Katara, Toph, Sokka, and I gather in the courtyard to watch Zuko give Aang his first Fire bending lesson. We were instructed to remain as silent as possible, but Katara couldn't help making snide comments.
"A little harsh, don't you think? I mean, telling Aang that Fire is nothing to fear, but it'll get out of control if he doesn't respect it?" she sniffs. "Not the technique I used to teach him Water."
"Show me what you've got," Zuko tells Aang. "Any amount of Fire that you can make."
Aang firmly shoves his hand toward the edge of the temple, but only a puff of smoke appears. "Maybe I need a little more instruction," he says in defeat. "Perhaps a demonstration?"
Zuko nods and motions for us to take a few steps back. He gives me a quick smile as he prepares to shoot fire. But, all that appears from his powerful thrust is a tiny ball of flame.
"What was that?" Zuko exclaims as Aang quietly applauds. "That was the worst Fire bending I've ever seen!"
"And he's the worst teacher I've ever seen," Katara mutters under her breath.
"I thought it was…nice," Aang compliments. "Maybe it's the altitude?"
"Maybe," Zuko agrees, but he doesn't seem convinced.
I stay, but the rest of the group leaves to prepare lunch. Zuko continues to try to create a flaming ball of fire, but to no avail. "Why isn't this working?" he finally shouts to the skies. He's been trying for the past two hours. I've been listening to my iPod, but strangely, the battery hasn't run out at all.
An idea sparks in my mind.
"What if your fire has no fuel?" I call out to him, taking out my ear buds.
"What?" he snaps.
"You know fuel," I look from Zuko's face to Aang's, but both look confused. "To start a fire without bending, you need fuel to keep it going. Like wood or oil of some sort. Maybe the fuel for Fire benders now is their anger, but what was their fuel before the war?"
Zuko's face lights up a bit. "The dragons," he says, "were the first Fire benders. Legend says that we learned Fire bending from them."
"Well, no problem!" Aang exclaims. "We'll just find a dragon to teach us the original way to Fire bend."
I have to run his words through my head twice before I realize that he's not being sarcastic.
"But the dragons were wiped out by my family," Zuko's face falls. "We turned it into a prize. If you were able to defeat a dragon, then you were really a true Fire bender. My uncle said he killed the last one years ago."
"There must be someplace you can go," I think out loud.