Avatar: The Last Airbender: Legend

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***

The construction in Lipin did not stop for a minute. Every day, the shouts of the construction team leaders and the sounds of hitting wood or stone could be heard. The invited land conquerors from Yu Dao were due to arrive in a couple of weeks, but until then, most of the garrison and the villagers were working together.

The heavy schedule exhausted the men, leaving bruises under their eyes and a hollow look on their faces.

Sergeant Ping spent days at a construction site or on patrols. When he came home exhausted, the man went straight to bed. No training was out of the question until the heat of the massive construction site subsided. But Guan Yu did not despair, he was able to find a few things to do until the school opened. Carrying small items or parcels, the boy ran all over the city, recognising its tangled ruined streets. On free evenings, he, like many other children of common soldiers, was driven to work in the kitchens, where they delivered food to the soldiers and residents.

While Yu and the other children worked in the sweat of their brow, the offspring of the aristocrats disappeared into their assigned homes, rarely appearing on the streets. There was even a perception among the street boys that the nobles were simply afraid to leave the buildings.

Once again doing the job of delivering letters, Guan Yu rushed along the narrow street, looking at the surprisingly calm Ponu River. There had once been a part of the city where the poor lived underwater, but during the attack, shrews had destroyed the walls and flooded the poor neighbourhoods, leaving the inhabitants to die a gruesome death. Jumping over the rubble of buildings and walls, Yu gazed happily at the buildings flickering under the water. The sun's rays penetrated through the transparent surface, illuminating the stone buildings. The mystical picture beckoned to all the children in the city, many times the reckless braves dived down in search of interesting finds or just to show off.Having jumped over the small canal that separated the two blocks, the boy wanted to speed up, because the further path was cleared, when a body came out from the side. Running out of the alley, the unknown man did not take his eyes off the flooded neighbourhood. Seeing the unexpected obstacle out of the corner of their eyes, the two children tried to defend themselves with their hands, but the outcome was a foregone conclusion.

Feeling his left side hit the water, Yu's first thought was of the pain that would haunt him all day. Opening his eyes, he saw a red silk dress in front of him, which opened like wings behind the miniature girl's back. 'Wings of retribution.'

Transferring his gaze from the dress to the stranger's face, Guan Yu jerked his shoulders. He hadn't seen such an amount of rage and contempt even on the faces of soldiers who had rebelled against the command. The black hair, obeying the force of the water, spread out in different directions. Overhanging the girl's face, they enveloped her head, hiding her beautiful features, leaving only her eyes burning with evil flames. The gold jewellery that accentuated the beauty of her hands and the tight belt glistened invitingly, shimmering in the sunlight.

'Could she be a spirit?'.

When the little girl pointed a finger in his direction, Yu decided to stop looking around and follow the most important advice that Ping had given him.

'An offended woman is like a rabid fury, if you don't want to fight her, you better run.' Said the tipsy sergeant, rubbing the impact mark on his cheek.

Once on the surface, he didn't wait for the girl and immediately climbed ashore. The collapsed ladder that led to the flooded area was perfect for the purpose. When the boy began to squeeze moisture out of his long hair, he felt a growing warmth behind him.

Turning around sharply, the captain's son felt his knees begin to shake. Her hair, sticky with moisture, hung down from the girl's head, completely covering her face. Her whip-like arms swayed from side to side, and her beautiful dress was half sticking out of the water. Small puffs of vapour slowly appeared along the girl's body.

With a jerky movement, she raised her head and stared straight into her eyes. Taking a step back, Yuu felt as if he was back in the clearing with the mousewolf and as soon as the beast sensed weakness, it would rush forward. Turning his head sharply to the side, the boy folded his arms in a respectful gesture and bowed ninety degrees.

-Greetings, good master Liu Biao.

The little vengeful girl's eyes widened in horror was a magnificent reward. Jumping up on the spot, the girl hurriedly tried to clean herself up, bow in respect, and utter some phrase. Increasing the amount of heat, she dried her hair in a flash, but now the huge shaggy bundle on her head was flying in all directions, preventing her from speaking. Hastily tucking it away, she stood there for a few seconds in bewilderment until she looked up.

A deafening silence swept through the ruined streets. Looking around, she noticed the absence and the scruffy man who had toppled her into the water. A vengeful fire flared in her brown eyes, promising imminent punishment for the asshole who had dared to fool her and escape.

Rushing down the narrow alleyway, Guan Yu felt the light behind him become brighter. Turning around, he saw a small pillar of flame shooting into the sky.

-Wow! -It took her a long time to realise.

-Greetings, students. From this day forward, you will all attend the Lipin Military School. It doesn't have an official name yet, so that's fine. You are all the future of the Fire Nation! Noble and simple, you were born in the colonies, and it is on your shoulders that the defence of Lu-Yang and the entire province will rest.

A large, full-bodied man walked in front of the line of youngsters. He wore leather armour with steel inserts, besides a funny blue hat. His short grey beard was neatly trimmed, and a small tail of white hair stuck out from under his helmet.

