========= 31 - Public figure ==========
Ask anyone, and all circus clowns will tell you that they joined the travelling circus to feel needed. There aren't many non-military, non-war-related professions in the world that are based on genetic abnormalities, amazing acrobatics, animal training, or strength. Those who have more money and influential families with excellent connections become private tutors; the second are obliged to use their knowledge in war, because they can no longer find other opportunities to apply their strength; in an era without the internet, it is difficult to find out about suitable professions, especially if they are only in demand on the other side of the continent; the latter simply accept their fate and either take up honest work but difficult work, becoming miners and the like, or taking on dirty and dangerous jobs that are particularly prevalent in times of war. Over time, I began to understand that people go to the circus with the specific intention of bringing something bright into this dark time; for some, it is undoubtedly just a business or a boring job, but if there are people who have fled here from their past lives and are now blissful, bringing nothing but joy to those around them, then I am in the right place to learn about love.
As for Zhao, he got away. There was no way I could have captured him, let alone communicate with him, as he was an explosion mage. I didn't kill him or turn him into a mummy either, because I'm too attached to my disguise and the place where I am, but I did ensure that he would have problems for many, many years to come. Even if the spirits fall behind my enemy as he leaves the city, he has already been subjected to intense psychological pressure and has begun, I'm not afraid to say it, to lose his mind. However, considering that Zhao planned to destroy the moon spirit, thereby endangering the entire world, he was already more than crazy enough, but now the entire command of the Fire Nation will be able to see it, and I really hope that this will lead to his further dismissal from office. Or at least he won't be given the rank of General. And getting to his cold, homeless body, which won't be expecting any attack, and quietly putting him into a coma will be my personal achievement. However, right now I have to think about something else entirely.
"Ha-ha-ha, look at them, without Zhao, people are somehow more relaxed, the show will be great! - Jumping onto a small wall behind which a crowd of people had gathered, waiting for some kind of unique show, Tai Li did a somersault in the air and landed elegantly nearby.
"That's excellent. Tai Li, how about a strength act with me?" said the strongman standing next to her, raising his eyebrows. In fact, we were surrounded by circus performers who needed to be paired up. Considering the number of performances that were still owed, the Ringmaster called on us to perform one of the pre-prepared acts, find a partner we got along with best, and give an open performance. No one was standing behind us or watching, so you could call it... improvisation.
That's why all the men were hitting on the young acrobats, offering to perform with them, and the girls were evaluating the candidates, sometimes even approaching them on their own, mostly those they liked... No one approached me at all. Not a single person, not even a man.
I may have talked to some of the dashing circus workers, but I didn't manage to make friends with anyone. Maybe it was because I was just a newbie, or because my gaze still seemed intimidating to anyone who didn't spend much time with me. Given my responsibilities to study the works of the guru, I was literally unable to spend hours with anyone. My body might have been in good shape, but my face was scarier than fire magic. Only one person took the initiative and agreed to perform with me, but I had no idea how much he liked me after our relationship went slightly off the rails.
Looking at Tai Li, chatting happily with suitable men who were inviting her to perform with them, and even with Barbarian Buchi — and that's not an insult, just his nickname — I caught myself thinking again that she was paying attention to everyone. She exuded an aura of comfort, clearly enjoying herself with everyone there. How could I get her attention after that and ask her to teach me something? I wasn't the only one she was spending a lot of time with. Unlike those egg-beating guys, I only wanted practical benefits... or maybe that was the problem? All my chakras made me look at the world from a practical point of view, even fun, which encourages you to enjoy your actions, was just self-care. There was nothing that made me want to join in.
In general, I was just beginning to understand how these chakras were divided. The first three were undoubtedly based on personal development, strengthening the inner spirit and other practical skills, and their disclosure gave access to becoming a highly skilled master of one's craft; love and truth, in turn, resembled something tied to society, and I'm not talking about personal perception, it was a fact that the chakras affected other beings, which I... had problems with, because it was difficult to call myself a sociable guy. And to make someone do something by showing willpower and to win someone over by demonstrating something that could be described as love — although I would choose a different synonym — are somewhat different things. As for enlightenment and cosmic energy, this is definitely something distant from one's personality and society; at these stages, you expand your consciousness beyond the boundaries of the world. If I have problems even with society, it's hard to understand how the last two will open up; it seems so distant that it has nothing to do with me.
