Aang, ever eager to learn firebending, hardly allows Zuko to settle in before demanding lessons. Lessons that he insists Rezalia attend because she "can absorb the fire if he messes up too badly". Rezalia thinks that this is a load of shit. She attends the lessons again.
To his credit, Zuko did appear to be devoted to his task, even if his gaze did find Rezalia far more often than needed. "I know you're nervous, but remember, firebending in it of itself is not something to fear," Zuko says sternly and Rezalia can't help but think that mentorship suited him in a way.
"Okay. Not something to fear," Aang parrots. Rezalia leans against the wall and watches them, fingers fiddling with the bracelets that had remained around her wrist since they'd been gifted to her.
Zuko seemed to really be going for the teaching style of his private instructor, a bitchy old man who liked to think he was the scariest thing on the planet. "But if you don't respect it, it'll chew you up and spit you out like an angry komodo rhino!" Aang whimpered a bit and Rezalia graciously pretended not to hear it. "Now show me what you've got. Any amount of fire you can make."
Aang performs one of the forst firebending moves taught to young benders and, technically, his form was perfect but when he extends his palm all the comes out is a puff of smoke. He deflates before turning to Zuko hopefully. "Maybe I need a little more instruction. Perhaps a demonstration?"
Zuko nods. "Good idea. You might wanna take a couple steps back." Zuko, too, goes for a simple move, likely for Aang's sake. However, all that's produced is a small flame. Rezalia sits up, watching as the golden eyed boy gapes at him own hand even as Aang claps. "What was that? That was the worst firebending I've ever seen!"
Rezalia disagreed. She said nothing.
"I thought it was ... nice," Aang offers. Zuko doesn't answer, opting to try again. Multiple times. It all yields the same result.
Zuko barely represses a scream of frustration. "Why is this happening?"
"Maybe it's the alititude." It wasn't.
"Yeah, could be." Zuko knew it wasn't.
They move to a place closer to the fountain and Aang perches himself on a crumbling pillar while Zuko tries again. Rezalia leans against one of the intact pillars, looking out at the fog that covered what lay below. Again and again, Rezalia hears Zuko try and fail to produce a decent amount of fire. "That one kind of felt hot," Aang pipes up.
"Don't patronize me! You know what it's supposed to look like!" Zuko snaps, pissed.
"Sorry, Sifu Hotman," Aang replies, not sounding all that sorry.
Zuko growls a bit. "And stop calling me that!"
"Lia told me that was the correct term," Aang says confused. Rezalia snickers as she watches Sokka approach.
He speaks before Zuko could say anything to Rezalia. "Hey, jerks! Mind if I watch you two jerks do your jerkbending?" he asks with a bright grin and Rezalia wonders if he was here to check on her and Aang or to watch Zuko exercise.
"Get out!" Zuko shrieks childishly. Sokka concedes and leaves, patting himself on the back as he goes.
For the remainder of the day, Zuko tries and fails to produce anything more than a spark. Aang has Rezalia try and pouts when she easily ignites a fire in her palm, proving that it was definately a Zuko specific problem. The entire time, Rezalia sees Zuko pulling away from her. She can't tell if she's grateful or if she hates it. Probably both.
Later that night, when everyone had gathered around the campfire Rezalia had started, Zuko brings it up to the rest of them. "Listen everybody, I've got some pretty bad news. I've lost my stuff."
Toph instantly raises both hands above her head. "Don't look at me, I didn't touch your stuff."
Zuko just blinks at her for a moment. "I'm talking about my firebending. It's gone." Katara's laughter cuts through the shocked silence.
"I'm sorry. I'm just laughing at the irony. You know, how it would've been nice for us if you lost your firebending a long time ago," she remarks. Rezalia subtly pinches at her arm, earning an annoyed look.
Zuko grits his teeth. "Well, it's not lost. It's just...weaker for some reason."
As Katara and him continue their senseless bickering (commentary provided by Toph, of course), Rezalia stands and positions herself underneath on of the less stable archways. "Uh," Sokka's voice cute through Katara's needling. "What are you doing?"
All eyes land on Rezalia but she locks eyes with Zuko and raises her palm to the rocks overhead. His eyes widen. "Zali, stop."
"What? What is she doing? Lia?"
Rezalia doesn't answer. Zuko knew what was happening. He was running before the flames even hit the archway. Just in time, Zuko's body collided with hers as he folded himself over her and held her tight. The warmth of his flame washed over her and Rezalia allowed herself to relax into his embrace, just this once.
