[Open] Getting Back into It

[Narye Matsuya]

Of course there was something else he needed to know before they started. Narye was under no illusions that it would not be as simple as simple as learning a few punches, kicks, and throws. It was a martial art after all. There had to be something else he was missing that he just could not figure out. But "breathing"? That factor was... less than predictable, for him.

"Alright... Breathing..."

On a higher level of thinking, it kind of made sense to Narye. Fire absolutely needs air in order to... be fire. Any blacksmith or metalsmith will tell you that a good flow of air is a necessity in their trade. Controlling your breath was a spin-off of that, except the body itself was the forge from whence fire was born.

On the other hand, Narye had no idea how breathing, of all things, could be controlled when in the midst of combat. It seemed like hard, arduous physical work, the kind where breathing kind of boiled down to, "try to keep up." Maybe martial arts and Benders knew something he did not know. Yet.

Narye did exactly as Ira instructed, and he had a good idea of how it was supposed to be done. He breathed in through his nose as she said, evenly and deeply. Then smoothly changed to exhaling out of his mouth at an even pace. It was a simple task that definitely gave him a sense of relaxation.

Or that would be the case if Narye had, maybe, closed his eyes. Instead he held Ira's eye contact, staring deep into her eyes, taking pleasure in hearing her talk so softly to him. Now he was the one blushing. He wanted to believe it was because of his deep breathing. Wanted to. Looking at Ira was making him lose concentration, and a few times his breathing got ragged or hiccup-y.

"Eh heh heh... I guess I'm getting distracted still... Okay. Give me a second..."

Narye finally wised-up and closed his eyes. It was enough to get his breathing down right pretty quickly, but only as he could suppress any thoughts of him and Ira being alone. She was trying to give him an actual lesson here, and all he could think about was the young woman in front of him...

[Ira Azariath]

Ira could see that Narye seemed to be struggling with getting into the right mindset for the exercise she wanted him to do, but she said nothing about it. Instead, she stayed where she was and observed Narye quietly, her arms crossed in front of her.

She did notice his blush, and she thought it was kind of cute too, but she didn't mention it for fear of throwing him completely out of balance.

At his comment about getting distracted, she let out a small chuckle, and smiled a little, feeling the blush creep back onto her cheeks. However, she quickly shook herself out of it and focused back on Narye who now had his eyes closed as he breathed evenly.

Good.

She still didn't say anything, and the seconds soon turned into minutes. After ten minutes or so, Ira finally spoke.

"Good. Open your eyes, but keep your breathing even" she said softly, her amber eyes never leaving him. She waited patiently for him to open his eyes, and then walked closer to him. She was aware that most of what she was teaching him now might seem unnecessary, but when they proceeded to the higher levels of teaching, it was important to know the basics.

Ira was painfully aware of just how close they were to one another, but she would be lying if she said she had anything against it. Even though the two of them had just met, Ira had felt immediately at ease with him, and judging on the way he had been blushing earlier, he felt something too.

"So I was wondering if maybe you'd like to go out for tea when we're done here?" she asked, immediately regretting it. She wasn't regretting it because she didn't like him, she was regretting it because it had just come out of nowhere. "I understand if you don't want to, I mean, we only just met and all, but I'd really like to get to know you better" she then added, making sure to look anywhere but at him.

So much for staying focused on the practice at hand. Normally, she had no problem teaching other people fire bending, so why was it different with Narye?

She knew she shouldn't be doing this. She shouldn't be letting herself get close to him so easily. That had been the first thing she had learned during the three years she had spend on the streets: you can trust no one but yourself. And she had lived by that rule ever since. The other Air Acolytes left her alone for most part, and she was perfectly fine with that.

The only time she really interacted with others was when she was teaching the young fire bender Air Acolytes about their bending, and since most of the Air Acolytes were non-benders, this kind of interaction was rare.

[Narye Matsuya]

Keeping his mind off of Ira long enough to get through a simple breathing exercise took longer than he would have initially anticipated, but he did manage it finally when Narye forced himself to count out his breathing rhythm in his head. It was not much, but it was enough to force out those... other thoughts out of the forefront of his mind to somewhere else for the time being. He just hoped that Ira was not getting too frustrated or irritated with him taking so long to concentrate on breathing right. A cute little snicker from her general direction alleviated some of his concerns.

When Ira gave the order to re-open his eyes, he did so gradually and slowly. He was still counting in his head and even the simple act of opening his eyes felt like it could distract him from that.

Not that he had to worry about that for long since the first thing that came into focus was Ira's lovely form, much closer than when he had started the breathing exercise. She was much more distracting than lifting his eye lids, and it showed for a second. His breathing rhythm stuttered and his face suddenly felt warm, but he quickly regained his place in his counting and got his even pace back quickly, smiling.

"I'd love to have a cup or two with you, Ira..."

Narye would have loved to say more in response, perhaps something that elaborated why he wanted to spend more time with her, but he was still concentrating on not losing his nearly meditative trance. As it was stood now, he could only say as much as his even exhales would allow before he needed to inhale again on pace. But his eyes and smile conveyed his intentions, even if she was trying her hardest to not look at him.

Just by looking at her, Narye could tell that Ira was probably a good deal younger than he was, and that unsettled a small portion of him. Of course he did not want to earn some kind of reputation for dating women far younger than him, but Ira made the risk seem worth it. At the very least she could not have been, like, half his age or something. That would have raised some questions.

"But lets earn that tea... What's next, teacher?"