Chapter 11: Teachings of the Red Lotus
Normal POV
The next day Femke woke up early. At first she didn't remember where she was. That was until she saw P'li lying close by with her arms wrapped around their leader Zaheer. She was with them now after Zaheer lied about Korra scolding the life out of her. She got dressed quickly and walked outside. The sun was just rising above the hills which made a beautiful scene before the eyes of the brunette who fell a tear flow over her cheek, since she hadn't been able to see this for so long and had missed seeing the sun come up above the hills, since it reminded her of the adventures she had on earth. When she and her friends saved the world from incoming darkness.
'What a beautiful morning. I sure missed seeing the sunrise. I love seeing this scene. It always reminds me what I battled for. What I am still battling for.' Femke thought as she silently got her painting kit out of her bag and quickly pulled out everything she needed to paint, before she started to sketch the beautiful sunrise in her sketchbook to make sure she would be able to tell everything to her husband and her daughter later on. She was so taken into her work that she didn't notice P'li come out of their hiding place and walk to her, looking curiously at her work.
"You sure have a knack for painting."P'li said, smiling as she looked at the painting under the fingers of the young brunette. She didn't understand much of art, since she only had seen a few paintings in her life of famous painters while visiting the palace of the Northern Water Tribe to see Unalaq but she saw with one look that Femke knew what she was doing.
"And you sure know how to sneak up on someone." Femke replied with a smile on her face as she gave a sigh of relief when she saw it was just P'li who had been behind her.
"Did I scare you? "P'li asked with a worried look on her face when she saw how scared Femke had looked first, which turned into relief once she realized it was only her who had been behind her.
"I hadn't expected someone else to get out of bed for a few hours. I couldn't sleep anymore so I went to draw."Femke explained as she put the pencil she had been drawing with before down on the sketch she was making and looked at P'li as she spoke.
"I always get up with the dawn to train. After being locked away in a cell deep under the ice for so long it's good to see the sun again."
P'li smiled as she looked at the sun that was now sight above the hilltops, remembering all those cold lonely years locked in a cell deep under the ice without knowing if she would ever come out again. And after that the first time they had been camping out again under the stars. She had woken up in the middle of the night a few times that first night, climbing into a high tree to look at the stars, just to make sure she wasn't dreaming. Which always turned out the same. She wasn't. She was out of that hell. Back with her friends once again and this time their mission would be completed for sure.
Femke's POV
"I always get up with dawn to train. After being locked away in a cell deep under the ice for so long it's good to see the sunrise again."
P'li replied as she looked at the place behind me where the sun was rising with a smile on her face. Obviously happy she was out of that hellish prison under the ice (since I knew from my dream she hadn't been able to firebend to keep herself warm as well) and back to a life of being on the run for the White Lotus with her friends, but at least free.
"Wow, that must have been awful, being in that jail all that time."I said with a sad look on P'li, imagining how bad her life in jail must have been. I had only seen those short images of her cell she had been in for all this time in my dreams, but I never had a three dimensional picture of what it looked like. Nor did I feel the cold around me thirteen long years, though I imagined it must have felt awful for her.
"I know. How come you couldn't sleep? I thought you wouldn't be."P'li now asked me as she sat down next to me as I took up my pencil again, wanting to finish the drawing by adding all the shadows on the right place before the sun would be fully up.
"I had a bad dream, and whatever you might think, not all people that are born and raised in a family are a lazy. Most of them can get up with ease." I replied, feeling slightly offended that she apparently thought so lowly of people that were born and raised in a family. Though I knew that was mostly because she didn't know what it was like to live in a family and maybe she was just a bit jealous of that.
"I didn't know that. I have always been told that people living in a family were lazy and didn't wanted to lift a finger to help others. Especially the one's that are rich." P'li said as she sat down by my side and looked at the painting as I was coloring it. The sun had already fully come up, but I knew the colors so well from seeing it many times that I could color it without having to look up.
"Well, they're not all like that. Though I know where that comes from in Ba Sing Se, last time I was there with Team Avatar, well, the rich people were indeed very spoiled and didn't lift a finger to help others. One even mocked Toph because she had tried make up for once in her life."