Zuko's fire raged for a moment even after the rocks stopped falling and the panicked rising and falling of his chest was the only movement for a long while even after the fire had ceased. Then he pulls away and Rezalia slips on her well-practiced mask in the face of his anger. "Are you insane?!" Even as he screamed, gentle palms pushed her hair from her face so he could scan her for injury.
"No."
"Oh, yeah?" Zuko scoffs. "Then explain what the hell that was. You could have died."
"I wouldn't have."
"You don't know that! What if my firebending hadn't come back? Huh? What then? Then you die and I have nothing Rezalia! I might as well throw myself off this goddamn cliff!"
Rezalia flinches at his words. "Like hell you would! Don't say shit like that!"
"It's true!" Zuko hadn't ever yelled at her before. Not like this. "I don't have a life without you!"
The words hurt and soothe all at once and Rezalia takes a step back. It's silent for a moment, words hanging heavy in the air. "Your bending isn't gone." Her voice is quiet and hoarse. Sokka and Haru step forward. "It never was. It's just coming from a new place now."
"What does that mean?" Aang asks cautiously.
Rezalia takes the out for what it is. "Firebending is a highly emotional thing. It's violate and hard to control and responds to the things you feel. When they're young, firebenders are taught to bend with their anger. To use their rage and hatred to bend others to their will. That's why Azula is so strong. But Zuko let go of his anger. He moved on and is trying to right his wrongs but now he doesn't have that anger to draw power from. He just needs to find a new source."
"I don't suppose him caring for you can be the new source?" Haru asks. Rezalia hates the way his eyes seem to look into her soul. She doesn't respond. "Can I talk to you for a second?"
Rezalia doesn't want to hear what he has to say. "Yeah."
They make their way out of everyone's hearing range and Haru crosses his arms as he looks down at her. "You're torturing him."
"What?"
"Zuko," Haru clarifies, as if Rezalia didn't know who 'him' was. "You're killing him. Everytime you avoid him or look away or ignore him his heart breaks a little. He's not good at hiding it. And, look, I don't know what happened with you guys. I don't know why you're so mad at him. But what he said out there? Fuck, Rezalia. I know you're hurting. But so is he. Just...think about that, yeah?"
He doesn't wait for her answer and leaves her standing there staring blankly at where he was as he rejoins the others.
When Rezalia finally does come back to the fire, it was to the middle of a discussion of bending sources. "-the original benders were badgermoles. One day, when I was little, I ran away and hid in a cave. That's where I met them. They were blind, just like me. So we understood each other. I was able to learn earthbending, not just as a martial art, but as an extension of my senses. For them, the original earthbenders, it wasn't just about fighting. It was their way of interacting with the world."
"That's amazing, Toph!" Aang gushes. "I learned from the monks, but the original airbenders were the sky bison. Maybe you can give me a lesson sometime, buddy." Appa grunts a bit, uninterested in the topic of conversation.
Zuko frowns a bit. "Well, this doesn't help me. The original firebenders were the dragons, and they're extinct."
"What do you mean? Roku had a dragon, and there were plenty of dragons when I was a kid," the avatar says, brow furrowing.
Both Zuko and Rezalia tense up a bit. "Well, they aren't around anymore, okay?"
Aang holds up his hands in surrender, apologising. Rezalia plays with the food inside the bowl she'd been given. "There's the Sun Warriors."
"Sun Warriors?" Teo asks, leaning forward a bit in interest.
"An ancient tribe of firebenders," Rezalia says.
Zuko adds on, "They were the first to learn from the dragons."
"They died off thousands of years ago, though."
"So? Maybe we can learn something from digging around. Their civilisation isn't far from here."
Sokka seemed tired of their two person show. "So, what? Maybe you'll pick up some super old Sun Warrior energy just by standing where they stood a thousand years ago?"
"You're just jealous that you don't have cool dragon warriors as your ancestors," Rezalia notes wisely. Sokka snorts but doesn't say anything else.
Zuko shrugs. "Either I find a new way to firebend, or the Avatar has to find a new teacher."
Aang did not look thrilled at the prospect. "Guess we're going to those ruins then. Lia?"
Rezalia doesn't miss the face Zuko makes at the nickname. The face he makes everytime it's said. "Try and stop me."