Hello readers this chapter is shorter then the last two since those set up the story. I hope you enjoy this chapter.

I don't own ATLA.

Chapter 3 Meeting the Pupil/Meeting the Masters

"Maybe this summer we can all go to Ember Island and see a play." Ursa said as they had breakfast.

"Mother they always butcher Love Amongst the Dragons." Zuko grumbled.

"They do grandmother." Ryuu said. "Pass me the marmalade Kai."

Kailee passed Ryuu the marmalade, "So you had something to tell us dad."

"Yes while Uncle and I were in Republic City we met with the Order of the White Lotus. Together we came to the agreement that you, Ryuu, and the Avatar will be relocated to Republic City where the Avatar will complete his training." Zuko said.

"Why am I going?" Ryuu asked.

"You're teaching the Avatar firebending." Zuko said.

Ryuu's eyes widened in surprise, "Why me not that I mind but aren't there other masters to train him?"

"He doesn't respond to adult masters so the Order thought that he'd respond to masters closer to his own age. You're going to live in our summer home as opposed to the compound but White Lotus sentries will look you after." Zuko said. A small smile broke across his face, "Who better to teach the Avatar the elements then the children of Avatar Aang's teachers."

oOo

Kailee stared out at the ocean, she stuck her hand over the railing and aimlessly played with the seawater. Behind her Ryuu and Judai were sparring, she could hear the sound of their swords clashing against each other over the roar of the ocean. They were only a couple of days away from the North Pole and she was thinking about the best way to deal with a problem student and about her mother. Her father had assured her that he didn't blame her but he wasn't there the day of the raid, he also assured her that she'd be a great teacher to the Avatar.

"You're making a whirlpool." Ryuu said to his sister. He and Judai had finished their sparring session about ten minutes ago, Judai had gone inside to check on dinner while Ryuu watched over Kailee. The two of them were really starting to worry about her, she had been quiet and reserved since they left the Fire Nation. "What's eating at you?"

"I'm going to go put on my parka the temperature is dropping now that we're getting closer." She said walking away before Ryuu could say anything.

She walked into her room and dug her dark blue parka out of her bag. She pulled it on over her dark red long sleeve, it fell a couple of inches below the waistband of her black pants. She walked out of her room and back up to the deck, Ryuu was leaning against the railing looking up at the darkening sky.

"You don't have to keep your feelings hidden from me." Ryuu said turning around to face her.

"I know." Kailee said walking up to stand next to him. "Dad said he's doing everything to find mom but I feel like after a year in captivity the chances of mom still being alive are slim." Kailee said finally voicing what has been haunting her for months.

"Kai mom's a master waterbender she's probably found a way to escape from the rebels by now." Ryuu said throwing an arm around her shoulder and pulling her close to him.

"If she has why hasn't she come back to us?" Kailee asked not wanting to think that her mom would escape and not come back to them. She knew her mother loved them more than anything. "Are you ready to wear your parka for a few weeks?"

"Can't wait, it's been a while since I played in the snow." Ryuu said.

"Don't you worry we'll make sure you have tons of fun in the snow." Kailee said bumping his hip with hers.

"Lets go penguin sledding." He said bumping her hip back. "You know like we used to do when we were kids and went to the South Pole to visit grandpa and uncle Sokka."

"Jude will love that and so would I." Kailee said with a laugh.

"Guys dinner's ready." Judai said.

oOo

Arlyn sat on top of a rather flat iceberg looking out at the ocean, his ice blue eyes were narrowed on the approaching ship. He would be meeting his new teachers in a matter of hours, he wasn't nervous because they'd quit eventually. No one stuck around him long enough for him to actually learn something, it's not that he had no talent for bending he just preferred to use it for fun rather than saving the world.

"Why can't the people of world solve their own problems?" he asked waving his hand to create a small wave.

He turned around and his face fell at the sight of Hiro and Toku standing on top of the wall looking out in his direction. He stood up and dived into the water, he swam back toward the city. He bent a hole into the wall and swam back inside the city that he not only called home but a prison. He despised the lack of freedom that came with being the Avatar, he wasn't allowed too far out of the city and even if he went out the sentries always watched him. He pulled himself up out of the canal and bent the water out of his clothes.

"You only use your bending to sneak out." Hiro said. Arlyn groaned Hiro was the sentry that he couldn't stand at all, if he chose to master the elements Hiro would be the first master he'd kick off his high ostrich-horse.

"I needed time to think without you guys breathing down my neck." Arlyn said getting up in his face.

"Think about what finally accepting that your duty is to the world?" Hiro asked.

"About how I'm going to kick your ass when I master the four elements." Arlyn said shoving past him.

"Be at the palace for dinner." Toku called after him.

"Whatever." Arlyn said giving them a two-fingered wave goodbye.

"Did you hear how he talked to me?" Hiro asked Toku.

"Yes and do you know what else I heard?" Toku asked as they walked toward the palace where they were going to greet Prince Judai, Princess Kailee, and Prince Ryuu. Hiro shook his head. "For the first time since we discovered that Arlyn is the Avatar I heard interest. Even if that interest was only brought about by wanting to kick you off of your high ostrich-horse, its more interest than I've heard in years."

oOo

"Mother I'm sure that whatever you wear to dinner will be fine." Arlyn said as he walked into his mother's room to tell her that he was back.

"We're dining at the palace today, that doesn't happen everyday." Kala said.

"Mother you're beautiful in anything." Arlyn said giving his mother a kiss on the cheek.

"Thank you sweetie, now go get ready for dinner." Kala said shooing him out of her room.

He changed out of his clothes not because he wanted to look good for dinner but because they smelled like seawater. He put on a pair of dark blue pants, a black shirt, a clean blue parka, and his boots. He heard the door open and knew his father was back, he heard him greet his mother and then the two of them began to talk about him. He knew he was disappointing them but they didn't understand what it meant to be the Avatar, the sacrifices he'd have to make.

"Come on son we're leaving." His father said.

Arlyn and his parents walked to the palace silently, they didn't feel like talking about how much they wanted these teachers to be the ones who's be able to teach him. His parents greeted Hiro and Toku as if they were family friends not the people who kept their son imprisoned in the North Pole. They then bowed to the Chief who was standing beside three kids around his age that he has never seen before. A girl and two boys, there was a familial resemblance between the three of them but he could tell that the girl and the boy with gold eyes weren't completely of the Water Tribe.

"Avatar Arlyn meet Master Kailee and Master Ryuu. They'll be teaching you waterbending and firebending." Toku said.

"She's like twelve." Arlyn said looking at the girl. He only said that because he didn't know what else to say about the very pretty girl with wavy black hair, olive skin, and ocean blue eyes. Instead of saying something almost pleasant he decided on saying something completely offensive because he could tell she wasn't twelve years old.

"I'm fifteen and I did not come from the opposite end of the world to be sassed at by someone who doesn't even know the basic stances in waterbending." She said walking up to him. She was shorter than him and when he looked down into her blue eyes he could see not only gold flecks in them but also a fiery determination. "You're not going to waste my time because I dropped everything to come up here and teach you, you will show up for every lesson on time and you're not going to leave until I dismiss you. Do you understand me?"

"Yes I understand what you're saying." He said.

"Good." She said giving his chest a hard poke.

"You're multicultural." He said quietly so only she could hear. "If a multicultural peasant from the Southern Tribe can master waterbending then surly the Avatar can."

"Yes I'm multicultural, my mother's a Southern Water Tribe Princess and my father is the Fire Lord, you can't exactly call me a peasant." She said.

"Well Princess I'll see you later." Arlyn said walking into the palace.

To be continued...

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