Zuko
The overwhelming feeling of strangeness had slowly lowered to an omnipresent eeriness, but not from any change in direction. Zuko had checked. Either the source had gone dormant, or it was purposefully hiding its presence. Either way, it hardly mattered. He would continue onward and ferret out whatever secret this place contained.
Continuing to walk forward, he eventually reached his destination.
The main silo was a dilapidated thing. The structure seemed to be suffering from the ravages of time and nature, as evidenced by the large crack in the side, but now, with not enough people to keep it in proper shape, it had fallen into its current state. Some of the stones were crumbling, and the wood seemed rotted. Despite that, it seemed sound enough for the moment.
A fine, out-of-the-way place to hide some dirty secret while some unruly guests visited and crashed for a time.
"How do you enter a silo?" He knew the structure and its purpose from his more menial lessons, but the actual specifics beyond the number and significance of construction permits for them escaped him.
Then he noted the large crevice on the side once again, more than large enough to fit him, and the feeling of being as much of an idiot as Azula claimed came along with the revelation.
After a few curious pokes to make sure that going through wouldn't cause the whole damn structure to fall on him, he slipped through with a little readjustment and squeezing.
It was dark, but Zuko held back from using his bending to light a fire, at least until he found a torch. The light from the crack was enough for now.
The illumination was little, but it provided enough to give some depiction of the entire room. It was very plain, a stone floor and wooden rafters. The most interesting thing was that despite being empty and most likely abandoned for at least a few weeks, it too was spotless.
Either Mayor Chen was the greatest neat freak in the entire world, or there was something more going on in this 'abandoned' town.
It was then that his eyes finally caught sight of something different. Something odd.
A shrine. In the middle of a grain silo.
"Five gold pieces, that whatever spirit nonsense is going on is related to this," Zuko muttered under his breath. "Who am I kidding? It's a fool's bet."
He stepped closer and examined it as best he could in the dim light.
There was a small stone altar in front of a carved statue, stone in its own right. The figure depicted appeared female, but the ordinary array of features was all replaced with wide open mouths. The eyes, ears, nose, everything. There were even more interspersed through the statue's body as well, some even in scandalous positions, to Zuko's quick reddening.
"I know." A familiar voice jolted Zuko. "Quite the salacious statue, isn't it? It has brought nothing but trouble. I should have known when that merchant was so eager to be rid of it for so little coin."
It was Mayor Chen, standing at the crevice with a box containing many candles, one of which was lit. A pleasant smile on his face as he watched the sheepish Zuko.
"Mayor Chen, I was just-" It was pointless. He was a hopeless liar. He wasn't Azula.
"Snooping around?" The older man laughed, though not unkindly. It was the same chastising manner as Uncle had. "No need to panic, boy. I won't begrudge a young boy such as yourself sticking your nose wherever you go. Especially one as suspicious as I."
"I am not a boy!" Zuko hissed reflexively. Though he immediately regretted it. He had been the one in places he did not belong, hardly in a place to be so disrespectful to not only his host but his elder.
Yet the man simply laughed louder.
"Well, in that case, you can join me." The man held out the box, and it took a moment for Zuko to realize that he wanted him to take one. Honoring a spirit? Specifically, one that might actually be there at the moment? Well, it was better than angering it.
Now that he thought about it, hadn't he come here woefully underprepared? If there were a spirit, what would he have done? Could you even fight a spirit with bending or weapons?
With little other choice, he took a candle, and the old man set his box down in front of the altar and gently held the lit candle over Zuko's.
"This shrine is dedicated to the Mistress of Many Mouths."
Zuko blinked.
"The Plague Princess?" The Earth Spirit whispered to be the origin of all disease and famines. An evil spirit, if there was ever one. Whose shrine was inside a grain silo. "You set up her shrine in a food place!"
"It is a recent addition," Chen admitted, sighing slightly. "The famine hit us hard, and with the fear of the plague, I was willing to pray to anything for some respite. Who better to protect you from famine than Famine made manifest?"
"Any other one." One did not pray to an evil spirit. Had you seemed mad at best and at worst? They'd answer.
"Ha!" Chen chuckled. "They say that wisdom comes with age, but you're already thrice as wise as I."
"I don't have even a tenth of the wisdom of my Uncle." When was the last time that someone complimented him that wasn't Uncle?
"A good man." The mayor smiled, though it seemed sad. "I was desperate. The other villages could hardly spare anything for us, Omashu was under siege by the Fire Nation, and the Beifongs of Gaoling would have us sell ourselves for slaves before even giving us breadcrumbs. When your back is up against a wall, sometimes you'll look for any way to vault over."
"I understand." Zuko nodded. Perhaps Jian was wrong about the mayor? He did not seem like some vicious schemer or a monster. "You had a responsibility to your people, as the mayor. Even if it seemed…ludicrous."
Despite his reassuring words, the man seemed to sink into himself.
"Ha." Chen laughed, drily. "Indeed. But did I not also have a responsibility to my daughter? She is the last thing I have of her mother; you see. My little Hana, apple of my eye."
"She left with the others, right?" Zuko frowned. The mayor had not mentioned any family. It made even less sense for him to stay behind if he had family that had left the town, war-torn and plague-ridden as it was.
"Yes." Chen stared at the statue with his distant eyes, as if he were looking not at it but something it reminded him of. A hint of emotion that Zuko could not pinpoint for the life of him. "With the others…we had a terrible row last time we talked, and now I fear I may never get the chance to apologize."
A dutiful man. He appeared to have chosen his duty to his people over his responsibility to his father.
You will learn respect. And suffering shall be your teacher.
Father had been so ashamed of him. For failing to stand up to him properly, for the lives of the 41st and his honor. Then Zuko had squandered not only his chance to capture the Avatar and reclaim his honor, but also made Uncle a criminal in the process.
"My own Father was the same way." He admitted, shocking Chen out of his trance and bringing the man's widened eyes to train on him. "For leaders like you and him, the responsibility holds precedence over the responsibility to the few. Even to family."
