Despite the pain assaulting his nerves and the lingering discomfort in his body, Yakone slowly backed away, trying not to make noise as he stepped into the snow. His blue eyes were focused on the monstrous woman. Hama.
She was on her knees on the cold ground, her head down, and her dense hair covering her face. Several sobs escaped her, and her shoulders shook constantly, not from the cold but from crying.
Yakone needed no special skill or high spiritual awareness to see the black energy rising from her skin and twisting around her like tendrils.
Hama's emotional state was obvious. He didn't know what had happened, but she began to behave unexpectedly from one mont to the next. Not knowing what had happened, he took no chances.
Talking to her or trying to comfort her could be much more dangerous than he thought. Although Hama labeled him as inexperienced, Yakone was proud of his ability to learn.
He scrutinized the woman who had fallen into tears, trying not to let his emotions boil over. It was a monuntal effort for soone who normally considered himself smarter than others and didn't need to hide his true self.
Now, however, he had to, because he knew he was stuck next to soone who seed ntally unstable. Not only that, but he could feel Hama's overwhelming power, too.
'It does seem as terrible as the dark spirits that occasionally appear,' Yakone thought. He stopped a good distance away from Hama and touched the wounded parts of his body, gasping from the pain these touches caused him.
Perhaps because of the difference in population, or perhaps it was a deliberate test on the part of Tui and La, but wandering spirits appeared more frequently at the North Pole than in the South.
Consequently, the influx of dark spirits increased. This was the only ti the won of the Northern Water Tribe could "fight," though their role was more akin to performing a spiritual purification ritual after the n shot down one of these tainted beings.
However, Yakone disdained the way his tribe operated. After all, power was power! Thus, he embarked on learning other sub-bending techniques, such as healing.
Yakone controlled the snow on the ground, lted it, and covered his body with it. Then, the water began to glow. It was a crude treatnt, worse than the much more effective local healing thod, but it allowed him to stop feeling pain for a while.
Hama was rather rough with him. Although she gave him advice, she didn't treat him like a person. Yakone thought about it: Was Hama human at this point? Without needing to ask, he soon found out.
A terrible scream ca from Hama's body. It was so powerful that it made Yakone cover his ears. He was still dizzy and refused to close his eyes and miss what was happening in front of him.
Hama's body was bathed in a strong, dark spiritual energy, and red lines were drawn on her skin. Although the young man didn't understand what he was seeing, he quickly associated it with a phenonon he already knew:
'That Raven spirit...possessed her?' Yakone wondered, watching Hama's body writhe and her bones creak steadily in an absolute horror show.
"HE REJECTED !" Hama shouted. These words, along with a pulse of energy that cleared the snow, ice, and water around him, were an incredible sight to Yakone.
Hama's feet were now floating in place, supported by a pair of dark wings that had just erged from her back. Her hair fluttered wildly like seaweed, and the blue of her eyes glowed unnaturally bright.
Yakone felt overwheld by her presence and found herself unable to breathe properly, yet he refused to take his eyes off Hama. There was no longing for power or interest in gaining such strength in his eyes. What there was, however, was a growing determination.
Despite his sowhat twisted ntality, sothing fundantal remained: he was human. So far, he had no grand plans for his bloodbending abilities.
Beco a pirate? A soldier? Get a political office in his village? These were commonplace ideas stirred by an awakened power and a young, hormonal mind, until Hama beat him to the punch and roused him from his arrogance.
He didn't consider himself a paragon of justice, but he wasn't soone to be forgotten either. Hama, the monster who had hurt him so much and caused him so much pain, had now transford into a monstrous being before his eyes. This made Yakone feel a longing inside him.
'I always thought Shisui's actions were foolish. I thought he wasn't worth that much. I thought he was only glorified for having status in the Fire Nation. But one of his phrases resonates with right now.
I want to do sothing different. I want to explore the depths of my elental gifts. Above all, I must stop that thing, those things.' Yakone mused, finding a proper course for himself in this ssed-up situation.
If he survived and managed to endure what was about to fall upon him, he would get rid of all the dark spirits and develop his waterbending to its fullest potential. Perhaps he could leave a mark on this world.
'Everyone can be as legendary as the Avatar,' a random Shisui sentence compiled by a Fire Nation soldier and published several years ago, perated him deeply.
He didn't expect to be as amazing as Shisui. At least his desire to make a mark was better than his absurd plan to be a mastermind behind the scenes, a fantasy he had before.
Yakone smiled as she watched Hama shout nonsense in the distance. Despite his mostly human appearance, it was obvious that his psyche was more broken than before.
...
"Are you seriously going to teach us the basic moves of waterbending? I learned these as a kid!" A young warrior of the Northern Water Tribe complained in a low voice, even in the harbor, but his body did not stop moving along with the others.
He wasn't the only one with an unhappy expression; the others around him also had interesting looks on their faces as they moved in unison. Interestingly, the won who had approached earlier with the group and could waterbend had also joined in.
