Here I come with another update :) even though this site isn't my main for publishing stories anymore, I want this work to be updated on here, too.

This chapter features a lot of explaining and narration, I did some research to make my theories especially about combustionbending make sense, so I hope they do :)

Enjoy!

Zaheer had suggested to her to meet up at dawn next day and find a good location up in the mountain peaks when no one could interrupt them, least of all Xai Bau.

P'Li, already full of breakfast, walked in the direction of the clearing, her stomach fluttering with nerves. She wondered if her admission to belong fully to the Red Lotus had been a good idea. She still lacked the full picture of the organisation's objectives - what she did know from overhearing them or from Ghazan, was that they stood against world leaders, but for once, she would appreciate Zaheer's philosophy mumbo jumbo, as Ghazan had put it so eloquently.

"Good morning," he greeted, voice soft, as she stepped between the trees.

"Morning," she replied, wondering how long he had been waiting. There were swollen circles under his eyes, but otherwise, he looked eager to go.

"Ready?" he made a wide gesture, pointing his arm in the direction they'd be following.

"As I'll ever be," she shrugged, striding next to him - which proved to be a bad idea, as her longer legs took her farther than him and she had no idea where they were leading to.

It took them almost an hour to step atop one of smaller peaks she had been eyeing before. As they ascended, a spectacular view opened up in front of her, of mountains fading into the background until they became one with the sky, a sea of dark green covered the hills except for greying summits of sun-exposed rock. The sky was still dressed in bright colours of the sunrise.

As they finally settled on smooth granite surface, warming up under trickling sunlight, Zaheer folded his legs into lotus position and she did the same. Her bony knees stuck out in weird angles.

"Now. Have you tried meditation before?" he looked at her expectantly.

"I did," she was willing to admit as much.

"Great! How did it go?" his eyes lit up and she felt like groaning. His enthusiasm, not very well hidden at that, was not helping.

"Zaheer," she sighed. "If it went well, I wouldn't be here stuck with you."

His face fell. P'Li realized her words must have sounded meaner than she expected, like she hated being there with him. Which was… sort of the opposite. Something in her chest stirred at the thought of hurting him.

"I mean, not that your company is bad or anything!" she blurted out. "That wasn't what I had in mind. It's just-" her words ran out and again, she felt the familiar pulsing between her eyebrows.

"I know that's not what you meant," he replied, but still she noticed his reassured smile.

"Anyway, what was the problem for you?" he inquired.

"You mean except not being able to sit peacefully because each little sound felt like danger coming?"

"Hmm. What is the reason for that?"

"It's a reflex. Back then... " she hated talking about years of her captivity again. She took a deep breath and willed the words to break free from the cage of her constricted chest.

"When I was alone, all I had was silence. When I heard something, usually it meant more drill, or punishment."

He waited until she fought off the shadows of those memories.

"Here, we're away from noises of the forest. No one is around," he pointed out.

"If we were more to the north, we'd see Northern Air Temple," his vision unfocused with faraway look.

"This is as close as I can get to it. I prefer to have some free space as a reminder of ancient airbending masters and their lives, devoid of earthly tethers," his eyes shone with distant light, as if he was remembering something dear to him he had experienced on his own.

P'Li knew that asking him about whatever in Spirits' name he meant by that would mean a high chance of a lecture - while interesting for sure, time-consuming as well. There was only so many hours before they both had to return to their schedule, and before she inadvertently ran out of energy again.

"I prefer the height myself," she looked around and took her time appreciating the view. No one in sight and if by any chance something closed in, she would spot it with her sharp eyesight. It truly helped her to feel safer, in a different, more stimulating way than her forest clearing. Like her heart lifted up with the altitude.

Zaheer's mouth corner twitched and she just knew what he probably thought of.

"Will it be easier for you to try here, P'Li?"

"Maybe… I don't know." Her surroundings were no guarantee of success.

"Do you need any guidance?"

