The art isn't drawn by me! OMG! This lovely fanart was done by Simp.402 | @dance_off_bro on Instagram! I love this, it made my day! Thank you so much!
Katara, Sokka, and Aang. Ayaan had been training with these three for a while now, and in that time, he noticed many things.
Katara was too dependent on her waterbending. Because capable people were around her, she had a low sense of danger. While she herself was strong, she had zero training in any form of martial art. During their life in the southern pole, she hadn't taken up training, or even glancing at it, as Sokka had.
This is what Ayaan was trying to rectify in his training of her. Until they got to the North where she could learn from someone well versed in the art she so desperately wanted to pursue, this is the only true way he can train her. While they still explore waterbending, and it still has uses, it doesn't make up for much in a heated confrontation.
That didn't mean that Katara didn't have any skills whatsoever. As she used her waterbending more often than he did, she was naturally better at it than he was. Granted, Ayaan didn't use waterbending as his primary means of battle.
Sokka's case was different. He had the basics down thanks to Ayaan's meticulous corrections. He had the makings of an amazing strategist, and he had an abundance of perseverance. He could be knocked down again and again, but he would still pull himself from the ground to continue.
But Sokka had no skill whatsoever in the art of the spear. None, not a speck. He seemed to be better with a sword than a spear, but Ayaan wasn't as great with a sword as he was a spear, so it was a bit complicated.
So he gave one of his recently bought ō-naginatas, connected the interchangeable blade with the sword hilt, and gave it to him.
"T-this is..." Sokka was in awe of the weapon. It was different from his club and trusty boomerang. It was light and well balanced, a double-sided blade with a jagged side and a smooth side. It was a beautiful weapon.
"It's yours," Ayaan said simply. "You have zero affinity for the spear," Sokka deflated, "but a sword may suit you better," Sokka beamed. "Try it."
And he did. While Ayaan didn't know everything, he did know the basic teaching their father had shown him with the sword. He'd demonstrated these basics to Sokka, who took to it much better than he did. With time, Ayaan was sure that Sokka would wield that weapon well.
But nothing can top his expertise with his boomerang. Nothing.
And that left Aang...
Ayaan resisted the urge to sigh.
Aang was an incredible bender. He was extremely bright and very quick to learn. The only thing that Ayaan could do was to boost his overall endurance, strength, and battle awareness.
And it was at this phase he hit a snag.
While Aang is a powerful bender, he is a pacifist who goes by the teachings of the monks. Violence is frowned upon in his culture, don't even think of killing anyone. Aang probably wouldn't want to hurt a fly! He is a child full of fun and love, his heart is big enough to fit the world inside and still have space.
And this type of person is the centerpiece in a war that has been waging for a century. That amount of pressure, that amount of responsibility... the lives of millions had been placed on this 12-year-old kid.
This kind child was the Avatar.
Preparing these three for war, training them in any way in preparation for that felt so wrong. It was so wrong to have to send them into any type of battle, for them to put their lives in danger like that. They were all kids! But... such was the way of war. He had to continuously do things that he wasn't comfortable with, deal with horrible situations, and worry like this.
'And because of that, I don't particularly take kindly to being put in a situation like the one before, which could have been avoided, if they weren't so childish.'
They didn't seem to realize how easy it would have been for them to be killed. They didn't seem to understand that all it took was one word, and they would have died. That was how overpowered they'd been, that he'd been, in that situation. Trapped and useless, worthless.
But King Bumi had thankfully not been an enemy. He wasn't a corrupt official or a sadistic lunatic. He had been Aang's friend and thus had become their ally. He was the King of Omashu, a stronghold of the Earth Kingdom, and had become the ally of the Avatar.
But would anyone else truly take the side of such a childish and unaccomplished Avatar?
The answer is simple, and it's no.
They were acting like children when they were at the center of the war, this was especially true for Aang. For those who could be extremely smart in their own ways, they can be surprisingly, collectively stupid.
Who in their right mind would trust a child to save the world and end a century-old war?
