Author's note: Sorry that this one is short. I had to push this out but I didn't want to jump into the Omashu arc so suddenly half-way into this chapter because I feel it doesn't connect well. I'm also slightly struggling on what I can do with the Omashu episode. There's only one change I can think of but other than that, everything else would be normal like in the episode. I'm a little worried about that.
But my stories have the tendency to change itself as I go so everything should me fine.
bucketbot: Yup, for now she's a blank slate for now but I already have a direction on how she would grow in strength and power. I'm happy to hear that you're enjoying this! I'm really grateful.
True Thinker: Hehe, That's not really what she is but you'll see a hint in this chapter.
"So...What does this mean?" Sokka questions with a finger rubbing his chin.
Splash!
"Arg, bloody son of a..." I growl irritably as the water I was trying to hold up have fallen to the ground.
"Try and bend it up now?" Aang suggests, seating in front of me.
"Remember to move your hands down and then pull them up like I showed you." Katara advice as she once again shows me the hand motion.
"I know!" I snap but then I instinctively shake my head at my rudeness. "Sorry. It's just that it's already 8 times! Face it, I'm not a second Avatar or whatever!"
"It's okay, Wan. Just keep trying. We'll figure this out." Katara says as she lays an encouraging hand gently on my left shoulder.
Nodding my head, I take a breath before I hover my hands above the water and lower them down slowly, pretending to push my energy into the water to get a hold of it. Then I raise them with straining focus.
Nothing happens.
I huff irritable before dropping my hands to my side and lean back. I look up at the sky to calm myself before I rage and punch the damn water. But I don't want to accidentally distract him or something when I hit the saddle. He's currently flying in a straight direction so Aang can sit with us to figure out what's going on with me.
"Can I try?" Aang asks as he hovers his hand above the water. The water is from Katara's water skin so there isn't anything weird to ask for permission.
I look back down to see if Aang can do it and whether if I can see any difference between his movements and mine. Katara nods and Aang lowers his hands, just like I did.
And he bends the water off the saddle with irritating ease. I glare at him enviously when suddenly an idea pops into my head.
"Aang, hold the water." I request and hover my hands above water floating in between his hands.
Everyone watches me inquisitively as I focus on the water.
And pull it out of his grip.
"Ah!" The success of my experiment shocks me that I accidentally drop the water again, resulting a splash.
"Do it again! Try again!" Sokka urges as he leans forward with interest. Katara and Aang leans forward as well in anticipation.
I try to bend the water off the saddle but the water did not even ripple.
"Okay." Sokka says confidently and turns to Aang, "Bend the water again, Aang. Just like before."
Aang did as he is told, getting an idea on what Sokka is trying to do.
"Wan, try and bend it from him again."
I listen to Sokka and did as I am told.
And I slowly take it from Aang's hands and into mine.
"Yes!" Katara cheers for me as I focus all of my nervous attention to not drop the water.
The ball of water...can't even be called a ball. It's looks more like a blob monster that grows more and more of out shape. I try to hold it together but water eventually starts to leak as I feel the energy in the water slipping away.
"Hold, hold!" Aang encourages when the water starts to drip onto the saddle.
"I can't! It's slipping!" I answer in a panic, water leaking as a stream from the ball, before the energy slips out of my grip completely and falls back onto the saddle.
The moment the water drops onto the saddle, so did everyone's enthusiasm. But instead of staying down in the dumps, they proceed to try and understand what happened.
I'm not even going to try because I know I'll get nothing.
"I think I have an idea what's going on." Sokka says as he stares at his own reflection in the water.
"Well? Share it, Sokka!" Katara urges her brother seated across from her excitingly and we all wait for Sokka's answer.
"Well. Wan can bend earth, fire, air, and water. Although it's more to redirecting with air." I interrupt Sokka.
"Hey, it's hard okay! Wind is all..."I wiggle my fingers in front of me to demonstrate what I felt when I tried to bend air. "...flowy-flowy. It moves around too fast for me to catch it."
Katara can't help but giggle at a sudden memory back at the Southern Water Tribe. "That sounds like Aang. Always moving around with too much energy."
Aang blushes and scratches the back of his head sheepishly.
"Yeah, yeah but back to me!" Sokka calls for all of our attention once again before continuing his explanation. "She can bend four elements but it seems that she can't bend out her own elements, right Wan?"
"Right. I can't bend earth when the Fire Nation soldier attacked me. I can bend his fire away from me but I can't bend any at him. As in, from myself. My own fire. I can't do that. And now..."I gesture to the water in front of us in the middle of our circle. There's no need to explain that.
"At first I thought we have a second Avatar or something but after this little experiment, I don't think that's it."
I thank the Gods that we have reach this conclusion.
"Then what is she?" Aang asks the question of my life.
"I think she bends other people's bending."Sokka lays out his thoughts and all of us react in disbelief.
