Before the storm (Patreon)

Princess Yue, the palace of the moon

"Congratulations on the blessing, princess!" Akanna exclaimed with a huge smile, apparently quite happy about the news

Yue for her part, replied with a radiant smile of her own, her blue eyes were in tears, the princess was overwhelmed by the news

A child, the spirits had blessed her with a child, a child of her beloved Jon, the news was wonderful for Yue

Smiling, the princess responded to the healer

"Thank you for the wonderful news Akanna" the old woman simply smiled and bowed

"It's a pleasure princess, I can't wait to meet the future prince or princess of our tribe, you are still at an early stage, however, avoid stress and get enough sleep," the healer advised

Yue thanked and left the healing wing of the palace, bound for the next meeting, the princess was organizing emissaries to trade with the coalition, her mission was to find different sources of food in the south, the fish farms had started to operate, but the princess did not want to depend on a single source

Upon arriving at the room, everyone present stood up as a sign of respect, upon seeing her, old Lee simply smiled and spoke in his characteristic noisy voice

“HAHAHA you look happy little girl, you practically shine! Any news to share?” asked the cunning old man, who saw the princess with a knowing look

The princess simply smiled, although she did not answer, it was too early to share such news, first she would give it to Jon and his father, and then, to the rest of the tribe

"You'll find out in due time Lee, now we must focus on the meeting" at those words everyone nodded and took a seat, with Yue in the lead, as it should be

And the princess spoke

"The advance of the outer wall reached fifty percent, it will begin with the bastion towers, when the wall is finished, not even a thousand ships of the Fire Nation will be able to break it."

Dakko responded

"I hope the wall is finished, we know it's a matter of time before Ozai attacks" At those words, everyone looked at Dao, who nodded, the former fire nation officer was their best source

Seeing that the attention was on him, Dao spoke frankly

"Ozai is ruthless, manipulative and extremely cunning, his power is focused on two factors, his mastery of fire bending and his mastery of the political front, it is quite likely that the defeats at the hands of Lord Jon will leave him in a pretty bad light with the nobility of the nation, the fire lord will be questioned, and he will have to answer."

Everyone in the room nodded, the fire bender's words made sense after all

Yue spoke again

“The wall is our priority, Lee, I understand that my husband left some ideas for the defense of the city, have you implemented any?” asked the princess of the moon

The old man stroked his beard gently as he responded

“The lad is a genius, the design of the wall is wider at the bottom and is reinforced with sand and water, which absorbs the impact of the icebreakers, as well as the fireballs of the onagers, as the height of the wall increases, it becomes thinner, and ends with a series of bastions along the entire wall,  armed with our nation's own artillery, they will be so high that they will be out of attack range of enemy ships, and this same height will allow us to begin to punish enemy ships from a greater distance." Lee spoke reverently at the project, as if it were his newborn baby

However, the old man's countenance changed in a moment, he frowned and spoke again

"However, we have had some problems, the imbecile who interrupted the previous meeting appeared one day, demanding that he would be in charge of the project, he was accompanied by some old men, HA the poor puppy ran faster than a kangaroo hare as soon as I threatened to use him as a sacrifice to the spirits for the success of the work" finished the old man with a fit of laughter

The princess heard such words furiously, since the last meeting, Yue didn't know anything about Hahn, the insolent fool was avoiding her

The princess was really worried, things were tense in the tribe, the young people and the soldiers supported Jon and his methods, defending that changes are necessary, however, these changes brought loss of power for the elders, who saw how their privileges and the weight of their words lost strength every day

It was inevitable, at least in Yue's eyes, Jon took the city like a storm, destroyed centuries of erroneous beliefs and thanks to his vision, Agna Qel'a was more powerful than ever, however, for something to flourish, something had to die

In this case, the old-fashioned style of government, and a government doesn't go down without a fight, that's something history had taught the princess

Yue and her husband's inner circle were preparing for Hahn's impending coup, by now the tribe's fracture was almost certain, and the princess preferred it that way, it was always better to know who your enemies were, after all

Seeing that the attention was on her, the princess spoke

“The council loses power and usefulness with each passing day, they feel threatened and will act accordingly, we must be prepared”

Yue took a deep breath and looked at Dakko, who nodded and replied

"The recruits have followed the training regime of the white wolf, they practice with extra weight and heavier weapons, with the aim of getting endurance and strength, we plan to have ten thousand soldiers trained in six months." 

Yue shook her head, six months was too long, and replied

"It's a long time, those soldiers will be perfect for the Fire Nation attack, but if a civil war occurs, I want to know how many soldiers we have."

Faced with such words, Dakko responded

"We have ten thousand princess soldiers, they are all experienced and participated in Mang Lei's campaign, the training is to adapt the soldiers to the unusual tactics of the white wolf."

Before the princess could answer, Dao spoke again, this time with some doubt in his voice

"I have more acquaintances who are still prisoners princess, if you wish, I can talk to them about the situation." Dao was not sure how such a suggestion would be received, there were times when he still felt excluded for being a fire bender

To his surprise, Yue nodded softly and replied

"Give a list of names to Dakko, we'll see what can be done about it, I don't think it's a problem with about ten or twenty fire benders joining us."

