A Student I Used to Know

Night fell as Master Piandao sat in his study reflecting on former students. Sokka was the first interesting student he had trained in a while. Actually, Sokka was the only Water Tribe person he had ever trained, which was a unique experience of itself. Master Piandao shook his head in amusement. Before the boy left he had to tell him to use a different alias – how he survived in the Fire Nation so long using such a distinct Water Tribe name Master Piandao didn't know. To seek lessons from an experienced Fire Nation swordsman was also a foolish gambit. Still, to be able to get into the Fire Nation stronghold in the first place Sokka had to be creative and intelligent to survive so Master Piandao wasn't particularly concerned. Sadly, many of the Fire Nation soldiers and even generals weren't particularly bright so it wasn't really a wonder that Sokka had managed to fool them. Master Piandao had trained some of them purely due to their "financial worth" and none of them had shown any of Sokka's spark.

He was examining a picture of a former student when he heard the faint sounds of wood being whacked followed by a crash downstairs. He frowned. Still holding the picture he descended to the indoor training room. There he found Sokka sprawled on the floor with a wooden training dummy lying on top of him.

"You know Sokka, there are candles in the draw," Master Piandao as he pulled the dummy off Sokka and helped him up.

"I know," Sokka said, brushing himself off. "I just wanted to see if I could fight blind like my friend Toph."

Toph. Earth Kingdom name.

"A-Another person from the colonies," Sokka said quickly. Perhaps Master Piandao should give him lessons in lying. He let it slide.

"Sokka it takes a master years before they can perform tasks blindfolded. Go at your own pace Sokka."

Sokka seemed disappointed in himself. "But – but my friend! Kuzon! He seems to be able to pick up things so well! He has only just picked up ea – firebending and he's already progressed so far! And, and my sister! Once she got a master she learned pretty quickly too! And here I am – " Sokka gesticulated at his wooden sword, as if that showed how he was a failure.

Master Piandao put a hand on Sokka's shoulder. "Give it some time. Masters were not made in a day."

"But – but I don't have time! I have to – I have to leave pretty soon!"

Master Piandao regarded him silently. Sokka cringed – was he going to tell him off for wasting his time? After all, students often trained with their Masters for years. Perhaps this wasn't the best idea…

"Come to my office Sokka. Let's talk."

Sokka soon found himself in a room decorated with paintings. Some were students as young as four. All of them branded different weapons – sais, shurikens, daos, guns, qiangs and jians. There were many more that Sokka couldn't name. He sat down and Master Piandao put down the painting he had been holding.

"Tell me exactly why you don't feel worthy. Is it because you're not a bender?"

Sokka jerked in surprise. He nodded. Master Piandao laughed.

"All my students come to me feeling that way at first. Weaponry, after all, is the art of a nonbender. I once felt that way too. But soon they realise that there are other forms of respectable fighting that you can learn as well. To be honest, I think there's more skill in being a nonbender, don't you?"

Sokka smiled. He did manage to hold his own fairly well on the battlefields against against benders, soldiers, crazy women with knives and the really bendy girl who could paralyse people somehow.

Then he remembered the crashing space rock that threatened to burn a nearby village. He could do nothing – he just babysat Momo. And even then he failed at that. It must have shown on his face because the next thing Master Piandao said was, "You remind me of a student that I used to know. I would say he is about the same age as you, perhaps a year older. The boy had similar issues with self-esteem and worth. He came here, proud and fierce, determined to prove his worth. But underneath it all I think he needed to prove it to himself."

"What makes you say that?"

"He didn't believe he was a true firebender. He must have considered himself a very weak firebender to seek lessons in weaponry – most firebenders don't bother. His family was full of proud strong firebending masters and he felt ashamed to be a weak firebender amongst them. I believe he thought he wasn't making as much progress as he should have been, which led him to come here."

"Oh okay then," Sokka twiddled his thumbs. "So… what's the story?"

"The boy trained very hard to prove his worth, day and night. He was a slow learner but he made excellent progress. He was very dedicated, paying infinite attention to detail and repeating stances and movements until he got them right. He became a very skilled swordsman, choosing to handle one of the most complex weapons in my collection, simply because it was one of the most difficult. I can't even count the number of times he accidentally cut himself in his willingness to learn. What was even worse was his perseverance to continue despite the fact that he was bleeding."

Master Piandao paused, his face frowned in concern. Sokka glanced around. "So… The moral of the story is not to work too hard?"

"No. The boy was somewhat proud with his accomplishments with swords, but remained in his own eyes a poor firebender. As a result, he never quite felt content because he always compared himself to the achievements and expectations of others. Frequently, I would hear outbursts of frustration when he complained he wasn't learning as fast as his sister."

"So the moral of the story… is to be happy with who you are?" Sokka said slowly.

Master Piandao tilted his head. "Yes. I suppose it is. Even though he was a firebender the boy had the same issues with his capabilities as you do. It doesn't matter what your abilities are – your state of mind is what makes you or breaks you."

"But – but you said he made excellent progress! Even though he was only motivated to be as good as everyone else, it still turned out to be good motivation! I mean, he got good in the end!" Sokka protested.

