Although I knew I could now bend this mysterious element of “solid fire”, I had yet to actually test whether or not my alchemy worked in this world. Thus far, every time I entered a new world, I lost powers from the previous world in exchange for new abilities. Or, alternatively, there were abilities that I had which couldn’t work in some worlds but worked just fine in others.

I don’t know why I didn’t test my alchemy. Maybe it was because I was so sure that it wouldn’t function here, maybe I was somehow used to the idea that my powers failed me at the worst, most inopportune moments. Or, maybe, I just didn’t want to risk fucking myself over more than I had already. After all, what if using alchemy cost me something? But the alternative was charging myself with the power of the Rider and corrupting the ship to become a temporary ‘vehicle’.

Something told me that this would be a worse idea, so off of a gut instinct that was barely developed, I listened. At first, though, nothing happened. At first, there was nothing to show that I had just used alchemy. There were no gold or violet or white sparks. Then, suddenly, a flash of colors sparked from my hands – all sorts of colors, all shades of different hues from all across the spectrum.

The sparks were clear, prismatic even, and reflecting off either of each other or from the sunlight itself. Quickly though, the sparks turned white and blue – I was performing my very first genuine transmutation. This wasn’t any of that explosive material based on energy stuff, this was a genuine transmutation. Because, I thought, how hard would it be to manipulate pure iron? I knew the periodic table enough.

Did the shape matter? Not really, it just needed to connect. On every level, it was a shoddy, quick, and inefficient looking transmutation. It was one that felt awkward every second that it went on. But in less than ten seconds, I’d completed it. Where once there was a damaged hull, suddenly the metal had stretched from every end to cover the mess of holes. It would need a real repair when it got to a port, it would need that area to be carefully reinforced.

But for right now, this was enough. The ship’s repairs, though rough, should have made it sea-worthy. My body was caked in a fine layer of sweat. I panted, exhaustion coming off of me in waves as I stepped back to admire my work. The smooth hull became rough for an entire, wide area… but it’d do.

“You can look now.” I said aloud. When I didn’t receive a response, I blinked, “…You there?” I asked, turning to see that Katara actually hadn’t been listening to me. Did she… did she lie so that I’d trust her? Maybe she did it for future leverage but the sheer look of complete, disbelieving surprise almost totally countered that. She saw me perform a transmutation, a very basic and crappy transmutation that exhausted me, but it was a transmutation nonetheless.

“You can bend metal…” she whispered in awe, “No wonder the Fire Nation wants you!” No. That wasn’t right. I wasn’t a metalbender. “I won’t say a word, I swear!” she said to me. Somehow, I doubted that. “How can I help? Is there anything I can do?”

I took a deep breath, counted to ten in my head, and basically said ‘screw it’ before launching into an explanation.