How long it took the Lotus to make this decision is unclear, whether they discussed it much among themselves is also unknown, but the fact remains. Me, a small and unremarkable kitten, whose limits are shitting in my slippers, knocking a glass off the table and scaring away a fleet of iron ships, everyone who isn't lazy wants to catch me. The hunting people of fire are understandable, after the mess with Omasu and the disruption of all plans with Shen Guan, but one Captain has it in for me, and the notorious rhino gang is trembling with fear under the stool, and I want to believe that they will pray until the end of their days never to meet me again. On the other hand, it's unclear how I caught the eye of a certain Commander. No, there were options: They were scared by how I wrecked the ships; they no longer want to put up with the consequences of my revelries; someone got wind that I found the library, and that person somehow convinced the command to throw a bunch of forces at little old me... yeah, my list of achievements may be short, but the scope is impressive. And if you don't count the Avatar, who will emerge from the bubble in about a year, I am currently the most troublesome lone mage. And since I do all this on my own, that means I'm dangerous.
On the other side of the barricade was the leader of Lotus himself, once a General of the Fire Army, as well as the uncle of a prince with a burning ass... and a burnt face. According to Master Pai — that was the name of the kind, slightly toxic, and Chin-obsessed member of the order — information had been circulating among the Lotus for some time that their leader was looking for me. Why? No one knows, but I had a hunch that someone just wanted to get information about the library's location, yet no one had tried to do so until now, which was very strange. Why didn't Master Pai tell me about this a month ago, when information about me spread throughout the village? He forgot... no, it's not even about him, it's just that the information about me popped up and then disappeared. I guess it was because I wasn't very active, all I did was sit around... play... sleep and play, basically. But to make sure that nothing like that ever happened again, he gave me something. Not only a boat with a small crew, which we used to leave the village of China, for which I am very grateful, but he also gave me some useful advice.
How to determine the location of Lotus members by signs and city signs; how to send messages between them to contact someone, and finally, how to beg for something yourself. For example, before I set sail, he suggested that I write a note to the head of Lotus, which he would then send himself. This meant we had to set aside an extra day to learn their code, but it wasn't a big deal for Afka, as the library had information about such encryption methods. And then it dawned on me.
Anubis clearly indicated that sooner or later the Lotus letter would fall into someone's hands, and then people would find out about me. But how? The code can be learned in a day, yes, but to decipher it without having any keys... I suppose you would need either a department or a person who knows this code thoroughly. On the enemy's side, there could only be one such person: Van Shin Tong's personal enemy, the cunning and, in some ways, brilliant Zhao. Still, destroying knowledge is a real sacrilege, but from the point of view of the people of fire, he did the right thing. Without information, no one will be able to discover weaknesses. And there will be no rivals to hinder advancement in the service.
"Master Pai," I interrupted the white-bearded man looking out of his house window, distracted by the letter I was writing. "Is there any way to develop a different code?
"Are you stupid?" he asked in a completely standard tone, tilting his head. He was right; there were a lot of pitfalls, which was probably why Anubis hadn't even suggested such an option. The code had to be distributed among all members of the order, and most importantly, a replacement had to be found, but for security reasons, this had to be done in person. However, leaving everything as it was was not an option.
"The thing is, I'm not the only one who has visited the library in the last few years," I said, and my words caused a flurry of emotions on the previously indifferent face. In fact, there were many more things I was hiding, waiting for the moment to use them, even the notorious capture of Omasu and Ba Sing Se, and the murder of the spirit of the Moon, which would most likely happen regardless of my intervention in the canon. But I'm not a piece of trash who gets off on watching the world collapse and people die. It's just that the more I know, the more knowledge I preserve in a jar called my skull, the sweeter the juice will be in the end... A crazy analogy, but one that perfectly describes why I kept quiet.It used to be impossible to compete with someone like Zhao. Yes, I never saw him, but he is better at everything, except perhaps magic — after all, he lost to the young Zuko, but he had people, strategic experience, and, most frighteningly, knowledge from the library, which, as I demonstrate, can be used to create anything. If I make even one wrong move, he'll set his dogs on me and probably hunt me down like he did the Avatar. And unlike some bald, tattooed monk, I don't have a flying Boeing at my disposal, just a fox, and she only has paws! Actually, that's exactly what happened, they declared a hunt on me... but I managed to catch up in strategic skills and can respond to his game. After all, if we know each other and prepare the field to fight on... I have to prepare a path of dominoes that will crush him so quickly that he won't have time to understand it.
