========= Part 46 - Injuries ==========
I had heard so many stories about how people working in the mines lost their legs and blocked their access to the magic of the earth forever. During my time working in the mine, this was a favourite scare tactic used by the guards and former workers: "You'll lose your legs, lose your job, become useless and drink yourself to death," they warned, urging us to protect our knees and feet more carefully than our hands and even our heads, because everyone knows that magic depends on both posture and contact with the earth. Although, if you look deeper, it was, of course, a matter of qi, which could flow into the ground much more easily if it was in contact with it. It is no coincidence that even Boomi continues to rely on them, even though he himself has achieved incredible heights in levitation. It is a pity that damage to the limbs also damaged the qi points.
Some magicians could lose control of their qi even if a pebble hit the place where their magic came from — remember the explosion magician with a huge vulnerable spot in the middle of his forehead? Others could be completely stripped of their abilities if a vertebra was slightly damaged. That is why it was so important to develop the body and not forget about physical training, as it was too easy to lose one's magic through some foolish mistake... In my case, one of the most unpleasant situations occurred: sitting on a chair in some house of a huge ruined temple, holding my feet, hardened by walking on bare stones, sharp pebbles and hot sand, in a basin of water, I realised that the qi in my feet had deteriorated quite a bit. I could have lied to this guy who was now sitting off to the side, hugging his knees and shyly staring in my direction, and no fight would have happened, and I would not have been injured. And there, with the help of spirits, it would be possible to heal injuries of this kind — although this would require investing all my free time exclusively in taming them. But even so, giving up further development of the limiting chakras for the sake of strength is not such a bad idea.
"I don't have any more water, so I'll just cool the water we have. Don't stick your feet out of it and tell me if it starts to hurt, okay? "Katara, sitting in front of me, was extremely agitated as she helped me correct my personal mistake. After realising that Tai Lee and I weren't enemies after all, they became closer and tried their best to help the hero who had saved them. Aang apologised for his emotional outburst and began to blame himself — at this rate, it would become much more difficult for him to open the chakra of guilt and shame. Yes, he had to resolve this somehow and calm everyone down.
"Listen, do you know any healing techniques?" Keeping a smile on my face, trying not to upset Aang even more, I looked at Katara.
"Hmm? I don't think so," she shook her head thoughtfully. Apparently, she would discover such skills in herself much later, and I didn't remember any scrolls with healing abilities, but I knew for sure that the ones in the library didn't contain any information about restoring qi points. This knowledge was only available at the North Pole, so it didn't really matter whether she could restore my legs with basic healing magic or not, as I would only be able to get a real cure from the masters. But I wouldn't mind getting help anyway, so I asked Afka, who remembered perfectly how to use this wonderful type of water magic, which had nothing to do with killing, and after retelling the basics to Katara, she first gave me a very surprised look, and then she started trying to repeat everything by hand. "How is that possible...
Her hands, immersed in the basin of water, slowly glowed, and I felt a pleasant chill running down my feet, causing a tingling sensation.
"It's a very rare gift, of course, if you don't teach it deliberately," Afka blinked, looking importantly at Katara's achievement. "She was lucky to be able to repeat the technique with such ease.
In the canon, she mastered it without any techniques or advice. She may be self-taught, but she is extremely gifted.
"Look, Aang, I can heal!" she finally began to boast, slightly lifting the Avatar's spirits, who began to think that he could be put back on his feet, and even wanted to tell Sokka, but he went to look for food.
"So, are you okay now?" asked Aang, approaching her and looking at the floor, extremely embarrassed.
"Well, how should I put it... you have nothing to worry about," I replied. I was the one who should be worried, because what if I lost my hands or couldn't move at all due to some unfortunate accident? How could I deal with situations like this in the future and not let myself be hurt? Well, I knew one half-measure, of course, but it wouldn't help if I lost a limb, and any other situation could be completely different. I had to master healing techniques myself!
