Chapter 21

It was a lovely afternoon, and Izara strolled through the palace hallways for a while before heading outside with a book in hand. Iroh was still here, so he and Zuko had been spending a lot of time together, and they were currently training outside. When she got closer, she could hear the sounds of feet moving and fire sailing through the air. They were going through some advanced sets. She sat on one of the ledges just next to the training area, swung her feet over the edge, and began analysing the patterns as they ran through them. Her firebending ability had increased exponentially since Zuko started teaching her, and she was so grateful.

Though it was to be expected, she could see a difference in the proficiency between Zuko and Iroh. Iroh's moves were technically flawless, but Zuko had his youthful strength behind them, almost making them even. Iroh would win due to battle experience, but Zuko would put up a damn good fight.

When they finished their set, he looked over to her, and she nodded respectfully. He couldn't help but smile and nodded back. Iroh refocused him by suggesting they work on lightning bending. Zuko had developed the skill about a year ago, and he believed it was because his hot-headedness had faded with maturity over the years. It wasn't gone, but just not as quickly ignited, so to speak.

He took a breath, adjusted his stance, and felt his muscles relax into it, and Iroh did the same next to him. His right hand moved in a low arc, with his left moving up high, and he felt the energies within his body. He steadied his breath and separated them before allowing them to crash back together and releasing the powerful technique into the sky. Iroh released his a moment later, and they breathed deeply and re-centred for a brief second before they relaxed.

"I can see you have been practising, my nephew. Your lightning looks very good." Iroh's warm voice sounded out with a soft chuckle. Izara could tell that he was incredibly proud.

Zuko thanked his Uncle and looked back to Izara, who just sat quietly and stared back at him. The young Fire Lord's face changed, and he put a hand on his hip and one on his chin, idly making a note of the stubble there. Izara glanced at Iroh, who just shrugged, not knowing what Zuko was doing. Zuko crossed his arms and tilted his head to gesture for Izara to come over to them.

She pushed herself off the ledge, landed silently and linked her hands behind her back as she strolled over to the middle of the training area. Iroh greeted her kindly, and she smiled at him and returned his greeting before she stood in front of Zuko and gave him a formal bow. He walked right up to her so that he was only inches from her, and he could see her tense in confusion and purse her lips.

"How would you like to try bending lightning?" Zuko offered plainly, and her golden's eyes went wide for a moment before they became unfocused as she thought it over.

"I doubt I'll be able to do it, but I'll try it." She figured it was worth a try since she wouldn't know if she could.

Zuko showed her the correct stance, and she copied him. He came over to move her slightly, and she stopped him before he could touch her.

"Wait. Don't laugh at me when I fail." She said in almost a whisper, and he made a slight sound of amusement before adjusting her slightly.

"You should have seen the first time I tried to teach Zuko. Blew up right in his face." Iroh laughed heartily until he noticed Zuko's blank stare. Izara pursed her lips to prevent herself from laughing.

Once Zuko was happy with her stance and movements, he explained the process.

"Lightning isn't created by aggression; it won't work if you try to fuel it with anger. You have to be calm and not use emotion. You must separate positive and negative energies to use the technique. When the energy tries to restore the balance and comes back together, it is released as lightning. The trick is that you have to guide the energy out as lightning, as it isn't possible to control it." Zuko explained as simply as he could, and Iroh nodded in agreement off to the side.

First, they ran through the movement again for a few minutes, and Zuko and Iroh continued offering advice and instruction. Izara felt very strange being taught by both the Dragon of the West and the Fire Lord. Still, she wasn't going to deny the opportunity. She tried her best to copy the movements and feel the flow of energy in her body, trying to identify the yin and yang within her.

"Ready to try it?" Zuko asked, watching her face closely to see how confident she was.

She exhaled heavily and blinked slowly.

"Nope, but let's do it anyway." He narrowed his eyes in response, and she nodded to show she was ready.

Zuko and Iroh stepped back, giving her space to work in. Closing her eyes, she imagined her mind clearing of emotion and concentrated on sinking into her stance and relaxing. As she breathed, she felt the energy within her. She began to feel it pulling itself in half, the positive and negative energy separating. She slowly opened her eyes, focused on the empty space in front of her, and began the movements.

Her arms made their arcs as she tried to continue to separate the energy. It felt strange within her, but she didn't allow her concentration to break and kept her mind calm and clear of emotion. When she had completed the movement, she extended her arm out in front of her, her fingers pointing in the direction she wanted the lightning to go, then allowing the energy to crash back together.

The timing was wrong, though; it exploded in her face and knocked her flat on her ass. Zuko quickly ran over to her and knelt down next to her. He tried to hide his smirk, and she resisted the urge to glare at him. Now she knew what Iroh was laughing about earlier. She didn't doubt that it would be funny from another's perspective.

He helped her up and was surprised as she reset herself in the stance and tried again. After around 20 minutes and another 5 failed attempts, Zuko realised that he had a meeting to go to and that Iroh had already disappeared somewhere. Zuko moved to stand in front of her as she took a few breaths.

