Balance | Old Version

Chapter 24 (The Waterbending Scroll)

Elua's POV.

Blue sky peeks through the mostly cloudy sky as we fly over some pointed rocks, I look over to Aang with a look of worry. He had been pacing up and down Appa's saddle for a while and it was beginning to become concerning.
"Would you sit down?" I ask Aang as he continues to pace back and forth. "If we hit a bump you'll go flying off!" I tell him as I grab his hand and make him sit down.
"What's bugging you anyway?" Sokka asks as he sits on Appa's head, holding the reigns.

"It's what Avatar Roku said. I'm supposed to master all four elements before that comet arrives." Aang explains as he expresses his stress and worry.
"Well, let's see, you've pretty much-mastered airbending and that only took you 112 years...I'm sure you can master three more elements by next summer," Sokka says, I glare at him.
"I haven't even started waterbending and we're still weeks away from the North Pole! What am I gonna do!?" Aang shouts, putting his head in his hands in frustration.

"Calm down. It's going to be okay," Katara says as she takes his hands into hers. "If you want, I can try and teach you some of the stuff I know." She tells him, he smiles.
"You'd do that?" Aang asks.
"We'll need to find a good source of water first," Katara states as she looks down at the ground.
"Maybe we can find a puddle for you to splash in," Sokka says jokingly as we continue to fly.

Later.

"Nice puddle," Sokka says as he looks at the river and waterfall we had found in awe. Appa jumps into the water creating a giant wave of water.
"Yeah! Don't start without me, boy!" Aang says smiling as he starts to take off his shirt.
"Remember the reason we're here." Katara reminds him.
"Oh right, time to practice waterbending," Aang says as he stops taking off his shirt.
"Great. So what am I supposed to do?" Sokka asks them.

"You could...clean the gunk out of Appa's toes?" Aang says, holding out a branch to Sokka.
"So, while you guys are playing in the water, I'm supposed to be hard at work picking the mud out of a giant bison's feet?" Sokka asks him with a frown.
"Mud and bugs!" Aang states smiling.
"Okay," Sokka sighs as he takes the branch from Aang.
"Good luck!" I shout to Sokka as he walks into the water and over to Appa. I sit under a tree as Katara and Aang walk over to the water.

"This is a pretty basic move, but it still took me months to perfect, so don't be frustrated if you don't get it right away," Katara tells Aang. "Just push and pull the water like this," She says as she begins to move the water gracefully back and forth.
"The key is getting the wrist movement right," Katara tells Aang.
"Like this?" Aang asks as he tries to do what Katara is doing, but nothing happens.
"That's almost right, if you keep practicing, I'm sure eventually-" Katara starts but is cut off.
"Hey, I'm bending it already!" Aang says as he bends the water a little higher then Katara did.

"Wow, I can't believe you got that so quickly. It took me two months to learn that move." Katara states, somewhat dejectedly.
"Well, you had to figure it out on your own. I'm lucky enough to have a great teacher." Aang as he smiles at Katara gratefully.
"Thanks," Katara says smiling back.
"So, what's next?" Aang asks excitedly.
"This is a more difficult move. I call it 'streaming the water.'" She says as she moves her hands and pulls out of a stream of water from the river and begins to bend it around.

"It's harder than it looks so don't be disappointed if-" She's cut off again. Aang has already mastered this move. He is moving around his stream of water as if it were a toy as Katara stands motionless. After a few minutes of frolicking, Katara definitely looks irritated. She drops her water stream as Aang plays with the water for a few more seconds and then dumps his back into the river.
"Nice work," Katara says. "Though the over-the-head flare was unnecessary," She says with a frown.

"Sorry," Aang says with a sheepish smile. "Well, don't stop now, keep 'em coming!" He says happily.
"Well, I kinda know this one other move, but it's pretty hard. I haven't even totally figured it out yet," Katara says as she steps forward. "The idea is to create a big, powerful wave," She says as she concentrates, raises a bubble of water out of the river, but it falls back against itself when Katara's concentration falls. I frown as I look at her stance.
"Shift your feet a little!" I shout to her.