Time didn't stand still... Mastering new elements, healing the sick, conquering bloodbending, visits to the South Pole — all of this had become, to some extent, a pleasant daily routine.
Less than six months had passed, and earthbending had reached an intermediate level. Along with this, I managed to refine already mastered techniques, adding stone shields and stone armor to them. [ image ]


I also managed to find the necessary points of contact in bloodbending that control movement. Now I can control a whole dozen rats! Trying to deepen my understanding of this ability, I achieved the ability to give each rat different movements. And it seems I found the right key to the door behind which lies some basic understanding of blood manipulation.
The rats no longer provided such rapid progress, so I had to go into the tundra and try controlling the movements of larger animals there. It wasn't fundamentally different from manipulating small animals — yes, it consumed slightly more energy, but the foundation was the same. All that remained was to find test subjects... I mean scoundrels on whom I could test bloodbending. After all, who knows what I might damage or break through ignorance — better to use someone who only harms society...
A real baby boom happened throughout the Northern Water Tribe. When injuries no longer bother you, you look at life differently. It seems there was a reevaluation of values. Now you could often see women on the streets holding their rounded bellies or already carrying their babies in carriers. We should think about expanding the city's borders. Plus, there's an urgent question about our own farms for breeding fish and animals, since the city and all nearby tribes still feed from nature. The situation isn't critical yet, but all recent years have shown only positive birth rates. Over time, for food, we'll disrupt the ecosystem's balance, which could ultimately create extreme scarcity.
Right! It seems this issue is already under control... I should probably sleep less with my eyes open during meetings — I might miss something truly significant.
Yui became inspired with the idea of becoming the first female waterbending master in the Northern Water Tribe. Seeing her progress in mastering water, there's no doubt about it. I think I'll manage to lift the ban on advanced waterbending study for women before this momentous event.
The process is already underway. A document detailing everything is being developed. It's already known for certain that no one will send them to the front lines — maybe later they'll allow such things, but only for waterbending masters. Currently, we're only talking about teaching the female population waterbending on a voluntary basis. After all, nothing bad will happen if the beautiful half of our city is ready to defend the children if necessary.
***
During my next appearance at the South Pole, I noticed the completely destroyed old village. Even from here, I could see the still-smoldering remains of those tents that residents warmly called their home...
°Expressive profanity° — I knew this would happen someday, but I still hoped not to disrupt the damn canon. I kept asking myself: "what if?", "what if Sokka and Katara weren't here, would the Avatar never have appeared?" And hoping to preserve the timeline I needed, I endangered people already close to me. I could already transport up to two large animals through portals without problems, but not seeing direct danger, I decided to wait a bit. I should have immediately moved the entire tribe north!
Quickly creating a water platform, I immediately flew to the new settlement without wasting time. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw dead Fire Nation soldiers lying in the old village territory — they had fallen into our traps. Some weren't dead yet, but judging by the considerable blood loss, it wouldn't be long... Right by the settlement, having cut through the ice, stood two Fire Nation ships. I sensed life sources there, but now wasn't the time for them.
The next second I was already halfway to the village, noting more soldiers who would forever remain in these snows. I hoped everything was fine in the tribe, though judging by the loud screams, things weren't so smooth. Though it would be scarier if no voices were heard at all...
Sharply braking over the settlement, I saw the whole picture unfolding. No bodies of village residents were found anywhere, but there were many Fire Nation soldiers. [ image ]

"There's a waterbender here! Get him alive or dead!" shouted one of the warriors who first saw me, setting an example for others by launching a fireball at me.
"There he is!" — another obvious observation from soldiers starting to emerge from houses.
"You won't escape!" growled one of the benders, launching a fire blade at me. Now that's dangerous, but I don't have time — I can already hear familiar voices at the far end of the settlement.
Taking control of the snow under the soldiers' feet and making it liquid, I achieved having this water instantly wrap around all the benders. When they were all in water, I turned the water back to ice. Let them sit here for now. There were no strong benders visible here, so they won't be able to break out of the ice for long.
"That girl is a waterbender!" I heard a shout from one direction.
