CHAPTER 36: CONTROLLING WATER

Listening Grandma’s words, Gara almost scoffed.

So even after all that hatred for his mother, Lita still tried to take advantage of his Talent? Did she think they were fools?

"Grandmas, don’t be too hard on Auntie Lita," Gara said with the air of a saint. "She just got back to the village. Maybe people in the town... weren’t taught shame."

Lita’s face turned a deep shade of red, whether from embarrassment or fury, no one could tell.

She opened her mouth, clearly about to lash out at Gara, but when her eyes met the stern, battle-ready glares of the old folks around her, she shut it quickly with a loud huff and stomped away.

"If that woman ever bothers you again, come tell me right away, alright?" one of the grandmas said, patting Gara’s shoulder.

"Yes, Grandma Lasmyra," Gara replied obediently.

His polite tone and bright eyes stirred something warm in the hearts of the elders.

For a moment, they were reminded of their own children and grandchildren which now far away, scattered across towns and cities.

A few more kind words were exchanged before the villagers gradually returned to their own fields, just as the sun began to rise higher in the sky.

From a distance, Wina had watched everything unfold.

She had thought about stepping in but seeing the villagers defend her son so fiercely, she decided to stay back.

She knew all too well that Lita’s real hatred was aimed at her. If she had appeared, it would’ve only escalated the situation.

After finishing the last water barrel, Gara walked over to where Wina was watering herbs a short distance away.

"Mom," he asked softly, "what actually happened with Uncle Albin and Aunt Lita? Why did they come back to the village?"

Wina glanced around, then spoke in a hushed voice. "Mom heard it from Elder Jaya... Back when they first moved to town, Albin tried selling herbal medicine.

By chance, he sold a batch to a wealthy merchant whose child was gravely ill. Sadly, the child passed away—it was probably just fate—but the merchant refused to accept it.

He blamed everyone involved, including Albin. Out of spite, he forced Lita to drink a miscarriage brew as punishment. After that... Lita couldn’t conceive again.

For the next ten years, they tried every remedy they could find to heal her womb. But nothing worked. They spent far more money than they earned.

Eventually, they went bankrupt. With nowhere else to go, they returned to the village. It’s... a very sad story."

Gara nodded quietly. It truly was unfortunate.

But in a way, it also felt like karma.

Karma for a woman who once spat venom at an innocent mother just because that mother was beautiful, widowed, and had a child to raise on her own.

"You should head back now," Wina said, her tone starting to sound anxious. Gara had already been outside the barrier for nearly an hour.

At first, Wina had insisted on carrying Gara’s water barrels to the mountain herself so he wouldn’t have to leave the house’s safe zone. But they both knew that would only double her workload.

After a long debate, Wina finally allowed Gara to go out, but only to fill the barrels.

Gara walked off cautiously.

Watching him leave, Wina called out one last reminder, "Don’t wander around! Come straight home, okay?"

"Yes, Mom," he replied innocently.

But the moment he descended the mountain path, he veered toward the river.

After being stuck inside the house for two whole weeks—busy, sure, but bored out of his mind—the only real entertainment he had was teasing Goddess Freya. Now, finally, he could breathe.

He sat on a large rock by the riverside. The sound of flowing water and the soft breeze made him feel completely at ease.

He worked with water every single day, yet the sight of this clear, rushing river still gave him a strange sense of peace.

Looking at the volume of water in the river, Gara wondered if there was a way for him to control water beyond just his own.

He reached his hand toward the stream, letting a thin ribbon of his own water flow from his palm into the river.

Focusing his mind, he tried to sense where his water was inside the current, anchoring it so it wouldn’t be swept away. Then, he merged it with the river water and lifted it.

"Whoa!"

To his surprise, the water above his own actually rose with it.

His calm expression lit up with excitement.

He scattered his water again and imagined the chemical structure of H₂O, splitting it into two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen, then imagining those atoms bonding with others from the river.

Lifting his hand like a waterbender from the cartoons he used to watch as a child, he tried again.

This time, the water moved not just because it was above his, but because it had fused with his own.

"I’m a genius!" Gara praised himself, beaming.

He continued experimenting, using different amounts of water, trying to find the limit of how much he could influence other water once it had blended with his.

Only then did he realize... he really enjoyed doing experiments like this.

As he kept molding water into different shapes at will, he remembered something, he needed to improve his attack.

Using river water fused with his own, he aimed a Water Slash at the nearest tree.

Brukk!

The tree—its trunk the width of ten nails—was sliced cleanly and fell with a loud thud. The cut was neat. Too neat.

"I actually cut through that?" Gara stared, stunned.

Back when he trained with Langga, he could barely leave a tiny scratch, so faint, it could only be seen up close.

"Was his cloak really that strong?"

Not wanting to think about Langga any longer, Gara stood from the rock, hoping to find an even larger tree to test on.

But then his legs buckled. He would’ve fallen if he hadn’t caught himself against the stone.

...