"I have to go to a meeting. Are you going to keep trying?" It took Izara a moment to focus on what he was saying, and she nodded with slight hesitation after a moment.

She didn't forget decorum and bowed to him as she walked back into the palace. She presumed that Iroh had disappeared, too and just kept trying. Zuko couldn't help but smile as he heard another explosion followed by her cursing. He was incredibly impressed by her tenacity. It wasn't an easy technique to learn, and not every firebender could do it, but he felt she would get the hang of it. It had taken him a few years before he decided to try again after his Uncle had first shown him, and he eventually got it down pat.

He quickly showered, changed into clean clothes before his meeting, headed into his office, and sat down, waiting for the council member to arrive. The meeting was arduous, as they usually were, but it was over in a little over two hours. He was famished by the end and headed back to his room, noting that it was starting to get dark outside. Looking outside his window, he could see the different hues of blue, pink and orange in the sky and decided to go out and have a better look.

When he headed out, he saw that Izara was still in the middle of the training area, shoulders slumped with exhaustion and laboured breathing. Quietly, he approached nearer and huffed when he heard her curse in frustration. She controlled her breathing and rolled her shoulders before returning to the correct stance. She tried again and failed, falling over backwards, and she laid her head back with a low growl. Zuko squatted next to her, offering a hand out to help her up with a slight smile on his face.

"Thank you, my Lord." She smiled back to indicate her appreciation, and he saw her tiredness.

"From your expression, I'd guess you haven't had any success yet?"

"Ever the perceptive one, my Lord." She laced her voice with forced humour, but he saw through it. "I've given up for today." Looking down at her hands, she sighed tiredly.

"No. No way." He stood in front of her, put his hands on her shoulders, staring straight into her eyes, his face only a few inches from hers. "I know you can do it. I believe in you. Try once more."

Her eyes softened at his kind words, and he tried not to stare for too long lest it get weird. Once her expression became determined, she nodded, and he stepped back. Once she had positioned herself into the correct stance, she breathed in and out for what seemed to be ages. After she felt ready, reciting Zuko's words in her head like a mantra, she began to move.

Zuko watched her, enraptured by her grace and hidden lethality. Her form was flawless now after practising the movements for the last several hours. He observed her lithe muscles rippling, her weight shifting between her feet and her dark hair moving along her shoulders and back. Feeling the change in the air, Zuko stood a little straighter as she finished the last move, aiming the energy in the sky in front of her.

Lightning exploded from her fingertips and raced through the air towards a column holding up the cover for the walkway that led around the training grounds. It collapsed and took another few metres of the cover down with it. It landed with a loud crash, startling all the guards within earshot and causing them to race over to see what had happened.

Izara had her hands on her face, her mouth open wide in shock. She stood there, stationary, staring at the destruction she had unintentionally caused. Zuko waved the guards away with a happy grin on his face. He was so proud of her that he could barely contain it. He ran over to her and waited for her to look up at him.

"You did it!" he exclaimed proudly and laughed at her stunned face.

"I…I did it." She averted her eyes back to the mess she had made and back up to Zuko's face, and slowly a smile spread across her face. She laughed incredulously and jumped up and down a few times.

"I knew you could do it," Zuko replied, matching her excitement with less movement, but his eyes were bright.

They gazed at each other, and both cracked up in happy laughter. Zuko wrapped his arms around her. Being much shorter, her arms came around his waist and she kept laughing with her face in his chest. One of Zuko's hands was on the small of her back, and the other was on the back of her head, holding her to him. She smelled like smoke, and her clothes were singed and covered in dirt, but he didn't care. It just felt so nice having her in his arms. He could feel her softer parts against his chest and sighed into her hair.

Izara felt almost…at home when he held her like this. It felt right. She had stopped laughing, but she was still smiling with her cheek pressed against his pectoral, and she could hear his heart beating, strong and steady. No one had ever held her like this before, but she wondered if it felt like this for everyone else. He was so warm and welcoming, and she nuzzled a little closer to him, hearing his soft sigh and feeling the breath on her hair. She opened her eyes, and they focused on the formal Fire Lord robes he was wearing.

Immediately, she knew that this had to stop. She couldn't have a crush on the Fire Lord. That would be ridiculous! She was a plain girl from an ordinary family with no noble blood or anything outstanding. Nothing to make her worthy of even entertaining thoughts of them together. He was supposed to marry some random highborn or noblewoman and have children who could take his place as the Fire Lord.

He felt her tense and loosened his grip. Straight away, she stepped back until she was at least three steps from him. Before he could see her face, she bowed with her hands in front of her chest in a formal bow from a student to a teacher. This also meant that she couldn't see the slightly hurt on his scarred face. The corners of his mouth were pulled down, and his eyes weren't as bright as they were a moment ago.

