| By King Bumis Heir | Genre | Rating | Reviews | Updates |
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Overview[]
Rong Yan, focuses on mastering the element of water.
Chapter 7: The Challenging Element[]
Book 2: Water
Chapter 7: The Challenging Element
Team Avatar felt they completed their job in the town of Chao, the night sky was riddled with bright lights. Rong Yan was exhausted that he went to sleep as soon as they mounted on Shen's back. Unaraq sat on Shen's neck for the first time flying the giant serpentine creature, he glanced back to see Tanaraq closer to him while she sat on the saddle on the opposite end sat Aloi sitting nomad style next to a sleeping Rong Yan, he rolled his eyes surprised they haven't made friends yet after having two fights. Well not fights more like arguments, men fight even if they're physical and eventually become best friends.
Unaraq had to always wear extra clothing when they're flying its freezing when Shen's in the air and everyone else is a bender who can control and maintain a specific temperature around them while he has to suffer. About an hour later, he realizes everyone's asleep except him he takes his hands off the reins of Shen and reads the map at an angle to use the moonlight. After further examination of the map and what was underneath them, he realized they were still in the province of Wushan.
The nearest water source to them was the Tianzhu river where they ventured near to find the Zhu cavern where the Golden Claw was retrieved and they fought off the Fifth Nation pirates. He wanted to avoid going there again in case the Fifth Nation lingered the waters of Tianzhu. Instead, he went further into the southwestern Oma Kingdom, toward what he believes is an even large water source. The Yantai River in West Jurong flows from the Gulf of Jurong and splits in at a tributary into two rivers the Zhuhai River on the left and the You Gong River on the right, both flowing into Baoding Bay off the coast of the province of Anlu.
The Yantai River in West Jurong.
Unaraq steers Shen down to the southern tip of the province of West Jurong near the Yantai River. The night grew a bit warmer after they descended from the sky, the rush of water passed through the river, the current stronger than before it's like Tui watched over the rivers pulling the water closer to the ocean. Lush vegetation surrounded the side Shen landed near. A forest of trees lined each side of the river for miles that Unaraq could see, whether a forest ran on both sides up until Baoding Bay is unclear. Various sounds of critters could be heard Unaraq being the only one awake at the moment, he grabbed his sleeping bag and allowed the others to continue rest without a disturbance.
The next morning came, Unaraq was unbothered by the sun as the trees provided enough shade to cover him and Shen's head. Although the sun invaded his companions' eyes, Rong Yan and Aloi being the first to wake allowing Tanaraq and Unaraq to continue their slumber. They headed off closer to the forest to pray in silence to the Air Nomadic pantheon the last time they prayed to the gods was back before they reached Sichuan village. They held hands while kneeling and lowered their heads, Aloi clutching her prayer beads in her right hand while praying for a continued safe journey to Tiandi, all while also thanking Sasya, Rati, Gavala and Nam for their continued blessings.
Rong Yan felt that as he got closer to his spiritual side when he lived amongst the Air Nomads in the Jongmu Air Temple that began with him having spiritual experiences both through dreams and while being awake. He's been able to hear the whispers of his past lives calling to him and he's not sure if that's a thing all Avatars have or but he's also able to contact lesser spirits most recently Ling Hu back in Chao. He's accepted the fact that he's the bridge between the physical and spirit worlds but sometimes it creeps him out. Not all Avatars were as spiritual some having to focus specifically on war one of those being his past life Ku Tei, who wasn't so spiritual and didn't seem to see things as Rong Yan or as a few of his past lives. Rong Yan felt that during the time of living with the Air Nomads that his spiritual energy had gotten stronger while continuing to maintain and progress his spiritually. He feels sort of closer to Aloi spiritually and he likes that they have that link but doesn't know what it might lead to in the future. They bent their mid torsos forward as to bow to the pantheon ending their prayer. They stood up and paced back to the camp Unaraq set up to look through their supplies, and start to eat.
An hour had gone by while they prayed, Unaraq and Tanaraq created a campfire and began cooking some of the meat that Unaraq and the hunters collected when they killed the saber-tooth moose lion. Tanaraq froze the meat the night before so that didn't rot, she used her waterbending to unfreeze the meat and allow it to cook on the campfire just like if it was fresh. Aloi and Rong Yan took a brief glimpse at the sky to see the rising smoke while they returned to the camp. Tanaraq and Unaraq were sitting nomad style next to each other watching the meat cook while they laughed about what happened at the palace before they left.
