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Disclaimer: this is where i say i dont own Avatar and Zuko and such but im not gonna! hahahha see if you can make me!...what!? i just said it? When are we going to fix these cue cards?

anyway enjoi!


4: Testing

"ARGAH!" I shouted, collapsing to the floor in aggravation.

Bending the four elements was proving harder than I thought it would be. For some reason I had assumed by becoming an avatar, Granted not the avatar, would give me some deep innate knowledge that would help me bend the elements with the effortless ease of one born to it.

That was not so. Far from it.

"Calm down nephew. Now stand up again. Take a deep breath and bow to me. Good now take a stance and attempt to bend the air around you in defiance to my attacks." Uncle instructed me.

I bowed and mirrored his own crouching dragon stance.

"no, no, Zuko. You are not going to defend yourself with fire! You are going to defend your self only using the air around you. Take a stance similar to how the avatar stands." Uncle said, waving his arms about as he did so.

I thought back to the avatar. During our fights he would take a stance with his right leg in front and the left be hind it crouching, sort of a modified horse stance.

His right arm would be stretched out and the left would be under it. I took the position, feeling unbelievably silly and waited for uncle's attack.

It came before I was quite ready for it.

Uncle pulled back his right fist and sent a streaming jet of orange and golden fire spiraling towards me with his left. I reacted instinctively when the flames got close enough, punching through the fire and sending it around me.

"DAMN IT!" I screamed when the flames died.

I stood up and began to punch and kick fire angerily, unknowingly going through the exercises I had been drilled in since birth.

"Calm yourself prince Zuko. Getting frustrated t your self will do no good at all. You merely acted on impulse and your impulse was to send the flames away and you did so. Do not be ashamed of that." Uncle said in a calm voice.

I stopped my firebending show and looked at him.

"Uncle how can I calm down? If I can not even bend air how will I ever become good enough to be able to save the balance?" I asked with none of my anguish in my voice I am proud to say.

"Nephew you just found out that you are an avatar, how can you be expected to know everything of bending the four elements?

I also know nothing in your life has come easy to you. Azula has had a silver spoon in her mouth from birth, but you my strong young prince have had to fight from the moment you were born to survive.

It has given you determination and will power doing things this way. You will eventually master all the elements and claim your throne from azula; it just might take you some time." Uncle said with a tone in his voice I have always wished to hear come from my father, pride.

I blinked.

"But Uncle I barley know the depths of my firebending, I've just barely scratched the surface by mastering the basics. How can I ever hope to succeed in the mastering of all the elements?" I asked, allowing a shallow piece of my worry and apprehension to shine through.

"Oh you will, and I will be right there beside you as you do. Now after all this fire brending I need some tea, care to join me Zuko?" uncle asked.

I almost laughed. Trust uncle to always need his tea. Even though I personally hate the stuff, a fact have as yet kept from uncle, I nodded.

Uncle smiled widely and led us to his room, otherwise known as a tea shrine.

The room was glorious in its own way. It had golden furniture and flame colored, orange red and bright yellow, pillows tossed every where. The large bed had a silken cover spread across it depiction a flaming phoenix. All the iron walls of the hull of the ship were covered in wispy layers of gold and red curtains.

Uncle hadn't designed the room; all he cared for was the simple rosewood chest at the foot of the plush bed.

The chest had a glowing finish and was engraved with flowers from every nation. Inside the chest was uncle's assortment of teas, the white and blue ceramic cups used for tea and his iron tea pot.

Uncle had an obsession with the teas. In almost every nation in almost every town uncle had to have a certain type of tea from each of them.

I found it to be a harmless obsession so I indulged him, after all it made him happy.

Uncle first went to the rosewood chest and gathered his tea pot cups and a burlap sack. He went to an ornate golden stand with a pitcher of water and placed it in his tea pot.

He surrounded the iron pot with his own orange flame; he felt the temperature had to be exact to create the prefect tea. Then he placed some powders and flowers in the pot.

He stepped over to a table, it was small and squat with a white linen table cloth. Placing the pot and cups and sack down carefully on the table he pulled up two stools, indicating I should sit in one.

When I sat across from him he poured out our tea carefully and handed me the steaming cup.

"Careful now nephew this is boiled water, not fire; if you were to spill it on yourself you would not be able to stop the burning." Uncle said by way of warning.

I snorted indignantly; as if I would spill tea on myself. I had etiquette lessons almost from the time I could walk.

I would hardly spill a simple cup of steaming water on anyone let alone myself.

As uncle was pouring his own cup of tea he leaned into the table just a bit. It was almost unnoticeable, the little slip, no one else would have noticed I'm sure.

The way his hand barely grazed the iron pot, sending it over cascading my way. It was no accident but it had the same result.

The burning liquid was sent rushing my way.

I hated the smell of burnt flesh, couldn't stand elevated heats on my skin.

Not since before my banishment.

Not since before I got my scar.

One of my greatest fears was of being burned, scorched.

My automatic reaction was to put my hands up. I threw them up in a sort of reverse swooping motion.

I clenched my teeth and closed my eyes, waiting for the heat to touch me.

It didn't come.

The pain never started and the burning never happened.

I opened my eyes and moved my hands down. There was the liquid. Except it was not really liquid anymore.

It was ice a solid upward wave of ice.

I looked at it in amazement. It was beautiful really, all blue green and white and cool colors kind of calming.

Nothing like the violent fiery colors used when a firebender harnessed their anger.

"How did you know uncle? What would have happened if it hadn't worked?" I asked uncle in amazement, not turning from the beautiful ice wave.

I stretched out my hand to touch it, it was cold almost burningly so.

"The slight movement of my robe sleeve caused you to look at my hand and notice right? Well it would not have mattered any way I only heated the top portion of the tea the rest was cool as room temperature." Uncle said with his normal smile on his face.

His pudgy cheeks were rosy with laughter.

I gave him a glare, placing my hands neatly in my lap, trying to ignor their slight shakeing.

"well nephew aren't you going to drink your tea before it gets cold?"


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