AN :
if we hit 500 power stones, there will be an extra chapter guys ;)
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Hiraku is an idiot, plain and simple.
But he's neither plain, nor simple and that's what makes him such a pain. While he does as I ask, he constantly undermines my supposed authority – we're all consenting adults here, after all, even if we realise that a request from the chief is an order – in the smallest of ways. He doesn't say anything, really. And I caught him on a bad day, when I asked him to be my coordinator of sorts. I did 'chase' his girl away.
But it's very clear in the way he looks at me, and his tone when he speaks at me that he has no respect for my person.
Now, usually – because it's a very rare thing when I truly respect anyone instead of the usual respect you have for another human being – I don't mind. I can earn his respect, if it can reasonably be earned. But in this case, he's trying to make me out to be someone instated from the top, but not an accepted leader. Someone to resent. That's never good when it becomes a question of life or death. If he were questioning my competence outright, we could have an argument with a clear set of guidelines, but he's making it about wordless power-plays.
Should he succeed, my orders would be at best obeyed with a delay of receiving permission from Hiraku, at worst entirely ignored. Not only would it be bad, in the case of something with as much destructive power as this, it would be catastrophic.
The fact is that my proficiency measured against Hiraku's stand above his. Even in terms of experience I am one of the few benders who regularly take part in joint exercises in bending because of how close Pakku and I still are and how much he favours those exercises in his curriculum.
If Hiraku thinks he will be allowed to get anywhere with his actions, juvenile as they are, he's mistaken. He plays his games. I prepare for larger concerns. Of which neither he nor the others know, and my certainty may originally stem from a children's TV show, but I've kept an eye out, and there's been an increase in attacks on our border patrols.
Hiraku, while projecting disapproval of me and my methods at every turn is beginning to turn into nothing but an annoyance. He doesn't think beyond his envy. Might not even be aware of how malign it is turning out to be.
By the end of the third day, my patience has run out. What he is doing could endanger the entire city, not just my fragile self-confidence. This needs to be addressed. Even if it weren't endangering the entire tribe, his behaviour isn't acceptable for a supposed joint-effort.
Already there is resentment against me for my status with Pakku and Arnook. For the young age at which I became a master. I don't need him adding to it and hurting our chances of making this work. He chose the benders cleverly. Almost every single one of them holds some preconceived notions of my character.
Of course, not all of them are wrong. I am a lazy, mostly apathetic and arrogant person with advantageous social standing within the tribe.
What I am not is weak, or unsuited to the task.
Once I've sent the benders home with instructions to think about who they can best work in tandem with to ensure a smooth rise, I confront Hiraku. His face as I ask him to stay is a haughty grimace.
"What's the problem, Hiraku?"
He tries to brush me off, surprised that I would speak to him, instead of participating in his petty subterfuge and overt undermining of authority. "What? What problem?"
"Clearly, there is one. It's so obvious you might as well shout it out from the palace steps." Not helping, self.
I do need to get him to admit to his intentions, however. Not because I want to bring him before the council. I've always solved my problems myself, whenever I could. No, all I want is for him to realise how futile his efforts are. He's irritated me. I want him to know it.
He sneers.
I point a lazy finger. "See, that right there. That's the problem."
He schools his face into a blank mask in an immediate conditioned reaction. He looks slightly constipated.
I give him a kind smile. "Perfect, just like that. You need to keep that face. Then I'll believe you." And I'll keep having to suppress my laughter at it, if he does.
The mask shatters. I can almost hear it splinter. How many of those will dig deep into his cheeks to sting every time he gets a slap? "Your arrogance knows no bounds!"
"True. So?" Vaguely, I wonder if he would lunge to strangle me if I shrugged.
"So? So! You should not be the one to lead this effort! The recognition should not go to you at the demonstration! You have been too friendly with the Chief since your buddy Hahn got engaged to the princess!" He rants, spittle flying. I flick it away before it can reach me. "And that! The nonchalance with which you treat bending! I can't stand it!"
My tone is that of a person concerned with the taste of their sea prune stew. "Oh dear. That's quite a few more problems than I anticipated."
I know this isn't constructive. I know I'm not behaving in the best interest of conflict-solving. He's just irritated me for long enough that I can't hold myself back. I imagine he feels much the same way.
"Aarrgh!" he growls, and thrusts his palms out. Shards of ice shoot from the ground with me as their target. They're blunted, so not necessarily lethal. Still, they could break bones. Ribs, if I allow them to continue on their path.
I decide to prove his point. Instead of batting them away and launching my own attack, I clench one hand into a fist and crush them to dust. It shimmers prettily in the fading sunlight.
Fairy dust, part of my mind whispers.
Hiraku looks shocked. Ah, so he understands the significance of bending with only one part of the body. I'm almost insulted he thought I couldn't do it. Almost. This is a skill, while blatantly obvious now, that I keep close to my chest whenever I am not in trusted company.
However, I am aware of his level of self-absorption. While I was experimenting with it during our joint time as Pakku's students, he was busy preparing for becoming a master himself.
"Now, this is all very dramatic, but we don't have an audience to appreciate it." His face! His face! I almost crack up. It's worth not speaking of his little faux-pas seconds ago. One of our laws here states that attacking another bender in a not previously agreed capacity, such as sparring, results in trial and usually the penalty of being stripped of all honours and titles. That is, if no one got hurt.
It is a classic rendition of preventive law, to make the cost of consequence not worth the temptation.
He knows it, I know it, and it's an insult to not address this, as though he were beneath my notice. That's perfectly alright. I mean to insult. I am not generous enough to forgive all his slights without a bit of retaliation.
My smile is decidedly unpleasant. "I am giving you a choice: either stop undermining my authority, or don't bother showing up tomorrow."
Panic begins to spread over his face in twitches. It would be funny, if it weren't such a serious consequence for him. He knows I could destroy him, socially. I have the connections, and given the incentive I could do irreparable damage to his reputation. Even his mother on the council couldn't save him.
Not, that I would. Sometimes the threat is enough, and I certainly hope that this is one of those times. I could also hurt him physically. Call it a spar. We find such practises as Agni Kais barbaric, but who could possibly account for accidents? Not two masters, of course not, what are you on about?
"The others will follow me!" Could this be more cliché? He may have chosen them well, but he forgets to account for what it means for every single one of them to shun the honour of being part of this, part of a new sequence that our Sister Tribe brought to us.
"Will they?" I shrug, "We can let it play out, if you like. But think about it for a moment. While I've been doing nothing but heling things along on a personal level, you've been the one at the head pointing out mistakes with a condescending air."
"I am condescending? You're the arrogant one! The favoured one!"
So there lies the heart of the problem, as I thought. Because Pakku was my teacher, I'm regarded as favoured along with talented. Hiraku was his student as well, and should have also received that prestige. He still does, to a degree, in addition to his mother's connections.
But I've stolen some of his thunder in finishing early, in being called a prodigy. Not a perfect little one, no, I acted out enough for that not to be attributed to me, but being perfect wasn't enough to step out from my shadow for Hiraku, it seems.
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Don't forget to throw some power stones :)
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