Chapter 36: Moon
The night soon came, and the Chief allowed the trio to rest for the remainder of the day so that they could have a conversation the next day, which was very welcomed by both Kaliya and Lei since they had to bear so much tension during their whole trip here, especially Kaliya who also felt worry and fear on top of the tension.
Madara, on the other hand, couldn't rest, he walked out of his room through the windows and using the darkness as cover, he walked up walls and after jumping from roof to roof, he reached the one place that he actually was looking forward to seeing… The spirit oasis.
The Spirit Oasis is a secluded cove located at the base of a waterfall behind the Chief's temple. This unusual place is a lush, warm, tropical oasis and a center of spiritual activity in the North Pole. The Northern Water Tribe believes that the energy of the Moon and Ocean Spirits keeps the oasis constantly warm and flourishing.
Dropping down from the ice walls that encircle the oasis, Madara took his time to reach the center of the place, which had a soft small patch of lush green grass around a small pond, with a Tori-looking gate right in front of it.
'This place…' looking around Madara felt like he was… home… no, not the Resort, Beifong guest house, or Southern Air Temple, but home-home, he never felt this before because he never had an actual home before but for some odd reason he knew, deep within his soul, that this is the feeling that only a proper home could give him.
Sitting cross-legged in front of the pond, Madara couldn't see the two fish that were the mortal incarnation of Tui and La, but he felt welcomed here, at peace.
He remained inside that place for over an hour with his eyes closed, enjoying the feeling, he was not really meditating or anything like that, he was just enjoying how calm and relaxed this place made him feel. 'I wish I could have something like this near my house…'
But suddenly he was interrupted by a soft young female voice.
"Hmm… Excuse me?"
He instantly opened his eyes and his sharingan were still on, as he hadn't deactivated since the incident inside the airship.
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It was another day for princess Yue, she was doing what she always did, learning about traditions, the spirits, and how to behave with proper etiquette for a good wife, in order to never shame her ancestors and the spirits that they have been protecting for generations.
She heard people of the city talking about outsiders, about an exiled waterbender woman that came back after years, and about a young man with long black hair and striking glowing red eyes, a very unique, and never seen before, trait.
She was obviously forbidden from even seeing them from a distance, her family was very traditional and she had learned her place in society and what was expected of her.
So even though she was curious, her father forbade her from even walking in the marketplace today, he was that worried about the trio walking outside having any impact on his daughter, so he ordered her to stay within the palace or meditate with the spirits for as long as those 'travelers' were around.
After having her dinner and remaining in boredom for a couple of hours she decided to walk towards the spirit oasis to talk to the spirits, she loved them very much and owed her life to them, she always felt among family when talking to them, even though they never actually replied.
But tonight was bound to be different, once she came inside the spirit oasis she saw a young man, around 2 years older than her, sitting by the pond with his back facing her. After watching him for a while and seeing that he hadn't moved, she decided to announce her presence
"Hmm… Excuse me?"
She saw the young man turning towards her instantly like an alarmed creature, his eyes blazing a blood red hue as he assumed a battle stance, only to relax a bit after looking at her.
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Sigh 'It's just her….' Madara took a deep breath 'To think that this comfortable feeling made me lower my guard to the point of being sneaked up on by some clueless princess.'
He sat down on the grass again and stared at her, she was staring back.
"Hey…" he said softly, or he tried, since he was still a bit… on edge… with the whole Pakku situation.
She smiled gently and replied "Hey…"
They stayed in silence for several seconds until she decided to sit down on the grass as well, facing him from 10 feet away.
"So… You are the infamous firebender that I heard about, huh?" she said without a single ounce of judgment in her voice, just pure curiosity.
He chuckled "Yeah… I didn't know I was infamous already since I didn't do anything but… unless there's another firebender around these parts… that's me."
She chuckled as well "How did you get in here?"
He shrugged "Things happened… I saw an otter penguin running around, found it cute, and decided to follow it… and here I am."
