14.Help
I had to learn all these professions in the process, and each time I thanked my craving for reading books, or my hunger for information, which made me read all the books in the library. All of a sudden, all the knowledge that you don't think will be useful anywhere turns out to be very much in demand. Because of this, I want to get to the huge Wang Shi Tong Library as soon as possible, where thousands of books are stored.
I was pushed on the path to becoming a professional handyman by the plight of the entire tribe.
On the third day, the sources finally started working and began to actively replenish the storage with energy. It didn't take long because of the proximity to the portal to the Spirit Realm. Following the activation of magic, my physical weakness disappeared, and by the afternoon of the third day, I was almost at the peak of my powers and abilities.
Deciding to look at the whole village, I went out into the fresh frosty air. My appearance immediately attracted everyone's attention. The stories that I appeared in their tribe had already been walking all over the settlement for some unknown reason. It is still small enough so that every rumor or news spread in the blink of an eye, and continued to figure for a long time, but to hear it is not to see it with your own eyes.
After walking through the tribe, I got to know almost all of its inhabitants, and as I got to know them, my mood dropped lower and lower. The adults here had an extinct look, they looked very tired both mentally and physically. Most of them had some people close to them killed or taken away, whether it was a family member or a distant relative... The loss of so many dear people has greatly affected their mental well-being.
Especially when there is no part of the tribe that was responsible for most of the meat production, protection of the settlement and all activities that required certain physical condition and experience. The tribe has to eat basically only fish, sometimes it turns out to get meat. But this happens in those rare cases when a herbivorous animal has strayed from the packs... or if it is predatory, it must be old and already badly injured.
It is quite difficult to find harmless animals, since most of them have natural camouflage, especially since they will not live close to people, which means that they need to move away from the tribe, which can lead to a meeting with dangerous predators. That is, the risk is not much justified. There were several teenagers who, without listening to the others, went hunting, and no one saw them anymore...
Only the children looked quite happy with life, but even they were affected by the behavior of the older residents.
Looking at the composition of the tribe's inhabitants, a mixture of a nursing home, a hospital for retired soldiers who were injured in the war and a kindergarten with tutors comes to mind. A horde of children, seeing a new person, surrounded me and did not allow me to pass until they had satisfied their interest. There were a lot of different questions, requests to play...
So many childish emotions piled on top of me, which, it seems, even started to make my head spin. Katara, who walked with me all the time, looked at the other children with jealousy. Some people are already used to getting all my attention for themselves alone. A little possessive.
The condition of the residents themselves seemed to be reflected in the village itself. One igloo, which seems to have been built by hand, had a slightly lopsided appearance, and this is the Chief's house, where I have lived for the last two days and ... then only "better". The rest of the tribe lived in tents made of anything that came to hand, I think I even saw the flags of the fire nation as a canopy.
So I realized that it doesn't cost me anything to help these people, but for them it will be a new incentive to move. Maybe it will help to stir them up.
With these thoughts in mind, I went towards the elder's house to ask her advice in my endeavors. She was the famous Kanna, the oldest inhabitant of the Southern Water Tribe.
– Elder Kanna, are you busy? – I asked before entering the tent, – I need to talk to you.
– Come inside, – an old man's voice rang out from inside.
As soon as I entered the dwelling, the smells of various herbs tickled my sense of smell. It felt like a natural product, which was very difficult to find in my century.
- I made this decoction especially for you. Although I was deprived of the magic of water, but while still in the Northern Tribe of Water, I learned from healers to make such healing drinks that help to recover, - her speech was measured and calm, such people who have already lived their century, I want to listen and listen, - they say you are from the North Pole, how are things going there?
- Sorry for the inconvenience and thank you for all the help, - first I thanked her, - Kaya said that you helped her nurse me while I was unconscious, - I bowed to her in gratitude, - Everything is fine at home, the people of Fire have not attacked us for many years. Do you happen to know Yugoda? She is my mentor on the path of healing, she once told me about her old friend Kanna, who sailed to the South Pole.
– So she's still alive... - she drawled contentedly, – It's good, she always wanted to help people with their injuries, it looks like she got her way, - even her face brightened from this news. – So what is the reason for your coming? – already handing me the bowl with the decoction, she asked.
- I would like to help your tribe, being a good bender of water, I can do a lot, - most likely, it sounded like bragging, but my intentions were sincere. - I hope you will direct my activities in a more useful direction, after all, you know better what the tribe needs.
– It's easier to list what we don't need, young man, – she said, shaking her head sadly. - I thank you in advance from the whole tribe, and I hope you won't overdo it, after all, you have only recently recovered.
After the conversation, where I was given the go-ahead for all my undertakings, I began to think about where to start at all. I think it's worth starting with the construction of new houses, as I noticed in these tents, even the heat does not last long...
Without thinking twice, I went to look at the territory suitable for the construction of new houses, still it is not worth evicting people, not being sure of the imminent completion of the construction. It's easier to do everything at home first, and then help them move all their belongings there.
Having chosen a place, I began to collect water from the ocean, giving me the shapes I needed. Thanks to the increase in my skill from the enlightenment that I received from the spirits of Tui and La, I was able to operate with an even larger volume of water, so it was relatively easy to build houses. I spent more time remembering details from books that told me how to do everything right.