"What!?" We all screech in unison. Even Momo joins in the screeching but I doubt it's for the same reason as us...I think.
"Think about! There's no other way to explain it. It's literally the only thing that makes sense. She can never bend out an element on her own but she can bend somebody else's element. Name once that Wan has bent out her own element." Sokka further solidifies his theory and none of us can deny it.
"But isn't it too early to say? It's only been one day since she joined." Katara puts out the fact.
"...That may be so but..." I start to signal the beginning of my opinion as I think about it. Everyone turns to me curiously and wait for me to speak out my thoughts. "When I hold other people's elements. I can feel it in my grip. I can feel the energy in the element. I can feel the rocks' solid energy in my grip when I bend Ming's rocks. I felt the fire with the energy growing and nearly burning me when I tried to bend the fire back at the Fire Nation soldier. That's why I just swat the fires away instead of trying to throw it back at him. The fire suddenly flies my away faster like it was burning the energy coming from my hands."
I rub my hands, remember the hotness from having the fire coming so close to them so many times.
"And Katara's water was just...watery! It's a lot harder to control because it feels like it's slushing around non-stop. Aang's the same. Way too fast." I chide at their element's characteristic despite it not being their fault for being born into the elements they bend.
"So...She's a...bender...bender?" Katara tries to conclude this discussion with an identification for me but it sounds kind of weird.
"Bender bender?" Aang tries the word out and it indeed feels weird.
"Bendy Bender? Ah Hell no." I quickly curse that title away. Hell no am I naming myself that.
"Wan! Language!" Katara scolds me and I pout as I slouch into my shoulders. She's like my mother.
Except I wont listen to her because she ain't my mother.
"Benderbending? Benderbender...Bendering? Bender? The Benderer...Can't we just call you the second Avatar?" Sokka suggests.
"No!" And I furiously refuse his offer in less than a second."You can't just call the me the second Avatar like that because first of all, I can't bend bend! Just redirected it at the very most! I can't even hold onto any of the elements for more than 5 seconds! I. Can't. Bend. Them. I'm not an Avatar."
Sokka raises his hands in surrender.
"Um..."Aang tries to change the mood by starting a new topic. "Since we're on the topic of bending, I'd like to bring up something about my bending. It could also concern Wan in what I'm about to say." I turn to Aang curiously, lowering the fist that I was using to threaten Sokka.
"Wow, really? Another Issue?" Sokka asks with mocking disbelief and I raise my fist closer to his face.
But nobody believes that I will punch Sokka so Aang nonchalantly continues.
"I guess you can call it an issue because back in Kyoshi island, I had trouble controlling my bending."
"What do you mean, Aang? I didn't notice anything. Sokka?" Katara turns to the one whose talent is to spout ideas.
"I didn't see anything weird when Aang was fighting the Zuko." Sokka pushes my fist away from his face so he doesn't have to lean back so much and turns to Aang. "You look like you had everything under control...Bending wise."
"Wan?" Katara asked me as I seat properly, no longer at Sokka's face.
"I don't know Aang's normal air bending capabilities so I'm not sure but I guess it has been sort of inconsistent. He was also mention something like an energy...?" I signal Aang to continue as I trail off.
"Yeah! It only happens when I'm in danger."
Katara tilts her head in confusion as she raises an eye brow, " You sure you didn't go into the Avatar state?"
"What's an Avatar state?" I ask as I envy her eyebrow raising ability.
"It's when Aang taps into the power and knowledge of all his previous lives. He can then bend all four elements with great prowess. We call it a state because it seems he doesn't have full control over it."
Gob smacked by what I am hearing, all I can say is, "They didn't teach us that in school!"
"That's probably because the previous Avatars were recorded down in history after they've master all 4 elements and probably the Avatar state." Katara reasons rationally.
"Hey Wan, bet they didn't teach you that the Avatar glows when they enter the Avatar state." Sokka mischievously throws out the info and awaits my reaction.
"WHAT!?" Horror streak across my features as my mind pulls out dreadful memories.
Sokka seems to have not notice my slightly irregular reaction as he has his eyes closed to fully appreciate my loud outburst.
Just by his reaction, I get the feeling that he likes pranks. And that it seems my mother has not told him about my...previous glowing problems. And if he doesn't know, that means the other doesn't know about it either.
"Don't worry, Wan. It's not dangerous or anything. It' just a weird feature." Aang tries to comfort me when he sees how extremely distressed I am.
"Oh, no! It's not that I'm worried or anything! I mean, I am but I'm just more shock than worried. I mean, It's not often you see a person glow, right? Ahaha."
No one else notice anything weird from my reaction since hearing someone glow is definitely shocking.
Except for Katara as she notices my nervous habit and knows I'm hiding something.
"But I wasn't in the Avatar state. I felt an energy flowing into me. Because of that extra energy, I kept bending with more power than I intent to."