Getting to my feet, I showed that it didn't hurt so much to walk now. However, the magic really did start to work worse: pulling stones out of the ground, lifting sand without moving, all of this started to feel really bad. Although the techniques that required only hand control did not weaken at all, because if you think about it logically, do I need contact with the ground to use my powerful levitation? No. Do I need it to control the sand that just flies around me and drives the wind? The answer is the same.
It turned out that all this could be fixed somehow, and I could even find a way to use earth magic to its fullest without using my legs. Well, that's what I thought, because all actions, poses, and direct contact could be replaced by qi control, even if it required some extra concentration. The main thing is to experiment! I say this as a man who has no chance of salvation.
"Hey, stop him! - At that moment, Sokka reappeared, chasing some kind of animal, eager to eat it. It jumped on Aang and hid behind his back." "Oh, well done, Aang, just don't move, or you'll scare away our dinner!"
"It's a winged lemur! I thought we'd be unlucky and wouldn't find it at all. I'm not used to such luck; I would have had to search for it myself, and it would have taken a lot of time. Apparently, Aang's luck is better than mine, but at least he finally calmed down and turned his attention to someone else.
Tie Li, in turn, became interested in Katara's healing technique, and they started talking, while my legs slowly recovered. Then they told us that they were going to the North Pole, where they planned to study water magic with Aang. Even such details remained the same, which was very pleasing. I wouldn't have to come up with anything else to follow them.
"Can I come with you?" I smiled, suddenly attracting the attention of the whole group. "There are master healers at the North Pole, they could completely solve my problem with my legs.
Not a bad motivation.
"...Actually, I wanted to suggest it myself," said Aang, hiding his lemur. "If you study the heritage of the nomads and even learn their techniques, I would be very happy to continue our conversation.
"Besides, he's an earthbender," Katara nodded.
"Not just an earthbender, did you see how he fought the mad Aang?! He created a fucking iron golem, we have to take him with us! "And even though Sokka drew his sister's extremely unfavourable gaze, receiving a water whip on his backside for mentioning how Aang lost his temper, everyone agreed," "But I would like to ask one more question: Katara is a waterbender, I am the strongest warrior in the world... what can you do?But then everyone focused on Ty Lee. She stood innocently with her hands behind her back, not standing out much. After Sokka's question, she just smiled, interested in his statement about the "strongest warrior," walked over and poked him in the chest a couple of times, so quickly that he didn't have time to blink.
"Hm, what... What's happening to me? - His body began to soften until he turned into a puddle unable to control his body." "Witchcraft! That's not fair, I wasn't ready."
"The strongest warrior was defeated by a girl," Katara said mockingly and shook Tai Li's hand wholeheartedly, "I'm sure we'll be friends."
In the end, we stayed there for a while longer, chatting. Momo, a clever lemur who realised that befriending humans would be an excellent move, brought us some food. After that, we were introduced to a flying bison named Appa, who breathed very badly in our direction when we first met, but it was no problem to make friends with him.
"Hello, my dear aeroplane," I said breathlessly, touching his nose and conveying all the respect I felt for him. And he was huge — this little animal was unlikely to break down, and it was unlikely that the hot steam pipe would fly off. In short, it was a much safer form of transport than a ship. And you could get anywhere in the world on it, and it only ran on food. Realising that I was about to kiss it, Appa hovered for a second, then looked away, embarrassed. "Who's a good boy? Well? Who's a good flying bison?
"Hey, why is Appa acting so strange?" Sokka whispered to Aang.
"I have no idea. This is the first time I've seen him like this.
We were invited to climb onto his saddle. The bison's fur was incredibly soft and warm, and to our surprise, the wind was extremely weak in that spot. It turned out that Appa was changing the air currents around him to prevent us from falling off, which was another plus for this mode of transportation. As a result, Aang, wanting to surprise us, said a code phrase, and the bison took off. We flew up.
"Finally. I've been waiting for this day for a long time, and I'm extremely glad that it went according to plan," I said, smiling quietly and looking at the main tower with the Avatar statues, which Aang never visited. Nevertheless, I felt an unpleasant pressure on my heart. It was unpleasant to realise that they had still activated and warned the world of the legend's return, which meant that from now on, life would become more dangerous.
