Little Percy's life changed one day when he was eight.

The catalyst for this change was a simple TV show. Avatar the Last Airbender.

It was so cool!

Aang could control all the elements and that was awesome. But Aang wasn't Percy's favorite character.

The coolest character in the show was without a doubt Katara.

She could do amazing things with water! She could stop the rain, or make a tsunami, or make ice daggers, or heal with water, or or or… She was amazing.

Percy wanted to be able to do that. Katara was his favorite character, and after this fateful day, she also became his role model.

You see, little Percy was at the beach, Montak, with his mom. It was a lovely day, sun was bright, water was perfect (though it always was) and Percy was playing in the water.

Today he had just watched the finale of the whole show and it was amazing! He'd loved it so much.

He wished he could do what Katara did with the water. He swung his arm out, imagining the water moving with his arm, and nearly screamed when it did.

He stared at the water. It just lapped gently at his feet.

He slowly reached out, and pushed, trying to copy that first move Katara learned.

His eyes widened when the water seemed to push back.

Did he imagine it?

He narrowed his eyes.

Okay, so the first thing was… push and pull the water.

That's what Katara said in the waterbending scroll episode.

Percy tried to stand like how he thought Katara did. Then pushed and pulled.

He focused on the water, willing it to do as he said.

And gasped in delight when it did!

He realized belatedly that he'd stopped doing the movement as the water went back into the normal waves of the sea. He quickly picked it up again. Push and pull, push and pull.

The water was doing it exactly!

Okay, if he had the first step done…

Little Percy thought for a long moment as to what he was supposed to do next.

He thinks its… streaming the water?

Yeah!

Katara had drawn out some of the water and pulled it into a ballish shape in her hands!

Okay, so now to do that.

He focused hard, willing a stream of the water to rise as he raised his hands.

Slowly, ever so slowly, the water rose.

He focused on pulling it to him as he drew his arms in.

And then beamed when it did it. Only to scowl as the water fell when he lost focus.

Okay, he could do this!

Percy played with streaming the water for a good hour, noticing partway through the faint tug in his stomach when he did it.

It was only when his mom called him for dinner that he realized how much time had passed.

He had finally managed to get it to his hand and move the ball around. He'd been practicing making the water different shapes when he was called.

"Mom, mom!"

He ran over to her.

"I'm a waterbender!"

She laughed, ruffling his hair, "Are you?"

"Yeah! I moved the water! Come look, look, look!"

Percy excitedly dragged his mom to the water, her laughter following.

"Okay Percy, I'm here, show me the waterbending."

She smiled gently at him, her face bright.

Percy let go of her hand and focused on the water, he carefully moved his hands up, lifting a strand of the water, and pulled it to him, shaping it like a star.

He beamed up at his mom and faltered at her pale expression.

"Mom?"

She stared at the water in his hands.

"Mom? What's wrong?"

The water fell from his hands with a splash.

"Percy, how did you do that?"

He blinked, "I just copied Katara. I'm a waterbender!"

She swallowed hard.

"Ah."

She gently grabbed Percy's hands, "Percy, I need you to promise me you'll never do this in front of others."

Percy blinked, "What?"

"It's not safe Percy, you have to promise me."

He nodded slowly, frowning slightly.

He didn't want to, he was a waterbender! He wanted to show everyone! But mom looked so serious and scared…

"Okay mom, I promise."

She let out a breath. "Okay. Okay. Let's, let's eat dinner now, okay?"

"Okay, can I practice more waterbending later though?"

She grimaced, staring down at him. "Yeah, sure, as long as you always make sure no one sees you."

He beamed up at her.

This was going to be amazing.