Author's Note:Hello everyone! Been a little while, hope you guys enjoy this chapter and haven't been waiting too long!
~Chapter 4 Start~
"Wow, this is amazing to watch." Katara gasped as she pointed at the sky.
Looking up I saw the star lit sky explode into a flurry of lights. I gaped in awe, watching as a meteor broke down into hundreds of shooting stars. It was unlike anything I had ever seen before as the world I had come from was so polluted. The stars never shone this brightly before. Much less burned this intensely.
"It is, isn't it. They don't happen often, but when they do they sure are beautiful." I agreed.
"Is the sky the same in your time?" Katara asked, not bothering to look away from the sky.
"It is, but all of the light pollution makes stars harder to see. They are so much prettier now than in my time." I answered with a soft smile.
It was one of those rare moments I had where I found myself happy to be here. In a lot of ways there was pain, but as time went on I found happiness and joy as well. Meeting Iroh, Aang, Katara, Sokka, and Toph, getting to know them, made it easier to forget what I had lost. Less and less I found myself filled with the empty feeling of loss. Instead, I found a different warm feeling blossom from my chest. I felt blessed to be here, with them, in small moments like this. It made me wonder if the longer I was here, the more often I would feel this way.
"Kind of making you realize how insignificant we are." Sokka said off handedly.
"Eh, you've seen nothing one, you've seen it a thousand times." Toph shrugged.
"Whoa!"
"Ooo!"
"Oh man!"
We were all exclaimed as one grew brighter and bright, soaring towards us.
"You've never not seen anything like this!" Sokka exclaimed.
It was impossible not to be awestruck as we watched the different colours flash through the sky. The contrast of the vast blue-black of the night seemed to part around the fiery space rocks. I had seen such instances on T.V and computer screens before, but they had nothing on seeing it in person. I had never seen fire burn with so many colours before, and knew logically it was due to our atmosphere and the different minerals and liquids frozen to the meteor. Still, it did nothing to stop the dancing feeling of fire hitting my fingertips and blaze inside me.
"You know, in my time it was common to make a wish, we called them wishing stars, or shooting stars." I smiled, unable to avoid making a small wish of my own; to feel this good all the time.
"People made wishes on falling rocks?" Sokka asked with a raised eyebrow. "I thought your time was all about science and reason."
"It is, but it's impossible to fully shake superstitions and old folk lore. We carry it with us into the future as almost reminded of where we came from." I said with a tilt of my head and a small shrug.
"Do people really believe a wish on a star can come true?" Toph asked, not looking anywhere in particular.
"Some, usually children. Mostly you just do it for...fun. Like blowing your candles out on a birthday cake." I said, finally tearing my eyes away from the sky.
"Birthday...cake?" Sokka asked.
"Nevermind, I'll show you sometime if we survive till your next birthday." I joked with a wide smile.
"Did you make a wish?" Aang asked.
"Yeah, I did." I said as my smile morphed into a grin.
"What did you wish for?" Sokka asked, nosey as ever.
"If I tell you, it won't come true." I answered with a roll of my eyes.
"How is not telling anyone supposed to help your wish come true? The future sounds weird, no offence." Sokka scoffed.
"None taken, it is pretty weird." I said feeling a wave of nostalgia hit me.
Another meteor hit our atmosphere and burned up into purple and red. We all gasped, minus Toph who continued to sit there bored. This time, the rock looked as if it was heading towards us. I knew perception was probably making it look that way, but it was closer to us than any of the other long gone meteors.
"Oh wow, that one might actually hit the planet." I gasped.
The meteor flew right above us before crashing into the earth not far from a town. The night sky was lit up as the trees and other plants were set aflame. I gasped at the sight, not quite understanding that yes, large hot rocks rocketing towards earth were rather dangerous. In fact, the fire they caused was even worse, and ever spreading.
"Well, shit. Smokey the bear would be pissed." I deadpanned.
