Hey! I want to say thanks to everyone who reviewed the first chapter of this new fic, and also to everyone who favorited or followed. I'm grateful for every last one of you readers!
Also, a couple people have pointed out to me that my fic shares some similarities with a popular fic called Distorted Reality. I've never read that fic, but, from what I've been told, in that AU, Aang carries all his memories of the events of canon when he's sent to a parallel universe to meet Good! Azula and Zuko and fight the Water Lord. While I'm sure that's an interesting concept, I'd like to point out that it's far different from my fic, which is just a straight AU with no connection the canon 'verse. Canon! Azula and AU! Azula will never meet (I heard that happened in this other fic, too). I'm trying to explore the differences that would exist in a world where the Water Tribe was the enemy. The differences are what make this AU interesting. I'll try my best to keep it engaging for everyone – I have so many ideas! Just wait til you see what I do with Sokka's backstory, and who Zuko will meet on Kyoshi Island….It's going to be a wild ride! But, for now, in this chapter, we have a lot of interesting fight scenes. I don't write battles a lot, so I'm hoping I did ok with it.
Read on and be sure to tell me in the reviews what you think!
-Storychan
Water. Earth. Fire. Air.
Long ago, the four nations lived together in harmony. But everything changed when the Water Tribe attacked. Only the Avatar, master of all four elements, could stop them. But when the world needed him most, he vanished. A hundred years past and my brother, Zuko, and I discovered the new Avatar, an Airbender named Aang. He has a lot to learn before he can save anyone. But I, Azula, believe Aang can save the world.
Book One: Fire
Chapter Two: The Courage of the Avatar
Zuko's eyes followed the geyser of water as it shot up in the distance. It gushed so far into the air that it was highly visible even above the high red pagodas of the industrial Fire Nation town. He scowled.
He watched as Aang and Azula trudged past the bright torii gates of the town and down the red-clay street until they met him under the light of the many lanterns hanging above. "I knew it," he growled. "You're trying to send a signal to the Water Tribe Armada, aren't you?!"
"Zuzu, don't be ridiculous," Azula snapped. "Aang did nothing of the sort."
"There was this booby trap," Aang tried to explain, "And I didn't mean to set it off, but…"
"I don't want to hear it," Zuko interrupted aggressively.
"Azula," Iroh scolded, stepping into the lantern light, "I warned you not to seek the path of confrontation. You are an innocent young girl, and you have no idea of the danger outside the town walls. You have no idea of the danger you have put us all in."
"You think I don't know what the Water Tribe is capable of?" Azula shot back. "I'm the one who saw what happened to M…"
"It's not Azula's fault, ok?" Aang interjected. "I'm the one who brought her there. It's my fault."
"So you admit to your treason?" Zuko said harshly.
"It's not treason!" Azula protested.
"No, you're right," Zuko said, his scowl deepening. "To commit treason, you have to a citizen of the Fire Nation. He's an outsider. As your brother and the acting mayor now that Father's away, I demand that you step away from the enemy!"
"The enemy?!" Azula repeated, furious. "What makes you think you can tell me what to do? Because I'm just a girl, is that it?"
"Fine, I won't tell you what to do," Zuko scoffed. "But I will tell this…interloper what to do: leave. You are hereby banished from this town."
"Banished?" Azula repeated again. "What gives you the authority to…"
"I told you, Father put me in charge!" Zuko snapped, reddening. "He told me to protect you from threats like him."
"Father knew when he made you acting mayor that you would do whatever Uncle told you to do," Azula replied. "Uncle, do you agree with this madness? Tell Zuko he's being foolish! Aang has brought something to this town that we haven't had in so long: freedom! You all just cower behind the walls, slaving away in the factories like the Water Tribe tells you to do, afraid to do anything or go anywhere! Tell me you don't want to live controlled by fear anymore!"
