𝙄𝙉 𝙀𝙓𝘾𝙃𝘼𝙉𝙂𝙀 ⤁ prince zuko

thirty five | finding fire

After a long day of training with Aang, Zuko leaned against the building thinking, while everyone else sat around the fire, while Katara and Mari served rice.

"Listen everybody. I've got some pretty bad news." He said walking towards them. "I've lost my stuff."

"Don't look at me! I didn't touch his stuff." Toph defended.

"I'm talking about my firebending. It's gone."

Katara began to laugh hysterically. "I'm sorry. I'm just laughing at the irony. You know, how nice it would've been for us if you'd lost your firebending a long time ago?"

"Well it's not lost." Zuko continued "It's just weaker for some reason."

"Maybe you're just not as good as you think you are." Mari mumbled.

"I bet it's because I changed sides." Zuko suggested.

"That's ridiculous."

"I don't know.." Aang said, sounding a little convinced. "Maybe it isn't. Maybe your firebending comes from rage. And you just don't have enough anger to fuel it like you used to."

"So, all we need to do is make Zuko angry." Sokka chimed in. "Easy enough." Sokka began poking him with a stick.

"Ok! Cut it out!" Zuko shouted. "Look, even if you're right, I don't want to rely on hate and anger anymore. There has to be another way."

"You're going to need to learn to draw your firebending from a different source. I recommend the original source." Toph said.

"How's he supposed to do that? By jumping into a volcano?" Sokka joked.

"No. Zuko needs to go back to whatever the original source of firebending is."

"So...is it jumping into a volcano?" Sokka asked, more seriously.

"I don't know." Toph set down her bowl of rice. "For earthbending the original benders were badger moles. One day, when I was little I ran away and hid in a cave. That's where I met them. They were blind just like me, we understood each other. I was able to learn earthbending not as just a martial art, but as an extension of my senses. For them, the original earthbenders, it's not just about fighting. It was there way of interacting with the world."

"That's amazing Toph!" Aang praised. "I learned form the monks, but the original airbenders were the sky bison. Maybe you can give me a lesson sometime, buddy." Aang said to Appa.

"Well this doesn't help me. The original fire benders were the dragons, and they're extinct." Zuko mumbled

"What do you mean? Roku has a dragon, and there were plenty of dragons when I was a kid."

"Well they aren't around anymore, okay!" Zuko shouted.

"Okay, okay. Sorry." Aang said holding up his hands.

"But maybe there's another way. The first people who learned from the dragons were the ancient sun warriors."

"Sun warriors?" Aang questioned. "Well I know they weren't around when I was a kid."

"No, they died off thousands of years ago. But their civilization wasn't too far from where we are now. Maybe we can learn something by poking around their ruins."

"It's like the monks used to tell me. Sometimes the shadows of the past can be felt by the present." Aang said wisely.

"So, what? Maybe you'll pick up some super old Sun Warrior energy just by standing where they stood a thousand years ago?" Sokka asked.

"More or less. Either I find a new way to firebend, or the Avatar has to find a new firebending teacher."

---

The sun rose over the cliff that early morning, everyone helped board food and water onto Appa for Aang and Zuko's journey.

Once everything was packed, Mari walked around to the other side of Appa so make sure the saddle was tied correctly.

"Mari." She heard a voice

Slowly, she turned around.

"Can we talk." asked Zuko.

"Nothing to talk about." She said shoving a bag with sleeping mats for him and Aang into his chest.

He winced at the impact.

"Have fun with Aang." she said coldly, turning around.

---

Zuko and Aang had only been gone a day, they returned late afternoon, ready to demonstrate their newly found fire bending.

"With this technique the dragons showed us, Zuko and I will be unstoppable." Aang said as they made their way to the final stance.

"Yeah, that's a great dance you two learned there" Sokka smiled.

"It's not a dance. It's a firebending form." Zuko defended.

Sokka wiggled his fingers around. "We'll just tap-dance our way to victory over the Fire Lord."

"Mari and I should choreograph a earthbending duet too." Toph cut in

"It's a sacred form that happens to be thousands of years old!" Zuko said, growing mad.

"Oh yeah? What's your little form called?" Katara asked.

Zuko looked down embarrassed. "The Dancing Dragon." He mumbled, causing an eruption of laughter among the group.

Mari stayed quiet.