Yes, firebending—no luck. I asked my new friend and the answer was clear—I'm not the first who thought cooler than boiled eggs, but the ritual really works guaranteed, and no matter how you fight it, no firebending for me.
But nothing! Two elements left. Though how to test for earthbending I have no idea. Water is easy—just swim more, something should come out eventually. At least I hope.
For now all that's left is splashing in the water and listening carefully to myself.
"Hm," Mei uchiha'd at me. "Fine, let's go," she immediately relented—she didn't mind swimming either.
The girl stood up from the sand, brushed off her already dry swimsuit, and walked to the ocean without even looking back at me.
I know she wants me to go with her, but she'll never show it. Little tsundere.
"But let's be careful in the water? I don't know if I can swim, and it's a wild beach—anything could happen," I remembered, standing up and approaching the girl who was carefully testing the water with her foot.
Really didn't want anything to happen to the little one because of me. Or even not because of me. In such a short time she'd really become dear to me. And that was very strange considering my recent problems with indifference to everything. So…
"But I definitely know that I can swim," Mei interrupted my thoughts, looking at me with a sly smirk. "Come on, let's go."
Did I say anything good about her? Forget it. I birthed her, I'll kill her.
"A-a-a-a!!! Splash" Mei squealed thinly when I grabbed her and threw her into the water. "Buwa… Idiot! Why did you do that?!"
Completely wet, angry girl trying to keep face—unforgettable and incredibly cute sight.
But it seemed painful retribution awaited me, judging by the pure unclouded anger in her golden eyes drilling into me. Fine, whatever, I'll meditate on water later—hope they don't drown me.
Because as it turned out, I couldn't swim after all.
Water element test—failed, in short. Almost the whole day Mei and I just fooled around in the water, and if at first the girl tried to stick to some model of cold, or as I call it, tsundere behavior, after a while she completely dropped it and tried her best to drown me.
She really didn't like my extreme method of dealing with the difficulty of entering cold water. Heh-heh.
And the little one swam very well, giving her an unfairly huge advantage over me! I couldn't go deeper than my neck, while she swam freely, and her face literally glowed with smugness. But despite that I could clearly see slight worry—would I refuse to play in the water with her because of it? Smart as she is, she's still a child, so it wasn't hard to read from her face and behavior. Though I'm sure in a couple years she'll learn to control herself.
Or maybe not. We'll live and see.
We got out of the water tired but very happy. At least I definitely was—it's been a long time since I had so much fun. Felt truly seven years old instead of always reading books. Maybe these vacations won't be as boring as I thought.
Mei seemed happy too. Even her sarcastic responses became less venomous.
"Alright, little one, same time same place tonight?" I clarified after a while when we were completely dry and it was time to part. More precisely, after so much time parents might notice the second child is missing and problems could arise that I don't need.
"I'm not little," Mei corrected me again without fire. "And yes. Tonight on this beach. See you, Li."
"Bye, baby," I smiled and pulled her into a short hug. As always she froze a bit from contact but quickly recovered and hugged back goodbye.
After our physical contact ended, we went almost in opposite directions.
Alright, what books do I have left at home?
*
Time on the Ember Islands flew by unnoticed. Almost all of it Mei and I spent together, mostly practicing sarcasm and swimming. She very persistently and very unsuccessfully tried to teach me to swim, but I swim like an axe—straight to the bottom.
Not least because of how funny Mei pouted at her failures in teaching me. She took them literally personally and got very angry every time I screwed up somewhere.
But besides fun moments, there were less fun ones. One evening when we as usual gathered near that same rotten fallen tree, Mei came earlier than me. And was already sitting staring into the ocean distance like our first meeting.
Damn, apparently something sad happened in her family again. She still hadn't told me anything about her surroundings. Well, same as I hadn't told her. We just silently supported each other in hard times.
Yes, I have hard times too, though mostly not related to parents but to understanding the transience of existence and the upcoming shitstorm.
