After everyone left, Bro almost jumped at him.
“You did it. You crazy madman really did it!” yelled Bro.
“What? Did you doubt me?” answered Atlas with a fake smug.
“Me? Never! Haha,” said Bro with a laugh. “Now tell us, how does it work?”
“Can you at least ask nicely?” asked Atlas, playing offended.
“Fine. Can you pleeeease tell us?” said Bro, rolling his eyes. “Now, if possible, or does Mister Enlightened have no need for his dear unimportant teammates now?”
“You really make it hard for me to tell you anything,” said Atlas, knowing that Bro was just like that. He was a guy who would give a friend anything he asked for but also expected his friends to do the same and wasn’t shy to say what he wanted. “But what kind of friend would I be if I said no, right?”
“Absolutely right!” said Bro giving Atlas a fistbump.
“Can we stop talking about that stupid enlightenment for a second and talk about your leg, Atlas?” interrupted Mi with unwavering concern.
“Mood killer,” said Bro, earning himself a light punch on the shoulder from Mi.
“Mi, it’s fine, really. I even have an idea that might fix it. Just trust me, okay,” said Atlas, appreciating the concern. Those two had become his friends—friends he had spent more time with than anyone else he knew. Even Jason, his Muggle friend with whom he spent years in school, hadn’t spent so much time with him. Even Hermione, who he communicated with every day, had spent less time with him. It was impossible to see them as anything else, even if it had taken him a long time. Once again, he had realized that seeing people as just tools and spending years with them was easier said than done.
“You mean trusting you like the time you said everything was fine after the compressed frozen steam ball exploded in your face, and you collapsed a few minutes later?” accused Mi.
“Hey, that was just once. And you can’t hold that against me. If it weren’t for that catgator that came out of nowhere and licked my leg, it would never have happened. And it’s not like I could have known I had a concussion.”
“But you weren’t okay afterward. And Thi is much farther away now, Atlas,” said Mi.
“I am fine, Mi. Really.”
“Okay, I will believe you. But you are under my watch, Mr. Enlightened,” said Mi, but her worried tone turned into a happy and expectant one as well. Just because she was worried didn’t mean, she didn’t have the same burning curiosity Bro had.
Mi was always worried when one of the team got hurt. She was also always angry when one of us got hurt because we were stupid, and her beatings, after she was sure we were fine, most often hurt more than the accidents themselves. Especially Bro suffered under this. And the worst of it was that Tar was in total agreement with her. The two of them were too similar when it came to planning ahead to stay unharmed.
“Now spill it, how did you do it?” asked Bro impatiently.
“Haha, it’s actually simple—or maybe not. Do you remember how I explained that water is made up of small particles that, depending on the composition, are either frozen or liquid? Well, it turns out that this was what prevented me from discovering how it works beforehand. I only thought of it as particles. I ignored everything else. I ignored the plant the water belonged to. The plant has its own chi network and metabolism that uses the water. Trying to bend a plant is like wrestling control of the water from another waterbender. Except, in this case, overpowering the control would destroy the plant. So, you need to cut off the plant’s control before you try to bend the water in it,” explained Atlas, not really sure if his explanation would help the two of them. Especially since Bro had always struggled with the abstract concepts he tried to teach him.
“So, you mean, we learned the whole particle stuff for nothing?” asked Bro with a hint of anger in his voice.
“No, not for nothing. Your bending got better, didn’t it? Aren’t you able to pull out water from the air now that you know there are small particles in it? Aren’t you able to boil your rice or put unfinished food into a block of ice now?” answered Atlas.
“I guess,” grumbled Bro.
“So how can we sense the exact chi paths of a plant? Sensing it is there might be possible, but sensing every small capillary and coating it? Are you sure that’s how you do it?” asked Mi.
“Well, I… I don’t know. I mean, I somehow managed to feel the chi flow of the seaweed, but I’m not sure how I could show you how to do that,” answered Atlas, only then realizing that plantbending wouldn’t be something so easily learned even after understanding it. “I will think about it, but maybe you should try to meditate on it and experiment a little. I mean, you won’t get the opportunity to meditate here too often. At least not while being protected and without needing to return to the village to complete a few hunts every few days. So use the time.”
“Before we do that, can you show it to us a few more times? Maybe I can get a feel of what you mean if you demonstrate it to me,” asked Mi.
“Sure. Just tell me when you’ve focused properly on the seaweed,” said Atlas as he sat in front of the bucket again.
After a minute, Mi said she was ready. Atlas stretched out his chi senses to connect to the weed and its chi path.
“Now, I have severed the chi’s connection to the seaweed. Can you feel any difference?”
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
Instead of answering, a frown appeared on Mi’s and Bro’s faces.
“I will move the weed a little; maybe you can detect the changes in the chi flow.”
Atlas used the weed to form a few different shapes, but the two of them didn’t show any reaction. After around ten minutes, Atlas stopped.
“I will stop here. Maybe you should just try to do it yourself,” said Atlas, standing up.
“I will go and talk with Huu. And remember, you need to take control first and bend later.”
Atlas left the two meditating, but seeing how tense they were, he doubted they would succeed in the short term.
He climbed onto one of the larger branches where Huu seemed to be meditating. With Huu’s experience and sharp senses, he would sense any intruder miles away. It wasn’t by some sort of fluke that he found Team Avatar in the original.
“That was faster than expected, Atlas,” said Huu, noting the fact that Bro and Mi hadn’t questioned him for hours.
“Well, I kept it short. In the end, if one understands how it works, it’s not so elaborate as one might think,” answered Atlas.
