A/N; Ok so completely unrelated to the upcoming chapter, but I just realized something I did completely by accident. So Azami is Azulon's sister, right. And she's also Iroh's aunt, by extension. Now, that was all intentional, but, uh, it also means she's freaking Ozai's aunt.
Maybe I didn't think this through before writing it XD
Literally uploading at 6 am, what even is a sleep schedule, I have become vampire. Btw, longest chapter yet. Bring some popcorn.
Katara P.o.V.
"This should give us a good idea of what's around here," Katara commented as she approached a kiosk, glancing at the poster hung upon it. "We do need to find some food soon."
Azami and Aang approached beside her. "I bet we'll find something to eat here," Aang replied happily as he read the poster. "The Fire Days festival!"
"Huh," Azami deadpanned. "I haven't been to one in ages."
Katara glanced over at the firebender. "What's it about?" she asked.
"Says here that it has Fire Nation culture exhibits, jugglers, benders, magicians..." Aang's voice trailed off. "Could be a good place for me to study some firebending. What do you think, Azami?"
The princess shrugged. "As long as we take precautions, it shouldn't be an issue," she admitted. "One of the main parts of the festival is wearing masks, so there's a low chance we'd be recognized. But the performers are only really interested in being flashy with their bending, it won't help you much with actually learning the element or using it in combat. Besides, you should really be focusing on waterbending for now."
"If it's safe, I'm in," Aang stated cheerfully. "It's been a while since we got to do something fun like this."
Sokka's voice trailed over from the other side of the kiosk. "You might want to rethink that," he grumbled. "Look at this."
The three joined him on the other side, glancing at multiple wanted posters. There were multiple posters, two of which Katara recognized - one for Aang, and one for Azami. "Hey, there's posters of us!" Aang exclaimed as he pulled down the two posters.
"Yeah, wanted posters," Sokka deadpanned at the airbender. "This is bad. I think we should probably keep moving."
"What, is this news to you?" Azami scoffed at him, and Sokka shrunk back a little. "In case you forgot, we've both been wanted ever since the Solstice. And did you miss the part where I said we would be wearing masks?"
Sokka shuffled on his feet nervously. "W-well, I... I just don't think it's a good idea," he stammered out.
The firebender rolled her eyes at him. "Right. Remind me, when was the last time you had one of those?" she snapped, before heading back to Appa.
Sokka gazed sadly at Azami as she walked off, and Katara and Aang shared a nervous look. They'd both overheard every bit of their argument after leaving Bato behind, and while Katara fully agreed with everything Azami said, she couldn't help feeling bad for her brother. He'd done something incredibly stupid, and while she didn't fully understand everything that they said to each other, she got the idea.
Clearly, something had happened between them before Aang hid the map to her father, and Sokka ruined it for them.
Azami P.o.V.
The young princess stood on an outcrop overlooking the nearby Fire Nation colony, where the festival would be taking place. A breeze blew past, and she sighed, glancing down at her feet. For one night, one glorious, blissful night, Azami had been able to sleep without nightmares. She finally got to sleep in peace, and just when she thought things were looking up, she gets stabbed in the back.
Since then, however, things had started getting a lot more tense in the group. She still couldn't believe Sokka had the nerve to try and suck up to her and apologize after the shit he pulled. No, he could keep his goddamn apology. It didn't matter to her anymore, he'd taught her a valuable lesson - don't let people into your issues. Ever.
"Hey, you ready to go in?"
Azami's head snapped up as she looked over at Aang, who was glancing up at her from her side. Before she even met his gaze, she'd already put back on her façade of a happy-ish demeanor, trying to keep him from worrying about her. He already had enough of a burden without her thrusting her problems on his shoulders.
"Of course," she smiled at him, and he seemed a little skeptical as he hesitantly smiled back. "Aang, before we go in, I just-"
She couldn't finish what she was going to say, as Appa suddenly crept up behind them and licked her, causing her to let out a squeal in surprise as a real smile took over her face. "Appa!" she complained. "Stop doing that!"
