The Last Airbenders > Zuko

1

I remember being alone in my room, only in undergarments. I looked at my arms and trailed my fingers lightly down the blue arrow tattoos that were now permanently on my skin. I looked down to my covered legs. Twirling in the mirror, I examined my back, the back of my arms, my neck, gazed upon the trail that ended just on my forehead in an arrow shape.

The arrows represented the chi that flowed through the Air Nomad's body. Only true airbending masters were rewarded with the unique markings. And starting in this moment, I was one of those masters.

I turned to my right and lifted a box out from under my bed. After some digging, I pulled out a silver head scarf. I wrapped it around my smooth head, letting the arrow on my forehead stick out, and covered my bare head. It was cute, and a nice way to hide my baldness.

My usual hair was strawberry blonde, with thick smooth waves to give it volume. It matched well with my light brown eyes, and the thousands of freckles I had scattered across my skin.

They were beautiful, the tattoos. It was everything I ever wanted. God, how good it felt. Years of working my ass off and getting the reward so early.

At eleven years old, I became the youngest airbending master in history.

***

"Alright. That's enough training for today." I grumbled, annoyed at my younger brother Kei.

He tilted his head. "What'd I do?"

I turned to face him with a glare. "You need to focus. I cant help you if you cant keep your eyes on me for less than a minute." I sat down on a big rock that held my training bag.

"But Nara! I can focus! Look!" He widened his eyes with his fingers as he held away his skin, staring straight into my soul.

I rose a brow.

After not blinking for an eternity, the kid looked away giving up and rubbed his eyes. "Whatever. But I still pay attention to you!"

"The bump on your forehead from running into a rock earlier says otherwise."

He placed his palm on his forehead before he flinched at the stinging pain.

"Hey! Do you guys want to play air-ball with us?" Kaido, one of the boys from the village approached and asked with a group of young kids behind him.

My brother looked to me for my permission, I nodded with a sigh. "Just be back before dark."
Kei smiled wide and ran off with the other kids.

I decided it was my time to head home. Once I arrived I made way for my room. I lived in the Western Air Temple. So naturally, we didn't exactly have houses like other places in the world. Sure, we had a village. A few actually. But we all lived in the mountains, and most "houses" were large and built out of stone or concrete. My bedroom was on the uppermost floor, so I always trailed up a round stone staircase to reach my room. It was pretty cozy, the room itself was in the shape of a fan. My bed was pushed against the corner while the rest of the room was rounded. The entire space was made of smooth stone. The walls, ceiling, floor, etc. On the wall was a "window", more like a square shaped hole that could also be used as a sitting ledge. That was my little space where I would chill and read, maybe paint or draw. I had a little roof outside made of straw that covered the window so whenever it rained it would be a little sheltered. Plus, I don't exactly have to worry about rain blowing into my room. I'm a master airbender.

It had been 3 years since I was rewarded my tattoos and granted the title "master." I've trained every day since them. Nothing new there. And my little brother was also ironically a bender. He's only 7, so he has a long way to go. I do my best to teach him, and try to balance out my training time with his. My mother is so proud of both of us. She is not a bender, but my father was. He was my teacher, but fell ill soon after I got my tattoos.