-It would be my honour to train you. I am Huang Zhong, the right hand of Colonel Liu Biao! A great man that every one of you should look up to!

After pointing his finger at the sky, the funny old man talked about his superior for another hour, urging all the Fire Warrior larvae to be like the garrison commander.

As Zhong walked away, Guan Yu scrutinised the formation of children. Standing beside him were the kids he had spent the past few days with. Children of soldiers, sergeants, and petty officers. Most of them were born in the colonies, in not the richest families. But in the front row were the blue bloods. With their noses stuck up to the clouds, the little shits waved contemptuously when they heard whispers behind their backs. Among the few noble gang stood a recent hot acquaintance. Unlike the others, she kept an emotionless mask on her face, completely ignoring what was going on, but Yuu saw her face grin in anticipation when she spotted him at the school entrance.

Frowning at the memory of the creepy threatening grimace on such a beautiful innocent face, the boy concentrated on the headmaster's speech. It only took ten minutes for Huang Zhong to finish another dithyramb to his patron.

-And so, each of you...

-That's enough.

Turning round in a leap, the headmaster stretched out in a string, clasping his hand to his chest.

-MIRROR!

With a bellow that filled the entire courtyard and made his ears ache, the old man strode briskly towards Colonel Biao, who barely blinked at his subordinate's shout, unlike the delegation that had arrived with him.

While the two military men were discussing something, Guan Yu noticed a familiar face in the garrison commander's entourage. The pompous brother Yuan Shu stood at the tail end of the group that surrounded the colonel. The golden helmet hid most of his face, but this smug face and bling armour would be recognised by the captain's son out of a thousand.

Meeting his gaze with Yuan Shao, the child saw a disgusted smirk appear on the latter's face.

'It seems like Brother Shu has an excellent memory. Even though we've only seen each other once.'

Not wanting to provoke the angry aristo, Yu shifted his gaze to the colonel who had approached the formation. Dressed in red and yellow robes, the grey-haired man was about the same age as Huang Zhong, but looked much sicklier. Slim and slightly stooped, he kept his hands on his chest, stroking his chin with the fingers of his right palm. What stood out the most in his appearance were his thick white eyebrows that looked like dense clouds.

-Good afternoon, young Fire warriors. From now on, you will only have two paths. Finish this school or fly out of here in disgrace. Prince Iroh initiated this idea, so he'll be keeping a close eye on the first graduating class. I hope you won't disappoint me.

At the last sentence, a blatant threat could be heard in the voice of the powerful aristocrat and military officer. As Yu glanced around the formation, it seemed that the colonel's eyes lingered on him for a second, but the obsession was gone, and Liu Biao was already turning his back on them, going about his business.

The first days at the military school were very different from the lessons at the academy. At the same time, they were not much different from life in a soldier's camp. Accustomed to the main rule of military service, Guan Yu easily accepted all the strange orders and tasks. As the soldiers had taught him during the transition.

'The main thing is to cheerfully agree, and then already find out what exactly needs to be done.'

Following these great words, Yu easily fell into a familiar rhythm. Studying, training, and practicing. It was true that now they were taught how to stand guard and other similar things, but overall it wasn't much different from his life with Ping in Lu-Yang. Where the sergeant had told him about the terrain before bed instead of bedtime stories.

Most importantly, physical activity had returned to the little soldier's life. Now there was no need to run around the city all day to get rid of excessive activity. Joint physical training sessions exhausted the hyperactive kids to zero. For every misdemeanour of one, the whole platoon was punished. Three dozen future warriors of the Fire in the first days of classes did not stop doing push-ups and running because of stupid questions from former peasants.

All the squads were divided by origin and gender, bringing them together only for physical fitness and general subjects. While the noble lords were given additional classes in fire magic, tactics and rhetoric, the blacklegs were trained in combat in formation and on an increased political programme.

The tedious lessons on the greatness of the Fire Nation were the toughest challenge for yesterday's peasants. Every day began with this lesson and the first thing they did was sing the national anthem. One had to know by heart all the family members and prominent figures of the Fire Nation, the top military commanders, and even all the names of the senior members of the noble families. An endless list of which took up an entire textbook that was periodically updated.

After pushing up fifty times, Yu and the rest of the students had an answer to the question they had asked.

-All of this you are learning to keep up appearances. Your noble classmates have been learning it since childhood and in much larger quantities, but you don't necessarily need to know all the feudal lords of our country. The main thing is that you know in front of whom you must bow at right angles.

Similar procedures took place every day. There was always an idiot in the class who would not hold his tongue and ask a question before raising his hand. Of course, over time, his classmates had learnt a simple rule for dealing with teachers.

Sitting down in his seat, the future soldier leaned back on his hands relaxedly. Sitting on the soft red cushion, Guan Yu pondered on the future and his prospects.

-Guan Yu, you're in class, not on holiday in the garden. Class, thirty push-ups.