Fire.
It burns, exerting off a heat that gives a tingling sensation to the body as it warms. It glows brightly like the sun, giving light to those who desire it. It is a necessity, an element that is absolutely needed in order to survive. Without it, the cold, darkness would take over, creating a world of endless suffering.
And yet, even with its usefulness, it is the most feared element because of its huge part in the Hundred Year War. When the Fire nation used their bending to conquer other nations, expand their territory, and end the lives of those who opposed them, not only did they spark a fear for their nation, they sparked a fear for fire as
a whole.
If there was an element that was so misunderstood and misused, it would be fire.
And if there was a person in the world that was very similar, that would be the element in human form, it would be Shi-Hua.
* * *
She had the ability to bend.
Fire surrounded Shi-Hua as she spun around in circles and bent in ways that most people would find painful by just witnessing them. It escaped her hands and feet with every kick of her legs and swing of her arms. She bent it all around her, twirling and flipping in the process. It kept her body warm by flowing all around her and shifting in the air by her command. Sweat beaded up from her pale skin and dripped onto the wooden floor with every move she made. And with each minute that passed as she moved in such gracefulness, she loved the feeling more and more.
This was one of the things that made her stand out of her family. Other than the fact that she was obviously adopted, firebending made it even clearer that she was different. Her adoptive parents weren’t born with such the ability nor did they come from the country that it originated. In fact, they both originally came from the Earth Kingdom of Omashu. With the help of her element Shi-Hua at least found out that she came from somewhere in the Fire Nation and it was the only part of her that brought her closer to who she really was.
She trained with it as much as she could and worked on combining her flexibility with her limited bending skills. Every few months, for three hours in one day, she has tried her best to sync the two up, and now it was starting to become second nature.
Landing her last flaming flip, she stopped. The fire quickly dispersed away and evaporated into the air. Her three hours were up and she was exhausted from all the actions she had done. Though she mostly felt the fatigue, she could still feel the progress she had just made.
During her rest, she began to aimlessly look around the large room. She stood there in her sweaty red t-shirt and black shorts, gently pulling at her hair that was tied up into a ponytail. Her eyes shifted over the yellow painted walls, quickly read the semi-large motivational poster her father hung up that read, ‘I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.’, and glanced over the open closet filled with staffs and other weapons. But when her eyes came to the olive green, headless, armless, and legless practice dummy that was planted into the floor by a metal rod, her attention was locked onto it.
Her eyes were glued to the object as she tried to slow her breathing. She thought of all the times she used it as a kid when her parents taught her how to fight, but before she could fully reminisce through one full memory, she saw a quick flash of light, and suddenly, she wasn’t in her home anymore.
There were 10, maybe 15, people wearing black masks in front of her, fighting against each other in another practice room similar to the one she was currently in. They were training and helping each other out when water suddenly stormed in from the small high windows. It swallowed a few people and encased them in ice. Then, there was a large crashing sound as what looked like officers charged into the room, capturing the rest except for one.
And that’s where it ended.
Shi-Hua was back in her own home, still staring at the practice dummy. A raid…? she thought, questionably. But before she could analyze, someone decided to make it apparent that they were watching.
“Who would’ve known you had that in you,” a female voice coming from the window to her left interrupted her train of thought.
They startled Shi enough to make her jolt sideways, let out a short scream, and lose her balance. She managed to take a few steps backwards before tripping over her own foot and fall onto her back.
While she grumbled in both pain and irritation, the intruder, on the other hand, couldn’t help but laugh uncontrollably at her clumsiness.
Shi-Hua roughly pushed herself back on her feet and walked towards her new friend who was wiping tears from her eyes. “Korra, how are you…?” She failed to finish her sentence as she looked down the window and saw the Avatar standing on a stony pillar. “Earthbending…of course,” she concluded, moving out of the way so the girl could get in.
“Sorry,” Korra apologized, a smile plastered on her face. “I thought you weren’t home at first, but then I saw flickering from this window and I got a little curious,” she explained quickly, sliding into the room. “But now that I saw what I did, I’m kind of glad it got the best of me.”
Shi groaned. “Dammit,” she cursed, gazing out into the redden sky. “I thought the sunset would’ve hidden that.”
