Azula: the New Avatar

7 - Rendezvous

Zuko took a deep breath, following his sister's instruction in basic firebending. He'd already seen significant improvement, and he was stuck halfway between being ecstatic at the progress and being extraordinarily pissed that he could've accomplished any of this if he had at any point realized how little he really knew. 

His uncle had managed to teach him a lot, especially considering that he knew nothing about Zuko's holdups, but even if he'd managed to master many techniques, he had never increased so much in sheer power, especially in such a short time—it had only been a two days, and less than an hour of training each day. He could suddenly feel his own fire singing his eyebrows, and he was much more wary of his power. Iroh's breathing exercises had worked wonders, but Azula's understanding of creating fire revolutionized the way he thought about bending.

He'd always wondered why firebenders had to create their element before they could use it, unlike all the other elements. Airbenders had air all around them, waterbenders drew on sources of water, and earthbenders bent the minerals and the rock in the world around them. Firebenders, on the other hand, didn't have a natural source of fire to draw on unless they created it.

Creating fire externally, by finding a fuel source and building it into a safely contained flame, proved to be too inconvenient and impractical to be a major source of power. So, firebenders created the fire internally; it was the only internal element. So, the question stands—what is the fuel source? What do firebenders burn to create their flames?

As Azula explained to him, the answer is the firebender's own chi. The first and most important thing for him to learn was the ability to sense the flow of his chi and strengthen it. That single step, at the very least, tripled his power instantaneously. 

Azula was occupied with the guards they'd met up with at the moment, so he was focusing on training on his own. He threw in his own moves, startled by how much he needed to limit himself. Controlling his flames as a waterbender might control his water was, for some unknown reason, many times as powerful as the traditional style of firebending. He supposed it was because of the circular and flowing nature of waterbending; creating a ring of fire and reinforcing it built an inferno as the flames fed off of each other, whereas a simple blast would dissipate as it ran out of fuel and heat.

"Is it just me or is Zuko suddenly scary powerful?" Ty Lee murmured, leaning in to ask Mai. They were far enough away that he shouldn't have been able to hear, but that was the other thing about chi. Controlling and using flow of your chi was something that anyone could do, and it increased your natural strength, health, senses, reactions, focus... all of the body's natural processes could be enhanced through the use of chi. Only firebenders could use it to create flames, but it was a closely guarded secret that it could be used by anyone at all. Otherwise, chi blockers like Ty Lee would only be effective against firebenders.

Since Firebending was so closely related to chi, the Fire Nation was more aware of it's uses. It was one of the reasons that the average Fire Nation soldier was somehow able to march through platoons of benders and come out victorious.

"He has improved," Mai agreed. "Vastly. I have to wonder what the Firelord would say about the son he was so disappointed in after seeing him like this."

Zuko grimaced, but he tried not to show it. He wasn't supposed to have heard that... but still, he appreciated the sentiment. Even so, he would do a lot to avoid hearing what his father might have to say about him. Even if he had finally given up trying to earn his approval, the blatant disgust still hurt.

"For the last time, Captain, this is a stealth mission. We can't show up with full contingent of guards against the Avatar! We have to take him by surprise, or he and his friends will run. They probably won't leave without a couple bodies behind them, though, and if you question me again, you'll be one them."