you talking about?" the man asked.
"I can't go into many details, but I have learned of a secret attack to bring down Ba Sing Se. With all the refugees that I keep hearing of heading to the Earth Capital, I can't let that happen." Bruce told him.
"A Fire Nation attack?" the machinist asked.
"Worse." Bruce said.
"I'm impressed Bruce. The only flaw in this vehicle design is that you need a fire bender to drive it." The machinist said as he looked at the latest design.
Bruce and the machinist had spent weeks going over his knowledge of mechanics and science, and studying all of the deigns in the temple. Bruce was a quick study, and was soon putting ideas he had suggested down onto paper. He had studied the prints on the Fire Nation Tanks and had been able to reverse engineer it.
Bruce was able to create a machine that would be able to go against the tanks in a fight. His design as larger, and would have a few hidden weapons built inside of it. This vehicle Bruce had design would be a weapon to go up against any of the four nations. The one problem was that it looked like Bruce had incorporated the drive system that was normally used in a Fire Nation tank. In other words, only a Fire Bender would be able to drive it.
"I've noticed that. But what if there was a way to create another power source for it? That way, only one person could drive it." Bruce said.
"If you can think of such a thing, I'm all ears." The machinist said.
Bruce couldn't think of anything. If somehow he could use his Air bending abilities to drive it. But that meant full concentration on just making it go. There had to be some way.
"I think I need some tea." Bruce said as he began to hear the kettle whistle.
"Good idea." The older man said as he began to pop his back.
As Bruce walked to the screaming kettle, he began to notice something. The kettle had been placed near a toy Bruce had made for one of the children. He copied a water wheel and made it to where the wind would turn it. And now, he saw the steam spinning the toy at a speed he had only seen in a storm.
"Something wrong?" the machinist asked.
"What do you see?" Bruce asked him.
"I see water fixing to boil over." The older man said.
"No, look at the steam coming out of it." Bruce said.
The man looked as he saw the heated smoke spin the toy Bruce had created. As he looked at it, the wheels in his head began to turn in thought. Looking at it was giving him an idea, and soon began to think of a solution to their problem.
"Bruce, are you thinking what I'm thinking?" he asked him.
"I believe so." Bruce said with a smile.
"Are you sure you have to go now?" the machinist asked him.
"I have to. Ba Sing Se doesn't have much longer, and I've spent too much time here already." Bruce said, saddened he had to leave his new friend and teacher. Bruce had sent the designs for the vehicle and other things to Mako with instructions on how to build it and where to hide it. He just hoped no one would get suspicious about his old friend's activities.
"It won't be the same. If it weren't for you, I wouldn't have been able to create those machines." He said.
"At least you'll be ready. Oh, I found these not too long ago. I was wondering what they were." Bruce said as he unrolled a few pieces of parchment.
"Oh. The Avatar had been here before you,"
"The Avatar? I thought he disappeared." Bruce said.
"Well, he's returned. One of the things he had on him was an improved version of our gliders. He was able to keep it locked into his staff until he needed it. I thought I could modify it to fit in clothes or something, but no luck." The machinist said.
"Do you mind if I keep these?" Bruce asked him.
"Go ahead. So far, our normal gliders still work. A few improvements here and there will be needed, but they've worked so far." The machinist said.
"Thank you. I wish I knew of a better way of expressing my thanks." Bruce said.
"There's no need. However, I do have a gift for you." The machinist said as he walked to his table and pulled out a few pieces of parchment that were rolled and tied together with a green ribbon.
"What's this?" Bruce asked as the machinist gave him the papers.
"It turns out one of the women here knew you're mother when they were younger." The Machinist said.
"She did? Where is she? Is she still here?" Bruce asked him.
"No, I'm afraid not. Her and her family left for Ba Sign Se a few days ago. These are some of the letters and journals of your mothers that she kept. She said your mother was a great warrior." The machinist said.
"Warrior?" Bruce asked him. Bruce didn't know a lot about his mother, but he had never heard anyone regard her as a warrior.
"You really don't know? According to her, your mother was a Kiyoshi Warrior." The Machinist said.
"Kiyoshi?" Bruce asked.
V.
"It took longer than I remembered, but e finally made it." Bruce said as he guided them to the top of the hill.
At the bottom, all they could see was a massive cave of a massive sea side cliff. When they saw a large boat sail out, Katara, Sokka, and Aang smiled. They had reached the fairy Bruce had mentioned. He was a strange person and kept to himself a lot, but he had kept his word.
"These fairies will take you to Ba Sing Se. I hope the rest of your journey is a safe one." Bruce said to them.
"You're not coming with us?" Aang asked their new friend.
"No, I'm not. I have to go somewhere first, and I'm catching a boat here that will take me there." Bruce said.
"Will we see you again?" Katara asked him.
"Hopefully. I'm only going to be there for a little bit, then I'm going home to Ba Sing Se." Bruce said.
"Then good luck, friend." Aang said and extended his hand.
"Good luck, Avatar." Bruce said and gave Aang a firm hand shake.
Katara gave Bruce a hug while Sokka just shook his hand.
"I guess you're not so bad after all." Sokka muttered.
"I guess I can say the same thing about you." Bruce said.
Toph just stood in her spot for a moment as the others said their good byes.
"Don't get into too much trouble." Toph said and followed the others.
"I'll think about it." Bruce said and watched them go down the path. "Next stop, Kiyoshi Island." Bruce said to himself.