The Traitor Princess

Chapter 18 - The Storm

Eziri stood in the training grounds, launching fire daggers at a target. She wanted to pick up knife throwing, but her father said a bender didn't need to waste their time with non bending weapons. Still, she was always fascinated with the skill. When Eziri wasn't stuck training with her father, she would sneak back into the training area and practice with fire daggers. She didn't have any daggers or knives of her own. It was different from real knives since she was really only aiming her fire, but she practiced anyway.

"What are you doing here?"

Eziri jumped and extinguished the fire dagger hovering above her hand. She turned around to see her brother standing by the entrance. She let out a breath of relief at the sight. She turned back towards her target and ignited another fire dagger in her hand.

"Training." She launched the dagger at her target and sorely missed once again. Her aim was terrible and she wasn't sure if it was because she wasn't using real knives or if she was truly terrible at knife throwing. "What else would I be doing here?"

Zuko walked up to his sister and examined all the scorch marks near the targets. "You're bad at this." He said simply. He didn't actually mean it as an insult, he was just surprised that Eziri wasn't perfect at something.

Eziri rolled her eyes and shoved her brother. "Like you could do any better." She sassed. Zuko stuck his tongue out and pulled out the dagger his uncle sent during the siege of Ba Sing Se. He launched it forward and it spun off next to the target. The hit smacked against the wood and the dagger clattered to the floor. Both Eziri and Zuko winced at the sound. Eziri then turned to her brother with a smirk.

"See? Your aim is even worse than mine." She laughed. Zuko scowled and sent a puff of fire at Eziri. She just stepped to the side and kept her smirk.

"You're not even using real knives! You're cheating!" He shouted in protest.

"Oh yeah? Well then you try using fire daggers!" She said as she put her hands on her hips. She hated that she couldn't get the move right and Zuko was really starting to irritate her.

Zuko huffed and got into his bending stance. He sent a fire dagger towards the target but the flame extinguished halfway to its mark. Zuko growled and tried again. Then again. And again. Each attempt just frustrated him more as his fire continued to extinguish before it could even reach the target.

"How do you even do this?!" He shouted angrily at his sister.

"Shhh!" She rushed over to her brother and put a hand over his mouth. "Be quiet, we're not supposed to be in here." Zuko swatted her hand away but lowered his voice.

"Seriously, how did you do that?"

Eziri got into her stance to demonstrate. "Your form is off. Your center is off balance and you're relinquishing control too soon. Watch me." She took a deep breath and began her demonstration, launching another unsuccessful dagger into the wood beside her target. She growled in frustration.

Zuko watched her form intently, but he still couldn't tell how she did the move. He didn't even try to attempt the move again, knowing he wouldn't get it right without more practice. He looked between his sister and his discarded dagger on the ground. He walked up towards the target, picked up the dagger, and walked back to his sister.

"Here." He held the dagger by the blade with its handle extended towards Eziri. "Have you tried it with a real weapon?" Eziri shook her head. Zuko pushed the dagger closer to her and she picked it up hesitantly.