Morning saw Katara back in the healing hut. The other girls were nowhere to be seen: apparently they only had classes every other day.
"I heard you had a fight with Master Pakku," Yagoda said.
"He caught me practising waterbending with Aang," Katara said. "Then he expected me to apologise. I lost my temper."
"Well, considering you had a fight with a master waterbender, I'd say you're lucky to still be in one piece."
"I don't get it. You're a waterbender too. Why don't you want to learn it?"
"I know enough to get by," Yagoda said, swirling her hand toward her kettle and getting a swirl back from its contents. "I don't know how to fight, but who would I want to fight? Who do you?"
"The Fire Nation. They destroyed my village."
"Do you think they wouldn't have, if you'd been able to fight them?"
Of course they would have. The Fire Nation had launched relentless attacks across years and decades. They'd methodically captured thousands of benders and destroyed hundreds of villages. The war had never been so close that one more warrior either way might have won it.
"If you want to save your Tribe, why not rebuild part of it right here?" Yagoda went on. "You're a lovely girl. You're beautiful, kind, and clever, and you're a healer. You could find a good man, settle down, raise a family. Why not?"
Why not, indeed?
She did want to have kids someday, and part of why it was a daydream in the hazy future, rather than something she was actively working toward right now, was that she wasn't sure what sort of future was possible, not with Fire Nation ships steaming in to drag people off or worse at any moment. But the North was safe: they had a strong army, more benders than they knew what to do with, and the Fire Nation wasn't even at war with them.
It makes a lot of sense. So why can't I imagine anything worse?
"What about Aang?" she asked, more to avoid the question than anything else.
"I'm sure there are hundreds of volunteers who'd be happy to travel with him in your place," Yagoda said.
Aang would want to stay with her, but a veteran waterbending warrior would probably be better for him. Sokka would stay too if she did, he'd be safe. Aang could come visit after the war, and she'd probably never see Zuko again.
Just … stop being an adventurer? Be like Haru and Suki, people whose paths crossed the Avatar's, but they stayed behind while he moved on?
I could … and maybe I should, but …
… but there is one thing I still have to do, and it has to be me.
"Why isn't the North Pole at war with the Fire Nation, when they're occupying Izu– Kallunattakak?" she asked.
Yagoda blinked.
"Kallunattakak was founded by the Ram clan, hundreds of years ago," she said. "The Ram were driven out of the North Pole after they lost a war with the other Tribes, and settled down south. We never really considered it to be part of our territory, although we were on friendly terms, after the hard feelings over the war died down. Then there was a long period of wars between them and the Earth Kingdom. The North Pole sent warriors to help, for a while. A lot of people died, and nothing changed." She shrugged. "It was long before my time, but when the Fire Nation invaded, I think we thought of them as more trouble than they were worth, and we were actually rather glad to be rid of them."
"Why would the Water Tribes and Earth Kingdom go to war?" asked Katara, who generally assumed wars only happened if the Fire Nation started them.
"The land the Ram settled on was uninhabited when they got there. Under Water Tribe law, that meant whoever occupied it, owned it."
"Of course," said Katara, to whom this was obvious, almost circular.
"However, it's still part of the Earth continent, and they claim all of it, even the parts they aren't using." Katara wrinkled her nose sceptically. "They demanded gold to allow the Ram to live on what they said was their land, and when the Ram refused to pay, called them invaders."
"That sounds more like Fire Nation logic than the Earth Kingdom," Katara said, remembering how the Fire Nation demanded taxes of Haru's village to cover the expenses incurred conquering them.
"To us, yes. I understand they consider themselves to be very different from each other."
I bet Zuko would have some tissue-thin rationalisation that Izumihanto belongs with the Fire Nation, too.
"I met a Water Tribe woman living there. She said the Avatar sided with the Earth Kingdom."
"The Avatar is supposed to be impartial," Yagoda said, "but he's human, and humans have a hard time arguing with their parents. A Water Tribe Avatar will think like a Water Tribesman; an Earth Kingdom Avatar will think like an Earth Kingdom man. The last Water Tribe Avatar, Avatar Kuruk, was sympathetic to the Water Tribesmen of Kallunattakak, but the Earth Kingdom Avatar Kyoshi wasn't, and she lived much longer than him. The Air Nomads fought on sides at different times, but mostly, they agreed with the Earth Kingdom. They had their own arrangements to be allowed to build their temples on Earth Kingdom land, part of which was that they had to help defend the rest of the Earth Kingdom."