And then there was the leg injury... I had to decide which path to take.
"Attention, our next destination is Kioshi Island! I promise you'll like it there!" Aang smiled as he opened the map and pointed to a small dot.
"No," I said, and my sharp statement made everyone freeze. Sokka frowned.
"Hey, Aang is the boss here, and I'm second in command.
"Eh... your knowledge of the world is extremely outdated. Kioshi Island is now empty, and many territories are occupied by the Fire Nation. You shouldn't even show your face there. If you want Aang to become stronger as quickly as possible, I can optimise your route.
========== Part 47 - Chin vs. the Avatar. Revenge ==========
In adjusting Aang's path, namely in finding the optimal route, there was a small problem called people who could be helped. As it happened, if he wasn't in such a hurry to get to the North Pole and made stops along the way, Aang would have saved many lives, take, for example, the case of the would-be rebel who who wanted to destroy a dam and flood an entire settlement with soldiers and civilians. This event would have happened even without us, but it was Aang who stopped him. Of course, it was necessary to understand that such cases were commonplace. Our conqueror of the four elements encountered them not because he was "lucky," but because such things were happening everywhere, and people needed help. However, it was simply impossible to succeed everywhere and win the war at the same time. Aang is basically a smart, reusable nuclear warhead, but the problem is that he's alone.
"Do you understand, Aang? You must focus on your own development," I said, and the people sitting on Appa seemed lost after my short speech explaining the global situation. Yes, I still wanted him to focus on spirits and not get involved in solving global conflicts he knew nothing about, but that didn't quite fit into the worldview of humanity, for whom the Avatar was the saviour of everything and everyone.
"But I haven't been in the world for over a hundred years... If Master Gyatso and the others were right, I must help this world find harmony," said the altruistic boy, not understanding one important factor.
"Indeed, he is needed in this world," agreed the equally kind waterbender.
"So he's needed? Then take command of the numerous troops and help all the people in all corners of the world at once. Don't let the rebels in different parts of the continent accidentally kill anyone with their stones while defending important cities from the army of fire, that way you'll help them much better," Aang buried his head in his shoulders at my seemingly calm and measured but oppressive tone. And while no one took offence at the stranger who had suddenly started giving orders to everyone... "I will help them. Not alone, of course, but I have enough experience in strategy to understand who needs to be given what orders. The kings and commanders will listen to me.
"Really? Who are you that kings would listen to you?" Sokka asked sceptically.
Even Ty Lee narrowed her eyes in intense interest, but that was exactly what I was aiming for. Since there was no point in hiding information from the people here, I boldly shared information about the Lotus Order, especially how they had helped the Avatar for hundreds of years. When the group heard that I was also a member of the order and that minor military conflicts could, in fact, be referred to us, everyone calmed down abruptly and looked at me in a new light. Tai Li pretended that she had always known this and nodded her head in an extremely amusing manner.
"So that's why you wanted to meet Aang," Katara put the pieces of the puzzle together, slowly smiling. "Now we understand everything.
"Yes, it makes sense that the Avatar has his own order dedicated to helping him, since he is reborn every time and always has to learn the basics from scratch," Sokka nodded importantly, touching his chin with his fingers. "Actually, I'm curious, how old are you?"
"Fifteen," Tai-Li said with a smile, while those around her blinked.
"Sixteen," he added dryly, causing them to freeze completely. What can I say, I took care of my skin and constantly used various ointments to look younger, but life is too harsh. Nevertheless, upon learning that we weren't that different in age, Aang was delighted. He enjoyed sitting with his peers, and that's when he made his first mistake by asking them to show him a couple of earthbending tricks. He was particularly interested in metal, and the little one began to believe that all earth mages now possessed it, or at least the particularly powerful ones, while Katara and Sokka, being quite isolated, didn't even know what branches of earth magic existed. Well, a hundred years had passed, huge ships and advanced technology had appeared, so magic must have developed too, right? Not so fast — first of all, metal was my only trump card against Aang, and secondly, I made it clear to the idiot that he should develop everything in order: first water, then earth, and finally fire.
