Cold morning wind left frost on the branches of trees. Fog, drifting in from the ocean, made the scene fragile and eerie. The sun only now was reaching the small mountain village, where Tai Chi trainees already finished their stretches and were preparing for a lesson. Their master, a young man named Kajika, was slowly drinking hot tea as he took in the morning scenery. Wind was battering his blue scarf violently, but it seemed to have no effect on his concentration.

The balance, focus, hidden power and outward softness are the basis of art of waterbending. Tui and La keep the balance, teaching us how the flow of powerful energies governs our abilities.

The text was old, written hundreds of years ago. Bending of any element hasn't been seen in generations, and by most people was assumed to be nothing more than a fairy tale. An old legend that might or might not have been real. That fact didn't sit well with Kaji, there were far too many stories for it to be just in someone's imagination. The world seemed more alive than people realized.

His cup was now empty and a small click announced that its heating function was turned off. Kaji set it aside and got up, brushing off his blue and grey training outfit. The cold morning air was burning his lungs, but it helped instill a sense of discipline and wakefulness in his students.

Once he tamed his long black hair into a high ponytail, his preparations were finished. Kaji calmly walked to the training yard, as the wooden planks of the walkway creaked beneath his feet.

'Kajika Sensei!' exclaimed students in unison, as he bowed politely. They trained through the morning up until noon, in the old art of waterbending which now was simply a set of moves that allowed for more fluid movements and a calmer mind.

Kaji increased the temperature of his cloak a few degrees, since afternoon stroll on an ocean beach at their latitude was not the most forgiving. Nowadays people tried their best to stay out of the elements as they went on with their daily lives.

Spotting a familiar set of fins rising from the water, Kaji whistled. 'Yo! Yiska! Here boy!'

An orca/serpent hybrid poked his head out of the water and let out a shrill but happy squawk, diving in to swim closer to his old time friend.

Kajika took off his cloak and set it under a rock so it would not blow away. He was wearing a heated wetsuit underneath, and brought with him his home-made swimming fins. It was hard to get some of the supplies to this remote town so improvisation was needed. As he stepped into the water it still felt pretty freezing, but he could bear it for an hour or two.

'I missed you, where have you been?' he laughed and scratched and petted the orca's nose. Most of his body was covered with dark green scales, with white ones on the bottom. Apart from the large dorsal fin, he had several smaller ones running all the way down to the tail. Yiska went hunting a school of fish several weeks ago and only now came back. Judging from how satisfied he looked, the hunt was a success.

'Don't eat too much, you'll swim slower' Kaji joked about the orca's larger belly. Yiska huffed and nudged him, smiling all along. Kaji was one of the very few that swam in such frigid water so that got Yiska's attention a decade ago when their friendship started. From then on he remained in about the same area, so they wouldn't be too far apart.

'I'll race you to that rock!' Kaji took in a breath and started swimming, trying to keep his head above the water since it was really cold. Yiska swam alongside him, not giving any slack. Kaji touched hand on the rock just a breath away from when Yiska got to it. Kaji yelled out in victory and spun on top of the rock in celebration, with his hands up.

The beach looked a little hazy from here all of the sudden, and Kaji realized he was looking at it through water. But…he just got out of it.

Dumbfounded he stared at a stream of water that was just hanging there in the air. It quickly fell back, but it sure was not normal.

'Did…did you see that?!' Kaji looked at Yiska and he nodded. The orca realized the guy was a waterbender a while ago, it would have been hard to keep up with an adult whale that swam his whole life otherwise.

'Woah…' he slid down to be halfway in the water and halfway still on the rock. 'I am…a..waterbender?' Kaji's eyes were wide in shock. Both his parents weren't benders, and it was unheard of in generations for normal people to have kids with his abilities. Plus he almost gave up on the idea of things like that being real, thinking it just might have been a nice story to inspire children to take tai chi.

But it was real.

Very real.

Yiska bumped into his hand, letting Kaji know he was there. Kaji petted him, trying to calm down. He needed to try it again to make sure this wasn't just an accident or a trick of light.

Breathing in and out slowly he gradually calmed down.

You can do it, Kajika.

Lifting both arms slowly he watched as spectacularly nothing happened. Sighing he tried again, this time faster. Nothing happened, again. It occurred to him that he wasn't thinking of what he wanted the water to do.

Up. And stay.

He moved his hands up fast, then kept them up, still rising a little until stopping. A stream of water came up, then some of it fell down, but a sphere of it hovered in air for a little then it too broke apart and fell.

It is official. You can bend water. It is not a trick. You aren't crazy.

Yiska chirped and splashed some water on him. He was a little concerned why his friend looked so worried.

Kaji laughed and hugged him, brushing away a stray tear, which was a happy one. The world isn't so simple after all, and those great adventures and stories he heard… Well…now he was a part of one.

I wonder if there are any others?

In the following two months Kajika made sure his top talented apprentice knew what he was doing well enough so his students wouldn't be left without a master. Kaji was no longer content with just staying in this small town any longer. So many questions were burning inside him and he needed answers to.

During the day he tried to stay away from large sources of water when he did tai chi. Society he lived in moved so far away from bending a lot of people wouldn't understand it or would react very oddly to it. Kaji didn't want to start any trouble.

On late evenings, especially when it rained, he practiced his newfound skill on a remote beach with Yiska nearby. It didn't progress as far as he would have liked to, since he was just going by gut feeling, but he was always looking forward to his training since it still amazed him every time that he was able to tell water how to flow and what to do.

When his dojo business was done, he had a farewell dinner with all his students. Kaji also let his parents know that he will be out looking for more tai chi masters to train under (which was sort of true) for a few months or years but he will keep in touch. And with that he walked to the dock with his supplies and climbed into a black canoe.

Yiska swam alongside him, as Kajika rowed his canoe out to the ocean, leaving his hometown behind.