"Uh… Mei," the little one said, clearly pulling a name out of thin air.
Well, if she doesn't want to say who she is, I won't even try to turn on logic. Let her stay "little Mei."
"And I'm Li," I lied too, grinning shamelessly.
From her face, she guessed I'd decided to keep a bit of incognito as well.
"Got it," she said again, perfectly neutral, turning her face back to the ocean and staring into the distance.
I wasn't in a hurry to break our sad silence and the staring contest with the ocean. The girl clearly didn't mind my presence, but she wasn't eager to discuss anything either—just made sure I, so to speak, slightly shared her pain.
"So how is it, without bending?" Mei asked after a while.
"Normal," I shrugged. What did she want to hear? I have nothing to compare it to. "Boring. Bending is something ethereal, incomprehensible, and cool. I'd like to have it and study it."
"Ha," Mei laughed joylessly. "If only. It's more like brutal daily training, constant injuries, and no magic sparkle at all."
"Maybe," I shrugged again. "I have nothing to compare it to. So you're a firebender?"
"Mm-hmm," the girl said, tilting her nose up a little. Clearly proud of the fact.
"Maybe show something?" I asked, but seeing her face take on exactly the wrong emotion, I hurried. "I mean anything at all. I've never seen anyone do magic."
"Hmm," she x-rayed me with a suspicious look.
Apparently two sides were fighting inside Mei: one demanded to send the impudent brat packing—she wasn't a circus monkey—the other wanted to show what she'd learned, maybe even brag a little.
"Please," I added with a small smile.
"Fine," the little one said, slightly embarrassed, turning her head away.
Aristocracy or not, she's still young, and it felt like she rarely got to talk to someone like this. For me too, so far, it hadn't happened—all communication was strictly vertical: either someone above you trying to humiliate, or below you kissing ass. No middle ground.
Mei fidgeted a bit longer, clearly for show—oh, they're making her do things—then stood up, or rather hopped off the rotten log, brushed off her already clean knees, and walked a little forward.
"I'll just show one simple kata, don't expect anything more," Mei clarified.
Is she a tsundere larva?
Okay, gotta remember to write down the new word. Associations came back, but the general meaning too. Girls who can't properly express affection or love and give the opposite. The case where "No, idiot" means "Keep going." The main thing is to understand whether she's hinting or really saying "No."
Anyway, the girl in front of me began performing a standard hand-and-foot waving dance. Kata, that is. Honestly, I see no point in memorizing sequences of movements, never have, but the old Asian masters know better.
I'd seen this kata from Deiji… only Mei's quality was clearly three heads above. I don't know how to describe it—I'm no martial arts master—but even without fire it was obvious this was practicing strikes and blocks, not just fancy limb-waving.
And when she switched to fire… Wow. Just wow.
At one moment, while performing the set, the girl began finishing each strike with a jet of flame, and that's when I understood how much I wanted bending. It hurt to the teeth with envy.
It was literally the first time I saw such precise and beautiful use of bending. Before, the most I'd seen was fueling a steampunk machine. And here… bursts of red fire in the twilight, illuminating Mei's focused little face, and her already graceful and precise movements.
I watched the kata spellbound—I'd seen it dozens of times from my room window, but only now did I understand its full beauty… though maybe it's because it's performed not by my idiot brother but by a cute little girl?
Nah, nonsense.
Seriously, Mei performed it far better. So I didn't hesitate to applaud at the end.
"Wow, I've seen this kata from my brother, but compared to you he's a duck-bear trying to dance ballet," I said, still recovering from the spectacle.
"Hm, of course. I'm the best!" Mei tossed arrogantly, nose up again, walking back and sitting on the rotten log next to me.
"After that—I believe it," I nodded importantly. It really wasn't a child's level; even an amateur like me could see the beauty. "It was really beautiful."
"You understand firebending?" Mei asked, raising an eyebrow ironically.
"Little one, that's not even funny," though in my head I was melting from her serious-ironic face she often shoots. "But it's obvious from the side. My brother's is just a kid's warm-up, and yours… clearly way above."
"Hm," was all the girl answered, turning her gaze away to hide the blush, but then she remembered herself. "Don't call me little one!"
I just gave a cheeky grin, at which the girl pouted even more, though she tried not to show it.
"You'll grow up and I'll call you something else. For now—little one, period."
"Hm," Mei turned her head, making her ponytail bounce amusingly. "Then you're a beanpole!"
"Oh, little one, is that the best you got? Weak, honestly. I expected more imagination from you."