Zuko dimly touched his scar; the pain had never faded from memory. Not really. It was just sometimes he could fool himself into forgetting what he really was. A dishonored prince, unlucky enough to have been born, cursed his family.
"Oh, you poor boy." The pity stung, but it felt different when you were giving it in return as well. "Did your father truly not avenge such a horror?"
His Father had inflicted such a horror, but he could hardly admit that. Though if the conversation with Jian was any indicator, he might suspect that his father was a fire-bender.
"If not, then I must disagree with you there, boy." Chen turned back to the candles, speaking with vehemence and certainty. "I should have put family first, above all else. Everyone else second. But like a fool, I wanted it all."
Zuko had come there looking for answers, but the more he heard, the less he wanted to know.
They stared at the flickering flame of the candle, illuminating the daunting 'face' of the Mistress of Many Mouths. Despite it having no eyes, it still felt like it was somehow watching him.
Despite himself, he prayed that this was all some misunderstanding. That Jian was wrong or mistaken. That Chen was, in fact, a good, if sad, man, and that they could all go their separate ways.
But Zuko should have known better. He was never that lucky, after all.
Princess Azula
"You can leave, for now." She, quite magnanimously, decreed to Yoru, her nonchalant subordinate.
He looked around, taking in the busy circus around him, before looking back at her. The sun was beginning to set, and they were preparing for their night performance, giving the area a bustling atmosphere. How Ty-Lee could like it here mystified her, but then again, they were different people.
"The Commander made it rather clear that I am responsible for your safety."
"The only circus bumpkin here who could even conceivably injure me is the dear friend I am here to recruit." Azula scoffed. "And if anyone else here were to manage to harm me, I would deserve it for being so pathetic."
It was something that she did not like to admit, even to herself, but Ty-Lee was one of the few on the short list of dangerous individuals to her that also shared her age. Mai was dangerous, certainly, but dealing with her was the same procedure as with most fire-benders: simply don't be hit by their projectiles, with the added benefit of her ammunition being limited.
Ty-Lee?
Her athleticism, agility bordering on bonelessness, and chi-blocking made her a true threat to any bender. Of course, that also meant she would be a great asset in pacifying Zuko and perhaps even the Avatar.
"Be that as it may," Yoru replied almost perfectly emotionlessly, bar for the faintest hint of exasperation. "I feel as if the blame would still fall upon me."
"In that case, 'secure the perimeter. '" Azula groaned. "Far more likely that some unseemly element will try to sneak in than one of these dunder-heads manage something noteworthy."
The dunderheads in question briefly glared before recognizing the regalia of the speaker and swiftly moving away as fast as possible. Intelligence from the common folk, would wonders never cease?
"As you wish." Yoru bowed, theatrically in fact, before walking toward the entrance. There was a subtle mockery there, but to her surprise and annoyance, she did not feel like incinerating him. Naturally, he would be punished in some manner, but it was certainly a gentler reaction to the jest than she expected from herself.
Perhaps the politicking classes about the 'carrot and the stick' were finally sticking. Even if she wondered why one would need a carrot or a stick if the fear of the flame would suffice as motivation.
It dawned on her that she did not exactly know where to find Ty-Lee. It would be best to know where the trapeze artists practiced, since even if she wasn't there, surely someone who knew where to find her would undoubtedly be present.
Her wandering brought her to a large tent where the trapeze artists practiced. Diligent and skilled, but nowhere close to Ty-Lee. For all that Azula had ridiculed her for it, this did seem to be a place where she would bloom. Even if it was always irritatingly far away from her reach.
"I assume you are the one in charge of this establishment?" She did not assume, she knew. Ty Lee had blathered about the head of the circus once, so she knew enough about him to recognize his silly little outfit with the sillier-looking hat.
The man in question, who had been giving instructions while frenzied to two of his trapeze artists, turned around with an irritated expression. Luckily for him, he seemed to notice who she was before his anger spilled over and caused an unfortunate incident for everyone involved.
"P-princess Azula?!" The man gulped. "I-it is certainly an honor and a pleasure to have y-you at my e-establishment! A very unexpected surprise!"
"It wouldn't be a surprise if it was expected, would it?" She raised a brow as the man nodded hastily in agreement. "I have little time for this. I am here to talk with my dear friend, Ty Lee. Considering every other performer is out and getting ready for your 'big production,' I would have assumed that Ty-Lee would be here as well."
The man turned gloomy at her words.
"Well, Princess, you have stumbled on the main cause of all my worries." He sighed. "A few hours ago, Ty-Lee started acting…unusual."
"Ty-Lee is an unusual person." Her antics, while initially annoying, had grown on her. Like some kind of fungus or parasite that you couldn't be bothered to burn off. "Is it truly that different from her normal degree of eccentricity?"
"Not at first." The circus owner rubbed the back of his head. "But it got worse and worse as time went on. She seemed slightly unnerved, which is unusual for her, as I am sure you know, but then she became downright panicky. Very odd! Apparently, her vision is a bit blurred too, so the healers have advised her to lie down and avoid too much motion in fear of it aggravating her condition."
"And with her skill, I would wager a guess that she was one of the stars of the show."
"And if you had wagered, you'd be a good bit richer." The man grumbled. "And 'one of'? Try 'THE star'. We've had trapeze artists and flexible girls come through before, but that girl is something else."
"Of course." Azula knew that. She did not have mediocre friends. They had to be exceptional. "She is my friend, after all. I'd like the directions to where she is resting; perhaps a visit from a dear old friend would be enough to cure her ailment."
The manager paled slightly as he nodded, shakily. Was he worried that she was going to poach his star? If so, then he was certainly more perceptive than she thought.
"Y-yes, she is recuperating in the staging area." The man, whose name was still escaping her, gulped. "It is just beyond the Komodo Rhino Rodeo, the last tent on the right-most row. Do you require an escort?"