"We gotta check it out. It hit near a town." Aang said as we all mounted Appa.
We flew closer, soaring above the area to survey it. What we found was a massive crater filled with a fast spreading fire. As we dipped too close I could feel the heat graze my skin causing my nostrils to flare. We flew down nearby, where it was safe and quickly rushed to put it out.
"The fire is gonna destroy the town!" Katara gasped.
"Not if we can stop it." Aang said.
"There's a creek there. I'll bend the water onto the fire." Katara said, taking Appa's reins from Aang.
"Toph, Mira, let's make a trench to keep the fire from coming any closer." Aang suggested.
"Right." I said as I rushed forward and planted my feet into the ground.
Pushing my hands down and then away from one another I created trenches around the fire about six feet wide with Toph. I could feel my brow begin to sweat from exertion. My earthbending, while getting better, was still rather hard. Every other form of bending was a lot more light feeling. Connecting to the earth felt solid, hard, and heavy. Each movement was a strain causing me to realize why so many earthbenders were muscled; earthbending was physically hard work. It was as if I was pulling the earth up using my own muscles, despite the fact I knew it was really my bending doing all the work.
"What should I do?" Sokka asked, reminding me of a baby bambi lost in the forest.
"Keep an eye on Momo." Aang offered as he rushed to join me and Toph.
"So what, I'm just a lemur-sitter?" Sokka complained as Momo landed on his head. "There, there. Feel better?"
I snorted as I heard that, but had little time to dwell on it as I worked to race against the fire. Katara soon returned with the water and sent it raining down onto the flames. Toph, Aang, and I were folding the earth to snuff the remaining flames out as Sokka sat and watched with a frown. I wanted to say something encouraging, but felt myself stumble and almost drop the large slab of earth Toph and I were bending.
"Pay attention!" Toph chastised me causing the tips of my ears to heat up.
"Sokka, stand clear!" Aang shouted as he bent more water onto the flames.
"Right, stand clear. Got it." Sokk sighed as he moved away.
Aang then blew the rest of the water out in a huge bubble carefully. Once it was hovering over the center of the remaining fire, it burst. Water rushed down, some of it hitting Sokka as Momo flew away to avoid it. I winced in sympathy as Sokka spluttered, taking a clumsy step towards us before he slipped and fell.
"Good work, everybody." Aang praised.
It began to snow from where Aang had cooled and burst the water. I laughed as I caught some on my tongue. Sokka was covered with it as he sat up with an unimpressed expression.
~Break~
It was late morning by the time we made it to the town. As we passed through the gates we hit a small crowd of people milling about. I couldn't help but smile as some of the villagers greeted us. The air was fresh with an almost damp scent from the morning dew. A smile was stretched across my face as I walked past a few children playing with a leather ball.
"It's weird, seeing them so carefree and..normal, isn't it?" Katara asked in a hushed tone.
I turned to her, startled out of my own thoughts as I looked around. The people here reminded me of the people I had met all over the different nations. They even reminded me of the people in my own time. It was surreal to see them acting just like...us, especially when for so long the only experience all of us had with the Fire Nation were with soldiers. Well, all of us except Aang that is.
"It is, it's hard to imagine anyone from the Fire Nation being so...soft, so normal." I said, lacking anything else to say.
Normal, I didn't even know what was normal anymore. I knew what was my regular, I knew what was Katara's regular, but normal? I wasn't sure any of us could claim that anymore.
"Yeah...before it was so easy to just see the entire Fire Nation as enemies, but now...after everything, I'm not so sure anymore." Katara admitted, her head tilted down.
Her lips were pressed in a thin line, her mind spinning wheels. I couldn't blame her though, I was wrestling with similar thoughts myself. Something bumped my leg and I looked down seeing a maroon leather ball sitting at my feet. Hearing thundering footsteps I looked up to see two small children standing before me. One was giving me a wary look as the other gave me a gapped-tooth smile.
