//018// (Action Post)

[banished_prince]

Zuko was at a field near the river and the forest's limit; fiercely throwing kicks and punches to the air, the flow between them now seem forced as the natural elegance of it had been long time lost.

And he looks exhausted, as if he had been training for hours but he stubbornly refuses to take a break. Sweat drips from his temples as he tries

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[lapis_waltz]

Out for a walk along the forest's edge - for the sake of it, perhaps, or maybe to get a better idea of what the borders of the village were like - Lenalee couldn't help but come across Zuko, sprawled out in the grass.

Of course, she didn't know it was Zuko, really. She'd never seen his older face. But something about him struck her as familiar.

"Excuse me..." she started, but couldn't think of much else to say. "...Is everything all right?"

[banished_prince]

At first Zuko didn't want to acknowledge her; he was in no mood to treat with anyone. However her tone had been familiar, enough to made himself unable to ignore.

He moved his hands away from his forehead to look at her. He knew her, but he couldn't put a finger on who exactly she was.

"No." He answered simply, putting his arms over his abdomen and looking into the sky, not bothering to move from his position.

[lapis_waltz]

"Oh...really?" She moved into his field of vision, but didn't block his view of the sky, and smiled. "I'm sorry to hear that. You...look like you're very tired."

[banished_prince]

Zuko let out a soft sound, as if to acknowledge her concern but at the same time not giving too much importance to his current state. "I'm just taking a break." He look into her eyes for a moment, blinking as realization settled on his mind. "You're Lenalee, aren't you?"

[lapis_waltz]

"Yes." She studied him, certain she knew him - she must, if he knew her - but unable to come up with a name that quite matched the face. "Hmm. I must have met you when I was younger...are you Zuko?"

[banished_prince]

"Yes we did, and that's me." He replied, offering a half smile before sighing.

[lapis_waltz]

Not wanting to invade his space or time, she did not sit down in the grass beside him. The smile faded a bit, though, to a look of mild concern. "What wore you out so much?"

[banished_prince]

"I've just... been training." He answered absentmindendly, suddenly pulling himself into a sitting position, feeling it was a bit rude to keep talking to her like that. "It's nothing, I'd be back to normal after some rest."

[lapis_waltz]

"Oh. ...If it wore you out that much, you should definitely take a break." She smiled again, this time sitting down a little way away from him; she would leave, if he asked her to. "We're all having trouble with training, too...it seems to be common here."

[banished_prince]

Zuko fell silent for a minute. "It seems so." He was fully aware of what this place did to ones powers, but that was not being his case; at least not at that specific moment.

He suddendly blinked. "You too... have powers as well?"

[lapis_waltz]

"Something like that, yes." Lenalee nodded to her legs, folded underneath her, and the tall boots that covered them. "In most cases we aren't born with them, but they're specific to each person. ...We call it Innocence."

Looking at him, she raised her eyebrows a little. "You...called your power 'fire-bending,' right? What is it?"

[banished_prince]

Zuko made a small 'hmm' noise as she explained himself. After being for almost two months in this place he had somewhat learned to be a bit more open minded to all the different people this place may suck in. All coming from different worlds.

"It's the art of controlling fire." He explained. "In my world there are people whom can control one of each of the elements: Fire, Air, Earth and Water."

[lapis_waltz]

"Making fire? ...It sounds dangerous. Does it--" Instinct stopped her, before sense told her why. Obviously it burned people - she had only to look at his face to see that. It was probably something he wouldn't want to discuss. "Ah...I mean, can everyone in your world do things like that?"

[banished_prince]

"No, not everyone." Zuko opted to respond to Lenalee's last question first. "Among the people there are benders and non-benders."

He remained silent for a moment. "And it is dangerous but, as everything, it depends how you chose to use it. Fire is alive too, it's life, not only destruction." He wasn't sure were did that come from, it was as if he just... knew it. After seeing his Uncle's fire back at the festival... it had been indeed a great secret the dragons passed onto him.

[lapis_waltz]

"The fire from the story...that was fire-bending?" Lenalee's eyes were wide at the memory of it. "It was beautiful. Your uncle must be very talented, to be able to have such power here, with as weak as we all are."

She looked at him, and at how exhausted he seemed. "Some time when you're not so tired, would you show me your fire-bending?"

[[ooc: I know it has no hyphen, but Lenalee is clueless.]]

[banished_prince]

"Yes, that was firebending." He nodded and smiled at the memory. "Yeah... he's quite a man."

Then he blinked at Lenalee's request. "Um.." He doubted for a split second but didn't show it. "Sure." He only really hoped that, when that time came, he would've already solved this 'situation'.