[h2][center][color=B0E0E6]Eska[/color][/center][/h2]

[i]Inhale... Exhale...[/i] Eska breathed calmly, her eyes closed as she sat criss-crossed in her studio apartment. In front of her was a window from the floor to the ceiling, looking out over the city. The sunset glimmered off of the distant water and the buildings that stood between her home and the Yue Bay. A bowl sat in front of her that once possessed a small amount of water. That water now floated above it, moving in and out of it's three states. She took one final, deep breath; enough to fill her lungs. After doing so, she slowly exhaled. The water before her froze into a ball of ice, then slowly melted. Finally it began to shimmer in the light of the sunset as it began to steam, seemingly dissipating into the air around her. Her brows furrowed lightly as she took another deep breath, attempting to gather the water molecules she'd just released into the air back into it's liquid state. While she managed to gather a small drop or two of water, she did not gather as much as before.

Eska opened her eyes to look upon what she'd gathered, and subsequently let out a sigh. The water fell from the air, landing with a pitiful splash that barely touched the rims of the bowl. While she may have known plenty of ways to bend water, from steam to icicles to mini-tsunami waves, she'd taken up the task of learning to draw water from the air around her. Surely she would need to learn the technique if she was to become a master water bender. She pushed her hair back from her face and rested her elbow on her knee, staring down at the tiny pool of water. She couldn't wait to live in the Southern Water Tribe. There, she would finally have a master that could focus on her lessons. Here in the city, it seemed that everyone was dying to master their element.

The light of the sunset soon faded, and the moon shone much brighter than the lights of the city. Eska bathed in it's light for a few minutes before getting the urge to bend more than just a handful of water. She stood and grabbed her gym bag and keys, locking the door on her way out. Soon she was stepping out onto the street, breathing in the air of the city. She turned to the right and headed towards the gym where she worked, simultaneously putting her hair up into a thick bun. During the day, it was bustling with young prospective benders. There were lessons for every type of bender, ranging from a beginners level to a moderate level. Eska taught a basic water bending lesson to young water benders, and also taught a short class on the importance of being in balance with the spirits once a week. While it wasn't what Eska wanted to do for the rest of her life, it paid enough to live on and provided her with a free gym. Also, every now and then she sparred with other benders. Some of them training to be pro-benders. The job had plenty of perks.

Eska headed to an entrance that led straight into the gym. She'd been gifted a personal key by the owner, whom she knew only gave them out to special employees. She slipped quietly inside and flipped a switch next to the door. The lights flickered on, illuminating the decently sized room. It was similar to that of a pro-bending gym, with equipment for each type of bender to use. Mirrors lined wall on the far side of the room so that benders could see their form and adjust it themselves. The room itself was invisibly divided into five sections. Four sections with equipment for each element and one extra section for sparring. The gym sometimes had non-bending fighting lessons, and that section was usually meant for them to practice. The water bending equipment laid in the far right corner of the gym, and Eska set her bag down as she looked upon the section. It was nothing like the water bending gyms in the water tribes, but at night when the gym was closed Eska freely moved throughout the entire gym.

After a brief warm-up, Eska began to train. She pulled water from two buckets sitting in front of the mirrors, watching herself in the mirror as she gracefully moved throughout the gym. She practiced many techniques, at one point attempting higher level attacks on a target dummy. Within two hours, she'd worked up a sweat and worked through her urge to practice. She stepped towards her gym bag and pulled out a water bottle. As she chugged the water down, she swiped her hand across her forehead. The droplets of sweat clinging to her body were slowly pulled from her, shortly being deposited in a sweat towel nearby. After finishing the bottle of water, she sat down on a bench to catch her breath. She didn't feel tired yet, but she knew that she needed to pace herself in order to continue. [i]Only a few more months until I'm a master,[/i] she thought, feeling determined and excited for what was to come.

Beneath those happy feelings, though, Eska really had no clue what to do with her life. Would she continue to train benders, or would she try to get a job in the government like her father? She wouldn't mind being an advocate for either of the water tribes. From the way her father was beginning to talk, it seemed as if she wouldn't need to pick between the tribes after all. Could the two really merge, despite the issues that separated them during Avatar Korra's time? After all, the Southern Water Tribe had been independent from the North for years now. Her grandmother was a child during the Water Tribe's Civil War. Eska had listened to her stories countless times, thrilled yet terrified by the eyewitness accounts told by her nana. The avatar had been strongly against a unison Water Tribe, but the spirit portals connected the two now. Would a union of the two tribes really be all that bad in this age?