[Thread] By the Brook

[lady_azula]

Characters: OU!Azula, OPEN
Where: The Park, by the brook
When: After this discussion.
Summary: Azula is out to waterbend again, to put herself in a better mood.
Warnings: None yet

Comments

[everhungrysage]

Ilyana was wandering through the park, trying to finally find a place to practice her magic, when she caught sight of someone moving water around in the air. She walked closer and stood next to a tree, watching silently in completely fascination.

[lady_azula]

Azula backed away a little, and waved her hand over the water about to fall into the air. It instantly froze, and upon hitting the water, looking like sharp icicles now. Azula gave a little cry of "ha!" before sensing the presence of another. She turned, and saw a mild looking girl watching her.

"Did you need something?" Azula asked, not unkindly. Girls like her tended to calm her somehow. Something in their demeanor, she supposed.

[everhungrysage]

Ilyana couldn't hide the awe and amazement on her face. "That was... That was amazing! I've never seen anything like that before! How did you do that?" Ilyana was a mage after all, and she had an unquenchable curiosity for magic.

[lady_azula]

"Oh!" Azula had gotten so used to explaining her powers by now it was almost tedious, but it was just as rude not to answer a query. "It's bending, of course: the natural art of using the element around you. In this case, it helps me to reflect on the moon and its power over the tides: the ebb and flow, and the inner strength as a more reflective power rather than the power I am used to, which is a more fiery, aggressive power."

It was so STRANGE, talking like that. She sounded like a fire sage.

[everhungrysage]

Bending... Bending... Where had she heard that before... Oh! "I think one of my friends mentioned... earth bending was it? Is that kind of like the same thing?"

[lady_azula]

Azula did her best not to glower. The girls seemed nice enough, so she tried to ignore the fact that she called that annoying blind girl her friend. "They are similar, but different. It's like comparing a monsoon to a sweltering heat. They both can cause very real effect on the environment, but are definitely very different."

[everhungrysage]

Ilyana thought for a minute. Made sense. "My friend said that one of her roommates could earth bend, so I heard about it second hand. It sounds quite interesting. How exactly... how do you do it?"

[lady_azula]

"There isn't a real way to describe it," Azula said after a few minutes. "You start, I suppose, by thinking of the thing that epitomizes your element. It is then your job to apply that: you do it by however mean that you can. It helps to be a part of the nation, but it is more than that, Sometimes you know that you are born with the element, sometimes it just reveals itself to you."

[everhungrysage]

Ilyana nodded. It made sense. "That's a bit like my magic then. Some people have more than others, and different people are predisposed to certain types. Kind of like that, right?"

[lady_azula]

Azula out her hand to her head. God, why did people assume that just because you couldn't do the types of thing others did it was magic? Still, this girl didn't now, so Azula was not going to get that angry about it. "I suppose that would depend on how exactly you employ your magic. I have seen others use this so-called magic, but how and why they have learned these things vary. How do you come to know how to use magic?"

[everhungrysage]

Ilyana thought. "Well, we learn the text book method of how to cast spells, but it's never quite the same as that. My magic works by using an incantation to channel the magic out from inside ourselves and control it. And it's rather easy to learn the incantation but... Actually doing it is a bit different. The books are never quite right. It's a lot of practice and mistakes that really teach us how to cast our spells." Thinking of her first time casting a spell, Ilyana laughed a tiny bit. "A lot of mistakes."

[lady_azula]

Azula was thoughtful a moment. "I knew a person here who can do magic, but he was a rather bothersome person. Since meeting him, I've become convinced actual magic users cheat when they learn their craft so they can make all sorts of inconveniences for those that actually have to learn a craft by practice and hard work, not to mention completely understanding the element you represent. It's something akin to finding a self that's hidden within that you've simply never introduced yourself to."

[everhungrysage]

Ilyana smiled at that. "That may be so, but it's the challenges that you face having to learn how to do magic that make it special. Each person I know casts spells a bit differently because of that. It makes the magic and the caster unique, even if it all comes from the exact same thing." She gave a small laugh. "That's partly what I love about magic."

[lady_azula]

Azula was thoughtful a moment. "I suppose, when put that way, magic is much like bending in our own fashion. Certainly I could have simply experienced a bad turn with a person that cast their magic to their own whims. In a way, bending in our nation can be used for good or for bad. But the principals for both magic and bending seem to be the same, although I'm sure the actual discipline involved is a bit different."

[everhungrysage]

Ilyana nodded. "Sounds like it." Then she had a sudden idea. "Do you think... Would it be possible for someone outside your world to learn bending?"

[lady_azula]

Azula paused. "I'm not sure," she finally said, "It takes us years to really hone our skills to begin with, and this waterbending that you see here is actually supposed to be impossible for me were it not for an Econtra fluke. Still, I may be able to talk a little more about it."

Azula paused. "What is your name?"