Another day; more training. Sokka and Zuko were back by the shipwreck again, training with deflecting fire blasts. They were going for a while and the Water Tribe Boy was doing well, but there was something different in his moves this day than the previous. Zuko was not sure if he would say anything at first. Eventually, he did.
"Is everything all right?"
"No?" Sokka answered, chuckling a bit.
"Well, besides that. It seems like you have more aggression in your moves today than you did before."
"Maybe I'm just getting better."
Zuko could hear in his voice that he did not want to talk more about this, so he dropped the subject. There was something which was bothering him too. He was also not sure if he wanted to mention it or if it would just make things worse, but he risked taking the chance.
"My sister knows about these visits," he said.
Sokka's stance lowered, his eyes widening. "She does? Why did you tell her?"
"I didn't tell her, but she's really perceptive and realized what was going on. I'm just telling you because I know she's dangerous. It's better that you know the potential risks."
"Does she know you're training me too?"
"I don't know about that part, but we can probably assume that she does." Zuko's expression became more thoughtful. "Let's work on some offensive fighting."
He began demonstrating how to slice properly and told the pupil the results of cutting certain areas of the body. After a little while, Zuko stopped and frowned.
"Could you get your machete?"
"Yeah, I can."
"Good. Practicing with that might help since you'll have access to it more than you will the sword. Hopefully, you'll get a sword one day too, though."
Sokka nodded and hurried back to his hut so that he could get the weapon. He peeked inside the hut and saw his grandmother cooking a meal. Flashing a quick grin, he grabbed the machete and headed out again. On the way back, someone caught his eye. Katara was crouching down on one side of a snow pile. She had a determined look on her face and was staring at the snow.
"What are you doing?" he asked, making her jump since she did not see him coming up from behind.
She held a finger to her lips. "I'm trying to waterbend," she whispered.
Katara gestured to beyond the snow. Peeking over, Sokka saw several soldiers, then hid again before they could spot him. They were just far enough to be out of earshot.
"I might be able to freeze this snow, but I need to melt it first. If I can, I can freeze their arms away from their bodies so that they're stuck and can't use firebending to get free."
"As much as I'd love to see that, don't do it," Sokka said.
"But I won't know if it works until I try it out on someone."
"If you try it and it doesn't work, they'll attack you. If you try it and it does work, the other soldiers will attack you."
The girl sighed miserably. "So, there's no option where they don't attack me?"
"And learn about you being a waterbender. We've already lost too much keeping that secret."
As he said this, he could see Katara's eyes becoming watery. It was hard to see and his own throat became sore as well. She wiped her eyes, but she could not stop the soft whimpers that followed. When he heard this, Sokka hugged her. Maybe he could not do a lot to help with getting rid of the firebenders, but he could help with her grief. No, he could help with the firebenders as well.
"Head back to the hut," he said. "Gran Gran's there and can distract you from trying to go after any more soldiers today."
Unhappily, his sister nodded and began returning to their home. When she got inside, Gran Gran noticed her puffy eyes. The grandmother put a blanket around the girl and had her join her by sitting near the cooking fire.
"Has your father told you about the spirit world?" she asked.
Katara shook her head. "Is that like the spirits Sokka says haunt that old shipwreck?"
"No, this is real. It's a realm of beings with powers far stronger than our own. I've heard it's not too different from our world. The avatar was meant to bridge the two."
"But the avatar is gone."
"Perhaps, but the world always finds a way to find balance when it's needed. I am sure that some monks still breathe today and would be able to enter the spirit world if they wanted to. Sometimes the spirits take physical form like the moon spirits needed for waterbending. There are also times the spirits of lost ones are able to stay in the spirit world."
The waterbender's eyes began to twinkle. "Really?"
This information caused some of the heartache to be soothed. She felt a little hopeful that all the souls lost were not as far away as they had once seemed. Katara had no way of knowing if her mother was in the spirit world watching over them and playing with magical beings or somewhere else, but there were times when not knowing the answer could be more comforting than closure. In her imagination, the Water Tribe chieftess was there even in that moment.
When Sokka returned to begin working with the machete, Zuko could really tell something was wrong with him. He was even less willing to talk about it than before and asked what the next part of training would be for the day. For the subsequent hour, they worked with the new weapon and Sokka began feeling confident that he would be able to use what he learned.
"Can we try a spar?" he asked.
Zuko nodded and without warning, blasted a fireball at Sokka's head. The younger boy yelped and lifted the blade, surprising himself with remembering the correct technique in what was literally the heat of the moment. Several more blasts were fired, but each one was deflected. The firebender tried to close the distance between them, however, swings of the machete made that a more dangerous plan than a helpful one. When the two finally stopped, Sokka was breathing heavily, but he did not dare lower the weapon.