"I never understood what was I supposed to do, except for sitting still and trying to relax." His eyebrows wrinkled and he opened his mouth to protest.

"That is an insulting simplification of the practice. Who told you that? Was it Zhi?" he fumed and she almost giggled at his affronted expression. When he noticed her covering her mouth to hide her smile, he stopped the rant already creating on his tongue, breathed in deeply and continued as if nothing happened.

"There are many kinds of meditation, depends on what you want to achieve. Before a mission, Xai Bau prefers to focus on steady breathing or attaches his vision to a single point in order to improve his concentration. I do it when I visit the Spirit World. I depersonalize, stop paying attention to anything happening outside, only paint the picture of my destination and visualize the pull as my soul tries to enter."

P'Li was reminded of the technique used to charge qì into her tattoo. Instructions from amateur teachers who never succeeded in it themselves - Daigo never had the patience or desire to dirty his hands with it - were vague and it took a long time until she had mastered them. Focus on the center point of your forehead, breathe and fill it with heat until the burning comes, hold it, focus on target, release. The first half of it? Almost easy, for some reason. The second half had proved to be much, much trickier.

She also had no desire to leave her body vulnerable like that, launching herself into unknown place full of nonsense. She knew little of the Spirit World, but already disliked the idea of a realm responding to her thoughts and moods, out of her control.

"Now there's mindfulness. You notice the pattern of your thoughts and choose not to focus on them, let them go their way. Strengthened by their past, tree branches long for the sky, rooted in present, " he recited, distant again.

"Let me guess. Guru Laghima?" she raised one eyebrow, hoping her unimpressed tone didn't resemble distaste.

"Actually, yes," he answered, mild surprise in his tone.

"You're so predictable," she rolled her eyes, but deep down, she was glad to be already familiar with him enough to be able to tell these things.

"Anyway," he continued, trying to keep his composure like she didn't just ruffle his feathers, "what I was thinking for you may be a bit of both, but you're going to look inwards. Observe your body, how each part feels like, try to discover the flow of qì like a river inside of you, where it rushes, where it stagnates."

"Have you tried it before?" the technique appeared to be worth a try.

"I did, in my effort to discard all of my hindrances in order to give all of myself to service in the Red Lotus."

He must have noticed her staring at him weird.

"Nothing like that will be expected of you, or anyone," he offered another brief tug of his lip corner. "It's a path I believe I am meant to follow."

Her curiosity sparked and she thought to ask more, but decided to give the practice a try at first.

"Close your eyes. Deep breaths," he instructed, voice deep and monotone, his thumb and index finger joining in a circle.

She mimicked him, even though her rational thinking nagged at her to be vigilant still. Her worry subsided as she gradually deepened her breaths. She felt the air spread her ribcage, fall down into her abdomen, until it filled her up to her collarbones.

"Try to observe how exactly the breath flows inside you," his voice seemed a bit more far away.

At first, P'Li didn't feel much, just the ever-repeating cycle of inhale and exhale, in and out. Then, she noticed the air leaving her lungs grew warmer.

So what? It's only logical, she thought at first, but tried to follow it down more closely, to the source of the heat.

And then, like droplets of tickling warmth, she felt the stream. As if frightened, it weakened under her watchful eye, but as she kept on breathing, slower and deeper, she found it again.

Pulled from the base of her lungs, the warmth divided into several directions - trickled down to last vertebrae of her spine and pouring into the ground; into her heart and rushing to her head, making her almost dizzy.

As she exhaled, it creeped up her neck from both sides, climbed the back of her head to the front, and flew out through her nose. She only assumed the points with natural predilection for the energy to gather represented her chakras. In some, the current seemed natural, in others, stunted. Disturbances like rocks in the river made it swirl and scatter without direction.

