40.Respite
Wang Shi Tong sent me straight to the Oasis of Spirits. This time there was nothing wrong with the height, I appeared a meter above the ground, but I will still remember all my sufferings to him. Already at the exit from the Oasis, a polar bear dog puppy was waiting for me.
- Good boy, I missed you too much, Balto, - I tried to move his head away from my face, he loves to express his sympathy too much by licking. - Why are you growing so fast, I thought I would still have time to carry you in my arms, – only recently he was knee-deep, and It's already reaching my chest. – Who quickly smelled my scent, who is a good boy, - I began to stroke his promptly exposed tummy.
Once I wanted to try to get at least one hybrid of a polar bear and a dog in our tribe, but I still couldn't get my hands on it until six months ago, on my way to the capital, I met a pregnant female on her last legs – I couldn't pass by such a thing. She has enough beaten, the only place that didn't suffer was her stomach, even being unconscious, she covered it with her paws. It was definitely worth it, none of her children were injured.
With the help of my healing, she came to herself the very next day. It was not so easy to earn her friendship, especially when her mind was focused only on protecting her future children, but water sharpens a stone. A month later, she only let me stay near her, it was not for nothing... I dragged her the juiciest and freshest meat. To be honest, no one was eager to approach her, for the rest of the tribe – this animal was a natural enemy of our hunters.
I am still thanked them, because no one tried to get rid of her quietly, it was limited only to words of displeasure from such a neighborhood. According to people, the bear dog would not be stopped by any walls reinforced with magic, but she herself was not going anywhere. Maybe on the first day such thoughts visited her head, but seeing the free food served, she just decided not to resist, or maybe she was scared by the thousands of smells of people around. It seems to me that she perceived her aviary as a kind of protection.
With the appearance of the puppies at Naya, that's what I eventually called her, the first visitors began to appear. Her children were too funny – the kids could watch their games for hours, some of the children came there, despite the ban from their parents. It's good that I tightly closed the aviary in my absence, otherwise there will be trouble.
As time passed, people began to get used to the neighborhood with dangerous predators, and Naya got used to being surrounded by bipeds. The growing up bear dogs generally became everyone's favorites, they got used to being near people the fastest – most likely because they did not know any other life.
Over time, it became clear that there was more of the dogs in them... Every day they rejoiced at the arrival of children, were delighted with stroking and were quite socialized, as if they had not lived for millennia on the other side of the barricades. It was difficult to force myself to keep them locked up any longer, but caution is never superfluous. Until I became confident enough in them, I took them out for walks only under my tireless supervision.
An unexpected twist was their certain resemblance to the Inuzuka's ninken from the Naruto anime. Balto the son of Nai himself began to run after me just like my tail, recognizing me as his close friend. At first I thought it was because of my frequent games with him, but no, he wasn't so responsive with others. Once it was an accident, three times it was a pattern, the two Balto sisters became the same tails of Katara and Yui. Now I wonder if Korra has tamed Naga for sure. Maybe Naga decided to stay with her on her own…
Only a month and a half ago, I let them out for a walk outside the city. I thought that Naya would definitely decide to return to her former existence, away from people. It was nice to be mistaken about her when she returned to her cabin a day later.
Recently, our bear dogs have been hanging around the Palace every day, waiting for their owners. So far, none of the adults are eager to get the same ones, but the younger generation is licking their lips at them. But I think that the first ones after us will be either hunters or conquerors working in greenhouses. Naya shows by her example how useful own bear dog is, because she has already managed to save a group of people once, who got into a powerful blizzard on the way back.
– Okay, okay, let's go play, – he began to push me towards the shore. That's where we usually spend our time. I think Ш can give him an hour of time. It's hard to stand his "look of a beaten puppy" when he sees me flying away. On my first flight, he actually ran all over the city and swam a few kilometers behind me. The poor guy thought I was leaving him forever, so I had to go back and try to explain everything to him. It didn't work out very well, but he didn't run after me anymore, although it was clear from his eyes how he didn't like it all...
***
Every time after my long absence from home, the first week is entirely devoted to the people close to me. For the first few days, I tell them where I've been, what I've been doing. It is extremely interesting for everyone to hear about my adventures, of course, in my stories I omit some details that the girls and Sokka are still too early to know. Only Arnuk, June and Kaya hear more details from me. The women won't leave me alone until they get all the information out of me. Arnuk, on duty, needs to keep his finger on the pulse, he is interested in what steps the people of fire are taking, what is happening to the people of the earth, so to speak, he keeps in mind and analyzes. Anything can happen in life.
The girls continue to gradually comprehend new facets of water bendering, they can often be seen fighting with other benders. They gain experience, and already have a lot of techniques. Kaya and June decided to send their daughters to learn the basics of healing magic. They shouldn't have run out of the wall without asking, the little devils wanted to put all the blame on their four-legged friends, but a mother always finds out when her child is lying... So they found something to do that would direct their energy in a more useful direction.