To be honest, Afka was the one who pushed me to do the last one. She said that this would create balance in his body, just like with chakras, which you can't just skip over, or you'll only slow down your development and understanding of magic. So I decided that if I was going to teach Aang anything, it would only be his view of the world.
And Afka, since she was so smart, was simply sent to the library for scrolls on water magic.
***
In order to use the advantages of being a member of the Lotus, we first needed to find the location of the order, and the good news was that we were able to quickly reach a familiar settlement where there was already one. In general, I never ceased to be amazed at the speed and convenience of Appa compared to the same sea serpent. I even made a special whistle for him — it just so happened that Aang didn't have one at the moment, but he would probably find it somewhere later. Since I had a book, I recreated a working copy using a piece of wood. Now we could leave the bison in the forest behind the settlement and call him from a long distance. This was important because the place where we stopped didn't really like the Avatar.
"Look, there are posters of Avatar Kyoshi everywhere!" Wandering around the village of China and staring at the many objects of "adulation" (at least that's how my companions saw them), I was extremely surprised at how this place had changed. People didn't seem so angry and didn't get rude over the slightest thing, and when asked about Avatar, they responded with a smile and satisfaction. Why? The answer was on the posters themselves." "Wait, what does that say?
"Take part in the competition and defeat Avatar? - Blinking in confusion, we headed for the main square, where crowds were gathering. There I saw a very familiar scene: people had erected statues of Kioshi and Roku, placed tables with Pai Sho boards in front of them, and were simply playing the most complicated games.
"Oh, do I see new faces at our annual Avatar defeat contest? - A familiar man suddenly bumped into us - the mayor of this town, who used to be an extremely toxic and nasty person. Funny that he didn't recognise me. His words made Aang and his friends swell up." "Would you like to play Pai Sho today, where we prove that the Avatar is nothing more than a show-off who can only brag about his magic? You two, the guy with the tattoos and the man with the scars, look like monks. It's obvious you know how to play. Take the empty seats.
The next moment, he took Aang and me by the hands and, before we could say anything, led us to a stone table with chips already laid out on it. Of course, my new friend was simply stunned, but the rest... were surprised, and then could barely contain their laughter.
"Actually, I am Ava..." the gloomy Aang began to explain, but the mayor was unrelenting.
"The winner will have the opportunity to meet the spirit of Chin, who is wreaking havoc in the sea, and calm his anger. Good luck," he said, tossing it out like some insignificant detail, making us frown.
But if Aang just didn't like the situation, then I wondered about the meaning of the words. The spirit of Chin again, could they be talking about Unagi? Why do they want to appease his anger, he didn't even touch them... or, after the situation with Kioshi Island, did the snake get angry?
In any case, even if I wanted to check, I was now focused on the board, and our companions were focused on the two of us. Aang, as he himself said with dissatisfaction, really knows the rules of Pai Shao, after all, it was the nomads' favourite pastime, but it turns out he's not very good at playing. Master Gyatso preferred to entertain him with other games and told him to go to hell when he played the boring board game.
"Wait a minute, what did your beloved Master Gyatso teach you?
"Oh, to play aeroball, to create funny tricks with air magic and to have fun. The other Masters were always grumbling and tormenting us with their books.
Remembering the master he sincerely respected, Aang's mood skyrocketed. But the more he talked, the more my jaw dropped — the boy loved him simply because Gyatso spoiled him and let him play all the time, while the others tried to turn him into a knowledgeable and skilled monk. Yes, even with such training, he got his arrow tattoo, which signified great mastery of airbending, but in essence, it was the achievement of the spirit that sat within him. Did he know how to do anything else? Well, considering how I beat Aang at Pai Sho with a blank expression, literally without thinking about any of my moves, the answer would be no. Amazing carelessness.
This opened my eyes to the fact that Aang probably didn't think about how to use magic correctly. He was great at memorising techniques and creating powerful moves, but he couldn't think during battles. When Sokka, who didn't know the rules, wanted to play with Aang, I quickly explained the details, and even HE, albeit with difficulty, was able to defeat the bald novice on his first try. And all because he had more tactical thinking — although, to be honest, he was terrible at it too.
