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Title: Another Brother
Rating: PG-13 (T)
Warning: AU
Summary: It was a mission of revenge. There weren't supposed to be any survivors, but Chief Hakoda couldn't bring himself to kill the Fire Nation boy. Against his better judgment, he brought him home. (A Zuko joins the Water Tribe story.)
Notes: Spoilers for Southern Raiders
*******
Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 | Chapter 10 | Chapter 11 | Chapter 12 | Chapter 13 | Chapter 14| Chapter 15 | Interlude: Zuko's Tombstone | Chapter 16 | Chapter 17 | Chapter 18 | Chapter 19 | Chapter 21
Oh hai there! Yeah... so about that wait. Um... *wince* sorry. I couldn't find a good place to split this into two chapters, so you guys had to wait quite a bit longer, but this chapter (hopefully) will be long enough to be worth it as it's just over 35 pages in Microsoft Word. Wow. SO MANY THANKS to DustyJack for helping me wrangle this monster!
Next chapter will probably be much shorter, but as I'm doing NaNoWriMo this month I'm aiming for the next update to be somewhere in between Christmas or New Years. Hopefully sooner. Thanks for your patience and have a good and safe holiday(s), guys!
oOoOoO
"Only a fool seeks his own destruction."
~ Jeong Jeong, The Deserter
oOoOoO
A few days after the mad dash from Song’s village, Zuko found himself in the odd position of teacher to both Aang and Katara.
His sister had soon recovered from her fever, thanks to a combination of Song’s medicine and Aang’s prowess at digging up frozen frogs out of muddy bogs. As soon as she was up, she was again pouring over the waterbending scroll. Zuko mentioned he had learned his version of the fire whip from it when she and Aang had been captured. And it seemed the moment the words were out of his mouth he found himself being dragged to a nearby river. Aang tagged along, hand over his mouth to stifle his giggles.
“All right, just watch what I do.” Zuko lit a small blaze for himself out of a nearby dry log and with a gesture pulled the flames from it until he had a bright flare of fire between his hands. He felt self-conscious and a little silly under Katara’s direct gaze – she was the better bender out of the both of them – but he stepped forward into his first stance anyway, explaining as he moved. “First, I sort of stream the fire thin like this. Make sure it’s thin and flexible. Then…” He flicked his arms and the ribbon copied his movements, the tip landing with a scorching hiss at the trunk of a nearby tree. The point of impact was marked with soot.
“That doesn’t look so hard.” Katara called up her own water from the nearby stream and with a globe of it between her palms, she stepped forward in imitation of Zuko’s quick movement. But her water remained a coalesced blob and splattered on the ground when she flicked her arms out, soaking her boots.
Zuko started to laugh, but quickly covered it with cough when she shot him a narrowed eyed glare.
Turning, Katara brought more water up from the stream and attempted the whip again – snapping her arms out more forcefully this time – the water exploded into fine mist and blew away in the light breeze. Her shoulders slumped. “I don’t understand. What am I doing wrong?”
He honestly didn’t know. “Let’s try it again on a dry run. You stand like this.” He rooted his feet a shoulder-width apart and held out his arms. Once she stood by him and copied his stance, he took an exaggerated deep breath inward. Then, as he stepped forward, let it out. “You need to breathe and… sort of snap your arms out at the same time as you step. Try to make it all one movement, starting from your legs and moving upward through your body, your torso, arms and out again. The whip is an extension of your hand.”
Katara followed his steps, glancing his way every few seconds to make sure she was doing it right. With a nod, Zuko took her though the stances again and again. But when she tried it with a globe of water it collapsed all over her outstretched fingers before it had even extended into a stream. “Argh! Why can’t I get this move?”
Zuko scratched the back of his neck. “Well, it took me most of that night to figure it out. I don’t think you would do it the first—“
Crack!
The siblings jumped at the sound of splitting wood. Aang turned towards them with a wide grin on his face. A dried dead tree-stump off to the side had been nearly split in half with the force of his water-whip. Then, with a smooth twirl of his hands, Aang recalled the water back between his palms where it reformed into a neat globe. Not even Zuko had been able to manage that.
Katara made a sound somewhere in between an annoyed snarl and a huff. She whipped around towards her target, flicking out her arms angrily. This time, she had slightly more success; her water shot out in a stream, but twisted wide and Zuko had to throw himself on the ground to keep from getting smacked.
“Hey, watch it!”
“Sorry!” Distracted, the water exploded again into useless mist before striking her target.
Aang walked over, ever helpful. “I think you’re doing it mostly right, Katara, but you have to make sure you’re shifting your weight smoothly through the stances.” He mimed the kata as he spoke; stepping forward with a smooth breath -- only Aang’s shift between his stances was so graceful, it seemed nearly liquid. He ended the move with an easy flick at his wrists.
