The Lost Waterbender (Avatar: The Last Airbender Fanfiction)

Regret

Lily and I made it to Piandao's before the day was over.

When I arrived, he came strolling out of the villa, a smile on his face. "Well aren't you a sight for sore eyes."

I grinned and slid off Lily. He noticed my leg and cocked his head. "Well, I hope that doesn't affect your training."

"Trust me, it doesn't."

He took of Lily's saddle and allowed her to wander around the estate, grazing on the green grass. I climbed up the stairs into his house, grudgingly using my staff, because it did hurt.

Piandao asked Ryu, who gave me a big hug in greeting, to make us some tea. He brought it in a shiny, silver pot and poured Piandao and me generous servings.

As we sipped it, Piandao said, "tell me about the past seven months. Without you and Raiko, it's been awfully quite around here."

I forced a smile, but the mention of Raiko made me grip my cup tighter. I didn't want to see him again, but I didn't let Piandao know that.

Instead, I told him about how the heist had gone wrong, and the past seven months have essentially been filled with healing and getting stronger. I left out the part about me getting kicked out of the city, though. There was time for that later.

He seemed to sense something was wrong. "So why'd you come back now? Out of the blue?"

"Well, I was feeling strong enough," I lied. "And I didn't want to skimp out on training for too long. Speaking of which-" I reached into my bag and pulled out the scrolls he had sent me. "I believe these belong to you."

Piandao took them and glanced over them briefly before handing them back. "Not to boast, but I have mastered every technique on these. I'd rather you take them. It will be much easier to learn from them if they are in your possession."

"Wow, thanks," I said with genuine gratitude. I was already glad I had come back to Piandao's. If I was in the City of Outcasts, I would probably be getting lectured by Hikura and skinning potatoes. I could tell already that this stay at Piandao's would last for a long, long time.

I spent the day after I arrived resting up and catching up with Piandao. The next day I was ready to begin training again.

I woke up early and found him meditating in the gardens. As I approached him, he stood up and faced me. "Ready for morning training?"

I grinned. "You know I am!"

We made our way to the training area. My leg felt stiff that morning, so I decided to use the staff until I got the blood flowing a bit.

Piandao handed me a practice sword. "Do you want to take it slow at first?"

"No, why would I want to do that?" I asked as I threw my staff off to the side and took the sword.

Piandao shrugged. "Alright. Let's start with some basics since you haven't had a master in seven months."

I nodded my consent and we began basic maneuvers. Forward swipe, step back and block, duck with sword out, downwards thrust and bring back into starting position.

Without looking over at me, Piandao said, "you're putting too much weight on your right leg. Spread it evenly, only changing when necessary."

I bit my lip. I was keeping my weight on my right leg for a reason. "Yeah, okay."

We ran through the drills again, but as soon as I transferred weight to my left leg, I ended up with my knee down, supporting myself on my arms. I looked up at Piandao, who had an eyebrow raised looking down at me.