"First of all, you have to keep your mind calm," Zuko said, taking a deep breath and standing straight. We were standing outside on land. Yes, we'd reached the Earth Kingdom. The sky was blue and sunny and the air warm and breezy.
"Izuki, are you listening?" Zuko asked. "Izuki?"
"Hm?" I turned towards him. "Oh, right. Please do continue."
The place was a beach. The cool water washed over the warm, comforting sand.
"Now, taking a deep breath," Zuko ordered, and I sucked in air. Zuko opened his eyes. "I said take a deep breath not suck all the air from the world."
I laughed, and softly took a breath. "Better, sir?"
"Now," he said, the corner of his lip twitching just barely, "You need to listen closely, because if you don't get this right you can end up in a lot of trouble."
I nodded, focusing, standing tall, my palms pressed against each other in front of my face.
"Drop your hands, Izuki!" he groaned.
"Okay, just calm down," I said, irritated.
"Now," he regained his position, "Waterbenders deal with the flow of energy." Zuko said, and I froze, dropping out of the peaceful moment completely.
"Waterbenders?" I squeaked. "Where did you get that idea?" I opened my eyes.
Zuko opened one eye and glared at me. "Focus. Now, a waterbender lets their defense become their offense, turning their opponents energy against them. If you let the energy in your whole body flow, the lightning will follow it."
"How do I do that?" I asked, exhaling in relief. He didn't know.
"You must create a pathway from your fingertips," he took a step forward and raised my arm up, straightened it, and pointed two fingers (index and middle) diagnally at the sky. "Up your arm to your shoulder," he continued, pointing at his arm and then moving his hand to his shoulder, "then down into your stomach. The stomach is the source of energy in your body. That's why its called the 'sea of chi'." he stepped forward and pointed at my stomach. "From the stomach, you direct it up again and out the other arm." He raised my arm the opposite direction, diagnally and I pointed the same two fingers at the sky. "The stomach detour is critical. If the lightning goes through your heart, the results could be deadly."
"So the lightning can explode my heart?" I asked.
"In easy words, yes." He made that don't-be-a-know-it-all face.
I grinned.
Suddenly, I wanted to waterbend. I had this urge to wave my arm in a fluid motion and just watch it rise In the air at my command.
But I just didn't trust Zuko enough.
Sighing, I asked, "Hey, Zuko, now can I try real lightning?"
Zuko almost went ballistic. "Are you crazy? I'm not going to shoot lightning at you! I haven't even really done it myself. Uncle taught me some time ago—" he stopped.
"Why'd you stop?" I asked, stepping over to the water and going ankle deep, the small waves lapping at my legs. "Keep talking."
Zuko appeared next to me. "Nothing."
"It's something, Zuko. Why did you stop?"
"let's just say I made a mistake with lightning once, and I'm not going to do it again."
"Hey, I get it," I nodded. "I'm afraid of a lot of things too."
"I'm not afraid!" he said, turning on me.
"Jeez! I'm sorry dude," I backed away, raising my hsnds in surrender.
"Sorry," Zuko apologized but it sounded forced, like he'd never apologized before.
"It's okay," I shrugged. "Hey, can I tell you a secret?"
Zuko looked at me and raised an eyebrow. "Secret?" he brushed his long hair out of his eyes.
"Yeah, If you can keep it," I said, grinning slyly.
"Uh, go ahead," Zuko shrugged, kicking the salty water.
"My name isn't Izuki."
"That's not a secret," Zuko scoffed. "Everyone knows youre a horrible liar."
"Oh. Well," I smirked, "You should give me lessons."
He scowled. "what's your real name?"
"Ayame, but everyone calls me Mei."
Zuko froze. "Mei?"
"Yeah. Why so surprised?"
Zuko shook his head, his brow wrinkling. "Nothing. I just knew a Mai some time ago."
"Hmm . . . maybe we were long lost friends and weve just been reunited?" I suggested.
"Who, me and you?" Zuko asked, and I nodded. He scoffed. "Yeah right. Trust me, she's nothing like you."
"Or I'm nothing like her," I frowned.
"Whatever," Zuko rolled his eyes. "Shes a friend of my sister's. There's another girl too, her name is Tai Lee."
"So was Mai your friend or—" I grinned slyly.
"No!" he cleared his throat. "I mean no. I didn't even talk to her."
"You're a horrible liar too, by the way."
"Thanks."
"I remember Zhao mentioning them both." I said after a few seconds. "You know, Mai and Tai Lee. Hey, speaking of Zhao, who was that blue masked guy?" I asked. "He sounded a lot like . . . you."
Zuko sighed. "I have a secret too that a few people know. The blue masked guy was the Blue Spirit, or so people call him—but he's me. I'm him. I usually don't talk when I'm him because people can tell easily, but you were acting stupid so I had to say something."
I laughed. "yeah, I sort of guessed he was you."
"Or I was him." Zuko gave me a crooked smile, and I laughed.
"Sorry, I didn't know you cracked jokes—or even smiled."
He shrugged. "I do when I want to," he said, his smile disappearing as fast as it came.
"Well, you should do it more often, Prince Zuko."
I noticed that a small whirlpool was being created as I was turning my finger in the air, pointing at the water, without even noticing.
I stopped and the whirlpool slowly died off.
"So, Zuko, are you going to teach me to lightning bend or not?"
He nodded. "Let's continue."