I said, balling my fists at the thought of that spoiled brat that had mocked Toph for wearing make up for the first time in her life. And even though I had only seen it for a little bit, since Toph had washed it off immediately after she had gotten home. I had thought it looked very beautiful on her.
'Even though she didn't need it. We're natural beauties. It runs in our family.' I thought as I gently rubbed a tear from my eye that had slid over my cheek at the thought of Toph and the others, since I still thought of them as my friends, whom I missed dearly.
"Toph? I never knew she used makeup. Wait… How do you know that?" P'li asked me with a sceptic look, at which I looked at her with a small smile. Since I had tried to explain to Zaheer before that I had connections with the old Avatar as well, though I might have forgotten to mention it to the rest until now.
P'li's POV
"Well, they're not all like that. Though I know where that comes from in Ba Sing Se, last time I was there with Team Avatar, well… the rich people were indeed very spoiled and didn't lift a finger to help others. One even mocked Toph because she had tried make up for once in her life."
Femke said as we spoke about how rich people were mostly awful people that didn't care one thing about others, especially the ones that weren't rich, balling her fists in anger as said this. She was definitely thinking about most rich people the same way we did. Though of course there were also some good ones within the richer people, and I should know. If the rich Warlord's (who bought me from my parents ) wife hadn't be there I wouldn't have lived on until my fourteenth after which Zaheer had come to save me. She and the rich soldier Gang had been the little rays of hope in my life. Without them I hadn't been here now. That much was certain. I would never forget that.
'Especially since Gang gave his life for me.' I thought as I suddenly realized something was off about her story. Femke had said this woman had mocked Toph with her make up. But from stories I've heard, that had been eighty-five years ago. How did she know that? She couldn't have been there when it happened. That would mean she was over a hundred years old. Only Avatar Aang who had been imprisoned in that ice ball for one hundred years had been able to pass that age.
"Toph? I never knew she used makeup. Wait... How do you know that?"
I asked with a raised eyebrow as I studied her facial details. She had long beautiful brown hair which she always wore in that odd black and grey headband since she came here. No wrinkles. No age lines. Nothing that betrayed that she had already was over a hundred years old.
'Though Aang was One Hundred and Eleven when he came out of that ice globe and he looked like a Eleven year old boy. So it wouldn't be entirely impossible. Though I wonder where she did it.' I thought with a smile on my face. Femke smiled as well as she seemed to be thinking about something for a bit, before she turned a lot of pages back in her booklet and showed a painting to me. It was the old Avatar and his allies. I recognized Toph, Aang, Katara, Sokka and Firelord Zuko from old paintings Zaheer once showed me. Though something was off with the painting. In the middle, holding Toph in a loving way, was Femke. Smiling as both she and Toph raised their thumbs at us.
"I was there when it all happened. That's why I knew that the Air Acolytes told Zaheer before when we were on Air Temple Island, when he pretended to be Yorru. That I used to be friends with the old Team Avatar as well. Though I can't prove it to them and they won't believe me on my word." Femke said as she looked at the woods were some animals were waking up. A mouse got a dew drop from a leaf and started to wash its face with it, while some squirrels bickered of the last acorn of that autumn.
"He didn't tell us. But coming back on that conversation from before. I know not all rich people are lazy good for nothing. People from regular families can have that problem as well. Like Zaheer."
I said with a smile on my face. It was true. My love Zaheer is a sweetheart. But he is as lazy as they can get. He wouldn't wake up if Vaatu himself showed up and spread his chaos around the cave we slept in.
"Is he really that lazy? I hadn't thought a member of a secret society would be like that." Femke said with a glint in her eyes as we both looked at the entrance of the cave now. Just as Ghazan came out in nothing but his pants, taking a quick dive into the river to wash himself up before he ran to the closest tree branch and started to pull himself up like crazy. Which he did every morning as a training routine. Even before we went to jail he had always done that. And after we came back from jail, soon everything was as it had been before. With the only difference being that we were older now and hardened from our time in jail.
"Ghazan! Put on a shirt!"
Ming Hua called from inside the cave. This made Femke, who was sitting behind me, giggle in her hand at the annoyed way Ming Hua was reacting on Ghazan's morning routines.
"He does that every morning and Ming Hua reacts the same way every time. Sometimes I even think he does it on purpose. Just to annoy her."
