Letters From Iroh

Falling into Place

I never liked heights. I didn't mind being up high, flying even sounded fun given that I didn't fall. Falling terrified me. I remember once, when Maatki turned sixteen, my father suggested that we'd try something he'd done in his days in the military. He'd gone and gotten Mat all excited, telling him if I was down to jump off the side of a cliff with little more than a rope and a guide for support he could go with us despite he fact that he'd be too young to even consider participating in the first place without our supervision. I flat out rejected the offer and I don't think Maatki ever really forgave me for running his already crazy, implausible, ultimately far-fetched and futile dream. I never admitted to anyone, let alone myself that thought about it all the time. I wasn't ever great at lying to myself anyhow but somehow this felt different. In the back of my mind, maybe even characteristically, subconsciously, I knew how exhilarating it could be to truly feel that sort of adrenaline rush. How alive I just may have been able to feel.

And that was how I was feeling now. I was horrified, as I could tell. I was screaming, sure but it wasn't all out of misery, of abject horror. A part of me felt like I had that night before, when I was so mad I pushed all my inhibitions behind me and literally dove right in, not even looking back. I was good in a crisis! That made sense to me. I never really understood or felt completely calm because I feared the worst. I always thought my happiness, what peace I had could and would be broken, so maybe I prevented myself from believing it could last. Maybe I liked chaos because I knew that it was in chaos that I could be strong. When I could lose control. That's it! I am a watwrbender. I like change! I liked this sort of challenge.

Maybe that's what Iroh saw all along. I can do it. I can bend here! I'll be brave again! I can! I will. I looked behind me, at the cliff and the expansive house that was no longer anywhere near us. It towered over the sea toward which Iroh and I were rapidly plummeting- or so I thought. As I looked down, despite all my efforts not to, I noticed something. We should have hit the water before now. If we were truly falling, we weren't ever high enough up to still be caught midair. The lighting which had engulfed us was trailing behind, and as I searched for its source, I didn't have to look far to find it. It was Iroh. Of course it was! His uncle showed his grandfather this technique. It was his namesake! Redirecting lightning was the one firebending move that came straight from Water Tribe influences. I'd known that before today, but I never fully appreciated the beauty of it until now. Yet, rather than redirect lightning from an outside source, Iroh had generated enough of it to not only carry himself forward quicker than I could have ever anticipated enough to try to stop him from doing, but to also carry me with him without so much as a second thought. It was almost instinctive, and I liked how he was taking control. He seemed truly like the General I'd always known he was in that moment, and it only added to the thrill I was feeling from the situation as a whole. I'd need that jolt later. That positive energy. Incorporating his entire body in the process he was able to use my weight, his and the velocity from the first blast alone to propel us toward what I now could see were stationary, yet active machines situated on the beach, ready to engage in battle with the incredibly scary, all-too-familiar monster spiralling out of control, doing its best to terrorise the many once happy tourists on the once sunny beach. I knew what they were. I'd seen them before. They'd be in the air soon, but before that could happen, we needed to get out of it. The men needed their leader, and I needed to help like I did before. Far too late I glanced at my waist, and took into account how much I was supporting Iroh through this process. His hand was almost locked around me, and we were running out of sea between us and the land below. I didn't want to break away from him for various reasons, including but not limited to the fact he might actually fall if I suddenly dropped myself off mid-rescue, but time was running out and so was the only source of fuel for my possibly life threatening plan. It was now or never.