170 AG
Opal was taking a walk across Zaofu, enjoying the sun and wind, when she spotted Kuvira. She and a friend had set out a blanket on the grass and were relaxing together. Kuvira's friend was dressed in Zaofu's traditional clothes and Kuvira wore a top and loose, green pants. Kuvira was really beautiful, stretched out across the woman's lap and laughing joyfullyin the daylight. The sight made Opal smile a little even while her heart clenched in her chest.
"Hey, Opal," Kuvira said, grinning at Opal. Opal blushed and glanced away, she hadn't intended on Kuvira noticing her as she passed them.
"Hi," Opal said, stopping and walking over to Kuvira, a little reluctantly.
"Out for a walk?" Kuvira asked, eyes bright.
"Yeah, just a small one," Opal shrugged. Kuvira's gaze fell on the book Opal was holding and raised an eyebrow.
"Good book?" she asked.
"I like it," Opal replied, self-consciously clutching it to herself.
"So about those dance lessons," Kuvira said, changing the subject with ease. Kuvira had somehow managed to get Opal to agree to some lessons. Opal was forever torn between wanting to be around Kuvira and not wanting to humiliate herself in front of her but she'd accidentally said yes to Kuvira's offer and now had to go through with it. "Are you busy now?"
"Ah, no," Opal said. She obviously wasn't. Kuvira raised her eyebrows. "You're free?" she asked.
"Yeah, for awhile," Kuvira said easily. "Want to practice?" Opal gulped. She really didn't. "You promised," Kuvira reminded her, teasingly.
"Yeah, alright," Opal sighed, running her hand through her hair.
"No need to sound so enthusiastic," Kuvira chuckled up at her. Opal shrugged.
"Finding a new dance partner?" Kuvira's friend spoke up. Her voice was soft and teasing.
"Yes," Kuvira said. "Jealous?"
"I can only take up so much of your time," her friend replied good-naturedly, sitting up and causing Kuvira's head to roll off her lap and onto the grass. "I have to leave for work now, anyway." Kuvira sat up and grinned at the short-haired woman.
"I'll see you later?" she asked, getting to her feet.
"I'll see you later," the other woman replied, winking at Kuvira. Opal was a little confused at Kuvira's secretive smile in response, but then Kuvira was up and moving, and Opal was struggling to keep up. Kuvira hadn't even told her to come with her.
"I'm thinking today we'll start with some stretches and then just see what level you're at," Kuvira suggested.
"Oh - okay," Opal mumbled. She was sure it'd be obvious as soon as she started stretching.
"Don't worry about looking a little silly," Kuvira said. "We all start at zero and then work our way up from there." Kuvira's words were supposed to be reassuring but they didn't really help. Still, even while dread was eating Opal up, Kuvira's enthusiasm was catching. It was best to get it over with anyway.
Kuvira and her friend hadn't been that far from the studio, so within a few minutes they were at the building. Kuvira swiftly bent open the doors and walked into the place. It was so strange for Opal to see the giant building devoid of dancers; whenever she'd dropped by her mother had always been running rehearsal. Opal soon found out they wouldn't be dancing in the main room however. There were more rooms inside the building and Kuvira unlocked one, stepping inside and holding the door open for Opal.
As Kuvira turned on the lights and set up a record player Opal looked around the area. This room was the farthest thing from intimate which made her feel relieved. It was a smaller practice room; it still had the tall ceiling but the walls were covered with reflective metal. With the mirrors, the place seemed huge.
Kuvira put on a bright, somewhat jazzy tune that was more characteristic of Republic City than Zaofu. Opal hadn't heard any of the dancers dance to songs like this but she figured that they used it for warming up. "I don't really like this kind of music," Kuvira admitted, rebinding the bandages on her arms. "But this one has a good rhythm."
Kuvira stretched her arms over her head, her muscles flexing. Opal set down her book by the door and paced towards the middle of the room where Kuvira was standing, looking up at the metalbender with wide eyes and a determined, if probably apprehensive, expression. "Now," Kuvira said with a smile. "Have you ever danced by yourself when no one was watching?"
"No," Opal said honestly. "Not since I was a kid." This was off to a great start.
"Really?" Kuvira asked. "Do you think it would be easier for you to dance if no one watched?"
"No," Opal said. "Because I can't dance." Kuvira grinned.
"Dancing isn't about skill, it's about feeling," she assured Opal. "If you like to dance you'll get better eventually."
"I also don't like to dance," Opal reminded her with a shy smile.
"Well, how can you know that if you don't dance?" Kuvira asked her. "Come on. Just move around a little. Stretch. Do whatever feels comfortable." None of this felt comfortable. Opal tried moving to rhythm but it just came out jerky and uncoordinated. The lights were way too bright in this room, and Kuvira was watching her. Oh spirits, she was totally unteachable wasn't she.
"Maybe we should try something different," Kuvira said thoughtfully. Opal stopped dancing immediately, hanging awkwardly. She squeezed her eyes shut. This was unbelievably embarrassing and awful. Opal hoped Kuvira didn't notice how red her face probably was; Opal's cheeks were burning. She just wanted this to be over.
"This is an older song," Kuvira spoke up. "The dance is Bagua and Northern Shaolin in synchronization." She noticed Opal's confused look. "It's a traditional style. Here I'll dance with you. At least now you got warmed up . . . sort of." Opal couldn't wait for Kuvira to give up on her.
Kuvira changed the record than walked over to Opal as it began to spin. "The movements in this dance," she said, starting to circle Opal and extending her arm. "Were based on bending." Opal mimicked her and stuck out her arm and Kuvira moved so that their wrists touched. Opal began to circle around Kuvira in the opposite direction, trying to follow her movements best that she could. The music began to play.
