For Zuko

[thethirdwonder]

There were a lot of things Cassie felt like she was loosing her grip of on the island. Her friends from home all seemed to have lives that didn't include her...and whatever life she had had on the island had disappeared with a lot of its residents. She had thought things would get better with Kon...but in truth it felt more like she was loosing him all over again. She'd been hearing rumors about someone named Wallace that she refused to think about. Bart was oblivious as always. Cissie was about her only life line, but Cassie didn't want to interrupt the happiness her best friend was finding with Bart with her growing melancholy.

So, Cassie felt herself spending more and more time practicing with her staff and keyblade in a small glade she'd found for privacy. Because the one thing she did have, that she always had, was Wonder Girl and no powerless island was going to change that. At the moment, she was running through the keyblade drills with Oathkeeper that Roxas and Riku had taught her before they disappeared, letting her movements clear her mind. The snow and her additional clothing from the cold made it a bit more difficult but it only helped her to settle her mind even more.

Comments

[irisewiththesun.livejournal.com]

Zuko's been practicing every day since he came to the island. He absolutely hates that he doesn't have his bending, but that's even more reason to keep up all his other skills, especially now that he has his broadswords. And he still goes through the motions with his firebending drills, doing the practice even though the fire isn't there.

He's walking along, joined blades strapped across his back, and he still can't get used to how when he blows out a breath in this cold weather it comes out as a faint cloud instead of a puff of flame. When he comes across a girl, practicing with a blade of some sort that's not like anything he's ever seen before, he stops and watches for a minute, silently assessing.

"That's pretty good," he says finally, mainly to announce his presence.

[thethirdwonder.livejournal.com]

Either she'd been too engrossed in her drills or he was good enough not to make a sound in the snow because she didn't want to admit her senses hadn't picked him up before he spoke. She paused in the middle of her drill then straightened to give him a small smile as Oathkeeper fell to her side. "Thanks. It's been a while since my teachers disappeared so those drills are all I got."

If his appearance bothered her, she didn't show it. After some of the heroes she had worked with, a scared face wasn't that shocking.

[irisewiththesun.livejournal.com]

It's funny, because it's a role he only imagined for himself recently, but Zuko's come to like being a teacher, and now that he's here without Aang he's started to miss it.

"Would you mind showing me that again?" he asks, wanting to see what she's got.

[thethirdwonder.livejournal.com]

Cassie cocked her head for a moment, as if assessing him, then nodded with a small smile. "Sure, I can do that." She took a moment to tighten one of her pig tails before getting back into a stance Riku had taught her and raised Oathkeeper up to start the drill again.

While the drill was accurate, it was clear she was still trying to call on a super strength that just wasn't there anymore.

[irisewiththesun.livejournal.com]

She has skill, that much Zuko can tell. But it seems like there's something missing, something she's trying to reach out for that she can't grab onto. He can definitely identify with that.

"Do you have any interest in finding another teacher?" he asks, figuring he'll get right to the point.

[thethirdwonder.livejournal.com]

Pausing in her drill, she looked at him for a moment, before nodding with a small eager smile. "I would love one. If your offering."

She stood up straight again, Oathkeeper again dropping to her side as she offered him her hand. "If your going to be my teacher, I guess I should know your name." She said with a cheeky grin now. "I'm Cassie."

[irisewiththesun.livejournal.com]

"I'm Zuko," he says in reply, shaking his head at her offered hand. "And this is the proper way for a student to greet and show respect to their teacher." He demonstrates, bowing from the waist with his hands together in front of him, the fist of one hand pressed into the heel of the other.

[thethirdwonder.livejournal.com]

"Oh," said Cassie, though she didn't miss a beat as she turned Oathkeeper around so she could mimic the pose, the keyblade pointing to the ground. "The Amazons, my first teachers, weren't much for ceremony." She said by way of explanation, never loosing her small smile, even as her heart ached for a moment as she thought of Diana, Donna and Artemis.

[irisewiththesun.livejournal.com]

"Different teachers have different styles," Zuko says, his way of dismissing her unintentional slip as no big deal.

"I have a feeling our styles are pretty different, given the difference in our weapons," he continues. "Why don't you tell me about what you know already, what kinds of skills you learned back home. Oh, and if you had any kind of ability back home you don't have now, tell me about that too."