Ayaan sighed again, trying not to recall Omashu. The city had been great, but the palace visit? He willed himself not to think about it. There was no use continuing to be angry about it, it was doing nothing but giving him a headache at this point. He had enough to deal with having nightmares. But...
'I am very angry still.'
Angry, and shaken.
His nightmares this time had been even more brutal than usual. His only solace was Appa and Momo. When he sat by Appa now, the bison's natural response is to wrap one of his massive legs around him in comfort. Momo would sit on his shoulders, wrapping his arms around his head in this hug that eased him.
It was as if they could sense that something was wrong.
The sound of their heartbeat, their breathing, their presence... It was the only way he could get any sleep as of late. It was steadily getting better, though that wasn't doing any favors for his mood.
And when he thinks of what caused it, his mood worsens further. He hopes to never meet that old man ever again for the sake of his sanity. If they ever have meetings, Aang was going to have to speak with him. Ayaan wasn't sure if he could resist the urge to stab him with a dull spearhead.
He shakes his head, taking a deep and calming breath.
'I am calm. I am fine. Just fine. Not angry.'
He was pissed, still. Who wouldn't be if you found out some geezer, rock's for brains king trapped you and your family in rock candy for his amusement?
Ayaan wasn't the type to forgive easily. It takes time to warm up to him and he discerns his choices through actions rather than speaking. He was like that with Aang, on Kyoshi Island, in Omashu, and would continue to be like this for the foreseeable future.
Aang was doing good things from the start. He helped them get home, played with the children, and didn't consciously try to break any of their rules. Until the thing with the flare and he got kicked out. But then he came back and gave himself up to protect his home, and that put Aang in Ayaan's good books forever.
Suki and the Kyoshi Warriors were a hair away from completely failing his evaluation. But they proved helpful, and after the misunderstandings were cleared, amiable. Plus, they had a decent amount of time to change his opinion of them, which they did diligently.
Bumi failed. Absolutely. Ayaan did not like him, at all.
But enough about that, he needed to focus on the three before him. The camp was set, Appa and Momo were chilling. It was time to keep going with their training for the day.
"Are you ready to continue?" Ayaan asked them. He had that dangerous glint in his eye again. Before, they had underestimated it, but now they knew that look meant business. Reluctantly, they all nodded.
"I'm ready. Give me all you got!" Aang said, hoping his faux confidence would help him forget the aching in his arms and legs from the workouts they'd done prior. Aang was sure that when this training was through his muscles might have muscles.
He shook the thought of a beefy version of himself out of his mind.
Sokka, on the other hand, was loving that image of himself. It was a dream come true. Despite his aching everything, he was more eager to continue than all of them.
Katara, however, wanted to promptly delete herself from existence. Super muscles, Katara edition? That thought was the stuff nightmares were made of. Despite her wanting to fight, she didn't appeal to the thought of having bulging biceps.
She had strength from the chores she often did back home, and it took stamina to continue those throughout the day in the harsh environment they lived in, but this? She was getting a taste of what true training felt like.
Hell.
Ayaan was too observant and had no sympathy for gender. His spear was rated E for everyone, along with his training. He looked at the skill, mindset, awareness of each of them separately.
Katara was sorely lacking in the skill department, she knew this, and he most definitely knew this.
Sokka had the right mindset and was steady in his growth, but it wasn't something one could fix overnight.
And while Aang certainly had great skills, his awareness of danger and mindset were that of a fun-loving child, a peaceful monk, not a warrior.
All of them were lacking in some way, shape, and form. Ayaan isn't excluded from this.
He had many flaws, one of them most definitely being his insomnia, nightmares, and this steadily growing... unease about his strength. Did he have enough?
Of course not. It would never be enough.
He had gotten comfortable, that wasn't something he could afford.
But fighting was not his flaw, and right now, he wasn't concentrating on himself.
His sole focus was these three. They were his only concern, his only priority. He was used to minimal sleep and anxiety. He was used to dealing with it alone until Gran-Gran caught him and reprimanded him for it.