At the settlement's edge where the hidden tunnel entrance was, I saw the remaining warriors already approaching Kaya. She was shielding Sokka and Katara.
"Take the girl alive! Those who interfere — dispose of!" shouted one of them in a uniform slightly different from the others. Most likely their commander.
My heart beat faster. I was about to immobilize them when several things happened at once. The firebenders took ready positions, fire beginning to gather at their hands.
"No-o-o-o!" Kaya's scream coincided with mine. On pure reflexes developed with rats, I took control of the firebenders' hands, directing them slightly upward.
Kaya, squeezing her eyes shut, raised her hands in front of her. Neither she nor I expected to see a wall of water rise before her, creating protection. I definitely had nothing to do with this. Katara also looked surprised. Fine, everything later — while the benders still struggled with their own hands, I managed to encase them in ice.
"That seems to be everyone." My spirit sense was silent, meaning only those on the ship remained. I could deal with them later. Katara saw me first and immediately threw herself toward me with tears in her eyes. Sokka and Kaya followed her. Hugging all four together, we comforted Katara, who was facing such a situation for the first time. Sokka seemed to remember something from early childhood, so he only reacted with clenched fists and grim determination in his gaze.
Only when everyone calmed down sufficiently did I ask them to call the other residents. I busied myself transporting prisoners to one of the houses, which I additionally surrounded with another layer of ice. Not knowing what to do with the ships yet, I simply sealed all exits with ice.
Now I definitely have volunteers ready to experience the transition from South Pole to North Pole. Those who didn't die from trap injuries even after time, I completely froze. I hope they'll live a bit longer — I want to try healing them using healing combined with bloodbending. Nothing personal, we're just on opposite sides of the barricades. If they were in my place, they wouldn't even think about what to do with me. It smells of double standards, of course, but they threatened the lives of my loved ones.
Already at night, when all business was done and people were calmed, I finally learned the complete chronology of events. Katara began the story:
"Today afternoon, Sokka and I were by the ocean where I was trying to control water. I didn't want to show you my abilities until I learned to use them well," Katara said, looking away from me. A conspirator — she didn't even tell anyone about this. "When we wanted to return home, we saw several Fire Nation warriors following us. I don't know how they got there" — but I have a guess... Most likely they sent scouts who, not seeing life in the old settlement, went looking further. "They saw me manipulating water. When they ran toward us, I sent a water wave at them in fear."
"It knocked them away from us. While they were getting up, I took Katara's hand and ran to the settlement," Sokka continued, seeing that Katara had fallen silent with her head down. The silly girl thinks she's to blame for the attack, but they wouldn't have given up anyway. I'll need to explain everything to her later.
"At this time, one of the patrols encountered Fire Nation warriors caught in traps. People began hastily gathering at the bunker, but not seeing my children, I ran to find them," Kaya continued. "We met on the way to the settlement, and being close to the tunnel entrance, we realized we were already surrounded by enemy soldiers."
"I think I should have tried this earlier, but now everyone definitely needs to move to the Northern Water Tribe. Soon I'll be able to transport you to the other pole. The Fire Nation definitely won't calm down and will dig through snow looking for missing soldiers," I said seriously. My words resonated with Kaya — who wants to endanger their children? Katara looked a bit happier — after all, being near me seven days a week is definitely better than two.
"Kaya, congratulations on becoming a waterbender!" I said to the startled Kaya, who still didn't fully believe it.
She didn't seem to believe in her abilities much. To dispel doubts, I asked her to try lifting some water from a glass. Her body already remembered the sensations, so everything went successfully. As soon as she believed in her gift, she couldn't be torn away from water manipulation. Throughout the rest of our conversation, she was like a small child with glowing eyes, moving her hand and levitating water. Even Katara and Sokka looked at her in disbelief — they'd never seen this part of her personality before, always used to seeing her calm and composed.
As soon as everyone fell asleep, I began scouring nearby waters and lands by air for various surprises — new ships or soldiers I'd missed. There were none.
Stopping by the Fire Nation ships, I thought deeply. They have the same people with the same blood and same problems... For a whole minute, the 21st-century human in me struggled, but ultimately the new me who grew up in this world's realities won.
