"To think this would be my first stop..." muttered an older voice, looking at the imposing walls of Agna Qel'a, the capital of the Northern Water Tribe.
"If your purpose is to spread terror among those who are to blame for your plight, why not start at the beginning? First, those who refused to help your people, isn't that the first step?" said a raven perched on the elderly woman's shoulder.
Hama, hunched over from age and the horrible conditions she had been subjected to during her imprisonment, shivered, not from the cold that seemed to cut into her wrinkled skin, but from the excitement it brought her to be here.
A thrill that allowed her to live, to grow stronger, to break free. Hate, her blue eyes glowing with pure hatred as she surveyed the magnificent city in the distance. Traces of dark energy surged from her body, reacting to her emotions, but the raven flapped twice, scattering the energy.
"That would be attacking the South Pole, the pirates of my people who abandoned me in the end, but no. In the end, they will have their result from my hand, but the root of it all is the northern bastards. I just wanted to learn more about Waterbending, but they refused!
All because I'm a woman! To them, I should just be a nurse waiting to get a man and have children! Those bastards... they deserve to die like the rest!" Hama shouted, and even though her body no longer emitted dark energy, a strong impulse surged from her aging body.
An impulse filled with desperation and murderous intent. Even the already low temperature of the North Pole seemed to drop even further, indicating the pain she was hiding, but also the enormous number of lives she had taken, leaving a history of terror in her wake.
A history she would try to repeat at the North Pole.
"Don't get so excited, you have to control yourself, you know, we don't want to attract too much attention, at least not yet," the raven said, causing Hama to calm down, though her eyes never left the city.
"Even if you have my lord's power, it will be impossible for you to fight so many Waterbenders, so you must start slowly, with the people on the outskirts. First... regain your youth," the raven hinted when he saw that Hama was no longer out of control.
"Will I be able to steal the vitality of others?" asked Hama, somewhat excited by the knowledge behind her question.
"Yes! It's ancient knowledge, lost thousands of years ago. A man tried to become immortal this way, but was stopped when he tried to absorb the Avatar's vitality. A greedy human, how could he be a match for the Avatar?
Even though his technique has many problems, if you absorb people with similar chi to yours, you won't go crazy like that person, on the contrary, you might calm down, after all, water tends to be calm," the raven said with a humanized expression on his face.
As a spirit, this raven had a very strong sense of superiority over humans, and while Hama liked him a little, she was too impetuous, lacking the general grace of the Waterbenders.
When you think of a Waterbender, the first thing that comes to mind is smooth movements, a calm face, and how cool they look while Waterbending. Fierce expressions and exaggerated gestures are more associated with Firebenders.
Raven thought that Hama, in her hatred, had unconsciously emulated the Firebenders she so despised, which he found somewhat funny and interesting, so he had decided to accompany the woman on her path of revenge, waiting to see what other interesting things might happen to the woman.
"Can anyone be immortal?" asked Hama as she walked across the thick layer of snow, her feet not sinking and not even leaving a trace in her wake, showing her excellent performance.
"Of course! There are many paths to immortality for humans. Avatar reincarnation is one type of immortality, absorbing the life of others, controlling the basic components of your body, and using the concept of 'Life' to extend your life.
Becoming a spirit, possessing other people and even, some so horrible that even I don't want to remember them," the raven replied, even he, a dark spirit, avoided talking about the most horrible methods mankind has encountered, all to try to live longer.
"I guess this world has more surprises than I thought. But when you spend so much of your life locked up, you miss so much. I never thought that when I broke free, I would see the people of the Fire Nation being kind to other cultures. Is it that much of a change that this so-called Sage has brought about?
Bullshit! That boy is being controlled, isn't he? Wouldn't it be nice to set him free? When I'm young again, maybe he'll be a good match! What do you think, Nookie?" As if she had fallen into a strange state of mind, Hama quickly started talking about Shisui before asking the question to the crow on her shoulder.
The crow, nicknamed Nookie, was shocked, not knowing why this human had suddenly become so strange. But not wanting to cause more trouble, Nookie simply flapped his wings before answering.
"I think that's a good idea? I don't understand much about human relationships, but if your younger self is beautiful, I guess you can give it a try," the raven said, making Hama smile, but her smile was rather creepy.
"Well... Shisui will be mine," Hama muttered, suddenly turning her head into the distance and feeling some living beings approaching her, humans.
The skin on her fingers seemed to pull back, revealing her long fingernails. When a group of men who looked like hunters appeared in front of her, Hama acted. Her movements were far from normal Waterbending, but with her gestures, something strange happened to the men.
Their bodies stiffened, their limbs shaking and twisting in ways a human could never do. Amid the cries of pain, pleading, and despair, the crunching of bones and the popping of various muscles could be heard in the distance, but no one but Hama could hear them.
Soon, several strands of green energy were drawn from her body and entered Hama's chest. As the woman's hair gradually turned brown and her skin regained its softness, the men's bodies dried up until only brittle bones remained covered by their clothes.
