Title: The Problem with Airbending
Characters/Pairings: Korra, Tenzin
Rating: K
Summary: "Sifu Tenzin!" he heard her yell. And he knew that he had a long few years ahead of him.
Disclaimer: I do not receive money from this work of fanfiction.
A/N: Moar fan specin' about Legend of Korra. I can't help myself!
The Problem with Airbending
"Sifu Tenzin!"
He ignored her and instead looked out across the meadow. It was beautiful, really. He was glad it was secluded enough to keep the city from polluting it. At least some parts of nature deserved to be preserved, he mused. The wild rose-lilies that dotted the field fluttered in the wind, their pale red petals waving at him. He inhaled the nice breeze long and deep, involuntarily closing his eyes. Soft winds like these always soothed his senses. He could remember being lulled to sleep as a child on rooftops during days like this.
"Sifu Tenzin!"
He let an eye creep open. His student was now staring him down angrily, her clothes mussed from failed airbending maneuvers. He let the eye fall closed without answering and calmly clasped his hands behind his back.
"Sifu Tenzin!"
She had moved to stand directly in front of him.
He felt a small bubble of mischief rise within his stomach. Did she really give up on the exercise so easily? Tsk, tsk. That will not do. "Yes?"
"Are you just going to stand there, or are you going to actually teach me something?" she asked impatiently.
"I've given you all the tools you need, so, there should be no problem."
He didn't even need to reopen his eyes to know her fists were shaking. Tenzin swallowed back a snort. He was going to need a little creativity with this one. Her heart was in the right place, but her frame of mind needed a slight adjustment.
And, judging by her reaction, he had a feeling he was on the right track. Struggling with the urge to snicker at her annoyance, he thought about all the ways he could alter his teachings. This had a very high potential to be fun.
A voice finally cracked through his musings. "Sifu Tenzin! Do you even hear me? I just said that—"
Tenzin finally opened his eyes and waved for her to be silent. "I've shown you how to do the move. So why aren't you airbending?"
"You demonstrated it once!"
"It's just a gust of wind. How hard could that possibly be?"
Frustrated, she planted her feet and set her hands on her hips. Her demeanor faintly reminded him of his mother. "Very, if you don't tell me if my hands or stance or anything is wrong!"
"Have you tried to see what works?"
"No, but I'd like a little guidance over here!"
He beamed at her warmly. "You have all the guidance you need." He then plopped on the ground in front of her unceremoniously and began meditating. Tenzin heard her sigh loudly, knowing that once he began meditating, he would only stop once he was ready. He could also hear her retreating back to the center of the field to try again.
About two hours later, a loud yell reverberated throughout the field. Tenzin couldn't keep the smile off his face. Instead of an angry shout this time, it was a happy squeal.
"Sifu Tenzin! Sifu Tenzin! I got it, I got it!"
His smile turned into a larger grin. "See? I knew you had all the necessary tools. Now, for the rest of the lessons…"
The rest of the day went a little smoother.
"Sifu Tenzin!"
He suppressed the urge to shake his head as he looked up at the blue blur in the sky. "How do I land this thing?"
"You just land."
"That's not very specific!"
But nonetheless, when she was tired and hungry and her throat hurt from screaming, she finally worked up the courage to approach the ground. Though her landing was a little bumpy, and her side was sore for a week, the next time he let her fly on his glider, she nailed it perfectly.
"Sifu Tenzin!"
His pupil was now located on her back, legs struck out in the air as if she was a confused gecko-puppy, in the middle of the meadow. Reaching down, he helped her up. "What did you do wrong?"
Her features became a little rosy from embarrassment. "Uh, I think I need to tuck my butt in a little more, and work on balancing on my tip-toes," she replied. He nodded and backed away a little before watching her try the Air Scooter again.
However, she fell face first a few seconds later.
"Um, okay, this time I shouldn't lean forward so much. I have to find the center of the ball and align my body there." He silently motioned for her to continue. She formulated the ball of air and jumped on it once more. This time, she rode around for nearly thirty seconds before falling off.
She simply stood up again, dusted herself off, and began the thought process again. "So, now…"
"Sifu Tenzin!"
"You really should know what I'm going to say by now."
"No," she stated, surprised. She looked down at her current position on the ground, having momentarily forgotten her latest and greatest fall from the sky. "I was just going to say that I had a great idea on how to improve this move!"
His eyebrow rose slightly. "Go on…"
"Sifu Tenzin!"
A pair of wire shapes glittered in her hands. One piece was heart shaped, while the other was a rod with a hole on each end, connected to an arc. She had been working on this puzzle for days and Tenzin could see the weariness radiating off her in waves. One day he had given her the puzzle wordlessly and left the room. The next he had informed her that he would not be continuing her lessons until she could solve it. She had, ever since, been fiddling with it. "Sifu Tenzin! What does this have anything to do with airbending?" she grumbled irritably on one afternoon.
"You're not done yet?" he asked in turn. They were sitting calmly at the dining table in his apartment in the city. It was a tiny one bedroom place with the kitchen attached to the front room. His home was pretty dirty, but it suited his needs for the time being. He finished off his tea.
"Done yet?" she questioned incredulously. "There's nothing to do here!" she held up the pieces of metal and jingled it. "If you haven't noticed, there's no way to put these together!"
He simply laughed. "You've come a long way, but you're still as hotheaded as a travelling balloon." She scowled at him.
"Please, Sifu Tenzin, you always do this. You always tell me to do something without telling me how. When I came to you, I was seeking a teacher, so why aren't you actually teaching me?"
"I'm teaching everything you need, and not a thing more," he stated. "As you've seen several times, you always get it. Eventually."
She shook her head. "But you're wasting my time. Why can't you just come right out and tell me how to do this stuff?"
He set his cup down slowly. "Airbending isn't like any other element. Waterbending, earthbending, and firebending are all fairly straightforward: waterbending redirects your opponent's attacks. Earthbending stands firm and weather those attacks. And firebending seeks to overwhelm. Each are different in its own way, but the world at large has not been exposed an airbending mindset for nearly two hundred years.
"It's the element of freedom. The freedom to think of any and every solution to your problem. Unlike earthbending, where you face issues head on, you look at it from every angle. You look for the trick, rather than giving up and whining when the answer isn't immediately apparent."
"Just like when you have me figure out what I did wrong?"
"Yes. You've noticed that taking down the antibender leader won't solve anything whatsoever. You see, the rebellion against bending has been built on resentment of several people, not the ambition of one. It's been a long time since a nonbender has considered his fellow bender a brother, and vice versa, and no one here seems to understand what it means to work together. As the Avatar, you're going to have to help them realize that they are not two separate entities, but two halves of a whole.
"While it may seem these metal pieces don't belong together, the puzzle wouldn't complete without them. It's up to you to find out how to fit the pieces together."
She looked down at the pieces in her hands almost reverently. "When you put it that way…" Soon, the metal's jingles echoed throughout the apartment as she started at it again. Tenzin couldn't keep a smile off his face. He could practically see her growth through the time he's spent with her. He held no doubt that she would live up to her predecessor's name.
That afternoon, Avatar Korra and her airbending teacher, Tenzin, sat together, contemplating deepily. One, her destiny. And, the other, how he was going to torture her the next morning.