Chapter 9. The Inspector Has Arrived, Gentlemen! Part 3.

Here's a chapter for the power stones

***

After literally a day on the road, what can I say? Suki knows how to survive in the forest, so to speak, even though we are following a road, but only in theory.

Though, to be fair - I have almost no practical experience. But I've been on the road more than once or twice. So, I gathered everything needed, and didn't forget to load both myself and the girl - chivalry only applies when necessary, so she can carry her share. I've already stuffed all the provisions for myself.

The journey was relatively easy, under a barrage of banter, in which Suki always ended up on the losing side due to her lack of experience. After all, she hadn't had to deal with sarcasm much before. And here you go, needing to show that you're "ugh" and generally "ew", damn, that's hard.

But we also had normal conversations, as one does. We talked normally, discussing various topics. What else is there to do on the road?

"Why do you carry a lighter everywhere? You're a Firebender," the girl asked during a break around the fire, which I had started with said lighter.

I sat in the typical "cultivator" pose, supposedly cultivating the blue root of the sky-high level of the red tiger... Just kidding, of course. I was just fanning a breeze. Practicing, so to speak, learning, because I'm not satisfied with my bending level at all. Lately, a strange thought occurred to me: what if the sharp wind, which already cuts trees decently... could be wrapped around a rapier? To swing it like a Jedi's stick and cut through anything.

I have a feeling that's precisely why airbenders used to wield rapiers. However, I still need to figure out what exactly happened. From one perspective, it's clear - airbenders, who lose their minds and all senses, become quite the berserkers, without pain, fear, compassion, and considering the very unpleasant elements, they turned into real butchers. And they decided, or perhaps were forced, to go to the mountains. To lead a nomadic lifestyle, hardly ever descending to ordinary people. And gradually, they began to forget the combat part - well, why bother, no one could reach them anyway.

But how did it happen that they were reached after all? An interesting question, only, how...? Oh, I sense Earthbenders were somehow involved. But why would earthbenders want to exterminate airbenders? They don't interfere with territories at all.

If warfare were to start, theoretically, such combat-oriented people could be exterminated... But earthbenders seem to be the victims here, right? Mm?

Even our propaganda claims that the Fire Nation attacked first, although there are immediately a bunch of justifications, in the sense, they are completely true but still excuses.

Ideally, if there were even a hint that the Earth folks attacked first, that we're merely defending ourselves, and so on, wouldn't that be written in all textbooks and shouted from every rooftop? However, one must probably consider the mentality of the Fire Nation, where strength is everything. Maybe that's the reason? They don't want to show any weakness of Sozin and the Fire Nation. They claim to have attacked for the life of our nation and so forth.

So many questions and each only opens up even more...

"Kira?" Suki called me again, because I, still meditating, fell into my thoughts again, "Did you fall asleep?"

"No-no," I opened my eyes, "What were you saying? Why do I carry a lighter... The answer is simple - I can't create fire. I'm not a Firebender, according to all the tests. That's why I became a swordsman, only to find out later that in a castrated method, I could control fire."

"Uh-huh, so why then does everyone look at your fire as if it's... as if it's Agni himself?" Suki snorted, but without any spark. The girl was tired after the day, and not in the mood for venom in her voice.

She looked worn out, clearly tired - sitting in front of the fire, hugging her legs to her torso, staring into the flames. I even gave her my cloak, despite her protests. What do I care - I have the breeze to keep me at temperature, but she, God forbid, catches a cold during our outing, and then all plans go awry.

"Because my flame is blue. That's a rarity, so they looked, a bit fearful," I replied, smiling slightly, "And the rumors, I'm sure, added some mystique and brutality to me. We did take out pirates impressively, but the tales about me are overly exaggerated. Though I like how 'Kira' sounds, and all the flair around this image, to be honest."

"Wouldn't you," Suki snorted again.

And with that, the conversation essentially ended - I went back to meditating, and the warrior wrapped herself in a sleeping bag and went to sleep.

Suddenly, a thought struck me to test the limits of my Airbending. How far can I go? What can I do? A somewhat childish desire, but when else, if not now? To step deeper into the woods and unleash the element.

Deciding to act on that impulse, I moved a decent distance away, leaving everything behind, even my rapier, back at the camp.

It was deep into the night by then, the full moon serving as the only source of light, a gentle breeze occasionally rustling the leaves, with the distant howling of wolves somewhere far away. And there I stood amidst all this beauty, focusing.

Inhale.

Exhale.

My inner tornado burst out, unrestrained by any artificial limiters with which I normally moderated its strength. The wind began to swirl around me, retaining its razor-sharp properties, first extending a meter around me, then two, then three.

A few seconds later, I found myself amid a huge tornado, raising my arms for better control, observing with a somewhat vacant gaze as my creation ground everything within tens of meters into absolutely fine particles, almost dust, sand, which then helped to grind other objects into even finer bits.

It was both mesmerizingly beautiful and terrifying. A single bender, if unleashed, could cause such a localized apocalypse, and had it been in the middle of a city, nothing would have changed in the aftermath, just the objects being torn apart would be different.

