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[princeinexile]

Goldworking is excellent for focused heat-- heating, shaping, setting gemstones, taking heat away to cool and set the metal. It's a hell of a thing. Certainly, Toph, who can bend metal, would do better, maybe. Quicker, definitely.

But it's making him happy all the same. He's working on the delicate, small feathers that are going to complete the phoenix pendant he was working on -- he has no one too give it to (Mai and gold do not quite go together, and besides-- the phoenix is a symbol of the royalty, and she's not exactly the Fire Lady) but it's still nice to work on.

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[walking_napalm]

It's not that hard to find the fire prince.

He is, after all, exactly where Liz last saw him several days ago.

But what makes it really easy is stepping outside, and feeling the fire ripple down to her fingertips, under her skin. Pausing a moment, just a moment, to gather herself and make sure she hasn't actually lit up (she hasn't), she glances up at the sky, silently tells it she hopes she knows what she's doing, and she sets out toward the forge.

She's dressed in all black, as before (simple and utilitarian; black pants, heavy black boots, a fitted black T-shirt), but without the gunbelt, and without the gun.

[princeinexile]

The sign on the forge has three names:

ZUKO
RYAN
TEJA

It's funny how they're all four letters long; Zuko's never thought about it, honestly. However, the flame next to all but one are turned to OUT; Zuko's beaten, iron flame is turned to IN.

That'd because he's sitting there, looking over his work before he straightens one finger and extends it -- flaming coming out with the force of a butane torch... but still red-orange. He's not quite strong enough to manage blue flames like Liz does, or his sister Azula.

[walking_napalm]

This time, Liz is prepared for the way that her power responds. There isn't a blue flame to be seen as she raps lightly on the door (as a courtesy; she's pretty sure he knows she's there) and, after a brief glance at the sign, steels herself and steps inside.

"Hi," she says, neutrally.

[princeinexile]

With fire in the forges banked, yes-- it's easy to feel. It's not pulling as hard, like to like (it's far more intense with Liz then anyone else, and that sort of disconcerts Zuko) but it's there.

"Hey," he replies as he seals metal to metal; the flame snuffs out and he puts the piece aside to cool. He turns on his stool to look back at her. "You look calmer."

[walking_napalm]

"Well," she says, and she steps farther into the room, "I've been here two whole times now." She holds up two fingers, wryly. "That helps."

[princeinexile]

Zuko laughs softly, his eyes closing in memory briefly. "It's been several years for me," he says, before he turns on the stool. "I came in from running for my life. It -- was kind of disorienting."

On the other hand, it brought him his first love, his first heartbreak, his second family, and his second second-stringing, so... all's well that ends well.

[walking_napalm]

The set of her shoulders relaxes, a little bit; she leans against the nearest free wall, her arms folded. "Sounds like it," she says. "It was disorienting enough just coming in from the kitchen."

[princeinexile]

"We'd just seen the entire fleet destroyed and gotten out on a shoddy raft. After nearly a month at see-- we found ground. Thankfully, near a place where my uncle had connections," Zuko says, as he rises to get two goblets (nothing he's made, but they're there for use and clean) and fills them with clean, clear water from a jug not far away.

Smithing is thristy work. He offers one to Liz and says, "But stumbling in is not what you're here to talk about."

She's here about the fire.

[walking_napalm]

One side of Liz's mouth quirks upward, as she takes the offered water. "No," she says. "Not really.

"You said that your people can master their fire. I wanted to ask you about that."

[princeinexile]

"Master is a bit of stretch for some of us. Masters are few. Firebenders of varying skills are many. I'm not a master. I'm still something of a student -- but I've surpassed some."

But he's in control; that's the important part, right?

[walking_napalm]

"Okay," she replies, unconcerned, "but you can make it do what you want, in general and for fighting, am I right? You can control it."

No surprise flames. No explosions. It'd be -- nice isn't a strong enough word.

[princeinexile]

Zuko nods his head. "I'm not sure I can teach you -- things are a little different between worlds... but it still... good for you to try to learn." Trying means a lot-- sometimes one falls short, but still. Trying is important.

[walking_napalm]

She didn't ask for a teacher, she thinks, but she would have gotten there eventually. He's a stranger, this is a strange place, but the offer of knowledge, of potential peace of mind -- it isn't one that she can pass up.

"I'll take anything you can give me," Liz says, finally. "Gratefully."

Her eyes flick up. "Of course, if we do this, there's stuff you've got to know first." She's not about to start working with her fire without making sure that everyone involved knows what they're dealing with.

[princeinexile]

She didn't ask, but the need is there. So -- like a good person, a prince, he offers. At least, that's what he thinks he shuold be doing.

"Alright," he says. "It will be the same for me to you. But you can go first."

[walking_napalm]

She exhales. "It's -- it's always there, and I can light myself on fire when I want to, but only for the small stuff. It flares up worst when I'm," she matter-of-factly ticks off on her fingers, "hurt, upset, pissed off, or somebody tries to mess with my head." (She missed two, but she doesn't often admit to being afraid, and the other one -- well. The day that causes a major explosion is the day she'll discuss it with a teenage boy she doesn't know.)