"Can you pass us our ball, miss?" The smiling one asked.
I heard Katara chuckle as she knelt down, face to face with the child. She picked up the ball and held it out.
"Here you go." She said with a soft smile.
"Thanks pretty lady!" The child gaped as he took the ball.
Katara stood up as we watched the children rush off towards their waiting group. Sokka, Aang, and Toph were well ahead of us at this point. Katara turned back towards our slowly disappearing group and nodded her head towards them.
"C'mon, I'm sure everyone is hungry." Katara said as she led us back towards our group.
We entered a rather boisterous restaurant, Sokka rubbing his tummy as he looked at the different sizzling meats. I snorted, finding Sokka's love of food rather amusing. How long had it been since we had been able to enjoy food just for the sake of it?
"These people have no idea how close they were to getting toasted last night." Aang spoke as we sat down.
"Yeah, the worst thing about being in disguise is we don't get the hero worship anymore. I miss the love." Toph sighed.
"I never got the love, it would be nice to see what that's like." I laughed as I perched my chin in my palm.
"Boo-hoo, poor heroes." Sokka brooded, staring off the balcony with a somber look.
"What's your problem? You haven't even touched your smoked sea slug." Katara asked.
"It's just, all you guys can do this awesome bending stuff, like putting out forest fires, flying around, making other stuff fly around...I can't fly around, okay? I can't do anything." Sokka deflated.
"That's not true. No one can read a map like you." Katara countered.
"Katara is right. You don't need to be able to bend to be strong. You have been getting really good at your swordplay." I complimented him.
"I can't read at all!" Toph added.
"Yeah, and who keeps us laughing with sarcastic comments all the time? I mean, look at Katara's hair, right? What's up with that?" Aang attempted to joke.
"What? What's wrong with my hair?" Katara panicked as she began to pet it.
"Nothing, I was just trying to..." Aang began to backtrack.
"Look, I appreciate the effort, but the fact is, each of you is so amazing and so special, and I'm not. I still have so much to learn about fighting, while Mira, a literal Avatar, has swords AND bending down pat. I'm just the guy in the group who's regular." Sokka said as Katara came to sit beside him.
"I'm sorry you're feeling down, but I hope you know none of us see you that way," Katara tried to explain, "I know what will make you feel better."
"You do?" Sokka asked with a sceptical look.
~Break~
"Shopping!" Sokka clapped excitedly as we entered a weapons shop.
He began to look around at what they offered worth a big happy smile. I couldn't help but smile myself as I watched him gravitate towards some spears. He began to brush his finger against the tip before withdrawing his hand with a wince. I giggled as he put his finger in his mouth, shooting me a glare. He moved away to something less sharp and looked around.
"Maybe a little something to reinvigorate my battling. Hey, how about these?" Sokka asked, holding up a pair of nunchucks.
"I'm not sure those are the best weapons to learn on the fly..." I started to say as Sokka began playing with them.
"Huh, hoi, ha ha, cho! Smack-a-dacka-doo! Whoo ah! Eyah!" Sokka said, making strange sound effects as he swung them.
He finally stopped when he smacked himself on the forehead with them.
"I warned you." I giggled again.
"Ok, how about a halberd?" Sokka asked, grabbing one and swinging it around.
"I am fond of them, but are you sure you want to switch to an entirely new weapon type?" I asked.
"Oh come on, how hard could it be?" He said, swinging it around and twisting it over his head.
It flew away and he walked off whistling. He grabbed a club next and I wasn't sure that was such a good idea as I heard the halberd smash into a display stand behind us.
"How about this?" He asked as he dragged it into view.
"Can you even lift it?" I asked.
"I'm...trying..." Sokka panted as he struggled to lift the club.
Next he tried dual blades. He walked around like a toy soldier, slashing down. It almost seemed like a poor attempt to copy what he had seen Fire Nation soldiers do.