Zuko narrowed his eyes, noting Aang’s easy grace and feeling a prickle of annoyance at being shown up so easily. “That’s not what the scroll says to do,” he groused, and went to one of the packs and retrieved the scroll, then pointed to the little figure in question. “See, he’s moving at his elbows at the end. No wait…” He peered closer again, nearly bringing the parchment up to his nose. It had been full dark last time he had taken a good look at this scroll and he had been studying it by firelight. Sure enough, the painted figure seemed to be flicking out his wrist, a rolling movement that started at the elbows and extended down to his hands. Wordlessly, Zuko rolled up the scroll and crossed his arms, scowling at Katara and Aang as if misreading the thing had been their fault.
Aang grinned at him, but had the grace not to say anything. He turned to Katara. “I know you’ll get it. Let’s start from the beginning. The secret to bending is keeping everything smooth…”
He and Katara ran through the steps again, and after a few minutes Zuko came out of his sulk and joined them. By the end of the hour Katara’s whip was no longer striking random places, and Zuko had almost got the hand of recalling the fire back between his palms afterwards. Neither one of them had managed to split the bark like Aang, though.
There was a rustling from a patch of bushes to the right, a snapping of twigs, and Sokka emerged from the underbrush, fresh from his hunting expedition. The last few days of rest (and frogs) had done him some good, too, and he was well on the mend with only a stuffy nose left from the Fire Fever, and even that was fading.
Now he wore a wide smile and had brought back with him two fish hanging from a line in one hand. On the opposite shoulder was slung a stick, heavy with a large bunch of berries. “The brave hunter has returned and he brings with him delicious food-stuff.” Sokka called, triumphantly.
Aang abandoned the lesson at once – much to Zuko and Katara’s annoyance – and skipped over. “What did you find?”
“Fish and grape-cherry berries.”
“Huh. I don’t know, Sokka.” Aang frowned and poked at one of the berries. “These look more like white jade berries and they’re supposed to be poisonous.”
“Poison, eh?” And before anyone could stop him, Sokka took a berry and popped it into his mouth. “No… no. I think it was the first thing.”
“You idiot!” Zuko snapped. “Spit that out!”
“Aang, don’t eat that,” Katara added, noticing the little monk reaching for a berry himself. She then turned to her eldest brother. “Sokka, what’s wrong with you? You were just sick!”
“They taste fine!” But Sokka had already spit it out anyway and went about washing his mouth out in a stream. It didn’t taste very grape-cherryish; more like the tea Gran Gran’s used to make.
Aang stared glumly down at the two remaining fish. One gave a weak sort of flop, and he swallowed hard. “I can’t eat that...”
“Two fish isn’t enough for four people anyway,” Katara said. “Our supplies should last today, but we need to find a village and get to a market soon.”
Sokka spat a final mouthful of water into the river and reached for his pack where he had Aang’s map carefully stowed. “I say we fly for the rest of the day and get out of this forest. There’s some villages just beyond the border and we’ll head north from there. No more stops, no more potty breaks, no more magic bending time by the river.”
“If I have to go, I have to go.” Katara said, her hands on her hips. “And we’re stopping.”
“Fine, but you make it short.” His decision made, Sokka rolled up his map and started packing his things.
During this, Zuko had hung back, uncertain. He hadn’t told them what Song had said, hadn’t figured out a way to bring it up without making it… self-serving. Hadn’t he promised Aang in the barn just the other day that he would do everything he could to help him get to the North Pole? But…
“Uh, guys. I don’t think we should leave yet.”
“Zuko, if you have to go, just go.” Sokka waved to the nearby bushes.
He colored a little. “No, it’s not that. It’s just… Song told me something important when we were leaving.” The rest came out very fast, and sounded not at all like what had been in his head. “She said there’s a firebender who lives in this forest. She said he was good, and I was thinking, well if he’s good than maybe he could help us – that is, uh, me and… Aang…” he trailed off.
They were all staring at him, but Katara was the first to speak.
“Why didn’t you tell us this before?”
“I don’t know.” Zuko shrugged and rubbed the back of his neck. “You two were still sick at first, and I thought I would see a sign of something. But I think Aang and I should meet with this guy. We could—“
Sokka made a sharp gesture, cutting him off. “No way,” he said, shaking his head. “We are not going out of our way to get flamed by a firebender.”
“Song seemed to trust him,” Zuko said.
“Well, firebenders can’t be trusted.”
“Sokka!” Katara snapped.
Sokka turned to his sister, clearly exasperated. “You know what I mean.” But he still seemed to realize he had made an error, “Zuko’s not like a real firebender, anyway and Aang… well, he has the master of all the elements thing going for him.”
