Chapter 35

The daily routine of my training sessions remained unchanged in terms of schedule, but the variety narrowed down to gradually improving my seismic sense, which delighted me more and more with the clarity of perception of everything around. Training now incorporated the use of seismic sense along with regular vision. After about a couple of hours of such training, I would start to experience migraines, and only then would I stop. However, what undoubtedly pleased me was that the amount of time I could sustain the training was increasing. It was only by a couple of minutes a day, but it was still progress. On the other hand, closing my eyes or gathering information impulsively made everything much better!

My second training focus was attempting to create lightning. And, honestly, these attempts taught me much more about mana than all my musings. First and foremost, I learned that mana itself has no emotions. None. Neither positive nor negative. Mana, roughly speaking, is colorless, which led me to the final conclusion that it needs to be saturated with one's emotions. And here's where I realized something else - my method of suppressing emotions doesn't work for this. I essentially obliterate emotions within myself temporarily, suppressing hormones and detaching from them. But if there are no emotions, there's nothing to saturate the mana with. Therefore, I now had to meditate to learn how to suppress emotions with willpower instead of reason, directing all feelings into the mana. This isn't to say it's difficult, just... unclear whether you've made progress or if you're merely fooling yourself, and whether stronger emotions could easily breach this barrier of will?

These were my daily training routines, interspersed and greatly enriched by interactions with Ty Lee, sometimes with Mai, and especially frequent conversations with Azula. No, she never distracted me from training. Even wanting to talk with me, seeing me busy with training or meditations, she would turn around and leave, waiting until I was free.

I examined the princess's growing legs. There wasn't much left, everything was going according to my predictions, and soon their growth should finish. After that... even though regrowing limbs orient themselves to the rest of the body or something else, they lag behind in physical conditions compared to the rest of the body and it would take some time to return strength and endurance to the legs. Because of these examinations, I spent a lot more time with the princess, we often talked about various topics. Initially, it was hard, we couldn't find common ground, but over time, she started to adjust to me, and I to her. Simply deciding and accepting that it's worth trying for all the possibilities I could gain from Azula if we got close enough, dictated certain conditions, as I needed to maintain the good relationship with me and transform it into something closer... well, for a potential success, it was worth a significant effort! And even to start developing a relationship with the princess.

I felt like the hero of a fantasy novel where the main character gets princesses... and a harem...

By the end of the second week, when the legs had almost stopped growing and the active calibration of the nervous system in the new limbs was underway, I came up with a new use for bending. Who said it could only be used for killing? Sure, that's the simplest use, but right now, I'm in a place where I simply don't need that. But I still wanted to develop my bending further, and besides fire, there wasn't much room for that here. So, I found a much more peaceful, as well as in some ways, subtle and complex way of using blood and firebending. A kind of relaxing massage that greatly reduces the unpleasant sensations from calibrating nerve endings in the legs.

The idea first came to me when I saw Azula's face slightly contort with pain during one of my visits.

We were in the garden, and I sat on the edge of a fountain, while she was a bit away in her wheelchair. She often wanted us to come here, saying she spent a lot of time here with her brother and friends in her childhood, where she had fun and grew up.

"Where did you grow up?" she asked me.

"On the move, Azula," I replied to her question and looked into the fountain water, where fish of different colors and sizes swam, "I've been moving since childhood."

"What about your parents?" she turned her head towards me, taking her gaze off the fountain water.

"They died in the war."

"And how did you..." she began to ask, but I cut her off, answering the question immediately without letting her finish.

"I've told this story in Omashu to everyone, but it was the first time I used that technique on myself. Before that, I only knew the theory."

"But you started mastering fire only in the circus, right? Or am I mistaken?" she asked herself in confusion.

"No, Azula, you're correct. Fire as an element, I only began mastering in the circus, but specific techniques... they can be compared to martial arts. Controlling the fire element is a fighting style, and that technique... more of a separate move from that style. It might be complex, beautiful, effective, or something else, but it's a separate move, much easier to learn than the entire fighting style."

"So, you mastered a very complex fire technique, a healing one(!), without mastering the fire element?" she asked me.

"As I've said, my lineage was peculiar. They didn't master the element; my ancestors created specific techniques based on the fire element, imitating spirits. Learning techniques and the element are completely different things. It's hard to explain."

"Incredible. I never suspected something like this. It goes against everything I knew..." Azula told me.

"You don't have to believe me. I understand how it must sound crazy from your perspective."

"No, what are you talking about! I believe you... it's just incredible! Everything I knew turns out to be nothing compared to what I don't know!" Azula exclaimed.

She continued talking, and I watched her. She spoke energetically, becoming more and more animated with each word. And to think, this was the same princess I met in the circus, who nearly killed me with lightning and who fiercely battled me in firebending spars.

