The night finally came and with it came the deadly and freezing wind that would undoubtedly kill anyone without cold protection. Haru continued to walk, not wanting to rest until he thought he was far enough from his village.
The warriors and hunters of their village were probably in the village now after a half day of hunting, just to find out what he did to one of them. With how the people looked at him when he was leaving, without a doubt, they're picturing him on the very bad side as they can, though he didn't care about it.
They're probably sending some people to hunt him down towards the path he took, probably to catch him and get him back to the village for a punishment that would guarantee him not seeing another day. Nova knows that so she asked him to walk in the west direction for about half an hour then turn towards the north where his real direction was. She did this to mislead anyone that tries to pursue him, but still... just to be sure, he walked nonstop until he was tired so there's more chance that they're unlikely to catch him.
The heavy backpack filled with woods is taking its toll on his body, making him tired more quickly, so when he thinks that it was enough, he stopped, removed all stuff on his back before laying on the icy ground.
Nova just watched him lay down, breathing roughly after walking nonstop for hours. She sat beside him and observed his expression with a lovely smile on her face. "I told you that we can stop," she said, her tone was more worried than mad.
"I... just want... to make sure," he said, taking multiple long breaths. He smiled as he observed the sky. It was filled with stars and other things he can't name, but it was really beautiful and calming to see.
"Geez, you're stubborn, aren't you." Nova touched his cheek with her somewhat glowing finger, though he didn't feel anything when she touched him. "You can trust my decisions. But it seems that I'll have to prove more to you..."
Haru just nodded at her words, not knowing what to say. He does trust her decisions but knowing how strong and skilled the warriors of his village are, he couldn't just do what she says to stop right away.
"Rest for now," she said. "After that, we'll create a fire here and cook a meal."
Very soon, he found his strength again and stood up. His legs still in pain but it's manageable, though his shoulder was a little stiff which might make his movements rough. He then proceeded to set up a simple campfire and place three long woods around it. After that, he filled the pot with snow and hung it on top.
After it heated up and melted into hot water, Haru started laying out his ingredients. Without tools like knives, Haru decided to use waterbending to control the water and turn it into a sharp floating knife, which he used to easily cut the ingredients with rough precision. After putting hot water back into the pot, he started putting the ingredients in order inside with perfect timing with Nova's instructions.
Next is the blue colored fish he hunted alone. He only chose to get three of the smallest ones for this meal. He layed them on the icy ground then grabbed hot water inside the pot to slice the fish in three pieces each and put them in the pot after Nova gave the signal.
Within a few moments, it started to smoke into the air with a smell that made Haru believe that he didn't cook this. "It smells so good!" Normally, he just added his ingredients in whatever order or time he thinks is right inside the pot, creating a not so good smell. But he normally didn't care about it. If it was not fried or stewed like he usually does then it's good enough for him since there will be a different taste to it.
"Taste it," Nova said with a smile. She was wearing a white apron with a brown bear in the middle the whole time they were cooking.
Haru happily complied and controlled a little amount of soup from the pot onto his mouth directly. But before he could do it, Nova stopped him. "Careful, it's still very hot. Let it cool for a few seconds before tasting it."
Even he was surprised by his recklessness. That could've burned his mouth had he put it directly inside. "Yes, thanks again, Nova."
After a few seconds, he thinks its heat was bearable enough so he put the floating orb of soup onto his mouth. His eyes widened as he fully tasted it. He didn't say anything as he just enjoyed it like he never eaten a thing for a day.
"Alright, Haru, as we wait for it to fully cook, I will explain to you all about water bending and other sub-elements connected to it which you can practice at a certain level," Nova suddenly said and she sat down in front of him in a meditation sit.
Haru instantly turned into focused mode as he looked at her with seriousness.
"To bend an element, you need chi which you have, and manipulate it to not only move inside your body but also extend it onto the natural world," she explained. "Water Bending has many sub-elements like ice bending, snow bending and even steam bending. But there are also many others that are not well known since it was very rare for waterbenders to control them. There is Plant bending where water benders control the water inside a plant to manipulate it, and..."
Then her expression suddenly turned serious. "There's Blood Bending which to this date doesn't have any records in any history books since people who can and managed to obtain it are dead and they didn't want to pass it for a good reason which you could probably guess."