Sometimes, you know, it hit hard and I wanted simple human support, which Mei provided. Without words, even without touch—we just sat and looked at the ocean and shared each other's pain.
Only this time just sitting silently apparently wasn't enough for Mei, and she wanted to share what was bothering her.
"Why doesn't mom love me?" she asked quietly.
"Mei… she loves you, just probably doesn't show it. That often happens with aristocrats…"
"I'm not stupid, Li," she gave me a heavy look for a child. "I know that, but for some reason she always has time and emotions for my brother. For me—no. Why?"
Oh. Damn. Not finding words immediately, I just hugged the girl, trying to support her at least that way.
"Is she your real mom?"
"Mm-hmm," Mei nodded, pressing closer and continuing barely audibly. "My brother is older, actually. She just doesn't love me, no matter how much I train. I'm better than brother at bending, better at studies, but whatever I show her, at best I get cold approval. When she's ready to carry brother in her arms for any trifle. What am I doing wrong?" By the end the girl was already crying.
No, not like children do—sobbing, whining, rubbing snot—quite the opposite, very adult crying. Tears just flowed involuntarily from her eyes, and she, not noticing the salty tracks, continued telling her story like a broken person. Though she was one: a small person broken by her own mother.
"…she's not even an aristocrat," Mei continued. "I heard conversations—she was a simple girl who caught father's eye. She wasn't raised in an environment where you can't show emotions. So why does she treat me like that?"
I've said Mei is smart for her age. Here's a prime example. Who else at that age can make such correct logical conclusions?
"Little one…" I hugged her tighter. "People are illogical by nature. I don't know why your mother treats you like that, but probably because she's just an idiot. Unfortunately people don't need many reasons not to love, understand?"
"Mm-hmm…"
"And I have to say this: you're smart, you'll understand—no matter how hard you try to get better in her eyes, her attitude won't change. So do like me—don't pay attention to outsiders' opinions. And she, from what I see, is exactly an outsider to you."
"Seems so…" apparently exhausted morally, Mei just listened and nodded.
"And what about your father? Is he also barely present in your life?"
"No… he is. And praises me for achievements. Supports sometimes. But he's father… not mom," she finished quietly.
Yeah, and he's exactly the cold aristocratic bastard as per classic, and I wouldn't be surprised if he sees the girl only as profitable goods to sell in marriage to climb higher. In our circles that's classic.
Probably started from when the war began and all aristocrats were frontline commanders and came back not quite mentally healthy. Children absorbed parents' behavior and act the same with their kids.
And about Mei's words… Need I explain how important a mother is to a child? Father can't, no matter how much he wants—and the local doesn't want—fully replace both parents.
"Your parents are certainly no gift. Mine are pretty much the same in essence, by the way."
"…" apparently not knowing what to say, Mei raised her eyes to my face, expressing something like "And how do you deal with it? How do you endure?"
"I just don't care," I said, shrugging. "Somehow it turned out that I really don't care about them. It hurts, of course, when they ignore your achievements just because I'm 'defective' and have no firebending, but…"
"But you got used to it?" the little one finished for me in the same slightly broken voice.
No, I didn't get used to it—I'm a damn adult in a child's body who doesn't give a shit about random people and their attitude toward me. But aloud I said something else, of course.
"Yes. And pretty quickly, honestly."
"Help me do the same… please," whoa, politeness words—not usual for Mei, so it's really serious.
"Baby, I'd love to, but it's purely personal qualities. You can't grow indifference to someone, especially as a child. Especially as a firebender famous for emotions."
Right now I'm not at all sure she understands my point. Not all adults would understand I mean hormones and strong instincts in children. And she probably didn't, but listened with a serious face and, apparently considering the number of simple words making complex meaning, understood only that it won't work for her and I'm trying to help.
At least I hope she understood that. Unfortunately unlike standard isekai protagonists I can't read thoughts or even emotions. Yet.