(A/N: Again guys thanks for the reviews! Here we have some developments begining lol. I know that when Iroh gives the speech for the elements it's a little bit different than Anara's, but again, I wanted to tweek it slightly to fit my idea of her character XD Enjoy)

CHAPTER FOUR: The Earth Kingdom Festival

"C'mon sun, can't you just give me five more minutes to sleep in for once?"

I knew my question was in vain. The sun rose when it wanted to, and the moon took over when the sun's energy was gone, or so I was told.

I put my hair into a tie and even with it put up it still hung to the middle of my back. I left two small strands to frame my face and proceeded to tie my kimono.

I had forgotten how much of a pain it was to dress formally without someone to help you. Once I finally finished making an exquisite bow out of the obi I considered myself complete.

Despite my pale skin and eyes that usually stood out against my dark hair, the kimono disguised that, which I loved. The pale flowers made my eyes stand out, and instead of making them look different, I found that for once, I looked normal.

I looked outside the window and smiled. The sun was shining and it looked absolutely gorgeous outside, perfect weather to enjoy a festival.

I don't even think Zuko's bad mood could put me down today.

I was in a spectacular mood, which was something I hadn't experienced in many years. I walked out my door running into Iroh who had just finished closing his.

"Oops, sorry Mushi," I stated blushing a little as the old man smiled at me.

"You look beautiful Miss Rei. I'm sure Lee will be surprised to see you so dressed up."

"What a girl can't dress up once and a while? You knew I bought this yesterday!"

"That's true," Iroh replied. "But I don't think my nephew thought you would follow through with wearing it. You look like royalty."

"Haha," my sarcastic tone did not go unnoticed. "Isn't it a little early for jokes?"

"Funny, that was the same thing Lee said this morning..."

I laughed and sent him a smile.

"Have a good day at work Mushi!"

He walked away and I sighed.

Mom and Dad, please forgive me for letting the fact that Iroh killed you both die right here. I can feel the good in him, and lately I find it hard to believe he would ever hurt anyone. Then my rational side kicks in and tells me that he was a Fire Nation soldier and one of the best. Please send me some guidance.

I turned the knob to Zuko's apartment, and wasn't at all surprised to be met with the Prince giving me a scowl.

"Alright Sparky-McGrumpy-Pants, not even you can ruin my good mood today, so come on!" I grabbed his hand and tried to ignore the electricity I felt.

Ignore. Ignore. Ignore.

He seemed to be looking me over and I tried to stop the crimson color from returning to my cheeks, but my body had a mind of its own.

"You look..." he started and I raised an eyebrow. "Better than normal."

Smooth Prince, real smooth.

"Thanks I guess," I replied as we walked out of the building,

The sunlight against my skin was amazing. Working in the teashop from morning till night had put a serious damper on my ability to absorb some vitamin D.

"So what do you want to see first?" I asked and Zuko raised an eyebrow.

"Me? This is your little adventure, you get to pick."

Okay, so he was being a party-pooper, I should've expected this. We walked into the grounds, and it was amazing to see all the people who had attended. Many of them were lower ring, some middle ring members and many Dai Li guards were also among the people, but today was about fun, not worry.

"Okay Sparky, my vote is that we check out the bending demonstrations since that should be starting right away."

"Fine, and stop calling me by that stupid nickname."

"Aw, sorry Junior but that aint gonna happen!"

I laughed as he turned away from me. Why was it that boys were so childish? Oh that's right, because they mature far slower than the female population.

"Please gather round for the demonstration of the amazing ability that is earth bending."

The man's voice drew a crowd and Zuko and I grabbed seats near the front. He seemed super unhappy about my enthusiasm.

A silence fell over the crowd and a large muscled man walked out on to the stage. He slowly pulled his arms against his side, and jutted them out in a quick movement, pushing the earth towards the audience and stopping just before it hit the first row.

"He's got amazing control."

