Chapter - 2

"The core of fire magic is the transformation of internal QI into flame, which sets us apart from other elemental magicians who require additional items to use. For example, an earth mage requires land, which is why in water or on an iron ship, they are powerless if they do not bring a bag of stones with them. Water mages are weak if there is no water source nearby, so they huddle on their ice. Is everything clear yet? Ozai asked me when he stopped.

- yes.

"Well, then, what about the airbenders?"

"Well, there's air everywhere, so they can always use their magic.

"That's right, but even fire mages are not able to release fire in unsuitable conditions, such as under water, just as flame is not very good to use in closed, small rooms. Also, fire itself is not hard enough, unlike ice, water, and even more so earth, even air has a high density, which is why there are very few defensive techniques in our magic. The basis of fire magic, lies in the fire itself, namely, continuous burning, constant attack, all the magicians of our people go forward burning their way.

"What if an arrow or a rock comes at me?"

"Ahem, don't interrupt me, if you want to ask, then wait until I finish." "My father reprimanded me.

"Got it."

- If an arrow flies at you, you can continue to release the flame, as almost any arrow will successfully burn in it. With a stone, it is worth dodging, although if your flame is strong enough, you can burn it, the strongest fire mages can vaporize iron chains, what can we say about stones. Plus, do not forget that our flame contains QI, which is not present in stones or arrows, which means that it is initially better. Got it?"

"Yeah, you have to have a strong flame to keep going forward!"

- No, no, no, no. You should not just go forward, you should strike first, be aggressive and attack, ideally no stones should fly at you, as all opponents will either defend themselves from the fire, or burn in it. ALL RIGHT! Ozai shouted, realizing that it was a little too much to expect understanding from a three-year-old. - Back to the basics, the basics of fire magic are: Emotions, Control, and Movement. Let's analyze each item separately, in each fire mage there is a spark of quick temper, anger and aggression, because this is what characterizes the flame itself, flaring up from the spark, maliciously burning everything that gets in the way. Control is important because if you are quick-tempered, angry and aggressive, your flame will burn everything around you without listening to you, without a goal, without direction, strongly, but ineffectively. Movement is the basis of all the magic of the elements as a whole, imitating their element, magicians with their movements make the QI move in the necessary intensity and direction. So what do you understand?

- Fire magic is effective when you are angry and aggressive, but you do not climb to fight, and you move correctly. I gave a simple explanation.

"Hmm, well, that's generally correct. With the theory on this end, and move on to practice, the first thing to control the flame, you need to feel your QI, which flows through the energy channels in our bodies, and for this you need to engage in meditation, which also helps to develop self-control. In parallel to the meditations, all new students are taught the initial postures and techniques, forcing them to do many repetitions, because in the moments of movement you direct your QI, and you have the opportunity to feel it. Got it?" I nodded at the question. "Then get up."

Obeying my father, I got up from the pillow on which I had settled down to listen to the lecture.

"Watch carefully, now I will show you the final result, with the release of the flame, then I will show you without magic, and then the third time I will do it slowly, the fourth time you will perform the movements together with me.

Ozai took off his outer clothing, remaining in only wide trousers, and standing in the center of the hall, took a sharp step forward, resting his foot on the floor, and without taking off the remaining one, abruptly threw out his clenched hand, from which it seemed to fly a fireball. Returning back to his standing position, my father did the same, but without the fireball flying out, which impotently crashed into the wall. The third time Ozai did everything slowly and smoothly, which made the final pose slightly different, it was obvious that the Prince of fire had not repeated the main movements for a long time.

"Come here, and repeat after me."

The fourth time, I carefully repeated my father's movements, but most of my attention was focused on catching on to the ghostly feeling of QI that I could remember at the moment of throwing off the flame. After I repeated the movements for Ozai, he told me to do it again, but this time watching me. Satisfied with what I saw, and giving hints on a couple of mistakes, my father told me to practice this technique, which I did, performing it better and better with each repetition. With my abilities, I will soon be able to perform it flawlessly, and maybe even be able to optimize it as it was before.

