Dirty Doug
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Chapter 3: In which I discover the nature of the moon’s “gifts”
🕑 Added 2025-07-20 01:44:38 +0000 UTCMy fire bending was coming easier to me.
It was that notion that disturbed my thoughts as I practiced my sword forms across the ice of the training grounds. My body swept in rapid motions, joining and separating my blades as I swung shimmering circles of steel around myself.
It was a fact that the small breaths of fire I allowed myself and the stoking of my inner fire since I had come to the North Pole had been more difficult.
That was until recently.
The chi of the place that, to my knowledge, was still the same did not feel like my opposite anymore. When I breathed in, the chi flowed through me like it was home. When I shifted in my movements across the ice and snow, there was now something else.
Push and Pull.
I would find myself in a new rhythm as I moved, swaying fluidly through my motions. Not any slower or less sharp, but now, when I changed fluidly to a kick or swept my swords wide, something tugged beyond my limbs.
I blew a strand of black hair that had fallen in front of my face away in a huff of irritation.
It was unlike anything I had read back at the palace or here in the Northern Water Tribes archives.
Steadying myself, I turned and began to head back to the city. Whatever had occurred, there was no reason to worry. As long as my fire bending worked, that was good enough.
As I entered back into the city proper, I felt the gazes of the people surrounding me fall upon me.
The polite ones shifted attention within a couple of seconds, the impolite ones stared for… longer.
Amusedly, I thought I would be done with such looks when I had left the Fire Nation, though even there, given that I spent my time around the nobility, such blatant looks were uncommon.
Still, I walked straight backed and with purpose through the streets. I had a mission, namely breakfast. What passed for breakfast around these parts was unusual, and I found the usual staple of rice missing, but it sufficed.
Though another thought had occurred to me that I hadn’t quite accounted for yet, when I blew up the marriage negotiation, wouldn’t that mean that Yue would no longer be able to learn water bending as she desired?
I, of course, didn’t think that the option of marrying me was preferable in the grand scheme of things, but I felt bad that I was leaving her in the lurch.
I resisted the urge to shake my head.
Too much time spent planning in the court intrigues of the Fire Nation had done something stupid to my brain, I was sure of it.
I walked the ice of the North Pole, distracted more than I should be.
A group of children ran by me, bouncing a ball between them, laughing as they ran. I had ended up in the market area of the North Pole without realizing it.
One of them tripped, tumbling over unsteady feet to face plant on the snow and ice.
The boy stiffened, and I could sense his muscles and diaphragm contracting from the shifts of heat in him, a level of detail I hadn’t really been able to feel before. The motion was as if he were about to cry. As the rest of his friends ran on ahead, I saw tears begin to form, and he sniffed.
Well, that was no good.
I kneeled down and offered a hand to the boy, “There’s no need to cry,” I said, channeling my years of training dealing with young children from my time with my sister and her friends.
He blinked, surprised, looking up at me before, hesitantly, he reached out to grab my hand, and I pulled him to his feet with ease.
“You’re not hurt, are you?” I asked pasting on a gentle understanding smile.
The boy seemed to consider the question for a moment before she slowly shook her head, “No,” he mumbled.
At least the kids didn’t look at me strangely here.
I sensed a familiar grouping of heat signatures approaching from behind me and turned to see Hahn along with his usual group of warriors approaching me.
Judging from the expression on the other boys face, I would approximate his attitude between pissed and downright murderous.
Of course, I wasn’t really expecting anything to happen in the middle of the street.
“Outsider,” Hahn growled, glaring at me.
Despite myself, an amused smile stretched onto my face, “I know you know my name is Hakoda,” I remarked dryly.
“An outsider does not deserve a water tribe name,” one of his comrades growled.
I inclined my head in a mockingly respectful motion, “Of course, by all means, keep calling me as you will then.”
“We don’t like your attitude,” Hahn scowled at me, “You’re nothing, you’re not even a citizen of the Northern Water Tribe, much less a warrior.”
I admitted internally that I had expected the group to be far more cowed after our last run-in.
I noted the crowd gathering around us, and a small feeling of wariness surged through me. If this turned ugly… I shifted in front of the boy I had helped up and tried to subtly gesture him away.
The boy remained standing still.
Hahn glanced at one of the warriors beside him
“We’ll teach you respect,” the warrior spoke sharply and then gestured smoothly, drawing ice from the ground, surging up to attempt to encompass me if I hadn’t seen the move coming, allowing me to slip to the side with a shift of my feet even as I grabbed the child’s shoulder and spun him away with me.
Gasps of shock and surprise echoed around me.
“Hey!” A growl had entered my voice, “You could have hit the kid!”
The water bender froze, seemingly realizing his misstep, his eyes glancing to the side at Hahn, looking for direction.
A moment of indecision crossed Hahn’s face before he firmed up, glaring at me, “That’s what happens when you get mixed up with outsiders!” he declared weakly, and I could only give the boy a dumbfounded look, surely he wasn’t that stupid.
The boy remained standing, wide-eyed, looking at Hahn’s group.
“Hey,” I said, directing my gaze at the kid for a moment, “You should go find your friends.” I attempted to gently cajole.
The boy then shook her head, “They’re being mean to you! You have to stand up to them!” she said.
“It’s fine,” I shook my head, “I can handle them myself. I don’t want you to get hurt.”
I could see the boy's gaze already firming as he seemed to pick the absolute worst time to find his warrior spirit.
He turned and growled, gesturing with his hands and a section of ice cut free from the raised block, “Back off,” he growled.
Hahn's face twisted in uncertainty, and I could see him mentally calculating what it would mean to deal with the kid.
“Get out of the way, kid,” he snorted and took a step forward.
