Nodding to the familiar soldiers at the guard post who had transferred with me under Captain Zhao's command, I limped down to the hold with a small pouch. It was good to have many acquaintances. Zhao's men simply wouldn't have let me down otherwise. The ship's hold contained cells typically used to transport prisoners. There was also a guard detail down here, consisting of former General Iroh's soldiers.
The guards in the hold usually watched to ensure no crafty benders melted their shackles and broke out. Incidents had occurred more than once. That's why the shackles themselves had been modernized over time. They now resembled steel gauntlets, made of extremely refractory material. To escape them, a truly intense flame temperature was required. But by the time the metal started to melt, the bender would likely suffer a severe burn. They would literally fry their hands in the shackles.
Only a few masters knew how to redirect heat. But sometimes such masters were found, which is why the guard post in the hold was necessary—to lash out with fire or jab with a spear a couple of times at any suspicious movements from the prisoners. Whether to use the sharp or blunt end was up to the guards, depending on the prisoner's actions.
I pulled out a second bag from the pouch and handed it to the soldiers. One of them untied the knot, pulled out a ripe tomato, and held it up to his face to inhale the scent of the vegetable with pleasure through the slits in his mask. Such small treats help maintain good relations with the soldiers.
"Thanks, Long," the soldier holding the vegetable removed his mask and happily took a bite of the tomato.
"Whoa, there's even Sake here!" Meanwhile, his partner continued digging in the bag and pulled out the most important item. "We can gather in the cabin after the shift…"
Zhao simply couldn't send all his soldiers to catch the runaway General Jeong Jeong. A portion had to remain at his base, and another had to patrol the section of the sea entrusted to the Captain. We were currently sailing on one of his patrol ships. The food, both at the base and on the ships, was subpar. Terribly monotonous, although nutritious. So, the fighters were glad for any variety in their diet. And I had stocked up in one of the villages when we were searching for Jeong Jeong…
"Help yourselves," I said with the kindest expression I could manage.
"Cough…" The soldier chewing the tomato choked. "Jeez, that's creepy. No wonder they said in Iroh's army that you just can't smile, Long. No offense…"
"We'll leave you… for an hour with the prisoner. You can handle him if anything happens, right?"
Earlier, I had asked the soldiers above deck and here in the hold to allow me to speak with Jeong Jeong alone. At first, they were hesitant, but it seemed that after a small bribe, they decided to allow it.
When the soldiers left, I limped over to the former General's cage, leaned my back against it, and slowly slid to the floor. A dangerous position, but if Jeong Jeong had wanted to kill me, he would have done it days ago when he had the perfect opportunity.
There was no one else in the hold besides the rogue General. Jeong Jeong's other fighters were being transported on a different ship. It was too dangerous, in Zhao's opinion, to transport the leader and his subordinates on the same vessel. There was a grain of truth in the Captain's words.
I was peeling a fruit that was something between an orange and a mandarin, but quite large, like a pomelo. Incidentally, it was also very nutritious. I tried to use my right arm as little as possible…
The sound of chains rattling. It seemed the rogue General had stopped meditating, and I felt his attention on me with the back of my head.
"You look terrible, soldier."
It was a statement of fact. My body was currently almost entirely bandaged. The bandages concealed the numerous burns that Jeong Jeong himself had left on me, and other wounds. I reeked of medicinal ointments and tinctures from a mile away. My face was pale from exhaustion and slightly gaunt. Most of my body's strength was being devoted to healing.
I pulled a small saucer from the pouch and slid it into the rogue General's cage. Soon, citrus slices appeared on the saucer.
"Thank you," Jeong Jeong said, grabbing one of the slices with his steel gauntlets. Zhao knew the strength of his former teacher and was trying to limit it in every possible way. For this reason, Jeong Jeong had been kept hungry for several days, only occasionally given water so he wouldn't die of dehydration.
When the rogue General had slightly appeased his hunger, we began our conversation:
"Is Zhao alive?"
"Yes. Alive, well, and walking around with an extremely pleased look because you were caught. Didn't you want him to survive the Foggy Swamp?"
"Sigh…" Jeong Jeong bowed his head and exhaled heavily. "Zhao was once my student… And I consider him my greatest mistake."
"I thought that was a rumor started by Zhao himself. He doesn't seem like a particularly skilled Firebender."
"Zhao turned away from my teachings and chose his own path. A path of power, destruction, and pain."
"A poor choice. A dead end for development."
"I'm glad you realized that so early. What is your name, soldier?"
"Long. Why didn't you finish me off?"
"You are still too young, Long. I don't want to kill beardless youths who haven't seen life and don't even realize that they might be doing something wrong."
"And that's it?" A hint of surprise slipped into my voice. The rogue General heard it.
