The Meeting

Kano felt the water move around him as he shifted his weight through the forms of the Aowaka Style. The stream of liquid swam through the air, encircling him and moving up and down. Experiencing these kata was the most peaceful feeling he knew. It was the breath of his life, the most natural feeling he knew. Sleeping wasn't this peaceful for him.

"Oi!" called a voice in the distance. He could tell it wasn't directed at him, but it still drew his attention. "You can't come in here! Only Master Tako can permit entrance."

Kano's eyes opened. He bent the water back into it's pool at the center of the room and looked around. He could see Tonu blocking someone in the entrance. He couldn't get a good look at them from where he stood, but he was the senior student. When his father wasn't there, it was his duty to deal with visitors. He picked up the towel laying on the chair next to him and dried his arms and face. There was no point in taking the time to bend all the moisture out of his clothes. He was going to be back to his practice in a few minutes anyway and he'd be wet again. Dropping the towel on the chair once more, he walked the length of the training hall.

"Hey, Tonu," he said once he was close enough to speak in a civilized tone. "Who is it?"

"Then tell me child, where is this Master Tako? I'd like to see him try to stop his Avatar..."

Kano placed a hand on Tonu's shoulder and pushed him aside gently. The junior student stepped out of the way without argument. Kano could see it in his face -- he was terrified that he might have angered the Avatar. His gratitude for being relieved by Kano was written all over his face. Kano nodded reassuringly as he stepped back. He then turned his gaze on their visitor.

"Master Tako is not here right now." he said, bowing politely to the woman standing on the threshold of their school. When he straightened up, he was wearing a pleasant sort of smile on his face. "I am Kanoei, Son of Master Tako. People call me Kano. How may we be of assistance to the Avatar?"

"This is the Aowaka School of Waterbending." Kano explained, turning and offering the woman entrance into the training hall. Tonu looked around wildly for a second before darting through one of the hall's side doors into the barracks, leaving Kano alone with the visitor. Kano didn't mind, however. He just carried on with his explanation. "Master Tako is the man who acts as chief instructor of the school. He is the current Grandmaster of the style. He is currently in an audience with the chief of the tribe and Advisor Hakano."

He walked back to the center of the hall, bending the moisture from his clothes lazily and depositing the water in the Wolf Fountain, the pool used as a water source for bending practice. It seemed he wouldn't be getting back to his forms for awhile and it wasn't good to walk around in wet clothing in the north, even indoors. He bent the wet towel off it's stool and folded it, laying it on the floor before seating himself and calling another seat over. Most of the furniture in the training hall had small capsules of water somewhere within them, allowing them to be moved with bending.

"Please." he said, indicating the seat. "Have a seat."

"Waiting for someone?" Kano chuckled. "No. I just thought you might like to have a seat while you ask your questions. As for what's done here... Waterbending, of course. This is a school which teaches a powerful style of waterbending, though like all bending, it's only as good as the individual who uses it."

He looked over at the fountain, at the water streaming from the icy statue of the waterbending wolf, age-old symbol of the style.

"This hall is a place of learning. It was built by my grandfather, though the Aowaka Style has been used in my family for many, many years. It's only recently that we have started teaching it to others."

"The water isn't going anywhere." Kano said with a smile. "As for Tonu... Nothing ever interrupts him, mostly because he's never doing anything but spreading gossip. It's kind of his thing. As a matter of fact..."

He peered around at the doors into the barracks, the side building where the bedrooms were. Many of the students of the school lived in those rooms. Sure enough, there were more than a few curious eyes peeking into the practice hall. Kano shook his head.

"We have an audience." he said. Typical. Tonu ran off to get everyone together to spy on their conversation. Kano had an idea. "You know... an audience isn't much without a show. Care to give them one?"

Kano watched the demonstration along with this others. He remained in his seat, his arms folded. It was interesting to be sure. He had seen many of the techniques she was using in scrolls or books, but not many air, earth, or firebenders made their way this far north.

As she concluded her display, the whispers being exchanged between them became audible. The grumbling of earth, the howling of air, and the roar of fire had masked it up until then. As the whispers continued, Kano stood and clapped, casting a sharp glance at his fellow students to do the same. Avatar or no, a demonstration from a master deserved more respect than whispers afforded. Slowly, they joined in. The applause was short-lived.

"Most impressive, Avatar." Kano said once the clapping stopped. He stepped forward. "It may be presumptuous of me, but I wonder if you would do me the honor of a friendly sparring match? It isn't often I have the opportunity to face benders from the other elements."

Kano smiled.

"Who am I to restrict the Avatar?" he said, bending the chairs and towel into the corner. "Use all four."