The boy gestured with his hands, launching the chunk of ice forward in a rough, unhewn chunk.
Hahn slipped around it, but one of his friends was cut off guard, and he grunted as he was struck in the stomach with the ice.
Hahn snarled, leaping forward, his attention now on the kid.
I slipped forward, shifting across the ice smoothly before burying my fist in Hahn’s gut faster than the boy could react, causing him to fly backward, rolling across the ice in a heap.
Hahn coughed, “Deal with him, idiots!” he snarled, gasping the words out as he clutched his stomach
This time, the water bender shifted the ice underneath my feet, attempting to send me toward the canal directly to my right. I easily leaped away, but he had shifted such a large chunk of the ice that he sent the boy who had been several feet behind me sliding away.
It happened in a moment, one second the boy had been on solid ice, the next he had been dunked into the canal, and the entire group of water tribe boys and the crowd froze.
“Fuck! You asshole!” I decked the water bender across the face, aiming for his temple by instinct, the heel of my palm causing him to collapse to the ice like a marionette with its strings cut.
I sprinted for the edge of the canal, and my heart sank as I saw the water rippling, but no sign of the boy.
“How deep are these canals?” I spun desperately, pleading with the crowd behind me.
“We’re over the ocean,” one of the adults stuttered out.
I stripped my dao from my waist and dropped them to the ground, any extra weight was going to be a bad idea.
“Boy, that’s polar water! You can’t dive in there!” an adult shouted out, but I had already leaped in.
I hit the water, and I felt the freezing cold hit me like a punch in the gut, shocking my body, but I gritted my teeth to prevent an involuntary gasp. The water pressed in on me, cold that would chill the limbs of an average human in minutes, preventing them from moving and sinking them down.
I pushed through the water, diving as deeply as I could, swimming like I had learned on Ember Island so long ago.
I drew on my fire bending, searching through the water for the heat I knew should be there.
The water darkened more and more, making ordinary eyesight useless; I disregarded the stinging of salt against my eyes.
I dove further and further, stretching my senses out and out, before finding a small warmth that could only belong to a human. I dove further, the darkness of the water pressing in around me as I continued to go deeper.
Down further and further I swam chasing the warmth, even as the boy’s clothing filled with water dragged him further down.
I could swim faster than that, though. I had too.
I pushed my body harder, burning the oxygen within it as I pushed my muscles all the harder, filled with the chi and heat from my breath.
My hand shot through the dark water, grasping the boy by the hood of his jacket before turning back toward the surface, the smallest slivers of light still peaking through above from the sun.
Agni, it was so far from my reach.
I desperately began to swim upward, but now I only had one hand, and my progress slowed as I attempted to push my body as hard as it could go.
How long had the kid been under?
Every second delayed, I could feel the heat dimming in his body.
Worse, I could feel my lungs burning in a way they definitely should not be, the damage to them reasserting its presence with all the bluntness of a platypus bear.
Desperation filled my chi, reaching out of my body, and for a moment, all was still. I felt something soft ruffling through my head, and a laugh like chimes, the darkness of the water became illuminated by gentle moonlight that knew no source.
Push and Pull
Instinctively, I stretched my chi out of my body. There was no light, no fire to draw upon, yet I reached.
I connected.
The water swirled around me, lifting my body in a rapid ascent as I pushed my chi outward, my opposite element swirling around me at my will.
I swirled it like I would a tornado of fire, I was not in control of the element, I was merely driving it forth to my will.
Rapidly, the water rushed past us, spinning rapidly around us before, like one of the fireworks I had shot off for my sister and her friends, we shot toward that surface, rocketing through the icy depths.
Within seconds, we breached the water, coming out in a shower of water and screams from the crowd as they backed away from the sopping wet, cold mass we were.
We landed hard on the ice.
I fumbled with the boy’s body, realizing he wasn’t breathing. his eyes were closed; I could feel no flicker of lightning within his heart.
No.
I swept my hands forward, drawing the water I could somehow feel in his lungs free in a glob from his mouth. I transitioned the movement, shifting my arms in the smallest of sweeping motions, generating the tiniest of charges at the tips of my fingers, not more than a spark, before I pressed it to the boy’s heart.
The boy’s body jerked, his heart surging back to life as the electricity within began to surge and jolt again.
The boy’s eyes startled open as he looked around in surprise and horror, “What, what’s going-“ he stopped, letting loose a cough, rubbing his chest.
Relief filled my system as I let loose a shocked and bewildered laugh, “You’re okay,” I sighed in relief.
That was when I began to realize what I had done.
Now that I had reached out, I could feel the gentle surge and withdrawal of the water I had emerged from lapping at the edges of the canal, more disturbed than usual from our ascent through its watery depths. I could feel the ice underneath my feet resting against my chi strangely.
I turned back to the crowd, who were gazing at me with expressions that were altogether different than the ones I had recently gotten used to.
“That was some water bending boy,” a man said, stepping forward and kneeling beside me, and the boy looked at me with a strange look, almost worshipful.
My stomach turned as if his words acknowledging what had happened were the trigger for my full realization of what I had done.
That shouldn’t be possible. What I had done was beyond the realms of anyone, at least anyone not the Avatar.
Was I the Avatar? The wild thought passed through my mind before I shut it down instantly with logic. Aang should still be somewhere at the South Pole, and I hadn’t gone all glowy in my time of need.
I had never felt an attraction to any other element; in fact, water hadn’t felt this way until… well, the moon had shown on me when I had met with the chieftain, or was it before then, after my prayer to the spirits? It was hard to tell now that I was thinking about it; my head felt cloudy and muffled.
This didn’t make sense; people didn’t bend two elements, it didn’t happen.
