Double Bender

part 3

We eventually found shelter where we could mend Zuko's uncle's burn (That was unnecessarily complicated). I did my best to heal him with water-bending, but it just resulted in both me and Zuko get soaked, Geo laughing at us, and me trying to soak her which resulted in me soaking Zuko again. What? I've never had a teacher in my entire life. Anyway, his uncle woke up shortly after that disaster. "You were unconscious," Zuko told him. "Azula did this to you, a surprise attack." "Somehow," his uncle said, "that's not so surprising." Zuko then handed him a cup of tea. "I hope I made it the way you like it," he said. He then handed a cup to me and Geo. "You might want to stay away from this stuff," she whispered. "Why?" I asked. "Let's just say that the Earth Kingdom army might classify this as poison." His uncle took a sip of it and made a face. "Good," he forced himself to say. I sniffed the...whatever it was, in the cup and decided to take Geo's advice to stay away from it. His uncle's gaze shifted from the... stuff to me. "I'm sorry," he said, "we haven't been properly introduced. I am Iroh, former General of the Fire-Nation army, but you can just call me Uncle." I smiled and nodded at him. "I'm Geo and I did absolutely nothing important whatsoever. Yeah, I'm just a random girl." I laughed and nodded at her. "I'm Tatiana Melin," I said quietly. Uncle smiled."You know," said Geo, "you are the first person I have met with a last name." Zuko, however, decided that he wanted to talk about his psychotic sister and her crazy blue fire. "So I've been thinking, it's only a matter of time before-" "BORING! NEWSFLASH, NOBODY CARES!" Geo shouted. Okay, this girl was officially my new best friend. Zuko rolled his eyes and continued. "... it'll only be a matter of time before I run into Azula again. I need to be ready." "Oh, Zuko, does Azula have your honor? 'Cause that would explain a whole lot." It was all I could do not to laugh. Zuko ignored her. "I need to move on to the more advanced fire-bending to defeat her. Now I know what you're thinking, she's my sister and I should try to get along with her." "No," said Uncle. "I do not think that at all. She's crazy and needs to go down." He stood up. "It's time that we resume your training." Then he turned to me and Geo. "Would you two mind leaving us for a moment?" "Not at all," said Geo. We went outside and stood there awkwardly for a moment. Then she finally said "You want me to show a new earth-bending trick that I made up?" "Uh... sure," I said. I sat on a rock as she readied her stance. She brought up a wall of earth, jumped up, grabbed on to the top, kicked both of her legs out to the side sending two rocks in either direction all while supporting herself with one hand. She hopped down and I clapped politely. "So, it's kind a like this...?" I brought up a wall of earth, but grabbed on with two hands instead of one, and tried to kick both of my legs out but just fell over the side. "Wait... you can bend earth... ?" "Well... yeah." "But, you were water-bending in there..." "Yeah." "But then... earth... and... and water... and earth... WHAT?!" "I'm a double-bender. I can bend two elements." She stared at me for a minute and said, "That... is friggin'... AWESOME!" "It's nice to know you think that. My family tried to hide my bending, they called me a freak. It's just... nice to be around someone who thinks it's awesome." "Anyone who doesn't think that is an idiot." I laughed a little. After that, there was really nothing else do so we decided to spy on Zuko and Uncle. We crept along the side of the house and looked inside through a hole in the wall. Uncle and Zuko were sitting across from each other with a steaming pot of tea between them. "Lightning," Uncle began, "is a pure expression of fire-bending, without aggression. It is not fueled by rage or emotion, the way other fire-bending is Some call lightning 'The Cold-Blooded Fire.' It is precise and deadly, much like Azula. To perform the technique requires peace of mind." He handed a cup of tea to Zuko. "I see," Zuko said. "That's why we're drinking tea, to clear the mind?" "Oh yeah, good point," said Uncle, then he cleared his throat and answered "Yes," a little more regained this time. After they finished their tea, they moved outside.

"There is energy all around, both positive and negative. Only a select few fire-benders can separate the two. This creates an imbalance between them, and the energy is used to restore the balance. As a result, you get lightning." He motioned for Zuko to step back. He held two fingers up in the air and brought them down in a swooping motion. Blue lightning followed wherever his fingers went. Then he pointed his fingers at the side of a mountain and CRASH! The lightning collided with the mountain. Zuko stood there in awe. "I'm ready to try it!" he said eagerly. Uncle rubbed the bandages around his shoulder as if technique he just performed had hurt him. "Remember," he reminded Zuko, "once you separate the energies, you are not its commander, but its guide." Zuko took a breath, pointed two fingers toward the sky, swirled them the way Uncle had, and pointed them outward. But instead of a phenomenal blast of lightning, he only produced a pitiful blast of fire that tossed him onto his back. Geo clapped sarcastically. "Wow," she said, "way to guide the energy stuff." Uncle simply stood there and shook his head.