Chapter 5: Show Me What You Can Do

We sat at the dinner table, Iroh and I deep in conversation. Zuko seemed a little embarrassed about what I had said to him before about him working out. I smiled to myself a little, maybe I should tell him I was still joking.

"So Mystics can create some sort of magical barrier?" I asked amused.

"Yes, I've seen it done before. Although I'm not sure on how it comes about but the goddess Anora use to tell me, "It's all in the mind." Iroh said pointing to his head.

"Uh, ok." I said unsure. I started to look around the room for something I could put a barrier around so I figured I'd use the table. I held out my hand and started to think about how I wanted so see a barrier around the table. To my surprise, a thin black line encased the entire table in a 3d box. My eyes widened. "Oh my, did you guys see that?" I asked.

"See what? There's nothing to see." Zuko said.

"But there is something there. Look." I said. Both Iroh and Zuko looked around but shrugged their shoulders.

"I think maybe this whole "magic" crap doesn't exist." Zuko said with his arms folded.

I rolled my eyes, "Try and get something off the table." I said.

He rolled his eyes too before sticking his hand out only to have it stop by some invisible force. He tried again but his hand kept stopping once it tried to get over the table. He looked at me with wide eyes and I smiled, which made him angry because it meant I was right. He balled up his fist and tried to punch as hard as he could.

"OW!" he screamed. I smacked the back of his head, "Hey what was that for." He said using his other hand to nurse the back of his now stinging head.

"To take your mind of your hand." I smirked.

"That is incredible Anhayla. You got it on your first try." Iroh applauded.

"Yay, good for you." Zuko started off sarcastically. "How come we can't see this barrier?"

"I think us "normal" folk aren't supposed to see it. That way Mystics can use this technique to stall their enemies and protect themselves." Iroh pointed out.

"So how do you get rid of it? I want my drink back." Zuko asked.

I thought about it for a minute then raised my hand back to the table. If I had to think the barrier into existence, maybe I had to think it away. The barrier than disappeared and I picked up Zuko's drink and handed it to him. I smiled very widely, "So what else do you know about the Mystics Iroh?" I asked.

"Uh…let's see." He started out scratching his chin. "Oh, Mystics can create illusions."

"Wow, I don't know if I can do that though." I said.

"You never know unless you try." Iroh started. "But, I think we should call it a night and try in the morning."

I was about to object but as if right on cue, I yawned. "I guess you're right Iroh."

We all exited the dinning room and went to our separate rooms. I laid down on my bed and started to think. My mind wandered back to a couple of hours ago and how I was feeling. Once I was calm enough, I drifted off into sleep and had a dream that I hadn't had in a long time. I was 11 again and playing in the lake by our campsite. Lisa had told me to run ahead and she and Ryu would catch up later. But they were taking too long so I ran back to see what they were doing. Then I saw them, 4 scary looking men hurting Ryu, Lisa, Chung, and Lee.

"Where is she?" I heard one of them shout to Lisa.

"I don't know what you're talking about." She spat out, blood streaming down her chin.

"Don't lie traitor! There are 5 mats here, meaning that somebody isn't here with us right now! You tell me where that other bitch is right now!" he continued to yell.

Lisa spat blood in his face. The man got angry and used his fire bending to burn half of her face off.

My eyes shot open and I sat up, my breathing hard. I pulled at my hair. "Get out of there." I thought to myself. How could the Fire Nation do such a horrible thing to child and her family? How can I travel with these people, knowing they're associated with such monsters? They are the monsters, probably the most evil of them all being related to the Fire Lord. But Iroh…he's so nice and loving. I couldn't hurt him and Zuko…he's. …he's … I'm not sure what he is. I'm so confused, what would my family want me to do about this? They always stood for justice and helping rid the world of the Fire Nation soldiers who attacked the weak, the poor, and the innocent. But I can't attack Iroh and Zuko; I haven't seen them attack any innocent people. And if it's one thing that my family taught me, it's to never attack someone based on where they come from.

For the next 4 days, I had been trying desperately to create the illusions Iroh told me about. It wasn't going so well and I was getting frustrated. Iroh and I were on the deck and as usual, Zuko interrupted.

