Before they got to the town the Beifong family was said to live in, Zuko showed the others his bending. They could clearly see the wobble in the water, and his spirit light flickered badly. He didn't dare spiritbend fire, but he tried out his regular firebending. It, too, was suffering.
"It looks like there is a blockage in your chi," Iroh murmured. "Maybe Ty Lee's attack is still affecting you."
"No, it's not in my shoulder," Zuko replied. He immediately regretted saying that.
"You know where it is?!" Sokka snapped. "Why'd you make everyone worry? If you know where it is, just get it out."
"It's not that simple." Zuko turned and walked away.
Katara caught up to him. "Zuko. Tell me whatever you know about the blockage. I promise I won't jump down your throat. Knowing what's going on just helps me feel better."
Zuko sighed. "I feel something here." He placed a hand at the base of his ribs, below his heart and above his stomach. "And it spreads sometimes. Not like a stone in a river; more like a size-changing octopus squeezing vessels shut? I'm not great at metaphors."
"The stomach and heart are really important chi centers," Katara said. "It's affecting both of them?"
"Yeah."
"Do you remember when it first showed up? Any idea what caused it?"
"No. No idea."
Katara gave him a hug. "Don't worry. We'll find another healer. Everything will be okay."
Zuko hugged her back. "I told you something I'd rather not talk about. Fair's fair, right? Tell me about this vision of yours."
They let go. Katara stepped back. "It probably doesn't mean anything. I'm not sure. I don't even know what it was, really."
"Hey. If there's danger around, I want to know about it. I don't trust the Avatar's cheery 'one for all and all for one' daydreams. What's going on?"
Katara brushed a hair loop out of her face and sighed. "I saw…" She bit her lip. "I saw you. Drowning. In a pool of water." She tried to say more, but couldn't. She glanced up. Her eyes went wide. "Zuko? What's wrong?"
Zuko turned away to avoid her eyes, but his face was still chalk white and his expression still frozen in horror. He ran away. Oh no. No, no, no. Why did the swamp show her that? Why?! It's gone. It's in the past and it's gone and I never have to think about it ever again! He waited for a while, hoping she would leave. The water spirit had followed him, of course. Instead of a dragon, it took the form of two turtle seals who mimed calling to each other. How can it waste its time and powers on stupid skits?! Zuko returned to the campsite just to get away from it. The water spirit could only be counted on when his life was in danger, apparently. Even then, if there was anyone else around who could plausibly save him, it would sit back and let them do it. Even if that person was his mother. Even if saving him cost her her life.
Nobody bothered him. They knew better than to touch the seething rage that boiled just beneath his skin. People aren't reliable. Spirits aren't reliable. There is nobody in the entire world that I can trust. He saw blue clothing from the corner of his eye. Except for her.
.
Everyone was surprised when Zuko announced, before entering the Beifong family's town, that he was abandoning the water dragon. "I know it's salt water," he said. "I'll dump it on the ground, someplace where there's already nothing growing."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Sokka said, waving his hands. "That is so not important right now. How are you going to travel? Are you planning to get a ride on Appa? Because that's not happening. I remember what happened the last time we tried that. I remember everything."
"Yeah, I'm sure you do," Zuko snapped back. "I don't care. I'll split from you guys if I have to. I just can't stand to go out of my way, to give up my dignity, all for the sake of this thing!" He clenched his fists and glared at the water spirit. It nodded. It nuzzled him briefly on the top of his head, like a kiss. It flapped its fins once, then sat still, serious and unbothered.
"You're okay with this?" Aang asked the water dragon. It nodded. "Aw. I'll miss your games." He gave it a hug. It nuzzled him back.
"I see it," Sokka told Katara, sounding surprised. "That crazy swamp guy was onto something. The past really does resemble the future. The angry jerk is fighting with the water spirit, getting snappy and demanding a ride on Appa. That's exactly what happened before!"
"I'm not demanding anything," Zuko snapped.
"Zuko!" Iroh stepped in. "Slow down, Nephew. Think through your decisions. The water spirit helped you during a time of crisis, and it is willing to help you now. Why would you throw that away?"