“Well, this window is in the shadow of the building across the street,” she stated matter-of-factly.
A groan escaped her mouth once again as she slammed the window and the blinds shut.
“So, you’re a firebender?” Korra asked the obvious. She walked to the center of the room and stood there, taking in every detail of the room. “Wow… I never would have guessed.”
“I don’t exactly go around, showing it off to people…” Shi explained, “Especially when I don’t really know how to use it.”
“What do you mean?” Korra turned around to meet her eyes.
“My parents are nonbenders.” She shrugged it off as no big deal. “You can’t exactly learn from them. But ever since I met Mako, he’s been teaching me from time to time. Even so, I’ve only got down the basics.”
“You’re performing the basics in a pretty way…” Korra smirked slyly. “That was some nice dancing.”
Shi-Hua only rolled her eyes at her. “What are you doing here?” she questioned with a sigh, changing the subject to prevent further embarrassment. She could already feel her face becoming red. “And why are you all dressed up?”
The Avatar glanced down at her long, navy blue, water tribe dress as if she had forgotten what she was wearing at the moment. “Oh yeah,” she began before lifting her head back up. “I wanted to invite you to this gala that’s being thrown in honor of me.”
“A gala?” she catechized as she walked over to the spot where she placed her glass of water and towel. “That’s…a little much.” She picked up her glass and took a drink before continuing. “But I guess it’s appropriate. You are the Avatar,” she said, keeping her back faced towards the girl.
“Yeah, I suppose,” Korra admitted.
“Who is throwing you this extravagant get-together?” she wondered.
“Councilman Tarrlok…” Shi-Hua nodded, patting her forehead with her towel. “It’s probably just some way to get me onto his task force,” Korra inferred.
She turned her head to the side, continuing to wipe her body from sweat. “You don’t want to be part of it?” she asked surprised.
“Not really.” From the corner of her eye, she saw Korra have an unpleasant look on her face. “I have other things to take care of.”
“Like learning to airbend?” she assumed.
“Exactly,” Korra agreed.
After feeling she was a bit drier, Shi-Hua turned towards the girl, crossed her arms over her chest, leaned against the wall, and instituted the most obvious question. “If you know it’s a setup, why are you going?”
Korra blinked a few times to take in her question. But it didn’t take her very long to give an answer. “Like I said, it’s in honor of me and if I don’t show up that’d look pretty bad on my part.”
“Good point.” She shrugged. “So…why are you inviting me?”
“I thought you might want to attend since, we’re sort of friends now,” Korra responded. “And I thought you’d have some fun,” she quickly added.
“Fun? At a gala?” She laughed. “I haven’t been to one, but I can already tell it’s going to be boring.”
The young Avatar gave her a sour look.
Shi raised her hands up as a signal for the girl to hear her out. “Believe me when I say I would love to go for you, but for fun? I don’t think so. It’ll be all fancy and elegant, and it’s practically just people having conversations for hours about dull business, you, and of course, Amon.” At the last topic she mentioned, she noticed Korra gain a slightly frightened expression on her face. “Whoa, hey, are you alright.” She walked closer to her.
After a quick second of silence, she shook her head and grinned. “Yeah,” she replied. “I’m fine, so, um, I take it you won’t be attending.”
“Sorry, but no,” she denied the request. “The whole thing isn’t something I can picture myself going to. I mean, a highly unsocial girl going to a social event doesn’t make much sense.”
“You can be social with me,” she persuaded.
“But what happens when a sophisticated citizen or Tarrlok pulls you away from me?” she thought up a random but realistic situation. “What am I supposed to do then?”
“Talk to another person?” she gave her another option.
Shi’s face practically dropped to the floor. “You honestly don’t understand what ‘unsocial’ means do you?”
“Oh, I do, but I don’t believe you are.” Korra stated which made the girl’s eyebrow rise. “You’re capable of holding a good conversation. You’ve done it with Mako, Bolin, and recently, me.”
“That’s different. I trust you guys.” She defended her reasons for being uncommunicative. “Besides, what makes you think they’d even want to speak with me?”
“Why wouldn’t they?” The Avatar was curious.