"Okay, so you get bending hyperness. What does that have to do with Wan?"Sokka pushes Aang to get to the point.
Aang fidgets uncomfortably and twiddle his fingers for a moment before nervously answering, "I think my bending hyperness is coming from Wan."
Just I was about to object this ridiculous idea, Aang cuts me off to reason with me, "My hyper bending only happens when you're around. I never had a problem with it until Kyoshi Island. And even then, I couldn't bend with as much power compared to when you're around. Remember when we had to glide from the shore to Kyoshi Village? We kept going up and down because I had trouble keeping us up. And every time I airbend us upwards, I try to focus where that energy is coming from and...I'm pretty sure it's coming from you."
"I..."Don't have an answer to that. It sounds so impossible but...If it's coming from Aang, from the Avatar, then...maybe it could be possible? "...don't know."
Ugh...
I rub my temples as the inside of my skull starts to pound. I was unconscious not long ago. The moment I woke up I was interrogated. I told them what happened at the fight. I was worried how they would react when I told them I bent fire away to defend myself but...they barely reacted. Then I remember Ume actually told them while I was losing conciousness.
I even tried to tell them about the old man but...my mouth refused to move. The smell of burning flesh and hair seemed to have came from nowhere and nauseated me.
So I just said Ayasa was shell-shocked by the old man's death. I also didn't mention that I though I saw the old man's ghost clinging onto Ayasa's back. It was probably nothing, I hope.
Then we started the experiment on whether I can bend more elements.
And here we are.
This is too much for me after just waking up from losing a battle.
"Wan, what's wrong?" Katara interrupts my thinking.
"Huh?...Oh, I'm...fine. My head hurts, that's all." I answer plainly before going back to my thoughts.
I didn't even land a hit on that guy, did I? Well, except for that one surprise attack. But one-on-one? I would have...
I suddenly shudder, worrying everyone else.
"Maybe you should rest. How is your back feeling?" Aang asks as he leans to the side, trying to get a look of my back without moving.
"Itchy." I answer as I raise my back to touch my back.
I'm still wearing the same shirt I wore when the Fire Nation soldier attacked me from behind. I'll change at our next stop.
"Don't scratch it or you'll scratch off the ointment. You're lucky your mom packed that in. If it wasn't for that book your mom gave you, I wouldn't be able to tell which ointment to use."Katara removes my hand from my back as she hands me a bundle of cloth to use as a pillow.
I absent-mindedly nod at everything she says before crawling to the back of the saddle and lay down. I drop my head onto the soft bundle with a soft, satisfying thud and close my eyes.
But I didn't fall asleep immediately.
"It's kind of amazing that her back isn't burnt at all. Just a little pink."
"So with the ointment she'll be alright, right, Katara?"
"That's right, Aang."
"We might have to tell her to get rid of that shirt. The hole is too big to just sew it close without buying new materials. And we have a long way to go and we can't just use money when we can't to anymore."
"I think we should let Wan decide that, Sokka. She has her own money. She went shopping with me but didn't buy anything."
"Oh, really? Well, fine then. We already passed a village. And we've been flying the whole night since Appa had a nap at Kyoshi Island. So where's our next stop, Aang? You suggested going into this direction."
"We're heading to Omashu! You're going to love it."
"Lower down you voice, Aang. You'll wake up Wan."
"Oh right. Sorry."
...
I wait for anything to be said after Katara scolded Aang but it seems the conversation has ended.
I...didn't know what I was expecting.
Actually, yes I do.
I expected some conspiracy about me.
Something like whispering something is wrong with me. Or that they're planning to send me back home. That I'm too much trouble. Or anything that's just...what would be the normal things my parents have said when they thought I couldn't hear them. Yeah, I eavesdrop on them a lot. Sometimes on purpose, sometimes accidental.
Sometimes they'll speak out their complaints straight to my face.
I can't stop that single tear that rolls down to the cloth below my aching head.
I have long stopped expecting anyone to be at my side at anything.
And yet, here are the people that I never thought that could ever exist.
They didn't suspect me.
Of anything.
Why didn't they suspect me?
Why aren't they mad at me?
I don't understand.
", she's our friend. I trust her."
My memory suddenly brings out the last words I heard before I lost consciousness before.
I still don't fully understand.
...But I don't think I have to.
All I need to know is that I am trusted.
So I owe them my trust.
And so much more.
"...Are we...still friends?"
"Of course! Why would we suddenly stop being friends?"
"Well, yeah. I guess so. We're all friends, aren't we?"
"...Yeah...Yeah! We are!"
"And even if she bends fire, she's our friend. I trust her."
I am lulled to a peaceful slumber by the comforting words that are said in the voices of my friends, dreaming about us spending a normal day together and just having a good time while we laugh at silly jokes.
Author's note: And there we go! A hint at Wan's abilities! I wonder if anyone can figure what it is because I won't be revealing it for a long time.