The longer she followed it, the more she could not ignore its inherent desire to form the largest pool in her deadly mark, as if beyond her will. She recognized the feeling well, and now understood why she always focused her qì there with such ease, only truly needing to work on her precision. The spot under the black pupila of her third eye started to itch, then burn, then spilled towards her brows, making her vision swim and scintillate even with her eyes closed. The headache that had been occasionally troubling her past several weeks returned, much more intense.

She snapped her eyelids open and jumped up from her seated position. Her vision swam and she was fighting a wave of nausea.

"P'Li?" Zaheer got up to his feet and took a few hesitant steps to her. "What's wrong?"

Biting her lip to keep herself from groaning in pain, she took off her bandanna and massaged the sore spot with her knuckles. The skin was hot to touch. Her pulse was pounding in her ears.

"My mark-" she gasped out, unable to explain more, her balance unsteady. He leapt closer and she placed her hands on his forearms, leaning on him for support until her vertigo passed.

She squeezed her eyes shut and maintained her deep breathing, willing the energy to leave her body in prolonged exhales. Finally, it seemed to pass. Her forehead no longer felt like someone had placed a hot coal in the middle.

"What was that?" he asked, eyes wide in concern.

"Don't know," she mumbled. "I finally found the flow of qì, like you told me, but then I noticed the most of it is pulled into my forehead and it started burning." She let go of him and took two steps away, still shaken.

"Has it ever happened before?" he leaned his body in her direction, but must have understood she needed space and didn't cross the boundary.

"Before we were taken…" she reminisced, the pictures almost gone from her memory, "I used to have migraines. Then, when they forced me to learn," the memory still made her stomach churn, "they stopped. What does it mean that they are coming back now?"

A notion was slowly taking shape in her mind, making her heartbeat race in panic and another hit of nausea almost made her bend over.

Just yesterday, she was so moved by his words, she really allowed herself to warm up to the idea that she had power to do whatever she chose to do. Now she witnessed its preferred direction, how it seemed to urge her to destruction despite her resistance.

"P'Li," he stepped closer and put his hand on her shoulder, his eyes seeking out hers to check if she was comfortable with it. Her lip corners tightened, the saddest parody of a smile, but the touch grounded her somewhat. The muted dark green of his irises made her think of shadows veiling her clearing, of safety and protection.

"I know what you're probably thinking. I'm sure the actual reason is more complex than that." How was he able to notice her changes of moods so quickly? Was she that easy to read for him?

"I'd like to believe you," she sighed, her form weighed down again. "But I felt it myself, Zaheer."

She sat down, pulling her thighs closer to her chest and leaning her chin on them.

"If I don't give in, what happens to me? Will it continue to hurt enough for me to become mindless and start blasting everything in sight just to find relief? Or will my head just explode?"

She pressed her forehead into her knees and the misery started overtaking her. Her eyes were dry, but maybe if she cried, the crushing sensation pressing down on her would lessen. On reflex, she kept breathing in slow rhythm, but it wasn't enough to bring her relief.

She felt him squat down next to her and then, the tentative touch of his hand on her back again. She didn't flinch, almost leaned into it, even, but the bone-weariness spreading all through her body stopped her. He moved his hand in awkward manner, rubbing tiny circles, meant to be soothing. She appreciated the gesture. How long had it been since someone touched her with comfort?

Slowly, she uncurled from her position and met his eyes again. For a moment, she cursed her ongoing weakness, but in his sight, she read nothing of pity. They wore the shine of genuine empathy and care for her wellbeing.

"You may hate this suggestion, but you should ask Zhi about combustionbending," he offered. "She knows a lot more than any of us. She will think of something to help."

"Why would I? I don't plan on using it, ever."

"Maybe you can learn how to regulate your qì flow so that it doesn't overwhelm you like this."

P'Li imagined the triumphant gleam in Zhi's coppery eyes when she would be finally forced to ask about the only thing she swore the woman to never mention again in front of her. If she knew so much about her subtype of bending, there was a high chance that she had been expecting this to happen sooner or later.

