#waterbender!reader

“Hi,” he said, with a small giggle (oh we all know that giggle fjsjsjs) and bopped his head a few times in greeting. You set the book down on the bedside table and leaned against the headboard, staring at him as well. 

“Hi,” you said with the same energy, poking your boyfriend on the nose. He grinned and moved up to grasp your around the waist, leaning his head on your chest. You breathed in, smelling soot and smoke from the fire he had been working with. You also felt your body overheating from the heat that radiated from your firebender boyfriend’s body. You started to gently kick and push at him, trying to get him off. 

“Get off! You’re too hot!” you exclaimed, playfully glaring at your boyfriend. 

“I know I am,” he said, tightening his grip on you and grinning into you. “No need to remind me,” 

You rolled your eyes and groaned, continuing to push against him. 

“oh please, you know I didn’t mean it that way, don’t get too ahead of yourself,” you shot back, obviously joking around. He gasped and looked up at you with an offended look on his face. You ignored his antics and continued to push against him until eventually you got away. 

You laughed in glee and ran away from the bedroom, hearing a loud gasp and heavy footsteps following in your footsteps. You ran out the door that Sapnap had come in from a few minutes ago and stood by the river. You turned away from the house and used your waterbending skills to slowly form a medium sized ball of water in between both of your hands. You tossed the ball back and forth from hand to hand until you heard the door to the house swing open again, signifying the presence of the boyfriend. Quickly, you took the ball of water and levitated it over Sapnap’s head and dropped it, causing the poor man to become sopping wet. His abnormal body temperature - though normal for firebenders - couldn't fix this one. He gasped again and glanced at you, waiting for an explanation. 

“That ought to cool you down, hotman.” you declared childishly, putting your hands on your hips and smiling at the man. 

“No one says hotman anymore babe,” he insisted as he stood there, a puddle of water forming around his dripping form. 

“Sure,” you said back and smiled, still basking in your victory. Suddenly, Sapnap looked up from the ground with a smirk on his face and started to stalk towards you. 

“Can we cuddle now? I’m sure I'm much cooler now, thank you babe!” he jeered, as his pace started to quicken in your direction. You screamed and ran the opposite direction, starting yet another game between the two of you. 

dsmp taglist (open!): @joyfullymulti​ 

sapnap taglist (open!): no one yet :’)

azula had found the camp the gaang was set up at, waking you all up with the sound of lightning and fire. you all ran and fought in different directions. as you ran from one of the salamanders, you nearly ran into zuko.

“not you again,” he grumbled, but continued to run by your side.

“im not too happy about it either!” you exclaimed over the rush of wind. you both abruptly stopped when azula appeared in front of you. you looked around in panic, spotting the lake you had been bending at a few days prior. you got into a determined stance as azula smirked down at you two.

“a waterbender and firebender walk into a fight with a fire master..,” she hummed cynically. “i can’t wait for the punchline.”

she threw a shock between you two, which you both evaded, sending you closer to the water. you began to gather a wave as zuko and azula engaged in a one on one.

you watched, making sure nothing was coming to harm you as you gathered the biggest wave you could. you stuttered your actions, your wave crashing back into the lake, when zuko was thrown against a tree with a yell.

azula stalked over to him, lightning charging in her palms. you quickly dropped your water altogether and sprinted over. before she could lay the final blow on her own brother, you jumped in front with a declaration of, “no!”

you didn’t remember anything after that moment.

when you came to, katara was kneeling over you.

“oh, thank the stars!” she exclaimed, throwing her arms around you. you grimaced as she sobbed into your shoulder, your body feeling heavy. you barely managed to lay an arm around her as sokka burst in, joining the family hug.

“i healed you as best as i could,” katara sniffed, wiping her tears after she pulled away. “but you’re going to have these scars forever.” sokka helped you sit up to let you look at your body. you immediately grimaced.

you lay in your cropped shirt and underskirt, giving you a full view of your exposed skin, covered in stray lines that zigzagged across your body. “oh no...” you looked up to your siblings. “what did i do?”

“you saved me.” you looked to the opening of the building you were in, seeing zuko standing in the doorway, arms crossed. “you took the shot from azula for me.”

“well.. yeah,” you shrugged. your shoulders burned at the simple movement. “what was i supposed to do?”

he sighed as you propped yourself up on your hands and your siblings scampered out to leave you two alone. 

“thank you,” he said softly. you looked up to meet his eyes, but his were scanning the scars on your body. for some reason, that made you shiver.

*Third Person POV*

After the raid on the village, life slowly started to fade from the village little at a time.  After the firebenders came to eradicate the waterbenders of the colony, the irrigation system that had been so integral for the village saw less and less use.  Fields of crops shrank in size and output, efficiency in the town declined, and the local goods the village had to trade was drastically reduced.  Because it became one of the Fire Nation’s many conquered points in the world, travel to the village from northern and southern Water Tribe residents halted, likely for their own safety.  With the lack of visits from the Water Tribes, trade began to sharply decline, the village no longer a midway point between the two tribes at opposite sides of the world.  One by one, businesses started to close down throughout the village.  Houses were abandoned and fell into disrepair as plants began to overtake the structures.  Entire channels of the irrigation system were blocked or contaminated.  The village was dying, everyone knew it, but some people still remained and tried to make their small village work.

Messages were by foot or on ostrich horses, like normal people.  Water was carried from clean sources into the fields and sent through the fields in downhill irrigation channels little at a time for individual fields.  The vast fields outside town had all disappeared because it was too far to carry so much water--only the fields close to town and the main water source it all came from remained.  There was still some trade happening--fish, what crops they had to spare that the small fields yielded, and there was more of a lean towards livestock for the farmers that remained than crops since there were no longer waterbenders to help the land be more agreeable to the fields, and no earthbenders came this way since the firebenders had came, conquered, and colonized nearby.

