"Ok Zuko, let's try to figure out why you're having a hard time airbending." Aang begins as he hops off the back of Appa and slowly descends to the ground. "Hey Sokka, can you set up camp? I'm gonna give Zuko a new lesson in airbending."

"Yeah yeah sure, you two airheads get to go and play with the breeze and leaves while I do all the work." Sokka responds sarcastically, giving Aang the stink eye. Zuko merely grabs one of the bags on the back of Appa and slides down the bison's tail to the ground.

"It isn't that hard Sokka, besides Zuko already grabbed the tents, it's just the ropes and bedding left." Katara encourages before grabbing what's left of their food and water supplies and climbing down Appa.

"I thought what I was doing was already airbending. Why do you think I'm having a hard time with it?" Zuko questions as he sets down the rolled tents and follows Aang up a small hill to a clearing. "Is it because I keep sparking fire when I try it?"

"Yes. A little bit, but I think I know why that keeps happening, it should be an easy fix though. It starts with your movements and breathing. Air and Fire are linked, Fire can't burn without air and Air moves because of the heat of fire and the sun. It moves in circular movements around and through anything in its path. That's why the monks told me it is the element of freedom." Aang begins as he sits cross legged facing Zuko. "Airbending is from the breath first and then flows through your movements. You are trying to control and keep it from doing what it wants."

"My uncle said something similar about firebending. He said it comes from the breath and not the muscles, but I have to control fire. If not, it'll go out of control and burn everything." Zuko responds taking a seat in front of his airbending master.

"You can't treat airbending like it's firebending. Air naturally evades and moves out of the way of trees, land and even people. Even now we can feel the wind flowing through the trees and around us." The air nomad continues. "First things first. You need to relax, if you're tense you can't bend air as well. Let's start today with simple meditation." Aang begins by leading the meditation with Zuko. Closing his eyes and breathing in deeply.

Zuko copies Aang's lead and closes his eyes trying to focus on the air around him. Slowing his breathing and concentrating. Around the two the air starts to flow with their meditation and breathing. Sokka's tent he's trying to set up ends up falling over due to their unconscious airbending. "Ugh! Will you two jerks stop with the jerk bending and come help us! The least you could do is help us take stock of provisions." Zuko twitches his face in annoyance at Sokka's complaining.

"Ugh! Fine, I'll help!" Zuko yells abruptly standing and storming over to Sokka. Aang sighs seeing his pupil storm off towards Sokka.

"Finally. Here, go through the bags to see if we still have some smoked meat left." Sokka grins now that Zuko is helping and hands him a sack that feels so light it's practically empty.

"Sokka this thing is empty! There's only three nuts in here. Why are you wasting my time?" Zuko shouts, as he turns the bag onto the ground, 2 walnuts and a single almond fall out of the bag and onto the ground. "And theres a stupid rock in here!" During Zuko's tirade Momo flies over and steals one of the walnuts and skitters off towards a rock in the clearing. Momo raises the walnut with both hands and smacks it on the rock trying to crack it open. Suddenly a massive boom echoes through the woods alerting the other four.

"What was that?!" Sokka yells, turning to face Zuko and Aang who are just as shocked.

"Don't look at me! That wasn't either of us." Aang responds, out of the corner of his eye, Momo bounces the walnut on the rock again with no large boom happening. It's only when he does it a third time does the sound once again echo through the wood. Momo jumps back in fright and hisses at the walnut and flies off towards Appa for protection.

"Let's go see where it's coming from, someone might be in trouble!" Katara says taking off in the direction of the noise. Zuko and Aang are quick to follow her into the woods leaving Sokka trailing behind them.

"You know it's customary to run away from large booms!" Sokka calls off after them, drawing his sword and running.

Sprinting through the trees the Gaang comes across a small empty river bed, continuing up the small stream at the bottom a rock is suddenly thrown into the riverbed itself. Hiding around the corner Aang, Katar, Sokka and Zuko pop their heads around a corner to see what is going on. The quartet is greeted by the sight of a young man gabred in earth kingdom clothing going through the motions to lift a stone from the ground and levitate it in front of him. Punching the stone in a rigid stance sends the rock flying into the riverbed. Turning and stomping his foot on the ground causes three more small boulders to levitate out from it before being thrown into the riverbed like the others.

