Chapter 80

Aang couldn't practice fire bending within Ba Sing Se without drawing a lot of attention to our group. So, despite coming all this way we turned back without ever actually seeing the city. Now having all of his masters, Aang needed time to train. We briefly considered continuing what Aang's group had been doing, just keep moving and visit cool places. However, we decided that finding a more permanent place for Aang to stay and train would be a better idea.

We quickly decided that the Air Temple monasteries would make a great place, but we had to decide which. The north was quickly eliminated as an option because it was inhabited and was already targeted by the fire nation. The southern temple was vetoed by Aang for obvious sentimental reasons. That left us deciding between east and west. In the west, we would be dangerously close to the fire nation. On the plus side, the western temple is remote enough that we probably wouldn't be found and central enough that traveling somewhere else wouldn't take forever. The eastern temple would be safer, but we couldn't get any further away. The fact that the western temple was close to the Northern Water Tribe and the northwestern Earth Kingdom was the deciding factor.

Even now the western Air Monastery is beautiful. I only wish I could have seen it in its prime. It's an entire city carved into a mountain and hung upside down. There are chipped and dulled murals covering the walls. Water and garden fixtures that once stood proud as centerpieces are now dry and overgrown. On the plus side it very spacious and perfect as a place for Aang to train.

While Aang is the busiest he's not the only one training. Aang is training Earth with Toph, Fire with Azula, some refresher water bending with me, and refreshing his own knowledge of air bending by teaching Suki. Suki is trying her best to learn air bending while at the same time she has formed a bit of a girl power study group. Suki is teaching the girls some of her techniques from her Kiyoshi training, and Ty Lee has joined in and is teaching some chi blocking. I was sparring with Katara and Aang to keep them fresh, but otherwise, I was at a bit of a plateau. My energy and water bending both feel incredibly smooth, but I feel like at the moment if I want to get any better I really need to push myself. So occasionally I spar with Toph and or Azula while restricting my self to regular water bending. Beyond that, I do play around with my creation quirk. I start trying to make increasing intricate designs out of single materials. Hopefully, by the time, I can access chemistry information I will have all of the other aspects of the quirk sufficiently mastered.

All of this training with the benders was really getting to Sokka. Originally he spent his time trying to think up a new plan, but after the first few days, it was driving him insane.

"Ahhhhhhhh!" Sokka screamed hands on his head pulling on his hair. Sokka had secluded himself in what once must have been an office. Sokka sat at a large desk overlooking piles of papers. He didn't notice me as I walked in, he was too engrossed in his own thoughts.

"You doing alright Sokka?"

"Ah!" He yelped surprised. "Of course I am. Why would you even ask that?"

"It may have something to do with the screaming and you pulling your hair out."

"O. You ah... noticed that."

"I've never known screaming to be especially subtle. So what's wrong"

"Nothing. It's just. I'm having some trouble thinking of a plan. Even if we can't trust Azula she's right about the solar eclipse. The fire nation is probably aware of it and is planning around it. That's not even mentioning how it will only affect firebending soldiers. So, now we're back to square one with no real plan."

"Don't you think you're putting too much pressure on yourself. Do you think the war would have lasted so long if somebody could just think of a plan to end the war? You don't have to do it alone."

"But I'm the plan guy. I'm in charge of coming up with plans"

"Do you want to be the plan guy?"

"Of course I want to be the plan guy. If I wasn't the plan guy what would I even be? The funny guy? Comedic relief? Everyone else is so good and they're all powerful benders. And no I don't want to be a bender. I just...I don't know"

"Do you remember that time we argued over who would unpack Appa and who would talk to Katara?"

"Yea?"

"When I went to talk to her we had a very similar conversation."

"I find that unlikely."

"We did. Toph had just joined and Katara was feeling unsure of her position in the group. She felt like she wasn't good enough because she wasn't adding enough to the group. She had even specifically mentioned how important she thought you were to the group. How your plans kept everything running smoothly and your comedy kept people happy."

"Maybe, but right now I'm not doing those things?"

"What do you think about Suki and Ty Lee?"

"Is this a trap? In what way?"

"They're benders now, but before that, they were incredibly competent warriors. Just because they're benders now does that mean that they're no longer strong warriors?"

"No. I get it thanks. Hey, why'd you only talk about them? I'm a strong warrior too!"

"Sokka do you think you can beat either of them in a straight-up fight?"

"Geez, don't hold anything back. Really kicking me while I'm down."

"I'm not saying you're a bad fighter, but when's the last time you trained?"

"Let me see. Dad gave me lessons and I did occasional training with some of the younger boys in the tribe, but ugh it's probably been years"

"That's my point. Take a break from the planning, your only stressing yourself out and making it harder to think of anything. Just because you can't think of a plan now doesn't mean you can't do anything productive."

"What would I even practice I've been doing the same exercises for years. Where would I find out how to fight better?"

"What do you want to learn? Throwing weapons? Spears? Swords? crossbows? Bow and arrow? Hand to hand? I've got it covered."

"Thank you, but seriously is there anything your not good at."

"I'm not the best planner. I mean I kidnapped a princess and I had thought I was being pretty clever."

"Right leave the plans to me"