Chapter 4: Firebender's Lesson

Zuko stood in the center of the small garden, the sun warming his back while Aang's smaller frame stood in a similar fashion as Sokka walked by carrying some wooden poles. "Hey, Aang, what's up?"

"Not much, Zuko here is just going to teach me a little Firebending."

"Sounds good, have fun." Sokka replied, sounding a little distracted and started to walk away. Suddenly he stopped and turned back around. "He's going to do WHAT?!"

"Zuko is going to teach me to firebend," Aang replied matter-of-factly.

"Aang…I don't think that's such a good idea."

"Why not? I mean, after all Zuko is a Firebender and I do need someone to teach me."

"But…but...but…" Sokka tried to argue, but saw Aang's determination and let out a defeated sigh. "You're going to do this anyway no matter what I say, aren't you?"

Aang's smile made Sokka frown. "Why don't you stay and watch?" He suggested.

Sokka looked from Aang to Zuko and back to Aang and his frown deepened. "Very well, but I'll watch from over there," he indicated to a bench across the courtyard.

Zuko looked at him oddly. "Why do I get the feeling he's a bit paranoid by this prospect?"

Aang shrugged, "I don't know."

"Firebenders get their power from the sun," Zuko started to review the basics. "But the energy to create fire comes from the breath."

The Avatar rolled his eyes. "Does this mean I'm going to have to squat and do breathing exercises for hours now?"

"Huh?" Zuko looked down at him oddly. "Why? Were you planning on holding your breath through this whole exercise?"

Aang laughed and smiled. "Well…Airbenders can hold their breath a pretty long time."

Zuko gave him an annoyed look.

Aang stopped smiling. "Uh…sorry. Continue," he said more seriously.

"The energy passes through the muscle and is concentrated at a single point where a firebender wills it to become heated. The energy is then released from the body as fire in a single uninterrupted flow…like this…"

Zuko stood tall, knees slightly bent, one fist clenched tightly near his chest, the other extended outward. Taking a deep breath, he stepped forward and as he did so brought his fist forward in a jabbing motion. A burst of fire shot forth about ten feet away.

Aang nodded. "Got it."

Zuko watched the Avatar take the proper stance. He breathed in and mimicked the movement Zuko had shown him and brought his fist forward.

Nothing happened. He tried again with the same result. After the third time he looked frustrated. "I don't understand. I mean, I actually made fire before."

"Well, you're obviously thinking like an Airbender again and trying to manipulate something that doesn't exist. Fire has to be created first. You have to will it into being."

"As if it's like a living thing?"

Zuko nodded.

"That's how Master Jeong-Jeong tried to describe it to me."

Aang tried again while Zuko observed. This time as he took a breath and brought his fist forward, a small wimpy flame emerged followed by a puff of black smoke.

Aang scratched his head and Sokka laughed. "Wow, that was exciting."

Zuko crossed his arms. "Not bad, but I don't think you're really trying either."

The Avatar threw both Zuko and Sokka annoyed looks. Aang took his position again and repeated the process with a little more determination. This time a flame shot out of his hand, but then he suddenly let out a resounding yelp.

Sokka raced over to his side. "Aang are you all right?"

Aang held his hand grimacing, tears springing to his eyes. "What happened?" He asked in frustration.

"You hesitated." Zuko replied. "Aang you have to be sure of yourself when you bend fire. You have to will its creation and then control it. When you create fire it has to be released in one fluid movement, otherwise it's like a savage beast and it will turn back against you."

"Now you tell me!"

Zuko looked down at Aang's hand. It was very red but luckily not blistered.

"Aang I think you should stop and have Katara come look at this," Sokka insisted.

"No! I want to get this right!"

"You don't have to prove anything to me," Zuko replied.

"I'm not. I need to prove this to myself. I'm all right Sokka. I want to continue."

"I still don't think this is a good idea," Sokka replied but reluctantly retreated back to his bench across the courtyard.

"You're right, Zuko. I did hesitate at the last second. I felt the energy transforming and growing and became afraid of it again, of what it can do. Guru Pathik told me that my Fire Chakra controls my willpower and is blocked by shame. To find balance as the Avatar, he said I can't deny any part of who I am. The Avatar is a Firebender and I need to release my shame and fear and open my willpower."

Fire Chakra? Zuko had never heard of such a thing. "That guru of yours sounds just like my uncle. Did he ply you with tea along with the advice?"

"No…actually it was onion and banana juice. It's not bad really, once you get used to it. It has an aftertaste of pickles though."

Zuko grimaced in disgust. "And I thought tea was bad."

Aang looked up at him seriously. "I need to master this, Zuko."