If the villagers wanted to do major business, they had to go to the Fire Nation colony several miles away, because hardly anyone came to this village anymore.  There was still the occasional regular from other towns, but their visits were mainly out of pity or an inability to go further to the Fire Nation colony to do business.  The village was still a midway point of trade for some people, but not enough to keep the village afloat forever.

There were still jobs to keep the village running, but it was harder and harder to do what needed to be done every day as there grew less and less people to do jobs that usually were done by multiple people.  If it was something to do with the town, some kind of maintenance, tending the fields, carrying water, it could be an all day job, possibly into the night.

As one young woman drew water from the well, she carried it deeper into town, delivered it to the house that had given her the bucket in the first place, and then moved to the next house to retrieve the next bucket, and headed back to retrieve water for the next house.  The well was in the middle of what used to be a bustling market.  Now there were the fish stalls that the fishermen would set up, mainly selling to the locals and occasional travelers.  The few produce stands that the remaining farmers rotated using depending on when their crop yielded were empty today.  Then, of course, there were a couple stands that saw various products based on what the locals could scrounge up for sale when there was the monthly trickle of traders heading to the Fire Nation colony for trading day.  Clay pots, clothes, wickerwork, food, anything along those lines that the traders might be willing to purchase as they passed through, on the way there or back.  Any business to keep the village alive.

The young woman didn’t go to every house--some people didn’t need much, and they had family members go and draw water for them.  The young woman mostly gathered water for families who needed the assistance or extra hands like the farms around town, working families whose time would be better spent elsewhere or focused on their trades, or residents who couldn’t make the journey because of age or disability.  It was still a job, and it helped the community, and a little pay for her family was better than nothing.  Many residents had that kind of mindset and approach to village life, doing what they could to help each other and keep the village and its residents going.

Her task of drawing and delivering water went until past noon, though it was a task that she started just before dawn as the workers were getting up to tend fields and shops.  Starting with the fields, she worked her way back in, starting with the longer trips when she had all her energy and finishing with the shorter trips as she grew tired.  When she was done with the water, she started making other rounds, using the money to buy goods in the marketplace--fish, bread, some produce, a small basket, and two pots that she filled with clean water.  The remaining money she pocketed to give to her family, but she continued with her small basket beyond the outskirts of the town, beyond the fields, and into the nearby forest.

She weaved through the trees with the knowledge of someone who knew exactly where she wanted to go, stopping occasionally along the edge of the forest near the village to pick herbs that only grew there and wrap them in a cloth atop the bread, doing her best to keep the herbs separated instead of mixed all together.

Deep into the woods, close enough to town that a trip for supplies wouldn’t be inconvenient, but far enough away to be isolated, there was a simple hut, smoke rising from the hole in the top of the hut with a tarp positioned to pull back over the hole with ropes in case of rain.  A small, humble and kind of sad garden could be seen behind the hut just in front of and among the trees, and there was a select few trees a few spaces away that had ropes for hunting kills to be strung up from and a tanning rack far enough away the smell wouldn’t be a plague upon the hut.  Over in the opposite direction there was a makeshift rain catcher for a bit more water, but that couldn’t always be depended upon for water, which was why the young woman still made this trip to deliver the first clay pot of water, just in case the catcher hadn’t collected nearly enough to provide for the hut’s resident.

There was no knocking on the structure beside the curtain covering the doorway, no calling out to gain the attention of the one inside the hut.  She simply walked forward, set the basket with its humble collection of supplies by the door, then took one of the two pots into the back to water the garden plants in the back that needed a bit more water.  Once she’d done that, she went back to the doorway and picked up the empty basket that had been sitting there waiting when she arrived, adding the now empty pot of water still in her other hand before she turned and headed back into the forest.  After her delivery and brief watering of the small garden, she made her way back to the village and her home to stash the empty basket for tomorrow and deliver the money to her family to use for whatever basic supplies they were running low on and needed to replenish--whatever the young woman couldn’t fill herself by the end of the day without spending money, anyway.

*Levi’s POV*

The best place Levi could think to hide was in the very village he’d been by when he deserted.  The Fire Nation would expect him to run as far and as fast as possible, to try and put distance between himself and the Fire Nation Army, maybe flee to Ba Sing Se.  They wouldn’t think that he would travel such a short distance and put down roots.  Though he wasn’t stupid--he was ready to leave at a moment’s notice if he was discovered, and he made sure he didn’t have a fancy setup he could grow attached to.  He needed to be mobile, just in case.

He didn’t get too close to the villagers, either--he stayed fairly far away, lived off the land as much as he could, and very rarely went into town to gather supplies.  He tried to keep it to once a month so that he could blend in with travelers and traders coming through town to get to the nearby Fire Nation colony.  It was better if he didn’t risk any of the locals possibly recognizing him while he was out and about, so he stayed away as much as possible to lessen the chance.  It was difficult, but he’d managed to get by for the past few years, and he had yet to be discovered.

Not that he was going to be foolish enough to fall into complacency, either.  He was still on guard after all these years, still found the time to practice his firebending and keep his skills sharp out here far away from the village--and he had quite a bit of practice with his precision and control having to practice in a forest without causing a wildfire to burn down the entire forest and village.

Some might suggest it would be wiser for him to move on frequently, find a new place to live for a while before moving on again.  But the traveling could get tiresome, and he risked moving from a place that was still safe to one that was dangerous.  He’d stay as long as it was safe--when there were signs his presence was known or bringing danger to the village, he’d leave.

Another reason he chose to stay here...was to try and make sure at least the girl he’d spared during the raid wouldn’t be caught by the Fire Nation anyway years later after he’d deserted.  He could keep an eye on her from here--or rather, he could keep an eye on the dwindling town and make sure soldiers didn’t come back seeking waterbenders that slipped through the gaps during the raid.  Some might consider it pessimistic, but it was always possible someone might rat the girl out to any Fire Nation official in exchange for some hefty cash to get them through a rough winter, or to another town that wasn’t slowly dying.  It didn’t matter if the girl was still bending or not, whether someone caught her bending recently or someone remembered she was one of the benders before the raid, it didn’t matter, someone could still turn her in.  Still, if he was here, if he caught the warning sign it was about to happen, or that kind of trouble was on the way, he might be able to intervene.