"Azula," Iroh replied coldly, "you knew that I warned you to never go to that place, for your own safety. You think you're entitled to do whatever you want, like you're a princess, but you can't. I give you these rules for a reason. Zuko is right. I think it's best that the Airbender leave."
Azula cried out in rage and hurled a bolt of fire at the ground to vent her frustrations. She knew Uncle would take it as evidence that she was letting her emotions control her Bending again, but she didn't care. "If you banish Aang," she seethed, "then you banish me, as well! Come, Aang, let's leave this place! I've wasted enough of my life here already!"
"Where do you think you're going?" Zuko asked.
"To our Nation's capital!" Azula announced. "Aang is going to find me a Firebending master who will teach me how to face the Water Tribe instead of hiding from them like you!"
Zuko stared at her, stunned. "Would you really choose this stranger over your family?"
"Azula," Aang said softly, frowning. "I don't want to come between you and your family. You've been screaming at each other ever since we got back. I know that Firebenders have hot tempers, but…this isn't right."
"So…you intend to simply leave?" Azula replied, disappointed. "This is farewell?"
"Thank you for catching fire ferrets with me," Aang said gratefully.
"That's not an answer! Where will you even go from here?"
"I guess I'll go back home and look for the other Airbenders," Aang supposed. "Wow…I haven't cleaned my room in a hundred years. Not looking forward to that."
How could he look so positive while giving up so easily? Azula thought, suddenly angry. I thought he was different than everyone here – someone like me, who would fight for what he believed in. I guess he's just another coward, like Zuzu and Uncle and everyone else.
"Go on," Zuko said coldly. "Fly away, Airbender." He didn't believe the bison was even capable of flying. It would defy the laws of physics for such a large creature to do so. The boy was probably just a spy trying to pull off a hoax, after all.
"Come on, Appa, you can do it," Aang encouraged, pulling the reins of his bison, who had trudged over when he heard the raised voices. "Yip yip!" The bison lumbered away on the ground, slow and stubborn as a rhinoceros mule.
The bangs that fell from either side of Azula's high bun danced in the warm night breeze as she watched him slowly fade into the distance, her pride the only thing keeping her from bursting into tears.
"There there, Azula," Iroh soothed, pulling a small tea kettle out of the folds of his robe. "You'll feel better once you've had some tea and…."
His comment turned into a gasp as Azula knocked the kettle to the ground, sending shards of shattered porcelain and splatters of hot jasmine tea everywhere. Her sorrow had quickly turned to fury.
"Are you happy now?!" she cried. "There goes my last chance of ever bringing honor to our family as a Firebender, or reclaiming our rightful throne! Of ever learning what I need in order to avenge Lu Ten and Mother!"
Iroh looked away sadly as Azula stormed off. Was honor really worth risking everything for?
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"Alright!" Zuko commanded the children. "The Water Tribe could be at the town gates any moment now. I want all Firebenders prepared to fight!"
"If we do it, can we have some of your uncle's…"
"NO TEA!"
"How 'bout snacks?"
"AUGH!"
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Aang sat on a dune of red, volcanic sand beside his faithful bison, looking miserable. "I miss her already," he confessed to Appa. He barely knew the elegant and untamable Firebender girl, but he still longed to be able to stay with her. "But…..what am I supposed to do about it?" he sighed with a moping look.
Then, out of the corner of his eye, in the distance, he saw something in the warm ocean water: a long, wooden boat with dark blue sails, with the symbol of waves and the moon painted on them in white. The flag of the Water Tribe. Aang gasped, his heart pounding in his ears as he immediately thought of Azula and her family.
"I have to warn the town!"
