The Promise: The Omnibus (Parts 1-3)

Zuko agrees to have a conversation with Aang and Katara about the future of Yu Dao. He tells them that he planned to enforce the Harmony Restoration Movement’s policy when he arrived but quickly realized that the policy had some major flaws. He gives Aang and Katara a city tour and a history lesson. Fire Nation citizens have been living in Yu Dao for a century—in that time, they have collaborated with Earth Kingdom citizens to create the world’s finest metalworking industry and a thriving economy. 

Passing an earthbender shining the shoes of a firebender, Katara retorts, “It doesn’t seem like the Fire Nation citizens and Earth Kingdom citizens share equally in that wealth” (63). Zuko acknowledges that Yu Dao’s society is not perfect but tells them about the Morishitas, a family whose heritage includes both Fire and Earth Nations, that would potentially be separated by the Harmony Restoration Movement’s policies.

Aang is angry about what Zuko has said and insists that global harmony relies on the separation of the four nations. However, after seeing the Morishitas, Katara suggests that Yu Dao might be preserved as a multicultural exception. The three friends part with Zuko and Aang still on tense terms. 

Aang and Katara set off for another Earth Kingdom city, Ba Sing Se, where they plan to arrange a meeting between Kuei and Zuko. Outside the city, Sokka and Toph prevent the protesters from rioting. When Aang informs Smellerbee of the plan for talks, she tells him he has four days to find a solution or the Freedom Fighters will take matters into their own hands.

Back at the Fire Nation palace, Zuko is confronted by his girlfriend, Mai. She is angry that he has not confided in her, since communication is something they have struggled with in their relationship. She is also concerned that he hasn’t been sleeping and has taken it upon herself to replace his palace guard with the Kyoshi Warriors, who she believes will be much more competent.

In the middle of the night, Zuko is awoken by another nightmare. He leaves his rooms, telling the Kyoshi Warriors that he is going to get a glass of water. Instead, he walks to the prison where Ozai is being held. He tells Ozai he needs advice, and his father smiles sinisterly.

Aang and Katara drop Sokka and Toph off at Toph’s metalbending academy, promising to pick Sokka up when they make their return from Ba Sing Se. Toph tells Sokka that she decided to start a metalbending school after realizing how rewarding it had been to teach Aang earthbending. At the school, Sokka meets Toph’s three pupils, Ho Tun, Penga, and The Dark One. The students fearfully tell Toph that they were kicked out of the school building by a firebending master and his students while she was away.

Toph confronts the firebender, Kunyo, who informs her that his school occupied the building before the Harmony Restoration Movement demanded that they leave. Now that Fire Lord Zuko has reversed his policy, he says, the firebending dojo is reclaiming residence. He also tells Toph that metalbending does not exist. In response, she metalbends his helmet, and he challenges her to a duel to the death. 

Sokka suggests that they have a “match to the sit” instead (91), where whichever school can force the other to the ground first will win. They have three days to prepare for the fight, but Toph’s students still cannot bend metal, so they have little hope of winning.

Aang and Katar arrive at Ba Sing Se the evening before their meeting with Kuei. They plan to stay at Iroh’s tea shop, but the presidents of the Ba Sing Se chapter of The Official Avatar Aang Fan Club offer to let them stay at their clubhouse. Katara is uncomfortable with how attentive the girls are toward Aang and their dismissive attitude toward her as Aang’s girlfriend. Aang is flattered by their attention and does not see a problem with accepting their invitation. 

When they arrive at the clubhouse, they discover it has been decorated to look like the Western Air Temple, one of the airbenders’ temples. Inside, the fan club members present Aang with a traditional airbender’s flute that one of them discovered in a market. This makes Aang feel at home, but Katara is still upset.

Back in the Fire Nation prison, Ozai shares an anecdote from Zuko’s childhood. One day, while vacationing at the beach, young Zuko noticed a hawk attacking a turtle-crab in the surf and ran to protect the creature from being eaten. Once he had scooped up the crab, however, he realized that the hawk would not get to eat. Before he could decide what to do, a wave crashed into him and dragged him out to sea. Ozai rescued him, and Zuko spent the rest of the day coughing up seawater. Zuko does not understand the point of the story, but Ozai says that they will have to continue talking the next day.

At the metalbending academy, Toph’s students are still trying and failing to bend even the smallest pieces of metal. Sokka is confused as to how Toph picked these three students, since they do not seem to have natural metalbending ability. Toph retorts that she identified them as potential pupils when she noticed metal vibrating in response to their strong emotions. They continue to work on metalbending drills with no success.

In Ozai’s jail cell, Zuko and Ozai discuss the beach day anecdote, which Ozai treats as a parable. Zuko assumes that his father believes he should have sided with the hawk since it was the more powerful animal, a stand-in for the Fire Nation. He does not understand how the story is relevant since he has already decided to prioritize the well-being of the Fire Nation citizens. 

Ozai retorts that his interpretation of the story is incorrect: The true moral is that whichever decision the Fire Lord chooses to make is inherently the right decision. Zuko argues that right and wrong are larger than any one person. This disagreement leads to an argument over the role of the Avatar, who Ozai believes is a “relic of a bygone era” (115). When Zuko says that Aang is a friend whom he trusts, Ozai yells at him to leave.

At Toph’s metalbending academy, training continues. Toph is so frustrated by her students’ continued struggle that she has lost her tough teaching persona altogether. Sokka develops a plan to trigger strong emotional responses in the students so that they can tap into the metalbending abilities Toph initially saw in them. Remembering a trick Toph used during the final battle of the war, they use metal objects stored in the basement of the academy to build a terrifying mech suit. Toph jumps out in the disguise and tries to scare the students, but instead of unlocking their metalbending abilities, the three students collapse in fear.

At their meeting with Kuei, the Earth King, Aang and Katara expect the monarch to agree to a meeting with Zuko. Instead, Kuei plans to send his army to enforce the Harmony Restoration Movement’s order to evict Fire Nation citizens from the Earth Kingdom. Aang fears that this military mobilization will be perceived as a declaration of war, but Kuei is resolute. With no other course of action, Aang and Katara quickly fly to Yu Dao to bring word of the Earth King’s plan to attack. One of the fan club members sends a messenger hawk to the Yu Dao chapter, informing them of the Avatar’s need for help.

Back at the metalbending academy, Toph worries to Sokka that she is trying to force her students to become metalbenders when maybe they are not naturally inclined toward it. When Master Kunyo and his students arrive for the duel, Toph begins to voluntarily surrender. But before she can, the metalbending students rush in, telling her to stop. Ho Tun bends a small coin to hit her leg, shocking Toph and giving her hope. A fight ensues, and the metalbenders eventually win. Later, the pupils tell Toph that they stayed to fight because she is the first person who has ever believed them to be capable.

At the Fire Nation Palace, Mei breaks up with Zuko after learning that he is secretly meeting Ozai. Suki, who is a Kyoshi Warrior as well as a member of Team Avatar, arrives and reveals that she learned about the meetings after following him one night. She apologizes for accidentally giving Mei secret information and causing their separation. She tells Zuko that she and the other Kyoshi Warriors are worried about him. Suddenly, word arrives of the Earth King sending his army to Yu Dao. Zuko mobilizes his army to meet them.