"Alright, Sokka. The key to making lightning is to have a calm mind. Once you separate the positive and negative energies, you don't command it. You are guiding it."
The young twelve year old Sokka, or Tatzu as he now called himself when he was in public (Ryujin had changed the S to a Z because it made him appear more like he was from the Fire Nation), breathed deeply. He closed his eyes, brought his right index finger and right middle finger together and curved his arm up. Blue sparks of lightning began to form at the tip of the fingers. He brought his left hand up in the same position. He focused the conflicting energies in his body at the rock. He released it.
The lightning flowed in a straight line towards the distant rock in the ocean the surrounded Ember Island.
"Good job, Sokka." Sokka grinned.
"Now, let's go back to simple fire blasts. Remember to breathe, Sokka."
He went back to his firebending stance. He breathed, and felt the air flowed through his body and become energy. The energy from the rising sun poured through him as he channeled the energy past his limbs and blasted another rock.
"Drill it again!" Ryujin said.
Sokka dropped his stance and breathed heavily. "I've been drilling for almost half the day. Can't I take a break?"
"One more time, then you may have a break."
Sokka inhaled again, feeling the energy flow through his body, only this time, it felt more intense than usual. He thrust his hand out and created fire. Only this time, something was different.
A bit of the fire had changed color. A small sliver of it had been blue.
Sokka flew backward into the brush, the force of the blast knocking him clear off his feet.
"Are you all right, Sokka?" Ryujin, whom Sokka had finally grown comfortable calling "Dad," rushed over to his adopted son.
Sokka groaned as he stood and brushed the sand off his clothes. "What was that?"
"What happened, sweetie?" Kiyo was bringing out hot cakes from their summer house on Ember Island.
"He…he has the Gift."
Kiyo, or Mom as Sokka now called her, dropped the plate in shock.
"Are…are you sure?"
Sokka looked up at his foster parents, a confused look on his face.
"What are you talking about? What's going on?"
They turned to him.
"There have been rare cases among firebenders," Ryujin began, "where their fire was blue instead of yellow. Your mother can, on occasion, make blue fire. It seems, however, that you may have what firebenders call the Gift, the ability to easily make blue fire."
"What's the difference?" Sokka's young mind didn't grasp the significance.
"Blue firebending," Kiyo replied, "is much hotter and more deadly than regular firebending. If you truly have the Gift, as Ryujin believes, then you are a true firebending prodigy."
As they were talking, a messenger came up to them and handed them a scroll.
"Who's it from, Dad?"
He didn't answer at first, seeming to go into more shock than he'd been in before. Sokka repeated the question.
"It…it's from Fire Lord Ozai," he stated. "He, General Iroh, Prince Zuko and Princess Azula are here on the island and they have invited us, along with some other prominent Fire Nation families, to come to the Fire Lord's summer house."
Azula, Sokka thought. Where had he heard that name before?
"We need to get ready," Ryujin continued, "It's in a few hours. Go inside and wash up, Tatzu."
Sokka/Tatzu grinned and ran inside. He ran up to his room and searched his closet and picked out his best outfit. It was then that he realized who they would be going to see. The Fire Lord and his family. He might be given away.
He walked into the bathroom and looked in the mirror. A different face looked back at him. When he left the South Pole, his skin had been dark and tan. That year in prison, however, had changed that. He was now as white as anyone from the Fire Nation. His hair was up, but not in the Water Tribe style. It was in the Fire Nation style. He no longer had his Water Tribe clothes (they had been taken from him). His boomerang, however, was still at the South Pole. He had left it in the snow before he started to play with Katara.
Katara. He missed her. He missed his real family. He hoped that they were doing alright.
"Oh, of course they're all right," he said out loud, wiping the tears from his eyes. "They've got Dad, the best warrior there is." But he still felt unusually guilty and he didn't know why.
"Sokka? Are you ready to go?" Kiyo came in to check on him. She saw Sokka's face and immediately became concerned.
"What's wrong, sweetie?"
He sniffed and replied, "I miss my Water Tribe family."
Kiyo immediately understood. She too had lost her family. She was actually a lost member of the Bei Fong family. She was Lao Bei Fong's younger sister. While on a trip she had been captured by Fire Nation soldiers and brought to the Fire Nation as a slave. The family that bout her was Ryujin's family. They treated her very well. After only a year of servitude, they freed her and let her live with them. She eventually found that she was a firebender and began to learn alongside Ryujin. They fell in love and married when they were both twenty one.