"There is no need." He had bigger problems anyway. "I appreciate your cooperation and apologize in advance."
"Whatever for?" Given the man's nervousness, he must indeed have already understood that she would be taking Ty-Lee with her.
"For taking away your star talent." Azula, if she were anyone else, might have felt bad about this. But she wasn't, so she didn't. "I wish you all the best, truly."
Strangely, there was only a look of relief in the man's eyes. How odd.
Well, whatever strangeness was in his mind was hardly her concern. Azula was able to find the Komodo Rhino Rodeo quickly enough, a trite exhibit filled with only the slowest and meekest of the species, and then pinpointed the tent that was specified by the circus owner.
It must have been the old man's age, but the tents had little order to them, so she had to search the right periphery for some time before eventually homing in on the one that housed her resting friend.
"Ty-Lee!" Azula greeted her with a smile on her face. A genuine one, at that. After so long putting up faces, being able to talk with someone who held some of her confidence was almost relaxing. Almost. She would never lower her guard in such a manner. That would be the height of stupidity.
Hm.
She would note that down later; it was likely something that Zuko would do.
"Azula!" Ty-Lee waved at her. In the tent was another one of the acrobats, one of the ones she could have sworn was still with the owner when she had spoken with him. Well, it explained the distinct lack of surprise on Ty-Lee's face. If it had ended like this, she might as well have stayed with the battalion and simply sent a messenger hawk. "It is so good to see you!"
Nonetheless, Ty-Lee was clearly happy to see her, so she would be cordial. Thus, she simply glared at the acrobat who had spoiled her little surprise reunion until she bowed deeply and skittered out of the tent like the annoying insect she was.
Now that the annoyance was out of the way, Azula could truly note how odd it was to see Ty-Lee lying in bed and not leaping and twisting around the area. Her face seemed to have smoothened out further since they had separated, but the marks of worry and fear that she once had of exams and homework back at the Royal Fire Academy for Girls seemed to remain, even as a small hint. A recent development, then. She must truly be sick or injured somehow.
"The owner filled me in on your condition." They could skip the needless blabbering that Ty-Lee would provide on her status. "Have you truly taken ill?"
As her friend, it would be simple to leverage some of the best healers in the Fire Nation rather than whatever placeholder relic to meet safety standards they had in this hovel.
"Oh, it's actually a pretty weird story." She paused. "I guess you probably don't want to hear it though, so let's-"
"Whatever do you mean?" As much as Ty-Lee's nonsense tended to irritate her, it had indeed grown on her. Frankly, she had already prepared herself to hear some of her rants about aura and spirituality before eventually tactfully changing the subject to the more important matters. "You are my friend, Ty-Lee. Tell me. We have the time."
"Haha!" Her friend laughed. "You're right, I was being silly! Well, you know how I can see everyone's auras and tell how they feel, right?"
"It has come up often enough that I would be demented if I didn't remember."
"Well, a bit earlier, things got a bit hazy."
"Hazy?" Azula repeated. Whatever the truth of Ty-Lee's 'aura sight' was, she did have a gift for understanding the emotional state of others. A useful tool in separating the sycophants who sought her position to elevate themselves while contributing little, or those who sought to dampen her ambitions to suck up to either Zuzu or her father. 'Haziness' had never come up before. "Has it impacted your…special perception?"
"You can just call it my aura-reading ability, Azula!" She would not, especially in a less understanding company. "But not really? At least not at first! It was kind of like how sometimes you have to squint to see a faraway sign!"
"Not at first?" That meant that things had changed then. "How about now?"
"Now?" Ty-Lee hummed, tapping her finger to her chin. "Kind of murky? Like before, it was some gas that was making everything a faint reddish orange, but it kept getting thicker and thicker. Now it is as thick as some colored water or something, tinting everything a deeper red. I can still make out some of the colors from experience and a couple of guesses, but the change has really thrown me off my game!"
"Has it impacted anything else?" While the loss or debilitation of Ty-Lee's aura-sensing was a setback, it was a minor one. It was more her combat skills and, embarrassingly, a desire to spend time with a friend that had her offering this opportunity to Ty-Lee. "Are your acrobatic skills fine? It is odd to see you sitting so still in a bed."
"Oh?" Ty-Lee laughed, getting out of bed swiftly. "I am a lot better now! It was just kind of weird, and the tent is so red that with the haze, it was hard to see anything. I've adjusted, though! Watch!"
Her friend did a handstand on the fingertips of her index fingers. While Azula herself was no slouch in terms of her agility, flexibility, and strength, Ty-Lee was truly monstrous in that niche at this point. The circus had taken her natural flexibility, strength, and agility and enhanced them several times over.
Perhaps she would rescind her initial condemnation of the hovel. It had, if nothing else, sharpened her tool for her. Perhaps Omashu had allowed Mai to improve her skills as well. It would be a shame if those whom she deemed capable companions had stagnated.
"Well, I am glad that you are…still able to do whatever that is." It was a handstand, but on the fingertips. What did you even call that? A finger-stand? If Azula called it that and was wrong, it would be worthy of ridicule. "I come here with a proposition. Do you remember my brother?"
"Oh yeah!" Ty-Lee smiled. "Mai had the cutest crush on him! Remember?"
Indeed, she did. If Zuko had been clever, he could have leveraged that emotion to try to get some benefit from Mai's family, even if he was on the run, discreet or not. A dishonored, banished prince was still a good opportunity for a grasping noble such as Ukano after all, good to have in his debt with relative ease and just as easy to give up to his own benefit. Alas, her brother was but a lost turtle-duck in the lion-vulture nest that was royal politics.
Such actions would never occur to him. Which meant that he would only head to Omashu if he knew the Avatar would possibly be going there. If the rumors about his dogged pursuit were true, perhaps he would manage that.