But Gran-Gran wasn't here now, and he was not going to confide in children. They did not need to worry about him. He wouldn't let them worry about him.
Ayaan took a deep breath, shaking off his many thoughts. "Since leaving home, I've instructed all of you on the basics of hunting when I can. Do you remember everything I've guided you on?"
"Yeah." They all said. He had indeed shown them the basics. It was in case they got separated and they had to fend for themselves that he decided to teach them. All of them enjoyed learning to be more self-sufficient, and this was something that Ayaan had plenty of experience in.
Surprisingly, it was Katara who enjoyed the lessons the most. Hunting, fighting, all of those things were reserved for men. While the southern pole did not have anything against gender, one didn't see a woman doing such things often. It was a refreshing thought to be in the presence of a teacher who had no qualms about whether she was female, only if she was capable.
But then again, this was Ayaan they were talking about here. He'd always been like this.
"Until sundown, you are to hunt. Gather anything you can," He gave them all a look, that dangerous glint had returned, "I'm going to test you all individually."
They all gulped and nodded. They didn't quite understand why he said that part so... so dangerously! He put quite the emphasis on the fact that he was testing them. Was hunting that important? Well, Ayaan is always hunting, and made quite the sum of money from the extra wares he sold. So maybe it was. They were sure it was.
Besides, hunting didn't sound too bad, even though they would be on their own. It was a chance to test out their skills and apply what they'd been taught. When the apprehension died down, their enthusiasm about the tasks increased.
All of them were determined to bring back something great and show off their skills to Ayaan. They wanted him to be proud.
"Let's hunt Meat!" Sokka drooled, stars in his eyes at the thought. He was eager to put his new weapon to use.
"Ew," Our resident airbender didn't share in that thought, "Berries are better!" Aang exclaimed, opening his glider in preparation to take to the skies for his search.
"I could try fishing. I've gotten better at my water bubble." Katara nodded, heading in the other direction towards the river. He'd also taught her about some ointments they could make with certain plants.
As a hunter, it wasn't rare for him to be injured. Ayaan wasn't to type to want anyone to treat him, or even see him hurt. So, he learned to do it himself. It was just small things, like the ointments that helped with bleeding, disinfecting and dressing wounds, and dealing with broken and dislocated bones. He tried to teach these three all of those things, as best as he could when they had free time.
He nodded at all of their choices, giving them his approval. Though he was a bit worried about Sokka. He wasn't the most stealthy of his siblings. Ayaan went to check on Appa and Momo before grabbing his spear, "Good luck."
He was wishing them well on their hunt, right? So why did it sound so ominous?
Before they could ask him what he meant by that he left for the forest, disappearing into the thicket like a shadow.
"...Anyone else feel like something was... off about that, or is it just me?" Sokka said, chills suddenly going down his spine from the darkness that was beginning to envelop the area.
"No, no, something is definitely ominous," Katara assured him, getting that same iffy feeling.
He called it a test. If it was a test about their hunting skills, he would have gone with them to see how they went about it. He would tell them if they were doing right or wrong and help them if he thought it necessary. In other words, he would explicitly say that it was a test for their hunting skills.
But he didn't.
...
..
.
Ayaan was absolutely silent as he watched them hunt. They were doing relatively well, especially Katara. While there wasn't a lot of fish, there was enough for all of them to eat, and that was perfect for her first official hunt. He was very proud of her.
Though her herb picking was atrociously bad. It was nothing but grass. Not even edible grass either, just plain grass. She completely missed the mark on that.
Sokka wasn't having as much luck. He kept going after some wild rabbits, but they were much too fast for him, and he was too loud to properly sneak up on them. A bow and arrow would be better for hunting those since it would allow him to keep his distance, but he kept trying to use his new weapon... and was failing. Miserably.
Don't even get him started on his fruit and nut picking. If it wasn't poisonous, it was a rock. If it wasn't a rock... it was something else.
Ayaan shook his head, moving on to his last target: Aang.