Taking into account all the important military achievements of the Fire Nation that will happen in the future, and the fact that they could literally stumble upon me as soon as I set sail, I had to come up with a plan called "Kyoshi." And then I used Lotus to start putting it into action.
They consider me a hero? Then I'll pick up the cannon rails and create the best defence against all these attacks.
"I don't even need Anubis's hints to sense trouble brewing," I said, standing on the deck of a small fishing boat, my arms crossed over my chest and away from the rest of the crew, as I gazed out at the horizon. There was nothing there now, but I knew... I knew that if I relaxed, an entire enemy fleet would appear. Life became predictable when you were constantly unlucky — take a ship, for example. If I hadn't made Master Pai thoroughly inspect the ship I was about to board, he wouldn't have known that it was full of holes, almost ready to sink. It's funny now to think how people reacted to me, thinking I was a master shipbuilder who could assess the quality of a ship at a glance.
But that's why I was prepared. Crystals grew along my arms, which I ended up throwing onto the deck — pure ammunition. Underneath my clothes, I also had weak but still effective armour. My gaze darted from the horizon to the sea... because I knew that trouble could come from anywhere!
"Men," I said, stepping away from the edge and attracting the attention of the simple labourers. Fishermen, to be more precise. "What spirit of Chin dwells in the sea that Pai spoke of?"
"O-o-o," the five men looked at each other and laughed cheerfully.
"That fish is not our size, we're going to pass through its habitat.
"So it's something real? - Now it was getting interesting. I wouldn't be surprised if there was a real spirit that kept the ships of the people of fire away, and even if meeting the ghostly Chin was scary, it would be cool. But I was clearly thinking in the wrong direction.
"There's a sea dragon swimming in the sea - Unagi," replied the bearded man, taking a flask with something that could burn your throat out of his shirt. "In our village, we believe that it is the spirit of Chin. But the women from Kioshi Island believe that it is their personal guardian beast. There were disputes about this long ago, when our fishermen accidentally ended up on their island.
Now it was becoming clearer. The dragon Unagi really does exist, and it is a terrifying creature, it must be said. To be honest, one or two of these creatures are literally holding back the entire fleet of the Fire People, preventing them from capturing the south. It can jump out at any moment and escape just as quickly, possibly even attacking from under the water. What can you do to it with ordinary fire?
But it's most likely just defending its territory. No, maybe once upon a time, some Unagi worked closely with Kioshi, but now this place is more like its habitat, hunting ground, and breeding ground. The inhabitants of Kioshi Island just happened to find a good place to live under his wing. However... doesn't that mean we'll have to swim into his territory when we approach the island? No matter how many circles we swim, we'll still be in danger.
"Heh heh, what, are you scared? - the men grinned at my frowning face," - We've been fishing here for years and know every coral. You'd have to be incredibly unlucky to encounter Unagi.
"Yeah, you can't live with that kind of bad luck. In fact, almost no one has survived an encounter with him. So, we've only been able to observe his violent temper from a distance.
Spirit*
At that moment, something shook the bottom of the ship. The men instantly closed their mouths and looked down at the sea with restraint. They looked into its depths, hoping that nothing would look back at them from the abyss.
"I hope it's just a concussion, and I imagined it," whispered one of them.
"Unfortunately, no," he replied. With his own eyes, he could see the large tail of a very large beast. The island we were sailing towards was already visible on the horizon, and in a couple of hours we could have been there. But when you're literally in the middle of the sea and your only option is to keep swimming forward, no skills can help you, only luck. And luck told me to get lost. Once again, I regretted that Anubis didn't have a built-in GPS, because it doesn't help in situations like this.
Vish*
The neck of a giant black creature rose out of the water, focusing on us with its narrow snout and green eyes; the crest on its back immediately straightened and rose proudly, towering over our ship's sail by about twenty times; a row of sharp, monstrous teeth - the megalodon was resting, each tooth only slightly smaller than me. However, the danger of this creature was not in its size or teeth, although they could destroy a standard iron frigate. It can spit like a real dragon.
"We're fucked," said the bearded man unequivocally, taking another sip from his trembling flask.
Thud-thud*
I felt someone's furry paw nudging my leg, silently urging me to deal with the problem in our way. Afka's fur stood on end as if her tail was about to be cut off, and a lump formed in my throat, preventing me from speaking. Even the spirits were afraid.
"Ha-ha, what are you doing? - but unlike the others, I went out onto the bow of the ship and smiled broadly. Not forgetting to return the fishermen's taunts. Maybe I was acting like Boo-Mee, or maybe it was just stupidity, but because I felt no fear and was filled with joy, I wanted to test something... the power of the second chakra. What did it actually give me, and what was still missing?
***
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