"Son, where do you disappear all day?"
On the third day a keen eye noticed… I'd been spending almost all day with Mei for two weeks and only today my great parent—father—noticed something wrong.
And arranged an interrogation right before the evening meeting with Mei. Nothing better to do, damn. And I need to warn the little one—with her traumas she might think something wrong.
"Walking," I shrugged. "So what?"
"Walking? Your brother trains almost all day, and you walk?"
Hm, yeah, poor Ji got pressed and forced to constantly study firebending. They're literally hammering basic kata into him, and still—as far as I've seen—he's nowhere near five-year-old Mei, like cancer to the North Pole.
"I don't have firebending," I said slowly like to a small child, reminding father the fact because of which he treats me like a nobody.
"So what? You could just train. For a soldier without bending, physical strength is even more important than for one who has it…"
"I'm not against training, even for," time to become a navigator instead of just looking around and clicking teeth. "Only I need a trainer."
"I'll train you," father nodded to his own thoughts. Expected that question from me? Does he actually know me enough to predict my answers? We've talked less in life than I have with Mei these few weeks.
Hard to believe dad is a great trainer, but whatever, we'll see. At least he'll give me initial load… hope. Don't know what's in his head.
"Good, when do we start?"
"Right now," oh, from the satisfied face I see a setup.
"Can I go warn my friend I won't show up today?" quite reasonable request, met with rejection.
"No, I said we start right now."
"But…"
"No discussion, son," louder and angrier already. "Right. Now."
After neutrally looking at my parent's face for five seconds, thinking over the situation, I decided to agree. I'll explain to Mei tomorrow.
For now let's see the efforts of the great trainer.
***
I knew it.
Dad as a trainer is worse than me. During his "great training" images and memories started surfacing in my head. Seems in previous life I did do some sports, otherwise how to explain that I clearly understand ten push-ups and pull-ups give as much use as milk from a goat?
Yes, that was father's training plan. Ten push-ups, rest, ten pull-ups, rest, and so on until I collapse from exhaustion.
Well, seems more like sophisticated punishment than real attempt to start training me. So much time and no thoughts appeared, and now he suddenly took it up. Yeah, sure I believe.
Anyway he drove me all evening, also making me run. On sand. Bastard, damn.
And I don't like sand. It's coarse, rough, irritating. It gets everywhere. For some reason from this phrase I involuntarily grimaced, like remembering something unpleasant. Hm, wonder why?
In the morning everything he loaded hurt, of course. Arms, chest, and legs a bit. To even get out of bed took a good ten minutes because the soreness was wild. Oh, gotta somehow refuse these very "cool" quote-unquote trainings. I myself could come up with a better approach… or wheedle Mei's warm-up before firebending. She must have one?
At breakfast father had unbearably satisfied notes in his look. Like a man who did what he'd long wanted. Asshole, damn. And no talk of morning exercise. Didn't even advise stretching muscles to ease the pain a bit. What an ass-hole. So it was punishment.
Well, nothing—the thought is still correct, time to get myself in some shape. Good thing this self-torture stirred something in memory and methods appeared.
Alright, now time to Mei. Apologize. Because she's definitely upset.
*
"You didn't come yesterday."
Mei was sitting as always on her half of the rotten log where we enjoy ocean views together. And though I approached quietly from behind, she noticed and without turning immediately threw the claim.
"Hi, little one!" I waved, flopping next to her. "Sorry, yesterday father suddenly remembered my existence and without letting me leave forced me to train. I wanted to warn you, honestly."
"Hm," eyebrow twitch from the girl. "Fine, I forgive you this time. But don't ditch me like that again! I thought you wouldn't come anymore."
With absolutely childish, uncharacteristic directness Mei said, clearly laying out her fears before me.
"Little one, don't worry—I won't abandon you. And know that if something like that happens, either I was forced or I died. No middle ground. Deal?"
"Mm-hmm," she grumbled, trying not to show how much she liked the answer. Unsuccessfully though. She literally lit up with joy. "And training is good. Won't hurt even for a non-bender."
"Yeah, if they're normal trainings. I have a feeling he just decided to punish or mock me and made me do push-ups, pull-ups, and run on sand till exhaustion."
