Iroza was nervous.

He was man enough to admit it.

Not out loud.

But in the privacy of his own mind, he was slightly terrified.

"Whenever you are ready, my prince."

This wasit.

The big moment.

This was what he had been working towards for..

Oh, jeez.

Quite a while.

When had their father maimed and banished Zuko?

A year ago?

Definitely more than a year.

A year and a half, or maybe a bit more.

It was a little embarrassing that he couldnt remember.

Good thing his poker face was ace.

Ha.

Puns.

He shook his head lightly.

No time for puns, he had to focus.

Taking a deep breath, he fell into his beginning stance.

His movement was loose, as always, but for once he was taking his forms seriously.

A step forward, and he smoothly shifted his arms around him.

Then came the pul.

One more shift in his stance, one more step, then his fist flashed forward.

A spout of flame erupted from the end.

Not a lot, but just enough.

He repeated the motion with his other fist, summoning another flame.

Another breath kept either from dissipating right away.

Now came the hard part.

He slowed his pace.

It almost hurt.

But he slowed and eased up on the pull.

The energy throbbed and surged inside of him.

His fire demanded to be let loose.

It couldnt just disappear without being used, and using it would defeat the point.

He slowed and waited, falling into a stance and stopping for a bit.

The fire from his fists grew smaller.

Smaller.

His fists ached, and he bit his lip to distract himself.

Another deep breath.

He kept waiting until the fire was nearly dead.

Then he once more started to move.

Slowly.

Not even close to his initial pace.

It was as though he was trying to move through molasses.

Oh boy that was heat.

The inside of his hands writhed from the buildup of energy.

He was fine, of course.

Totally copacetic.

But it was starting to feel a bit shitty.

Just a little.

But he couldn't let it loose.

He grit his teeth.

A small tendril escaped, despite his concentration.

Shit.

He was going for precision.

Inspired by what his father was able to do.

Iroza grimaced, but still brought the image to the forefront of his mind once more.

Every detail committed to memory.

His fathers hand had been glowing bright orange with power, flames only escaping when he allowed them too.

Precision.

Intent.

Precision.

Intent.

Another breath.

Always breathe, but only with purpose.

Each breath was calculated.

No movements wasted.

All while he kept at least one of his hands as close to eye-level as he could while moving through his katas.

Close enough that he could observe with clarity.

He couldnt see a proper flame now, but the distortion of air from the heat was still Visible.

Light discoloration of his skin.

Then a bit more.

His fists were nearly radiant from the heat.

Skin shifting color slowly to that ember-like appearance.

Not blue, though.

His flames werent on that level.

As a firebender, he couldnt really measure his own temperature objectively, but anyone else who touched his fist would probably say it was super fucking hot.

Not enough heat.

But it was enough for now, at least.

His hands were red, arnd goddamn did it hurt.

"Ease off, if you feel it's too much" his instructor chimed in, sounding concerned.

"Right.. No, I'm good" he said quickly, "I can do this."

Time for him to fuck shit up.

He breathed again and his movements began to speed up before he could chicken out.

Optimism was hard.

From molasses to water.

He moved through his forms quicker and called upon more of his energy.

More.

More of it at once.

All the while he resisted the urge to let it loose from his hands.

His palms moved to strike, shifting into a position where he would typically unleash a dual torrent of flame.

His chi flowed through his arms to comply.

Then, at the last second, he pulled back again.

His face contorted in pain.

Clenching his jaw, he just barely avoided biting down on his tongue.

He let loose a shuddering breath through his nose, still refusing to slow down.

Everything sucked.

Fuck.

Fuck.

Fuck.

Fuck firebending, it was total ass.

Fuck his father for giving him shitty ideas and being a garbage role model.

He should give up firebending and be an actor or something.

He would give up firebending.

He wouldnt do it anymore after this.

Never.

Never ever.

This was a mistake.

Very big, huge mistake.

Noticing his instructor move to interfere, he said something to ward him off.

Some reassurance or command.

He wasnt paying much attention.

He couldnt afford to.

"If you're certain, Prince Iroza."

Another breath.

He kept going.

The heat began building, slowly creeping up from his hands and into his wrists.

Everything was fine, it was great.

Nothing was wrong.

Another breath, another step.

Everthingwas normal and fine and nothing hurt.

While at the start he had been focusing on his hands, now he was focused on looking anywhere but his own body.

Because nothing was wrong.

It was totally fine.

Despite his efforts, his pace had slowed back down.

Why?

No reason.

He was not in pain.

The energy had built up to the middle of his forearms, which were red hot.

Right.

Now he had stopped entirely.

He was frozen in place, eyes scrunched shut.

He wasnt focused on the pain because there wasnt any.

He wasnt embarrassed by the tears because he wasnt crying.

Any tears he may have shed would just dissolve right away from his heightened body heat.

"Breathe, my prince. Don't let the heat overwhelm you."

Was he still breathing?

He wasn't totally sure anymore.

Better check.

He breathed, slowly and shakily.

He was wavering.

Tiny licks of flame appeared on his arms, which were a totally normal color and didn't hurt at all.

Now to wind it down.

Homestretch.

The worst was past him, although it didnt feel like it.

He forced himself into movement, his body

shivering as he carried on through his forms.

He wanted it to be over already, but rushing it at this stage would be incredibly stupid.

Why was he shivering?