I seem to be getting more philosophical. In that case...
"Hey, who wants to be part of the coolest performance with me? - Standing on a box and raising my voice, I even made Afka open her eyes in shock, and attracted the attention of the performers." - We can put on the coolest power show, or combine gymnastics and muscles to surprise the people behind this wall with the best power acrobatic show. Hey, pet owner, how about performing with my Afka? I'm sure she'd be delighted.
The problem isn't her look. It's me. With a bright smile, I announced my intentions and attracted a fair amount of attention. Some people immediately decided to come over to discuss possible performances, and a crowd finally gathered around me.
"Hey, Monk, won't your Afka be scared of my tiger?
"Algrus, you're so funny, you should be worried about the tigers, not my little fox.
"Monk, can you lift two tigers with me standing on them while holding another tiger in your hands?
"Buchi, I'll never let anyone mock my animals like that!
"...Maybe we should have an obstacle course and see who can get through it better," Tai Li said, coming up to me. With her hands behind her back, she slyly recalled how we had climbed the wall. Apparently, it had amused her so much that she wanted to do it again.
"Ty Lee, I may not be an acrobat, but rest assured that my agility will impress all the performers.
Unbound by moral or ethical constraints, undeterred by her past, the young circus performer agreed to perform, and when the time came, she showed me how to love not just your work, but the very feeling of belonging — performing for free in the middle of the city, accompanied by a loud orchestra, performing her crazy stunts and making people marvel at our joint show. As it happened, we are still making up for the cancelled circus performance, trying to restore the most important thing - our reputation. But even despite the betrayal of the people of fire, we resorted to force to deliberately send the army commander to distant lands, and, moreover, sending a couple of dozen spirits with him, who would undoubtedly feed on negative emotions, could not be called anything other than betrayal. Tai Li was not simply unrepentant, she was beside herself with the fact that she had somehow influenced the lives of those around her, in a good way.
"And it's unbelievable, the Monk is simply destroying the barrels he needs to overcome, while the Acrobat is running on ropes stretched above the ground, showing an amazing sense of balance," - let it be unacceptable, but the arena inspector was describing our movements like a judge at a magic show. I thought it would add more excitement, so I asked the man to use his skills to describe what we were doing. We jumped, pushed each other away and got in each other's way, as if we were really fighting, and the man just commented, but it made such an impression on the audience that they watched our performance without taking their eyes off us.
One thing I could say for sure: by adopting this love for something immaterial, I took a significant step towards opening the next chakra. And as an additional reward for this revelation, I received some special attention from the girl. It was already evening.
"Since you say you're a doctor, you must know that qi is a simple energy in the human body, but it finds its physical manifestation in very, very small points in the body of every creature," she said, standing close to my half-naked body, running her fingers over my muscles, pressing lightly on certain places to indicate the location of the Qi points, the smiling girl presented me with a verbal summary that I had to memorise without pen and paper. "Magicians learn to direct the flow of Qi within their bodies, but they know little about their own structure. Do you know what the secret is?
"The air nomads all learned to meditate and control qi. That's why there was such a high percentage of magicians among them," she nodded in confirmation of her words that ignorance of one's own structure and the workings of qi greatly limits modern magicians.When you think about it, even the water mages from the North Pole limit themselves in the most foolish way. The girls there cannot fight, so they have to learn qi and healing techniques, and vice versa, the men do not study qi because the females do it... Need I say that Katara, who combined these two disciplines, gained such power in her element that she amazed even the most trained soldiers. She even came close to Toph's mastery. Another waterbender who mastered chi became the best bloodbender. Isn't this proof of how knowledge of the basics affects... everything!
"Um... maybe I don't know," Tai Lee shrugged. "The most important thing is that you can not only direct Qi, but also release its raw form and infuse it into other people to block their points.
Bam*
A finger hit my forearm, drying my hand again and blocking the flow of magic.
"Well, are you interested in learning how to do it?" She looked at me as if I were a friend... not one of those circus performers she had fun with, but someone with whom she could share a secret. After all, we already shared a secret.