"Aang says the Air Nomads were pacifists."
"Show me a young man who doesn't jump at any excuse to get into a fight, and I'll show you a cross-dresser."
Katara laughed. Travelling with her boys for so long had been exhausting. It was nice to be able to unwind with another girl, and she always liked older women. They were so wise and worldly.
Yagoda handed her a cup of tea. "Now. Would you like me to keep telling you about our history, or are you ready to answer the question now? Why not settle down here?"
Katara would in fact have liked to keep evading it until she could think of a better justification for her answer, but at that moment, there was a rustling at the door: Zuko.
He didn't spare even a glance for Yagoda. "We need to talk," he said to Katara. "Outside."
I'm in the middle of a conversation, jerk.
Ugh. Why couldn't it be Aang or Sokka? Or even Yue?
"Go on," Yagoda said.
"I'll see you later," Katara said, setting down her tea untouched. She followed Zuko outside. "What?!"
"What do you mean, what? If you wanted to waste time sitting around drinking tea with old people, you should've asked to stay with Uncle."
"Pakku still isn't teaching me."
"And? Problem-solve."
"I tried that. I got Aang to show me some moves last night."
"So why aren't you practising now?"
"Pakku caught us. He threatened to stop teaching Aang if he showed me anything else. We, um, argued, and he said I had talent, but he still won't teach me."
Zuko clenched his teeth. "So you're just giving up?"
"What am I supposed to do?"
He harrumphed. "You know what? Do whatever you want. But if it's not waterbending, then you won't be needing this." And he pulled her waterbending scroll out of his yoroi.
She gave a gasp of indignation and snatched at it; he yanked it up and out of her reach. "Give that back! That's mine!"
"Funny," he said, "the way I remember it, those pirates said it belonged to them. Why don't we ask Master Pakku? I'm guessing he's the one who wrote it."
"You. Wouldn't. Dare."
He smirked.
"… What do you want."
He stuffed the scroll back inside his yoroi. "The way I see it, something like this should go to whoever would use it best," he said. "Pakku would use it as a teaching aid, which he doesn't really need, but it's better than leaving it to gather dust. So, would it gather dust, if I gave it back to you?"
"This is none of your business."
"I'm making it my business."
"You are insufferable."
"'Go ahead, Zuko, give him the scroll! I don't mind at all!'"
If nothing else, she could now give a much more specific answer to who she would fight if she knew how.
"Come on," she hissed. She grabbed his arm and marched him out of the city.
She made a point of leading him well past yesterday's battlefield, to the next valley over. It was a long walk, and arguably it wasn't the smartest idea to be isolated with him, but she was pretty sure he wouldn't try anything while he was stuck in the North Pole, and she absolutely couldn't let anyone see her bending. When she was satisfied they'd gone far enough, he unrolled the scroll.
"Water whip," he ordered.
She did the motions, bent ice to water, and directed it at his stupid face. He raised a lazy hand to block, but the water never even made it that far: she must have flubbed the move, because it collapsed under its own weight and trickled into the snow.
She balled a fist and glared at the ground. She'd had a lousy day and a half: the last thing she needed right now was to humiliate herself in front of Zuko of all people.
"Your control isn't good enough," he said.
"Thanks so much, Princeling."
Oh shoot I think we're going to cry.
Not in front of him! Anything but that!
"So do a control exercise," he said, in a tone of So you see two plus two equals four, do you understand?
"I. Don't. Know any control exercises!"
This echoed back and forth across the plain.
"… Then we'll invent one," he said.
She looked up and stared. She'd assumed he'd wanted to pick on her for no reason, but he had a thoughtful expression that looked nothing like the Zuko she knew.
"A novice firebender is given a leaf, and has to try to keep it burning for as long as possible," he said slowly. "So you should make a pool and keep it from freezing as long as … no, let's try this instead."
He bent fire, melting a pool three feet across, and beckoned her closer.
"Raise up a fist-sized blob of water," he said, making a fist, perhaps in case she wasn't familiar with them. "Just above the surface of the pool."
She gestured, and it rose. "I can do little things like that already," she said, letting it splash back down. "But it's no good in a fight. It's the bigger stuff that I can't do."
