As expected, opening his third chakra was a matter that required no extra effort, long meditations, or staying on the brink of death, and if you don't count the first one — the easiest to open so far — the process was as unobtrusive as possible and made me accept one simple fact: all strong people are arrogant. Their sense of self-importance is so great that they can suppress emotions such as shame, but this happens in different ways. Azula, for example, may not really feel shame for belittling everyone else and elevating herself, which is indeed the case. Some people's arrogance is tied to a desire to protect their own swamp, for which they are willing to become monsters that scare everyone away — I'm talking about the big green guru Hugh, who, no matter what it may seem, believes this is inherently right, which means that his willpower burns so brightly that no one can extinguish it. Others, in turn, can start to evaluate themselves so well that they will feel contempt for all their mercenary, rude or any other actions that could cause problems for someone else, they may even become ascetics. Although all this can be described much more simply - the surrounding negativity and similar matters are no longer able to influence your opinion.
What does an improved flow of qi, so pure that magic itself is capable of undergoing changes, allow you to do? Well, just as the swamp guru Hugh realised that he could easily control plants themselves, even in large quantities, or just as Azula realised that she could develop the power of fire, I began to delve deeper into understanding the earth. I felt that the notorious force of gravity, which makes you tired when manipulating large amounts of matter, is not that strong. Levitating stones is actually a much simpler process, as is creating large structures that crumble under the force of gravity — although the latter also requires knowledge of geometry. From this, it became clear how Boomi was able to control huge masses of stones so easily. Subjectively, for him, stones are not that heavy.
Well, I would have time to learn more later; after all, the battle had just ended, and there were things to take care of. The retreating enemy fleet had abandoned its own people, and the angry townspeople, including the Warriors of Kioshi, wanted to deal with the prisoners of war. More than a hundred people were in the stone prison I had created, and none of them had died among the invaders — the martial arts of Kioshi were excellent at cutting people down, but if they had had katana swords, the situation would have been difficult, and I might even have had a tense conversation with Afka about the treaty with Wang Shin Tong. No, I was fighting a defensive battle, which was my main obligation under the agreement, and I didn't kill anyone myself, but we didn't define exactly what could be considered murder and what couldn't. I knew my duties: turning a person into a mummy is not murder, nor is destroying a life by driving someone into a deep depression. But what about the people around me, those who listen to my orders? Perhaps I had simply avoided this topic before because I hoped to escape responsibility.
Now everything has changed. That means we need to discuss everything seriously, but later. First, I had to deal with the decision about the prisoners, for which I needed Suyuki, who was... who knows where. Her loyal servants just mumbled when they spoke to me, and I had frightened the residents with what had just happened, so after walking around the island a bit, I found her on my own. In the dojo, literally on the veranda. The girl sat sadly, hugging her knees, staring meaningfully at the floor. I was very familiar with that difficult look. She was rethinking her life.
I sat down next to her, and she quickly noticed my presence. Without turning around, she exhaled deeply.
"I've thought a lot about why I'm trying to hold on to this place," she said, immediately deciding to surprise me with the topic she had brought up. "Maybe I was just waiting for the Avatar to arrive. I hadn't yet suppressed my childhood dreams, and I hoped that sooner or later I would be able to help fulfil the duty laid down by our ancestors. We exist only to help the Avatar, so maybe we really don't need to follow the old customs. But what can we do? Sometimes I don't even know how to command my own squad, let alone send it out into the big, scary world.
How could a little girl decide the fate of an entire village? Surely the thing she feared most in life was doing the wrong thing and ruining someone's life. The life of someone you know well, someone you've served with, or someone who is counting on you for protection. As long as you're in your comfort zone, such matters are fairly easy to control.
Slowly reaching out, I took Suyuki's chin, perhaps a little roughly but confidently, forcing her to look me in the eyes. Her face immediately twitched. But when she met my gaze, her body froze in an instant. Her eyes darted over the scars that were so close.
The history of the canon has proven one terrible thing: the children here possess enormous power, and they shape history. And as far as I'm concerned... they only have two options.
"Do you want to become the leader of the squad, relying on other people to make decisions? Ask for help, and I'll make this village a place no one can penetrate... or say that you'll do everything yourself, and then I'll bring you books on strategy and tactics so you can improve your leadership skills.
The girl sniffed, her eyes welling up.
"I want to be strong," she said in a trembling voice, opening her heart. "It's incredibly difficult to live here. We eat roots from the northern part of the island, and even then we have to trade fish with the mainland. We haven't been completely isolated for a long time. And yet we still have terribly harsh living conditions, and disease strikes many people. At times, it seems that we are only living a semblance of life. I want to make life better for my people and move to the mainland, but I know literally nothing about the world. Please save the village, us... me, from this life.
The girl refused to remain in her destructive position, seeing the light and realising that the asceticism that everyone here was trying to practise was a path for the clergy — at least that's what the monks believe — but not for soldiers. Well... since I originally intended to put them all on the path of the White Lotus, I might as well open the gates to a wonderful world. Perhaps this is also my path to opening the fourth chakra?