Tonu and the other students didn't bother hiding anymore. The came out into the training hall. They at least had the good sense to bend a wall of clear ice between themselves and Kano and the Avatar to keep from becoming collateral damage. Kano, however, wasn't paying attention to them. If they wanted to come out into the line of fire, that was their business.

He walked out and squared up on the Avatar, assuming the opening stance of the Aowaka Style. He couldn't help but have a smile on his face. How many people got to spar with the Avatar?

Kano smiled broadly. That was what he liked to hear. If he wanted easy, he'd have stayed in bed that morning. They stood there, facing each other for a moment in silence, and then...

Kano stamped his right foot on the ground, bringing a massive ball of ice up from the floor behind him. It wasn't, strictly speaking, a technique of the Aowaka Style. He'd developed it years ago by studying an earthbending scroll. The trick was modifying the movement of the ankle to provide the fluidity that waterbending demanded. With the ice chunk at his command, he sent it flying at the Avatar.

He was starting off slow. He didn't dare to believe that she was an easy opponent, but he wanted to see just what she was made of. She wouldn't be the first bender he'd seen who was all the rage when it came to demonstration but pathetic in practice. The Ice Boulder always showed them for what they were.

Kano dove at the ground as if into a pool, liquefying the ice as he went. The stone projectiles passed over harmlessly. As soon as they did, he rocketed himself upward through the floor, freezing the tunnel he had formed as soon as he emerged, landing on the newly refrozen ice.

He found it interesting that she did not use her native element to deal with the ice boulder. She could have easily liquefied it and sent it back at him. Instead, she called upon earth to do the job.

Blunt force. he thought. Interesting.

He wasted no time in summoning another attack. He brought a surge of water out of the Wolf's Fountain, solidifying it in two barriers of ice, one on either side of him. He shattered the ice into many tiny razors and sent them at her. This was another earthbending trick, modified for waterbending. The Thousand Needles. She'd dealt with one giant projectile with ease. He wanted to see how she'd handle hundreds of tiny ones.

"That's more like it!" Kano smiled, springing into action as the wall approached him. He formed a huge ice spike and sent it at the approaching wall like a gigantic bullet. He then bent the ice beneath him to throw him skyward, launching him over the wall as it approached.

There wasn't much room between the top of the wall and the ceiling, but he managed to squeeze through with little more than a scraped chest. Below him, he heard his projectile of ice blast through the barrier. He even got to watch it emerge from the stone backing the ice wall and fly at the Avatar with force. As he fell, he raised an ice pillar to land on, taking note of the watery, earth-filled whirlwind flying toward him. It completely obliterated his ice spike, barely dispersed by the projectile.

The whirlwind blasted toward him, ripping up the floor as it went. He raised a shield of water to protect himself, but it barely held out. His pillar of ice was shattered instantly, blasted out from under him. He fell to the floor roughly, struggling to push himself up.

So this is the power of the Avatar... he thought. He had been too slow about it. He wasn't ready to send another attack her way...

Basic training in the Aowaka Style gave four pieces of wisdom for dealing with the elements -- Water is to be bent, Air, to be blocked, Earth, to be cut, Fire, to be quenched. Kano had no time to think but to his most basic training. He brought a thin veil of water up from the ground, drowning the fire in midair before clapping his hands together and thrusting them into the water, splitting it around him.

Before the water even touched the ground, he threw his arms out, forming great fluid motions with them. He brought the water she had bent at him around and shot it back at her in a powerful beam before driving his foot sideways into the ground, sending a sharp, icy razor across the ground toward her, one large enough that it almost dwarfed her.

Three elements! Now things were getting interesting. Kano, however, didn't have time to appreciate it. He had to move, and quickly. He darted to one side and brought up a thick shield of ice next to him, ready to defend against the barrage of elements fired at him. A moment later, he was glad he did. The three elements exploded upon hitting the ground, sending projectiles everywhere. It was incredible.

Kano looked up at the Avatar. She soared overhead like a goddess of power. There was only one option left. With all his remaining strength, he drew a massive amount of water out of the fountain, encasing himself in a huge sphere of ice. It was no easy task. With his shield in place, he sank into the floor...

I'm not gunna make it that easy! Kano thought as pillars of ice and stone began rocketing up through the water. He kicked his legs hard and propelled himself forward with the speed of a torpedo, using bending to push himself forward at incredible speed. She got close, but not close enough.

After a few seconds' propulsion through water and ice, he rocketed out of the staircase leading up to the school and landed on the street many feet below, sliding to a stop, facing the doorway into the training hall high above. Any moment, she'd come looking for him.

"Hey, is that Kano?" said a voice, making him look around.

"Yeah, what's he doing?"

The muttering continued, but he didn't pay much attention. Everybody in this district of the city was a bender. They didn't need his protection from collateral damage.