"Petra, can you feel the earth here?" asked Ty Lee to Petra, looking curiously at the snowy ground.
They knew that there was a large land mass underneath all the ice and snow, so some people had thought that perhaps the inhabitants of the South Pole could try to melt the ice to get arable land.
This was a huge fool's errand, not only because of the enormous effort that would be required to accomplish such a task, which the use of waterbenders could facilitate but also because the climate would not change just because the land was exposed.
Blizzards were common at the South Pole and ruined the land and crops. If the water melted and ended up in the ocean, it could be dangerous for the rest of the world.
Add to this the possible lack of certain components in the soil that would benefit the proper growth of many crops, and the idea became infeasible, although solutions to the problem were always being sought.
Many of these solutions were discarded because of all the problems that would arise, but an important question also arose: what would happen if the Earthbenders helped to 'take out' the soil?
So Ty Lee asked Petra this question, causing the Earthbender to close her eyes for a moment. When she opened her eyes, she noticed that the people walking beside her in the direction of Leader Hakoda's house were looking at her.
"I can feel it, but it's like I'm feeling it through a veil like I'm trying to catch smoke. But I can try," Petra said before stopping and bringing the retinue to a halt with her.
"Don't push yourself, young lady. Many Earthbenders have tried, but they can barely get out a few pieces of dirt and rock. Those strange rumors about the South Pole have no real basis," Hakoda advised, though deep down he held out a little hope.
Many Earthbenders tried to 'offer' their services to the South Pole, saying they could provide farmland if they gave him a large sum of money. But before they paid, Kya suggested that they try to see if they could even get the land out from under that much ice.
They couldn't. Even when a Waterbender came to help, it took a lot of energy to get a ridiculous amount of useless material. Now, with this Earthbender who could call Sage Shisui 'friend', the South Pole might have a chance.
Especially since it was Shisui himself! He was recognized as the most famous Waterbender. So if it was possible, Hakoda wouldn't mind giving Shisui and Petra a large amount of money or benefits, just so the tribe could have its farmland.
So, under the eyes of doubt, expectation, and hope, the ground beneath them began to shake, and from the cracks in the ice, large chunks of the earth began to emerge, hardening under Petra's control and swirling around her.
"The soil is a bit... strange, but nothing that certain products could be used to enrich it if a suitable greenhouse is created. Shisui, can you help me dig up some more soil?" Petra looked at her friend, who was looking at Hakoda.
"Leader Hakoda, may I? I don't want to cause any disturbance and trouble," Shisui said, noticing the people on the market who had looked curiously in that direction.
Although they weren't that far away from the market, it was obvious that many people had been paying attention to him, so Petra's actions spread rather quickly, causing more and more people to come over to look around.
"Let's get to the open place first. Men! Set up a perimeter, I don't want the peeping toms to get hurt or disturb Sage Shisui or his friend..." Hakoda looked at Petra, who understood the meaning in his eyes.
"Petra, my name is Petra," the girl told him her name, causing Hakoda to nod before continuing to shout orders at his men.
"Maybe we can join in," Azula said, pointing to herself and Zuko, making people more interested in what was to come.
Three of the four elements were trying to create something that had never been seen before at the South Pole. So they quickly moved into a fairly large and open space, something very common in this part of the world.
"Let's start with us first, Azula," Zuko indicated before taking the initial firebending position, which Azula mimicked.
"Come to think of it, do you remember the training to increase the duration of our fire?" asked Azula with a touch of nostalgia in her tone, making Zuko smile, remembering those good times from childhood.
"Shisui came up with this training and said we should be able to create flames for at least 30 minutes continuously, it still hurts my body just remembering those days," Zuko looked sideways at Shisui who touched his nose and began to whistle, ignoring the complaint in the prince's eyes.
"Look on the bright side, you can outlast the others," Azula commented, causing Ty Lee to burst out laughing.
"Yes, Mai can confirm that Zuko is 'outlasting' the others," Ty Lee's stinging phrase earned her a slap on the back of the head from Mai, who had a serious and expressionless face, but if you looked closely, she had a small nervous twitch in her left eye.
"Stop being such perverts," Sokka complained, covering Katara's ears, but judging by the girl's flushed face, she seemed to hear Ty Lee's comment.
"Come on, don't be so boring," Ty Lee clung to Sokka's arm, and although Sokka tried to push her away from his body, the girl continued to tease him with her clingy attitude.
"Aren't you jealous?" Shisui asked quietly to Petra, who shook her head.
"If I got jealous because of Ty Lee's normal attitude, my heart wouldn't hold so much. I have confidence in her, so why should I stop her from being who she is? I like her like that and I know she would never be unfaithful to me, so I just laugh along with her," Petra said with a smile on her face while Shisui nodded.
His special vision made him notice the strangeness between Petra and Ty Lee long before their relationship was made public, and when he saw that there were no colors in Petra's aura that showed jealousy, he was curious about it.
Even he felt jealous when he noticed some looks certain people gave Azula, but Petra seemed to be very amused by Ty Lee's funny actions, for the girl did it just for humor and fun, after all, she was Ty Lee, the happiest of the group.