"When it gets too big--" Liz shakes her head tightly. "I lose control. If I'm lucky, it'll just burn. If I freak out...

"I basically go nuclear without the radiation." Her mouth is turned self-deprecatingly, but she's deadly serious; this is the part that he needs to understand. "If I had a really bad episode here, it would take out this whole place in a heartbeat. Destroy the bar, boil the lake, set half the trees on fire.

"That can't happen."

[princeinexile]

"Then we need to take you to the Fire Nation," Zuko says simply, as if interworld travel is -- well, that easy. "Or Mt. Etna, an active volcano. Someplace safe."

He sounds as if he's not really concerned for himself.

[walking_napalm]

Liz's eyebrows rise. On the one hand -- potential knowledge she can't begin to put a price on. On the other -- interdimensional travel alone with someone she doesn't know nearly well enough to trust yet.

"That's -- negotiable," she says, after a second. "If we can start slow here first."

It's a hell of a concession (one she knows that Red won't like), but he's right. They'll have to take it somewhere, to avoid hurting anyone.

"Are you fireproof?"

[princeinexile]

Zuko gives her a very long look.





"No."

[walking_napalm]

"I needed to make sure," she says, unapologetic and consciously steady. She sees the scar, but she's witnessed enough magic and strange things since she went to live at the BPRD as a kid that she knows: don't assume. "I'm pretty sick of accidents.

"You'll be able to shield yourself from it?"

[princeinexile]

"Yes," he says, still a little stung. "I've never really caused much destrution -- I'm not like you, or my sister. This sort of chaos is beyond my power."

But he does nod. "We'll go out by the beach by the inlet; all you'll do is turn sand to glass boil some water, if things get out of control. But my country and Mt. Etna should remain an option."

There's a pause, and says, "We're looking at something very phsyical. Firebending comes from a mastery of body and breath. Hope you're in shape."

She will be when Zuko's done with her.

[walking_napalm]

Chaos, destruction. Sounds about right, Liz thinks.

She tilts her head slightly to one side. "I work out, but I'm not exactly the Williams sisters."

(There's a lot of running involved in being a BPRD agent. Being really out of shape is a bad idea.)

Less wry, and far more firm: "I'll keep up."

[princeinexile]

Zuko has no idea who the Williams sisters is, but he shrugs. "It's physical. You'll be a better combatant afterwards, is all I'm saying."

After all, at nearly seventeen, he's a rippling martial artist with corded muscle that is smooth. Except when he's being a dork.

[walking_napalm]

"That would be helpful." It would -- it really would. Guns don't always do a lot against the sort of creatures that Liz comes up against. Being able to rely on the fire would be a hell of a thing.

She reaches up, tucks hair behind her ear. "Look, I ... know this is kind of a big undertaking, so if there's anything I can do for you, I don't know what it'd be, but -- let me know."

She doesn't like to take something for nothing, even lessons; there's steady, cautious gratitude in her face all the same.

"Thank you."

[princeinexile]

Zuko seems vaguely uncomfortable with gratitude, but smiles a little all the same. "It's okay. I know what it's like to need someone to help you get what you need."

It's just that he betrayed his mentor, and ... well, perhaps he just wants to be a better person now.

[walking_napalm]

"So," she says, and she half-smiles, shifting her weight.

"Where do we start?"

[princeinexile]

"Not quite sure," he says. He scratches the back of his head. "Let me think on it. I won't start you with burning, though. Discipline comes first."

[walking_napalm]

Liz is really, really okay with not starting with burning.

Seriously.

"Okay," she says. "So -- you think about it; we'll start later." (It's a statement, and a pretty genial one at that, but her eyebrows are raised to make sure. 'Right?' she asks, silently.)

[princeinexile]

"Later as in probably tomorrow, maybe the next day," Zuko says, scratching the back of his neck as he thinks. "Early morning. Firebenders move with the sun, so you know. I'm usually out of bed with the dawn."

Can't really help it, y' know. Some things are tied to, y' know, sources outside their control.

[walking_napalm]

"Early riser, huh?" She nods. "I can do that."

Liz is one herself, if not quite a dawn person.

[princeinexile]

"We rise with the sun," he says -- it sounds more like a 'every firebender ever' and not just Zuko, when he says it like that.

[walking_napalm]

"I rise with the alarm clock," she says wryly, pushing herself off of the wall she's been leaning on. "But I'll be here.

"I've gotta get back, but--" She leans over and sets down her cup on the nearest available surface. "See you tomorrow?"

[princeinexile]

He gets up to get her goblet, giving a nod. "Yes. I'll be here. Wear clothes you don't mind getting dirty."

See? He can be nice, right?

...just have to see how the boyfriend handles this all.

[walking_napalm]

Liz's smile is swift and sudden, amused. "I think I can manage that," she says.

(Zuko has no way of knowing just how many black T-shirts and pairs of black pants Liz has.)

She lifts her hand in a wave, and then she's gone.

Now it just remains to figure out how to convince Red that he doesn't need to come along.