Okay, on with chapter 6!! And where are all the reviews people? I'm just kidding…maybe….Anyway, I want to thank everyone again who are and aren't reviewing. Thanks all of you!! Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar the Last Airbender.

Aang couldn't believe his eyes. As the Dragon of the West stepped off the boat and onto the shores of Kyoshi Island, the young Avatar noticed how different Iroh looked. He was thinner, the cheek bones he had in his face casting a shadow down it. His dark brown eyes weren't afraid, but they were some what confused.

"General Iroh," Katara said, the shock hung in voice, "what are you doing here? How did you get away from the Dai Lee?"

"The Blue Spirit," Iroh replied.

"The Blue Spirit?" Aang said somewhat confused. "Who's that?"

Sokka spoke next. "The Blue Spirit is the enemy of the Fire Nation. He's the one that always wears that blue mask. He's on Fire Nation wanted posters."

Katara gasped her blue eyes wide. That man she had saw in the woods was wearing a blue mask. He must be the Blue Spirit!

"Why is he an enemy of the Fire Nation?" Katara asked.

"He saved the Avatar from Admiral Zhao's possession once," Iroh replied. "It was to help not only the young monk, but also himself."

The group looked at Aang who, in return, still stared at Iroh. "He saved me?" Aang asked. Iroh nodded, down casting his eyes. Aang noticed this and asked, "What's wrong?"

"—Nothing," he replied. "It's nothing. I'm just wondering….You don't remember being saved by him? By"—Iroh stopped himself from saying Zuko's name.

"No," Aang said. "I don't."

Good, Iroh thought, you don't need to be burdened by the knowing of Prince Zuko's other identity. The old man smiled at the Avatar.

For an awkward moment the Avatar's group and the fugitive of the Fire Nation just stood there.

Toph broke the silence. "Twinkle Toes," she said. "You don't like reading those Fire Nation books do you? Because, if you don't, then why don't we ask Iroh to teach you. He did prove himself good in the catacombs and he could teach you firebending."

Aang stood, thinking. Sokka's face had fallen while Katara's had lit up just a bit. If Iroh joined the group, they would have a firebending master that would know firebending to teach Aang and he also was royalty; he would know the palace of the Fire Lord like the back of his hand. And two, they would have leverage on Zuko if they ever crossed paths with him again, which they most likely would, especially if Azula was ahead of the game.

Katara mentally slapped herself for thinking such thoughts. Here, they had a wonderful man that had saved her and Aang's life and she was thinking him for some kind of power of the Fire Nation. If he was a fugitive no one would want him in the Fire Nation except for the money they would receive for his capture.

Aang had come to a decision. From what he could remember, Iroh had attacked Zhao because he had killed the moon spirit. From what Aang knew, Iroh had been Fire Nation, someone never to trust. But then again, from what Katara had told him that night he woke up the Dragon of the West saved her and Aang's life.

He had to trust him.

But he couldn't trust him.

Aang hated thinking this hard. But then he thought: Iroh saved Katara's life. The old man had put his own life in danger before he had let anything happen to Katara or himself. He deserved a second chance.

And Aang believed in second chances.

"Iroh," Aang said, "would you come with us and teach me firebending? You've gotta be pretty good to get a name like 'The Dragon of the West.'"

Iroh laughed. "Yes, it would seem."

……

Later on that night, after Iroh had stuffed himself and the rest of the gang had set up another mat for him and adjusted their room a bit, Toph and Aang lay awake just staring at the ceiling.

"Toph," Aang called out nervously.

"Yeah, Twinkle Toes?"

"I was wondering"—the young monk sat up and scratched the back of his head—"don't take this the wrong way, but, you don't seem like the kind of person that would welcome to many stranger in your life."

Toph's face scrunched up a bit, but then she thought: He does have a point. And that could be a good sorting out enemies from friends. A slight smile drew at the corners of her mouth.

He continued. "But if you are like that, why did you so openly invite Iroh to join our group. I would have figured you would be like Sokka and just reject the idea." (Which the water tribe warrior had done so….Until Katara talked some since into him…and Suki had defeated him in a duel, a bet that if she won Iroh joined and if Sokka had won then they would question the old General's and Aang's decision.)

Toph looked toward the direction that she could feel Aang's heartbeat. "Well," she replied, "he gave me some good advice once when I had had a fight with you and Katara."

"Was that when Princess Azula had chased us all night?" Aang asked, shifting his body toward the Blind Bandit. Toph nodded. "Could you tell me about it?"

