Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or The Last Airbender.
Bodyguard of Azula
Chapter 23: Teach and Learn
"Talking"
"Thinking"
"Bijū/spirit talking"
"Bijū/spirit thinking"
(Location: Fire Nation)
It was night and a meteor show was happening. "Wow, this is amazing to watch," Katara said as she watched.
"Kind of makes you realize how insignificant we are," Sokka mused to himself.
Toph couldn't see what they were seeing, so it didn't mean much to her. "Eh, you seen nothing once, you've seen it a thousand times," she said.
There was a brief flash of light and one of the meteors changed course, hurtling down to the earth. "Oh man, you've never not seen anything like this," Sokka told her as he, Aang, and Katara stood up. The meteor flew over their heads and crashed somewhere behind a hill. They quickly saddled up and flew towards the smoke.
"The fire is gonna destroy that town!" Katara announced as they flew down to the fire. The meteor had crashed into a field next to a small town. The crash site had been set ablaze and was rapidly growing.
"Not if we can stop it!" Aang declared. Appa landed next to the fire and Aang, Sokka, Toph, Momo, and Akela got off of his saddle.
Katara took Appa's reins as she pointed over at the creek. "There's a creek over here. I'll bend the water onto the fire." Appa took off with her on board.
"Toph, let's make a trench to stop the fire from coming any closer," the Air Nomad told the blind Earthbender. The two of them ran towards the fire.
"What am I supposed to do?" Sokka asked them. He was just left standing there.
"Keep an eye on Momo and Akela!" Aang shouted without looking back.
"Oh great, I'm an animal-sitter," he complained to himself.
Toph and Aang ran up to the fire and bent the earth to split apart, forming a trench. They then bent the trench wider, cutting off the room the fire had to grow. The action caused small flames to fly out of the main fire and land near Sokka and the animals, who put them out (Sokka got one while Momo and Akela got the others).
Appa flew down over the creek and Katara bent a large amount of water up out of it. She flew it over the fire, letting some drizzle out to minimize the fire. Meanwhile, Toph was using Earthbending to flip a piece of the trench's bottom repeatedly, putting out the fire's edges. "Sokka, stand clear!" Aang shouted out as he took the rest of the water from Katara.
"Right, stand clear, got it," Sokka muttered as he stood up from where he sat and walked away, carrying Momo. Akela padded behind him.
Unfortunately, Aang didn't bother to wait. He used both Waterbending and Airbending to expand the water. The deluge hit both Sokka and Akela (Momo flew skyward when he saw it coming). The deluge expanded into a dome of water and then exploded, extinguishing the fire and turning the rest of the water into snow.
"Good work, everybody," Aang congratulated them all. The fire had been stopped and the town had been saved.
"Yeah, great job," Sokka said after popping his head out of a pile of snow. Akela did the same thing right next to him. "You couldn't have waited five minutes?"
"Oops, sorry about that," he apologized with a sheepish grin.
"Just help us out of this." His face had a brief look of both pain and surprise before he glared at the wolf next to him. "Hey, watch where you put those paws, Akela!"
Zuko sat at his desk with a map sprawled across from it. Since his formal reinstation into the succession, the Crown Prince had been busy keeping himself updated on the progress made by the military during their current expansionist phase. He was so focused into the map and one of the older reports that he did not hear a knock until a short statured man approached him.
"Prince Zuko?" Há said as he walked into the prince's room, carrying what appeared to be numerous scrolls on his arms. "I have the latest reports from the front." His arms were shaking from the weight and he was almost afraid that he would drop them.
"Thank you, Há," Zuko replied without even looking up from the map in front of him. "Put them right there." He pointed to a spot on the desk.
"Here you are, My Prince." He placed the papers down on the spot. Silence reigned in the room before the servant spoke again. "…My Prince, may I ask a question?"
"Go ahead."
"Why are you reading the military reports? I thought the war was over." The prince doing all of this was rather pointless now.
"Just because we took Ba Sing Se doesn't mean the war is won," Zuko told him. "If anything, it'll keep the war going. This is my way of catching up."
That was why he had spent the past few days looking at maps and reading reports. He held up the report in his hands to emphasize his point. He hadn't it yet, but when he did, something got his attention. He put the report down and picked up another. He grabbed the first report and compared the two before looking the map of the Earth Kingdom on the table.
"Is everything alright, My Prince?" Há asked the prince.
"Há, I want you to arrange a meeting with General Shinu," the Scarred Dragon ordered. "There is something he should know about."
"Yes sir, I'll see to it immediately." He bowed and walked out of the room.
The warden opened the door to Iroh's cell. He walked to the cell, dropped the bowl of food in his hands to the ground and kicked it past the bars, spilling its contents. Iroh rushed over and began to eat the food off the ground.
"Look at you," the warden said. "You're just a fat, disgusting old man. You do nothing, you say nothing, you just eat and roll around in your own filth like a pig. You're a disgrace."
He spat into the cell and walked away, closing the door. Once the door closed, Iroh gave a small smile and sat back up, eating like a normal person. The act gave him some peace of mind but it wasn't enough, not with what was coming. He needed to think of a way out.
They went into the town the next morning and chose to eat at an opened-air restaurant for breakfast. Aang brought a tray of food to the table. "These people have no idea how close they were to getting toasted last night," he commented as he sat down.
"Yeah, the worst thing about being in disguise is we don't get the hero worship anymore," Toph said. "I miss the love."
"Yeah, yeah, woe is you," Sokka muttered from the steps, away from them. Akela rested on his paws beside him.
"What's your problem?" Katara asked him. "You haven't even touched your smoked sea slug."
He looked at the sea slug and noticed Akela was trying to go for a bite. "Hey! Keep your paws and your teeth off my slug!" he ordered the wolf. He sighed and looked back at the group. "Look, all you guys can do amazing things and I can't. There are days where I feel like I can't do anything," he told them
"That's not true," his sister tried to reassure him. "No one can read a map like you."
"I can't read at all," Toph chimed in.
"Yeah, and who keeps us laughing with sarcastic comments all the time?" Aang asked him. "I mean, look at Katara's hair, right? What's up with that?" He held up a bang of her hair.
"What? What's wrong with my hair?" she asked insecurely, taking back the bang.
"Nothing, I was just trying to…" He tried to explain it but couldn't find the right words (one never can in that situation).
"Great, I'm the team's wise-cracking pack mule," Sokka said with bitter sarcasm in his voice. "You know, you're just proving my point."
Katara walked over and sat down next to him. "I'm sorry you're feeling so down, but I hope you know that none of us see you that way." She thought something over. "I know something that'll make you feel better."
"You do?" he asked, a little curious.
She simply had everyone finish their meal and led them to a weapons store. Sokka looked at her. "I love you," he said before heading into the store. "Maybe something to reinvigorate my fighting style," he muttered. He grabbed a pair of nun-chunks and gave it a couple of practice swings. Shaking his head, he put them back. There were plenty of other weapons to try out.