It was stupidly sentimental of him, but after making sure the girl had survived the raid, he was invested, and he didn’t want to see those efforts be for nothing in the end.  So far, she’d made it, hadn’t drawn further attention to herself, hadn’t been outed.  But the village was falling further and further into disrepair and ruin.  There was an unease over the village that the girl, in her young and still mostly-preserved naïve trust, had not yet picked up on.  The more desperate to survive people became, the more likely someone who knew she was a bender might turn her in.  Desperate people were dangerous, especially to someone who didn’t know they were a possible victim to their desperation.

But he hadn’t seen signs of such a thing happening, not yet.  Right now he was quietly watching the village, watching the girl from a distance, keeping an eye on things while he minded his own business and went about securing a modest living.  A garden for some basics, game he hunted in the forest, water from the occasional rain in the area and the well...though in the past couple years, he’d had a bit of unexpected help in the getting by area.

He didn’t know why she started doing it--if she stumbled across his abode on one of her forest walks she used to do before picking up so many odd jobs to help support the family, or if there were whispers in town about the hermit outside town she happened to hear.  What he knew was that eventually, she started including him in her daily rounds.  She found where he lived, and she would bring him basic necessities.  It started with just some water and bread--the cheap stuff that she could afford to get a little extra of.  Thankfully she seemed to have enough tact to realize someone living on the edge of town and never really coming in to visit didn’t want to be disturbed, didn’t want company and socialization--just some peace and quiet.  So she didn’t come up and bother him, and didn't impose on his solitude.  She usually left the supplies and disappeared until the next day when she would switch the empty out for fresh and full without a word.

There was once or twice when she’d run into him as he was coming back from a hunt or his own scavenge through the woods.  Though she usually heard him coming and would make a not-so-quiet flight through the woods to avoid the awkward face to face run in.  They had some kind of silent arrangement not to run into each other, to stay out of the other’s way and just let them exist and do their own thing uninterrupted.  And gradually, what had started as just bread and water turned into bread, water, and fish.  Sometimes there was dairy if she had a really good week and there was money to spare.  Soon she started including fresh picked herbs.  That last one made him suspicious she might have kept a closer eye on him than he’d thought, since some of the herbs were for tea specifically, not just medicinal or used in cooking.  But, since it was a variety of herbs, maybe it was just a general assortment of herbs she’d decided to give him and had nothing to do with close observations.  She was around often enough she could, though--she’d even taken to watering the garden he tried to keep alive.  It wasn’t his forte--obviously, as if the state of the garden wasn’t obvious enough--but as long as he got it to work well enough to give him something, it was a little more food to live off.  Apparently she’d noticed his sorry attempts and decided to try and help keep the sad collection alive.  Not with bending, she was far more sensible than that.  She brought extra water in a pot to water the plants like a normal person.

Then again, if she was around him often enough to see something--which he sincerely hoped she hadn’t--it would just be like returning the favor.  It was dangerous for anyone to find out he was a firebender, just like it was dangerous for anyone else to find out she was a waterbender.  He’d kept a close enough eye on her to catch the occasional waterbending, though--she didn’t stop bending completely, doing a little something here and there to keep her bending abilities from going entirely stagnant, careful to do it when no one was looking.  Or rather, when she thought no one was looking.  Levi was, and he’d caught it here and there.  Not all of it, he’d bet, but some.  Then again, if he was watching her, around her enough to catch her waterbending here and there, it was possible she might have caught him firebending here and there.

Not a comfortable thought.  Then again, considering what happened in that raid, all the people taken and killed, he doubted she’d still be bringing him supplies and taking care of his garden if she knew he was part of the Fire Nation.

Today seemed to be just another day, though.  Thankfully.  He waited until he couldn’t hear her footsteps disappearing into the woods anymore before he stuck his head out of the hut to confirm visually that she was gone.  Pushing back the curtain, he knelt down to see what was being delivered today, looking over the contents of the basket before bringing it into his humble abode.  Every now and then there would be something other than food--cooking utensils, fishing nets, hunting supplies, flint, woven baskets and clay pots for storage, even the occasional humble cup or something like that.  There was just the basic foodstuffs today, though.  He had some hunting to do today, but at least with the fish he wouldn’t have to push for time to hunt and prepare something--whatever he caught would be food for tomorrow, the fish could be for tonight.

Levi took the pot of water, using a ladle in the hut to take a small sip of water from the pot before putting it and the rest of the daily supplies away.

She was a young woman with a good heart.  For her sake, he hoped she was never caught, and that he would be around long enough to make sure that didn’t happen.

However, if he wanted to be useful in that regard, he needed to keep in shape, keep up his forms, keep his eyes open and his senses sharp.  Which meant after he hunted for the next few days of food, he might do a slightly longer training session to try and advance in his firebending, not just keep it up to an average standard.

He needed to work a little harder if he wanted to get better and not just get by with his abilities, which meant he’d have to find more time to push himself a little harder.  He’d have to be careful not to get caught, of course, as always, and doing longer training sessions meant that would get a little harder to do, but he could still do it.

He had to be ready.  Always ready.  Especially since the village he stayed outside, the people in it, were sleepy and stagnant, and the girl was naïve with her prevailing innocence staying in this sleepy town.

Someone had to be alert, especially him.  Because he would know, with all the raids he was unfortunately a part of, and who he was, how easily a fire could ignite and spread.  And this little dying village wouldn’t survive another wildfire.

*Reader’s POV*

This was your favorite part of the day.  When the chores and errands of the day were finished with a little bid of daylight left to spare.  Free time was depressingly rare when the town was in that state that it was in and you picked up any and every odd job you could find in order to help make ends meet in your family.  But when it did happen, when he had these rare moments that there was enough time for you to slip away into a quiet corner no one else would interrupt you in and do whatever you wanted...right now, those were the moments you were really living for.