Fortunately, that seemed to do the trick, and Aang broke out into a real laugh, lifting the heavier mood that had set over them. Katara and Sokka soon followed behind the bison, and they started preparing to head into the village.
"You guys stay out of sight here while we go to the festival," Aang instructed to Momo and Appa. Momo instantly dove into a nearby bush, and Appa, being the adorable ball of fluff he is, simply laid down behind the same bush, hiding only his face from view. Perfect, Azami smiled to herself. Never change, Appa. Aang grinned, and he turned to the other three. "Ready disguises."
Sokka, Katara and Azami each pulled up a traveling cloak over their heads, hiding them mostly from view, while Aang simply yanked on his robes to bring his neckline up as a 'hood'. Azami just smirked, taking in the airbender's mastery in the art of stealth. "They'll never see you coming," she grinned as Katara laughed from behind her.
"Let's go," Aang exclaimed, and the group headed towards the village.
They got in without any issues, somehow even managing to get their masks without being recognized. Azami's was a red dragon, Katara's was a lady with lots of makeup on, Sokka's a blue smiling mask and Aang's a frowning red mask. Lifting both the boy's masks, Katara quickly swapped them to match their expressions underneath (Sokka was again pouting).
After wandering around for a bit, Aang spotted a nearby stand where the vendor was selling fire flakes - a Fire Nation classic, but probably a little spicey for the others. So, naturally, Sokka bought a bag and within a matter of seconds he was gagging and wiping at his tongue. "Flaming fire flakes? Hot?" Katara wondered aloud. "Who could've guessed."
"Hey, look at this," Aang called over to them, and they joined him in watching some kind of puppet show. The puppeteer had set up a miniature Firelord Ozai, which to be fair was decently detailed.
"Don't worry loyal citizens!" the 'puppet' told the crowd watching. "No one can surprise the Firelord!"
A small Earth Kingdom soldier puppet appeared behind the Firelord, and the kids watching all cried out in fear. Before Azami could blink, the Firelord puppet had turned to face the soldier, and burned it to a crisp with a flame from its mouth, causing the crowd to cheer.
That's new.
She turned to see Aang wandering off, and the three quickly raced to catch up with him. "Aang, hold on!" Katara cried. "Where are we going?"
The airbender shrugged. "I don't know," he admitted. "But there's a big crowd, so it must be good."
"Knowing the Fire Nation, it's probably an execution," Sokka remarked.
"Gee, thanks, Sokka," Azami snapped as she rolled her eyes, jabbing him with her elbow for good measure as she passed him. It was helpful to know he hadn't changed one bit after all.
The show was decent, though nothing Azami hadn't seen before. Over a hundred years since she last attended one of these things, and still performing the same moves. And, like she told Aang, they were completely worthless. For some reason, though, when the performer asked for a volunteer Aang was leaping up and down, begging to be picked.
She quickly grabbed his arm, pulling it back down to his side. "It's not worth it," she told him. "Those 'moves' are just for show and won't teach you anything important."
"Aww, cmon, Azami," he complained. "Can't I just-"
"How about you, little lady?" a voice interrupted them. Azami looked up in surprise to see the performer pointing right at her. She shrugged, allowing herself to be pulled up onto the stage. It was safe, after all, and if worst came to worst she could defend herself against firebending.
The performer had her sit down on an elegant chair before loosely tying her to it with cloth. "You will be my captured princess," he grinned at her, and Azami felt her insides twist a little. Obviously he didn't actually know who she was, but it didn't stop her from becoming a little nervous.
As the performer started to bend his fire into the shape of a dragon, Azami felt a twinge of unease. Somehow, this wasn't going to end well.
