Turns out, Tenzin was terrible at inspiring motivation. By the time I was up and about the next morning, he had forced all the air benders on a ten mile hike, a two hour meditation and breathing session, completed a balance exercise which left most of them with severe bruising where they'd fallen off, had shaved someone's head and that wasn't even the worst. "What happened?!" My jaw dropped as I came to see how everybody was getting on, only to find everybody was covered in mud, rashes, prickles and pretty much everything else under the sun.
"Obstacle course training." One of the air benders answered, pointing gingerly over the ledge so I walked on over to see this absolute monstrosity of a course which I doubted even Jinora would be able to handle without difficulty, let alone these rookies.
"Okay, that's it, I'm calling an emergency time out!" I announced, shaking my head and addressing the air benders. "All of you take a break. Anyone with injuries please form an orderly cue and I'll treat you immediately, also, anyone who got dirty, line up and I'll…you know what? Everybody just line up." I instructed and everybody jumped to follow my instructions as I uncapped my water pouch and began to heal the rashes and bruises.
"Kanna what do you think you are doing? We have training to be getting on with. We don't have time for-!"
"That's enough Uncle Tenzin." For the first time ever, Tenzin actually shut up and stared at me as he saw the dark expression on my face, warning him not to test my patience. I'd held my tongue for a while now, but this was just too much. "You can't treat these people like work labourers. They're not ready for so much physically demanding training methods. Most of them have never ran a ten mile hike before. Hell, I bet some of them have never run ten miles in their whole life! All you're doing right now is hurting them, and as a healer, I won't stand by and watch people get injured unnecessarily."
Tenzin gaped at me as I healed up the first person's wounds, drawing out the cacti prickles then surrounded them in a bubble of water which pulled off all the mud before I then pulled it away, separating the mud from water so I was left with clean water again and a completely dry air bender who looked more than happy to be feeling at least comfortable again. "You're rushing things, you're pushing them too far too fast and without giving them any slack whatsoever. You can't rebuild a nation in a day so stop trying, otherwise you're not going to have a nation at all." One by one, the other air benders began to speak up.
"Master Tenzin? When do we get to go home and visit our families?" Spluttering slightly, Tenzin recovered from my scolding enough to turn around at his air benders.
"Go home? You just got here."
"When's dinner? I'm starving."
"Can I change out of my robe now? It's itchy."
"This is just as bad as the Earth Queen's prison." Kai pouted as I focused on healing the rashes that were spreading over his body from the rash-cacti, though most of it seemed to be concentrated on his butt so I guessed he must have landed on it.
"I'm tired of all this complaining! Jinora, take over." Done with everybody having a go at him, Tenzin made to storm off and have a tantrum like a petulant little kid. Seriously, who were the adults around here?
"Does this mean I'm the master now?" Jinora asked gradually, clearly aiming at something as I finished healing Kai and washing out his clothes, bending them dry before I ruffled his hair playfully and he smiled to me in thanks.
"Yes. Just lead them through some basic exercises."
"Well, since I'm a master, when do you think I can get my tattoos?" Tattoos? Now that's something that came out of nowhere. Pausing in my healing process, I looked up at my cousin as her father turned to her in astonishment.
"What brought this on?"
"I was just talking to Kai, and he was asking me, so…"
"Kai?!" Sensing he could be in a lot of trouble, Kai slid behind me in order to hide, pressing his back against mine as I folded my arms with a quirk of my eyebrow, seeing Tenzin just go into an even deeper tantrum. "What does he know about when you should get tattoos?! The answer is no! You're just a little girl."
"I'm not a little girl anymore! I can air bend just as well as you. I know everything about our culture and history, and I have a stronger connection with the spirits than you ever will." Jinora fumed, angry that her dad was still holding her back so she shoved him aside so that she could leave in a temper that she rarely showed. "Lead your own class!" Now completely stunned, the rest of us were silent until Tenzin whirled around and pointed at his younger two kids.
"Ikki, Meelo, you're up. Just lead them through the Ba Gua circle." Once Tenzin had left, I sighed in exasperation before continuing the healing as Meelo faced the air bending students, switching into his tyrant mode.
