Avatar: The Last Airbender/Recap/Book 1/14 The Fortuneteller

""Man, sometimes I forget what a powerful bender that kid is.""

One particular morning, Aang comes to a stunning revelation: Katara is hot. This revelation becomes even stronger when they meet a renowned fortune teller and he overhears part of her fortune "You are going to marry a powerful bender.", but is dismayed when his fortune contains only a tiny (fake) counterpart love prediction. Meanwhile, Sokka tries to convince the locals that Aunt Wu's predictions are either false or can be explained by science. When Aang comes to him for advice, Sokka misinterprates it to mean he likes a local girl (See Abhorrent Admirer in tropes section) and tells Aang to be aloof. This doesn't work, so Aang instead tries a rare flower that only grows on an active volcano. When the group discover that the volcano's ready to blow, they have to convince the whole town that Aunt Wu was wrong and band together to avert the catastrophe.

Tropes:
"Villager: Can your science explains why it rains? Sokka: YES! Yes it can!"
 * Abhorrent Admirer: Aunt Wu's assistant for Aang . . . sort of. He lets her down way gently after he figures out what's going on.
 * Arbitrary Skepticism: Sokka lives in a world where his sister and best friend control the elements and spirits walk the earth, but he's insistent that fortune telling is impossible.
 * Chekhov's Volcano
 * Chirping Crickets: Done with a duck.
 * Constantly Curious: Katara does this to Aunt Wu over her future, from how long she will live to what she should have for breakfast.
 * Exact Words: Aunt Wu predicts that the town won't be destroyed by a volcano this year. After the group discovers that the volcano is about to blow, and they only just barely manage to divert all the lava and smoke, Sokka explains that Aunt Wu was wrong. The fortuneteller points out that she was right: She never said the volcano wouldn't erupt, she said, correctly, the town wouldn't be destroyed.
 * Love Epiphany: This is the first episode where Aang shows a clear attraction to Katara.
 * Magic Versus Science: Sokka versus the villagers tends to move into this.


 * Nonchalant Dodge: The scholar being attacked by the platypus-bear at the beginning.
 * Screw Destiny: One of the themes of the episode.
 * Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: The premise of this episode.
 * Ship Tease/Ship Sinking: Katara's prediction disqualifies any non-benders (Jet) for her canon ship while promoting the two main ships (Aang/Zuko), although it mostly promotes Kataang.