Sokka still can't come to terms with the fact that we have bear dogs, but he doesn't. To be more precise, that's what he thinks. In fact, the last puppy has long staked him out when he went to his pants in need... Now the animal is only pretending to be uninterested, getting various goodies and time for games from Sokka, a cunning fellow. The main thing is that he feels good, why to change anything. Someday we'll tell Sokka the truth, but not today.…
Further, according to tradition, I focus on my development: practicing already learned techniques from magic, mastering something new, training to open the next chakra. In a previous life, such diligence was not observed in any of the areas, but here motivation has been held for eleven years. Maybe I just didn't have time to find my calling? Or in us "travelers"during the transition, some kind of "nuts" are being tightened, from which we have an awl in one place? Okay, I can think about this later, now there is a question of Harmonic Convergence.
In general, I agree with the Spirit, we will live much worse under Vatu than under Rava. In general, it's not very good with both of them, let them figure out their relationship somewhere else, so I agree in advance with Wang Shi Tong's plan, especially since there is no point in lying to him. The new order under the spirit of darkness will only hinder his accumulation of new knowledge.
The spirit of knowledge has enough authority for a general gathering of light spirits. During these seventy-seven years, I should also become a figure that everyone will obey implicitly. I thought I would live for my own pleasure, away from big politics, closer to juicy asses, comprehend the mysteries of magic. In the northern tribe of water, people value their relationships too much, and there is no such dirt in the council, but the Kingdom of Earth and Fire, it seems, are still cesspools…
So, there are very few neutral territories, we do not consider them, only the People of Fire and Earth remain. The people of the Water will follow me anyway. In principle, with my ability to seize power in the country, it will not be difficult, just kill everyone quietly. That's just what I want to do beautifully – so that the government apparatus has smart people who will run the state on my behalf. I don't like messing with what I don't like. It is better to become related to the first people of the country in general, so that our interests do not differ, and they slogged ... ahem, ahem, more precisely, they worked for our common good! Yes! That is what I want to say...
The Kingdom of Earth has a King Kuei, a "puppet" ruler, behind whose back the head of Dai Li leads. Long Feng, whose character, knowing from the series, is not too good. The kind and compassionate do not get to power a priori. In fact, he is an ordinary dictator – in my past world I often saw such people on TV, of course, his methods were effective, he acted harshly, he loved manipulation, but most importantly — he does not have a beautiful daughter, simply put, a man not in my list, we do not need such a man in power. Kuei is also neither fish nor meat, I can just let him continue to live for his own pleasure. So, upon arrival in big cities, it is worth paying attention to the aristocrats. They also have enough power and understanding of local peculiarities, after all, they cook in the local cuisine all their lives.
The Land of Fire is the one I know least of all. The soldiers who fell into my hands were basically either from the colony or not of high ranks, so they didn't know much themselves. In general, it's worth visiting there by myself, it's better to see and feel it all once than to hear it a hundred times. Another source of information is the canon itself, but believing everything from the animated series is generally a dangerous idea. The world has shown more than once that it is not worth relying on it. The family of the Fire Masters is my priority, or rather, the female part of it, Azula and Ursa are two women who have not experienced true happiness. You don't have to worry anymore, Yuki has enough love for everyone, he-he.
Seventy–seven years is a huge period, I used to only dream of such an age with my lifestyle, in fact, I can not bend too much – there are many ways to solve the problem. Those in power themselves want to become related to Roku, they don't care about my origin, but they know that a strong conqueror of the earth has a great chance of having extremely talented children. Money may run out, friends and family may betray, but power... The power will always be with you, with it you will always be able to get up from your knees.
The People of Fire are the real enemies of men, more precisely, Sozin, who started the Hundred Years' War. How could a hand rise up to destroy two whole Temples of Air, in which only girls and women lived. Okay, enough jokes, seriously, Aang will have to try hard, I want to have a lot of airbenders in my... our world. Although ... maybe when I take the highest rank of spirit, I will have the opportunity to possess new elements, then I will "reluctantly" take this difficult burden of restoring the number of airbenders. Moreover, with my nature, I will have to try even more, who knows what kind of element the child will possess. How cool it is to build castles in the air – it relaxes and inspires well, and even better, when you have enough strength to realize all your fantasies – this is high flying.
– Yuki, you promised to take us on a little trip, – I heard through the water. Practicing at depth is the best thing, because more muscles are involved and the body develops more harmoniously, and most importantly, this is the fastest way to prepare the body for the opening of a new chakra. I use the air bubble technique from the magic of water, and I can not get out of it for hours.
– I didn't forget anything, – I replied to Yui and Katara, who were waiting for me, as soon as I got out of the water. – Tomorrow, take more warm clothes and food in reserve, we will fly to explore the Western Temple of Air. And you know, it's better to ask Kaya to get your stuff, she and Sokka will also fly with us, – in response, I heard a double groan of disappointment, the girls wanted to feel like adults and strong benders, to go beyond parental control.
– Why such sour faces, - I clicked their noses, - as soon as you grow up, I will take only you, and more often.
– You say that every year, – my sister pouted.
– If you grow up so fast, then I won't be able to teach you or play with you anymore, – I muttered thoughtfully.
– Why do we need such dangerous trips? – Katara immediately backed down.
– Yes, yes, we still have our whole life ahead of us, we will have time to walk up, – Yui supported her. – Let's go play with the bear dogs.
– Let's go, - I agreed easily, how will I miss this, very soon they will no longer be guided by my words.