Of course, it's not Aang's fault, it's just that his teacher was extremely bad. He needed to focus on training.
"Ty Lee, I'm going to step away. Keep an eye on them," I nodded to the girl and walked along the players, then sat down at the very end. To the white-bearded old man, with whom very few people wanted to play, and who was just staring intently at the board. Picking up a specific piece for a second, he immediately placed it in the centre. And I responded.
"It's been about a year, Dagoth," said the only member of the order in the entire district in a matter-of-fact tone.
"Exactly a year, Master Pai," we began an unremarkable game at first glance and immediately started talking. "I need information about the location of healing mud baths. Preferably somewhere in the north of the continent.
"Want to heal your soul? No problem, I'll find out," he nodded, but nevertheless narrowed his eyes. "But maybe you can tell me something in return?"
"...Avatar is back," he nodded casually towards the guy with an arrow on his head, who was clutching his bald spot after every loss to the boastful Sokke. Master Pai immediately frowned, looked at the target with dissatisfaction and shook his head.
"A child? You must be joking!
Of course, a man who praised Chin the Conqueror did not take this news as something positive. But Pai was sensible enough to take me seriously and quickly assured me that he would pass the information on to the other members of the Order. I wasn't worried about the leak — the enemies must have already known everything. Although I immediately grimaced as if I had drunk a glass of fresh lemon juice followed by tequila. Disrespect for the Avatar in all its glory.
After discussing some more news, I learned, among other things, that Unagi had really started to run wild after the village of Kioshi was deserted. Ships were being sunk at a rapid rate, no one could go fishing, and if you looked closely, the people around were somewhat emaciated due to lack of food. They played with exceptional concentration, as if the winner would be able to solve the dilemma... however, it was pointless, I knew that old Pai would defeat them all and in the end, the responsibility for the task would fall on him. Well, almost... We finally finished playing, and I got to my feet to find a place to rest while Master Pai gathered information for me. "You've grown," I said, turning my back to him, and the old man looked at our board with a cheerful smile. "For the first time in the last ten years, someone has beaten me at Pai Sho."
Smiling, I made it clear to him who would take care of the sea dragon.
"I trained every day.
"Hey," he called out one last time, making me pause for a second. "Chin has a worthy successor. Remember, this training will give you more control over the situation. Don't envy the strength of those who possess everything but have no control over themselves. Rely only on yourself..."
He continued to glance sideways at Avatar, and even though he couldn't see into his soul, his words did just that.
***
"Ha-ha-ha, what an excellent day it was today, and an even more excellent holiday! Sokka, walking through our camp, threw some wood on the fire with great joy and spread his arms with delight." "It's a pity we didn't stay in the village for the night, I would have loved to play Pai Sho all night long. It turns out I can beat the Avatar himself!
Yes, we stopped outside the settlement and built our stone houses here. The reason for this was the negative emotional state of one of us.
"Shut up, Sokka. You can see that Aang is not himself," Katara snapped at her brother and sat down next to the boy hugging his knees. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine... it's just sad to know that people think you're useless and that there's a whole holiday dedicated to humiliating your skills. Did even my past incarnations play Pai Sho that badly?
"It's not just Pai Sho, it's a game that shows your intelligence!
Sokka added fuel to the fire. Aang understood the meaning of the game perfectly, which is why he was feeling down. But was it really so bad that he couldn't think through his moves? Essentially, all he needed to do was learn all the elements and enter the Avatar state. In that form, he was hardly capable of thinking through plans, but strength was all that mattered. Unless he surrounded himself with armour so that no lightning could reach him, and voilà, he would be an almost immortal machine.
But Master Pai is right... Aang has already lost his mind once, and in the worst situations, he has no control over himself. By drawing strength from spirits, you make your position unstable. And instability is a feast for Misfortune.
"Aang, listen... Raising iron sand above my hand and shaping it into a specific form, I stared intently at the boy," "Your greatest strength is your ability to quickly gain power and use any magic, so all I can advise you is to deeply understand the basics, not just the elements, but what they all come from. It will allow you to control your emotions.
