Burning Chapter 3: Hearth

Meeting up with Mai had become somewhat of a... Well, not exactly a regular thing. No, that would imply that we had a set time where we met one another, something that was all but impossible with our differences in status.

Mai was a noble and I was not. As far as the Fire nation was concerned, that’s all there was to it. The only way for someone like me to be able to interact with Mai was if I was a high ranking military official, something that I aspired to be the polar opposite of.

So, why was a commoner from the Fire nations middle class like me on somewhat friendly terms with Mai. That... Was actually a difficult question to answer, one that I wasn’t even sure of myself.

If I had to guess, it’d likely be a mixture of boredom and curiosity.

From the outside, Mai’s life looked pleasant... Luxurious even, but that wasn’t the full truth. She wanted for nothing and was allowed to do whatever she wanted so long as she listened to everything her parents said and acted like the perfect heiress... In some cases being treated more like a decoration than a human being.

She was little more than a caged bird, doing as it was told to do while never being allowed to spread its wings further than was permitted.

And then she happened across me in the royal archives of all things... A place reserved for those of Mai’s station, not some random commoner.

That being said, we did occasionally meet up with one another, becoming friends of a sort over time.

“Tell me again why you’re doing this?” Mai groused. Her arms crossed as she leaned against a nearby tree. “I just don’t see the point. Wouldn’t it be better if you focused on your Firebending? At least that way I’d be spared from having to watch you flail around like a howler monkey that’s been set on fire.”

Twitching at the comparison, I offered her a strained smile. “I just thought I’d try something a little more subtle. You never know when something like this could come in handy.”

Giving me a long look, Mai sighed and palmed her forehead. “Fine. Let’s see what you’ve got.”

Nodding, I retrieved a trio of knives from my pocket and held them loosely between my fingers. Winding my arm back, I shot a quick glance towards Mai who had a pained look on her face at my obvious lack of skill.

Taking a breath, I flung my blades forward, sending them sailing towards a nearby tree. Two of them missed entirely while the third one clanged against the tree before bouncing back at me, landing a little to my side.

“That actually went better than I’d thought,” I mused, idly rubbing my chin. “I guess all that’s left is to try again and–“

“No.”

“No?” I hummed, fighting to keep the smile off my face at Mai’s indignation.

If there was one thing I’d learnt from my time with Mai, it was that she absolutely hated it when something was done the wrong way. It genuinely infuriated her so much that she actually took it out on herself to correct it.

“That was without a doubt one of the worst things I’ve ever seen in my life,” Mai said. Marching forward, she snatched my knife from the ground and held it in front of me. “If you want to learn how to throw a knife, you’re going to need something a little better to start off with than this... This... Where did you even get this thing?”

“Oh, that? It’s just a set of old knives that were lying around my house. They were going to be thrown away, so I thought I could use them for myself instead.”

“You are by far the most troublesome person I’ve ever met,” Mai said, staring at me blankly. “You’re not going to give up, are you?”

“Nope,” I replied.

“That’s what I thought,” She sighed. Grabbing my wrist, she placed the knife in my hand, positioning my fingers around the edge. “We’ll start with one for now and move up from there.”

Nodding along, I slowly followed Mai’s movement, making sure to note any corrections she made to my form.

Going through the motion a few more times until I was comfortable, I finally made my attempt. Flicking my hand forward, there was a dull thud as the knife collided with the tree I’d been aiming at, just barely piercing through the bark.

“Better,” Mai said, looking pleased with herself. “You’ll need to get a proper set of throwing knives if you–“ Cutting herself off, Mai flicked her arm outwards, sending a wave of darts sailing through the forest, impaling several trees. A few tense moments passed, before she finally lowered her arm.

“Everything alright?” I asked, turning a cautious eye to the forest.

Nodding, Mai turned towards me, silently dropping a small dagger into her hand. “Yes, I just thought I saw someone, that’s all.” Taking a step forward, she threw the dagger overhead and got a yelp for her efforts as a pink clad girl fell out of a nearby tree.