"I know, sweetheart, I know. And I know that we can't replace your family."
Sokka nodded.
"Now, c'mon, Sokka. Let's get prepared. We're meeting the Fire Lord and his family."
"Lord Ryujin, Lady Kiyo and their son, Tatzu have arrived," the doorman announced as the three stepped in and bowed to the Fire Lord.
Kiyo placed a supportive hand on her sons shoulder as they walked into the house. Sokka immediately felt safer as they walked into the massive Ember Island mansion the Fire Lord owned.
"My lord, may I introduce our son, Tatzu."
Ozai looked at Sokka with a placid look. Sokka hoped that the years he had spent in the Fire Nation had changed him enough so that he didn't look like the nine year old Water Tribe boy.
Sokka bowed. "My lord, it is an honor to be in your illustrious presence." He repeated the greeting with an air of fake demure, filled with disgust on the inside.
The Fire Lord smiled at the greeting and then turned. "This is my older brother, General Iroh." An older, heavyset man stepped forward and bowed. The Fire Lord continued, "My oldest son, Prince Zuko and my daughter, Princess Azula."
Sokka bowed to the prince, who bowed back, but with an air of resentment. After the bow, he walked off. When he turned to bow to the princess, he almost froze. He recognized her as the girl whom he had seen before he was taken to prison. He recovered himself and bowed.
When he came back up, a chill went through him. Azula was staring at him with cold, yellow eyes. She seemed to be searching for something.
He was saved by one of her two friends coming up and saying in a high pitched, hyperactive voice, "Isn't this a wonderful party?"
It was the girl who had done those flips that day. Behind her came the third, gloomy looking girl.
"Are you serious, Ty Lee?" she asked, her deep voice almost monotone, "It's sooo boring."
Sokka looked around for his parents, but they were mingling with some of the other adults. He breathed in, trying to calm down.
Remember to breath, he heard his adopted father's voice say. After that, he heard another voice. His real father's voice.
Never be afraid.
He turned back to the three girls. Ty Lee was looking at him with a strange look. If he didn't know any better, it was a seductive look. She apparently liked him, or at least thought that he was cute.
"So, Tatzu, you wanna play with us?" Ty Lee asked.
Sokka shrugged. "Why not? There's nothing else to do."
Ty Lee grabbed his hand and dragged him along. "C'mon, let's go outside!"
The gloomy girl followed her.
"You go ahead, I'm gonna grab Zuko," Azula finally said, giving Sokka one last look before she turned back to fetch her brother.
Sokka let himself be dragged outside by the energetic girl. Soon, he was outside. The sun was just beginning to set. A gentle breeze blew through Sokka's hair as he leveled his gaze on the beautiful yellows, oranges and reds of the Ember Island sunset.
"C'mon, whaddaya wanna do?"
The energetic voice interrupted him. He turned back to Ty Lee. Her brown eyes were wide.
Sokka furled his brows. "I don't know–"
"Azula! I don't want to play with you!" Sokka and Ty Lee turned to see Prince Zuko walking out of the house, looking like he was being dragged out by his younger sister.
"C'mon, Zuko. After all, we're brother and sister. It's important for us to spend time together."
Zuko closed his eyes and Sokka could see a pained look come over hm. He turned to Azula, who was smiling cruelly. Sokka could sense the tension between the siblings, but it seemed much worse than anything he and Katara had ever been through.
No, he thought as he breathed in, feeling the energy flow through him. I'm not going to think about my family now. I'll blow my cover, and I can't fight my way out of the Fire Lord's house.
"Wanna do some practice?" Azula asked as she pulled some apples from one of the trees and placed them on the top of the fence. "C'mon, Zuko, it'll do you some good."
Even though the breeze was really warm, the tone in Azula's voice was enough to make Sokka shiver again.
"As long as it isn't on top of my head, like last time," The gloomy girl said in her monotone voice.
"Oh, c'mon, Mai, it was funny last time."
"No, it wasn't," Zuko replied.
Azula scoffed at that, then turned her attention towards Sokka.
"What about you Tatzu? Target practice sound like fun?"
Sokka kept his emotions in restraint as he bowed and replied coolly, "Of course, your highness."
"Okay, then. You are a firebender, right?"
Sokka considered answering in the negative, but decided it wasn't very much of a risk. He nodded in response.
"Okay, the game is simple. Whoever hits the most apples wins. Zuko, you go first."
Zuko sighed and got into a stance. He breathed in. Sokka noticed that his form wasn't perfect. He thought to himself, He's gonna fall.