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In his small room in the apartment above the teahouse where several candles burned in the darkness, Zuko apprehensively put on the bloodred metal chest plate from the set of armor that was his family heirloom, from the days when his family had once been royal warriors. Azula had a point, he realized. They used to be fighters, feared across the Four Nations for their Firebending prowess. Now, they were….nobodies, doing menial and insignificant labor in a small and insignificant town. He supposed he understood why Azula craved so much more out of life. But, he worried that fighting for more would leave him with no life in his body whatsoever. No matter…..it's too late now, he thought, strapping on his red combat boots. If I have to fight, I want to fight for her, he decided, slipping on the bracers and shoulder guards of the suit of armor and, finally, with a determined look, the helmet that, in another life, could have struck fear in the hearts of many. "Look out, Water Tribe," he whispered as he blew out the candles and stood in the smoky darkness, inhaling the dying fire's strength. "I'm ready for you."
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A few miles off the coast on his ship, Sokka was preparing for battle as well. Attendants helped him dress in seal leather armor adorned with gull feathers, paint his face in intimidating black and white, blessed him with the power of their tribal deities, and sharpened his boomerang on the whetstone. Tonight, he hoped it would taste the blood of the Avatar.
I've finally found him, he thought to himself. Tonight it will finally all be over. After tonight, I can finally go home. He could almost feel the familiar iciness of the South Pole that he hadn't seen in years. Soon.
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Iroh heard the rumbling first. His teacup shook on the table before toppling completely. "Zuko!" he cried, panic in his eyes. "Azula!" The rumbling grew worse and then, finally, the ground broke open, tile from the teahouse floor flying everywhere as water gushed from the hole. Iroh rushed up the stairs as water begin to fill the bottom level of the building. He looked out the soot-stained window and saw that the streets below were already beginning to flood. Children ran for shelter as the water reached their ankles, their knees. It was rising so fast. "They're here," the old man gasped. The Water Tribe had come for them at last. He'd thought he could avoid it, by keeping his niece and nephew out of the war, refusing to teach them techniques for battle or let them leave the safety of the walls. Now, he wished he had taught them everything, if only so they could survive the night. His eyes widened in panic as he saw the wave, high as a tsunami, roaring towards the town. Why had he thought he could stop this?
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Azula pulled Zuko up onto the fire escape just before the waves could go over his head. He was soaking wet and shivering. In his heavy armor, he would surely have drowned if she hadn't been there to save him. Together, they watched helplessly as an imposing young man in the garb of a Water Tribe warrior stepped down the flooded street towards them, flanked by braves in blue parkas who parted the waves for him so that he could pass. His cold blue eyes alighted upon the wet Firebender siblings and he smirked.
Zuko wasted no time. Raging, he immediately launched himself off the fire escape and hit the water with a splash. He burst above the surface and leapt onto the thin strip of solid ground the Waterbenders had created. Screaming, he threw a ball of fire at the Water Tribe prince. The warrior effortlessly blocked the fire with his boomerang before striking Zuko in the head with the flat side of his blade. Azula gasped as she watched her brother fall to the ground, moaning in pain. Was this what Uncle had feared?
"Where the heck are you hiding him?" the Water Tribe teen asked. Azula remained defiantly silent.
The young man threw his boomerang, which went wizzing past Azula's ear and struck Iroh, who had just burst onto the rooftop, looking for his niece and nephew, and sent him toppling off into the floodwaters. The young man lifted the old man, choking and spluttering, from the spray, and reiterated, "You might recognize him. Y'know, about this age. Master of all four elements. Ring any bells?"
He shoved Iroh back into the water. The old man, fortunately, quickly swam towards the fire escape and climbed back up. "Come on, I know you're hiding him," the water warrior sighed. "Tell me where he is," he threatened, "Or I'll have my men let go of the tsunami wave they're holding right on your shoreline and let it wash right over this town, wipe all of you off the map. You want that? No. I don't think so. Personally, I'm betting you'd like to keep the map just the way it is. So do the smart thing and just give me the Avatar. Now."
Zuko's gold eyes blinked open as the stunning the water prince had given him wore off. Immediately, he leapt back up and charged the young man again, shooting a long tendril of flame at him this time. The tribal warrior dodged effortlessly as his minions doused the flames. Then, he threw his boomerang at Zuko, striking him in the head again. He fell, a bloody gash appearing on his forehead this time. But, as the boomerang went hurtling back towards its owner, Zuko hit it with a ball of fire, causing it to ricochet off course and disappear into the waters. The water prince gasped comically.
