XV: When A Story is Told

Not long into their journey into the Fire Nation, Aang's choice of outfit happened to be a school uniform, he stayed in the school for a few days but it turned out that he was a bit of a troublesome student: first he challenged his History teacher by telling the class that the Air Nation never had a formal army, when questioned about how Fire Lord Sozin overpowered the Air Nation. he had an issue with the Music teacher when he started dancing in his seat and he had questions of self-expression, and finally he got involved in a fight with another student when the other student thought that he was flirting with his girlfriend.

So Aang threw then a secret dance party, and nearly got busted by the headmaster, but by that time, Team Avatar decided that was the time to leave that area in search of a new place to stay for a while.

They ended up at a village, once living off of a life of fishing and built on a river, but a factory had been erected and poured sludge into the river, polluting it to the point where the village was on the verge of dying out from starvation and sickness.

Katara didn't take the situation lightly.

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When Zuko received Sokka's letter, stating that they were still planning on going through with the invasion, a sense of dread washed over him, now that he knew that the Fire Nation knew of the supposed 'surprise attack' on the day of black sun.

He had also found a letter in his room, it was an invitation from Iroh, saying that he wished for Zuko to visit him, just to talk and share wisdom. So he snuck out to the prison, stopping only to purchase a pot of tea on the way there.

When he arrived at Iroh's cell, they sat facing each other, and Iroh smiled pleasantly when he saw that Zuko brought him tea, it was ginseng, one of his favorites, too.

"You sent for me." Zuko stated.

"That's right, I thought that you'd like to hear this story that I read while we were in the Spirit Library… but you, my nephew, you look like there's something on your mind,"

"Father knows of the day of black sun, what is that going to mean for our future?" Zuko replied.

"Just make sure that those you care about know what they're in for, they'll know what to do." Iroh told him

Zuko sighed, and sipped from his cup, he didn't really care for the tea, but it seemed to make his uncle pleased, as Iroh told him: "When we were at the Spirit Library, I happened upon an ancient tome about the very first Avatar and it also told of the very first true Firebender."

Zuko locked eyes with his uncle, he had piqued his interest, and so Iroh began the story:

Nearly ten-thousand years a go, there was a young thief named Wan. He lived in an ancient city that rested of the back of lion-turtle a guardian for humans from the spirits that roamed the dangerous wilds, which the fearsome races of spirits called their home. Wan was known for stealing food for himself and his friends, from a tyrannical, but wealthy, family that seemed to rule the city.

Since thieving wasn't where his heart truly lay, he once joined a hunting team to venture in the wilds, and the lion-turtle gave them the gift of fire so they could hunt for food and yet use it to protect themselves. There was a rule to using fire, that they must never bring this gift into the city… but at some point, Wan decided to sneak it into the village and use it to start an uprising against the wealthy family, in a thirst for justice.

Because he broke the law of the lion-turtle, Wan was banished from the village that rested on the lion-turtle's back. Wan accepted his punishment, but he pleaded with the lion-turtle to let him keep the gift of fire so he had some way of protecting himself, and the lion-turtle allowed him to keep the ability of fire, and Wan wandered into the forest. He wandered to the point of exhaustion, trying to find sources of food and shelter, but having very little luck; he wandered on until he came across a peaceful oasis, but it was guarded by a spirit that refused to allow this human inside, and so sent Wan off.

As he continued to wander the wilds, Wan found a cat-deer trapped in a net set up by hunters from his former home. The hunters caught him trying to free their prey and while they were still amazed to see that he seemed to be doing alright, the hunters attacked him for freeing their prey. However, Wan fought against them, and the spirit of the oasis saw him stand up for the cat-deer and helped him to chase them away. He was impressed that Wan was capable of selfless acts, and now that Wan gained his trust, he told them that he now wanted to learn the ways of the spirits. As for the cat-deer, she became his close companion.

Time went by, and Wan continued to live on in a peaceful life with the spirits, and he began to command his fire as an extension of himself, and he became the first true Firebender. He even developed a full form of Firebending, the Dragon's Dance. He used this power to protect the peaceful nature of the wilds, and when humans became aware of his talents, they were inspired to leave the villages resting on the lion-turtles backs, and form their own civilizations.

With want to discover more of the world, Wan went on adventures with his cat-deer friend, and found two spirits fighting, one was Rava, the light spirit of peace, the other was Vatu, the dark spirit of chaos. Vatu pleaded with Wan to free him from the grasp of Rava, and not being the wiser, Wan separated them, only for Rava to tell him that his mistake was a grave one, for h had released chaos into the world.

Wan wanted to redeem himself, and he happened upon a new tribe of people with the power to bend air, and they lived on the lion turtle of air. There he met Vatu again and he drove him away, and Rava was impressed to see such a selfless act done by a human, and they became companions to fight Vatu. Before leaving, Wan asked the lion turtle for his air power, only for the lion turtle tell him that this was something that was never done before and that Rava would have to carry the element for him.

As time went by, Wan found the lion-turtles of water and earth, learning about their culture and taking their abilities along with him, as carried by Rava. She gave him the elements by passing through his body, and each time she passed through him, he felt stronger, and felt a rush of energy.

On the day of harmonic convergence, where our world connected with the spirit world, it was time to face Vatu for the last time. Rava entered Wan's body, giving him the power to control all the elements, but when the convergence occurred the two worlds connected, and so did the doors to the spirit world. Wan touched the beam while Rava was still inside him, and they fused together, boding them for the rest of Wan's live, and he became the first Avatar! He entered the first Avatar state and with the power of all the elements, he managed to imprison Vatu.

After the battle with Vatu, Wan pronounced him the bridge between the spirit and mortal worlds, and he sent the spirits back to their world, and he lived the rest of his life trying to keep the world in balance.

Zuko sat back, and he held a proud light in his eyes.

"What's on your mind?" Iroh asked.

"If I'm to look at the Avatar as one spirit with many forms, then one can say that I am the great-grandson of the first Firebender. There is another thing, and you've gave me some inspiration: You taught me how to redirect lightning using a Waterbending technique, well I wonder what will happen if I learn the ways of earth and air."

"Zuko, if you can figure out how to incorporate air, earth, and water into your Firebending, you may become more powerful than you'd care to know." Iroh replied.

They finished their tea and Zuko left the prison to go and write Sokka a letter:

Sokka,

The Fire Nation knows about the invasion, Azula got wind of it while at Ba Sing Se, but while surprise may not be on your side, it doesn't change the fact that on that day the Firebenders will lose their power. So I think that you should still plan on the invasion. Enclosed is a detailed map of the capital, highlighting the most important parts and telling you what they are. You may not win the war with this invasion, but I strongly suspect that you can at least hurt us.

Zuko.

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A few days later, Katara and Aang took down the factory that was polluting the river, and they saved the village, in the end the people running the factory ended up fleeing the scene after seeing Katara's charade of posing as a water spirit. They stayed to help clean the river, however, their proud moment came to an end when Sokka received Zuko's letter. The Fire Nation knew that they were coming, but the map Zuko sent them proved to be a glimmer of hope.

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Until the day of the invasion, I'm planning on just putting in filler chapters with more of a Zuko focus. Any suggestions?

Please respond.