He must be cold because he definitely wasn't too hot.

Tensing his jaw, he shifted into arn attack stance.

Final movement.

Planting his feet and bracing for impact, he committed to the attack.

He threw both of his fists forward in tandem and tried not to flinch as his chi once more answered the call.

The energy felt violent.

Ready to tear his arms open if he denied it again.

Such was the limit of his control right now.

But that was fine.

This time he had no intention of puling back at the last second.

His fists sparked once, then he opened his palms.

This time he had to screw his eyes shut because the light was blinding.

The power that accompanied it sent him sliding back several yards before he was able to reorient his footing and stop.

He muttered a curse, turning his head away.

It was stil/ too bright.

And too loud.

All of that energy and heat being let loose all at once.

It was like letting his thumb off of the end of a really big garden hose.

Except the hose was full of fire, instead of water.

Mixed metaphors.

It was a raging inferno he wasn't capable of summoning otherwise.

Nothing ridiculous like some sort of anime energy beam, but an explosion of fire in its own right.

He called it fire-edging.

He was also the only one who called it that.

Nobody appreciated his sense of humor.

As it began to die down, his mind started clearing up andhe was able to think more critically.

It was a pretty surprising result, considering what the ceiling of his power had looked like in the past.

Min-maxing his firebending.

What an idea.

It was only now starting to pay off, and he planned on taking it much further, but fit was a start.

And the result was something to behold.

Assuming his opponents would agree to stand still for a few minutes while he

warmed up, he could flatten most anything in his way.

As the last vestiges of energy left, he dropped his arms and focused on not hissing in pain.

"Wow. That sucked"

"Not as such, my prince. You have achieved a truly impressive degree of control." The man actually sounded impressed.

Grudgingly so, but still.

Iroza tried to snort, but it turned into a wheezing cough as smoke flew up from his lungs.

He smacked his lips and grimaced.

Firebending smoke tasted like shit. "Thank you, master. But I was referring to the pain involved. It sucked. Really sucked."

I expect it would.

"Honestly, the fact that you havent blown your arms off is a feat in itself," said someone who was not his master.

Someone whose opinion was, therefore, unsolicited and decidedly unhelpful.

Besides, all of Iroza's ideas were amazing.

Everyone said so.

He turned to squint at Azula, who was leaning against the wall witha bored expression that also managed to come off as amused and smug.

She was versatile like that.

"For your information, I havent even come close to blowing my arms off in months," he said, sticking his nose up at her.

Standing up straight and trying to rub some feeling back into his wrists, he let out a sigh. "The after-effects I could do Without, though."

Pushing herself off of the wall, she walked over and held her hand out expectantly.

"I'm fine" he said, clutching his wrist to his chest protectively.

Azula managed to look even more bored.

Iroza groaned, looking away and holding his hand out.

He stared up at the high ceiling while she inspected his arm.

She poked and prodded, turning it over and making a lot of annoyed sounds that werent at all warranted.

His arms were fine.

"If you want to admire my immaculate musculature, all you need to do is ask," he teased, pulling his arm away once she was done pretending not to be concerned.

"Immaculate Right" But even then she still looked exasperated. "I feel obligated to bring up how foolish and unnecessary this is. Firebending isnt supposed to do this to your body, yet you insist on pushing things. First the charged attack, now this. Do you have some affinity for self-harm that you're trying to keep secret?"

He stuck his tongue out at her. "I am just cultivating resistance."

"To fire" she said, sounding dubious.

"Yep"

She closed her eyes and frowned, and he wondered if she had just developed a migraine.

"Iroza. You are already resistant to fire"

He preened. "Thank you for noticing"

"Because you're a firebender," she continued as if she was talking toa small child.

"That's how it works. You have resistance already"

"And soon I'l have more," he said with a grin.

"As long as there's give, I'll push. I'm totally good."

She crossed her arms, unimpressed by his teasing and bravado.

"It just seems remarkably unsafe. Even for you."

"I'm totally safe. Super safe. Master what's-his-name is supervising and it's been going fine," he said indignantly.

He and Azula looked over at his master, who looked gravely insulted for some reason.

Iroza waved.

"And how many masters have you gone through already? Five? Ten?" she asked.

It was a rhetorical question, of course.

She knew better than him, and he didnt really pay any attention to his babysitters anymore.

"Not my fault. You're the one who keeps insisting I replace them."

"Because you insist on choosing fools."

He grinned and threw a friendly arm around her shoulder, pulling her into a side hug.

"I insist on choosing people who Wont try and stop me from maxing out my firebending potential, dear sister."

"As I said, fools"'she said, her voice sickeningly sweet as she roughly dug her fingers into his ribs.

Hiding a wince, he released her and went to retrieve the rest of his clothes.

"Still, I suppose congratulations are in order" she said.

Her annoyed look giving way to a much more familiar smirk.

"Really?" He tilted his head at her, still smiling despite the feeling that something was up. "That sounds vaguely ominous. Do tell."

"For one, you haven't managed to cripple yourself yet, though you've come close!"

He scoffed and waved her off. "Bah, we've been over that. Wasnt even my fault. It was that other guy's fault whose name i dont remember."

"And for another" she went on, not deigning to acknowledge his masterful deflection because she was stubborn and mean.

"It seems your extra-curricular training has managed to impress our lord father."

Oh.