❃ Wrath of the Past ❃
Zuko's foul mood was nowhere to be found when his uncle announced his 'secret technique'. The boy's golden eyes sparkled as he listened to Iroh's lesson.
"Waterbenders deal with the flow of energy. A waterbender lets their defence turn into offence, turning their opponent's energy against them. I learned a way to do this with lightning." Iroh explained, while motioning to the Water Tribe symbol in the sandy ground. Despite her own father not having the ability to waterbend, Keya still felt a swell of pride -and a bit of sadness- at the mention of her old man's people. He was from the Northern Water Tribe, after all, despite moving to the Earth Kingdom to be with her mother as a young man. It was no wonder that he had joined the Earth Kingdom's navy; most Water Tribe folks were experts on the sea.
"You can teach me how to redirect lightning?" Zuko sat straighter, his eyes were wide. This was not going to end well, Keya figured. That boy never stayed excited for long.
Iroh nodded sagely and stood up to show him. Zuko stood up as well, in order to follow his instructions better. The old man went through the movements as he spoke. He pointed his arm outwards, from his stomach to his other hand. His other hand was already pointed out to the valley below.
"If you let the energy in your own body flow, the lightning will follow it. You must create a pathway from your fingertips, up your arm to your shoulders, then down into your stomach." As he said this, he brought his arms back straight past his shoulder to where Keya guessed his belly button was. "The stomach is the source of energy in your body. It is called 'the sea of chi'. Only in my case, it is more like a vast ocean!"
His chubby arms rested on his belly as he laughed a boisterous laugh. Keya giggled with him, but Zuko was still focussed and sharp. The old General noticed his nephew's serious mood and collected himself, before continuing.
"From the stomach, you direct it up again, and out the other arm. The stomach detour is critical. You must not let the lightning pass through your heart, for the damage could be deadly. You may wish to try the physical motion to get a feel for the pathway's flow, like this:"
Iroh brought his arms from the centre of his belly to the other shoulder, and from there pointed outward again in the opposite direction as he had previously done. His nephew followed the movements carefully, his golden eyes never leaving his uncle for a second. Admittedly, Keya thought the two of them looked pretty cool when they were training like this. Especially since there was finally no fire involved. It reminded her a bit of the swordsman training that her older brother Lei would give her little brother Kanak. Only, Kanak was a bit more of a rascal than the sharp Fire Nation Prince in front of her.
"Now," Iroh asked calmly, "are you focussing your energy? Can you feel your own chi flowing in, down, up, and out?" The two kept mirroring the stances as they discussed the technique.
"I think so." Zuko said hesitantly. Iroh stopped and stood straight while his nephew continued practising.
"Come on, you've got to feel the flow." Iroh smiled as he wiggled his arms. They looked like worms from Keya's perspective. She laughed softly and Zuko glanced at her as she did so. She had a melodic laugh, like wind chimes in a breeze.
His uncle's encouragement snapped him out of his distracted thoughts. "Excellent. You've got it!" Zuko almost stumbled as he heard it and his ears tinged pink from embarrassment. He (or perhaps she) really needed to get out of his own head! The boy focussed back on his lesson at hand. He had finally mastered a technique! He pumped his fist with excitement.
"Great! I'm ready to try it with real lightning!" He exclaimed with enthusiasm.
"What?! Zuko-!" Keya gasped. They may not have seen eye to eye with one another, but this was too much. She wasn't the only one who found the plan too dangerous.
"What? Are you crazy? Lightning is very dangerous." Iroh scolded his nephew, worried for the boy's intentions. Zuko was known for his misguided drive and impulsive nature, so Iroh's worries were not exactly unfounded.
When he realised that the two people present were not going to let him get shot by lightning for training purposes (like really, Zuko, what did you expect?), the teen got extremely upset. His face scrunched up in a dangerous combination of frustration and disappointment. This was exactly what Keya had been worried about. She prepared her body to leave.
"I thought that was the point: you teaching me how to protect myself from it?" Zuko yelled to the point where his raspy voice almost cracked. Keya immediately felt unsafe and stood up so that she could run away if need be.
"Yeah, but I'm not going to shoot lightning at you!" Iroh retaliated with his arms raised in a shrug. Zuko bristled. His fists turned white from being clenched too hard.
"Zuko!" Keya decided to be brave and try to de-escalate the situation. She wanted to defend Iroh from his nephew's harsh criticism. "Who would ever bend a direct attack at their own nephew, their own family?! Are you trying to get yourself killed?"
Bad move. She seemed to have triggered something in the hot-headed teen. Iroh's eyes went wide when he heard what she said. The old man quickly headed over to Keya in order to protect her from his nephew's wrath. He spread out his arms protectively as he blocked her from Zuko's view with his body.
"YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT, YOU ABSOLUTE WENCH!" Zuko screamed as smoke escaped from his clenched fists. It looked as if he had squeezed embers between his palms. Keya gasped again and ducked further behind Iroh, her protective wall. What had triggered him to be like this? Was her suggestion that strange and offensive?
Darkness started growing in the distance. Thick, black clouds started circling the mountainous area across the valley. The burnt down village looked small and bleak without the sun there to shine on it. Iroh noticed the weather change, but paid it no further mind. He needed to de-escalate the situation. Now.
"Prince Zuko, you know that she didn't mean that-"
"IF YOUR FAMILY IS SO GREAT, THEN WHY ARE YOU OUT HERE BY YOURSELF?! WHERE IS YOUR FAMILY!" Zuko took a brief breath and lowered his tone, his deep raspy voice sounding all the more intimidating. "What did you do to them, for you to be travelling all by yourself, huh? Tell me! Then we'll see who has the right to judge someone else's family!"
