Ripples In The World

Chapter 1 - Beyond the Silence

Edited ~ Stage 2 @Djihb_99

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"The legends say the moon was the first waterbender. Our ancestors saw how it pushed and pulled the tides and learned how to do it themselves ... From the beginning our strength has come from the Spirit of the Moon; our life and power from the Spirit of the Ocean. They work together to keep balance: they flow together and complement each other. Like Ying and Yang. Like a bender and the water; just like the movements Umiko is demonstrating with the water around her," Yue motioned toward me and I smiled as I swept my arms around myself, streaming the water around my waist to above my head. I looked up and the shimmering ribbon of water that captured and reflected the moons light simultaneously: it was beautiful.

"See how she makes her movements reflect the way she wants to make the water move," I knelt down to the wooden cadaver and placed the streamed water into the vein-like gaps, "You need to feel the water, move the water but not only with your hands and arms but your whole body and entire being: bring the water to life. Once you have mastered the simplicities of water bending you can use this same technique to catch the Chi inside someone's body and send it to where it is needed." She looked over the children her sweet voice coming across neither serious nor playful but just simply calm and collected. That's just who Yue was. I slowly began to swirl the water down the cadaver's gaps and it began to glow a brilliant blue. I directed it all to the right shoulder of the body and moved it in a soft circular motion.

"Tonight this person was burnt on the shoulder, leaving it badly burned through the skin. Does anyone know exactly where we have to focus the chi to heal this the quickest and with the highest chance of not leaving a scar?" I scanned the knelling group of young girls watching intently through their blue eyes reflecting the moons light. They all had dark brown hair in various styles with different hair pieces that reflected who they were. Upon glancing I saw a timid looking girl with her hair atop her head in a blue wrap that allowed her thick waving hair to flow down the left side; her hand was raised up but just barely above her shoulder. Yue saw her too and called on her to answer my question.

"Y-y-you h-have to w-w-work from the deepest tissue f-first," she answered nervously, clearly doubting her answer with a stutter.

"Yes, perfect! If you were to work from the top layer of skin first it would be much harder for the lower layers to heal back together and will almost always scar red or the skin will sink in and wrinkle depending on the depth of course. However going layer by layer, " Yue explained to the children softly but seriously. Yue and I did night classes once a week for the Children and then would let some of the children practise on the cadaver as their bending was more powerful and prominent at night thanks to the moon.

I did the demonstrations though because Yue wasn't a bender. She was the influence and I was the source, just like the Moon and the Ocean. Just like the Spirits had intended I suppose. After describing the healing process of a few more wounds and the children had had their turn with the cadaver we packed up and some volunteers took the wooden doll away back to the storage unit. The timid girl from before came up to me with shy eyes and nervously swivelled her toes on the snow topped ice, "U-umiko, why is P-princess Yue's hair white like my Nan? M-my Ma says she a-and you were touched by the spirits, i-is that true? D-did she get scared of them? Were you brave because you're a water bender?"

"Would you like me to tell you the story?" I asked and her eyes lit up and she nodded furiously. Ears pricked up everywhere including that of my sister who walked over with the other kids and stood by my side.

"When Yue and I were born, we were very sick and very weak. Most babies cry when they're born, but we were born as if we were asleep, our eyes closed. The village healers did everything they could but nothing worked and we kept sleeping. They told mother and father that we were going to die." I glanced over the small abundance of girls sitting cross legged before us feign shock on their golden faces.