I explained to Femke, who was trying her best to muffle her laughter, since Ming Hua now looked at her with a death glare, at which Femke looked back with a bit of a shy look, not quite knowing how she should react to that, since she didn't quite knew what she could or couldn't do without offending Ming Hua, since she just got here.
"Femke, would you like to come and train with me? I know you're a firebender and since you're one of us now, I could teach you some new tactics."
I asked the brunette to distract her a little from Ming Hua's glare. While I got up and dusted myself off, Femke looked at me with shock, before she nodded, beaming brightly as she got up and dusted herself off as well.
"I would love to. I mean, I would love to learn some new tactics. I am always open to learn new things. I even asked Tarrlok and Noatak, I mean, Amon to teach me the basics of bloodbending, even though I know it's illegal and all. I thought, it might come in handy."
Femke admitted with a sheepish smile on her face as she rubbed her neck. As we both got up and started to walk away from the main camp, because my powers could be very dangerous, and I didn't wanted anyone to get hurt.
'I wonder if she would like to know about my Combustion Bending.'
I thought as I looked at Femke as we reached a clearing a good distance from the main camp. But to my big surprise, Femke didn't started to ask many questions about my Combustion Bending and how it worked, like most people. Instead, she just started to do her warming ups.
'She sure isn't like anyone else I've met. Others would have asked me many questions about my bending by now. She didn't even start. Though she must be curious about it.'
I thought as I started to do my own warming ups as well, eyeing her every now and then as I did so. But even after a long while of doing warming ups no questions about my powers came. Which meant she either wasn't interested in my Combustion Bending at all or she was too shy to ask me about it. I highly doubted she wasn't interested in my powers at all since I knew it was a rare ability in which anyone would be interested. So she must be too shy to ask me anything. Which wasn't something i was used to. Normally whenever I was alone with someone they would start to ask me all kinds of questions about my abilities until I had to hit them for them to shut up. Since I wasn't good at talking to people thanks to that Warlord that had owned me for so long.
"Say, Femke. Would you like to know how to Combustion Bend?"
I asked before Femke could start her firebending forms. As I said this, Femke looked up at me with a shocked look in her eyes, almost tripping over her own feet as she did so.
"Combustion Bending. Is it even possible for someone like me to learn?"
Femke stumbled as she asked me this. Most likely she was surprised I offered to learn this to her, since for some odd reason she was in the assumption it wasn't possible for someone without the tattoo to learn how to Combustion Bend.
"Did you think it was only possible to learn to combustion bend if you were given this then?"I asked, pointing at the tattoo on my forehead as I said 'this' and even though I knew this girl most likely didn't know any better, I felt a little offended at the foolishness, that she seemed to be so open minded. Zaheer always taught me everything was possible as long as one was open to it, which was one of his many Guru Laghima quotes. But I knew he was right. If someone would be open to learn it, I was sure anyone could Combustion Bend, even without having the tattoo.
"Well, yeah. But that's mostly because I have never seen someone Combustion Bend without the tattoo. Just as much as I first thought it was impossible to Bloodbend without a full moon at first. I think anything is possible though. As long as someone is brave and willing enough to give it a try."
Femke replied as she looked down with a pondering look in her eyes. Obviously she was being careful with her words, because she didn't want to accidentally offend me again. Though it didn't. To me, this Femke was the bravest girl I had ever met and I was glad she was on our side.
"That's what I believe as well. So, are you ready to become a legend? The first non tattooed Combustion Bender?"
I asked Femke. Who now beamed at me brightly before she gave me a firm nod. Signing to me she was ready for it.
"Let's get started, then." I said, turning to a large stone. As I started my very first day as a Combustion Bending teacher. And spirits let me be a better teacher than Mogui back then.
Zaheer's POV
I was roughly woken up by Ming Hua, like every morning. And after being scolded out by her like every morning, I trotted outside to get some breakfast. Only to see both P'li and Femke had went missing.
"Ghazan! Have you seen the girls somewhere?" I called to my friend who was still busy with his morning training. Hanging upside down from a tree to train his muscles.
"They went into the woods a few minutes ago to train. That way."