Unaraq looked to his right after he heard the rustling of bushes near him, "Oh hey you two are back from wherever you went," he said.
"We wanted to pray in silence and didn't want to disturb you two," Aloi responded, Unaraq nodded, "Thank you for that," he paused looking at Rong Yan then continuing, "I hope you're fine with the Yantai River. I stopped here last night because the river would be of great usage to you and my sister for your training, and it expands for miles to the northeast and becomes a tributary at the fork."
Rong Yan smiled, "Thanks you're a real pal, Unaraq. What province are we in anyway?" he asked.
"We're in West Jurong, several miles further west is the border of Zhuhai. You're welcome, come sit down and eat we just started cooking," he replied. Rong Yan sat down next to Tanaraq who smiles at him and greets him, "Good morning."
"Morning," he smiles back, Aloi padded over to the sack that was given to her by Ling Hu last night searching for some fruit to munch on, her favorites being leechee nuts and bananas. She sat to the left of Unaraq and away from Tanaraq, only because she feels the Tribeswoman hates her and prefers to keep things at peace.
Another hour passed after finishing their meals, Tanaraq put out the fire with some water before undressing into her undergarments getting ready for Rong Yan's lesson. Rong Yan noticed this without asking and undressed too, getting down to just his fundoshi. Unaraq and Aloi stayed sitting down on the ground around the smoking campfire talking about random things that are going on while they journey to the North Pole.
Their friendship kicked off when they met she honestly thought he'd be as snobbish as his sister but Unaraq was mature and humble despite being born into a royal family. It wasn't a surprise since some of the noblewomen she's had the pleasure of meeting while visiting Ba Sing Se throughout the years have proven to be humble as well. She wanted to get to know him better to make the days less of an escort and be a little more exciting when they didn't have to deal with bad guys.
"So did you have a girlfriend in the South Pole?" she wondered with curiosity, he glimpsed at her while she smirked.
He shook his head, "Honestly, I wasn't interested my dad insisted that I pick one of the girls he tried to arrange a marriage with me."
She chuckled, "Picky I see," he shook his again, "No I'm not picky. It's just me marrying someone isn't as important as my sister getting married. Sure I have to continue the royal family line but my sister's arranged marriage is for political reasons, no I want true love. I want to meet someone and fall in love with them," he disclosed with her this was his real view on marriage. Mostly noble and royal families arranged marriages for their offspring while the poor families allowed their offspring to marry who they so choose.
"Of course your marriage is important, one of your kids becomes the heir to the Southern Water Tribe throne. I understand why your father believes it is important to arrange your sister to marry the prince of the North. To strengthen your ties with the Northern Water Tribe, I remember learning why your ancestors split from the north and split south," Aloi added.
"Can I tell you something though? Just don't mention to Rong Yan or my sister," Unaraq insisted, he raised his neck a bit to make sure that Tanaraq and Rong Yan were indeed practicing waterbending, he lowered his neck back to eye level with Aloi then whispered, "In all honesty, I oppose my sister's arranged marriage. I know it's a great honor for two royals to marry one another and for political reasons its best they become one but I want my sister to marry someone genuine, someone, that will truly love her for who she is."
"What brings up this opinion?" she inquired.
"My parents fell in love, it wasn't an arranged marriage. My grandfather opposed the marriage but he allowed my father to make his own decisions. My grandfather believed that every decision had a good or bad consequence, my dad gave up on me when it came to arranged marriage but he wants what's best for her. It's like the paternal side of my family doesn't care what the men do but want to guide the women every step of the way. And while he fathered me and modeled me to be the next chief he just pretends like I don't exist and she's the center of his world," Unaraq opinionated.
"I can't give good advice on fathers, I didn't have one I raised by the nuns of the Sum Pa Air Temple. But it seems to me you have relationship issues you need to work on with your father," observed Aloi.
"What's it like being raised by nuns?" he asked trying to get to know her better.
"I had a wild childhood, I would get paddled and punished by the nuns when I disobeyed. Which was often now I remember, we were allowed to speak our minds but sometimes that resulted in punishments, I for one always pointed out the elephant rhino in the room when I was younger, now I know to think before I speak. I used to leave sometimes to different parts of the world mostly Ba Sing Se and the Fire Nation, without permission of course which resulted in my Mother Superior taking my sky bison from me," she explained.
