Responses to Reviews:

RonaldM40196867: Ty Lee, for her agility and chi-blocking, or Mai with her pinpoint accuracy. Suki's not far behind them though.

Zigzagdoublezee: Fortunately it did, or the story would be a lot shorter and have a very unsatisfying ending.

As Always, Please Review!

For the second time, Yue came to in the long grass, faces framed by the sky above her.

"You're awake!" Suki grinned.

"And you saved the army," Sokka told her.

"So, the Avatar State worked then?" Yue sat up.

"See for yourself," Rinzen gestured to the dam. Yue looked, and saw huge chunks of rock wedged over the gap, holding the wall in place. Far below, the valley floor was entirely dry.

She grinned.

"I love it when that happens," she said.

"We do need to get you an earthbending teacher though," Katara told her sternly. "You deliberately jumped to your death!"

"I know," Yue sighed. "And I'm sorry. But it was the only way. Without the Avatar State I can't move that much water, and we weren't going to be able to warn the army in time."

"Exactly. That's what worries me," Katara folded her arms. "We can't have you deliberately try to get yourself killed every time you need to bend another element so the Avatar State can do it for you. What if it doesn't trigger and you just die?"

"Look, what do you think I've been trying to do since we left the South?" Yue asked. "I thought that's what Toph Beifong was, but it turned out she wasn't interested."

"So then who can it be?"

"We could ask Jet," Sokka suggested. "He has earthbenders. They should be able to at least teach you the basics."

Everyone turned to Gembul, where Jet still lay. Then Yue remembered the shackled earthbenders that Azula and Lu Ten had brought. They were still there, shackled to the ground and clearly still dazed and weakened from the explosion. For a moment she felt bad. She had been so caught up in the drama of the moment she had forgotten about them. They were the real victims here, at least now the Fire Nation plot had failed.

She turned and rushed towards them, the others following, clearly wondering what was going on. The earthbenders had struggled onto a sitting position, and the closest one to her instinctively raised his hands as she approached. He was a man of about forty, in tattered green robes as all of them were. He looked frightened.

"Please!" He begged. "They made us do it! They made us!"

Yue stopped, confused.

"What?" She asked. Then she realised. This man must think she was going to hurt them.

She stepped backwards in shock and guilt.

"No!" She said. "I mean, no, I'm not going to hurt you. I know you were used as forced labour. Why would any of us hold that against you? I'm here to get you out."

"You are?" Another prisoner blinked. This one was much younger, in fact he looked about the same age as Yue. He had large, bright green eyes and long black hair which flowed down to his shoulders. He regarded her for a second, and then his face split into a relieved grin.

"You're the Avatar," he said. "And you're all her companions."

"You've heard of us?" Sokka asked innocently.

"Of course we've heard of you! You're the Avatar!" The earthbender said. Then he paused.

"Thank you for saving us," he said after a second. The others all rushed to agree, offering what bows they could in their current condition.

"Hold on, these are all earthbenders, aren't they?" Rinzen asked. "Why don't you ask one of them?"

"Ask us what?" The one who had recognized them asked. He seemed by far the chattiest.

Yue knelt down beside him and inspected the shackles on his wrist.

"Since you asked," she told him quietly, "It seems I find myself in need of an earthbending master."

"Oh," he blinked. "Well, I hope you find one."

Yue chuckled. "So do I," she said. "What's your name?"

"Taiyo," he said. "My name is Taiyo."

Yue uncorked her waterskin, brought out a stream of water with a flick of her wrist and positioned it over where the chain met the manacle.

"Hold still," she advised him. He did so.

"Are you a good earthbender?" She asked.

"I... guess I'd like to think so?" He said. "My teachers seemed pretty pleased with my progress. And I was one of the better benders in my regiment, before..."

As he said this, and was consequently distracted, Yue slashed down with her watery blade. Taiyo jumped, yelping in surprise, and then held up his wrists, which were now free.

Sure enough, Yue noticed that he was dressed in a battered, dirty and torn uniform of an Earth Kingdom soldier, without any of the armour or weapons of course. He must have joined up when the war started and been captured.

By now Katara was joining in, and another metallic clang ran out as she freed the prisoner on the end of the line. Taiyo stood up, and stretched.

"Oh yeah, this feels good," he pronounced. Then he assumed an earthbending stance and stamped a foot, causing the ground to shake a little beneath him. Satisfied, he nodded.

Yue regarded him for a moment. Perhaps she was simply reaching, perhaps she was just desperate after Toph Beifong had turned her down, but an idea began to form in her mind. She hadn't expected to find him here, and had thought Toph would have been the one, which meant Taiyo fulfilled Aunt Wu's prophecy, at least according to Yue's reasoning.

And she did really need to at least get started on the basics...

They moved down the line, striking the chains off each earthbender in turn until at last they were all free. Some of them were older than Taiyo, some were even younger. All of them nodded and thanked them as they went, with some of them adding apologies for their part in blowing up the dam for good measure. With that done, Yue stood up. She looked over the group.

"So what do you think?" She asked her friends. "Is there room in this group-"

"The Yuad!" Sokka butted in.

"Fine, the Yuad for one more?" Yue finished, resisting the urge to roll her eyes.

"Who did you have in mind?" Sokka asked. "The chatty one or one of the others?"

"The chatty one," Yue confirmed.

"Do you know if he can, you know, bend?" Suki asked, raising an eyebrow and folding her arms.

"I saw him do it, and he wouldn't be here if he couldn't," Yue pointed out. "Besides, I really, really need to start learning, I haven't got time to be picky."

"Don't tell him that though," Rinzen told her quietly, and then mimicked her. "'excuse me, could you be my earthbending teacher, we can't find anyone better.'"

Yue nodded even as she gently swatted his arm. He bad a point.

A moment later, they heard a groan from behind them. They turned to see Jet, rubbing his head groggily, emerge from Gembul's saddle.

"Uh, where am I?" He asked. Then he saw them.

"Hello!" He waved. "What did I miss?"