Igi's father was most amenable to the idea. He was almost too eager to pawn off the little squirt. His eyes practically glowed when Aaron told him he had martial experience. He barely haggled when Aaron asked for fifty earth nation silver and better accommodations.

And so, every morning for nearly five months, he met Igi in the forest, instructed him on basic self-defence, and worked him until he dropped.

They didn't begin sparring until the end of the second month, and it wasn't until he was halfway through that Aaron began to enjoy sparring with the boy.

The boy was relentless and endlessly inventive, and Aaron was always eager to see what hair-brained tactic he'd cook up next.

Aaron chuckled to himself as he sat in the middle of the clearing, both eyes closed, practising his Chi breathing. He cycled the energy that suffused the world into himself before letting it flow back into nature.

Like a pesky dislocation snapping into place, Aaron felt the air shift around him. Leaves rustled, the wind whipped, and suddenly, the world opened up to him.

He could sense every critter, every little rustle, every shift in a 10-meter radius.

A face-splitting grin blossomed on his face. He'd finally done it.

Aaron had just taken his first step into mastering One-with-the-world--the hardest and most versatile foundational techniques of Chi-bending.

While Chi flow-- the first of the four disciplines-- was great because it allowed you to empower your bending, and Chi-accumulation allowed you to gather Chi in the first place. One-With-The-World allowed you to see your enemy coming.

At the highest level, it gave something akin to precognition. The ability to anticipate your opponent coming and read their body language. See their moves before they make it.

If he kept at it, he could be like his Uncle Wang. A phantom so skilled with his sense he could take down most benders with his spear.

He was a living legend, and they called him Wang of The Thousand Spears. In fact, he was so good at infiltration that he rose to the rank of General in the Earth army without ever being seen bending.

Of course, that changed when he met the Dragon of the west in battle.

Aaron shook away the distraction and some of the weight he felt in his heart and focused on his breath.

Slowly, he felt his range expand as he brought his experience manipulating Chi to bear. Six months of hard practice had transformed his mind and body, and it operated like those unstoppable, flipping-Fire Nation tanks.

Nothing could escape his notice.

Not even that chunk of stone hurtling towards his head.

Wait, what?

"Die," Igi roared, snapping his hard-won concentration, but Aaron had bigger worries now. He craned his head to the left in time to feel the stone wheeze past his head.

His heart was beating wildly. His student had nearly killed him. He didn't know whether he should be proud as a trained assassin or angry at the interruption. But he didn't voice his feelings, though.

He'd never hear the end of it if he let the little squirt know he'd nearly gotten one over him.

"Using bending now," Aaron teased. It was a miracle his voice didn't shake. "I thought you said you could win fair and square."

Igi, to his credit, offered no response as he sprang from the opposite side of the clearing, where his attack had come from. With a punch, he sent the same rock he'd begun the ambush with towards Aaron. And in another breath, he sent two fresh chunks Aaron's way with a roundhouse kick.

Aaron weaved through all three attacks with ease, but he was impressed. The boy mixed in what he learned from him with earth bending, and he didn't lash out like he usually did at his taunt. He wondered how he'd fare against a second one.

"Is that all you got? I was so much better than you when I was your age, and I can't bend," he shook his head, shaking his head the way his father had so many times when he thought of him.

Igi's eyes twitched for a moment before he schooled his face. "You're not going to trick me this time," he jabbed his finger at him. "I am going to get you and make you teach me those special moves I saw you do."

Aaron raised a brow and couldn't help but smile, "it isn't enough that you're a bender. You want to be a martial master too? Kids these days. But I can respect the ambition."

Aaron wagged his finger. "Maybe if I convinced your father to quintuple my pay, I might show you a thing or two."

A laugh nearly escaped Aaron's lips when he saw Igi scowl and assume a wide stance. With a swing of his hand, he commanded the earth under Aaron's feet to shift upwards. When Aaron moved, he motioned for several more, but none of them came close to touching Aaron.

Aaron finally let himself chuckle and delight as his disciple's face turned red.

Frustrated by his failure, he dashed forward with a furious roundhouse kick. It came close to clipping Aaron in the chest, but only because he let it. Aaron ducked under another and took Igi's leg out from under him with a casual leg sweep.

Igi hit the ground hard, but he sprang up with almost no effort and struck at Aaron with a flurry of punches and kicks.

Aaron dodged and parried every single one with a grin that grew wider as he slowly led him to the edge of the glade.

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'That's it Igi', he thought.

Igi mixed up the occasional stone toss here and there, but eventually, he began to slow down, and keeping him away became so effortless that Aaron started to use Chi breathing again and try to connect to nature.

