Chapter 52.3- And so the Dragons Danced

I took a deep breath and turned around to return to my quarters. I still had some meditations to do ahead of the comet. Strangely enough, the closer the comet got, the. More I could feel it just at the edge of my awareness. Already, my flames seemed to burn just a bit hotter whiteout even trying. That was the purpose of my second meditation. Trying to air condition a room was just a bit of housekeeping and some procrastination from the more important question in front of me.

Lao Ge, Kyoshi, the both of them had been able to use earthbending to allow them live far beyond their natural lifespans. It was said that Kyoshi did not die in so much as she chose to stop living and passed away from there. Now, I was a strong believer in the equality of the elements so if Earthbending had something like that, then there had to be some sot of firebending equivalent. I just had too figure it out.

When I sat to meditate, I took a breath and then felt for the comet. It was still steadily coming closer. I could feel more and more of its power seeping into me. I settled into a trance first. When I woke, I decided to try again. This time, when I pushed all the heat out of the room, the temperature instantly dropped to freezing. I watched as the metal walls that separated my quarters turned red hot and the curtains that passed for a door here actually caught on fire while frost built along the floor around me, creeping up on all the surfaces. Fuck, fuck, fuck. Too much, I thought and pulled the heat into my body. The redness abandoned the metal in no time, and the fire from the curtains shot out and speared into my body, causing me no pain. Fuck.

That had been easier than it should have. Far easier. How long had I been meditating for? The comet was only a few hours away. That meant we were a few hours away from the North Pole. I had no doubts that both those events would coincide perfectly, having the utmost faith in the Fire Nation’s astronomers and mathematicians. We had the best knowledge workers in the world, and not just because we’d spent a century burning, raping, looting, and pillaging everywhere else so no one really had a chance to compete with their academics. They were too busy dying and running, I thought with a chuckle before returning to meditation.

The very nature of fire was anathema to the method Kyoshi had used. Fire could never be stagnant. There is no force for change greater than a flame, and that was the nature of firebending. Ours was the element of passionate change, of evolution. Fire turned man from beast, and with fire we conquered the world, as my lessons as a child reminded me. That meant I couldn’t copy what they’d done. But there had to be something for me to attempt. What if I could constantly evolve in a way that kept me at the peak of my powers? Only growing stronger and never weaker? Using fire to enhance cell reproduction? No that wouldn’t work.

Why was I even bothering with this? I wondered after two more hours of fruitless thinking. The why was just as important as the how, I knew. And in this case, the why wasn’t hard to find. I didn’t want to feel it again. That darkness of death. I’d managed to forget it for some time, so focused on living and making the most of it, but Grandfather’s death and Toji’s injury brought it all back to me again.