And crap. That was Ty Lee. If she was in the area, then would Azula be here too? If she was, then I was more than a little screwed. I wasn’t quite ready to meet her just yet.

“Mai, that was so mean,” Ty Lee moaned as she slowly stood up, dusting herself off. “What if you actually hit me that time?”

“It would have been a graze at most,” Mai replied. “So, is there a reason for why you were hiding in the trees?”

“I wasn’t hiding, I was...” Blinking, Ty Lee smiled cheerfully. “Oh, right, I came to tell you. Azula said that she’s going to be busy learning some advanced Firebending techniques over the next few weeks, so we should do our own thing too.”

I breathed a short sigh of relief at that.

“Who’s that by the way?” Ty Lee asked. Peeking over Mai’s shoulder, she looked between me and her friend. “Wait... Don’t tell me... He’s your secret boyfriend?!”

“No,” Mai droned tiredly.

Humming, Ty Lee stared at Mai for a few moments, as if waiting for her to break, before her gaze panned over to me. “I see... So does Mr. Not Mai’s boyfriend have a name?”

“Lee,” Mai supplied.

Eyeing me for a few more moments, Ty Lee smiled brightly. “Like me then... We’ve both got a Lee in our name although mine has a Ty in front of it. So, if you two aren’t secretly dating, what exactly are you doing out here... Uh, you do talk right?”

“I do,” I nodded.

“Oh good, the last thing I’d want to do is make this awkward,” Ty Lee breathed. “So, anyway, about my question...”

“I was practicing how to properly throw knives,” I answered. There was no real point in keeping that secret from Ty Lee. “And Mai decided to show me how it’s done.”

“Really?” Ty Lee asked, sounding surprised. “Mai’s never done that for me,” She said, shooting an accusing look towards her friend.

“You never asked,” Mai shrugged.

“But I always really wanted to. I just never got the chance” Ty Lee pouted, crossing her arms. “So, does that mean if I ask now, you’ll show me how it’s done?”

Sighing, Mai brushed her hand through her hair. “I suppose.”

“Yes!” Ty Lee cheered. “So are we gonna start now? Do you need any help collecting your darts? What about–“

“I’ll handle collecting my darts,” Mai interrupted. Shooting me a look, she suddenly smirked. “Why don’t you and Lee get started on something else so long? I know he has an interest in learning Chi blocking. What better person to learn from than you?”

Wait, was she really just fostering me off to Ty Lee so that she wouldn’t have to teach me any further today?! Seeing the look of triumph on Mai’s face, it seemed so, but wasn’t she just making more work for herself since she now had to teach Ty Lee as well?

“Really?” Ty Lee asked excitedly. “You want to learn how to block Chi?”

“Um... Yeah,” I replied, a little thrown off by Mai’s actions. “I know the basics of where the pressure points are, but I’m not exactly sure how to apply what I’ve learnt.”

“That’s the best part,” Ty Lee cheered, moving closer. “Here, let me show you.”

“Oka–“

Feeling several light jabs hit various points on my chest and back, my body suddenly went limp and I collapsed to the floor. Hearing a soft snort, I panned my vision as much as I could to the side only to find Mai standing there with an amused look on her face.

I see, so that’s why she wanted Ty Lee to spar with me. Mai must have realized that I tricked her into teaching me how to properly throw a bladed weapon and this was revenge. I had to give it to her, she certainly knew how to use everything to her advantage.

“So this is what it’s like when your Chi is blocked,” Ty Lee said, her face appearing directly in front of my own. Grabbing my shirt, she rolled me onto my back. “Don’t worry, you’ll regain control of your body in a few minutes. It’d be longer if I hit a few more Chi points.”

Meaning that you could technically choose how long your opponent would stay down for... Assuming that you were able to hit them in the first place.

“Is there any way to unblock them?”