The population was not too large, twenty houses would be enough for them even for future families. When building houses with the help of magic, you can find many advantages – this is an increase in your control, and a flight of fancy on the theme of your dream house. Each house turned out to be different from the other, each of them had its own highlight. I think children will definitely like this variety. In case of different situations in each dwelling, I made a large basement where you can both hide in case of anything and store perishable food supplies.
I did not expect such a speed from myself, I managed to finish everything at home right at sunset. This means that tomorrow morning I can already notify residents about moving to new homes.
It is worth telling separately about the funny reaction of the kids to the magic of water. They have never seen its manifestation in their lives, but only heard from the stories of adults, some of whom managed to catch the times when there were conquerors. For fifteen minutes they did nothing but gasp in disbelief, staring intently at my manipulations with water during the construction of houses.
But then I listened to their questions and exclamations throughout the construction. Every child that day was fired up with the idea of becoming a water magician, but it seems that only Katara had the talent. But not wanting to upset the kids, I started telling them stories about brave fishermen, chefs and other professions that can be cooler than a water magician, while having to describe fabulously and vividly how they can catch a lot of fish and feed the whole tribe with food, how their mother will be proud of them. Yes, you can call it manipulation, but it is better to direct their thoughts in the other direction, so that in the future they will not be disappointed when they realize that they do not have the magic energy...
The next day, each resident of the tribe went through some kind of ritual of accepting reality. When Kanna told them to pack up for relocation, the people already thought that Kanna believed the stories their children had heard yesterday. In which supposedly that boy is a super-cool conqueror of water. But there were also people who dared to walk to their new place of residence first – so they became the first pilgrims who performed the ritual of hanging for a few minutes, rubbing their eyes and obligatory touching one of the houses. The people, still not believing in what was happening, were stupidly collecting their belongings, which I was already carrying to the new village on ice platforms.
That day, after helping to carry things, I thought about protecting the village itself and its invisibility. From the ocean side, where you can easily see the village, I decided to make small hills, thanks to which the settlement will not be viewed by the ships of the fire people. Then they had to make the same one from the other two sides, so that when they came to the old village, they would not see the new settlement. It was difficult to make them look like what Mother Nature creates. For an hour I gave them a more natural look. It seems that I was captured by a kind of excitement, so I additionally decided to enclose the entire village with ice, giving them the shape of two-meter walls, then supplemented them with observation posts, from where the whole area was clearly visible.
On the same day, I managed to examine all the residents with my healing magic. Everyone had some sores or injuries, only the children walked almost completely healthy. There are a lot of long-standing injuries and improperly fused bones. It was obvious that the healing magician had not been here for a very long time. Here, for the first time, I moved on to serious injuries. For some people, the situation required immediate treatment.
At first, I was afraid to start such neglected cases, because there was not even insurance in the form of other healers, but there was a strong motivation to do everything well – this motivation was a pair of naive children's eyes that looked at me in the firm belief that their mother would definitely be cured by this handsome conqueror uncle.
When you do something yourself and at the same time benefit others, there is a feeling of satisfaction, I would even say a certain "fullness". It is especially strong when you see how people come to life in front of your eyes thanks to your actions.
At the end of the day, I was tired as a horse, those operations had squeezed all the juices out of me. But it was definitely worth it! The daughter of that cured woman later came to me and wanted to give me her only toy, supposedly I deserved it. You should have seen her face changing in emotions, she did not want to give it so much, but it was ugly not to give it either. I had to restrain a creeping smile of emotion, yet here the child gives away probably the most important thing for her... Unable to look at her torment anymore, I said that I didn't need the toy, but I wanted to give her an important assignment. Telling her to keep a close eye on her mom, and not let her strain herself for at least another ten days. At these words, the girl nodded to me with an extremely serious smile.
– How many ten days is that? - she came running back to me, after a minute.
I had to quickly teach the girl how to count the days...
On the fifth day, with renewed vigor, I decided to go deeper into the tundra. There was no stock of meat in the settlement, good-quality clothes were also in acute shortage, so it was urgently necessary to resolve this issue. For the master of water, it is not a problem to overwhelm any representative of the local places, more time was spent searching for them.
So in a day I was able to bring to the tribe a whole pack of carcasses of local wolves that brazenly lived right near the new settlement. As well as one polar leopard and three yaks. That was enough to not worry about meat for another couple of weeks for sure. The skins could be used to make new clothes for the whole tribe. Waste-free production!
Over the next two days, I continued to look for dangerous animals near the settlement and refine the houses themselves. I did not forget to make a secret shelter in one of the hills, if the enemies find the settlement itself, then it will be possible to hide in these rooms. There was more free time left, which was immediately occupied by tinkering with children.
I have gone too far into gentrification, forgetting to pay attention to my constant unwitting viewers. Being close to the tribe or on its territory, all these days the kids followed me around, who, seeing me very busy, did not even bother or molest me in any way, but simply looked at me enthusiastically. Such childish endurance should have been rewarded, what I successfully did.
During these two days, I gave them whole performances with animated water for several hours. As my stories progressed, the water took on various forms, whether they were characters from my fairy tales or whole three-dimensional places that showed the place of action itself.
It seems that I have already got used to falling asleep to Katara's enthusiastic twitter, telling hermother all the events that she had seen all day. All this was accompanied by the consonant grumbling of Sokka, who played with the boomerang I made every day. It is worth adding here the grateful glances of Kaya, which she threw at me, seeing her children so happy.