"Well, have fun teaching yourself, I'm sure you'll do a great job," Pakku replies condescendingly. He doesn't even mention other benders, something I'm not sure the Avatar and his friend would consider, never having been to the city before as it is now.
They might think that Pakku is the one who was assigned to them, and that others would not take up the mantle.
...
While we all have a duty to defend our city, our home and loved ones, we can usually do as we please. Hence, there is me, doing as I please.
It needs to be mentioned though, that I am very much part of the ruling caste here. Male waterbenders hold all the power. Even if we might be doing the guard duties, or accompany the seal hunters, and fishermen on their trips outside the city, we are what even allows for our civilisation to thrive in these unhospitable lands. Daily life revolves around us, and the civilian populace dares not forget it.
"Wait! Aang didn't mean that," Katara tries to rescue the situation she instigated. Well, Pakku instigated it, but Katara's temper escalated it. She lays a hand on the Avatar's shoulder, says something and he comes back. The girl herself heads towards the healing huts.
"Great, why don't we get started, then?" and Pakku blasts the Avatar right off his feet.
Yup, been there, done that. A healthy taste of your own inadequacy helps to motivate. Or so Pakku's teaching method dictates.
It goes like that for a while. Sometime around midday I get bored of Pakku bullying a twelve-year-old and get us both some hot broth from one of the market stalls I've been a patron at since I was five. I get food for free every couple of months. The market is full of people to chat with, or chat up, and you always return with something worthwhile. Usually, gossip.
"So, Pakku, having fun yet?" I ask as I lounge against the ice block I bended for optimal lounging purposes. If you've got the means to make your life the best it could be, I say make away. I had heaps of luck on my side, but hard work day in day out is what got me to where I am now. And my days aren't always this relaxed.
"Teaching is always such a joy," he snarks and then tells the Avatar that he sucks on a fundamental level for waterbending.
Man, as an outsider that's funny to watch. Not, that I've forgotten the pain that is being Pakku's student. He knows exactly the ways with which he can make your existence miserable.
These days, I don't hold a grudge. I got my revenge long ago.
Even so, I kind of feel for the Avatar. Maybe… "Mind if I steal your student for the rest of the day?"
"And what," Pakku demands to know, "Would you be doing with him?"
"Why so suspicious? One of these days you're going to hurt my feelings. I'm not going to damage the Avatar, you know?"
"Do I?" Prick.
"Come on, I brought you lunch."
He aborts an eye roll. Ha, victory! The guy's kind of a foodie. "Fine. Make sure he's on time tomorrow." He turns towards the Avatar, "You and I are done for today. Go with Kaito."
The Avatar eyes me uncertainly as Pakku strides off. Should I introduce myself? …Nah.
"Come on, Avatar. I'm gonna show you something."
He follows eagerly enough, frustrations forgotten for the moment. Children. Wish I had the ability, sometimes.
"Where are we going?" The excitement he radiates is palpable. New things are fun, I suppose.
I shrug without answering. This annoys him. But he's curious, so he bears it. The entire way to our destination. What patience. I don't have that much patience on a good day. Whether it's too much of immediate accommodation of my wishes in a previous life or simply disposition, I have no idea.
Curious eyes follow us on our way through the city. My face is well-known, and often enough liked, and by now everyone has seen the Avatar. Kesuk must be cursing my luck by now.
I take him to the wall where I've always enjoyed the view. The way the horizon stretches along the bay is something to not only be remembered, but viewed well over a thousand times.
Once we stand, looking out at the ocean, gentle today, wind biting at our faces, I speak. "There. Tell me what you see."
He looks out at the ocean, then back at me, then at the ocean again. "Water…?"
I snort, "I'm sure you can do better than that, kid."
I appreciate the irony of calling him that. After all, I'm only supposed to be seventeen myself.
He frowns and looks again. "Waves and their white bits on top and… ice." This is more confident than he was earlier. So he does well with a bit of encouragement, even if it's in the form of a slightly backhanded compliment. Expectations, more like. Good for him. The world has many.
"There's more. You should be able to find it."
He casts me a quizzical look, but searches. And searches. And searches.
Two guards walk past. They eye us curiously. I give them a wink. Both roll their eyes and move on.
A reputation has to be good for something. In this case, it's that I do strange things, and I stand on this spot quite a lot. Adding the Avatar to the mix doesn't really take from the familiarity of the routine. Non-bending guards are far more relaxed than their counterparts.
"The clouds!" the Avatar bursts out finally.
"Good," I pat his shoulder. He beams. "Ocean, ice and clouds. They're all water. So are mist, steam and snow."
The Avatar's huge eyes widen to alien proportions. "Oh! Oh, I see!"
He immediately starts bending the exercise Pakku tried teaching him. It works. Nice. One good deed a day and all that. He plays around with it for a while.
I often felt that bending worked best with understanding. Perhaps a trip outside the city could work well for him. But I doubt there is time. And his friends would want to join in. and Yue might, too. Then we'd be a party of seven, with an additional guard. So I'm not suggesting it.
As an airbender, water isn't all that different, but it works with gravity, can be a tremendous force even, and air is… air, I suppose.
Considering how much work learning to bend as well I do went into my mastery, I wouldn't want to have to try to apply all my knowledge to other elements. One is plenty.
"Okay. How about we get dinner?" I suggest.
"Ooh! Can we pick up Sokka and Katara on the way?" He's very excitable, this Avatar of ours.
"Sure. They're your friends, yes? Mind if we pick up one of mine?"
"Sure! Thanks for the help!"
"No problem."
So we pick up a pining Sokka, who barely acknowledges us in favour of lusting after Yue – hormones of a teenage boy, I feel you Sokka – and a dejected Katara. Now, the female disposition is one I can't claim to have any experience with, nor any other depending on her preferences.
Who knows, this clear distinction between males and females in the tribe might have triggered a realisation that dividing by gender is redundant and stupid. But tackling that is a job for an entire people, and while I don't think it's all that bad, the system works to my benefit.
"Hey, Katara! How's the healing going?" Avatar Excitable asks. This is clearly the wrong question. There are many wrong questions one can ask a girl, but there are also a few one should go about more sensitively with anyone. Since this is about Katara's deep-seated desire to learn how to waterbend, Aang might want to curb the enthusiastic edge from his voice.
She huffs. "Fine." No, it is not fine. Not when she says it like that. "Just…"
Sokka seems to notice his sister isn't okay and pats her shoulder.
Then, she notices me. "And who're you?"
"Ah, this is Kaito!" The Avatar introduces and I incline my head. "He's friends with Master Pakku."
Also the wrong thing to say. She glares, but keeps silent, which is interesting. I don't think she realises that even teachers have a social life. Not, that she'd have been all too wrong with Pakku, before I came along.
"Just gonna stop by my place for a second to see if Hahn's still there," I tell them and they follow me dutifully like – disgruntled, in Katara's case – ducklings.
I let them inside and they look around with interest. Probably didn't expect it to be neat. Or they're curious what a normal Northern Watertibe household looks like. Although they won't find much that is common about my living situation.
The reason I'm allowed to live on my own is that I'm already a master. Otherwise I would be forced to live with some of my cousins or other family until I reached the status of an adult.
I'm glad it never came to that. My remaining relatives and I don't speak much.
...
Don't forget to throw some power stones :)
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