Yet another thanks to my army of betas, Elvira and Alena.
Also, thanks to anyone who read the previous chapters, and especially those who reviewed. I'm sorry I didn't get to thank each of you personally, as this is incredibly important to me.
"I want to see Lake Yogan next," P'li exclaimed, pointing a painted fingernail at their map.
"Are you crazy? Look at the terrain on this thing, it'll take us days to make that climb," Ghazan objected. He loved nature, but hiking for this long uphill just to see a lake wasn't worth the effort.
"Didn't you say you were some sort of earthbender?" She smiled mischievously.
"I might have said that at some point," he frowned, guessing where this is going.
"Then bend us up there!"
"No way. I'm not going to work my ass off bending you up a freakin' mountain like some sort of human elevator while the three of you laze around and do nothing. Go find some other slave."
"That's a great idea," Zaheer smiled, completely ignoring his words. "It could be a great training opportunity, and with bending we could arrive in a matter of hours. I've heard it's beautiful there that time of year."
"Ming Hua, help me out here," Ghazan looked at her hopefully.
"Maybe we could take a vote," she offered. "All in favor of Ghazan slaving away so we could see a lake?"
He was outnumbered three to one.
It was the most tiring day of his life. He's never done such intense bending for so long. That mountain was way too high, and watching his friends rest, laugh or give him directions on their makeshift elevator wasn't very helpful, either, but they managed to arrive by sunset.
As he finally set his eyes on Lake Yogan, he could understand why they wanted to visit there so badly. It was the most beautiful and dangerous display of nature he's ever seen. Underneath the mountain was a crater which contained this highly unusual lake.
A lake of lava.
It was comprised of basalt, mostly, but between the cracks he could see the bright red glow of hot molten rock.
There was something strange about it. Perhaps it was some side effect from excessive bending, but when he looked at it, he could sense it, as if the vast pool was calling to him.
Well, it was some sort of earth, after all. Was there any chance he could – he stopped himself from developing false hopes. Lavabending. That's just silly.
He still had to try.
When everyone fell asleep, he returned to the top of the mountain and focused on the raw lava far beneath him, channeling his energy to make it move.
Nothing happened.
In fact, nothing happened for a very long time, no matter how hard he tried, how he moved or what he focused on.
"You know what helped me get my bending in order?"
He was nearly startled to death as he heard Ming Hua behind him. Sneaking up on him was nearly impossible, but he was too distracted to notice anything. He calmed his breaths and turned to face her.
"How long have you been here?" He scowled. Trying all these useless bending moves must have made him look like a complete idiot.
"A while," she half-smiled. "Try anger."
"Have we met? I don't get angry. Ever."
"You're so full of it. Not showing your anger doesn't mean you don't have any," she approached him, looking him straight in the eye. "You're furious with your sister."
"No, I just don't care about her at all," he grunted.
"Who are you kidding? She betrayed you, abandoned you, there was no doubt you were her last priority. Did she even care about not seeing you ever again or has she just waved you off? It must have hurt that she chose her boyfriend over you, and pretty easily, too – "
"Shut up," he clenched his fists. "She wasn't always like that, she used to be a great sister."
"Right, until she wasn't. What exactly made her give up on you?"
"I can see right through you, I know what you're doing and it's not going to work. I let her go."
"Oh, wait, I remember now – she didn't choose her boyfriend over you; she chose her boyfriend's money, is that right? How does it feel being worth less than a sack of coins?"
"Fuck, Ming Hua, you're a world-class bitch." She didn't have her water-arms at the moment, so attacking her would be a low move, even though she fucking deserved it. Of course he was furious with Noriko, but he didn't need her to remind him of it. He had to move on with his life, not hold on to his bitterness. She struck a nerve, and brought up thoughts he never wanted to deal with again. His sister did leave him for a fancy house and a better life. He'll never truly stop resenting her for it. "Mind your own fucking business, and next time save your help for yourself."
She glanced over his shoulder, her teasing smile replacing with wonder. "Wow. I never thought you'd actually do it."
He pivoted to see the lake. What was once mostly comprised of dark basalt became a nearly blinding, bubbling pool of lava. His eyes widened as he realized – that was him. He pulled it off.
"I was lavabending," he said to her in awe.
"Impressive. How do you think that happened?"
He ran to her and lifted her up in the air, holding her waist while laughing like a crazy person. "Okay, I take everything back – you're a genius!"
"Put me down, crazy lavabender," she laughed. "It was a bet – either it'd work or you'd hate me forever. I decided to take my chances. Family is always a great source for pure rage."
These sorts of comments always made him wonder what happened to her.
"I'm glad it was such an easy bet to make," he smiled and put her down, ruffling her hair. Now he had another challenge ahead of him – controlling this new ability.