Meanwhile, the others browsed around too. Katara tried on a pair of gloves, thinking that they might help her with her Waterbending. "What do you think?" Aang asked behind her. She turned around and saw him in some of the most overdone armor she had ever seen. "Pretty slick, huh?"
"More like ridiculous," she thought. "Well, it's…something," she said aloud.
"Thanks. All I need to complete the outfit is a wind sword."
"What's a wind sword?"
"It's where I get a sword handle and then I just swing this around and bend air out like a blade." He swung the handle around and made a few whooshing noises.
"Yeah…nice." It was the only polite thing she could think of saying.
The weight of the armor finally got to Aang. He tipped over and crashed into the ground, despite Katara's attempt to catch him. "I'll just stick to what I got."
Meanwhile, Sokka was trying an assortment ofweapons. But whatever he tried;he could never get a feel for it. As he fiddled around with a sai (which included picking his teeth with it), he saw a jian hanging on the wall. He wasn't an expert, but even he could tell this was a beautiful piece of work.
"That's what Sokka's talking about," he said as he closely examined the jian.
"You have a good eye," the shopkeeper declared, walking over. "That's an original from Piandao, the greatest sword master and sword maker in Fire Nation history. He lives in the big castle up the road from here." The others had gathered to hear what he had to say before he walked away.
"That's it!" Aang suddenly said. "That's what you needed all along, Sokka."
"A sword?" asked Sokka, a little confused. If that was the case, there were plenty of those around. They were cheaper too. But the one before him was a work of art.
"Not the sword, a master," he clarified as the Tribesman took the jian of the rack and held it in his hands. "We all had masters too help us get better. You should see if you can study with Piandao."
"That's a great idea," Katara chimed in. "I could've never gotten to where I am without Master Pakku." Before she learned from him, she had barely gotten anywhere with her Waterbending. Now, she was one of the Avatar's Bending master.
"He trained me too, you know," Sokka remarked. He might not have been a Waterbending, but he had learned from the man as well.
"Not the point and you know it," she told her brother. "What I'm trying to say is that everyone needs a teacher."
"I learned from badgermoles," Toph said, feeling a little left out of the conversation. "They don't talk, but they're still good teachers."
"It would be nice to be a master swordfighter," the Tribesman mused as he drew the jian and inspected it. "Alright, I'll talk to him."
Zuko heard the door open and turned to face it. "General Shinu," he greeted the man who entered the room, saluting.
"Prince Zuko." The general returned the greeting and the salute. He looked at the table. "I see you've been keeping track of the war."
"Once you've been in it, you can't ignore it," the Scarred Dragon replied. "Have you read the latest reports?"
Shinu nodded. "Yes, the generals and the Fire Lord have agreed that the movements of the Earth Kingdom troops are heading in the direction of Ba Sing Se. We have ordered the nearby troops and ships to be ready for them."
"There won't be anything waiting for them," the prince told him. "They're not heading for Ba Sing Se. In fact, they're going the other way. They plan to hit the colonies, to be specific, Akawan, Kouzan, and Yu Dao."
"And what makes you think that?" His voice held a little curiosity. He knew about Zuko's actions during the Siege of Akawan. The Fire Lord had called the generals into the throne room and told them what had happened. That was one of the very few times Ozai spoke of his son with a proud smile on his face. While the other generals expressed polite disbelief behind the Fire Lord's back (nobody was stupid enough to express it in his presence), he was willing to see if the prince would live up to the reputation.
"Look at this map," Zuko told him, gesturing to it. "One of the previous reports said that troops still couldn't find Full Moon Bay. In that same report, it said that General How had managed to escape imprisonment and flee Ba Sing Se. Being a general on the Council of Five, he would know about Full Moon Bay."
"What exactly are you trying to get at, Prince Zuko?" General Shinu asked him.
"Full Moon Bay is just outside the Si Wong Desert. If someone walks into that desert, they're practically gone until they come out again, and that can be anywhere. Also, General How is practical. He knows that retaking Ba Sing Se won't stop the war. It's a symbol and that won't end the war. So, he'll go after the colonies, the essential ones."
"How will he do it?"
"He's already begun. He's marching troops in the direction of Ba Sing Se. But instead of going there, he'll have them swing down to where ships or boats will be able to pick them up and sail into Full Moon Bay. From there, he'll march his troops into the Si Wong desert, where we'll lose them."
The prince traced what he thought the Earth Kingdom general's path on the map. "Coming out of the desert," he continued. "I suspect he'll first hit Kouzan, then Yu Dao and finally Akawan."
"Wouldn't he hit Akawan first?" Shinu asked him.
"I had thought that would be the case at first. But then I realize that if he managed to capture it, he would probably use it to mount an attack on the Fire Nation. He will want to take Akawan last so he can make sure that the other two colonies are nonoperational."
"But why would he attack those three colonies out of all of them?" He knew the answer and he knew Zuko knew he knew, but he wanted to test him.
"Like I said before, the general is practical," the Scarred Dragon explained. "Those three colonies are essential to supporting our military. Kouzan has the raw supplies. Yu Dao is the refinery. And Akawan is the port. Take any one of those and you will hinder the Fire Nation. Take all three and you will cripple it. Something tells me that General How will want to cripple it with a passion."
"What do you think we should do to counter this?" he asked, wanting to see what he would do in response.
"Have every Fire Nation soldier south of the Serpent's Pass reinforce those three colonies. It might be risky, leaving the other colonies open to attack. But it is a risk we would have to take." If the Fire Nation lost those three colonies, they would lose a lot of the land in the Earth Kingdom. "Also, Governor Shun will definitely need to be warned of another Earth Kingdom attack on Kouzan as well. He has extensive experience in dealing with Earth Kingdom attacks on the colony."
The general was silent as he looked at the map and the reports on the desk. "I hope you understand that I'll have to check all of this myself," he finally said to Zuko. "I talked to Lord Naruto lately, and he has breached an idea that I think has merit."
Zuko raised his eyebrow in curiosity. "What kind of idea?"
"Well, he has pointed out that the only advantage that the Earth Kingdom has over the Fire Nation is in area of cavalry. We knew that most of our troops often fight in infantry roles, and while we have the Rough Rhinos as our cavalry unit, it still isn't enough." He unwrapped a scroll the blonde had given him.
The Fire Nation Crown Prince saw a picture of what appeared to be a cavalryman mounted on a puma goat. The cavalryman in question, was armed with a crossbow and a guan dao as its close-range weapon, like the weapon wielded by Kahchi. Another picture in the same scroll, depicted another cavalryman that is armed with the same composite bow as the Yuyan Archers, and a liuyedao on its side, but the most important thing is that the second cavalryman is riding a dragon moose. Both General Shinu and Prince Zuko suspected that Naruto had consulted with Governor Shun when he, Azula, and her friends were in Kouzan on this issue.