“None that I know of, you just have to wait,,” Ty Lee hummed, sitting down next to me. “So, since we’ve got time, why don’t you tell me about yourself, Lee. I want to hear more about Mai’s mysterious friend.”

...Burning...

On paper, Chi blocking was fairly simple. All it required was that one knew where the various Chi points were on the body and which ones to strike.

You didn’t need to be especially strong or need to understand how to harness the energy within your body, you just needed to hit them in the correct spots and they’d hit the floor before they even realized what was happening.

That being said, applying it in combat was a whole other thing entirely. You needed to be quick, precise, agile even and have laser-like focus so that you weren’t caught off guard. Your opponent wasn’t going to wait for you to hit them first.

“This is... A lot harder... Then I thought it would be,” Suki breathed tiredly, resting with her hands on her knees. Looking up, beads of sweat dripped down her face. “I’m not sure how much longer we’ll be able to continue... I’m going to need to meet up with the others pretty soon.”

“Do you want to call it here?” I asked, equally as winded.

Suki, quite frankly, had a ridiculous amount of stamina, being able to spar for a literal hour without taking a break... And it didn’t stop there as she was still planning on tending to her duties as a Kyoshi warrior.

I already knew she was dedicated when she dove in to save those sailors from the Unagi, but this was quite frankly ridiculous. It was no wonder why she was able to fight benders on equal ground when she was this dedicated.

“No.”

Exploding into motion, Suki rushed forward. Sending a few quick jabs my way, each one aimed at a different point on my body, I managed to fend her off, dodging and redirecting her strikes.

Sending a few strikes of my own in retaliation, Suki smirked. Catching my wrist, she stepped into my guard and swept her foot between my legs, knocking me off balance. Grabbing onto her shoulder with my free hand, I stumbled backwards, dragging her along with me.

Hitting the ground with Suki falling on top of me, you’d think the fight would end there, but you’d be wrong. Using her position to her advantage, she managed to pin one of my arms under my back and brought her fist down, aiming to disable the other one.

Moving on reflex, I jabbed my thumb into her side just as she landed her blow, getting a squeak from her as my arm fell limply to my side. Clutching her side with one of her arms, Suki tried to jab another pressure point with her free hand, only to suddenly lose balance.

Falling forward, she brought her arm up, managing to catch herself before our heads collided. Grunting as she supported her body with one arm, Suki let go of her side, aiming to ease the burden, only to end up collapsing entirely.

“Maybe we should... Call it a draw,” Suki said, breathing heavily.

I nodded slowly. “That’s fine with me.”

With how effective Suki was with Chi blocking, I’d probably need to incorporate Firebending into our next spar if I wanted to win.

Struggling to move, I attempted to wiggle my arm out from underneath my body, only to find it well and truly stuck. Propping my body up with my legs, I slipped my arm out.

Alright, now all I needed to do was...

Hearing the training hall's door open, Suki and I looked up just in time to see the other Kyoshi warriors enter the hall and freeze upon seeing us.

“Suki?!” One of the braver Kyoshi warriors asked. “Should... Should we give you two another five minutes?”

“It’s not like that!” Suki squawked, her face turning pink. “We were just sparring!”

“But then... Why are you... You know,” She gestured to how Suki was positioned on top of me. “And so sweaty too.”

Sighing I brushed a hand through my hair. “Chi blocking accident... Actually, now that you’re here, could you help us up, we’re a little... Stuck,” I said, making a point of how I wasn’t able to move my arm.

...Burning...

Stepping outside, I took in the frozen landscape. Grass was covered in a sheet of snow, the trees had long since lost their leaves. Small tufts of smoke rose from the cabins on the main street, each covered in a small amount of snow and ice.

Even the Statue of Kyoshi sitting at the head of the town hadn’t been spared from the cold weather as it was now covered in a thin layer of frost that was made even more apparent when the sun shone on it.

Winter had well and truly hit the island and those that made their home here. That, however, didn’t mean that it was especially gloomy. Warmth and heat weren’t especially hard to come by when you were a Firebender.

