Chapter 19
I stood on the stone balcony in the company of Sokka, Katara, and two odd men of beastly-scoundrel appearance, watching Aang's foolishness... or perhaps it could be called naivety, as he challenged Bumi to a duel. Indeed, one wouldn't guess at first glance that he was a powerful earthbender, full of strength and far from succumbing to heart pressure. I myself had been fooled by his appearance. However, I was prepared for any surprise and reacted immediately, whereas now, looking at Aang's astonished face, it was clear he was not. After all, he was still just a twelve-year-old boy. It wasn't fair to expect too much from him. My brother wasn't any better at that age, whereas I had a couple of decades of life experience on them; Aang, unfortunately, did not.
Bumi's third challenge - to fight and defeat an opponent of his choice. And Aang foolishly chose Bumi as his opponent. Though... in his place, perhaps I would have done the same.
So there stood Aang in the arena, with only us, the aforementioned individuals, as spectators, and opposite the Avatar stood King Bumi, ready for battle and proclaimed as one of the strongest earthbenders. Whether that was true, I couldn't say for sure, but of all the earthbenders I had encountered, he was certainly the most formidable at the moment.
The fight began with Bumi's move. Boulders flew from the ground and hurled at Aang one after another. Aang dodged most of the projectiles with ease, but the last one hit him, though he managed to soften the blow with a counter gust of wind.
Aang was thrown back but quickly got up and no longer playing defensively, sent a strong wave of air towards Bumi, which immediately shattered against a stone wall erected by the King. The wall fell, and Bumi stood on it as if on a surfboard, sending a tsunami of stones and earth at Aang with a few movements of his legs, but the Avatar managed to disperse this unconsolidated wave with a strong air current, then ran towards his opponent.
Laughing and enjoying himself, King Bumi created rocks right under Aang's feet, but he easily dodged them, even using them as platforms for himself. Then Bumi stopped and tensed up, and a huge chunk, nearly the entire balcony adjacent to us, separated and rose into the air, causing Aang to stop and turn around, running in circles, around which a strong tornado formed. The thrown multi-ton rock was sucked into the hurricane and, with a slight push of wind, the remnants of which we felt here, flew back towards Bumi. He seemed slightly dazed by this and with one strike turned the entire rock into dust, which showered him, but the raging wind blew it away. But as soon as the dust cleared, he saw Aang extremely close to him. A sweep of the staff by the Avatar made the air obey and sent Bumi flying, crashing him back-first into the rock below us.
For half a minute, nothing happened, but Bumi emerged unharmed from the dent in the rock and stood before Aang.
"You've won. Congratulations."
After these words, he fell backward, arms stretched out to the sides, onto the floor, but as if he fell through it, and a few seconds later, he was beside us.
That was genuinely cool!
"Glad Aang managed. Hope he avoids such troubles in the future and uses his head more for thinking and reasoning, rather than just indulging his whims."
With these words, I turned and left the balcony, leaving the others behind, not listening to what they were saying. We could talk later; for now, I wanted to walk through the city and finally stock up on spices and seasonings. Last time, that didn't work out. They haven't yet learned of my fondness for spicy food - last time, I went easy on them when cooking, but this time...
Four hours later, I returned to the palace and found Sokka, Katara, Aang with Appa and Momo, the flying giant bison and the same flying lemur, all ready to depart. It seemed they were only waiting for me.
"Joe, how long can one wait for you!?" Katara exclaimed upon seeing me.
"It's not for you, a fourteen-year-old who was a co-perpetrator in the reason for our delay of more than a day and a half, to lecture me about being a couple of hours late because of buying spices I couldn't get last time because of your foolishness!" I retorted in one breath, glancing at the others. Only Appa remained blameless. Truly, he wasn't at fault!
In the end, everyone got an earful, Katara, Aang, Sokka, and even Momo!
"Joe..." began Aang.
"Listen, Aang, I appreciate your phenomenal memory every time you call me by that nickname, but remember, it's my thieving alias, under which I was known as the head of the criminal underworld in one of the cities for a long time. So, please don't call me that to avoid reigniting rumors about 'Elusive Joe' reaching the Fire Nation, leading them to hunt us down. It's likely happening already, but let's not make it easier! Remember, my name is Freo!"
"Yes, sorry, you're right. My apologies, Freo," Aang looked at me remorsefully.
"Get on, we still have to reach the North Pole, and along the way, we'll start your training with my method. You might learn something from me before we get to the North Pole."
Everyone climbed onto Appa, and with the command "Yip-Yip," the flying bison soared into the sky.
Interestingly, Appa, perhaps through airbending , shields passengers and the rider from mild winds and oncoming air masses. That means if the weather is good and we're flying on the bison, there's no sensation of oncoming air, which only occurs if the weather is poor and the wind around is stronger. So, Appa protects passengers from winds of a certain strength.
When I realized this, I was filled with gratitude for this large beast.
Half an hour into the flight, once we were on a stable and direct course, I called Aang to the saddle-nest on Appa's back, where I had him sit down and told him to listen. Katara settled next to us, ready to absorb the speech, and Sokka had nothing better to do, so he just listened.
"First off, I want to tell you both that my bending training methods likely differ significantly from what they'll teach us at the North Pole. My method requires more concentration and patience, involves meditation... but it's ideal for the Avatar, as it allows even a single-element bender to gain control over other elements too. For you, Aang, this should take much less time, as Avatars are naturally inclined towards all four elements simultaneously, and you should achieve success faster than either me or Katara. However, Katara already has some control over water, so mastering it with my method will allow her to do so much faster. Now, to business."
I pulled a cup from one of the bags, filling it with water condensed from the air. Thanks to Appa's smooth flight and the good weather, it's hard to tell we're flying at all, not sitting somewhere on a break. Thus, the water in the cup hardly vibrated.
"This is the purest water. Your goal is to sit as comfortably as possible and start distancing yourself from all external stimuli. From the feeling of the wind, if it hits your face, from water splashes, from sounds, distance yourself from all stimuli, then do the same with your thoughts. It will take time to fully learn how to distance yourself from all stimuli. Believe me, it will be difficult. It took me about six months to understand the essence of the process and to start properly, and that was without anyone to explain it to me, which would have made the process much easier and faster. But I digress. Your first task is to learn to distance yourself from all senses, all stimuli you can notice within yourself. Ultimately, you should find yourself in absolute emptiness. Let me warn you, this may be very frightening.But don't be afraid of it. Your detachment and this emptiness will be maintained by your efforts and concentration. If you relax, everything will return to normal. Your second task will be a lengthy and meticulous examination of each stimulus individually until you find the right one. You need to feel your energy, your bending inside you, constantly flowing within. Once you do, you'll move on to the third step. In this emptiness, you need to concentrate on the water, similarly sifting through the sensations-stimuli.It's a long process. Actually, the second and third steps in my method are the longest. When you can feel the energy within the water, all that remains on the fourth step is to learn to align your internal bending with the bending in the water. To resonate with it. And the more inclined you are to the water element, the faster you'll succeed. Now, get started."
Enjoy reading, and don't forget: for every 200 Power Stones you donate, I'll post an additional chapter.
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