"Well, my father has declared both him and my fuddy-duddy old Uncle as traitors." Azula glanced at her nails. They remained pristine, despite the mess with the bandits earlier. It was technically the truth. While officially she was tracking the Avatar, whom she would still capture and neutralize as was her prerogative, her true intention was to fix Captain Feng's little slip-up and capture Zuko, correcting the flaw on her record and finally claiming a true position as Crown Princess, in an official capacity.
"Aww, man." Ty-Lee flipped back upright yet remained held up by her fingertips. Really, what were those digits made of? Steel? "Your Uncle was so funny! Kind of shame, isn't it?"
"Well, executing family members is frowned upon." Azula smiled, poking a bit of fun. Just like the old times. "So perhaps we can keep him around as the court fool. I am sure he will thank you for the suggestion, even."
"Hehe, that's a great idea, Azula!" As always, Ty-Lee smiled and praised her, though it seemed that time had not helped her get Azula's jokes like Mai had been able to. "How are you going to capture them?"
"My Uncle has already been captured, and it will hopefully remain that way, for the sake of the future careers of the brave men and women of the Ashstrider." Azula very much doubted that they could contain the old geezer now. While there had been many precautions, things like grease had to be reapplied, and even the chains were taken off on occasion for some ambulation to prevent any issues before being presented in court. While these sorts of measures were never removed at the same time, each one, even individually, posed enough of an escape risk that she was sure someone capable of matching her, like Uncle, would be able to manage an escape. "We will be tracking down my brother."
Thankfully, Zuzu had provided a way for even such an eventuality to be a net benefit for them with his report on the bounty hunter June and that delightfully useful sounding beast of hers. Perhaps she could ask where to find some of her own, with some incentives.
"I'd love to, Azula…but I think the circus really needs me!" Ty-Lee, ever the bleeding heart, explained. Though it seemed that the bleeding heart only extended to people who weren't named Azula. "Look how panicked they are when I went out of commission for possibly just a single show!"
"If they are dependent on a single act to carry their weight, then they hardly deserve to continue functioning." A circus act was already the entertainment of peasants, but to have it carried by a single facet? Did the other performers have no shame or sense of pride? Or were they simply content with the gold that filled their pockets?
"But I love it here as well, Azula!" Did she not love spending time with an old friend as well? She had spent quite some time already with the circus! Surely travelling the world with friends would be far more interesting than some drab little circus. "Besides, do you really even need me?"
"Of course." Did she think that the Princess of the Fire Nation would travel all the way to some random circus in the colonies without necessity? "Along with my brother, I have been tasked with completing the task that Zuzu has bungled up so horrifically. Capturing the Avatar. The bonus is that my brother is likely still chasing after the boy to try and 'reclaim his honor'. My elite unit is tasked with taking them both in, preferably the Avatar, but we both know that I prefer to go for full marks. My unit would greatly benefit from your skills."
"Elite unit?" While she didn't do it, the eyebrow raise was palpable. "Like who?"
"Like whom?" Azula reflexively corrected before beginning to list off. "You, me, Mai, and the newly promoted Special Officer Yoru."
"Hey!" Ty-Lee shouted, pointing at her in shock. "One of those things is not like the other. That last one! Yoru…is that a boy's name?"
Azula did not appreciate the emphasis on Yoru's gender that Ty-Lee was stressing while waggling her brows at her.
"I feel as if you are insinuating things." She much preferred to be the one insinuating things.
"I was just wondering what kind of guy could have caught your eye, Azula!" Ty-Lee chirped. "I mean, me and Mai are your friends. We didn't think any guy could be interesting to you!"
"Mai and I," Azula corrected again, though now she wondered how this girl had managed to pass her classes. "He kept up with my Uncle in battle and played a pivotal role in preventing him from escaping. Tracking Zuko while also tracking the Avatar was his idea as well. Add in the logistical benefit of having a second proficient fire-bender in facing the Avatar and his bending teachers, he made a natural fit for the team."
"So cold!" Ty-Lee shivered. "Is he at least cute?"
"He is…physically attractive." Ty-Lee was the better judge of these things. Azula knew what looked good, but beyond that, the specifics of boys, and others in general, really, beyond their skills, how to make the best use of them, and their general weaknesses were lost on her.
"Hmmm." The acrobat gave her a look. "Alright, let's meet him! I can't let my friend hang out with some weirdo! If he is nice, I think it might be fun to join your gang."
Azula was more than capable of recognizing if she was hanging out with a weirdo. Though Yoru was admittedly somewhat of a weirdo with his strange drive for battle. But that was the kind of weirdness that was beneficial in a combat-focused squad.
"We are going to capture the greatest enemy of the Fire Nation, the most powerful bender in the world, supposedly, and we are an elite unit." Azula decided to put the thoughts of Yoru's weirdness away for the moment. She had not failed to notice how Ty-Lee had grown fonder than in their youth. Back in the day, despite her pliability, she tended to stick with her decisions without some drastic intervention from either her or Mai. Time away had changed her, and only time would say if it was for the better. "And drag my brother back in shame, of course."
It would not do to forget her favorite part of the mission.
"Totally!" Ty-Lee nodded her agreement. "But still! Azula hanging out with a cute boy? It's totally worth checking out! Besides, with the whole gang back together and some added firepower, aren't the Avatar and Zuko basically roasted and toasted already?"
"Yes." Azula hummed in agreement. "Indeed. Come along then, Ty-Lee, I'll introduce you to Special Officer Yoru."
Once she determined where exactly he had disappeared off to. 'Securing the perimeter' of such a large venue was a vague command, so he could be anywhere at this point.
So Azula decided to follow the time-tested method of wandering around and enjoying the commoner delights alongside her friend, who decided that cartwheeling around was the only viable method of traveling for the moment.
The Princess hoped that her dear companion would not need an eye-opener to come along with her. She didn't like being heavy-handed with her friends, after all.
Yoru
I had never been to a circus before. Not the me from the 'real world', the Spirit of War, or the gestalt that merged the former with the newborn human of this world. As a result, I couldn't really compare the experience to anything else.
