Weeks passed without complaint, and the journey northward along the river’s edge was bearable, even pleasant beneath the sun.

The main branch of the river was wide, and most of the ground would have been so boggy as to be impassable. But Duu was able to guide them on the high tracks of dry land without fail. No trees grew on these seasonal floodplains, and walking beneath full sun was a nice change for Yaosen.

Grunt slowly came out of his funk, too, but only after Torun had noticed that the wolfboar’s iron spines had begun to grow back. They were as of yet only nubs of crude iron, poking up from Grunt’s regrown mane like tiny mountain peaks, but the trio made sure to praise Grunt for his impressive razorback every chance they got.

Duu pointed out that Grunt couldn’t even see them, so his razorback didn’t actually need to be impressive, he just needed to feel like it was. Torun agreed, supposing it was a status symbol among the pack. The spine itself was irrelevant. The way others reacted to the spine was the operative component.

Yaosen for his part, had shared every bit of knowledge that the budding young waterbender could handle.

Duu was getting pretty good for her age at traditional waterbending. But both of her instructors realized that she would never excel at the waterbending style of the east the way she had at the “treebending” of the west. Her own style just came so much more naturally to her.

But still, there were components of the philosophies that still applied, and Yaosen was glad that all of his own training could suddenly be of use. If he could help Duu learn proper waterbending, maybe he was the right person to find the avatar in the west.

“But what about all the other types of water?” Duu asked one day as they sat beneath the sun, a wide bend of the river stretching out beside them.

“Other types?” Yaosen had been explaining that water was the element of change.

“Well sure,” said Duu, “There’s definitely mist and ice. But what about snow? And what about puffy-sky-mist? And water’s not just water. There’s seawater, bogwater, treewater…”

“Those are all just included in water.”

Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

“...springwater, meltwater, groundwater-”

“They’re all just water. Putting it in a different place, or having it come out of a different thing doesn’t make it different.”

“Have you tried to drink bogwater?”

“No. But look, fire is fire, whether it comes from a dragon’s mouth, my own hands, or from coal.”

“What about lightbending or lightning. You told me all about those the other day. Why isn’t that just fire too?”

“Because… it behaves differently. It may come from the same source, or it may come from a different source. The important thing is that it has a different effect on the world. It has a different effect upon us.”

“So if you drank that, you’re telling me it wouldn’t have a different effect on you?”

Duu pointed to where Grunt was relieving himself in the grass. Torun kept promising that he would teach Grunt to urinate closer to the river. The wolfboar kept killing patches of grass wherever they went.

“That’s different. Just because there’s poison in it, doesn’t mean it's not water anymore.”

“Look,” said Duu, with uncharacteristic seriousness that made Yaosen realize he was being imitated, “I may be new to calling it bending, but I’ve been doing it my whole life. The only reason I can make a tree grow is because I can make the right type of water move to the right places inside a tree. If I start thinking of all water as just water, I wouldn’t be able to treebend.”

Yaosen rubbed his temples. “For now, the purpose of today’s lesson is just to understand that water is the element of change, and to think on that until tomorrow’s lesson. Now, go have a snack and then tell Torun you’re ready to practice some forms.”

Duu ran off and Yaosen practically slumped. All of his study and meditation, all those ranks and advancement within the Light Temple, just to have to negotiate with a wild pup on the fundamental nature of the elements.

“Yaosen,” Duu had paused and turned, wandering halfway back, “You’re right that treebending is waterbending. And you’re right about water being the element of change. But trees go through phases too, just like water. They grow and they die and they rot. And then they become food for another tree. Or maybe a mushroom.”

Yaosen forced a smile, “Very good, Duu. You’re an excellent student. Best waterbending student I’ve ever had, in fact”

Duu beamed and ran off.

The question was: Am I a good enough teacher? Why can’t I convey the true nature of the elements, as I know them, as they’re known the world over, as they’ve been known for generations.

His only choice was to try harder.