"It involved a lot of fun, education, and literature, on mass days we'd worship the gods, most of the time I spent studying and reading. I don't have friends back home, I mostly make them in other parts of the world and like I do now with you, and Rong Yan," she stated.
"How do you not have friends? You're a good person, you're funny, polite, a good listener and humble," Unaraq wondered before complimenting her. Aloi blushed, "You think so? I thought I was shoving my opinions down your throats when it comes to your diets?" she questioned him.
"Well yes but that's not a deal-breaker, you were raised differently than the rest of the world, your entire society is vegetarian," he answered.
"Oh there was this one time I got back at the Council of Elders, when the candles went out I snuck into their tower to replace their sugar with salt," she remembered a flashback popping into her head.
Unaraq gasped, "You're evil."
"Was...evil, I look back at it now and regret it," she frowned before accepting that what she did years ago was mean.
Meanwhile, in the Yantai River, Tanaraq crossed her arms watching Rong Yan practice a new move before clapping, she commented, "Finally after twelve tries you did it successfully." He smiled brightly while approaching her awaiting his next lesson.
"The water bullet is a move where a waterbender bends a large amount of water and sends it in a forceful blow toward their target. It is similar to a water jet, but it is more for a quick use since the jet takes more concentration. It is basic yet useful because it takes little time to perform and has a significant effect on the target," Tanaraq explained.
"Just focus on the targeted area of water, and with one of your arms lift a small amount of water and shoot it out with your fist, as if you were to punch it out," Tanaraq instructed.
"What stance should I do this in?" he asked her.
"You can do this in many stances but for you, choose between the ma bu or the gong bu stance," she replied.
He extended both feet shoulder-width apart with his dominant hand close to his waist while his peripheral arm extended out in front of him. She stood next to him guiding him along the way while instructing further, "You want to quickly pull water out of your source and punch," she punched straight forward a whip of water swiftly emerged out of the water and flew about a yard into the air before falling back into the river.
"Then you switch arm positions, your dominant extends and pulls water out while your peripheral arm punches out the water. Eventually mastering this you can do a variety like uppercuts, jabs, and even kicks" she noted.
Rong Yan nodded, taking in a deep breath concentrating with his peripheral hand he pulls the water out of the river and then punches with his dominant, he looked around because the ball of water didn't seem to land anywhere. Confused he tries again, he lifts the ball of water out of the river and swings his dominant hand. While his fist connected with the water the ball fell back into the river. He extended his peripheral arm and used it to swiftly pull out and water and punched it with his dominant arm quickly without even thinking about it.
Tanaraq smiled, she was satisfied with how he was learning quickly despite it being his polar opposite. But it was too soon to know, these were only the basics after all who knows if he'll succeed on more advanced moves that's if they get to that while he takes her to the North Pole. She truly was enjoying the training aspect but only because Rong Yan's, her first student.
"Now time to learn one of the most important defensive techniques which is the water shield," Tanaraq brought up.
"Water can be molded into a variety of shapes and can be used to deflect an attack, trap opponents in a viscous body, reshaped and propelled at attackers before they can recover, or formed into a shield of pressurized water or solidified into a shield of ice. This diversity and ability to swiftly change to suit the situation is what makes the waterbender's defense so adaptable. Although usually protective, the shield needs some type of compression or else it will not be effective," Tanaraq explained.
"I will demonstrate the water shield, I want you to shoot fireballs at me. And I will use the water shield to deflect them. Just know that I will be fine, and I can heal myself if you burn me," she assured Rong Yan.
Water shield.
He nodded taking a shifa stance preparing to drop two fireballs at her, she took a deep breath hovering her left hand over the water pressurizing the water that existed around her. Rong Yan went with two quick jabs conjuring to fireballs that came straight at Tanaraq, she quickly raised her left in a full circle motion in front of her the pressurized shield of water burned out both fireballs that were flying in her direction.
She nodded and shouted again, "Again!"
Another fireball flew at her this time she swiftly pulled water out of the river and frozen it into a shield the fireball impacted with the ice shield, shattering the shield but stopping the fireball at the same time.
"Now it's your turn to try the water shield after you successfully do this I will teach you to control the temperature of the water so that you may also perform an ice shield," Tanaraq mentioned.
