A Short Banishment
~ Lady Eldaelen ~

After the days and the seasons were set to their cycles, after the lands and the waters and the skies and the depths were given their boundaries, after the elements were defined and the origins of creation itself were long forgotten, our world grew a consciousness, grew a sense of self, and ultimately, grew tired of being alone.

And so the oceans set aside a piece of itself, the best it had to offer. Filtered and pristine, ice grew around this precious gift, protecting it, preserving it as the start of something more. But alone it could only remain contained in its frozen shelter, untouched and unnoticed and unable to do or become more.

So the earth offered a bit of itself, and the finest of dusts from the most precious, the most foundational of rocks was added and the water was given Form. But though it could now move and react to its surroundings, it remained as cold as the ice it was born to, as unyielding as the earth it was made from.

So a flame was set inside the Form. But it could not be sustained for long and soon this Spark was consuming the Form from the inside out. And for a while, the world and the elements thought its attempts to be nothing but folly, an endeavor doomed to fail...

It was their fourth day at the Western Air Temple.

With provisions running low and a path forward still uncertain, Uncle ventured off in search of supplies and Zuko finally had respite from his hovering ministrations, if only for a few hours. Away from the palace and the attention of its master healers, fever had set in almost immediately. For a firebender, being unable to regulate such a basic function as body temperature was an uncomfortable and entirely unpleasant experience, not to mention downright embarrassing. Though he still felt like a baby salamander pig had used his head as a teething ring, Zuko was finally starting to feel better. Well enough for his physical fever to be overrun with cabin fever, anyway.

Alone at last, Zuko found the rough stone and echoing emptiness of the abandoned Temple unnerving, so he wrapped the worn dark green coat Uncle had procured for him around his shoulders and set out for the woods above. By the time he reached the surface, he was shaking and winded, wearied beyond belief. He slipped into a crouch to rest and cursed the Airbenders and their stupid idea of scale and gravity, their staircases that meandered everywhere except a way that made sense, their disappearance and the impact that had made on his life.

A pair of badgerfrogs called to each other, their croaks filtered through the trees. Zuko listened until his breathing evened out and he garnered enough strength to stand again. A subtle shift in the forest silenced the frogs, and a rumble reached his feet that rattled nearby foliage. On a gust of wind echoed the sound of voices. He followed in search of the source.

The clearing wasn't large, but there was room enough for a decent spar, as the two kids were demonstrating with surprising proficiency. All his life, he'd heard the whispered rumors from tutors and masters that his sister was a prodigy, that most so young -including himself- were too undisciplined, too unskilled to fight and bend at such a high level. Yet here among the trees Zuko stared, dumbfounded, as a couple of children younger than him, and quite possibly even Azula, by several years bent rock after rock at each other, dodging and blocking and redirecting attacks like seasoned soldiers. This eventually devolved into a dirt-flinging war, then slowly the clumps of dirt morphed into smooth ribbons of earth that they slung around not unlike the fire whips Zuko practiced creating.

A stream of earth smashed against a nearby tree, splintering the thinner branches above and causing Zuko to jump out of the way and into view. The kids separated at his sudden appearance and crouched into defensive stances so quickly that Zuko was surprised he didn't have to dodge a rock or two himself.

"What are you doing?" He demanded, equally as surprised that he had let himself be found out.

The glances between the previously sparring pair relayed a silent conversation, one that ended with the shorter of the two asking, "What does it look like we're doing?"

A simple enough redirect, infuriating in that evasive way only a child could pull off. As if Zuko wasn't still one himself. Exhaustion prevented him from doing anything but replying, "Earthbending."

The kid snorted. Then he laughed. His companion smiled sheepishly and gave an apologetic little shrug of his shoulders.

"Come on, Brother. Teacher told us to practice."

The laughing increased to the point where the kid doubled over and toppled to the ground.

"Edward!" The second kid shrieked when, gasping, his brother flailed into him and sent them both rolling down the hillside. Bracing his feet, he slammed his hands against the ground, sending a small mound of earth upward to launch the still-laughing kid several feet above Zuko's head.

Zuko steeled himself for a collision, but it never came. He watched as the one called Edward immediately stopped laughing to scan his surroundings with overly calculating eyes, golden Fire Nation eyes, before twisting lithely in the air like a cougar wolf. At the peak of his trajectory, the kid executed an intricate form that Zuko didn't recognize but the end result was a gust of wind and dirt that erupted from the ground and sent Zuko tumbling backwards. He rolled and righted himself just in time to watch the boy with Fire Nation eyes neatly hop off his strange earth wave as it dissipated into a hazy cloud.