Yet it had most definitely happened, and now I couldn’t avoid it.
I coughed and spat a glob of liquid red to the side, my poor lungs reasserting their issues.
“I-I-didn’t know,” I murmured, pressing my hands together to prevent them from visibly shaking, though it wasn’t from the cold, “I’ve never bent water before,” I whispered attempting to take deep breaths feeling the heat in my body surge forth filling my limbs like a welcome friend.
But it was no longer the only thing in my veins. I had always been intimately aware of my chi, and now that I was truly aware, I felt the change. Like a cool current, a new, just awakened part of my chi drifted like a cool current next to the flames in my veins.
Honestly, I didn’t know how to feel.
I felt the crowd split and a familiar presence walk through, and I looked up to see Master Pakku looking slightly windswept as if he had sprinted from somewhere.
“Hakoda,” he said quietly, looking at me, soaked in water next to the boy I had pulled from the water. He turned to see Hahn and his cronies frozen to the side, their warrior preparedness for not, the water bender that I had decked still lay across the ground, unconscious from my strike.
“Master Pakku,” I murmured before rising to my feet, giving him a small bow of respect, though that was mostly to prevent myself from turning and attempting to incinerate the water tribe boys who had caused this.
“What happened here?” Master Pakku said softly.
“Ask Hahn,” I bit out, unable to keep the snarl from my voice, my usual façade struggling underneath my grip.
Master Pakku turned to the boy, who straightened up slightly under the man’s gaze before his eyes flicked to the gathered crowd, “It was Tenak who messed up! He attempted to throw the Outsider into the ocean, but accidentally got the kid.”
My lips twisted into a hard snarl. In the Fire Nation, one was always responsible for the conduct of their subordinates as a matter of honor.
I stood up, and at my motion, the water surged over the side of the canal slightly, and my two steps forward generated ice patterns flaring out from my feet.
“On your direction!” I spat, “These are the great warriors of the Northern Water Tribe! You won’t even take responsibility for your own orders!”
Hahn stuttered, stepping backwards, his eyes flashing in horror as he glanced to the side where the water surged back and forth and at the crowd surrounding us.
Why was he looking at the crowd?
“I-it was an accident!” he whispered. I glanced out of the corner of my eyes at the crowd surrounding us and was surprised to see cold eyes of anger as they gazed at Hahn and his assembled warriors.
This was unexpected, or perhaps it wasn’t. Could water tribe warriors be held to an accounting before the tribe? Still, I was aware this wasn’t about me, I was an ‘outsider,’ as Hahn liked to repeat, no one cared about me, but it was Hahn’s group that had sent a kid into the ocean.
“You will all go before Chief Arnook,” Pakku said softly, his voice the very sound of thin cracking ice, “He will decide what is to be done with you.”
-
We stood in the main hall of the palace where Pakku had taken us. We stood behind Pakku, I was off to the right side of Hahn and his warriors.
Chief Arnook stood before us, his face icy cold, exactly like the snow that surrounded us.
He had been silent for several minutes since the recounting by Pakku.
Finally, he spoke, “Hahn, I am as ashamed as I am awed by your foolishness. You attacked a guest of the tribe for no reason. Worse, you and yours almost ended the life of a small boy of the tribe, someone you were supposed to protect. Your punishment and the punishment of your warriors will be decided by the tribe later, for now, get out of my sight.”
Hahn hastily nodded and bowed before turning and walking out of the room, all traces of arrogance gone.
Despite myself, I felt the smallest amount of sympathy before the emotion ebbed away. What could you expect from a group of hot-headed boys who were sure they were the protectors of the tribe? Not to mention, unbeknownst to the others in the room, in a way, I very much did deserve his suspicion, considering who I was and where I was from.
Chief Arnook turned to me, and this time I was surprised when he bowed his head definitely past the point of politeness.
“I am sorry for the actions of my warriors,” Chief Arnook said simply, “Their actions do not reflect my desires or beliefs.”
How does one say, ‘it’s chill?’ in polite Northern Water Tribe speak? I had never thought to learn.
Well, Fire Nation style it was with a twist.
“Their actions dishonored themselves, not you.” I bowed my head lower.
Chief Arnook nodded his face still mostly impassive, but he at the very least did not seem offended, “Master Pakku told me you bent water,” he said leadingly.
Ah, this, “I was unaware I had such a talent,” I shrugged, giving the man a somewhat sheepish smile, hiding my much more conflicted feelings.
“Well, I will say its emergence could not have come at a better time, you must truly have Tui’s blessing,” Chief Arnook said, “If you will excuse me, I have to deal with the rest of these… circumstances,” he said the last words with significant distaste, before gently clapping me on the shoulder.
He walked away, and I was left with Master Pakku.
We faced each other, a long silence stretching between us, before Master Pakku gestured with his chin, “Let us walk,” he said simply.
I nodded and followed after him, and we exited the palace in short order before beginning our journey through the more remote and private sections of the North Pole.
“You must be quite confident in yourself to jump into polar waters,” Master Pakku remarked simply.
I sighed, shrugging my shoulders, acknowledging the tacit reproval in the statement, “I wasn’t really thinking. I couldn’t let the kid drown, and no one else was doing anything. I also had knocked out the only water bender there, which in retrospect was stupid.”
“Mayhaps not prudent,” Master Pakku nodded his head in agreement, “I feel some responsibility of my own for the situation. I had known Hahn was bothering you, but I thought the matter would be appropriately managed between you two. I did not believe he would put others in danger so recklessly, and given your other ‘work,’ I knew you could handle yourself. Not to mention, up until now, Hahn has been relatively favored in the tribe.”
“Up until now? You mean when you told me about him being the one favored to marry Yue?”
