The Spirit Bender

25. Good Advice and Hard Work

"You get what you work for, not what you wish for."

When Aang finally made it to the day he would start earthbending training, he was over the moon with joy. He was awake at dawn, ready to start the day. I could not say the same for the rest of us. Katara and I were especially dreading what would happen, and both just wanted to sit by the nearby little water hole all day, practicing.

After Toph finally woke up and they could start, Aang sort of lost his excitement. Moving rocks and making "rock-alanches" wasn't so easy it had originally seemed. And with Aang being an airbender at birth, earth was the opposite and thereby what he would have most trouble with.

Katara and I watched as Toph demonstrated how to move a rock. A basic move, Aang shouldn't have much trouble with. However as soon as he tried, a gust of wind sent him knocking back into Appa.

"Rock beats airbender!" Sokka snickered from his sleeping bag. We all glared at him as Aang sighed in defeat.

Katara and I approached the rock and Toph. "Well, that could've gone better," I commented, glancing at the rock.

"I don't understand what went wrong. He did it exactly the way you did," Katara asked, as Aang came up, holding his hand on his head.

"Maybe there's another way ... what if I came at the boulder from another angle?" Aang wondered, walking around the rock.

But Toph shook her head and approached us. "No. That's the problem. You've got to stop thinking like an airbender. There's no different angle, no clever solution, no trickety-trick that's going to move that rock. You've got to face it head on. And when I say head on, I mean like this ..." she explained and jump head first into the rock, smashing it into little tiny pieces. We all gaped, surprised and in shock.

Toph started to walk away, apparently having had enough. Katara ran after her and I turned to Aang. "You'll get it eventually," I smiled.

Aang offered a little smile. "Thanks, Mae. But I'm not sure it'll be anytime soon," he said sadly.

I chuckled. "That's okay. It takes time. You didn't expect to become a master in just one day, did you?" I smiled, but when I noticed his sad expression, I put a hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry. You've already advanced so much with waterbending in such a short period of time. You can do anything you set your head to."

Aang scoffed lightly. "My head is all airbender and no earthbender," he said. "I don't think Toph believes I've got it in me."

I matched his scoff. "Don't worry about that. Being an airbender, and thinking like one will definitely help you. And if it's any help, I do believe in you," I said.

-

Later that day, Katara and I had gone away, tired of hearing the yelling from Toph and defeated sounds from Aang. Earthbending training was a little tougher than we had thought. And Sokka was nowhere to be found either. We settled by the little water hole and started passing a small bubble between us, doing our best to keep all the water within it.

"So, Katara," I began. "I was wondering if you could tell me what happened after I left?" I asked. The question had been on my mind for a while now. In some way I wanted to know desperately, but in another I was afraid of feeling guilty. Even though I probably should be.

Katara tensed a little, but only for a short moment. "Well, dad left a few years later with all the men from our tribe to fight in the war. Sokka and I were the oldest then, and we had to take care of everyone else. Sokka tried to teach the kids how to fight, so they'd make their fathers proud, but he wasn't very successful. I did most of the cooking and cleaning," Katara explained. "But don't feel guilty," she then said, as if she could read my thoughts. "We all managed and some moments we didn't mind it. At least we were safe. But we're so glad that we found you. Not a day went by where we didn't think about you, or mom, and even dad when he left." I looked down and smiled. The bubble between us had stopped and were left as another drop of water. Katara gathered it again and threw it for me to catch. "What about you? What have you been doing since we last saw you?" she asked, a hint of a teasing smile in her eyes.