Avatar Katara

The Firebending Masters

"I know you're nervous, but remember, firebending in and of itself is not something to fear.

Zuko and Katara stood on the side of the pagoda, both in firebending forms. "Ok," Katara repeated. "Not something to fear."

"But if you don't respect it, it'll chew you up and spit you out like an angry komodo rhino."

"Real comforting. I feel so much more confident."

"Alright," Zuko said. "Show me what you've got. Any amount of fire you can make."

Katara exhaled. She'd firebended plenty of times. She found it easy to shift into the right stance. She recalled all her self-taught firebending lessons, stepped forward, and lunged.

Smoke poured from her fist.

She laughed nervously. "Maybe I could use a demonstration?"

"Good idea. You might want to take a couple steps back."

Katara took more than a couple steps back.

Zuko stepped into the same firebending form Katara had and punched his fist forward. Katara expected a blast of fire.

There was a blast of fire, alright. A blast about the size of a tea apple.

Zuko recoiled. "What was that? That was the worst firebending I've ever seen!"

"I thought it was..." Katara struggled to find a word. She settled on, "Nice."

Zuko grunted as he bent in rapid succession. All the fire blasts just as weak. "Why is this happening?"

"Maybe you could try jet stepping," Katara suggested. "That worked pretty well when Combustion Man attacked us."

Zuko made it to the grand number of five seconds before the flames gave out.

"Or it could be the altitude."

Zuko scowled. "Yeah, maybe."

---

The spot was the lowest they could find. "Just breathe and..." Zuko fired.

"That one felt a little hotter," Katara said as the tiny fireball fizzed out.

"You know what it's supposed to look like!"

"Sorry, Sifu Hotman."

"And don't call me that!"

"Hey, jerks," Sokka called, munching on an apple. "Mind if I watch you jerks do your jerkbending?"

Katara gave him a long look and Sokka raised his arms in surrender. "Ok, ok. I know what the long look of disappointment looks like."

---

"Listen, everyone," Zuko said as they gathered around the temple. "Bad news. I've lost my stuff."

"Don't look at me," Toph said innocently. "I didn't touch your stuff."

"I'm talking about my firebending. It's gone."

"Haven't you been practicing your firebending recently?" Malu asked.

Zuko shook his head. "All the times I left to train, I was practicing swordfighting."

"Don't you mean swordbending?" Sokka asked. Zuko scowled.

"Kuzon said a while ago that he bends with love instead of anger," Katara suggested. "Maybe you don't have enough anger to fuel it."

"So all we need to do is make Zuko angry," Sokka mused. "Easy enough." He hit Zuko on the head with his sword.

"Cut it out! Look, even if you're right, I don't want to rely on hate and anger. Did Kuzon tell you how he bends with love?"