'Blood Bending...' he never thought that waterbenders could do that. It sounds very ominous and dangerous which it should be. It meant controlling the blood of a living being, meaning it could be used on humans. Just thinking about someone controlling his blood and body gives him a particularly new type of fear. However, it sounds powerful and deadly but it seems that it was really hard to obtain. "How can I obtain bloodbending?"
"The reason for bloodbending being hard to get is because only strong and skilled waterbenders can do this when it's a full moon which gives them a significant boost in strength, energy and spiritual connection," she explained. "Even then, it's very rare for anyone to get it with that boost from the full moon. But since you drank the Essence of Blank, when you reach a certain level then you can bloodbend when it's a full moon and if you finally reach a higher level of strength and mastery then you wouldn't need the full moon any more for bloodbending."
"When can I start practicing it?" Haru asked with eagerness, having learned that he too is capable of obtaining bloodbending.
"Not yet, you still have a long way to go but with your current improvements, it shouldn't take long with my teaching," she said, making sure to point out her help at the end. "Now then about the last one, it's a healing type sub element, where you will concentrate all your chi into the water you control and apply it to the wounds that you wanted to heal. It sounds simple but it needed a higher mastery than ice bending to manage to do it."
Haru just realized just now how powerful and very versatile waterbending and its sub-elements are. It can be either really powerful that it sounds really dangerous or it can be used for healing. Though it seems that all of them are the last sub-elements that he will be trained in since they seemed really hard to get. After all, the stronger the power is, the harder someone could get it. He couldn't imagine what could happen when any waterbenders could just practice Bloodbending and use it. It will probably be the most feared bending out of all.
Nova looked at his thoughtful expression and smiled. "Don't think about them for now. We'll just keep practicing until I think you could do it, so let's try our hardest," she said with an encouraging smile.
Haru smiled back at her and nodded.
Nova then floated in front of the pot. "Oh, it seems cooked now, just in time."
Hearing that, Haru perked up and quickly approached it. 'It smells really good,' he thought as he took the pot away and put it on the rest of the woods. And since he doesn't have a spoon to eat, he just took a thin stick and punctured one of the fish to take it then controlled the soup and put them into his mouth one by one.
Nova floated behind Haru and hugged his neck. There was a cold smile on her face.
After he had eaten, he rested then started creating his temporary cold shelter. He dug underground with length and height just enough for him to sleep without a problem. Then he placed on top all the woods left and covered them with a layer of snow while leaving a hole for him to leave. It was dark and cold with Nova being the only thing visible but he already used to this so he just slept through it.
"Good night, Haru," Nova said, her tone gentle.
Haru opened his eyes for a moment. "Yeah, good night to you too, Nova." He closed them again.
--
"...ke up, Haru," a familiar voice sounded.
As Haru opened his eyes, he saw the daylight hit his boots causing a light to reflect around, lighting his temporary shelter dimly.
'It's not a dream, huh?' he thought. What happened yesterday sounds too good to be true but it really did happen.
To be able to stand up, he removed the woods above him and placed them at the side. The sunlight finally hit him. It felt weird since just yesterday night it was freezing cold and now it was warmer though still cold. He regretted the decision not to bring enough materials or tools for building another temporary shelter like a tent which would probably shield him from most of the cold like it always does back in the village.
"Morning, Haru," Nova said to him with her usual smile. Her outfit was now different again. She was now wearing a long dark-blue dress with the skirt not reaching her knee and black boots, covering all her knee. It was the first time that Haru saw an outfit like this but he didn't question it since it really looks good on her and he finds it more appropriate.
"Morning." He replied simply as he got out of his underground bed. He then approached the fire pit and looked at the pot that still had his leftovers. He expected it to be frozen so he was not surprised. So he just created another fire pit again to create heat for himself as well as heated it to melt.
After eating his breakfast, Nova was back to teaching him again.
"For today's lesson, I will teach you how to control the snow. It's simple but this needs more concentration and skill for any waterbenders to do this," she said. "Now get into a meditating position and close your eyes."
He did as she told. Seeing that, Nova told him the next steps. "Now feel all the presence of water around."
He never sensed them before but now that he was concentrated, he could feel countless small amounts of water all around him. It should be the snow. He focused more and tries to get a connection with them like he did with the water. Surprisingly, he was able to do so.