"The idea does have merit, but there are several problems with these ideas," Zuko said. He pointed at the picture of the puma goat. "First, we are not sure how many puma goats are left in the wild, making it implausible. Second, A dragon moose might not support the weight of its rider. However, if we would make it a small unit that either you, Governor Shun, or even Colonel Mongke can control, then that might give us an extra edge. They can also serve as scouts if we need to send them to the Si Wong Desert."
General Shinu nodded in agreement. "Can I be honest with you, Prince Zuko? I think these military ideas were not just brought out of the blue by Lord Naruto. If I had to guess, Governor Shun must have come up with these ideas as well from his struggles against Earth Kingdom invasions."
"I agree, and I wouldn't be surprised. He's also like General How: practical, but pragmatic as well," the prince replied, having fully expected this. "I just wanted to inform you of this, not tell you and then order you to take it straight to my father."
"And I thank you for that consideration," He bowed to the prince and walked away. He stopped at the doorway and turned back around. "Prince Zuko, if I may ask? How did you manage to see all this?"
"Pai Sho and a game of hide-and-seek."
"I beg your pardon?"
"…I had lived with my uncle and his Pai Sho set for three years, and he always told me that Pai Sho was more than just a game. I think I'm beginning to see what he meant."
"And the game of hide-and-seek?"
"Naruto tried to teach me, Azula, Mai, and Ty Lee a lesson with the game. He tried to teach us how to always look underneath the underneath."
"I…see. By your leave, Prince Zuko," He bowed again and left the room.
Sokka stood in front of the gates of Piandao's castle. He took hold of one of the knockers and banged it. When no one opened the door, he knocked again. Finally, he grabbed both knockers and banged them repeatedly. The gate opened and a man appeared. "Can I help you?" he asked.
Sokka was surprised but recovered. "I've come to train with the master," he answered formally.
"You should know the master turns almost everyone away," the man told him. "What did you bring him to prove your worth?"
"Um…" He hadn't expected this.
"Right." The man shook his head. "Let's get this over with." He opened the gate a bit more and allowed Sokka to come in. He then closed the gate and led the newcomer into the castle, taking him to the room where Piandao was practicing calligraphy.
"Master, my name is Sokka and I wish to be instructed in the way of the sword," the Tribesman introduced himself to Piandao.
"Sokka," he repeated, focusing on his calligraphy. "That's an unusual name."
"It's actually a fairly common name in the Fire Nation colonies," Sokka explained hurriedly. He didn't want to get kicked out because of his name.
"Let me guess. You've come hundreds of miles from your little village, where you're the best swordsmen in town. And you think you deserve to learn from the master." The swordsman's voice had the slightest amounts of sarcasm and derision.
"Well, actually I've been all over this side of the planet."
"Yep, here we go," he remarked aloud.
"And I know one thing for sure," The Tribesman got down onto his knees. "I have a lot to learn."
"You're not doing a good job of selling yourself," he commented, looking behind him from the corner of his eye.
"I know. Your butler told me that when I met you, I would have to prove my worth. But the truth is…I don't know if I am worthy."
"Hm, I see." He put down the brush, took his sword and stood up. "Well then…let's find out together how worthy you are. I will train you."
Sokka had a big smile when he heard those words. "Thank you, master."
"Fat will give you more appropriate clothing. Once you have changed, meet me out back." He walked away.
The butler led him to a room and gave him some clothes. He quickly changed and followed Fat out to the back of the castle. "I'm here, master," he said as he stood across from Piandao in a large courtyard.
"Very good," he replied. "The first thing you must learn is that your weapon is an extension of yourself." He drew his sword and went through a few motions. "You must think of it as another part of your own body."
"Like an extra-long, really sharp arm," the Tribesman summarized.
"Exactly, the sword is a simple tool, but in the hands of a master it becomes the most versatile of weapons, and just as the imagination is limitless, so too are the possibilities of the sword." He sheathed the sword. Sokka could only look at him in amazement and agree.
"What should we do today?" Aang asked as they lounged around the camp.
"I'm tapped out," Toph replied. "I already picked my toes, twice."
"Twice?"
"The first time is for cleaning, but the second time is just for the sweet picking sensations!" And she loved that sensation.
"Sokka's been in charge in the schedule," Katara told the both of them. "I'm not sure what we should be doing."
"Plus, it's so hot today," the blind Earthbender commented, picking her nose as she spoke.
"How hot is it?" Aang asked, attempting to get a joke out of her.
"I dunno, real hot?" she replied, missing the point.
"I-It's hot, it's so hot…" Katara tried to come up with a joke. "Momo is shedding like Appa! Huh? Huh?"
Aang just scratched his head. "I guess the jokes don't run in the family."
"Oh, everyone's a critic," she grumbled. She was about to make a joke about Akela when she heard him growling slightly. She turned her at him and saw that he was looking straight at her. He was also giving her the wolf version of the hairy eyeball. All-in-all, he was essentially telling her not to do that. "How does he do that?" she thought to herself. "It's like he knows what we're about to do."
"Hey, Zuko," Naruto said as he sat down next to the prince in the garden. "How did the meeting with Shinu go?"
"Decently enough," Zuko answered as he watched the turtle ducks. "He listened to what I had to say without disbelief but didn't automatically believe what I told him. He told me about the idea you pitched."
"That's one of the reasons I always liked Shinu," the blonde replied. "Unlike the rest of those generals, he's actually earned his position. He's one of the few people I trust to make good use of the Yuyan archers. Also had the decency to inform me when that idiot Zhao tried to use them to take the Avatar."
"You chewed Zhao out for that, didn't you?" The prince would've loved to have seen that.
"Like a pack of dogs on a piece of meat. I went to the fortress and chewed him out in front of everyone there. He couldn't have left fast enough after that." They shared a laugh about that. Zhao had been arrogant in life and was always in need of a dressing down.
Zuko handed his scroll back. "About your idea, I hate to break it to you, but I don't know if they would work out," he confessed.
Naruto sighed, but nodded in agreement. "I'm not surprised, but it would remain a critical issue. Another thing would have been to capture all the ostrich horses, but that would take too long."
Suddenly, Zuko noticed something. "Aren't you supposed to be protecting Azula?" he asked the blonde.
"She and the other girls are having a 'girl-talk,'" Naruto answered.
"…What's so bad about that?" The way he made it sound, it was akin to torture.
He threw him a look. "Have you ever felt the urge to throw yourself off of the Gates of Azulon?" Zuko shook his head. "I did that twenty times in a row the last time I was in the same room when they had a 'girl-talk'."
"You're kidding, right?" the prince of the Fire Nation asked him.
