========== 74 - Epilogue of the second volume ==========
Being blacklisted was a little unusual and even unpleasant, and here I did it twice in a row. First, I severed ties with arrogant ancient spirits who would surely never want to see me in their home again, and then I took responsibility for Ty Lee's intrusion.
To get to me, she knocked out several guards and caused a real commotion, and the incident itself woke the Chief. An ordinary person, far from a mage, was able to reach the most guarded place in the North. It's funny to think about it, even despite the fact that everyone except the Avatar is now forbidden to approach the source.
As for the spirits... they couldn't leave the source to stop me. Yes, perhaps they thought about sending the entire capital to meet Poseidon in order to kill me alone, but Anubis didn't warn me about anything like that. Perhaps Tui managed to persuade her other half not to do so, or Aang, who remained there, somehow managed to smooth things over. It doesn't really matter.
"I'm sorry I got you into trouble," Tai Lee said sadly, under temporary house arrest.
"Trouble? I don't give a shit about access to the spirit world, without you I would have been finished!
I quickly calmed her down and explained the situation, as well as the reason why I had to call her. I was intrigued by the possibility of spiritual communication, without which it would have been impossible to contact Tai Li. The girl herself was also curious to understand what it was, so we spent part of the night exploring this ability, with Afka helping us figure out the details.
Mutual support filled us with strength. And reading intentions, emotions, maybe even talking — all of this will come in handy when we go our separate ways. Of course, Tai Li, who had already become attached to me, didn't like this very much, but she calmed down when she realised that we could now always contact each other. A long list of tasks kept her busy and prevented her from feeling sad.
Early in the morning, we began training outside. Master Pakku was waiting for us by the fountain in front of the chief's palace. Airo was already drinking tea in his company, but when he saw us, the old man frowned slightly. Someone else had also been punished for the recent incident, so he was angry. And considering who he was going to teach...
"I will not teach anyone except the Avatar..." Oh yes, I was waiting for that. He had already been told what to do, but in reality, the situation was more complicated: Airo had managed to arrange for me to train alongside the Avatar. I knew the waterbenders' moves and practised them skilfully, and after they found out that I had five chakras, there were no problems at all. But this went against all customs, even though he was a member of the Lotus and, in theory, shouldn't have to worry about such things. That's why Airo agreed to a compromise," But if you defeat me using the waterbenders' style, I'll think about it... even if that "someone" is a girl.
"What a nasty old man," Katara grimaced as Aang listened indignantly and supported his friend. Well, if it weren't for Airo, the boy would have tried to leave, so I didn't see any problem with that. Besides, Katara had learned well under my tutelage, and as for me... how could I possibly lose to a three-star mage?Stepping out onto the smooth square, which had been used many times for sparring, Katara was the first to face Master Pakku. She really wanted to punch someone in the face for the local traditions, and this couldn't help but attract a crowd. Girls, men, and even princesses from other countries! Yes... Azula was here too.
"How amusing, I've never seen such a circus before. On the one hand, tyranny, and on the other, an attempt to break stupid local traditions. Who should I root for?
"No one. I just want to see how the Sand Mage will use the water style," added Mei. There were probably as many people around as there were in the arena where Toph was performing, and, frankly speaking, no one understood how a girl and a single earthbender from the North Pole could defeat Master Pakku himself. Well... it was time to surprise them.
Katara's movements may have resembled those of a simple water mage, but I must admit that I taught her how to be a sand mage. Quick and smooth movements were used to constantly change the aggregate state: from fluid and unified to solid and durable, and then to something disintegrated, resembling separate grains of sand, or, in human terms, a gaseous substance. Still, it wasn't for nothing that I taught Katara to train on clouds.
She may have lacked fighting power, but her versatility in using water had increased significantly: intercepting a flying stream that could easily knock down even an elephant, Katara created a solid ice wall from it, which was used to block a couple of attacks. The fog that formed around Pakku began to quickly condense on his body and restrict his movements, which the girl took advantage of, sending a couple of water rings his way.
It was powerful, but not enough; clearly, she lacked skill. She could have won with just the fog, but her movements and skills were not refined enough. She would have lost in skill and mobility if she hadn't created water tentacles on her hands, which she began to manoeuvre around the battlefield. The simplest technique I had learned back in the cave was now her highest level of skill, but no one said it was a weak technique. Quite the contrary.
"Agh!" Pakku cried out as soon as his hand was slashed by an icy blade. Then his limb was grabbed and he was thrown to the ground, where Katara pinned the mage to the floor. Victory? Is she stronger than a three-star mage? No. Pakku regained control from the arrogant girl and pinned her to the floor. But it was beautiful," "It wasn't bad, but you're still a girl. All you could do was leave a wound on me.