"Uhh, you kind of have to use them like..." I tried to say as Sokka got the blades stuck together and hid it behind a rack of spears.
Next he tried a chain, which he ended up tangled in. I began to feel exasperation hit me, wishing desperately for Sokka to sit still long enough for me to actually talk to him. At least the chain accomplished half of that.
"Maybe you should stick with something familiar?" I suggested as I untangled him.
It was then his eyes lit up as he saw a single one-handed sword sitting inside a display cabinet.
"What about that?" He whispered.
"Let's check it out." I smiled as we walked over to it.
"Ooo, that's what Sokka's talking about." Sokka drooled as he touched the golden dragon on the scabbard.
"You have a good eye. That's an original from Piandao, the greatest sword master and maker in Fire Nation history. He lives in the big castle up the road from here." The shopkeeper said as he walked over to us.
"That's it. That's what you needed all along, Sokka." Aang gasped.
"A sword?" He asked.
"Not the sword, a master." Aang clarified.
"He's right. I'm not a master, not even close. My time is mostly spent on learning the rest of the elements, a master of your own would be amazingly helpful." I agreed.
"Yeah, we've all had masters to help us get better. You should see if you can study with Piandao." Aang said.
"That's a great idea. I could've never gotten to where I am without Master Pakku. Everyone needs a teacher." Katara spoke.
"Indeed, without Iroh I wouldn't be able to do half the things I can do." I nodded.
"I learned from badgermoles. They don't talk, but they're still good teachers" Toph added.
"It would be nice to be a master sword fighter. Alright, I'll talk to him." Sokka relented.
~Break~
Without Sokka we were undoubtedly lost. We were now laying in a circle trying to come up with ideas on what to do. So far, the last hour had been filled with 'ums' and 'tell us something from your world'. I was honestly running out of material, and Toph was still badgering me to tell her what YOLO meant.
"What should we do today?" Aang asked for the third time.
"I'm tapped out. I already picked my toes, twice." Toph responded.
"Twice?" Aang said with a raise of his brow.
"The first time was for cleaning, but the second time's just for the sweet picking sensation." Toph explained.
"Sokka's in charge of the schedule. I'm not sure what we should be doing." Katara admitted.
"Plus, it's so hot today." Toph said as she picked her nose.
"How hot is it?" Aang asked.
"I don't know. Real hot?" She responded.
"It-it's so hot, it's so hot, Momo is shedding like Appa. Huh? Huh?" Katara tried to joke as she sat up.
"Boo." I responded, cupping my hands around my mouth for effect.
"I guess the jokes don't run in the family." Aang sighed.
"Oh, everyone's a critic." Katara muttered as she flopped her head back onto the ground.
~Break~
"Must we really meditate? I already learned how to do that." I muttered as I sat crossed-legged from Aang, one eye open.
"I know, but that was older-me who taught you, plus it's easier to stick with meditating as a ritual. It's been ages since I've been able too." Aang answered, eyes still closed and a small guilty smile on his face.
"Fair enough." I said, closing my open eye and focusing on the task at hand.
It was hard to avoid thinking, in fact I think people mistake meditating for falling asleep because the point isn't always enlightenment or thinking about nothing. Sometimes it was a way to center yourself, to figure out your own messy mind. For me it was more a way to organize my scattered thoughts in a mind even more jumbled.
"Today we will be working on moving with the air." Aang said, startling me from my thoughts.
"Moving with the air...and how will I do that?" I asked.
"I will be sending our busts of wind at you to keep you from reaching me. You'll need to use the momentum of the wind and bend it to move you back towards me until you reach me. You cannot simply avoid the air and walk towards me, you need to use each gust to travel." Aang explained with a goofy grin.
"Wow, not pulling any punches are you." I gaped with several small slow blinks.
"You aren't a beginner, just with airbending. I don't think I need to baby you." Aang said with a small shrug.