Zuko scoffed at the guy whose words obviously pissed the prince off.

The demonstrator then proceeded to make a circle like movement and then his arms struck to each side, causing a rock to be carved into the Earth Nation symbol.

I clapped and nudged Zuko to clap as well. Even if he hated this, the earth bender on stage was doing amazing.

"I don't see why we have to sit here and watch this," he practically growled out. "This is ridiculous."

"Oh calm down already, beside's I asked what you wanted to do, and you never gave me an answer, therefore we are watching this amazing bending display."

Anara-2 Zuko-0.

The man continued to manipulate the earth. Causing craters and hills, and carved the earth into people and objects. He had such control over his element and never once stuttered. He was a great performer as well, he acknowledged the people every time he shaped the earth. It was extraordinary

The man finally completed his display and the entire crowd rose to give him a standing ovation, I was included. Zuko however still wore a pout.

"That was amazing," I stated walking towards the small bridge. "He had such power!"

"That wasn't power, those were simply fancy dance moves," Zuko stated as I turned to look at him.

"What do you have against these people? Bending is an amazing talent, no matter what the element."

He seemed taken-a-back by my display, but he was now starting to take my good mood and throw it in the ocean.

"Fire is the element commanded by power," he told me as we looked into the stream. Thank god the water was here to calm me down.

"No it's not," I replied." In fact earth isn't even commanded by power. Power is something one gains from bending the elements."

"Okay know-it-all, what do you think the elements are then? If you know so much?"

"You're just angry because I called you out on something," I muttered but carried on. "The bending of Earth is not power per se, but its strength. Earth benders must be incredibly strong, yet controlled to force the earth to move at their will. Do you get it?"

"Okay, I'll bite. Who taught you this? You're Grandfather?" He asked.

I nodded and decided to continue on,

"Fire does not require strength, but draws its power from emotion. The user focuses in on something they feel, unfortunately for most fire benders, its anger. Then the user forces this emotion to come forth through the bending that they are doing.

The bending of air requires extreme concentration. For there are many particles that make up air, one must be extremely in tune with those particles to bend them in such an order to create complete air bending. One's focus must be stronger than one's determination when bending this element."

Judging from the lack of expression on Zuko's face he was either grumpy again, or actually interested, and I really hoped it was the latter.

"Then there is water. It's a changing element having many forms, so the person using its power must be able to handle change. They must be fluid and calm, but fierce and tough when they need to be. It's the most complicated of the elements."

I looked back into the pond, hating the fact that I had to keep my bending a secret for the time being. I finally understood what Mom meant about a part of me missing.

"You sound like Uncle," Zuko stated and I laughed.

"Your Uncle is very wise, so you're saying I'm wise?"

I batted my eyelashes for effect as Zuko coughed.

"To some Uncle is wise, other's question his sanity."

"Oh come off it Lee. Try and enjoy yourself please? I didn't ask you to come so that you could be a grouch about everything."

He shrugged.

"I didn't think I was being grouchy."

Obviously he's so used to acting like that, he doesn't realize when he's actually doing it.

"Ooh, look! The game booths! Let's go!"

Yanking his arm, I pulled him behind me, ignoring his protests. I was going to make this guy have fun if it was the last thing I did.

"Step right up if you think you can win!"

We walked closer to the booth...Whack a Badger Mole

"See this looks like fun!" I stated.

"Oh yeah lets attack a bunch of fake animals."

Okay, apparently he wasn't going to make my job easy.

"Sir, do you and your lady want to play?"

"She's not my lady!"

"I'm not his lady!" I declared at the same time Zuko spoke. Why did everyone assume that? "But yes we'll play."

"So the object of the game is to hit the moles, whoever whacks the most before the buzzer runs out wins!"

They were controlling the game through earth bending which was amazing. I had never been to a festival like this before, actually this was the first festival I had been too ever.

"On your mark," he declared as I raised my mallet. "GO!"

