Every time the well in our house was about to dry up, I had to go to the hill where a river formed, and with some buckets, collect the water and carry it to the well.
I did this three times to be able to refill it. I was on the third round when I saw a pair of boys. When they saw my method of getting water, they just started joking and teasing about how I did it. I was a bit annoyed at first, as if there were another way to do it, I would have already tried it.
All I could say to them was:
"If you know so much, why don't you teach me?"
"Why should we? If they haven't even taught you that, it's because you must not be from the water tribe."
When I heard that, I didn't stay there any longer. I loaded my water buckets and left quickly. There was no point in talking to someone who was just being annoying. Just as I was far away, I could feel a large sea cover my whole face from behind. I stumbled a bit and my buckets emptied halfway. I was so angry that as soon as I turned around, I started following them.
I didn't mind talking, but them starting to have fun with me was another thing. Who do they think I am? Some jester of the king or something?
Just as the others saw me running towards them, they were ready to return the blow with some not very big water balls, but that definitely, every time I saw them, I couldn't stop thinking that if any of those things hit me, it would be a blow that would take my breath away.
As soon as they launched them, I only dodged the first three, but the last one managed to hit me in the right arm. Just when they wanted to do the same thing again, they never expected that, as soon as I got in front of them, I would start hitting them head on.
Seeing how confident they were and me without any elemental attack, they just had to dodge it, sometimes I think they thought that by not having anything else to attack with and only with my fists, they could withstand the blow. But as soon as I touched the one closest to me...
BOOOM!
He fell to the ground without any warning, and the second boy, in an attempt to see what his partner had, did not expect me to keep attacking or thought I would leave things at that.
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BOOOM!
He also started to fall and grab his stomach, starting to spit saliva and even his breathing was so agitated that my muscles began to curl into a smile. This last blow was harder than the previous one because this guy was the one who started to make fun of me and then threw water on me.
We had no kind of problem, but what is the need to make fun of the way I collect water and, on top of that, instead of helping, just stand there doing nothing and bothering?
When the three of them stood up again, we looked at each other and it wasn't until a little while later, the two boys nodded and started to talk.
"I'm sorry, I haven't introduced myself. My name is Baelin and this is my brother Hugo. We come here to train every now and then. Our parents say it's better to train in areas with little or no water to improve our bodies and skills. Sorry about before, but could you tell us what you're doing here?"
"That's fine, just don't do that again. It's annoying to have to walk the same path three times and then have to do it again. My name is Caleb. I'm here because I have to refill a well every time we run out of water. You've seen it, I don't have water attributes and I can only do it this way."
When I saw that they became less hostile towards me, I started to calm down, but I also didn't want to talk much. I still didn't know what they were up to or why their attitude changed.
Just as I was immersed in my thoughts, Hugo called me.
"Sorry about before, but what did you just do? We clearly saw that it was your bare fists and the blow we received was not small, although our blows towards you were at a distance, they were not as strong as to knock you down..."
"Actually, I'm from the fire tribe. All I did was concentrate the fire in my hands. At first it was hard, but over time I was mastering it little by little until it became something natural."
"I had never seen anything like that before. What do you say if, in exchange for us helping you a bit with the well, you fight with us in our training?"
"Forget it. I'm not that interested in fights. Besides, I don't even know how to fight. What happened before was luck."
"Come on, if we make that well last a while with water, would you do it?"
I began to be interested in the deal and in the end I ended up accepting. I was really lazy to do this and I didn't, like them, have someone to practice with.
Once everything was ready, we went back to the river and started fighting. First they started so I could see how it should be done and not have any accidents.
After we started fighting, I liked that feeling of having someone to exchange blows with. From time to time, I used to practice some fights with some of my surroundings, but I could never see differences against someone of a different element.
I never noticed the notion of time, but as soon as I saw that it was starting to get dark, I decided to leave and say goodbye to those two boys. When we were resting, I found out that they usually didn't lose against other people. But today, I also realized that we are not the only ones who are better when it comes to fighting techniques.
Maybe if I start learning from other new cultures, I would not only take my potential to another level, but also stop doing things that bother me a lot like filling the well...