32 First Flame 10

Zan blinked and reared back as if struck at her sudden outburst, and she didn't blame him, she'd just full on blown up and let everything pour outburst.

He sighed, before smirking and placed a hand gently on her head, using it to pull her forward and touch her head to his chest, he was icky and slick with sweat from his training, but she didn't mind, "Let me say this first of all. I don't care what anybody else thinks, but as far as beauty goes, to me you're the most beautiful girl this entire world has to offer," he responded softly, stroking her hair with the hand on her head, "What do you mean you can't offer me anything? You yourself are more than enough, you're worth is far beyond that of even the title of Fire Lord. Who cares if you're not the smartest, trust me, I'm not either. And if being strong is the problem, well you can just get stronger can't you?"

Her heart thumped rapidly in her chest, and warmth spread through her at his words, "Getting stronger isn't that simple for most." Ty Lee whispered back, hands fisting into his sleeveless shirt. Chi Blocking was an ancient art that had been studied and hoarded by her family for centuries. She'd long since mastered the use of it, the only way to make it better was her own physical conditioning. She'd been forced to spar with Azula a lot as a child, so she'd learned and trained in all the known forms of Sozin Style she could find, despite not being a fire bender. It helped her understand and predict how a fire bender would attack in a fight. Though, it used to be called Imperial Style, it was the only surviving fire bending style in this day and age.

There used to be many many more, Ty Lee had learned all about the old styles of fire bending in school. But, they were done away with during the start of the hundred year war, all of their most offensive techniques being brought together into one full out fire bending style designed for war.

There were weapons, but they would just get in the way of her chi blocking and make her weaker in the end.

"Not for most, but do you think I wouldn't help you get stronger if you wanted?" he tilted her head up so she could see him grinning down at her, he brought up his other and the air shimmered around it as a small light green crystal sphere appeared in his palm, within the small crystal sphere, was a small bird, a Sparrowkeet. She recognised it quickly, it had landed on the edge of the basket of the hot air balloon, and after Zan had fed it, he had been able to tame it.

Ty Lee was wondering why he was showing it to her, before he pressed it against her breast. His hand glowed, and something rushed through Ty Lee. It was her chi, surging through her, up to her breast, culminating where the sphere was pressed against her. And then it was just gone from Zan's hand and Ty Lee felt intimately as Zan's own chi, wild, chaotic, overwhelming strong...yet comfortably warm. She could feel the Sparrowkeet right down to her very soul, feel a connection threading between her chi and Zan's.

..And she felt a decent bit stronger to. Her chi had grown quite a bit, and she felt a much light. It wasn't an incredibly massive amount really, but it was large enough for her to notice right away thanks to the fact that she was well aware of her own body's abilities thanks to the type of training she went through to master chi blocking growing up. And even more than that..she just knew instinctively that she could summon the Sparrowkeet from inside her, the same way Zan did with Mong and Simba before.

"What...did you do?" she asked, suddenly panting very deeply as the rush of it all left her body and she felt really exhausted all of a sudden.

"A little experiment," Zan responded, the hand on her head trailing down to stroke her cheek, "I wanted to prove to you how I felt about you. My ability to tame beasts is linked to my soul itself. So if I connect it to your soul, that means our souls are linked right?"

..Eh? Ty Lee blinked as she comprehend his words. There souls were linked!? "D-doesn't that sound like marriage?!" she sputtered. "No, more than that even!!" her face felt really warm and her fingers were all jittery, her breathing becoming shaky.

"Not quite, I can take it out whenever you want really," he shrugged, "But as long as you don't want it to, we're connected at the very soul. That's how serious I am about you. Azula, Mai? I don't give a shit about them. I'll say it again, Ty Lee is best girl, I'll fight anyone to prove that point."

..That was enough for her. "You big idiot you didn't need to go that far to prove your point!" despite her words though, Ty Lee wrapped her arms around him tightly, hugging him with all newly increased strength, "..But thank you."

Nobody had ever treasured her like this. It made her feel like the only girl in world. She never wanted to let go of this feeling. As long as she had this, she didn't really need anything else.