"Ah, you! You! You can't say that!" Mei exclaimed, already losing the joking tone a bit.
"I can, I can. Don't pout. I'm just teasing you. Friendly," I clarified, because my words really seemed to hurt the girl, and she was trying to respond but lacked experience in normal communication, and misunderstandings could arise. And remember—she's a child. Though talking to her is relatively interesting.
Either she's too smart for her age, or I'm an idiot whose mental development matches his body's age. Since the latter definitely can't be true—can't be, I said!—let's take the first as fact. Mei is a smart, well-read high-born child who's a bit tired of the pomp and formality around her. Probably. Working version for now. Parents don't show emotions and she's angry about it, wants normal human warmth. Quite a popular theme among aristocratic kids. Current trend among local youth.
Considering the body's influence on the mind, age on the body, etc., my intellectual age is clearly less than at death in the previous world. I don't remember how old I was, but felt older than twenty, younger than thirty… let's say twenty-five. Now I'm probably at a teenager's level. Maybe a bit older. And the girl next to me is also mentally older and already approaching fully conscious age.
Because she really was sharper than kids her age—I'm speaking from experience talking to even older kids at school. Before I'd say it's because "as an aristocrat she's drilled in everything," but damn, I haven't noticed anyone around me being forced to study hard. Academy plus firebending for those who have it. Sometimes, very rarely, extra lessons like my calligraphy or philosophy or other subjects. But those are exceptions, and more for the lagging than the ambitious.
So Mei is probably doing the same as me—reads everything she can reach and absorbs information like a sponge, hence the developed speech and thoughtfulness.
In a way we're alike. Both still figuring out this world, ha-ha—she as a very smart kid for her age, and me as god-knows-who.
"Friendly?" the girl narrowed her eyes—far she'll go, almost inquisitorial look. "Are we friends already?"
"You have something against it?" I grinned.
"Hm."
Is there really no Uchiha clan? Maybe I got the world wrong? Because these constant "hm"s from Mei suspiciously resembled those from certain red-eyed sharers. Gotta remember to write down the new word and associations.
"Nothing against," Mei delivered the verdict, hopping childishly off the much-suffering rotten log, which creaked in response. The girl stood in front of me with a very serious face and importantly extended her small hand for a handshake.
I shook it with an equally brick-hard face, though logically she was more likely to hurt my palm than vice versa.
*
"Oh Agni, why are there so many people here," Mei exhaled irritably.
That evening we sat for several more hours discussing all sorts of topics. We really had a lot in common to talk about. I'm a bit embarrassed that I enjoy talking to a six-year-old girl, but… she's smart, unlike everyone else around, damn it, so it's fine. At least that's how I comfort myself, otherwise I'll get completely bored with this whole thing.
Anyway, we agreed to meet the next day, only earlier this time. Just to spend more time together and discuss things.
As it turned out, cold communication didn't suit Mei either. She was quite confident that communication should be strictly vertical and all honors and bows must be observed. In general, she fully supported all the bowing and face-keeping and other purely aristocratic nonsense. But at the same time she categorically refused to let me tell anything about myself.
I tried to tell her that self-deception is bad and that blaming our unofficial simple communication on not knowing who the other is changes nothing. But here the childish character came out and she refused to listen at all.
Formality is important and necessary, but we won't observe it because we don't know who's who. Strange logic, but if it's easier for her, let it be. I really don't want to lose such a conversationalist over some stupid made-up issue of vertical relations in the Fire Nation. And judging by how she feels about it—anything is possible.
And now we were sitting on the same wild beach near the same rotten log, only there were more people around than we expected. Mostly teenagers who wanted to separate from parents and have their own parties.
And of course both Mei and I were wildly annoyed by it. Instead of almost complete silence occasionally broken by waves or rustling leaves in the wind, we heard all kinds of noise, shouts, discussions, splashing sounds, etc. Talking about anything, let alone showing each other something—I mean kata in Mei's case and basic philosophy in mine, no dirty insinuations—was completely out of the question.
"Yeah, way too many people," I confirmed with a heavy sigh.
And unlike Mei, I was hot. Very hot—we were sitting right under the blazing sun, and if a firebender didn't care about the heat, I wasn't a bender and it was mercilessly roasting me.
"Wanna go swim?" I turned my head to the girl. She did the same, raising one eyebrow. "What? I'm hot. And we can't do anything about this crowd anyway."
And the thought that I was a bender still hadn't left me. Just not a firebender, something else.