"I think you can start now," Hakoda said and approached Shisui and the others.
"Well, they'd better keep their distance," Azula said before taking a last look at her older brother.
"Come on, let's melt the ice," Zuko initiated, punching forward and creating a large burst of orange fire, creating a ring of fire.
Blue flames erupted from Azula's feet, rising into the air as the fire propelled them. Standing several feet in the air, she struck at the ring created by Zuko's fire.
The intense temperature immediately vaporized the water, and as Azula's flames penetrated downward, Zuko's fire took on a solid consistency and then began to slowly spin.
This served a dual purpose: first, to limit the reach of Azula's flames, and second, to deepen the ice with his style. The steam rose, but before it reached the clouds, Shisui acted.
Shisui began to bend the 'invisible water,' condensing it into small droplets and then gradually compressing them into a single droplet that floated around the Sage.
Katara watched Shisui's actions with interest, seeing how the Sage didn't seem to need complicated movements or a clear target to bend the water, he just bent it as if it was another limb.
"He makes it look so easy..." Katara muttered, watching Shisui simply bend the water as if it was something instinctive and natural for him, but for her, this experience was very valuable.
She even felt that many of her previous difficulties with waterbending had been solved! Then she felt a tap on her shoulder and turned to see her father concentrating on the scene in front of him.
"Katara, do your best to learn, this is valuable knowledge," Hakoda advised, encouraging Katara to continue memorizing Shisui's actions.
"I think that's enough, they've made a pond here," Shisui said, causing Zuko and Azula to nod and stop emitting fire.
Soon, as the flames were consumed, a large circular body of water formed, but soon this water began to rise, approaching the compressed water droplets floating around Shisui.
"I still say this is the strangest thing you can do with water," Petra said, staring obsessively at the water droplet floating around Shisui.
"You could say this is something no one else can replicate, I must have something unique, right?" said Shisui with a smile on his face, and soon all the water in the newly constructed pond was sucked into it.
This left a large and deep chasm, even from a distance, it looked bad. But Petra approached this big chasm at the South Pole and looked down. Soon she assumed the Earthbenders' starting pose, preparing for what was to come.
Soon, large amounts of earth began to emerge, and instead of simply raising a platform of earth, Petra pulled from deep within, creating a solid platform from below.
She did this not only to give this new place a natural base but also to remove the layer of frozen earth on top of it. This action was tedious and complicated, causing beads of sweat to fall from Petra's forehead, but she succeeded.
In the end, a large area of black earth appeared in front of all the spectators, and then drops of water fell on it, courtesy of Shisui. Ty Lee approached her with what appeared to be the seed of a peach.
"An old woman asked me to plant this. She says if you take good care of this place, the South Pole will have its peaches in the future," Ty Lee tossed the seed to Shisui, who caught it.
As Petra was held by Ty Lee, Shisui stared at the seed in his hand, feeling the pulse of dormant life waiting for the right moment to germinate.
"Maybe we can try it today," Shisui said before squeezing the seed. Shisui ducked his body, his legs surrounded by water, and soon he was gliding swiftly into the new soil Petra had created.
"What's the Sage going to do?" Katara asked curiously, and Azula, who had landed beside her, replied.
"He's going to grow a peach tree," Azula replied before jumping up and running towards Shisui.
She wanted to be the first to taste the first peach born at the South Pole!
Shisui stepped onto the wet ground, not caring if the mud ruined his feet or his pants. He solemnly knelt and planted the seed under layers of wet soil. Then Shisui began to do what could be called 'Lifebending'.
His hands emitted a bluish glow, similar to when he used water healing. He was touching the concept of 'life' associated with water, influencing it, guiding it, and causing the latent vitality in the seed to begin to be nurtured.
Before everyone's eyes, a small green shoot sprouted from the earth, growing rapidly until it differentiated into several slender stems, then into branches, flowers, and several peaches that quickly filled up and took on a particular color.
"Me first!" cried Azula, grabbing the peach closest to her and taking a bite, touching her head.
"It's cold!" Azula complained, but she continued to bite into the peach until only half of it was left.
"Taste it, this peach... it's not normal," Azula said, letting Shisui take the bitten fruit.
He had cleaned his hands with water before, so he held the peach and brought it to his mouth. His teeth felt the cold flesh of this peach, but he was used to the coldness.
"The South Pole is a very spiritual place, no wonder the fruits grown here have strange properties," Shisui said, enjoying the fruit he had grown.
Not only was he able to enjoy the cold peach, but many people were encouraged to try it. Even Zhao took one, realizing that this was the best peach he had ever tasted in his life, making his negative feelings towards Shisui even worse, but now, at this moment, he didn't matter.
What mattered more was the first plant that had grown at the South Pole. Maybe this young tree could be the best reason to celebrate.
--------------
AN: Lol, I was going to write directly about the reception party that was held, but I thought, why not do something else? And Ty Lee's initial question was the trigger for this chapter.
And yes, read my original novel or Shisui won't let you taste peaches grown at the South Pole!