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Some time after talking with Steph, Zuko still has no idea how to go about approaching the many people who he should proably talk to.

Instead, he's focusing on something that puts it all off very nicely, and practicing firebending forms out in the training field. They really do make much more sense after visiting the Masters - without having to spend to much effort on brute force and anger to produce the flame, everything flows more, and that in turn is levelling out his thoughts.

So. Another version of him had children. And they're here. They also seem to think he's their father- at least, the version that they knew. He should talk to Mel first, then. He's not sure what she thinks, but he should ask, in any case. And Iroh should know.

Later. He finishes off a form, and moves onto the next.

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OH HAY IT'S NORTHERN SHAOLIN.

With pyrokinesis. Dinah goes pfffft at pyrokinesis. She's more interested in the style and the technique.

OK, so watching a few Shaolin katas and the flames they produce kind of help her figure out how firebending works: the flames follow the flow of the qi, it's simple. And kind of cool.

She's not standing and watching, though. She gets all this on her walking approach.

Zuko sees her approach, and continues, but alters the path of his current kata to bring him to a finish reasonably close to her line of approach.

~~IT IS CAN HAS BE SPARRING NAO?~~

~~LOL IF HE WANTS TO.~~

Dinah's certainly dressed for it - by her standards, which think fishnet tights are TOP NOTCH training gear, so possibly shouldn't be trusted.

She grins as he finishes, and bows to him - one student of the way showing respects to another.

Zuko doesn't grin, as a rule, but he certainly smiles slightly, and bows back.

(Her tights are stunning, but don't get a glance today.)

(Honestly, whats' the point in employing legs as a distracting mechanism if they're going to get ignored.)

When Dinah straightens, she relaxes, slightly - less so than she would usually.

"Working off some steam?"

She shouldn't be allowed to quip, it's bad.

"Yes," he says. "I-"

Pause. Eye, as if he can't quite believe she just said that.

"Quite."

At least Dinah can laugh at herself! That's good right.

"So were you dont training?"

Or can you go a little longer?

He smiles, very slightly.

"Not quite."

BRING IT.

O RLY?

Dinah smiles in a mirror of his slight one, and draws her feet together. She bows - this time utterly professional - and comes up again, in what must look to all the world like she's about to start Firebending.

Bring it, indeed.

YA. RLY.

Zuko mimicks her bow, to his own society's traditions, then assumes a stance of his own, eyes flickering over hers. It's very familiar, but he's fairly sure she doesn't bend?

Apart from the thing where she could shatter... er. Him.

Let's ignore that.

Dinah's certainly ignoring it.

One foot moves behind the other, and she moves slowly to the left, eyes never leaving his face.

She's waiting for him to move first.

Okay. He can do that.

His first attack is as much a test as anything, straightforward attack from the right, but fast and strong - he won't be easy to knock off stride so long as he sticks to moves at which he is well-practised.

It's perfectly well known that Dinah's outfit looks like underwear.

It's also - at least in that part - fireproof. So the only reason she moves away is under the force of the moving hot air.

And to get some momentum, after letting him attack, so she can power forward and deliver an attack of her own.

Without Firebending, she needs to move farther and actually connect fist to target, but at the speed she's at - that's really not an issue.

She is fast. Unusually so, although it isn't unknown among firebenders, at least.

He exhales deliberately, moving away as fast as he can manage to limit the impact of her blow, aiming a retaliatory strike at her lower back as he spins around.

Dinah doesn't consider it cheating if she doesn't quite stick to the same discipline. She likes to mix and match.

Like, for instance, somersaulting backwards and over his flame before it can even make her warm. She hits the ground in a crouch and spins, a foot out at ankle height.

--Wow, and there's jumping. Zuko narrows his eyes, following her over, before pivoting almost in tandem with her spin to bring a non-flaming, but very solid punch down to her side, and slamming the other foot dwn to try and keep stability in spite of being kicked.

(Ouch, but he'll deal with bruising later.)

The trouble is: by not flaming he completely sacrifices his advantage. She rolls over air away and his fist doesn't connect... with her side.

He might want to watch that knife hand coming for his wrist.

He snatches his hand to the side just in time, before grabbing at her other one as he turns, widening his stance for greater stability. Zuko isn't that tall, but he's strong, and currently shifting his weight to pull her over his head once he can get an anchor on her arm to roll her up and over.

He can do that.

It's not immediately obvious whether Dinah lets him, or he's just too fast, or whether she's thinking that clearly in battle and has decided that she can turn this to her advantage.

Except as he pulls her over, her other hand comes down, fast and sharp, two knuckles extended, and twists as it comes at his solar plexus.

Let's see how he manages with his Third Chakra blocked.

Zuko coughs at the bruising blow, and shoves her away from him, rolling back himself to try and gain a little breathing space. His breath comes hot, but although the pain isn't crippling, something feels... off. Familiarly so.

He raises his hands again, breathing slowly, and...

Oh. Shit.

Dinah rolls in the air, and lands firm on spread feet, crouched and ready and breathing steady.

She watches him when he raises his hands, and when she sees that expression on his face, she grins.

It was the flow of qi.

Zuko sees the look on her face, oddly similar to the look Ty Lee sometimes got when she'd just taken on a Bender and won.

He grins back, sharply. "Good guess," he says, breathing rough, and darts fowards again, ignoring the ache of his stomach muscles.

Been awhile since he's fought like this - but all the more reason to keep going, fully concentrated on technique this time, instead of trying to regain his Bending.

"No guess," Dinah tells him.

She moves gracefully out of the way of his attack, letting the fight flow around her, and watching how he fights more than anything else.

Except she has the advantage now, and she's going to us it by hitting him hard and fast.

He fights... well, stubbornly. And while his strength clearly lies in firebending, or possibly with the twin swords that he isn't wearing right now, he also fights like someone who's had to rely on it before.

Her technique is superior, though, he realises, and focuses on speed and endurance, aiming to avoid heavier blows, and roll with lighter ones for as long as he can.

It's a test to see how he does for himself, as much as for her.

And he does pretty well, Dinah reflects. He doesn't rely on his ability nearly as much as most people here, and he's got technique and ability that go beyond pyrokinesis.

She's impressed.

Not threatened, but impressed.