"It let Mom die."
Everybody stopped talking. Even Momo was silent. Zuko tolerated their eyes on him for a few seconds. Then he crossed his arms and glared up at the dragon. It nodded.
"What happened with your mom?" Sokka asked. His voice was soft, sympathetic.
"The water spirit could have done something," Zuko said. "But it didn't. It thought keeping its own existence secret was a higher priority than my mother's life."
"I was away when your mother disappeared," Iroh said for everyone else's benefit. "I heard that she left the palace."
"Do you really believe that, Uncle? She loved me. She wouldn't have left me there unless she had no choice."
Katara nudged Sokka's elbow. They shared a look. He nodded. "Okay. I get why you don't want it around anymore. Find someplace to dump it, and we'll figure something out. Who knows, maybe now that you're actually talking about your problems, it'll go differently."
"Talking about my feelings is the price I have to pay to ride with you guys?" Zuko asked.
"Yeah," Katara told him.
Zuko studied her. He only needed one second to decide. "Deal."
Appa lowed. "It'll be different this time," Aang told him.
"I…still feel guilty for the way I treated you all like trash at the North Pole," Zuko said. "I won't let that happen again. I promise."
"You make lots of promises you aren't capable of keeping," Katara shot back. "Are you actually capable of opening up your heart?"
"I don't know, but I need the chance to try."
She smiled. "Good answer. Okay, everyone. How are we going to approach the Beifongs?"
Zuko and the water dragon slipped away while the rest of them strategized. Katara kept an eye out, and noticed him coming back alone. "What's the plan?" he asked.
"I'm the Avatar, and I need an earthbending teacher," Aang said. "They're powerful and important people, so they probably know someone really good. Even if they don't, I just happened to be in the area and I wanted to pay my respects."
"That's our cover story," Sokka said. "We'll use that to get ourselves invited into their house. While we're there, we'll look for any sign of the girl he saw. We'll find out who she is, where she is, and ask her to be his teacher."
"I've been doing some planning of my own," Katara announced. "After we find her, why don't we take a not too short but not too long flight to somewhere remote where she can teach Aang? It'll be a test flight to see how well you fit in. There's your chance to try."
"Okay," Zuko said. "I'm in."
"Maybe you can help," Aang said. "I've learned a lot about how to talk to important people, but I've never talked to people so important that half the Earth Kingdom knew them. Any advice?"
Zuko smiled. He hadn't smiled in a long time, Katara realized. At least a full week. Zuko said, "If your story is that you just happened to be in town, you can't walk straight up to their door. You have to wander around first, pretend to be legitimately sightseeing. Ask around for earthbending teachers. You can't just tell them your story - you have to sell it. A powerful family like that probably has spies all around town."
"If we say we're tourists, we should actually be tourists," Sokka said. "Got it."
.
That was precisely what they did. "Go on, Momo, make mischief," Aang told the lemur. They followed Momo to someone selling lychee nuts, and bought some. Momo ate half the bag, then flew away to investigate a cart. Someone's cat hissed at him. He hissed back. Aang picked him up, apologizing to the cat's owner. Antics like that surely put any spies at ease.
Someone noticed that they were clearly new to town. He came up to them out of nowhere in the middle of the street. "Psst, psst. Hey, you kids like earthbending? You like throwing rocks? Then check out Master Yu's earthbending academy!" He gave them a brochure and walked away.
Aang took a good look at it. "Look, there's a coupon on the back. The first lesson is free."
"It would be strange if we didn't take him up on it," Katara said.
They went straight to the academy. The first lesson was going to be approximately an hour long. They wished Aang well and stood outside the front gate. "Now what?" Zuko asked. "How do we find out about the Beifongs in a way that seems plausible?"
"They don't have their crest everywhere, so that's out," Sokka whispered. "We might have to get lucky."
"Luck can't be counted on."
"Maybe not for you, but it works for us. You'll see," Sokka said, waving a hand dismissively.