It was a chaotic place. Tents were placed in a way that almost resembled some kind of order, but fell just short. Food vendors were competing all over the place, and people were talking and intermingling. Local colonial residents, mainland Fire Nation citizens, and even the odd but daring Earth Kingdom merchant who cared more for the coin to be earned than for nationalism.
After much thought, I had decided to just go with the flow regarding Ty-Lee. There was no point in trying to control what could not be controlled, a lesson that the part of me that was the Spirit of War wished we could impart to Conquest, if we ever got around to meeting them. In a non-hostile situation.
For now, though, I was being entertained by the local fire-bending performers. While they couldn't compare themselves to master-benders, it was still interesting to watch and possibly something that I could learn from.
They had molded the fire to be more flash than substance, normally an imperfection worked out of fire-bending, but perhaps it could be used as a flash-bang or a bluff? Tricking the enemy with seemingly harmless flames before hitting them with the truly dangerous stuff.
It was worth looking into at a later date, once I got my other projects a bit further developed. The priority was still the fire lightsaber! Disposable knives, like what Azula and Zuko had used and thrown around, were okay, but they just weren't as cool as twirling around a genuine blade made of fire.
"There you are." A haughty voice caught his attention, and he turned around to see his 'boss', the Princess Azula, and Ty-Lee, who was even cuter than I had imagined. "Is watching third-rate benders your idea of 'securing the perimeter', Special Officer?"
"If I were an assassin or an attacker, pretending to be a measly fire-bending street performer would be an excellent way to lower my target's guard before striking." I shrugged, turning my attention to Ty Lee, who was looking at me strangely.
So, aura-weirdness then, I guess it was to be expected. At least she wasn't recoiling in primal terror like that one soothsayer my parents had brought me to, or choked, keeled over, and died on the spot like the second and last soothsayer.
"I assume that this is the talented Ty-Lee?" I bow slightly. From what I remember, she did come from a noble clan, and even if she had joined the circus, showing a bit of decorum wouldn't hurt. It helped that she was a respectable and interesting person. "The Princess has spoken very highly of you, and I hope to work well with you in the future. If she has agreed to join up, that is."
I make sure to word that last bit properly. Azula does not like to 'fail' at anything, even things like recruiting a friend. Especially things like recruiting a friend, actually.
"She…is still on the fence." That must have hurt her pride to admit. "She wanted to take a look at who exactly warranted joining that wasn't part of our old friend group. Actually, you've been rather quiet, Ty-Lee. Is everything all right?"
Those words were enough to knock Ty-Lee out of her funk as she looked at her friend.
"Oh, yeah!" She glanced at me again for a moment, blinking her eyes. It felt like something had clicked in her mind. "I was just taking him all in. You've got good taste, Azula!"
How flattering.
"Of course, what else did you, wait, what are you talking about, Ty-Lee!" Was that embarrassing? The gap moe was strong with this one. If she blushed like that after massacring a bandit camp or some Earth Kingdom settlement, it might be too much for me!
"Hehe." The girl in question giggled. "Let's all talk more after getting something to eat! After all that mess earlier today, I really need something good to eat! There is this delicious Fried Moo-sow stick vendor that is just so freaking good!"
Despite her own usually assertive self, it appeared that Ty-Lee's sheer extrovertedness had caught Azula off guard enough that the girl was able to drag both me and me to the vendor in question, and within the blink of an eye, we were sitting at some table and chowing down.
"This is a great time for a meet and greet!" Ty-Lee made quite the sight, having enough enthusiasm for the entire table while both Azula and I sat, not awkwardly, but certainly not with the social ease of the trapeze artist herself. "We can all talk about who we are and introduce ourselves! Just like back at the Royal Fire Academy!"
"Isn't this a little pointless?" Azula complained. "We will just end up repeating the whole thing when Mai joins up. It would make far more sense to have a little powwow once the whole team is together."
"But Azulaaaaaa." Ty-Lee cried. "I am dying of curiosity! I need the deets! I need them!"
Azula turned to me and mouthed the word deets, all the while confused. Some slang transcended the space-time boundary, or people just weren't that creative, even in a multiverse.
"It wouldn't hurt to share our details ." The Princess's eyes turned to me before flashing with understanding. "Hopefully, we will be travelling together, and nothing sounds better for a trip than actually knowing your travel partners."
"You know, Azula and I have known each other basically forever!" Ty-Lee spoke in between bites. "So, let's start with you, Yoru! You have got to have some good stories if even Azula thinks that you are a great fire-bender. She has super high standards!"
"I didn't say great!" Azula paused and then sighed. "But I suppose it was implied by his ability to handle my Uncle, wasn't it?"
Perhaps she had realized that if she didn't say he was great, it would mean that she had lost to someone who was merely good. A compliment that was more to assuage her own pride, but it was still a compliment.
My fire-bending, as developed as it was, was something that I had a lot of pride in. A combination of natural talent via being War incarnate, coupled with the know-how and willingness to work to try to reach the pinnacle of the art.
"My past is hardly much of a secret." I didn't want to drag this conversation down with some 'depressing' past, so I would just skim the details that would be unpleasant. "Stuff happened in my youth, and I ended up alone quite young, scrounging around. For a young boy with no background and no familial background, normally, there isn't much opportunity for advancement. However, I was a fire-bender, so I simply honed the skill that could help me better my situation."
"Oh, I'm sorry if we poked at any bad memories." Ty-Lee apologized, seeming to dampen despite my attempts to try and make the story more palatable. Being considered an orphan was more convenient, and it was true in a way; my real parents weren't around anymore. Yet it was still more of a downer than I intended it to be.
"It is ancient history." Beyond the occasional thought here and there, I had mostly put that part of my life out of mind. The past was the past; time either left you behind or you walked forward with it. "If you want to know a fun fact about me, I did spend some time being trained as a Fire Sage."
"Truly?" This time, it was Azula who interjected, her passive curiosity turning into a more active fascination. "From what I know of you, you don't seem like the type."
