While this is happening Rosh is talking to Ty Lee on a nearby balcony. Rosh: "Wow, it must be crazy having a bunch of sisters that look like you. But, I doubt they can match your awesome personality."

Ty Lee blushes, "Gee, thanks Rosh."

Rosh: "No problem."

Ty Lee: "Being around a boy like Macai, do you feel like you are ever under his shadow? Like you'll never be as great as he is."

Rosh: "No, why?"

Ty Lee puts her head down and answers, "Sometimes I feel like that when being around Azula. It is cool to say I'm friends with someone like her. But she is so good at well, just about everything. She gets so much praise."

Rosh: "You don't have anything to worry about. You are a great person and I personally think you have much more to offer than her in terms of personality. Which seems to be very undervalued these days. Regardless of what you think, you are unique and bring a special warmth that cannot be duplicated."

Ty Lee kisses Rosh on his right cheek. He blushes and Ty Lee says, "Thanks, Rosh. You are so kind, but Azula is not THAT bad. She just is misunderstood, like your friend Macai would say. She has compassion deep down, she has shown me."

Rosh suddenly responds, "We have to get back to the garden. Macai has sunset training."

Ty Lee: "I know this place inside out. I can quickly get you there." Rosh follows Ty Lee to the garden, but no one is there.

Rosh: "They left? Macai NEVER leaves without me."

Ty Lee: "He's probably just in a hurry."

Rosh: "You don't get it. He's starting to act more like Azula."

Ty Lee: "People change over time, hopefully for the better. They may phase out of it, for a bit."

Rosh: "I hope so, I don't like this new phase."

Ty Lee: "I can quickly take you to the close exit that they are probably using. With any luck, we will still catch them. I am a fast runner, so hopefully, you can keep up. If we need to chase them."

Rosh: "Is that a challenge?" Ty Lee looks at Rosh brazenly. Rosh smiles, "Alright, you're on." Azula, Macai, Spengi, and Mai walk to a certain point.

Mai says, "Ok, this is where I split. I have to walk back home now, it was actually kind of fun. It takes a lot for me to say that. Don't expect to hear it often."

Azula: "I will head back as well. Bye, Macai, and nice meeting you Spinge."

Suddenly they can hear Ty Lee and Rosh running. Ty Lee beats Rosh to the group. Rosh is out of breath from trying to keep up with Ty lee and Rosh comments, "I don't believe it, you are faster than I expected."

Ty lee replies, "Told you" with another warm smile.

Azula: "Finally, you two love birds show up."

Rosh smugly responds, "You and Macai did the exact same-".

Ty Lee covers his mouth, "Bye Rosh, it was fun."

Rosh smiles, "Let's go guys."

As the boys walk off, Azula looks at Ty Lee. Azula: "Well, this was eventful. I enjoyed myself. It seems like you did as well. You seem to enjoy Rosh's company."

Ty Lee cautiously asks, "Do you have a problem with that?"

Azula: "Oh no, not at all. Just make sure you let me know what he is doing and saying. If I find out that he is scheming against me and you don't tell me. Then I will be VERY hurt and we will have a BIG problem on our hands."

Ty Lee blushes and fearfully says, "Oh no Azula, I would NEVER. I've got your back girl. You know we are best friends."

Azula: "Alright, let's go. Tomorrow I want us to spend some time together. We will have a ball. But none of that girly stuff that you keep requesting."

Ty Lee: "Azula, I love the adventurous stuff we do. But, I think we should do something a little different for a change."

Azula: "What are you talking about? We do something different every day."

Ty Lee: "But sometimes I want to get dolled up or..."

Azula: "No, maybe one day. Maybe not. But for now, you can do that by yourself or with Mai."

Ty Lee laughs, "You know, she won't do it either."

Azula: "What a pity."

LONG WALK BACK

As the three boys walk back home Rosh locks eyes with Macai. Rosh: "You took off just a tad early Macai, I thought you would give me the benefit of the doubt. Did you at least wait for me?"

Though Macai has picked up on some of Azula's qualities, he was raised to be an honest man. It is very difficult for him to lie. Macai: "No, I knew I took too long being with Azula."

Rosh: "You are fast Macai, you could have given me a couple minutes."

Macai: "Why? I can't afford to be late much with my father. I don't even know what he'll do. I have never been very late and I don't want to know what happens if I am. If it does happen, you'd better believe I want to minimize it as much as possible."

Rosh: "Fair enough, I suppose I can't blame Azula much for that."

Spengi: "Look's like you and Ty Lee had a good time. I've got to admit you beat me on this one. But I couldn't believe you took Azula on. That seems to be what won her over, but I don't think it's worth it."

Rosh: "You are scared because you HEARD something about a girl. I don't care if it was a boy or even an adult. She is just a person, why would I fear her? She is not even the Firelord. She is a student like us."

Spengi: "Some things aren't worth finding out Rosh."

Rosh looks at Macai, "Did anything about Azula make you think she was very tough?"

