Welcome to Gaia! ::

"I'm your ancestor."

The words came out like silk, smooth and inperceptible. Koina looked as lovely and charming as a panther. Her voice was fluid. Her features were undeniable.

But like a panther, she could strike at the most unexpected times.

"I am Koina, the second child, first daughter of Fire Lord Enko who ruled over 4500 years ago." She looked down in interest at the child. Below her thunderclouds rumbled and flashed. "The first lightning-bender."

Koina shot out her lightning to the sky. She was not something to be laughed at.

The static streamed in her body and hair, lifting it up as if waterlogged. The lights streamed and sparked in a way that was both beautiful and powerful, each one containing enough volts to strike a man dead before they hit the ground.

Then Koina sucked in her breath, letting the static and lightning draw back into her body like water down a drain. She let out a crackling sigh, before smiling. "Perhaps a bit showy," she admitted, pulling off the arm of her coat. She wore a dress that left her shoulders bare, a spider web complete with a silver embroidered spider woven into the expensive fabric. She tugged down the dress slightly, showing her the place where her heart was.

"Feel for my heartbeat." Koina instructed gently, "I think you'll be surprised."

"I have seen fit," Koina said calmly, "To train you. To show you how a real lightning bender does her work. No one else has ever been worthy enough to learn the secrets I am willing to pass onto you. You father, your auntie, not even your grand-father, who came very close to taking over the world." She turned her gaze into convincing concern.

"They're all just too corrupt for what I'd imagine teaching. But you my dearest girl," she said, eyes shining in approval, "No one has been worthier. Your soul is as pure and unbridled with potential that it never ceases to amaze me. There have been many historical benders who came close, but barely scraped the surface. You...will undoubtedly become the next Lady of Storms, as I am." She drew Keiko in like a baited hook to a fish. She spoke of wild powers and promises.

Some which unfortunately, she intended to keep.

"You weren't meant to wield such ordinary fire," she flicked at the tiny ember with her sharp nail, putting it out in an instant, before walking behind Keiko and pulling her arms into a position. "This is what fire should be like."

She gave her the initial start-up static, and then jabbed her arm forward, letting out a thick torrent of blue fire...all from Keiko's pointer finger. It was enough to burn the the armor off any warrior.

"If you'd like," she said gleefully at her promising first strike, "I can teach you to strike that out from all ten fingers."

"Disappoint your father?"

Koina was displeased. Azula's words had, had some truths after all. She kneeled down to her level, being much taller, and putting on a sympathetic look.

"I understand completely. Despite my own talent, my father bore too many children to feel I was worth my spit. He focused on his heir...his son." She sighed lightly, "I felt an emptiness all my life because if it. If you had felt my heartbeat when I was your age...there would probably be nothing to feel. But that-" she changed back to enthusiasm, "-is another reason why I'd like to help you Keiko." She put a gentle hand on her shoulder. "Let me teach you my dear. And let your father be awed at the final results. I assure you, he will be far from disappointed."

She spoke from experience. Her own father hadn't had enough room, nor time, to be disappointed when Koina struck him dead.

Koina laughed a gave her own palm a deft lick. As she held it up, the scars from where she had first carried lightning were impossible not to notice. She shook her hand tightly, a tiny spark of static passing through the saliva.

She wiped it off her hands. "If you'd really like, we can surprise him with this a little later when you've mastered lightning." She dimpled slightly, to look sweet but mischevious, "Fire Nation girls are considered to be adults at your age anyways. And a princess should feel free to do as she pleases no?"

"Of course," she said, giving her head a pat. She then snapped her attention to an oncoming airship. "I must be going. But don't worry," she gave a knowing smirk, "You will know I've come wherever a storm gathers. Let that be your notice to slip away for training."

Then with a deft jump, she leapt from the edge of the temple, before vanishing into the clouds like smoke.

Koina chose to keep the training off for a week or so. Not because she was doubtful or uninterested, but rather that she had more important business to attend to.

"Madam Koina please!"

The business in particular, meant blackmailing the less than noble merchants in Gaoling. Shisho, a tea merchant, was left groveling at her feet when she swept into town that evening, wringing his hands in a fervor.

"Madam Koina! We've barely begun the shipment to Ba Sing Se, it will take some time to give you your share! Please, some patience!"

"I wonder how interested the Dai Li are in history," she said offhandly, with a wicked sort of innocence, "They'd certainly like to see how your own got stained with those mysterious sinkings of the trader Emero's ships."

"Alright! Alright! I'll give you what I can! But..." he winced under the sharp gaze of the lightning bender, "I will not be able to pay the workers on time."

"How very unfortunate for them. I suppose you'll have to surrender those Ming vases you're so greedily collecting."

Her groaned and whined, but eventually handed over a heavy bagful of coins. She left him whimpering in his cargo hold, while she set off for the finer inns in town. It was true that he'd purposefully sabatoged his rival's business; he'd hired Koina herself to do the job. But to do business with Koina was dangerous enough...the aftermath was even worse.
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She eventually returned to the Air Temple, remaining at the bottom. It would be evident to Keiko that it was time for her training by the rumble of thunder far below. She wanted at least one training session before they left for the Fire Nation, where it would be far more difficult to find a moment to slip in.