18 Hardening?

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Night.

The stars shone in the cloudless sky. The wind walked across the plains, rippling the grass. In Shu Jing City, people had long since gone to bed. Only the wind diluted the silence, chasing dust on the roads, swaying the signboards. In this quiet time, when people preferred to dream, regaining their strength for the coming working day, in Grand Master Piandao's manor, one girl did not think of resting. It was the great master's disciple, Tai Li. While in her room, she breathed deeply, wanting to sink into meditation as deeply as possible, under the ominous light of the blue flame of the five candles.

"Nothing... no change," came the calm voice of the spirit in the girl's head.

She only inhales more deeply, exhaling the blue flames. The flames of the candles rise and fade in time with her breathing. Inhale-exhale-flame, inhale-exhale-flame, inhale-exhale-flame, inhale-exhale-flame....

"No change," the spirit says again.

Inhale-exhale-flame, inhale-exhale-flame, inhale-exhale-flame, inhale-exhale-flame....

"You're treading water. It's useless. Do you even know how to meditate?"

- I can't do anything because someone keeps distracting me from meditating! - The girl replies to the voice in her head with irritation.

"This is the third night of you trying to open your first chakra! You're just sitting there breathing, practising your breathing technique. No, it's beautiful, but it's completely out of place. Another hour wasted. Need I remind you what the master said about this?" - The spirit spoke in a stern voice, pressing on the sore.

- There was no need, I remembered his words perfectly well. Don't get in the way, I've almost opened the earth chakra! - Waved the girl away with irritation.

"Uh-huh, you opened it. Uh-huh, remember. Overcome your fear and the chakra will open - that's what Piandao said after your first attempts. Overcome your fear... fear. You don't get it, do you?" - The spirit continued in a calm, even somewhat tired tone.

- I am not afraid of anything. I inspire fear, not experience it. There is no creature, situation, or anything else in the world that I fear. No, I don't know fear! I use fear, I manipulate fear, I am fear incarnate! - Azula finishes with pathos and the flames of the candles increase by a metre, but immediately subside to normal before anything can be set on fire.

"Ahem... hee hee hee hee hee. Be careful not to start a fire. Hee hee hee hee hee. Oops. Are you serious?" - The spirit's words made the girl's lips tighten, frowning her eyebrows.

- 'Spare me your laughter. Don't disturb me, better keep quiet, I've almost got it! Just about to and-

"Your 'about to' has been going on for three days now. Maybe it's time to change tactics, or do something you're good at."

- You say it like it's easy! Like you know the answer! - The girl continued to get angry, feeling rather lousy. Never before, had she felt as stupid as she did right now. Opening the chakra was proving to be more difficult than she had imagined.

"Don't raise your voice, the master has sensitive hearing, in case you haven't noticed. He'll think something else about you. But yes, I know and I can even tell you, but it won't help," the spirit continued in a tired voice.

- How would the spirit know that?

"Mm... meditation seems to make it worse," the interlocutor replied thoughtfully, then without letting the girl get a word in edgewise, continued.

"Already forgotten? All right, I'll tell you what you're afraid of. You're afraid of being in your brother's shoes. Of being alone, of incurring your father's wrath, of losing your reputation, of being ordinary, of not being perfect. Basically, you're a coward and deep down you know I'm right."

- You're wrong," the girl replies shortly, frowning her eyebrows harder.

"Denial won't help you solve the problem, and you need to solve it. Eh. How difficult it is with you sometimes..." - The spirit returned to its tired tone.

The conversation ended on its own. The spirit remained silent, while Azula took a deep breath, and exhaled the blue fire sharply, beginning to ponder her problem. A problem that she simply didn't see, feel, notice, or even know about. No, the girl simply denied even the possibility of the existence of this problem, but it was necessary to find a way out of the situation. The more she treaded on the ground with this problem, the worse she got, it pissed her off. However, in the girl's mind there was one way out of the situation. A few days of futile attempts had sapped the princess's ego, she was willing to do a lot to be perfect in everything.

- Spirit?

"Yes?"

- You said you could interact with my chakras.

"No."

- You said you could influence them.

"I did. The answer is still no. I've realised over time that I can influence not all of your chakras. As you might have guessed by now, the earth chakra lies outside my area of ability. And if you don't open all the chakras, you won't get any results. In other words, I can't fully affect the others until you open the earth chakra," the spirit explained in a tired voice. Such news upset Azula greatly, she had counted on his help, but in vain.