"That's it, Alphonse, you're gonna get it now!"

Edward launched himself at his brother and the two resumed their previous scuffle as if they hadn't been interrupted in the first place.

And then it started raining.

What began as a light mist soon had the entire clearing drenched, Zuko included. His wound ached as dampness seeped into the dressing, but Zuko's curiosity kept him rooted firmly in his spot. Under the darkened, weeping sky, the two kids remained dry.

Edward set up another complicated-looking move that hurled his companion into a tree. As the kid shot by, the trailing rush of wind chilled Zuko to the core.

"Ow, Ed! We agreed no trees!" Alphonse protested as he recovered, rubbing absently at bark scrapes that now dotted his arms.

Zuko could hold his disbelief in no longer. "Who -what -how are you doing that?!"

"Oh, you're still here?" Edward asked with a hint of irritation in his voice.

"What? Of course I am!"

Apparently deciding that Zuko was not threat enough to even give him his full attention, Edward watched his brother pick a twig out of his hair. "What do you want?"

"I want to know what it is you're doing! You look like earthbenders and you certainly fight like them, but you're not even using regular pieces of rock! How do you maintain so much control over dirt? And why aren't you getting wet?"

The kids looked at each other, at Zuko, down at their dry clothes, and back at Zuko. Comprehension dawned slowly on Edward's face, and he brushed one hand over the other arm before stretching it out, sending a blast of air over Zuko's head. Zuko watched in awe as the rain bounced off an invisible cover.

"Are you... airbending?" Zuko asked in a whisper.

"Hasn't anyone told you that the Airbenders died out a century ago?"

"But how are you..." Zuko trailed off, pointing up at the water collecting above his head. The two kids exchanged another series of glances that Zuko had only previously seen between his sister and her friends, of those with shared secrets that he was never going to hear. Zuko also got the impression that his new acquaintances thought him to be like a very, very small child. One that needed repeated explanations and a lot of extra lessons. Sure enough, Edward soon schooled his expression into a mimicry of every tutor Zuko had ever sat under and began speaking in an equally familiar tone that irritated the prince almost as much as his lack of comprehension.

"Water isn't pure, most of it, anyway. There's enough trace minerals in rain that can be manipulated. We're bending that." Edward dropped his hands, and with it ended the lecture and demonstration; Zuko gasped as the collected water dumped over him.

"Mineral bending?" he spluttered, wiping the wetness off his face as best he could. "That's crazy!"

"Technically we're bending elements."

"Earth is an element," Zuko insisted.

"It's more of a compound," the second, quieter child allowed. He pulled a face of deep thought, digging through his no doubt vast bank of knowledge for the right explanation. "It's a mixture. Like water."

"Like fire," Edward pointed out impatiently.

"What are you talking about?! Fire is fire is fire!"

"And earth is earth is earth," Edward countered. "Unless you're in the desert, then it's sand. Or in the swamps it's more of a soupy mush, as much water as earth."

"And water is water unless it's ice or rain or clouds. Clouds are mostly air. And air is air unless it's fog or smoke. Get close enough to the source of smoke, and you're probably looking at fire."

"Enough! You're not making any sense. There's four elements for a reason - they're supposed to be separate!"

"But as we just said, they're more alike than you think."

"So what does that mean? You can earthbend, so that means you can fire and air and waterbend too?"

"What do I look like, the Avatar?"

And the two kids erupted in a round of laughter that sent Zuko's insides reeling, pushing against all the barriers he'd built since the day his mother disappeared, since hearing his sister's taunts of their father's plan to kill him, since he woke in a haze of pain and confusion to steal away from the palace in the dead of night like a criminal instead of a prince. Zuko's breaths came in short and deep as he felt his control slipping away piece by piece.

"He's not laughing, Ed."

"Of course he's not." The kid frowned, then raised his hands, replacing the rain barrier above their heads. "Look, if you're trying to hide, you're going to have to work a little harder at it. You're really showing your Fire Nation roots."

"And how would you know where I'm from or what I'm trying to do?"

"Enough to know that no self-respecting Fire National wears any colors but red, dark red, brown red, or gold." Ed pointed at Zuko's favorite tunic and pants, in self-respecting dark red and brown red with gold trim, clearly visible under the emerald Earth Kingdom coat still wrapped around his shoulders. "And no town in a three days' walk sells fabric that's not some shade of green or yellow."