He shifted back into the ma bu stance, waiting patiently and attentively on her cue she uppercut the river, a blob of water shot out at him, he quickly pulled out water created a shield of water. While it did break and staggered him a bit he managed to stop the water bullet in its course. She commented, "I'm counting that as a success but you'll need to work on that because others will not hesitate to hit you with pressurized jets or balls of water."
"Waterbenders also possess the ability to alter the physical state of the water they manipulate, between liquid, solid and gas, at will. Changing the phase of water allows for multiple techniques in the course of a battle, from encasing an opponent in ice to hiding behind a wall of mist. Ice and steam/fog can also be molded in a diverse range of shapes," Tanaraq began.
"Ice provides a degree of lethal tools since it can be molded into spikes or blades to pin down or impale opponents. Steam or mist can obscure a battlefield and mask movement. A waterbender can easily superheat and boil water and other liquids to scalding temperatures," Tanaraq explained.
"Waterbenders also possess the ability to breathe an icy mist that freezes water and other substances. You must master this to be able to move on to other things, in the art of waterbending, as some if not, most of the moves require you to be able to change the state of the water, into ice or steam. Also learning this will make you a more formidable opponent in combat, and that much more dangerous. This can also lead to great survival when alone," Tanaraq finished.
"To use your breath to freeze things you must blow onto the water you're bending, for beginners its recommended to blow on water to freeze, the cold energy within your body which will allow liquid to form into a solid. This may be done as well to transform the cold energy into hot energy and to turn water into steam you must exhale breath. Masters can use their minds to change the temperature of water into gas, liquid or solid in an instant," she added.
Tanaraq pulled out water out the river forming a shield she blew cold air out of her mouth freezing it, a handle was formed as well allowing her to grab it by the handle and shield slam the air near her. She quickly used her breath to melt the ice and evaporate it into mist, she gestured to Rong Yan that it was now his turn to try this out. He quickly pulled out water as well focusing on forming it into a shield of water. He blew on it, the creeping cold of his breath crawled up freezing every portion of the water shield into ice, he used his hot breath to melt the water and transitioned its form into mist.
"Good job, now I will shoot another water bullet at you I want you to freeze a water shield into ice to use it to protect yourself," she said, Rong Yan nodded he brought up a shield of water and used his mouth to blow on the water shield quickly freezing it into a barrier of ice, a bullet of water propels forward at him, shattering the ice barrier like glass but stopping it in its tracks. She nodded and waded out of the water and bent her soaked undergarments of the water they had within them and remove it, her undergarments were as good as dry. Rong Yan waded out of the river as well using airbending to dry his fundoshi and then began to dress.
At the same time Aloi and Unaraq were still sitting down having a conversation like they have been doing so hours ago, their conversation flowed like the river not too far from them. Aloi looked through the sack they received yesterday while grabbing some carrots and a potato. Unaraq clutched at his stomach as it rumbled he gestured for the sack and looked for some blueberries and cranberries he was homesick and what best to do than try to make akutaq. While he didn't have animal fats, or snow, and the other sack they have also has cured meats he could dice up and mix.
He sighed, "What's wrong?" wondered Aloi.
"I'm homesick, right now I'm thinking of improvising on some akutaq, we have the necessary ingredients minus snow and animal fats," Unaraq answered.
"Tanaraq can make river water into snow, silly," Aloi chuckled.
"Good point," he said. He grabbed a small wooden cup and headed over to his sister, "I want to make akutaq can you turn some water into snow?" he insisted.
She nodded, quickly bending water out of the river next to her freezing it into the cup before squeeze her hands changing the form of the ice into snow. She smiled and he ran off shouting, "Thanks!"
He sat back down nomad style grabbing a cured steak out of the sack using a smaller dagger he carried hidden underneath his left pant leg and began to slice the steak into smaller pieces. He shoveled the snow with his hand inside the cup and created a snowball with a berry and meat center with his hands. Unaraq made his homemade akutaq sure it wasn't the greatest akutaq he's ever seen but he was sure willing to give it a shot. With his fingers, he grabbed a pinch of it and took a bite.
"Mmm," he nodded, "You have to try this Tanaraq," he said.
