Avatar: The Last Airbender/Recap/Book 1/09 The Waterbending Scroll

""I'll save you from the pirates.""

The gang stops in a village for supplies, although they are running dangerously low on money. However, while shopping, they come across interesting merchandise sold by rather questionable pirates- er, I mean, 'high risk traders'. Among their wares is an expensive water bending scroll, which Katara steals to help both herself and Aang learn water bending. To her annoyance, it seems Aang quickly surpasses her in the skill, and her jealousy begins to take control. Meanwhile, Iroh goes shopping for his missing Pai Sho piece, and Zuko catches wind that the pirates are after a familiar sounding trio, and so they join forces.

Tropes:

 * Big Damn Heroes: Appa!
 * Broken Aesop: On purpose- the lesson is, stealing is wrong...unless its from pirates!
 * Chase Scene
 * Chekhov's Gun/Chekhov's Boomerang: Aang's bison whistle.
 * Foreshadowing: Iroh's Pai Sho piece. The lotus tile is actually a part of his secret code to contacting 'The Order of the White Lotus', of which he is a grand master.
 * Fruit Cart: The Cabbage Merchant and his cabbages.
 * Funny Background Event: Iroh imitating the weird grin of the monkey statue while Zuko is first talking to the pirates.
 * Inevitable Waterfall
 * Insistent Terminology: They're not pirates, they're 'high risk traders'.
 * Lint Value: Aang tries to haggle for the waterbending scroll. He offers one copper piece. Then, okay, how about two copper pieces?
 * Ship Tease: It's widely agreed that this episode is when the concept of "Zutara" really took off.