"That...is probably the nicest thing any teacher has ever said to me." I laughed, my anxiety blowing out of me.
"Ready?" Aang asked as he stood and walked a few feet from me.
"As ready as I'll ever be." I shrugged, taking my place across from him.
The first gust of air twisted me around and knocked me painfully onto my side. I groaned as Aang asked if I was okay. I merely raised one air, waving him off and giving a shaky thumbs up. Never thought I'd miss training with Toph, that was for sure.
~Break~
The days stretched on for us as we waited for Sokka to return from his sword lessons. It was strange how much desperation was born out of sheer boredom. Katara had cleaned the camp three times before finally breaking. She rushed into Sokka's rucksack and fished out his maps as well as notebook. She began flipping through it, her finger skimming the map as she traced some invisible path.
"So, where are we going next? We're starting from here." Katara said as she pointed towards a town on Sokka's map.
"No, we're over on this island." Aang corrected, pointing further south on the map from Katara's finger.
"Uh...I was pretty sure we were over here, because of the crescent shaped island we initially landed on..." I trailed off, pointing to somewhere completely different.
I wasn't sure what kind of desperation I had hit to join in with this futile plan. Even if we did correctly find where we were on the map, there was little we could do with that information. Sokka was the one with the plan after all, and none of us knew where we were meeting his father and his fleet of ships.
"You noodle-brains don't know what you're doing. I miss Sokka." Toph sighed.
"Oh! I got one! If you miss him so much, why don't you marry him? Katara laughed as Toph rolled over.
"Double boo." I said, too tired to bother saying much else.
The camp was filled with silence until a fly flew by. Aang took that moment to blow it again and frown. He turned towards me and out a small gust of air.
"Want to train?" He asked.
Memories of me kissing dirt repeatedly filled my mind, not really but what else was there to really do?
~Break~
This time my attempts were more fruitful than the last time. After the first successful bending attempt, I did manage to make it to Aang, sort of. I had managed to use the momentum, as instructed, but hadn't thought much about aiming. I hit a tree at full speed, managing to take the brunt of the impact with my forearms. I was left dazed and staring up at a concerned Aang.
"I may have forgotten to teach you how to aim." He said nervously.
I couldn't help it and burst into raunchous laugher at his statement. Tilting my head to look into Aang's eyes I gave him a soft smile.
"I've mastered fire, water, and a bit of earth. I should know to aim, yet I didn't. This one was on me." I explained.
"Still..." Aang trailed off, his and reaching out for me.
Grasping his hand I let him heave me to my feet. He stepped back rubbing his neck awkwardly. I simply walked past him, taking my original spot.
"Again." I declared, my arms up and ready to aim this time.
Aang smiled and nodded his head, his own hands raising as he sent out another gust of air. This time, I knew I could do it. I had figured out how to connect with the air, reach out and feel it as it tied almost to my fingertips. Like a long lost sense of friend, I bent my way towards Aang, managing two this time before I fell onto my ass. I smiled up at Aang, feeling a determination I hadn't felt in a long while.
~Break~
When we returned to camp I walked towards Katara, a blossoming black eye apparent on my face. In the end I had made it to Aang, however I hadn't learned how to slow myself down yet so we had smacked right into one another. In the scuffle, Aang's elbow hit my eye causing said injury. Katara rused over, her hands already working to heal my injury.
"What happened?" Katara asked, looking worried.
Aang began to open his mouth to answer, but I beat him to it with a fierce smile.
"Success." I answered.
~Break~
After all the excitement of my so called success, we had all settled around in a circle again. Half-hearted conversation ensued, rolling back to me telling stories once again. Of course, our conversation eventually circled to how war was in my time, and how people fought.
"You guys sure you want to go down this road?" I asked.
"If people from your time came back, who knows what they brought back with us. It might be good to know." Katara answered before anyone else could.
