During the journey, Lay often thought about his family back in the South Pole. He missed his brother, his father, his tribe. He knew they wanted him back home, however they didn't know he was with the avatar. Lay wanted to send them a message, but since they were no longer in the Fire Nation, he didn't have access to a messenger hawk. He wondered what they were doing and if everything was alright back there.

"Okay everyone good work! Now that you've got the hang of streaming the water, we're going to try a few more advanced moves. May I have two volunteers?" said Xiumin.

"I'll do it!" said a boy with big brown eyes. Xiumin smiled at the boy.

"Very well, Luhan. Anyone else?" he asked. No one else raised their hands or volunteered. "What? No one else? Alright then/ It looks like it's just you and me, Luhan." Luhan gave a nervous facial expression and his palms began to sweat.

"Um, Master Xiumin? I don't know if I'll be good enough to go against you.." he said. Xiumin placed his hands on Luhan's shoulders.

"Don't worry. I'll go easy on you. You are my best student after all. You'll do fine," he said offereing a smile that made Luhan's heart flutter. The two waterbenders got in their stances.

"Alright now listen, just try to block my attacks. If you can manage that, then take it a step further and try to knock me off my feet," Xiumin said to Luhan. Luhan nodded. Xiumin then sent a flow of water Luhan's way, the young boy rolled out of the way to dodge the attack. Xiumin's wave of water didn't relinquish. He bended new ones every second in various different shapes: a sphere, a tentacle and even several ice cycles. All Luhan could do was dodge, but even that wasn't enough, he got knocked off his feet by one of Xiumin's ice balls.

"Come on, Luhan! Get back up, don't give up. You're gonna have to strike back eventually!" said Xiumin as he began another segment of attacks. Luhan finally stood back up, took a deep breath and managed to rebound one of Xiumin's water tentacles, sending it back in his direction. Xiumin smirked and smacked it away. Luhan sprung up and charged towards Xiumin while he thought he was distracted, but Xiumin was one step ahead. He froze his feet to the ground, ensuring that he would not be knocked down, then bended down, lifting an approaching Luhan up, flipping him over him. Luhan went crashing onto the ice. Xiumin jumped up to deliver a water fist blow to Luhan, who was still on the ground, vulnerable. Luhan quickly bended up an ice shield to protect himself. Xiumin chuckled and helped Luhan to his feet.

"Not bad, Luhan," he said grinning.

"But, master...I did terrible," Luhan said lowering his head frowning. Xiumin ruffled the boy's hair and smiled at him.

"Don't put yourself down, Luhan. You are far more talented than you think you are. You're an excellent waterbender and you're only a beginner. You should be proud," he said. Luhan's eyes sparkled as he intook Xiumin's words. He always felt himself blushing whenever Xiumin would give him compliments and ruffle his hair. He admitted to himself that he had a little crush on his waterbending master, but he knew he was way out of Xiumin's league so he never thought twice about it. He could only admire from a far.

"Alright everyone. I hope you were studying my movements because you're going to have to practice and perfect the basic form for all of them. That's it for today, I will see you all tomorrow morning," said Xiumin. All of his students bowed and began to leave, except for Luhan.

"Is something wrong, Luhan?" asked Xiumin as he noticed the boy staring at him. Luhan quickly snapped out of his daydream and shook his head.

"Oh, no master! Everything is fine..except..I was just wondering..um.."

"What is it, Luhan?" asked Xiumin. Luhan twittled his fingers together nervously like a child.

"Um..I was wondering if you had time..I really wanted to learn the moves that you---"

"Xiumin, there you are. I need to have a word with you," Xiumin turned to see his father, Suho walking towards him.

"What is it, dad?" he asked.

"Come with me," said Suho. Xiumin nodded then turned back to Luhan.

"I'm sorry Luhan, maybe another time?" he said as he followed his father into a tent. Luhan sighed and hung his head low. Why bother even trying to get closer to him, he thought. He dragged his feet towards the sea and kneeled down. He reached in his pocket and grabbed seal jerkly and sprinkled it into the water to feed the fish.

"So what's going on dad?" asked Xiumin.

"Have you heard from Yixing at all? He's been gone for over a week now and I hane't heard from him," said Suho.

"Don't worry, I'm sure he's just catching up with his friends. You know, Kyungsoo was his best friend since they were young. It really hurt him having to move away. He's fine, I'm sure of it," said Xiumin.

"Well, there's a matter that worries me. I was listening in on the radio and it seems there have been several crimes going on the Fire Nation, the region near the Earth Kingdom. There's talk that these will spread, and I don't want Yixing to get caught up in that. Avatar Korra did everything to keep the peace and now havoc is unleashed once again. Stuff like this never ends," Suho said sighing.

"Well, how about we write a letter to the Earth King and see if Yixing is there with Kyungsoo? If they're in Ba Sing Se, they are most certainly protected behind those walls," said Xiumin.

"It would take over a month for the letter to reach the Earth King. Not to mention he would have sort through other mail and most likely won't even read it," said Suho. Xiumin rubbed his father's back.

"Don't worry," he said again. "I'll find a way to get in touch with him, in the meantime, just do your job as Chief and protect our tribe." After Xiumin left the tent, he noticed Luhan sitting by himself near the ocean, so he decided to walk over.

"Luhan?" Luhan looked up to see his handsome instructor.

"M-master Xiumin.."

"Luhan we aren't training right now, just call me Xiumin," he said chuckling. "May I sit?" Luhan nodded and scooted over. Xiumin sat down and admired the red sky. The sun was going down and the full moon would be rising soon.

"You know, Luhan, the full moon gives us incredible power, a power that makes our tribe a unit," he said admiring the sky. Luhan looked down at his feet.

"I....know," he said.

"You should really keep practicing. You've advanced quickly than any other student I've had, besides my brother. And if you were to perfect my techniques under a full moon, then you might be a threat to me," Xiumin joked. Luhan didn't laugh, he barely spoke back. He always got nervous around Xiumin and was too shy to hold a conversation, but he also had something on his mind that was bothering him. After a long awkward silence, Xiumin stood up.

"Welp, I'm going to have dinner, you should probably head home. Wouldn't want your parents to worry. I'll see you tomorrow, goodnight Luhan," he said then walked away. Luhan watched him go with sad eyes. He wished he could have a relationship with him, not even a romantic one. He would settle for friendship at the least, but he knew that would never happen. Luhan knew that Xiumin and his entire tribe would hate him after they find out what he does at night during a full moon. Luhan shivered as cold winds blew past him. He then heard the laughter of a wicked old woman, a voice that always haunted him, his memories. His great great grandmother had started a long tradition that only Aang and his friends knew of. Luhan was forced to undertake it because it was in his blood. If he disobeyed, he would be disowned. He knew even though his great great grandmother was dead, that she was always watching him...

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A/N: Hey guys! So this is a little introduction of what's going on in the South Pole while the others are heading to Air Temple Island, also introducing another situation similar to Chen's with the ghost of Azula. Luhan will play a significant role on the villain side in this story to come! Also sorry for posting later than I normally do, I just bought a Nintendo 3DS along with Smash Bros Brawl so I've been playing that XD if you wanna fight me inbox me your friend code :D I need more friends lol

I might update again tonight, if not then tomorrow morning also thank you to new subscribers and welcome! I hope you are enjoying this story!! :)