"Do it," Zuko said, "and hold it in place for a count of a hundred, to start. Once you have that, you can do it with more water, or while moving it around, and you can work your way up to combat bending."
She lifted one hand, then the other, then switched back to the first and let the water splash into its pool. "Water flows downward," she complained. "It has to move."
"So does a candle flame. You can let it move as much as flame flickers, but it can't grow, shrink, or travel."
She would have preferred a water analogy to a fire one, but she got the point. She assumed a bending stance, raised a fist-sized blob up, and this time she fixed it in place. She held up the centre, slowly lifting it to compensate as droplets' worth flowed down the outside, everything sticking together by surface tension. She kept it about steady for five seconds, ten, twenty seconds, then it sagged.
"Fix it," Zuko ordered.
"Pull it out and start over," her mother ordered, looking at the sad bit of stitching she'd bungled.
She blinked the memory away and hitched the water back up.
"Good," Zuko said. "It doesn't matter if you slip, just do your best, put it back, and keep going. You need to get used to holding it there. Focus on the feeling of your chi. It should stay steady. Bending is a spiritual art. Feel your connection with the spirit world."
"I don't know much about spirits," she said. "There were stories, but with no bending teachers, I don't think we interpreted them properly. I had no idea what was going on when we met one called Hei Bai."
He nodded. "There are more spirits than anyone can count, and they all have their own rules and agendas. But, a lot of them are aligned with one element or another. When a woman is pregnant, if the right spirit touches her, it establishes a connection, and the baby becomes a bender of the corresponding element. All bending comes from that connection."
"So it's a gift from the spirits."
"Yes, but don't make the mistake of thinking they like you. Some do, others hate us, but most only care about things that make no sense to us. There's a legend about a spirit of a beach, and some of the sand was harvested to make cement at a nearby city, so the spirit made a monsoon to wipe the city out. You can break a rule that isn't written down anywhere, and they'll try to kill you."
"It sounds like you're saying bending is dangerous."
"Anything involving the spirits is dangerous, and worst of all is ignoring them. They gave you bending; they'll get angrier if you never use it. Just appreciate that you're dealing with things that are so alien, they make you and me look like twins. Your will has to be absolute, or they will dominate and bend the elements the way they want, and anything could happen."
She frowned. That sounded like an overly aggressive mindset. Aang spoke much more positively of the spirits, and he was a better bender than Zuko. Then again, Aang wasn't her teacher right now.
She held the water blob up for long minutes, occasionally pulling it back when her control slipped. It was easier once she got into a rhythm.
"Enough," Zuko said at length. "Stretch it out, and try the water whip again."
She clenched and unclenched her fingers, because he was right, she felt awfully stiff after the repetitive motions.
"Why are you doing this?" she asked.
"I know you worship the ground Aang walks on," he said, "and I know he's a good bender, but that doesn't automatically make him a good teacher. His problem is that he's a natural. He doesn't need to worry about his basics, so he skips over them. Good for him, but you're not a master bender, you need to start with the basics, and a better teacher would have realised that. I'm not a natural. I know what it's like to have to drill something a thousand times to get it right."
"No, I mean, why are you trying to help me? What do you get out of this?"
He gave her a puzzled look, then turned to look out across the wilderness.
"I feel like it," he said.
He's the worst liar in the world.
To be fair, he might honestly be bored. He doesn't have any friends or anything to do here except his katas.
Yeah, but I don't believe for a second that's it.
"What?" he said innocently.
"Nothing."
"Then, water whip."
She got into position and did the motions again. This time, she didn't try to hit him, and this time, the whip stayed in one piece throughout. Her heart skipped a beat.
Zuko just nodded. "You're standing on your heels," he said.
"That's how standing works, yes."
"So I assume you've never had a martial arts teacher, either."
She gave him a look.
"A good bender isn't the same thing as a good fighter," he said, sinking into a martial arts stance opposite her. "Mirror me. Raise your hand higher, protect your face. A good bending fighter is a fighter first, and he – or she – supplements it with bending. When I firebend, I don't just throw fire around like an angry toddler; I do punches that would hurt if I hit anyone with them, and I use fire to increase their range, power, and speed. If you don't know how to fight without bending, you'll never be able to fight with it."
"I don't think waterbending works like firebending," Katara said. "Your fighting style is nothing like Pakku's."
