Chapter 8: Luke
It wasn't the first time, and I was damn sure it wouldn't be the last time I spent the night in a cell. It was morning, or at least I thought it was when I saw Danev walk over to the bar door of my cell.
"Well look at you" he said in a sing-song voice as he strolled over to where I sat in day-old clothes. "I heard you blew somebody up."
"Something like that. How is he?" Yes, I hated Zihe, but did I want to kill him? Maybe, in that moment, I did, but I didn't want him dead. I still couldn't remember what had happened. I was having trouble piecing it together. "And how'd you get here?"
"Class doesn't start for an hour. And he's alive. Face is burnt pretty bad, but he'll live. Heard his sweetheart broke up with him in search for somebody with a face. Could've waited until he was out of the infirmary, but hey, she's cute. I'm not complaining."
"Nurse Zaydi not enough for you?" he made sure to tell me plenty a time about the best parts of the injuries he received in practice. 'Each one is just a ticket to visit her." He joked with me.
"I'm keeping my options open. She's a bit preoccupied piecing our 'star-student's' face back together."
"Funny."
"You going to tell me what happened?"
"All I can say is that I punched, there was an explosion, and next thing I knew, I was on the ground, my hand hurt like hell like it was on fire, and there was smoke covering the entire room. I was hoping you could tell me more."
"I wasn't there."
"But you weren't in here. What are people saying?"
"They say you summoned a dragon that flew in through the window and lit Zihe on fire."
"Danev."
"What do you think they're saying. They're saying you firebended. Is it firebended or firebent?"
I shook my head. I couldn't have firebent. I wasn't a bender. I knew that since Reek caught me trying to bend in the middle of the street, pointed at me, and laughed, saying I could stop because all I was doing was making an ass of myself.
I was 6. I had tried every element I could think of. I tried bending a rock from the ground and throwing it at Reek. I tried bending the water from a fountain and throwing it at him. I tried to push him away from me with a gust of air and I tried to light him on fire. I wasn't a bender.
"What?" Danev asked. "You don't believe it?"
"You think I don't want to? Believe me, I would want nothing more than to be a bender. To control fire with my mind. Trust me, I would love to, but turns out, I tried a long time ago. I can't bend."
"You mean that spectacle on the street?"
"You heard about that?" I asked, heat rising to my face.
"I think everyone in the slums did. There's not much secrecy going on there."
"What can I say?" I asked, laughing it off. "I wanted to be a bender. I still do."
"Quite the reluctant hero you are."
I chuckled. "Fuck the reluctance. Fuck the hero. Given a choice, I would gladly be a bender, but just so happens, I'm not."
"Explain the explosion then."
"Trick of the light, I don't know. It would make more sense."
"Trick of the light. Of course, I've heard about those."
I heard the footsteps and saw the approaching figure before Danev did. I rushed to my feet and when I saw the uniform of the soldier in front of me, I saluted.
Danev, who clearly didn't notice the man standing right behind him laughed. "About time you started saluting me. I always told Riu that the Hornets would be better if we acknowledged ran- "
He saw the shadow on the ground and turned around. Even by looking at the back of his head, I could see the heat rising to his face. His salute was a strained one, but it was there. I could see the newfound sweat running down his neck.
He looked at where I stood in my cell. "At ease."
I broke the salute.
"You're the firebender?"
"I. I guess so. Sir!"
"Then come with me. Training starts now."
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone