Avatar Zuko

Chapter 25

“Okay, we've rested, trained, now it's time to properly start searching for an earthbending master for Zuko!” Announced Katara with as much confidence she could muster, looking out to the town below Appa, that was labelled Gaoling, and hoping a teacher would just appear out of nowhere.

“And you really think this is the best place, Aang?” Asked Sokka dubiously, peering at his map before looking back to the young airbender.

“Yes! I meditated on what Zuko said Bumi told him, about an earthbender who ‘listens to the earth’, and I felt a strong, spiritual tug in this direction.” As Aang explained the reasoning behind his decision to come here, Katara attempted not to think about how doomed they were, and tried to have faith in Aang's, apparently very good, spiritual senses.

Which was especially tricky when, in all honesty, Aang had never demonstrated these supposed abilities. Sure, according to Sokka he'd gone into the spirit world at the North Pole and Katara naturally trusted Aang, but she was still finding it difficult to believe the airbender could just meditate and magically know where Zuko's earthbending teacher was. Wow, with all the skepticism she wondered if she was turning into Sokka.

“Great. But are we sure I'm ready to learn earthbending? I mean, I barely know any waterbending and my airbending could be better…” Argued Zuko from where he was sat weirdly close to Sokka, looking over his shoulder at the map.

“No way! Your airbending is great! Last lesson you almost mastered how to use a glider!” Protested Aang happily, shooting the frowning firebender a bright smile.

“Yeah, and your waterbending is better than you think.” Katara chipped in, pretty sure Zuko just didn't want to learn earthbending and was thinking of any excuse to avoid it. Though she wasn't entirely sure why.

After that they flew in silence for a few minutes, before Aang gracefully landed Appa just outside the town they were looking to enter.

“Okay, so what's our story? Do we tell them Zuko's the avatar? Do we let them know he's Fire Nation?” Asked Sokka, looking to the others as they descended from the bison.

“No,” Zuko started, shaking his head tiredly “that'll just raise mistrust and suspicion. I'll just wear my Earth Kingdom clothes and say I'm an earthbender in need of training. That is, if we find a master.”.

So that's exactly what they did; they wandered around for hours, trying to find a teacher. They came across several earthbenders but most were too busy to help out, and told them their own masters had just been their parents. Katara was about ready to call it a day and just take Zuko over to the river to practice his forms all over again, when Sokka had the, admittedly bright, idea (after he spent two hours deciding whether or not to buy a bag) of asking other teenagers and kids where they were getting trained. Which led to a helpful discovery:

“Oh, yeah, I'm one of the students at Master Yu’s earthbending academy! He says if I get him three new students he'll give me the next belt!” Explained a six year old girl named Lindry, who was smiling brightly up at them, even though she'd been originally phased by Zuko's scar.

“That's great, Lindry! Could you show us to Master Yu’s academy?” Asked Katara kindly, figuring it was worth a shot.

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Apparently it was not worth a shot, which Katara realised too late watching Zuko's first lesson. Yu was clearly more interested in money than actual earthbending, and had the rather unorthodox teaching style of letting eight year olds blast rocks at each other. Judging by what happened at the North Pole, the waterbender figured this was not a method that resonated well with the Prince.