𝐒𝐔𝐍&𝐌𝐎𝐎𝐍 ━━━ ✧ ⋆ （ avatar the last airbender ）

━━━━━ 𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐅𝐈𝐕𝐄. black snow

Iridescent stars shimmer high above as early morning turns into dawn, the Eastern sky slowly shifting from midnight blue to amethyst as the rising sun makes its way closer to the horizon. Agna Q'ela is only just flourishing into livelyhood as our Tribe's bakers emerge from their dream addled sleeps to begin the day with a fresh bake of bread and pastries.

A steady stream of chilled water floats through four small frozen hoops in an infinity motion, perfectly in time with the careful, precise movement of my aching arms. There's a subtle burning behind my eyes as they focus on the task set out for me, a tiredness spawned from a body familiar with staying up late into the early hours of the morning to practice its gift in secret solitute and unused to instead waking before the sun has even begun to rise. With the sudden privilege of a new routine, I no longer need to hide away to practice my waterbending.

"Very good, Princess," Master Pakku speaks from where he sits cross-legged on the rim of the fountain. The stream pauses in the air, but I dare not relinquish my hold on it. He opens his eyes and smiles wryly when he realizes. "You may stop now."

My tongue presses to the roof of my mouth in concentration as I slowly drop the water to the ground and allow it to merge with the surrounding snow. A tension-releasing breath falls steadily from my mouth, my muscles all but thanking me for a well-deserved break after an hour of non-stop training. I straighten as he stands and begins making his way over to me.

A stable bond of kinship and respect has formed between us, and I've found myself regarding him with a growing sense of fondness with each passing interaction. Seventeen days have passed since our fight beneath the palace steps━━━three since the eve of my first one-on-one lesson. That morning, he started me off with a simple push and pull wave formation exercise and twenty minutes of just passing a ball of water between the two of us, before ending with a slightly less strenuous one in the shape of waterbending forms without any actual waterbending.

Other than that, however, he has been following Grandmother's strict therapy regiment, only moving on to the next exercise once he's deemed my progress sufficient.

"How did that feel?" Master Pakku questions, now standing directly before me.

"Tiring," I admit, "━━━but in a mostly good way."

He tilts his head and fixes me with a harsh but coaxing look. "Mostly? Where does the bad come into play?"

"Just some residual sleepiness, I suppose. I am not quite used to waking before the sun has."

The last of the tonic Grandmother had prescribed me had only just run out last night, and I have found that the side effects carry over a bit into the morning. It likely doesn't help that Master Pakku chose before dawn for our private lessons, bordering his time slot for his usual class in which Aang and Katara participated in. This is the only time the both of us are available in tandem.

"Very well." The four frozen hoops he'd created for my final exercise of the morning melt into the snow with a gentle downward curve of his arms. He faces me once more as the sun makes its presence known. "Your precision has most definitely improved. Once your full strength has returned, I can tell it won't be long until you are worthy of the rank Master."

A small grin slides itself onto my lips in response. Before I can vocalize my gratitude, Aang swoops in from above on his glider, radiating with energy.

"Good morning, Xing Hua," he chirps brightly. "Good morning, Master Pakku."

Master Pakku gives the Avatar an unimpressed look, though there is a glimmer of amusement in his eyes when he turns to me. "I will return shortly once I have prepared sufficiently for the Learner's Class."