The Lightning Bender | Book 1: Change

7: The Avatar's Teacher

"Really?! That's amazing!" Korra ran up to Hiko to hug him, which Hiko flinched to.

"Yeah, yeah. The first thing I want you to do is, fetch me some tea, mint would be perfect." Hiko gestured Korra to get the tea.

"Wha-?"

"Just go." Hiko snapped.

Korra immediately went and brewed a pot of Mint tea. When she came back to the Living Room, Hiko was gone.

"Hiko!" Korra shouted for him.

"He's outside." Mako replied to Korra blankly.

"Thanks." Korra said quickly before running outside. Mako shook his head in disagreement before following her outside.

Korra saw Hiko sitting on the floor in the middle of the training grounds, taking in the view.

She gave a cup to Hiko and one to herself.

"So, what are you gonna teach me first?" Korra asked before sitting down in front of Hiko. He took a long sip of tea before speaking.

"We'll learn about Peace of Mind." Hiko said calmly before taking another sip. "It is crucial to mastering Lightningbending, because we will be dealing with negative and positive energy. Without peace of mind you'll never be able to produce lightning."

"Soooo... what exactly do we do?" Korra asked.

Hiko raised an eyebrow before sighing.

"Just drink your mint tea, a cup of tea can go a long way." Hiko said with a small smile still clutching to his tea.

"Ok then." Korra said, she was never good at doing basically nothing when she could be training. That's why she found meditating hard.

"After I finish my cup of tea we will meditate." Hiko said suddenly as if reading Korra's mind.

"We've been meditating for half an hour now! What do we do next?" Korra opened her eyes to look at Hiko.

"Hm." Hiko simply hummed.

"I'm getting up." Korra said before leaving Hiko to go to the training grounds. Hiko sighed before getting up to follow Korra.

"Right! Let's get to some real Lightningbending!" Korra exclaimed, throwing puches at the air.

"What you just did is not Lightningbending."

"Show me how to then." Korra smirked.

Korra sat down on the floor while Hiko remained standing up with his hands at his back.

"Alright, so the first thing you have to know is energy. Around us there is energy everywhere, positive and negative energy, yin and yang." Korra was looking up at the kid taking in every word he said intently. "To create Lightning..." Hiko moved his hands in a circular motion leaving streaks of lightning as it moved. "... negative and positive energy must be seperated and this creates an imbalance..." Korra widened her eyes at the beautiful yet intimidating yellow streaks of lightning. "... at the moment the energy wants to restore balance and both positive energy and negative energy come crashing back together. You provide release and guidance, creating lightning." At these words Hiko outstretched his right arm and out of the tip of his fingers came out lightning with a loud roar.

"Woah..." Korra muttered to herself.

"Now you try!" Hiko gave a small smile.

Korra stood up and Hiko did the motion again so that Korra can mimick him.

"Now remember, you only guide the energy, you do not control it..." Hiko kept gaving Korra instructions as she mimicked the motion but not being able to produce lightning.

"Why aren't there any streaks of lightning when I do it?" Korra asked in an annoyed voice after trying for the nth time.

"Nobody gets it right in their first day. It's fine, you got the motion right and you understand the fundamentals to Lightning generation. Let's take a break." Hiko said as he stood up from the bench and stretched his arms.

Korra huffed and followed Hiko inside the temple and sat down beside him on the couch.

"How did you learn how to Lightningbend?" Korra asked out of the blue.

Hiko's relaxed pose suddenly became tense. He sat up straight and cleared his throat. There was a moment of silence before Hiko answered, as if thinking about how to answer the question.

"Well... just like you, someone taught me." Seemingly satisfied with himself for the answer, Hiko went back to his usual relaxed self.

Korra knew that Hiko didn't want to talk about it so she didn't ask him any further.

"I should go back er... home. I don't want to overstay my welcome." Hiko said as he stood up followed by Korra.

"Sure. I'll show you out." Korra replied as they walked to the dock.

"I'll see you tomorrow again?" Korra asked.

"Yeah sure. Same time, remember what we practiced today. And more dumplings, please." Hiko replied as he got up to the small boat giving Korra a small wave as he went back to Republic City.

Korra felt good about her new teacher. She just hopes that tomorrow maybe she can get the hang of actually producing Lightning.

A/N: Ayeeee first author's note!! I got the inspiration from Hiko's explanation of Lightningbending from Iroh's explanation to Zuko in ATLA. That's why it might sound familiar. Hope you guys are enjoying the book so far :*