“He was, I would surmise that your own apparent rise has led to… bad feelings,” Master Pakku murmured.
I snorted a sudden surge of amusement running through me, “Bad feelings,” I tasted the words on my tongue, before I shook my head, “Those bad feelings could have killed a kid, I don’t care if he attempts to put me in snow, but this has got to stop.”
As bad as it sounded, I was relieved to be focusing on something I could control. No spirits. No screwy stuff with my bending.
“I believe it will,” Master Pakku stated calmly, “The humiliation this time was in public, and now… well, your water bending will likely make him think twice.”
Great. Something I really didn’t want to think about.
“I take it you will be attending my lessons tomorrow,” Master Pakku's voice was sedate, his words assured, like he already knew the answer.
“I…” I hesitated, my stomach twisting unpleasantly, “This isn’t something I wanted.” The words slipped free, and I hated the plaintive edge to them. They sounded weak, unsure, things I couldn’t afford to be.
“It is not for us to decide the timing and the nature of the gifts of the spirits, only that when once given, we honor and use them.”
I consciously refrained, if only barely, from slapping my forehead; that was a classic Uncle Iroh line if I’d ever heard of, directed to what he wanted you to do but said in such a broad general way that you wanted to strangle the man on principle.
“So, what now, I learn water bending?“ I remarked moodily, aware of how petulant I sounded, but not being able to particularly care right now.
There had never been a Fire Lord who could not bend Fire, and the addition of water… complicated things. The Fire Lord was not just the ruler of the Fire Nation they were also a spiritual leader, chosen by Agni.
Though I kind of doubted it in my father’s case.
I supposed from a certain perspective, it wasn’t all bad. Azula wasn’t the worst choice for the position, but I worried about setting that burden on her; it was entirely unfair, and I was aware of the… fragility of my sister, even if becoming Fire Lord was something I didn’t want in the first place.
I still would have done it rather than force my sister into that position.
Though a part of me had thought maybe Uncle Iroh could take the reins instead.
“I suppose that is your choice,” Master Pakku said quietly. “It would be hard to teach an unwilling student, I admit. I am surprised. Typically, in the Northern Water Tribe, learning you are blessed with the ability to bend water is a cause for some celebration.”
“Yeah, well, I’m not exactly from around here,” the words snipped free from my mouth before I sighed and shook my head, “Forgive me, Master Pakku, that display was unbecoming.”
Master Pakku inclined his head, but did not respond, taking my apology graciously.
“Perhaps we should head to my training courtyard,” he said, “We can get your mind off things there.”
I shrugged, but was not willing to gainsay the man.
-
I stood in the courtyard among Pakku’s other students, following movements I had admittedly practiced by myself as I had followed the water bending scrolls in the library of the palace to see what could be applied to fire bending.
After all, it had been my Uncle Iroh who had developed a counter to the ultimate fire-bending technique with his own studies of the water benders.
Such a thought had percolated in me as I studied the elements.
How were such different elements manipulated? How did the martial arts that formed their basis function with and without the element?
How did the spirits interact with bending itself?
As it turned out, they had quite some say, and I couldn’t say I was really pleased to be discovering that little factoid firsthand.
I shifted my hand, drawing it over the ice, generating a series of small spikes before they shook and dissolved into water.
I growled to myself and shifted my stance, drawing my torso up smoothly, letting my arms flow along with the motion, only to be met with a pathetic ripple of water across the ground.
I focused again and drew my arms straight, attempting to launch a gout of water forward, only to be met with a pathetic stutter.
Yue had made this look so easy. Spirits the students next to me were leaps and bounds better than I was.
I wanted to say the problem was simply that I was unused to attempting to bend water, but I knew the real truth.
My heart wasn’t in it. I couldn’t focus.
An untrained six-year-old could do what I had just done.
Every time I reached out, a part of me said it was wrong, unnatural even. Back in the water, it had been simple desperation, the only option. When faced with someone else’s potential death, I had been able to push past it.
Now that I knew what I was doing, knew that I was trying to bend water. I could feel my spirit rebelling.
I didn’t think it was just my own feelings and uncertainties either, I was pretty sure that the Avatar also struggled with bending their opposite element from what I remembered, though I couldn’t confirm the fact from my scrolls in the capital. Perhaps not so surprisingly, information regarding the Avatar beyond the general was difficult to access.
“Perhaps this day has been overly new for you,” Master Pakku remarked next to me, “Mayhap you should come back tomorrow when you can focus better.”
I turned about to bite my own response back at him, that I was better than this! It was just-
I saw an uncharacteristically soft look on Master Pakku’s face, and the words died before they reached my lips, “Thank you, Master,” I said simply, “I’ll return tomorrow.”
He nodded and turned away to go look at another student, and I bit back the feeling of failure heavy on my tongue.
I walked away, hoping that by driving my body into action, my own feelings would become clearer.
Through the streets of the North Pole, I walked before realizing my feet had taken me to the library. Well, I suppose there were worse places to kill time.
I walked in, strolling past a couple of Northern Water tribe citizens, before I spotted a familiar face, which was unusual; it was Yagoda.
She was bent over a long, laid out scroll, murmuring to herself as she made quick, delicate strokes with her fingers, which I noted imprinted black ink in fine print across the scroll. Unconsciously, I walked up to her to get a better look at the fine display of water bending.
“What can I help you with, young man?” Yagoda asked without looking up from the scroll, her face scrunched in such a way that made her wrinkles seem deeper as she continued to write on the scroll.
“Ah,” I hesitated, “I’m sorry, I was fascinated by how tightly controlled your water bending was,” I admitted.