It took you some time and practice, but you’d managed to get one of the irrigation channels for one of the old farms working again with some coaxing.  There was also some disguising on your part, since you didn’t want anyone to find out about your secret place to practice, or to discover this irrigation channel was working and try to set up shop on the other side of the channel.  This was your private place, a place just outside the edge of town that no one lived anymore, amongst grass that had grown tall and wild enough you could hide in it, with trees slowly starting to sprout up and threatening to make the once-farm more of the forest.  You followed what seemed to be a trickle among the shadows deep into the overgrowing foliage, until the groove in the earth widened and eventually led to a small pool in a flattened area in the middle of what once had been a field.  The pool was one of your own making, one that you had dug with your own tools and then drawn water to the surface to create a small, natural source you could practice with.

Sure, you couldn’t openly be a waterbender, that was obvious, but that didn’t mean you had to stop bending entirely.  It meant you had to be careful, you had to watch your back and make sure if you were bending, that no one was around to see, for your sake as well as your family’s sake.  But it was such a part of who you were, you weren’t going to try and cut it away from you, either.  Which only left you the option of practicing little by little in private as a way to advance, even if you didn’t have a teacher, even if you couldn’t always practice.  At the very least, you could keep what meager abilities you did have from going stagnant.

Calling what you had abilities was a bit of a stretch, though.  You didn’t have a teacher, not anymore, and you didn’t exactly have a font of knowledge about waterbending locked away somewhere in your head.  You knew you couldn’t teach yourself any kind of forms or mapped out skills, but you could learn how to familiarize yourself with the water and how it moved, how to keep in touch with it, how to reach out and feel it in the world around you and then pull it along with your movements, emotions, and will.  Learning to be fluid like what you were trying to move, so that you became a part of it and moved with it instead of the water crashing across you like a rock and scattering uselessly against a stubborn will.  You needed to adapt, to move with it, to change on the spot to whatever you needed to be.

While you were getting better at feeling the water, and understanding what you needed to be like in order to move it, actually moving it and getting it to do what you wanted it to was an entirely other matter.  Water was a slippery thing to try and control, and while trying to keep a tight control on it only made it slip through your fingers faster, you couldn’t relinquish all control, either, or nothing would happen.  There was a balance somewhere in there, and you were still trying to find it.

Sitting down cross legged in front of your little pool of water, you took a deep breath, staring at the currently calm water in front of you and preparing yourself for a much-needed practice session.  It had been a while since you got to practice, and you were giddy to be doing it again, even if this would be a short session with how low the sun was in the sky.

You reached a hand out, attempting to sooth yourself as you reached out to feel the cool rippling water in front of you--not physically, but in...some part of your soul.  That was the best way you could describe it.  Something in you felt connected to the water around you, called for it and pulled at it, and you were all too happy to let it connect to the element.  Doing so after going without for so long felt like running burned skin under cool water, except it was inside you that the relief came from.

When you felt like every ripple caused by an insect was something you could feel, you tried to move the water, attempting to move the ripples from outwards to upwards, to coax the water up towards your outstretched palm.  It did so slowly and shakily, random trails of water falling back down into the pool as you slowly reached the water higher and higher, watching the water dance lazily back and forth in the air between your hand and the pool like a string blown by a lazy wind.  Once you felt you had enough, you allowed yourself a bit of ambition, bringing up your other hand and attempting to feel the flow of water and alter the direction of energy once more, this time from the upwards direction into a more rudimentary, small sphere of water in front of you.  This was something you had been practicing for a while, and even though you usually had a shaky start after a long hiatus between practices, you still managed to get the important parts down.  It wasn’t as easy and second nature as breathing, like you would want to be, and it wasn’t a smooth, spherical shape, but you got the general concept and brought it into being.  In front of you, the sphere rippled and morphed into many different three dimensional shapes, though you kept the water moving in the same directions, hands moving through now-familiar motions as you formed your collected water into a ball and worked on smoothing the edges so to speak.

At first, globs of water kept falling back down into the pool, and the shape was rough, but as you worked at it little by little, the water stopped falling back into the pool and stayed up in the air.  Not only that, but you were able to keep it moving in a generally spherical shape instead of constantly morphing through all these different shapes.  After you got that working, you attempted to compact it into a tighter and tighter space, trying to make the movements fluid and sharp like they were supposed to be.  You never could get this part right, but you could get it close, at least, and right now that was what mattered.  You were just trying to do the basic tasks right now.

Once you had your smoothly functioning and moving ball of water in the air, you attempted the part where it tended to go crazy on you.  Shifting it on purpose into other shapes for different uses.  This was where you tended to lose control of the water, where you lost sense of the fluidity as it shifted and changed under your control, and losing that grip even for a moment was enough to make you lose control of the water, entirely.

Trying to relax, you let out a slow breath and let your hands push out in front of you and then slowly off to the sides, willing the water to move with your intentions, for the water to go through the sustained shift without issue into a line in front of you that you could remold and use to your whims.

Moments of emotion and raw instinct, random bursts of wild activity, like when you were younger, was one thing.  Trying to do these things on purpose with precision and control was another thing entirely.

The water started to form the line, a few drops falling back into the pool, which you tried to ignore, even as the water shook in place.  That’s what you called it, anyway, when it was starting to flow outside what you were trying to control, when it moved more than you’d intended to let it.  You ignored the nerves and just tried to stretch it further and thinner, trying to let go of control even though instinctually you were holding on like it was a lifeline.  Just a little further, and you could try making it dance.  You’d only gotten that far a few times, it was tricky moving it through the air like that, but if you could start, maybe you could find the rhythm this time and--

A bird took off from the grass, startling you and making you instantly drop the water, head whipping around and heart pounding as you got up in a crouch, ready to take off in an instant.  Was someone coming?  Had a person startled that bird and made it fly off?  Had someone followed you, witnessed you?  What the hell would someone be doing out here, anyway?