His sister approached grabbing a pinch and cupping her other hand underneath so it would fall and stain her robes. "Wow, this good. Let me get more snow from the river and then you can make me some," she responded running off with another wooden cup to the Yantai River. Rong Yan grabbed a cured goat gorilla leg and tossed it over to Shen. The dragon's tongue coiled around the cured goat gorilla leg and inhaled it into his mouth.
Rong Yan searched the sack for some food finding some shoulder of a moo-sow and roasting it in his hands. Controlling the temperature of moo-sow shoulder to be a bit warmer instead of too hot to eat he started munching on it. After an hour of eating and talking with his companions, he lit a small campfire with his two fingertips not so much though he was able to control the growth and temperature of the fire while he laid down getting ready for bed. Tanaraq and Unaraq laid inside their respective sleeping bags while Aloi slept close to the campfire. Rong Yan cuddled next to Shen, extinguishing the campfire before going to bed.
The next morning arrived, the naked trees blew a light breeze it was cold the sound of rushing water rung in Rong Yan's ears he awoke to Unaraq gone. Probably off to collect some wood for the fire, the sun's rays hit Aloi's eyes she turned to the side to get more rest. Rong Yan grabbed a cup and bent water out of the river and some blueberries, he boiled the cup of water to a steaming hot temperature and allowed the blueberries to sit inside. He ran out of animal fats and they'd have to go into a nearby town where he could buy more to brush his teeth, for now, he resorted to how the Air Nomads and Water Tribes brushed their teeth. He waited for the berries to soak in the water before swishing it in his mouth.
After about five minutes of soaking, he sipped his blueberry tea and swished the tea in his mouth a few times before spitting it out and doing this until he had half a cup left, he finished drinking the rest then knelt over Aloi's body to wake her. She whimpered because he bothered her, "C'mon get up we have to pray for our blessings," he said.
"I don't want to..." she whimpered, "Don't let Rati and Tiandi hear that," he mentioned, her eyes opened. She sat up sighing, "Okay..," she sat still for about a minute before rising to her feet and walking to that one spot they prayed at the day before because of how muffled the sound of rushing water was from that distance.
Meanwhile, Unaraq collected some branches and wood he headed back to camp thirty minutes pass by after reaching camp he finds Tanaraq sitting down and resting her head on Shen's body. Her hair was matted while she stared at nothing and remained silent, he dropped the wood and began to set it up for breakfast. Tanaraq went behind the sleeping Shen to change while Rong Yan and Aloi were gone and her brother put together the campfire in a platform style, he put all the logs in a vertical position so that he could lay pieces of salted meats onto the fire and flip them with his machete when necessary.
While they had plenty of food Unaraq was worried that they might run out soon he cooked himself and his sister some moo-sow steaks. They sat down waiting for the food to warm up but Tanaraq blew a bit of cold wind on their food to warm them up quicker. She sat next to Unaraq he looked at her for a few seconds but said nothing.
"What?" she asked him, "Nothing," he uttered.
"So what's with you and the arrowhead?" she questioned him.
"Where did that even come from?" he returned an echo question wondering what gave her the implication that something was happening between them.
"Unaraq be honest," she said.
"Okay, and what do you want out of me? That I'm making good friends with an Air Nomad nun? Why is it so hard for you to accept her for who she is?" he questioned his sister.
"She threatened me, how can you defend her over your sister. Your own family," Tanaraq argued.
"She didn't threaten you, you got offended that she wasn't your yes girl and so you tried to use your authority against her back home," Unaraq corrected Tanaraq, she gasped, "That's what she told you?" she asked him.
"And stop calling her an arrowhead that's offensive," Unaraq told Tanaraq.
"Arrowhead, arrowhead," Tanaraq repeated.
"Quit it," Unaraq said.
"What are you going to do? Nothing," she vexed her brother.
"Look I don't know what your problem is with her or me, but you need to stop this. You're acting like a child and it's ridiculous. Do you think Tulok wants to marry a child?" he chided his sister.
"Tulok loves me for who I am, marrying me is an acceptance that he'll deal with me until the end of my days," Tanaraq sassed.
"That whole princess attitude get up isn't cute and will get you nowhere, the Northern Water Tribe deserves a respectful and mature chieftess. If your future husband were to die in an upcoming war and your heir was too young to rule you'd have to take up the mantle. They'd overthrow you quickly if you continue this attitude of yours," he maintained.
"Don't say that Tiandi and Akna wouldn't allow Anguta to rip Tulok out of my hands!" Tanaraq shouted.