"Zuko, it's just one of those things where we leave the other alone. She has 'girl-talks', I take a bath." It was common knowledge that whenever Naruto went to the baths, he went with armed guards. The reason for this was because every time he went to the baths, his Fangirls somehow know when he's going (he'd narrowed down the reason they could do this to either they had a network of spies following him or when he went through the doors of the baths, a pheromone went up into the air that alerted them). The guards usually had to fight off a literal invasion of Fangirls when this happened, which was why Naruto only took volunteers and made sure they got a pay-raise. The two details that Naruto enforced were that only men could volunteer (for obvious reasons) and that there were no Firebenders. "You're supposed to stop them, not barbeque them, no matter how tempting," he often told them.
"Prince Zuko," Há said aloud to the prince as he walked towards the two with a rapid pace. "General Shinu wishes to speak to you."
"It's only been a day,"hHe remarked. "I thought it take longer."
"It would've, had you talked to any other general," Naruto told him. "You go have that meeting. I need some time to write out a few ideas for my book."
He stood up. "How's that coming, by the way?"
"Somewhat better than I expected. Then again, I'm not an experienced writer, so I could be wrong."
"It's your book," he said to the blonde before he walked away.
"The warrior practices a variety of arts to keep his mind sharp and fluid," Piandao told Sokka as he prepared a piece of paper. "The first you will learn is calligraphy. Write your name." He ordered Sokka as he handed him a brush.
"Writing my name will make me a better swordsman?" the Tribesman asked with disbelief in his voice as he looked at the brush. He didn't see how that was relevant to wielding a sword.
"When you write your name, you stamp the paper with your identity," the swordsman explained. "You must learn to use your sword to stamp your identity on the battlefield."
Sokka dipped the brush into the ink and held it over the paper. "Remember, you cannot take back a stroke of the brush, or the stroke of the sword." He withdrew the brush and looked at it, trying to think of what to do. "You're getting ink on your face," Piandao told him.
"I am?" he asked before looking at the brush. "I am! So this is about putting my identity on the page, right?"
Piandao nodded. He took the brush and painted his face with ink. He then put his face on the paper and rolled it around. When he was done, he showed the ink drawing of his face to Piandao, who just closed his eyes.
Afterwards, Sokka and Fat engaged in a spar. They wore sparring armor and wielded wooden swords. Sokka made the first move by lunging at the butler. Fat's only move was to knock the sword out of his hands. He ran away and Fat followed, whacking his butt along the way.
All the while, Piandao just watched.
Later, Piandao blindfolded Sokka and took him outside of the castle. "Landscape painting teaches a warrior to hold the lay of the land in his mind." He stopped Sokka and took of the blindfold. "In battle, you only have an instant to take everything in." Sokka saw a breathtaking view of a waterfall and the surrounding land. "Now paint it," Piandao ordered him, turning him around and making him sit down in front of a small desk with paper and ink. "And no peeking," he warned him.
While Sokka painted, Piandao looked out at the waterfall and waited. "I'm finished!" Sokka declared, showing him the painting. It looked like a child had drawn it and what was even more obvious was that there was no waterfall!
"You added a rainbow."
"Is that okay?" the Tribesman asked worriedly. Piandao just sighed and rolled his eyes.
When Sokka and Fat sparred again, Sokka was faring a little better than before. He was blocking strikes and giving a few back. "Sokka," he heard Piandao say. He made the mistake of taking his eyes off of Fat. The butler used that mistake to get behind him and knocked him to the ground.
"Concentrate on what you're doing," Piandao told him. He could only give thumbs up in response.
After changing back into his clothes, Sokka followed Piandao out back again. "Rock gardening teaches the warrior to manipulate his surroundings and use them to his advantage," Piandao told him as they walked to the rock garden.
Sokka looked at the rock garden. "Hm, manipulate them to my advantage," he repeated. "Oh!" He ran into the garden and started to move the boulders around. He studied a sheet of moss before grabbing it and running over to the boulders. He draped it down on the boulders and then sat down himself, relaxing. He had made a recliner out of the boulders and the moss. However, when Fat saw the state of the rock garden (which had become messy), he had a small panic attack.
"Hey, would you mind grabbing a cold drink for me?" Sokka asked once he saw the butler.
Fat looked towards Piandao with a silent plea. "I'll take a slice of lemon in mine, please," he said. Fat dropped his shoulders into a slump and walked away.
Sokka and Fat sparred again for the third time. Sokka was doing much better, parrying the butler's strikes. He finally saw an opportunity and took it. He got his sword underneath Fat's hand and knocked the sword of it, disarming him. He held the sword's point to Fat's neck. After the butler held his hands up in surrender, he withdrew the sword and bowed to Piandao.
"So, where are we going next?" Katara asked as she and Aang looked at the map. She pointed to a spot on the map. "We're starting from here…"
"No, we're over on this island," Aang said, pointing to a different spot.
"You noodle-brains don't know what you're doing," Toph told them. "I miss Sokka."
"Ooh, I got one!" Katara said. She was about to tell a joke when she heard Akela growling. Turning around to look, all she saw was his rear end. "Okay, Akela, I get it. Don't fart in my face." The wolf padded back to where he was taking a nap and lay back down again. "How does he do that?" she wondered aloud.
"Do what?" Toph asked her.
"It's like he knows when we're about to do something and stops us."
"I don't know, and I really don't care."
"You've had a good first day of training," Piandao told Sokka as they across from one another.
"I have?" Sokka asked, surprised by those words. "But I thought I messed up every single thing we worked on."
"You messed things up in a very special way," the swordsman told him. "You are ready for a real sword."
"Are you going to give me one of yours?" he asked with excitement.
"No." His answer made Sokka's face fall. "Your sword must be an extension of yourself. So tomorrow, you will make your own sword." When he heard that, Sokka had a big grin on his face.
Zuko walked into Shinu's office at the barracks. It was a cluttered, yet neat-looking room. "You asked for me, General Shinu," he said after saluting the general.
"Yes, Prince Zuko. Come in." He sat back down in his chair at his desk. "Please close the door behind."
Once the door was closed, he walked over to the desk. "Is this about the information I passed on to you?"
He nodded. "I have gone over the reports myself. What you have told me has made sense. Tomorrow morning at the meeting, I plan to tell the council and purpose your idea. I want you to join me in the meeting."
"I would be honored, but that's not what you called me for, is it?" He had a feeling that it wasn't.
"No. I asked you to come because I wish to have your opinion on the deployment of soldiers. You were the one who saw what General How was planning, so you should have a voice on who fights where." He gestured at the plans he had come up with laying on the desk.
The Scarred Dragon reached for the plans on the table. "May I?" he asked the general, who nodded. He picked up the plans and looked over the details. "You seem to have everything in hand. But I would make two adjustments. First: see if you can get Yuyan archers in all three colonies."
"Their skill with the bow would help the defenses, and Colonel Mongke has told me in a written message that his group is staying in Kouzan for a bit longer," Shinu conceded, seeing the logic. "And the second is?"
"Have the Dragon's Fangs defend Akawan. They know that colony. They're the best choice to defend it," he answered as he put the plans back down on the desk.
