Tyro took a low, steady stance and pushed his arms straight out. Deep creases of concentration covered his face, and his arms started shaking. All the rocks around the plateau sank into the ground, and as if the earth was liquid, all the holes and chasms were covered. When he finished, the plateau looked like no one ever earthbent here.

Lee, meanwhile, took a sip of his water, as if this was common occurrence. Which for him probably was.

"You can start," Tyro said.

I took a stance like the one the Blind Bandit did. Across the arena, Lee lowered his body until his fingertips touched the ground on either side of his front foot.

And then he charged.

Lee was sprinting towards me.

I made a slicing motion, creating a chasm in his way, but before it could become wide enough to give him a hard time, he was over it.

I tried again, this time farther ahead of him, but now it was in his line of sight and he went over it easily.

He was closing in now, and my main strategy proved to be useless.

Back to basics now. I stomped hard, raising a rock the size of my head from the ground to become my ammo, and then I punched as if through my opponent's head.

The rock flew at him, but by the time I finished my punch he had already ducked right and dodged the incoming projectile. He was close now; I barely had enough time for one last try before he reached me and did spirits-know-what.

I stomped even harder now, raising a rock the size of my torso, blocking my view from him. In hindsight, I don't know if seeing him I would've known what to do.

He ran under the rock and grabbed my leg, and before I knew what happened I was on the ground and he sat on my stomach, threatening to beat me to a pulp.

His smile was gone, replaced by a face of determination and ultimate concentration. Until I yielded, that is, and the smile returned.

He got up off me and helped me up. "You need to do a lot better to beat me," he said.

"Let's try again then," I replied.

We stood again on opposite sides of the arena, me in a traditional fighting stance now, and him prepared to sprint.

This time I knew what wouldn't work, and I could only hope he won't change tactics.

When he took off, I threw an uppercut, shooting a pillar of stone underneath him, but I mistimed it and he ran over it.

I remembered the advice Tyro gave him – if he used the pillar as a boost to jump, he can't dodge me in mid-air.

I threw another uppercut, this time a little more forward, but by the time he reached the pillar it was tall enough for him to vault over it.

A third try, this time I had the timing right, a little pillar poked from the ground, just where his foot was set to step. There is no way he'll miss the opportunity to use my attack against me. But when his foot finally set down, it was on solid ground, he dodged right and continued his sprint towards me.

I had one last gambit to try before he reached me. I stomped, raising a stone the size of my head, blocking my view of him, but not blocking his view of me. I threw a right feint, and then a left hook. If he had dodged right, like the last two times I almost hit him straight on, this attack would definitely hit him straight on.

As the rock grew smaller, I saw his body, first his hands, then his head, then the rest of him. He was on all fours, crawling under the rock that, if he hadn't ducked, would've hit him head-on.

While I was admiring him and patting myself on the back, he tackled me, smashing his shoulder into my stomach.

Agh that hurts. Be an unmoving rock, don't let him move you. Feet firm on the ground, ignore the pain. I am a rock. The pain is starting to subside.

A leg swiped my ankle forward and I fell hard on my back, his hand was on the back of my neck saving me from smashing my head into the hard ground.

A few seconds must have passed, because my stomach no longer hurts.

He's on top of me, his knees on either side of my stomach supporting him so he doesn't have to sit on me, his fist raised the same as before, telling me I shouldn't attempt to move.

I tried to crawl backwards through the gap between his legs. In the moment it took my chest to be underneath him instead of my stomach, his palm fist opened and his palm struck my forehead, shoving my head into the ground.

He sat on my stomach, a clear message that he was going easy on me and I shouldn't try again.

I don't know how long he sat on me, but I could barely breath and could barely think.

When I yielded, he said "You should ask Tyro for advice."

I waited for him to set the arena again and asked him, "Do you have any pointers, what to do, or something like that?"

"The first key to earthbending neutral jing," Tyro said, "waiting and listening before you strike. The second key to earthbending is defense, you cannot fight if you're taken down." He took a low and wide stance and held his hands like he was holding the sky at neck height. When he pushed upwards, a wall formed in front of him, twice my height in length and thrice my height in width.

I thanked him and invited Lee to a third match. He jogged to his position opposite mine on the arena and took his stance.

I stared at him intensely, and after what felt like ages, he charged me again.

Quickly I formed a wall just in front of me and listened to his footsteps. A rising thump sounding every moment, sounding sharp against the quiet and continuous sound of the wind. He's halfway there, five feet away, one foot away from the wall.

I punched both sides, shooting diagonal pillars from the ground, that if I timed right and picked the correct height, would hit his face straight on no matter what side he came from.