After that incident... after I used the moment to pull her from the abyss of despair she fell into because of her disability, she became very attached to me, although possibly, the factor that I lied to her about the dependency of her legs' integrity on my life played a role. But the final outcome remains unchanged - she became attached to me, and her attitude towards me changed significantly. With me, she became more... open, perhaps?

My thoughts were interrupted by her grimace of pain, tightly clenched jaws, and squinted eyes.

"Azula, are you okay?" I asked, then remembered and reflected on my own limb growth experience. "Do your legs hurt? Don't worry, it's normal for such rapid limb growth. Right now, your nervous system is checking the functionality of nerve tissue in your legs, so you feel pain..."

"I get it!" Azula managed to say through clenched teeth from the pain.

That moment sparked the idea of using bending not just for killing purposes but for more peaceful ones, which, if effective, would help me even more.

Wheeling Azula back to her room, the intense pain passed in a few minutes. These pains should occur periodically, and they're very unpleasant, I know from experience.

"Where are we going?" Azula asked me when she was distracted from the pain, but then she looked around and oriented herself. "The pain has passed, Garo, you don't need to take me to the room."

"I'm taking you for another reason. I want to try to help; if it works, your legs won't hurt as much anymore. If not, I definitely won't make it worse."

We arrived at the princess's room door. Her room was very large, you know, also all in red tones, with a screen made of several thin panels on one side, a table with a mirror and a bunch of hair care and appearance tools on the other. I'm not knowledgeable in this area, so I couldn't name even a tenth of what was there, except for immediately recognizing a comb.

After wheeling Azula to the bed and transferring her onto it.

"Okay, I'll step out now, and you call a servant and change into something that exposes your legs. When you're done, call me; I'll be nearby, so the servant will see me immediately outside the room. Let's go, I'm waiting."

Without letting the princess say anything, I stepped out of the room and stood close to the doors, just a couple of meters away.

Soon, several maids arrived and disappeared inside Azula's room, while I ran my hand over my forearm, almost touching the skin. From the side, it wasn't noticeable, but from my palm emanated a strong, yet gentle warmth, and I was adjusting to find the most pleasant temperature, meanwhile conducting some manipulations with blood, controlling not all of it at once, but only a part. This should work with Azula too. Obviously, the temperature and blood manipulation would need to be adjusted for each person, but I found a general temperature range, which would speed up the process!

Soon, I felt a response from my body, and the skin under my palm began to get goosebumps, feeling... indescribably. Literally, all nerve endings under the area of effect from the warmth and blood went into an excited state, sending such a signal of irritation to the brain that... I could call this technique a localized tactile euphoria, which would be the most fitting name!

Fifteen minutes later, two maids left and went somewhere down the corridor past me, the third approached me.

"Mr. Garo, Princess Azula is waiting for you."

After bowing, the maid immediately followed the others, but I stopped her.

"Wait. Bring some body oils. The princess will need them. Go on, but don't dally."

Entering Azula's room, I saw her lying on the bed in something resembling a bikini. She looked great, I must admit, only the slightly disproportionate legs still in growth and their physical weakness compared to the rest of the body somewhat spoiled the picture.

"What are you planning to do? Why did I need to dress like this?" she asked me.

"Actually, I only asked for your legs to be exposed; I didn't say anything about the rest, but okay. As you remember, I mentioned that the Dark Healing technique is just one of several that I inherited. I've never used the second one, only know the theoretical part of the technique. Roughly speaking, it's a massage technique using firebending. I'll start preparing now, and then your maid should bring the body oils I requested. Now, lie still and don't move."

"Okay. I trust you..."

Without saying another word, I placed my hands an inch away from the surface of her skin and began emitting heat, aiding myself with bloodbending.

For a few minutes, nothing happened, but then I heard a soft gasp from Azula, and her skin under my palm developed spreading goosebumps.

Catching the right... let's say, setting, I began to spread the influence of my bending across her entire body. Inch by inch, from her toes to her neck, her body was covered in goosebumps, and Azula's breathing deepened.

Azula's maid soon entered, leaving a pitcher with a lid, saying it contained the oils I had requested.

After applying the oils to my hands, I carefully began to massage, starting with the legs and ending with the shoulders. I'm not a professional masseuse and didn't even dabble in it; I got a bit of practice from my girlfriend in a past life, and that's about it, but now it was enough. Especially considering that her nerve endings were particularly sensitive because of me.

The touches to her body initially elicited not strong screams, but definitely not from pain.

Gradually, I massaged the leg muscles, and then, at Azula's request, moved to her back and from there to her shoulders.

Forty minutes later, I left Azula's room, wiping my hands on a towel, and with a satisfied smile, headed to my room. The idea was not just a success, but a complete victory! And now the only concern was that Azula might become addicted to my massage.

Well...

It wouldn't hurt to practice this more often. I personally enjoyed the process too!

***

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