"Yes, I can see the reasoning there. Very well, I'll make the adjustments. Thank you, Prince Zuko." He stood up from his chair and saluted the prince.
"It is my pleasure. I will await your summons for the meeting." He returned the salute and left the room.
Both Piandao and Sokka stood in the armory. "Choosing the correct material is the most important step in crafting a sword," Piandao told Sokka as they stood in front of a table that held bricks of different kinds of steel. "You must trust your steel with your life. Choose carefully," he warned.
Sokka began to examine the different bricks, holding them in his hands and weighing them. He couldn't get a feel for any of them. That was when a thought struck him. "Master, would it possible for me to leave and bring back a special material for my sword?" he asked the swordsman.
"I wouldn't have any other way," he answered with a small smirk.
They were all taking a nap when Toph sprang up from the ground. "Sokka's coming!" she declared excitedly. Katara and Aang woke up in an instant when they heard that.
Sure enough, Sokka walked into camp with an easy stride. "Hey guys, what are you doing?" he asked. Their answer was to jump him and give him a big group hug.
"We missed you so much!" Katara declared.
"Say something funny," Aang told him.
"Funny how?" he asked with confusion, making the two of them laugh. "What's their deal?" he asked Toph.
"I don't know," she said as she turned around. "They missed you or something. I didn't care." However, one could tell by the blush on her cheeks that she was lying.
He looked over at Akela, who shook his head slightly. "If you say so," he told her before looking at the rest of the group. "Anyway, I need some help." He led them to the crash side of the meteorite. At the bottom of the crater was the meteorite itself.
The meeting was about to begin. The generals had begun to walk into the room and sit down around the map. Zuko sat beside Shinu and looked around. "What's with that one guy? He looks like he wants to roast me alive," he asked the general in a whisper, looking at the man in question.
"That's Jin, Zhao's son," Shinu answered him. "And it's not just you who he has it in for."
He noticed Jin was glaring up at the dais. When he looked over to where Azula was sitting, he noticed that the glare was directed at Naruto, who was leaning against one of the pillars. "I see."
Everyone settled down when Ozai came into the room and sat down on the dais at the top of the stairs. "Prince Zuko, what are you doing down there?" he asked, a small amount of surprise in his voice. He had not expected his son to be here.
"I had asked him to come, my lord," Shinu explained to the Fire Lord.
"Well, with any luck, he'll know his place," Jin said with a condescending smirk. If he was expecting Zuko to talk back, he was disappointed. The prince just stayed in his seat, completely silent. Sitting next to Ozai, Azula watched her brother with approval. Naruto watched with approval as well.
"You have something to bring forward to this meeting, General Shinu?" Ozai asked, ignoring what Jin had said.
"Yes, sir." He stood up. "As you know, sir, we have been getting reports of enemy troop movements. We had initially believed that they were planning to attack Ba Sing Se and retake it. However, due to information given to me by Prince Zuko, I believe that is not the case. I believe that the enemy will swing down to the coast near Ba Sing Se and take ships to Full Moon Bay. From there, they'll head into the Si Wong desert, and we'll lose them. Once they come out of the desert, they will attack Kouzan, Yu Dao and Akawan, crippling our forces. Once they have done that, they will use Akawan as a staging area to invade the Fire Nation."
The face of the Fire Lord did not show anything. "And how do you plan to counter this supposed attack?"
"We cannot pull our forces away from Ba Sing Se, to do so would leave the city open to attack. My recommendation is that we pull all Fire Nation forces south of the Serpent's Pass into defending the three colonies." He signaled the servants to give the generals copies of the plans for the deployment of the soldiers.
"You would have us abandon the other colonies to protect these three?" one of the generals asked as he looked at the plans. It was a bold plan, but also a very risky one.
"Unfortunately, yes, general," Shinu told him. "If the enemy forces do indeed attack us like this, the other colonies become unimportant. The colonies of Akawan, Yu Dao and Kouzan are the lifeline of the Fire Nation in the Earth Kingdom. If we lose those three, we might as well pack up and leave the Earth Kingdom."
"NEVER!" roared another of the generals, standing up. "I'm from the colonies. They're my home and I would rather be damned by Agni then leave them!"
"Thank you, General Lee," Ozai said with a firm voice, making the outspoken general sit back down. "Continue, General Shinu."
"Thank you, sir. As you can see, I believe I have the right divisions at the colony that best suits them. The only thing that could be improved is that if we had squads of Yuyan archers at each colony." He looked at Naruto for an answer.
"That's fine. I'll have Lieutenant Bao-yu sends some of the men over to each," the blonde told the general.
"You cannot be taking all of this seriously!" Jin spoke, crumpling up his copy of the plans. "We already know that the enemy forces are heading towards Ba Sing Se and plan to retake the city. There's no need to listen to any of this crap!"
Shinu was about to speak when Zuko stood up. "General Shinu, if I may?" he asked the general.
"Please, Prince Zuko, by all means," he told the prince.
"Thank you." He turned to Jin. "The man leading the enemy forces is one of the Council of Five who managed to escape imprisonment in Ba Sing Se," he said. "He is a practical man and thus, has practical goals. He knows retaking Ba Sing Se will accomplish nothing. It's a symbol, nothing more and it will not stop the war. If he wants the war to end, he will go for the colonies and cripple us. He will then use that to stage an invasion of the Fire Nation."
"Listen to the experienced prince." The word "experienced" was laced obvious sarcasm. "Just because you've been in one fight, you think you know everything about war, don't you?"
"No, general, I do not—"
Jin cut him off. "Of course, you don't! You led a single division in the defense of one colony. A weak and pathetic division at that! I'm amazed that you actually managed to win, let alone defeat the enemy forces." His contempt for the prince was evident for all to hear as he spoke.
Sokka, Aang and Katara pushed the meteorite up the road to Piandao's castle with Toph helping by Earthbending. When they finally stop at the gate, Sokka ran towards it and began to bang both knockers. The gate opened and Piandao walked out. "Who's this?" he asked as he looked at the others there.
"Oh, these are my friends. Just other, good Fire Nation folks," Sokka told him. The others bowed to Piandao, who bowed back. "Do you think it's possible to make a sword out of a meteorite?" he asked the swordsman, looking at the meteorite in question.
"We'll make a sword unlike any other in the world," Piandao declared.
Once the meteorite was inside, they went to work. Piandao had Sokka start up the forge and kept it going by shoveling coal into it until they brought the meteorite next to the forge and Fat had gotten the hammer. Sokka reached for the chisel but grabbed the pointy end by mistake, cutting his hand.
"Are you alright, Sokka?" Piandao asked him.
"Yeah, I'm fine," he quickly assured the swordsman. "Sorry about this, I'll get another one." He reached for a different chisel.
"No, we will use that one," the swordsman's tone was final.
