55 Chapter 55

Additional chapter for power stones

200 power stones equal an additional chapter

***

Looking at the spot where the ship I had destroyed had been just moments ago, I pondered what to do next. Now, the Fire Lord at least suspects who I really am. Judging by his reaction, he didn't take kindly to that information. This leaves me with a question - what about Azula?

Lifting my gaze beyond the ocean, I spotted a tiny dot moving westward. A messenger hawk?

Instantly generating and accumulating a charge in my hands, I released it as lightning towards the bird. However, it was too far away, and I missed. A second attempt. Another! None of the lightning strikes hit, and the bird seemed to accelerate.

Annoyed, I spat and turned around, ascending on white flames, bypassing the ladder. I headed straight for Pathik. I needed to say goodbye; after all, this man commands deep respect from me, and it would be rude to just leave.

"Pathik?" I called out to the slim old man as I approached.

"You've finished. The screams were even audible from here, Freo. You know I do not condone violence and murder," he said to me, looking at me sadly.

"Forgive me, but my life has been such that death and violence, blood and pain have become as commonplace to me as meditation is for you. You of all people should understand that everyone has their own path, their own destiny, their own duty. Some become sages, like you, while others become monsters, the kind that frighten children, like me. We exist, and that's the way of the world.

"I understand perfectly, Freo... You're leaving me then?" after a short pause, the old man asked.

"Yes. Though I couldn't complete my training with you, what I've learned has given me a great deal. Thank you."

"Take care of yourself and the teachings I've passed on to you. Now go. I want to rest."

Pathik is a very friendly and sociable person, but he is very old and therefore often rests and meditates. I didn't want to disturb the old man further, so I left the room where he was and headed to the cliff.

I need to meet with Azula.

Approaching the cliff, I took another step forward...

After free-falling for a few meters, I took a deep breath and with a sharp, concentrated, powerful, dense stream of fire, I shot out from my feet and hands backward, turning my fall from vertical to horizontal flight.

*****

"And who might you be?" asked Azula as I entered her room in another guise.

"Forgive me, Princess Azula, Lady Ty Lee sent me with a message that she wanted to surprise you, hence she sent me, the best masseuse she could find. She said you mentioned needing a massage."

Azula turned towards me. She looked tired, with shadows of fatigue and lack of sleep under her eyes, and her eyes were tinged with redness.

She scrutinized me with narrowed eyes for a few seconds, then nodded at me and went behind a screen to change.

Of course, what I had said was a complete fabrication, but I had been observing Azula and Ty Lee for several days in the guise of a servant, and even at night, just hiding in the shadows of the palace. I watched to find out if it was even worth approaching her, and if so, how to do it.

This conversation, in which Azula mentioned how much she missed the massages I gave her, was conducted in what she believed to be privacy with a friend, which is probably why she believed me. I bet on this. If it hadn't worked out, I had a couple more ideas on how to handle the situation without drawing attention.

Soon, with a bowl containing oil, I approached Azula, who was lying on her stomach. Dipping my hands into the oil, I began to rub it into her back, neck, and shoulders, gradually increasing the sensitivity of her nerve endings. Soon, the princess lay completely relaxed, and I continued to massage her muscles. Now, using bending, I did it in such a way that she would receive complete relaxation, having practiced on her before, and then, for about fifteen minutes after the end, she would not have the strength to get up. All her muscles would be soft and unresponsive.

"You weren't sent by Ty Lee, were you, Garo?" Azula asked quietly, causing me to freeze for a moment, but I continued my task. "Or should I better call you the Blood Monster? Garo isn't your real name, right? I recognized you almost immediately. Only you could give a massage like this."

I silently continued pressing and kneading the muscles, not responding to her words.

"My father was furious when he received the message about the mercenaries' destruction. There are no direct pieces of evidence that you and the Blood Monster are the same person. But that was enough for my father. There are plenty of indirect clues. And the only known witness who knows you also claimed that you and the Blood Monster are the same person.

"So it all started with the First? Well, that's how it is with good deeds - they pay off, but not in the way you would like," I finally responded to Azula.

"Maybe you'll tell me about yourself? I'm completely at your mercy right now. Until you stop the massage, I can hardly even move. And after that as well. And I'm curious about who the person I first fell in love with really is."

"There's not much to tell. I was born in one of the Earth Kingdom villages, the name of which I still do not know. I had a twin brother, older. A mother. We lived well. My brother and I awakened our waterbending abilities, and we began to learn on our own. Through trial and error. With imagination and perseverance. Years went by, and there were successes and failures. I grew, my brother grew. Then the Fire Nation soldiers came looking for waterbenders. My brother and I fled, but a lizard caught up to us, and although we managed to kill it, my brother died from blood loss. Then I returned to the village and learned that my mother had been burned by a firebender. Then I killed the attackers. Waterbending is very underestimated in guerrilla warfare! Even a small one like me then could kill everyone brutally, venting all the pain and rage from losing my loved ones. That's how my story began. First, I achieved excellent control over water and ice, then vapor, blood, and plants followed... by that time, I was already quite a notorious maniac...

"And then they caught you?" she asked, turning her head towards me with effort and looking into my eyes. Into my own eyes. My own face.

"With great difficulty and casualties, burying them in bodies, so to speak, but yes - they caught me. That's how I lost my arm and ended up in a stone cell. With difficulty, but I adapted, survived, waited, learned...

"Is that when you did the impossible?" she asked.

"Yes."

"But how? Waterbending couldn't give you anything there."

"Hm... Weaknesses can be overcome, disadvantages turned into advantages. I know that. I learned it on myself. Then, in the cell, my weakness was water. My disadvantage was that I was in that cell. But I turned the disadvantage into an advantage. I overcame my weakness. I did what was considered impossible - became the first bender to master both water and earthbending. And I escaped. Killed everyone but the First, took a long time to recover. Regrew my arm. Returned to my previous physical form and capabilities. Mastered new bending for myself.

I moved from her back and neck with shoulders to her legs and began to rub the oil there. I told Azula about the events that happened to me, my motives.

"So, I'm just a means for you to get what you need?" Azula asked quietly, almost inaudibly, turning her face away.

"That was the case. That's why I started all this... although initially, I went with you out of boredom and because I had already bonded with Ty Lee. She's infectiously joyful and positive. I didn't want to lose her. It was only later that it got to this whole situation. But at the Air Temple, I realized, when I was almost done with my training, when there was just one step left, that I had grown too attached to you, that I liked you, that you were dear to me. What to say if I traveled halfway across the world to give you a massage... and, to be honest, I now don't know what to do. I just can't make a choice.

"What choice is there?" she asked me.

"You, or Power. You, who became dear enough to me that I couldn't just ponder but have been unable to decide for a long time to choose power. Or power, which I've been striving for many years. Because of which I was able to overcome such things that would have surely killed anyone else. You, or the goal that made me who I am.

Azula was silent while I continued to massage her, but then, with difficulty, she turned onto her back and, with visible effort, stretched out her arms, wrapping them around my neck and pulling me to her, kissed me.

I reciprocated the kiss and also embraced her, not breaking such a pleasant kiss.

"Then I'll be maximally selfish," she said, breaking the kiss and looking into my eyes with a smile, "and do everything to make you choose me..."

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