You stood crouched and ready to flee for several long moments, listening hard for any more signs of life.  Nothing came.  However, you were already spooked, and you couldn’t calm down your racing heart to settle back down and continue practicing.  No...no, that was enough for one day.  You already technically went through your whole exercise.  It was time to head home, before it got too close to dark and people would start wondering where you disappeared to.

You wished you could do this properly.  You wished you could stand at your full height and run through the old forms you still remembered, that you walked through in your room without bending as a way to relax.  That you could actually put some effort into your sad excuse for ‘training’ instead of having to run every time you heard a bird startled.  You wished your mother didn’t give you a heartbreaking lecture every time she suspected you had been waterbending.  You wished you didn’t have to bury your head in the sand and hide even from the people in your own town.

At least you knew you weren’t the only one hiding who they were around here.  Even if it had never been said, never been spoken into a confirmed existence, you found some solidarity and peace in the knowledge that you weren’t the only one trying to keep a huge piece of who you were secret from everyone around you.

*Levi’s POV*

When looking for a place to practice firebending, normally the practitioner wanted to look for a place that was clear of any burnable objects, or as clear as you could get.  However, given his situation and the area he was in, the last thing he wanted to do was go to a clearing where he could be easily found and spotted to practice the firebending that would send up a red flag for anyone looking for deserters.  So, he did the one thing you wouldn’t expect of a firebender who was actually conscious of the destruction they could cause and actively tried to minimize it.

He practiced his firebending deep in the dense woods, surrounded by grass and foliage and trees.

It was the only place he could practice that he would have enough of a heads up if someone was coming, where they would have to get pretty damn close to see him firebending--practically right on top of him, which guaranteed that he’d catch them, first.  As risky as it was, and how he risked a wildfire every day if he lost control even for a second, it was actually an excellent way to hone an important aspect of his firebending that far too many firebenders ignored.

Control.

Control was a necessity when he was practicing in the forest, every flame having to be just right for him to have the right amount of power in his attacks but not catch anything else ablaze, every living flame held in perfect check, the precision that he built up with the practice in the trees allowing him a dangerously surgical accuracy in his every move.  Practicing amongst the trees had allowed him to reach the point he knew how to command the flame to only burn exactly where he wanted it, and go out immediately after without much thought.  As a way of making sure he didn’t do harm to the surrounding forest, he was even expanding his precision and control to extend to fires he didn’t make.  He couldn’t dissipate external fires entirely like he could with fire he’d made, he could only dim and lessen them temporarily, which was still far more than most of the firebending foot soldiers he’d known could do.  How many actually had the control to contain a fire, not just fuel it into a raging inferno?  And he’d learned it through rigorous discipline and practice out of necessity so he didn’t accidentally burn down his new home and give himself away if an accident happened during training.

He might not have a wide range of skills and techniques taught to him for firebending, being a lower officer in the Fire Nation several years ago, but what he did know, he could use to levels of deadly accuracy, with impressive heat.  Who knew what else he could do given time, and maybe a bit of training or scrolls.

Not that any of that was on the table while he was hiding out here.  Right now, it was the limits of his own imagination.

Just like a certain waterbender who thought an old field was a good place to practice her waterbending.  Though, at least Levi had a couple years of actual training, as rudimentary as the Fire Nation military training had been, and the years he’d practiced and practiced it to survive on the streets before the military snatched him up.

Not thoughts he should be having right now while he was practicing.  The last thing he wanted was to get distracted and lose control, or for a spike of anger to make a flame burn larger or hotter than he’d intended.

His usual training routine included breathing exercises, as always, and some physical exercise warm ups, both to get him warm, limber, and moving as well as to keep him in shape.  After the warm up, he went through his basic forms, tried some variations, worked on control exercises, and if he was feeling ambitious, experimented with a few more advanced forms he’d witnessed from a distance either in the field or while passing by someone else’s training.

He’d spend hours out here doing this if he could, but he didn’t have that luxury.  Like his mirror image waterbender, he couldn’t risk getting caught by some random stranger, so he couldn’t stay out here doing this as long as he would like and risk someone stumbling across him.  He had to do things in moderation.  He wasn’t as flighty as his waterbending counterimage, and he knew he didn’t have to run at every rustle, but he knew what sounds he did need to listen for.  When he needed to bolt and hide until the danger had passed, when to linger to make sure they hadn’t seen anything, and when it was best just to straight up leave.  He was far less concerned when he was doing his physical exercises to stay in shape, because that was easily explained and not suspicious at all--the most suspicious part would be his reclusiveness, which was easily explained with his antisocialness.  It was when the firebending started that he was on high alert, waiting for any kind of warning that he was not alone.

Unfortunately, today was one of those days.

Midway through some of his more advanced learned forms, Levi heard the tell-tale sound of twigs and leaves repeatedly crunching and snapping underfoot, headed in his direction.  Instantly, Levi cut off and snuffed out any flames that were produced by him, rushing towards the nearest tree and nimbly disappearing up into its leaves with well-practiced acrobatics and strong grips.

With his routine, he had plenty of exercise to stay in shape, and of course there was a lot of exercising control over himself to make sure his firebending stayed under control and didn’t start a fire.  Somehow that had eventually combined into some interesting dexterity exercises with the trees, and he’d turned into quite the acrobat in the forests.  It was good aerobics, but also a good lesson in physical control over himself, not just mental.

Pushing the reflections on his routine out of his mind, Levi kneeled down on the thicker branch he was perched on, gazing down and waiting patiently as the noise grew closer and closer.  Soon, a pair of men from the village passed directly underneath his tree.  They were dressed like they were going on a several day hunting trip, but clearly neither of them were putting much effort into silence and stealth right now.  They must have been headed for their hunting spot, then.

As they passed underneath him, he paused to listen to their conversation, wanting to make sure that they hadn’t seen anything they weren’t supposed to.  It was idle chatter, mostly about how they needed to consider moving elsewhere--which was a common topic amongst the residents these days--and how even the game seemed to be leaving the area if they had to go so far out in order to get some good meat.  They were right, of course.  Levi had been having a hard time scrounging up meat of his own, recently, which made him all the more grateful for the waterbending girl’s daily care packages.  Sometimes the meat she brought was the only meat Levi had to live on until some poor animal wandered into his hunting range again.

