"One more time." The young man whispered to himself, sweat dripping down his face. He had to keep going until he fell over. he had to get this firebending stance right. It was one of the few advanced stances that he had learned so far, and he could definitely see why it was called such.

It had all started a few days beforehand when he, his firebending master, and the two White Lotus escorts arrived on Ember Island. They had to lay low to avoid Iluq and her forces, but with each and every passing day, the world got colder. They knew that much, and the White Lotus escorts wanted it to be known that they only had so much time before the inevitable final battle took place between the avatar and the self-proclaimed Queen of Frost. The conversation became so heated that Masaru stormed away and took it as a challenge to master the rest of the stances and techniques as fast as he could in order to proceed to the next element.

His fist shot out in front of him, producing a mighty blast of fire. Before the fire could dissipate, Masaru launched his other fist forward and pretended as if he had struck his opponent. His hands retracted back to his sides, his body spinning around and moving around the circle that was supposed to be where his opponent stood. he moved his hands quickly, making sure to scrape against one of the materials that he had collected during his travels. With the spark it caused, Masaru began to firebend again, his flames now a dark red with purple flames spouting from the base.

He continued his form quickly and ferociously, his colored flames still intact as he finished. 

He paused to take a deep and heavy breath. Several minutes passed before a word escaped his lips. "Again." he whispered, beginning the form once more. He was sure that his entire body was covered in sweat, as he had been practicing all morning and well into the afternoon.