Blaize laid down beside Mavi, watching her breath evenly.
"I know you're watching me," Mavi muttered. She rolled over to face Blaize, who smiled brightly at her accusing face.
"I was just wondering, maybe we could start teaching Elena firebending?" Blaize suggested as he began messing with Mavi's dark hair. It was still slightly wet from being washed.
"What about Charisse and the earthbending stuff?" Mavi asked. She scooted closer to Blaize, pressing her small body against his warm figure.
"I dunno, I mean, we don't even know if Charisse will accept her yet, and I don't know if... I just, maybe..." Blaize stuttered as Mavi's blue eyes pierced his soul.
"Why don't we ask her tomorrow?" Mavi suggested with a twinkle in her eye. Blaize smiled and nodded. "Now go to sleep, you dimwit." Mavi buried her head into Blaize's chest, and within a few seconds, she was breathing evenly again, asleep. Blaize hugged her sleeping figure and closed his eyes.
When Blaize woke up, he was splayed out across the floor of his tent, a blanket pushed to his side. Mavi wasn't anywhere in sight. Blaize stretched and sat up, feeling slightly sick, with a sore throat and a stuffy nose. He guessed he was feeling sick because he went to sleep with wet hair. He didn't feel like changing, so he just walked out in his pajamas. The sunlight from early morning blinded him.
In the middle of the clearing, he saw Mavi standing next to Elena, whose new hairstyle looked much better than before. Mavi must be explaining the concept of firebending. Blaize walked up to the two girls, the slightly dewy grass crunching under his bare feet.
"... And firebenders are full of power, they use force and go on the offense," Mavi explained as Blaize neared the two.
"Truth is, they don't know much defensive moves," Blaize admitted. Mavi looked at his clothes and sighed.
"So firebending is kind of the opposite of airbending in terms of moves and personality," Elena guessed. She looked slightly defeated. She probably felt like firebending would be the hardest to learn.
"Firebending isn't all that hard, you just need a purpose and a will to do it," Blaize said encouragingly.
"And you have to remember that fire is not a source of death and destruction, it is actually a symbol of life." Mavi pointed to the sun that was shining its fiery rays on the earth, warming everyone up, providing life to the plants. Blaize silently thought to himself that fire was indeed a source of death and destruction if a firebender chose to make it so, but he kept that to himself. Elena had enough self doubt as it is, she didn't need Blaize to add any more. Besides, Mavi would kill him if he said that.
"Fire in its natural state is uncontrollable, so it will take a very strong will to control your fire," Blaize said solemnly.
"So, uh, let's start with the basics! Control the fire that we make," Mavi suggested. She went over to the campfire that Sao had put out last night. She lit it on fire, on blue fire, and it flickered slightly. Blaize and Mavi both stood close by, ready to intervene if something should go wrong. Fire had a life of its own, and unlike any other element, things could get out of hand very quickly.
"Just make the fire bigger and smaller," Blaize suggested as Elena stood there with blank eyes. She nodded nervously and put her hands out near the fire, as if she was trying to warm them.
"Don't get too close to the fire though," Mavi advised. Elena backed up slightly and closed her eyes. Her thin eyebrows furrowed in concentration, but the fire flickered as always, unchanged by Elena's attempts to firebend.
"You have to want to bend it," Blaize said as Elena's efforts faltered. She nodded, her eyes still closed. She tried again, with no results as well.
"I give up!" Elena growled after several more minutes of intense concentration. Fury lit up her eyes, making her look like a goddess. She shot out a small spurt of orange fire that dissipated in the air, and Elena's anger melted away as she stared at her hand in amazement.
"That was great, but I don't think you should base your firebending off of anger," Mavi smiled, looking like a proud parent. Elena nodded enthusiastically, her hope restored in her firebending abilities.
"Wait, Mavi, let's try something else," Blaize went off into the clearing, searching for a leaf. "Remember when we did this so long ago?" Blaize asked as he brought back a rather large leaf. Memories sparked in Mavi's eyes and she nodded enthusiastically.
"Right so, we set this on fire in the center, and you have to maintain the fire so that it doesn't touch the edges of the leaf," Mavi explained. Blaize touched the center of the leaf and it burst into a small white flame, then it began slowly eating away at the edge of the green leaf. Blaize placed his fingers on the edge of the leaf and controlled the fire so that it stayed in a small circle at the center of the leaf.
"Cool," Elena smiled, taking the leaf from Blaize. The two watched intently as Elena struggled with the flame. After a few minutes, Elena got it stabilized, the flame lighting up her eyes, making them look white.
Blaize's attention began to waver, and he lost interest in Elena and her flaming leaf. Mer and Sao were splashing around in the river that Elena had made, obviously attempting and failing at learning healing. Sorella and Maria were talking to each other as they sat on the grass near Theo, making some sort of crafts while Momo flew lazily around their heads, playing with Theo. Katelynn was doing her morning warm-ups that she had slightly neglected ever since Blaize's accident.