"Look to your left! Look to your right!" Following his directions as Meelo pointed, my little cousin then put his fists on his hips, scowling at them intimidatingly. "One of those people will not make it out of here alive." Seeing that things probably weren't going to get any better from here, I finished healing the air bender I was working on then clapped my hands.
"Oh Meelo." I sang to him cheerfully before I reached into my pocket and pulled out a snack bag of cookies I had been saving for when I planned to go walking down the mountain. "If you do me a favour, I'll give you these cookies. They're your favourite."
"Cookies?!" Instantly springing over and forgetting the air benders, I told him to go and find Uncle Bumi for me since I didn't see him among the rest of the air benders so I could ask him what had suddenly got into Tenzin and also treat him if he was also suffering from cacti rashes. Meelo eagerly accepted the job, swiping the cookies from my open hand and dashed off, leaving Ikki pouting at me.
"Hey! What about me?"
"Well Ikki, you have the very important job of showing everybody the Ba Gua circle after they've all rested for a while. So, in the meantime, why don't you go sneak into the kitchen and see what food you can steal to bring back and share with everybody? Only you can do it Ikki, I'm counting on you!" Glad to have a job to do and thinking of it as a game, she too soon disappeared so I had the air benders followed me to an open area where the sunlight was strong but there was plenty of shade, it was warm and the ground was spongy soft from the grass and moss. "Here, everybody take a rest for a while. You've earned it." They all fell down with a groan of exhaustion, some of them falling asleep instantly.
Finishing healing everyone, I sat down and watched over them all as they had a nap until Ikki returned with a huge bowl of fruits which we shared around, and after that she didn't feel like teaching anything so I let everybody go and spend some time as they liked. "Thanks Kanna, you're the best."
"Yeah, maybe you should be teaching us air bending." I winced inwardly at that.
"I know my uncle seems strict and intense. Actually, he is, but that's not all he is. He just feels a lot of pressure with keeping the air bending tradition alive since it almost died out when the war began a hundred and seventy years ago. It's a massive responsibility, and he just doesn't want to disappoint the world." I defended my uncle as Ikki hugged my legs and I rested my hand on the back of her shoulder.
"Yeah, my daddy doesn't mean to be so mean. He just wants everybody to be great air benders one day!" She smiled sweetly and a lot of the air benders softened towards her, because who could resist that adorable smile? "But we really do appreciate you being here and we love having so many air benders around! Before it was always just me and my siblings and daddy, but now it's like having a big family all to myself."
"Aw…" Several of them cooed and just like that, their frustrations and anger just melted away enough for them to not mind sticking around for a while longer, even if it was just to rest for a while. Once they were gone, I smiled at Ikki.
"Good job." She grinned at me just as Meelo returned with Bumi running behind him, trying to catch up on his air scooter but failing terribly, huffing and panting for breath as he laboured to get up the hill.
"Meelo…said…it was…an emergency…what's…the ruckus…?"
"Meelo! I said ask Uncle Bumi to come, not give him a heart attack." Helping Bumi to come and sit down, I inspected the area around his neck and sure enough, he had cacti rash. "I'm sorry, I just figured you'd be in just as bad a shape as everyone else. Hold still for a while and I'll take care of it." Soothing the rash and removing the prickles from his clothes and skin, I then eased the bruises and washed out his clothes until he was perfectly dry and good as new.
"Thanks sweet muffin. What would I do without you? Without any of you?" He questioned as the three of us knelt in front of him. "Ah…I'm too old for all this."
"Don't give up Uncle Bumi, you're doing great!" Ikki encouraged as Meelo folded his arms.
"A true soldier never gives up!"
"Haha! I'm retired now you little bruiser." We laughed together, enjoying some time with just the four of us before I told Bumi what I'd said to Tenzin, making him drop his jaw at me. "You said all that to my little brother? Bet he didn't like that, but good job. He needed to hear it from someone. You kids all got such sensible heads on your shoulders. It really sets the mind at ease." He fussed us all with affection before we decided to head back down to the temple together.
