31.Daily life
– Okay, let's do it one more time and we can finish for today, – I said with a grin, watching the tired girls. - Did you want to speed up your studies? There's no turning back now, because I see you've completely relaxed without me.
A collective exclamation of indignation was my answer.
- "What a well-coordinated work, however, you'd better coordinate your actions when sparring with me. I think I've figured out how to motivate you" – every time they go for it, I shook my head.
- I recently talked to the water master Ikatsu, he boasted to me about his daughter, he says that very soon she will catch up with her skill. Eh, most likely, she will take the title of the first water master among women, – I said with mock sadness, seeing how the fighting spirit in the girls' eyes lit up as I spoke.
– "How is that?! Only one of us can be the First!" - it doesn't even take words to understand what they are both thinking right now.
- Then what are you waiting for?! Attack! – I clapped my hands, sharply tilting my head back from the ice needles flying at me. My favorite technique is gaining more and more popularity among magicians, and little princesses are no exception.
While one of them kept me under a constant barrage of new attacks, the other was gathering her energy for some other move. Hm-m, so you're preparing the fog... Something new, they usually like to attack head-on right away, sometimes they remind me of firebenders with their fighting style.
As soon as the fog appeared, more and more silhouettes of people began to appear, and if I was an ordinary water magician, the ice cubes disguised as people would be able to trick me, but for now I won't interrupt them, let's see what they came up with. Contractions most often don't go the way we expect, so I'll add a little chaos.
Having already created my own ice copies, manipulating them, I sent them towards the girls, after that I moved a little further away. A little later, Katara's bewildered head appeared at the place of my former deployment, planning to attack me from behind. She made her way through the icy floor under my feet, fortunately there is enough thickness. It's original! I certainly didn't teach them that.
- Yeah, who's that here! – I said, swaddling her in ice, - well, well, you almost did it, don't sulk, or I'll squeeze you, - I clicked the inflated Katara on the nose. Recently, they do not want tenderness from me and my parents, they say that they are already adults, and they no longer like this, while forgetting to hide their true emotions on their face, which tell us the exact opposite of what was said.
At that time, my copies were ruthlessly destroyed, but they did their job with a bang, they bought me time. With the girls, I use only a little more of my strength, so that they overcome their limits a little bit each time. And fighting an overly strong opponent would not be very fun, sometimes it is possible, but not on a permanent basis.
Yui held on for another two minutes under my incessant pressure from various water magic techniques. A good result, last time she couldn't even snap back. In the same battle, she sometimes managed to counterattack.
- You did a good job, of course, there are shortcomings, but we'll talk about them later. Did someone want to ride otter penguins today? – I asked the cheerful girls, who already had a second wind. Needless to say, even if I like to play with these funny creatures who are ready to sell their soul for a delicious fish.
***
It was only recently that I found out that our palace has an open balcony with a magnificent view of the city. Although... The palace is often redone or something is added, after all, it is not so difficult when there are a lot of conquerors of water nearby. This has become our favorite place to spend time with Kaya, it is especially good to sit here with hot tea, covered with a warm blanket.
– Shizuka, then? – as if tasting this name, Kaya said. - Are you serious about her?
– Yes, she's good, I'm sure you'll be friends, – I replied, twining my fingers with hers. – Let the girls and Sokka grow up a little, then I can take you with me to Kyoshi Island.
– You're bothering me a little... – Kaya said thoughtfully, – First me, now Shizuka, and both of us are older than you, both already have children… It's not very normal, you know? – Kaya turned to me with a worried expression on her face.
– Eh? - I didn't understand.
- You should see your face now, - Kaya couldn't stand it, laughing fervently, - Wait, wait, give me a second! I need to calm down, uh-uh, – she caught her breath.
– "But at first she seemed so calm and serious," – I shook my head at her antics.
- I was spoiled by one person close to my heart, - she said, sitting down with her soft ass on my lap, - And I fucking like it, - she muttered already in the area of my neck, thrusting her warm hands under my clothes, - Every woman deserves happiness, and I hope you will give it to us...
– I will, – I replied, kissing the top of her head and closing my eyes.
Kaya has an average talent in water magic, but continues to improve stubbornly, knowing how dangerous the outside world can be. If girls like not to stay on one technique for a long time, preferring to immediately learn a new technique, since it is much more fun. Kaya, on the contrary, impresses with her pedantry and meticulousness, continuing to bring the already mastered technique to a certain ideal in her understanding.
Her real vocation turned out to be healing magic. Here she is ahead of most of the other students, although she began her studies much later. Healing magic requires not only basic water control, but also excellent manipulation of vital energy. As she admitted, she felt something similar to life energy in childhood, and she even had some success in this field. When a virus was rampant in the Southern Tribe, she recovered faster than anyone because she was "playing" with something unknown that flows all over her body. Most likely, these were the channels through which she drove vital energy, thereby strengthening her health and body.
