"This should give us a good idea what's around here." Katara said, as we looked at a sign of the village just down the hill.

"See if you can find a menu, I'm starving." Sokko pouted.

"I bet we'll find something to eat here, the fire days festival. Fire Nation cultural exhibits, jugglers, benders, musicians, this will be a great place for Gyawa to study some real fire benders!" Aang smiled, with excitement, pointing at a poster.

"I don't think it's the best idea, look at this." I disagreed, looking at the other side of the sign, showing a wanted posters of me.

"Hey a poster of you!" Aang said.

"A wanted poster of Gyawa. This is bad." Sokka warned the innocent Aang.

"I think we better keep moving."

"Gyawa has to learn fire bending at some point, and this could be Gyawa's only chance to watching masters up close." Aang was trying to make excuses so bad.

"I guess we could check it out." Katara said.

"Hey why are you dragging me into this? I will find a teacher, not circus freaks, who just know how to put on a show." I protested.

"I'm with the Avatar on this. You want to walk into a Fire Nation town, when they're all fired up with all they're you know fire."

"We'll wear disguises, and if it looks like trouble we'll leave." Katara completely ignoring the fact that I was the Avatar, and I didn't want to go.

"Yeah because we always leave before we get into trouble."

                                    ~*~

We went to the festival, we got new costumes, Aang still got us caught. Whatever that guys name was got us out and we got captured by Jeong Jeong's men. "Go on he sees you only." The guards said, to the man as we walked in the the little village they made.

  "Oh that's okay we can chat later." He waved, as he was being pushed over to the hut.

"Is that where Jeong Jeong is? I need to talk to him." I said, trying to follow him.

"No, you wait there. Go now!" The guard ordered, punching him more.

"Don't worry everything will be fine. His a great man. Great man." He reassured me, as he started walking over to the hut, while they took us to another one.

                                    ~*~

"What happened? Can I talk to him now?" I asked, as he came in, after awhile of waiting.

"He won't see you. He's very angry that I brought you here. He wants you to leave immediately." He replied, with no more cooky talk.

"Finally. Let's hit the road." Sokka sighed, as he picked his head out of the ground.

"Not yet. Why won't he see me?" I asked, standing up.

"He says you're not ready, he says you have not mastered Water Bending and Earth Bending yet."

"How does he know that?" Aang asked.

"He saw the way you walked into camp, he can tell."

"I'm going." I walked out with determination.

  I went over to Jeong Jeong's hut and didn't hesitate to walk in. "Get out." His rough voice said, not even looking at me.

"Master, I need to learn Fire Bending." I walked closer in, he had himself surrounded by candles, making the light very faint.

"Only a fool seeks his own destruction." Jeong Jeong stated.

"But I'm the Avatar, it's my duty and destiny to-"

"Destiny?! What would a girl know of destiny?! If a fish lives its whole life in this river, does he know the river's destiny? No! Only that it runs on and on, out of his control! He may follow where it flows, but he cannot see the end. He cannot imagine the ocean." Jeong Jeong rose his voice, but he never looked at me. Wise words though.

"But I have to master all the bending disciplines!" I protested.

"To master the bending disciplines, you must first master discipline itself! But you have no interest in this so I have no interest in you! Now, get out!" Jeong Jeong demanded, but I wasn't done.

"I have to learn them! If I don't the world could be destroyed! It's not like there's a Fire Bender who wants to teach me!" I rose my own voice, as I stood up from my sitting place.

"Are you deaf?! How can I teach you, if you refuse to listen?? Before learning Fire Bending, you must learn Water and Earth. Water is cool, and soothing, Earth is steady and stable. But Fire, fire is alive. It breaths, it grows, without the Bender a rock will not throw itself! But fire will spread and destroy everything in its path, if one does not have the will to control it! That is its destiny! You are not ready, you are too weak!"

As Jeong Jeong finished I knew he heard: "You think I am weak?!" Avatar Roku demanded of him.

"Avatar Roku! No no! I did not mean that!" He now sat in a field, under a tree, pleading with the old Avatar.

"I have mastered the elements a thousand times over a thousand live times. Now I must do it once again. You will teach the Avatar Fire Bending." Roku stated, as he lit the tree on fire with a simple stroke. He was truly amazing.

"Yes, yes. I will teach you." Jeong Jeong muttered.

"Good." I bitterly replied, as I walked out, I knew all that he said about fire was false.