"For honor!" a small child cried from a rooftop cattycorner to the one where Azula and Iroh stood, and rained a lick of fire down on the head of the Water Tribe leader. Zuko beamed proudly. But, one of the Water Tribe goons set water to the flames again, snuffing them. Zuko ran, fire blazing in both hands, at the Water Lord's son again, but the young man calmly dodged once more, and, for good measure, punched Zuko square in the face. Blood dripped from Zuko's nose as he fell back once more.
Just then, the boomerang finally came flying back out of the water (how?!) and struck its owner, who had not expected his weapon's ability to return to work so well, in the back of the head. He, too, fell with an ungraceful "Oof!" The child on the other rooftop laughed.
The Water Tribe prince glared and rose, and raised his now-returned boomerang to strike Zuko again – this time, fatally. But, before he could, Aang came soaring out of nowhere on his glider and dropped an angry fire ferret on the enemy prince, causing him to jump back and cry out in pain as the ferret began to bite him. He scrambled to get the sharp-clawed animal off of his body. Aang laughed at the sight and helped a bewildered Zuko up off the ground. "Aang is back!" the child cried out joyfully. "Hooray!"
Azula's eyes shined with relief. The fire ferret scampered away as Aang blithely greeted, "Hi, Azula! Hi, Zuko!"
"Um….hi?" Zuko blinked, looking embarrassed that he'd needed a rescue but grateful that it had come.
The Water Tribe warrior stood, seething as blood from bite and claw marks dripped down his cheek, smearing his war paint. Beneath it, for the first time, Azula noticed a large and nasty-looking scar. The water prince gave the signal to his men – their faces shrouded by light blue, fur-lined hoods and navy blue scarves that covered half their face, red tribal symbols painted on their foreheads – who unsheathed long ivory spears with wicked sharp whale teeth on their ends. They stepped closer to Aang and Zuko menacingly, nearly causing the two boys to step back into the waves. They pointed the spears at them. They were surrounded.
Aang immediately decided to take action. He blew the remaining clay of the small, dry part of the street into the men's faces, temporarily blinding them before driving them back with a strong gale.
"No way – you're the Airbender?!" the water warrior gasped. "A shrimpy little bald kid like you is the Avatar?"
Zuko and Azula's jaws dropped. Impossible. "The….Avatar?"
"You've gotta be kidding me," the prince continued. "I spend years training, meditating, expecting this big old elderly element master, and instead I get a little kid?"
"Well I wasn't expecting the captain of a Water Tribe ship to be just a teenager," Aang countered. Then, he soared into the air to dodge as the boomerang came flying at his face. He successfully evaded the thrown weapon, but, in the process, it nearly struck Azula before hurtling back to its owner. Aang's face fell.
"If I go with you," he asked uncertainly, "will you leave these people alone?"
The prince nodded as two of his minions ripped Aang's glider out of his hand and dragged him towards the ship. "Aang, no!" Azula cried. "We aren't worth this!" I thought he was a coward, Azula thought ruefully, but he's braver than all of us – willing to sacrifice his freedom for our own. He really was different.
Aang stole one last, longing look at Azula's stricken face as they dragged him away. "Take care of Appa for me until I get back!" he called. She saw the fear in his grey eyes as the Water Tribe men shot off on a wave back to the deck of their ship. The flood waters began to recede, as promised, from the streets. As solid ground became visible, Azula shot down from the fire escape towards the ship, but she was too late.
"Set a course for the South Pole!" Sokka commanded his servants. "Time for me to go home."
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The townspeople mopped up the remaining puddles and debris, all frowning silently to themselves.
"Aang saved this town," Azula told the bandaged Zuko as they stood in the still-damp street. "Now, the only honorable thing to do is to repay him by saving him."