"He's an earthbender! Maybe he's friendly?" Aang asks, turning to face Zuko and then Katara. "We could ask him to be Zuko's earthbending teacher since he still needs one." He suggests.

"That's all well and good but we still need to be ca-" Sokka says before stopping as he watches his sister rush out from behind cover and towards the young earth bender.

"Hey! I'm Katara! What's your name?!" She calls out yelling to the man. The earthbender turns and looks at her in horror. His pupils shrink as the adrenaline kicks in, his emerald green eyes filled with fear upon seeing Katara. He turns and sprints down the riverbed away from them before causing it to collapse behind him blocking their path.

"Well that could have gone better." Sokka once again sarcastically snides his sister walking up to her.

"On the bright side if he's around, maybe there's a village. We could get supplies and not have to eat nuts for dinner." Katara responds getting Sokka to deadpan and glare at her as she follows in the direction where the young man ran off to.

"Plus we can get more meat for me to smoke so it'll stay and we don't have to stop again so soon." Zuko suggests patting Sokka on the shoulder and following Katara. "When we're in the village. Remember to call me Lee. Don't screw this up like in Omashu."

An hour's journey west of their camp the four finally come across a small village. Tucked away in the middle of the woods, buildings of stones and shoppes of the same like all sit protected by a short wall. The river bed from earlier had opened up to a large rushing river where boats and trade came in and out. Getting down to the entrance, with Zuko and Sokka looking about for food Aang and Katara go around looking for the man that they had seen earlier. The earthbender that they had seen earlier sneaks inside a corner store but not without being spotted by Katara, even through the hustle and bustle of the city goers. After seeing the man enter the store, they regroup before entering the store.

"Haru! Where have you been? You were supposed to be helping with the shipment of goods but instead you disappeared for 4 hours." Haru's mother, an older woman behind the counter of the small store yells at her son.

"I was out in the woods, near the mines." Haru answers just as the Gaang enters the small shop. Haru turns to look at the group who had just entered, his eyes widened with horror yet he doesn't let his expression show it.

"Hey, you're the earthbender from earlier." Katara greets, happily walking up to Haru who backtracks upon her greeting her.

"What?!" Haru's mother questions hearing what Katara had said.

"Sh-she's mistaken, you're probably thinking of someone else." Haru tries to defend but the others continue.

"No we're not mistaken, you were the earthbender from the riverbed. We wanted to talk to you." Aang continues, causing Haru to look to his mother, who is mortified at what Haru has done. Giving her son a stern look she heads over to the windows and closes the shutters before closing the door as well.

"Haru! You know that Earthbending is forbidden!" His mother raises her voice slightly but not loud enough to alert passers by.

"You can't forbid him from earthbending. It's like keeping me from waterbending or Aang from airbending!" Katara protests when a sudden knock at the door is heard. Sokka quickly rushes over to the shutters and opens it a hair to peer outside.

"The firenation is here." He whispers before ducking down again under the blinds. "Lee, you need to hide. Go into the closet." Sokka exclaims before shoving him into a side room much to Zuko's protest. "Act Natural." Sokka responds as Haru's mother heads over to the door to let the firenation soldiers inside the shop. As they enter the shop, Sokka is posed next to haru pretending like he is talking to him. Katara is holding an arm full of crabapples and eating one and Aang is posed on a barrel smiling at the soldiers. However the lid of the barrel snaps and he ends up soaking himself in water.

"W-what are you doing here? I've already given you your payment for the week." She pleads as the firebenders enter her shop.

"We've just gotten word that the firelord has doubled the taxes for the colonies and occupied regions. I'm here to collect the rest. You wouldn't want an accident happening right?" The bearded firebender states creating a controlled flame between his hands. "Fire is such a difficult element to control."

