isolated,, sokka

xi.

usually i'll put a/n's at the
bottom of chapters, but i
felt like i should explain
this before i start writing,
i'm skipping writing 'the
deserter' episode, the one
introducing jeong jeong at
the fire festival,   because
it messes with the plot that
i'm currently writing. and
katara does learn healing,
which i'll show in the early
part of this chapter.
but i didn't know how to
incorporate zhavia into that
chapter and have it make
sense, so i'll write my
own version at the start
of this one!

"aang! you have to be calm to create a flame!" zhavia groaned, placing a hand to be bridge of her nose in frustration. the younger airbender had been pestering zhavia to teach him some firebending basics, at least enough so he could hold a flame, and she finally caved. he knew enough waterbending to properly use it in a fight, so she figured teaching him a few firebending basics would be fine.

"i'm trying." aang groaned, continuously flicking his wrist so that he could start a flame. zhavia sighed, before turning to see neither katara nor sokka paying attention to the two.

"okay aang, take a deep breath. firebending is all about breath control." zhavia tried explaining again, "use that breath to find your inner fire, and then channel that into your palms. firebending is energy." she told him, moving her arms down and channeling a wave of flames into the sky.

"okay okay." aang nodded, glaring down at his hands. "why can't i do it?" he groaned, plopping backwards on the ground in annoyance.

"here, let's try something else," zhavia sent aang a reassuring smile, "take a seat with me."

"how will that help?" aang furrowed his eyebrows, but still listened along.

"to learn breath control and calmness, i want you to try meditation." zhavia told him, aang widened his eyes in impatience.

aang followed a few deep breaths with her, and the two stayed there for a few minutes in silence. zhavia appreciated moments where she could just take the time to mediate, so a small smile was on her face as she brought her mind to complete peace.

however, that didn't seem to last because she opened her eyes and saw aang shifting around in his seated position. "stop moving." she mumbled, and aang immediately froze and closed his eyes again.

"zhavia!" sokka yelled, and zhavia jumped a bit at the sudden noise of his voice, "can you make the fire?" he asked, and she narrowed her eyes. now aang was probably distracted too, and just as she though looking over towards him— his eyes were wide open.

"yeah," she sighed in reply to sokka, before picking up a leaf on the ground, "aang, practice your control and don't let the flame hit the edge of the leaf." zhavia instructed him, starting a small flame in the center of the leaf.

"but i want to do real firebending!" aang whined. zhavia crossed her arms.

"so you don't think being able to control your fire is real firebending?" she arched an eyebrow, looking towards him with narrowed eyes and he slightly cowered under her stare.

she hummed in content as he didn't say anything further, before turning to walk over and help sokka and katara with the fire.

"how's it going with aang?" katara asked her, piping up for the first time in a while— she was a bit afraid to ask before considering it was clear how irritated zhav had been getting from aang.

"not well," zhavia replied honestly, shaking her head slightly, "he'll get there, he's just too impatient. he wants to start with the big stuff, and ignore the little."

"is it bad if he starts heavy?" sokka asked, not really understanding the logistics of bending.

zhavia nodded, "remember when aang lost control of waterbending? it didn't matter too much because water doesn't really harm someone, but if he did that with fire— he could burn someone." she answered, and sokka "oh'd" in response.