Iroh suggested they split up and meet back at the gate in an hour. That was what they did. He and Zuko went sightseeing, and Katara and Sokka checked out random places. Sokka found a bag that he and Momo both liked and bantered with Katara about its cost. Momo settled the debate by sitting in the bag, rendering it unsellable. Katara declared it Momo's bag and told Sokka smugly that he had to carry the lemur from now on. Sokka shouldered the bag, with Momo in it, and scolded the lemur. Momo blinked back, a perfect innocent.
When they returned to the gate an hour later, Zuko and Iroh didn't have any new possessions, but Zuko looked much more relaxed. "Did you find anything?" Katara asked.
"We did!" Iroh answered with a huge smile. He didn't bother to speak quietly as he told them, "Would you believe that half this town is owned by one family? They must be very rich."
"Wow!" Katara exclaimed. "That's, uh, a lot. This is a big town."
A bell rang, announcing the end of class. They moved aside. Students flowed out the front gate. Aang came out looking defeated. "Not the teacher for me," he said.
But just then, before anyone could tell him the good news, a pair of students came out. "I think the Boulder is gonna win back the belt at Earth Rumble 6," one of them said.
"You sure? He's gonna have to fight his way past the best earthbenders in the world to even have a shot," his friend argued back.
Aang shot his friends a look and ran after the pair. "Excuse me, but where is this earthbending tournament?" he asked them.
"It's on the island of Nunya," one of them replied. "Nunya business!" They laughed and walked away.
Sokka laughed. "I have to remember that one!"
Zuko did not laugh. "We already found a plausible lead to the Beifongs," he whispered through gritted teeth.
Aang wilted. "I'm supposed to be looking for earthbending teachers. It would be weird if I didn't go to this tournament."
"It's okay," Katara told him. "Sometimes you need to take the long way around to get what you want. I'll find out where this tournament is." She ran after the students. Zuko hissed. Iroh told him Katara was correct, and he needed to be patient. Sokka complained about his new job as lemur-ferrier, while Momo sat in the bag looking noble. Hardly any time passed before Katara came back. "You ready to find an earthbending teacher?" she asked Aang. "Because we're going to Earth Rumble 6!"
"How'd you get them to tell you?" Aang asked.
"Oh, a girl has her ways," Katara replied cryptically.
"Please tell me we don't have to waste another entire week waiting for this tournament," Zuko said.
"We don't. It's being held tonight."
.
That night, they snuck out of town. One of the surrounding mountains had a hole in it that, on this night, was lit up. The mountain turned out to be hollow. A gigantic space in the middle of it had been hollowed out to build an arena out of stone. An enormous ring with space for thousands of people surrounded a huge rectangle with Earth Kingdom symbols carved into all sides. Every member of the party, except for Momo asleep in his bag, was impressed. "The dueling arena back home was pretty big, but not this big," Zuko said as they looked for seats. "And certainly not hollowed out of a mountain."
"Money well spent!" Sokka said with a grin.
"Hey look, front row seats! I wonder why nobody else is sitting here?" Aang asked.
Rocks exploded out of the rectangular arena, answering his question. A man raised himself up on a pillar, then lowered it again. The crowd cheered and clapped. Momo woke up and leaned out to take a look. "Welcome to Earth Rumble 6!" the man called in a powerful voice that filled the enormous space. "I am your host, Xin Fu!"
"A bunch of guys chucking rocks at each other! Love it!" Sokka squeed.
"The rules are simple! Just knock the other guy out of the ring, and you win!" Xin Fu called out. He sounded very happy about his job. He used earthbending to leap up onto a tall post from which he could oversee the fighting. He rang a bell and announced, "Round One: the Boulder versus the Big, Bad Hippo!" As he called their names, both competitors appeared onstage. The Boulder was a large, muscular man, the sort that anyone would draw if asked to draw the ideal earthbender. The Hippo was enormous, but because of fat, not muscle. Still, his sheer size was imposing.
"Ugh," Zuko exclaimed. "Just a bunch of big people hitting each other really hard. At least Agni Kais involve strategy and skill."
The Boulder stepped forward. "Listen up, Hippo. You may be big, but you ain't bad. The Boulder's gonna win this in a landslide." His use of gestures and voice set the crowd roaring. Zuko relaxed and admitted his showmanship was impressive. The Boulder would fit right in on a political stage.
