This week I managed to be quite a few things: a builder, architect, hunter, designer, and even a one-man theater.
I had to master all these professions on the go, and each time I was grateful for my love of reading books — or rather, my information hunger that forced me to read every book in the library. That's how suddenly all that knowledge you think will never be useful anywhere turns out to be very much in demand. Because of this, I want to get to the huge Wan Shi Tong Library as soon as possible, where thousands of books are stored.
The path to becoming a professional handyman was prompted by the dire situation of the entire tribe.
On the third day, the sources finally started working and began actively replenishing the storage with energy. This didn't take much time due to the proximity to the portal to the Spirit World. Following the activation of bending, the physical weakness also disappeared — you could say by lunch on the third day I was already almost at the peak of my strength and abilities.
Deciding to look at the entire village, I went out into the fresh frosty air. My appearance immediately attracted everyone's attention. Stories about how I appeared in their tribe out of nowhere were already circulating throughout the settlement. It's still small enough that every rumor or news spreads in an instant and continues to circulate for a long time, but hearing is not seeing with your own eyes.
Walking through the tribe, I got acquainted with almost all its inhabitants, and as I got to know them, my mood kept falling lower. The adults here had extinguished looks, they appeared very tired both morally and physically. Most of them had some close people killed or taken away, whether family members or distant relatives... The loss of so many dear people greatly affected their mental well-being. [ image. ]

Especially when there's no part of the tribe that was responsible for most of the meat hunting, settlement protection, and all activities that required certain physical condition and experience. The tribe has to feed mainly on fish, sometimes they manage to get meat. But this happens in those rare cases when a herbivorous animal strayed from the herds... or if it's a predator, it must be old and already badly wounded.
Finding harmless wildlife is quite difficult, as most have natural camouflage, and they won't live close to people, which means you need to move away from the tribe, which can lead to encounters with dangerous predators. That is, the risk isn't really justified. There were several teenagers who, not listening to others, went hunting — no one saw them again...
Only the children looked quite content with life, but even they were affected by the behavior of the older residents.
Looking at the composition of the tribe's inhabitants, what comes to mind is a mixture of a nursing home, a hospital for retired soldiers who received war injuries, and a kindergarten with caregivers. A bunch of children, seeing a new person, surrounded me and wouldn't let me pass until they satisfied their curiosity. There were lots of different questions, requests to play...
So many children's emotions piled on me that my head even started spinning, it seems. Katara, who walked with me all the time, looked at the other children with jealousy. Someone had already gotten used to getting all my attention to herself alone. Little possessive one.
The condition of the inhabitants themselves seemed to find its reflection in the village itself. One igloo, which seemed to be built by hand, had a slightly crooked appearance, and this is the Chief's house where I lived the last two days and... it only gets "better" from there. All the rest of the tribe lived in tent-like structures made from whatever came to hand — I think I even saw Fire Nation flags used as awnings.
That's when I realized that helping these people would cost me nothing, but for them it would be a new incentive to move forward. Maybe this will help shake them up.
With such thoughts, I went toward the elder's house to ask for her advice on my endeavors. This was the familiar Kanna, the oldest resident of the Southern Water Tribe. [ image ]

"Elder Kanna, are you busy?" I asked before entering the tent. "I need to talk with you."
"Come inside," came an elderly voice from within.
As soon as I entered the dwelling, my sense of smell was tickled by the scents of various herbs. You could feel the natural product — such things were very hard to find in my century.
"This decoction I was preparing specifically for you. Although I was deprived of waterbending, while still in the Northern Water Tribe, I learned from healers to make such healing drinks that greatly help with recovery," her speech was measured and calm — you want to listen and listen to such people who have already lived their lives. "They say you're from the North Pole, how are things there?"
"Sorry for the inconvenience and thank you for all the help," I thanked her first. "Kya said you helped her nurse me while I was unconscious," I bowed to her in gratitude. "Everything's fine at home, the Fire Nation hasn't attacked us for many years. Do you happen to know Yugoda? She's my mentor on the path of healing — she once told me about her old friend Kanna who sailed to the South Pole."
"So she's still alive..." she said with satisfaction. "That's good, she always wanted to help people with their injuries, seems she achieved her goal." Even her face brightened from this news. "So what's the reason for your visit?" she asked, already handing me the bowl with the decoction.
"I would like to help your tribe. Being a decent waterbender, I can do a lot," this probably sounded like boasting, but my intentions were sincere. "I hope you'll direct my activities in a more useful direction — after all, you know better what the tribe needs."
"It's easier to list what we don't need, young man," she said, sadly shaking her head. "I thank you in advance on behalf of the entire tribe, and I hope you won't overdo it — after all, you've only recently recovered."
After the conversation where I was given the go-ahead for all my endeavors, I began thinking about where to even start. I think I should start with building new houses — as I noticed, in these tents even heat doesn't stay long...
Without much thought, I went to look at territory suitable for building new houses — after all, I shouldn't evict people without being sure of quick completion of construction. It's easier to first make all the houses, then help move all their belongings there.
Having chosen a place, I began gathering water from the ocean, giving it the forms I needed. Thanks to the improvement of my mastery from the enlightenment I received from the spirits Tui and La, I could operate with an even larger volume of water, so building houses was relatively easy. I spent more time remembering details from books that told how to do everything correctly.
The population wasn't too large — twenty houses would be enough for them, even for future families. When building houses with bending, you can find many advantages — it's improving your control and letting your imagination fly about your dream house. Each house turned out different from the others, each had its own special feature. I think the children will definitely like such variety. In case of different situations, I made a large basement where you could both take shelter if needed and store perishable food supplies. [ image ]