"My first decree will be to kill all the soldiers of fire.
"Wait, don't let your independence get in the way of my decrees... - interrupting the emboldened girl, he caused a wave of indignation in her," - "Let's talk about this... tonight, okay? As soon as I sort a few things out. In the meantime, go and try to prepare your people for the long journey.
"What are you going to do? - following my figure as I stood up, she seemed very excited by this question.
"We have to decide where to put you all!
Coming up with an excuse on the fly, without even lying, I waved to the lady and went to my room. Afka, who was following behind me, already sensed that an important conversation was coming. Sitting down at the table in my cosy room, I asked the fox to sit directly in front of me, listened carefully to make sure there were no ears on the walls, and asked her point-blank about the murders.
"So you're interested in how to deal with prisoners of war? It might seem that, like Suyuki, I was unable to make a decision on my own. But dealing with spirits was a very delicate matter that had to be discussed with the spirits themselves, otherwise the slightest mistake would mean having to get out of a curse, or whatever punishment the spirit wanted to inflict on me. Putting on a serious face, she began to explain without her usual mockery, "Your agreement was to maintain the lifestyle of the air nomads, albeit with some concessions. You can fight non-defensive battles, go to the edge of what can be considered permissible... but any killing, except in accidents, will be considered a violation. However, your entourage does not belong to the nomads and has not signed the agreement. They may take a life in battle if it threatens their own, or go out under cover of night and slaughter prisoners, bypassing your demands. But if you give them such an order yourself, or could have stopped them but did not, Wang Shin Tong will find out. He will also find out if you lead them into an undefended battle — in which case, the responsibility for any killing will fall entirely on you.
This greatly... restricted me. Let's say I send Kioshi to train with the White Lotus. In effect, I am preparing an army that could easily take someone's life, and if that happens, it is a breach of contract. However, if they were only defending themselves, everything would be fine. Further conversation clarified that the responsibility did not always lie solely with me — I trained Tof, and she took it and crushed someone with a rock, not in self-defence, but for fun. Would that be my fault? No, Tof is not part of my army and cannot carry out direct orders. It turns out that in order to use Kioshi's army and turn it into a normal Lotus combat unit that would not only endure, I had to come up with a way out... and I had one. Even in the canon, all Kioshi have mastered the art of chi-blocking, which is essentially a non-lethal but very dangerous martial art that allows for aggressive, offensive combat.
The problem was that even I could only plan to meet with the only known master of this art at the time, and it was very difficult to talk about bringing her over to our side. But if that had happened... I would have had a unit I could rely on in any operation, knowing that they would not violate the treaty. Perhaps it's even good that they're not mages, because then it would be more difficult to control them.
Ah, control... I should have told Suyuki that I could give her access to a new life, but for that I would have to obey orders. Freedom to command a squad is one thing, but fighting is another. The easiest thing would be to just introduce them to Lotus and give them my personal writings. The girls were philosophically inclined and would develop a new point of view on their own.
"And they'll probably be able to stop the capture of Omasu..." Rubbing my chin, I continued to lay out the dominoes of my "Kyoshi" plan. It consisted of using these girls to prevent the Fire Clan from capturing strategic positions that were important to me. I didn't want the Fire Clan to be able to use these territories as leverage in further negotiations. I know the canon, and I simply won't allow that to happen.
A few hours later, I went to Suyuki and told her that killing the soldiers would be a bad strategic move. We needed to scare the enemy.
By the next morning, the villagers watched in horror as old men, crawling mummies, and people with one foot in the grave boarded a single ship and returned to their territory — this was the majority of the army that had attacked us. The ship turned into a ghost ship that could have been the setting for a real horror story. Zhao was supposed to intercept it along the way and then hand everything over to the command. This would trigger a serious manhunt for me, and at that very moment... I planned to disappear from the radar. At the height of his power, the sand mage would vanish and never be seen again. My real face was unknown in the ranks of the fire army, so I could pretend to be anyone. Heck, even the Avatar, whose face was known to everyone, managed to hide right under the Fire Lord's nose in the heart of his territory and throw a party.
With Kioshi at my disposal, I achieved the most important thing, a buffer for the future, which meant I could focus on opening the fourth chakra, which I understood the least, and learn about my element.
"Let's go, I'll take you to your new home," I said, leading the remaining soldiers who could operate the ship and all the residents who had already gathered their belongings and prepared to leave their homes after talking to Kioshi's leader onto the ship. At the end, he personally took Suyuki's hand and smiled pleasantly at her, making her blush. "I will show you the second most protected city in the Earth Kingdom, where they gladly accept any refugees and give them good jobs.
"The main thing is to get as far away from the village of China as possible," said the village elder who was passing by.
"Are you really going with us? Don't you have anything else to do?" asked the girl who had climbed aboard, surprised.
"I was planning to go back and head to the northern part of the continent, so I'm going your way. I don't want to walk for weeks. Besides... I haven't learned Kioshi's style yet," she said, seeming almost glad to hear the latest news.
"I'll be happy to continue your training," she said, looking away.