"You didn't say you were about to start."
"They won't either."
"You're a tough teacher, you know that?"
"But I'm good too," Zuko said, a small smile forming.
Sokka laughed. "Yeah, I guess I can't really deny that."
"You did a great job."
"I can't deny that either," the boy joked.
Zuko chuckled. "We can do some more spars from now on. I'd say you're ready for them."
"Cool! I'll be looking forward to them."
Seeing the position of the sun, both boys could tell that they had to end there for the day. Hakoda would be coming home from keeping an eye on everything and would be suspicious if Sokka was not there. So, the two said goodbye and returned to their homes. Sokka was happy to see that he had made it back in time before his father. Gran Gran smiled at him and Katara tilted her head at him, holding a small bowl of soup.
"Where were you going with your machete?"
"Just wanted somewhere to train without being in the way," he said, scurrying over to get some of the food as well.
Katara was not really satisfied with that answer, but she did not ask more. She would find out eventually if it was important. For the time being, she was fine just enjoying time with her family and her grandmother's cooking. As they ate, Zuko got back to the ship. It felt cold again despite all of the firebenders. He did not see his sister and was glad, so he went to his room. When he opened the door, he froze.
"Do you ever think of what would happen if I became firelord?" Ozai asked.
He was looking at an opened letter from Iroh. Zuko did not know what to do, but he knew that not answering would make things worse.
"I have," he said.
"If I did, then you would be next in line, not Azula even though she's far more deserving than you. Isn't that unfair? Even as firelord, I would lack the power to make a change to a tradition that has been with us for the entirety of Fire Nation history."
Ozai set down the letter and glared at Zuko. Instinctively, the boy wanted to find somewhere else to go.
"Come in here," his father ordered.
Nervously, Zuko obeyed the command. When he did, Ozai closed the door behind him.
"You two get along well," the older prince said, scowling. "He writes to you a lot. You remind me so much of him. He even used to feed the useless turtle ducks like you do. Neither of you deserve the throne, yet he has it and you would if I did. No matter how things turned out, there would be injustice." He paused for a moment. "But I'm sure you'd enjoy both realities. You already like him being the firelord. You'd want to be one too, wouldn't you?"
Zuko shook his head. "I'm fine not being the firelord."
"You say that now because you don't know what it means. You'd become it anyway and your dear sister would be stuck as a princess for the rest of her life."
The boy could hear more anger rising in his voice and tried to think of how to quell the rage. "I won't ever become the firelord, though."
This had the opposite effect as Ozai's eyes flashed furiously. "Because that uncle of yours has deprived me of the chance to have my own dynasty!"
A blast of fire sent Zuko back and into the door. He reached down for the handle so that he could escape, but Ozai saw this and directed the flames at his hand. He grimaced as he felt the burn and his eyes widened as the other prince approached menacingly.
"You disrespected me."
"I wasn't trying to," Zuko insisted fearfully. "I never know what I can say that won't make you angry."
The father stopped, but he did not look less enraged. "Lo and Li told me that Iroh taught you the dragon breath technique. What else did he teach you?"
"That was it. He left before he could show me anything else."
"So, you don't know how to bend lightning?"
Unsure if this was a trap or not, Zuko shook his head. "No."
A smile spread across Ozai's face. "Then, I can teach you myself."
Immediately, pale blue filled the air. Zuko could feel his breath catching in his throat as he saw the hateful glare. In the next instant, he felt a painful burning sensation in his left forearm. He grabbed at the wound and saw Ozai was still sparkling with electricity.
"I'm sorry!" he exclaimed, not sure why he was apologizing but still doing so sincerely.
This amused Ozai enough for the time being and the room turned back to the red color which was covering the walls in flags. Zuko's head was lowered and the father lifted his chin with his hand.
"How dishonorable. Not everyone is as merciful as I am. I could have gotten rid of you as soon as you were born, but I did not. You could do more to try to make me not regret that decision."
Ozai left the room and returned to his own. As he did, Azula was watching. She enjoyed listening in on these visits. Just once at least, she hoped she would get to see. Until then, she had her imagination. This ended sooner than expected and the door was half opened when her father left. She peeked in and saw Zuko on his knees, shaking as he bandaged his arm. He looked so pitiful, but it was not enough. She could do more than that. This was how she knew the visit with Iroh had gone poorly. Ozai did not even attack as ruthlessly as he could have. He truly must have been in low spirits. She would help him cheer up by making their favorite traitor pay.
Azula left the ship and went into the village. She walked until she found a home used by some of the soldiers. Without knocking, she entered. The soldiers got ready to attack until they saw her, then bowed.
"Princess Azula," they greeted. "How can we be of assistance?"
The Fire Nation girl smiled. "I have a little mission for you. There's a Water Tribe boy I want you to kill."
