Water & Fire Part 1

Two weeks ago...

Yoshie, the one chosen by the Ocean Spirit to carry a fragment of her own soul, giving her the ability to bend water to a level equal to the primordial being itself. She was underwater in a coral reef, her presence causing many fish to swim around her, comforted by the presence she radiated as the Ocean Spirit's chosen one.

On the day her soul was merged with the Ocean Spirit, Yoshie needed time to adjust to her new life. Even though she wanted to avenge Yuto's death, she realized that she urgently needed to adjust to her powers and her sensitivity to the world itself.

Having been chosen as a direct daughter of the ocean, Yoshie could feel every movement of the ocean waves, every path taken by the rivers, and sense the life of the sea animals. She herself was amazed by the method of reincarnation that the Waterbenders had, which consisted of reincarnating one's soul into a sea creature or becoming one with the water itself when one died.

Even though she possessed such power, it was still a lot of information to take in all at once, so La, the ocean spirit or water goddess, became her teacher and guide, telling her the secrets of the origin of life and the delicate workings of the spiritual balance between fire and water.

Fire is the element of light and power, capable of creating and shaping the universe, while water is the element of flexibility and change, capable of healing and creating life. Each plays a role in the existence of life on this planet. Although there are other mysteries in the universe, Yoshie understood how fire and water are so dependent for balance.

Fire existed through the first dragon, a spark that expanded until it became conscious, the basic creation of the planet, or the birth of La and Tui, a mere opportunity and hundreds of coincidences. But in the end, that's what started it and that's what exists to this day.

La's wisdom was incredible to Yoshie, who understood that she was the mother of all those born by her will. In the essence of her soul, Yoshie learned that La was her mother, and her elemental connection, forced upon her by Kai, a dragon and descendant of the First Light, facilitated her closeness to her matriarch.

La and Tui's burden is great, as they allow the birth of children linked to their element and have the willpower not to interfere in their children's choices. The Moon Spirit and the Ocean Spirit, both parents, chose to be patient and learn from the fruits of their children's progress and mistakes. Learning to love, desire, desire and other strong feelings, thanks to your children.

La and Tui can be seen as primordial spirits who have become partially human by watching their children. This has created a great desire for them to take their physical form in the mortal world at least once a year to be by their children's side. Although there was a lot of paternal and maternal love, there were still problems, as there are in any family, and seeing their children create two tribes and separate was very unpleasant for the original spirits.

The South Pole tribe is still part of the family, but that doesn't mean that La and Tui like the separation. Both of them have been together since creation, and they can consider themselves the first couple in the universe. A fight between their children caused them to separate, and it was something they hated, but they kept it quiet because they promised not to interfere.

Yoshie understood that for La, the people at the South Pole, or rather their children, are like a rebellious child. The North Pole is special to La and Tui because it's where they first met and swore their love forever, so it's understandable that it's the home of the Waterbenders.

Yoshie felt very well the intensity and concern of La's feelings for Tui and humans, these feelings were so strong that she herself felt attracted to the Moon Spirit. A few days ago, Yoshie began to have strange dreams. She found herself in a lake with crystal clear waters, surrounded by trees full of fruit, and on the horizon she realized that the lake was protected by a large wall of ice, a natural protection of the environment.

The environment of her visions was calm and peaceful, like a great place to have a romantic date in her opinion. In her visions, she always woke up under the water of this lake and always had to swim to the surface. Every time she emerged from the water, she had a dazzling view of the place, but what caught her attention the most was a shadow, a person standing on a hill with the moonlight illuminating his back, making him look like a mysterious figure.

This strange sight made Yoshie's heart beat faster; the mysterious person she saw on that hill seemed familiar and unfamiliar at the same time, and she could only tell that she was a woman with platinum hair and blue eyes as beautiful as the sea itself. Every time Yoshie tried to open her mouth to speak, her dream would end and she would wake up at the bottom of the sea.

Yoshie's eyes widen again in amazement, but she quickly regains her composure, remembering that her body was able to breathe underwater thanks to her connection with the primordial goddess of the Ocean. Reflexively, she stretches out her ice arm to look at him, remembering that fateful day that changed her life.

Even though her arm and one of her legs had been synthetically restored thanks to her elemental power, it was still a strange, different sensation from having a real limb, so it was natural for her to feel uncomfortable every time she woke up from sleep. Yoshie's eyes watched the ocean clearly, unaffected by human limitations, seeing everything as if she were in a sunny field on a hill. She sighed, causing air bubbles to come out of her mouth, sometimes still drawing air into her lungs as if she were holding her breath.

- Good morning, did you manage to rest? - The Ocean Spirit asked gently.

- Good morning La, sorry, it wasn't a pleasant rest, I haven't been able to sleep very well these days. - Yoshie stretched and took the opportunity to push away some fish that seemed to want to eat her hair. Since she had only recently connected directly with La, she needed days of sleep to facilitate the gigantic amounts of power she was receiving.

- It's not your fault, the last few days have been very hectic, much more so than usual, it's been a long time since the world suffered a disturbance that could throw it into a complete crisis. - La blurted out, looking tired as well.

- Crisis? What happened? Are you all right? - Yoshie asked, worried about her friend, teacher and, whether she liked it or not, her spiritual mother.

