"Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it." —George Santayana

/

In the remaining time before we reach the Sun Warrior ruins, I run Aang through more firebending forms, our earlier conversation largely ignored. Neither of us have the heart to dredge up more emotions, especially since we don't know what we'll find. If we'll find anything.

He's starting to look pretty good too, comfortable and moving effortlessly through the forms. I hope we both find what we're looking for otherwise it's going to be hard to teach him how to go up against my father without his drive to firebend.

"Look!" Aang suddenly breaks off mid-form. "There it is!"

"Whoa," I breathe.

The Sun Warriors had carved their civilization by fire straight out of the earth. It's truly amazing to think about how much effort had gone into carving streets, buildings, and temples. And their city isn't small. It's vast! Sprawling all throughout the valley below.

I bump him gently with a shoulder. "I take it you never visited the ruins when you were a kid."

Aang completely misses my teasing tone. He's too busy staring at the ruins. "No. The monks never had a chance to take us."

Guilt pierces me. My great grandfather did that. My ancestor erased an entire race. If that kind of evil is in my blood, where does that leave me?

We land just outside the ruins. Aang bounces off Appa, eager to get exploring. I slide to the ground with a stifled cry of pain. I stumble slightly but manage to right myself before Aang notices anything amiss.

"Hold up!" I call after Aang, who's already starting to meander down one of the maze-like streets.

Aang glances back at me, that open smile of his all over his face. He's truly excited.

"These buildings are ancient," I warn. "They could fall apart on top of us if we aren't careful." Spirits I sound like an older brother.

Unlike Azula, who would have firebent at me for showing any kind of emotion, Aang just rolls his eyes, grabbing my hand and yanking me along behind him. "Come on!"

I let him drag me though the ruins, ignoring the ache in my side as he pulls me along and the dull throb of missing a connection that was broken the moment Azula proved herself to be a prodigy at firebending, and everything else really.

After about an hour of meandering, I break our comfortable silence. "There's something eerily familiar about these buildings. I can tell the Fire Sages' temples are somehow descended from these."

Aang snorts. "If nothing else, we've learned something about architecture."

I roll my eyes at him but can't help smiling. "Hopefully we'll learn something about firebending too."

"The past can be a great teacher!" Aang says like he's quoting one of his teachers among the monks.

I shake my head. "You are such a—"

My retort is cut off by Aang stumbling over something. The ground rumbles, threatening to knock me off balance.

"Aang!" I cry out as a section of earth lowers to reveal deadly spikes.

Aang teeters dangerously on the edge. I grab the back of his tunic and yank him backwards. We tumble to the ground, Aang landing hard on my broken ribs. The air escapes my lunges and I fail to bite back a cry of pain.

"Zuko!" Aang's face appears above me.

"Just…a second," I gasp, curling up and clutching my side until the pain has subsided enough to catch my breath.

"I guess the past is trying to kill me," Aang tries to joke, running a hand over his bald head.

I try to sit up, but Aang has to support me. Curse broken bones and how long they take to heal. "I can't believe that booby trap still works. It has to be centuries old!"

"There could be more." Aang glances in the direction we left Appa. "We could—"

"No." I force myself to my feet.

Aang looks like he's about to protest but, with a quick moment to judge the distance, I take a running start, using my momentum to run on the wall to the other side. I turn back towards Aang to find him gaping at me.

"Where's that upbeat attitude you were talking about?" I tease.

Aang grins, lofting himself over the spikes with a breath of wind.

"Besides," I continue as we start walking again. "People don't make traps unless they've got something worth protecting."

/

We finally make it to the center of what was once the great city. Aang's leaping up the stairs before I've even fully comprehended just how many stairs there are.

"Great," I groan. "This is going to hurt."

And it does. But, with Aang's almost incessant chatter about absolutely nothing at all, the ascent passes quickly enough. I'm completely winded and clutching my side by the time we make it to the first of several landings separated by too many flights of stairs. It takes everything I have not to sink to the ground in gratitude.

"Look!" Aang exclaims excitedly, bounding over to a mural a few feet away.

Fine. I guess there's no rest for the weary.

"This seems promising." Aang gazes up at the mural in wonder.

It depicts a Sun Warrior encircled by wreaths of flames coming from two dragons whose front claws are clasped together.

Aang scratches his chin in contemplation. "Though, I'm not sure what this tells us about the original source of firebending."

"They look pretty angry to me."

"I thought the dragons were friends with the Sun Warrior?"

"They had a funny way of showing it then."

I can't stomach looking at that mural anymore. I have to turn away before my emotions can get the better of me.

"Zuko?" Aang sounds tentative. "Something happened to the dragons in the last hundred years. Something you aren't telling me."

My hands have clenched into fists and shame floods me. Aang is going to find out at some point. It might as well be from me. I owe him at least that much. "My great grandfather Sozin happened." I start walking again, Aang having to scramble to catch up. "He started the tradition of hunting dragons for glory. They were the ultimate firebenders. And if you could conquer one, your firebending talents would become legendary, earning the honorary title Dragon. The last great dragon was conquered long before I was born. By my uncle."

We've reached more steps guarded on either side by towering stone dragon statues. I run my hand over the snout of one of those great statues, feeling the unbearable weight of the legacy of destruction my family has wrought come bearing down. There is no undoing my great grandfather's decree. I can't right that wrong no matter how much I wish I could. The dragons are gone.

