The walk home is nice, the sunrise is near invisible of course since it's blocked by a hill, but the cool morning feels perfect for some practice in firebending. So that's just what I'm gonna do, I'll practice firebending before Heido even wakes up.
The bursts of fire feel a little short today, not bad by any means but definitely not massive balls of fire like it was yesterday. Oh well, probably just a lack of chi flow.
"Morning." Heido says with tea in his hands, walking out of his cabin to see me bending.
"Oh, did I wake you up?" I ask, trying to be polite.
"You certainly didn't, I just woke up early this morning." He says with bags under his eyes.
"Alright. How did the earthbending go yesterday?" I ask.
"Why don't I just show you?" He says, putting his tea on a tree stump.
He gets into a neutral stance, then seemingly effortlessly pulls a small boulder from the ground.
"That's really impressive!" I exclaim.
"Thanks." He replies nicely. "How about a duel?" He continues.
"I'd like that, just don't go too hard on me." I say jokingly.
The walk to a field is full of suspense, of course neither of us will kill each other but a duel is one of the biggest tests of strength in earthbending culture. It tests if you're a real man.
As we both get in a neutral stance, I can see a fire in his eyes. A type of love for fighting that I haven't seen to this day. I can tell this is going to be bigger of a challenge than I had originally planned.
"Ready?" He says with a half smile on his face.
"Ready." I respond sternly.
"Then let the fight begin."
We charge at each other, full force. No weapons in hand, just our bending. Two powerful benders, both mastered a different style. There's nothing boring about it.
A ball of fire nearly hits my shoulder, but I'm able to block it with a stone pillar and shoot the pillar towards him.
He pulls a rock from the ground and slides back. Now is my chance. I run at him, full speed, hurling a fireball at his face.
He's not able to block it, but the fight isn't over until someone gives up.
Then I feel it, a fiery yet concussive hit in the chest. Did what I'm thinking actually happen? Did he combine his little earthbending knowledge with fire bending? It can't be.
"Impressive!" I shout. The fight isn't over though.
He smiles and runs toward me. This time though, I'm prepared.
I pull up a wall of earth before he's able to hit me, then shoot it at him. He dodges it with a swift sidestep.
Then; just as the fight began, it ended. He hits me in the face with a flaming kick, knocking me down.
"Alright, you win!" I exclaim.
He helps me up, probably making sure I'm alright.
"I didn't hurt you too bad, did I?" He asks, proud of what he's done.
"Yeah, I've experienced worse. I'll be fine." I respond, it's a weird feeling, getting knocked down by my avatar himself.
Just then, I notice a scar on his shoulder. A massive burn mark, looks really old, but the color is such a bright red, I can't help but wonder what it was.
The walk back up to my house is filled with heavy breathing, yet a sort of dead silence.
It was exhilarating to fight the avatar, even though I lost, but none of this, not dueling the avatar, not firebending, nothing could possibly fill the hole in my heart that Katakan filled. She was the sweetest, most beautiful person I'd met, and I would have never, not for a second, thought about a life with her completely gone. Med school was hard enough, a year with on and off visits left me feeling sad. Now I have to deal with that for the rest of my life, the guilt of not having saved my one true love.
"Well." He starts using firebending to boil his tea from the morning. "We should probably get ready to go to the northern water tribe, the journey will be long enough for the both of us to master our new bending styles. I also have a friend in the fire nation I need to catch up with." He continues.
"Oh, sure."
"Great! We will leave in the morning." He exclaims.
"How will we get there though? We're practically a world away from the fire nation, let alone the northern water tribe." I ponder.
"It's a surprise, I'm sure you'll love it!" He replies, sounding very proud of himself.