Macai: "She knows a lot about the different combat forms. We talked about it and she rivals me in my knowledge. The difference is I learned a lot of it because my dad forced me to. She learned a lot because she WANTED to. I would still have wanted to learn it on my own, but not at the pace I did. Her drive is unreal and that makes her dangerous. I would NOT want to fight someone like that."

Rosh: "That all sounds nice, but when she faces someone who isn't scared of her, her fragile ego will collapse."

Macai: "Let's not find out. I don't need my friend and girl fighting each other."

Spengi: "Your girl, so it's official now?"

Macai shrugs and grins, "I guess so."

Rosh: "Well, at least I get to be around Ty Lee more. That's the only good thing that comes out of this."

Spengi: "Ok, later guys." Spengi breaks off.

Macai: "Rosh, I'm sorry if I haven't been present enough as a friend. But I know we'll figure this out."

Rosh: "Ok, well I'm with you until the end of the road. As long as you are with me."

Macai fist bumps Rosh, "Always."

Rosh and Macai split as Macai nears his home. Macai quickly rushes to his front yard and looks up in the sky. He has a sigh of relief when he notices that sunset is just starting to form, he is not late.

Eyre steps outside of the front door and locks eyes with Macai. Training goes on as usual, but something seems different. They train for over an hour with no break and it is nightfall again. They continue to train and two hours have passed. Eyre keeps going on, but any training past two hours is very unusual.

Macai starts slowing down as his body gets tired. Eyre: "Stay the pace, you are not done yet. Let's practice your defensive maneuvers. Prepare to dodge my attacks." Macai looks in surprise as this is a rare thing to do towards the end of training while he is tired.

Eyre gets in his battle stance and Macai knows that he has no choice but to adapt. Eyre thrusts his body forward and fires a 12-inch wide blast of fire out of his hands. Macai leaps right, but it takes extra energy out of him in his fatigued state. The flame blasts a massive crater beside him, sending chunks of dirt flying.

The boy scrambles to his feet and Eyre pumps a swift 5-inch wide flame out of his right fist. Macai blocks the attack and a second flame is shot from Eyre's left fist. Macai turns and blocks that attack. Eyre picks up his pace and fires two rapid volleys of fire at his son. Macai rolls left and thrusts both of his hands forward, firing his own 12-inch wide power blast at Eyre.

This is the first time Macai has ever fired a power blast and it is a rare feat at such a young age. Eyre smirks then leaps right in an instant. Moving so fast, that his body is a blur. Eyre raises his right arm before he slams it down, launching an 8-inch wide wave of fire at his son. Macai looks in terror, but powerfully extends both of his hands extinguishing the attack.

Eyre claps, "Well done, you have learned new powerful moves. I am very impressed." Macai smiles and kneels before his father. Eyre comments, "I wasn't intending on doing these last maneuvers and increasing your training length until I found out what you did. But this stellar performance has given you some redemption."

Macai: "What did I do?"

Eyre points at Macai and shouts, "You know EXACTLY what you did! You thought you could hide your whereabouts from me, I TOLD you to tell me everything!"

Macai: "Father... "

Eyre: "SILENCE! You saw that girl without my permission. You thought you could sneak around and embarrass me?"

Macai: "Dad."

Eyre's veins pop out of his neck, "NO! I did not give you permission to speak. You thought you could hide from me. But now you have learned one vital lesson, that you cannot escape my reach. I told you that you can't outsmart me nor can you outmatch me. Even now, I hold back my power. If I were to unleash just a third of it upon you, you would be dust."

Eyre takes a deep breath, "But that is not my way. I simply say these things to ensure that you are one with reality. We will discuss this later tonight, but first, you have extra training. As punishment for your disobedience."

Eyre forces Macai to run back and forth across the yard at night for about twenty laps. Eyre forces Macai to do several push-ups. Macai collapses after doing his forty-third push up. Eyre shouts, "Unacceptable, get back up and finish." Macai barely makes it to fifty push-ups then collapses a second time.

Eyre: "Up, up! It's time for jumping jacks!" Eyre forces Macai to do one hundred jumping jacks. Then Eyre makes Macai do eighty sit-ups. Eyre makes Macai do thirty up-downs. Then Eyre makes his son perform mountain climbers. Macai is ordered to do them for five minutes. However, Macai feels his legs get heavy after he is about two and a half minutes in.

The boy suddenly passes out on the grass about two minutes and forty seconds into the exercise. Eyre has a strange and twisted smile during the occurrence thinking, " Well THAT will show him not to test my patience again." Eyre touches Macai's pulse to make sure he is still alive and he is. Eyre orders Zyger to come outside and Zyger notices Macai is unconscious.

Zyger winces in fear. Eyre: "Don't worry, he'll be fine. What doesn't kill you, makes you stronger. With the right mindset anyway."

Zyger holds back his frustration and asks, "What do you want me to do with him?"

Eyre: "Take him to my back room. His mother is asleep, she has been very busy today. I don't want her to find out what happened. If she does, it will end very badly for you. So don't be a hero, remember that I will have Macai no matter what. Not that you would, I don't think we will have this incident again."