Zuko felt his face flush and it took every last bit of strength left in him not to blast both kids out of the clearing and off the side of the nearby cliff. He ignored the tiny part of his mind that doubted his winning a fight with the boys at all. And then from behind him to the left, a voice called out, "Whatever you're doing, it certainly doesn't look like practice."

His breath hitched in his throat as the owner of the voice stepped into the clearing between Zuko and the boys. She was thin and pale, and she wore her long dark hair bound in dozens of tiny braids pulled back in a loose bun. Her clothes were exotic, with the cut of Fire Nation working class fashion but in the palest of yellows and dark earthy greens. Her bare arms were lean and strong; she was holding an open umbrella in one hand and balancing an awkwardly large parcel on one hip with ease.

He hadn't seen many young Fire Nation women since his mother disappeared, not in the palace or on his few excursions beyond its gates, and certainly not in such a close proximity as this woman was to him now. Her sudden appearance caught him off guard. The harsh look she gave him, half disproving and half annoyed, reminded him of his father. She ignored the other two with more than her eyes and shooed them away like a carer would to irritating young charges.

"Go help Sig with the supplies," she ordered. And they obeyed, just like that, scampering off through the woods with a respectful yes ma'am and a carefree laugh.

She looked nothing like his mother, but all the same, Zuko could not stop from staring at her. Openly. With his mouth slightly drooped in what he was sure was a rather stupid expression. She set down her parcel and umbrella, reoriented her feet, and slammed her open palms against the ground. A wall of earth rose up around them, curving gracefully into an arc above their heads.

"That's better," she replied, removing a smaller bag she was carrying on her shoulders. She rummaged inside and pulled out a wooden box.

"Come here, you're not going to heal if you stay wet like that."

And Zuko found he could not disobey.

Her eyes were a deep cold grey, almost black, but they softened as Zuko drew alongside her. She didn't mention his odd behavior, didn't say anything as she felt his forehead with the back of one hand, the other cupped gently beneath his chin. With a barely audible sigh her lips turned down in the smallest of frowns and she pulled her hands away.

"May I?" she asked him quietly, waiting for his nod before undoing the bandages covering his face. Her expression didn't change as the last of the dressings were pulled away, to which Zuko was mildly surprised, his uncle usually frowned at the very least. The area around his left eye itched as it was freed from its protective layer and he blinked repeatedly to try to clear the blurriness away. From her box the woman pulled out a container; its contents smelled like oversteeped tea and dirt and looked like gloppy mud. With a wave of her hand she gathered a bit of rain into a ball and dipped it into the goo, turning the water a murky green. Zuko closed his eyes as she brought the water ball towards him, it made contact as a million stinging darts pricking over his eye and cheek and ear. Reflexively he pulled away but a strong hand just behind his neck kept him in place. In a moment it was over, and a numbing coolness took the place of the previous irritation.

Zuko cracked open his eyes to watch her pull a glob of the stuff with another wave of her hand and it smoothed and flattened into a thin disk that she brought up to his wound. Another rummage through the box produced a clean set of bandages, and it was only after he shut his eyes again and she started applying a new dressing that she spoke.

"It can be hard to hear something that goes against everything you've ever been taught. What the boys were telling you, about the order of things, how the whole world fits together. Don't be upset that you don't understand it all. No one does, not the first time, sometimes not ever. Just remember what you heard today so when you're ready to know more, it will be there."

Zuko felt her secure the bandages behind his head. The heat from her hand lingered over his brow and when he looked at her, there was the slightest hint of wetness at the corners of her eyes that could not be attributed to the rain.

"There. I know the smell is probably too earthy for your tastes, but it will speed healing and make things a bit more comfortable for you."

"Who says I deserve to be comfortable?" Zuko muttered.

"That's no way to talk. Here," she handed him the wooden box and her umbrella. "Make sure you keep dry." She waited patiently until he realized her intentions and actually opened the umbrella. "You shouldn't stay out too late. Someone is getting worried, no?"

Zuko nodded mutely and, responding to her smile, turned around and left the clearing. He retraced his path through the trees to the cliff's edge and the hidden entrance to the Air Temple. The way down was easier this time.

Notes: I've been editing the remainder of Pacific Dragon, but needed some instant gratification - or as instant as four years between first file save and posting can bring. Oh, how things could have been different with a bunch of alchemists thrown into the bending mix! -Or would they? Might be a two-shot if I ever finish the polishing on the second bit.