"Yes, Master." He brought the chisel forward in the cut hand, covering the point even more with his blood. He held the chisel over the meteorite while Fat drove it in. After that was done, he grabbed a smaller hammer and chiseled away smaller fragments of the meteorite. It was hard work, even more so with the forge going behind him and making him sweat.
He finally had enough pieces for Fat to place in the forge while he worked the billows. Aang and Katara looked on as he worked. The smelting process took all night, but he never left the forge. When he awoke from sleep, he would get back to work by putting more coal into the fire. Unbeknownst to him, Piandao was watching him.
By the time morning came, the fragments of the meteorite had melted down into liquid. He pulled out the crucible with a pair of tongs and poured it into a mold of a jian. Piandao took over at this point. He hammered the metal into shape and once he felt it done, plunged it into a barrel of water, cooling it.
Once the actual blade was done, Piandao disappeared for several hours. They were told by Fat to join him in the practice room. Sokka sat before Piandao while the others sat behind him.
"Sokka, when you first arrive, you were so unsure. You even seemed down on yourself," Piandao told him. "But I saw something in you right away. I saw a heart as strong as a lion-turtle and twice as big. And as we trained, it wasn't your skills that impressed me." He took the sheathed sword offered by Fat. "No, it certainly wasn't your skills." Sokka looked away in shame. "You showed something beyond that." He drew the jian from its sheath, showing the black blade. "Creativity, versatility, intelligence…these are the traits that define a great swordsman. And these are the traits that define you." He sheathed the sword and held out for Sokka to take. "You told me you didn't know if you were worthy," Piandao told him as he took the sword. "But I believe you are more worthy than any man I have ever trained."
Sokka could only look at the jian in his hands. He couldn't continue the lie anymore. "I'm sorry, Master. You're wrong," he told him. "I'm not worthy. I'm not who you think I am. I'm not from the Fire Nation. I'm from the Southern Water Tribe." Katara, Aang and Toph had varying degrees of shock plastered on their faces when he said that. "I lied so I could learn swordsmanship from you. I'm sorry." He offered the sword back.
"I'm sorry too," Piandao said as he turned away, only swing around and swipe at Sokka with his jian. Sokka leapt backwards and blocked the next strike with his sheathed jian. When they saw he was being attacked, the others charged in to help.
"No," he told them. "This is my fight, alone."
The warden walked into Iroh's cell again with food. "You used to be the pride of the Fire Nation. Our top general, the Dragon of the West," he told him with scorn. "Now look at you." He dropped the tray to the ground, scattering its contents. Iroh reached for the fruit behind the bars. "Look at what you've become." He walked out of the cell.
Iroh stood up and undid his robe. As the robe fell off, so did a sheet off of his stomach. Whatever flap or fat Iroh had had before his imprisonment, it was replaced by muscle (lots of it). An idea to break out had come to him but for it to work, he had to get himself back into fighting shape.
It had been long, hard work that also reminded him of Basic Training, strangely enough. But it was worth the pain. He felt like he was the Dragon of the West once more. Eating the fruit, he grabbed the bars on the top of the cell and started doing one handed pull-ups. The time to break out was still coming. He needed to stay in shape.
The entire council was silent after what Jin had just said. No one had expected such an outburst. Zuko stood there in silence, nothing showed on his face. "I'm assuming you're going to apologize," he finally said.
"Excuse me?" the son of Zhao asked. "What did you say?"
"You heard me, General Jin. I am assuming that you are going to apologize for that insulting remark about the 41st division," Zuko said. "By insulting them, you have insulted me."
"Oh, I got two for the price of one?" he asked with a condescending smirk.
"Will you apologize, sir?" Oddly enough, the prince did not find himself angry at the man like he should've. He found himself to be calm.
"I do not need to apologize for insulting a single division and a pathetic one at that. I also see no reason to apologize to you, Zuko." The fact he didn't say Prince made everyone look at him in shock. He was deliberately being insulting now. "You are a pathetic person who does not even belong in this council, let alone this chamber. It probably would've been better if you had stayed in Akawan. That way you would have some illusion of being in control before they killed you."
"Have you all heard him, everyone?" the Scarred Dragon asked the chamber. "General Jin has insulted both my honor and the honor of the Dragon's Fangs. I have asked if he will apologize, and he insults us both further. Therefore,I ask for satisfaction." Everyone in the room, except for his family and Naruto, stared at him in silence. He had just asked for an Agni Kai.
"You would challenge me to an Agni Kai?" Jin barked a harsh laugh. "You will be humiliated in front of your father."
"Your father said something like that before I fought him," he replied, his voice still calm. "He was the one who was humiliated. Do you accept the challenge?"
"He will," Ozai announced. "General Jin has spoken out of turn and has acted with complete disrespect to both Prince Zuko and the 41st division. The Agni Kai will take place at noon in the training yard at the barracks." He stood up. "This meeting is adjourned," he stated before walking away.
Sokka and Piandao stood across from each other with swords drawn in the courtyard. The others just watched from the balcony as the two faced each other. There were only a few times they had seen such a serious expression on Sokka's face. If they were honest, that kind of expression was beginning to scare them.
Piandao made the first move by lunging forward. Sokka blocked and they exchanged strikes. He had to be careful. Piandao wasn't a master of the sword for nothing. "But he is older and a bit slower," he thought to himself. "If I use what agility I have, I might be able to level the field." He lunged forward, only to be shoved back against into a post of the bridge. Recovering, he got onto the post to give himself a small advantage. Piandao pushed him back, making him jump from one post to the other and then along the wooden rails. He got off the rail and rolled across the bridge to both give him more room and to avoid a strike from Piandao's sword.
"Excellent," Piandao told him as he got onto the rail again and used it as a launching point to jump away from the bridge. "Using your agility against an older opponent…smart." He pressed forward.
"Now he knows what I'm trying to do, he'll be able to counter it," Sokka thought as they fought. He was being pushed away from the bridge and onto a staircase. "There! I need to get to higher ground." Before he could do so, Piandao maneuvered him up against the staircase wall. He dodged the strikes of his sword, which made two cuts in the stone. He cartwheeled away to avoid a strike and swung back in an arc to deliver his own strike. He placed both feet on the wall behind him and used it to push off, leaping forward into a lunge. Piandao turned to avoid it and he used the opportunity to climb up the wall.
"Good use of terrain…fighting from the high ground," the swordsman acknowledged as they exchanged strikes.
"So long as I can stay up here and he stays down there, I'll have a chance to win," he thought as he swung his sword. He saw a chance when Piandao lunged forward with his sword in a thrust. He used his own sword to trap it and placed his foot on it to hold them in place. Piandao tried to get his sword free, but Sokka had trapped it. He finally got it free by pushing it up, off-balancing Sokka and making him slam into a stalk of bamboo. The others winced when they saw and heard that.