The girl giggled "Hehe, there are no otter penguins within the city, they always caused mayhem and stole many fish from market stalls so the soldiers decided to keep them away for years now."
He just chuckled "Well then it was a midget that looked a lot like one…"
She laughed loudly "Hahaha... of course… they are very common in the north pole."
After laughing for a while, Madara sighed and spoke "I will be leaving then, I would appreciate it if you kept our meeting a secret."
She panicked a bit "No! Wait!"
Madara shot her a curious expression, raising one of his eyebrows.
"The spirits are happy to have you around, they probably welcome you here… so of course… you can stay," she said gently, after calming down a bit.
He chuckled again "Well no one told me anything about that."
She shook her head "No, they did… not in words but… you felt it, didn't you? Them welcoming you?"
He stopped in his tracks and stared at her for a bit before sitting back down and nodding his head.
"But.. how do you know that?"
She smiled gently "Well… you can say that I have a very… unique… connection with the spirits Tui and La, I can understand their feelings to some extent," she said while casting a gentle gaze towards the pond.
Madara nodded as he remembered the knowledge of the series. "I see, I don't know why they would welcome me here but… I'm glad that at least someone in this place welcomes me," he chuckled.
She chuckled back at him "Well, I'm sure you have something about yourself that makes them happy to see you, you have a very unique eye color after all…"
He grinned "Look who's talking, the only young girl with natural snow-white hair that I have ever met since I was born."
She caressed her hair with affection "Yeah, it was a gift from the spirit of the Moon."
"Sounds like an interesting tale."
"Not long enough to be called a tale… When I was born it was said that I would die soon, so my dad sought help from the spirits, and after bathing me in the spirit oasis… I was healed, the hair was just a side effect, a side effect that I'm really proud of!"
Madara nodded already knowing the story "It's indeed an interesting stor-" he stopped talking as his eyes went wide and he stared at her, remembering something that he heard almost a decade ago…
[The reason why you suffered your whole life was because of your artificial soul. You see, your world rejects you because of it .... It's uncommon but not rare, most humans like that die when they are still inside of their mother's wombs, and the percentage that survives usually dies in their early years.]
He kept staring at her like he was staring at a ghost 'I-is she just like me?... Another a-artificial soul?'
The girl on the other hand was a bit weirded out by Madara's behavior, he stopped talking out of nowhere and kept staring at her with wide eyes and a shocked expression.
'It is possible, isn't it? I mean… It was never said that it only happened to my world… Quite the opposite… it was said that it happens a lot, not common… but not rare either…' He came back from his thoughts and coughed loudly to break the weird atmosphere.
"Ahem, I'm sorry about that… I just remembered something from my childhood."
The girl gave him a smile and calmed down too "By the way, let us introduce ourselves… My name is Yue."
He smiled back at her "I'm Madara."
She beamed at him "Nice to meet you, Madara! I officially welcome you to the Northern Water Tribe!"
He chuckled "Yeah, finally the first actual welcome that isn't just for the sake of a social protocol."
They laughed together.
"So, what were you doing here?" She asked curiously.
He shrugged "I felt like I was back at home here. It felt peaceful… welcoming… It made me let go of certain things that I had in my mind, even if just temporarily."
She moved a bit closer to him, remaining 5 feet away from him this time "Oh? What things keep you worried?"
He shook his head "I'd rather not talk about it, you might see me as an enemy if I tell you…"
It was her turn to shake her head "No, the spirits welcomed you, they like you, so obviously you are no enemy."
He considered telling her, and she might tell her father but honestly… At this point he just wanted someone to listen to his problems, someone unrelated, an outsider to give him a new perspective.
"One of your people harmed one of my family members in the past… It was quite a nasty wound… and I will return in kind."
Her face paled "H-how is it possible?! We are a peace-loving community, we don't harm people!"
He shook his head "Have you ever heard of… Pakku's niece?"
