Chapter 2.1- And so the Dragons Danced (ATLA; Fire bender OCSI)

"The first thing you must learn about firebending is that fire is the element of passion." I hesitated to cut in and tell the Master that I already knew that Kuonyo might not be half the firebender Jeong-Jeong was, but that didn’t make him an incompetent teacher by any means.

"You know this. But what you don’t know is that the flames you generate show where the passion comes from. To a discerning eye, at least. Your flames are sharp, near uncontrollable. Hatred, I suspect. Or deep rage, at the least. The first thing we will do is unlearn that."

"What?"

"Yes, sure. It makes you a more powerful bender in the short term. But in the long term, you will never reach your full potential," I stated at him, still doubtful. Wasn’t this the technique the royal family and all the fire nation used? Was he going to tell me none of them ever hit their full potential? I didn’t know too much about the canon lore beyond watching the series and the sequels, but I did know both Ozai and Azula were at least top 5 firebenders in the verse.

"I’m sure you’re thinking of other firebenders you know who use such methods but are still great benders nevertheless. I’m not talking about them. I’m talking about you. I’ve watched every lesson you’ve undertaken in the last month. You enjoy learning. You actually enjoy bending, but when it comes time to call upon your flames, all that changes," he said, his look turning severe.

"No. You might become a powerful bender in your own right, but never what you ought to be if you continue like this," he said, and I chose to trust in his words and bowed.

"Please teach me, Master."

"Well, that’s what your Grandfather is paying me for. And quite handsomely, I might add. At this point, I suppose I am better paid than even the Prince’s tutor," he said, trailing off at the end before plopping to the ground in the lotus position and gesturing for me to join him.

XXXXXX

A whole month under Admiral Jeong-Jeong’s tutelage, and I had done virtually no bending outside of my private practice. I was still growing, and my flames felt like they were changing. Not calling upon my deep self-hatred meant I was much less powerful, but I could still execute most of my moves to an acceptable degree, so that was acceptable for the time being. I’d trust in Jeong-Jeong until he gave me reason to.

Speaking of Jeong-Jeong, a servant had told me he’d arrived, so I moved to join him in the garden set aside for my training. It said something about the home I lived in that beyond that garden, there were seven more.

When I entered, I found my Master already meditating, so I moved to join him. This time, unlike our last few lessons, he bothered himself to speak to me.

"Today, you will be doing your first bit of firebending. And consequently, all your independent practice must stop." I wanted to rebel, to say no. To refuse. But Grandfather trusted him. Even beyond that, he was one of the Top 5 most powerful firebenders in the verse. I would trust his instruction.

"Yes, Master," I said through gritted teeth, and he nodded like my acquiescence was little more than a formality before producing a leaf from the pocket of his robes. He was fond of wearing them, and today’s was a splendid shade of purple that caught the eye.

He passed the leaf to me before opening his eyes and showing me another leaf. He set the middle of it on fire, but the fire remained where it was. It neither died out, nor did it progress any further. It remained right where it was at all times.

"Before you learn to burn, you must first of all learn how not to burn. We spent the last month meditating to purge your flames of the negative emotions you’d tainted them with. Flames powered by hatred would burn through this leaf in a second, impossible to control as they are. Now, you must be able to hold this leaf like this, neither consuming the leaf nor killing the flame, for an hour before we move on from this challenge to the next one.

I held the leaf in my hand and tapped the center with a finger from my other hand and tried my best to will the flame not to spread. When it ignored me, I panicked and snuffed it out before it could take the entire leaf. Jeong-Jeong just handed me another leaf with a sigh. When I ruined even that one, he just pointed me at a small tree growing in the garden before standing up.

"You will practice that day and night, every day. You must succeed in a month for me to continue to tutor you. Any longer, and I will decide my time is being wasted here and move on to other endeavors.

XXXXX

It took me a week to learn how to stop the spread. And it took another week after that for me to be able to hold it for the hour that Jeong-Jeong required. So two weeks in total. Far shorter than the deadline Jeong-Jeong had given, and so short that he’d actually been struck dumb by my success when I told him about it during our lesson.

I stared at the white-haired man, waiting for him to return to reality before he spoke out, "Show me." I smiled and took out a leaf from one pocket while flipping the hourglass a servant had helpfully procured for this lesson. We both watched the fire remain still, unmoving, but very much alive for the entire hour that the sand in the glass dropped for.

"Excellent," He breathed out as I killed the flame, leaving the leaf mostly intact.

"Well done, we will move to our next lesson now." He said, killing the excitement and shock that had been on his face.

