one's chastity is / widely believed a virtue / not personal choice

[roc_on]

The next day there's an article in a scandal sheet insinuating that there may be something inappropriate going on between Delightful Jun and the Avatar.

Beila adopts a strategy of completely ignoring this insinuation until an interviewer asks her point blank, at which point she says, "No," and declines to elaborate further. Because there is nothing to elaborate on.

She shows up, exasperated, for her next firebending lesson.

Comments

[roc_on]

"I would be really disappointed in myself if I didn't manage that, considering that."

[thinklikethis]

"I meant it in a nice way, not so much a literal way."

[roc_on]

"I will take it as it was meant." Pause. "And tease you about the literal interpretation, as you have just seen."

[thinklikethis]

"Yes! Yes, I did just see that. That is a thing that just happened."

He hugs her.

[roc_on]

Hugs. "You are so observant."

[thinklikethis]

"Yes I am."

Observant and snuggly.

[roc_on]

Very much so.



So anyway, Beila has firebending lessons pretty regularly. She appears at her next one, humming.

[fiery_delights]

"You're cheerful today," observes Jun. "That's nice."

[roc_on]

"It's a nice day out, I have a roc, I'm the Avatar, my father gave my mother a lovely bouquet of flowers and she grinned about them all morning, it's been a nice time to be me." She cracks her knuckles.

[fiery_delights]

"I was right, that is nice. Time to make fire!"

She's been progressing pretty well in her studies, picking up more and more of the basics and putting them together with increasing complexity. Jun encourages her to take it slow and pay attention to the element, to put as much precision into her form as she can manage, and to take a break every so often and think about what she's learning.

"Your control is improving," he comments at one such interval. "Faster than I expected, with that precision issue you have. Good work."

[roc_on]

"Thanks! I have been practicing."

(She has incentives. 'Cause on the one hand she's not very patient, but on the other, hasty kink has got to be the most embarrassing way to burn down a house ever.)

[fiery_delights]

"I can tell! If you keep it up, in a few weeks I might teach you how to do wings. You'll want very good control for that, for obvious reasons, but it's not that hard if you can get the trick and there's limited potential for disaster down here even if you screw it up. Plus it'll be a good way to get further practice in keeping your air separate from your fire. Does that sound like fun?"

[roc_on]

"Wings sounds like excellent fun! I don't suppose they do anything for actual flying, of course. Cosmetic wings still sound like fun."

[fiery_delights]

"Strictly cosmetic. But if I ever invent a way to fly with firebending, you'll be the second person to know."

[roc_on]

"Nifty."

[fiery_delights]

"It would be!"

[roc_on]

"The wings will look awesome, anyway, I can already fly by other means. So I'll keep it up."

[fiery_delights]

"They will look awesome. You could even try the wings while flying - someday, not soon, and probably not with the roc. The roc might object. Not to mention any fellow passengers."

[roc_on]

"I'd want to be really sure of not setting my glider on fire, too, and not have my boyfriend with me, he'd squeak more than Liqing would if I surprised him. I can probably fly glider-free if I figure out how to activate the Avatar State, but I don't have that down at the moment."

[fiery_delights]

"That sounds to me like a great incentive to learn how to control the wings really, really well. Separately, I advise not surprising your boyfriend with fire."

[roc_on]

"Yeah, only prearranged fire with the boyfriend. I believe it was shortly after I met him that I actually, in words, promised not to lob a fireball at his head. It was my first day with waterbending, I flicked a droplet at him." Pause. "Oh, by the way, he has a crush on you and I have his permission to mention this so he doesn't have to figure out how to say something himself."

[fiery_delights]

"That's adorable," says Jun. "Does he want free tickets to a show? I bet he'd like free tickets to a show."

[roc_on]

"I'm sure he would be pleased to receive free tickets to a show, yes."

[fiery_delights]

"He can have them, then! In the meantime, back to work. I want to see how steady you can get those long fire blasts."

[roc_on]

"You got it."

She gets back to work.

And later, she presents Dao with his free ticket. "He did not laugh. He thought it was adorable."