Surprisingly, despite having his glider, Aang kept to the ground. He was looking through bushes and picking berries. Though he did not do a good job of separating the good ones from the bad ones. Some of the berries he picked were used as ointments, others were good to eat, and others would give you stomach aches. He also had some herbs in another satchel, but he had the same problem: Some were herbs, others were spices, and the rest was just misleading grass.
At least it wasn't as bad as Sokka and Katara's, he at least got some of them right. A few more practice runs and he'd have it properly memorized. Though he'd have to fix his organization skills... those were just awful. But overall, they were doing an okay job. Sokka would have had much more luck fishing than going to the forest, though.
Now that his evaluation was finished, it was time for him to move. This will be the first official test he's done on each of them. He wanted to see what they'd retained in their weeks of training.
With that in mind, Ayaan disappears again.
...
..
.
Katara was fishing in the river. She'd gone into the water a bit, just to get a better feel for it. So far, it had been going well. She had some fish in her basket, and maybe even a few herbs! She was very happy with her progress, even if it wasn't anywhere near Ayaan's. He had always been a natural at these types of things, he was born for the outside world.
Though how easily he seemed to grasp things when it came to waterbending... frustrated her. He didn't love waterbending as much as she did, she could tell at a glance. She didn't understand why he didn't, though. It was a part of their heritage, a lost piece of their culture, their roots. And he was so effortlessly good at it, better than her, who used every waking moment to try and learn and grow her skill.
But she only made minuscule progress, and it irritated her to no end. Aang always got it relatively quickly, while Ayaan did it out of instinct. How does he waterbend from instinct?! She couldn't understand. Even if he wasn't some master, he could still do more than her and that was enough in her eyes.
She'd always be lesser, always be inferior. She loved her brother to bits... but she couldn't help being jealous of him. Disgustingly jealous of both him and Aang and their effortless growth.
Her negative thoughts interrupt her movements, and the bubble bursts spectacularly. The water slaps her in the face as the fish quickly swims off into the river, completely out of her range. "Ugh!" She grunted, slapping her hand down, angrily splashing the water in some form of petty retaliation.
All she wanted was to be good at something meaningful. Was she asking for too much? Sometimes she felt she was. She had no talent in weapons as her brothers did; she wasn't effortlessly great at bending like Aang and Ayaan were. Sure, she was strong, but what's the point of strength if she was so terrible at using it!
"It's so frustrating." She sighed, making her way out of the water. No use dwelling on all of her shortcomings. The sun was setting, so she made the wise decision to make her way back to camp.
That's when she heard a rustling in the bushes and stopped in her tracks.
'What was that?'
She carefully went over to look, her guard rising and her water at the ready. When she checked it out, it was nothing but a rabbit running away, and she sagged in relief. Thankful that it wasn't a large beast, she continued on her way, grabbing her basket full of fish.
'I guess it was nothing.'
But then a shadow was cast over her frame, large and imposing. The atmosphere shifted into something sinister, and her apprehension skyrocketed by the second.
"AH!" She was quick to turn. Standing just a few feet from her was her brother. His face was neutral, his eyes focused on her completely. How had he hidden so well? Where had he even come from? How long had he been watching her?
Without warning, he charged at her. She at least had the sense to put up her guard, reeling from the heavy blow. There was a pause before his next attack, and thanks to her training she was able to just barely catch it. But the moment she went for it, she was countered. Again, and again, and again.
But she was matching him, blow for blow. She knew that he was going impossibly easy on her, but the fact that she could match him at all meant something. A punch, a kick, a sweep, she went through all of the moves she'd been learning from her training. All of her lessons in self-defense were being tested right now. Her awareness, her senses, all of it was being tested.
She kicked off of him, creating some much-needed distance, and immediately went for her waterbending trick. She had gotten better at it than before, and it finally went the way she wanted it to. It whizzed past her, striking Ayaan with a force she was proud of. She could hear it connect, but her moment of elation was short-lived.
She had forgotten a simple, fundamental fact about her opponent:
Ayaan was also a waterbender.
