"It's not good for him to have so much stress, I need you boys to make sure he's comfortable. Try to get him away from his triggers," Caroline told the boys when she comes outside.
"But we don't know what his triggers are," Louis said.
Caroline raised an eyebrow. "You should try to find out, as his caretakers. But for now, just make sure that he's comfortable."
The four of them nodded.
She turned to leave, but spun back around.
"Also, I'd like to remind you that I do not like it to be woken up at 5 in the morning!" she said in a friendly voice, a threatening tone in it. "Especially not by a splash of water in the face."
Zayn jabbed Liam in the side. Who quickly apologized.
"But alright, this was an emergency," she said, waving it off.
When Caroline left, the boys looked at each other.
"What now?" Louis said. "Should we force the boy to talk."
Harry shook his head. "Definitely not. That'll only trigger him more. I'll meditate on it. Why don't you and Zayn look over the boy."
The others agreed to that. The four of them separated ways.
.
.
Harry inhaled deeply. He let the fresh air in and concentrated on how it filled his lungs. Then he exhaled.
He was about to breath in again, when he heard a groan of frustration.
He opened one eye and spotted the waterbender on the other side of the river.
Opening the other eye as well, he slouched. Sitting back and observing the other boy.
Liam was trying to create two rotating rings of water intersecting in front of his body. However it kept failing. He pulled the water up, formed the circles, but not fast enough, so they collapsed.
After watching for a few minutes, Harry decided to try and help him. He created a cushion of wind under himself to push him up. And then used a blast of air to take off in the air and landed behind the other bender.
"You're doing it wrong," he simply said.
He startled the boy with that. And without the focus, the rings of water fell down on Liam.
He jolted around to the younger boy. "Harry! God, I almost had it!" He glared at him. "You of all people should know that you shouldn't break someone out of his concentration like that!"
"I'm sorry," Harry said with his calm voice, "I just wanted to help you. If you keep doing it like that, you'll never succeed."
Liam huffed, turning back around and pulling the water up again. "Like you know anything about waterbending."
Harry shrugged. "I do know a lot. Not necessarily about waterbending, but still."
"Whatever," Liam said and even though Harry was looking at his back, he knew the other boy was rolling his eyes. He took another shot at creating the rotating rings, but failed miserable. The rings collapsing again.
Liam let out a frustrated scream and slammed his hands down in the water.
"You're trying to create a water gimbal, right?" He heard the younger bender behind him say.
He ignored him and tried again. As expected, he didn't succeed this time either.
Harry decided to just give his unwanted advice. "You're concentrating on the form too much."
Liam turned around at that. "Huh?"
Harry created a small ring of wind in his hand. "As an airbender I always have to circulate the air in order for it to be of use, but it has to rotate fast enough."
He let the air stop circulating and the ring vanished. He looked up to the waterbender. "See?"
Liam frowned. "Alright..." he said, "but what does that have to do with water?"
"Like I said. Your focus is on the form, which is good. But it should also be on the rotation. You start rotating the water too late and too slow. That's why it falls apart."
Liam thought about it and nodded. "Alright, but how can I start rotating it earlier."
"I have a similar move with airbending. Right now you're using one hand for each ring, but it's better if you divide the roles instead. Use one hand to keep the form and use the other hand for the rotation. That way you can start rotating on time and it won't fall apart. Got it?" the curly-haired explained.
"I think so," Liam said dubitable. He turned his back at Harry. Took his stance again and lifted both hands. Doing as Harry said.
He managed to immediately start rotating the rings after he formed them.
"Good!" Harry cheered from behind him. "You're doing it!"
Of course the rings were still too weak to fully function, but he was finally getting somewhere.
He turned back and smiled at the curly-haired now. "Thanks, that was actually really helpful."
The airbender returned his smile. "No problem! Just try to rotate the rings a bit faster and relax in your stance a bit more. Then you'll be fine."
Liam nodded again, took his stance and raised his hands another time.
The move was evidently improving now. But Harry still had to point out his stance itself.
"You're still pretty tense. Maybe you should just take a rest."
Liam sighed, having heard that a lot of times. But this time he listened. He walked over to the other boy and they sat down on the side of the river.
"You know, you seem tense a lot of the time. Is something bothering you?" Harry asked him.
Liam immediately got defensive. "Why do you care? Mind your own business!"
Harry just shrugged. "Right, sorry for asking. Though maybe you should meditate. It helps the mind to calm down."
Liam realized that he was acting stupid. He knew it was the airbender's nature to help. He couldn't get mad at him.
He sighed. A bit annoyed with himself. "Sorry, I shouldn't react like that. Maybe I should try meditating sometime."
They were quiet for a moment. Just gazing at the ripples that formed in the water as the river streamed.
"Did the Air Nomads teach you that?" Liam asked. "Well, yeah of course they taught you how to meditate. But erm- did they tell you to just meditate all the time or do you do it because you like it?"
Harry shrugged. "I don't know. I think I do it because I like it. It helps me to keep my mind clear. But yes it's also part of our culture, so it's part of me."
"How come I never see Louis meditate?"
The airbender pulled his legs up and rested his chin on his knees. "I guess he just hates our culture."
"Do you ever wish you had stayed there?" the other boy asked.
Harry actually thought about it for a moment. Then shook his head. Speaking with soft voice. "No, I would have missed Louis too much."
Liam nodded. He knew the two had a strong bond. They were like brothers. He had one question though, that was burning to be asked. But he didn't know if he had the right to ask it. He decided to just do it. Besides, this was Harry. He never got mad.
"Did Louis choose to go?"
The younger boy sadly shook his head at this and stared at the water as he spoke. "No, they made him leave. I was supposed to stay. I ran away and the Air Nomads even tried to get me back, but Simon managed to talk them out of it. Don't tell Louis though. He doesn't know, or maybe he does. But we just don't talk about it."
He looked up at Liam now. "And you? Do you ever miss the people of your Tribe."
Now it was Liam's turn to stare ahead of him.
"Everyday."
A/N Hello lovely people,
Here's another random update! I hope you guys like it!
Please tell me what you think!
What do you think of Liam's and Harry's interaction?
What do you think of what Harry said about Louis and the Air Nomads?
What do you think about apples?
Donuts our nice.