"Don't worry, young maiden!" the performer cried out. "I will tame this fiery beast!" He created a fake lasso of fire that trailed the dragon, and she had to admit - this guy had a modicum of talent. After a moment, his 'lasso' started to break, the dragon's movements becoming slightly more frantic. "It's too strong, I can't hold it!"
Azami knew what would come next, but apparently she'd forgotten to take Aang to one of these festivals, because he leaped up onto stage right as the dragon headed straight towards her. Before she could yell at him to stop, he sent a blast of airbending towards the dragon, causing it to dissolve and rain confetti everywhere.
The performer, who had fallen over, sent Aang a dirty look. "Hey, you trying to upstage me, kid?"
Azami's eyes widened in fear as she realized that Aang's mask had blown off. Oh shit.
He desperately started to perform some weird dance as Sokka and Katara joined them onstage, losing their masks in the process. The cloth binding Azami to the chair was quickly unravelled, and she got up just as someone in the crowd yelled out that Aang was the Avatar. Ditching her mask as well, she raced to join the others as they ran off the backside of the stage, Fire Nation soldiers pursuing them.
To her surprise, an explosion of smoke went off behind them, and a masked man raced to join them. "Follow me!" he exclaimed, and the gaang decided to trust him for the time being. He led them through the streets of the village, desperately trying to leave their pursuers behind as Aang blew his whistle to summon Appa.
"This way!" the man cried as they turned into a back alley. They got halfway through when they saw soldiers appear at the far end. "Okay, not this way!" He threw another smoke bomb to disorient them, and they turned back down another hidden back alley, this one blocked off by a massive cart filled with fireworks. They turned to leave, only to see the soldiers had boxed them in.
Azami got ready to fight, but it proved unnecessary as Appa showed up at just the right moment. He quickly landed in front of them, blasting the soldiers away with a gust from his tail. The group all quickly climbed up on the bison and flew off, the man throwing one last explosive at the fireworks, causing them to erupt.
"Nice touch setting off those fireworks," Aang grinned as he looked back at the man, who had now taken his mask off.
"You really know your explosives," Sokka added.
The man turned to face them. "I'm familiar."
Sokka gasped upon seeing his face. "You're a Fire Nation soldier!"
"Was. My name's Chey," he introduced himself before he turned and bowed to Azami. "It's an honor of a lifetime to meet you, your highness."
Azami sighed. "Please don't do that. I've all but abandoned that title now."
Chey shook his head as he rose. "Perhaps, but I don't think you understand the impact you've had, Princess. The amount of people that you've inspired to defect from the Fire Nation is unprecedented. There's a lot of us who don't agree with this war yet have thought it impossible to defy the Firelord, something you have proven possible."
"I haven't really done anything much," she protested. "Truth be told, it's mostly a lot of running and hiding. And as I already said, please don't call me by that title."
"There have been others before you who left the Fire Nation," Chey continued as though he hadn't heard her. "But none who have actually had the courage to fight back. It's... well, you'll see," he grinned.
The rest of the flight back was mostly silent. After a while, Appa landed in a forest, where they made camp.
"I serve a man," Chey explained. "More than a man really, he's a myth, but he's real, a living legend. Jeong Jeong the deserter. He was a Fire Nation general - or wait, was he an admiral?"
"I saw the wanted poster, he was a general," Azami muttered.
"Yeah!" Chey exclaimed. "He was, like, super high up! But he couldn't take the madness anymore. He's the first person ever to leave the army - and live. I'm the second, but you don't get to be a legend for that. That being said, it's nothing next to being the first to leave the Royal Family and survive. It's all okay though - Jeong Jeong's a firebending genius. Some say he's mad, but he's not! He's enlightened!"
Aang had an excited look on his face. "What do you think, Azami? It could be a chance to study from a true firebending master!"
Azami raised an eyebrow at is statement. "Okay, first off, I am a firebending master, and at the time I was the youngest person in Fire Nation history to ever earn the title," she deadpanned at him. "But since I'm clearly not good enough for you, sure, we could go 'study' from him. More importantly though..."