"Initially, the reason was your youth. That was truly the case…" Jeong Jeong sighed heavily once more. "You young ones are still capable of change," I merely snorted at the General's words. I hadn't considered myself young for a very long time. "Unlike us old men. But then I noticed something else in you… Your understanding of Firebending was different, distinct from what I see in Zhao or other Fire Nation soldiers."
"Is it all because of the breathing? Did you see that I use a breathing practice instead of fueling hatred?"
"At first, that surprised me, too. To be honest, I didn't expect to see anyone among Zhao's fighters using a different system of Firebending. I thought he imposed his standards on everyone. Who is your Bending teacher, Long?"
"The basics were taught to me by the late Prince Lu Ten."
"Prince Iroh's son. That explains a lot… I saw Prince Lu Ten at several war councils. He was as good a man as the General himself. It's a shame he died."
"Yes, it is."
"But when I said I saw a different understanding of Firebending, I wasn't referring to your breathing technique. When you fought me, more and more blood began to flow from the wound on your head. You cauterized it with fire so it wouldn't bother you. Then I noticed another burn on your leg. I doubt that anyone among the simple soldiers could have left that on you with your skill level. Did you also use fire to close the wound on your leg?"
"Yes, I was trying to stop the bleeding that resulted from the knife strike."
The rogue General hummed. I turned away from peeling another fruit and glanced at him. Jeong Jeong's appearance was nothing like someone who would likely be publicly executed or, at the very least, imprisoned for life soon. It seemed Jeong Jeong had achieved his goal, his dream, which he had pursued all his life.
"You know, Long, only a select few Firebenders are willing to burn themselves with their own flame. They fear their fire, because for decades they have only brought pain, death, and destruction with it. Even those who use the proper breathing technique consider fire a dangerous element, a weapon. You, however, seem to know that fire can be something else, and for that very reason, you apply it to yourself so easily. I saw you cover your own arm in fire, trying to protect yourself from my flame; I saw you use the most destructive bending to stop your own blood… What is fire to you, Long?"
"Lu Ten, without even realizing it, taught me a lesson once. Fire is power to me… But not only that. It is also energy that can protect, that can give life."
"Yes, brilliant!" General Jeong Jeong's voice echoed through the hold. "I believed all my life that fire could only bring suffering… But almost at the end of the road, a young man managed to convince me otherwise. That is why you remained alive, Long. I didn't want a master who understands Firebending so completely differently to die. Perhaps you will be the person who opens the eyes of the Fire Nation and allows it to look at its own bending from another angle."
"You overestimate me, General Jeong Jeong. I am just an ordinary soldier who wants to study bending."
"Yes, you are just a soldier for now… But maybe someday…" Jeong Jeong and I fell silent for a time.
I continued the dialogue, finishing peeling and handing the slices of another fruit to Jeong Jeong.
"Then, perhaps you will help this soldier live a little longer? Share your experience of Firebending with him? Know that I will be extremely grateful to you even for the smallest lesson."
The rogue General stood up and surprisingly bowed to me:
"It will be an honor for me to teach something to the future enlightener of our Fire Nation."
Jeong Jeong taught me several lessons. It was a shame we couldn't meet every day, but only when my acquaintances were on duty. But even so, I received more than ten sessions with the Firebending master while we sailed to Zhao's headquarters and then, after some time, to the Fire Nation Capital.
Jeong Jeong knew a few tricks about controlling one's chi, which he taught me. For instance, you could exhale your chi idly, without creating flame with it, and then instantly turn it into fire. This is how the rogue General encircled a part of the Foggy Swamp with a ring of fire.
Before applying such a skill, of course, you first need to learn to feel your chi outside the body, which Jeong Jeong also taught me. Chi outside the body was difficult to control, very capricious. It dissipated almost immediately. I also needed to learn not to instantly convert chi into fire.
In fact, it turned out that most Firebending techniques considered to be large-scale become so because of "dispersed" chi. Moreover, it didn't matter whether this was done idly or through Firebending moves. Jeong Jeong explained that a bender doesn't turn all the chi they release from their body into fire. A portion of the chi remains unchanged. Few people know about this. Therefore, this very chi will slowly accumulate on the battlefield between two Firebenders, which the more skillful one can unconsciously use for a large-scale technique.
After learning to feel my chi outside the body, I realized that inside it, the energy became much more noticeable to me. I now knew exactly how much energy I had and how much of it was consumed by one technique or another. Having started to feel it much better, I also tried to draw slightly more than my maximum chi from my body. During such training, I was soaked with sweat, but it was worth it.
At the end of our last session, I held out my hand and created fire on it. But the flame was not ordinary. Blue flashes occasionally flickered within it. Because of this, Jeong Jeong began to consider me some kind of "chosen one," almost a new Avatar…
However, there was also unpleasant news. I felt that these blue flashes in my normal flame represented my current maximum. I couldn't wring anything more out of myself. Something was preventing my chi from simultaneously bursting forth in even greater volumes…
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