"Fine. Fine. Just put that out. I'll give you what we have for the day." Haru's mother pleads, causing the firebender to snuff out the flames he is creating. "This is all we have." She says bringing over a small coin chest with only a handful of small coins. He rummaged through what's there grabbing each of the coins before counting them out. Once done he separates the coppers from the silvers before dropping them on the ground.

"You can keep the coppers. The next taxes are due on the first of the week." He responds, motioning for the other soldiers to exit the shop.

"Nice guy." Sokka responds sarcastically as Zuko falls out of the closet before being smacked on the top of the head by a broom. "How long has the firenation been occupying the town for?"
"Yeah, why haven't you or the other earthbenders fought back yet?" Katara continues.

"Because they've all been taken away by the firenation and the reason why I've forbidden Haru from earthbending is because they can take him too! Just like his father." Haru looks away from them at the mention of his father.

"Well that's no reason not to lose hope. We were going to ask if Haru could come with us and teach the avatar earthbending!" Katara says walking up to the older woman and pleading with her to allow him to join them.

"The Avatar... the avatar has returned... are you?" Haru's mother asks turning to Aang, prompting the young airbender to shake his head no.

"No, he means me." Zuko says collecting himself from the floor and dusting himself off from being shoved into the broom closet by Sokka.

"What nation did you come from? Which step in the avatar cycle are you?" Haru asks, looking over to Zuko and studying the scarred man.

"Don't freak out... but I'm a firebender. I was born in the colonies. I am Avatar Lee." Zuko says using his alious. Before Haru and his mother react Zuko demonstrates this fact by airbending Aang dry of the water he spilt on himself, then creating a small flame on the tip of his finger and relighting the candle that he had blown out with the air.

"So it's true... The avatar has returned... y...you can't stay here even if you're the avatar you're still a firebender." Haru's mother quickly tries to kick them out of the store before Aang stands in her way.

"Please. Lee isn't like any of the other firebenders, he's the key to restoring peace but he needs an earthbending teacher. Maybe we can prove to you he isn't a bad guy." Aang pleads finally getting the older woman to relent.

"It depends on what Haru thinks of the matter, but if you were to start teaching him it would have to be far away from the city where nobody could hear or see you." She relents, after this Aang pays for some fruits with some of the money that King Bumi had paid them before leaving the store with Haru and the others.

Heading back out to where Haru was training, Zuko is lost in thought as he follows Haru and Katara who are speaking with each other on what they have lost. Zuko does however hear when Katara mentions that the firenation took away her mother. That fact hit him like a flying bison at full speed. He had yet to tell any of the others of his past, who scarred him and his most vulnerable side. What he hangs onto no matter how hard things get. He always held onto the memory of his mother, the memories of times where they were a family. The times long since past. His goal now is to try to regain that, regaining his honor so that they could be a family once again. Part of him, though in the recesses of his mind, knows that this is a fantasy, but he doesn't want to admit it to himself yet. It's only when he practically walks into Haru does he snap out of his train of thought.

"I don't like firebenders, let's make that fact clear, but I hope I can trust you. You're the avatar, the hope of the world. Your job is to learn the elements, you already know fire right? And you're learning air right now. So let's get started." Haru begins by showing Zuko a wide sturdy stance, similar to that of firebending katas. "In order to earthbend you need a wide sturdy stance, to be unmovable like the earth normally is."

"That's... the complete opposite to how airbending is." Zuko comments, studying how Haru is standing and then copying it. Shuffling his feet out further apart and holding his arms in next to his sides.

"That's a good stance to begin with, now follow along with what I do." Haru begins lifting his left foot and planting it firmly in front of him. Shifting his arms to that his left arm is flexed, pointing upwards, his opposite arm is pointed towards the ground and flexed in a similar manner to his opposite arm. The shift in the stance causes a small rock to be ejected from the soil as he stamps his foot. Afterwards Haru shifts his stance and punches the boulder with his right arm. "Now, copy as I do. Take the same solid stance and follow my movements to the letter."