When Sokka looked up, he saw Piandao standing over him. He ducked his head to avoid a strike that sliced the stalk behind him in two. As the bamboo fell, he ran into the thicket behind him. "I need to get an advantage on him," he thought. "Maybe if I can block him with the bamboo, I can also distract him." He started cutting off stalks as he went through, letting them fall. As Piandao came through, he cut through them effortlessly. "Spirits, that didn't work!" Sokka thought. "I need a different tactic." He grabbed a stalk and pulled it along with him as he ran. When he released it, it swung back towards Piandao, who cut through it with ease.
"Yes, use your surroundings," he told Sokka. "Make them fight for you!" He cut through two more stalks Sokka tried to use against him.
Sokka ran out of the thicket with Piandao behind him. He took a quick look behind and saw that he had disappeared. "Where did he go?" he asked. He got his answer when Piandao's sword appeared right in front of his eyes. He leaned back to avoid it and slide forward. He stood up but stumbled forward. He stabbed his sword into the ground and then used his momentum to swing it back at Piandao, making dirt hit him in the eyes.
Piandao backed off. He tried to see but the dirt ensured that he couldn't. "Very resourceful," he told Sokka with approval. But if he couldn't see, then he would hear. He turned his head to listen.
"Okay, I've blinded him, but that doesn't mean he can't fight. He hears one sound from me and he has me," Sokka thought as he moved carefully around. "If I can get around him without making a sound, I should be able to…" He was so busy keeping his eyes on Piandao and trying to come up with a plan he didn't see the stick on the ground until he stepped on it and made it snap.
Piandao swerved his head to the noise and charge forward. He swung a strike and Sokka blocked it, but that was what he wanted. He quickly disarmed Sokka and with a swing of his sword, knocked him to the ground. As Sokka looked up from the ground, Piandao stood over him, his sword pointing at his face.
Aang, Katara and Toph leapt over the banister and charged forward. They stopped when Piandao withdrew his sword. "Excellent work, Sokka," he told him, making him confused. He signaled Fat, who threw the scabbard at him. With practiced movements, he held the sword directly in the path of the scabbard, sheathing it. "I think I'm a little old to be fighting the Avatar," he told the others pointedly.
They were surprised when he said that. "How did you know?" Aang asked him.
'Oh, I've been around a while. Pick things up." Fat came to him with a towel, which he used to clean his eyes. "Of course, I knew from the beginning that Sokka was Water Tribe. You might want to think of a better Fire Nation cover name. Try Lee, there's a million Lees," he suggested as he drank the cup Fat had given him.
"We know one," Sokka told him. "He's a bit…eccentric."
"Why would you agree to train someone from the Water Tribe?" Katara asked him.
He handed the cup back to Fat. "The way of the sword doesn't belong to any one nation. Knowledge of the arts belongs to us all," he told them as he handed his sword to Fat and walked over to where Sokka's sword had stuck into the ground. Pulling it out of the ground, he presented to Sokka, handle first. "Sokka, you must continue your training your own," he told him as he took the sword. "If you stay on this path, I know that one day you will become an even greater master then I am." They bowed to one another.
Sokka looked over his jian. He noticed an inscription on the blade. It was one he had seen before, and he was surprised to see it. "Abandon your fear. Don't give an inch. Advance and never stop. If you retreat you will age. Be afraid and you'll die," he read. "Master, how do you know this phrase?"
"It was my master who taught me that inscription. And yet, you have seen it before," Piandao commented, having seen the look in the Tribesman's eyes.
"Yeah, I have." But it seemed like a long time ago now.
"Well, I am surprised. Even if you are a Paragon, I never thought you would know about this inscription."
"Wait, how did you know I was a Paragon?" Sokka asked, shocked to hear such a thing come from him.
He smiled a little. "I saw the Medallion."
"Of course he saw it," he thought to himself, embarrassed for not realizing that simple fact. "Who was your master?" he asked with curiosity, his embarrassment fading away.
"He was a man from the other side of the world but was famous worldwide. To swordsmen, he was known as the Ken no Ryōshu (Lord of Swords). But his name was Kenji Uzumaki."
"You knew an Uzumaki?" Katara asked the swordsman, clearly surprised by the fact.
"Indeed, I did and I was proud to learn from him. He taught me everything he knew, including the art of the forges."
"He knew how to forge a weapon?" Aang asked, surprised. He would've thought that a swordsman would only know how to use a sword.
"Yes. The Uzumaki clan was among the greatest forgers in the world," Piandao explained. "You would've been hard-pressed to find a weapon that was equal to one forged by an Uzumaki. That inscription had been in the clan for as long as they could remember. To them, it was the vow they've always made in a battle. But my master had known it meant something else entirely."
"Did he tell you?" Sokka asked.
"No, the secret was meant for only one person to know. But he did entrust me with something." He took the scroll in Fat, who had retrieved it earlier and had it in hand. "When I was finished learning from my master, he gave me this scroll and told me to safeguard it. I was also told to pass it on to the student I thought worthy enough to keep it. He instructed me that it was only to be opened and read by another member of the Uzumaki clan. Now, I give it to you." He handed it to Sokka.
He took the scroll and examined it. It was old and slightly yellowed. He feared that if he handled it wrong, it would be ripped apart. It was tied off by a complex knot and the seal on the scroll was a red whirlpool. "Shouldn't you have given this to Naruto? It belongs to him by right," the Tribesman asked.
"I would have, had he been my student. But now, it is your care."
"Thank you, Master." They bowed once again to each other.
Zuko and Jin faced off in the training yard of the barracks. "You should surrender right now," Jin told him, confident in his victory. "It'll save you the humiliation." Zuko said nothing in reply. He simply waited for the Agni Kai to begin.
On the sidelines, Azula was watching with Naruto at her side. Mai, Ty Lee, and Kori did not come but Gaara, Kankurō, and Temari did. "I'm glad little Zuzu isn't rising to the bait," she commented. She would've thought that her brother would snap angrily at the general.
"He's grown use to the putdowns," Naruto said. "But I'm surprised at you, Azula."
"What do you mean?"
"Don't play coy. I watched you in the meeting. You looked like you would burn Jin down to crisp after that last remark." He had stopped her by placing a firm grip on her shoulder.
"When someone insults a member of the royal family, they insult the entire family," she told him.
He gave her a look. "Azula, be honest."
"…Fine. Zuko might not have been in the war for long. But when he was, he gave it his all. I am proud of that," she admitted. "He showed his worth and Jin belittled that. Had he not issued that challenge, I would have."
The gong rang. Zuko and Jin began to circle each other. They didn't attack. They were waiting for the other to attack first. "Are you afraid to attack, coward?" Jin taunted.
"Are you?" Zuko asked. Jin simply snarled and threw a fireball at him. He deflected it with ease. That earned him a barrage of fireballs, which he dodged and brushed aside with ease. "Is that it?"