"Maybe. But I took care of you and already healed it," she arched her eyebrows, and the man looked at his perfectly intact arm. The wound had already healed. "At least say thank you. I'm distracted by your condition right in the middle of a fight. And admit that a novice mage made you sweat.
Frosty mist, quick movements, cunning tricks... all the men watching looked away, unwilling to admit that they would have lost to such a mage.
"It doesn't matter, you lost!" Looking at the dejected girl, he narrowed his eyes sharply. "What is that amulet?"
Oh, I somehow forgot... in my eagerness to make sure that my student was not inferior to the renowned mage, I somehow overlooked the fact that these two had the same family tree. Katara is the granddaughter of the best master in the North! Upon learning this, Pakku began to doubt his decision, and while the girl was puzzled that her disgusting grandfather, as she called him, had the same blood as her, Katara was already accepted as a student. Damn nepotism.
What a pity, I wanted to settle everything with a fight. Well, after their short conversation and clarification of family relations, which I didn't bother to listen to, it was my turn. And Pakku no longer looked so friendly.
"You're hardly my grandson, so don't expect me to be kind to you.
"Yeah, yeah, go ahead and show off," I said, pulling a small amount of reddish sand out of the pumpkin on my back, instantly making Pakku smile and put up a water shield in front of him.
"Your sand will be useless against me, you're weak here!
Crack-crack*
In the blink of an eye, the termite I had raised caught fire and immediately delivered a thermal blow to Pakku's shield. If he hadn't managed to turn the water into ice, I would have hit him very hard, most likely leaving a painful burn.
"What is this... is this sand?! - However, his smirk disappeared when he saw that even though it was covered in ice, my thermite continued to burn and melt. No amount of water or low temperatures could extinguish or stop the iron fire.
"Hey, Pakku... if you knew how to heal yourself, it wouldn't hurt now.
"What? What are you talking about?
Suddenly breaking free from the ice, the thermite struck the mage in the chest, who was unable to dodge, and knocked him to the ground. He couldn't even stand up, it was too painful. What can I say, I was ruthless — the healers who rushed over began to restore his body in an instant, and he just glared at Aang and Katara's condemning looks.
"Hot," Azula smiled.As the healers soon reported, the man had no burns, only a severe blow. The thing was, I could not only disperse the fire, preventing it from heating my stone, but also prevent the heat from being transferred to someone else by holding or even quickly cooling a certain area. When Pakku quickly came to his senses and realised this, he tried to claim that I wasn't using the style of waterbenders. I hadn't even moved, which meant I was cheating. I didn't want to argue, but I managed to prove him wrong by demonstrating the movements, during which the element I controlled moved like water. He shut up and admitted defeat.
What can be said about the waterbender's mentoring? Katara and Aang didn't seem to complain, but it was difficult to teach me new techniques because there were so few of them, so I had to work on improving the ones I had already learned. Although it's hard to call it practice, I just brazenly copied the master's energy flow and adapted it to myself — learning from someone who has two fewer open chakras than you is not difficult at all, but it is useful.
Afka even made a brief comment about this:
"You copy knowledge almost the same way Master Wang Shi Tong does. Only you get the information directly from people... excellent.
When the Master was busy, we didn't waste time and went to hone our healing skills. No, I didn't have to chase away the local old women and girls, or even fight them for the right to hone my healing techniques.
Just by showing that I too knew how to heal, but with the help of dirt, I caused a storm of emotions and immediately became a student. And that was even more interesting — I took notes on every lesson as if I were in class with a teacher who could fail me. One thing was strange. For some reason, I myself became the subject of research.
"We will ask Dagoth to undress so that we can test the method of accelerated wound regeneration on a real body," I felt like I was in the middle of a pack of hungry lionesses. Girls of all ages, including Katara, looked at me expectantly, as if I were a specimen for research.
"Come on, Dagoth. You love to learn, so you love to undress," Katara said to me as sarcastically as Master Pakku had done. I couldn't believe her ancestry; she was just like him.
"That saying has a different meaning," I blurted out, nevertheless enduring the terrible torment. Even with my deep knowledge of qi, I managed to learn a lot of new things: how to preserve qi points and prevent them from being destroyed; how qi causes the body to regenerate; and I even delved into the opposite of this technique: drying.
"Attempt number twenty," I said, standing late at night in the empty backyard of the mansion and looking at a small snowball I had made, not to build a snowman, but to surround my target with sand. "Drying can be just as diverse as healing... if I create this technique, new doors will open for me.