When he finished his rant, Zuko finally took the time to listen to an answer. What did she have to say for herself now! There was no way that she could ever understand the complex relationships in his family! The fact that she had even dared to question his father's motives -albeit indirectly- had opened up a wound that the young Prince had tried to suppress for the past few years. He had hoped to see her face as he told her what was what, but all Zuko could see was a mop of light brown hair trembling behind his uncle's shoulders. A small whimper left Keya's chapped lips, which was quickly followed by a full-blown sob.
"I'm sorry!" She cried. "I-I didn't mea-mean to do it! I swear! My family- I-" Her scrambled words were often interrupted by hiccups. She attempted to dry eyes with her sleeve, but found that the tears just wouldn't stop. Her family. Why wasn't she with them? Zuko was right, it was her fault. The devastated girl couldn't bring her vocal cords to do anything more than sob. And so, Zuko's questions remained unanswered. He was not alright at the moment. Both of them weren't alright. The boy was about to do something rash.
Iroh frowned from his position between the two damaged teens. His arms were no longer stretched out, but instead hung limp by his side. His old wound stung mildly, but his heart ached terribly. The man clenched his eyes and held back tears as he listened to the broken girl cry behind him. These were the results of war. He was so disappointed. He knew that his nephew had gone too far, despite his words coming from a deeper part within him.
"Zuko." He looked at his nephew. The boy glared back at him, but Iroh could see the pain radiating from his eyes. The large scar on Zuko's face was painfully obvious at that moment. 'Who would ever bend a direct attack at their own nephew, their own family?!' It was that simple question that had triggered his nephew's angry state. Keya did not know, of course, who had given Zuko his scar. But still, she had unknowingly challenged one of the greatest misconceptions that tormented his nephew's soul. She had said something that had rocked his perception of the world and of one of the men he held most dear. It was part of a moral code that most people understood and agreed with.
The idea that no father should harm his own son.
"Zuko," Iroh repeated, "please forgive Miss Keya for her question. She does not yet understand what her words imply. Even so, I will not bend lightning at you."
"Yet?! Uncle, she will never understand what it's like to- to,-"Zuko cut himself off. A singular tear escaped from his scarred eye. "I need to be able to defend myself! How would I ever master anything if you won't help me?!"
Iroh sighed sadly. This could not go on for much longer. All three of them needed some time and space to cool off (literally). "Enough." He sighed tiredly. "Zuko, if you are lucky, then you'll never have to use this technique at all."
Thunder rumbled in the distance. The dark clouds now covered the whole valley. A storm was brewing. As a matter of fact, it had been brewing for a while now. The air was thick with tension and moisture. Iroh's old joints felt the shift in pressure, a sign he knew all too well. Rain would soon start falling. By the look of it, it would not stop for a long time.
Zuko stayed silent for a while, as if pondering his uncle's words. Of course, the Earth Kingdom peasant didn't know about what had happened to him all those years ago. Still, the whole thing was too much for the tormented boy. He needed to escape. He glanced up at the rumbling sky in the distance. Small flashes of light could be seen hiding between the clouds.
"Well, if you won't help me, I'll find my own lightning."
He scoffed dejectedly with a new plan in mind. A plan that would arguably be much more dangerous than having his uncle bend at him. Zuko turned around and grabbed the ostrich horse by its reins. The poor creature squawked as he sat on its back. Clearly, it had not expected itself to be needed just before a large storm was approaching.
Iroh reached out a hand to stop his nephew, but the boy had already left. Iroh could already see his nephew descend from the cliff and into the valley. He was heading over to the mountains up ahead! The old man so desperately wanted to follow him, but he knew that his wounded self was no match for the teenager riding an ostrich horse. Besides, he had other matters to tend to now. Like the girl behind him.
Keya was still sniffling away her last tears. Her ragged breaths were periodically interrupted by rough hiccups and whimpers. It seemed that Zuko had done an equivalent amount of damage to the girl, despite her different reaction. Iroh had his own theories and hypotheses on why the girl was alone, but he never pushed her to tell him more than she was comfortable with. Speaking of comfort, the sweet man walked back to Keya and carefully planted his hand on her shoulder.
"There, there." He patted her shoulder affectionately. "I'm sorry for my nephew's reaction, dear. That boy... he has a complicated past to say the least."
Suddenly, Iroh found himself stumbling back. Keya's slender, brown arms were wrapped around his torso in a strong embrace. Her head rested against his chest, where he could feel the remnants of her tears soak into his tunic. He quickly wrapped his arms around her in return and rubbed her back like a father with his baby. The two of them stayed silent, both dealing with their own reactions to the fight.
"We all have our stories." Keya mumbled into his chest after a short while.
"That we do, dear." Iroh replied, but the girl wasn't done.
"We all have our stories, but that doesn't justify how we treat others. I understand now that what I said must have triggered something painful in him, but Zuko was wrong for what he said."
Iroh sighed. She was right, but his loyalty to his nephew was still strong. "The strongest pain is caused by love, even if it is undeserved. Zuko is a man filled with love, even if he does not know how to express it. He felt hurt, because you brought up a pain born out of one of the most important forms of love. That of a son."
❃
A/N: Zuko is dramatic and angsty & Keya is a crybaby who gets triggered by angry firebenders... I'm a bad matchmaker.