Levi continued to listen to the two hunters as they discussed logistics, where they might go, how it was a shame the town had died after the raid, the usual topics, until their voices eventually started to fade.  Once that happened, Levi scaled down the tree with even more ease than he’d climbed it, gaze lingering in the direction the two hunters had disappeared before he picked an entirely different direction to start trekking.

He wasn’t done practicing, and this place wasn’t an option anymore today.  He needed to find another secure place to finish his practices before it got dark and flames in the woods became much more obvious.  He would waste valuable time trying to find a new place, but it was better than not getting in any more practice at all, and better than risking getting caught by the hunters when they inevitably returned.

Whatever.  He would make do.  He always had, and he would continue to do so.  He was used to having to adapt by now.

(Strikethroughs Couldn’t Be Tagged)

Everything Tags:  @antistellxr​ @mochicheeks-world

Y/N’s fingers tightened around the handle of her basket so much that the woven wicker left indentations on the palm of her hand. Her usual delivery trip to the Upper Ring suddenly had much higher stakes. Her feet carried her towards the girl in blue while her mind worked over a few excuses to talk to her.

“That’s a beautiful necklace,” Y/N said. The sound of her voice sounded foreign. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d talked to other girls her age.

The girl turned towards Y/N and touched the piece of seaglass resting against the hollow of her neck. “Oh! Thank you.” She smiled, eyes bright and blue. “My name’s Katara. I like your dress,”

“I’m Y/N,” Y/N glanced down at the dark green fabric that hung loosely from her frame. By candlelight, she’d stitched little flowers along the hem and neck of the dress with spare thread from the shop in an attempt to make the dress handed down to her from Jun prettier. “Thank you. I thought the embroidery made it look a little better.” Y/N matched her smile.

“You did those? I’ve never sewn anything like that. All I ever sew are holes in my brother’s pants,” Katara leaned closer to look at the design.

The lemur on her shoulder chittered as he hopped from Katara’s shoulder to Y/N’s. He sniffed at her curiously, his cold nose brushing her cheek. Katara laughed softly, “That’s Momo. We were just going to get some tea if you’d like to join us,” She gestured towards a building across from the fountain.

“Yes,” Y/N said eagerly. “I mean, I’d like that. Thank you.”

Momo hopped down to hitch a ride on Y/N’s basked as the girls climbed the steps to the tea shop. Katara smiled at one of the waitress. “Table for three please.”

A boy’s voice caught both of their attentions as he called out tea orders to one of the other employees behind the counter. Thinking nothing of it, Y/N turned back towards Katara to ask if she lived nearby, but Katara seemed frozen in place. Her eyes widened in shock as a look of some kind of horrible recognition flashed across her face.  

“Katara?” Y/N asked.

The girl took off running down the steps.

“Katara!” Y/N called after her. Her heart squeezed in a moment of panic. She couldn’t let this opportunity get away. Y/N chased her down the steps and caught up with her. “Wait! Where are you going?”

Katara slowed to a halt. “I’m traveling with the Avatar. That boy in the tea shop was the Prince of the Fire Nation. I have to get to the palace and warn the Earth King.” She adjusted the animal skin pouch that was slung across her back.

Y/N eyed the pouch. “I’m coming with you,”

There was no time to ask questions or argue. Katara nodded, and the girls took off running together.

Y/N’s lungs burned in her chest as she sprinted behind Katara through the palace gardens. The topiaries and fountains were nothing but a blur of green and blue. The girls scaled the palace steps. Katara led Y/N through the twists and turns of the palace corridors and into the throne room where three girls sat guarding the empty golden throne. Their faces were painted white with lips red, and their heads were adorned with gold crowns. Y/N wondered why she’d never seen female Dai Li agents before now.

Katara panted as she stopped in the center of the room. “Thank goodness you’re here Suki. Something terrible is going on! The Fire Nation has infiltrated the city! I just saw Prince Zuko and his uncle. We have to tell the Earth King right away.”

The girl in the middle of the formation rose, slow and unbothered. “Oh, don’t worry. I’ll be sure to let him know,” She stepped into the light, and her eyes flashed gold.

Momo screeched. In a panic, he flapped his wings and disappeared behind one of the marble columns that lined the perimeter of the room.

Katara took a nervous step backward. Her hand moved slowly to the pouch on her back, but one of the girls in green flipped towards them. Her braid swung gracefully behind her as she jabbed a finger into Katara’s shoulder and side. Y/N watched helplessly as Katara fell limply to the floor. Water from her pouch pooled around her.

“What about this one Azula?” The girl with the braid asked, circling Y/N on the tips of her toes.

Azula flicked a strand of hair from her face. “She’s useless. But block her anyway,”

Y/N barely felt herself crumple to the palace floor beside Katara. She looked around, panicking when she realized she couldn’t move at all. Katara’s water seeped into the fabric of her clothes.

“Looks like you’ve found another peasant to join you in prison.” Azula mused. “Get them out of my sight. I think it’s time for a family reunion.”

Two pairs of feet landed beside Y/N and Katara. Someone grabbed Y/N by the back of her tunic and dragged her out of the throne room, her legs trailing limply behind the rest of her body. Y/N looked at her basket that she’d dropped as she was pulled past it. It was still filled with neatly folded tapestries. Y/N wondered briefly if Jun would be upset that the deliveries weren’t made, but Y/N had a sinking feeling that she wouldn’t be back to the textile shop any time soon to find out.

The Dai Li men bent an opening in the ground. They dropped Y/N and Katara into the cavern below. The fall was short, but the landing knocked the air out of Y/N’s chest. She managed to lift her head slightly to take in her surroundings.

Gleaming green crystals covered the cavern walls. Even the prisons seemed to be worth more than the Lower and Middle Rings combined.