He reached into his pocket in agonizing slow motion and pulled out a leaf(?). "Oh. Just joking," He said, setting the leaf on fire and getting to his feet before stretching. "Just come at me. We’ll fight till your bending gets better," He said, stepping backwards to lean out of the way of the kick I sent flying at his head.

"You’re quick," He said, leaning backwards again to avoid another kick I sent. I was using a firebending style I’d picked up in the library. This one reminded me of Capoeira in how it mixed a bunch of movements that honestly looked like dancing. It wasn’t a complete 1 to 1 recreation of the Afro-Brazilian martial art, but it still replicated a lot of the dancing and spiritual elements. The dancing was what drew my eye to it. I’d done some (a lot) of dancing along with gymnastics in my first life to improve my flexibility and a way to cool down from my exercising.

He moved closer and sent a blast of fire at my head that I bent away from before sweeping at his legs, forcing him to jump and dodge the attack. In the air, I rapidly fired multiple blasts of fire at his airborne form and he was forced to spin his hands in a circle to form a shield that absorbed all the blasts. I was sweating already

. I felt for my chi, pulling on my inner flame and sending a blast at his head as he landed. He dodged out of the way, and I was sent flying from the impact of one of his fists flying. He rolled on the floor before jumping to my feet and sending another blast at him.

"Your flames are wasteful. You fight like a bender with much more power than you actually have." He said before bowing, signaling that the fight was over and also happening to dodge the very last blast that I sent his way. I returned the bow, even though part of me wanted to continue the fight to the end.

He flopped down in the lotus position, and I just laid on the floor. "Your flames lack passion. You pull on only the power within yourself. I didn’t test it with my skin on the line—ladies across the fire nation would weep if you dared harm this sexy visage—but I’d bet a good sum that your flames would fail to burn any firebender with even middling skill in the art." He said, pinning me to the ground with a severe look on his face.

"You’re the one who told me to remove the passion," I said, affronted at his words.

"What? When did I say that?"

"Literally our first lesson."

"Is your hearing deficient, brat? I told you to get rid of the hatred, not the passion. How will you bend without passion?" He stared at me like I was an extraordinarily obtuse rabbit he’d found in the forest.

The "fuck yous" were barely able to be kept from flowing out of my mouth and into the world.

"Passion need not be hatred. I find that the best bending comes from a desire to protect. When I fight on the front lines, my flames burn with the need to keep the war from reaching our borders. To spread the civilization of the fire nation across the kingdoms. When you find a reason to close your fists, then your flames will burn like never before," he said with a naked enthusiasm that I’d never have expected from the man. It reminded me of the Reddit post I’d seen in my previous life that basically stated that all the best benders were cracked in the head.

I nodded my head at him, acting like what he said made perfect sense, and waited for him to leave before staring at my hands in confusion. Reason to clench my fist? Desire to protect?

What did I desire to protect in this world? Myself? My life? That was profoundly selfish. Nothing like what the Admiral had just finished describing. Would the desire to protect my life over and above all give me the pure powerful flames he spoke about? Probably not. But I couldn’t adopt his reasoning either. For one, I knew the war was bullshit. The fire nation might have been willing to feed its citizens with pure bull for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, but I, for one, would not be eating it.

If I couldn’t believe in the fire nation, then what did I have to protect? Coughing from the balcony above drew my attention to my grandfather. I looked at the old man, and he just smiled down at me. "Don’t let me keep you from your meditation, Natsu," He said before taking another sip of the bitter tea that had prompted the cough. One of his friends was getting into the tea business and had provided samples for him to taste and give feedback on. From what I could tell, each brew was actually worse than the last. I definitely wasn’t jealous of him. I’d hate having to deliver that kind of bad news to a close friend. Shit like that could get messy, but lying could end up even worse.

I returned to searching for what I wanted to protect only for more coughs to distract me again. Grandfather, I thought with a sigh. No. Grandfather!!!!!!! Now, the thought came with amazement as I almost facepalmed.

The only one I cared about in this world. The only one that had ever shown me what it was like to have an actually supportive parent. Grandfather. I’d protect that man with all I had. Would I lay down my life for him? I don’t know. But I’d definitely take another’s for his. I’d destroy half of this world for him. I just knew it. That had to be enough.

I focused on Grandfather’s face and punched out.

Needless to say, we lost a very expensive tree, and I lost my firebending privileges for a week.

A/N: I was actually supposed to update this yesterday instead of Gamer of the Desert, but I got the schedules mixed up in my head, so here we are. Please accept my apologies.