- An old acquaintance was stirring up the world with her presence, even I had to intervene so that the new Dragon King candidate could be ready to fight. - La summarized the events of the Eternal Dragon's invasion, she herself was still tired after repairing the damage from the battle.

- Dragon King? You mean a new king candidate has been chosen? - Yoshie had learned a lot about her own world, and that meant getting to know the Fire Family, the Celestial Dragons.

- I'll summarize it for you. - La used her powers to pass on the information to her apprentice, Yoshie's face was stunned by the information she received, and she understood that the situation was indeed a battle worthy of being remembered in the tales of history.

- This is unbelievable... so General Kai is not only a heavenly dragon, but also the future king. - Yoshie whispered, but La obviously heard her very well.

- I'll have to hibernate for a bit to regain my strength, I won't be active again until the next full moon. - La said calmly. - I'm going to be reunited with my husband physically in the north, so I won't be able to teach you in the next few days, but to be honest, I would like you to go to the North Pole.

- Isn't your meeting in the mortal world in your physical form a private meeting? I don't want to interfere with your affairs with your husband. - Yoshie had great admiration for La and didn't want to disturb the primordial goddess of water in such a sacred place.

- Don't worry... the truth is that I want to introduce you to someone. - La seemed excited, making Yoshie's curiosity overwhelm her for a moment. - I know you're curious, but one thing at a time.

- What are you going to teach me today? - Yoshie swam over to a rock and sat down quietly, looking forward to the new secrets her master could teach her before hibernating.

- Since you had to sleep for a few days to channel your new power, I believe we can deepen your ability to bend water in its final stage. - La materialized in front of Yoshie in a humanoid female form made of ice, causing many animals to be attracted to the concentrated power of the Ocean Goddess. - During your last battle, you were able to bend a person's blood, right?

Yoshie became more serious, concentrating on the next words her teacher was going to say, she herself understood that her improvisation of using other people's blood as a weapon was something unusual and never documented as far as she knew.

- Some of my children were able to bend blood in the past, there were even clans that specialized in this technique. - La approached Yoshie and sat down next to her, gazing at the ocean floor. - Blood Bending isn't really a skill that can be considered a separate technique, because it's just bending water on a molecular level over the blood of living beings. Firebenders, for example, can manipulate fire in different temperature aspects, causing the flames to change color, but that doesn't mean it's a separate skill, rather a category of elemental mastery.

Yoshie watched as her master made the algae and fish obey her command, but unlike what she had imagined, the controlled animals didn't seem to be negatively affected in the way the Blood Bender was supposed to be.

- Manipulating a living being with Bloodbending is not something I support, as you have complete control over the life or death aspect of your victim. - She moves her fingers as if she were playing an instrument, making the animals move in a uniform and theatrical manner. - What I'm doing is not the bloodbending created by my children, what I'm doing is just energybending mixed with my elemental domain. I am guiding the animals in a uniform manner without putting their lives at risk.

- This is true waterbending? - Yoshie seemed surprised as she gained a new insight into La. I understand that since water is the element of life, its abilities are much more complex than you might think.

- Water is the element of life, which means you can naturally control any aspect of life, even in the capacity of free will. Bloodbending is forcing this aspect through negative emotions, which naturally causes damage to the bodies of living beings, even though it is still considered a category of elemental control. - The Ocean Spirit reversed its influence on the sea creatures and allowed them to continue their lives as they should. - What I want to teach you is to use water not as a tool of control, but as a tool of creation.

La's ice hands rose to indicate her next move, Yoshie's anticipation evident as she enjoyed the fun and creative way the Ocean Goddess usually taught. The young waterbender watched as the goddess of her element created algae of different colors on this reef, as if painting the sea at will, even creating trees that she would only see on the surface, or replicating ice sculptures such as four-legged animals or birds of different species.

- Creation... since water exists in almost every form in the world, that means I could manipulate the shape of the world as I saw fit. - Yoshie had an epiphany when he understood why water is considered the element of change. - I have a question. If water has this kind of power, could it control the body of a celestial dragon?

- Celestial Dragons in their true form do have a physical body. However, their bodies are anatomically different from the composition required for life on our planet. One example is their golden blood, which is used to conduct energy, not for organ function. - La explained.

- So their blood has no water? - Yoshie asked with a raised eyebrow.

- The celestial dragons' bodies have gigantic amounts of energy, their human bodies are unable to hold that much power, only a tenth of the real power, which is why they have their draconic forms. The special reason why even their scales are white is because it's a special structure to contain their energy without the risk of exploding when they use their powers. In theory, water is practically unnecessary for their survival, only raw energy. - La finished her explanation, which was easy for her to answer because she had followed the celestial dragons from their first birth and the thousands of generations that followed.

- The pictures you showed me had Kai in a different form, what form is that? - Yoshie could not contain her curiosity.

- There is no name for the form of the personification of fire, literally it is the explosion of raw energy without the barriers of their biological contingency, just pure attack power, luckily the candidates can't access the true power without actually being kings in their respective kingdoms. - La smiled as she watched her student process the information, but suddenly, the expressions on both women's faces changed seriously.

The peaceful moment of learning disappeared when La and Yoshie felt a strong disturbance to the south. La, in particular, sensed that something unexpected was happening in the southern tribe at that very moment.

- What are they doing? - La said seriously with great concern in her voice.

Next Chapter: Water & Fire Part 2