11. Growth

In the same week, at a meeting of the entire tribe, I was entered into the book of water masters, which was conducted since the foundation of the capital of the Northern Water Tribe. Being a master, I have my voice at such conferences, where future steps and the life of the whole tribe are discussed. Being the son of a Leader, I already had some advantages, of course I am not entitled to another vote, but I would have had some weight even without my skill.

But how boring it is to sit at such meetings, in fact, nothing serious happens in the life of the capital, there are people who are responsible for supplies, catch, check the suitability of the structure, they report at such meetings.

I had to look interested and try not to fall asleep. My attempts did not go unnoticed, but honestly there were also those who really snored, yet most people at these gatherings are already a respectable age. This is what speaks of a quiet time when wars happened, there was one young man at such meetings, since the old men were eager to fight first in order to save more young people.

I tried to probe the ground, at the expense of allowing both sexes to engage in those areas of bending that they themselves want. I often saw young guys who simply did not fit the intense combat part of bending by their character, such usually became good healers. Sometimes at night I found girls who tried to practice water bending on their own scrolls, if they were given good training, we would get a worthy replacement for the current masters, such people have motivation above the roof, just direct them, they will come to the top themselves. But the system that was invented a long time ago does not allow such people to flourish.

It's not as bad as I thought. The leader, the head of the Healing Huts, the faithful supporters of the father and a small part of the masters agree in principle with my thoughts, only even such a number of people are not enough to change the rule that was created by our ancestors, after all, the ancestors are very respected here and their decisions are looked at with pink glasses, supposedly they certainly knew how to do better.

There are some neutrals who will just watch the progress of my game for now. The big headache is the ardent traditionalists led by... Pakku! Well, you'll think about it, the bride you loved very much left, okay, she did it right before the wedding, well, she didn't just leave you, but ran away to the other side of the world, with whom it doesn't happen. Now, due to the fact that Kanna, Sokka's grandmother and Katara ran away, Pakku really got obsessed with traditions, he's a sensible man, he always cares about the water tribe, he often saw him playing with the kids with the help of water bending, even he looked at my tricks more with a kind of fatherly look, not much offended by my words.

It is necessary to be able to somehow influence either neutrals or radicals. Then, by keeping more than 75% of the votes on my side, I will be able to continue changing some prohibitions.

For example, some weddings are arranged without the consent of the bride, as if they should not go against the parents' decision that they have already agreed on marriage. The first example is Kanna, the second one can be called Yui, who in fact could not marry the man that her father imposed on her, but as we saw in the series, she was kind and compassionate, put the Water Tribe above her interests. Let them just try to pull their hands to Yui, I'll pull my eye to one place right away. This problem should also be solved gradually.

***

Most of the time after my victory, I began to spend with the masters of water. It was then that I felt the difference between the fights that I spent with my mother and the benders who live by the development of their element. But it is worth saying that Jun, having no teacher and no time for systematic exercises, can definitely shut up weak masters.

Master Izamu, having decided to take a rematch, was the first to challenge me to a fight. The first victory this time was for him. From one battle with me, he had already roughly determined my tactics of fighting, and this time, taking into account my strengths, he systematically looked for my weaknesses and put pressure on them. According to him, there were very few of them. According to him, I lack the experience of encountering benders, fantasy, arsenal of techniques, the power of bending and control are all at an excellent level.

Yes, it's worth admitting that I won in his arena, by and large strictly following the invented plan. For a whole year I watched all the masters, their fighting style, looking for weaknesses and strengths. I chose Master Izama, too, not by chance. He often fights at a long distance without approaching himself, he also gave me time to nourish the ice with his energy.

The first month I lost more often than I won, but already in the second month only real monsters left me without damage, which for some reason looked like such kind grandfathers. The first fights with them really put me into some dissonance. In peaceful life, they can walk with a cane, hold a weak back with their hand, but as soon as the battle begins, all the weakness disappears somewhere, they jump around the field like saigas, it's dangerous to approach some even at close range, purely due to hand-to-hand combat you will be tied in a knot.

I often challenged Master Pakka to a fight, he just really infuriated me with his mutton stubbornness, so at least he dropped his anger in fights with him. Seeing that when fighting with him, I give in to emotions more, somehow he came up to me to ask what the reason was, even offered his help in solving problems. Here's a really good guy, but his jumps are not very good.

Yes, I have not found so many new ways of simple manipulation of water even in the scrolls. Different tactics, different methods of improving skill and control. And all this is not documented, having raised this issue at the meeting, the go-ahead was given to allocate notebooks for me to write down everything useful, just in case. But if these records appear on the shelves of the library, healing benders who are engaged in secret will immediately be able to read it. The big problem with the scrolls in the library is that there are mostly ready-made racks for receptions and more complex things, there is no methodology for developing control to perform these techniques. Our brave girls have to jump above their heads to master what the scrolls tell.