"Azula, I…." Zuko began.
"Why can you not see that he is our ally?" Azula continued, paying no attention to her brother. "He has the courage and power that you boys, left over when the men of the town left, lack!"
"But Azula, I….."
"We cannot shame our clan by refusing to repay this life-debt!" Azula went on, unabated. "I know you don't like Aang, but…."
"AZULA!" Zuko cried at last. "Let's leave already, then," he smiled, and Azula turned to see that he held the reigns of a mongoose lizard with a saddle for two. Azula knew from her studies that mongoose lizards could run across the surface of water. She beamed at her brother, emotion in her face. "Zuko….."
"Climb on," Zuko smiled back and helped her up into the saddle before mounting the beast himself.
"Where do you think you're going?" chided an elderly voice, and a soggy Iroh appeared from around the corner. The two siblings froze, knowing they were caught.
"You're going to need these," Iroh smiled warmly, to their utter shock, handing them two thermal blankets with a pattern of the Fire Nation flag on them. "You showed me I was wrong," he confessed to Azula. "I wanted to believe that we could keep the peace by ignoring the war brewing just outside our borders. But, the war has come to us, and now it is time to fight for what he hold dear. I have faith that this a fight you can win, my dear Firebender girl." He reached up and patted Azula's head paternally.
"And you, my brave Firebender boy," he told Zuko, "I trust you will protect your sister on her journey."
"I will," Zuko vowed, hugging his uncle goodbye with uncharacteristic affection.
"Azula," Iroh offered final words of wisdom, "you and Zuko found the Avatar for a reason. Now, your destinies are intertwined with his." Gold met gold as the siblings stared at each other, uncertain what this meant.
"We're not going to catch a longboat with a mongoose lizard," Azula said finally. Then, she saw Appa trudge up the street, knocking the lanterns with his horns, and was struck with an idea.
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"My dad will be totally impressed with me when I bring this home for his trophy wall," Sokka boasted to the chained Aang. "But I guess you wouldn't know about dads, being raised by monks and all that." He shrugged.
"Take the kid to the cargo hold!" he commanded his men. He tossed the staff flippantly to Bato. "And take that to my quarters, okay?"
Bato raised an eyebrow as Aang was dragged roughly below deck.
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"Bet you've never fought an Airbender before, huh?" Aang chattered to the hooded men forcing him down the wooden corridor at spearpoint. "I bet I could take both of you guys with my hands behind my back."
"Shut up," the first hooded man growled.
Aang took a deep breath and blew the men down the corridor before soaring back to the top deck and racing into the officers' quarters.
"The Avatar has escaped!" the second hooded man sounded the alarm, dazed.
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Appa swam through the warm coastal waters sluggishly. Zuko wasn't disappointed – to be disappointed, he would have had to have expected something different. He knew it was impossible for a bison to fly.
"Come on, you useless beast!" Azula cried, growing frustrated. "Don't you want to save your master?"
"Try talking a little nicer to it," Zuko suggested. "What did the kid say? 'Yee haw'?"
"No, that's not it," Azula grumbled. "What was it?"
"Yip….yip?" Zuko said uncertainly. Suddenly, the bison soared into the air!
"You did it, Zuzu!" Azula gasped.
Zuko tried to pick his jaw up off the floor. "He's flying," he said dumbly, in shock. "He's….actually flying."
"Told you!" Azula smirked triumphantly. She laughed as they flew higher and faster into the sky.
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"You haven't seen my staff, have you?" Aang grinned at two more hooded men before surging past them. "Thanks anyway!"
Another hooded men shot a wall of water at him, but he flew over it and knocked the man into the puddle. He began flying through the ship, searching desperately for his staff. Behind one door, he found Bato snoozing in his navy sleeping bag, hand still wrist-deep in a bowl of sea prunes. "Sorry," Aang whispered before continuing on his search. At last, he spotted his staff behind a half-open door. Thanking the spirits for his luck, he hurtled into the room at top speed to grab it.
