Avatar; The Royal Firebender.

Book Two Water, Chapter Two.

The Master's Masters.

"Aang, we have a problem." Zuko says as he and Iroh enter the room that team avatar have been given for the next few days. The young airbender turns and gives Zuko a raised eyebrow at this statement. "I need to borrow Appa."

"Uh... are you gonna try to impress a girl or something?" Aang asks, remembering that the last time someone asked to borrow the flying bison Sokka ended up getting married shortly after. "I don't think there's any girls on a military base."

"No, we need to go somewhere. We have a major problem." Zuko says, noticing the change in expression on Aang's face now showing slight anxiety. "I can't firebend anymore."

"What?!" Aang, Katara and Sokka shout hearing him say this, the statement causing Katara to fall out of the bunk bed that she and Yue are sharing.

"How can someone just lose their bending?" Yue asks, prompting Zuko to throw a punch towards the floor trying to bend. This only results in a puff of smoke and a tiny spark from his middle finger.

"I believe that when he defeated Zhao, he burned out his inner flame. There is a way to reignite it and fuel it with a new source but to do so we need to borrow Appa. Possibly for a couple days." Iroh says as he wafts his hand from side to side trying to get rid of the smoke Zuko had created trying to firebend.

"Can you all let him rest for at least tonight? How far do you have to fly anyways?" Aang requests, prompting the old general to nod.

"We need to go deep into the firenation to this place, but we won't leave until morning we're all still quite tired from the journey here and it would be unfair for Appa to immediately have to fly a few thousand miles again." Iroh responds before sitting down on the floor, producing the bag of Pai sho tiles from within his robe. "Care for a game, Master Aang?" He asks.

"Monk Gyatzo taught me and my sister how to play, the last time I did was over a hundred years ago." Aang says before clearing off the pai sho table that General Fong was kind enough to set up for them.

"This will be quite the interesting game, my young friend." Iroh says as Aang fishes out the pai sho set that they had picked up on their journey.

"So, does this mean that Aunt Wu's prediction is coming true?" Sokka asks, prompting Zuko to shrug at the question.

"Who's aunt wu?" Yue asks.

"She's a powerful fortune teller we met before we got to the north pole, all of her predictions have come true." Katara answers.

"All but the village not getting destroyed by that volcano Zuko fought."

"The village is still standing Sokka, her prediction just said that the village wouldn't be destroyed, not that we had to get them to protect their home." Zuko responds.

"Oh crap, yeah she was right about that." Sokka says.

"When you get to my age, you'll lose interest in wanting to know the future. At my age there's only one great adventure left, and I'd much rather leave it a secret." Iroh says before flipping the white lotus tile in his hand and then catching it again.

"Well we've got some time to kill, you wanna work on some more waterbending skills?" Katara asks as she pulls her overcoat off.

"Might as well." Zuko responds before standing up and walking out of the room being followed by both Katara and Yue.

As the sun begins to peak over the horizon, Iroh wakes Zuko up from his sleep, pushing his shoulder a few times to raise him. He hadnt been able to sleep that much the previous night, fear of never being able to firebend again had consumed his thoughts playing scenario after scenario in his head. While Aang had insisted on him meditating while sitting up, Zuko had decided to attempt it while lying down. It succeeded in pushing away the addled thoughts and fears over the loss in bending ability and he ended up falling asleep if only for a couple hours. Putting his boots on, he stands from the small cot before grabbing the bag he had prepared the night before. Across from him, Sokka and Yue are wrapped together in their cot fast asleep, Aang is sprawled out on his own partially drooling off the side and Katara has Momo asleep on her side. Zuko grabs the bison whistle before putting it in his pocket, putting his swords on his back then throwing his bag over his shoulder. With a nod to Iroh the two exit the room silently in order not to disturb the others.