➸ airbender love (aangxoc)

the deserter pt.3

in the morning everything seemed to be normal again. i was sitting next to the water, watching katara practice her waterbending. i wonder what it feels like to bend water. does it feel calm, maybe the complete opposite?

in front of the cottage, aang stood there, bendy legged, on a flat stone in the river, while jeong jeong stood a foot or two away from him. i could hear aang getting scolded every minute and it was kinda funny.

"widen your stance. wider! bend your knees. now, concentrate" aang really tried to give his best, "good, good!

"wait, what do i do now??"

"silence! talking is not concentrating! look at your friend, is she talking?" he first pointed at katara, then sokka, "even that oaf knows to concentrate on what he's doing!"

"hey!"

"he called you an oaf" i laughed at him.

"but what am i concentrating on?" aang asked.

"feel the heat of the sun. it is the greatest source of fire. yet, it is in complete balance with nature!"

"so when do i get to make some fire?" aang asked, getting a glare from jeong jeong.

"concentrate!"

we all watched aang, trying our best not to laugh but that wasn't possible. it was a very funny sight. he turned around to look at us so we stopped immediately. no need to get caught laughing at him.

aang spent a few days on doing exercises with jeong jeong on a mountain, well let's say, he did some breathing on the mountain. meanwhile my siblings and me, we just talked things out again. it was really freeing, having someone to talk about this stuff. i even showed them some tricks. it was really awesome. i wish things would be always this good, but all good things must come to an end eventually, right?

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i sat down next to a tree, just watching the calm flow of the water. the sunset blossoms upon the horizon as if a million scarlet blooms ignited, giving the water an orange tone with its reflection. i looked at aang, coming down the path where jeong jeong came from a while ago.

"back already?" i asked with no answer in return, he just stomped into jeong jeong's hut. alright then

aang came out of the hut not too long after entering, sitting down to meditate on the rock in front of the hut. better not disturb him

jeong jeong came out of the hut, standing still infront of aang, "we're going to work with fire now"

"oh yeah!" aang got excited and airbends himself into the air. he quickly got serious again, which made me laugh a bit "i mean, let us begin"

jeong jeong grabbed a falling leaf and burned the center, "concentrate on the fire. i want you to keep the flame from reaching the edges of the leaf for as long as you can"

suddenly a tribal man came out of nowhere telling jeong jeong that there's trouble.

aang was obviously curious "what's going on?"

"concentrate on your leaf!"

aang definitely started to get annoyed by now "this is the worst firebending instruction ever! all he does is leave me for hours to concentrate or breathe!"

"i'm sure there's a good reason" i smiled at him.

"but i'm ready to do so much more" aang breathed in, getting into a stance. moments later, the leaf was on fire.

"i did it! i made fire!" he said excitedly.

"aang, that's great, but you should take it slow" i told him, feeling like something is gonna happen if he won't play it safe.