He used the same trick just as effectively but aimed it at her ankles instead of her upper body. Her stance was still shaky, and the force was more than enough to make it even worse. It didn't help that he took it a step further, freezing her feet where they were and destroying her balance. With her stance broken, Ayaan found his opportunity to close in on her.
She found herself on the ground in an instant, a fist at her neck within a blink. The battle was over, only five minutes had gone by.
"Never let your guard down." He said, lifting her off the ground effortlessly. He picked her up like a deadweight sack, lifting her with his arm.
"Hey!"
She was ignored.
He made sure to pick up her wares, before racing through the thicket of the forest. It shocked her how silent he was in it all, as well as how fast he was. They were there within moments, and he gently put her down.
When she met his gaze again, she was shocked to find him with a smile on his face, "You've improved a lot since we started, I'm proud of you." And with that, he left again, disappearing before she could reply.
It seemed that small smile had been contagious because there she was, smiling just the same.
Yes, she was still impossibly frustrated. But she was being acknowledged for her efforts, and if she knew her brother... then him saying that meant a lot.
Ayaan does not lie.
Though, she was pretty sure that whatever test he'd just given her, she failed it. That only meant that she needed to improve. Working hard was something that Katara was used to.
She swelled with determination once again. "Next time, I'll win!"
..
.
Sokka was trying to be as quiet as possible, crouching low to the ground and inching his way to his prey. He'd been trying to catch this one rabbit for quite a while now, and he felt he was getting close.
"I can already smell the meat cooking..." He whispered, drooling at the thought of food. Closer and closer he crept, getting ready to strike when...
SNAP!
He stepped on a twig.
The rabbit bolted. Again.
"Awe man!" Sokka stood up, frustrated at his umpteenth attempt to catch this rabbit being thwarted! All he had to show for all of his hard work were nuts, though some of them looked suspiciously like rocks, and others smelled funny.
He looked down at his new sword. It was a light blade, one he wasn't proficient in using just yet. But it was a gift from his reliable brother, one who had been saving their tails since this journey began.
No, saving his tail, the others were just fine. Even Katara was holding her own when she wasn't freezing him instead...
Sokka wasn't stupid nor was he blind. He understood that he was the only one truly lacking in their group. Ayaan had his obvious skill, Katara was strong and had her magic water, and Aang was the Avatar.
What did that make him?
What real use was he?
The guy with the boomerang? Would that be enough?
Ayaan made it very clear how he felt about what happened in Omashu. As the second eldest in the group, he should have been more responsible. He should have tried harder to dissuade Aang from his fun-loving antics. He should have thought of the consequences something like that was bound to have.
He remembered Ayaan shaking while he was trapped in that jennamite. Maybe it was because he was older, maybe it was because he was training to be a warrior... Maybe it was because he was always looking up to Ayaan that he noticed those little things.
Those flashes of sadness that dance in his blue eyes, or the wariness he had whenever they landed someplace new. The way he sometimes let his hand ghost across his scar or how he sometimes gripped his spear so tightly his knuckles turned white.
His eyes didn't become that bright blue when he was just angry. They did that when he was worried, no, when he was scared.
Ayaan had been scared for them. He realized it the moment he raised his voice at them back at the inn.
'I couldn't protect you in there. So much could have gone wrong, and none of you understand that.'
The realization hit him like a snowball to the face. He'd put Ayaan so high on this pedestal that he forgot that before he was this strong, accomplished warrior, he was human. He was only two years older than him, give or take a few months more. Ayaan may not wear his heart on his sleeve, but that didn't mean he didn't feel the same things they felt.
No, maybe he felt them even more vividly but dealt with them alone... He had only seen Ayaan when he was at his best except for when he was still healing. He'd only seen his brother cry once, and that was when he found out about their mother. But he remembered that feeling he got from him the one time he followed him to that icy river.
That overwhelming, yet somehow quiet sadness.
Ayaan never came to them with his problems. He was always guarded, keeping his heart under lock and key, trapped away where no one could hurt it. He never said a word, sometimes going days without speaking. When he did, his voice was so raspy from disuse it made him wince. He rarely ever smiled, though he had been doing that more lately.