"People change from when they were a child, Princess." I chuckled while she relented with a frown. My little theory that I would be able to get away with a bit more cheek when Ty Lee was around was proving to hold some substance to it. Not by much, but it was something. "My fire-bending was good, and I had unparalleled spiritual awareness, so I was brought in as an initiate in the group that dealt with Spirit-related matters throughout the nation for a time."
Infiltrating one of the organizations meant to reduce the impact of malevolent spirits, such as myself, had been a real hoot. Shame that they had fallen out of favor since the time of Fire Lord Ozai, and that whatever foundation of loyalists remained tended to be sympathetic to Raava's get.
"Considering you joined the Navy, I can only conclude that it was not to your liking?" Azula asked while Ty-Lee watched our exchange curiously.
"Quite so." It hadn't been terrible, honestly, just bland. Dealing with spirits was just difficult. Nine out of ten times, it was just some overly superstitious peasant or someone trying to pretend to be a spirit to extort their neighbor over some ancient territorial boundary. The one or two times that it was a spirit, it was either simply dispelled or something no one could actually do anything about, like an obscure Vengeful Spirit. "Once I knew of my more combative nature, I knew that my future did not align with their order, so I left and joined the Navy. I do consider myself capable in spiritual matters due to their teachings, however."
I actually meant this.
The Spirit of War, as I had learned many times before, had been out of the world for far too long. The new natural order of this world, this world of four elements, was strange and foreign to it. The spirits had changed with the times as well, to a lesser level, but they still had changed to a noticeable degree. The Fire Sages' knowledge had supplemented my own instinctive knowledge quite well.
"You know, when I was young, I thought about joining or at least meeting the Fire Sages." Ty-Lee chimed in, then elaborated upon noticing the surprised glances she got from both Azula and me. "I mean, I didn't know you had to be a fire-bender at the time! I just figured it would be great to put my aura-sight into use!"
"Aura-sight?" I asked. I didn't need to fake curiosity despite already knowing that she possessed such an attribute. It was truly a fascinating manifestation of spiritual awareness. I was certain that it was real, to some extent due to my own spiritual senses, but it appeared as a method of detecting the true emotions and tales of others was quite a variant from the more classic signs of spirituality that the Fire Sages had recorded. "I must admit, I do not know much about such an ability."
"Yeah, I figured." Ty-Lee sighed. "My parents looked into it with the Fire Sages a long time ago, and they said that there was no such thing. Some healers said that I probably had a condition where some other 'sensory input' appears in the form of colors. But I swear that my aura-sight is accurate about people's emotions! It is Azula-approved, even!"
"You have simply been too accurate on too many occasions for it to be mere happenstance." Azula seemed to be fine with accepting aura-sight as a thing, even if she was showing some clear reluctance. "Whatever it may be, the results are undeniable, and that is all that really matters."
"Well, perhaps we can talk about the matter if you decide to join the group." It would really be good if Azula didn't have to threaten Ty-Lee into joining. Having proper friends might stop her from being too much of a basket case while still being the hot kind of crazy. "The world is pretty big, and despite what those smelly fossils say, there is probably a lot that we don't know about our world and spirit stuff."
Sorry, Fire Sages, but you all were seriously lame. And possibly dead, depending on how badly Ozai took their betrayal.
"Alright then, Yoru!" Ty-Lee gave me a thumbs up. "You have the Ty-Lee seal of approval!"
"This has been a rather unequal meet and greet." I was the only one who had blabbed about my past! Ty-Lee had just casually mentioned her aura-sight, which I had already basically known about. "I would very much like to take the opportunity to know more about Princess Azula and you, Ty-Lee."
"What a charmer!" The bubbly girl laughed. "But Azula is right! If we spill everything here, then when Mai joins up, it'll be kind of awkward! Build up the anticipation from the backstory! And Azula's!"
"You two are certainly taking liberties with me having to divulge my 'past', aren't you?" Azula asked, eyebrow raised. Though she seemed more amused than annoyed, luckily. "Well, I don't mind doing so. Ty-Lee and Mai were already privy to most of the information, so it isn't a secret. Perhaps, if I am in a good mood, I might share a secret of my own."
An Azula secret? It was either something minor that she would laugh about either of us getting excited over or something so monumentally huge that if we let it leak out, we would be total goners.
"I look forward to it."
Azula nodded before turning back to Ty-Lee.
"You have gotten a measure of your prospective team-mate." She said every word with a clinical sort of precision. "Do you accept my proposition?"
It was too soon to be asking that, in my opinion at least. Ty-Lee seemed a bit more comfortable around Azula than in canon when she was asked this, but it didn't change the fact that the foundation of their relationship was tainted by the power difference and judicious use of fear as a control tactic.
"Yeah!" Ty-Lee, to my shock and Azula's pleasure, nodded. "It sounds like it will be interesting! I just need to talk with the others first."
Did having me as a buffer against Azula really make it more tolerable? Or did she realize that Azula was pretty serious about this and was moved by the trust? Of course, there was the most likely explanation, which was that if she refused, she would find herself persuaded by less than pleasant means.
"Very well." Azula sounded very relaxed, but I had gotten better at reading her since travelling, and the slight upturn of her lip might as well be a full-blown smile. "There is no need to rush. It will be dark soon, and we can leave tomorrow on the morrow."
Easier for us than Ty-Lee, fire-benders rose with the sun.
"It's fine, Azula!" Ty-Lee shook her head. "I have to speak with him anyway if we want to get both of you a place to stay. We aren't at full capacity yet, so we should have stuff, but since I'm going to be talking with him, I might as well give him the news to his face, right?"
"It is your prerogative." Azula shrugged.
I didn't know this circus owner dude, so I couldn't suggest what the best method of addressing the change would be, but I figured that letting him know as soon as possible was the responsible thing to do, if inconvenient. I am also not sure how much Ty-Lee would appreciate someone randomly telling her the best way of talking to someone she had known for years.
