TRAINING

 ''If I see one more wooden sword or pail of water, I am going to scream'' Zutara growled squeezing the water out of her hair.

 "Oh stop whining like a baby'' Riz drawled unimpressed and earned herself a fiery glare.

 "I am battered, bruised, contused and aching'' Zutara raged stomping around the yard.

 ''Darling if you were all of those things all at once you would be flat on your face but it's a good thing you are so strong and big and brave'' Riz replied sweetly arching a perfect shoulder, everything about her was so perfect it brought out all her own imperfections.

 Her hair was a wet and tangled nightmare, her shirt a ragged torn affair ripped from shoulder to cuff where Sikorra's rotten wooden sword had snagged the previous night and there was an ugly purple bruise peeking from the left hip of her trousers, the sun had sent a merciless scattering of freckles to dot her nose and cheeks, meanwhile Riz who she had been sparring with since dawn was as clean and put together as if she had just dressed for a walk in the park with her thick ebony locs that fell in soft, tame waves down her shoulders and back and her pretty fitted dress with its single long slit that exposed a milky unfreckled thigh. 

 If Riz was a graceful poised swan, she was a clumsy lumbering bull. 

 Zutara puffed out a breath marching towards the cottage to sleep till the chickens came home to roost when she collided with an overly cheerful Sikorra.

 "Ah, fine morning dear girl'' he said clutching her arm in his deceptively firm grip and grinning so disgustingly bright she wanted to punch the wall.

 "Up to some sparring?'' he asked releasing her arm only to toss her a crudely made wooden sword, Riz scoffed peeking at her bright red painted nails.

 Zutara's eyes sparked a dangerously luminous hue of amber, invisible steam only she could feel fizzed out of her ears and nostrils, human sense stopped her from pawing the earth like some beast about to pounce instead she grabbed the sword in mid air 

 '' I am not up to sparring, not now, not tomorrow not even next moon, I am exhausted and I want to rest !''she spat snapping the sword into two and tossing the pieces to the side.

 ''O-kay'' Sikorra said slowly, cautiously ''How about we practice your fire binding?''. She gave him a look that summarized exactly what she thought about fire binding or binding of any kind and walked away in the opposite direction from the cottage.

 "Where are you?" she thought and a warm human voice that never ceased to amaze her replied 

 ''Above you" and her dragon swooped down gracefully tucking in its wings and stalking towards her wth a swish of its tail.

"Something is bothering you, care to share?''

  Zutara shook her head burrowing into the soft warm space between its neck and shoulders.

 "I'm not a horse or a pet'' the dragon said '' I am your friend, talk to me''. 

 Zutara raised her head to stare at the creature, who would believe that just two months ago it was barely the size of a large loaf of bread but now it was already as big as an extraordinarily large horse. Zutara sighed

 ''You know before I had you my life wasn't perfect but it was my life and mine alone, I decided what I wanted to do, wanted to eat, wanted to go and believe me, I love you but my whole life has changed and no one is giving me any time to adjust before badgering me with sword lessons and fire binding and water binding and other weird stuff, I'm always exhausted and my muscles are so achy everytime, all the time when does this all end?''.

 '' Sikorra says a war is coming with the both of us smack in the middle of it, so we must be prepared ''

 "But I have you, and you can just blast every one to chars and cinders'' the dragon laughed full and deep

"I don't even have my fire yet''

"It's not like the war is tomorrow'' Zutara shrugged her shoulders.

 "The war may not be tomorrow but there are dangers we may not for see, bad people will try to capture us and so we must be ready for any and all eventualities which means we must work hard and learn even if Riz's sweetness makes my tooth ache''

 ''Right?, How can someone be so perfect, even her voice is perfect, soft and clear as a musical note and the way she moves, I can never be good at water binding everything about it is so fluid and elegant''

 ''Just be patient it will come to you like my fire will come to me ad we'll be so great that they will sing songs about us- the brave and bold dragon lord Zutara and her mighty dragon...'' both dragon and rider cocked their heads to face each other.

 ''Now, this is awkward, you should have a name''

 ''You think?'' the dragon drawled sarcastically

"Oh crap I don't know many dragon names'' 

 ''It must not be a dragon name, but it should be a fun one, so don't call me Marienne or Belle or Lya, Blurrgh!'' the dragon shuddered and Zutara laughed heartily.

"You are a girl dragon''

 "Of course, I am a girl dragon would a boy dragon be this shiny and amazing''

''Humble much?''

 ''I like your name Zutara, you know three mouthfuls and all'' Zutara grinned 

 "I've got the perfect name Sephiata - I don't know how I know but I think it means big fire''

 ''Sephiata,'' the dragon rolled the name on her tongue ''I like it," she bared her row of sharp teeth in what passed for a grin.

 ''So the brave and bold dragon lord Zutara and her mighty dragon Sephiata, that sounds so much better, you and me we are gonna kick ass at this aren't we''

 ''And crush balls too'' Zutara said dreamily and Sephiata snickered. ''What?!''

''I just... you know how dragon lords have nicknames like, The Mountain, The Conqueror, The Whip, what if you are called The Ball Crusher'' she snickered again and Zutara giggled '' Just imagine the look on Riz's face when she says  water sage to The Ball crusher'' 

"No mine's better,'' Zutara straightened her spine arching her shoulder like Riz and mimicking her voice '' I am Riz ball crushing water binder '' she drawled,  girl and dragon dissolved into peals of boisterous laughter.