The Traitor Princess

Chapter 12 - The Waterbending Scroll

Eziri woke up and felt herself moving. She opened her eyes and was met with blue fabric. She felt herself be placed on top of a sleeping bag and looked up to see who moved her.

"Oh, hey. You're awake," Sokka said from his place above her. He knelt down beside her. "How are you feeling?" Eziri rubbed her eyes.

"Better. Sleep really helped."

"Good, I'm glad. We stopped by the water so Katara could teach Aang some waterbending." Sokka then went on to explain what she had missed. He explained that Avatar Roku told Aang to master all four elements before Sozin's comet arrived in the summer. When Aang started freaking out about that deadline, Katara suggested they make a stop and work on some waterbending.

Eziri started to push herself up from the sleeping bag. "Well if they're working on waterbending, now might be a good time to start Aang's firebending training." Before Eziri could get up, Sokka's hands were on her shoulders, pushing her back onto the ground.

"Ohhhh no ya don't. You're banned from training or fighting or anything else I deem strenuous for a few days. You need to recover first." Eziri just rolled her eyes, shoved his hands off and sat up.

"Sokka, I appreciate the concern, but I'm fine." She tried to stand again but Sokka put his arms out once more.

"I said no."

Eziri squinted her eyes at him. "And who said you were in charge of me? Stop being annoying. I feel fine. In fact, I bet I could kick your ass right now, that's how fine I am." She went to move his hands off but Sokka spoke up before she could.

"Eziri, that's not very convincing. I'm sure you could kick my ass even if you weren't fine." She put on her best pout and looked at him with pleading eyes. He sighed and dropped his hands. "Fine, I won't make you sit here all day but please just take it easy? At least for today? Aang's training can wait until tomorrow."

Eziri crossed her arms over her chest and glared at him for a few moments before finally surrendering.

"Ugh, fine." She went to stand once again, this time without protest from Sokka. "But you can't stop me from training on my own."

Sokka rolled his eyes and compromised. "Deal. Just stay away from those two and their magic water." Sokka said with a wave of his arm. "Katara's aim sucks." With that, he went over to Appa and started to clean between the bison's toes.

--

A while later, Eziri was standing by the water's edge, working on her spark move. In the tree line sat her belongings, several knives still stuck to the tree targets she set up a few minutes ago. She only worked on knife throwing for a few minutes before deciding that now was a good time to work on her firebending since the area was so secluded.

She discarded her fire nation robes and stripped down to her wrappings. She pulled out her earth kingdom dress and leggings. After slipping the leggings on, she decided to set the dress aside. She actually really liked the dress and didn't want to accidentally singe it while practicing.

Eziri was careful to hide her back from the others while she trained. Usually she wore clothing that covered her back and shoulders well. Her skin was littered with the burns and scars from her father. Although her wrappings covered a good portion, there were still plenty visible. The only person to ever see them was her uncle. He had the misfortune of finding Eziri broken and bleeding on her bedroom floor following one particularly brutal training session. Iroh tried to get Eziri to speak about it, but Eziri always refused.

The abuse she suffered at the hands of her father was something she kept within the deepest parts of herself. Her scars and trauma were things that remained under lock and key--only to be re-lived in her nightmares; never spoken about in the light of day.