- So chakra is a waste of time? There is no way out? - replies the spirit disappointedly, watching the dancing blue flame of the candles.

"There is, but you won't see it, even if you poke your nose in it. That's why it's best to put off the chakras until better times. You are severely lacking in wisdom, spiritual practices and meditations. It's hard to even call your meditations meditations, do something else. Distract yourself, Azula, the mind needs rest. I suggest you take time to control your Qi inside your body. At least you're making progress there, and I'll be able to give you some guidance," the spirit kept urging the girl. The tiredness in his tone had even disappeared.

Another heavy sigh from the girl was accompanied by an exhalation of flame. She can't open her chakras, the spirit is useless.

- I need a distraction. You've already guessed that to improve Qi control, you need to open all the chakras right?

''Didn't mean to hurt you with my words, but yes. That's the only place where you actually make progress, unlike the chakras. Opening all the chakras will undoubtedly improve your control, but even without it, you control your Qi, to a greater, or lesser extent"

- Okay, I'll save the chakra meditations for later," Azula replies, relaxing and standing up from her lotus pose. The candle flame has stopped burning blue, becoming normal.

"Good for you, will you start with push-ups?" - the spirit asked enthusiastically.

The girl, instead of answering, opted to stand on her hands, beginning her push-ups. For the owner of such a perfect body, handstand push-ups were no problem for her. The spirit silently monitored her condition and especially the girl's internal energy. Azula lowered herself to the ground and then abruptly straightened her arms, jumping up a metre. Carefully landing on her hands, she did another push-up with a small jump.

"Not bad, keep it up and you'll definitely succeed," the spirit praised, continuing to watch the girl.

Thus, after a tiring day of training with the sword and other cold weapons, which at the disposal of the master was a huge amount, the student and continued to train the control of internal Qi. Of course, if it wasn't for the special breathing technique that the spirit had created, watching her, she would have felt tired and sore from the training. However, it was only worth it to do the breathing exercises as the pain would pass and the fatigue would disappear. It was only a pity that Azula herself had not mastered this technique, so she had to ask the spirit.

After a while, when Azula was about to go to bed, the light of the stars outside the window became particularly bright. It didn't escape their attention, but while the girl didn't care, the spirit was interested in what was going on.

"Look out the window."

- What was that for?

"Just look, the stars are too bright and it's still a long way from dawn. We need to find out where the light is coming from" she listened to the spirit and opened the window, immediately spotting a beautiful starfall.

Bright lights flew swiftly across the dark sky. A natural phenomenon that sparked many rumours and fascinated many with its beauty. Many, but not Azulu.

"Beautiful," the spirit remarked.

- Have you had enough? I need to rest, you can stare at them all night," the girl says as she gets ready to go to bed.

"I'd like to watch them with you, but if you insist..." - The girl took the hint, so she smiled wickedly and agreed.

- Okay, I'm willing to stand here for a while, but only for a little while....

(***)

Three weeks of training with Grand Master Piandao had passed.

During this time, Azula, pretending to be Tai Li, had honed a variety of skills, learning how to confront her opponent with every weapon known to mankind, which was certainly useful and very educational. She herself had also mastered a variety of weapons, mostly swords, but her master had also taught her a number of techniques with many other edged weapons. Piandao had travelled extensively in her time, and had learned many different styles of handling a wide variety of weapons.

Her fire and lightning skills also kept up and grew, albeit not as fast as her cold weapon skills. She trained everything she could get her hands on, experimenting and creating her own style. The spirit helped her quite a bit, with its unconventional view and vast imagination. He especially shocked the girl with some fire techniques that she would never have thought of on her own. By combining the knowledge she had learnt with what she already possessed, the girl was creating something new. The spirit actively helped, no longer demanding poetic apologies, and often talked to the girl about ordinary things. Thanks to him, she was even able to hone her lightning to perfection.

However, it was a great annoyance to the brilliant princess that she was never able to open the first earth chakra. Neither could she interact with any of the seven chakras. In terms of Qi control, things weren't as good as she would have liked either. However, swallowing her pride with her narcissism and desire to be perfect, she accepted this shortcoming. At times, going back to trying to open her chakras.