"Okay...well, I just want to preface this with the fact that no matter what, cruel people exist," I said, my tongue moving to wet my lips before I began. "We learned how to make weapons, beyond arrows and melee weapons. You already know about guns, but we've also made weapons that also electrocute people, we've made vehicles with weapons on them. Some guns, but others...they use explosives. Imagine firing a large enough blast of destruction comparable to Azula with the flick of a switch.
"Most weapons don't even require a person to be there anymore. Airstrikes, flying machines in the sky that can drop bombs or fire guns. Missile strikes that send the weapon across the world to destroy whole cities. We've poisoned the earth with our war..."
"That sounds awful..." Katara said as she gave me a sad look.
"They poisoned the earth?" Aang asked.
"Yeah, with radiation and dangerous chemicals..." I said, trailing off.
"Could they have brought any of those kinds of weapons with them?" Katara asked the heavy question that had been looming over me since I had gotten here.
"I don't know." I said, the words burning my lips as they passed.
~Break~
I wasn't sure how long it had been that we had lapsed into silence, but my answer seemed to only kill the conversation, not spur it. Next thing I knew was a blanket of darkness that swept over my mind. Somewhere in my restless thoughts my tired body had found sleep. I wasn't sure if anyone else had been sleeping, but the next thing I knew was Toph shouting.
"Sokka's coming!" Toph shouted, startling us all from our nap.
We all sat up in excitement. I rubbed the sleep from my eyes as I stumbled to my feet.
"Hey, guys. What are you doing?" Sokka asked, eying us curiously.
"Sokka!"
"You're back!"
"Thank god!"
"We missed you so much!"
We all shouted as we enveloped him in a group hug.
"Say something funny!" Aang demanded.
"Funny how?" Sokka asked.
We all started laughing, except for Toph.
"What's their deal?" Sokk asked as he looked at her.
"I don't know. They missed you or something. I didn't care." Toph said as she turned away.
"Lies!" I hissed, pointing at Toph.
She earthbend me so I was no longer pointing at her so I settled for a glare instead.
"Thanks, that warms my heart. Anyway, I need some help." Sokka said.
~Break~
We approached the crater the meteor had caused, Sokka's request still on my mind. He had wanted to have us help him forge his own sword, out of the space rock. In the center was a large piece of said space rock, sparkling up at us. We helped Sokka move it out of the hole and roll it towards Piandoa's place. Aang, Sokka, Katara, and I pushed the rock up as Toph helped bend it. Once we got it to the gates, Sokka rushed forward and knocked on them. Piandao opened and stepped outside.
"Who's this?" He asked, looking at us.
"Oh, these are my friends. Just other good Fire Nation folks. Do you think we can make a sword out of a meteorite?" Sokka explained.
"We'll make a sword unlike any other in the world." Piandao declared.
I watched Piandao carefully, unsure how to take his calculating gaze. It didn't appear as if Sokka was all that convincing, yet Paindao didn't seem to care. I watched him until I couldn't see him anymore, moving the meteor towards the forge he was leading us towards.
~Break~
It took all day and night to make the sword. Sokka worked tirelessly and never left the smithy. We were welcomed in as guests and were for the most part resting and occasionally checking in on Sokka. It was strange how calm everything had been, I had never known for things to go this smoothly before. But, it was better to accept it than to draw further attention to our strange situation. It was near breakfast when we got the news that Sokka's sword was finished. Now that the sword was finally finished, we were seated before Piandao as he spoke to Sokka.
"Sokka, when you first arrived, you were so unsure. You even seemed down on yourself. 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 skill that impressed me. No, it certainly wasn't your skills. You showed something beyond that. Creativity, versatility, intelligence. These are the traits that define a great swordsman," Piandao spoke as he drew Sokka's pitch black blade. "And these are the traits that define you."
Piandao sheathed the sword once more as Sokka looked down ashamedly. I began to chew on my bottom lip, unsure what was going through Sokka's head. I had never known the boy to be dishonest in his life and I could tell it had been eating away at him for awhile now.
