Avatar; The Royal Firebender.

A Prince and A Princess

"Woah... Is that... airbending?" Princess Yue asks as she and Katara get to the top of the stairs, her voice causing Zuko to open an eye to gaze at the two women. "I know I saw you use it to jump yesterday but... I didn't see it up close."

"It happens when I meditate." Zuko answers, pausing to drink the rest of the tea in the wooden cup that he was gifted. "But yes, it was."

"I knew different forms of bending could be beautiful, even firebending, but I thought I'd go my whole life without ever seeing a real airbender." Master Pakku says as Zuko ties the piece of twine across his parka through the hole in the handle of his wooden mug. "Seeing as you beat me here this morning, I can guess you're eager to begin training."

"I am but, I probably should warn you that I've only ever successfully used waterbending to save myself from an arrow to the face. The other times I tried all I did was boil the water and it scalded Katara. It might be a good idea to have me a bit further away than the other students in your class." Pakku furrows his eyebrows at this statement then turns to Katara with a questioning look on his face.

"It's true, the last time I tried teaching him waterbending he accidentally burned me pretty bad with the water. Though it wasn't all bad since I discovered I can heal with waterbending." Katara explains.

"Well, maybe after we're done you can go speak with Pagoda to learn some new healing techniques from her to further those abilities. Now, I think we've wasted enough daylight talking, the rest of the students are on their way up now so it's best that we get started." Pakku says as he walks a good distance away before creating a raised platform for himself to stand on so he can observe his entire class at once. "Alright everyone, I'd like you to welcome our three newest students. Princess Yue who you know well, Katara from our sister tribe and the Avatar Prince Zuko of the firenation." There was a series of boos when it was mentioned that Zuko was from the firenation. "Alright, whoever did that owes me an ice plunge for two hours. Now, today we will be focusing on the basics, the better the foundation the more you can build upon those techniques."

"Is this because we have two girls and an ash eater with us?" One of the boys asks, causing Katara and Yue to scowl at him. Pakku doesn't dignify this and instead decides to melt the ice the boy is standing on causing him to fall into neck deep frigid water.

"Anyone else want to open their mouths to complain?" Pakku asks rhetorically looking at the other students for another smartass response. "Good, now, for those who are beginning to bend water, we will start with a brief history lesson before going into the first movements ever recorded in waterbending. Thousands of years ago, when men and spirits lived together, our ancestors watched as the moon pushed and pulled the waves of the oceans controlling the tides. Our ancestors watched then began to emulate the moon, copying the movement of the waves. Through months if not years of practice they discovered waterbending. So, I want you to go through the first movements, let your body flow slowly with the movement of the water. Push and pull." Pakku raises his hands and pushes his arms forwards causing a small hole to open in front of each of his students exposing liquid water.

Taking a deep breath to calm his nerves, Zuko looks up at the other students watching how they move, how effortlessly Katara moves the water causing small waves to move across the surface. Beside him, Yue is also going through the same movements as Master Pakku. Even the water she is bending moves with ease as she maneuvers her arms and body. Rocking her body weight forwards and backwards as she moves her arms and wrists through the simple technique. Looking at his own pool of water, a slight sense of anxiety rushes over him before he attempts the same movement. Contrary to his normal demeanor, he begins the motion almost as if he's afraid of the water. He takes in a breath trying to calm his nerves before shifting his left foot behind him as he begins. Shifting his weight forwards then back, forward and back repeatedly before adding his hand movements to it. Pakku notices almost immediately the difference in Zuko's movements compared to the others, once again his motions are not fluid they're rough and jagged like. Shove and yank rather than the gentle push and pull the others are doing. This results in the same issue he had the last time he tried to bend water, the pool in front of him bubbles, sloshes and begins to boil.