"I know. I was there," he added darkly. "But even he used a lot of the same ideas as a firebender. It just has more grappling instead of punches and kicks. That's why I'm using an open-hand stance," he added, with a touch of disdain. "Now. Move your weight onto the balls of your feet. Not the heel, the balls are the front part, just behind the toes. Bend your knees. I'm going to show you one basic escape and one pin. Grab my wrist with one hand. Now, you see here, where your thumb meets your fingertips? That's the weakest part of your grip. I'm going to rotate my forearm, so that the bone is pointing through that gap, and make my arm into a lever with the web of your thumb as the fulcrum. Like this."
He twisted his arm, and suddenly she held nothing but air. Then he took her wrist, tight enough she couldn't just pull free, not so tight as to bruise.
"Your turn. Rotate more. No, don't pull. Step closer. If it's close to your body, you can use your core strength. Don't pull. It's a lever."
She twisted her wrist free.
"Good. Repeat it ten times to develop muscle memory. That's one."
He actually made her do the escape forty times: ten for both of her hands and both of his. Then he showed her a move that let him force her to her knees, then had her practise it on him. To her surprise, it actually worked, although she wasn't sure it would if he went all out and used his fancy firebender augmenting trick.
"That'll do for now," he said. "Water whip."
So she did the motions again, and this time, it completely flubbed.
"You're just tired," he said. "You've been working hard. Take a breather, think it through, and try again when you're ready."
"Right. … Thanks."
Is he actually a really good teacher?
More like, is this a completely different person? He's patient and helpful. He explains everything without being condescending, and he hasn't lost his temper once.
If this is an impostor, and the real Zuko is tied up in a basement somewhere … let's keep this one.
"Have you taught bending before?" she asked.
"I sometimes tried drilling my crew," he said. "For the record, you're doing better than they ever did."
She did a double-take, because that had sounded weirdly like Zuko was giving her a compliment. He so happened to be standing between her and Agna Qel'a, which meant she saw a party of men approaching. She dashed to where the scroll was lying on the snow, rolled it up, and stuffed it down her parka before they could see it. Zuko followed her gaze, spotted them, and did what she could only call a full-body eye roll.
It was six young men, Hahn in the lead, all with spears slung across their backs. A hunting party. They approached to within twenty feet before anyone spoke.
"Can I help you," Zuko said, and somehow the old Zuko was back: his tone and how he held himself made it quite clear that he did not in fact care what they wanted.
"I heard you walked out this way," Hahn said. "What are the two of you doing out here?" He waggled his eyebrows.
It suddenly struck Katara that, while it hardly looked proper for her to be wearing an engagement necklace considering she'd been travelling with Zuko, it wasn't much better to take it off and go off alone with him.
"If you must know, he was showing me some fighting moves," she said.
Hahn grinned. "You have to spar against a girl? Can't you handle going up against a man?"
Katara had needled Zuko enough to have a basic grasp of his most common moods: his baseline hatred of everything, mildly annoyed at something specific, mildly annoyed and screaming about it because he was immature, and actually angry. Whenever he'd gone up against Aang, it had begun with arrogance, transitioned through grim determination, and ended with panicked desperation. Now, it was pre-emptive boredom, like a child whose parent has just ordered them to do a chore that they know will take ages. Or like when he'd fought Sokka back at the South Pole.
"Haven't we done this before?" he asked.
"With your ship, and your soldiers, and your bending," Hahn said. "How much of a man are you one on one?"
Zuko considered this.
"Enough," he said.
Hahn readied his spear and nodded to one of his friends, who unstrapped his and tossed it to Zuko. "Then why don't we show her some real moves, Mister Big Prince?"
"Fine," he said. He twirled the spear and lowered it into a ready stance. Katara and the other men spread out into a very loose circle, the men bunched up on one side, Katara opposite them. Zuko and Hahn slowly circled each other.
The one time I don't want him to be stabbed, and he gets in a spear fight. Typical Zuko.
"Try not to kill each other," she said.
"Don't worry about it, kuluk," Hahn said.
I think I'm realising why I didn't like him.
If you'd told me a week ago I wouldn't like the guy trying to kill Zuko, I'd've called you mad.