"You told me you didn't know if you were worthy, but I believe that you are more worthy than any man I have ever trained." Piandao declared as he looked down on Sokka with pride.
"I'm sorry, master. You're wrong. I am not worthy. I'm not who you think I am. I'm not from the Fire Nation. I'm from the Southern Water Tribe." Sokka confessed.
Our faces grew from surprised to grim as we watched Sokka blow our entire cover. If I had known his guilt was going to oust us I would have...done what? It's not like I could cover his mouth and run away. All we could do now was hope Piandao would let us leave, or that we were strong enough to fight our way out.
"I lied just so I could learn swordsmanship from you. I'm sorry." Sokka bowed, giving the sword back.
"I'm sorry, too." Piandao said as he turned away.
He drew a sword and slashed towards Sokka who dodged, drawing his own blade. Sokka blocked Piandao's second attack as we rushed to help. I raised my hands, ready to send out the largest blast of fire I could muster as cover, but Sokka's arm stretched out towards us, talking my movements.
"No, this is my fight, alone." Sokka said as he waved us off.
~Break~
Sokka and Piandao were now standing across from one another in Piandao's fighting ring. Their style of fighting was very East Asian and it was fascinating to watch. I rarely got to see that style in my time, I was raised in a fairly westernized country. Despite the initial attack, Piandao was happy to move towards a more suitable fighting space. Once they reached the courtyard however, he wasted no time in moving to fight.
Piandao acted first, lowering his blade down and hitting upwards. Sokka blocked his strike, stepping backwards and angling his body away. Piandao attacked again, going from high to low, following Sokka's sword and setting up targets. Sokka managed to break through Piandao's sword, but missed his target as Piandao had angled himself and leaned just far enough away. I could tell he was baiting Sokka into attacking to gauge not only Sokka's reach, but also trick him into misreading his own. Piandao kept pursuing Sokka, pushing him farther to the edge of the ring.
After one spirited attack, Sokka left his flank open and Piandao used his hilt and hands to shove him away. Sokka fell to the ground, managing to flip over and land in a crouch just before he rolled into a pond. He got up and climbed onto the railing of a bridge, Piandao following to attack Sokka's feet. Sokka darted onto the bridge, managing to block several more strikes. Leaping back onto the railings, Sokka used them to launch himself away.
"Excellent. Using your superior agility against an older opponent. Smart." Piandao praised.
He pursued Sokka once again as he parried. He was backing him up towards a set of stairs. Sokka continued to fight back, blocking and parrying as he could, stepping up the steps carefully. He twisted away to dodge another attack aimed for his feet and hit the wall. Piandao took the opportunity to pin him there, bringing his sword down hard. Sokka blocked the incoming blade by holding his sword out and catching Piandoa's. It was a variation of the ox guard I noticed.
He dodged another slash, managing to get away from the wall by launching off of it and sending his sword out at Piandao. Piandao dodged but Sokka was now no longer pinned against the wall. Sokka climbed up the wall, using the high ground to his advantage. His sword was now pointed in a lower guard, protecting his feet. The fool's guard, I noted.
"Good use of terrain. Fighting from the high ground." Piandao continued to praise.
I couldn't help but be reminded of the high ground quote from Star Wars. Sokka caught his blade underneath Piandao's own and pressed his foot flat against the blades, trapping it. Piandao struggled for a moment, before lifting the blade up and causing Sokka to tumble backwards. Piandao had used the leverage of his longer sword as a fulcrum, something Sokka hadn't expected. He hit the bamboo hard and we all winced in sympathy. Piandao slashed at him as he lay prone and Sokka dodged with a roll. He ran into the thick bamboo where we lost sight of them both. We could still hear Sokka slashing down the bamboo and grunting.
"Yes, use your surroundings. Make them fight for you." I heard Piandao say.