Now I live here in this world where war isn't dry lines about casualties in conflicts in some distant Africa. I simply don't have the right to be weak. Having calmed my conscience this way, I began clearing the ships. It would be cool if the invaders dissolved into the world's energy like spirits, giving me their energy. It would be much easier to perceive everything that way, but even in my view, that's too much. Besides, I'll probably absorb some of them in the Spirit World anyway — it's not for nothing that there are many spirits of the main four elements on that plane. As I guess, these are souls of dead benders. Though anything could be here, I'll stick to this theory for now.
Tonight will be very long... I need to interrogate soldiers about their arrival. I have guesses, of course, but I should learn exact details of their motives. There are several soldiers in critical condition. I wanted to test healing through mixing bloodbending and life energy on them.
I never thought I'd have to interrogate anyone — I didn't have such specific skills in my arsenal, but tons of watched movies provide plenty of options to choose from. But I didn't have to conduct a real interrogation this time. Creating the right torture atmosphere, preparing terrifying-looking ice instruments — how I love waterbending! [ image ]

Then I began speaking in a loud whisper about what I would do to the poor Fire Nation soldier. By the second minute, the client was ready. Maybe I got such an impressionable one, or he didn't like the sharp ice knife dangerously close to one special place... but he spilled everything, even had to stop him when he told too much detail about the wrong things.
They were sent to check the reason for prolonged silence from the Southern Raiders. Turns out the Fire Nation has many supply bases in different parts of the world. The Southern Raiders were assigned to one such base. When they weren't seen at the base for a whole year, this question was raised in the capital via letter. But as he knows, the bureaucratic apparatus is too bloated — the letter could have gotten lost, so they only sailed here now. Everything's clear. If they lose these people too, those above will definitely worry. The question of leaving or not leaving no longer stands.
The following hours I spent trying to cross healing with bloodbending. I got an unexpected result — healing turned out to be a softer form of what happens when combining bloodbending and life energy. In simple healing, water acts as a filter for your life energy. Before, I thought it was hard to adapt to patients in simple healing, but even then water helped me do it easier. Here you need to change your chi without any filter. Moreover, you're directly affecting a person's blood — the concentration of their life forces...
One tiny mistake and you lose the person! I honestly didn't want this, but the first Fire Nation warrior repeated the fate of my first fish. It was horrible, but I found an unexpected plus that remained with me from being a spirit. My mind smooths strong negative emotions — without this, there would be another battle with conscience.
What's the result of all experiments? It's already clear this is possible, but difficult... I healed the last injured Fire Nation soldier — more precisely, completely regrew his lost leg that he left in a trap. Of course, he died from exhaustion afterward, but this was a side effect that didn't affect the result. His organism drank itself to complete the assigned task.
Blood contains everything — that's what I understood. I programmed my life energy, adjusted to him, to return his organism to perfect condition. The process went steadily while I sent him my life energy, but as soon as I stopped the supply, his body began seeking external resources to complete the task. These resources were taken from the body itself. The "program" didn't care whether the person would die in the end. It just needed to complete the task. The limb appeared mostly due to my energy. Then the "program" began bringing the body to what it understood as ideal condition. I don't know exactly what the ideal state is for blood, but the body's resources were drained in five seconds, and the only change occurred near the soldier's eyes — just wrinkles disappeared. How much life energy would full rejuvenation require?! Though this question is still solvable — the main thing is that it's possible at all!
It was like a weight lifted from my soul. Even the soldiers participating in my research didn't worry me as much now — they managed to participate in such a discovery that even Wan Shi Tong wouldn't know. No, such things should only be shown to close ones, and some shouldn't even be told how it happens.
Too many impressions today — like a real roller coaster. Soon the sun will rise — I should sleep at least a little. Tomorrow many matters requiring my personal participation await me. I mustn't forget to check portal transitions with people, and of course, give attention to Kaya's family.
Children have flexible psyches, but lifting spirits is always welcome. I just remembered one fairy tale — I'll need to show it to all the tribe's children. Sitting locked in a bunker for several hours is also quite an experience.
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