Zuko felt like showing his brother exactly how much of a real firebender he was – just in case he had forgotten. But Sokka’s gaze, when he met against his, was earnest. Zuko bit the inside of his own cheeks hard. It took effort, but he let the comment pass, only saying, “What if this guy’s against the Fire Nation? What if he’s different, too?”
“Or what if he’s just not with them because he’s even worse?” Sokka countered.
“We won’t know until we look, will we?” Katara stepped over to Zuko’s side, her decision very clear.
“I want to learn firebending, Sokka.” Zuko said, meeting his brother’s gaze squarely. “We might never get another chance like this.”
“Why? You already know a lot of stuff. And you beat Zhao that one time.”
His gold eyes seemed to flash. “But not Iroh,” he said, lowly.
“Aang,” Katara said, turning to her friend, “What do you think?”
Put between his friends, another boy might have scuffled his shoes, and looked around nervously. Aang simply bowed his head, hands lightly clasped as he took a moment to consider everyone’s words before he gave his answer. He looked up. “We’re going to the North Pole to learn waterbending, but I still have to learn fire and earth. If he could teach Zuko and I firebending, wouldn’t it be worth it?”
And with that, Sokka realized that he was outnumbered. “Fine,” he sighed and threw his hands up in surrender. “We’ll look for one day.”
oOoOoO
They didn’t have much to go on. Song had left Zuko with no directions and the forest was large, spanning to either side of the horizon. Once Appa got in the air the task seemed even more impossible. Each tree looked like a fluffy green mushroom from up above – an unbroken vista with only a blue-green reflection of a river snaking through it.
To his credit, Sokka wasn’t one to bother or complain about being outvoted. The Water Tribe valued teamwork and he was all about helping out until the others came to their senses and naturally realized he was right all along. So Sokka didn’t waste any time sulking; he took out his map again and traced their current direction with a callused finger. “Hmm… If I were a Fire Nation jerk, where would I hide?”
“Next to a river?” Katara suggested, viewing the map over his shoulder. “There would be plenty of fish to eat and water to drink.”
“He’d be within a day’s ride of a village,” Zuko blurted, with a strange air of authority that made his brother glance up at him. “He’ll want to keep his ear to the ground – if he’s against the Fire Nation he’ll want to be in a place close enough where he can hear about their movements from the locals, but still stay out of the way.”
Sokka stroked his chin as he poured over his map. “That does make a lot of sense,” he allowed, and took a few more moments to look at the map. “There’s a place north-east where there’s a river and some villages nearby.” And he turned to call out the direction to Aang.
The day wore slowly on. There was only an endless landscape of green below them. Even the bare broken patches were just empty meadows with no sign of human habitation. No smoke was to be seen anywhere all the way out to the unbroken edge of the horizon, no suspiciously burned patches of wilderness that might signal a firebender.
By mid-afternoon they were still searching from the sky, but morale was low within the group. Zuko was slumped moodily in the saddle basket, arms hanging off the side. Sokka had all but given up and was bent over his map again idly tracing a path from the forest to the South Pole, and even Katara was looking dejected.
Aang was laying back on Appa’s head, boredly twisting a knot of air between his fingers when something caught the corner of his eye. Flipping over on his stomach, he put a hand to bison’s dark horn to steady himself and leaned over to peer down in the forest. “Did you guys see that?”
They all came alert at once and rushed to the side of the basket to scan downwards.
“See what?” Katara asked, shading her eyes.
Aang pointed nearly straight down. “There! Right there – Hey! They’re chasing that guy!”
“Where?” Zuko leaned as far over the saddle as he could and shook his head in frustration. He could only see the green tops of trees with barely a gap in them. “I don’t see anything.”
But Aang didn’t answer him. In the next moment the airbender had jumped back from the driver’s seat into the saddle, and snatched his up airglider.
“Aang, what are you—“ Sokka began, but Aang was gone before he could finish, leaping out into the air without so much as a backwards glance.
“Ugh, I hate it when he does that.” Sokka groaned, and with a much put upon sigh, climbed over the ridge of the saddle to take Aang’s place at Appa’s head. Looping the reins around his hands, he called, “Hang on!” before he turned the bison sharply to follow their friend.
oOoOoO
Aang snapped open his glider with practiced ease and took a steep dive downwards – a yellow and orange arrow speeding through the air. His grey eyes searched for the spot he had seen, just for a moment’s time, the frantic pursuit.
He heard Appa give a bellow somewhere above and trusted his friends would be somewhere behind him. The wind rushed past so loud he could hear nothing else and it stung at his eyes, but he could feel the currents and layers in the air, like three dimensional pathways in the sky. He felt the almost playful tug of a likely current. Aang took it, letting it lead him to a hole in the forest canopy. He slipped through that gap – shooting past the tree trunks so fast they were all a blur.
