New generation benders

Herkio tried to sit up but he was too tired. He just sunk down in the bed and closed his eyes. He remembered the spirits, what they had done with him, he could still feel the cold and almost painfull feeling of them eating of his spirit. He never wanted to feel it again. Ever.
Soon he fell asleep again, he slept for hours. Somebody on the ship checked on him under those hours but it wasn't anything wrong with him more than he had been through much. It was some week he had been kidnapped, but it was enough. And almost being married was too much.

But finally he woke up, somebody had been nice and had placed a bowl of clean water, and also some food, beside his bed. He slowly got up and the first thing he did was washing away the paint, he hated it. But not all went away, you could still faintly see the blue and white marks.
He then ate a little before he went out of his room, he didn't see anybody, so he went up on the deck. "Ela" he said a bit relieved and came over to her, he leaned against the reeling, he was still shaky. "Good to see you on your feet" he mumbled and took deep breaths of the cold air, it was north pole air, he loved it because it reminded him of his home.
"I was afriad that you wouldn't come" he said and smiled faintly at her. "They just came into my room back in the town and kidnapped me, that spiled brat's reason was that I where 'perfect'. I was losing all hope and then you showed up" he smiled. "Thank you so much, and for the healing..." he had felt it. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. "When I passed out, the spirits leaned over me and...Ate of me or something, it was horrible".

"They do that." Ela replied and she didn't look at him. "They fed on your despair, your anger, your fear... they harnessed it and tried to grow more powerful with it." She continued and she wasn't angry when she said it more like informative. Her new clothes weren't truly fit for the cold weather so she basically stood there hoping to freeze to death where she was. However it didn't work like that. Before Herkio had come up from the ships innards she was actually contemplating if she'd find a solution below the icy seawater. "It's good Ikal knows how to heal people then, he's been at it since he came to our tribe when he was just a child." She continued and smiled a little. However Ikal also had stolen super-water from the south pole, like really. "Anyway, if Hye hadn't been stopped she would've probably come around to rescue you a lot earlier." Ela said. "Pema was so tired and Hye was so angry when we were forced to land." Ela continued and smiled a little. "I'm happy you're not married though, that psychobitch was really weird." Ela had a full blown smile by now.

Herkio felt a shiver go down his spine when she continued to talk about the spirits. "And I had lots of feelings, anger, relief, I was so upset" he mumbled and closed his eyes. He reached down his hand and bended up some water from the cold sea. He felt safer and calmer with it.
"Yeah, without him the spirits would have eathen me whole" he said. He hadn't seen the guy so much, but he guessed it was the one that had carried her. "I saw a spirit that looked like me as well" he said and shivered again. "And he had these marks too..". he touched his forhead where the faint blue symbol still could be seen. "Would she?" he then said and laughed. It felt nice that she had wanted to rescue him so badly.
"I know, she was such a brat" he said and sighed. "I don't understand why I was so perfect to her, I'm not so good looking, I'm decent at waterbending, but they had chains that kept me from bending so it didn't matter". He was about to say something when he felt like he was going to faint again. The spirit that looked like him appeared in front of him, trying to touch him. "No! Let me be!" he said outloud and closed his eyes abd took steps back until he fell down on his butt. The spirit disappeared and he was left shivering.

Ela couldn't see the spirit, mostly because her spiritual side was far too exhausted to be able to do anything about it. She could feel it however. However when he stepped back and fell she didn't do much, merely took a side-step. She knew how it felt, the first time was horrid.
"It can't hurt you." Ela said and turned to him and reached out a hand to help him up. "If it could anyone would be able to see it." She continued waiting for him to either rise himself or let her help him up. Her very own tormentor had followed her around since she was a child and she was never hurt. In the spirit world, yes. The spirit world was also the place of dreams... should she give him a quick lesson to handle having a spirit hogging you everywhere? She should before she perishes, shouldn't she? The nightmares? The trips to spiritual places... any mediation, ever? All of that, god damn it.

Herkio shivered. His doppelganger was still standing there, it did nothing besides grinning at him, looking at him. But it was enough to terrify him. He looked up at Ela when she spoke. "It can't?" he mumbled and took her hand and got up. He was still shivering.
"What is it exactly? I mean, my own soul is inside me? Right? Or..". He remembered the spirits feeding on him, and when he had been healed most of i had returned, but maybe some piece of his soul was lost, and it was now what he saw?
He tried to shake it all of, and changed subject. "I couldn't stand it when she talked to me" he mumbled. "And when she kissed me I wanted to puke". Because he had gotten a lot of kisses, on the cheeks, nose, and even on the lips. But he had never returned any of them. "I'm happy to be away from that place".

Ela let him change the subject. If he did then it wouldn't require her speaking about the spirits she has encountered. The spirit that was haunting her. It didn't require much effort at all. However she did decide to stand in front of him. Therefore she could kind of protect him. Even if it didn't work like that she wanted to try. Spirits usually didn't show up if you were distracted anyway. They did but you could often just ignore them easier.
"What things did she talk about then?" She asked just to keep the subject going. "I suppose there wasn't many deep conversations." She continued as some kind of joke, trying her best to get his mind off it all. He had gone through enough according to her. A lesson to teach him how to ignore it isn't much of a help right now. Not at all, actually.

Herkio felt better when she stood in front of him, the spirit disappeared for the moment. He relaxed a little and looked at her. He sighed when she asked. "Oh god" he begun and pinched his nose. "Not at all. She was so spoiled, she talked about our wedding, how happy she would be with me, that I would be a big chief" he shivered. "But also just total bullshit, about clothes, gossip, things I don't care about". It had been torture.
"And since I had the chains, I couldn't do to much, so...I had help when I got dressed, and ate. And she was the one that helped me" he said and actually blushed, a bit ashamed. "I hope I never see her again".

"It's such a shame that you didn't listen in on the gossip, though." Ela said and she didn't mind his blushing, she can understand it actually. The thing about not being able to dress yourself because of restraints. "I mean a fool like her can probably spread all kinds of political secrets." She continued and her smile didn't faulter when she said that either. She smiled through it all, casually enough. Doing her best to cheer him up through the only manner she knew was possible; her honest humor. She wasn't lying when she said that political secrets would've been neat, the northern tribe holds a lot of spiritual secrets for example. She was always up for any other news of the spiritual kind. "I hope so too, mostly because Hye would become a murderer if she popped up again." Ela said and followed it up with the harsh: "I wouldn't want to waste my first time on someone like her." However this she mumbled and she mumbled quickly so hopefully he didn't pick up on it.

Herkio couldn't help but smile. She actually made him feel better. He laughed as well. "She had her dad around her little finger too. If I wanted to I could have made her do anytcng for me as well. She tried to make me like her by giving me sweets and presents". And he had never accepted any of them.
'I know. But I was forced to waste my first kiss on her though" he said since had heard her. He sighed and touched his lips. "It was terrible. And I don't think she will give upp in a long time". She was crazy. "I still don't understand why. I'm not that handesome am I?" He joked to Ela.

"No, you didn't." Ela replied when he spoke of his first kiss. "You can just decide to not count it as your first." Ela continued and crossed her arms. She had goose bumps all over because of the clothes. However it was kind of beautiful the way the cold had deafened her body from it anyway. She let her head go off a little to the side, angling it and took a small step back. She let her glance go from top to bottom and up again.
"Let me say this; you're clearly above average." Ela said and shrugged a little. "I have no idea who made you think anything else." She continued and smirked, a true Ryuu smirk even. Charming but annoyingly teasing at the same time.