                                    ~*~

The next day Jeong Jeong and I met outside his hut to start my training. "Widen your stance." He ordered, as I took stance. "Wider! Bend your knees. Now concentrate. Good, good." Jeong Jeong said, moving them with his leg.

"Wait what am I doing?" I asked, a simple question to get a long response.

"Silence! Talking is not concentrating. Look at your friends are they talking? Even that oaf knows to concentrate on what his doing." Jeong Jeong referred to Sokka fishing.

"Hey!" Sokka defended.

"Well I have no idea what I'm doing!" I nearly rose my voice in frustration.

"Feel the heat of the sun, it is the greatest source of fire. Yet it is in completely balance with nature."

"So when do I get to shoot some fire?" I asked, I was so eager to be a Fire Bender. You know, be awesome.

"Concentrate!" Jeong Jeong shouted, before he walked over to let me "concentrate." Just then I heard all of the Gasng laughing at me, I sighed and kept my stance in shame.

                                    ~*~

"So about that fire?!" I asked, as we were hiking up a hill. Just maybe he would give me a brake, maybe things are different then the show.

"No fire yet." Jeong Jeong replied, with his hands behind his back.

"Awww." I sighed, I wanted to shoot fire.

"Power in Fire Bending comes from the breath, that is why you must master proper breath control!" Jeong Jeong explained like it was the end of the world, making me want to smile.

"Proper breath control?" I remarked to be shut down by orders.

"Assume your stance. Wider!" He shouted, as I tried to widen my stance.

"Your not even looking!" I replied. He had his back to me the whole time.

"Wider!" He shouted once more, I took the widest stance I could do the way I stood.

"Now inhale through the nose, and exhale with the mouth. Without talking."

I did as he said and then I could hear him start walking off. "Good, keep going."

                                    ~*~

After an hour of bullshizit I decided I had enough and went back to the village. "What are you doing here?! I did not tell you to stop!" Jeong Jeong protested as I walked in.

"This is pathetic! I've been breathing for hours!" I yelled back.

"You want to stop breathing?"

"I want to learn how to Fire Bend! You know, the kind so I can fight Ozai!" I shouted, with my fist clenched, I really had enough.

"I had a student once who had no interest in learning discipline, He was only concerned with the power of fire. How he could use it to destroy his opponents and wipe out the obstacles in his path. But fire is a horrible burden to bare, it's nature is to consume. And without control it destroys everything around it. Learn restraint, or risk destroying yourself and everything you love." As Jeong Jeong said, it hit me a little, comparing me with Zhao, I walked out to still pout though.

"I thought about what you said. I'll be less inpatient." I said, when he walked out, as I sat on a rock in front of his hut.

"We are going to work with fire now." As he said this I felt a tingle of excitement through my finger tips.

"Woo yeah! I mean let us begin." I bowed after shouting in excitement.

He didn't seem pleased, as he grabbed a leaf that was falling from the trees. "Concentrate on the fire. I want you to keep this flame from reaching the edges of the leaf for as long as you can." He ordered, handing a little tiny burn spot in the leaf.

I sighed as I took my stance and grabbed it.

"Master, there is trouble." One of the guards said to him.

"What kind of trouble?" I asked.

"Concentrate on your leaf." Jeong Jeong barked, before running off with the soldiers.

"Be the leaf huh? I hate this, all he does is leave me alone to concentrate or breath!" I complained to Aang and Katara.

"I'm sure there is a good reason." Katara replied.

"But I'm ready to start shooting fire out of my fists." I looked down at the leaf and took a deep breath, concentrating on the fire. Just then it sheared and burnt the leaf completely to turn into fire. "I did it! I made fire!" I shouted, with excitement.

"Gyawa that's great but you should take it slow." Katara sounded worried, as I twirled it around my hand.

"Sure, sure." I didn't really listen of course, spinning it around and around. "Sweet! Now let me see if I can make it out of nothing." I took it out and took deep breaths, before the fire came from my fist. "Woo! This is sweet!" I shouted as I did it a few more times.

"Gyawa, be careful." Katara almost gasped.

"It's okay Katara, I'm sure Gyawa knows what she's doing." Aang replied for me.

I did it again and again, making sure no one was in the way. "This is awesome!" I gasped, starting to shoot it out of my feet.

"Now let's go see what's happening." I said, as I started to run to the forest, everyone following.

As we did, when we were rather deep a Fire Nation soldier came out of nowhere.

