Balance | Old Version

Chapter 93

Elua's POV.

Piandao had agreed to teach Sokka. So, he was now training and we were all laying on the ground at our campsite, so very bored.
"What should we do today?" Aang asks.
"I'm tapped out. I already picked my toes, twice," Toph says, we all look at her in confusion.
"Twice?" I ask.
"The first time was for cleaning, but the second time's just for the sweet picking sensation," She answers as she wiggles her toes.
"Sokka's been in charge of the schedule. I'm not sure what we should be doing," Katara states.

"Plus, it's so hot today," Toph states, clearly hating the heat.
"How hot is it?" Aang asks jokingly.
"I don't know. Real hot?" Toph asks in confusion.
"It's so hot, it's so hot...Momo is shedding like Appa," Katara says as she gently takes off some of Momo's fur. "Huh? Huh?" She says trying to joke as Sokka does, but clearly it was not her thing.
"I guess the jokes don't run in the family," I mumble
"Oh, everyone's a critic," Katara says flopping back on the ground.

Later.

Sokka had been gone for hours, while we had been doing basically nothing. Aang and Katara were trying to read the map, but they weren't very good at it.
"So where are we going next? We're starting from here," Katara says pointing to a place on the map.
"No, we're over on this island," Aang says pointing to a different place.
"You noodle-brains don't know what you're doing," Toph states, still laying on the ground.
"I miss Sokka," I say with a sigh, why must he leave me alone with them?
"Ooh, I got one," Katara says as she perks up. "If you miss him so much, why don't you marry him?" She asks me jokingly. I sigh as I stare at her with a 'really?' look.

"Learn to read a map Katara," I tell her as I roll onto my side, close my eyes, and try to take a nap.
"Sokka's coming!" Toph suddenly shouts, making me jump up. We all stand up and look over to the side of the hill to see Sokka walking over to us.
"Hey, guys. What are you doing?" Sokka asks, now wearing a black and gold rode.
"Sokka!" The other three shout happily.
"We missed you so much," Katara says as they all run over and hug him.
"Say something funny," Aang tells him as they all let him go.
"Funny how?" Sokka asks with a frown of confusion, but they all begin to laugh. Sokka turns to me with a look of confusion.

"What's their deal?" He asks me, I shrug.
"I don't know. They missed you or something. I didn't care," I say jokingly, he rolls his eyes.
"Thanks. That warms my heart," He says sarcastically.
"Kidding," I say with a grin. He smiles as I place a kiss on his cheek.
"Anyway, I need some help," Sokka tells us, we follow him down the hill and over to the meteorite from the other night.
"What do you need this for?" Katara asks.
"I'm gonna make a sword out of it," Sokka states as we start to move the black space rock. 

After a while, we roll it up to Piandao's house and Sokka knocks on the gate. A man, I'm guessing is Piandao, opens the gate.
"Who's this?" Piandao asks Sokka, speaking about us.
"Oh, these are my friends and my girlfriend," Sokka says, we all wave to him. "Just other good Fire Nation folks," He says with a smile.
"Do you think we can make a sword out of a meteorite?" Sokka asks pointing to the big black ball of rock that we had just rolled over here.
"We'll make a sword unlike any other in the world," Piandao says as they roll it into a welding room and Sokka gets to work.

Later.

After many hours of hard work, Sokka completes the sword. We all sit behind him in a hall while Piandao stands in front of him, holding the newly created sword in his hand.
"Sokka, when you first arrived, you were so unsure. You even seemed down on yourself. But I saw something in you right away. I saw a heart as strong as a lion turtle, and twice as big. And as we trained, it wasn't your skills that impressed me. No, it certainly wasn't your skills. You showed something beyond that," Piandao says as he unsheathes the sword, revealing a black blade. "Creativity, versatility, intelligence...these are the traits that define a great swordsman. And these are the traits that define you. You told me you didn't know if you were worthy, but I believe that you are more worthy than any man I have ever trained," He says as he hands Sokka the sword. But, Sokka hesitates to take it from him.

"I'm sorry, Master. You're wrong. I am not worthy," Sokka says sadly. "I'm not who you think I am. I'm not from the Fire Nation. I'm from the Southern Water Tribe. I lied so that I could learn swordsmanship from you. I'm sorry," Sokka says as we look at him with wide eyes.
"I'm sorry, too," Piandao says as he quickly turns around and swings his sword at Sokka. Sokka stands and avoids the attack, using his sword. We all stand up, ready for a fight, but Sokka shakes his head and motions for us to stop.
"No, this is my fight, alone," Sokka tells us as they walk outside and take fighting stances. Aang, Katara, Toph and I stand off to the side as they begin to fight.

Sokka blocking Piandao's attacks, backing up and jumping up onto the railing of a bridge. They continue to fight, eventually, getting back to the center of the courtyard. Sokka sends dirt into Piandao's eyes, blinding him for a while.
"Very resourceful," Piandao says as Sokka tries to quietly back up, but he steps on a twig. Piandao turns in Sokka's direction and swings his sword at him. They hit their swords together a few times until Piandao twirls Sokka's sword out of his grip and knocks him over, pointing his sword at him. We all jump over the railing in front of us and start to run towards him.

"Excellent work, Sokka," Pianodao says as he puts his sword down, we stop running and look at him confused. "I think I'm a little old to be fighting the Avatar and Nadir," He says as he wipes the dirt out of his eyes and smiles at Aang and I.
"How did you know?" Aang asks in shock.
"Oh, I've been around a while. You pick things up. Of course, I knew from the beginning that Sokka was Water Tribe," Piandao states as he turns to Sokka. "You might want to think of a better Fire Nation cover name. Try 'Lee.' There's a million 'Lee's'," He tells him.
"But, why would you agree to train someone from the Water Tribe?" Katara asks.

"The way of the sword doesn't belong to anyone nation. Knowledge of the arts belongs to us all," Piandao states. "Sokka, you must continue your training on your own. If you stay on this path, I know that one day you will become an even greater master than I am," He says as he hands Sokka his sword and they bow to each other. We walk out of the gates and begin to walk down the path.
"Wait!" Piandao's butler shouts from behind us. "The Master wanted you to have this, as something to remember him by," He says, handing Sokka a small bag before walking back into the gates. Sokka opens the bag and takes out a small tile.
"It's a Pai Sho tile," Sokka says as he looks at the tile in confusion.

"The white lotus. Hm," Aang says, confused too.
"What does it mean?" Katara asks.
"I have no idea," Sokka says with a frown.
"I do," I say with a smile.
"What is it?" They ask me curiously.
"You'll find out, eventually," I tell them as they look at me confused.
"Ooh, that reminds me," Sokka says as he takes something out of his pocket. "Toph, I thought you might like this since you've probably never had a chance to bend space earth before," He says as he hands a piece of the meteorite to Toph.

"Sweet. Check this out," Toph says as she bends it into many shapes.
"You know, I don't think there's such a thing as 'space earth.' If it's from space, then it's not really earth," Katara says as we begin to walk.
"Must you ruin everything?" Sokka asks her as he puts his arm over my shoulder.
"I can't believe I missed you," Katara says rolling her eyes.
"But, really what does this tile mean?" Sokka asks as he looks down at the tile.
"I told you, you'll find out one day," I tell him shrugging.
"Oh, come on. Must you be secretive?" He asks me as we continue to walk down the path.

"It's what I'm best at."