"I need the deck for practice." Zuko said walking towards me.

"Busy." I said plainly, trying not to break my concentration. I was sitting with my legs crossed and my eyes closed.

"Well to me, it just looks like your sitting on your ass!" He shouted.

"That's because you're an idiot!" I shouted back, looking at him.

"You broke your concentration." Iroh said before taking a sip of his tea.

I threw my hands up in frustration, "Thanks a lot Zuko." I said, getting up. "Use the stupid deck for your training. Not that it'll do you any good because I bet I will still be able to kick your ass!"

I sat next to Iroh and faced Zuko, who was still staring daggers at me. I smiled, "Well? Are you going to get started?"

He sighed in annoyance and called two gauds to come spar with him. He took off his shirt and began his training. I watched as he moved around the two men, easily evading their attacks. But it seemed that he was going about it all wrong. He looked so angry…well, angrier than usual. After about 20 minutes, they stopped.

"Uncle. What did you think?" Zuko asked, taking a towel from another soldier.

"Good, good," he said, not looking up from his game.

"You weren't watching were you?" he shouted.

"No, I wasn't." he said calmly, still not looking up.

"I was." I said. "And you did ok, I guess."

"You guess?"

"I guess."

"I'd like to see you do a better job then!"

"Oh, is that a challenge?" I said, getting up.

"Yeah, it is."

I smirked at him, "Well I hope it goes better than last time. Your lip just healed." I said.

"You attacked me in the dark. That's not a fair victory!" he growled.

I walked over to him and got in a fighting stance. The two other soldiers Zuko was fighting with backed away. Iroh looked up from his game. Zuko made the first move, sending a fist full of fire in my direction. I dodged it easily. I sent some of my own fire towards him, my indigo flames dancing around him as he deflected it. We fought around for a little while, not really making physical contact. I was clearly winning but things took a turn for the worse when my attention went to the conversation that was happening off to the side.

"If it looks like a Mystic, then it is a Mystic." One soldier said.

"OK, I'm convinced. Maybe we should see if those rumors about Mystic women are true. Pay her a little visit tonight if Zuko hasn't beaten us to her." The other said.

I turned my head to get a look at them but stopped when I saw fire coming out the corner of my eye. It was already to late to deflect so I had no choice but to raise my arm and let it get burned. I screamed in pain as I fell to the floor. Iroh jumped up and ran to my side and Zuko looked down at me with sheer horror in his eyes.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" he shouted.

"Ow! You burned me!" I said holding up my badly burned arm and tossing from side to side.

"Zuko, what where you thinking?" Iroh scolded. "Fetch the medical examiner now!" he shouted to a nearby soldier.

"I thought she was going to deflect it! It all happened so fast. By time the flames left my fist, she turned her head." Zuko said panicked. "Anhayla, I'm so sorry! Please don't cry."

More tears rolled down my face but I had stopped screaming. I took in deep breaths and soon I felt just fine. It got real quite, Iroh let go of my other hand and Zuko stopped repeating, "I'm sorry." I sat up, using my once burned arm. The medical examiner walked up to us and knelt down next to me.

"Uh, what exactly am I supposed to be looking at here? There's no burn on this girl." He said.

"Uh, my mistake Jing." Iroh said.

"What just happened? What happened to my burn?" I asked, staring at my now unburned arm.

"Sometimes Mystics have healing abilities but I thought only the…." He trailed off.

"What?" Zuko and I asked.

"Never mind. Some Mystics can heal themselves that's all." Iroh said helping me up.

"Wow." I said dusting my self off. I turned to Zuko who still looked confused. "So, you want to get finished or not?" I said getting into another fighting stance.

"Hell no! I'm not fighting with you ever again! You scared me half to death!" he screamed.

"Oh it was just a little burn." I said, acting like wasn't a big deal anymore.

"Are you crazy? My ears are still ringing with your screams." He said.

"So next time, I won't scream so loud." I said.

"You're crazy!" he said walking away.

I laughed and followed him around the deck, pleading with him to continue our fight. He covered his ears and ran away from me, all the while screaming, "You're crazy!"