Sokka came running out of the bamboo screaming. Piandao cut him off as Sokka slid to his knees to avoid his blade. Standing back up he rushed away, using his sword to kick up the dirt into Piandao's eyes. Temporarily blinded, Piandao spat out some dust and turned back to face Sokka.
"Very resourceful." Piandao said as he focused on using his ears.
As slow as Sokka could, he maneuvered around the ring until he hit a small twig causing it to snap. Piandao turned towards the sound and rushed him. Sokka went to parry, but Piandao swung his sword around causing Sokka to lose his hold. Sokka's sword went skittering away as Piandao sent out one last slash. Sokka jumped backwards, avoiding it, before landing with a painful thud. Piandao followed the sound and brought his sword to Sokka's face. We rushed over to help when Piandao removed the sword.
"Excellent work, Sokka." Piandao spoke as he motioned towards his butler.
His butler tossed the scabbard down and he hilted it midair.
"Whoa." I gasped.
"I think I'm a little old to be fighting the Avatar, or is it Avatars now?" He chuckled.
We all stood up confused as we stared at the old man. How had he figured out that I was also the Avatar, it wasn't like that was common knowledge. Something that confused the hell out of me considering both Azula and Zuko knew what I was, who I was. It was hard not to feel the instant mistrust that Piandao knew when most of the Fire Nation did not.
"How did you know?" Aang asked.
"Oh, I've been around awhile. You pick things up. Of course I knew from the beginning Sokka was Water Tribe. You might want to think of a better Fire Nation cover name. Try Lee, there's a million Lees." Piandao explained as he took a sip.
I snorted at that, it was an alias I knew worked wonders, no matter where you were. Guess Lee was a pretty common name in the Earth Kingdom as well as the Fire Nation. The bittersweet memories didn't linger long, and I found myself almost hollow at how little it seemed to hurt now.
"But why would you agree to train someone from the Water Tribe?" Katara asked.
"The way of the sword doesn't belong to any one nation. Knowledge of the arts belongs to us all." Piandao explained sagely.
He handed his sword to his butler and went to retrieve Sokka's. Flipping it around he handed it to him hilt first.
"Sokka, you must continue your training on your own. If you stay on this path, I know that one day you will become an even greater master than I am." Piandao spoke, his voice filled with pride.
They looked at one another for a moment, before bowing. We left in good spirits and one sword richer. It was funny, but the way Piandao spoke reminded me of someone, someone I had missed so brutally it felt like my heart was pulled in two directions. He reminded me of Iroh, and I couldn't help but feel a new wish appear in my mind; that I would see Iroh again.
"Wait!" The butler yelled as we passed the gates. "The master wanted you to have this, as something to remember him by."
He handed him a small pouch and then bowed to us. We returned the bow before he turned and walked away. Sokka opened the pouch and revealed a Pai Sho tile. I quirked an eyebrow, confused as to why Piandao would give a single tile to Sokka who didn't play.
"It's a Pai Sho tile." Sokka said.
"Wait, which one?" I asked, grabbing his hand.
"Whoa, calm down, it's just a white lotus." Sokka grumbled as he pried my fingers from his arm.
"A white lotus?" I asked, surprised as I turned to look at Piandao's home.
"Why? Does it matter?" Sokka asked.
"Yeah, it just might," I smiled, "hang onto it."
"Oh, that reminds me. Toph, I thought you might like this, since you've never had a chance to bend space earth before." Sokka said as he pulled a small rock from his pocket.
"Sweet!" She cheered as she began to bend it between her hands.
"Wow." I gasped.
"Check this out." Toph said as she turned it into the shape of a star.
"You know, I don't think there's such a thing as space earth. If it's from space then it's not really earth." Katara complained.
"Space rock, then?" I suggested.
"Must you two ruin everything?" Sokka sighed.
"I can't believe I missed you." Katara said with a snarky tone.
~Chapter 4 End~