Dragonfire | Mako

SEVENTEEN

Slow, deep breaths. Kaida could feel the flow of her own energy as she breathed, her eyes closed, completely focused on what she was doing. Everything was quiet around her, not even a breeze disrupting the peacefulness of the afternoon. The sun was almost setting, warming her up and casting an unearthly glow around her body, as if she was the moon in front of the sun during an eclipse and the light was desperately attempting to find a way around her to reach the ground. Part of her face was scarlet and as she opened her eyes, they were the same shade as the sun.

Her arms moved around her and the lightning crackled as her chi was separated and pure energy sparkled from her fingertips in the form of lightning, her insides burning with the absolute power she was yielding, a burn she had come to almost like and associate with power. She held it for a while, as if she were part of a storm, and then directed her arms upwards and the lightning moved with it, followed the way out she was offering it and rushed to the sky, separating it in half, disrupting the stillness of the afternoon.

Kaida waited until her fingertips had stopped smoking before she brought her hands to her side and straightened up, cast a quick glance to the side and smiled at the sight of her spectator. She turned her head to face him fully, unaware of the way the light made her seem at the moment. "Are you here for our lesson, Mako?"

Mako blinked as if he had been in a trance and nodded as he walked closer, his eyes trailing over her figure briefly before he met her eyes once more. "Yes. I didn't want to interrupt you."

"I just finished my exercises," she shrugged, never taking her eyes away from him as he came to a stop opposite her. "Anything you'd like to say before we begin? Perhaps what you'd like to know?"

Mako smiled. "I'll leave that up to you. I wanted to say that the way you create lightning is way different than the way I do it."

She tilted her head to the side, evidently curious. "In what way?"

"It's as if you know every process you're doing when you attempt it. That the lightning is something you can hold for as much time as you want and your lightning bolts are always so much bigger than mine. The process is also slower."

"I can do it quicker, I assure you," she smirked, her eyes falling on the setting sun. Mako gulped at the way her features were highlighted and she looked almost ethereal for a moment before she turned to face him again and half of her face got bathed in shadows. "I enjoy creating lightning. I love it, even more than I love firebending. My grandfather always said lightning is cold fire, and he is right. I need to be emotionally stable to create it and in tune with myself, unlike fire that can be created whenever, when I'm seething in rage or when I'm mourning. I take good care most of the time to prepare myself for it just in case something doesn't go as planned."

"Has there been a time something didn't go as planned?"

She paused for a moment, thinking, before she shook her head. "I don't think so. As I was saying, I love lightning. There are days I need to cast it, as if it's needed to let go some of my energy. And the burning I get in my stomach has become almost a comfort and a constant reassurance. If I weren't able to create lightning one day I'd for sure feel like a failure. It would be a huge blow to my confidence."

Mako frowned, "But that's not true. I've seen you fight and the way you bend is phenomenal."

She smiled for a moment as she inclined her head towards him, accepting his opinion. "I'd still feel useless without it. Powerless. It's my favourite part about being able to firebend. My grandfather said every firebender has their own imprint and it is reflected on the way they bend. I believe that's mine."

Mako took a short moment to take in her words and think them through before he nodded. After a short while, he sent her a smile. "I didn't expect you to share something like this with me."