While those around me were completely baffled, I created a whistle resembling a snake in my hands. Standing on the edge of the cliff and letting out a silent whistle, the wind immediately blew towards me and began to ruffle my robe and hair.
"Believe me, the sooner you do this, the easier your life will be.
Splash*
Ra-a-a*
A giant snake-like dragon, which we had encountered before, leapt out of the water. My companions behind me immediately jumped back and covered themselves with their hands, as if their weak bodies could withstand even one blow from such a powerful and extremely angry beast.
"Are you sad because the people you swore to protect are gone? - he recognised me and narrowed his eyes predatorily. Water immediately began to bubble in his mouth." "Well, I can only say that you no longer have to serve the Avatar alone. Try to find a purpose in protecting someone else.
My legs were still almost numb, so pushing myself forward with a pebble to reach my goal was a challenge. But an experienced mage can find a substitute for anything, so, surrounding himself with particles of sand, he broke away from the ground and in a second flew to the head of the tall snake, touching its forehead. The beast, once subordinate to Kioshi herself, was suddenly calmed by the hands of a pathetic little man. Levitating gently a few centimetres above its neck, with my hands crossed over my chest, I no longer felt any envy for the Avatar's power, for I had not only defeated him once, but also subjugated the creature that served him. And all because I understood magic much more deeply.
========== Part 48 - Adaptation of Air Magic ==========
I had long since realised that all people were fundamentally different, that what could inspire and be a source of pride for me did not surprise others in the slightest. Reading emotions makes it easier to understand such individuals, but to accept their views... no, that is beyond good and evil. The demonstration of the ability to "tame," which was supposed to influence the Avatar, set him on a new path of development and discovery of the fullest form of energy magic, was wasted. Aang was more impressed by my ability to fly, how I could hover in the sky and move freely in three dimensions without any special equipment, sticks or powerful air currents. Well... this ability was also a source of pride for me, so I wasn't as upset as I could have been.Besides, it was Aang who inspired me to finally master it.
Levitation had long been my pride and joy, honed long before I even discovered my third chakra, and after that it reached a whole new level: I learned to lift more objects, throw them farther, spin them in any plane, and it would have been silly not to try surrounding myself with sand, pebbles, or metal to get off the ground. After all, I weigh much less than the stones I usually lift. The only problem was control. I can't wave my arms around like an idiot to keep myself in the air! The solution was pure qi control, which allowed me to control the earth without even touching it directly. Of course, this had its drawbacks, but with my legs in such bad shape, I simply couldn't see any other way out.
I had already thought about this once, but such an ability could hardly be called simple levitation. Looking now at how a pair of slightly pointed stones flying through the air fought Sokka, armed with a single boomerang, I realised that this was pure telekinesis. Only directed exclusively at things that contained earth.
"How am I supposed to fight them?!" " the "strongest warrior in the world" exclaimed in anger as soon as he lost to the stone swords. Again, I didn't move a finger to control them, which made even Aang clap his hands in admiration of my skill, expressing his desire to skip this beggarly water as quickly as possible and get down to earth. Of course, he didn't say that, but Katara was still offended that her element was being belittled so much, but she had to admit that my skill was far superior to her own.
The only problem was that to achieve this level of control, both the body and the mind had to be adapted. It was the most difficult skill I had ever seen, requiring some kind of epiphany to master, so Ty Lee helped me. She blocked some of my limbs, mimicking the effect of a degraded qi point, while I had to continue manipulating the energy at the right level. Yes, you could say I was developing immunity to qi blocking, because its greatest danger is that the flows within the body begin to flow in an unfamiliar way, you cannot control them and you lose your magic. The degraded points in my legs were doing exactly the same thing to my body. But it was SO difficult that complete mastery of this ability seemed impossible... but there was a living example that proved otherwise. Again, it was the explosion mage, who had already become somewhat familiar to me — he had learned to use magic without movement, and if I recall the second one, who was shown in Korre, he could even change the direction of his explosive beams, which is nothing short of excellent qi control. I had a hunch that this required Enlightenment.