Hahn feinted; Zuko didn't react at all. Hahn thrust forward again; Zuko angled his spear to cut off the line of attack, and Hahn danced back. Zuko counterattacked; Hahn dodged, then went low. Zuko brought his spear down at about the same moment; there was a clack, and he tumbled back with a yell of pain. Hahn dashed forward for a follow-up strike, but Zuko rolled and blocked this one cleanly, then jabbed at him, forcing him back.
"I yield," he said through clenched teeth. Katara hurried forward.
"Oh for goodness's sake," she muttered, "can't you go a day without …" He swatted her hands away. "Let me heal it, you idiot."
"Is that it?" Hahn asked, incredulous. "Even a novice can last more than three attacks! I wasn't even going all-out."
"I'm a bender, not a spearman," Zuko gritted out. "I've never fought with a weapon before, and I don't have good pain tolerance." He let out a hiss of pain, clenching his fist. "You've won. Will you leave me alone?"
"Well, I'm not going on, that was just sad," Hahn said, and Zuko tossed the spear back. "Hey Karata, why are you wasting your time with this loser? Come with us."
"It's Katara," she snapped, infuriated that somehow she'd again found herself siding with Zuko over her own Tribe, "and because he's the only person who's actually tried to teach me anything since I got here!"
"I'll teach you something, kuluk," said one of Hahn's men, a slim one she thought she vaguely recognised. The others oohed, laughing.
She bridled. "Teach me this," she snapped. "There weren't any men in my village, because they all went off to fight in the war. You didn't go to war, so why aren't there any men here, either?"
He strode forward and backhanded her.
She staggered back a step, processed the shock of it, and narrowed her eyes. She moved into a bending stance. He took the cue and moved into a bending stance of his own, wider and more forward, and he began forming an iceball.
Bang.
The fireball staggered them apart. They turned to Zuko, who had one smoking fist pointed between them. He was still sitting in the snow, his injured leg outstretched, but he didn't seem particularly bothered by it any more. Katara was reminded of the time at the Northern Air Temple, when he'd been caught in the centre of a gas explosion that had tossed those heavy tanks about like ragdolls, and walked it off without comment.
Bad pain tolerance, my shapely –
"Don't you think," he said, very quietly, "that your Chieftains might have something to say about it if you damaged the Avatar's close personal friend?"
The men hesitated.
"Come on," Hahn said. "These guys are a waste of time."
"Iteq," the waterbender undertoned, and they trooped off and gradually out of sight.
Katara scowled after them, then returned to look at Zuko's leg.
"Don't let them see," he said, pitching his voice low.
"I don't care what they see, I care what I –" she began, pushing his hands away and pulling up his pant leg.
The skin was smooth and unbruised. He yanked the fabric back down.
"Seriously?!"
"D'you remember how many times I had to knock Sokka down, back at your village?" Zuko asked. "I must have fought people just like him fifty times over the past two years. It doesn't matter how outclassed they are, they always keep getting back up. The only way to get them to give up is to let them win or hurt them so bad they can't get back up."
She poked him in the side of the knee, making him yelp and yank it back.
"What was that for?!"
"For beating up the wrong Water Tribe boy," she said. "You could have beaten Hahn, right?"
Zuko just looked at her: Yes, and in other news I'm potty trained and can count all the way to three.
He huffed and glanced toward Hahn's party. Still within vision.
Now's as good a time as any to broach this.
"Zuko," she said tentatively. "This has been … really helpful. Thank you. Would you be willing to keep on helping me with this while we stay here?"
He shrugged, which she took as a yes.
I really wish we could read him. I never have any idea what he's thinking.
"Thanks. But, would you be okay with it if we only did it every other day, and I kept spending time with Yagoda?" He gave her a sharp look. "I do really appreciate it, and I'm learning a lot, but you're not a waterbender, and she is. Even if she only knows about healing, I can still talk about it with her. This might be the only opportunity I get to spend time with a waterbender. One who'll actually tell me anything, anyway," she added bitterly.
He scrutinised her. "You'd do anything to learn waterbending," he said, like this was a big epiphany.
"Wouldn't you? It's like a part of me is missing."
"You'd do anything," he repeated. "You grovelled to Pakku to teach you even though you hated him. You're out here, with me. You even stole that scroll just to get a few weeks' head start, even though it put you in danger. And your brother … and the Avatar."
A chill went down her spine. As nice as he'd been today, he was still the Fire Lord's son.
"What are you saying," Katara said, her hackles rising.
"If you'd really do anything, there are … options."
