when it rains, it pours | zuko

three ; training

When the sun rose, Aang, Katara and Sokka woke up to go confront Paku and possibly appeal to Chief Arnook at least, who appeared to be the more sensible one. Raiu remained asleep wrapped in Sokka's quilt though, still as a log — but his incessant fluttering of lashes and his moving eyes beneath his eyelids, were indication of his dreams that possibly stemmed from the spiritual realm.

Sokka was having none of it though, "Hey get up you quilt thief!" and ripped off his quilt off of Raiu. Or at least he tried to, as Raiu had a death grip on that quilt as his fingers held on to the edges. And this ensued the tug of war, though one of its participants was out of it.

"Leave it Sokka, Raiu already explained his condition. He probably can't wake up even if he wanted to," Katara, sensible as always, reasoned with Sokka.

Though annoyed at his loss, Sokka could merely grumble along and followed the gang on their way to appeal to Master Paku. Thus, Raiu was left alone in the tent, lost in his dreams — with Momo curled up asleep beside his head.

★

"So what'd I miss..."

Aang, ever the angel, recounted their rather exciting morning. The appeal had initially gone horribly wrong, as Katara had refused to bend to the whims of the old man hell bent on dumb rules, which essentially led to the early morning duel between Katara and Paku. And Raiu was sorely disappointed that he'd missed out on such a spectacle, and cursed his sleeping habits for once.  Although Katara had lost, she had put a good fight for someone of her age and caliber but what came next was the shocking part.

"And it turned out, he was Gran Gran's suitor — she was the love of his life! But his and the tribe's old-fashioned ways drove Gran Gran away and she left the North Tribe and came to the Southern Tribe, where she had my mum who had me and Sokka," Katara explained. "You should've seen the look on they old guy's face! It was all worth it."

"Damn I really did miss out."

"We tried to wake you up buddy," Sokka brooded beside him, hung up on something or someone.

"He tried to violently wake you up if that's what you meant Sokka," revealed Katara. "Anyway, from now on, I can join you guys for the waterbending training! Isn't that wonderful?!"

"I'm really happy for you Katara. Sorry I wasn't much of a help."

"It's all good! We're actually really grateful for you here," Katara replied with a soft smile.

"We heard from Master Paku that you were actually the first student he bent the rules for in teaching waterbending." Sokka continued with a devious smirk, "Something about how he thought you were a little girl when you first arrived for months."

Water immediately soaked Sokka's grinning face, wiping the smile off at the same time. "So what? I looked like a girl, big deal."

"Speaking of girl," Sokka quickly wiped his hand. "Do you know Yue?"

"Yeah, what of her?"

"I thought we were hitting it off pretty well, but she keeps throwing me off, and I'm just really confused," Sokka groaned and ran his fingers through his hair. "I really like her. She's sweet, caring, beautiful and she laughs at my jokes — and her smiles are just... wow."

Raiu eyed him from the corner of his vision. "You do seem pretty into her. Yue is definitely what you described her to be, and more. She's the sole Princess of the North Tribe, and so her duties to her people bind her — she can't pursue the ideal life with you even if she wanted to."

"She's my friend but, even I can't hope to understand the weight of her burdens," Raiu said regretfully. "If it makes you feel better, you're the first guy I've seen her genuinely have a good time with."

Sokka broke into a smile at this, ever the simpleton, even the slightest encouragement would get him going. Raiu couldn't bear to tell him of Yue's engagement — the both of them deserved each other, but Yue had the right to choose her own destiny.

★

"Would anyone care for a rematch with Katara?" Master Paku said smugly.

The whole morning had been Katara's one-man smack down of all the students, or so he'd heard. Raiu had only shown up for class as she froze the last guy. When Master Paku brought that challenge up, he was inclined to avoid eye contact — admittedly quite intimidated by Katara's fierce methods.

"Ah! Raiu, you're here at last. Get up and have a go with Katara, you have had always complained about having puny opponents," Master Paku exposed him. "Now you can finally face an equal."

Raiu's averted eyes landed on Master Paku and Katara standing in front of him. The situation was undesirable but not unexpected. Any semblance of unease or tension was absent — as exhibited by his loose and languid movements as he made his way to the forefront.

"You may begin," instructed Master Paku.

Raiu and Katara circled each other, one's body settled into a relaxed stance that seemed to embody his control of water while the other employed a steady and controlled disposition in her bending. Both sides seemed to be on par, evenly playing out — Raiu would close the distance only for Katara to draw up a barrier of ice which would then be followed up by his levelling of the wall with his water slices. Dodging this attack, Katara would slip away and counter attack by conjuring up ice spikes at Raiu who instead, shattered them with his water tentacles.

The crowd of students watched with bated breath. Aang had momentarily paused his fooling around. Even Master Paku's eyes had taken on a sharp inclination, following every detail of the fight, scrutinising his students' bending.

To Raiu, it felt like a realistically long amount of time had passed. He could have ended this fight in the first minute if he was being honest and maybe perhaps 30 seconds if he was being optimistic. But something about sparring Katara stirred a beast within him, a beast that was hungry to expose its fangs and lunge at his opponent. His blood was pumping unimaginable amounts of adrenaline, precipitating the hot flush on his cheeks and the glimmer of a predatory look in his eyes. Anyone could tell, Raiu was having a kick out of this match — his soul alight.

But he knew, this wasn't his place to win.

So a moment came when Raiu exposed his unguarded side for a little longer than five counts. It was a weakness he had been hinting at since the beginning of the duel. And of course, Katara hadn't let this slip, as she promptly crossed her arms in a move to bend the water into spikes that caged Raiu in from the side.

He showed some attempts to resist but ultimately admitted defeat at the end.

Master Paku walked up to Katara and praised her, "You have proven that with fierce determination, passion and hardwork, you can accomplish anything."

"Raw talent alone is not enough." He gave a pointed glance to Aang and Raiu.

While Katara and Aang jubilantly made their way to duel against each other, as Master Paku had instructed, he himself had made his way over to Raiu. Just as he was about to release him from his icy prison, Raiu got himself out with the flick of a wrist.

"Now why'd you go easy on her," Paku implored. "You've never really been humble with your victories against your other classmates.

Raiu shrugged, "Nah winning doesn't give me anything. But they're bound to a long road ahead with many losses, the least I can do is encourage her."

Paku gave him one of those 'wise beyond his years' gaze, and patted his shoulder. "Have you thought about what you plan to do from here on out?"

Raiu looked at him in puzzlement, with a single white eyebrow raised, "What do you mean?"

But before they could really get into it, black snow descended from the sky. They fell incessantly — blanketing the ice fortress with dark grey matter. The waters turned black with impurities as the black snow tainted everything within reach.

Soot. The Fire Nation was here.