I didn't expect such speed from myself — I managed to finish all the houses right at sunset. And this means that tomorrow morning I can already notify the residents about moving to new houses.
It's worth telling separately about the kids' amusing reaction to waterbending. They had never seen its manifestation in their lives, only heard from adults' stories, some of whom managed to catch times when there were benders. For about fifteen minutes they just gasped in disbelief, intently watching my water manipulations during house construction.
But then I listened to their questions and exclamations throughout the entire construction. Every child that day was fired up with the idea of becoming a waterbender, but it seems only Katara had the gift. But not wanting to disappoint the kids, I began telling them stories about brave fishermen, cooks, and other professions that could be cooler than a waterbender, while having to describe in fairy-tale and vivid detail how they could catch lots of fish and feed the entire tribe, how their mothers would be proud of them. Yes, you could call this manipulation, but it's better to direct their thoughts in another direction so they won't be disappointed in the future when they realize they don't have the gift...
The next day, every tribe member went through a kind of ritual of accepting reality. When Kanna told them to pack their things for relocation, people already thought that Kanna believed their children's stories they heard yesterday, in which supposedly that boy was a super-cool waterbender. But there were also people who dared to first walk to the new place of residence — so they became the first pilgrims who performed the ritual of hanging for several minutes, rubbing their eyes, and mandatory touching of one of the houses. People, still not believing what was happening, dejectedly packed their things, which I was already moving on ice platforms to the new village.
That day, after helping with moving things, I thought about protecting the settlement itself and its invisibility. From the ocean side, where the village could be easily seen, I decided to make small hills, thanks to which the settlement wouldn't be visible to Fire Nation ships. Then I had to do the same on two other sides so that coming to the old village, they wouldn't see the new settlement. It was difficult to make them look like what Mother Nature creates. I spent a whole hour giving them a more natural appearance. It seems I was caught up in a kind of excitement, so I additionally decided to surround the entire village with ice, giving them the form of two-meter walls, then supplemented them with observation points from where the entire area was well visible.
That same day I managed to examine all residents with my healing magic. Everyone had some ailments or injuries, only children walked almost completely healthy. Many old injuries and improperly healed bones. It was clear that there hadn't been a healing bender here for a very long time. Here I also first moved on to serious injuries. Some people's situations required immediate treatment.
At first I was afraid to approach such neglected cases, because there wasn't even insurance in the form of other healers here, but there was strong motivation to do everything well — this motivation was a pair of childish naive eyes that looked at me in firm confidence that this handsome uncle-bender would definitely cure their mom.
When you do something yourself and at the same time bring benefit to others, a feeling of satisfaction appears — I would even say a certain "fullness." It's especially strong when you see how people come alive before your eyes thanks to your actions.
By the end of the day I was tired as a horse — those operations squeezed all the juice out of me. But it was definitely worth it! The daughter of that cured woman later came to me wanting to give me her only toy, supposedly I deserved it. You should have seen her emotionally changing little face — she so didn't want to give it away, but not giving it would be ugly. I had to restrain the emerging smile of tenderness — after all, here a child is giving away probably the most important thing for her... unable to watch her torment anymore, I said I didn't need the toy, but wanted to give her an important task. I told her to carefully watch her mom and not let her strain herself for at least ten more days. At these words, the girl nodded to me with an extremely serious little face.
"And how much is ten days?" she ran back to me after about a minute.
I had to quickly teach the girl to count days...
On the fifth day, with new strength, I decided to go deeper into the tundra. The settlement had no meat supply, good clothing was also in short supply, so this issue urgently needed to be resolved. For a water master, taking down any representative of the local wildlife isn't a problem — more time was spent searching for them.
So in a day I was able to bring to the tribe a whole pack of local wolf carcasses that were brazenly living right near the new settlement. As well as one polar leopard and three yaks. This was enough not to worry about meat for at least a couple more weeks. From the hides, new clothing could be made for the entire tribe. Zero waste production! [ image ]

Over the next two days I continued searching for dangerous animals near the settlement and refining the houses themselves. I didn't forget to make a secret shelter in one of the hills — if enemies find the settlement itself, then it would be possible to hide in these rooms. More free time remained, which was immediately occupied with playing with the children.
I got too carried away with improvements, forgetting to pay attention to my constant involuntary spectators. Being close to the tribe or on its territory all these days, children followed me like a tail, and seeing me very busy, they didn't even bother or pester me, but just watched with admiration. Such un-childlike restraint should have been rewarded, which I successfully did.
In these two days I spent several hours arranging whole performances for them with animated water. As my stories progressed, water took various forms, whether characters from my fairy tales or entire volumetric places that showed the very settings of action.
It seems I've already gotten used to falling asleep to Katara's enthusiastic chatter, retelling her mother all the events she saw during the whole day. All this was accompanied by Sokka's agreeable grunting as he played every day with the boomerang I made. Add to this Kya's grateful looks that she threw at me, seeing her children so happy.
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Thank you for your support!!!