I'm not cut out for this, Lin told herself as she coughed up more seawater. I'm an earthbender, not a waterbender.
She grabbed the wooden board that had popped up to float beside her and made for shore, hating the burning the salt water left in her throat. When her toes touched dry sand, she flung the board aside and flopped down on the fuzzy earth. She felt the sand get in her hair and inside her suit, but even the respite of her own element was unable to curb her exhausted frustration.
Lin opened her eyes and groaned at the sight of the figure leaning over her. If there was one thing she didn't need right now, it was her uncle Aang's perky goofball grin.
"Doing okay there, Lin?" he asked her spread eagled form. He was kneeling behind the crown of her head, so his face looked upside down to her. "That was a bit of a tumble you took just now."
"Oh, I'm doing great," Lin said sarcastically. "I might get the water out of my lungs by next year."
"Come on, you're not giving up already, are you?"
"Uncle Aang, we've been surfing for hours."
"It hasn't been that long." He checked the position of the sun. "Has it?"
Lin groaned. "I'm done. I'm an earthbender. I'm sick of being in the water."
He sighed and scooted over so he was sitting right next to her. "But that's the problem, you know. If you were thinking like an earthbender, you'd be having an easier time of it."
Lin sat up in indignation. "What do you mean, I'm not thinking like an earthbender?"
"You're not listening to the waves, Lin. You have to dig when you feel the wave sucking you in, when it starts to crest. You have to feel where the wave will support you when you stand up, and you have to feel for your balance. Because those tides out there, you can't stop them. They're unyielding, like a rock. Like metal. And if you don't find the right moment to strike, that rock's going to crush you. You get what I'm saying?"
Lin did, but she was fed up with him and Bumi and Kya and even Tenzin trying to egg her on, and so she said, "It's not earth, it's water, and I'm not going back out there."
Instead of being miffed by her attitude, Aang grinned. "You know what I was thinking about before you crashed?"
"That I looked like an idiot?"
"No. I was thinking about how you duck dived all those other waves before that. Some of them were really great waves. It reminded me of the time your mom launched a boulder at me and yelled at me when I jumped out of the way. She said that if I was too spineless to stop it, I should at least give it the pleasure of squishing me."
Lin snorted. That was so Mom. And she couldn't help but give a wry smile at the morbid humor. Inanimate boulders taking pleasure at squishing Aang. Funny.
Then she realized the comparison he was making and that he was calling her spineless. "I'm not scared of the water," she said stubbornly.
"I wouldn't blame you if you were," said Aang. "Those waves look pretty big when you're right next to them treading water. And you don't go swimming as much as these kids do. It's not safe for your mom to take you by herself."
Because she can't see in the water, to make sure I'm not drowning. It annoyed her to be reminded of that and it annoyed her to be condescended to. "I'm not scared," she insisted.
"All right, all right," said Aang, finally deciding to get off her back. "Want to build a sand castle?"
Their sandbending made for quick work and an impressive castle, and though her uncle Aang was fun, Lin couldn't help but glance out at his kids playing in the water. Kya and Bumi were making a competition of what tricks they could do on the waves, laughing when their antics knocked an annoyed Tenzin off his board. If she could surf, Lin would out trick both of them and she would pull Tenzin onto her board. But she couldn't, so she was on the beach sandbending with Aang.
"I think I want to try surfing again," she told him.
"Good luck," he said back. "Listen to the waves like you listen to the earth, and you'll have it in the bag."
Lin shrugged as she picked up her board. She was skeptical of his easy praise but willing to try again. Besides, if Tenzin could do it, how hard could it be? she thought wryly.
It took her a few tries, but she managed to ride a wave for a few seconds before wiping out. Aang and his kids were ridiculously enthusiastic over her small victory, which embarrassed her, but she was more confident in her surfing skills now. It was just like Aang had said: once she'd gotten a feel for the waves, she could keep her balance.
She left the beach that day exhausted but pleased with herself. Surfing was hard, but fun, and now she could do it.
"Your mom's going to be so proud you learned how to surf," Aang told her.
"Eh," said Lin. "It's not earthbending."
"So? She'll be happy for you."
Aang turned out to be right about a lot of things. Toph wrestled her to the ground for a long embrace when Lin told her.