Yagoda chuckled, a sound that was surprisingly warm and full throated, “It’s a necessary skill for a healer. We may not use water bending for combat, but when it comes to delicate work such as this, I find my water bending superior to a brush.”
I hummed in agreement, watching the small, precise motions of her hands. It was things like this that I found the most impressive when it came to the manipulation of the elements. Raw power had its place, but to do delicate work with minimal movement showed impressive control over one’s chi.
“Have you come to get that wound on your chest checked?” Yagoda asked into the silence, though her words were not loud or even slightly accusatory.
I flinched, not expecting the question, but was already moving to my polite denial within seconds, “The wound is already healing, I would hate to trouble you for little reason.”
Blue eyes flicked up at me, and I had to resist the urge to flinch from the intensity of her stare, “I rather doubt that. However, you’re treating the wound currently, it’s not enough, while you have admittedly prevented the injury from worsening, you’re only stalemating the damage; you need a trained healer.”
Her words caught me off kilter, and I felt my hackles raise slightly, “I’ve managed it well enough,” I muttered though the words were half hearted, truthfully I was growing concerned, I had done what I could with my fire but even if it was possible to fully heal myself with fire my current knowledge even with my reading was severely limited. I had resigned myself to figuring it out on my own, but worry edged at my mind; I was sure I would have been able to retrieve the kid from the water without resorting to water bending if my lungs had been functioning as they should have.
I had been able to dive deep into the ocean when we visited our Ember Island vacation home and had even retrieved pearls for my sister from depths far greater than what I had dived to today.
“You warriors,” Yagoda sniffed reprovingly, “I can’t force you to let me heal you, but from our prior interactions, you seem a more sensible boy than this.”
I took a moment to examine the emotions running through me. Was it really just fear of being discovered?
Or was it the fact that since I had been born, I don’t think that there had been a single adult figure in my life whom I had been able to trust?
Oh wow, that might be it.
More than that, even if I could lie to the world, I refused to lie to myself. Today I had received a mulligan, but what if I hadn’t? Would I put other people in danger by not being at my best because I refused to trust anyone to actually heal me?
Yagoda still stood there, and her face had relaxed back into a small warm smile, the irritation on her face smoothed away as she looked at me.
“I-“ I hesitated once before I pushed onward, “Please, Master Yagoda,” I said simply.
Yagoda nodded, “Of course, my boy, and don’t call me Master, I don’t like feeling old.”
I blinked, startled, but was able to suppress a huff of impolite amusement at her words.
-
Yagoda had taken me back to a set of igloos in the western portion of the city and taken me into one, stepping underneath a pelt to enter into a small circular area, indented into the ice, the grounds covered with various pelts.
“Please remove your shirt,” she said simply while she turned away, grabbing a bowl from which she drew water from an ice block.
I stiffened at the command, but I was already in too deep to refuse the order. I sighed and reached down, pulling my shirt over my head, wincing slightly as my chest shifted uncomfortably.
I set my blue top to the side and waited for Yagoda to turn around. After several moments, she did so, and I saw her eyes widen in shock, which was a very unusual expression on her face.
Despite myself, I felt my lips twitch in amusement, “It’s not a pretty sight, is it?” I chuckled, which turned into a cough, and I frowned, pressing my elbow to my mouth, feeling the familiar warm red splatter across my elbow.
“You foolish boy,” Yagoda scowled at me, and I was once again taken aback by the anger on her face.
Feeling the need to defend myself, I shrugged, “Hey, it really does look worse than it is.”
The red lines stretched across my chest, tracing each vein in exacting detail, my veins.
Yagoda scowled at me, but her next words were pure professionalism: “What exactly happened to you?”
Exactly the question I didn’t want to answer, though: “Would you believe me if I said it was a minor family dispute?” I asked curiously.
Yagoda’s lips twitched in the faintest of smiles, vanishing as quickly as it came, “Be serious Hakoda,” she said simply.
I sighed, shaking my head, “Look, it’s not a particularly pleasant topic, I’d like to leave it in the past for now.”
Yagoda looked at me, her blue eyes momentarily too knowing and too piercing for my liking, before she sighed and shook her head, “I’ll leave it be, now hold still, I need to analyze the damage.”
She kneeled before me and drew a palm of cool water forth, gently reaching out and running the cool water over my chest.
I felt the press of her chi against my own, but not in an imposing way, more like a gentle stream running over my skin.
She did so for several minutes, and a part of me wondered what exactly she was finding out.
Finally, she pulled back and looked at me solemnly, “The damage through your chest is not as bad as it could be. Your body seems to have been somehow regenerating as the damage as it attempted to spread through a process I know not how.”
Her eyes flickered to my hair, and I was sure she was glancing at the white streak in my hair. Well, it was good to know that Tui was at least good for taking the blame for this.
“That’s good, then, right? I’m recovering?” I asked.
“There’s tissue in your lungs that has died, your body can’t do anything about it, but it’s still causing damage.”
“Ah, that’s… not good then?” I nodded slowly.
I saw Yagoda’s scowl deepen as she glared at me, “You’re not stupid, boy, you know that’s not good!” Her voice rose a little at the end.
I sighed, realizing my attempt at humor had fallen flat, “Ah, I’m sorry, my Uncle always told me humor was good for recovery.”
“Mmm,” Yagoda side-eyed me before she sighed and continued, “As I was saying, I should be able to clear the damage; water bending is particularly good at such tasks.”
“Great!” I grinned a modicum of relief filling me, I hadn’t been looking forward to crippled lungs for the rest of my life.
“I’ll be right back,” Yagoda said, “I’ll need some assistance for this procedure.”
Instantly, I restrained the flinch at those words, “You can’t do this on your own?” I asked.