Zuko breathes in deeply, calming himself before stamping forwards and shifting his arms in the same manner that Haru did. Katara is perched on the river bank watching the two start the lesson. Her eyes widen in amazement as Zuko's stance and actions succeed in lifting a stone from the dried up river. Surprising even himself, Zuko let's slip a smile in awe of what he's doing before punching the rock. However he doesn't realize that Haru is right in front of him and he punches the small boulder right into him. Zuko's eyes widen in realization but he calms down when Haru catches the boulder with his hand and grins at the avatar.

"Good, you're a fast learner Lee. It took me weeks to figure out the basics but you're picking it up quickly." Haru is shocked at how quickly Zuko picked up the mere basics of earth bending. "Let's move on to some mobility. You can use earthbending to create platforms to launch yourself off of. Like so." Haru shows by crouching down into a squat before flexing his arms downwards against the rocks below. This causes the rocks under his feet to protrude upwards propelling him off the top as he finishes the jump and up on top of the river bed. "Oh and if you try to climb out the normal way I'm gonna earth bend you back down."

"You don't have to be rude." Katara says over Haru's shoulder prompting the earth-bender to turn to her.

"You can't look for ways to get around the problem when it comes to earth bending. You have to face it bluntly and head on." He replies before turning his attention back to watch Zuko. "Remember. Wide stance and rigid. You're not getting out of there till you earth bend yourself out."

"Hmm." Zuko mumbles in thought before copying the same stance as Haru did. Squatting down with his arms tucked in towards his sides and pushing off on the ground and flexing both arms towards the soil. This causes another pillar of rock to raise from underneath him pushing him off the ground as he follows through with the jump. However when Zuko tries it he ends up jumping too high and ends up crashing into the trees.

"I guess you'll need to work on it a little bit but I'm impre-" Haru is interrupted by a sudden loud bang echoing through the woods. Haru turns towards the sound with his eyes widening in shock. "THE MINE!" He shouts in realization, taking off in the direction of the town's coal mine.

"Hey wait up, we can help too!" Katar shouts, picking Zuko up off the ground and following the direction Haru ran off in.

"It just had to be when I was learning earth bending." Zuko grumbles to himself before getting to his feet and following the two of them.

As the three sprint in the direction of the mine, they follow the snaking path of the river bed. Haru sprinted as fast as he could, shortly followed by Katara and then Zuko who had to use airbending to catch up with the others. Rounding the last bend in the riverbed he came across the collapsed entrance to the mine, an elderly man calling out for help crushed under the rubble dirt and stones of the mine. "P-please... help me!" he shouts in a frail voice, wincing in pain from the rubble on top of him. Seeing the man in danger, the trio make their way to the entrance of the mine where the man is trapped. Zuko and Haru make an attempt to try to pull him out from under the rubble. Switching with Katara, Haru slams his shoulder into the rocks trying to push them off of him.

"Ugh! It's no use! Lee, Haru, you're the only ones who can help him." Katara pleads to the two of them. Haru looks to Lee who nods before the earth bender and avatar back away from the mine. Following Haru's movements to the letter, Zuko widens his stance and extends his arms away from himself before flowing his right arm to his left then foisting both forwards in tandem with haru. This causes the collapsed rocks to be thrown down the mineshaft freeing the man.

"Y... you saved me! Thank you." he says, walking up to the two and bowing to them.

"If you want to thank us, you'll keep the fact we used earth bending from the soldiers." Lee says in a stern tone, helping the man to his feet. "Think what would happen to you if the townspeople figure out you betrayed the avatar?"

"You? You're the avatar? Oh! Thank you, thank you for saving me, young avatar. In truth there is a reward out for any information leading to the arrest of earth benders, but I'll keep your secret safe. I promise." He thanks profusely, causing Haru to raise an eye towards Zuko as the man walks away.

"Why did you tell him that?" Haru questions as the three head back towards the town. "He could turn you in instead!"

"Because, I don't trust him. I had a feeling he'd betray us." Zuko counters by talking under his breath out of earshot of the old man.