And the game began, as Zuko and I continued to slam the mallet on top of every mole we could see, and when the buzzer finally went off, the outcome was not surprising.

"You win sir!"

Zuko had hit one more than me, and seemed surprised. I smiled at him, and he smirked. Well that was close to a true smile.

"Which prize would you like?"

He pointed to a string of stuffed animals, panda-lions, ostrich-horses, armadillo-sheep, turtle-ducks.

"I'll take that one," Zuko stated pointing to the panda-lion as the man grabbed it down.

No sooner did it touch Zuko's hands, then it was being thrust into mine.

"Here, you have this," he said with no emotion.

I could feel my face heat up and shook my head.

"You won it fair and square Sparky, it's your prize."

"Gee thanks," he replied. "But I think you'd like it more than me."

I found it in my hands again, and knew that giving it back to the Prince would simply result in another argument. So I looked at it, and found that the patches around the eyes sort of reminded me of Zuko. I wonder what he would do if I started calling him Patchy?

"So what now Miss Organization?"

I smirked and pointed to another game booth.

"More Games!"

"You're such a kid," he told me as I stuck my tongue out at him. "And you just keep proving my point."

I crossed my arms over my chest and stuck my nose high in the air; I could practically feel the attitude pouring out of me.

Thirty games, a meal, and a puppet show later, we were back at the small bridge. The sun was just beginning to set, which meant the fireworks would be happening anytime.

"Lee can I ask you a question?"

We had stopped at the one side of the bridge, and I took Zuko's silence as a yes.

"Why is it that you're so angry all the time?"

The tightening of his knuckles against the wood of the bridge did not go unnoticed by me.

"If you're angry at someone or something, it's best to let it out, because exploding unnecessarily at someone, especially your Uncle will not solve the problem."

Okay here I was, the one who wanted to go and have a good time tonight, and I had to open my big mouth. Well the damage that came from this would be entirely my fault.

"You know nothing about me." He spoke each word as its own sentence.

I nodded and looked him in the eye.

"You are right, I know nothing about you. I see you as an over-emotional kid who gets mad at his uncle for things that aren't his fault simply because it's easier than facing the truth. Tell me Lee, am I anywhere near close?"

His grip loosened and I looked into his eyes, almost as though a sense of understanding flashed through them. I turned my gaze back to the sunset, the colors cooling my emotions.

"I know I really have no authority to say anything about you because, -well, you said it yourself, I know nothing about you, but for some reason, I think I can understand why you're angry, Like Mushi, we can forgive you for the way you act, because deep down, we'd act the same if we endured the same thing you did."

I tried to make my reasoning as vague as possible, since he still didn't know that I had figured out who they were.

"You're far too understanding," Zuko muttered.

I sent him a big toothy grin. "Nah, I just have a tendency to see the good in people."

And for the first time in the last three days, Zuko smiled back at me. Even if it was a small soft smile, it was still a smile.

"Woah Sparky! That was like a full-blown smile! You should do that more often, it suits you!"

Zuko scowled and I laughed, so much for that lasting. I was caught off guard as a loud bang erupted through the sky.

"Look Lee! The fireworks are starting!"

This was the first time I had ever watched the fireworks. As a kid, I didn't get out much, so I guess moving to Ba Sing Se served more than the purpose of finding the Avatar; it allowed me to relive the childhood I never got.

"They're so beautiful!"

"Amazing," Zuko stated.

Maybe he didn't start off happy, but I was pretty sure I had broken through some of his anger tonight, and that was more than I was expecting to accomplish. I knew that deep down Zuko was a good person, and believed that he just needed to hear it more from the people who cared about him.

Whoa, since when do I care about Zuko?

Ever since I learned about him, his past, his reasons for why he is the way he is. I did have a tendency to try and make people feel better, but something told me this went further than that, this wasn't a feeling I could brush off as nothing.

Why could nothing ever be easy for me?

(A/N: Let me know what you think ;) )