"Hi Harry!" Ty Lee said cheerfully as she, Mai and Azula walked into a room where they found Harry and Zuko practising, each going through a kata with a pair of dao swords. "How are you doing?" She asked, waving her hand in greeting.
"Hey." Harry said without stopping. After expressing his interest in learning weapons he had been sent to sword master 'Piandao'. The man was not a fire bender but was undoubtedly the best swordsman in the whole Fire Nation, probably even the best in all four nations. Zuko, who was not quite as good at fire bending as Harry and Azula, was also interested in learning how to use a sword and was sent with Harry to be trained by the man. "How are you guys doing?"
"Great!" Ty Lee chirped, a wide smile on her face. "So...what are you doing?" She asked.
"We're just practising a sword kata." Harry answered.
"Looks fun." Mai said, though her words didn't exactly match the bland tone of voice she used or the near expressionless look on her face. "I prefer smaller blades." She added.
"Come on, Harry, come play with us!" Azula said as she and the girls stopped close by, making sure to keep their distance so they wouldn't accidently get cut by Zuko or Harry.
"Go away," Zuko said in an irritated voice as he and Harry continued practising. "we're busy."
"Don't be rude, Zu-Zu." Azula smirked at him.
"Zuko, focus." Harry said when he saw Zuko slowing down. "Azula, stop bothering Zuko when he's practising."
"Yeah Azula," Zuko spared a second to glare at her before continuing. "stop bothering me and Harry, or is that too hard for you?"
"I'm not bothering Harry, I'm bothering you." Azula said, maturely sticking her tongue out at him. "Besides, firebending is much more fun than playing with stupid swords." She said in a haughty voice. "Stronger too, who needs swords when you can just firebend?"
"Azula, the guy who is training us is legendary swords master 'Piandao'," Harry pointed out. "also known as the guy who was able to defeat a hundred firebenders with just a sword."
"Yeah," Zuko nodded. "you only say that firebending is better because you're good at it." Zuko huffed.
"And you only say that because you're bad at it." Azula retorted.
"I'm not bad at it!" Zuko growled. "Besides, Uncle Iroh said that learning how to use swords is a great way to get better at firebending."
"True." Harry agreed.
"Yeah, because Zu-Zu needs all the help he can get." Azula said, giving Zuko a sweet smile.
"Shut up, Azula!"
"Oh, does that upset you, Zu-Zu?" She asked mockingly.
"Stop calling me that!" Zuko roared, forgetting his kata in favour of glaring at Azula in such a way that it looked like he was going to attack her.
"Or what, Zu-Zu?" Azula said challengingly while allowing a blue flame to appear above her palm.
"Guys, please don't fight." Ty Lee begged, looking quite worried. Mai didn't say anything but looked almost as worried as Ty Lee did.
"Oh, is Azula jealous because Harry doesn't want to spend time with you?" Zuko said in a baby voice, his grip on his swords tightening. "Maybe he just likes me better."
"Great, now I'm involved in this crap." Harry said under his breath as he rolled his eyes.
"He doesn't!" Azula growled, her flames growing higher. She and Zuko moved towards each other with clear intent to harm.
"Enough!" Harry's swords caught fire and he slammed them down on the floor, sending a fire wall in-between Azula and Zuko, causing them both to back up. Harry sighed before dispelling the fire. "Okay, so clearly I'm not going to get my practising done today, so now onto my full time job of peace maker. Zuko put your swords down and Azula stop with the fire." Harry said as he put his swords away. "Now." He said when both siblings hadn't moved. Azula huffed before dispelling her fire while Zuko rolled his eyes before putting his swords away.
"It wasn't even my fault," Zuko protested. "she started." He said as he gestured to Azula.
"No I didn't, you started it." Azula said, glaring at him.
"Yeah, well I'm ending it." Harry cut them both off. "Now, we're all going to go outside and we're all going to hang out and play."
"Does Zuko need to come?" Azula complained.