"Yes, but he wasn't happy. I think if he chose to be satisfied with who he was, and learn to bend and fight for himself or from a happier source, he would have made even more progress, as both a firebender and swordsman. Tell me Sokka, have you heard of the concept of inner fire?"

Sokka's blank blue eyes said it all.

"The inner fire is an important concept to firebenders, so an old friend tells me. The inner fire is the source of all firebending – it is their motivation; it is their drive. Whilst we are not benders, I still think it's a relevant concept. We all have a fire that motivates us. His, fire was simply to be good enough for other people. This makes a poor flame, which I believe is one of the reasons his firebending wasn't as good as he wanted it to be. If he firebent from a different source he would have been able to learn better."

Sokka nodded. "So what happened to this firebender kid? Did he go on to become some world champion or did something bad happen to him?"

Master Piandao sighed and leaned back in his chair. "He got exiled. But it's not a story related to his firebending or sword fighting."

"Really?" Sokka's eyebrows shot up. "What for?"

"He made a foolhardy choice to speak out against a General's plan to slaughter recruits against the Earth Kingdom. It was part of a strategy that would allow the experienced soldiers to gain the upper hand."

Sokka couldn't even think of anything that really summed up what he was thinking. So he settled on, "That's horrible!"

Master Piandao nodded. "It is. He now roams the world seeking redemption, because his family considers him a disgrace. As a result he also considers himself a disgrace – "

"But that wasn't disgraceful! That was really honourable!"

Master Piandao gave him a look. Sokka was sure he was going to tell him off for interrupting him when he said, "I know. But because he had spent so long believing that his family was right he just took what was said to be true about his worth than seeing it for what it really was. He thought that the opinions of his elders, of his father, to be wiser than his own because of the respect he was taught. Living to please other people instead of being happy with who you are is not a good way to live Sokka. Self-confidence and worth can be all you have in the world – and when you have none life can become very difficult."

Sokka nodded. "Do you have any idea what happened to the kid?"

Master Piandao pulled out something from his pocket and flipped it over his fingers. It was a white lotus tile. "I've heard that he continues his firebending training in earnest. But the firebending comes from a much darker source these days. My friend says he has made progress with his firebending, but he would make much more progress if he didn't constantly think of himself as a failure."

"Well, I travel a lot. Maybe I'll meet him someday," Sokka suggested.

Master Piandao smiled. "Well if you do don't be surprised he doesn't heed advice as well as you do. He has got a bit of a fiery temper. Here's a picture of him."

Master Piandao showed Sokka the picture he had been holding earlier. It was a painting of a twelve-year-old boy with a black ponytail, holding a pair of dao swords. His eyes were gold.

"That painting is nearly four years old. I'm sure he looks quite different now but I haven't seen him since he was exiled. Look at the time! You need to go to bed Sokka. You a long day ahead of you tomorrow – forging your own sword is a long and arduous process. Good night Sokka."

"Wait!" Piandao's servant came running after the Gaang after they exited the gate. "The Master wanted you to have this, as something to remember him by."

Piandao's servant handed Sokka a small bag, bowed and left. Sokka opened it. "It's a Pai Sho tile."

"The White Lotus. Hmm," Aang noted.

"What does it mean?" Katara asked.

"I have no idea," Sokka responded. He really didn't. What was he supposed to do with this thing? Master Piandao took it out while he was telling the story about the boy. Did he want Sokka to give the tile to the boy if he met him?

"Ooh, that reminds me. Toph I thought you might like this, since you've probably never had the chance to bend space earth before."

A/N: Hey guys. I thought I'd write this while I was waiting for my favourite authors to update their Avatar stories – guys I'm looking at you! It came to me after I found out Sokka and Zuko had the same sword teacher in one of the Avatar comics.

Master Piandao is such a cool character. He kept defying my expectations as your typical martial arts master that you see in the movies – grouchy, telling people off for slacking off. But instead, he joins in on Sokka ordering a drink from his servant and just rolls with Sokka's style. Admittingly this isn't really a fic on him but there should be more fics with his character in it. Master Piandao's office is inspired by Professor Slughorn's from Harry Potter.

Some constructive criticism would be nice. Admittingly I lost track of what the supposed moral of the story was as I was writing it. Sokka and Zuko's situations are somewhat different so it's difficult to draw parallels between them that Master Piandao would see as a relevant story to teach. Master Piandao never gives Sokka Zuko's name because as a Water Tribe person there isn't much doubt that Sokka would hate a Fire Nation Prince, someone who strongly represents the Fire Nation to the enemies. Sokka doesn't really pick up on the fact the name is never mentioned because he figures that it's not important – he probably never met the guy anyway. In the end, I chose not to have Sokka realise that the story was about Prince Zuko – he has never seen Zuko with the dao swords and he would never suspect the story was about him anyway – the Fire Nation Prince is proud and fierce, never unsure of his own abilities in front of them at this point of time. Zuko does look drastically with the scar to before he got the scar – and it's not just because of the scar. He is a lot buffer now and his face was constantly screwed up in anger, not shy.

Is it obvious from the beginning that the story is about Zuko? I tried to be as subtle about it as possible. Is it frustratingly vague in some places? Let me know.

Wow, this is a long author's note. I think I'm copying emletish's style of author's notes a bit :P My apologies. But do let me know what you think of the story.