“No,” Yagoda said bluntly, “Two healers are much more suited for a wound like this.”
She eyed me for a moment before she sighed, “I’ll make sure to grab someone who can be discreet,” she said simply.
Had I been that obvious?
“Thank you,” I murmured, bowing my head to the woman.
-
Yue sat in front of her usual scrolls, reading her usual poetry, attempting futilely to memorize the required lines.
Truthfully, she’d rather be anywhere doing anything rather than this. However, she perhaps preferred the thought of finding a moment to talk to Hakoda and see if he would be willing to provide another lesson on water bending.
Inappropriate for a woman of the Northern Water Tribe, much less a princess, but those tired thoughts didn’t actually inhibit her desires.
Such thoughts were disturbed as there was a gentle tap at the fur that served as her door.
“Come in,” she said softly, looking up.
Yagoda stepped in the old woman’s face, crinkling in a small smile as she looked at Yue, “Princess Yue,” she murmured respectfully, though Yue noticed the corners of the old woman’s lips twitching as she bowed far too respectfully.
“Oh, stop it,” Yue groaned, equal parts annoyance and amusement flushing through her system, before an awful thought occurred to her, “I didn’t miss a lesson, did I?”
The mere thought was horrifying, both because of her respect for Yagoda, but also because those lessons were one of the few times she could practice water bending at all.
Though that then brought her thoughts back to the lesson Hakoda had given her, his warm voice, his gentle but firm nudges, his hand against her back-
“Yue?”
Yue realized she had zoned out again and immediately wanted to cast herself into the ice flows, “I’m sorry, Master Yagoda, I was caught up in my own thoughts,” she dipped her head apologetically as much as a princess was allowed to.
“It’s no matter,” Yagoda waved her apology away, “If I could pull you away for a moment, I have a patient I need your help with.”
“My help?” Yue asked, surprised, “I didn’t think I was ready.”
“You’re more than ready,” Yagoda affirmed, “Though it’s more because of the particular patient that I thought of you.”
Yue blinked at Yagoda, confused, “Who?” she questioned, now entirely confused.
“Well, your future fiancé came to me with a wound that needed attention,” Yagoda said.
Yue shot to her feet in a way she knew was inappropriate, but she didn’t care in the moment, “Hakoda’s hurt?” she asked, shocked.
Yagoda seemed taken aback for a moment before she raised her hands in a calming gesture, “It’s not an urgent injury, but it’s best dealt with by two healers.”
Yue was only listening with half an ear as she shrugged on the appropriately formal robe before she turned as she tied her sash around her waist, “Let’s go,” she said firmly.
-
I had found myself sitting rather impatiently in the hut contemplating the far wall for lack of better things to do for the better part of twenty minutes before I felt the heat signatures walking toward the hut.
I turned my head to see Yagoda enter, looking rather harried for some reason, followed by my astonishment, Yue, whose face was creased in a small but deep frown.
Her eyes immediately came to rest on me, and I was struck by how exposed I felt, though Yue seemed worse off, her cheeks flushing bright red, and she averted her gaze. “You didn’t say he was already shirtless?!” she said, her tone louder than her usual soft notes.
“I was examining him,” Yagoda said, her voice sounding rather dry, “Not that you gave me time to say a word edgewise,” she mumbled, her voice so soft I almost didn’t catch it.
Yue’s shoulders firmed up and she turned back around her cheeks still somewhat red, her eyes trailed over me before they centered on my chest and a gasp ripped free from her chest, “Tui and La,” she whispered walking over to me and bending down to take a closer look, she negligently gestured with her hand drawing water from the bowl Yagoda had left before running it over my chest.
It was like electricity sparked through me as I felt a familiar spiritual presence at her mere touch, exactly like Tui’s.
“How did this happen?” Yue looked up at me with a sharp look in her eyes, “Did Hahn do this?”
How did she know about Hahn?! What did she know about Hahn?
“Princess Yue,” Yagoda remarked, her tone mild, “I’m sure you can recognize that a club or spear couldn’t cause the wound on his chest.”
Yue nodded, frowning, “I’ve never seen anything like it, it almost feels like how the scrolls say lightning strike wounds are.”
I didn’t twitch a muscle at her words.
Yagoda frowned, coming up on my other side, “That’s how it felt to me as well,” she said.
“How did this happen?” Yue asked me again, and I had to restrain my flinch as her pure blue eyes bored into mine.
“It’s a long, unpleasant story,” I said quietly, “I’d really rather not talk about it right now.”
I noticed the way Yue flinched and she looked away, “I’m sorry,” she murmured, “I forgot myself.”
“No, it’s not like that,” I said quickly, attempting to clarify, “If you want, I’ll tell you someday, it’s just not something I like to talk about.”
Yue’s gaze returned to me, and I wanted to look away from her pretty blue eyes; they were far too open and far too honest.
Yue seemed to hesitate for a moment, uncharacteristically, she bit her lip slightly as she looked at me, “Okay,” she said quietly before she turned back to Yagoda, “What do you need me to do?”
They moved as an organized team, about me drawing water over my wound, a gentle light gleaming from the water.
Time passed as they shifted about, and as the minutes ebbed on, I felt the thick feeling in my chest easing, and my breath became easier and easier. I found myself fascinated as I felt their chi flow through my system, and I followed their movements and listened to them talk as I was given my first demonstration of water bending healing.
More than that, I felt the pushing and pulling of their chi within my chest, removing the damaged tissue bit by bit.
Each breath I took felt fuller until another breath entirely filled my lungs for the first time in a while, and I winced as the lantern within the hut flared at my breath.
“There,” Yagoda murmured, “You should be fully healed for the moment. Princess Yue, could I impose on you to check his lungs over the next few days?