To Dao's surprise, the rest of the men present nodded, the elder Lee shouted

"HAHA an extra pair of hands with fire bending would help us a lot on the wall, if Dao advocates for them, they have my support"

To the fire bender's surprise, Dakko also nodded and replied

"The fire benders are the ones who have the most experience with the boilers, but of them will allow us to expand the production of steel and the fish farms, I also trust Dao, if he intercedes for them, I know that they will be honest men."

Dao spoke quickly

“In fact... Half of who I want to call are women, they are quite experienced fire benders, I have serve with them and I feel they will be a great addition to this council”

Such words shocked everyone, and they put a smile on Yue's face, apparently pleased by such words, so she replied

"There is no time to lose, give the names to Dakko and let's organize a meeting, the people you choose will introduce themselves to me, after meeting them we will give you an answer to your request"

Dao smiled at those words, and with each action, his loyalty to the northern royal family, as everyone referred to Jon and Yue, grew more and more

The rest of the meeting went smoothly, with some old men in Lee's service taking young water benders to the coalition cities, focusing on the capital, Nanjing City

The goal? Anything that proves useful for the city, livestock, grain, scrolls, or books

As the princess was about to retreat to the royal tower, powerful thunder interrupted her walk, the princess turned her gaze to the sudden storm, which lay north of the city, in the dangerous sea of whispers

Where her beloved husband was

With some concern, Yue prayed to the spirits that her Jon would be well

Jon Targaryen, the Isle of Mist

“one, two, three... again! One, two, three... again!” shouted the fire lady while looking at Jon with critical eyes

A curious thing considering that the spirit had no eyes

Under his watchful eye, Jon was practicing his newly discovered ice bending, it was a strange feeling, using chi in such an explosive way was unthinkable for a conventional water bender, however, for him it was as easy as breathing

Each punch and kick released powerful blasts of frost, Jon considered that he had advanced quite a bit, considering that he was already capable of using advanced fire bending techniques, such as shaping frost or using it to propel himself through the air or at close range

However, the lady was a perfectionist, and in her words, Jon should continue training until he could do all that perfectly, without messing up a single hair

Something that Jon considered impossible, when flying through the air after all, it was obvious that he was going to mess up, after all

Suddenly, Jon's practice was interrupted by the lady's voice

“STOP!” and Jon sighed at the same time as he sat on the floor, he had to catch his breath

Without paying any attention to him, the lady spoke

"Your performance is acceptable, for a human, you are able to perform all the techniques I had to show you, but I hope you understand that the only limit in spiritual gifts is your mind" with a stern tone, a rather large contrast considering that normally the spirit is quite mischievous

Jon nodded, as he slowly stood up, the young man spoke

“Now what?” Jon asked

The lady simply sighed and replied

"You're not ready, but the clock is ticking, so we'll start with the basic lightning bending technique, it mimics my movements, slowly."

With great emotion, Jon placed himself next to the spirit, and put all his attention on the movements, the lady moved in a fluid and elegant way, making large circles with her fingers, guiding them to the stomach 

Jon imitated her, feeling much more comfortable with it, than with the ice control, the fluidity of the technique assimilated it to the control water in a certain way, Jon imitated the movement many times without stopping, each time, the spirit found something to correct, position of fingers, legs arms, the smallest detail was pointed out

But Jon didn't get frustrated, he made the necessary corrections and learned with every second

Until Lady Amber spoke

"Perfect, that's the ideal posture to throw lightning, don't forget it" Jon simply nodded, completely focused on the act

The spirit continues

"Now, calm your mind... follow your chi and manipulate it, concentrate the Yin energy in one hand, and the Yang energy in the other, when you do start performing the kata again”

Jon closed his eyes and took a deep breath, thanks to his experience with spiritual techniques, splitting the Chi was a simple thing, feeling that both arms were charged with energy, Jon began with the technique

At first nothing was happening, however, the moment both arms were crossed, something happened, the Chi in his arms was released and the young wolf could only use one word to describe what he felt

Power

Absolute power, terrifying and exuberant crossed over his body, the power was so much that it threatened to overwhelm Jon, until the voice of the spirit was present

“Don't let it dominate you, guide the energy and open your eyes, don't let the sensations control you”

Obeying, Jon opened his eyes, expecting to see blue lightning like those of the spirit, however, great was his surprise to find white lightning which was in his arms

Concentrating, Jon finished the technique, guided the energy to his stomach and with a firm gesture directed it towards the dark sky, releasing a powerful white lightning, which touched the heavens with a powerful roar that shook the island and illuminated the heavy black cloud

A moment later, smoke was coming from his fingers, and an immense tiredness invaded Jon, who was exhausted but happy

He had done it, he had launched his first lightning bolt

However, the moment was broken by the spirit, who simply said

“A mediocre lightning bolt, with your power you can release one a hundred times more powerful, but it's the first one you throw, so good job, I guess, now, practice! I want you to throw ten thousand rays so that the technique becomes natural to you!" exclaimed the lady

Jon looked at her with amusement, thinking she was joking, however, seeing the seriousness on her face, Jon swallowed hard

This spirit was going to end up killing him, of that he was sure

With a heavy sigh, Jon stood up and began to perform the technique again

I had an arduous task ahead of me, after all