the avatar, and that one good firebender, lee

fire, part seven

the next few days continue just the same: training in the morning with a half-chance of getting kidnapped, serving tea throughout the day with another half-chance of getting kidnapped, and, after music night, training at night with a much higher, almost definite chance. sometimes they'd catch him by surprise, other times the shadow on the ship gave it away. the avatar and co soon realized zuko was more likely to firebend when no customers were around, but when customers were around, he was more likely to be carrying around a pot of tea. such a dilemma was one they teased with, varying with firebending and tea throughout the days.

the avatar, through it all, was improving, and taking more risks. one morning on the training mat, while zuko and jang were circling the each other, there came a call from the sky, "flameo hotman!" as aang fell gracefully down on the ship. he broke his fall with a gust of wind, inadvertently knocking zuko and jang back. "hey, guys, ready for another match?"

"you two fight, i'm exhausted," jang groaned, collapsing onto the couch as kook handed him a cup of water.

turning to the avatar, he began the fight with a gentle sway of his arms, circling his feet, and sending over testing waves of flames at aang. the avatar responded just as gently, blocking and returning them with ease. after the same exchange they upped the intensity, ignoring sokka's and feng's hollers of beat him aang! and knock him out lee! aang followed zuko's past advice, aiming directly for his feet, while the prince daintily avoided each blast. twisting and turning, zuko dodged, taking the time between aang's breaths of fire to advance closer.

"don't be so direct," zuko advised as he closed in on the avatar, settling in for close combat. he threw a punch over aang's shoulder, and the avatar dipped, sliding on the mat between zuko's legs. zuko kicked a blast behind him, which aang dodged, and before the avatar could settle on his feet, zuko aimed a shot on the mat. before aang landed in the fire, he flipped backwards, using the air to put it out. "push me to where you want me to be."

aang nodded, sending a hit on zuko's right side. the prince darted to the left, before narrowly dodging aang's second perfectly-timed blast by a hair. "like that?" the prince nodded. "cool."

the fights usually went like that, with aang letting jang take a breather and zuko voicing pointers for the avatar to improve on. eventually, aang started doing the same, implementing more waterbending, earthbending, and airbending tactics that zuko studied intensely. and, of course, the avatar's friends grew restless of hovering in the air and watching fights ensue; whenever they saw an opening, one or the other joined the fray--toph and her meteorite treasure, which she was tactfully resourceful with; sokka and his sword, which piando praised; and katara and her water whips, earning much of kook and daito's cheers and master pakku's proud nods.

in the end, whoever had the least odds determined whether zuko would be kidnapped or not: if zuko was too burnt out to take on aang and katara or sokka and toph or any other mix, then up on appa's saddle they'd go; but if zuko was especially in his element or, sometimes, jang--and, on one momentous occasion, a roused up jeong-jeong--joined in, they'd settle for some tea before heading back to ember island. his kidnapping journeys were quite entertaining--they even brought him to a play once--but oftentimes dangerous.

that was apparent when the avatar and co, having grown tired of their beach house, decided to stay at sea with the crew for a few days. during an early morning, zuko and jang were messing around on the training mat, attempting tackling and wrestling as per jee's instructions. when jang grew tired of landing on his back and zuko tired of getting the wind knocked out of him, they took a break, letting haku and feng continue the wrestling matches. setting down his cup of water, zuko had finally noticed sokka on the upper deck, eyes on the other side of the horizon.