"Don't raise your voice at me!" Unaraq piped.
"I just did!" she shouted again.
"Dad tasked me to discipline you when you decide to be on bad behavior, and I'm keeping my promise to Dad. Go sit in that corner over there!" Unaraq yelled.
"No!" she screamed kicking sand at Unaraq, he gritted his teeth knowing not to escalate this. She gathered herself together and minced behind Shen and started to cry. Unaraq fashioned himself a makeshift fishing pole and small portion of cured meat so he could use bite-size pieces as bait stabbing them on the hook he carried in a small pouch. Sitting nomad style on the large rock he started to fish for their meals so they wouldn't run out of food.
Rong Yan and Aloi returned from their daily prayer to find Unaraq sitting in the far distance on a large rock fishing and Tanaraq nowhere to be seen. Feels a pull on his fishing line he finally caught something at the same time, Aloi was eating and Rong Yan looked around the camp for Tanaraq when he heard sobbing behind Shen. She sat beside the dragon crying resting her head on his body. Rong Yan concerned walked over and sat nomad style besides his friend asking, "What's wrong?"
Tanaraq shook her head wishing to keep it to herself, Rong Yan gently placed her head on his left shoulder where she would rest it there and sob even more. Rong Yan began to guess, "Is it that you're missing home?" he glanced at her and she shook her head, "Is it Tulok?" she shook her head again, "Unaraq?" she nodded and frowned.
"You can tell me I'll listen," Rong Yan said.
"He argued with me and told me I'm immature," she sobbed.
"Why did he say this?" Rong Yan inquired.
"Because I dislike Aloi, I'm not allowed to detest someone," she whined.
"Why do you hate her? She's a polite, humble and loving person. She seems to get along with Unaraq," Rong Yan reasoned.
"You already know why I don't like her and let's not forget she called me a venomous witch," Tanaraq reminded Rong Yan, he nodded, "That's right."
"I'll talk to her sometime soon maybe tomorrow before our daily prayers, do you want to teach me more waterbending?" Rong Yan smiled, she frowned and nodded her head. She wiped her tears after a sniffle, Rong Yan rose to his feet extending his arm to lift her to her feet. With his help, she stood up and they undressed down to their undergarments.
Meanwhile, Unaraq continued to tug the fishing line out of the water a large purple fish jumped out of the water slapping him across the face with its tail. The force knocking him off the large rock and landing in the water below, angry at the fish he stomped out of the water and kicked what he thought was a small rock that turned out to a larger rock stuck in the sand. Feeling the sharp pain, he grabbed his foot and hopped around, while he hopped on his other foot he loses balance and just falls over. Laying there in defeat, the screech of an eagle-hawk is heard in the distance the pouch that contained the leftover diced cured moo-sow steak from the akutaq which was made the night before was stolen by the avian creature. Unaraq quickly rises to his feet throwing an angry fit screaming, "AHHHH!" while shaking his fist at the bird who flew off with his bait. In defeat, he slouched and lumbered back to Shen and planned to sleep it off.
The large bird that Unaraq sees while he lays defeated on the ground. Seconds later it steals his pouch of bait.
From a distance, his sister witnessed the entire thing she laughed whole-heartedly and grinned while Rong Yan threw water in the air freezing it and then changing the form of it into steam while he practiced manipulating the temperature of the water. She thought to herself that Torngark of all the gods they have, did her a favor by giving Unaraq a few minutes of bad luck and she was satisfied with that.
"You're able to handle this temperature manipulation easily, nicely done!" she complimented Rong Yan.
He bowed to Tanaraq who returned the respect to Rong Yan, it came to her mind to try and teach him to do a more advanced move to see how well he could learn it. She finally made up her mind saying, "Let's see how well you have a go at an advanced move, an iceberg spike. While I know its too early for you to do anything amazing and I don't want to push you too hard I'd like to see you try your best."
"But first before you try doing this let's practice you pulling out larger portions of water, I want you to push and pull and grab a large portion of water then release it. Understood?" Tanaraq instructed.
He stood waist-high in the river surprisingly the current couldn't pull him away because Tanaraq was able to control the current allowing it to remain still while they trained. Rong Yan was terrified and amazed at the same time that a master waterbender could still the current of a river if they so choose. She stood beside him as he pushed and pulled the waters in front of him, repeatedly the wave grew from minuscule to large, he twirled around then changed his stance to a ca bu stance one that he learned earlier when Tanaraq witnessed Torngark mess with Unaraq.