The snapping sound of cloth caught his attention. He saw another glimpse of the fleeing man through the trees to his right – the hem of his dirty brown robe flapping out behind him.
Aang’s speed was greater. Anticipating the man’s direction, he pulled ahead and twisted around to land right in his path, snapping his airglider shut. He guessed well. Within a few seconds the man rounded a corner and saw him – he staggered to a halt with an audible gasp.
“It’s okay!” Aang said, holding out his hands in a peaceful gesture. “I just saw those soldiers chasing you and I wanted to help.”
The man stared at him for a moment; at this young boy with the distinctive arrow tattoos and the yellow and orange overcoat. Then he reached up and pushed back his hood to reveal a grizzled face and a wide-eyed expression. “You’re the Avatar, aren’t you?” he asked, in a thick voice. “I’ve been looking for you!”
“You have?”
But a shout from the forest beyond cut off the man’s reply.
“Stop right there, traitor!”
Two soldiers in Fire Nation regalia stepped out from the nearby brush. Aang made to step in between them, but the robed man shook his head. “It’s okay. I know how to deal with these guys.”
Sure enough one of the men jumped forward, launching a blast of fire towards them. It looked to fall short, made more to intimidate rather than burn. The man in robes ran towards it. One hand fell dived into the deep pockets of his robe. Grabbing what he needed, he drew back and threw a packet of something wrapped in thin paper directly into the fireblast. The packet exploded at once, cutting right into the blast and throwing a bright bloom of fire in all directions. The surprised soldiers were thrown back at least a dozen feet, and landed flat on their backs.
“Whoa!” Aang cried. The man turned and grabbed his arm to twist him back around.
“That’ll only stop them for a moment. We gotta get out of here!”
Aang looked up the sky to catch his bearings. Nodding, he looked to the south and then pointed to a small game trail which split off from the main path and led to the side. “C’mon this way! Follow me!”
They broke into a run, hearing the sounds of cursing soldiers behind them. The forest gave way to a large clearing not too far down the path – Just what Aang had been looking for. He darted to the middle of it, nearly dragging his surprised friend along. Suddenly, the end of a rope fell from the sky as if by magic, and Appa’s great bellow came from above.
“AANG!” Sokka leaned down from the bison’s head. They were hovering above them, not forty feet up. “Need a lift?”
Aang grinned up at him and waved to show he heard. The man next to him was gaping at the impossibility of the giant flying bison. “Grab on!” Aang said, grabbing the rope and shoving it into his slack hands. He didn’t need it for himself. One tap on the ground and his airglider unfurled again; a bent gust of air took him up to safety.
Katara and Zuko held the other end of the rope while Sokka took over driving duties. Aang landed next to them and helped take up the slack. Grunting and pulling, the three of them managed to pull up the robed man. He nearly fell into the saddle in relief, laying there for a moment to gulp air before pushing the hood again off his sweaty brow.
“Thanks,” he sighed. “They caught my trail awhile back. I didn’t know if I could outrun ‘em.”
“You seemed to do pretty good,” Zuko said, with a glance to the man’s deeply lined pockets. He had seen how he had rushed towards the soldiers and the resulting explosion from his position up in the air. “What did you throw at them?”
“Exploding jelly packets. Just something I picked up in the army.” The man gave a vague sort of smile. “Most firebenders can’t take their own fire coming back at them.”
Sokka had come back into the saddle from his drivers seat while he was talking. He immediately took in more details about the newcomer than the other three, including what was left unsaid. “You’re a Fire Nation solider!”
“Make that, former Fire Nation solider,” the man corrected. “I deserted the army a long time ago. Name’s Chey.”
“Nice to meet you, Chey. I’m Aang.” Aang gestured around the saddle. “And these are my friends; Katara, Sokka and Zuko.”
Chey nodded to them each in turn and his grin went a little lopsided at Zuko. “Named for the dead prince, huh? That’s rotten luck.” But before the startled teen could respond he turned again to Aang. “I’ve heard rumors about you and I had to find you myself. I serve a man… Well, he’s more than a man, really. He’s a legend.”
“Who?” Katara asked.
“They call him Jeong Jeong the Deserter. He was the first man to leave the army and live.” Chey paused for effect. “I was the second, but you don’t get to be a legend for that. Anyway, he’s a firebending master and I knew he would be perfect to teach the Avatar how to firebend.”
Sokka’s face fell into deep skepticism, but Katara gave a little gasp and scooted closer. “That’s why we’re here!” she said. “Zuko and Aang both need to learn from a firebending master. Do you know where he is?”
“Sure do. It must be destiny that we found each other.” Chey’s eyes took a mystical wide look, and he ignored Sokka’s snort of disbelief. “Jeong Jeong is a great man, and one of the best firebenders… No, he’s a genius! He’s hidden his village so well you’d never be able to find it without me.”
