Daughter of the Moon - Book Three: Fire

Chapter 12.2: The One Who Dared

- Elara -

I could feel the anger rolling off me in waves as I stormed through the temple to find Aang, and it didn't take a genius to figure out why. I couldn't believe that he thought he could just walk in here and apologize as if he hadn't been the source of our troubles since day one. I couldn't believe that he thought he could just show up here thinking that he could teach Aang how to firebend after spending three years trying to hunt him down. And worst of all, he thought he could show up and make it seem like he was sincerely sorry and trying to be a better person—like he actually wanted to help and to make amends—even after everything he had done. He was absolutely despicable.

But I knew better. I had seen him struggle to be a good person in the past, and I wasn't too fond of where that attempt had landed me...or any of my friends, for that matter. There was a burning desire deep within me to find that boy—a feeling that I found to be uncomfortably familiar—but it was different than what I had experienced in the past. Instead of being plagued for adoration for the boy, I was overwhelmed with pure hatred and disgust just from seeing his face. It had awakened a monster within me, and I had little reason to hold it back.

However, I knew my reign of rage would have to wait. I was in no state for any kind of confrontation at the moment—I knew that for a fact—and there was a more pressing matter at hand than some stupid boy...

Aang needed a firebending teacher, and I knew that there was only one person around to help him to become a fully realized Avatar. I had to put aside my pain and my fears and do the right thing—I had to do whatever I could to help Aang to end the war.

"Aang, I need you to come with me," I croaked as I linked my arm through his, my voice still raw from my recent spell.

Aang stumbled after me willingly, but not without a healthy dose of concern. "Alright," he agreed. "But where are we going?"

"You need to learn how to firebend," I answered as a fearful tremble tore its way through my body. "I'm going to teach you."

Aang stumbled to a stop as he pulled his arm away from me, his confusion painfully obvious in the peculiar way in which he twisted his face. "Wait, wait?" Aang sputtered as he stumbled to a stop. "What are you talking about?"

"I hate to break it to you, space girl," Toph chuckled from her self-made throne of rocks. "But last I checked, you're not a firebender."

"Yeah," Katara added. "How are you supposed to teach Aang firebending when you're a waterbender? I mean, we appreciate the offer, we really do, but it hardly seems logical."

"I spent two years living with the greatest firebending master of all time. I'm sure I picked up a trick or two," I answered coldly as I clasped my hands together to keep them from shaking.

"No offense, Elara," Sokka said with a grimace as he made his way towards his usual position beside me. "But I wouldn't consider Zuko a firebending master..."

"I was talking about Iroh..." I corrected him before thoughts of that boy could take over again, the last of my strength directed towards forcing my attention to the old bender (although, many of my memories of him were tainted by his foolish nephew).

If this had been the ideal situation, I would have asked Iroh to train Aang for himself, but I knew that was far from possible. I had no idea where he was or what had happened to him after Ba-Sing-Se. I couldn't even remember much of what had happened on the day he had rescued me (although, there were some things I wish I could forget), but I was almost certain Iroh had been there. But if he was there, he hadn't stayed behind to teach Aang, and I was struggling to understand why. Perhaps he had arrived at the same conclusion that I had.