And when he said 'that' he pointed South were I knew was a clearing. I nodded and went into that direction to check on them, wanting to know what those two (especially our new recruit Femke) were up to. Feeling I might have been a little too fast with trusting her into the group. But soon I found out there had been no reason to be alarmed. Femke and P'li were busy training in the clearing. I hid myself in a bush to observe them without being seen for a while. And saw Femke was very disciplined when It came to training, following up every order P'li gave her. Though it somehow struck me as odd that Femke was also training for P'li's Combustion Bending forms since she wasn't a Combustion Bender, right?
'Did P'li offered to train her? Or has Femke been brave enough to ask her?' I thought as I walked into their line of sight and looked at them train while leaning against a tree. I saw P'li look at me a few times with a smile on her face before she went back to training Femke. This looked impressive. For someone who had never been a teacher before she did a great job.
"That was all for today. We'll pick up training from here tomorrow morning." P'li said after a good hour of training in which Femke had already learned to heat up the air around her forehead a little, not in the way of outright Combustion Bending, but it was a good start. Femke had talent for it.
"Already? How long have we been training?" fFemke asked with a surprised look on her face, which kinda surprised me, since I had half expect her to demand she continued the lessons, since she hadn't even managed to Combustion Bend yet.
"We've been training for a good hour, why? Aren't you tired?"
P'li asked Femke with a worried look in her eyes. Since I knew the training always tired her out while it seemed Femke was barely affected by it. Despite the fact she had almost done the same things as P'li apart from firing the Combustion Bending blasts.
"Well, I do feel a bit faint. But not bone tired if you meant that. Should I be bone tired?" Femke asked with a puzzled look in her eyes. I saw P'li looking at me with a raised eyebrow, something I shared with her. I had to admit it surprised me she wasn't tired like P'li.
"Combustion Bending training tires me out. So, yes it surprises me you're only feeling a bit faint. I had expected you wouldn't feel your legs anymore after your first training." P'li said with a stern look at me, which made me nod, since I knew that was the truth. She had often told me she had fainted after her first training in her time with the Warlord, though that had also been due to the fact that he hadn't properly fed her for days. Even now, after a training she would come back bone tired and covered in sweat to meditate with me to cool down a little.
"What isn't can still come. I mean, I didn't actually Combustion Bend yet, so maybe that's why It didn't hit me so hard."Femke told P'li, without any hint of accusation in her voice. Meaning she was well aware of the fact that it hadn't been time for that yet.
"Either that or you're immune to my rough training schedule. I never thought someone would be." P'li now teased Femke back after which she gave her a playful push. Femke acted like that made her topple over and fall, after which both girls started to giggle. After these thirteen years of imprisonment and all the serious time we have been through it felt like a relief to me to see her laugh again.
"I didn't think it was that hard. I have faced worse training sessions then this. You should try Fairy Training with professor Avalon at Alfea one day. That guy knows how to tire you out during training."
Femke teased back. And as we walked back, the girls kept teasing one another. I started to get the feeling that Femke had always been there with us. Even before our imprisonment. A feeling I could see P'li shared with me. It was so strange how easily she made us feel comfortable around her. I thought as I walked into the main camp with them where Ming Hua and Ghazan had gathered some supplies with which we started to make breakfast. Femke helped along like it was the most normal thing in the world, often joking around and making Ghazan, P'li and me laugh. Ming hua kept glaring at her, but femke now just ignored it. Often trying to get her along with her jokes, without any result, since it was really rare to make Ming hua laugh.
"This is delicious! Where did you learn to cook like that?" Ghazan asked Femke a hour later as we all sat around the campfire eating our breakfast. Femke had made some vegetable soup from supplies she had found in the backpack she claimed Su-yin Beifong had packed for her, though she might as well have stolen them and was to shy to admit this.
Normal POV
"I learned to cook on my travels… I am often on my own so I needed to learn how to take care of myself without the constant help of my magic."
Femke smiled as she took a sip from her own soup, looking up from it with a small smile. She was trying to stay modest about her magic, since she didn't wanted to come over on her friends as a bragger. "Why? One wave of your hand and 'poof', food is done. Clothes are washed. Easy."Ghazan said, a bit dumbstruck at the way Femke thought about using her magic. And he was right, all of them knew that magic would come in handy in a lot of cases. But like with everything they knew it came with weaknesses as well.
