"I did mention it to the nuns, but the nuns were distracted by arguing with me about the Avatar State."

"Oh?"

"They think I need to be provoked into it at least once or twice by strong emotions before I'll be able to master it, but I read Meixing's autobiography and it didn't sound like the two versions had anything in common except for glowing eyes."

"That doesn't necessarily mean you can do the one without the other, but it's hardly strong evidence that you can't... would it be dangerous to try?"

"I don't think so. It sounds dangerous to go into the uncontrolled version, but that's what they want me to do anyway, and I don't think I could possibly make things worse by either failing to do it altogether or getting the wrong version under conditions of my choosing. Compared to flipping out because there's some sort of bad news character chasing me around, or whatever."

"Then in my highly relevant and professional opinion as your firebending instructor, screw the nuns, they don't know everything. Arrange controlled conditions to your satisfaction, try it, see what happens."

"Controlled conditions will probably just be 'in the middle of nowhere'. Although I'm not even sure that's strictly necessary, considering that the uncontrolled version burns itself out when there's no more distressing situation."

"Might not be strictly necessary, might still be a good idea, in case of unforeseen disasters. And you don't seem to have any pressing emergencies to deal with, so it's not like there's a high risk you'll hit the uncontrolled version on your own without getting the chance to experiment first."

"Yeah. I might never have a pressing emergency to deal with on my own, regular law enforcement is pretty good at its job."

"So, no reason not to take your time."

"But it would be a shortcut to doing that bridge across the ocean I vaguely want to build. I could just poll all my past lives and come out knowing exactly how to pull it off and then bam."

"Bridge across the ocean, huh? From where to where?"

"From here to the Fire Nation mainland, I think. Transit otherwise involves going over a ton of islands or in a boat, which is great if you want the scenery and not great if you get seasick and want to be there in a hurry."

"Seems reasonable."

"I like to think so."

"It would've been very uncharacteristic if you'd said, oh, 'from the north pole to the south pole, it seems unfair that they have to use boats'."

"I did consider from the Earth mainland to the North Pole, but the actual borders of the North Pole are complicated enough what with it being substantially composed of ice that building bridges to it is a problem."

"Yeah. And a bridge between the poles seems... like it's answering the question 'where is the coolest place to build a bridge across the ocean', not 'where is the most useful place to build a bridge across the ocean' or 'what's a good way to make travel between the poles easier'; that's why I'd be surprised if you suggested it."

"Also it would be a structural nightmare. Like, the planet turns! The forces involved in that would probably be pretty significant at a pole-to-pole bridge level."

"That too. But I also wouldn't expect you to let practical challenges stand in your way if you really wanted a bridge between the poles for some reason."

"True. But it might take more than mastering the Avatar State."

"It might! Even the combined knowledge of all past Avatars can only get you, well, the combined knowledge of all past Avatars, and I've noticed there doesn't seem to be a bridge between the poles. So even if somebody did build one, I'd hardly call it a successful project."

"Exactly."