Success in this field affected her self-esteem, which had previously dropped a little due to thoughts about her inferiority compared to my talent. I didn't notice it right away, her persistent training seemed to me like a desire to gain more strength. Now we started to sit more often and just share our thoughts, desires, and fears. Thanks to such spiritual gatherings, Kaya no longer drives herself.
***
It's not often that we can all get together at the same table. Arnuk has an irregular work schedule, although his office is located in the same building, only at the other end of the wing. June is now in charge of an entire department in the Halls of Healing, responsible for all the red tape related to new students and students. I often linger at the landfills, asking the servants to bring me food there already.
That's why it's more pleasant to be with everyone at the same dinner, share different news, brag about new techniques.
- Yuki, I already have a whole list of families who want to see you as their son-in-law, - Arnuk began to express his thoughts, either not noticing the sharp glances of the beautiful part of our environment or just pretending well that he did not notice. – I chose the most worthy ones for your choice, - Kaya, sitting next to me, squeezed my hand harder under the table. – Come to my office after dinner, we'll discuss everything there, you know how much it will raise... – before he could finish his sentence, he was interrupted.
- No/My brother/Let Yuki find his own love! – it sounded out of tune from Yui, Katara, Kaya and June, stunning Arnuk with such pressure, who only now noticed the oppressive atmosphere in the kitchen.
– Ahem, there are some very nice young ladies there, maybe... – and he was rudely interrupted again…
- That's enough/Father/Arnuk, stop it! – no one seemed to raise their voices, but it felt like the temperature of the whole room dropped by several degrees, even I was feared...
– Hehe, I just offered, I just offered! – the father laughed hard. - Of course, my son, a dragon among people, he will choose a worthy wife for himself, - carefully choosing his words, he continued to justify himself. Father was close, it was close, some people forget their lessons too quickly, we all know who really leads this family, right June?
As Yugoda told me in secret, my mother was from an ordinary family of fishermen, but she was always a lively girl who could calmly go against everyone's opinion. More recently, the distance between the statuses of ordinary people and magicians was much further, and it was unrealistic for a talented conqueror to break through to the top, but without strong patrons behind her. But she was able, where with hard work, where with her mind, to attract the attention of a still young Arnuk, who was simply conquered by his mother. For her sake, he even went against his father, who had completely different plans, but even my callous grandfather, she was able to impress.
And just the same, all the innovations before my birth were done by her. Without being a member of the council, she was able to make life easier for all ordinary people, knowing firsthand about their lives. The old farts themselves only recently realized how cleverly she did everything, where the right rumor was, where to invite the wife of a respected water master to tea and casually raise one topic. She is like local Olenna Tyrell! I can't call my father a henpecked, all these machinations did not pass by him, but he tacitly gave them the go-ahead, because he saw that they would only go for the good. Even now, this fox masquerading as my father, pretending to be a fool, has probed the ground. June and Arnuk are worth each other, we can say that two manipulators have found each other.
- And what about Yui, you won't have time to look back, as ... - this time my father fell silent himself, under my outburst of bloodlust. - Yui is my princess, she will decide what to do, yes, yes, everyone offends poor Arnuk, - my father began to complain to June, whom I am sure was not offended by my actions in any way, but the conversation about how I learned this technique will definitely take place. Although knowing about my travels outside, he probably already knows about everything, after all, the world is far from a rainbow and friendship.
The dinner was interesting, my father's acting deserves an Oscar, I still have to go and go before his skill. Mom is better at amorous affairs than her father, after all, she noticed Kaya's overly violent reaction, which means that an interesting conversation is waiting for me soon. I think I remembered why I didn't like to have dinners together, because my parents used them to find out the whole story...
There was also some insider information, the healers managed to bring out edible algae, which grow quietly not only in the wild. The first samples are already there, it remains only to wait for their growth, and we can no longer worry about the shortage of such a useful product. The pride of parents is the success of their children, so June told "in secret" who proposed this idea, now she walks around happy, bragging about her son in a circle of friends.
This is good, it's worth visiting them next week, there is never any extra knowledge. Then theycan think about breeding plants and trees that don't need light. After all, if they create greenhouses under the ice, where there is land, it will be great to diversify the diet of our people. Moreover, there are a lot of magicians who are not particularly busy with anything, ordinary loafers, and they can be sent to create and maintain such greenhouses. Even a simple bender can create a platform made of ice that meets a wall and simply lower and raise it to transport cargo.
What are our plans for this month? Master the technique of the Yuyang archers, try to collect water from the air, repeat the techniques of earth and fire magic, especially pay attention to lava and lightning. Yeah, that's a lot of things to do.