His back foot extended a bit back bending at the knee, the foot was face at an acute angle flat-footed while the front leg was out extended in front of him resting on the heel of the foot, his torso was pivoting to the left, his back arm was extended out behind him and above his head, his wrist drooped while his hand formed a claw, his front arm bent at the elbow to his side but behind as well the hand shaped like a claw about a few inches apart from his back arm. He swung his arms forward instantly on the first try he rose a large wave of water quickly blowing air on it to freeze the water into a sizeable iceberg.
Aloi dropped everything she was doing while Unaraq who almost dozed off knelt on both knees and witnessed the sight of marvel that Rong Yan accomplished. The iceberg was high enough at an angle that it blocked the sun a tad bit creating shade at a strange angle. Aloi and Unaraq stared in awe at the sight of the iceberg, "Wow that's impressive," they both said in unison their chins were high in the air and their heads rested on the back of their necks that's how tall the iceberg stood.
The impressive iceberg that Rong Yan raised from the waters of the river.
Tanaraq herself stared in shock and wonder she didn't want to push Rong Yan but she wasn't disappointed that he easily rose his iceberg that high. He must've put all his strength and his heart into the iceberg.
Off in the distance, Tanaraq peered to eye a small Water Tribe boat appear in the far distance of the river. She commanded Rong Yan, "Get out of the water I'm going to destroy the iceberg to prevent those tribesmen from crashing into your iceberg. Rong Yan nodded and swiftly waded out of the water while Tanaraq inhaled deeply, then exhaling her breath maintaining proper breath control the iceberg cracked as the boat approached.
Switching into a ca bu stance she slowly tore down the iceberg allowing the temperature of the ice structure to melt. The temperature of the structure shifted to warm and then it rapidly began to melt back into the river. Once it was small enough she waded out of the water and used her skills to push the big boulder of ice out of the river and onto the shore allowing the boat safe passage.
"Unaraq look! Water Tribe, not sure if it's South or North!" she shouted at Unaraq.
Unaraq narrowed his eyes surveying the river in the distance while he stood in Shen's saddle. He noticed the boat was of Southern origin. He leaped off Shen's saddle running over to the shores of the river taking a glance behind he shouted to his friends, "C'mon and help me get their attention its a southern boat!" Unaraq, along with Rong Yan, Tanaraq and Aloi waved their hands around in the air while shouting as the boat began to pass by where they camped.
Tako listened in on the shouting on the shore being able to make out two distinctive characters as kin. He chortled a bit while he eyed Sakana looking to his right a bit then back at Sakana he wondered, "Isn't that Unaraq and Tanaraq?"
"Maybe," Sakana uttered.
"We should stop here then that looks like the Fire Avatar they're accompanying," Tako mentioned, while he pointed at the man in red clothing. Sakana shouted at Gyomo, "Gyomo steer us toward the shore!"
"You got it, Sakana!" he yelled back, Gyomo jogged over to the rudder lever pushing the lever to the right changing the direction of the rudder allowing the boat to turn and land on the shore a few yards behind Unaraq and his companions.
The boat's bow slides onto the sand of the shore of the Yantai River, stopping completely before half of the boat is on land. Unaraq approaches the big boat Sakana is the first to approach the end of the deck coming face to face with Unaraq, "Sakana!" he shouted throwing his arms in the air.
"Unaraq!" Sakana yelled back, leaping off the boat he embraces his friend the others, leap off the boat as well reuniting with their friends. Sakana lets go of Unaraq and then nears Tanaraq to hug her as well.
"How did you know it was?" Tanaraq wondered, Tako broke in, "You're the only kin I know who are traveling with someone from the Fire Nation." he giggled a bit. His hair got in his mouth as he smiled using his left hand to pull his hair back. Gyomo and Kuma embraced Unaraq and then Tanaraq.
"Its good to see you. What are you guys doing out here?" asked Unaraq.
"I'm here to see the celestial phenomenon that occurs annually out in the Yantai River, called Auk's Moon," Sakana responded with a partial lie, "The crew tagged along to witness the event," Sakana added, Tako interrupted again, "I came for the fish!"