Her eyes went wide as if lightning struck her. "T-that…." Of course, she did, the whole incident was recorded, Kaliya was not a no-name, she wasn't a princess but her family was high enough to have their achievements and fate recorded, and considering how famous Master Pakku is… It would be impossible to sweep it under the rug and pretend that it never happened.
She lowered her head and nodded a bit "Y-yes.. I heard of what happened…"
He kept his stoic face with a cold gaze and said "I will burn him for what he did to Kaliya."
She panicked "Y-you can't! I-it was an accident, he confessed what he did, a-and paid for it!"
He laughed "Paid for it? I bet he is living comfortably while Kaliya had to sail the seas as a pirate for years, with a body covered in scars, and a blind eye… No Yue, he didn't pay for anything."
She stopped talking for a long while, she knew that what Pakku did was wrong, very wrong, but at the same time… Pakku was a stern but kind man, he was very traditional and always followed the rules but he wasn't a cold old man, he was kind in his own way.
"Will it solve anything?" she asked in a low, muffled tone.
"Will what solve anything?" Madara asked back.
"Vengeance, retribution… will it solve anything? Will it bring back her eye?"
He shook his head "I'm not doing this to bring back her eye."
"Then why?!" she asked abruptly.
"Because she is family… one of the only family members I've ever had."
"But that's wrong! It won't solve anything so why are you dead set on vengeance?!" exclaimed Yue.
Madara looked her dead in the eye and asked back "If that's the case why do all of you resent firebenders to the point of hating me? Even if your family members died at the hands of the Fire Nation, why do your people feel the need for vengeance? Why do they feel hatred?"
"T-that…."
"It's part of the cycle of hatred, Yue… it's not about what I can get out of it, it's just a selfish desire, and I openly admit that… I want to see him burn for the sake of my selfishness, I want to see him crying in panic and pain… regretting what he did."
"Do you think he doesn't regret what he did?" she frowned and then shouted "He does! My dad told me that before Master Pakku was very cranky but sweet and gentle with kids, he treated his niece as his own daughter… but after it happened… he closed himself off, focused on waterbending, and barely interacts with others anymore, I bet he regrets it every day! And different from mere physical pain... his pain will not eventually heal! I bet he would trade his pain for some physical torture every day of the week if that meant getting rid of his guilt!"
Madara couldn't reply to that, she was right… by all means, she was right… but at the same time he felt.. powerless… he knew that it happened long before they met, probably long before he was even in this world, it's just…
"Sigh, I just can't see my family hurt… I never had family…. they are precious to me…" he lowered his head.
She approached him and touched his cheeks with her fluffy water tribe gloves "Then instead of thinking of how to avenge them, think about how to make them happier. Vengeance brings nothing, it's like drinking a vial of poison to satisfy your thirst… if you want to fight then do it, but do it for the right reason."
They stood there in silence for a while, Madara with his conflicted gaze and Yue with her stern one.
Finally, Madara's sharingan deactivated after over a day and he let out a long sigh.
"You say very wise words for someone 2 years younger than me…"
She huffed "And you are a big dumb dumb for someone 2 years older than me!"
They stared at each other and laughed again for a while, but then she stood up again and prepared to leave
"I have to go back, or my father will get worried that I've been away for too long, I usually only spend a few minutes in here."
Madara nodded and stood up "I will be going too… I will probably show up tomorrow night as well..."
She nodded happily knowing that she made a new friend and turned away. After she walked halfway through the bridge that led her across the waterfall, Madara shouted at her.
"I've heard that the spirit water can heal wounds and scars!"
She turned around with her hands behind her back and beamed at him while shouting back.
"Leave that to me!"
Madara saw the girl disappearing through the waterfall with a soft smile on his face
"Such a sweet girl… To think she died to bring back the Moon spirit," he said while looking up at the moon and snorted angrily "Tsk… one more reason to get rid of that fucking pussy… I don't care if it's divine intervention or the world trying to get rid of her, she won't die under my watch…" he smiled sinisterly.