“Of course, Master Yagoda,” Yue nodded her head, her hands traveling over my chest one last time, the tips of her water-coated fingers brushing over my pectorals.
Her face was no longer the bright red it had been before; there was still some color to her cheeks, but I found myself admiring her focus. I could tell there was still some embarrassment in the girl, but she had pushed it to the side to help me.
“Thank you both,” I dipped my head, bending at the waist to show my gratitude.
Yagoda chuckled and then shocked me as she reached out and ruffled my hair, her lips stretched in a small smile, “You warriors,” she remarked, this time as she said the words, there was more of a fond tone added to the previously exasperated emotion that had been apparent, “It’s no trouble Hakoda, I’d be a poor healer indeed if I let you walk around with that chest wound much longer. I’m just glad you came here before I had to strap you down to heal with you!” she chuckled lightly.
I blinked, my eyes flicking to Yue to see if Yagoda was joking, but Yue but her face was impassive besides a small reproving scowl.
“I, uh, I’ll keep that in mind?” I said the words, leaving my lips weak and unsure.
“Now both of you, get out of here,” Yagoda waved her hands slightly, “I need to chart the injury and treatment in case we come across it again.”
I grabbed my shirt and shrugged it on before exiting the hut with Yue following in my wake; we walked some several steps in silence before, surprisingly, it was Yue that spoke, “How long were you injured like that?” her words were soft but she was looking at me directly seemingly searching for something.
“Some weeks,” I replied cocking a brow at her.
Yue's soft red lips dipped into a deeper frown. “So you fought Pirates like that?”
The words were not so much a question as a statement.
I was put off balance for a moment, flummoxed, “I, well, yes?”
Yue scowled and then swept her hands down and out exactly as I taught her, launching a massive chunk of snow at me, which I just barely dodged around to the side from the sheer unexpectedness of the motion.
“Hey! What was that for!?” I exclaimed, shocked at the sudden move.
Yue scowled even deeper if that was possible, “A warning, you will never do something that stupid again,” she said firmly, standing straight up, glaring at me imperiously, the picture of royalty.
Despite myself, a small smile played across my lips as I raised an eyebrow at the girl, “I don’t know…” I murmured contemplatively, “I don’t see what you could do to stop me,” I teased.
Yue glared at me with normally clear blue eyes, a storm, “I’ll bury you up to your neck in the ice,” she threatened.
I raised an eyebrow, surprised at the vehemence in her words. I ran my eyes over her face, looking past the royal façade with ease. There was something frightened there, something worried behind the mask.
I was surprised as I realized she really did mean those words. It didn’t make sense. There was no reason to show me such care, such worry.
My teasing smile slipped from my lips, and Yue stopped as well, her eyes widening as she glanced at the pile of ice and snow she had slung at me. “I’m sorry,” she murmured, “That was inappropriate and unladylike.”
“No,” I shook my head, “That was my fault, I should have been more considerate of your feelings.”
I should have been, though I was admittedly confused at the source of them. Though I suppose, given my parentage, I wasn’t particularly prepared to see others care for me.
Though now that I had seen her bend so easily and with so little training, a thought occurred to me.
“Yue, how do you focus when you bend?” I asked.
Yue blinked her face cleared from its scowl like the sun coming out from behind the clouds, “Well, I suppose I reach out with my chi and then make a connection to the water source I want to draw from, then I simply pull back, letting the chi and water flow with my movements.”
I nodded slowly, the words not so dissimilar to my own readings. Not so dissimilar to how I had taught her, either, yet while training with Pakku, I had ignored those thoughts, still somewhat dumbstruck by the change I had experienced.
“Why do you ask?” Yue questioned.
I blinked, realizing that Yue likely had not heard yet, “Uh, well, I,” the words caught in my throat before I shrugged and then shifted my limbs into a loose stance and reached my chi out to the pile of snow she had thrown before attempting to draw it to the side.
The soft, fluffy ice shifted and, unlike in my earlier training, was swept across the ground. The motion was somewhat jerky, not good by any measure, but it was more than I had accomplished with Pakku.
Contemplatively, I wondered what had changed. Was it the healing? A new realization? My chi somehow settling from whatever had happened to me?
“Wait, you can water bend?” Yue exclaimed, interrupting my thoughts.
I shrugged, “Apparently, I’ve been thinking it has something to do with the blessing of Tui, I definitely couldn’t do so before.”
Yue leaned in close, breaching the boundaries between us for a moment, her eyes flickering over me with a thoughtful look on her face, “So you’re like me…” she murmured softly.
I hesitated at her words, Yagoda had mentioned as much, even if I hadn’t known before, “I’m not really sure,” I admitted, “I don’t know why Tui blessed me.”
Yui shrugged, somehow making even that motion look elegant even though it was but a simple raising of her shoulders, “I don’t know why Tui blessed me either. I know I would have died without her blessing, so for that I’m grateful.”
“You’re not curious?” I couldn’t help but ask before realizing the question could be deemed as somewhat inappropriate, especially considering my current social situation.
Yue smiled, her face softening from the expression, “Perhaps,” she said simply.
“Mysterious, are you?” I asked, raising an eyebrow at the girl.
Yue sniffed, “A girl has to have some secrets,” she rebuked, but I saw the corner of her lip turned upward, indicating the teasing nature of her words, “Especially when mysterious warriors breach the boundaries of her home.”
I frowned, “I wouldn’t call myself mysterious,” I hedged.
Yue tapped a finger to her lip, a mock expression of deep thought, “A warrior appears from abroad with no known heritage among the Northern Tribe. He deals with Pirates as a lone warrior, demonstrating his great skill. Upon his return, the moon spirit shows her blessing upon him before my own father. Now he demonstrates his direct blessing of the moon spirit…”
She trailed off, giving me a long look, “That’s not mysterious?” she questioned amusedly.