“Oh yeah? So where is it then?” Sokka asked, crossing his arms.
Chey pointed over his shoulder. “Oh, over that way.
The others could see doubt pinching Sokka’s face. Sure enough he turned to them and said, “I don’t think this is a good idea. We can’t just follow the Fire Nation solider to the firebender in his hidden fire village with all of their… fire!”
“Former Fire Nation solider,” Chey corrected, easily.
“Chey’s right, Sokka.” Katara said. “Anyway, this forest is too big to search on our own. We have to trust him.”
“Oh come on!” Sokka snapped, throwing up his arms in exasperation. “I can’t be the only one who thinks this is a little too convenient.”
“It’s not just convenient,” said Chey, again with the wide-eyed look. “It’s destiny.”
oOoOoO
In truth most of the fight had been knocked out of Second Lieutenant Chuuzi, along with his wind, when the exploding jelly-blast had thrown him at least two lengths and he landed flat on his back among a scattering of sharp, painful, rocks. He was getting too old for this. By the time he had sat up and got some wind back in his lungs his quarry and the strange bald kid had already run off.
Only a healthy sense of revenge – carefully crafted and fueled from two decades hard service in the imperial military – had made him force himself up and drag his still slightly stunned firebending partner to his feet.
The idiot fugitive and the kid had left an easy trail to follow, but Agni’s luck was not with the two soldiers this day. They arrived at the edge of the clearing just as the two made their airborne escape.
Chuuzi and his firebending officer watched with mouths slightly agape as the impossibly sized six-legged sky-bison swung his tail down and literally flew away.
“Is that…” The firebender couldn’t quite finish, shaking his head and turning to stare at his Sergeant. “That means that strange little kid was the Avatar, doesn’t it?”
Chuuzi nodded. Some part of his brain had come out of its shock and was noting the south-southwest direction the animal was taking. Their Commander’s mission was to hunt down deserters in this forest, but something this important came first.
“We’ve got to report this to Commander Zhao at once.”
oOoOoO
They would have never found the village by themselves if not for Chey. It was well camouflaged, every hint of human activity hidden in the native foliage even from above. It was Chey who pointed out the small depression along the winding river bank – something that could have easily been overlooked as a natural bend, but which he insisted actually served as a small harbor for their long boats; all pulled out of view of prying eyes by brush and branches.
Master Jeong Jeong’s camp was well fortified, as well. Aang had no sooner set Appa to land in a large clearing when they were surrounded by at least fifteen men, all dressed in amour woven from thick grasses and wickedly pointed wooden spears.
“Hey guys,” Chey chirped, sliding down Appa’s side. “I’m back.”
The leader of the group glowered at him. “What is this, Chey? Jeong Jeong told you not to seek the Avatar.”
“I didn’t. He found me first.” Chey jerked a thumb at Aang who smiled and waved.
“Foolish!” the man snapped.
The young monk floated down from Appa’s back between the angry men and their guide, ever the peacemaker. “Uh, hi. I’m Aang… uh… is Jeong Jeong in?”
The lead man glared at the boy but another man at his side muttered, “I know Jeong Jeong’s orders, but we cannot refuse the Avatar,” in a voice that carried.
The leader seemed to agree, however reluctantly. He gave a single nod, the lines of his face deepening. “Leave that animal here and follow me.”
There was a small twisting path that led from the edge of the meadow and back under some wide canopied trees. A small village stood beneath the shadows of the low branches; dried mud-huts were arranged in groups of twos and threes with roofs seeded with wild grasses, making them look like wild hills from above.
The lead man stopped in front of a medium sized hut, set slightly apart from the others. “You wait in there,” he said, gesturing to the teens. Then he turned to Chey. “Jeong Jeong will want to see you.”
“That’s okay,” Chey said, but the smile gone from his face. In fact, he looked downright nervous and kept glancing back at Aang and the others as he was led away.
As suspicious as the hidden resistance was, they at least were gracious hosts. Their hut was clean and simply furnished with bamboo mats so they didn’t sit on the bare floor, and a small pit dug out in the middle for a cooking fire. They were given water and flattish bread to drink and eat and then left alone; a slight muffled sound of someone pacing outside the only indication they were being kept under guard.
Dusk fell fast and early under the trees. Cricket-frogs were chirping within half an hour outside, and soon after that there was a knock on the door. Chey entered, downcast and looking much chastened.
“Jeong Jeong won’t come and see you,” he said, his gaze fixed firmly on his boots.
“What?” Aang exchanged an alarmed look with Zuko. “Why not?”
Chey gave a miserable shrug. “He’s very angry. He says you—the Avatar isn’t ready, that you haven’t mastered waterbending or earthbending yet.”