"Like I needed one more reason to kill him… he is but a dead man walking!"
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
KojiSan
KojiSan Hello there! i finished another chapter, i don't know if i will manage to post another chapter today or what but i will try.
However! this one is probably the longest chapter i wrote, as i told you guys before i dislike cutting a scene. So i kept it running the natural way as they talked.
I want to remind everyone that is complaining about minor details that Madara is not a gary stu that is always on the right, he will have his vulnerable moments and he will have his own development, so wait for the development to come before complain about it. Now i'm not saying this is the end of his development, people might assume that he will become a peace loving, anti-vengeance character which he won't... but he needed some perspective from the opposite side to understand a few things, he will never see the world the way Yue does, but he can learn a few things from her the same way she can learn a few things from him.
On a side note, this one is pretty neat and funny... yall remmember the dude the complained about Smoking and Gambling and was pro prostitution? well he left a review on this novel, yall and go there and reply if yall like, i really want to know what you guys think XD i won't change Madara's decisions, this is just for my own selfish desire to see how it goes lmao XD
I hope yall lovely sausages are having a great day/afternoon/evening and enjoyed my chapter! :3 see you in the comments
Chapter 37: Challenge
After jumping through the roofs of the capital, Madara sneaked inside his room through the window without being spotted, but when he turned around, he noticed that someone was sitting on his bed, seemingly waiting for him.
Staring at Madara with a worried gaze, the person asked.
"Did ye like ye nightly tour, Boss?"
Madara sighed and replied "Yes, it was very… Introspective… To say the least."
Kaliya nodded her head worriedly, but when she saw Madara's eyes, her own eyes went wide.
"B-boss… You d-didn't harm me uncle under the cover of the night, did ye?!" she was already having a panic attack, she knew that the sharingan was activated the whole trip for a reason, Madara couldn't really control his rage, so seeing his eyes back to normal made her hiccup, he either completed his goal or miraculously calmed down, she was leaning more towards the former.
He sighed "You don't have to worry about that, yes, I hate Pakku and I don't see myself becoming friends with him… ever…" he narrowed his eyes, which made Kaliya flinch "But…" He looked at her with a warm gaze and a gentle smile "That's your revenge, your own fight… I shouldn't interfere… I do hate him to the core but… If the price of vengeance is losing you, I'd rather let go of said vengeance."
He knew that even if he took initiative and attacked Pakku, crippling him, Kaliya would still stand by him like she always did, but their relationship and trust would be permanently stained, cracked, for possibly the rest of their lives since such things would never be forgotten. So, he would rather keep Kaliya happy than satisfy his selfish need for revenge and retribution, just like Princess Yue said.
The girl trembled, she looked at Madara's eyes absentmindedly, standing up she walked towards him and hugged him fiercely. "T-Thank ye B-boss."
Madara was surprised but hugged her back and patted her back "It's fine, we are family… Your happiness is more important than some petty vengeance."
They stood there hugging each other for a couple of minutes before Kaliya came back to her old self and let go of him "I will be going back to me room, tomorrow we will meet him and I want to be in me best shape to face him, ye right Boss, it is me battle to fight, thank ye for understanding me." She walked away before Madara could reply and closed the door gently after leaving the room.
Madara stood there for a few seconds with a confused but happy expression, his fingers touched the shoulder on which Kaliya rested her head and noticed some subtle wet spots.
'She…. Was crying….' He looked at the door shocked and lowered his head "To think I made her so worried about my vengeance that she cried of relief when I gave up on it…"
He decided to go to bed. 'It seems… Sometimes… Vengeance demands a steep price to be achieved… Only sometimes.' He closed his eyes and fell asleep.
The next morning, a big crowd was assembled in a huge hall, the Chief of the Northern Water Tribe, Arnook, was here surrounded by his trusted aids and six Waterbending Masters, this time Pakku was included.
