Shisui and his friends looked up at the sky and saw Appa, the flying bison, descending. The large creature maintained a speed similar to that of the ship. The first two people to board were Sokka and Suki.
They jumped straight down and landed on the ship's deck with relative ease. Sokka held his spear, and although Suki wasn't wearing makeup or dressed as a Kyoshi warrior, she had her two metal fans closed and tucked into her waistband.
"Hey, guys, how are you doing? Would you like to switch places? I'll sleep here, and one of you can sleep on Appa!" Sokka suggested with a sly smile, but he only received cold stares from Shishui's group.
"We're not that stupid. How can you stand him?" Ty Lee approached Suki proactively, even quite confidently, hugging her arm, which the Kyoshi warrior did not refuse.
"Well, he has nice qualities, you know? If you spend more time with him, you'll realize those things. He's funny; he makes me laugh," said Suki, causing Sokka to give her a thumbs-up and smile.
"Oh, I thought you were going to say something like..." Ty Lee then put her hands together before separating them at a certain distance, sending a pretty clear message.
"Oh, you can add that, too," Suki whispered, her cheeks flushing. This caused Ty Lee's eyes to widen considerably before she dragged the warrior over to Petra and Mai.
"Come on! Let's have a private girls' chat," Ty Lee said, giving Sokka a cold stare when he tried to approach. He was curious about what the women were talking about in private.
"You won't get it," said Shisui, reaching out to stop Sokka.
"Aren't you curious?" asked Sokka, causing the sage to shrug.
"When I asked Azula about that once, her answer was simple: Girls tell each other everything, everything!" Shisui emphasized his words, causing Sokka to blink for a moment before his face flushed with embarrassment.
At that moment, the remaining people on Appa began climbing onto the ship on their own. Aang created a small tornado under his feet, launching himself into the air. Then, he used Airbending to slow his descent, making it as gentle as a leaf falling.
Katara created a bridge with Waterbending, connecting the two modes of transport. Toph did something similar with Earthbending, pulling earth directly from the seabed and creating floating mounds that she jumped on before reaching the ship.
Raava? As an ancient spirit, she could fly, so she rose slightly into the air before her bare feet touched the cold metal floor of the ship. This caused her to frown.
"I still can't get used to how sensitive human feet are to temperature," Raava muttered before waving her hand and creating a pair of sandals formed from her energy. It was an expense she didn't even feel.
She wasn't going to leave her new body vulnerable, so she began strengthening it through meditation. She never thought she would use this skill, but because of her various states, including her time as an enlightened entity, she was able to accumulate a great amount of chi in a short time.
"Hey, Toph. I know you can see now using a special technique, but don't you think it's dangerous to jump around like that? The ship could have moved out, or a wave could have thrown you into the ocean!" Katara lectured Toph, who raised her head. After all, she was the shortest in the group.
"So what? I want to do things I haven't been able to do! Just because you taught me to read doesn't mean you're my guardian, Katara," the young woman replied, crossing her arms and looking at the Waterbender with an arrogant smile.
"Of course I'm your guardian! Even though you're powerful, you're still a minor under our care," Katara replied. Toph frowned, but instead of continuing the argument, she walked over to Shisui.
"Hey, why did you choose Petra to teach Aang? I know how to teach, too!" Toph exclaimed, causing Shisui to raise an eyebrow.
"Oh, I know. I just wanted to provoke you," Shisui said, patting Toph on the head and messing up her tedious hairstyle.
"If I asked you nicely, would you agree? You're in your rebellious phase," Shisui continued, causing Toph to try to remove his hand while complaining.
"Adults are so tedious! Petra! Let me join your class. I'll do perfectly."
After freeing herself from Shisui's grip, Toph ran toward Petra, who glanced sideways at Shisui.
For some reason, it seemed as if her friend had deliberately caused this situation, as if he wanted this scenario to play out. Why? Then, when she saw Aang, who looked a little nervous, Petra realized.
'Oh, does he want to take the Avatar by surprise?" I was never chosen as Aang's teacher. It was always Toph. Only she could teach him without making him feel uncomfortable,' Petra deduced with a self-deprecating smile.
She understood that Aang was afraid to train with her because she integrated much of her advanced knowledge into Earthbending as a researcher, rather than leaving it solely to the spiritual or instinctive, like Toph did.
Although young Toph did have a master who taught her systematically, it was clear that her Earthbending style was better suited to Aang. They seemed to be a better match for each other.
Petra nodded to Shisui, then placed her hand on Toph's head and helped her get a new hairstyle. All the while, she chatted with Toph about how she had planned to train Aang so that she could use it as a reference.