Frankly, I was just glad that things had worked out so well.
Ty-Lee
"Ty-Lee, are you sure about this?" Shuzumu asked, his face afraid. "You've told me what the Princess is like. I've heard rumors of what she is like! And you want to spend the foreseeable future alongside her?"
"I know it sounds weird, but please trust me!" Ty-Lee clasped her hands together. "I might be a bit flighty, but I don't do things that I can't do!"
"That girl unnerves me, Ty-Lee." Shuzumu sighed. "While the circus will feel your loss, that is not why I beg you to reconsider! I fear for you."
"I already accepted." She admitted. "If denying her was risky enough, then rejecting her after accepting her would be jumping right into the worst-case scenario."
"Then run away!" The old man begged. "The Earth Kingdom has many opportunities for skilled dancers and acrobats. I even have a few erstwhile entrepreneurial Earth Kingdom allies who would quite gladly take in someone as skilled as you!"
"Please, I haven't asked much of you, have I?" Ty-Lee had come to care for the little family she had made at the circus. The other trapeze artists, the animals, the strong men, even the new jokester Chuckles, who was trying to create a new kind of role called a 'clown'. "I know that my stories, the stories you have heard, and what little you saw of her paint a…not nice picture, but she is my friend! She is actually a little bit nicer than she used to be."
"That only makes me happy that I didn't have to meet her back then." Shuzumu groaned. "Fine, Ty-Lee, you seem to be committed to this disaster in the making. I'll write a letter of introduction for you in case you need to flee while in the Earth Kingdom. Many of the merchants are people I have had dealings with.
"I knew you had some Earth Kingdom connections, but that many?"
"The Plague and the ensuing famines have brought about the strangest of cooperation." The circus owner laughed. "But seriously, be safe, Ty-Lee. The Royal Family has always been surrounded by rumors of the most unpleasant variety."
"You need to stop talking to that old geezer who claims he is from Caldera City Shuzumu!" Ty-Lee huffed. "I know for a fact that he isn't! He always makes you believe the weirdest stuff, too!"
"Bah!" Shuzumu scoffed. "Whatever Ban says, being true or false hardly matters. I know people. That girl is more nuts than Shin's little travel mix!"
"Seriously, stop saying stuff like that!" Ty-Lee warned. While Azula had a soft spot for her, she did not want to test just how far the protection it granted went. Shuzumu had been a mentor and good friend to her; she did not want to see him killed or severely punished because he couldn't keep his mouth shut.
"How will you know if she decides to turn on you?" Shuzumu asked. "Normally, you have that aura-sight thingy of yours, but with it on the fritz, can you really count on her to be sensible?"
"I am not hopeless at reading people without it!" Learning chi-blocking had been a path to many other 'accessory' skills like cold-reading, analysis, and long-term analysis, which allowed one to almost 'read' the mind of their target. It had been useless back when her aura-sight was fully functional, but now it would have to do."
Despite what Shuzumu, her closest friends in the circus, and even Azula thought, Ty-Lee did not hate the fact that this 'haze' had appeared and thrown everything she knew into disarray.
In truth, she was excited beyond measure.
For all of her life, she had just been another molded imprint. One of the Ty-Sisters. A cog in the machine that was her family.
It wouldn't have been intolerable if there had been something that she could call hers.
But every time she tried something new, something unique, her sisters would latch on, and what was hers became theirs. Another quirky trait that all the Ty-Sisters shared.
Even her aura sight, something she alone had possessed in the family, was a 'trend' that the rest of her sisters had caught onto, despite not having the gift themselves. Couldn't they let her have even a single thing to herself?
Ty-Lee was a happy person, though, so despite how much it burned her to just be another cog, she had accepted it with a smile. For years.
Then, an unexpected blessing showed itself when she went to the Royal Fire Academy for Girls.
Azula.
A temperamental and difficult girl, but that selfish instinct in her was something that Ty-Lee had, against all odds, grown to cherish.
Azula was selfish and efficient, so she could only bother to care for one of the Ty-Sisters. The rest of her family were afterthoughts, at best. It would have bugged her if her family were any other way than it was.
Instead, Ty-Lee had found something that made her unique. Ty Lee, friend to Azula. None of her sisters could take it from her, as Ty-Woo had learned when she had pretended to be her to Azula. The burn had been small and healed quickly, but it had taught a powerful lesson.
Soon after, she had made friends with Mai. A bit friendlier, in some ways, but yet another person who could not be bothered to care about the rest of her family, even when they introduced themselves to her.
Recognizing Ty-Lee despite her being in a crowd of identically dressed siblings because she had 'looked like a lost baby' had won Mai her everlasting friendship.
As she grew up and forged her own path, however, she came to realize that whatever friendship she and Azula shared was born from something poisonous in both of them.
Azula wanted friends, but only knew how to use fear to advance her means. Ty-Lee wanted to be unique, so she used a girl who just wanted real friends. They were both sinners, and the younger she had been, the more fine with such an indulgence.
But time away at the circus had opened her eyes, and as Yoru has so wonderfully put it, people change from when they were children. She had made friends at the circus who valued her and found a place that valued her skills, and either didn't know about her myriad sisters or just didn't care. It was magnificent.
But there had always been that part of her that was yearning for more. More to stand out, because even if no one else cared, Ty-Lee always feared that one day she would become just another Ty.
But the haze? It was new, mysterious, and unknown. Her aura-sight had never taken in anything like it before; in fact, it seemed to always be roiling and moving around like some living thing.
It was only when she had glanced at Azula's new friend that the origin of the anomaly had finally been made known to her.
At first glance, she had been shocked when this Yoru appeared to have no aura. Briefly, she had wondered if those old stories about Sozin and the Spirit of Victory had not just been an old wives' tale, and if this Yoru had sold himself for power.
But as he and Azula had begun to talk, she noticed that the haze was practically solid around him. More than that, it appeared to be radiating off of him.
Then she had realized what was going on.
