The Traitor Princess

Chapter 52 - Sokka's Master, Part Two

"Well?" Aang asked hopefully.

Eziri wasn't sure how, but she felt different. The pit in her stomach had disappeared and she suddenly felt...warm. She smiled to herself and slowly got to her feet.

"Ezi?"

She took a deep breath, turned away from Aang, and pushed her palm out. A giant, blue fireball went soaring from her hand. "Oh shit!" Eziri widened her eyes and panicked slightly. She let out a breath of relief once the fire extinguished without hitting anything. She had meant to create a small stream of fire, but she supposed her hand movements were a bit off.

Eziri's thoughts were interrupted as she got tackled to the ground in a hug.

"You did it! I knew you could do it!" Aang shouted excitedly. Eziri chuckled and untangled their limbs.

"Aang, I..." She started to tear up, overwhelmed with happiness. "I can't thank you enough." She scooted over to him and wrapped her arms around him, letting her happy tears fall. He hugged back just as tightly. After a moment, Eziri let go and wiped her eyes. "This is all thanks to you."

"No, you did the hard work. I just nudged you in the right direction." Aang shrugged. Eziri smiled and stood back up.

"Okay, I want to try something again." Aang stood up beside her. She held her hand out so he would stay back. "Stay behind me though–I think my bending is a little off because of my hands."

Eziri moved through a basic firebending set. When she released fire from her feet, it was controlled and precise. However, her hands were a mess. Her injury made her bending a bit unpredictable and she winced everytime she created more fire than intended.

Aang noticed her hesitation with her movements and frowned. "What is it?"

She shifted out of the set and sighed. "It's my hands." She said sadly. "I can't quite get the hand movements right. It's making things difficult." She shrugged it off and slung an arm around his shoulder. "But I'm sure Katara can fix that." Aang smiled. "C'mon–I wanna surprise Toph." She said with a sly grin.

—

Aang and Eziri walked back to the campsite side-by-side, laughing with each other. The two girls noticed and Katara hoped their upbeat attitude was a good sign.

"So, how'd the Avatar lesson go?" Katara asked.

"Yeah, are you two done with your little feelings session? Aang and I have real work to do." Toph sassed. She stood up and stretched her arms out, cracking her knuckles in the process.

Eziri smirked and kicked a small burst of fire at Toph. She scrambled to block it with an earth wall.

"You got your bending back?!?" Katara screeched.

"Ugh! Finally, a halfway-decent sparring partner." Toph dropped the earth wall.

"Hey!" Aang and Katara said in unison. Eziri just giggled.

"I'm having some trouble bending with my hands. I think it's because they're still healing." She glanced down at her gloves and then looked up at Katara. "You can fix that though, right?"

Katara shifted nervously. "Um...I think so.."

That was enough for Eziri. She beamed at her friends and walked back over to Aang.

"Thank you, Sifu Avatar." She kissed the top of his head. "Alright, how about we get started on those firebending lessons?"

"Really?" Eziri nodded. Aang smiled and leapt into the air with a shout. "Woohoo!"