"Great, you're doing great, Zuko, you're doing great!" My father happily interrupted my practice of the technique, watching my actions with pride, especially pleased with the slight distortion of the air next to my fist, due to the weak heat that I was spilling out.

No matter how terrible it was, but my body did not circulate QI in itself, at least I did not notice any channels, but I felt a chaotic flow colliding from each other, but this did not prevent me from ripping out some small particles and sending them into my fist. No matter how chaotic the struggle of QI in me looks, there is some direction there, and I hope this restructuring will end soon, or my body will be crippled.

"Come on, I'll explain and teach you how to meditate." Ozai, once again dressed in his loose and loose robes of red and black, led me to the candles on the stands. - Sit in a comfortable position, with a straight back, the most effective is the lotus position, but some use the mountain pose.

Both poses were demonstrated by Ozai, and if you are sitting in the lotus position, with your legs bent at the knees, and your feet thrown on opposite hips, your knees rest on the floor to maintain balance. In the mountain pose, you sit on your own heels, and the entire surface of the leg below the knee touches the floor. Sitting in the lotus position like my father, I showed my willingness to listen.

"All right. Calm your breath, take a breath...exhale, try to breathe through your nose, when the breath calms down, you need to relax and focus on the candle flame, and when you concentrate enough, you should try to ignite this flame. Got it?"

"Uh, well, more or less.

- First, try to calm your breathing and relax.

Under the watchful eye of my father, I started the exercise, and very quickly caught the necessary state in which to track the QI was better and more convenient, you can even say deeper, more accurate. Carefully watching the battle of QI, I noticed how some parts try to stick together to form some kind of wall, but this immediately attracts the rest of the particles, which begin to crash into it. And what is surprising is that they do not crash randomly, but with a certain sequence, first one particle, then three, then ten, and so on increasing until they tear the wall completely.

And this happens from all sides, which makes it seem that some kind of chaos is happening, continuing to observe, I noticed that the QI particles do not disappear anywhere, but fly apart into small particles that are attracted to one of five to eight centers, it is difficult to trace the exact number, but it is in these centers that they again interlock returning to the system.

- Zuuuko, Zukoooo, ZUKO. - I was brought out of the state of observation by a voice that sounded like it was coming from the water column, and a shake on my shoulder.

I turned my head sharply to the left to meet my father's gaze, which swerved sharply in the direction of the candles, which tilted in the wake of my movement.

"What?"

"You seem to have been able to dive too deep." Still looking at the candles, which had already returned to their normal state, Toli asked if Toli had been approved by his father.

"I think I could feel the QI."

"Hmm, good, well done. Tomorrow you will continue with the teacher, and now you have to go to lunch, after which you will have a doctor's examination, and classes with other teachers. My father said thoughtfully, getting up from the pillows on which we had perched.

Going to dinner, we met there with beautiful ladies, on whom I poured out my impressions, of course after the meal, and with restraint. Then there was an examination, which confirmed my excellent health, plus a lot of concern on the part of Ursa, who was very worried about my practicing fire magic with my father, which my sister whispered to me in secret, not directly of course. Then we went to the teachers that we had in common, we just did not intersect on the same subjects.

To sleep in my chambers, I have things to do, in an impudent dragging to her, my mother was worried about me, and did not want to let go, happily stroking the clean skin, trying to imperceptibly brush away the emerging moisture. Soon one shebutnoe miracle came to us, which accused my brother that he was not in place, at first of course she ran to tell my mother, but noticing me, she began to sulk.

In general, the three of us went to bed, and I was squeezed between two female individuals, it should be nice, I know from my own experience, but there is a small nuance called age, both mine and the age of both ladies. Deciding not to fill my head with nonsense, I once again focused on the feeling of QI, sinking deeper and deeper, until I noticed something new on the periphery. In an effort to see and understand what it was, I focused all my attention on this oddity, which turned out to be my little sister, and her flow of QI circulation.

And then something strange happened, my QI froze, then abruptly subsided in the center, where the process of building the wall and destroying it accelerated many times, until only a small piece was left, made up of two particles. And starting from this small piece, my QI circulation system began to build up, and I watched this process all night.