The Honor of Love (ATLA fanfic)

8. The Waterbending scroll

"Are you alright?" I asked Aang when he looked restlessly around him. He sighed and shook his head. "I'm supposed to master all four elements before Sozin's comet arrives." I raised my eyebrows. "Yeah, that is a lot to take in," I said, "but you Katara and you have me. We only need to find you an earthbender."

"I thought you didn't want to teach me firebending." Aang replied quietly. I smiled at him. "I don't, but," I chuckled, "teaching the Avatar himself would be such an honor. And I actually kinda like it again." I shrugged. Aang smiled. "That is great. I am glad. It's a part of you after all." Aang replied.

"Don't overreact it. I'm sure you can master three more elements by next summer." Sokka said easily.
"How can you say that, Sokka?! I haven't even started waterbending and we're still weeks away from the North pole!" Aang yelled, "what am I gonna do?!" I grabbed his hand and pulled him down.

"Calm down, it is going to be okay!" I smiled, "You are the Avatar, you will master all four elements, I am so sure of it. And we are going to help you." Katara nodded heavily.

After a while, we stopped at a waterfall, with a small lake. Katara started to practice waterbending with Aang while Sokka was removing things out of the gaps between Appa's toes. I was swimming around enjoying the warm water. I floated on my back and stared up to the sky. I closed my eyes and felt the warmth of the sun on my face. I smiled and happy thoughts went through my head. I felt very calm and content.

"Istari are you coming?" Katara asked irritated, "we are going to the market."
I frowned and looked at her. "Why?" I asked annoyed. "Aang, he just did some moves that took me my whole life to learn." Katara replied confused. "Of course, he is the Avatar." I said indifferently.
"Yeah, yeah..." Katara said and waved with her hand, "so are you coming?"

"Uhm yeah, if we all go." I replied. We headed towards the market. It was very... weird. There were a lot of scary looking guys, who were most likely criminals. I put my collar up to hide my jade necklace and kept a firm hand on my bag. "We got exactly three copper pieces left of the money that King Bumi gave us. Let's spend it wisely." Sokka said.
"Only three?" I asked indignantly.

"Uhm, make that two copper pieces Sokka, I couldn't say no to this whistle." Aang said and he held up a whistle that looked like a bison. He blew on it, and there was faint hissing coming out. "It doesn't even work." Sokka said. "No offense Aang, but i'll hold the money from now on." Katara said. Aang gave her the money and the four of us walked on.

"Is it okay if I meet you guys back at camp? I'll try find some food along the way, I saw some bushes with berries." I said when I thought about that and swimming in the lake. "Yeah, sure." They said. I nodded and walked away from the market, leaving them behind.

I walked outside of the market towards the forest. I saw the berries and quickly started to pluck them. I heard some rustling behind me and quickly turned around. "Who is there?" I asked shakily, thinking about the scary men I saw down at the market. I turned back to my bush of berries when I suddenly saw a figure in front of me.

I shocked and took a step back, losing my balance. With a loud thud I fell on my bum. I angrily looked up to see who it was, and I could not believe it. A hand reached out to me and grabbed my hand, pulling me up into the warmest embrace I've had in years.

"I never thought I'd see you again. You have no idea how much this means to me. To see you alive and well." I let go of the embrace and shook my head in disbelief. I took a step back and bowed. I was still cautious, but I knew he had no intention of hurting me. "You have grown, you look different, yet still the same," Iroh said when he looked at me. "I only miss your hair, but it looks very nice nonetheless."