I should have stopped, told myself that was enough, and gone to sleep, but I wanted to push myself to the limit, to drain every last drop of strength or bending, or whatever it was. I closed my eyes and focused entirely on the storm within, trying to amplify it. I engaged all my imagination, detached from the world around me, and the tornado in my mind began to spin faster, expand, and thrash against some invisible boundaries, while I started to feel exhaustion descending on my shoulders like a heavyweight, growing heavier with every second.

Then I opened my eyes.

The storm around me was so powerful that it lifted me off the ground to a significant height, so high that clouds in the sky started to dissipate and be sucked into the tornado, spinning so fast that I could no longer discern the new debris being engulfed by it.

And then, the weight of exhaustion overpowered me, and I let go of control. I thought everything would just disappear, simply quiet down, but unfortunately, that's not how it worked.

Absolutely nothing changed: I had set it in motion and triggered an avalanche that I could no longer stop. I was at the center of this storm, realizing that I could now die from such a foolish cause, and potentially kill many others, as the tornado wouldn't just stay put; it had already begun moving in some direction.

This realization struck me with a cold dread, and despite my overwhelming fatigue, I began trying to regain control of my surroundings. It felt like trying to lift several tons, but I knew I could do it. All signs pointed to physical exhaustion being just that - exhaustion, not depletion of bending or anything of the sort, meaning if I could overcome my body's limitations, I could use bending as much as needed.

The plan was sound in theory, but in practice, it barely worked. Stopping the tornado wasn't the same as creating it, so I could feel my bending, my wind, trying to counteract the horror I had created, but to almost no avail.

After five minutes of struggle, sweat pouring from me and my limbs trembling as if afflicted by Parkinson's disease, the storm around me began to lessen. Not dramatically, but at least it couldn't be called a disaster or calamity anymore. A couple more minutes of this fight made me realize that if I didn't pull myself out of this mess now, I'd never make it. So, I used the last of my strength to eject myself from the eye of the storm sideways. The landing wasn't graceful - I skinned my knees and palms and even hit my head on a tree. But at least I was far enough away not to die from my creation and to see it from the outside.

I had just enough strength to roll over to face the tornado and stare at it. Luckily, my "overreach" was sufficient for the storm to calm down by dawn. It was visible: my counteracting bending had the desired effect, and my creation wouldn't harm anyone, but the fact that it could have...

The realization that my childish, foolish desire could have destroyed many innocent lives, that I could have died in vain and not even in battle, that I could have killed at least Suki, made me break out in a cold sweat again, and thank all the gods that I managed to nearly neutralize this disaster.

I spent another twenty minutes staring at the tornado, utterly motionless, gathering strength. That time was enough for me to muster enough stamina for a shaky walk back to the camp, where I collapsed next to the fire and fell asleep.

***

I woke up abruptly and jerkily because someone poured a bucket of cold water over me.

"Well? Finally awake?" Suki asked, standing over me, hands on her hips, looking at me disapprovingly.

"Yes," I said, realizing my entire body was aching like never before. It felt like even my eyebrow muscles were incredibly sore.

"What the hell, Kira? I could barely wake you up!"

"I just overtrained yesterday," I said on an exhale, wiping the water from my face and groaning as I tried to sit up, unsuccessfully - my arm couldn't bear the weight, and I fell back down, "overtrained too much."

"How... what do you have to do to get that tired?" the girl asked in desperation, "And why?"

"It happened... accidentally," I crookedly smiled, summoning a slight breeze in my head which eased the pain slightly but then all emotions and pain faded, and I almost calmly got up, "accidentally. Alright, please gather everything here, I'll be back soon."

With those words, almost not limping, I turned around and trudged back to the site of yesterday's disaster. The journey took me about twenty minutes, though it was only ten the day before.

What can I say? There was nothing left of a huge chunk of the forest. Just a bunch of colored sand and various debris. On a piece of land that looked like a circle, about fifteen meters in radius.

"Fucking hell..." I whispered under my breath.

I'll never suffer through such bullshit again, unless necessary. The thought of what could have happened threw me into a cold sweat again, despite all the breezes in my head. However, that's probably because it was too weak, barely a breath. I was almost fully feeling the pain, fatigue, and emotions again. But still, it was enough to make it back and sit down for breakfast.

Judging by the sun, it was more like lunchtime.

"No, seriously, what were you doing to get THAT tired?" Suki decided to bring up the topic again that was bothering her.

"Hm," I said thoughtfully, biting into a piece of bread or some bun, "bending puts a lot of physical strain, so I just overdid it with bending and got such a backlash."

"Do I need to go look for the scorched clearing?" Suki asked with concern in her eyes. She's worried about the forest? Damn, yesterday, not only did we barely not die, but also a couple of nearby settlements. And she's worried about the forest.

"No need," I shook my head, immediately regretting the action as tired muscles protested with pain, "thanks for gathering everything. Let's move on."

"Are you sure you can walk?"

"We'll just take a few more breaks, that's all," I shrugged, ignoring the pain, "We don't have much time to pause because of my stupidity, and the village isn't that far anyway - just half a day's journey left. There we can sleep in proper conditions and rest."

Suki just shrugged in response and, turning around, silently walked on. And I, of course, did the same.

Our dialogue, of course, was still tense as hell. She doesn't want to accept the new reality, oh she doesn't. But she'll have to.

Hi, now for every 200 power stones there will be a chapter.

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