Heimat | Aang

TWENTY-SEVEN

"Exhale."

The two waterbenders, Yua and Li, did as Tapeesa told them, their eyes closed, as she had asked. Tapeesa herself was sitting the way they were, on the ground, a leg over the other, in a meditating position known mainly to airbenders. It was her first day attempting to train the two waterbenders in the Police Force, and although her initial plans had been to show them how to control ice, as she had always found that aspect of waterbending easier, they had had to be put in a pause as she realised the two waterbenders weren't at the same level and she wasn't satisfied by what they were doing. She had resorted to the basics – deep breaths in and out, have them attempt to connect with the water in their bodies.

Yua had very distant origins from the waterbenders of the Swamp. She was paler than most waterbenders Tapeesa had encountered and her eyes were a mixture of brown and discreet blue. Li, on the other hand, belonged to one of the few families that had chosen to leave the Nothern Water Tribe over the years. Her mother had married a man from the Earth Kingdom, although that mixture wasn't evident – Li looked every bit the waterbender she was, with dark skin and bright blue eyes.

Neither of them had learnt waterbending properly, in Tapeesa's opinion. She had a long way to go.

"Now, with your eyes closed, I want you to feel the mass of water in the buckets next to you." She waited for a moment. "Do you feel it?"

Yua hummed as Li frowned. "I think so?"

"That's good enough for now," she muttered to herself before she cleared her throat in an attempt to be heard over the commotion in the other sides of the yard, as Toph was training the earthbenders, Suki the non-benders, while the firebenders were with Aang. It was safe to say her part of the yard was the most quiet.

"I want you to raise the water above the bucket."

With their eyes closed, the two women adopted identical confused expressions. Yua spoke this time, "Without looking?"

"You don't need to see to feel the water," she commented, "without looking."

For a moment, neither of them moved, but then, slowly, first Yua and then Li, raised their hands in the vague direction of the buckets, their palms facing the water. Slowly, they raised their hands. Yua's water trembled for a moment in the bucket but then, ever so slowly, it started to rise, leaving the bucket without losing its form.

"Keep it up, Yua," Tapeesa told her as she focused on Li. "Feel the water, Li. Ask it to follow."

Li pursed her lips. The water shot off the bucket, losing shape in the process. Tapeesa nodded to herself.

"Open your eyes."

Both of them did. They lost control for a moment but they managed to retain their water. They looked over at Tapeesa.

"Yua, you need more confidence. The water trembled before it rose. And you, Li, lost control when you raised it and it lost its form. You need to focus more on what you want to do." After both of them nodded, she clapped her hands. "Put the water back in the buckets, close your eyes and repeat."

That went on for a couple more times until both of them had mastered what Tapeesa was asking them to do. She was pleased. But they hadn't finished yet.

"I want to see you fight," she told them as she pushed herself up. Hesitantly, Yua and Li did the same. "The only water you will have is what already exists in the bucket and your goal is to defeat the other only using waterbending."

Both of them glanced at their buckets. Yua frowned. "But it's not much."

"I know," Tapeesa conceded, "how often do you find yourself in a place with a vast amount of water, though? It's not guaranteed all fights you will have to take part in will be near a body of water."