She sighed out, her anger turning it into a snarl. What did she have to lose, though?

"Only this one time," she pushed through her teeth.

"It's your choice, no one else will take it from you," he assured her. "You're in the Red Lotus, after all."

That reminded her of another dilemma she had pondered over, and now it presented her with the much needed distraction.

"Have you told anyone?" she didn't need to specify, he understood.

"Why would I speak in your place? I know you're not fond of Xai Bau-"

"Not fond of, is what you call it?" she scoffed.

"-and I understand your dislike to a degree, so it's reasonable you should tell him when you feel ready. Same goes for about anyone. There is no initiation, or duty to stick with us until death."

"That can't be true. Xai Bau was all about how he can't let me know too much, that I could put everything into jeopardy," she recalled those early conversations not meant for her ears.

"That's purely his personal experience hardening his words."

"He just saw too much, we're back at this again?" Out of every little habit of his, P'Li found many worth of admiration, some annoying but too Zaheer for her to truly get angry over, but she absolutely couldn't understand why he kept on defending that old bitter paranoiac.

He took a long breath, eyebrows pinched in frustrated expression.

"He is my teacher who gave my life greater meaning than I could have comprehended back then," there was an edge to his tone she wasn't used to hearing from him.

"I don't know everything of it myself, but from what I obtained, Xai Bau blindly trusted someone who had then backstabbed him. It resulted in the death of many, including the traitor, and our numbers pushed back. The White Lotus is still on guard, searching for the last remnants of us so that no one will question their ways anymore."

"Ghazan told me the same thing," she commented.

"Wait, he did?" Zaheer's forehead scrunched up again and his mouth pressed into a thin line.

"Then he got mad at me for saying schools teach kids something different."

"Ah," though the concern remained, some of the discontent melted away from his face. "I'm not one to disclose his secrets. He knows maybe the best of us how vile they can be."

Silence followed, unspoken tension still clouding the space between them.

"Tell me more about the Red Lotus," she requested.

"What do you want to know?"

"What are your goals? What do you hope to achieve?"

"I would figure that observant as you are, you would know already, P'Li," he chuckled.

"I have pieces, but I'd prefer to see the whole picture," she countered.

"Well, it's a long story. I could talk about it for hours." She steeled her face into neutrality, but something had to give her away.

"Don't worry, I won't," a wry smirk stretched his lips. She snickered.

"I do like listening to you," she felt the need to make herself clear. Even when you take ridiculously long to get to the point, she finished in her thoughts .

"We don't have much time left, though." Both had the rest of daily studying or training to get back to. Time seemed to breeze past them, carrying them away from their rare moment together.

"How unfortunate," his face and tone softened. Then, he started narrating.

"More than ten thousand years ago, the world was vastly different. There was no Avatar to maintain so-called balance, instead two great Spirits - Raava, the Stability, and Vaatu, the Change - grappled each other to keep the world in movement. When Raava prevailed, years of peace and prosperity followed, humans thrived - but some grew too greedy for power, for domination over others. Vaatu then destroyed their worlds built on exploitation and restriction, so humans rediscovered their freedom again. Spirits aided in both sides of the conflict. At the last Harmonic Convergence, something unprecedented happened. A human of early Fire Nation origin, named Wan, bonded for eternity with Raava and became the very first Avatar. He imprisoned Vaatu between the spirit portals and closed them off, separating our world and the Spirit World. Naive in his belief of his act representing the greater good, he threw the world out of balance, letting Raava build stability and quiet as she desired."

"But isn't that… a good thing? Isn't the Avatar the only person who can lead the world into peace?" She missed her own days of serenity deeply. Why would anyone find them wrong?

"Peace at what cost? Avatars were not immune to failing of human attachments, of not seeing the bigger picture. Avatar Roku could have stopped Sozin, but his affection for the Firelord blinded him to his true nature - thus resulting in the genocide of the Air Nomads. An entire culture built on freedom and life without greed or connections to worldly desires, lost," his voice choked up. P'Li knew how much he admired the airbenders and their teachings.