He threw four fire balls at me, I dodged all of them and kicked a line of fire at him. Little did I know where he was moving, he was moving to where Sokka was. I heard a scream, but I wasn't the soldier's, it was Sokka screaming in pain.

I took the fire out to see, I had burned Sokka's hands.

The soldier was knocked out but I had hurt my friend, he started to hold his hands in pain, but I could see he wanted to get furious at me.

"Sokka! I'm so sorry!" I almost shouted, as I walked up, he looked like he was about to say something with painful tears. However he just started to run off, I never felt so horrible in my life.

"I told you, you shouldn't mess around with this! Now look what you did! You burned my brother!" Katara yelled at me, feeling terrible, I was almost in a daze of guilt.

"This is all your fault!" She shouted, to Jeong Jeong who came out of nowhere.

"I know. Now pack your things, you must leave immediately!" Jeong Jeong said but Katara ran after Sokka.

"I'm sorry I didn't... I'm sorry." I muttered to who ever was left.

                                    ~*~

"Gyawa?" Sokka asked, as he walked in the hit.

"I don't blame you if you don't want to talk to me anymore." I said, not looking at him as I sat in Jeong Jeong's place.

"Gyawa? It's okay. I'm healed." Sokka replied, holding out his hands.

"How?"

"I'll explain later. But right now we have to get out of here. Zhao and his soldiers are attacking."

"Where?" I asked, as I stood up, even though I already knew where they were.

"By the river. They captured Jeong Jeong!" As he said this I ran off to the river.

                                    ~*~

"Men, take the deserter!" Zhao's voice barked orders as Jeong Jeong stood next to the forest.

He saw I was there and made a huge ball of fire around himself. When it died, he was gone.

"It's a trick, he's gone off into the woods. Find him!" The soldiers all ran to find him, meanwhile I let Zhao see where I was "Let's find out what my old master as taught you." He turned to fight me.

"You were Jeong Jeong student?" I asked, taking my stance.

"Till I got bored." Zhao answered with a wall of fire, also throwing a few fire balls.

I fire bended through the wall, and kicked flames as I dodged the fire balls.

"I see he showed you a few shots, but I doubt he showed you what a Fire Bender is truly capable of!" Zhao threw a wild shot at me, which was flaming fury.

"Wow wild." I laughed, as I looked at the burning forest.

"I'll show you wild!" Zhao snarled, before throwing more walls of fire.

I punched through it and then went to his ships.

I remembered exactly how to take him down. "Stand and fight l, Avatar!" He shouted, as I landed on a boat.

"Oh we're we fighting I though we were just getting warmed up." I mocked.

"I was." He hissed, throwing fire blasts, which hit the boat instead of me.

"Is the Fire Nation running low on Admirals?" I scoffed, as I went to the next boat.

"Hey there, old man!" I shouted with a huge smile as I waved. He threw more fire, I dodged like nothing.

"I don't know why, but I thought you'd be better than Zuko." I was inches from his face before he threw a fire ball at it.

I jumped back in another boat. "Messy, very messy." I remarked.

He was fuming by now, reminded me of my little cousin.

"No where to run now, you little smart mouth." Zhao hissed, before he threw a fire ball at me.

I jumped up and leaned back down. "You've lost this fight, Admiral Zhao."

"Are you crazy?! You have haven't delivered a single blow!" Zhao shouted back.

"No, but you have." I said, with a very calm voice, pointing out that all his ships were burnt. "Jeong Jeong said you had no restraint." I remarked before I dove in the water to get back.

                                    ~*~

"Gyawa, come on! Let's go!" Sokka shouted, as I poked my head out of the water.

"Where's Jeong Jeong?" I asked, after drying myself off, and getting on Appa.

"He disappeared, they all did."

We looked down on the now abandoned village.

"Gyawa, you're burned. Let me help you." Katara said, before grabbing my arm and healing it.

"That's nice water." I remarked, after feeling that it was gone.

"When did you learn to do that?" Aang asked.

"I guess I always knew."

"Really?" Aang asked again.

"I know! Thanks for all the first aid over the years! Like when I fell under the grease pipe handle. And that time I had two fish hooks in my thumb." Sokka said, in a brotherly Sokka tone.

"Two." I stated with a laugh.

"He tried to get the first fish hook out with another fish hook." Katara explained, I immediately made a frown.

"Oh and that time that mint-snake bit me! Thanks for healing that up, great, really helpful." Sokka complained as we flew away from the forest.