Clenching my fists and feeling my connection to the element of earth, which had become even stronger after the opening of the fifth chakra, an amazing picture appeared before me. Standard sand, which previously could only absorb moisture unintentionally and without my desire, now began to completely absorb water only after a signal. But if I had absorbed such a volume of liquid before, I would have simply lost control over the element, as it would have been too diluted. But now, as it dried out, the sand quickly removed the excess water, including from itself, while remaining just as loose.
And most importantly, this happened at a distance... to absorb such a volume of moisture and completely destroy it was like some kind of joke, wasn't it? No, the deadly technique had moved to the next level and lost its limitations. The highest level of sand magic is complete drought.
"Standard magic already looks ridiculous. Throwing stones and controlling fire can hardly be considered real magic anymore," I said, taking a small metal coin from my belt, which should be able to withstand an effect such as drought, and simply combining it with a simple change of properties.
It wasn't difficult to pour power into the object to change it in some way, but I wasn't aiming for compression or even a change in polarity. Under the pressure of my viscous magic, the metal began to crack and become covered with a reddish coating. If simple magic and stone manipulation are the basic level of mastery of the essence of qi, and metal and magma are something more advanced, then corrosion, wear and erosion, which I could now manipulate, are the highest manifestations of the technique.
Crack*
The metal crumbled under my fingers, turning into one of the two components needed to create thermite: iron oxide.
"And these spirits still dare to speak of my powers?
***
The harsh training and stay in the North were coming to an end. I can officially say that this was the most useful time I've had in recent days, and most importantly, I managed to change the canon quite significantly and steer it in the right direction.The North has become a zone that no one will dare to attack for the next couple of years, with no raids from Zhao and the other Admirals in sight, nor the death of the local princess. As for the latter... the spirits marked her did not mention my conflict with Tui and La, and it seems they did not even know about it.
And since Sokki, in this canonical storyline, had more time to interact with Yui, he was able to make his move on her. He presented himself as the "prince" of the southern tribe, flirted, went for walks, flew on Appa, and in the end even kissed the girl. He fell so in love with her that after learning of her imminent marriage to some guy I don't remember, he challenged him to a duel and... won.
Sokka demonstrated his marksmanship, shooting his opponent's clothes off with two arrows and finally figuring out what a "spiritual" shot meant. In his own words, I quote: "It's when you humiliate your opponent in battle and take great pleasure in it." I'm sure Yangchen would have been proud of him.
So yes, Sokka officially raised the entire North in an uproar and made the local aristocrats vomit blood, but Airo's diplomatic skills, as well as mine, settled the situation as much as possible. Frankly speaking, if they get married, there will be a strong bond between the North and the South that has probably never existed throughout most of history.
Azula and her friend just watched all this from the sidelines, preparing for the day when we would finally sail away. That time has come today.
"So this is goodbye," Katara whispered hoarsely, hugging Sokka, who was standing next to her. I look at them and remember our first meeting — brother and sister were ready to attack me, didn't trust me at all and didn't consider me a friend. Now even Sokka could barely contain his emotions as he watched the iron ship of the Fire Nation preparing to take me away.
"Are you sure the earthbender you recommended to me will be as good as you? Aang, in turn, stood with a sad expression, but did not shed any tears in farewell. Recent events had knocked him out of his stride and forced him to accept the fact that they had to part ways.
"No one can compare to me... but believe me, the chick you'll meet will make you feel pain," I took out Appa's whistle and the piece of paper with the flying pig emblem he was supposed to look for, and handed it to him personally. "Then stop by Omasha, I think you'll want to see someone."
"...
Well, when I met Tai Lee's gaze... we just smiled at each other as if we shared a secret. And that's how it was — as we continued to hone that spiritual connection, we became closer than ever. Now it didn't matter how far apart we were, we could always get in touch and talk, so we weren't sad.
"Are you coming or are you going to keep cooing? Azula rolled her eyes as she stood on the deck of the ship, trying to win Tai Li's favour for the past few days, but receiving only contempt in return. Zuko and Airo were already standing next to her, ready to set off with me.
"Okay, I'll go first. Aang, distract the spirits in the oasis, please, I don't want to cause another tsunami," the boy smiled cheerfully in response to my words and simply gave me a thumbs up... "You think this is a joke? I'm serious, run over there and talk to them, I don't want to die.
"Um, okay..." The boy turned around uncertainly, not knowing if I was joking or not, and headed for the oasis.
"Okay, you guys, start the ship faster. Faster, I said, we need to get out of here as quickly as we can," I climbed onto the deck and immediately began to look around seriously and deal with the problems. "Azula, you have a breach in the hull. And this catapult is not securely fastened. What if it rolls over and crushes someone? Who is in charge of this ship? It's a complete mess!
Ugh, what a headache. I have to do everything myself, no help whatsoever.