"Avatar Aang did help to undo the failings of his predecessor, but is any person truly worthy of the position they carry? They could be raised to support the oppressors and lead the world further away from balance. I say such figure must disappear if the world is to be brought back to its intended state," his gaze once again darkened with conviction, zeal so characteristic for him. And as before, she found herself both in admiration and apprehension over it.

"What does it have to do with the Red Lotus?" she almost reluctantly reminded him.

"After the end of 100-year-war, the White Lotus, comprised of elite benders and non-benders alike meant to aid the Avatar, came out of hiding. Praised for their intervention, they grew in numbers - but shriveled in character. They became protectors of Avatar's friends, many of them elevated into world leaders, and thus they transformed into perpetrators of violence and oppression."

"Several of their rows recognized their downfall and turned away, forming the Red Lotus - secret society pursuing the eradication of world leaders and restoration of freedom and natural state of the world."

P'Li carefully turned his words over in her head - some of them already familiar to her from before - searching for hidden meanings and secret traps, but found herself in uncertain agreement over them. Ghazan's outburst, her imprisonment, everything made sense to her. If people with power to feast on others' lives had ceased to be, she and Lien-Hua would have never been taken. Still, would people immediately discover their freedom after such revolution, or would someone else fill up the empty spot to continue the cycle?

"What happens once you eliminate a tyrant, though? Won't another step in their stead?" she asked, intrigued to hear his answer.

"Naturally. People have lived out of balance for too long, it may take generations for chains to break completely. But it's a cause I'm willing to lay my life for."

She searched for statements matching his in intensity, but needed time to get used to the thought. Despite her earlier claim of wanting to become a part of the Red Lotus, she had no real idea how to proceed. Barely having started to recover from her trauma, her footing wasn't stable enough yet - though just as Zhi had said, she needed to find something to hold onto, a distant spot on the horizon to hold her gaze as she walked through anything to reach it.

"I agree with your points," she admitted. "If this was the way to stop children suffering like I and my sister did - I wouldn't hesitate. But I don't think I'm ready yet."

"Of course. As remarkable as your progress is, I would never force you to fight battles which aren't your own. When your time comes, your fire will burn brighter than anything else."

His amount of confidence in her astounded her again. Some distant part of her whispered to be careful, to not grant her trust so easily until she found out the full truth on her own, without influence of his poetic words, but just as he had said - she had every opportunity to leave. And wishful thinking as it might be, she grew too fond of him to enjoy thinking of the possibility of any insincerity or hidden motives on his part.

In her afternoon training with Zhi, P'Li found herself more precise, surer than ever. Her offensive moves still lacked the force necessary to truly incapacite her opponent, but she didn't let herself be defeated. She recalled her inner fire she had discovered, a will which had pulled her out of despair, raised her up back onto her feet and drew her sight upwards, to seek more of herself, and of the world.

Then, another memory, of a thick current like wild river, spinning into a maelstrom under her detested mark, itching to be released and wreak havoc again.

She stumbled, Zhi's hit into her chest almost sending her to the ground again.

"Pause," her voice interjected.

P'Li had expected as much. She was bracing herself for the question.

"Your improvement cannot be denied, I'll say as much. But there's a source of weakness still," she didn't ask what it was, must have spent enough time with her to know P'Li guarded her vulnerabilities with ferocity from everyone. Well, except for Zaheer, honestly.

The familiar copper gleam in her dark eyes searched for its way inside, for cracks in her armor.

"I want to know more about combustionbending," P'Li didn't falter, returned her stare with challenge.

Zhi chuckled. "I take it your headaches started, huh?"

Anger rose like wildfire in her. "If you don't want me to relieve myself of them right now, I suggest you don't hide anything from me anymore."