She sighed, knowing he wasn't going to like what she was about to say. "Aang, I tell you this as both your firebending teacher and as your friend - you aren't ready to learn firebending yet. If you were, I would've started teaching you already."
As she expected, Aang looked incensed. "What!?" he cried. "I've already mastered airbending and I'm learning waterbending from Katara! I'm ready to start firebending!"
"No, you're not," she insisted. "You haven't mastered waterbending yet, or even started earthbending! Do you honestly think the past ten thousand years of Avatars have just wasted their time learning the elements in order for no good reason? I'm telling you, you aren't ready!"
Aang stood up angrily. "Fine!" he shouted. "Don't teach me then if you don't want to! But I'm going to see this Jeong Jeong anyways."
Thankfully, Azami wasn't alone on this, as Katara spoke up. "I get this is important to you, Aang, but you already have a firebending teacher. Besides, we are on a time limit, and we need to get you to the North Pole as fast as possible."
Aang rolled his eyes at her. "Yeah, a firebending teacher who's so good she managed to nearly kill herself with her own lightning."
"You know what?" Azami snapped, unable to believe Aang had gone there. "You're right, you can do whatever you want. Just remember that when this backfires on you, and you hurt either yourself or the people around you, I warned you. You aren't ready for this."
The princess angrily stomped off from the campsite to go pet Appa, as she often did when she needed to cool down. Before she could reach him, though, the group had been completely surrounded, a ring of spears pointing in at them. "Don't move!" one of the men yelled.
The men escorted them to a small hideout by the riverbank, made largely of thatched huts. One of the men, who Chey had told them was called Lin Yee, shoved Chey forwards. "Go on. He sees you only."
Chey chuckled nervously. "Oh, that's okay. We can chat later."
"Is that where Jeong Jeong is?" Aang asked excitedly, looking at the hut closest to the river. "I need to talk to him right away."
He tried to walk forwards, but Lin Yee stopped him with his spear. "No!" the man yelled at him. "You wait there." He turned, pushing Chey towards the hut. "Go now!"
"Don't worry!" Chey tried to reassure them. "Everything'll be fine. He's a great man, great man!"
Nearly an hour passed, and the gaang had mostly started to fall asleep, save for Azami. She wasn't about to trust their safety to a group of armed men she didn't even know. Thankfully, she wouldn't have to stay up forever, as Chey eventually came back to them, looking downcast.
"What happened?" Aang demanded. "Can I see Jeong Jeong now?"
"He won't see you," Chey muttered. "He's very angry that I brought you here. He wants you to leave immediately."
Azami smirked. "Oh really?" she asked, feeling smug. "Do tell us why he won't see Aang."
Aang shot her a dirty look, and Chey reluctantly continued. "He say's that the Avatar isn't ready. Says he hasn't mastered waterbending and earthbending."
She crossed her arms, feeling immensely satisfied. "You don't say. It's almost like I know what I'm talking about."
"How does he know that?" Aang demanded.
"I can answer that easily," Azami deadpanned at him. "The way you hold yourself and move is telling enough, Aang. You haven't mastered the flow of energy that comes from waterbending, or the solidity and steadiness that comes from earthbending. Even the way you walk makes it obvious."
Aang, who was looking increasingly impatient, immediately stormed past her and everyone else. "I'm going in anyways!"
She glanced down sadly, knowing that she had basically already failed as his firebending teacher. His impatience was going to make learning firebending nearly impossible, even if this Jeong Jeong let him. She waited with the others for several minutes, before Aang returned, grinning wildly. "Well, looks like he's going to teach me," he commented with a smug look, and Azami sighed. She already knew how this would end.
Morning came, and Aang was beginning his lessons with Jeong Jeong, while Azami and the water tribe siblings watched from the side. "Widen your stance!" Jeong Jeong instructed, and Aang shifted slightly. "Wider! Bend your knees! Now, concentrate."