Usually, such a sight would be impossible, n and won exercising together? Impossible for these people! Who dared to say anything to Shisui before? He stood in front of everyone with a spear in hand and glared nacingly at anyone who dared to speak.
"You, the one who spoke, do you know why you make those movents?" Shisui asked, pointing at the young man who had whispered. With many gazes on him, the boy beca so embarrassed that he could hardly speak.
"I think I could answer that," said Pakku, who was also forced by Shisui to perform the sa movents. But the sage shook his head and looked at the boy he had pointed at.
"Co on, let him do it." Shisui's words were like a sentence, so the young man plucked up his courage and spoke.
"Isn't this the basic move? We all know it!" Emboldened, the man raised his voice, certain of his answer. But Shisui shook his head again.
"No, you. The girl with the pigtails. Why do we do these moves?" Shisui asked again, pointing to a young waterbender girl whose hair was tied in two tails.
"Huh? To control the flow of water, right?" the girl replied hesitantly. Shisui shook his head again and finally looked at Pakku.
"Why are we making this move?" There was a hint of exasperation in the sage's tone, but the more experienced Pakku sensed that Shisui's question had more nuance.
"I don't think you're referring to the common teachings at this ti. If I had to guess, I'd say it's to get our Chi in tune with the water." Even though he hadn't set out to explore this type of question before, Pakku's experience allowed him to answer, making Shisui crack a smile.
"Did you know it's possible to bend with the mind?" Shisui asked the air. Seeing the incredulous looks of not only the Waterbenders but also the Firebenders present, Shisui clicked his tongue before looking at his friends.
"They're the worst class I've ever had," Shisui joked, causing his friends to burst out laughing. Ty Lee, in particular, guffawed loudly.
"I knew you couldn't stand the urge to lecture people!" Ty Lee's words caused Shisui to twitch slightly before he looked back at the crowd.
"It's possible. Look." Shisui looked down at the ground, which was covered in ice and snow. He concentrated extrely hard on what he was about to do.
Without a gesture or detectable body movent, he lted and raised the water beneath his feet. It encircled his body like a snake. Perhaps to make it more vivid, he transford the water enveloping him into a snake's form.
Scales, nose, eyes, fangs. A snake ford entirely of water rose above Shisui, who did Waterbending with his mind. He then dispersed the construct into tiny droplets that fell on each person's head.
"I never thought I'd have to say this to a nation that's supposed to be able to control this elent, but... You guys look like a puddle of stagnant, dirty water!" But don't panic. A similar phenonon happened in the Fire Nation.
Those of you who fought against the Firebender soldiers, didn't you notice that your flas were erratic and uncontrollable? Now, Lieutenant Jimin, perform a fire kata," Shisui said, indicating one of the Firebenders present, a man who appeared to be about 30 years old.
"Yes!" Without complaint, the man moved away from the group to a spacious area. He began moving his limbs while maintaining proper breathing.
He obeyed easily, not only because of Shisui's reputation, but also because he had been given the rank of general before leaving. After all, he had accomplished enough to achieve that position, although, to the Sage, it was just one more title in his repertoire.
Technically, they were in enemy territory, yet no one stepped forward to stop Jimin as he perford a basic fire kata. However, the warriors of the Northern Water Tribe noticed the changes in the flas produced by the Firebender.
While the fire of a Fire Nation soldier previously seed unbridled, wild, roaring, and eager to consu everything, Jimin's flas were calm and under his total control. However, their intensity had not diminished much; in fact, it had increased considerably.
Under the attentive and sowhat incredulous gaze of the Waterbenders and the tribe's citizens, who had approached out of curiosity, Jimin changed his movents, integrating the basic Waterbending movent that Shisui had made them repeat until recently.
The flas danced around Jimin like joyful elves, flowing smoothly. So could not fathom seeing a fierce Fire Nation soldier imitate his forr enemies, but no one complained. Instead, they appreciated this occurrence.
There had already been talk around the world of benders taking inspiration from other elents to improve their techniques. However, among the Waterbenders, only those of the Southern Water Tribe had achieved such a feat. Those of the North, on the other hand, stuck to their rigid movents.
Petra joined Jimin without being told, using Earthbending. At first, she used basic moves, and then she added moves that looked like those of an Airbender and even a Firebender.
Shisui watched all of this with a smile before focusing on Pakku. Pakku was supposedly Iroh's guide in developing a way to deflect lightning, but he did not include Firebending moves or concepts in his Waterbending.
"Old man, do you want the Northern Water Tribe to be great again? Let it flow again!" In that mont, Pakku saw Shisui as sothing else: not a frivolous young man, but an equal, or perhaps a superior, soone to learn from.
Yue watched all this from the side, a small smile sketched on her lips. She then glanced at Zhao, squinting her eyes like an arctic fox, and shook her head.
'Looks like my nephew ca to cause chaos. Though I see he's having a lot of fun,' Yue thought. She didn't want to stop her only nephew's actions. After all, what kind of aunt would she be if she were strict?
She was one of those cool aunts!
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AN: Yue is a 'cool' aunt... cof cof HAHAAHAHA. Yes, Jimin from BTS.
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