"I didn't conceal it from you on purpose," she sneered. "You were the one who refused to hear anything on that topic."

"But you knew I would ask," she glared at the smaller woman.

"I was curious," she nonchalantly pulled a scroll from her robes, dragging her short nails across it. "The more prevalent Ājñā, the earlier they manifest, especially if you're rejecting its existence."

"So you waited until I was desperate for any cure, and then you'd manipulate me with it?" her voice rose and her fists itched for fire.

"You're a smart girl, P'Li. You know just as well as I do that one way to stop the pain is to use your special bending, as you threatened me just a moment ago," she spoke of her ending her life like she was merely discussing a Pai Sho move.

"And as for your other point - you're scared of that ability, so you're projecting your fears on others. Pity, as I would have stood no chance against you, were you a fully realized combustionbender."

I want nothing to do with it!" she yelled out, the woman's stoicism driving her nuts.

"Then my answer is simple. There's a way to close your chakra for good, a painful one, but not impossible. It's permanent, though and can cause unpleasant side effects."

She blinked in surprise. Her anger vaporized like mist in the sun.

"What side effects?"

"Statistically, there's not enough significance to tell for sure," she shrugged. "Some sources report waves of dizziness, disorientation, loss of vision, hallucinations."

That was to be her fate if she refused to be a human artillery?

"You're kidding."

"I wish I was. It's truly the biggest shame that an ability once so valued, even worshipped, had lost all respect and its wielders are to live ostracized, with no knowledge of their real blessing."

Zhi had opened the scroll and tilted her head in wordless invitation for her to look.

What stared at her back was a faded watercolour of a two-petaled lotus, with an inverted triangle in the middle, with lots of tiny writing she found difficult to orient herself in. Another depiction was of a vertical third eye.

"In people other than firebenders, the development of Ājñā signified a high spiritual energy, seeing past appearances into the true essence, even ability to glimpse into the future," she pointed to the part where the lines of text read.

"In firebenders, oldest sources speak of people with the rare gift of making anything disappear, should they wish so. From the way it describes intense concentration and steady flow of breath, we conclude it might be the the first mention of combustionbending, from time of several generations after Avatar Wan."

P'Li was thankful for Zaheer's explanation from the morning, otherwise she wouldn't know what to make of the interval.

"The mention of forehead tattooing comes from much later," Zhi continued. "Some combustionbenders discovered it makes it easier to focus their qì and also marks them to the world as extraordinary. Later, it became a mark of mastery, worth only the best of the best, and valued greatly in society. Certain Air Nomad gurus took note of some techniques being connected to their practices."

"There are two ways described to achieve an activated state of sixth chakra. In individuals with less of a difference between chakra levels, it involves rigorous meditation and redirection of qì, but such a process took years before it reached the desired effect. If the process was rushed in any way, for example by tattooing, as some speculated, it overwhelmed qì pathways of the body, draining too much through unstable Ājñā, leading to sleeplessness, lack of energy and wasting."

"The other way, heavily influenced by bloodline, took much shorter to master, but presented other obstacles. These individuals were in possession of extremely developed Ājñā since their birth, which usually showed in adolescence, but in extreme cases, in little children as well. It imbalances other chakras and can cause persistent headaches, or even lead to seizures. It pulls the current upwards, thus it tends to manifest in unusually tall appearance."

Hearing that, something clicked for P'Li. Just great. It wouldn't take a genius to put two and two together about which one was her case.

"It's crucial to redistribute the qì in other pathways. If done from early childhood, it can reduce the chakra back to usual levels, with limited options for reverse development to its original prevalent state. But once it's enhanced by the tattoo like yours is, it will never shrink back, only if a hit of considerable force closes it down violently, disrupting the flow completely and leading to aforementioned side effects."

Her gaze skimmed over the length of the scroll, with stances, sketches of the currents like she had experienced it earlier, breathing techniques. It would take hours for her to read through it all. Now, she was interested in one thing only.