'Although I don't cling to what should have been in the supposed 'canon,' Toph is indeed the best master for Aang. It's good that Petra didn't blame me. I should give her a gift,' thought Shisui as he looked at Aang. Aang seemed much more comfortable upon hearing that Toph would be his teacher.
'But since I said Petra would teach the Avatar, she will. Toph may have learned Earthbending from the Badgermoles, but Petra refined her Earthbending during the war.
With the addition of scientific application, Aang's results will be superior, just as they were with my Waterbending instruction.' Shisui smiled, causing Petra to slap her face, Mai to purse her lips, Ty Lee to shake her head, and Aang to feel a strange chill run down his spine.
It seemed as if he had fallen back into danger after having been unharmed. In a sense, yes, because he will never be free from mathematics. Shisui was looking forward to seeing Aang's reaction when he found out that Petra would be his teacher, too.
His real plan was for everyone to accept that the Avatar had two masters of the same element. Raava, old enough to have seen many schemes, easily deduced the Sage's plan, making the spirit smile subtly.
'The Sages never cease to amaze me with their cunning,' Raava thought. She looked at Aang with sadness because she knew her host did not expect what awaited him.
...
"Earth is the foundation! Water relies on the earth to flow. Plants sprout from the earth. Even deep within this world, beneath layers of earth, rock, and sand, there is a hot metal core that constantly spins and protects the atmosphere where air is contained," Petra told a languid Aang, who felt like his head was exploding.
"Earth is stability! It doesn't flow like water, travel like wind, or move gradually like fire. It remains stable but is capable of transformation because erosion doesn't destroy it; it only turns it into sandstone," said Toph before patting the Avatar on the back.
"Earth is sustenance! We all need the earth to survive, even sea animals. The earth provides support; you need the ground to exert force. On a large scale, the earth generates gravity, a type of force.
The earth is diverse. Most chemical elements are found in the earth. Your body is made of carbon, the same material that diamonds are made of." To illustrate this, Petra showed them a piece of coal, then clasped her hands together and squeezed hard.
She opened her hands, revealing that the coal had transformed into small diamonds. She scattered the diamonds into the air, causing them to fall into the vast ocean. Sokka looked on sadly, longing to get his hands on one of those transparent yet beautiful rocks.
Petra used all her chi and experience in Earthbending to cause the change in the coal and generate the diamonds.
"Earth is life, healing, vitality, purification, poison, heaviness, and rigidity. The pulses of the earth can travel long distances. The waves in the earth allowed me to find my way when I didn't have the Spiritual Eye.
Like all elements, earth is also symbolic. It is yin, while air is yang. Earth is ties, while air is freedom. Earth is attachment, while air is detachment."
Toph stomped hard, bending several pieces of metal placed in the area by the ship's crew.
She then turned the metal into a viscous liquid, which she molded into a replica of Aang, matching his height and weight. This statue was not inert, but began to move toward the Avatar under Toph's design.
Petra told me that, since Earth is your opposite element, it will be difficult for you to use it, especially on this ship. First, I will review the basic stances with you, which I believe you already know. However, some details cannot be seen easily.
Now, horse stance!" Toph commanded, causing the statue of Aang to assume that stance. The original Aang, who had been lost in thought during the women's talk, reacted by assuming the same stance as his replica.
Thus began the Avatar's dual training on a moving ship. To improve his balance, Petra and Toph asked Shisui to create a simple boat that would rock a lot.
Aang hadn't even done Earthbending yet! They asked him not only to feel the earth of the seabed but also to expand his sensitivity and perception of the element by using various metals found on the ship.
Did they teach him Metalbending? No, they just wanted him to feel the residual 'earth' particles in metals. This trained his perceptive abilities and sensitivity to the element, helping him spiritually connect with the earth at the bottom of the sea.
During the process, he received scientific lectures on Earthbending from Petra. She also told him about her military exploits using this element and mentioned that she had used Shisui's Waterbending teachings to access one of the most dangerous Earthbending techniques. She only used this technique in large-scale conflicts: liquefaction.
It wasn't Mudbending. It was literally treating the earth as a liquid, causing earthquakes and building collapses. Petra used it to destroy the enemy's camp.
At first, Aang was reluctant to accept this knowledge, but he remained silent when he learned that Avatar Kuruk had initiated it and taught it to Yun, the false Avatar who was a friend and later an enemy of Avatar Kyoshi. Then, Aang asked about the fundamentals of this ability.
On the other hand, Toph told Aang about her experiences with the Badgermoles. She considered them her family and understood the earth element through them. Toph even showed Aang the movements she used to do as a child in those dark tunnels.
Surprisingly, Aang finally felt the earth deep beneath the ocean by imitating Toph's movements. This made him feel that all the arduous training and teaching of martial arts inspired by Earthbending katas had been worth it.
He just needed to get used to it and would then be able to perform his first act of Earthbending.