The only people he let even remotely close were them, his family. Especially Gran-Gran. But she was Gran-Gran, that's to be expected. One day, he'd asked her if Ayaan was okay. It was after that incident that he'd followed him, and he'd been worried.
"He's a strong boy," She'd said, "but he believes that he always has to be strong, especially in front of us. It worries me."
"But isn't it good to always be strong?" Sokka had replied, "A warrior is always strong, and Ayaan is the best warrior ever!" He exclaimed, his pride for his brother palpable.
Gran-Gran gave him a sad smile, one that he didn't understand then. She continued to gaze at Ayaan, who was sparring with their Dad's friend, Bato. She whispered to herself, but he still heard her, "He's built a fortress around himself, but even when there is no battle, he doesn't let anyone inside..."
Years later, he was starting to grasp what she'd meant by that. He was always worrying about them. Always on guard towards things that could hurt them. He was like that during the raid, on Kyoshi, in Omashu... always putting up the front that he was strong, unfathomably so. Constantly. He never, ever, let his walls down more than just to peek at the world outside.
And he never let them inside that fortress, never let them see the burdens he held within.
Realization was hitting him even worse now.
They hadn't let him feel that he didn't need to be strong all the time. If anything, they made his worries worse with their choices. It was to the point he even yelled at them, not wanting to be in the same room.
What expression was on his face as he turned around? How often did he think about the things that could go wrong? When was the last time he'd seen him wear that carefree smile... the same one he wore when they were little kids?
Sokka sighed, there were even more reasons that he needed to improve. He needed to get stronger too, he needed to be more reliable. He couldn't let his brother take all of that pressure alone. It wasn't fair, it wasn't right.
He hid it so well, Sokka was probably the only one amongst them that had begun to notice it.
Just like he noticed the area suddenly going quiet.
"Hm..." It was suspicious. Something was up, something was off. He wanted to use his new sword, but he wasn't great with it yet, so he switched to his trusty boomerang. He carefully surveyed his surroundings, trying to find anything that was weird.
SNAP!
"Who's there?! Show yourself!" Sokka was on alert. He almost thought about where Aang and Katara were before the stranger revealed themselves. "...Ayaan Bro?"
Stepping from behind the tree was indeed Ayaan. He'd been perfectly hidden. There was no telling how long he'd been there watching him get lost in thoughts. And just the same as he'd done Katara, he launched at him without warning.
Though this time, he used the blunt end of his spear.
He lunged with his spear, but it was countered by the boomerang. Sokka managed to deflect it and go in closer. He knew that this was most likely the 'test' that Ayaan was speaking of earlier.
Ayaan had both hands on his spear, meaning that he wasn't going to use his bending in the fight, and he was using the blunt end of his spear, so he wasn't planning to go all out in this fight either. From the left, now the right, above, below, Ayaan was relentless with his blows despite these obvious handicaps he'd given himself.
He was testing him, Sokka knew this.
He could only do his best to attempt to beat him.
He let the spear come in close before grabbing it with his free hand. He pulled it forwards with all of his might, Ayaan's eyes widening in surprise. Using the momentum, he readied his fist and delivered a solid hit. All of his training, all of the lessons he'd gotten from both his brother and Suki were coming into play.
Sokka had worked hard on his own to get better, and it showed.
Despite the bit of pain Ayaan was in, the older boy gave Sokka a glorious smile. One that made Sokka swell with undisguised pride.
Ayaan was proud of him.
He passed his test.
"Great job, Sokka."
"Yes! I—Whoa!" Something was swept across his feet, and he found himself hitting the ground with a thud, "Ow! Hey! No fair!"
"Never let down your guard," Ayaan said, but his smile didn't disappear. Sokka pouted.
"My guard was awesome..." He grumbled. Then he found himself being lifted off the ground like a sack, "Hey!"
Ayaan didn't reply, only moving through the thicket like a ghost until they were back at camp. Gently, he put him down. Sokka had to regain his bearings from the impromptu ride. Before he could ask him his myriad of questions, Ayaan was once again gone.