"I might have an idea, they're taking away earthbenders to some sort of prison right?" Katara asks, shifting the tone of the conversation.

"Yeah, they're taken to a prison out to sea, fire-navy ships go in and out of the harbor with prisoners heading there. You can see a smoke stack off in the distance that isn't moving. That's probably where they're taking the others." Haru responds, causing Katara to bring a finger to her chin in thought.

"We can't afford Lee getting captured and we promised your mom that you wouldn't either but, what if we devise a plan to get me arrested for earth bending?" Katara suggests getting both Haru and Zuko to stare at her in total confusion.

"Katara, that idea is insane and isn't going to work. First off you're a water bender, secondly there's a chance they already have taken enough earth benders for the prison and may just outright kill you instead of taking you prisoner." Katara's expression fades when Zuko says this. "However, that doesn't mean we can't do anything. What we could do is follow one of the ships from the port and follow them to wherever they're bringing the earth benders. From there we free them under the cover of night."

"From there we can free my father."

"Lee you were a part of the firenation why do you want to do this?" Katara asks, shocked that Zuko of all people came up with this idea.

"They're using the earth benders as slaves." Zuko says firmly. "My mother taught me from a young age that slavery is unforgivable and she hated the fact that the firenation kidnapped waterbenders and earthbenders to work in our shipyards and factories. If I'm going to set the world right, this will be the first step."

"We need a plan to infiltrate the prison or wherever they're taking the earthbenders. Any ideas?" Katara begins, taking a seat on a rock and grabbing a stick to begin drawing up the plan.

"They're most likely being taken to an offshore shipyard where they're building ships for the firenation navy. Some place where it's completely made of metal and where they can't bend. However they can bend, they have to refine the metal at the shipyard rigs out at sea so theres plenty of coal there being used to melt down iron ore into steel. The mines around here are all coal mines, since we've seen the soldiers taking shipments of coal from the town to the docks as we were leaving." Zuko says, drawing out a rough guess of what the shipyard prison rig looks like in the dirt.

"From there, Haru and I can sneak in and try to convince the earthbenders to escape when we get access to the coal, but how are we going to do that?" Katara questions leading the three to ponder in thought for a moment.

"Since the forges require fire, and fire requires air to burn, there's bound to be a ventilation system of some sort for the forges and for the coal to siphon any of the dust out and away from the workers. Maybe we can use that to our advantage." Haru surmises getting the other two to agree to the idea.

"We'll have to wait and see once we get there. We should head back to your mother's farmhouse. We'll leave under the cover of night. Around midnight." Katara suggests, before wiping away the dirt with her foot and standing up. "We'll need Aang and Sokka for this too."

"I'll bring them up to speed when we get back there." Haru suggests as he gets up and begins walking back towards the village, leaving Katara and Zuko alone.

"I didn't think firebenders knew right from wrong." Katara says after Haru leaves, getting Zuko to turn and face her. "I always thought they were all warmongers."

"My mother wasn't. She hated what we were doing, hated that she had to marry my father and hated the way he treated me. My father said that I was lucky to be born and that my sister was born lucky. He thinks she's the Avatar and has servants come to her every beck and call. I'm still conflicted about actively going against the firenation, I fought against Zhao because he was trying to capture Aang and I. I'm on this journey to regain my honor, to become a fully realized avatar so I can absolve my own banishment. Can I really go against my own nation? What if they brand me a traitor and I can never return home?" Katara listens quietly to the questions Zuko is asking, thinking what to respond with.

"Who gave you that scar?" She asks, causing him to turn and look shocked at her abrupt question.

"My father. He maimed and banished me for speaking out of turn in a war meeting. Challenged me to an Agni Kai, a fire duel, when I was only thirteen." He answers, almost under his breath but it was just loud enough to be picked up by Katara. She stays silent for a moment taking in the information

"What would your mother do if she was in your place?"Zuko turns to face her with his resolve hardened and answers her.

"She'd do what's right."