“Hahaha, if my younger self could hear you, he would probably be blushing in shame. But you always had quite a pragmatic and direct way of explaining things. I remember how you explained icebending when you were just a little boy. Wisdom that transcended even our ancestry explained in words that even the youngest hunters could grasp. It made me question everything I knew about how we taught things, and I even talked with the elder about it. Do you know what he said to me?” asked Huu in a good mood.
“I guess he said that it’s against tradition?” answered Atlas. The elder was the greatest obstruction to starting an industrial revolution in the village.
“Well, that as well of course, but what he also said is that his ‘mystical’ way of explaining things leads to everyone discovering their own truth, their own view on bending, and their own view on the world,” said Huu.
“I will be honest. That is the dumbest thing I have ever heard. Aren’t there universal truths? Why not teach people in a direct manner and also teach them how to further their own understanding? Isn’t that much better than hoping that once in a while someone manages to get it right?”
“Haha, yes, you are right. Or at least your success in teaching the other hunters your way proves you right. But does that really mean he is wrong?”
“Yes, it does,” answered Atlas, unrelenting but unsure of what Huu wanted to say.
“Interesting. And again, you might be right. But it also shows that despite preaching to be open to new things, you’ve become narrow-minded. If you see a straight path forward, you take it without thinking twice. A commendable way to act, and it surely will make you a good hunter and probably one of the best benders our tribe has ever seen. But it makes you a bad leader, Atlas.” Said Huu and paused.
“Now that you are an ‘enlightened’—a word I dislike with a passion—you are not only the protector of the swamp but also a spiritual leader for the people. People will come to you if they have problems, fears, and worries, and you will need to listen to them and offer advice. You will become their guide in more ways than one. But if you only ever present them with one path forward, you might show them ways that work for you but not for them. You need to learn to see the world through the eyes of your fellow tribe members instead of trying to ‘correct’ their ways. Only then can you become a good leader,” explained Huu.
Atlas listened attentively to what Huu said but felt a small resistance to what Huu wanted to tell him. He thought of all the things he had tried to introduce into the village and how far the village had developed because of that. How could that not be a sign of good leadership? How could being so overly understanding make the village better than showing them the right path?
“Don’t misunderstand me, Atlas. What you did for the village was good. People are happier, healthier, and safer than before. But maybe it’s because I have been outside the swamp that I am worried. People there live differently, and I know how prosperity and excess can change people. When life becomes too complicated and joyless, like a well-oiled but lifeless machine, it loses its essence.” Said Huu and paused, obviously in the search for the right words.
"I have seen a village that had better houses, better tools, more people, and luxuries from all over the world, and yet I didn’t see a single happy face there. And I fear that if we always go down the most optimal way, making it our goal to always achieve the most at any moment, then we too will lose our happiness. So maybe, when giving people some advice, when you have to take the lead of the village in the hopefully far-away future when I’m not here anymore, you can make the villagers happy instead of just successful.”
Atlas froze while listening to Huu’s explanation. He had never considered that having a better, more civilized village and tribe might actually be bad. Well, Huu also said that it isn’t bad per se, but he was definitely right that just having a higher standard of living didn’t equal happiness. If it was just that, Atlas might change the way he handled things, and in a certain way, he probably would. But his improvements in the village didn’t only have the goal of making the villagers happy or more successful. No, he needed to make the village into a military force to be reckoned with.
He had no clue in which nation the hero was, but if the hero was not in an absolute backwater town, he was sure to join the war effort and gain the support of the military through the success he would surely have. So unless Atlas managed to assassinate the hero somehow, he would have to beat the military that supported the hero too. And that goal was more important than the happiness of the Foggy Swamp Tribe. More important than even the lives of the tribe members he had lived with for twelve years.
“I’m sorry, Huu,” said Atlas, meaning more with it than Huu could possibly guess.
“No need to worry about it too much. I just wanted you to understand your new responsibility. And I’m sure as long as I’m still here, you won’t be asked for guidance too often. Anyway, plantbending—you really did it, Atlas. I’m proud of you,” said Huu.
“Thank you,” said Atlas with a bit of guilt before narrating his new understanding of plantbending.
“Your talent always surprises me, Atlas. And the way you describe it is straightforward. But there are still parts you could improve upon. You said you take control of the plant’s chi flow and sever its connection. This is something I have never considered or am able to do,” said Huu, shocking and confusing Atlas. If Huu didn’t do it like that, then how did he do it?
“I mean it is much easier to just block the flow, so I never bothered to coat an entire foreign chi pathway with my own chi. Compared to humans who have many different acupoints, plants have a straight chi path with at most a few branches, but the countless capillaries make it impossible for me. So, I just put a few blockades at key points, and the chi stops flowing. That way, it automatically loses its control, and you don’t need to wrestle it. It should save you a lot of chi, and I think your method isn’t viable if you want to focus on more than one or two plants or vines,” explained Huu, shocking Atlas.
“That is… brilliant. I mean, it is so… simple. How didn’t I come up with that? I just need to stop the power struggle, I don’t need to micromanage every tiny bit,” Atlas said, excitement building up inside him. His method only worked because he was able to connect to the plant in his Bowtruckle form and had a better understanding of the seaweed's chi paths than others could ever hope to get. But with Huu’s technique, perhaps, if he found a way to make people more sensitive to sensing chi paths, he could teach plantbending to others.
“Haha, its good to see that I could help you. You know, sometimes …” begann Huu but was interrupted by a loud yell.
“I DID IT! I DID IT!” boomed Bro’s voice from the center of the tree, possibly reaching the faraway Earth Kingdom.