"He ambushed you too, huh?" Turning, he found Katara, a basket full of fish at her side. "How'd you do on your 'test'?"
Sokka felt smug, a grin plastering itself on his face as he raised his nose into the air, "I got a hit in." When Katara was about to say that she did too, he cut her off with the magical detail, "With my fist."
"No way." Katara's jaw dropped. It was one thing to nick him with Waterbending, but to actually get a physical hit in? Nonsense, Sokka had to be bluffing.
But his smile only got wider at her disbelief. "Yes, way." One could see Sokka's nose growing to match his pride at the feat.
"I am one step closer to Ayaan-level manliness!" He raised his boomerang to the sky, imaginary waves of 'manliness' crashing behind him. "A man among men!"
Her shock quickly became exasperation, but when she looked closer, her own smug grin became apparent, "But where is your game, Sokka? What did you hunt?"
The waves of manliness disappeared like smoke, "I, um, well you see... what had happened was—"
Katara's grin widened more; she knew that he knew that she knew. She casually patted her filled basket of fish, "Heh."
"Hey, stop it! That face, stop making that condescending face!"
She did not. "HEH."
..
.
If you hadn't guessed by then, Ayaan's 'test' was actually pretty simple in regards to Katara and Sokka.
First, they had to notice him. It didn't matter if they didn't know it was him, they just had to notice that something was off. They had to notice that it wasn't safe, of that the area around them had changed.
They had to be aware of their surroundings.
Katara failed that part. Sokka was always the more cautious one, so while he didn't find him, he did notice something amiss.
Next was the battle itself. He wanted to see their progress one on one. If they had gotten a bit past their bad habits and are able to strategize a way to get a hit off on him. How fast could they become battle-ready? How far had they come?
Believe it or not, both of them passed this part. Both landed a hit, had steady forms, and recovered quickly. They managed to parry, block, and deflect his blows, and while their degrees of strategy differed, they implemented plans that worked for them, and managed to get at least one hit in.
Katara had gotten much better with her bending attacks, and he was extremely proud of the fact that she didn't immediately go into using it. She waited until she was sure she could hit him with it, and she did hit him with it. Though it seemed she forgot that two could play her game and lost focus after her achievement.
Sokka put all of his training to great use, and used beautiful strategy to aim for the openings that Ayaan had given him. He even took advantage of his spear's attack, landing a solid blow on his abdomen. It was a smart move sticking with his boomerang, a weapon that he was very familiar with, instead of the new one he'd just gotten.
It put his mind at ease knowing how far they'd come. A repeat of Omashu surely wouldn't happen again, and if it did, they were more prepared than they had been.
And that left his last target: Aang.
He had a completely different plan for the kid.
A very simple and straightforward plan.
"Aang," Ayaan called out, scaring the daylights out of the poor kid.
"AHH—Oh, Ayaan. What's up?" Aang said, smoothly covering up the fact he'd been startled. "You see all the berries I gathered? Look! Look!"
Ayaan indeed peeked at his wares, pulling two distinct berries from the pouch, they looked similar, but one had a slightly different color. "While this one is fine, it's extremely bitter," He said, lifting the other one, "This one causes stomach aches." He reached into the pouch again, pulling out two grass-like pieces. "This one can be made into a salve, and this one is just grass."
"Awe man..." Aang deflated, and Ayaan patted his head.
"But this isn't why I'm coming here."
"It isn't?" Aang asked, curious. "Is it that test you were talking about earlier?"
"Yes. It is." Ayaan said, that dangerous glint in his eyes returning. Aang tensed, readying himself for whatever it may be. Ayaan stepped away from him, making a few steps distance before turning around.
Yes, he was going to do this in the most straightforward fashion he knew.
He looked him directly in the eyes before pulling his spear from his back. He lowered himself into his stance and said words that sent chills down the airbender's pacifistic spine. "Brace yourself, Aang."
"Huh?"
"For the next ten minutes, I will be the enemy."
Then Ayaan attacked.