SOOOO. Here we go again!

Chapter Four

"Again!"

Senna sighed and reset her stance. She'd actually been looking forward to her waterbending training on the way back– only a tiny bit, mind you– until she remembered exactly how much trouble it gave her.

Her teacher appraised her from about fifteen feet away. A middle-aged woman with prematurely gray hair, Kida was one of the most skilled waterbenders in the Northern Water Tribe. She was also the only waterbender who had the patience to teach Senna, probably the most hot-headed student to come to the tribe.

She lifted a ball of water, then sent it flying towards Senna. The younger girl gritted her teeth, but managed to divert it to the side. She sent it flowing in a circle around her, then back at Kida, who diverted it away to the snow.

Kida shook her head. "Again," she said. "You're using firebending moves. Don't focus so much on power. Let it flow."

Senna sighed frustratedly. "I can't help it," she complained. "My airbending training slips into my waterbending all the time, too, you know."

"Yes, but airbending and waterbending are compatible. Both deal with change and flow. You, of all people, should know that firebending and waterbending are complete opposites."

Senna sighed again, more resigned this time. They went through the exercise again, and this time Senna concentrated more on trying to let the water flow, rather than pushing it.

"Good!" Kida called out, catching the water and sending it back towards Senna. They moved the water in figure eights around the two of them for a few minutes.

"Now use it for offense," Kida told her. She gathered more water and sent it all flying at Senna in a wave.

"Oh, crap," Senna had time to say before the wave was almost upon her. She sent it flying above her, but lost control right when it was over her head. It all came crashing down on her, soaking through her already-wet coat. She glared at Soro, who was trying hard not to laugh.

More laughing, not from Soro, rang out behind her. She whirled around to see some of Kida's other students laughing their heads off as they watched. Her eyes narrowed, and she sent heat coursing through her clothing, evaporating the water. The steam rising off of her had a very intimidating look about it. "I'm sorry, did you want something?" she asked with false courtesy, anger tingeing the edge of her voice.

"I'm sorry," the one who looked to be the leader of the posse said as the other two cackled, an ugly sound that made Senna's hackles rise. "It's just that you're supposed to be the Avatar and all, and you can't even master basic bending moves."

Soro saw Senna's eyes harden into an icy glare that had been known to send small children running away crying, and tried to silently warn the offender to back off.

"Arok!" Kida said sharply. "I cannot believe how disrespectful you're being! Apologize!"

"No, it's alright, Master," Senna said, her eyes never leaving Arok. "I've been waiting for someone to lip off to me the whole time I've been here." She walked forward until she was standing mere inches away from the young man– who was actually two years younger than her– and despite her shorter-than-average height, her anger made her seem far bigger. "So, you think you're a better bender, do you?" she asked, a dangerous note in her voice.

"If you can't even master the basics after months of training, I think that much is clear," he said arrogantly.

She smiled grimly, her eyes flat and cold. "Then let's prove it," she challenged him. "You and me, fighting in our natural elements. Fire versus water."

Uncertainty crossed his face for a moment, as the enormity of challenging the Avatar to a contest of strength seemed to become clear to him only then. But it was only for a minute, and the overconfident grin was back in seconds. "Fine," he agreed.

Senna's smile grew, and she began pulling off her outer layers of clothing. Arok looked at her like she was crazy. "What are you doing?" he asked.

"Getting ready," she replied, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Might as well get this over with now."

"You'll freeze!"

"Oh, trust me," she assured him, a wolfish smile on her face, "it'll be plenty warm."

Arok was beginning to look nervous, but moved to the other end of the training arena.

"Oh, I wasn't planning on doing it here," she told him. "Buildings made of ice are so easily melted."

He swallowed, but followed her to a more open space, where they both settled into a fighting stance.

"You first, Avatar," he said, a mocking tone still in his voice, despite the fact that his expression told her that he was no longer so sure he'd win the fight.

She grinned wickedly, then ran forward and jumped into a spinning kick, sending out a ring of fire at him. He raised a wall of snow to stop it, but no sooner had the steam cleared then she was shooting off fireball after fireball relentlessly. He had to quickly become more and more creative to fend off her blows.

People from the tribe were beginning to gather to watch, although they remained at a safe distance. Senna usually practiced her firebending and airbending in private, so few had ever seen her in action. Their expressions showed that they were clearly awed by her prowess.

Kida moved over to stand by Soro, her husband, Chief Nekoda, following beside her. Kida looked less surprised than the rest, more impressed. "I knew she was a good bender," she told Soro, "but she's struggled so much with waterbending that it was never particularly clear."

"She's a firebending prodigy," he informed her. "Fire Lord Suzuran herself taught her, alongside her siblings. I've never seen anyone come so easily to it. We also had some…special teachers."

Kida raised an eyebrow at this comment, but said nothing, instead watching the fight, which was growing more and more frenzied. Arok was barely holding his own against Senna, who rather seemed to be enjoying herself. She flowed through move after move, form after form, finally in her element once again. He melted a huge chunk of snow from a hillside and sent it rushing towards her; she shot a jet of fire from her hand and evaporated it all, as if it was simply child's play. His inadequacy becoming clearer and clearer to him, Arok was growing angry, moving faster and sloppier. A feral grin spread across Senna's face as she realized this. Time to end this, she thought, and, breathing in deep, she let out a roaring breath of fire that billowed into a wall of flame. She sent it raging into the snow between her and Arok, evaporating the snow and creating clouds of steam. Her visibility was abruptly taken away, but so was Arok's.