Zuko nodded in understanding. "All right. This time as you will the fire into being, be confident, don't hesitate. You are its master, not the other way around. And the movement is forceful and forward like this…" Zuko did several quick jabs in rapid succession, each emitting a burst of intense heat.

Aang nodded. Zuko watched the Avatar close his eyes for several seconds breathing in and out steadily. This time as he took his stance and brought his fist forward, Zuko could see the determination on his face was more sharply focused. The streak of fire that erupted from his fist was straight and true.

"I did it!" he exclaimed excitedly.

Unfortunately Aang had extended the stream a bit farther than he'd anticipated and ignited a group of trees in a fiery blaze.

His eyes widened and he quickly bended a wave of water out of the nearby pond onto the flames. A huge cloud of black billowing smoke rose from the charred remains.

It was then both noticed Sokka, who unfortunately had been sitting in the wake of the water. Drenched, both eyebrows came down into a single thick line, his mouth anchored into a permanent frown.

Aang cringed. "Uh…sorry Sokka."

Sokka mumbled something about already regretting adding Zuko to the team.

Zuko tried to keep the smirk off his face. "Well Avatar, I'd say that was a good start. We just need to work on fine tuning the control a bit more."

Aang smiled a little embarrassed. "Yeah."

"What's going on here?!"

Both turned and saw Katara panting heavily. "I just saw a huge fireball and a cloud of black smoke!"

Still soaking, Sokka pointed to Zuko.

The change in Katara was immediate as she advanced towards Zuko, fists clenched.

"Wait, Katara." Aang held up his hands.

Katara gasped. "Aang your hand! You're hurt!" She turned towards Zuko. "What did you do to him?!"

"Katara, he didn't do anything, I did this to myself. Zuko was teaching me to firebend."

"What?!" Katara turned to her brother. "And you let him?!"

Sokka lifted a wet finger in protest. "But...but...but..."

Ignoring her brother, Katara reached for her side pouch and bended some water out, covering Aang's burnt flesh. She concentrated, and as Zuko watched, the water turned an opaque bluish-white and began to glow.

Aang stopped grimacing and sighed.

When she removed her hands a few minutes later, Aang's skin was back to normal.

Zuko was impressed. Of course he knew Katara was a water healer. She'd revealed that part of herself to him the day they'd been trapped in the caves beneath Ba Sing Se together, but he'd never seen one in action before.

"Thanks, Katara. That feels a lot better."

But Katara was far from being pacified. "Aang, what were you thinking?!"

"Katara, I'm fine."

"You are now! You could have been seriously hurt! This is crazy!"

"No it's not Katara. You know I need to master firebending eventually. I've been avoiding it ever since I burned you while training with Master Jeong-Jeong."

"Aang…"

"No, Katara. Just listen please. Master Jeong-Jeong was right back then. I wasn't ready. I hadn't mastered Water and Earth yet and I was too impatient, but I'm ready now."

"But Aang…"

"Katara, you need to trust me. If I'm ever to become a fully realized Avatar, I need to face my fears and master all four elements."

"I know…but with Zuko?"

"Yes. He's here and willing to teach me and I need a master," Aang said with determination.

Katara compressed her lips. "Fine Aang, but this doesn't mean I have to like it!" She said and stormed off.

Zuko looked down at the Avatar. "Well…all and all, I'd say that went over pretty well."

Aang sighed and bit his lip. "Yeah…"

Sokka left, intending on finishing his project with Teo. Aang and Zuko continued to practice a bit more. To Zuko's surprise, by the end of their session, the Avatar had shown remarkable improvement.

A few hours later, Aang left to find Toph leaving Zuko to walk back towards the temple ruins alone. As he walked along the overgrown path, a large shadow crossed over the ground.

Zuko looked up at the cloudless sky and thought he'd glimpsed the tip of something dark as it disappeared behind one of the tall towers of the temple. He wondered what it was, but then dismissed it thinking it likely to be the flying bison.

When he got to the pools near the ruins, anticipating a cool dip, he found Katara there instead. But this time she was alone. Dressed in bathing attire, she stood knee deep, manipulating a stream of water about her. He watched her for several minutes as she rhythmically streamed the water back and forth.

It was then Katara spotted him. The stream of water suddenly shot towards him with lightning speed, and Zuko ducked quickly to avoid it.

"What are you doing here?!"

"Not spying on you, if that's what you're thinking," Zuko said. He saw her icy look of disbelief and sighed. "I just came here hoping to cool down after training with Aang."

"Well sorry, this spot is taken!"

"Fine," Zuko said and started to leave.

Katara sighed. "Wait."

Zuko turned.

"I guess you can stay, I wanted to talk to you anyway."

Zuko looked at her suspiciously. "Fine, as long as your talk doesn't involve freezing me into a block of ice."