Y/N’s skin pricked with pins and needles as the feeling in her arms returned. She bent her arm and pushed against the ground to set herself upright. Jagged edges of crystal pressed into her back, but Y/N preferred it to being sprawled on the ground.

Katara voice was thick with guilt when she spoke. “Y/N, I am so sorry. I shouldn’t have let you follow me. This is horrible… I don’t even know how Princess Azula got to Ba Sing Se. I promise once we get out of here, we’ll get you home,”

Y/N shook her head. “No, I- Are you from the Southern Water Tribe?”

Katara’s brows drew together. “Yes?”

“I’ve been trying to get to the South Pole for a long time. I had to stop here in Ba Sing Se for a while to save some money for the rest of the way.” Y/N squeezed her hands together in her lap. She chose her next words carefully. “I want to meet the Southern waterbenders.”

“Well, you’re looking at her,”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m the last waterbender from the South Pole.”

Y/N wanted to laugh despite the way her heart was rising into her throat. For months, she’d been traveling, tired and hungry. She’d given up everything- all for something that didn’t exist. Y/N would have arrived at the South Pole, if she ever made it there on her own, to find it was all for nothing. At least Katara was here, and it seemed fate had brought her to Y/N.

Y/N swallowed. “I know you don’t know me at all, but… Could I come along with you for a while? I need a-“

The earth above them rumbled, and light from the surface shone into the center of the cavern as a sheet of earth was bent aside. “You’ve got company,” A male voice echoed off the walls.

A body tumbled down to the floor of the cave. Y/N recognized him instantly as the boy from the tea shop and the Firelord’s son. She could move all her limbs freely now, so she scrambled further away from him.

“Zuko,” Katara’s voice turned low and dangerous.

He turned away but made no other movements.

“Why did they throw you in here?” Katara stood and began to pace between Y/N and the Prince. “Oh wait, let me guess. It’s a trap. So that when Aang shows up to help me, you can finally have him in your little Fire Nation clutches?” Katara’s anger simmered over a long pause. “You’re a terrible person, you know that? Always following us, hunting the Avatar, trying to capture the world’s last hope for peace… But what do you care? You’re the Firelord’s son. Spreading war, and violence, and hatred is in your blood.”

Zuko turned over his shoulder. “You don’t know what you’re talking about,”

Katara’s eyes flashed. “I don’t?” She demanded. “How dare you! You have no idea what this war has put me through- me personally. The Fire Nation took my mother away from me.” Her eyes welled with tears. Katara sunk to the floor, her shoulders shaking with each sob. Y/N knelt beside her and placed a hand on her shoulder.

“I’m sorry. That’s something we have in common.”

Y/N glanced back at the Prince as she comforted Katara. Her eyes lowered to the floor of the cave. Y/N had witnessed suffering at the hand of the Fire Nation her whole life. She never imagined that its citizens, much less members of the royal family, would do anything but benefit from the war.

Katara dried her eyes. “I’m sorry I yelled at you before. It’s just that, for so long now, whenever I’d imagine the face of the enemy, it was your face,”

“My face?” The Prince touched the scarred skin beneath his eye. “I see,”

“No, that’s not what I meant.” Katara rose to her feet. Y/N stayed put.

“It’s okay. I used to think this scar marked me- the mark of the banished prince, cursed to chase the Avatar forever.” Zuko sighed, “But lately I’ve realized I’m free to determine my own destiny, even I’ll never be free of my mark.”

“Maybe you could be free of it,”

Both Y/N and Zuko looked at Katara curiously.

“I have healing abilities,” Katara rummaged through her pockets.

A frown pulled at Zuko’s lips. “It’s a scar. It can’t be healed,”

Katara held up a small vial. Its top was decorated with a small crescent moon. “This is water from the Spirit Oasis at the North Pole. It has special properties, so I’ve been saving it for something important.”

Y/N stepped towards Katara. “How did you get that?”

She shrugged. “It was a gift. I got it when we left the Northern Tribe. I don’t know if it would work but…” Katara’s eyes worked over the scar.

Shattered crystal and a cloud of dust burst into the center of the cavern. A young boy with an arrow tattoo emerged with an older man following close behind. “Aang!” Katara cried. She threw her arms around the boy’s neck. “I knew you would come,”

Y/N smiled a little at the scene. The Avatar looked happy, almost as if he didn’t carry the fate of the world on his shoulders. She looked to Prince Zuko as the older man pulled him into a hug.

“Uncle, I don’t understand. What are you doing with the Avatar?”

Aang narrowed his eyes at the Prince over Katara’s shoulder. “Saving you, that’s what.”

Zuko lunged forward, only to be held back. His uncle took him by the arm. “Zuko, it’s time we talked.” He turned towards Aang. “Go help your other friends. We’ll catch up with you,”

Y/N hesitated for a moment as Katara followed Aang into the tunnel he and Zuko’s uncle had come through. Katara gestured for Y/N to follow with an encouraging smile. “Aang, this is Y/N. She’s going to be coming with us, right Y/N?”

Y/N nodded. “Yes please.” She smiled at Aang. “It’s nice to meet you.”

Aang smiled back. “You too. Welcome to the team. Our other friends are here, Sokka and Toph.” His face turned serious. “They should be with the Earth King by now. Azula is planning to overthrow him.”

“We need to find them.” Katara nodded.

The tunnel led them to an even larger part of the cavern. Pools of clear water flowing from a central waterfall created an island in the center of the cave. Y/N stepped over a cluster of crystal creeping up from the rock floor. Windows and doors dotted the walls of stone surrounding them.

Just as Y/N was beginning to wonder if anyone still lived in the underground city, she felt a rush of heat behind her. Y/N ducked down and covered her face as a plume of blue fire burst towards them. Aang bent a wall of rock around them to block the flame. It sizzled against the earth. Y/N peeked out from behind her arms to find that the Princess of the Fire Nation was back with a vengeance.

Gone was the sweet girl from the square. Katara lashed water at Azula, sending her stumbling backwards from the sheer force of her strength.

“Y/N, can you fight?” Katara shouted.