I'm talking, of course, about the Illusion Chakra, information about which, as far as I knew, was hidden away in the clan of explosion mages. It turns out that now I need to get there even more, because without legs and with incomplete control of my qi, I won't be able to challenge the Avatar again, if the need arises. And then I remembered something important.
"Listen, Aang," I nudged the guy who was getting ready for bed, earning a look of complete incomprehension from him, and asked him point-blank, "What do you know about the Chakra of Truth? It's one of the legacies of the Air Nomads, maybe you can tell me about it?"
I was the only living source of information who had read Laghima's writings on the fifth chakra. If I didn't find out the details before Afka returned from the library, she would strangle me with her own hands and then start torturing the Avatar. But...
"Um. I think I read something like that, but I don't remember at all. I wasn't interested.
"...
As it turned out, Aang had not only skipped classes, but also had a poor memory. He had forgotten a great legacy.
Banana and onion soup up his arse.
***
Late at night, while the rest of our camp was fast asleep, I sat at a stone table set on a cliff and watched Unagi sleeping on the shore. My mind was racing with thoughts about the future and ways to gain power, because under the current circumstances, I would open the next chakra in about ten years, and that was under the best conditions, if I was good enough on the path to enlightenment.
Aang made it clear that he was unlikely to remember anything he had never actually studied. He hadn't even reread those works, because his beloved master wasn't a teacher at all, but just a upstart who had mastered airbending well, which is why he was given an arrow tattoo. Once again, I was extremely unlucky. The worst thing was that such bad luck was unlikely to be corrected in any way.
Shush* Top*
At that moment, I felt someone's light feet approaching. The person seemed to bounce elegantly with each step, and a second later, a woman's hand patted me on the shoulder. It was Tai Li, who had been more silent than involved in our lives lately.
"Are you sad?
"More like thinking... how about you?The girl put her hands behind her back and looked thoughtfully at the starry sky. The slight chill, the sound of the sea and the snoring of the sea dragon nearby created a unique atmosphere. Tai Li captivated me with her appearance and smile.
"It feels like I've become part of something bigger... it's cool. But being surrounded by such strong people makes me feel like a burden. Especially when Sokka is around, hehe," she said, scratching her cheek and trying to make a joke. But her emotions betrayed her: of course, she wasn't talking about Sokka and Katara, she could easily defeat those two even with her eyes closed, at least now... but later on, the difference would become less and less, and Ty Lee would continue to just jump around and hit them with her fingers, and comparing her to me and the Avatar was completely insane. Of course, I planned to introduce her to Kioshi, but now she wanted something else. "Listen, I really like your taming techniques, and this pure magic that, as you said, anyone can master. Maybe you can teach me?
Putting her hand on the back of her head, she blushed and looked extremely cute to me. But I simply didn't have time to enjoy her cute face. Instead, I froze and thought about what else I could do with the magic of simple chakras, because I knew only two things: taming animals and reading emotions, as well as finding a person or creature by their source of qi, well, like the statues in the Avatar tower. I had neither the time nor the desire to learn all the tricks, and here was Tai Li, who knew more about qi than I did. Who knows what she could come up with and how she could diversify it. There was only one problem: I had to open my chakras.
But if I had helped Suyuki, it would have been a real mistake to refuse Tai Li.
"All right, sit down," I said, creating a chair out of the ground in front of me and making the girl assume the Lotus position. I smiled kindly at her. "We have a lot to talk about."
***
During lunch the next day, good news arrived. Master Pai had obtained useful information about healing mud springs that were only a couple of days away on a flying bison. When my companions learned that he was also a member of the Lotus, Aang quickly became excited and greeted him wholeheartedly, but in response he received a rather cold reception and quickly learned the cruel truth: the Lotus may have been created for the development of the Avatar, but after more than three hundred years of its existence, the goals of many had changed significantly, others had given up on the Avatar, and only half, if not less, would be happy to support Aang. The good news is that the other half supports me. Combining these two factors, we received ultimate help and secret information.