Auk's Moon as Sakana describes it, is a red full moon that occurs annually during the winter time.
"I heard rumors there was a giant squid in these waters and I can smell its death!" Tako exclaimed, "We've told you over a hundred times Tako, a giant squid can't live in the river, it simply isn't big enough to sustain a creature of that size!" his brother Sake rolled his eyes correcting Tako.
"I'll show you! All of you!" Tako shouted slightly offended that his twin would correct him. "Hey Avatar Rong Yan," Kuma greeted Rong Yan, "A pleasure to see you, Kuma," Rong Yan bowed to his elder. Bowing to Gyomo as well, "As well as you Gyomo." Gyomo slightly bowed his head in respect of the Avatar.
Aloi stood there curiously asking Sakana, "Auk's Moon, what's that look like?"
"It is a full moon, huge in sight and it receives a red hue to it. Not sure how that happens but its a beautiful sight," Sakana answered.
"This world never fails to amaze me in all its beauty," Aloi smiled. She bowed to Sakana greeting him its been quite some time since they've seen Unaraq's crew as if anyone's counting probably around a month and a half now.
"You'll never believe what happened," Unaraq told his crew, Sake at full attention to what Unaraq had to tell them.
"Do you remember my dad's best friend?" he questioned the men, all the men nodded except Kuma who guessed, "The ambassador right? Suluk?"
Unaraq nodded, "Yes Suluk when we arrived in the Wushan province we stopped in a village called Sichuan. The place was downtrodden, the new village elder booby-trapped portions of the forest. In the northeastern corner of the forest sat an abandoned southern tribe hut, Aloi over here found documents that contained information about ambassador work," he recalled the events that transpired in those days about two weeks ago.
"Tanaraq who spends more time with my dad mentioned how Suluk was sent to do work in the southern Oma Kingdom. The village elder imprisoned Suluk for about four to six months under the house he took from the former village elder he killed. Only because Suluk almost uncovered his murder plot. I'm glad he didn't kill him," Unaraq explained.
"How were you aware that Suluk was under the house?" inquired Gyomo.
"Good question, Rong Yan's spiritual side has increased recently. He's mentioned that he feels more power spiritually and it freaks him out because now he's seeing things. The Royal Lady is a spirit who watches over the village. She happened to be a past life of his, who built the village with a friend of hers," Unaraq concluded.
"That's a fascinating tale, where's Suluk now?" asked Sake.
"Hopefully he's home now with Dad, we dropped him in Tianzhu where he boarded a ship for free. The former village elder took care of his special grandson, Pigu was his name he wrote a letter to a family friend who captained a cargo ship that exported goods to Iqaluit," Unaraq replied.
"How special? Tako special?" wondered Sake smirking at his brother who gawked at Aloi, drool slowly dripping from his mouth.
Sake smacked his brother on the head, Tako twitched a bit before returning to reality, "Who? What?"
"You spaced out again," tempted Sake, Aloi a bit uncomfortable sidestepped behind Rong Yan, using his tall stature to hide behind. Unaraq chuckled, "No he wasn't hit in the head with ice he was born that way."
"That's strange," Sake added.
Kuma was on the boat again with a large sack full of fresh fish they caught in the morning in the mouth of the river. He threw the bag over his shoulder as he jumped off the edge of the deck onto the sand below. Tanaraq smelled the fish, the stench of fish caressing her nostrils she a was bit grossed out.
"Sakana I got the fish!" Kuma exclaimed padding toward his friends, Sakana nodded.
After a few hours the sun was setting the campfire was being lit by Rong Yan, the wood was set vertically like in the morning the wood from this morning still good for another cookout. Gyomo, and Sake preparing the fish while Tako revealed a small pouch of Water Tribe herbs ground into powder, this was a pouch of spices he carried. Sprinkling the fish after Gyomo flipped it over. He had a few jitters but when it was done he stabbed the cooked fish with a two-pronged fork he carried around on his person.
"Wow this journey is going to memorable," Rong Yan brought up to Aloi, she sat next to him the cold breeze tickled the non-benders bodies. Unaraq slid on the hood of parka as a result of the cold wind.
"Why do you say that?" Aloi questioned him, he looked at her and said, "Well I mean we run into his crew while escorting Tanaraq to the North Pole. Those guys are a lively bunch." They smiled at each other.
"Then I will enjoy their company," Aloi stated.
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