"Nonsense," Mei said succinctly and accurately.
"Yeah, that's what I'm saying. But he gave a good idea—gotta work on myself somehow. Any thoughts?"
"Nope," the girl just shrugged. "They prepared me for firebending and didn't load much. Stretching and running. Then straight to firebending. Everyone usually has the same program."
"Hm," damn. Should've guessed they wouldn't make a little girl train for strength. Basically I don't need it either. Early heart problems, bones, joints. Not to mention growth would be average at best.
Gotta keep that in mind when making my training program. Though listening to myself I understand I probably wouldn't suffer from that anyway. Somehow not my thing—building muscle mounds. Considering I'll need to dodge local bending, strength is the last thing. Though dodging is more like running.
In the opposite direction from the bender, yeah.
So for now I'll just run. Not that hard for me, as I noticed. Despite the huge "training" load, legs hurt only slightly. And I really ran a lot. Considering I hadn't trained at all before, seems running is my thing.
"Today I won't be able to hang out long," Mei interrupted my thoughts. "Apparently something happened, so our parents simultaneously remembered us and mom wants me in sight."
"Hm, what could've happened?" I didn't agree. "Probably coincidence. Bad, of course, but at least I can train calmly so you don't see my shame."
The little one just giggled at that.
"At least I'll see the results. And if I don't like them—I'll chase you with fire to train better!" Mei tried to say threateningly, even shaking her fist, though a smile desperately wanted to break through the serious expression she tried to hold.
"Ha, well maybe at least that way something useful will come out."
We sat and chatted about this and that for about half an hour, during which people started slowly appearing on the beach. It was morning after all, and most went to the beach closer to lunch.
Then Mei said goodbye and headed home. And I decided it was time to run.
Not on the beach though—better find a proper place first. No such near the water, so gotta go deeper into the island—there are pretty big forest areas where I can run. Somehow it felt more natural than sand.
Right behind the wild beach, about a hundred meters away, was the entrance to one such forest plantation. Where without thinking long I just took off running on the nearest path, lost in thoughts about the meaning of life.
More precisely, what to do next. So far everything is going pretty well, and if I didn't know shitstorm awaits ahead, I wouldn't worry at all. Studies going well, job options plenty—wherever you spit, I'm sure I'm better than locals. Though where that confidence comes from—unclear, but whatever. Main thing is to gain enough audacity to get where I want, and experience will come.
Eh, if only it were that simple. First thing I'd take on the local steampunk ugliness. As soon as I see it, my head immediately itches—complete crap. Sure if I dig into the design deeper, ideas will definitely come.
Though logically locals aren't idiots either. Probably such systems are cheaper/easier to produce/can be mass-produced, underline as needed. Than building something with proper efficiency and coming to the same conclusion as my world.
Namely, "Nah, some bullshit, gotta look for alternatives."
And somehow I don't even want to push them toward such conclusions—I'm fine with local flavor, and knowing locals they'll start a race for new resources, wars, intrigues, money, etc. And the upcoming mess is more than enough for me—let Agni help survive it and settle better after.
Maybe still start making firearms? It's not a one-year development after all. I keep talking and talking, but D-day is approaching. Might simply not make it. Seems events are literally half-year to year away.
Not sure, memory still glitches.
Anyway, time to start quietly collecting things, setting up a young chemist's lab—making a weapon itself isn't hard, even a double-barrel, the whole difficulty is gunpow…
Fuck.
Only now did I notice what was happening around me. And I'm running.
No, not like that.
I'M FUCKING RUNNING. Sprinting at huge speed—no human can develop such speed. Though as soon as I noticed and thought about it, I immediately tripped and fell. Fell very painfully because the speed was really high. Scraped all skin off elbows and knees…
And I'd run far. Groaning like an old man I got to my feet and realized I'd been running uphill, and now there was a good view of the entire coastal zone. So walking back even running—normal running—would take at least twenty minutes.
Wait. My thoughts are going the wrong way.
Gotta think about the immediate.
What.
The hell.
Was that.
Though who am I kidding—I know what it was. It was what I'd been waiting for.
From that thought my mouth involuntarily spread into a stupid grin.
Bending.