where the past can't reach us // zuko x reader

Chapter Twenty - Nature vs Nurture

Today was the day, thought (y/n), waking up the following morning. They were safe now, and nobody was following them, so the day would be relatively calm and peaceful: an earthbending lesson in the morning and afternoon, a remembering session in the evening. Still, (y/n) was nervous. She'd had moderate success with air since joining Aang, but despite her recent improvements, her skills at waterbending were pretty much non-existent. And so, with earth being the opposite element for Air Nomads, she expected herself and Aang to struggle, a lot.

Aang was a lot more excited about it than she was. "Can you believe it? After all that time searching for a teacher, I'm finally learning earthbending!" he shouted excitedly, waking Sokka up. "And this place, it's perfect, don't you think? Sokka? Oh, you're still sleeping, huh? Sorry."

(y/n) liked seeing Aang so enthusiastic, and hoped he'd remain that way even if he ended up finding earthbending hard. Though, maybe he wouldn't? – thought (y/n), – he was the Avatar, after all.

(y/n) got out of her sleeping bag and was just about to go talk to him when the ground shook. Toph's tent exploded, slabs of rock flying in every direction, and when the dust cleared, she spoke.

"Good morning, earthbending students!"

"Good morning, Sifu Toph," said Aang and (y/n), and bowed.

"Hey, you two never called me Sifu Katara!"

Aang turned to look at Katara, scratching the back of his head. "Well, if you think I should..."

Suddenly, Sokka sat up, grumbling at the noise.

"Sorry, Snoozles," said Toph, "We'll do our earthbending as quietly as we can."

A second later, Sokka was flying through the air, an earth pillar having launched him up from underneath his sleeping bag. When he landed, he hopped away, grumbling incoherent complaints at Toph before leaving the area completely.

"So what move are you going to teach me first?" asked Aang excitedly. "Rock-a-lanche?" He demonstrated, clenching his fist and bringing his arm down like a hammer. "The Trembler? Or, maybe I could learn to make a whirlpool out of land!"

Toph put a hand on Aang's chest to calm him down. "Let's start with 'move a rock'."

"Sounds good, sounds good!"

And so, they moved to a more suitable area and began.

"The key to earthbending is your stance," explained Toph. "You've got to be steady and strong. Rock is a stubborn element. If you're going to move it, you've got to be like a rock yourself."

"Like a rock. Got it," said Aang, and (y/n) nodded. It seemed simple enough in theory, she thought, but of course it would be very different in practice.

"Good," said Toph. "Now the actual motion of this one is pretty simple." She demonstrated, slamming the rock against the canyon wall. "Okay, you ready to give it a try? Aang, you first."

"I'm ready," he said. Taking a deep breath, he pushed the rock. The rock didn't budge. Instead, Aang flew backwards into Appa.

"(y/n), you try," instructed Toph. (y/n) narrowed her eyes, concentrating on the rock. Aang hadn't managed so there was no way it would actually work, she thought, but everyone had to start somewhere. So, remembering what Toph had done, she repeated the move. The rock flew into the wall, smashing instantly.

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By the time morning came the next day, Zuko had calmed down. It had been stupid of him to lose control over his emotions like that, especially when Azula could have come back and attacked at any moment – and of course Uncle wouldn't die from a small blast like that. Still, as much as he could push away the guilt, he couldn't ignore how worried he was for his uncle, right until the minute he finally opened his eyes.