"No, I'm fine," Althea responded in a quieter voice, feeling her blush finally subside when she was looking at anything other than the taller boy in front of her, "let's get going. The food might be getting cold." Not wanting to make Zac feel like he was being ignored (and to test our her own weird feelings), Althea glanced at him. When she didn't feel that sensation she felt earlier, she let out a smile. Good, it was just a fluke. There was nothing going on with how she felt about Zac. He was her bro, and nothing more.
When Althea stepped out onto the temple grounds, she was surprised to see thousands of stars twinkling above her. Back in her home world, the city lights blocked out most of the natural lighting from the night sky. And she and the others didn't stick around long enough to see nighttime in the Land of Fire so it was quite a surprise to see what nighttime actually looked like in a less crowded place. After gazing at the stars for another few minutes, Althea turned her attention to the soft orange glow a good number of feet away from her and Zac. Sitting around a campfire were their new friends along with Zuko, who was standing outside the group, and Kali who had just arrived. Althea hurried over to say hi but her greeting was interrupted by the Fire Prince.
"Now that everyone's here, I need to tell you all some bad news." He announced so seriously that Althea immediately shut her mouth. Zuko took a deep breath before giving everyone a serious stare.
"I've lost my stuff."
"Don't look at me." Toph instantly replied, putting her hands up in defense, "I didn't touch your stuff."
"I'm talking about my firebending. It's gone." Zuko corrected, looking forlorn as he admitted this. Althea didn't get the chance to feel sorry for him when a wicked laugh caught everyone's attention. All eyes turned to Katara who had a mocking look on her face.
"I'm sorry, I'm just laughing at the irony. You know how it would have been nice for us if you lost your firebending a long time ago?" She explained.
"Well it's not lost, it's just weaker for some reason. I think it's because I changed sides."
"That's ridiculous." Katara scoffed.
"I dunno, maybe it isn't. Maybe your firebending comes from rage and you don't have enough anger to fuel it. I think you need to find the original source of firebending and learn how to draw it from there." Aang explained.
"Like how the original earthbenders were badger moles." Toph added.
"But the original firebenders were dragons and they're extinct. But..." Zuko walked off and stared out into the forests below the Western Air Temple, "The first people to learn firebending from the dragons were the ancient Sun Warriors. They died off a long time ago but their civilization isn't that far from here. Maybe we can find something if we poke around in their ruins." He turned back to the group and looked directly at Aang.
"What do you think? I don't want to draw my power from hate and anger so either I find a new way to firebend or you have to find a new teacher." Aang was silent for a few moments before he grinned and gave a shrug.
"Sure, let's go. My master once said that the shadows of the past can be felt by the present. We might find the answers we need there."