Kelaya was excited inside, but looked totally calm on the outside. She loved going to bender claiming as she called it. It was whenever a new bender came to HQ. She led the way to the special arena used for this. She did not tell Nick too much, but enough that he needed to know.
She had told him, "We are going somewhere vitally important to the rest of your stay here."
She could tell he was curious. They stopped at a door.
Kelaya told Nick, "Wait here."
Then, she disappeared inside the room. After a while, Kelaya came back out and told him he could come in now.
Nick followed her, a little apprehensive of what would happen. When they reached the bottom of the stairs, Kelaya disappeared through a curtain. Nick was stunned with what was on the other side of the curtain. It was a dimly lit room with cement floor and walls. At one side of the room was a table filled with five elderly men. Kelaya joined the men at the table and gave Nick a thumbs-up. He grimaced and stepped into the middle of the room.
One of the elders stood and said, "Begin."
He sat back down, and a high powered fireball shot toward Nick. The elders looked disappointed as his clothes became singed. Next, a shot of gale-force wind blasted him near to the other side of the room. Kelaya's smile slightly started to fade. A hard stream of water came upon Nick, and he was doused completely. Kelaya looked worried now. Finally, a rock catapulted toward him. Nick's senses reached out and he stopped the rock before it hit him. The rock then dissolved into sand.
The elders all stood up and announced, "Welcome, Nicholas, earthbender."
Then they all bowed to him. Kelaya looked happy. She left the table and walked over to him. He was breathing hard and was soaked. Kelaya bended the water out of his clothes for him. Then, they left the arena.
Nick caught up with Jay a few hours later.
Jay asked, "How did it go?"
Nick told him what had happened.
Jay smiled knowingly and said, "Get used to it, my friend. That will happen loads of times."
As Jay went to the bathroom to shower, Nick was left to ponder his thoughts. One person that could help him do that was Kelaya. He went upstairs and knocked on her door. Upon receiving no answer, he left to go find her. He found her in the dining room having a talk with several guys. She saw him, excused herself, and crossed the room to where he was. She went out in front of him and took the lead to the front porch. She sat down on the swing and motioned him to sit next to her.
Before he could get any words out, he heard a voice in his head, saying, Why are you upset? What' s wrong?
He looked stunned, unaware that she could talk telepathically. She repeated the question aloud and looked genuinely concerned.
He was scared to sound like a whiner, but he said anyways, "I'm scared. I don't belong here. You guys are all so amazing with your bending and stuff, and, well, I'm just mortal. I don't understand anything of what's going on at all."
She smiled, laughed to herself, and replied, "It's okay to be scared. I was scared too when I first arrived. You'll learn to control your bending. Obviously, you are not mortal. You stopped that rock from crushing you. You're a bender. It's in your blood. Besides today, have you ever felt like the earth was a part of you?"
He recalled that he had felt closer to the earth.
She told him, "See? That wasn't the case for me. The elders couldn't tell which element I was. I was only ten. You're lucky you came at this time. The age sixteen is when your powers start to hone."
With that, she left him to ponder his thoughts and went upstairs to bed.
Sometime later, Nick returned to his room. He was not surprised to see Jay sitting on his bed. He gave Nick a questioning look, but Nick turned away and undressed. Immediately after dressing in pajamas, he climbed the ladder to his bunk. He turned to his side, so Jay would not see him crying himself to sleep.
Jay heard the noise. It was coming from the top bunk. He knew without a doubt that Nick was crying, for he himself had done the same sleeping here on his first night. Then came the letter about the accident that had taken place. His whole family had been killed. His neighbor had said that it was because of a fire. No one could tell how the fire was caused. But Jay knew how it had started. His father had gotten mad and set everything he touched on fire. For weeks, Jay had been distant and dreary. Then came the day he met Kelaya. She was his light in pitch darkness, the one who was always there. He cried all the time when two of them were together, and she would just hold him close. She did not apologize, but she told him it would be alright. Shortly afterwards, he started to fall for her. He knew, however, that she would never see him the way he saw and fantasized about her. He wanted her as his own, but he knew that Kelaya would not feel the same. So, Jay dismissed the crush and toughened up. He became a powerful firebender, and met a sweet girl. Now at nineteen, he was getting ready to leave for college in the fall. He hoped his girlfriend would go with him. He knew that he had to be careful about his firebending. He did not want something like what happened to his family to happen to someone else.