"Yeah, but there are zones, even within the Magic Kingdom, where my magic is very weak or even blocked. I have to know how to defend myself without magic as well."Femke explained as she used her magic to form a map on her hand from the Magic Dimension, marking the Wildlands with a red glow, since she knew her magic was very weak there.
"It's like guru laghima wrote: every strenght comes with weaknesses. Though it must be hard for you to lose your ability to use magic." Zaheer said from his second bowl of soup, which made Ming Hua sigh and look to the side with a annoyed look while P'li nodded and looked at Femke who got a sewing kit from her bag.
"Not if you can use martial arts as well. And of course my Bending, which doesn't gets blocked in these magic blocked zones since it technically isn't magic, but comes from one's chi."
Femke replied as she started to repair a part of her pants that had been torn by her Firebending training. Femke could feel Zaheer and the others were looking oddly at her, but she didn't mind it to much, since she knew it must strike them as odd that she liked to sew her clothes while being in the wild and on the run.
"Speaking of bending, after breakfast I'm going to teach you the basics of Airbending. I saw in zhaofu that you already mastered the gates, so I think there is no need to repeat that part." Zaheer said as femke served Ghazan another bowl of soup, smiling a bit at Ming Hua, who gruffed before she held out her bowl to get a second re-fill. After that, Femke went back to her sewing work. Almost pricking her finger when Zaheer mentioned Airbending training to her.
"Well, I didn't quite get the Airbending gates done. I always start to hesitate at the halfway point and then get kicked out."
Femke admitted as she looked down at her sewing work with a sad look in her eyes, since she fell slightly ashamed of that. Despite her many tries to get it done, she didn't manage to get it.
"Maybe it's just a temporary state. I might be able to guide you through. You see, Airbending is the element of freedom. Maybe something is keeping you from being free." Zaheer said as he put his bowl down and looked at Femke, who now looked down with a sad look in her eyes. She knew she had been through alot, but she had never thought about the possibility that those things were blocking her. Though she did had some visions while in the doors, that made her stumble to move on after a moment.
"Well, in the gates, after a few minutes, I get these weird visions after which I start to stumble."
Femke admitted as she looked down. P'li looked at her with a small smile before she placed a hand on her new friend's knee in support, something at which Femke smiled thankfully.
Sounds to me like whatever your visions are about block you from concentrating on airbending. Would you like to tell us what these visions are about?"
Zaheer asked Femke with a stern look, who faced away when he asked this. First not wanting to talk about it, but after a moment she thought about something; if this indeed was what blocking her from being able to Airbend, she should talk about it since maybe, just maybe, Zaheer would be able to help her get over it.
"They're about things that happened. To my half brothers mostly. They were thought off as criminals while they only did what they thought was right for the world. They survived a killing attempt of my youngest half brother. They're in jail now."
Femke said, closing her eyes at the very thought of her half brothers with whom she had bonded so quickly. She had been totally destroyed with sadness when their bodies were found in the dock of Republic City's harbor. Half alive half gone. The Wood Village's medical care managed to save their lives, but now they were in prison and she was all alone again.
"It seems your visions are the cause of your problem. You're locking yourself in a ball of fear, pain and loss. It's understandable, since I presume that wasn't the first time such a thing happened. But you have to try and accept, rather than forget." Zaheer said as he looked at Femke. Femke nodded to confirm it indeed hadn't been the first time. Which made that everyone looked at her with a sad look. They'd all been there.
" I know. But it's hard. I've been through a lot and…."Femke started, biting her lip since she didn't want to get emotional near her new friends again. P'li saw how she was trying to force herself to not cry, since she was sitting closest to Femke. She was the first one to wrap her arms around Femke, with a smile on her face. Zaheer smiled as he nodded to P'li before he closed into the hug as well soon followed by Ghazan. Ming hua grumbled a bit, not liking groups hugs. Before she closed into the hug last. This was enough to make Femke finally start crying in earnest.
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And with that sad scene I end the chapter. I hope you all liked it.
A/N:
Despite being a leader of a secret society, I figured Zaheer could still be a bad morning person, which is going to get some hilarious details in the series, so keep this in mind.
P'li and Femke and already getting close because Femke was the first one to comfort her apart from her friends while most people see her kind as a monster.
That was all, I hope you liked it. Thanks for reading and thanks to Paranoidgirl for doing a awesome job as a beta reader.
Please review!
