The Element People

24. "The Element Of Power"

"Niall is doing quite well, don't you think?"

Zayn was sitting at the hill next to the training field. He had been up a lot earlier than the other boys and had decided to start training. It was already late in the afternoon and he was done for the day.

It was Louis who had just popped up next to him out of the earth.

It honestly scared the shit out of him sometimes.

"True," the raven-haired said. "But both you and Harry have been doing amazing too."

The airbender was using his abilities now a lot more.

Louis already used to earth bend anytime he could, but mostly for silly things. He could pull off some proper moves now.

"Thanks," Louis said, sitting down next to him.

Together they looked at the three boys who were still training.

It was incredible how fast Niall caught up with everything Liam could do.

He took a closer look at the two waterbenders. He could see from Liam's posture that he was getting kind of annoyed.

And Zayn sure knew, because Liam had been annoyed with him a lot the last few days.

It was like Louis could read his mind, because he spoke up. "How are you and Liam doing now?"

Zayn shrugged. "Liam said he wanted to talk, but he hasn't actually talked to me yet, other than snapping."

"Have you tried talking to him yet?"

Again a shrug.

"I assume that's a no?"

"Look, I'm just not the kind of person to talk about this stuff. You know what's there to know now. There's not a lot more to say. I understand that Liam is frustrated that I didn't tell you guys, but I had my reasons for that."

Louis nodded while still looking at the two waterbenders. "Still. You could've told us sooner."

Zayn sighed. "I know. I'm sorry. I just didn't know how."

The older boy shrugged. "You could've made a crown out of paper, put it on your head and been like: 'Look guys. I'm a prince.' Then we would've laughed and you could've said: 'I'm serious. I'm the actual prince of the fire nation'."

The firebender simply stared at him, but broke into a smile. He gave the older boy a rough push, making him fall to the side. "You're impossible."

Louis just laughed as he sat back up. "It sounded like a great plan."

"But for real," the earthbender said. "You were an actual prince. Did you live in an castle?"

Zayn rolled his eyes. "I'm not a princess in a tower."

"I'm serious!"

The firebender hesitated. "Okay... I guess, kind of? We lived in a palace."

"That sounds even more royal."

"It was ridiculous. It was this huge ass building in the middle of the city."

"Still though, must have been nice to live in. A lot better than the temples from the Air Nomads or our own tents here."

Zayn shook his head. "I absolutely hated that building. I felt like a caged animal inside it. I was only allowed outside with like an army of guards."

"Sounds like your parents cared a lot for you though."

The raven-haired huffed. "My father cared about his career. He knew that he wasn't going to be in charge anymore if I was killed."

"Your father sounds like a fun guy. Now how exactly did that work again?"