Toph sighed. She knew it would get to that. Katara had done a fine job telling him about the Chase, the night he had woken up, not four days before. But for some reason, after she had told her own story, Aang only wanted her to tell the stories. She had already told him more about herself than she had her parents, what more did he want? A seven hundred page book of her biography?

"Please?" he added when she didn't reply.

And so, Toph told him about the chase. She explained how Sugar Queen was being unreasonable…Toph could carry her own weight. And then, Toph had gotten so mad she blamed every thing on Appa (which was true and wasn't) and Aang had gotten so mad, Toph left.

"What did I do?" Aang whispered.

"It wasn't totally your fault," Toph replied smugly. "I might have over reacted a little also." She looked away. It was the first fault that she admitted to doing.

And then Toph continued her story. She talked about Iroh and how he said to let the people that love you, help you. And then she talked about the fight they had had with Azula and how they had won but Iroh had been hurt. And then, afterward, the Avatar group decided to put aside their differences and get through it; after all they weren't the ones with their uncle half dead on the ground.

"He gave me great tea and some really helpful advice," Toph finished. "And since then, I promised, mentally, that I would pay him back. And today was the perfect time. He deserves some younger people that will actually be nice to him. Because what it sounds like to me, Hot Head is just a jerk."

She finished and the young airbending monk thanked her. He continued to look at the moonlight that had streamed across the ceiling.

The two bending masters sat there awhile until Toph broke the silence. "Hey Twinkle Toes," she said. "What about you?"

Aang was confused. "What do ya mean?" he asked, turning his head to face the blind girl.

"What happened before you met me?" she asked. She felt Aang's heart race a little. He was really happy, that was one thing.

"Really?"

Toph nodded.

And so, Aang told his story about the airbenders and how he found out he was the Avatar. He explained getting caught in the huge thunderstorm after he had left the Eastern Air Temple and how, when he woke up, he saw the face of Katara and her brother, Sokka.

And from there, Aang told Toph everything, trying to do it just like she would do, because she was a great storyteller.

……

After breakfast the next day, Sokka and Suki practiced, getting started where they had left off. It was like no time had passed between the two warriors.

They continued sparring, talking while they did. "So when are going to leave," Suki asked conversationally, "Because, eventually, we'll have to leave."

"I know," Sokka replied. "I was thinking in a couple days we'll leave. I just don't know where we'll go or what we'll even do. We can't penetrate the Fire Nation on our own, no matter how great we may be."

"True," Suki replied, jabbing him with the tip of her fan, which he blocked with the swords that she had lent him.

They stopped their conversation there. They would figure it out later. Right now, both very competitive warriors were in the zone of fighting.

……

Iroh and Aang stood on the edge of Kyoshi's beach. Iroh was explaining that fire comes from the breath, which converts into energy, which passes the limbs becoming fire.

Katara and Toph were sitting close by, watching their formal pupil. Katara was very eager about Aang learning firebending even though, not that long ago, he had burnt her, which, she knew he still felt guilty for.

Toph was less than enthusiastic about Aang learning something different. If he was spending so much time learning firebending, where was the time to learn the earthbending that Aang had conveniently forgotten.

After Iroh was done explaining some of the basic techniques of firebending, Aang was feeling much like Toph. He didn't want to learn firebending, now. He had been so overwhelmed not two days before that he had totally forgotten his pact that he had made with himself: never would he firebend again.

The young Avatar stood there, his legs wobbly and his stance was very poor, which was odd considering how the posture is usually the easiest part of bending.

"Before we start," Iroh said, "is something bothering you? You seem a little…distracted."

"It's just," Aang replied, "it's just…I swore to myself that I would never firebend again. You see, I hurt someone"—he glanced to Katara—"close to me with firebending. I don't want to ever do that again."

Katara sighed.

Iroh merely smiled.

"Yes," he said. "Firebending is a very dangerous element and shouldn't be used unless it is needed. It can hurt people that are dear to you. Believe me, it does hurt…" the old man trailed off and looked off into the distant sea, thinking of something or someone.

"But," he continued. "That's a risk firebenders take. Now, you're the Avatar. What you and your friends are doing now is something very risky. Firebending will be no problem compared to the bigger problems lying on our shoulders."

Aang looked up at the old man and smiled. "Thanks, Iroh," Aang said. "I think I'm ready." He looked back at Katara, who smiled in return.

"Good," Iroh said. "Now do what I do. Just do the motion." Iroh extended his right arm, his hand palm up toward the sun. "Good, Aang." Then the two benders shot out their left hand outwards while bringing the other arm back down to their side. "Good, very good Aang," Iroh said.