"I'm only telling you because I respect you. Certain rumours have begun to circulate," Master Pai said, looking me in the eye and narrowing his eyes cautiously. "The legacy of the air nomads has been found. A pile of things that weren't destroyed during the genocide. I pointed to the place on the map, but... It's all very strange.
"What, the nomads' things?!" Aang jumped up abruptly. "That's great! Dagoth, you're studying our heritage, we have to check out this rumour.
On the other hand, a bald kid with a stick up his arse was staring at me, looking extremely pleading. Master Pai was right, of course. Did the legacy of a dead nation become known when the Avatar was reborn? It was suspicious, very suspicious, but Aang would never forgive me if I refused. It was too personal for him.
"We'll be careful.
Nodding in gratitude to Master, we sat down on Appa and rode off into the horizon. Everyone was happy for Aang, but I wasn't the only one with suspicions. First Sokka, then Katara expressed their surprise at this turn of events, but there was nothing we could do to change it. Aang pointed blindly at the highlands ahead of us and said he wanted to see everything with his own eyes.
"I will show you many of our rituals, Dagot. And also prayers that are impossible without certain things, with which we appease the spirits and honour the memory of our ancestors. By the way, would you like to switch to our diet? Believe me, a person can live on tofu alone for their entire life.
"Why punish yourself like that?" Sokka blinked in confusion, and I agreed with him. However, Aang was in high spirits, so he didn't get upset and even moved from the buffalo's head to the saddle to be closer to me.
"Would you like me to show you a couple of nomad techniques? - I liked the kind and simple-minded Aang even more. However, the problem was teaching me something I didn't know. As it happened, I already knew the simple techniques, such as using sticks to accumulate energy, creating tornadoes and spheres, and even blades, and I had practised them so thoroughly that I had almost become a master, only the tattoos were missing. But I couldn't blow streams of air out of my mouth to manoeuvre more easily — learning to vomit sand was a powerful idea, but it was unlikely to work. "Hmm, maybe tricks then?
In the end, deciding that I absolutely had to show off the techniques of his friend Gyatso, he created a stream of wind that carried a simple pebble. Without any earthbending skills, he moved it at extremely high speed, allowing it to leave a trail behind it. And then I thought: Aang enhances his techniques with simple wind. He accelerated the flight of stones, so logically he should be able to enhance fire, and this trick of his, if adapted, could be used to shoot stones at tremendous speed. Wind is a powerful thing. And a shock wave is even more powerful.
"One second," I said, and took the jammonite rings out of my bag and grew a couple of large blanks. They hung over my hand, and behind them, as if preparing to give them a push, a sphere of sand gathered, which even began to emit electronite, building up enormous pressure. It should work — I would use not just the wind currents, but a single powerful blow, thereby adding acceleration. But a normal shock wave spreads in all directions, and I had never managed to create a directed blow, nor was there any point in doing so. But now, I could hardly throw anything a long distance with brute force; I had to learn to use a simple flow of chi. Discs were fine, but large stones would be a problem. Fortunately, there was a solution to this problem.
I asked Aang to demonstrate how he sends energy through his "veins" and how he creates a blast of air, and I analysed everything carefully. Yes, when he is not in his Avatar state, the energy is easy to read, and it was even possible to predict his movements, which is why I copied the airbender's technique. In a second, I saw and repeated it, concentrating the shock wave on one point of my projectile and sending it flying at such a high speed that the wind it created ruffled everyone's clothes, and no one could even notice how it disappeared. How is this different from a tank firing a shell? Well, in reality, there are many differences, but it looks similar!
"Nomadic techniques can really inspire you. Thank you, I look forward to our continued cooperation.
"Please... but now I'm curious, can I do that? - Looking at his hands, Aang innocently blinked.
***
Boom
The powerful footsteps of a flying bison crashed onto the bare rock, causing a violent tremor. The mountains surrounding us were at a truly incredible height, where air nomads could potentially live, but it couldn't compare to the Southern Air Temple.
"Are we there?" Aang squinted and looked around. As soon as he caught sight of something, he flew into the air and jumped over to some strange structure. "It's a stupa! The airbenders were here."