"Do we need Azula with us? You and me can have fun without her ruining everything." Zuko pretended to whisper to Harry.
"You're both coming and I swear to Agni that neither of you are leaving until you both last at least five minutes without bothering each other." Harry said, rolling his eyes.
"Oh, Harry is totally right." Ty Lee agreed as she looped one arm around Azula's arm before looping another around Zuko's. "You two really shouldn't be fighting, you're brother and sister. Besides, it totally ruins your auras." Ty Lee told them in a matter-of-fact voice as she began guiding (or pulling in Zuko's case) them to the door while Mai and Harry followed behind.
"What? Aura?" Zuko blinked in confusion. "What are you talking about?" He asked.
"Oh I can see your auras." Ty Lee smiled.
"You…you can see auras?" Zuko frowned disbelievingly.
"Oh yeah." Ty Lee nodded quickly. "Your aura doesn't look good when you get angry." She told him before looking back at Harry and Mai. "Don't you think so?" She asked the two of them.
"Unfortunately I don't really have the ability to see auras," Harry shrugged. "though it is quite annoying when these two argue."
"I think his aura is fine." Mai said simply in her usual bland tone of voice, her cheeks slightly red.
"What about my aura?" Azula asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Oh, I love it!" Ty Lee said quickly. "It's really bright!" She said with a wide smile.
"Hmm," Azula let out a pleased hum before looking towards Harry. "what do you think about my aura?" She asked with a smirk.
"I still can't see them, my answer hasn't changed just because it's you." Harry replied.
"Fair enough, but I'm sure that mine is still bettter than Zuko's."
"Hey look!" Aang said suddenly as the gang walked through a forest. "I found something, it's a sword. Looks like it's made out of a whales tooth." He noted.
"Give me that!" Sokka said quickly as he took it from Aang so he could take a closer look at it.
"Whale tooth?" Harry asked as he took a look at it. "Looks like a Water Tribe weapon." Harry said just as Katara finally caught up to them.
"Water Tribe?" She asked, her gaze shifting to the weapon in Sokka's hand.
"It IS Water Tribe." Sokka said confidently, "Quick, look around and see if you can find anything else." He said.
"Aye-aye, boss." Aang saluted before he and Sokka began searching around.
"He's not the damn boss." Harry said under his breath before he and Katara began looking around as well.
"Found something," Sokka said, holding up a spearhead. "it's burnt." He noted.
"I didn't do it!" Harry said quickly.
"No, this is already burnt." Sokka rolled his eyes before looking around. "Look here." Sokka said as he pointed to a tree trunk with scorch marks and sharp cuts running across its bark. "There was a battle! Water Tribe warriors ambushed a group of firebenders." Sokka said before he turns away from the tree and looking down the slope of the hill seeing a black spot on the ground. "The firebenders fought back, but the warriors drove them down this hill." Sokka said before he rushed away, running down the hill, he stopped on top of a sandy beach.
"So then what happened?" Aang asked once he, Katara and Harry caught up to him a second later.
"I'm not sure." Sokka admitted, running a hand through his hair. "The trail ends here."
"Wait! Look!" Katara said as she pointed to a Water Tribe ship, half obscured behind large rocks, sitting idly on the shore.
"Wait...that's...that's a Water Tribe boat!" Sokka said excitedly before he and Katara ran towards it while Harry and Aang followed behind them.
"Do you think it's Dad's boat?"
"No, but it's from our fleet." Sokka said in a confident voice. "Dad was here!" He grinned.
"So, you hopeful or what?" Harry asked as he sat next to Sokka.
It had become night time and the group hadn't yet moved away from the ship, the two Water Tribe siblings insisted on staying there in the hopes of finding more clues that could lead them to their father. Aang and Katara had fallen asleep on Appa while Sokka and Harry sat around a fire.
"What?" Sokka asked.
"Sorry, stupid question, what I'm basically asking is do you really think that you'll find your father out here?" Harry asked.