"Gotcha," Sokka smirked, slamming the door behind him. Aang gasped. "Looks like I underestimated you, kid," the Water Tribe prince chuckled, and threw his boomerang towards the Airbender.
Aang ducked just in time, but the boomerang flew swiftly back to it's owner, who was already preparing to strike again. Backed into a corner, Aang dropped to his knees and blew the boomerang away. Sokka quickly reached to grab it and made a wide strike towards Aang. Aang escaped by ducking through the opening in the prince's stance. Sokka growled angrily when he realized the Avatar was now behind him, before changing positions and swinging the boomerang again. Again, Aang evaded him. How was the boy so fast? Sokka wondered furiously. He had trained for too long to let the Avatar slip through his fingers!
He kicked at the Avatar this time, and his blow struck the boy in the stomach before he was able to evade more strikes by climbing onto his air scooter. Aang sped in circles around the prince, who continued to slash at him, almost nicking his ear. Finally, Aang sped to the corner of the room and grabbed the staff he had come for, using it to knock Sokka to the ground before Airbending him into the ceiling and then roughly back down. Sokka lay on the ground, his head cut from where it had met the wooden roof. He watched in fury and self-loathing as the Avatar darted out the door.
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Aang shot past the area of the lower deck where a dozen Waterbenders sweated with the effort of pulling the boat through the waves, like galley slaves. He made it to the upper deck of the ship without any of the Waterbenders catching him, but then, just as he was about to fly away on his glider, Sokka appeared and tackled him to the ground, raising his boomerang to strike.
Just at that moment, Appa flew over the top of the ship's blue sails, Azula and Zuko on his back.
"What the heck is that?" the prince cried. His distraction gave Aang just enough time to unpin himself from beneath the older boy and run to the edge of the deck. Sokka threw his boomerang at him again, and he dodged, but he narrowly avoided tumbling off the side of the ship in the process. Sokka struck once more, and Aang parried with his staff. The strikes continued, relentless, and Aang wondered how much longer he could hold them back.
When the prince struck next, Aang leapt back too far, and this time he did fall into the waves!
"Aang!" Azula cried as the Airbender suck deeper and deeper beneath the surface.
No! Aang thought to himself desperately. Not again!
Suddenly, his eyes glowed white with the wisdom of millennia and he suddenly had all the oxygen he needed, because he was shooting out from the waves on a comet-trail of fire. He threw white-hot flames at Sokka, who shot back instinctually, fearing burns, so much that he tumbled off his own ship into the drink, as well. Aang's feet touched the wood of the deck, and it began to burn as the blaze still surged around him. The fire spread quickly as the oaken ship began to crumble in on itself and its crew rapidly jumped over the side to save their lives. They were all fine – but the ship would surely burn to ash. Sokka breached the surface of the water and watched in shock and rage as his men swam in retreat.
Aang crumpled suddenly, the glow leaving his eyes, and fell into a dead faint. Azula reached out a hand from her perch on the bison and pulled the unconscious Aang off of the blazing ship. "That was some serious Firebending," Zuko marveled as his sister buckled the boy into the security of the saddle.
Aang's grey eyes slowly blinked open as they hovered there above the shipwreck. "Hey, Azula," he said weakly. "Hey, Zuko."
"Thank the spirits you are unharmed," Azula whispered to Aang, tightly gripping his hand.
"What are you doing here?" Aang muttered sleepily.
"It would be dishonorable to not repay the favor of saving a life," Zuko shrugged.
"I lost my staff," Aang murmured anxiously. Was its wood burning in the inferno beneath?
"It's over there," Zuko noticed, pointing to the ocean water below. They flew closer and he bent to pick up the Airbender's lost item. When he lifted it, he found Sokka clinging to the other end, raising his boomerang for one last strike. Zuko hurled a fireball, causing the prince to dive beneath the waves to avoid injury, releasing the staff in the process. "That's the power of the Fire Nation!" Zuko smirked proudly.