"Through your instruction, I have learnt such an incredible technique. Thank you, my Lord. I am in your debt. Sorry for the mess. I will get it cleaned up immediately." She bowed a little bit lower, quickly straightened up, and zipped past him, heading back into the palace.

Instead of going back to her chambers, she knew that she needed to talk to someone with knowledge of these things. Or at least more than her. Before she could realise it, she was at Sokka and Suki's door. With a groan, she knocked and waited for one of them to tell her to come in. Suki was reading a book on the lounge, and she could hear Sokka making strange noises and splashing water from their bathroom.

Suki sat up and put her book down, waving her over to sit with her. "Don't worry about him. I just assume it's because he enjoys the water." Suki shook her head in the direction of the bathroom and smiled. "What brings you here? And what happened to you?"

"I learnt to bend lightning. I've been trying to get the hang of it all afternoon." She looked down at her clothes and realised that she was filthy and that her clothes were definitely ruined, judging from the scorch marks all over them. Suki went to congratulate her, but Izara waved her hand to shush her. "That's not why I'm here. I came here because I was about to give up, and Zuko came out and encouraged me, telling me he believed in me."

Suki listened quietly as her friend, clearly frazzled, began to ramble about what had happened. Izara told her about him grabbing her shoulders, staring into her eyes, and telling her to try one last time. She explained that she had done it and ruined the covered walkway, which Suki got a laugh out of. Then she went quiet for a moment, and her eyes became unfocused as she replayed the recent memory.

"Then, something weird happened. Fire Lord Zuko…hugged me." Izara lowered her voice, not wanting Sokka to hear their conversation. The Water Tribe man couldn't keep his mouth shut, and she didn't want him to know.

"And…" Suki made a rolling motion with her hand, indicating for Izara to continue.

"And, I…hugged him back. I can't have that." She barely spoke louder than a whisper, and Suki leaned forward to hear her.

"Hang on. You said that Zuko hugged you first, right?" Suki questioned, and Izara narrowed her eyes and nodded. "If he initiated it, what are you beating yourself up for?" The Kyoshi warrior stared at her friend, her brow pulled together slightly.

"'Cause I liked it. He was so nice and warm and comforting, and-and…he's the freaking Fire Lord, Suki! I can't allow myself to think about that sort of thing happening again, but I already am, and I don't know what to do." Izara put her head in her hands and groaned for a solid 10 seconds before Suki pulled her hands away.

"Izara, you are allowed to have feelings for whoever you want. It's not a crime." Suki was the calm voice of reason, and Izara stared into her blue eyes.

"I know it's not a crime, but it won't end well. I can't let it go on any further than it already has." Izara ran her hand through her hair, not liking how greasy it felt.

Dramatically, Izara pushed herself to slump over the arm of the lounge so that her legs were on the seat, and the other half of her was hanging over the armrest, her hair brushing the floor. Suki smiled and shook her head at her friend before grabbing her legs and pulling her back onto the lounge. Izara bumped her head on the arm of the lounge, and Suki apologised with a chuckle.

"Look, I am from a common family. I am nothing. I am no one. Fire Lords are supposed to be with nobles and people of royal descent, not this." She pointed at herself with both hands and sighed.

Suki was about to retort and tell her that her heritage didn't matter. However, Sokka came out of the bathroom with nothing but a towel around his waist. Izara turned her head around at the sound and averted her eyes, and Suki almost snorted. True to himself, Sokka waved and said hi to Izara casually as ever, then nearly jumped six feet in the air and gave a high-pitched yelp when he remembered that he was only in a towel.

"Yeah, I'm gonna go." She stood up, purposely facing her back to Sokka, and lowered her voice so that only Suki would hear. "Thanks for listening."

As quick as her legs would carry her, she left their room and shut the door behind her, hearing Suki crack up laughing at Sokka as she walked away. She returned to her chambers and ran a bath, hoping that if she stayed there long enough, she might just turn into water and disappear. Her sore muscles made it difficult to take off her soiled clothing, and eventually, she lost patience and pulled out her dagger and cut them off. They were ruined anyway, so it didn't matter.

The hot water helped to soothe her physically and mentally, and she tried to take her mind off the wonderful feeling of being in Zuko's arms. She could feel his strength, but he didn't hold her too tight. She remembered pressing her cheek against his chest, and she knew the feeling of his muscles moving underneath her wasn't going anywhere any time soon. With a groan, she sunk further down in the water until she was submerged from her chin down.

She stayed in until the water got cold, not having enough energy to heat it up again using bending, and hopped out. Gently, she dried herself off, knowing she would be sore tomorrow, and put casual clothes on. The kitchen staff would still be serving food, and her stomach grumbled at the thought.

She sighed as she slumped into her chair and refused to admit that it might have been a longing sigh. Maybe, just maybe, she could just think about it for tonight. When she got up tomorrow, she would be well-rested, and then the thoughts would have to go.

Unfortunately, her plan didn't work too well, as she dreamt of his arms around her…