"I won't hurt Aang," she said. "Don't even think about it."
"I don't need you to," he said. "I'm happy with my bargain with him. I'll honour it as long as he will. If I were to offer you something, it'd be just between you and me."
"… I'll ask one more time. What are you saying?"
"I'm saying that Pakku isn't the only waterbending master in the North Pole."
"It's not that Pakku personally doesn't want to teach me," she said, "it's that it's against the law to teach a girl. That's why Aang can't just teach me. I'd have the same problem if I asked any of the other benders in the city. In the entire North Pole."
"What if I told you that the masters I have in mind are above the law?"
Katara blinked. "How would you know anyone like that? You've only been here as long as me, so unless you ran off to introduce yourself to these all-powerful master waterbenders last night after supper, when would you …"
It clicked.
"You've been here before, haven't you?" He didn't react. "When Hahn's patrol found you when you first came here, you turned your ship around, then doubled back at night in your landing boat. I knew you wouldn't ever have just backed off! So then you sneaked in, and … and what? Met some waterbenders, and they convinced you the Avatar wasn't here, so you decided to try the South Pole instead?"
"Something like that."
"Are you … is this for real? Do you actually know waterbenders who'd be willing to teach me?"
He shrugged. "I can't tell them what to do. I don't know if they'd talk to you, or even be offended that you'd expect them to. All I can do is take you to where they live."
"Where? And who are they?"
"I'm not going to give you a signed confession that I've been snooping around where I'm not allowed. If I tell you, it'll be by showing you, so that you're just as guilty as me."
"How do I know you're telling the truth, then?"
"You don't. If you want to become a warrior, learn to cope with uncertainty. Otherwise, go back to Yagoda and become a nurse, along with the rest of the little girls."
I really wish we weren't this desperate.
"Fine," she said. "What do you want in return?"
He shrugged, staring at her intently. She blushed and looked away.
I really, really wish we weren't this desperate.
"The masters in question might be above the law," he said at length, "but you aren't. You'd be knowingly breaking your host's rules, after being reprimanded for that exact thing. This has nothing to do with Aang, so you wouldn't be getting him in trouble, but you know better than me how they'd punish you. If you were caught."
She did know better than him, and there was actually a chance she'd land Aang or Sokka in hot water. The Water Tribes didn't have sheriffs or police; instead, family was responsible for keeping an eye on each other, so if anyone broke the rules, that meant the rest of their family had failed their duty and could be punished too. More to the point, Yue had said that almost half the Tribes hadn't wanted to let Aang in at all: if she broke the rules again, and a single councillor changed his mind, they could be thrown out.
The difference between her and Aang was that she wanted to learn waterbending more than anything, but he needed to, if he was to stand a chance against the Fire Lord. If she were caught, she'd have to say it was entirely her idea, and that she'd gone behind everyone's back; this would save Aang, but mean she'd have to take their punishment too. She'd be banished for sure, which was a death sentence in a polar winter.
If Aang loaned us Appa, and we flew back to Izumihanto with Sokka, then Sokka took Appa back here while we begged Uncle Iroh to put us up until Aang mastered waterbending …
Would we even make it past the Fire Nation patrols?
Okay, cut Sokka and Appa out of that. We crack an iceberg off the coast, ride it south, and if we get picked up, we tell the Fire Nation the truth, that we were banished for trying to learn waterbending. We can't be the first, and they let Water Tribesfolk live in Izumihanto. You'd think they'd be sympathetic to a girl wanting to learn bending, they let their own girls do it.
What if Zhao identifies us?
If their grand admiral has nothing better to do than personally vet refugees claiming asylum, and if he can even recognise us from that one time at the Fire Temple, then I guess we'd be captured again. The point is, we'd survive. And like Zuko says, it wouldn't be any sentence at all if we don't get caught.
"I'm going to come back here after dinner and keep training," Zuko cut in. "If you're interested, make up an excuse to come alone, Zuko's probably out eating babies, I'm going to go find him and lecture at him about hope until he comes back inside. Make sure you aren't followed."
Is that him trying to tell a joke, or is this the old Zuko back again?
What if it's the same thing? 'I'll save you from the pirates,' remember?
"I'll think about it, Sifu Charmbender."
"Now. One more try at the water whip, then back to concentration exercises. I had another idea for something that might work for a waterbender."
13