"I don't know," Sokka said, letting out a heavy breath. "I...I'm hopeful, but I don't honestly know. I just really think that..." Sokka stopped and trailed off before turning to face Harry. "...um...you've killed a lot of people, right?" He asked.
"Uh...yeah." Harry nodded, surprised by the out-of-the-blue question. "Why?" He asked.
"Did...did you ever kill some Water Tribe people?" Sokka asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Um...yes, I've killed pretty much people from every nation apart from the Air Nation, but that's more due to a lack of people in that nation." Harry replied, having a rough idea about where this is going.
"Was there any chance you killed my dad?" Sokka asked seriously, looking almost sick.
"Um...there is a chance of it, but I can't say for sure." Harry said awkwardly, running a hand through his hair. "I hope I haven't, that would really make things awkward. Um...does he have the same skin tone as you?"
"Yeah..."
"Does he have a pony tail like you?"
"Yeah..."
"Then it's possible." Harry admitted.
"You killed my dad?!" Sokka blurted out loudly, waking up both Aang and Katara.
"W...what's happening?" Katara asked.
"Relax and take a deep breath, Sokka." Harry said.
"How can I relax?! You just said you killed my dad!"
"He killed Dad?!" Katara's shocked voice cut through the air.
"I did not kill your father," Harry said before pausing thoughtfully. "at least I don't think I did." He said weakly.
"Oh, this is just great." Sokka said, throwing his arms up in frustration. "I'm trying to look for my father and there's a big chance that I'm sitting next to the guy who killed him."
"I don't know if I did! The only description I have to work with is that he has the same skin tone as you and has a ponytail!" Harry pointed out defensively "Like...the majority of Water Tribe men I've seen have ponytails! So much so that you might as well be called ponytails! It's not my fault that a lot of you ponytails all wear ponytails, Ponytail. Show me a picture of what he looks like."
"I don't have a picture!"
"He's your father! Why don't you have a picture of him?!" Harry demanded.
"Because nobody drew me one!" Sokka shouted.
"Why are we shouting?" Aang asked loudly.
"I...wait, do you hear that?" Harry asked, standing up. "We got company." Harry said, glad for the distraction.
"What?" Sokka stood up and stared at the new arrival, his eyes widened as he got a good look at him. He was a man, hailing from the Water Tribe with white bandages wrapped around the upper left portion of his torso.
"Bato?!" Sokka blurted out, a wide smile appearing on his face.
"Bato?!" Katara repeated as she jumped to her feet.
"Who?" A confused Aang asked as he stood up.
"Katara? Sokka?" The man - 'Bato' as he was apparently called - blinked when he saw the Water Tribe siblings. "It...it's you!" He grinned.
"Bato!" The two cheered before running forwards and hugging him.
"Oh my...it's great to see you!" He said as he hugged them back. "You've both grown so much."
"Hi," Aang said once the hugging had finished. "I'm Aang, the Avatar." He said with a respectful bow.
"It's a pleasure to meet you." Bato said with a warm smile before turning to Harry, he's smile turning noticeably colder. "And if the rumours are right, there is someone very special travelling with the Avatar, that's you, isn't it? If I'm right, then you're the 'Emerald Dragon'."
"I might be." Harry replied waving his hand and allowing some green flames to pour out of the tips of his fingers as he did, he lowered his hand and shifted to a defensive stance, staying ready for an attack. He didn't think the man would attack him but constant vigilance demanded that he at least stay ready for it.
"He is." Katara spoke up, pulling Bato's attention to her. "Don't worry, he's not a bad guy! He's been helping me and Sokka and Aang. He's really nice." Katara assured him before turning to Harry and Aang. "Harry, Aang, this is Bato, he's from our village. He and my dad were best friends."
"Oh, is dad alive?!" Sokka asked quickly.
"Um...yes, yes he is." Bato answered, surprised by how worried Sokka sounded.
"Oh, thank Agni." Harry said under his breath while Sokka and Katara both relaxed a great deal.