“Finally!” Sokka threw the last bit of crust he was eating into the fire and stood up, brushing his tunic free of dust. “Let’s hit the road.”
“We’re not going anywhere,” Zuko snapped, with a dark glare towards his brother. “And what is this guy talking about? Aang doesn’t need to know Water or Earth yet, he already knows some firebending basics.”
Aang tilted his head to the side. “Wait, how does he know I haven’t mastered the other elements yet?”
The small campfire caught a sudden gleam in Chey’s eyes. “He saw the way you walked into camp. He can tell.”
Zuko let out a snort that looked something like steam. “That’s ridiculous.”
“So he’s just not going to see them at all?” Katara asked. “Even though we’ve come all this way?”
Aang shook his head and stood before Chey could answer. “No, we’ve got to talk to him.” He turned to stride out, Zuko quick on his heels, but they were stopped right outside by a guard. He must have been listening at the door, or perhaps they had all been a bit too loud, because he shook his head and held up a hand.
“Only one may speak to Jeong Jeong.”
Zuko and Aang glanced at each other. “I could—“ Zuko started, but Aang stopped him with a shake of his head.
“No, he said he won’t teach us because of me, so I have to be the one to talk to him… Maybe he doesn’t know that the comet is coming? I have to tell him how important this is.”
The other boy’s jaw tightened, but he saw the logic in Aang’s words. Besides, the young monk was a people-person and Zuko knew… well, he wasn’t. He gave a stiff nod and turned away back to the little hut, leaving Aang to continue on to plead for both of them. His blood was still up and he stomped back through the low entranceway, slamming the door behind him, and glaring around at Katara and Sokka. “They’ll only let one of us speak to him,” he explained, before anyone could ask.
“Don’t worry,” Katara said, soothingly. “Aang will work it out. Trust him.”
Zuko just muttered something under his breath and stalked off to a dark corner of the hut. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Aang, or that he was angry at him. It was just frustrating, deeply frustrating, to be so close to finally learning some real firebending only to possibly be denied. He wanted to stand up, push past the guards and demand his right to be taught. Who did this guy think he was? He held himself back, only by merest of self control. He had learned a long time ago that when you were ice-fishing, fish didn’t bite on the hook if you were pacing back and forth. Only if you kept yourself still, and silent.
Besides, Sokka would laugh at him if he were turned away again.
Time passed slowly for them in the hut. Caught under Zuko’s broody mood, the fire died down into glowing embers. Chey slunk off to his own hut with a vague excuse about catching up with old friends, and Sokka took the opportunity of a full belly and a semi-soft mat to curl up with his back to them and get some sleep.
“So,” Katara said, after a long period of silence. She kept glancing to the door, too, starting to fret over Aang. What was taking so long? “What else did Song tell you about… you know, this firebender?”
Zuko shrugged. “Just that she’d treated his people before and that…” he trailed off for a moment, feeling a slight heat come to his unburned cheek. “That I shouldn’t be alone, the only good firebender, I mean.”
He knew he had said too much that the moment the words were out. Katara’s eyes gleamed with renewed interest. “She did? Do you think you’ll see her again?”
“How am I supposed to know that?” he asked, annoyed. “Do I look like a fortune teller?”
Katara rolled her eyes. Boys. “Well, do you want to see her again?”
Zuko didn’t answer for a long moment. Then, “Her house and the hospital burned down.” That wasn’t technically his fault, although he wasn’t sure Song would see it that way. “And she knows who--what I am. Iroh told them.” He sighed. “Or I did. We were arguing.”
Katara scooted closer, sensing more behind his words. “What happened?”
He turned his head away, scowling at a far wall and feeling awkward and aware of her keen attention on him. Katara prided herself on being in everyone’s business. He shouldn’t have said so much in the first place, but it was no use to hope that Sokka would conveniently wake up and interrupt them – he might be feigning sleep for all he knew. Besides, now that Katara had learned this much, she would just wait until they were alone to pry more out of him again… she’d never let it go. “The usual. Iroh tried to get me to go back with him. And he… he told me my blood parent’s names: Ursa and Ozai.”
“Oh. So do you remember—“
“No.” He put that question to rest at once. As a matter of fact, he hadn’t let himself think too much about the names – didn’t want to let them become important to him. Yet they still cycled around in his head, mostly at night when he was trying to sleep. Ozai. Ursa. Ozai. Ursa. Harsh sounding syllables… like Zuko. “Iroh said she… the woman—“
“Your mother,” Katara whispered, softly.
Zuko gave a half shrug. “He said that me being gone nearly destroyed her. I don’t care,” he said, and reached towards the glowing orange embers to twist a small ribbon of fire between his fingers. It was a nervous gesture. “I don’t even know her.”