They did the sequence several more times. Then after a water break, Iroh decided that they could try it with real fire.

"Remember," Iroh said. "Firebending is from the stomach chakra. You take the energy that the chakra gives off and you contain it. Then you shoot it out the destined area, like your hand or foot."

Aang nodded.

"Okay, you ready?" Iroh asked, extending his hand outward.

Aang nodded once more.

"Then let's try it."

The two benders did the motion one more time, and fire shot out, not just out of Iroh's hand, but out of Aang's also. The only difference was there was a lot more fire coming off of Aang's hand than out of Iroh's.

"Stop the flow of chakra!" Iroh yelled over the blast. Aang tried to stop the chakra. And when he did, the fire stopped.

"Okay," Iroh said, and wiped the sweat from his brow. "That was a very productive lesson. Good job, Aang, for you first time."

Aang beamed.

Katara ran over and gave him and gave the young airbender a huge sideways hug. "You did it!" she squeaked.

"Yeah," Toph said, giving Aang a (hard) pat on the back. "Good job, Twinkle Toes. Katara told me all about it."

"Do you think it's close to dinnertime?" Iroh asked, touching his stomach. "My stomach seems to be running low on energy."

……

The gang met at the house they were staying at, not two hours later. They sat around a small table filled with food that Oyaji had made sure that they received at breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

On the table was: rice, roast duck, stewed vegetables, and several deserts. Katara helped Toph with her plate while everyone dug in.

About half way through dinner Sokka spoke up. "I believe that we need to leave tomorrow and go to the Southern Air Temple to find this Guru that Aang was supposed to learn how to master the Avatar State from. But since he can't remember anything, then we should go back to resume training there.

"Then," Sokka continued. He pulled out a map from his belt that he wore and spread it across the table. He pointed to three nearby towns of Ba Sing Se and one town that the he, Katara, and Aang had been to before. "We need to go to these three towns and Haru's to find rebels that can help us over throw Ba Sing Se back into the King's control."

Sokka looked over to the Earth Kind who seemed to have disappeared for the past few days. Kuei was feeding Basco a big helping of roast duck. He turned away form his beloved bear to nod at Sokka.

"And after that," Sokka said, "we need to go to find more recruits from these two other cities"—he pointed to two small towns on the map that were in the general direction of the Fire Nation—"and find more rebels to travel with us to fight the Fire Lord on the day of the solar eclipse."

"Good plan," Iroh said, studying the map also, "I feel as if I've back through time and become a war general again. Just one problem: some of our recruits might be Fire Nation. If they can't bend on that day, what will they do?"

"Good question, Iroh," Sokka replied, in an arrogant tone, "and that's where Suki falls in." He pointed to Suki, who in return, stared at him puzzled. "On the way, whoever is a firebender will be taught how to use weapons by her. While we're walking, she'll hold lessons."

"Ahh," was Iroh's answer.

Suki looked pleased.

"What about our appearances?" Toph asked her arms crossed across her chest. "We're probably on every Fire Nation wanted poster in the world."

"Another good question, and to answer that we'll finally let Katara's doll-dressing days come in handy. She'll change our appearances. Stuff like"—He walked over to Aang and touched his head—"Aang won't shave his head. That way his hair will grow out and no one will see his tattoos."

"But Sokka," Aang said. "That's a sign of my people. I'm not supposed to cover it up. My tattoo is sacred."

"I know Aang," Sokka replied, "but we have to do this. I'm sure if the monks were here they would tell us that it would be okay."

"…I guess…" Aang answered.

"And Toph," Sokka said, running over to the blind girl, "you can let your hair down, and you too Katara! It's perfect!"

"I never thought you appreciated my doll-dressing days," Katara replied sarcastically, giving her brother a scornful smile.

Sokka's face fell.

"But," Katara said. "It is a good plan."

"It's not just good," Sokka replied. "It's my best plan ever!" He turned to everyone. "Make sure you get a good night's sleep tonight," he said, "because, we'll be leaving a sun rise tomorrow."

Apart from the few groans from their very big "family", Sokka smiled. It really was his best plan yet. (You know, besides drinking the cactus juice in the desert, in Toph's opinion.)

So, pretty important chapter? Any of you Katara hair-down lovers or Toph hair-down lovers out there? Well if you are, then prepare for a change! But you'll have to wait chapter or so….The next chapter's the Runaway.

Till next time, whatever the word for bye in Spanish is!! See ya!!