Chapter 31

Jeong Jeong was not impressed when The Avatar returned to his cottage.

"What are you doing here? I did not tell you to stop!" He admonished the boy sternly.

He had taken Aang up a nearby mountain with clear instructions to focus on his breathing: a vital skill for any firebender to properly learn. It had also been meant to teach the boy patience, but clearly that lesson had gone over the young nomad's head.

"I've been breathing for hours!" Aang protested.

"You want to stop breathing?"

"I want you to stop wasting my time! I already know how to squat and breathe and feel the sun!" The Avatar replied heatedly. "I wanna know how to shoot fire out of my fingertips!"

Oh the folly of youth. Pretty much every firebending child said those same things when they started their training.

It was straight into the spectacle, the destruction, with little regard for the danger of the power they wielded. Once upon a time firebending children were forbidden from conjuring fire until they had undergone a trial to prove their understanding of the dangers of their element.

Like many of the old traditions, it had quickly been thrown away when the great war started. Nowadays most children received nothing but military training, which went straight into how to shoot fire at their enemies from the very first lesson.

A gruff sigh escaped his lips as Jeong Jeong realised that a different approach would be needed to get this lesson through to Aang. He was a good kid really, far more empathetic than most his age, but the pressure put upon him to end this terrible war was bringing out the recklessness within him.

Perhaps he could use that natural empathy to teach this lesson? He was not normally one to open up about his past, but these were extraordinary circumstances.

"I had a pupil once who had no interest in learning discipline." He said slowly, mind already turning to form the image of Zhao. Not the hardened killer he'd become, but as the fresh-faced young cadet he'd once been when Jeong Jeong had first met him: so curious, so eager to learn, so ambitious.

"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 bear. Its nature is to consume, and without control it destroys everything around it."

His greatest regret in life was how he'd failed to teach Zhao the importance of control; both over fire, and over himself.

Because of his failure that sweet young boy had grown into a monster ruled by pride, and had slain dozens in his vain quest for glory. Worse was that he'd picked up an apprentice of his own, the infamous Devil of the South Sea, who had twice his thirst for blood if her rampage across the Earth Kingdom was any indication.

Were his teachings destined to be passed down from monster to monster for generations to come, leaving a trail of bloodshed and bodies wherever they went? The thought of it made him sick to his very stomach.

"Learn restraint, or risk destroying yourself and everything you love." He whispered, feeling his breath hitch under the weight of his regret.

The Avatar seemed to grasp the seriousness of the matter if his silence was any indication. Without a word the young nomad got up and left, leaving Jeong Jeong to grieve in the candlelight for the apprentice he'd failed.

...

"Who were those men?" Tanya asked, looking back at the burning tree behind them. As they'd sailed up river a small band of men in tribal garments wielding rudimentary weapons had tried to ambush them, but Zhao had shown no mercy in unleashing powerful waves of flames that set the trees alight and forced them to retreat.

Zhao smiled mysteriously. "Friends of a man I did not expect to find here. I know now why The Avatar came. He seeks tuition from Jeong Jeong."

"Jeong Jeong the deserter?" Tanya asked, surprised by the revelation. Jeong Jeong was the only man to have deserted the Fire Nation army and escaped punishment.

Well, except for another man called Chey, who now she thought about it matched the profile of the explosives expert who'd been reported to have made contact with The Avatar back in the village.

If The Avatar had any intention of learning firebending, then Jeong Jeong might well be his only chance to do it. Every other firebender had been conscripted into military service.

"The very same." Zhao replied smugly. "And my old master."

Hold up, what? Zhao had been the student of the infamous Admiral Jeong? He'd certainly kept that little fact well hidden.

Zhao began chuckling to himself, a sound that Tanya had never before noticed sounded so dark and ominous. "This falls out better than I could devise.

Jeong Jeong is an old fool bound by antiquated notions of what firebending should be. He won't have taught The Avatar so much as how to produce a spark until he's forced a hundred lessons about breathing down his throat.

The Avatar had wasted his time here, and now I can capture not just him but my treacherous old master too! Who could deny that destiny is on my side?"

Who could indeed? It really did seem sometimes like whatever Zhao wanted just fell into his lap. The sentiment proved prophetically true not a few seconds later, as the boats rounded a corner to see Jeong Jeong and the water tribe girl who accompanied The Avatar kneeling at the river bank.

Zhao's grin grew so wide it seemed like it might rip his cheeks. "Tanya." He commanded, as if beckoning for a dog. "Attack!"

As much as it irritated her to be addressed like a tool, Tanya didn't really have much of a choice but to obey. She stepped casually into a stance and raised one arm, then brought it forward to unleash a powerful blast directly at the two targets.

It was a powerful opening attack, but not much good against a master firebender. Jeong Jeong leapt into a defensive stance and broke the blast around him and the girl, yelling for her to find her friends and flee.

He settled deeper into his stance as the boats docked against the riverbank and Zhao's elite guard jumped ashore, and then raised both hands to create a wall of blazing flames blocking them from chasing after the girl.

"Don't worry, men. My old teacher gave up fighting a long time ago." Zhao declared as he disembarked his ship and strode forward confidently. The flaming wall parted around him as he used firebending to push his way through his teacher's technique. "Haven't you, Master Jeong Jeong?"

The wall of flames began to flicker and burn out, leaving a tense silence across the riverbank as former master and apprentice stared each other down.

"Look at you." Zhao sneered. "You were once so great. I can't believe my former master has become nothing more than a simple savage."

Jeong Jeong shook his head. "It is you who have embraced savagery, Zhao." He replied calmly.

"It's Admiral Zhao, now."

"That title will not help you against The Avatar. Do not try to fight him! You are no match!"

Zhao looked like he was struggling not to laugh. "I think I can handle a child."

"I have never seen such raw power." Jeong Jeong replied sagely, and all at once Zhao's smirk was replaced by a furious scowl. It didn't take Tanya long to read the subtext of the conversation. Had he perhaps once told Zhao the same thing? The last thing Zhao wanted to hear was anything that denied how special he thought he was.

"Jeong Jeong!"

That voice! Tanya's head whipped around, easily locating The Avatar from where he'd just emerged from the trees. The idiot hadn't run despite Jeong Jeong's instructions? He really was a fool!

"We'll see." Zhao hissed, turning towards The Avatar. "Men! Take the deserter!"

At his command, Zhao's troops surrounded and closed in on Jeong Jeong. Yet the former admiral only smirked and spun around, wrapping himself in a ball of flames that popped into a bright flash of light. When the light dissipated the old man was nowhere to be found.

"It's a trick!" Zhao screamed. "He's run off into the woods! Tanya, find him!"

"Yes admiral!" Tanya replied, flames bursting to life beneath her feet. Now that Zhao had mentioned it she could see freshly broken branches and other signs betraying the direction Jeong Jeong had run off in.

She rocketed off into the forest, Zhao's soldiers running along behind her, and looked back just in time to see Zhao advancing on The Avatar.

"Let's find out what my old master has taught you." He snarled, settling into a firebending stance.

"Yes, let's find out indeed." Tanya thought to herself, the corner of her lips twitching into the beginnings of a smile as she turned back to the forest.

...

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