Pakku was a rather anti-social person, he used to be more open but after the incident with his niece he closed himself off and he started to become a bit too dedicated to the tribe's rules, he had become a broken man who used the rules as support to keep living.
But last night he heard that his niece is back, and he could barely sleep, he felt like the ghosts of his past came back to haunt him, he didn't know what to say, should he keep his stern persona? Should he try to break the ice? Should he welcome her back or ignore her existence?
He didn't know, he couldn't find an answer, so he decided to wait and see how things went, but he demanded to be in this meeting, especially after knowing that his niece has been hanging around with a 'firebender brat'.
The trio arrived at the meeting room and found their seats.
"Good morning, dear guests, did you have a good rest last night?" asked Arnook just for the sake of social protocol, honestly, he didn't care much about them.
Madara grinned and nodded "Aye, your city is beautiful at night, Chief Arnook."
Arnook raised his eyebrows 'What does he mean by that? Did he manage to evade all the scouts that I left all around the palace?!' he thought, but kept his poker face and nodded.
Pakku stared at the young man 'This one is not a simple one… The way he walked, his movements…' He narrowed his eyes 'What a dangerous young fellow…'
The silence was rather awkward so the Chief coughed and decided to skip formalities and go straight to the point.
"Kaliya, what you said yesterday led me to believe that you have a reason to be here." Said Arnook.
Kaliya nodded with a serene expression, that shocked Arnook considering the worry that he felt in her yesterday was completely gone now and was replaced by… Confidence?
"Aye Chief, I requested me friends here to bring me to the tribe to complete me journey."
That raised many eyebrows from the tribesmen in the room.
"Care to explain?"
She grinned "I'm on something ye may consider a.. 'spiritual journey'.. but because of many things in me past… Regrets, fears and unfinished businesses, I had to come back here. It's the final step for me, I need some closure."
Arnook was quite surprised, the Kaliya that he knew was never that spiritual, she was considered average, but to think that such a person who disregarded her spirituality so many times in her childhood decided to do something so… out of character… raised many questions in his mind.
But he shook his head "You betrayed the tribe and almost started a civil war, we have no intentions of helping you now that you need us."
He expected her to get angry like in the past but she just shrugged and smirked "I'm not asking for ye help, of all me chains… not a single one is related to ye tribe, I regret nothing that I did here, I would do it all over again even if it cost me 2 eyes instead of one," she glanced at Pakku subtly after saying that. "Me issues here is merely a family issue, nothing that would require ye to come down from ye fancy palace."
Arnook instantly frowned, what she said pissed him off a lot since she completely disregarded his position and authority, a thing that no other Northern Tribesmen ever did due to their culture, his words were always the law and that's how he expects them to be.
But before he could speak anything, Master Pakku, surprisingly, was the one that talked.
"So, your business is with me, isn't that right Kaliya?" his voice was cold, internally he was conflicted but… He has been like this for years and he still didn't know how to behave in front of her.
She nodded "Aye, I have many questions for ye… but that can wait… first…. I challenge ye to a battle, Master Pakku." She said with conviction.
Everyone was shocked now, Pakku was the strongest known waterbending master, and as far as they knew Kaliya was never properly trained in combat, she was a woman after all.
"You are challenging me?" he snorted "You.. Who never learned how to fight with your waterbending?"
She laughed out loud "Ye would be surprised, I've been surviving as a pirate for years, I've fought more people in the last 10 years than many of ye ever faced, and yes, I'm even considering the battle against the Fire Nation…"
She stared at Pakku "I didn't learn how to battle me foes like a Northern Tribesman, I learned how to crush me enemies like an Uchiha!" she said with pride.
This made Lei smile, and Madara felt proud, he stared at her with a happy smile on his face, a smile that didn't escape Pakku's perception.
"What in the name of the Spirits is an Uchiha?" he asked with contempt, followed by the contempt of everyone else inside the room.
