Don't own anybody, just in case you were wondering.
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The fire chakra is the chakra of willpower.
It is blocked by shame.
"Oof!"
That was really the only sound that the boy could manage, as he was knocked backward by the force of his own efforts once again, sent skidding in a spray of dust. Finally coming to rest about fifty paces from the stubborn boulder, Aang splayed his hands over his face and gave a sigh, flopping onto his back in resignation.
This was impossible, it really was.
No matter what he tried, that rock just plain refused to obey him. He braced himself for the verbal thrashing that was coming in a few moments, as he heard a steady pair of footsteps rushing over.
"And just what to you think you're doing?" barked a voice in front of him, when the footsteps came to a halt.
Yep, there it was.
Through his fingers, the airbender spied the familiar, sturdy feet of his teacher, set apart in a very military stance as she regarded him through her black bangs. He swallowed to wet his dry throat, and looked up into her blind eyes.
How did she manage to make them so incriminating?
"Well?" Toph prodded, leaning down to bring her frank voice closer to his face. He shied backward slightly.
Aang sighed. He had mastered basic earthbending several weeks ago, but now Toph had gotten the crazy idea of teaching him how to move rocks without touching them, to shove them forward by the sheer force of his will, rather than having to grasp them first.
It proved much harder, to say the least. He lacked the natural connection with the earth, the feel for the rhythm and voice that Toph was always talking about in her sagely tone.
"Resting," the Avatar finally said. "This is really frustrating."
"Uh huh," she nodded, dropping down until their heads were level. "And why is that?"
Her tone clearly meant that she was fishing for a specific answer.
"Because….because….oh, I don't know. I just keep messing up."
That was the thing with earthbending, for Aang. Air and water had come so easily for him, so fluid and graceful in their similar motions.
Earth, however, had forced him to take everything he knew and flip it on its head, see the black as white and the white as black. It pulled his perspective and understanding outward to fit a new mindset and a new element, an element which worked in total opposition to his own. It was about finding harmony in disharmony, really.
He was used to things coming easily for him, used to understanding them.
This was different.
Toph flung her response back at him.
"Messing up, huh? Well boo hoo. Congratulations: you're human."
And that was another thing.
Aang was used to gentle nudges, the friendly critique from Katara, not Toph's blunt logic. Although there was no way she could have seen his astonished expression, the earthbender smiled as though she had.
"Huh?"
"You heard me, Twinkletoes. Mistakes are how you learn: You have to mess up a bunch of times and keep trying. If it's hard, that's a good thing. "
"Yeah, but…"
She waved her hands dismissively, shooing away his protests. "Yeah, yeah, I know, mister 'most powerful bender in the world'. But you're not always going to be perfect, got that? So get over yourself and try it again. You are going to master this, if we have to be out here all night. "
She offered him a small, calloused hand and yanked the airbender to his feet so hard that he almost went flying right onto his face. However, Aang managed to catch and steady himself, and brush off.
And most of all, earthbending forced him to realize the value of mistakes, to understand how hard his pride was to swallow when admitting them.
But mistakes, as Toph had so tactfully told him, were going to happen in life.
So he just had to learn from them and move on.
Planting his feet in a powerful, resilient stance, the Avatar tried again.
And it is opened by humility.
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I have to thank Iroh for that one, really. Remember his lesson to Zuko in "Bitter Work"? Yeah. Thanks for reading!