Boomerang (Sokka x Fem!Reader)

Ch 8: Useful

"If you're excited, slow your roll. And if you're nervous, join the club," I told him and he nodded. 

"You guys try and get started, we'll unpack and set up camp," Katara said and I nodded, feeling the pressure come down. 

Aang and I walked a little away from Appa and the others. I wracked my brain for where to start, opting out of using the methods taught in the Fire Nation. I'm not going to emotionally scar the boy. 

"Do you have any experience?" I asked, figuring I'd start with what he gave me. He shrugged. 

"I met a deserted Fire Nation general. He taught me a little, but I got out of control and I accidentally burned Katara. I haven't tried again since," he explained and I nodded. 

"Ah, I see. I get that. You know fire's not a gentle instrument. I've burned myself many times. But I think a way you can think about it is as a mix of the other elemental principles," I told him. He looked at me confused. 

"What do you mean?" He asked. I produced a flame in my hand. 

"Fire and firebending are different from the other elements because it has a will of it's own. But then again so does air and water. Both will spread and exist without a bender. Water and fire are both fluid, which is probably why I was able to learn both," I said and I demonstrated by stretching my flame into a whip, much like I could do with a water whip.

"Ohh, that makes sense," Aang said, some of the apprehensiveness leaving him. I smiled.

"And then there's the will needed to command fire. Toph told me you struggled with earthbending because you weren't taking it head on. It's the same thing with fire. Fire is less stubborn than earth, but you still need to be stronger than it," I explained and I thought that made no sense but Aang nodded. 

"Stubborn yet fluid, got it," he said after thinking for a bit. I exhaled.

"Alright and probably the most important thing to remember is to breathe. So I have an exercise and you might find it scary at first, but nothing should happen," I said, and I was already kicking myself for taking a risk. Aang looked at me with full faith though, so I went through with it. 

I set up four small fire pits in a circle and instructed Aang to stand back. I lit each pit on fire, and stood on the inside of the circle. 

"Alright, here's what you need to do. For the first five minutes, you sit in your stance and breathe. Feel the heat entering your body," I instructed and I demonstrated the correct stance. He copied me and then I continued. "Then, the goal is to connect the fires without letting them go crazy," I told him. 

I demonstrated again. I extended my hand out at the first fire and stretched it to touch the second fire. Once there, I hopped to the third fire and then the fourth, until I had a small ring of fire encircling me. Aang's eyes bulged. 

"Woah, that's cool. Can I try now?" He asked and I nodded. I dropped the circle, letting the flames return to the pits and switched with Aang. 

Sokka POV

I saw Y/n do her firebending trick and I was impressed. She made firebending seem like an art, and not the destructive force that I had always thought of it as. 

When the rest of us finished setting up camp, we went over to watch the exercise. 

"Ok, keep breathing, and try to connect the flames," Y/n instructed. Aang continued to breathe and then moved his hands over one of the four pits of fire. The flame wavered a bit, but it didn't move like when Y/n did it. 

"Come on Aang, you can do it," Katara said with a smile. 

"Dance with the flames twinkle toes," Toph quipped. Aang continued to try but the flames wouldn't budge. After about ten minutes, Y/n spoke up. 

"Why don't you take a break, Aang," She suggested. Aang exhaled hard and dropped his hands. 

"Yeah, ok," he said defeatedly. He floated out of the middle of the circle and went with Katara back to the camp sight. I heard Y/n sigh and I turned to her.

"That was a big sigh," I said to her and she looked like she just noticed me there before sighing again. 

"This is what I was afraid of. I'm not a good teacher and I'm failing the Avatar. This is embarrassing, not to mention a drawback on this whole save the world plan," she said, exasperated. I thought about how to make her feel better without patronizing her. 

"How about teaching Aang something defensive? Maybe against the Fire Lord he'd rather be able to protect himself from fire then to throw it from his own hands," I thought out loud and she gasped. 

"Sokka, you're a genius!" She said, grabbing me and shaking me by the shoulders. She left to go get Aang and I couldn't stop smiling. Toph scoffed. 

"You're so in love with her it's ridiculous," she said and I don't know if she meant for me to hear her. It was kind of hard not to.  

"If I called you a genius, you'd be smiling like an idiot too," I said and then I realized what I said. I face palmed while Toph laughed her butt off. 

Y/n POV

Sokka's advice gave me the idea to teach Aang how to dispel fire. It was a firebending move that didn't involve any offensive gestures, and it probably fit better with Aang's evade and wait personality. 

"Y/n, why are we doing this?" Aang asked as he fulfilled my request to earthbend two square holes in the ground. I pressed my hands into one of the holes and waterbent the ground water up and out to fill the hole. I filled the other hole with sticks and then set them on fire. 

"I'm going to teach you how to defend against a firebender using your firebending. And I'm going to teach you using waterbending," I said and he looked at me confused. I knelt down in front of the water hole and demonstrated. "The same way you can pull apart the water without touching it, the same thing you can do with fire." 

I moved to the fire pit and wiped my hands across it, extinguishing the flames into nothing but smoke in the air. Aang gasped and looked around the hole.

"It's really gone. Ok, I'll try it," he said and I told him to start with the water to get the motion right. He was timid about trying it with the fire, but when he finally tried it, it didn't work. At least he didn't get burned. 

Aang kept trying, but each time the fire continued to burn strong. I even caught him trying to take the easy way out by blowing it out with airbending. I reprimanded him, but tried to keep his spirit's up. 

"Focus on your will over the fire's will. Take control of flame and then extinguish it," I encouraged. He nodded and took a deep breath, and this time when he waved his hands, the fire  was snuffed out. Aang gasped in delight and then jumped up. 

"Oh yeah!" He said and that caught everyone's attention. Katara, Sokka, and Toph came over and congratulated Aang. Aang turned to me and smiled, bowing his head with his left hand on top of his right fist. "Thank you so much for teaching me, Y/n," he said and I laughed nervously. 

"Oh come on, I didn't teach you that much," I said bashfully and everyone hyped me up. I waved them off because I was getting uncomfortable under all the praise. "How about we do it standing up, like it would be in a battle?" I asked and Aang nodded enthusiastically.

I walked away from Aang and took a stance, showing him how to dispel fire standing up. Once he got the form down, I threw small fire balls at him slowly, letting him extinguish each one. Soon we started sparring for real, and though Aang couldn't throw any fire punches, he could really take them. 

Well, I may not have been able to teach the Avatar firebending, but it looks like I still taught him something useful. 

Thanks for the idea, Sokka...

To be continued...

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