"Well, I guess that will depend on your answers," Katara replied.

Zuko's eyes narrowed. Had that been a hint of amusement in her tone?

Removing his shirt and boots, he slipped into the water at the far end of the pool and submerged, swimming the length of the pool before resurfacing. Katara had climbed out of the water and onto one of the ancient columns that had once majestically surrounded the entire pool, but lay toppled and partially submerged. She sat on one of the broken sections drawing her knees up.

Zuko treaded water in the center of the pool a safe distance away, then realized the stupidity of that train of thought being surrounded completely by water.

"So, how did the rest of Aang's training session go?" Katara inquired.

"Fine. After that somewhat shaky start, he actually seemed to pick up the lesson pretty fast. A lot faster than I ever did," Zuko added with an inflection of envy in his tone.

Katara grinned slightly. "I'm not surprised. That sounds like Aang all right."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, he is the Avatar, after all. He's had to learn these things a thousand times before."

"I guess so."

Katara smirked. "But, it still can be a little annoying though."

Zuko looked at her quizzically.

"I'm not trying to put Aang down or anything, but it's easy to feel just a little annoyed at the rate he picks things up. When I first started teaching Aang, before we got up to the Northern Water Tribe, I was still learning myself. When we found that waterbending scroll with all these complex moves on it, Aang just seemed to master it immediately, while I struggled."

Zuko nodded. "I can relate. My sister was a lot like that. A prodigy and my father's favorite. Everything always came easy to her. It annoyed me to no end." Zuko swam over to the edge of the pool and leveraged himself up, sitting about five feet away from Katara. He sighed. "Guess that's part of the reason why I was so angry towards Aang too," Zuko confessed. "It seemed like everything was just handed to him without ever having to work at it. He reminded me too much of my sister."

"Aang is nothing like Azula!"

"I know. I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that."

"It hasn't been easy for Aang, for any of us. He's had to make a lot of adjustments in a very short amount of time. It's a lot of pressure, especially when he doesn't have anyone to guide him half the time. But despite that, and all he's lost, all the obstacles he's had to face and the hardships we had to endure, he never stops trying."

"I can see that."

Katara dipped her ankle in the water. "But more than that, and what's most amazing about him, is his capacity not to hold hate in his heart. He's got more reason than any of us to hate, but he doesn't."

"I wish I could say the same." Katara continued bitterly, looking directly at Zuko. "My feelings about you haven't changed. Aang is an amazing person, but he can be so naive at times. I agreed to let you stay, but I don't think I'll ever be able to trust you fully again, Zuko. I reached out to you once in friendship and Aang paid the penalty. I won't let that happen to him again."

"I understand."

"No, you really don't!" Katara snapped. She stood up, anger returning to her voice. "I was so stupid! If I had used that healing water from the Spirit Oasis on your scar that day, Aang might never have survived…All of us may have lost our only hope to end this war…and I nearly lost my best friend! Aang may believe you've changed, but I'm still not buying it. I can't afford to, not when it comes to Aang's life! Understand me clearly Zuko, you make one move in the wrong direction, there will be no second chances. I will end you."

With that, Katara got up and walked away. Zuko made no attempt to stop her. He had no response, no idea what to say. He sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. He still had much to learn, he guessed.

That evening, over the campfire and a meal of freshly caught fish, Zuko didn't mind the silent treatment he got from the group. His mind was on his own thoughts and he was content to just listen.

As Aang regaled the group about his Firebending lesson, he noticed Haru watching him carefully. It was clear the Earthbender had little trust in him also. By the time Aang got to the part of nearly drowning Sokka though, The Duke and Teo had broken down into laughter.

Sokka just gave them a sour look. "Yeah, yeah, yeah. Always the butt of the jokes around here! What ever happened to your admiration for Mr. Idea guy?"

Teo composed himself. "Well, I appreciate you Sokka."

"Thank you, Teo. Apology accepted."

"Hey, Aang, Sokka said he might have my glider finished soon!" Teo said excitedly.

"That's great!" Aang replied.

"Yeah, I can't wait to try it out!"

Through a mouthful of fish, Sokka replied, "Well, luckily, Teo had a copy of the Mechanist's design plans for it." He looked over at Aang's portion of fish. "You going to eat that?"

"No, help yourself." Instead he grabbed another piece of fruit.

Sokka smiled and greedily took it. "Aang, you don't know what you're missing. I know you don't eat meat, but is fish technically considered meat anyway?"

Aang scrunched up his face as Sokka inhaled the fish. "Close enough."

The group seemed to have no false airs about them, and despite their current hardships, still found ways to laugh and enjoy each other's company. It was a new experience for Zuko.