She simply shrugged her shoulders. “A lot of the citizens don’t want to say more than just ‘hello’,” she began. “I’m seen as the most unsocial, shy girl in this city and when you’re like that, people don’t want to waste their breath on attempting to have a conversation. They’ll mutter out a word or two to be polite, but after that they let me go. This is a busy place where everyone has to be everywhere. Why bother wasting time and your breath trying to talk someone like me?”
Korra frowned at her explanation. But it wasn’t a reaction to her words. It was a reaction to the fact that Shi-Hua didn’t seem hurt by any part of it even though she was involved. “Why do I get the feeling that something has to change?” The frown disappeared from her face while her mouth replaced it with a straight line. “Oh… because something does!” she answered herself, lunging forward so her face was a mere few inches from the other girl’s.
“What do you mean?” Shi looked down at her confused.
“You’re not just an unsocial shy girl. Hell, in my opinion you’re neither of those.” Korra exclaimed in her face.
“There’s so much more to you and you know that! So, why don’t you let other people know?”
Shi-Hua felt a wave of an emotion flow through her that began to really irritate her. “Did you forget the conversation we had a few days ago? I basically told you that I am unsocial and I don’t talk to people because I don’t want to get too close to the wrong crowd.”
“No, I remember,” Korra reassured. “But, there is a difference between letting people in, and letting people know you,” she wisely stated. “Just because they know who you really are, doesn’t mean you’re obligated to let them into your life.”
Shi processed her words and an image of her true self flashed in her mind. Immediately, she thought of the whole thing as a bad idea. “If they knew who I really was, the treatment I would get, would probably be unbearable.”
Korra took in a deep breath before responding. “Look, I know you’ve got the whole onion and layers thing going on and I get that you don’t like talking to people because you’re afraid,” she sounded sincere, “but not everyone is going to do what you imagine they will. Having a simple conversation isn’t going to hurt you or anybody. Now, I’m not forcing you to do it, and I’m not making you open up. I’m simply saying that you can open up a little without any conflict. Just because they know who you really are, doesn’t mean you’re obligated to let them into your life.” She repeated the most important phrase to make sure it would stick with Shi-Hua.
“But I don’t trust-“
“You don’t have to trust them either,” she interrupted. “It’s not like you’ll be sharing top secret information. The most you’ll talk about is the things you mentioned before. Trust me when I say, it’ll be easier to make true friends this way than what you’ve been doing. So come with me to the gala and start to open up a little.”
Shi sighed and shook her head. But before she could give her final answer, the phone in the corner of the other side of the room rang.
“Hold on a second…” Shi muttered and walked away. Korra watched her every step. “Hello?” she spoke into the transmitter. As soon as she heard the voice in her ear, she knew exactly who it was and a bit of a shock ran through her. “Oh…hi…” she tried to sound as normal as possible and muffle the other person’s voice, even though from Korra’s viewpoint, only the girl’s voice could be heard.
The conversation on the phone was quick. With a few hums to confirm and an ‘okay’ to end it, Shi hung up the phone and turned her attention back to Korra, only to end the conversation with her as well.
“I’m going to have to try ‘opening up’ some other time,” she spoke softly.
“You’re not going to come along?” Her arms crossed over her chest.
“It’s not because I’m afraid to, don’t worry,” Shi told her. “That was… my dad on the phone. He wants me to do inventory because he wants to make sure the numbers are correct. Apparently, my mom or the other people have the wrong ones.”
Korra sighed in defeat. “Well in that case, you probably should stay home,” she agreed. “But I will get you to open up some way or another,” she playfully threatened.
“To make it easier, I’ll at least try to do it on my own.”
“Good, I’ll give you the first step,” she said. “Learn to let people know things about you that you aren’t afraid to express. Start off easy and the rest will just flow with it.” Shi gave her a swift nod to show her understanding.
“I better get going,” she informed. “The party should be starting soon.”
“Are you leaving the way you came?” she joked, pointing towards the window. “Otherwise, you’re welcome to use the front door.”
Korra let out a little laugh. “Yeah, I think I’ll go with the second choice.”