"You're doing good," Nova said, observing the sudden movements of the snow. "Now stand up with your eyes still closed and try to bend them like you're doing with waterbending."
Without replying, Haru stood up with his eyes closed. He took his water bending stance, placing his left foot forward and right foot backward. Then he started moving his hands with calmness and slowly, moving it in a circular pattern back and forth.
The snow around him started to rise and fly in front of him, creating a weak snow tornado. Cold winds made his concentration bad but he kept on going. And when he thought that he had mastered it enough, he opened his eyes. He smiled at the snow tornado in front of him then looked at Nova who nodded.
"You're doing great, now try shooting them forward," she said.
"Alright," he mumbled as he controlled the snow to go around him and shoot it forward. It shot up with strong wind, blowing his hair forward, making him flinch.
Nova laughed at his messy hair which he quickly fixed by bringing it backwards with his hand. "You need to compress the snow you'll shoot forward if you want to make it deadly, but the thing you did just now can also be used to attack with wideness which could block your opponent's sight of you."
Over the next 20 minutes, Haru continued to practice his snow bending, forming it into something sharper at its edge like a spike. He was successful at doing it but the power behind it was not satisfactory enough. He needed to concentrate more and make it powerful.
"That's enough for now, Haru. Rest then we will do a battle practice to get you battle experience against different types of opponents as well as get yourself familiar with your bending abilities," Nova suddenly said, surprising him.
"Hmmh?" He mumbled with a confused expression. How will they fight when he can't even touch her? "What do you mean?"
Nova shook her head. "It's better when I just show it to you instead of explaining."
"Alright," he said, thinking of any idea of how their battle practice goes. 'Could it be... she can switch to being able to be touched?' Likely. With a theory in mind, he stopped thinking about it and focused more on resting to prepare his body and mind for his first battle with her. He doesn't know how it will go but he was looking forward to it.
--
My rest was short so now Nova and I were facing each other.
She was still wearing her dark blue outfit... surprisingly. But this time, she is wielding a spear made of bones. It was what the warriors of my village usually used for hunts if they can't waterbend so I'm very familiar with it. After all, I also used to do hunting with just that.
The tension all over my body was high.
What is it?
What's going to happen here?
Will she really fight me when we can't even touch each other?
"Prepare yourself, Haru. I will not change a weapon till you manage to kill me."
I'm so confused but I still prepared myself like she told me.
I took my stance and looked at her like she was really my enemy.
I needed to immerse myself into this battle to gain full battle experience.
"Here I come," She said as she dashed towards me at above normal speed. She had a smile on her face as she held the spear with one hand.
I want to show her that I trust her decisions, so in this matter, I won't hesitate to attack her with the intent of killing her.
I have absolutely no idea of what's going to happen when I hit her hard or she sliced me using her spear.
My body circled around, gathering a ton of snow around me. Then I released it towards her. Unsurprisingly, she managed to evade by dashing to the left then continued running towards me.
But I didn't stop there as I shot more which she just evaded easily.
As she was about to get real close to me, I pushed my hands forward which made the snow in front of me blast in her direction which caused me to not see her and she probably couldn't see me as well.
Just then, I noticed something above.
There I saw Nova smiling as she put the spear backwards preparing a vertical slash using the tip of the spear.
Oh no.
I tried to avoid it by pushing myself backwards but to no avail. I was seconds too late. I just closed my eyes and let her do her thing.
Just then, I felt nothing.
I could still feel the cold wind around me. I could feel my clothes still on my body, and the tense muscles of my knee from standing were still there...
I opened my eyes to see Nova standing in front of me with her spear on her shoulder and smiling.
Oh, what have I expected?
She won't really kill me after all the things she did for me and gave me. She will kill me now just for a battle practice?
I shook my head.
"Please, let's do it again."
"Hehe, look below you first."
I did as she told me.
What I saw gave me dread, surprise and an instant hit of fear.
It's my body! My dead body which was split open. Blood was gushing out of it and I could see full details of my inside like the rib bones, the lungs and others.
Out of shock, I jumped away from it.
"Every time you die, a copy of what will happen to you will be shown. So do your best from now, Ha-ru," she said, her voice playful.