Her apprenticeship was coming to an end, the master had nothing more to offer her. She even learnt a decent amount of painting, playing the violin, and the basics of blacksmithing. Piandao had nothing more to offer her. And it felt more and more, day by day. Such progress increasingly allowed the girl to defeat the master in training battles, relying on her own skills, young body, and a number of dirty tricks.

This day began almost as usual. The master had decided to teach his apprentice a special lesson, each one different from any other. He conducted them quite often, but this one was special even compared to the others. Bandits had settled on the roads leading to Shu Jing City, and had looted one of the trade caravans that was carrying swords and weapons forged by the master personally.

The lesson was simple. To bring the heads of these bandits to Piandao...''

Tai Li silently listened to the master's demands, remaining completely calm. Before leaving to track down her targets, she asked for a map to show her where the looted caravan was found and when it happened. After looking at the indicated point on the map for about half a minute, she set off to track down her targets, taking the map of the area with her.

It was no problem for the brilliant girl to track down the bandits. Knowing the approximate time of the attack, the amount of stolen goods, the possible points of sale of the stolen goods... also having access to the most accurate map, she had no problem calculating the most likely place where the criminals could be hiding. That same evening, she found them and having rented a Komodo Rhino in the city, she reached their lair without any problems.

The bandits had taken refuge in a small cave, from which a stream flowed into a large river. A few kilometres from the big road connecting the town and the port. The bandits' lair was hard to spot, and was the perfect place to hide a pile of loot to sell off for parts. Leaving the rhinoceros below, Azula climbed the cliff to determine the location and numbers of the bandits. Apparently they hadn't even posted sentries. After lying like this for a dozen minutes, she found four of them.

"Azula."

- Spirit? Now was not the time.

"I know, it's just that I want to have a little chat with you about criminals too

- Can it wait until after I finish them off? - Hissed the girl, fearing she might be overheard. But the howling wind did a fine job of muffling the sounds, and the height of the hill only helped her to remain inconspicuous.

"Leave at least one alive. Interrogate them. Ask about their lives, how they got to this point. When justice came for his head. I think it will be good for you. Widen your view of the world," the spirit announced his idea, causing the girl to raise her left eyebrow gracefully.

- What's that for? I don't have time for such nonsense. They have chosen their fate by overstepping the law, retribution is inevitable.

"I want you to find out the reasons for such an act. Maybe they were just looking for a better life, or maybe they found no other way to survive, or a series of coincidences forced them into this place," the spirit spoke philosophically, but the girl was concerned about something else entirely.

- 'I hope you won't interfere with me during the battle because of your mercy?

"It's not a foolish mercy, but a cold calculation and an attempt to show you the world wider than you see it. Not everyone is lucky enough to be born into the family of the ruler of the strongest country and have access to all the benefits of civilisation and the best mentors"

- They are already lucky enough to be born in the land of fire, not somewhere in the south pole or the land of earth. And you could see from my brother's example that it is not enough to be born to be superior to others. Now, don't get in my way.

"Proceed as you see fit," the spirit retorted, then fell silent.

Azula continued to study her opponents for a while, there were five of them, all male, with traces of mush and other little things that made them look like deserters from the army. The clothes were old, as were the weapons. Equipment that had been written off but not destroyed.

Having learnt everything she needed to know, she began to attack at once with her trump cards. A flash of lightning instantly killed the first bandit. The others panicked, not realising what was happening or what to do, and they were deafened by the thunderclap. Another managed to kill another in a similar manner. The rest guessed to hide in the cave. Without a second thought, Azula jumps down from the steep cliff.

After flying fifty metres in free fall, she slows her fall by releasing fire from her feet and lands softly on a moss covered clearing. Taking out the sword she had brought with her, she headed for the cave. Pleas for mercy were ignored. The bandits tried to catch the attacking girl, but Azula successfully dodged a crossbow bolt. And next came the melee in which the army deserters had no chance of survival... The girl decided not to take anyone alive.

"Do you remember your first kill?" - the spirit inquired without too much emotion as the girl cut off another bandit's head and stuffed it into a specially prepared bag. The current era had a relaxed attitude towards death and murder. Especially in such a warlike and aggressive environment as the Fire Nation.

- Why do you ask about such things? Yes, I remember," Azula replies calmly, not paying attention to the blood that stained her hands, sword, and in some places got on her clothes.

"Will you tell me about it? It's a long way back, I'd like to hear the story in full detail"

- Okay, it happened on my first Agni Kai...