Arok whipped around, trapped in a fog. He blew it away from him, it being only vaporized water, but as the steam around him cleared away, he was greeted by the sight of Senna rushing at him, yelling a battle cry. Moving faster than he could follow, she sunk her elbow into his stomach, then knocked his chin up as he buckled over. He stumbled backwards, and she swept her leg around, kicking his legs out from underneath him. He fell back onto the snow with a thud, and Senna lunged forward, one hand stopping just short of chopping into his throat as the other sat chambered against her chest, ready to lash out with a blow of fire.

Both were breathing hard; Arok, flat on his back as the snow melted and seeped into his clothes, was exhausted. Shame was written all over his face, along with a newfound respect for Senna's abilities. The people of the tribe were shocked and awed. Senna's difficulties with waterbending were well-known; despite the fact that she was the Avatar, few had guessed that she was that skilled a bender.

Senna said nothing to Arok. Nothing needed to be said; to say anything, in fact, would be heading towards humiliation, and that was something she would not do. She wordlessly held out a hand and helped him to his feet. Soro came over, the first one brave enough to do so, and handed over her coat and jacket, which she took gratefully; now that the battle was over, she was getting cold again, especially as the chilly air blew across her sweaty, damp clothes and skin. People parted as she walked past, some giving her looks bordering on reverent. Before, she had always just been Senna to them, the girl who couldn't master waterbending; after that spectacle, though, she was, and always would be, the Avatar.

Senna closed her eyes and took a deep breath in, mentally centering herself. She let it out and opened her eyes. She lifted her hands, concentrating on lifting the water in the bowl in front of her. It obediently rose into the air with nary a wobble, to her delight. She sent it circling around her, then had it stretch out in the air into a long whip. She lifted her hand above her head, then brought it down in a slicing motion, hoping that this might finally work.

The water whipped in the direction of her hand, racing in a diagonal slash before circling back around her to hover by her hand, back near her shoulder. She grinned. Three and a half months ago, she'd barely been able to lift the water. Now, it did what she wanted it do.

Kida watched with approval as her student moved through several other forms. Senna lacked the natural ease of some of her other pupils, but the knowledge and, more importantly, the confidence were there.

"I think I've seen enough," she said, stopping Senna. "You've proven that you have the basics down, and that you've moved on to a few more difficult moves. You're not as smooth as some of my other students, but that will come with time. I've taught you all I can."

Senna looked at her teacher in surprise. "What do you mean?" she asked apprehensively.

"I mean that it's time you moved on. I was always planning on this happening. You'll finish your training in the Southern Water Tribe. It won't do you any harm to learn different styles of bending, and the waterbending instructor I'm thinking of is the perfect person to perfect your training."

"And that is…?"

"Minh. She's the best waterbender in the South Pole. She's also a distant cousin of yours, if I'm correct. You'll do well with her."

Senna brightened, then her expression clouded. "I suppose that means we'll have to get on the ship again," she muttered.

Kida laughed. "Unless you can fly to the Southern Water Tribe."

Senna sighed, rubbing the back of her neck. "Oh, well. I suppose there's nothing I can do about it." She turned and bowed to Kida. "Thank you, Master, for all of your training, and especially for all of your patience. I can't have been the easiest student, and I am eternally grateful that you kept believing in me. I promise, I will make you proud."

Kida's eyes shone. "I'm sure you will." She walked over and placed her hands on Senna's shoulders. "In all the time that you've been here in the Northern Water Tribe, I feel like you've become like my own child. It won't take you long to master waterbending, and you'll take to earthbending with ease– you've got the right temperament. You'll become a great Avatar someday, Senna, I know you will."

Senna's heart swelled with the emotionalism of the conversation. "Thank you, Master." She grabbed Kida into an impromptu hug, which Kida gladly returned.

Senna kept waving until the people of the Northern Water Tribe who had gathered to see her off faded out of sight. She sighed.

"Don't tell me you already miss it," Soro jokingly complained. "Besides, it's not like the South Pole is any warmer. You can stay in all the igloos you like there too, I suspect."

"They don't live in igloos in the South Pole," Senna mused absentmindedly. She shook herself out of whatever reverie she'd been in. "And you'd miss them if you'd lived with them for almost two years, too."

"Well, I've got the perfect way for you to drown your sorrows," Soro told her. Catching on to his meaning, she groaned and rolled her eyes.

"Hey, no time like the present to practice," he reminded her. "We wouldn't want you getting rusty, now would we? So which shall we do first, water, air, or fire?"

In answer, Senna lifted a small wave out of the water and sent it crashing down on Soro, soaking him thoroughly as she laughed. Seeing him attempt to wring out his clothes only made her laugh harder.

I hope I'm not doing too badly with the characterizations. I'm trying to make it seem like Senna isn't learning the elements super fast, though when I think about it, she kind of is. (But then again, Aang became a fully-realized Avatar in less than a year, so go figure.) I had to find something to trip her up so that she wasn't all Mary Sue-ish and a god character who can do anything, and since she's naturally a firebender, waterbending seemed like the perfect solution. But please tell me if you think I'm going about this story in the wrong way. Not that anyone actually reads this story, which brings up why I'm even writing these author's notes. I'm basically talking to myself. (Uh oh.) But I really want to post this story anyways, and I've decided that I won't be one of those writers who depends on reviews to write. I write for my own pleasure, and if other people like my work, that's great too. I think that's the best way to go about it. It kind of annoys me when writers threaten to halt or discontinue a story if they don't get X number of reviews, because then what happens to the rest of us who do read the story? It shouldn't matter how many people read your stories. If you want to write them, then write; if you don't, then don't. It's simple. But I digress.

REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW (Oh, look at me. I'm such a hypocrite. Here I am talking about how it doesn't matter if people read your story, then I go begging for reviews. ^^; )

Cheers,

~RAH