Aang tried to calm his face, staring forward unamused. "Good, good!" Jeong Jeong stated.
The man started to walk away, and Aang panicked. "Wait!" he cried. "What do I do now?"
Azami just facepalmed as Jeong Jeong whirled back around. "Silence!" he snapped. "Talking is not concentrating! Look at your friends! Are they talking?" He gestured to Katara and Azami, who were each practicing with their elements, before pointing at Sokka while he fished. "Even that oaf knows to concentrate on what he's doing!"
"Hey!" Sokka protested.
"But what am I concentrating on?" Aang demanded.
"Feel the heat of the sun," Jeong Jeong explained. "It is the greatest source of fire, yet, it is in complete balance with nature." At least he knows what he's doing, Azami groaned.
Aang grinned. "So when do I get to make some fire?"
At this, Azami couldn't hold it in anymore. "Oh for spirit's sake, Aang!" she yelled at him. "You had to master meditation as a child, and this is the first lesson every firebender learns! If you're really going to do this, take it seriously and concentrate!"
The airbender turned to send a retort, but Jeong Jeong cut him off. "She is correct," he snapped at the airbender. "Concentrate!" He then sighed, before turning to Azami. "Your highness, if you would follow me."
She nodded, following Jeong Jeong off into a secluded area away from the others. Once out of earshot of everyone else, the man stopped, turning to face her. "He is not the most patient individual, is he?"
Azami sighed. "No," she muttered. "I tried to tell him he isn't ready, same as you, but obviously he didn't listen. And before you say it, I'm not concerned about letting him fail. I'm concerned about who he'll hurt when he does."
Jeong Jeong nodded. "You and I both know how this ends," he stated in a disappointed tone. "He will rush his training, reach the stage where he must control fire rather than create it, and it will ultimately escape from him. I recognize this is unfair of me to ask, but will you take care to protect the others from him in the event I cannot?"
She nodded without hesitation. "I was already going to."
Jeong Jeong looked downcast as he resigned himself to whatever fate had in store. "Then let us get this over with."
The mood was solemn as they headed back to the airbender, who had already left his stance while they were away talking. He quickly resumed it as he saw them coming, but they both noticed. This was so not going to end well.
As if to prove her point further, Aang's next exercise didn't end well either. Jeong Jeong had him sit atop a nearby peak to practice his breathing exercises, and to Aang's credit he did manage for nearly three hours, but he eventually grew impatient and came racing back down to the riverbank.
Before he had the chance to race into Jeong Jeong's hut, Azami reached out to talk to him, but he just brushed her off and barrelled straight in. The firebender sighed, as this was going about as badly as she predicted. Aang had yet to learn patience, and she knew the time was rapidly approaching where he would get his hands on some real fire.
Though she didn't try to eavesdrop, she overheard the conversation from the hut just fine, and she fully agreed with everything Jeong Jeong said. Aang walked out from the hut defeatedly, looking solemn as he headed towards Azami. "Hey," he muttered dejectedly.
"You aren't flying around with your magic fire yet?" Azami sarcastically snipped at him. "I thought this would be a breeze for the great Avatar."
"No, I-" he started to respond angrily, before cutting himself off. "Look, I'm sorry I was such a jerk to you before. I know you're doing what you think is right."
She rolled her eyes. "Think?" she scoffed. "Aang, I have full confidence you'll be a great Avatar someday, but I know this isn't going to end well."
He glanced up at her sadly. "Why don't you trust me?"
"I do trust you, Aang," she insisted. "That's not what this is about. The real question is, why don't you trust Jeong Jeong and I?" She let the question hang for a moment, and when it became clear he either didn't know how to respond or simply wasn't going to, she left him to go practice on her own.
