Disclaimer: Avatar does not belong to me. Also it must be noted that much of this fic, including the title, is inspired by "Another Town" by Regina Spektor. :)
(i)
Pakku returned from his first ever Waterbending lesson with a swagger in his step.
Kanna, age six and the Girl Next Door he often avoided for fear of contracting cooties, could practically see the gloating waft from his body as he walked down the icy sidewalk towards her.
"You look like an idiot," she told him as he walked up to her with a smirk that only the most self-satisfied seven-year-old in the world could muster.
"I can now walk ten paces and back on the main canal," he boasted, as if that should negate any insults on his intelligence."
"They did not teach that as your beginner lesson today. My uncle's an instructor and I've watched enough of his classes," Kanna argued, arms now crossed very seriously.
"I can too! Go ahead, count me." He walked to the edge of the sidewalk to jump into the water of the canal.
"Pakku, stop! I'm not going to jump in the canal to save you--" She stopped as she watched Pakku balance precariously on two wobbly blocks of ice that he had managed to Waterbend for each of his feet. He then froze two more blocks in front of him and jumped onto them.
As Pakku made his way to the middle of the canal, Kanna gave up on trying to dissuade her insane neighbor from drowning and decided to keep a lookout for any kayaks that might be making their way down the canal during the lazy hours of the afternoon.
Pakku finally turned around and hopped his way back on the blocks of ice strewn across the canal. He leapt triumphantly next to an annoyed Kanna and grinned at her.
"How many?"
"It was a lot more than ten paces. And you could have drowned, you stupid idiotic idiot!"
"That's okay," replied Pakku, mentally noting her redundancy. "It's more that what you could ever do because you can't waterbend."
For added effect, he stuck out his tongue.
Kanna smiled and then promptly punched his nose. Hard.