"Hippo mad!" the other guy yelled, planting both feet firmly. The Boulder sent several rocks at him. The Hippo didn't even move. The rocks broke apart on his body. He started jumping, using his enormous weight to rock the platform. The Boulder stumbled backward, nearly falling off the edge. But he grabbed an earthen slab and threw it at the Hippo, stopping the Hippo in his tracks. Then, with a great deal of effort, he lifted up the earth beneath the Hippo and threw the enormous man over the side!
"Nice moves," Katara said.
"Just muscle," Zuko retorted.
"Woo! Yeah!" Sokka cheered.
"Next match: the Boulder versus Fire Nation Man!" Xin Fu announced.
Zuko started to cough. When he was doubled over, nearly dying, the others finally realized he was laughing. A fat man waving a Fire Nation flag walked onto the stage to resounding boos from the audience. "Is. He. Serious?" Zuko gasped. "An earthbending tournament?"
It wasn't clear if Fire Nation Man was even an earthbender. He started to sing the Fire Nation anthem. Audience members threw rocks at him. Sokka was one of them. "Boo! Go back to the Fire Nation!" he yelled.
Zuko was no longer laughing. Now he cringed. "That man is embarrassing the whole country!" He cringed harder as the Boulder effortlessly defeated Fire Nation Man, raising himself up on an enormous pillar purely for the showmanship of making his opponent plead for mercy. He executed a knee dive, sending Fire Nation Man sailing through the air like a child's ragdoll.
"Oh yeah! The Boulder knows how to put the hurt in the dirt! Woo!" Sokka yelled.
"Oh no why did he have to show his face here please no," Zuko pleaded, in great pain.
Someone rode a badger mole across the arena, smoothing it back to flatness. Aang perked up. "If there are badger moles here, there might be someone to teach me!" he exclaimed. That someone, if they existed, did not appear for a long time. Challenger after challenger appeared, none of them able to defeat the Boulder. Sokka was over the moon with joy. Katara and Zuko started to get bored of the endless victory. Aang slumped.
But before the endless victory could get too dull, Xin Fu took the stage again. "Now, the moment you've all been waiting for," he announced. "The Boulder versus your champion - the Blind Bandit!"
Everybody sat all the way up. The Blind Bandit was a young girl. "Is that her, Aang?" Katara asked.
"I think so," Aang said. "And she's blind, like badger moles are blind! It's just like we thought! Someone who masters earthbending the same way badger moles do: because she needs to in order to live! It all fits!"
"Why would the daughter of a powerful and rich family be fighting in a dirty underground tournament?" Zuko asked. "That doesn't make any sense."
"The Blind Bandit's going down!" Sokka yelled, still caught up in relentless Boulder-fever.
The competitors took their places. "The Boulder feels conflicted about fighting a young blind girl," the Boulder said.
"Sounds to me like you're scared, Boulder," she shot back.
Her jibe hit home. "The Boulder's over his conflicted feelings, and now he's ready to bury you in a rockalanche!"
"Whenever you're ready, the Pebble!" She threw her head back and laughed.
"It's her," Aang said. "I know that laugh."
"It's on!" the Boulder declared. He took a step forward. The Blind Bandit began to move. As the Boulder took another step, she swept her foot across the arena. A ridge of rock snaked toward him. It caught his descending foot and swept it aside, forcing him into a split. Every male member of the audience cringed as the Boulder cried out. With him immobilized by pain, the Blind Bandit created earthen spikes that threw him out of the arena, sending him smashing into the opposite wall.
Xin Fu announced, "Your winner, and still the champion - the Blind Bandit!"
Sokka cried out in despair. Everyone else smiled. "That's definitely her," Katara agreed.
Xin Fu leaped down into the arena. He held up a sack of gold pieces and announced that it belonged to anyone who could defeat the Blind Bandit. The arena fell dead silent. He looked around dramatically. "What? No one dares face her?"
"First stop tomorrow morning: the Beifong family residence," Katara announced.
Nobody faced the Blind Bandit. She took the belt and the gold pieces and everyone went home.