Dragon At Heart

Chapter 28

28. How to Train Your Dragon

Fire is breathing. Breathing is life. Fire is life.

Zuko repeated Uncle's words in his head over and over again like a mantra, but for some reason he didn't feel any wiser for it. This was nothing new to him. His first fire bending instructor, a strict old woman who, Zuko was convinced to this day, hated his guts, had told him more or less the same thing.

Zuko sighed and opened his eyes. He almost wished an unknown foe would suddenly jump at him from the forest stretching on all sides of their camp but, so far, no such luck.

When Uncle had told Zuko he had some ideas on how to train his new skill, the Prince hadn't known what to expect, but he certainly hadn't guessed boredom would play a part. His life had lately been so hectic he barely had time to catch his breath between all the running and fighting. Perhaps that was why he had expected that learning how to turn into a dragon would happen right away or not at all.

Which was, in retrospect, a really dumb presumption.

Zuko wasn't outright bad at firebending but he had always been a slow study (especially in comparison to his sister, and people always made that comparison). Studying bending was small part talent but mostly just bitter work, and it seemed learning this would be no different.

Uncle was convinced that, like so often in bending, controlling one's emotions was the key to mastering this new art. Something about being in balance with himself and the universe. Which in practice, it turned out, primarily meant meditation exercises. And, although Zuko was in no ways a quitter, he was starting to have doubts about whether they were going about this the right way.

Yes, the Prince knew learning new bending techniques took time. He understood the need to be thorough and careful. Still, Zuko had been breathing and meditating in an empty patch of wood for over five days and there hadn't been so much as a strange, inhuman sensation, let alone an actual transformation. Five days and there wasn't a single scale or whisker in the way of progress.

Their camp was a good day's travel from the Colony where they'd left their ship. Uncle had insisted that they take every precaution they could think of, so they had traveled on their ostrich-horses through wilderness so long that there really was no plausible way they could come across anyone here. Uncle had wisely advised Zuko to pack at least a week's supply of food for the both of them, and that really should have been the Prince's first clue that this was going to take a while.

They couldn't take along all of their earthly possessions. Or, to be more exact, Zuko probably could have but Iroh most certainly could not. They had instead used Uncle's position and influence to request the Home Guard of the Colony to look after the ship. It was, after all, the guard's duty to keep crime low in the Colony, so making sure no one raided a now vacated Fire Nation ship was not only their duty but a matter of pride.

Zuko was pretty sure that even if he ever lived to be as old as Iroh, he would never learn to be as eloquent and persuasive.

Anyway, with little luck, their ship would still be waiting for them once they returned. Whether they returned because Zuko had already learned all he needed to learn or because they ran out of food was still up in the air. Considering he had an affinity to mind-reading, too, and it had still taken him years to come to grips with that art, there was a good chance it would be the latter.

Still, maybe this would be different. Although Zuko had never transformed on purpose, he had still done so successfully twice already and had had a noticeable control over his new powers once he was a dragon. This didn't seem to be so much about gradual improvements as it was about difficulties in getting started. Once he actually got the gist of triggering the transformation, it should be smooth sailing from there on. Or so Zuko at least hoped.