A layer of peace and silence raised over the large mansion of the Beifong family. The only sound to be heard were the birds chirping and the rustle of leaves in the trees, as the wind blew right through them. Every now and then the silence was interrupted with short and rapid breathing before it proceeded to a healthy human pace again.
"You're doing great, Toph." Said girl was sitting cross-legged across from her teacher Yu, keeping her eyes closed, seeming to focus on her steady breathing. The praise never got to her. Or at least not the way it was intended to. Toph may appear concentrated to someone else's eye, but the willing twitch of her left eyebrow was telling a different story.
"Now, go fast again until I say stop. Then you will inhale through your nose slowly and exhale at the same moderate pace through your mouth. Understood?" The black haired girl gave a short nod. On commando, she started breathing faster again, following the instructions being sad previously by her teacher.
These breathing practices were supposed to be remarkably helpful against stress and good for the seeking of relaxation. But personally thinking, there were lots of things of more importance. And this ragged 'marathon-breathing' just made me laugh. Literally.
Master Yu opened one eye to glance sideways to my comfortable form laying in the soft grass just a bit away from the two. Light shakers were running through it, as I tried to restrain my laughter. I actually wasn't supposed to be here, but being in the house with no chores or anything to do was boring. And so the only thing that I had in mind would be entertaining was watching my sister heckle for air. Schadenfreude, oh yes.
"Saanvi, I acknowledge you joining us at your sister's training, but please remain withdrawn. Toph needs to focus on her breathing and that won't be given with you interrupting her." lectured Yu, closing his eye again.
This was so damn boring and I couldn't comprehend how Toph truly managed to stay through this without losing it entirely. Finally - after what seemed like hours - Master Yu ended his exercise and dismissed the smaller girl. Before I could even stand up to say my goodbye, he had already left. I supported myself onto my underarms, pushing my upper body upwards and looked at my sister.
"So, feeling... relaxed?" I asked with a grin on my face.
"Shut up, Vi."
AN: Hey! I know I do have a different story in the making, but I really wanted to publish this one too! I had long thought about it and after many starts, I finally managed to come up with something that should be interesting. This is no Alternative Universe or Reincarnation and follows the exact same storyline as in Canon Avatar (just with the addition of one character - so dialogues and certain scenes will change or be added). Like in my other story I will concentrate on character and relationship building. So this will be kind of slow building. I just prefer it that way. Lastly: I'm not a native English speaker, so please excuse misspellings or any sort of that thing in the going with the story.