He was able to knock over around five of the apples before falling flat on his face. Azula laughed at that.
"Mai, your next," Azula said as she put five new apples on the fence.
Sokka expected for her to get into a firebending stance. He was wrong. From seemingly out of nowhere he saw stilettos some from out of Mai's long robes and hit seven of the targets. Three of them she missed.
"Okay, I'm next, and then you can go, Tatzu."
Sokka nodded and watched as she replaced the apples and walked back. She got into her stance, which was much closer to perfect than her brothers. She hit nine of the ten apples.
"Good luck beatinging me, Tatzu," she somewhat sneered as she sat down on the ground.
"I shall attempt my best, your highness," he bowed. He then turned to the tree, plucked ten apples and placed them carefully on the fence.
"All kinds of firebending count, right?" he asked. Azula nodded. He then turned back and said, "Give me a minute to prepare." He closed his eyes and inhaled. He felt the yin and yang energy around him. He repeated what he'd done earlier that morning, only much more subdued. The single small bolt of lightning knocked over the first apple with deadly precision.
In the corner of his eye he saw Azula's eyes widen in complete surprise. The eyes of the others were even wider.
"Wh–where did you learn that?"
Sokka turned back for a second and replied, "Dad taught me," before turning back and getting into a basic firebending stance. He inhaled and released the energy. Like the incident this morning, the fire was mostly yellow, but with a hint of blue in it, but unlike earlier, he knew what to expect. He'd spent all day practicing. He knocked over the second apple. He inhaled again, and channeled the energy at the next one. This time, more of his fire had become blue. He hadn't felt this full of energy before, but he heeded his dad's advice not to let the fire control him. Instead, as he systematically hit and knocked over the remaining eight, he saw that his fire was becoming bluer with each shot. In fact, on the last one, his fire was completely blue.
He inhaled and exhaled again, cooling down. Sweat had begun to form on his brow.
Azula was looking at him with a mixture of surprise and jealousy, the rest looked just shocked, even Mai looked a bit astonished.
Sokka returned and bowed to the princess, a smug look barely escaping him. "I believe I have won, your highness. If you will excuse me, I am going back inside to find my parents."
He walked back inside. The rest of the night he spent avoiding the angry glances of Azula and flirtations glances of Ty Lee. Before the night was over, he walked out to the beach and began to meditate.
"May I join you?" a kinder older voice asked.
Sokka looked up and saw General Iroh. He stood and bowed respectfully, only this time it was genuine. He had sensed that the man was very kindly earlier.
"Of course, General Iroh."
The general sat in the sand in the lotus position. Sokka joined him and continued meditating. They sat like that for about ten minutes before the general spoke.
"I saw you with the others earlier this evening."
"Really?" Sokka's heart raced. Was he in trouble?
Iroh nodded. "You are indeed a gifted firebender. I have never seen anyone beat my niece like that before."
Sokka smiled and thanked him, his heart rate slowing down.
"Do you study any other form of self defense besides firebending, Tatzu?" Iroh asked.
Sokka didn't expect that question. "No," he replied.
Iroh nodded, seemingly in thought. He asked again, "Your parents mentioned that after this visit to Ember Island, you were going to move to Shu Jing. Is that true?"
They had indeed discussed this with Sokka, and he replied to Iroh's question in the positive.
"You do know that sword master Piandao lives there, don't you?"
Sokka didn't.
"You should try and take up sword fighting as well. I have seen that firebenders who take up sword fighting become even better at their firebending. Besides, he is a very kind man. I'm sure he would teach you. I even mentioned that to your parents, and they agreed, but only if you're up to it."
Sokka thought about it. It would be nice to be a master swordsman, he thought.
"I never thought of that. I'd have to think about it, but it does sound interesting."
Iroh smiled and stood up. "A pleasure to meet you again, Tatzu," he said as he rose and bowed. Sokka stood and returned the bow.
"Oh! Before I leave, I want you to have this." Iroh reached into his sleeve and brought out a necklace. In the dim light of the moon he could see that it was a Pas Sho tile necklace, specifically a White Lotus, only this one wasn't wood. It was silvery with hints of gold and diamond in it.
"Thanks," Sokka said, confused. Iroh walked back to the house. Sokka put the necklace in one of his pouches and returned to his meditating.
Little did he know how that necklace would help him in a few weeks.
How this night will change many things for our hero. Stay tuned for the next installment! Please R&R! Thx
morbiusgreen