26 Chapter 26

Everything was in the same place where, not long ago, Azula and I had fought. I sat in the lotus position, with palms facing upwards in front of me, holding a cluster of fire. However, it would be more accurate to say that the flame in my hands wasn't so much burning as it was sparking. It seemed as if tiny sparks were shooting out from the fiery mass and scattering around like fireworks. Meanwhile, the fire itself did not appear ordinary. It wasn't smooth, transitioning from one form to another, constantly changing... no, it seemed like a small star scattering its rays around.

I had been sitting in the same position for several hours, focusing on the fire. The fire I was trying to strengthen. And I was quite successful at it. The fire was no longer yellow as before... but red. Remembering the color gradation of flames, the most memorable to me, I recall that blue and white flames are the hottest, with a tremendous burning temperature. And yet, I can't move beyond. Red. Not white or blue. Red. So far, I haven't been able to take a step forward. But that's okay - I have time.

The brightly shining star, whose brightness was noticeable even through my closed eyes, began to dim and soon extinguished. I continued to sit still. A thought kept hammering in my head, giving me no peace.

Lightning. What is it? An electric spark discharge initiated by a potential difference... if my memory serves right. As I understand it, though I'm not a scientist, so I might not be correct, lightning is an attempt to create equality in nature. In one place, there's a lack of electrons, and in another, there's an excess of them. As a result, in an effort to establish equilibrium, the excess electrons rush from the place of surplus to the place of shortage. This movement of electrons is called lightning.

But how does this work in the case of bending?

How does elemental bending work, if you think about it? I hadn't really pondered this question before. Why does water bending allow one to manipulate water, preferably clean, but if you mix water with earth, you can't do anything with it... with low control. However, later, as control increases, it's not difficult to extract water even from plants, let alone from mud! The same goes for blood. Initially, I couldn't control it at all, I even intentionally bled a little of my blood into a cup and then healed the wound with water, but the blood didn't respond at all. Then I was able to start controlling the water in the blood, and that was a breakthrough. I could control living beings, like puppets. Difficult, costly, but possible! However, it still didn't give me full control over blood. Later, I began... to feel and perceive blood not as a water carrier, but as... as a separate element. And then I was able to use the technique of blood and life stealing for the first time. This was no longer controlling blood through water, this was full control over blood as a separate element! And now, this control allows me to change my appearance to some extent. However, waterbenders can't control, for example, liquid metal, lava... they control water in its various states. Meanwhile, pure water is the easiest to control! The more impurities in the water, the harder it is to control. More precisely, the substance in general. So, a waterbender, potentially, could extend their power from pure water to a vast number of substances. But could a waterbender, for example, control liquid oxygen? And could an airbender do it? On one hand - it's a liquid. On the other - it's oxygen.

Airbenders are somewhat more complicated. They control air, but air is a mixture of a vast number of gases in different proportions. Oxygen, nitrogen, carbon dioxide, water vapor, ozone... there are really many gases! And I don't know their proportions in this world. Nonetheless, airbenders control this mixture. And I used pure oxygen in battle, creating it under water. But I can control air just as easily. Does this mean that airbenders control any gases?

Earthbenders are not much simpler. Even more complicated! They control earth? But what is earth? Land, as opposed to water? Or maybe soil, the top layer of our planet's crust, the surface? Loose dark-brown substance that is part of our planet's crust. After all, soil is a collection of a huge number of chemical elements. Does this mean that earthbenders control this mixture? Definitely not! Because we easily control granite and stones, and their composition differs from regular earth, like black soil. Then what the hell? What exactly does the earth element represent? Because the same lava, seems like earth, but it's liquid. And neither an earthbender nor a waterbender can control it.

And lightning comes into play here. It has nothing in common with fire. Well, maybe they have something in common, but they are completely different elements! Then how did Azula manage to generate, and then deliberately launch at me quite a strong lightning?

These questions swirled in my head and gave me no peace. I just couldn't understand what earth, fire, air, water bending is...

Stop!

I've already figured out for myself that an element is energy. Understanding this allowed me to master the four basic elements, not being an Avatar. I synchronized my energy with the element's energy. Not with some chemical element, but with the energy contained in the earth, flowing in water, raging in fire, and rushing through the air.

Perhaps, if we imagine all existing elements and elements as a ring/circle, where four points every ninety degrees are occupied by one of the four elements, then we can imagine all the different elements between these elements. So, we can imagine lava somewhere between fire and earth... no! That also doesn't fit! Which elements does blood lean towards, apart from water? I doubt fire, earth, or air would fit. So, the circle definitely doesn't work!

A sphere?

But what would occupy the bottom and top points of the sphere? And is something needed there?

Well, let's leave the sphere for now. Four points occupy the basic four elements. Four types of energy.

When I trained in earthbending, I realized that controlling sand is significantly harder than controlling earth. Similar to steam compared to water. But I doubt that sand can be considered a mixture of earth and some other element. Or does air fit here? Earth and air equal sand? Maybe... but I have my doubts. It's more like a boundary, a subdivision of earthbending. If we imagine the same sphere, then each element has two paths to two adjacent elements. Let's use the same example with lava. This element stands on the line between fire and earth. But there are a vast number of other directions. And sand, unlike lava, is located, as it were, a bit aside from the line that connects earth and water with fire. Sand is a separate direction. Just as in water, ice or steam are separate directions, for their energy is indeed different from water itself, only ice's energy, though different, is still close to water's energy. Steam's energy is more distinct, and therefore it required more time and training for me to gain control over steam,

 comparable to water control! That is, it took me more time to expand the range of energy under my control!

