The People's Involvement

It was raining heavily.

Large, heavy raindrops fell onto the earth, pounding against the roof of the ice house that Thorian had prepared after a few days of living in this village. The surroundings of this village were filled with puddles of blood-red water; the fish in the sea swam briskly; aquatic plants swayed at the seafloor while some hunted. The sky was cloudy, and a thick curtain of rain obscured the field of vision as far as the eye could see.

As the fateful day passed, Thorian had hidden the Fire Nation cruiser behind large walls of ice and made sure it was in good condition to be used. He didn't have a maritime fleet, but slowly and steadily, he would take over Fire Nation cruisers to prepare his own army, which he would personally train in the coming years.

With time, he discovered that many were eager to continue fighting, whether men or women; all wanted to take up arms but lacked the necessary skills at the moment. But when Thorian announced that he would train those who still wanted to fight, besides children, there were some adults who sought revenge.

In the dimly lit room, the window was open, and Thorian silently observed the heavy rain, maintaining focus.

Three days and three nights had passed.

On the night three days ago, he had left the village to check for more cruisers but luckily found none. That meant this cruiser he had just taken out would soon be sought after, and chaos would erupt again in the southern area where this cruiser had disappeared.

"Are you still thinking of recruiting warriors from other villages? Some may want to continue fighting, but others will chase you out as soon as you propose something like that."

Thorian looked at the old man who was painting the masks and asked, "Haven't you lost loved ones in this war?"

"There is no war anymore; only people like you are affected and are still surviving. You are too young to understand the burden of watching those you trained die." Said the old man named Gudrun, who was the only one who spoke with Thorian without any problem.

This place had lost a lot due to its limited transportation capability, which gradually led them to lose important ground in the previous war. The southern area was the most affected; they couldn't find good waterbending masters in the surrounding villages, and the reason they lost was because they weren't trained for war.

The subtle movements of waterbending masters weren't lethal, which was needed, but that was about to change with the new bending art that mostly manipulated ice in a spectacular way.

"They massacred my people, beheaded my mother in front of my eyes, and my father sacrificed himself so that everyone else could escape. Don't imply that this war doesn't concern me; I will repay them in kind, but first we have to drive them out of our territory." Thorian showed no expression on his face but was burning inside.

Gudrun fell silent, painted a mask that would be Thorian's, and said, "This village wants to fight; those who don't have the talent to become warriors will support your uprising in different ways. Remember, they will need food, cooks, those who wash your clothes, drive that cruiser you have claimed as yours, and many other things."

"Have you lost anyone?"

"My son was taken by the Fire Nation, and I never heard from him again... If you ever get to that place, I ask that if you find any way to free them, you do it. Look at your power; that was something gifted, and you should understand that it must be due to some kind of deal... If you truly must follow this path, prove it first in this place, and don't sacrifice people in vain."

Thorian looked at the mask with a jacket that completely covered his face but didn't impair his visibility. He put it on and nodded, knowing he had something very good.

"At least now those who survive won't recognize my face." Thorian left the mask on a wooden table and thought about how to train all those who wanted to learn.

But before or during the process, he wanted to unite the other tribes; he had to do that.

As long as there were a hundred warriors, they could go after those cruisers and eliminate them one by one. Needing a good fleet, Thorian knew how he would get the resources.

"At night, we are more powerful than during the day; the moon is our catalyst, and as long as we have our strategies, there's no reason to lose against those invaders."

Everyone is born with a purpose in life; this may change, but Thorian wouldn't change, and he was very sure of that. No matter what happened, he would fulfill his vengeance.

During this time, he also searched for suitable places to start building the kingdom he wanted to create, a powerful one that would be impossible to invade.

For that, he needed a very suitable plan to form in his mind and build it all at once. That's why he asked for help from some people in this village; they thought it would take years to create it and advised him not to be so complicated because they might never build it.

Still, Thorian was specific about it and said that no matter how fanciful it was, he needed it to be as safe as possible, where they, with their skills, would always have the advantage to defend it.

As time passed, Thorian knew that the deadline he had given the village to make a decision had come to an end, and through a meeting, everyone, without exception, had decided to fight.

If Thorian could protect them, train them, and lead them to advantageous victories, then there was no need to be afraid. Many also associated him with his white hair; besides the princess of the north, there was no one else with white hair, so everyone thought he had also been marked by the spirit of the moon.

But this didn't matter to Thorian; as long as it was beneficial, it was a new advantage he would have against a common enemy.

And after that meeting, the plan to unite the entire South began.