At the same time, he went to study healing bending. There is no ban on men mastering healing bending, but by signing up for them, they will start looking at you askance and consider you a weakling, in my case it is very traumatic to say something to the master of water.

My mentor on this path was Yugoda, who was previously a close friend of Kanna. She was also engaged in checking what I already know.

- You know the theory perfectly well, you even said something new for me, - Yugoda said with a soft smile when she finished checking my competence, - I heard your words about expanding the rights of women of the tribe, a very good undertaking, you should have been born earlier, when many girls went to the outside world just not to marry an unloved person, - her smile became bitter, and her eyes unfocused, as if she remembered something far away.

"Okay," she said, recovering, "let's start with increasing complexity, first of all we will learn how to treat animals, fish will do for a start, then we will have to deal with rodents and only then, under my supervision, we will treat a person with a slight external injury. As soon as we build the foundation, it will be possible to start with medium and severe injuries.

- Before I taught only young girls, and I haven't had to teach a whole master of water yet, - she said with a laugh, - I hope you're definitely used to blood? It is very difficult at my age to take care of students who can faint several times a day.

With such an unusual monologue, one might even say, my studies began. At first I tried to feel my vital energy, which would have been a very long time if I hadn't started preparing for the opening of the chakras. The chakras are just the same energy centers, the main gateways through which vital energy passes. It's not too difficult to find its flow in your body, but to direct at least a drop of vital energy into the water, at one time it seemed unrealistic for me at all. Very heavy energy. At first I learned to drive it around my body, only after a while I was able to bring it out of my body, but as soon as it came out, it immediately dissipated.

Having learned how to direct our qi into the water, we began practical training. May all the living creatures forgive me that I have exhausted. The first fish just exploded into pieces, I'll tell you right away I didn't want it, but I was shocked myself, so you're trying to close the cut on the poor fish like a boom, and her head wants to kiss your head, I walked around with a bump on my forehead for another week, people are having fun. And the bones of the local animals are very strong, like the whole body in general, the world is bending.

Yugoda, it turns out, has always conducted such a kind of test to show that your inattention is worth your life. No, I assumed that not everything is so simple in healing, but how naive I was, it's not enough just to send qi into the water and move my hand over the wound. First, without injecting your qi into the victim, you need to adjust your vital energy closer to your patient. Everyone has their own qi, and in order not to kill, but to cure, you need to be able to intuitively adjust your energy. So it happened with my first victim, I poured my qi into her, which was a priori hostile to the fish, so without seeing a way out, she came into conflict with the vital energy of the fish, which eventually gave rise to an explosion.

Then you have to program the already adjusted qi for treatment. Novice healers say words about healing to themselves, small mantras for a better mood. Therefore, it is easier to close external injuries, seeing it with your own eyes, you just have to believe in how it closes. In case of internal injuries, water with properly tuned qi, which is programmed correctly, will try to find deviations in the body itself, but this is much more energy-consuming.

Yes, having adapted for a whole year, I was able to treat ordinary injuries without the supervision of a teacher, but this is just the tip of the iceberg, there are many diseases that cannot be cured yet, but it seems to me that they have not yet found the right approach. My goal is to comprehend the bending of healing, which will heal the terminally ill and stop aging or at least prolong life.

***

On one of the few days when parents disappear late on their own business, I put Yui to bed. We had a conversation that was bound to happen sooner or later.

- Brother, why am I so different from my peers? - said the little sister, covered up to the neck with a blanket, - just don't joke anymore, I overheard a conversation between my parents, where they discussed how I was born.

- I thought this conversation would take place much later, - my sister is maturing consciousness too quickly, I think it's worth revealing some secrets, - you were born very weak, you can even say that you wouldn't have lived a day without a miracle, desperate, I shared a piece of myself, maybe you remember how emotions appeared that helped you calm down?

- So it wasn't my imagination, then?! - already much louder, she said, - I thought it was just imagination, then why don't I feel your emotions, as it was in the first year?

- I thought that this would prevent you from developing yourself under my constant care, for my part, I learned to block this channel, listen - by opening the spiritual channel, I gave my sister a feeling of love and care, - now do you feel? I've always been there for you–" I said, looking at her with tenderness.

- I love you too, brother, - said the embarrassed girl, - will you teach me the same? – she asked, looking at me with delight.

- Of course I will, but you don't tell anyone about it, let this connection be our secret, - I said more seriously.

- So I'm so smart, because you were smart too, - Yui said under her own approving nods of her head, - now everything is clear to me, thank you for telling my brother.

- Well, something like that, - I said with a smile, - okay, now it's time to go to sleep, good night

"Sweet dreams," Yui said in a sleepy voice.