Katara looked at him across the fire, solemn, her blue eyes solemn and sad. He looked away from her… He couldn’t stand to see the compassion there. After a few moments, he allowed the fire in his hands to die. “Does it make me a bad person?” he wondered.
“No.” She reached over to take one of his hands between hers. Her fingers were cool to the touch. “But I think you’re wrong. I think you do care, Zuko, even if you don’t want to admit it.”
Her words loosened a tight, unnoticed knot in his chest. Mutely, he shook his head, and she didn’t press further.
Sokka gave a soft snorting snore from the other side of the room. It broke the moment and she drew back, turning her head to wipe discretely at the corner of her eye. Zuko pretended not to notice, busying himself with rekindling the embers back into viable flames.
“I liked her,” he said, after a moment. “Song, I mean.” To Katara’s questioning glance. “But… I wouldn’t want to hurt her again, and that’s just what would happen, if I ever went back.”
Katara gave him a long, steadying look. “I think you’re underestimating her.”
But he only shrugged again, his expression becoming closed and unhappy once more. For once, his sister didn’t pursue it.
oOoOoO
More time passed; the sound of Sokka’s deep regular breathing acted like a sedative to his siblings. Katara had pulled up her own mat and curled up on it with her back to the fire. Zuko’s chin rested on his chest, his eyes shut as he dozed.
Then, without any warning at all, the door to the hut slammed open on its hinges and Aang bounded in; a smile stretching from ear to ear. “He’s gonna train us!”
Startled, Sokka shot to his feet, still half asleep and clutching his boomerang. “What happened?” he demanded, looking around with sleep muzzy eyes. “Are we captured again?”
Zuko ignored him. “You’re sure?” he asked, Aang.
“Well, he wasn’t at first. He was pretty angry when I told him I was taking firebending lessons… but then he got quiet for awhile and then just agreed. We’re going to meet him at his hut right at dawn.” Aang’s grin got even wider. “We’re going to get training from a real firebending master!”
Katara looked from Aang to Zuko and back again. “This is great! You two will learn so much.”
“Yeah,” Sokka deadpanned. He settled himself back down on the mat with an annoyed air. It had just hit him that they weren’t going anywhere for some time. “Great.”
oOoOoO
The two boys were up early the next morning, and took the short path between their hut and Jeong Jeong’s at a jog. They had been up and ready before the last of the night’s stars had even completely faded into daylight. The plan was to get there early, fresh faced and ready for their firebending instructor.
They found him waiting for them instead.
Jeong Jeong’s private hut was marginally bigger than the others in the village, set in a prime position on the edge of a carefully tended shallow creek. He stood on the rocky bank and watched their approach. A mushroom of wiry grey hair sat atop his head, and he was swarthy from years out in the sun. As Zuko drew closer he saw the man had scars of his own; two vertical lines drew near one eye, puckering its corner. Had the injury been any closer, he may have lost it.
The old master said nothing as they arrived, so Aang was left to do the introductions. “Master Jeong Jeong, this is Zuko. He’s the one I told you about. He’s taught me some about firebending already. Zuko, this is Jeong Jeong.”
Zuko cupped his hands in a bow, Water Tribe style. “Thank you for agreeing to teach us.”
Jeong Jeong eyed him for a moment and then gave a single nod, his expression too closed to read. Then he looked to Aang. “We will start with the basics. Horse stance!” he barked, causing the little monk to startle, before he hastily bent and positioned his feet. “Wider! Now bend your knees. Good… good.”
“Um.” Zuko raised his hand. “What should I—“
Jeong Jeong whipped around. “Quiet! If you cannot be here without interrupting then you may leave.” He turned his back on him in clear dismissal and focused again on Aang. “Now, concentrate.”
Aang looked hesitantly between his teacher and his friend. Zuko stood off to the side with his arms crossed, looking severely put out. But Jeong Jeong was still glaring down at him expectantly.
“So, what am I supposed to concentrate on?”
The old master gestured to the east where the bright gleam of the sun could just be seen though the bare winter branches. “Feel the heat of the sun. It is the greatest source of fire, yet in complete balance with nature.”
Aang glanced up behind him and then back, a slight smile on his face. “Is that how I make fire?”
“No! Concentrate!”
His sharp command made Aang startle again, but he steadied himself and screwed up his face all the same. Jeong Jeong watched him for a few minutes until he was satisfied. Then he turned to Zuko, “Come!” and walked away.
Zuko followed, hands now clenched in anger at his sides. They took a stone-edged path through the trees and came to a large meadow, the brown grass cropped short by hungry beaver-deer. Jeong Jeong stopped in the middle, turning to regard him and still said nothing. It was as if he were waiting for something.
Zuko was quickly growing tired of playing games. “Are you going to teach me now?” he asked, snidely.
“No.”
“What!?” he yelped, “Wait, why not?”
