"I liked you just fine before," the warrior replied with a hint of grumbling affection.
"Unfortunately, our flying little bastard and the Ocean Spirit weren't especially interested in my opinion on the matter… But enough about unpleasant things. How have all of you been while I was away?" I changed the subject to one I'd much rather talk about.
Suki clearly caught on, but let it go. Instead, she leaned back against me, wriggled a little to settle more comfortably in my embrace, and began cheerfully recounting everything that had happened.
As for me, I simply basked in the warmth of someone dear to me and, at long last, relaxed.
Though not for very long.
Before long I was doubled over laughing one moment and letting out astonished whistles the next. Left entirely to their own devices, the Kyoshi Warriors had managed to have one hell of an adventure in my absence.
For starters, the first two weeks had been devoted to a game called Catch the Helpless Little Blind Girl in a Stone City.
During that time, they'd mastered the art of taking flight from a standing start straight into the nearest pond, river, or lake; developed lightning-fast reactions to any sound that didn't quite fit the background noise of the city—lest they be launched into the air again; improved their dodging skills by an order of magnitude; and, naturally, their paranoia had increased right along with them.
Eventually, Toph grew bored with the game and simply wandered back to the group on her own.
Yeah...
Suki and the others had also done a bit of traveling...
Together with Ty Lee!
As it turned out, demonstrations by the Kyoshi Warriors in their traditional attire were quite popular, so they'd spent some time accompanying the ever-cheerful acrobat. She'd even sent me her regards—and a fiery kiss, which had to be delivered through a certain warrior maiden.
I had absolutely no objections.
The first kiss was followed by a second.
Then a third...
By the time I heard the rest of the story, it was roughly an hour later. We'd finished the second round, worked off at least some of the longing that had built up over our long separation, and were once again capable of perceiving the world around us with something approaching clarity.
***
Chan. The Following Morning
The princess and I met again over breakfast.
Azula kept casting curious glances at Suki and me, clearly intrigued by our happy—and slightly sleep-deprived—faces.
The funniest part was that we weren't sleep-deprived entirely for the reason the princess imagined. Well... partly for that reason, certainly. But we'd also gone through with our evening gathering over tea with Morishita. Judging by the way he and his wife were discreetly stifling yawns, they hadn't exactly enjoyed a full night's sleep either.
Still, we'd discussed a great many interesting and useful matters. Topics ranged from yet another abundant cabbage harvest to intriguing rumors claiming that the Avatar had been spotted somewhere along the coast accompanied by a detachment from the Earth Kingdom.
The Mechanist's latest inventions deserved a discussion of their own.
Now fully settled in Yu Dao, the Mechanist had been given earthbenders and firebenders to work with, along with the support of some of the finest engineers and the resources of a major industrial city. Unsurprisingly, he'd thrown himself into upgrading absolutely everything he could get his hands on.
Upgrading the machinery and introducing recycling had increased finished output on one hand while reducing waste dumped into the environment on the other—mainly because that very same "waste" still contained enough usable material to build another half a cruiser.
And all it had taken was installing a filtration system and cleaning the filters once every three days.
Having spent years squeezing every last bit of value from the meager resources available at the Northern Air Temple, the engineer hadn't abandoned those habits.
Fire Nation officials, meanwhile, were exceptionally good at counting money—and they understood concepts like return on investment. The savings in raw materials completely offset the cost of manufacturing and installing the additional equipment within just three months.
The blueprints had been sealed and dispatched to the Capital, while the Mechanist, having moved on to experimenting with "jet-propelled flight," buried himself in work once again.
"Morishita," the princess said at last, breaking the silence, "we'll need to visit a traveling circus. It should currently be somewhere near your city."
"Yes, Your Highness." The mayor nodded. "Master Peng's circus is camped on the outskirts, about half a day's walk from the city. I'll have our finest riding lizards prepared for you."
"Excellent." Azula turned toward me. "Chan, organizing the expedition will be your responsibility... and that of your..." She paused, searching for the right word. "...unit."
"It will be done, Princess."
I answered with a slight bow.
Organizing both the riding lizards and the personnel proved easy enough. It was familiar work with a unit I already knew well, and the stablemaster recognized me immediately—not even a year had passed since a certain Herald had rented mounts from him for his expedition.
As a result, everything was ready within half an hour.
The only real complication, and even that a minor one, was arranging transportation for Toph. Yes, surprisingly enough, that little demon in a child's body was coming with us as well.
How she'd convinced her father, I had no idea.
Most likely, she'd argued that traveling in the Herald's entourage alongside the Princess of the Fire Nation would be highly beneficial for the esteemed Lao Beifong's business interests. Whatever the case, the little bandit had invited herself along. And knowing what she was capable of in a fight, I saw no reason to refuse.
Before we could set off, however, I needed to introduce the group to one more member of our little company.
A particularly colorful member.
"All right, ladies. May I have your attention for a moment? Allow me to present... the Fire Herald." I swept a hand toward Combustion Man, who responded to the introduction with a stern nod. A chorus of admiring sighs immediately rose around us.
"He's even bigger than that actor!"
"And those eyes! I think I'm almost in love."
Ah, that was the one who'd been so eager to "reform" herself...
Yeah.
(End of Chapter)
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