There were many books. A lot. Only there wasn't much useful in them. Most of the text was about what spirits could be found in the spirit world. And that would be fine, but almost most of the spirits there are harmless. Yes, there are a few evil spirits or just mean spirits, but they are few. But I studied and tried to memorize everything. Not because I'm a good student, no.
It's just that every spirit is a potential ally, and by familiarizing myself with the details, I could greatly reduce my range. That's why I studied. While everyone else was busy doing their own thing.
Unloading and loading ships isn't a matter of minutes. Everything has to be accounted for and double-checked to make sure everything is there. Then we have to move the cargo to the warehouse. And then we have to do it all in reverse order to load the goods from the North Pole onto our ship. Having our mages involved helped a lot, but it was still time-consuming.
At first, Azula wandered around the tribe looking at the buildings, but she soon got bored and joined me. I only took a break from the books to sleep, go to the bathroom, and eat. I read very fast and it took me two weeks to digest all the material. I was glad to be able to practice, so I went to see Unalak. He was in his chambers playing with his children. Twins, a girl and a boy.
«Can you give me a minute?» I asked as he came out to me.
«Sure», he looked deep into the room at the children and smiled, «Is there something you don't understand about the scrolls?»
«No», I shook my head, «I've just been studying everything and was wondering when I could start practicing.»
«So soon?» he was surprised, «I don't mean to insult you, but somehow you've gotten through it too quickly. There's months of reading in there, not to mention memorizing.»
«It's no problem for me», I shrugged, «A good memory and a few other advantages that got me through it in record time.»
«Hmm», he hesitated a bit, «Then let's meet outside the palace this afternoon.»
«Okay», I nodded with a smile, «See you then», and turned to head for the exit.
Although the books were full of descriptions of spirit, there was also some very important information in them. For example, what energy was. It said that everyone has it, without exception. Some have more, some have less, but everyone has it. You can develop it like any other element, you just need time. And I have a lot of time. But how to awaken it, or at least feel it, I don't know.
«Good», Unalak gave me a suspicious look, «Are you sure you've learned everything?»
«You can be sure», I put my fist to my chest for clarity.
«I'll take your word for it», he nodded more to himself than to me, «Then repeat after me.»
First he showed me some body positions. Then we started to make kata out of them. And when I started to get them right, I felt something awaken in me. I didn't know if it was big or small, good or bad, strong or weak. But I felt it was there.
«I see you felt it», he nodded in agreement and smiled.
«What is it?» I asked, stunned.
«It is energy. It doesn't have a core like the other elements. And it's much harder to control», he put his hands behind his back and spoke with an intelligent look, «I can only teach you how to control it with body movements. I don't know if you know this or not, but I specialize more in calming minds, so I can't teach you much. Now I will show you some techniques whose effectiveness depends on the skill of the basic movements.»
He began to demonstrate, and I watched with all my eyes. A few kata and two streams of water surged upward. They combined from above and Unalak changed his movements slightly and his energy poured into the rivulets.
As the energy filled the entire stream, the water began to vibrate slightly and the energy began to evaporate from the water toward the center. After a few moments, the energy ran out and the water fell away.
«That was incredible», I said, only now realizing that I wasn't breathing and watching it all breathlessly.
«It's a basic technique», he nodded with an important look, but such admiration for his skill flattered him, «There are a few peculiarities to consider. The thing is, energy magic is very difficult to control outside the body. For me. But to make it possible, I had to split the energy into two streams. You have felt something within yourself», he said actively, «This energy is neutral and difficult to control. By splitting it into two streams, you can energize it. With what, that's up to each person, but you have to keep in mind that if you use one part of the energy, the other part will remain within you. It is a kind of balance. But that's what allows you to control the energy.»
I thought about it. Feeding it with emotions wasn't an option. As far as I understood, you can feed energy with emotions, both good and bad. And when the good ones go into the technique, the bad ones stay. What's the result? I have no idea, but I don't want to test it. With what then? I don't know.
«And what do you infuse it with?» I asked thoughtfully.
«Emotions», he said calmly.
«I see», I stretched.
Anyway, I have to think of something that won't hurt me, or figure out how to get rid of the unnecessary. It's not a matter of five minutes. But Unalak didn't wait and soon showed me exactly how to split the energy. He had a lot of experience in this, so he didn't need movements, but he showed me how to do it with movements.
He also explained in detail all his actions and what should follow what. Then there were a few more techniques, but they were more like variations of the first ones or complications of them.
And that was the end of the training. And I wondered. Why did they have to give me so much literature? Why do I have to learn it all? Yes, the knowledge in the scrolls was useful, but that was all. In general, I puzzled over it and could not understand the essence.
But it was time to return home, so after packing our things, we loaded onto the ship. I did not destroy the house, I left it as it was, maybe I would come back here to have a place to live. The loading was done, so Azula and I went home with everyone.
I had a lot to do on the way. I practiced my stances and taught them to Azula. Maybe not right away, but she'll need them. I've been thinking. How do I keep myself safe? How do I not go crazy? I practiced the technique repeatedly, with positive and negative emotions, trying to understand the essence and change the base.
Of course, I did not succeed, neither during the time on the road nor afterwards. I tried to change the movements in every possible way, but with every change of movement the energy flow was disturbed and the technique did not work. This led me to the idea that I should learn to control the flow of energy without movement. It's hard, it's long, but it's possible.
Azula trained with me. And after a year of hard training, my efforts paid off and I was finally able to mentally control the flow of energy without moving. Without moving and with maximum concentration, but I could do it!