"Don't mock me, brat!" Jin yelled. He bent a stream of fire at him. Zuko ducked beneath the stream and moved forward. When he got closed to Jin, he broke the stream and jumped high into the air. He bent an arc of fire at him, using his feet. It forced him back, but Zuko didn't press the advantage. He landed on his feet and then waited.
"Why isn't he taking attacking?" Azula asked from where she stood. "He had a perfect opportunity right there!"
"He hasn't figured out his enemy completely," Kankurō told her. "He's still seeing if there any more moves that Jin has and checking his reactions. Either that or he's just trying to piss him off."
"Is that you have to offer me?" Jin asked the prince with scorn. "Did you just hide behind the walls when Akawan was attacked?"
"No, but I understand why you hate the Dragon's Fangs. You were the commanding general of the reinforcements. You wanted that glory, didn't you? You wanted to be the hero of Akawan," Zuko said. "I guess you are like your father, a vain, selfish, egotistical, narcissistic, arrogant man who wants only to have his name glorified. Perhaps it was a good thing that Naruto killed him."
The son of Zhao howled in anger and fury. "DIE!" he screamed, attacking aggressively. He hurled fireball after fireball at Zuko, then bent streams, then whips, everything, and anything he could think to attack him. And yet, Zuko did nothing but dodge, parry and deflect the attacks. And yet, slowly but surely, he was making his way towards Jin. He took a step forward every time he practically brushed aside the attacks.
Meanwhile, Jin was getting tired. His continuous attacks were getting slower. That was when Zuko made his move. He used his legs to try and sweep Jin off of his feet. Jin saw what he was trying to do and backed away, but this was what Zuko wanted. He had broken Jin's roots and made his stance unbalanced. He pressed his advantage, forcing him back with controlled bursts of fire from both his hands and his feet. Finally, he knocked him with a fireball from his hand. He stood over him, looking at him.
"Go on then, kill me," Jin told him. "Kill me!" Zuko bent a fireball to the right of his head, the same thing he did to his father. "What? You don't have the stomach to end a life?!"
"This isn't the time for that, Jin," he told the general, lowering his hands. "There is still a war going on, and we need every general we have. This fight is over." He turned around and walked away.
Jin stood back and with a yell of rage, bent a fireball at his back. But to everyone's surprise, he swung back around and knocked the fireball away with a kick. And then, bringing his Yin and Yang energies that he had separated as he walked away back into one, he breathed lightning at Jin, sending him flying back and crashing into one of the walls. He tried to stand up, only to find Naruto's jian resting on his throat.
"General Jin," Ozai's voice rang out, everyone turned to face him. "Because of your disgraceful actions, you are stripped of your rank and are banished from the Fire Nation military. If you do not leave now, you will be killed." When Jin heard this, his face had a look of shock on it. As Naruto removed the jian from his throat, he stood up and stumbled out of the barracks, getting jeered by the crowd and being pelted by whatever they threw at him.
Ozai signaled a servant forward. "I want these plans copied and sent to all forces in the colonies. Tell them that this takes priority." The servant took the copy of the plans and bowed.
He walked away, only to stop when Zuko said "Wait."
"Yes, sir?" asked the servant, looking at the Scarred Dragon.
"When you have the plans copied, I want you to have a message from me taken with the copy that goes to Akawan."
"What is the message, sir?"
"That the only time I should have to come over there is to celebrate their victory against those idiotic rock-heads," he said with a small smile on his face.
The servant bowed to him. "Yes sir, I will make sure the message is written."
"Thank you." He walked into the barracks to get away from the crowds and changed back into his clothes. While he was in a corridor, he saw Yāo Jing waiting for him.
"Congratulations, little brother," she said to him, voice full of false praise.
"Get out of my way, Yāo Jing," he told her shortly.
"What, you're not going to say thanks?"
"Not when it's to the person I know orchestrated that entire thing."
"Whatever do you mean by that, little brother?" she asked with an innocent expression that they both knew was a fake one.
He grabbed by the shirt and slammed her into the wall, catching her by surprise. "I'm not an idiot, Yāo Jing," he growled at her. "I knew it was you who set this up. I have never had a problem with Jin until that meeting and I only know one person who can manipulate people to that degree. You were hoping he'd kill me in the Agni Kai, leaving you with one less obstacle to the throne."
"So, what if I was?" she said with a smug smirk on her face. "What are you going to do? Tell our father what I 'supposedly' did?"
"No, I don't have to." He returned the smirk. "You may have to sneak around to try and kill me and Azula, but all we'd have to do is order your death and tell Father you were plotting with the Earth Kingdom."
The smirk disappeared from his lips as she looked at him with outrage. "You wouldn't dare do that to another child of the Fire Lord!"
"You may be his child, but you're also the daughter of a whore. If Father hadn't taken you in, you would have been a whore as well." He released his grip on her. "You would do well to remember that, unless you want to ignite another succession war." He walked away.
Yāo Jing just stared at his back, her face murderous. Her right hand kept clenching and unclenching, creating, and extinguishing a flame in her palm at the same time.
The four of them walked out of the castle gate. Sokka's jian was now slung across his back and the scroll was safely tucked away in his bag. "Wait!" they heard Fat cry out. They turned around and saw him jogging towards them. "The Master wanted you do have this, as something to remember him by." He handed Sokka a small brown bag. He bowed to them, which they returned, and walked away.
Sokka undid the knot and pulled out what was inside. "It's a Pai Sho tile," he said, holding the tile between his fingers.
"The white lotus," Aang noted, looking at the tile as well. "Huh."
"What does it mean?" Katara asked.
"Something, I just don't know it," Sokka said. They heard the gates closed behind them, they turned to look at them and saw the lotus design on the gate. "Ooh, that reminds me!" He put the tile away and took out a small piece of the meteorite. "Toph, I thought you might like this since you've probably never had a chance to bend space earth before," he said to her, holding the piece out in offering.
She took the rock out of his hand. "Sweet!" she cheered. "Check this out." She bent the rock into a swirl, then into a star, and then into something that looked like it had been splattered against a wall.
"You know, I don't think there's such a thing as 'space earth,'" Katara said in slight protest. "If it's from space, then it's not really 'earth.'"
"Okay, then we'll call it the space rock," Sokka said as they walked away. "Must you ruin everything?"
"I can't believe I missed you," she muttered.
"Love ya too, sis."
End
Author's note: Thanks for all the reviews you've sent me. I had always hoped that I'd be able to hit quadruple digits.
So you've gotten a little backstory on Yāo Jing. I'm planning on expanding on that and explain the thing about her wanting to break Naruto. It's not sexually, so get your minds out of the gutter. It's more along the lines of being in control.
That scroll will be back as well as Kenji, though he will only be mentioned. When that comes around, some of the history of the Uzumaki clan will be explained.
If you're wondering about the part with Ozai having a proud smile, even though he is a Royal Flaming Asshole, he can have moments of being a parent. It's just a little more difficult. Actually, it's a lot more difficult.
I'll see you all next chapter!