Feeling the icy air bite at me, I rubbed my hands together, exhaling slowly, warming my surroundings. Slowly, but surely, the frost coating the wooden floor outside of the dojo began to recede.

Taking another breath, the temperature spiked around me. Stepping forward, I slowly made my way down the path from the dojo towards the small bridge to the town, melting frost, ice and snow alike.

It initially started as a way to get the villagers to not be so afraid of me, but quickly became a morning habit. The villagers got a warmer village that wasn’t covered in as much snow and I got to practice my Firebending in a colder environment without freaking anyone out.

They were cautious at first, but as time went on and winter grew colder, they warmed up to my presence on the island.

Finishing up a little early, I found myself heading down to the beach where I’d first arrived, stopping only when I reached the sandy shores. It wouldn’t be much longer now... Maybe a week... Two at the most before Aang finally arrived.

Sighing, I sat down a short distance from the water. I was going to miss this place when I left. It was quiet here, peaceful even.

I didn’t need to worry about being caught and dragged out in the middle of the night for some imaginary crime... Something that would have happened if I hadn’t joined the Fire nation’s navy when I did.

Spotting a massive fin peek out of the water, I made to stand up, only to dive out of the way as a low powered jet of water crashed into the ground in front of me, spraying my body with chunks of wet sand.

“Okay... What was that for?” I asked, wiping sand off my face.

Standing once more, I turned towards the ocean to find the Unagi waiting a short distance away, looking at me expectantly.

Shaking my head, I made my way around the coast, getting as close to the giant eel as possible, before stepping into the water, preferring to have something firm to stand on while dealing with the Unagi than a makeshift ice bridge that would easily break if knocked.

Stopping once the water reached my waist, I waited as it slowly lowered its head to my level. Closing its eye, it pressed its face against my body and let out a sound not dissimilar from a purr. Reaching up, I patted the Unagi’s scaly face.

Despite being such a large sea creature that had destroyed numerous boats in the past and was prone to throwing tantrums capable of making massive waves, the Unagi was surprisingly friendly... At least to those it deemed a friend.

“You just wanted a little attention, huh?”

Brushing its head against me, it opened its eye once more and slowly pulled back, only stopping once its mouth was directly in front of me. Opening it revealed a row of sharp, interlocking teeth and a horrible pungent smell that made me want to gag.

Looking up at the Unagi, it let out a grunt-like sound and clicked its teeth together, before opening its mouth once more.

“Seriously? Again?”

Whining pitifully, the Unagi bumped its nose against me, before opening its mouth wider.

“Fine, just... Show me what’s bothering you,” I said, motioning for it to move closer.

The interior of the Unagi’s mouth was pretty much as I expected. Sharp teeth, a few chunks of flesh and scales from the elephant Koi it’d been eating and salt water. Other than that, there wasn’t much else. The only way I’d be able to get a better view was if I climbed inside it and that was not something I was planning on doing... Ever.

Looking up, I found the cause of the Unagi’s discomfort. Jammed between two of its upper teeth was the twisted remains of what appeared to be a cutlass.

When would it have... Right, I guess I could tell Suki that she didn’t have to worry about those pirates that were spotted on the horizon the other night.

“You know... You can’t keep eating everything that catches your eye...” I grunted, being forced to reach up in order to grab the broken sword. “I’m not always going to be around to do this for you.”

Dropping down with the twisted piece of metal in my hand, I took a step back as the Unagi’s jaw snapped shut on instinct.

Blinking as it opened its mouth once more, its eyes flickered between me and something a little further back before it let out a low growl.

“Hey there, I just got here with some of my friends and couldn’t help but notice that you were controlling that giant eel thing... Awesome trick by the way, how’re you doing it? Oh, I’m Aang by the way.”

And I... Was completely off on my guess for when he’d arrive, although seeing as the Unagi was staring at Aang like he was its next snack that was the least of my worries. This wasn’t exactly how I thought meeting him would go.

The only way this could be worse is if Aang leaves before I have the chance to talk to him.