It wasn't that he didn't have an aura; it was just that she had been inside of it the whole time. It was what had been obscuring her vision. Yet was that not ridiculous?
Yoru had been riding to the circus alongside Azula, so he must have been ages away when she first started seeing the haze. It should have been a ridiculous theory. Auras did differ in size, with people who had stronger souls and conviction, like Azula, seeming like roaring bonfires, while the strong-willed but compromising, like Shuzumu, were more akin to the gentle campfire. But to envelop such a large area?
She doubted even the Fire Lord could claim such overwhelming power. This brought a lot of interesting questions, ones that Ty-Lee found herself really wanting to know the answer to.
Did he know about it? Was he human? What were his intentions for the Fire Nation? To Ty-Lee? To Azula? What was he going to do now that she knew?
She needed to know. Now. This is no doubt why she had found herself in front of the tent that had been granted for the man in question.
Part of her was afraid. That the similarities between Yoru and Azula ran deeper than she believed. In which case, confronting him directly would be a horrible idea. Yet...she could not help herself. There were just too many questions that she needed answered, too many mysteries. Despite that bit of fear, she knew that if she waited, if she hesitated, there would not be another opportunity to get proper answers. Not with Azula hovering in proximity from that point onwards.
"Hey Yoru!" She decided to just be herself. No need to overcomplicate things. "It's me, Ty-Lee! I just wanted to talk about some stuff. Of the spiritual variety!"
Sometimes her genius surprised her as well. With this, his guard would be lowered, and he would ask her inside! So that she could surprise him with a bunch of questions!
"Are you sure you should be here, Ty-Lee?" The reference to Azula and her possessiveness, both to him and her, did not need to be mentioned directly. "Azula and I rise with the sun, but you will need every bit of sleep you can muster. We are planning to ride through the plague-infested Earth Kingdom. Whatever bits that aren't friendly territory, like the newly captured Omashu or plague-ridden areas, are in the hands of our enemy. Vigilance and rest will be needed. We can-"
"I need some answers, please!" She bowed, not to the ground as if to royalty, but a curt, brief downward dip and return. "I won't be able to sleep otherwise."
"…very well, come inside then." The flap opened up, and Ty-Lee quickly bounded into the roomy tent. There was no rich material like Azula's, or extra furniture provided by the circus like her friend had been, but it still felt distinctly like a home of sorts. The ground was dirt, but a nice soft blanket was laid to lie on with another blanket to cover oneself with, since, unlike the Fire Nation, the Colonies themselves did get chills in the Spring, just like most of the rest of the world. "I'd say not to touch anything, but there is hardly anything to touch even if you were to do so."
"I like it!" She did! It was very him. "It is very you!"
"I'll…take that as a compliment." He should, it was. Most people tried to be way more complicated than they actually were, herself included. The straightforward types were always her types for a reason. Yoru stuck his head out of the tent, as if to double-check that no one was eavesdropping before re-entering and turning to give her a sharp look. "What sort of answers did you want?"
"Hm." Ty-Lee was now wishing she had taken some time to plan out how she wanted to go about this. "I guess I'll cut straight to the point? Uhm, what exactly are you? Exactly?"
"Let me guess, my aura is weird?" Wow, he really sounded like Mai just then! Though unlike her, he seemed to actually mean what he said rather than that kind of sassy backtalk that her best friends seemed to enjoy.
"Yup!"
"Out of curiosity, in what was it weird?"
"It reaches way too far." That was a diplomatic way to say it!
"So, you mean to say that my aura is the biggest that you've seen?" Eh! Ty-Lee had pegged him for a female Azula, but that wry grin meant that he knew exactly why she worded it like that, while Azula would have just made a totally accidental innuendo and move on!"I said it the way I did for a reason!" Whatever he was, he didn't seem like a bad person. Maybe he was just a weirdly strong bender, or someone blessed by a spirit. Though in that case, she couldn't help but wonder what the Avatar would look like to her.
"That aura-sight of yours really is a fascinating ability," Yoru muttered. "At some point, I'd like to run some tests if you don't mind."
"As long as you don't try to pop my eyes out of my head or anything!" She looked at him warily. "You won't, right?!"
Spirits did weird stuff! Everyone knew about Koh, the Face-Stealer, and the other spirits that parents told their children about to get them to go to bed. Or prayed away.
"This isn't Naruto."
"Eh?"
"Nothing."
"Well, in that case, can you please explain?" She was even polite about it! Was she the nice one for a reason? Mai would have just tried to stab him, and Azula would have threatened to burn him to cinders or something like that. Was Mai perhaps the craziest one out of them all?
"I am thinking of a way to do so that is succinct but not overly so." He talked a lot like Azula, with a bunch of big words. Wasn't he an orphan, though? Well, she supposed the Fire Sages were a big stickler for tradition.
Depending on how much of that backstory was true.
"Was the stuff you told me earlier about you…real?" She had felt a bit of a connection there, so while she would understand having to hide his identity, it would definitely feel awful for her.
"Yes, it was." Yoru shook his head. "I am the mortal incarnation of a Spirit. Sort of like the Moon and Ocean Spirits."
"What?"
"Damn, I guess you don't know about them." Yoru hissed to himself. "See, this is why I prefer to be the one doing the dramatic reveal."
"So, in that case, what kind of spirit are you, Yoru?" He looked at her, and she really took in how otherworldly his eyes were. The gleaming red with rings of gold seemed to look into her very soul.
"What kind of spirit am I?" His gaze remained locked on her, a smug-looking smirk on his face. "Just wait and see."
"Huh?" Ty Lee gaped. "What kind of anti-climax is that! Even the Ember-Island Players aren't such hacks!"
"Shut up!" Her newest friend huffed. "I didn't have any time to prepare for this, alright! I was just winging this whole conversation."
Despite her still somewhat present worries about what kind of spirit he was and what his intentions were, Ty-Lee felt a lot more at ease with this oddly flustered spirit.