fire in your eyes • zuko

xxv

Nava's eye problems cleared up a few days later; she was back to sparring with Zuko and anyone else willing to go up against her. She even tried her hand against Toph and Katara's bending, which resulted in three broken arrows and a frozen quiver. Nava was sitting beside the fountain in the courtyard, chipping the ice off her quiver while Zuko trained Aang.

"More ferocious!" the prince barked. "Imagine you're striking through your opponent's heart!"

Aang firebent a weak fireball into the sky.

"I'm trying!" he groaned.

"Now let me hear you roar like a tiger-dillo!"

Extending his arms out in front of him and throwing his head back, Aang let out a quiet roar. Small bouts of fire came from his palms and mouth. He looked at Zuko sheepishly.

"That sounded pathetic!" Zuko said. "I said roar!"

With a deep breath, Aang roared again, this time with enough energy that a large burst of fire came from his mouth, which reminded Nava of Iroh's demonstration back in the Earth Kingdom palace.

Zuko crossed his arms over his chest and nodded in approval.

"Who wants a nice, cool, glass of watermelon juice!" Katara called as she stepped out onto the deck, hands full with a tray of small watermelons with straws sticking out of them.

"I do, I do!" Aang said excitedly, turning to run towards the house, but Zuko grabbed him by the arm.

"Your lesson isn't over yet," Zuko said, pulling him backwards.

"Come on, Zuko," Sokka chimed in, sipping on his own watermelon. "Just take a break, it's no big deal."

With a scowl, Zuko released Aang. "Fine. If you want to lounge around like a bunch of snail-sloths all day, then be my guest!"

He stormed off towards the beachfront. Nava watched him go before turning back to the rest of the group and shrugging.

"Maybe he's right," Sokka said. "Sitting around the house all day has made us pretty lazy. But I know just the thing to change that: beach party!"

He ripped his outer coat off and, left in brown undershorts, took off sprinting towards the lake.

Aang was hot on his heels, whooping as he waterbent a wave of water and dove into it.

Nava and Katara stripped down to their underclothes and raced towards the water, the latter of which fashioned a surfboard out of ice and jumped on. Katara took off further out while Nava waded until she was waist-deep and dove under, relishing in the silence that came with it. After she resurfaced, she floated on her back and basked in the sunshine.

"Do you want to come for a ride?"

Opening her eyes, Nava saw Katara drifting towards her on her surfboard.

"Sure," she said and Katara helped her up.

Nava sat at the front while Katara stood behind her. She pushed them farther out.

They sat in comfortable silence for a bit, just enjoying the water, when Katara spoke.

"What happened to your back?"

"When I was in Yuyan training, I tried to run away. Admiral Zhao caught me as I was leaving and when he took me to the headmaster, he asked if he could be the one to punish me. She let him, and he whipped me across the back with his firebending," Nava absentmindedly kicked her feet while she explained, as though her story was the most normal thing in the world.