The memories in his head told him it was too early. However, he was still high off his first win of getting the technique down, so he figured he could begin to work his way up to uncle Wang's legendary status.

As Aaron ducked under another one of Igi's tired punches, he finally found the connection again, but it snapped away before he could revel in it. However, it stayed long enough for Aaron to sense something that made him frown.

A twig snapped far behind Igi, and Aaron's senses flared.

With a Vacuum pull, he ripped Igi off his feet and deposited him a top of the tree behind him. Another wave brought his twin blades to him, and he flipped away just before a net shot out of the forest and wrapped around the tree trunk closest to him.

"I knew you were an Airbender!" Igi shook his fist down at Aaron.

"Not now," Aaron snapped back. "Stay in the tree, Igi, and don't even think of coming down. That's an order. The Fire Nation are here."

Four mounted Rhinos emerged from the forest around Aaron, and his stomach dropped. One of them was the Firbender he had fought all those months ago.

'How did they find me?' Aaron thought. He'd stayed in Senlin longer than needed but that was dozens of miles away from where they last saw him.

Glancing up at Igi, it was obvious what kept him here. 'I'd be a bad teacher if everything happened to the kid,' he thought.

Plus, the village leader was behind on his payments. He couldn't pay him well if his village burned for assisting a resistance fighter. There was also the matter of his primary quest of meeting the Avatar.

After some consideration, Aaron decided to kill them.

The loss of a squad would delay his pursuers for some time, and if he were lucky, the village head would listen and leave the village before the rest of the hunting unit came for them.

Aaron also couldn't deny that he'd been itching for a fight for months. What use was power if you couldn't measure how much of a difference it made?

"You'd rather ambush me than face me in a straight fight?" Aaron sneered. "It's exactly what I'd expect for Firebending scum." The disdain was only half forced.

''If I remember correctly, It was you who ran during our first fight?" the bender who sat on the central Rhino said. He had a proud square jaw, a bristling chin, and more muscle than Aaron thought natural.

Two of the riders behind him were dressed in the same armour. They were noticeably less developed than him, with their faces hidden behind helmets with circular eye holes and three grills. The last man in the back was an Archer with a facepaint and a dour expression.

"There's no cliff to throw yourself off this time." With a wave, the leader summoned a fire whip. "Take him, Boys!"

The left and right riders charged with their Rhinos looking to gore him. Aaron sprang forward, his speed enhanced with air bending and cleared both Rhinos with a leap. He lashed out with both swords, with wind blades seeking the throat of both men.

They ducked under the slashes and retaliated with fiery fists, forcing Aaron to wrap himself in the air as he landed with a tuck and roll.

Seeing an opening, the leader struck at him with his fiery whip, but his razor-sharp senses picked up on it. And his trained body and mastery of air allowed him to weave under the strike and lash out with an air blade targeting the ankle of the leader's mount.

It exploded in a spray of blood, bone, and cartilage. The beast trumpeted as it deposited the Firebender on his side, momentarily taking him out of the fight.

Aaron turned around, switching his attention to the first pair of Benders. They'd reoriented and were staring him down.

Uniting his blade as if they were one weapon, he prepared to finish them with a Wind blade, but not before several arrows rocketed towards him. He unleashed a gust in the direction of the Archer instead, knocking the arrows off course as his eyes met his attacker's.

Gone was his unreadable facade. He frowned a little, and Aaron noticed the massive crossbow strapped on his back and the rest of his peculiar uniform. They were dozens of straps for knives, needles, and other dangerous things.

Aaron almost groaned out loud. In the presence of three other firebenders, he couldn't believe he almost forgot about the Archer.

"You're better than the last time we tracked you down," the large leader said as he finally managed to shove the Rhino off him. He climbed to his feet and assumed the traditional Sozin Firebending stance.

"I've been practising," Aaron said. "I'm surprised you found me. How did you manage that, by the way?"

The man growled.

"Did you think you could escape after trying to murder the Admiral's daughter! Master Yun died protecting her, and he's more of a bender than you'll ever be. I've never failed to track down a bounty, and I am not starting now."

He fired off two rapid shots at Aaron's feet. He followed up with a high kick anticipating he'd try escaping into the air. Aaron disappointed him by taking a bold step forward and lashing out with a chi-infused gust that swept him and his attacks and deposited them into the side of his fallen Rhino.

Flipping to the side on instinct, Aaron dodged another stream of arrows and two fireballs. While still in the air, he sent an airwave towards the Archer, finally focusing some fire on the Archer. As he touched down, he sent two compressed slashes at the other riders.

The man on the left hopped from his mount to dodge the blast, while the man on the right weaved to the side, evading the slash, but it swept low enough to cut his saddle belt. Gravity took care of the rest.

