67 Chapter 66

Katara, Aang, and I found ourselves next to a river ready for a water bending lesson. Sokka was grumbling while staying at the campsite with Momo and Appa. The river wasn't strictly necessary for what we would be talking about, but doing a water bending lesson without some water doesn't feel right.

"So our final lesson will be about the seven chakras and advanced bending forms. Both will be theoretically more applicable to Aang, but a regular bender can still benefit from learning about them. Now have either of you heard about the human chakras?"

"Yugoda, during our healing lessons at the north pole spoke about the chakra pathways, but not specific chakras."

"Good. You can think about it like this. The chakra pathways are like veins they span the entire body covering it in energy. The chakras themselves are like organs without which the pathways wouldn't work. The chakras start at the base of the spine and ascend the body until the top of the head. The seven chakras are earth, water, fire, wind, sound, light, and thought. Each of which is tied to two thoughts or emotions. One emotion opens the chakra the other opposite emotion blocks it. The chakras are also directly tied to the ability to bend. The first four elemental chakras are connected to their corresponding bending. For example, the water chakra governed by joy and blocked by guilt. A water bender overwhelmed by guilt will have a very hard time bending if they can still bend at all. Now that is specifically for water benders each element is different. An earth bender who is frightened will have lost their connection to the earth, a fire bender feeling shame will lose connection to the fire, and a mourning air bender will feel their wind weaken. If a bender has instead opened their chakra with the proper emotions and thoughts they will have their bending strengthened even easing their ability to perform advances bending. Which I'll discuss in a second, but first I'll finish with the final three chakras. After the four elemental chakras is the sound chakra, and I'll be honest I don't get this one."

"What?"

"Yea sorry. The sound chakra makes no sense to me"

"But you're supposed to know these things. Where else can I find out about these things?" Aang asks a bit frustrated.

"I'm not super familiar with chakras in general. I'm mostly explaining them as an intro to talking about more complex bending. If you want to talk about chakras find a guru. Now after sound is light. It is opened by wisdom and seeing through Illusion.

"What illusion are we supposed to be seeing through exactly?" Katara asks her tone telling me to hurry up.

"It is unlocked by a personal realization about the nature of the things that surrounded us. If you can unlock the 6th chakra you can bend using only your mind or at the very least minimize the need for movement when bending. The final chakra when opened will increase bending power however it is especially important for avatars because opening the final chakra would allow and Avatar to freely enter the Avatar state at will. It is opened by letting go to all attachments"

"Attachments?" They parrot.

"Family, friends, responsibilities, or possessions. It means basically letting go of anything you can or do care about."

"That sounds awful"

"Do I have to do that?"

"I agree which is why I'll never even attempt to open it. Aang do what you want to do. I'm sure for every Avatar that has opened the final chakra another left it closed. Now onto lighter topics advanced bending either of you know any?

" Well, Master Pakku showed me this..."

"No. Sorry maybe advanced bending is misleading. Alternative Bending might be a more accurate term. Bending an element that is fundamentally different from typical bending. For example lava bending.

" I thought that was just an Avatar thing. I mean Roku had me do it at Cresent Moon Island. I thought it was just fire and earth bending at the same time."

"Well, maybe the avatar can cheat and mix elements." "Hey!" " Typically Lava bending is the most advanced form of earth bending. Similarly, Lightning bending for fire benders."

"So what's the advanced bending for water benders?"

"In a moment. Now in order to accomplish these techniques, a bender needs a combination of three things skill, mindset, and environment. Certain environments can help a bender achieve bending beyond their normal capabilities a full moon for water benders or sozin's comet for fire benders. Having the right mindset can also help, and by this, I mean having a mindset that has opened the appropriate chakras. Finally, advanced bending us incredibly difficult even with environmental and emotional aids a person needs the technical ability to do so. For water benders, our alternative bending is normally only usable on a full moon, but by opening the water chakra and practice I believe it can be done anytime. Our advanced bending is called Life or blood bending."

"That doesn't sound great," Katara said apprehensively.

"Why does water bending have the evil-sounding bending?"

"I won't deny the ability can be a bit evil, but it is also the most powerful healing technique in the world. Life Bending or Blood bending is all about bending the water inside other living creatures. "

"Told you evil"

"I don't know if I feel comfortable doing this."

"If you don't want to ever use these abilities again that's fine, but they may save your life. Or you may have to face someone who is also a blood bender and you need to know how to defend against it. It has many interesting healing applications, but I'll keep this lesson short. Right now I want us all to meditate and focus on letting go of our guilt. Then I will blood bend the two of you. The lesson will be over when you both can resist its effects. From there you're both free to explore or ignore blood bending as you wish"

"I understand"

"Let's get this over with," Aang and Katara said unhappily. The early excitement of the lesson gone. Now they face the unpleasant but necessary final formal lesson of water bending.