Ling was always lucky, be it naturally or because of his father's influence. It just seemed good things happened. He had received word from a fire nation scout that his exile had been lifted after only two summers. Apparently the avatar had needed his assistance and, being one of the few traditionally trained chi blockers left that weren't in league with this new terrorist group (they had sought him out, but he turned them down, afraid of repeating his permanent removal of that poor soldier's bending ability in her arm. Had they visited him more recently he may have accepted.) The letter detailed that the avatar of the earth nation needed his help but didn't detail why. He wasn't a fire bender, so he wouldn't be representing the fire nation, and this letter wasn't sent by the fire lord. It had multiple stamps upon it where signatures would go, none being leaders of nations signatures, but recognizably was the symbol of the temple he trained in chi blocking, the others must be temples around the four nations. It seemed he was well endorsed.
Ling made his way to Ba Sing Se, donning his formal fire nation apparel which now had his chi blocking temple's symbol sewn into it's back, easily sticking out from the crowd. He had a pseudo-nation to represent after all. When he arrived to the door, he saw a fellow fire nation man. One who he didn't recognize from his military time. The avatar had introduced herself and Ling shook her hand. "On behalf of the fire nation and traditionally trained chi blockers, I promise to protect you." Ling said. The amount of dirty looks he had received at that moment were incredible. The group seemed to be all benders after all, Ling should have expected this. The avatar didn't seem to mind but every bender there did. And they had a good reason, chi blocking wasn't exactly a good practice sought after by many these days.
Ling simply kept a straight and formal, military like face. He didn't care much for this new group of benders and didn't feel welcome but he knew he had to keep it together to get back home. He saw another non bender in the group, a man with a katana, a strange thin blade made of metal, he seemed the least level headed but most accepting of the group. It was too bad nobody did much talking. The avatar led the young group to a boat nearby, nobody giving Ling the time of day, but really nobody ever did since he was young other than his father and the chi blockers. Upon boarding the boat, it quickly set off and the avatar fell over. Balance was a key component of fighting and that worried Ling, what worried him even more was what that fire bender said. "Let's hope you've got better balance when you're fighting Chi-blockers, huh?"
"You need a lot more than balance when a chi blocker goes after you. Perhaps I could show you some tricks? Just a quick spar maybe?" Ling suggested. He didn't mind being on the boat at all, he had spent some time on the fire nation's naval boats so this was fairly familiar. He had never fought on one though and as long as the water bender didn't tip it over he could probably hold his own against all here, maybe not win, but probably put up a fight. That earth bender scared him though, he seemed like he could fight for hours and not tire, whereas Ling was more of a quick in and out type fighter. "That goes out to anyone, not just the avatar. I promise not to do anything permanent. Ling couldn't exactly promise to do anything permanent, so that last part was easy. He looked to the firebender, then the air, then the earth and the waterbender last. He didn't glance at the non-bender with the sword, he wouldn't need to worry about his chi being blocked, Ling couldn't even feel his chi move in fact. He waited for a response to his offer, expecting a resounding 'no' from the group.
