Well here we are, the first of the final ten. This one is a neat one and is a bit of a step up in my opinion. Well enjoy :D

Chapter 30

Back in Hydronia

We got to Hydronia in the evening. I greeted my friends and hung out for a bit. Then I took it upon myself to go to Heiwa Valley; my usual group of friends accompanied me. We arrived at the end of the tunnel through the mountain. Master Sonam, Monk Dadao and a few other monks, such as Monk Seng and Monk Meiso, were waiting for us.

"Ah, Hyriu, I am glad you came," Sonam said. "Arnook told us that he would leave your training up to you. He thought you'd have better motivation if you came on your own not because you were ordered."

"Hmm no bad Arnook," I said. "So what first?"

"First you will show me how good your bending is. Follow me," he instructed.

We went to one of the stone fields. A stream went by next to it. Sonam stood next to me, along with my friends.

"Now, when I say you will show me your best bending," he said.

I waited for his signal.

"Water," he instructed.

I swirled some water around and formed a ball of ice. I threw the ice forward then evaporated it.

"Earth."

I took a strong stance and did the pebble launch.

"Fire."

I kicked a few arcs of fire.

"Air."

I made a ball of air and blew it in all directions.

"Good. Well I think that when you come here, our prime focus will not be bending, but on developing other skills," Sonam said.

"So what will we start with?" I asked eagerly.

He glanced at Lamara like they had already decided, "Flying."

'Flying' didn't quite cover it. I had to stay in the air for fifteen minutes. I thought that sounded easy until almost every air bender in Heiwa Valley tried to knock me out of the sky. Daminao especially enjoyed ramming me with his glider at the last minute. I went home tired and raw from the wind, my hair and clothes horribly messed up.

I went back to Heiwa Valley early the next morning. Lina came with me as she traveled to the valley whenever she could. Master Desu, Wei, Otoko, and Torikku, who were on the Hydronia Court, also accompanied us. I hadn't been to the valley at this time of day and it was eerily beautiful. A heavy fog covered the valley floor. The top part of the Greenwall rose above the sea of mist. We went to an air ball field that was surrounded by fog. I noticed a large stream or small river encircled the field. Sonam, Lamara and Daminao were waiting for us.

"Today," Sonam began, "we will work with stealth. You along with your fellow water bending masters will all go in the field. All you have to do, Hyriu, is to stay hidden and secret. You must also take out each master however you can. You must expel them from the circle the stream creates, but as quietly as you can. You can not fight face to face or let them see you."

"Am I supposed to stay in the fog?" I asked.

"You are supposed to stay in the circle, but yes, the fog is your allay when you are trying to be stealthy. Be careful though, as the sun rises, the fog dissipates," Sonam said motioning to the already grey sky. "Oh but masters, you are aloud to create little bubbles of air where you cleared away the fog, but if it gets too big so a large portion of the field is cleared, I will intervene."

I walked to the center of the field and let the fog surround me. I heard Sonam instruct the masters to enter the fog. I started to silently jump across the wooden poles making the fog thicker and thicker. I jumped from pole to pole, keeping an eye out for anyone. I landed on one pole and was about to jump again when I saw Wei. He had his back to me. I nearly lost my balance and wheeled my arms to steady myself. I lifted up a wall of fog just as Wei turned. I began moving again hoping he didn't see me. I saw Torikku standing in am open space. He had cleared the fog away from him and he was very close to the edge of the circle.

I sent a stream of water at him. He was quick; he redirected it back to where it had come from. However, I was quick too and I was already behind him sending more streams. He was an excellent water bender but he was being over whelmed. Eventually I was able to get some water around him and I throw him into the small river. He crawled out drying himself.

"One down, three to go," I whispered quietly.

I went back to jump atop the poles. I saw Wei, Desu, and Otoko had gathered in a little bubble of air. I began pushing on the bubble and slowly collapsing it with air and water bending.

"Hey, Sonam!" Wei called out. "Our bubble is not that big, there is no need for that!"

Sonam answered with an amused voice, "That is not me. I believe Hyriu is the cause of your troubles."

"Oh really? Interesting," Wei said looking around.

Otoko was a bit separated from Wei and Desu. I made puddles splash at the other side of the bubble so they all looked that way. I snuck up behind Otoko and used air bending to throw him into the small river. I made a patch of ice that Desu slipped on. I used his momentum against him and he slid all the way into the river. I condensed the fog to my left so it looked like the shadow of a person.

"You know Hyriu, you really should work on your stealth a bit more," Wei said to the shadow.

I snuck up behind him, "Should I?"

Then I water bended him to the river. I heard him splash in. I lifted my hands and dissipated the fog.

Wei came up spluttering from the water, "You know Hyriu, I am old so doing something like that might just give me a heart attack." he grabbed his knees as he tried to catch his breath.

"Sorry Wei," I laughed a little.

"Most impressive Hyriu," Sonam said. "It seems you are quite stealthy."

"I think he could improve," Wei said, "I could hear his footsteps part of the time."

"Could you really?" I asked with a smirk. "Or did you just hear puddles splashing?"

"Ingenious," Desu said, "You mean to say you made those puddles splash on purpose?"

I nodded.

"That explains it," Otoko said, "When we were looking towards the sound of the splashes, I was thrown from behind."

"Well, Hyriu, that was very clever, as was the shadow trick," Wei said.

Over the week, I trained hard in many different ways. Lamara showed me how to fight with regular wooden staves, no bending involved. Daminao gave me the basics of forging and continued teaching me his unique swordsmanship that I found out he had invented. I noticed he was also hanging around a girl. I had seen her around the valley but I had never talked to her. She was tall with light brown hair that she kept in a messy bun. One day she was with Daminao when I went to train with him behind the Greenwall.

"Hey Hyriu," he said as he walked up with the girl. "This is Ava."

"Hello Ava," I said.

"Hello," he said quietly.

Now that I was closer, I could see she looked about his age. She had a guarded expression but looked kind. She had grey eyes and like how Daminao's always had a red tint, hers always had a green tint. I noticed she carried a bow. When I saw her shoot it I noticed she used air bending to make the arrow go faster and farther. I thought they made a good match.

Sonam didn't let up at all. He would push my air bending to the limits along with my mind and body. He trained my mind in several ways. He would give me difficult scenarios that I had to solve. He would give me battle plans and I had to calculate a plan to win for either side. He would sometimes have me execute my plans on small scales or explain them in depth. Lamara would teach me certain Pai Sho strategies and I had to use them on Sonam. Pai Sho was no longer a fun game, but a dreaded exercise.

Koluk, Fai, Lina, Hana, Tekton, and I hung out all the time. Our friendship grew into a bond. Often they would help me train in Heiwa Valley. School started back up and my training let up a little. People at school noticed a change in me. People also noticed the bond I had with my friends. No one really picked on me anymore. Some people actually respected me, though most of it was only because I was a good swordsman. I remembered how Hana had started out just liking me for my skills. I wondered if soon everyone would like me for me, not my skills.

My life seemed to be going very well. I had good friends and my training had come along way. My nightmares were horrible but with the support of my friends, I could handle them mostly.

Taruk noticed the excessive amount of time I spent in Heiwa Valley and how I had changed. He didn't say anything though, but I could see he was forming a plan to find out the truth. He was just waiting for the perfect time to execute it.

A bit of an ominous ending wouldn't you say? I love the ending because it sets up the next chapter perfectly. Please continue reading, follow, favorite, and review. Stay tuned for Chapter 31: Taruk Crosses the Line, coming this Wednesday.