Y/N glanced towards the pool of water to her left. She shook her head. Katara grabbed Y/N by the sleeve and pulled her between herself and Aang just as Azula emerged from the steam created by their clash of power. The Princess sent more fire flying towards them, but it was quickly extinguished by an arc of water bent over Y/N’s head.

“It’s too dangerous,” Katara yelled to Aang over the noise.

“Go find our friends and have them bring Appa. Go out this way,” Aang pointed towards another tunnel. “We’ll cover you,”

Y/N took off running towards the mouth of the tunnel without looking back. She fumbled through the dark, trailing one hand along the wall of the tunnel to keep herself moving forward as she ran. Y/N’s shoe caught on a rock in her path, and she tumbled to the ground. She winced at the scrape of her skin against the rocks as she stood. Y/N picked herself and kept running.

Orange rays of the setting sun nearly blinded Y/N as she emerged on the other side of the tunnel. She turned towards the palace where stone steps lead up to the grand palace doors. Y/N took a breath and prepared to climb the steps. A warm puff of air blew across Y/N’s back.

When she turned, Y/N was face to face with an enormous bison. The arrow on his head matched the Avatar’s. She met his gentle eyes cautiously and began to reach towards his nose.

“Back away from the bison!”

Y/N retracted her arm quickly.

Two kids descended down the steps- a boy with a boomerang drawn and a girl with milky eyes. Behind them, a man stumbled down the steps, nearly tripping over his ornate silk robes. A brown bear shuffled behind him. Y/N blinked a few times to clear her vision to be sure she hadn’t missed a pair of antlers or a platypus tail, but it was just a bear.

They didn’t look like Dai Li agents or disguised Fire Nation royalty. “Are you Sokka and Toph?” Y/N asked.

The boy gestured for Y/N to move with the sharp edge of the boomerang. His blue eyes worked over Y/N suspiciously as she stepped further away from the bison. “Don’t answer that, Toph.”

“You just did, dummy.” Toph crossed her arms over her chest. “What do you want with Appa?”

“Nothing,” Y/N looked back at the bison. “Katara and Aang sent me,”

Sokka lowered his weapon. “Katara, is she okay?”

Y/N nodded. “I think so. She and Aang are still in the cavern. Azula was there, and they wanted me to find you two and tell you to bring Appa here.” She glanced towards the Earth King. “Your Highness.” She bowed quickly.

The King shook his head. “Please, it’s alright. I’m afraid that with the invasion and capture of my counsel, there’s no need for formalities.”

Toph stomped on the ground, and a column of earth lifted her to the bison’s back. “Let’s go then,”

Sokka placed his boomerang into the sling on his back and squared his jaw. “If Azula is down there, the Dai Li will be too. We’ll circle the area in case they have to escape another way.” He nodded.

Y/N blinked. “He flies?”

“Yeah. It sucks.” Toph called down to them. The bear licked his paws peacefully between her and King Kuei.

“Ignore her,” Sokka patted Appa’s leg. “He’s a great flier, friendly too.”

Y/N reached out slowly to scratch his chin. Appa made a happy chuffing sound.

“See? Appa, new girl. New girl, Appa.” Sokka took a handful of the bison’s fur and hoisted himself up to his back. Sokka extended an arm down to Y/N as an offer to pull her up.

“It’s Y/N,” She ignored his hand and grabbed hold of Appa’s fur the way Sokka had. “I can do it.” Y/N climbed up Appa’s leg carefully. Sokka waited until Y/N had pulled herself onto Appa’s back. He sat behind Appa’s head and took the reins that were tied to his horns.

“Appa, yip yip.”

Y/N gathered a bit of Appa’s fur in her hands and braced herself.

The bison took a few steps before leaping into the air. He circled the palace grounds, gaining altitude as he went. Y/N glanced towards the ground where the trees and buildings were getting smaller. She held onto Appa a little tighter. Sokka turned over his shoulder. “Everyone watch for Katara and Aang.”

“Everyone except for me,” Toph muttered. The younger girl nudged Y/N, who was watching the ground intently. “You don’t talk much,”

Y/N shrugged her shoulders. “I guess not,”

Toph grinned. “Good. You’re a nice break from Sokka. He never shuts up,”

“Hey!” Sokka protested. “I can hear you back there,”

Y/N smiled back at Toph.

It wasn’t long before Sokka spotted his sister and the Avatar. He guided Appa down to the surface to meet them. Appa groaned nervously as Katara climbed his tail with Aang hanging from her side.

“What happened?” Toph asked.

Sokka looked away from Aang as Katara knelt beside him. “Aang’s hurt,” He said quietly. “Appa, let’s get out of here. Yip yip.”

“I don’t know what happened,” Tears rolled down Katara’s cheeks. “I don’t know. Azula and Zuko attacked us. There were so many Dai Li agents… Aang, please.” She shook Aang’s shoulders. He moved limply in her grasp. She choked on her next sob. “He went into the Avatar State. Azula struck him with lightening.”

With shaking hands, Katara opened the vial of Spirit Water. The water glowed blue in her hand, and she pressed it to Aang’s back. The light from the water faded.

Y/N reached out towards Aang, but the flickering glow of his tattoo stopped her.

His eyes opened, and he took in a breath of cool night air. Katara touched his face. “He’ll be alright,” She smiled, hugging the boy to her chest as his eyes closed again.

“Let me see him,” Y/N said. Katara looked up at her in surprise, but she pulled Aang gently to Y/N’s side. Y/N laid a hand over Aang’s chest. She closed her eyes and felt the flow of his blood through his heart. Its beating was faint and rapid like a little bird’s. “Katara, do you still water?”

Katara lifted the pouch from her back and passed it along to Y/N.

Y/N let the water flow into her hand. The stream of water curled into a perfect sphere between her palms.

“But you said you couldn’t fight.” Katara said.

“I can’t. I can only heal.” Y/N looked up, her face illuminated by the water as it began to glow. “I’m from the Northern Water Tribe, and I left to find a master.”