Her practice, like what Jeong Jeong was trying to teach Aang, had little to do with jumping around and shooting fire wherever possible. Right now, she was still confident in her firebending - it was lightning that she was terrified to use again. So, her "practice" actually entailed a lot of meditation and focusing on her breathing as she tried to clear her mind of all emotion.
Needless to say, that was a task that was growing increasingly more difficult by the day. It had already been hard enough to stay focused after her encounter with Azulon, but the whole Sokka and Bato fiasco had basically made it impossible.
It was another few hours before Jeong Jeong emerged from his hut, to see Aang sitting downcast outside. The airbender had finally seemed to calm down, and restrain himself. "I thought about what you said," Aang admitted. "I promise I'll be more patient."
Azami raised a brow - had he actually learned?
"We're going to work with fire now," Jeong Jeong announced, and Aang leaped up excitedly, before putting on a serious face to try and convince Jeong Jeong he was ready.
No. He hadn't learned a thing. Not yet.
Jeong Jeong plucked a leaf out of the air as they fell around him, and burnt the center of it ever so slightly. He passed the leaf to Aang, who had assumed his stance once more. "Concentrate on the leaf," he instructed to the airbender. "I want you to keep the flame from reaching the edges of the leaf for as long as you can."
One of Jeong Jeong's man ran over, looking panicked. "Master!" the man cried. "There is trouble!"
"What's going on?" Aang asked as the leaf started to burn.
"Concentrate on your leaf!" Jeong Jeong yelled at him before running off.
Aang returned his attention to the leaf, seeming bored and frustrated. "This is the worst firebending instruction ever," he complained. "All he does is leave me for hours to concentrate or breathe!"
Katara and Azami both watched from the sidelines as Aang struggled to keep the flame from spreading across the leaf. "I'm sure there's a good reason," the waterbender assured him.
"But I'm ready to do so much more!" he protested. Aang looked back down at his leaf, and Azami watched in fear as the leaf burst aflame. "I did it!" heyelled excitedly. "I made fire!" Here we go.
"Aang, that's great!" Katara called over to him. "But you should take it slow!"
Ignoring her, Aang started tossing the fire back and forth in his hands, throwing it around like a juggler before blasting it up and away from him. "Now that's some firebending!" he cheered.
Katara started to look increasingly concerned. "Aang, you'll hurt yourself!" she yelled, and Azami placed a hand on the waterbender's shoulder. She turned to face her in surprise, and the firebender just shook her head sadly. There was no stopping Aang now until he made a mistake. Even if she could, she wouldn't. He needed to learn for himself the deadly consequences of using firebending.
"I wonder how that juggler did it," Aang muttered. The two turned back to face him, watching in horror as he sent out a massive ring of fire. Azami only had enough time to reach out with her scarred arm and block the fire from reaching Katara, and she screamed in pain as her entire arm was burned yet again - this time, from Aang, instead of her lightning.
She fell to the ground, holding her arm close to her body as she shook from the pain, desperately trying to control herself and stop any tears from flowing. "Azami!" Aang cried as Katara quickly leaned down to check on her. It wasn't pretty - most of her arm was red and blistering. "I'm so sorry!"
"Azami, Katara, what's wrong?" Sokka's voice rang out as he ran towards them, before he turned angrily towards Aang. "What did you do!?"
"It was an accident!" Aang exclaimed as he tried to explain himself. "I was, uh... Azami, I'm so-"
Sokka cut him off, tackling him to the ground. "She told you not to mess around with this!" he yelled at the airbender. "Look what you did! You burned her!"
Not bothering to hear the rest of their conversation, Azami just walked off with Katara trailing behind her, offering small words of comfort. She knew this was coming, but that didn't stop it from hurting like crazy. Once they were a distance from the others, she knelt back down next to the water, slowly lowering her arm from her chest to take a closer look at it.
