The Lunar Warrior [ATLA FF]

Book 1: Water | 48 | Waterbending?

Art By Me! Meet Fleet, The Phantom Unit's Messenger Sparrowkeet!

Ayaan watched as Appa dived into the pond at the beginning of the river. A waterfall glistened against the rocky cliff, greenery flourishing on the banks; it was a beautiful place. Because he hadn't been in a good state of mind during the night, he hadn't had the freedom to view it beneath starlit skies. He sighed a bit at the missed opportunity.

Right now, he had other things to attempt to focus on.

Waterbending.

The subject was familiar and foreign to Ayaan. Honestly, it left a bit of a sour taste in his mouth thanks to painful memories. Sure, he could do things, and he practiced the few skills he did know. But that was it. Focusing on something he knew wouldn't go anywhere wasn't something he liked doing. Waterbending, aside from the few skills he had, was a useless skill.

He would train things that he knew, and elaborate on skills he could strengthen. That did not mean that he did not attempt on rare occasions. He tried, earnestly, he did, but nothing ever seemed to work. The things that he could do? Those came a bit more naturally than whatever he tried.

Freezing things was a lot easier for him than other things. Sometimes, he didn't need to do anything for the waters around him to slowly frost over. He hadn't noticed such an occurrence while he was home due to being surrounded by ice and snow. On their journey, however, these things happened often.

It happened in Omashu when all of the liquid from their drinks lifted and froze. It happened again on the rig, though brief it was. Sometimes, it happens after he has a nightmare, too. The moment he'd sit by the rivers they'd visit, it would frost over with subtle ice before melting again when he calmed down.

It was comforting to him. The biting cold brought him from his rampant emotions. The colder it was, the better he felt. It was a strange truth about him. It was already a fact that he was very resistant to the cold, though he thought that was just because he was born in the watertribe. As a waterbender, this added to it, and his sister was also fine with cooler temperatures.

But with the things he learned, and the differences he could now see, he was starting to believe that this fact about him had more to do with his state of being. He was a blessed child. His Asrar allies weren't sure if the blessed were simply loved by spirits, or spirits with a physical form.

Honestly, they didn't care too much about that, because either way they loved and worshipped them.

Ayaan always knew that he was different. Now though, it may just be more than his scars and white hair. He hoped to one day figure out why.

He was going to be the one to answer those questions.

For now, though, he wanted to focus on the waterbending aspect of his lineage. Liù, the eldest of the Phantom Unit trio, used fluid movements that guided his ink where he wanted it to go. He skated on icy trails, and created weapons with the pouches of water he hid on his person. Ayaan, impressed by his skill, of course, asked him for tips.

The slightly younger man readily tried to help him, obviously. For him, it was a dream to be asked for assistance by him. And this extra time spent was one of the reasons he'd been away long enough for the three gremlins to pull off their latest act of stupidity.

But most of what Liù showed him hadn't worked for him, sadly. Gentle guidance of the water yielded nothing but frustration, though creating icy weapons came easier than he expected. They didn't have enough time to fully delve into reasons that could be.

The youth promised to gather information from his clan and send them through Fleet, their messenger sparrowkeet. The little bird always managed to find them every few days with updates. How he found them was a mystery they weren't going to bother solving though.