Halfway through the motion I realized something. He was too close to the wall to make a turn, if he had turned, I'd have heard it beforehand. Even though the sound of the pillars scraping across the ground they're pushed out of was too loud for me to hear him, I knew where his footfalls would come from now.

I looked up and there he was, jumping over me.

I turned around and felt two quick jabs hit my arm, one in the nook of my elbow, the other in my armpit. That arm suddenly went slack, like a large noodle extending from my shoulder. I tried using my other arm, but his precise jabs took it out of the fight as well.

He stood there, looked at the two pillars protruding from the ground, smiled, and said, "You could've taken my head off with these."

I look at his chest, heavily rising and falling. He was wearing a façade, a nonchalant act meant to disguise his exhaustion. By acting like the spar was over, he made it over, but it wasn't. I still had two more limbs.

I kicked him. Or at least tried to. My foot barely scratched his shoulder and probably hurt him a little, but I was hurt much more by crashing face first into the earth, due to my arms not working and providing balance.

The pain, which I expected would cover every inch of my face, only felt like my palm after slapping someone. I took a deep breath through my not-broken nose, but instead of air it was filled with sand.

I try to get up but my arms don't work. I try breathing again but there's no air. My chest hurts. I open my eyes but all I see is sand. I try to call Lee but all I get is a mouthful of sand. Is this how I die?

All I can hear is my teeth grinding the sand. My chest keeps compressing. It feels like I will die any second and yet it feels like ages. As my chest compresses what feels like the final inch, I can hear another noise besides my teeth being ground down.

I'm flung into a standing position. I inhale the ambrosia called air, not caring about all the sand that comes with it. My chest fills again and only residues of the pain I felt a moment ago remain. I spit and exhale, spit and exhale, spit and exhale, removing every bit of residue of sand out of my orifices.

Tyro is here and he hands me water. I reach up to take it but my hands aren't there. oh right. He waters me and I am becoming rejuvenated. The cold water turns the desert that is my mouth into an oasis.

"That's enough for today, don't you think?" Lee said.

He was right, of course. My arms weren't working and it was almost dark. But I also wanted to know what he did to me. "Wait! Before you go, do you want to compare notes?" I asked him, pointing towards the cliff, "I saw some nice rocks over there to sit on."

"Sure," he said, "why not."

When we sat on the faux chairs by the cliff, I asked him, "how did you do the arm thing?"

"It's called chi-blocking," he said, "you hit some points on the body and they suddenly can't move or bend. That's what I'm told, at least. I only know that one move, and it's easy to avoid if you expect it. I wanna learn more but I don't think anyone around here can chi block."

"hm," I said. "Where did you learn it?"

"Back home, I saw someone do it, and just practiced on my friends all day long."

"You're not from around here, huh?" I asked.

"No. I'm just staying with my uncle for a while."

"Are you, um, are you planning on staying here indefinitely?"

"I don't know yet," he answered. He looked at the view. The hills to the west cast a shadow over the city, drawing our eyes up towards the peach-colored clouds floating together in the middle of the clear-blue sky. This image stood clear as day in the reflection in his eyes, surrounded by wrinkles of a perpetual smile, surrounded by a tan acquired through long hours outside, surrounded by messy hair on top and a wide smile on the bottom.

He turned to me and asked, "wanna know the secret to avoiding a tackle?"

"Uh-huh."

"When I go for your legs," he said, "move your legs backwards and drop all your weight on me."

"Why'd you tell me that?"

"Maybe I wanted to give you a chance." He flashed me a smile.

I learned two things: One, how to maybe best him. Two, a smile could always grow wider.

"How are your arms?" He asked me.

I looked down and checked. They moved, but only a little, enough for a shrug.

"That's nice," he said, and looked to the sunset again.

I followed his gaze. The hills in the distance were only a silhouette, but isn't a silhouette sometimes enough? A light gray with specks and lines in slightly different shades, signifying large rocks or roads or maybe travelers. Maybe a great earthbender created them long ago, or perhaps they were nature's own design, but either way I'm glad I can watch them now.

Tyro called us to go, and my arms were still barely functional so I needed all the help I could get.

"Will I see you, um as in, you two, here at the same time tomorrow?" I asked Lee when we were headed back.

"Yeah," he answered, "sure."

"Good morning, Jin." "Good morning, Li."

"Good morning, Geo." "Good morning, Li."

…

"Good morning, Kazu." "Good afternoon, Li."

It's afternoon. I rush to grab some water and off east, to the same spot as yesterday.

When I arrive and see Lee and Tyro waiting for me, I smile a little, because I feel like today I can win.