"This is getting boring," Elena complained. She was slouching over, staring at her leaf.
"I agree," Blaize piped up with a bright smile. Mavi snorted and turned to glare at Blaize, but her eyes suddenly widened in shock. Elena looked up and gasped, dropping the leaf. The flame was put out on the way down, so nothing actually caught on fire.
"Holy shit," Mavi murmured.
"What?" Blaize asked awkwardly.
"Look!" Elena shouted. She bended a blob of water out of her waterskin that she always kept at her side and flattened it out into a little translucent pane. Blaize looked into it, assuming it was supposed to function like a mirror. He saw a wavery reflection of himself with pale skin and wild hair.
"What?" Blaize muttered. He stared into the water, seeing nothing.
"Turn your head to the left," Mavi said. Blaize slightly turned his head, and his hair caught the light. There was a sort of silvery white streak of hair along one side of his head, standing out from the rest of his red hair.
"I think that's an effect from the Hylocereus Flower," Elena whispered.
"I look fucking stupid!" Blaize wailed, stroking his hair. Mavi snorted and punched his arm lightly.
"Katelynn to the rescue!" Katelynn cartwheeled over to the three, holding her new hair styling kit in her hand. She pulled out some hair dye exactly the same shade as Blaize's hair and made a mixture within a few seconds.
Where did the dye come from? Blaize asked Dune as he and Lux neared.
No idea, Dune shrugged, his broad shoulders moving up and down. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Momo fly onto Elena's shoulder with Maria and Sorella following closely. Mer and Sao climbed out of the stream, dripping water everywhere, and joined. Everyone, even Theo and Eau, crowded around Blaize as Katelynn began rubbing the reddish brown mixture from her bowl into Blaize's hair.
"Now we just wait a few more minutes and his hair will be red again, guaranteed!" Katelynn announced. She washed out her bowl in the stream, and everyone watched as, after a few minutes, Katelynn shoved Blaize's head into the water. He saw the red washing out of his hair, making it look as if he was bleeding into the stream. Soon the water ran clear, and Katelynn helped Blaize raise his wet hair back out of the water.
"Did it work?" Blaize asked as he ran a towel through his hair.
"Impossible! What is this bullshit?" Katelynn growled. She brushed out Blaize's hair, and everyone began laughing. The white streak was obviously still there.
"Damn it," Blaize muttered. "Don't look at me!" Blaize wailed, pretending to faint.
"What, are you saying white hair is a bad thing?" Mer shouted indignantly.
"Uh, no, your highness, don't hurt me!" Blaize laughed.
"Foolish peasant," Mer teased.
"Your clothes are wet," Elena said.
"Great, an excuse to have him change into normal clothes, thank you!" Mavi laughed. She helped Blaize up and pushed him into their tent. "I think this streak is great, it reminds you of how you were saved from death by a flower," Mavi teased as Blaize pulled on a clean shirt.
"Yay, I love flowers," Blaize muttered. He shook some water out of his hair, making Mavi let out an affronted shriek. They laughed and walked back out of the tent together, discussing some other ways they could help Elena learn how to firebend.
"This is obviously going to be the element Elena has the most trouble with," Mavi murmured as she watched Elena laughing and playing with Momo.
"She's too passive and calm. She needs some kind of drive that will push her into firebending," Blaize nodded. Maybe they could make her angry? Her anger was the main thing that had helped her firebend.
Firebending is not based off of emotions, Dune butted in, once again spying on Blaize's thoughts.
But it seems like the only way to teach her how, Blaize reasoned.
If she starts off the wrong way she will have a bad habit that will be impossible to break, Dune retorted.
"What's Dune saying?" Mavi asked. She could obviously tell that Blaize was talking to his dragon.
"He's saying that even if Elena's only way to learn firebending is by using her anger, she shouldn't do it at all because it's a bad habit and it's not the true meaning of firebending." Mavi nodded, seeing reason in Dune's words.
"Do you think we should keep trying?" Mavi asked doubtfully.
"Ask Lux," Blaize suggested with a smile. Her eyes glazed over as she began communicating with her phoenix. They both sat down in the shade of their favorite oak tree, the one where Blaize had carved "Blaize + Mavi" inside a heart on its bark.
"She said it was up to us," Mavi sighed. Blaize glared at the phoenix across the clearing for a second, then looked back at Mavi.
"We'll be here even if Elena needs to learn earthbending first," Blaize said quietly. Mavi nodded. She walked up to Elena with Blaize following close behind.
"So you're not exactly good at firebending," Mavi said awkwardly. Elena sighed, disappointed, but she agreed.
"So maybe you should seize the moment and take earthbending classes instead," Blaize said. Elena looked at him, her eyes resting on the white streak in his hair for a second.
"Why not both? I can balance it, take earthbending classes in the morning and then come back and practice firebending," Elena offered.
"Great idea, but are you sure you can handle it?" Mavi asked. She sounded like such a concerned mother, it made Blaize's heart warm up. Elena nodded enthusiastically.
"I've got it under control."