Madara replied "Something that can destroy this tribe before you can even cry like a little girl…" contempt against his proud family name?! NEVER!!
His eyes turned crimson and the temperature skyrocketed, even the ice walls started to melt at a fast speed, the Northern Tribesmen started sweating inside their thick fur clothes, it didn't even take long for a hole on the roof to appear due to the heat.
"Now pay attention old man, your niece went above and beyond to keep your head attached to your neck… But if you make fun of my name or my family name ever again… not even Tui and La will be able to protect you from me."
As he said that Pakku saw a massive wave of fire expanding in all directions, everything that fire touched melted instantly, ice, clothes, flesh, bone.. It wasn't long before he saw his whole tribe under a sea of flames, and the spirits were nowhere to be seen.
He started to yell in panic, pain, and agony and when he was about to succumb to madness he suddenly came back to himself and noticed that he was still inside the room, nothing changed… even the walls and the ceiling were still intact, it was like he just woke up from a nightmare, but when he looked at Madara and saw those blazing red eyes staring deep into his soul, he felt fear.
"Display contempt towards me and my family one more time… and what I showed you will become reality."
There were 10 people from the Northern Water Tribe inside that room, and all of them were sweating like pigs at the moment, looking around Pakku realized that he was not the only one who saw that vision… everyone here saw it too, and it terrified them.
'This person… ' Pakku thought that he finally understood what 'crushing my enemies like an Uchiha' meant.
Kaliya and Lei were gobsmacked by what happened, in one second Pakku and all the others on the other side of the room were showing contempt with proud and arrogant faces, but the moment Madara's eyes turned red every single one of them started to sweat like they were thrown into a caldera, not only that all of them looked terrified!
Kaliya gulped and looked at Madara to see his stern expression while glaring at Pakku with resentment, she coughed and decided to end this meeting.
"Tomorrow at noon, we will fight!" she stood up, followed by Madara and Lei, and left the room with her friends.
As the double doors closed, only silence remained in the room, subtle sounds like gulps echoed like drums in their ears.
"C-chief.. D-did you see that too?"
Arnook nodded while cleaning the sweat that covered his forehead "Yes, I did… that person is not normal… Kaliya told me before he was the biggest threat to the Fire Nation in our generation, only below the Avatar, but those powers of his… that dream… he controlled it, it wasn't just hypnosis… and he did it in an instant, to all of us… just by staring at us…" he gulped hard.
"He might be as dangerous as the Avatar or even above…. Because I doubt any Avatar would ever consider destroying a whole capital just because he was provoked… not even Avatar Kyoshi…"
Pakku stared at the door in silence, he was very conflicted at this moment, but a small smile, that no one else noticed, appeared on his face.
'She became strong… and she has strong people to watch her back… I'm glad little Kali, that you found a place where you belong…' but then his expression morphed into a serious one 'But I won't take it easy on you tomorrow… let's see whose ideals grew stronger over the years, prove me wrong if you can!'
He clenched his fist, after years he was finally feeling the excitement of a battle, it made him feel younger, it made him feel… whole…
CREATORS' THOUGHTS
KojiSan
KojiSan
Hello there and good evening you wonderful sausages!
I'm here to post a new chapter for yall i hope you liked it, i am taking my time to develop characters the way that i find more natural for them to develop, i know many people were complaining or unsatisfied with how Madara 'Gave up' on his vengeance last chapter, i think many didn't even read my notes there.
Character development is not something that is done in a single scene or in a single arc.. is something that is always happening, humans evolve over time, be it in a good or bad way, and that's how i treat my characters, they are humans and they will keep evolving, this is not like xianxia novels where the MC is set and never changes, where everyone that agrees with him is good and everyone that dislike him is bad, human society is way more complex than that.
Other than that, im eating my popcorn and watching the Ship Wars going on... it's very entertaining! XD
I hope yall enjoyed the chapter, and see you in the comment section :D have a great day and stay awesome!
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