“Woah... Calm down,” I yelled. Stepping in front of Aang, I held my hands up in a calming manner only to watch as it retreated to deeper waters, disappearing under the ocean entirely... Well that’s not good. “Yeah... We might need to get back to shore.”

“Why? It’s gone, isn’t it?”

Bursting out of the water, the Unagi’s body skimmed across the surface, its momentum helping carry it across the shallows where it struggled to swim.

Letting out a scream, Aang took off in a sprint, but not before dragging me along with him... Something I wouldn’t have a problem with, if he was running in the right direction. Instead, it seemed that he was planning on cutting across deeper waters.

“We need to get to land!” I called out.

“That’s where I’m going.”

Snaking through the water, the Unagi trailed a little further behind, unable to keep up with Aang’s speed. Seeing that it wasn’t going to be able to catch up to us, it shot off a jet of water.

Throwing my fist forward, a stream of fire collided with the jet, knocking it off just enough to keep it from hitting us.

Reaching land, Aang lost his footing, sending him tumbling forward and I skidded to a stop, getting sand shoved down my clothes.

This... Really wasn’t how I pictured meeting Aang would go. At worst, I thought things would play out normally... Being apprehended by the Kyoshi warriors alongside Katara and Sokka... Not this.

Groaning, I slowly sat up, only to pause when something was pressed against my neck. Right... I should have expected that.

“Hold it right there.”

“Sokka...“ Aang said. “What’s going on?“

“He’s Fire nation.”

“No I’m not,” I hummed, looking up to see that it was a sharpened boomerang that was being held to my neck.

“Yes you are. Tell him, Katara.”

“It’s true, Aang. Sokka and I saw him Firebending.”

“That doesn’t exactly prove that I’m from the Fire nation or that I support them,” I pointed out.

“Wait, so you don’t support the Fire Nation then?” Aang asked, sounding more than a little optimistic.

“I don’t,” I answered.

Staring at me for a moment, Aang nodded slowly. “I believe you.”

“He could be lying,” Sokka argued. “What if he’s a spy... Or someone that’s working for Zuko? He could have had that giant eel attack on purpose so that you wouldn’t think he was from the Fire nation.”

“Actually, I think I was responsible for that,” Aang said, sheepishly rubbing the back of his head. “And he hasn’t given me any reason to doubt him. I think he’s telling the truth.”

“But... But evil...”

“I don’t know, Sokka,” Katara hummed. “What if you’re wrong and he’s not actually a bad guy.”

“Fine, but let it be known that when this backfires on us... And it will backfire.” Sokka pointed dramatically with his boomerang. “That I was the one against this decision.”

“Everything’s going to be fine, Sokka,” Aang chirped, before turning towards me. “So, I never caught your name.”

“Oh, it’s Honō,” I replied. Standing up, I just barely began dusting myself off, before they descended.

Moving like a blur from the tree tops, the Kyoshi warriors landed around the trio, hitting them with several precise jabs that dropped them to the ground.

…And it’d been going so well too.

“Hah, called it.”

“Sokka, now’s really not the time!”

“We noticed that the Unagi was restless… What’s the situation?” Suki asked, glancing at the trio. “Pirates? Stowaways?” Fire nation?”

“No… Nothing like that,” I muttered, palming my face.

“Then who are... Wait. Lemur... Bison... Bald monk... You wouldn’t have happened to have been frozen until recently?” Suki asked. “Would you have?”

“How’d you know?!”

“Aang,” Katara hissed.

“Oh, right. No… No I wasn’t.”

Not believing him for a second, Suki turned to me. “Who exactly are these people?”

“Katara and Sokka of the Southern Water Tribe,” I said, gesturing towards the brother and sister duo. “And Aang… The current Avatar.”

“Wait, you knew?” Aang asked. “When did you realize that I was the Avatar?”

“Longer than you’d think,” I answered cryptically.

“You know, there was a time when things made sense around here,” Suki commented.