Avatar: Fire Emperor

"Hmph!"

"Ha!"

On the training platform, Kahn was practicing his katas, or more accurately, practicing Firebending.

Firebending, as the name suggests, is the art of manipulating fire. It's a complete sequence of movements, and besides its fire-controlling function, Firebending forms themselves are a complete set of close-combat martial arts.

Whether it's an Agni Kai or close-quarters combat, Firebending is a Firebender's fundamental skill.

This design is brilliant; one set of movements for both physical conditioning and chi flow, saving time and highly efficient. The person who designed Firebending was definitely a genius!

Kahn was also a Firebender, so in addition to regular academic studies, he had specialized Firebending classes. He was currently reviewing what his Sifu taught him today.

After reviewing, he practiced the complete Firebending sequence once. Flames danced with his movements, sometimes gushing out, sometimes flashing away, possessing both weight and agility, looking quite pleasing to the eye—

Someone unfamiliar with Firebending would probably describe it this way.

In reality, Kahn's current skill level was only average. After continuous practice these past few days, he had only just recovered to the original body's level from his memories.

And the original body's level was only upper-middle among peers.

"It's still really difficult, huh."

After a set of movements, Kahn breathed lightly.

Besides the Firebending the original body had mastered, Kahn also tried to self-learn more advanced content not yet taught at the academy, but performing it was very difficult.

Coincidentally, there was a complete Firebending scroll at home, which was one of the few pleasant surprises Kahn found in his own house.

However, learning Firebending isn't like doing basic morning stretches where just getting the movements right is enough. When using Firebending, chi flows through the body with the movements. Subtle changes in force, and different timing for gathering and releasing power, will all create different effects.

If one doesn't grasp the key principles, then no matter how much they practice, it's all wasted effort.

But these subtle changes are very difficult to gauge without a master's hands-on guidance, and it's also hard to spot one's own mistakes.

Yet, in the days since Kahn arrived in this world, he not only recovered the original body's level but also managed to practice self-taught Firebending to this extent, which actually makes him a prodigy.

"Knock, knock, knock!"

"Kahn, are you home?"

Along with the knocking, Zuko's voice calling out also came.

Hearing Zuko's voice, Kahn patted the soot off himself and walked over, "Coming!"

Since their first meeting, in the following days, Iroh would always bring Zuko to play with him.

Kahn's first impression of this child was pretty good; he was a polite and sensible boy, and polite and sensible children are always likable. Kahn also treated him like a younger brother in his heart.

For Zuko, these past few days had been very happy, because Kahn was his first true friend, and a very good friend at that.

Kahn was very steady and loved to study—unlike Azula, who was crazy all day long—and he gave off a very mature feeling, like an adult, and could even tell him stories.

Anyway, everything was great. Even his mother, after learning about Kahn, praised him highly and said she was very relieved to let him play with Kahn.

Normally, he wasn't allowed to go out, but these past few days, because his father was busy and had no time to supervise him, plus with Uncle Iroh by his side, he was able to come out and play for a while. So every time he came out, he eagerly came to find Kahn.

Kahn opened the door, and sure enough, there was an old man and a young boy standing there: "Uncle Iroh, Zuko."

Zuko responded, "Kahn!"

"Practicing Firebending, how diligent."

Uncle Iroh said with a chuckle. There was a faint smell of something burnt on Kahn, which was immediately noticeable.

"It's alright, just drills assigned by the Sifu."

"Please come in first. Oh, Uncle Iroh, I bought new tea leaves. If you want to drink, please brew it yourself. My brewing isn't very good, and there are some fire flakes... I'll go clean up first."

The last time Uncle Iroh visited his home, he casually brewed some tea to entertain him, and Uncle Iroh lectured him for a long time, saying things like 'wasting the tea leaves' and 'uncultured hog-monkey brewing methods.' Only then did Kahn realize that Uncle Iroh was someone who loved tea very much and was very skilled at brewing it.

However, Uncle Iroh stopped him, "No need for such trouble. I actually have something to do today, and I'll be returning to the Royal Palace soon."

"Hmm?"

Kahn asked in surprise, "Then why did you bring Zuko to play with me?"

Without Uncle Iroh accompanying him, Zuko would absolutely not be allowed to stay outside alone.

Uncle Iroh stroked his beard, feigning profundity:

"Well, that's because..."

"I want you to come to my house to play! My mother wants to meet you too!"

But before Uncle Iroh could finish his suspenseful reveal, Zuko directly exposed the purpose of coming to find Kahn.

Zuko looked at Kahn with anticipation, "Are you coming?"

Uh, looking at his expectant little eyes, Kahn felt he actually had no choice:

"...Alright, but can I go in?"

Zuko's home was the Royal Palace. Was it really okay to just bring in a casual person like this?

"Of course, no problem. I'll bring you in, just make sure you don't run around."

As the current Crown Prince, Uncle Iroh confidently assured him.

"Once you've cleaned up and changed into clean clothes, we'll leave."

After saying that, he chuckled again, "But while you do that, I can certainly try the new tea."

Kahn glanced at him. Why did he talk about drinking tea as if he were sneaking a treat?

"Alright."

A little while later, Kahn finished cleaning up and changed into clean clothes. Uncle Iroh had also finished his tea, so Kahn followed the two towards the Royal Palace.

Kahn was actually a little worried inside. After all, the Palace represented the center of power, intricate etiquette, royal succession struggles, and so on—none of them good terms. Even though he possessed the mind of someone from another world, he was still just a small child now and probably couldn't withstand being tossed around by others.

So he asked Zuko, who was beside him:

"Are there any important rules in the Royal Palace? Like what not to do, or where not to go?"

"Hmm..."

Zuko thought seriously for a moment and replied, "There are many."

No kidding, I know there are many!

Kahn looked at Zuko speechlessly. Uncle Iroh, walking behind them, also heard their conversation and burst into laughter, saying:

"Don't worry, you're just visiting Zuko's home. Just act as you normally would, there's nothing special."

"Really?"

Kahn was skeptical.

He didn't know why, but he always felt that this Crown Prince seemed a bit unreliable. Was it really okay to entrust the future of the nation to him?

He even suspected that Uncle Iroh's first decree as Fire Lord would be to promote teahouses.

Regardless, he eventually entered the Royal Palace smoothly.

After that, he and Uncle Iroh parted ways because someone came to greet Uncle Iroh. He said that once he finished his business, he would come back to pick Kahn up and take him home.

So Kahn walked with Zuko to his home. Along the way, Kahn suddenly remembered something.

"Speaking of which, is your father home?"

In his interactions with Zuko, Kahn felt that his father, Prince Ozai, was always very strict with Zuko, even harsh, and seemed difficult to get along with.

Zuko shook his head and replied, "He's not here. Father and Uncle Iroh both have things to attend to."

If it weren't for that, he probably wouldn't have brought Kahn home as a guest. After all, the last time he mentioned Kahn, his father didn't seem to like Kahn very much.

In fact, he could completely remove 'didn't seem to' and 'very'.

However, it was good that his mother liked Kahn very much and asked him to bring Kahn home as a guest.

After walking for a good while, the seemingly endless surrounding walls finally showed a gap, and Zuko said, "We're here."

But before the two could enter the courtyard, a teasing female voice came from above:

"Is this your 'beloved' friend, Zuzu?"

The two looked up and saw a little girl sitting on the wall, dangling her feet, grinning at them.

Zuko, with a wary and displeased tone, called out the girl's name:

"Azula!"