The Sea of Ice (Sun and Moon Book 2)

Chapter 16 - Bending Light

I watch as Lia bends water into a ball and boils it, then mixes it with tea leaves to create an excellent batch of Jasmine Tea. Jin laughs and claps, and Uncle smiles. I smile, too, but it feels tight on my face.

I look at Lia, but I see Jin, holding Zuko's hand as she pulls him through the streets. I return Uncle's grin, but I remember Zuko's face, lighting lamps for this girl who took him from me then. Now she's taking Uncle, too.

How dare she?! Who does she think she is?! How can she--

It hits me, all at once. Am I... I'm still jealous of her? But... no. That's ridiculous. Beyond stupid.

I hate Zuko now. Why should I care that this girl once went on a date with him? He chose me anywa-

But I don't even CARE about that! It's not important! It doesn't matter! There's no reason for me to hate Jin! If anything, I should be happy that she's helping Uncle while Aang and Toph are gone.

I have no reason to be jealous!

This is just... it's just.. the memories, that's all. It's because I'm in Ba Sing Se, they're stronger than usual.

It's not real. It's just... forgotten.

But no matter what my mind tells my heart, no matter how long I try to reason through it...

My eyes spark at Jin in anger every time they see her, my fingers curl into fists and my heart races, and in the back of my mind I think of how good it would feel to watch her scream as I pull every last drop of water out of her body.

**__**

Iroh breathed out, letting all the tension in his body flow into the late evening air. The day had been long, but good. It was so wonderful to have Kara- Katara with him. And little Allia was a delight. She was already as good a waterbender as her mother.

It was strange to think of her has Katara at first, but after almost a week, it was obvious to Uncle that she was NOT Kara. Kara had a more level head than Katara, was quicker to mediate than fight.

Kara was gentle.

But Katara was a fighter, headstrong and angry. She met every challenge with her head high and her eyes narrow; there was no room to breathe around her.

Only with her daughter was she Kara again, that gentle, loving girl he'd come to think of as a part of his family.

Iroh had lived a long time, had spent some of that time in the Spirit World. He could see the turmoil in his niece's heart, could sense the confusion she held within herself. She was lost, caught between her two worlds.

She was a girl out of time, and she didn't even know it. Before she lost her memory, she had been Katara, the last waterbender of the Southern Water Tribe, sister of Sokka, friend of Avatar Aang, and Enemy of the Fire Nation.

When she lost her memory she was Kara, a nonbender of the Earth Kingdom, lost, alone, afraid of herself. Then she became Kara, wife of Zuko, Exiled Princess of the Fire Nation.

But when she got her memory back, she was caught between those personalities. She was Katara, Enemy of the Fire Nation, but she was still Kara, Princess of that nation. And even now, after the war, when all was said and done, a part of her was still Katara, Enemy of the Fire Nation, and another part was still Kara, Princess of the Fire Nation.

Iroh believed she had transferred her hatred of her nation onto Zuko, that she blamed him for her own confusion and lost time.

She needed to move on, to become who she truly was; whether that was Kara or Katara or a mixture of both, Iroh didn't know.

Only she could decide--Iroh was just afraid that she never would.

And now this, Allia. Who was the girl's father? A part of Iroh wanted to believe that the child was Zuko's, but Katara swore that she wasn't.

If that was true, though...

What had happened to Kara after she ran from the Crystal Catacombs? Katara refused to talk about it, and Iroh was afraid that Lia was the result of something terrible.

But whatever the case, it was obvious that Katara loved her daughter more than anything or anyone else. The bond between the two waterbenders was strong, VERY strong. Iroh was glad of that--Katara needed something steady in her life.

As he thought through this dilemma, the Dragon of the West practiced his firebending. He moved through stances and forms as fluently as water flowing through a stream, whips and blasts of fire following his movements like bright shadows.

And, unbeknownst to him, Lia watched from the sidelines, her blue eyes wide with awe.

He was just like Zuko, the Firelord who breathed light. Lia wanted to bend light, too. It didn't occur to her young mind that she COULDN'T. She simply wanted to.

So she watched Iroh bend, and she copied his movements, dancing to a tune only the two of them could hear.

Iroh, catching sight of her in his peripheral vision, laughed. The child didn't understand that humans weren't capable of holding two elements inside them. Only the Avatar, Blessed by the Spirits, could bend more than one element.

But she looked so determined that Iroh thought, why not? Studying waterbending styles had strengthened his firebending; it only made sense that the reverse could be true for little Lia.

"Here, like this." He showed her how to hold her arms, how to flow more smoothly through the movement. "Fire comes from your breathing, little one. Breath is the heart of firebending."

She nodded, her blue eyes bright and fascinated. She tried the move again, breathing in and then out as Iroh had shown her.

Only this time, when she moved her right leg back and her left arm forward, flowing through the motion like a natural, curling her fingers in and then pushing them out, her palm flat against the air and her arm straight, her other tightly against her body...

This time, a blast of fire formed at her palm and shot forward, just as it did when Iroh practiced the move.

Iroh gaped.

It wasn't possible. He knew this girl to be a powerful waterbender.

She couldn't have... she hadn't...

It wasn't...

But Lia was grinning in excitement, and with a squeal of delight she repeated the move--and again, just as before, fire shot from her palm into the late evening air.

It wasn't possible.

But Allia was a firebender.

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Soooo. XD Five comments and I'll update, guys. ;D