Her body was not instantly rejuvenated, for much of her hair had turned gray and her skin was still very wrinkled, but her back had straightened, her breath had lengthened, and the energy in her body pulsed with new life.
Hama laughed, and as if everyone at the North Pole could hear her, many people felt a collective shiver. Unknown to them, a threat was looming over them, and soon stories of a man-eating monster spread.
...
A group of men was walking down a long corridor that seemed to be carved out of the rock. The few lamps did their best to bring light to the place, but it seemed their efforts were in vain.
It was as if the darkness in this corridor, or rather, tunnel, was something natural. There was a strange coldness that seeped through the bones of anyone who walked through here for the first time, but among these men, there were a few who were used to it.
"I never thought you would bring your group of radicals here, Shun," said a man who, when illuminated by one of the lamps, revealed that he wore the garb of the Dai Li, the secret force that maintained order in Ba Sing Se.
"You know the reason, Shinji," Shun replied, a tall man wearing the green clothing typical of the Earth Kingdom.
"Yes, at first I thought your activities with the group called the White Lotus were too idyllic. I never thought you would choose the other color." Shinji looked briefly at the group of men and women following him and Shun.
People in different clothes, from the Earth Kingdom, the Water Tribe, and even the Fire Nation. The only thing they had in common was the insignia of a lotus flower painted red on their chests, indicating their affiliation.
"I have learned over time that no matter which side I choose, my purpose will never change, to bring true change to this world," Shun said, causing Shinji to smile self-deprecatingly as he shook his head.
"Can't the Avatar and the Sage bring the change you want, brother?" Shinji asked, causing Shun to bare his teeth in a dismissive gesture.
"Nonsense, change shouldn't depend on just a few characters, but on the collective. What good will all their achievements be when they inevitably die? Even if the Avatar is reborn, their mindset will always be different.
The Avatar Kyoshi was very different from the careless Kuruk, Roku was useless, Yangchen was a vile villain. Many Avatars can't even maintain consistency in their actions, how could they carry on the legacy of their past lives?
And speaking of the Sage, one man doesn't deserve that much power! We already have problems with the changing avatars, why let a mortal go to our heads? Brother, even the Earth King is more decent than this Sage!" said Shun, his tone full of anger and annoyance towards these two great figures.
"The Earth King is a smart person, no doubt," Shinji said with a strange smile on his face, something that made Shun click his tongue.
"Yes... he disguises himself as incompetent in front of everyone, but he is the person who controls the Dai Li, the nobles, and even a large part of the fragmented Earth Kingdom.
No one takes him seriously, not knowing that a decree from him means the death of everyone and their families. Even those rebel groups are supported by him... a clever man, no doubt," Shun praised the actions of the Earth King, which he knew because he not only had a brother in the Dai Li, but was a Dai Li himself.
Now he would meet his king, as he had so many times before, in the safe depths of Ba Sing Se, the city that would never fall, the safest place in the world today.
...
"He gave a tree to the peasants of the South Pole! How outrageous! A power like that... able to grow plants, just imagine, if that power was ours, we wouldn't have to bring so much food from those dirty colonies of the Earth Kingdom, I hate to know that my potatoes are grown by those low-life people" In what looked like a darkened room, lit by a candle, several people dressed in luxurious clothes were gathered.
The one who had spoken was a middle-aged woman with black hair and golden eyes, her expensive clothes and jewelry on her body indicating not only that she was a person of the Fire Nation, but also her status as a possible noble or wealthy woman.
"Don't think such nonsense, don't you know what it means if these filthy people have farmland? Waste of money for us!" shouted a fat man, apparently a Fire Nation noble like the woman before him.
"And the prince and princess participated in this act. The royal family is supposed to look after the interests of the nation!" shouted an old man, his narrowed eyes and gestures showing how angry he was.
"I'm sick of this guy. Why should a Son of Misfortune have so much power? Look at the changes he's brought about! Yesterday I saw a man Earthbending in the middle of the capital, how can they let those dirty and dangerous immigrants do that here?" said the last figure, a tall and rather muscular man.
"Luckily, those alchemists are already thinking of something, they are the ones who suffered the most because of that brat," laughed the only woman present at this meeting, and the more she laughed, the more the flames of the candle grew, as if reacting to her emotions.
"Yes... If that guy disappears, Princess Azula will be able to marry other people, a man who belongs to our people, not a dirty Waterbender," said the man with big muscles, being the youngest, he had some ideas in his head.
Perhaps he would be Princess Azula's new mate, though perhaps she had lost much of her value by being someone else's woman; what better way to feed his ego than to lie with the woman of the person he despised the most?
Only, he never dared to let these thoughts out, because not only he, but everyone present still had a deep respect... and fear, for the royal family.
However, this situation was gradually going in a strange direction, as if Shisui would be surrounded by enemies sooner or later.
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AN: The Fire nobles might have the idea of building a wall, but since they are an island country, that's a silly idea. Anyway, with this, I'm finally catching up on all the chapters I owed xD.
Young Hama is waifu material.
Earth King in this fanfic is a good king, but a bad person.