( he holds it out to her, palm-up. the scars are still ugly and always will be, but he's less concerned about aesthetics than functionality. having his bending back is the miraculous thing. )

Yeah. My firebending cuts in and out too. But the effects of what I do with my bending don't seem to disappear when I lose them. Fires I've started still burn, or if I shape something out of rock. I made a dock down at the lake yesterday, it's still there.

( honestly, he's a little sunburnt from all the fun he and konoha had in the water. it felt weird to just... let go, like that. he hasn't been a kid in so long he thought he'd forgotten how. )