The burns weren't nearly as extensive as what her lightning had caused, but they were still severe - her skin felt like it was on fire, and there were red blotches and blisters trailing from her hand up to her bicep. "Here, let me help you," Katara offered as she carefully bent water onto Azami's arm.
The water started to glow, and within seconds the burns had healed up. Azami just sighed in relief as she felt the throbbing pain subside, and she glanced over at Katara with a grateful look. "You're really lucky, you know that?" Azami told her.
"How?" Katara asked. "That fire would've hit me if you hadn't blocked it. There wasn't any luck to it."
Azami shook her head. "That's not what I meant," she explained. "Your healing abilities. It's a great gift to have."
Katara gaver her a confused look. "You say that as if your bending isn't just as great a gift."
"It isn't," a voice rang out from behind them, and the two girls looked over in surprise to see Jeong Jeong approaching them. "Firebending is a curse. It brings only destruction and pain, forcing those of us burdened with its care to walk a razor's edge between humanity and savagery." He kneeled down beside them, closing his eyes. "Eventually, we are torn apart."
The waterbender's eyes were wide as she looked over at Azami. "Surely you don't agree with him, right?" she insisted. "I mean your bending is even more special, being able to change your fire's color! How is that a curse?"
"You know, there was a time I would agree with you," Azami admitted. "I'm not so sure anymore."
Katara seemed unsure how to respond, but before she got the chance, a massive burst of fire erupted on the river before them. The three leaped back in surprise, glancing to their left as they saw several small Fire Navy boats approaching them. The two girls looked to the old master, who gave them a panicked look.
"Go get your friends and flee!" he cried. "Do not come back here or you will all be destroyed! Hurry!"
The two raced back to the hideout, where they saw Sokka packing up all their belongings. "Azami!" he gasped as he ran over to see them. "Are you al-"
"Where's Aang?" she demanded, ignoring his question. She may have been a little touched by his concern for her, but this didn't change what had happened between them. He looked down sadly, gesturing over at Jeong Jeong's hut. She raced over, leaving the water tribe siblings behind her.
The airbender's head was bowed as Azami walked in. "Jeong Jeong tried to tell me I wasn't ready," he muttered. "You tried to tell me. I wouldn't listen. I'm never going to firebend again."
"You'll have to eventually," she insisted. "When you're ready."
He shook his head. "No. Never again."
She kneeled down beside him, putting a comforting hand on his shoulder. "It's alright, Aang," she told him. "Katara was able to heal me before it scarred. But right now, we have to go help Jeong Jeong. Zhao's here."
His head shot up, his gaze meeting hers. "Where?"
"By the river," she explained as she got up. "We need to go."
Aang nodded as he got to his feet, and the two raced down to join the old master. They raced along the riverbank until they eventually saw Jeong Jeong facing a host of Fire Nation soldiers led by Zhao.
"Jeong Jeong!" Aang cried as they raced over to help the old master. Zhao saw them coming and grinned as he ordered his men to pursue Jeong Jeong. The master smirked as he wrapped himself in flame, and as it disappeared, he had vanished. Most of Zhao's men ran into the woods after him, leaving two by his side as he turned to face Aang and Azami.
"Right," the admiral growled. "Let's see what my old master taught you."
Aang appeared shocked. "You were Jeong Jeong's student?!"
"Until I got bored," Zhao smirked. He growled as he sent a blast towards them, Aang dodging out of the way, but Azami simply held her hand up. Right before the fire was going to hit her, it stopped, slowly turning blue. She grinned at the stunned look on Zhao's face and closed her hand into a fist, extinguishing the flame.
"Men!" he ordered his two guards. "Take the traitor! I'll deal with the Avatar!" He turned his attention towards Aang as the two soldiers both launched a blast of fire towards Azami. This time, instead of catching them, she simply leaned backwards, allowing the flames to pass right over her.