========== 32 - Outcasts ==========
While the idea of "wandering" initially annoyed me somewhat, because travelling long distances with a large group, settling in a new place and doing all this for a very long time meant that I would have less time for myself, now the situation in my worldview has begun to change imperceptibly: boredom from idleness has turned into an attempt to strike up conversations with circus workers; Ringmaster, who used to be angry with me, said that I was a good worker - which I tried to take as a compliment, and in general, human emotions have become a new object of interest for me. After all, when you think about it... I had rarely tried to fit in with the team at work. Either they didn't accept me at all, as in my home world, or, as in the case of my job as a blacksmith, I had to work harder than talk. When it was time to leave, I was happy to help the circus pack up, gather all their belongings, and leave the iron citadel on a cart, leaving behind an indelible impression, not only because of the story that had unfolded there and the appearance of a new friend, but also because of the atmosphere itself. As an Architect, I promised myself that one day I would learn the magnificent metalworking technology of the fire people. Although, I must admit, this vow dates back to my journey on the iron ship.
Now my training was inextricably linked to good communication, and it so happened that I began to understand why no one, including Azula and Mei, had discovered Tai Li's secret of qi blocking: the girl's attention jumped from one thing to another too quickly, and when I tried to explain something boring or talk about the basics, she fell into a state of boredom. It was ADHD at its worst, so I literally had to entertain her during this process.
"To better explain the qi points, I'll have to draw an anatomical diagram," the girl mumbled, rolling her eyes during one of our night stops where no one could see us.
"Take some ink and draw on me.
Bravely throwing off my shirt, I realised that instead of ink to cover the scars, I would have to use black paint.
"You need to become more agile so that you can move your hands and fingers more actively. Do this set of ultra-boring stretches," she said, giving me another exercise, then wanting to switch her attention to something completely meaningless and unrelated to my training.
"Listen, I've noticed that a dried-up limb bends more easily. Can you disable a couple of points for me?
These weren't workouts, but tests of my endurance and ingenuity. But having fun with Tai Li drawing on me, learning details about my body that I couldn't find in books, and listening to her laugh at my limbs dangling in all directions, which were also bent at very strange angles, was... useful. No, no, I'm not talking about practical benefits, I was just letting important human emotions wash over me. At least I tried to, when Tai Li's chi flowed into me, carrying with it droplets of her intentions and emotional spectrum.
"It seems you're already beginning to distinguish other people's emotions by their energy," Afka replied when I shared this discovery with her. "Actually, Tai Li turned out to be the perfect teacher.
"What are you talking about? Do you even understand how hard I'm working so that she doesn't give up on my training? It's... it's awful!
"All the masters I know — and I only know them from the works of gurus — learned to feel energy in someone else first. They didn't have a master who could pour a measured dose of qi into another body," the fox took the French press in her paws, poured me a cup of coffee and pushed it towards me, "You see? First you'll start to distinguish intentions in these fragments, then in other people. Accelerated progress.
"Perhaps," I had to admit, taking the mug. The coffee really did taste excellent.
"There are no perfect people. There are perfect spirit helpers. Fy-fy-fy.
***
"Today will be more fun, I'll teach you how to release raw chi from your own body," Tai Li said, standing early in the morning a few dozen metres from the circus that had set up shop next to one of the towns. "Let's spar. You'll need to not only try to release your energy, but also hit the target. I hope you gave it your all during your agility training, otherwise you won't be able to hit back in real life.
A young circus performer in a colourful costume stood on one leg, striking a heron pose, and beckoned me with her hand. Since using my senses in this training would be considered cheating, as I am not a magician at the moment, I had to engage in a normal, human fight.
Once I was close, I reproduced the standard Kioshi warrior stance, aimed at protecting my body, which allowed me to parry a cascade of light but very dangerous blows: a blow to the neck, or, say, to the heart, could have ended the fight, but I caught the moment, jerked my arm, and...
"That was close. Are you really just a monk? She did a backflip and jumped off the ground several times with her hands to break the distance.
"Are you really just a gymnast? - I parried her attack and, closing in again, resumed the fight.
This time, my fingers were spread out in a palm, and when I was about to reach her body, I released thin streams of qi. She always managed to slip away, showing me that she hadn't just learned from some qi master, but little by little, the secrets of her skill were being revealed to me. Chi blocking, as I thought, was no different from the methods of intercepting someone else's element. You literally have to learn to control the flow within your body, similar to how magicians subdue the elements, and then, with the right skill, learn to block the weak points of others, similar to the methods of Subjugation of the Chi. That's why the first time Tai Li blocked the points, her emotional background was filled with a natural desire to suppress.