"I know you can't bend, but you can still learn from it," Kuvira went on. "It's all about listening to your body. You can't just will it into happening; your body and your mind have to work together to manipulate whichever element you've been given. That type of control is very important to being a good dancer as well as a good bender and it's one of the reasons I still dance. It's not an ability you can stop practicing and then still expect to have in a year."
Kuvira switched directions and Opal stumbled a little but picked up the movement. "I'm, sorry," Opal mumbled. She was following Kuvira okay; the moves were pretty basic and Kuvira's body language gave Opal warnings when she was going to change something up, but Opal still wasn't moving perfectly on beat or even in sync with Kuvira. She was grateful that at least she wasn't tripping over her own feet or stepping on Kuvira's.
"You're not listening to yourself," Kuvira said, as though it was that simple. "You've got nothing to be embarrassed about, Opal, no one will think less of you if you're never a good dancer. But." Opal looked up at the metalbender for the first time since they started dancing together. "You should still try." Opal was trying.
"Just listen to the music and try to enjoy it," Kuvira said, her voice low and soothing. Opal closed her eyes and listened as they moved. The music had a slow, steady rhythm, but the instruments were bright and the melody leapt from beat to beat. It did sound old, and kind of airy; its rhythm was slow now but not at all tentative and it seemed like it was picking up. It was nice.
The world narrowed down to the touch of Kuvira's wrist to Opal's, the rough bandage there. The dancers wore them to prevent accidental injuries from dancing with metal, taking them off only for opening night. The music and the bindings were all Opal noticed and her body moved by itself. Kuvira guided her movements with care, and when the rhythm started speeding up Opal didn't worry that much.
"The traditional dance was a little more complex," Kuvira murmured, guiding Opal's movements to change directions and try a slightly more complicated move. "But these are the basic movements. The circling we're doing here is something common in all forms of bending, gathering the energy together." Kuvira moved her hands, mimicking the movement of bending and Opal copied her, calmer now.
They moved again as the music picked up pace, and Opal felt more confident. Her body had warmed up now and she felt safe to open her eyes now. Kuvira was grinning at her. "You just had to relax," she said, sounding pleased.
"I'm still not great," Opal said, stumbling a little as Kuvira broke off for a move but Opal quickly corrected her course.
"You don't have to be great," Kuvira said. "But you wanted to dance, and now you can dance. Improvement comes with practice." Eyebrow quirked to let Opal know she was going to try something, Kuvira span Opal. The nonbender fortunately didn't fall over and resumed her previous position, circling Kuvira with a little grin.
"Thanks," she said. It was true, she could dance a little. It wasn't that big of a deal, actually. Opal felt almost relieved. She was still kind of clumsy, but she could do it. They practiced for half an hour or so more. At one point Kuvira even switched the music back to the original song and Opal did a much better job at loosening up and dancing than she had before.
Opal found herself grinning, it was actually kind of fun. She heard a gentle knock at the door and turned around to see her mother. "Opal, why couldn't you learn how to dance when I taught you?" Suyin asked semi-miserably from the doorway. Opal turned around and smiled at her mother, stepping away from Kuvira and wandering over to her.
Kuvira also looked at Suyin carefully and expectantly, waiting for her judgement. Suyin smiled at them both. "That was lovely," Suyin said, threading her arm through her daughter's to pull her along back to the guard. "You're an excellent teacher, Kuvira."
"I learned from the best, Suyin," Kuvira said, pleased but still a little formal.
"I told you to call me Su," Opal's mother scolded Kuvira lightly. She turned her head and smiled at her daughter. "You've really grown, Opal," Suyin said fondly.
"I'm not going to start dancing now, mom," Opal warned her.
"I know," her mother said cheerfully, running her hands through Opal's hair idly. "You were very good though."
"Mom," Opal repeated but she was starting to smile.
"I think I have guard duty now," Kuvira said, reading the room. "Good afternoon, Opal, Su." With one last smile to Opal Kuvira left the room, leaving the door open for them. Opal waved goodbye. Suyin watched Kuvira go, and then wandered from Opal's side to shut off the music and put the records away.
"How do you feel about Kuvira, Opal?" she asked as she worked.
"I like her," Opal said honestly. She wasn't sure why her mother was asking though.
"Do you trust her?" Suyin questioned. Opal didn't know how to answer that. Kuvira had never been put in a position to betray or uphold Opal's trust. Suyin seemed to see Opal's confusion and wandered over to her daughter again. "She's rising quickly through the ranks," she explained. "I'm sure you've heard rumours about how she's next in line to be the guard captain. I'd like to have someone I can trust in that position."
"You don't trust Kuvira?" Opal asked. She didn't know why Suyin wouldn't, especially since she'd been the one to teach Kuvira metalbending.
"I trust you," Suyin said firmly. "I trust your judgement as much as I trust Aiwei's." Opal looked at her mother. She knew that Suyin had already made her mind up either way, she'd known Kuvira the longest after all. All the same, she wanted Opal's opinion and the way she looked at Opal made Opal feel she had the final say.
Her mother knew that she sometimes ran a fine line between being too controlling over her people and too biased. She needed to know from someone like Opal that her opinion was alright. She knew Opal would never abide by anything morally wrong from anyone and she trusted Opal to tell her relevant information that she and Aiwei might have missed.
Kuvira had never betrayed Opal. But she had let Opal outside of Zaofu. Kuvira been covered in metal, doubling as potential defence and offense, and nothing had happened but she'd still pulled apart the dome. Opal knew she should tell the Metal Clan's matriarch about this. Instead, she took her mother's hand, held it and smiled.