[thethirdwonder.livejournal.com]

"Well," Cassie said as she moved over to the tree where her bo staff was leaning to grab it. "Back home, I didn't really use weapons. I had super strength and I could fly." Her voice got a bit wistful at the thought of flying. She missed that more then almost anything. "But the Amazons insisted on teaching me how to use a staff and a lasso, just in case my powers failed." She'd never been very good at the lasso and Diana had wanted to wait till she was a bit older before sword training, but Cassie didn't really want to mention that.

"Here I've been training in a few kinds of hand to hand, though I'm not sure what they're called. I think Tim made his up, or Batman did anyway." She said with small shrug as she returned, holding out both weapons to Zuko if he wanted to see. "And Roxas and Riku just kind of trained me enough with Oathkeeper here enough to spar with them. So...basically a mixed bit of everything."

[irisewiththesun.livejournal.com]

Zuko listens carefully to all she has to say, thinking about how he can best work with her. Her powers back home are interesting - some Firebenders, like his sister, can fly in a way by using their fire to propel them into the air. Zuko's never used that particular technique himself.

He nods. "Good. Knowing something is better than knowing nothing at all." He takes the weapon she refers to as Oathkeeper and hefts it in his hands, testing the balance. "This is an interesting blade."

[thethirdwonder.livejournal.com]

Except Cassie didn't propel herself...she just flew. It was hard to describe to anyone who couldn't fly. And it was something she missed more then anything.

"It's called a Keyblade," Cassie offered as he studied her weapon. "It's made of some sort of crystal and lighter then anything I've ever held." She said by way of explanation, since it wasn't from her world either. "I...I'm not used to fighting with weapons. I never did, until here." She admitted.

[irisewiththesun.livejournal.com]

As a Firebender, Zuko hadn't really needed to fight with weapons. But as a refugee, and as the Blue Spirit, he'd needed his skill with blades on many occasions. "Well, we can work on fighting both with and without weapons," he says, handing the Keyblade back to Cassie hilt first. "Both are good skills to have."

[thethirdwonder.livejournal.com]

"So I'm finding out...but I admit, I like working with my hands." Cassie smiled a bit as her hands went into easy fists. "You sure are keen on finding a new student. Were you a teacher back home?" She asked carefully, not wanting to offend.

[irisewiththesun.livejournal.com]

Briefly, he thinks of that kid, the one he'd met while he was a refugee. That memory is quickly shoved aside. "Sort of," Zuko says. "I just had one student. I wasn't teaching him weapons, though, I was teaching him Firebending - my ability that I don't have here. It's the ability to create and manipulate fire."

[thethirdwonder.livejournal.com]

"Oh, so you had super powers too huh?" Cassie said with a small nod, used to the teenagers with super powers thing. "And that's a pretty cool one too."

[irisewiththesun.livejournal.com]

"I guess," he says with a small but amused smile. "I never really thought of it that way. I mean, Firebending's just part of who I am, I've had it my whole life."

[thethirdwonder.livejournal.com]

"Born with it." Cassie said with a small nod. "I had to ask a god for mine. Zeus." It been both the best and most terrifying thing she'd ever done but she never regretted it. "Is a firebending a common thing where your from?"

[irisewiththesun.livejournal.com]

Zuko has no idea who this god Zeus is, but he gets the feeling he's a big deal. "Yeah, it is in the Fire Nation," he confirms. "Not everyone from the Fire Nation can bend, but a lot of us can. And there are three other nations, with people who have the ability to control that element - water, earth, and air."

[thethirdwonder.livejournal.com]

"So, a whole world of elementals. Wicked cool." Cassie said, very impressed. "So I'm guessing you don't have to do the whole secret identity thing, since your powers are pretty common?" She had to admit, she was a little jealous. The secret identity thing had always been hard for her.

[irisewiththesun.livejournal.com]

"Well, no, but I wasn't out in the open, either," Zuko replies. "I was exiled from the Fire Nation, and I'd been in hiding for a while before I came here."

[thethirdwonder.livejournal.com]

"Oh." Cassie said, considering for a moment before asking, "Can I ask what happened?"