"But I thought your uncle was, I don't know, good?"

"He had a complicated past." I squeeze my eyes shut for a moment. "Family tradition I guess." The weight of it is just too much to bear. "Let's just move on."

I move to leave but then Aang's in front of me, blocking my way. "You know it's not your fault, right? What happened to the dragons."

If only that were true. "Yeah. I know," I say mainly so Aang won't try to comfort me. I don't deserve it.

He looks like he wants to argue the point. I'm grateful when he lets the subject drop, instead following me up another flight or two of stairs to the next landing with what looks like a temple with a large, circular ornate door.

Aang rushes to the door in excitement, the seriousness of our previous conversation suddenly forgotten. He tries to open it without much success. I have to hide a grin at his antics.

"It's locked!" he complains.

I eye the tall pillar I'm standing under and the large sparkling gen embedded at the top. "Hold on." I smile when I see what I'm looking for. "It's a celestial calendar." I point to the stone circle at our feet. "Just like the Fire Sages have in their temples." Then I point to the crystal embedded above the door. "I bet that sun stone opens the door, but only when the sunlight hits it at just the right angle." My heart sinks. "At the Solstice."

"Monkey feathers!" Aang groans. "The Solstice again! We can't wait here that long!"

"N." I pull out the dagger that was a gift from Uncle that I then tried to gift to Lee. The damn dagger has been both a curse and a reminder of all that I need to make up for. I'm actually surprised Katara hasn't demanded I give it over. Well, it's not like they've searched me or anything. But still, they must at least suspect I have some sort of weapon on me. Right? I quietly snort. Who am I kidding? Of course they wouldn't think to search me for a weapon. They've obviously never dealt with prisoners before. "We can't. But we might be able to speed time up."

Aang watches in barely contained anticipation as I kneel down and use the blade to redirect the light.

"Let's see if we can outsmart the sun stone."

It takes me a few tries, but I'm finally able to line the light up to the sun stone. At first, nothing happens and my heart plummets in disappointment. And then there's loud rumbling and groaning and lots of dust as the doors finally creak open.

"Yes!" Aang punches the air in excitement. "Not bad!" Aang dances over to clap me on the back. "I don't care what anyone else says, you're pretty smart."

I huff in disbelief but let the smile slide out this time.

Aang gleefully races inside. I follow more slowly, astounded by the cavern-like space and the enormous statues forming a circle in the middle. What is this place? It's like no temple I've ever seen before.

Aang's peering at an inscription below one of the first statues in the circle. "Apparently it's called the Wŭ Lóng?"

I'm only half listening, still contemplating the statues. They almost look like—

"Zuko!" Aang's suddenly clinging to my arm.

What the—

"Get over here! I want you to dance with me."

"What?" I pull my arm out of his grip, utterly confused.

Aang waggles his eyebrows at me. "Come on, just do it!"

I goan, but let him drag me over to the start of what must be a firebending form. It's unlike any firebending form I've ever seen.

"Follow the steps of the statues," Aang directs.

"Uh, duh!" I suppress the urge to say.

"Don't you see!" Aang gushes excitedly as we mirror the motions of the form. "These aren't dance moves. These statues are giving us a lesson!"

"Kind of already figured that out."

We end with our arms pointing towards each other in a double fisted punch.

"Holy shit," I breathe as we straighten.

"What?" Aang eyes me expectantly.

"This form." I gesture to the statues. "It has both attack and defensive moves!"

Aang just blinks at me.

"Don't you get it? Firebending, at least the way I was taught, is all about the aggressive attack with no defense." It feels like I'm on the verge of something major. "This could change the way the Fire Nation looks at firebending!"

Aang's face suddenly lights up as he gets it too. "So cool!"

"Come on." Now I'm eager to see what else we can find. "Let's see what else there is."

"This is so awesome!" Aang gushes, spinning around the room once more before heading towards the door.

I follow more slowly, contemplating each move of the Wŭ Lóng form. Some of these moves are familiar. Like I have seen them before. But that's impossible. No one uses this style of fluid bending, except maybe—

I've just stepped out of the temple behind Aang when the hairs on the backs of my arms stand straight up.

"Aang!" I shove Aang behind me as a column of flame comes rushing at us. Completely on instinct, I use one of the defensive moves from the Wǔ Lóng form. I sweep my arms to either side of me, guiding the fire to stream to either side of us. It oddly reminds me of parting a river.

"Ah, Zuko." Aang is peeking cautiously around me. "I thought the Sun Warriors were dead."

"They are."

"Then who are they?!" Aang points a trembling finger at a group of people materializing out of the smoke.

Oh shit. We're in trouble now.

Author's Note

There's a few things I want to mention with this chapter. Wŭ Lóng translates to 'Dancing Dragon.' Since I've been using the Beijing 24 form to describe the forms I write about in this story, I wanted to also translate the Dancing Dragon form into Chinese.

Next, I always found it odd that Zuko's broad swords just magically appear when he needs them. For this story, they were left in the Imperial City and all he has is the dagger Iroh gifted him.

I also never liked the story line around the golden egg in the temple being the introduction Aang and Zuko have to the Sun Warriors. This is the beginning of a major deviation from the plot line of the 'Firebending Masters' episode.