The moment struck me, Yue was a far cry from the girl I had first met in this moment. Teasing, Stern, Vivacious.
The gentle yet at times agitated nature of water was readily apparent within her.
In a way, it reminded me of Azula. Typically, on the surface, she was cold, cool, calculating when in the public eye, yet in private moments, she was softer, gentler, sometimes a true smile would flicker across her lips, if momentarily.
If I really thought about it, Ty Lee and Mai were not so different. Mai, who was typically a solitary creature, yet somehow was seemingly always around her friends and I. Ty Lee, whose gregarious personality carried an incredible amount of warmth, yet somehow even as she would flit about a large number of people, in the end she chose only a small number of them to spend her time around.
Yue’s mouth turned down, and I realized I had spent too long in my thoughts. “Or perhaps that was inappropriate to say,” she said softly, “I did not mean offense.”
I shook my head firmly, “No, I was not offended, you just reminded me of some of my friends I knew back home.”
“Oh?” Yue cocked her head innocent eyes staring at me, “You had friends?”
I blinked, whipping around to look at her, startled. “I don’t seem capable of it?” I asked, not sure whether to be amused or offended.
Yue shook her head rapidly, “I meant no offense, you just, uh, didn’t seem the type?” she finished weakly.
“Oh, and what type am I exactly?” I asked, narrowing my eyes at the girl.
Yue frowned, cutely tapping her lip for a moment before her eyes seemed to alight with a thought, the blue shimmering like the top of ocean waves, “Stuffy! Perhaps a bit grumpy?”
“Wha-“ I sputtered, shocked, “How am I- You’re a Princess?!”
Yue nodded her head thoughtfully in agreement, “Well, of course, but I think I come off as serene and graceful, you’re always thinking when I look at you, and your speech is far too formal for any of our warriors.”
Well, sue me for being raised in the Fire Nation royal family.
I frowned as I caught a glimpse of amusement in the girl’s eyes, easier and easier to catch the more I got to know her. “You’re teasing me, that’s not very Princess like,” I grumbled, though I was sure Azula would have contested my words.
Yue covered her mouth with a hand, the picture of polite shock, “Why, I would never tease a warrior of your reputation and skill. I was merely giving my honest assessment. I thought you would appreciate it.”
I sighed, giving Yue a long look, “Please, Princess, I am but a poor, humble warrior. Your words cut like knives.”
Yue’s eyes positively twinkled, “Then it’s a good thing I can heal you, hm?”
-
Azula sat by the duck pond as she was wont to do, staring at the fluffy creatures thoughtfully.
Her brother would often take her here after her training, and they would talk softly in the warm gaze of Agni.
Her brother. Somehow vanished, but he had sent the code phrase to her Uncle. She had thought it a part of her games with him when she was younger, but he had always been insistent that she learn and memorize seemingly innocuous phrases.
He was just gone for a while, she told herself.
Yet as much as she didn’t want to admit it, it was hard. If she put much stock in the concept of love, she would say that was what she felt. Yet she did not.
Love was, as far as she was concerned, a sensation that only others felt. She would never feel such a petty small emotion. No matter what Uncle said in his stupid poems.
What she did know she felt was desire. Desire to succeed. To reach the pinnacle of fire bending.
To have her brother read her those silly stories of his. The stories were, of course, secondary, even if she did enjoy them; it was the time spent with her brother that she deemed most valuable.
From the moment she was born, she was sure that only one person had ever loved and cared for her: Zuko. Her parents barely interacted with her, but she hadn’t felt their absence because whenever she had a scraped knee, didn’t understand a character in one of her texts, struggled for the briefest instances with a fire bending form, her brother had always been there.
When she had realized that she had little regard for other living beings, she had been momentarily afraid of what was wrong with her, but she had realized quickly that there people she did care for. Mai and Ty Lee had started out as curiosities, but they had grown on her as she grew with them. She even cared for Uncle in a way, the man was too absorbed with meaningless things, but he had always made time for her.
None of that compared to what she felt for Zuko. When Zuko had vanished, her mind had already decided the next appropriate action as she planned patricide up until the moment the letter had arrived and the cold constricting weight on her chest eased.
She had filed away that plan for later. She was sure that when Zuko returned and he would return they could defeat Fire Lord Ozai together.
Then, like the proper heirs to the Fire Nation Royal family, they would get around to producing heirs, together.
Azula’s cheeks flushed at the thought, and she shook herself momentarily. It wasn’t as if she was looking forward to it! It was just what was expected of them.
Azula winced, rubbing her cheeks slightly in frustration. She didn’t hate the thought or the emotion it evoked in her, but it was definitely a strange feeling.
There was something odd about today, though she couldn’t place it. Her Uncle would say the spirits were involved, and since Zuko didn’t gainsay those words, Azula figured that was likely a reasonable assumption.
Something tingled at the back of her mind, and Azula contemplated the feeling before realizing with horror what the sensation was.
It had only occurred when Ty Lee had hung off her brother's shoulder, giggling stupidly, or when Zuko had massaged the gentle golden fire he had told them to never speak about into Mai’s hands and fingertips when she had overdone her training with her thrown weapons.
Azula’s lips tightened, accepting the warning from the spirits at face value. Her brother was definitely doing something he shouldn’t be.
“Stupid Zuko,” she mumbled under her breath, but she did not lash out with her fire at the ducks as she wanted to do; the stupid feathery creatures had done nothing wrong.
Besides, by the position and feel of the sun, though, she determined it was close to time for her training.
Her sparring partners would suffice.