Emotions, desires... the better I understood the qi system and you yourself, the better I began to understand others.
Thud*
"Ouch!" Accidentally exposing her leg to a blow, Tai Li couldn't stay on her feet, so she immediately got up on her hands. Or rather... lay down? I don't know how to describe this position, but she felt as free as possible in her new inverted position. I even paused the fight," "You finally did it, congratulations. But you know, I was taught to fight even if part of my body is out of commission. As long as I have at least one arm, I can continue. Well, how about it? Are you going to attack me? A dangerous smile curved her face, while her posture was as relaxed as possible to lure me closer. That's why, when I finally got close, as close as I could from such an awkward position, both my arms were knocked out. Then I understood the meaning of that smile.
Tai Li was having the time of her life.
***
"Yay, another city. I wonder what kind of audience we'll have this time?" Approaching the gates of the new city, the lively girl looked at the simple wooden walls, the unremarkable guards, and the standard houses that we had seen time and time again in every colony. These captured territories did not shine with diversity at all, except that there were often problems with the guards, which Tai Li tried to solve. Well, she fought the consequences, not the causes, so nothing actually changed.
"Hm? - But now even I noticed something. At the entrance to the city, I saw a small sign at the gate that resembled a white lotus. As one of the members of the order explained, it was a symbol that one of our people lived in the settlement," "This place will be special.
"Yes! Every city is different from the last," Tai Li nodded in agreement.
As soon as we arrived, unpacked our things and had some free time to settle in, I decided to walk around the streets. I wasn't alone; Tai Li had become so attached to spending time together that she wanted to explore the surroundings with me.
"Hmm, there seem to be more fire mages here than we're used to," I said as we walked along the boulevards and alleys, constantly coming across stray soldiers. They kept to themselves, as if they weren't part of the same group. The reason was clear.
"They must be from different units. Their uniforms are different," we thought. While some were dressed in standard, expensive armour consisting of iron cuirasses and helmets, others were... more destitute. Leather clothing, simple brown helmets, as if they were completely different people. And the latter were even laughed at. We had already encountered a couple of situations where the city guards humiliated these "netakusiks".
"Hey, get out of here with your master, traitors aren't welcome here," several guards literally pinned them down in an alley. You could see mages humiliating ordinary residents everywhere, see the commanders bullying their subordinates — this was common practice in every squad, but to see two squads of fire mages fighting and spitting in each other's faces...
"I'll burn your face if you don't take back what you said.
"Go ahead, you dog.
Such people could start a big problem in the middle of the city. And they are fire mages, so a fight would definitely lead to a fire. So, noticing a hint of something like this, Tai Li and I quickly stepped in and... corrected the situation. To be more precise, we deftly ran through the enemies, knocking them out with swift blows to their weak points — even I was starting to get the hang of it, quick and short strikes that I could hardly have achieved before without magic, knocking out these show-offs' magic and consciousness. Then we simply moved the two squads away from each other, and magic will remain unavailable for a while so that the fight doesn't start again.
Although now I'm really interested in the reason for this. Didn't they talk about traitors and some kind of lord? There must be some important bigwig here, or even...
"Oh? - Nevertheless, right next to the scene of the brawl, my gaze caught something important. On a shop, which was apparently guarded by these guys in strange uniforms. There was a lotus symbol on it. The very place I was supposed to be looking for.
"Want to go in?" asked the girl who had approached me, as soon as she dusted off her hands. I nodded slowly, touched the door handle and opened it to look inside.
The first thing that hit my nose was the smell of herbs and tea; it was a flower shop. Then I noticed the expensive, high-quality furnishings, which exuded cosiness and a special atmosphere. And then I saw people.
"Uncle, when are we finally going to get out of this stinking place?
"Don't talk like that. Just breathe in the aroma of this excellent tea. Let's finish it, play a couple more rounds of Pai Shou, and then we can leave. Hm? At that moment, the gaze of the puffy old man sitting next to the guy, whose face was framed by a terrible burn, focused on us. "A familiar face, young man. I just can't remember where I've seen him before.
The old man rubbed his chin until Tai Li peeked out from behind my back, focusing on the guy who frowned at the sight of me.
"Zuko?" She quickly recognised the young prince... and her childhood friend.