ATLA Little Bender

Imprisoned

AN 

Hey everyone! Early update since I have some plans tomorrow- going out to see a friend who I haven't been able to visit since Quarantine, remember to take care, and thank you so much for the 2K! ON WITH THE STORY! 

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"You've been staring at me for a while," Elaria rasped as she tried to talk through her fever. Aang was sitting at the edge of her bed, doing his best to watch over her while she was sick. Shortly that night after the mail chute ruckus Elaria had fallen ill. He blamed himself for whatever reason until she called him out on his idiocy for blaming her constitution on himself. 

She squeezed Aang's hand; and he squeezed her's back. She warmed at the concern in his eyes, it reminds her of the simpler times with her family when Grandfather Azulon was Fire Lord. 

"You aren't angry at me for not telling you about Bumi?" She asked him, Aang shook his head whispering to her as he shifted to sit on her bed. "Of course I'm not," 

"But you're still thinking about it?" She had an inkling over the settled silence that took space in the room; 

"You're the fire nation's leader... how come you aren't able to stop this war?" Elaria frowned at the sensitive subject, she did her best to explain this. She stood on neutral ground for the war, all she really cared for was the well being of the Fire Nation while her Uncle was the one that had the precision and ambition to revolutionize the Fire Nation once more during his interim years. That would come to an end when he would become the leader of the new world; the empire, and she the leader of the Fire Nation. 

Her uncle would always tell her that the Fire Nation is meant to share its glory with the world...

"I don't have any power to do anything Aang, I always pretend I do, but I've never really had," She started to explain. "My Uncle," She didn't want to say his name to the one that was meant to defeat him or be defeated by him, "Always told me the security of the Fire Nation rests on the person they look to guide them, for that reason it was important that I never even have a bruise... then things started happening around me, everything started to change and when I should have had the chance to do something I barely could breathe..." Elaria felt as though this was cleansing her soul. 

"He treated me more like a father than my own one did, it was as though the two sons of Azulon had switched children," She began to cough heavily. 

"You need to understand Aang, they are my family,"  She said this through heaving breaths. 

Her body felt weaker than before, Aang placed a cup of water in her hands, but she didn't take a drink. "You know," He began to tell her, "When you didn't tell me about Bumi, and what I know about you now... Lari, you always have a choice, and I think that the fear you had of things out of your control made you think that you have no power at all because it was easier to convince yourself of that. I can understand that," 

Elaria tried to practice clearing her mind from the memory through the tranquility of the woods surrounding her; she, Aang, and Katara are at their campsite along the raised grassy plateau. She exhaled, her breathing covered by the gentle stream of the river nearby. Katara had made herself busy by rolling her sleeping bag, Aang, on the other hand, lies at the root of the tree, observing Elaria every once and awhile. 

They had begun their lessons gently with her still recovering from falling ill. She tried to insist on Aang that she could take bending but he had told her that they could practice when they are positive that she was fully healed. Bumi had said that the stress from the revelations of the last few days had taken its toll on her body; causing her physical weakness and exhaustion. For that reason, Aang deemed it necessary for her to try meditation to increase her spiritual awareness and fortify her constitution.