AtLA Modern: Year 1, Gen. 1

Chapter 14

The ice rink was a short walk away. There were several rinks in the building for different groups. Dai picked a rink for benders with a small moat of water around it. As she stepped onto the rink, she swirled a finger over her feet, making ice skate blades out of, well, ice, on the bottoms of her shoes. She skated away before spinning around and facing them, smiling.

"I think I'll skip," Athlea admitted.

Zuko turned to Athlea, blinking and holding out his hand. "Come on," he said gently, smiling and tilting his head.

Athlea blinked. "No." She glanced away, looking at the ice. "I don't trust it one bit," she stated calmly. "We could walk and leave them to their shenanigans." She walked to a bench and crossed her legs, looking up at him.

Zuko walked closer, grabbing her hand insistently. "Athlea. There's no reason that we'd need our fire. Come on. Let's go have fun with our friends."

She furrowed her brows, looking out at the rink. "No."

"You're losing out on the fun, Athlea!" Sokka said with a chuckle.

"I'm actually very fine without," Athlea muttered, shaking her head.

Zuko shrugged, stepping over the thin moat onto the ice. "Fine," he said. Dai turned and made finger guns, her face scrunched up, giving him skates.

Dagi smirked. "Someone's got skills," he pointed out as he watched Dai.

Dai was grinning and pointing two fingers at the ice underneath Sokka, which was melting at her gesture. She blinked and turned toward Dagi, her eyebrows raised in surprise. "Oh. Well, I'm a waterbender," she pointed out.

Sokka glanced up at Dai. "Hey, hey! This isn't fair!" He slid to the railing, clutching it. "I ain't tryna get wet and swim today!" Dai snickered, freezing the water underneath him again, and his gaze softened into a happy shine.

Katara herself, however, was struggling to balance. She slipped and fell, laughing. Xilah skated over and offered her a hand.

"Come on, Katara, you're a waterbender. How can you not skate?" Sokka teased. She glared at him, linking her arm with Xilah and shooting a ramp underneath Sokka's feet. His eyes widened. "What?! No!" He landed and fell, sliding on his ass, crossing his arms. "I hate water magic," he muttered.

Dagi chuckled. "Waterbender or not, she fell, you didn't." He did a circle around Dai. "You're impressive."

She pressed her lips together, her attention on Dagi again, and shrugged. "I practice. A lot." She spun away, spraying ice, a grin on her face.

Aang glanced over at Athlea and Zuko, slowing to a stop. "Come on Athlea, Zuko! This is fun!" He pouted. "Come on. You're missing out."

Athlea sighed, walking onto the ice and crossing her arms.Dai gave her skates of her own before rushing off again. Aang circled around her. "You can't just stand there," he teased, chuckling.

"Watch me." Aang blew a small gust of air at her back in response, pushing her forward.

"Come on." Zuko grabbed Athlea's hand.

She gave him an impressed look while Aang skated away, doing happy little twirls here and there. "I don't like ice," Athlea stated with a frown, holding on to Zuko's hand.

Dai snorted, pressing her hands together and peeling them apart, creating a rift between Zuko and Athlea. Zuko let go of her hand, glancing at Dai. "My turn with miss fire." Dai grabbed Thea's hands, pulling her backwards.

"I hate it," Athlea responded, furrowing her brows.

"I don't care if you like the ice, prissy pants, you're skating with us." She let go of one of her hands, spinning her.

Athlea's eyes widened. "No, stop!"

"You know, you need to be calm," Dagi said, sliding up to Athlea.

"I am calm!"

"Doesn't look like it." Dagi chuckled.

"Ice is great, and that's coming from a fire bender," Sahel added, smiling.

"Because the possibility of cracking your skull or any other bone is fun." She rolled her eyes.

Dai giggled, ignoring her. She raised her hand, raising a wall of ice to separate Dagi and Sahel, ignoring them. "Come on," she repeated herself, moving behind Athlea and pushing her gently. "You liked the spin, I saw it in your eyes." She started skating around Athlea, her eyes mischievous.

Athlea blinked, crossing her arms again and skating forward slowly. "No, no, I truly don't like it."

Dai rolled her eyes at Athlea. "Whatever, fun sponge." She skated away.

"I am not a fun sponge! I am fun!" Athlea skated to the edge of the ice, running a hand through her hair. Dai mouth 'fun sponge' after her.

"Well, someone hates skating." Aang slid up to Zuko, who glared at him. "Go help your boyfriend. Looks like he remained sitting." He nodded toward Sokka, who hadn't moved after falling.

Zuko turned to look at Sokka, who returned his gaze with a hopeful look. However, Zuko just laughed and shook his head, skating off. Sokka's eyes widened. "Ugh! I hate you!" he shouted, glaring at him.

Aang chuckled, skating over to Sokka and using a bit of wind to slide Sokka forward. "Let's follow Zuko around."

Sokka's eyes widened. "What? No!"

Zuko narrowed his eyes, glaring at Aang. "I can hear you." He shook his head. "I'll light you both on fire."

Xilah snickered, pointing to a 'NO FIREBENDING ON THE ICE' sign. "No you won't." Dai, meanwhile, had looped her arm with Toph's and was skating with her.

Aang chuckled. "You can't light us on fire. You're at a disadvantage, Zuko!"

Sokka glanced forward, his eyes widening as Aang forced another gust of wind against his back. "Athlea... Athlea!" He slid into her, screaming as she did and knocking into her. Dai rolled her eyes.

"Oof... Ouch," Sahel muttered.

"Oops..." Aang chuckled nervously, rubbing his head.

"H-his fault!" Sokka shouted, pointing at Aang.

Dagi chuckled. "Now that was some collision."

"And this is why I hate ice." Athlea sighed, sitting on the ice, holding her wrist in a hand.

Zuko winced. "You okay?"

Dai raised a hand, shaking her head, and used the ice to push Athlea to her feet. She slid over to Athlea, scooping some water from the moat and running it over her wrist. "Pretty hard not to hate it when you spend all you time on it complaining," she muttered. She pulled her hands away. "There you are, all fixed up. You can go throw your fit now." Toph snickered.

"Well, I'm sorry. I simply hate it." Athlea glared at Toph. She nodded at Zuko. "I'm fine." She stepped off the ice, burning her skates away.

"Well, she's mad," Sahel pointed out.

Katara frowned, sliding to a halt. "I'm bored of this. We should go shopping or set Zuko's party up."

"Party!" Toph threw her hands up, skating off of the ice and back onto the ground, breaking her icy skates on a bump of earth.

Aang nodded. "Party!"

Sokka nodded as well. "Time to party, boys and girls!"

"It's decided, then." Xilah glanced at Katara.

"I think we've got some nice good for the party." Dagi glanced at Xilah. The white-haired boy raised an eyebrow, smirking.