The Legend of Percy: Book 1 - Finding Purpose

12. An Uneventful Walk to Ba Sing Se (A Baby and a Mountain Pass)

Suki was supremely impressive. Percy was reminded of training back at Camp Half-Blood. It was clear she had been training most of her life, and with those fans, such an odd yet surprisingly effective weapon, she was a real handful.

Percy knew that if he was actually trying 100%, fighting for his life, or using any amounts of his 'bending', it wouldn't be much of a match up. But in all honesty, that wasn't what he was thinking about. It was just nice to have someone who could compete with him.

His mind threw back to the spars with Clarisse or Annabeth, and while Suki might not have the power or experience with fighting someone like Percy, she had the guile and strategic mind that could most certainly compensate.

After a few more rounds, Percy was starting to feel the strain on his muscles. It wasn't something intense like he'd had those many, many rounds with Annabeth. Nor was it the bruising he'd get with Clarisse. But it was certainly a new experience in this world. The last couple rounds had included Suki trading her metal fans in for her katana and a shield.

They were beautiful weapons, but she wasn't anywhere near as effective with them as she was with the fans. And they were much more in Percy's wheelhouse, so it was safe to say that those spars were much faster, and it involved quite a bit of coaching from him. He started out pretty tentatively, because he definitely had become quite adept at reading people's prideful reactions to situations, but once she realised it was more respectful, and just because he wanted to help, he gave more earnest and blunt comments and corrections.

After an hour or so, with the moon just starting to dip below directly over their heads, they decided to pack in their fight. Suki got up from her position on the ground, shield off to the edge of the area and sword arm pinned under Percy's foot.

He couldn't get over how happy he was with the time spent sparring. I definitely won't be able to calm down just like this. He was buzzing on energy and definitely would require a dip in the ocean to let out some energy before getting any kind of sleep.

Suki, on the other hand, looked absolutely dead on her feet. But she'd learnt a lot, and incredibly quickly at that. The first fight with shield and katana was overwhelmingly one sided, but the last was drawn out and pushed Percy, slightly.

The son of Poseidon could also tell that she was very happy with her efforts, as she had a smile on her face while they trudged back to the main camp.

"So, you like Sokka huh?" He inquired. She blushed in response but nodded her agreement.

"I know it isn't my place, and you were probably going to do this anyway, but tell him how you feel. Be blunt, guys are dumb with this type of thing, at least in my experience. And I'm the perfect example of that. But Sokka has been through a lot. Even I can see that. So just give him some time. He seems to really like you." He gave her a nudge on her shoulder.

Suki smiled back at him, genuinely. "Thanks. I- I appreciate it. And the training. It's not often I have a good practice with someone nowadays. It's mainly me doing the teaching."

He nodded back. That was something he could relate to.

Percy couldn't resist having some fun at the end though. Even if there was a double meaning behind what he wanted to do.

"Hey Suki, just...just wait here a second." She turned to him. It was a testament to how much she trusted him now, with how at ease she walked beside him.

He started walking to the cliff face. Suki seemed to realise what he was doing, but it was most certainly too late.

Turning to her, he lent backwards over the edge, giving her a shushing motion with his hand to his lips as he fell down towards the water. The last thing he saw was Suki's hand trying to cover the scream that still got out.