Shi-Hua gestured towards the door and allowed her friend to head out first. They walked down her long, dimly-lit, green painted, hallway. Korra skimmed her eyes over the few framed pictures of Shi and her parents until they came to the stairs at the right end.
“That was your mom and dad?” Korra began to make conversation again. “I mean adoptive mom and dad?” she corrected herself quickly, remembering Shi tell her that.
Shi looked down the hallway at the pictures before answering. “Yes,” she replied quietly behind her.
“Where are they exactly?” she asked. “You never told me.”
“They’re travelling around to the seaports of each nation to get more produce for the shop,” the girl explained as they got to the bottom of the stairs and turned to go down another. “They’re usually gone for a month or so.”
They began walking side by side down the steps. Korra found herself wondering more about the girl’s life.
“You’re just left here alone for that time?” She picked up a hint of sympathy in her voice.
“They used to take me with them when I was little. But now that I’m old enough, they have me take care of the shop. We were robbed badly a few years ago when we were all gone. That’s why my parents taught me how to chi-block… the robbers were the Triple Threat Triad,” she quickly mentioned.
Korra scoffed at the gang’s name recalling the time she beat them to a pulp when she first arrived in Republic City. But then she remembered that night during the Revelation. “I wouldn’t worry about them anymore,” she told her friend. “Amon took their bending away.”
“I know.” Shi sniffled. “Too bad they’re not the only gang around this city.”
A moment of silence filled the air. Only the sound of Korra’s shoes and Shi-Hua’s feet walking down the steps were heard.
“What are their names?” Korra broke the short silence by asking a question.
“My mother’s name is Nami, and my father’s name is Taru,” the girl willingly replied.
“How often do they go on the trip?” she asked another question.
“About every three or four months,” she told her with a shrug. “It depends on sales and crap like that.”
“You don’t sound so enlightened about your families’ store,” she indicated.
Shi unaffectedly grumbled an agreement and dropped the subject.
The two continued down the rest of the flights of stairs without uttering anymore words, and as they made it into the store part of her home, Shi-Hua politely walked to the door and opened it for Korra.
“Have fun at your gala,” she wished her as she leaned against wooden door.
“Thanks, I’ll try,” the Avatar sarcastically responded. “I still wish you were coming.”
Shi smirked. “If my dad didn’t call at that precise moment, I probably would be.”
“Lucky you…” Korra mumbled. “But I swear if there’s another big event that I have to attend, I’m dragging your ass with me. I really do believe you need to open up.”
“Yeah, yeah…” Shi sassily flicked her wrist a few times and rolled her eyes. “I’ll get to it, when I get to it, okay?”
Korra gave her an annoyed look. “That layer of yours is going to piss me off in the future,” she alerted, with a death glare for emphasis.
Shi pursed her lips. “Warning taken into account,” she let her know. “And if there is another event, I’ll try my best to be there.”
Korra gave her a smile. “I’ll hold you too it. See you later, Shi.”
“Bye.”
With that, Korra hopped onto Naga who had been waiting outside her house since from the beginning of their conversations, and left the girl home alone to go to her gala.
As Shi-Hua walked back upstairs she felt something strange within her. It was warm and it tingled a little in the pit of her stomach. It confused her slightly and made her curious as to what it was, but she had to admit she kind of liked the feeling.
Little did Shi know, it was actually the product of an internal flame that had just sparked, and it would eventually burn away her old self.
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Chapter notes: A/N: Um... oops? It's been a while, huh? So much for finishing this story before summer ended. Sorry readers, Junior year and cheerleading have really been taking up most of my time. Along with the fact that the show hasn't been playing on Nick ever since the season ended caused me to lose interest for a bit. But, here's an update! Side note: This chapter takes place the night of chapter 4 (when she was by the bay, not the flashback). Hope you like it!
Shout Outs to:
*silverwolf1213 and
*DropDeadThenDance for reviewing the last chapter.
Chapter end notes: A/N: Hopefully you picked up some of the interesting things I was putting down that will lead up to bigger events in future chapters. By the way the saying on the motivational poster is actually an ancient Chinese Proverb I got from my Physics Class. :) Thanks for reading! Hopefully I'll update sometime soon but unfortunately, I can't promise. See ya!