The air was crystalline. Tetsu breathed out as he made his way into a dug-out courtyard. Inuk sat on a small stone beneath a tree. Something rested shadowed within his hands. Dark waxy leaves hung from a large bough its shadow falling into the ground like watery ink. Tetsu paused before reaching the tree, studying his new teacher. Inuk wore a tunic that reached his lower thighs. Loose sleeves draped against his lap as he read. Underneath his outer tunic, a navy shirt hugged his neck. A thick dark blue belt synced at his waist, and high leather boots climbed just shy of the crook of his calves. Tetsu stepped under the hanging branch. Iunk's face tipped up, bright eyes alighting on him. Inuk stood, depositing his reading material on the bench. He brought his hands together.
"I am Inuk," he said in a soft voice. "It will be my honor to teach you."
Tetsu's shoulders relaxed.
They stood in the courtyard
Tetsu shifted and looked toward Inuk.
"Have you waterbent before?" Inuk asked.
"Sparingly," Tetsu said.
"That's alright. Just relax into it," Inuk said. He pulled liquid out of the cool air bending it into a small sphere, froze it by blowing on it then let it dissipate.
"You did that with Nulia didn't you?" Tetsu questioned openly.
"You mean cooled the air around her?"
Tetsu nodded.
"That's because there is a large amount of moisture in the air."
"Why did you do that?"
"The lower temperature slows down the movement of the body."
Tetsu nodded.
Inuk pulled a strand of water from a jug similar to the one Nulia and he had used the other day. The flow glittered as it was pulled. He split it in two and bent one branch slowly to Tetsu. Tetsu held his arms out slowly reaching for the water. It hovered for a moment as Tetsu's fingers curled pulling the liquid. Nearly half of the water fell to the ground painting it in a dark stain. The rest shimmered in an amalgamous shape. Inuk pulled the water and returned it to one of the jugs.
"It's heavy isn't it?" Inuk said.
Tetsu nodded rubbing his wrists.
"Let's try some movements without the water."
Inuk performed a slow set of movements, stopping after each one so Tetsu could emulate his steps.
"What is this called?" Tetsu asked.
"This is the hand-set," Inuk replied amicably. "Now." Inuk held his arm and hands out. "Pushing hands."
He extended his arms and then lifted them up above his head then split them apart over his head on each side.
Tetsu followed his example.
"Breathe out," Inuk instructed.
Tetsu exhaled the condensation of his breath prickling the air around him.
Inuk tilted his head. "You might be a natural at ice."
They repeated pushing hands until his hands cramped. Tetsu breathed out and smiled.
"Tomorrow we'll work on footwork," Inuk said, "though some say that handwork is more important. I believe both are essential."
Tetsu returned to the quiet suite. Ren and Jinora weren't there.
He stared at an empty bowl on the table and sat down to eat from the full one next to it still warm.
"Tastes like Grandam's cooking," he murmured.
The day was bright. Several men had come to the house. Grandma had collected him and his brother from the neighbors. She had been smiling but it hadn't reached her eyes. He and Ren were seven at the time. They stood in the small bright living room on little pillows as three men came into the living room. One of them carried a basket. Ren's shirt was stained with dried flecks of mud.
"Who are these guys?" Ren had asked pulling on Grandma's dress.
"Sit down next to your brother. These men want to meet you." She stood by the side her hands folded together in her lap.
One of the men sat down in front of the two boys. "Hello." He gave them a warm smile. "What are your names?"
"I'm Ren," Renshu said.
Tetsu peered at the men. The one carrying the basket plucked out a rolled cloth and handed it to the man who'd asked their names. He unrolled it on the table. On it rested four toys. The first was a turtle's vacated shell that gleamed a deep green. Ren leaned toward the toys brushing his shoulder with Tetsu's.
"Do you recognize these?" the man asked. Ren squinted and Tetsu looked them over slowly. The second was a small drum with a handle, small painted figures dancing around its sides. The third, was a miniature wooden windmill. Ren reached toward it. The man pulled the cloth away.
"I'm sorry but you mustn't touch them."
The last toy was a small animal figurine carved either of bone or some type of pale stone. Its large blunt teeth and eyes were stained a dark brown. Tetsu looked at this one the longest.
He looked up at the man. "I know that one."
"What about the others?" The man with the basket in his lap leaned forward. Brown hair brushed past his cheeks and hung in the air.
Tetsu pointed wordlessly to the empty shell.
Ren's eyes lit up. "I know this one," he said excitedly pointing to the small windmill, "and that one," he declared a small finger stretched toward the drum.
The trio of men looked between themselves.
"Do you recognize the shell?"
Ren shook his head.
"And you?" They turned toward Tetsu. "Do you recognize the drum?"
Tetsu shook his head.
The men whispered to one another for a few moments.
Grandma came over standing behind him and Ren. "I believe you are done here."
"Actually— " the man with the basket spoke. He looked up at her. "Of course. Thank you for your time." He carefully rolled up the toys and placed them into the container.
Grandma watched them as they traced down the path from the house tapping her foot.
Tetsu drifted toward her side his head barely brushing her hip. "Who were those men?"
She looked down at him once the men were past the small incline and out of the property. "Thiefs."
Tetsu's hand snaked up to reach her thin, warm fingers. "But they didn't take anything..."
Ren ran over to the other side of her clinging to her dress, getting small specks of dry mud on the material. She smoothed down his brown hair.
Tetsu woke up, eyes bleary as he smoothed back his hair.
"I'd forgotten that day." He sat up and straightened the rumpled sheets. He went over to his pack and rummaged pulling out a knife-thin box, unclasping the latch. He slipped out several old photographs. In one of them, he and Ren about twelve stood by their grandmother, dark hair twisted up. She wore a long dress that fanned out at the end, pants visible at her ankles. Jia, a man who'd been friends with their grandma had bought a camera and had wanted to make use of it. He'd been around as he and Ren grew up so he'd gotten a good amount of snapshots. Tetsu slipped out a second photo which had a tear in it. It showed a fox-dog sitting in their yard looking over at the camera with skittish eyes. He flipped the picture over and on the back was written Kuaisu. Another photo depicted three children and the tail of a cat blurring one of the edges.
"The Du's," Tetsu said his eyes focused on the tail, "and Banwen."
His brother spent many hours chasing around the furry marsh cat as it hissed indignantly. Occasionally they would find a dead songbird killed in their yard by the malefectous. The final photo was of a house with a mountain in the background.
He squinted at the photo and frowned. "I must have grabbed this one by accident."
He turned over the aged photo. It was blank. He set the pictures down and leaned back recalling what had happened several years later. When he and Ren had turned eleven the men returned and tested them once again. They stayed persistent visiting every few months. They told the boys that they likely one of them was the Avatar. Once Ren had discovered his airbending there was no doubt in Tetsu's mind that what the men had said had to be true. When Ren was able to bend and him not, Tetsu wondered if only Ren was the Avatar. But they had both been summoned to Yue City. Tetsu wouldn't have let Ren go alone even if he wasn't. On their final visit, grandma told the men to not come back until they were seventeen. It had been the evening right after. She was preparing a late dinner and he walked into the kitchen to help her. The air was tight. He'd never seen Grandma this silent before. He joined in the kitchen, peeling and chopping. Once it was fully dark outside the widow she put her mixing spoon down and turned to him.
"You'll be the best."