My turn, she smirked, and she raced towards the two. It wasn't even a competition - she quickly leaped up, sending down a quick blast at each soldier, and they collapsed almost immediately. Glancing over at Aang, she had a moment of panic for calming down as she realized what he was doing. Zhao was burning his own ships to a crisp as Aang leaped around, taunting him.
Rather than spoil the fun, she instead decided to simply kick back and watch. She sat down, her back propped up against a tree, and she watched with amusement as Aang mocked the admiral. Eventually, Aang leaped off the boats as Zhao screamed in rage, causing the burning ships to explode in flame. Azami simply put her hands behind her head as she watched, smiling.
The airbender raced over to her, a grin splitting his features. "Let's get out of here," he exclaimed. Soon, they were all packed up on Appa, and had left the place behind.
"Aang, you're burned," Katara cried as she saw his arm. "Let me help you." She pulled out some water from a flask, and bent it onto his arm. Within seconds, his skin was back to normal.
"Thanks," he smiled at her, before turning nervously towards Azami. "Hey... I wanted to say that I'm sorry. I should've listened to you when you told me I wasn't ready."
"This happens to lots of firebenders, Aang," she explained. "Not just you. Plenty of them lose control when learning to use the element. That's why I tried to warn you."
Katara looked at her nervously. "Did that happen to someone you knew?"
Azami nodded. "To my brother, actually," she admitted. "He seriously hurt our mother and would've killed me if she hadn't gotten in the way. I was only four at the time." It was actually that event that had caused him to become far more protective towards her, something that seemed to continue even after her 'death'.
The gaang all looked at her with wide eyes, and she shrugged. "It wasn't that big of a deal, we had healers nearby," she explained to them. "Back when benders could freely travel between nations. But yeah, I do speak from experience on this one."
Aang swallowed nervously. "Did you ever lose control like that?"
"Thankfully, no," Azami replied. "It was actually because of my brother's incident that every day of my training in firebending was closely monitored, whether it was by him, my father, or one of the sages. I never would've even had the chance to lose control the way he did, or the way you did today Aang."
The airbender bowed his head. "It won't happen again," he promised.
"I know it won't," she assured him. "But if I am going to teach you firebending one day, Aang - and you will need to learn it," she insisted as he looked ready to protest. "I am going to ask you one thing." He nodded, and she continued. "I need you to trust me."
"I do," he insisted, but she shook her head.
"I hope so," she told him seriously. "Fire is a dangerous element at the best of times, and you unlike the vast majority haven't grown up with the ability. There are certain elements of control that you have to learn, no matter how long it takes. You'll get there, I promise, but you have to at least get the basics of earthbending down before we can discuss this again."
He looked genuinely relieved at that. "Good," he muttered. "I'm ready to be done with firebending."
"Wait, I just realized something," Sokka suddenly spoke up, glaring over at Katara. "You can heal, right? So where's my first aid been all these years? Like that time I got two fishhooks stuck in my thumb!"
"Two?" Aang asked, confused.
Katara laughed. "He tried to get one fishhook out with another fishhook."
Azami just rolled her eyes as Sokka continued to ramble on about all his injuries that Katara should have healed. What an idiot.
A/N; Aaaaaand that's where we'll end it lol.
Ok so unless I'm mistaken this is my longest chapter yet at like 6k words, holy SHIT this one is long, but I couldn't really think of a good place to split it, sooooo XXL chapter for you ig XD
Ngl this one like with the Blue Spirit took a surprising amount of time to write even though it's not really that complicated. Last few chapters definitely came a lot easier to me for some reason :/
In any event, that's the last chapter before we head to the north pole. Honestly, the northern air temple can go screw itself, that episode is good for only two things - one, introducing balloons, and two, adding another 5k guilt train for Azami. We already know exactly how that would go, so I'm not wasting time on it.
In any even though, hope you guys are ready for book 1 to come to its conclusion (and tbh I'm still really torn on what to do with Azami in the north pole, I've got loads of different ideas and can't do them all sadly ;-;)