Benders of Our Lives 2: Transformation. Ch 3

By Iroh's Tea Shoppe Girls

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Zuko was frustrated by his mistake, assuming the Avatar was in the Earth Kingdom mainland, not Kyoshi Island. His servant had even told him that the Avatar had been seen on an island. In his haste to capture the Avatar, he had gone to the mainland as it was closer. His uncle was fond of saying that haste makes waste. But that was just pouring salt on his wound. Now he knew his chances of capturing the Avatar were probably completely blown.

When he ordered his men to set course for Kyoshi Island, he made it sound as if he had just received new information. At least he was able to save face around his men.

-.-.-.-

Lao had waited for an eternity to get to talk to the counselor to get to him. Sure he wasn't the only person in the program, nor was he the one who had been their the longest, but still, he was of the Bei Fong family. To be made to wait was an insult. But then again, they didn't actually know it was him, he had given them a fake name "Fei Bong" to keep his family's name honorable.

"So, er, Fei Bong," the counselor began awkwardly as soon as it was his turn. "What do you think the problem is?"

"I came to realization that I have a, um, problem," Lao explained. "It really hit me when my father pointed out that Toph, my daughter, was being affected by my behavior, especially my behavior towards my wife. I don't want her thinking my relationship with my wife is normal. There are a lot of issues that we should probably discuss."

"That's honest," the counselor said, slightly praising Lao. "Now let us start with your relationship with your wife."

"Her name is Jian," Lao said. "Well a lot has happened since we married and she left Ba Sing Se. Among other issues, the one that bothers me the most is her wandering eyes."

The man raised an eyebrow. Infidelity wasn't an uncommon root of drinking problems, either the guilty spouse drowned their guilt in booze, or the wronged spouse took to drinking as a sort of reveng.

"After Toph was born," Lao continued. "Toph is disabled, she's blind. Anyway, my wife and I decided that we should not have more children after her, so we could give our daughter all the support she would need. It was then that my wife's behavior changed. It was a drastic change. Before she had been an ideal wife, after, she's taken to following around and making eyes at every male servant, merchant, or instructor that comes by."

"I see. Having children can often affect women; make them insecure about the appearance. It is not uncommon for new mothers to seek praise. Sometimes it can go too far though…"

"I doubt that she was act on any of those kinds of intentions," Lao stated briskly more than a hint of indignation in his voice.

"Then what is the problem?" the counselor asked. "Since you don't believe she is unfaithful."

"The fact that she eyeing other men," Lao explained. "She should only have eyes for me and do exactly what I say."

The counselor sighed. Of all of the clients he found difficult, the ones who had near perfect lives but made up monsters and problems were the worst. He's much rather deal with a client whose wife was cheating on him than a client who felt jealous over trivial matters.

-.-.-.-.-

"Aang, you shouldn't do stupid things like that to impress those girls," Katara stated in a cross voice. Aang was planning on riding the Unagi soon, to impress Koko and her friends.

"But it's not just to impress them," Aang said smiling. True he liked showing off for his fans, but truth be told the one he really wanted to impress was Katara.

"Just don't do it!" Katara snapped. "I don't want you to get hurt, especially since we still have to defeat the Fire Nation."

Aang was surprised that Katara was being so bossy and angry. Sokka had told Aang that he should just give Katara a lot of space when she got angry like that. Aang decided to follow Sokka's advice, gave Katara a weak smile and quickly left.

Katara sighed as Aang walked away without a word.

-.-.-.-

Meanwhile Sokka was with Kyoshi warriors, all of them at once, but not quiet in the way he dreamed of. He was wearing the traditional attire of a Kyoshi warrior and Suki had offered to help him train. A couple of the girls in back were giggling and blushing as they talked about him. Sokka smiled confidently as he was sure they were comparing notes as to how wonderful he was.

"I'm glad you're here," Suki said with a confident, and slightly amused at the sight of Sokka in drag, grin.

"I'm ready to learn some moves," Sokka said, giving the other Kyoshi warriors a look. While his main goal was Suki, it couldn't hurt to charm some of the other girls. In fact Suki was the whole reason he was there, he had figured that the best way to endear himself to Suki was to show interest in the philosophy of the Kyoshi warriors.

The lesson began with Suki humbling Sokka, handedly defeating him in combat, and then explaining how the combat philosophy of the Kyoshi Warriors could help him avoid failure in the future.

-.-.-.-.-

Lady Bei Fong noticed Toph's earth bender teacher was incredibly cheerful. She smiled slyly as she wondered if Toph explaining that her father was out of town had anything to do with it. She would wait until her daughter's lesson was over before she would approach Master Yu.

"Very good job Toph," Master Yu said. "Your breathing exercises have been very good today. And that last stance was excellent."

Lady Bei Fong ordered the guards to take Toph to her room. And she approached Master Yu has he was packing up his teaching notes.

"I've got a bonus for you for the excellent job you've been doing teaching Toph," Jian said with a knowing smile.

"A bonus!" Master Yu exclaimed, his voice chirped with delight. He was paid almost too well to begin with, but he could never refuse a bonus. He decided that he would use the bonus to pay for a very nice date with Xu Ren, he'd win Xu Ren's heart for sure.

Jian walked over to Yu, giving him far too little personal space, and grabbed his hand and started to stroke his hair. She whispered into his ear, "Your bonus is me."

Master Yu sighed in frustration, and tried to gently push Lady Bei Fong away. He didn't want to hurt her, but he knew he needed to get away.

"I can't accept that type of bonus," he stated loudly, having a difficult time keeping her arm's length away.

"You don't have to worry," she said coyly. "My husband is in Ba Sing Se and wouldn't return for weeks. And the guards won't disturb us."

"It's not that," Master Yu said as he made his way for the door. "I can not cheat on the love of my life."

Lady Bei Fong sighed, upset that she had been rejected. She had misinterpreted Master Yu's happiness. But there are many other fish for her, many that would accept her love.

-.-.-.-.-

The fun at Kyoshi had come to an end. Prince Zuko had appeared at Kyoshi Island, and Aang and his friends had to leave. Sokka was especially upset, as he and Suki were debating the Momo scriptures versus the philosophy of the Kyoshi warriors. He felt like was pretty close in converting Suki. But alas, the great lemur must have decided that it couldn't be yet.

As the trio was leaving, a young man, one of the villagers who had greeted them upon their arrival in face, was chasing after them. He had shaved his head and was only wearing face paint covering all of his body except for an arrow like Aang's. He couldn't believe it. Katara, his one true love, had left him. For the Avatar. He decided that he would go to the mainland to find Katara. He would become the anti-Avatar for her, which seemed to him to be a logical conclusion.

He went back to town to grab his belongings and find out when the next ship would set sail when he was approached by a little girl from the villiage.

"Hey," Koko said frowning. "Why are you naked?"