Road to Ba Sing Se | Zuko

10

❃ Wrath of the Past ❃

Zuko's foul mood was nowhere to be found when his uncle announced his 'secret technique'. The boy's golden eyes sparkled as he listened to Iroh's lesson.

"Waterbenders deal with the flow of energy. A waterbender lets their defence turn into offence, turning their opponent's energy against them. I learned a way to do this with lightning." Iroh explained, while motioning to the Water Tribe symbol in the sandy ground. Despite her own father not having the ability to waterbend, Keya still felt a swell of pride -and a bit of sadness- at the mention of her old man's people. He was from the Northern Water Tribe, after all, despite moving to the Earth Kingdom to be with her mother as a young man. It was no wonder that he had joined the Earth Kingdom's navy; most Water Tribe folks were experts on the sea.

"You can teach me how to redirect lightning?" Zuko sat straighter, his eyes were wide. This was not going to end well, Keya figured. That boy never stayed excited for long.

Iroh nodded sagely and stood up to show him. Zuko stood up as well, in order to follow his instructions better. The old man went through the movements as he spoke. He pointed his arm outwards, from his stomach to his other hand. His other hand was already pointed out to the valley below.

"If you let the energy in your own body flow, the lightning will follow it. You must create a pathway from your fingertips, up your arm to your shoulders, then down into your stomach." As he said this, he brought his arms back straight past his shoulder to where Keya guessed his belly button was. "The stomach is the source of energy in your body. It is called 'the sea of chi'. Only in my case, it is more like a vast ocean!"

His chubby arms rested on his belly as he laughed a boisterous laugh. Keya giggled with him, but Zuko was still focussed and sharp. The old General noticed his nephew's serious mood and collected himself, before continuing.

"From the stomach, you direct it up again, and out the other arm. The stomach detour is critical. You must not let the lightning pass through your heart, for the damage could be deadly. You may wish to try the physical motion to get a feel for the pathway's flow, like this:"

Iroh brought his arms from the centre of his belly to the other shoulder, and from there pointed outward again in the opposite direction as he had previously done. His nephew followed the movements carefully, his golden eyes never leaving his uncle for a second. Admittedly, Keya thought the two of them looked pretty cool when they were training like this. Especially since there was finally no fire involved. It reminded her a bit of the swordsman training that her older brother Lei would give her little brother Kanak. Only, Kanak was a bit more of a rascal than the sharp Fire Nation Prince in front of her.

"Now," Iroh asked calmly, "are you focussing your energy? Can you feel your own chi flowing in, down, up, and out?" The two kept mirroring the stances as they discussed the technique.

"I think so." Zuko said hesitantly. Iroh stopped and stood straight while his nephew continued practising.

"Come on, you've got to feel the flow." Iroh smiled as he wiggled his arms. They looked like worms from Keya's perspective. She laughed softly and Zuko glanced at her as she did so. She had a melodic laugh, like wind chimes in a breeze.

His uncle's encouragement snapped him out of his distracted thoughts. "Excellent. You've got it!" Zuko almost stumbled as he heard it and his ears tinged pink from embarrassment. He (or perhaps she) really needed to get out of his own head! The boy focussed back on his lesson at hand. He had finally mastered a technique! He pumped his fist with excitement.

"Great! I'm ready to try it with real lightning!" He exclaimed with enthusiasm.

"What?! Zuko-!" Keya gasped. They may not have seen eye to eye with one another, but this was too much. She wasn't the only one who found the plan too dangerous.