Hooded Waterbenders swam towards them and bent the waves higher, trying to splash them off the side of the bison's saddle. Azula summoned a lick of flame, but it quickly fizzled into smoke. "Azula!" Zuko complained. His sister still allowed her emotions to rule her bending, and now her fear had left her powerless.
"I can do this, Zuzu!" Azula snapped, and readied a Firebending stance again. This time, she shot a series of sparks, causing the Waterbenders to swim away to avoid igniting their parkas. Unfortunately, a spark hit Zuko's boot, causing him to have to rapidly tear it off and dunk it into the sea water to put out the fire.
"Hurry up, Zuko!" Azula complained.
"If you could control your Firebending well enough to hit the enemy instead of me, we wouldn't have these problems," Zuko groaned. "I'm the only Bender on this bison that knows how to control his gifts."
He dumped the water from his boot and scrambled back towards the top of the saddle, crying "Yip yip!" before the waterlogged minions of Sokka could strike them with the waves again. They soared away into the sky as an unconscious Bato floated to the surface of the water and groggily opened his blue eyes, bewildered by the sight in the sky above.
"Prince Sokka, why are we in the water?" Bato asked with a confused look. "I swear the ship was here when I started my nap."
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"Good news for the Water Tribe," Bato laughed, dog-paddling. "The Avatar is a mere boy of twelve."
"Oh, yeah, just a 'mere boy' – it's not like he just did all of this," Sokka cried, grabbing Bato's arm and drawing his attention to the burning shell of their ship. The older man gasped, eyes widening at the extent of the damage. "I'm not gonna underestimate him again."
Sokka called to his men, who were treading water beside him. "Swim to the shore," he demanded, "as soon as you reach it, find wood we can use to rebuild the ship with. It looks like we'll be starting from scratch." His gaze fell on one of the men, who was shivering from exposure to the cold water.
"….After we dry off," he added to the end of his statement, resisting the urge to smack his hand to his forehead again.
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"How did you control such vast amounts of power?" Azula cried, impressed, as she, Zuko, and Aang soared above the sea, which sparkled with the light of the setting sun, on Appa. "That was the most amazing Firebending attack I've ever laid eyes on!"
"I don't know," Aang confessed. "I just sort of….did it."
"But," Azula wondered, "why did you not tell us you were the Avatar?" If she were that powerful, she would brag about it from the rooftops, make the cruel Water Tribe learn to fear her and her Bending abilities.
"Because," Aang replied, "I never wanted to be."
"The world has been waiting for the power of the Avatar," Azula protested. "We've been waiting for you to use your gifts to stand up to the Water Tribe and fight for our freedom."
"But I'm not a fighter," Aang sighed. Airbender philosophy made him naturally inclined to non-agression– the exact sort of policy that Azula would label cowardice. "I'm just a kid."
"Well," Azula noted, "according to what I've read, every Avatar, beginning as a kid, traditionally has to master water, then earth, and lastly, fire. But I say forget the traditional order of things. Forge your own destiny, Aang. We're going to the Fire Nation capital – that gives you the perfect opportunity to learn Firebending."
"We can learn it together," Aang realized, smiling.
"And Zuko," Azula pointed out, "we can take vengeance on the Water Tribe for flooding our village, and all the other crimes they have committed against our clan."
"As hesitant as I was to join this war," Zuko admitted, "I think I'd like that – I'd really like that. You were right – an honorable man doesn't hide. He finds the courage to stand and fight."
"So we're in this together," Azula decided.
"Yes," Aang nodded, "but before we do that, we have serious business to attend to here, and here, and here," he said, pointing to various places on the map.
"Here, we'll race carriages pulled by dragon moose – or is it mooses? Meeses? Who cares, it'll be awesome!" the Airbender babbled. "Here, we'll catch messenger hawks and train them to be our best buddies! And here, we'll ride the armadillo bears - they don't like people riding them, but that's what makes it fun!"