His mount trumpeted as it bounded into the forest, startled by the attack with his rider screaming as he ragdolled behind.

Aaron's lips curled at the sight, and he levelled his blades each at the Archer and the last Firebender.

"Come on, then."

The Firebender fired shot after shot of fire, attempting to keep him at a distance, and the Archer backed him up. Aaron weaved through the attacks, sending slashes of air at the Archer, the less mobile of the two, but he was far more skilled than he looked.

Slowly, Aaron made his way over to the firebender. When he was close enough, he sent two air streams at him, which he cartwheeled through only to fall prey to Aaron's Wind blade that opened up his stomach mid-tumble.

The Firebender let out a gurgle as he collapsed in shock.

'One to go,' Aaron thought as he faced the last Archer, who was shaking like the wind in the leaf at this point.

"Devils, all of you Phantoms," he screamed.

Aaron mentally shrugged. He'd heard worse.

Frantic, the Archer reached for an arrow in his quiver but found none.

He'd finally run out. Realizing he was vulnerable, he quickly pulled his crossbow just as Aaron sent an air blade at him.

It rang against the underside of his weapon with a loud clang, and Aaron noted that it'd been reinforced with a strip of metal. Before he could finish him off, the man levelled his crossbow and fired, but not at Aaron, but at the tree where Igi had been watching the entire fight with a slack jaw.

Aaron sent a gust of wind at the bolt, but he was too late.

Igi's throat ripped out a scream as he tumbled from the tree, and Aaron's heart went still. He was already in front of the Archer before he realized it, and his palm crashed into the man's chest with all the fury and power he could muster.

'Wind Palm!'

The man's chest exploded from the force like a ripe tomato, sending his shocked head and what was left of him rocketing back into the forest.

From the corner of his eye, Aaron spotted the leader stir, and with a twist and a scream, he took off the head of the man.

Swinging back around, his eyes swept past Igi's body– and his heart screamed at him to run to the boy and check on him— but his training superseded instinct. He locked eyes with the inexperienced rider just past Igi's body. He'd managed to dismount from his rampaging mount finally.

His eyes met Aaron's burning eyes, and he turned tail.

Air-assisted jumps and manoeuvring between the trees brought Aaron above the man, and he came down like a guillotine. The bender didn't even manage a whimper before he died.

Aaron stood there covered in blood, his breath frantic as he finally managed to muster up the courage to look at Igi.

His blood ran cold when he saw how much blood pooled around the boy. He'd failed him.

Aaron's mind spun as his grip tightened on his blades. If he'd fought harder, smarter, maybe focused on retreat instead of squaring off against a trained bounty hunter hellbent on revenge…

He let out a shuddering breath.

'Better yet,' Aaron thought, ' I shouldn't have taken him as a disciple in the first place.'

He should've moved on months ago after his debt was paid with Hai Bei, but training at a spiritual focal point was too much of an opportunity to pass up. At places like these, spiritual energy seeped into the physical world, stimulating the growth of life and increasing the ambient Chi.

With the mission so close, he wanted to be stronger, faster. And he certainly was; the fight was proof enough.

But, Igi had paid the price. How would he explain himself to the boy's father?

Aaron's blade clattered to the ground as his heart climbed up to his throat. It took all of his strength to scoop up Igi's body and look at him.

The arrow had gone clean through his shoulder, but Aaron was certain the fall did most of the damage.

"I'm sorry," Aaron said in a small voice. "You would've made a great Earthbender one day-- maybe one of the best ever. I should've never dragged you into this."

"Are…you sorry enough to finally teach me your secret moves," Igi wheezed as his eyes cracked open.

"Thank the Spirits!" Aaron swore his heart stopped when he heard the boy's voice. He swept him up in a hug so tight the boy yelped in pain, but he was sure it wasn't too bad.

"That's for scaring me, he added thoughtfully before fetching a piece of clothing and wrapping up his wound.

Igi spoke again when they were halfway to the village.

"Please don't go."

Aaron looked down at the boy and wanted nothing more than to stay. "I have to go," he said.

"More hunters will follow if I don't leave." And he had to find the Avatar.

"Take me with you," Igi said. "I-I can fight. I've made so much progress in these past few months. Think of how much better I'll be in a year."

Aaron cared so much for the boy he didn't even pretend to consider it.

"No."

There was no place for an untrained Earthbender child on the Avatar's team. It'd be one more child he'd have to look after. And as the fight with the Firebenders had demonstrated, he could barely protect one child. Two was out of the question.

"You have opportunities I never had," Aaron said. "You have a father who loves you and a village safe from the Fire Nation. Don't be too quick to give it all up."

Igi raised his voice to argue again, but Aaron 'accidentally' jostled him in his arms again, cutting him off.