"How do I stop the headache?"

"By releasing the gathered qì," P'Li flinched at that, "or by redirecting it, just like I said. You can read all about it here," she pointed to the corresponding section and her fingers let go of the scroll.

"It's not something to be done regularly, though. I advise you to only use it when they get particularly unbearable, because taking too much energy from where it gathers naturally can cause deficiency. You would get unbearably tired and unfocused, likely."

P'Li didn't find the information discouraging. Like a burden lifted off her shoulders, her body straightened, lighter than moments before. Maybe once, she reluctantly admitted as much, she would come to terms with her power, learn to accept it and under extreme circumstances, even use it... but until then, she wouldn't be a mindless victim of it.

Her teacher was still watching her from the corner of her eye.

"Thanks, Zhi," she murmured, because despite all her coarse words, she really gave her an answer she was looking for, without asking for anything in return.

"Make good use of it," she let a rare smile upturn her mouth. "I expect you to continue your hard work. Time may come very soon we will need all the help we can get."

P'Li had the question of what did she mean by that itching on her tongue, but Zhi only shook her head.

"All in due time. You'll learn soon enough," she brushed off her unspoken words and P'Li headed for her clearing to get some reading done.

"Had a nice hike?" Xai Bau's steel grey eyes stabbed into his as Zaheer approached their usual training spot, more than three hours later than he usually arrived.

"I did, in fact," he responded with calm voice, aware of the fact that he did nothing to bear consequences for. The day before, he had let his master know he had some matters to take care of, and as displeased as he was about it, he had replied at seventeen years of age and among those pushing for freedom, Zaheer had only himself to answer to, as long as he didn't slack off.

"What about your company?" he raised one eyebrow, arms crossed.

"She's doing well," Zaheer retorted without hesitation.

"How long do you plan on babysitting her?" he said, tone full of scorn.

"Is that what you're calling it? I'll have you know, she's bright and determined and works hard to improve," Zaheer could understand his teacher being upset with him, but badmouthing P'Li? He wouldn't let it pass by.

"Yeah, even that old hag Zhi had said as much," he sneered. "But she's a hypocrite. All this time, reminding me of my failure, and now she can't see past her fascination with someone not even willing to work on the only thing she's not subpar in."

"Look, let this be the first and only time I've neglected my duties, if that is what this is about. But leave her out of this," he attempted a compromise, even though the idea of meditating with P'Li every morning - minus the incident with her third eye tattoo, obviously - appealed to him a lot.

"What good is training, anyway, if you're distracted thinking of her?"

"You're misunderstanding," he argued. Sure, he was fond of P'Li, admired her quiet strength she had not been fully aware of herself, but he always knew what took priority in his body, mind and spirit. Nothing could stop his dedication to Red Lotus objectives. Xai Bau of all people should be aware of as much.

"Maybe. And maybe I'm just seeing what you're in denial about."

"What do you mean?" Zaheer would appreciate if Xai Bau dropped the beating around the bush and told him to his face what he had been accusing him of, because he for the life of him couldn't see it.

"In time, you'll learn the full truth, Zaheer," he shook his head, dismissal clear.

"But from tomorrow on, we're moving and you start getting ready to the fullest. In a few weeks, we'll face our biggest target yet," his features hardened and his tone dressed up into ambition and resolution, like always before they started planning another strike on a corrupted world leader.

"You don't mean-" his breath caught, suddenly aware of the city almost a week of travelling by foot away. Encased in walls, protecting its festering core, plaguing innocent people trapped in someone else's power plays.

"Yes," he confirmed, disturbing smile on his face.

"We're taking down Hou-Ting, the 53rd monarch of Earth Kingdom."

And there you have it, finally a teaser of action to come! I hope to update soon, so in meanwhile, please tell me your thoughts, it always means a world to me :)

Thank you for reading, stay safe and take care :)

Love,

Kat