“You are undisciplined,” Jeong Jeong snapped, “and arrogant.”
“I’m arrogant?”
“You do not wish to learn the art of firebending. Look at you,” he said, walking around Zuko in a slow circle, evaluating the boy like a badly trained ostrich-horse. “You see an opportunity, and you pushed forward with it, heedless of the consequences. You are no master, yet you attempt to teach! How can you teach what you do not know?”
Zuko’s nostrils flared. “You haven’t even seen—“
“I have seen enough. The way you move, the way you breathe speaks of no control.”
“That’s why I’m here! I —I didn’t have anyone to teach me, so I taught myself. I’ve figured out some things, but I don’t know it all.”
Jeong Jeong studied him for a long moment, and Zuko met his gaze unflinchingly. The old master was less than impressed. “Fire is the most seductive, and the most treacherous of all the elements. Playing the fool and turning your back on it will only invite danger.”
“I know the risk. I’m not afraid.”
“Oh? What about when your pupil’s fire turns against him? Yes, boy,” he snapped when Zuko opened his mouth to interrupt. “What will you do when his fire turns on someone else, or himself? Do you think you are strong enough to hold the Avatar?”
Zuko almost barked out a laugh. “Aang wouldn’t—He’s a monk, he’s not going to just run around setting things on fire.” He paused, lifting his chin. “And even if he did, I would stop him.”
“You are a fool.”
It took everything he had not to shoot back another insult. This man is a master firebender, he told himself firmly. Letting out a long breath that was perhaps a bit hotter than it needed to be, Zuko forced his voice to come out even. “So are you going to teach me, or not?”
Jeong Jeong’s eyes narrowed. He stepped forward and something in his tensed shoulders made Zuko flinch, as if readying himself to be smacked across the face. But the Master simply barked, “What are the three elements of fire?”
“Heat, air, and fuel,” Zuko replied instantly, before he had even the chance to consider how he knew.
“It is called the divine triangle.” Jeong Jeong said. “Without heat the fire cannot spark, without air the fire cannot breathe and without fuel a fire cannot continue.” He held out his hand, palm up, and lit a small nub of a flame hardly bigger than a candletop. “This fire has heat and air. What is it using as the fuel?”
“I don’t know…” Zuko’s scrunched his face for a moment in thought. “More air?”
“No! This fire is fed only by my will. It is held by my control. You may put tinder to it, and it will not catch. It grows.” Jeong Jeong turned then and a brilliant plume of flame arced high into the air before it retracted, once again becoming the candle-sized flame. “And it dies only to my will as a guide.”
Jeong Jeong closed his fist, snuffing out his flame. Then he poked one finger to Zuko’s stomach. “This point is the single most important area of chi for a firebender. Here is where the fire gets its fuel. A firebender will use his own body heat in the core as the spark.” His finger moved up, now centered in the middle of Zuko’s chest. “Breath provides the air and the power to the fire. The mixing of chi, breath, and heat create flame.” And once again the squat little fire appeared his palm.
“We’re made to produce fire.” Zuko breathed, and felt warm inside with the realization.
“Yes.” But there was something bitter in the old master’s tone. Before he could identify it, Jeong Jeong held out his palm once more. He seemed to be waiting for something. Guessing at what it was, Zuko moved his hand briefly over the other firebender’s to collect a little of the flame into his own palm.
Once free of Jeong Jeong’s control and passed into his own, the fire spread out into three cool red and orange points, the fire nearly spilling over the sides of his palm like water – so different, he saw now, from the Master’s single candletop flame.
Jeong Jeong raised an eyebrow, his disapproval clear. “You cannot control your own fire properly, and you expect to teach the Avatar to do the same?”
Zuko’s cheeks felt hot. He grit his teeth and dropped his hand, letting the fire run off into smoke between his fingers.
“Take your stance!”
So he was to be taught after all? Zuko let out long breath – half relief and half exasperation he crouched firmly down. Having seeing Aang do this shortly before, Zuko made sure to keep his legs far apart. Jeong Jeong didn’t comment, except to tap at his feet with a stick to make sure they were both facing forward.
It might have been his imagination, but something in the burn in his thighs and calves felt… almost familiar.
Jeong Jeong reached up, plucking a falling leaf out of the air as if by magic. The tips of his fingers smoldered a small hole in the middle of the leaf leaving a slight orange ring. “Concentrate on the fire,” he said, handing it to Zuko. “I want you to keep this fire from reaching the edge of the leaf for as long as you can.”
He did, taking the leaf by the edges gingerly. The moment the control from the fire passed from Jeong Jeong to himself, the orange ring dimmed and then died.
“Your hands are as delicate as a turtle-duck and just as threatening.” Another smoldering leaf was thrust between his hands. “Again.”
It was going to be a long day.