And this explains a lot! For example, why earthbenders can control both granite and other stones, and earth, and in the deserts, as I heard even before I was captured by firebenders, there are those who control sand. Simply, all of this has similar energy, but sand's energy, although close to earth's, still differs more significantly. And as for stone from earth in terms of energy, if it differs, then so insignificantly that earthbenders almost don't notice it! The same applies to airbenders. Perhaps different gases have different energy, but the differences are so insignificant that an airbender wouldn't even notice them!

The same situation with blood. As I gained control over water in blood, I gradually stretched the spectrum of my influence on blood until I expanded it enough for blood to become a fully independent element for me.

So maybe the situation with lightning is similar? Could it be a slightly different form of firebending energy?

Maybe...

"Garo, how are you?" I heard Ty Lee's voice from my right.

Opening my eyes, I turned to her. She sat on the sand about a meter and a half away from me, now without her usual joyful smile, looking at me.

"Oh, Ty Lee, I'm fine. My legs still hurt a bit from the explosion I caused under myself, but overall, I'm great. You know as well as I do how tough I am."

"Yes. I know," she said softly and looked at the circus, then continued. "You know, Azula and I have been friends since childhood. Even when we were studying at the same academy, we became friends.

"I didn't notice anything bad in your relationship when you met. Why then, having a princess as a friend, and not just any princess but in good terms, did you join the circus? And here, either no one knows you're from the aristocracy, or they just don't talk about it. I only found out today that my performance partner, an excellent acrobat and not the least of fighters, who has been living and working with the circus for a long time, turns out to be from the aristocracy!

"I didn't want anyone to know. Some know, but I asked them not to tell anyone. You know, my aura has become much better here, so I'm glad I did this!"

"I see. You like it in the circus."

"Yeah," Ty Lee's joyful smile reappeared. "At home, I had many older sisters, my parents hardly paid any attention to me, so one day I just decided to leave. And a little later, I joined the circus.

"Oh. So that's it. You left home in search of attention. And so you like it here? Because you are in the center of attention?"

"Well... probably yes. Do you think that's bad?"

"Hmm... you're asking the wrong person, Ty Lee. Oh, the wrong person.

"Still?" she turned to me and looked into my eyes.

"I judge quite biasedly. In my childhood, my mother and brother were killed, I lost my family, so... it seems wrong to me, to leave your family like that. After all, the family is the dearest thing a person has.

"I see... still, thank you."

"No problem," I got up from the now cold ground and was ready to head back. After all, a princess in the circus. They might even arrange a performance just for her. She's a high flyer! "Let's go back. It's going to get dark soon and cool down.

"Do you know why Azula came?" Ty Lee asked as she stood up.

It was unusual for her to get up and stand without any tricks.

I stopped and, after a brief thought, turned to Ty Lee.

"Until this moment, I sincerely believed she just stopped by on her way to visit an old and good friend. Or even came specifically for this. But looking at you now, I'm starting to doubt that.

Ty Lee approached me, and we walked to the circus together. She was silent and looked at the ground until she continued.

"Azula has to complete an important assignment from her father, and for this, she decided to invite me to her team. I really didn't want to leave the circus, but I remembered your fight...

"Were you scared?"

"N-no... Azula and I are friends, why would I be afraid of her?

"I see. And then?

"Well... in short, I agreed."

"Is that so? So you're leaving the circus?" I felt a bit sad. Ty Lee is very cheerful and joyful; I had gotten used to training and performing with her. Without her, it wouldn't be as interesting. And what would I even do in this circus then?

Only now did I realize that I had been in the circus for the last few weeks only because it was fun and interesting. And it was fun and interesting for me precisely with Ty Lee.

"Yes, but I also asked Azula to think about taking you with us. You're a strong firebender, and I've gotten used to you. And you know what?" she asked, smiling.

"I can't even imagine. Enlighten me."

"Azula agreed! So now I'm asking you, do you want to go with us?" Ty Lee walked ahead of me and stood directly in front of me, blocking my way. Quite funny, considering I'm three years older and, thanks to bloodbending-induced body stimulation, much taller and wider than Ty Lee.

Her question became a serious reason to think. Should I go on a mission with the Fire Nation's princess?

I no longer feel almost any animosity towards the firebenders and the Fire Nation in general. Yes, they killed my family, but not everyone is to blame for that! And I've already avenged my family a long time ago. Later, I killed firebenders and soldiers either because they attacked me or more out of inertia. You could say it became something of a bad habit. Although recently, while living among the circus, I managed to successfully suppress this bad habit.

Moreover, with Azula, I could try to learn the lightning element. And study her flame.

On the other hand... I once embarked on a journey with one team... as a result, who knows how long I lived in the spirit world, nearly died there countless times, and upon returning to the world of the living, nearly died again! But at the same time, I couldn't learn what I wanted, healing!

Alright. I'll take a chance. And I really hope I won't regret it later!

"I agree."

"Hooray!" Ty Lee jumped for joy.

"And what's the mission?" I asked.

"Azula told me we need to capture her uncle and brother, who have become traitors...

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