Elements (Accepting!!)

"So am I.", Kurai grinned.

Akena: "OH NO! CHILD WHO IS ACTING LIKE A... a... a... PERSON WHO'S NOT A CHILD!"

"Adult?", Kurai chuckled, "I'm just bored."

Darn roots keep on making me trip. I grumbled in my mind as I narrowly missed tripping over yet another root that was jutting out of the ground. I was walking through the woods, tired after a day's march. I needed more water in my water skin, so I was locating a source of water. I had sensed the large falls of water from far away, and I was heading towards it right now. From my advancement, I could have just taken the water out of the life around me, the plants, the trees, and the ground, leaving it dry. But I didn't want to. The forest was so pretty right now, and it would be a shame to kill all the life that was growing so frequently. Plus, I needed a nice large body of water to practice with, train near, and to sleep. It was hard to keep going. I yawned and rubbed my tired eyes, and tried to keep on going. I thought that it would be there soon. I was right. The ground started to get squishy, and marshy with water that had been coming from the large body of water. I took off my traveling boots and let my feet sink into the cold, squishy moss, happy for it's ability to soothe the ache in my feet from walking so long.

Finding that I was starting to smile, I quickened my pace, eager to get to wide water again. I soon walked out of the forest and onto the small grassy-sandy beach of the lake. A large waterfall boomed to my right, foam and froth bubbling around it. I laughed and placed my stuff where I could get them, making sure I could see it easily, and changed into my water clothes. Then, I dove straight into the water, totally, undeniably happy. I resurfaced and shook my head, small water droplets spraying everywhere. It was at times like this, when I wished that I was just a straight waterbender. No firebending. Yet, I had as much firebending power as a normal firebender, added with waterbending. I was more powerful with waterbending, but I was still learning firebending. Waist-deep in water, I held my hands in front of me and then pulled them up, holding them in a stance. With my movement, a ball of water flew up from the water, floating in front of me. I was proud to be a waterbender, even if I had some firebending blood inside me.

Suddenly, I pulled up my hands up and over my head, and then behind me, and back to where they were. The water responded and shot over my head, creating a water shield. Then, swirling the water, I split the dome and created an octopus around me, flicking my hands, arms, and fingers back and forth, each of the tentacles responding to my very move. After a while of this, I finally let the water drop back into the water. I jumped out of the water to fill my sealskin sack with the pure water, easing the water into the sack. Then, I sat down near the shore, playing with a small bit of water in my hand. I twisted it around me with ease. As much as I knew I should, I didn't want to practice Firebending. It had always scared me when I was little, and I never really liked fire. Too bad it turned out I was half firebender. I frowned and rubbed my eyes, sitting back to lie down on the soft moss. It had been only a year or so when the war was won and all the Nations were put to peace once again. It was good, but there wasn't anything to do nowadays. If I stole food from a firebending market, the person only shouted warnings, rather than cursing after me and throwing fire bolts at my back. It wasn't fun. But still, it was good that there wasn't a war. No threat to be constantly captured and used against villages to warn them that they had to surrender. No more living in terror. Which also includes, no reason to use my powers. But still, I trained and trained. I had the gift of healing. With water, I could heal people's wounds.

Finally, after thinking for a while, I gave up with procrastinating and held out my hand, concentrating, closing my eyes. The drop of water I was playing with, immediately fell to the ground and sunk into the soil. I breathed in and out, focusing on my breath. And after some concentration, I felt a warmth in my hand, not directly on it, but floating above. I opened my eyes and stared at the licking flame in my hand. I stared at it for a moment, unsure if I wanted to train. Last time I had tried to train, I had ended up with multiple burns that I treated quickly after with water. I sighed and held the flame up, standing up. I never knew if there were others like me. My family didn't even know. Or at least, what was left of my family. That's why I spent so much time away from my home, in case they found out and got angry. I held the flame arms-length apart from me, and let my mind go out to it, spinning around in a full circle. I stopped when I completed the round, and stared at the flame. I spun again then, and again, and again. Finally, a constant ring of fire was spinning around me. I walked into the water, the ring still around me. I focused my energy, and then shot my hands outwards. The ring fell apart into fireballs, shooting across the area. The sound of it hitting the rock wall of the waterfall was deafening. I looked up at the scorch marks in the wall of the rock, and frowned. I never liked practicing with fire. I was good enough with water, so why did I have to do fire? But I knew that it would become useful some day, so I sometimes practiced.

I stood there in the water, staring at the liquid, and finally, collapsed. As I went under, I quickly formed an air bubble around my mouth for me to breathe. And then, I opened my eyes. I had gotten used to seeing under water. My eyes had adapted, and I saw underwater, as clearly as I did above, maybe even clearer. I wasn't a fish, because I didn't have gills or could breathe under water, but it was fun anyways. I swam down to the waterfall, took a deep breath, and swam under it, completely clear of the thundering water. I reappeared on the other side, behind the waterfall. I blinked and smiled slightly. Letting myself sink, I lowered myself into the water until my mouth was under water, and I was breathing only through my nose. I was about to start to practice again, when I heard a noise. I frowned and looked from around the waterfall, and there on the bank, were 5 renegade firebenders, staring straight at me.

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